Disclaimer: I do not own Love Hina. Ken Akamatsu and Tokyo Pop do.

WARNING: Contains a since of brief nudity and some choice words. Reader discretion is advised.

MINDS WITHIN A MIND

Chapter 10- Awakening

"S….Sem…pai?" says Shinobu weakly.

-o-

Naru is starring completely dumbfounded at what she is seeing. She is looking right at Shinobu's heart monitor. Right now it is showing a strong heart beat and blood pressure. Normally this wouldn't bother her, but she is amazed at it because less than 15 seconds ago it was showing a total flat line.

She looks back at Shinobu's bed at the thing that caused her to be in this state of shock in the first place. There she sees Keitaro KISSING Shinobu square on the lips! Shinobu's heart and breathing had actually completely and totally stopped and they both thought they were witnessing Shinobu's last moments of life and so she began to get tears her eyes to start crying. So Keitaro, unable to stand the site, just went up and kissed her.

Normally Naru would have blasted Keitaro into orbit if he had tried this at any other time, but not expecting him to do that, it took her by total surprise. As she looks on watching the kiss she is shocked again to she Shinobu's right hand move a little and then she hears a slight coo from Shinobu; almost like a little baby coo.

She looks on through her teary eyes and thinks she sees the figure of a small infant hovering above them both. She rubs her eyes to get the wateriness out of them and looks again but only sees Keitaro continuing the kiss. Suddenly, "S…..Sem...pai?" says Shinobu weakly muffled by Keitaro's lips.

Keitaro backs off a little quickly not expecting Shinobu to talk. "Shinobu?" he asks with a bit of disbelief. He doesn't know for how long he had been kissing her. It was like he had no control over himself when he did. Shinobu's eyelids flutter for a second or two before she suddenly opens them wide with shock and looks right a Keitaro. "S...Sempai! Y….You….You kissed me!" she says also with disbelief but still a little weakly.

Keitaro just looks on in shook at seeing Shinobu wide awake right in front of him. "Oh Shinobu! I'm so glad to see you awake and alive!" he says happily as he gives Shinobu a big loving hug.

"OW!" yelps Shinobu as she grabs her stomach. Keitaro quickly let's go of her suddenly realizing her condition. "Oh! Uh….SORRY!" he shouts as he waves his arms like a humming bird. Naru gets her composure back and walks over to Keitaro and womps him on the top of his head with her fist. "Idiot! She's still recovering!" she shouts.

Shinobu begins to giggle a bit at the sight but then stops as her stomach begins to hurt again. After punishing Keitaro a bit more Naru comes over to Shinobu and gives her a gentle hug. "Oh Shinobu. I'm so glad to see that you're finally awake." she says.

Keitaro, holding his head in a bit of daze, speaks up. "I'm going to go get the doctor." he says as he closes the door behind him. "Ok." answers Naru. When the door shuts Naru turns back to Shinobu and begins to cry.

"I'm sorry Shinobu!" she says. "What are you sorry about Naru?" asks Shinobu. "I'm sorry for getting you into this mess! For getting you shot; for you being in a coma. And….and!"

"Naru please don't cry. You were trying to do something nice for me. And that's all that counts. Me getting shot WAS NOT your fault! So please stop crying. I hate seeing you like this. Because…sniff…you're going to make me cry." says Shinobu about to cry herself.

Naru looks up into Shinobu's tearing eyes and smiles. Naru lends over and gives Shinobu another gentle hug. "Thank you Shinobu. I needed that. I don't know what I'd do without you." says Naru still a little choked up.

"You would probably die in a kitchen explosion when trying to fix everyone else's dinner." says Shinobu jokingly. Both the girls have a nice laugh at Shinobu's joke just before Keitaro and the Doctor enter the room.

Keitaro enters first followed by a blonde haired doctor. "My God you were right! She is awake!" says the doctor amazed. "Well I'll be a monkey's uncle." he adds. "Shinobu. This is Dr. Haramara. He's one of the doctors that worked on you when you arrived in the ER." says Keitaro.

"Hello Dr. Haramara. I guess I have you to thank for saving my life." says Shinobu happily. "Well. I'm not he only one you should be giving thanks to. There were many other people that helped do that." he answers as he and Keitaro tilt the back of Shinobu's bed up to a 55 degree angle so she can sit up a bit.

"So how are you feeling Miss Meahara?" asks Dr. Haramara. "I'm feeling a bit sore in my stomach and back, but other wise I feel fine." answers Shinobu. "Well that's not surprising since that's where we had to cut you open to get to your internal injuries." says Dr. Haramara.

