Note: I do not own Love Hina, or any other intellectual properties. They are all copyrights of their respectful owners. The rest, however, is MINE, BEE-YOTCHES!
I'm glad to say this fic has got two hundred and seventy one hits on its first chapter, as well as eight reviews. It's on the favorites list for seven people, and the alert list for five. For that, I'm happy, but at the same time, that puts a lot of pressure on me, and I'm not sure if I can respond well to pressure. I'll just try my best and hope this next chapter doesn't disappoint. As for those who already submitted their reviews:
Redwyrm, F00l3Al2,and havenoname – Thanks for the comments; I appreciate them.
Drgnmastr-Alex – Keep writing and I'll be glad to drop on by for a review.
NefCanuck and encyser – I'm glad you liked Love or Die Hina. As for this fic I'll try not to disappoint.
BigFics – I never read The Hinata Maiden, so that was merely coincidence; I didn't even notice it until you pointed it out for me. Thanks for the comments.
VoidHawk – You may be on to something, there. I'm actually thinking of adding a little Negima spice here and there, now that I think about it. I'm putting your suggestion into consideration. FULGARATIO ALBICANS! (Whoops, sorry. That one just escaped.)
Anyway, here we go.
GYRAX Presents…
Awe of She
Chapter 2: Ponytail Parade
"Where did you get the ability to do that from?" Keitaro asks.
"Levitate?" Shinobu replies. "I don't know. I don't even know how I became like this. I was just sleeping and then it happened."
"And Su failed to reverse it." Keitaro adds. He sighs. "This is going to take quite some time to get used to."
At that moment, Shinobu places her hand on top of his. They both get up and walk out of the lobby.
Keitaro takes a few seconds to realize that something isn't right. He looks to his right to see that Shinobu's hand is tightly holding his.
"Shinobu, you can let go now." He says. He gets no response. "Really, you can let go of my hand now." He begins to lightly struggle, but to no avail. Then, he tries harder, but still nothing. "Shinobu? This isn't cool. Really, let me go. Waaaaaauuugh! The grip! It's breaking my wrist like a twig that dried up weeks ago! IT'S THE KUNG-FU GRIP OF APOCALYPTIC…huh?" Out of nowhere, Shinobu lets him go, causing him to stumble a bit. He holds his wrist. "She let me go. Shinobu…"
"I need to spend some alone time in my room." Shinobu murmurs. "Please excuse me, Sempai." She runs up the stairs.
Keitaro continues looks at his wrist. "Shinobu's definitely not acting right. Thank God the others didn't see this. Why did I feel static when she held me, anyway." He pauses for a moment to ponder. "Could she be an electric person? I read a disturbing article on them on the Internet once." He takes another moment to think about it some more. "I doubt it. Besides, that wouldn't explain Shinobu's sudden aging. Anyway, I may need to really heighten my awareness, now."
(O)
A week has passed since that day. Keitaro wakes up one morning, only to hear a little commotion. He gets up and opens the door to see what was going on. He's a bit surprised as to what he sees; Shinobu's running across the floor with a washrag, but that isn't all of it. She's running at incredible speed, probably even faster than an Olympic sprinter.
Shinobu's wearing yellow and green hooded T-shirt with light blue denim shorts that extend to her knees. During the past week, Shinobu managed to get her own clothes.
"Shinobu?" Keitaro asks. "What's going on?"
"Oh," Shinobu reacts. "While the pot was boiling, I took the opportunity to wash the floors, clean the windows, and fix that hole I made on the roof four days ago."
"Shouldn't the water be boiling already?"
"It's not the boil I want though. You know, you can come downstairs with me and I can show you how to make a neat Western recipe I picked up from Wolfgang Puck."
"Seriously?" Keitaro replies. "All right, then. I'm coming."
(O)
"Jaeger Schnitzel." Shinobu says cheerfully.
"Jaeger Schnitzel?" Keitaro repeats.
"Yep." Shinobu replies. "Don't worry, though. It's an easy recipe. I found it on a website."
