Love Hina Fan Fiction ❯ The Love Nest ❯ Shinobu Goes Missing ( Chapter 25 )

Disclaimer: No! I do NOT own the rights to Love Hina. If I did, I would be retired and living well in Japans beautiful countryside. I have received complaints about minors reading this. This publication is NOT intended for minors. It is a fantasy work from my perverted mind intended for adults. It contains graphic descriptions of sexual and violent situations.

P.s. I am looking for any female fans I might have. Nothing against my loyal male fan base, but dudes I want a woman’s opinion. And not about my dirty socks either.

Two days ago.

“What’s with another meeting Naru honey didn’t we cover everything yesterday?”

“Mitsuné, I only have one quick point to make and then we can just enjoy our soak.”

“Now what would that be?”

“We are all going to have sex with Keitaro, right?”

“Right.”

“What are we going to do about all of the children that are going to be running around in a year?”

“Technically they won’t be running around for three or four years, but I get your point.”

The nine women in Keitaro’s life just seemed to let the question filter thru their minds.

Present time.

Shinobu was ecstatic.

Shinobu was elated.

If she were any happier, some law enforcement personal would wonder what drugs she was taking.

She had heard the sounds coming from Keitaro’s room the night before and was really looking forward to the time she would get to experience that kind of passion for herself.

Nevertheless, until that time came she would just have to make sure Keitaro, and all of her senpais had everything they needed. So, as proficiently as ever she was going thru the kitchens stores to see what needed to be purchased for the week. After collecting a full list of what she wanted she left a not for everyone and headed out the door.

The rest of the Hinata crew filed down to the small tearoom shortly thereafter. It was Mutsumi who found the note and let the others know that she was gone. Keitaro and Motoko walked in hand in hand at that point. Motoko immediately began to raise a ruckus.

“She should have waited for somebody to come down so that they could go with her.”

“She has gone on shopping trips like this before, I am sure she will be fine.” Mitsuné said.

“My sister has a valid point.” Tsuruko remarked. “We have come to believe that ancient enemies of both of our family’s have somehow found out about what we’re doing. It would be in our best interest to locate Shinobu as soon as possible. She may very well be fine but I do not want to take any chances.”

“Keitaro listen to me very closely. Tsuruko and I both think that the interference that you received trying to get here was organized. Somebody is acting against our family. As the head of our of our family I am instituting a new rule. Nobody is to go anywhere alone. From now on everybody travels in groups of two or three.” Haruka said, voice firm. “If anyone needs to go anywhere they must take a capable person with them. That means in no way are you, Shinobu or Kaolla-Su and Mutsumi to ever travel by yourselves. This is for your safety. Kaolla would cause too much damage with one of her mechanized creations. Keitaro you are central to their plans, whatever they are. Mutsumi, your capabilities are best used in concert with somebody else. Now, I suggest we pair up and go looking for Shinobu.”

Motoko immediately took hold of Keitaro’s arm. Naru and Mutsumi soon formed the second team. Haruka pared off with Kanako. Tsuruko then paired off with Mitsuné. Everyone thought this was a good idea until they saw Kaolla standing there with a wicked smile on her cute little face.

“Goody I get to stay here and work on my Shinobu scanner.” She cackled. “I have built one for everybody else too.”

With that, the young genius produced a box from behind her back. When she opened it, they saw that it was full of ornate gold jewelry.

“What have you got there Kaolla?” Naru asked leaning over to peek in the box from what she hoped was a safe distance.

“I had Molmol send up some stuff so that I could always find my family.” The foreign girl said proudly. “I just hope that everyone doesn’t mind gold. See everything here has a tracking chip in it that I can use this to find you if I wanted.”

“That’s actually a good idea Su.” Mitsuné said as she fingered a bracelet.

“I know. I have a ring for Keitaro. And the rest of us get a necklace and a bracelet. Oh, and Keitaro gets a necklace too.”

Each of the wary people then put on the items only to find that their skin began to tingle.

“What is going on Su?” Naru asked, as a final shock sped thru her body. “Why does it feel as if it’s trying to burn me?”

“Its Okays Naru, it is just bonding with your DNA.”

“Bonding, what do you mean bonding?” Tsuruko asked as a final shudder crept over her skin.

“Each item now has a complete reading of your DNA and is attuned to it. That way it won’t work for anyone but you.”

“This is rather a good idea.” Haruka said, and then asked suspiciously. “But Su, how do we take them off now?”

“You can’t take them off.”

“WHAT?” the general chorus echoed thru the room.

“If you want you can rearrange them into something you would like more. But they cannot be removed.”

