Disclaimer: I do not own Love Hina. Tokyo Pop and Ken Akamatsu do. I also do not own Gundam. Bandai does.

Warning: Contains bloody violence and some choice words. Reader discretion is advised.

Short Note: Please be aware that although this chapter reads a bit slow, the actions taking place in this story are actually happening pretty fast. Just keep that in mind when you read.

GUNDAM HINA

Chapter 3

Another Friend Gone

"Oh my God! What have I done! I've spilled someone else's BLOOD!" Shinobu shouts in her head.

Shinobu looks at the blood running down the blade for a moment with shaking shocked eyes. Not able to take the sight of the blood running down the blade anymore, she manipulates the controls and pulls the "Heat Reaper" out of the cockpit and pushes the Zaku 2 off the top of the Gundam. She watches as the Zaku 2 rolls down the hill like a giant metal rag doll until it comes to rest at the bottom of the hill.

Shinobu looks at the "Heat Reaper" again, watching the blood as it drips off the tips of the blades. "What have I done? What have I done? What have I done?" she keeps repeating to herself over and over again.

"All right Shinobu! You got him! Way to go!" shouts Kietaro over the comm. Shinobu slowly looks up to the comm. screen with tearing eyes and sees Kietaro's happy, yet relieved, face.

"How can you say that?" says Shinobu softly. "Huh?" is Kietaro's answer. "How can you say that Sempai?" shouts Shinobu. "But-" "I just killed someone, and you call that a good job?" she adds, cutting of Kietaro, with a slight squeak in her voice at the end. Shinobu begins to cry again.

Kietaro backs off for a second. He knows Shinobu's personality is pretty timid. He knows that she absolutely hates to harm or strike out at anyone. She has hit him on a couple of occasions but has always cried about it afterward. He can only imagine what killing someone has done to her.

He wants to let her cry it out, but knowing that they could all be killed at any moment he has to snap her out of it NOW. "Shinobu…..STOP IT." he forcefully orders as he slams his fist onto the consol. Shinobu pops her head up in total shock. "But-"

"BUT NOTHING! What the hell do you think war is? This is a time of desperation Shinobu! You either kill or be killed! Kill or everyone you love and care for will be killed! Is that what you want! Because if you keep crying every time you hurt someone that is exactly what will happen!" shouts Kietaro.

His fist shakes as he shouts. He hates shouting. But to shout at Shinobu is especially painful because he knows how she would brake down in normal situations if she were yelled at. But this time is different.

"I know how scared you are right now, but you can cry later! Right now you are the only one who can protect us! You HAVE to fight Shinobu!" orders Kietaro forcefully again.

Shinobu looks at Kietaro with a stunned look. Then she slowly lowers her head. "He's right. Crying about this is only going to end up in mine and his destruction. Besides, these are the monsters who killed my friends. For all I know my mom and dad are dead too. I MUST protect the ones I have left! I MUST fight!" she thinks to herself.

Shinobu looks back up to the comm. screen. "Ok. I'll fight!" she says with new vigor. Kietaro smiles a bit. "Thank you Shinobu." answers Kietaro. Suddenly another alarm goes off in the cockpit. Shinobu looks forward and sees another Zaku 2 aiming a Zaku Bazooka right at her.

Before she can react it fires! But Shinobu is quick on the controls. She brings the shield around and angles it upwards. The bazooka shell slams into the shield but bounces upwards where it harmlessly explodes into the air. She then makes the Gundam quickly pick up the beam riffle again. She turns around and fires at the Zaku 2.

But her aim is just slightly to the right. The Zaku 2 jumps to the left and dodges the beam. It fires at her again. Shinobu once again brings the shield around and angles upward. The bazooka shell is once again deflected upwards where is explodes in the air.

"Crap I can't stay here or else risk the bunker getting hit." says Shinobu to herself. She reaches up and flips a couple of switches. She then presses the foot petals around and makes the Gundam leap into the air. She pushes the throttle forward and the veneers rocket her into the air.

She lands in the center of town. Most of the town is destroyed so she lands only on rubble. She looks around and sees that she is surrounded by the ZEON mobile suits. "Nuts! The beam riffle isn't very good at this close range. Better use the beam saber." says Shinobu to herself.

