Note: I do not own Love Hina, or any other intellectual properties. They are all copyrights of their respectful owners. The rest, however, is MINE, BEE-YOTCHES!

Overnight, Shinobu goes through a radical change in hormones and ages six years, so now her attraction to Keitaro could finally be taken to a whole new level. However, she now has to deal with her newfound body, as well as the reality of a relationship, and a slowly developing rivalry with Naru herself.

This is my first shot at a romance fic; so don't be too hard on me. This is originally meant as an experimental fic, so it's not just an ordinary Keitaro/Adult Shinobu pairing. Also, if you haven't read Drgnmastr-Alex's Love Hina: New and Old Faces, Same Zaniness then shame on you. You can find it on my "Favorite Stories" list.

GYRAX Presents…

Awe of She

Chapter 1: How to Deal with a Monster Growth Spurt


It was a simple crush. How many people lived through their teenage years without having a crush on someone sometime or another? It's a wonderful feeling you get straight in the heart, when you admire someone; you don't even give a damn about age difference, as clearly illustrated in Naru's crush on Seta from cram school, and of course, Shinobu's current attraction the Hinata Sou's landlord. If your crush on someone is strong enough, you'll think you have developed a stronger, more matured love for that person and you may believe that you have what it takes to start an actual relationship and take it to the next level, and hang on to the belief that nothing could ever go wrong; ignorance truly is bliss, as in a state such as that, the truth couldn't touch you. This wasn't Shinobu's case quite yet, but she did have a deep admiration for him, especially after how kind he has been to her over time, but one night something is about to take it to another level.

Welcome to another episode of Love Hina. Watch Keitaro trip on an imaginary rock and fall with his hand on Shinobu's leg. Watch Naru's stupid little head think he's doing something perverted, as her stupid little foot boots him to the ionosphere. Watch Shinobu watch the unfolding chaos, as her eyes become the size of vinyl records. Watch it over, and over, and over again into the night.

It was a Saturday night; the sky was without a cloud and the moon was full. Because it was the nighttime didn't mean that the Tyndall effect wasn't at work; the moon shines a brilliant blue light into Shinobu's room and on the sleeping girl. In that moment, she begins to glow a faint white aura. She starts to cringe in pleasure as the bars containing a caged passion slowly chip away, releasing a whole new dimension of desire in her heart. Her body then levitates, and the unthinkable finally happens.

Meanwhile, somewhere near Baltimore, MD, the original hometown of Dave Chappelle, GYRAX laughs his ass off in quite an evil manner.
Early next morning, Keitaro walks downstairs and into the dining room; there he sees the girls sitting at the table. "What's going on here?"

"We're waiting for Shinobu." Kitsune answered. "We wanted some of her kick-ass cooking, but she hasn't even gotten up yet. She's late."

"Umm," Naru interjected. "Didn't you guys think of actually waking her up?"

"We thought of it for a second," Su replied. "But we immediately passed it. Trust me; unless it's for school, you don't want to wake up Shinomu."

(O)

Shinobu wakes up. When she sits up, she begins to feel a heavy burden on her chest. When she looks down to see what it is, she freaks.

(O)

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The scream is so loud, the others could hear it all the way from the dining room and they run upstairs. They then hear "MY GOD! MY KNOCKERS ARE GARGANTUAN!"

"WHAT?" Keitaro freezes at the last step, and then he slips and falls back down the stairs, crashing into Motoko. He gets up and brushes the dust off of him. Then he looks at Motoko, who is still lying on the ground. "Whoops. Um… Watch out for falling landlords?"

The samurai gets up and runs up the steps, letting this incident slip; there were bigger problems at hand, right now. Keitaro closely follows.

Once he gets to the second floor, the landlord sees everyone gather around Shinobu's room. He quickly goes in, despite having heard Naru shout, "Hey, don't get in there, yet!" at him. As he enters the room, Keitaro just looks to his left, and there he sees a naked girl, with blue hair extending to her back. She turns around and sees Keitaro; her sapphire eyes pierce his own. Keitaro quickly recognizes her facial features, but he could hardly believe it.

Naru comes seemingly out of nowhere with her fist ready to sock! The girl suddenly reacts and pushes Keitaro aside. With the greatest of ease, she opens her right palm and blocks Naru's atomic punch. The impact sent a very faint shockwave across the room.

"How in the world…" Motoko trails off.

The girl unexpectedly jumps back a few feet, with her eyes the side of vinyl records and her arms flailing wildly. "It was just a bad reflex! A reflex, I swear! Aaaaauuuuu!"

"Shinobu," Keitaro asks. "Is that you?"

