Love Hina – Blind Love
Fanfic
Chapter Six
Kitsune puts a hand to her mouth, thinking (Urph! Poor Keitaro! My stomach spins just thinking about Naru and kitchen in the same sentence. Ah hope ya'lls digestive system works as well as your body at healing, cuz Ah think you're gonna need it!).
Shinobu goes over in her mind where the smelling salts, stomach medicine, and extra buckets are located, so she can be prepared for that evenings foray into Naru's cooking, or what the other girls called, behind her back of course, as gastronomical toxic waste.
Mid-afternoon, Friday, Hinata-sou
Naru finishes sorting her clothes. Seeing that both washers are in use, she decides to save time, and tosses her normal laundry into the washer Shinobu had used, not knowing it is Keitaro's clothes being washed. Putting the rest of her clothes in the other washer, she heads back to her room for a little studying before she helps prepare dinner.
After about half an hour, Shinobu returns to the laundry room, and removes the clothes from the washer. "Huh? These look like Naru's clothes. She must have mixed them in with Sempai's. Oh well, I'll just sort hers and put them in a different dryer." Whistling as she sorts the laundry, she doesn't notice that a pair of Naru's panties have made their way into the back pocket of Keitaro's pants.
Meanwhile, downtown, at the Hinata City Municipal Offices
Haruka sits at a desk, her fingers drumming on her purse as she waits for the lawyer to finish. Thinking to herself, (I hope this isn't going to cause too many problems, especially for Keitaro. But, after his reaction to the girls, I agree with Granny; He'll be better off this way than anything the Institute can offer him.)
Gathering the papers, the lawyer says, "Now, to complete the transaction, the other party needs to sign on pages 3, 6, and 8. Once that is done, you just need to have Hina sign page 8 as well, and everything will be set." Placing everything in an envelope, "And the documents are in standard writing as well as Braille, as requested. Will there be anything else, Haruka-san?"
Taking the envelope, Haruka rises and offers her hand. "No, I think everything is in order. Thank you for your assistance."
Shaking her hand, she replies, "Not a problem. Always happy to help. Good-day, Haruka-san."
"Good-day." Haruka departs the office and makes her way out. She leaves the municipal building, and catches the tram to Hinata-sou. As she sits in the train, she pulls out her cell phone and speed-dials a number. After a few rings, "Haruka?"
"Yes, Granny, it's me."
Sitting at in a diner in Tokyo, Granny Hina asks, "I take it since you are calling me now it means Keitaro showed up a day early, eh?"
A wry grin appears on Haruka's face. "You got it. And it looks like you were right. Will you be able to make it for dinner?" Haruka chuckles, "I'm pretty sure Shinobu is going to make fried rice."
Granny smiles, "Ah, I had a feeling she'd be the first to warm to Keitaro. How about the others?"
Sighing, she answers, "To be honest, a bit worse than we thought. Naru and Motoko, well, let's just say I've never seen them so, forceful, with anyone. Kitsune looks like she'll behave, for the most part. And Mutsumi and Su appear to like him well enough."
Setting her cup down, Hina asks, "Keitaro? He's alright?"
Assuring the old woman, Haruka laughs lightly. "He's fine. He's got a broken arm, and some pretty good bruising, but he should be up and about this evening from the look of him. And Granny?"
"Yes child?"
A note of relief in her voice, "I think he's over the hump now. He let go of the grief he's been holding inside. He said being at Hinata felt like coming home. AND to top it off, he already forgave the girls."
Clapping her hands together, Hina exclaims, "Wonderful! I knew he had deep feelings for the old place, in spite of what happened. And I expected no less of Keitaro; he's always been such a sweet and considerate child and now a fine young man. Then that settles it. You have the papers?"
Patting the folder in her lap, "Yes, I just left the lawyer's office, and I'm on my way back to Hinata-sou."
"Fine then. I'll see all of you for dinner. Don't tell anyone, especially Keitaro. I want to get a feel for how everyone else is responding to him being there before we break the news to them all tomorrow at breakfast. We can give Keitaro a heads up tonight, to prepare him." Hina laughs, her mind imagining the scenes that will play out in the morning.
