Chapter six
Motoko opens her eyes. She's surrounded by strange, swirling mists that glow a faint shade of lavender. To her, they look like a softer, gentler sort of sunset. She smiles. This is a nice place. She doesn't know how she got here, but she'd be happy to stay here forever
(Motoko-chan, wake up! Motoko!)
if that was possible. She twirled around, surveying her surroundings. The mists had changed in the last few seconds. They'd gone from being soft and inviting to looking vaguely ominous and
(Motoko! You've got to wake up! Please!)
threatening. The sky began to crack. Inky blackness rushed out of said cracks and twisted all around her, swallowing the mists. Motoko shrieked in fear. What was happening to—
Motoko sat bolt upright, smacking head-to-head into Keitaro, who had been standing over her. She looked around in a frenzy, trying to collect her thoughts. They came back to her even as Keitaro began to speak.
"Motoko-chan..." He started to say something, then seemingly thought better of it and simply offered her his hand, rubbing his injured head with the other. She accepted it gratefully, and pulled herself to her feet. She walked past him into his room without so much as by-your-leave and knelt on the floor in a meditative position. Keitaro followed her into the room, but he flung himself face first onto the bed, turning his head at the last second so that he was facing her.
"So... She's... Gone, then, isn't she?" Motoko regretted saying it like that as soon as she'd done it. Fresh tears that looked by far to not be the first or last welled up in Keitaro's eyes as he nodded sullenly. Motoko felt a surge of guilt unlike anything she'd ever felt before. This was her doing, and there was no way around that. She'd destroyed the romance that almost never was. Motoko remembered when they'd all first met Keitaro, and his time spent here as manager of the Hinata-sou. Naru had taken years to admit her feelings for him, and even then, it almost ended up not working. When it finally had, everyone had been so relieved. Even her, though she was
(angry)
a little jealous about it, too. Now, she'd destroyed in a night what was years in the making.
"M-M-Motoko-chan?" Keitaro's tear-choked voice snapped her from her reverie of self-loathing. He was looking at her with his big, soulful eyes. Those eyes that made her melt every time he fixed them on her. She felt her guilt double, and then treble as he stared into her own eyes.
"Yes, Keitaro?" She tried to keep her voice steady, and did a surprisingly good job.
"Whatever happens from this point is on both our shoulders. I won't have you take all the blame for it, okay? I promise." The word "promise" rang out in his mind hatefully. (Oh, yeah, your promises sure mean a lot now. A whole lot of nothing, that is.) She stared at him, unable to conceal her shock. What, had he become a mind-reader?
"Keitaro-kun, but the blame is mine. You are an honourable, faithful man! You would never have done such a thing to Naru had I not... not... seduced you as such." Motoko fairly spat out the word seduced, treating it like some vile curse that she had to muster all her courage to say. She felt tears creeping up on her, but she refused to cry. She'd done enough crying in the past two days to last her the rest of her life. Besides, Keitaro needed a stable element he could cling to right now. The man was, for lack of a better word, crushed.
"Motoko, you know it isn't like that. You didn't force me, you simply asked me. I gave in. We are both at fault." He said this with a sort of finality, and she didn't respond. She got up from her place on the floor and lay down parallel to him on the bed, her eyes just centimeters from his. They remained like this for a time; how long it was is of little importance. For that time, there existed only two things for each of them in the entire world: Each other, and the third element of the situation, who had just left them with a whole slew of guilt and torment. Each took comfort in the other's gaze, and they neither cried nor spoke. It was not a time for words.
The two were startled out of whatever they were in by a knock on the door. Motoko could sense several presences outside. Four, to be exact.
"Brace yourself, Keitaro... I do believe our friends are going to want an explanation." Keitaro's face grew fearful, and he sat up and moved to the far corner of the bed. "Come in!" Motoko called. Best to get this over with now.
The door opened, and in filed Shinobu, Su, Kitsune and even Haruka. All the remaining residents of the Hinata-sou soon stood in a line before them, their mouths pressed together in identical severe lines, their eyebrows all diving for the noses. They looked supremely pissed. Kitsune was the first to speak.
"You," she said, pointing a finger at Keitaro like a pistol, "have approximately three seconds to start explaining. Then, we're going to kill you." Keitaro gulped. She didn't really look (or sound) like she was kidding. In fact, she sounded like kidding was the furthest thing from her mind. "In fact, now that I think of it, after you explain, I'm going to kill you anyway. No amount of explaining could excuse this."
"Excuse what, Kitsune? We don't even know what he did yet!" Kaolla Su interjected with the obvious, and Kitsune face-vaulted. Shinobu, however, just looked at Keitaro with accusing eyes. Keitaro's mind once again flashed to that image from this morning. (The soup-stain... Of course! Shinobu had taken to eating on the roof in the mornings, so it was HER who saw us, not Naru! Wait...if Shinobu saw us, then how did Naru find out?)