"CUT ME OPEN!" shouts Shinobu with surprise. She the lifts up her gown to look at the suitchers still in place on her stomach. "Oh great! I'm going to have one hideous scare now!" she complains with a bit of shock. Suddenly she realizes that she's not wearing any panties! "YYYEEAAAAAAA!" she shouts as she shoves her gown back down. But it's no use. Keitaro got an eye full of Shinobu and is now trying to cover up and heavily bleeding nose.

Naru sees this and runs right at him at a full charge. "PERVERT! She's only 16!" she shouts as she gives Keitaro and roundhouse left hook to the face sending him crashing into the wall on the other side of the room with a loud WAM!

"……ouch……" says Keitaro just before he peals off the wall. "I'm going to call her parents and the others to tell them that Shinobu has woken up. Doctor, I leave you in charge of keeping this perverted jackass in cheek." orders Naru as she leaves the room. "Y…Yes ma'am." answers Dr. Haramara still in shock after seeing such a display of power and seeing someone actually surviving such a massive blow.

Naru walks down the hallway a bit and reaches the pay phones on the wall. As she drops a few yen into the coin slot she remembers the last time she had to make a call from the hospital. But this time instead of bad news she has the best news anyone can hear. After calling Shinobu's parents she dials the number for Hinata Sou. As she does she wonders who will pick up.

(Meanwhile back at Hinata Sou)

Kitsune is sitting on the couch in the living room watching another one of her horse bets go down the drain and eating an instant noodle cup. "Damn! That's the third bet this week I've lost!" she says to herself as she slurps up some more noodles. "Yuck! I hate these things! And what's the use! It's just going to end up in the toilet in less than three hours!" she adds as she slams her cup on the coffee table in front of her. She remembers that she and everyone else has had to eat a lot of these for a while ever since Shinobu got shot.

She's been pissed off like this for a while now. She doesn't quite know what is causing it. It could be that it could have been her in the hospital if she hadn't had that hair appointment, or that the police still have no leads on the actual shooters, or it could be that all the stale noodles that she has been eating for awhile is driving her crazy, or it could be that she ran out of Sake this morning, or that it's her time of the month. Or it could be a combination of all of these things. What ever it is she has been mad as hell for a while.

She looks over into the dining room and sees Su on her eighth noodle cup and Motoko eating her usual warrior meal that she usually fixes herself. Suddenly the phone in the hallway rings. This only irritates Kitsune more. "Damnit Su! If that's your boyfriend Jimmy from America again, I swear I'm going to yank the phone line out of the wall!" she says madly.

"Oh come on Kitsune! He's only called 18 times today! That's down from his usual 30!" answers Su. "You are a princess stupid! You can afford to have your on private phone line installed into your room you know!" shouts Kitsune back. Su only laughs.

As the phone keeps ringing Kitsune stomps into the hallway and picks up the phone. "What!" she answers rudely. "Oh hi Naru!" she says instantly changing her tone of voice as she hears Naru's voice from the phone. She listens into the phone for a few seconds. Suddenly, "REALLY!" she shouts.

Motoko and Su both lean back in their chairs with chopsticks in their mouths curious at why Kitsune just yelled. "Ok we'll be there as soon as we can." says Kitsune. She hangs up the phone.

"YYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWW!" she shouts letting her full Osakian accent show through. (Southern bell accent if you prefer the dubbed) Motoko and Su come running into the hallway from the dinning room as Sara comes running down the stairs from upstairs. "What is it Kitsune?" asks Sara.

"Guys it's Shinobu! She's awake!" she shouts some more. Motoko gives a loving smile as Su starts running around. "Yeah! Shinomu's awake!" she shouts while Sara joins her in running around. "Come on you guys stop running around and get ready! Let's go!" orders Kitsune. Everyone goes back to their rooms to get ready and within five minutes they are all heading out the door and running down the steps.

When they reach the tea house Kitsune suddenly stops. "Hold up a sec guys. I'm going to go tell Haruka the good news!" says Kitsune as she turns to head to the tea house door. She runs up to the door and flings it open, smacking a drunkard square in the face knocking him out cold. "Haruka!" shouts Kitsune getting everyone's attention.

Haruka looks up from the cash register after just depositing the knocked out customer's money. "Kitsune. I really wish you wouldn't knock out my customers when ever you came in here. Whether it be with a sake bottle or with the door. Anyway what do you want?" asks Haruka. "She's awake!" says Kitsune happily.

