Love Hina: Kenshin the Keeper
Man, I'm just writing a lot now aren't I? But hey, I'm sure my quick updates are making you all very happy... and to be honest they're making me very happy as well... its giving me the chance to type up some ideas that just refuse to stop buzzing around in my head... ouch. At any rate, some of you didn't understand the last Omake. Well let me break it down in steps...
Loop Machine- A machine you record a noise (or in Sano's case a series of noises) onto a machine, and then the machine plays the noise, and repeats them when they're done (hence the name loop machine).
The sounds- Ever watch those 80's flicks with the cheesy romantic disco music in the background...
So I hope that clears up the Omake for everyone. But, at any rate, its about time for me to get going with the reviews...;
Infinite Freedom- Give... it... some... time...
paintball-gamer- Yes, the best laid plans if mice and men... And as for the Su thing, yeah, I just never saw the similarity between Keitaro and Su's brother (other then the glasses thing) and I figured Sano could fill in since he didn't have a sister. And I hope that you can understand the Omake now.
charles-ho- Glad you love it, its just that I had such great plans for that chapter... and it seems they've paid off. But... as for Yahiko... it's a secret on how he's going to be coming... but it will be similar to how he comes to the group in the cannon.
Well it's good to be getting on with the next chapter of LOVE HINA: KENSHIN THE KEEPER!!!!
Chapter 10: Christmas in Japan?
About a Month Later
Kenshin POV
Well now, is it getting close to Christmas already? I can't wait! Christmas has always been a good holiday for me, in the orphanage, with Hiko... and even the few with my real parents... but I'm getting ahead of myself, I'd best get re-caught up with the past couple weeks. After Motoko came back, Su went back to riding her most of the time, much to the chagrin of Motoko, but to the joy of Naru, Keitaro, and myself... however it seems that Sanosuke has been taking some time with Su as well.
I don't know why, but I think it has to do with whatever Naru and Kitsune were talking about the day Motoko came back. They were both smiling at him, and the whispers kept on going... don't know why no one has told me about what they're talking about yet... oh well. And then the story Sanosuke told us... I'm not going to be able to eat ice cream for a long time without having to get a little drunk first. Now then, in the weeks coming up to this point... hmm... let me see here...
I have been training with Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, I may be a master according to Hiko... but I could use a little more practice...perfect it more... even develop some new techniques maybe... but I'm rambling now. I've also been helping Naru and Keitaro study some... though now I'm not helping too much. Still, I do some of the cooking, cleaning, and other such activities (including doing repairs after one of us guys gets hit through a wall or floor or ceiling).
Sanosuke, as far as I could tell, has been doing some more serious training with his fighting techniques. Also, I usually see him in his spare time sharpening his Zanbato, helping me with the repairs. But nowadays he won't help me with my training... telling me that he doesn't need the competition. Another one of his things to do is hang out with Su... whenever she isn't hanging on Motoko. But most of the time... he just sits around, chewing on a piece of straw.
Now then, onto the present. Keitaro, Naru, and I were climbing up the stairs. I was coming up because I had gone shopping for Christmas decorations; they were just coming back from a late night cram school session. We met at the steps, and they were telling me about the day so far... and then we got to the top of the steps... and saw one of the biggest trees I have ever seen. "Woah..." I said as I walked towards the tree.
"Oh hey, you three are back... and you bought the new decorations" Kitsune said as she took the decorations from my hand and began handing them out.
"You all are back." Shinobu said as she sat on a ladder, putting up decorations.
"YAY! You're back!" Su shouted as she jumped foward at me... I stared at the mustache she had on her face that seemed to have had appeared over the course of the time I was gone... I noticed Motoko had one on her face too.
"Su... Motoko... you got something on your..." I said as I rubbed my upper lip. Motoko sweatdropped and Su just giggled.
"I KNOW!" Su shouted as she tugged at the mustache. "I glued them onto mine, and Motoko-chan's face!" Su shouted as I sweatdropped and I looked at Motoko who was pulling at it.
"It... won't... come... off..." She said, tugging at it with each word. I looked around for Sanosuke... and saw him lounging at the other side of the courtyard, his trademark piece of straw in his mouth. I looked at everyone with a raised eyebrow.
"Why isn't Sanosuke-san helping you all?" I asked as Kitsune crossed her arms.
"Well, Mr. Humbug doesn't feel like helping us decorate." Kitsune said as Su jumped foward.
"YEAH! Zanbato-kun said that it was too much trouble for him." Su shouted as Sanosuke came over with the straw still in his mouth.
"Now I have a good reason for that..." Sanoske said as he looked at the giant tree. "First off... we're in Japan right?" He asked as everyone nodded, Naru even added in a 'duh'. "Well... then why are we celebrating Christmas?" He asked as we all stared at him. "I mean... shouldn't we be celebrating something related to Buddha instead?" He asked as we all sweatdropped. "Or you all Christian?" He asked as we all looked at each other.
"Well... we just celebrate Christmas 'cause it's a fun holiday..." Naru said as everyone else nodded along with her.
Sanosuke sighed as he looked at each of us. "Yeah... well..." He said as he sighed. "Never mind." He said as he took the old piece of straw out of his mouth, and put in a new piece. "I'll be back... I gotta go punch something." He said as he began walking off to the forest. We all looked at him with a little bit of confusion in our eyes, and we all looked at each other.
"Should we go after him?" Shinobu said as I shook my head no.
"We should let him handle himself... he is an adult after all..." I said as I looked at all of them with a small smile. "Let's get to decorating then shall we?" I said as they all nodded... except for Keitaro.
"But Kenshin-san, I want to tell everyone something..." Keitaro said as I looked at him.
"Let's at least wait for Sanosuke-san to come back..." I said as Keitaro nodded and helped us decorate the tree.
