I'm Right Here

Author: Sci-Fi Raptor

Disclaimer: Love Hina not mine

Keep in mind the following economic rule: There's no such thing as a free lunch. Anything you get, you pay a price for it, even if you don't know it.

(-O-)

Keitaro just wanted to show Naru how he had miraculously aced their practice test, the very same test that even Mutsumi had struggled to take. He did not know how, but he had suddenly discovered confidence and knowledge he had never felt in his life. After years of patience and praying, his prayers had come true; all he wanted to do was share it with her.

But she had finally done it! Years of constant poundings and lashings had made him almost indifferent to the harsh treatment, but something about this latest punch was different. For the first time in a long time, Keitaro felt openly angry at someone, that someone being Naru.

Normally, he could find some excuse for her to treat him like that; walking in on her without knocking, cleaning the hot springs without checking if it was empty; even trying to make out with her when she was asleep. But Keitaro, no matter how many times he went over it in his mind, simply could not find any excuse for her actions. There was only so much someone could take, and Keitaro was past his limit.

He was going to write a letter to her, expressing exactly how infuriated and disappointed he was over her harsh treatment. He was even thinking of going as far as threatening her future prospects of being a Hinata-sou tenant, though he would just say that to show how seriously he felt about it. For once, Keitaro was going to stand up for himself, no matter how pitiful his means of rectification were.

Fortunately, the trek back home was strangely peaceful; no one pointed at his ruffled state of dress that was a result of tearing through a wall and crash-landing into a mailbox. In fact, the populace must have gotten used to his antics by now, because the crowds on the sidewalk were not purposefully trying to avoid him. By the time he had gotten back to the Hinata-sou, he had cooled down to his normal levels of dork.
"I'm home," he said as he entered the Hinata-sou through the hole he had been forcefully ejected out of less that an hour ago. Surprisingly, the house seemed very quiet, even after his arrival. Keitaro had been expecting Su to jump out of nowhere and kick him in the head, demanding he play with her.
"Supper is almost ready!" Shinobu called from the kitchen, causing the above mentioned person to run down the stairs, almost tripping over herself.

"Food!" Su said cheerfully, all motor functions being controlled by her stomach. Keitaro braced himself for impact, knowing that the saying "Better late than never," applied to Su most of the time. Instead, Su just streaked past him, as if he were not there at all.

She must be extra hungry today… Keitaro thought. Rarely, on occasion, similar to now, Su would be so ravenous; she would give up a chance for a cheap shot just because she was so totally focused on eating. Thankful for slightly less pain than usual, Keitaro went to the hot springs, deciding that a job should never remain unfinished, even if Naru had socked him in the middle of it. The door to the changing room of the springs was open, so Keitaro naturally assumed that no one was inside.

Boy was he wrong.

When he stepped in, he found Motoko stripping her bindings, standing in all of her naked glory. Wincing for the blow he knew was about to come, Keitaro closed his eyes and put his arms up to shield his face from impact. "I didn't know you were in here!" Keitaro cried, waiting for the moment when he would make a second set of holes in the Hinata-sou. Moments turned to seconds, and seconds turned to humming.

Not understanding what was going on, Keitaro made the smallest slit with his eye and saw that Motoko was walking to the springs, covered by a towel, humming the hum that Keitaro had been hearing.

"Stupid vile pervert," she mumbled as she closed the door behind her. Keitaro hung his head in shame.

Motoko had gotten even crueler.

She would not even dignify his presence because she was so disgusted by him, Keitaro thought. Even more depressed than usual, Keitaro walked away in shame, his head sinking lower and lower.

"Myuh?" something chirped nearby. Keitaro looked up to see Tama-chan, waving at him.

"Hey Tama-chan," Keitaro said, waving back, cheering up a little; the turtle always managed to cheer him up. Tama seemed to totally ignore him however, and flew right past him.

"Ara, ara," Mutsumi said from behind him, holding out a hand for Tama-chan. "Do you want something to eat?" Mutsumi asked, rubbing the little turtle's chin, making it sigh in pleasure and took it to the kitchen.

Keitaro felt like a knife had been hurled through his back. Not only Su, Motoko and Mutsumi ignored him, Tama-chan was in on the act.

