Disclaimer: I don't own any of the rights to Love Hina or any of its characters.

Monochrome Sky

The quick dab of the brush on canvas was a subtle motion meant to bring leaves to the bare tree, but, for the onlookers that crowded the painter, it was just one more reason to lean a little closer. Though the eyes that followed his every moment made him feel somewhat uncomfortable, the silence he all but begged them for was all that he needed to get his work done and, with a stroke of the brush to round off the outline of the hill, he was finished.

Keitaro, careful not to bump into anyone, took a few steps back and studied his first real attempt at painting. The landscape he had in his mind was replicated in front of him, but it just didn't look as good as he expected. In fact, it didn't look good at all. The grass looked flat in the sense that it was more two dimensional than three, the lighting was all wrong, and the blues he used for the sky were way darker than he intended.

"Sempai…"

Shinobu's tender voice snapped him out of the lull he fell into and he turned to face the audience he almost forgot he had. Immediately, he felt a lump build in his throat as he looked from the resident cook's half-hearted eagerness to speak up all the way to his study partner's casual indifference.

"Y-Yeah?"

The landlord felt obligated to apologize even though they all came on account of their own volition. It wasn't uncommon for some of the girls to watch him draw every once in the while, but for them to group together was a different monster all together and so was painting. It was a poor showing, and he regretted that his first attempt didn't come out any better.

"It's wonderful!" Shinobu surprised him as she squealed with delight, the genuine sparkle in her eyes more than enough to prove her sincerity. "It looks like something you'd see in a children's book! I love it!"

"No, it don't!" Su jumped up from where she sat and pointed at the painting. "It looks like where Happy lives in Happy's Happy Home!"

"I told you to stop watching that show, Su." Naru peeked over the book she cracked open in the meantime and sighed. "You're too old to watch stuff like that."

"Kitsune still watches it!"

"Yeah, I do! You got something against Happy, Naru!"

"I like Happy, too, but that show…" The brunette hid her face with the textbook as she spoke. "It's for teaching kids how to count and stuff. We're grown women, Kitsune!"

Though he was wary of getting caught up in the argument about Happy the Hippo, Keitaro couldn't help but smile in the midst of the commotion. His art was far from what he wanted it to be, but the company he kept washed away the worry that collected in his heart.

"You watch the show, too, Shinobu!" Kitsune was quick to drag someone else to her side. "Say something! We can't just let Naru slander Happy like that!"

"But… it is a show for babies…"

"They're traitors!" Su righteously proclaimed. "You two can't watch Happy's Happy Home anymore!"

While he was grateful for the antics that warmed his heart, Keitaro knew better than to let himself get caught in their pace. The truth was that he, too, liked Happy, but never to the point of admitting as much in front of other people so, with practiced ease, the landlord quietly slipped out of his own room. As the argument started to peak, he carefully slid his door closed and tiptoed away in search of a better place to reflect on his very first painting.

"Urashima," Keitaro stopped before he could take another step as the only tenant that wasn't in his room called out to him. All it took was a quick glance over his shoulder to match a face with the voice when he saw Motoko peeking at him from around a corner. "Good timing. We need to talk."

"Um…" When she said it like that, it wasn't like he actually had a choice. "Sure." Sparring another word, he rounded the corner to find Motoko in front of the telephone with receiver in hand. He approached slowly, careful to leave a reasonable amount of space between them as the tenant listened to the speaker with undivided attention.

"No, I was—Urashima," Motoko covered the microphone with her hand and turned towards the man beside her. "This won't take-" She sighed before lowering her hand. "Mother, I wasn't saying… I understand. Goodbye." With the conversation finished, the receiver was slammed back on its cradle.

Keitaro winched. "Is something wrong?"

"My mother just called." Her words were curt because she was frustrated, but she was straight to the point because she needed to be blunt. "My sister-"

"Ah! Miss Aoyama!" Keitaro recalled speaking to the woman on occasion. "It's been a while since I heard from-"

The hand that rested on the hilt of her sword twitched and the landlord promptly shut up. "Listen." Motoko grumbled as she leveled a glare at him. "My mother called to let me know that my sister is on her way over here and…" She didn't even know where to begin. "We're not prepared for this."

