Disclaimer: I do not own Love Hina

Chapter 6: The resurrection

Though lovers be lost love shall not; And death shall have no dominion.

Dylan Thomas 1914-53: 'And death shall have no dominion' (1936)

-Few months later: mortal world-

Having delivered the last soul for the day Keitaro tore though the cloudy skies of Hinata, Yuki was asked to teach some new recruits about the field and the dangers of it and such he had to go solo for the day. Which wasn't that bad, as today seemed to be a slow day, heading to the spirit gate at Mike's the weather began to turn for the worst.

"Where did this wind come from?" he shielded his face from the ice cold wind "I can't see." He began to wobble in the air. "I need to land and wait for it to be over." Just then a strong gust blew him out of the skies "Damn it!" he began to fall "My board!" he called out and the board dove beneath him breaking his fall a few meters above the hard floor. "That was close." He wiped his forehead and looked around the streets "No ones around, probably in doors due to the storm." He took out a cell phone that Fran gave him to keep in contact and dialled a certain telecommunications operator at SWHQ.

"Hey Cutie! What's up?" Fran's cheerful voice sounded from the phone.

"Hey Fran." He rolled his eyes slightly "I'll be back a bit late, the storms getting worst." He looked at the dark skies.

"No problem. I'll tell Yuki you rang, be safe OK? 'Cause you'll never know whose out there." She hung up.

"What's that suppose to mean?" he was confused by the last comment. Strapping the board to his back he walked through a nearby wall into a bakery store "Ahh. Smell those buns." He took in the scent around him looking at the selection just then his stomach growled. "That's right, it's been 3 weeks since I've eaten hmm… I haven't really noticed. Then again the so called food in the spirit world is awful no matter how much it looks like the real thing or maybe it's just Yuki-chan's cooking." Somewhere in the spirit world Yuki sneezes hard.

"Excuse me mister, can I have that over there?" A young girl pointed to a loaf of raisin bread behind the counter.

"That voice sounds familiar." Keitaro turned to the voice "God!" he jumped out of his skin and took cover behind a table.

"Hmm?" the girl turned her head to where Keitaro was

"Is there something wrong?" the attendant asked the girl.

"No, I thought I heard someone." She took the bread and putting on her hood she exited the store. Emerging from his hiding place Keitaro's eyes followed the retreating girl "Boy, I can't believe I just ran into Shinobu-chan like that." He scratched his head "Then why did I hide? She can't see me." He laughed at his own mistake and walked on to the streets where the winds calmed down some what "She did seem a bit a pale though, I hope she's OK." He took out his cell phone again and rang to tell Fran he was OK.

"Shoot!" Shinobu stopped and patted her sides "I left my purse on the counter." She turned on her heels and headed back to the store.

"Yeah. The storms dying now, I'll be back in a few minutes." Keitaro listened to the reply "Sure, I'll get it when I get back." He put the phone away walked into a nearby ally jumping high into the air he twisted his body attached the board to his feet and took off.

Splotch!

The bag Shinobu was holding dropped into a puddle by her feet "Sempai?" She dashed into the store "Sir, who was that man that just left?" She babbled scaring the man.

"Er… what man? You were the last person that came in here. Are you OK? You look a bit flushed."

"But… I saw…" she turned to the door "I…" ("I swear, I saw sempai.")

"Hmm, Vladimir's Vodka. Where am I meant to get that?" Keitaro said to himself still flying through the air but stopped feeling the hairs on the back of his neck prick up he looked behind him to an stare at empty space "Must've been my imagination." He shrugged and left. The dark clouds behind him parted and revealed a person floating in mid air their face obscured by the clouds.

("That was close, I thought he noticed me then.") The figure thought (" I'd be dammed surprised if he did, at least not at this level.")

("… -an you hear me? Are you there?") Kisaragi's voice echoed in his head.

("Not so loud, I can hear you fine.")

("Retreat at once, Malachite has returned from overseas.")

("This early? He bring news?")

("Yes, the situation seems dire. We must regroup.") Her voice seemed grim.

