Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.
Chapter XLII: The Hunted
"Hello?" Sean called out as he entered the living room. "Is anybody here?" He was starting to get worried, as it was late in the day and he hadn't seen any of the girls or Keitaro anywhere. "Is this some sort of trick? If it is, you can end it now!"
The only response he got was a faint sound coming from upstairs. As he neared the source and the sound became more distinct, he recognized it as laughter, but it didn't quite sound human; and it got him more worried. "Who's up there?" he couldn't help but ask himself. Much to his surprise, the trail led him to his room. Curious and slightly irritated, he opened the door to find complete darkness within. The inhuman laughter was coming from somewhere inside that room, and it sounded like there was more than one; whoever--or whatever--was inside, it wasn't alone. "Um, why are you in my room?" he asked with about as much certainty as one can have in this kind of situation.
All of a sudden, the laughing stopped, and a pair of glowing red eyes appeared in the darkness. "Oh, hello, Sean," a voice said. "Have you come to play with us?"
"Yes," another voice said, accompanied by it's own set of eyes. "Play with us."
Sean could have sworn he'd heard those voices somewhere before, but they were so distorted, he couldn't get any positive IDs on them. "Um, well…" he started to say nervously as he backed away from the door.
"Come on, Sean," the second voice said. "Play with us."
"It's not like you have a choice or anything," the first voice added.
"WHAT?!" Sean was starting to get really scared at this point. The laughing continued in the room and the eyes were joined by smiles that should only be seen in Alice in Wonderland. When he heard approaching footsteps, he broke out into a run, and quickly found himself at the end of the hallway. Looking back, he saw a cloud of darkness leave his room and head in his direction. "What do you want from me?!" he asked.
"All we want is to play with you," voice A said, eyes and smile still visible.
"Do I want to know what you want to play?"
"You'll find out soon enough."
"I didn't think so," Sean thought. He knew that he'd have to put up some defenses if he hoped to stop… whatever the hell they were… from "playing" with him. Quickly, he put up a force field across the hallway, but to his horror, the beings passed right through it as though it was never there. "Oh, crap." After seeing his defensive spells fail him, he switched to the offensive. In true Yu Yu Hakusho style, he pointed a finger at one of the creatures and fired a bullet of energy at it, entering the darkness right between the eyes, but hearing his shot hit the force wall let him know it didn't connect with it's intended target.
"Now now," voice B said. "There's no need for such aggression. Besides, why would you want to hurt us?"
Suddenly, something clicked in his head. "No, it couldn't be," he thought, finally recognizing the voices. The darkness started to disperse and his eyes grew wide when he saw who it was. "Oh my God!" he said. "It's you!" More eerie laughter was heard as the two lunged for the cowering landlord. "NOOO!"
--- Monday, 6/2 6:15 AM
Alicia woke up from her nightmare, Sean's screaming still echoing in her head. "Oh man," she muttered, holding a hand to her chest. "That's a new one."
"What's wrong?" Shinobu asked. She had woken up just minutes before.
"It's just this dream I just had," Alicia said, her blood pressure slowly getting back to normal. "There were demons in it; two of them."
"Demons?"
"Yeah, and nothing I could do could stop them, and when they got to me, they…" she shuddered at the thought.
"At least it was just a dream," Shinobu said.
Alicia nodded, but there was something in the back of her mind saying this was more than a mere dream; if only she could remember who the two demonic creatures were.
"Are you going to be alright?" Shinobu asked after a few moments of silence.
"Yeah," Alicia said, getting up. "I'll be fine." As she changed into Sean, got dressed and prepared himself for the day ahead, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something important that he should be remembering, but it just never came to mind. "Oh well," he thought. "I'm sure it'll hit me sooner or later." He had no idea just how right he was. "I'm going to go clean the hot spring, okay?"
"Alright," Shinobu said. "I'll start making breakfast in a little while. Don't get killed!" She said that last part with a smile.
"I won't," Sean said, smiling back; this was a bit of a joke between the two, referring back to when cleaning the hot spring was a health risk. However, on this day, he would quickly realize that this task would be easier said than done. As soon as he set foot into the hallway, he let out a shriek as Suu and Sarah attacked him; one kicking him in the head, one in the side.
Quick as a flash, Shinobu was at his side. "Are you alright?!"
"I'll live," Sean groaned.
"Yay!" Suu yelled as she pulled Sean to his feet, seemingly unaware of the damage she just caused. "Summer's finally here!"
"Yeah!" Sarah said, jumping up and latching herself to Sean's back. "Now we can play all day long!"
"Lovely," Sean thought as Suu dragged him down the hallway. He bit his lip to keep from griping out loud.
The look of worry was apparent on Shinobu's face as she watched the trio vanish around a corner. "This is going to be a long summer," she said to herself, then went to go make breakfast, genuinely wondering just how many people would actually be showing up for it.
---
"Where are you taking me?" Sean asked as Suu lead him up to the third floor.
"You'll find out soon enough," Suu said.
The giggling coming from both Suu and Sarah (who was still getting a piggy-back ride) only made Sean more curious about what was going to happen; which in turn made him more worried. "This won't end well," he thought. When he came out of his very grim thoughts, he was suddenly aware that the little group he had involuntarily become a part of had come to a halt in front of Suu's door.
"Come on," Suu said, motioning for Sarah to get off Sean's back. "Let's go get ready." As they walked into her room, Suu looked back at Sean. "Go to the roof; we'll meet you there."
