Love's Redemption: Chapter 2
"Next stop, Hinata Onsen. This is the last stop," blared on the overhead speakers, jolting the young man who had been napping back into consciousness. Rising from his prone position, he rubbed his eyes and stifled a yawn, gazing out of the window behind his seat.
"It's as beautiful as he described it," he said to himself. A dense fog rolled over the plains and enveloped the surrounding buildings, which were now appearing with increasing regularity. Dawn had not yet broken, but the sun's ascent was beginning, as the darkness blanketing the sky in the east had broken into the dull red of heated metal.
The train the young man was aboard began to brake audibly, alerting all of the passengers that their destination was approaching.
"Alright," the young man said aloud in English, his accent alerting the sparse passengers around him that he was American, if they weren't sure from his appearance. He stood up, his six-foot frame towering over everyone else on the train. He removed his baseball cap, quickly wiped the sweat from his brow with his forearm, and replaced the cap in its previous position on his head. He pulled his belongings: a sports bag and a large suitcase, from under his seat, and filched a small sheet of paper from one of the pockets on the side of his suitcase. The American quickly perused it to verify it was what he was looking for.
The train finally made a complete stop and the monotone voice spoke over the intercom, "Welcome to Hinata Onsen. Please be careful as you step off the train." The American threw the sports bag over his shoulder, picked up his suitcase and made his way toward the exit, trying his best to avoid crushing the other passengers with his equipment.
"Sumimasen," he said apologetically numerous times to the people around him that he nudged with his belongings. Nevertheless, he was greeted with numerous dour looks and equally impolite responses.
Finally, the young man found an exit and stepped off the train, only to be enveloped by the fog caking the environment. "How can anyone see in this mess," he wondered, squinting in every direction. He couldn't see any further than ten feet in any direction, so he decided to consult his sheet of paper again. He shuffled over to a nearby bench, unceremoniously dropped his bag and suitcase, and plopped his rump into the bench with a sigh.
He held the sheet of paper closely to his face so he could read it, when a sudden gust of wind blew across the area, nearly ripping his baseball cap off of it's perch. Momentarily distracted, he jerked his arm up to keep his hat on his hand, and simultaneously loosed his grip on his sheet of paper!
"Oh no!" he exclaimed as we watched the sheet of paper disappear into the thick folds of dense vapor. "Great," he grumbled, frustrated. "Now how the hell am I gonna find Hinata Inn?"
The jingling of several small bells perked up the American's ears. An elderly man dressed in a simple but decorative robe emerged from the haze and approached the young man.
"You are looking for Hinata Sou, young one?" he asked.
"You can speak English," was the only reply the American could come up with.
Chuckling slightly, the old man replied, "No, actually, I am speaking to you in Spanish."
The American peered quizzically at the old man for a moment before realizing it was a joke. He forced a short laugh before saying, "Yes, actually I am looking for Hinata Inn."
"I can show you the way," the old man replied with an earnest smile nodding his head.
"That would be great. I appreciate it," the American replied, his face beaming. Gathering his things, he and the old man made their way into town.
No more than twenty minutes later, the young man found he regretted ever accepting the old man's invitation. He was dreadfully slow, his walking pace almost as unbearable as his exhaustive stories about dreams, reality, and promises interspersed with the entire history of each building they passed. By this time, the sun had just peeked from its hiding place beyond the eastern mountains, illuminating the area.
Now able to actually see what was in front of him, the young man considered abandoning the old man to search for Hinata Inn himself. As he went about apologizing to the old man for the inconvenience and leave, the old man suddenly stopped and said, "Ah, here we are."
"Where is it?" the young man asked, looking around the area. He did not see anything resembling an inn.
Pointing to a long staircase up the tallest hill in the area just 15 yards off, the old man replied in his raspy voice, "Just up those stairs, there." Glancing around the area the old man was pointing to, the young man spotted the staircase tucked behind a nearby building.
The sound of small bells ringing reached the American's ears again as he turned to thank the old man for his help, but he had mysteriously vanished. Darting his eyes around, the flustered American muttered, "Thanks, old timer, wherever you went to."