“Listen carefully Su. We cannot sleep with this heavy gold hanging around our necks. It would be very uncomfortable.”

“That’s why you rearrange them.” The inventive girl said with a smile.

Tsuruko spoke up then. “Rearrange? How do we do that Su-chan?”

“It’s easy. You just think about what form you want it to take or where you want it to be and it happens.”

Tsuruko closed her eyes for a moment and everyone wondered what would happen when they saw the bracelet she now wore begin to move. It flowed and curved down her porcelain skin and then, instead of a bracelet she now wore rings on four of her fingers on that hand.

Mutsumi then raised her plain skirt to look at her ankle. It was soon sporting a beautiful anklet, complete with charms dangling from it. When she raised her head, they noticed that it was the necklace she had moved.

Exclamations were made around the room at the sheer brilliance and impossibility of the items Su had presented them with. And Su, ever the outsider, basked in the glow of their accolades.

“Now that that is over I am sure Su has work to do to get her locator ready. Now the rest of us need to get going so that we can make sure she is safe. If you find her, come directly back here. Now let’s get going everyone.

With that, the search party started fanning out across the town each going a separate direction.

The northern party

Naru and Mutsumi headed north towards the shopping arcade. They thought she might be at this one as it was the closest one to them each of them took a side of the arcade and searched each of the shops and stalls diligently. They were down to the last two after about an hour of searching.

“Mu-chan, I know she isn’t here but we might as well check to see if they have seen her.”

“I know Naru, and after what Haruka and Tsuruko told us I am afraid for her. Let’s go in here maybe he has seen her.”

Quickly the two walked in to the shop. From the outside, it seemed like the rest of the market shops. As the old saying goes however, Appearances can be deceiving.

Inside the shop, a young woman was stocking a produce display of bok choy. An older gentleman sat in the corner smoking a long stemmed pipe.

“Excuse me miss,” Naru asked bowing. “Have you seen this young woman, she is a friend of our that went shopping earlier and hasn’t come home yet.”

“Why would I care? I pay attention to my own business to keep me out of trouble. You should do the same.”

As Naru and Mutsumi stared incredulously at the rude remark of the woman. The old man straightened up in his chair.

“Ling!”

“Yes grandfather, what do you want now?”

“Your parents sent you to me to try and teach you something of life, here is a lesson. Whenever someone is polite to you, you should return the courtesy. You never know when a stranger might be the one to be able to pull you out of the trouble you find yourself in. Now young ladies, might I see that picture?”

Naru walked forward carefully and placed the picture in the gnarled hands of the old man.

“Yes she was in here about two hours ago. She bought some carrots and a large cabbage. She is too kawii. I hope you find her well. When she left here she said the she was looking for fresh fish so I directed her to a friend of mine that has a shop a few blocks west of here.”

“Oh thank you sir.” Naru and Mutsumi both said as they bowed to him. “We will not forget your kindness we assure you.”

They quickly ran out the door in search of their littlest friend.

“That granddaughter, is why you should always be kind.” said the old man as a smile crossed his weather-beaten face. “You will never receive a payment as worth much as the smiles I have just received by helping those two young ladies.”

As the two friends raced towards the fish stall Mutsumi finally commented.

“At least she was headed towards where Haruka and Kanako are headed maybe they will get to her first.”

“I hope so Mu-chan. I sure do hope so.”

The western party

Kanako was crying…again.

Haruka had just about enough of that. Almost three weeks of constant bawling would test anyone’s patience. Haruka thought it was right that the younger woman finally had to face her conscious but enough was enough. Grabbing the exotic looking girl by collar the she spun her around until…

SLAP!!!

“We have all had just about enough of that young lady. You have been in this funk every since you realized just how much harm you could have done to Keitaro and everyone around him. Now is not the time for self-pity, or blame. Innocent little Shinobu could be in very real danger. And we are trying to prevent that. I know granny taught you some of the family arts. Use them for Kami’s sake. You said you wouldn’t sleep with Keitaro until you have paid him, and the rest of the girls, back. Well don’t you think that helping us find Shinobu would be a big step towards that? Now you might be adopted, but you are still a Urashima, so act like it!”

The change was almost instantaneous. The tears were gone. The sobbing stopped. And in their place was the ice cold gaze that had frightened grown men. Then a softer look returned to her eyes.

Bowing to her cousin for the first time in her life, she then spoke.

