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Sunset	By : thewriterwhocameinfromthecold Category: +G to L > Love Hina Views: 6179 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Love Hina or its characters. I am receiving no monetary compensation for this work.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
"And so, Akechi Mitsuhide surrounded the temple where Oda Nobunaga was staying. Name the temple and the date."
Shinobu Maehara bit her cheek.
Keitaro smiled. "Take your time."
After a month of walking around on egg shells, Hinata House was at last beginning to feel like a home. So he had felt flattered when the house's resident chef had asked him to help her study. Often, she was too nervous around him say much other than to ask him how his day had gone, and to tell him that dinner was ready. She almost never said anything about herself; but according to Naru that was just the way the little chef was: punctual, conscientious, and polite to a fault, but she never shared what she was feeling with anyone.
When Shinobu first asked, Keitaro had been terrified. If he slipped up, she might realize that he wasn't really a university student, and the lie that he and Naru Narusegawa were keeping between themselves would be exposed. So he had been relieved to discover that the subject she had wanted help with was history. Keitaro might not have been a genius, but even he could manage to read names, dates, and places from a textbook.
To his surprise, Shinobu's textbook, with its simple language and its approach to telling history like a story, had been easier for Keitaro to understand than his own. He made a note to ask her if he could borrow it when Naru wasn't around. If Naru caught him studying with a middle school text book, he'd never hear the end of it.
"The temple was called Honno-ji, right?" Shinobu looked up Keitaro for confirmation.
"Right, but what about the date?"
He watched Shinobu's lips purse as she tried to puzzle it out. It was kind of fun to teach somebody.
"What are you thinking about in there?" Naru asked, tapping him on the head.
"Nothing," Keitaro replied. Yes it was fun teaching Shinobu, even if Naru insisted that he have a chaperone while he did it. Naru may have agreed to keep Keitaro's secret, but that didn't mean she trusted him to teach Shinobu correctly.
"And besides," she had added, "someone has to make sure that you stay on the straight and narrow around her."
That one had hurt. Even a month later, Keitaro still wasn't sure where he stood with Naru. The time they spent studying together was a perfect example. One minute she could be going over a question with him, giving him almost motherly encouragement. The next she could be gnashing her teeth, incredulous that even a dim bulb like him (her words) couldn't remember Newton's laws of motion. Though, he was getting pretty good at remembering what happened when a force met an object at rest. Naru gave him a practical demonstration every time she caught him staring at her legs.
For some reason, these lessons in physics seemed to occur more often when other girls were in the room, especially Shinobu. After some thinking, however, Keitaro assumed that this was because his chances of unfortunate accidents went up by a factor of ten for every additional girl in the room. Motoko was the lone exception to what Keitaro had termed Naru's Law of Protective Retribution; but that was probably because Motoko was governed by her own much faster acting law, the Law of Divine Vengeance.
"June…It was in June, 1582."
Keitaro blinked. "Sorry, what was that?"
Shinobu looked up from the table towards him. "The date. It was in June of 1582, right?"
"Oh, uh…" Keitaro flipped through the textbook.
Naru rolled her eyes. "Yes, Shinobu. But can you remember the exact day?"
Shinobu squirmed in concentration, almost humming as she tried to force the number to the surface; but nothing came. She looked at the others with dejection.
"I can't do it." Her voice cracked.
"Hey, now," Keitaro said, hoping to stem a flood of tears. "You got it within the ball park, and that's a good start. How about I make us all some tea?" he asked. Maybe the distraction would keep Shinobu happy, and keep Naru from launching him to the moon.
To his surprise, Naru smiled at him for the first time that day.
"That's a great idea," she said. "Do you need any help?"
Keitaro waved her off. "I think I've learned where everything is now," he said, getting up.
He bent towards Shinobu to brace his foot, but his foot slipped on the tatami mat and he went flying into the girl with a yelp. He shook himself and realized that he'd pinned Shinobu to the ground. The young girl turned bright red as she stared up at him.
"Get off her you idiot!" Naru jumped to her feet and moved to pull Keitaro off the girl.
"It was an accident." Keitaro rolled off Shinobu, and brought his arms up to protect his head. "You saw."
"Yes, but that doesn't mean you get to lie on top…"
Naru's expression turned fearful. Keitaro turned to see what she was staring at and felt his blood run cold. Motoko Aoyama was standing in the doorway to the manager's room, brandishing her sheathed katana. Time seemed to stand still. Keitaro began to prepare his death haiku as contortions of rage ravaged the kendo girl's classical features. In a flash, her sword was out and Motoko's Law of Divine Vengeance sent Keitaro flying head first into the opposite wall.
Motoko sheathed her sword. "Touch her again, and I'll have your head." And she was gone.
Naru turned to Shinobu who was prodding Keitaro to see if he was still alive.
"Get the first aid kit from the kitchen," Naru said. "The manager and I need to have a talk."
Once Shinobu was gone, Naru peeled Keitaro off the wall.
"Hey." She gave him a cuff on the cheek. "Wake up."
