Whee, another chapter. This is the final chapter of the 'Saki' storyline and then we get to the 'Yamato and Tokimi Wedding' storyline. There will be quite a few surprises involving what's happened to the original LH characters and the LHN characters since we last saw them…

-Kouji Tamino

Love Hina Next: Second Phase

Chapter 52: Karma's a Bitch… The True Saki Revealed?

Saki awoke on the roof. She yawned and looked around. "Holy crap, I fell asleep up here?…" She watched as a bird flew past and… left a gift on her head. Saki whimpered. "Ewww, gross… So nasty… I'm gonna take a bath…" She slipped and fell off the roof, landing in a heap on the ground. "Owww… Why is this happening to me? I must be having a bad day…"

At that moment, Tenshi in human form walked up to her. She stared at Saki. "What are you doing, Saki-san?…"

Saki slowly stood up. "I… fell…"

Tenshi nodded slowly. "I see…"

"What are you doing out here, anyway?" Saki asked.

Tenshi blinked. "Getting the newspaper…" she replied, holding the rolled up newspaper up for her to see.

Saki nodded slowly. "I see…"

Tenshi stared at the top of Saki's head. "You've got bird crap on your head…"

Saki twitched. "Well your fly is open…"

The girls nodded to each other, a mutual respect for no longer mentioning each other's problems. They then walked back to the house.

Saki looked around the living room. She raised an eyebrow. "Is everyone still asleep?"

Tenshi nodded. "The Suichi's get their own private newspaper that is delivered reeeeaal early…"

Saki nodded. "I know… It's just… I didn't think I had woke up so early…" She sweat dropped. "Then again, I was on the freaking roof…" She rubbed her chin. "This gives me an idea…"

A little while later, after taking a bath, (and hitting her head) she began to cook breakfast. She was frantically making bread from flour and cutting up a few fruits, cutting herself in the process. She yelped, sucking on her finger. She winced as she saw her finger. It had pretty deep cutting and was bleeding pretty badly. She quickly grabbed a napkin to absorb the blood and went to find some first-aid.

As she was running, she bumped into a yawning Ami. Ami became more aware of her surroundings. She gasped. "Oh, Saki-san! I'm sorry…"

Saki shook her head. "No… It's my fault…" She pouted. "Could you please move? I'm in a bit of a hurry…"

Ami raised an eyebrow. "What's the rush?" She gasped as she saw the blood stained napkin. "Oh Saki-san, you're bleeding! Let me help-"

"N-no!" she shouted. "It's fine… I just need to bandage myself up, that's all…"

Ami frowned, a bit unsure, as she stepped out of the doorway. "All right, if you say so…" She watched as Saki quickly ran out, then looked to the floor and saw a small trail of blood that led into a small puddle where Saki had been standing, then trailed down the hall. "Saki-san…" She began in a sad tone. "Please don't try too hard…"

"Ugh… Finally got the bleeding to stop…" Saki muttered, her finger ridiculously wrapped up in gauze, even for a cut as bad as hers. She began to walk back into the kitchen. "Now to clean up the mess I made on the floor, then make everyone a delicious breakfa-" She sighed as she saw everyone awake and at the table, Naoko preparing breakfast.

Naoko looked over to Saki and smiled. "Saki-san! Good morning! I see that youre trying to make breakfast… Thank you, but be more careful next time, okay? Ami-nesan had to clean up all the blood you spilled everywhere…" She frowned. "Are you all right? Maybe we should call a doctor, or-"

"No, it's all right…" 'It's… my burden to carry…'

With Naoko at school, Shinichi in his room drawing, and the other doing things around the house, Saki sadly sat in her room, doing nothing. "I'm completely useless…" She stood, a determined look on her face. "But why should I be?"

In the bathroom, Sakura was cleaning the floor around the bath. Saki walked up, tapping her on the shoulder. "Hello, Sakura-san…"

Sakura turned around and raised an eyebrow. She gave a quick wave. "Um, yo."

