Love Hina belongs to Ken Akumatsu. This Fic belongs to me

He knew this was going to happen, because it's the first thing he considered when he went through with making his plan. Keitaro could keep Naru out of the dorm, but when it came to his life at Tokyo U, there was little he could do about when and where they interacted. So he gets to campus as early as he can, if only to delay the inevitable (and pick up the forms he needs at the administration office), and when it came time for the class he and Naru shared, quickly seats himself as far away from his usual spot as possible. A few of the other early birds give him odd looks about it, but so far no one complained.

Naru, to his surprise, doesn't go after him, though he can tell by the nasty looks she throws his way when she thinks he can't notice that she really wants to. It probably helps that Mutsumi seems to have made the choice of barricading herself between them, plopping herself down right next to Naru wherever she sat or pulling her along to certain areas when they had the misfortune of making eye contact.

But so far, despite all odds, the Hinata-bound lovers had yet to have their destined confrontation. They avoided being near each other during classes, and the halls they frequented in between. During lunch, he goes off campus while she heads for the nearby cafe, and when it comes time to head home, he leaves as soon as he's able, barely even waiting for the bell – then rinse and repeat the next day. It becomes campus gossip in an instant, because how strange is it to see Keitaro Urashima, Mutsumi Otohimi, and Naru Narusegawa not only at odds, but actively avoiding each other despite being so obviously tight-knit since they first entered the school, but no one actually manages to even make an attempt to pry anything out of him. Even Shirai and Hanitani didn't try and bust his chops over it, and this sort of situation was ripe with opportunities for the two to rib their friend over "being put in the dog house".

But so far, nothing had happened, and the calm managed to outlast the storm.

(at least, for a while)

It's three days into the second week when their "arrangement" stops working.

He's not sure who's fault it was – his for letting his guard down, hers for going on the attack the moment he did, or Mutsumi for forgetting her self-given job of Naru-wraggler, in that brief moment of panic when they all crossed paths.

All that can be certain is what occurred when the three friends, who once bound each other to the childish oath under the roof of a magical inn, crossed paths in the hall leading to the cafeteria...

It was another cold but sunny day for the TokyoU populace as they wandered through the western side of campus. Those who weren't currently in a rush to get to their noon classes where making their way to the nearby canteen to buy themselves a quick meal before either heading home or meeting up with friends for a quick cram session for their next upcoming lecture.

Sadly, that would never be, as the sounds of shouting and insults would lure them away from their destination like a beguiling siren call, dashing away thoughts of food and replacing them with wonder over what the arguing was about.

Now make no mistake, public disputes were not unheard of in the usually bustling campus (especially between couples, like what seemed to be happening), but the contents of this one just couldn't help but raise a few eyebrows, especially when they slowly recognized the actors on stage – Naru Narusegawa, one of the top ranking students in the education department, Keitaro Urashima, Noriyasu Seta's protege (Though that didn't seem to be case anymore if word going around was correct) in the archaeology department, and Mutsumi Otohime, the eccentric genius from Osaka.

"Just where the hell do you get off acting like this?!" the redhead screamed, drawing the attention of wandering students as they abandon their lunch plans to observe the unfolding drama "I don't know where the hell you picked up this fucking attitude from, but you need to send it back right where you got it!"

"I don't have to do anything." Urashima said, arms crossed and eyes narrowed "Especially for you. Now if you excuse me..."

He turns to head for the cafeteria, only for the redhead to block his path.

"Don't. You. Dare!" Narusegawa growled, taking a step forward with each emphasis "We aren't done talking yet."

"There's nothing to talk about." He says, already trying to move past, "I already made myself clear – either sign the new lease, or find a new place to live. It's that simple."

"You damn well know it isn't!" she countered, seeming conscious of the forming crowd's whispers but being too draw into her ire to really care about it at the moment.

He doesn't answer her, face and stare blank as it was cold, and Naru anger seems to just increase in temperature at the sight of it.

Spectators lean towards each other and exchanged hushed whispers – what's this about a lease? And Narusegawa being kicked out over it? Was that what the fight was about? But what exactly did Urashima have to do with all that? And that didn't explain Otohime's presence...

