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Keitaro's journey to hell

@LupinIII

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Fan Fiction

· 1 year ago

KEITARO'S JOURNEY TO HELL

A Love Hina #FanFiction Written by Axel Terizaki <aterizak@free.fr> (2001 February 6^th-March 22^th)

NARU's Diary: <coming soon>
ASUKA's Notebook: http://asukanotebook.tsx.org

Drafts bounced back and forth for retooling between Axel and Dave Watson, 2001 2 19-3 21.

Chapter One: A Stainless Night? GROWN-UP WOMAN!

It's funny; two years ago exactly, I began to write my first fanfic, Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Child of Love...and now I've switched series and am ready for some fresh work!

So far, I've only read up to the 5th manga volume, and watched episodes 1-24 plus the Winter Special. If you notice any mistakes (particularly about exam dates and such), feel free to E-mail me and let me know.

This story happens in kind of a different time line in Love Hina. Everyone knows Mutsumi but she hasn't reappeared yet, and Seta and Sara are gone on an excavation for now (but of course, expect them to come back sooner or later :). I think that's all...

Oh, of course, needless to say, there is lime content in here. The series is full of slightly ecchi content, so you know what to expect here. :)

* * *

"Congratulations, Keitaro, for such a high average!"

As Urashima Keitaro, almost 21 years old and kanrinin (dorm manager) of Hinata-sou, stepped into the living room, the five residents of the all-girls' dormitory were holding a streamer showing what they just cried in unison at his arrival. Needless to say, Keitaro was very surprised.

"Wow, thanks, everyone! I'm really happy about it myself!"

"Hey, who thought you could get only 65% after failing twice?" This remark from Mitsune immediately made Keitaro's morale drop.

"But still...it's the best you've ever done, sempai! I'm happy for you!" Shinobu immediately exclaimed, trying to cheer him up a bit after Mitsune's puncturing.

"Thanks, Shinobu-chan..."

"Congrats, Keitaro! That's the way!" The young Kaolla struck a pose, smiling sunnily at Keitaro and holding her thumbs up. Despite her usual childish behaviour, she cared very much about all her roommates, and especially Keitaro.

Keitaro just looked overjoyed to see that everyone was happy for him. His eyes were a bit teary from all the excitement around him and the overwhelmingly joyful atmosphere.

"Urashima, that score is good, but you'd better not let your guard down, or I'll personally deal with you," Motoko warned him, still in a gentle tone. She didn't like him at first, but learned how to enjoy (or rather, tolerate) his presence in the dorm over time. Looking briefly at him, she then headed for the kitchen, in order to help Shinobu prepare some drinks. Kaolla followed her, jumping up and down as she did.

"Keitaro, keep up the good work." That time, it was Naru's turn to praise him a bit. Keitaro wouldn't deny that he liked his study partner very much. Even if she was often mean to him, she sometimes showed him her softer, kinder side. He cherished those rare moments, and always hoped to see more of them in the future. That was one of the reasons why he was trying to get into Tokyo University now: To show Narusegawa that he wasn't a stupid pervert, like she often accused him of being.

"T...thanks, Narusegawa! What was your average this time?"

"My average...? Err..."

"She got only 60%! Five points below you, Keitaro!"

"Kitsune! Shut up!" Naru exclaimed, since she hadn't wanted Keitaro to know.

"Ah..." He scratched the back of his head. "It isn't really the score that counts, right? I mean, it's okay if you got lower than me. The most important thing is that we get into Tokyo U together, right!?"

Naru smiled. Sometimes he spoke wisely, and it reminded her of her Seta-san--always finding the right words for comforting people. In some ways, he and Keitaro were alike...

"Yeah, you're right!" She took his hands in hers. "Let's do our best! I promise I'll do better than you in the test next month!"

"Is that a bet!?" he asked, suddenly excited.

"A bet? What would be the prize?"

"Hmm...I dunno."

"What's the point of making a bet if there's no prize!? Idiot!"

"B-but...!"

"Hey, Naru! You could go out on a date with him if he does better than you again!" Mitsune suddenly took part of the conversation, being as interested as she was in such things. Naru just narrowed her eyes at her friend.

"That's kind of a cruel punishment, don't you think?" Naru said, in a comically sceptical tone. Keitaro just facefaulted.

"What if I win anyway? What do you suggest, Keitaro?" she added.

"Huh...I could be at your service for one week? What do you think?"

"A personal slave, huh? Sounds good. It's settled, then! Kitsune, you are the witness!"

"Count on me!" Mitsune exclaimed, suddenly excited about the idea. Naru just smiled, as Keitaro looked at her strangely.

'She seems to be in a good mood today. That's nice to see. I wish I could see that side of her more often,' he thought.

As his strange look switched to a stupid grin, he suddenly fell backwards. A bottle of sake had just hit him in the face with a very loud, resounding *bing!*

"She shoots, she scooooores!" exclaimed Kaolla as she jumped up and down, visibly happy about the bull's-eye.

"That's the spirit, Su-chan! Let's have a PARTY!!!" Mitsune whooped, too, raising her fist in the air.

Shinobu and Motoko poured glasses of sake for Naru and a dazed Keitaro, and then took some soda out of the fridge for themselves. Mitsune knelt down, picked up the bottle sitting next to Keitaro and began to drink straight from it.

"Aaah, now that hits the spot! Come on, Keitaro, Naru! Let's drink to your future success in Tokyo U!"

Naru and Keitaro just exchanged glances and shrugged before drinking from their glasses together, looking at the rest of the girls getting the party started. Keitaro then rubbed his forehead, right where the bottle had hit him. Naru just smiled back at him.

"It's already been a year since you arrived here, ne?" began Naru, as they both sat off to the side of the living room, drinking a bit, and watching the others. They both preferred to not get directly into such parties; Naru mostly because she always wanted to appear serious and studious, and Keitaro mostly because he didn't want to look like a party animal to her and lose her trust in him (maybe it was also survival instinct).

"I've never been among so many girls like this in my life. You're all so kind to me, despite the silly things I've done, heh heh..." He scratched his head while saying this, feeling a bit embarrassed by Naru's talking to him like that.

"I feel more alive than I ever have in my life since you arrived here. And I think everyone else here thinks the same way, too."

"Well, I'm happy just being here you kn..."

"Hey, you wallflowers! Get over here and have a drink with us!" Mitsune and Kaolla rushed towards the two with a bottle of sake and refilled their glasses without even asking them if they wanted more first. They both started drinking them immediately, because they knew that Mitsune and Kaolla would leave them alone again after seeing this token gesture of

socializing.

Unfortunately, they wouldn't this time.

They lost count of how many times they had to drink, but didn't pay it much mind. There were no tests scheduled for almost a month, so they could relax a little more now. Naru would scream if she was in this state of mind, as she always had studies and Tokyo-U as goals. But what if it was a slightly drunk Naru, who was in this state of mind? It wouldn't hurt much, she thought.

As Keitaro was beginning to get pretty drunk himself as well, he was slower than usual and unguarded; in other words, easy prey. Kaolla noticed this, and, with that swift move of hers, launched one of her flying kicks at Keitaro again, while laughing and screaming, "Party! Party!" like Mitsune, who was chatting with Motoko nearby, had earlier.

