Disclaimer, narrated by Yoda: Own Love Hina, I do not. If claim to I did, the shadow of Jealousy that would be. And more confident in my ability to draw naked females properly, am I. Mmmm…hmmhmmhmmhmmm!

(Oh, and I don't own Yoda, either. However, I do happen to own a full-sized cardboard standee of Chewbacca, which had been a store display in its former life. The guy in charge of putting them up gave it to me when he was taking it down, as I enjoy both Star Wars and the joke quote sticker someone had stuck on it reading:

I WANT YOUR CHEESEBURGER. YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT?

Go figure. On with the story!)

Chapter 4: Pain What Kicks…

He couldn't see or breathe properly for all the smoke. Over the growing roar of flames, he could still hear voices crying out.

There were cuts and burns all over his arms, as he continued to pull people out of the bus, plucking them from the choking smoke of the interior to the freedom of the light of day.

Almost ten minutes had gone by from the start, though he'd long since lost track of the time. It was getting to be almost impossible to stay on or near the smouldering carcass of the wrecked public transport; with each passing minute, fewer and fewer people could, or would, get near it for the smoke.

Soon, only Keitaro remained to pull out the last of the bus's passengers.

Sweat and grime caked his body and clothing. He felt suffocated, yet did not stop. Somewhere over the blaze, he could still hear them inside, even though they no longer had voices left to cry out.

Somehow, he knew there were two left, deep in the back of the burning vehicle. How he knew they were the last, he couldn't say, didn't care, didn't need to know.

He just did.

And come hell or high water, he wasn't leaving until he had brought them out.

Taking what little breath he could still manage to get, he dove straight into the bus's suffocating black interior.

A spirit not entirely his own moved his aching, exhausted limbs, forced back the growing pain in his skin, his muscles, his lungs. Almost impossibly, he found them both together: a boy and a girl, huddled and nearly unconscious in what might have been the back of the vehicle.

Behind him, the flames had become impassable. They were out of oxygen, and almost out of time.

Grabbing the two youngsters and pulling them close to himself, Keitaro jumped straight up with every ounce of energy he could muster, his ki focused in his raised shoulder over his head and in his legs.

In a flash, they were in the light again, shards of glass flying all around them and smoke trailing behind them. Gasping and coughing in air, he found he could suddenly breathe once again.

He landed and tumbled a short distance away from the vehicle in the middle of a crowd of those he had rescued and passing onlookers. As they helped him up, he glanced back at the bus, a dangerous feeling of premonition still cutting into his consciousness. The flames were getting worse by the second, moving along and around the edges and spewing out the hole he had just opened in the thick window near the back end.

The flames were now less than two feet from the machine's exposed fuel tank on the underbelly, and closing fast.

"It's gonna blow! Everyone take cover!"he yelled, forcing his taxed body to move once again. He hauled the coughing children, one under each arm, as fast and far as he could as the surrounding onlookers rapidly scattered around him, each running, hobbling, dragging the injured with them as fast as they could. Keitaro dove behind the nearest solid cover he could find: a nearby metal dumpster.

Even behind cover, he could feel the shock wave as the remains of the three o'clock main route bus annihilated itself and pelted the surrounding area with hot, mangled shards of its carcass. The sound was louder than anything he'd heard before, loud enough to make his ears ring for hours afterward.

When, moments later, the debris finally stopped falling, he let go of the two children shielded underneath him. They were coughing, slightly scorched, and scared, but they were alive.

He got up and looked around. Slowly but surely, people emerged from behind cars, posts, and doorways, shaken and often injured but very much alive. The scorches, debris, and smoke surrounding the broiling and gutted remains of the public transport showed them just how lucky they'd been not to be on or next to it when it had gone up.

Belatedly, the wailing of approaching sirens announced the arrival of practically every fire truck, ambulance, police car, and rescue worker in town from every direction at once.

It would be a long time before they discovered how late they'd almost been, how close to tragic disaster and mass casualty the crash had come.

As the chaos of people and rescue workers grew, Keitaro wandered aimlessly away, exhausted and all but forgotten in the growing crowds.

He had to find Kitsune. He wouldn't rest until he knew she was alright.

**********

Kitsune was as close to the point of panicking as she had ever felt in her life.

