Love Hina Fan Fiction ❯ Walking the Edge ❯ Naked Encounters ( Chapter 8 )

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 8 - Naked Encounters

Steam. In a hot spring or jacuzzi at night, it exists right above the hot water but under the cold night air, floating around with no purpose. Which is why it is cool to take hot baths at night.

Kiera sat in the hot springs, slight breezes blowing an unusual amount of steam around, obscuring her vision half the time. Since she figured no one else was going to walk in, she sat in there, naked. Her towel was bunched up on the rocks behind her, serving as padding for her head while she leaned back, her long, unbraided hair fanning out behind her. The water only came up to right above her chest and she had her back to the door. "Oh man, this is the life," she sighed as she closed her eyes, relaxing comfortably in the hot waters.

Motoko slid the door open and stepped inside. Steam whirled around her as she slid the door closed and made her way quietly into the water. Thinking she was the only one in there, she decided to remove the towel she had wrapped around her body and carried it neatly in her arms. `Ahhh, this is heavenly after a long night of studying.' She thought as she waded through the waters slowly. Bumping into something, she stopped, and all of a sudden, the steam rolled away, revealing what she bumped into.

"Kiera?!" She stared down at the younger dark haired girl sitting in the water, naked and apparently not noticing or caring Motoko was there. She simply stood there in complete surprise, not moving at all.

Yawning, she cracked an eye open and looked up. "Oh, hey Motoko." She mumbled and closed the eye again, drifting off to whatever it was she was thinking about. Then she did a double take, both eyes popping open as she sat up straight. "Motoko?! What the hell are you doing in here?!" She mentally blanked for a moment when she saw that the swordswoman was also nude.

"I could ask you the same thing!" She frantically tried to cover herself up with her hands, dropping her towel into the water. She sank into the water, hoping it would conceal her own nakedness while her mind couldn't help but noticing how attractive the other girl's body was.

"Well, what the fuck does it look like? I was trying to relax when you screamed at me!" She snapped angrily. A naked Motoko so close to her didn't help her hormonal imbalance that the change brought out.

Motoko blushed and glared at her, angry with herself for her own body's reaction to the American.

She returned the glare with a mocking parody of a grin, baring her teeth and growling almost inaudibly, deep in her throat.

"Just so you know, you two are rather loud."

The pair turned to see a naked Angela in the doorway. A dark blue towel was draped across her shoulders, hanging down and framing her breasts perfectly, immediately grabbed their attention. Steam swirled around her, both outlining and obscuring her slim form, making it more of a tantalizing view. "And I thought you said you didn't scream." She chided, smirking.

The dark-haired women blushed brightly, neither noticing they were staring. Kiera's jaw opened and closed before she said anything. "I thought you were asleep!"

"I was trying to sleep, but then I heard screaming coming from down here." She shrugged. "I was curious."

She swallowed hard, trying to put moisture back into her dry throat. "Then why are you naked?"

The redhead rolled her eyes at her American friend. "Well, am I supposed to bathe with my clothes on? Besides, you're nude as well." She flicked a finger in Motoko's direction. "And so is she." She took a step into the water.

In a blink, Kiera's eyes shifted to the water line as the liquid slid up Angela's legs. Water glided up past her calves, knees, and finally her thighs in what seemed like slow motion. `Thank gods that women don't have visible. . . whoa, let's not go there!'

The redhead smiled to herself as she watched the pair of women stare at her legs. She kept her movements deliberately slow, knowing exactly the kind of effect she had. "Does anyone else think it's a little cold?" She asked, carefully hiding a smile.

The others looked up at her, eyes widening. Their blushes returned in the time it takes to blink, even darker than before. Motoko sank deeper into the water and turned away, giving them her back, her face a fetching shade of red.

Kiera crossed her arms over her chest, blocking her indicators of sexual arousal, otherwise known as nipples, from view. `Spoke too soon.' She groaned to herself. "Ah, would ya look at the time?" She rose to her feet and tried to slip past her.

"Where are you going? Why, we have all night, and this hot spring to ourselves. Unless you rather leave me and Motoko here, all alone?" She had an iron grip on the American's arm, a sly smile on her face as she forcibly pulled Kiera back to join Motoko.

"Sit down." Reluctantly, Kiera obeyed, seeing as she couldn't get away. Angela sat right behind her on a convenient, flat rock, her hands resting lightly on the other girl's shoulders, almost looking like she was straddling her from behind.

"So, eh, Motoko. Ever have feelings for anyone before?" The dark-haired American asked, attempting to break the silence. `Why the hell did I ask that of all questions?!' She mentally berated herself.

She didn't turn around to face them. "Yes, once."

"Who?" She blurted out before she could stop herself. `There I go again.'

She chuckled humorlessly. "Whether you believe me or not, it was Urashima."

"You're fucking serious?" She winced inwardly.