Sano POV
The Woods Behind Hinata Sou
"RRRAAAWWWRRR!" I roared as I hit the side of the tree with a hook, causing most of its wood to bust out. I then began spinning, hitting the tree with one kick, causing it to crack at the place I had hit it, and then kept on spinning, and hit it with my other foot, knocking it over. As I looked at the fallen tree I gasped for breath, trying to bring myself back to some semblance of control... which wasn't easy... especially with all the thoughts going through my head.
Christmas was never really all that great of a holiday to me... not ever did I have one of the Christmas days in which the people are singing and dancing... people eating fruit cake together... loved ones coming together to celebrate one and other... well if that's the measure of Christmas then I had some good ones with my sister... my parents... they were too poor for much of anything... and when they sent me away it only made it worse.
My foster parents... were pretty distant when it came to me... 'Those god damned people... never did much of anything for me!' I thought as I punched a tree, shattering it and causing it to fall over. And after I went back home... there was no semblance of family left there. In fact... there was only one time of my life I could ever remember having a good Christmas, with someone beside my sister... it was with Sozo... we all had a Christmas that I'll never forget... but... it was on Christmas that the sting that took Sozo's life also happened...
During my time as a hitman... a lot of my hits happened on Christmas, figured that they would be caught off guard on a holiday... which they were... but it didn't make it any better for me... especially with multiple hits a day on that day... I struck down another tree as the memories came by... I took one last deep breath and looked around at the fallen trees... I felt better. A lot better... I shouldn't make a habit out of this though, I remember that I made a habit out of beating against the dojo... caused a lot of damage...
Well now that my head was clear... I think I could go back now... so I sighed, put a new piece of straw between my teeth, and began walking back to the group... all I hope is that I didn't make too big of a scene... but I probably did... but its true, WE'RE IN JAPAN... why are we celebrating Christmas... I looked up at the sky and gritted my teeth. "God damn authors... mixing up the freakin' cultures..." I said as I continued walking towards the the front of Hinata Sou.
I walked out to the front and everyone looked at me with an expecting look. They stared at me for several minutes as I walked forwards and I looked at all of them with a weirded out look. "... What are you all looking at?" I asked as they all stared at me.
"What are we looking at? You, ya big lug!" Su shouted as Motoko slapped her hand over her mouth. She tried to speak for several seconds before Motoko seemed to shiver for a moment.
"Su, don't lick my hand!" Motoko shouted as she looked at me. "But seriously, what was with that a few minutes ago, Sagara?" She asked as I shrugged.
"They're just some things about me, little ticks." I said as they all shot a scrutinized look at me... well all of them except for Kenshin, who was still decorating the tree. "Kenshin-san... what are you doing?" I asked as everyone looked at him and he shrugged.
"Like I said before Sanosuke-san, you are a grown man, that you are. I'm sure that whatever is on your mind you can fix, that you can." Kenshin said as I smirked at him.
"Thank you Kenshin-san, that is very helpful of you..." I said as I shot a look at everyone else, causing them to slightly shrink under my gaze. Then, a minute later, Keitaro shot up.
"Oh hey that's right I have news for everyone!" Keitaro shouted as he reached into his coat pocket. "LOOK AT THIS!" He shouted as he pulled out a small sheet of paper with a graph on it. I looked at it for several seconds, before taking it from his hands. "HEY!" He shouted as I looked at the graph. I tapped my chin, and flipped it on its side, and tilted my head to the side... and I couldn't figure out what the hell it was. I looked at Keitaro for a second before giving the useless graph back to him.
"Alright, tell me what it is..." I said as everyone sweat dropped at what I said...
"... You don't know what this is?" Keitaro asked as I blushed.
"Well... I barely had a high school education..." I said as they all looked at me... and they laughed.
"You mean... you're... a high school drop-out?! HAHAHA!" They all laughed, and laughed, and laughed... but only two people weren't laughing, Kenshin, and Kitsune... Probably 'cause she isn't better off than I am. A large vein started throbbing on my forehead as I glared at all the laughers.
"Hahahaha." I mock laughed, as I looked at all of them. "Oh yeah well you're..." I said as I brought my hand up. "Nerdy." I said as I pointed at Naru. "Nerdier." I said as I pointed at Keitaro. "Crazy homicidal maniac." I said as I pointed to Motoko. "Crazy as hell foreign girl." I said as I pointed to Su. "Weirdo blushing girl." I said as I pointed at Shinobu. They all stared at me as I stood there. "Oh yeah, I said it, that's right." I said as I popped my collar. "Later bitches." I said as I dusted my shoulders off and walked back towards Hinata Sou, leaving a hysterical Kitsune and Kenshin, and an angered/embarassed everyone else.
Kenshin POV
Oh my God... that was most likely the funniest thing I had ever seen. Everyone, besides Kitsune and me, were either too embarrassed to go after him or, in Keitaro's and Shinobu's case, to afraid of Sanosuke to do anything to him. My laughter died down after a while, and so did Kitsune's as Sanosuke walked through the front door. The guys looked at us with a raised eyebrow as we coughed. "It was funny..." I said as Kitsune nodded along with me. All the others sighed as Keitaro brought his piece of paper back out into the open.
We all looked at the paper for a moment before Kitsune gasped. "Hey your grades went up... some..." Kitsune said as Keitaro shook his head up and down.
"YEAH! I've been doing very well recently." He said as I nodded.
"Yes, especially with mine and Naru's help, that he did." I said as Naru nodded along with me. I raised an eyebrow as I looked at Keitaro. "Keitaro-san, is there something your working up to or what?" I asked as suddenly Keitaro got this cheezy grin on his face as he readjusted his glasses.
"Well, in fact there is Kenshin-san." He said as he struck a slight pose. "Tomorrow is the practice test for Todai!" He shouted as we all sweatdropped. "I will use that chance to prove myself!" He shouted as Kitsune looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Practice test?" She asked as Keitaro nodded.
"Its a practice test based on the test that you have to pass to get into Tokyo U!" Keitaro shouted as Naru stepped foward.
"Our cram school is famous for this practice test." She said as she raised her finger in a knowing manner. "Basically, if you can do better than the average on this test, you have a great chance of going to Todai." Naru said as Keitaro nodded.
