Love Hina:
A Different Path Taken.
Oo000ooo000oO
Chapter Ten
Oo000ooo000oO
When Keitaro got to Suu's room, he found that she had the door open while she was munching on sushi and madly scribbling away at an idea in a notebook. He got her attention by knocking on the door frame.
"Hey, Suu, we need to talk." he said.
Suu swallowed what she was chewing on and spun around to face him.
"About what, Kei-kun?" she asked brightly.
"The Guild." Keitaro, by contrast, was dead serious.
"What about them?" Suu asked, cocking her head slightly to one side.
"I got a heads up from a friend of mine who's a member. They're done being patient with you." Keitaro told her.
Suu, to her credit, was surprised by this bit of news. "Oh." she said. "Did your friend say what they were gonna do?"
"He said that they were sending someone to collect you, something about not letting your knowledge go to waste." Keitaro said.
"Oh." was Suu's response, then a manic glint that Keitaro didn't like came into her eyes. "That means that I can use some ideas I had-"
"No." Keitaro stopped her with just one word.
Suu blinked and gave him a puzzled look. "Why not?" she asked. "I think I can take them on-"
"Suu, I said no." Keitaro reiterated his position, with emphasis on the "no".
Suu frowned and crossed her arms in defiance. This irritated Keitaro, but he didn't let it show.
"When we talked about this before, you said that you'd clear out of here so that the Inn wouldn't be in any danger." he pointed out.
"Yeah." Suu acknowledged. "But I had some ideas since then, and I know they'll work-"
"No."
Keitaro's tone left no doubt as to what he thought of that idea. Still, Suu was not easily deterred.
"Oh, c'mon, Kei-kun, I think I can-" she started to say but was cut off by Keitaro.
"No. Absolutely not." he said. "I am not risking the lives of my other tenants and my grandmother's Inn because of you."
Suu rocked back slightly at his response. "But-" she started to say but again Keitaro cut her off.
"Suu, I said no. You want to duke it out with them, that's your choice. But you're not doing it here." he stated, his voice calm but hard as tempered steel.
"Then where-" she started to ask.
"Do it at home. You'll have a better chance there, far better than here." Keitaro cut her off again.
Suu stayed quiet, confusion evident on her face as she tried to think through what he had told her. In the back of his mind Keitaro wondered if anyone had ever raised their voice with her or enforced boundaries. That was all he thought about the subject- he had more pressing concerns. Like getting Suu the hell out of his grandmothers inn before the Guild came to enforce their murderous will.
"I want you out of here as soon as possible." he said, breaking the momentary silence. "The sooner you get back home, the more time you will have to prepare."
Suu shook her head slightly as Keitaro's words jarred her back to reality. "Can I come back?" she asked.
Keitaro nodded once. "Yeah." he told her. "But only after you've gotten things completely settled with the Guild. I don't want this mess to rear it's ugly head again six months down the road, understand?"
Suu nodded slightly. "Okay..." she said.
"Good."
Keitaro turned and left after that, leaving Suu to stand there in her room, slightly bewildered as to what she needed to do next.
Oo000ooo000oO
"KEITARO URASHIMA YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"
Keitaro sighed and stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray. The fight he knew was coming was imminent, as heralded by Naru's infuriated shriek. He got up from the table as loud, angry, footsteps started pounding on the floor.
Since he knew that there was going to be something like this happening when Naru found out about his exiling of Suu, he had made preparations. He had chosen the terrain- his room- and had laid out a battle plan.
Which was why he had gotten up and walked over to stand just next to the door, facing the door at an angle, knees bent, weight balanced, loose posture. That way, when Naru stormed into his room-
- the screen rattled as it was shoved violently along it's track by Naru.
"WHERE ARE YOU SONOFABITCH-" she bellowed before spotting him. "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?" she demanded at the tops of her lugs as she wound up and threw a punch at his head.
Keitaro flexed his knees, stepped forward as she swung, brought his right arm up and out, blocking her punch and directing it away from him while simultaneously rabbit punching her in the kidneys. Naru's breath left her with a squeak and she dropped to floor-
-he could shut her down before the situation got out of hand.
"-bastard..." Naru wheezed out as she curled into a fetal position clutching at her stomach.
