Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina…

Golden sunlight in filtered through Keitaro's bedroom window, warming the futon beneath him. 'The sun,' he thought. 'Is it morning already?' Slowly, he lifted himself into a sitting position, his lower half tangled in the mass of downy bedsheets.

"Ugh," he moaned, running and hand through his disheveled hair. "My head feels… fuzzy…" Leaning over the side of the futon, Keitaro reached out and began groping along the floor for his glass.

"Left," a familiar voice instructed.

"Oh, thank you," Keitaro smiled.

"Mhmm." Keitaro donned his spectacles, turned to the voice and froze. Every cell in his body came to a screeching halt.

"Morning, stud," Kitsune lilted with a grin. She stood leaning against the doorway, clasping a steaming mug in her hands.

"K-K-KITSUNE-SAN?!" he sputtered. "What are you doing here?!"

"Uh, I hate to break it to ya, but this is MY room…" Keitaro adjusted his glasses and examined his surrounds. Dozens of shelves lined with assorted bottles, dark-wood furniture, a typewriter… No, this definitely wasn't his room.

"But, how did I…? W-When did…? Did we-?!"

"Yup." Keitaro's face went blank. 'No,' he thought. 'I must not have heard her correctly… Better ask again.'

"So we-?"

"Yup."

"I-?"

"That's right."

"And you-?"

"Uh huh."

"I see…" Keitaro nodded. His lips curved in a smile of contentment. That wasn't so bad. Now that he had the story straight he could…

'CRAP!' he screamed, inwardly. 'What have I done?! What have I done! What was I thinking?! This is bad; this is very bad! What if the others find out?! They'll kill me, no questions asked! No trial, just an execution!' In is mind's eye, Keitaro saw Naru and Motoko standing on either side of a crucifix amidst a sea of flames. 'I'm so DEAD!!!' Meanwhile, Kitsune stared evenly at him over her cup, watching his face contort with anxiety. But, as much fun as it was to watch him squirm, even she had to admit it had an air of cruelty to it.

"Calm down, Keitaro," she sighed at last. "I took care of everything…"

"…Took… care…?" he echoed, quizzically.

"That's right, so stop worrying and get dressed… Breakfast will be ready, soon."

XXX

After sneaking in a quick shower and getting dressed, Keitaro made his way down to the dining room table. Despite Kitsune's reassuring words, he couldn't help but feel a little… dirty. Had he done something wrong? Was there really a reason to feel guilty? Quickly, he pushed the troublesome worries from his mind and slid into his chair at the end of the table. Shinobu stepped out of the kitchen balancing a pair of serving dishes on each hand and placed them at the center of the table.

"Good morning, sempai," she greeted him with a smile. Her warm, friendly tone soothed his uneasiness a bit, forcing a smile to his own lips.

"Good morning, Shinobu-chan. Do you need any help?"

"Oh, n-no thank you," she blushed, "I'm fine." Within a few minutes, the rest of the tenants joined them in the dining room, exchanging cheerful greetings as they gradually found their seats. Once everyone was settled in, Shinobu began serving the first few helpings of steamed rice. Keitaro let out a quiet sigh of relief. Perhaps there wasn't anything to worry about, after all.

"So, Kitsune," Naru began. Keitaro's form went rigid. "You and Keitaro got in awfully late last night…"

"Did we, now?" Kitsune asked, arching a brow.

"Yeah… As a matter of fact, I don't remember hearing Keitaro coming back to his room all night, or the next morning for that matter… Care to explain?" The other tenants looked up from their plates with masked curiosity.

"Well," Kitsune replied, "I guess that's because he stayed in my room last night." Keitaro froze.

"You'd better have a good explanation for this one, Keitaro," Naru demanded.

"There's nothing to explain," she shrugged. "We had sex." Every jaw in the room fell to the floor with a resounding 'THUD.'

"Y-you did what?!"

"Had sex… You know; intercourse, made love, bumped uglies, the horizontal ramba…" Keitaro flinched with every euphemism. 'Oh god, no! This can't be happening; it just can't be happening!'

WHA-?! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" Naru shrieked.

"Wait, wait," Kitsune said, waving her hands defensively in front of her. "I know what you're all thinking but take it from me, Keitaro here is no slouch…"

"WHAT?!"

"Yup," she grinned. "You wouldn't believe it by looking at him, but yeah… I mean, the way he moved… Rocking back and forth and back and forth …" Motoko gagged on a lump of rice and broke into an unrestrained coughing fit. "The way he used his hands… Every little touch was so gentle and caring, but at the same time strong and firm… like a man in NEED…! I had to bite into the pillow to keep from screaming…! He just kept going and going... Pulse racing… Heart pounding… Sweat beading off of his skin, those toned arms and abs…!" Kitsune slammed her palms down on the table, rattling the dishes and silverware. "Oh Kei-kun!" she panted, orgasmically. "Kei-kun! Oh, Kei-kun! OH MY GOD, KEI-KUN!"

