Love Hina Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Twine Hearts and Blades ❯ Twine Hearts and Blades Chapter 04 ( Chapter 4 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

*Ruisu walks on a stage with a single microphone*
Ahem...it has been brought to my attention that I have not put disclaimers on the chapters of "Twine Hearts and Blades", so I will say it now, and most most likely mention it in my future chapters. Love Hina, Ranma 1/2 and their characters belong to Akamatsu Ken and Takahashi Rumiko respectively. I'm not making any money out of this fic, I just do it for fun. Now, for your reading pleasure, I give you...
*drum roll*

Twine Hearts and Blades

Despite the fact that it was a Sunday, the train station was full of bustle. Amongst the crowd waiting for the train stood a young woman of about twenty years of age. She was of average height with short, light brown hair, dressed in a dark blue turtleneck with khakis. 'Nothing to do back at the inn, and Keitaro and Naru are studying. Might as well find out what going on with Motoko.'

As the 2:00 PM train arrived, those that were ready to board the train began stepping forward, while the young woman stood where she was. After the train doors opened, she caught sight of a very spaced out Motoko, who walked off the train mechanically, as if she were deep in thought. The expression on her face changed once she saw who was waiting for her. "K-Kitsune-san...tadaima..."

'She seems kinda nervous...I wonder if "something" happened in Kyoto...this could be even more fun to watch than Keitaro and Naru!' Kitsune inwardly smiled as she called out "Okaeri, Motoko! Was Kyoto fun?" At the mention of Kyoto, Motoko turned slightly red, and it was quite easy to notice it was more from embarrassment than anger. 'Jackpot!'

Chapter Four: Wandering on a broken string...

After returning to Hinata-sou, Motoko quickly walked to her room, not really willing to speak to anyone for the moment. Su-chan was rather disappointed at that, since she couldn't wait to cling to Motoko once again. Naru assumed she was just tired from her trip, not to mention facing her entire family, while Kitsune was now even more determined to find out what was wrong with the usually stern and calm Motoko. The hard part about that would be getting the kendo girl to open up, which was a colossal task in itself. 'That is, unless she opens up to someone else, and I just happen to walk by...'

"Now," she mused, "there's only one person Motoko would go to if she had a problem...but I wonder how long will it take her to get there?" Not very long was the answer, since on her way to Naru's room, she saw Motoko heading in the same direction.

Standing in front of the door to room 304, Motoko felt very nervous about what she was about to tell Naru-senpai. She could try telling Kitsune, but the thought of her spreading around rumors afterwards wasn't very pleasant. With that realization, she knocked on the door and slightly opened it. Inside, Naru looked up from her study guide, and smiled as she saw Motoko enter the room, closing the door behind her.

"What can I do for you, Motoko-chan?" The younger girl seemed very reluctant to say anything, yet forced herself to utter her request.

"I-I require your assistance in a matter I have little knowledge of...ho-how does a 'date' work?" The question caused Naru to unsurprisingly face-fault. "W-wh-What? Are...are you saying YOU..." The thought of Motoko dating came as a shock to Naru, since she knew the younger girl thought of all boys as either lechers or weaklings, which means she was either tricked into this, as unlikely as that was, or something (or someone) had forced her to agree to this.

"You're going to have to tell me the whole story, but before you do, there's something I must do." Naru got up and went to the door, and upon opening it Kitsune stumbled in, who had been listening to the whole conversation. "I knew you were nearby...you never learn, do you, Mitsune?"

Kitsune's mind was in frenzy. 'Motoko...dating?!? I wonder who the lucky guy is? Oh! This'll be so fun to watch!' "Gomen gomen, Naru. I'll just show myself out..." Before getting out of Naru's reach, Kitsune felt a hand grab the back of her turtleneck. "Not so fast, Mitsune. I think this topic is something you know much better than I do...and what we discuss doesn't leave this room, got it?" After the fox-lady reluctantly nodded, she sat down at the table, allowing Motoko to tell them about the events in Kyoto.

Motoko told them about the trip to Kyoto, helping her sister prepare for the reunion, the combustible sushi incident, and then she reached the topic of the fight. How she had lost the fight and agreed to do whatever the winner wanted. She tried to avoid talking about who it was that defeated her, but her audience kept pressing on, wishing to know more about the boy that had bested Aoyama Motoko.

Naru and Mitsune found it odd that every time either one would ask Motoko about the boy a blush would come to her cheeks. The former was just confused, while the latter was trying to figure out what were the odds of the kendo girl being in love. Rather than let Kitsune press on the matter, Naru asked, "So what exactly are the terms of this date, Motoko-chan?"

To say Motoko's heart was beating fast would be an understatement. "Well...the t-terms are that we would meet in three days' time outside the café on Kobayashi Drive, and then..." she mumbled the rest, her face once again turning almost as red as a tomato. Both Naru and Mitsune closed in, asking Motoko to repeat the end of her sentence.

After sighing in despair, she repeated in a very small voice. "...L-l-leave the r-rest to him..."

At her words, Naru tried to imagine what leaving the rest to Kei-um...a guy would be like. She pictured going to a movie, maybe bowling, and then a nice quiet dinner. Mitsune, on the other hand, had varying images of the terrible dates she had been on, most of them always ending in front of a love hotel, where she would slap the guy and leave. Deep down, both silently agreed that this might do some good in the rather solitary life Motoko seemed to lead. Naru was the first one to stand up from the table, her legs slightly cramped from sitting in place for too long. "Well, since you say this was a matter of honor, I think you should give it your best. After all, it's only one date." Kitsune also stood up. "Now then, we're gonna have to do something about clothes for you..."

