Mirrors
Andrew Joshua Talon
DISCLAIMER: No, I don't own Love Hina. Bummer.
"GAH! Uh, hello, Sister," Stammered Motoko, shaking slightly and red faced in the presence of her older sibling and Keitaro... A Keitaro whose hands were now wrapped securely around her waist.
"Hello, little one... Was I interrupting something?" The Shinmei Ryu mistress asked, smiling innocently. She had heard the full conversation that her younger sibling and Urashima had been having since he'd walked out of the changing room, but why let them know this?
"Hey Tsuruko! Long time no see," Confident Keitaro grinned, resting his head upon Motoko's right shoulder and pressing his cheek to hers. This succeeded in heating up Motoko's face by an order of magnitude.
"Sis-Sister... Uh... What are you doing here, if I might ask?" Motoko inquired, managing to keep her wits about her... Barely. It was becoming more difficult with Confident Keitaro breathing into her ear, tickling her senses and directing blood to some... Unmentionable places.
"Oh, I was in the neighborhood, decided to drop by..." Tsuruko replied, tossing some of her long hair behind her. Confident Keitaro smirked, looking directly at the older Aoyama.
"With all due respect, Tsuruko, you never just 'drop by'. You're not going to have Motoko fight you again, are you?" Tsuruko raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised. Urashima had learned, had he? Yes, there was something distinctively different about him, now that she thought about it. He seemed taller, or at least more encompassing, than last time she'd seen him. No, wrong term... He was more confident. His stance, his poise, his smirk-All spoke of great pride and determination, far more apparent in him than in the man who had stuttered and shaken in her presence a year before. Most prominent to her was his ki sense... Was it her imagination, or had his power increased considerably?
"Very astute, Urashima. No, I'm not here to challenge Motoko to a duel... Unless she feels like she'd want to?" Tsuruko asked, smiling brightly, but it was the smile of a tiger, eager for the hunt. It was a smile that sent wise men running. Keitaro's response was to widen his smirk just a little more.
"She's way stronger than last time, she'd whoop your ass for sure!" Motoko's eyes widened. She grinned nervously at her sister (who was still smiling), before grabbing Keitaro.
"Er, sister? May I have some privacy? Just for a moment?" Tsuruko smiled and nodded.
"Of course... You two can take all the time you need..." Tsuruko winked, sending Motoko into a coughing fit, as she dragged the grinning Keitaro into the changing room and slammed the door.
"What are you trying to do, you idiot?!" Motoko hissed, quickly casting up a small ki barrier to suppress the sound. Confident Keitaro shrugged, looking somewhat confused.
"What? What did I do wrong?"
"Wrong? You're challenging me to fight Tsuruko!"
"So? What's wrong with that?"
"It's-I just-It's not proper!" Motoko exhaled, knowing that she was acting foolishly, but really! Confident Keitaro looked at her strangely.
"How?"
"It... It just is! Okay! So there!" Confident Keitaro smiled, a cat-who-got-the-canary's smile.
"Ah... I see. You're embarrassed that I'm being so forward with Tsuruko?"
"Wha-But-You-What?!" Motoko was now completely lost. Forward? What the hell did he mean by that?
"Look, I was just trying to make conversation. I'm sorry if you took it the wrong way. I mean, she is really attractive," Confident Keitaro mused, rubbing his chin. "Hm... Maybe she could knock you out and carry me off into the sunset, and ravish me on horseback." Confident Keitaro grinned brazenly at Motoko's gagging as she gawked at him. "Something wrong?"
"You read those?!"
"Those what? Oh! Oh yeah, those, er, novels? Really good stuff, liked the imagery... The ending wasn't finished though, and man, what a clim-"
"Don't say it!" Motoko hissed. "I can't believe you! You read my novel?!"
"What? You left one out on the coffee table! I'm sorry but it caught my eye!" Confident Keitaro defended, frowning slightly. "How am I in the wrong here?"
"You... I just... It's just too fast!" Motoko yelled, her frustration bubbling over, as she threw her hands up in the air. Confident Keitaro blinked, staring at her, as the samurai girl began her rant.
"You kiss me on the roof, you offer to take a bath with me, you keep flirting with me, you put on those pants, and now, on top of all that, you embarrass me in front of my sister!" Motoko roared, shaking her lithe fists in the air, glaring at Keitaro. "That's how you're in the wrong!"