Speaking of, it was then that Otohime decides maybe it was time to play interference, quickly getting in between them when the distance got a little too narrow. "N-now lets all stay calm here." the brunette woman mumbled, rubbing her wrist hesitantly as she faces him "Kei-kun, I get that you feel...upset, about a lot of things, and while I don't quite understand all of it, I know even you can see this isn't right. If you just talk to us-"

Urashima's upper lip curled up in irritation "I have talked." he counters, shifting his narrowing gaze towards the endowed brunette woman "You're both just choosing not to listen. This has nothing to do with you anyways, so stay out of it!"

Otohime flinched at the harsh words (and a few flinched sympathetically with her), prompting Narusegawa to pull her back

"Don't talk to her like that!" She shouts, a thick vein throbbing over her forehead "If you think you're getting away with any of this then-!"

There's enough retreading of old ground in the next few minutes for those watching to take a breather and sort out their information with each other. All that could be concluded was that Urashima, who was apparently in change of wherever it was Narusegawa stayed off-campus, had kicked her out about a week ago for some reason that related to a new lease, and now things were coming to a head. With that sort of situation, anger was the expected response.

But that didn't really explain the level of hostility being presented. Some in the crowd had experienced (personally or otherwise) discord between couples, and what was happening now seemed to go beyond that. Was this a simple lover's spat, or was something more going on beneath the surface?

"So what, that's it then?" Narusegawa yells, bringing the crowd's attention back to the row "Either we do what you want or you make us go and freeze out in the streets?!"

Urashima shrugged "Only if that's your choice in the end."

"Kei-kun," Otohime pleaded, thick browns drawn downward "Please. The girls are all suffering, you can't just do this to them!"

The redhead nodded in an agreeable fervor "That's right – The Hinata's our only option! Just what the hell do you expect us to do!?"

He stares at them blankly, barely missing a beat "Don't care. It's not my problem anymore."

The seer boldness of the statement makes the crowd ripple with intrigue, as Narusegawa herself rippled with them in rage. Each student watching leaned towards their fellows, curious as to what her next move was to be.

"B-but, but…you can't do this to me!" she cried, face turning red from yelling "I'm you goddamn girlfriend! You have no right to–"

"I have every right, and being your boyfriend has no influence on that."

There was a long, dragging pause after

"Oh yeah, by the way – I want to break up."

Narusegawa's boiling blood seemed to suddenly turn icy cold as her face went pale "W-what?"

(The gathering crowd whispers grew louder, and she could practically feel the second-hand pity rattling through her eardrums)

Otohime grabbed her hand quickly, form quaking "K-keitaro! You don't mean that!"

"Yes I do," he answered back almost deafeningly, forcing her to step back "This has-no, this needs to end – because it's been almost 2 damn years since I confessed my feeling for you and you said you loved me back, yet here we are with you still acting like it's the same year I first came to the Hinata!"

"The hell do you mean?!" Narusegawa yelled, other hand clenched while the one in Otohime's grasp trembled

"I mean, why is it that any, any time I try to kiss you, or hug you, or even compliment you, or try and do any sort of thing a boyfriend should, you act like it's a crime against humanity!" he yelled, pushing back hair that had gotten into his face from all the shouting "You say you're my girlfriend but you only seem willing to acknowledge it when it's convenient for you personally, and usually in name only! I don't really know why you even said yes to going out with me if you're going to act like I'm just this random stranger who tries to go up and kiss you, especially every time I so much as dare even look at you or in another person's general direction! It's obvious you don't like me, or at least you don't like being touched by me–"

Naru stiffened in an instant "Of course I don't like it! Who would like being forced upon?! If I let you get away with whatever the hell you wanted, god knows what you'd do!"