By the time she'd finished an urgent call for every form of rescue worker the town had available, several minutes had past. The smoke around the bus had been growing so thick, it had been almost impossible to see what was going on. She could see a few people working to get the bus's occupants out of the smoldering wreck; a minute later, most could no longer withstand the smoke and flames, and turned instead to hauling the badly injured to safety.

One still remained. He still managed to pull the last few more people out, even after the others had given up trying.

Finally, he stood alone, almost lost in the thick smoke.

With a jolt, she realized who the lone man had to be, and nearly had a heart attack when he jumped into the door she knew he'd removed himself.

"KEI!!!" she yelled, but he was already gone from sight.

Ten seconds went by, then twenty. 'What are you doing!? Come on, get out of there!' she silently pleaded.

Suddenly, a plume of smoke and shattered glass shot out the top side of the bus. To her relief, within the plume was not only Keitaro, but two young children as well!

No sooner had he landed than she began running toward him. Unfortunately, she didn't get very close before she heard him yell, "It's gonna blow! Everyone take cover!" and run off, kids still under his arms, to do just that. No one, it seemed, needed to be told twice, and before she knew it she was in a mad rush to get as far away from the burning bus as she could.

Moments later, behind a large parked van, she found out why.

With her ears still ringing from the blast and smoke and debris scattered around her everywhere, she finally emerged from cover with about a half dozen others a few moments later. There was nothing left of the bus, and little left untouched within a block's radius of it, where almost everyone had been standing moments earlier. To her surprise, everyone seemed to be alive; in spite of the devastation and debris, the only thing not strewn about everywhere was dead, mangled bodies.

Ruefully, she realized the rescue worker cavalry had only just now arrived, sirens blaring and vehicles pulling up in all directions. They would have been too late to do any good at all, had it not been for Keitaro…

With a start, she remembered him, and realized she didn't see him anywhere. "Kei? Kei-kun??" she called out his name repeatedly, picking her way between and around the growing and confused crowds of people gathering all around. There was still thick smoke everywhere; now, after ten minutes of frantic searching, she still couldn't find him.

She almost gave up, almost gave in to the panic. He was gone…gone! She couldn't find him! He could be hurt, dying, or dead already. She didn't know, had to find out, had to find him, couldn't…

Finally, at the last second before her own fears overwhelmed her, she saw him half-wandering, half-stumbling in her direction. Though he was all but covered in soot, smoke, grime, and dried bits of his own blood (his arms and legs covered with cuts and scrapes), she recognized him instantly. He barely stood on his own feet, but he lived. He looked more exhausted than she'd ever seen him, more than when she'd found him collapsed in his own bed the day before, but he was plenty alive and awake. "KEI!!!!" she yelled, and rushed toward him.

"Kitsu-chan!" he said exhaustedly but with equal gusto, turning and trying to move himself in her direction much more slowly than she. He might have fallen over backwards, had they not embraced one another quite so tightly when they all but collided into each other. For a moment, everything else was overridden, forgotten, or ignored. So glad to see him alive, she held him now like she would never let go; so glad was he to find her alive and unhurt, he forgot all his own pain and exhaustion, the limits of his own physical body, and the fact he had already reached and was now venturing beyond them, and somehow managed to return her hug with equal strength and passion.

A minute later, as they finally pulled away from their embrace, his legs finally gave out underneath him. Stumbling to keep him from falling, Kitsune helped him to the ground, leaning him against a tree. "Are you okay?" she asked with growing concern, her mind coming back to the situation at hand.

"I'm…I'm not hurt or anything, just…just tired…" he said haltingly, looking like death warmed over twice. "Was tired to…to begin with. Did too much…need to rest for a minute…then we need to…get back. They'll be worried…if we don't get back soon…"

She blinked, remembering suddenly what they'd been doing a moment before all hell had broken loose. Groaning, she realized the blast from the bus blowing itself to kingdom come was probably loud enough to hear for miles around, and the smoke would be visible almost as far. They were less than a mile from the inn; she could even almost see it off in the distance.

'Oh, spit, they're going to be wondering what the hell happened, and it won't be long before they figure out we're still both missing!' she thought. Looking at Keitaro, she realized he was in no shape to handle a confrontation right now! He hadn't even fully finished healing himself yet, and wasn't doing very well in the process; as she watched him deal with a thin burn along his forearm, it seemed to take him three times as long to work about half as well as it had when she'd seen him doing it the other night.