"Su-chaaan! Leave him alone, will ya!? He's wor...worked-ed hard!"

"Naru! You're drunk already?" Kaolla asked.

"A-am not!" the girl replied, shaking her hand. She looked back at Keitaro and saw him sprawled out on the floor from drunkeness (and from Kaolla's kick). She then got up, and took his arm in her hand and pulled on it a bit, as if she trying to wake him up.

"L...les' go study, Keitaro...we can't s-s-stay here. They won't leave all of you, err, us al-lone!" Naru stammered as she talked to the multiple Keitaros she was seeing. She grabbed another arm and somehow helped all of them stand up at the same time, even though she was not entirely steady herself. He just nodded and followed her, a bottle of sake in his hand.

Unfortunately, being drunk doesn't help studying very much.

* * *

Two eyes opened.

Keitaro woke up from what seemed like a long, long sleep. His mind was all blurry, a deep fog covering what he did the night before.

The night before...he couldn't remember why; it might have been another obscure reason, but Mitsune and Kaolla, his two fellow tenants and charges as a kanrinin, dragged everyone else into a party. And since his mind was very foggy right now, this must have been quite a party...probably with lots of alcohol, judging from the hangover that sat on his brain like a filthy, annoying cat.

It had been a long time since he last felt like this. And it wasn't like he wanted to remember how it felt to be hung over the morning after a party. Actually, his mind wasn't the only thing blurred right now. His sight was as well, when he realized that he wasn't wearing his glasses.

The next thing that came up on his realization checklist was the fact that he was naked under the covers. 'Must have been too out of it to

put my pajamas on,' he thought.

Then he turned his head to his left, as he first looked along the floor. That's where he saw something that caught his bad eyesight...

Narusegawa...

...

Narusegawa's glasses.

"What the...hell?" he heard himself say aloud. He tried to look around, and even if his eyesight was almost as bad as a mole's, he could very well distinguish what he was seeing.

Narusegawa...

...

Narusegawa's room.

"What am I doing here!?" His mind raced too fast for his body to follow, as he laid still under the covers.

His brain having processed a total scan of the left side of his present settings, he decided to try looking to the right. Turning his head the other way, his eyes met...

Narusegawa...

...

Narusegawa's...breasts.

Well, it was Narusegawa after all, right?

"Na-na-na...Narusegawa!!" he almost screamed. His voice was just loud enough to wake the young female Toudaisei-wannabe up.

It was her turn to look around her surroundings. Her eyesight slightly better than Keitaro's, she realized what was happening before he could actually decide on an escape route from his imminent death sentence.

"Kei...taro?" Naru asked suspiciously. She sat up, never taking her eyes off him, as she used her sheets to keep her body covered.

"..."

"Keitaro?" Naru blurted out, all at once this time.

"...I-I...I...what the...? What am I doing..."

"IN MY ROOM!!!?" she screamed at him, knocking him backwards. She blushed as she saw his male attribute. Realizing this, he grabbed his boxer shorts off the floor, turned away from her, and put them on quickly. The two students then looked at each other for a minute that seemed to last for hours.

"Get the hell out of here before I grab something to wear and put you into Pluto's orbit," Naru declared calmly, frowning at him, and then put a hand on her forehead, trying to calm down her own drink-induced pounding.

"Ah y-yes!" He quickly searched the room for the rest of his belongings, grabbed them one by one, put his glasses (found on the floor near Naru's) on, and headed for the door.

"Naru? Why are you being so noisy this early in the morning?" Keitaro's glasses came into eye contact with Mitsune's all-seeing closed eyes as she opened Naru's door before Keitaro could reach the doorknob.

Mitsune looked down at Keitaro's body, noticed the boxer shorts, looked further into the room, and saw Naru clutching her sheets around her nude body. Needless to say, Mitsune came to a quick conclusion.

"At last!! I knew you two were doing more than just studying! It was just a matter of time before I found out!" Mitsune exclaimed, with a big grin on her face.

"I--it's not what you think!" Keitaro and Naru replied in unison, both confused.

"Oh? Then you mean you two didn't have sex last night?" Mitsune asked, with an even wider grin. Both Keitaro and Naru blushed a deep shade of red.

"Wait a min-"

"Don't worry, I'll go and leave you two lovebirds alone. See ya!" she said before closing the door in Keitaro's face.

"Oh, god...I'm dead..." he said, in a deep, doomed tone, two heavy streams of tears running down his face.

"Get out...of my room!" Naru almost screamed, throwing her alarm clock at him. He tried to dash out quickly, but the clock bounced off of his head anyway.

Keitaro opened the door and stepped outside, then ran to his room to get dressed. Naru didn't know what to think. What could they have possibly done last night? Her mind was so blurry...Mitsune must have made her drink a lot...it might even have been a plan of hers to get them together...then, a thought struck her. Did they do *it*? Did they have sex like Mitsune said? In her head, she quickly put together a theory of probability. If you take into account that they were both drunk, naked, under the same covers, and without their glasses...they *must* have done it. She thought about that for a few minutes, then decided to go take a shower, as she tried to persuade herself that none of this ever happened.

Unfortunately, as she got up and inspected her sheets...

"Oh, damn..."

* * *

"Sempai, are you all right?" Shinobu asked Keitaro as they finished preparing breakfast for everyone in Hinata-sou. Shinobu always liked to

help Keitaro when it was his turn to cook. Actually, it was often his turn, since Mitsune was always reminding him that he was the kanrinin of the household. She couldn't deny she had kind of a crush on him, even if she was too shy and considered herself too young for him.

"Oh, yeah...I guess. Just a damn hangover..."

"I see. You drank so much last night."

"S...so much?" Keitaro began to sweat.

"You and Naru-sempai drank three bottles of sake each, from what I remember. I went to bed early. Why do you ask?"

"Three...bottles...?" This time, he added some shaking to his sweat. Now he began to roughly realize what might have happened that night...

"Are you sure you're all right, sempai?"

"Don't worry. I just have a terrible headache..."

"Maybe you should get some rest...I'm worried about you..."

Keitaro looked at her, touched by how her expression perfectly reflected her sincerity behind that statement. 'Oh, Shinobu-chan is worried about me! She's so kind and nice to me! Ah, at least there's one good presence in this hostile world...' he thought, smiling a bit.

A voice suddenly made him snap and almost drop the kitchen knife he had in his hand.

"So, how was your night with Naru, Keitaro?" Mitsune asked, as she walked down the stairs.

"Wh-what the hell are you talking about!?" Sweat increased. Pulse rate quickened.

"Sempai?" Shinobu asked, puzzled.

"Hey, don't tell me you spent the night in Naru's room and didn't do *ANYTHING* with her!"

"Don't talk like that in front of Shinobu-chan!" A puddle of sweat began to pool at Keitaro's feet as he turned around. His heartbeat reached a BPM comparable to a good hardcore techno song. How cruel of Mitsune! He was unprepared, his defence wasn't set yet...Damn, it actually felt like he was being judged...

---

"Urashima Keitaro. You slept in Narusegawa Naru's room, and sexually assaulted her whilst she was under the influence of alcohol. Do you acknowledge this?" Judge Mitsune Konno asked from her seat, placed so high that Keitaro had to look straight up to face her. She was dressed in an Old Bailey-style judge's robe and powdered wig, to assert her superior position to Keitaro.