"Uh, right," Sean said as he watched the two girls enter Suu's room, quickly closing the door behind them. As he made his way to the steps to the roof, he found himself looking back the way he came more than a couple times. Maybe it was paranoia, maybe it was his past experiences with Suu and Sarah, maybe his dream had a greater effect on him than he at first thought, but whatever the cause, he had a very bad feeling about the situation he was in.
When he reached the roof platform, Sean found Motoko already there. From the look of things, she had just finished her morning exercises. "Hello, Sean," she said. "Isn't this a beautiful morning?" she asked, looking out at the view of the town.
"Yeah, wonderful," Sean responded.
Noticing Sean's sarcastic tone, Motoko turned around and saw him looking back down the steps. "What's wrong?"
"It's Suu and Sarah," Sean said. "What with summer vacation now under way, they have a lot more time on their hands; and guess who their full time playmate is."
"Ouch."
"You're telling me. You should head downstairs so you don't get hurt."
"But what about--"
"Don't worry about me. I've survived this place so far, and I don't intend to end that streak any time soon."
"I guess I'll see you at breakfast, then."
Sean nodded as he watched Motoko head downstairs, secretly hoping she wasn't walking into an ambush. When she was out of sight, Sean walked over to the rail and gazed out at the view. "I wonder if every morning's going to be like this," he said to himself. He spent what felt like an eternity just staring off into space until he was violently brought back to reality.
"HEY, SEAN!!" Sarah yelled right into Sean's ear.
"WHAT?!" Sean quickly turned around to find the business end of a bazooka staring him in the face. "WHOA!" He was barely able to move out of the way before Sarah pulled the trigger, the missile passing within a foot of his head. He looked back at the speeding projectile, held his arm out towards it and it detonated in mid-air. "At least I can keep them from hurting anyone else," he thought before turning back to his attacker. "Was that really necessary?!"
Sarah just giggled and ran back to the stairs, where Suu was waiting with a squad of tanks ready to go; for obvious reasons, she was smiling at her target. She pressed a couple buttons on the controller in her hand and each tank fired a missile in Sean's general direction.
Strangely enough, Sean was smiling as well. He had encountered Suu's abundant arsenal a few times before, and knew what it took to beat it, and it seemed to get easier and easier each time. He pointed a finger at the oncoming swarm and they all exploded before they could make contact, bathing the area between Sean and Suu in smoke. "Is that all you got?" Sean asked.
"Hardly!" Suu yelled as she launched another volley of missiles at Sean. They entered the cloud all at once and… nothing happened. No explosions, no screams of agony, no sounds whatsoever. After a few moments of this eerie silence, Suu heard Sean start to laugh from his side of the smoke, and she started to get concerned.
"You'll have to do better than that!" Sean said. "I suggest you take a step back." All of a sudden, Suu saw the weapons she had just unleashed appear from over the haze. All she could do was watch as each missile made contact with a tank, blowing all of them to pieces. Needless to say, she wasn't too pleased by this turn of events.
"NO!" Suu screamed as she looked at what was left of her toys. "You destroyed my babies! Now you must pay!" She got out a walkie-talkie from out of nowhere. "Sarah! Activate the bombers!"
Sarah's response was immediate. "But you said you were still testing those."
"I don't care what I said! Get them up here, NOW!"
"Alright," Sarah said with a sigh. "I hope you know what you're doing."
Now, you must understand, Sean hasn't seen Suu this upset that often, but from what he has seen in the past, he knew she wasn't one to take grief gracefully. With this knowledge at hand, he knew he was in big trouble, especially if Sarah was concerned about what Suu had planned.
The fog had long since lifted and Sean was able to see the rubble that had once been Suu's tank squad, but the new force Suu had lined up against him would quickly demand his immediate attention. On a reflex, he ducked his head a bit as five low flying planes zoomed over him from behind. They looked like mere model planes, but knowing Suu, they were no doubt carrying some heavy firepower; perhaps more than the tanks did, considering Sarah's reluctance to deploy them.
"Alright, bombers," Suu said, fire blazing in her eyes. "Open fire!"
Sean watched as the planes turned around to face him. He crossed his arms in front of his face and his shield appeared just in time to receive the barrage of machine gun fire from this new wave of fighting machines. His defenses easily protected him from the attack, as the bullets were not as powerful as the missiles from the tanks, but the sheer length of time he had to maintain the spell proved to make this latest strike more strenuous for him than the first. He breathed a sigh of relief when the planes passed by overhead, leaving him unscathed, but he had a feeling that this wasn't over yet, no matter how much he wished it was.
Suu bellowed another command as the fleet made another round. "Drop your payload!" Sean watched as the bottom of each plane open up and a multitude of tiny bombs poured out of them. What with the lack of any better ideas, he made a leap of faith over the intended bombing sight. He was so preoccupied with avoiding one attack, he was completely unaware of another until there was nothing he could do to avoid it.
"GOTCHA!" Sarah yelled as she fired her newly reloaded bazooka from her position halfway up the steps.
"Oh shit," Sean thought as he watched a rocket speed towards him. As he was still reaching the apex of his jump, all he could do was raise another defense. The rocket hit his shield, leaving Sean unharmed, but the force of the blast knocked him backwards, altering his flight path and sending him to a new landing site--three stories down.
