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!
Dayamn! A lot of people came by to review! That means I had a lot of work to do responding.
that man – If a fan of Keitaro/Motoko pairings likes this fic, then that tells me I made an achievement. Thanks for the comment.
Drgnmastr-Alex – Good luck with college.
Sorann – Why, thank you very much! .
Havenoname – Naru had her ass handed to her the first round, but this rivalry has just started, my friend.
Lord Cynic – Umm…Are you ok?
Hotstreak RMD – I know what you mean. But she'll have to shape up if she expects to stand a chance against Shinobu. Any way you put it, the bluenette is already proving to be a tough competitor.
Great redwyrm – F0r r34lz0r, d1s 1z t3h sh1zzn173:p Thanks for the comment.
j6girl – Thanks.
Valintine – All right. All right. Just no more sugar for you. :p
bluezone777 of the Dark Icon Writers – I am honored to have this fiction on your "Favorite Stories" list. Thanks so much for the comment.
Lee3 – Hey! Long time no see. Nice of you to drop on by, and thanks for reviewing. .
NefCanuck – Indeed, it will take much more than logic to win. However, almost all of the conflicts/Naru bashings I've encountered were physical, like smacks in the face, or being arrested. I wanted to take more of a dialogue-based approach to it.
BigFics – I can't tell you what'll happen to Shinobu, but I will leave you with this: You have not heard the last of that psychotic psychiatrist. In fact, I'm planning on having her actually play a role in this story later on.
oblivionknight7 – That's what I intend on doing, my friend.
tomdj1701 – Thanks for the comment, and I'll see to it that all of my chapters are proofread first.
Zero Dragonknight – I'm glad this fic put a positive impression on you. Thanks.
VoidHawk – I'll do whatever I can to make this story a better one. Thanks so much!
It is a crisp Saturday morning; the sun's rays pouring through the windows and shining on Keitaro's face. The ronin turns away and opens his eyes slowly. He doesn't feel like getting up as he further takes in the comfort of the soft embrace from the satin sheets. He directs his eyes to the female figure standing in front of him. Keitaro begins to really notice her beauty.
Shinobu's nightdress gently embraces her body's every curve, her elegant form, with one strap freely hanging off her right shoulder. Her blue hair delicately caresses her back, and her ocean blue eyes pierce his, as she puts a smile on her face. She bends down so her face can more easily meet his. "Good morning Sempai." She speaks with a soft voice.
Keitaro's eyes are the only part of his face she could see as the rest of it blushes. "Umm…G…morn…nobu." His speech is still hindered by the half sleepy state he just snaps out of.
"Hurry up and get dressed, Sempai. We got a whole day ahead of us." Shinobu walks over and picks up her clothes, and then walks to the bathroom.
Keitaro finally sits up and looks at the bathroom door, which is now closed. Shinobu's taking this quite seriously, but I guess I should just go with it, to make sure that alter ego of hers doesn't get out of control. This is quite a pickle I got in to.
GYRAX Presents…
Awe of She
Chapter 4: I Love Sempai!
Naru wakes up; she had a hard time sleeping last night for two reasons. One is that Kitsune has her arms and legs just flopped all over the place, spreading across the bed with one arm on Naru's pillow, making it difficult for her to find a comfortable position. If you have to share a bed with someone, pray to God that it isn't Kitsune. The second reason Naru didn't get much sleep is because of what Shinobu said to her last night. Even now, she's pacing in her mind over it.
You're so wishy-washy, that you weren't able to tell him yourself; you didn't even want to. I, on the other hand, had the courage to tell him right there and then that I love him, and to show affection for him directly, no less. If you truly loved Sempai, you would've confessed to him, long ago, but as it stands, it is far too late. He's mine, now. Sorry if I made you feel like shit, right now, but part of me was begging to say that.
Naru couldn't take it. How could a girl, who more than two and a half weeks ago was so meek and so fragile, suddenly become an adult and tell Naru to fuck off right to her face? Her pride doesn't give her time to introspect on herself, so she just gets off the bed and tries to get it off her mind. Then, something else hits her. She isn't even the promise girl. I'm pretty sure she came to her senses and figured that out and that this relationship of hers may not work out the way she wants it to.
Just then, the door opens up, and Keitaro pops in. "Are you guys awake?" He looks around to see Naru's already awake, so he goes to Kitsune. "Kitsune? Wake up. It's already 9:00 in the morning."