Sensing what Hina is thinking, Haruka grins. "Right. That's what I was planning. We'll see you this evening, then, about dinnertime."
"Good-bye, Haruka."
"See you later, Granny."
Haruka returns her cell phone to her pocket, and leans back in her seat. Smiling to herself, she says quietly, "Things are going to get pretty interesting around the old inn."
Early evening, in the kitchen of Hinata-sou
Having folded the washed clothing and quietly taking Keitaro's up to his room, Shinobu rushes back to the kitchen, hoping to get an early start on dinner while Naru is doing her Friday afternoon studying. Not wanting to insult Naru by outright asking her not to assist in the preparation (or devastation) of the meal, she plans to have everything ready before the honey-haired girl gets downstairs. She enters the kitchen and freezes. "Eep!"
Unfortunately, Naru decided to save a little time; she is seated at the kitchen table, studying her notes until Shinobu shows up to start dinner. Looking up at the clock, Naru says, "Shinobu! You're a bit early to start dinner, aren't you? Just give me a minute to run my notes back to my room. Good thing I decided to work down here, I might've forgotten to help with making Keitaro, uh, I mean with making our dinner."
The older girl rushes out the door, a wide smile on her face. (This'll help me make up for attacking Keitaro. He did forgive us, but I'd feel better if I did something for him.) Naru hums a wordless tune to herself as she returns her notes to her bookshelf. As she turns, she stops and looks at her Liddo-kun doll, sitting on the board in the middle of her study area. A sudden urge to check up on their guest strikes her, but, she doesn't want to be caught dead knocking on his door, or going into his room. "It wouldn't hurt if I just snuck a peek. After all, he's asleep, and, even if he were awake, he wouldn't see me anyways." She whispers.
Getting on her knees, Naru takes a deep breath and grabs the board her Liddo-kun is sitting on. Sliding it to the side, she exposes the hole between her room and Granny's. Smiling to herself, she thinks of how often Granny would pass notes to her, on things that needed to be done around the inn, through this very hole. (It really was wonderful of Granny to take accidental case of wood rot, and turn it into something that makes me feel more responsible around here.) she thinks as she pokes her head down.
To stare straight into Keitaro's face.
The manager's room
Keitaro, lying semi-awake on the futon in his grandmother's room, enjoys the gentle sounds of the residents going about whatever it is they do on Friday afternoons.
He hears the dim sounds of a television, seeming like it is coming from downstairs, along with an occasional screams of delight 'Yay!' 'Woohoo!' , encouragement 'Come on!' 'Run, ya nag, run!', and disappointment 'Oh Spit!' 'Dang it!'. (That sounds like Konno-san. I'd guess she's watching a horse race or something. Whatever it is, it must be pretty interesting for her to cheer like that.)
Upstairs, he can just make out the sound of someone moving around. (Whoever that is, they have a very light step. I'll bet it's Aoyama-san. It's almost like she barely touches the floor, she's so careful about how she walks.)
In the hall outside his room, he hears a strange, swishing sound that seems to move from one end of the hallway to the other, and then back again, over and over. Accompanying it are the giggles and yelps of one of the younger girls. He smiles, (I think that's Kaolla-san. I have no idea what's going on, but she seems to be having a lot of fun, whatever it is.)
Ever since he awoke, the smell of freshly dried clothing has filled the air of his room. (I can't hear her, but I guess Shinobu-chan has been doing laundry, like Haruka mentioned. It was good of her to bring it back to my room.) Reaching out, he finds his washed clothing folded on the chair beside the futon, and decides to get dressed while he is waiting for his aunt to return.
Footsteps above him bring him back to his surroundings. Stretching his back and scratching his left arm near where the bone broke, he thinks (That must be Narusegawa. She said she lived upstairs from Granny's room. She sounded like she was in a hurry coming up the stairs, but now, nothing. She must be looking for something.)
Finding the dresser, he locates his belongings arranged on top of it. Figuring he doesn't really need much, since he isn't going anywhere right now, he just takes his handkerchief and shoves it into his back pocket, not noticing the pair of underwear there. A scraping noise catches Keitaro's attention. Turning towards the sound, he realizes it seems to be coming from his ceiling. (What's that? That sound doesn't make any sense.)
