Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.
Oh my God, why did I ever think of this?! I mean, I know I've written some pretty strange stuff, but this... (I notice you looking at me.) Oh, um, hey. You're here for the new chapter, right? Of course, why else would you show up? Well, here you go, knock yourself out. (I walk away, holding my head.) What have I gotten myself into?
Chapter XXXIII: The Future Beckons
Tuesday, 1/1/2008 4:42 AM
"Well, the year may be new," Sean muttered to himself as he surveyed the now clean hot springs. "But that's the only thing that is." He always found himself bored in the early mornings. That was the one reason why he preferred physically doing the cleaning instead of using his hocus-pocus to do it in an instant. Of course, that could only use up so much time and he would always end up trying to find something to do that wouldn't wake everyone up. "It's times like this," he sighed. "that I actually miss all the craziness that goes on around here. I'm surprised to have grown accustomed to it. I know I'm not exactly the picture of normality, but those girls as a whole are in another league altogether at times." He smiled as he walked inside. "And for some reason, that's why I love 'em."
As he went through the living room, he gave the television a passing glance, then moved on without a second thought. He had long given up on it to pass the time, as he hardly ever found anything worthwhile to watch at that time of day. "I guess it's back to my room, then." Well, technically, it had been Alicia's room, but he recently moved his things out of the landlord's room into the neighboring one for two reasons: One, he spends a good portion of his time there anyway, what with his magic experiments and all, and two, he wanted to give Naru and Keitaro that much more privacy. He wasn't absolutely sure of what the two have done together, and he wanted it to stay that way for the time being. "To think, Naru used to hate that guy. Of course, she used to hate me too," he thought as he went into his room and commenced the morning ritual he had developed for whenever he didn't have some magical work to do: playing video games and listening to music.
--- 6:12 AM
"What a beautiful morning," Shinobu thought as she stood out on her balcony. "I hope this new year was just a good as the last one; or at least half of the last one." She recalled the memories of her experiences since Sean first arrived, both the good and the bad. "We've been through so much," she said as she went to get ready for the day ahead. "I wonder what the future will bring."
As she walked down the hallway on her way to the kitchen, she happened upon Motoko. "Hi, Motoko! Happy new year!"
"You too," Motoko said.
"Where are you headed?"
"I just finished a training session, so I was heading to the hot springs."
"Are your skills improving?"
"I sure hope so. I wouldn't want all my effort to be a complete waste."
Shinobu nodded as the two walked toward the stairs together. As they passed Sean's door, they could hear faint music coming from the other side. "Hmm," Shinobu thought. "Let's see if Sean wants to help me with breakfast." She opened the door to a startling, yet somewhat amusing sight.
Hearing Shinobu stifle a laugh, Motoko walked up next to her to see what was so funny. Inside, she saw Sean being a maestro to a song being played on his computer. His movements, most especially his arms and head, were quite exaggerated, which caused him to have to regain his balance a few times from the momentum.
Sean was completely unaware of his audience, as his eyes were closed during his "performance". His mind was focused on keeping his movements in time. "I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me." His thoughts coincided with the lyrics of the song. "He's just a poor boy from a poor family. Spare him his life from this monstrosity. Easy come, easy go, will you let me go…" The song continued for a couple more minutes as he unknowingly giving his onlookers quite an entertaining show. When the song ended, he suddenly heard applause coming from the doorway. When he realized he had an audience, his face quickly turned red. "Um…" he said nervously. After a few moments, the only thing he could think of to do was smile and give a bow, but midway through it, his legs gave out and he went on all fours, trying to catch his breath.
"Are you alright?" Shinobu asked, rushing to his side.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, getting up onto his knees and holding a hand to his pounding chest.
"What was all that?" Motoko asked.
"You have you exercises, I have mine," he said. (Don't laugh! The way I do it, it's a damn good workout!)
"How long were you doing that?" Shinobu asked as she helped Sean to his feet, but both she and Motoko could tell he was still a bit unsteady.
