Love Hina: Boys' Night Out?
Chapter One: The IdeaNearly six months have passed since the events that changed the Sagura family forever.
Such things would long be remembered after the individuals had turned to dust and their own children and grandchildren had passed the tale of the following events on to their own offspring, along with their own tales of woe, heartache and hope.
But such things are stories for another time, and they have no bearing on this tale.
Motoko Aoyama, blademaster, nineteen years of age and heiress to the Gods Cry school of swordsmanship, was bored.
No, perhaps extremely bored would have suited her current mood better, or hair tearing-ly, blood pressure rising bored. Yes, that sounded about right, and she knew all to well the source of her irritation.
Koichi Sagura.
Their wedding day was rapidly approaching and he was nowhere to be found.
After nearly two months without seeing her fiancé she had developed a new level of respect for the co-manager of the Hinata Sou, wondering how the brown haired woman had stayed sane during Keitaro's absence.
She had understood why he and Kyoko, his eerily quiet younger sister had returned to their family grounds.
The big idiot had been dodging envoys from his Clan's elders for the past four months, entreating him to return and settle the affairs that would normally be taken care of by the head of the family, a duty which fell to him by default now that…
Motoko gripped the rail that surrounded the laundry nexus a little tighter.
Even during the four months that had passed before he left, he still refused to talk about the impact of his Father's death though she knew that Kyoko had cried herself to sleep on Shinobu's shoulder any number of nights, and the younger girl was by far the more stoic of the Sagura siblings.
She scowled, making a promise to beat it out of him when he returned. Below the surface her subconscious regarded her mental ranting with a great deal of amusement. It knew the real reason she was irritable was because Koichi had basically barred her from accompanying him, no matter what she protested or threatened.
He had explained that it was a Clan specific matter that was delicate enough as it was with various factions suggesting that perhaps the Sagura family needed to be removed from power after various versions of how and why his Father had died began to circulate, without him showing up with the head of another school in the middle of a temporary power vacuum.
He had promised to go, sort things out and come back.
That had been two months ago and she hadn't received so much as a letter.
Even Keitaro had managed to write.
Her eyes narrowed dangerously. To make matters worse, Kyoko had returned a few days ago, having returned to celebrate Shinobu's birthday, the party for which was being set up without her while she brooded.
She had asked Kyoko about her, in her own words, "Good for nothing brother", to which the younger woman had replied that he was well, and no he hadn't given her anything to pass along, all the while seeming to address a certain blue haired girl rather than the person asking her.
Motoko had grit her teeth and thanked her soon to be sister-in-law despite it being doubtful she had heard her, even forcing a smile for effect that was probably wasted.
She heard laughter, and glanced down at the courtyard to see Kitsune dragging a despondent looking Kentaro behind her as he complained about how he always experienced a terrible shooting pain in his wallet when she laughed like that.
This only seemed to fuel the fox girl's sense of humour as she teased, pouted and prodded to get him moving under his own power.
Everything changed eventually. She could still remember the days of the great Keitaro hunt and before, back when the thought of her sulking because of a man would have caused her to laugh in your face assuming she didn't take offence and send the speaker flying first.
"Koichi no baka…"
"Myu?", something green flew up in front of her vision, obscuring the scene before her as Kitsune whispered something in her boyfriend's ear that suddenly had him standing straighter and walking faster.
She leant back a little to take in the full scope of that blocked her sight, "Huh?"
"Myu!", Tama waved one flipper at her favourite of the tenants brightly, seeming for a brief second to be the turtle incarnation of her previous owner.
"Turtle!", Motoko screamed, her legs catching on each other as she tried to back pedal, sending her crashing to her rear with a startled yelp as the cause of her perturbation looked on with the same innocent confusion as always.
Some things always stayed the same.
Motoko hugged her light jacket tighter around herself as she backed away on hands and knees, shivering but not because of the cool late winter air, and wishing she had her blade with her, or even the Sword of Two Souls. Even if it was no longer any use as a sword it was still a bar of heavy steel she could wield against the shelled menace.
"Stay back, I'm warning you!"
"Myu?"