She nodded, her back still to them. "Once. But not any longer." She half-turned to look at them, giving them her profile. She felt a little flare of jealously when she saw Angela holding on to the other. "I think I'll retire now. Good night." Her tone was short and clipped, concealing genuine anger as she rose to her feet. She left without saying another word.

"What was that all about?"

"You truly are a moron, you know that?"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you're so bloody blind." She slowly wrapped her arms around Kiera. "Never mind that now. We've got this whole hot spring to ourselves." She growled, almost too quiet to hear. Her breath drifted past her ear, drawing a shiver from the dark-haired one. Angela's hands began migrating from resting against her ribs to tracing the skin below her breasts.

She swallowed audibly and pulled away, grabbing her towel and getting to her feet. "It's late, and, uh, we've got class tomorrow. I'm turning in." Even with the towel in her hands, she made no move to cover up. "Coming?"

"Not quite, maybe if you were to help?" She looked up at her, a seductive smile touching her lips. "If you were a real friend, you wouldn't mind, would you?" She emerged from the water in what appeared to be slow motion again, water sheeting off her body.

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes or look in her direction, she kept them focused on the door. "I'm your friend, not a personal fuck toy." She glanced at her and nearly tripped over her own feet. She caught herself at the last moment before doing a faceplant into the water. "I meant to do that."

"Sure." She held out a hand and Kiera pulled her to her feet.

"I did."

Rolling her eyes, she wrapped the towel around herself. "Whatever you say."

"Yeah, whatever."

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

Inside Kiera's room…

"So, who gets the bed?"

The dark-haired American was dress in a loose white t-shirt and black shorts. Angela was in her nightshirt again, exposing an almost indecent amount of skin.

"It's a queen-sized bed, you damn Yank. There's plenty of room for the both of us." Sitting down near the edge of the bed, she patted the space next to her. "I just want to ask one thing: did you ever hear of colors other than black?" She gestured to the black sheets and comforter.

"What's wrong with black?" Kiera sighed at the question about her tastes in color. "I changed my mind. I think I'll sleep on the floor." She backed away slowly in the general direction of the closet.

"Nonsense, there's plenty of room, like I said: queen-sized. Besides, we've slept together before, so what's the problem?" She had snagged her arm in a vice grip again and pulled her down onto the bed.

She decided against fighting her. "Nothing, but how about we keep our hands to ourselves, ok? I'm exhausted." She rolled over to the right side of the bed, her alarm clock on the nightstand nearby.

"Fine, no touching. I got it." She pouted for a moment and leaned over Kiera to turn off the bedside lamp.

She stiffened when she felt part of Angela's anatomy brush past her cheek, and it wasn't her arm. "Night." She pulled the covers up.

"Good night."

The clouds were rolling away in some spots, faint moonlight streamed through the half-covered sliding glass doors that led to a small balcony. With her back to Angela, she watched motes of dust float along in the moonlight. Finally falling asleep, she didn't notice an arm slipping around her waist or the body pressed against her back.

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

Friday morning, Kiera's bed…

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Growling, she half-rolled over and stretched her arm out, slapping the alarm several times before hitting the snooze button, her eyes remaining determinedly closed.

"Turn that shit off." A voice grumbled.

As she was slowly waking up, she realized there was something warm pressed against her, another leg positioned in between her own. Blearily, she opened her eyes to find a mass of fiery red hair and a face two inches from her own. "Why the hell are you in my bed?"

"We slept together, don't you remember?" The emerald green eyes opened a crack as she peered at her.

Kiera's mind still wasn't processing things clearly. "Slept together?" Her right arm was underneath Angela's form, her hand was under her shirt, pressed against the warm skin of her back. Her left arm was hanging off the bed after bashing the alarm. She could feel a limb draped over her midsection.

"Yes, all we did was sleep, don't worry." The redhead yawned. Her arm slid off the dark one's stomach and rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?"

She glanced over at the illuminated green numbers on her alarm clock. "Six-seventeen."

The redhead groaned. "Is the sun even up yet? Why the bloody hell is your alarm set to ring at six `o' bloody-" Her complaint was cut off when a mouth had attached itself onto hers.

`Well, at least that stopped her bitching.' She smirked mentally when she felt Angela start to kiss her back. Slowly, she drew back, grinning as emerald colored eyes opened followed with a wry smile directed at her. "Awake now?"

"If everyone woke me up like that, I wouldn't mind mornings so much." She leaned forward planted a kiss on her collarbone. "In fact, I insist you use that technique more often." She continued to follow the path with nips and kisses. Her sensitive lips and tongue picked up a small, rough patch of skin just before the bone ended and dipped and started again on the left side. "What's this?" She examined the spot closely and saw a faint scar of a bite mark.

"A scar, what else does it look like?" Her body twitched slightly in protest of the loss of delicious sensation.

"Kinky, who gave it to you?"