"Exactly!" He said as we all smiled.
"The test scores should be back on the 24th, right? If Keitaro does well, then let's have a party to celebrate!" Kitsune said as everyone nodded.
"Then I can help to bake a cake!" Shinobu shouted as Su jumped foward.
"And I'll make Indian food!" Su shouted as Motoko looked at her with a dead pan look.
"Forget it Su..." Motoko said as everyone looked at looked at me while I began sweating.
"Ummm..." I said as I looked around. "LOOK OVER THERE!" I shouted as I pointed to the right and everyone looked as I ran for the front door as well. "Hahaha.! Fooled ya!" I shouted as I looked back, and when I looked back forward I saw Haruka coming out of the door...
BAM!
I ran into Haruka... and her deadly fan of death. Just before I would have run into Haruka she brought out her fan... and thrusted it into my face, bringing me to an abrupt stop, and forcing to fall over backwards. I laid there, my eyes spinning for a moment or two while Haruka stood over me, smoking a cigarette while shaking her head. I couldn't exactly make out what she was saying... but I could hear 'just like him'. Whatever she said, right after she said it she looked out at the group... who was just staring at me with a sweat drop...
"Anyway, now that's over with..." Haruka said in her usual dead-pan voice as she took a drag on her cigarette and looked at Keitaro. "Keitaro, sorry to bother you, but there's someone on the phone who wants to talk to you." She said as she pointed into Hinata Sou. "The phone is near the door..." She said as Keitaro walked into the dorm and walked over to the phone that was on the ceiling... wait... I think my sense of direction has been effectively thrown off... Why is the room spinning... who am I...?
Sano POV
I heard a bunch of noise downstairs that sounded like someone getting hit, and falling to the floor. I walked down the stairs... only to see Keitaro picking up the phone...and Kenshin laying on the ground in front of the door, the girls stepping over him... and he had a huge, square, red mark on his face. I sighed as I made my way to the door. "So what did he do this time, and who hit him?" I asked as I casually by passed the, for the most part, ticked off women. "Could someone answer my question?" I asked as I picked Kenshin up and threw him over my shoulder.
"That was me... he was about to run into me so I stopped him with my fan." She said, sounding bored as always. I sighed as I picked him up... and was about to head for the steps... before Keitaro's boastful voice filled the room.
"How about this then, tomorrow there's going to be a practice test for the Todai exam..." Keitaro said, adding in a dramatic pause. "If I bomb the test, then I'll go home right away." Keitaro said as everyone else sweat dropped.
"Is this okay?" Kitsune asked as I looked at her and sighed.
"I really don't think so..." I said as I looked at him. "But hey, if he's gotten that much smarter..." I said as they all looked at me with a sweat drop. "He hasn't, has he?" I asked as they all nodded as I sighed. "Then no..." I said as Keitaro hung up the phone, adjusted his glasses... and then started running up the stairs, laughing, with his arms spread out like a birds. I stared at him till he went up the stairs. "Eagle..." I muttered under my breath as everyone else huddled up behind me...
Behind me... wasn't there something behind... OH SHOOT! I looked behind me to see that I had dropped Kenshin while I was caught up with Keitaro... poor guy, if there was a school of hard knocks he would be the valedictorian... But at any rate, I should take him upstairs. I picked him back up, slung him back over my shoulder, and proceeded to carry him up the stairs to our room. I walked up, opened the room... finding Keitaro just studying at his desk. "You know, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." I said as I put the straw in my mouth and laid Kenshin on his futon.
Keitaro smirked at me with a wide smirk. "Oh really, then you must be the most excited person on this planet, Mr. Humbug." Keitaro said as I just shrugged and sat down on my own futon.
"Yeah, I suppose." I said as he just sweat dropped as he went back to work. He studied for a while... but then he started looking back and forth between me and his book for several minutes before I sighed. "Alright kid... what's up?" I asked in a bored tone as he looked at me with a smile.
"I normally only talk to Kenshin-san like this... but..." He said as he looked back at his book. "I can't believe I'm doing so well." He said as I just sweatdropped.
'Not doing as well as you seem to think kid.' I thought as he continued to rant on about his 'good grades'.
"I mean, I'm actually beginning to understand this stuff!" Keitaro said as he continued. "Hehe. But then I guess it's because I have the one of the best helping me out!" Keitaro shouted as I just stared at him. "Somehow, whenever she teaches me, I can remember everything she teaches! If this keeps up I'll have no problem getting into Todai!" He shouted as he wrote something in his book. Then all of a sudden he got this dreamy look on his face, and he got a huge blush on his face.
"Hey, kid, snap out of it." I said as Keitaro shook his head and blushed.
"Sorry." He said as he rubbed the back of his head. He looked down... and picked up some book. "Oh whoops! I forgot to give her notebook back to her..." He said as he once again rubbed the back of his head. He was about to go through the hole in the roof, until I pulled him down. "What?" He asked as I shook my head.
"Girl's room. Girl in there. She's a very violent girl. Go through front door so you don't get slugged." I said as Keitaro sweat dropped as he nodded and walked out. "Finally." I said as I locked the door to the room. "Some peace and quiet..." I said as I laid down on my futon and was about to go to sleep... until I heard Kenshin begin mumbling in his sleep.
"No Hiko... I don't want more Sake..." He said in his sleep as I sighed.
"God dammit... why me?" I asked the ceiling as I tried to fall asleep again... until...
BAM BAM BAM
Keitaro banged on the door. "Sanosuke-san, I know you locked the door, let me in now!" Keitaro shouted as I just tried to plug my ears.
'If I just don't say anything... he'll go away.' I thought as the banging stopped and I heard Keitaro running away. I sighed as I almost went back to sleep... till Keitaro came down through the roof.
"Damn, forgot about that entrance..." I said as I looked at him, and he looked at me, each of us sending the other an annoyed look.
"Why did you do that?" Keitaro asked in an annoyed tone as I simply shrugged.
