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 Three: Yet I Fail Time After Time
A few weeks after the spy mission
Derrick, decked out in all black clothing and a red bandana, is nervously pacing back and forth in the foyer of a heavenly mansion. He has spent the last few weeks getting his plan into place. Even though he knew exactly what he wanted to do, he continuously had doubts about its success. 'Everything about my plan seems so circumstantial. I know he'll be near a trusted person after he leaves Japan, but he may end his life without any of those girls around to stop him. It amazes me how much they impact his decision making.' Derrick's thought are quickly cut short by the sound of an elderly voice.
"Boy, you need to stop with all that pacing before you wear out a hole in the floor."
"Sorry Papa. I'm so nervous about my assignment that could kill me if I wasn't dead already." He then walks toward the table where his grandfather sat down and takes a seat across from him.
"Derrick, you need to stop all of this worrying; you'll turn into your grandma." The young Saiyan couldn't help but start laughing at the remark, knowing firsthand how his grandmother overreacts in certain situations. "Besides, didn't I always tell you that you can do anything you set your mind to?"
"Yeah, you're right. You know Papa, you always seem to have the right words to say to boost my spirits." Derrick starts to say something else, but is interrupted by Gabriel standing in a nearby doorway. "Sorry to interrupt this family reunion, but we need to get back to Earth quickly." Derrick sighs as he leaves the table and heads for the front door.
"Remember what I said, Derrick. I have faith in you. You're my boy and that ain't no joke!" The elderly soul started to chuckle as the Dark Angel grabbed his leather coat from the coat hangar.
"Sure isn't," Derrick replied with a laugh, with memories of this childhood catch phrase system with his grandfather starting to fill his head.
Outside of the mansion, Derrick's smile is quickly replaced with a vexed attitude. "What gives? I thought we didn't have to go back to Earth for a while?" he snapped while putting on the long black coat.
"A very serious situation has arisen with the Urashima kid. We need to get there just in case," the archangel said calmly as both of them disappeared in a flash of light.
Meanwhile, At Hinata Sou
Keitaro's day had truly felt like hell on Earth. He was only supposed to have a normal day spending some time with his friends, Shirai and Haitani. Unfortunately, as soon as they arrived, trouble started. Shirai and Kitsune got into a drinking contest and started causing all types of trouble. Haitani was running from his life from Motoko, who accused him of spying on Su, Shinobu, and Sarah in the hot springs. The final straw came when Shirai and Kitsune caused an "accident" in which Keitaro fell onto Naru in a compromising position. As usual, a Naru Punch sent the poor ronin flying, only for him to then be tag teamed by attacks from Naru and Motoko. They then demanded that Keitaro apologize for his actions. At this point, a part of Keitaro snaps.
"What do you mean apologize! I didn't do a damn thing wrong this time! I don't see you two attacking Shirai or Kitsune for the prank that started this! This is bullshit!"
Keitaro stopped to catch his breath after this tirade, his eyes giving a look of pure anger. Everyone is completely shocked by this sudden outburst. Kitsune's eyes are fully open, Shirai and Haitani are looking at the floor in disbelief, and the younger girls have tears welling up in their eyes. Mutsumi faints due to the shock, and Naru and Motoko have the same angry looks on their faces. As Keitaro starts to head to the stairs and go to his room, he is then blindsided by attacks from Naru and Motoko, which propel him into his room the hard way.
"How dare you yell at us like that, you selfish bastard!" Naru was livid. "Come on everyone, let's go somewhere until this jerk learns to apologize!"
After they all exit the building, Keitaro starts to lose it. After downing a bottle of sake he stole from Kitsune, he immediately heads to retrieve his blood-stained knife. He then starts with one slash, then another, and another. Then he puts the knife in his other wrist and starts doing the same thing. As the blood begins pouring from his wrists, he lets out a blood curdling scream and throws the knife into a nearby wall. Anger, despair, sadness, and exhaustion all overtake the young man as starts to cry and passes out in the middle of the room. Not once did he hear Haruka enter the building from the teashop to find out what was happening.
An hour later, Keitaro wakes up to find himself in bed. The first thing he notices is the bandages covering both wrists. He then glances to his right to see Haruka, cigarette in hand and eyes fixed on him. "A-A-Aunt Haruka?"
"First off, that Haruka to you and second, what the hell were you doing to yourself!"
Keitaro just looked up at the ceiling and started to tell her everything that happened that day: the accidents, the arguments, and that release of anger. "Could you keep this a secret from the girls? I'd prefer that they don't know about this," the younger Urashima pleads.
"Even though I don't think it's a good idea, I won't tell them. Now try and get some rest Keitaro." Haruka quietly exited the room at the same time the girls returned to the building.
"Hey baka, ready to apologize yet?" Naru barked out as she and Motoko made their way up the stairs. Their journey to the manager's room was quickly halted by a cold, unforgiving stare from Haruka.
"Keitaro just told me about what happened earlier and got so worked up over it that he made himself sick. Now, nobody better bother him at all for the rest of the evening and first thing in the morning, you two better apologize. Got it!"