The bespectacled boy paused, then took another breath again, pinching the bridge of his nose "I'd like to respond that all those attempts of trying to 'force myself' on you were actually me trying to hold your hand if you remember, except you'd move or I'd slip and we'd fall on each other and then you'd punch me even though it was clearly an accident-"

"Why wouldn't I?" Narusegawa cried as she cut him off, jabbing an accusatory finger his way "It's the only way to keep you in line! And don't even give me that "accident" nonsense – How many times have you grabbed my boob 'accidentally'? How many times did you 'unintentionally' end up in my futon, groping me in my sleep? How many times have you 'tripped' and pants me, or upskirted me?! How often did I catch you peeking into my room or going through my panty drawer like a goddamn creep, or leering at me, or one of the others! Are you saying those were all 'accidents'?! Don't make me laugh!"

Urashima's shoulders shake "See, that right there!" he cries, jabbing back "It always comes back to you convincing yourself I'm some sex-pest plotting his next attack – the amount of times you've accused me of trying to force myself on Mutsumi or one of the girls when I'm just talking to them, or helping them, or just even existing in the same space they are is just astronomical!"

He then takes a step forward, hands clenched "And even after being proven wrong, you never apologized for it, or blame me for the fact you jumped to conclusion! It's always somehow my fault you decided to slug me thinking I was throwing myself into your lap when all I did was trip on the goddamn table leg or making 'lewd' eyes at someone when I'm cleaning my glasses! With you, it's always punch first and never ask!"

Naru's glare turned murderous at that "Well ex-cuse me if I'm a bit skeptical that someone can have that many 'accidents' that involve stuffing his face in someone's boobs! There's only so many times someone can buy the "I tripped" story before they realize they're being peddled complete bull! Maybe come up with better excuses some time and I might start believing them!"

The sound of gritting teeth was nauseatingly loud "Do you even hear yourself? If that's honestly how you see it, then I can't understand what in the world would make you keep dating me, or want to in the first place?!" Keitaro yelled, his own glare back equally lethal "Seriously, how the hell do you think things kinds of things about your partner and somehow not think there's an issue here?!"

"Well you obviously had me fooled pretty good then!" She hissed, nails digging into Mutsumi's palm and causing the other to wince "Pretending to be all klutzy and stupid, making me think you were just some dumb weakling when this was how you really were! If you think I'm gonna feel sorry for defending myself, then you've got another thing coming! Don't act like you're the victim here!"

Keitaro looks to say something, only for Naru to cut him off "But I guess I should expect that much from someone who would lie about being a Tokyo U student to a girl he just met – and right after flunking out for the second time!"

At that, like a puppet with his strings, Keitaro stilled, eyes obscured by the sheen of his glasses as the students around his stirred in a riotous fervor. It wasn't a secret to the rest of the student body that the archaeology student was...well, very clumsy. More than once he's tripped on air and ended up plowing into a fellow student, and during said more than once, both may or may not have ended up in a...comprising position – though he usual apologized right after, and aside from the embarrassment on both party's parts, no harm was brought. While they didn't know him well, they'd seen him around enough to know when things like that occurred, it usual was accidentally.

Or at least, so had been thought until now. For it to happen that frequently, even off campus, was more than a little sketchy on a few's parts, especially for those who have definitely had those sort of 'accidents' before in the past with men in their lives. If what Naru was saying was true, then…

On the other side of the aisle, however, people were finding the reveal of Naru's apparent paranoia and hair-trigger violence all sorts of riveting that the implications with Keitaro. Naru Narusegawa was never one to really approach others, preferring the company of her textbooks and (well, now former) boyfriend. Once or twice, the odd rumor flew about, but ultimately they really didn't pay them or her any mind. All in all, none present honestly hadn't gotten a chance to know her all that well, so they really had no idea of what to make of her outside of that image of the hardworking, studious bookworm she presented herself as.

Apparently what it was that made Naru Narusegawa was an overtly angry woman who was seemingly prone to assault her boyfriend on the daily for the slightest provocation. Whether or not Urashima's claims were truth or exaggeration, the fact that Naru was making no effort to dismiss them (and even appeared proud of such accomplishments) left a bitter taste and an even bitterer impression.

