Note: I do not own Love Hina, Read or Die, or any other intellectual properties. They are all copyrights of their respectful owners. The rest, however, is MINE, BEE-YOTCHES!
Well, this is it! The last chapter! I hope you have enjoyed this as much as I have, as I'll make sure that I put all my heart and soul into it, completely focusing on the teamwork and bond between Naru and Keitaro and projecting it out the way I see it. Well, here we go!
GYRAX Presents… Love-Or-Die Hina
Chapter 6b: I've Reached Climax! (Part 2) or The End?
"Urashima-san! Narusegawa-san!" Yomiko shouted. "Take the controls!"
"Roger!" Keitaro ran up, only to bump into another AT Field.
"It's an AT Field!" Shinobu cried out.
Yomiko was confused. "What's it called?"
Keitaro got his fist ready to punch through it, but Shinobu touched his shoulder. "Sempai let me try."
"?"
Shinobu quickly ran up to Zhang with an arm-blade extended and cut the AT Field in half. Everyone else, especially Zhang, could hardly believe how easily she broke through it.
"She sliced through the AT Field like it was just a tomato!" Naru said.
Shinobu went up to Zhang and held an arm-blade to his throat. She turned to Keitaro. "Sempai! Take the controls, now!"
"Right!" The former ronin ran up to the controls. Suddenly, a sheet of paper just flew within an inch of his neck. "WHOA!" He turned to Yomiko. "Excuse me, Agent Paper, but… huh?" He noticed everyone was looking towards the control room's entrance. "What's going on?"
Just then, a silhouette entered the control room with a calm stride. Yomiko recognized the figure, but could hardly believe it. "Johann."
(O)
Hendrix slowly got up after the girls went back to the Hinata Inn. He stumbled towards the annex, which lied in front of him. He took a hexagonal medallion out of his pocket and held it in front of the annex. He began to laugh maniacally as he may have managed to fool the Hinata girls and finally reach the forbidden annex. The medallion began to glow violet.
At that moment, a shadow loomed over the Hinata Inn, covering it completely. The shadow… came from Laputa, the I-jin fortress.
Suddenly, the medallion began to absorb all the annex's magic, glowing brighter and brighter as it consumed the energy it needed. Then, the thing finally stopped absorbing and Hendrix pointed the thing away from the annex. He then held it up high.
"A GIFT FOR YOU, MASTER JOHANN!" The medallion floated away and headed towards the fortress, connecting itself to a compartment located right at the bottom.
Kitsune went outside to see what was going on. When she saw the fortress, she instantly panicked. "Holy crizzap! It's just like Independence Day!" She went back in. A minute later, she came back out, carrying all of the Hinata Girls, including Haruka, out of the Inn. As they were all kicking and screaming in confusion, Kitsune struggled to carry them down the stairs.
Just then, four large rods came from the sides of the center structure; they began to glow the same violet.
(O)
The control room also glowed violet, as Johann stood in front of the console and looked at everyone standing before him. "Looks like Jimi-boy did his job." He turns to Madame curie. "Marie. Initiate the final phase in the Secondary Emergency Control Room. Zhang, you follow her."
They open a door on one of the walls and enter another room, but not before Shinobu tackles Zhang.
"SHINOBU!" Keitaro and Naru shouted.
Johann turned to them. Shinobu? If that was the real thing, what happened to Shinobi?"
Keitaro responded. "Something to do with nuclear reactors, or something of the sort."
"SHE MELTED? (Thank God I didn't see that.)"
Suddenly, a hail of gunfire came from the control room entryway, striking Johann in his abdomen. When the gunfire stopped, he stood there slouched. Then, he absorbed the bullets and looked up, laughing evilly. "You caught me off guard, Rambo."
Standing at the entryway was none other than Drake Anderson. "Luckily, I had another C4."
"Mr. Drake!" Yomiko called out.
"We forgot all about him." Naru added.
"I'm surprised he was able to withstand that." Drake interjected.
"You can knock yourself out, Rambo, because my entire body is made of nothing but paper and ink!" Johann spoke.
"Paper?" Naru asked.
"Ink?" Keitaro added.
"The only thing not made of paper is my braincase," Johann continued. "Which is lodged safely in my head."
A long pause fills the room.
"You're an idiot, you know that?" Naru said. "You just told us where your weak spot was."
Johann just put up a face of pure astonishment. "Well… I… I just… Well, my plan is still being put to motion and … and… I'VE ALREADY WON!" Paper arms came out of his back and struck the agents.
(O)
Shinobu came right at Madame Curie, but an AT Field stopped her, which gave Zhang enough time to grab and throw her. Shinobu quickly recovered, only to see the I-jin attack her. She saw him coming and easily jumped over him. She performed a two-and-a-half twist and landed perfectly, facing Zhang. Then she did a spinning heel kick to his face.
