Love Hina
A Different Path Taken
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Chapter Two
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"One man with courage makes a majority" Andrew Jackson
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Keitaro awoke in an unfamiliar room with a pounding headache and a naked blond woman lying next to him on the futon. One he didn't mind, the other, not so much.
"Where the fuck am I?" he muttered, squinting as he tried to bring the world into focus without his glasses.
Reflexively, he patted the floor on the right side of the futon where he normally put his glasses and his fingers felt the cool plastic of his glasses frames under his fingers. Unfolding them, he put them on and the world came back into focus. Vision corrected, he saw that he was in a room with bare pine ceilings, rice paper screens, and tatami mats covering the floor. His confusion remained until he saw his kit bag lying in the corner and his USP lying on the floor next to the futon, and that's when he remembered where he was and who was lying in bed next to him.
He was in his room at the Hinata Inn, and the woman next to him was Kitsune.
"Heh." Keitaro said, a smile coming to his face as he remembered what he and Kitsune had been doing the night before. "That was fun..."
Then he scowled and looked around the room again.
"Okay, just where the fuck are my cigarettes?"
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"Kitsune?"
Naru frowned as she gently knocked on the door to her friend's room.
"Kitsune, are you in there?" she asked again.
Frowning, she slid the door open and walked into her friend's room. The front part of her room was empty, Kitsune's collection of empty bottles and kegs gleamed in the morning light. There were no empty bottles or glasses on the coffee table, which told Naru that her friend hadn't been in the room since the previous morning.
"Just where the hell did she go?" asked Naru under her breath.
Sliding the screen in the back of the room open, she saw that the futon was folded up along with the bedding, confirming that Kitsune hadn't came home the previous evening.
"Dammit, Kitsune, just where the hell did you go?" Naru asked her absent friend.
Closing the doors behind her, Naru paused for a second to wonder where her friend had gotten to herself to, then decided that she was just going to wait until Kitsune showed back up and then give her the usual lecture. In the meantime, Naru decided that she was going to go and have a dip in the hot springs.
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Keitaro found his cigarettes after a thankfully short search, and lit one up after extracting himself from the futon. Deciding to let Kitsune sleep for the time being, he fell back into old habits and decided to check his weapons.
"What're you doing?"
Keitaro flicked his ash into an ashtray and looked over at the futon, where Kitsune was propped up on one elbow looking at him blearily.
"Just checking my gear, old habit of mine." he explained. "Did I wake you?"
Kitsune shook her head, winced, and looked around the futon. "Where are my cigarettes?" she asked.
Keitaro put down his rifle's upper (1) and tossed her his cigarettes along with his lighter. "Here. Use mine." he said. "They're full flavor."
"Thanks." Kitsune said.
Shaking one out, she lit it and then wrapped the covers around herself before getting up and walking over to the table where Keitaro was working.
"What ya doing?" she asked as she sat down.
"Checking my gear, like I said." Keitaro answered her.
Kitsune arched an eyebrow at him as she took a drag on her cigarette. "Expecting to get shot at here in Tokyo?" she asked jokingly, exhaling a blue cloud of smoke.
Keitaro shrugged slightly and held the upper up to the light. "Not doing it will get you killed, so better safe than sorry." he said as he looked down the barrel.
Kitsune nodded and picked one of the components to Keitaro's rifle that was lying on the table in front of her.
"That's the charging handle." Keitaro told her. "It goes into the bolt here-" he picked up a rectangular piece that had a spring wrapped rod sticking out of it and pointed to a small hole in the side. "-and it's what let's me chamber a round or clear the weapon."
"Oh." Kitsune said and put the charging handle back down on the table. "What is it?" she asked.
"Huh?" Keitaro asked, not understanding what she was getting at.
"Your gun." Kitsune clarified. "What type of gun is it?"
"Ohhhh..." Keitaro said, understanding what Kitsune was getting at. "This is a SCAR-L standard assault rifle, made by FN HErstal in Belgium. It's a gas operated assault rifle, chambered in 5.56 NATO with a 368mm barrel and a overall length of 900mm."
Flipping the upper over he pointed to a blocky piece of plastic clamped onto a segmented rail that ran along the top of the upper. "It come with flip up sights and M1913 sped rails for mounting accessories- in my case those are an Aimpoint Pro with magnifier, vertical fore grip, and a multi spectrum laser." he explained, pointing to piece of equipment in turn.
"So, what does all of that do, exactly?" Kitsune asked.
Keitaro smiled and picked up the bolt. "It helps me shoot and see what the hell I'm shooting at." he said, giving her the short version.
"Oh." Kitsune said. "That sounds like a lot of stuff to keep track of."
