KEITARO'S JOURNEY TO HELL
A Love Hina fanfic
Written by Axel Terizaki (aterizak@free.fr)
Retooled by Dave Watson (aj153@freenet.carleton.ca) and Terizaki.

NARU's Diary:  http://naru.easynetonline.net/narudiary
ASUKA's Notebook:  Recovery in progress.

-= Chapter Three:  Here comes a new challenger!  TURTLE! =-

Sorry about this, but RealLife(tm) didn't give me the chance to write like
I wish I could have.  And you know what's worse?  It's that I know how my
story will end, the main events and all that, but I just don't have enough
time to write it...so, gomen nasai, minna!

The hard life of a fanfic writer:

First draft started on 2001-09-28
First draft resumed on 2002-01-17
First draft resumed on 2002-02-20
First draft written on 2002-02-26
Second draft started on 2002-03-06
Second draft resumed on 2002-03-22 (Damn exams)
Second draft written on 2002-03-26
Retool draft written between 2002-04-22 and 5-12 (Sorry, Axel.)


        * * *


        The soft noises of the night were echoing everywhere around the
peaceful Hinata-sou.  Everything was quiet.  Too quiet...too suspicious.

        A shadow crept out of a window on the first floor.  The quietness 
of its steps was nothing like a feline's or a Ninja's, but it was
undoubtedly acting carefully, acutely aware of every one of its movements.

        After moving its body quietly along the walls, the shadow finally
reached its destination--the Hinata Teahouse.

        However, the teahouse wasn't looking as peaceful as Hinata-sou was.
Somehow, someone knew that the shadow was coming.  Someone knew and made
sure that the shadow would be dissuaded from approaching.

        But what was lying there?  A treasure?  An ancient artifact?  The
shadow knew, and was determined to reach its goal.  As it came near the
electric fence around the building, it spotted the only entrance available:
Two heavy steel sliding doors.

        The shadow tiptoed to the entrance, and carefully entered a code
into the panel next to the doors.  They silently and slowly opened, the
shadow elegantly sliding between them as soon as they offered enough space
for it to go through.  However, as soon as it made its first step into the
guarded territory, another shadow stopped it just by its presence...

        "Urashima-sempai, stop right here and now.  Your game is up,"
announced a deep, female voice; that of Aoyama Motoko.

        "Damn...!"

        "Since I can't allow myself to wake up Naru-sempai, you're forcing
me to use my secret stealth assassin techniques..."

        "Wait, I can expl--"  And with a swift movement, Motoko pulled her
sword out of its scabbard and rushed towards him.  Before he knew it, the
left sleeve of his Ninja attire was partly torn apart.  Losing his balance,
he fell on his butt, almost fainting from the swift and sudden violence
Motoko expressed towards him in the way only she could.

        Seeing him defeated, she lifted up her sword and prepared herself
to deliver the final blow.

        "I don't usually strike people on the ground, but, for you,
Urashima, I'll make an exception...for ruining Naru-sempai's life.  I
tolerated you until now.  I even grew to like you somehow.  But now that
you have revealed your true nature, I won't let myself be fooled again!"

        "Miiiiiiiii---!"

        Motoko gasped in surprise as she heard that sound.  So familiar, 
yet still no less terrifying to her.

        It was a turtle--a flying hot springs turtle, to be exact--and it
was heading straight towards her.

        The view of the devilish creature, not at all helped by the
moonlight silhouetting its form in the darkness of the night, made the
young sword master immediately faint as well.

        Once her deed was done, the turtle returned to a tree nearby and
rested on top of the head of a young woman standing there, surrounded by
the warm glow of the moon.

        "Ara ara..."


        * * *


        The kanririn's [dorm manager] room was, as usual, brightly lit. 
Keitaro Urashima was the only one present, surrounded by his textbooks and
manuals.  Studying alone was sometimes helpful, as no one was there to
disturb him.  But there, Keitaro felt an emptiness, which was aggravated 
when he looked at the ceiling and saw the large uncovered hole which led to 
another room.  A lot of things happened thanks to that hole, and, even if 
he got a few bruises because of it, he didn't regret anything about it.