"I just like to be alone, is that a crime?" I said as he just sighed and looked at me with an exhausted look.
"You have plenty of alone time!" Keitaro said as I just sighed at him.
"Whatever." I said as Keitaro simply grabbed his head while groaning before promptly returning to his desk to continue studying. Just as I was about to get some sleep, Shinobu opened the door and popped her head in.
"Dinner's ready... and could you wake Ke-Kenshin-kun up so that he could eat?" Shinobu said as I groaned and picked up Kenshin by the collar of his robe and then...
Kenshin POV
BAM!!!
I got hit over the top of my head as I was snapped back into reality... man and I was having such a nice dream too. I dreamt that I had just finished killing Enishi, and that all of my friends and Hiko were surrounding me with smiles on their faces while we tried Hiko's new Sake. Anyway, I opened my eyes to see Sanosuke standing above me with a slightly annoyed. I looked around to see Keitaro looking at us both with his jaw gapping open, and Shinobu by the door, tears threatening to leave her eyes.
I slowly stood up, dusted myself off, and looked at all of them with a smile on my face. "Hello everyone, did I miss anything?" I asked as Sanosuke sighed, Keitaro face-vaulted into the wooden flooring, and Shinobu smiled while releasing her tears.
"We-we-well Kenshin-kun, dinner's ready..." She muttered as she left and began walking down stairs. I looked at the others, Keitaro just getting up from his face vault, while Sanosuke just stared at me for a while.
"Well let's go, its dinner time, that it is." I said as Keitaro face-vaulted again, and Sanosuke nodded. As we left, I could hear Keitaro sigh in amazement as he began walking behind us.
"How in God's name does he manage to survive things like that, and still keep such a happy-go-lucky attitude?" I heard Keitaro say as I smiled as we all began walking down the stairs to the kitchen. We all sat down, everyone else had already been seated and were waiting for us to join them. Shinobu had cooked again tonight, and another delicious meal was laid in front of us, I could tell. We all dug in as soon as we were all seated, and just as I thought, the food was delicious.
"Very excellent meal, Shinobu-chan." I said as she simply stuttered something before continuing to eat. Kitsune stared at me for some time before she smirked.
"So Kenshin, how'd you get that bruise man?" She said as I looked at her before she started false blushing and leaning closer. "Did you walk in on Naru at the wrong time?" Kitsune asked as everyone at the table did a quick spit-take before Naruto jumped at Kitsune and began shouting at her about how crazy that was. Kitsune simply shrugged before drinking more Sake. As everyone calmed down Motoko turned to Naru with a curious look on her face.
"Naru-san, why don't you go ahead and fix that hole if things like that have the possibility of happening?" Motoko asked as Naru tapped her chin a little.
"Well, it's because that room used to belong to Grandma Hina." Naru said as suddenly she got a thoughtful look on her face. "Besides, it makes it easier to keep an ear on those three." Naru said as I sighed as I smiled at her.
"You still don't trust us you do Naru?" I asked as Naru smirked.
"Nope!" She said as we all chuckled a bit before we continued eating. Eventually, we all finished, and we all started heading back to our respective rooms. Sanosuke, Kenshin, and I were back in our room, not really doing much of anything. I was simply sharpening my sword, Sanosuke was just sitting around chewing on a piece of straw, and Keitaro was laying on his back, looking back up at the hole in the ceiling that connected our room to Naru's room.
Suddenly Keitaro sighed as he sat up. "But this hole is pretty dangerous..." Keitaro said as he began standing up. "Alright then, let's change the mood and go fix it!" Keitaro said as he pumped his fist out, and I stood up along with him. We both looked at Sanoske, who was still just sitting down chewing on a piece of straw. He looked at us with a 'why the hell should I go?' look, and Keitaro swiftly answered the look with the words any employee hates to hear. "If you don't help us I'll cut your pay." Keitaro said as Sanosuke sighed as he stood up and I gave Keitaro a thumbs up.
"I'll go ahead and see if Naru's up there..." Sanosuke said in a bored tone as he used his immense height to simply walked over to the area under the hole and knocked on it. "Hey, Narusegawa, you there?" He asked as we all listened in on the sound on the other side of the hole. When all he heard was silence he pushe the lid off and climbed up into Naru's room. "Alright guys, she's not in here, I'll help you all up." Sanoske said as suddenly his two huge arms came down from the ceiling and lifted us both up to Naru's room.
We all looked around in the darkness of Naru's room, but we were quickly brought out of the sight seeing by a moan made by Keitaro's mouth. "Oh man... the wood here is almost completely rotten, we can't use it!" Keitaro said as he pointed to the wood around the hole, which was as he said, amazingly rotten. Sanouske just sighed as he cracked his knuckles and walked forward to the hole.
"Alright then, stand back." Sanosuke said as Keitaro and I looked at each other, and then jumped backwards, slightly afraid of what Sanosuke was about to do. Sanosuke cracked his neck, and then slammed, not his knuckles, but the 'fore-knuckles' into the ground, before slammed his knuckles into it. It took a minute, but then a large circular crack formed around the hole, before it fell into our room. We heard the sound of Keitaro's desk being broken, as Keitaro just sighed.
Sanosuke looked at his fist and I could literally grit his teeth as he walked over towards the door, and walked to the ledge. Before we could ask what he was doing he quickly leapt over the ledge. We were both about to panic till we heard him land. "I'm fine, I'm just getting some wood." We heard Sanosuke say as we calmed down and then began waiting for him to return. A few minutes later was saw a hand latch onto the edge of the ledge outside of Naru's room, before we saw Sanosuke pull himself up with one arm, a load of wooden boards in his other arm.
Sanosuke walked into the room and laid the boards down beside the hole, and we looked at him expectantly. He stared at us both, before slapping his forehead and sighing. "Nails and hammers... right." He said as he repeated the same jump, and returned with a hammer in one hand, and a bunch of nails in between his teeth. He walked into the room, dropped the hammer onto the ground, and opened his mouth, releasing the nails onto the floor. "Here you go... now can we finish this..." He said as we both nodded and began getting to work.
