AN: To those of you still reviewing, thanks for your continued support!
To those of you that I've had the honor of talking to on AIM, thanks for all your support and compliments!
As always, Love Hina and its characters belong to Ken Akamatsu, original characters belong to me and may be used with permission.
For Love and Honor
Chapter 10: The truth
"She what?!" Emi blinked with a surprised look, staring up at the taller landlord.
"Yuki's off to visit my cousins in Molmol for Christmas." Sho replied. "It's been tradition that she goes in place of Mom whenever they can't make it to Hinata for the holidays."
"Still..." Natsumi sighed sadly. "I wish your sister could've stayed with us for Christmas..."
"I know..." Sho smiled sadly, then turned and left the living room. Mei watched the landlord leave in silence with a thoughtful expression, then frowned slightly to herself. Noticing the Toudai professor's look, Raina decided to inquire if anything was wrong.
"Our landlord is hiding something..." Mei commented. "It's plausable that Yuki is visiting your parents, but to leave so suddenly..." She then turned to the foreign inventor. "Maybe you can explain what's going on?"
"Maybe she just wanted to avoid the crowd at the airport?" Raina offered with a nervous chuckle, then excused herself from the group quickly. Shruging it off, Natsumi also excused herself to prepare lunch for the dorm, leaving the Toudai professor and swordswoman alone.
"Something's definetly not right..." Mei narrowed her eyes, then turned to Emi. "Come, I believe I know the people who can provide some answers to our little mystery..."
"...You're telling us this happens every single year?!" Mei gaped in surprise, holding a cup of tea.
"That's right." Kanako replied, sipping her tea calmly. "It's more or less been a tradition since when the kids were about ten, why do you ask?"
"Well, we have a feeling that this goes deeper than just a visit to relatives..." Emi asked. "Even Raina didn't really say much on the matter... So we were wondering if you could shed some light on it for us..."
Kanako and Haruka turned and looked at each other for a long moment, then turned back to the two younger women. "Truth be told, if Sho's hiding anything, none of us know about it." Haruka commented. "If you're seeking information, you'll have to pry it out of him personally..."
"I might be a psychologist..." Mei grumbled. "But getting information from a dead man is easier than from him..."
"Sho, we need to talk..." The landlord turned from where he was examining the finished products of ice sculptures - A coiled oriental dragon, and a flight of delicate butterflies over a valley. He smiled at seeing Emi, but his smile faded slightly at seeing the serious expressions on her face.
"Sure, what can I help you ladies with?" Sho smiled, then frowned slightly as Emi slowly drew her sword, a determined expression on her face. "Um, Emi...?"
"Enough!" The swordswoman yelled, causing the landlord to take a step back. "I care too much for you and Yuki to simply stand by and do nothing!" She then pointed her sword at him. "You're hiding something from us, and if I must beat it out of you, I will do it!"
"And if I refuse your challenge?" Sho replied.
"You won't." Emi grinned. "I know you, your pride as a Shinmei-Ryu student wouldn't let you back down." Seeing how a brawl might begin with the two lovers, Mei tried to interrupt the two, but was silenced with a gesture from Sho.
"Very well then..." Sho sighed, then settled into a stance. "Let's see if your recent training have paid off..."
"What in the world did you build this time?!" Sarah asked with a bewildered look, as she looked up at the monstrous machine in Raina's lab.
"It's a snow shovel!" Raina replied gleefully, and the American sweatdropped at seeing the scientist cackling madly before reasserting herself. "I built this to help my cousin out, actually." She smiled as she patted the machine lovingly. "After all, it's just not fair for him to manually shovel all that snow out there for us..."
"Feh, he's the landlord, it's his job!" Sarah grumbled. "Besides, he's plenty fit, let him work!"
"Hey, you just say that 'cause you're paying rent!" Raina bit back. "I'm doing this out of good will, something you've apparently run low on!" Sarah was about to bite back with her own insults, but had to agree that the landlord has been treating her with nothing but respect, and sighed.
"Fine, you win." Sarah mumbled. "But shouldn't you test this out before bringing it out into the field?
"Exactly!" Raina smiled. "And I've got roughly 10 cubic feet of snow here to assist the test run!" Sarah raised an eyebrow at seeing the pile of snow on a plastic tarp in front of the machine, then shrugged as she watched the inventor begin powering up the machine.
"Well, everything seems to check out! Lets..." Raina frowned as a warning red light came on, along with a buzzing alarm. "Uh oh..."
"UH OH?!" Sarah's eyes bugged out, just as the machine exploded violently, creating a gigantic hole and spilling the contents of the lab, including the two women, into the darkness below...