        Keitaro was attracted to Narusegawa, in many ways.  First, he loved
her beauty.  Her eyes, her voice, her hair...they were all important to
him.  Even if she was often mean to him and hit him, he knew that there was
a soft side to her, which he saw from time to time and wanted to see more
of everyday.

        But since that...incident a few months ago, he hadn't seen any
trace of her anywhere.  He did keep trying his best to reach her, but she
had shielded herself from everything, willingly living in a prison she made
by herself.  She had shut herself away from everyone, and now, all he could
really think about was her.  Even when he tried to study, he was expecting
her to ask him what he was having trouble with and help him out, and kept
raising his head from his books to look across the table...and see that she
wasn't there.

        "Even Aunt Haruka won't let me see her.  She must have a reason to
be on her side...hmm..." he thought out loud.  He finally stopped trying to
study, and thought only about Naru.

        "Ah, if only Mutsumi-san was here.  Maybe she might be able to help
me out.  Motoko-san's defending Naru with that damned sword, Suu-chan
doesn't seem to be concerned, Shinobu-chan is too confused and Kitsune-san
won't listen to me...what if--aaaah!" he cried in surprise as he suddenly
felt a weight land on top of his head.  The weight was a bit heavy, but
still very soft and warm, and felt almost...elastic?

        Keitaro tried to move as his glasses slipped off of his nose.  But
as he looked up, a single drop of blood dripped from a nostril and landed 
on his clothes.

        "Aaaaah!  Mutsumi-san!!!"

        But it was no use talking to her right now, as she had already
fainted.


        * * *


        A few minutes later, the two of them were sitting facing each
other.

        "Ara, I'm sorry, Kei-kun.  I did want to surprise you, but not like
that," Otohime Mutsumi said, with that incredibly carefree look on her 
face.  Keitaro just sweatdropped.  Maybe she could take Naru off of his
mind for a while.

        "That's okay, Mutsumi-san, but what are you doing here?  Weren't
you supposed to be at your parents' place in Okinawa?"

        "Actually...I wanted to get some more watermelons, and before I
knew it, I arrived here."

        "Oh?  I see..."  It was the usual Mutsumi, all right...

        "Ara, Urashima-kun...where's Naru-san?"

        'Damn, I hoped she wouldn't ask this question!' Keitaro thought.

        "N...nowhere," he managed to reply quickly.

        "Nowhere?"

        Keitaro shook his head to clear some of the nonsense out of the
path to his mouth.

        "Errr, no, that's not what I meant!  She is...she is..."

        The door to his room opened, revealing Suu and Shinobu standing
there.

        "Urashima-sempai, lunch is r--"

        "Hey, it's Miss Turtle!" Suu exclaimed as she saw Mutsumi.  She
just waved cutely back to them.  Keitaro suddenly looked panicked.  He
didn't really have anything to hide now, but his experience from living
here had proved many times that, when too many unexpected events happen at
once, the situation could quickly get out of control, especially with the
Hinata girls.

        Shinobu bowed and blurted out, "I'll go make some more food!"
before running back downstairs.  Suu just stayed there.

        "Where's Tama?" she asked.

        "Ara, I think she went to your hot springs.  She missed them very
much."


        * * *


        In the hot springs, a turtle was slowly floating on the surface of
the water.

        "Myuuuu......" she sighed in delight as the springs' water warmed
her through.


        * * *


        "Hummm...fresh-boiled turtle..."  Suu began to salivate, fork and
knife already in her hands.  Keitaro just sweatdropped.

        "Suu-chan, why don't you go help Shinobu-chan cook...?"