We were just about half-way done, Keitaro began chuckling. "What's up Keitaro-san?" I asked as Keitaro just smiled.
"It's just that I've been pretty lucky lately." Keitaro said as Sanoske sighed as he continued to hammer. "I'm doing well in school. My relationship with everyone here, except him..." Keitaro muttered under his breath as Sanosuke just scoffed. "Is going pretty well." Keitaro said as I smiled at him and he began leaning against Naru's bookcase. "Hey, maybe I was meant to be lucky when I turned twenty!" Keitaro said as he began laughing. Then, suddenly, he slipped causing the books on the shelf to fall off as he fell.
"Ouch!" Keitaro shouted as I watched him with widened eyes. "That hurt." He said as he rubbed his rear-end. "It's all because of these darn books here!" Keitaro said as Sanosuke almost began laughing out loud as he shook his head. Suddenly Keitaro got this far out look in his eyes as he looked at one particular book... and it was Naru's diary... Both Keitaro and I began going crazy, both of us trying to force her diary back into the bookshelf... all we accomplished was causing all of the books in the shelf to fall over, bury me, and cause Naru's diary to land on a desk right in front of Keitaro.
"Oh no!" Keitaro screamed as the book began opening to a specific page... then suddenly Keitaro got the same far out look in his eyes as he did moments ago before he picked up the book and began reading it.
"Keitaro-san, NO! DON'T DO IT!!!" I shouted as he kept on reading.
"Fifteen years..." Keitaro muttered as he was about to turn the page... until the sliding opened and Naru stepped through.
"What are you doing?" Naru asked as Keitaro jumped up about ten feet in the air while dropping the book.
"NA-NARU!" Keitaro shouted as he began sputtering out random words, none of them getting out completely.
"How can you do this?" She said as a blush grew on her face, apparently the idea of having her diary read embarassed her... "Reading my diary..." She said with audible sadness in her voice.
"No! Naru, I was here to fix the floor with the other..." Keitaro began until Naru stopped him.
"And I used to think... to think that I could actually believe you were an honest person..." She said as she became visibally angry. "GET OUT OF HERE YOU IDIOT!" She screamed as she shoved Keitaro down the hole that Sanosuke, despite everything that was going on, was still hammering some wood, trying to fix the hole. She then looked at me, with a lesser amount of contempt than she showed Keitaro. She walked over to me, and I looked at her with a worried look.
"I heard you from down the hall..." She muttered as she pulled me out from under the books. She then pushed me towards the hole. "Just get out right now..." She said as I simply nodded and jumped down the hole, hoping that Naru would calm down later.
Sano POV
I pretended to continue hammering the boards as Kenshin jumped down the hole. I was actually paying a lot of attention to what was happening. I could see Naru's shoulders shaking, and I sighed as I picked up the hammer and the boards. I stayed knelt down as I looked at her. "You know..." I said as she stiffened, apparently not even noticing I was in here due to me not speaking. "Something like this happened to me. My sister was in my room, just playing around, when she found my journal." I said as I put the nails in one of my coat pockets.
"She read it... and I was pretty pissed off at her..." I said as I stood up. "Anyway, I'm rambling. I got over it, I forgave my sister." I said as I looked at her while I walked over to the door. "How does this apply to this story? Well... Keitaro came in here, hoping to do some good... don't throw away a good relation..." I said as I sighed. "With an... okay guy... just because of one mistake. If I had done that with my sister, then I would've had a worse childhood then I had already had." I said as I walked out the door, only hearing a little sniff.
About 2 Weeks Later
Kenshin POV
It was two weeks after... well after Keitaro's little mistake... okay his big mistake... alright it was a catastrophe, and so far he and Naru hadn't spoken... but Naru didn't seem too angry... just upset. Fortunately she wasn't really angry at Sanosuke or myself... and I was shocked that she wasn't. Some women are weird... anyway, back to business. The morning after that Keitaro and Naru took the practice exam, they both apparently thought they did very well, and I hope that they did.
Right now, it's kind of late on Christmas Eve. Keitaro's a little late showing up to the party, so the girls just decided to start without him. It began snowing outside, and while they were marveling at it I was mildly worried about Keitaro. He really wouldn't be late unless something bad had happened. I stood against the wall with my hand on my chin, continuously tapping it. Kitsune walked over to me, with a mildly drunken stagger in her step, with a bottle of Sake in her hand.
"Something wrong, kid? You haven't had any of Shinobu's cooking..." She said a little slowly, but I looked at her and sighed.
"I'm just a little worried about Keitaro-san, he woudn't have us wait like this unless something happened to the guy..." I said as Sanosuke finished off a piece of meat Shinobu had cooked and cocked an eyebrow.
"Kenshin's right..." He said as everyone looked at him. "You think he could have possibly gotten into an accident?" He asked as everyone became slightly worried before Kitsune laughed.
"Or he failed the test and doesn't want to show his face." She said as we all stared for a moment, before we all began chuckling.
"Come on, with as hard as Keitaro worked?" I asked as everyone nodded. "And also, even if he did fail, he would have to come back for his stuff! He couldn't just leave it here!" I said as we all nodded and began getting back to the party. Eventually I began eating; forgetting my worry over Keitaro for the moment... but in a matter of moments the food was gone. "Shinobu-chan, do you think you could get more food and some more drink?" I asked as she nodded.
"Su-sure, I'll be right back." She said in a very cheerful tone as she walked off with a skip in her step. We all continued having a bit of fun for a few more minutes... until we heard Shinobu scream. "A THIEF, CATCH HIM!" We heard Shinobu scream as we all jumped up and began running. Sanosuke and I ran through the dorm, until we heard one of Motoko's Shinmeiryuu attacks go off. We immediately ran for the sound, and then we found almost all of the girls standing beside one section of the railing.
"Damn! He got away!" Kitsune said as we got close to them.
