Love Hina Fan Fiction ❯ A Different Man at Hinata ❯ Lessons in Life, Among other Things ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of this story, except for myself.

"<Telepathy>"

* * * Chapter III: Lessons in Life, Among Other Things * * *

After what seemed like an eternity, Sean slowly opened his eyes. The first things he saw were some smiling faces looking over him. He said the first thing that came to his mind. “Oh my God, I’m in heaven.” A small chuckle rang out from among the faces. As his vision cleared he started recognizing the faces: the five tenants of Hinata-Sou. The look on his face instantly changed from a smile to one of horror. Again, he said the first thing that came to mind. “Oh my God, I’m in hell.” He seemed to resign to his fate as a tortured soul.
“So, you finally woke up,” said a familiar voice.
“N-Naru? Wait a minute. What day is this?”
“June 17th.”
Sean recognized that date. It was that day he first showed up. He immediately sat up in shock, narrowly missing the heads of the girls hovering over him. “What?! That can’t be! That was almost two weeks ago!”
“Actually, it was exactly two weeks ago,” Kitsune said, the smile on her face grew wider.
“Wha… ?” A look of confusion appeared on Sean’s face. After a while, realization set in. “You know, that’s a real mean thing to do to someone who just regained consciousness.”
“Sorry. It was Kitsune’s idea.” Motoko said. Eyeing her, who was still grinning.
“How long have I been out?”
“A whole day,” Shinobu said. “At first, I was wondering if you were ever going to wake up.”
“Speaking of which, why did I wake up? Last I remembered, I was falling off the roof to my death. What happened?”
“Um… well…” Naru started.
“Naru saved your life!” Suu blurted out.
Naru’s started to blush. “Suu!”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah!” Suu, exclaimed. “She grabbed your leg at the last second. It was a great catch. But you were still falling, so you swung around and banged your head on the wall.”
“Hmm… so that was your hand I saw,” Sean’s tone became less than pleasant as he moved toward Naru. “If that’s the case, then I have one thing to say to you.”
Naru was starting to panic. “What’s he gonna say?” she thought. “For that matter, what’s he gonna do?” The only thing keeping her from running out of the room was the fact that if he did strike her, the others would restrain him, to say the least.
The look on Sean’s face got more and more frightening the closer he got, even though his eyes have changed back to their normal color since losing consciousness the day before. He stopped when he got within half and arm’s length from Naru. He reached over to the trembling girl and embraced her. “Thank you so much.”
A relieved sigh came from the whole group. “That’s not funny!” Kitsune said.
“I guess that makes us even, then. You play a trick on me, I play a trick on you, but I did mean what I said just now. Apparently I was not thinking as clearly as I thought I was. Perhaps my eyes were the clue that I should have been restrained or something.”
“Since yesterday, when you said you could use magic,” Kitsune said, “I’ve been wondering; what kind of spells do you know, anyway?”
“See that binder over there? That’s where you’ll find your answer.”
Kitsune snatched up the binder and started looking through it. “Telekinesis… Teleportation… Telepathy… Infrared Vision… X-Ray Vision?! I thought you haven’t seen us naked except the one time!”
