Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina.
-oOoOoOo-
"So… how far are the two of you in your relationship?" Tsuruko asked the couple.
Both Keitaro and Motoko blushed a little, turning their eyes to each other as if having a silent conversation. Their interest piqued, the others in the room drew closer.
"I think we could tell them about Pararakelse island…" Keitaro said. When Motoko nodded, Keitaro began. "It started after I was leaving the academy…"
-oOo-
Keitaro walked away from the academy, barely away of his surroundings. Thoughts ran through his head.
'I worked so hard, but it was for NOTHING.'
'I put everything I had, but still failed.'
'I failed for a third time. Will Motoko throw me out, like my parents did?'
'How can I even think of facing Motoko? She'll be so disappointed, I'd rather she be angry at me!'
A sign broke him out of his thoughts, by nearly breaking his nose. As he covered his nose to check for injuries, he saw that he was at the harbor.
'Maybe a trip around the harbor will clear my mind up and let me look Mo-chan in the eyes? ' Keitaro thought.
But things are never that easy.
Keitaro was leaning on the railings, watching the buildings on the shore as the boat traveled by them, one by one.
Then the boat turned away from the shore. Keitaro thought, 'Maybe for our next date, we'll go on this. It seems pretty nice…'
Keitaro waited for the boat to turn once more.
But as the buildings faded from view, Keitaro got a feeling that something was horribly wrong.
So I asked around and learned that I was not only on the wrong boat, but I had no way of calling the Hinata.
Keitaro grumbled as he searched through his backpack until he found his exam ticket. He glared at it as he muttered something under his breath. Looking at the water, he decided to throw it away, where no one could find it.
Alas, as soon as he threw it overboard, the boat shook, making him fall over the railing.
As he struggled to stay above water, he held onto his backpack for dear life.
'After all, it held my photo album with my pictures of Mo-chan'. Keitaro said before giving Motoko a kiss.
After some time, he managed to come across a beach. After getting back onto land, he looked back at the water and thought, 'I'm trapped on a deserted island, with no way to call Motoko…'
"I spent the next four days fishing, hunting, and looking at my photo album," Keitaro answered.
"Kinda lame…" Sarah muttered.
"I was thinking the same thing," Keitaro replied. "When I was in the middle of fishing when…"
All of a sudden, Keitaro had an urge to run. As he began doing so, he looked back and saw that he narrowly avoided a van.
After Keitaro stopped, he watched as a man got out of the Van. They said, "Hahaha! I crashed again! It really is useless trying to drive in this jungle at night!"
Seta paused when he saw Keitaro.
"So I told Seta what had happen as we ate dinner," Keitaro said. "It would be a few days before I could call the hinata, so I helped him with some archaeology. So when I-"
'I'll handle this part,' Motoko said.
Motoko wandered about the hinata in a worried daze. When Keitaro didn't appear, she grew worried.
When he still hadn't appeared by morning, her mind wandered as she tried to go through her exercises.
Keitaro was strapped to a table, stripped of all clothing. There was a window, but it showed outer space. An attractive woman with hair that changed color every few seconds walked into view. She was wearing a tiger-striped bikini and had horns on her head. As she climbed onto the table with a lusty leer, Keitaro cried out, "Save me, Motoko!"
Motoko stopped and slapped herself. "That would never happen… could it?"
"Phone call, Motoko!" Su cried out as she stepped on to the balcony. When Motoko ran by her, Su grabbed onto Motoko's hakama and enjoyed the ride. When Motoko Reached the phone, it was laying near its cradle.
"Hello?" Motoko asked,hoping it was Keitaro.
"Motoko, I'm glad to hear you!" Keitaro answered.
"Keitaro!" Motoko tearfully answered. Then with Tsundere-ish fury, she said, "Where are you?!"
Keitaro then explained what had happened.
"...Keitaro, you really are are an idiot," Motoko said. When she heard Keitaro's groan of disappointment, she added, "You should have come come. I would have cheered you up. I definitely have some practice with that…"
After giving off a dumb giggle, Keitaro muttered, "Yeah…"
"But as it stands now, You'll need to be punished," Motoko said.
"In the fun way or the painful way?" Keitaro asked.
"It all depends on my mood when we meet," Motoko said before the phone made a loud buzzing sound that forced her her to lean away from the phone. When she leaned back, Motoko said, "Keitaro? Keitaro? KEITARO?!
"Hn? What gives? Did he call? Why say his first name?" Kitsune asked, making Motoko jump.
"I-uh he called an-and the call got cut off and-" Motoko stammered as she waved her arms about in a panic.
