Chapter 5: Psychic - Make It Go Away

Weeks pass, months pass, the snow has melted. It is now April. Keitaro has been growing out her hair and it is now long enough to tie into a small ponytail. She continues to fulfill her duties as the RM of Hinata Inn, and for the most part things are back to normal. Keitaro's recurring nightmares stopped happening at the end of January, and her headache had finally gone away a week afterward. Her bad luck still continues to dump her into awkward situations, earning her the usual daily beatings from Naru and Motoko. Each time, she exhibits a growing amount of anger. Today is Friday, mid-afternoon, and it is the beginning of the weekend. The skies are filled with fluffy cumulous clouds, and the weather is fine.

Keitaro smiles, as she hangs by a rope in front of the Inn, cleaning the windows. Wearing her usual cleaning gear, she hums along with the music in her headphones. As she works, she nods her head along to the music as she makes sure the windows are spotless.

She bobs her head and lip-syncs to the music, "You… Leave me when I'm at my worst… Feelin' as if I've been cursed… Bitter cold within…" (Copyright: Dirty Vegas "Days Go By")

Finishing cleaning the windows as the song ends, she turns off her CD player and tucks it into the side pocket of the bag that contains her cleaning supplies. Making sure all of her stuff is secure in the bag, she secures it and straps it across her back and hoists herself back up onto the roof.

The day before, Naru had actually complimented her on how well she's been keeping the Inn clean, so she's been in a very good mood. Walking downstairs to tidy up her room, she notices how peacefully quiet the Inn is today. Su and Kitsune had gone to buy some food, and more sake, and Shinobu had gone out to run a few of her own errands.

The sun shines brightly, obscured by the occasional cloud. Keitaro decides to take a short nap, and walks to her room to do just that.

-Dream Sequence-

Falling asleep, she finds herself once more in the recurring dream that had previously stopped happening. The unseen energy that had permeated her room is now very visible in the form of purple lightning bolts that crackle along the walls. The room is lit up by this energy, and Keitaro cannot help but notice that its source is none other than herself, and the light cast by the lightning illuminates the walls, which appear to be covered in pulsing, vein-covered flesh (Oh boy, Silent Hill dream! SH Fan).

The Wish Granter seems to be cowering away now, still screeching in that shrill voice. Grinning wildly, Keitaro laughs loudly…

Meanwhile, in the room above, Naru hears high-pitched laugher coming from Keitaro's room, and she shifts the wooden board aside to see Keitaro wrapped in her blankets, huddled in the corner. She's laughing uncontrollably, curled into a ball. When she leaps down and lands on the floor, her hair floats away from her face as if it is charged with static electricity.

"Keitaro! Keitaro!" Naru shakes Keitaro awake, out of the dream. Keitaro finds herself still laughing, and looks up at Naru with glittering brown eyes. She stops laughing, finally, and looks around in puzzlement. The static charge that had filled the room dies down.

Naru gives Keitaro a hesitant look, and says, "What the heck was that about?"

Keitaro shakes her head and replies, "I don't know where the static electricity came from."

Naru lashes out in irritance and cracks Keitaro across the face with the back of her hand, which causes Keitaro's head to bounce off of the wall. "I don't care about that, I'm talking about the laughing, you moron!"

Keitaro, her long-dormant temper rising again, glares at Naru. She balls her hands into fists, and stands up quickly.

The static energy begins to build again, and both Keitaro and Naru's hair start to stand on end again, and the air around them seems to grow thicker.

Naru looks at Keitaro in shock, as the changed woman puts her hands on her hips and leans forward into Naru's face. "De ja vu," thinks Naru.

Through clenched jaws, Keitaro says, "Stop. Hitting. Me." Reaching a hand behind her head to rub at the sore spot from hitting the wall, she grabs Naru by the front of her shirt with her other hand. She shouts into Naru's face, "I DON'T WANT TO GET HIT ANYMORE!"

Naru flinches, hearing the shout twice, in her ears, and strangely, in her head.

