Falling for the First Time

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Falling For the First Time



By Andrew J. Talon



Disclaimer: I own neither Love Hina nor Ranma 1/2, and I\'m not writing this for profit.



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Two weeks later…



The Hinata Sou was a nerve-wracked madhouse, as every tenant’s mind was on one thing: Where was Keitaro?



“Su, is that Keitaro detector working now?” Shinobu asked desperately. Su typed furiously on her laptop, her face deeply frowned. All of the tenants were gathered in the living room, all anxious and showing it to various degrees. Shinobu, naturally, couldn’t stay still as she paced and fretted and went about the room. Naru was standing in the corner, avoiding the gazes of everyone else. Mutsumi was passed out on the couch, lying next to Kitsune who was keeping herself calm through long years of experience. Finally Motoko was sitting on the arm of one of the chairs, perched as she meditated with a knit brow.



“Su knows he landed in China, but cannot extrapolate from there,” Su said. “Satellite jamming has been making things difficult. Have had to launch a few kill sats.”



“Kill sats?” Shinobu asked.



“Yes. Don’t worry: Chinese assume it Americans, no harm done!” Su said brightly.



Not stopping to worry about the fact Su might be setting World War III into motion, Shinobu returned to doing what she’d been doing for the last week: Fretting and glaring at Naru.



“How could you do this?! Who knows where he is!” Shinobu snarled.



“He’s survived worse!” Naru said shortly, as her own nerves frayed almost beyond recognition. “Don’t put this all on me!”



“You did punch him into China, Narusegawa-sempai,” Motoko said in a cold tone from her position on the couch. “Much further than he has ever gone before.”



“He was molesting Shinobu!” Naru defended herself.



“If I needed help, I’d have asked!” Shinobu hissed. Kitsune reached up and laid a steadying hand on Shinobu’s shoulder.



“Just calm down, Shinobu,” Kitsune said. “Getting upset won’t help.”



“I don’t think staying calm can help us out much now!” Shinobu replied.



“Look, if Su can’t find him, we know where he landed and we can get there without any problems,” Kitsune said calmly. “But until we know more, we can’t just go running off… Again,” she said quietly.



“He hasn’t called us! Isn’t that a sign of something being wrong?!” Shinobu demanded.



“Or the fact he landed in rural China and has to hike out somewhere there’s a phone,” Mutsumi said as she sat up. She smiled at the other tenants. “Oh my, I passed out again didn’t I?”



Naru wrung her hands. “Yeah, see? W-We can just go after him if we really need to!”



“Then why not now?” Shinobu demanded, shooting a deadly glare at Naru. Naru glared back angrily.



Motoko sighed, and closed her eyes to resume meditation. Inside she was gripped with just as much worry as the other girls, but like Kitsune she did not wish to show it. She was the strong one, after all.



Her mind drifted as she listened to the arguing go on, back to two days ago. The sexual tension in the house had been growing and growing, and Naru’s continued denial of her feelings had allowed the feelings of the other tenants to come out. Each had decided to approach Keitaro in their own way.



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"Urashima, I require a training partner for today. Join me on the roof,” Motoko said.



"W-w-why the roof? I just done patching the holes in it the other day,” Keitaro said.



"Because I am training and I require a partner. Unless you\'d prefer to begin the training right here?" Motoko partially unsheathed her sword, a threatening look in her eyes.



"No! No! Just promise that you won\'t do anymore damage to the house." Keitaro sighed, and thought to himself, "It won\'t do any good, but if she starts chasing me around, the damage will be too much even for me to repair. Why me?"



He got to the top of the roof some time later. Motoko stood on top of the roof without her sword.

"Urashima, you did train at some point in your family\'s martial arts, did you not?" She asked.



"Just a little, I wasn\'t very good at it." He replied, being a little too modest for his own sake. But then, he couldn\'t brag at being any good either.



"Well, I need help with my hand to hand combat training, and it is better to do so with a partner than alone," Motoko said. She assumed a stance. "Teaching is said to be just as effective a means of learning as being taught. We will put that to the test."



