The Price of Our Deeds

I nor anyone else involved in the creation of this story own any part of "Love Hina" or any of its characters. They are the sole property of Ken Akamatsu and/or the respective publishers.

The following was originally posted on by BackwardsThoughts as Tragic Anger on 9/2/06 and is being posted as it originally appeared with no editing. I requested and received permission to use it as a starting point for a new Love Hina FF story. I will use this as a Prologue to my story. This is being posted at the same time as my first chapter, so please leave comments/reviews after that chapter. Thank You.

Prologue:

Keitaro stormed off to his room. He was tired of it all. Tired of trying so hard to get into Tokyo U and failing, tired of being used as target practice by Motoko and Su-chan, tired of being drug around and had his emotions toyed around with by Mitsune, and tired of having the crap beat out of him by Naru, the girl he loved, the woman he cared for. He slammed the door behind him, cracking the frame. He really didn't care at this point. All he wanted to do was get to bed. The saying "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" had obviously not met Keitaro.

The next morning, Keitaro came down for breakfast as usual. Shinobu was manning the stove, Suu-chan and Tama were bouncing around the room, Motoko was sitting with her arms crossed and her head bowed, in thought, Mitsune was passed out on the table, a bottle of saki clutched to her breast...

"Nothing new here..." Keitaro grumbled as he took his seat at the end of the table and began helping himself to the Blueberry pancakes Shinobu had made. But before he had the chance to take a bite, Suu jumped on him.

"Weee! Koalla has a new toy for Keitaro to play with! Look!"

As Suu withdrew a remote control, Keitaro groaned.

"Must we do this now Suu? I have to go down to see the results of yesterdays test to see if I made it into Tokyo-U today. I really don't need this..."

Keitaro's words fell on deaf ears as Kolla punched a big red button on the remote. The next thing Keitaro knew, he was being chased down by ANOTHER one of Koalla's large, mechanical turtles!

"I call it the Predi-Tama! It's designed to hunt and kill whatever I tell it too! Hehe!"

Keitaro ran outside. Suu wasn't kidding. The turtle obviously wanted him dead. As Keitaro dodged several missiles from the mechanical annoyance, he had a revelation. He took a sharp left turn and headed for the storehouse. The turtle behind him fired off another round of missiles that made Keitaro wonder if the girl had stuck a deal with a terrorist organization somewhere. One of the missles struck the storehouse, which exploded. Keitaro caught sight of a sledgehammer, grabbed it, and turned to face the colossal pain in the ass...

Keitaro walked back into the kitchen tired, exhausted, and covered in motor oil.

"What did Keitaro do to Predi-Tama!"

Keitaro's eyes narrowed.

"Keitaro turned it into scrap metal because Keitaro is fed up with Suu-chan and her annoyances."

The room fell silent. Motoko looked up from her pensive mood, Mitsune opened her eyes, Shinobu dropped the mug she was holding. Koalla dropped her remote control.

"Koalla is...annoying?" The girl acted like she didn't even know the meaning of the word. Everyone in the house usually went along with her crazy ideas and put up with her weird inventions. Keitaro was the exception apparently.

"Yes. Koalla is annoying. Koalla causes lots of damage to the inn which costs lots of money to repair. Koalla doesn't get the meaning of the word no, and Koalla pisses Keitaro off."

Motoko stood up.

"That's enough Urashima."

Keitaro turned toward Motoko. He was upset, and he wasn't about to hold back.

"Ah yes, Motoko. The teenage prude who fears femininity so much that she engages in swordplay and despises men. What's the matter dear? Going to attack me with your blade for being tired of the shit I go through here? Go ahead. Try me. Next swing you take at me will get you expelled from this dorm. I am the manager you know, and alot of the stunts you and Suu pull would be considered illegal by almost the entire world. I'm surprised nobody's ever called the cops on us for all the trouble you two cause."

Motoko's mouth dropped. Keitaro was angry at this point.

"What's the matter? Shocked that Keitaro's got a backbone? Well there's plenty more where this came from. I've had it with almost all of you. I think Shinobu here is the only girl that's socially acceptable. She pulls her weight around here, never causes any trouble, works hard to please everyone and tries to make everything run smoothly."

Shinobu blushed.

"Ah-Ah Sempai I really...I-ah don't do that much around here really it's nothing at all..."

"Oh please Shinbou.. If it wasn't for you, we'd be eating out every night and be knee-deep in trash and dirty laundry. It's a shame nobody here really appreciates what you do more."

Keitaro turned and went to leave the room, but Naru appeared in the doorway.

"What's going on?"

Keitaro's face lit up.