"I...I...I didn't do that..."

"Liar!! We have proof!" She hit the desk with her gavel, and

displayed several items on a table, as well as slides on a screen. The first three slides showed Keitaro and Naru drinking sake, the next two showed them both unsteadily walking towards Naru's room. The items on the table were Keitaro and Naru's glasses, and two piles of obviously roughly- discarded clothes belonging to each student.

"All of this is overwhelming evidence of your crimes!" Judge Mitsune said, in a scary tone.

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Keitaro screamed, putting both his hands on his head.

---

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Keitaro scr...ahem, came back to reality.

"You didn't spend the whole night there? So how come you were in her room just a few minutes earlier?"

"Sempai...? You didn't...?"

"I don't know! Stop harassing me like this!!" he shouted to no one in particular. He remembered shortly afterward that doing this when Shinobu was talking to him was a big mistake.

"Sempai..." Shinobu's eyes began to get watery...

"No, no, Shinobu-chan, don't cry!"

"Awwwwwwwuuuu..." The youngest of the girls at Hinata-sou couldn't help it. She began to panic. Besides, it's kind of her trademark, isn't it?

"Please, Shinobu-chan...! I'm not mad!" Keitaro exclaimed, realizing that he wasn't controlling the situation anymore. And that was bad, especially when Mitsune was there.

"But, Urashima-sempai..." Shinobu said through teary eyes, a bit confused by the whole situation.

"Keitaro...!" Naru announced her entry downstairs by just calling his name. The last person he wanted to see right now, after Mitsune, was Narusegawa...

"Sempai...?" Shinobu said to Keitaro, trying to get an explanation from him. However, she faced nothing but an empty space, as Keitaro was already running to his room...

* * *

"Dammit, this can't be! I can't have done *that* with Narusegawa!" Keitaro screamed to himself as he beat a quick retreat to his room, knowing he'd find some peace there...maybe.

As he opened the door to his room and stepped inside, a familiar foot greeted him by knocking him to the floor face first, resulting only in a slight bruise on his cheek. Being in Hinata-sou for over a year now had accustomed him to physical abuse, somehow.

"Hiya, Keitaro! Sleep well?" the little Kaolla greeted the Hinata- sou kanrinin as usual. But she had never dared do that in his last line of defence...uh, room before.

"Suu-chan...I don't need that right now. I already have a headache..."

"Headache? Is it delicious?"

Keitaro's mouth felt like the cat that he'd woken up with on his brain had used it for a litter box while he slept, and his stomach churned like it was trying to make sake butter. "No, no, it isn't. Errr...could you leave me alone for a while? I need to rest..."

Kaolla looked at him with puppy eyes.

"Keitaro don't wanna play with me?"

"...'play'?"

He had a bad feeling about this for some reason. Kaolla just grinned.

* * *

Naru sprayed her curvy body with the detachable showerhead. She had a terrible hangover as well, and thought that maybe a good shower and a bath in the hot spring afterwards would help her get rid of that uncom- fortable sensation. She looked at the ceiling, and whispered to herself.

"That's weird, I don't feel like anything has changed...yet."

* * *

"AAAAAH!!! Stop that, Suu-chan!"

"Hiya! You're doing good, Keitaro!"

The poor kanrinin was wearing a kind of mechanical turtle shell, and was walking down the first floor hall, but his body was aching too much. He could only move his hands and feet, since the shell covered most of his body...and worst of all, Kaolla was riding him. No, not THAT way, ecchis.

"What do you think of my TamArmor-kun, Keitaro!?"

"Not very...comfortable...unnh..." Keitaro moaned in pain.

They were both passing in front of Aoyama Motoko's room, when the door opened.

"Suu-chan, please be quiet, I'm trying to concent...AAAAH!!! TURTLE!!!" she exclaimed, instantly drawing her sword. Kaolla jumped off of Keitaro's back as fast as she could, thanks to her sharp self- preservation instinct.

"Motoko-chan, listen..."

"Hiken Zankuusen!!!"

Another satellite suddenly entered Earth's orbit.

* * *

L O V E H I N A - Keitaro's Journey To Hell (Above Average?) Not for sale, rent or auction! :P

* * *

"Sorry, Urashima."

Motoko bowed her head. She was sitting next to Keitaro, who was laying in his futon.

"That's okay, Motoko-chan. It didn't hurt that much." Actually, it couldn't possibly hurt more than the headache he was enduring. Still, it felt like the pain was beginning to fade.

Without a word, Motoko stood up and left the room, only to discover an eavesdropping Mitsune...

"Ah, err...Keitaro? Can I have a talk with ya?" Mitsune asked.

"Sure..."

Mitsune entered the room, closed the door, and leaned against the wall in front of Keitaro. Feeling a bit better, he sat up and listened carefully. Whatever she had to say, it had to be important, if she wanted to talk to him in his own room. Did she want to reveal her true feelings to him? Was she going to undress and give herself to him right here and now? 'No, no way. That only happens in hentai games,' he thought.

"So, what's the problem, Kitsune-chan?"

"Actually, Naru is the problem."

"Ah...I guess I can understand that..." He looked down, his eyes obscured by his glasses.

"You know what you did to her, right?"

"Err...I'm...I'm not too sure. Actually, I'd prefer to not think about it."

"WHAT!? You just had your way with her and you don't care about it at all!? The first time is important for a woman, and you just ruined it for her!" Obviously, Mitsune was winding him up. Such an outburst didn't sound right at all, especially coming from her. Keitaro wasn't going to fall for a play like this.

"I...I did...that?" Oh, well, never mind the last comment.

"Of course you did! And I'll bet you she's pregnant now!!"

The lenses of Keitaro's glasses instantly disintegrated into little

shards. Narusegawa...pregnant? How could this be possible? What about Tokyo U? She wouldn't be able to get in, or even pass the entrance exams. Everyone would be angry at him, and the girl of his childhood promise would surely turn him away, considering that he would have a child with another woman, and...most of all, Narusegawa would be upset about what he did, and not talk to him anymore...

"Nah, just kidding," she chuckled, as Keitaro's face registered that he was about to faint.

"Don't joke about things like that!!" he screamed back at her.

Mitsune kept her composure.

"Just...think about what you did. I know it's kinda normal for people our age, but still...I won't say anything to the others. They don't need to know...yet."

"Thank you, Kitsune-chan!" Keitaro smiled, visibly happy that she finally admitted she was on his side.

"That is..." Mitsune continued.

"Yes?"

"I need 15,000 yen for tomorrow. Can I borrow it from you?"

"15,000 yen!? Uuuh...my savings..."

"Thanks, Keitaro!" she grinned. "I knew you would understand! I won't tell anyone that you and Naru had sex!"

The door of his room exploded and hit the opposite wall, surprising them both. As the cloud of dust lifted away, Keitaro could distinguish Motoko's figure.

"Urashima...KEITARO! How dare you take advantage of a girl while she's drunk!? I will never forgive you for that! Fear my wrath! Hiken Fuujin Ran..." She prepared herself to strike at him again, but someone interrupted her.