"Kitsune, Su, Shinobu, Haruka-san... I cannot excuse myself, but I will at least explain it to you before you kill me," Keitaro said slowly, hanging his head. "Last night, Motoko came to me with a request. A request that it was not in me to refuse. I trust... I trust that I don't need to say anymore. Do with me as you would." With that, he got up from the bed, moving as stiffly as a wooden puppet, and knelt before the four. He raised his head to meet their collective gaze, baring his throat. "Kill me, if you so desire. I don't believe I deserve to live anymore, anyway."
The four, instead of doing what he'd requested, simply looked at him with identical stares. Had he really just said what they thought he'd said? Keitaro? Shinobu was the first to speak, and there was a strange coldness in her voice that none of them had ever heard before.
"Sempai... I know. I saw you two, earlier in the morning." She continued, ignoring Motoko's shocked gasp. "I can't believe that you'd do that. You know something? I used to be convinced that I was in love with you." It was now Keitaro's turn to look totally shocked, but still, Shinobu pressed on. "Yeah, I think everyone knew but you. I loved you because you were the sweetest, kindest, most... well, faithful person I'd ever met. All of that's been destroyed now, Sempai. It's going to take a long time before any of us will trust you again, I think." She lost some of the confidence her voice carried with her last two words, and fearfully glanced back and forth for the others' approval. To her surprise, they were all nodding in silent assent. She had summed up what they were thinking fairly well.
Motoko rose. She looked determined, but at the same time, very, very scared. Everything she had in the world was contained within those people that lived in the Hinata-sou. She couldn't lose them, not for Keitaro, not for Naru, not for anyone. All the same, she had to say something.
"Um," she began, and instantly there were five pairs of eyes fixed on her. She gulped, but pressed on. "Keitaro is... not entirely at fault here. I knew he'd try to take the blame, but there's more to the story than he lets on. I didn't simply... request that of him. I begged. I couldn't take it anymore. He loved Naru, and the jealousy was eating me alive. I needed to have him for a little while, just a little while, to keep from going crazy. Responsibility lies on both our shoulders, and I am just so goddamn sorry that I want to die." She knelt down now beside Keitaro, and raised her chin in a position identical to his. "If you want to kill him, kill me too. The fault is ours."
End chapter six
((Lalalalala! I was in an extraordinarily creative mood today. Two updates in one day! I hope this is enough to keep you satiated for a while, because I'm fresh out of ideas for now. Within two weeks, you'll have the next chapter, I promise. I'm thinking that a few days will have passed in between this chapter and the next one, though, as this scene feels like it's starting to drag. Let me know what you think!))
Motoko opens her eyes. She's surrounded by strange, swirling mists that glow a faint shade of lavender. To her, they look like a softer, gentler sort of sunset. She smiles. This is a nice place. She doesn't know how she got here, but she'd be happy to stay here forever
(Motoko-chan, wake up! Motoko!)
if that was possible. She twirled around, surveying her surroundings. The mists had changed in the last few seconds. They'd gone from being soft and inviting to looking vaguely ominous and
(Motoko! You've got to wake up! Please!)
threatening. The sky began to crack. Inky blackness rushed out of said cracks and twisted all around her, swallowing the mists. Motoko shrieked in fear. What was happening to—
Motoko sat bolt upright, smacking head-to-head into Keitaro, who had been standing over her. She looked around in a frenzy, trying to collect her thoughts. They came back to her even as Keitaro began to speak.
"Motoko-chan..." He started to say something, then seemingly thought better of it and simply offered her his hand, rubbing his injured head with the other. She accepted it gratefully, and pulled herself to her feet. She walked past him into his room without so much as by-your-leave and knelt on the floor in a meditative position. Keitaro followed her into the room, but he flung himself face first onto the bed, turning his head at the last second so that he was facing her.
"So... She's... Gone, then, isn't she?" Motoko regretted saying it like that as soon as she'd done it. Fresh tears that looked by far to not be the first or last welled up in Keitaro's eyes as he nodded sullenly. Motoko felt a surge of guilt unlike anything she'd ever felt before. This was her doing, and there was no way around that. She'd destroyed the romance that almost never was. Motoko remembered when they'd all first met Keitaro, and his time spent here as manager of the Hinata-sou. Naru had taken years to admit her feelings for him, and even then, it almost ended up not working. When it finally had, everyone had been so relieved. Even her, though she was
(angry)
a little jealous about it, too. Now, she'd destroyed in a night what was years in the making.
"M-M-Motoko-chan?" Keitaro's tear-choked voice snapped her from her reverie of self-loathing. He was looking at her with his big, soulful eyes. Those eyes that made her melt every time he fixed them on her. She felt her guilt double, and then treble as he stared into her own eyes.
"Yes, Keitaro?" She tried to keep her voice steady, and did a surprisingly good job.
"Whatever happens from this point is on both our shoulders. I won't have you take all the blame for it, okay? I promise." The word "promise" rang out in his mind hatefully. (Oh, yeah, your promises sure mean a lot now. A whole lot of nothing, that is.) She stared at him, unable to conceal her shock. What, had he become a mind-reader?
