It's Not EnoughR
Niklas "Hawk" Jonsson

Summary: In Volume 9 of the manga, Motoko looses the battle against her sister and decides to live as an ordinary woman, only to have the denizens of Hinata Sou belittle her efforts without knowing that she overhears them. Motoko runs away and Keitaro goes after her. After Keitaro finally stumbles across Motoko wet and miserable in the streets, he takes her home and treats her to hot chocolate in his room. During the events that follows, she breaks down and Keitaro has to attach a multitude of clothespins to his head in order to prevent himself from getting too intimate with Motoko. In this fic, he never gets his hand on those damnable pins and things deviates from the manga from that point onwards...

Disclaimer: Love Hina, Hinata Sou and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were. The story is mine though, all mine.

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)
I can be found on ICQ as 21771860 or through e-mail as , more stories are available at my nifty lil' site at or by clicking on my handle up above.

"speech"
emphasis/shouts/Kindred Domination/post-hypnotic triggers
/thoughts/
/telepathy/
translation
soundeffect/radio/telephone conversation/TV

Previously, on 'It's Not Enough'

"And if you two loose, you'll of course have to marry Motoko." Mutsumi added, calmly sipping from her tea.

"WHAT?!" Sarah screamed.

"WHAT?!" Su yelled.

"W-W-WH-WHAT?!" Shinobu hollered.

"WHAT? How did you know that?!" Keitaro shouted.

"Tama-chan told me." Mutsumi unconcernedly revealed, absently patting the turtle perching on her left shoulder.

"So you two are eloping?" Sarah asked.

"It's not like that..." Keitaro protested, rubbing his temple again. This was turning out to be one miserable day for the live-in manager of the Hinata Sou.

Roll credits

Chapter Seven:

"Ahh!" Keitaro yelped, as he dropped his bokken, lost his balance and fell to the ground.

"Urashima-sama!" Motoko cried out, dropping her own bokken and staggering forward, dropping to her knees and frantically grasping his hand, examining the wrist that she had struck. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." she chanted, peering and suffusing his hand with her own reserves of Ki.

It was a sensation he had gotten used to recently, probably more so then what was good for him in the long run. It was soothing, warm and whenever she did it, they were joined in some way that he found himself at a loss to describe.

The best he could manage, was that it felt like floating in an ocean of Motoko. He could feel her, he could smell her, he could hear her thoughts and he experienced her emotions as his own. For those few moments, he felt as if all was right with the world, as if he'd reached a perfect state and wished that it would never end.

Motoko had mentioned something about it being a secret Shinmei Ryu healing technique, only used by the Aoyama family. When he asked about it, he had found out that it was also one that Motoko hadn't completely mastered and was forbidden from using. In fact, she wasn't even allowed to train in its use, without supervision from someone in her family that had already mastered it.

Ever since he had started his training, she had begun to use it on him, hoping to accelerate the rate at which his leg was healing. It was also used to promote the rapid healing of the injuries that he received during their training sessions.

He was beginning to gain a faint understanding of just why this technique might have become forbidden. It was addictive as hell!

"I'm okay, Motoko." Keitaro informed her. "It just surprised me, I lost focus and tripped, that's all." he explained.

"I'm sorry, Urashima-sama." she said, tears in her eyes.

"Keitaro, Motoko. Keitaro." he insisted.

"I'm sorry, Ur... Keitaro." she apologised again and he sighed. What he wouldn't give to be able to go back to the days when she would smack him around much worse then this, and never even consider offering up an apology for it.

"It's okay, Motoko. In fact, it's great. How am I ever supposed to learn, if you won't fight seriously?" he inquired and slowly got back onto his feet, with her aid. He was getting better and better at managing without the crutches, but some things were still hard as hell, especially as tired as he felt at this very moment. While the healing took the edge off it for a while, they had been training for several hours straight now and he was nearing his limit.

In fact, he had probably crossed his limit quite some time ago, which might explain the mistake he had made and his exaggerated reaction to being smacked on the hand for the opening his mistake had caused. Motoko had held back, so the blow was nowhere near as bad as it could have been, but she had still reacted as if he'd just received a lethal injury.