"Allow me." Naru walks to the sleeping woman, and picks up a megaphone. She screams right into it. "KITSUNE! WAKE UP, NOW!" Immediately, she forces herself up.
"Good morning, Naru." Kitsune says, like it didn't even happen.
"Good morning." Naru puts down the megaphone. "Well, it still works. Kitsune, we have a whole day ahead of us so hurry up and get dressed." While Kitsune's walking to the bathroom to get dressed, Naru turns to see Shinobu's arm linked to Keitaro's. Or maybe she hasn't. "One thing I want to tell you in advance." She says. "When we get back to Hinata House, and if there's a bunch of large packages sitting in front of the door, they're mine. I ordered an electric guitar with an amplifier so I can wake up Kitsune every morning, just in case the megaphone doesn't work anymore."
Keitaro sweat drops. "I'm sure the megaphone would do just fine."
(O)
Now dressed in casual wear, the group heads outside. Motoko has an expression on her face that suggests that she's upset. Kitsune immediately notices this and walks up to her.
"Hey, Motoko. You look distraught. Why the long face, huh?" Kitsune says.
"It's Shinobu." The swordsman responds.
"I know. She's grown a lot over the past few weeks."
"Not that. I mean I'm worried about her. I think that demon possessing her may have completely taken over. Granted, she and Urashima make a nice couple, but it doesn't seem right."
"Demon?" Kitsune looks at her funny. "I think Shinobu's growing up. I think she's aware of her new body and she's taking advantage of it. Carpe diem as they say. She may have willingly changed. That's my take on it. Where the hell did you come up with that demon theory from?"
"She aged six years in six hours and out of nowhere she started acting possessive towards Urashima. You think she chose to do that?"
"You may have a point there." Kitsune hold her chin. "But I still think that demon theory is a bit farfetched."
"I hope it is." Motoko replies.
(O)
Shinobu directs the others to a gift shop. As they enter, the bluenette quickly directs Keitaro to the clothes. The others go their own ways. Kitsune finds a shirt she likes that says "Kiss Me. I'm Irish (But Not Really)", and Su's wearing a weird looking turtle necklace she found while making "Myuh" sounds.
Motoko examines a katana on sale and shakes her head. "Just for show. The craftsmanship of this sword is god-awful. I can probably break it with my pinky finger. (But I won't tell the clerks that.)"
Shinobu finds a nice t-shirt and brings it to Keitaro. "Sempai. Check this one out. Isn't it cute?"
"I found a better one over here." Keitaro replies. "Come with me." They both head towards another stack of shirts.
Naru finds a pair of capris pants she likes and turns to Keitaro, only to see him talking to Shinobu about this one shirt with a picture of a chicken with boxing gloves on it. She calls to him. "Hey! Keitaro! Look at these pants I found!" She gets no response from him, as he seems to be completely focused on Shinobu. "Hey! Keitaro!" Still nothing. She starts to get irritated. "Keitaro! Over here! I'm talking to you!" Still nothing. Finally, a vein pops up in her forehead. "DON'T IGNORE ME!" She socked Keitaro right across the face, forcing him to bounce wildly on the walls until he lands on a shoe isle.
Shinobu marches towards her. "That was rude! What did you do that for?"
"Excuse me?" Naru retorts. "Keitaro was ignoring me!"
"That's because he was talking to me first!" Shinobu spits back. "Are you so desperate to draw his attention that you would even physically assault him?"
"What?"
"Sempai and I were in the middle of something. You could've just waited until we were done, and then you could talk to him. It's called manners, in case you forgot. You completely lack any patience! For a girl who ranked #1 on the Tokyo U mock exams, you sure as hell don't use your head, do you?"
"What was that?" Another vein pops up in Naru's forehead.
"Don't get me wrong, Naru. I don't want to fight you."
"Your attitude tells me you do!"
"LADIES?" Keitaro suddenly jumps in between them, pushing them further away from each other. "Really, there are people watching. Besides, you two were supposed to get along."
"Sorry, Sempai." Shinobu replies. "Sorry, Naru."
Kitsune approaches Motoko. "You know, I always had this whacko theory that breasts work as a woman's equivalent of a man's package, meaning the bigger they are, the more confident a woman is."
"Umm…What…" Motoko trails off.
"It's not a demon, Motoko. It's just Shinobu's newfound gigantic hooties that are making her more confident. That's all."
"You support this theory?" Motoko asks.
"Well, yeah."
(O)
They all walk out of the gift shop, Keitaro being the unfortunate victim of having to carry everything.