In the meantime, Madame Curie went to a console and picked up a conveniently placed microphone; it had a blue, purple, and red button placed on it. She first pushed the blue button.
(O)
As she did that, the black orb, the Lillith's Egg, rose off of the structure and flew off into space.
(O)
"Duck!" Drake tackled Naru and Keitaro in order to save them from an onslaught of paper knives. He looked up at Johann, who was dueling with Yomiko; paper was flying everywhere. "The man's crazy."
Johann launched a salvo of paper missiles at Yomiko; the Paper managed to dodge all of them, but only to be smashed up against a wall by a paper battering ram.
Drake saw what was going on and took the opportunity and shot a lob grenade at the paper battering ram, destroying it on contact.
When Keitaro got up, he saw what looked like the embers of burning paper. Then, something came to him.
(O)
"DODONPA WAVE!" Zhang sot a huge blast of ki straight at Shinobu, but she dodged it with ease and practically appeared right behind him. Then, she gave him a well-placed high kick, sending him to a nearby wall. Zhang quickly recovered and shot another ki blast at her, but she sidestepped to avoid it and she came right at him. He then attempted a punch, but Shinobu dodged it without effort and performed a sweep kick.
Meanwhile, Madame Curie pressed a purple button on the microphone.
(O)
As she did that, four rods came out of the sides of the center structure. Violet energy shot out of the rods and was gathered at the top of the center structure, where the Lillith's Egg used to be. Then, a beam shot out of the center structure; it was so brilliant, it would practically blind everyone within a three-mile radius. The beam hit the Lillith's Egg head on, causing it to slowly grow in size.
(O)
Mutsumi turned to see the beam of light in all of its brilliance. She stood there watching it in a state of shock and awe. "Eww, pretty light."
In the meantime, Shirai and Haitani saw it and grew irritated. "Is this the only part we get?"
As the orb grew, it became more and more visible to the naked eye, until it eventually stopped growing. After the beam of light dissipated, the Lillith's Egg became the size of the entire nation of Japan. The orb is now massive in size, and it almost eclipsed the sun. People came out of their cars, their houses, and their offices, to see the black orb that was covering up most of the sun. It was truly a sight to behold, as everyone looked at it in silence, some people conversing with one another, others conversing with the voices in their heads. Most of the populous began to worry, seeing the black orb as an omen; the object certainly wasn't the moon.
(O)
"What was that, Mr. President?" The Joker said from the British Library's War Room.
President Cole spoke through the intercom. "We have already assumed that your agents have failed in their mission and have decided to act on our own accord."
"I am asking you to wait a little more…"
"I have already lost my patience long before that black sphere appeared. The President signing off." And like that, the transmission was cut off.
The Joker sighed and tried to regain his composure. "He's acting out of impulse again."
Wendy enters. "Sir, the JSSDF has also failed to comply."
"What was that?"
(O)
The JSSDF had a nice alignment of tanks and ground artillery on the streets of Hinata, all aimed towards Laputa.
A barrage of missiles shot out of the JSSDF's missile boxes towards the fortress, only to get canceled out by an AT Field. The fortress shot out a beam of light at the alignment of tanks and artillery, destroying most of them on contact.
The fortress also fired a beam of light at an approaching squadron of American F/A-18 Hornets, destroying almost all of them in a second. The rest crashed into its AT Field.
(O)
Zhang did a flying kick, but missed Shinobu again. The girl landed behind him and held his neck.
"Pleas stop this, Sanfeng-san! I don't want to hurt you!" Shinobu cried out as she tried in futility to reason with the I-jin.
"Forget it." Zhang responded. Then, an aura began to emanate from him. Before you knew it, Shinobu quickly jumped away, and a shockwave of chi burst out of him.
Zhang then looked at her and quickly ran to her, attempting another kick, but Shinobu blocked it and threw him to a wall. The I-jin swiftly recovered and came for her, but instead ran off to the side and came at her from another angle, forcing her to adapt. The young girl did managed to adapt and jumped above him to avoid a punch. Then, she came down and planted her hands on his shoulders and performed a handstand. Then, she swung down and kicked him across the chin in a flip kick and landed on the ground. She followed it up with a flying kick to the abdomen, sending him to a nearby wall.
Zhang recovered in a hurry. "DODONPA WAVE!" He fired another shot of ki towards Shinobu, but she jumped to the side to avoid it, leaving the ki blast to head towards Madame Curie.
"CRAP!" Zhang put up an AT Field to block his own ki blast.
Madame Curie, meanwhile, pressed the red button on the microphone. She then pulled out Motoko's manuscript and began to recite it.
