Er… Not much to say today. I'm pretty much content right now. Oh wait, new scene separators, since my old ones don't seem to work with the new Quick-Edit. Damn Quick-Edit… =P I'll try and fix chapter 10 later…
---Kouji Tamino
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And so, almost 2 months have passed. The day is October 27. Ami and Nina are off at school. Our Neo-Neo Ronins are busy studying their little brains out, being watched under the eye of Study Mistress Ema… "Work! Study!" Ema screams, whipping the table that they were working at. She was currently clad in a dominatrix outfit. "Learn!"
Rikina stared blankly at Ema. "Ms. Ema? Don't you think that the whip and dominatrix outfit is a bit much?" She looked back to her book. "Besides, we study quite fine on our own, thank you…"
"Oh?…" Ema glares at them. After a few a seconds, she rips off the dominatrix outfit and is suddenly in her normal clothes. "Oh, okay! Have fun!" She happily walked out of the room, smiling.
Tokimi raises an eyebrow. "Okay, she has not only been corrupted by Mutsumi…"
"…but by everyone that's ever set foot in this house…" Shima continued.
Rikina sighed in annoyance. "Well, whatever… Can we just get back to studying?"
"Hey! Y'know what would be cool?!" Sarah screamed, running into the room. Our ronins were all startled by this, tossing their books into the air. "Ha! Scared ya, didn't I?!"
Shima sneered, picking up his book. "Feh… You didn't scare me…"
Sarah snickered, then shook her head. "Don't give me that crap, Yamato… You all tossed your books into the air!"
Shima smirked. "Yeah, whatever… Believe whatever you want, auntie…" Shima laughed it up, until he was given a swift kick to the head. "Ow!"
"I told you before…" Sarah glared. "I'm not your goddamn auntie!" She raised an eyebrow.
Rikina, tired of her studies being interrupted, stood up. "Ms. Sarah! Please tell us what it is you want!"
Sarah stared at them. "Um… Oh! How about we have a Halloween Party on the 31st?!"
"Um…" Shima began.
"Ms. Sarah, we are very busy with studying… Since Urashima and I began our studying for this exam late, we especially cannot afford to take a break. We were lucky that we were allowed to partake in this year's exam so late into the year. You understand, don't you?"
"… Well screw you guys, then." Sarah replied. "You party poopers can study all day and night, but the rest of us are gonna have fun. We even invited Jin and Static."
"Ugh, those two?" Rikina rolled her eyes. "Actually,. Static I don't mind since he hasn't really done anything." She motioned toward Shima. "But one pervert is bad enough, let alone two."
"Well then, you can just study up here with just one pervert!" Sarah towards the door. "But the rest of us are getting ready for a fun night!" She walked out of the room, mumbling. "Ooh, I am going to pull soo many tricks this year…"
Tokimi and Shima looked at each other, then to the door. They both stood up and ran out of the room. "Sarah! Wait for us!!"
Rikina, now alone, looked to the calendar on Tokimi's wall. "October 31st… Figures… Not even my best friend remembered my birthday is on Halloween…"
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Love Hina Next
Chapter 11: A Night of Ghosts, Witches, Vampires, and Gothic Princesses.
And so it arrived… The 31st of October, Halloween, had approached. Everyone except Rikina was enjoying themselves. Rikina was studying, alone. Shima was dressed as a Mummy; Tokimi was a fairy; Ami having psychic powers, pulled off a convincing witch; Nina was a pink bunny rabbit, Sarah was dressed up as clown; Shinobu looked stunning in her princess costume; Kaolla dressed up as turtle, which frightened Kimomo for some reason; Kimomo was a ninja; Kitsune had on a nurse's outfit, and Ema was dressed up as a carrot.
Sarah stared at Ema. "Er, Ema?…"
"What is it?" Ema smiled.
"… Why the hell are you dressed up as a freaking carrot?" Sarah sweat dropped.
"Well, why not?" Ema giggled.
"ROAR!!!" Nina growled. "BUNNY HUNGRY!!!" She pounced on Ema and began gnawing on Ema's costume.
"Oh my! I am eaten!" Ema smiled, carefree.
Shinobu walked up next to Sarah and smiled brightly. "Look at her, Sarah… She used to be so panicky and stressed!"
"Uh huh… Now she's like Mutsumi-on-something…" Sarah muttered.
"Oh Sarah, you're terrible…" Sarah frowned.
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Jin and Static finally arrived, both dressed as vampires. "Hey!" Jin yelled. "What's up?"
"Oooohweee, hello, goodbye…" Static muttered, then began to walk away.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Jin asked.
Static pointed to Kaolla. "She's holding some straws…"
"So what? It's probably part of some game, or--" He looked over. "Holy shit!! She's got a purple marker, too!!" He and Static began to run, but were stopped in the air by Ami.
Kimomo walked up to Jin. "Pwease, Jinny?…" She pouted, her eyes becoming larger and glossier.
Jin blushed. "Alright, fine… We'll stay… But don't call me Jinny…" He looked back over to Kaolla. "Hey, what's up with the straws?"
Kaolla nodded to Ami. "Ami, let them down…" She giggled as Jin and Static fell to the ground. "Okay, so my lil' sister thinks we forgot her birthday… But we just need to make a few adjustments to this party and surprise her! So we'll draw straws, and whoever gets the one with the purple tip has to go and distract her somehow!"
Jin and Static stared blankly. "Okay, that does it. We are out of here!" They tried to go to the door, but it closed, locked, another door feel in front of it, then a steel door, then a flaming wooden door. Jin turned around and pointed behind him to the flaming door. "Alright, now was that really necessary?…"
Kaolla smiled. "Mmmm… YES." She held out the straws. "Alright everyone, pick a straw!" And so, they did…
"Yes! Got a blank one!"
