Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.
I love writing cliffhangers; I really do.
Chapter XLIII: Case of the Missing Landlord
Tuesday, 6/3 7:00 AM
"Good morning, everyone!" Shinobu said cheerfully as she served breakfast. As she glanced around the table, she noticed that, yet again, not everyone was present. "Is Sean still working in his room?" she asked.
"Maybe," Kitsune said. "Apparently, he was working pretty hard in his room. He's probably just sleeping in or something."
"No." Everyone turned to see Motoko enter the room. From her appearance, it looked like a good night's sleep was too much to hope for; and that she had been crying for most of the night.
"What do you mean?" Naru asked. "Do you know where he's at?"
"Here, read this." She said, tossing a sheet of paper onto the table. "He left it out on the roof last night." Unable to control her emotions any longer, she ran out of the room, new tears trailing behind her.
"Whoa," Kitsune said, watching Motoko run off. "This must be more serious than we think if it got her that broken up about it." She looked at the letter she left behind. "Let's see what we're up against here." She grabbed the paper and began reading it. "Oh no," she thought after a while. "This isn't good."
"What's wrong, Kitsune?" Shinobu asked, seeing her distressed expression. "What does it say?"
Kitsune shook her head. "You don't want to know."
"I can take it. Let me see that."
"Alright," Kitsune said with a sigh. "But don't say I didn't warn you." Shinobu took the letter from her and read the contents aloud:
Dear everyone:
I'm sure you're all wondering why I'm not here this morning. (No doubt Motoko found this last night.) It pains me to have to do this, but I feel there is no other alternative. My actions against Sarah, no matter how provoked they may have been, were unforgivable. The last thing I want is to see any of you hurt, especially by my own hands, but I fear that if I were to suffer the wrath of Suu and Sarah throughout the whole summer, that outcome will be inevitable. Therefore, I feel that to avoid going completely insane from it all, I must take a leave of absence from Hinata-Sou. I will not tell you where I have gone, nor will I let you know when I'll return. In all honesty, I'm not sure exactly when I'll be back; could be a week, could be a month, could be until school starts in the fall, I can't be sure.
Before you get the wrong idea, I just want to tell you that I hated this idea as much as you do, if not more, and I know what you're thinking: "Why didn't you tell us?" Well, if I had, you--or at least Shinobu--would try to stop me by any means necessary. Don't think my sudden departure means that I don't want to be around you anymore; that couldn't be farther from the truth. I enjoy the time I spend with you, and I would like nothing more than to stay, but as your landlord, I have an obligation to keep you all safe, even from myself. Please, don't come looking for me.
See you soon,
Sean
"I told you you didn't want to know," Kitsune said, feeling sympathetic for the young girl.
"He's gone," Shinobu whispered. "He's really gone." She tried as hard as she could to keep her tears on the inside. When she couldn't stand it any longer, she exploded--right in Suu's face. "It's all your fault!" She screamed as she tackled Suu; her angry tone shocking everyone in the room. "You just had to keep using your tanks against him, didn't you?!" Suu tried to respond, but couldn't, due to Shinobu's hands wrapped around her throat.
"Shinobu!" Naru yelled, prying Shinobu off Suu. "Calm down!"
"You're right," Shinobu said. "Suu's not my real target. If Sarah hadn't attacked him like she did, this never would have happened and Sean'd still be here!" She struggled against Naru's grip on her. "Let me go! I want to go kick her ass!"
"Shinobu, cool it!" Kitsune said, giving her a good slap in the face. "You really think more violence will make everything alright?!"
"I…I…" Shinobu finally broke down, tears steaming down her face. She turned around and buried her face in Naru's chest. "I'm so sorry! I don't know what came over me!"
"Are you going to be alright, Suu?" Keitaro asked.
"Yeah, but Shinobu, could you do me one favor?" Suu said. "Please avoid the sudden bursts of violence, please? I really doesn't suit your personality."
Shinobu forced herself to smile as she slowly nodded her head. "There you go," Kitsune said. "That's the Shinobu we all know. Don't you worry; we've been through a lot worse than this, you know?"
"Yeah, (sniff) I know." Shinobu calmed down some as she sat back down at the table. "Uh, Suu?"
"Yeah?" Suu was still a bit wary of what she might do.
"Could I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Why have you been attacking Sean like you have?"
Suu's eyes grew a little. "You mean I never told any of you? Huh, it must have slipped my mind. I know it looked like I was just having fun at his expense, but what I was really doing was, in my own way, giving Sean a magical workout."
"A what?" Shinobu asked, somewhat confused by Suu's answer.
"After we found out that he could use magic and what he was capable of, I wanted to help him increase his ability to protect us--just in case."
"By trying to blow him up?!"
"Can you think of a better way?"
"Uh, not really. Does he know about this?"
Suu shook her head. "No. As far as he knows, this is just my way of 'playing' with him. I never even told Sarah about this."
"Then why did you freak out when he blew up your tanks yesterday?" Kitsune asked.
"I never expected him to go on the offensive. I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later."
Shinobu nodded, a thoughtful expression on her face. "What's on your mind?" Naru asked.
"I'm just wondering if Sean's alright, wherever he is."
"I'm sure he's fine," Naru said. "Come to think of it, I think a vacation is just what the doctor ordered."
"What do you mean?"
"It's been almost a full year since we first met him. Since then, he's worked almost nonstop to make sure we were all healthy and happy, sometimes at the expense of his own health. He's put with a lot more than a man should, and we all know it. I'm actually a bit surprised he's lasted this long before needing some time to himself."
Shinobu sank a tad lower in her seat. "He should have told us about all this in person instead of leaving a note behind for us to find. He should have let us know something was wrong. He should have… taken me with him." That got some weird looks from around the table. "What? I am his girlfriend, aren't I?"
"And what did you plan on doing with him while you were gone?" Naru asked suspiciously.
"Are you questioning my intentions?" Shinobu shot back.
"I'm just saying that with you and him alone in some secluded locale, things might start happening."
"Yeah, so what?"
"'So what'?! Am I the only one looking out for your best interest?!"
"And who are you to say what my best interests are?! Besides, after a year of false accusations, you should know better than to label him as a pedophile at every little thing! You know as well as I do that he's never one to make the first move when it come to things like that anyway!"
"From this little exchange, I'm pretty sure I know why Sean went by himself," Kitsune said. "He wanted to avoid getting torn to bits by Naru or Motoko."
"Speaking of which," Naru said, calming down. "Where did Motoko go?"
"She must be taking this whole thing a lot harder than the rest of us," Shinobu said. "I'll go find her after breakfast." After she finished breakfast, Shinobu took some food up to Motoko's room, where she hoped to find the troubled swordswoman. "Motoko?" She said as she opened the door. "Are you in here?" Hearing sniveling, she went out onto the balcony and saw Motoko sitting in the far corner, her knees pressed up against her chest. "What's wrong, Motoko?"
