Love Hina: Exchange! The Shoe's on the Other Foot a Fan Fiction by Jason Low Disclaimer: Everyone owns their own things. Everybody play nice. "My name is Keitaro Urashima, age 20. I am aspiring to get into Tokyo University this coming year. I live in the Hinata Apartments, working as the resident manager. All the other residents are women; lovely, caring, and very.. energetic women." "All this was true, as of yesterday.." THE NIGHT BEFORE Shinobu Maehara was cleaning the front room when the doors opened and a figure walked in. "Hey, Naru-sempai!" she said, waving. "How'd the exam go?" "Fine, thank you," Naru Narusegawa said politely, smiling as she slid off her shoes. "I think I did well." "Good. I'm making your favorite for supper," Shinobu said, standing up with a smile. "It'll be ready in about half an hour!" "All right!" Naru said. "Thank you." The entire household had turned out for supper. Motoko, Su, Kitsune, Shinobu, Naru, and Keitaro all sat down for a filling dinner. "This is good, Shinobu-chan!" Su enthused, gnawing on a bone of some kind. "Yes, it's very well prepared," Keitaro nodded. "Tasty," Kitsune observed. Shinobu blushed. "Th-thank you, all.." "Do not be bashful, Shinobu," Motoko said. "You did a very good job and deserve the praise." "D-did you hear about Naru-sempai's exam, Urashima-sempai?" Shinobu said, trying to change the subject. "I'm sure it was good," he said, focusing on his meal. "She's got a natural talent for it." "I do not," Naru pouted. "It's hard work." "If it's nothing more than hard work," said Keitaro, "how come I've had such bad luck? I do hard work too.." "It's not just hard work," Motoko insisted. "You must devote your entire being to the task." "I do," Keitaro began, but Naru cut him off. "Ha!" she scoffed. "You can't spend more than fifteen minutes without getting distracted." "I still think you have an affinity for this kind of work," Keitaro said. "I've studied so hard, and I fear I'm still going to do poorly tomorrow." "Tomorrow?" Su said. "I thought Naru took hers today.." "They had so many applicants this time, they made two groups by last name," Naru said. "Mine was today, his is tomorrow." She looked to Keitaro. "And I still say I don't have any advantage over you! If you would only just apply yourself, you'd do fine. You practice well, but when it comes to the exams.." She hmph'ed and looked away. "If you only had an inkling of what I go through to prepare, I think you'd do a whole lot better." "I think maybe you're the one who doesn't understand all the effort I put in," Keitaro said, wide-eyed, at his study partner. Shinobu looked up as Kitsune left the table. "Where are you going..? I'll clear the table in a moment--" Kitsune put a finger to her lips. "Sssh, it's okay," she said quietly, and disappeared into the hall for a moment while the two prospective students continued to argue. "Effort?" Naru said in a disbelieving tone. "The next time you try to show some effort, let me know so I can watch for it." "I'm not trying??" Keitaro said with surprise. "I think you're the one who hasn't been paying attention--" Naru raised a fist. "What did you say?!" "People!" Kitsune said, coming in with a tray full of glasses. "Everyone calm down. This should be a night of celebration!" "Is that what I think..?" Motoko asked, raising an eyebrow. "Celebratory sake," Kitsune beamed. "In honor of Naru's success and Keitaro's impending victory as well!" "Isn't it bad luck to celebrate beforehand?" Shinobu asked. "Not when it's guaranteed," Kitsune said. She carefully set the glasses out in a seemingly random order. "How come mine's purple?" Su asked. "Grape juice for you two," Kitsune said, setting the last glass in front of Shinobu. "I'm carefree, but I'm not irresponsible." She smiled and sat down, hoisting her glass. "Ready?" "Ready," the others said. Kitsune began the toast and led the others into a celebratory sip. Keitaro watched as Naru, sitting across from him, dipped her glass towards him in a friendly gesture, then downed the drink. He followed suit, smiling, thinking, (Maybe she's right. Maybe things will be different tomorrow.) MORNING Keitaro awoke slowly. He felt disoriented and confused, not sure where he was or what was going on. As his senses returned to him, the visage of Naru's room formed around him. (Uh oh,) he thought. (I fell asleep in her room. Did we do some studying after supper? I can't remember.. I never should have taken that sake.) Keitaro pushed the bedcovers aside, distantly wondering where Naru had slept, if he'd spent