Darkness Within

Disclaimer: this fic was not written to make money in any way, shape, or form. The characters of Love Hina, GTO, and Video Girl: Ai all belong to their honorable creators, and i make no claim to owning them.
Rosefewyn, however, is mine.




I heard the knock upon my door, but chose to ignore it. Another one of the girls coming to tell me dinner was ready. Or was it breakfast? It didn’t matter. I wasn’t worth their food. Dammit, couldn’t they just leave me alone? I was a monster! Monsters should never be seen by the Light.

“Kei-kun,” whispered the familiar voice from beyond the door, “are you awake? I’m coming in.”

I turned, expecting to be forced into telling Shinobu that I wasn’t hungry. Again. I really wasn’t, and she deserved to be safe. Why didn’t she see that I was just looking out for her?

It wasn’t Shinobu.

Her hair was beautiful. Maybe I hadn’t noticed it when I first met her, but now it was forever associated in my mind with her face. A sweet amber in color, it fell down her shoulders, touching the small of her back. It was always so annoying when she braided her hair; a crime to ruin that waterfall of color!

And her eyes. There was never any guile in her eyes. Maybe another thing that attracted me to her. They gazed at me, offering complete acceptance. And that broke my heart.

“Kei-kun,” said Narusegawa Naru, “I brought you dinner.” She held up the tray before her. “You haven’t been coming to meals, and I thought you might be… I mean, you need to eat, right?”

‘No Narusegawa, I am not hungry. I am still full from raping and murdering a soulless woman three days ago.’ That thought made me retch.

Left with no verbal answer, I continued to look into her eyes. It became a drug, nearly as addictive as my sins. Did she know how beautiful she was? I watched as a light blush powdered her cheeks, and I wondered if I might be so lucky as to be the cause of it.

No, I must stop thoughts like that!

“Kei-kun?” she voiced.

Her questioning snapped me out of my meanderings. “I’m sorry, Narusegawa, but I’m not…” I meant to continue on and claim I wasn’t hungry, but my stomach chose that moment to preemptively make a liar out of me. “I guess I am a little hungry. Thank you.”

She set the tray down on the floor and moved back to let me move forward. The scent of hot noodles soaked in soy floated up from the plate. Saliva washed into my mouth.

Narusegawa answered my questioning gaze. “Oh go on, Kei-kun. It’s not like it’ll hurt you.” So, with final permission, I attacked the meal with vigor. I don’t even remember chewing.

“Heh, you were hungy,” I heard her note. My only response was a moan around another mouthful.

In mere moments, the meal was gone. I looked at the ravished plates with a sense of disappointment. She must have known my state of mind, for Naru issued a light giggle. As I leaned back, she set about collecting the dinnerware again. She hefted up the tray, and made her way to the open door.

“Kei-kun,” reached my ears in a whisper, “I just want you to know that, whatever… well, whatever, you’ve got… You’re here. With us.” She left the room, leaving only the memory of her visit.

And leaving me very sitting on the floor, very confused.


The incessant sounds of Onizuka-sensei’s video game faded into the background for Kikuchi Yoshito. He was much more interested in his certified-genius classmate.

Urumi was, to Kikuchi’s knowledge, a rather cold girl before meeting Onizuka. While Yoshito completely understood Kanzaki’s reasoning behind her original behavior, she always took it a step too far in his opinion. And even after a motorcycle jump off an uncompleted bridge—who the hell knew how that event led to a friendship with Onizuka—she was still restrained. Smiles and laughter on occasion, but that mile-wide vengeful streak of hers still showed true, if need be.

Urumi had always been unfathomable. But now, she was, even if Yoshito would never say this to her face, spacey. She had absolutely been out to lunch all day! The girl who scared the unholy piss out of the entire faculty and most of the students was caught giggling. Not the cold laughter associated with one of her pranks; the vapid chortling of a lovestruck…

…schoolgirl.

Kikuchi nearly fell out of his seat. One hell of a theory, but damn, it fit the evidence as he saw it.

“Something up, Kikuchi?” Murai asked him, looking away from Onizuka-sensei’s game.

Kikuchi did his best to wave off the faux-blond. “No, it’s nothing.” He sweated behind his calm mask until Murai shrugged and went back to watching the television screen.

Yoshito picked up a magazine, hiding his observation of Kanzaki. If she knew he was watching, she went on about her business, chatting amicably with Tomoko.