"You."

She scooted backwards a little to get a clear look of her eyes. "Me? When?"

"Remember last August?" She chuckled evilly.

"You lie."

"I swear," she raised her left hand. "I'm not."

"How? Why don't I remember?"

"You were a little, how shall I put it, preoccupied at the time." She held up her fingers and wiggled them, grinning lasciviously.

"So I see how that would slip my mind," Not rising to the bait or blushing in the faintest, she leaned in, her sharp canines grazing the scar. "But even so, this isn't quite up to par for me. I mean, this scar is so light I almost missed it. I'm afraid I'll have to rectify it."

She scooted backwards herself when she realized the tables had neatly been turned on her and nearly fell out of the bed. "I'm good, there's no need." Scrambling out from under the sheets, her amber-rimmed eyes and ebon mane wild and flaring around her head, made her look like a unique cross between human and animal. "Um, I'll just go and, uh, bye!" She took off, her footsteps quickly and almost silently padding away.

The fiery haired beauty rolled onto her back and stretched out languidly while still lying on the bed, moving onto the warm spot Kiera had left behind. She yawned, looking catlike for a moment, and her eyelids fluttered shut, hiding her emerald orbs from view.

"Hey, get up." A voice said, accompanied by gentle shaking to her shoulder. "Come on, ya already got 10 more minutes of sleep than me. Get up."

"No." Her eyes remained firmly shut.

Kiera stared down at the red haired woman still on her bed. What she hadn't noticed earlier on her rush to get to the bathroom and out of the bed, was her friend's rumpled appearance.

Black sheets were twined around pale alabaster legs, providing a sharp contrast; the comforter was kicked off to the side, a corner being used as a pillow seeing as the original pillow was on the floor. The whole pale-skin-on-dark-sheets made her look like a fallen angel. Her fiery hair was an even darker, crimson color; her exposed flesh seemed an almost deathly white. The gray nightshirt she had worn to sleep had ridden up to right about where her breasts were, now showing off an indecent amount of skin and midnight blue panties.

`Thank whatever god for that.' She amended as she did a once over of what was on the bed. She smiled wickedly as she was struck with a sudden idea. "Fine, but you made me do this." Moving so she was above her on all fours, she traced a long, wet trail with her tongue up her bare abdomen.

She jerked, swinging her arm instinctively and knocking the dark haired girl off of the bed with a solid backhand. When she realized what she had done, she opened her eyes to look and jerked her shirt back down so it covered her correctly. "What the hell?"

"Fuck!" While still on the floor, she rubbed her back and muttered under her breath.

She slipped out of bed, careful to untangle the sheets from her so she wouldn't trip, then she tripped over Kiera. "Wha-!" Her hands hit the floor first, then the rest of her body, knocking the air out of her lungs.

"Ha ha."

"Sod off." She got to her feet and pulled her nightshirt down again so there wouldn't be any more accidental flashing. "Where's the bloody bathroom?" She snapped, her bad mood resurfacing.

"Down the hall, first door on your left."

Stopping only to grab her clothes, she stomped out of the room, muttering something about stupid Yanks.

Kiera ran her fingers through her slightly more tamed, dark mane. Only clad in black jeans and a black bra, she got up and started searching around her room for her knives.

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

Meanwhile, in Motoko's room…

Smoke wafted from the burning incense sticks on the altar. Motoko sat there in front of it, meditating and looking utterly serene at the moment. She had woken up at six `o' clock precisely and had begun meditating on her thoughts from last night after cleaning up her room again. There were light circles under her eyes that said she hadn't gotten a very restful sleep the night before.

`First things first. Now why do I feel that way every time I see her?' She tried to slow the tumult of thoughts that had prevented her from sleeping well the night before and send it in one direction. `I've only felt. . . like that before around Urashima and never any of the other girls.' Immediately, she was granted an old memory of seeing Keitaro running around, clad in only a towel, chasing after Su, who has run off with his boxers, sometime after he had returned from America with Seta. At the time, she had clubbed him senseless, screaming about perverts.

She felt her face burn when she remembered the incident and the secret thrill she had gotten out of seeing him shirtless. `Back then, my hormones were easier to deal with, even if it was a crush on that weakling Keitaro, at least he was male!' Suddenly, she was in the grip of another old memory, it was back when Kanako had first made her appearance. Urashima's little sister had impersonated Naru and flirted with her, along with. . . other things. At that time, she had covered up what she felt with righteous indignation, but could now recall what she felt keenly. `Maybe I have always been like this. . .'

From the part of her brain that had been conditioned since she was a child, she could feel disgust bubbling up like bile. Hesitatingly, she pushed that possibility away. `It's temporary.' She told herself. `Later, I'll find myself a good husband, get married, and have children.' Suddenly, she was aware of the sneer on her face, wrinkling her nose like she had smelled something foul. For some reason, the thought didn't sit so well with her. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself not to sneer and stood up. `Perhaps some morning exercises will help me sort things out and maybe a. . . talk with Kiera as well.'

