A/N: HAHAHAHA! At last classes are out! - But now I need to get another job, because I got into another damn car accident. Stupid English teacher. Couple that to major writers block, well… this is the result. Please be gentle with the amount of flames you send. We all have our off days. My apologies in advance for this poor excuse for a chapter. Sorry also for slow updates. Lightning storms have been wreaking havoc on my systems and delayed me even further.

Thanks again to readers and reviewers who have stuck around. Thanks to new readers and reviews for stopping by.

To Daemon faa, Thanks for the review, but did you mean "book"? -

To walkswithwraiths, glad you liked the Naru image. As for the Kanako fic you've been pestering me about (deathglare) STOP PESTERING ME! - All I'm going to say is that your whining has caused some ideas to start bouncing around my head, but if I can't figure out a way to pull it off, it's headed for the scrap heap. No promises either way.

Anywho, on with the story. Enjoy.

Love Hina: Healing Hearts

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own characters. Love Hina is Ken Akamatsu's. Sorry nothing catchy or funny today…TT

Chapter Fourteen: The Calm

Ken woke and stared at the ceiling, and immediately realized that something was wrong. The pattern on the ceiling was different than what he was used to seeing in the morning. He tried to sit up, but lay down again quickly with a groan and a terrible headache. "Note to self, no more drinking games with Haruka and Kitsune. I think I'm going to be sick." He looked around and realized the other reason that he hadn't been able to sit up, something or rather someone, was holding down his arm and chest. "Oh my…"

Shinobu awoke with a groan. "Su is so going to pay for all those banana daiquiris she made me drink." She looked up from where her head rested on Ken's shoulder, and her eyes widened in shock. She looked around quickly, and was relieved to see that she was in her room, but she was nervous that she under the covers of her futon with Ken. She removed her hand from where it rested on his bare, scar covered chest and lifted her sheets just enough to peek beneath it. "Oh my…" She turned back to Ken in a panic. "Did we…"

Ken, also in panic, shook his head. "I have no idea, I can't remember anything past that drinking game last night."

"I can't either." Shinobu was scared now.

"Is there any…"

"No, I don't think so."

Ken nodded. "Ok, ok, let's just try to piece this all together."

Shinobu nodded. "Ok, we started a the park…"

Shinobu watched as the others moved off towards the different attractions in the park. She smiled at Ken and took his hand before dashing into the park. "Come on!"

Ken laughed as he followed behind. "Relax Shinobu-chan, we have all night, and the VIP passes."

"I know, but it's been a while since I've been here."

Ken smiled. "Alright were do you want to start first?"

Shinobu looked around the expansive grounds. "The Ferris wheel!"

Ken gently pulled her back. "Trust me on this one, let's wait until later for that one."

Shinobu gave him a puzzled look, but nodded. "Alright." She looked around again. "How about that?" She pointed to the bumper cars.

"Sure."

---

"Motokies!" Su climbed up on her friend's back. "What do you want to do first?"

"There is supposed to be a demonstration of swordplay over in the main exhibit hall soon. I wouldn't mind seeing that." The older girl began to walk towards the building she located on the map.

Su smiled and dropped down to the street. "You think we could get some food on the way?"

Motoko smiled. "I don't see why not, but you're paying half this time." She wrapped her hand around the smaller girls shoulders. "You nearly bankrupted me the last time you made me pay for your food."

Su laughed and placed her arm about Motoko's waist and gave her a gentle squeeze. "Hey, you ate too ya know!"

"Not seven servings!" The raven-haired beauty replied playfully.

Su laughed. "Oh like that makes a difference!"

"Ugh, you two are almost as cutesy as Ken and Shinobu." Groaned a voice from behind them.

The two girls quickly pulled away from each other and turned to see Kanako.

Kanako stared at the two girls. "How long has this little relationship been going on?"

Motoko shrugged. "A month maybe."

Su nodded. "Six weeks, four days, twelve hours, thirty-six minutes, ten seconds…eleven seconds…twelve seconds…"

"I get the point." Kanako shook her head. "Ever since the fiasco with cherry-kun you two have been making eyes at each other. I knew, but…" Kanako paused and looked away. "I was going to ask to stay with you guys, but I can see I'd be a third wheel." She turned to walk away.

Su whispered to Motoko quickly, and then turned to Kanako. "We wouldn't mind you coming with us! It will be fun! We can get some food and see the show and go ride the rides and…"

Kanako clamped the girl's mouth shut with her hand. "I have one word for you, decaf."

Motoko smiled and walked off towards the exhibit hall.

"Hey! Don't leave me!" Su cried and scampered after Motoko.

---

"I am so going to beat you!" Hotaru challenged.

Sarah strapped herself into her go-kart. "You wish! I learned how to drive from my daddy!"

Hotaru laughed. "That's why I'm going to win! You're going to crash and burn in ten seconds!"

Sarah grinned. "We'll see."

"The only thing you girls are going to see are my exhaust fumes!" Moriko jumped into the kart in front of the other girls. "Because I'm going to win this race!" She stopped as a wave of silver hair breezed past her.