"Sempai?"

"Good Lordy! It IS you!" Keitaro shouts. "You've gotten older!"

"Really?" Su adds. She whips out what looks like a yellow remote control, aims it at Shinobu, and presses a red button. Then, information pops up on the little LCD screen built on above the red button. She nods her head as she reads it. "Yep, it's Shinomu, all right, but according to my anatomical scanner, her physical age is nineteen!"

"Wow." Kitsune added. "She's almost as old as we are now, Keitaro."

Naru turns to Su. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"Nothing." Su answers. "I was just sleeping with Motoko last night."

"It couldn't have been a red moon." Keitaro adds. "Or else Su would've been transformed (and it would've only lasted through the night)."

"Naru-sempai?" Shinobu interrupts. "May I borrow your clothes… and your underwear? I don't want my chest to be flopping around."

"Umm… sure." Naru answers. With that, Shinobu walks out of the room.

Everyone stands and watches her, bewildered over what to do now.

(O)

"I still think Su did it." Naru says, pacing back and forth across Keitaro's room.

Su is usually the prime suspect for things like this. Yet, just because she's a genius, doesn't mean she's always the cause of such scenarios. Okay. Most of the time, she is.

"What just happened back there?" Keitaro asks. "I always thought she had that 'discretionary' gene."

Then, the lid covering the hole on the ceiling of Keitaro's room moves and Shinobu jumps down. She's wearing a yellow turtleneck sweatshirt, a red skirt, and brown pantyhose. She has her hair tied in a ponytail. "How do I look?"

"You look great." Keitaro answered.

"Just one thing that bothers me." Shinobu says. "I borrowed one of Naru's biggest bras, and it's still too tight. Should I go over and borrow one of Kitsune's?"

Keitaro whispers to Naru. "You can cancel out that thing I just said about 'discretionary genes'."

"She HAS been acting weird since this morning." Naru says that on the outside, but inside her head, she's really saying, HER BREASTS ARE BIGGER THAN MINE? AND I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE TOLD THAT TO KEITARO, RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, EVEN!

"She certainly can't go to school, now." Keitaro says.

Naru snaps back to reality. "O-Of course not! Not in her condition! So what are you planning to do about it?"

"No fucking clue." Keitaro answers. "You have any ideas?"

"First, we need to know the telephone number to Shinobu's school." Naru says.

"I'll ask her." Keitaro responds. He walks out of the room, with Naru following him.

(O)

Meanwhile, Su is cooking something up in her room. Sparks are flying everywhere and you could hear various mechanical sounds. She's up to something.

(O)

Later, Keitaro walks downstairs to the lobby, with Naru and Shinobu following him. Shinobu's face is red, probably because she feels some embarrassment over what she said earlier. The bluenette is having a hard time figuring out what's wrong with her, but she's sure she has a theory or two.

Keitaro picks up the phone and dials a number; a short pause ensues as Keitaro waits for a response. Then he speaks. "Hello? Yeah, it's Keitaro Urashima. I'm the landlord of the Hinata Sou." Short pause. "Yeah, I just want to tell you that Shinobu Maehara isn't going to school for at least a few days." Short pause. "She has a… sickness, so she's pretty much… sick." Short pause.

Naru sweatdrops.

Keitaro takes a few seconds to think, and then he continues. "Yeah, she's got, umm… Lupus!

Naru and Shinobu both facefault simultaneously.

"All right." Keitaro says. "I'll tell her that you gave your highest regards. All right. Bye." He hangs up and turns to the two girls, who just stood back up.

"Did they buy it?" Naru asks, with heavy doubt in her voice.

"Actually," Keitaro answers. "It went surprisingly well, considering that I don't have a fucking clue what Lupus is."

The two girls facefault again.

"Well," Naru says. "It's…"

"It's an autoimmune disease that, for unknown reasons, causes the immune system to go hyperactive and attack normal tissues, which results in inflammation." Shinobu interrupts.

"Oh, then get well soon." Keitaro says. A silence fills the room, until Keitaro speaks again. "It's just a joke, sheesh!"

"So," Naru says. "We're going to have her just hang around here? I hardly find that adequate."

"She doesn't need no school, anyway!" Keitaro exclaims. "She's an Iron Chef, so we should have he compete in the motherfucking Iron Chef! When's the next tournament, anyway?"

"I don't know." Naru replies. "I don't keep track of crap like that; ask Shinobu."

"I'm not sure either." Shinobu admits. Then, she smells something. "Is that cologne I smell?"

"Uh, yeah." Naru answers. "It's a new fragrance; it's from Calvin Klein."