"Please, Motoko-chan..." Naru softly said. She was standing next to Motoko, who gasped in surprise. Keitaro had just wet himself because of the surprise from Motoko's outburst, but, since this isn't that kind of series, it happened out of the viewers' sight. Naru was wearing her usual yellow pullover and dark skirt with matching tights.

"It's not all his fault..." Naru continued. "...I'm to blame as well. I shouldn't have drank so much at that party. I was irresponsible as well."

"But, Naru..." Mitsune, said, a bit surprised by her friend's reaction. Naru just lifted her hand up in response.

"As for Keitaro..." She gave him a dark glance.

"M...me?"

"...never mind. I'll think about your punishment later," she intoned evenly as she added a wide grin to her dark stare. You know, the really mean kind of grin.

She then turned and walked down the hall, out of Keitaro's view.

"Naru-sempai, are you alright? Wait for me!" Motoko put her sword back in her scabbard and chased after Naru. Mitsune did the same, after taking a quick look at Keitaro's shocked face.

* * *

One month had passed since this 'incident'. Mitsune kept the secret well, in exchange of some of Keitaro's savings, of course. Actually, it was pretty useless to keep such a secret, since Mitsune, Naru and Motoko knew already. If you add the fact that Shinobu isn't stupid and kind of guessed, the only ones left who didn't know were Kaolla and Haruka. In a month, though, they both heard the news from one source or another. Actually, Haruka had to question Naru about her strange behaviour with Keitaro for the past month, whereas Kaolla just discovered the fact while surfing the web.

Wait a minute...surfing the web? How did this get out of Hinata- sou?

"Because I needed money! Naru-Idol's fan club offered me good money for the info!" Mitsune appeared on the screen...err, her words, rather.

"Kitsune-chan!!!! I thought you wouldn't tell!!!" Keitaro appeared next to her, screaming at her.

"They had more money to offer than you had in your bank account," she explained calmly, crossing her arms over her stomach.

"Damn..." Keitaro lowered his eyes, in pure despair. The situation was REALLY getting out of hand.

Well, anyway, Keitaro and Naru had a self-test scheduled at a nearby test centre, in preparation for the real Tokyo U exams in May.

That was when everything was going to change.

* * *

Narusegawa Naru was prepared for this test. She had been eagerly waiting for it since her first failure of Tokyo U's entrance exam. She wanted to see if she could do better than last time. Her now-braided hair and thick glasses just reinforced, for her, the feeling that she was prepared for it. Every detail counts, right?

Urashima Keitaro was prepared for this test. He had been eagerly waiting for it since his third failure of Tokyo U's entrance exam. Naru teased him by making a bet with him. Could he do better than her? Actually, it was pretty much impossible, considering his unluckiness with exams...still, the last self-test went pretty well. Maybe he would be just as lucky this time.

"Ready? Start!"

The examiner announced the beginning of the test, and everyone in

the room flipped the test textbook open.

'I won't lose! Not only is this test important, but I have to show Narusegawa that all those days and nights of studying weren't in vain!' Keitaro said to himself while frantically reading and answering the questions on the test one by one.

He briefly looked at where she was sitting, only to see her reading her paper. She was actually shivering and looked uncomfortable.

'What's happening to her?' he thought to himself. 'Wasn't she prepared? Is she cracking up because of the stress? Oh, no! I might be one of the reasons she's cracking up! Oh, man, she's gonna kill me if she fails!' By the time he was finished thinking, he had his head in his hands. He looked up and saw her seat...

...empty.

Looking up further, he caught a glimpse of her as she ran out of the testing room.

'WHAT THE HELL!?'

He suddenly put his pencil on his desk.

* * *

The women's washroom. A light-brown-haired woman was bending over a sink, looking into the mirror.

"My face is a mess..." she thought aloud. Her face looked sad through her glasses.

She emitted a slight moan of pain next, and then the unpleasant sound of vomiting.

"Now it is confirmed...Keitaro, you're dead. Awfully dead," she said, frowning, as she took her glasses off, turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on her face.

Narusegawa Naru shook her head in front of the mirror, dried her face with a tissue and left the test centre, unable to finish her test... and unable to look Keitaro in the eye after what she fully realized...

---

End of Chapter One ^_^

NEXT CHAPTER: "Havoc at Hinatasou! SPEECHLESS!"

Author's notes:

So, here's the first part of my newest fic :) I hope you all liked it, because I'm putting a lot of heart into it ^_^

People who have read my previous Evangelion fanfics will scream at me, I know. But actually, the idea seemed so full of possibilities, even more than with Asuka...so I did it :)

I would like to thank my beloved pre-readers. They include Alain Gravel, Disaster, Dave Watson, DJ Lesser and Eyes. You've all been great help again :)

I will try to write faster for the second part, but it's not as easy as you might think. :) I have lots of other work to do, mostly for school, but also for my other projects.

On a final note, I'd like to announce the creation (if you don't know it already) of the first (to my knowledge) Love Hina Mailing List. "Gold" drafts of this fic are posted in this a few days before going to the outside world :). You can also discuss various Love Hina subjects (merchandise, questions about the series or the manga, announcements about your fan works, etc.)

In order to subscribe, just send a mail to lovehina-request@ml.free.fr with "subscribe" in the subject field :)

Chapter Two: Havoc at Hinata-sou! SPEECHLESS!

The entrance doors of Hinata-sou banged open loudly as a light brown blur whizzed through them at high speed. Mitsune's hair tousled from the wind the blur caused, and she landed on the floor after losing her balance from the shock wave.

"W...Wasn't that Naru!?"

She followed the dark trace of the blur on the ground, up to the stairs.

"What's going on?"

Walking up the stairs, she headed for Naru's room.

"Naru! Naru!" she called out as she knocked on her door. She could have opened it directly, since that seemed to be part of her nature, but the Japanese generally aren't the kind of people who dig into others' privacy that directly, and Mitsune was no exception.

"Go away, Kitsune! I don't want to talk to anyone!"

"Huh? What happened? How did the exam go? Why are you back here so soon?" She wanted to ask her even more questions than that, but, judging by her best friend's behaviour, she thought it wise to limit them to just those.

"Please? Pretty please?"

Still no sound whatsoever. Mitsune just stared at the door in front of her and thought about Naru's plea to leave her alone.

"Okay, okay...will you at least tell me what's going on?"

Mitsune grew impatient at this point.

"Naru?"

"M...Maybe later."

"Oh, well..."

Mitsune sighed.

"Come on, Naru..."

"..."

"Was the exam that hard?"

"..."

"Okay, we can talk about this later. Just don't be too hard on yourself, okay?"

Naru remained quiet. She didn't really know what to say. She just hoped that Mitsune would leave her be for a while so she could think in peace.

"I'll see you later, then. Take care," Mitsune eventually said before going downstairs. Even she had to admit that this was pretty bad. She decided to see Aunt Haruka and tell her about this. This was too unreal...as if some of the things that happened before at Hinata-sou weren't unreal enough already.

'Kitsune, you don't know anything...' Naru just thought, almost out loud, as she sat against the side of her bed, her face sunken into her knees.

She had to think about all this...

* * *

There was a knock at the door.

