I do not own Love Hina but I do apologize for the slow updates. Life's been sandbagging me with rotten roommates, tests, the Christmas hassle and a three year old sister that get's hyper off air.
"Speech"
//thoughts//
Something Dramatic
Story
"Urashima, you accepted my offer for training. Now wake." Motoko said using her foot to nudge the now adult and very bishi and very male Keitaro awake. He just rolled out of the way though and his arm flopped over to show his perfectly toned... //No! Stay focused!// Motoko berated herself mentally determined not to let here baser nature get control. (If I wasn't writing this I'd be betting on the inside half of a day before she snaps.)
Suddenly she noticed a certain bulge in the blankets. It was huge. "Keitaro?" she asked nervously and it twitched. Face flaming she quickly and quietly retreated.
"Unh? Wha? Oh... so my tail was tucked into the pants... cool." He noted before dropping off to sleep again his tail now safely behind him. Of course Motoko missed this and was very distracted during her morning kata's.
A few hours later
"E-excuse me? Senpai?" Shinobu called into Keitaro's room looking in nervously. "It's time for breakfast." She said nervously.
"Pardon me dear." Hina said gently opening the door next to her and walking in calmly. Suddenly she reared back her cane and smacked him right in the thigh! "Up and at'em pussy cat! You can't put the sun on snooze you know!" she shouted and Keitaro was on the roof with his newly rediscovered tail sticking out the back of his pants.
"MOM! Don't do that!" Keitaro said straightening up still standing on the roof and crossing his arms.
"Come on boyo you can't just nap around all day!" she said grabbing him by the braid pulling him off the ceiling, past Shinobu and down the hall to the dining room with him protesting at being treated like this all the way.
"O-Oh my!" Shinobu said in shock.
"Hey Shinobu! You coming?" Hina shouted down the hall and she jogged to catch up.
"Did you have to be so rough? Come on! I've only been like this what? Twelve, maybe fourteen hours? Give me a chance to settle!" he complained with a hint of a cat's whine in it.
"Keitaro you now look as old as you actually are, you don't have big soulful eyes anymore. You can't guilt me." Hina said taking a sip of tea.
"Damnit." Keitaro cursed under his breath and dodged a blow from Hina's cane.
"Don't you start cursing now! There are young ladies present! Where did I go wrong with you, never listening to your poor suffering mother..." Hina started taking out a handkerchief to wipe away the non-existent tears.
"...And you wonder why I still try that?" Naruto asked and dodged another cane poke.
"Damn young punk." Hina said scathingly.
"Didn't you just chew into me for swearing?" Keitaro asked and couldn't totally dodge the swing Hina took, he did block it though.
"Anyways girls I hope you calendars for the day are clear because our resident catman needs something more than his altered pelt (the clothing he transformed into) to wear around." Hina said and Kitsune gave a huge grin as Naru shot a worried look towards her. Shinobu turned red, Motoko tried to stay stoic and Kanako's familiar did the talking for her and jumped up on the table.
"Why not just let him go without his pelt? I'm sure master would appreciate..." Kuro began before Kanako grabbed her familiar and put a hand over her mouth. She had everyone's undivided attention.
//Hmm... I'd say the little fuzzball's got the right idea.// Kitsune thought grinning.
"Oh hoho." Hina chuckled. "Is my little spider lusting for the cat?"
"Eep!" Kanako exclaimed. "K-Kuro how could you?"
"Mya?" the cat replied trying to deflect the blame. It didn't work too well.
"Alright! Break it up!" Hina shouted clapping her hands. "Let's get focused and get moving again ladies!" she said and there was a flurry of movement as the spry woman hurried everyone around and grabbed the top of an old white training gi for Keitaro to cover his chest with. "Man or woman Keitaro I will not have you flashing your breasts in public!" she reprimanded before herding everyone out the door.
The walk was uneventful for the most part but Keitaro was on edge. "Mom... everyone's staring at me. What's going on?" he asked Hina who chuckled.
"What's going on Kei-kun is that all these girls are feeling a great deal of... lust, towards you. The men are jealous." Hina explained and Keitaro frowned.
"Wait when you mean lust do you mean... mating instincts? Are they in heat?" he asked and Kitsune bent over laughing.
"I'm so sorry! It's just heeheehee!!" she said nearly in tears.
"Mitsune you'll have plenty of opportunities to laugh at his expense later right now we have a train to catch." Hina said and with some difficulty Kitsune was able to control herself. They soon arrived at a large mall complex with three stories and enough clothing stores for even the most addicted shopaholics taste.
"And they told me things would be more my size when I grew up… I guess they were right." Keitaro noted that it went up three stories. "Still how did they know I'd need this much headroom?" he asked and Hina shook her head at this.
"Keitaro there's so much open room not for the sake of people that can grow as large as you can but to make space for more stores." Hina corrected him.