The old man's voice, seemingly out of nowhere, said, "Remember your promises." The young man gazed around the area, searching for the origin of the voice, but he soon realized the voice came from within his own head. He blinked several times, and shook his head in annoyance, turning to the staircase.
He had not taken four steps toward the staircase when a new sound, this time what sounded like an explosion coming from somewhere at the top of the hill, rocked the American's eardrums. He looked up to see what had happened, but the fog above his head obscured his vision. Then, suddenly, a faint voice, which was becoming rapidly louder, screamed, "fooooooooOOOOOOOORE!"
A shadow in the shape of a flailing human appeared directly over the American's head, becoming larger with incredible speed. He peered at the approaching shadow, muttering, "What the fu-AAAAGH!" The shadow broke through the grey soup in the form of a spectacled young Japanese man who the American immediately recognized.
Unfortunately, there was no time to react. The falling body slammed into the young American, sucking the air out of his lungs and slamming his body into the cobblestone.
Before succumbing to the peaceful darkness of unconsciousness, he gasped a final breath of air and stammered, "K-Keitaro." His eyes rolled back into his head and he passed out, Keitaro's prone body draped across his own.
The shroud of darkness faded from Keitaro's mind as he slowly regained consciousness. He vaguely remembered his fall, and the ensuing impact that followed, and he gasped as he realized he had landed on someone! He stood up swiftly and immediately regretted it. A wave of pain assaulted his head and chest and he realized that they obviously absorbed the majority of the impact.
A groan escaped the mouth of the person who Keitaro had landed on. A pained expression crossed Keitaro's face and he slowly turned to look in the direction of the groan, as if expecting some grotesque image. Instead, his eyes met a person he knew quite well. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped like a sack of bricks at the sight of his American friend lying in a heap on the ground, his luggage strewn about.
"Oh my God," Keitaro exclaimed, leaping over to his fallen friend's side. "Are you alright, Jake?"
By this point, the American, named Jake, had begun to stir and, without even trying to sit up, he put his hand on his head, searing pain coursing through it. Thankfully, he wasn't bleeding, at least as far as Keitaro could tell.
"Did anyone catch the number on that four-eyed shrimp?" Jake sarcastically asked with a chuckle. "Nice job, Keitaro. I needed a headache. Could you help me up, please?"
Keitaro stood himself up and lent a hand to his friend, pulling him to his feet. After dusting themselves off for a moment and after Jake reclaimed his things, Keitaro asked, "I'm glad you're okay! What brings you to Japan?"
A pall of silence fell on the area and Jake looked at Keitaro as if he had snakes on his head instead of hair. "What, is there something on my face?" Keitaro asked, rubbing at his nose.
Jake blinked his eyes and shook his head to break his reverie and, in his calmest voice, told Keitaro, "You invited me here. Don't you remember when we talked on the phone last month?"
This time it was Keitaro's turn to stand in stunned silence. "Ahhhh, yeah," he said when the realization dawned on him. "I guess I forgot."
Jake suddenly fell face-first onto the cobblestone. "But, hey, I remember now, so why don't we head back to Hinata Inn so I can introduce…" Keitaro's voice suddenly trailed off.
Rising back to his feet, Jake asked, "What? Introduce what?"
"Oh no," Keitaro mumbled, hanging his head. He slapped himself repeatedly on the forehead, muttering all sorts of unprintables.
With an exasperated sigh, Jake asked, "What did you do now? Or is it something you didn't do again?"
Keitaro slowly turned to face his friend, and replied, "I totally forgot to tell the girls."
Jake's face met the cobblestone for the third time that morning.
"At any rate, I'm sure they'll understand if I just explain it to them," Keitaro said cheerfully. "They should have breakfast ready by now and I'm sure you are hungry. Come on." Keitaro waved at his friend to follow him to the staircase leading to the inn. Standing on wobbly legs and not fully trusting Keitaro's evaluation of the situation, Jake hauled up his luggage and warily followed Keitaro to the staircase.
