Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Love Hina Fan Fiction ❯ Mortal Kombat: Death Blooms, So Does Love ❯ Chapter three: Cold Spirit or How Keitaro Failed A Prep Exam ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

A Ranma 1/2, Love Hina and Mortal Kombat Crossover

By Dmitri 'Ranshin' Antonov

Mortal Kombat: Death Blooms, So Does Love

Chapter three: Cold Spirit or How Keitaro Failed A Prep Exam

--------------------

Total silence covered the room of the two ninjas as they slept. The only sounds
audible were the soft snores that exited their mouths.

Now, generally people from the Urashima family were not heavy sleepers, but
Keitaro was an exception. The guy slept as if the sandman always gave him a
triple dose.

Ranma, with his Saotome blood, could sleep through a nuclear war. He only woke
up when woken up, or when he absolutely needed to. Otherwise, he slept like a
rock.

So there were two Lin-Kuei ninjas, sleeping soundly over a table. Books and
writing utensils were splattered all over the place. The way that they slept in
didn't really look comfortable, but they didn't seem to mind.

As said above, these two are very hard to wake up. But besides the mentioned
waking method, there is one other. Food.

The smell of a home cooked meal was exactly what was needed to bring Ranma and
Keitaro to the waking world. It came with a few groans and protests, but
eventually both boys had enough self-awareness to stand up and stretch a bit.

As soon as they finished getting the kinks out of their necks, they quickly
exited the room. It took them precisely 3.67 seconds to get to the living room.

What they saw when they got there was every tenant in the house sitting at a big

table, eating a breakfast that looked like one you would have at a five star
hotel.

They quickly took a seat at the table and prepared to dig in, when they were
interrupted by hands covering their mouths.

"Hey now, you're not supposed to eat yet. You boys have your care taking duties
to perform." Said the owner of the hands, one Mitsune Konno, while she grinned
like fox, true to her nickname.

Keitaro and Ranma were about to protest before seeing the weird look on
Mitsune's face. It was a combination of mischief, thoughtfulness and curiosity.
With these three things combined she had a look that said that she'd make their
lives a living hell if they didn't obey. And she'd have fun doing it.

So without a second thought the two Lin-Kuei ninjas stood up, ready to face all
challenges that came with the job of being caretakers of a girls' dormitory.

5 minutes later...

When Ranma and Keitaro had thought they would face any challenge, they didn't
really expect this.

The two martial-artists were currently at the Inn hot springs, wearing normal
clothes that you would wear around the house, with a few attachments.

They had on a pair of rubber gloves, strange looking bandannas, and a mop in
hand, each.

As they stood there, sweat drops glistening on the back of their heads, their
attention was turned to the other tenants of the house.

Mitsune was standing in front of them with a huge smirk on her face, trying not
to burst out in laughter, and barely succeeding.

Beside her stood Motoko, nodding her head slowly, as if in approval. Behind her
was Suu, a huge grin adorning face as always.

And way behind them all stood Naru, a sweat drop on her head and an
expressionless look on her face. Though you could tell that she felt the whole
situation rather strange.

"You aren't really suggesting that we clean the entire place by our selves do
you?" Finally asked Ranma, sounding really ticked off at the moment.

Keitaro stood behind him, the same miffed look adorning his face. Although, not
nearly as intense as Ranma's.

Motoko shrugged her shoulders as she spoke up. "Isn't it what you're supposed to

do?" She asked with an indifferent look, as if she didn't really care.

"Cleaning up is one of the duties of a caretaker." Added Suu helpfully, only
adding to Ranma's annoyance.

"Besides, you'll have an easier time since it's the two of you." Came from a
grinning Mitsune. "Or were you expecting something else?" She asked as she came
closer to Ranma and purposely stuck out her chest.

"Of course not!" Came the instant denial from Ranma, it was all reutine really.
He was accused of something perverted, and quickly denied it. All in a days
work.

Beside Ranma, his cousin let off a sigh. "C'mon Ran. Let's just do this before
they become angry." Keitaro shuddered slightly at the thought. Having a girl
angry with him was a bad thing.