"Yeah!" Sarah cheered, pumping her fist in the air. "We got him!" She glanced at Suu, half-expecting her to be celebrating as well, but all she was did was gather up what was left of her beloved tanks and make her way downstairs in complete silence, the planes following shortly after. "Suu?" Sarah called out to her, but she didn't respond. "C'mon, girl, talk to me!"
---
Kitsune was bathing in the hot spring when the rooftop onslaught began. Figuring it would be pretty entertaining, she watched the battle unfold, not surprised that Sean was able to hold off whoever was attacking him. After seeing a few planes start buzzing around him, she saw him jump to avoid some explosions only to be hit by a rocket and sent flying over the edge of the roof. She cringed when she saw him land hard on his right foot not too far away from her. "Are you alright?" she asked, getting up and walking towards him.
"Yeah," Sean muttered, clutching his foot.
"I'm not convinced. Here, let me take a look at that."
"Don't worry about it," Sean said. "Considering what I've been through, I think I can take care of an ankle sprain. Though you could help me up." Kitsune helped him get up and balance on his one good foot. "Thanks. I can take it from here." He waved his hand and a crutch appeared in it.
"Hey, Sean," Kitsune said as Sean started to hobble his way inside. "Why don't you just teleport in?"
"You think I haven't thought of that?" Sean asked, looking up at the roof. "That battle I just had left me a bit drained, and I want to make sure I still have enough left to take care of my foot."
"Makes sense, I guess," Kitsune said. "See you at breakfast." She watched him wave back at her and make his way inside before getting back into the water. "Finally," she said to herself. "No more boring mornings."
---
With some difficulty, Sean made it back to his room. "Oh man," he thought. "I wouldn't want to do that again." This thought was provoked by recalling his grueling trip up the stairs. "If every day's going to be like this, I don't know how long I'm going to last. If Suu had those planes in the works, who knows what else she might throw against me. Then there's the whole bazooka thing; how did they get a hold of one of those?"
"What were you thinking?!" Sarah yelled, taking Sean by surprise. "Why did you destroy Suu's tanks?!"
"Oh, I don't know," Sean said, his words dripping with sarcasm. "Maybe it was my will to survive kicking in or something. I guess I really should stop being so self-centered, huh?"
That set Sarah off. With a roar, she gave Sean a spear that would make Edge green with envy. "Suu's locked in her room right now, mourning over the loss of her toys! She won't even talk to me! ME! And it's ALL YOUR FAULT!!" She repeatedly slammed Sean's head against the floor. "You need to gAAK!" Before she could finish, a hand grabbed her by the throat.
"I need to what?" Sean asked, getting up, Sarah still in his grip. "Tell me; what do I need to do?"
Sarah was at a loss for words, mostly because she was having a difficult time breathing, coupled with her gaze fixed on Sean's eyes, which were glowing red. "What's going on?!" She started to panic until her salvation arrived.
"Hey, Sean, what's with this strange energy I'm--" Motoko's eyes grew wide as she saw a red-eyed Sean sneering at Sarah, whose legs were dangling a foot above the ground. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO SARAH?!"
Suddenly, a shudder ran through Sean's body, his eyes returning to normal, and fully realizing what he was doing. He let go of Sarah's neck, who ran out of the room without a moment's hesitation. "Why?" he found himself asking, his legs giving out as the pain from his injury came back to him. "Why did this have to happen?"
Motoko, who was moments away from drawing her sword, found herself pitying Sean's current situation. She had seen Sean's… altered state of mind before, and she knew the last thing he wanted was to relive that experience. "Sean?" she asked, slowly approaching him. "Are you alright?" She got no response. "Sean, why were you acting that way?"
"Thank God you showed up when you did," Sean finally said, his voice starting to crack. "If you didn't, I could've… I could've…"
"Everything's going to be alright, Sean."
"Is it? Sarah hated me enough before all this, but now…"
"Breakfast's ready!" Shinobu called out from downstairs.
"Come on," Motoko said. "Let's go eat."
Sean quickly shook his head. "I don't think going down there would be a good idea, especially if Suu and Sarah are there."
"But you have to eat something."
"I'm sure Shinobu will bring something up for me."
"But Sean--"
"Go. I think some time alone would do me some good anyway."
After a long silence, Motoko sighed. "Alright." She started to leave the room, but stopped in the doorway. "But I expect a full explanation; if not from you, than from Sarah."
"Talk to her, then," Sean muttered. "I have no intentions of leaving this room until I have fully recovered; both from my injuries and from what you have just witnessed." After Motoko left the room, Sean let out a sigh. "After all this time--I have to keep that from happening again at all costs; and I can think of only one sure-fire way to do that…"
---
Motoko shook her head as she made her way to the dining room. "Why can't things ever be normal around here?" she asked herself. "Something weird is always going on. If it isn't one thing it's another." When she got to her destination, she found almost everyone else already there; only Sean and Suu (which came as a shock to her) were missing. "Hello everyone," she said. "Uh., where's Suu?"
"She's locked up in her room," Sarah said, her arms crossed.
"Have you seen Sean?" Shinobu asked. She heard the rooftop battle, but didn't know the outcome.
"Yeah, he's in his room; he won't be joining us this morning."
"Good!" Sarah said. "I can't stand that freak! Him and his glowing red eyes--"
"Wait," Shinobu said. "What was that?"