("That bad? Alright, I'll be there at once.") The mental connection was severed and he was left alone with his thoughts. Readjusting his cloths he disappeared into the skies as soon as he left the storm cleared away instantly.

#-#-#

"So Kei, how was it going solo?" Yuki asked stirring her cup of coffee across from where he sat.

"Not bad, it was a slow day." He dug through a bag and handed a bottle from it to Fran sitting next to him.

"Thanks cutie." She ruffled his hair and looked at the bottle. "Can't believe you actually found it."

He shrugged "How were the lessons?" He asked Yuki

"Me?" She looked down at her empty pot and asked the waiter to bring her another "It was horrible. I've seen such a bunch of no talent wannabes in my life." She drank her warm coffee "One of them shot themselves in the foot and we had to call it a day because of that then this was this guy who kept staring at me." She angrily poured another cup. "But I showed him a thing or two." A menacing grin made it's way on her face.

"She tossed him through a wall." Fran said staring at Yuki.

"I was teaching him self defence and I'd like to go that extra mile. Heh heh heh!" Her companions sweatdrop retreating from the table slightly.

("Scary.") They both thought.

"But because of that I was replaced, which I'm too devastated about." She eyed him for a moment "So partner, what do we do now? It's only just gone 2 o'clock."

"Oh, that reminds me. Cutie, Kisaragi wants to see you at her lab." She handed him a small slip.

"Come see me at my lab 14:21-Kisaragi PS come alone." He read the note.

"Why would she want to see you alone? And what's with the 21 min thing?" Yuki read the note as well.

"Who knows how that woman thinks." Fran interrupted the two "She probably wants to probe you again." He shudders at the thought.

"What is with her?" Yuki asked no one in particular.

"I can think of a few things." Fran hungrily looked Keitaro up and down slowly approaching him.

"God sake Fran! Leave the him alone!" She swatted her perverted friend at the back of her head and the two started to bicker at each other.

"I think I'll leave now." He slowly crept away.

#-#-#

-SWRC-

Knock! Knock!

"Come in." Kisaragi called out rather quietly.

"You wanted to see me?" Keitaro nervously walked through the door.

"Stay there." She pushed a button and mechanical hands appeared out of nowhere restraining Keitaro.

"I knew it! You're gonna probe me again! How many times have I got to tell you, stop experimenting on me!" He struggled against the restraints.

"Calm down, I have good news." She pushed another set of buttons.

"For who?" One of the hands covered his mouth preventing him from protesting further and the other hands pushed him down on to a chair holding him firmly.

"The two of us, of course." Keitaro froze when she saw that glint in her eyes.

("God, she gonna dissect me!") Tears poured down his face. The wall opened and a green light illuminated them ("What is that?")

"This is your body." She stood by the tank and gestured to it as if it were a prize give away.

"Wow… why am I naked?" He stared at his body the restraints now gone.

"It's kind of difficult to cut and paste your body with cloths on."

("Cut and paste?") He leaned his hands on the tank "So after 6 months…"

"Actually it only took 3 months." He looks at her strangely. "It usually takes 6 months to get a permit for a resurrection but luckily they did it in record time with a month to spare and then there was also body parts, funding, licence, time travel." She counted the things on her fingers.

"Time travel?"

"Yes, we intend to resurrect you by turning back time and by altering your fate slightly. This process will only affect the mortal world as we only intend to turn back time there."

"?"

"Time does not exist in just one plain. You see each world have their own separate flow of time and we are only going to change the mortal's besides we don't have enough power to reverse/change time in all worlds and it's easier to affect mortals rather than souls, everything else should theoretically remain the same and carry on as if nothing ever happened."

"Theoretically?"

"There's a good chance we could completely destroy the space time continuum and therefore ending the mortal world where dinosaurs would be once again free to roam the earth. Of course, there are bound to be problems when it comes to resurrection. The last time we resurrected someone the mortal world lost a year and people were predicting the coming of the apocalypse or something and it was absolutely chaotic… eventually it subsided after several hundred thousand deaths and ironically enough the person we resurrected died in the chaos. Were our faces red." She blushed slightly, Keitaro looks at her disbelievingly "It was never actually recorded in history, that's good on our behalf. Ever since then resurrection was only preformed for anomalies such as yourself no matter who you are, not even Elvis." She sighed and started swaying to a song in her head.