"It is." Keitaro responded as he slid the bolt into the upper and put the charging handle in. "But it's all there to give me an edge over the bad guy, so he's the one doing the dying."
Kitsune frowned slightly as he picked up the lower receiver and joined it to the upper. "That's a very... Darwinist philosophy." she pointed out.
Keitaro shrugged as he finished reassembling the rifle. "It's combat, not a garden party." he stated. "And that's the way it's always been."
"Brutal."
Keitaro stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray. "You get that way after you kick around Africa and it's bush wars for a while." he said. "Anyways, you hungry?"
Kitsune nodded.
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"So. What are we to do about that... male?" Motoko asked Naru as she settled into the steaming pool. "We cannot have him here. He is perverted, and dangerous."
The last part of her statement was said with a glance at Shinobu, who was also enjoying a soak in the hot springs.
"I don't know." answered Naru. "It's not like we can just force him out. I mean, look at what he's did to us."
A dark look crossed Motoko's face as she remembered that ego bruising moment when their new "landlord" had made his presence known.
"Yes." she said. "I remember. I suggest a change in tactics. Subterfuge, perhaps?"
That got her a look from Naru. "Subterfuge?" she asked.
"It has it's place in war." Motoko stated, composing herself. "And he is honorless, a mercenary, who fights merely for coin. I have no problem using such tactics on him."
"Okay..." Naru said "So, what, exactly, do we do? Anybody have an idea?" she asked, looking at her two companions. "Shinobu, do you have any ideas?"
Startled by Naru's question, Shinobu looked up from where she had been studying the area around the pools. "I- I wasn't paying attention." she said. "I was thinking that the bath's need to be cleaned..."
"That's it!" Motoko said, sitting up. "That's how we can drive him out. He seems to spend an inordinate amount of time lazing about, so I propose that we drive him out by using hard work!"
"What?" Naru and Shinobu asked.
"It's simple." Motoko continued. "We give him so much to do that he just quits."
"That's it!" Naru exclaimed. "Operation Kick Out is in effect!"
"Indeed." Motoko said. "Now to begin, we'll start by having him clean the baths..."
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"Amateurs." Keitaro sighed and shook his head. "Looks like I'm going to have to teach them a lesson or three."
Squaring his shoulders, Keitaro headed back to his room with his and Kitsune's breakfasts, whistling "What do you do with a drunken sailor?" as he went.
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"Narusawa!"
Naru jumped when Keitaro banged on the door to her room.
"What?" she asked. "What do you want?"
"Manager- tenant meeting." Keitaro answered.
"Since when do we have those?"
"Since now." Keitaro told her. "Get your butt down to the common room."
"Just what the hell is going on?" Naru thought as she got up.
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"Well, now that we're more or less all here, we can get this thing started." Keitaro said after clearing his throat.
"So, just what is this all about?" Motoko asked from where she was sitting.
"I'm letting you guys know about some changes in policies around here." Keitaro said and looked down at his clipboard. "As manager, it's my responsibility to make sure that the Inn is kept repaired and cleaned."
There were nods all around and Naru exchanged a subtle look with Motoko, something that didn't go unnoticed by Keitaro.
"Surprise, bitches!" he thought. "I'm onto your little scam..."
"But, as I'm sure you all aware of, the Inn is much too big for one man to handle by himself." continued Keitaro "So, you all have two options: Either you agree to take on a few chores as part of your living here, or I have people come in to help me.
Bear in mind, the latter option will come with a twenty percent raise in your rents."
There was startled murmuring all around the room when Keitaro said that, but he continued on undeterred.
"Shinobu, you already cook for everybody and clean the kitchen and dishes, so you're exempt no matter what happens." Keitaro told the youngest member of Hinata Inn. "Anyways, as I was saying, you all can either split up some chores amongst yourselves or pay twenty percent extra a month. What's it gonna be?"
"Twenty percent?" Naru exclaimed. " I can't afford that!"
"I'm out." Kitsune said. "I barely keep my head above water as it is."
"My sister- I mean, I cannot afford that." Motoko said, panic momentarily flashing across her face.
"Well then." Keitaro said and tapped his clipboard. "I guess that leaves only option. This is a list of chores..." he said, handing the clipboard and a pencil to Kitsune "Divide them up amongst yourselves and mark them off."
"I'll take sweeping the hallways and dusting." Kitsune said, marking her choices and passing the clipboard to Naru. "Here you go."
"Oh, thanks Kitsune. Take all the easy ones." Naru said as she took the clipboard.
"Hey, someone's got to do it!" Kitsune said with a cheeky grin.