"It'll be fine, Motoko!" He didn't even know she had a sister, but having family over was a big deal regardless. It was natural for anyone to get worked up when that was the case. "I know I got some touching up to do here and there, but I feel like I did a really good job cleaning up this morning."

Cleanliness was the last thing she was worried about, but she couldn't fault him for the misunderstanding since he never met her older sister. "I appreciate that your first thought is to welcome her here, but that's exactly what we don't want to do."

"Huh?"

"My sister is dangerous." The words were something she left behind as she started walking with the landlord trailing not far behind. "We need to leave."

"That's not right…" Keitaro almost bumped into her thanks to the sudden stop in front of his room, but, thankfully, the collision was avoided on account of Motoko sliding the door open and stepping inside. "If she came all the way here the least we can do is let her in, right?"

Motoko ignored him as entered the room ahead of its owner and addressed the others without a second to waste. "Excuse me." She found the girls seated in front of a painting and waited for their small talk to cease. "I apologize for the interruption, but Tsuruko is coming."

It was like a wet blanket being thrown over a candle, a tiny light smothered by darkness too heavy to shake off. The banter and laughs that forced his disappointment away, the same light-hearted conversation he heard while Motoko was on the phone, were snuffed out.

At first, there was only stunned silence.

No one moved.

Keitaro was slow to look around as his eyebrows started to lift, but, as his eyes ran across their faces, he came to the realization that they all were petrified. Unfiltered terror rendered each and every single one of them speechless. Naru didn't have any witty remark to inject. Kitsune didn't have any joke for the occasion. Shinobu didn't have any shallow attempt to change the subject, and Su…

The princess, free of the spunk he believed she personified, looked so traumatized that he couldn't bear to look at her any longer. She trembled, much the same way Shinobu did, except she clung to the brunette beside her as meaning behind the announcement started to sink in.

"So…" Keitaro cleared his throat, quickly taking the time to lower his sight to the floor. "What's going—Ah!"

The interruption came in the form of the girls scrambling to get to their feet at the same time and nearly knocking the landlord over as they all made for the exit. He narrowly avoided being outright trampled, but the same couldn't be said for the door that was forced aside a little too hard. With a kick, he put his door back on the track, but, when he turned to ask Motoko what was going on, he belatedly realized that she, too, was long gone.

As the sound of Kitsune hitting her room like a cyclone met his ears, Keitaro ventured out of his room in search of Motoko, but instead of heading directly for her room, he thoughtlessly wandered around and watched the frenzy of activity around him.

It was crazy. He never saw them move so fast before, but his ill inspired awe was lost when the girl he forgot he was looking for flew pass him. "Motoko! Wait!" He called out to her before she reached the steps, but ended up chasing after her anyway. "Why are we supposed to be running from your sister?"

The question gave her reason to stop at the top of the stairs and she turned to look down at him as he ascended. It was a ridiculous question that she didn't have time to entertain and the olive eyes that gazed at him said as much. He half expected her to turn on her heel and give him the cold shoulder so he was surprised when she sighed and waited for him to climb the last few steps so they could stand on even ground.

"My sister is… sick." Respect of the model woman that her sister used to be deemed it enough words to describe the person she went on to become. "I know this is shameful, but please believe me when I say it is better for everyone if we just avoid her."

A word she rarely used offset the thought of a lone woman with ambitions of meeting the sister that didn't want to see her. It was stupid of him to think Motoko didn't want to see her sister. If she decided that running away was in their best interest then who was he, someone that didn't even know she had an older sister, to interfere with her decision?

"Okay…"

Her frown curled at a little at the edges thanks to the sentiment he expressed. In her eyes, he still wasn't quite someone she thought of as a friend, but his thoughtfulness prompted her to think better of him.

"Thank you." The small smile that came to grace her features was something that caught him off guard, but the surprises didn't stop there. "Let's go." She reached for and grabbed his hand and, before he knew it, they were on their way to the front door.

"W-Wait…" It'd be a lie to say that he wasn't glad that she was willing to touch him without any intention of harming him for once, but there were still things he had to know. "I don't know if I'm ready to leave just yet…" He could already feel her glare coming before she turned to face him so he continued before she had the chance. "I mean, that's not to say that I won't do it! It's just, uh… shouldn't we all leave together so we can come back together?"

It was the wise thing to do.