Much to the surprise of everyone in the tea house and Kitsune, Haruka gives a very rare toothy grin (still with cigarette in mouth). "That's great! Just give me a minute to grab my bus pass and I'll join you all." answers Haruka. "OK!" answers Kitsune as she closes the door.

Haruka reaches under the counter and grabs her bus pass and then turns to the curtain that covers the door way to the kitchen. "Hey! Mutsumi!" calls out Haruka. After a moment Mutsumi pops her head out from behind the curtain. "Ara. Am I in trouble again Miss Urishima?" asks Mutsumi blankly. Haruka gets a bit irritated at Mutsumi for calling her Miss again.

"No dufus. Shinobu has just woken up and I'm going with the rest of the girls to the hospital to visit her. You stay here and run things while I'm gone ok?" orders Haruka. "Oh that's great news! Don't worry I'll be a good hostess." answers Mutsumi. As Haruka leaves to join the rest of the girls to head to the bus stop, the rest of the customers prepare to leave themselves. They all remember what happened the last time Mutsumi was left in charge of the tea house.

Within an hour the bus reaches the hospital. Everyone, including Haruka, runs into the hospital and runs all the way up to Shinobu's room. But just as they get to the door, everyone hesitates. "Well don't just stand there like a brick, Kitsune. Open the door!" orders Haruka. Kitsune nods and slowly opens the door.

When they finally enter the room they see Shinobu sitting up in bed watching T.V. and eating a Jell-O cup. She looks over to see them and quickly swallows the spoon full of Jell-O she had just put in her mouth. "Hi guys!" she says happily.

Everyone runs to her and they all give her a gentle group hug and a few of them begin to cry tears of happiness, including Shinobu. "Oh I'm so happy to see that you have finally woken up out of you're coma. It's been a while since we have seen those blue eyes of yours Shinobu." says Kitsune.

"'After all this time?' How long was I out for?" asks Shinobu. "You've been in a coma for the past month." answers Naru. "A WHOLE MONTH?" asks Shinobu with shock. "Yeah. In fact, school starts back up next week." adds Naru.

"Oh man!" complains Shinobu. "Well I guess I spent my summer doing it the way any other typical teenager would spend it." she adds. "How?" asks Su. "Sleeping if off." answers Shinobu. Everyone in the room laughs.

Kitsune, after having a good laugh, suddenly gets a serious look on her face. "You know Shinobu; for a while there we didn't know if you were going to make it or not." she says. "Really?" asks Shinobu.

"Yeah. Especially at first. No matter how hard we tried none of us, including your parents, could get any response out of you. That was until your parents told us that they saw you shed a tear after talking about how an old friend of yours that died. From that point on each of us would take turns spending a week or a few days with you and tell you stories that we remember about you. We were hoping that by helping you remember all the memories you had made with us, would help you stay with us." explains Kitsune.

"Really? You told stories about me?" asks Shinobu. "Yes. first was Haruka, then me, then Su came next, then Motoko, and then Naru; although she could only muster the courage to come here once before today; would take turns telling you stories." answers Kitsune again. "Oh you guys. That was so sweet of you." says Shinobu wiping a few tears from her eyes.

"Oh that reminds me Shinobu. When did you wake up?" asks Motoko. Shinobu suddenly gets a confused look on her face. "I…I don't know. I guess after Sempai kissed me, no one bothered to look at a clock." she answers.

Shinobu realizes what she just said and slaps her hands over her mouth. "KISSED YOU!" all the girls say in unison. They all turn and look right at Keitaro with angered stairs. Motoko pulls out her sword. "Urishima! I will slice off your manhood for violating Shinobu's innocence!" she shouts.

Kietaro by now is backing up slowly scared out of his mind. "That's right Keitaro…." says Naru from behind him. "YYYEEEAAA!" Keitaro yelps as he jumps three feet in the air out of surprise. "…Why did you kiss Shinobu for?" she says with an evil glare that would make any man shake in their boots.

Keitaro starts to sweet bullets as he lowers his head. "I…I did it as a farewell gift." he answers. All the girls come out of their mean looks, curious at what Keitaro will say next. "As you saw Naru, Shinobu's heart and breathing had stopped. We both thought we were seeing her die right in front of us. So the only thing I could think of to do was give her a kiss from the man she loved as a parting gift to her." answers Keitaro. "It was like I had no control over my body when I did. Like someone else was in control. I'm sorry if I made you all upset." he adds.