As they began their ascent, Jake glanced at Keitaro and asked, "So they have no idea I'm coming?" Keitaro simply shook his head. "And you are sure they are going to be okay with this?" Jake asked in a more concerned tone. Keitaro nodded, albeit weakly. It did not instill any confidence into Jake. "Well, I hope so, Keitaro, because I have no way home if they don't accept me."
"Don't worry," Keitaro replied, slapping his good friend on the back, "I'll take care of it."
They finally broke through the fog near the top of the stairs and both men were forced to cover their eyes for a moment against the sudden bright glare of the sun. Glancing back and seeing the blanket of moisture covering the whole town, Jake asked, "Is it always this foggy?"
"There's more on some days than others, but generally yes," Keitaro replied. They reached the apex of the stairs, and the splendor of Hinata Inn reached Jake's gaze. He stood in admiration for a moment at the beauty and sheer size of the building before Keitaro urged him on, saying, "Come on in. Let's get you settled." Jake broke from his stare and followed Keitaro to the front door.
Upon reaching the entrance, Keitaro stopped for a moment, slowly and deliberately releasing all the air from his lungs. "If they get mad," Keitaro said, "don't worry. They aren't mad at you. They are mad at me."
"Well that makes me feel a lot better already," Jake replied sarcastically. They both shared a nervous chuckle before Keitaro threw the doors open and stepped in, waving at Jake to follow.
Stopping a moment to steel his nerves, Jake closed his eyes, took a deep breath, exhaled, and nodded. He stepped on to the hardwood floor, noting that Keitaro was removing his shoes, and followed suit. Keitaro belted out, "I'm back everyone! There's someone here I'd like you all to meet!"
A million scenarios passed through Jake's mind in the moment it took for Keitaro's greeting to be acknowledged. Even though Keitaro always spoke highly of all the tenants living at Hinata Inn, Keitaro had not brought any pictures of them along with him. "What do they all look like? Will they like me? What if they don't? What will I do? I don't have anywhere else to go!" Jake felt his hands shaking slightly due to his nerves and he took a quick breath to calm himself.
A voice from beyond the door at the back of the spacious hallway began to speak, becoming increasingly louder, "Boy Keitaro, you sure got your butt kicked aga-eh?" Jake saw a young girl with very long light brown hair appear from beyond one of the doors. She was wearing a bright yellow sweatshirt, a short red skirt and dark leggings. Her sheer beauty took him aback. She approached more slowly, asking Keitaro, "Who is this?" Grabbing Jake by the arm and dragging him toward the vision of loveliness standing in the back of the hall, Keitaro replied, "Narusegawa, this is Jake, one of the Americans I studied with while I visited there after breaking my leg. Jake, this is Narusegawa, the girl I told you about."
Jake stood slack-jawed at this revelation. He thought to himself, "This is your girlfriend? You lucky bastard." Realizing he'd forgotten where he was for a moment, Jake snapped to attention, and introduced himself with a deep bow. "My name is Jake. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Naru returned his bow out of politeness if not out of curiosity. "You speak Japanese very well," she replied.
"Thank you, I studied for several years before Keitaro came to my university to study archaeology with me. Now I am pretty fluent," was Jake's reply.
Naru asked, "What brings you to Japan?" Jake simply glanced at Keitaro, and a huge sweat-drop formed on Keitaro's head. Keitaro nervously replied, "Well, I need to talk to you all about that. You see, uh…"
As if on cue, another voice interrupted Keitaro. "Ara, ara! Who is this?" Narusegawa and Keitaro knew who it was without looking, but Jake's peered behind Naru to see who was speaking. His eyes widened when he saw another young female, once again with long hair, but hers was a dark brown. Her soft expression was lovely, and her eyes captivated him for a short moment. She was dressed in a green long-sleeved shirt with long overalls with a skirt instead of pants. Her modest dress did nothing to hide her womanly figure. Jake felt his face become flushed as the woman approached him, saying, "Ah, you must be one of Kei-kun's American friends."
She held out her right hand in introduction, stating, "I'm Mutsumi Orohime. It's nice to finally meet you." Keitaro and Narusegawa stood by, staring in disbelief.
Keitaro pointed at Jake and asked, "How did you know he was my friend, Mutsumi-san?"
A confused look passed over Mutsumi's face and she replied, "Isn't it obvious?"