"I said, 'glowing red eyes!' What's not to understand?"
Looks of fear appeared around the table. "You're kidding, right?" Naru asked.
"This can't be happening," Shinobu said, tears starting to form in her eyes. "It just can't be."
"It is," Motoko said. "I saw it with my own eyes. I'm afraid our greatest fear has arisen once again."
"You mean that's happened before?" Keitaro asked.
"Yes," Naru said. "When his eyes turn red, he begins to lose all sense of himself. There's no telling what he's capable of when he like that."
"Do you know what causes this?"
"Well, the first time, it was because I hit him one too many times. The second time, it was because we were directly threatened; in fact, that was the day before you showed up."
"Huh," Keitaro said, a thoughtful look on her face.
"I wonder what caused it this time," Motoko said, glaring at Sarah.
"What makes you think it was something I did?" Sarah asked.
"Can you prove otherwise?"
"Alright, I was kind of beating up on him when it happened, but I had good reason to do it! The reason why Suu's in her room and not out here is because Sean destroyed her tanks while we were up on the roof earlier. She's been brooding over it ever since. I couldn't just watch her act like that; I had to do something!"
"And attacking Sean was the best thing you could come up with?!" Shinobu asked, fear turning into anger. "What's wrong with you?"
"Yeah," Kitsune said, taking Shinobu's side. "He was already injured from your battle! You just had to push him over the edge, didn't you?!"
"It's not like his eyes are still red or anything. After Motoko came in, he went back to normal."
"That may be true," Motoko said. "But he's deathly afraid of what he might have done had I not intervened. Even after what you and Suu did to him, hurting you is the last thing he wants to do."
"Jeez, what a wimp."
"Hey," Kitsune said. "Who else could go up against tanks, planes and a rocket launcher and end up with only a sprained ankle?"
"Hey." Everyone turned to see Suu walk in and take her seat.
"About time you got here," Sarah said. "You finally done mourning?"
"Yeah. I guess I just overreacted; just now, I realized I could make more tanks whenever I want. Where's Sean?"
"In his room," Motoko said. "Recovering from his wounds--both physical and otherwise."
Suu was confused by this. "What?"
"His eyes turned red again," Shinobu said.
"They what?!"
"Don't worry," Motoko said. "It didn't last long."
"Long enough for him to try to choke the life out of me," Sarah muttered.
"Why did he do that?" Suu asked.
"I was beating him up for what he did to you."
"Oh man," Suu said. "I should go apologize for that." She quickly ate her breakfast. "I'll go take some food up to him." She grabbed Sean's food and rushed upstairs.
"Who do you think's going to happen when she gets there?" Kitsune asked.
"As long as he doesn't try to hurt me, I don't care what he does," Sarah said.
A minute went by and Suu returned, still with Sean's food. "Well, that was quick," Kitsune said. "Did he refuse to talk to you?"
"He's asleep," Suu said, taking the food to the kitchen.
"He must have overexerted himself this morning," Motoko said. "Let's let him rest. We can always talk to him after he wakes up. Besides, he'll have to eat eventually."
---
As minutes became hours with Sean still taking a nap in his room, everyone decided to return to their normal routines, waiting for their landlord to wake up. It took quite a while, but their patience was finally rewarded… sort of.
--- 3:11 PM
Naru, Shinobu and Kitsune were watching television in the living room when Sean appeared. "Sean, you're awake!"
"Yeah," he said, still a little groggy.
"Where are you going?" Naru asked.
"The kitchen to get something to eat."
"I've got something in there already prepared for you," Shinobu said.
"Thanks." Sean walked out for a minute, then returned with some food, walking back the way he came."
"Um, you want to talk about what happened this morning?"
"I just want to forget about that whole thing, alright? Now, there's something I need to go work on up in my room, and I don't want to be disturbed." He left the room before the others could respond.
"I wonder what he could be working on," Kitsune said.
"Knowing him, it would take quite a bit of energy," Naru said. "That would further explain why he took a nap so early in the day."
"I hope he doesn't spend all day up there," Shinobu said.
Actually, Sean would spend the whole day stuck in his room, but the others would find out that he wasn't doing what he would usually be doing. From Motoko's analysis, there was no magical goings on in his room; whatever he was doing, he was doing it using a mundane means. Everyone eventually started pressuring Shinobu to use X-ray vision to see what was going on, but she would flat out refuse, as she respected his privacy, but that didn't stop her from wondering what the hell was going on. As day turned into night, they figured that they would find out everything sooner or later, at Sean's discretion; and that's just what happened.
--- Tuesday, 6/3 12:04 AM
Motoko suddenly woke up from her slumber. "Oh no," she thought, realizing what had disturbed her sleep. "I can't be." According to her senses, Sean was up on the roof, and whatever he was doing, it took a lot of energy to accomplish. She quickly got out of bed and rushed to the roof, but before she got there, the immense energy she was following vanished. Fearing the worst, she went upstairs as fast as her legs could carry her. When she got there, Sean was nowhere to be seen. "What's going on here?!" she thought. "Am I losing my mind?!" She snatched a piece of paper that happened to flutter across her field of vision. As she read it, her eyes grew wide. "No… this can't be real." But it was, and it was something she could never have foreseen…
End of Chapter XLII
I know, this one has some similarities to Day of Darkness; that's what I was going for. I'm sure you're wondering what I did, but you won't find out from me until next chapter. See you then!
