Chapter 3: Close Encounter ShinxKei version

Finally, here's the ShinobuxKeitaro version of the story. This is yet another test chapter. Please note that I still haven't decided on which version I'll continue, so please help me decide by telling me your opinion.

For this chapter, I decided to alter the story a bit. Cut back to that part in chapter 2 when Takato reaches the inn and encounters the little girl in violet.

By the way, I finally decided, I guess I'm going to need proof-readers. If anyone's interested, please tell. I'm offering positions for two proof-readers. Preferably, proof-readers who are willing to proof-read Soul Requiem, Love Hina Alternative, and New Mobile Suit: Project Gundam Hina Eternity (if you don't want to do all three, just one or two, no problem, just apply). Please tell me if you're interested, as well as the stories you're interested in proof-reading. Also, as an added offer, anyone who agrees to proof-read will get the chance to guest-star in Omakes, 'Behind the scene' episodes, intermissions, and perhaps even in the stories themselves from time to time.

Thank you.

Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina or anything else here that might belong to someone else.


"I've been waiting for you…" The girl said, standing up.

"Who…are you?" Takato asked, venturing forwards. The little girl was still dressed in her violet dress. It was certainly not suited for the weather.

"You…don't remember…do you? But promises never die…you finally came." The little girl turned around and looked up at the pile of debris behind her.

"I…don't know why I came…can…you please…explain?" Takato ventured, sensing that this girl would probably leave out any other details, such as her identity. "And you might want to wear my jacket…it's rather cold."

"The dead don't feel cold…" The girl smiled. "All will be made clear…in time. You shall discover everything for yourself." The girl ran away into the gathering mist.

"H…hey!" Takato shouted after her as he started running after her. The chilly winds suddenly whipped around him as he trudged through the snow in the direction the girl had disappeared. "Come back!"

He trudged through more ruins, stumbling and tripping over random debris. "Hello! Little girl! We've got to get out of here before the storm sets in!"

He suddenly slipped on a rock and fell down onto a pile of debris which suddenly gave away under his weight. "EEEEYAAAAAGHHH!" He shouted as the sky spun beyond the rising smoke of dust and plaster before him…before something covered the sky and plunged everything into darkness.

"Ok...stuck down some hole…below the ruins of some God-forsaken inn…in the middle of a snowstorm…" He flipped out his handphone, "with no signal either…oh well, at least the light's bright." He said optimistically as he lifted his handphone to light up the surrounding darkness. The pale greenish blue glow lit up a few walls and a rough wooden floor. It was dark and musty down there. The exit seemed to have been sealed off by the cave in when he fell in.

"Well, I guess the only way now is forwards." He said to himself as he picked himself up and started to cautiously traverse the thick darkness. As he progressed, the more he thought…labyrinth. He came across many doors, junctions, intersections, and even a few stairs leading downwards into eventhicker darkness…there was an eerie sound blowing through the corridors. He tried to dismiss is as the sound of the storm, but it freaked him out all the same. He was taking every opportunity to move upwards, though such opportunities were rare. There were far more staircases downwards than upwards. He tried to move as straight as possible, avoiding the doors and junctions whenever he can. He had enough experience with horror movies to know that opening random doors in places like these just wasn't wise…or at least…within the bounds of horror imperative.

As he walked, he heard a rush of air behind him. The hair on his back stood up as he slowly turned back…and saw nothing but darkness, slowly creeping in the wake of the handphone's glow. He shook himself mentally and tried to move forwards. As he walked, he suddenly felt another rush of air accompanied by a sudden crescendo in the eerie moan-like sound, this time to his right, from an adjoining corridor. He looked around and continued walking, though at a faster pace.

He made his way down the corridor until he reached a junction. He looked down the adjoining corridor and lifted his handphone to shed more light into the gloaming darkness…

And to his sheer shock and fright something flashed across another corridor joined to the corridor he was looking down.

He looked about, quickly chose the route that would take him farthest away from there, and ran. He was gasping for breath, not because of exhaustion, but mostly because of the shock he just experienced. The eerie sound grew distant behind him as he shot down yet another corridor and descended a number of random staircases…until he was in a corridor deeper down.

"Gasp…gasp…hah…great…now I'm even deeper down…." He supported himself on his knees and looked down at the dust laden floor. "Perhaps…perhaps that was just my imagination…"

"…Keitaro…" a whisper barely above a breath swept through the corridors.


