Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina or many of the characters in this story. Only a couple of the characters in this story are mine.
"…" – Character talking
'…' – Character thinking
Chapter Two: Shadows Rising
Keitaro Urashima, the third year ronin and girls dorm manager, made his way into Hinata Sou after a hard day of school and work. He set his books down near the couch and made his way to the kitchen for a snack.
"Hey Sempai, how was your day today?" Keitaro looked to see Shinobu Maehara, a 14 year old resident and full-time cook, preparing supper.
"Kinda exhausting. I had to help Seta get some loose ends tied up before he went overseas on another dig. Where's everyone else?"
"Let's see, Kitsune and Mutsumi are in the hot springs, Motoko's talking to Naru, and Su and Sarah – God only knows," Shinobu stated.
"Well, I'm heading to my room to try and rest some. Let me know when supper's ready." Keitaro finished up his snack and headed out of the kitchen. Keitaro was getting ready to head up the stairway when a pair of feet send him flying backward. After crashing to the ground, he looks up to see the resident troublemakers, Kaolla Su and Sarah McDougal, with full-blown grins on their faces.
Su starts up first; "Hey Keitaro, got a new invention ready. Care to be the first experiment?"
"You didn't bother Papa at work today, did you dork?" Sarah chimed in.
"Su, I really don't have time now; maybe tomorrow I'll make a good guinea pig. As for your question Sarah, Seta and I really didn't have any problems today. We just finished packing up stuff for his next dig." Keitaro moves his hands behind him to get ready to push up when he feels two rather soft objects beneath him. He then looked to notice that Su and Sarah sent him crash landing onto Mitsune Konno and Mutsumi Otohime (both of them wrapped in towels and exiting the hot springs), knocking the latter out cold.
"You know Keitaro, you didn't have to force yourself on us if you wanted some action." Kitsune stated in her usual drunken tone.
"Don't start this with me! Now get up and help me get Mutsumi over to the couch!" Keitaro slapped a hand over his nose to prevent any bleeding that would result from Kitsune's lewd suggestions. After moving Mutsumi over to the couch, he grabbed his bookbag and headed upstairs.
'Man, I didn't know that trying to get to my room has become an exercise regimen,' Keitaro though to himself as he flopped down on his futon. The instant he hit it, he heard the board over the hole in the ceiling move.
"Keitaro, is that you?" That was the voice of Naru Narusegawa, an 18 year old resident who was one of the best students in the nation, who has been the cause of much of the pain and emotion he has felt since moving to Hinata Sou.
"Urashima, what was all that noise that I heard downstairs? You didn't do anything perverted did you?" These questions came from the resident swordswoman Motoko Aoyama, who was a member of the Shinmeiryu Dojo in Kyoto, and another cause of pain for the young ronin.
"Yeah, it's me and no, I didn't do anything perverted. Su and Sarah were just giving me their usual greeting, then Kitsune and I had to help Mutsumi with another one of her fainting spells." Keitaro was just happy that neither of them saw him lying on top of them earlier. "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but you two try not to be too loud. I want to try and get a nap before supper." Keitaro stated before flopping his head back onto the futon.
Two Hours Later
Supper for the Hinata crowd went by without any problems, except when Mutsumi walked in without any clothes on and caused a river of blood to come out of Keitaro's nose. After he finished eating, Keitaro got up to get ready for his study session with Mutsumi and Naru. "The meal was excellent, Shinobu. Someday you're gonna be rich and famous for your cooking."
"Oh, why thank you Sempai." Shinobu exclaimed, blushing uncontrollably. As she turned and started back to the kitchen, she stepped on one of Kitsune's empty sake bottles. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Fortunately, Keitaro was close enough to Shinobu to reach under her arms and keep her from falling to the floor. "Thank you Sempai that was cl…." The young girl is interrupted by Naru and Motoko, both of them standing up and giving Keitaro a death glare.
"You no good pervert! Unhand her now!"
Keitaro then notices why they are so pissed off: he inadvertently grabbed one of Shinobu's breasts when he reached under her arms. "Wait a minute, please! This isn't what it looks like!" His plea is cut short by a wave of ki energy from Motoko's sword, which sends him flying through the wall and to an unknown origin.
After a few minutes pass, the girls hear a door open as Keitaro walks back into the inn. "In case any of you care, I'm fine! My neck broke my fall! Narusegawa! Mutsumi! Let me know when ya'll are ready to study, okay!" The rest of the girls sat in the dining room giving each other confused looks and thinking to themselves 'he sounded like he was fairly angry.'
As Keitaro headed up the stairs, he could only think about the same thing over and over. 'Why don't they ever listen to me! More importantly, why can't they open their eyes and see once in a while! Shinobu could've hurt herself tripping on Kitsune's empty bottle. I guess none of them care if poor Shinobu cracks her head wide open on the floor or a countertop!'
3 Hours Later - After the Incident at Supper
Keitaro, Mutsumi, and Naru are all together in Naru's room finishing up their study session for the night. Mutsumi has noticed that Keitaro isn't quite his normal self and is somewhat concerned. Naru, on the other hand, has noticed but is more concerned with the last problem in her workbook.