Ranma turned to look at his cousin, and saw the worried look across his face.
Quickly understanding that they should just get it over with, he nodded his
agreement.

Before anyone could say anything else, both martial artists were running around
the entire hot springs area, their mops erasing any sign of dirt or dust.

It took them only ten minutes to completely eradicate anything that could be
filed as filthy. This really surprised the girls, but what surprised them even
more was that the two boys did not show any sign of fatigue. Not even a drop of
sweat.

Motoko mentally chided herself. *After seeing them almost beating each other to
death, you're surprised by this? You need to train more.*

The two boys in question were currently taking off the rubber gloves on their
hands, chatting slightly while they were at it.

"That took way too long. We could've finished it in a minute if we wanted."
Ranma was slightly miffed at having to clean for a longer time than he wanted.
But it was necessary that they try to hide their powers.

"We'll go a little bit faster next time okay?" Asked Keitaro with a look that
said. 'Deal with it.'

He wasn't really all that happy about taking a long time either. He needed to
study!

Ranma just shrugged. Quickly replacing his miffed look with a hopeful one, he
asked Keitaro a question. "What're we gonna do now?" His stomach growled loudly,

instantly revealing what he had in mind.

Keitaro had a hard time holding in a chuckle, but barely managed it for the fear

of Ranma's wrath. So he just playfully answered his cousin's question. "Let's go

out to eat. I need to buy a book anyway."

Ranma instantly smiled at hearing what was a definite 'yes' to his stomach's
request.

As the two boys were leaving the hot springs area, they left the girls behind,
giving them enough time to make another plot to throw them out.

Unfortunately, they didn't have much luck. Motoko instantly went off to
practice. Naru went to study some more, she didn't really care if Ranma and
Keitaro stayed or left. Shinobu and Suu weren't part of this from the start, and

Mitsune couldn't come up with anything on her own.

So there would be no more attempts to get rid of Keitaro or Ranma for the
moment, that is. With their luck, things could instantly change.

--------------------

The two male Urashimas were currently sitting at a small ramen stand, stuffing
their faces with noodles.

Even though Keitaro never liked Ranma's habit of eating, he had to admit that it

was quite useful sometimes.

Like when you were in a hurry.

The only thing he wanted to do right now was finish his ramen, then go home and
study.

Unfortunately with someone like Ranma around that would be easier said than
done.

*Now just how the heck am I going to get him to study? We both totally suck at
it...*

Ranma was completely ignoring the world around him as he stuffed more ramen down

his throat.

He knew that Keitaro would try to make him study after this, and he completely
dreaded it.

*Why can't Kei see that we totally suck at studying? It's a family trait.*
Of course, normal people did not consider being bad at academics a trait.
And neither did Keitaro, who sometimes liked to think of himself as
'semi-normal'.

Suddenly Keitaro got a brilliant idea, he didn't know why he didn't think of
this earlier!

*I'm such a dope! If we can't study by ourselves we'll get help.*
Ranma, who was almost finished with his food, looked to side at his cousin. And
what he saw didn't please him one bit. Keitaro had that 'Am I a genius or what?'

look on his face. This look usually meant a load of trouble for Ranma.

Ranma wanted to bang his head on the table when he heard Keitaro's idea. "Ranma!

We're going to prom school!"

But he avoided doing so as he didn't want to spill his ramen. *Wonderful.* He
though sarcastically.

*I just know this is gonna kick me in the head some day...*

--------------------

*I just knew this was gonna kick me in the head some day* Ranma said as he stood

in front of a wall with his cousin seven days later. On the wall was a long
paper with a huge list of names with numbers to the side.

As you've probably guessed, this was a test result sheet. Ranma grimaced as he
saw his name near the bottom.

Out of the 159 students that had taken the preparation exam, he was had came in
hundred thirty-fourth.

As he looked at his cousin he sighed at the look he had. Keitaro just stood
there, like a zombie.

His glasses were fogged up, his shoulders slumped, and he looked extremely pale.
Keitaro had gotten hundred twenty-seventh place. It was seven places higher than

Ranma, but their test scores only differed by 4 points.