"Why a Western recipe, though?" Keitaro asks. "And why a dinner meal for breakfast?"
"Well," Shinobu responds. "I just wanted to make sure you had something you'd know how to cook in case I got sick. I never really got past that part."
"That's all right, you already have everything prepared so let's just start cooking."
Shinobu directs him to the counter where an onion lies on top of a cutting board. "All right, so the ingredients are 20 ounces beef or veal or venison leg, tri tip or shoulder, cut into 1/2-inch, salt and pepper, flour, for dredging, 3 ounces olive oil, 1/2 cup chopped onion, 1/4 cup chopped carrot, 1/4 cup chopped celery bouquet garni (thyme, bay leaf, parsley), 2 cups red wine, 1 cup veal stock, 1 ounce butter, 2 ounces thick cut bacon, diced, 6 ounces pearl onions, boiled, 2 cups wild mushrooms, 2 tablespoons minced parsley leaves, and noodles or mashed potatoes, as an accompaniment."
"So what am I supposed to do, now?" Keitaro inquires.
"First." Shinobu stands behind him. Then she places her hands gently on his as he picks up the knife. She positions them just right. "Let's chop the onion. We only need a quarter cup." She has Keitaro chop it, but at lightning speed.
Keitaro freaks. "WAAAAAAAARRRGH! MY FINGERS! I DON'T WANT MY LITTLE FINGERS CUT OFF!"
"Calm down." Shinobu says. "I know what I'm doing; I'm a professional." She has Keitaro put the chopped onion in one place and put the carrot on the cutting board. "Now for the carrot." She has Keitaro chop it, also at lightning speed.
Keitaro freaks. "WAAAAAAAARRRGH! MY FINGERS! I DON'T WANT MY LITTLE FINGERS CUT OFF!"
"Again, calm down." Shinobu says. "I know what I'm doing; I'm a professional." She has Keitaro put the chopped carrot in one place and put the celery on the cutting board. "And finally, the celery." She has Keitaro chop it, also at lightning speed.
Keitaro freaks. "WAAAAAAAARRRGH! MY FINGERS! I don't want them to be stumps and have lepers look at me and say 'God, what a freak'!"
"Don't fret none," She replies. "We're done chopping. Excuse me, while I put away the knife and take out the seasonings." She throws the knife in the air. Then, she does handstand, the sole of her right foot balancing knife by its handle. Then, she tosses it to a nearby drawer. She stands back on her feet shuts the drawer with her left foot. Then she approaches a cupboard. "Okay. Salt, Pepper, Thyme, Bay Leaf, Parsley." She throws them all over her right shoulder, and they all perfectly align on the nearby counter as they land.
Keitaro couldn't help but stare in amazement. "Wow! Where did you learn to do that?"
"I don't know," Shinobu answers. "But I'm getting a kick out of it. It must be that magic aura I got."
During the past week, the Hinata residents discovered that Shinobu is in fact, surrounded by a magic aura, so it may prove to be quite difficult to bring her back to her normal self.
"Hold on a minute." Keitaro says. "Before you do anything else, let me get Naru; she's GOT to see this!"
"But isn't she asleep, Sempai?" Shinobu asks.
"Not for long." Keitaro replies. He runs upstairs.
Shinobu sweat drops. "I guess I should follow him; he'll need the protection."
Keitaro slips on the floor because apparently, it's far too clean for his socks to maintain traction, and of course, Naru was the unfortunate victim that was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Motoko finds Keitaro on top of Naru, with his hand placed firmly on her right breast. Her face turns crimson over the sight and she gets her sword out. "Urashima! You slime ball!" She prepares her sword for a mighty swing.
"PERVERT!" Naru's already ready to punch.
"ROCK SPLITTING SWORD…huh?" Motoko notices that her sword was no longer in her hands. "What happened?" Suddenly, she turns and sees Shinobu behind her. The girl winds her fist up and socks Motoko straight to the face, sending her on a collision course with Naru's eye.
