The small fairy tale movie had come to an end. Keitaro shut the TV down before placing the now emptied popcorn bowl on the table. The two sat in silence not looking at each other. Despite seeing a happy ending to a sweet movie, the feeling around them didn't put that warm fluffy feeling in them. Traced circles around the floor with her finger as she laid on her stomach.
"So Keitaro, are you still shooting for Tokyo U", Naru asked.
He hesitated before telling her, "I don't know."
Naru was surprised that he didn't give her a straight answer. She shouldn't have been surprised, as their relationship hadn't been fully repaired yet, and he was skeptical to talk to her yet. The Narusegawa knew that things between them were going to take time to heal, but she would have to start the process. On Keitaro's side, he was willing to start again, but he was too hesitant to take that first step. Naru was going to have to play a risky card.
"Hey Keitaro...", Naru asked.
"Yeah", Keitaro answered.
"...If, if you want, I can tutor you if you need help."
This caught his attention. As he looked at her, only a few feet away, he couldn't help but notice a few things about her. The way her eyes told him that this wasn't a trap, the fact that she was laying in this position said she trusted him; and he still thought she was beautiful, even with her thick glasses on. The gaze he narrowed upon her lasted for some time. Naru didn't actually know he was admiring her, and assumed that he was doubting her.
"I won't charge you anything I promise", Naru said defensively. "It's just that, well, if you're serious about getting into Tokyo University, I'm more than willing to help. I'm sure Mutsumi would like to study with you too."
Naru sheepishly looked in an opposing direction, but Keitaro never took his eyes off of her.
"You don't have to if you don't want to", Naru back tracked to give him an escape way. "I don't want to pressure you..."
"I'd like to study with you again."
Keitaro stopped her mid sentence to say what he had to say.
"To tell you the truth, it's been kinda hard to study on my own. What with work, Skinny, and other things, I haven't had a real opportunity to practice with anyone else."
"Really?", Naru asked. "Well, you do have a lot on your slate right now. If you need an extra study buddy I'm here for you."
"Thanks Naru, I'd really like that."
The two looked into the each others eyes almost as if they could see their own reflection. Keitaro could clearly see that Naru had nothing to hide from him. There was no deceiving gaze, or mysterious gloss behind her light brown orbs. This made Keitaro feel a little guilty himself. It wasn't that he was deceiving her, or tricking Naru, he could never do that to her. However, the Narusegawa could already tell that we was hiding something. His facial expression was trying to mask a sorrowful feeling behind a semi-happy one. Before she question it any further, Keitaro spoke up.
"Uh listen Naru, it's getting really late, and I uh, have a lot of work to do tomorrow. I'm gonna have to ask that we call it a night.
"Oh...okay", Naru said a little disappointed.
Keitaro unlatched the locks and opened the door for her to exit. Once she was clear, and almost all the way down the hall, Keitaro contemplated whether he should say anything else. Despite having that cottony feeling in his mouth, the soldier boy managed to call her name out.
"Hey Naru...uuuuhhh", Naru turned around with a small glitter of hope. "Listen, if you're not busy tomorrow evening...would you mind if I...went to study in your room?"
Before she could answer, Keitaro began to babble on like thinking he overstepped some boundary. She didn't mind at all, but Naru thought it was cute that he could still trip on his own words like in the old days.
"Or if you want we could use my room!...No wait that didn't sound right! We can always ask to use Mutsumi's room!...No, no, no wait, that's even worse! We can make out, READ OUT on the roof!...No, no, no wait!"
"Shall we say six o'clock my room, tomorrow", Naru said so he didn't completely make a fool of himself.
"Y-yeah...I mean, sure, whatever works for you", Keitaro said trying to act cool all of a sudden.
"Great, I'll see you then", Naru strolled around the corner of the hallway.
Keitaro had to take a deep breath before closing the door to his room.
Around the corner, Naru held her heart as she leaned against the way.
"Wow, what is this feeling in my chest", Naru thought to herself. "It feels warm, and fluffy. It feels good."
Naru held her cheeks before dancing around a little like a child who had just won a prize from the claw machine in an arcade.
Keitaro rubbed the back of his neck before clapping his hands together once.
"Man, this has been a good night for me after all", Keitaro mentally commented. "Maybe tomorrow will be looking better for me."
He raised his hands in the air like a champion boxer before yelling, "Woo-hoo!" It was a miracle that no one else in the house heard him, but in any case, Keitaro was finally happy...for now.
Tuesday strolled by in the blink of an eye for Hinata Sou. For right now, Motoko had removed the bandages from her arm. The wounded appendage was completely healed. However, it still retained a certain soreness, and stiffness. It was going to take some time to retrain and restrengthen. Still, she was from the Shinmei-Ryu clan, so it wouldn't be too hard of a task. After saying her morning bowing to the Samurai armor in her room, Motoko silently made her way to the roof area.
As the opened the door to the barely rising sun outside, who should she find but Keitaro waiting there as well. She was surprised to see him here, this early. He hadn't noticed her yet as he rummaged through a green duffel bag. Having no fear as a warrior, but some cold feet as a girl, Motoko was still hesitant to make her presence known. With a quick gasp of air to calm all nerves, Motoko called out to Keitaro.
"Keitaro", the swords-woman uttered.
With a heads up that someone was approaching him, Keitaro didn't reach for his gun as he would when he felt someone was sneaking up on him.
"Mornin Motoko", Keitaro greeted Motoko.