        "Hai, hai...!"  Suu then left in the opposite direction to the one
Shinobu went.  Keitaro knew well that, whatever he would have said, Suu was
going to go to the hot springs.  Now that Keitaro and Mutsumi were left
alone, he would have a chance to explain what happened.  He turned back to
face her again.  She was smiling so warmly that it felt weird telling her
about this.  Besides, he didn't know how she would react.  She was so
special, so unpredictable.  Keitaro liked her very much because of this. 
She had a very striking innocence and naivete, but was also mature and
thoughtful in her own unique way.

        "Mutsumi-san...about Narusegawa..."

        "Yes?  What about her?"

        "Errr...didn't you want to know where she was?"

        "Oh, yes, you're right!  I forgot about that!  So, why isn't she
here?  Did something happen?"

        "Well, actually..."


        * * *

        The cardboard boxes in Naru's new room were almost all gone, except
for two or three of them piled in the corner.  She was sitting at her desk,
reading a notebook under a desktop lamp.  It was filled with formulas and 
small scribbles on almost every page, which she had taken down during 
classes.

        Naru had time to think about her situation.  A lot of time,
actually.  You just had to look at her belly to guess that at least three
or four months had passed since the incident that took away a lot of the 
good mood at Hinata-sou.

        All that thinking had made her reach the conclusion that she
couldn't throw her studies away like that.  Even if she couldn't pass the
entrance exam this year, she knew she could try next year.  Even though her
will was battling hard to keep that thought front and center in her mind,
another part of her wouldn't let her forget that, if she took the exam next
year, it would just add another year to her ronin life.  Many times, she
cursed Keitaro for all this.  Before he arrived there, she was doing quite
well with everything.  Sure, without him, there would be something lacking
in everyday life at the dorm, but...

        Still, she was feeling sad for not being able to take the exam this
year.  She had been looking forward to the opportunity, and now it was
flying away...

        'I shouldn't think about that!  I have to concentrate concentrate
concentrate concentrate concentrate!!'  Shaking her head, she looked at her
watch and realized that it was already noon.

        'I should get out for a bit.  Being stuck here for too long isn't 
good at all.'

        With that thought, she left her desk and headed for the door and
opened it, revealing the bright light of the sun to her eyes.  She stepped
out, and firmly put her hands onto the railing in front of her room.  She
then looked at the sky and smiled.  It was nice to feel the warmth of the 
sun again.

        'Maybe I should REALLY get out more...'  She smiled, leaning
forward a little and closing her eyes so the warmth would reach her face.

        "N...Naru-sempai..."

        Naru's eyes opened again, and she turned to her left at the sound
of the cute voice.  It was Shinobu.  Under the pressure of all the girls,
Naru eventually allowed Haruka to reveal the location of her new room to
the others.  At first she feared that Keitaro might come, but, in all those
weeks, she never saw him at all.  Was it the girls' doing?  Or did he just
not want to see her either?  She stopped thinking about all that, and
looked at the young girl before her.

        "Shinobu-chan?  What's wrong?"

        The girl couldn't help but stare at Naru's stomach.

        "It looks big, doesn't it?  Want to feel it?" Naru asked, smiling.
Somehow, seeing Shinobu's ever-cute face put her in a good mood.

        "Naru-sempai, would you like to come join us for lunch in Hinata-
sou in just a little bit?"

        "Hmm...will Keitaro be there?" she asked in a slightly colder tone,
but she forced the smile to stay on her face for Shinobu's sake.

        "Well, yes."

        She knew it.

        "Shinobu-chan, listen.  I'm sorry, but I can't go see you all now,
because I...feel a bit sick.  Would it be all right if you could please
bring some of your food here later instead?  I'm sorry if I'm asking too
much..."

        "Uh..."

        "What is it?"

        "Is it because of Urashima-sempai?"

        Naru felt like a boulder had just dropped on her head.

        "Shinobu-chan, I need time to think, you know.  After what we did,
I just can't..." Naru softly explained as she put a hand on her swollen
belly.  She really didn't want to discuss it, but she didn't want to offend
Shinobu, either.  Why was she more or less drawn to think about Keitaro,
anyway?  And why wouldn't anybody else leave her alone about him?