(O)
The PA system of doom activated and as Motoko's manuscript was read, the words began to ring in people's ears, and the sound began to travel all around the world; it was broadcasted on the radio, PA systems at schools and sports stadiums, there was no escape. Now, I don't have the writing skills to put down exactly what words were coming out of the fortress's speakers, but they were captivating enough to trap the hearts and souls of all of the Earth's population. They were listening to every word of what was broadcasted in a state of pleasure that they could not get out of, or yet, they didn't want to.
The people began to glow in white auras. Then, their souls, which appeared as little white glowing spheres, suddenly escaped from their bodies and headed towards the black orb that was the Lillith's Egg, where they were being absorbed. Billions of little white dots were flying from all over this world to get inside the large black sphere; it seemed like the biggest swarm of white fireflies were flying towards a huge ball in outer space.
(O)
Drake was repeatedly firing lob grenades, only to see Johann was throwing paper knives to cancel out each one of them, until a shroud of smoke covered him.
Johann laughed again. "That was fun, Rambo, but it didn't do anything. Unless…" Suddenly, Yomiko charged through the smoke and came at him with a paper sword, ready to slice. It was then he did the unthinkable; he detached his upper half of his body from his lower half, allowing the paper sword to slice air. Then the two halves of his body reconnected.
Yomiko put on a look of amazement over what just occurred. "What the hell?"
Johann put on a grin. "I forgot to tell you; I can detach and reattach any part of my body whenever I like." Paper tentacles came out of his back to strike The Paper, but she jumped back to avoid the attack. Drake then sot another lob grenade, but Johann threw a paper knife to destroy it, and then detached his fist from his right arm; the fist then made contact with Drake's face, sending him to a nearby wall. Drake then got up.
Keitaro walked up to him. "Mr. Drake. I have a plan, but I need you for this." He then whispered something to his ear.
What Drake heard had caused him to widen his eyes; he looked at him. "You're kidding right?"
"That's what I heard when he told me," Naru added. "But we're not taking any more chances. We'll have to trust him."
"Readman-sensei!" Keitaro yelled out. "Can you stall him for a minute? I have an idea, but you'll have to trust me on this one!"
"All right!" Yomiko responded. "You have my word!" She went right for Johann, who was trying to strike her with his two paper tentacles.
Keitaro stood still right in front of Drake, who was aiming his rifle right at him.
"All right, Drake!" Keitaro cried out. "Let her rip!" And with that, Drake fired one more lob grenade at him; the explosion pretty much engulfed him. When the smoke cleared, Keitaro emerged with his clothes on fire. Naru then stood behind him and faced Johann, pointing at him with tow fingers; it looked like she was aiming straight for him. Then finally, she threw a mighty punch at him, sending him straight towards Johann. The I-jin put up a paper barrier, but Keitaro crashed through it and collided right into him, causing his paper body to start burning. Yomiko then seemingly came out of nowhere and jumped at him with a paper trident, driving it to where his brain case is. Then, suddenly, he exploded in a brilliant purple light that almost engulfed Yomiko.
(O)
Shinobu suddenly sliced Zhang in half. Her eyes widened and almost formed tears over what she just did. "OH, NO! I'M SORRY! I'M SO, SO SORRY…IS THAT A BOMB!"
"What?" Madame Curie looked at her in shock and bewilderment.
Zhang suddenly exploded from the bomb implanted on his body. In that instant, Madame Curie just stared into space, frozen over the fact that she, too, may have a bomb implanted in her body. She drops the microphone.
The two began to stare at one another, and several long minutes of silence followed.
Shinobu spoke. "… Miss Curie?"
Suddenly, an electric spark triggered Curie's built-in bomb, and she, too, exploded. Shinobu just watched in shock. The electrical spark was from the console, which received some damage during the fight between Shinobu and Zhang.
Meanwhile, the Lillith's Egg has already taken in all of the human souls; the only ones left alive at the moment were Yomiko Readman, Drake Anderson, Keitaro Urashima, Naru Narusegawa, and Shinobu Maehara.
(O)
The agents were standing in front of the console, wandering what to do now.
Naru was a bit exhausted after what happened, so she sat on the console to chill out a bit. All of the sudden, the entire room glowed red, accompanied by an alarm sound. Naru quickly stood up, startled. "What the hell!"
Keitaro saw what Naru just sat on and his eyes became white circles. "Oh God, Naru! YOU SAT ON THE SELF DESTRUCT BUTTON!"
"WH-WH-WHAAAAT!" Naru screamed out.
Epilogue
Several hours later, the agents managed to steer the fortress into the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where it exploded in a radiant nuclear fireball.