"How are we gonna tell them about all this? I mean, I'd really like to, just to give you some reason to be able to show off for a change, but…I don't want them to get any ideas that involve them hurting you," she said, glancing in the direction of the inn.

Keitaro paused, trying to muster up enough energy to finish working on the worst of his wounds. "I…I'd rather not tell them…at all, not all of it. I don't…like drawing that much…attention," he said.

She looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean, not all of it?"

He closed his eyes and managed half a smirk. "What do you think they'd do, if we went back there…and told them I saved over fifty people…from a burning bus, and…oh, by the way, we're…also officially a couple? Not…not to mention the fact we…were on our way back from having…lunch together. They won't…believe it, will they?"

She paused, then scowled to herself, knowing he was right. "No, I guess not, huh?" A thought occurred to her. "What if we tell them we bumped into each other on the way back, and tell them you were helping out after the crash? They'd believe you'd do that much, right?"

"I…I guess so," he admitted. "But that…doesn't explain what kept you from coming back sooner."

"Hmmm…well, we could tell them you got us both out of the way before it hit us."

He looked at her warily. "That…could be dangerous."

Her eyes widened slightly, a sudden twinkle of mischievous flair shining in them. "Not if I'm the one to tell them about it first, and you don't come in until afterward."

"What…what do you mean?"

"Think about it: any way we do it, if we come in together, we risk you being attacked. If you went in first, you might get away with an explanation, but in all likelihood you won't, and we'll have the same problem. But if I go in and smooth things over before you get there…"

"…they'll probably take your word for it, and you'll have time to…to talk them out of killing me if they don't." Keitaro nodded, catching on quickly. He gave the idea some serious thought for a moment. He really needed to avoid getting hit skyward tonight, that was for certain; the sheer amount of ki he had to channel into knocking the bus out of their path, pulling off its badly mangled door, and launching himself with two kids in tow and very little oxygen to work with was tremendous, and physically pulling out dozens of passengers one after another had been strenuous work as well. He was barely capable of healing what minor wounds he had now, let alone to survive something more serious.

One way or another, if he didn't have Kitsune's help right now, he'd be dead by the end of the night. He was simply too damn drained to keep himself going on his own steam.

"Alright, but…whatever you tell them, I need to know what it is in advance, and in full." He sat up, and stood with some difficulty. Mitsune supported him as he rose, watching him carefully to make sure he didn't collapse. "I'll be able to make it there most of the way, but it will be pretty…slow."

The Fox beamed at him, and proceeded to tell him the rest of her plan as they began to make their way back toward the inn.

**********

Almost an hour after the crash, Kitsune walked up the steps to the front entrance of the Hina-Sou alone, while Keitaro made his way (slowly, both by intention and by physical necessity) around the back. They'd split up before they were fully in sight, so as to avoid being spotted together. A quick glance over her shoulder at the still-billowing plume of smoke in the distance, complete with the twinkling of emergency vehicle lights and the distant sound of sirens, was enough to confirm what she'd guessed at earlier.

To Mitsune Konno, known to her friends as Kitsune, the Fox, deception was a fine art form. The trick to success, ironically, was in minimizing the size and scope of the deceit itself. Whether this was accomplished by leaving out a few details or adding one or two key points depended on the situation, the audience, and what needed to be not told. The closer any additions were to what was (or very easily could be) the truth, the better.

Putting on her best game face, she opened the front door and walked in.

All five of her housemates were waiting on the other side, emotions ranging from curious to worried sick, to mad as hell. All at once, they barraged her with questions she knew would be coming.

"There you are! Where've you been?"

"Are you all right?"

"What happened?"

"We heard somethin' BLOW UP really loud—"

"Did you see it?"

"Have you seen Sempai anywhere today? Is he okay?"

"What's with all that smoke out there?"

"We thought you might be—"

"Where were you!? We were so worried—"

"Heyeyey, easy! Easy! Calm down!" Mitsune waved them to be quiet so she could get a word in edgewise. "I've been a little busy today, and a lot has happened. There was a huge accident between a bus and a tractor trailer, and it was a bit too close for comfort but I'm okay. Keitaro happened to be coming in the same direction I was and knocked me out of the way before the bus ran me over."

