Hina Digger Chapter 8, a Love Hina + Gold Digger Crossover fanfic

I must say that the reviews for this work have been most heartening. At first I didn't think I could pull it off, but I was happily corrected.

To LightGuard: I tend to agree, the 'turn main character into a lycanthrope is overused, though ice-tea-1983 pulled it off well by making a whole new species. (Also, what makes you think the people you mentioned won't show up later? 3)

To Nysk: Things are still pretty bad on the Hinata front, for the harem members that is, but I'll deal with them in due time.

To Nanya: True that, if a gargantuan weapon of mindless destruction detonated under water, you'd think the world would notice wouldn't you? (Maybe it should've been named Hurricane Gyphon?)

To HolyKnight5: But of course! We can't have Dr. Diggers not pulling a 'Ghost Rider' every now and again...it'sone of his charms.

To Dragon Man 180: You don'thave to wait long my firend, as a new Stand is set to awake...And I think you'll approve.

To Raimundo: I know, why do they insist on breaking up Stripe and Cheetah? It's like an olympic event in failing and they're all trying their damndest for the gold. Hope this next chapter whets your appetite as muh as the last did.

To Sketch Fan: The BALLZ are definitely rolling now bro...

And so we pick up where we left off, several weeks after the fall of armageddon (I think, the comics weren't much for timeframe certainty, where they?)

Chapter 8.

Keitaro cursed as he gazed down the ledge at the amassed firepower below. He swore that if he saw another tank roll past he was getting the hell out of here and dragging Gina with him, whether the stubborn blonde genius struggled or not.

The ronin had settled into life with the Diggers family rather well, and the tutoring he was getting from Gina was really making up for his own hackneyed attempts. From what the genius had told him he should have at least passed the entrance exam years ago if he'd kept his thoughts on one subject long enough to write down the answers, something that was becoming all the easier to accomplish as he slowly put the promise girl, and his fear of being assaulted for the slightest percieved wrongdoing, out of his thoughts.

However, there were a few things he could do without, like being strapped to a lab table every other day to see why he was so resilient. Immortal or not there were just some things a person SHOULDN'T be able to walk away from, like an exploding Tachyon engine for one, or accidentally walking into Cheetah's room while she was changing. Then there was Cheetah's insistence he become her sparring partner, wanting to see how she measured up to the spirit that had sent the male werewolf flying twice, since it meant she'd be better prepared if they had to fight other lycanthropes in the future.

As a result the Ronin had developed a severe dislike for American Wrestling, which all things considered was quite understandable.

As it were, Brittany had asked him to fill in for her on this latest archaeological mission of Gina's, claiming that she wanted to spend more time with Stripe. He'd refused at first, wanting nothing more than to curl up with a good textbook, but was hard pressed to keep it up under her continuous assault.

'How the hell a were-cat can pull off 'puppy-dog-eyes' is beyond me.' He muttered to himself, only half listening as Gina noted the sheer amount of collective firepower with some awe, wondering whom the militants were selling them to. Keitaro honestly could've cared less, provided they weren't sold to people who wanted to shoot at HIM.

"They've got everything in the latest destructive hardware," Gina noted with interest, and a little envy, ignorant of the gloom on her reluctant partner's face "T-90's, rocket tanks, patriot missile launchers, X-30 laser cannons and…ah…AACHOO!"

Keitaro swore and had the woman in his arms before the echo of her sneeze had even begun, leaping through the air with a spirit-enhanced leap towards the Gina mobile, even as some of the very missiles they'd been looking at were launched at them. Landing with grace he attributed partially to his own experience, the Ronin threw Gina as politely as possible into the driver's seat of her modified buggy, before clambering in himself and buckling up.

Gina blinked, dazed at the sudden change from lying on sand to sitting on leather, before snapping back to reality as the sound of approaching death caught her attention in the form of tanks, jeeps and battle camels, mortar bullets and projectile slobber hurtling towards them at an alarming pace. The Gina Mobile roared to life and tore through the desert at top speed, leaving the arms dealers choking on sand and dodging camel spit as the duo made their getaway.

"Remind me why I'm here again?" Keitaro asked, flinching as a missile exploded in the distance, sending gouts of sand flying through the air in all directions "And can't this thing go any faster?! Those potshots are getting pretty close!"

"Would you relax Keitaro?" Gina assured him, a confident smirk on her face as she steered through the dunes "My Gina Mobile is the fastest thing in the desert! The only way thing that could catch up is an M80-Turbo tank, which I doubt they'd have lying around."

Keitaro didn't even have to look round to identify the vehicle gaining on them from behind, a small rising of hackles he'd come to identify as his 'Kei-dar' already alerting him to the arrival of the tank Gina had inadvertently summoned "Any ideas on how to ditch these guys?" he asked, sweat dropping as he realized the genius was making engine noises "You know, Cheetah-san would be calling you a nerd right about now."