"Keitaro-kun, but the blame is mine. You are an honourable, faithful man! You would never have done such a thing to Naru had I not... not... seduced you as such." Motoko fairly spat out the word seduced, treating it like some vile curse that she had to muster all her courage to say. She felt tears creeping up on her, but she refused to cry. She'd done enough crying in the past two days to last her the rest of her life. Besides, Keitaro needed a stable element he could cling to right now. The man was, for lack of a better word, crushed.
"Motoko, you know it isn't like that. You didn't force me, you simply asked me. I gave in. We are both at fault." He said this with a sort of finality, and she didn't respond. She got up from her place on the floor and lay down parallel to him on the bed, her eyes just centimeters from his. They remained like this for a time; how long it was is of little importance. For that time, there existed only two things for each of them in the entire world: Each other, and the third element of the situation, who had just left them with a whole slew of guilt and torment. Each took comfort in the other's gaze, and they neither cried nor spoke. It was not a time for words.
The two were startled out of whatever they were in by a knock on the door. Motoko could sense several presences outside. Four, to be exact.
"Brace yourself, Keitaro... I do believe our friends are going to want an explanation." Keitaro's face grew fearful, and he sat up and moved to the far corner of the bed. "Come in!" Motoko called. Best to get this over with now.
The door opened, and in filed Shinobu, Su, Kitsune and even Haruka. All the remaining residents of the Hinata-sou soon stood in a line before them, their mouths pressed together in identical severe lines, their eyebrows all diving for the noses. They looked supremely pissed. Kitsune was the first to speak.
"You," she said, pointing a finger at Keitaro like a pistol, "have approximately three seconds to start explaining. Then, we're going to kill you." Keitaro gulped. She didn't really look (or sound) like she was kidding. In fact, she sounded like kidding was the furthest thing from her mind. "In fact, now that I think of it, after you explain, I'm going to kill you anyway. No amount of explaining could excuse this."
"Excuse what, Kitsune? We don't even know what he did yet!" Kaolla Su interjected with the obvious, and Kitsune face-vaulted. Shinobu, however, just looked at Keitaro with accusing eyes. Keitaro's mind once again flashed to that image from this morning. (The soup-stain... Of course! Shinobu had taken to eating on the roof in the mornings, so it was HER who saw us, not Naru! Wait...if Shinobu saw us, then how did Naru find out?)
"Kitsune, Su, Shinobu, Haruka-san... I cannot excuse myself, but I will at least explain it to you before you kill me," Keitaro said slowly, hanging his head. "Last night, Motoko came to me with a request. A request that it was not in me to refuse. I trust... I trust that I don't need to say anymore. Do with me as you would." With that, he got up from the bed, moving as stiffly as a wooden puppet, and knelt before the four. He raised his head to meet their collective gaze, baring his throat. "Kill me, if you so desire. I don't believe I deserve to live anymore, anyway."
The four, instead of doing what he'd requested, simply looked at him with identical stares. Had he really just said what they thought he'd said? Keitaro? Shinobu was the first to speak, and there was a strange coldness in her voice that none of them had ever heard before.
"Sempai... I know. I saw you two, earlier in the morning." She continued, ignoring Motoko's shocked gasp. "I can't believe that you'd do that. You know something? I used to be convinced that I was in love with you." It was now Keitaro's turn to look totally shocked, but still, Shinobu pressed on. "Yeah, I think everyone knew but you. I loved you because you were the sweetest, kindest, most... well, faithful person I'd ever met. All of that's been destroyed now, Sempai. It's going to take a long time before any of us will trust you again, I think." She lost some of the confidence her voice carried with her last two words, and fearfully glanced back and forth for the others' approval. To her surprise, they were all nodding in silent assent. She had summed up what they were thinking fairly well.
Motoko rose. She looked determined, but at the same time, very, very scared. Everything she had in the world was contained within those people that lived in the Hinata-sou. She couldn't lose them, not for Keitaro, not for Naru, not for anyone. All the same, she had to say something.
"Um," she began, and instantly there were five pairs of eyes fixed on her. She gulped, but pressed on. "Keitaro is... not entirely at fault here. I knew he'd try to take the blame, but there's more to the story than he lets on. I didn't simply... request that of him. I begged. I couldn't take it anymore. He loved Naru, and the jealousy was eating me alive. I needed to have him for a little while, just a little while, to keep from going crazy. Responsibility lies on both our shoulders, and I am just so goddamn sorry that I want to die." She knelt down now beside Keitaro, and raised her chin in a position identical to his. "If you want to kill him, kill me too. The fault is ours."
End chapter six
((Lalalalala! I was in an extraordinarily creative mood today. Two updates in one day! I hope this is enough to keep you satiated for a while, because I'm fresh out of ideas for now. Within two weeks, you'll have the next chapter, I promise. I'm thinking that a few days will have passed in between this chapter and the next one, though, as this scene feels like it's starting to drag. Let me know what you think!))