She makes the Gundam reach around and lock the beam rifle onto its "backpack" area, and then pulls out the beam saber and activates it. She starts to charge the Zaku 2 again, but then 120mm bullets go streaking by the screen. She slams on the brakes and swings the shield around in the direction of where the bullets are coming from.

A couple of them graze the left shoulder of the Gundam before she can get the shield around, causing the Gundam to shake, but it's only minor damage. The screen locks onto the Zaku 1 that is still firing its Zaku Machine gun at her.

Shinobu punches the throttle forward as far as it will go and the Gundam takes off and charges the Zaku 1, flying only a few yards in the air at full speed. The Zaku 1 fires wildly at her but the shield blocks any bullets that would hit.

She cuts off the veneers and lands the Gundam on its feet. The Gundam slides on its feet right up to the Zaku 1 and slices upward with the beam saber hacking off the arm holding the Zaku Machine gun. Using the same motion she spins the Gundam around, ducks it, and slices right through both the Zaku 1's legs with the beam saber.

Before the Zaku 1's torso has time to fall over Shinobu makes the Gundam spin kick it right in the chest. The torso goes flying and crashes right into the last Zaku 1. Both Zaku 1s fall backwards onto the ground.

Shinobu leaps the Gundam high into the air. She turns the beam saber downward in mid air and comes down with a lot of force. She stabs the beam saber strait through the 1st Zaku 1 and right in to the one below it. Shinobu pulls the beam saber out and leaps away. The 1st Zaku 1, unable to take anymore, explodes with a mighty blast nearly destroying the one right below it.

Shinobu is just about to take a small sigh of relief when another alarm goes off. She doesn't know why, but almost out of instinct she ducks the Gundam and moves it to the left quickly. Just as she moves it left a bazooka shell goes screaming past its head! She turns the Gundam around as sees the same Zaku 2 from before starting to reload another clip of bazooka shells into the Zaku Bazooka.

"Better get to him before he gets me!" says Shinobu to herself. She charges the Zaku 2 in an all out run. She charges, with the Gundam, down a deserted street, crushing cars and other pieces of debris along the way. She doesn't realize she passes right beside the ruins of her high school as she does.

The Zaku 2 looks up for a second to see the Gundam charging right at it. It quickly reloads the bazooka shell clip into the Zaku Bazooka and quickly aims it at the Gundam and fires. Unfortunately the shell goes just left of the Gundam.

"Oh no you don't!" shouts Shinobu. She makes the Gundam throw its shield hard at the Zaku 2 before it has time to take aim again. The shield flies through the air and smashes into the Zaku Bazooka causing it to go flying out of the Zaku 2's hand.

The Zaku 2 desperately reaches for its Heat Hawk, but it's too late. Just as it grasps the handle Shinobu stabs the beam saber into its torso just below the cockpit, stabbing it at an upward angle. Shinobu pulls upward and slices the Zaku 2 in half from the stab point all the way up through its head.

Shinobu has the Gundam kick the Zaku 2 away. She grabs the shield and leaps away just before it explodes. She lands on the ground and this time has a second to take a small breath.

But before she can take another she sees bullet shells coming from her left go fling past her screen. Before she can let whoever is shooting at her to adjust their aim she leaps the Gundam backwards with its veneers. But then another alarm goes off to her right.

Shinobu quickly looks to her right and sees one of the new mobile suits (Rik Doms) shooting its Bullpup Machine Gun at her. But before she has anytime to react one of the shells from it slams into the Gundam just under the right arm pit. The Gundam spins in mid-air from the impact and is about to crash, but somehow Shinobu regains control quickly and lands the Gundam on its feet.

Shinobu is about to swing the shield to block the shells from the Rik Dom, but another warning alarm goes off to her left. She quickly looks to her left and sees the last Zaku 2 charging her and just about on top of her. "He's going to ram me!" shouts Shinobu to herself.

All she has time to do is bring up the shield to at least block the spikes on its shoulder from stabbing into the Gundam. The Zaku 2 plows into her at full speed and sends the Gundam flying backwards.