Chapter XLII: The Hunted
"Hello?" Sean called out as he entered the living room. "Is anybody here?" He was starting to get worried, as it was late in the day and he hadn't seen any of the girls or Keitaro anywhere. "Is this some sort of trick? If it is, you can end it now!"
The only response he got was a faint sound coming from upstairs. As he neared the source and the sound became more distinct, he recognized it as laughter, but it didn't quite sound human; and it got him more worried. "Who's up there?" he couldn't help but ask himself. Much to his surprise, the trail led him to his room. Curious and slightly irritated, he opened the door to find complete darkness within. The inhuman laughter was coming from somewhere inside that room, and it sounded like there was more than one; whoever--or whatever--was inside, it wasn't alone. "Um, why are you in my room?" he asked with about as much certainty as one can have in this kind of situation.
All of a sudden, the laughing stopped, and a pair of glowing red eyes appeared in the darkness. "Oh, hello, Sean," a voice said. "Have you come to play with us?"
"Yes," another voice said, accompanied by it's own set of eyes. "Play with us."
Sean could have sworn he'd heard those voices somewhere before, but they were so distorted, he couldn't get any positive IDs on them. "Um, well…" he started to say nervously as he backed away from the door.
"Come on, Sean," the second voice said. "Play with us."
"It's not like you have a choice or anything," the first voice added.
"WHAT?!" Sean was starting to get really scared at this point. The laughing continued in the room and the eyes were joined by smiles that should only be seen in Alice in Wonderland. When he heard approaching footsteps, he broke out into a run, and quickly found himself at the end of the hallway. Looking back, he saw a cloud of darkness leave his room and head in his direction. "What do you want from me?!" he asked.
"All we want is to play with you," voice A said, eyes and smile still visible.
"Do I want to know what you want to play?"
"You'll find out soon enough."
"I didn't think so," Sean thought. He knew that he'd have to put up some defenses if he hoped to stop… whatever the hell they were… from "playing" with him. Quickly, he put up a force field across the hallway, but to his horror, the beings passed right through it as though it was never there. "Oh, crap." After seeing his defensive spells fail him, he switched to the offensive. In true Yu Yu Hakusho style, he pointed a finger at one of the creatures and fired a bullet of energy at it, entering the darkness right between the eyes, but hearing his shot hit the force wall let him know it didn't connect with it's intended target.
"Now now," voice B said. "There's no need for such aggression. Besides, why would you want to hurt us?"
Suddenly, something clicked in his head. "No, it couldn't be," he thought, finally recognizing the voices. The darkness started to disperse and his eyes grew wide when he saw who it was. "Oh my God!" he said. "It's you!" More eerie laughter was heard as the two lunged for the cowering landlord. "NOOO!"
--- Monday, 6/2 6:15 AM
Alicia woke up from her nightmare, Sean's screaming still echoing in her head. "Oh man," she muttered, holding a hand to her chest. "That's a new one."
"What's wrong?" Shinobu asked. She had woken up just minutes before.
"It's just this dream I just had," Alicia said, her blood pressure slowly getting back to normal. "There were demons in it; two of them."
"Demons?"
"Yeah, and nothing I could do could stop them, and when they got to me, they…" she shuddered at the thought.
"At least it was just a dream," Shinobu said.
Alicia nodded, but there was something in the back of her mind saying this was more than a mere dream; if only she could remember who the two demonic creatures were.
"Are you going to be alright?" Shinobu asked after a few moments of silence.
"Yeah," Alicia said, getting up. "I'll be fine." As she changed into Sean, got dressed and prepared himself for the day ahead, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something important that he should be remembering, but it just never came to mind. "Oh well," he thought. "I'm sure it'll hit me sooner or later." He had no idea just how right he was. "I'm going to go clean the hot spring, okay?"
"Alright," Shinobu said. "I'll start making breakfast in a little while. Don't get killed!" She said that last part with a smile.
"I won't," Sean said, smiling back; this was a bit of a joke between the two, referring back to when cleaning the hot spring was a health risk. However, on this day, he would quickly realize that this task would be easier said than done. As soon as he set foot into the hallway, he let out a shriek as Suu and Sarah attacked him; one kicking him in the head, one in the side.
Quick as a flash, Shinobu was at his side. "Are you alright?!"
"I'll live," Sean groaned.
"Yay!" Suu yelled as she pulled Sean to his feet, seemingly unaware of the damage she just caused. "Summer's finally here!"
"Yeah!" Sarah said, jumping up and latching herself to Sean's back. "Now we can play all day long!"
"Lovely," Sean thought as Suu dragged him down the hallway. He bit his lip to keep from griping out loud.
The look of worry was apparent on Shinobu's face as she watched the trio vanish around a corner. "This is going to be a long summer," she said to herself, then went to go make breakfast, genuinely wondering just how many people would actually be showing up for it.
---
"Where are you taking me?" Sean asked as Suu lead him up to the third floor.
"You'll find out soon enough," Suu said.
The giggling coming from both Suu and Sarah (who was still getting a piggy-back ride) only made Sean more curious about what was going to happen; which in turn made him more worried. "This won't end well," he thought. When he came out of his very grim thoughts, he was suddenly aware that the little group he had involuntarily become a part of had come to a halt in front of Suu's door.
"Come on," Suu said, motioning for Sarah to get off Sean's back. "Let's go get ready." As they walked into her room, Suu looked back at Sean. "Go to the roof; we'll meet you there."
