Love Hina Fan Fiction ❯ Walking the Edge ❯ Charade ( Chapter 4 )

BIG FREAKING DISCLAIMER: I don't own Love Hina, only Kiera. But I wish I owned Love Hina… *sigh*

Anything in italics are thoughts. If I can get the italics to work… Or if they're like this: `thought' and mentioned as a thought. Most of the time.

Chapter 4 - Charade

They moved the rest of the luggage without further incident except for Keitaro falling down the stairs again. And again. And again. But it lost its novelty after the second time and was just annoying.

They were both lying on the floor of the bare room, looking at the ceiling. Kiera's room was on the far side of the wing with Naru and a full bathroom just up the hall. The room was large and sparsely furnished with a desk, partition, and one lone rolled-up futon behind the partition. Two sets of hanging florescent lights and a medium-sized balcony were the only other features of the roughly L-shaped room. All in all, it was very empty.

"Are you hungry?"

Kiera looked at Keitaro. "What?"

"Well, it's my duty to make sure all my tenants are cared for," he puffed himself up. "And you weren't here for dinner anyway."

"Nah, I'm alright. Besides, what happened to the papers I needed to fill out?"

"Oh, that's right. Be right back." He got up and walked out of the room.

Kiera tucked her hands under her head and closed her eyes. Down the hall, a faint scream was heard and another crash. Her mind began to drift into the wonderful world of unconsciousness when Keitaro reappeared. She cracked an eye open at his entrance. "What are you doing?"

Keitaro sat on the floor, looking at her. "Do you mind if I ask you a question before you fill this out?" The sheaf of documents sat forgotten in his hands.

"Sure."

"What was that sound earlier? The metallic one."

Kiera's eyes darkened. "Nothing important, just some of my things." Her tone implied nothing else was to be discussed about it.

He nodded. `She's been the only girl to defend me for a while. In fact, the only girl ever. Better not push it.' He thought to himself. "Here." He handed her the sheaf of papers. "I'll get them tomorrow. Night." He nearly tripped again on the way out.

She examined each form and quickly filled them out. They asked for nothing more than basic information and emergency contacts. She dropped them on the desk and stretched out a little bit. `Ahh, some alone time.' She thought.

Kiera was glad she didn't have to keep up the charade of normal any longer. She pulled her black duffel over, unzipped it, and pulled out a black-sheathed straight edge katana. She laid that to the side and drew out a silver-folding knife. She flicked it open and stared at the edge for a moment then pressed the knife to her wrist and drew it slowly across the skin. She hissed at the sudden pain and reveled in it. Blood welled up slowly and began to run down her arm.

Low laughter cut through the silence as she traced the wound with her tongue and licked up the blood. She drew back and watched as the cut healed itself with an unbelievable, supernatural speed. Soon nothing was left but a shiny pink scar, another one for her `collection'.

She slowly put every thing back into her bag and kicked it aside. Unrolling the futon, she took off her trench coat and laid it on the floor beside her. Too tired to change, she slipped under the covers and after a few moments of turning around, fell asleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Next Friday, late afternoon. . .

Motoko climbed the stairs up to the roof to practice and paused in the middle of the final stairway. Slow, deep breathing could be heard and the sound of something cutting through the air. She climbed up a few more steps and peered over the landing.

Their new tenant was there, practicing sword maneuvers with a Westernized katana, all straight edged with a tapered tip. The young American was dressed in set of loose, black warm up pants, sneakers, and a sleeveless black t-shirt, mangled for the sake of practicing in and comfortability. Her long, black hair was braided back again. The shirt was torn enough to show glimpses of a smooth, tanned stomach.

Motoko suddenly found herself frozen in place, almost enraptured with the sight. Her mouth dry, her eyes followed every movement made by the American. `Hold on. Why am I looking at her? Is this what Kitsune meant by checking someone out? And why is she so appealing? No, she is not appealing. She is a woman, this is wrong on so many levels!' She blushed and shook her head to clear it of unclean thoughts.

"I can hear you breathing you know, you can come out now."

Motoko stiffened. Her eyes unwillingly slid back to Kiera. She was standing there, smirking, the setting sun behind her. The katana was sheathed and propped up against her shoulder. Motoko climbed the rest of the steps and came face to face with her.

Kiera grinned. Motoko's eyes widened when she noticed Kiera had almost wolf amber eyes and slightly elongated and sharp looking canines. Kiera twitched and she glanced off into the distance. When she turned back, her eyes were once again dark but her eyeteeth were still slightly pointed.

She blinked. "Motoko," She nodded, her expression betraying slight surprise. "I never suspected you for the spying type."

"I wasn't spying," Motoko shot back quickly, forgetting the detail of Kiera's eyes and teeth just as fast. "I just came up here to practice and found you up here." `Why am I being so mean?'

"Whoa, hold off there. I was just kidding around." Kiera held her hands up in front of her. "I'll go if you want." Her shirt fluttered in the slight breeze, distracting the other for a split second. She half-turned to leave.

Motoko frowned. "No, don't go just yet." She grabbed Kiera's wrist. "I want to know how long have you been practicing up here without me noticing." She forced her eyes not to look at the shirt.

"Uh, since I started staying here. It wasn't all that difficult because I get back before you. Then I practice `til I hear you get in. I must of lost track of time today." Kiera pulled out a watch from her pocket. "Or because you came back early." She looked down at the hand. "Um, can you let go now?"

The samurai released the other quickly. "Well, then... I-I challenge you to a duel!"

"What the hell for?!"

"Because!"

Kiera stared at Motoko. `Hey, she's kinda cute when annoyed. Yaahh, what the hell am I thinking?!' She shook her head violently. "You can't make me!" `Oh my god, how much more immature can I be? Might as well just stick out my tongue too.'

"Oh, yes I can!"

"You and what army?!"

Both of them glared at each other then Kiera burst into laughter. "We sound like children." She smiled.

"I still want a duel." Motoko said emotionlessly.

Kiera exhaled noisily. "Fine. I'll see you at dusk then." She hurried downstairs, leaving Motoko all by herself.

She sighed and looked up at the sky. Now until dusk gave her at least an hour for practice.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*

A/N: Hey, sorry about the lack of update last week. Too much school work. And thanks to my reviewers. You love me, you really love me! Either that or you're just too nice to tell me off. Anyway, I did just a little grammer editing in chapters 1-3. Nothing big, just better proofreading.

So yeah, tell me whatcha think. Oh, for a little poll here: should Motoko stay more traditional and try to talk herself out of feeling anything, or should she be more open minded about checking out Kiera? I'm kinda leaning on the former, but it would be nice to get other opinions. And Kiera, should there be any suspicious things happening? Should I have saved the supernatural stuff for later? Should I shut up now?

-MindKore