Well, here we are with Chapter 3, I had to put a few finishing touches on it. There is a bit of 'old school' Motoko in here, and I decided to keep the chapter short, but there will be more to come soon!

Chapter 3 -- The Morning After

Keitaro awoke with a start. Although it was a cool summer's night, he was sweating from head to toe. He looked over at his clock, as it was the only thing illuminating his room due to the fact that it was still dark outside. The digital clock read 5:32 a.m. The red hue from the display lit the corner of his room softly, bathing the room in the color of blood.

Blood.

Suddenly, memories of the day before came flooding into his mind.

Damnit.

He had secretly hoped it had all been just a dream. But it was real. Motoko had finally bested her sister in all ways, but had also shed a part of herself that had to have been hard for her to show. If only he had that kind of strength; the strength to hide his emotions from people. Then again, he thought, better to wear my heart on my sleeve. Motoko had certainly never done that. Her emotions were pent up to the point of the volatile explosion that took place yesterday.

Keitaro tossed and turned in his bed. To heck with it. He got up, retrieved a glass of water from the fresher, then went back to his room, but stopped just inside the threshold. He turned around, opened his double doors and walked forward to stand outside on the balcony. The cool breeze of morning was comforting.

After some time in quiet thought, he looked back to his room at the blood-red digital clock. It then read 6:15 a.m. The color of the clock was starting to send a chill down his spine. Sure, he'd had nosebleeds before, but this was totally different.

Keitaro had been literally knocked into the sky before. He had been kicked through walls. Noriyasu Seta saw this knack for martial arts in him and had decided to give him some proper training. But never once had he or Seta drawn the other's blood.

Motoko had most definitely drawn Tsuruko's blood. Even Keitaro was afraid of Tsuruko. Her posture, her personality, beauty and talents had dwarfed Motoko's the first time he saw her attack Motoko for lying to Tsuruko about getting married.

But Motoko had been far more frightening than her sister in her current form yesterday. There was no denying it. For her anger to have been strong enough, not only to defeat her sister utterly, but also to draw her own blood as well as pummel her sister's emotions into the ground along with her body…

Things wouldn't be the same at Hinata again. Keitaro was sure of this. He found it flattering that Motoko admitted that she loved him many months ago, but it was then and there – at 6:15 a.m. in the morning – that he realized he had made a critical mistake.

He had dismissed her love at the time as playful; puppy-dog like. Now he could see just how serious she really was. This was going to put severe problems on his and Naru's relationship.

But most of all, he couldn't get the dream that he had just awoken from out of his head. It was more disturbing to him than the ones he had of Kanako back when she was causing him trouble.

The dream in which Motoko had kissed him while he was passed out…it was the day Tsuruko sent her away to be a monk and live her life in shame, and Keitaro had chased her, only to be knocked out by her after a duel she had with him...he had woken up on her lap and they had studied for awhile afterwards just before Tsuruko showed up and confronted her, but he couldn't help but wonder...

During the dream when he had woken up on her lap, she had kissed him just before Keitaro had awoken…but was it just a dream? He hoped to hell that it was.

Urashima walked down the hallway aimlessly, lost in thought for the first time since he had awoken. He decided to head for the local Hinata waterfall, to cleanse and purify himself of these thoughts before they got the better of him.

Meanwhile...

Motoko awoke with a start. She reached over and looked at her digital watch. It read 6:20 a.m. Her head throbbed mercilessly. Ohhhhh, what had she done last night? Normally she would have had some fresh vinegar or spring water and headed to bed.

She was going to murder Kitsune for talking her into this. Hangovers felt like hell. Oh well, she would rather have thought about that than……..NO!

No no no no NO, let yesterday be just a dream! Please!

Quickly, she got up and robed herself, and stepped out of bed. Careful to avoid tripping over Su, she left her room and stealthily ran three rooms down. The 2nd floor guest room was where her silent footfalls stopped.

She gently slid the doors open. The sight inside the guest room caused her hand to immediately and involuntarily cup itself over her mouth to stifle a cry of anguish. Her knees felt weak. Her eyes went wide and her breathing became irregular. She entered the room clumsily.

Before her on the floor lay her horror, her affirmation that yesterday had not been a dream.

"Oneesan." She whispered sadly.