"Naru..." called Haruka, an edge of concern discernible in her voice. After all, she was the only real adult around, which was why Mitsune asked her to talk to her best friend.

"Go away."

"Naru, what happened?" The oldest lady (even if no one dared refer to her like that) of Hinata-sou was trying to inquire about the fact that Naru just came back home only 30 minutes after the beginning of her and Keitaro's mock exam. This was pretty strange, considering that the exam was supposed to last for three hours. Either she had been way too exasperated by the questions and left, knowing she wouldn't get a good mark anyway, or she had a problem. Haruka knew that this wasn't her first mock exam, which meant that the first possibility was clearly unlikely.

The door to Narusegawa's room finally opened, revealing the young woman, still in her 'study' sweater and track suit. Her face was a mess; probably from tears, Haruka guessed, since her eyes were slightly red.

"Naru?" Haruka asked, after closing the door behind her. An uncomfortable silence followed.

"...I'm lost," Naru finally muttered.

"'Lost'? Why did you come back before the exam was finished?"

"I didn't feel well at all."

"Huh?"

Haruka then took a look around the room, and noticed various books laying around the floor in a manner that made it obvious that Naru had been reading them very recently. Her eyes widened as she noticed a small box on the floor, with an open pamphlet with different colour codes next to it. She made a small grimace as she realized what this was all about. She then took her cigarette out of her mouth, which she rarely did.

"You're not...?"

"..." Naru didn't speak, since she was too scared to say the words herself.

* * *

Keitaro was slowly walking up the stairs of Hinata-sou, a hint of worry on his face. Naru leaving her seat so early during an exam was something he never thought would ever happen. He was a bit confused because of that.

'Why did Narusegawa run out of the test centre so suddenly? It must be my fault...' he thought. He was so used to Naru accusing him of every bad thing that could happen to her that it was the only answer he could think of. The incident one month ago was perhaps the apotheosis of the growing list of trouble Naru had been in since Keitaro arrived.

* * *

Haruka left Naru's room a little later and paused near the door, her back against the wall, looking towards the ceiling.

"Kids these days..."

She then headed to the living room downstairs, where the others were waiting.

* * *

Mitsune's foot tapped on the floor. She was worried about Naru, due to the fact that she was refusing to talk to anyone, let alone herself, her best friend. She and Naru had been together since junior high, and were two of the first tenants of Hinata-sou.

"What can they be talking about? I never heard of Naru leaving a test centre until the very end of the exam," Mitsune said, two fingers under her chin, still trying to figure out what could have happened.

"I don't know, Mitsune-san. I have to admit that I am worried as well," Motoko declared, having a very bad feeling about all this.

"Maybe she just got overwhelmed by the questions? Maybe it was too hard for her?" Shinobu tried to find a more optimistic explanation for this. Everyone was taking Naru's behaviour quite seriously, since all this was rather unusual for her. Suu just played with a handheld game, crying joyfully as she scored more and more points. Even though she was just as worried as everybody else--after all, she was waiting there with them--she was as irrepressible as ever.

As Haruka's footsteps resounded upstairs, they all got up from their seats. The woman slowly walked down the stairs, her hand on the bannister. She took a drag from her cigarette while she and the group faced each other, and then finally spoke.

"So? Aren't you going to ask me about anything?"

"We were waiting for you to speak first, Haruka-san," Motoko replied.

"I hope it's not too serious! What if she's ill or something worse?" Shinobu began to panic a bit. After seeing Haruka's solemn expression, her morale suddenly dropped for some unknown reason. The overall atmosphere around Naru recently was enough to drive some people crazy and make them imagine possible scenarios about what was going on. Some pretty unbelievable scenarios, sometimes, but seldom the right ones. And the girls at Hinata-sou were quite good at drawing early conclusions.

"I think all of you should sit down before I begin. This is going to be...quite interesting, if I may say."

Everyone silently obeyed the woman and sat back down in their seats before turning to face her again as one.

"Okay. Now, you all remember what happened two months ago?" Haruka began, as she took a seat at the end of the table herself.

"That new anime Naru has been watching?" proposed Mitsune.

"No." She shook her head.

"The fact that Japan won against the US in that worldwide baseball championship?" suggested Shinobu. Even if this was something she wasn't interested in at all, the media had been discussing it a lot lately. No one could possibly avoid that fact, as Japan felt very proud of its baseball team.

"No, not that, either."

"Naru-sempai and Urashima's accidental sexual intercourse?" inquired Motoko, with her characteristic mix of deeply formal speech and unflinching honesty.

"Yep," Haruka simply replied.

"What about it!?" Mitsune excitedly asked. When there was a problem with those two, it HAD to be very interesting. And Mitsune loved it when things got interesting around Hinata-sou.

"Naru-sempai must have been traumatized by that. How can this be possible?" Shinobu asked, too, worriedly; she knew that Naru normally didn't let things get the better of her, but this was definitely not normal.

"That bastard...!" Motoko drew her sword slightly from its sheath.

"Actually, it's not quite that." Haruka interrupted the girls, not quite sure if she should tell them now that she saw how everyone was already reacting...

"What is it, then?"

Haruka looked up a little and drew on her cigarette again. The suspense nagged at the girls even harder until she spoke again.

"She's pregnant."

Sudden silence.

"EEEEEEEHHHH!!?" all the girls, including the seemingly video- game-occupied Suu, cried in unison, obviously quite shocked by the news.

A voice could be heard from outside the living room.

"Tadaima [I'm home]! Is anyone here?" Keitaro said, while opening the door to the room. The girls turned and looked at him with various expressions on their faces. Mitsune had her eyes open, which was quite rare. Shinobu had her hands over her mouth in shock, while Suu just kicked her handheld game system.

"Damn, I was about to finish that game!" She looked at Keitaro with a frown on her face, as if he was responsible for her losing her game. Everyone else just ignored her, too focussed on Keitaro.

"Bad timing, Keitaro..." Haruka softly said.

"What are you talking about, Haruka-san?" Keitaro said, scratching the back of his head.

"You..." Mitsune began.

"...BASTARD!!" Motoko finished, drawing her sword and instantly cutting the table in half. Keitaro's instinct told him to run, and run fast. His body carried out that order double-time, his brain emphasizing saving himself over trying to figure out what was happening.

"Aaaah, I'm sorry!!! I didn't do anything!!"

Motoko, Mitsune and Suu chased him around Hinata-sou. Various explosions could be heard as Motoko unleashed all the power she had mastered after all those years of training on their poor kanrinin.

Shinobu was the only one still in the living room with Haruka.

"Haruka-san, is that true? Is Naru-sempai..."

"I had a talk with her and we agreed that I'd tell everyone about it. She isn't feeling well at all and wants to be left alone for now."

"How can this be possible..." Shinobu began to panic a bit at the thought of what Haruka just announced. Such a thing happening at Hinata-sou...it was just too serious to be true.

"I guess accidents can happen. Now both of them will have to deal with the consequences and Keitaro will have to take responsibility."

"Responsibility? Oh, god...but what is she going to do now?"

Haruka didn't reply, since she was still organizing her own thoughts about the whole matter. Only Keitaro and Naru can really do anything about all this, but will he make the right decisions and act like a man? And what will Naru do? You'll soon know in the next chapter...