In an alternate dimension…

The author, Beyond the Bounds, leaps in his seat and upturns his keyboard as the clock downstairs strikes 12.00…midnight. He feels a tingle run down his spine as the hairs on the back of his head stand up. He looks down and finds his pencil had moved by 2 cm…THE HORROR! He looks around and stairs into a pale white face…AAAAAAAAGGGHHHH…

"Bro…it's 12.00…get to sleep will you?" His little sister says, before climbing into the futon cabinet. "And stop reading horror stories, you know how creaky that chair is when you shudder."

Beyond the Bounds decides perhaps this scene is far too horror-oriented and decides to apologize to the readers, as he did categorize this as an action/adventure romance. He knows the MotxKei version was a lot more light hearted compared to this, and he would like to sincerely apologize. Sorry.


"Then again…" Takato looked up, looked around, and started running down yet another random corridor as the eerie moan-like sound crept closer.

"…Keitaro…" The whisper swept through the darkness yet again. "…Keitaro…I've been waiting…Keitaro…" the whispers echoed around, bouncing back and forth, combining into a sigh of whispers.

Shadows crept all around him. Flashes of white dart across every single corridor he passes now. The whispers were growing intense. "…Keitaro…Keitaro…you promised…Keitaro…"

"…Keitaro…you don't hate me…do you…?" Takato stopped at an intersection as he tried to decide which way to run. He looked around, trying to judge which way the whispers were coming from. A flash of white swept by the corridor in front of him, making him dash down a side corridor out of pure instinct. "…Keitaro…Keitaro…giggle…remember your promise? You'll come back to me…right? To…Shinobu-chan…"

He ran to the end of a corridor...there was no other way out. There was only one door, at the very end of the corridor. He looked behind him. The whispers, giggles, and eerie moans were drawing closer. He looked before him. The door was a strong wooden door with a single handle. As reluctant as he was to open doors in such a place, he was even more reluctant to come face to face with whatever it was that was after him. He took a deep breath and grasped the handle. He forced it down as it creaked painfully under his push. The door opened slowly with an ominous creak as he forced it open. He slipped inside and slammed the door back shut. Thankfully, there was a large bolt on the other side. He slid it home and slumped against the door.

"Phew…now where am I?" He looked about and raised his handphone. It was… a room…of all things. There was a bed on one side. A small desk and book case stood on another side, right beside the bed. Dolls lined every available surface, the top of the book case, the table, and especially the bed. "Wh…who would have a room down here? Any ways out?" He got up and raised the handphone further up. "There's…a window?" He asked, incredulously. There was only darkness beyond the windows, but there were windows nonetheless…why windows down here? The idea itself perplexed Takato beyond anything. There didn't seem to be any other openings down there.

He walked over to the desk and looked around. He decided he would just have to wait until the snowstorm was over. He'd be able to get a signal then, or at least, he thought so. He found a few odds and ends on the desk. From the looks of it, it was definitely a girl's room. There was diary on one side of the desk. A few drawings littered the table. He tried to get a closer look…and recoiled as soon as the drawings became clear. He then noticed something wrong with all the dolls…they were…slightly deformed…

He came up close to dolls…

…before recoiling with shock at the mutilation each doll has suffered. Some had been ripped to shreds, some had had been slashed into pieces. Pieces of cotton stuffing were strewn around all over the place.

"What…the…?"

He slowly reached out for the diary and cautiously opened it, wary for any other surprises….it was a large, heavy diary, with many inserted pages. There were entries all the way from 1995 to 2013. He flipped through the diary and found the entries were normal enough.

November 1997- "dear diary, today was sunny…"

January 2000 – "Dear diary, Today we went to a local temple where Motoko-sempai was…"

September 2003 – "Dear Diary, today me and Keitaro-kun made a promise…"

March 2006 – "Dear Diary…today…is the happiest day of my life…I'm getting married…"

May 2007 – "Dear Diary…today's yet another happiest day of my life…She's the most beautiful little angel…me and Kei-kun…"

December 2012 – "Dear Diary, Kei-kun returned for Christmas. Hinata-chan's really glad to see him again…"

February 2013 – "…everything's dark…so dark…"

He immediately shut the diary after this last entry as more…drawings…assaulted his eyes. The handphone suddenly beeped, telling him the batteries were already running low…now of all times. "Oh darn…not yet…" Takato moaned.