“I haven‘t! Actually, after yesterday, twice. There are a bunch spells I didn’t get the chance to try yet. I usually wait until the situation calls for it to try spells, and the situation hasn’t come up to try that one yet. Besides, if you saw me, you would know something was up. I can only put the X-Ray spell on my glasses, like the Infrared spell. When I used infrared, the lenses turned red. A similar thing would probably happen if I put X-Ray on it. Actually, this would be a good time to try that.”
“You’re going to peep at us right here?!” Naru said.
“No, I’m going to look through the wall. Hand me my binder.” Kitsune reluctantly handed Sean the binder. After looking at the X-Ray page a minute, he removed his glasses and moved two fingers slowly across the lenses. The lenses turned a light blue. While facing the wall, Sean put his glasses back on. Sure enough, he could see through the wall into the next room. He focused more and could see into a third room, and kept going until he could see outside. Satisfied with the effectiveness of the spell, he snapped his fingers and the lenses returned to normal.
“Well, did it work?” Suu asked, eager to find out.
“Yep. At first, I could see into the next room, but I kept going until I could see outside. Not bad for a first try.”
“Can I see that?” Shinobu asked, eyeing the binder.
“Sure, but be careful.”
“Hmm…” Shinobu looked curiously through the different spells, eventually finding a folder with a skull and crossbones on it. “Hey, what’s this?”
“Oh, that’s sort of my reject folder. The spells work fine and all, but they can be very dangerous and should only be used in extreme situations. I only have two spells in there right now: Fireball, which is self explanatory, and that spell I used to make everyone’s clothes vanish.”
“You still have that?!” Naru asked in shock.
“Well, of course I still have it. I’ll never actually use it again, or at least I don’t plan to, but if I start seeing red again,” Sean shot a look at Naru. “all bets are off. Besides, it was a breakthrough; the only spell I ever wrote from scratch.”
“Ya think you could teach me to use magic?” Suu asked, eagerly. It seemed everyone had the same question in mind.
“I guess it’s possible,” Sean started, “but it won’t be easy. It took me a full two weeks before I cast my first spell. With my limited experience, I don’t know how long it would take to teach others. Honestly, I never expected to become a teacher. Ah, what the heck, I‘ll give it a shot.”
“Yay!” Suu was ecstatic. Everyone else seemed interested in learning the art of spell casting as well.
“I’ll need some time to prepare, though, this being a spur of the moment decision and all. All those who what to learn and are willing to stick to it, meet me here tomorrow after lunch.” As an afterthought, he added, “Also, now that you know about my abilities, I won’t be so easy to push around anymore. I’m going to start making active efforts to defend myself, instead of just healing myself in private.”
With that, all the girls left Sean’s room to their own business, but he stopped Shinobu as she was walking out. “Hold on. I have something to tell you.”
“Yeah?”
“What I said before, about not needing your meals ever again; well, that actually still applies.” Sean then showed Shinobu his life-sustaining ring and explained what it did. “I probably would have told you before, but that would have given away my talents prematurely.”
“I see. Thanks for telling me. At least I don’t have to worry about you starving to death when you holed up in here.” Shinobu left, leaving Sean alone with his thoughts and preparations for his first class the next day.