The rest of the breakfast table stared on in silence, awe-stricken. Keitaro sat lifelessly in his seat, his features contorted in an expression of shock, horror and despair, little more than a clay shell.

After catching her breath, Kitsune sat upright, fanning herself with her hands. "Whew…! I get the vapors just thinkin' about it!"

'I'm dead,' he thought, resignedly. 'So dead. Dead.'

"Sempai, how could you?" Shinobu cried.

"Urashima, you BASTARD!"

"Keitaro, this time you've gone too far!" Su's head poked up over Motoko's shoulder, glancing curiously around the table.

"What's a 'Kei-kun'?"

XXX

With the last of his strength, Keitaro collapsed to his knees on the stone steps of the Hinata Inn. His shirt and trousers hung about him in tatters, revealing his bruise-ridden torso. After Kitsune's little "story," Motoko and Naru cornered the young landlord in the hallway and dispatched him with a combination "Split Rock Maneuver-Iron Punch." The force of the blow was so incredible that when he finally regained consciousness, Keitaro found himself smoldering at the bottom of a creator nearly five miles from the dormitory.

"I… I can't believe… I'm alive," he croaked. "I thought I was a goner, for sure!"

"Well, well… Look what the cat drug in." Keitaro lifted his head to see Kitsune grinning amusedly down at him.

"K-Kitsune-san…?" Suddenly, his face lit up with anger. "Hey, thanks a lot for throwing me to the wolves, back there! As if I don't take enough beatings, already!"

"My bad, my bad," she chuckled. "But ya have to admit, it was a pretty good story, right?"

"NO!"

"Aww… Are ya mad at me?"

"Why shouldn't I be?! Thanks to you, I ended up five miles away in someone's rice field! Why did you have to say all that stuff, anyway?! I thought you said you would take care of it!"

"Oh, I didn't know it was supposed to be a secret…"

"That's not what I mean!" Keitaro hoisted himself to his feet and glanced thoughtfully off to the side. "I don't even remember what happened last night…"

"Z'at so? Well, you were pretty drunk…"

"Wait a second…! How do I know this isn't just another one of your pranks?! If it is, I'm not falling for it this time!"

"Aww, that hurt, Kei-kun," Kitsune replied, teasingly. "Ya really think I'd make up something like that?"

"Well… Maybe," he muttered cynically. "I mean, without proof, how-?"

"You curve to the left."

"Huh?" Keitaro followed her gaze to the crotch of his pants and flushed white. 'Crap,' he thought, 'How drunk was I, last night?!'

"Well, c'mon inside and let's get ya patched up…"

XXX

"Are you sure it's okay for me to be in here?" Keitaro asked, eyes fixed nervously on the bedroom door.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Kitsune replied.

"Well… You know… After what happened last night..."

"Ah! Found it!" Keitaro watched curiously as Kitsune produced a large plastic case from the bottom of her wooden trunk. The white lid was tinged gray with the blanket of dust that coated the outside. "Never thought I'd actually need this thing…" After replacing the other items she'd removed from the trunk, Kitsune plopped down beside Keitaro and placed the case on the coffee table.

"Okay, let's lose the shirt," she instructed. Before he could even manage a protest, she reached over and began unbuttoning what remained of his shirt.

"Eh?!"

"Aw, what's the matter?" she grinned. "Big boy can't do his own buttons? Too hard?" After a bit of a struggle, she finally managed to remove his shirt. As she pulled back the tattered fabric, Kitsune caught a glimpse of the battered flesh beneath. Long, dark bruises lined the length of his torso, coupled with tiny scrapes running along the sides of his arms. "Oh, wow," she murmured, biting back a twinge of uneasiness. 'This is pretty bad… I knew he'd taken a beating, but this is a little extreme… I'm surprised he could even stand after something like this, let alone walk all the way back to the inn…'

"Kitsune-san…? Is something wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, no! It's nothing!" Kitsune popped the lid to the plastic case and removed a brown glass bottle and few cotton swabs. "Well, you've got a couple of bruised ribs, but I don't think anything's broken…"

"Oh… That's a relief…" His voice trailed off, lost to the cool, gentle sensation as she lightly dabbed at his wounds. She was surprisingly tender with him, he noted. There was something deeply satisfying about being taken care of. The most Naru had ever done was toss him a box of band-aids, not that he was complaining. Even so, he found her concern somewhat perplexing? Why was she helping him? Did she feel guilty?

"Okay… I'm gonna bandage this up, so ya gotta be still, alright?" Keitaro blushed and gave an obedient nod. Kitsune reached back into the first-aid kit and took out a roll of bandages.

"I didn't know you knew first-aid," he whispered, "you're pretty versatile…"

"Thanks," she grinned. "I took a few night classes at the rec-center, last year."

"Wow… really?"

"Yup… Before you showed, there was never anything to do around here... Gotta find some kinda way to pass the time, right?" She gently took his hand and placed it over the end of the bandage roll, pinning the tip against his ribs, then began wrapping the dressing around his torso.

"Well, I guess," he chuckled. "But, I'm glad you took those classes; if you didn't, there'd be no one here to patch me up! Heh heh!"

