Author's Notes: First things first, im sorry about this. Those of you who have already read this chapter I apologize. I tried to change the chapter format and all it did was screw everything up, so ive put everything back in order.
Thank You for the positive response for this chapter, im working on the next chapter and im pretty confident I can get it ready for Friday/Saturday.
Btw, im giving a special prize to the one who figures out how I kinda wrote myself into a corner considering the storyline and the title description, if nobody gets it though ill be explaining next chapter.
Ive also considered rewriting the first chapter again, im not entirely happy with it, but im not quite sure what to do with it.
Anyway, to those who haven't read this before, this is chapter three of 'No Second Chance', I hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina, please don't sue.
No second chance – Chapter 3
Motoko could smell that breakfast was being made in the kitchen, from the delicious aroma she could guess who it was that was preparing the food. The kendo girl glided down the stairs and walked into the kitchen, forcefully removing the contemplative look she had been wearing since she had thought about Urashima as she greeted the young cook.
"Good Morning Shinobu-chan."
The young girl turned to see the occupant of those words, frying pan in hand.
"Eh? Oh… good morning Motoko-sempai." She replied, in a slightly dull tone.
'Their breaking up has obviously affected her, too.' Motoko thought to herself as she sat at one end of the table, trying to remain composed and not let her feelings be known.
Although Motoko was now being honest with herself about how she felt about Keitaro, she still wasn't about ready to let her friends know about those feelings.
'If I did, then I would be harassed by Kitsune-san for forever and a day trying to set us up on one of her crazy schemes.'
As if she could read her thoughts, Kitsune stumbled into the kitchen, looking slightly out of it and still wearing the same clothes as she went out in yesterday. "Uggghhhhh…. What time izzit? Where am I?" The drunkard asked as she fell into a chair that Shinobu pulled out for her.
"Erm… would either of you like any breakfast?" The young girl asked rather worriedly.
Motoko could actually see Kitsune turn an ever so slight colour of green as the hung-over party girl looked over at the cuisine that Shinobu had prepared. Motoko doubted she would ever see the appeal of getting wasted night after night in the fashion that her friend did, especially because of the way she quite obviously felt right now.
"Why aren't you still in bed?" The kendo girl asked flatly.
Still looking green Kitsune turned her head away from the food, and to face her. "I…" the woman rubbed her eyes before continuing. "…Heard a scream that woke me up, know owt' about it Motoko?"
"Ah." It was Motoko's turn to change colour, this time a slight red. "I was accosted by that foul creature again, I am sorry that I disturbed you." She bowed slightly in apology.
Kitsune didn't respond, she only put a hand underneath her top and rummaged around, pulling out a small yellow and green package.
"You mean this one?" She asked, her face regained some of her natural mischief as she tossed the thing towards Motoko.
Motoko could only stare with her mouth slightly ajar as the small object suddenly came to life in mid air. "Mew!" It said with glee, and headed straight for her.
A scream that could be heard from the tea house screeched from Motoko's lips as she saw Tama-chan flying towards her. The windows shook and the cutlery on the table rattled as the air left the young woman's lungs to form her scream, but this didn't seem to deter Tama-chan.
"I thought so…" Said Kitsune, who grinned from ear to ear. "Im going back to bed. Shinobu? Could ya' maybe leave some of that out for me later? Thank ya' kindly!"
"H-Hai…" Was the reply from the young chef, who was too busy looking at Motoko run around the room in terror to notice Kitsune saunter back upstairs.
After running a few laps of horror around the kitchen table, Motoko managed to grasp hold of her sword from her side of the table where she had been sat.
The swordswoman unsheathed the blade, both her eyes and her sword now seemed to glint in the morning light, stopping Tama-chan in its tracks.
"I should have made turtle-soup out of you before!!! I will not make the same mistake twice, you foul creature!"