"Uh, right," Sean said as he watched the two girls enter Suu's room, quickly closing the door behind them. As he made his way to the steps to the roof, he found himself looking back the way he came more than a couple times. Maybe it was paranoia, maybe it was his past experiences with Suu and Sarah, maybe his dream had a greater effect on him than he at first thought, but whatever the cause, he had a very bad feeling about the situation he was in.
When he reached the roof platform, Sean found Motoko already there. From the look of things, she had just finished her morning exercises. "Hello, Sean," she said. "Isn't this a beautiful morning?" she asked, looking out at the view of the town.
"Yeah, wonderful," Sean responded.
Noticing Sean's sarcastic tone, Motoko turned around and saw him looking back down the steps. "What's wrong?"
"It's Suu and Sarah," Sean said. "What with summer vacation now under way, they have a lot more time on their hands; and guess who their full time playmate is."
"Ouch."
"You're telling me. You should head downstairs so you don't get hurt."
"But what about--"
"Don't worry about me. I've survived this place so far, and I don't intend to end that streak any time soon."
"I guess I'll see you at breakfast, then."
Sean nodded as he watched Motoko head downstairs, secretly hoping she wasn't walking into an ambush. When she was out of sight, Sean walked over to the rail and gazed out at the view. "I wonder if every morning's going to be like this," he said to himself. He spent what felt like an eternity just staring off into space until he was violently brought back to reality.
"HEY, SEAN!!" Sarah yelled right into Sean's ear.
"WHAT?!" Sean quickly turned around to find the business end of a bazooka staring him in the face. "WHOA!" He was barely able to move out of the way before Sarah pulled the trigger, the missile passing within a foot of his head. He looked back at the speeding projectile, held his arm out towards it and it detonated in mid-air. "At least I can keep them from hurting anyone else," he thought before turning back to his attacker. "Was that really necessary?!"
Sarah just giggled and ran back to the stairs, where Suu was waiting with a squad of tanks ready to go; for obvious reasons, she was smiling at her target. She pressed a couple buttons on the controller in her hand and each tank fired a missile in Sean's general direction.
Strangely enough, Sean was smiling as well. He had encountered Suu's abundant arsenal a few times before, and knew what it took to beat it, and it seemed to get easier and easier each time. He pointed a finger at the oncoming swarm and they all exploded before they could make contact, bathing the area between Sean and Suu in smoke. "Is that all you got?" Sean asked.
"Hardly!" Suu yelled as she launched another volley of missiles at Sean. They entered the cloud all at once and… nothing happened. No explosions, no screams of agony, no sounds whatsoever. After a few moments of this eerie silence, Suu heard Sean start to laugh from his side of the smoke, and she started to get concerned.
"You'll have to do better than that!" Sean said. "I suggest you take a step back." All of a sudden, Suu saw the weapons she had just unleashed appear from over the haze. All she could do was watch as each missile made contact with a tank, blowing all of them to pieces. Needless to say, she wasn't too pleased by this turn of events.
"NO!" Suu screamed as she looked at what was left of her toys. "You destroyed my babies! Now you must pay!" She got out a walkie-talkie from out of nowhere. "Sarah! Activate the bombers!"
Sarah's response was immediate. "But you said you were still testing those."
"I don't care what I said! Get them up here, NOW!"
"Alright," Sarah said with a sigh. "I hope you know what you're doing."
Now, you must understand, Sean hasn't seen Suu this upset that often, but from what he has seen in the past, he knew she wasn't one to take grief gracefully. With this knowledge at hand, he knew he was in big trouble, especially if Sarah was concerned about what Suu had planned.
The fog had long since lifted and Sean was able to see the rubble that had once been Suu's tank squad, but the new force Suu had lined up against him would quickly demand his immediate attention. On a reflex, he ducked his head a bit as five low flying planes zoomed over him from behind. They looked like mere model planes, but knowing Suu, they were no doubt carrying some heavy firepower; perhaps more than the tanks did, considering Sarah's reluctance to deploy them.
"Alright, bombers," Suu said, fire blazing in her eyes. "Open fire!"
Sean watched as the planes turned around to face him. He crossed his arms in front of his face and his shield appeared just in time to receive the barrage of machine gun fire from this new wave of fighting machines. His defenses easily protected him from the attack, as the bullets were not as powerful as the missiles from the tanks, but the sheer length of time he had to maintain the spell proved to make this latest strike more strenuous for him than the first. He breathed a sigh of relief when the planes passed by overhead, leaving him unscathed, but he had a feeling that this wasn't over yet, no matter how much he wished it was.
Suu bellowed another command as the fleet made another round. "Drop your payload!" Sean watched as the bottom of each plane open up and a multitude of tiny bombs poured out of them. What with the lack of any better ideas, he made a leap of faith over the intended bombing sight. He was so preoccupied with avoiding one attack, he was completely unaware of another until there was nothing he could do to avoid it.
"GOTCHA!" Sarah yelled as she fired her newly reloaded bazooka from her position halfway up the steps.
"Oh shit," Sean thought as he watched a rocket speed towards him. As he was still reaching the apex of his jump, all he could do was raise another defense. The rocket hit his shield, leaving Sean unharmed, but the force of the blast knocked him backwards, altering his flight path and sending him to a new landing site--three stories down.