"I should have done something to help," Motoko murmured, apparently unaware of Shinobu's presence. "I should have been able to prevent all this from happening."
"Motoko…" Shinobu realized Motoko was worse off than she could have ever thought. She sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her in a comforting fashion.
As soon as contact was made, Motoko snapped. "I'm so sorry!"
Shinobu found it hard to respond, as Motoko was hugging her tightly, squeezing the air from her lungs. "You have--nothing to be--sorry for," she managed to say. She forced herself out of Motoko's embrace before continuing. "None of us could have seen this coming, so don't put any of the blame, much less all of it, on yourself!"
"I'm sorry," Motoko said, calming down. "It's just that this looks so similar to when Sean lost his magic. I felt so… so worthless."
"Motoko, everything's going to be fine. We'll get through this like we've gotten through everything else. It's not like he left for good, right?"
"You're right," Motoko said, cheering up some. "We should just look forward to his return."
"That's the spirit! Now, eat your breakfast; I can't have you starving to death now, can I?" Shinobu and Motoko shared a giggle and Motoko began eating the food Shinobu brought with her. "If it helps any," Shinobu said after a while. "I think you took the news a bit better than I did."
"What did you do?" Motoko asked after swallowing.
"At first, I was sad like you, but…" Even though she brought it up, she was reluctant to continue.
"What happened?"
"I attacked Suu." Motoko was speechless. "I know, I'm surprised at myself for doing that, but along with Sarah, she was the one who caused all this to happen, and for that brief moment, I hated them for that with all my heart."
"I suppose I'd react that way as well if she was trying to blow up my boyfriend."
"Why am I not surprised?"
---
The morning was about as close to usual as possible, with everyone coming to terms with Sean's departure in their own way. When lunchtime came around, they decided they should figure out what their next course of action should be; and that's when Kitsune brought up her big plan…
--- 12:07 PM
"Alright," Shinobu said. "I think we should all pitch in, splitting the chores up among us until Sean returns, what do you think?"
"Sounds reasonable," Keitaro said. He remembered how, last time Sean left, he and Shinobu were put in charge.
"Yeah, we want Sean to be impressed with what he sees when he gets back."
"I've got a better idea," Kitsune said, her usual smile on her face.
"And what might that be?" Naru asked skeptically.
"Well, I talked it over with Suu this morning, and we agreed that we can't just stand around and just let our landlord slip through our fingers like this. I say we go find him and bring him back ourselves!"
"That's crazy!" Motoko said. "We have no idea where to start looking! Besides, didn't his letter precisely say NOT to look for him?"
"He only wrote that letter because he didn't have the guts to tell us to our faces! We ought to show him that he can't go sneak off somewhere without the risk of being followed!"
"No," Shinobu said. "He said he'll come back, and I believe him."
"That may be true, but just how long are you willing to wait? Last time, he was only gone for a couple weeks, including the time he was here as a girl. For all we know, he could be gone for a month, two months or more! Can you last that long without him?"
That was a difficult question for Shinobu to answer. "Um, well…"
"Kitsune will you stop bugging the poor girl?!" Naru asked.
"No," Shinobu said. "She has a point. I love him; and I don't think I could stand to be away from him for months at a time. I'm in."
"Anyone else?" Kitsune asked.
"Well, even with Shinobu going with you, I can't trust you two alone for a second," Naru said. "I'm coming along just to keep you in line."
"If Naru's in, than I'm in too!" Keitaro said.
"I would like nothing more than to see Sean again," Motoko said. "But who's going to take care of this place while we're gone?"
"I could always ask Aunt Haruka to do it," Keitaro said.
"Then it's settled," Kitsune said. "Sean, wherever you are we'll find you!"
---
Sean felt a twitch in the back of his mind, but quickly passed it off as nothing. "It's probably just my paranoia acting up again," he thought.
---
"Are you sure we should be looking through his room?" Shinobu asked as the whole group headed for that very place.
"Think about it," Kitsune said. "How else will we find out where he went?"
"I just think it's a bit underhanded, that's all."
"And you think the way he left wasn't? He should have known we'd do this."
"I still feel a bit guilty about rummaging through his room," Shinobu thought.
"Um, guys?" Suu said when they reach their destination. They turned around to find a thoughtful expression on her face. "If you don't mind, I've got an idea for something that might help us out, so I'll be in my room."
"That's fine," Naru said.
"Motoko, could you help me?"
"Sure," Motoko said. "What do you need my help for?"
"You'll see." Suu and a curious Motoko headed for the foreigner's room, leaving the others to search through Sean's.
"Alright," Kitsune said, walking into the room. "Where should we start?" Her gaze fell on the video vault. "Hmm, I wonder…" She headed back to the door.
"Where are you going?" Naru asked.
"I'm going to get something real quick." Kitsune rushed out of Sean's room and into her own. A quick survey revealed what she was looking for. "I knew this thing would come in handy," she thought, grabbing the remote for the vault and returning the way she came.
"What's that?" Shinobu asked.
"Watch." Kitsune pointed the remote at the vault, pressed the button and the door vanished, surprising everyone else in the room.
"Wow," Keitaro said.
"Okay," Kitsune muttered, walking in the vault. "Let's see if it's here…" The others looked on curiously as she scanned the shelves until she found what she was looking for. "Here we go," she said triumphantly. "Yesterday's video. This should let us know where he went off to."
"Is there a video for every day?" Shinobu asked.
"Yeah. He never told you?"
Shinobu shook her head. "I wonder why not."
"Maybe he's afraid of what you might see," Naru said.
"That or maybe he just forgot and you never brought it up," Kitsune said. "Now, let's see what we can get from this thing." Kitsune put the disc in the laptop (which Sean left behind) and fast forwarded it to evening.
--- Monday, 6/2 8:51 PM
Sean was going through his closet, picking out some clothes for his trip. "I can't believe I'm actually doing this." he said. "I think this is the hardest decision I've ever had to make. I hate to leave them like this, but I can't let them know that I'm going--"
---
It was at that moment that the video cut to static. "Damn it," Kitsune said. "What's wrong with this thing?" Much to everyone's surprise, rising laughter could be heard from the computer.
"Nice try," Sean's voice said. "But you'll have to try harder than that if you want to catch me." The laughing continued until the video faded to black.
"Looks like he knew we'd do this, Kitsune," Naru said.
"You think?" Kitsune said, ejecting the disc and returning it to it's place in the vault. "This is only going to make me more determined. He'll regret the day he tries to outsmart me!"
"I think we'll all regret that," Keitaro said, getting a laugh from Shinobu and Naru.
"Search this place from top to bottom!" Kitsune ordered. "Leave no stone unturned! Sean must have left some clues somewhere, and we're going to find them!"