But what had shocked them the most was the fact that Urashima had lied about being a student here before applying. Though true such a thing wasn't unheard of, those who did it were both a minority and not regarded all that highly by both accepted students and ronins (For every college mixer one goes to, theres a 1/5th chance someone will bring a friend who will claim to be a fellow student, and then get flustered when you question them on it). For Keitaro Urashima of all people, a person Professor Seta – odd a duck he was, had personally vouched for when making his assistant to be engage in something so scummy seemed like an outright lie.

(Was anything here being spoken even truth?)

Otohime looked between the two, seeming stuck between continuing keeping Narusegawa steady or going to comfort the unsteady looking Urashima, frowning worriedly at both. Fence-sitting obviously wasn't an optimal position, but she seemed to be unable to bring herself to switch sides either it looked like

Narusegawa meanwhile, smirks proudly to herself, basking in his supposed stunned silence

(Because she reminded that wimp exactly who he's dealing with, showed him that she knows exactly what kind of guy he was! She wasn't some weak little girl he could push around like it was nothing, and he had no place pretending he had any high ground to act uppity on!)

Believing victory was at hand, she opens her mouth and readies to deal the finishing blow –

Urashima takes a deep breath

"You know what? You're right." he says abruptly, shocking her and the crowd silent for a bit as he adjusts his glasses "I say you treated me like crap, but the truth is most of it happened like that because I let you. I never explained myself, or if I did, it was half-assed because I thought it didn't matter, because somehow, no matter what happened, you still 'liked' me afterwards somehow.

The crowds gasps, as the tables seem to turn in an instant. The flustered redhead blinks and tries to regain her lost momentum, but Urashima bulldozes right through "Not matter how many times I fell on Mutsumi, or made Shinobu cry, or got tackled by Su and Sarah, or Mitsune would lie about me trying to make her strip for rent, or how often Motoko called me an "unforgivable pervert', somehow, you'd still forgive me in the end, still 'liked' me after all that, and I thought that was enough. I was cowardly, stupid, and wanted all of you to like me that badly, so much that I was willing to let you do everything short of cutting my guts out, because I told myself that as long as I had that, so long as you never stopped 'liking' me, then everything else was all okay."

(So long as they had that promise to each other, that they knew who they were to each other, it didn't matter how much he hurt – nothing else had mattered...at least until now)

The he stares at her, and the shine of his glasses falls away to reveal tired dark eyes "I can say whatever I want about how you acted, but honestly, I was no better – hell, I'm still no better than you."

Naru's expression faltered, clearly not expecting these words or his concession to her accusation. She looks ready to do...something, but it's clear she's being held back by her conflicting emotions

"But that doesn't change facts." he finished, suddenly looking worn and exhausted "From where I'm standing, this isn't working out and nothing either of us is doing is making things better. Maybe if we just–" he paused "Actually, you know what? It doesn't matter – it's not working. I don't know what you want this relationship, and you clearly don't know either. Maybe when you find out what it is, you can be happy wherever you end up, but until then, I'm done trying to find out."

Naru just stands there silently, teeth grinding and eyes misting over as her earlier boiling wrath has simmered down to heated seething. No one can really tell what she's thinking about at the moment. Meanwhile, Mutsumi tries to give her hand a squeeze of comfort that went unfelt

Urashima seems to be finished and decides to take that chance trying to leave again, except Narusegawa grabs him by the arm before he can even do so.

"Let go of me."

"No." Narusegawa says, voice an awful mix of enraged and pleading "W-we're not-I-you-you…."

Urashima glared, and his own turned icy "I said let go of me, Naru."

After that, no one can really say what happened next, all too caught up in the chaos that followed. Even with the arrival of teachers and campus security, order could not be restored to the hallway. The way what happens next is something still up for debate by many...

