Love Hina

Chapter 5

Reflections of the Soul Part 2

Disclaimer: I don't own this series or any other series. I am just floating an idea. I am making no money, nor plan to, off this venture. If you think of suing me over this, then grow up.

I would like to first personally thank all of those reviewing my stories. I enjoy reading your comments, and try to correct the grammatical errors I miss with my final read-through as well as my spell checkers. The suggestions you all make will help make this story better for everyone to enjoy, as well as allow my to fix some plot holes I may unintentionally leave.

If you like, please review, as well as let me know of any spelling errors. I will then re-upload this chapter when I do my next upload.

If you like, check out my other stories.

I find that if I let things sit for a while in my head; I can play them out farther. Plus by trying and keeping my chapters between 2500 and 3000 words, it helps keep me from making the story slide out of control, turning a diamond to a pile of shit.

I also plan to start sending these out to have someone else proofread them before I post them. Volunteers are welcome.

Now, on with the show.

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The two were not quiet while eating their meals, both somewhat excited and nervous about being this close to each other. It had been close to four years since they had been in the same room together, each afraid to take the necessary steps to repair their friendship.

Keitaro's reason was because of his fear, his uncertainty, the very fact of what he had done to Rei, which he had managed to hurt his best friend, to hurt a woman who he even loved in a way, almost like a sister. She had stood by him, supported him, and defended him in the school gossip when tales of why he no longer went to school began to surface. She had called him everyday after classes, telling him of her day, sharing her secrets, her fears with a man she would always trust. Instead of going to dances and other social events, she more often than not stayed with him, watching a movie; a safe distance apart of course.

But then her friends began to spread vicious rumors, and she had defended him, sacrificing herself. The results: she ended up in a hospital for over a week, her body battered, her soul tortured. Keitaro, he nearly took his own life once again for what he had done to her, what he had been unable to do for her, what he had been unable to stop. So he did the only thing he could ever do, he closed himself off towards her, allowed his true friend to slip away, to allow himself to be alone again.

Rei's reasons were just as confusing to her, if not more so. She had always liked Keitaro. He had stood by her on the playgrounds when other kids tried to bully her, even going as far as to hit their leader, sending the whining brat down to the ground, blood coming from his nose and mouth. That very scene had assured a place for him in her heart. They had spent all of their free time together, ignoring the teases from the other kids about them being a couple. Rei simply told them that they were jealous because Keitaro was a better person than they were and that they needed to grow up and quit acting like toddlers.

The saddest day in her life was when she was informed that Keitaro could no longer go to public school. She had run from the school crying, straight to her best friend's house. His mother had to hold her back, while his father held him back as well. His mother told her that Keitaro had become sick, and that while they as blood relatives would be safe, she could get sick as well. She had cried, screamed at them to let her be with her friend, to be with the boy she cared for, pleaded with them to let him return to school with her, that she would take care of him. She stared at Keitaro, tears coming down his face. She hadn't known it at the time, but Keitaro's tears were not only for her that day, but for what his life would be like every day afterwards.

She had kept close to him, promising his parents that she would respect the distance she had to keep from him, yelling at her parents when they told her she would never be allowed to see Kei again. She told them that she loved him, even though she was too young in their minds to know what love was. It wasn't until she had stopped eating, stopped doing anything for two days that they finally relented, making preparations with Kei's parents to allow their daughter to visit him, talk to him over the phone. It was this contact that made them both happy; as Keitaro's male friends had simply abandoned him, thinking him too sick to be their friend. They were both thankful for these small moments, when she had learned what Keitaro's sickness really was, she realized that her contact helped keep him ground, kept him from giving up on living entirely.

But then that fateful night arrived. She was betrayed by the two people she had called friends, chained to a guy she loved; a guy she knew would kill himself to prevent from hurting her. He had spent his rare few minutes of sanity to keep her alive, to free her, never once considering killing himself in front of her, though she knew now he had tried it later.