the night in her bed. He rubbed his eyes and fumbled around for his glasses, but they weren't within reaching distance. He decided to open his eyes and scan the room for them-- --and, as he did, came face-to-face with a pajama-clad Naru, standing between him and her closet-door mirror. "Aa! Sorry!" he cringed, falling to his knees and tensing up for the inevitable punch. When, a moment later, he didn't find himself flying through the air over Hinata-sou, he tilted his head upwards and opened one eye. To his astonishment, Naru was doing the same thing. "What are.." he began, noticing with surprise as Naru started to speak as well. His groggy mind started catching up with him and pointed out that the only voice he could hear was Naru's.. "Uh..." he said uneasily. He lifted a hand off the floor, and Naru lifted the opposite hand at the same time. Keitaro suddenly realized there was no one standing in between him and Naru's mirror. Luckily, at that moment, he passed out from the shock. The Liddo-cover wouldn't budge. Something was blocking its movement, Naru realized. She'd woken up a few moments before, in unfamiliar territory. After a few moments, she realized she was in Keitaro's room! She had leapt to her feet, intent on knocking him into the next life for luring her into his room, when she realized he wasn't anywhere to be found. Furthermore, she felt awfully strange.. The shock of what she'd discovered next nearly knocked her out. She decided she had to be having a bad dream. But if she was down here, and looking like Keitaro, then that would mean that upstairs... She climbed onto Keitaro's kotatsu table and heaved with all her might--or rather, all Keitaro's might--against the Liddo lid. This time it moved, and something rolled off onto the floor beside the hole, moaning. Naru hoisted herself up through the hole, stopping when her head was just peeking inside. "Keitaro?" she said softly, worriedly. "Unnnh.." Naru turned, and to her surprise, there she lay on the floor, out like a light, still in her PJs. Naru climbed the rest of the way into her own room and went to her body and shook its shoulder lightly. "Keitaro.." Naru's body moaned again, then the eyes snapped open. "Gah!" Keitaro shouted as he regained consciousness. He sat up and hugged himself in a fetal-like position. "I just had the strangest dream.." He looked up and found he was staring into his own eyes. "GYAAAH!" he shrieked again, backing up on all fours--nearly falling into the hole in the floor. Naru reached out and grabbed her body by both arms, saving Keitaro from a dangerous fall. She hauled him back into the room, but underestimated her strength, and the two tumbled together until Naru, in Keitaro's body, was flat on her back on the floor, with a dazed and confused Keitaro, in Naru's body, lying atop her. "Get off me!" Naru hissed, pushing at Keitaro. He rolled over and lay still. The two of them lay there panting for a moment, trying to gather their thoughts and understand what was going on. Finally, Keitaro turned his head and looked at Naru and said, "I.. I'm not having a dream, am I?" "Not unless I am too," Naru responded. "And I don't think that's possible." "Guuh," Keitaro said, putting a hand to his head and idly running it through the long, brown hair it found there. "What a nightmare." "Hey!" Naru shot back. "Are you saying I'm a nightmare??" "No! No!" Keitaro responded, waving his hands in front of him. "I.. I'm..." He trailed off, looking at his hands. "You have beautiful hands," he told Naru. Naru twisted her borrowed face into a snarl, and lifted her right arm, fist clenched. "No! You can't do that!" Keitaro said, lunging towards her and grabbing her arm. "Why not?!" she demanded. "Because.. because... you're me.. a-and I'm you.. and .. it just doesn't work that way," he whispered. Naru thought about it for a second. Yes.. everyone else would see it as Keitaro clobbering Naru. That could cause a huge amount of problems for both of them. She relaxed her arm. "So what are we going to do?" she asked Keitaro. "What are you asking me for?" he snapped. "You're the one with all the answers. I'm the dumb one." His expression fell. "And now I'm going to miss this afternoon's practice exam.." Naru put her hands on his shoulders. "You're not going to miss your exam," she told him. "We just have to figure out what happened and reverse it. What do you remember?" "Celebrating at dinner, then going to my room to study," Keitaro told her. "I was trying to cram in a few more hours before the test." Naru nodded. "I was