Urumi grasped at the side of her skirt. From the pocket, she withdrew a cell phone set to vibrate. She coolly put it up to her ear, stood up, and walked over to find some privacy. Walked gingerly.

This time, Yoshito did fall out of his chair.

“Now I know something’s up,” stated Murai. His buddies nodded, trying and failing to look sagely.

Kikuchi observed with mounting horror the figure of Onizuka-sensei swivel around. The fears were realized when he saw the expression on the man’s face. Kikuchi braced himself.

“Oh, I think I know what’s going on.” Onizuka-sensei managed a rather bizarre expression, somewhere between smug and childish, as he said this. The teacher let a dramatic pause draw out, further setting the stage for Kikuchi’s downfall. Pointing theatrically at Yoshito, Onizuka Eikichi roared, “YOU! You’ve got a crush on Kanzaki Urumi, don’t you!”

Exactly how Kikuchi kept a blank face is a mystery lost to time. “Uh, no, I don’t.”

“Don’t give me that crap, it’s written all over your face!” the teacher continued to rant.

“No, it isn’t.”

“Never woulda thought you had a set of balls on you that big, dude,” Fujiyoshi complimented. At least, that’s what Yoshito thought the boy was trying to do.

“Well, you know what they say,” began Murai, “‘Birds of a feather will flock together.’”

Yoshito kept on protesting his innocence. “That is not what’s going on.”

He found himself nose to nose with Onizuka-sensei. “So what is going on then?” the teacher interrogated.

Kikuchi, not being an idiot, decided it was not a wise idea to explain how he thought that Kanzaki was dating a boy and that she and her beau were already in a physical relationship. Unfortunately, this left him with no cover story.

He was saved by a ramen cup bouncing off Onizuka-sensei’s head.

Urumi replaced her cell phone in her skirt, glaring at the teacher. “If you’re done trying to embarrass me, I’ve got something to tell you. That was a call from some woman calling herself Gekkashu. She wants to meet with us. All of us.”


Motoko groaned, shifting and stretching under the sheets. After much effort and willpower, she sat up. Her eyes moved around the room, taking stock of her situation.

“Hospital? How long was I out? What happened?” Thinking back, she remembered the restaurant, chatting with the girls and Urashima, but after that, it all got fuzzy. Hazarding a guess, Motoko decided she spent the night unconscious after getting knocked out. “Must have gotten sucker punched. What in the world happened?”

Her attention was drawn by the sound of the door swinging open. In stepped a somewhat pudgy nurse, bearing a clipboard.

“I see you’re awake,” noted the nurse. “Your friends have already left, but another woman did come to see you. Are you feeling up to it?”

After Motoko’s affirmation, the nurse disappeared, returning with Haruka in tow. “How’s the head?” Haruka asked in her usual sarcastic way.

“I almost didn’t recognize you without the cigarette,” was Motoko’s response.

A thin smile appeared on Haruka’s lips. “Now I know you hit your head. You’re making jokes.”

“I’m alright,” Motoko eventually admitted, “feel like I drank way too much sake last night, but other than that, I’ll live.”

“Good,” Haruka said while giving a small nod.

“What exactly happened to me? Last thing I remember is the restaurant, then everything gets fuzzy.”

According to Naru and Mitsune, you got hit in the head by a Sailor Senshi that came flying through the window.”

Motoko didn’t realize her jaw was dangling open until Haruka pushed it closed. “You cannot be serious.”

“As a freight train.”

Motoko tried to digest the thought of an urban legend being the cause of her unscheduled nap the night before. She failed rather spectacularly.

Moving on, Haruka said, “Sorry that the others aren’t here. Naru and Mitsune spent all night looking for Kei-kun after he disappeared covering their escape. And Shinobu was up the entire time crying over worry.”

“Urashima covered their escape?”

“Well, not really. I’m told all he was going to do was make sure nothing was following them. The restaurant was the site of a rather pitched battle for the Senshi. Instead, Kei-kun disappeared for the entire night.” Motoko thought she noticed an edge to the woman’s voice, but dismissed it, not knowing its source.

“I would like to know exactly what Urashima thought he could accomplish if things hadn’t gone so well,” Motoko eventually stated.

“Shut up.”

The phrase was so venomous, so unexpected, that Motoko was wasn’t sure she heard it.