Sora calmly sat in the car next to Moriko's. "Oh, so sorry to disappoint you little sister, but this race belongs to me." The four girls looked at each other and smirked.

"May the best woman win." Hotaru put up.

"Well, then I have nothing to worry about!" Sarah ducked at Moriko threw her shoe at her. "You're not getting this back you know!"

Moriko laughed. "Oh shut up and race!"

The buzzer sounded and the cars sped off.

From the sidelines Haruka took another drag of her ever-present cigarette. "Your insurance is paid up right?"

Seta blinked and ate another piece of cotton candy. "I think so. Why?" He ducked as four go-karts leapt over the fence and speed off into the park. "Oh, that's why."

---

Naru rested her head on Keitaro's shoulder as the sat on the loveseat of the carrousel. "This was so nice of Ken."

Keitaro nodded. "Yeah."

Naru raised an eyebrow at the distant sound of her fianc's voice. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"I know you better than that." Naru sat back a bit. "Talk to me."

Keitaro smiled. "You do know me too well." He sighed and leaned against Naru a bit. "Ken and I were talking this morning…things are bad Naru."

Naru gently ran her hands through Keitaro's thick hair. "It will be alright." She smiled slightly. "The Clans will band together sever the left hand of the warrior again."

Keitaro nodded. "I just hope we can."

Naru lifted his head and looked deep into his eyes. "We will, I'm not going to let you disappear on me again."

Keitaro stood as the ride came to a stop. "This night is to nice to worry about this stuff. I'm sorry I brought it up." He took her hand and smiled. "Let's go find something more fun to do."

Naru gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you told me. No more secrets between us."

Keitaro smiled. "You can thank our resident cook for showing me the light."

---

Shinobu made her way from the exit of the roller coaster on shaky legs. She playful hit Ken in the arm. "You are so mean! You told me that there were no loops!" She continued to playfully attack him. She couldn't remember ever having this much fun with someone, the whole night had been perfect. The rides, the shows, the dinner at that nice restaurant, and all with Ken, it was perfect.

Ken ducked through her guard and swept her off her feet and into his arms. "But that was the only way I could get you to go with me."

"Ken!" Shinobu cried in surprise. "Put me down! People are staring!"

Ken grinned and spun her around. "So?" At last he put her down. "We have a few minutes still, what do you want to do now?"

Shinobu blinked. "A few minutes? Until what?"

Ken smiled. "Hey, isn't there a rule somewhere that says I have to win you a prize or something?"

"You don't have to, but I would be nice to have a souvenir for such a wonderful trip." Shinobu admitted.

"Alright, which on do you like?"

Shinobu looked around at the different gaming booths until her eyes settled on one. "Do you think you could get that teddy bear?"

Ken looked over at the booth. "I think so." He walked over and picked up two of the popguns on the table. "You sure Shinobu-chan? That one?"

Shinobu nodded.

Ken paid the man the small fee. Ken turned around and looked at Shinobu. He then spun quickly and fired off the two shots.

Shinobu looked on in a mixture of amusement and disappointment as both shots went wide. "Oh well."

Ken smiled. "Just watch." The small pellets bounced off the walls and several other items, including the teddy bear. Five separate prizes fell, one of which was a larger version of the bear that Shinobu had picked. He gathered his prizes from the awestruck vendor and handed off the larger teddy bear. "Here you go Shinobu."

Shinobu laughed as she took the bear. "It's almost a big as me!" She gave Ken a small kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, but how'd you do that?"

"It's all in the angles." Ken glanced at his watch. "Follow me." They ran through the park until they came to the Ferris wheel. "'Scuse me. Pardon me. Sorry about that. Heads up." At last Ken made his way to the front of the line. He flashed his pass to the attendant and boarded one of the lift carts with Shinobu. "It's nearly time."

"Time for what?" Shinobu asked again. Suddenly the sky lit up with color and Shinobu moved closer to the window in order to see.

Ken stood behind her. "On Christmas Eve they give a special fireworks display here." Ken smiled as Shinobu watched the show. "This is the best spot to watch from." He gave her a gentle hug. "Merry Christmas Shinobu-chan."

Shinobu turned and kissed Ken again, this time on the lips. "Merry Christmas Ken." She turned around and looked down at the flashing police lights weaving through the park.

Ken glanced down at where Shinobu was looking. "Please tell me that those four aren't driving through the park in go-karts."

Shinobu laughed lightly. "It could be worse, Su could be driving through with one of her Tamas."

---

Everyone had planed to return to the Hinata-sou after the fireworks since that was the closing of the special events in the park, but the security guards hastened that decision after catching the four go-karters.

"So who ended up winning the race anyway?" Moriko asked as the entourage of people entered the apartments.

"I did of course!" Sarah chimed.

"Yeah right! I won!" Hotaru shot back as she hit her friend with the stuffed dragon her brother won for her.

Ken sighed. "Can we please not talk about that race? I have never seen so much damage done in such a short time."