going to go watch the sea for a bit after supper, but I felt too tired to do anything but lie down and rest." "That's it?" "What do you mean, 'that's it'?" "You don't have a very interesting nightlife," Keitaro observed. Naru felt like slugging him, but instead folded her arms across her chest and hmph'ed. "Says you, Mr. Cram-A-Few-More-Hours." "Let's not argue," Keitaro said in an apologetic tone. "Do you have any ideas for getting us back to normal?" Naru shook her head. "Not off the top of my head. What about you?" "I can't think straight at all," Keitaro complained. "Between worrying about the exam and trying to make your body function.." "I told you, forget the exam for now," Naru sighed. "Look. We need to retrace our steps. What did we do that could have led to this? What was the last thing we did togeth.." "The sake!" they both said at once, pointing at one another. "Do you really think so?" Keitaro asked. "It doesn't make sense," Naru said. "Everyone but Shinobu and Su had it. Does that mean that..?" "You think the others switched, too?" "I hope not," Naru said. "But if it was the sake, we just have to get some of it and drink it." "Where's it kept?" Naru looked at Keitaro oddly. "Some manager you are! Kitsune has an entire stash in her bookcase." "Oh," Keitaro said. "It's not my business to pry, though." "Well, one of us has to go get it," Naru said. "And bring it back here. Discreetly." "You're her friend," Keitaro pointed out. Naru paused, looking at him. "Not right now," she said, pointing at him. "You are." "What??" "Look at yourself," Naru told him. "You look like me and you sound like me. For now, you ARE me." "But.. I can't do it," Keitaro protested. "I can't pull it off.." Naru sighed. "She's probably not up yet anyway," she said. "Just stay here and try not to do anything stupid." Ten minutes later, Naru returned. Keitaro stood up. "Did you get it?" Naru produced the small bottle of sake and had an odd look for Keitaro. "Did you know she talks about you in her sleep?" she asked him. "Wha?" he said, blinking and looking confused. "Never mind. Also, I saw Motoko out in the yard practicing with her sword, so it's probably a safe bet they haven't swapped," Naru said. "Do you remember where the paper cups are?" "I think so," Keitaro said, rummaging through Naru's closet. Naru watched tiredly as he stumbled around the room, and finally got them. "Found them," Keitaro declared. "Two, please," Naru said, and when Keitaro had set them out, she poured the two small cups full with sake. "Here's to us," Keitaro announced, picking up the paper cup and tipping it first towards Naru, then down his throat. Naru did a similar maneuver on her own. The two watched each other eagerly for a long period of time. Finally, Naru said, "I don't think it worked." "What'll happen to us?" Keitaro wailed. "We can't stay like this.." "We may have to," Naru said. "For now." She stood up. "Wh-where are you going??" Keitaro panicked. "We can't hide in here all day," Naru said plainly. "I guess I've got to do your chores. And you have to do mine." "Do WHAT??" "Go have a bath, and get dressed. Then do something." "I don't know what you do all day! And you surely don't know what I do!" Naru counted on her fingers. "It's Thursday. You do the laundry, then you scrub the hall floors. Then you're SUPPOSED to help Shinobu clean up the kitchen, but you always run out of time. And I, well, I was going to just study today." "Study??" Keitaro blurted out. "You just did your practice exam yesterday!" Naru smiled and folded her arms in front of her. "You could go shopping with Kitsune then. I need more school supplies, and she's going into town anyway." "Eeep! N-no, that's all right," Keitaro smiled nervously. "And you'd better not ruin my reputation," Naru warned. "Don't do anything to make people think anything's out of place." "Right," Keitaro said, sweatdropping hugely. (I can do this,) Naru told herself with confidence as she gathered up all the laundry people had piled up outside their doors. (Keitaro has it EASY around here.) She, like Keitaro, seemed to be able to ignore the major physical changes they'd gone through, in order to be able to concentrate on getting through the day. (I wonder what did this to us,) Naru wondered, carrying the overfilled laundry baskets towards the laundry room. (We're going to have to tell someone eventually, unless we can figure this out ourselves.) Naru took a short-cut to the laundry room, through the changeroom of the hot spring. She put down one of the baskets to close the