Ranma once again let out a sigh. Keitaro's dream of getting into Tokyo U was
currently very far away.

If they didn't fix their test results soon, they would fail the entrance exams,
big time.

Now what would cheer Keitaro up? Ranma desperatley searched his weakling of a
brain for an answer to his cousins' current problem.

*Ranma: A fight?*
*Brain: No, you'd beat him to the ground in five seconds in his current
condition.*
*Ranma: A nap?*
*Brain: We got enough sleep tonight.*
*Ranma: Some food maybe?*
*Brain: That's Stomach's idea of fixing every problem in the world.*
*Ranma: Then what the heck am I gonna do?!*
*Brain: Think of something!*
*Ranma: You're my brain! You're the one who's supposed to think!*
*Brain: Then I guess I'm not a very good brain, am I?*

*Damn, mindless, stupid brain!* Ranma screamed in his head.
*Brain: I heard that!*
*Ranma: Shut up!*

Okay, this was getting a little bit out of hand. He didn't have time to argue
with his brain.

He had to cheer up his cousin. Now only if his stupid brain would work
properly...

Ranma was so engrossed in thinking that he didn't notice a person sneaking up
behind him.

It took every bit of control he had to keep from screaming like a little girl
when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Whoa!" He gave a small shout, looking behind him.

There stood a girl, about his height and age. She had her brown hair in twin
long pigtails.

She had huge circled glasses on her head, which partially hid her eyes, and also

made her look very 'nerdy'.

She wore rather strange casual clothes: A pink sweatshirt that had SALEM labled
on the front, and a white miniskirt, which did not fit with the shirt at all.

All in all, it took Ranma only 5 seconds to recognize the person in front of
him.

"Hey Naru, whatcha doing here?"

Naru herself was a bit taken aback that the person in front of her proved to be
her fellow roommate.

Ranma and Keitaro seemed to have disappeared exactly a week ago. They had left
notes on their room door, but they hadn't shown themselves for seven days.

"The question is, what are 'you' doing here?" She asked him as soon as her
thoughts were brought together.

Ranma looked slightly puzzled at her question. But then he gave a small smile
and answered.

"Kei wanted to study more. So what better place to so than a school?" Ranma
hated studying.

Hell, the only type of books he read were related to martial arts. But he knew
that he needed to study to get somewhere. *The stronger the mind becomes, the
stronger the body can become. As master Sub-Zero always said.*

Naru was slightly miffed that Ranma seemed to ignore her all of a sudden, but
she cooled down a little when she saw the thoughtful look on the martial artists

face. *I wonder what's he's thinking about?*

Looking to the side, she seemed to finally notice the person standing next to
her.

"Keitaro?" She quietly asked out loud, slightly surprised, and a little
embarrassed. *I didn't even notice him.*

Then she saw how pale and sick he looked, so she decided to tap him on the
shoulder to get his attention.

The forgotten pyromaniac just stood there, not noticing Ranma, not noticing
Naru, not noticing the gentle touches he felt on his shoulder. Her just stood
there, staring at the results sheet, staring at his name.

*Keitaro Urashima... 127... 97 points out of 500... This sucks... Things can't
get worse than this.*

Wrong. Keitaros' lack of reaction was making Naru lose her patience, so she
decided to go straight to what seemed like the source of the problem; the result

sheet.

What followed could almost be called a comical moment. Naru took a quick scan of

the result sheet, searching for Keitaro's name. Keitaro just kept on staring at
the sheet, white as a sheet.

And Ranma was still remembering lesson that he was taught in the Lin-Kuei
school.

When he finally got enough of memories, Ranma diverted his attention to his
right. What he saw made him cringe, there stood Keitaro, still paler than snow,
and Naru, looking over the result sheet on the wall.

He knew exactly what was going to happen when Naru saw their names on the
bottom. As he had read the sheet he saw Naru's name on the top, which made this
situation very, very bad.

But as soon as Ranma decided to stop the incoming doom that was going to happen,

he saw Naru flinch, then she saw her mouth drop to the floor, then she saw her
turning red. What happened next was not pretty, nor was it very quiet.

