While Tokui, Haitani, and Nentou attended to matters involving the military, Angel was left at home stationed with Keitaro, Han, and Shirai. It wasn't a bad situation for him, since he did want to spend time with Kitsune. The only problem was the two of them were now just plain bored. Angel and Kitsune held a quick round of basket ball hoops, but the game was starting to lose its interest.
"So Angel, what have ya been doin since you left for the military", Kitsune asked as she tossed him the ball.
"Well nothing really", He answered. "I've been stationed at the base, and I get different assignments here and there."
"Do ya ever leave the base?"
"Only for assignments."
"Whaaat", Kistsune asked in shock. "Are ya telling me that ya haven't been out to have fun since I broke your heart?"
"HEYHEYHEYHEY, I left you remember", Angel defended.
"Well even so, ya did miss me didn't ya", Kitsune said as she stood on her tip toes to be inches from his face.
Angel looked away in a blush, "Y-Yeah, I did miss you."
Kitsune thought in her head, "He's always such a good boy. Never in his life has he ever been able to lie."
She playfully used her index finger to turn his vision in her direction.
"Ya know, if ya really haven't been out in so long, I might have an idea on how we can have some fun."
Angel blushed a deep maroon, and a drop of sweat raced down the side of his head. Deep down Kitsune was a wild one, and Angel often questioned how he ended up in weird situations with her. He was a soldier, and he never got into half of the bad things with the army than he did with her. He was granted a second chance of life, so he had to be careful of what he did.
"Aw what they hey, YOLO", Angel said with a smile.
On the other hand, a soldier is never one to take things carefully.
In the kitchen, Shinobu was taking care of the dishes. One after another, she placed the pots in their spots on the shelves. As her back was turned, the cupboard door opened. A hand reached out and placed an identical pot on the counter. The hand retreated when Shinobu returned to the counter. The young girl paused as she saw the new pot.
"I thought I put this one away already", Shinbou questioned.
She carefully took the cooking utensil back to the shelf. Her suspicions were confirmed as she saw the same boiling pot on the shelf. The question was, where did this one come from. Once again Shinobu faced the counter. Her eyes boggled when she saw not another one, but dozens of the same pots and pans that were on the shelves. They were stacked nearly to the ceiling to Shinobu's horror. The surprises didn't stop there. The young girl screamed when two people burst from the stack of pots and pans.
"Haha, The Joke Is On You", Angel shouted with a frying pan balanced on his head.
Kitsune and Angel immediately made themselves scarce once their prank was a success. Shinobu was left there still scared on the floor. It would be a few more minutes before her blood pressure returned to normal.
At the moment, Sarah finished brushing her teeth. Even without Seta around, she always made sure to take care of her personal hygiene. After her teeth, it was time for the hair. She little girl took ran the brush through her blonde hair. All of a sudden, the brush stopped in motion. Sarah tried to pull the brush from her hair, but it was no use. The instrument was stuck, and pulling it only made the situation worse. Sarah stopped as she heard giggling coming from around the corner. The giggling turned into full-blown laughing as Kitsune and Angel emerged from their spying spot.
"Aha, The Joke In Ooon You", Kitsune said as she held a bottle of glue to Sarah's face.
The two made a mad dash out of the bathroom as Sarah yelled back at them.
"I'm gonna get you two for this!"
Motoko was in her room meditating in front of the large samurai armor in her room. It was quiet and peaceful, until a voice called to her.
"Motoko", The armor spoke to her.
In a separate room, Han was reading a book when he felt something on the back of his neck. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the white curtains fluttering from the outside wind.
"Han", A raspy voice echoed his name.
From the peaceful scenery of the Hinata Sou, Motoko hysterically ran in a panic down the hallway. The thick samurai armor chased the kendo woman, who forgot her sword in her haste.
"HELP! MY ANCESTORS HAVE COME BACK FROM THE DEAD TO PUNISH ME!", Motoko panickly shouted.
In the oposite direction, Han ran away from a scary looking woman wearing in a white dress, and black hair completely covering her face.
"RUN, RUN! IT'S LA LLORONA!"
As the two victims ran for their very lives, Motoko and Han neglected to watch where they were going. The soldier and swordswoman collided with a thud that sounded like denting bones. Motoko and Han lay passed out on the floor as the two spirits approached them.