Keitaro's glittering eyes glaze over, and she squeezes her eyes shut as she sinks to her knees in a swoon, releasing her grip on Naru's shirt. Naru stares down at Keitaro, her mouth hanging open, as she sees Keitaro's eyelids flicker open, and then Keitor's eyes roll back into their sockets.

Seeing Keitaro's eyes roll into the back of her head, Naru dashes out of the room to look for help. She only takes a couple of steps and turns the corner of a different hallway when she runs into Seta. Ricocheting off his sturdy frame, she falls to the ground, making a small squeaking noise.

Seta smiles down on her, "Hey there, Narusegawa! I'm looking for Keitaro. Have you seen …her?"

Naru looks up at him, leaping to her feet and hugging him. "Oh thank goodness! He's in his room, having some kind of seizure! Something happen in his sleep, he needs help!" She leads Seta into Keitaro's room where, sure enough, Keitaro lies on the floor having a full-out seizure, her whole body quaking.

Seta immediately moves, putting his foot under Keitaro's head to protect it from the hard wood floor, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small strip of cloth, and forces it between Keitaro's clattering teeth.

He and Naru both put their hands up to their ears, as they hear a weird voice in their heads…

(I'm a Stephen King fan, I saw something like this in his book Carrie.)

I'msomadwhydoIalwaysgethititsnotmyfaultITSNOTFAIRnotfairnotfairnotfairOhgodithurtssomuchithurtssomuchmakeitgoawaystopstopstopSTOPSTOPSTOP IneedhelpsomeonehelpithurtssomuchpleasesomeonemakeitgoawayIdontwantthispleasemakeitgoawaySTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP IdidntwantmywishansweredlikethisIhate I HATE I HATE IT STOP IT STOP STOP STOP STOPstopstopstopstopsto… Stop it… stopstopsto…

At the height of it all, Keitaro's seizure gets very bad, her gyrating body starting to roll over, and gagging on the cloth between its teeth. An odd sort of chorus begins to accompany the jumbled cacaphony words that they hear and yet don't hear, but after a while, the buzzing dies down. Naru and Seta exchange looks, Naru more noticeably worried than Seta appears to be.

Seta smiles and says, "Well, I wonder what that was all about. I think I'm going to have to look into this." Walking out of the room, he sees Motoko standing there, with a hand to her head.

"Mr. Noriyasu, what was that? I heard it in my mind while I was meditating," she says to him.

"Well, Motoko, it came from Keitaro." She opens her mouth to say something else, but he raises a quieting hand. "I'm not sure why, but I will be looking into it. " He turns around and pokes his head back into Keitaro's room. "Narusegawa…"

Naru looks up from tending to the unconscious RM, meeting Seta's gaze.

"Here is my cell phone number. I will keep my phone on, so you can contact me when Keitaro wakes up. I have a few questions to ask him – err - her." He reaches beneath his white lab coat and pulls out a card, handing it to Naru, and then he walks out.

Two hours later, Keitaro has still not woken up, and the rest of the residents of the Inn sit in a circle on the floor of the living room. The day is still fresh, light pouring in through the windows.

Motoko is the first to speak, "There is more to Urishama in his current form than meets the eye. Mr. Noriyaso promised that he'll look into it, but in the meantime we should keep an eye on Urishama."

Shinobu, eyes watering, replies, "What should we do?"

Kitsune shrugs, answering Shinobu, "For right now, all we can do is continue to do whatever it is that we do every day. Until Kei wakes up, there is nothing else we can do."

Naru sighs, and then glances up at the stairs, feeling that they're being watched, but there is no one there.

In Keitaro's room…

She rolls to her side, her eyes moving rapidly beneath their lids. Her lips move silently, mouthing various phrases, "There is more to Keitaro than meets the eye… What should we do - for right now, all we can do is continue to do… Until Kei wakes up, there is nothing…"

Author's Note: Am I doing a good job with this? I know it has deviated a lot from the original Love Hina story arc, but I rather like it. R&R please!