"This isn't funny…" Keitaro said, even more depressed. He continued walking and found himself in the living room. There, Kitsune was sitting on the couch, piss drunk and watching TV.

"Are you gonna ignore me too?" Keitaro asked, moving to sit next to her. Kitsune did not even dignify Keitaro with her usual smirk. "Anything good on?" Keitaro asked, hoping that maybe he could break her in her drunk state.

She would not budge, however, and remained silent. Sighing, Keitaro looked at the TV to see what she was watching. It turned out that it was VHS recording of a horse race and Kitsune just kept on rewinding the finish over and over. Keitaro looked at her hands and saw multiple bets, none bearing the name of the winner. From the numbers he saw on them, it was understandably why she was so drunk. After a while, Kitsune stopped rewinding the VCR and started applying pressure next to Keitaro.

Keitaro had expected her to try to swindle him for his money because of her losses, but what surprised him was how much he wanted her to swindle him. It was not that he wanted her to feel him up, it was just that it just felt weird to him how nothing bad had happened to him since he stepped foot in the Hinata-sou.

Almost as if they had known exactly what he was thinking when he was coming back and this was his punishment. Keitaro started laughing. Even Kitsune was in on it! She was not trying to feel him up, it turned out… She had fallen asleep!

Feeling that the situation was getting ridiculous, Keitaro got off the couch to find the most probable root of this punishment; the woman who he could not live with, but did not want to live without, Naru. As expected, she was in her room, though she had left her door open. She was hunching over her table, slaving over the practice test that she had said she would wait to do until Keitaro could take it with her.

Infuriated at the harsh treatment, Keitaro did what any man would do to get a woman to listen to him; he groveled. He went on his knees and bowed down till his forehead touched the ground and started the butt-kissing. He went on about how it was all his fault every time he was caught and how his punishments were always just; that he was not even being punished enough.

Naru must have been very mad at him, to plan something as cunning as this; the girls must have felt the same to play their parts so fervently. And Naru knew him well enough to attack him in a way that not even the worst of Naru's punches of Motoko's forms or Su's bombs or any assortment of otherwise ridiculously dangerous dangers that were hurled at him could do. She had taken from him the one thing that he cherished most; love. She knew that he loved all of the girls and would do anything for them; so if they acted like he was obsolete, she knew Keitaro would be crushed.

And the worst part of it was that she was right.

"Enough is enough," Keitaro said, his voice starting to strain. "I've learned my lesson," he continued, starting at the ground. He waited for her to answer, but she just continued taking her test, not even paying the least bit of attention to his supplication. Seeing that he would not being forgiven so easily, Keitaro stormed out of her room, two trails of tears actually trailing him.

He could hear Naru giggle as he left her room.

He went to the roof and cried. He had not cried in so long, but it really did help. Keitaro sat on the roof with its magnificent view of the town, a beautiful sunset as a background. Normally a sight like this would cheer him up, but his attitude would no budge. It was getting so bad, he felt a sudden sharp pain jolt through his heart. His hands instantly clutched his chest, desperately trying to quell the pain. He had two more attacks, each weaker than the last, and let Keitaro panting, sweat dripping from his nose. The attacks did not end though; he started coughing violently, and soon found blood covering his hands.

Panic took him over as soon as the attack subsided. His first thought was not fear for his own health, but fear that the girls may see something and possible, no matter how remote it was, worry over him. He went to the bathroom where he took his baths and cleaned himself up quickly. Luckily, he had been very careful, and not even a droplet of blood remained for someone else to find, no matter how impossible that should have been.

"Supper's ready everyone!" Shinobu called from the kitchen. Keitaro took the cue and walked to the dining room. The table was set and Su was the only one there, an empty look on her face; the poor girl must have been waiting there the whole time for supper. Soon, Naru, Motoko, Mutsumi and Kitsune sat in their respective seats, still completely ignoring him. Shinobu came in with a big steaming pot of something and put it in everyone's plates. To Keitaro's surprise, it was beef stew, his most favorite of takeouts.

Keitaro thanked Shinobu, but surprisingly, his compliments fell unto deaf ears. He was completely taken aback. Of all people to ignore him, Keitaro would never have thought that Shinobu hated him enough to ignore him too.