He shook his head "Erm… so what are you going to do to me?"

"Well." She stopped and picked up a clipboard "God, Lucifer and boss have signed for the resurrection." She went through a few more pages "We'll just take you to the time gate in heaven and toss you in it. And hopefully you'll wake up alive again." She put down the clipboard.

"There are a lot of uncertainties aren't there?" he looked at her sceptically.

"Don't worry, the odds are in our favour." She flipped a coin and it landed tails. "That didn't count." She picked it up and flipped it again and again it landed tails "Erm… give me a minute." She tossed the coin repeatly "There, heads." She showed him the coin.

"After 24 times." He visibly shook from fear and doubt.

"Don't worry, let's go." She took him by the arm and led him out the door.

("Please God, I just want to live. Have mercy on me, please?") He thought whilst being dragged out the door.

#-#-#

-Heaven's front gate-

"Wake up, we're almost there." Keitaro opened his eyes upon hearing that monotone voice that he has come to known and fear.

"Please! No!" He shot up covering his head defensively.

"Relax, we're at the foot steps of heaven." Kisaragi pointed behind her where a gigantic golden gate stood it seemed to shine a brilliant gold.

"Wow…ow." He held his head "It hurt, why did you have to knock me out with that?"

"With what?"

"That thing!" he screamed pointing at the metal hammer in her left hand.

"Oh, this? How did that get there?" she held a hand to her cheek.

"Don't play dumb! I saw you hit me with that thing!"

"You were getting anxious, so I needed a way for you to calm down." The hammer vanishes into thin air "But we shouldn't talk about such things right now, your body is ready to be sent and all we need now is you, the soul." She takes him to a man by the gate.

"Who are you? Oh, Kisaragi." ("What is she doing here!?") The man panicked internally but playing it cool on the outside.

"I'm here to perform a resurrection. And this is the one to be resurrected." She places a hand Keitaro's shoulder who meekly waves at him.

"Oh, is that it? Then you must be Urashima, the anomaly." He read from a book.

"Yeah." ("Why does everyone call me that?")

"Go on ahead." The man went to the gate and opened a small door at the bottom. "Please." He gestured for them to enter.

"Thank you." They both walked through.

"Thank God that woman's gone." The man breathed a sign of relief.

"By the way." Kisaragi popped through the door "I want to see you tomorrow for your physical." She said and then disappeared.

"Nooo!!" The man screamed.

"What was that all about?" Keitaro asked when Kisaragi joined his side once again.

"Nothing."

-Time gate-

"Why do you always do this!?" Keitaro complained being strapped down once again.

"This is necessary, we don't want you to run away." Kisaragi answered, now and then punching codes into a terminal and instructing several other workers walking around about what to do.

"Ma'am, the destination and time have been inputted. Awaiting message from Hell and Spirit World." One of the workers shouted out.

"Ma'am, we received message from Hell, power link achieved, receiving SE now." Another worker called out "Link with Spirit World has also been achieved, we're receiving power from both worlds as well as here in Heaven."

"Right. Maximum input. We need all the energy available to turn back time in the mortal world, remember, no more than 6 months!" The workers went about to do so.

"Ma'am! The time in the mortal world is beginning to reverse, 3 months, 4…5, we have 6!"

"Open the gate!"

"Yes, ma'am!" The worker pushed a button and the gate began to open to reveal Hinata town centre.

"Alright now." She went up to Keitaro. " We have to make this count, when you finally know what's happening don't do anything."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll know, it'll hurt but because of your body you'll be fine just a little sting." She patted him then ran to the workers "Push him in." The worker nodded and pushed a button releasing the straps and Keitaro was hurled through the gate.

#-#-#

"Kisaragi, I don't understand what you…" Keitaro stopped when he saw a truck speeding towards him "Oh."

Bang! Screech!