"I... I don't know if I can do this, Keitaro." Motoko confessed, slumping forward and her gaze falling upon the ground in front of her knees.

"I have full confidence in you, Motoko." Keitaro lied. "With you by my side, there's no way we can loose to your sister." he added.

"There's no need to lie, Keitaro-dono. I'm a wreck." Motoko gently chided him, the closest she had come to disagreeing with him for several days. He also noted with displeasure that the '-dono' suffix had made a return, which it often did whenever these days. Ah well, at least she hadn't regressed back to 'Urashima-sama'. "We don't stand a chance." she concluded.

"If you keep thinking like that, we most likely will." Keitaro agreed after a few moments. He hesitated for a while, wanting to put one of his arms across her shoulders and pull her in close, hoping to offer some measure of comfort. But he thought better of it. It would probably just bring confusion, rather then any measure of comfort.

In the end, he settled for putting one hand on one of her shoulders.

"You are the strongest person I've ever met, Motoko. If you put your mind to it, there's nothing you can't do." Keitaro insisted, turning her to face him. "We still have one more day to practise. It's not over yet, so don't behave as if we've already lost."

"We can't..." she begun, then sighed and offered up a faint fake smile, the best she could do at the moment. "I'll try."

"That's all I'm asking." he replied, knowing that it was a much tougher task then he made it sound as. For someone as broken as Motoko was at the moment, it was a miracle that she didn't spend her days curled up in a foetal position.

"I'm sorry, for dragging you into all this, Keitaro-dono." Motoko said. "If it wasn't for me lying to my sister... You wouldn't have to marry me."

/Try harder.../ Keitaro mentally sighed. Hadn't she just promised him that she would try, then in the next moment all but admitted that she didn't believe that they would win.

"I did my fair share of lying too." Keitaro stated, then offered up a weak grin. "Besides... Being married to you wouldn't... Be all that... Bad." he said. "In fact, I think... I wouldn't look at that as any sort of loss. I would be honoured to have you as my wife."

Motoko mumbled something in response to that, but Keitaro couldn't quite make it out. He thought he'd heard something about 'dishonour', but not the context in which it had been uttered.


"Good morning, brother-in-law." Tsuruko greeted Keitaro, who managed to restrain his response to a slight flinch. The woman was impossible, no matter what time he retreated to the bath, Tsuruko managed to join him. Last night, he'd slept for a few hours, then taken his bath at half past two in the morning, only for Tsuruko to join him no more then five minutes into his bath. So, she either had to take a lot of baths over the course of a day or she stalked him in order to take hers at the same time he did.

"Morning, Aoyama-san." Keitaro replied, made sure his towel was firmly wrapped around his waist and stood up, moving over to the overturned bucket where Tsuruko had seated herself. Not only did she join him in the baths, but she also insisted on washing his back and having hers washed in return. He had managed to do his own already, but figured that he might as well get up to wash hers, as she would no doubt ask for his assistance in a matter of minutes anyway.

"Today is the day, huh?" Tsuruko inquired happily, as Keitaro started washing her back.

"Yes." Keitaro responded tiredly, not at all looking forward to the impeding confrontation. Motoko was still a wreck, both during practise and otherwise. He had faint hopes that her anger at her sister might allow her to fight better against her, but he couldn't be entirely sure of that. Whenever Motoko was confronted with Tsuruko ever since they arrived in Kyoto, she didn't act all that much less despondently then she did around him. It wasn't looking good, at all.

"Will you honour the agreement, brother-in-law?" Tsuruko suddenly inquired. "Should the two of you loose, will you marry my sister?"

"I gave my word, did I not?" Keitaro responded, suppressing a faint hint of anger. Was she doubting him? Did she think that he was some sort of honourless cur who gave and broke promises without a second thought?

