Chapter 7

Shinobu wrapped up a plate for Kitsune for when she woke up, and placed it in the refrigerator.

She had watched Su inhale her breakfast like normal, and then proceed to attack the banana bunch by the sink. "I'm off to play with Keitaro" she said, as she bounced her way out of the kitchen.

Shinobu gasped "No!"

Su stopped and looked at Shinobu

"Why 'No'?" She asked.

"Keitaro is hurt, he hit his head really bad and has a big lump sticking out on his forehead, and Motoko is watching over him like she did last night"

"Oh!" said Su. "A bump you say? I know just the invention." She then raced out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

Shinobu gulped 'The last bump remover Su made looked an awful lot like a big hammer... I hope she doesn't upgrade a hammer even "better" than she did last time' she thought.

Shinobu prepared two tray meals for Keitaro and Motoko, and took them down the hall. The door to Keitaro's room was closed, and she called out "Motoko?"

"Coming" said Motoko from inside the room.

Motoko opened the door and let Shinobu in to the room and stepped out of her way. Shinobu placed both trays beside his futon. "How is he doing?" she asked.

Motoko responded "much better compared to last night," as she picked up her tray and began eating. She was going to need her strength today. After a few minutes she had finished and was still a bit hungry, "should I eat some of Keitaro's ... I don't think he is going to wake up until later."

Shinobu said "I guess so, I will help. I guess..." They both finished off Keitaro's tray. They waited in silence there together for a few minutes watching over Keitaro.

Shinobu then asked "do you want me to take over for just a bit so you can get some rest? It must have been hard staying up all night with Keitaro"

Motoko unable to lie very much more to Shinobu said "I actually napped lightly last night while watching over him, but I appreciate the offer, maybe it will be good to get out for a bit."

Motoko finished off her meal, and Shinobu took the tray "I'll be right back when I am done with the dishes."

"O.K." Motoko responded.

After a few minutes Shinobu returned and they traded places, 'I had wanted to go out and do some practice anyway,' she was trying to convince herself. She also did it so that Shinobu wouldn't get very suspicious.

She grabbed her bokken from the laundry room, and found her laundry half out of the washer. A bit puzzled, but brushing it off, she began pulling the rest of them out. She finished removing the rest of the clothes, and put them in the Dryer, making sure to pull out her delicates. Kanako had made it very clear, that she was not to dry lace in the dryer. She hid them under her shirt, and pushed start on the dryer.

She didn't really notice that she had a few of Keitaro's clothes in with hers, because she had his shirt and shorts for quite some time now. Besides she also on occasion had snuck a few of his clothes in with her load. So washing Keitaro's clothes with hers didn't really didn't have the same affect that it had on someone else this morning.

She then went up to her room, and hung her lace undergarments on clothes pins in her room like Kanako had shown her when she explained how to take care of lace. She would have used the line outside, but she was much too embarrassed to show anyone else her lacy things, it was bad enough Kanako and Kitsune knew.

She then put on her more traditional work out uniform, but this time she thought better about wearing her new lacy undergarments. It's too bad Kanako and Mitsune confiscated her chest bindings. She shrugged, at least he won't be around for a little while, and I suppose I can do without a bra for today.

She went up to the roof, and worked up quite a sweat practicing her techniques. After about two hours, she was quite exhausted. One thing she definitely had decided is that she would ask Mitsune, to go to the store, to help her get a sports bra since they wouldn't let her have her chest bindings back and the lacy ones were cutting into her shoulders.

She went down and grabbed another couple of towels and she looked around for her robe, when she remembered where it was she blushed. Deciding on an alternative course of action she went back upstairs and grabbed the clothes she was wearing earlier. It was so she could change down to the changing room today.

She made sure to bathe fast today, so she could get back to Keitaro and Shinobu as soon as she could. She then changed back into what she was wearing earlier.

She went back to Keitaro's room, and saw Shinobu humming what sounded like "Scarborough fair" with her eyes closed. She entered quietly and sat down next to Shinobu.

The humming stopped abruptly "oh you startled me, how long have you been there" Shinobu asked Motoko.

"Not long, I didn't want to disturb you from taking good care of Keitaro. I can take him for a while if you need to do some chores and get groceries. I am sure when he wakes up he may want some of your fine cooking. Maybe if we even did some of his chores today, it would be good to let him rest." Motoko suddenly felt bad for manipulating Shinobu like this, she didn't know why she was doing it either, and she just knew that she didn't really want Shinobu there while she was with Keitaro.

A smile appeared on Shinobu's face, "O.K. that sounds like a great idea" she said.

She got up and left Motoko there alone with Keitaro. A selfish thought came over Motoko 'that was just too easy.' A few moments later, part of Motoko suddenly felt really guilty for tricking Shinobu like that.

A half hour later soft humming could be heard coming from Keitaro's room.

Haruka opened the door to her shop and went inside the back to see if there was a fax or a message from granny Hina.

She rounded the corner of the counter, and saw a couple of pages on the floor. "The fax must have gone off last night" she said to herself as she gathered them up.

There was a coversheet from granny Hina from "Le Eiffel Tower cyber café" Haruka was amazed, 'Boy she really gets around,' she thought.

She looked at the second page of the fax. It was a simple hand written note that said "Just check on Keitaro and take no action till I talk to you. Call my number precisely 10:00 P.M. your time." Below the note was a crude pretty dark picture, but it looked like Kanako and Granny Hina standing below the Arc De Triumph.

