'Love Hina: Adventures in Morphing!

Andrew Joshua Talon

DISCLAIMER: Myu! Myuuh!

"""""""""""

'Episode 6: Telling the Truth: Haruka

""""""""""""

My name is Haruka Urashima.

And I realized that I had a slight problem.

I drew in a long drag from my cigarette, sitting on the porch of my tea house, staring out over the Hinata valley as the mid-day sun beat down upon it. A peregrine falcon was flying high overhead, gliding on the thermals with a grace foreign to any aircraft of man.

Or even Yeerk.

Yes, you heard me. The whole thing about the alien invasion, slugs crawling into people's heads and taking over their bodies, Andalite bandits, space battles-All true.

And how do I know this? Because I was one of them. A Controller.

I watched my young nephew enter the Hinata, wearing, seemingly, the weight of the world on his shoulders. The Yeerk in my head, Firniss-998, had taken perverse pleasure in the beatings my nephew received. I would have stayed out of it, yet, but I would have never let him just screw things up for himself, or make so many bad decisions.

The Yeerk wasn't interested in my nephew. She had more interest in the Asian group of so-called "Andalite bandits" that Visser 6, a prominent Controller in Japan, had been hunting and cursing for years. There'd been speculation about this second group of morphers, like there had been about the first group in the United States: Speculation regarding the true identity of these terrorists. Well, the Yeerks called them terrorists-The hosts called them freedom fighters.

Anyway, the idea was that the Andalites had violated Seerow's Kindess-Kind of like a Prime Directive, to never give out their technology to less-advanced races, again, as the one notable time they'd done it before they'd let loose the Yeerks-and given the morphing technology to humans.

But that was absurd. The Andalites were proud and arrogant, but they did not make the same mistake twice.

"Aunt Haruka?" I lifted my head from my brooding, and looked into the eyes of my nephew. I narrowed my eyes, but refrained from hitting him.

"Just Haruka, please," I said, suddenly feeling old as I puffed out a drag. He nodded, and waited expectantly. I took a deep breath.

"How was flying?" I asked, looking up at him. A flash of surprise was in his eyes, before it was covered by a small smile.

"So... You know."

"Yes. I do."

"When...?"

"A while ago... Wasn't too hard to figure out." I looked into his clear, brown eyes. He looked back, holding my gaze. I can't help feeling a bit surprised at how calmly he's taking this. Keitaro... The Keitaro I know would have been freaking out by now. But, I imagine, some of the things that he's gone through would make anyone grow up.

"So... You know about my flying lessons." I narrowed my eyes.

"No, you idiot!" Keitaro smiled slightly, his demeanor slightly more relaxed.

"A test, Haruka. Nothing more. Just making sure..."

"Keitaro, as I recall, you watched the last Yeerk leave the planet," I drawled, as he shrugged.

"Yeah... I did."

"So... Which one were you? The lion? The bear? The tiger?" I paused, and glared. "Make a Wizard of OZ joke, and you suffer."

"Crossed my mind," Keitaro confessed, grinning genuinely now. I can't recall seeing this smile before, ever. It just seems to lift my spirits up, make me feel confident and happy. It's so free, so vivid...

He never smiled this at you, because he knew... He knew... He wasn't talking to you, I thought.

"The lion, actually."

"King of the beasts?"

"Tact called the tiger, Sayoko called the bear. I got what was left."

"Ah... So, Kanako was the snake, and David, I believe...?"

"Panther. Or cheetah. It depended on some things."

"Ah..." I nodded, looking him up and down. I sighed deeply, looking down into my lap.

"It's hard to believe it's over, isn't it?"

"Pretty much, yeah..." Keitaro agreed. "No more risking life and limb to save the world every week."

"No more having my head shoved under the water of the Yeerk pool by a Hork Bajir," I added.

"No more killing."

"No more death." We looked at eachother, and shared a sigh.

"No more lies," he finished quietly, reaching down and taking my hand in his. I flushed slightly, before smiling at him, almost shyly.

"Hi. I'm Keitaro Urashima. Nice to meet you," he murmured, smiling down at me. I smile back, tossing the cigarette aside.

"Haruka Urashima. Likewise..."

"""""""""""

My name is Kanako.

"All I'm saying is, Moi could have had the best batting average this year, were it not for that fine," groused a patron of the Silver Eel, a small sports bar on the main strip of the Hinata business sector. I sipped my drink, sitting in the shadows, my witch's hat covering my eyes as I watch the bustling establishment.

"C'mon... Moi's never had anything," argued another, glaring the first patron down. "Now Fusiyama, that's a power hitter. He'd have had a perfect score this season were it not for that wrist injury."

"No way! Fusiyama's just a rookie! Moi's got experience, a keen eye-"

"And a penchant for drinking? Now I know why you look up to him," sneered the other, sitting up and stalking away from the bar. The bartender called after him.

"Hey! You have to pay for this!"

"He can handle it," the patron threw back, stalking out the door and onto the street. Silently, I got up and followed.

The noisy patron walked down the street, walking somewhat erratically. I could tell he was drunk, as he staggered into a nearby alley. I turned the corner, still following. He leaned against a trashcan, breathing deeply, as he grew in height and changed ethnic groups.

"Remind me never to drink in that particular morph again," Tact stated, turning around. He looked at me, and I looked back at him.

"Find anything?" I asked. I was never one for subtly with Tact-We were both so good at mind games, his by acting goofy, mine by acting emotionless, that to duel each other on that field would have driven us both mad.

"Nothing," he replied, sighing. "I checked on the families of the two men – Nobody wanted to see either of them again, or even talk about what they had been doing."

"You could have let me help. I can tell when someone is lying," I said quietly, making him wince. Good, he can read my moods well enough to know when I'm hurt.

"It's... I have to do this, Kanako."

"Not alone."

"..." He turned away, looking at the wall.

"You know I'm right, which is why you're acting like this," I continued, walking right up to him.

"... Yeah." I sighed deeply, putting a hand on his shoulder. He starts in surprise, looking at me over said shoulder. I'm not one to show physical affection much-I never have been, except with nii-chan.

"... So... What should we do?"

"What you should do is come back," I said, glaring at him. "Then we'll decide what we do... Got it?" He smiled back, putting his hand on mine. He looks so much like nii-chan when he's smiling like that.

"Got it."

""""""""""""""""""

Next time: Another attack by weird creatures, on Toudai! And Naru's one of the victims! How will Keitaro respond?