The lie was set right next to the most dangerous point of contention. She had decided it best to give the most accurate account possible, and leave out only what was absolutely necessary. She could tell them about most of it, just not the reason they were there or the full extent of Keitaro's recent heroics. Like a magician, she slid it in behind a more blatantly glaring point, one which was seized upon almost instantly by Naru.

"WHAT!? That baka touched you under the guise of saving your life!? I'll—"

"You'll do nothing, Naru Narusegawa! He saved my life fair and square, and were it not for him I'd be a pancake under the wheels of an out-of-control bus right now. The thing's brakes were gone or something! I don't know. What I do know is that its wheels were two feet over the edge of the sidewalk, and it wasn't slowing down. It was a red light, and it kept on going right into a truck going the other way. The only reason I stand here now is because he had the good sense to yank me out of the way! On top of that, he stayed behind to help get people off that bus, and it was a good thing he did, too."

"Why? What happened?" asked Sarah.

"It's fuel tank blew up right after everyone got off."

"AWESOME!!! Was it a big fireball? We heard the BOOM from here!" Kaolla Su immediately piped up, leaping around excitedly. Explosions, after all, were part of the girl's stock and trade.

"Are they okay? Is he okay?" Shinobu asked with an undisguised note of worry.

"They're just fine. Last I saw, he was tired and pretty dirty, but otherwise all in one piece. I think he said he'll be back pretty soon," Mitsune again relayed as much of the truth as she was willing to reveal.

What she told them was true, in a lot of ways: he had pulled her out of the way, and had stayed behind and helped a lot of people off that bus. He hadn't moved himself out of the way, however; instead, he'd moved the bus. They didn't need to know that any more than they needed to know he'd single-handedly ripped off the door and all but dragged most of the people out of it himself.

"This is…very strange. Are you sure Urashima-san was not deceiving you in order to enact his perversions at your expense, or theirs?" Motoko asked warily.

Mitsune sighed in frustration she only partly felt. "Rest assured, Motoko, he wasn't. If he was, I'd be the first to figure it out, would I not?" she challenged her.

Reluctantly, the swordmaiden agreed with her. Granted, it wasn't the very best of explanations, and the margin of safety was only slight. But the explanation was enough to silence their objections for the moment, and that was all the Fox really needed.

That, and a very well-placed blow of redirected guilt to counter the last, most dangerous question of all.

"What was he doing there, anyway?" asked Naru, voice somewhere between simple curiosity and loaded questioning.

Mitsune looked at her pointedly, one eyebrow raised. "I thought you'd know that better than I do. I actually saw him flying overhead not long before the crash."

Naru flushed slightly, suddenly looking quite uncomfortable. "Oh…uh…right." Somewhat embarrassed, she let the subject drop.

At that moment, and for once in his life, Keitaro Urashima arrived at an opportune moment with impeccable timing.

When the collective group of his tenants moved to greet him as a whole, they saw for themselves that he did indeed look to be alright, though he was still clearly exhausted. His clothing was dirty, singed in a number of places, and torn in several more, and his face was covered in sweat and streaks of dust, dirt, and grime. His glasses badly needed cleaning, though he could still see through them, and he was now doing his best to either ward off or answer the fresh barrage of questions now fired in his direction. He answered slowly and haltingly, not really telling the full story by the half but confirming he'd helped "a few people" in getting to safety, Mitsune included. In spite of their renewed pestering, he could only give them a sketchy account of all that had happened (with the same details left out as Mitsune had omitted a moment earlier). He said as little as he could about what he'd done, preferring (as usual) not to take credit for anything he couldn't readily (and safely) get confirmed, proven, or otherwised backed up, and though neither Motoko nor Naru really believed he was telling them everything that had happened, his story matched Kitsune's well enough to keep them from getting suspicious.

When he'd finally managed to break away from his overly inquisitive tenants to get clean (since he reeked of smoke and looked like he'd been stuck in a coal mine for a week, no one objected in the slightest), she'd also managed to escape to her own room.

With her door shut, a cup of sake in hand, and all else taken care of, Mitsune finally allowed herself to relax for what felt like the first time all day. Only now did she notice her hands shaking, the only telling sign of all the profound recent stress she'd been through in the last few days. Her brain, finally free and uninhibited by the worry and fear it had to face earlier, began the long process of sorting out the day she'd had, and the new position she found herself in with her kanrinin.