He started feeling nauseous.

Su stirred from her stupor as the smell of Shinobu's no doubt delicious stew rebooted her brains and overjoyed saliva glands. She was about to dig into the stew like a drill bit into warm wax, but Shinobu stopped her.

"So hungry!" Su complained to Shinobu, a miserable look in her eyes.

"We don't eat until everyone's here," Motoko said sternly. "You know that Su."

Keitaro looked around, wondering exactly who was missing. All the seats were taken and all plates had someone in front of them.

"We have to wait for Sempai," Shinobu added, looking at Keitaro. He suddenly froze up, as if she had pointed a gun at her. "I'll get that," Shinobu said; the ringing of the telephone finally registered to him and Keitaro eased up. For a moment there, it almost seemed as if Shinobu was accusing him for being late.

"That ungrateful spineless pervert is no doubt groping a helpless woman," Motoko said, her arm at her side, most likely holding the hilt of her blade.

"He's so useless," Naru added, looking even more annoyed.

"Where is Keitaro!" Su said desperately, her mouth salivating at an alarming rate, almost as alarming as the look in her eyes. Keitaro put two and two together; they were talking about him after all.

"I'm right here," Keitaro said, no longer able to handle being ignored.

"Next time that worm crosses my path, he will feel the cold wrath of my blade," Motoko snarled, not paying him attention.

"I'm right here," Keitaro said more seriously.

"You really can't depend on that baka," Naru said, getting an approving nod from Motoko.

"I'm right here!" Keitaro said, sounding desperate.

"I bet he's having relations with someone as we speak…" Kitsune taunted, a sly grin on her face. The look of fury on Motoko's face showed that she was ready to lash out at Keitaro, but she held herself still not breaking the mass ignoring of Keitaro.

"I'm right here!" Keitaro screamed, the pains in his chest starting up again.

"I sure hope Kei-kun is okay…" Mutsumi said with genuine worry.

Keitaro could not take the pressure anymore. His chest felt like someone was running electricity through it and he started to spasm. For a moment, he saw a bright white light in front of him, but only for a moment. He clutched his chest, doubling over and slamming his forehead on the table. For all her talk, Mutsumi did not even lift a finger to help him when he was in so much pain. How could they continue to ignore him while he was suffering so much? Did they really hate him this much?

"ARGH!" Keitaro screamed, feeling like someone had torn his chest open. The white light came back for a second again, but this time Keitaro could hear blips, and people talking to each other in an urgent tone, and then it disappeared.

Keitaro's hands were in fists, and his mouth was bleeding because his teeth had grinded into each other with too much force and shattered. He was panting, blood and sweat dripping down his chin as the girls just stood by, chatting idly about how bad a person Keitaro was or how he was making everyone last. Keitaro felt a sudden pain inside his chest, as if the devil himself was squeezing his heart until the life dripped out of them, and then it was all gone.

The pain had miraculously disappeared and Keitaro could think again. He looked around him, the girls looking as if nothing had happened. Keitaro looked at his palms and saw that he had dug into them so forcefully with his nails that they were bleeding as well. Feeling too weak to do anything else, Keitaro propped himself against the chair and carefully watched the girls.

Motoko sat there impatiently, her thoughts of punishing Keitaro later clearly written across her face.

Su just continued drooling, the food mere inches from her mouth the only thing occupying her mind.

Kitsune was still drunk and had passed out sometime earlier.

Naru looked the same as Motoko, but there was a hint of something else behind the mask.

Mutsumi was just plain and simply spacing out.

And for the first time ever in his life, Keitaro hated them. These people who he had once called friend just sat back idly while Keitaro went through hell. No doubt, it was something Su had concocted especially for him.

He just wished he knew why. Why did they hate him so much? Did he not show them compassion? Did he not help them whenever they needed him, even when he would have to sacrifice? Did he not lend them a shoulder to cry on?

Was their friendship so superfluous that something as stupid as being walked in on would drive them so far for their revenge? Were they enjoying their revenge?

He hoped so… he had never been more humiliated of hurt ever in his life. The worst part was that he had opened up to them. It hurt to see that they would take advantage of his emotions like this. Too weak to do anything else, Keitaro's bloodied head leaned back and rested against the back of his seat as he closed his eyes.