"Crap!" Shinobu shouts. "I forgot to tell you that I'm allergic to Ca… I'm aller-ka… ah… ah… ACHOO!" Suddenly, a strong gust of wind circulated the lobby, blowing anything that wasn't nailed to the ground, and lifting Shinobu's skirt. "KYAAAAAH!" She puts her hands in a strategic place to cover up until the gust dies out.

Keitaro tries to figure out what happened. "Wh-Whoa! Where did that wind come from? Umm, Naru?"

Naru is giving him an evil glare that would make Charlton Heston run like mad. "I don't know how you did it, but I know you did it!" She winds hr fist up and…

POW! Shinobu socks Naru's face dead on, causing her to bounce around the walls like a rubber ball gone completely out of control, until she eventually crashes through the front doors and out of the Hinata Sou. Keitaro and Shinobu could only watch in pure astonishment.

"Auuuuuuuu!" Shinobu cries out. "Bad reflex again!" She takes Keitaro's hand and tightly holds it. "Come on, Sempai! We have to help her!" With that, she drags him out of the house.

She IS acting weird. Keitaro thinks.

They run out of the house and down the stairs leading to it. They stop in the middle of the stairs to see Naru walking back up with a bloody nose.

And Keitaro just could not stop himself. "Damn, Naru! Shinobu really socked you!"

"Yeah, she did." Naru replies.

Shinobu runs to her. "Naru-sempai! Are you all right?" Suddenly, her right foot slips, and she gives Naru a high kick to the chin, causing her to fall back down to the bottom of the steps. Shinobu flips. "Auuuuuuuu! I did it again! Please tell me there's something wrong with me, Sempai!"

"Relax." Keitaro responds. "It was just a bad reflex. Now let's help Naru."

(O)

Later, Naru lies on her futon, wrapped in bandages, almost looking like a mummy.

"I'm sorry, Naru-sempai!" Shinobu says. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Don't beat yourself up over it." Keitaro speaks. "It's probably one of those phases you girls go through. It'll be over before you know it."

Shinobu looks at Keitaro, then down on the floor. This can't possibly be a phase. She thinks. I beat up Naru-sempai twice! TWICE! There's definitely something wrong with me. Could I have some unrequited love for Sempai inside me that may have awakened, causing me to defend him, even if it means attacking Naru-sempai?

(O)

Kitsune's watching TV, but there's practically nothing on, so she's now bored as hell. She hears someone approach and turns her head to see Su, with some sort of ray gun. She's curious over what it is. "Hey, Su. Watcha holding?"

"It's my Hormonal Reconfiguration Gun, Mr. Horny Mark I™. It's untested, but if it works, it may bring Shinomu back to her adorable normal self."

"That sounds like good news." Kitsune replies. "We gotta tell the others." They both run downstairs.

They go to the dining room, but they only see Motoko building what looks like a Zen temple out of toothpicks.

"Motoko?" Kitsune asks. "Where's Shinobu?"

"I believe she's still upstairs in Naru's room." Motoko answers. "Naru's been through some serious injuries. I can sure tell you she doesn't have the immortality thing going on nearly as well as Urashima. I already visited her and gave her a get well card."

"My God!" Kitsune says. "Su, we're going to Naru's room!"

They quickly run upstairs, while Motoko continues with her toothpick structure.

(O)

Shinobu hears someone coming and turns to the door, which opens quite swiftly. Kitsune and Su walk in the room quickly, both heading towards her.

Shinobu greets them. "Hi. You have get well cards for Naru-sempai?"

"Actually," Kitsune responds. "We have something for you."

Su pulls out her ray gun. "Meet Mr. Horny Mark I™!"

"WAAAAUGH!" Shinobu cries out.

"It's just a Hormonal Reconfiguration Gun." Su explains. "One shot should change you back to your adorable normal self." She aims it at her.

"Really?" Shinobu mutters. She looks at the ray gun. She begins to feel tingles all over her body as she stares down the ray gun's barrel. A drop of sweat slowly trickles down her cheek. In that instant… she runs for it! She pushes Su aside and makes a mad dash out the door. The others quickly follow her.

Keitaro turns to Naru. "Wait right here, Naru." He runs out of the room and out of her sight.

"Sure thing." Naru says. "It's not like I'm going anywhere."

(O)

Shinobu runs across the hallways of the third story, thinking to herself. Why am I running away? Don't I WANT to go back to normal? She runs down the stairs and into the hallways of the second story; she still thinks to herself. Could there be a part of my new self that's conflicting against my former self? That has to be it, or else I would already be carefree and thirteen. Part of me really wants to stay like this, the same part of me that wants Sempai! She runs down the stairs and into the first floor, where she runs through the dining room.