Naru and Motoko looked at the floor to hide their shame. "Yes ma'am."
A few hours later
Keitaro is woken up by a sound from above. He sits up to collect his bearing in the dark room, which is only illuminated by a small lamp on his nightstand. About a minute passes before he hears the board over the hole start to move. He quickly wraps his hands in blankets to hide his bandages.
"Keitaro, you're up?" The sound of Naru's voice had some genuine concern to it.
"Yeah, I just heard a noise from your room and it woke me up." Keitaro replied with a half-hearted grin.
"Oh, sorry. Mutsumi and I just finished studying for the night. That was her leaving. Hey, Shinobu fixed you a plate for supper, but you never came down. Want me to bring it up?" Realizing that he hadn't eaten anything since this morning, Keitaro was more than happy to oblige.
After Naru pushed the board back over the hole, Keitaro quickly unwrapped the bandages on his wrists. Amazingly, his cuts had already healed up and weren't even noticeable in the dim light. He quickly stuffed the bandages under his blankets as Naru walked into the room with his food. "Hey Keitaro, I just wanted to say sorry about what happened earlier." Keitaro nearly choked on a mouthful of rice as those words left Naru's mouth.
"Eh, you're forgiven. Besides, I had no right to snap at everyone like that."
"Anyway, I hate that you felt so bad afterwards. The study session tonight just didn't seem right without you." Keitaro was starting to wonder Naru had suffered a psychological episode due to the way she was acting. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Tama plopping onto Naru's head.
"Oh, hey Tama," both Keitaro and Naru said, noticing that the turtle was eyeing the former's plate of food.
"Oh my, we forgot to feed poor little Tama today."
"Poor little Tama? Last time I checked, she wasn't part of that battle royal earlier." Keitaro quipped as he grabbed a pack of rice cakes off of the nightstand and gave one to the flying turtle.
'He's got a point,' Naru thought to herself.
"Well, it's getting late. You need to get some sleep."
"Yeah, you're right, Keitaro. Besides, you need to be well rested if you're going to pass the entrance exams this year."
"Don't worry about that. Besides, I promised that we would both get in this year, didn't I. Anyway, good night Narusegawa."
"Good night, Kei-kun," Naru said half-jokingly as she gently kissed him on the forehead and exited the room, with Tama in pursuit.
As Keitaro move the empty plate aside and laid his head back down on his pillow, the only thing he could do as think and smile as he drifted to sleep. 'It's moments like this which make me hope that Naru is my promised girl.'
Meanwhile, Derrick and Gabriel (both in ghost forms) are conversing in a nearby corner.
"When the time comes, should I tell him about the promised girl or should you?"
"I think since you're doing all the work so far, you should tell him."
"Gee, thanks."
"Today was definitely a close call. It's a good thing that you used your telepathy to get his aunt up here and help him."
"Well, it was the only idea I could think of at the moment. Anyway, I'll keep lookout tonight Gabriel."
Two Days Later – Valentine's Day
If the events of two days ago were hell on earth for Keitaro, then Valentine's Day ended up being a complete 180 for him. Keitaro's mask of cheerfulness was back on and with good reasons. The past few months had been an emotional roller coaster for the ronin, and he was finally due for a day that he didn't suffer a near-death experience or an accident. Last year, all of the girls either bought or made chocolate for Keitaro, marking the first time in his life that he received any gifts on Valentine's Day. As he found out the previous year, it ended up being a big deal to one or two of the girls at the dorm. This year's candidate appeared to be Naru, who was nearly caught by the others making her surprise gift very early that morning (at about midnight or so) after scolding Keitaro for trying to make another dummy chocolate. As the day got underway, the ronin's barrage of good fortune began.
"Sempai, please accept this! It's for good luck for your exams!" (Shinobu, who on average made the biggest deal about give Keitaro chocolate)
"Hey Keitaro! It's time for the curry chocolate again! It's super hot this year!" (Su, whose chocolate experiment nearly causes Keitaro to breath fire)
"Urashima, I really don't care much for such trivial practices, but since you helped look after me and my training this past year, here." (Motoko)
"Hey Keitaro, this is from me." (Kitsune, with her nickel sized piece of chocolate)
"Just be grateful for this, dork." (Sarah)
As Naru decided at the last minute to hide her homemade chocolate, Mutsumi went ahead and gave Keitaro her confectionary masterpiece. "WOW! Did you make this Mutsumi! It tastes great!"
"Thank you Keitaro. I got a lot of practice by making dummy ones over the years."
'I don't believe it. That's basically the same story Keitaro gave us last year,' Naru thought.
As the day wore on a little bit, Keitaro was interrupted by a very loud commotion throughout the apartment. "Tama, get back here!" Naru screamed as she dove to tackle the turtle. As both of them crashed into the manager's room and hit the ground, a package flew off of Tama's back and landed into Keitaro's hands while he was studying. "What's this?" Naru nearly had a heart attack as he opened the package to reveal the Liddo-Kun shaped chocolate she had made.
"Is this for me Naru?"