"Heh, Naru will be happy to hear that. Heck, we all will. Guess you in particular got so lonely, you remembered he had a first name," Kitsune said with a grin. "So why'd he leave?"
"He apparently failed his test, so he ran off and somehow got lost on a island in the pacific," Motoko explained.
Kitsune rubbed the back of her head as she muttered, "You serious?"
Motoko nodded.
"Sounds like one hell of a overreaction… maybe…" Kitsune muttered. "Hey. You think he really passed?"
Motoko thought about it for a moment before she said, "Possibly…"
"Where is Keitaro?" Naru asked as she suddenly appeared, making Motoko and Kitsune jump a little. "I need to go to him!"
"Don't you think it's more important to doublecheck if Keitaro passed or not? That way, you can decide to punish him for running away if he passed, but comfort him if he failed," Motoko said, her mouth feeling like ash as she said the last part.
Naru pondered Motoko's words for a moment before she sighed, "I guess..."
"While they checked out Toudai and discovered he had passed, I made my way to the airport and went to the island," Motoko explained. Her grip tightened on Keitaro. "I'm… still a bit upset he ran off, so..."
"Hold that thought, Mokoto. Let me add this," Su said. "After my gag of writing Keitaro's name and my name on a paper and claiming we both passed, Naru found Keitaro's name. There was a bit of a panic when someone suggested it might be another person with the same name, but Shinobu remembered Keitaro's number."
Shinobu looked away with a blush when Tsuruko looked at her.
"Anyhoo… we returned back to the Hinata and looked for Keitaro's exam ticket. After tearing the house apart, we decided he had taken it with him," Su explained. "It was that time where Kitsune went to ask Motoko where Keitaro was..."
"Alright, Motoko, where did… Motoko?" Kitsune asked as she looked around. "Anyone catch where Motoko went?"
After the others shook their head, Mutsumi said, "Ara, come to think of it, I never saw her at Toudai!"
Not wanting Naru to even ponder if Keitaro and Motoko had a relationship, Su quickly said, "Maybe she wants to punish him for skipping out on their training sessions?"
Kitsune and Naru had a little laugh before the former said, "She is that much of a stickler about anything with swords…"
"So anything of interest happen during your trip to Urashima?" Tsuruko asked.
"None… Maybe scaring a few perverts away when they came too close, but not much else," Motoko answered.
Keitaro looked up and his jaw dropped when he saw Motoko. she was dressed in some cutoff shorts and a tanktop.
As she ran towards him with her arms extended for a hug, so did he. When they closed in on each other, Motoko ducked down a little and rammed into Keitaro with a clothesline.
"You should have come to me,I would have comforted you!" Motoko cried out before launching a weak version of her family's techs, sending Keitaro into the air. When Keitaro landed on the ground, Motoko leapt up into the and landed her butt on Keitaro's stomach. As she began slapping him, she said, "Never run away from me! Never!"
"Did that really happen?" Tsuruko asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes. Motoko-chan is violent with her temper and love," Keitaro teased, getting a weak punch to the shoulder from Motoko.
"Thankfully, the months of training, the days of manual labor, and the tan he got made it easier to forgive him," Motoko said. "I just wish he kept the hot look longer."
When Motoko stopped slapping, she stood up put her hand out for Keitaro. As she helped him up, Motoko noted Keitaro's face was swelling quite a bit. All she could do was utter, "Whoops. Perhaps Seta has some ice?"
Keitaro nodded.
As they headed to wherever Seta was, Motoko said, "I can sympathize. I suspect that the old Motoko would have run off and declared herself to be a nun if she had encountered a loss like you have."
"We spent the next few days either training, wandering the island, or helping Seta with his dig. There even was a duel or two with Seta. Nothing really worth going over in detail…" Motoko explained.
"So how many times did the dork cop a feel?" Sarah asked with a smirk.
"And how many times did you cop a feel on him?" Su asked.
"...Moving on!" Motoko quickly said.
"That many?" Tsuruko asked with a slight giggle.
Motoko and Keitaro had finished working with Seta for the day and were currently having a picnic, watching the sunset
"Keitaro, I've really enjoyed these last few days…" Motoko said before she leaned against Keitaro's shoulder. She glowered as she added, "It's a shame you failed to enter Toudai, though...
"There's always next year," Keitaro answered as he put her arm around her.
"I guess…" Motoko replied.
"Motoko…" Keitaro said in a tone that made her look at him. "I promise to not run away, like I did before. In fact… On the day that I get into Tokyo University, I will ask you to marry me."