"How did he escape?" Sanoske asked as everyone turned towards him.
"He jumped over the railing here, and then disappeared into there!" Su shouted as she pointed to a body of water just under the railing.
"But..." Shinobu began as we all looked at her. "What's there to steal here?" Shinobu asked as we all carefully considered that until Naru walked up.
"That was Keitaro." Naru said in a dead-pan tone as she pulled out a sheet of paper with, what appeared to be, Keitaro's test scores. "Here, he dropped this..." She said in the same tone as she handed Kitsune the scores. We all huddled around the scores... and to say that we were a little amazed was an understatement.
"AHAHAHA! What kind of scores are these!? This is sad!" Kitsune shouted as we all saw Keitaro's score... he scored barely below an even PASSABLE score... he had a zero percent chance of getting into Todai according to this test paper. "So this must be why." She said putting her hands behind her head while everyone else, including myself, sweat dropped. We all heard Sanoske sighed as we turned to him.
"I would be pretty embarassed if I were him too. I mean he made a BET, a BET with his parents that he would pass this thing... and after all those boasts I wouldn't be surprised if he was a little ashamed of himself..." Sanosuke said as he began walking down the hall.
"Hey where are you going Sanosuke-san?" I asked as Sanosuke sighed and turned to us.
"He might have a little bit of an ego... but he's still my boss, and the manager of this dorm." He said as he kept on walking. "I don't know about you all but I'm going to find him." Sanosuke said as Naru said something we all weren't expecting.
"Just leave him alone... it's better for him anyway." She sighed out as we all just stared at her. "The real test is a month away... with grades like these he doesn't stand a chance of passing the test..." She said as she lowered her head. "Even if we were able to convince him to come back... it wouldn't help him... it would be a waste of time..." She said as everyone, including myself, sighed. We were all just about to give up... until a certain individual walked down the hall, smoking a cigarette.
"Are you so sure?" Haruka said as we all looked at her. "The truth is that his grades really did improve after coming here, right?" She said with an uncharacteristic smile on her face. "In fact, Naru, weren't you like Keitaro a couple of years back?" She said as she took the cigarette out of her mouth. "If you two just part like this... wouldn't he feel lonely?" She said as Naru blushed, and we all gained a smile on our faces... knowing that she was right. "Besides, if he freezes to death his ghost might come and haunt us all forever..." She said with a small chuckle as we all chuckled a bit.
Everyone began moving out, and I ran... but Sanosuke stopped to pick something up for some reason.
Sano POV
I knelt down to pick up a small box that was one the ground. The box was white, with red ribbon keeping it from opening it up. On the card it had the words 'Naru, I'm sorry' written on it. I smirked as I stood up and threw the box at Naru, who caught it in her right hand. I smirked at her as she opened the box... and pulled out a brand new watch. "As a wise Sanosuke once said, he's a nice guy, who made a little mistake." I said as she began blushing. "And nice guys never leave an apology unsaid." I said as I turned around and walked away.
"So dumb..." I heard her mutter with a dazed tone in her voice. I walked down to the entrance of Hinata Sou, and quickly put on a slightly heavier jacket. I walked outside, and took a breath of the chilled night air as I began walking.
"Alright then... first step in finding a target you don't know the location of... remember what you know of, or you've been told of, their behavior." I said as I began tapping my chin. "Nerdy guy..." I muttered as I walked through Hinata. "Probably couldn't get too far since he's not so fit..." I said as I continued walking. "And wanted to get into Tokyo Uni..." I said as I stopped mid-word as I realized where Keitaro was. "I should have known." I said as I sighed.
I was slightly thankful that my human tracking abilities had not worn out TOO much since my old days as a hitman. I could find a person, without even being told the location. All I had to know was what they looked like, where they lived, and what they did. I was about a mile from Todai as the building came into view... and it was huge. I had never seen a college campus before, and I was extremely shocked. I kept on walking, staring at the building... when I saw Naru and Keitaro looking at Todai, Keitaro reaching out to it with his right hand.
I smirked as I walked foward. "So, I see you two are getting along again." I said as Keitaro and Naru turned to look at me, with a smile on both of their faces. I then smirked as Keitaro picked himself up off of the ground. "So, did you two kiss and make-up? Or did you go for the full blown make-up and make-out?" I said as Keitaro fell over himself and Naru just blushed as she began sputtering out random nonsense. I shook my head as I turned around. "Well come on, or do you want to freeze to death before you can even try at the real exam?" I asked them both as I began walking and they followed, both of them still carrying blushes on their faces.
Later That Night
It was late at night as I lay on my futon still awake. The party had ended house ago, and everyone was asleep... except for me. Another reason why I don't like Christmas, the nightmares of what happened before... still haunt me on this day. I got up out of the futon and stood up. "Maybe a bottle of Sake will help me sleep..." I whispered as I walked towards the door, opened it, and snuck out. I snuck all the way down the stairs, hoping to not wake up a single person.
I made it to the base of the stairs, and looked into the kitchen, to find the dorm's resident fox girl sitting in a chair, drinking from a bottle of Sake. I sighed as I walked over to the counter. "So, you decided to get some Sake as well?" I asked as she looked up at me and smirked as I opened the refrigerator door.
"Hey there Sano, and yeah I'm still up, just doesn't feel like a good night's rest without Sake." She said as she took another drink of the alcoholic beverage. "Say, what are you doing here?" She asked as I pulled out a bottle of Sake and put it on the counter as I sat down.
"Couldn't sleep at all..." I said as I popped the cork off of the Sake. "Not a lot of pleasant memories associated with this particular holiday..." I said as Kitsune nodded.
"Yeah, Naru told me about that, pretty harsh stuff if you ask me." She said as I smirked.
"Harsh, trust me, compared to what's happening to my sister right now, I'm in Heaven." I said, not being entirely truthful, but being mostly truthful.
"Really?" She asked as she took another drink. "Well I'm not one to pry... well actually yes I am, but this... I'm not touching it with a ten foot pole." She said as I simply smirked and took another drink.