But the visits stopped, the phone calls now happening every other day, eventually becoming once a week, and stopping entirely. She had wrote him, the letters were all they had, with the exceptions of the visits she would make to his house, never going in, never looking around, just staring at his window, waving at him when he looked down at her, the sadness of his life now more prevalent in his eyes.

That day he had been sent here, she had resolved to tell him how she felt, that she would be with him forever, even if he never was cured. She wanted to ask for his forgiveness, something she had never been able to bring herself to do for four years. But he was gone, and she felt her heart break, fearing that maybe Keitaro was beyond her grasp forever.

But now they were here, now they were together, closer than they had been for four years, talking about their lives, about what had been going on, how Rei had been while helping her sick grandmother, the reason why she had not gone into college after high school. They talked about Keitaro working in the kitchen of his parent's store, learning to cook and the enjoyment that he was doing something positive with his life, if even for a moment. They talked about Rei beginning to study for the entrance exam to Toudai, as well as what her plans for the future were, never mentioning how she wanted to have Kei included in those.

They only avoided one topic, the topic about what had happened four years ago. They both figured what they had learned last night was enough, that they understood what had happened. They both knew that each one blamed themselves, not the other. Still, it didn't mean that they would try and stop the others from feeling that way; an impossibility that both knew.

"Kei, there's something I need to tell you." She looked at Keitaro, his eyes staring at her, making her heart beat faster. Damn it! Stop stalling now and tell him before something else happens. "Kei, I really do like you, even after all we've been through, and I will always care for you. But I need to tell you something before I lose the confidence to do it, so please be quiet and let me say what I need to."

Keitaro set down his utensils, trying to place all his attention onto Rei, knowing she would need his support, hoping it wasn't that she was going to leave him or call him a freak, a fear he always had about people who truly knew him.

"Kei, I...I...I love you."

She looked at him, staring into his eyes, noticing his mouth was hanging open, his eyes vacant. Damn, I guess he wasn't prepared for that.

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Akiri and Hideki sat in the old office, going over scrolls brought over from his visit to South Asia. The two had spent many nights like this over the last decade. He would go off, searching old temples and looking for legends of how to remove a demon, either possessing a human or sealed in them. He was greatly saddened at how many times he discovered that someone who had a demon sealed inside of them were simply killed or allowed to take their own life, leaving little research into how they could remove it.

So for their time, they tried combining what spells and rituals that were to free a possessed spirit with what little they had discovered, hoping to make a new ritual that would free Keitaro.

But there last attempt had been four years ago, before the incident with Rei. They had failed to make the field any smaller, let alone banish its effect. Any talisman they gave Keitaro, hoping it would seal the power in him, was instantly turned to ash as it entered his field, regardless if he was holding it or not. In the end, all they had managed to do was illuminate his zone, as well as destroy Keitaro's short lived dream about a normal life.

About 400 years ago, a miko had fallen into the same circumstance. She had tried to seal away a demon like the one now in Keitaro, but had sealed it in her brother. She spent the rest of her life with him, becoming his wife, trying to keep him in this world. The man had died, defending the village, allowing the demon to use his body to destroy the attacking army. As he lay dying in his wife's arms, he told her he knew the demon had a soul, because he felt it crying for him.

But even that option, as ill desired today as it was then, was not even considered for Keitaro. His sister was not a blood relative, and even though Akiri could see how much the girl loved her adopted brother, he would not drag her into his hell, no matter how willing to follow him she was. Even the option of dying in battle, to save those he cared about, was denied him, as even a small group of thugs would be no match for the sheer power of the demon once enraged by male contact.

A soul, even one belonging to a demon, was not unheard of in her practices. There had been many legends of demons falling in love with humans, defending them and wedding them, showing that demons could be classified like life on this world, some only cared about survival, while some wanted to be more than they were.

But the demon inside Keitaro had only cared about his own desires, his own needs. Maybe it was the love of the sister, the love of the person he cared about the most who gave up her own life to be forever with her brother, which had allowed the soul of that demon to grow, something the one inside Keitaro had no connection with. All of his experiences with the demon had been hell, reminding him of his weakness, how he was truly alone. Even when telling Keitaro of this story, Keitaro had told them of what the demon had said. "He says that demon was a failure, it had no true blood anymore."