Motoko gasped, even leaning away from him a little.
"I'm serious. Nothing will stop me from getting into Toudai," Keitaro said.
Motoko stared Keitaro in the eyes for a few moments before she said, "I'll hold you to that Keitaro. But I do hope you succeed."
The two then began to lean in for a kiss...
"Sadly, Seta showed up before anything could happen, " Motoko explained. "He had snatched him away because some people found a few odd artifacts from a riverbed."
Then with a glower, Motoko added, "I may have lost my temper and tried to attack Seta."
"There was a big of a chase. Motoko, Seta, and I fell into a little valley. While trying to escape, we discovered a hot springs and a really large ancient wall," Keitaro explained. "That made Seta's day."
Tsuruko smiled as she thought to herself, 'Perhaps Keitaro might be able to handle himself in the magical world?'
"Then there was that trip that had us surrounded by snakes when we tried to dig a hole, Motoko said. "But we soon found an oasis."
"While they were on that, the rest of us were on the island and trying to find them!" Su explained. "We managed to find their oasis after a meeting with a whole lotta turtles!"
"While I was having a bit of a freakout, I found a shrine to turtles. Motoko rushed over to where I was, but she passed out when she saw the turtle statue," Keitaro explained. "Once Seta found us , we were able to get back to the airport. Motoko and I snuck off, while we waited for our airplane…"
Keitaro held Motoko's hand as he lead her away from the Hinata group. It was easy, as Naru had gotten the others' attention when she ran for the bathroom.
"Keitaro, where are we going?" Motoko asked in a slightly hushed tone, once he let her hands go.
Keitaro looked around before he said, "Remember what I said a day or two ago? Well… "
Motoko's heart skipped a beat.
He sighed and looked back at her, "Look, Motoko, I'm honored to be your student and I know my training is incomplete… very incomplete. I'm honored to be your student for as long as you'd have me. Heck, I'd be honored if I wound up being your student until the day I die."
"Keitaro…" Motoko uttered as a blush began to appear on her face.
Keitaro whistpered, "Motoko, will you marry me?"
Motoko's response was to embrace him and kiss him. Keitaro was surprised for a moment, before he reciprocated.
"And now I can wear my ring," Motoko said with a giggle."He bought the ring sometime after we returned, but I had to hide it."
"And on the plane, we shared a kiss when the others took a nap," Keitaro added. "Of course, we passed out soon after."
-oOo-
Kitsune had managed to catch up with Naru as just as the latter had reached the top of the stairs. While Naru was looking away and appeared to not acknowledge Kitsune's presence, the fact she had waited was a sign that Naru did know that her friend was near.
"Damn it, Keitaro. Damn it, Motoko. Why'ja go and start something that'll do this to Naru?" Kitsune grumbled under her breath as she neared her friend. Once she had reached the top of the stairs, Kitsune stopped to catch her breath. "No matter…. *gasp*I gotta work out more *gasp*…. No matter what happens, Naru, I'm gonna be-"
Kitsune found herself interrupted by a loud cry of 'WHAT?!" coming from downstairs. Tears were starting to fall from Naru's eyes. She seemed conflicted about what to do. Kitsune frowned as she put her hand on Naru's shoulder, getting the agitated girl's attention.
Fearing what Naru could do in such an emotional state, Kitsune said, "Naru, like I was-"
Naru broke away and ran downstairs, making the self-proclaimed fox mutter an angry, "Damn it!", she followed after her friend.
When she reached the living room, Kitsune had managed to hear Naru angrily ask, "What happened?"
"We announced our engagement," Keitaro said with a smile as he rubbed the back of his head.
"It was at Pararakelse, if you were wondering," Motoko continued as she rested her head against Keitaro shoulder.
While surprised herself, Kitsune looked around at everyone else's reaction. Both Su and Sarah had a look of surprise that occurred when dealt with something slightly unexpected. Shinobu and Naru shared similar looked of tearful shock. Tsuruko appeared unphased, but her raised eyebrows betrayed how surprised she was. Kitsune rubbed the side of her head as she angrily thought, 'This day gets better and better, don't it?'
"Why keep it all a secret? Don't you trust any of us?" Kitsune spat out, surprising everyone else again.
"Should I go get Tsuruko a shotgun to help perform a marriage?" Su asked, making Sarah giggle a little bit.
Naru slowly turned to face Keitaro, as she pointed a shaking finger she said, "You got Motoko pregnant!?"
"We haven't slept together! We barely… made it..." Keitaro loudly said, trailing off quietly near the end. A very bright red blush came over him as he finished, "Se...cond... base."