With a quick acquaintance, neither of them paid much attention to each other after that. It was still early, and no one was really up for talking at this moment; but as they say, curiosity has not specific time of day. Motoko slightly looked over Keitaro as he assorted the different things in his bag. Despite it being still early in the morning, Kietaro could tell there was a shadow hovering over him. It wasn't bright enough outside to block his light, but it was enough to put him on edge.
He turned his head slightly to find the girl concentrated on the items in his bag. He had a close view of her face...as well as a personal view of her cleavage. Not wanting to get on the wrong end of Motoko again, Keitaro reverted his eyes back to his bag. There wasn't much to show, so why was she looking so intensely through his belongings.
"What is all this", Motoko asked referring to the entire bag.
"Just my stuff for work. I have to leave for my job in a little while."
"What", Motoko questioned with a hint of concern. "You can't leave yet, you're still not healed yet."
His outfit still covered the bandages around his shoulder, but one visible strand could be seen near the collar of his shirt.
"What this, nah this is nothing", Keitaro tried to reassure her.
"What do you mean nothing?! You can barely lift your arm above your head!"
"Don't worry about it Motoko. My body's pretty sturdy when it comes to things like this."
"Your body may be sturdy, but this isn't", Motoko gently placed a hand on Keitaro's heart.
The Urashima boy's face flushed from the intimate touch Motoko gave him. Sure he had clothes on, but he could almost feel the heat from her palm radiate the area.
"Keitaro your body is built to last a lifetime if you take care of it. You may be strong on the outside, but it's a medical fact that your heart can only take so much. Don't push yourself to a limit you can't handle."
It was obvious when Motoko referred to the heart, she was talking about the organ that pumped blood. However, only Keitaro was able to find the hidden metaphor in her words. Before she continued on with her warnings, Keitaro held the hand that was pressed against his chest. This silenced Motoko, and caused a pinkish tint to glow through out her cheeks.
"Okay Motoko, I'll try to be careful", Keitaro said as he met her eye to eye.
Motoko was captured in Keitaro's stare. She looked up to him now due to his growth spur, but now she was looking up to him maybe the fact that he had matured a little bit. With a last smile, Keitaro let her hand go and knelt down to pick up his duffel bag. Clumsily, as expected of Keitaro, some of the contents fell out. Keitaro exasperated in annoyance before returning to the ground to retrieve his belongings. The Aoyama swords-woman could see the difficult he was having, being that his shoulder wasn't 100% recovered.
Helping him for once that wasn't out of pity, Motoko handed him some of his contents. He replied with a weak, "Thanks". There was a point in time when they both reached for a small compass. Their hands touched again, but both retreated from each others phalanges.
"Sorry", Motoko said retrieving her hand completely.
"It's okay", Keitaro told her, trying to drop the incident.
As Keitaro re bagged the majority of the items, only three remained. One, was a set of dog tags, standard items in the military. The next one was a small box, and the last item was a book that read "Demons of the Past." This gained Motoko's attention as she held the thick book in her hand.
"You like that stuff huh", Motoko looked back to Keitaro as he spoke to her. "You can borrow it if you want. I just need it back by the the end of the month. You know, library late fees, and all that."
"Thanks you Urashima", Motoko spoke back.
It was true, Japanese Mythology was something she loved to study. Her family had been trained to slay these things for generations. However, that still didn't explain why Keitaro would have this book.
"Keitaro, why do you have this?"
Keitaro began to answer, "Well Motoko, it's just that..."
He didn't get to finish as a large black helicopter appeared above them. The aircraft hovered loudly above them as a rope ladder dropped for Keitaro. They could see through the window as Nentou used a megaphone to speak over the spinning blades.
"C'MON LET'S MOVE IT! WE GOTTA GET TO THE BASE EARLY, AND COMPLAIN ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE BEING SO LATE!"
Keitaro placed his hands on his hips as he shook his head to Nentou.
"So, duty calls", Keitaro spoke louder for Motoko to hear.
Before he started climbing up the ladder, he tossed her four keys on a single ring.
"What are these for", Motoko questioned.
"Three are for my projects I've been building on the side. The other is to my room. If I'm not home on time, please feed Skinny for me. His food is in the top cupboard on the left side in my room. If you go into the new buildings, don't touch the walls, the paint needs to dry. And if you go into the smaller one, don't go through the metal door, okay?"
The Aoyama shook her head in understandment as Keitaro seized the rope ladder.
"Okay cool. I'll be home as soon as I can."
Keitaro waved up to Nentou in the pilot's seat. Seeing that the Cheetah Demon was ready, the helicopter rode took off with Keitaro still climbing the latter. Motoko remained on the roof as she watched the aircraft disappear from sight. She looked back to the keys in her hands. Despite them being in a heated dispute less than three days ago, he was already trusting her with something as sacred as his room. She felt rather guilty by this. A room was more than just a living space, it was their sanctuary, the place where they felt safest in. Motoko had lived here for quite some time, and she barely let any of the other girls into her own room.
"Keitaro, you're too trusting for your own good."
She smiled to herself. It wasn't because she wanted to try something harmful against him, like sabotage. She smiled because someone like Keitaro, was trusting someone like her. After all that has happened, he was still as kind-hearted as ever to her. It was more doing on his part, but it was a start to being friends again.
Thought I'd post another chapter up. Not too much interesting has happened so far, just some stuff to pass up the time. Hope you all still like it anyways. Have a good day everyone.