"Aw c'mon Kei, isn't this exciting?" Gina asked, not taking her eyes of the road ahead as she smiled, her blood pumping with excitement "Don't tell me you'd prefer to be stuck in the library prepping for exams?"

'I WOULD, actually.' Keitaro muttered to himself half heartedly, wincing as a bullet shot off into the distance. The truth of the matter was that he really DID enjoy going with Gina on trips, and it WAS fun visiting all those ancient archaeological sites that time forgot. What he resented was that most of these sites had nasty things inside trying to keep them out, and that as the 'muscle' he was expected to deal with them.

Half a month ago if anyone had told Keitaro that he'd be referred to as the 'muscle' in anything, even as a joke, he'd have laughed in their face until he either passed out or was rendered unconscious courtesy of a blunt instrument to the head. Having come to grips with his situation, and the fact the spirit attached to him seemed to be on HIS side, he was now resigned to the fact that he was Cheetah's stand-in for Gina-sitting, even if he didn't particularly like it.

He dimly caught Gina's order to unbuckle his seatbelt, letting out a startled cry as she pounced on him, knocking them out of the speeding vehicle, which tore off under its own power, the tank following in its wake. "That works I suppose." The ronin noted dazedly, wiping sand out of his face as they waited for the sound of treads and enraged camel to die away, before jumping as his partner goosed him "GINA-SAN!"

"Too slow Kei!" the blonde scientist teased, getting to her feet daintily as she dusted herself off, deliberately drawing attention to her shapely curves beneath her bodysuit "Maybe now you'll keep your guard up like Cheetah says."

"I don't recall her warning me about being GOOSED by my partner." Keitaro muttered half-heartedly, rising to his feet with a grunt, to which Gina raised an eyebrow, her arms crossed under her breasts.

"Why would I wanna goose my baby sister?" She countered, grinning coyly, a knowing glint in her eyes, as she looked the stammering Ronin over teasingly "Or are you trying to get ideas there, Kei?"

Keitaro turned scarlet and got to his feet, dusting the sand out of his clothes as he did so. No matter how many times he saw it, Gina's libido still scared the hell out of him. It was like the 'ON' switch had gotten jammed and no-one had bothered to fix it. Even Kitsune couldn't rattle him this easily unless she caught him off guard.

"We'd better get there before they come back." Gina noted, checking her wristwatch to see how far the Gina-Mobile was "They won't be fooled for long."

Keitaro nodded and turned to face the ruins, not even blinking as Gina clambered onto his back and held on tight as his spirit helped them leap through the air. It was faster and less embarrassing than simply walking, and he wasn't that much stronger than the blonde to begin with.

Though he could do without the giggling as she snuck covert gropes at his backside as they leapt through the air, and the feeling of her breasts pressing into his back wasn't helping much either.

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"Stupid American She-Dog!" an Iranian tank general mocked as he lifted his head out of the sand alongside his driver "She thinks she can outsmart Akbar, The General of Generals? The 'ditch the car and hop in the sand' trick is older than my Grandmother's camel!"

"What do we do now general?" the driver asked, eyeing the retreating forms with trepidation as they leapt through the night sky like mutant grasshoppers "Gold Digger alone wouldn't be a problem to overcome but that youth with her…"

"What about him?" Akbar scoffed "If it had been the lycanthrope I'd have been mildly concerned, but all this fellow seems capable of doing in leaping through the air like some sort of mutant flea!" He got to his feet with a smirk "Those two must be after a hidden treasure nearby; we'll follow them and relieve them of their gains when they're finished!"

"You, out." A guard growled, nodding towards Kitsune, ignoring the glares from the other two as the vixen got to her feet warily "You're being transferred, move it."

Shrugging nonchalantly the older girl waved cheekily back at her cellmates, Naru unleashing a plethora of curses at the guard whilst Motoko redoubled her efforts to bust free of their shackles. "Any chance of a room with a view?" Kitsune cracked, wincing as she realized the guard had no sense of humor from the glare he shot her, "Jeez, gimme a break."

"Which leg?" the guard shot back, smirking as the fox paled considerably and shut her trap. He led her to a room that screamed interrogation, from the tray of donuts on the table to the two chairs and apparent wall mirror "Wait here, don't touch the donuts."

Kitsune sighed, sitting down on the chair and putting her feet up as the door shut. She didn't doubt there were people watching but she could've cared less. She'd been stuck in that cell for weeks, only let out to use the bathroom and wash, always under the scrutiny of a female guard. 'Could've been worse.' She noted offhandedly 'Naru and Motoko have to make due with a hose ever since they tried storming the exit.' Her stomach growled and the fox decided to hang the consequences as she reached for a donut, even as the door opened.

