AN: Ahh, it's been such a long time I've been so busy with exams and all I haven't had much time. It is now 23/05/05 Monday 17:34 GMT just under a week since my last exam, God it felt so long ago but I still tremble remembering that day, I don't think I did very well but I'll just have to wait until results day if I passed the first year or not... I hope I pass. Anyway, for those who are still reading thanks! Truth be told I wasn't sure when I'll get started again but here I am so let's continue.

Disclaimer: I do not own Love Hina and so forth.

Chapter 9: Morals

"Some of you may die, but that's a scarf ice I'm willing to make."

Shrek

Hinata apartments-

"Kei, wake up! Or I'll get Seeker to bite you!" Yuki nudged Keitaro's sleeping form with her foot. He groaned. "I don't know what you did last night but you need to wake up, you've already missed most of prep school."

"I've wha-?" He shot up from his futon clutched his head and fell back down in pain.

"What happened last night?" She placed her hand on his forehead.

"I've missed school?" he tapped her hand telling her let go.

"Yeah, Naru-san just left and said something like 'unbelievable, it's almost exam time and he's out getting drunk'." She quoted Naru.

"Oh." He looked hurt, before she could get a clear glimpse he turns his head to stare out the window.

"Did something happen?" He shock his head "I don't mean last, although I am still curious but what I meant was what happened between you two?"

"Yuki-san, I wish I knew." He looked at her with sadness in his eyes.

"I wish I can help… but now's not the time we have a job to do. We need to be in the Spirit World in about an hour, we've been placed on patrol. You OK with that?" She knew it was a stupid question but asked anyway.

"I'll be fine. It might take my mind off of things." He sat up again rubbing his eyes.

"I'll meet you at my apartment, I need to pick up my mail." She whistled calling for Seeker, casting one last look at him she left.

Spirit World-

"Feels weird." Keitaro patted himself as if to check everything was intact.

"You mean having your body dematerialise and stored within you?" Yuki asked ruffling Seeker's fur who was sitting on the end of her staff

"Hmm. I mean does your body really rot?"

"I've told you before the spirit world isn't for the living. All living things in the spirit world will decay eventually that's what the gates are used for, to dematerialise and rematerialise bodies, they're not just for transport you know."

"It feels numb."

"It's probably your hangover."

"Then should I really be flying?"

"You'll be fine." She waved it off saying the phrase that he was so use/annoyed to. The pair continued their route but before they can call it a day they spotted another officer on the ground flagging them down.

"Inspector Kagura, thank goodness." The officer ran up to them.

"What's wrong?" she asked him noticing another officer behind him talking to a group of 'unfriendly' youths

"It's them." He pointed back "We suspect them of being in possession of a dangerous item but they refuse to cooperate…" just then a bang went off and the officer with the youths fell to the ground, the trio quickly turned and saw that one of the youths had a gun and a sick smile on his face, his friends however being more sane looked at the fading body in horror. "Oh, my God!" the officer reached for his gun but in his state of panic he fumbled and was shot in the leg. Falling down the officer clutches his bleeding leg in pain, clearly unable to do anything.

"!" Keitaro stepped back frightened at the turn of events then the youth aimed the gun at Yuki and fired. Without thinking he pushed her out of the way and the bullet lodged itself in his shoulder.

"Kei!"

"Ah!" he fell on his side Yuki quickly at his side.

"What were you thinking? You didn't need to do that!" She guided his hand to his wound squeezing on it. "You!" She glared at the youth "I hope you've enjoyed yourself." She crackled her knuckles stepping towards him. The deranged youth feeling empowered that he can end 'lives' at will paid her no heed and fired at her only to have to bullet ricochet off something invisible, not believing at what just happened the youth fired again and again but with the same results. Yuki just smirked at his cluelessness when she decided that she had enough threw a blade of ice at him completely tearing his right arm off.

"Oh my God." Keitaro looked at the fallen youth crying in pain. Standing above the youth Yuki placed her foot on his chest and aimed her gun at his head. "Yuki stop, no!"

"Please don't!" the youth begged tears in his eyes "I-I just… I won't do it again." His voiced quivered in fear.

"Honestly, kid. I'm not taking that chance." She pulled the trigger.