"Yeahhhhhhhhhh!" screams Shinobu as she and the Gundam go flying backwards. The Gundam lands hard on its back and goes sliding on the ground, plowing through buildings and other various debris. Shinobu gets thrashed around violently in the cockpit.

Although she is wearing a helmet, her head gets slammed into the seat pretty hard twice; dazing her a bit. When the Gundam finally comes to a stop, Shinobu tries to shake the cobwebs out of her head. Suddenly another alarm goes off, but Shinobu is still out of it a bit that she doesn't seem to acknowledge it.

"SHINOBU LOOK OUT!" shouts Kietaro over the comm. Shinobu hears him and she slowly lifts her head up. Her vision is still a bit blurred because of the impact, but she can just barely make out a dark image coming across the screen.

Suddenly she gasps as her sight comes back quickly and sees the same Rik Dom dropping out of the sky shooting its Bullpup Machine Gun at her. Within a split-second, like out of instinct, Shinobu grabs the controls again and shoves everything to the right as hard as she can. With a boost from the left veneer, she quickly rolls the Gundam to the right just barely dodging the bullets!

The Rik Dom lands just a second after she rolled out of the way. As Shinobu quickly rolls the Gundam she drops the beam saber and shield and reaches behind it and grabs the beam riffle again. She quickly gets the Gundam onto one knee and spins it around and fires the beam riffle with the best guess as to where she thinks the Rik Dom would be.

It's a good guess because the beam smashes right into the Rik Dom just left of its cockpit just barely missing the pilot. Unfortunately for him the subsequent explosion of its power cell blows him to smithereens. The Rik Dom falls back onto the grown hard.

Shinobu gasps for air as the strain on her body and mind are beginning to catch up to her a bit. But before she can take very many of them another alarm gets her attention. She looks up and sees the last Zaku 2 charging her with its Heat Hawk cocked back ready to strike at her.

Realizing she dropped the shield there is only one thing Shinobu can think of to do. She presses the little red button on the right joystick again. The Gundam drops the beam riffle and out flips the "Heat Reaper" once more. She swings the "Heat Reaper" up as fast as she can and just barely blocks the Zaku 2's Heat Hawk in time.

Unfortunately the Gundam was still kneeling from its shooting position and is now having to push upward against the full weight of the Zaku 2 pushing down. Sparks and loud grinding noises come from the 2 super heated weapons rubbing against each other, and it appears that the Zaku 2 has the advantage.

Meanwhile back in the bunker Naru's display in front of her starts to turn red for the right arm. "Pressure on the right arm is increasing rapidly! If this keeps up it's going to buckle and give way!" she shouts into her little headset comm. Kietaro turns back around and shouts into the comm. "Shinobu you've got to move! The right arm is going to buckle at any second! Hurry!" he shouts.

"Argh. I…can't hold…it back much longer!" says a straining Shinobu to herself. Suddenly she remembers something Motoko had done in one of her matches when she was in a similar position. "It worked with Motoko….but will it work here?" asks Shinobu to herself.

Suddenly the Gundam shudders as she hears the Gundam's right arm begin to buckle. "Argh like I have any other choice!" says Shinobu to herself again. "Please let this work Motoko!" Shinobu says with a little prayer to her now dead friend.

Shinobu makes the Gundam ball its left hand into a fist and brings it back like she's going to punch the Zaku 2. The Zaku 2's "eye" looks over to the Gundam's left hand looking like it's about to punch. "Gotcha!" yells Shinobu.

Shinobu immediately makes the Gundam spin to the right, right out of the push off causing the Zaku 2 to go off balance. She then comes around quickly and stabs the Zaku 2 in its lower back with the "Heat Reaper." The Zaku 2 sparks a lot as its electrical system short circuits and cuts out causing the Zaku 2 to go limp.

"That's was a great move Shinobu!" shouts Kietaro over the comm. Shinobu breaths a small sigh of relief. "We can both thank Motoko for that one. That was one of her moves." says Shinobu calmly. Kietaro looks a bit surprised but then smiles. "I'm sure she would be proud of you Shinobu." he comments.