Before anything else could be said, Haruka covered herself. “Sorry, Motoko, it’s just... Kei-kun’s my only nephew. And I guess I’ve been really worried about him all night. Too much nerves and not enough sleep.”

Motoko was all too aware of the oppressive silence following that statement. Haruka’s awareness of the awkwardness was visible.

“So,” Motoko said into the quiet, “when are they planning to release me?”

“They told me it was just minor head trauma, so you were out as soon as you could walk.”

“I can walk.” To prove her statement, Motoko threw her legs over the edge of the bed, sliding down to settle her weight on her feet. Haruka nodded, sending a few tufts of black hair to swirl around her head.

After much more paperwork than was necessary, Motoko was free to leave. She celebrated her freedom by vacating the premises.

The trip back was uneventful. For which Motoko was thankful beyond her ability to put into words. Any more excitement, like say, getting beaned in the head by a flying cheerleader-heroine, would have been the death of her.

But if she needed any evidence she was out of sorts, it appeared during the walk up the steps to the Hinata House. Twice, Motoko was forced to a stop, holding her head to keep the world from dancing.

At the top, Haruka placed her hand on the door. But instead of sliding, the door remained firmly in place.

“They left?” the other woman wondered just loud enough for Motoko to hear.


Konno Mitsune held the right flank of their group. Su was in point, leading them with her Keitaro-tracking-radar. Shinobu stood to the left, looking anxious. If asked Mitsune would have guessed it was over concern for her ‘Sempai.’

But it was Naru who held the center position. And it was she who was so insistent on finding Keitaro. When it was discovered that their beloved manager was no longer in his room, Naru was the one to organize the search for him. Mitsune rubbed her head, still not understanding Naru’s thinking behind this. Keitaro was in a funk, that was it. Everyone got them from time to time, and Kei-kun was the kind to pull himself out of one. And if he wanted to be out on his own while he dealt his problems, she was willing to give him that space. She flat did not get why Naru was so hot on tracking the boy down.

Instead of daydreaming, Mitsune really should have been watching where she was going. She plowed straight into another pedestrian. She quickly apologized to the muscular man.

He looked to be about her age, with bleached hair and pierced ears. Biker gang type. Mitsune, not wanting any more dealings with that kind of person than she had to, scurried off after her friends.

Moving past the brief scare, the girl returned to watching the road ahead of them. Their path was taking them to an unfamiliar part of Tokyo. Mitsune looked up at the skyline, searching for familiar landmarks. Tokyo Tower could be seen in the distance, if you looked through all the buildings. But the Tower by itself didn’t mean jack.

The radar in Su’s hands began wailing. The high, scratchy pitch grated on Mitsune’s nerves. “He’s here,” pronounced Su, pointing at an elaborate building.

Naru stared incredulously. “It’s a church?”

“Looks like,” Mitsune answered. “Let’s not leave the boy waiting.” So saying, she stepped past her friends and up to the front door.

“I didn’t know Sempai was Christian,” she heard Shinobu say behind her. Mitsune had to smile. Visions of Western wedding ceremonies were surely dancing through the young girl’s head.

Before they could enter, the doors swung outward. A priest came out from the church, stopping open the exterior glass doors. Finished, he turned to face them. “Welcome, welcome. Are you new in town?” he greeted with a wide smile on his face.

Naru was visibly lost for words. “Um, no sir. We were looking for a friend of ours. Eh...”

“We’re sorry, Father, but have you seen a man, about yea tall, lankly, wears glasses?”
The priest smiled. “That describes a lot of people, child, but I believe I know who you mean. A most distraught young man. He is in the main sanctuary, on the pulpit side.” He disappeared back inside the church.

All eyes turned to Su. “‘Father?’” Naru and Mitsune wondered together.

The islander shrugged and bounded into the building. The rest of the group followed along behind. Brought up short when she stopped, they all watched as Su dipped her hands into a basin of water just inside the door. She then crossed herself and continued on inside.

Knowing that Koalla Su was hardly the most religious person, Mitsune wondered if people might be offended if she didn’t perform the water ritual. Of course, as she knew next to squat about Christianity, let along Catholicism, it was possible that people might be offended if she did perform the ritual.

Not sharing her concerns, Naru and Shinobu went on in. Mitsune grumbled and followed.