door behind her, then picked it up again and turned around-- --to come almost face-to-face with Motoko, wrapped in a towel, still dripping wet from the spring. "Oh, hello, Motoko," she smiled. "Excuse me, I'm just--" "Urashima!!" Motoko gasped, twisting her face into an angry expression. "You..!" Naru gasped and realized her mistake. She dropped the baskets, holding her--or, rather, Keitaro's--hands up in defense. "Motoko! It was an accident! I didn't mean to--" "SHINMEI SECRET ARTS!" Motoko bellowed, pulling her weapon from an unseen location. "AIR SPLITTING SWORD!" Before Naru had a chance to protest, she was propelled through the air--and the wall, and ceiling, and sky above Hinata-sou--landing on the roof, crumpled backwards over the peak. "I so did not deserve that," Naru moaned, waiting for her wind to come back to her. "All I did was accidentally wander in.." (And how many times has Keitaro told me that..?) she realized. Speaking of Keitaro, he was timidly sneaking his way downstairs and to the hot springs. With Naru's clothes in one hand, and towel in another, he had no free appendages to try to push Naru's heart back down out of her throat into a more comfortable position. He gulped, but it still had no effect. He cautiously slid the door open, edging carefully into the change room, and then.. "Hey, Naru!" Kitsune called out from the springs, waving. "The water's great today!" Keitaro froze, dropping the clothes. "Eeegh.." he said, ducking down behind the bench to pick it all up, and hide his blushing from Kitsune. "Naru?" Kitsune called out. "What's the matter? Are you okay?" "F-fine!" Keitaro stammered, still hiding behind the bench, even though he had gathered everything up. "I-I'm okay!" "Then come on out here, before everyone else muddies up the water," Kitsune egged 'Naru' on. "O.. okay," Keitaro said. He hid in a corner of the room, facing the wall, while he removed Naru's pajamas and wrapped the towel around her body. Trying not to pay too much attention to the body's form, or worse yet, generate the mother of all nosebleeds, he gingerly stepped out towards the spring. "How's it goin' today?" Kitsune asked, waving Keitaro into the area of the pond right next to her. "Uh... fine," Keitaro smiled nervously. "How about you?" "A bit hung over, but I'll survive," she said. "You should have been here about fifteen minutes ago!" "Wh.. why, what happened?" Keitaro asked. "Keitaro walked through the change room," Kitsune giggled. "And Motoko was in there. And all he did was say, 'Oh, hi, Motoko!'" Keitaro gasped. "Oh no! What happened next?" "What do you think? She used her sword, he pinballed all over the place. Again." "Is he okay?" "Oh, sure. After a while, he rolled down off the roof and picked up the laundry and went on his way. Same as always." "Phew," Keitaro breathed a sigh of relief, sinking into the water. "Come over here and I'll do your back for you," Kitsune offered. "W-wha?" "I said, c'mere and I'll scrub your back. Then you can do mine." Keitaro debated this for a long moment. ".. Okay," he finally conceded. He sat there hunched over, tensed up as he felt Kitsune using the scrubbing sponge on Naru's back. "You seem awfully concerned about Keitaro's well-being today," Kitsune observed. "Wh-wha?" Keitaro stammered. Trying to recover, he said, "It's just that he has the exam today, and.." "So what?" Kitsune said. "If it'd been you in the change room, you'd have done the same thing. Besides, he's a man. He can take it. Even after he gets all his so-called 'chores' done, he'll still have hours to prepare for his exam." Keitaro blinked. "It's not that easy, you know," he said. "I--um, we've both got a lot of things to do before even a practice exam." "Hey, I know YOU know how hard things are, Naru," Kitsune said. "You work harder than anyone else I know, even when you don't have an exam pending." "I do, huh," Keitaro said quietly, thinking it over. Kitsune said, "There, done. Now you do me." "Huuuh?" Keitaro felt like he'd pass out. Naru limped her way to the laundry room again, still feeling the effects of Motoko's anger. She thought she could have gotten at least the downstairs hallway cleaned and polished before the wash was done, but she ran out of time, and if she didn't take the wash out to dry now, it'd get all musty and smelly. (I wonder if he always feels like this,) Naru thought, trying to work the kink out of her borrowed back. (Working so hard doesn't make it heal any faster, either.) She dumped all the clothes into the baskets, now ten times as heavy since