Act 3: By Chance?

Keitaro winced as his swollen cheek throbbed angrily.

Naru hadn't held back this time, he couldn't even make out their house in the distance.

It's been a while since she gave me the full-Naru, he said, a pathetic attempt at a light-hearted laugh spluttering forth from his lips as his usually optimistic disposition tried to shrug the blow aside as it always had in the past.

However, this time something seemed to hold him back, the burst of reflexive merriment, the near instinctive dismissal of his already healing wounds as he contemplated what had set her off this time so that he could make a note to avoid it in the future, refused to come.

Instead he found himself playing back the argument that had caused her to launch him into the stratosphere.

Naru's temper could be likened to a Tsunami. Both were devastating and terrible in their beauty and both were heralded by warning signs that an observant man could use to save himself, while a fool would be wiped from the map.

I guess that makes me a fool then, he though, allowing his legs to carry him on autopilot as soon as he clambered free of his landing crater, dismissing the concerned crowd that had gathered without really paying attention to what they were saying and embarrassedly waving away the paramedics someone had called.

It was strange really, he mused as he tottered a zigzag path away from confused onlookers. He could track a dead civilisation across half a planet starting off with only a thousand yen and a vague idea, usually with Naru either tagging along or with Seta trying to kill them both with his driving before she or Haruka respectively could stop them…but he couldn't predict what would set off his volatile spouse.

Well, that was not entirely true. This time he was sure he an idea at least.

They had been arguing about his work with Seta for a long time now, Naru's noted insecurity pushing her to cling to him in any way possible to prevent him 'leaving' even for a short period.

Understanding this after having Kanako of all people explain it to him during her last visit, he'd tried to cater to it, reassuring her wherever possible, but it had never been enough, though he'd noticed a marked drop of in the number of times she'd hit him from that point on.

That had fallen even further during her pregnancy, right through until their daughter, Kanna, had been born…then everything had gone to hell in a hand basket.

Naru's fears had come back with a vengence and it had seemed like she was trying to make up for lost time. His latest dig had just been the final straw.

Distraught and scared that Keitaro was leaving because he was finished with her now, she had engaged him in an all out screaming match that ended with the return of the Naru-super-punch.

Dimly he was aware of the first patters of rain striking his head as he traipsed lifelessly on.

Why were things like this? Hadn't he and Naru been through enough to be granted the fairytale ending? A love that spanned over a decade before it was fully realised.

…Perhaps he had chosen wrong.

Keitaro slapped himself hard, shaking his head vigorously. He couldn't start thinking like that. He'd spent a long time chasing Naru, or rather, the girl he had made his promise to all those years ago, and they'd somehow been reunited without either of them fully remembering the other, that was not the kind of luck you threw away in a moment of doubt…was it?

What would it have been like if he'd ended up married to Motoko for example?

Koichi would have killed me, he thought, smiling as he thought about the last male to join their crazy little group before he had returned to his family grounds with Motoko and his Sister Kyoko, Shinobu joining them when time between her studies allowed it.

Kitsune?, Keitaro experienced a vague sense of dread emanating from the direction of his wallet at the same time his liver chose to remind him what living with the Hinata Sou's fox entailed.

He sent Kentaro a silent prayer and shuffled on.

Su?, he had almost ended up married to her once as well, though at her own insistence, not his.

I probably would have been dead before a year passed, he thought if Su's behaviour that day had been any indicator.

But there are worse ways to go, strange how that voice sounded like Haitani's.

Kanako?, Keitaro could already feel himself breaking into a cold sweat just thinking about it. Never mind all the legal ramifications, he just didn't know how he would handle someone as…interesting, as his adopted younger sister.

So who did that leave?

A faint sniffling drew him out of his self-pity, his rain slicked hair surprising him as it clung to his face, obscuring his vision as he tried to find the source of the tiny, sorrowful sound.

"Why?", he heard a familiar voice whisper as if unaware he was there, "She was supposed to understand…".

Brushing aside wet bangs and muttering to himself that he needed a trim, Keitaro looked up at something he hadn't seen in what seemed a small eternity.

The Hinata Sou sat proud and unyielding atop the stairway before him, indifferent to his unintentional return.

A strange wash of nostalgia filled him as he gazed upon it and if he closed his eyes behind raindrop obscured glasses, he believed he could almost return to the days before he had left.

"S-senpai?"

"Huh?", his flashbacks were startlingly real, he was sure that Shinobu was really sitting there on the steps, a questioning look on her face as she wiped away a light covering of rain from her face, rubbing at puffy red eyes while waiting for his response.

Wait… that couldn't be a memory, Shinobu's lavish blue hair had not been that long last time he had seen her. It had only reached her mid back, now, dry; it would probably swing down by her posterior like Naru's did.

He starred at he for a moment, startled by the changes in her and how different she appeared to the shy but kind young girl he always remembered when he thought of her.

"Shinobu-ch…", no, that didn't seem quite appropriate anymore somehow, even in his dazed state he realised that, "Shinobu…".

Neither said anything to the other for a moment, and if not for the continuous drone of the rain as it pelted their exposed skin, he would have wondered if time had stopped for a moment.

Her reddened eyes caught his attention and the moment fled along with the strange feeling brewing in the back of his mind.

"Are you ok?", he asked, pointing to her eyes when she didn't react straight away.

"What? Oh, this? I-it's nothing s-senpai, I just", whatever else she might have said was cut short by a rather quiet, but violent sneeze.

"You're soaked", he said, realising how dumb that must have sounded, they both were.

"Come on, I still have a key for the Hinata Sou somewhere", he said patting his drenched lab coat to locate the item, "How about we get dry and you can tell me what's wrong".

It was surprising how quickly he had slipped back into the selfless roll when a confronted with a friend in need.

So why didn't it make him feel any better, and why did he feel that strange churning again when the smaller blue haired girl smiled at him in that wonderfully pure way and nodded, walking along silently at his side as he led the way.

As he slipped the key into the lock he realised something.

There had still been one person left on his list…


---Authors Notes---

That should cover a few more things. This story will be continued in Black and Blue: Lovers in Turmoil, but from Shinobu's PoV.

I have been swamped by work etc lately, and by desire to write has been largely extinguished as of late. This was an attempt to get back into the swing of things before I start What Dreams May Come and Ryoko's Ladder

Till next time, Betweenheavenandhell