"And just what are you laughing about?" All eyes moved to the figure standing in the doorway.

"Oh, hiya Naru."

"N-Narusegawa?!" Keitaro stammered. "W-what are you doing here?!"

"I could ask you the same question," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Whatever it is, I doubt it's good!" Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of the blackened flesh poking up from behind the tourniquet. "Oh my god, what happened to you?!"

"I'll give you one guess," Kitsune replied.

"I FELL!" The room went silent.

"You fell? Naru prodded. "Fell from where?"

"Well," Keitaro began, "I was hanging out some extra laundry this morning and lost my footing! Kitsune-san was nice enough to offer to patch me up! It's nothing, really! Heh heh…!"

"You fell off the roof? Geez, Keitaro! Can't you be more careful?! If you keep this up, you're not going to live to see thirty!"

"S-sorry…"

"Sorry for what? What do you have to be sorry about? Idiot, stop apologizing!" With that, Naru made an about face and disappeared into the hall.

"Smooth move there, stud," Kitsune sighed.

"Man… Everytime I think I'm starting to understand her…"

"Why didn't you tell her the truth about how you got so banged up?"

"Well… I guess… If I told her the truth, she'd feel bad, you know? With the entrance exams coming up and everything else that's been going on, I don't want to give her reason to worry about me, too…" He paused. "Does that sound stupid?" Kitsune leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips.

"Yeah," she whispered, "but it's still kinda sweet…"

XXX

05/17

6:34 P.M.

Dear Diary,

Guess what? I HAD SEX WITH A GIRL!!! (A least I think I did…) I don't really remember the details… Actually, I don't remember anything at all, but things have definitely been looking up for me lately! Kitsune-san has been really nice to me. I don't know why, but suddenly I feel very close to her… There are sides to her that I doubt people normally see… She's smart, and funny, she knows all kinds of things… She's a good cook and she knows first-aid! Today, Kitsune-san bandaged me up (after Narusegawa and Motoko-chan knocked me into next Friday!) I guess it was a little dishonest to let her make such a fuss over it, especially when it didn't hurt that badly, but it felt good being taken care of for once. Her hands were so soft and gentle; and the way her lips felt when we kissed…! Wait… I wonder… Does this mean that we're… a "couple," now? WOW!!! I can't believe how much my luck has changed! Things are really turning around for me! At this rate, I'm positive I'll be able to get into Tokyo University, no doubt!

XXX

Later that night, Kitsune headed down to the kitchen to fix herself a snack. Though dinner had been served less than three hours ago, there was a chocolate craving in the pit of her stomach that refused to be ignored. As she reached the bottom step, Kitsune noticed the glow of the kitchen light spilling out onto the hallway floor. 'Who could be in there at this hour?' she wondered.

"Shinobu-chan?" The raven-haired junior-high student glanced up from her tea kettle.

"O-oh, Kitsune-san! Y-you're awake, too?!"

"Don't mind me. I'm just gonna grab myself a snack." Kitsune made her way to the refrigerator and helped herself to a slice of the chocolate cake Haruka had brought home the other night. "Say, you're up kinda late, aren't ya? Don't you have school tomorrow?"

"I couldn't sleep," she admitted, bashfully, "so I thought I'd make some tea…"

"Oh, okay. Mind if I sit?"

"Oh, of course not!" Kitsune smiled and slid into the adjacent seat. "I dunno why, but I've been cravin' chocolate all day… You know, they say it's better than sex…!"

"I-I wouldn't know," she replied with a blush. A cloud of silence passed over the kitchen. Finally, Shinobu lifted her gaze from the glossy surface of the kitchen table. "K-Kitsune-san…?"

"Hm?"

"Do… Do you love… Sempai?" Kitsune nearly choked on the morsel of cake in her mouth.

"W-what?! Where'd you get an idea like that?!"

"I-I'm sorry…! I shouldn't have asked! It was a stupid question! I'm sorry!" Kitsune's forehead wrinkled in a pensive frown. This was a bit of a pickle.

"Umm… Well, how can I put this…? Keitaro's a good guy… He's sweet and gentle and thoughtful… The type of guy that would give you the shirt right off his back, you know?" Shinobu nodded. "But, as far as love goes…" Her voice trailed off as if trying to recall a prepared response.

"Please take good care of Urashima-sempai…"

"Hm?"

"He deserves to be happy. I-I know he's clumsy and a little careless at times, but I suppose that's what I like about him…! He's… very important to me, so please be nice to him… You'll do that, won't you?"

"Uh… Yeah, of course," Kitsune chuckled.

"Thank you!" Shinobu beamed. "I knew I could trust you, Kitsune-san!" A moment later, the toot of the kettle announced the tea's completion. Shinobu served herself two cups before heading up to bed, leaving Kitsune to mull over the middle-schooler's words.

"Well," she sighed, "I guess that settles it; I'm goin' to Hell in a hand-basket…"

Author's Note: Again, I'm sorry for the delay. I'm usually more timely with my updates, but it's been a crazy month. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and feel free to review.