Haruka sighed "it may turn out to be a long day."

She walked up the stairs to the Inn. She went in the entrance of the inn, and saw nothing out of the oridinary. She then called out "where is everyone?"

"Out here!" cried a small voice from the outdoor baths. She stepped outside, and saw Shinobu scrubbing down the rocks with the scrubbing broom that Keitaro always used.

"Good morning Haruka-san" Shinobu said, and then happily returned to scrubbing.

"Good morning to you too Shinobu, how come you are doing the job that Keitaro usually does?" Haruka probed. She new something was up, but she didn't want to sound too suspicious.

"Well... I thought this would help sempai out, so when he wakes up he won't have to worry about cleaning." She said happily. 'I may even get a kiss for helping him out' she thought, and then quickly turned and focused on her scrubbing so that Haruka wouldn't see her blush.

"What do you mean when he wakes up, he is sleeping in today?" Haruka asked.

"Oh, you haven't heard yet. Umm..." Shinobu turned back to face her eyes already beginning to fill with tears.

"Umm.... Well you see, Sempai got hurt pretty badly, he hit his head on that rock over there." She pointed. "Motoko found him and she has been taking care of him since then. She even stayed with him all night long. She said she is sure he will recover very soon" she said as she tried to smile. She then returned to her work with a new found vigor.

Haruka then looked towards the rock that Shinobu had been pointing too. The cigarette that had been hanging in her mouth fell down on the wet stonework and went out with an angry hiss. A boulder that about as wide as Su was tall, was standing wide open was split in two almost identical halves.

Haruka picked up her soggy cigarette and carried it back to the changing room and threw it in the trash. She was still in a bit of a shock over seeing a rock that big easily split in half by Keitaro's head. She went to the manager's room, and opened the door. Motoko jumped up into a sitting position, although she thought it almost looked like she had been examining Keitaro's face very closely. It also looked like Motoko was breaking out in quite a deep blush.

Haruka cleared her throat. "What did Naru do this time? I heard from Shinobu that he had quite a collision with a rather large rock"

Motoko shifted nervously. "I don't really know what happened, except, that last night, while I was in the bath, I heard Keitaro scream, and saw him hit that large rock." She then nervously added "Well, I couldn't just leave him outside in the cold, and so brought him in here kind of took care of him last night and a bit today."

Haruka came over and removed the dampened wash cloth that was covering his forehead. It looked like someone had glued half of golf ball on his front temple. "Normally I would call a doctor, but knowing Mr. Indestructible here, he should be up and about in no time causing problems." She paused and then asked "Is he getting any better?" as she replaced the wash cloth over his angry bump.

"Better... Yes, better than he was yesterday evening anyway. The swelling went down a bit, and he did move in his sleep last night" She nervously added, and then looked away trying to hide the blush that was invading her face.

Haruka noticed that Motoko was trying to hide something, but didn't really push the issue.

Haruka only said "He probably pushed one too many of Naru's buttons. She has been kind of really aggressive as of late. Do you know what set her off?"

Motoko having gotten control of her blush turned and said, "No, only that she is really angry, at everyone it seems."

Kitsune suddenly appeared at the entry way. "You can say that again, she really needs to blow off some steam. Could you guys keep it down... my head is killing me, and why is it so Bright out here? If you ask me, I think she just really needs some time and a LOT of space. Now if you don't mind, I don't feel so well." Motoko and Haruka watched her head towards the kitchen, 'probably for pain killers' both of them thought at the same time.

"Well I guess I will leave him to you then, if he wakes up any time soon, I have something I want to ask him." She got up and went to the door. She then turned around and said "One more question... besides splitting a boulder with his head, did anything else happen, kind of out of the ordinary?"

Motoko furiously thought, 'Does she know something? No, she can't... can she? She is pretty perceptive...' her mouth suddenly found it self saying "No, nothing really, not a thing." 'What if she suspects something?' Her heart was thumping really hard, and her palms began to sweat.

"O.K." she said.

Haruka had started out of his door, and was just about out of site when a thought crossed Motoko's mind. "Well... I did see something but I think it was my imagination. I thought I saw him glowing, but that's impossible, Naru couldn't have hit him hard," she laughed nervously.

Haruka paused and then said "you're probably right." She then disappeared down the hall.

Motoko got up, went to the door, and closed it. "It probably was my imagination" but because Haruka had brought it up, she was beginning to wonder.

Haruka thought about going up to see Naru, and thought better against it, besides the tea house couldn't run itself. She lit herself a new cigarette once she got outside, and she then prodded down the stairs.

When she arrived at the tea house she proceeded to go through her morning ritual, and get everything ready. She checked the water that was piped directly from a boiling hot thermal spring deep below ground. It was running fine, as always. It had been there for a few hundred of years. No one quite knew when the rumor started, but people started believing in the healing properties of the tea. It is what helped her keep her laid back way of life. Not that business was all that great but it was enough. She brewed a few of the more popular tea's like Green and English tea. Not forgetting to make a pot of coffee for some of her regulars; however the most regular customer for coffee was really herself.

'She had said.. "I thought I saw him glowing", what does it mean?' she was thinking. She didn't know but she certainly knew who to ask. She looked at the clock and thought 'It will be a while till can ask. Ten P.M. is a long time from now.'