"Don't worry, I got her!", and exuberant voice yelled, followed by a blur of blond as Su vaulted over the edge of the roof, a smaller version of the net launcher she had once tried to use on Koichi in hand and a wide grin offsetting the permanent blush marks that stained her cheeks.
Motoko had long since given up wondering how Su managed to show up wherever there was anything even remotely interesting happening, especially seen as how it was impossible to stop her from doing so, and it was occasionally beneficial.
"We meet again, for the last time my old nemesis", Su declared like the villain from one of the early morning cartoon shows she still watched, "Prepare to be food, I- Hey! No fair, cheating!".
The turtle had apparently decided that Su's growing monologue was the perfect time to duck out of sight and had done just that, gliding away from the building, perhaps planning to hide out with her former owner at the teahouse.
Motoko grabbed the back of Su's collar in time to prevent her from leaping over the railing after Tama. She did not doubt Su would survive the fall, but she wasn't entirely sure the teahouse would survive Su.
"The enemy is escaping!", Su pouted and crossed her arms where she hung, but making no attempt to brake free.
"Trust me, as much as I would like to see that…turtle", even saying the word made her skin crawl, "gone, I think it would be better if you help Kyoko, Haruka, Naru and Sara.
Considering that Haruka and Seta had return for a brief visit along with Sara, Motoko was surprised to find that the blond haired duo weren't up to their usual tricks.
"Sara went into town with Seta", Su said, sounding slightly disappointed, "She wanted to help him with all the stuff Haruka told him to buy, Keitaro went with them as well".
"So why aren't you helping?", Motoko asked, ignoring the sly look the other girl gave her which reminded her of the hypocrisy of that question.
Su shrugged, "Shinobu said not to worry, Naru and Haruka have everything in hand, so Kyoko asked me to keep an eye on you".
Motoko smiled. The dark haired Sagura girl might not seem it, but she held great affection for those dear to her, and worried more than she ever let on.
"Speaking of which, where is the birthday girl?", she asked, deciding that she should probably try to get into the spirit of things.
"Kyoko told her she had left her a present in her room", Motoko shook her head at the expression Su pulled as she said that. Somewhere between suggestive and lecherous it made Motoko wonder if Su suffered from some sort of bleed through from a past life, one in which she had been male.
"Shinobu went to get it and a little while later Kyoko vanished as well, so I went to do a little reconnaissance", she grinned when Motoko interrupted her by informing her the correct word would be 'Spying', in this case, but carried on undaunted, "But then I heard you shouting and came to see what was going on".
Motoko dropped her, Su landing effortlessly and latching onto her arm, "Come on, lets go play!".
"No, we are going to help Naru and Haruka, they are probably wondering what happened to all their helpers", she spoke firmly which had no visible affect on Su's cheeriness as she dragged Motoko along like it had been her idea rather than the other way around.
The raven-haired girl sighed; it was going to be an interesting day.
Kitsune froze for a moment, the reality of the situation taking a moment to filter in. When it finally did the first thing that happened was that she smiled. Not a normal upturning of the lips, but a wide, idiotic kind of grin that always preceded that which happened next.
She laughed, loud and clear, her efforts redoubling as she saw the slightly confused expression on the person before her as he ran a hand through unruly ebony locks self-consciously.
"This is too good", she giggled, thinking of some of the conversations she had had in the past few months, "Motoko is going to freak".
The recipient of her humour hung his head grimly while Kitsune continued to laugh unabated.
"How's that?", Motoko called out.
As the tallest of the women present, she had been called upon to hang some of the higher decorations while the others judged and directed her efforts.
She suppressed a glare as Haruka and Naru conferred for moment while her arms began to ache from being held in their current position too long.
Before they could reach a verdict however, they were interrupted when the front door all but slammed open and a grinning Kitsune sauntered in, hands clasped behind her back in an attempt to appear innocent that never worked.
Motoko lowered the decoration she held, eying the other woman as she moved to stand just a little to the side of the door but didn't close it.
"Back already?", Haruka asked around her omni-present cigarette, already bored of the pregnant silence that had descended over the room. She had never really been a fan of dramatics, "Did you get everything?".
The nearest store that stocked the liquors on Kitsune's list were a minimum of fifteen minutes away. The fox girl had been gone five at the most.