"Ahh… still think they'd have a store large enough for a hybrid form between my tiger and human states?" he asked and Hina thought.
"Maybe a big and tall store but that's iffy. But since you're on track, ladies, any suggestions on where to get him something to wear?" Hina asked with a twinkle in her eye and immediately Kanako dragged him into a nearby gothic clothing outfit.
45 seconds later
"Um… Kanako are you sure this is me?" Keitaro asked after banishing his 'pelt' and setting aside the gi top and its sash. There was the rustle of cloth as he was changing into what she picked out.
"Oh don't worry big brother! It'll look great on you." She said smiling devilishly.
"But it's so tight! Especially at the groin, that and I'm more than a little nervous about having something with metal teeth this close to new part of my body. I just got it I don't want to lose it." He said and Kitsune started snickering as Shinobu started to turn a little pink.
"Is it on?" she asked and there was a sigh then a 'yes'. At that moment Kanako tore back the curtain and… wump.
"Ack! Shinobu are you okay? Is something wrong? You fainted like Mutsumi! Are you anaemic too?" he asked quickly trying to revive her as Kanako was a hair away from cheering in triumph as Naru and Motoko blushed and Kitsune wasn't exactly subtle in her appraisals. Wump. The counter girl was down.
He was wearing a transparent fishnet t-shirt with 'tastefully ripped' tight black jeans with a leather vest on with the symbol for anarchy on the back. Sure the image was ruined by the fact that his expression screamed 'softie' but it showed them everything they wanted to see in such a way that they were not liable to ever forget it.
"Hmm that looks a little tight for you doesn't it Keitaro?" Hina asked and he patted himself down a little but nodded.
"Yea it feels like I'm wearing a snake skin or something. You know how they'll shed their skin right? Like that." He said and Kanako pouted disappointed but not entirely surprised.
"If it's too good to be true then it probably is eh master?" Kuro asked and Kitsune chuckled as Kanako nodded ruefully.
"Don't worry sweetheart, we'll get him into something out of a wetdream before the day is done!" Kitsune said throwing her arm around Kanako and announcing dramatically.
"You realize I can hear everything you're saying right?" Keitaro asked through the curtain. "And how would a dream be wet? Do you mean like wetting the bed? And what would what I'm wearing have to do with it?" (Note: These are valid questions. He is smart but he doesn't really know anything about sex.) "Was that outfit scary enough to make someone pee themselves in their sleep or something?" he asked and there was a lot of choked laughter.
"Heeheeheehawhawhaw! I'm sorry granny but you gotta teach him about the birds and the bees this is too much!!" Kitsune said giggling helplessly.
"Alright young lady if you insist. Keitaro we have a great deal to talk about. If you'll follow me." She said and Keitaro raised an eyebrow.
"I know about mating and romance thank you very much. I just don't see why it has to apply to me in every possible situation. I'm not in heat." Keitaro said a little stiffly.
"And just who taught you?" Hina asked.
"Those perverted freaks I met, you remember the adults of my species I encountered." Keitaro said and Hina sighed. Of course he was looking at it from a cat's perspective not a human's.
"Keitaro, humans don't enter heat. That's a cat thing." Hina said and there was a pause on his side.
"So when do males and females know when to... you know...?" he asked and there was a bout of both giggling and blushing. You can guess who did what. Hina shook her head looking at the ceiling.
"You'll figure it out. You're a bright enough boy." Hina reassured him. "Alright ladies since it seems Kanako's idea was a bust who has another one?"
"Oh! I got a good one!" Kitsune said grabbing Keitaro by the arm and leading him away. Unfortunately they lost track of them...
Five minutes later.
"Over here!" Kanako called out leading the whole group to a surf shack style place. They found an exasperated looking Keitaro with an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt with a dark blue bathing suit. The guy behind the counter was glaring daggers at him as Kitsune was giggling at this sight. As they came in they heard the counter boy grumbling.
"...pretty boys think they can just come in and suddenly be a surfer... ruining the best sorts of joints and surfing hangouts by wiping out all over the damn place..." the blond said tightly.
"Look surf boy can I freaking pay for the clothing or not?" Keitaro asked and the glare intensified.
"Two thousand nine hundred and thirty two yen." He said and Keitaro quickly ran a credit card through. "Now beat it poser." Keitaro sighed and walked out with Kitsune attached to his arm as firmly as a tattoo. "You know I'm starting to lose feeling in that arm Kitsune, I'm also rather attached to it. I'd rather it didn't die due to lack of circulation." He said and Kitsune reluctantly eased up.
"So dressed him as your dream man Little Fox?" Hina asked grinning and Kitsune backed off blushing. "I'll take that as a yes." Hina said grinning. "Now, this is good for the beach and all but we still need some casual and formal wear." She said with a meaningful look first towards Naru then Motoko. They got the message.
