A/N: Sorry about slow updates! Almost done with school, so faster updates should happen soon. Anyway, answers to reviews:

walkswithwraiths: Yes, Shinobu and Ken will get closer, but if you're expecting lemon, look elsewhere

keitaro's clone: No, no split personality, just emotional baggage. Ken's use of Motoko's signature move will explain in time. And congrats on getting close to name meaning for Moriko, which means forest child. And sorry that the chap didn't agree with you last time maybe this one will be more to your liking.

That's all, later. Enjoy.

Love Hina: Healing Hearts

Disclaimer: Ken Akamatsu own Love Hina, not I. I can only claim the original characters I've created for the story itself. Like you all didn't know that already…

Chapter Twelve: The Gathering Comes Soon

Shinobu woke to the feeling of a warm, caring, embrace. It made her feel happy, wanted, loved. She also awoke to a painful cramp in her neck. She slowly picked her head up from her pillow.

"'Morning sleepy."

Shinobu turned toward the sound of the voice. "Good morning." That was when she realized that she was still on the couch where she had been last night, and that Ken's shoulder was her pillow of choice. Normally, such position would have led to her stammering apologies. Or, Ken would be running from one or more of the other girls at the dorm. But today, neither occurred. Shinobu smiled. "Have we been here all night?"

Ken nodded. "I tried to move you over to the futon, but you wouldn't let me."

"Sorry, I must have had you pinned in place all night." Shinobu sat up and stretched her neck. As she did so, she caught sight of the pad and pen on the table.

Ken stretched out his shoulder that Shinobu had been resting on and stood up. "Pins and needles, but nothing to apologize for." He smiled at her. "Well, dinner was a bust, so how about we try for breakfast?"

Shinobu nodded as her stomach growled. "Sure. The weather looks like it's cleared up as well. Should we go out?"

"If you'd like." Ken headed off towards the washroom. "I'm just going to clean up a bit."

Shinobu nodded and walked over to the window. "Ok." The city was beautiful from up here. She didn't have her normal supplies with her but the pen and pad on the table would do well enough. She pulled a chair over to the window and sat with the pen and paper. She opened the pad to look for a clean sheet to sketch on. What she found was a page covered in scribbles. "These look like the marks on Ken's test, but this isn't a test sheet."

Ken leaned over the chair Shinobu was sitting in. "What are you up to now? Oh, sorry." He reached over to try and pull the sheet away. "Hey!"

Shinobu leaned forward and ducked out of his reach. "What is this?"

Ken kneeled down behind the chair and rested his head on the backrest. "Just something I was working on while you were asleep."

"That doesn't answer my question." Shinobu waved the sheet of paper playfully before Ken. "So?"

Ken smirked. "All right, fine. It's music. It just kind of came to me while watching you sleeping."

Shinobu blushed. "Oh. Is it about me?"

Ken nodded.

"Can I hear it?"

"Nope." Ken shook his head. "It's not done yet." He blinked as his stomach growled. "Hey? Can you get ready now? I'm starving."

Hotaru swatted the katana away with her kodachi. "Your really good. Who'd you train with?"

Moriko doubled back and attacked with her second sword. "My father." She rolled left to narrowly avoid Hotaru's counterstrike. "You're not bad yourself kid."

Hotaru laughed. "Onii-chan's a really good teacher!"

Moriko crossed her katanas and blocked another attack. She was amazed that such a small girls could be so strong, and grunted as she tried to hold the blades in position. "Your brother taught you huh? I couldn't see the resemblance at first, but I can certainly see it now. You're going to be even stronger than he is."

Hotaru raised her blades and ducked beneath the older girl's swords. She rolled across the ground and kicked at Moriko's midsection. She grinned and flipped to her feet as she watched Moriko back flip away from her attack.

Moriko returned the grin. "So you know hand and foot moves in addition to swords." She readied herself again. "This is so cool." She charged and attacked again, faster this time.

