Well
finally finished chapter 2 of this fic.
I've
had it almost ready for about 3 weeks but delayed sending it to my
beta's because I wasn't really happy with how it was written
(and
still am uncertain if I like it myself or not)
Me
no own Love Hina or Final Fantasy 8, me also no own the mystery guest
at the ending (can't tell who it is or what she's based on because it
would give away too much for the rest of the fic).
But
mesa do own the Umata family
Together
they walked up the stairs to the inn..
"Could
you wait for me out here? I'll call the girls and tell them you have
arrived.."
"Nanra.."
Taking
that as a yes, Haruka walked inside and started shouting:
"Get
down here, the new manager is here."
She
was answered with various calls of agreement and a short time later
they were all gathered in the living room.
"Where
is he, Haruka-san?" Naru asked still not being comfortable with a
man as manager.
"I'll
get him, he's waiting outside." Haruka replied.
When
she and Keitaro got inside Motoko instantly reacted and advanced to
Keitaro with her sword drawn.
"Demon!."
she yelled and brought her sword down on him.
He
easily dodged the first two strikes and when she struck for the third
time he simply sidestepped her and elbowed her hard in the back of
her head.
Motoko
went crashing into the wall and slumped to the ground unconscious.
"You
pervert!" Naru shrieked but fell silent when his gaze fell upon
her.
The
other girls were shocked to see Motoko beaten so easily and stood
motionless.
Haruka
decided to let matters not run out of hand and swiftly regained
control.
"Keitaro,
your room is Grannies former room. You can put your stuff there."
Keitaro
nodded and left the room without even looking at the other girls.
Haruka
walked to the kitchen and brought back a wet wash cloth to help
Motoko.The
girls had put her on the couch.
After several minutes she woke up.
"Why
did you do that?" Haruka immediately asked.
"He's
a demon." Motoko replied, still a bit shaken from his attack.
And
of course Naru instantly agreed. "He is, he attacked Motoko."
"No
he's not. He's just as normal as you and me. And Motoko attacked
him." Haruka shot back.
"But
his Ki is dark so he must be evil." Motoko almost sounded as if she
was pleading.
"He's
not evil, do you honestly think me or granny would bring him here if
he's evil?
"No,
but he's a male he must be evil and perverted." Naru tried to make
Haruka see it in her or Motoko's way.
"He's
also my nephew and Granny made him manager and it's her dorm so live
with it." Haruka got a bit angrier at the stubborn girl.
She
then looked at the other girls "Are you okay?"
They
all nodded and Haruka continued "I'm going to go talk to him,
behave yourselves."
When
she had left the rooms the girls all huddled together.
"We
have to do something." Naru started. "We don't want him here."
"I
agree, I won't allow a perverted man in the dorm." Motoko added
"He
looked kinda cute, maybe I can loosen him up a bit and have some
fun." Kitsune added with a sly wink.
"You
wouldn't!." Motoko almost screamed "He's evil!"
"Lighten
up I was only kidding." but the others saw in Kitsune's eyes she
would definitely give it a try.
"You
guys shouldn't say such things, we only saw him for a few minutes."
Shinobu timidly added.
"I
wanna play with him, He looks strong." Su added in her usual tone
before going off to chase something around the room.
Motoko
and Naru ignored the other girls and went scheming to get Keitaro
kicked out as fast as possible.
Meanwhile
Haruka made her way to the kanririn's room.
She
knocked and waited for a reply which didn't come.
After
a few minutes of waiting she tentatively opened the door and walked
in a bit afraid of what she might see.
He
was sitting on the floor and staring at a couple of pictures before
him.
When
she was getting closer, he quickly scooped the pictures up and put
them in his bag.
He
then faced Haruka with his emotionless mask back on.
Haruka
was looking a bit puzzled at him. She could have sworn she saw a
flicker of sadness on his face before he turned to her.
"Sorry
about Motoko" She tried to apologize.
He
didn't answer.
"She
has some problems with men."
"People
do it all the time." He shrugged while he said that.
She
was startled for a bit, not exactly anticipating a reply and she
tried to steer the conversation elsewhere after a few seconds:
"Should I send the girls up here one by one so you can get to know
them?"
"No
need to."
"Why
not?"
"I'll
meet them later. Now I want to be alone: It's been a long trip."
"If
that's what you want." Haruka took the hint and she left the room
silently.
Keitaro
picked out the photo's again and stared at them
One
has a beautiful young girl of about seventeen on it she had long
raven-black hair and was wearing a black Gi.
She
stared with some sadness in the lens and he knew exactly why.
He
had left her all alone with their parents and his mind kept playing
the departing scene where she hugged him and refused to let go.
Until
finally their mom pried her of him allowing him to leave and never
come back.
He
hadn't seen or spoken his little sister or their parents for over
three years now.
The
only reason he got the picture was because Granny Hina send it to him
a while back
"How
come she keeps finding me wherever I am?." He briefly wondered
before switching his attention to the next photo
This
one showed another beautiful girl of around fifteen with long brown
hair and hazel coloured eyes.
She
was wearing a nice yellow summer dress and a yellow hair band.
This
photo was definitely made earlier because it wasn't in prime
condition any more.
He
could still remember the day the photo was taken clearly: They went
out together and had their pictures taken on a street fair.
Two
of him and Mariko together and two of them alone.
Two
weeks later she died.
He
put one photo of the two of them together on her chest and she was
buried with it and he gave the other one to Yumiko.
He
didn't know what happened to his own picture maybe her grandma still
had it, but he couldn't care less.