"Experience is the best teacher, isn\'t that what they say?" He thought to himself, before nodding. "I understand, please go easy on me, I\'m not really in practice."



"I understand. We will start with very simple grappling maneuvers," Motoko said. "I will trap your arm and force you to the ground. Then, you will do the same to me."



"That sounds easy enough," Keitaro answered, glad that he might finish this practice session without being sent flying and new damage to repair. "We just have to be mindful of the edge of the roof and..." he trailed off and looked over towards the left side. "...over there, I just patched a couple holes there the other day."



"Of course," Motoko said. "Now, attack me."



Even if it sounds like it\'ll be easy, this is still like attacking a tiger that\'s in a foul mood. He shook the thought away and complied with the request, throwing a sloppy punch that should be easy for Motoko to catch.



Motoko caught it, looking annoyed. "No, I said attack me."



"How are we supposed to train if you don\'t put the needed effort into this?"



"Sorry sorry. I confused training with relaxing." Inwardly, Keitaro was crying in terror, this was going to hurt. "Let me try again." He took a lose approximation of a horse stance, before throwing a better punch, sharper, cleaner, more compact. It was night and day between the two.



Motoko caught it and tripped Keitaro forward. In the same motion she fell on top of him as his back slammed into the roof.



"Oof..."



Keitaro resisted the urge to blush with her on top of him, though a small part of his mind didn\'t mind it at all.



"Nice technique."



"Thank you," Motoko said. Were her cheeks also red? She got off him and onto her feet quickly.



"Now, you will do the same to me."



Keitaro nodded after he got to his feet. Sounded easy enough. "Understood."



Motoko attacked, throwing a quick punch that was difficult for Keitaro to catch, but not impossible.



"Ah!" Keitaro closed his eyes and managed to awkwardly catch the punch. He had to open his eyes first before he could think to follow up with the sweep. It was clumsy, a little sloppy, but he was still trying to be considerate not to injure Motoko accidentally with any possible bout of ineptitude.



"Oop."



Motoko gave him a flat look, still on her feet. "Urashima... If you are afraid of hurting me, don\'t be. I am very tough and have taken worse blows without trouble. I want you to let loose. I am your enemy, take me."



"... Down," she amended quickly.



"Sorry." He said, not quite feebly, more in contemplation. "It\'s no good, I can\'t worry about her too much. It doesn\'t help I fliched either." He stood straighter, and tried to stand with confidence.



"Let me try again, Motoko-san.”



Motoko nodded, and threw another punch.



"Don\'t flinch." It was a simple thought, but the confidence swell allowed him to catch the punch without the scream of primal terror that accompanied the first one. "Now, take her... down." That last thought was a little disturbing, but he complied, performing the sweep with more force, leveraging Motoko off her feet through an unknown to him reserve of strength. The two landed, Keitaro on top, the thud of them hitting the roof not registering over the rush of adrenaline he received.



"Haa..." Motoko shivered, and licked her lips. Her eyes darkened. "Very good," she murmured softly.



"Thanks." Keitaro caught his breath, and tried not to think about the position they were in. If anyone saw them...



"Hm... Let\'s do that again," Motoko said softly. She pushed up against him, as though to get to her feet: Though she sure seemed to be doing it inefficiently.



Keitaro failed to notice, as he was more focused on trying to live up to Motoko\'s expectations as a sparring partner. Though one could wonder if this was the kind of "sparring" she had in mind.



"Well... That is much better," Motoko said, after they\'d practiced the move several times. Her cheeks were red and she was breathing a bit harder than usual. "Now, let\'s move on to blocks."

She removed her top and tossed it aside, leaving her in her chest wrappings as far as her modesty was concerned.



"W-w-w-wait! Why are you doing that?" Keitaro immediately became alarmed at this development, his concern that Motoko was ill vanishing as he was now in the familiar territory that ended in pain.



"I am hot and sweaty," she said. She looked at him. "You can take your shirt off as well, if it makes you more comfortable."



"No need to overheat yourself," she added, eyes boring intently into his own.



"This... this is a dream. I must be asleep at my desk right now." He thought to himself, even as he removed his shirt mechanically due to a combination of two very different fears.



