Love Hina: Enough

Chapter 1

Keitaro walked up the steps to the Hinata inn, no smile evident on his face. He had just been launched for the third time today, and his immortality had not had a chance to recharge fully.

The fall didn't kill him, but it sure as hell hurt him.

Wincing, he clutched his ribs, feeling the warm, sticky fluid that was slowly soaking his shirt. Gritting his teeth, he opened the door and tried to walk as tall as possible, so as not to worry them.

His care went unnoticed.

Naru stood in front of him, fists clenched at her hips. "What took you so long, you lazy fool? The hot springs need to be cleaned, and you have to fix the hole you put in the wall of my room." And then she paused, looking curiously at keitaro, who was visibly sweating, hard. "Are you alright?"

Keitaro brushed past her, trying to ignore the smell of her hair, "I'm fine." He said, jaw aching from the effort of not crying out. Quickly, he made his way to his room, passing Motoko as he did. She just threw him a dirty glare before walking past him on her way to the hot springs.

Alone in his room, Keitaro gently removed his shirt, careful to not disturb the wound. Sticking out of his side was a jagged piece of metal, almost three inched long, not enough to be noticeable under a loose shirt. It was covered in blood, some of which was beginning to drip onto the floor.

Grimacing, he grabbed a sock from his drawer and stuffed it into his mouth. Sweating, he took the metal in a solid grip and pulled, hard.

The tendons in his neck stood out, and even more sweat escaped his pores, and the metal slid out with a sickening sucking sound.

Panting, Keitaro threw the metal aside and waited for his immortality to take over. It was much slower than before, as if near the breaking point, but eventually, it did heal.

Groaning, he pulled the damp sock from his mouth, tossed it aside, and went about cleaning up the blood he had spilled.

A week later, he was walking into the kitchen, where Shinobu was humming and making breakfast, a smile on her face. "Good morning Sempai, I'm making your favorite for breakfast, eggs and sausage!"

Keitaro smiled and walked over to a cabinet to grab some cups to set the table, "Thanks Shinobu, you're the best." The girl flushed at the compliment, but Keitaro had his back turned. That was why he also missed Shinobu tripping over a discarded sake bottle ling on the floor.

A loud crash brought his attention to his rear, where he saw Shinobu sprawled on the floor, spirals filling her eyes. "Shinobu, are you alright?"

Shaking her head, the girl replied, "I think so… ow!" she had tried to stand, but her ankle buckled. Quickly, keitaro caught her before she fell again, and set her in a chair so he could examine her injury.

"Hmm, it seems to be a sprain. I'll get some ice and then we can call…"

"PERVERT!" Keitaro sighed and faced an angry Naru and Motoko. "Just let me explain…"

But, as usual, they didn't even pause. Naru was first, a punch landing square on Keitaro's jaw. But Keitaro didn't fly away, instead, he almost sort of floated in the air, before hitting solid ground.

His jaw was broken, that was evident from the shrill pain in his face. It was possible some other bones were too, but Keitaro didn't have time to think about that, as a massive wave of ki was launched at him. Again, he didn't fly into the air. Instead, his chest was sliced open, from his left shoulder to right hip.

Blood shot out from the wound, quickly covering the floor. Almost instantly, his vision became blurry, and he collapsed to one knee, just as images of what he had been through since coming here flashed through his head. Pictures of him being abused went by, like a slide projector, and finished, just as he fell forward into a pool of his own blood.

Haruka severed the cigaretted she was holding in her mouth with her teeth, and spat the damp end out. She was absolutely furious, her nephew was in the hospital, on the brink of death, all because two girls didn't let him explain as to why he had been holding Shinobu's ankle.

She probably would have killed the girls had it not been illegal, but nonetheless, she found her fingers twitching and sometimes reaching for a nearby knife.

The effect was not lost on Naru and Motoko. Naru was openly crying, while Motoko had her eyes closed and was mumbling to herself. Finally, Haruka could stand it no longer; she walked up to the pair, and in a flash slapped both of them, hard enough to send them to the floor, and then left to go see how her nephew was doing.

Motoko stood and humbly brushed herself off. Naru, though, stayed by her place on the floor, still crying.

Three days later, Haruka came to the inn, bearing the news that keitaro would live; but he would retire as manager. Su and shinobu's lips quivered at this, and they asked why.

Haruka opened the manila envelope she had brought with her and pulled out several x-rays.

"These are all pictures of Keitaro. According to the doctor, he has had three broken legs, two left, one right, his right arm has been broken five times, his right once. His ribs have had multiple fractures, one lung had been pierced, multiple concussions, a broken jaw, and several scars, one of which is apparently from this." She held up a jagged piece of metal she had found in keitaro's room. The blood on it had turned black and dried, but it was still blood.

"Also, the cut Motoko gave him was almost two inches deep. Any deeper, and he would have died. As for his immortality, it's apparent that it's been overtaxed to the point of it taking possibly years to completely return. Why did this happen?"

Naru attempted to defend herself, "He was being a pervert! He always looks at us while we're undressing, or in the hot springs. He deserved what he got."

BAD thing to say.

Haruka turned red, and ran up to the girl and slapped her twice, once on the left cheek, and a backhand across the right. "You Bitch! Didn't it ever occur to you to let him explain the situation? It was probably an accident, knowing Keitaro, but NO! you have the infinite wisdom to instantly pass verdict and sentence. Thanks to you, Keitaro's going to be in the hospital for weeks, he'll have a huge scar on his front, and he's going to America! Do you know what he told me when he finally woke up?"

Silence met her. "he said 'Enough, Haruka, I've had enough.' He didn't even have enough in him to call me Aunt. He's going to live with Seta, who upon hearing the situation, was twice as mad as I am now." Haruka looked pointedly at Sara, "He's especially mad at you, for not obeying him and behaving yourself. I would be writing my will right now if I were you."

With a final look of disgust, Haruka turned and slammed the door behind her, knocking a picture off the wall, to break on the floor. Numbly, Naru went to pick it up.

It was a picture of the girls and Keitaro at the beach, all smiling . as if by fate a piece of glass had cut the picture almost in half, separating Keitaro from the rest of the girls.