[I know I know, the good ending wasn't that good but hey, I didn't know where to take it too much. So I left it as a cliff hanger. Well, more votes for a multiple and since I prefer going from most wanted to least wanted, here is the middle ending. When I get it done I'll post the dark ending. Hopefully it doesn't leave off like the last one.]
Crush
Naru took the helmet off as soon as the screen went blank. Rushing over she quickly removed the helmet on Keitaros head. She stared at him for a while, the others gathering around to make sure they had saved enough of him in time. His vital signs were a bit erratic but that was about it. Naru took one of his hands and continued to watch Keitarou.
"He will be all right, but I'm not sure when he will wake up", said Su while looking at the instruments monitoring Keitaro.
"That's good to know." Naru said while tightening her grip on his hand.
"We should get some rest. We can't do anything else tonight." Motoko said while holding Naru by the shoulders.
Naru nodded her head and it was settled. They all went to their own rooms and slept.
********
Morning came and not too long after all the girls heard Shinobu screaming, Gathering at the entrance to Keitaros room they noticed Keitaro was gone. Splitting up they did a level by level search for him. They found no trace of him, so they gathered in the main living area to see what the others had found.
"Well, did any of you find him?" asked Naru panting heavily from running so much.
"Nope, not a trace", Motoko called out while all the others could do was nod.
It was after Naru sighed that they noticed the person sitting on the couch. He was wearing a pair of glasses, a yellow Tee shirt and blue shorts, in every way and detail that they could remember, it was Keitaro.
"Sorry, I didn't want to make you worry about me. I just thought I'd enjoy a nice rest", said the person on the couch.
"Who are you and what have you done with Keitaro?" Demanded Motoko unsheathing her sword.
"Why Motoko, it's me, Keitaro, don't you know who I am?"
"I know Urashima, and you are NOT him, Keitaro cannot speak, hear, or see", Motoko charged him and tied to make a strike, but almost missed.
The clothes burst from the body of the wearer to reveal chest binding indicating that the imposter was a girl. She quickly turned and stood up smiling.
"Well, looks like I was found out", the mystery girl then pulled the mask and wig off of her face exposing her black hair and some what cat like facial features. "I am Kanako, I will be the manager of this dorm from now on. Especially since Onii-chan will not be here to do them himself."
"Onii-chan? Perform his duties? Hold on, Keitaro never mentioned he had a sister", stated Naru.
"Why should he? Especially to some stuck up tramp like you."
"Urashima is not that kind of person", argued Motoko.
"You know nothing of Onii-chan, don't talk like you know anything about him. I know him better than any of you", Interrupted Kanako
"Who are you to presume how Sempai is. He has done nothing but be there for me through all of my problems, lending what he could even if he could not afford it", Yelled out Shinobu. "He is the kindest person that I know and I love him for it."
"Ha, you only know what he does for you. Not how he is, now if you don't mind, I must get to my duties as manager before I fall behind. You are all expected to chip in as well, since you do live here, if I have to clean up after your messes I am going to take it out of your rent." Kanako then turned and went about her duties as manager leaving all the others confused and full of questions.
********
Sneaking into the tea shop, Naru made her way over to the table. Kanako had worked them all very hard today. It had been a week since Keitaro vanished and whenever they had a meeting to try and figure out how to find him Kanako would find some way to sneak in and break it up before it got very far along. Taking the usual booth, Naru sighed and looked up to find Haruka looking back at her.
"Troubles with the new land lord?" Haruka asked almost sympathetically.
"I don't understand it, Keitaro was always so clumsy, so nice and generous, you'd think his sister would be the same, but she is almost the polar opposite of her brother." Naru heard some chuckling at that.
"That's because they aren't related." Haruka said while sitting down in the booth, across from Naru.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Waving for Kentaro to bring over some tea, Haruka continued. "Kanako had a rough childhood, her parents abused then abandoned her, she was made fun of at the orphanage and nobody wanted to be her friend. Keitaro's mother went in looking for another child; she wanted to have a little girl so badly and yet, after giving birth to Keitaro was deemed unable to have any more children. Seeing how poorly Kanako was treated she couldn't just leave her there like that, so she adopted her and took her home.