"About twenty minutes now," Sean said, favoring his aching arms. "Though I could feel the effects after five." After a few moments he added, smiling, "I'm not used to having an audience when I do that. I'm sure you can understand why."
"Yes," Motoko said. "We found it hard to keep from laughing."
"You should see me dance," Sean thought. "On second thought, no, you shouldn't."
"You shouldn't overexert yourself like this, Sean," Shinobu said. "Here, let me help you get to the hot springs to freshen up."
"Thanks," Sean said. "Going down those stairs in my condition would be quite a trip by myself." As an afterthought, he added, "Hey Motoko, could you turn off my computer for me, please?"
"Sure," she said. "I'll join you in a sec."
"Thanks a bunch," Sean said as the couple walked out the door.
Motoko walked over to the laptop and turned off the media player and was about to shut the whole thing down when one of the icons caught her eye. "Hmm, what's this?" She asked herself as she double-clicked the icon labeled, "Story". After reading a few pages, she quickly realized it was a written account of Sean's experiences since he arrived at Hinata-Sou. "Well, I guess what goes on around here would make quite an interesting tale. I'll have to read the whole thing later and see if he embellished anything." She turned off the computer and headed out to the hot springs.
---
"Thanks, Shinobu," Sean said as Shinobu helped him get into the water of the hot spring without falling on his face.
"Anytime," Shinobu said cheerfully. "Just take it easy next time."
"I wasn't going to come straight here afterwards; I would have waited to get my strength back."
"All the same--" Shinobu was interrupted by Sean drew her into a kiss.
"What were you going to say?" he asked when they separated.
"Uh, nothing," a brightly blushing Shinobu said. "I'm going to go make breakfast now. See you later."
"Have fun," Sean called to her as she rushed for the door.
Shinobu entered the changing room to find Motoko doing the exact same thing on the other end of the room. "What's wrong, Shinobu?" Motoko asked.
"It's just that I…" Her voice trailed off as she refused to make eye contact.
"He got you again, didn't he?" Shinobu nodded. "He just doesn't want you to worry about him all day. He can take care of himself. Like you said once yourself, 'He survived this long,' and you know this isn't exactly the safest place for a guy to live."
"I don't know why I do that," Shinobu said. "There's something about the thought of losing him that I just can't stand."
"I'm sure that if anything should try to bring him harm, he can handle it, but if he can't, I wouldn't hesitate to help him, and I doubt you would either."
"You're right. Thank you. See you at breakfast."
"See you then," Motoko said as she watch the other girl leave.
---
"I guess Shinobu was right," Sean muttered. "Twenty minutes of that was a bit much, but when your bored as hell, what else is there?"
"You could write a book."
"Maybe, but--WHAT?!" Sean jerked his head around to see Motoko there, clad in a towel. "What would make you think of that?"
"I looked at the story on your computer," Motoko said as she stepped into the water and took a seat next to him.
"Exactly how much did you read?" he asked, starting to get worried.
"Just a few pages. Why didn't you say that you were writing a book about us?"
"I, uh, wanted it to be a surprise."
"And just how long were you going to let it get before you let us read it?"
"Don't know. I guess I got so involved in it, I forgot all about that."
"You must have."
"Well, considering what goes on around here, there's quite a bit to write about."
"I know."
"I'll let you read it anytime you want, just don't do it behind my back, alright?"
"No problem. In fact, I've been getting ideas for some stories of my own. Mind if I tell you about them later on?"
"Sure, but I don't know how much help I can be."
"You don't need to be so modest. From what I read, you seem to have some talent in that department."
"You're not the first one to say that," he thought. "I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks. You're the first person I've told about this. If I told anyone else, I don't know what they would think."
"Well, you're not exactly the kind of person people would expect to write a book. Believe me, before I started writing, I thought the same way about myself."
"I guess life has many twists to it at times."
"I'm living proof of that."
"Just curious, but what kind of things did you put in your story?"
"Oh, this and that. Major events and such. I wouldn't want to give too much away, even though we've already lived through it all once before."
"You're right." Motoko let the issue slip away and allowed herself to relax in the spring. Sean on the other hand, was a different story, as his mind was going a mile a minute.