"Shinobu? What happened?" Naru asked all of a sudden, extreme worry in her voice.

Keitaro laughed in his head. After all of this, he still worried for these evil people. Keitaro opened his eyes to find Shinobu walking into the dining room, completely shell shocked, tears running down her young face.

Even after all this… Keitaro thought, despising himself. Even after all this, all I want to do is go up to her and tell her everything is okay…

He had satisfaction in the fact that he was too weak to even get out of this chair at least; even if he consciously wanted her, he would not lend his shoulder for her to cry on. Never again.

"Shinobu, what happened?" Naru asked, her voice wavering when she looked into Shinobu's eyes, it almost seemed as if Naru sounded guilty. The other girls got out of their seats and went up to her to try to comfort her, while Su stole the chance to devour all in front of her.

"Shinobu-chan?" Motoko asked tenderly, holding the small girls head up so that she could look at her. Keitaro only watched in amazement at how far they were going with all of this; after making him hate them, they were trying to make him feel bad for them.

"Urashima-s-sempai…" Shinobu stuttered, the waterworks starting again.

"What did he do now," Motoko asked with a cold voice.

"H-he's in the-"

"I'm right here," Keitaro said defiantly, even though he could only whisper now.

"Where is he, Shinobu?" Naru asked in a tone Keitaro was unfamiliar with.

"He's in the OR," Shinobu said, crying. Naru held onto her while sobs wracked the little girl's body.

"I'm right here!" Keitaro said defiantly, the white light blinding him all of a sudden. The blips were back and they were blipping quickly. He felt someone holding his hand and tried to look toward it, but his head would not move.

"Yes you are," a soft, unfamiliar voice told him reassuringly. "Just hold on a little longer."

(O Three Months Later O)

It was by pure luck that Haruka had found Keitaro when she did. She was about to walk past him, since it was not anything he did not go through before (he had been through much worse), but there was just something off about there scene; it was something very subtle, but it bother Haruka enough to see if Keitaro was okay. Everyone had assumed that his invincibility was unlimited, but it did not protect him this time. There was a pipe sticking out of his chest.

How he had managed to even have a heartbeat by the time the ambulance got him to the hospital was pure miracle, nothing less. He had been rushed to the ICU, pumped with enough adrenaline to almost be dangerous. His heart had been punctured, though the doctors did not spot it until it started beating irregularly. At first, they treated him by giving him CPR, then using paddles, but a cardiologist had figured out in time that it was internal bleeding by monitoring his blood pressure.

Open heart surgery was the only chance Keitaro had and after an hour of it, they were able to patch him up. His body would have to do the rest of the work, but it actually managed to pull through. But what had crept out his doctors the most was that he kept saying "I'm right here," even shouting it sometimes, during his treatment. He almost died during the open heart surgery when he scared the doctor operating on him, but the doctor had managed to contain the damage.

All the girls were there when he was kept in a recuperating room. Shinobu never stopped crying and not even security dared move Naru from Keitaro's side. Motoko became acting priestess and made mantras to quicken his recovery and protect him from opportunistic demons. Mutsumi and the rest also did their own things, extremely saddened that something like this had happened to their poor manager.

A week into recovery, Keitaro woke up from his medically induced coma, to the joy of his charge. They held a party in his room, but he just lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He did not speak to anyone, just kept moving his mouth. For two weeks, the girls stayed there to cheer Keitaro up, but he simply refused to speak to them, though he kept on quietly chanting something. Naru had stayed by his side till he was discharged three months after his surgery, something that continued baffling doctors.

He was expected to resume his managerial duties and the girls had a welcome back party set for him, but something else happened. Kanako, Keitaro hitherto unknown little sister informed them that Keitaro had moved back with his parents and that she would take over his duties.

As for Keitaro, he kept in his room, never making any human contact. His parents took care of him, and eventually found out what he was chanting.

I'm right here…

(O)

See what you've done, the god told his underling. There are wheels within wheels in this world. Even the smallest, most benevolent changes, like giving someone knowledge to pass an exam before his time, can have the most devastating consequences. Nothing comes without its price…

The underling relinquished its powers and descended to the human earth.

(-O-)

Fic just came out… no real reason…