"HOW THE HECK ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO GET INTO TOKYO UNIVERSITY WITH THESE SCORES?!
ARE YOU STUPID OR SOMETHING?!"

Red alert! Red alert! Naru Narusegawa has gone into fury mode! All peeping toms
and potential perverts beware!

Naru was like an untamed Rottweiler as she brought vocal chaos on Keitaro. Ranma

could only stand nearby and hope for a miracle. Keitaro himself however, seemed
completely oblivious to the world around him.

After a minute or so, Naru finally cooled down and seemed content with glaring
daggers at the boy.

And at exactly that time, Keitaro decided to wake up from the waking sleep that
he was so ingrossed in.

As he noticed Naru, he voiced his own opinion on the matter.
"Did you say something?"

One sentence, two faces in the ground, and one very confused and disappointed
boy.

While Keitaro was in his void, he couldn't hear or feel a thing. Therefore
thanks to his utter confusion, two people would have some very nasty bumps on
their heads in the morning.

--------------------

Keitaro let out a sad sigh as he held onto the railing in the train he was in.
The cold steel felt like cotton in his hand, cold like his spirit currently was.

He stared at the metal bar he was holding onto, he could feel the small scrapes
on it, and he could tell that it was showing signs of rust.

*I could turn this thing to ash in under five seconds. But I couldn't pass one
stupid exam.*

And exam that meant a lot to him. He had promised... He didn't remember who he
had promised, but he knew that no matter what, he wasn't backing down from this.

*If Ranma knew that I was even 'thinking' of giving up he'd put me through hell.

And what would master Sub-Zero do? Brrr...* He shuddered at the last thought. At

the Lin-Kuei academy he was taught to fear nothing, and if he ever pushed aside
that lesson, he'd be considered a coward, and probably disbanded.

At that thought, he sighed even more. *Man is life gloomy...* As soon as that
thought entered hismind, Keitaro lightly slapped himself. *Gloomy?! What the
hell am I thinking?! Life is great!

So what if I failed one prep exam? I'll do better on the next one!* Keitaro's
quickest emotional recovery yet! Keep it up!

"What are you slapping yourself for?" Was what snapped Keitaro out of his little

'Make myself feel better until I fail again' session. Said boy took a quick peek

at the person in front of him. He had entered the train with the person, he just

kind of forgot said person stood right in front of him.

"Nothing Miss Narusegawa. Just thought a bug bit me." He knew it was a lame
excuse, but he was currently not in the mood to think up a better one.

Naru just shrugged at his excuse. She knew that it was probably a lie, but what
ever problem Keitaro had was his own business. She herself was having a slight
problem, which was staying awake. *Maybe that late night

kram session wasn't such a good idea.* She thought with a tired sigh.
Before she knew it, she quickly and efficiently dozed off. Her head softly
landed on Keitaro's chest, which made him flinch a little bit. He was about to
ask her if she was all right when she lifted her head up and looked at him with
a small apologetic look.

"Sorry about that. I didn't get any sleep last night." She had bags under her
eyes, which were demanding that they were closed. She looked like she hadn't
gotten any sleep in weeks.

*I wonder what she's been doing to keep herself up all night long.* Thought
Keitaro to himself as he looked at the girl in front of him. *She's really cute
when you see her up close.* Was of course his quick hormonal afterthought. He
didn't have a girlfriend after all. And of course, like all boys his age, he
wouldn't at all mind having one.

These thoughts were instantly knocked out of his head when he felt Naru push
against him all of a sudden.

Instinctually he took a step back, or at least tried to. He gave a small yelp of

surprise when his back hit the wall of the train.

He then felt a body collide against his own. This of course was Naru, her
earlier fatugue completely forgotten.

"Hey! Don't get so close to me!" She loudly whispered at him. She was obviously,

not liking this situation.

"It's not me! It's too damn crowdy in here!" He whispered back in a shrill
voice. *You're the one that's getting closer to me! Dammit, how do I get into
these situations.* Yep, the old Urashima luck was doing the what it did so well.

Get the men of the family in deep shit.