"I've got you now, Shinomu!" Su opens fire, but the shot misses Shinobu, but instead obliterates Motoko's toothpick structure.

The samurai looks at the singed remains of what was the result of many hours of hard work. Her face turns red with rage. "My perfect replica of the Ginkakujin in Kyoto is RUINED!" She takes out her bokken and runs after Su and the others. "Come back here!"

"No can do!" Su responds. "I'm on a roll!" he keeps shooting at Shinobu, but the girl manages to dodge all of the shots. When Shinobu runs out the front door, however, she disappears. The others go out and look around the front yard to see where she went, but it seems she's nowhere to be found.

(O)

Shinobu stands up and looks at her surroundings in confusion. It doesn't take long until she finds out where she is. She freaks out. "HOW DID I GET ON THE ROOF?"

(O)

Everyone else hears it and looks up; indeed, she is on the roof. They hardly believe their eyes and quickly get back to the house.

Shinobu walks across the roof when she sees Keitaro and the others approaching her. When she sees Su with the ray gun, she makes a run for it again.

"Shinobu!" Keitaro cries out as he attempts to reach her, but to no avail, as the girl runs even faster away from them.

"What did I do?" Keitaro asks, unaware that it's Su she running away from.

She suddenly stops at the edge of the roof and looks down and realizes she's at the front of the building because she sees cement below. Then, she turns around and sees the others in front of her, slowly approaching her. She thinks to herself. What am I doing? Why can't I just let Su zap me back to normal? It would be so much easier!

Keitaro approaches her. "Shinobu? What's wrong?" He tries to grab her, but she steps back and then the unthinkable happens: she falls off the edge. The whole thing seems like it's playing in slow motion in front of everyone's eyes as her feet leave the roof and her body drops to the cement below.

"SHINOBU!" Keitaro cries out, as he is helpless to stop her freefall. Shinobu closes her eyes tightly and waits for the inevitable.

Then, she opens her eyes and looks around, and what she finds out she could hardly believe herself; she's levitating a foot from the ground, but just as she realized it, she hits the cement. The Hinata housers rush to her aid.

"Are you all right?" Keitaro asks, checking her out to see if there were any injuries; there were none.

"Y-Yeah, I think so." Shinobu responds shakily.

"Excuse me." Motoko interrupts. "This may have been just me, but I swore I saw Shinobu hovering above the ground."

"I saw it too." Keitaro says. "I think she did more than just age. She may have also acquired some sort of Extrasensory Perception."

"She might've found Quado." Kitsune added.

Shinobu sits up and looks at her hands. I'm psychic…

Su aims the ray gun back at her. "You ready, Shinomu?"

Shinobu barely nods her head, signaling her to open fire. This time, it's a direct hit, and a puff of smoke fills the area, causing much unwanted coughing among the Hinata housers. When the smoke clears, they could finally see the results, which weren't exactly satisfying. What was before them was a chicken… with Shinobu's head.

"Umm…" Su trails off, not able to think of a word to say. The Shinobu chicken walks up to her and pecks her leg mercilessly. "Shinomu, stop it!" She didn't; the chicken kept pecking in sheer vengeance, until another puff of smoke covers the area, causing more unwanted coughing among the Hinata housers. When the smoke clears again, they see the adult Shinobu that was in front of them a minute earlier.

"So, it was a dud, huh, Su?" Keitaro asks.

"Looks like it." Su agrees. Everyone heads back to the Hinata Sou.

(O)

Later, Kitsune sits by Naru. "Sorry about that. We were just in a jam earlier, but now I'm here, Naru."

"Thanks." Naru mutters.

Meanwhile, Motoko goes back to practicing, because she must always have her swordsmanship skills keen, and she wouldn't bother to restart with her toothpick structure. Su is working on a new way to bring the teenager back to normal. Keitaro and Shinobu are sitting next to one another on a couch in the lobby.

"Where did you get the ability to do that from?" Keitaro asks.

"Levitate?" Shinobu replies. "I don't know. I don't even know how I became like this. I was just sleeping and then it happened."

"And Su failed to reverse it." Keitaro adds. He sighs. "This is going to take quite some time to get used to."

At that moment, Shinobu places her hand on top of his.

To be continued.

PLEASE REVIEW. Tell me what you think.

See you next chapter. Ponytail Parade

I apologize in advance, but I'm going to be at Michigan for the week and I won't be back until at least next Friday, so it'll be a while until I update again.

-GYRAX of The Dark Icon Writers