“Thank you, Haruka-sama. Until now, I had not realized what opportunities I have missed. Once my depression got the better of me I could not seem to think straight. I was so busy mourning my loss and stupidity that I didn’t realize what I would have to do in order to pay them back, I now realize that I actually have to actually do something. Now, let us go and find Shinobu-chan. Moreover, if something has happened to her, I will ask you to pray over the bodies of our enemies. Because that is all that will be left of them when I am done with them.”

Then using her strange abilities she transformed into a much taller woman. Her legs, now longer, covered more distance in less time.

Haruka smiled as the young woman before her took on a more determined course. ‘Grandmother was right. All she needed was the right inspiration.’ She then quickened her own pace to keep up with her young cousin.

Their search of the shops and stalls around the area lead to only one clue. And that was from of fish merchant and he said she had bought a large sea bass and was now headed for a spice merchant he knew east of here. He informed them that it was about a seven-mile hike from here, but the spices he carried were more than worth it.

They’d both bolted from the shop giving The Man their thanks as they ran out the door. What surprised them is when they ran into Naru and Mutsumi. They quickly joined forces and hailed a cab to get them there faster.

The eastern party.

Mitsuné and Tsuruko were taking in the sights around them as they searched for the domestic heart of their group. They had searched the shops around them and had come up with empty hands. Tsuruko finally broke the silence.

“Mitsuné, I don’t know why you have become a workaholic so suddenly, but I am glad you have. The amount of work you have accomplished in three days is outstanding. If I weren’t so worried about Shinobu, I would treat you to a bottle of your favorite saké.”

“Then I would have to turn you down. I don’t plan on giving up drinking entirely. But I watched my health deteriorate because of my bingeing. So now I plan on drinking only occasionally. I have come to realize that all of my drinking made me miss out on some of the more interesting adventures I could have had with Keitaro an the rest of the girls. If I hadn’t been such a lush I might have realized even earlier how much I loved Keitaro. I know I’ve played more than my share of pranks on him. But now, I realize that I just wanted him to notice me. Now that I have been with him sexually, I don’t see myself without him any longer. Hey isn’t that Shinobu?”

Their conversation had been interrupted by Mitsuné sighting a shorter girl in a plaid skirt. In both raced ahead to catch up with her. But they had to stop in front of a spice merchant to get their bearings. By then it was too late. They lost sight of her in the crowd. A short, dumpy woman tapping their elbows then interrupted their visual searching.

“You seem lost. May I help you?” the nearly toothless woman asked.

“Yes, you may.” Tsuruko replied. “We are searching for a friend of ours. Maybe you have seen her?”

“That depends on what your friend looks like, doesn’t it?”

Mitsuné quickly showed the old lady Shinobu’s picture.

“She just left not but a minute ago sweet lings. She was looking for fresh curry but I ran out yesterday. So she bought some fresh wasabi and went to my sisters for the curry. She runs a shop about five miles from here. You know the ones south of that new hot springs.”

Tsuruko bowed low to her “We thank you for your time and information. Now that we know where she is going we can intercept her there.”

The southern party.

Motoko and Keitaro had spent the last two hours searching for Shinobu. So far, their searching had proven fruitless. They walked up and down the arcade trying t catch sight of the diminutive girl. Keitaro had offered to split up so that their search would go faster, however Motoko wouldn’t hear of it. She was taking Haruka’s words literally, and if anyone wanted to get to Keitaro, they were going to have to go through her first.

They were both ready to more than give up when Keitaro spotted a familiar face entering a small spice shop. When he saw her he was both grateful that she was safe, and that they could now go back to the teahouse so he could get off his feet.

“Shinobu!” he called to her over the din of the crowd. “Hey Shinobu! Thank the Kami we found you.”

The two erstwhile searchers ran thru the crowd and confirmed that it was the lost sheep they were looking for. Shinobu was at the counter making a purchase of a large jar of spice.

“Kei-kun, Motoko-senpai what are you doing here?”

“We came looking for you Shinobu-chan. It isn’t safe to go out alone that way. You should have waited until one of us was up to go with you.” Motoko said as she stroked the hair of the petite girl.

“Why wouldn’t it be safe to go shopping Motoko-senpai, I have done this every week since I moved in at the Hinata?”

“It isn’t shopping that is dangerous Shinobu-chan. It is shopping alone from now on one of us will always be going with you.”

They were walking out of the shop when a large delivery style truck came barreling towards them. It didn’t honk to warn them, nor did it slow down. Motoko saw it coming and tried to push Keitaro out of the way. The result was the truck hitting her square on. Her body flew through the air and crashed into a sign, bounced off and landed in a large cart of bananas.