"It isn't nice to look at other people's stuff…Keitaro…" Takato whirled around as he heard the voice from behind him, dropping the diary onto the dust laden desk, raising a large cloud of dust. He slowly turned before coming face to face with…it…

'It' was a young girl in white…probably 13 or 14 years of age, with short dark hair.. She was sitting on the bed, looking down at the ground, the top of her head towards Takato. Takato could already guess what was coming next, but it was too late to turn back.

"…Keitaro…I've been waiting…" the figure giggled, echoing, before slowly raising her head up. Takato's heart leapt into his throat as he saw the girl's eyes…they were dark…empty…a window into an eternal abyss that was threatening to suck him in. The handphone's glow dimmed.

"Kei…ta…ro…" The girl moaned, as she stood up and took a step towards Takato. "…you…promised…we'll…play…" She whispered maliciously, as she took another step. "You…promised…me…" she giggled again. The giggles drove rods of ice through Takato's spine as he tried to back away…and due to certain horror imperatives, he found himself frozen to the ground in pure fright.

"Keitaro…" She whispered playfully. "Come play with Shinobu-chan…" she giggled again as she took another slow step forwards. Takato fell onto his backside as he tried to move his entire body away without the consensus of his legs. He tried to push away backwards but almost his entire body was paralyzed by the cold dark stare. "…Keitaro…" the girl laughed happily, her laughter echoing eerily around the darkness, as she reached out for Takato. "…Shinobu-chan's been waiting…" The handphone's glow diminished completely, leaving Takato in the dark.

Takato managed to bring up a trembling hand to shield his face as the little girl reached out for him, groping for him. As her pale dead-looking fingers crept closer he closed his eyes. The touch was cold…colder than the frozen earth outside…colder than death itself. It plunged Takato into a sea of frozen darkness. The giggles followed him down as he sank deeper into the thick velvety darkness.

Until he finally saw something…something far down…deep inside the oblivion he was delving into. It was a small circle of light, besieged from all sides by darkness. He tried to move towards it, semi-consciously attracted to the dim radiance, the only thing that broke the gloom of the oblivion. As he got closer, he finally made out what it was…

It was a girl…the same young girl, in fact, that had haunted him in the corridors…she was also looking down, sitting, hugging her knees, dressed in the exact same white dress as her spectre counter-part. "Keitaro…" she whispered, before noticing Takato's presence. She looked up…but this time Takato didn't see darkness…he saw a deep sorrow, anguish, and pain in her eyes.

"…Keitaro…?" She asked, reaching out a hand. "…L…LEAVE! Don't come here! Leave now!" She shouted, as she tried to stand up. The darkness bound her and started to envelope her in whisps of pure obscurity.

"…h….huh?" Takato watched as the darkness started to consume the girl.

Tears started to run down her cheeks as she again shouted, "Go! Go now!"

Takato gritted his teeth and started to again move towards the girl, reaching out a hand, as the darkness almost completely consumed the girl. He knew he had to save her, he knew he had to. Somehow, it was the only sensible coherent thing going through his mind. He stretched out his hand as far as it would go…before the darkness suddenly bound around him as well from behind. He looked back, "Gah…let go!" He shouted, as he reached out his hand for her. "Take…my…hand!" He shouted. He stretched his hand as far as it would go…towards her outstretched hand…that was now almost completely enveloped in darkness.

"…please…" The girl whispered, as the darkness came up to her face.

"EEEEEEYAAAAAAAGHH!" Takato cried out as he made one final lunge forwards and reached out for her hand…

…he grasped it…

Something flashed in his mind…

"…Kei-kun…" a sweet voice called out to him as everything flashed bright.

FLASH…

The walls of the room shone bright as something within Takato flashed a radiant white. The young girl recoiled as she tried to shield her eyes from the blinding glare. The darkness suddenly dissolved around him. Flakes of snow came down. The rough wooden floorboards dissolved, leaving behind a white frozen earth. A soft breeze blew around them, carrying sakura petals into a slow, circular dance around them. The darkness above opened up to reveal the pale grey skies, dotted with flakes of swirling snow.