"Um, I was just wondering…" Sako began. "Could I perhaps do the rest of your cleaning? I had nothing to do and was kind of feeling useless…"

Sakura scratched the back of her head, one eye open. "Eh, I don't think you wanna do that, Sakura… You see, I'm pretty much-"

"Please?" Saki pleaded. "I don't care what kind of job it is…"

Sakura chuckled. "Well all right, if you say so… but the thing is, most of my chores are done… The only thing I have left to do now is clean the upstairs toilet… and as you know, that thing has been plugged with something nasty… But if you want to do it…" she handed Saki some toilet cleaning equipment. "Be my guest…"

Saki chuckled sarcastically. "Terrific…"

Saki stood in front of the upstairs bathroom door, dressed up in full anti-toilet gear and looking like she was reading into a war. She was wearing an old t-shirt and overalls, rubber boots and gloves, and was holding a plunger and some anti-clog liquid. She slowly opened the door and shrieked, slamming the door and plugging her nose. "My god, that smell is dreadful! What the hell are these girls eating?" She checked her bag for anything that could help her and sighed in relief as she unearthed a gas mask. "Thanks, Sakura… I owe you big time…" She put on the gas mask and burst into the bathroom, quickly closing the door behind her. "No one else deserves to smell such toxic death…" She sighed. "I'm the only one that should suffer…"

And so, she got to work. "First things, first…" She stared at the toilet. "How the heck do I do this?" She opened the toilet seat and suppressed a blood curdling scream. She slammed the toilet bowl shut and shuddered. "Damn… This will be tougher than I thought…" She groaned, reaching into the bag and producing the anti-clog liquid. "Maybe I should try this stuff first… Otherwise, the toilet might spill over and make a mess…" She poured the liquid into the toilet and screamed as the toilet seemed to growl at her afterwards. Suddenly, a pair of green tentacles rose from the toilet and attempted to drag her into the toilet. "Oh my god, nnnnoooo!" She pulled a plunger out and starting beating at the tentacles. Seeing that that wasn't doing anything, she shoved the plunger into the toilet and started plunging away. The disgusting water flew up in a spout and the tentacles waved around wildly, smacking Saki against the walls. "Grrrahh!" Saki screamed, grabbing a pair of scissors from a basket and slashing away at the tentacles. "You want me, you filthy bastard toilet from Hell! Come and get me!"

About 45 minutes later, Saki emerged victorious. After some cleaning up, she stomped downstairs and glared at everyone, taking a break from their chores and watching television. "Whatever the flip you girls are eating, cut down on it some! The damn toilet just sprouted tentacles and tried to kill me!"

Sakura looked to Saki blankly. "Saki, if you didn't want to clean the toilet, you should have said so… But please don't make things up…" She sniffed the air. "And what's that smell?"

Saki sniffed herself. "Oh I dunno, it's probably from the TENTACLES FROM THAT NASTY TOILET THAT TRIED TO ASSASSINATE ME!" She calmed down a bit. "Oh, the smell will probably linger for about another 24 hours… And um, whoever's pair of scissors that was in the bathroom… You may not want to use them for a while…"

Junko sweat dropped. "Oh great, now I can't even cut my hair…" She tugged on her growing locks. "I was thinking of cutting back down a few inches…"

Shinichi smiled. "I dunno, I think you look cute with long hair…"

Junko blushed. "Thank you, Shinichi-kun…"

Sakura, getting a bit jealous, hopped into Shinchi's lap. "Shinichi, what do you think of my long hair?"

Shinichi sweat dropped. "Sakura, you always have long hair… But it is pretty…" he raised an eyebrow. "How do you get it that red, though?"

Sakura winked, waving her finger. "Ancient Chinese secret…"

"But you're not Chinese…" Megumi muttered.

Shinichi chuckled as Sakura stuck her tongue out. "Anyway, I'm going to go take out the garbage…" He stood up as Sakura got off of him.