--- 2:12 PM
"I'm back!" Suu said, returning to Sean's room. She's quickly shocked by the sight before her. "What have you done to Sean's room?!" She could have sworn she heard Kitsune growling as she continued to search through the room, which already looked like it was hit by a tornado.
"You don't want to know," Naru said.
"Why don't you try to stop her?"
"We've tried almost everything," Shinobu said. "Except…" She walked up to Kitsune from behind. "I hoped it wouldn't come to this," she thought.
Kitsune suddenly noticed Shinobu place her hands against the sides of her head. "What are you doing?"
"This has gone too far, Kitsune. You have to stop."
Kitsune screamed as felt pain shoot through her skull. "No! I have to keep looking! I have to… find… Sean…" Kitsune suddenly fell forward, unconscious.
"Is she going to be alright?" Keitaro asked.
"Yeah," Shinobu said. "But she won't be doing anything for a while." She turned to Suu. "Did you finish what you were working on?"
That reminded Suu of why she went there in the first place. "Oh yeah, I did." She looked down the hallway. "Come on, Motoko show them what I made."
Motoko was a few feet from the door. She wasn't exactly sure what had just happened in Sean's room, and for some reason, she didn't want to know. "Do I have to?" she asked.
"Well, if you won't show them yourself, I'll just have them come out here and see." Suu motioned for everyone to come out into the hallway.
"Oh my," Naru said, barely able to keep from laughing. "What's that on your head?"
"Oh, shut up," Motoko said, obviously not happy with what was going on. "Do I have to wear this stupid thing? This is humiliating!"
"You agreed to help me, Motoko, remember? Besides, you need to wear that for it to work."
"Does it have to be me?"
"I'm afraid so." Motoko just muttered something to herself.
"Um, Suu?" Keitaro asked, eyeing the odd contraption on Motoko's head. "What is that, anyway?"
"My latest invention," Suu said, obviously proud of her accomplishment. "We all know that Motoko could sense Sean's energy from a mile away, right? Well, using this device, her range will be expanded."
"How far will it go?" Shinobu asked.
"Think of it this way: If he's anywhere on this planet, we'll know."
"That's great!"
"Well, it's not perfect. With the time I was given, this will only determine how far away he is, not give an absolute location or direction, but it better than nothing, right?"
"Well, start it up already," Naru said.
"I'd be glad to." Suu walked over to Motoko and flipped a switch on the odd machine attached to her head, causing her to flinch. "Don't worry, the discomfort will only last for a moment."
"Thank the gods for that," Motoko thought.
"Let's see…" Suu said, looking at the digital readout, waiting for a figure to appear. "Ah, according to this, Sean's roughly 11,300 Km away from us right now."
"That's a long ways away," Naru noted.
"Knowing how far away he is will certainly narrow down the search," Shinobu said.
"Do I still have to wear this thing?" Motoko said.
---
After Kitsune woke up and everyone explained the situation to her, they all reconvened in the dining room. "Okay," Kitsune said, examining the map that was spread out on the table; a circle had been drawn on it. "We know that he's somewhere in this ring; we just have to figure out where."
"Hmm," Shinobu muttered, tracing her eyes around the ring until she hit a certain spot, and something clicked in her head. "That's it!"
"What?" Naru said.
"I know where he's at."
"Well, don't keep us in suspense, girl," Kitsune said. "Tell us!"
"Right here," Shinobu pointed to where the ring passed through the eastern edge of South Carolina.
"How do you know?"
"A while back, Sean took me on a little trip…"
--- Flashback (Date is irrelevant)
"Wow, this is amazing," Shinobu said, looking in awe at the earth below.
"I know," Sean said. "This is what I saw back on your birthday, and I knew I had to bring you up here one of these days."
"I never thought I'd ever see a sight like this in person. Thank you, Sean."
"My pleasure. Hey, look right there."
"Hmm?" Shinobu saw him point to the southeastern U.S. "What about it?"
"That's where I'm from."
"Really?"
"Yup. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; that's where I lived before I met you all."
"Wow, you really traveled a long way to get to Hinata-Sou."
"Tell me about it."
--- End flashback
"Take a close look right there," Shinobu said, her finger still on the map. Everyone leaned close to find that the ring passed right through Myrtle Beach.
"Nice going, Shinobu!" Kitsune said. "I think you really pinpointed his position!"
"It would certainly make sense," Naru added. "He must have felt somewhat homesick after all the this time."
"It's settled, then," Kitsune said. "We have a destination. What do you say we gat packed and ready to go?"
"YEAH!" Everyone cheered, then rushed off to their rooms to get ready.
--- 3:51 PM
Keitaro waited in the living room, all alone, looking at his watch. He had been ready for the last hour and a half, and it appeared he was the only one. "Geez," he thought out loud. "How long is it going to take for them to pack?"
"I'm so sorry," Naru said as she came down the stairs, suitcases in hand. Shinobu was right behind her. "Unlike you, us girls actually have to make important choices when it comes to clothes for a trip, especially when a beach is involved."
"I understand," Keitaro said.
"What are you smiling like that for?" Naru asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, nothing." Actually, his curiosity had been piqued in regard to what Naru had picked out, especially if they should happen to head for the beach.
"Uh huh."
"YAY!" Suu yelled as she bounded down the steps. "Vacation time!"
"Well," Shinobu said. "The only ones left are Motoko and Kitsune."
"Kitsune I can understand, but Motoko?" Keitaro said. "That I find hard to believe."
"Yeah," Naru added. "I've never known her to take long to pick out clothes for much of anything in the past; why now?"
"Are you absolutely sure about this?" Hearing Motoko's voice focused everyone's attention upstairs, where she and Kitsune made their appearance.
"You gotta learn to trust me," Kitsune said. "Everything will work out fine."
"Keep in mind that I'm agreeing to this under protest."
"What's up?" Naru asked.
"Kitsune was… helping me pack," Motoko said.
"Ah."
"Are you two ready?" Keitaro asked.
"Yep!" Kitsune said. "Let's get this show on the road!" She walked down the stairs, Motoko followed with somewhat less enthusiasm.
"How are we going to get there, anyway?" Naru wondered.
"The same way Sean did," Shinobu responded. "I'll get us there myself."
"Are you sure you can do this?" Keitaro asked. "You've never traveled such a long distance like this before."
"Don't worry about me, I can take it, but we must do something before we go."
"And what's that?"
"Learn English."
"Won't that take too long?" Kitsune said.
"Remember how Sean learned Japanese? We'll learn English the same way. Gather around." Everyone went up to Shinobu and placed a hand on her shoulder. "This will only take a moment." A strange humming sound came from the young sorceress, and a tingly sensation went up everybody's arms, into their heads. About as soon as it began, it ended, leaving everyone but Shinobu confused as to what exactly happened. "There," Shinobu said. "Ready to go?"