#-#-#

1 hour later SWP HQ Kisaragi's lab-

After the ordeal Keitaro and the remaining officer were taken back to HQ for treatment, the officer's condition being more serious had to be operated on immediately. Yuki and Keitaro were left sitting alone in Kisaragi's lab until the operation was done.

"Are you still upset?" Yuki asked

"He was defenceless." Keitaro stated the image still fresh in his head, the look on the youth's face before he was shot but most importantly he remembered the look in Yuki's eyes, the warm gentle eyes that he was used to, gone, replaced with something darker and judging from those eyes he knew she had done this before.

"I had to do it you know, otherwise he would over soul someone else."

"Is this what I have to do?" he looked at his card which indicated that he was a SWP agent "Shoot people? I won't do it." He tossed the card to the floor. "I'm not a murderer!"

"I know how you feel. I was once like you." She picked up his card and held it in front of him he just stared at it before reluctantly taking it back. "It was a few months after I had joined the SWP, I was still fresh… I still hadn't gotten over the fact that I had died and I was a spirit, it was still so much for me." Keitaro looked at her "I was on patrol with my sempai at that time when we were suddenly called to investigate a disturbance, we were there in minutes and it turned out a few people from rival gangs were going at it. My sempai knowing full well that we wouldn't be able to handle it called for back up and told me to stand back… the next thing I knew he was on the floor bleeding from the stomach, looking up from his body I saw someone probably just slightly older that me holding a lead pipe that he stabbed my sempai with. I looked at my sempai's dissolving body and I did the first thing that came into my mind, I pulled my gun out and shot him. He was down but not out, the others had quietened down after the first shot considering I was the only one with a firearm, I advanced on him my gun aimed at him at all times." She paused to catch her breath. "As I got close I saw the fear in his eyes they begged me not to do it and I didn't… by then back up had arrived but it was too little too late, a good man had already been lost." She looked to her side for a moment.

"You don't have to go on if you don't want to." He felt awful for letting her recall bad times.

"No." she shook her head "you need to hear this." She took a breath and continued. "The person responsible for my sempai's over soul was tried and sentenced to imprisonment in Hell. I thought he got what he deserved but that wasn't the last I saw him. It was decades since that incident happened, I was off duty and shopping around in the city when there was this large crowd that had gathered I pushed my way through the crowd to see what had happened and when I finally got there I saw a woman crying holding a fading spirit, I tried to calm her down and asked what happened she told me her fiancée was attacked by some thug. I was outraged that someone would do something like that in broad daylight so using Seeker's abilities we tracked the thug down, he wasn't too far away as he was on foot and when I finally confronted him I was speechless…" she placed her hand to her forehead and rubbed it "It was the same person who over souled my sempai, I questioned him about that man which he didn't deny, he had no remorse what so ever. At that moment I just let my rage take over, I took out my gun and shot him dead in the head I didn't even notice the terrified look on his face as I looked on at his fading body I only had one thought at that time, it was of when I first met him. When I first him I shot him in the leg and my gun had 7 bullets left in it as I stood over him, my greatest regret was that I didn't unload the other 7 bullets into his skull." She stopped as she clenched her fist "That couple could've enjoyed their afterlives together if it weren't for me, my moment of mercy made someone else suffer. Keitaro, what would you have done?"

"I…" he was at a lost of words

"It's OK. I do know how you feel right now but I do things like this so that something like that will never happen again, I may have to pay for my sins in Hell but I don't care as long as people like that are never allowed to hurt innocent people again."

"…"

"I know it must be difficult for you to shoot or even hurt someone. You're a good person, I knew the instant I met you. But think of it this way, you'll be helping people."

"I don't know." He honestly replied

"That's fine." She stood up and placed a hand on his shoulder "I forgot to thank you, it was a very brave thing that you did, pushing me out of the way like that even though it was pointless and stupid but thank you anyway, I'm very happy to know that you'll put yourself in harm's way to save me." She smiled at him "Thank you, Kei." She hugged him lightly "I really don't want to loose a friend like you." She straighten herself and left leaving him alone to think over the day's events.