"Aha, The Joke Is Ooon You", Kitsune said as she removed the warriors helmet covering her face.
Angel removed the black wig from his scalp as he said, "Next time, you be La Llorona, and I'll be the dead ancestor."
Naru had started a study session with Mutsumi that somehow turned into a nap. She removed herself from the book that embarrassingly now had a small puddle of drool.
"Sorry Mutsumi I was", Naru said before stopping herself short.
She looked over to her study buddy who was now asleep. The sleeping part wasn't a the odd thing. What caught Naru off guard was that there were different marker designs all over her face. There were stars, diamonds, spirals, and even a drawn picture of Tama on her left cheek. On Mutsumi's forehead there was some writing that said, "Keitaro Did This." Infuriated, Naru got up from her desk to give him the beating of his life.
"Why You, Keitaroooo", Naru thundered as she stood up.
As she rose from her seat, she got a quick glance of herself in the mirror. On her own face, there were black markings that looked like a black eye, a stitch, and a ridiculously curved mustache. The worse part of it was the same words were on her forehead that read, "Keitaro Did This." Naru wasted no more time as she dove through the hole to Keitaro's room.
"Keitaro...You...Are...Dead", Naru said as she was about to send him to space.
Before she struck him, Naru looked down at his sleeping form. To her confusion, there were scribbles on Keitaro's face too. The drawings looked like her Liddo-kun face. From the beady eyes, to the whisker markings. The only differences were Keitaro's skin color, and there were letters on his forehead that spelled, "Naru And Mutsumi Did This!"
"What the heck", Naru asked Keitaro's sleeping form.
The door opened for the two culprits where they held permanent sharpie markers. Kitsune had whisker marks on her cheeks, while Angel had a halo on his forehead.
"Haha, The Joke Is On You", Angel said as he high-fived Kitsune.
"Angel, Kitsune", Naru yelled before Keitaro mumbled in his sleep.
"I don't wanna go to school...I'm sick."
"Oh, I'm sorry Keitaro", Naru responded in a whisper. "I didn't mean to be so loud."
Narusegawa looked back to Kitsune and Angel, but realized they used the opportunity to make an escape.
Back in the kitchen, Su had started making a stew for herself. The girl of Molmol placed the last ingredients before turning on the stove. As she twisted the switch, the burners did not ignite. Instead, a stream of water doused her in the face. Su tried to shield her face from the water, but it was no use. She never thought of covering the pot with its lid, since the water stopped after a short while. From behind her sprang Kitsune and Angel.
"Aha, The Joke Is Ooon You", Kitsune bellowed.
Both ran from the kitchen to cause some more trouble. Before Angel left, he came back and gave Su a Noogie to her head. The foreign girl was left there standing in drenched clothes, wondering what just happened.
Back in the den of Hinata Sou, Kanako sat on the couch brushing Kuro's fur.
"Booooooooo", A white ghost slowly rose from the couch behind Kanako.
"That won't work on me", Kanako said without a hint of emotion.
It would seem that this was a failed prank, until it was taken up a notch. The glass door was kicked in as something out of anyone's dark imagination entered. In front of them stood a someone covered in blood, wearing a white hockey mask, and wielding a chainsaw. Kanako screamed in horror by what she saw. It was scary enough that her cat shrieked just as loud as her. Kanako fell backwards in the couch as the monster approached her. The couch was now in its way, but that was easily removed as the rusty chainsaw cut through it. Kanako was now against the was quivering with a fear for her life. The chainsaw powered down as the monster began to laugh. The ghost stood next to him, and removed its cloak as he removed his hockey mask.
"Haha, The Joke Is On You", Angel chuckled as he tossed his mask into the air and Kitsune threw her cloak along with it.
The two pranksters ran around the corner to the hallway where they continued to laugh and catch their breath. They both noticed Shirai angrily approaching them.
"Quit pranking the people here! I thought you were past this Angel", The wild dog soldier scolded his teammate.
The white-haired sniper thought about what Shirai was saying.
"Yeah, you're right. Sorry about that Shirai."
"Good, so no more pranking", He questioned.
"No more pranking", Kitsune and Angel said with their heads down.
"Good", Was all he said before he left back to the training room.