Sora shrugged. "We could have done more. We avoided the people at least."

Keitaro groaned. "That is just about the only thing you avoided."

Ken sighed. "Well, at least no one got hurt."

Kitsune walked off to the kitchen and came back to the living room where everyone else crashed. "Exactly, now lets not let this ruin the evening." She held up a couple bottles of sake. "Anyone going to join me?"

Ken nodded. "Sure, why not? Maybe it'll make me forget how much I paid out in damage dues."

Moriko looked down at the teddy bear that Ken had given her. "Sorry."

Ken nodded. "Forget it." He downed his sake. "That's good stuff."

Su dashed off to the kitchen and came back with an armful of supplies as she sat on the large stuffed banana that Ken won her. "Sake by itself is boring! Needs Bananas and ice! Su style banana daiquiris for all!"

Kanako grabbed the sake bottle from Kitsune. "Just give me the straight stuff."

Kitsune grinned. "As long as we're all here, why don't we play a game?"

Naru sweat dropped. "A drinking game? With you? What are you after?"

Sora leaned onto her back and tossed the stuffed dove Ken gave her into the air. "I like games, I'll play." She caught the toy bird. "So what are the rules?"

Kitsune grinned. "We take turns asking each other questions, any questions, and if you choose not to answer you have to take a drink."

Shinobu looked around nervously. "I don't know…"

Su jumped up and poured one of her banana drinks into Shinobu's mouth. "Come on it will be fun!"

Shinobu swallowed the sweet drink and, since she had a zero tolerance for alcohol, its effects were almost immediate. "Ok, I'll play too."

"I want to play!" Hotaru yelled.

Ken playfully pushed her down in her seat. "No way, you're twelve."

"And you're only six-teen!" She retorted.

"I'm a legal adult. Emancipated, remeber?"

Hotaru blanked on that one. "Well…Moriko's going to play and she's only four-teen!"

"I'm not her legal guardian." Ken replied as he poured himself another drink. "You can play, but you get soda." He nodded to Kitsune. "I'm in."

Hotaru pouted. "Fine."

Kitsune smiled as everyone else took his or her glasses. "Alright, and the first question is, what is one thing about you that no one else knows?"

---

"I remember anything after that." Shinobu admitted.

Ken nodded. "I remember the questions becoming more risqué, but it's all really hazy." Ken swallowed hard. "I can't remember anything. Maybe we should ask the others if we…"

Shinobu cut him off. "No!"

Ken blinked. "Ok," his voice was soft. "We won't ask."

Shinobu nodded. "Thanks." She looked down at the sheet self-consciously.

Ken caught her gaze, and turned his back. "Go ahead and change."

"Thanks."

Shinobu wrapped herself in a sheet and made her way to her closet and quickly selected black skirt and white sweater. She looked back to make sure that Ken wasn't peeking at her. She blinked at the empty futon. "He's fast." Dressing quickly, Shinobu ran off toward Su's room. "If anyone would know what happened last night, she would." Shinobu opened the door and quietly climbed the tree to where Su slept. "Where is she? Motoko!"

Shinobu turned and ran to Motoko's room and opened the door. "Su? Are you in here?"

"Not so loud. My head hurts." The tan girl sat up in her futon.

"Su, I need you to look through your video cameras in the house and find out if…if…if…" Shinobu, for a brief moment, could actually feel her brain stop working completely. "I'm so sorry!" She ran from the room.

Motoko sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "What was that all about?"

"I don't know." Kanako sat up and stretched the kinks out of her back, then blinked. "How did we get here and more importantly, where are our clothes!"

---

Ken pulled his jacket on and looked into the mirror in his room. "I have to know. I have to know if I hurt her." He turned away and left his room. "We were both drunk, but that's no excuse. If I hurt her I wouldn't be able to live with myself." He stopped outside the door of his destination. "Time to make a deal with the devil." He knocked on the door. "Or rather the fox."

Kitsune opened the door looking rather unkempt. "It's way to early and my head is pounding. What do you want?"

"Did you tape anything last night?" Ken asked getting straight to the point.

Kitsune grinned. "Oh so that's what this is about." She leaned against the doorframe. "What if I did?"

"I need to see it." Ken stated calmly.

"Well that's going to cost you…"

"Name your price." Ken cut her off.

Kitsune blinked. "That was easy. Ok, two, no three bottles of sake a week."

Ken nodded. "Done. Now, the tape."

Kitsune blinked again. "Why so serious?" She turned and retrieved the tape from her closet.

"I have to know if I hurt her." Ken took the tape.

Kitsune watched as he walked back to his room. "I feel kind of bad scamming him into buying my sake now." She closed the door and fell back into bed. "I wanted to get even with him for ratting me out about that other tape, but maybe I went to far this time." She chuckled a bit. " Nah. Oh well, the tape will smooth everything out. And he doesn't need to know that I set the whole thing up."

"Kitsune!"

The resident fox jumped as the door to her room was thrown open. "Now hold on I can explain!"

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