* * *

Tuesday, 7/2

The next day came quickly. In no time, every tenant in Hinata-Sou gathered in Sean’s room waiting patiently to start their magic lessons. Sean was seated at his table, working with his laptop, a serious expression on his face; he had to be serious if he intended to be a good teacher. All the while, the girls couldn’t help but notice his glasses were tinted yellow. They wondered what kind of enchantment was placed on them. Eventually, Sean closed his laptop and addressed the group.
“Thank you for your patience. That in itself is the first test. If you don‘t have patience, you won‘t get very far.” He had expected at least Suu to start fidgeting, but she was as silent and still as the rest. “I know you’re wondering what spell I used on my glasses.” The class nodded. “Well, they now allow me to see your magical energy.” He then reached under the table and produced four pairs of goggles, all with yellow-tinted lenses. “I have provided each of you with these, so you can also see the energy that surrounds you all. Naru, may I see your glasses for a sec?” She handed him the glasses and he moved two fingers across them and handed the enhanced eyewear back to her. He then tossed the goggles to the rest of the group.
The girls were amazed at what they saw. Everyone became engulfed in a thin, yellow fog. Most of the fog was very dispersed, but around Sean and Motoko, the fog grew more compact. The confused faces sparked an answered from their teacher.
“I’m sure you understand why the energy is more focused around myself, but as far as Motoko is concerned, perhaps her ki techniques give her a bit of a head start. Nevertheless, after I’m finished, everyone’s energy should be just a focused. My plans are for class to start at lunch and should take no longer than till dinner. If you’re not able make it, tell me beforehand and I’ll try to catch you up at another time.
“Alright, the first thing we’ll do is some mental training. The intention of this is to calm your body and mind. When your have achieved this, your energy will change. I will keep tabs on your progress. If, somehow, someone is not successful, I will go into your mind to find what is impeding your progress and I‘ll see what I can do to help afterwards. Now, everyone close your eyes. Release your frustrations. Free you mind of all burdens.”
The class closed their eyes and started to calm themselves, with Sean looking on, noting any changes in the energy fields surrounding them. At first, nothing changed; that was to be expected, but then, about twenty minutes in, he noticed something odd. Suu’s aura was acting a bit strangely. Her energy started fluctuating and changing colors. The fog around her finally stabilized into a silvery-yellow color. Sean knew this meant Suu had achieved peace. He was astounded by this; he wasn’t sure she had the focus necessary to do this, or at least not this quickly.
Over the course of an hour after Suu’s transformation, the others started to change as well. Each student’s aura had its own distinct color, perhaps reflecting personality or interests. Suu’s yellow-silver mix must have symbolized her passion for inventions and machines, along with her love of bananas. The next one to change was Motoko, which didn’t surprise Sean in the least. Her energy became a dull gray color, the same color as her sword. Next was Kitsune. Her aura turned a light red, perhaps she had some hidden love for someone, or maybe that was just the color of the sake she usually drank; he couldn’t be sure. Shinubo’s turned into a rainbow of colors, mixing and blending together all the while, no doubt showing her culinary abilities. While observing this, Sean was jotting down notes, wondering what color his aura was when he was in that state of mind.
The only one left was Naru. She had hardly made any progress at all in the hour and a half that passed. This got Sean concerned about what was still troubling her. Sean entered her mind to find the roadblock. What he found was startling. He found himself in front of Tokyo U. He could see Naru running in the direction of the building, but she wasn’t making any progress. He heard something all of a sudden, and looked in the direction she was running. A shocked expression appeared on his face when he saw himself standing on the front steps, cheering Naru on. All of a sudden, both Tokyo U and himself started fading from view, but Naru kept running, even though it was a seemingly hopeless situation. As he exited Naru’s mind, he saw tears streaming from the running girl’s eyes.
After his mind came back to his body, he addressed to group once more. “Alright, that’s enough.” Everyone opened their eyes, their auras gradually returning to normal, but a bit more focused than when they started, with the exception of Naru, whose energy seemed more scattered than ever. “Everyone did very well, some exceeding my expectations. You even taught me a thing or two. Just remember that feeling. You will need that kind of focus in order to cast anything. I think we can conclude this session for now and we’ll pick things up again tomorrow. Just leave the goggles here and you can go.” Everyone started to get up and leave. “Except for you, Naru. I need to have a talk with you.” Naru walked back, sitting beside Sean at the table. Sean removed the enchantment from Naru glasses and his own before he started talking again.
“I think we need to talk about what’s troubling you, Naru.”
“What do you mean? There’s nothing troubling me.” She seemed surprised at what he said.
“You were the only one not to get to right state of mind. That means there is something going on, and I intend to find out why.”
“Really? Even Suu calmed down?”
“Actually, she was the first one to get there. I never knew she had it in her, but that’s not why I asked you to stay.” Sean then told Naru what he saw while inside her mind. “This leads me to think you have some doubts about making it to Tokyo U and that, somehow, I’m involved. However, you will never give up, even when you know you can‘t succeed.”