Mitsune sighed to herself. What he had done today had certainly impressed her, but it had also scared her badly. She was, admittedly and unabashedly, thrilled by how heroic he'd been in saving all those people, not to mention herself for the second time in three days, but most of all she found herself relieved that he hadn't gotten himself killed. She'd always somehow known he (of all people) would go through damn near anything to protect his tenants, but until that moment she'd never realized just how far he'd go even to protect total strangers as well. Her respect for the kanrinin as a person continued to rise, and her attraction to him rose with it.

Unfortunately, the point she made to him at lunch that he couldn't expect to survive like this forever seemed all the more relevant and pressing because of it. Had she not believed it so much at the time, she might have regretted using it in particular as a lead-in line for getting closer to him as she had.

'Not that I regret getting closer to him,' she thought to herself with a grin. If nothing else, at least that had gone right today.

Sighing, she glanced at her clock. It was almost time for dinner. She gave herself a quick self-appraising glance and frowned. She, too, was a bit smudged up from the day. Since Keitaro was likely using the shower at the moment, she'd have to wait on taking one herself before she could get the smell of smoke out of her hair. The thought crossed her mind to take one anyway, with him in it or not. She smirked to herself. The idea certainly had a lot of appeal! She doubted they'd get away with it, though; if they tried, he'd probably be torn limb from limb before either of them got in a word edgewise.

Instead, she changed her clothing into something a little cleaner than her current apparel, and made her way down to see about dinner.

Strangely enough, even though it was a Sunday, the residents seemed less than enthusiastic about gathering for their usual meal together tonight. Kaolla Su, always drawn by food, came down only long enough to cart a massive plateful back to her room, claiming she was in the middle of an experiment. Sarah wasn't very far behind.

Naru and Motoko, meanwhile, had come and finished early. By the time Kitsune arrived, they were already on their way toward the hot springs. When they asked if she'd like to join them, she declined, saying she was actually quite hungry at the moment. Indeed, she was; it was rare for her to turn down an easy excuse to take a dip in those soothing waters, as it happened to be one of her favorite activities. They looked at her curiously, but said nothing.

The one person Kitsune had expected to be coming down, however, didn't. For half an hour, she and Shinobu ate alone. Both were soon worried, though the Fox was better at hiding it. As she saw Shinobu get progressively more concerned, however, she found herself getting an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. He'd had plenty of time to get clean and redressed by now; what was taking him so long?

Finally, she decided to broach the subject with the young chef. "Shinobu," she asked her, "do you know if Keitaro said he wasn't coming to dinner tonight?"

The younger girl looked at her in surprise, perhaps not expecting Kitsune of all people to be concerned about the same thing she was at that moment. "N-no, he didn't, at least…at least I don't think he did. Sempai usually tells me when he needs to s-skip a meal…" Worry and a bit of hurt mixed in her voice as she spoke. "B-but I haven't seen him since he went to get h-himself clean." Mitsune noted a light blush on the cook; she guessed she wasn't the only one that the thought of the kanrinin in the shower had an effect on!

"Hmm…maybe we should check in on him, make sure he's okay. It's been kind of a rough day." The young chef went beat red at her words, causing Mitsune to chuckle. "I mean, we should check his room, you know? See if he fell asleep or something."

"Oh!" the young girl shook her head, perhaps to clear itself of the thoughts that had been running through it. "I…I guess so. Umm, K-Kitsune? Do you…did you see if anything happened to him? He wasn't hurt or anything, was he? It's just that…when he came in, and said you'd both nearly been hit, he looked w-worse than…than he u-usually does and I'm w-worried about him."

Mitsune thought about her question seriously. He had been banged up, nothing serious but plenty of small scrapes, which had taken him (comparatively speaking) a long time to address fully. But he hadn't been anywhere near as bad off as she'd seen him the other night, at least not in terms of injuries. Yet now that she really considered it point-blank, he had to be physically drained by now; he'd not only ripped off a badly mangled shut metal door, but also had physically lifted and pulled quite a number of people out of a smoking hellhole, and had done so without rest and with very little air to breathe that wasn't choked with smoke. He'd even dived in and launched back out with two kids in tow. Whatever healing powers he had on his own body, she doubted that he or anyone could have done all that and not exhausted themselves.

Considering how long it had taken him just to walk all the way back afterwards, and remembering how tired he already was, it seemed somehow miraculous that he'd been able to stand up as long as he had already.

