Disclaimer:

All intellectual and property rights of Love Hina belongs to Ken Akamatsu. Manga and anime rights belong to whomever holds them for each country or region. The world of Love Hina is being used without permission and without the intent of infringing upon these rights. No profit is being made. If you recognize it, it belongs to Ken Akamatsu. If you don't recognize it, there is still a strong chance it belongs to Akamatsu. The seldom and rare things that Akamatsu doesn't claim as his own and could be construed as mine I release to Public Domain.

This work was not beta read. If you, the reader, find anything in error, feel free to let me know and I will endeavor to fix it if I can. As such, thank you for making this better for the next reader. Those who wish to beta read this story merely has to let me know.

Chapter One:
It went zip when it moved and bop when it stopped
whirl when it stood still
I never knew just what it was and I guess I never will

Su yanked the cover off of her latest contraption, revealing it to her, literally, captive audience. "Voila! The Su-O-Tron 2000 prototype."

Keitaro began to panic. "What does it do?" he asked as he struggled against his bonds, but the ropes held fast.

"No idea."

"No idea?" This reply gave Keitaro a bad feeling.

"Nope, nuh-uh, none." Su shook her head emphatically. "The plans came to me in a dream. I quickly jotted them down before going back to sleep. I've forgotten the dream, but luckily I still have the plans." Su held up some crumpled paper with unintelligible scribblings on it, and plenty of banana stains as well.

Keitaro began to sweat faster. "Well, I'd love to stay and watch, but I better go clean the hot springs. Maybe you can untie me now?"

Su pressed a button; the machine began to hum and vibrate. "Nonsense, it only needs to warm up. This won't take long at all."

Suddenly, Naru and Motoko stormed the living room. "Why isn't the hot springs clean, you lazy good for nothing?" Naru demanded.

"You worthless, loathsome male. Can you not meet a simple responsibility? Wasting your time by playing instead of doing work." Motoko punctuated her statement by swinging her sword through the air in a chi attack. Keitaro was knocked over by the rock-cutting blade, and in the process the ropes binding him were cut. Su, thinking and acting quickly, lifted her invention out of the way to avoid Keitaro crashing into it.

"You're all in time to see my amazingly stupendous demonstration," Su hawked in joyful glee.

Keitaro got up, rubbing his head where it hurt. "Not now Su, got work to do."

"What does it do?" Motoko bent to get a closer look at the device.

A bell on the machine dinged. At that same time, Keitaro's feet got tangled up in the pieces of rope on the floor and he tripped into Motoko. Both collided with the Su-O-Tron 2000, which flashed brightly when it was jarred.

Rubbing spots out of their eyes, Su and Naru found themselves alone in the room. Keitaro, Motoko, and Su's creation were missing. "I guess I won't find out if it does make banana flavored ice cream," Su lamented.

"Get off me, you lechorous, perverted ..."

Keitaro quickly shrank back, covering himself with his arms as he trembled in fear. "I'm sorry, it was just an accident. Honest!" he protested. So caught up was he in apologizing, he was unaware of his surroundings as he cowered and groveled on the ground. He hadn't even noticed the way Motoko trailed off in confusion and shock.

"Keitaro?" Motoko's stunned voice was filled with something Keitaro had never heard in her voice before: fear. Even more noteworthy, Motoko hadn't called him names or used his last name; she had called him by his first name, something she never did before. "Where are we?"

"What do you mean..." Without an attack coming and Motoko behaving oddly, Keitaro finally lowered his arms and now he could see where he was for the first time.

They no longer were at the Hinata Dorms. Instead, they found themselves outside, some place strange and alien. The abrasive sand underneath was a ruddy brown. A foul smelling wind blew through the nearby crags and clefts in the strangely glossy rocks. The sky had an orange tint to it, and seemed heavy with some sort of chemical smog. The pieces of Su's machine laid forlornly at their feet.

Keitaro felt a burning in his chest and began to gulp air like he was drowning, although he had plenty of air to breathe. Feeling light headed, he sat down.

Motoko squatted by him. "We must be high in some mountains. Oxygen is thinner here. We must conserve ourselves until our bodies adapt. Be careful not to overdo any activity."

Keitaro nodded. "We can't stay here; we need to find our way home."

"Agreed," Motoko replied without hesitation. Keitaro noticed that she seemed pale and her eyes were glazed over and listless. "Just ... let me catch my breath first."