Just kidding :)

* * *

L O V E H I N A - Keitaro's Journey To Hell Powered by EDIT.COM, Winamp and Coca-Cola(TM) :P

* * *

Flashback to Naru's room, when Haruka was talking with her. The older woman was sitting next to Naru, on her bed.

"What did I do to deserve this, Haruka-san? You've always been there with Mitsune and I. Can't you help me?"

"Unfortunately, only you and Keitaro can really resolve this problem," Haruka explained. "Neither Mitsune nor I can do that much this time."

"But this is all new for me! One unusual night, and suddenly I have tons of problems on my shoulders! And what am I supposed to do now!? I won't be able to participate to Tokyo U's entrance exam in seven months! I can't go back home. I have nowhere to go...I don't want this...this child." Naru seemed reluctant to say those last words, unable to believe that she would ever have to. She then slowly put her head against her knees again, just wanting to be left alone.

"The weight of reality is hard to carry, isn't it?"

"You should say that to Keitaro! Always living in the dream of that promise! Always thinking about it! Did he ever think about me when he did what he did!? Of course not! He's always thinking of that girl from his childhood! Maybe she doesn't even exist!" She pictured herself screaming those thoughts right into the ear of a scared-to-death Keitaro...

"Aren't you responsible, too?"

Naru just looked at her feet, unable to reply for a few seconds.

"Y...yes, you're right. I'm responsible for this, too..." she muttered, her tone completely different from her earlier anger and desperation.

"This is his *and* your fault, so both of you are going to deal with the consequences."

"But...why me? I never did anything bad to deserve this...he, on the other hand...he's just a low-life, a lecher, a pervert..."

Naru paused for a few seconds, sobbing a bit.

"...and a rapist."

Haruka just shook her head.

"You feel raped? Well, it's understandable, but what are you going to do? Sue him? All the other girls told me that you were the one who dragged *him* into the bedroom by the arm."

"No, I can't do that, obviously. I'd never have the guts to do such a thing to him. Besides, if I did that, then, obviously, I wasn't unwilling...ack! I don't even *remember* what exactly happened. Just bits and pieces here and there. That idiot...he might be a jerk, but I know..."

She paused on the edge of that sentence, and Haruka finished it for her.

"You know that he really is kind-hearted, when all is said and done."

"...yes, maybe," Naru quickly concluded. She had agreed to discuss the matter with Haruka because she was the only real adult she could ask for advice on these matters, but it looked like the discussion wasn't taking the direction she wanted it to.

"Anyway...what are you going to do? Are you going home? You said you couldn't...why don't you at least try? It can't be that bad there."

"No way! My parents would kill me and prevent me from going to Hinata-sou again!" She panicked and shuddered at that thought.

"I love it here too much. I have friends here, Kitsune, Motoko-chan, Shinobu-chan, Suu-chan...I love them all...I mean, I don't want to be forbidden to come here...I don't know what I'd do if I could never see them again...!"

"So you're going to stay here," Haruka continued for her.

"I really want to, but I can't. I can't face him anymore. Not before I sort things out."

Haruka had a bad feeling about what she meant by that.

"You're not thinking of getting an abortion, are you?"

Naru just shook her head. "No, no, of course not...I don't run away from reality, like someone else I know..."

"But still, you run away from your parents." This last remark made Naru recoil, as if a heavy rock had just hit the back of her head.

"Jeez...! I mean, I can't stay here, face everyone else and just ignore him. I have to ignore him. I mean, I wouldn't know how to react if I saw him. I think I don't want to see him, not because I hate him, but...no, never mind. Forget about what I said."

"The fact that you like him isn't a secret here anymore, you know."

"I said, never mind!" Naru snapped at Haruka.

"Okay, okay..."

There was a short pause, during which Naru looked straight ahead, trying to figure out what to say next.

"Maybe I should try to find an apartment somewhere else, then." She was desperately trying to find a solution to her problem, and hoped that Haruka could help.

"And how would you pay for it? Apartment rent in this city is far more expensive than the rooms here are. You could never afford one."

Despite how cold that sounded, Haruka wasn't trying to discourage Naru. She was just trying not to let her get her hopes up too high, only to have them dashed at the worst possible time. Naru just sighed.

"My only option is to stay here, isn't it?"

"I wouldn't know. Maybe you should talk about it with Keitaro. You don't even know what he thinks about all this."

"I can't bother him with that. The Tokyo U entrance exam is in a few months. He must take the exam and not worry. I'm condemned to this now, so he'd better get in if I can't. He has better goals and a dream to achieve. And he worked hard, too."

"Didn't you just say that his goals were stupid, or something like that?" Haruka remarked again.

"..."

"You *are* lost, aren't you?"

"..."

"Aren't you?" Haruka insisted, in the exact same solemn tone.

"I guess I am..."

"What do you want to do about telling the others? They're worried, and God only knows what they think is happening."

Naru thought for a while about that, and remained silent. She was rarely that quiet, which made Haruka worry even more.

"..."

"Do you want me to tell them that you're pregnant, so that you don't have to?"

"You would do that, Haruka-san? I would be so grateful." Naru was visibly relieved. She was still worried about how they would take the news, but at least the pressure to deliver it herself was lifted from her shoulders.

"And I think I have an idea of what you could do next..."

* * *

Back to the present.

"Aaaah! Let me go, please! I haven't done anything!" Keitaro screamed. The poor Hinata-sou kanrinin was tied by his ankles, hanging over an enormous, hot cooking pot.

On floor level, Suu was shovelling chopped vegetables and throwing large handfuls of spice and herbs (some of which appeared similar to what anime scriptwriters sometimes smoke) into the pot and stirring its contents with a big cooking ladle.

"You are going to pay for your sins, Urashima! This time, I won't forgive you!" Motoko snarled. From where he was hanging, Keitaro could see her in the middle of what seemed to be an intense round of training or preparation. The fact that she was surrounded by road-works signs which read 'DO NOT CROSS--SAFETY PERIMETER--MOTOKO'S EXPERIMENTAL SUPER HIKEN ZANKUUSEN CHARGING UP' and were topped with flashing amber lights just reinforced the bad feeling he was having about the whole thing. Whatever the girls were up to this time, it had to be serious.

Mitsune walked towards the pot, and stopped to look up at Keitaro.

'And to think that what I told him was true. I never thought that Naru would have been that careless...' she thought.

"Kitsune-saaaan, untie me! Please!" Keitaro pleaded tearfully.

Mitsune grinned.

"No way. We're not going to let you down after what you've done!"

"But what have I doooone!?"

"Don't play dumb with us, Keitaro!" she replied, pointing at him accusingly.

"B-but...!!!"

The discussion was interrupted when Shinobu opened the door to make her usual announcement at this hour...

"Everyone, dinner is ready!"

"We're comiiiiing!" squealed Suu, as she dropped the handle of the ladle, leaving it to clank against the rim of the pot. She jumped up and down towards the dining room, happy that there was food waiting for her. Mitsune took a last look at Keitaro before walking out as well, soon followed by Motoko, who gave Keitaro a venomous glare before sliding the door shut. The poor boy was left hanging by his unanswered questions...and his ankles.

'Why won't they tell me!? Why are they leaving me like this?'