Keitaro immediately pulled Shinobu behind him. As Haruka’s warning from this morning echoed in his ear five thugs dressed in scarlet leapt from the back of the truck.
“That one whore down.” The tallest of the bunch said as he approached the quivering pair. Then he leaned over to stare into Keitaro’s eyes. “Get out of the way boy, and you won’t get hurt. We will just take that little trollop behind you and go on our way.”

He turned to smile at his cohorts, and that was his mistake. By the time he had turn around to face Keitaro again it was too late.

All of his past lessons at the girl’s hands came rushing back to him. Grabbing the nearest handy item he brought it down on the man’s head.

The man collapse as a puppet that had its strings cut would. The item he had been hit with happened to be a wok. An old cast iron one. When the man’s body hit the ground, he rolled face up. Several of his teeth had cracked under the force of the blow. In addition, blood was now running freely from where his skull had split open. The other men seeing that Keitaro couldn’t surprise them like that advanced on him.

“You should have just let us take her. Who knows, we might have even given her back to you later, well used of course. But now, you are going to have to pay for your interference and for Yocichi’s death. As the four remaining thugs advanced, Keitaro held the heavy wok at the ready.

As one, the thugs pulled wicked looking knives from folds in their clothing.

“Don’t you think you should put those away? You could very easily get hurt.”

As one, they turned to see Motoko standing tall before them, the black Hinata blade gleaming in the sunlight.

“We don’t know how you managed to get up after we hit you bitch, but you are playing with something you don’t understand here. Now both of you better just stand out of the way. If you don’t you might just find yourself attending your own funeral.”

Keitaro took immediate action as they had taken their eyes off of him to face the threat that Motoko was giving them se flung the wok and scored a direct hit to the groin of on of the thugs still standing. At the same time, he flung himself sideways to cover Shinobu with his body. He knew what that blade was capable of and he didn’t want to be in the path of whatever Motoko was going to do.

“You asshole!” One of the thugs bellowed as he charge forward to avenge he fallen partner. His progress was cut short though what Motoko’s voice cut through the air.

“EVIL RENDING BLADE!”

The effect of that attack quickly struck home to the two thugs that had stood their ground as they watched their partner come apart at the seams. His eyes swelled and burst in their sockets. His joints started to burst through is skin. Bones snapped and pierced his already tearing flesh. The blood vessels in his neck started to swell as he screamed in torment. Then his screams turned to a loud gurgle as those vessels burst. Then his chest cavity exploded outward as his heart and lungs detonated within him. Finally, he collapsed into a bloody heap.

One of the thugs quickly planned his escape. Pulling a canister from within the folds of his clothing he pulled the pin and rolled it towards Keitaro. As it belched smoke and noxious fumes something stuck Keitaro in the head and he was tossed several feet through the air. Then his world went dark.

“PURIFYING STRIKE!”

Keitaro found that he could suddenly breathe a lot easier and his head wasn’t quite so heavy.

He looked up a saw the relieved expression of Haruka and Tsuruko smiling down at him. Sitting up gingerly, he tested his limbs and found they still worked. Then he looked around and noticed the other girls were still looking around for someone.

“Is everyone ok? What happened? After that guy threw the smoke bomb I don’t remember much?”

“Kei-kun they got Shinobu.” Haruka said flatly. “The two goons that were still ok grabbed her when the smoke bomb blew you off of her.”

“Then what are we doing here still?!” he screamed. “Let’s go get her!”

“It’s not that easy Kei-kun.” Tsuruko said. “For one, we don’t know where they are. Secondly, if we just charge in without looking men like these might just kill her to make their point. We need to go back to the teashop and organize. And we need to do it quickly. If we don’t we are gong to have to explain to the authorities why there are two dead men here. One of whom you killed yourself with the wok, the other my sister dispensed justice on.”

“But how are we going to find where they have taken her?” Keitaro said looking at the ground.

“I believe this is where Kaolla comes in.” Haruka said. “If not, we do have one thing going for us.”

“What’s that Haruka-sama?” Mitsuné and Mutsumi asked at the same time.

“They left behind a survivor.” Reaching down she picked the man up that Keitaro had efficiently taken out when he had frisbeed him in the nuts with the wok.

The man was groggy but he managed to look around him he was being lifted off the ground by one hand. Looking around he looked into the faces of those he was sent to harm. Nine faces stared back at him. Nine faces filled with rage. Nine faces that looked like they wanted to do nothing more than send him to the ninth level of hell.

“Oh good.” Said a skinny looking girl with scary eyes. “It has been a long time since I have practiced dissecting people. I wonder how long he will last?”

‘Oh shit!’

And that was his last conscious thought as a really tall woman struck the back of his head with her sword rendering him unconscious.