Twenty gruelling minutes later
Keitaro heaved a groan as he was close to being finished with the changing. "Oh stop being such a baby Keitaro." Hina admonished him.
"Well let's see you get dressed up like a toy instead!" came the indignant reply.
"Oh I'd love that myself!" Hina said chuckling and there was a silence.
"Ohhhh!!! Everybody's picking on me!" he said in whining and sarcastic tones. Just in time for Hina to wrench open the curtain revealing the fact that the shirt wasn't fully buttoned up yet. But dress pants and shoes with a long sleeve dress shirt flowing ever so slightly in the breeze the AC was providing was quite a sight. Naru had also convinced him to undo the braid and only tie the very ends together to keep it neat. "You mind?" he asked closing it as Kitsune congratulated Naru. He reopened it a few seconds later with a sweater vest overtop and a leather belt holding up the pants.
"Very nice! Keitaro I want you to pick out some things from this store as Motoko and Shinobu will be having their turns next." Hina said and Keitaro nodded before going around for a bit. He mostly stayed away from sweater vests though, sticking to shirts he could button up for his upper body. They left without incident if you don't count Keitaro musing about the scent of vanilla and what it may mean.
"Now Keitaro for some proper training clothing we will be going to…" Motoko began but was cut off by a scream. Keitaro reached out with his mana senses.
"It's an energy vampire. Daemon, a parasitic monster." He hissed. "If you'll excuse me, I'd like to test my new claws." He said setting down his bags and jumping up clearing two floors easily.
"Well there he goes, let's simply go to the food court he'll find us." Hina said.
Keitaro for his part was practically soaring and glad to be rid of the sweater vest. He noticed absently that with his braid undone he could really hear it swishing through the air. He soared upwards and upwards higher then he intended as he had to twist and race along the glass ceiling so that he didn't smack his head against it. He didn't really know how much stronger he was now so it was a bit of a problem calculating just how hard he had jumped. Luckily he hadn't shattered the earthquake and hurricane tested window, just cracked it a little. With a light jump, think hopping over a couple steps over trying to vault a fence.
He sensed a bunch of energy build-ups and rolled his eyes. The Sailor-Senshi again. He thought of them more like the Silly-Senshi a bunch of little girls who made almost no effort to control their power, seek help, understand their opponents and thought those perverted outfits were functional battle clothing. Granted they were enchanted not to embarrass the poor girls and probably protect them as it did their identities. (He still had their scents though) But still come on… when using artillery style magic you don't get into sight of the enemy, you take them out from a kilometre off.
One midair jump that used as much effort as a hop and he was hurtling with near blinding speed towards the energy source and clawed into the air itself to slow himself down in time to land on a railing facing the wrong way from the monster. //I really need to get my breaks checked.// he thought wryly.
"Halt foul monster! A mall is a place for people to hang out and shop not for monsters to go on a rampage! In the name of the moon I will punish you!" Moon announced and Keitaro shot her a confused look.
"Uhmmm which monster? Me or… Ying-Yang there?" Keitaro asked the Silly-Senshi gesturing towards the creature behind him with his tail. It looked like, well frankly it was a living mannequin wearing a wedding dress with crystals shooting out of it all over the place. Keitaro was having a hard time picturing this thing as a threat. Or taking it seriously for that matter.
"Uh, well the bad one… it's stolen a woman's dream mirror which is a part of the mind made manifest…" Mini-Moon said pointing at the mannequin thing. Keitaro's eyes flashed then he vanished and reappeared standing on the opposite side of the walkway, again on the railing and facing the opposite direction of the creature this time examining his clawed right hand.
"So, increased speed, strength, accuracy and reflexes on top of my naturally powerful claws, I've gotten rather dangerous at close quarters." He said in a bored tone as the Daemon fell apart into dust and the dream mirror simply floated where it once stood. "You'd better return that to whomever it was stolen from, mind magic is finicky stuff after all." He said then gave then raised his arms to his sides and leaned forwards off the railing, using a fire mirage to cloak him as he fell. To the spectators he apparently vanished into thin air.
He landed lightly on the bottom and walked calmly away decloaking as he went. He arrived back at the store he left the group at and wasn't too surprised to find they had gone. He sniffed the air and had their trail quickly and realized they were heading to the food court. "Might as well see if there's any good sushi around here." He said as he went to the food court at a leisurely pace.
"So when do you think he'll get here?" Kitsune asked and Keitaro decloaked right at that moment.
"About two seconds ago." Hina said sipping her tea Keitaro had to dodge a swipe from Motoko for scaring her. "So what happened? Motoko-chan here sensed some sort of fight and you took off like a rocket."
"Nothing but a minor daemon and the Silly-Senshi." Keitaro said stifling a yawn.