"I think I was close enough to see what went down? Urashima shoved her-"

"-Tried to pull away, and Narusegawa was, like, beyond PO-ed. Otohime tried to stop him, and then-"

"-She was trying to get Narusegawa-san to let go, and she yelled at her to back off before she started crying and-

"-fainted dead away! Someone went to go help but-"

"-Narusegawa just hit him, no warning or nuthin'! and then-"

"-Otohime got in the way and-"

"-Pow! Out of nowhere, Urashima slapped her! It was crazy! I don't ever remember-"

"-Cause I got shoved to the back of the crowd, and everyone was shouting-"

"-then next thing I knew, some of the professors start showing up and-"

"-I think someone called the cops, because I deft heard sirens-"

"-I heard someone say Seta-Sensei's name and-"

"-Last I saw they were trying to pull her off him-"

"-She only backed away when Professor Mori started yelling-"

"-and there looked like there was a lot of blood! It was uber scary!-"

"-I'm honestly super glad the teachers showed when they did-"

"-Cause I though someone was really gonna die! I'm sure-"

"-I'm never eating on campus again after that." The brown haired woman huffed, closing her locker shut before readjusting her bag "I mean, really, I just wanted some curry – not...whatever the hell that was! Goddamn lost my appetite right after."

"Sounds like a very shitty Thursday." Her redhaired friend said, shutting his own as he winces in sympathy.

"Oh, it was." she replies, rubbing her temple "Like, it was bad Daiji – like the stuff I see from my relatives during holidays times ten. I honestly almost thought I somehow stepped into one of Temari's trashy late night dramas!"

He snorts loudly at that, barely suppressing his laughter "Don't let her hear you say that, or we'll never hear the end of it."

She rolls her eyes, hiking up her bag as he laughs even louder "I'm not joking though. I've never Narusegawa act like that before, it was…really scary. I've heard some classmates talking about dropping the course because they don't want to be around after she comes back from suspension, even though the term's ending soon."

Daiji's laughter stops immediately, and gives the brunette a worried look when her expression darkens

"What about that Urashima guy?"

His friend's expression flickered with something, then shrugged "Didn't stop to see – staying home to heal up from what I heard. Some of the professors say they want to talk to him about Narusegawa's accusations and stuff."

Daiji nods sternly as they turned the corner "My condolences, I guess. Never really met the two, so I can't say much, but it sounds like a crap situation all around."

"Yeah..." she says with a sigh "I just hope-"

"-It won't happen again."

Tama gave a pleading whine, and Keitaro just carefully pats his shell with his bandaged hand.

[1 day and 1 week remaining until the end of Term at Tokyo U]

Hey, finally posted the breakup scene like I promised! Just to let you guys know, this all happens some time before Chapter 3 so as not to confuse people on the timeline and whatnot. The deadline stuffs just a reminder of how much time the girls still have left

I ultimately decided to make the fight and subsequent break up an outsider perspective because frankly, it would be too easy to make scene biased by going with Naru or Keitaro's POVs (Though I did give snippets of their thoughts a bit near the end). I wanted to give that same awkward and confusing feel you get when your friend comes over and tells you about seeing a couple having a spat by frozens aisle when they went grocery shopping the other day. I have no plans of clearing up what exactly happened after Keitaro told Naru to let go of him because I decided on leaving it up to interpretation, and will only state that things ended with Naru getting suspended and Keitaro having to stay home for a bit after.

This was a hard scene to write, because as stated, I wanted to be neutral-ish, but it was hard to do with Naru because like, yeah, it would just be too easy to just blame all the issues on her and call it a day. In the end, even with all the accidental pervert moments and comedy slapstick, there's a very clear element of distrust in their relationship considering Naru's more willing to believe Keitaro would force himself on someone than him just tripping, especially after they start dating. And on Keitaro's end (and this is said understanding how victim-blamey it sounds), he never really...addressed that mistrust. It was always "Welp, my fault for being clumsy" or just apologizing for the fact that Naru and co jumped to conclusions, nothing about the fact his girlfriend sees him as a true crime case waiting to happen - because as said, Naru "liked" him, so everything was fine as it. In the end, even with rom-com granted suspension of disbelief, I have a hard time seeing a relationship like that being healthy, let alone lasting long (but again, Manga).

(And oh it's Daiji, and we finally meet Shizuka! I just put them in the end because I wanted to show them again)

Thanks for reading, see you next time!