"Did anyone get the number of that truck?" Keitaro asked, with unfocussed eyes.
Naru smirked. "No, but I'd say she's got yours. You'd better apologize to her. You don't want her on your bad side for too long."
"She has a good side?"
"Idiot. She's part of a long line of demon hunters going back to the Kamakura period. Those hits you've been taking are novice moves. You don't want to see the master level."
Keitaro shuddered. "If you're trying to scare me, you've succeeded."
"Better you should find out about her skills this way now than learn the same way all those other guys learned."
"Other guys?"
Naru looked embarrassed. "You've probably noticed that Motoko is quite, well, pretty. And…Look just don't get any ideas. Let's get going."
She dragged him to the roof and found Motoko performing men strikes. Her eyes scowled off in the distance as she confronted some imagined evil with her sword.
"Keitaro quit hiding behind me," Naru said. "Are you a man or a mouse?"
"Mouse," Keitaro replied, already on his way back downstairs.
Naru grabbed him by the ear. "Get back here or I'll make you do the talking."
Keitaro fell in line. Naru mounted the last of the stairs.
"Motoko," she asked, "can we talk?"
Motoko said nothing, but considering that she could have summoned a whirlwind to throw them off the roof, silence seemed the closest to an invitation that they were going to get.
"Motoko," Naru tried again. "I really think we ought to make peace over this. After all, it was just a mistake."
Motoko stopped swinging. Her eyes burned holes into Naru before coming to rest on Keitaro.
"I refuse," she said. "It is not right for a man to manage a dorm where vulnerable girls reside. But since I am in the minority, I will abide. For now." She pointed her sword at Keitaro. "Take care Urashima."
At that moment, Keitaro just felt happy that his execution had been stayed. He bowed to Motoko and turned to leave; but his toe caught on an uneven board and he fell, grabbing for anything to support him. Naru screamed as Keitaro grabbed a hold of her skirt and brought it down with him.
"Keitaro," Naru shouted, "You id–"
"Ur…a…shi…ma."
The samurai girl's lips pulled back in a snarl. "Give an inch and they take a mile." She raised her sword to the fore. The very air around her seemed to distort into shimmering waves "How can the young ones in our care sleep soundly when we are haunted by such a beast?"
Naru was so terrified by the change in her friend that she forgot to be angry at Keitaro as she jumped out of the way and sought cover behind the clothes line. Keitaro curled into the fetal position, the offending skirt still clutched in his fist.
Motoko stared down at him in contempt as he lay cowering. "I will not soil my blade with the blood of a cowardly lecher." She retrieved a pair of bokkens that were leaning on the balcony railing. She threw one at Keitaro's feet, and handed Naru her skirt.
"We will let honour settle this. If you can defeat me in combat, you may be manager. If I defeat you, then you will begone from this place n'er to return. Fair?"
Keitaro recovered enough of his wits to sit up and stare at the woman that would be his executioner. "Fair? You'll nail me."
"Pick up that sword or declare yourself a coward before all present."
Keitaro came to his feet and held up his weapon. The wooden blade wavered back and forth as tremors wracked every inch of his body.
With a battle cry, Motoko swung downward and met nothing but air as Keitaro turned tail and ran. Once again, his instincts proved bad as he ran not towards the stairs, but towards the railing separating the balcony from the roof. He vaulted over the railing onto the rooftop. Motoko sprang from her place on the balcony, flipped once and came to a graceful landing in Keitaro's path.
"Nowhere to run, coward."
Keitaro yelped and threw down his sword. Instead of hitting the ground it sailed forward and caught Motoko's ankle Motoko stumbled and tumbled down the steep roof.
Naru screamed as Motoko rolled towards the edge.
Keitaro dove forward and caught Motoko's wrist. They tumbled together until Motoko was dangling over the hot spring, Keitaro's grip the only thing keeping her from the ground. The rain gutters creaked in protest as Keitaro braced himself against them, trying to hold onto Motoko.
"Let me go." Motoko shouted.
"You'll fall."
"I'd rather risk the hot spring than be saved by a weakling like you."
"Idiot!" Keitaro started to slide forward. "Don't be so damned stubborn."
"How dare–"
"Because I'm the manager. Now climb up or we both die."
Motoko's free hand rose up to grab his shoulder and she pulled herself up to grip the rain gutter. With a grunt, she climbed back onto the roof.
Keitaro sighed. "That was–"
With one last creak, the ancient rain gutters gave up the battle. Keitaro's hand shot out to grab the roof as his ledge gave way. His terrified eyes ratcheted to Motoko's shocked ones.
"Save me."
Motoko stared down like she was watching something far off as she held the fate of the man she'd tried to kill; the man who'd saved her life. She reached down and pulled him up with one effortless tug. Keitaro looked down at the ground far below before turning to Motoko with glassy eyes.
"The cherry blossoms born of the day fall at night. All things are fleeting. Keitaro Urashima," he whispered rhythmically before fainting on top of Motoko.
- 9
- 10
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