While waiting, and resting as well, Keitaro fiddled with the pieces of Su's artifact. "Looks kind of like it exploded. Though I think we would have remembered if it did," he said conversationally. Keitaro waited for a reply, but Motoko remained silent. He frowned at the lack of response and looked over to her.

She sat like a statue, still and unmoving, but as Keitaro watched she tipped over and fell to the ground with a meaty thud. Her body bounced, but otherwise laid unresponsive. Keitaro began to panic. "Motoko, don't die! Stay away from the light!" he screamed as he slapped her face. However, Keitaro got no response from the fallen swords-woman. "What do I do now?" he thought in panic. The first thing that had come to mind was CPR. Keitaro was not really trained in it, but he knew the basic idea. Taking a deep breathe, he inhaled a mouthful of abrasive sand, which the wind was kicking up. Coughing and spluttering, he hacked up to clean his mouth. Trying a second time, Keitaro managed to breathe in a lungful of air before successfully exhaling it gently into Motoko's open mouth. A second breath followed by a third finally rewarded Keitaro with a twitch from Motoko. Emboldened, he pressed on.

After his seventh time breathing into Motoko's mouth, she coughed weakly. Swatting him with her right hand, she hoarsely cried, "Pervert!" A fit of coughing followed. Motoko made a slight gagging noise, so Keitaro breathed for her once more. Motoko tried to push him away, but couldn't muster the strength.

Keitaro took another deep breath. "Stop," Motoko desperately cried, her voice soft and weak.

"But you'll die," Keitaro protested. The he bent down to administer more air to her. As he released more life-giving breath into her lungs, Motoko came to a decision. There was a chi technique she was familiar with, useful out in the field when someone was seriously injured. It allowed a healthy person to sync their body with the injured person. In this manner, the healthy person's heart beat would keep the injured person's heart beating and their breath kept the injured party breathing. The two hearts and lungs kept time, like some sort of metaphysical iron lung. This had kept many a warrior alive until they could receive medical assistance. This time, though, Motoko would need to apply it backwards as she was the injured party. Something she had never attempted before. She focused her chi and directed it, searching for Keitaro's center.

As Keitaro came up for another lungful of air, he felt a funny sort of tingling pass through him, from his belly button out. Motoko's hand on his chest arrested his downward movement, and he saw her shake her head. "I'm fine now."

Keitaro didn't quite believe her. "You sure?"

She nodded affirmative. "Hmm," she hummed as she bit her lower lip. A pensive look stole across her face. "You have some sort of old chi-path, unused for nearly fifteen years. It's atrophied, but still functional." Keitaro did not know how to reply as Motoko lapsed into silence. "There, that ought to ... Oh! You used to be able to extend your immortality into others."

"I'm not immortal," Keitaro modestly objected.

Motoko scoffed, "Says the man not dieing from oxygen deprivation and somehow able to breathe for two people when there isn't enough oxygen for one. If I can direct some of your chi out through that tap ... there, done. Now help me up."

"Are you OK?" Keitaro inquired as he gave Motoko a hand up.

"I'll live as long as you do. So, I must stress the importance of being careful!"

"Huh? Why?'

"Because I've synced my body to yours. If you die, so will I. Therefore, I can't stress enough the-"

"What?" Keitaro interrupted her as he shot backwards, jumpy once more. "What does that mean?"

Motoko sighed. "Keitaro, calm down. Getting worked up won't solve anything. There is this technique of the Shinmeiryu. It allows one to do the living for two people: hearts beat together, lungs breathe together, and life-force flows together. Even when the injured person's body can't do those things, say for example, the lungs are full of blood. The technique still helps to keep them from slipping into death. As such, as long as you live, I live. And just as I have connected our centers, I have also tapped unto your healing ability. I'm receiving partial benefit of your hardiness. But both will be gone if you die. So please, whatever you do, be careful!"

Keitaro simply nodded his head, too overwhelmed to speak. Motoko, meanwhile, brushed the sand off of her clothes. "Now that that obstacle is settled, let us see about finding some help."

"Where do you think we are?" Keitaro anxiously asked.

Motoko shrugged, then all color drained from her face. A rattling gasp escaped her throat. Keitaro thought she was relapsing until he saw her shaking hand come up to point urgently.

Looking over, Keitaro was in shock to see what it was that had spooked Motoko so badly. Through the haze, he could clearly see two suns. One was larger and more blue; the other was smaller and more red.

"Where ever we are, it isn't Earth," Motoko quietly mentioned in a stunned voice.

Revised March 1st, 2010 for minor typos and minimal rewording