Saki shook her head. "No, Shinichi-chan, let me do it…"

Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure, Sa-chan? I mean, you seem like you've been through a lot today…"

"I'll do it, Shinichi-chan…" she walked into the kitchen and didn't come back for about 7 minutes. At about that time, she came struggling through the living room, dragging the bag. Everyone sweat dropped.

"Um, you need some help, Saki?" Junko asked.

"I don't need any damn help!" Saki screamed. "But jeez, what's in here?"

"Oh, about 3 months of trash…" Megumi muttered.

"What?" Saki quivered out. "How is that humanly possible?"

Junko grinned, holding her foot up high. "I'm a good trash stomper…"

"Oh god…" Saki muttered, lugging the huge bag. "Well, I'll be back… If the trash bag doesn't kill me first…"

Saki limped back into the house, legs wobbling. "Ow, my back…"

Shinichi gave her a concerned look. "Are you sure you're all right?"

Saki smiled. "Yeah, I'm fi-" Saki's legs finally gave in and she fell over.

"Sa-chan!" Shinichi screamed, running over to her. "Someone, call the doctor! She's definitely not okay!"

Saki began to sweat heavily, her breaths becoming shorter. 'Oh my god, what's happening to me! My heart is pounding like crazy! It's getting hard to breath… Things are getting dark… Am I going to die?'

Saki awoke to the words of the doctor. "… in addition to the infection of her improperly treated cut, she also exhausted herself and was badly dehydrated…" The doctor, who was an older man in the traditional outfit, smiled cheerfully. "Just give her plenty of rest and fluids… She should be fine within a few days…" He got up and packed his things, bowing. "Good day, and I hope the young lady gets better soon…"

After the doctor had left, Saki sat up. She was in what had been her room for the past week or so. She turned to see that everyone was watching over her. Junko smirked. "So you're finally awake… Idiot. Just what the hell were you thinking?"

Saki looked down sadly. "I thought… that I could…"

"That you could what?" Shinichi asked. "That you could make up for the things that you did to the girls while I was gone? They showed me the pictures and told me the whole story, by the way…"

"They did?" Saki looked up. "I see… Figures… After what I did-"

"We didn't tell him out of maliciousness…" Ami explained. "We just thought that he should know… Besides, he said he's not angry with you…"

"You're not?…" Saki asked.

Shinichi shook his head. "No, I'm not… Just a little… disappointed, that's all…"

Megumi smiled. "But we saw today that you're really sweet on the inside…" she coughed. "Bythewaywereadyourdiary…"

"WHAT?" Saki shouted, her eyes widening. "You read my diary? How dare you! And Ami, out of all the people to-"

"You have no right to talk…" Junko said sternly. "What your father did was cruel, and I respect you for changing your ways against his wishes, but don't push it… You destroyed something very valuable to me and no matter how close we may get, if at all, I will never forgive you for that…" Her expression softened. "But after seeing how hard you tried today… You're… Okay… I still don't like you very much, but you're an okay person…"

Saki smiled. "Thank you, Junko-san…"

Ami smiled. "Let's start over, shall we? My name is Ami Athna…" She held out her hand. "Nice to meet you!"

Saki smiled, taking Ami's hand and shaking it. "I'm Saki Hidaka… It's…" she smiled warmly and sincerely. "…a pleasure to meet you!"

Suddenly, Naoko burst into the room. "I hurried from home after school as soon as I heard the news! Is Saki-san okay?"

Saki nodded slowly. "I'm fine, Naoko-chan… Thank you for worrying about me…" She sniffled. "Thank you all… No one's ever… cared for me like this before! Waaa…" Saki cried out a bit in joy.

Shinichi sat up. "Oh, I just remembered something! I have to call Urashima-sensei about something important…" He got up and left the room.

Shinichi sat in front of the video phone. He dialed a number and waited. After a moment, a man that Shinichi didn't know appeared on the phone. Shinichi tilted his head in confusion. "Um… Did I get the wrong number?…"

The man, who had thinning brown hair and was wearing a blue shirt laughed. "No, you have the right number… I'm Shinobu's husband, Daisuke… I assume you're looking for one of the residents of Hinata House, young man?"