"Yeah!" Sarah cheered, pumping her fist in the air. "We got him!" She glanced at Suu, half-expecting her to be celebrating as well, but all she was did was gather up what was left of her beloved tanks and make her way downstairs in complete silence, the planes following shortly after. "Suu?" Sarah called out to her, but she didn't respond. "C'mon, girl, talk to me!"
---
Kitsune was bathing in the hot spring when the rooftop onslaught began. Figuring it would be pretty entertaining, she watched the battle unfold, not surprised that Sean was able to hold off whoever was attacking him. After seeing a few planes start buzzing around him, she saw him jump to avoid some explosions only to be hit by a rocket and sent flying over the edge of the roof. She cringed when she saw him land hard on his right foot not too far away from her. "Are you alright?" she asked, getting up and walking towards him.
"Yeah," Sean muttered, clutching his foot.
"I'm not convinced. Here, let me take a look at that."
"Don't worry about it," Sean said. "Considering what I've been through, I think I can take care of an ankle sprain. Though you could help me up." Kitsune helped him get up and balance on his one good foot. "Thanks. I can take it from here." He waved his hand and a crutch appeared in it.
"Hey, Sean," Kitsune said as Sean started to hobble his way inside. "Why don't you just teleport in?"
"You think I haven't thought of that?" Sean asked, looking up at the roof. "That battle I just had left me a bit drained, and I want to make sure I still have enough left to take care of my foot."
"Makes sense, I guess," Kitsune said. "See you at breakfast." She watched him wave back at her and make his way inside before getting back into the water. "Finally," she said to herself. "No more boring mornings."
---
With some difficulty, Sean made it back to his room. "Oh man," he thought. "I wouldn't want to do that again." This thought was provoked by recalling his grueling trip up the stairs. "If every day's going to be like this, I don't know how long I'm going to last. If Suu had those planes in the works, who knows what else she might throw against me. Then there's the whole bazooka thing; how did they get a hold of one of those?"
"What were you thinking?!" Sarah yelled, taking Sean by surprise. "Why did you destroy Suu's tanks?!"
"Oh, I don't know," Sean said, his words dripping with sarcasm. "Maybe it was my will to survive kicking in or something. I guess I really should stop being so self-centered, huh?"
That set Sarah off. With a roar, she gave Sean a spear that would make Edge green with envy. "Suu's locked in her room right now, mourning over the loss of her toys! She won't even talk to me! ME! And it's ALL YOUR FAULT!!" She repeatedly slammed Sean's head against the floor. "You need to gAAK!" Before she could finish, a hand grabbed her by the throat.
"I need to what?" Sean asked, getting up, Sarah still in his grip. "Tell me; what do I need to do?"
Sarah was at a loss for words, mostly because she was having a difficult time breathing, coupled with her gaze fixed on Sean's eyes, which were glowing red. "What's going on?!" She started to panic until her salvation arrived.
"Hey, Sean, what's with this strange energy I'm--" Motoko's eyes grew wide as she saw a red-eyed Sean sneering at Sarah, whose legs were dangling a foot above the ground. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO SARAH?!"
Suddenly, a shudder ran through Sean's body, his eyes returning to normal, and fully realizing what he was doing. He let go of Sarah's neck, who ran out of the room without a moment's hesitation. "Why?" he found himself asking, his legs giving out as the pain from his injury came back to him. "Why did this have to happen?"
Motoko, who was moments away from drawing her sword, found herself pitying Sean's current situation. She had seen Sean's… altered state of mind before, and she knew the last thing he wanted was to relive that experience. "Sean?" she asked, slowly approaching him. "Are you alright?" She got no response. "Sean, why were you acting that way?"
"Thank God you showed up when you did," Sean finally said, his voice starting to crack. "If you didn't, I could've… I could've…"
"Everything's going to be alright, Sean."
"Is it? Sarah hated me enough before all this, but now…"
"Breakfast's ready!" Shinobu called out from downstairs.
"Come on," Motoko said. "Let's go eat."
Sean quickly shook his head. "I don't think going down there would be a good idea, especially if Suu and Sarah are there."
"But you have to eat something."
"I'm sure Shinobu will bring something up for me."
"But Sean--"
"Go. I think some time alone would do me some good anyway."
After a long silence, Motoko sighed. "Alright." She started to leave the room, but stopped in the doorway. "But I expect a full explanation; if not from you, than from Sarah."
"Talk to her, then," Sean muttered. "I have no intentions of leaving this room until I have fully recovered; both from my injuries and from what you have just witnessed." After Motoko left the room, Sean let out a sigh. "After all this time--I have to keep that from happening again at all costs; and I can think of only one sure-fire way to do that…"
---
Motoko shook her head as she made her way to the dining room. "Why can't things ever be normal around here?" she asked herself. "Something weird is always going on. If it isn't one thing it's another." When she got to her destination, she found almost everyone else already there; only Sean and Suu (which came as a shock to her) were missing. "Hello everyone," she said. "Uh., where's Suu?"
"She's locked up in her room," Sarah said, her arms crossed.
"Have you seen Sean?" Shinobu asked. She heard the rooftop battle, but didn't know the outcome.
"Yeah, he's in his room; he won't be joining us this morning."
"Good!" Sarah said. "I can't stand that freak! Him and his glowing red eyes--"
"Wait," Shinobu said. "What was that?"