Hotaru sidestepped the flurry of blades and felt herself begin to fall. She looked down in time to see Moriko's foot catch her at the ankle. She quickly put her hands out to break her fall. She rolled quickly to the side as Moriko buried her blades into the soil where she had just been. "Hey! Take it easy! This is only a spar!" She flipped herself to her feet again and blocked another of Moriko's attacks.

"Training makes you stronger only if you push yourself to your limits." Moriko gasped as Hotaru slashed her shirt at the shoulders. "Hey! I liked this shirt!"

Hotaru grinned. "Pushing yourself to the limits to get stronger is a great idea, but if you get hurt in the process you won't improve." She took her ready stance once again. "So, ready to go?"

Moriko smiled mischievously. "I was born ready girl. Get ready, cause now I'm playing for real!"

Hotaru brought up her blades to stop Moriko's charge. "Good. 'Cause I'm done warming up now." They exchanged blows again, sparks flying each time that the blades touched sparks flew. "It's weird, you know? It's like I can predict your moves."

Moriko spun and blocked one of Hotaru's kicks with her shin. "Yeah, I know. Our s are really similar." She whipped her black sword around and sliced her opponents shirt at the belly. "But, I have more experience." She brought her blades high as they began to glow with ki. One sword emitted energy that was as black as a moonless night and sucked in the heat that surrounded it. The second sword burned with the intensity of a thousand suns. "And better training."

Hotaru looked at the hole in her shirt. "Alright , I suppose I deserved that." She raised her swords into a defensive position. "But, just cause you're older doesn't mean you have more experience." Her shorter swords began to glow brightly with ki as well. Both rotated through a prism of red, orange, and yellow . "Or that you have better training."

"Damn," Moriko took a step back. "Is there anything else you can do?"

Hotaru smiled. "Of course, but only a fool gives away everything to her enemy."

Moriko brought her blades down and launched her two waves of ki at the smaller girl. "So I'm your enemy now?"

"At least for the time of this spar!" Hotaru yelled as she released her own ki attacks. The four ki waves collided and swirled about between the two combatants. "Uh oh…"

The explosion was enormous sending dirt and debris from their woodland battle ground everywhere. Moriko used this chance to claim victory over her opponent. She charged through the debris cloud toward where she knew Hotaru to be. She quickly re-sheathed her two swords, and reached to the hidden pocket in the back of her shirt.

"Banzai!"

Moriko looked up into the trees to see Hotaru hurtling at her with her swords in a backwards grip. "How'd you get up there?!" Moriko gasped in pain as Hotaru slammed both her sword hilts into the older girl in the shoulders. Moriko grabbed at her hidden pocket yet again as she fell to the ground. Her eyes widened in surprise as she gripped the empty fabric.

"Looking for this?" Hotaru sat down in front of the older girl and held out a long dagger. "It's pretty sneaky to hide a weapon during a duel." She buried the blade into the soil, giving Moriko a disappointed glare at the same time.

"Weren't you the one who said that only a fool gives everything away to her enemy?" Moriko shot back.

"I meant about skills, not cheating with a concealed weapon." Hotaru replied.

For the next few minutes the two girls glared at each other in silence but for the sounds of the forest and their own heavy breathing. At last Moriko smiled.

"You're pretty cool kid." She reached over and patted Hotaru on the shoulder. "You have a lot of honor in you. Maybe it'll rub off on me, ne?"

Hotaru gripped her hand. "You have a lot of honor in you as well, but your anger and your pride push you to hard. To win at any cost is not really winning. Why would you use a trick like that?"

Moriko pulled back her hand. "When I was training with my father, failure was not an option." She looked at the younger girl and gave her a playful smile. "How old did you say you were again? You're too smart for you age."

Hotaru laughed at the comment. "No, I just listen to onii-chan when I train. You should join us, I'm sure onii-chan wouldn't mind having you with us." She gave her a reassuring look. "That way you wouldn't have to push so hard."

Moriko smiled. "Thanks, but I don't think your bro' would be as understanding as you think."