"I can be." Keitaro acknowledged as he straddled her, pinning her so she couldn't go anywhere. "But I have a good reason to be."
"What?" Naru wheezed out.
Keitaro took his phone out of his pocket and started navigating through his stored media. "Here." he said, tapping the screen to open a folder "Let me show you."
Naru gasped when she saw what was on his phone.
"You see that?" he asked, flipping over to the next on. "And that? And how about these?"
"S-stop..." Naru whimpered, closing her eyes to block out the carnage captured on his phone.
"You know what those are?" Keitaro asked her.
"Your vacation photos?" Naru ventured, her eyes still closed.
"No. That's the handiwork of the man that the Guild is sending after Suu." Keitaro explained. "Those villagers thought it'd be cute to try and snatch a couple of his people so they could ransom them back. He butchered the villagers, skinned the chief and his advisers alive, nailed their skins to the village walls as a warning, then burned the village down and salted the earth.
That's why I told her she had to leave. Because her staying here puts everyone else at risk You understand what I'm saying?"
Naru, numb from the pain in her gut and the shock of seeing the images on her phone, nodded weakly.
"Good." Keitaro said. "And for the record, I didn't want to do this- sending her away, punching you in the gut. But I was left with no choice."
He took a deep, calming, breath and exhaled slowly.
"You gonna be able to move under your own power?" he asked Naru.
"I think so..." she wheezed.
Keitaro stood and watched as Naru slowly to her feet and shuffled away to her room, hunched over like she was an old woman. When she was gone he slid the screen to his room closed and ran his hand through his hair.
"Fuck, I need a drink." he said aloud.
Oo000ooo000oO
He was swirling the last bit of his Scotch around in his glass, contemplating the play of light through the amber liquid while he smoked a cigarette when there was a knock at the door.
"Now who's came here to yell at me?" he groused mentally. "Who is it?"
"It's me." Kitsune said from the other side of the door. "Keitaro, can we talk?"
He really didn't want to, he really just wanted to be left alone for a while, but Keitaro had a pretty good idea on why she wanted to talk to him, and he knew that this was something that he couldn't put off.
"Yeah." he said. "Come on in, sit down and I'll pour you a drink."
Kitsune slid the screen open, stepped inside, and slid it closed after her while he got up and got her a clean glass from the liquor cabinet. They sat down opposite of each other at the table and he poured her a couple of fingers of Scotch, and after a moment's thought, a couple for himself as well.
He slid Kitsune's drink over to her and took a drag on his cigarette. "Okay." he said. "Shoot."
Kitsune looked down at her drink and took a healthy belt from it. "Keitaro, what the hell?"
"I assume you're talking about the situation with Suu?" Keitaro asked.
Kitsune nodded. "Yes." she said.
Keitaro took a sip from his drink and took a moment to admire, yet again, how the light was refracted through the twenty year old Scotch.
"Well..." he began "You know how the Guild issued her an ultimatum?"
"Yeah."
"Their patience has ran out, and now they're sending someone to come and collect her."Keitaro continued.
Kitsune gave him a cross look. "I know that already." she said. "Naru and Suu filled me in on the details. What I want to know is why you don't want to help her stop this guy when you had no problem standing up to Motoko's sister. Is he really that dangerous?
"Yes." Keitaro said. "You want to see the stuff I showed Naru?"
Kitsune shook her head in the negative. "No." she said. "Naru's description of them was enough to give me the idea. I'm just trying to wrap my head around what your doing. It's so..so... different than what you've did so far."
"Ah." was Keitaro's response. "It's because they guy who's coming, I know that I wouldn't stand a chance against him."
Kitsune gave him a long look. "Then what chance does Suu have then?" she asked.
"Her chances at home are a lot better than they would be here." was Keitaro's response. "Not to mention it'd be a hell of a lot safer for everyone else."
"He's really that bad?"
Keitaro didn't hesitate in his response. "Yes." he said.
Kitsune looked at her drink for a long moment as she considered his response.
"What are her chances?"
"Honestly?" Keitaro asked.
Kitsune nodded.
"Not good. A lot better at home, but still not good. Win or lose, a lot of people around her are gonna die defending her." Keitaro said, suddenly feeling very tired. "While there have been upsets in the past where a smaller force defeated a vastly superior foe, a lot of dominoes have to fall into place for that to happen."