Stepping forward, Keitaro carefully moves in the direction of the noise. A scream pierces the air.
Naru is frightened out of her wits, having expected Keitaro would still be asleep, but then coming face to upside-down face with him. In her fright, she screams "Aaaiiieee!" and puts her hand to her mouth, causing her to over-balance. As she slides forward, her cries become more panic-stricken. "Aaaaah! I'm…I'm…! Help!"
Throughout the dorm, everyone hears Naru's scream and rushes to her room.
Keitaro, not understanding how, but realizing that someone is falling from the ceiling, closes the distance and, putting his arms up, feels one of the girls as she falls. Bracing himself as best he can, he catches her, a yelp of pain escaping his lips as the burden hits his left arm. Dropping backwards, he cushions the girl's fall with his body, getting the air knocked out of his lungs and slamming his head to the floor, disorienting him.
Naru, having expected a brutal, head-first fall ending in serious injury, is surprised to realize the worst of her injuries is her nose, which bumped against her rescuer's knee as he collapsed beneath her. She turns her head and looks at Keitaro, lying beneath her and moaning. Spinning around, she puts her hands on his shoulders, "KEITARO! Are you alright! Say something. Oh, Kami-sama, please talk to me."
"I…I..can't…breath!" Keitaro manages to get out. Naru, her fear at falling forgotten, immediately bends down intent on saving his life. She places her lips to his, and starts to breathe into his body. (Okay! Stay calm, Naru! Stay calm! Breathe, one-one thousand. Breathe, one-one thousand. Breathe.)
In-between breaths, Keitaro struggles beneath her. He manages to say, between the moments when her lips are locked around his, "Narusegawa" breathe "-san" breathe "You're" breathe "Sitting" breathe "On" breathe "My" breathe "Stomach!" breathe.
(That's it, Keitaro! Fight, stay with me. What did you say? I'm sitting on your stomach. Breathe, darn it, breathe! Your stomach?) Naru opens her eyes to see Keitaro, blood oozing rapidly from his nostrils, his eyes closed with two looks competing for space on his face; panic at trying to breathe, and, a slight….smile? She shifts her weight, and Keitaro starts breathing again.
For what seems like an eternity, Naru freezes, her lips still on Keitaro's, but no longer trying to breathe for him. (Keitaro couldn't breathe! I was trying to breathe for him! I was sitting on his stomach. My lips are on his! He couldn't breathe. My lips! His stomach! His lips! Breathe! Sitting on! Oh my! I'm k-k-kis..) her eyelids slowly start to close….
Whistles and cat-calls suddenly reach Naru's ears. "Woohoo! Ya'll go, girl! That looks like fun, can Ah join in?" Kitsune's voice says, dripping with barely suppressed laughter.
"Urashima, I mean, Naru, unhand that poor, innocent male!" Motoko says, a hint of mirth also in her speech.
"Oh my! Is this a private party, or can we join in?" Mutsumi asks, tilting her head and rubbing her hand on her melon.
Naru, her face blushing three shades of red, launches herself away from the young man's prone figure. Keitaro brings his left hand to his lips and moans, his mind still in a fog. "An angel fell from heaven and kissed me!" he says as his hand flops back to the floor.
"I, I, I, I,…it was an accident! I fell, he caught me, I thought he wasn't breathing, so I…wait a second?" Naru turns and stares at Keitaro, still lying on the floor. His arms are out to his sides. BOTH of his arms are out to his sides. His LEFT arm, his BROKEN left arm, lies there, seemingly whole again.
Naru sputters, "H-his arm? B-but, it's broken! How?" (An angel? H-he called me an angel!) "He shouldn't have been able to catch me!" (An angel!) "He shouldn't have been able to…" (H-his angel, m-maybe?)
Naru's eyes glaze over slightly as she touches her lips, lost in the fantasy. She's wearing a beautiful white dress, kneeling in a sun-dappled field, with great flowing white wings spreading from her back. Keitaro lies on the ground in front of her, his head in her lap, looking up at her with eyes full of love and devotion. With a smile on his face just for her, he calls her "My Angel!" She looks into his eyes and replies, "Ow!"
"Earth to Naru, Earth to Naru, come in, Naru!" Kitsune says as she raps her knuckles on Naru's head.