A couple of seconds later Shinobu spots the Zaku 2's cockpit doors blast open and watches its pilot fly out with a small jet pack. "Well at least I didn't kill one of them." she says to herself. Suddenly another alarm goes off behind her.

As if acting on instinct again, Shinobu spins the Gundam around and throws the Zaku 2 behind her. A split second later it collides with a large bazooka shell and they both explode with a mighty blast.

As the plume of smoke and debris hides the Gundam's profile, Shinobu runs over and picks up the beam riffle and quickly snaps it back onto the "back pack" area of the Gundam. She then runs over and picks up the beam saber and shield again.

Suddenly another giant bazooka shell comes streaking through the smoke cloud and right at her! "Shit!" cries out Shinobu. All she can do is just put up the shield. She doesn't even have time to angle it before it slams into the shield and explodes violently causing the Gundam to stumble backwards a few steps! Thankfully the shield holds but it now has a good sized dent in it.

"What the! Shield strength just dropped to 60 percent! Whatever hit her she had better not let hit her again because the shield can't take that kind of punishment for very long!" shouts Naru over to Kietaro through her small headset comm. Kietaro turns back to the comm. screen. "Shinobu your shield can't take that kind of punishment! You have to take out that mobile suit! And quick!" he shouts into the comm.

"I know that! I just wish I could see through smoke!" responds Shinobu. But strangely it's like someone is telling her where that mobile suit is. "Wait a sec…over there!" she shouts.

She punches the throttle forward and makes the Gundam jump into the air. The veneers kick into action and she goes flying over the smoke cloud. Her instincts were correct as she is now flying high right over the Rik Dom.

She turns on the beam saber and starts falling toward the Rik Dom. Suddenly the Rik Dom looks up and spots her. It quickly aims its Giant Bazooka right at her and fires 2 shells. The 1st one goes wide left but the second one is right on target!

"Oh no you don't!" shouts Shinobu. She makes the Gundam slice downward with the beam saber and actually slices the giant bazooka shell in half! The 2 pieces split around the Gundam and explode behind it.

The Gundam lands hard on the ground and slices right through the Rik Dom slicing off its right arm that was holding the Giant Bazooka. The arm and Giant Bazooka fall to the ground. The impact on the ground causes the Giant Bazooka to shoot off its last shell skyward.

Shinobu comes back around and slices the Rik Dom clean in half horizontally with the beam saber. She then makes the Gundam leap backwards just before the 2 halves of the Rik Dom explode violently. The smoke from the blast hides the Hinata Gundam once again.

"Now where's the last one?" says Shinobu to herself. Then suddenly another different sounding alarm gets her attention. She looks and sees the screen pointing to the right with an arrow. She looks over and is horrified to see the stray giant bazooka shell coming down from the sky HEADED RIGHT FOR THE LAUNCH OPENING OF THE BUNKER!

There's no time to shoot it down! Shinobu quickly turns to the comm. screen. "SEMPAI! LOOK OUT! YOU'VE GOT IMCOMMING!" shouts Shinobu into the comm.

Kietaro is shocked for a second, but after looking at Shinobu's panicked face he knows she means it! He quickly turns to Naru. "NARU TAKE COVER!" he shouts at her. He then grabs Tama-chan and throws themselves under the bolted down desk behind them. Naru takes off the short range comm. link head set she had on and turns around. "What did you say Kietaro!" she asks loudly.

Suddenly a loud shrieking whistling noise to her right gets her attention. She looks over and watches in horror as a large shell comes flying in through the launch hole in the top of the bunker. It then crashes and explodes mightily into the elevation platform that the Hinata Gundam had been standing on.

There is no time for her to find cover! Naru's face turns a pale blue and then she let's out a blood curtailing scream as she is engulfed in the shockwave of flame and debris.

Shinobu watches in horror as the shock wave passes in front of the comm. screen and then goes to static. She then looks back to the hill and watches a huge plume of smoke erupt from the launch bay. "SEMPAI! SEMPAI! PLEASE COME IN SEMPAI! ARE YOU THERE? PLEASE RESPOND! ARE YOU OK?" Shinobu desperately shouts into the comm. But there is no response….only static.

