Love Hina Fan Fiction ❯ Continuing Dualities Peace ❯ The Morning After ( Chapter 1 )

Authors opening notes

 

I swore that I would never start a new FanFic before finishing the one I was working on. But I feel that I must make an exception in this case. The previous chapter was written, in its entirety, by Innortal. (Minus the section offering to let someone else continue it… for obvious reasons.) The idea was just too good and too original to allow it to end where it did. Neither I, nor Innortal, own Love Hina; and we are making absolutely no money writing this. I suppose Innortal could sue me if he wanted to, so I'll just have to make sure I write good… Wow, off to a great start.

 

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She was barely aware of her tears, she was barely aware of anything. How was someone supposed to feel in such a situation? Did anyone have an answer? “Time…” she whispered. The nano-machines in her room picked up the sound and responded instantly. Seemingly from nowhere, a Mecha-tama appeared on the floor next to her with a small LCD screen on its back flashing -7:24-. The faint sounds of everyone eating breakfast drifted in from the dining room. It was a wonder that no-one had come looking for her yet. The fact that Motoko hadn't checked her closer was a blessing in itself. But it wouldn't last and she knew it. Sooner or later someone would walk in looking for her and discover the wonderfully painful truth. She reached her hand down and stroked her sore abdomen; the mecha-tama crawled onto her lap and rubbed against her lightly with a sympathetic “Myu.”

 

She wanted to run and hide, wanted to go crying back to her parents in Mol Mol; lock herself in her old room and bury herself in her mountain of stuffed animals. Wanted to wake up and be young again; to make it not real. But more than anything else, she wanted Keitaro. To go to him, have him hold her close; tell him the news and hear him tell her he loved her. Curl up in his embrace and lose herself in the love she had felt for so long.

 

Younger, she was a scientist; older, she was a lover. Yet they still both wanted the impossible. Slowly, very slowly, so slowly she barely realized it was happening; she rose to her feet. Her eyes rolled slowly over her room, the mildly Spartan quarters giving way to a nearly endless tropical rainforest filled with gadgets and inventions just barely within human comprehension.

 

`What I need now is to get lost.' The world seemed to float past her eyes as she glided to her door, locked it, and wandered into the trees. The Tama-clock flitted into the air and landed on her head as she walked past. “Would you get so close if you knew how much Su wants to eat your namesake?” She whispered. “Myu” was her answer. She cracked a weak smile and rubbed her abdomen as she continued on.

 

After a moment, the floor faded from hard-wood to soft soil. Wrist thick vines hung low from towering branches and the occasional bird let out a chirp as it flitted from one tree to another; or, in some cases from one moss covered machine to another. The sun flecked through the leaves and all of it was somehow kept at an air-conditioned 65*F. Kaolla was truly amazed and tried to recall how much was agriculture and how much was science. A glint of metal caught her eye and her gaze drifted left as she walked. It was strange beyond the meaning of the word. It had the body of a remote-controlled tank for a body, two gloves on wires halfway up a metal pole that came from where a turret would be and a big metal… thing shaped like a balloon with three eyes painted of and a pair of lips. Kaolla smiled, `The Kissing machine'.

 

Su had been so excited to try it, who better to try it than on those who had had no practice? Kaolla sighed, `If only they knew that Su had built it because of how I was already feeling for Keitaro. Not that something like a kissing machine was considered strange by the tenants. Nothing was ever simple or boring. Su having moved to Hinata-Sou truly was a good decision. Getting to know the colorful and inexplicably diverse tenants had been a more entertaining experience than any Anime her younger self had ever watched. And with the exception of one, Kaolla couldn't ask for anything else from Su's relationships with each one of them.

 

From the moment Su arrived in the Dorm, she designated Motoko as her surrogate big sister. Following her around and climbing all over her inexplicably at any given moment. And for some reason Motoko never seemed to mind; at least to the degree that she never did anything violent. Kaolla cracked a weak smile, `Even when I gave her her first kiss.' Her dedication to herself and her art commanded respect; which is what Kaolla gave her, but she also pitied her. True, the girl was strong, but it was her desire for strength that kept her alone.