"Oh look! It's the goddess of bitch herself! Come down here to punch me in the face for no good reason or are you just here for the party?"

Naru was stunned. She could tell that Keitaro was mad, and by the looks of everyone's faces in the room, something had happened. Mitsune decided to jump into the fray. Nobody insults Naru.

"Keitaro what has gotten into you?

Keitaro smiled.

"Well lookie here. The Goddess of alcohol has paid me a visit? So what buisness do you have with me today? Care to toy around with the people here for your own amusement? Waste money on sake and parties? Oh! I know! I insulted Naru! Ah yes. That must be it."

Mitsune's mouth fell open like the rest of the dorms patrons. Keitaro looked around and decided to seize the moment.

"Well since you're all here, I can happily say that I hate all of you. Suu, your machines annoy the hell out of me and waste my time and my life. Go back to whatever god-forsaken country you come from and build your mecha-tama-annoyances there. Motoko, you act like a carpet-munching prude and you try to make yourself appear strong and bold when in reality you have probably the biggest self-esteem problem in the world. Mitsune, you're nothing more then a freeloading drunk. Naru...ah yes! The girl whom I love. The girl I try to hard to impress, the girl that I would love to spend my life with, the girl that beats the shit out of me. What do I have to say about you?"

Keitaro paused for a moment and pretended to be thinking.

"Ah! I know! You're a bitch! Plain and simple! Well all, good day to you. I'll be heading back to my room now. I suggest all of you go ahead and slit your throats or something, because you're worthless to society..."

As Keitaro walked out of the room and up the stairs, Koalla started to cry.

"It's all m-m-my fault. If I ha-hadn't of...my s-stupid inventions...I was just trying to have f-fun..." Motoko walked over to her and gave her a hug.

"It's all right. You didn't mean to start anything Suu. I'm sure Urashima is just under a lot of stress from his exams and from all of us. Although I do agree with what he just said...it might not have been pretty, but he's right."

Everyone in the room looked at her.

"Well it's true! All Koalla and I do is gun down Urashima and wreck half the dorm in the process, Mitsune here just drinks sake all day, and Naru...you can be harsh on him at times. He really does care about you, but I think it really hurts him when you knock him off the 3rd floor balcony into the hot springs..."

Naru hadn't heard a word Motoko said. Her mind was replaying what Keitaro had said.

"Naru...ah yes! The girl whom I love. The girl I try to hard to impress, the girl that I would love to spend my life with..."

"...the girl that beats the shit out of me..."

Did Naru really mean that much to him? Naru turned and followed Keitaro up the stairs, leaving the sobs and murmurs of the awe-stuck tenants behind.

When Naru reached Keitaro's door, she paused for a minuet. He was crying. She bit her lip and held back for a moment, trying to decide whether or not to enter. But the sound of his voice made her hesitate.

"Nobody here even cares about my feelings. They act as they wish and do what they want. They don't care about money or hard work...they just freeload and create problems..."

Naru regain to feel guilty. She had been mean at times, and she did have to admit that some of the dorm's residents did waste a lot of time and money on things that shouldn't happen in the first place.

"And Naru...oh god. If only she knew how many times a day I though of her..."

Naru heard him stop talking to himself. She heard him take a drink of something and set the glass back down.

"If only sh-she knew how many dreams I had of her...all the feelings I get when I'm with her...if only shee knew how much I cared for her. But no...she jusht wants to punch me...and hit me, and treat me like crap. Everything I do is per-per-verted and wrong. Everything I do ish a pwoblem to herr..she'd never want me...all she wants do to is chase... chase after Set...se...san...

Naru listened as his voice trailed off, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry Keitaro..." she whispered.

"If I had known...if any of us had really known that we were getting to you this bad..."

She pressed her ear close to his door, and listened to the sound of his sobs, which soon gave way to light, shallow breathing, which soon turned to silence...

Wait...

Naru slid his door open just a bit...

...and screamed.

On Keitaro's bed lay Keitaro, with an empty bottle of sleeping pills in one hand, and an "I'm sorry" note clutched in the other.

Haruka was on her way back from the store when she passed the school. She had remembered Naru and her nephew talking about the entrance exam results to Tokyo-U being posted, and out of curiosity walked into the crowds and checked on the results herself.

"T...U...Ua...Un...Ur..Urashima..."

Haruka took the cigarette out of her mouth for once and smiled. All of that studying had paid off. There is was, posted on the wall.

"Urashima Keitaro, Tokyo University Entrance Exam..."

"...PASS."

At this point I wish to thank BackwardsThoughts for permission to use his story to begin my story. Please continue to the next chapter to read my interpretation of the events that follow this tragic beginning.