Shinobu freaks. "OH NO! WHAT HAVE I DONE!"
(O)
Later, at the doctor's…
"And, her right eye is rendered completely inoperable." The doctor confirms. "We'll have to go through an experimental procedure to fix it. Bear with me here."
"What the hell did you do, Shinobu?" Keitaro asks.
"I have no idea." Shinobu replies nervously. "IT'S ALL MY FAULT!" She runs out of the room.
(O)
A week passes by.
"See what I told you?" Su says, as she and Kitsune look at a computer monitor in Su's jungle of a room. "The differences between 'heterochromia iridis' and 'heterochromia iridium' are vast, y'all."
"Vast, y'all?" Kitsune replies. "Are you mocking me?"
"No." Su answers defensively. "I'm just saying is that heterochromia iridis is when two parts of the iris of the eye are different colors. Heterochromia iridium is just having two eyes of different colors."
"Like David Bowie." Kitsune adds. "I just wanted to know what that condition was because it wouldn't stop bugging the hell out of me. Speaking of, I found quite an interesting story on how Bowie got his green eye. You see, back when he was in high school, he got into a fight with a friend of his, or some other kid, I don't know. Anyway, the other guy punched him square in his right eye, and he wore a ring that time, so the ring hit him dead in the eye. It turns out it hurt like a whole new level in Hell, and he had to go through some major surgery and… AND NOW HE'S SEXY!" She notices Keitaro washing the floors, going right past the room. "Keitarooooooooo!"
Keitaro stops and turns to Kitsune. "Not now. I'm busy."
Kitsune quickly holds him. "Can you traumatize your eyes so that you would have a blue one and a green one? It'll make you sexy."
"MWAHAHAHAHA! That ain't happening." Keitaro then looks at her funny. "What are you doing?"
Kitsune replies. "Sometimes, I just want to hug you."
"Drawing circles on my chest doesn't qualify as embrace." Keitaro blankly responds. With that, Kitsune hold him tighter. "Excuse me?" He struggles, but it doesn't help. "Can't I just go through one day without any of this bullshit?"
"Away!" A female voice demands. Suddenly, Shinobu has her left foot on Kitsune's head, pushing her away. "Away! Away! Stay away!" She turns to Keitaro. "All the groceries are on the dining room table, Sempai."
"Thanks, Shinobu." Keitaro replies. With that, he walks off, with Shinobu closely following him. Shinobu looks back at Kitsune and sticks her tongue out at her.
All Kitsune does is watch with a look on her face. "Oh, that is so wrong."
(O)
"You're getting used to things pretty quickly." Keitaro says, as he and Shinobu put the groceries away.
"I don't think so." Shinobu replies. "I appreciate the fresh air, though. I thought I'd be cooped up in the house, sort of like Repunzel, because my sudden aging. I still look my thirteen year old self in a way, so I thought you'd keep me in because you were afraid people would suspect something. Again, thanks for the fresh air."
"No problem. You know, it wasn't much more than two weeks and already you changed." Keitaro adds.
"You think so?" Shinobu asks.
"Well, yeah."
"I still call you Sempai."
Keitaro stands there silently and sweat drops. "…True."
Motoko enters the room with bandages around her head. "So, how's Naru's right eye?"
"Well," Shinobu responds. "It's fully recovered. The doctors had to do a little work, but now it's back to normal, vision and everything, but there's just one exception."
(O)
"It's a different color." Naru says to Kitsune.
"Sorry I was such a buzz kill." Kitsune replies. "How'd you get that green eye in the first place?"
Naru hesitates, but eventually speaks. "Well, Shinobu socked Motoko, who crashed straight into my eye, and that's basically what happened. The doctors did a little surgery and, despite my new color, it's perfectly normal, now."
"That must've hurt." Kitsune replies. "Glad to see the two of you are all right. I wasn't there when you guys went to the doctor. Come to think of it, that sounds like what happened to British rock star David Bowie."