"No wait, Motoko-sempai!!" Cried a now-hiding Shinobu. The warrior would pay no heed to her words now though; she brought her sword high above her head, ready to strike…
"AH-HA!!! I HAVE YOU NOW!!!!" Came a shout from the kitchen doorway, turning Motoko's attention from her prey.
The young woman saw a blonde-haired young girl standing there merely five feet away from herself and Tama-chan, a look of innocent joy on her face… and a bazooka readied on her shoulder.
Both Motoko's and Shinobu's eyes widened (I don't think it's possible for Tama-chans eyes to widen) at the sight of the destructive weapon they had set upon them.
"Wait Su!! Don't!!" Motoko pleaded with her friend, trying to coax her out of blowing her and Shinobu, the kitchen, and the evil turtle up.
"FIRE!!!" Su shouted excitedly, as she triggered a shot which catapulted her tiny frame back into the living room. "WEEEEE!!!!"
Everything turned into slow motion for Motoko; she tilted backwards as the large missile passed overhead. The warrior woman then vaulted the kitchen table like it was nothing and grabbed Shinobu with one arm, before jumping out of the kitchen with her young friend in tow and turned just in time to see the kitchen blow up into smithereens as Tama-chan flew out of the window.
"Are you alright Shinobu-chan?" Motoko asked as she got up and began to dust off her kitchen-covered clothes.
"I-I-I suppose so…" She replied as she too, got up and dusted off her things. "B-but what are we going to do now?"
Both of them continued to look at where the room had once been, but all that was left was a fiery mess. Motoko said, quite simply, as she started for the stairs, "We put out the fire. Ill go get the extinguisher."
Just as Motoko left to get the supplies, Su bounced back to the scene of the crime,
"Did I get 'im? Are we having roast turtle for breakfast?"
Motoko made her way up the stairs, heading for the store room that held the emergency things. Before she made it, a voice called out to her from down the hallway behind her.
"Hey!! I'm trying to get to sleep… keep the noise down will ya'?"
Motoko stopped and turned around to the older woman, it made sense to have them all help to put out the blaze downstairs.
"Kitsune-san. There has been an accident downstairs and we need to put out the fire. Could you wake up Naru-sempai and help us?"
Upon hearing the N-word, Kitsune's face became strangely focused, as if she hadn't been tired at all.
"Naru's not here. She left for her mom's last night. She said something about the place bringing back memories or something," The foxy lady scratched her head. "In fact, that was the last thing I remember about last night, WOW I must have had some fun! Now if only I could remember what I did and with who…" Kitsune, now in her 'deep in thought' stance, turned and started to shut her door.
"Wait!! We need…" Motoko tried to remind her, but to no avail. The door had shut without so much as a word from her friend.
Motoko rejected her instinct to break down her door and drag her downstairs to help; the fire needed putting out before it claimed any of the other rooms. Heading towards the store room once more a thought hit her.
'Did Kitsune-san just say Naru-sempai has gone? Then maybe Urashima will be able to return…' The kendo girl shook her head; there would be time to think about that later, right now, she needed to put out what was left of their kitchen downstairs.
Jogging to the store room, she opened the door and peered inside once she had switched the light on. Inside it turned out to be a vast expanse, easily the same size as any of the residents' rooms and crammed full of supplies. Motoko looked from left to right at the goods that the room held for any such emergency, looking with interest the woman could see a host of mops and buckets, cloths of all colours and shades, a collection of sake that Kitsune had obviously tried to hide, some other odds and ends and a whole battalion of spare fire extinguishers
Motoko picked the first of the extinguishers that was in line and hauled it up to her chest, adjusting her hands so that her grip was more comfortable. She took one last look at the stash of sake, 'I'll have words with Kitsune-san about that later,' before turning off the light and shutting the door.
Running somewhat awkwardly now, she headed down the stairs back to the now fully ablaze kitchen space. The young woman's mind thought of how Urashima used to take care of all of this by himself; even when he wasn't to blame for what happened.
'Having to do this now only upholds my admiration for Urashima; he worked so hard to ensure nothing went wrong at Hinata-sou, even with his clumsy nature.'