Naru and the rest give a smile of understanding. Naru walks up to him and places her hand on his shoulder. "It's ok Keitaro; I understand why you kissed her. I'm not upset at you anymore. You did if for her; not for yourself." says Naru lovingly. Then she gets a mean look on her face. "But I swear if you ever kiss her again, I'll be the one to take away your manhood! GOT IT!" she yells. Keitaro nods his head quickly with a frightened look.

Dr. Haramara, who has stayed silent up until now speaks up. "So are you saying that you woke up because Mr. Urishima here kissed you?" he asks Shinobu. "Yes." she answers. Dr. Haramara gives a little giggle. "People. What we have here is a very rare event we call the 'Sleeping Beauty' effect. In other words Sleeping Beauty here was woken up with a kiss from her Prince Charming." he explains. Shinobu blushes deeply at his comment.

"I thought something like that could ONLY happen in fairy tales." says Naru. "Well maybe I should explain. I'm sure you've all heard the phrase 'when he/she kissed me my heart skipped a beat.'" asks Dr. Haramara. "Who hasn't?" says Motoko. Everyone looks right at Motoko with surprise.

Motoko sees this and blushes a little. "WELL WHO HASN'T! EVEN US WARRIORS HAVE!" she yells in defense still blushing. A few people giggle at her blushing face.

"Anyway. 'Skipping a beat' can actually happen. In fact it's not all that uncommon. When someone gets surprised or gets extremely happy their heart can actually skip a beat. A first kiss can cause this. In this case when Mr. Urishima kissed Miss Meahara it must have caused her heart to self jump start itself back into beating. Instead of skipping a beat, it jump started it's self instead. So in a since, Mr. Urishima saved Miss Meahara's life." explains Dr. Haramara.

Everyone turns and looks at Keitaro who is scratching the back of his head and is giving an embarrassed laugh. "Thank you Sempai." says Shinobu sweetly with a smile. Keitaro looks up and blushes a bit. Suddenly there is a knock at the door. "Come in!" calls out Naru.

The door opens and in walk Shinobu's parents. "Sh..Shinobu?" her mother says with disbelief when she sees Shinobu awake. "Mom…..Dad…" says Shinobu with a quivering voice.

"Oh Shinobu! Thank God you're alright! Thank God you're alright!" shouts her mom as she comes over and gives Shinobu a big loving hug while crying tears of joy. "I thought you would never wake up ever again! When Dr. Haramara and your surgeon told us what they did to you in the ER and OR we thought you were never going to wake up again!" cries her mother some more.

"Oh mom!" says Shinobu also beginning to cry. "Thank God my little girl is alright." says Shinobu's dad sitting in a chair next to the bed with tears coming down his face also. In fact there isn't a dry eye in the room. Even Haruka is getting a bit emotional by letting a tear run down her face.

Dr. Haramara realizing he has his rounds to do, and knowing everyone wants to catch up, cheeks Shinobu's vitals one last time, writes then down in her clip board at the foot of her bed, and turns to walk out of the room.

"I'll leave you guys alone to catch up." says Dr. Haramara. As he opens the door Mr. Meahara speaks up. "Thank you for all that you have done doctor." says Mr. Meahara.

Dr. Haramara looks back at him and gives a "see ya" wave to acknowledge the comment as he walks out the door. As he closes the door behind him he gives a big grin knowing that he helped save another life and then starts to walk down the hall to visit his next patient.

The End.

To be concluded in Chapter 11: Epilogue

Author Note: I'm so sorry! Please forgive me for taking so long on Chapter 10. But end of semester exams, computer crashes and waiting for a new computer, and disk corruption set me back a few weeks. I thank all who have taken their time to read my story up to this point and I hope you all will read and enjoy the final chapter when I upload it.

Story Hint: I guess you've figured it all out by now. The reason why Shinobu was able to remember all of those memories was because her friends and parents and doctors told them to her while she was in a coma. Also the "Sleeping Beauty" effect (although not the actual medical term) is real! There have actually been a few, although rare, cases where a kiss has brought someone out of a coma.

Added Author Note: Yes I am back! My heavy class schedule has finally come to and end for the semester and am returning to my fanfics. Please look for the next chapter of "ELOPE A DOPE" to be in the next couple of weeks! And all you Negima readers out there, the next chapter of "Deadly Lessons will follow shortly afterward! See you soon!