The Other Me
Chapter Five: The Struggle
By: Sci-Fi Raptor
Disclaimer: See Chapter Four
I'd just like to start off by asking everyone to pray for all those souls that have been hit by the Tsunami. (Anyone notice that the world's gone to hell lately?)
Now that the excuse of school is over, I've finally started to update again (Yay!). Unfortunatly, the story I was working on that delayed this one in the summer is back in the dorms and I can't work on it (Boo for me being so dumb!!!)
Niet. This is not gonna be as evil as the last chapter. It's more of a scaffolding for what is to come.
(-O-)
So many people like me put so much trust in all your lies
So concerned with what you think to just say what we feel inside
So many people like me walk on eggshells all day long
All I know is that all I want is to feel like I'm not stepped on
There are so many things you say that make me feel you've crossed the line
What goes up will surely fall and I'm counting down the time
Cause I've had so many standoffs with you it's about as much as I can stand
And I'm waiting until the upper hand is mine
-Linkin Park (Hit The Floor)
(O)
There's nothing else like it.
People aren't meant for the ground. Why else do they always stare at the sky in wonder? Creating gods to worship just because the heavens are just out of reach? Why else would so many people die to make the first airplane? And scores more to reach our backyard, the moon?
Because of this feeling.
Flying through the air was an experience like no other; especially if you were flying of your own will and not in an aircraft.
The third most fun thing to do while flying was to see how little everything looked from up there. The second most fun thing to do was to shoot through the clouds, weaving in and out, feeling the water vapors caress your body as it soaked your clothes. And the most fun thing to do?
As Keitaro closed his eyes, he smiled as he thought, Gunning it!
The wind whipped all over him as he went into freefall, going faster and faster until he reached equilibrium with air resistance. He opened his eyes, only to see the ground getting closer and closer, until he could see the print on someone's newspaper...
The G forces he felt were way beyond the legal limits of any roller coaster. After climbing to a reasonable height, he leveled off. It felt good to just wind down and cruise in the air. Times like this, he felt like he was superman. Hell, he even went into his flying pose to get into the act. Of course, he stopped when a bird pooped in his eye.
He knew where he was right now. It was Todai. It seemed so magnificent from up here. It was moments like this that kept him from quitting the whole ordeal altogether. It was experiences like this that kept him going under the crushing odds. While he was drifting in thought, he went on autopilot.
When his mind resurfaced, he realized where he was; Hinata-Sou. He didn't know if it was a good thing or bad. As he got closer, he could see the girls. They were outside having a picnic, no doubt having fun. Shinobu had such a lovely smile on her face.
And he knew why instantly. He was nowhere to be seen. Of course they're happy. I'm nowhere to be found! No more worries about a pervert peeking on them...
In his gloominess, he found himself floating aimlessly around the grounds encompassed by the Hinata-Sou. He had never really spent time there; he was always busy cleaning up the girls' messes or becoming one. But being there put him in awe of the power and beauty that was just a few steps away. He landed and started walking about, heading nowhere in particular. Within a few moments, he heard the sound of thundering water. He walked towards the sound and found himself at the top of a waterfall. He looked past the edge and saw a deep foaming pool, no doubt full of sharp, pointing rocks. He stepped back and took the scene in.
The sun was setting in a beautiful shade of scarlet red. Keitaro closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the cool air, flavored by the water that ran nearby.
It was so perfect. He had never felt so happy for some time. If it all ended right here, he wouldn't really mind. There was no one for him to hurt; no one to hurt him. All was well here; he felt like one with the universe. Without him thinking it, he was again at the edge of the cliff. He was on his tiptoes, the wind threatening to push him over. He looked around again at the perfect scenery. I really wouldn't mind stopping right here... Keitaro thought, closing his eyes. It's just so perfect...
He leaned forward.
(O)
The white light faded.
Motoko stared at her hand in disbelief, as if the katana in her hand wasn't real; as if it were a figment of her imagination.
If only it were so.
She looked back at the other girls, each holding expressions of disbelief. She finally looked at the face of her adversary. Keitaro.
"I told you it was foolish to challenge me," he said with a smirk.
"How… how could I have lost!" she cried, dropping her katana. As the sharpened piece of forged metal clattered on the ground, it snapped in half at the point where the victor had struck. How could this be? How could I lose to a vile, perverted male such as Urishima?