"I said, 'glowing red eyes!' What's not to understand?"
Looks of fear appeared around the table. "You're kidding, right?" Naru asked.
"This can't be happening," Shinobu said, tears starting to form in her eyes. "It just can't be."
"It is," Motoko said. "I saw it with my own eyes. I'm afraid our greatest fear has arisen once again."
"You mean that's happened before?" Keitaro asked.
"Yes," Naru said. "When his eyes turn red, he begins to lose all sense of himself. There's no telling what he's capable of when he like that."
"Do you know what causes this?"
"Well, the first time, it was because I hit him one too many times. The second time, it was because we were directly threatened; in fact, that was the day before you showed up."
"Huh," Keitaro said, a thoughtful look on her face.
"I wonder what caused it this time," Motoko said, glaring at Sarah.
"What makes you think it was something I did?" Sarah asked.
"Can you prove otherwise?"
"Alright, I was kind of beating up on him when it happened, but I had good reason to do it! The reason why Suu's in her room and not out here is because Sean destroyed her tanks while we were up on the roof earlier. She's been brooding over it ever since. I couldn't just watch her act like that; I had to do something!"
"And attacking Sean was the best thing you could come up with?!" Shinobu asked, fear turning into anger. "What's wrong with you?"
"Yeah," Kitsune said, taking Shinobu's side. "He was already injured from your battle! You just had to push him over the edge, didn't you?!"
"It's not like his eyes are still red or anything. After Motoko came in, he went back to normal."
"That may be true," Motoko said. "But he's deathly afraid of what he might have done had I not intervened. Even after what you and Suu did to him, hurting you is the last thing he wants to do."
"Jeez, what a wimp."
"Hey," Kitsune said. "Who else could go up against tanks, planes and a rocket launcher and end up with only a sprained ankle?"
"Hey." Everyone turned to see Suu walk in and take her seat.
"About time you got here," Sarah said. "You finally done mourning?"
"Yeah. I guess I just overreacted; just now, I realized I could make more tanks whenever I want. Where's Sean?"
"In his room," Motoko said. "Recovering from his wounds--both physical and otherwise."
Suu was confused by this. "What?"
"His eyes turned red again," Shinobu said.
"They what?!"
"Don't worry," Motoko said. "It didn't last long."
"Long enough for him to try to choke the life out of me," Sarah muttered.
"Why did he do that?" Suu asked.
"I was beating him up for what he did to you."
"Oh man," Suu said. "I should go apologize for that." She quickly ate her breakfast. "I'll go take some food up to him." She grabbed Sean's food and rushed upstairs.
"Who do you think's going to happen when she gets there?" Kitsune asked.
"As long as he doesn't try to hurt me, I don't care what he does," Sarah said.
A minute went by and Suu returned, still with Sean's food. "Well, that was quick," Kitsune said. "Did he refuse to talk to you?"
"He's asleep," Suu said, taking the food to the kitchen.
"He must have overexerted himself this morning," Motoko said. "Let's let him rest. We can always talk to him after he wakes up. Besides, he'll have to eat eventually."
---
As minutes became hours with Sean still taking a nap in his room, everyone decided to return to their normal routines, waiting for their landlord to wake up. It took quite a while, but their patience was finally rewarded… sort of.
--- 3:11 PM
Naru, Shinobu and Kitsune were watching television in the living room when Sean appeared. "Sean, you're awake!"
"Yeah," he said, still a little groggy.
"Where are you going?" Naru asked.
"The kitchen to get something to eat."
"I've got something in there already prepared for you," Shinobu said.
"Thanks." Sean walked out for a minute, then returned with some food, walking back the way he came."
"Um, you want to talk about what happened this morning?"
"I just want to forget about that whole thing, alright? Now, there's something I need to go work on up in my room, and I don't want to be disturbed." He left the room before the others could respond.
"I wonder what he could be working on," Kitsune said.
"Knowing him, it would take quite a bit of energy," Naru said. "That would further explain why he took a nap so early in the day."
"I hope he doesn't spend all day up there," Shinobu said.
Actually, Sean would spend the whole day stuck in his room, but the others would find out that he wasn't doing what he would usually be doing. From Motoko's analysis, there was no magical goings on in his room; whatever he was doing, he was doing it using a mundane means. Everyone eventually started pressuring Shinobu to use X-ray vision to see what was going on, but she would flat out refuse, as she respected his privacy, but that didn't stop her from wondering what the hell was going on. As day turned into night, they figured that they would find out everything sooner or later, at Sean's discretion; and that's just what happened.
--- Tuesday, 6/3 12:04 AM
Motoko suddenly woke up from her slumber. "Oh no," she thought, realizing what had disturbed her sleep. "I can't be." According to her senses, Sean was up on the roof, and whatever he was doing, it took a lot of energy to accomplish. She quickly got out of bed and rushed to the roof, but before she got there, the immense energy she was following vanished. Fearing the worst, she went upstairs as fast as her legs could carry her. When she got there, Sean was nowhere to be seen. "What's going on here?!" she thought. "Am I losing my mind?!" She snatched a piece of paper that happened to flutter across her field of vision. As she read it, her eyes grew wide. "No… this can't be real." But it was, and it was something she could never have foreseen…
End of Chapter XLII
I know, this one has some similarities to Day of Darkness; that's what I was going for. I'm sure you're wondering what I did, but you won't find out from me until next chapter. See you then!