they were all wet, and, not thinking, took a shortcut through the change room again, to go to the outside stairs up to the deck. Naturally, she came face to face with Kitsune and a very nervous-looking 'Naru', both of whom had just left the spring. Naru blinked and squeezed her eyes shut, cursing under her breath. "S-sorry!" she blurted, dropping to her knees and looking down into the laundry to avert her eyes. Keitaro gasped a little, then said, "N... I mean, Keitaro.." "You just don't quit, do you?!" Kitsune said, folding her arms across her chest. Keitaro crouched down in front of Naru. "Are you okay?!" he whispered. "Don't say anything," Naru whispered back. "Just hit me.." "What?" Keitaro blinked, in shock. "I can't.." "You know you have to do it! Or our secret is out," Naru hissed, tensing up. Keitaro blinked.. then paused.. debated it.. and finally stood up. He tried to mimic the rage he'd seen in Naru's eyes before, and pulled back with her hand. (Forgive me, Naru,) he silently urged. "Keitaro, you jerk!" he shrieked, and swung at his own face before him, landing a tremendous uppercut to 'Keitaro's' chin, sending 'him' through the ceiling and out into the spring, skipping two or three times before 'he' began to sink into the water. "Woo! Good one, Naru!" Kitsune told him, slapping him on the back. Keitaro wore a look of shock, staring at Naru's balled fist before him. (And.. and I pulled the punch,) he realized. An hour later, Keitaro was cooped up in Naru's room, the door blocked shut to make sure nobody would get in. He felt exceedingly self-conscious in the clothes Naru had insisted on picking out--her usual yellow sweater, reddish-orange miniskirt, and brown leggings. He picked and pulled at them from time to time, despite the fact the outfit fit Naru's form perfectly. Keitaro had snuck about the house after his bath, and gathered up as many mystic texts as he could find in peoples' rooms and such. On the pretext of 'studying', he kept himself in Naru's room, poring over the texts, trying to figure out why they'd swapped places and how to swap back. Keitaro brushed Naru's long hair out of his face as he bent over the books, scanning for anything that might fit the description. (At least I'm lucky in that Naru doesn't do anything big around the house,) he told himself. (So I have lots of time to myself to read this.) "Naru-sempai?" came a voice from the hall. Keitaro jumped as someone knocked on the door. Then he remembered that he was supposed to answer to that name. "Uh.. yes?" he called out, closing the books quickly. "It's Shinobu," came the response. "It's time for my weekly tutoring session..?" (Oh great..) "It is?" "Y-yes, sempai. Is this a .. a bad time?" (Damn you, Naru, for never saying no to anyone,) Keitaro cursed half-heartedly. He got up and pulled the stick out of the door jamb, allowing it to be slid open. "No," he said. "Come on in." "Thank you, sempai," Shinobu smiled timidly, stepping inside with her schoolbooks. She looked at the kotatsu table, covered in mystical tomes. "Wh-what are you reading about, sempai?" Keitaro panicked for a moment, then smiled and laughed a little nervously, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm just ... after my exam, I wanted to look at something other than a textbook." "Oh," Shinobu said, her shoulders slumping and her eyes going to the floor. "Does that mean you don't want to help me with my math.." "No, of course not," Keitaro smiled. "Come in and sit down. Let's get to work." AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER Naru continued to scrub and polish the upper hallways. She was about four-fifths done, at last; this was certainly more work than she'd realized! (I have a new respect for Keitaro's duties around here,) she told herself, pausing to wipe sweat from her brow. "Hey, Keitaro!" Su shouted, as Naru found herself sprawling from a foot to the head. Su leapt off and slid down the hall, or tried to. "Aww, you're not using the slippery wax today!" "Ouch," Naru moaned, picking herself up off the floor, and replacing Keitaro's glasses on her face. "Sorry, Su. I think I'm out of that brand.." "Don't forget to buy some more!" she said, sliding as best as she could, around the corner and out of sight. "It's the best!" "Right," Naru smiled weakly. Just then, the doors to Naru's room slid open, and Shinobu stepped out, bowing into the room. "Thank you, Naru-sempai, for your time." Naru heard her own voice from inside: "It was nothing, Shinobu.. --chan. See you next week!" Naru sprang to her