"As we'll ever be," Kitsune said.
"Let's do this, then." Shinobu rubbed her hands together and spread them out, beginning a chant in the process.
"Next stop, Myrtle Beach," Kitsune said as Shinobu became surrounded by a sphere of pure white energy.
"And Sean," Suu added as the orb slowly grew in size. As soon as every passenger was engulfed, it quickly shrank to the size of a basketball and flew out the nearest exit and into the eastern skies, taking the Hinata crew with it.
---
After a trip that would have taken many hours to complete by plane, but only took about 30 minutes, the glowing ball finally came to a stop, grew, then faded away, revealing the gang inside. "Holy cow," Kitsune said. "That was some ride."
"You said it," Naru said. She, along with everyone else, suddenly realized that it was dark outside, illuminated by a half-moon overhead. "Is it nighttime already? It didn't take that long, did it?"
"Hold on just a sec," Suu said, fiddling with her high-tech watch for a few moments. "Just as I thought."
"What's wrong?" Keitaro asked.
"We forgot to factor in the time difference. The local time is 2:26, Tuesday morning. We just got an extra 14 hours."
"That explains why Sean left so late," Motoko said.
"And why he took a nap during the day," Naru added. "He wanted to eliminate the risk of jet lag."
"Which is more than could be said for us, huh Shinobu?" Kitsune said. "Uh, Shinobu?" In the dim light, they could barely see the blue-haired girl lying face down among them. Right away, Naru was at her side, making sure she was still breathing.
"Is she alright?" Keitaro asked.
"Yeah," Naru said with a sigh of relief. "She just exhausted herself, that's all."
"I honestly think she has the right idea," Kitsune said. "We won't be able to do much until daybreak. I say we get a bit of sleep, get our bearings and we'll go from there."
"For a change, I agree with one of your ideas right away," Motoko said.
"Ugh, what happened?" Shinobu asked, slowly opening her eyes.
"You overexerted yourself," Naru said.
"Did we make it?"
"Yes, we did. For now though, just get some rest." Shinobu nodded, closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep. One by one, they all joined her until only Motoko was left awake.
"I hope we don't regret this," she thought. Not feeling tired at the moment, she decided to take in as much of her surroundings as the light permitted. She could tell right away that they have been standing on grass this whole time, and open further observation, she saw that they were in an open field. She wasn't able to see exactly was lay beyond, but there was what appeared to be a street light in either direction. This led her to believe that there was a road nearby. Satisfied that there was nothing threatening in the area, she allowed herself to drift away into slumber.
--- 10:14 AM
"Miss?"
Motoko mumbled something incoherently, obviously still asleep.
"Miss?" the voice was more insistent this time.
"What is it?" Motoko asked, upset that she was woken up like she was. She looked up to see who the culprit was… and she didn't recognize him. At first glance, she noticed that he was a cop. "Oh no," she thought. To her, this was the worst thing that could happen.
"Could you explain why you and your friends are in someone's front yard?" the officer politely asked.
"What?" Motoko got up and looked around. Sure enough, there was a small house a ways off, and that they had camped out in their rather spacious front yard. "I apologize," she quickly said, not realizing she was speaking fluent English. "It was already dark when we got here, and it seemed a good a place as any to spend the night. We didn't know there was a house there."
"Do you have a place to go?" he asked.
"We're not homeless," Motoko quickly said, making sure not to reveal exactly how they got there. "We're just trying to find someone right now."
"Alright, but in the future, I strongly advise you at least get a motel room or something, especially since a couple of he people in your group are so young."
"Yes, sir." The man was about to leave when a thought occurred to her. "Excuse me."
"Yes?"
"Is there a place to eat nearby?"
"Sure." He pointed down the road. "Just go down that road and take a right. There are a few fast food places down that way."
The cop's explanation allowed Motoko to get a good look at him. He was about six and a half feet tall, and from what she could see, he was very athletic. To put it simply, she was attracted to him. Despite this little distraction, she was still able to pay attention to his directions. "Thank you," she said, trying her best to keep her face from turning red.
"No problem. Enjoy your visit to Myrtle Beach and I hope you find who you're looking for."
All Motoko could do was nod as the cop walked over to where his motorcycle was parked and started to drive away. The only thing that could tear her eyes away from him was the sound of Kitsune yawning.
"Who was that?" Kitsune half-yawned. She heard the whole thing, but until know, she wasn't sure whether it was real or just some dream she was having.
"Um, well…" Motoko was reluctant to say it, and for more than one reason. "It was a police officer."
That woke Kitsune up. "A cop?!"
"Don't worry, we're not in trouble or anything, but I think we should go before somebody else shows up."
"Good idea," Kitsune said. "Rise and shine, everyone!" she yelled.
Everyone got up, changed (with Shinobu placing a veil of invisibility around them, just in case) and went on their way, following the officer's instructions, they reached a major highway.
"I'm getting hungry," Suu whined.
"We all are," Kitsune said. "Don't worry, if we keep following this road, we're bound to find a place to eat sooner or later. Did anyone remember to bring money?"
"I did," Keitaro said. "But somehow, I don't think these places will take yen."
"I guess we'll have to rely on my credit cards for the time being," Kitsune said.
As they continued to walk down the highway, Motoko couldn't stop thinking about the cop she met that morning. "Why am I thinking like this?" she thought. "I'm starting to think like Kitsune would. I don't even know the guy's name, for crying out loud! I really shouldn't concern myself with such things."
"Is everything alright?" Naru asked, noticing Motoko's distracted expression.
"Yeah, I just have a lot on my mind right now," she said. Even though this was the truth, she didn't want to say that she might have the hots for a guy she just met.
After about ten minutes of walking, they happened on a couple fast food places. They were about to enter one when Motoko felt a familiar twitch in her mind; and she found it somewhat hard to believe at first. "No way," she said.
"What's up?" Keitaro asked.
"It's Sean; he's close."
"What?!" Kitsune said. "Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's go!"
"But I'm so hungry!" Suu whined.
"We'll get something to eat later," Kitsune said. "We may not get another chance like this to find Sean!" With Motoko leading the way, they ran off in the direction her mind told her to go; and it led her to another fast food restaurant.
"Arby's, huh?" Naru said, reading the sign. "Are you sure he's in there?"
"Positive," Motoko said.
By the time they got to the door, they had already caught sight of their target. He was at the counter, talking to one of the ladies working there; it looked like they knew each other pretty well…
End of Chapter XLIII
It seems that as soon as I answer some questions, more pop up, doesn't it? Who's the woman I'm talking to and how do I already know her? These and more will be answered in the coming chapters. See you then! Please R&R! Love live the cliffhanger!