"Keitaro!!" Naru shouted

"Naru?" Keitaro mouthed as he slowly began to slip away ("Not again.") His world darkened.

-Hinata hospital-

"Argh…" Keitaro groggily opened his eyes "What hit me?" He stared at the white ceiling "Where am I?" He looked around a bit more "Is this the hospital?" He saw a large red cross outside the window and it confirmed his assumptions. ("For a moment there I thought I was still strapped on Kisaragi's operating table." He lay back on his pillow ("Speaking of which was all that really real? Souls? Afterlife? Or was I just dreaming?") He turned his head sideways closing his eyes ignoring the sound of the opening door.

"Are you awake?" A female voice asked.

"Yeah, how long have I been out for?" His eyes were still closed ("Why does that voice sound familiar?")

"Ah, you've been out for 2 weeks." She sat at a chair next to him.

"Really?" He was surprised.

"So partner, you think you can just leave like that and not say goodbye?" He turned to the woman and he immediately shot straight up when he saw who it was.

"Yuki-chan!"

"Hey Kei." She cheerfully greeted him.

"Why are you here and you have a aurora?" he stared at her.

"Oh, the aurora? Yeah, I'm lending this body it looks just like my real one but it isn't." she waved casually.

"Why are you?" he looked up and down her nurse uniform.

"This hospital is actually a part of the SWP it's our contact point. And this is my cover when I need to walk around in the living world, I've even got a file on computer so no one will get suspicious."

"Oh." He scratched his head and began to look around. "Where are my glasses?"

"Why?"

"Because I need them to…" he trailed off

"To see?" she finished for him. "I'm sure you noticed that your body feels different it's because you've died and such you've gained the abilities of the dead, just like when you were able to see my aurora. And on top of that your body isn't what it used to be, Kisaragi made some changes to it so you'll find that a lot seems different but don't worry it's for the better just like your eyesight but to avoid suspicion wear these fake ones." She gave him a pair of glasses identical to his old ones.

"So what do I do now?" he put his glasses on.

"Yeah, about that. Listen when Kisaragi turned back time for some reason she wasn't completely able to turn back time to the point she had originally wanted, you know before the truck and because of that…" she took out her black book and showed him a page with his name on it.

"It's blank." He noted.

"Yeah, we don't know what happened but your fate has been altered." She looked at him sadly "I'm sorry Kei but I don't know what will happen to you."

"It's OK, I guess it's better that I don't know my own fate so I'll just have to live life as it comes my way."

"That's the spirit." She placed a hand on his shoulder "Another thing, in the living world it's only been 2 weeks since your crash but in the other worlds it's been a bit more than 6 months. The events you saw in the living world when you were dead didn't happen at least not in this reality but in the other worlds everything is just the same as you left it. That's really all I've got to say, so bye Kei." She got up and walked towards the door.

"Wait." She turned to him "Will we see each other again?"

"Sure, when you die for real I'll be there." She waved and walked out. "OK everyone, you can see him now but please he's still a bit battered so go easy." She spoke to someone outside his room. Straining his head slightly Keitaro tried to see who she was talking to but the answer came to him in an instant when the Hinata girls barged into his room and all questioned him at the same time. Motoko saying that he's cursed, Kitsune teasing him, Mutsumi being Mutsumi, Sarah and Su pulling him by the legs to see if he was fine, Haruka reminding him of his duties, Naru looked worried and Shinobu remained strangely silent.

"Hey, hey." Keitaro tried to calm the girls down. "I'm OK, just a little banged up that's all."

"Keitaro." Naru approached his bed and took his hand. He saw her face and it looked like hell. "Thanks for saving my life. I…" Before she finished her sentence she bolted out of the room.

"Naru!" Kitsune and Motoko went after her.

"Sighs." Haruka shakes her head. "You know Keitaro, you do the stupidest things. When you were incapacitated Naru locked herself in her room and blamed herself for everything that happened, I don't know how long she could've taken it. But I'm glad your OK, the nurse outside said you'd be OK in a few days I'll just sign a few things and that'll do." She ushered the remaining girls out of the room and said a few things to Yuki.