"Aye-Yie-Yie", Shirai said as he sat back down in his chair. Once his rear made contact with the chair, something activated on his seat. He had no time to question before his worse fears appeared before him. From the ceiling dropped dozens of toy clowns handing by a string. Shirai screamed more girly than Shinobu ever could as he dove under his desk. The soldier took out a paper back in his pocket before rapidly breathing into it. When he thought his panic couldn't escalate, he felt a quick jab at his sides. Under the desk with him were none other than Angel and Kitsune.
"The Joke Is Sooo On You", Both of them shouted in unison.
He watched as they danced around with the different hanging clowns, before dancing with each other in a circling motion. Shirai would have scolded them further, but did not want to pass out and continued to breath into his bag.
Angel and Kitsune sat on the roof where they continued to chuckle from a very eventful afternoon. While he leaned against the railing on the roof, Kitsune had her legs lazily tossed across his lap. Even the mid-day breeze couldn't hide their laughter.
"Man, that WAS fun", Angel said as he wiped a tear away.
"Uh-huh, didn't I tell ya?"
"Yeah, thanks Kitsune. I haven't had this much fun in a long time", Angel told her.
They let their chuckles die down to giggles before going completely silent. They looked into one another's eyes. Even with a squinting expression covering most of her eyes, Angel was still able to read her face perfectly. The Konno girl took note of the way he was looking at her and smiled in embarrassment.
"What", She asked.
"Nothing", He told her as he continued to look at her.
The sniper's perfect eye sight couldn't remove his gaze from Kitsune. This only deepened her blush and expanded her smile.
"Whaat", Kitsune asked again.
"Nothing", Was all he could say with a grin.
"Oh I get it", Kitsune said as she tapped his nose playfully. "You're fallin for me again, aren'tcha ya handsome?"
"Weeeell", Angel began before he moved her to sitting position completely in his lap. "If I told you yes, what would think about that?
"hmm, I dunno...I guess I would saaay..."
"Angeeeel, Kitsuneeeee", An angry Naru bellowed.
The pranksters turned to see not just an infuriated Naru, but Motoko, Han, Kanako, Sarah, and Shirai. There was a demonic aura around them that was a mixture of anger, Ki, and other experimental energies surrounding them. Su was also with them, but looked a little more happy and joyful. The fox girl and soldier boy could see they were very well doomed. Kitsune tried to think of a way out of this. Someone was going to get pulverized, and it was not going to be pretty. There was only one way for Kitsune to get out of this.
"He made me do it", Kitsune pointed.
"...Say whaaaaaaaaat?!" Angel asked in shock.
"He said if I didn't help him prank all of you he wouldn't leave me alone", Kitsune continued to play the innocent card.
The girl made her escape in a split second, leaving Angel completely at their mercy. He could try to beg for his life, but that would deeply hurt his pride. He didn't have the speed Keitaro had, but he could take a punch somewhere in his league. For the next ten minutes, Angel's screams of pain, the battle cries of the ERT and Hina girls, along with thrashing explosions of multiple attacks rang throughout the neighborhood. Haruka wasn't bothered by the sound of destruction in the apartments, knowing that her insurance would very well cover it all. Shinobu and Mutsumi just didn't have it in them to harm others, no matter what kind of prank was pulled on them. In spite of what was going on outside, Keitaro never did wake up from his nap.
Some time later, Angel found himself on the ground in the forest behind Hinata Sou. Their final blow sent him rocketing off miles away from the apartments. His body was still smoking as he stood up from the crater he had made with his landing.
"Ugh, now I remember why I broke up with her", Angel commented to himself.
He staggered to a tree for support.
"She's a danger to my health and my sanity...But damn, she's just the one I'm looking for", Angel said with a smile.
It was going to be a long trek home, but one worth taking for Angel.
Celebrating chapter forty of Love Hina: A Different Path, yay for me! My sister was watching an episode of ICarly the other day (The one where her brother is pranking the people), and this came to my mind. The song "The Joke Is On You", by "Niki Watkins" went through my mind as I wrote this one. A lot of my chapters have been focusing on the ERT, and I wanted to put back in some of the funny, and loving moments of Love Hina that I felt I neglected. I hope this makes up for that. Next time, see what happens with Tokui's team and their mission.