"We all tried to make her feel as loved as possible, but it was Keitaro she took to the most, I don't blame her either. If only you had seen how well he treated her, he did everything for her that she couldn't do for herself, and she grew up feeling she had to do for him what he couldn't do for himself. Whenever someone would be cruel to him and he was unable to defend himself, Kanako would step in and leave them rolling on the ground in pain, and whenever Kanako was being teased or being made fun of, he would step in and put an end to it. In essence, he is the ying, she is the yang." Haruka took a sip of tea
"I see, I had no Idea, Thank you for letting me know about that Haruka, but, what about Keitaro? Where is he, I want to see him again, I want to be with him."
"He is in the hospital. Turns out the Virtual-kun had some, shall we say, defects." Haruka lifted the cup, only to lower it again. "His brain is fried. He had a massive feed back into his
mind, frying it to a crisp. I know you were trying to save him from what was going on inside of him, but in the process, you turned him into a vegetable. He will never wake up again." Haruka stopped there.
Naru reached across to comfort her, but stopped herself, stood up, and left. "First his body, then his life, and finally his mind, what else are you going to ruin? If there is one thing I'm going to ask of you, of any of you, is to please, leave my nephew alone. He didn't deserve any of this. So please, don't bring him anymore." Haruka was near the verge of tears.
"I know Haruka, and we are all very sorry, I was supposed to be the one he ended up with, I was his promised girl, the one who he remembered that stupid promise for fifteen year while I forgot it. If only he had forgotten it too." Naru left at that, tears streaming down her face.
********
"Well what did you find out from Haruka?" Motoko asked Naru as she entered the inn. The others gathered around in a circle while Kanako sat on the couch smiling up at her.
"Yes tell us what happened to Onii-chan." Kanako smiled up at them, barring a look of supremacy.
Naru had to choke back tear for a while, only to turn and run out the door. Her feet taking control and guiding her towards the park, after she entered it her running slowed down and eventually she stopped. Collapsing she fell right into the sand pit that was the very place that all of this had started, and she laid there, crying softly into the sand.
"Ara, Naru is there something wrong?" sounded an airy voice from nearby. "Naru, are you playing in the sand and not wanting to show it to others, that isn't like you, unless, your burying Keitaro in it."
"No Mutsumi, you do that at the beach. But, this is about Keitaro." Naru sniffed and sat up to see her visitor. "What are you doing here anyways?"
"Ara, I come out here to sit on the swings, the cool night air makes me feel strong and alive." Stretching Mutsumi fainted and fell off the swing backwards.
"Same old Mutsumi." Naru smiled as she went to help the older girl. Laying her down flat Mutsumi quickly came to.
"Did I faint again? I'm sorry."
"That's okay Mutsumi, it's not a problem." Naru wiped a tear away from her eye.
"Naru, you have been crying, tell me what is wrong." Mutsumi reached up and touched Naru's face.
"It's Keitaro, see, he received a shock to the head and we used Su's virtual-kun to try and stabilize his brain so that he would live and not be in as much pain, but in turn we fried his mind, turning him into a vegetable." Naru sighed, tears threatening to well up in her eyes again.
"Oh, I see." Mutsumi lay down with her hands across her chest and stared up into the night sky. "The stars are beautiful tonight, aren't they?"
Looking up Naru saw the stars, the small dots lighting up the sky obscured only be small clouds moving slowly past them. "Yeah they are."
"Imagine, Keitaro must be up there somewhere, who knows, he might be that bright one right there, and he is looking down on you, watching you." Mutsumi said.
"Mutsumi, thanks for trying, but I know that isn't Keitaro. It's just a ball of burning gass billions of miles away from here." Naru said.
"Oh, is that what they are. Well they are still beautiful to look at, and sometimes, when I stare up at them, I forget about everything else and just get lost looking up there." Mutsumi said.
Naru realized just how wise Mutsumi sounded, and looking up at the stars, let all of her trouble wash away. After a while, she escorted Mutsumi home and returned to the Hinata-sou and found the others still up and worried about her. "Hey, sorry about earlier, it's just that, I'm a bit emotional right now."