"You lost Motoko," Keitaro said darkly. "A deal is a deal."
"I'm afraid that I have to agree with him, Motoko-chan..." Naru said disappointedly. Kitsune smirked. Motoko came back a few moments later without wearing any of her clothes...
Except a white bunny suit with a hole where the face would be so everyone could see the look of shame on her face. Keitaro smirked.
"Now, dance!" he ordered. Motoko sighed heavily.
"Little rabbit Fu Fu..." she started, singing the song while she hopped back and forth, wiggling her hips, almost on the verge of tears. Sarah had a camera and was recording the whole ordeal with a mischievous smile on her face.
"Keitaro..." Naru said. "This has gone on for long enough. You've had your fun, tell her to stop..."
"No way! This is too good!" Keitaro said, joined by Kitsune. Naru glared at the latter and tried to reason with the high-and-mighty ronin.
"Keitaro, you're humiliating her-"
He cut her off, angrily saying, "Like you and the rest of them always humiliate me?" Naru recoiled back at the force of his answer, if not only in shock, but in guilt.
"This is too much!" Motoko suddenly burst out. "I cannot stand this shame," she said dangerously, a dagger at hand. "I will commit seppoku for my humiliation!"
Before anyone could hold her back, she stabbed herself in the heart and crumpled to the floor.
Everyone just stood there, frozen by her brazen action. No one made a peep until the pool of blood that collected under the kendo girl reached Shinobu's foot.
"KYAAA!!!"
(O)
He just stood there, glaring at him. And the other one just stood there, smiling back at him.
It was all pitch black; emptiness. Keitaro was standing there, floating in emptiness, glaring at the other person. But his mirror image just smiled back at him with cold calculating eyes; he was holding something back.
"This doesn't make sense, you know," the glaring Keitaro said.
"Why not?"
"First of all, how can we see each other?"
"We have eyes."
"But how can we see each other without some kind of light source? And what are we standing on? There is no ground here, its only just emptiness. It doesn't make sense!"
"Is that what has you worried?"
"No. Motoko-chan wouldn't act like that!"
"If someone like her lost to a weakling like you, what would you expect them to do?"
"I don't know," the glaring Keitaro answered, gritting his teeth. "But I know that that isn't how Motoko is like!"
"Are you certain? You sound very sure of yourself," the smiling one laughed. "As if you know these girls or something!" he mocked.
"I do!" the glaring Keitaro answered sharply.
The smiling Keitaro's eyes dilated as his smile turned into a scary grin. "Then lets find out!" he said, his voice much deeper. The world went white, and Keitaro's lungs felt as if on fire...
(O)
Naru sighed. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't focus.
Since the final test was only a day away, she had no other choice but to leave the chaos that was now Hinata-Sou. She came to her home in hope of some peace and quiet, but she just couldn't stop thinking about how Keitaro had acted recently and the hurtful words he had told her.
"Stupid pervert," she grumbled and tried going back to her studies.
(O)
Shinobu had been anxious about Keitaro all day yesterday, since he didn't arrive till late in the night. She was sure that he was probably studying at the moment and his mood may have lightened since the other day. She knocked on his door with the premise of picking up laundry.
"Sempai?" she queried, rapping on his door. He didn't answer. Shinobu knocked again, but to no avail. Finally loosing her patience, she opened his door, saying, "Sempai, I'm coming in."
She started coughing. The whole room was full of smoke.
"Sempai!" she said worriedly, covering her face with her shirt. The whole room was completely filled with white smoke that smelled intensely of incense.
"Oh, sorry Shinobu, I didn't hear you enter," Keitaro finally answered.
"Sempai, what happened in here?"
"I was just… meditating…" Keitaro said cryptically. In truth, he had been smoking the night before and used incense to cover up the smell. Unfortunately for him, it required quite a bit of incense to get the job done.
"Oh…" Shinobu said, finding it harder and harder to breath with her makeshift air filter. "Um… I just wanted to know if you had any laundry you needed cleaning?" she asked as usual.
Not wanting to seem strange, Keitaro said, "Yeah, my hamper is right there."
"Alright, Sempai…" Shinobu said and took the said articles. She left his room more confused then when she entered. He seemed very mellow for some reason. Also, she was feeling a bit lightheaded.
Back in his room, Keitaro collapsed on his futon and let the drug take its course. Finally finding the incense's smell unbearable, he opened his window and the smoke left his room in a rush. As the smoke cleared, Keitaro got a good look at his disheveled quarters.