The bright flash of light subsided. A few sakura petals swirled around Takato as he opened his eyes. A card was spinning before him, shining bright. Beyond the blinding glare, in the middle of the swirling sakura petals, stood a girl, her back towards him, looking straight up, both arms extended sideways, as if taking in a deep, refreshing breath. Her hair shone in the pale light, flying with the gentle yet sharp gust of wind. The other spectre girl was standing opposite this new apparition, watching it with eyes of pure hatred.

Her white junior high sailor uniform flashed bright under the blinding light. Her dark blue skirt flowed with swirling breeze, in a slow dance together with the sakura petals. Her dark sapphire hair rippled and shone under the bright glow. The card before Takato slowed down into a sedate spin, revealing the light green words on the dark green back, which said, "Magister Carta Magi Ultima" The card then slowly rotated to reveal the front. There was a picture of a lone girl in a sailor school uniform, holding both arms together in a prayer, with her eyes closed.

The girl stood still under the spiraling sakura petals, head upwards, hands spread outwards. Takato shielded his eyes as another flash consumed her. Something started materializing from the top downwards. It was a brilliant, flowing light blue Japanese Goddess' robe that slowly materialized over the uniform. The sleeves extended until they completely hung over her arms while the robe itself extended down to her skirt where the front stopped extending while the back continued to extend until it reached ankle length. A large ribbon looped around her waist and tied into a knot behind her as two separate pieces of cloth extended down the two sides of her skirt, forming a three part long skirt. Symbols burned in the air around her hands, forming the tip of a staff. The symbols extended downwards, forming the rest of the staff as it traveled farther downwards. As the transfiguration was completed, an explosion of light engulfed the girl once again.

The flash subsided as the sakura petals blew away with a sudden gust of wind that picked up her long flowing Japanese goddess' robe and long skirt. The card flashed and shook as a similar transfiguration took place across the card form down upwards, extending in a blinding flash across the surface of the card. It slowly rotated as it transfigured, revealing a change occurring across the back as well. The dark green back was turning silver, with the lighter silver words "Magister Carta Magi Takato Hayamura" slowly replacing the old light green words.

The card dropped into Takato's hands as the girl lowered her arms and face. "I have returned…" She sighed "…it has been a long time…Kei-kun…". She looked up at the other girl standing before her.

"You…" The spectre girl in white said.

"Yes…me…" The new apparition said.

"Shinobu Maehara…or should I say…the fake one…" The spectre smirked. "I am the real Shinobu Maehara…the one and only…the real soul, trapped under the layers of lies and denials you've slowly cocooned yourself with…Shinobu Maehara…" The girl in white said, raising an arm.

"I am who I am…" The other girl said, raising her staff. "I am Shinobu Maehara…please stand back, Kei-kun…"

"You've never been honest to yourself, Shinobu-chan…" The spectre Shinobu laughed a chilly laugh as she started to pace around the other Shinobu. "Even when you loved that boy, Keitaro…if I never stepped in…you'd never have gotten him all for yourself…"

"No…" Light Shinobu, as Takato decided to label her, said. "It was thanks to me and Kei-kun's hardwork together…and everyone else's support. You had no part in it…all you did was seethe in the dark…"

"Deny it all you want, girl, that's what you've always done, isn't it? Deny everything around you, deny your very soul…sugar-coat yourself in lies and deception…that's what you've always been doing…but now…" Spectre Shinobu laughed. "The circle is complete….I have returned, and I shall save us both…"

"I've never lied to myself, nor to anyone else…" Light Shinobu said, following Spectre Shinobu's movements with her eyes. "And I shall defeat you, no matter what the cost…"

"Well, here we are, two sisters, the sister of light, and the sister of dark…" Spectre Shinobu said. "I've defeated you many times before…now I shall defeat you once again…" Darkness shrouded her hands.

"Mea Virga lucis… Spheras Magius, aerista Luciae, wesma an miyas questis, foros series lucis rubiconeia..." Light Shinobu whispered under her breath as the light on the tip of her staff grew brighter. A circle of light flashed on the ground around her as she raised her staff.

"Aerista Obscurii, wesma an miyas questis, tempestus pandemas obscurii!" Spectre Shinobu shouted, raising her hand.


To be continued…

So, what do you think? I still don't know which version I'll be continuing, so you readers can help me make up my mind. Please review and tell me which version you prefer. Arrigato! By the way, don't forget to tell me if you're interested in proof-reading!