"Yes, I guess you did, at that." Tsuruko agreed and sighed. "I am... Sorry about all this, manager-san. I had not expected my sister to take this quite as hard as she did, I thought it would merely spur her into greater enthusiasm. Fan the recently merely smouldering flames of her passion back to their former glory. But instead, she..." Tsuruko began, then trailed off and sighed again. "I am sorry." she finished.

"Can't you do something about it?!" Keitaro asked, a little bit more forcefully then he had originally intended. "Have a heart! Can't you see that this is killing her?"

"Of course I can see that!" Tsuruko snapped, shrugging away from him, hunching forward and clenching her fists. "It was bad enough when I came to Hinata Sou, so I thought... I... I thought wrong. I'm sorry for snapping at you, you're not the one who did anything wrong." she said, causing Keitaro to flinch.

He had most certainly done something wrong. He had taken advantage of Motoko when she was down and low, bringing her even lower once she realised what he had done to her. Hell, she even tried to claim responsibility for what had happened herself. Yet he knew, that if he'd only been a little stronger, a little more firm, she would still be a virgin.

"I thought that I could make her stronger, more like her former self." Tsuruko pondered out loud. "Make her stand up for herself, instead of just run away from her issues. Instead... Instead, I broke her." she lamented, slowly wrapping a towel around her torso before standing up. "Thank you, brother-in-law." she absently said to him, before strolling into the warm waters of the outdoors bath, where Keitaro joined her after a bit of hesitation.

He usually tried to get away, though it didn't do him any good, as Tsuruko had managed to persuade him to stay every single time so far. But now, the discussion revolved around a topic near and dear to his heart, so he didn't try to get away, for fear of missing out on an opportunity.

"So why keep on pressuring her? Why not just drop it, let her back into the school?" Keitaro inquired.

"You take offence when I ask if you are going to keep your word, then expect me to go back on mine?" Tsuruko gently berated him. "No, I'm afraid that I cannot. You two will beat me, or you will be wed."

"We can try, but... Surely you must realise that Motoko isn't in a fit state for a fight right now? Can't you give us more time, at least? More time for her to regain her confidence?" Keitaro requested.

"I truly am sorry, brother-in-law." Tsuruko apologised. "This is not how I envisioned that this would work out at all, but my hands are tied now." she explained and chuckled darkly, wiping a few stray tears away from the corners of her eyes. "I can't even throw the fight. Motoko-han would never accept that."

Keitaro pondered that statement for a while, before deciding that perhaps Tsuruko was right about that. The old Motoko would never accept something like that. He wasn't all that sure about the new Motoko, however. But even if the new Motoko would accept winning a thrown fight, that was hardly the way to go about getting the old Motoko back, as that went against what the old Motoko believed in.

"I guess not." Keitaro sighed, despondently lowering himself into the soothing waters.

"How is your leg? It appears to have improved much, since I saw you back at the Hinata Sou." Tsuruko commented, before smiling. "Motoko-han wouldn't be using any forbidden techniques on you, now would she?" she asked, winking at Keitaro.

"O-of course not, Aoyama-san!" Keitaro hastily exclaimed, chuckling nervously and scratching the back of his head.

"No, of course not." Tsuruko agreed, then winked again. "If she was, hypothetically speaking of course, I would have to admonish her severely for such a thing. The technique is deceptively dangerous."

"Dangerous, how? Hypothetically speaking, of course." Keitaro countered.

"The technique I'm thinking about, has addictive qualities. Not only that, but it also gradually establishes a sort of symbiotic relationship between the practitioner and the targeted individual. Nothing inappropriate for a married couple, but should the two of you actually win, it could lead to some problems down the line. If the two of you were actually making use out of it, of course." Tsuruko explained.

"Problems?" Keitaro asked with a faint nervous giggle.

"A mutual physical and mental dependency can form between practitioner and receiver. Sleeping without the other within reach can be troubling or even impossible, depending on the severity of the symbiotic relationship. The two parties will find themselves reluctant to make decisions without first consulting the other, somewhat of a bother to someone wanting to take, oh, say the Todai exam, for instance. A reluctance to feed without the other nearby. Impotence or infertility, without the other around. And that is just when the technique is performed correctly, the bond can be even deeper if it's not." Tsuruko explained. "Like I said, nothing major to a married couple, but should the two of you win, it could become most troublesome. So, it's a good thing that Motoko-han hasn't been doing anything of the sort."