I love writing cliffhangers; I really do.
Chapter XLIII: Case of the Missing Landlord
Tuesday, 6/3 7:00 AM
"Good morning, everyone!" Shinobu said cheerfully as she served breakfast. As she glanced around the table, she noticed that, yet again, not everyone was present. "Is Sean still working in his room?" she asked.
"Maybe," Kitsune said. "Apparently, he was working pretty hard in his room. He's probably just sleeping in or something."
"No." Everyone turned to see Motoko enter the room. From her appearance, it looked like a good night's sleep was too much to hope for; and that she had been crying for most of the night.
"What do you mean?" Naru asked. "Do you know where he's at?"
"Here, read this." She said, tossing a sheet of paper onto the table. "He left it out on the roof last night." Unable to control her emotions any longer, she ran out of the room, new tears trailing behind her.
"Whoa," Kitsune said, watching Motoko run off. "This must be more serious than we think if it got her that broken up about it." She looked at the letter she left behind. "Let's see what we're up against here." She grabbed the paper and began reading it. "Oh no," she thought after a while. "This isn't good."
"What's wrong, Kitsune?" Shinobu asked, seeing her distressed expression. "What does it say?"
Kitsune shook her head. "You don't want to know."
"I can take it. Let me see that."
"Alright," Kitsune said with a sigh. "But don't say I didn't warn you." Shinobu took the letter from her and read the contents aloud:
Dear everyone:
I'm sure you're all wondering why I'm not here this morning. (No doubt Motoko found this last night.) It pains me to have to do this, but I feel there is no other alternative. My actions against Sarah, no matter how provoked they may have been, were unforgivable. The last thing I want is to see any of you hurt, especially by my own hands, but I fear that if I were to suffer the wrath of Suu and Sarah throughout the whole summer, that outcome will be inevitable. Therefore, I feel that to avoid going completely insane from it all, I must take a leave of absence from Hinata-Sou. I will not tell you where I have gone, nor will I let you know when I'll return. In all honesty, I'm not sure exactly when I'll be back; could be a week, could be a month, could be until school starts in the fall, I can't be sure.
Before you get the wrong idea, I just want to tell you that I hated this idea as much as you do, if not more, and I know what you're thinking: "Why didn't you tell us?" Well, if I had, you--or at least Shinobu--would try to stop me by any means necessary. Don't think my sudden departure means that I don't want to be around you anymore; that couldn't be farther from the truth. I enjoy the time I spend with you, and I would like nothing more than to stay, but as your landlord, I have an obligation to keep you all safe, even from myself. Please, don't come looking for me.
See you soon,
Sean
"I told you you didn't want to know," Kitsune said, feeling sympathetic for the young girl.
"He's gone," Shinobu whispered. "He's really gone." She tried as hard as she could to keep her tears on the inside. When she couldn't stand it any longer, she exploded--right in Suu's face. "It's all your fault!" She screamed as she tackled Suu; her angry tone shocking everyone in the room. "You just had to keep using your tanks against him, didn't you?!" Suu tried to respond, but couldn't, due to Shinobu's hands wrapped around her throat.
"Shinobu!" Naru yelled, prying Shinobu off Suu. "Calm down!"
"You're right," Shinobu said. "Suu's not my real target. If Sarah hadn't attacked him like she did, this never would have happened and Sean'd still be here!" She struggled against Naru's grip on her. "Let me go! I want to go kick her ass!"
"Shinobu, cool it!" Kitsune said, giving her a good slap in the face. "You really think more violence will make everything alright?!"
"I…I…" Shinobu finally broke down, tears steaming down her face. She turned around and buried her face in Naru's chest. "I'm so sorry! I don't know what came over me!"
"Are you going to be alright, Suu?" Keitaro asked.
"Yeah, but Shinobu, could you do me one favor?" Suu said. "Please avoid the sudden bursts of violence, please? I really doesn't suit your personality."
Shinobu forced herself to smile as she slowly nodded her head. "There you go," Kitsune said. "That's the Shinobu we all know. Don't you worry; we've been through a lot worse than this, you know?"
"Yeah, (sniff) I know." Shinobu calmed down some as she sat back down at the table. "Uh, Suu?"
"Yeah?" Suu was still a bit wary of what she might do.
"Could I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Why have you been attacking Sean like you have?"
Suu's eyes grew a little. "You mean I never told any of you? Huh, it must have slipped my mind. I know it looked like I was just having fun at his expense, but what I was really doing was, in my own way, giving Sean a magical workout."
"A what?" Shinobu asked, somewhat confused by Suu's answer.
"After we found out that he could use magic and what he was capable of, I wanted to help him increase his ability to protect us--just in case."
"By trying to blow him up?!"
"Can you think of a better way?"
"Uh, not really. Does he know about this?"
Suu shook her head. "No. As far as he knows, this is just my way of 'playing' with him. I never even told Sarah about this."
"Then why did you freak out when he blew up your tanks yesterday?" Kitsune asked.
"I never expected him to go on the offensive. I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later."
Shinobu nodded, a thoughtful expression on her face. "What's on your mind?" Naru asked.
"I'm just wondering if Sean's alright, wherever he is."
"I'm sure he's fine," Naru said. "Come to think of it, I think a vacation is just what the doctor ordered."
"What do you mean?"
"It's been almost a full year since we first met him. Since then, he's worked almost nonstop to make sure we were all healthy and happy, sometimes at the expense of his own health. He's put with a lot more than a man should, and we all know it. I'm actually a bit surprised he's lasted this long before needing some time to himself."
Shinobu sank a tad lower in her seat. "He should have told us about all this in person instead of leaving a note behind for us to find. He should have let us know something was wrong. He should have… taken me with him." That got some weird looks from around the table. "What? I am his girlfriend, aren't I?"
"And what did you plan on doing with him while you were gone?" Naru asked suspiciously.
"Are you questioning my intentions?" Shinobu shot back.
"I'm just saying that with you and him alone in some secluded locale, things might start happening."
"Yeah, so what?"
"'So what'?! Am I the only one looking out for your best interest?!"
"And who are you to say what my best interests are?! Besides, after a year of false accusations, you should know better than to label him as a pedophile at every little thing! You know as well as I do that he's never one to make the first move when it come to things like that anyway!"
"From this little exchange, I'm pretty sure I know why Sean went by himself," Kitsune said. "He wanted to avoid getting torn to bits by Naru or Motoko."
"Speaking of which," Naru said, calming down. "Where did Motoko go?"
"She must be taking this whole thing a lot harder than the rest of us," Shinobu said. "I'll go find her after breakfast." After she finished breakfast, Shinobu took some food up to Motoko's room, where she hoped to find the troubled swordswoman. "Motoko?" She said as she opened the door. "Are you in here?" Hearing sniveling, she went out onto the balcony and saw Motoko sitting in the far corner, her knees pressed up against her chest. "What's wrong, Motoko?"