Hotaru stood and helped Moriko to her feet. "Eh, just leave that to me."

Moriko wrapped her arms around her new friend's shoulder. "You really are cool, a bit pushy, but cool. Wish my sisters were more like you."

"No you don't." Hotaru warned playfully. "I can get a lot more pushy than this." She looked down at the dagger still in the ground. "Where'd you get this anyway? I've never seen such a fancy handle."

Moriko picked up the blade and hugged it close to her chest. "My brother gave me this before he disappeared." She held out the dark wooden handle toward Hotaru as they walked back to Hinata-sou. "It was a gift for my training graduation. Look, he even made it more special by carving these roses and ivy into the hilt."

Motoko observed from the rooftop as Ken and Shinobu pulled up in front of the building. "They were out all night."

Naru nodded. "Yep."

"We should really make sure that he didn't try anything with her." Motoko headed for the stairs.

Naru grasped her friend's hand. "Look at Shinobu's face." The two women looked down on the younger girl. "See, Shinobu hasn't smiled like that in, ever, I think." Naru sighed. "Whatever the two of them are doing, I think it might be better if we let them be for the time being."

"But Naru! How can you be so callous about them?" Motoko demanded. "I mean, what if they're doing…" The raven-haired beauty stopped mid sentence as her face blushed hotly.

Naru smiled. "Please, we both know Shinobu's not like that. And I'm pretty sure that Ken wouldn't do anything to hurt Shinobu."

Motoko huffed. "I still think he's hiding something."

Naru nodded in agreement as a thought ran through her mind. "Yeah, but he's not the only one."

Motoko turned to face her friend. "What do you mean?"

Naru shook her head. "Nothing."

"Umm, alright. I'll bite." Ken looked around the room. Su, Sarah, and Kitsune were hanging upside down staring at him. It was then that he remembered was the one hanging from a rope tied around his ankles. "Why am I being tied up?"

Su popped up before the hanging boy. "You know why you're here!" She giggled and activated her remote control raising Ken higher.

Ken lifted a surprised eyebrow. "I do?"

"You spent the entire night alone with Shinobu." Kitsune sat back in her chair. "Since you some how managed to evade our surveillance cameras, we need to make sure you didn't do anything…deviant, with her while you two were alone."

Ken dropped a handful of computer parts. "I told you that you guys wouldn't get anymore shows." He turned to Su. "And why flying turtles? They're kind of easy to spot since turtles don't fly. I think your red moon incense is beginning to affect your reality a bit to much."

Su gathered the circuitry on the ground. "You destroyed my mecha-tama again!" She pulled out a repair kit and began to examine the crushed computer parts. "They're flying turtles because they are modeled after my greatest enemy! The elusive and destructive, though theoretically very tasty, Tama-chan!"

"Riiiiight, a flying turtle is your greatest enemy. You know what never mind the incense, just stop smoking what ever it is that you're smoking ok?"

Su blinked. "But why? The leaves are so easy to grow in my jungle."

Ken sweat dropped. "Ok, I was just kidding before, but now I'm scared." Ken turned his gaze over to Kitsune. "And you. Don't you have a tea house to run?"

Kitsune waved his question away and poured herself a small amount of sake. "Details, details. Now that Haruka's back, she's taken over. So I have more free time again."

"Wonderful…" Ken sighed. "Hey Kit. As long as we're on the topic of deviant behavior, perhaps you'd like to explain the stash in your closet?"

Kitsune's fox-like eyes widened in surprise as she spit her sake from her mouth. "How do you know about that?"

Ken grinned. "I told you I'd let the fact that I found you spying on our study session slide, but when I found that turtle thing flying around all bets were off." Ken's grin spread farther. "The tape of Motoko using her sword as a microphone as she sang along to the CD you leant her. It was masterfully done! I wonder if she'd give a repeat performance if I told her you hid the camera in her ancestral armor in her room. Do you think she would?"

Kitsune's eyes went even wider. "You wouldn't."