The demon inside Keitaro would not be tamed, not be controlled by the human heart it now shared. It knew that if Keitaro died, it died. It knew that his pains would only grow; maybe hoping it would either leave this existence and the torture of not being able to do what it wanted, or it wanted Keitaro so shattered, that it could use him as a puppet, getting what it desired.

Neither option was what anyone who knew Keitaro wanted.

It was then they both noticed they were being watched, turning to see a young woman standing before them, a large bird resting on her shoulder.

"Hello, my name is Aoyama Tsuruko, and it would appear we have the same mission before us."

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Keitaro was stuck in his thoughts for what felt like several minutes. He had just heard the girl he had hurt the most in his life, the girl who he had almost killed, profess that she not only would care about him for the rest of his life, but loved him as well.

She loves me?!

How can she love me!?

Why does she love me?!

Does she love me for my soul or for what we did that night?!

I don't understand!

Those thoughts kept cycling through his mind for that time, until he felt himself splashed with cold water in his face. He came out of his thoughts to see Rei on the other side of the table, an empty glass in her hand. He quickly closed his mouth, spitting out the water that had gathered in it out to the side like a park fountain. "Thanks, I needed that."

She giggled a little at his actions before setting herself back down, refilling her water glass from a pitcher on the table, both for drinking as well as to use in case Keitaro lost himself again. "Now, I guess I should finish my talk."

"First off, I have felt this way about you Kei since the first day you helped me and I looked into your eyes. It was not based on what happened that night. I want you to know that. No matter what happens here, no matter if you get cured or not, I will always love you, even if you don't end up with me in the end. No matter what you decide, I will stand with you till the end."

Keitaro looked at her, her eyes barely holding back the wall of tears inside them. He wanted to rush to her, telling her it would be all right. But the knowledge of what would happen kept him from doing so. In truth, he had never considered his feelings for her, other than friendship, and by the time he knew that feelings could go beyond that, the curse had activated, meaning he would never be able to consider such things again.

But the zone, the results, these things worked on the concept that the two entwined souls would be connected, their souls turning more towards that of soul mates than complete strangers. The love it caused either to feel was complete, almost pure in its simplicity, the perfect way for a demon to take advantage of a female.

But to Keitaro, it was always hollow when the second person was gone. He never told anyone that afterwards he had hated the feelings, knowing that the feelings weren't even real. It was the main reason for some of his earlier suicide attempts, how can one be shown pure love, and then be shown that it was fake, never real.

"Akiri, is the love like what you felt in the field?" It was a simple question. He considered the love from the zone fake, an illusion to try and placate him.

"No, it's better because I know it's real, because I have always known it was real."

Keitaro could feel himself begin to cry, not knowing what to say to her, but knowing he had to say something, anything to keep Rei's admission from looking like it was rejected. "Rei, I truly never gave any thought about loving anyone. I don't know if I can. But I will try to see if I can feel that way, about you, about anyone. But I need time. I'm not ready yet to make such a declaration. Please don't be upset with me."

Rei stared at him, tears now flowing freely down her face. She had always dreamt that he would always confess his love towards her, agree to be with her forever. But the reality was she had expected this as well. She knew that his curse prevented him from ever imagining happiness for himself. "It's OK Kei, I can wait; I can wait as long as you need to figure this out. Just know I will always love you, no matter what." She pushed herself back from the table and left to go to her new room; remembering to leave an envelop on the table containing her first month's rent. Just know Kei, I'll always be here for you.

Keitaro sat at the table for a few minutes more before clearing it, using a towel to soak up the water he spit onto the floor, and doing the dishes. He headed back to doing the maintenance work on Hinatasou, taking longer than necessary as he was not trying to figure out if he could ever love.

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If I messed anything up, then let me know including typos.

Any suggestions on how I should continue the story or improve it would also be accepted.