"I should have done something to help," Motoko murmured, apparently unaware of Shinobu's presence. "I should have been able to prevent all this from happening."
"Motoko…" Shinobu realized Motoko was worse off than she could have ever thought. She sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her in a comforting fashion.
As soon as contact was made, Motoko snapped. "I'm so sorry!"
Shinobu found it hard to respond, as Motoko was hugging her tightly, squeezing the air from her lungs. "You have--nothing to be--sorry for," she managed to say. She forced herself out of Motoko's embrace before continuing. "None of us could have seen this coming, so don't put any of the blame, much less all of it, on yourself!"
"I'm sorry," Motoko said, calming down. "It's just that this looks so similar to when Sean lost his magic. I felt so… so worthless."
"Motoko, everything's going to be fine. We'll get through this like we've gotten through everything else. It's not like he left for good, right?"
"You're right," Motoko said, cheering up some. "We should just look forward to his return."
"That's the spirit! Now, eat your breakfast; I can't have you starving to death now, can I?" Shinobu and Motoko shared a giggle and Motoko began eating the food Shinobu brought with her. "If it helps any," Shinobu said after a while. "I think you took the news a bit better than I did."
"What did you do?" Motoko asked after swallowing.
"At first, I was sad like you, but…" Even though she brought it up, she was reluctant to continue.
"What happened?"
"I attacked Suu." Motoko was speechless. "I know, I'm surprised at myself for doing that, but along with Sarah, she was the one who caused all this to happen, and for that brief moment, I hated them for that with all my heart."
"I suppose I'd react that way as well if she was trying to blow up my boyfriend."
"Why am I not surprised?"
---
The morning was about as close to usual as possible, with everyone coming to terms with Sean's departure in their own way. When lunchtime came around, they decided they should figure out what their next course of action should be; and that's when Kitsune brought up her big plan…
--- 12:07 PM
"Alright," Shinobu said. "I think we should all pitch in, splitting the chores up among us until Sean returns, what do you think?"
"Sounds reasonable," Keitaro said. He remembered how, last time Sean left, he and Shinobu were put in charge.
"Yeah, we want Sean to be impressed with what he sees when he gets back."
"I've got a better idea," Kitsune said, her usual smile on her face.
"And what might that be?" Naru asked skeptically.
"Well, I talked it over with Suu this morning, and we agreed that we can't just stand around and just let our landlord slip through our fingers like this. I say we go find him and bring him back ourselves!"
"That's crazy!" Motoko said. "We have no idea where to start looking! Besides, didn't his letter precisely say NOT to look for him?"
"He only wrote that letter because he didn't have the guts to tell us to our faces! We ought to show him that he can't go sneak off somewhere without the risk of being followed!"
"No," Shinobu said. "He said he'll come back, and I believe him."
"That may be true, but just how long are you willing to wait? Last time, he was only gone for a couple weeks, including the time he was here as a girl. For all we know, he could be gone for a month, two months or more! Can you last that long without him?"
That was a difficult question for Shinobu to answer. "Um, well…"
"Kitsune will you stop bugging the poor girl?!" Naru asked.
"No," Shinobu said. "She has a point. I love him; and I don't think I could stand to be away from him for months at a time. I'm in."
"Anyone else?" Kitsune asked.
"Well, even with Shinobu going with you, I can't trust you two alone for a second," Naru said. "I'm coming along just to keep you in line."
"If Naru's in, than I'm in too!" Keitaro said.
"I would like nothing more than to see Sean again," Motoko said. "But who's going to take care of this place while we're gone?"
"I could always ask Aunt Haruka to do it," Keitaro said.
"Then it's settled," Kitsune said. "Sean, wherever you are we'll find you!"
---
Sean felt a twitch in the back of his mind, but quickly passed it off as nothing. "It's probably just my paranoia acting up again," he thought.
---
"Are you sure we should be looking through his room?" Shinobu asked as the whole group headed for that very place.
"Think about it," Kitsune said. "How else will we find out where he went?"
"I just think it's a bit underhanded, that's all."
"And you think the way he left wasn't? He should have known we'd do this."
"I still feel a bit guilty about rummaging through his room," Shinobu thought.
"Um, guys?" Suu said when they reach their destination. They turned around to find a thoughtful expression on her face. "If you don't mind, I've got an idea for something that might help us out, so I'll be in my room."
"That's fine," Naru said.
"Motoko, could you help me?"
"Sure," Motoko said. "What do you need my help for?"
"You'll see." Suu and a curious Motoko headed for the foreigner's room, leaving the others to search through Sean's.
"Alright," Kitsune said, walking into the room. "Where should we start?" Her gaze fell on the video vault. "Hmm, I wonder…" She headed back to the door.
"Where are you going?" Naru asked.
"I'm going to get something real quick." Kitsune rushed out of Sean's room and into her own. A quick survey revealed what she was looking for. "I knew this thing would come in handy," she thought, grabbing the remote for the vault and returning the way she came.
"What's that?" Shinobu asked.
"Watch." Kitsune pointed the remote at the vault, pressed the button and the door vanished, surprising everyone else in the room.
"Wow," Keitaro said.
"Okay," Kitsune muttered, walking in the vault. "Let's see if it's here…" The others looked on curiously as she scanned the shelves until she found what she was looking for. "Here we go," she said triumphantly. "Yesterday's video. This should let us know where he went off to."
"Is there a video for every day?" Shinobu asked.
"Yeah. He never told you?"
Shinobu shook her head. "I wonder why not."
"Maybe he's afraid of what you might see," Naru said.
"That or maybe he just forgot and you never brought it up," Kitsune said. "Now, let's see what we can get from this thing." Kitsune put the disc in the laptop (which Sean left behind) and fast forwarded it to evening.
--- Monday, 6/2 8:51 PM
Sean was going through his closet, picking out some clothes for his trip. "I can't believe I'm actually doing this." he said. "I think this is the hardest decision I've ever had to make. I hate to leave them like this, but I can't let them know that I'm going--"
---
It was at that moment that the video cut to static. "Damn it," Kitsune said. "What's wrong with this thing?" Much to everyone's surprise, rising laughter could be heard from the computer.
"Nice try," Sean's voice said. "But you'll have to try harder than that if you want to catch me." The laughing continued until the video faded to black.
"Looks like he knew we'd do this, Kitsune," Naru said.
"You think?" Kitsune said, ejecting the disc and returning it to it's place in the vault. "This is only going to make me more determined. He'll regret the day he tries to outsmart me!"
"I think we'll all regret that," Keitaro said, getting a laugh from Shinobu and Naru.
"Search this place from top to bottom!" Kitsune ordered. "Leave no stone unturned! Sean must have left some clues somewhere, and we're going to find them!"