Sho cringed as he picked himself up from the balcony, his trenchcoat in tatters and minute cuts covered his arms and legs. His breathing came in rough gasps as he eyed his opponent. Emi stood several paces away, her uniform pristine and untouched throughout the conflict. She looked into the landlord's eyes calmly as she fell into another stance, her sword held parallel with her eyes.
"You've definetly improved..." Sho smiled, the cuts on his face mending and disappearing with unnatural speed. "I'm going to be proud to tell Sensei that you're ready to inherit the school..."
"Not improved, just determined." Emi replied.
"In any case, I yield." Sho smiled, to the surprise of the two women. "But I can only tell someone closest to me our deepest family secret..." He then bowed to Mei. "I hope you'll understand..."
"Of course." The Toudai professor nodded. "But remember, we're all here for you, if you ever want to talk..." Sho smiled and nodded at her, before going back inside the dorm with the swordswoman in tow...
"Ugh... This is why I have little faith in people with the Su family name..." Sarah grumbled as she climbed out from the wreakage of the snow shovelling machine.
"I said I was sorry, okay?" Raina coughed, as she too climbed out from the wreakage. The two then looked upwards and sighed simultaneously. "Wow, we fell quite a ways, didn't we?"
"Great, just great..." Sarah muttered, fishing out a notebook from her back pocket. "Now if I can get some light, I'll be able to figure out where we are under the dorm..." As if on cue, a flood of lights turned on around the two women, revealing them inside a gigantic laboratory. "What the hell is that thing...?!" The American asked with wide eyes, as she and Raina stared at the dominating piece of machinery in the lab.
"Whoo!" Raina laughed, staring at the machine much as a young child would at a Christmas present. "It must be my birthday finding something like this!"
"So, what now?" Emi asked, sitting calmly in the landlord's room. Sho had discarded his ruined trenchcoat and torn shirt, and had his back to her as he changed into a loose shirt. The swordswoman blushed as she stared at his muscular back, and barely composed herself as Sho sat across from her, a small smile on his face.
"Well, I believe this is where you ask me a hundred questions, and I have to answer them all..." This brought a laugh to them both, as Sho calmly poured two cups of tea in preparation for their long talk.
"I'm not as nosy as Mei." Emi smiled. "But I'd be more appreciative if I could to know more about you and Yuki..." She then sighed. "Even though I've known you both since we were all kids, I feel like I don't know anything about you..." She blinked in surprise as the landlord wrapped his arms around her, and rested her head on his shoulder quietly.
"What I'm about to tell you is something no one aside my sister and I know..." Sho whispered in her ear, as he gently stroked her hair. "It's a secret that not even my own parents nor anyone else knows... But I trust you will keep it to yourself..." Sensing her nod slowly, he continued. "Remember when we were about ten years old, on that ski trip...?"
"How could I not...?" Emi smiled slightly. "The two of you nearly had us scared to death..."
Ten years ago...
A younger Sho and his sister looked at Raina nervously, as the young inventor was strapping herself into what appeared to be a jet powered sled. After finishing the final touches, Raina looked up at the two and flashed a grin. "Coming along? There's plenty of room in here!"
Laughing, Yuki shook her head. "No thanks, cousin." She then indicated to the skis she wore. "It's a different feeling on skis, but we wish you luck with your invention!"
"Suit yourself, seeya at the bottom!" Raina laughed, then with a defeaning roar the sled shot down the ski slope at a blinding speed, surprising both of the siblings.
"How about that? I thought it was going to blow up..." Sho smiled, then noticed a faint rumble in the distance as the ground began to shake. Looking over his shoulder, his eyes widened as he saw a tidal wave of snow rushing towards them. 'Avalanche!' He thought, and carrying a confused Yuki under his arms, began going down the slope as fast as he can. 'Must've been the engine from the sled...'
"Oh God..." Kaolla whispered at the bottom of the slope, watching on helplessly as her children tried to outrun the avalanche. By now, everyone else from the Hinata-Sou were also on scene, only able to watch on in horror as the snow began gaining on the two children...
'Can't... Make it...!' Sho thought nervously, sensing the snow coming closer behind him. Looking down, he saw the frightened face of his sister looking back at him, and sighed inwardly as he knew that he was going to fail in protecting her...
"I'm sorry..." He whispered to her, and was surprised to see her smile slightly in understanding.
"Nooo!" Emi cried at the bottom of the slope, as she and the rest watched on while the avalanche finally caught up to the siblings, consuming them in a tidal wave of snow and ice...
The present...
"...I was crying constantly the two hours before the rescue team found you two..." Emi sighed, still resting in the landlord's arms. "I was just glad we didn't lose you two..." She was then surprised as Sho pulled away gently, looking into her eyes calmly.