        "But it's already been three months and 23 days since--"

        "Huh?"

        "Well, Urashima-sempai counts it off it on each day of his
calendar.  I noticed it when I came to clean his room yesterday."

        Naru looked at Shinobu again, confused.

        'Is he...stupid?  What kind of idiot would ever write how many days
passed since something like *that* on his calendar!?'

        "Ah...I'm sorry." Shinobu interrupted her.

        "...I'll think about it."  Naru sighed.

        "Really!?" replied the young girl, suddenly very excited.

        "Hey, hey, Shinobu-chan, I didn't say I'd be there for sure, did
I?"

        "N...No, you didn't.  If I don't see you there, then I'll bring
back your lunch like you asked," she said, a bit disappointed.  Naru
noticed this and smiled, trying to reassure her.

        "Thank you, Shinobu-chan," Naru gently said, and then leaned over
and kissed her forehead softly, surprising the younger girl.  Shinobu
blushed.

        "I...I'll go now."  She turned and left.  Naru watched her go with
a smile on her face.

        'Everyone's concerned about me...and about you, too.'

        She slowly stroked her belly, smiling almost dreamily.


        * * *

        L O V E   H I N A  -  Keitaro's Journey To Hell
        "Small eyes, large breasts, do you know Kitsune-san?" :P

        * * *


        "She's what?" Mutsumi asked, eyes wide open and a hand over her
cheek.  Everyone stared at her, as they were all sitting around the dining
table.

        "Surprising, heh?  Who would have thought that he could be so good
in b--"

        "K...Kitsune-san!!!" Keitaro immediately shouted, interrupting her.

        Mutsumi chimed in again.  "But that's wonderful!  A pregnant woman
is the most beautiful thing in the world!"

        Everyone blinked at her.  Keitaro spoke after a few seconds.

        "Y...You think so?"

        "Obviously!  Carrying life is a powerful thing!"

        They all remained silent.

        "Ara?  Did I say something wrong?"

        "Y...you just sound like you've already done it..."

        "Ah, but I haven't!  I just read a lot of books!  I'm just waiting
to find somebody nice like Keitaro-kun first!"

        Everyone facefaulted.

        "Mutsumi-san!!!" Keitaro rose, panicked.

        "It's so wonderful, just like in that episode of Liddo-kun and
friends!"

        "I don't want to hear about it..." Keitaro sighed.

        Then a door opened, silencing everyone, followed by a woman's voice 
saying, "Tadaima" ["I'm here"].  A familiar young long-haired woman in a 
maternity dress then stepped into the dining room and walked up to the 
table.  Everyone had their eyes on her, especially Keitaro, who hadn't seen 
her in months.

        Naru took a chair and sat at the table.

        "May I have some food, please?  I'm starving," she asked, as if
nothing was wrong at all.

        Shinobu quickly got to her feet and stammered for words.

        "I-I-I'll bring you a plate right now!"  She ran to the kitchen,
feeling uneasy about the situation.

        Actually, she wasn't the only one, as everyone could feel the
tension in the room.

        "Oh, Mutsumi-san, I didn't notice you.  When did you arrive here?"
Naru asked, looking at Mutsumi, who was sitting next to Keitaro.  The
kanririn of Hinata-sou tried to avoid her gaze, even though, deep inside,
he just wanted to tell her what was on his mind.

        "Ara...I lost my way yesterday evening and wandered the streets all
night, until I finally found Hinata-sou..."

        Everyone except Naru face-faulted.

        "I see..." she sighed, waiting for her plate.  She wasn't her usual
self at all.

        "Still, Otohime-san, the streets aren't very safe at night.  You
could've been attacked by someone," warned Motoko.

        "Really?" she replied.  Motoko was ready to lecture her about that,
but hearing her reply like that made her think that maybe it would be
pointless.

