Haunted by Inustgirldreamer
Disclaimer: I do not own Love Hina or any of the characters in it. They belong to Ken Akamatsu. I am merely writing this fanfic because I adore this creator and his creation.
" " speaking
' ' thoughts
AN: Hmm, it seems that all of the underrepresented Keitaro love-interests are stepping forth and demanding that I write stories for themshoos off Su and Mutsumi you'll both have your chance. Let me finish my first two stories. I hate a flighty muse. Well – on to the story!
Chapter 2: Revelations
Kitsune laid still and kept her eyes closed, only occasionally licking her lips and mumbling a soft promise not to drink, or to drink more, whichever her rebellious stomach needed to make itself settle down. Her thoughts drifted until she heard someone, probably a guest who drank too much, begin to lose their breakfast down the hall. As if in sympathy, her own stomach rebelled, and she barely managed to reach the garbage can beside her bed before she lost the remnants of the previous night's supper.
Looking around, she spot two glasses, one filled with tea, the other with sake – the thought of which made her stomach do a bit of flip-flop. Deciding that the wisdom the 'hair of the dog' was probably not the best that morning, she took the tea. She smiled in relief as the tea washed the taste from her mouth, and set the glass on the floor next to her bed.
"Damn I didn't even drink last night," she mumbled. "With Shinobu and her family here I just didn't even have the time. I must be coming down with something."
Finishing the last of the tea, she lay back down on her futon happily feeling her stomach slowly settling down. She mumbled a soft 'thank you' as she realized that whoever was sick had either passed back out or had nothing more to purge, though either way they were now blissfully silent. Her thoughts drifted for a while as to how settled the place had seemed over the past month and a half.
'Maybe after twenty years the house has finally accepted the fact that Keitaro's gone,' she thought. 'Hell, even Kanako seems happy.' The previous night with Shinobu and Shirai she was actually laughing and smiling. 'Are we healing? Since the anniversary I've only been drunk once. I don't even think I've had more than three bottles altogether… huh, maybe these are the first stages of withdrawal.'
She shuddered at the thought and pulled her covers back up over her head, still until she noticed two new smells began to war for control of her room. One was the delicious smell that brought her mind back to other times – Shinobu's cooking – and the other the reminder that she had purged her stomach in the recent past and if she wasn't careful she would do so again. Sighing she got up and, holding her breath, she took the offending garbage can and quickly moved down the hall and outside to the dumpster, emptying it before rinsing it out with a hose and leaving it out to dry. The fresh air seemed to bring back her appetite, and when her stomach rumbled, she laughed. Making her way to the dining room, still in her nightgown, she blushed, noting that the normally empty dining area was filled to capacity with all of the inns guests.
"Umm… be right back – SHINOBU SAVE ME SOME!"
'Damn, when the hell did I get shy and respectable?'
Fleeing back to her room, she slipped into a pale pink top and a pair of black jeans. Then she made her way back to the dining room, which was full of happy tourists and hotel staff eating a morning meal made by one of Japan's premiere cooks.
"Shinobu I should charge you for cutting into the business of my tea house, but I think a nice warm meal will make us even. Just don't make lunch or I won't make a profit today. GOOD GOD! KANAKO!"
Kitsune practically jumped from her seat as she saw the vampire lady of Hinata sitting at the head of the table. She glanced outside, sure she would spot a horde of angels or demons flooding the land and signaling the end times.
"Hello Kitsune," Kanako said smoothly. "I smelled this wonderful meal and had to come down and enjoy it. Besides I was already quite awake and feeling very hungry."
Kitsune studied the dark haired beauty that owned the inn, noticing first that the woman was smiling – not a normal smile, but that of a person who was merely content, but one happy and closely guarding a secret.
'Ok Mona Lisa what's up?'
Kanako looked to the woman studying her and raised one eyebrow, and her smile took on the look of a cat that had not only eaten the canary but drank the cream it had been bathing in. Kanako raised her tea cup and tilted it toward Kitsune.
"To the future, Kitsune," she said cryptically, "and to keeping the past alive."
"Umm… yeah, Kanako… sure."
Kitsune tilted her own tea toward the woman and then looked away, feeling confused as she wondered just what Kanako was so happy about. And unless her eyes were playing tricks on her, the woman seemed to be glowing radiantly. It made Kitsune uneasy.
'It isn't fair! I feel like yesterday's fish and Kanako's over there glowing and smiling and generally looking like a teenager again.'
Soon Shinobu joined them at the table and they found themselves talking of old times and new times, and oddly they found themselves talking of family and motherhood, with Kanako asking Shinobu about what it was like being pregnant and raising a family. About the time that Shinobu began to get into details Kitsune excused herself and made her way down to the tea house to make sure it was open and running.
Kitsune made her back up the dark steps after another hard day at the tea house. She felt more tired then she ever had as she open the door. She blinked as she saw there a pot of tea and a meal waiting at the low table in the middle of the room.
"Well now that is a pleasant surprise. Shinobu must have had it waiting for me. Oh wow, still hot too! She must have just made it. Man, I love that woman."
Sitting down, Kitsune ate her meal. Soon, however, she found herself drowsy, her head dipping down as her eyes slowly drifted closed. Before she could stop herself, she had fallen asleep at the table.
'I'm gonna be stiff in the morning,' she thought, 'not like it's the not the first time I've fallen asleep like this… and it's too much work to get up and undo the futon.'
Rousing herself to a faint chirping, Kitsune ay in her futon, comfortably covered and feeling rested… until she realized what was happening in her stomach, and in a flash, she was up running to the bathroom, emptying her stomach up into the porcelain bowl for the next ten minutes before resting her head on the cool rim of the bowl and enjoyed the soothing comfort.
"Augh that's it – I'm calling Dr. Kohta. Enough of this being sick crap!"
After brushing her teeth, she soaked a while in the bath before she made a call to her family's doctor. After a bit of wheedling, begging and talking about how he had always had time for her parents and herself, she managed to get a appointment for that afternoon – a modern miracle, considering that the man's secretary had tried to schedule her for a week later.
Sighing as she sat on the examination table inthe little cloth hospital gown, Kitsune silently cursed cold metal tables, sickness, and the inhuman fiend that had designed the gowns so that a patient felt embarrassed no matter how demurely they sat. Finally, Dr Kohta came back into the room with the results of his slew of tests, pokes, and prods.
"Well Kitsune I never thought I would be telling you this, considering that your parents had long since given up hope, but – Congratulations! You're pregnant."
"Pregnant?" Kitsune echoed. "PREGNANT?"
"Yes Dear," the doctor said dryly, "Pregnant. I would guess by your symtoms and these test results that you're a little over a month along. Hmm how odd," he mused, looking over his notes. "It must be catching. Yesterday I saw another woman about your age listed at the same address, and she was pregnant too."
"What? …another woman at the Hinata Inn?"
"Yes, a Miss… Kanako Urashima."
AN: Yeah For my prereader on this Random1377. Adore Him as I do ! prereaders rock! Thank you so much!
AN: Hehe I will leave off on this note with a bit of a cliffhanger. Hmmm I wonder how Kitsune will react to all this new and wonderful news? Please read, enjoy, and review. Oh and read my other stories too – this is a order!