"Long time no see Mitsune-chan." Granny Hina greeted from the doorway, smiling at the stunned woman "I've been hearing some interesting things about your behavior since I left."

As she looked into that wrinkled, smiling face, Kitsune swore that if she got out of this alive she'd never touch another donut as long as she lived.

"This is fascinating." Keitaro muttered, eyeing the dusty hieroglyphs carved on the wall before him with the aid of his flashlight "Didn't you say this site was over 9000 years old Gina?"

Gina nodded, tracing the ancient text in awe "But writing wasn't invented in these parts until 3300 B.C!" She traced it carefully as Keitaro kept an eye out for trouble, though what kind of trouble he expected to find in a crypt was speculative. Not of the living kind at the very least, which wasn't exactly good for her peace of mind now she thought of it. 'Hmm…is this it?' she wondered, reaching for a section of wall with questing fingers.'

Keitaro shivered, his 'Kei-dar', as everyone called it, sending a warning shiver up his spine as his spiritual companion lashed out towards Gina, grabbing her hand gently, but firmly, to stop her from pressing the hidden button on the hieroglyphs. Before she could voice a protest the Ronin sidled up to her and ran his hand over the wall where his spirit had espied a smudge covering the hieroglyphs that Gina had missed. The fact it noticed it in pitch darkness was something he chalked up to being a spirit.

"Whoops." The scientist muttered, looking up at her assistant in embarrassment "That could have been bad." She looked around in annoyance "But it looks like there's no way out other than the way we came in."

"What about here?" Keitaro asked, tapping a wall with his knuckle "This one looks a little thinner than the others…not that that's saying much." His spirit loomed behind him, fist drawn back at the ready, lashing out at the wall with every ounce of strength it had in it's muscular arms, only for Keitaro to yelp as every bone in his hand broke, though it did leave a decent sized hole in the wall.

"Aww…I wanted to test my portable hole…" Gina chuckled, watching as the Ronin rolled around on the floor swearing his head off, stuffing the device back into her backpack, "but then your way works too."

Keitaro bit off a curse as his bones immediately began to set, his hand popping as the joints realigned "Is it safe?" he asked, getting to his feet and sticking his head into the hole he'd created, wincing at the sight of the seemingly endless vertical chute "Yikes, we have any rope?"

"No need!" Gina replied, stepping eagerly past the startled ronin, sneaking a pinch on his rump in the process, and jumping daintily over the edge of the chasm with a smile as she disappeared into the depths below.

"GINA-SAN!" Keitaro screamed before leaping down after her, hoping to catch the woman before she hit bottom, only to blink as he overshot, the blonde floating down courtesy of a balloon that emitted from her backpack "What the he-?!" he began, only to be cut off as he belly flopped onto the stone floor below. HARD.

"Keitaro!" Gina called out in alarm, landing daintily and deactivating the balloon, the hight-tech gadget resealing itself in her backpack, before dashing over to the human pancake as he lay in the impression he'd made in the granite floor "Are you alright!?"

"Peachy." The Ronin muttered, getting to his feet with a grunt, even as his bones popped back into place with an audible cracking noise "Like old times really." he admitted, popping his nose back into place with a pop.

"Jinkies! No matter how many times I see it your healing factor amazes me!" Gina exclaimed, honest interest and relief in her eyes as she looked him over nontheless "Even Cheetah couldn't have shrugged that fall off so fast!"

"Cheetah probably wouldn't have crashed like I did either." Keitaro muttered morosely, earning an apologetic look from the genius before shrugging it off "I'll go and check over that way," he muttered, a little sullenly after making a fool of himself "stay put here until I get back."

Gina waited a few seconds, looking out into the darkness with a concerned expression on her face, before sighing, taking a deep breath and screaming at the top of her lungs. Keitaro reappeared in an instant, his spirit at the ready, concern lining his features as he grabbed her by the shoulders, "Gina-san!" he gasped, clearly out of breath from his mad sprint "What is it? Are you oka-MPHRGLE?!"

Gina released the stunned Ronin's lips with a smirk, pushing his stunned jaw back into place coyly as she checked her watch "Hmm, five seconds…you've been practicing." She smirked at the stammering ronin before pushing him gently in the right direction, slapping him on the rump for good measure "Go on I'm fine," she assured him, "but don't stray too far, 'kay?"

'As I live and breath I'll NEVER understand women." Keitaro muttered, still embarrassed about the kiss and the way he'd walked right into it 'Either they're trying to punish me for being a pervert or trying to feel me up…is it a curse?'