        Shinobu came back with what was left of her home-made meal.  She
often made more than originally planned when she prepared food for the
tenants, as Mitsune and Suu were always asking for more.  As a result, she
had planned to cook something else for Naru, but since she asked for food
now, those plans were quickly and easily modified.

        "Here, Naru-sempai."  She put the plate down in front of her, and
everyone watched as she ate quite intently in silence.  She didn't even
notice the eyes on her because of that.

        "I'm finished.  Thanks for the meal.  I'll go back to my room," she
softly said as she stood up and left the dining room.  Everyone eyed her
until she was out of sight.  The silence was overwhelming.  Someone had to
break it, and Mitsune did, angrily.

        "Keitaro, are you stupid or what!?  Why didn't you say something to
her!?"

        "Stupid, stupid, Keitaro's stupid!" Suu beamed, jumping on the
table and kicking Keitaro's face, making him fall backwards.

        "Aaah!  Suu-chan, stop kicking me!"

        "Suu just doing what I wanna do to you right now!  You should have
said something to her!" the foxy lady snarled.

        "But what could I have said?" he asked in grunts, as Suu was now
using his body as a trampoline.  No one tried to stop her, as experience
had proved that Keitaro's body was nearly invincible.

        "Something like 'Narusegawa, I'm so sorry,' or, better yet, 'I'll
help you with your child.  It's going to be all right.'  But no, no..."

        Motoko chimed in as well,  "She is right.  A man has to be
responsible, and you didn't even try to do anything to help her!"

        "You could have forced her to listen by barging into her room,
kissing her deeply and then whispering words of comfort into her ear..."
Mitsune said dreamily.

        "Ack!  But she doesn't even let me approach her!  It's like she's
running away from me!" Keitaro finally managed to say, between Suu's jumps.

        Everyone was stunned by his words, realizing something they hadn't
even thought about before.  Suu stopped bouncing on him, and Mitsune rubbed
her chin with her fingers.

        "Girls, he's right there.  Naru hasn't given him a chance at all."

        "B...But what can we do?" Shinobu asked, concerned.

        "'We'?  He's the one who made her pregnant.  She didn't do it
alone,"  Motoko remarked, still on Naru's side.  This hurt Keitaro quite a
bit.

        "Allriiiiiiight!"  Mitsune stood up, now wearing a general's
uniform for some reason, and cleared her throat.  "Let's have a Hinata-sou
council right now!  It's in time of crisis like those that we need to do
something for our friends!"

        "H...Huh!?" Keitaro asked, dumbfounded.

        "Yes, we have to do something," Motoko added, standing up from her
seat.  Suu bounced on Keitaro's back one more time before heading off with
everyone towards their council place--the hot springs.

        "H...hey!"  Keitaro looked around.  He hadn't heard much from
Mutsumi during this discussion.  Instead, at her place, a turtle was
nibbling at the food on her plate.  It stopped and looked up at him.

        "Myu?"


        * * *


        "Naru-san..."

        "Huh?"

        Naru turned around.  As she was about to enter her room, she saw
that Mutsumi had followed her.

        "Is it Urashima-kun's baby in there?" she asked, gesturing at
Naru's belly.

        "Ah, err...yes, it is." she admitted, blushing a bit.

        "Ara ara...I knew you two would eventually come to this, just like
in that Liddo-kun episode..."

        "Yes, yes, I remember."  Naru actually didn't, since this was
probably another case of her incorrectly remembering something about the
kids' show 'Liddo-kun and friends,' which they both watched when they were
much younger, but she didn't want to tell her that she was wrong.

        "Ah, that's great.  So are you two going to marry, like at the end
of the episode, and have a sweet honeymoon and--"

        Naru interrupted her with a sudden outburst.

        "NO, NO, NO!  I'm not going to marry him!  No way!  And stop
talking about that already!!"

        Mutsumi stood there, looking a bit shocked...and then fell in a
dead faint.

        "Aaaaah, Mutsumi-san!!  I'm sorry!"  She ran to the unconscious
girl and quickly carried her into her room, laying her down on her bed.