This of course meant that it got even more crowded in the train. Which also
meant that Naru was pressed even harder against Keitaro. Which of course meant
that she got even more, angry and Keitaro was in even deeper shit.

Keitaro of course knew that he was in it deep, shit that is. But as soon as he
felt Naru's breasts touch chest, his thoughts changed a little. You know that
whenever a male sees something sexy, his body 'reacts' in a certain way.

This didn't go unnoticed by Naru when she felt something poking her in the hip.
Her anger was forgotten as she tried to figure out what it was. Then her
memories went back to the Anatomy and Sex Ed classes she had back in junior
high. And after a quick moment two plus two made four.

"What the hell are you thinking about you perverted sicko?!" She instantly
whispered at him. A whisper, which sounded more like a shout.

"I can't help it! I'm just a normal guy!" *Stupid hormones! Can't calm down for
one minute!* For an incredibly skilled martial artist and a powerful ninja,
Keitaro sure had lousy control of his bodily functions.

In the end somehow Naru ended up with her back against Keitaro and her skirt
lifted up because of Keitaros' little hormonal problem.

*Why me god? Why always me?* Were Keitaros' thoughts on the matter.

--------------------

Ten minutes later...

*Ouch...* Was the only thing Keitaros' mind could comprehend as he lay on the
sidewalk, bleeding from a small headwound.

Naru was seen walking away from him, her face red and her right hand clenched
into a fist.

*She didn't have to hit me 'that' hard. I really didn't mean to react the way I
did.* Keitaro sighed to himself as he stood up, and quickly gave chace to his
current source of guilt and pain.

He caught up with her halfway up the strairs to Hinata Inn. He was going to
apologize, but quickly decided against that as it might make her angrier. So he
decided to ask her what he had wanted to all along.

"Hey Naru... Can you teach me how to study?" There it was, nothing special, but
yet important.

At hearing his question Naru instantly turned around. "Haven't you given up
yet?" When she saw him shake his head she thought about his question a bit.

Which lead her to another question. "Why do you want to get into Tokyo U so
badly anyway?"

"I've got my reasons." Keitato answered her with fake ignorance. He was too
embarrassed about the real answer.

"What about you?" But he still had his own curiosity.

"Me?" She asked in surprise. She didn't seem to know the answer herself.
Naru looked away from Keitaro in thought, which made the evening moon give her
face an attractive shine.

Keitaro was stunned by her momentary beauty, but quickly snapped out of it when
he saw her turning around.

He was also a little disappointed when she stuck out her tongue at him and said:

"It's a secret!"

But instead of trying to pry, he just continued walking up the stairs, Naru
right beside him.

As they came up the stairs Mitsune, Motoko and Suu were waiting for them. Both
students noticed the look on Mitunes's face and knew they were in for some
trouble.
Keitaro quickly deciding
that he didn't want to be there quickly ran into the house, up the strairs, and
into the managers room.

Unfortunately for him, there waited a hell worse than Kitsune's teasing. That
hell was of course, Ranma.

"Hey cuz! Did ya have fun?" Ranma asked him, his trademark grin plastered on his

face.

"Please Ranma, please leave me alone and let me sleep. Please just let me go to
sleep." Keitaro knew that begging his cousin was impossible, but he had to try.

"You wish. I want to know everything that happened. Every last thing." Ranma was

grinning even wider now.

"No use trying to resist. Spill!"

Keitaro knew that there was no looking back. Either he told Ranma everything
that happened, or he would be put through hell for a week, maybe even a month.

Wanting to keep physical control of his body for a little while more, Keitaro
went for the former option...

Poor guy.

--------------------
Next Chapter: Who knows what the hell could happen with the worlds two biggest
chaos magnets living in the same house...

Author's Notes: Yeah, yeah. I haven't updated in a long time. Blah, blah, blah.
Oy, people, tell me whatcha think. And I say that I mean don't just say
'I really liked your fic, please write more.' like some first graders.

Tell me what you liked, or what you hated. I wanna know so I can improve upon
it.

By the way, I would like to greatly thank my proof-reader Da G00se. Thanks pal.
Even thought you did a rather sloppy job this time ^_~