"Not quite", she smiled mysteriously, causing Haruka to sigh, knowing that this probably meant a headache in someone's future, probably hers.
Motoko noticed Su's nose twitching as the younger girl watched the door with an odd intensity, even for her, her whole body practically vibrating where she sat on the back of the couch.
"What is everyone doing?", a quiet voice asked, drawing their attention to the stairwell on which stood Shinobu and Kyoko, the former of the two blushing faintly.
Her colour deepened when she saw Kitsune wink at her knowingly and Su let out a cry of, "Ha! I knew it, I knew it!".
Kyoko placed one hand on her girlfriend's shoulder, her subzero gaze causing Kitsune to suddenly develop an intense interest in the doorframe, and even silenced Su though it did nothing about her face splitting smile.
Shinobu smiled gratefully over her shoulder at the other girl, which instantly softened her features.
Haruka raised a questioning eyebrow, but no one seemed eager to offer up any information. Naru only offered a weak smile. The recent change in…tastes, of their youngest tenant was not something Haruka had heard of yet having only arrived the previous evening, and right that second didn't seem the time to explain it.
It had taken Naru a while to get her head around the idea herself.
"Anyway", Kitsune coughed, breaking the tense atmosphere, "Guess what I found?"
She sighed at the sea of blank faces before her. Why were they never interesting anymore? All she wanted was a little show, was that so much to ask?
Striking a pose she gestured toward the open door, "Making his return debut to the Hinata house, a recent favourite…".
She paused, gauging their reactions. They all seemed a little more interested now, especially Motoko whose face was changing from one of mild annoyance to understanding.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Koichi Sagura!".
The dark haired nineteen year old stepped around the door and into view, his one hand resting casually in his trouser pocket while the other was up by his shoulder holding his duffle bag.
"Yo", he waved, adjusting the neck of his black polo-neck sweater when no one replied for a moment.
His eyes scanned the crowd, and he offered each of his friends a smile in turn, pausing uncertainly when he caught sight of a middle aged woman with short, dark brown hair, a cigarette clasped loosely in her lips, who starred back indifferently.
He moved on, he could ask about her later, but right now…
He finally spotted her, standing at the back of the crowd; Motoko was looking at him like she had seen a ghost.
Su was the first to react.
"Koi-kun's back!", she was moving before she spoke, launching herself off the back of the sofa and glomping him as soon as he was within range.
Had he never met the hyperactive MolMolian before he would have been knocked flat. As it was it still took a great deal of effort to remain upright as she began moving around him as if searching for something.
"What did ya bring me?", she said, hands digging through his pockets before he could respond but finding nothing.
Slightly disappointed by the lack of forthcoming gifts she eventually settled for clinging to his back, arms wrapped around his neck happily humming to herself.
Koichi smiled. It was good to be home.
The others gave their greetings more calmly. A simple, "Welcome back Koichi-san", from Shinobu, and something similar from Naru and the woman introduced as Haruka, the landlord's aunt, although he got the impression she didn't like the title in itself very much and decided to steer clear of any aunt jokes until he had a better handle on her.
She reminded him scarily of Narusegawa and Motoko for reasons he couldn't place.
He and Kyoko's greetings were probably the shortest of the whole group.
"Oni-san"
"Brat"
Followed by a brief smile from both of them that would have left anyone who didn't know them thinking they were estranged siblings.
Finally came Motoko.
The others watched silently as she walked over to him, never breaking eye contact.
"Hey Motoko-chan, good to-" he was cut off when her fist connected with his stomach, forcing the air from his lungs.
"Jerk", she spat, cursing the fact that despite everything she couldn't make herself glare at him instead of smile. She was happy he was back.
"Awwww…I love…you too", he wheezed with a lopsided grin.
He wondered briefly why Haruka gave Naru and amused smile that made the other woman laugh lightly behind her hand, but decided to dismiss it.
Motoko resisted the urge to hug him. That would send the wrong message right now, despite how much she wanted to.
"Two months. Two months with no contact from you at all", she said, crossing her arms beneath her bust.
He frowned at her, "What do you mean? I sent a letter back with Kyoko…".
He turned a glare up at his sister, "Hey brat, what did you do with my letter?".