Ken laughed. "Does Haruka know that you had a camera tail her on her honeymoon?

Kitsune paled.

Sarah grabbed Kitsune and put her in a headlock. "You tailed my daddy?!"

Su began to drool. "Honeymoon? That sounds yummy! Is that wildflower honey? Or maybe clover honey? Ohhhh! Maybe it's like honeydew melon?

Ken stared at Su. "Do you ever think about anything other than food?"

Su nodded and held up her newly repaired mecha-tama. "Yep, I have to have time for my inventions!" She grinned evilly. "Just try and destroy this one! I added titanium to the outer shell!"

Everyone in the room sweat dropped.

"What?" Asked Su.

Ken shook his head

Kitsune finally managed to free herself of Sarah's chokehold. "You wouldn't tell them, you'd be admitting that you saw it too. They'd take you out as fast as they would me."

"I've been taking beatings from Naru and Motoko on an almost daily basis since I came back from my trip. I'm pretty sure that I can take the pain." Ken grinned. "How about you?"

"You're bluffing."

Ken laughed again. "Want to risk it? Especially since I haven't played my ace yet?"

Kitsune nearly fainted as she realized what Ken was talking about.

Ken laughed at the look on Kitsune's face. "I wonder how Naru would react to the tape of her and Keitaro performing the horizontal lambada if I told her where to find it."

Sarah tugged at Kitsune's sleeve. "What's a horizontal lambada? A type of dance?"

"Is it a yummy food?" Asked Su as she sent her mecha-tama off to inspect the kitchen for bananas. "It sounds yummy!"

"It's nothing important!" Kitsune yelled at the two teenagers. She turned to Ken. "Alright, what do you want?"

Ken nodded. "Just let me down for starters, and enough with the mutant flying turtles that seem to follow us everywhere, and no more using the thermoptic suits to spy on us, and…"

"Ok, ok!" Kitsune yelled. "I get the picture! No more spying on you!"

Ken smiled. "Good. But the last one was to stop conning Keitaro out of his money for your sake."

Kitsune face faulted. "But why?"

Ken smiled. "Oh, you'll find out soon enough. Now, I have to go see a certain someone about something."

Sarah watched as Ken left the room. "That's it? We're not going to question him or anything? We never would have let the other dork get away like that."

"Keitaro never out-foxed me though." Kitsune sipped her sake. "I must be getting old, I'm losing my touch."

Su pulled out a large helmet with a variety of electrodes attached to it. "If you're worried about getting old you can try my age reversal machine!"

The resident fox looked between the helmet and the dark skinned girl. "Then again, getting old ain't so bad."

Kanako sipped at her tea and looked up from her magazine to see Shinobu on one of her traditional cleaning sprees. "You sure seem to be in a good mood today."

Shinobu smiled. "Yeah, I am."

Kanako laid her magazine down beside her. "So?"

"Nani?"

"Don't give me that cute and innocent act." Kanako leaned back into her seat. "You two must have done something to but such a bounce in your step."

Shinobu sat down across from the older girl. "What do you mean?"

Kanako sighed. "You two did it, didn't you?"

"It?" Shinobu's face instantly lit bright red. "It!? As in the 'it' it?"

Kanako nodded.

"No! We didn't!" Shinobu yelled, waving her duster wildly. "All we did was fall asleep together!"

Kanako raised an eyebrow. "As in actually sleeping sleep? Or you slept together?"

"Sleeping sleep! I fell asleep on his shoulder! Ok?" Shinobu managed to calm herself down a bit. "We were going to go to dinner, but the bike broke down and it started to rain, so we just stayed at the Four Seasons for the night…"

Kanako nearly spilt her tea on her shirt. "You stayed at the Four Seasons? How'd you afford that?"

Shinobu shook her head. "Ken took care of everything, so I don't really know."

Kanako leaned forward in her seat. "Let me get this straight, you two went to one of the best five-star hotels in the country, and all you did was fall asleep?!"