"Really?" Naru asks.
"Yeah." Kitsune answers. She walks with Naru to her room. "Besides, a lot of people find heterochromia iridium to be a very attractive feature."
"Thanks for the uplift Kitsune. I'm going to my room, now."
"See ya later."
(O)
"She's ok," Motoko says. "But I still have this bump on my head."
"Aaaaauuuu!" Shinobu cries out. She repeatedly bows her head. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"It's all right." Motoko replies. "I forgive you, and I'm sure Naru did too, after the fiftieth bouquet of flowers you gave her."
(O)
Naru slides open her door, and a pile of bouquets falls on her, burying her on the spot. She sweat drops. "Again with the flower-slide."
(O)
Later that evening, Shinobu lies on her futon; she has a new pair of strawberry pajamas on. She stares at the ceiling, trying to evaluate her behavior for the last two weeks. Since that incident, there wasn't a night when she was not thinking about what could possibly be wrong with her.
I'm taking this too far. She thinks. I wanted to defend Sempai, but last week, I took Naru's eye out, and now it's green. I'm sure she's still angry with me for doing that. Add to it I just acted rude to Kitsune, and why was I acting so possessive towards Sempai? Surely, this is that other part of me that was acting up for the last few weeks. I need to find this part of me, the part that'll do whatever it takes to have Sempai, and bring it under control. Otherwise, this'll continue, and who knows what would happen next? Who am I kidding, anyway? I mean, I can't be the promise girl; I wasn't even born back then. It's the promise girl Sempai's after, so why would I want him? And how am I able to perform these strange feats of magic? Could that also be a part of my new self, because when I wanted to defend Sempai, something weird always happened. That magic aura…
With that, she slowly closes her eyes and drifts into sleep.
(O)
The next day arrives. Naru wakes up and removed the lid covering the hole to Keitaro's room. She realizes that he's already awake; because he just walked out by the time she looked down the hole. She jumps down the hole and follows him out of the room.
Keitaro notices her. "Hey, Naru." He says. He takes notice to her newfound green eye. "I'm liking the green eye, Naru."
"Really?"
"Yeah." He replies. "Gives you that element of exotic beauty. You have that 'Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman' look."
Naru's cheeks turn red. Kitsune's right. She thinks. This is an attractive feature.
Suddenly, Shinobu comes from behind Keitaro and latches on to his arms. "Sempai. It's time for breakfast. Come downstairs, already."
"Umm…Ok." Keitaro replies as he's dragged downstairs.
Naru grows an irritated look on her face as she watches them. "What are you doing?"
Shinobu turns to her in response. "I'm just politely directing Sempai to the dining room. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"
"There is if you're holding him like that." She answers. "Don't tell me you're babying that pervert."
"Is that jealousy I hear in your voice?" She muses.
"No. It's annoyance because you were always there next to him, as if you were encouraging him."
"You want him to have a crappy self-esteem?"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Naru reacts. "Of course, I don't, but I don't want him to walk around thinking he can get away with everything."
"Ok, mom." Shinobu retorts. "Just come down and eat with us." She continues taking Keitaro down the steps.
Naru's thrown off a bit by Shinobu's sudden change in attitude. Never before has she heard something like that come out of her mouth. She shakes it off and proceeds to the dining room.
(O)
Everyone's eating breakfast at the dining room table, with Shinobu sitting right next to Keitaro. Everyone is conversing with one another. Kitsune looks under that table for something, then she pops back out and looks at Shinobu with a foxy grin on her face.
"Aww, how cute?" Kitsune muses. "I think Shinobu likes you, Keitaro. She's holding your hand."
"Excuse me?" Keitaro looks around, and indeed, Shinobu's hand is right on top of his. His face turns red.
And so does Shinobu's. "Cut it out, Kitsune! Besides, what're you doing looking under the table, anyway?"
"Really," Motoko adds. "That's kind of low."
"Don't start that." Kitsune replies.