        "Mutsumi-san!  Mutsumi-san!"

        "Hmmm...did I faint again?" the Okinawa girl murmured, feeling a
bit dizzy.

        Naru sighed in relief.  She had almost forgotten how fragile
Mutsumi was.

        "I'm sorry, Mutsumi-san."

        "Ara ara..."

        "But why did you follow me up here?  I hope Keitaro didn't follow
you.  I really don't want to see him again."

        "What are you talking about, Naru-san?"

        Naru sighed.  Maybe it was useless to tell Mutsumi about that.  She
wouldn't understand, anyway.  No one would.  Or would they?  She needed to
talk...to a neutral person.  Surely, none of the other girls at Hinata-sou
would understand her; not even Kitsune.  She felt bad thinking that way
about her best friend, but somehow, she felt that it would be useless to
talk with her.  She didn't know how to explain it properly.  She didn't
even know what her problem was exactly in the first place.

        "Mutsumi-san, please listen to me..."


        * * *


        "I declare the council open.  The topic of today is Naru!"  Mitsune
announced, a towel wrapped around her body.

        The council place was actually the place where the girls could get
away from Keitaro and talk freely.  Not that this didn't concern him at 
all, but they needed as much secrecy as possible right now.  They could 
have gone to the attic, but Keitaro knew about that place, so that was out. 
At least, in the hot springs, they had a pretty valid reason to throw him 
out if he tried to eavesdrop.

        "Hiiiya!  What about Naru?" young Suu asked, curious about the
exact topic of the day, as she splashed her hands on the surface of the
water.

        "Well, I think Naru has a problem," Mitsune added.

        "Obviously.  It's Urashima, isn't it?" Motoko asked.

        "Not exactly.  I think that she really has a problem with herself."

        "Herself?" Shinobu inquired.

        "Right!  Why is she isolating herself from us?  Because she wants
to avoid Keitaro!"

        "This is true.  Knowing her, she would have killed him.  And, if
you ask me, I would have done that myself months ago," Motoko remarked.

        "Calm down, Motoko.  We have to act wisely.  Our main objective is
to get them together and force them to talk to each other!"

        "Ah...but how can we do that?" Shinobu asked.

        "Well, we have several options--" Mitsune began.

        "--like tying them to pillars and pinching their noses so they
eventually open their mouths and talk?" Suu suggested.

        "Isn't that torture?" Shinobu asked, while thinking of ideas.

        "We could always take Naru somewhere secluded, ask her to wait
there and then tell Urashima someone's waiting for him there, and..."

        Motoko stopped explaining her idea as she saw the others looking
strangely at her.

        "...That's sooo romantic!" Shinobu exclaimed, with stars in her
eyes.

        "Motoko wants that to happen to her!" Suu exclaimed, playing with
Motoko's hair.

        "S...Shut up!" Motoko retorted, blushing in embarrassment.

        "Nah, that wouldn't work.  They'd never fall for such an old
trick," Mitsune said, after a few seconds of thought.

        Shinobu finally came out with her idea.  "Why don't we get them to
write to each other?"

        Mitsune considered the idea for a few seconds as well.

        "This could work.  But isn't Keitaro lousy with letters?"

        "Isn't he a loser in the first place?" Motoko added bitterly.

        "Myuuuuuu!"

        Tamago the turtle flew up to them, carrying a sealed envelope. 
Mitsune snatched the envelope out of its mouth and tore it open without 
even looking to see who it was intended for.

        "Kitsune-san...I think this is for Urashima-sempai..." Shinobu
noted.

        "Who cares?  He's the manager of this place, so it involves all of
us."  She then began to read the letter.  Somehow, Mitsune's reasoning was
right, in a way.

        A few seconds passed as she frowned, still reading.

        "What the HELL did he do!?" she exclaimed out loud, as the other
girls came closer in order to read it as well.

        "Heyyyyyy!  Tama-chan, come back with that letter, it's very imp--"
Keitaro called as he stepped outside, in front of the hot springs...where
all the girls were bathing.