"Oh shit!" he cursed, realizing that he had left his jacket in the hamper.
Shinobu hummed as she loaded her sempai's dirty laundry into the wash. She blushed when she held one of his boxers, thinking impure thoughts…
AAAUUU! What am I doing?? She thought in horror after realizing just how long she had been holding the said articles. She continued putting his stuff in when something caught her attention. One of Keitaro's shirts was soiled with a dark brown. It was also full of many holes. She put it aside and went through the rest of the laundry, thinking she'd ask Keitaro exactly what had happened to his clothing later. One of his pants was in similar shape. She stopped when she found a strange jacket she had never seen him having before. She turned it around to see the back. She froze, her eyes wide open.
"Shinobu-chan!" Keitaro said wildly, crashing into the room. When he regained his composure, he got up to approach her, but his heart sank at her expression. She kept looking between Keitaro and the jacket, her eyes wide.
(O)
(Good ol' US of A. Somewhere near the coast…)
"Someone's happy," smirked Luciana as she made a final blow to her opponent.
"Is it that obvious?" Akira frowned.
"If you're happy, you should be smiling," said Luciana, playfully knocking on her friend's head. "So, spill it. Who is he?"
"There isn't anyone," Akira insisted. Unfortunately she blushed.
"I knew it!" Luciana giggled as she wiped her saber.
"I'm just going back to Japan early, that's all…" Akira complained, sheathing her sword.
"Oh… so its him," Luciana said accusingly.
"He's just my sensei…" Akira answered unemotionally as she threw a match. The fuel-drenched trailer went up in flames, the smell of charred flesh and evaporated fat saturating the air.
"Just admit that you're in love with him already," Luciana said advisedly, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. They had been over this many times and sometimes it was frustrating seeing her deny what was so obvious.
"But…"
"No buts. If you don't admit your feeling to him this time, I promise that a certain someone is gonna see a certain something involving a certain new years party and whi-"
"SHHH!!!" Akira hissed, covering her friend's mouth. She quickly surveyed the area to make sure that no one had heard. Fortunately, all she could see was the smoldering remains of a former trailer-park-turn-war-zone. After ascertaining that her friend would be quite, she slowly took her hands off.
"We have a deal then?" Luciana said with a smirk saying she knew the answer.
"This is blackmail…" Akira said, hoping her partner was joking.
"Lady, you of all people should know that the Yakuza is all about blackmail," Luciana said as she stripped. Akira followed.
"And I thought you were my friend…" Akira said in a betrayed tone. The two were wearing nothing but bikinis.
"I am. I'm your best friend," Luciana smirked as the two got on their sports motorcycle, Akira on back. "We better hurry, its almost time for our pickup."
"Don't worry. Americans are lazy," Akira teased as Luciana burned/peeled out the back wheel.
"Hey!" Luciana said, offended.
As the dust from their dramatic exit settled down, a stoner in his late teens got up from the ground, rubbing sleep away from his eyes.
"Damn… those Asian chicks were really pissed off at Fat Tony," he commented after surveying the carnage. "But they sure had nice little tight-"
He fell back on the ground before he finished, a cloud of smoke suddenly surrounding his head. On the side that the two women had left was a small hole that would have gone unnoticed, had the other side of his head been securely placed where it was supposed to be, instead of splattered all over the ground.
(O)
"Sempai…" Shinobu said disbelieving, staring at the Yakuza emblem with teary eyes. "Where did you get this?"
"Shinobu-chan! I can explain!!" Keitaro pleaded.
"I was looking for something like this for the longest time!" she whined.
"Don't cry Shinobu'chan! It's not mine! I didn't- what?"
"I've been looking for a jacket like this for so long. And the picture on the back is sooo cool!"
"Uh… really?"
"Yeah…" she said, looking at the jacket longingly.
"Then how about this? If you wash it, you can keep it?"
"Really?" she said in disbelief.
"Really," Keitaro smiled, returning to his old goofy self for an instant. "Hey, why don't help you out?"
"S-sure," Shinobu blushed. She moved over while Keitaro helped her do the wash.
"So Sempai… are you nervous about the test tomorrow?"
"Not really," Keitaro said, still smiling. Shinobu stopped.
"Seriously?" she said, turning to look at him. "Are you sure you should be that relaxed?"