"Shinomu is being awfully forward towards Keitaro, though." Su adds. "I haven't seen her like this before. I didn't even need to look underneath the table to notice that."
"Come to think of it," Kitsune says. "That may explain why Shinobu was being so helpful to him lately. Last week, she taught him how to prepare a Wolfgang Puck recipe. (Which was kick-ass food, by then way.)"
"That was when my eye was taken out." Naru interjects. "Don't remind me."
Shinobu couldn't take any more pressure from the gossip surrounding her. Her face grows red, and she stands up quickly, throwing hr arms all over the place. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUU! I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE! STOP TALKING ABOUT IT, PLEASE!"
"Now, look at what you guys did!" Naru shouted. "You put too much pressure on poor Shinobu!"
"You were talking about it, too!" Kitsune snaps back.
"No, I wasn't!" Naru reacts defensively. "I just said not to remind me of last week!"
"Exactly!" Kitsune replies.
Naru catches something in the corner of her eye. She looks to see Keitaro, with his head firmly on Shinobu's breasts. What happens is a bit too predictable. "Oh, you have balls, you know that? YOU PERVERT!" She socks Keitaro, sending him through the roof, and into the Mesosphere.
Shinobu stands up and gives Naru an angry stare. "Will you stop picking on him?"
"I'm picking on him, is that it?" Naru spits back. "Come to think of it, you were always sticking up for him ever since two weeks ago. I think you might actually want to ride his balloon-y pony!"
Shinobu's face instantly turned red. Then she made a deep inhale and screamed. "I DO NOT WANT TO RIDE HIS BALLOON-Y PONY!" All of a sudden, a gust of wind circulates the dining room, blowing over the food, and just about everything else that wasn't nailed to the floor, including the girls. After she finishes screaming, Shinobu stands there with her head hung low, and she leaves the dining room.
Motoko stands up. "Please excuse me." With that, she leaves, also.
Naru accumulates the mess around her. "Am I going to have to clean this up by myself?"
"Don't worry about it." Kitsune stands up. "I'll help."
"Thanks, Kitsune."
"I'll help, too!" Su exclaims cheerfully. "I have my world famous Mess Cleaner Mk. IV with me!"
"No machines!" Naru shouts. "Kitsune and I will handle it."
"Okie-dokie!" Su leaves.
(O)
In the meantime, Shinobu walks to her room, but before she enters, she stops and turns around. There, she sees Motoko with a look of concern on her face. "What is it?"
"Shinobu?" Motoko says. "You made Keitaro fall on your breasts didn't you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I saw your leg dragging him towards you. You did it on purpose. You've been acting pretty wacko, and I think I found out exactly why."
"You have?"
"Yes." She takes out her bokken. "Stand still, Shinobu. This will only hurt a bit."
"What're you doing?" Shinobu asks nervously.
"Your sudden aging and use of magic: it's clear you've been possessed by a demon." Motoko answers with a look of determination on her face. "I'm going to smack it right out of you!"
"Aaaaaauuuuuuuuuuu!" Shinobu cries out. Then, she thinks fast and throws something on Motoko's face.
When the samurai takes it off her face and examines it, she freaks. "AAACK! TURTLE!" She instantly passes out.
Shinobu looks at her and sweats. She's right! She thinks to herself. I AM acting whacko! What to do? What to do? I'll have to take her to her room before anyone catches me! She picks Motoko up by one hand and does just that.
(O)
Later, Shinobu walks out to the roof and sees Keitaro doing laundry. She approaches him. "Sempai? May I help you with that?"
"Thanks, Shinobu." Keitaro responds.
"I'll do the underwear, so you won't have to be mistaken for a pervert."
"I think that's too late."
"It doesn't matter." Shinobu smiles. "I just want to help you out."
"Again, thanks." Keitaro pauses for a moment as if he was hesitating to do something. A long pause fills the area.
Shinobu suspects something's up. "Sempai? What is it? What's wrong?" She holds on to his right hand.