Standing now in front of the mini-inferno, Motoko looked at the culprit of the disaster, who was now sat in front of the fire with a stick in hand held over the flames, a slightly toasting banana stuck on the end of it.
"Yay! Bbq breakfast! Bbq breakfast!" She chanted bobbing her head from side to side.
Motoko rolled her eyes slightly in annoyance before picking up the small nuisance and placing her out of harms way. "Awwwwww. I wanted toasty bananas!"
"I-I-I'm sorry Motoko-sempai, I told her not to get too close but she didn't listen." Motoko saw Shinobu running towards them from the corner of her eye, a small bucket full of water in her hands. The small girl passed the swordswoman and twisted so as to throw the water into the flames, the resulting splash managed to make the fire quiver slightly, but didn't manage to deter it any.
"It's alright Shinobu-chan, I have the extinguisher now." Motoko motioned by moving her head downwards towards the shiny casing she was carrying.
"What's 'ex-sting-squish-er'? Is it good to eat?"
Su asked before leaping at the barrel, temporarily forgetting her toasted banana.
"No Su-chan. We are going to use it to put out the fire that you started." Motoko replied, slightly annoyed at the young girl and her obliviousness to what was going on.
"Oh, okay!" Su said, letting go of Motoko and the extinguisher, she sat in a contemplative position, still wondering if somehow she could eat the large red barrel before remembering about her banana.
Motoko sighed from defeat. 'It is times like these that I wonder how we ever managed without Urashima before he came, and how we manage now.' The impromptu firewoman thought to herself as she got herself ready to put out the blaze at last.
An hour after the fire had been put out; the residents were gathered in the living room, along with one indifferent Haruka who stood before them listening to what had taken place.
The middle-aged woman, cigarette as ever sticking out of one side of her mouth, showed no hint of emotion as she always had done. Even after hearing the whole story, her voice was completely calm, she almost sounded bored when she began to speak.
"Hmm…you know how much this will cost the inn don't you?" She said as she eyeballed Su.
Su by now had realised the damage and the significance of what she had done, and was now looking extremely glum at being the cause of the meeting.
"I'm guessing about…" Haruka turned her head to take another look at the burnt out room, "…half a million yen."
Motoko looked at her small friend, Su was remaining quiet for once, she may not understand how much that amount of money was, but from Shinobu's shocked reaction the warrior could tell that she would get some idea.
"Can the inn really afford to pay that?" Kitsune asked, unusually the party girl was rather serious.
"No. The tea house hasn't been busy lately and since we've had fewer tenants than usual there is no way we can afford that." Haruka replied.
There was silence for a moment as the residents took in what their predicament would entail. Su was the first to speak, "I'm sorry, I will get a part-time job to pay back the money."
Motoko noted that Su was also being serious, you could still hear the innocent, joyous undertones that made Su's voice, but she was definitely being sincere with what she said.
"That would take forever." Haruka bluntly replied. "The only alternative left to us is for you to cook your meals at the tea house," The grumpy woman sighed, "Which means I'll be seeing a lot more of you."
Motoko looked around at her house mates, judging their reaction to the plan that Haruka had come up with. Su was obviously pleased that her bazooka exploits hadn't spelled the end of her meals, Kitsune had returned to her normal self and muttered something about a celebratory drink for seeing Haruka more often and Shinobu seemed to be okay with the news as well.
The news of having to have their meals outside of Hinata-sou did not dampen Motoko's spirits either, mentally she was about to give an all clear to the situation before Haruka-san spoke again.
"However…" The single word stopped the room dead, "I will contact Hina-san to get her to send Kanako here to be the Karinin." The silence continued, but Motoko noticed that the others' faces had dropped somewhat. "Kanako will make sure that something like this does not happen again." Haruka looked from side to side, cigarette still somehow lit and burning, waiting for a reply of some kind. She waited a few moments but none came, the middle-aged woman just shrugged her shoulders and left.