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

And off to Shinobu's room…

Shinobu opened her eyes, still groggy, the world still seeming darkened and sleep-blurred. Her alarm clock sat on her dresser, buzzing impatiently, the luminous yellow numbers reading 6:15, the three-eyed symbol on it glowing and proclaiming it to be a Su manufactured product. The inventor of the item was still spooned around Shinobu, very much asleep.

Not wanting to move out of Su's grasp, she stretched out a hand, only to find herself barely touching the face of it while the buzzing volume increased ever so slightly. Sighing in defeat, she started to squirm out of her girlfriend's rather crushing embrace so she could turn it off. With a small rush of air, something alighted on top of the alarm, conveniently hitting the snooze button and stopped the buzzing for a few minutes. After rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she squinted at the thing on her alarm, barely making out something greenish in the dim light. "Tama-chan?"

"Myuh."

From behind her, Su began to stir, limbs twitching, the arms encircling Shinobu squeezed even tighter. "Mmm, turtle. . ." She mumbled, a thin line of drool escaped from the corner of her mouth.

"Auuu. . . Su, get up." The violet-haired girl gasped out as the air was slowly being crushed out of her lungs. "Can't. . . breathe. . ."

Immediately, she felt the arms' embrace around her slacken. "Morning, Shinobu." A pair of lips pressed against the back of her neck. "Would you believe I had the strangest dream?"

The girl in her arms started sucking in great lungfuls of air. "Good morning to you too." She replied as soon as she started breathing comfortably. "What was your dream about?" Wriggling around, she managed to turn all the way around to face her.

"It was about turtles."

A rather large sweatdrop appeared on the back of Shinobu's head. "You don't say."

"Yeah, really weird too, like the kind I used to have when I was younger. I just caught Tama and was about to cook her. But she kept trying to get away." Su looked thoughtful for a moment. "I wonder what it means."

Another giant sweatdrop appeared, joining the other one. "I don't know, maybe you should go look it up?"

"I think I will!" She bounded out of bed, still buck-naked, her pajamas in a pile at the end of the bed.

"Auuu! Su, wait!" Her girlfriend hesitated in getting out of bed, being butt naked herself.

She paused, her hand on the door, ready to pull it open. "Yeah?"

"You're still naked." A blush rose to her cheeks as she wrapped the bed sheets around herself.

Looking down at herself, she was struck with a very lewd idea. "So I am." Nodding gravely, she approached the bed and Shinobu.

"So-some clothes?" Holding out the pjs in supplication, she gulped nervously. Su could be insatiable once she got started.

A rapacious smile in place, she tossed her blond hair over one shoulder with a shake of her head. "Maybe later." She stalked forward another step.

"Now Su. . ." She inched backwards toward the bed. When her calves bumped against the mattress, she stifled a scream and jumped. Slipping on a part of the trailing sheet, she fell back onto the bed. "Wait a second. . ." She propped herself up on her arms.

"Why?"

"I-I have to. . . to make breakfast!"

Instantly, Su snapped back to normal so fast it would make people think she might have a split personality. "Okay! I'll go look up stuff about my dream!" With the speed a cheetah would envy, she dashed out the room, almost forgetting to open the door in her rush.

"Su! Clothes!"

She reappeared in the doorway. "Aww, don't want Keitaro to see what he missed out on?" The blond asked in a singsong voice. Then she started striking seductive poses.

Shinobu stared, her eyes wide as if her brain was storing it all on memory. In a few more seconds, she'd start having a nosebleed like Keitaro, if she wasn't already that is. She balled up the pajamas and threw them, hitting her girlfriend square in the face.

"SU!!"

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

And moving on. . . Naru's room. . .

Naru was slumped over her kotatsu, her face pressed to a pile of papers, red pen still clutched in her hand. She had been up late grading tests, being a part-time tutor and substitute teacher was hard, at least for her. In fact, papers of all kinds were littered all over the tabletop and most were unfortunately drooled on. The pen would've been making another large red splotch on an unfortunate Kenji Mekase's test if it hadn't dried out hours ago.

Stirring from the uncomfortable position, her back screaming in pain, she leaned backwards slowly. Before slamming her pained back and head right into the unforgiving hardwood floor. "Owww. . ." Rubbing her head with one hand and her eyes with the other, she peered at the clock on the wall, barely able to make out the numbers before she realized her glasses were still glued to the table in a mixture of poor test grade papers and spit.

"Ewww," she made a face as she pried them off and cleaned them with her slept-in sweater. Finally satisfied, she put them on and tried looking at the clock again. This time she fared better, she could clearly see the glowing green numbers that read 6:25. Leaning back, she tried to stretch out her cramped muscles, to no avail unfortunately. "Ooh, that hurts." Staggering around the room, she grabbed some clean clothes and bathing things and headed for the hot spring downstairs to soothe her aching back.

