In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: I'm not Ken Akamatsu, I don't own Love Hina and the characters and locations are used without permission for non-profit entertainment purposes. "Gargoyles" and all associated characters and situations belong to Disney and are also used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

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"Cashing Out"
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

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They had called him a thousand different insults; among them vile, dishonorable, coward, yellow... He had found that the ancient Greek for 'Yellow' was Xanthos; it was hard to say, but he liked it. It inspired him...

Looking back at Japan over the stern of the boat, the man who had until recently been Urashima Keitaro smiled as though a thousand burdens had been lifted from his shoulders, the person he was once was now no more. Whether America was 'The Land of Opportunity' or just 'The Last, Best Hope for a Quick Buck' didn't really matter. It was half a world away with millions of people for him to get lost among until the time was right for him to be known again, a time when he would be able to deal with things on his own terms - not the Urashima's, not Tokyo University's, not anyone else's but his own.

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Years later, Fox Xanatos looked over her husband's shoulder, "Looking over your assets, David?"

Xanatos - only his wife called him 'David', to everyone else he was 'Mr. Xanatos' or simply 'Xanatos' - shook his head before turning it to look up at her, "Looking over a liability, and I think it's time to let it be someone else's liability."

"Should I ask or should I want to keep plausible deniability?" Fox teased, knowing that her husband's respect for the law only went as far as he could buy it.

"It was supposed to be the family inn, but looking back I was never really part of the family or part of the inn - Even though legally I was listed as manager and owner of the property, in reality I was just the guy who fixed things and got abused whenever anyone needed an outlet," Xanatos explained.

"So you don't plan on going back and doing this yourself?" Fox asked.

Xanatos laughed, "Why should I? That's what I have lawyers on my payroll for."

"Maybe you do, but normally you prefer to handle things personally whenever possible," Fox pointed out, "If you don't believe me, look at that battlesuit you made so you could fight Goliath face-to-face."

"For all the differences between Goliath and myself. There's always been a certain amount of respect there as well," Xanatos answered solemnly before tapping the paper on the desk in front of him, "This place, there was never any respect there."

"Then why has it taken you this long to decide to get rid of it?"

"I don't know," his wife was probably the only person in whose presence Xanatos would ever freely admit to a lack of knowledge or understanding, much less what he was about to say, "Maybe part of me thought they were right... Maybe I used to dream of going back there and taking over the way I should have from the beginning... maybe it was just a convenient reminder of my past when I needed one. All I know is that whatever it was, I don't have a use for it anymore, I don't want it anymore, so I've already found a good set of buyers for it."

The red-head raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Who?"

Xanatos grinned, "The Japanese clan needed a place to expand. All things considered, I think one hundred yen 'and other considerations' was a fair price to ask."

Fox rolled her eyes, "Does Goliath know that you're involving yourself with the other surviving Gargoyle clans?"

"Since he hasn't broken down the door to confront me," Xanatos answered easily, "I'd have to say 'no'."

Shaking her head, Fox replied, "What am I going to do with you, David?"