"Yes. Very. Good." Keitaro managed to get out. /Impotence?! Infertility?!/ he mentally exclaimed. While he certainly hadn't planned on getting children anytime soon, being robbed of that opportunity irked him somewhat. And while his chances of getting laid anytime soon seemed abysmal at best, to not be able to perform should the opportunity arise... That scared him shitless!


".... aaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAA..."

"Hm, that girlish squeal sounds sort of familiar." Naru mused out loud, lowering her camera in order to listen to the odd sound from up above.

"...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH-GCK-OUMPHF!"

THUD

"Oh, hello, Keitaro." Naru said absently, turning away from him for a moment, before her eyes opened wide and she swung her head back towards him. "Keitaro! What are you doing here?!" she demanded to know.

"Mot-mo-m...." he grunted.

"Motoko-chan? Yikes, what did you do?!" Naru exclaimed, wondering just how perverted he had to have behaved if Motoko had managed to launch him all the way from Hinata to Kyoto.

"... aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA..."

At the second squeal, this slightly less girlish then the first, Naru directed her attention upwards, wondering if Keitaro had teamed up with his two moronic friends and done something spectacularly perverted.

"... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Which was why she became so surprised when she noticed that the second rapidly descending human to fall from the skies was Motoko herself! Keitaro managed to stagger to his feet and positioned himself, allowing Motoko to thud straight into him, knocking them both groaning to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow." Keitaro chanted, before weakly raising his head. "Motoko? You okay?" he asked.

"It-te-te-te-te!" she responded, before slowly raising herself into a semi-upright position, pulling him up onto his feet. "I have not received any permanent injuries." she declared after a few moments. "Are you unharmed, Keitaro-dono?" she asked, worriedly looking Keitaro up and down.

"Keitaro-dono?" Naru muttered under her breath, her eyelids twitching as she observed the two of them leaning on each other for support.

"More or less." Keitaro grunted out in response. "Nothing broken that already wasn't."

"Keitaro? Motoko? What is going on?" Naru inquired, as the two quite obviously hadn't really noticed her yet. Both of them spun around on the spot, their eyes widening as they saw her.

"N-n-n-n-na-n-n-Narusegawa!" Keitaro exclaimed, taking a few steps back.

"Naru-sempai!" Motoko exclaimed and emulated Keitaro's back-pedalling, only slightly less visibly shocked then Keitaro was. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I... What are you two doing here?!" Naru countered. "What happened? You fell from the sky. Both of you!" That Keitaro had wasn't at all surprising, but she had certainly not expected Motoko to join him in a treck across the skyline. Was she working on some new technique or something?

"Giving up so soon, you two?" Tsuruko interjected, standing on top of the wall around the Aoyama estates, her bared sword resting lightly on her right shoulder. "With those kind of skills, you'll never beat me."

"Never!" Keitaro exclaimed, shaking a fist at the older woman. "We'll beat you yet, just you wait!"

"All right, you two. Just WHAT is going on here?!" Naru demanded. "Why are you fighting Tsuruko-san?" she added, her eyes narrowing as she glared at Keitaro. "It's not because of something perverted, is it?" she asked suspiciously.

"N-n-n-n-no, Narusegawa!" Keitaro stuttered. "If we win, Motoko can become a warrior again." he hastily added, as he saw that Naru was about to pop a gasket.

Or two.

Or three, possibly more.

"Oh. That's good, I guess." she responded, glancing over at Tsuruko. "Can you?" she asked, somewhat intimidated by the older woman.

"We're trying." Keitaro replied evasively.

"Ah, Narusegawa-san." Tsuruko asked, jumping down off the wall, landing gracefully next to Naru. "Have you come to assist these two in their attempts to defeat me? You are most welcome, if that is the case."

"Ah, no. I'm on a trip with my discussion group." Naru responded, gesturing at a group of shocked students a ways off, who weren't quite so used to see people dropping from the skies or jumping off walls as she was.