feet. "Shinobu," she said. "Aa!" Shinobu yelped in surprise, turning and nearly dropping her books. "Oh.. Urashima-sempai," she said, blushing a little. "How are you?" "Aching everywhere," Naru replied, rubbing the small of her back. "I wanted to know if you wanted help tidying the kitchen when I'm done here." "Um.. I would.." Shinobu said timidly, "but aren't you supposed to leave for your exam in a few minutes?" Naru and Keitaro gasped in unison. Keitaro said, "Uhm, Shinobu-chan, do you mind if I talk to Keitaro in private for a few minutes? I need to .. give him some last-minute pointers." "A-all right, Naru-sempai," Shinobu said, carefully stepping around the floor-buffing tools and heading for the stairs. "Good luck today, Urashima-sempai." Naru nodded and said "Thank you," then quickly scrambled inside her room and slid the door shut firmly. "Did you find anything??" she blurted out to Keitaro. "Nothing," he said with a frown. "For how briefly I was able to look at the books, after all. You lead a busy day, you know." "I lead a busy day?" Naru retorted. "I'm not even done the floors yet! I never realized how much work this was--" Both of them looked at each other with expressions of realization. "Maybe that was it," they said in stereo. Keitaro added, "Yes! We must have wished we each knew how 'bad' the other had it." "Well, then, what are you waiting for?" Naru said. "Unwish it!" "Okay," he nodded. "On three? Three, two, one, I wish we were back to normal." "I wish we were back to normal," Naru said in unison with Keitaro. Nothing persisted in its happening. "This is horrible!" Keitaro said, tugging at his hair. "This can't be happening!" "Hey, don't mess up my hair!" Naru protested. "I'm sorry, but this is just too much," Keitaro replied. "First of all, we're stuck like this. And if that wasn't bad enough, now I'm going to get a no-show on my practice exam.." Naru thought it over. "No, you won't," she said firmly. "Wha?" "What's the Pythagorean Theorem?" she asked Keitaro. Puzzled, he answered her, perhaps a little stumblingly, but correctly. She asked him several other questions, and he knew the answers to them as well. "You know the material," she declared. "Yes, but I look like you," he protested, gesturing to himself. "And they won't let me take the exam like this, because you already took it yesterday." "That's right," Naru nodded plainly. Slowly, a faint smile crossed her borrowed lips. "What.. what are you thinking?" Keitaro asked. "I'm thinking I'm going to be late if I don't hurry," Naru told him. She nudged Liddo aside. "Keep reading while I'm gone. If you don't find anything by the time I return, I guess we'll have to.. I don't know.. tell someone. Just keep reading. Okay?" Keitaro nodded, still confused. "All right," he said. Naru climbed down through the hole and pulled Liddo over it after her. "Wish me luck, 'Naru'," she said with a smile just before she vanished into Keitaro's room. Three hours passed. Keitaro sat crosslegged in front of the kotatsu table, poring over all the mystical tomes, finding nothing of value. Half the time, he couldn't keep his mind off Naru taking his exam for him. (This is cheating,) he would tell himself. Then, like a devil appearing on his opposite shoulder, he would respond, (Not really, because Narusegawa looks like me right now, and like she said, I do know the material. I just have exam anxiety disorder or something.) (Still.. Naru wrote two exams this week instead of one. That's not fair to her. And it wasn't fair for me to assume she had it easy around here either.) Keitaro looked at the mirror, regarding Naru's image in its reflection. Distracted from his quest with the books, he got up and watched Naru's form approach the mirror slowly and carefully. In the looking glass, her hands reached up to the hem of the sweater, taking careful hold of it and beginning to lift it. Suddenly they stopped and flung themselves to their sides. Keitaro shook his head violently, squeezing his eyes tightly shut and causing Naru's hair to whip back and forth around him. "I can't do it," he said aloud. "It'd be wrong." "Hey, Naru!" Su's muffled voice came from downstairs at that moment. "Keitaro's back!" Keitaro blinked, then hurried to the door and raced down the stairs. He saw 'himself' entering just as he got to the main room. "How'd it go, sempai?" Shinobu asked, coming out of the kitchen. "Believe it or not, I think I did well this time," 'Keitaro' said with a smile. 