"I should have known one of them would find that thing sooner or later," he thought. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't have been that big a concern, but this story he wrote wasn't your ordinary tale; the main reason being the date it was first created: January 5th, 2004. Ever since he first arrived at Hinata-Sou, he saw the striking similarities--hell, his experiences have matched word for word with the story he began writing back then purely on a whim. To put it simply, it's been freaking him out time and time again. For the longest time, he's tried to rationalize these correlations, but to no avail. Eventually, he decided to just lay back and take things as they came. "At least that story of mine didn't depict every single day. That left some room for me to be surprised. Still, it just doesn't seem right for me to know what's going to happen beforehand, but writing about it and actually living it are very different. Now that one of them knows about it, I'm going to have to make a few… adjustments so they don't start wondering what's going on. I just hope they don't read the entire thing; or the sequel for that matter. I wouldn't want to try to explain it."
--- 8:01 AM
"Hey Sean, you in here?" Naru asked as she opened his bedroom door.
"Yeah, what's up?"
She noticed him working on his computer. "You working on your story?"
"Uh, yeah. Motoko tell you about it?"
"She told us at breakfast."
"I see. Is that all?"
"No, we've got a bit of a surprise for you in the living room."
"Is that right?"
"Yep." It was that moment that Sean realized that he could only see Naru's smiling face.
"Does it have something to do with the lower ninety percent of your body?"
"Maybe."
Sean smiled. "I'll be down in a sec." After Naru retracted her head, he let out a sigh of relief. "I definitely should have thought of this a long time ago," he said to himself. Over the last couple hours, he's been working on a way to forget about the very story the girls suddenly seemed to take so much interest in. He had just finished magically programming his computer to only reveal those chapters that have already come to pass in real life. That completed, he cast the spell he had prepared to remove the content of the now hidden chapters (not to mention the sequel, which he also hid) from his mind, even though he'd still be aware of their existence. "At least I don't have to worry about that anymore," he thought as he walked out of his room to see the surprise waiting for him, now that it would actually be a surprise.
On the way, he met Keitaro, who was heading in the same direction he was. "Naru talk to you, too?"
"Yeah, I can't help but wonder what's going on."
"Me too." For a change, he was completely honest. As the two men arrived in the living room, they were greeted by an unexpected, though not unpleasant sight.
"Well, what do you think?" Naru asked. All the girls present were in kimonos.
"Wow," both men said in unison. "What's the occasion?" Sean asked.
"We figured we'd start this new year off right," Kitsune said.
"We're all going to the temple today," Shinobu said. "Would you like to come with us?"
"Of course," Keitaro said. "Let's go."
As the group headed out, Sean noticed something. "Hey, where's Motoko?"
"She went ahead of us," Naru said. "We'll met her there."
Sean nodded her understanding and they continued on their way until they reached their destination; not to mention see the crowd that was already there. "Wow, this is certainly a popular place, isn't it?"
"Well, people usually come here to wish for luck in the coming year," Naru said.
"Ah." Sean glanced over to one of the larger groups of people and saw what the attraction was. "I see what you mean, considering there's a wishing well here."
"You want to go make a wish?" Shinobu asked.
"Yeah, wish for bananas!" Suu said, jumping on Sean's back.
"Nah, that's alright, you go on ahead I've never been one to rely too much on luck. Besides, what would I wish for? I've already got everything I could ever want. I'm going to go have myself a look around, see if anything catches my interest."
"Wait, I'll come with you," Shinobu said.
"You don't have anything to wish for, either?"
"Nope," she said, gazing lovingly at him.
"Gee, I wonder why," Sean said rhetorically as the two separated from the group. Eventually, they found Motoko working at one of the buildings.
"Hello," she said. "Are you two enjoying yourselves?"
"Sure," Sean said. "But there hasn't been much that have caught my eye yet." He looked at the sign at Motoko's building. "Hmm, fortunes." He looked at Shinobu. "Shall we?"
"Sure. You believe in them?"
"Not really. I was thinking we'd get a laugh out of it."