At the same time Keitaro spoke, a flustered Motoko had yelled "We have not done anything of the sort, Narusagawa! I am still a maiden of the Aoyama clan!"
Seeing that a potentially nasty fight was brewing, Tsuruko said, "Now now, is this the way to greet a newly engaged couple? It seems like this is a surprise to more than just myself, but i'm sure the couple has an explanation for what has been going on.
While I'm overjoyed by this news, may I request a brief break before getting into said story? Motoko, why don't you and Keitaro head to the baths for a bit, I'll join you in a few minutes after having a brief chat with your friends."
The couple nodded before they left the room. As soon as they left, Tsuruko asked, "It is quite interesting that a little less than half of you knew that they were dating, but not a single one knew that they were engaged."
"I can't believe they'd hide something like that from us! I thought we were friends!" Kitsune spat.
Su let out an amused huff, getting the other's attention. She asked, "I thought that we allow each other to have secrets as a sign that we are friends. Am I wrong about that?"
The others went a bit silent. Naru, Kitsune, and Shinobu each had problems with their family. Kitsune in particular had sometimes forgotten she had a mother, a father and a brother. Pressing any issues or trying to uncover any secrets the others might have would get others to react in kind.
"But let's leave the couple alone for now. Let's focus on helping each other. Naru, Shinobu, you're practically twins with how you're reacting. Talking about it might help," Su said as she crawled backwards under the coffee table, so that her upper half was only shown.
Both Naru and Shinobu were surprised that the other was starting to cry. Naru tried to say something, but was quickly stammering. Shinobu looked towards the ground and looked forlorn.
"That crush you have on Keitaro now feels like a big old weight, doesn't it, Shinobu?" Kitsune said in a sad, yet understanding way as she recalled her crush on Seta. The young chef slightly nodded. Kitsune was about to go and comfort the girl when she recalled who else had a crush on Seta. 'Shit.'
As Kitsune looked at Naru, the latter had crossed her arms and was looking away from everyone. Before Kitsune could do anything, Tsuruko asked, "What about you, Naru? What do you feel about Keitaro and Motoko's relationship?"
Inwardly, Kitsune prayed that Naru would have some sense of self-control.
While still looking away, Naru "What do I feel? What do I feel? Betrayed! Keitaro took me on da… da… outings at some cheap beefbowl place and went to some picture booth! If he really was committed to an engagement to-"
"I remember you telling me something about that. It occurred before they even starting dating," Kitsune said.
"And if it was an outing and not a date, then he wasn't cheating on Motoko," Su said as she stared up at Naru.
On the couch, Sarah was idly kicking her legs as she said, "And the lush did say the dork and Motoko weren't dating at the time."
"Hn," Tsuruko muttered. 'So Naru really does have feelings for Urashima. But her anger is a worrisome and curious thing. Does she really feel betrayed? Or is it because anger feels safe to her?'
"What?" Naru asked as she snapped her head towards Tsuruko.
"I apologize for being so blunt, but getting angry at my sister and Urashima is pointless. They only did what their hearts desired them to. From what I can tell, you either blame yourself for not acting or will do so later. I will tell you now that blaming yourself or others will not change anything," Tsuruko explained as she stood up and began to head over to Naru.
Naru glared at her and let out a loud "HN!" before she closed her eyes, turned around, and began to walk away. After a few moments, she felt something was off and opened her eyes.
She was still in the living room. Naru stopped and looked back. A seemingly oblivious Tsuruko was holding onto the back of Naru's shirt and the event seemed to put a slight smile on everyone's faces. Naru began to blush from embarrassment.
"As I was saying, all you can do is let time mend your heart and move on," Tsuruko said before she let go of Naru's shirt.
"That was rather blunt…" Kitsune muttered under her breath. At that point, Naru's stomach growled.
Shinobu's eyes sparked when she heard the noise. "Ah! I'm late! I was supposed to start dinner a few minutes ago!"
As she ran off, Tsuruko thought she heard a door open. Su cupped one of hers ears for a moment before she loudly said, "Someone's at the door and they're coming in!"
"Ara! Hello, Su!" Mutsumi's voice called back. Within a few moments, Mutsumi and Haruka appeared.
"Huh… So you're here, Tsuruko. What gives?" Haruka asked as she crossed her arms.
"I came by to visit my sister. However, she and Urashima have been telling us a few events that they went through," Tsuruko replied, getting Haruka to raise an eyebrow.
Haruka looked around and noticed everyone's expressions. She was concerned about Naru's mix of sadness and rage, as well as Kitsune being split between concern for Naru and anger directed towards a doorway. "So what events have Keitaro and Motoko been talking about?"