He shrugged, putting those thoughts on the backburner as he inched his way up the steps of the winding staircase, nostrils twitching from the dust of centuries past, eyes narrowing as he caught sight of a light at the end, blinking as he stepped into an elaborately decorated room. "What is this place?" he wondered, looking around in confusion, only to shiver as he pushed the silk curtains aside.

"Kei-kun." A hauntingly familiar voice called out, the owner, a woman with long hair trailing down her back, kneeling with her back to him on a giant pillow, like something out of the Arabian nights "You finally found me…"

"Y-you…?" Keitaro stammered, eyes widening as he gaped at the woman's back in shock. It couldn't be possible, he'd long since forgotten all about the promise girl since he started studying with Gina, the dreams that had long since tormented his memory having faded away to nothing. What were the odds that now, just as he was getting his life under control, she would turn up in a tomb in the middle of Iran?

"I knew you'd find me." The echoingly familiar voice noted happily, still not turning to face him, her voice reminding him of summer birds in song, the scent of flowers and honey washing over him like a wave "You promised me after all."

"You're not real." Keitaro stammered, backing away slightly out of terror, wondering if the rest of the Hinata girls were lurking in the wings, ready to drag him kicking and screaming back with them to resume his 'duties' at the inn "You can't be real, you're just a hallucination, a dream."

"What's the matter Kei-kun." The figure asked, still not turning to face him "Aren't you happy to see me?" she held herself, the melodious voice laden with sadness as she looked down at her feet "Even after all this time…I never stopped waiting for you."

Keitaro swallowed, shaking his head as he tried to clear it, only to freeze as a pair of arms embraced him from the front, long wavy hair ruffling against his nose. "You see?" she stated, voice comforting "Can't you feel me? Can't you touch me? I'm as real as you are…my love."

Keitaro said nothing as the figure eased him to the floor, mind reeling as she proceeded to kiss against his neck, stroking his hair with loving fingers. He froze suddenly, his muscles snapping alert, causing her to pause in her ministrations. "Kei-kun?" she asked, placing a hand to his cheek, which he grabbed tightly "AH Kei-kun! Itai-yo!"

"Who are you?" the ronin ground out, eyes serious as he regarded the struggling figure "I made the promise to enter Tokyo-U when I was a child, the promise girl couldn't have recognized me like this unless I saw her every day!" he growled as she hid her head with her hair, reaching down to force it up "Show me your face!"

The figure did so, only for Keitaro to startle as Narusegawa Naru glared up at him, eyes burning with fury "Keitaro no Baka!" the redhead snarled, slapping his wrist away as she advanced on him in a rage "How dare you touch me like that!"

Keitaro backtracked, only to receive a blow to the jaw that sent him soaring into the wall. He blinked, the frown returning as he got to his feet. "You want some more?!" Naru demanded, racing back for another punch that would send him through the wall, only to be knocked off her feet from the backhand Keitaro's spiritual bodyguard delivered to her face.

"Naru's strong," the ronin admitted, eyes deadly serious as he eyed the trembling form before him "But even she isn't fast enough to land a blow faster than this guy." He thumbed over his shoulder at the spirit "Gina tested it back at her lab, he's faster than the speed of light."

"FOUL DEMON!" the figure roared, leaping to her feet in the form of Aoyama Motoko, a sword held in one hand "I shall strike you down at-ARGH!"

A fist rammed into the apparitions face, knocking her to the floor and sending the scimitar she'd grabbed off the wall into the ceiling. Keitaro, with instincts honed from sparring with Stripe and Cheetah, took the rear and dragged the creature to it's feet, holding it's arm behind it's back, Motoko's face twisting in a look of agony as he did so.

"You got the attitude right," he muttered, shuddering in repressed, instinctive terror from the feeling of Motoko's killing intent washing over him "but Motoko would never be seen without her nodachi," he snorted at the scimitar embedded in the wall, before eyeing the silk outfit the apparition sported "let alone in THAT outfit."

"S-senpai…Itai-yo!" Shinobu's voice called out, the simulacra of the blue haired girl pawing at his grip on her arm with watery eyes as he glared down at her coldly, Keitaro almost loosening his grip, before smashing his fist into its face.

"If you don't stop screwing around with my head I'll rip your damn arm off." Keitaro snarled, honest anger filling his being as the simulacra coughed and held it's broken nose "And if you EVER take on Shinobu's form to bait me again you'd better pray someone shows up to stop me!"

"Alright! Alright!" the figure called out, shifting once again into the form of a small, horned figure of indiscernible gender, horns atop its head and robed in a simple burnoose and loincloth that were in surprisingly good condition "I'm sorry! Don't hurt me anymore!"