#-#-#

Later that afternoon Hinata Sou, Manger's room-

"Sigh." Keitaro lied on his futon staring at the ceiling, so many thing had happened in one day and he was confused, anxious, lost and so on he didn't know what to do he questioned himself wondering if he could do what Yuki did, he couldn't come up with an answer. He absent-mindly rubbed his wounded arm, for some reason the wound he received as a spirit appeared when his body rematerialised in the living world. He rolled over and stared at the gun on the table, the one Yuki gave him a while ago he walked over to it and picked it up. "Is this right?" he examined the gun it was heavy he noted and even though Yuki had told him about the gun's specifications he really had no clue. The only guns he had ever seen were in movies and TV. "Hmm." He was a bit frightened holding it he pulled out the magazine it was loaded and there were several boxes of spare bullets and empty magazines on the table. A while passed before he decided to put the gun away and hid the contents in his closet beneath the loose floor board he found by accident some time ago, it's the perfect place to hide it. Once done he laid back on the futon again and returned to staring at the ceiling "What am I to do?" he asked no one in particular.

("Am I disturbing you?") A familiar voice echoed in his head.

"Kensuke?" ("Is that you Kensuke?")

("Yes, it's me. I said I'd contact you, are you available right now?") He asked politely

("Yeah, what do you want?")

("Bring the Hina blade and meet me at the furthest waterfall in the forest behind Hinata Sou.")

("Why?")

("I'll tell you when you get here and don't forget the blade.")

"The Hina blade?" he remembered that it was in Motoko's room "I hope she'll forgive me for breaking into her room and taking her sword." He proceeded to her room checking to see if anyone was inside, which there obviously wasn't but he did anyway probably due to instincts of being beaten to death he went in, took the sword off the stand and quickly dashed out of the entire building. "Why did I run?" he suddenly stopped already at the outer edge of the forest "hmm?" he scratched his head "I wonder why he wants this sword?" Keitaro shrugged deciding not to dwindle on it and began marching through the forest.

Back at Hinata Sou-

"I'm back." Yuki called out shutting the door behind her.

"Welcome back, Yuki-san." Shinobu greeted her from the kitchen

"Where's Kei?" she asked.

"Sempai just left a minute ago, he seemed to be in a rush."

"Really? I needed to talk to him but I'll do it when he comes back, it isn't too urgent." She walked into the kitchen to see what the young chef was making "What's for dinner?"

"Well…"

Back at the forest behind Hinata Sou-

"Kensuke!" Keitaro shouted out as he trekked deeper into the forest

"Over here!" he heard him call out and followed the voice to a large clearing there he saw Kensuke sitting near the waterfall "Glad you can make it." He greeted him with a hand gesture.

"Yeah." he returned the greeting "What did you want to see me for?"

"About that." Kensuke pointed to the blade "Keitaro, how much do you know about your family legacy?"

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is did you know your family is a warrior family, samurai blood?"

"Err, kind of. Aunt-Haruka told me about but only a little." He scratched his head.

("She probably stopped telling you because you called her aunt.") Kensuke imagined Haruka swatting Keitaro with a paper fan, an amused smile appeared on his face "What else?" Keitaro shook his head "They didn't tell you much did they?"

"Huh?" Keitaro was confused.

"Alright, let me start by explaining a few things." He stood up and patted the dust off "I take it you know what SE is?" Keitaro nods "OK, do you know what it's called when you use SE to attack or defend etc?" There was silence "Take that as a no. You see, all living and dead things are composed of SE with proper control they can do this." He raised his hand and black fire started to burn in his hand "You can manipulate it into a tangible form, usually the dead have better control than the living because the body hinders the soul but there are exceptions. Some of the living train themselves body and soul rigorously and after much training they can use their SE however they want, but it all depends on the strength of the soul. When SE is used like this it is called a 'Skill'." He aimed his hand at a tree and ignited it on fire.

"I've seen Yuki-san do that but she used ice instead."

"We each have different skills, it all depends on the soul."

"What does this have to do with me?"

"Your SWP now, aren't you? You'll be facing powerful enemies and we don't want a repeat incident of this morning now, do we?"

"How did you know?" Keitaro was shocked to hear that.