"They're getting hitched!" Su cheerfully said.
"Oh," Haruka said, not noticing what Su had said. Of course, a moment later, she uttered, "Wait, WHAT?! When?"
At the same time, Mutsumi let out, "Ara?" before she began to wobble. Luckily, Tsuruko had rushed over and caught the girl just as she began to fall over.
"Dunno when the marriage will be! But we're sure there's no extenuating circumstances!" Su answered.
"Yup. You're better off asking Motoko about it. Keitaro would mis-say something that'll imply otherwise, like always," Sarah said as she reached for another cookie. "Also, Sleeping beauty is Mutsumi Otohime, part of Naru and Keitaro's study group."
As Tsuruko placed Mutsumi on the couch, she took the time to look the Okinawan over, as well as giving Kitsune and Naru a quick look. 'So Motoko managed to win Keitaro over from attractive women such as Ms. Konno, Narusegawa, and Otohime? I didn't expect her to deal with such beauties. I will have to congratulate her later.'
"Does Ms. Otohime have any medical conditions?" Tsuruko asked as she felt for Mutsumi's pulse.
"Aside from fainting at a moment's notice? Not really. She'll wake up in a minute or two," Haruka said. She seemed to have calmed down, but the way the cigarette twitched betrayed that what she heard about Keitaro and Motoko was bothering her.
Tsuruko looked at Kitsune, who shrugged. However, Mutsumi sat up straight and muttered, "Ara… I had such an odd dream."
"It wasn't a dream… Keitaro really did get engaged with Motoko…" Naru said under her breath in a dark tone.
Mutsumi's seemingly pleasantly vacant expression was replaced by one of shock for a few moments. Naru felt somehow guilty upon seeing Mutsumi during it. Before Naru could conjure up the will to go over and try to comfort her friend, Mutsumi said, " I guess that's why he never seemed that receptive to anyone's advances…"
"I... I... forgot that you... felt that way for him..." Naru muttered in a flat tone as she hugged herself a little.
Mutsumi looked at her with a depressed version of her typical absent-minded cheerfulness. "Naru, the only one here who hasn't tried flirting with Keitaro for any reason is Haruka."
Mutsumi gestured at Tsuruko and said, "I guess we should have worried a bit when Motoko here-"
"I am not my younger sister. I am Tsuruko Aoyama," Tsuruko answered. "Now that I see you're safe, I'll go check on my sister and Urashima."
As Tsuruko left the room, Mutsumi looked towards Naru. After the two stared at each other for a few moments, Mutsumi asked, "How did you handle hearing the news?"
Naru took a step back as her expression seemed to shift a bit to… either surprise or shock. It was hard to discern. After taking another step back, Naru ran out towards the stairs and to her room.
After sighing, Kitsune looked over at Mutsumi and said, "I'll answer for her. Not well."
Kitsune looked towards the stairs and said, "I'll go check on her and make sure that she doesn't do anything too stupid."
Mutsumi looked at the ground and muttered, "Ara…"
A small sad smile appeared on the turtle princess as she thought, 'If things had been different, and he had responded to me and Naru, would I have taken him for myself or given him up for my friend?'
-oOo-
Keitaro and Motoko were sitting by the hot springs. Motoko had her legs in the water and Keitaro was merely sitting by her. His cast was wrapped in a garbage bag. Keitaro was about to speak when he heard Motoko sigh.
"I wish I had spoken to my sister more. I might have been able to know if she was coming here," Motoko said, a slight sad tone was in her voice. "Alas, now she's here and our relationship is out in the open."
"Hey, it's not that bad. I think she supports us!" Keitaro said, hoping to cheer her up.
"The only reason she's even here is probably to take me back to back to Kyoko to take care of the school!" Motoko said before she turned around and hugged Keitaro. With tears starting to form in her eyes, she said, "I don't want to leave you!"
As he hugged her back, Keitaro said, "I'll do whatever I can to help you stay here. I promise."
Motoko leaned away from Keitaro to look him in the eyes. she was about to tell him how much of an impossibility it was, but she was awestruck by how confident he looked. A slight smirk appeared on her face. 'I might not have long to be here. I might as well enjoy what time I have left.'
Both froze when they heard Tsuruko's voice.
"Oh my! Have I come here at the wrong time?"
-oOoOoOo-
Notes from HotelKatz: This fanfic was an idea started by Antimatter of the fanfiction forum. They are also a planner of this fic.
The Pararakelse island part was actually written after the rest of the chapter was written.