I really am sorry about the delay in updates. There were circumstances beyond my control. Anyway, I am a bit discouraged by the number of nasty emails I have gotten over the whole voting thing. Yes, I realize that the majority of anon. votes were just spam. For this reason, I am no longer counting those votes at all. I am truly sorry to those who used the system correctly, but I got over 30 complaints from one camp or another. Signed votes will now count for 60 against my 40.
Chapter 6: Naru 101
Keitaro's head was aching. No matter how many times he had listened to his notes or read over the chapter, he just didn't get it. Math had never been his strong suit. It annoyed him that his original reader had backed out on him. Shinobu had offered, but he didn't feel right, asking too much of the shy girl. He got the impression that she had enough demands on her as it was. He had learned in the past week and a half that Shinobu had taken the majority of the cleaning on as well as all of the cooking. That was something he could admire about her. Naru had no problem piling on the list of things that needed done in the place, and he hoped that was only something she did to him. Yesterday, he had come home from school and then scrubbed all of the floors, and cleaned out the hot spring area. Today was dusting and vacuuming. Paired with his schoolwork, Keitaro was beginning to wear down a little.
He heard his door slide open, and turned. "Yes?"
"Onii-chan, you look tired," Kanako said softly. "I wish you would let me help you."
Keitaro smiled. "Thank you, but I want to do it on my own."
"You've been doing everything on your own lately." She sounded as if she were about to cry.
"Kanako, I'm sorry I hurt you," he told her softly. He reached out and found her shoulder before pulling her into a hug. "I need to grow up sometime."
"But why can't you just grow up with me!" She dissolved into tears on his shoulder. "I'd do anything for you."
"I know you would, but I need to do things for myself. You know that I'm not helpless. I'll be fine without you here. Really, you can go and live your own life without worrying."
He had meant to comfort her, but it had seriously backfired. "But I won't be ok! I love you."
The very thing that he had been trying to ignore for two years was right in front of him, and he couldn't play dumb anymore. "Kanako, I…I am in love with someone else."
"Who?"
"Kanako, does it matter?"
"Is it one of the girls here?" she demanded.
"Please just let it be."
Kanako pulled back. "No, from now on I am going to prove to you that you should be with me! I'll make you see that I am the one who loves you the most."
"Kanako, please!" Keitaro begged, but he soon heard the door click shut behind her.
Feeling that the night was a complete failure, Keitaro ended up on the rooftop balcony. The wind felt wonderful as it rushed by his face. He turned to the sky, and wondered if there were any stars out. There were times he really did wish he was like everyone else. Would Kanako have felt the same if he could see? Despite everything, he never did regret stepping into that street…and he never would regret it. He regretted that he'd been too afraid his whole life to really push her away until now, but he wasn't sure how to make it up to her.
Keitaro's musings were interrupted by someone clearing their throat behind him. "The faucet is still leaking. Are you ever going to give it up and call someone?" Naru snapped.
"Oh, right…I guess it slipped my mind. Gomen nasai," he apologized softly.
"You shouldn't forget stuff like that if you want to be manager," she told him. Her voice had lost most of its edge. "Why aren't you studying?"
Keitaro sighed. Telling her about Kanako's love confession probably wasn't a good idea. "I needed a break."
"You really are dumb, aren't you?" Naru groaned. "You'll never get into Tokyo U if you don't study. I don't know why you insist on trying so hard anyway."
That was one question he wasn't going to answer…not yet anyway. He knew how she felt about him. Naru would only criticize him for it. Still, maybe it would give her a reason to trust him. "I made a promise," he explained.
Naru stared at the boy leaning on the railing. She just didn't get him. Most people would have given up and pack their bags by now—promise or not. Remember YOUR promise, a little voice said inside of her. "You can't break a promise," Naru admitted finally. "Who was it to?"
"No one that you'd know." Keitaro's cheeks turned bright red. He really was a dork.
Naru sniffed. "Well, I guess I'll just have to help you out, but it doesn't mean anything."
She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him back to her room; ignoring the way he tripped and slammed into things along the way. Perhaps it wasn't the best way to lead a blind man—though it never did enter her mind that she wouldn't have had to lead him at all. Naru had something in her mind to do, and there was no changing her mind now. In a way, this was her own brand of apology.
Keitaro rubbed his elbow as he took a seat on the floor. "Um, maybe I should get my books from my room."
"Right," Naru agreed. "Do you need help getting back?"
"NO!" he nearly cried. "I…uh… mean no, thank you." She watched him walk out of the room with a slight limp. What has the dork done to himself now? she wondered.
Naru sighed and picked up her math book first. From what she could tell in class, Keitaro seemed to be doing ok in history and lit. She flipped through the pages staring at a few of the equations. It was hard to imagine figuring them out without actually seeing them on the page. So much of mathematics was visual. Geometry and trigonometry pretty much demanded that you see the form on the page to really get a good grip on it. On second thought maybe math wasn't a good place to start.
A gentle knock sounded at the door. "Naru?"
"Come in. I don't want the whole house knowing I let you in here," she grumbled.
He opened the door, smiled, and walked toward the table. Even as she jumped up to steer him safely across the room, he took confident steps around the edge of her bed and sat down near her. "I counted the steps on my way out," he explained.
"You can count that high?" she quipped irritably.
He only laughed. "I have been known to loose count occasionally."
"Let's just get started."
Within an hour's time, Keitaro seemed to be grasping most of the formula's she was trying to teach him. He wasn't a genius, but he wasn't nearly as stupid as she thought he was. She watched his hands glide across a page in his book. That was another thing she didn't understand. Braille wasn't anything more than dots. How did he make sense out of it? Maybe she was underestimating him.
Keitaro yawned. "I think I'm going to call it a night. Arigato for all of your help. I was falling a little behind without a reader."
Guilt swept over her. "It's nothing really." She faked a yawn of her own. "Yep, I'm tired too. It is getting late," she rushed as she moved his book bag over.
Keitaro stood up and reached for where his book bag should have been, but instead the strap caught on his foot and he toppled forward. In a vain attempt to steady him, Naru jumped up to catch him. Both of them went hurtling to the floor. Keitaro must have tried to catch himself because his hand ended up firmly on Naru's left breast. His hand flexed instinctively, and his mouth moved silently trying to form some kind of speech. They both seemed to be awestruck by what had happened. A vein began to twitch in Naru's forehead as Keitaro's face turned bright red. The slightest hint of blood showed at his nostrils.
Naru was about to knee him in the crotch when the door flew open, and the entire Hinata household was staring at them.
"Naru, I had no idea!" Kitsune drawled. Shinobu ran off in tears, and all Kanako did was glare at Naru.
If Naru could have turned to stone, she would have. Instead, she pushed Keitaro off of her. "HENTAI!"
"Onii-chan's no hentai! You're just a slut!" Kanako screeched. Once again, she was on the floor babying her brother.
Motoko managed to shake Su off of her shoulders. "I will be watching you more closely, Urashima."
The man in question was still in a daze from everything that had happened, and said nothing. He let himself be hauled off by his little sister. "I'll see you gone one of these days, Naru," she hissed.
No one said a word as Naru picked herself off of the floor. No, Naru thought glumly, I haven't underestimated him at all."
Only Su's voice broke her thoughts. "What is a slut? Is it yummy?"
Naru didn't wait to hear the answer to that one. She pushed by the group and ran off to her own little hiding spot.