Keitaro eyed the figure warily, before releasing the arm and stepping back to observe it as it held the limb tenderly "What the heck are you?" he asked "Some sort of demon?"

"How rude!" the creature shot back, looking affronted at the very idea as it leant on a nearby fountain for support, it's wounds slowly healing up "I'm not some crass demon! I'm a Rakshasa, a shape-shifter!"

"Alright," Keitaro replied, holding up his hands apologetically as he backed away, his heart beat calming slightly as he spoke to the shape-shifter "Now what was with the seducing me with people I know bit?"

"I was merely trying to get you to relax so I could feed." The Rakshasa replied, holding up its hands defensively as Keitaro's spirit loomed threateningly over him, cracking it's knuckles in a decidedly ominous manner "Not on you! Not on you! I feed on the ethereal forces that surround you! Only Humans and demi-humans possess it!"

"So basically you wanted to feed off my aura?" Keitaro repeated, blinking slightly in confusion as he processed that piece of info, after all he didn't recall Dr. Digger's notes mentioning anything on THIS "Why didn't you just ask?"

"Because the transfer is extremely ticklish!" the shifter replied tartly "You'd move and draw the ether back into yourself, taking mine with it!" he eyed the spirit warily "Though now that I see you have a Stand, I see feeding off you would prove most difficult."

"Well I suppose I am pretty ticklish." Keitaro admitted, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment, recalling how that particular trait had been used against him to great effect by a certain vixen, only to blink at the Rakshasa's words "Wait…a Stand?"

"That big hulking thing looming behind you." The horned fellow pointed out, eyeing Keitaro's spirit warily as he did so "They were quite rare back in the day, but it made gathering aura from their masters a real pain in the neck."

"So that's what this thing is…" Keitaro muttered, looking over his shoulder at his spiritual bodyguard, who was hovering behind him, vigilant as ever, arms crossed across it's massive chest as it looked down at him "Look, sorry about the arm…" he offered, looking apologetic "do you think you could show me around? I'm pretty lost."

"I'd be glad to." The Rakshasa agreed, standing up with a nervous smile "Your aura reveals you to be a fairly gentle soul, unlike that LAST fellow that wandered in here," it muttered, recalling a certain bandanna-sporting idiot that had passed through without so much as a hello "so I understand it was merely self defense that drove you earlier." it bowed politely "I am Genn by the way."

"Oh so you're a guy?" Keitaro stated, feeling a bit more at ease with that question answered, only to blink as the shifter let out an amused chuckle, good humor shining in its eyes as it shook its head in understanding.

"We Rakshasa can change gender to suit our needs." Genn replied with a smile "I'm in my neutral form at the minute, no gender at all, generally the 'Male' of our species is the one who pays the for the hotel room." He smirked and shifted again, taking on another familiar shape and going into a risqué pose, one hand on her hips, the other behind her head "Sure you wouldn't want a tussle?"

"That's my Aunt." Keitaro deadpanned, though he did hide a guilty nosebleed as Genn smirked at him knowingly. He'd already had enough guilty dreams from childhood concerning his maternal-cousin turned aunt to deal with, why invite more?

Gina blinked as the lights around her snapped on, turning to regard the two figures in the doorway, which turned out to be Keitaro and a little horned…thing, in a loincloth. "Gina-san!" the ronin greeted, leading the horned person towards her "This is Genn." Keitaro introduced, nodding towards his guide with a smile "Genn, this is Gina Diggers."

"She is quite beautiful Keitaro!" Genn stated, smiling at the confused blonde appreciatively as he got right in her face "I see you have good taste in women…her eyes are especially delicious, even more so than your memory described!"

Keitaro let out a warning growl, his spirit…his STAND, cracking its knuckles warningly, and the subject was dropped faster than a hot potato. The less time Genn, or anyone for that matter, spent in his head the better in his opinion. Still, he couldn't quite suppress a shiver at the amused looks Gina shot him though. She hadn't missed the Rakshasa's comment despite his prayers to the contrary.

"Oh? So you like my eyes do you?" the scientist asked, fluttering her baby-blues at the understandably nervous Ronin teasingly "you've got a pretty delicious set yourself Kei," she admitted, leaning in close to his face for emphasis "like little pools of hot chocolate…"

"Hey, how'd you get that thing to work?" Genn asked, interrupting the embarassing conversation by pointing at the sphere in the center of the room, a look of confusion on his face "I've been trying to get that historian to work for centuries!"

"I have a knack for getting machines to do what I want Genn," Gina assured the Rakshasa, turning away from a relieved Keitaro with a smirk, before smiling and pressing a button "Hey I know! Historian! Show us anything about the vault in the tomb!"