        Motoko clenched her fist.

        "Urashimaaaaa...!"

        "Aaaah!  Motoko-chan, I can explain!!"

        Too late.  Motoko drew her sword, which had been laying on the
rocks near the water.

        "Hiken Zanmaken!" she screamed as the hurricane coming off of her
blade connected with his head, sending him high into the sky.

        "T...That pervert!" she growled, shaking.

        Suu followed the trajectory of his flight and exclaimed, "Wah!  A
direct hit to the Naru HQ!"

        "WHAT!?"


        * * *


        Naru was still sitting next to Mutsumi on her bed, and talking
about what had been weighing so heavily on her mind all this time.

        "You know, Mutsumi-san, I think I really do like--"

        "Ara?  What's that sound?"

        "Huh?"

        Indeed, as Naru looked up, she could hear the sound of something
flying at high speed, like a missile.  She screamed and Mutsumi ara-ara-ed
as a flailing body came through the ceiling, letting the sun's light 
through it.  As the dust cleared from her view, Naru gasped in shock.

        Lying on the ground was a dazed Keitaro, surprisingly with only a
few bruises, as usual.  The guy was definitely invincible.

        "Oh, Urashima-kun!  Did you come to save Naru-san like the 
Liddo-kun prince in that episode when--"

        "Mutsumi-san, that's enough already!" Naru interrupted her,
panicking.  She wasn't ready for this yet.

        Keitaro groaned and coughed as he slowly stood up.  He looked
around the room briefly.

        "W...Where did I land?  Aaah, Narusegawa!" he exclaimed, realizing
that she was sitting there, on her bed.  He shielded himself with his arms,
thinking that she was surely going to punch him back into orbit.  To his
surprise, no punch came.

        "K...Keitaro..."  She blushed a bit...yet she didn't know why.  She
didn't want to know.  She wasn't ready; all she wanted to do now was kick
him out of there and run far, far, far away...

        "Narusegawa... I can explain...!" he stammered.

        "Keitaro..."

        She looked down at him.  He didn't seem to want her any harm...but
why was she running away from him in the first place?  She couldn't even
think of it now, because her mind was fogged with thoughts of him. 
Realizing that, she blushed even more, feeling suddenly stupid about all
this.  She turned away from him and clenched her fist, wanting to say
something.  She wanted to ease her soul, and maybe that would do it...

        "I'm sorry for everything!" both said at the same time, surprising
each other.

        "Ara, ara!  That's so cute!  Kei-kun and Naru-chan reconciling!"

        "H...Huh?" Naru turned again, looking at him with surprised eyes.

        "Naru!  Incredible news...!  Huh?" Mitsune announced, barging into
the room with the others behind her.

        A flying turtle dropped on Naru's head and held a letter to her
face, surprising the young pregnant woman.

        "Myuuuuu!"

        "What is...this?"


        * * *


        To be continued...


Author's notes:

Sorry if the end was kinda disappointing and the wait was long, but I had a
lot of personal matters to take care of, as well as a few sites to pull
back up from the dead, thanks to my former webhost free.fr.  Hopefully,
Easynet is giving me the opportunity to put back up my sites, with a lot of
enhanced features :) I can now use streaming, and a lot of helpful coding
that was disabled on purpose on my former host.  The retooler is also
largely to blame.  One of these days he's gonna get cured of his chronic
procrastination.

That aside, I'll try to make up for the wait and release chapter 4 very
soon for your reading pleasure (and hope that the retooler won't drag his 
heels that time).  However, I can't really promise anything, as I'm trying 
to begin a new fanfiction based on the anime game "Eve Burst Error".

The story behind this game was just so wonderful that I couldn't help but
make a fanfic for it.  If you ever have the chance to get and play the 
game, take it.  You'll enjoy an excellent read, supported by pics, voices 
and animation (hentai-game style, but it doesn't contain much hentai :)

Enough for now :)

Axel Terizaki