"Be careful," Motoko advised. "These tend to come true."
"I'll believe that when I see it." He said, paying for both Shinobu's fortune and his own. Sean's expression turned from humored to serious as he read his, beginning with the first two words: Questionable Luck. What followed didn't help much.
-Those around you will learn more about you than you may want them to. ("Um, maybe that's just a coincidence," he thought.)
-A barrier in your life will fade for a short time.
-Your love will be put to the ultimate trial by fire. Be careful not to get burned.
-Be wary of sly foxes with bright ideas.
-You will be the subject of divine intervention.
-Beware of aggressive blondes; escape before all is lost.
-Relative complications will arise for those around you.
Sean thought what he read was quite odd, but it was the last line that got him thinking the most:
-The choices you make will shape not only your fate, but that of those you care for. Try to make the right ones.
Motoko noticed that Sean was deep in thought. "Is something wrong, Sean? What kind of luck did you get?"
"That kind," he said, holding up his fortune for them to see, but folded up so that all they could see was those first two words.
"May we see the rest?" Shinobu asked, curious about the ambiguous message.
"I'd rather you didn't," he said, pocketing his fortune. He knew that the message behind couple of them would be easily recognized, and that it might cause undue worry on Shinobu's part… again.
"I understand," Motoko said. "Sometimes, these things can get quite personal."
"If only you knew," he thought. "Excuse me, there's something I need to go do."
"But Sean--" Shinobu started to say before she was stopped by Motoko putting a hand to her shoulder.
"Let him go," she said. "He knows what he's doing. What did your fortune say…?"
---
Sean backtracked through the crowd until he found the other girls and Keitaro.
"Hey, Sean," Keitaro said. "Where's Shinobu?"
"Back with Motoko at the fortunes place."
"Oh, did you get one?" Naru asked.
"Yeah, I did," he said, not making eye contact. "It was… interesting."
"Where are you headed off to all by yourself?" Kitsune asked.
"Back to that wishing well."
"I thought you said you didn't have anything to wish for," Naru said.
"I do now," he said, walking past them.
"Think he got bad luck or something?" Keitaro asked. Naru, Kitsune and Suu could only guess.
When he got to his destination, Sean reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin. "Please, let me make the right decisions this year," he thought, tossing it in. As an afterthought, he tossed another coin in. "Also, I wish for the happiness of all my friends."
"Why did you just walk off?" Sean looked back to see Shinobu.
"How did you know where I was?"
"The others told me while getting their fortunes."
Sean sighed. "I'm sorry. The fortune I got just got me thinking, that's all."
"Want to talk about it?"
"Not really. Most of it was pretty cryptic. I'm not sure you'd understand it. Heck, I don't even get some of it."
"Oh. What do you want to do, then?"
"I don't know. Maybe head back home."
"Should we get the others?"
"Nah, they can have fun without us. Besides, we don't get too much time alone together. We should take advantage of this opportunity. Like Kitsune said, we need to start this year off right, and I think spending more time with you doing something other than repairs can do just that." Shinobu quickly agreed to that and as soon as they were out of sight, they teleported back to Hinata-Sou.
"So," Shinobu said after they appeared in the living room. "what do you want to do?"
"Want to go play some video games? I promise I'll go easy on you," Sean said with a smile.
"That sounds nice."
"How about you go get yourself a snack, change and meet me in my room?"
Shinobu nodded, then rushed off to the kitchen to do just that, but when she reached the kitchen, she saw something that wasn't there before. "I must have gotten so wrapped up in the holiday season that I forgot to get a new calendar," she said, gazing at said item. "Sean must have done it just now." She grabbed it and was about to hang it up when she noticed that some of the dates had already been marked, and it got the wheels turning in her head. "Hmm, maybe I shouldn't hang this up just yet…" Completely forgetting about getting a snack, she took the calendar with her to her room.
End of Chapter XXXIII
I guess I might have been worried over nothing, though this is going to get some interesting reviews. Oh, I just remembered, I have no rights to Queen, so don't sue me on that one. See you next time! Please R&R!