The starlit basin beneath the sphere changed to reveal a scene where several heavyset slaves in loincloths carried out a vertiable smorgasboard of treasures from the tomb, under the watchful eye of men in Persian armor, the doors slamming shut behind them as the image played out.

"I recognize that area." Genn noted offhandedly, pointing towards the wall helpfully as Gina seethed at being beaten to the loot by two thousand years. Keitaro tried to reassure her, as she DID find a working historian outside Shangri-la after all, and with a little help from Brittany and Ace they could probably lift it back to the lab for reconstruction.

Gina, however, was inconsolable, and only half listened as she allowed him to dial up Brittany at El Dorado. She just KNEW she was in for a ribbing later.

"The great and fabulous Gold Digger!" Brittany cackled, ignoring the glare she was receiving from her sibling as Keitaro, Stripe and Genn fussed over the historian, trying to figure out how to get it back home in one piece. "Spends a fortune on this expedition, only to reveal her true greedy colours when the pot at the end of the rainbow turns out to have nothing but lint in it!"

Gina growled and turned away from the crowing of her adopted sibling. There had been a minor problem with using the teleporter, apparently it didn't work too well underground, but at the very least the Kryn Prince and Cheetah had been decent at the time the call had come through. All it had taken was a quick phone call for Ace to charter a flight and the happy couple were here to lend a hand.

"Yeah, Yeah laugh it up fuzz ball!" the blonde snapped, stamping towards the vault in the slightest hopes that something was still inside, only to glare as light glinted off a single, brass ring on the floor.

"Oh my! I'm breathless!" Cheetah mocked, crouching down next to her embarrassed sibling, thoroughly enjoying herself "One brass Armlet! How shall I spend all these riches?!"

Gina merely glared at her sibling as she reached for the armlet, unaware as Keitaro, who was standing at the far end of the room with Stripe, Genn and Ace, froze in mid-sentence, his hackles rising as his Kei-Dar went off like an air-raid siren at Pearl Harbor. Spinning round with his Stand at the ready, the Ronin could only gape in wonder as a surge of negative emotions burst into the room, wrapping around the startled sisters before dissipating.

"Why does something tell me that wasn't a good thing?" Ace asked, watching the sisters pick themselves warily, just before the teleporter started spraying sparks all over the place, dying with a mechanical whine even as the tunnel he'd come down in collapsed "Dammit."

"I am very disappointed in you Mitsune-chan." Granny Hinata sighed, sitting across from the girl, an annoyed Haruka and a SEETHING Kanako glaring at the resident fox at her sides. They needn't have bothered trying to intimidate the girl; the look in the Urashima matriarch's eyes was more than enough to send an army of rabid berserkers crying for their mothers.

"I had assumed, as the elder of the group, you would have provided some support for my grandson." Granny continued, tapping out a cigar into an ashtray, the smell of good leaves filling the air "A shoulder to cry on if you would, in fact, I had high hopes that if anyone could have snapped the boy's head out of his 'promised girl' lark, it would've been either you or Naru."

She exhaled a ring of smoke, which slowly morphed into a leering skull as Kitsune watched it with wide, terrified eyes. "Instead I come back to find not only has my beloved Grandson been manhandled, pardon the pun, by a group of girls I took in out of the goodness of my heart," she shot Kanako a glare for her snort "but that he has apparently disappeared as a result of it."

"That wasn't my fault!" Kitsune insisted, daring to speak out and instantly regretted it as a pen flew from Kanako's fingers with the accuracy of a dart and imbedded itself in the concrete wall behind her.

"Kanako-chan…" Hinata muttered, the Lolita scowling in defiance but lowering her hands to her sides once again "I understand that you can hardly be held responsible for the actions of the others, Mitsune-chan." She frowned "However…your own actions hardly paint you in a good light either."

She stood up, walking over to the trembling fox and getting right up into her face, her usually closed eyes like lasers as they drilled into Kitsune's own.

"Now…are you going to do what I tell you…" he asked, cupping the terrified girl's cheek with her wrinkled palm "or shall I tell Kanako-chan it's fox season?"

Needless to say, after the teleporter burnt out, leaving Brittany, Stripe and Ace pretty much stranded with the rest of them, the trip back to the surface hadn't gone so smoothly.

First there'd been the fact that the tunnels the others had used to get to the chamber had apparently shifted around, meaning they couldn't use the same way to get back. Then there were the awkward, arousing dreams, which Genn felt the need to commentate on, not being used to social graces after centuries of solitude. Gina snuggling up to Keitaro in her sleep hadn't helped either.

The girl was like a limpet sometimes, albeit a hormonal, decidedly attractive one that liked to snuggle up to unsuspecting ronin to feel them up.

"Mornin' lover…" Gina greeted, smirking as Keitaro tried to scale the wall behind him in his panic-driven drive to put some distance between them "My you're energetic…too bad we don't put it to use."