One
silvery tear dropped from his eye onto the glass frame and he wiped
it away and focussed on the last picture.
The
last one depicted a small girl of about nine years old., she was the
spitting image of her older sister, except for her blue eyes.
He
smiled a bit, he may have a very harsh exterior but his one and only
weakness nowadays was Yumiko.
That
was exactly the reason why he didn't take her with him travelling
even tough she begged him every time he came by.
She
finally gave up and was content with living with her grandmother.
A
little girl would have made a perfect target for his enemies.
And
even though she wasn't with him his life was clearly influenced by
her.
Heck
if she wouldn't have been in his life, he would have never have taken
the job but just continued his wandering life taking down as many
enemies as possible and eventually he would die.
Normally
he wouldn't care any more but Hina's words struck a chord deep inside
him.
Maybe
it was time to settle down and take care of her.
A
large part of him still wanted to die but the small part of him that
wanted to live grew bigger when he thought of her.
After
reminiscing for a while he put the pictures back in his bag and began
meditating on the floor.
Haruka
returned downstairs and found Motoko and Naru talking to each other
in the corner while the others where doing their normal activities.
"You're
not up to something are you, Naru?"
To
which Naru replied with a fake smile. "Me? Of course not."
Haruka
gruffed but didn't respond any further.
"He's
up in his room and wants to be left alone, so don't bother him."
She
lit a cigarette and left the Sou without saying anything more.
Kitsune,
Su and Shinobu went to their rooms and Naru and Motoko kept on trying
to figure out how to get him away from the sou.
They
finally came up with a plan and Motoko left to make a phone call.
Naru
smiled genuinely for a moment thinking: "We'll get rid of him in
the morning."
Several
hours later Keitaro suddenly snapped out his meditation, his muscles
where aching from sitting to long and he stretched them a bit before
glancing at the clock.It
was almost midnight and a little surprised Keitaro walked to his
window and looked outside.
He
softly whispered "A beautiful night, she would have loved it."
into the night and for a moment his mask seemed to crack, but he
found control of himself before it totally disappeared.
With
so much on his mind he decided he couldn't sleep anyway and decided
to train.
He
grabbed the Hina blade from his bag and unlocked his window, jumping
out in a fluent motion and landing with a slight thud and headed into
the woods.
At a
small clearing he found enough room to practise and drew the Hina
blade.
After
a short struggle with it he gained control and started slashing in
the air.
Meanwhile
Naru who couldn't sleep with Keitaro in the room below her and when
she heard him open his window, She got very suspicious and quickly
went to her window .
She
was just in time to see him head into the woods.
She
quickly dressed and ran after him into the woods.
After
walking around for a while she heard him slashing into the air and
quietly walked towards the clearing where Keitaro was practising.
She
hid behind a bush and watched in awe as she saw him repeatedly make
slashing moves.
After
about an hour he stopped and glanced towards her direction.
She
held her breath and hoped he wouldn't find her.
After
a hour of exercising he stopped.
Keitaro
felt a disturbance earlier in training and used his Ki to scout the
area around him. and quickly spotted a girl nearby, hidden behind a
bush.
He
was a bit annoyed somebody had followed him but decided she wasn't
worth the trouble.
He
suddenly felt his Gi cling to his body and noticed he was getting
sweaty.
Without
giving the girl another though Keitaro removed his Gi and thus
revealed his scarred chest, a necklace and a pair of black pants.
Keitaro
then continued his training at an even more intense pace and pushed
himself towards his limits but not over them.
He
knew what would happen if he lost control of the Hina Blade while
training:
It
almost happened once and he almost killed a friend before he regained
mastership over the sword.
Naru
released her breath slightly after he looked away.
She
was certain he would have spotted her.
And
to her surprise he started to take his Gi off.
She
almost went into pervert hitting mode but stopped when she saw he had
pants underneath it.
And
when he had removed his Gi, she could barely keep a gasp in when she
saw his chest glistering in the moonlight.
Not
only because of his well built proportions, but also because of the
alarming amount of scars he had.
She thought to herself: "Haruka
must have been right about his troublesome life."
He
also seemed to train even harder now.
Naru
wasn't an expert on martial arts, but she knew Motoko couldn't do
this amount of training for this long.
After
another hour of training he sheeted the Hina Blade and grabbed his Gi
from the ground
He
stood still for a second and glancing in her direction again, he
jumped towards the nearest tree and to Naru's amazement he seemed to
leap from trunk to trunk and quickly disappeared from her sight.
She
shook out of her daze and decided she didn't want to follow him and
went back to the Hinata Sou to wait for Keitaro to come back
But
after an hour she couldn't stay awake any more and dozed off in her
futon.
Keitaro
sped off till he finally arrived at a small stream.
He
washed up a little bit and sat on his knees and began praying like he
always did after training.
And
as usual the prayer wasn't a very happy one.
It
was a prayer for the safety of Yumiko and Kanako but he also prayed
he could join Mariko in death.
But he couldn't get Yumiko out of his
head: It was like a little voice saying to him: "Don't die, we
need you."
He
prayed for quite a while before standing up and he decided that with
one last sprint to the Hinata Sou his training for tonight was
complete and he quickly rushed off.
Unnoticed
by him a small girl had seen him and was sadly shaking her head.
"It's
not your time yet, Kei-Kun." She sighed loudly "But your
suffering will end soon" and then she disappeared into the night
again
I'm
working on the next chapter at this moment and also on the next chapter
of Loving Onii-san. I hope I can get them out out a little sooner
As always r and r :)