Shinichi nodded. "Yamato Urashima, the landlord… Is he there?"

"Yes yes, he just came in…" he yelled across the hall in a tone so loud that Shinichi covered his ears. "YAMATO! THERE'S SOMEONE ON THE PHONE FOR YOU!"

Yamato walked over to the phone, digging in his ear. "Gee thanks… Now both of my ears have lost some hearing in them…" He sat down as Daisuke got up and left. Looking to check if he was out of earshot, he grinned at Shinichi. "Now I see why he and Shinobu broke their first engagement…"

Shinichi gave him a scolding look jokingly. "That's low, sensei… But yes, he is quite loud…" He chuckled. "Anyway, how are the wedding preparations?"

Yamato gave Shinichi the 'OK' sign. "They're going great, man… In case you forgot, the wedding is this weekend…"

Shinichi shook his head. "No, I didn't forget… In fact, that's what I called about… Um, you think there's anymore room for one more person from my group?"

Yamato smiled. "Sure! Yet another girl to your harem, I'm betting! Sly dog! What's her name, you stud?"

"Saki Hidaka… She's… sort of my fiancée through an arranged marriage…" Shinichi muttered.

Yamato frowned. "Ah, I see… Well that sucks… Unless you love her, that is…"

Shinichi sighed. "Well, that's the problem… Lately, I've been having… feelings for Ami, Megumi… and even Junko…"

Yamato's eyes widened. "Whoa, the tomboy?"

Shinichi shrugged. "Well yeah… She's become a lot more… feminine… even scared of me at times…"

Yamato's jaw dropped. "Shinichi! You didn't-"

"Gyah!" Shinichi screamed, waving his hands defensively. "No, no, no! I would never force myself on any of the girls! Besides, I'm a firm believer of sex before- I mean, after marriage! After!"

Yamato crossed his arms, chuckling. "Heh, almost slipped up there… Better be careful, Shinichi… You never know when you and one of the girls will find just the right moment to-"

Shinichi turned beet red. "Damn it! Stop making fun of me!"

Yamato laughed, running a hand through his hair. "I'm just kidding…" his expression became stern. "But seriously… when you do realize who you love, be careful of how you break it to the others… Ami did not take it well when I chose Tokimi… The results were not pretty. She went from cute to nasty in no time flat…" He smiled again. "But don't worry… I have full faith that no matter what choice you make, you'll be able to handle it without screwing up… Maybe."

Shinichi sweat dropped. "Um, thanks Urashima-sensei…" he began, sarcastically. "That made me feel a lot better…" Shinichi winced as he saw two little girls on Yamato's side of the conversation run past and run into a statue, knocking it over and breaking it. "Oh wow, that looked valuable…"

Yamato turned around slowly, staring at the broken turtle statue. "Oh god, that was one of dad's first discoveries that put him on the map…" He growled, standing up. "Miaka! Kimiko! You two get over here!" He turned back to the phone and chuckled nervously. "Um… Sorry Shinichi… Gotta go. You understand, right?"

Shinichi nodded, sighing. "Yeah… Seeya, sensei…"

Yamato gave a thumbs up. "Catch ya later! Seeya at the wedding!" The line then cut off, Yamato's live video feed ending.

Shinichi chuckled, putting the phone up. He then paused, his hand still on the phone. "Hey, wait a second…" All was silent as Shinichi's mind processed the last few seconds of that conversation. "…Who the heck were those little girls?…"

End of Chapter 52.

Okay, so maybe I put her through a little punishment… Anyway, that ends that little conflict. The moment we've all been waiting for since my first Love Hina Next fic ended is finally arriving! And hey, I think I'm finally getting rid of my 'chronic-angst writer' bug. This and last chapter are the most light hearted ones I've written in while. Hopefully I can keep this up and eventually I'll be back in the mindset I was in back in the first LHN.

-Kouji Tamino