"Sempai…..no……you can't be…." says Shinobu fearfully. She lowers her head and tears start to pour down her face as she thinks the worst has happened. Then suddenly another alarm goes off in front of her. She looks up and sees the last Rik Dom land right in front of her and aim its Bazooka at her!

Shinobu quickly grabs the controls and shoves everything down. The Gundam quickly ducks to the ground just as the Rik Dom fires. A huge beam blast shoots out of the Beam Bazooka. The big pink blast goes a ways and slams into the ground with a massive explosion.

"Come on Shinobu get it together. If you cry you'll get killed! You must protect your friends." says Shinobu to herself. "If even one of my friends is still alive I can't let them die! I MUST PROTECT THEM!" she shouts as the makes the Gundam swing the beam saber at the Rik Dom.

But surprisingly the Rik Dom jumps back out of the way of the saber. It brings up its Beam Bazooka again and fires at her. Shinobu makes the Gundam dodge to the left and then swings the beam saber at the Rik Dom again. But this time the Rik Dom takes off into the air to dodge.

It quickly aims downward and fires the Beam Bazooka again! The blast just barely misses the Gundam and explodes violently behind it. The Gundam goes flying forward and slams into the ground hard face 1st. Somehow it hangs onto the beam saber and the shield.

The Rik Dom fires again as it lands. Shinobu barely has time to roll the Gundam over and dodge the blast again. But the explosion once again sends the Gundam flying. Somehow Shinobu gets the Gundam upright and lands it on its feet before it can fly too far.

Shinobu quickly turns the Gundam around, punches the throttle forward, lighting up the veneers, and charges the Rik Dom at full speed. The Rik Dom fires again but the beam blast goes just left of the Gundam.

Shinobu slams on the brakes right in front of the Rik Dom and swings the beam saber upward. The Rik Dom pilot has quick reactions and jumps backwards quickly. But unfortunately the beam saber slices right into the Beam Bazooka and slices it in half.

The Rik Dom flies backwards a bit before landing. "Damn he's quick!" Shinobu says to herself. She punches the throttle forward again and charges the Rik Dom once more.

The Rik Dom sees this and chunks what's left of its Beam Bazooka at her. Shinobu slams on the brakes hard and tries to bring the shield around to block it, but the Beam Bazooka smashes into the shield causing it to go fling out of the Gundam's left hand.

Shinobu looks back but sees the Rik Dom right on top of her in a full charge. The Rik Dom shoulder tackles the Gundam hard causing it to go flying backwards. Shinobu, although a little dazed again by the impact, somehow regains control of the Gundam and makes it land knelling. The Gundam slides to a stop on one knee.

Shinobu slowly looks back up holding her head a bit. "Oww. Those ZEON mobile suits sure know how to hit hard." says Shinobu. She looks up and sees the Rik Dom reach behind its back and pull out a yellow rod of some kind. The rod then begins to glow a bright yellow.

Instantly Shinobu knows it's another "Heat" weapon, the "Heat Rod." She slowly makes the Gundam stand up and turns the beam saber back on. "This guy is no ordinary pilot. This guy…is an ace." she says to herself.

Meanwhile back in the bunker.

Kietaro is just coming out from under the desk. "Ahh damn. Shinobu wasn't kidding out that incoming. My ears are still ringing from that explosion." he says while holding his head.

He looks up and sees the comm. station nearly destroyed. He runs up to it and puts the comm. headset on. "Shinobu! Can you hear me? Please respond!" he shouts into the mic. He gets nothing. "Ahh blast it! The comm. is to far destroyed." he says in frustration.

He looks around at bit, but can't see much through the smoke and dust still trapped in the bunker. "COUGH! COUGH! Naru! Where are you! Are you ok?" he shouts. He doesn't get a response. He figures Naru still has some ringing in her ears and can't hear him.

He starts to look around to see if he can find her and tell her it's safe to come out now. But with all the debris lying around it's making that a very hard task to do. He keeps calling out her name but still isn't getting a response.

He finally makes it over to her station, or at least what's left of it. The station is nearly melted in half! Now he starts to get worried. "NARU! Where are you!" he shouts again. A soft moan to his left gets his attention.