"I really wish you wouldn't do that to me, Gina-san…" the former Kanrinin muttered, a little more used to his friend's hormonal actions after so long in her company. At the very least he'd stopped flinching instinctively every time she got a little too close.

On the other side, behind a rather shoddy partition, Stripe was feebly trying to escape Brittany's clutches, the were-cheetah having wrapped herself around him like a second pelt. He reached pitiably towards Keitaro, making the infamous kitty-eyes whilst mouthing 'help me…!', even as Brittany squashed his cheek into her ample bosom, a fate many a man would've weeped for in the past.

Shooting a look at Gina, who merely smiled a 'better you than me, lover' look, the bespectacled Ronin sighed, shooting Ace, who was pretending to be asleep a heated glare, before marching over to the Kryn Prince's aid, reaching out tentatively to shake Cheetah by the shoulder. "Cheetah-san…" he called out, earning a few grunts from the lycan, prompting him to shake harder "It's time to ge-PRRGH!!!"

By the time Keitaro had pulled his head out of the wall Brittany was up, about, and looking a bit sheepish for her reaction. But that was soon put behind her as they battled their way out of the underground labyrinth of tunnels that littered the ruins, chased by a demon of unparalleled destructive power that Cheetah made the mistake of trying to snack on.

Though why said demon took the form of a common tunnel mouse Keitaro couldn't fathom.

"You and your big stomach!" Gina snapped, sliding out of range of one of the satanic-vermin's fireballs, a sentiment shared wholeheartedly by Keitaro, but the Ronin was too busy running for his life, wishing fervently that Motoko, or better yet, Tsuruko were here. Not only was the older Aoyama sister a far better exterminator of the demonic & arcane, she was a lot easier on the eyes too in his opinion, marriage be damned.

"It's chasing us!" Genn yelled out from the flank, the Rakshasa actually paling in terror as the furry dreadnought's roars echoed through the tunnels behind them, like the minotaur hunting down it's prey "We must go faster!"

"Up the stairs!" Keitaro yelled, already halfway up them himself, only to shriek as they gave way under him, arms waving hysterically as he plummeted into the chasm below, stopping about mid-way as a suction cup connected with his butt cheek.

"Sorry 'bout that, Kei." Brittany offered, pulling on the rope to reel the floundering Ronin in like the catch of the day, depositing him on solid ground with a grunt "Stupid thing gave way soon as I stepped on it."

"Think it's the curse?" Ace wondered, not liking the looks of things thus far as their pursuer's roars got louder. If he were in a fighter jet he was confident he could take the rodent mutha any time anywhere, but on the ground he was next to useless. Sure he was a better shot than Gina, but that wasn't saying much if you thought about it.

"Think we can jump it?" Stripe asked, looking between their current position and the ledge across the chasm, where the exit lay, almost mocking them. It almost looked like there was a glowing 'EXIT' signing hovering over it from a certain angle.

"No way in hell." Cheetah muttered, looking over her shoulder warily "Even I couldn't jump that far, even with a running start." she shivered "And with Might Mouse's evil cousin on our ass I wouldn't have time to get everyone across."

"And My Gina-line's busted!" Gina sniffled, holding up the rappelling device that had saved Keitaro for all to see. Apparently it had exploded the second it was fired, only Cheetah's impeccable speed and strength saving the Ronin from the pitfall.

"Genn…" Stripe asked, addressing the fretting Rakshasa, trying to remain calm in the face of adversity, as was befitting a monarch in the making "Could you perchance levitate us across the chasm?"

"The only things I can levitate are myself and inanimate objects!" Genn insisted, looking around in terror as the sounds of destruction drew ever nearer to their position, like taxes and visits from in-laws.

"Then just fly the grapple up to one of those pillars and tie it tight!" Gina insisted suddenly, holding out the line in question for Genn to do so "Alright, Stripe, Ace, you two go first." She ordered, "Cheetah, you go with them to make sure the line doesn't snap, Keitaro and I'll go last."

"Shouldn't you and Cheets go first?" Ace asked, though he didn't really mind getting the hell out of here, as 'death by rodent' would look REALY bad on his epitaph "I mean, the curse is after you right?"

"Right," Gina agreed, stumbling as a particularly violent roar shook the chamber "and both of us swinging across on a line would be the perfect way to off us, this way there only a fifty-fifty chance of that happening."

"Good enough for me!" Cheetah muttered, grabbing her 'muffin' under her arm and swinging across Tarzan style, much to Stripe's embarrassment. Ace went next, letting out an impressive whoop as he swung across, Cheetah pulling him up easily before hurling the line back.

