-disc- Not mine… LH still belongs to Akamatsu Ken, and I hope it stays that way
A Love Hina Story: Prelude
By Kurosawa Seiji (K.S)
'thoughts'
"dialogue"
(me butting in the story)
--author nonsense--
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Motoko woke with a start. For the past few days, she had been having some rather distasteful dreams (in her opinion), but she couldn't remember very well any of them when she woke up. However, she had the slight inkling that they had to do with her sister, Tsuruko. And with Keitaro too, since his face was the only thing she could remember clearly after waking up, all sweaty and hot. Just what did it mean, she had no idea whatsoever.
'Might as well get up', she thought, stealing a glance at her digital alarm clock in her bed stand. It read four-thirty in the morning.
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At daybreak, Motoko was still up in the roof, practicing her kata with her bokken. However, she was not alone anymore. Shinobu had gone to hang out the clothes to dry, and was currently engrossed in watching, or rather touching, one of her beloved sempai's shirts. Motoko took notice that Shinobu had stopped moving a while ago. Intrigued, she went down to where Shinobu was, gently touching the younger girl's shoulder.
"Is everything ok, Shinobu-chan?" asked Motoko, keeping her mask of impassiveness in place. However, she was not expecting the reaction she got from the girl… Suffice it to say that Motoko was the center of attention (and some jokes) all the morning.
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All in all, Motoko's week couldn't have been worse. First, she had missed her train to the training camp, and she had to walk back to the Inn under a very heavy downpour which, by the way, decided to begin when she was midway back home. Then, the other day she had run into Keitaro, who was cleaning the onsen. Needless to say, his natural clumsiness got the better of him. At this point in time, Motoko was already experiencing the symptoms of a cold, but she chose to brush them aside (like the first time, when she met Keitaro). The next day had been what she had come to know as 'The Shinobu Incident', thanks to Kitsune. Later, that same day, she had run into Keitaro again, this time when she was going downstairs to grab something to eat. She had tripped (although she would never admit it) and had landed on top of him. She didn't know what infuriated her more: the fact that they had kissed (accidentally, of course), or that he had been unconscious when it happened. And, to top it all off, she had received a letter from her sister, saying she was due on Saturday. Of course, being Tsuruko, she didn't say what for, or at what time she would be arriving. Motoko could almost see her sister's smile, a smile that made you feel like she was up to something. She shivered. Nope, Motoko wasn't having a good week by any standards.
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Friday came and went like money on Kitsune's hands: pretty darn fast. So, on the morning of the fated (and sometimes hated) Sunday, Motoko's nerves were on the verge of a breakdown. It didn't help at all to have Suu yelling and running around the house, or Naru telling Keitaro how perverted he was for the umpteenth time. Or having Kitsune watching TV with the volume at unholy levels. Shinobu, although her intentions were noble, wasn't helping the matter either. She kept telling Motoko to relax, that everything was going to be fine. But could Motoko relax when she knew her sister could arrive at any minute with a new scheme up her sleeve? No sir, not at all.
Finally, there was a knock on the front door. Everyone went silent, even Suu. The next few moments were an ordeal for Motoko, since time decided he wanted to see her suffer. Everything was in slow motion, like in a movie. The front door was slowly, almost painfully, opened, inch by inch, to reveal a silhouette standing outside. Said silhouette let everyone gape at her, enjoying the attention given, but never letting it show openly. After a few moments, the silhouette decided to step in. Motoko's blood pressure went skyward, and she turned around to avoid seeing her sister, for fear that she would faint in her presence. A deadly silence followed, but everyone's eyes were still glued to the new arrival. Slowly, Motoko turned around, confusion and curiosity etched in her eyes. She was promptly rewarded by the sight of
"Haruka-san?" Motoko squealed, fainting on the spot. The stress accumulated through the week plus the lack of sleep from the weeks before plus the anxiety of seeing her sister again had taken a toll on Motoko's body (let us not forget that she had been exposed to the rain from earlier in the week, and was currently having a cold), and it went on a shutdown mode. Although she was a warrior (and an exceptional one at that), she was still a young woman. Furthermore, she was still human. And no human can go on with little to no rest and a stressing life to boot… Unless you're on drugs, of course (which isn't the case).
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Motoko's dream world was not something you could call normal… At least for her. She had been having strange dreams that eluded her conscious self, but when asleep she could remember them all very well. Most of the time, her dreams focused on the demons she had slain so far. But lately, her most recurrent dream was of her and Keitaro doing… 'stuff' X-rated movie stars would be jealous of. But since this is not rated 'R', I won't dwell on its details. And as I said, this was not normal for Motoko. Thus, she decided it was time to wake up.
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Motoko's eyes fluttered open, and she was greeted by Keitaro… or would have, if he hadn't fallen asleep while holding her. Blushing like mad (or like Shinobu, whichever you prefer), Motoko blurted out something, anything, before she realized her position and what was happening. Motoko's head was resting in Keitaro's lap, his head dangling dangerously close to hers. Dangerous for him, since this is Motoko we're speaking of. That's why the next thing that could be heard was a Keitaro-esque panicked scream, some running, a 'Shinmeiryu: Zanmaken' by Motoko, some more yelling and finally, a loud crash that screamed 'pain!' to the victim. All this happened in a split second, leaving the rest of the onlookers amazed at the speed of the swordswoman and the ronin.
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Later in the evening, after things had cooled down, Haruka explained what had happened while Motoko was out cold. Turns out, her sister had showed up and left, but had left a letter to Motoko. In it, Tsuruko explained her change of plans and the fact that Motoko was going to receive 'special training' from a stranger she had never heard about. But what was more amazing was that Tsuruko said that this person managed a draw in a match with her, and a stalemate in the rematch.
Motoko was amazed. She had never heard before of someone managing to equal her sister's strength. 'This person must be a great warrior, to end in a stalemate with my sister', Motoko thought. Her amazement was short lived, however, as a young man, no older than twenty something years, entered the room, followed closely by a young girl near Shinobu or Suu's age, perhaps even younger.
Her gut instinct was to attack this stranger (after all, he was a male), but seeing how the other girls (and Keitaro, of course) greeted him and the way the young girl had climbed to the front of the man and was now hugging him tightly, she held back.
Noticing that she had already done her share of the work, Haruka silently retreated back to her Tea Shop. Stealing a last glance at the strange young man who had showed up in her shop earlier in the day, she wondered what would happen now.
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--A/N: So? How'd you like it so far? I'd like to know what you readers out there think… Who knows? Maybe you people can help me get over my block, so I can get my lazy ass back to work on ReArranged… Anyways, please r&r, means a lot to me… Thanx! (K.S)--