Kitsune listened to his explanation, then downed the rest of her drink in one gulp. "Fuck." she wheezed. "This whole thing is fucked up."
"Yeah." Keitaro agreed. "I should have did more, but I thought she'd come to her senses."
Kitsune grabbed the bottle and poured herself another couple of fingers of Scotch. "You're not the only one, Keitaro. I should have tried to convince her too." she said before taking a drink. "You got anything not as top shelf as this? If we're gonna be doing this, I don't want to use up all of your good stuff."
"I have a Texas fifth of bourbon in my liquor cabinet." Keitaro said as he rolled to his feet.
"You have Jack Daniels?" Kitsune asked, surprised.
"That's Tennessee whiskey." he corrected her as he rummaged around in the cabinet. "Bourbon- true bourbon- is from Bourbon County, Kentucky. Two different states. My boss taught me that."
"Oh." Kitsune said as Keitaro turned around with an oversized bottle of Jim Beam in his hand. "He's been there?"
"A little. Not that particular area, but he has been to the US." Keitaro said as he sat down. "He was taught the differences in whiskey by the guy who's coming after Suu."
Kitsune looked at him in surprise, then shook her head as she mentally kicked herself. "Oh yeah, that's right. You mentioned that your boss knows them."
Keitaro nodded. "Yeah, from when he was younger. He won't say what the circumstances were, just that he worked with them."
"He tell you any stories about them?" Kitsune asked.
"Nope." was Keitaro's answer. "He said they were all classified."
"Damn." Kitsune said and finished her drink.
"That was his general opinion, too." Keitaro said as he cracked the seal open on the bottle of Beam. "Refill?" he asked.
"Yes, please." Kitsune said, holding up her glass.
Oo000ooo000oO
The nest morning Suu said goodbye to the resident's of the Hinata Inn. There was lots of crying and hugs mixed in with the goodbyes. She carefully avoided Keitaro, not that he minded. He had the mother of all hangovers pounding in his skull and was not up for interaction with the human race at the time.
Suu, however, did make a point of giving Motoko, who had been hanging back because she was not one for mushy feminine things, a goodbye hug. After exchanging goodbyes, Suu went back to the main knot of residents as Haruka came up and tapped Motoko on the shoulder, then whispered something in her ear.
Motoko looked surprised at what Haruka had said, and hurried off to the Inn. Keitaro wondered what his Aunt had said to her, but his attention was drawn back to Suu, who was waving to the resident's of the Inn as she climbed aboard her turtle mecha and took off.
He watched her fly off into the morning sky and mentally wished her luck, and prayed to any deities or spirits that might be listening to give her any help they could. She was going to need it.
Shaking out a cigarette, he lit it and watched the girls as the watched Suu's mecha disappear from view. As they turned back to head into the Inn. Keitaro got a good look at their faces.
Naru had a serious look on her face that darkened with anger when she looked at him. Kitsune looked like she had the same throbbing hangover, that he had, Mutsumi was contemplating whatever it was she thinking about at the moment, and Shinobu had a worried look on her face, a look that shifted to apprehensive when she saw him.
He smoked his cigarette and watched as the girls wandered off into the Inn while Haruka stayed behind. As they wandered out of earshot, she lit a cigarette and looked up where Suu's mecha had disappeared into the sky.
"I'm not going to judge you, Keitaro." she said.
"You're not?" he asked.
Haruka shook her head. "No." she said. "It wouldn't do any good, and besides, I would have did the same thing, for probably the same reasons."
"Really." was Keitaro's response.
"Yes. I have a pretty good idea about how the Guild operates-"
"How do you know about them?" Keitaro asked
Haruka chuckled. "From my misspent youth." she answered. "And that's about all I can say about that."
Keitaro nodded in understanding. "Say no more." he said.
Haruka took a long drag on her cigarette and exhaled a blue cloud of smoke. "As I was saying, I know how they operate, and I also know that you did tell her to do something about it, and she didn't. So, really, this is on her. There's no need to endanger yourself and everyone else due to her mistakes."