Kyoko starred back evenly, "I must have forgotten about it. I apologise Oni-san".
"To busy making out with your girlfriend?", he teased.
"Maybe"
"Kyoko-chan!", Shinobu had turned the same colour as the sleeves of her latest Cabot dress, pink and red in design.
"Erm… right…", Koichi finished lamely, unable to think of a comeback. The whole situation with his sister was still slightly surreal to him, and it hadn't gone over well with a number of the older Clan members either.
A loud crash from outside saved him from the assault he saw being calculated in Kyoko's sea grey eyes.
"That will be Seta and Keitaro", Haruka announced as if anyone apart from Koichi and Kyoko had any doubts.
Moments later the two men in question staggered in followed by a shaken but otherwise fine Sara.
"What did I tell you part-timer!", the taller of the pair, a man who looked eerily like like Keitaro's older clone, exclaimed enthusiastically, "I told you that ramp was a shortcut. Who's crazy now?".
"That wasn't a ramp, that was the scaffolding they were putting up to repair the damage from the last time you went through there! And I still think your crazy!", Keitaro shouted.
"Hi, what's everyone doing?", Seta asked, leaving his young protégée to weep silently to himself as he was once more ignored by his mentor.
Keitaro looked up, spotting Koichi with Su hanging on his neck, "Koichi-san? Oh, welcome back, no one told me you were coming, but then again I suppose you had to show up soon right?".
"Koichi?", Seta said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "This is the boy you were telling me about part-timer?".
Koichi frowned as Seta began rubbing his hands together when Keitaro nodded, smiling as he advanced on the younger man.
"Keitaro has told me a lot about you young man, we have much to discuss", he helped pry Su off Koichi before grabbing both him and Keitaro and moving them bodily out of the house.
"I sorry, I'll fill you in on what happened when I get back", Koichi promised Motoko before his purchase on the doorframe slipped and he was gone with a surprised yelp.
"That big idiot is up to something", Haruka muttered, rubbing her temples.
The headache was beginning to form, and if she knew her husband, it was only going to get worse.
"Ok, now that we managed to get away from the womenfolk for a little while, lets get down to business", Seta said, resting his arms on the table they sat around in one corner of the teahouse.
"Who's 'we'", Koichi groused, still annoyed that he had been dragged away from Motoko before he could even say hello properly.
"Now, now, lets not be grumpy", Seta held up a finger, "After all, this is all for your benefit, hehe, right part-timer?".
Keitaro nodded, having already been told the basics of what his mentor was about to propose. It sounded harmless enough, and should prove interesting if nothing else.
Koichi shifted in his chair, he didn't feel very reassured at that moment. That laugh had been almost sinister.
"Whatever", he said, feigning indifference.
"Excellent", Seta, leaned back in his chair, "Now my boy, what do you know about Stag Nights?".
Koichi quirked an eyebrow, "Some western tradition or other right? Group of guys attempt to get an engaged man into as much trouble as possible before his wedding, usually while completely drunk".
He folded his arms. He had no intention of doing anything that would jeopardise his relationship with Motoko; he had worked to hard and waited to long to throw all that away in one night of drunken idiocy.
"No, no, no", Seta said, shaking his head as if disappointed, "You have it all wrong my boy. A true Stag Night is a celebration! A glorious party that marks the turning point in a young man's life when he finally takes a wife. It's a tribute, a noble and ancient tradition of the west and indeed there are similar ceremonies here, but none quiet so fun".
Koichi shifted again. Put that way it didn't sound so bad.
"I don't know…"
"Please son", Seta said, his face serious, "Let us honour you in our own way, and together we will usher in your union".
Koichi scratched at the back of his head absently while Keitaro was looking at his teacher as if he had never seen him before.
Not a man known to deliberate over a choice before making it, Koichi chose.
"Sure, why not", he crossed his arms behind his head, and chuckled lightly, "I mean, what's the worst that could happen, right?".
---Author Notes---
Hey boys and girls, welcome once more to the Blademasters universe, we've begun the final leg of the journey thus far, and though this will only be a short fic (3 chapters max), I hope you enjoy the final installation of this generation. R and R people.
Till next time, Betweenheavenandhell