 

Every morning, her return from practice was Shinobu's cue to start breakfast. And the smells would be reason enough for everyone else to get up and trickle down. Kaolla sighed; Shinobu was her younger-self's best friend and polar opposite. Quiet and polite; she cooked, cleaned and washed without fail or question, and could stop a stampede with a single one of her innocent smiles. To many, she was the perfect woman. If they merely took the time, Su and Shinobu could learn a lot from each other. Shinobu could learn to live life; and Su could learn what life was really like. Kaolla, herself, admired the young girl; and knew that very soon she could have her pick of any male that walked past. Not unlike someone else in the house.

 

There was little about Kitsune that wasn't on her sleeve. Next to the dried vomit and whiskey stains there was a girl who just wanted to coast through life. If Kitsune came down for breakfast, more often than not she would demand next to absolute silence. Of course, that was if she came down at all. A day when Mitsune Konno wasn't hung over was reason enough for her to get drunk. Was she actually doing anything; and where did her booze come from? Kaolla shook her head; fun, maybe, but how long could someone keep up such a life? Su barely noticed her, Kaolla had nothing to do but think.

 

Naru never missed breakfast. She was the most outspoken tenant of the whole house; and by either choice or nature had taken it upon herself to maintain the moral foundation, schedule, and reputation of the whole house. Su found her funny; Kaolla suspected that something akin to the Hoover dam sat just behind her antennae. God help them all when it broke. Anything that did escape went through her fists. Most of the house agreed that she studied Muay Tai or the like, given her unbelievable strength. Kaolla could attest to the fact, Keitaro might be scrawny but he wasn't as light as his frequent flights made him out to be.

 

A light chuckle was born and died in Kaolla's throat. `A difficult task, given everything.' A Kendoist, a Drunk, Little-Suzy-Homemaker, a Mother Hen, a mad scientist, and 1 male landlord all under 1 roof.

 

Ice shot through her veins. “Keitaro.” She whispered.

 

People were more than willing to overlook what Su did, and Kaolla hoped that some of that forgiveness would transfer to her; but there would was almost no hope for Keitaro. Even with the spell in place blocking any awareness on his part of what was going on, the latent jealousy of the tenants toward each other would manifest itself as rage towards him. They would each never admit it for various reasons but Kaolla could see the whole picture as clear as day. Motoko loved him for his willingness to forgive and unyielding support. Something she felt her family never gave her. Shinobu admired him as a mature older man, and he always seemed to have the time to listen to the quiet teen. Kitsune loved to tease him more than anything. But more than that, Kaolla believed that he was the only boy she knew that she could consider pure or innocent, and someone who didn't only want her for sex. Naru didn't seem to have any kind of outlet, and Keitaro's resolve towards her wasn't helping her pressure problem. But it was, again, more than that. It was something deeper, something intangible. And, of course, Su thought he was fun.

 

Kaolla loved him for all these reasons.

 

“Time.”

 

The Mecha-Tama extended an LCD screen in front of her eyes -7:32-

 

`Time…' She lifted the machine off her head and squeezed lightly. `What do you do when the thing you need is the one thing you need more of?' Her right hand went to her abdomen and lightly rubbed at the soreness once more as her eyes scanned across the near endless forest that was her room and considered the hundreds of machines and inventions hidden within it. A military scientist would give his house, car, wife, and fancy lab coat for a simple 5 minute tour. At that moment, she knew what her younger self's response would be.

 

“Just make more!”

 

Author's notes

 

I have been working on this too long to have just one chapter done. Now that it is, however I hope to get to some kind of plotline eventually. I've never written angst before so I thought I'd try and overdo it so I can learn how much to turn it down. Thanks to Innortal again for giving me the honor of continuing from where his one-shot left off. And PLEASE read my other fic(s) I have one more of my own Love Hina fics in the works; and another fic that focuses on Ryoga from Ranma