“Actually, I have started to have doubts about Tokyo U. I haven’t been studying as much as I had planned to.”
“I can’t help but feel at least a bit responsible for that, what with the beatings you have given me distracting you from your studies. What I still find puzzling is why I, of all people, appeared in what I saw in your mind.”
“I guess now’s the time to tell him.” Naru thought. Out loud, she said, starting to blush, “Well, over the last few days, I… sorta started getting certain… feelings about you.”
“I see.” That was all Sean could say. There was an awkward silence.
“This is probably just some stupid thing I’m going through.” Naru finally said, trying to pass it off as nothing.
“I don’t think so,” “Dr.” Sean replied. “What goes on in the subconscious mind can be a greater truth than we may ever know. The way I see it, if things continue the way they are, your hopes of getting into Tokyo U might vanish from your life forever, along with myself, leaving you a broken shell of your former self, striving towards an unattainable goal. Perhaps this is a sign that things need to change, at least between us.”
“Maybe you’re right. You did say you would help me with my studies if I needed it. Besides, you were never such a bad guy to begin with, just a victim of circumstance.”
“I know. Not matter what happens, no matter how many concussions you give me, I will always be here to help.”
“Thank you.” Naru broke down crying and embraced Sean. He knew he had already made progress to solve Naru’s psychological problems.
After a long silence in each other’s arms, Sean thought he heard something coming from outside. “<Hey, Naru,>” Sean said through telepathy, “<I think someone‘s listening in on us.>”
“What are you--” Naru started.
“<Don’t speak aloud,>” Sean told her. “<I’m speaking with my mind. You can do the same right now.>”
“<How can we know for sure someone’s there?>”
“<X-Ray Glasses, that’s how we’ll know.>” With that, he slowly removed Naru’s glasses as well as his own and added the X-Ray enchantment to both pairs. He then handed Naru’s now blue-tinted glasses to her. After putting them on, both of them searched the room for signs of the eavesdropper. Naru eventually found Kitsune in her room next door, her ear pressed against the wall.
“<I found her,>” she said pointing Kitsune out. “<What do you think we should do?>”
“<Punish her,>” Sean replied. “<And I think I know how.>” With that he started gathering energy to cast the two spells he had in mind. Energy started coursing through the bodies of both Sean and Naru, who wondered what kind of spell was being used. The energy stopped as quickly as it had started.
“<What did you do?>” Naru asked.
“<We can pass through walls now,>” Sean explained. “<On top of that, we’re invisible. I say we give Kitsune a scare.>” Naru nodded in agreement.
Sean got up and walked toward the wall, followed closely by Naru. When he got there, Sean stuck his arm through the wall. Even with his hand right in front of Kitsune’s face, she was completely unaware to his presence. Nodding, he stepped through the wall into Kitsune’s room, Naru went through right after. They stopped at the opposite side of the room, contemplating the next course of action.”
“<What should we say?>” Sean asked.
After thinking for a sec, Naru had the answer. “<Leave it to me. Get ready, this is going to be loud. 1… 2…>”
“<Wait,>” Sean stopped her before she got to 3. “<I’ll remove the spells first; that’ll really give her a shock.>” With a wave of his hand, he ended both spells. Sean and Naru appeared in full view in Kitsune’s room, but she was still obliviously keeping her ear to the wall. Sean nodded to Naru, then put his hands against his ears in preparation.
“KITSUNE!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Naru used a tone of voice Sean had only heard her use toward himself. Kitsune, terrified, turned around to see the two people she thought she was listening in on.
“H-how did you get in here?!” She struggled to catch her breath.
“Never mess with someone who knows magic.”
“But, how did you know…” Kitsune started to ask, but then she noticed that the glasses worn by both of them had blue lenses. “Oh. That wasn’t a nice thing to do, you know!
“Well, eavesdropping on other people‘s conversations isn‘t nice either, and I strongly advise you not to do that ever again, or else we might do something like this again.” Sean said in a stern tone before walking out back to his own room. Naru soon followed him, leaving Kitsune alone, an angry look on her face.
Back in Sean’s room, he and Naru couldn’t help but share a laugh. “That was fun,” Naru said.
“Sure was, but we shouldn’t do things like that too often, or else the others might get us back for it.” Sean ended the enhancement to their glasses before continuing in a more serious manner. “With all that unhappiness out of the way, do you think you might be able to focus your energy this time if you tried?”
“I think so.” Naru sat down and calmed herself while Sean changed his lenses to yellow so he could check on her progress. After fifteen minutes, he noticed changes in Naru’s aura. It became more focused and changed from the normal yellow color to a bright red. It was at this point where Sean knew the talk he had with her earlier had helped her troubled mind after all. After a few minutes lost in the sight of her aura, he figured she had caught up to the others and decided to bring her back. “Naru?”
She opened her eyes slowly, “Yeah?”
“Congratulations, you did it. Heck, you did it in less time then Suu.”
“I couldn’t have done it without your help.” Naru and Sean embraced once again.
“Your welcome.” They would spend the next hour in each other’s arms, neither one wanting the moment to end.

* * * End of Chapter 3 * * *