"You know what, I think…he's probably just a bit worn out from today, that's all. Tell you what: we'll bring him up some dinner and see how he's doing, alright? We'll go together, so no one will bug us about going to his room or anything"

Shinobu readily agreed with this idea.

**********

When Keitaro had finished cleaning himself of the reek and filth from the smoking wreck he'd managed to pull everyone out of, a level of exhaustion like none he'd ever experienced finally overcame his whole body. He'd barely gotten fresh clothing on before his overtaxed muscles finall gave out completely. His legs, aching and trembling as they'd been for well over an hour, simply couldn't bear his weight any longer, and he fell to his knees. Somehow, he landed sitting up, but awkwardly so; unable to resist gravity's pull, he slid sideways and backward, landing half on the ground and half on his futon. He was not asleep, and didn't feel sleepy, but physically he was simply unable to muster the energy to move his screaming muscles any further. He knew, consciously, that he wasn't paralyzed or dead, but he couldn't will himself to get up again, to move anything, to keep going any further.

His body needed rest, and there was nothing he could say, think, or do to prevent it from getting it. He simply couldn't move.

He remained in this state for over an hour more; he knew dinner time had already come and gone by now, but he didn't have the strength even to get food at this point. He'd burned off his lunch and all his remaining reserves on a bus full of people. Like a machine running on fumes, he had begun to physically shut down in an effort to conserve what little he had left to stay alive.

He would laugh at his own state of weakness right then, had he the energy to do so. As it was, the only thing working properly was his ability to think, and even that wasn't in the best of shape.

It didn't help matters much that he'd breathed so much smoke, either. Breathing had been difficult at best ever since he'd climbed into the thick of it.

When at last he'd recovered enough strength to move again, he crawled back into a sitting position slowly. He needed food, badly. The prospect of getting down the stairs to the kitchen was daunting, however; the possibility of meeting with one of his tenants on the way was even worse.

'I guess Mitsune was right,' he thought to himself ruefully. 'Looks like…this is how I'm destined to die.'

Fate, like Mother Nature, could be a royal bitch, sometimes.

Tonight, however, was not to be one of those times. Later, he'd learn that both forces had different agendas and bigger plans for him in mind, but for right then Fate was feeling a little generous.

A knock on the door made Keitaro freeze in place. "S-sempai? Are you okay?" he heard Shinobu's voice ask. "Y-you've missed dinner! I-if you're hungry, I brought you a tray. I-I'm here with Kitsune."

Silently, Keitaro gave thanks to his Maker. It was difficult, but he made it to his door and managed to open it to let the two of them in. The older of the two looked at him in shock, recognizing the difficulty with which he held himself up against the door frame. "Oh, hell, Kei, are you alright?"

"I'm…I'm okay, just really…tired. I had to rest awhile," he said, trying desperately (and failing miserably) to put on a strong front for them. Neither girl was buying it, and they quickly drew him back into his room to sit down again. Shinobu left a platter with a generous helping of everything with him and pleaded with him to eat it. When he'd managed to get some of it down, Mitsune assured the young chef she'd stay with him and make sure he finished it. Though the girl didn't seem to fully trust the Fox (she did have a history of messing with the kanrinin, after all), Shinobu finally and reluctantly agreed. She left quickly, closing the door behind her.

When she'd gone, Keitaro sagged a bit. "Damn. Really wore myself out today," he muttered, continuing his meal slowly.

"What happened to you, Kei? Did you fall asleep?" she asked. Somehow, he looked even worse than he had before. Now that he was clean, she could readily see the fatigue in his face and form, which the dirt and grime had partially hidden before.

"No, not really. My body…decided to run out of steam before I did, and I ended up being too tired and sore to move for an hour. I'm still not moving all that well yet, to be honest…Gotta get some food in me; I'm running on empty." He sighed, relieved that he hadn't had to make the full trip to the kitchen. At the rate he was going, it would be midnight before he made it on his own!

"Take it easy, Kei-kun; you keep going like this, and there really won't be anything left of you to run."

He closed his eyes. "Yeah…I know," he said quietly. "I guess you were right, huh?"

'More than I wanted to be, that's for sure!' she thought. "I guess so, Kei. But I'm not letting you die that easy," she chided. "Not while I owe you my life three times over."

Keitaro paused. "Three?" He could only remember two!