After a few moments of thinking, he heard the door opening again, revealing Shinobu, apparently alone.

"Shinobu-chan!?"

"Please wait, Urashima-sempai. I'll get you down from there. Just keep quiet so everybody else won't come back right away." She took the stepladder that Motoko left nearby when she tied Keitaro up there, and placed it near him. She then slowly and a bit hesitantly climbed...

"Don't move..." she whispered.

Taking care, she began to slowly undo the knots in the rope around his legs.

"Thank you, Shinobu-chan. I'm eternally in your debt!" Keitaro managed to say through the two heavy streams of tears of relief that cascaded from his eyes. Then his eyes suddenly went very wide before they disappeared from view.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Poor Keitaro fell into the pot below when Shinobu had almost completely untied him. She quickly climbed down the stepladder and helped him out of the boiling mixture.

"Oh, no! Urashima-sempai, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!"

Keitaro slumped down on the floor, his clothes wet and his skin notably redder than usual, due to the high temperature of the water inside the pot.

"That's okay, Shinobu-chan..." He tried to laugh a little to ease her worries. He was probably more afraid of her being worried or sad than he was of Naru or Motoko being mad at him.

"You really don't know what you did, Urashima-sempai?" Shinobu asked, a bit curious and scared at the same time. She was already a bit shocked by the news, and didn't believe it at first, but as time passed, she gradually began to believe...

"Wh-where is Narusegawa? She left the test room so early. It wasn't like her at all. Is she here?" Keitaro asked, obvious concern in his voice.

"Y-yes, she's here, I think..."

"I need to see her!" he declared as he got up from the floor, walked very confidently towards the door and slid it open without a word. Shinobu blushed as she thought of how manly he looked when he was like that. She knew she didn't stand a chance against Naru for his attention, but she didn't care at all. She started to question herself about her crush on Keitaro. Was it love? Was it admiration? The line between these two concepts was just a blur to her. Having never fallen in love before, she didn't know how to react...

Shaking her head, she began to remember what was going on and stood up.

"Sempai, wait for me!"

* * *

"Narusegawa, I'm coming in!"

Keitaro slid the door to Naru's room wide open. Usually, he would be greeted by the sight of his study partner changing clothes and then forcefully kicked out (literally). At best, he would be able to get out with only a few bruises.

But no one was there this time. Actually, there was nothing in there at all. The room was just plain empty. So empty that his voice echoed a bit.

"What the...?"

Shinobu panted as she chased after him and then stopped in front of Naru's room. Keitaro had taken a few steps inside, a blank look on his face, as if he didn't believe what he was seeing, like it was a mirage in a desert.

"Ah...sempai..."

Keitaro looked around, expecting something, anything...

"W...where is she?"

He turned around and saw Shinobu standing in the doorway. She was looking very surprised, and a bit sad, too. The fact that she knew more about Naru's condition than Keitaro made her worry even more about where she was. She had only a vague idea of where Naru could possibly be.

"...she left..." Shinobu heard herself whisper as she understood, or so she thought.

Keitaro frantically rushed up to her, dropping to his knees to meet her eyes, and grabbed her shoulders. His eyes were open wider than Shinobu had ever seen them before.

"Shinobu-chan? Did you say something? Do you know where Narusegawa is?"

"Urashima...sempai..."

"Do you know?"

"I...I don't...honest."

"Damn..." Keitaro looked down. Shinobu did the same, the sadness etching deeper on her face.

"And no one wants to tell me what's happening..."

Shinobu didn't know what to do. Should she tell him? She was scared, too, almost as if she was the centre of the problem herself. Still, maybe it was because she felt close to Keitaro, and to Naru to some extent, that she was scared. Scared that she might not see Keitaro again. She felt stupid, having a crush on a guy who loved another woman. Part of her wanted to take advantage of the situation and steal Keitaro from Naru, in some way, but another part of her wanted them to be happy, plain and simple.

"Urashima-sempai..." Shinobu was still looking down.

"Huh?" Keitaro looked up a bit, surprised.

Shinobu shook her shoulders, which made Keitaro's hands fall to his sides. She turned back and began to walk towards the room's door.

"Shinobu-chan?"

"Urashima-sempai...promise me you'll be a good father," she said softly before running off to her room, leaving Keitaro standing there in Naru's empty room.

Our hero just looked blankly in front of him, the transparency of his glasses gone, as if he was computing what Shinobu just said. Computing, computing, computing...task complete, transmitting results to mouth...

"...What?" was all his brain could manage to make him say.

His eyes then caught a book still laying on the floor in a corner of the room.

* * *

"Did you forget something?"

Naru was unpacking some boxes in a room which was different from the type in Hinata-sou. Haruka was helping her a bit by carrying the boxes out of the room after she unpacked them.

"...I can't find it. I probably forgot it in my room..."

"Want me to go get it?"

"No, never mind. I'll get it myself," she said as she stood up and headed outside.

She was a little nervous. She didn't really want to bump into one of the tenants. They would want to ask her a lot of questions, and she didn't want to answer them now. She just didn't feel ready yet, which was one of the reasons why she asked Haruka to tell her friends what was happening. She was grateful to the woman for freeing her of that pressure...and for providing her with another roof to sleep under while waiting for things to settle down a bit.

She looked at her watch, and smiled. Now was the time when most of the people living in Hinata-sou would be eating dinner. She could get to her room without encountering anyone. Or so she hoped.

She quietly opened the front door and went upstairs, to where her room was. But as she opened her door, she bumped into something...or, rather, someone. Rubbing her forehead in pain, she opened her eyes, only to see Keitaro in a similar situation.

"Ouch...Narusegawa!?"

She was a bit shocked. Out of all the people she wanted to see now, Keitaro was one of the last, just after her parents. Most importantly, he was holding what she was searching for.

Her diary.

Why it was connected with Keitaro for a second time was one of those mysteries she couldn't explain, like why they both were late on the first day of an important exam, or how, every time they wanted to have a serious talk, someone interrupted them. She quickly regained her composure and stood up.

"Give me that, now."

"Narusegawa? Are you okay!?" He stood up as well, and held out her diary, which she violently grabbed from his hands.

"Hey!"

"Goodbye," she said before turning back and running away.

"Wait!" He ran after her and grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks. She tried to break out of his grasp, but to no avail.

"Let go of me!" she pleaded, tired of all this. She felt like was going to break down if she was forced to be with him for another minute. Still, she hoped deep within her heart that he was going to apologize, crawl at her feet and show her how sorry he was about what happened two months ago...

"I didn't read it this time, honest!"

This shocked Naru more than if she had actually caught him looking at it. All he wanted to tell her was that he didn't read her diary again!? He didn't even say sorry for the trouble he was causing her now? That...

"...BAKA!!" she screamed, and, with a swift movement, reared back and sent him flying through the window on their left with one of those punch techniques only she and lots of other anime girls knew about. She then turned around again, headed downstairs, and to her destination:

Haruka's house, near the Hinata teahouse.