"Ara, you didn't get hurt too bad tonight, did you Kei-kun?"
Keitaro looks up in response to Mutsumi's question. "No, not really. It's amazing. You'd think that as much as I get hit, I would have wound up in Hawaii by now? This punching bag could use a vacation."
Naru then chimes in, half giggling. "Well, you can save your vacation until after the entrance exams. Unless you want to be denied entry into Tokyo U for a 4th time."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Although I must admit that I feel very confident about my chances this time around. Well, I think I'll call it a night," Keitaro said as he tried to sit up from the table. He found out the hard way that his foot was asleep when he tried to walk and instead fell face first into Naru's chest. He immediately fell to the floor and tried to scoot away from Naru's burning glare, only to back into Mutsumi and sticking a hand up her skirt in the process.
"YOU PERVERT!" Naru's voice sounded almost demonic as she prepared to send Keitaro on another bad trip.
What Keitaro said: "It was an accident Narusegawa! Please don't hurt me!"
What he though: 'Dear God no! Not this shit again!'
Naru's punch sent him bouncing around the room several times before he bounced through the hole between his and Naru's bedrooms and crashed into the floor. "Uuuuggghhh. Good night, Naru. Good night, Mutsumi."
"Ara, good night Kei-kun."
"Shut up and go to sleep, baka!"
Keitaro got up off the floor and headed for his desk. 'Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why won't she ever listen to me! Sometimes I wish I knew for sure that Naru wasn't my promised girl because of things like that!' His thoughts were interrupted when he reached into the drawer and pulled out a small knife. He pulled the cuff of his shirt sleeve up far enough to expose his left wrist and with two quick swipes of the knife split open the skin. He then threw the knife back into the desk and just stood there, watching the blood flow down his arm. The sensation he got from cutting his wrists and watching the blood flow from his self-inflicted wounds brought an eerie calm to his tortured soul. It had been like this for him for several months now. It was his only solace for the pain he felt because he thought that no one at Hinata Sou cared (or would care) about his feelings, with the lone exception being Tama, the resident hot springs turtle. 'If they only knew that my heart wasn't as immortal as my body,' Keitaro thought to himself as he pulled his sleeve back down and headed to the dresser to get his pajamas. He was quickly interrupted by an all-too-familiar voice.
"Hey baka, you left this up here." Naru leaned down through the hole and tossed him a math workbook. When Keitaro went to catch it, Naru noticed the blood stain on his sleeve. "Oh my God! Keitaro, your arm's bleeding!"
"Oh, that. I cut my arm packing some supplies for Seta earlier. I guess my crash landings tonight must have opened it back up." Naru tries to apologize before she is cut off. "Look Narusegawa, you don't need to apologize for anything. I'm sorry for what happened just now." Keitaro said, his pride sinking lower with every word.
"Don't worry about. Just don't try it again, okay? Good night Keitaro."
"Good night."
Keitaro changes into his pajamas and lays down on his futon. Despite the pain the girls cause him, he still hates lying to them about cutting his wrists. He always blames it on a cut suffered while working or that it was blood from a nosebleed. He wishes he could tell them the truth, but he his so convinced that the others wouldn't care. As he starts to drift to sleep, he takes one last look at his left wrist, which already closing up due to his healing ability, and at his right one, with some of the past scars starting to fade away. 'Well as long as nobody ever knows.'
Unfortunately, someone did notice Keitaro's actions.
'You can hide from some, but you can't hide from all, my friend.'
Since Derrick wasn't allowed to interact with anyone at Hinata Sou until after the tests on Keitaro's soul were over, Gabriel transformed him into a ghost so he could enter the inn and spy on the hapless ronin. After seeing everything he needed to see, he teleported to a wooded area nearby. Back in his normal state, the young Dark Angel takes a seat below a nearby tree and is joined momentarily by his angel supervisor.
"Well my young friend, what do you think about your assignment?"
"I've got to give him some credit Gabriel. After reading his mind and witnessing everything today, his life has been absolute hell for years. His soul has held up for a long time, even longer than mine did. And it's all because of that 15 year old promise with that girl."
"Well, confidentially my young friend, one of those girls he was with is the one he made the promise to. You'll be surprised to find out which one it is." Gabriel couldn't help but chuckle as the Fallen Angel had a look of complete shock on his face. "Any idea on how you're going to help him, Derrick?"
Derrick finally snaps back to reality. "I really don't know yet. He's holding so much inside and he's afraid to share it with anyone. It's really a shame that I can't interact with him or those girls at all until after he takes that college entrance exam."
"Unfortunately, those are the rules. That exam is the last part of his soul's test." Gabriel said. "However, we have faith that you can accomplish your task and help this young man."
Derrick grabs the cross pendant on his chain and holds it to where he can see the moonlight reflect off the silver and rubies. 'Well, that makes a few of us. I can only hope that I find that faith in myself quickly. I've only got one month to get my plans together.'