Slapping the Fox's hand away, Naru replies "I hear you, I hear you, you don't have to hit me so hard!" as she rubs her head.
"W-we were worried, Naru-sempai. You were just sitting there whispering 'Keitaro, Keitaro' over and over." Shinobu says, gripping a frying pan in her hands. Looking at the center of the room, she adds, "Is Sempai okay?"
Su looks over Motoko's head from her vantage point on the sword master's shoulders, "I don't know Shinobus. It kinda looks like Narus broke him again. And I still haven't gottens my chance to plays with Keitaros."
Naru turns, remembering that Keitaro just saved her from serious injury. She lowers herself to her knees beside him as the others rush down the stairs to the manager's room and kneel around him as well. Gently touching his shoulder, she shakes him, "Keitaro? Keitaro, are you okay?" The others also voice their concern for the young man lying on the floor.
A grin spreads across Keitaro's face. Shaking his head slightly, he murmurs, "I'm surrounded by angels. I'm in heaven! Wh-what happened? I thought I heard…" Suddenly wide awake, Keitaro jerks to a sitting position. "Narusegawa-san! She was falling! Is she alright? Where, who?"
Putting her hand on his shoulder, Naru says, "I-it's okay, Keitaro! Calm down. You caught me, Keitaro! I'm okay. But, are you alright? I thought you're arm…" confused, Naru can't put into words her question. She shudders as the young man places his right hand on her arm and squeezes it ever so gently.
"Thank goodness. I heard something strange from the ceiling, and the next thing I know, I felt someone falling! Uh, could someone explain to me what happened?" he says, confusion replacing the relief in his voice.
"Urashima, is it not obvious?" Motoko says with a hint of exasperation, pointing to the ceiling above him. "It is plainly clear that Naru fell through…Oh Spirits! Forgive me, Urashima-san! I, I forgot your blindness!" Motoko begs, bowing to Keitaro.
Rubbing the back of his head with his left hand, he grins as he replies, "Oh, that's alright, Aoyama-san. I prefer to be treated like anyone else, not like a helpless invalid." Everyone stares at him using his left arm.
Su says excitedly "Hey, Keitaros! Ya ain't brokens no more! Hurray! Now you can plays with me before ya leaves!" She jumps from Motoko's shoulders to land beside Keitaro, rubbing her hands on his now healed arm. "How does ya do it, Keitaros? I ain't never seen nobodys heal as fast as you do."
Turning his face towards her voice, he smiles at her and says, "Well, it's not one hundred percent healed, Kaolla-san. It still aches a bit."
"Aches a bit? Keitaro, ya'll've got to be kiddin' us! Just a few hours ago, that arm was broken! I can understand your bruises going away when Ah saw ya sleeping earlier, but a broken arm?" Kitsune states, disbelief warring with the facts of her on eyes.
"Well, I don't understand it myself. I used to get hurt a lot as a kid. But since I was about ten, I found that I started healing faster whenever I got hurt. Must be a way my body compensates for being blind. They say your other senses get better, so…." Keitaro shrugs his shoulders, his tone slightly unsure, as he no more understands it than they do.
"Oh dear, it is a shame that it didn't work when you lost your sight…Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up." Mutsumi says, bowing.
"It's okay, Otohime-san. If I hadn't lost my vision, I may never have developed this. So, you can say some good came out of my accident. That's how I look at it." Keitaro replies, smiling at them.
"Wait a minute!" Naru says, turning to look Kitsune, a slightly annoyed look in her eyes. "What was that you said about seeing his bruises had healed while he was sleeping?"
"Oh Spit! Ah, uh, Ah did say something like that, didn't Ah? Heh-heh." Kitsune looks around for the quickest exit from the manager's room. "Well, Naru, ya see, it was like this. Uh, that is Ah was, hmmm."
"She w-was helping me to gather Sempai's clothes to wash them as Haruka-san requested, since it would have been impolite for me to be in here by myself. That's when she and I both saw Sempai's bruises had healed!" Shinobu interjects, both saving Kitsune from having to explain, and from her accidently mention the shirt-in-mouth incident."Oh, is that all." Naru says, her anger melting away.