Oh my God, why did I ever think of this?! I mean, I know I've written some pretty strange stuff, but this... (I notice you looking at me.) Oh, um, hey. You're here for the new chapter, right? Of course, why else would you show up? Well, here you go, knock yourself out. (I walk away, holding my head.) What have I gotten myself into?
Chapter XXXIII: The Future Beckons
Tuesday, 1/1/2008 4:42 AM
"Well, the year may be new," Sean muttered to himself as he surveyed the now clean hot springs. "But that's the only thing that is." He always found himself bored in the early mornings. That was the one reason why he preferred physically doing the cleaning instead of using his hocus-pocus to do it in an instant. Of course, that could only use up so much time and he would always end up trying to find something to do that wouldn't wake everyone up. "It's times like this," he sighed. "that I actually miss all the craziness that goes on around here. I'm surprised to have grown accustomed to it. I know I'm not exactly the picture of normality, but those girls as a whole are in another league altogether at times." He smiled as he walked inside. "And for some reason, that's why I love 'em."
As he went through the living room, he gave the television a passing glance, then moved on without a second thought. He had long given up on it to pass the time, as he hardly ever found anything worthwhile to watch at that time of day. "I guess it's back to my room, then." Well, technically, it had been Alicia's room, but he recently moved his things out of the landlord's room into the neighboring one for two reasons: One, he spends a good portion of his time there anyway, what with his magic experiments and all, and two, he wanted to give Naru and Keitaro that much more privacy. He wasn't absolutely sure of what the two have done together, and he wanted it to stay that way for the time being. "To think, Naru used to hate that guy. Of course, she used to hate me too," he thought as he went into his room and commenced the morning ritual he had developed for whenever he didn't have some magical work to do: playing video games and listening to music.
--- 6:12 AM
"What a beautiful morning," Shinobu thought as she stood out on her balcony. "I hope this new year was just a good as the last one; or at least half of the last one." She recalled the memories of her experiences since Sean first arrived, both the good and the bad. "We've been through so much," she said as she went to get ready for the day ahead. "I wonder what the future will bring."
As she walked down the hallway on her way to the kitchen, she happened upon Motoko. "Hi, Motoko! Happy new year!"
"You too," Motoko said.
"Where are you headed?"
"I just finished a training session, so I was heading to the hot springs."
"Are your skills improving?"
"I sure hope so. I wouldn't want all my effort to be a complete waste."
Shinobu nodded as the two walked toward the stairs together. As they passed Sean's door, they could hear faint music coming from the other side. "Hmm," Shinobu thought. "Let's see if Sean wants to help me with breakfast." She opened the door to a startling, yet somewhat amusing sight.
Hearing Shinobu stifle a laugh, Motoko walked up next to her to see what was so funny. Inside, she saw Sean being a maestro to a song being played on his computer. His movements, most especially his arms and head, were quite exaggerated, which caused him to have to regain his balance a few times from the momentum.
Sean was completely unaware of his audience, as his eyes were closed during his "performance". His mind was focused on keeping his movements in time. "I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me." His thoughts coincided with the lyrics of the song. "He's just a poor boy from a poor family. Spare him his life from this monstrosity. Easy come, easy go, will you let me go…" The song continued for a couple more minutes as he unknowingly giving his onlookers quite an entertaining show. When the song ended, he suddenly heard applause coming from the doorway. When he realized he had an audience, his face quickly turned red. "Um…" he said nervously. After a few moments, the only thing he could think of to do was smile and give a bow, but midway through it, his legs gave out and he went on all fours, trying to catch his breath.
"Are you alright?" Shinobu asked, rushing to his side.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, getting up onto his knees and holding a hand to his pounding chest.
"What was all that?" Motoko asked.
"You have you exercises, I have mine," he said. (Don't laugh! The way I do it, it's a damn good workout!)
"How long were you doing that?" Shinobu asked as she helped Sean to his feet, but both she and Motoko could tell he was still a bit unsteady.