Naru gave an irritated growl before she and Motoko put their heads together and looked at the list of chores that were left. As the two girls debated on what to pick, Keitaro lit a cigarette and looked around the room.
Notably absent from the room was one Koalla Su, Hinata Inn's resident genius.
"Oh well." he thought as the two girls finished with the list. "She was told about the meeting. She doesn't want to show up, she can get what's left."
"Hey." Naru said as she and Motoko turned towards him. "We've got our chores picked out, but Su isn't here." she said "We want to make sure that there isn't anything she might want before we make our choices final-"
"No." Keitaro said, shutting Naru down as he stepped forward and took the clipboard from her. "I told her about the meeting. She's not here, she can get what's left."
"That's unfair!" protested Naru with a stomp of her foot. "She should be here to choose-"
"Then she should have been here." Keitaro interrupted her as he looked at the list. "Maybe next time she'll be here when she's supposed to. I see you guys split cleaning the baths and grounds between yourselves. I guess she gets to have fun with garbage collection."
"Urashima-" Motoko began.
"Can it." Keitaro cut her off before she could continue. "You don't like how I run things, you know where the door is."
Keitaro looked around at the girls. "Any more questions?" he asked. Not getting any he smacked the clipboard with his fingers. "Okay then, you all start tomorrow."
With that, he turned on his heel and walked out of the room.
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"Keitaro, do you have a minute?"
Keitaro looked up from where he was replacing some rotted boards in the decking to see his Aunt Haruka standing over him.
"Yeah." he said. "What's up?"
Haruka crossed her arms and regarded her nephew. "Motoko and Naru just stopped by the cafe." she said. "They told me that you were being horribly unfair to the tenants here, assigning chores and threatening to raise their rents if they didn't do them?"
"Oh, that." Keitaro said dismissively. "You why I did that?" he asked.
"Why?" inquired Haruka.
Keitaro smirked." I was walking by the baths to get breakfast and I overheard those two plotting to try and drive me away by giving me so much crap that I'd quit." he explained.
"Oh, I see." Haruka said, taking a puff on her cigarette. "They left that part out."
"I'm sure they did." Keitaro said. "Besides, you know how big this place is. It's way too big for one guy to cover, especially with all the upkeep that needs to be done around here."
"Well, you have a point there." Haruka agreed. "I was doubting that you'd do something like they were saying you were. And this place has been needing some work done."
"Well, it's not like Grandma could do it." Keitaro pointed out. "I mean, she's what, in her eighties?"
"She's seventy eight." Haruka corrected him.
"I was close. Anyways, like I said, there's no way she could keep this place up." Keitaro continued. "So, I was just killing two birds with one stone here. I give them a dose of their own medicine, and I get help keeping this place up."
"Ah." Haruka said. "And what of Su?"
"She wasn't there." Keitaro answered. "I told her that there was a manager tenet meeting and she didn't show up. So she got what was left."
"And how did she take the news?" Haruka asked.
Keitaro shrugged. "She said it was a chance for her to test some inventions of hers." he said. "So, I really don't think that she cares all that much. Neither do I really, just as long as it gets done."
"I see." Haruka said, and leaned over to look at what Keitaro was doing. "Fixing those loose boards?"
"They were rotted, but yeah." Keitaro said.
"Oh, well thank you." his aunt said. "Shinobu tripped over them last week when she was hanging up her wash."
"You're welcome." Keitaro said as he picked up his hammer. "Now, if you'll excuse me, after this I've got a couple of loose steps to look at and then there's some stones in the baths need re-mortared."
"Don't let me keep you." Haruka said. "Talk to you later, Keitaro."
"Later, Aunt Haruka." Keitaro said.
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"Okay, that should be everything..." Keitaro mumbled to himself as he checked the list he had made up.
"What ya doing?"
Keitaro marked his place on the list and looked up to see Kitsune grinning at him, draped over the back of a couch.
"I'm doing a shopping run." Keitaro answered. "We're short a few things around here that I need to make repairs and I was going to go hit the hardware store."
"Cool. You mind if I come with?" Kitsune asked as she got off the couch.
Keitaro arched an eyebrow at the grinning woman. "Aren't you supposed to be sweeping the halls?" he asked.
"Just finished." Kitsune answered as she sidled up next to him and draped herself over him. "I used a dust mop- zip, swish, and you're done."
"There's a dust mop?" Keitaro asked as he went back to his list.
"Uh huh." Kitsune replied. "It's in the downstairs broom closet."
"That's good to know." Keitaro said as he finished reviewing his list. "Well, let's go." he said as he folded up his list and stuck it in his pocket.
"Hey, let's go get a drink when you're done.' Kitsune suggested as they headed for the door.