--- 2:12 PM
"I'm back!" Suu said, returning to Sean's room. She's quickly shocked by the sight before her. "What have you done to Sean's room?!" She could have sworn she heard Kitsune growling as she continued to search through the room, which already looked like it was hit by a tornado.
"You don't want to know," Naru said.
"Why don't you try to stop her?"
"We've tried almost everything," Shinobu said. "Except…" She walked up to Kitsune from behind. "I hoped it wouldn't come to this," she thought.
Kitsune suddenly noticed Shinobu place her hands against the sides of her head. "What are you doing?"
"This has gone too far, Kitsune. You have to stop."
Kitsune screamed as felt pain shoot through her skull. "No! I have to keep looking! I have to… find… Sean…" Kitsune suddenly fell forward, unconscious.
"Is she going to be alright?" Keitaro asked.
"Yeah," Shinobu said. "But she won't be doing anything for a while." She turned to Suu. "Did you finish what you were working on?"
That reminded Suu of why she went there in the first place. "Oh yeah, I did." She looked down the hallway. "Come on, Motoko show them what I made."
Motoko was a few feet from the door. She wasn't exactly sure what had just happened in Sean's room, and for some reason, she didn't want to know. "Do I have to?" she asked.
"Well, if you won't show them yourself, I'll just have them come out here and see." Suu motioned for everyone to come out into the hallway.
"Oh my," Naru said, barely able to keep from laughing. "What's that on your head?"
"Oh, shut up," Motoko said, obviously not happy with what was going on. "Do I have to wear this stupid thing? This is humiliating!"
"You agreed to help me, Motoko, remember? Besides, you need to wear that for it to work."
"Does it have to be me?"
"I'm afraid so." Motoko just muttered something to herself.
"Um, Suu?" Keitaro asked, eyeing the odd contraption on Motoko's head. "What is that, anyway?"
"My latest invention," Suu said, obviously proud of her accomplishment. "We all know that Motoko could sense Sean's energy from a mile away, right? Well, using this device, her range will be expanded."
"How far will it go?" Shinobu asked.
"Think of it this way: If he's anywhere on this planet, we'll know."
"That's great!"
"Well, it's not perfect. With the time I was given, this will only determine how far away he is, not give an absolute location or direction, but it better than nothing, right?"
"Well, start it up already," Naru said.
"I'd be glad to." Suu walked over to Motoko and flipped a switch on the odd machine attached to her head, causing her to flinch. "Don't worry, the discomfort will only last for a moment."
"Thank the gods for that," Motoko thought.
"Let's see…" Suu said, looking at the digital readout, waiting for a figure to appear. "Ah, according to this, Sean's roughly 11,300 Km away from us right now."
"That's a long ways away," Naru noted.
"Knowing how far away he is will certainly narrow down the search," Shinobu said.
"Do I still have to wear this thing?" Motoko said.
---
After Kitsune woke up and everyone explained the situation to her, they all reconvened in the dining room. "Okay," Kitsune said, examining the map that was spread out on the table; a circle had been drawn on it. "We know that he's somewhere in this ring; we just have to figure out where."
"Hmm," Shinobu muttered, tracing her eyes around the ring until she hit a certain spot, and something clicked in her head. "That's it!"
"What?" Naru said.
"I know where he's at."
"Well, don't keep us in suspense, girl," Kitsune said. "Tell us!"
"Right here," Shinobu pointed to where the ring passed through the eastern edge of South Carolina.
"How do you know?"
"A while back, Sean took me on a little trip…"
--- Flashback (Date is irrelevant)
"Wow, this is amazing," Shinobu said, looking in awe at the earth below.
"I know," Sean said. "This is what I saw back on your birthday, and I knew I had to bring you up here one of these days."
"I never thought I'd ever see a sight like this in person. Thank you, Sean."
"My pleasure. Hey, look right there."
"Hmm?" Shinobu saw him point to the southeastern U.S. "What about it?"
"That's where I'm from."
"Really?"
"Yup. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; that's where I lived before I met you all."
"Wow, you really traveled a long way to get to Hinata-Sou."
"Tell me about it."
--- End flashback
"Take a close look right there," Shinobu said, her finger still on the map. Everyone leaned close to find that the ring passed right through Myrtle Beach.
"Nice going, Shinobu!" Kitsune said. "I think you really pinpointed his position!"
"It would certainly make sense," Naru added. "He must have felt somewhat homesick after all the this time."
"It's settled, then," Kitsune said. "We have a destination. What do you say we gat packed and ready to go?"
"YEAH!" Everyone cheered, then rushed off to their rooms to get ready.
--- 3:51 PM
Keitaro waited in the living room, all alone, looking at his watch. He had been ready for the last hour and a half, and it appeared he was the only one. "Geez," he thought out loud. "How long is it going to take for them to pack?"
"I'm so sorry," Naru said as she came down the stairs, suitcases in hand. Shinobu was right behind her. "Unlike you, us girls actually have to make important choices when it comes to clothes for a trip, especially when a beach is involved."
"I understand," Keitaro said.
"What are you smiling like that for?" Naru asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, nothing." Actually, his curiosity had been piqued in regard to what Naru had picked out, especially if they should happen to head for the beach.
"Uh huh."
"YAY!" Suu yelled as she bounded down the steps. "Vacation time!"
"Well," Shinobu said. "The only ones left are Motoko and Kitsune."
"Kitsune I can understand, but Motoko?" Keitaro said. "That I find hard to believe."
"Yeah," Naru added. "I've never known her to take long to pick out clothes for much of anything in the past; why now?"
"Are you absolutely sure about this?" Hearing Motoko's voice focused everyone's attention upstairs, where she and Kitsune made their appearance.
"You gotta learn to trust me," Kitsune said. "Everything will work out fine."
"Keep in mind that I'm agreeing to this under protest."
"What's up?" Naru asked.
"Kitsune was… helping me pack," Motoko said.
"Ah."
"Are you two ready?" Keitaro asked.
"Yep!" Kitsune said. "Let's get this show on the road!" She walked down the stairs, Motoko followed with somewhat less enthusiasm.
"How are we going to get there, anyway?" Naru wondered.
"The same way Sean did," Shinobu responded. "I'll get us there myself."
"Are you sure you can do this?" Keitaro asked. "You've never traveled such a long distance like this before."
"Don't worry about me, I can take it, but we must do something before we go."
"And what's that?"
"Learn English."
"Won't that take too long?" Kitsune said.
"Remember how Sean learned Japanese? We'll learn English the same way. Gather around." Everyone went up to Shinobu and placed a hand on her shoulder. "This will only take a moment." A strange humming sound came from the young sorceress, and a tingly sensation went up everybody's arms, into their heads. About as soon as it began, it ended, leaving everyone but Shinobu confused as to what exactly happened. "There," Shinobu said. "Ready to go?"