Shinobu turns to the others. "What should I make for lunch?"
"Actually," Naru replies. "You don't have to cook, Shinobu. We can just buy lunch. So what should we get?"
(O)
"Gourd Crepes?" Motoko asks.
"Yep. I guess that means we're cheap." Keitaro replies with a light chuckle.
"We're on a fixed budget, thanks to all those gifts we got." Shinobu adds.
"Great." Naru sighs. "Oh, well."
Shinobu takes off a piece and turns to Keitaro. "Sempai. Say 'Aaaaah'."
"Huh?" Keitaro reacts. Then, he sees the piece of crepe Shinobu's holding and it doesn't take long until he figures out what her intentions were. I guess I'll eat it. Don't want anything crazy happening here. He eats it.
"Now, me." Shinobu says. Keitaro takes off a piece and feeds her, but not without a drop of sweat on his head.
"Feed ME, now, Shinomu!" Su exclaims cheerfully.
"Ok." Shinobu replies. She takes a piece and put is in Su's mouth. Then, she turns to Naru. "You want a piece, too?"
"I'll eat my own crepes, thank you!" Naru responds in surprise. "And you should be eating your own, too!"
"I was just having a little fun, Naru." Shinobu responds. "Come on. Don't be so uptight. This is a vacation, so loosen up a bit."
"Some vacation this turned out to be." Naru says. Then, she notices a guy looking at her. She turns to see him smiling, an excited kind of smile like he's about to see a celebrity.
The guy shouts out. "Hey! It's Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman!"
"What?" Naru cries out, and then she remembers that she has a green eye and she freaks. Then, a crowd of fan boys starts chasing her around. Naru screams from the top of her lungs as she's running from the fanatical crowd.
"Poor Naru-sempai." Shinobu says.
(O)
The group gets set up at the Tsujido Seaside Park, after they rescued Naru from the crowd by telling the fan boys that they saw Jane Seymour at the beach. Tsujido Seaside Park is a popular tourist attraction, with a swimming pool and slides, a transportation park, and exhibition facility. The group settles at the swimming pool with their swimsuits on. Shinobu tries on a new bikini she bought a half an hour ago. It's a dazzling sky blue string tied two-piece swimsuit; she fills it out quite nicely.
In the pool, Su's sneaking up on Motoko, who's just looking around. Suddenly, the crazy foreign girl jumps on her, startling her. "HIYA, MOTOKO!" She latches on to her quickly.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Get off of me!" Motoko cries out. Su jumps off, and the kendoist chases her, but because the water has volume, the chase looks like it's playing out in slow motion.
Keitaro has the next turn on the slide. He sits on it, ready to go, with Shinobu standing behind him. He turns to the bluenette. "Alright, Shinobu. See you at the bottom."
"You know what, Sempai?" Shinobu replies. "I like to slide with you."
"Well, umm…" Keitaro trails off. Just then, Shinobu sits behind him, with her arms around him. Then, she pushes both of them off, and they slid down to the bottom together. However, Keitaro makes a bad move during their slide down and they both crash on to the pool. Naru catches this and runs to see if they're all right. She sees Keitaro's face lodged nicely between Shinobu's melons.
"Keitaro, you slime ball!" She quickly grabs Keitaro and throws him to the stratosphere.
"Will you stop picking on him?" Shinobu shouts.
"It was your fault this all happened!" Naru retorts. "You didn't even consider how Keitaro felt when you kept latching on to him!"
"Ha-ha!" Shinobu laughs bitterly. "That's rich, coming out of the mouth of a moral hypocrite! Didn't you just contradict yourself five seconds ago?"
"That's not the point!" Naru reacts. "The point is that you need to stop clinging on to him and think about what he wants! Anyway, you aren't even the promise girl!"
"Again with the hypocrisy!" Shinobu spits back. "Listen up, Narusegawa!"
Naru was thrown back over what Shinobu just called her.
Shinobu continues. "There isn't a single damn day that I didn't care about him! The fact of the matter is I die a little every time you abuse him, almost crying because I was too weak and helpless to do anything about it! I was always there to help him out when he was down, I was his solace from the madness, and I was the only one who didn't hurt him! So, don't you dare tell me that I don't care, you pompous little bitch! As for the promise girl, AT THIS POINT, SHE MUST HAVE ALREADY FORGOTTEN HIM!"