"Just us now, Kei." Gina muttered, trying to sound bright and perky, but in all honesty she was a little nervous as she sidled up next to the Ronin, noting his trembling legs and shoulders out of concern "You okay?"

"Scared shitless." Keitaro admitted with a weak chuckle, earning a nervous giggle from the blonde, only for her to yelp as their pursuer appeared right behind them, eyes blazing with malicious ire as it hurled a gargantuan fireball at them.

Faster than you could say 'ZOINKS!' Gina had wrapped her arms around the Ronin's neck, causing him to flush at the feeling of her assets against his back, even as he swung them into the abyss, Cheetah holding on tight to the other end in case the rappel came undone, Ace and Stripe hurling debris at the rodent from the opposite ledge in an attempt to draw it's attention away from their friends.

They'd swung about half-way across when Keitaro heard the telltale sounds of fiber snapping, looking up, as if in a daze, just in time to see the rope was about to snap in half, his eyes widening as he realized the last fireball had done more than just add to their momentum.

Gina, who had only just heard the telltale snapping of her nigh-indestructible cord, suddenly found herself grabbed by the scruff of the neck by Keitaro's Stand, the Aztec muscleman hurling her through the air into Cheetah, who caught her with a startled grunt. "Keitaro!" the genius yelled, eyes wide as she realized exactly what the Ronin had just done, dropping from Cheetah's arms to the edge of the ledge just in time to see Keitaro, his eyes wide with terror, falling into the abyss, "NO!" she yelled, reaching out for him, only to be held back by her equally distraught sibling, her hand reaching towards the falling Ronin futilely "KEITAROOOOOOOOO!"

For a moment, time seemed to slow down to a near crawl for everyone in the chamber as Keitaro fell deeper into the abyss. Ace and Stripe, moving with a slowness comparable to wading through molasses, called out for the man they had come to call friend, the Pilot hurling a rope at the Ronin, only to miss by a foot. Genn, tearing his eyes from the sight, let out a gasp of horror and covered his mouth to suppress a scream as he realized their demonic, vermin foe was about to cross the cavern, powering up it's aura for yet another magical assault. Brittany, too occupied with struggling to hold her sister in place, eyes shut and tears streaming down her fur, failed to notice the impeding threat, even as Gina stretched her arm out in a desperate, futile attempt to catch the man who'd saved her, tears streaming down her face even as she saw the Ronin smile at her sadly.

At that moment, as time sped up again, something inside Gina's body went 'click', a feeling akin to a full body sneeze coming over her as glowing green coils lashed out from her outstretched hand like a striking snake, startling the life out of her and Brittany.

As if responding to the blonde's will, the strange, emerald threads rushed towards the falling ronin, a slimy, Armour encased hand forming and wrapping around his outstretched arm, before snapping taut, only Brittany's enhanced reaction speed saved Gina from being dragged over the edge from the sudden weight on her arm, but even then the were-cheetah almost didn't grab her sibling in time.

Gina winced, the strain of having to suddenly support Keitaro's weight, not much more than her own actually, nearly pulling her arm out of it's socket, but the stubborn archaeologist bit her lip and clenched her fist as the Ronin smacked into their side of the cliff with a comedic yelp. To anyone else, particularly Stripe and Ace, it looked like the Ronin had suddenly started hovering in mid-air. But Gina, Cheetah and Keitaro, the only ones who could see the Stand for what it was, clearly saw a strange green humanoid hovering just behind Gina's shoulder, it's skin decorated with faintly glowing web-like patterns, the entire frame covered sparsely with beige plating. The thing's right arm had elongated, or rather unraveled, into several strangely organic coils, enabling its hand to extend towards the startled Ronin.

Wincing from the pain in her arm, Gina gazed down at Keitaro, heart soaring at the look of confused wonder in his adorable, chocolate eyes. "Didn't think you could get away that easy, did you Kei?" she quipped, a small smirk crossing her features as she beamed at him "You should know better…Gina Diggers never lets the big ones get away."

Dun-Dun-DUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!

Keitaro is once again saved through the combined eforts of his friends, but it looks like he isn't the only one to awaken his inner potential.

And I'm guessing all you JoJo fans out there can guess just WHICH Stand I've bequeathed to everyone's favourite Archaeologist? The beloved women of Clamp won't be happy with this, lemme tell ya!

And yes, this WILL be a Harem Fic, and some of the Hinata girls will be included...maybe.

But they won't be meeting up with the ronin for a long time...and by that point things will have gotten pretty Bizarre indeed!

If you want me to post Stand Stats for the Stands, Lemme know, otherwise look up the JoJo Stand Stats Section of the JJBA community forum, or simply PM Me and I'll send you the file myself.

R&R or be Emerald Splash'd!