"Well, we talked for a while too…" Shinobu paused and looked at the older girl. "Why am I telling you about this again?"

"Girl talk?"

"You've never been one for girl talk, at least not to me." Shinobu pointed out.

Kanako shrugged. "Well, I am now, ok? So, where were you this morning?"

"We went to breakfast, got his motorcycle repaired and walked around the Ginza District while we waited." Shinobu replied calmly.

Kanako blinked. "I can't believe a guy like Ken wouldn't be pressuring you for…"

"Ken is not that kind of guy." Shinobu cut Kanako off. "He's kind, and sweet, and…I think I'm…"

Kanako smiled. "Well, just be careful you don't get yourself hurt." With that the goth girl stood and went off in search of other entertainment.

Shinobu sat alone with her thoughts a moment more, smiled, and returned to her cleaning.

Two figures watched the Hinata-sou from a safe distance via their powerful binoculars. They observed the different parties of people that moved freely about the dorm in silence for a time, each contemplating their own mission.

Each figure kept her identity concealed by wearing a long black trench coat. Each also had a long staff strapped to her back. Though similar, they were not identical. They differed in height by nearly half a foot. They taller one's staff ended with a sharp and deadly looking blade attached by a chain that recessed into the staff casing. The smaller figure's staff was simpler in that it tapered off into blunt ends.

"What do you think onee-san? Is she going to try to run off the way our brother did?" Asked the smaller of the two figures.

The second lowered her binoculars. Although she could no longer see the people within, her intense gaze did not move from the building. "If she is, she's doing a poor job of it. She uses her ki and chi recklessly, and gives away her position."

"Maybe she's trying to lead us to her?" suggested the second as she too lower her binoculars. "Maybe she found our targets?"

The taller figure shook her head. "Doubtful. She is as he was. Even if she found those we seek, she would not tell us."

The small figure frowned. "Well, what about that second chi we felt? I've never felt anything like that before."

"Nor I." Replied the other. "Yet, it seems familiar." She turned to her little sister. Although she could not see her face beneath the long leather hood of her trench coat, she could tell that the girl trembled with anticipation. "You wish to investigate the source of the chi. Don't you?"

The girl nodded. "You know how I love to face strong opponents, that would be quite a challenge to test my skills against."

The older woman nodded. "Very well, go and investigate it."

The smaller figure turned her head in surprise. "But onii-san ordered me to find Saburo. I can't just abandon my mission like that!"

"You aren't abandoning it, you are turning it over to me. I will find our traitorous little brother and discover who has been hiding him." She returned her gaze toward the Hinata-sou. "If you do confront them, just caution. The man is unusual, fragmented…I can't read him clearly. He is strong though."

The younger girl laughed playfully. "The stronger the better." She took her staff from her back. "Besides, no one has ever been able to stand against me and my Kunpuu."

The older woman turned and began to walk away from her sister. "There was one."

"Yeah, but he's gone now so he doesn't count any more."

She waited as her sister jumped over the edge of the roof and disappeared from sight. She then hoisted her staff and ran toward the opposite edge of the roof. She used her staff and vaulted over the small wall. She twirled her staff as she fell, the counter spin of the staff created a burst of air that slowed her decent, and landed quietly into the darkened alleyway. She removed her long trench coat and wrapped it about her staff before entering the sun lit street once again. She checked her reflection a store window. She brushed her windblown hair back behind her ear and smoothed her school uniform out.

"I don't understand why father makes us where these stupid coats, but if that's what it takes to get to fight strong opponents, I guess I can deal with it." She continued on toward the Hinata-sou. "Still, what he doesn't know…" She giggled in anticipation. "This is going to be fun!" She glanced at the window one last time. "The Avatar of Wind may have a mission for the clan, but Sora needs some excitement and entertainment." She looked up at the dorm building. "And that is as good a place as any to find it."

Good? Bad? Other? Let me know, leave a review please. Seriously.

Name meanings

Kunpuu – Summer breeze

Sora - Sky