"Me toooooooo!"
"Whew, that was close…"
"Oooohweeee!"
"…"
Everyone looked to Shima, who was holding a straw with a purple tip. "… How did I know it was gonna be me?"
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Shima slowly went up the steps. He gulped, then took a peek into Tokimi's room, where Rikina was studying still studying alone. "Um, Rikina?" He managed to squeak out.
Rikina looked toward him and glared. "What do you want?!" She screamed. She looked like she had been crying.
Shima cleared his throat. "Um, I was just wondering… Wanna go walk with me for a while? It's not healthy to spend all day studying…"
"No!" Rikina screamed.
"Why?" Shima muttered.
"Just because! Now get the hell away from me!" Rikina yelled, picking up a book and tossing it at Shima.
Shima caught the book with ease. "What the hell is your problem, anyway?!" Shima yelled, annoyed with her attitude.
Rikina calmed down and looked away, embarrassed by her behavior. "I… don't know…"
"Look…" Shima sighed. "You're probably just stressed out from all of this non-stop studying…" He held out his hand. "Let's just go for a walk…"
Rikina glared. "Why, so you can get me in some alley and take advantage of me?"
Shima sighed. "Alright, that's it!"
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"Let me go, you ruffian!" That is what the others heard Rikina yell from upstairs. "Put me down!" Everyone sweat dropped as Shima walked down stairs, carrying Rikina over his shoulder.
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Soon they were outside, and Rikina continued screaming. She began to pound on Shima's back. "Put me down, idiot! I'm still wearing a th--" Shima dropped her. "Ow! What'd you do that for?!"
"Because I'm sick of your damn attitude!" Shima snapped. "What is your problem?!"
Rikina looked down to the ground. "Because… I don't want to go back home…"
"Huh?" Shima raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"You see, my parents have given up on trying to get Kaolla married and making her the Queen, so now they are going to make me go home and get married… I thought that if I got into Tokyo U, I could at least delay when my parents come to get me… It's been making me very stressed lately and I've been taking it out on you…" She looked up to Shima, crying. "I… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… I've really been a bitch to you, haven't I?"
"Hey, hey!" Shima shook his head. He held her chin in his hand and gently raised her head. "No crying, and no putting yourself down…" He smiled. "Besides, I've been treated a whole lot worse by rival gangs… They called me some pretty nasty names, too. It's toughened me up… Besides…" He began, wiping a tear from her eye. "…crying doesn't suit you…"
Rikina gasped. "Ya--, Shima… I…"
"It doesn't matter what you call me…" He chuckled. "At least, not today…" He looked to the balcony, where Ami winked at him, signally that the preperations were ready. He held out his hand to Rikina. "Now come on, let's go inside…"
Rikina smiled. "Thank you…" But she then grabbed Shima's hand as he let her up… But she quickly turned around and flipped him over her shoulder. "But I'm still angry! You all forgot my birthday was today! And you know why?! Halloween! I hate this holiday!" She began to stomp over to the house.
"Wait! Rikina!" Shima got up as quickly as he could, ran over to her, grabbed her hand, and walked into the building.
"Where are you taking me?!" Rikina demanded.
Shima didn't answer her, and continued walking into the lobby, which was dark.
"What's going on?…" Rikina asked, confused. Suddenly, the lights turned on, and everyone popped up from a hiding place.
"Surprise!!" Everyone screamed. "Happy Birthday, Rikina!"
Rikina smiled, and more tears rolled down her face gently. "You guys…"
Tokimi rushed up and pushed Shima out of the way, hugging Rikina. "You didn't think I would forget my best friend's birthday, did you? Now cheer up, relax! We've studied hard, and it's your birthday!"
Rikina sighed. "I guess you're right…" She looked at herself. "But it's also Halloween! I can't celebrate like this! Wait here!" Rikina ran upstairs.
Sarah coughed. "Why change, I thought she was already in costume?…" She got a nice smack in the back of the head by Kitsune. "Ow!"
After a few minutes, Rikina came down. She was dressed like a female vampire. She wore a tight, black top that showed off some cleavage, a short skirt with some net stockings, high heels, eye shadow, and some very real looking fangs. She smirked. "So, what do you think?…" Shima, Jin, and Static all fell down, blood squirting out of their nose like fountains. Rikina sighed. "Boys…"
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And so, the party continued. In a game of Bobbing for Apples, Ami fell victim to Sarah's gag apple with a fake worm in it. Poor Ami was traumatized for the most of the night. Kitsune got Static drunk, and he tried to fly off the roof. Needless to say, he will be in bed for a while…
Later, they told scary stories in the dark. When Kimomo told her tale, Ami was traumatized for the second time that night.
Finally, they ate cake…
"Here, Rikina…" Shinobu smiled. "Since it is your birthday, you get the first slice!" Shinobu held out a slice of cake.
"Mmmm… Looks good. Thank you, Ms. Shinobu…" Rikina took a bite of the cake.
Shinobu, still smiling, gave a warning. "Oh, by the way… Ami made it."
Rikina's eyes widened as she struggled to eat the cake. She pounded on her chest, and finally managed to swallow it. "It's… very good, Ami…" Good lord, that cake was terrible… Not as bad as the cookies, but…
Ami, completely oblivious, smiled brightly.
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Much later, Shima collapsed on his tatami mat, out of costume. "Wow, what a day… It was fun, though…" He smiled, and quickly fell asleep.
A few minutes later, Rikina slipped into his room. "Urashima?…" She saw that he was asleep. She smiled, crouched down, and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you…" She got up, walked out of the room, and closed the door.
End of Chapter 11
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Mwahahahaha… The plot thickens… or not. Whatever, I'm in a really odd mood right now… See ya…