"Why not? If I'm nervous, I just won't be able to concentrate, right?" he said confidently. They stood silent for a few minutes.
"You've changed a lot, sempai…" Shinobu said, a small smile creeping on her face.
"I have, haven't I?" Keitaro said, putting his hand on the back of his head.
"If Naru-sempai thought like that, I bet she'd do really good too," she added. Keitaro turned cold again.
"Can we not talk about her for once?" he said in a low voice.
"Sorry!" she squeaked, bowing to him instantly. "I didn't mean to-"
"Its all right Shinobu-chan…" he said with a little more warmth.
"Oh yeah, that reminds me, what's with these clothes?" she asked, showing him his tattered clothes from his previous battle.
Oh shit!
"Er… Ketchup stains?" he said. Idiot! Don't just say the first thing that pops in your mind!!!
"Really?" Shinobu asked skeptically.
"Really…" Keitaro continued lying.
"Well, if you say so, I'll believe you, sempai," she said, smiling and going back to work.
Phew that was close… Keitaro thought. He continued staring at her, thinking of how she was always helping him out and always looking up to him. It made him feel guilty that he had just lied to the girl.
"Something wrong, sempai?" Shinobu asked worriedly after noticing him staring at her for a long time.
"Er… nothing…" he said, going back to work.
(O)
(Later the next day…)
Shinobu's face was beet red. There was only one thought in her mind: I'm wearing sempai's jacket!
The two ronins had set out separately that day to take the test; Keitaro from the Hinata Inn and Naru from her house. Though she never told him, Shinobu wanted to be the first one to see Keitaro when he finished his test. She had been waiting outside his testing room for the past fifteen minutes, holding one of her specially made hand lunches. Its like we're boyfriend-girlfriend… Shinobu thought. Her face became a few shades redder. Aaauu… what am I thinking! Sempai didn't even ask me to come here today! But he did give me this cool jacket and he's been nicest to me among the other girls…
"Shinobu-chan?"
"Ahh! Naru-sempai!" Shinobu said in shock. What's she doing here!? she thought, then added, She'll ruin everything!! Shinobu was stunned at the afterthought.
"So that is you!" Naru said happily and walked up to the younger woman. "What're you doing here?"
"I wanted to see sempai when he was done with his test, that's all," she said while hiding a blush. "But what about you? Isn't your test still going?"
"Nah, we just started a bit earlier, so we got out earlier, that's all. I just came here to teach that baka a lesson about being mean to us," she said as if she'd caught him peeping on the girls again.
At that moment, the door opened and a flood of students poured out. Within a few minutes, Keitaro was spotted. To the girls' shock, he didn't have a look of dread etched over his face. Instead, it was a calm look, like he had everything under control.
"Keitaro?"
"Sempai?" the girls said at the same time.
Keitaro stopped and looked at both of them. "Narusegewa?" he said uncertainly, as if he didn't even believe that she was here. Surprisingly, his voice didn't carry the malice that they had gotten used to.
"Keitaro…" she said, stepping forward.
Of course sempai will chose Naru-sempai over me… Shinobu mentally sighed.
Keitaro's face became cold again. Instead of going to meet Naru, he turned and held Shinobu's hand. "Lets go, Shinobu-chan," Keitaro said, his voice a bit angered.
"But sempai…" she protested, but he started pulling her by the hand. Shinobu gave in and followed, though she turned to look at Naru and gave her an apologetic face. Naru stood there, depressed that Keitaro was still mad at her. They had just finished the Test. After all times they had been through, they should have at least celebrated together.
"Am I that hated?" Naru quietly said to herself.
(O)
Shinobu watched Keitaro as he lay back on the picnic sheet, staring at the lazy clouds above. It's like we're a couple… she thought again, her cheeks stained red.
"So, sempai, how do you think you did on the test? You didn't seem worried at all when you left the test room." Keitaro turned his head so that he was facing her. Surprisingly he didn't make a big deal about how he could see Shinobu's panties from his viewpoint. He sat up and stretched his arm to give her a V with a big goofy smile on his face.
"You seem really confident, sempai."
"The answers spoke to me…" he said, unusually mellow.
(-O-)
Big contrast to last chapter, ne? Remember Keitaro was basically high this whole chapter! (No, I haven't forgotten about Kitsune) So, push that little go button and flame me for not updating in so long. You know you wanna!