A cloud of dust billowed where Keitaro and Narusegawa crashed to the ground.
Jake recovered enough from the strangeness of the situation to introduce himself properly. "A-anyway, I'm Jake. The pleasure is mine," Jake said to Mutsumi, grasping her hand with his own in a formal handshake. Jake thought, "She's so delicate, it's as if a stiff wind would knock her over." As he loosed her hand, he suppressed a grin as his mind added, "She's hot."
Mutsumi clapped her hands lightly and asked, "How long are you staying? What brings you here to this small village?"
Keitaro interjected, "I was just explaining to Narusegawa…"
Keitaro was interrupted again by yet another female voice, this one a touch more whiny. "What's going on out here? I'm so hungry I could eat a, oh hello there," the voice said. In unison, all four people standing in the hall once again turned to face the door.
Standing in the doorway was a shorthaired, platinum blonde woman dressed in a long-sleeved violet shirt tucked into a pair of beige slacks. Jake raised an eyebrow instinctively as he observed that the woman was facing him, but her eyes were closed.
Taking the initiative this time, Jake stepped forward and said, "Hello. I'm Jake. I'm one of Keitaro's friends from America," while bowing deeply at the hip.
"Quite the formal one, eh? All right, I'll bite," The woman replied. "My name is Mitsune Konno, but everyone around here calls me Kitsune." Kitsune reached out and grabbed Jake's right hand with her own, giving him a firm handshake.
"Pleasure to meet you, Kitsune." Jake couldn't help grinning at Kitsune's laid-back attitude.
Kitsune nudged Mutsumi in the ribs playfully with her elbow and said to her in a voice loud enough for all to hear, "He's pretty cute, ne?"
Mutsumi beamed at Kitsune and half-whispered to her, "I was just thinking the same thing."
Keitaro screamed, "We can all hear you!"
Naru rolled her eyes and shook her head at the two girls' immodesty. Jake simply stood there, his face completely flushed.
Another female voice belted out from beyond the door, "Breakfast is ready! Come and get it!"
"Finally," Narusegawa said. "Let's discuss this over some food. You are hungry, aren't you, Jake?"
Jake smiled and nodded at Naru, replying, "I'm famished! I haven't eaten a real meal or slept in a bed since I took off from Los Angeles. And whatever is cooking in there smells really good."
Keitaro saw an opportunity to delay his announcement long enough for everyone to hear it and quickly spouted, "Alright, let's eat then! I'll introduce Jake to everyone else and tell you all why he's here."
One at a time, they each filed through the door, with Jake holding Keitaro back by the shirt. When the girls had filed out, Jake whispered to Keitaro, "My God, man. Those chicks are hot as hell! You are one lucky son-of-a-gun."
Keitaro got a stern look on his face, wiping Jake's smile clean off. "Sure, they are all beautiful, but you don't know how they are."
Jake was not about to be knocked off his cloud. "It really doesn't matter how they are. I'm sure I can take anything they can dish out."
Keitaro chuckled. His friend sounded a lot like him at one time. "We'll see," Keitaro said, motioning Jake towards to door.
Jake pulled Keitaro back again. "Are you certain they are gonna be okay with me taking over here? I really don't want to impose."
Keitaro beamed with poise. "I said I would take care of it, Jake. And I will."
Keitaro's apparent solidarity did nothing to bolster Jake's confidence. He looked Keitaro dead in the face and stated plainly, "Alright then. I'm trusting you with this."
Keitaro's demeanor changed to one of focus and determination and he nodded curtly at Jake. "Alright, let's get something to eat. I'll let them in on it after they've eaten Shinobu's cooking. That ought to help keep their tempers in check."
"Which one is Shinobu again?" Jake replied.
"Come on, I'll introduce you to the other three girls living here," Keitaro said, waving at Jake to follow him through the door.
"There are three more?" Jake asked incredulously. Keitaro just motioned Jake to follow. Jake took one more deep breath and followed Keitaro through the door to the dining area.
Author's Note: Well, it's about time I got busy writing something. This is the result. I think it's much better than the previous versions. Thanks for reading. More to come soon.