"And that, is the greatest secret held on by my sister and I..." Sho smiled sadly. "We didn't survive the avalanche, Emi... Between the cold and lack of oxygen, we were both long gone before they got to us..."
"But..." The swordswoman was at a loss for words. "Then that means you're both..."
"Spirits?" Sho smiled. "Not quite, but close." He then looked outside the window calmly. "You have heard the legend of the snow maiden, right?" Emi nodded quietly, as it was a popular story told to children about a beautiful woman dressed in white who guided the lost through snowstorms. "Rest assured, she's not a legend, but quite real..." Seeing the swordswoman's surprised expression, he took a sip of tea before continuing.
"The snow maiden took pity on us, knowing how much we cared for each other as siblings..." Sho smiled. "She brought us back to the living, on the condition that I would be Yuki's guardian for as long as I live, and that my sister visit her once a year to eventually take her place as the next snow maiden..." He then chuckled at seeing Emi trying to digest all the information. "So I guess things might not work out, now that you've found out you love someone who's technically dead, hmm...?"
Cupping the landlord's face in her hands, Emi drew him into a long, passionate kiss. She then looked into his eyes and whispered quietly. "I don't care about what happened in the past, just so long as I don't lose you ever..." Blinking in surprise, Sho merely nodded, and the two shared another long kiss before a rumbling sound disturbed them.
"Great..." Sho grumbled. "What did Raina do this time...?"
"You idiot!" Sarah screamed, shaking Raina by her shirt collar. "I told you not to mess with the controls, but do you listen?" The American then dropped her and sighed. "Now the freaking thing is going to explode, and we're trapped in here..."
"Um... would it help if I said I was sorry...?" Raina smiled sheepishly at Sarah as she fumbled with the controls, and sweatdropped at seeing the American glare at her.
"If I could take a nuclear explosion to the face like the dork or his Dad, sure!" Sarah yelled. "Unfortunately, neither of us are Urashimas, so we're kinda screwed here!"
"Alright, I'm sorry!" The inventor sighed, then hopped on a platform with a variety of controls and tinkered a bit. Slowly, the room finally stopped shaking, and all the red flashing lights reverted to the standard white lights. The two women sighed in relief at averting a potential disaster which could've leveled their beloved dorm, and Raina slumped down on the platform wearily.
"Well, thank goodness that's over..." Her eyes suddenly went wide in surprise as the machine shot a gigantic bolt of electricity through her, and the last thing Raina saw before blacking out was Sarah running towards her screaming something with a worried look on her face...
"Erg..." Raina groaned as she slowly came to, wincing at the amount of noise around her. As she sat up, she blinked in disbelief as she took in her surroundings. All around her the tenants of Hinata-Sou of past and present were present, celebrating Christmas Eve in cheer. Natsumi and Shinobu was finishing the final touches on the magnificent party platters they had prepared, while Kitsune had her arms wrapped around Sho and Emi, teasing the two blushing youths nonstop. Yuki was speaking with Mutsumi and Naru in another area of the room, while Mei seemed to be in some philosophical discussion with Kanako and Haruka...
"Finally come to, sleepy head?" A woman's voice giggled beside her. And as Raina turned to the speaker, she gasped at seeing a slightly more mature version of herself smiling at her.
"Aunt Kaolla?" Raina asked in disbelief, and grimaced as the woman laughed and ruffled her hair.
"Who else, silly kid?" The older woman smiled. "Let me guess, you ate too many of Shinobu's banana sundaes, right?" The young inventor peeked at the table beside the couch she had lid on, and sure enough there was five empty sundae plates. "You probably just had some weird dream then, happens to me when I eat too many of them myself!"
Blinking, Raina looked around and finally spotted Keitaro, who was sharing stories of his latest archeological find with Sarah, who was listening eagerly with a bright smile and taking notes from the elder explorer. Her eyes then widened as the Urashima siblings leapt on her, and laughed as she tried to fend off the two as they tickled her playfully.
"And just what do you think you were doing, sleeping during a party like this?" Sho smiled, tickling his cousin and causing her to laugh and squirm even more.
'Just a bad dream, that's all...' Raina thought, then laughed and struggled as Sho held her down, while Yuki tickled her all over. Amidst the wonderful food, laughter, and friends, Christmas at the Hinata-Sou once again filled its halls with love and friendship for years to come...
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Finally, the sequel of my very first series has drawn to a close! Once again I thank everyone for their support in my works, and I would like to announce that I will indeed be starting up another story soon! (No, this will not be a sequel to this) See you all soon!