She smirked. "Once on Friday from those creeps, and twice today. You pushed me out of the way of that bus, and you warned me and everyone else to get away from it before it blew up.

"Oh, yeah…I guess you're right," he chuckled softly. "Forgot about that part. Sorry, guess I'm a little sore for clear thinking right now."

"Where does it hurt?" she asked him, concern in her voice.

"Uh…well…it's…uh…pretty much everywhere at the moment, actually." he said, forcing himself to consider it carefully. "My arms…and my back seem to be the worst, though. Too much lifting, I gue—huh!?" He was startled to find her hands gently grab his shoulders, slowly working them to undo the knots in the muscles. It felt…surprisingly good.

"I don't claim to be an expert at this or anything, but I think at the very least I can make a few things a little less sore," she spoke to him softly, feeling him slowly relax as she worked. 'You know, come to think of it, this ain't a half bad thing to do: I get to help him out and feel him up at the same time!' she thought to herself, enjoying the opportunity to come in closer contact with her new boyfriend earlier in the evening than had been originally planned. As he continued to eat almost subconsciously, she moved on to his arms. They were larger and thicker than she'd expected, the musculature more defined than the loose shirts he often wore ever really let on. It occurred to her that he was better at hiding much of his own nature than anyone really gave him credit for. Bit by bit, she made him relax even further. By the time he'd finished his meal, she'd moved on to his back. Suddenly, he tensed up, as though in pain, and gasped slightly. "N-not…not there. One of my rib's still kinda tender there from earlier today," he said haltingly.

"Oh! Sorry, Kei," she moved away, deciding to draw him into a backward hug instead. Amazingly, whether because he really had become more relaxed, or because he was too tired to tense up in fear of being in such close physical contact with someone in the Hina-Sou, he didn't jump out of his skin or make an effort to resist. Instead, she felt his head nuzzle on of her arms softly. In spite of everything, she was surprised most of all by how remarkably warm he felt, even worn down as he was now. She rested her head on his shoulder, holding him tighter for a long moment.

A thought soon crossed her mind, something that she realized had been bugging her in the background all day. "Earlier today, when you were pulling those people out, how'd you know those kids were still in there, anyway? When you jumped in…I couldn't see anything outside the bus very well, let alone inside."

Keitaro thought a moment before answering. "Remember earlier when I told you everyone generates ki?"

"Yeah, I remember you telling me that." She paused, recalling what he'd said.

"That's how I found them. One of the little tricks with ki, if not one of the most useful, is that you can sometimes feel that of another person. Some martial arts use it as a means to sense the intent of an attacker, like when they're about to attack and how. I don't often use it, but…when you can't see your hands in front of you, or can't see which direction danger is coming from, it's almost like having a partial sixth sense of a sort. That's also how I knew that bus was about to hit us; mostly, I felt how horrified that poor driver was that he couldn't stop or swerve in time."

Mitsune felt the hair on her arms stand on end, briefly. He hadn't seen the bus coming, and neither had she. Now that she thought of it, it had been moving so fast toward them they'd never have physically seen it until it was too late, even if they'd been looking in that direction. He'd felt the danger, and acted on instinct. She began to wonder what else he could do; what really unnerved her about it was that she didn't feel unnerved by his talents, only relieved he had them.

Thinking about the moment the bus had barreled into their path brought back another memory just then. To her mind, it was somehow a lot more important to her now than anything else. "You know, Kei, I'd almost forgotten there was something I wanted to give you before that bus so rudely interrupted me."

"Hmm? What would that be, Kit?" he asked, turning in her arms to look at her face.

"This," she replied with a smile, and kissed him long and deeply.

A.N.: Well, that was essentially the same thing I'd written originally, but in a bit of a different order. Yes, I realize I'm probably taking it easy on Keitaro at the moment, but believe me he's got a lot to face later on. I'll admit, things get progressively more on the side of epic from here on out, but it will take a while to fully realize just how much. It's safe to say, however, that bigger problems are on the horizon…

Props to the game Marathon for inspiration for the title, and also to the brief thematic song "Powder" from the Cowboy Bebop movie I mentioned last chapter during the bus incident. As a side note: if you want to write scenes with a certain feel to them, listen to appropriate music while you write them. I guess Keitaro is unfortunate in the sense that I've been listening to a combination of Cowboy Bebop tracks and the Halo themes lately…