"Good," Motoko said. She looked away and took a few deep breaths, which did some interesting things to her chest. It made it so he missed the blush on her face.



"Now... Blocks. Remember, do not meet force with force. Redirect the force of the blow," Motoko instructed.



"Y-yes." He replied with a slight stutter, coming back to his sense as he focused on her face. Martial arts, martial arts...



"We will start simple. Due a basic combo against me, and I will block it," Motoko said.



"Like a one-two?" He wanted to be sure what she wanted, and besides, he could hardly remember the basic combos.



"Anything you can remember," Motoko said. "Don\'t worry, just act."



"Don\'t think, act. Don\'t try, do." Keitaro steeled himself before he came forward with a basic three punch combo: a left jab, right cross, left hook.



Motoko blocked all three, but stepped forward into his punches while she did. Her chest bumped against his once, as she trapped his arm and sent him to the roof again.



"Wahgh!" He crashed into the roof without much fanfare, but he didn\'t miss the sudden moment of intimate contact. Just a dream, don\'t think about it.



"You\'re still not putting the proper spirit into it," Motoko admonished him. She sighed. "What would help your motivation?"



"I don\'t think motivation is an issue, I just keep getting thrown off by something." He didn\'t want to say he was worried about someone charging onto the roof and beating him senseless, since he didn\'t actually quantify it beyond mortal peril. "I\'ll try harder, I promise."



"Urashima, in combat you have to focus on battle," Motoko said flatly. "You will not have the luxury of choosing what to keep track of." She cocked an eyebrow, and looked at the roof. She sighed. "If you are concerned about someone walking in on us..." She bit her lower lip. "I will vouch for you."



"R-really? Thank you very much." If this was a dream, it was the best one ever.



Motoko nodded. "Good. Try again."



Keitaro nodded and got into a ready stance again. Focusing, he came forward again, throwing a more forceful five punch combo: jab, cross, jab, jab, right hook, before slipping in a short middle kick at the end.



Motoko blocked them all, and moved in close again around his kick, once more bumping her chest against his as she got in his guard and flipped him onto the roof.



"Wuff!" He landed more gracefully this time, without much in the way of complaint or awkwardness. His fears abated, he was already on his feet again.



"Better," Motoko said. "Now I will try. Block." She lashed out with a combo that perfectly emulated Keitaro\'s own.



"Redirect! Redirect! Redirect!" It wasn\'t much, but the mental chant helped him focus on blocking, while not flawless, still brought him inside Motoko\'s guard. Emulating her too much, he copied her chest bump as he pushed her off balance.



"Oof," she grunted, and fell. She reached out and brought him down with her.



"Whoa!"



He heard a tearing sound.



"... You tore my hakama," she said quietly, staring up into his eyes.



"Sorry! Sorry!" He panicked again, now afraid she was going to be mad at him.



"It is all right," Motoko said softly. She pushed him off her, and rose to her feet. She then turned around, revealing the rip went right down the side of her hakama, exposing a bit of her leg.

"But it would be awkward to train in it," Motoko concluded, and proceeded to bend over as she pushed her hakama off.



Keitaro\'s brain froze, caught between the joy of a near naked girl before him and the conditioned fear that pain and misery was going to be visited upon him. Wordlessly, he fell back to the roof with a stunted thud.



Motoko sighed. Typical.



Well, maybe she should blame herself. She\'d obviously conditioned him to have that reflex, before she\'d grown attracted to him.



Well, in that case she\'d have to recondition him. She knelt down and lightly smacked his cheek.



"Wake up, Urashima."



"Uuuhhh, wha?" Keitaro\'s brain came back to life, returning him to a fugue state of consiciousness. "Wha\' happen?" Speech centers currently were still in repair, sad to say.



"You have seen me nude before, Urashima," Motoko reminded him with a dark, cute blush. "Being in my underwear shouldn\'t be that big a shock."



"Ah, \'ats \'ight. \'ats \'ight." He mumbled as he got to his feet, almost ghost like. "M\'toko-an, \'M ok. \'ets cont\'nu." Belying his speech, he snapped into a stance. Even if he couldn\'t talk right, some parts of his mind were working fine.