"Yeah, because I wouldn't let you touch it with a fifteen foot pole." I said as we both chuckled. As the chuckling stopped I stuck out the bottle in front of me. "A toast, to two late night Sake drinkers." I said as she shook her head and stuck out her Sake bottle.
"To two late night Sake drinkers." She said as we clinked out Sake bottles together before taking a pretty large drink.
New Year's Day
Kenshin POV
I slowly opened my eyes to the new day... and if I remember correctly, the NEW YEAR! I shot up out of my futon and took a deep breath of fresh air. I looked around to see Keitaro studying. You see, Keitaro had been going through a two day straight study session... and so far he's done it! I looked at the other side of the room, to see Sanosuke sleeping in his futon, just barely snoring along as the sound of Keitaro writing resounded through the room.
"Good morning Keitaro-san." I said as Keitaro looked up to me... and he had crazy looking bags under his eyes. I looked at him until I heard a sigh coming from Sanosuke's direction. He sat up and looked at us both with a dazed look.
"What, am I not good enough to say good morning to?" He asked as I sweat dropped and smiled at him.
"Sorry Sanosuke-san, I thought you were asleep." I said as he nodded and took a look at the prone form of Keitaro.
"He looks worse than I do in the morning..." He said as Keitaro suddenly stood up.
"Well... I'm sorry if I just got through a fourty-eight hour straight studying marathon..." He said as tears streamed out of his face. "It's the most I've concentrated in years..." He said as he sighed. He quickly stood up and began pulling us towards the roof. We stood on the roof, and soaked in the sunlight as Keitaro ran foward to the ledge of the building. "WORK! WORK! So what if my chance of getting into Tokyo U is zero percent!" He said as he pumped out his fist. "I'll get into Tokyo U, Naru. WORK!" Keitaro shouted as I watched him with a smile and Sanosuke just sighed.
"People should not be this active in the morning." Sanosuke said as I nodded and Keitaro turned to face us.
"Okay, now math..." He said as he was about to take a step... before he began falling backwards. "AAAAHHHH!" Keitaro screamed as he fell backwards. Sanosuke and I ran forward to catch Keitaro, I leapt off the roof to catch Keitaro by the leg, and Sanosuke grabbed my leg. Sanosuke pulled us up rather easily and we were back on the roof. He sighed as he shook his head at Keitaro.
"Like I said... people should not be this active in the morning." Sanosuke said as he yawned and began walking towards the edge of the roof, leading back to where Keitaro got us on this thing.
"Where are you going, Sanosuke-san?" I asked as Keitaro looked at me with a questioning look.
"I'm getting breakfast; you two have fun breaking your necks up here." Sanosuke said as Keitaro and I looked at each other, before following him back into the interior of Hinata Sou, and down onto the bottom floor. We reached the bottom floor, and we were greeted by the sight of Su, and Kitsune in fancy Kimonos, while Motoko simply wore her old one.
"Hey guys, what are you doing so early in the morning?" Kitsune asked as we all smiled at them.
"Happy New Year." We all said, though Keitaro and I sounded a bit more excited than Sanoske.
"Happy New Year!" The Kitsune and Su shouted, while Motoko simply shrugged.
"Sure, whatever." Motoko said as we took a closer look at their kimono.
"Cool traditional kimono!" Keitaro shouted as Kitsune nodded.
"Yes, Haruka really likes these old things, so we wear them every single year." Kitsune said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"He he... it feels so nice." Su said as she rubbed her face on the fabric of her kimono. She then pulled out this giant dragon/lion thing from behind the couch. "And I have this for the lion dance!" Su shouted as Keitaro sweat dropped.
"That ain't a lion..." Keitaro muttered as Kitsune walked towards the stairs we had just came from.
"Come on Shinobu, don't be embarrassed!" Kitsune shouted as we all looked towards the stairs to see Shinobu in her own kimono.
"Happy New Year..." She muttered as she blushed deep red.
"Happy New Year Shinobu-chan." We all said once again, though Sanosuke didn't use the 'chan' suffix.
"Well Shinobu-chan, you look very nice this morning, that you do." I said as her blush deepened.
"Thank you Kenshin-kun." She said as I bowed quickly. Kitsune then walked up to us with a smirk on her face.
"Hey, you guys wanna go to the shrine?" Kitsune asked as I nodded feverously while the other two just stared.
"Of course I would!" I shouted as I looked at the other two with an expectant look.
"I don't know..." Keitaro said as he rubbed the back of his head. "I mean, at this point I think that more studying would get me into Tokyo U rather than praying would." He said as we all then looked at Sanosuke who simply sighed and shrugged.
"Whatever, it will give me something to do today." He said as I smiled and Kitsune walked up to Keitaro with a cheeky grin on her face.
"Are you sure you don't want to go Keitaro? Naru's going." She said in a cocky tone as Keitaro began blushing.
"Hey it's Naru, Happy New Year!" Su shouted as Keitaro turned to look... only to see Naru dressed in her nerd get up.
"Good morning." She said as Keitaro face-vaulted into the ground.
"IT'S NEW YEARS! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU DRESSED LIKE THAT!" Keitaro shouted as Naru blushed slightly before sighing.
"No fun for the examinees. Quick, go say your prayers, and come back to work..." Naru said with a blush still fresh on her face.
We all walked out to the shrine, Sanosuke and I skipping the praying and going straight for what we wanted, fortunes. You see, every New Year, Hiko and I would go out and get our fortunes. Every single year though... the one thing I would want my fortune to say never came... it was always the same fortune. 'The goal you strive for is out of your reach this year' it would always say. And every year... my goal was always out of my reach.
But this year, I think its going to be different. Anyway, Sanosuke and I finnaly reached the fortune booth, to find that this year Motoko was running it. "Hello Motoko-san, how are you?" I said as she nodded in my direction with a small smile.