Keitaro took a drag on his cigarette and glanced back at the Inn looming behind them. "Getting shot at and shooting back really gives you a different perspective on things, doesn't it?" he asked.
Haruka nodded. "It does." she agreed, then she looked at the Inn. "And hopefully none of them ever get find that out."
"Agreed."
Oo000ooo000oO
Keitaro was working on getting the walls put in when he heard someone rap their knuckles on the door frame. Looking over, he saw Motoko standing in the doorway to Suu's old room.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"I just had a very long and interesting conversation with my parents." Motoko said as she stepped into the room and stood facing him, arms crossed. "Apparently somebody sent one of the elders a video of you sneaking up on her in the baths, and she has been recalled and stripped of her position."
"Oh." was Keitaro's response. He hadn't been expecting that kind of reaction. "Oh, wow."
"Yes." was Motoko's terse response. "They said that someone from the School called and talked to you about it, and you filled them in on what happened before the incident in the baths."
Keitaro nodded in confirmation. "Yeah." he said. "I would have told you about it, but, I've had a lot on my mind."
"Yes, you have." Motoko acknowledged. "However, we both know the answer to this next question, but must ask it: Did you send that video to them?"
"Yep." was Keitaro's laconic reply.
"Why?"
Keitaro turned back to his work as he answered. "A few reasons. One, this was the best way to solve this problem without me having to shoot your sister. She might be nuttier than squirrel shit, but she's still your sister.
Two, none of this can be pinned on you. So that way, if there's any fallout from your school over this, it'll fall on me instead of you.
Three, your sister has too many screws loose to be wandering around with a weapon. If it wasn't you, it would have been someone else. By setting this up, I solved a very nasty potential problem for you guys."
Motoko felt a flash of anger at (from her perspective) his presuming to fix a problem for the School, but then the rational part of her brain reminded her of how he had helped her dodge her sister for a week, and how her parents had mentioned that Tsuruko was practically frothing at the mouth in frustration when they had picked her up.
So she tamped down on her anger and took a calming breath. "Yes, you did, as much as it irritates me to admit that." she said. "But recent events have revealed some … issues that my sister has that no one was really aware of."
"Not that is an understatement if I ever heard one." Keitaro said with a snort. "What's gonna happen to her, anyways?"
Motoko shrugged. "That is up in the air." she told him. "She will never again pick up a blade in the name of the School again, though."
Keitaro nodded."What about you? You gonna get the job?" he asked.
Another shrug. "That also remains to be seen." she answered. "I am clearly not ready, and wont be for a while. Someone else will have to fill in for the interim."
"Ah." Keitaro said, then gave her a considering look. "I must say, you're being pretty calm about the whole thing."
"I am sorting through everything right now." Motoko told him. "Though, strangely, I do feel a sense of relief."
A thought occurred to her and she tilted her head slightly to one side as she looked at Keitaro. "You seem to be pretty calm, considering what has happened recently."
Keitaro gave a grim chuckle. "It's a combination of a hangover and knowing that at some point you've just gotta step back and let whatever is gonna happen, happen."
"That's kind of cold, Urashima." Motoko told him.
Keitaro nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it is." he said. "However, what, exactly, can I do? Suu ignored the Guild's ultimatum. I told her not to, she did it anyways. What happens next is on her. I just tried to make sure that no one else was gonna get caught up in the crossfire."
"Not the course I would have chosen, but it's not the worst one." was Motoko's observation.
"You've got more of a heroic streak than I do." Keitaro pointed out.
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Motoko countered.
Keitaro nodded. "For a contractor, yeah, it is. The pay is lousy and the retirement package is terrible."
Motoko crossed her arms and gave him a disapproving look. "You reduced what can be a very honorable and noble act to part of a monetary equation."
Keitaro leaned back and looked at her disapproval head on. "I am not denigrating heroism. Far from it. I'm just not in the heroics business." he explained.
"No, I suppose you're not." Motoko said and uncrossed her arms.
"There anything else you want to talk about?" Keitaro asked. "I want to go lay down and see if I can't get this hangover to ease some more."
Motoko shook her head. "No, that is all." she said.
"'kay." Keitaro said as he flopped backwards onto the floor.
Motoko turned and left, sliding the screen shut behind her.
Oo000ooo000oO
End.