"... Okay... Um... Let's see... You're embarrassed because I'm taking this too fast?"
"YES!"
"... Well sheesh, woman, you could have told me," sighed Confident Keitaro, rolling his eyes. Motoko blinked, calm but confused.
"Huh?" Confident Keitaro grinned, leaning against the wall of the changing room.
"I'm the confident one, remember? You can't shake my resolve if it's the truth... You want me to back off? I'm fine. Really..."
"... Really?" Motoko asked quietly, looking into his deep brown eyes. Confident Keitaro looked away, suddenly sheepish but still grinning.
"Well... I will have to return that maid's costume... And I'll have to write down my ideas involving you and whipped cream down, so I don't forget," Confiednt Keitaro looked up at Motoko, blushing and gawking at him.
"I'm kidding! Really..." Motoko took a deep breath, smiling.
"I... I'm sorry for yelling like that... I just... I held it in, because... You, um..." Confident Keitaro put his hands upon her shoulders, and looked her straight in the eyes.
"Relax. I care for you, Motoko. You have a problem? I'll try to fix it. Okay?"
"All... All right... As long as you... Promise the same to me?" Confident Keitaro blinked.
"Huh?" Motoko groaned.
"Sorry, that came out incorrectly... I mean... Will you let me help you with your problems?"
"Well duh, sure! Who else would I ask? Suu?" Motoko laughed lightly at that, still blushing but in happiness, not embarrassment.
"You know... We COULD stay in here for a while... And come out later, and freak out Tsuruko," Confident Keitaro suggest, raising his eyebrows. Motoko shook her head and giggled.
"I doubt we could put it past her... And she is not one to 'freak out', as you say..."
"I dunno... She went all nutso when she found out you lied..."
"Do we really want her to let that part of herself out again?"
"Point taken..."
"Daddy! Daddy! You've got to help me!" Dr. Seta Noriyasu looked up from a very interesting piece of pottery from one of the numerous digs he'd been on in the last month (one that was notable in that he had only been shot at four times during the whole trip), to his seven-year old adopted daughter, Sarah MacDougal, running into his office, eyes wide with fear. It was easy to sense that she was upset as she threw herself into his lap and knocked him out of his chair.
"Um, sweetheart? What's up?" Sarah looked down upon him, totally freaking.
"Daddy! The dork got split into six people, and one of them is evil, and he's following me and threatening to tie me to a brick and feed me to the jellyfish and oh no here he comes hide me!" Sarah's run-on sentence ended as soon as she fearfully threw herself into a cabinet and locked herself inside. Seta blinked, before setting his chair back up and sitting down. He wondered if he was going to have to have "the Talk" with her sooner than expected...
"Hey, Noriyasu!" Seta looked up, and saw the familiar form of his part-time assistant, Keitaro Urashima, walking up towards his office through the dark hallway. He smiled, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it up.
"Part-timer! Nice of you to drop by-"Seta's greeting cut short, when Keitaro finally came into the room. Seta blinked, staring, at the former three-time ronin.
Keitaro, instead of his usual T-shirt, jeans, and (when he worked here) lab coat, now wore a slick, black Armani suit, with matching tie. His hair was now spiked and artfully arranged, like a professional hair dresser had done it. It fit his expression, a dark smirk enhanced by the dark, sinister-looking sunglasses he now wore. In one hand, he held a piece of paper. In the other, his lab coat.
"Uh... Hey there... What's up?" Seta asked cautiously, his cigarette dangling from his lower lip. Keitaro strode up to his mentor's desk, tossed the lab coat on the desk, and stood with the paper held out in front of him. He cleared his throat.
"Ahem... Dr. Noriyasu... I hereby submit my formal resignation to you to end my services to your department." Keitaro looked up from the paper, his eyes narrowing at Seta, who simply stared at him.
"Simply put... I quit," Keitaro quipped, dropping the letter on the archaeologist's desktop. Seta blinked, then cleared his throat, smiling slightly.
"Ah... Okay... May I ask why?" Keitaro's smirk gained teeth, as he pulled out a long sheet of paper from his coat pocket.