Su led them unerringly to the left side of the main room–‘pulpit side’ and ‘sanctuary’, Mitsune assumed. Keitaro was found sitting in one of the rows, leaning forward, hands on the pew in front of him. He stared straight ahead, making no sign he knew of their presence.

“Sempai.” Shinobu’s timid statement echoed through the high vaulted ceilings of the sanctuary. Keitaro lurched in his seat, whirling the face them. For a moment, Mitsune saw pure, undiluted panic in his eyes. Then the boy relaxed, shoulders slumping downward.

“Hey guys,” he said in a voice devoid of any fire.

Mitsune forced pleasantness into her expression. “Heya boy, how’s things?”

“They’ve been better, Mitsune.”

“Sempai,” asked Shinobu, her voice straining around the edges, “why did you leave?”

Their manager lolled against the back of the pew, his head lazing even further backwards, until Mitsune was afraid he might give himself whiplash. “I just... needed to do some thinking.”

“You feelin’ all right?” Mitsune asked him.

“Not so hot. Been a rough week.”

No one seemed to have much to say to that. Out of the corner of her eye, Mitsune saw Naru looking him. Mitsune clenched her jaw in frustration. She could tell that Naru wanted to say something to Keitaro, but didn’t have the nerve.

Mitsune gave Naru a not-so-subtle nudge with her elbow. With much silent arguing and a great many backwards glances, Naru finally sat down on the pew.

“Kei-kun, do you want to... talk about it?” Mitsune mentally cheered on her friend.

Keitaro whistled through his teeth. When the last note died, he shook his head in negation. “No, not really. It’s... Thanks anyway.”

Naru’s face scrunched up, and Mitsune could only groan. “I’m only trying to help,” said Naru indignantly. “You could at least show a little appreciation.”

“Please, not here, Narusegawa,” the boy moaned.

“Why not here? I’m... We’re only concerned for you.”

Shinobu stepped up. “Naru-sempai, if he doesn’t want to talk, we can’t make him. Why don’t we just head home and relax.”

“Fine,” cast Naru. She shot up out of the pew and double-timed it out of the church. Shinobu looked back and forth between Naru and Keitaro, before following after the angered girl. Groaning, Keitaro removed himself from his seat and left as well.

In a rare moment of camaraderie, Mitsune and Su met each other’s eyes. They shrugged their shoulders and followed after the others.


Peace denied me again.

Who could say exactly why I chose to rest in that church? There was, I think, a church similar to it in Aunt Haruka’s old neighborhood when I was a child. So maybe it was nostalgia that sent me fleeing to the sanctuary of Christian architecture. Whatever the reason, I felt at peace in the quiet confines of stone and timber. Not without my beast, for I must always carry that burden, but instead the calm of mind to ignore the howling thing inside my heart.

So calm. So peaceful.

So inspiring was the atmosphere that I knelt down and prayed. I am hardly a pious man, though one might think the opposite considering the state of my soul, but I was moved to pray for my victim. And as I did so, I felt such a cleansing, such a lifting of weight from my shoulders, that I almost wondered if this was the Light of Christ mentioned in so many western doctrines.

But no, if I had been touched by the Christian God, I would likely be burned to ashes. So I remained kneeling, letting the calm touch me, wondering if God, or the gods, or Archangels, or vengeful spirits, would swoop down and strike me dead.

Then they came.

I confess I actually enjoyed the torment of sitting in the church. As much as I feared divine retribution, truthfully, I also welcomed it. But my friends, my temptations, came to fetch me. They caught me in my moment of penitence. Shame filled me, but I refused to let them see.

They dug into my secrets, searching for answers I was not ready to give. They begged me to return with them, and I acquiesced. We left the place of refuge, a small piece of myself resenting them for dragging me from my repentance. I was encircled by them as we walked to our home. No conversation was made; I do not know if that was acceptable to me or not.

The walk back was as long as it was silent. Endlessly, I chewed upon the inside of my mouth. Refuge, refuge, where might I find refuge? The beast was grumbling again, low, rumbling notes echoing from deep in my heart.

There is no balm in Gilead.

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AN: Sorry the update took so long. i find myself with a life, and it cuts into the writing time.
Nothing really happening in this chapter. Just some set up for the meeting with Gekkashu next chapter, and an introduction of the church.
God only knows why i decided to make Su Catholic.