"About twenty minutes now," Sean said, favoring his aching arms. "Though I could feel the effects after five." After a few moments he added, smiling, "I'm not used to having an audience when I do that. I'm sure you can understand why."
"Yes," Motoko said. "We found it hard to keep from laughing."
"You should see me dance," Sean thought. "On second thought, no, you shouldn't."
"You shouldn't overexert yourself like this, Sean," Shinobu said. "Here, let me help you get to the hot springs to freshen up."
"Thanks," Sean said. "Going down those stairs in my condition would be quite a trip by myself." As an afterthought, he added, "Hey Motoko, could you turn off my computer for me, please?"
"Sure," she said. "I'll join you in a sec."
"Thanks a bunch," Sean said as the couple walked out the door.
Motoko walked over to the laptop and turned off the media player and was about to shut the whole thing down when one of the icons caught her eye. "Hmm, what's this?" She asked herself as she double-clicked the icon labeled, "Story". After reading a few pages, she quickly realized it was a written account of Sean's experiences since he arrived at Hinata-Sou. "Well, I guess what goes on around here would make quite an interesting tale. I'll have to read the whole thing later and see if he embellished anything." She turned off the computer and headed out to the hot springs.
---
"Thanks, Shinobu," Sean said as Shinobu helped him get into the water of the hot spring without falling on his face.
"Anytime," Shinobu said cheerfully. "Just take it easy next time."
"I wasn't going to come straight here afterwards; I would have waited to get my strength back."
"All the same--" Shinobu was interrupted by Sean drew her into a kiss.
"What were you going to say?" he asked when they separated.
"Uh, nothing," a brightly blushing Shinobu said. "I'm going to go make breakfast now. See you later."
"Have fun," Sean called to her as she rushed for the door.
Shinobu entered the changing room to find Motoko doing the exact same thing on the other end of the room. "What's wrong, Shinobu?" Motoko asked.
"It's just that I…" Her voice trailed off as she refused to make eye contact.
"He got you again, didn't he?" Shinobu nodded. "He just doesn't want you to worry about him all day. He can take care of himself. Like you said once yourself, 'He survived this long,' and you know this isn't exactly the safest place for a guy to live."
"I don't know why I do that," Shinobu said. "There's something about the thought of losing him that I just can't stand."
"I'm sure that if anything should try to bring him harm, he can handle it, but if he can't, I wouldn't hesitate to help him, and I doubt you would either."
"You're right. Thank you. See you at breakfast."
"See you then," Motoko said as she watch the other girl leave.
---
"I guess Shinobu was right," Sean muttered. "Twenty minutes of that was a bit much, but when your bored as hell, what else is there?"
"You could write a book."
"Maybe, but--WHAT?!" Sean jerked his head around to see Motoko there, clad in a towel. "What would make you think of that?"
"I looked at the story on your computer," Motoko said as she stepped into the water and took a seat next to him.
"Exactly how much did you read?" he asked, starting to get worried.
"Just a few pages. Why didn't you say that you were writing a book about us?"
"I, uh, wanted it to be a surprise."
"And just how long were you going to let it get before you let us read it?"
"Don't know. I guess I got so involved in it, I forgot all about that."
"You must have."
"Well, considering what goes on around here, there's quite a bit to write about."
"I know."
"I'll let you read it anytime you want, just don't do it behind my back, alright?"
"No problem. In fact, I've been getting ideas for some stories of my own. Mind if I tell you about them later on?"
"Sure, but I don't know how much help I can be."
"You don't need to be so modest. From what I read, you seem to have some talent in that department."
"You're not the first one to say that," he thought. "I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks. You're the first person I've told about this. If I told anyone else, I don't know what they would think."
"Well, you're not exactly the kind of person people would expect to write a book. Believe me, before I started writing, I thought the same way about myself."
"I guess life has many twists to it at times."
"I'm living proof of that."
"Just curious, but what kind of things did you put in your story?"
"Oh, this and that. Major events and such. I wouldn't want to give too much away, even though we've already lived through it all once before."
"You're right." Motoko let the issue slip away and allowed herself to relax in the spring. Sean on the other hand, was a different story, as his mind was going a mile a minute.