After reading instruction manuals well into the night, they were ready to launch in outer space to shatter the Lillith's Egg. The shuttle took off with Naru and Keitaro in the Space Shuttle Columbia (this is taking place in 2001), and Yomiko, Drake, and Shinobu at mission control.
As the shuttle reached the black orb in outer space, Naru and Keitaro got out in space suits.
(O)
Kitsune woke up, her eyes slowly opening. She got up and looked around her, and one thing she knew was that she wasn't in Hinata anymore. The entire area around her is in some kind of blue-green tint; she noticed it when she was looking at her hand. She stood up and saw the strange world she found herself in. It seemed she was underwater, or something; it was a sea.
She began to ponder to herself. So, is this the sea of ambiguity I heard so much about, a world where no one is different, where everyone is everyone else, where you aren't you, but everyone is one in the same... one body? Hey, I can breathe underwater, unless… I'M REALLY DEAD! I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M REALLY (BLEEP) DEAD! AND WHY AM I NAKED? She turned and saw Motoko. "Hey Motoko? Are we really dead?"
"Well I don't know," Motoko replied. "I did see myself leave my own body!" The rest of the Hinata girls also appeared, Su and Sarah were swimming around, chasing one another.
"Where are Naru and Keitaro?" Kitsune asked.
"Last time I checked," Kanako answered. "They went somewhere with Paper Lady."
Haruka was looking around her. "I could get used to this." Just after she said that, she noticed something unusual. "No cigarette… I don't have a cigarette in my mouth… DAMMIT!"
(O)
Naru was holding Keitaro by his ankles, ready to use him like a baseball bat. "I'm ready!" She said over the radio.
"All right!" Yomiko said from mission control. "Let her rip!"
With a mighty swing, Naru whacked the Lillith's Egg, causing it to crack.
(O)
Meanwhile, inside the black sphere, a whirlpool began to form, and Kitsune and the others were trying to escape it.
"Alright, everyone! Swim! Swim! Swim as hard as you can!" Kitsune ordered… then her arms gave way. "Damn! I'm pooped already. I thought I never had to worry about that when I was dead." She was sucked in the whirlpool, and then everyone else eventually got sucked in, too.
(O)
All of the souls escaped from the broken egg and fell back towards Earth.
"We did it!" Naru shouted.
"Great work!" Yomiko responded with excitement. She, Drake, and Shinobu also heard Keitaro shout "OW! THAT HURT, DAMMIT!" They hurried out of the mission control room to see the shuttle return.
When they got outside, they were immediately dazzled by the light show that is more than six billion souls returning to their host bodies.
(O)
As Naru and Keitaro got back in the shuttle, Keitaro looked at the orb breaking apart, and for a moment, he swore that the pieces formed an angelic wing and a demonic wing.
Needless to say, they managed to safely land the shuttle.
... in the water.
(O)
The next day, Yomiko was saying her goodbyes as she and Drake left the Hinata Inn. Keitaro and Naru, now back in their casual wear, went back to the house.
Keitaro shouted with enthusiasm. "Hi everyone, glad to see you're…"
"BEING DEAD FRICKIN' ROCKED!" Kitsune screamed out of the blue. "Sorry, that was a bit too impulsive, even for me."
Naru and Keitaro sweatdropped and then went to the dining room to recuperate.
Keitaro went a bit closer to Naru. "Was it just me, or did Readman-sensei's smile seem a bit forced to you back there?"
Naru put her hand on her chin and pondered. "Actually, come to think of it…"
Love or Die Hina: The End
Now review and tell me what you think. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed making this. I had my share of frustrations, and I have to admit it's not perfect, but I still feel pretty proud of the fact that I have finished an excellent story that I have worked for many weeks to complete.
And thanks to everyone for the reviews. Because of you guys, this fic has an astonishing two hundred and sixty four hits! (Well, that's astonishing in my own mind, at least.) I would like to thank encyser and NefCanuck for their constant support, and especially Drgnmastr-Alex; he gave me the most support and he was always there to review my works! Thanks, dude! YOU ROCK!
I have a sequel planned that takes place five years after this, one year after the end of the manga, and during the events of ROD TV, called Love or Dream Hina. I still haven't come up with an idea as to how to start off the first chapter, though, but I know that it will begin when romance novelist Motoko Aoyama meets critically acclaimed fellow author Nenene Sumiregawa in an author's meet. Also, I have a sister fic to this one already in the works that sort of makes fun of One Piece, where Keitaro is the captain of a pirate ship of sorts, affectionately named Make it in ONE PIECE, Keitaro!
Well, enough rambling! See you guys next time, and once again, thanks for the reviews, especially Drgnmastr-Alex. If you get the chance, read his fic Love Hina: New and Old Faces, Same Zaniness; it's really good. Well then, see you later!
-GYRAX of the Dark Icon Fanfiction Writers