"I was there, I saw everything even when you pushed inspector Kagura aside. Keitaro, you need to become strong if you want to protect the people you care about. You met common thugs this morning and you got lucky but trust me there are some unbelievable beings out there that you will have to contend with and they will show you no mercy."

"What do I do?"

"I can help you become strong, you've died once and such your soul has become stronger and as a Urashima you are a natural born fighter with amazing fighting prowess's."

"How do you now about my family?"

"It's because… erm, I can't tell you now but do you trust me?" Keitaro nods without hesitation "Thank you. For now I will unlock you dormant power, give me the blade." Keitaro did as was told "It's as I remember it." He unsheathed the blade "Keitaro, this will hurt." Before Keitaro could even reply the Hina blade was plunged into his chest.

"…Argh-ack…argh!" Keitaro dropped to his knees the blade glowed a dark aura soon the aura grew and consumed him "It burns!" he withered on the ground the blade still embedded in his chest.

"Don't fight it, let it take over." Kensuke watched as Keitaro continued to withered in pain, soon the blade began to sink deeper into his chest until it was completely absorbed into him, then the aura vanished and he laid on the ground lifeless. "How do you feel?" Kensuke reached out to him but was repealed by a pillar of bright fire "Perfect." From the pillar of fire emerged Keitaro

"What happened?" Keitaro looked at his hands the fire now subsided

"Your powers have been awakened, the Hina blade is a unique weapon which acts as a catalyst to bring out one's hidden power the blade was specifically atoned for Urashima use but it will take time before you can adapt to these new abilities. That is why I will teach you."

"You will?"

"Of course, I'm doing this out of respect for someone I once knew. Don't ask." He stopped Keitaro before he can fire off any questions

"I feel so…" Keitaro fell right onto his rear.

"Your body's just getting use to it the body takes longer to adapt to new changes. Oh, since the sword is now a part of you, you just need to think about it to bring it out." He sat down opposite him "Another thing, about that wound of yours, surly by now you realise injuries inflicted to you whilst as a spirit takes more time and energy to heal, I want you to remember that because it will be helpful." He applied some liquid to the wound

"It stings!" he winched.

"Stop complaining! For someone who just got stabbed in the chest this should be nothing! It'll do you good!" he applied dressing "That should do it."

"Thanks… Kensuke, can I ask you something?" Keitaro seemed unsure whether to ask or not but Malachite gave him the go ahead "You seem like such a nice person, why are you a criminal? I've seen the files on you and I've heard what people say about you. Even with all that I feel as though there's something else…"

"…" Malachite tipped his hat slightly so that the rim covered the top half of his face "It's unlike you to be so perceptive but yes, you are right there are other factors involved here but…"

"You can't tell me." Keitaro cut in. "Why?"

"Because I'm not too sure of everything myself and if I told you about what I do know it would push you over the edge." He gravely told him "But I will tell you this, do not believe everything you see because it is not what it always makes out to be, especially in the spirit world." He looked up to the darkening sky "It's getting dark we'll stop for the day, go home, rest and I'll contact you again." He got up and walked over to where he was before reached out behind the rock and pulled out a long pole like object wrapped in cloth "Give your friend this." He tossed it to Keitaro "It's a replacement sword fit for any samurai." He waved goodbye over his shoulder as he vanished in to the air.

"It really is getting dark I should be going." He stood up shakily but before he could completely fall down he used the new sword as support "That was close" he looked at the long journey ahead "One step at a time."

Back at Hinata Sou-

"Woof!" Seeker barked at the direction of the forest.

"I know." Yuki picked the dog up "That felt like Keitaro's SE but stronger. But that's can't be possible… can it?"

"Grrr."

"We'll see when he gets back."

End of chapter 9

AN: Sorry if it's a bit short and err… lacking in quality but I'm just getting back into it after a very long break. Truth be told it's getting hard to write this but it will not be abandoned, that's not me but updates will be slow maybe one every 5 weeks? I don't know. And I'm considering pushing up the rating of this it does seem a bit violent but what's a notch above this R or is it M now? I'll figure it out. On a final note I'm getting my results on 09/06/05 which is the coming week and I feel absolutely awful that I haven't been able to sleep properly, I don't know why I'm mentioning this but let's hope my worries are for nothing, so fingers crossed. Bye.