Shinobu was the first to speak after Haruka was out of earshot, "Aaauuuuu, I-I don't want Kanako-san to be Karinin again, s-she isn't very nice."
Kitsune nodded her agreement; the drunkard had one hand caress her chin as she thought about the state of affairs. "I agree, she was far too bitchy for her own good. Taking away my drinking and gambling rights like that…"
Su chan piped up next, noticeably back to her old self, "I say we get my Mecha-Tama 9000 and blow her up!! HEHE!"
"No turtles!" Motoko sharply replied, more forcefully than she intended. As if to explain herself she added, "I've had enough of those evil things for a life time already."
"Aaaauuu, I wish sempai was still here…" Shinobu mumbled quietly to herself. Looking up she could now see three sets of eyes trained upon her, "I-I-I-I mean… Keitaro sempai was never strict…" The young girl tried to amend what she had said, the crimson tint on her face giving away how she really felt.
"Keitaro? Hmmmmm…" Kitsune's eyes lit up, Motoko could almost see the gears working inside the older woman's head as she came up with a scheme. Wondering what it was the trickster was planning, the kendo girl thought about the possibility of the man she loved returning.
'If it were Urashima that became Karinin again, and not Kanako-san, I would have all the time in the world to tell him how I feel! And since Naru-sempai is staying with her parents, I wouldn't have to worry about her interference! But how are we going to persuade him to come back?'
"Motoko? Why are you turning red? Did you eat something bad?" Su asked. The small blonde was now inches away from Motoko's face poking the warrior-woman with her toasting stick from earlier.
"Eh?? No-no-no… I'm just…. Errrr…" Motoko replied, trying to flap away her flushed look with her arms.
Kitsune gave Motoko a sideways look with a glint in her eye, she turned towards the swordswoman and was about to speak, but the party girl changed her mind and continued her thinking stance.
Motoko could see the air fall from her mouth as she breathed a sigh of relief, 'Does she know how I feel about Urashima?!' Kitsune glanced over once more at her before she started to speak, but Motoko could see a slight smile in her complexion.
"Naru would kill us if she found out we wanted him back… but I'll be damned if I'm putting up with that bitch of a cat girl!!" With that Kitsune stood up holding her head high defiantly and punching the air.
"YEAH!!" Su joined in, jumping on Kitsune's shoulders and punching the air herself.
"Erm… s-so what are going to do to get sempai back?" Shinobu asked tentatively.
Kitsune turned to the small girl after putting Su on the ground. She gave Shinobu a knowing eye, and said, "Oh, I have a plan, you'll see… but right now, if anyone needs me ill be in the store room. Fu fu fu fu… Byeeeee!"
The party girl gave the others a lopsided grin and hurried up the steps.
"I wonder what Kitsune-san has in mind…?" Shinobu seemed to ask no-one in particular.
"Maybe she'll use my Mecha-Tama 9000 to go and get 'im!" Su piped in, the young girl was bouncing around the room, becoming over-excited at the prospect of using heavy machinery as usual.
'The only machine Kitsune-san will be needing is a stomach pump' Motoko thought to herself as she rolled her eyes slightly.
"I'm gonna go prep the Mecha-Tama, heheheheheheh I wonder if I can attach some more missiles to it and put in a nuclear power plant…" The small blonde muttered to herself bounding out of the room.
Motoko was about to leave the room herself when she noticed Shinobu sat quietly, the chef was obviously thinking about something, hard. She noticed how slowly a small beam appeared on her lips, "Maybe he would…" Shinobu looked up at her and blushed, "…o-oh, would you excuse me Motoko-sempai."
The warrior looked in a somewhat confused manner as Shinobu got up and ran upstairs as well, the smile never leaving her face as she rushed away from Motoko's view.
'I wonder what she is so cheery about.'
Motoko shook her head and got to her feet, the thought of them trying to get Urashima to come back to Hinata-sou still excited her. As the swordswoman strolled towards her room, she thought about how they were going to accomplish their task.