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

Proceeding on. . . Kitsune's room. . .

The fox-eyed woman was crashed out on her couch, clothed in only a tight, gray tee and black panties. A large, red blanket was piled alongside the couch and a half-empty bottle of sake rested against it, her right hand still wrapped around the neck. In her left hand rested a cordless phone. The lesson of the evening she learned was that aimless plotting, alcohol, and searching for phone numbers don't mix well.

In the most part, it left her half-drunk with the most absurd ideas someone can use to help two people realize they should become a couple. Like, calling one of said persons demented and overly dramatic older sister. Luckily, she had gotten far off track from the topic, being drunk and all.

With a snore, she rolled over and off the couch, somehow not landing on the bottle of sake. "Oww, wha?" She looked around from her new position on the floor, dropping the phone and rubbing her eyes. From somewhere, a plastic cup fell and clipped her temple as she picked up her head. Sitting up, she groped from the lamp switch somewhere on the side table while knocking various items off. She turned on the lamp, its swift, brilliant flare blinding her since she had her head right by it.

Wincing instinctively as the obscenely bright lights flooded her eyes, the hungover woman moaned and switched it back off. As she blinked away the sudden tears and glowy afterimage, she rose unsteadily to her feet. Rubbing her temples, the fox-eyed woman stumbled her way over to her dresser and closet. Digging around, she managed to find some clean clothes and undies. With a yawn, she lurched her way to the convenient and constant hot waters downstairs to cure her headache.

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

In the hot spring, Keitaro . . .

The manager was busy scrubbing the rocks in the hot springs since he didn't get a chance last night. Motoko had knocked him clean off of the property when he accidentally walked in on Su and Shinobu the previous evening.

Even in the early hours of the morning, steam was rolling off the water and Keitaro had already peeled off his damp shirt. Wearing only a pair of shorts, he continued with the cleaning. `I wonder if the girls have ever. . . done anything with each other in here.' He pondered as he poured more soap on the rocks. `Shinobu and Su last night were pretty suspicious.' The violet-haired girl and the other foreigner had been acting very odd when he walked in, both blushing and giggling profusely. `Su and Shinobu? I have got to get my mind out of the gutter!'

With his back to the door, he focused all his concentration on scrubbing the rocks with an almost-insane fervor. Suddenly, he froze as he heard muffled voices talking behind the closed entryway.

"Morning Kitsune, rough night?"

"Not really, just a bad headache." The broom slipped out of his hands and landed with a loud bang. `Crap!! It's Naru and Kitsune!' He thought frantically, eyes bugging out of his head. `She's gonna kill me!!'

"Hey, did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Snatching up the fallen broom and soap, he hurled it over the wall, nearly clipping himself on the head with the broomstick. `Hide, gotta hide!!' He ran in circles, arms flailing, and looking like the comic relief from a cheap cartoon. `Under the water!' He dove into the hot spring and hid behind some of the larger rocks to the side before he remembered what he had left on the floor.

`My shirt!!' Ducking under the water, the unlucky klutz hoped the steam would cover him up as he doggy-paddled underwater over to where he had dropped his shirt on the rocks. A shapely leg suddenly plunged into the water before him and he stopped short of swimming into it. `Crap!'

Naru squinted at the object on the nearby rock; it didn't look much like a cleaning rag or towel. Picking it up, she realized it was a shirt and too large for most of the girls at the dorm, which left only one conclusion: Keitaro had recently been in the hot spring. "Wait, Kitsune, put your towel back on! That pervert might be in here!"

"Owww, not so loud. What?" In response, the antenna-ed girl tossed the article of clothing in her friend's direction. "So what? It's one of Keitaro's shirt he - ohhh." Mischievous smile in place, she removed her towel and tossed it onto the rocks. "Come on Keitaro, come out, come out wherever you are!" She struck a couple of poses that would have made the male population of Japan die of blood loss.

"Kitsune! Put that towel back on!" The redheaded girl snatched up the towel and threw it in the fox girl's general direction.

`Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap!' Praying to whatever god kept him alive, the manager hoped the steam wouldn't clear up otherwise they'd see him right beneath the water, then he'd be in real trouble. Fortunately, that god was feeling kindly and pleasant today and the steam stayed in place. Too bad Keitaro was out of oxygen.

`Air, I need air!' He didn't dare risk swimming backwards in fear that whomever the leg belonged to would feel the water moving. Mentally, he started weighing the consequences in his mind: he could wait until he passed out from oxygen deprivation, his unconscious body floating to the surface, and then getting punched by Naru; or he could take his chances with now, get punched, and walk back immediately.