Tsuruko lay sleeping softly, her breathing ragged from a rattled rib cage. Her face was bandaged over her left eye, which was visibly black and blue under the bandage. Her lower lip had scabbed over but was scarred beyond belief and swollen. Mutsumi and Naru had done a great job patching her up, but the damage was still done. Her beautiful sister. She had done this to her.

Fortunately, Motoko remembered that her sister had consumed a rather tremendous portion of sake last night. She and Motoko both had had their share, to forget their woes of the earlier day's events. Tsuruko definitely couldn't hold her alcohol as well as Motoko. Here she was, passed out cold. Had it not been for the injuries on her body, Motoko would have found the situation comical, and even maybe laughed at it all a little bit.

Motoko tucked her sister in and caressed her face with the same kindness Tsuruko had shown her in the end yesterday. In as much as she could scream at her for failing to say something as simple as the three words she longed to hear from her only surviving family member, Motoko realized in her self-afflicted shame that she too had failed to ever say it to Tsuruko as well.

But boy, did she say it the night before. For everyone to hear, no doubt. Some of the details were still hazy. Good God, what DID she do last night that she couldn't remember? That scared her even more. She supposed that she would have to deal with it when the time came. The most tell-tale sign would be Kitsune snickering at her later today, possibly at lunch.

But here, now, in the early morning hours, she found her inner strength just for a moment as she removed her hand from her sister's face, and said it, clean and sober and pure of heart.

"Motoko loves you, Oneesan." Her voice was barely a whisper, as she did not wish to wake Tsuruko. At least one of them should be able to say they had had a good night's sleep.

She stood up and walked down the hallway, then decided to head outside, to the garden (which was now trashed…God, it was going to take weeks and a lot of Keitaro's inheritance money to fix the problems).

Motoko would not return to her duties at the dojo until she helped fix the destruction she and her sister had caused. Many times she had stood by, fuming, watching Keitaro fix a window that she herself had knocked him through. But not this time. This time, she was going to be strong.

Oh, damnit, why did she have to think of him?

She quelled her thoughts as quickly as possible. Walking along the courtyard in her robe, she noticed the faintest sign of the sunrise in the distance. She was about to sit down to meditate when she heard the sound of footsteps behind her. No one should have been up this early. Standing up quickly though her joints ached from yesterday, she drew her sword.

"Who's there?" She asked to the darkness.

Her senses found the source of the sound, and she rushed towards it. An interloper! Quick as a flash, the person ran from her. But Motoko was faster. Calling upon her inner center of being, she jumped over the intruder and landed in front of the shadow, sword drawn in a duelist's stance.

"Identify yourself, or suffer the consequences!"

The person tried to run, but it was too late. Motoko sheathed her sword and lunged quickly, pummeling the person to the ground with her weight. Whoever it was … was muscular, but Motoko got the person in a leg-lock and pinned the person's wrists down with her fists before any further attempt to escape or attack her could occur.

It was when the person screamed in pain that she realized who it was.

"Stop! Aaggggghhh! You're hurting me!" Keitaro was screaming, his face just inches from hers.

At that exact moment, several lights came on from the apartments upstairs following Keitaro's scream, followed by the night lights of the courtyard.

Oh NO, she thought.

Stay Tuned For Chapter 4! Note: Chapter 1, part 2 will now just become Chapter 2, to avoid any confusion.

To Magefire: Thank you for your wonderful, detailed review. Apologies for not writing to you with the other reviews, I pushed the changes through just as I got yours. I'm so glad you see things the way I do when it comes to how deep a person Motoko became by the end of the manga. Even if you've never read the manga (this is for anyone else), you can start to see signs of her growing and maturing as a person in the latter Episodes of the series, especially the unreleased Episode 25, and Part 2 of the OVA Love Hina Again.

Oneesan is the word used anytime Motoko addresses Tsuruko in the versions of the manga that I own. Perhaps there were different translations produced? And thank you for pointing out the bit about Shippu, I am waiting for that change to go through.

My writing style is just that. It's a collection of habits I've developed from being a writer and Reviewer over on TF.N, they have a specific set of rules you have to follow when writing. I've been writing fiction for their archives for so long, that old habits tend to die hard. But I do see your points.