"I should have known one of them would find that thing sooner or later," he thought. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't have been that big a concern, but this story he wrote wasn't your ordinary tale; the main reason being the date it was first created: January 5th, 2004. Ever since he first arrived at Hinata-Sou, he saw the striking similarities--hell, his experiences have matched word for word with the story he began writing back then purely on a whim. To put it simply, it's been freaking him out time and time again. For the longest time, he's tried to rationalize these correlations, but to no avail. Eventually, he decided to just lay back and take things as they came. "At least that story of mine didn't depict every single day. That left some room for me to be surprised. Still, it just doesn't seem right for me to know what's going to happen beforehand, but writing about it and actually living it are very different. Now that one of them knows about it, I'm going to have to make a few… adjustments so they don't start wondering what's going on. I just hope they don't read the entire thing; or the sequel for that matter. I wouldn't want to try to explain it."
--- 8:01 AM
"Hey Sean, you in here?" Naru asked as she opened his bedroom door.
"Yeah, what's up?"
She noticed him working on his computer. "You working on your story?"
"Uh, yeah. Motoko tell you about it?"
"She told us at breakfast."
"I see. Is that all?"
"No, we've got a bit of a surprise for you in the living room."
"Is that right?"
"Yep." It was that moment that Sean realized that he could only see Naru's smiling face.
"Does it have something to do with the lower ninety percent of your body?"
"Maybe."
Sean smiled. "I'll be down in a sec." After Naru retracted her head, he let out a sigh of relief. "I definitely should have thought of this a long time ago," he said to himself. Over the last couple hours, he's been working on a way to forget about the very story the girls suddenly seemed to take so much interest in. He had just finished magically programming his computer to only reveal those chapters that have already come to pass in real life. That completed, he cast the spell he had prepared to remove the content of the now hidden chapters (not to mention the sequel, which he also hid) from his mind, even though he'd still be aware of their existence. "At least I don't have to worry about that anymore," he thought as he walked out of his room to see the surprise waiting for him, now that it would actually be a surprise.
On the way, he met Keitaro, who was heading in the same direction he was. "Naru talk to you, too?"
"Yeah, I can't help but wonder what's going on."
"Me too." For a change, he was completely honest. As the two men arrived in the living room, they were greeted by an unexpected, though not unpleasant sight.
"Well, what do you think?" Naru asked. All the girls present were in kimonos.
"Wow," both men said in unison. "What's the occasion?" Sean asked.
"We figured we'd start this new year off right," Kitsune said.
"We're all going to the temple today," Shinobu said. "Would you like to come with us?"
"Of course," Keitaro said. "Let's go."
As the group headed out, Sean noticed something. "Hey, where's Motoko?"
"She went ahead of us," Naru said. "We'll met her there."
Sean nodded her understanding and they continued on their way until they reached their destination; not to mention see the crowd that was already there. "Wow, this is certainly a popular place, isn't it?"
"Well, people usually come here to wish for luck in the coming year," Naru said.
"Ah." Sean glanced over to one of the larger groups of people and saw what the attraction was. "I see what you mean, considering there's a wishing well here."
"You want to go make a wish?" Shinobu asked.
"Yeah, wish for bananas!" Suu said, jumping on Sean's back.
"Nah, that's alright, you go on ahead I've never been one to rely too much on luck. Besides, what would I wish for? I've already got everything I could ever want. I'm going to go have myself a look around, see if anything catches my interest."
"Wait, I'll come with you," Shinobu said.
"You don't have anything to wish for, either?"
"Nope," she said, gazing lovingly at him.
"Gee, I wonder why," Sean said rhetorically as the two separated from the group. Eventually, they found Motoko working at one of the buildings.
"Hello," she said. "Are you two enjoying yourselves?"
"Sure," Sean said. "But there hasn't been much that have caught my eye yet." He looked at the sign at Motoko's building. "Hmm, fortunes." He looked at Shinobu. "Shall we?"
"Sure. You believe in them?"
"Not really. I was thinking we'd get a laugh out of it."