'He' glanced over at 'Naru'. Keitaro smiled faintly and nodded towards Naru. "That's great news!" Su said, leaping up and landing hard on 'Keitaro's' head, dropping him like a ton of bricks. Keitaro winced. "Su, don't do that," he said, going to help Naru up. "He's had a long day." "Sorry!" Su said, bounding off to ask Shinobu what smelled so good in the kitchen. "Thank you," Keitaro whispered to Naru as he helped her to her feet. "You owe me. Big time," she told him, and he nodded. "I'll make it up to you somehow," he promised. "Keitaro's favorite," Shinobu answered Su. "So everyone go wash up! It's almost ready." "Really?" Naru and Keitaro stereoed. They glanced at one another, and Keitaro let Naru continue, "That's wonderful, Shinobu! Thank you." Shinobu smiled and bowed, retreating into the kitchen. The whole group was assembled for supper again that night. Naru and Keitaro were still swapped, much to their dismay. They had agreed to confess it to someone after the meal was over. But who? "Urashima," Motoko said firmly, "You may deserve praise for your exam scores, but you failed to finish the floors today. You left everything out, right in front of my room. I nearly tripped over it all." "Sorry," Naru apologized. "I ran a little late." "It's okay," Keitaro said. "I finished it." "You what?" Naru said, blinking. "That was nice of you, Naru," Kitsune said. "Well, I guess I realized, Keitaro has a lot to do around here. And if I'm going to be riding him so hard to pass his exams, the least I can do is respect that and help out where I can. Right?" "True," several of the people at the table nodded in unison. "A-and, and it's dawned on me how much Naru..segawa does around here too," Naru said, laughing nervously. "I guess I was too wrapped up in my own work to realize that before. I'm sorry, Naru." "It's all right, .. Keitaro," Keitaro nodded, smiling. "Well!" Kitsune said. She got to her feet and left the room, saying, "Don't go anywhere, I'll be right back!" "What's with her these days?" Su asked, taking another serving of meat. "She can't sit still for supper two nights in a row?" Momentarily, Kitsune returned, once more carrying a tray of glasses. "I think it's time for another round of celebratory sake!" "And grape juice," Shinobu said, blushing and giggling. "Yup, and grape juice," Kitsune agreed, setting out the two youngest's drinks first, then hers and Motoko's, and last, Naru's and Keitaro's. "Everyone, drink up," she urged. Naru and Keitaro blinked as they looked down into their glasses of sake. They both turned to regard Kitsune at the same time. Kitsune, for her part, nodded and lifted her glass, toasting everyone. "To success, and new lessons learned!" she said. Everyone around the table downed their drinks. LATER THAT EVENING Kitsune knocked on Naru's door. "Come in," came the response. Kitsune let herself in, watching a pajama-clad Naru brushing her hair at her bedside table. "Hey," she smiled. "And how are you?" Naru thought of how to answer that. "Fine, now," she said. "So you did have something to do with it after all?" "Guilty as charged," Kitsune laughed, holding her hands out in front of her as if she was expecting handcuffs. "How on earth did you do that?" "A little potion an old man on the plaza had a few months ago," Kitsune said. "Never thought it would work." "Well, it worked, believe me," Naru blushed. "We can, uh, keep this between us, right?" "I think we can arrange that," Kitsune grinned mischeviously. "But I bet you two learned a lot anyway." "Uh-huh!" Naru nodded enthusiastically. "Poor Keitaro. He must still be aching from all the wallops he.. er I.. took today." "He always bounces back," Kitsune said dismissively. "But shouldn't you be more concerned about what happened to yourself today?" "What do you mean?" Naru said, confused. "Well, we ARE talking about Keitaro here," she smirked. "And he had free, unrestricted access to your whole body for the whole day.." Keitaro, for his part, was just happy to be back to normal. He was indeed dead tired, from all the pounding his body had taken, plus all the things that had happened over the past 24 hours. To that end, he'd turned in early and gone right to sleep. He was jarred awake when light spilled in from above. He fumbled for his glasses, dimly aware that the light was coming from Naru's room and the Liddo-lid had been removed. "Eh?" he said. He finally got his glasses on just in time to see Naru's knuckles mere inches from his face, preceding the rest of her body plummeting towards him at breakneck speed. "PERVERT!" was the last thing he heard before everything went dark again. --end--