-Outside-

"I hope Keitaro gets better soon so I can play with him." Su grinned putting on her seat belt.

"Me too." Sarah fingered her clay disk that Keitaro gave her. "Hey Shinobu, what's wrong?" The blonde nudged Shinobu who was staring blankly out the van window.

"Ah, oh it's nothing." She put on a smile. Shrugging Sarah continued her conversation with Su about the underground tunnels. ("It feels so strange… I woke up 2 weeks ago and everything seemed to have changed. Sempai died 6 months ago but now he's alive, is all of this real… or am I…") She shook her head. ("No… it must've been a dream, at least now sempai's with me again.") She blushed beet red. Zooming in Keitaro one of the Hospital's surveillance cameras captures Keitaro's sleeping form and sends the images directly to the spirit world.

-Spirit World-

"He is ready." Kisaragi said to Yumiko on the screen.

"Good." Yumiko looked at the images and bio-charts of Keitaro on a monitor on her desk then returned to Kisaragi on the screen "It's better than I expected. When will we be able to mass produce these bodies?"

"Not until I get more information on the body, we need to test the full capabilities of the body." Yumiko nods approvingly "But boss, was it wise to use 'Forbidden Technology' of the 'Void' to make his body? Do God and Satan know?"

"These are desperate times Kisaragi, 'The Prophets' are on the move and they've a massed a range of weaponry from the void and due to our role we can't so easily get our hands on technology like theirs."

"So we fight fire with fire?"

"Yes, thankfully we were able to get our hands on this bio technology before they did." She lights up another cigarette.

"What if we're caught?"

"We won't. I expect good news from you." The screen flickered off.

"I can't believe she's doing this!" Malachite clenched his fist appearing out of nowhere.

"I agree with him." A man spoke out.

"Yeah, this is getting out of hand." A female said in English.

"We can strike now." Malachite placed his hand on his gun.

"I've already informed our masters." Kisaragi told them.

"What did they say?" The man asked eagerly.

"We are to see how things turn out."

"What!?" The three protested in unison.

"This is unwise!" The man was getting more worried "According to Malachite 'The Prophets' and Yumiko have got there hands on the blue prints of the 'Spirit Bomb', Kisaragi you and I have seen what that thing is capable of doing! If either of them completes it first it could mean the end. Please, I beg you convince our masters otherwise!"

"True but both sides lack the capability to actually make it which gives us time to act and that is the intention of our masters, we just have to operate without mistakes. Besides we're not the only ones there are others." She calmly told her companions.

"If you say so." The man was still a bit stressed.

"By the way, have you contacted him?"

"Yes, I've sent him away to do something for me and told him of our situation. He was at first hesitant but I gave him my word."

"Good, that makes one."

"Leave Keitaro to me." Malachite eagerly said, "I want to see what he can truly do."

"Oh, oh! I want Yuki, I want to see who's better!" the woman held Kisaragi's hand who nodded.

"Then what of the Aoyamas? We need them as well." The man asked, Malachite stiffened at the mention at that name.

"I will take care of them." Kisaragi rose from her seat "Malachite, I don't want you to interfere. Understand?" There was a hint of menace in her voice.

"Humph!" he disappeared.

"What's wrong with him?" The woman eyed the spot where Malachite stood.

"Leave him." The man pulled on his leather gloves.

"Now go, we all have business to attend to. Malachite said our allies over seas are having trouble so we need to help them." The other two nod "It's only a matter of time. Everything will go according to plan and when this is over 'The Prophets' will be history and the spirit world will be under our masters' control as it should've been." Smiling the three disappear into the shadows.

"Keitaro, soon we'll meet again, very soon."

The end of chapter 6

AN: Hey everyone sorry about the delay but I've been so busy with preparations I haven't had time and this might be my last chapter for a while 'cause I'm going to university and I don't have my own PC so it'll be quite some time between each chapter but I won't stop until it's finished. So until next time bye!

PS Can someone tell me which characters get deleted because it's getting really annoying with bits missing.