Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina.

Pre-read by: darksoulessbody17

"The Late Results of Stubbornness"

Chapter three: "She Was a Great Mother…"

Ai slept well that night. Finally, she didn't have to worry about criminals doing the scariest things to her or the police finding her. In addition, she felt very comfortable on the mini-futon inside the car and because of that she woke up with a wide smile on her face. She jumped from the futon and opened the door. She saw Keitaro sitting near a fire and eating something that seemed to be a fish. He noticed her.

"Hello there! Hope you've slept well?" he asked with a smile.

"Sure I have! For the first time in a long time, actually," she replied, smiling back. Her eyes widened, as she remembered something. "Say... Where are those guys?" she said looking around, but not seeing them anywhere.

"Oh, those bastards? I carried them far away from here..." She gasped. "Heh, you don't have to worry. I doubt they'll hurt someone again after that lesson." She nodded, but something was still bothering her.

"Um, can I ask you a question?" He smiled again.

"Go ahead."

"Um... When did you learn to fight like that? You must be a great martial artist..." He shook his head.

"Not really." He laughed. "I fight like that only when I get REALLY mad at someone. And since I hate when people hurt other people, I just did what I had to do," he said humbly, ruffling his hair.

"But you still haven't answered me, when did you learn that?"

"I've been practicing with my friend, mentor and idol when it comes to archaeology, Seta-san for years now. Even if I'm not as good as he is, I can say I'm quite skilled."

"Oh, I see," she said with an admiration in her eyes.

"Here, take this," he said handing her a roast fish. "I caught and roasted it over the fire so it might be bad, but…" She cut him off by raising her hand.

"No, it's okay. I liked your cooking last night so this should be delicious, too." He smiled.

"Heh, thanks for the compliment."

"You're welcome." She smiled back.

For the next few minutes, they were eating in complete silence. Finally, she spoke again.

"Urashima-san…" He turned his head towards her.

"Yeah?"

"Doesn't your family mind…that you're absent from home so much? You know, in all this excavations…" He looked at her attentively.

"I don't have any…" This was the third time she saw that strange look in his eyes. But this time she could almost feel the sorrow there. This time, She was so desperate to know why he's making this face so often. She gulped and asked.

"You never had any…?" He gave her a quick, but even stranger look.

"No… never…" But looking at his expression, she was sure he wasn't telling the whole truth. He got hold on himself and looked at her. "And what about you?" She was taken back by that question.

"M… Me?" She shivered and gulped.

"Yeah. About your life, Ai-chan." Now she was totally surprised and horrified, in addition.

"H… How do you know… my name?" He smiled.

"Well, let's say you're a quite popular person here… Although I'm from Tokyo and arrived here, in Hokkaido, two weeks ago, I've already heard pretty much about you." She shivered more and wondered what will happen to her.

"How… how much?"

"I know your name is Ai Narusegawa… and the police are looking for you," he said with a very serious face.

"Only that?"

"Yeah." She gulped.

"And… What are you going to do with me?" She waited nervously for his answer. He took a deep breath.

"Nothing, as for now." She felt a little relieved.

"You… aren't going to take me to the police?" she asked, still very nervous.

"I'd like to know why they are searching for you, first. I want to hear your version of the story." He looked at her attentively. "But please don't lie, okay?" She gulped. Somehow, she knew she could trust him, even though she couldn't tell why. She nodded.

"Okay…"

"Well then, why are the police looking for you?"

"I'm a runaway…" she said softly. He raised his eyebrow.

"From where?"

"From the child's house…" she said sadly.

"Oh. So… you're an orphan?" She looked at him with a very serious face and nodded.

"Yes… My mother died eight months ago…" She let out a deep sigh. No matter how long ago it was, she still was so sad and depressed when she thought about her beloved mother. He noticed that.

"Looking at your face, I guess you two had a great relationship?"

"Of course!" she cried. "She was the best mother I could even wish for!" He looked at her with a curious face.

"Really? For example?"