"You know the Sailor-Senshi Sempai?!" Shinobu asked instantly starry eyed.
"Yea this is my second run in with them… first time I met all ten without Tuxedo whatever showing up. It was a few months ago so I was still a kitten." Keitaro explained and could swear that Shonobu had a wagging tail.
"How did you meet them senpai?" Shinobu gushed and Keitaro backed up ever so slightly.
"It was that day I used wind to slingshot my way across town, I was distracted and was going to over shoot my destination when I slammed into something in midair. It was the Senshi's current opponent trying to make a getaway through flight and my… intervention let them dust the monster. They confronted me but I talked them down. I even managed to get directions off of them." Keitaro said and Shinobu's starry eyes hit the high beams.
"And today?" Shinobu asked reverently. Keitaro double blinked at this but soldiered on.
"Well the Daemon I sensed was apparently made with a stolen 'Dream Mirror?' yea that was it. It was in a mannequin that was wearing a wedding dress. I tested my claws on the thing and it came apart like it wasn't even there. After that I just stepped off the ledge and cloaked up as I fell. To them I must have just vanished into thin air." He said and Shinobu was staring in admiration. "What?"
"It's just so romantic!" she gushed. "You were like the hero that showed up out of nowhere and saves the day before vanishing before a word of thanks can be whispered." Then she remembered just who she was talking too and swooned.
"What in the? This is getting ridiculous." Keitaro stated as he caught the shy girl and gently placed her on a chair. "So what next?" he asked around a chicken-burger that was spicy as all unholy hell. "hah hah! Hot!" he exclaimed and took a gulp of water. "Oh god it's just spreading it!" he exclaimed to the amusement of the Hina girls.
"Keitaro you suggested to me that you wanted to train. I believe our next stop is to get you some proper training clothing for learning to use your blade." Motoko explained and Keitaro nodded as he drained Kitsune's soda.
"Hey… I didn't know you were that eager for an indirect kiss Keitaro, you only had to ask." Kitsune said protesting then spinning some fun into the situation.
"Indirect kiss? What the heck's that supposed to be?" Keitaro asked confused, and Kitsune sighed deeply.
"Ya know you're no fun if things keep shooting over your head." Kitsune grumped and Keitaro shot a cheeky grin.
"How do you know it is? I could just be messing with you." (He wasn't it really was going over his head.) There was a silence at this and Kitsune started chuckling.
"Nice one pussy cat." Giving him a look he either missed or ignored. (The safe money is on the former.) They finished quickly with Keitaro panting a little at the spices of his burger. Keitaro ended up carrying Shinobu bridal style as Kanako, Motoko, Naru and Kitsune split the clothes between themselves. Of course this meant that Shinobu upon waking up in his arms was promptly out and asleep again much to Hina's amusement.
Motoko lead them to a specialty store that catered to Kendo practitioners. Apparently some fool named Tatewaki was using this as a money dump, so it was able to charge cheaply and still make a huge profit. Shivering a little at his memory of his encounters with the delusional moron Keitaro found himself a pair of white training outfits. When Motoko commented that they would get dirty quickly he just shrugged.
As they left Keitaro heard someone mention something about 'boyfriends' then sounds of a struggle then someone being dragged off. He looked back and rolled his eyes, the girls that had been scuffling a little froze as they recognized him. "Excuse me I need to clear something with the Senshi." He said and started walking over to the girls now staring at him as he approached. Shinobu was close behind him.
"Alright look you girls know who I am but I know who you are so we keep this close to the chest and everybody's happy alright?" he said as he got close.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Save it Mars, your illusions don't change your scents." Keitaro said and the girl backed up wide eyed. "You girls know I'm a demon and I know you're the Senshi, we keep this to ourselves and everybody's happy alright?"
"How can we trust you?" Jupiter asked aggressively.
"This isn't the first time you've met me, it's the second. I didn't do anything wrong either time." Keitaro said.
"Wait when did we meet you? I'd remember a hu… a guy like you!" Jupiter exclaimed.
"A couple months ago remember? I was just kitten then and I used my energies to catapult myself above Tokyo and slammed into a batlike Daemon and sent it tumbling to the ground where…"
"That was you!?! Holy Crow! You've grown up!" Moon exclaimed looking him up and down and Keitaro shrugged.
"Yes, yes nice to see you again but please. Zip." He said making the motion of zipping his lips shut which they nodded to and mimicked. "Alright then Ciao." He said before turning and walking off sniffing a little at the scent of vanilla and having to prod Shinobu on as she was staring at them reverently.
"Alright, that's been sorted out. Let's go home." Ketiaro said as he reached the group.
Authors Notes
I'm very sorry for the delay but there's been non stop hassles left right and centre. My original Idea for this chapter was completely different but I lost it when my only save which was on a memory stick was broken and by result lost so I had to start all over again.