'Urashima is probably still feeling down about Naru-sempai, he probably won't want to come back if he thinks that she is here. Kitsune-san knows this and yet she says she has a plan… maybe she means to go and explain the situation to him?' Motoko considered this for a moment as she swung open her door and went inside her room.
'That wouldn't work either, as soon as Naru-sempai found out that one or all of us had gone to retrieve Urashima she would never forgive us for betraying her. Kitsune-san also knows this, so what is her plan then?'
Trying to put herself in the same state of mind as the trickster, Motoko slowly pieced together what it was that the drunkard would likely do.
'Kitsune-san will try and get Urashima to come back of his own free will. If he does that it will be him that Naru-sempai is angry at and not her.'
"It certainly sounds like something Kitsune-san would do." Motoko said to herself. That was all well and good, but she still didn't know how she would do it, if her plan would work at all. Kitsune was very good at coming up with schemes, but her problem was that they all tended to backfire upon her.
'I cannot let that happen. This may be the only chance I ever have to tell Urashima how I feel and to finally see how he feels about me! No, thinking about what Kitsune-san is going to do will not work, I have to do something for myself. I'll write Urashima a letter telling him of our situation and that I… I mean 'we' want him to come home.'
Motoko could feel her heart rate increase as she thought of everything this simple letter could accomplish, how Keitaro would return and proclaim his love for her, just like in her dream.
Several hours had passed; the giddiness in Motoko's heart hadn't stopped for a single beat. She had carefully written the letter to Urashima, it had taken seven attempts but she had made it perfect, and now she would post it, at night so that the others would not see what she was doing.
'I do not wish to deceive them, but I cannot let them know how I feel about Urashima yet, I do not yet know how they will react.'
Motoko rose to her feet and strode to the door, realising that she was now holding the letter tightly against her chest, she stopped, she must have looked like some little schoolgirl with a crush.
'It doesn't matter anymore what I look like or what other people perceive of me, these are my feelings and I am wrong to deny them.'
The proud swordswoman straightened herself and set off for her door once again. She reached it and opened the entrance to her room a crack, just enough to check the corridor for the others, looking from left to right she couldn't see anyone and so Motoko crept out of her room into the dark Hinata-sou.
'I really hope none of the others see me, I have no excuse for being out so late.' Motoko thought to herself as she carefully trod her way towards the stairs, being careful as to not tread on a loose floorboard and wake anyone. Minutes passed as she walked slowly, trying not to make any noise, she had just reached the head of the stairs when Motoko could hear something.
"Urrrrggghhh..." It called out.
The sound froze Motoko solid, she couldn't see exactly what it was that had made it, but she could tell it had come from the bottom of the stairs. Mental images formed themselves in Motoko's mind; shadowed shapes turned themselves into giant turtles that shrieked their unhappiness at her before they attacked.
The fear in Motoko grew, she still couldn't see the figure, but it was slowly making its way up to meet her. The young woman grasped for her side where her sword normally sat, she gasped as she found her side lay empty, and a simple realisation hit her as the shape grew ever larger.
'I forgot my sword, both of my hands were full holding the letter… my foolishness will cost me my life, and I will never get to tell Urashima how I feel!'
Motoko could feel her hands and forehead begin to sweat out of fear of facing the turtles without her sword; she closed her eyes as the black outline came within feet of her. She could almost hear its raspy breathing near her…
" Oh…Ello, Motoko….! Wat are youuu doing up now… you ssshhhhould be in bed…" Kitsune spoke out to her, causing Motoko to somehow fall over. Relief washed over the woman as she got herself up from the floor. Now they were only feet apart, Motoko could see Kitsune's features, although the woman looked slightly worse for wear now, and she stank of sake.
"What am I doing?! What are you doing?! You scared me to death!!" The younger woman said, still relieved that Kitsune hadn't turned out to be a turtle.