"For starters, she has NEVER even yelled at me. She always talked with me very friendly and seriously and also with a limitless patience." She stopped for a moment. Her eyes seemed shining with a strange light. After thinking about that for a moment, she continued. "And she always showed me she loves me and I often received proofs of her love… Whenever I wanted to talk with her, I was just running to her, hugging her and beginning the conversation. And she was never running me out. Never. Even though I surely was pretty intrusive sometimes. She just seemed to enjoy our small talks about everything. And so I did. We had only each other so we were as close as we could… We spend most of our time with each other… We…" She didn't realize her throat was itching from a while now. She stopped and tried her best to hold back her tears. She looked at his face. He seemed to listen to her very carefully, but when he saw she's about to cry, he put his hand on her arm.

"It's… okay. You shouldn't hold back… your tears…" She looked up in his face only for a short moment, but that was enough to see he also had humid eyes.

'It looks like he can be touched quite easy… Could it really be he also had someone whom he loved? But I really don't have courage to ask him directly…' She got hold on herself after a while.

"We… loved each other very, very much…" she finished.

"She had predispositions to be a great mother…" She found his words a bit strange since they sounded more like an affirmance rather than a question.

"I guess so…" After a moment of silence, he spoke again.

"Well, you told me so many wonderful things about your mother… But didn't say a word about your father." He was surprised when her face suddenly became cold and vindictive.

"Never had any." He raised his eyebrow and looked surprised.

"That's impossible. Everyone had a father. Otherwise, they couldn't be born."

"I don't care. I never knew the guy who dared to call himself my father. I think I'm a result of a rape since mom didn't reply when I asked her about my father. I was about seven years old back then. She just said I'm too young to understand and there was so much of pain on her face… maybe she would tell me now, but I won't have a chance to ask her again…"

"You think being a result of a rape is the only possibility?"

"Well, maybe he dumped her when she told him about me. Like a coward! Anyway, I never met that guy… he'll better watch out when I'll meet him!" she finished angrily. The serious look on his face surprised her.

"Sometimes there are things you shouldn't talk about when you don't know the details. There could be many possibilities…" He didn't seem mad, rather serious, but she was somehow sure he was rather mad.

"Maybe…" she mumbled, but it was obvious she doesn't agree with him.

The next few moments were completely silent when they were finishing the fishes. Once they finished, he took a deep breath.

"Can I ask you about something else?" She nodded.

"Sure."

"Why did you run away?" She let a sigh.

"Because living in the child's house was too painful for me." He looked very surprised.

"Why?"

"Everything reminded me that I'm an orphan. When I was eating with other kids, when I was sleeping in the bed that wasn't truly mine,when I wasn't seeing mom's face around… So I just had to run away."

"And being here doesn't remind you about that, too?"

"It does, but not so often… I'm alone here and can still talk with her… The only difference is she doesn't reply me… Anyway, I have too much things to do everyday to think about that too often… So, could you please not take me to the police?" she begged him. He thought about that for a while.

"Only under one condition." She was a little scared.

"Which is?"

"Since I think it's really too dangerous for you to wander around by yourself – the best example was these boys – and I'll be here for the next month, you will be camping with me. Is this all right with you?"

"Of course!" she cried maybe even more enthusiastically than she intended to. She blushed. "Um, I mean… I'm very grateful for such kindness and everything…" He smiled widely.

"OK, so it's settled. If you want to, you can watch me in the work now… I have a feeling there are some artifacts here." Her eyes widened.

"What! Do you archaeologists have a 6th sense, or something?" He chuckled.

"Sometimes. I've told you, already – it's a calling after all."

"Oh, I see." She smiled and watched preparations to the digging. She couldn't believe her luck – she has finally found someone who she had so much in common which and in addition, he wanted to take care of her for a little while.

'Maybe life isn't that bad,' she thought.

Pre-reader note: Very interesting chapter… Is Keitaro perhaps the father of Ai? Don't tell me the answer to that though, I rather wait. I hope that I made your story a little bit better. Well, I await your next chapter to pre-read! Good job and good luck!