"Hello Kenshin-san... and other than having to work here for my New Year I'm fine." She said as we both nodded. "So two fortunes, I presume?." She said as we both nodded once again. "Very well then, but I want you both to remember." She said as her expression became stern. "This fortune telling talisman is highly accurate; you both better hope you draw the lucky ones." She said as we both nodded. We got our and walked off.
I slowly opened mine, hoping to have gotten a good one. I looked it over, it was a fortune with the words 'Fine Luck' written on the top of the fortune, I slowly began reading my fortune out loud as I looked it over. It had three different fortunes on it, one about my future, one about my life, and one about romance. "Okay then... goals..." I said as I suddenly lowered my head. "The goal you strive for is out of your reach this year..." I said aloud as I saw a... part of the fortune that wasn't there before. "But someone close to you has answers that will help you achieve your goals." I said as I raised an eyebrow.
However, I brushed it off as I looked at the other parts of the fortune. "My future... hmmm." I said as I tilted my head. "You have gained an assortment of new people in your life... but another important one is yet to come..." I said as I continued reading. "Look for the boy, who is the reflection of your past..." I read as I raised an eyebrow. "Someone who is the reflection of my past?" I asked aloud as I continued to the next part of the fortune, the romance part... which was strange in itself.
"You are entering the time in which women will be after you... sounds like the kind of thing Hiko says during my talk..." I muttered as I continued. "Be warned of the choice you will make in the future..." I said as I rolled my eyes slightly. It was a good fortune all in all... though it was strange... it was a good one. Anyway, I was so immersed with my fortune, that I didn't notice someone walking up behind me.
"What does your talisman say Kenshin-kun?" She asked as she peeked over my shoulder. I smiled at her as I quickly showed it to her. She read it, and blushed a little bit at the romance part of the fortune, and then looked at me. "Sounds like a nice talisman." She said as I nodded. Then all of a suddenl we both saw Keitaro run by at break-neck speed, while he was being chased by... a giant dragon/lion thing. We both blinked quickly before I glanced at her.
"Well I'll see you later Shinobu-chan." I said as Shinobu nodded and left, as I quickly pocketed my talisman and began walking around.
Sano POV
I walked around until I found a bench under a cherry blossom tree. I smiled slightly as I sat under it and sighed. "Well... I guess its time..." I said as I opened up my talisman and looked at it. It was a three-part fortune with the sections of goals, future, and romance. Also, there was a set of words on the top of the talisman that he didn't expect to see. 'Good Luck' it said at the top. Sanosuke had never seen a talisman with 'good luck' on it. He had only seen 'bad luck', 'worse luck', or 'you're screwed' talismans.
Sanoske raised an eyebrow as he slowly began reading the fortunes aloud. "Goals... your hope for a peaceful life is slowly but surely about to coming to pass." He said as he leaned back onto the bench. "The path to it will be paved with happiness and hardships... but in the end you'll find yourself where you wish to be, one day." He read aloud as he whistled. "Now that's good news." He said as he kept on reading. "Future..." Now Sanosuke raised both of his eyebrows at this one.
"Your life has constantly stayed in the shadows of your past... the time to step out of the shadow, and into the light is soon." He read aloud as he smiled. "More good news." Sanosuke said as he smiled. He then blew on the talisman and began rubbing it. "Come on... come on! Big money, big money, no whammy, no whammy!" He said as he read the romance section. "Romance..." He said as he read the cryptic fortune. "The choice between immediate pleasure, and a life filled with it is coming. Be patient with love, and you will be paid back for it." He read as he scoffed.
"Now that's kind of odd..." I said as I pocketed the fortune and began walking. Suddenly I heard a moan, and I looked around for the source. He found that it the moan was coming from a young woman laying face down in the grass. I walked over to her and looked down at her. I knelt down and rolled her over onto her back... only to find that it was Kitsune.
"Hmmm... what's up Sanosuke..." She said, a light blush on her face as I just stared at her. I started helping her up, the alcohol on her breath made it obvious that she was drunk. "Forcing me to the ground… What do you want?" She asked as I raised an eyebrow and she began to blush a deeper color. "What!" She shouted as she began pushing me. "Ahh... you pervert!" She said as she pushed me away from her.
"Kitsune, just how much did you drink!?" I asked as she began giggling.
"Just a bit of wine..." She said as she began giggling. "Around twenty rounds or so..." She said as my eyes widened.
"Jesus, we gotta get you out of here!" I said as I grabbed her by the shoulder.
"Oh, enough about that!" She said as she pushed me back off. "Anyway, when you try to do it with a girl, remember to get her consensus first..." She said as my eyes widened and she actually opened her eyes more slightly as the blush deepened on her face. "Don't worry... if you want to, I really don't mind..." She said as I stummbled backwards a bit. "Oh... let sis teach ya..." She said as she began stripping off her kimono.
At that point I just couldn't take it anymore. I was just about to leap for her... until the fortune fell out... I looked up at the sky and cursed. "Kami... I hate you so much..." I said as I forced the kimono back onto her, and lifted her over my shoulder. I began walking back to Hinata Sou, as she beat on my shoulder.
"Let me goooo..." She said as she kept beating on my shoulder.
"No, you've had too much to drink Kitsune." I said as she stopped.
"You're so mean..." She said as I sighed. As I walked up the stairs, Kenshin quickly joined me, all sorts of prizes hanging around him. I looked at him with a small smirk. "Nice prizes..." I said as he smiled and looked at Kitsune.
"Nice prize yourself." He said as he smirked and I sighed.
"Yeah, all I had to do was buy a fortune and I got one amazingly drunk nineteen year old girl..." I said as we both walked up to Hinata Sou. "Well, Happy New Year Kenshin-san." I said as Kenshin smiled and elbowed me in the rib, not hard, but in a 'buddy' like fashion.
"Happy New Year to you too Sanosuke-san." He said as we walked into Hinata Sou, just as Keitaro, in his normal attire, and Naru in a kimono walk by with a talisman in her hand. It was a good day for everyone...
R&R!!!