"Sure." Keitaro said. "I could use one after getting woke up by Naru's bitching this morning."
Kitsune chuckled at the mention of her friend. "Yeah." she said. "Naru is so pissed at you."
"I imagine that she is." Keitaro sadi.
"Yeah, she really went on a tear after the meeting." Kitsune continued. "You really got her wound up."
Keitaro snorted in amusement as they put their shoes on. "I guessed as much when I saw her stomp by the kitchen when I was getting a beer." he said. "She was muttering something about me. Your name came up too."
"Oh, she was pissed that I got the easy jobs first." Kitsune said with a wave of her hand. "I just got to give her a day or two and she'll be fine."
"Okay." Keitaro said as they walked out the front door. "Has Naru always been this high strung?"
Kitsune thought for a second. "Yeah." she said with a nod of her head. "She's wants to get into Tokyo University, so she's been fixated on that since we hit high school."
"She's been cramming for Tokyo U since she was fifteen?" Keitaro asked. "Ouch. Been there, done that, almost got the nervous breakdown."
"Good thing that your boss Shinji came along, huh?" Kitsune asked with a laugh and nudged him with her elbow.
"You remember me telling you that?" Keitaro asked. "You were pretty blitzed that night."
Kitsune arched an eyebrow at him. "Keitaro, what kind of journalist would I be if I couldn't conduct an interview while drunk?"
"I didn't know that was a job skill for journalists." commented Keitaro.
"Oh, all good journalists and writers are drunks." Kitsune said with a smile.
"I did not know that." Keitaro said. "By the way, how was I when we got back?"
"You were... excellent, cowboy." Kitsune answered with a sly look on her face.
"Good. We'll have to do it again sometime." Keitaro said, punctuating his statement by groping Kitsune's ass.
"EEK! Oh, you dirty, dirty, man..."
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Motoko sighed and wiped the sweat off her brow.
"Our plan seems to have been turned against us, naru." she observed.
"You think?" Naru asked sarcastically as she leaned against her rake.
"It would appear so." Motoko said somewhat stiffly.
"So hoe the hell did he find out?" Naru asked.
"I was walking by the entrance to the baths and I over heard your little plotting session."
Both girls jumped when Keitaro spoke and they spun around to find him sitting on a nearby decorative rock.
"Hi." Keitaro said with a wave.
"So this is all just a means to punish us?" Motoko demanded.
"You were trying to peep on us!" Naru accused.
Keitaro lit a cigarette and took a deep draw on it before responding. "First of all..." he began, looking at Motoko. "Yes, this is a punishment for being a couple of sneaky, conniving, cunts. Second of all, I really do need help from the tenets in maintaining this place."
He then turned his attention to Naru. "And as for you- why the fuck would I want to ogle a couple of under developed wannabe bull dykes?" he asked.
Both girls eye's widened to the size of dinner plates when he said that, and Naru doubled up her fist. Keitaro merely cracked his knuckles and smiled at her. Motoko, remembering what had happened when she had tried to draw her sword, stayed put.
Naru, on the other hand, launched herself at Keitaro. She saw his smile change into a smirk, and after that everything was blur. She saw him move, then a freight train hit her in the gut and the next thing she knew she was on the ground coughing.
"Yeah." Keitaro said as he looked down at the coughing Naru "A word of advice? Don't do that." he told her.
Motoko took a step back when he looked up at her. "You got anything else to say?" he asked her.
Motoko shook her head.
"Okay, if you need me, I'm gonna be dinking around with the boiler." he said and then turned on his heel and walked away.
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END.
(1) Upper receiver: In rifles like the SCAR, M-4/Ar/15, FAL, Masada, etc, the receiver (What the barrel goes into and what holds the magazine and the internals)
splits apart for cleaning and disassembly.
So "upper receiver" refers to the upper part, where the barrel goes into.
Authors Note: It was suggested to me in the reviews section that I was in error regarding some parts of my story. In rebuttal, allow me to point some things out:
One: Motoko carries a sword and Su creates and uses explosives, energy weapons, and smart munitions all the time with no penalty. Keitaro using a USP and a SCAR is routine in this type of environment.
Two: Keitaro is there because his grandmother asked him to. She is his grandmother, and there is a tradition of honoring your elders in Japan and other Asian countries.
Three: Grandma Hina is on a multi year trip around the world. That means that she is paying for food, lodging, airfare, and other assorted expenses, and dealing with currency fluctuations and exchange rates, so she is of considerable personal wealth.
four: I do appreciate the suggestion that I read Karndragon's works, however, the person who suggested it was quite rude and as such I am disinclined to do so.
Thank you.
Zombie Boy.