`There's always the off-chance she won't hit me at all,' A hopelessly optimistic part of his brain insisted. His mouth had already started make the denial, losing precious air bubbles as he tried to speak them. `Crap! I NEED AIR RIGHT NOW' His head broke the surface and he stumbled forward, latching onto something soft. And warm. And attached to Kitsune's chest. Sucking in deep gulps of air, he clung to Kitsune like he was a drowning man and she was a lifesaver.

Naru stared in complete shock at Keitaro's shirtless, wet form, hugging her best friend like she was afraid she would drop him back into the water. "You. . . YOU PERVERT!!!!" Pulling her fist back, she sent it crashing into his face with more force than usual due to the jealousy she felt.

The poor and chronically unlucky manager soared through the air, heading in the vague direction of the sleeping town. With tears streaming down his cheeks, he prayed wherever he landed was softer than last time.

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

Hinata Tea House, Haruka's Bedroom . . .

The elder Urashima was still asleep on her futon, all tangled up with a fuzzy dark green blanket. The room itself was dark, quiet, and sparsely decorated. Suddenly, a cracking sound could be heard and something punched a hole through the roof above her, landing on her like a 20 lbs. bag of whatever was dropped from the top of the atmosphere. Her eyes bugged out of her head upon impact and she shoved the offending object off of her, taking in deep breaths of air. "What the hell?!"

In the dim lighting, she could make out that whatever the heck had landed on her had been a person, and only one person could end up going through a roof like that. "Keitaro?"

The shadowed form coughed as he rose to his knees, plaster dust coming off of him, and a vivid, bleeding red cut above his eyebrow. "Yes, Aunt Haruka?" He pulled off his glasses and squinted in her direction, the blood stinging his eyes before he wiped it away.

WHAM! The following backhand sent him headfirst into the wall. "Just Haruka," she said automatically.

"Owww. . ." A bandage had appeared on his head along with a comically large lump.

Now that the surprise had worn off, she felt sleep-deprived and glanced at the undamaged clock that had landed in the far corner. "Just what the hell are you doing at 6:30 in the morning Keitaro?" She asked, deadpan.

"Cleaning the hot spring."

"Well, now you have to patch up my roof too." The elder Urashima pointed to the large, body-shaped hole that had a view to the brightening sky.

"Um, you have a skylight now," he joked weakly, rising to his feet and swaying ever so slightly.

WHAM! The blow from her fan sent him back to the floor.

"This isn't the time." Producing a pack of cigarettes from out of nowhere, she lit one and inhaled the smoke, feeling just a little bit better.

With a sigh, the unfortunate male scooped up the broken pieces of the roof, the pointy bits poking into his bare chest as he stumbled out of the room.

The older woman shook her head as she watched his form make its way up the long staircase that led up to the former inn. "He's been spending too much time with Seta." Was muttered as she turned and began to clean up her room.

Mutsumi walked in, still in her nightgown and rubbing her eyes. "Oh my, what happened?"

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

Hinata House, Kiera's room. . .

The dark-haired American was lying in the middle of the floor in her room, shirtless with a knifepoint pressed against her abdomen. With the slow, deliberate motions of someone who has done this often, she traced patterns into her tanned skin, applying just enough pressure to break the skin and moving the knifepoint fast enough so that the flesh didn't heal around it. Few drops of blood stained the blade as she continued her nonsensical tracing. With it, she felt a type of release from her tensions leaving her body metaphorically as blood.

Motoko knocked once on the doorframe with the hilt of her sword, She was dressed in her usual gi and hakama with the legendary Hina blade in hand instead of her usual practice sword.

A sharp rap at the door made her jump, her eyes flicking open as she nearly stabbed herself. "Come in." Thinking it was only Angela, she didn't make any move to hide what she was doing. Her eyelids closed as she heard something clatter to the floor. A rush of wind and a struggleless scuffle followed, and she reopened her eyes to find her wrists pinned to the ground beside her head, knife tossed over to the side, and eye-to-eye with the swordswoman of Hinata straddling her hips.

"What are you doing?!" She demanded angrily, a note of concern threading its way into her voice.

"Er. . . It's not what you think. . ." Recovering quickly over her shock, the American tried to come up with an excuse while attempting to ignore the fact that she was pinned underneath Motoko. "Could you come back later? I might have an explanation for you then." She grinned weakly as she tried to wiggle her way out from underneath the pin.

Clamping down with more pressure around her wrists and hips, she leaned in close to Kiera's face. "I'd like to hear that reason now." She had that low, quiet tone of someone really pissed off about something.

Blinking several times, Kiera realized she hadn't heard a word Motoko said since all of her concentration was focused on not giving away that she enjoyed the position they were in immensely. She opened her mouth to answer just as the door slid open silently once more.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

Both heads swiveled to face the new speaker. Standing there was Angela, wrapped up in only a blue towel, her dark red locks wet and clinging to her skin. She dropped the bundle of clothing she had under her arm and stared at them expectantly. The pair had frozen in the positions they were in, staring in the Brit's direction.