Motoko confusedly looked at Kitsune, then Naru-senpai, both having very odd looks in their eyes. As they closed in on her, she felt maybe it wasn't such a good idea asking for help so early on.

The dinner scene was complete today, and as a way of welcoming Motoko back, Shinobu prepared a feast, including the returnee's favorite dish: Spring Vegetable Tempura. That wasn't the center of attention during the dinner hour, however; Motoko's choice of dress was what won over the eyes of all the tenants, with the exception of Naru and Kitsune, who wore smiles on their faces. She was currently wearing a dark blue sweater with a matching skirt. It was a very simple outfit, yet it still seemed to suit her very well, despite the look on the wearer's face, which was somewhere between shy and unhappy. She apparently didn't like how Urashima was looking at her. 'Maybe he thinks I look strange like this, and I would not blame him. I am too tall, unfeminine, and seem to scare people.'

Unknown to her, Keitaro, Shinobu and Kaolla were having the opposite reaction. They were surprised by the sudden change, but didn't make anything big of it. Keitaro thought that Motoko looked very pretty in her new outfit, while Shinobu was wondering who had managed to get Motoko-san dressed like that. Kaolla was staring at her oddly, feeling something was wrong, but couldn't pinpoint it at all. As dinner concluded, Keitaro and Shinobu collected the dishes; Kaolla went to her room to rummage through her machines, while Naru and Kitsune dragged Motoko off somewhere to keep 'training' her in the arts of dating.

The next day was spent solely on trying to teach Motoko the "Dos and Don'ts" of going out on a date. They had to be very vague in the lesson, however, since Motoko refused to say what the boy she had to go out with was like. This forced the lesson to become a simple tutorial of what parts of her body the boy was allowed to touch on the first date. Even that proved to be a very big wall Naru and Kitsune had to break down, since Motoko would rather die than let a man touch her. When asked why doesn't she just call the whole thing off, Motoko's face contorted in fear but simply stated that it was a matter of honor. 'A matter of honor Ane-ue proclaimed...'

That night, Motoko lay on her futon alone for the first time in many months. Kaolla's futon was nowhere to be seen, and the screams coming from downstairs gave away that she was in Keitaro's room again. She turned to her closet, where a single outfit hung lifelessly; it was the dress she had borrowed from Haruka-san before she first left. The only outfit that seemed suitable for her "date"...the word itself still scared her, yet her heart skipped a beat, as if looking forward to the occasion. She looked to the window, awaiting the message carrying the location where they would meet. Lying to Naru-senpai and Kitsune wasn't very good on principle, but Motoko was well aware that they would follow, and probably try to intervene otherwise. Her thoughts were interrupted when an arrow suddenly embedded itself into the corner of her window. Quickly rising and running to the window, she caught sight of a figure running into the shadows provided by some nearby trees. Going after the person would have been top priority had she not taken notice of the small letter attached to the arrow itself. It read in somewhat sloppy kanji: "Ni-Juubashi Restaurant in Tokyo, 13:00." After looking up what train she had to take to get there, Motoko finally went to sleep, hoping tomorrow would go as fast and as painlessly as possible.

Meanwhile, the night scene in Nerima was rather peaceful, especially around the Kuno mansion, which usually had some sort of mess going on inside, be it the mistress' laugh or other weird occurrences that were known about the Kuno family. A shadow jumped from roof to roof, causing a slight noise every time it landed. The shadow hopped silently into the mansion, hoping to not wake up anyone before reaching the young master's room, which was challenging due to the many traps mistress Kodachi had set.

Finally reaching its destination, the shadow was welcomed by a rather stern yet not delusional Kuno Tatewaki. "You're late, Sasuke. Were you successful?"

The small ninja nodded at the question. "Yes, Tatewaki-sama. The arrow landed just where it should have, but I still don't know why your message had to be delivered that way." Kuno walked to the chair where his book lay, picking it up and returning to his reading. "You must not worry about that; just follow my orders. Did you let Kodachi see you?" Sasuke shook his head, which made Kuno's tense look relax. "Good. She must not interfere in this matter. Now for your last task of the day, I want you to dispose of these and don't let anyone find them." He then handed Sasuke a pair of black bags that were seemingly filled with papers. Not willing to ask anything else, the ninja quickly vanished, hopping quietly toward the furnace. As he began to place the bags inside, one of the knots seemed to have gone loose, and as he reached for it, the bag opened and its contents slid out. He looked curiously at the floor and picked up the fallen contents, throwing them into the furnace. As he walked away, he missed the sight of a pair of pictures, one of Akane and one of the pig-tailed girl, becoming ashes in the middle of the flames.

Author's notes:

I'll still get mega flamed for this story. This seems like a filler chapter, but I think that this also helps set up some of the other things I was planning for this story. For those who are still questioning my sanity as far as this work is concerned, this WILL be a Kuno/Motoko story, since I don't think Keitaro is good enough for her. Also, like I said, they work well together, since I DO believe Motoko would fall for someone with equal or greater skill than her (Volumes 11 and 13 of the manga prove this to be correct). As far as Kuno being "Out of Character", I'd say that this is a possible future for him had he been developed in the series, but then again, Ranma 1/2 was never about character development. If you still want to tell me why this is so wrong, then drop me a line sometime. ^^

Please send questions, comments, insults, death threats and all that to Ruisu7@hotmail.com