"Be careful," Motoko advised. "These tend to come true."
"I'll believe that when I see it." He said, paying for both Shinobu's fortune and his own. Sean's expression turned from humored to serious as he read his, beginning with the first two words: Questionable Luck. What followed didn't help much.
-Those around you will learn more about you than you may want them to. ("Um, maybe that's just a coincidence," he thought.)
-A barrier in your life will fade for a short time.
-Your love will be put to the ultimate trial by fire. Be careful not to get burned.
-Be wary of sly foxes with bright ideas.
-You will be the subject of divine intervention.
-Beware of aggressive blondes; escape before all is lost.
-Relative complications will arise for those around you.
Sean thought what he read was quite odd, but it was the last line that got him thinking the most:
-The choices you make will shape not only your fate, but that of those you care for. Try to make the right ones.
Motoko noticed that Sean was deep in thought. "Is something wrong, Sean? What kind of luck did you get?"
"That kind," he said, holding up his fortune for them to see, but folded up so that all they could see was those first two words.
"May we see the rest?" Shinobu asked, curious about the ambiguous message.
"I'd rather you didn't," he said, pocketing his fortune. He knew that the message behind couple of them would be easily recognized, and that it might cause undue worry on Shinobu's part… again.
"I understand," Motoko said. "Sometimes, these things can get quite personal."
"If only you knew," he thought. "Excuse me, there's something I need to go do."
"But Sean--" Shinobu started to say before she was stopped by Motoko putting a hand to her shoulder.
"Let him go," she said. "He knows what he's doing. What did your fortune say…?"
---
Sean backtracked through the crowd until he found the other girls and Keitaro.
"Hey, Sean," Keitaro said. "Where's Shinobu?"
"Back with Motoko at the fortunes place."
"Oh, did you get one?" Naru asked.
"Yeah, I did," he said, not making eye contact. "It was… interesting."
"Where are you headed off to all by yourself?" Kitsune asked.
"Back to that wishing well."
"I thought you said you didn't have anything to wish for," Naru said.
"I do now," he said, walking past them.
"Think he got bad luck or something?" Keitaro asked. Naru, Kitsune and Suu could only guess.
When he got to his destination, Sean reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin. "Please, let me make the right decisions this year," he thought, tossing it in. As an afterthought, he tossed another coin in. "Also, I wish for the happiness of all my friends."
"Why did you just walk off?" Sean looked back to see Shinobu.
"How did you know where I was?"
"The others told me while getting their fortunes."
Sean sighed. "I'm sorry. The fortune I got just got me thinking, that's all."
"Want to talk about it?"
"Not really. Most of it was pretty cryptic. I'm not sure you'd understand it. Heck, I don't even get some of it."
"Oh. What do you want to do, then?"
"I don't know. Maybe head back home."
"Should we get the others?"
"Nah, they can have fun without us. Besides, we don't get too much time alone together. We should take advantage of this opportunity. Like Kitsune said, we need to start this year off right, and I think spending more time with you doing something other than repairs can do just that." Shinobu quickly agreed to that and as soon as they were out of sight, they teleported back to Hinata-Sou.
"So," Shinobu said after they appeared in the living room. "what do you want to do?"
"Want to go play some video games? I promise I'll go easy on you," Sean said with a smile.
"That sounds nice."
"How about you go get yourself a snack, change and meet me in my room?"
Shinobu nodded, then rushed off to the kitchen to do just that, but when she reached the kitchen, she saw something that wasn't there before. "I must have gotten so wrapped up in the holiday season that I forgot to get a new calendar," she said, gazing at said item. "Sean must have done it just now." She grabbed it and was about to hang it up when she noticed that some of the dates had already been marked, and it got the wheels turning in her head. "Hmm, maybe I shouldn't hang this up just yet…" Completely forgetting about getting a snack, she took the calendar with her to her room.
End of Chapter XXXIII
I guess I might have been worried over nothing, though this is going to get some interesting reviews. Oh, I just remembered, I have no rights to Queen, so don't sue me on that one. See you next time! Please R&R!