"Shhhhh… Shhh… you might wake sshhomeone… heheheheh… whatsh that?" The party goer jabbed at the letter held lovingly in Motoko's arms. "Ish sthat a love letter? You got shome hotty on the shide?" Kitsune started giggling as she put her arm around Motoko. "I had a man, oncsh. But the B-starred didn't have enough money to pay for my cab home, so I shed, Hey! You aint walking me home, I know the way… stupid bugger…I shhhowed him…"
Kitsune let go of her friend and continued on to her room, all the while muttering under her breath about 'not letting him have it'. Motoko shook her head in pity for her friend; she wished that she would never, ever be in a state like that.
Motoko turned back to the mission at hand; to deliver the letter that would make Urashima come home. The kendo girl managed to make it out of the inn without any problems, all that stood between her and the post box were the steps down into the city.
'I shouldn't have any problems now, Shinobu-chan and Su-chan know better than to wander outside at night.'
She quickly hurried down the steps, her heartbeat getting faster and faster at the thought of Urashima coming back, all because Motoko was going to send him the letter she had written. A brief smile entered her lips as she remembered the dream from last night,
'Maybe it will come true…' She thought.
Motoko was at this moment as ecstatic as she ever could be, all of her thoughts focused on Keitaro, she didn't even notice the sound of quick footsteps as she rounded the corner.
The woman grunted as something collided with her stomach, causing the wind to fly out of her lungs. Putting one hand to her abdomen, Motoko looked at what it had been that she had run into, she noticed on the ground before her, was a small girl with short blue-tinted hair.
"Shinobu-chan?!" She exclaimed, finding it difficult to breathe.
"M-Motoko-sempai?" The floored girl replied, sounding scared.
Motoko offered a hand to her young friend, who took it tentatively as the warrior pulled her up. "What are you doing out here, Shinobu-chan? There are unpleasant people on the streets at night."
Hinata-sou's chef backed off slightly, "I… I-I was…" Shinobu had turned bright red and looked down at the floor, occasionally glancing upwards at the older woman. Motoko stood waiting for Shinobu to answer,
'What is she hiding? She couldn't be seeing someone at night? Could she?'
Motoko considered this for a split second before rejecting it; Shinobu was not the kind of girl to do that, or anything else that involved being out during the night for that matter.
"Sempai? What is that?" Shinobu asked, Motoko's question temporarily forgotten as she pointed towards the swordswoman's chest.
Her face shone like a red beacon in the night at the realisation of what it was that the girl was pointing to. Motoko placed the letter behind her back quickly; even though she knew it would do no good, Shinobu had already seen the precious document.
"This? Oh this is… well… it's…nothing…" She said looking around nervously; she just couldn't let her friend know what it was she was holding in her hands. Motoko could tell that she probably looked extremely suspicious right now, if she couldn't think of something to say then the kendo girl would have to admit what she was doing.
"WEEEE hehehehe!" Someone shouted from behind her. Motoko recognised the voice immediately, but she couldn't believe that Su was out at this time of night as well. Shinobu, who had attached her small form to Motoko the instant she had heard the sound, had let go of her friend after the blonde girl came into view.
"Motoko, Shinobu?" The crazy inventor stopped in her tracks, looking slightly puzzled, yet still madly happy.
Motoko mentally slapped herself, instead of posting the letter in secret; she had in fact allowed all of her house mates see her outside, acting very suspiciously. 'When did I become so clumsy?' She asked herself silently. 'Oh that's right, when I admitted my feelings about Urashima; I should try to not think about him so much, it's very distracting.' Not that she seemed to have a choice in the matter.
"Su? Y-you are out here too?" Shinobu spoke up, still shaken by her friend's sudden appearance.
"Yep." She said abruptly, grinning. The foreigner put her hand in her pocket and pulled out an envelope. She held up the item showing it to Motoko and Shinobu saying, "I've written a letter to Keitaro and I'm gonna send it to 'im!"