Su interrupts. "Hey, Narus! Your nose is bleeding! Ya see something down here ya shouldn't have?" she asks innocently.
As Naru blushes from Su's comment, Keitaro gets to his knees, his right hand still on Naru's arm. "Narusegawa-san! Why didn't you tell me you were hurt? I'm so sorry I couldn't catch you as well as I should have." Reaching quickly into his back pocket, Keitaro pulls his handkerchief out, Naru's panties caught in his grip as well. "Here, please use this to stop the bleeding."
Naru accepts the offering from Keitaro and starts to bring it up to her face. "Thank you, Keitaro! Please, don't apologize! You kept me from being hurt really bad. If I had hit the floor head first, there's no telling…" Naru's voice trails off as she sees a pair of panties in her hand.
"You, you, you….Pervert! What the heck do you think you're doing, going around with women's underwear in your pockets? You get off feeling them in there, huh? You filthy, disgusting low-life!" Naru growls through her clenched teeth.
Motoko draws her sword, "Urashima! So, your true nature is revealed! Your vile ways shall not be allowed in this place, defiling the young women under my protection." She swears, a bluish glow forming around her blade.
Keitaro, knowing right off the bat that something isn't right, realizes he is about to be struck, unlike when he arrived that morning. "P-please, I don't know how they, I didn't, I don't…" he puts his palms out in front of him, steeling himself for what is about to happen.
Naru rears back and delivers a power Naru-Backslap, sending him spinning across the room to slam against the window, where he hangs motionless for a few seconds. Motoko follows with "Shinmei-ryu no Zanganken! God's Cry Attack of The Stone Cleaving Sword!" Keitaro is blasted through the window, his body tumbling through the air to disappear into the evening, fading away in a flash of light.
Kitsune, Mutsumi, Su and Shinobu stand still, struck dumb at witnessing a second attack on Haruka's nephew that day.
Kitsune whimpers "Oh Kami-sama! Wh-what d-did y-you two d-do to Keitaro-san?"
Mutsumi bites her fist, unable to speak.
Su looks at the hole, "Darn, I still ain't gots a chance to plays with Keitaros when ya breaks him again." She says, a sad look on her face.
Broken from her trance, Shinobu cries. "Aaauuuuu! N-Naru-sempai! Those are YOUR panties."
Naru spins on Shinobu and looks at the cloth in her hand to see a handkerchief tangled with the underwear in her hand. "That's even WORSE! He went through my stuff, the dirty pervert! When I get my hands on him, I'll…"
"Naru-sempai? Those w-were the panties you w-washed today, aren't they?" Shinobu asks, stepping right up to the honey-haired girl.
Naru looks again. "Y-yes, they are. But, I don't see what that has to do with Keitaro…"
"Did you wash them in an empty washer?" Shinobu continues, her hands held together in front of her as she glances worriedly at the window.
"Uh, no. You had already put your clothes in there…." Naru say, still holding the items.
"No. Those weren't my clothes. Naru-sempai, Haruka-san asked me to wash Sempai's clothes today. When I emptied the washer, I found your clothes and his were in there together. After I dried them, I folded everything. I didn't see those panties." Shinobu whispers, her mind on her Sempai.
Naru stands there for a few moments, until her mind puts everything together. Dropping the handkerchief and panties, her hands come together under her chin. She turns towards the window and whimpers, "Oh no! Keitaro!"
Motoko hand trembles, nearly dropping her sword. "Spirits forgive us! Urashima could not have known your clothes had been mixed with his! It was a mistake! And he, he was, he is innocent!"
Kitsune recovers and grabs Shinobu's hand, "Oh Spit! We'all gotta go find Keitaro! Come on Shinobu, we gotta hurry."
As they head for the door, "Mutsumi asks, "Oh dear, how are you going to find him? We have no idea how far he might have gone." Kitsune pauses, pondering the Okinawan's observation.
Shinobu looks back, trying to drag Kitsune with her. "Does it matter? Sempai is blind! We have look for him. And he's already been hurt once, how much worse do you think it is now? He might be, he might,…Aaauuuuu! We have to hurry!" Shinobu forces Kitsune to start running again.
The others, with barely a glance at each other, rush out of the room to find the blind man, praying that Shinobu's fears do not come true.