Suddenly, the entire Tsujido Park is filled with silence as bystanders stare at the two in puzzlement. It's as if they turn around to watch just to take in the drama that Shinobu unfolded. Shinobu's words strike a chord in Naru, making her completely freeze in place, disturbed and frightened over the girl's anger and the words she said, which until this point has never been expressed. It's as if she had something bottled up and now was the time she released it all. On top of that, when she said that last sentence, Naru felt an ice-cold ruthless tone in her voice, like it wasn't even her talking anymore.
But her words also hit a nerve on Keitaro. He now realizes that maybe the promise girl may have forgotten him after all these years; not everyone is committed enough to stick to a goal for fifteen years, though he was able to do so. The reality hits him like a lead brick and he starts to wonder if this journey is all for naught.
To the both of them, it was a verbal equivalent of being punched in the stomach.
Shinobu senses this in both Naru and Keitaro and her expression changes from rage to that which shows pure regret. She quickly figures out that what she has said actually hurt them, perhaps the wound being in as deep as the heart. She looks at Keitaro, and then at Naru. "I'm so sorry. I didn't want to…I mean, I didn't know that I would have really done this to you. I'm really sorry, guys."
"It's all right, Shinobu." Keitaro murmurs. "I just need to go think about this."
Shinobu watches him leave, every step he takes feeling like he's fading away bit by bit. "Sempai! Wait!" She rushes in effort to follow him. Naru sees them leave without saying a word.
Kitsune approaches her. "Naru. She didn't mean it. Don't be so hung up about it."
Su and Motoko are left absolutely speechless.
The bystanders continue to watch, absorbing the drama like they're in the middle of a big soap opera that's playing out before them.
(O)
Keitaro sits in an empty area of the Shonan beach, with a distressed Shinobu sitting beside him. She looks at him, looking for the words to say that she hope could make all of this just disappear.
She shifts her body, getting closer to him. "Sempai. Do you think I'm terrible?"
Keitaro turns his head towards her. "No, I don't. I was just startled; I didn't realize you took this seriously. I thought it was just a game to satisfy that alter ego, but I realized it's more than that. But it's ok, Shinobu. Really."
"No, it's not." She replies. "I hurt you, Sempai, and I acted like a total bitch just to beat Naru-sempai. I wanted you so much, that I had absolutely no regard for your feelings, just like she said. I'm selfish, Sempai. I'm selfish. Not to mention I made Naru-sempai feel like complete crap."
"You thought it over." Keitaro responds. "You realized that you did something wrong, you acknowledged the fact that it was wrong and you atoned for it by apology. You're not selfish."
"But Sempai. The promise girl…"
"I thought it over. I realized there and then that maybe she did forget about me. Sure, it struck a nerve, but I guess I should accept it now that it has crossed my mind. Perhaps I should just move on, live a life of my own. But that means I won't completely put the promise girl aside, just in case we meet again." He stands up.
"But I don't get it." Shinobu says in perplexity. "How could you just calmly tell me that after I said something that might have put you into a serious depression? I don't understand."
"Maybe I'm supposed to depressed." Keitaro answers. "But I'm not. I must be stronger than I thought I was. We should get back to the park. Naru and the others are probably waiting for us." He leaves.
Shinobu stands there, watching him walk away. You are, Sempai. You truly are.
To be continued.
Please review and tell me what you think.
My God! That sounded like a corny-ass soap opera! WHAT HAVE I DONE? WAAAAAAAAAAAAH! (Runs off screaming.)
See you next chapter.
Φανταστική Διάτρηση Αέρα!
That does it for the second part of the Fujisawa Arc. Thanks to those who stuck around to read this chapter. I hope this one didn't disappoint. The Greek title means only one thing; Shinobu's going to master her new power in the next chapter! Ha-ha!
Author's Notes:
The Tsujido Park is an actual Park in Fujisawa City.
Crepe stands are common in Japan. When Crepes are ordered, they're folded up and put into cardboard cones, looking a lot like ice cream cones. The inside of a crepe can be stuffed with many kinds of treats, form ice cream, to fruit, or anything else sweet. Yes, I got this from the fourth volume of Negima, so don't bug me about that.
This fic is now on the favorites list of seventeen people people, as well as on the alert list for eight. Thanks to you guys, this fic has doubled from nineteen reviews to thirty-eight, and the amount of hits jumped to twelve hundred and ninety one. I like to thank everyone who bothered to visit this story. I consider you all co-authors, as your comments helped shape this fic to what it is, now. I may sound a bit corny again, but thanks you all for reading. Thank you so much!
Until next chapter, Ciao!
-GYRAX of The Dark Icon Writers