"WHAT?!" Motoko and Shinobu shouted in unison. They turned to look at each other and blushed; both of them puzzled at the others loud response.
Before she questioned Shinobu further, something occurred to her,
'If Su is going to send Urashima a letter, then it will most likely ask him just to come back and keep Kanako away. If he then declined then the worst that would happen is that we would be stuck with Urashima's sister. Whereas if I had sent my letter and he had declined… then he would have rejected me… It would be best if Su sent hers and not mine…'
"What's this Motoko? You have a letter too?" Motoko snapped out of her contemplative trance to find Su was now behind her, holding Motoko's letter. Her heart seemed to stop dead for a moment, "SU!! That's not yours, give it ba-"
"I know! I'll post it for you!!" Su proclaimed as she turned around and leapt at the post box.
For the second time today for Motoko, everything seemed to go into slow motion. Yet this time, her body wouldn't move, she tried to stop the young girl, but all she could do was watch as the mad scientist posted the two letters. "Yaaaayy! I helped!!" Su shouted happily as she peered in at the long, dark, opening that was the entrance for the box. "Bye bye letters!! Be good!!" The eccentric girl shouted at the post box, waving her hand from side to side frantically as she bounced back to Motoko's side.
The few seconds that had passed since Su had posted the letters, Motoko had been unable to move. The thought that Urashima might not come back had only just occurred to her, but now that it had made its way into her head, it wasn't about to go without a fight.
'I was so convinced that he was just going to see that I… I mean we needed him and come back as soon as he could. But if he didn't give up his dream of archaeology for Naru-sempai, why would he give it up for any of us? I was foolhardy to think that such a small thing as a letter would convince him to come back and give us the opportunity to grow closer.'
If it hadn't meant defacing public property and dealing with the law, Motoko would have had no problem just returning to the inn to get her sword and opening the box with a technique or two. But as it was, that option was no longer viable, the three young women had made a lot of noise and Motoko could see a few sets of eyes peering from behind slightly opened curtains.
The warrior sighed in defeat. There was nothing that she could do, she would just have to wait and see what Urashima's reaction, if any, was.
Motoko guided the two girls back to the dormitory, albeit slowly. Her mind was still thinking of all the possible situations her letter could bring, granted most of them were favourable; Urashima had always tried to help any of the residents if they needed him and this time would hopefully be no different.
'Well maybe a little,' Motoko reminded herself. 'This time I'm asking him to come back so I can tell him I love him… well he doesn't know that yet…but still…'
Just thinking that sentence sent goose bumps down the kendo girl's body, she had thought it over countless times, but each and every time still stopped her heart for a beat or two.
Yet, no matter how favourable the situation there was always going to be the possibility of rejection. 'If he decides that he doesn't want to come back it will be his way of saying he doesn't care for me. Even if he does come back it might not be because of what I say! Su has also sent him a letter, what if she told Urashima she loved him in what she wrote and that's why he wants to come back?!'
Thinking of her big mistake, Motoko walked behind Shinobu and Su and began to climb the steps of Hinata-sou. Ascending the great height seemed to take an age compared to when she had ran to the box earlier, it gave the now somewhat deflated warrior plenty of time to think about how she might deal with the truth, that Keitaro felt nothing but fear for Motoko's old self and that he would never see the new self that cared so much for him.
'…And there might not be anything I can do to change that…'
A/N: Well that's it, if anyone is wondering whats written on the letters I should be explaining on the next chapter, although since this is my first story, nothing is set in stone.
If you have a spare few seconds id really appreciate any comments you could give me, no flames if you please, the only thing they would accomplish is making me cry.
Just a few last things, if the amount of yen for a new kitchen is waaayyy unrealistic to those in the know, sorry, I used a currency converter for how much an English kitchen would be. And sorry, my grasp of Japanese terms is sketchy. At best. So if I get some of them wrong please have patience, I would appreciate any mistakes brought to my attention with some answers though.
Thanks so much for reading my work.