Keitaro still stands there, only now his cheeks are red. He slowly turns to Shinobu. "Do you really like me like that? Like they said you did?"
At this moment, Naru gets on the roof and approaches the two.
Shinobu turns away, blushing.
Keitaro notices he said something stupid. "Sorry I said that."
"It's not your fault." Shinobu replies. "I was the one who freaked out. I shouldn't have done that. I just didn't have that much restraint."
"It's all right." Keitaro responds. "I thought the girls were being a little rude towards you."
"So, it's the big bad Hinata girls, is it? For your information, you were the one who fell on Shinobu's breasts, you little slime ball! Don't you go and say it was all our fault!"
Shinobu turns to her, but with her eyebrows slanted to express irritation. "Not now, Naru. The adults are talking and doing adult stuff, now. So, go back to your room and figure out which hole the square peg goes through."
That struck a chord on Naru. She angrily walks up to Shinobu and grabs her shoulder. She stares right at her, her green eye giving off an eerie shimmer. "I don't know where the hell that came from, but I don't like your attitude, Missy!"
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning strikes her, although there's not a cloud in the sky.
Shinobu brushes the dust off of her and pushes her. "I think you should go now, Naru. I don't want things to get any more difficult. Now, go!" She pushes her one last time and walks back to Keitaro.
Keitaro speaks. "What was that about?"
"Sorry about that. It's ok, though; it's all under control. I just lost it a little bit. Now, if you excuse me, I need to go, now." She leaves, too.
Keitaro is left there, puzzled.
(O)
Later that evening, Shinobu lies on her futon; she has a new pair of strawberry pajamas on. She stares at the ceiling, trying to evaluate what she did today. She lays there, silent.
"… I was such an ass, today. I didn't mean it. I didn't even get a chance to apologize to Naru-sempai. I guess I'll do that tomorrow." With that, she slowly closes her eyes and drifts into sleep.
(O)
The next day arrives. Naru wakes up and removed the lid covering the hole to Keitaro's room. She jumps down the hole to wake up Keitaro. "Wake up, Keitaro. It's morning…" When she takes the covers off, she sees something truly unexpected. Shinobu has her arms and legs latching on to Keitaro; she's wearing a silky, short nightdress. "WHAT THE HELL!"
Keitaro wakes up. He rubs his eyes. "Wh-what's going on?" Suddenly, he feels a heavy burden on him. He sees Shinobu latching on to him, and he jumps up, rocking the girl off of him, and back on the futon. Shinobu wakes up, now, and she also rubs her eyes.
Keitaro freaks out as he looks down at the groggy bluenette. "Holy crap! How did this happen?" He looks back at Naru. "Naru! It's not what you think!"
"Save it!" She winds up her fist, but something suddenly pushes her down, making her fall on her butt.
Shinobu stands up in front of Keitaro with her arms spread out, as if she's defending him. "Leave him alone!"
Motoko walks over to them, but hits something. After a few seconds, she figures out what she hit. "A magic barrier?"
The others widen their eyes over what they heard and look at the two. Apparently, there seems to be some sort of magic barrier protecting Keitaro and Shinobu. The barrier just becomes visible, with a faint violet glow.
"What is this about?" Naru asks.
"I made a decision. I won't allow you girls to hurt him anymore! Understand. SEMPAI IS MINE!" Everyone stands there with their eyes the size of vinyl records over what she said, including Keitaro. A second later, Shinobu also displays a look of pure shock. She knew now that instead of trying to suppress this other self, this split personality, she did the exact opposite: she let it take complete control of her. She realizes now and there, that it she may not be able to conquer it alone.
To be continued.
Please review.
See you next chapter. Paradise for the Mind, Body, and Soul
WHOO! That was a long chapter, thirteen pages! To those who stuck around for the first chapter, I hope this one didn't disappoint, and thanks for sticking around; I appreciate it.
(Mmmm…Tab, a.k.a. the soda from Harvey Birdman.)
-GYRAX of The Dark Icon Writers