"No, I was just practicing making chocolate. Give it back so I can get rid of it!" Naru shouted as she snatched it out of his hand.
"Wait! I'd rather have it than let it go to waste!" As he went to get it back, it set off a tug-of-war battle between the two that ended in Keitaro taking a giant bite out of Naru's homemade gift. Naru was deathly afraid of the impending response that it was bad. That response, however, never came.
"IT TASTES GREAT!"
"You're kidding me, right?" Naru was in shock as Keitaro offered her a taste. "But it was all powdery and stuff compare to Mutsumi's."
"This is really the best one I've tried today, Narusegawa." Naru started to blush at Keitaro's compliments.
It was at this point that Su and Sarah crashed the intimate moment and returned Hinata Sou to the usual everyday craziness. And Keitaro couldn't have dreamt of a better day. The gifts he received and the caring nature that the girls showed him was overwhelming. With his college entrance exams approaching and his confidence built up, he was on top of the world. Derrick and Gabriel even took the time to follow the day's antics and struggled to keep from smiling and laughing at the genuine happiness that radiated from everyone at Hinata Sou, especially Keitaro.
Unfortunately for Keitaro Urashima, this was the calm before the storm.
February 26, 2000 – 2nd Day of the Tokyo U. Entrance Exams
Keitaro takes his seat in the testing area. The first day of testing went extremely well for the group of Hinata ronins. However, the events prior to the test had caused more questions than answers about his past. Before the first day testing, he confronted Mutsumi about her being his promised girl, since she was also trying to fulfill a childhood promise to someone to enter Tokyo U. However, he learned that Mutsumi made a promise to a girl to remind her about an earlier promise to Keitaro. 'I was certain that Mutsumi was the girl of my past. Her promise was to Narusegawa to help her remember an earlier one. She denied it so adamantly, but could Naru really be one I've been searching for?' The two had talked about it last night after everything that happened at the testing center, and it had a profound impact. He was confident, ready for whatever happened that day.
After all of the English tests had been passed out, Keitaro started to look over the material. 'This is unbelievable. I, I understand this! The past 4 years of my life have finally paid off! I'm going to make it for sure!' Keitaro began to figure up how well he needed to do, which was quickly replaced by a flood of images: his acceptance into Tokyo U., the big celebration that would follow, the smiles, the tears, and finally finding happiness. With her. With Narusegawa. All of these thoughts brought an ear-to-ear smile to his face.
"Five minutes left!"
Keitaro immediately jerks his head up. 'Oh man, I must have dosed off.' He then looks at his answer paper and his smile is replaced by a look of absolute horror. His entire answer sheet is blank! 'Oh shit! I've nearly slept the entire session away and I haven't done a damn thing on this section!' In a desperate attempt, he starts putting pencil to paper and just writes without thinking. 'How could I do this now! After 4 years, after everything I've been through, I go and do something this stupid! I-it's hopeless.' As he enters into a panic trying to come up with answers, he hears a voice emerge deep within his confused thoughts. Naru's voice.
"It's okay. You haven't failed yet, Keitaro. Don't give up hope yet."
After the longest five minutes of the poor ronin's life, time is called. 'There's no way I could've passed. None of those answers could be right and, even if they were, nobody would be able to read my sorry excuse of handwriting.' Keitaro can barely lift his hand to turn in his answer sheet. As he exits the room, he quickly scribbles a note a throws it onto a nearby desk. All of the color is drained from the young man's face as he begins to take off in a dead sprint through the halls of the university, then across the courtyard, then away from the university. Away from everything that mattered the most to him. 'I was so sure it about it this time. I can't believe I let everyone down again. I failed again. Damn, I failed! There's no way I can face any of them!' He tried to fight back the tears as cryptic thoughts slowly began to enter his head. He desperately wished he could get rid of the pain at any cost.
Meanwhile
Derrick spent most of that day meditating in a wooded area outside of Tokyo. Unable to stay at the university to watch what was about to befall Keitaro, he asked Gabriel to keep lookout and notify him when he could get finally try to help the tortured soul. The young Saiyan, decked out in black clothing, a long leather jacket, and a black Old Western-style hat, sits under a tree muttering a silent prayer into the cross pendant he's holding near his lips. A prayer of serenity, asking for strength to accomplish his task.
Suddenly, as a light breeze blows through the woods, a voice begins to summon Derrick. "It's time. Arise, and take control of destiny."
'Alright, I have to get this done. Failure's not an option: his soul and mine are both are on the line here,' Derrick though to himself as he stood and immediate began his flight back to Tokyo.
"Hey Keitaro, how did it go?" "Yeah, we did great!" The joyful voices of Naru and Mutsumi are cut short when they enter Keitaro's testing room and notice he's not there. The two girls are caught off guard by this, since Keitaro said that He would meet them there after the exam.
"Where did he go?" Naru can only look around the room and ask the same question again and again.
Mutsumi, however notices the note sitting on a desk. "Ara, what's this?"
Mutsumi opens up the note. Both she and Naru can only stand there in horror as they read the note.
Please don't bother trying to find me. Goodbye.
- Keitaro