"That's alright Naru, now, tell us what you found out about Keitaro." Kitsune spoke up, the others just nodding in agreement.
"He is in the hospital, turns out the Virtual-Kun had some feedback, and that fried his brain. I don't know what to do for him. I can't leave him like that, I love him too much, but at the same time, I don't want to hurt him anymore." Naru said to the others while looking at the floor.
"I'm sure there is something we can do for him Naru, but your going to have to let us help. It might not be much, but at least it is better than living the rest of your life knowing you came this far, then gave up." Advised Motoko.
"Thank you, your true friends." Naru hugged them all.
********
Keitaro lay on his bed at the hospital. Attached to him was a device of Su's it was making a digital copy of Keitaro. Su had gone over the brain scans at least a thousand times and played with just about any idea for months, but this was the only thing that she could come up with. His brain was fried, but the imprint that made him Keitaro was still there. Several doctors had been convinced to help with this project.
Naru sat at the bedside, watching as doctors came in to take certain fluids from him, and to make sure he was okay for the next few hours. Su had told them all about Keitaro's condition and her plan, Naru was the only one to not agree with it. She didn't want a copy, she wanted the real thing, but everyone else wanted to interact with him again.
The digital copy would be perfect, Naru knew that, but it wouldn't be him. A hand was placed on her shoulder and a piece of bread passed over to her.
"You really did love my brother didn't you?" Kanako said as she slid in next to Naru.
"Yeah, I appreciate the others doing what they are, but it won't bring him back. Moving on isn't an option either, the thought of being with another man after what happened to Keitaro is enough to make my skin crawl."
"I agree, I loved him too, not as my brother though. I never really thought about him like that, when I was first adopted, he was more like a protector, sent from the Kami to help me through the hard times and always stay by my side." Kanako said with fondness in her voice. "If I will settle for a copy of him, then I would feel like I've turned my back on him."
"Thanks for the support Kanako, when we first met I didn't know what to think of you, but, I guess that there is more of Keitaro in you than what you like to show."
"Don't flatter yourself. I'm only doing this because it is what he would have wanted." Kanako took her brothers hand for a bit, then let go of it and turned to leave the room. "You know something, I really wouldn't have minded, letting him go to you, even if you wouldn't share." Kanako left the room. Naru hung her head for a bit before leaning over and resting her head on the lap of Keitaro.
"I'm sorry Keitaro, I should have said so many things that I didn't, and I shouldn't have said many things that I did. I love you so much, but even that won't bring you back to me. SO I promise, that I will always be here for you, I will never fall in love with another man again. You are my one and only, and I refuse to let it be any other way. The others feel the same way about it. Please, wait for us, we will be with you soon, and then, we will have eternity to be with each other." Naru leaned over and kisses his lips, still warm from the life that flowed through his body, but an empty one at that.
********
It was time to say goodbye, everyone was in the room, Su's machine had made its digital copy of Keitaro, so there was no more need for him to continue to live this way anymore. It was a hard decision, but one that was best for everyone. Saying the goodbyes was difficult to do, and even harder to listen to. But nowhere near as hard as what had to be done. Keitaro was fully dependant on the machines around him to continue living, and they were all connected to one plug. Nobody knew who should pull it, but they all knew that it had to be pulled.
Seeing that nobody else was going to do it, Naru stepped up to Keitaro, her heart aching deeply. This was going to be the single hardest thing she would have to ever do in her life. Reaching for the plug, She leaned in and kisses Keitaro quickly and whispered into his ear.
"Please wait for me, I'll be with you soon."
"I'll be waiting for you." It sounded in the back of her mind, almost as if Keitaro was talking to her himself, but she knew that it wasn't true.
Pulling the plug, they left the room, as silent as the machines that were keeping their manager, the one man each of them had come to love, alive.
[It took me a while to write this, I started to do it differently and about half way through I realized I was writing something else, so I had to scrap most of it and start over again. I hope you enjoyed the second possible ending to ruined. I'll try and continue my other stories and get the last ending up soon.]