Though not all, otherwise he might have noticed the wet spot on Motoko\'s panties. She resumed her stance.



"You attack now," she said.



"M\'kay." He came forward again, a little slow, but he managed to throw a decent series of punches, before snapping a left high kick off a right uppercut. Some of his training was bubbling below the surface it seemed, with his usual worrywort self not cognizant enough to pull it under, it came roaring out.



Motoko had to work harder to block his strikes, but not so much she was concerned. She had been training non-stop since childhood. But it played into her plans, as she allowed one of his flat palm strikes to brush over her chest.



"Good. Faster," Motoko said, her voice slightly husky.



"A\'ight, a\'ight." He came foward again, showing an improvement in speed as he flowed into his strikes. Focused on the task before him but not all there mentally, he was doing better than he should have been. But it was still high beginner level, and something he would take pride in if he understood what he was doing.



Motoko spun around one of his strikes, bumping her ass up against his crotch for just a moment. She slid against him as she moved to his side, and launched a kick at his ribs.



While the sensation registered in a part of his brain, Keitaro unexpectedly used the bump to move himself back into position to catch the kick from Motoko. Like a machine, Keitaro pulled her to the ground, with him on top.



"Haa... Very, very good," Motoko said, her voice low and sexy.



"Mm." He grunted and rested his face close to her. So very close. "M\'o\'toko-ch-an." He managed to force out, his mental fog clearing a little. "Pretty." Then he thought all the girls of the house were pretty in a way, but his mouth wasn\'t up for his foot in it, so it went unsaid. But still, so very close, to something good/bad, depending on the viewpoint you took.



Come on, come on, she mentally chanted. Kiss me already, I\'m in my underwear underneath you!



"WHAT IN THE HELL IS THIS PERVERTED BULLSHIT!" And like that, the moment was ruined forever. Keitaro looked over his shoulder into a megaton punch that sent him flying off the roof. He started skipping along the ground, digging up divots as he went.



"OOOH, I CAN\'T BELIEVE THAT PERVERTED SLIME!" Never let it be said that reality can interfere with someone truly enraged to the point where they\'re on the verge of convulsions.



Naru was unhappy, though whether it was because Keitaro was being a pervert, it wasn\'t, or that he wasn\'t being a pervert with her, it was, was left to the air.



Motoko began to think of every way she knew to kill someone, from the quick and painless to the slow and painful.



"Naru-sempai, that was... Unnecessary," Motoko managed in a reasonably calm voice.



"I was retraining him in hand to hand combat. My clothes got torn so I elected to continue training without them," she explained.



"You.. you really expect me to believe that Motoko-chan?" Naru said with disbelief, forgetting in her myopic rage that Motoko routinely smashes Keitaro\'s shit in whenever they spar. Or he infuriates her, which was often.



"Am I not capable of defending myself against him if necessary?" Motoko asked flatly.



"I... I supose you are." Naru was surprised at Motoko\'s defense of Keitaro, especially since Motoko was usually right along side her with the pervert smashing. It should be noted that Naru Narusegawa is not an evil girl, nor stupid. She is simply a somewhat vain girl done in by her prejudices and habits. We try not to hold that against her... much.



Motoko pulled back on her clothing, hoping Naru hadn\'t noticed the wet spot on her panties. That would not do at all.



"We will continue to train, Narusegawa-sempai," Motoko said in a tone that would allow no argument. "And if he does something I do not want him to do, I will deal with it myself."



"Ah... ok." Naru didn\'t want to fight about this, and she should really trust Motoko to take care of herself. But then, what if Motoko didn\'t want to take care of herself? That thought bothered Naru a bit.



Okay, a lot.



"Oh Sempai, please don\'t die!" Shinobu\'s panicked cry wafted up to the roof, having found Keitaro\'s battered body in a crater.



"Oh jeeze, Su, call an amublance!" Kitsune\'s command followed Shinobu\'s cry up to the roof. "This wouldn\'t be that bad if he just fell."



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That’s Motoko’s flashback, Kitsune’s is up next chapter.