"Well, you would be welcome to join them none the less. Currently, they aren't giving me much of a challenge." Tsuruko assured Naru, then smiled somewhat evilly. "As long as you're willing to accept the same penalties, of course." she added with a toothy grin.

"Uh, penalties?" Naru responded nervously, taking a few steps back. "No, no thanks. What penalties?"

"If Motoko-han and manager-san doesn't manage to defeat me by nightfall, they will be wed to each other." Tsuruko responded serenely, the evil smile having vanished without a trace.

"Oh, is that it! I thought it would be something more li..." Naru said, trailing off with a stunned expression. "They will be... What?" she asked, glaring over at the shivering Keitaro and clearly nervous Motoko, who both avoided her scathing glare.

"Wed!" Tsuruko exclaimed. "Isn't it wonderful? My Motoko-han is getting married!" Tsuruko gushed, stars in her eyes.

"Yeah, wonderful..." Naru agreed, putting her fingers in her mouth and mock-gagging as Tsuruko turned away for a split second. She plastered a fake smile on her face, turning towards her two friends. "Well, I hope the two of you will be very happy together."

"N-Narusegawa... This isn't..." Keitaro started.

"What it looks like?" Naru retorted. "So, you aren't going to marry Motoko after you've been soundly defeated by Tsuruko-san?"

"Well... I guess... If we do loose... Then... Then, I'll marry Motoko." Keitaro responded after a moment of hesitation. "But we're not going to loose! We'll win!" he enthused, though Naru noticed that Motoko didn't look at all confident of that. In fact, she seemed as miserable as if she had already lost. Naru didn't recognise her friend at all, Motoko seemed absolutely crushed.

As well she should be, if she had a marriage with Keitaro hanging over her head like some sort of Damocles Sword!

Naru would also be upset, if that were the case!

Well, perhaps not all that upset, if she were to be truly honest with herself. But she would be somewhat ticked, that was for sure! While she could admit to herself, at least on occasion, that Keitaro wasn't all that bad, sometimes even downright adorable, she wouldn't want to be forced into a marriage with him! Even if it would probably be rather nice...

/No! Bad thoughts, bad thoughts!/ Naru mentally berated herself. /He's a perverted Ronin. He isn't cute. I don't find his kind mannerisms at all attractive!/ she told herself, though her mental persuasion didn't manage to properly convince herself of that.

"Would you like to stay and observe the proceedings, Narusegawa-san?" Tsuruko inquired. "Even if you do not wish to take part in the fight, mayhap you would like to observe the fight and see the two of them get married later?"

"We haven't lost yet!" Keitaro blustered.

"Nor have you two come close to even landing a single hit." Tsuruko argued. "Unless that changes, the two of you will be married before the end of the day."

"Haiyaaaaaa!" Keitaro cried out and threw himself at Tsuruko, while Motoko made a flanking manoeuvre. However, Tsuruko merely flippantly swished her sword in a wide half-circle with a negligent gesture, summoning a gale-force wind that threw the two of them off their feet, while Naru's hair wasn't even ruffled, though she was standing only an arm-length away from them.

"Tsk. Sloppy." Tsuruko gently berated them. "Coming, Narusegawa-san? I have some truly excellent tea just waiting to be brewed. We can trade embarrassing stories about Motoko-han and you can tell me all about future brother-in-law, over a nice cup of tea!"

"Motoko?" Keitaro mumbled, staring up at the sky after Narusegawa had been pulled away by an insistent Tsuruko.

"Yes, Keitaro-dono?" Motoko answered, lying next to him, unwilling to move just yet.

"Have your sister ever lost a fight?" he asked.

"Not since she turned nine and defeated the previous Grandmaster of the Shinmei Ryu." Motoko replied.

"Oh. Great." Keitaro grunted, closing his eyes. Then he remembered something from his childhood, remembered training with Haruka and Hina. A straight out assault was obviously not going to work, but there were other ways to go about defeating Tsuruko...

The End! ( For now... )