* * *

A few days passed...maybe a few weeks. Mitsune didn't really know. Being unemployed and not really having anything to do all day, one tends to lose track of time a bit. As she looked at the calendar in the entrance hall of Hinata-sou, she sighed. It had just been one week since Naru had "disappeared" from the all-girls' dormitory. Still, as panic began to get to the girls, Haruka did a great job reassuring them that Naru was fine, that the older woman knew were she was now, and that Naru insisted on being left alone for now. There was nothing anyone could do. Not even Keitaro, who insisted on seeing her because she was a tenant of his dorm, as he said. However, Haruka made it perfectly clear to him that going after her at this time would be purely suicidal for him.

Still, to Mitsune, it seemed more like weeks passed instead of days. Naru was her best friend, and, even if she didn't show it much around the others, she cared about her a lot. They were among the first to move into Hinata-sou, and Grandma Hina had always treated them like her own daughters. Actually, she had done this with all her tenants, but Mitsune felt like she and Naru were her favourites.

She was worried about Naru, and the fact that she didn't have a job now wasn't helping things at all. As she walked out the front door to go out for some fresh air, she saw Haruka climbing up the stairs.

"Hey, Haruka-san!" she called as she waved at her. The woman was still in her work outfit, and walked up to talk to her when she reached the top of the stairs.

"Mitsune? Shouldn't you be searching for a new job?"

Mitsune looked kind of embarrassed and scratched the back of her head.

"Come on, there are more important things to worry about. What brings you to Hinata-sou this time, Haruka-san?"

"I have to talk to Keitaro. Is he here?"

Mitsune shook her head.

"No, I haven't seen him today yet. I guess he went somewhere early this morning."

"I see...then I'll come back later. Excuse me." The woman turned around and started walking back down the steps.

"Haruka-san, wait!"

Haruka stopped and looked back at Mitsune.

"You know where Naru is, right? Please, take me to her."

"She told me specifically that she doesn't want to see anyone in the world except me at this point, and until you prove me wrong, you are part of this world. You know what I mean?"

"Look, I'm her best friend. I have a right to see her, don't I?"

Haruka sighed, and then spoke to her.

"What do you think of all this?"

"What do you mean?"

"This whole mess. Don't play dumb with me."

"Oh..." Mitsune cupped her chin with her fingers and looked up at the bright blue sky, thinking a bit...

"I guess this is unfortunate for both of them. I mean, if Naru and Keitaro didn't like each other, do you think that they would have done that, even drunk?"

Haruka took a drag from her cigarette.

"What's your point?"

"They would have done that sooner or later. They just should have used protection. Both of them."

"So you're blaming Naru, too?"

Mitsune paused briefly. "Yeah, kinda. I guess it's not ALL Keitaro's fault. Even if she's my best friend, I know when she's wrong and when I have to support her."

"I see. Well, come with me."

Mitsune's eyes opened as she smiled to herself.

* * *

As Haruka opened the door to one of the guest rooms in her house, Mitsune could see her friend sitting on the floor, Indian-style, playing an old video game system.

"Naru, visitor for ya," Haruka announced. Naru immediately turned her head around and gasped when she saw her friend standing there.

Mitsune raised her hand a bit, as if to calm her. "Don't worry, I won't tell the others anything. I just wanted to visit you, Naru. I was getting worried."

"...Come in."

Mitsune carefully stepped into the room.

"I need to get back to work, so I'll leave you two alone."

Haruka then disappeared before sliding the door shut.

Mitsune looked at Naru playing her video game, and couldn't help but notice how odd it looked, strictly because of what she knew about Naru's condition.

"How are you feeling, Naru?"

"I went to the doctor yesterday, and he gave me a proper test. I'm now officially pregnant. That's pretty much all I'm feeling."

"How come you're not studying? Are all your books still in those boxes?"

Naru sighed.

"Mitsune, you KNOW I won't be able to take the entrance exam now."

"Won't you be able to at least participate? I've never read anywhere that a pregnant woman couldn't take one."

"It's already my second month. The exam is in February and it's July now. What do you think that means?"

Mitsune thought about this a little. "That there are only seven months or so left before the exam and you're due to give birth sometime during the month the exam takes place."

"Pin pon."

"I see. So you'll take the exam next year, won't you?"

Naru seemed to think about this for a minute.

"I don't know yet. Maybe, maybe not..."

"And...what about Keitaro? Did you at least tell him about this?"

"..."

"You didn't."

"So what? He's an idiot, he wouldn't understand."

"He might be an idiot, but he's still our kanrinin. He's always been very understanding and he..."

Naru suddenly turned her head back towards her friend, eyes wide open, nostrils flaring.

"Mitsune! I don't want to talk to him. I don't want to see him. I don't even want to talk about him! Why do you think I left the dorm!?" she replied, angrily.

Mitsune just smiled in response.

"You'll never change, Naru..."

"Hmph..."

"You look like a kid afraid of facing what she has to do."

"Ha! Would you rather be the one who's pregnant!?"

The fox lady grinned.

"Hmmm. I might ask Keitaro if he's free tonight. After all, if you did it with him, he HAS to be good in bed, somehow..."

Naru kicked her game system and smacked the power button off hard.

"Don't joke about that! I don't even REMEMBER how he was!" She blushed, not entirely out of anger.

"Yeah, yeah, you probably just don't want to admit that he was good. No one can forget that much after just a couple of bottles of sake."

"Kitsune, you're my best friend, but if you keep talking to me like that, you're going to leave this room sooner than you might want to."

Mitsune just laughed.

"Come on, Naru, what's the point of not admitting the truth?"

Naru ignored her and switched her game back on, once she calmed down a little.

"Okay, let's skip the subject. I just wanted to see how you were doing and remind you that I'm here for you."

"...Hmm. Thanks," Naru managed to say, with not much gratitude.

"And, hmm, well, everyone at Hinata-sou's been freaking out about you. Even Keitaro."

"You're not going to bring him up again after I told you not to, are you?"

Mitsune thought about this for a few seconds.

"Actually...I don't know. It's just that, since he's the only guy among us, he's kinda special and we can't help talking about him. Since he came to Hinata-sou, everyone's changed. Shinobu pulled herself together, Motoko became more feminine and learned how to tolerate men, Suu has someone to kick now and looks happier than ever...and I have to admit that he broke the monotony of my life there, too."

"..."

"What about you?"

Naru seemed to think about that for a while.

"Yeah, he changed my life, too. He got me into the deepest trouble I've ever been in," she said, bitterly.

"Didn't he help you study for Todai, too? Even though you failed once, he gave you some of his determination. I know that you would have given up after that first failure if it wasn't for him," Mitsune said, trying to cheer her up.

"So what?" Mitsune didn't succeed.

"Oh, never mind, you'll never figure it out. I'll come back and check on you another time, okay? I have to go look for a job now!"

"..."

Mitsune looked around a bit and headed for the door. She opened it, took a final look at her friend, and left without another word.

After she left, Naru switched her game system off again and sat on her bed. She picked up her old familiar stuffed Liddo-kun doll, and hugged it tight.

"What does everybody think that my situation is so wonderful? What should I do, Liddo-kun?"

*squeak squeak*

She stayed like that for some time, still holding the doll to her, hoping to find the answers somewhere in the comfort it had given her since she was a little girl. For now, all she could do was hope that it could give back some of the love she'd given it all her life.

---

Beware of the next chapter: "Here comes a new challenger! TURTLE!"