"This isn't what it looks like!"

"She started this, not me!" Both pairs of eyes flicked back to each other, then back to the redhead, then back to each other. The samurai leapt off with a speed that even a cheetah couldn't match. "I should be go- Wait, what are you still doing here anyway?"

"Who, me?"

"That should be obvious." Motoko snapped, her mood going from embarrassed to pissed again in the time it takes for a formula one racer to move on the track.

She strolled into the room and over to Kiera, who was sitting up, and trailed her fingers across the back of the American's neck. "I slept with Kiera here." She said as if she was stating a simple matter of fact, although the smug grin on her face didn't help the situation.

"Eh heh, she's just kidding around, aren't you?" The last part was punctuated with a nudge against her leg.

"What am I kidding around about? We did share the same bed last night, did we not?" The smile on the redhead's face implied other things. The bed-related activities sort of thing.

"Well, I think that's enough for this morning!" Kiera had risen to her feet while the other two had locked eyes and were in a staring contest with each other. "Um, Motoko, can we finish this discussion later, please?" She asked as she stepped in between them, and slowly ushered the samurai girl out of the room. "Please." The swordswoman conceded with a simple nod of her head while continuing to glare at the other. Turning sharply on her heel, she walked out the open door, only stooping for a moment to pick up her fallen weapon before walking out.

She waited till the footsteps retreated down the hall before rounding on the still-towel clad figure. "Why do you keep doing that?" Hastily, she pulled on a shirt that read: Evil is good. and had a little guy in a devil suit with a blood-red halo over his head, holding a pitchfork.

"Doing what?" The Brit managed to pull off the innocent look without a hitch, even while covered with only a towel.

"Just, forget it. Hurry up and get dressed too, I'm taking you out of here for breakfast." She rummaged around and pulled out a leather jacket from off the hanger inside her closet and slipped that on. "Hey, what are you doing? You can't wear my clothes!"

Angela looked up from her search. In one hand, she had a long denim skirt and one of the few white t-shirts Kiera owned. "My clothes are dirty and I just took a shower." She said petulantly, sticking out her lower lip in a mock frown. She just dropped the towel and pulled on the top, not caring or bothering with a bra. Luckily, the girl was panty-clad, so there wasn't more unnecessary flashing as she put on the skirt.

A resounding scream of "PERVERT!" along with the following crash of something expensive breaking echoed throughout the aged building.

Kiera closed her eyes momentarily, an almost pained/exasperated expression was writ upon her features for a second. "How does he manage to do that every day?" she muttered under her breath.

"Pardon me?"

"Never mind. Are you ready to go?"

"Where's my coat?" She asked as she picked up her bag.

"Still hanging in the laundry room, now let's get it and go." Quickly pulling on a pair of socks and grabbing her bag, she motioned for the flame haired girl to move faster.

"What's the hurry? It's only 6:45; we have plenty of time."

"Yeah, but I would rather not deal with anyone else asking why you're still here." Seeing the devious look on her face, she also added, "Don't you have to pick up your books? And not to mention I'd love to see where you're living now."

The fiery Brit's face took on a panicked expression. "Oh my god, I forgot to call my cousin! She'll be worried out of her mind by now!" She grabbed Kiera's arm and pulled it in jerky motions. "Come on, come on! Will you hurry the bloody hell up?"

"What happened to `what's the hurry?'" She stuck her tongue out as she pulled her hair into a braid.

"Quiet you!"

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

A few hours later, around 1 PM. . .

One unbelievable tired American was climbing up the long staircase to the Hinata House. The stresses of her day were pretty astonishing, and they weren't even over yet. First there was getting back to Tokyo, trains were delayed a few hours because of an accident on the tracks. Then, the pleasure of dealing with Angela's screechy and bitchy woman of a relation. She was only two years older than the both of them yet she treated them like children. `Grrr… And don't let me get started on that mooching loser boyfriend of hers…' She growled to herself as she opened the door.

The first greeting she got as she proceeded inside was silence, only one dark, long-haired figure sat with her back to the door. Kiera's eyes widened as she remembered what she swore to tell Motoko as soon as she was free. She backpedaled, keeping as quiet as possible.

"Hello Kiera." The samurai hadn't even turned around.

She froze on the spot. "Hey Motoko." Heaving a defeated sigh, she kicked off her shoes. "What are you doing back so earlier?"

"The Kendo club wasn't meeting today."

"I see. Well, I'm sure you've got more important things to do besides talking to me, so I'll just be going now." She tried to edge out of the closest exit of the room.

"Upstairs now."

"But-"

"Now," She set down the tea she was drinking and stood up, showing off that she was still dressed in street clothes. Specifically pale blue jeans and one of those stretchy, sleeveless, white t-shirts, the kind that are really tight around the chest.