"As we'll ever be," Kitsune said.
"Let's do this, then." Shinobu rubbed her hands together and spread them out, beginning a chant in the process.
"Next stop, Myrtle Beach," Kitsune said as Shinobu became surrounded by a sphere of pure white energy.
"And Sean," Suu added as the orb slowly grew in size. As soon as every passenger was engulfed, it quickly shrank to the size of a basketball and flew out the nearest exit and into the eastern skies, taking the Hinata crew with it.
---
After a trip that would have taken many hours to complete by plane, but only took about 30 minutes, the glowing ball finally came to a stop, grew, then faded away, revealing the gang inside. "Holy cow," Kitsune said. "That was some ride."
"You said it," Naru said. She, along with everyone else, suddenly realized that it was dark outside, illuminated by a half-moon overhead. "Is it nighttime already? It didn't take that long, did it?"
"Hold on just a sec," Suu said, fiddling with her high-tech watch for a few moments. "Just as I thought."
"What's wrong?" Keitaro asked.
"We forgot to factor in the time difference. The local time is 2:26, Tuesday morning. We just got an extra 14 hours."
"That explains why Sean left so late," Motoko said.
"And why he took a nap during the day," Naru added. "He wanted to eliminate the risk of jet lag."
"Which is more than could be said for us, huh Shinobu?" Kitsune said. "Uh, Shinobu?" In the dim light, they could barely see the blue-haired girl lying face down among them. Right away, Naru was at her side, making sure she was still breathing.
"Is she alright?" Keitaro asked.
"Yeah," Naru said with a sigh of relief. "She just exhausted herself, that's all."
"I honestly think she has the right idea," Kitsune said. "We won't be able to do much until daybreak. I say we get a bit of sleep, get our bearings and we'll go from there."
"For a change, I agree with one of your ideas right away," Motoko said.
"Ugh, what happened?" Shinobu asked, slowly opening her eyes.
"You overexerted yourself," Naru said.
"Did we make it?"
"Yes, we did. For now though, just get some rest." Shinobu nodded, closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep. One by one, they all joined her until only Motoko was left awake.
"I hope we don't regret this," she thought. Not feeling tired at the moment, she decided to take in as much of her surroundings as the light permitted. She could tell right away that they have been standing on grass this whole time, and open further observation, she saw that they were in an open field. She wasn't able to see exactly was lay beyond, but there was what appeared to be a street light in either direction. This led her to believe that there was a road nearby. Satisfied that there was nothing threatening in the area, she allowed herself to drift away into slumber.
--- 10:14 AM
"Miss?"
Motoko mumbled something incoherently, obviously still asleep.
"Miss?" the voice was more insistent this time.
"What is it?" Motoko asked, upset that she was woken up like she was. She looked up to see who the culprit was… and she didn't recognize him. At first glance, she noticed that he was a cop. "Oh no," she thought. To her, this was the worst thing that could happen.
"Could you explain why you and your friends are in someone's front yard?" the officer politely asked.
"What?" Motoko got up and looked around. Sure enough, there was a small house a ways off, and that they had camped out in their rather spacious front yard. "I apologize," she quickly said, not realizing she was speaking fluent English. "It was already dark when we got here, and it seemed a good a place as any to spend the night. We didn't know there was a house there."
"Do you have a place to go?" he asked.
"We're not homeless," Motoko quickly said, making sure not to reveal exactly how they got there. "We're just trying to find someone right now."
"Alright, but in the future, I strongly advise you at least get a motel room or something, especially since a couple of he people in your group are so young."
"Yes, sir." The man was about to leave when a thought occurred to her. "Excuse me."
"Yes?"
"Is there a place to eat nearby?"
"Sure." He pointed down the road. "Just go down that road and take a right. There are a few fast food places down that way."
The cop's explanation allowed Motoko to get a good look at him. He was about six and a half feet tall, and from what she could see, he was very athletic. To put it simply, she was attracted to him. Despite this little distraction, she was still able to pay attention to his directions. "Thank you," she said, trying her best to keep her face from turning red.
"No problem. Enjoy your visit to Myrtle Beach and I hope you find who you're looking for."
All Motoko could do was nod as the cop walked over to where his motorcycle was parked and started to drive away. The only thing that could tear her eyes away from him was the sound of Kitsune yawning.
"Who was that?" Kitsune half-yawned. She heard the whole thing, but until know, she wasn't sure whether it was real or just some dream she was having.
"Um, well…" Motoko was reluctant to say it, and for more than one reason. "It was a police officer."
That woke Kitsune up. "A cop?!"
"Don't worry, we're not in trouble or anything, but I think we should go before somebody else shows up."
"Good idea," Kitsune said. "Rise and shine, everyone!" she yelled.
Everyone got up, changed (with Shinobu placing a veil of invisibility around them, just in case) and went on their way, following the officer's instructions, they reached a major highway.
"I'm getting hungry," Suu whined.
"We all are," Kitsune said. "Don't worry, if we keep following this road, we're bound to find a place to eat sooner or later. Did anyone remember to bring money?"
"I did," Keitaro said. "But somehow, I don't think these places will take yen."
"I guess we'll have to rely on my credit cards for the time being," Kitsune said.
As they continued to walk down the highway, Motoko couldn't stop thinking about the cop she met that morning. "Why am I thinking like this?" she thought. "I'm starting to think like Kitsune would. I don't even know the guy's name, for crying out loud! I really shouldn't concern myself with such things."
"Is everything alright?" Naru asked, noticing Motoko's distracted expression.
"Yeah, I just have a lot on my mind right now," she said. Even though this was the truth, she didn't want to say that she might have the hots for a guy she just met.
After about ten minutes of walking, they happened on a couple fast food places. They were about to enter one when Motoko felt a familiar twitch in her mind; and she found it somewhat hard to believe at first. "No way," she said.
"What's up?" Keitaro asked.
"It's Sean; he's close."
"What?!" Kitsune said. "Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's go!"
"But I'm so hungry!" Suu whined.
"We'll get something to eat later," Kitsune said. "We may not get another chance like this to find Sean!" With Motoko leading the way, they ran off in the direction her mind told her to go; and it led her to another fast food restaurant.
"Arby's, huh?" Naru said, reading the sign. "Are you sure he's in there?"
"Positive," Motoko said.
By the time they got to the door, they had already caught sight of their target. He was at the counter, talking to one of the ladies working there; it looked like they knew each other pretty well…
End of Chapter XLIII
It seems that as soon as I answer some questions, more pop up, doesn't it? Who's the woman I'm talking to and how do I already know her? These and more will be answered in the coming chapters. See you then! Please R&R! Love live the cliffhanger!