He looks over to his left and is horrified to see Naru lying in a small pool of blood. "NARU!" he shouts. He runs up to her and rolls her over into his good arm. When he does he is sickened to his stomach. Naru's face has been disfigured by large flying pieces of debris; not to mention much of the front side of her body has been badly burned, badly cut, and he can tell that she has many broken bones.

"Naru!" Kietaro shouts at her. Naru slowly opens her eyes and looks up at him. One of her eyes is completely blood shot after receiving a major blow. "…..Naru?" says Kietaro with disbelief.

Naru opens her mouth and tries hard to speak. "….Kie….tar...ro." she says but with a gurgley, wispy voice. "Naru! Hang on! I'll get you some help!" shouts Kietaro with concern in his voice.

"…..I'm sorry…….but….it's already too late." answers Naru weakly. "No! Don't talk like that! I'm going to get you out of here! You're going to make it!" he shouts back. Naru only smiles at him. She reaches up and he takes a hold of her hand.

"….Please…..don't ever….forget about me." says Naru even weaker. "Naru. No. Please don't die on me!" answers Kietaro. Naru gets a strained look on her face. "Promise you won't forget….please." she begs in her weak voice. Tears start to trickle down Kietaro's face.

"…..I…..I promise." he says choked up. Naru smiles at him quickly. "GASP! GASP! I…Love …you." says Naru while desperately gasping for air. "I Love you too." says Kietaro with a squeaky sounding voice almost about to cry.

Blood starts to pour out of Naru's mouth as she desperately gasps for more air. But it's all in vain as she begins to drown in her own blood when her lungs fill up with her blood. Her body starts to quiver as she gasps but now can't get any air. "Gasp! Gasp!" she tries to gasp but gets nothing.

"Naru. Naru!" says Kietaro and he tries to hold her. She looks right into Kietaro's eyes as her last few attempts at air fail. "Bu…Blagh!" Naru coughs a massive glob of bright red blood. Her eyes shut and moment later her body falls limp.

"Naru? Naru?" says Kietaro softly. He reaches up and presses his to fingers up to her neck….but doesn't feel a pulse. He stays silent for a moment. He then throws his head back with tears running down his face and shouts. "NAAAAARRRUUUUUUUUU!"

End of Chapter 3

To be continued in Chapter 4- Desperate Escape.

Author Note: Whew. That was pretty dramatic don't you think? Sorry all you Naru fans out there. But I had already decided when I started this story I was going to kill off Naru. A 10 page Chapter this time. And it took me the longest time to do this battle scene believe me! Just so you'd know I have been watching a lot of my Gundam animes to help me drive these battle scenes along. I hope you like them! Also be sure to cheek out http/ www. mahq. net/mecha/gundam/index .htm for any Gundam related questions you may have.

Story Note: More weapons Specks.

Bullpup Machine Gun: Essentially a remodeled Zaku Machine Gun made for Rik Dom use. The stock, handle and, trigger were enlarged to fit the Rik Dom's bigger hand.

Giant Bazooka: a full 20 mm bigger than the Zaku Bazooka, this was the most used weapon by the Rik Doms during the war. Needless to say that although a bit bulky it was an extremely powerful and deadly weapon when used by an expert pilot.

Beam Bazooka: an insanely powerful beam weapon. Only 60 of them were built during the entire 1 year war, and were most often given to the best ace pilots. It was equal in power to 5 Gundam beam riffles or to 2 battleship beam cannons. Char Aznabald and Anavel Gato both had one. Char didn't want to use his so it was transferred to Gato's Rik Dom just before the "Battle of Solomon" began. Anavel Gato would earn his nick name as "The Nightmare of Solomon" when he used the Beam Bazooka to destroy 8 Federation Battleships in 5 minutes.

Heat Rod: Similar to the Zaku's Heat Hawk. This was the Rik Dom's close quarters combat weapon. It was a long rod weapon that would become white hot so it could slice and bash through tough armor. Due to the Rik Dom's heightened mobility over the Zaku, many a federation pilot met their doom with this weapon.