"Certainly. I even prepared a list... Ahem. 'Dear Mr. Noriyasu: I thank you for employing me. I don't thank you for teaching me to drive like you, act like you, and trying to mold me into your successor. I dislike your disregard for my safety and the safety of others with your wildly reckless driving. A sidenote: Do you think its comedy gold to crash like that and nearly kill dozens of pedestrians?"
"Um, well," Seta began, but Keitaro cut him off.
"Probably. I detest the fact you dropped your PSYCHOTIC daughter on me for babysitting and NOT giving me a bonus! At least, a bonus to justify the abuse I suffered at the hands of that little monster. I don't appreciate your happy-go-lucky attitude in situations where our lives are at stake. I hate the crappy pay, lack of advancement opportunities, and your fucking lack of common sense. I despise your inattentiveness to your daughter's mental health! I laugh at how dense you are when it comes to the affections of women towards you! I piss myself laughing at your fighting skills! And finally, Dr. Noriyasu, I am very happy to be pursuing a career where I don't have to put up, talk, see, or even acknowledge you, or that you even exist." Keitaro slammed the list down on the table, glaring dangerously at Seta, who quite frankly was unsure how to take all this in. In an instant, Keitaro's expression changed, smiling as he pulled out a packet of cigarettes and held it out to Seta.
"But... No hard feelings, eh Seta? Nothing personal... Here, have a cigarette," Keitaro soothed, as Seta, wanting to try and restore his world to some semblance of normalcy, smiling back, and pulled out a cigarette. He held it up to his mouth, as Keitaro pulled out a lighter and lit it for his (now former) employer.
"Thanks Keitaro, I-"
FWOOSH! Seta's world was filled with darkness, his sight stolen. His ki senses screamed in danger, but they warned him too late to ward off the flurry of punches, kicks, chops, and strikes that all seemed to come from all sides. He tried to block some of them, but in the end he felt himself hefted up, heaved, and thrown through a door he bounced through.
"Take off your glasses, you ignorant fucktard," snarled Keitaro from somewhere above him. Seta didn't know what was going on, what had changed in his pupil. But he did know he had to fight, so he whipped off his glasses and blocked Keitaro's next kick.
"What's going on, Keitaro?" Seta asked seriously, his vision blurry but far better than being blind. Keitaro snarled.
"This is what's going on, old man."
"Old man?! I'm only 30!" Keitaro struck again, a move Seta was barely able to counter, the force forcing him back a foot. Keitaro lashed out again and again and again, moving so fast even Seta couldn't keep up with some of his more deadly blows. The archeaologist was thrown into a wall, seeing stars.
"It's because of you that I had to put up with that bitch! It's because of you that my Aunt Haruka's a cold-hearted old hag! It's because of you that I now have a form of asthma from your God damned smoking!" Roared Keitaro, his hands around Seta's throat. Seta stared down at his pupil, able to make out the loathing and rage in his eyes even without his glasses. A small pit of fear opened in his stomach.
"But... Death would be too good for you," Keitaro mused, his grip on his mentor's throat loosening. "You would not have to live with the fact that I am now the master."
"You're the master? You couldn't beat me without blowing up my cigarette!" Said Seta, fear turning into anger. Keitaro smirked back up at him.
"Whatever works, old man. Enough of your talk! It's time for vengeance!"
And with that, Keitaro dragged Seta down the hall, still keeping a lock on his throat, before finally reaching a room. He opened the door, and threw his former mentor into it.
"A little present made by Suu! Enjoy, old man!" Seta woozily looked up at his surroundings. The room was darkened, but contained many shapes. Many familiar shapes...
"Harukas! Initiate order 666Urashima-Kill-him!" Commanded Keitaro, as the room was flooded with light. Seta, even with his bad sight, could make out the shapes and identities of the entities filling the room.
All the entities wielding knives, brooms, rolling pins, and cigarette lighters. All with a single cigarette at the corner of their mouths. And all wearing identical, deadly glares. Seta gulped.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-!!!" Slam! Whistling merrily, Evil Keitaro strolled down the corridor, his former employer's screams growing fainter and fainter.
"... Hello? Daddy? Anyone? Can anyone let me out?" Cried a certain locker.
"... HELP! HELP! SOMEONE! ANYONE!"
Whew! All right, I got this part out... Next time is Timid Keitaro and Mutsumi's duet and Brainy Keitaro and Haruka's "chat". See you soon! R&R!
And, as always, feel free to leave suggestions for upcoming chapters!