Her shoulders slumped in acceptance. "Yes, ma'am."

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

Hinata House, Rooftop landing. . .

"Are you going to tell me what I saw this morning?"

"About that, I-" Motoko dropped into a fighting stance. "What are you doing?"

"Did you forget what day it is?"

A little warning alarm was going off in Kiera's head. "Um, no." She moved slowly into a defensive stance. "Look, this morning-"

She didn't get the chance to finish her sentence before Motoko launched into an attack.

"Shit! Will you-"

A backhand slipped through her defenses with little trouble and sent her staggering. "Don't swear."

Two quick punches followed a side kick and her comment.

She sidestepped the kick and ducked under the punches. One fist sailed into her opponent's midsection.

The other countered, twisting the avoid a direct blow and slammed her forearms onto the overextended body and exposed back of the other fighter.

She hit the floor, using her arms to absorb most of the force and rolled away as another kick was directed at her. She managed to scramble to her feet and caught a glancing blow to the face before dancing backwards and out of reach.

The pair circled around, both looking for gaps in the defenses. Kiera had an almost mad glint in her eyes as she stared at the other. Motoko's lips were curled up in a little smile at the corners of her mouth.

The dark-haired American charged forward, hoping to catch the Japanese warrior by surprise with a full-body tackle.

She saw it coming and neatly dodged the brash maneuver and sent a right hook out in interests of punching her in the stomach.

Her palms slammed onto the ground and she flipped over it, landing sloppily behind her opponent. She twisted around in time to catch a kick right to the gut. The blow sent her stumbling into the railing, knocking her back into it. An ominous cracking sound could be heard then the wooden rail shattered and fell, and would have taken Kiera with it if Motoko hadn't grabbed onto the front of her shirt. And threw her across the landing.

She landed hard, rolling a few times before stopping and rising into a crouch. She charged Motoko again, all grace and decorum forgotten for a second. She swung out wildly with her right fist, nailing her in the upper chest.

Her opponent spun with the force of the punch and dropped into a crouch, sweeping her right leg out, making contact with the other girl's calves and knocking her legs out from under her.

She went down hard, slamming her back and shoulders into the ground and leaving her breathless and panting for air. She motioned for the other to stop. "No more, no more." Rolling onto all fours, the American was helped to her feet by the samurai. The poor girl nearly stumbled again when she noticed that the other's shirt was soaked with sweat, and with it being a white tee, made it nearly transparent.

Motoko wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, smearing a small streak of blood along her jaw. "Now will you tell me what was this morning all about?" She asked, panting between words. Kiera's arm was still held by Motoko and she realized that every time Motoko took a breath, she could feel her nipples brush against her arm because of the way it was being held.

"Fine, fine, you win. It's kind of a pointless explanation though." She licked her lips and tried to concentrate on her question. "Long and pointless."

She shrugged then inclined her head in the other's direction. "Time isn't an issue."

"Alright, but remember, you wanted to know."

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

A/N: HEY! LOOK, I'M FINALLY DONE!! THERE IS A GOD, SOMEWHERE, LAUGHING AT ME. . . *manical laughter* Aren't you happy now? Yes, I have finished up to the last one manga-wise, number 14, and yes I do notice some inconsistencies and huge, gaping holes. Oh well, can't win `em all. Basically, this would count as an AU past book 9 or 10. After I just start taking and using some parts of the others and not following with the rest.

Although, after all this there is one thing I cannot stand. No, it's not the lesbian advances, insults, or flames. It's the accusation that this, THIS is a cheap, MARY SUE!!! WHY I- (falls over)

Angela: (holding a bat) So this is where you ran off to. (nudges with foot) Anyway, what she means is that she, in no way, used herself as a base. Not on purpose anyway. Who knows what might have slipped in unconsciously.

Kiera: (now tied up in chair) I resent that. Now will you let me go?

Angela: (pulls out a whip) No.

Kiera: Eep.

MindKore: (groans)

Angela: (steps on MindKore) Don't move. I'm not pleased that you ran off before I was done with you.

MindKore: (groggy) Wha?

Angela: (grinning menacingly) You've both been bad, bad girls.

Kiera: (breaks free of ropes) Shit! (runs away)

Angela: Tsk, tsk. Didn't you learn? (snaps whip and catches Kiera)

MindKore: (blinks) O.o

(fade to black)

Kiera: (yelps) Hey, wait! Where are you gonna put that??!!

MindKore: Holy. . . Is that even possible??

More A/N: I want reviews. Review! I'm like, dying here!! Really!! So, I want up to a total of 20 reviews, from different people please! Otherwise, considerate a warning that I plan to take my sweet ass time on the next chapter! Thanks for reading this, even if you don't review. And I'm still taking suggestions for Truth and Dare, so email, bark, use a obscure form of morse code if you have to, just get them in please! Ok, I'm done railing on you now.

-MindKore