There was no telling how long they would be gone, but, at the same time, she couldn't estimate how long it'd take for the other girls to pack or even how much they wanted to take with them in the first place. After thinking about it for a second, though, it was clear to her that it was nothing to think about it.

"We don't have the time to wait on anyone else." Motoko turned to look at him after he stepped off the last stair. "We need-"

"Su! C'mon on!" The same olive green eyes that peered at him became tense as someone yelled loud enough to give them pause. It was Kitsune, the accent alone enough to confirm as much. "We have to get out of here!"

"No!" The princess screamed back, the outright denial the reason the grip the swordswoman had on his hand became lax. According to her, they didn't even have enough time to talk so an argument was the last thing she wanted to hear. "I'm going to stay! I don't want to go anywhere else!"

"We don't have time for this!" Kitsune tried her best to pry Su from wherever she was, the fact that the normally reserved woman was practically screaming every word second only to the realization that Su had no intention of leaving Hinata House. Motoko looked sick, more than just squeamish, as the nature of shouting match started to have an effect on her. "She just said Tsuruko was coming so we can't stay here!"

"Go."

Keitaro stared at their joined hands for a moment before letting go to reach up and adjust his glasses. He smiled at her before turning around and heading in the direction the shouting came from.

"Get the other girls to go with you. I'll get Su, okay?"

Motoko looked at him like he sprouted wings. He was an idiot, but she knew he wasn't a complete fool so she didn't understand how he could underestimate how stubborn Su could be when things weren't going her way. Seeing Keitaro wasn't going to magically uproot her from whatever spot she was held up in so all he did only amounted to resigning himself to staying at Su's side.

No…

It was more than that.

The same man that lacked to nerve to deal with her staring and shyly turned away was subtly telling her to run knowing that they wouldn't be able to get Su to go with them. It was something worthy of respect, something that meant a lot to someone ready to surrender her dignity to make good on her escape.

"Keitaro…" The use of his given name was the reason he found himself making eye contact. "Don't do anything stupid like trip and end up groping her."

"You're saying it like I do that stuff on purpose…"

"Just listen and remember what I'm about to say." Motoko looked up in thought for a second before picking out the most important details to share. It wasn't everything that he needed to know, but it was vital that he understood what she was about to share. "Don't make eye contact with her and, if you can, try not to stay around her too much, either. I'll explain later, but we're short on time."

He slowly nodded, but he was still confused. "I thought you wanted to leave..."

"I do, but I can't leave you two here." The sound of the front door opening and closing caused her shoulders to slump a little, but she was glad that at least someone was able to get away. "It's admirable that you were going to stay for Su's sake, but you can't reason with her when she gets like that. Besides, you're the one I'm really worried about. Tsuruko has a problem with men."

"Kinda the same way you do?" Keitaro immediately backpedaled when the look on her face darkened. "Ah! I didn't mean it like that! I meant… um…"

"I know." Motoko grumbled, an idle hand coming to rest on the hilt of her sword as she stared at the landlord. "I just think you're a spineless, lying pervert half of the time." He winced, but she had no reason to hold back her words on account of his feelings. "But…" She sighed a little because of hindsight. "After being around you for a while, I can honestly say you're not evil."

He wasn't quite sure how to respond. "Thanks?"

"It wasn't a compliment." She was grateful, in a sense, that he wasn't the scum she originally believed him to be, but there was no doubt in her mind that her landlord was an idiot. "Either way, do not agitate her. I can't match my sister, but I'll try my best to cover for you."

"Motoko…"

The sound of someone else leaving reached their ears and the swordswoman couldn't help but grind her teeth. He was right. She should have made everyone leave all together the moment she announced that her sister was coming, but there was nothing to gain from crying over split milk.

"You don't have to thank me." She rubbed her temple with her free hand as she spoke. "Let's both try to talk to Su and pray we still have some time to-"

"Motoko!" Kitsune ran down the hall after seeing them. "I was looking all over for you! Su is-"

"I know…" Motoko murmured. "I know!" She knew that getting angry wouldn't help, but it didn't mean that she wasn't mad. They'd already be gone if she had the sense to grab the girl by the wrist and walk straight out the door, but she wasn't thinking. It was all her fault. If anything happened to anyone it was going to be all her fault! "Just… Just let me think."

"We don't have time to think! We need to go!"

"Didn't you just hear what I said!"

"C-Calm down…" Keitaro swallowed hard before sliding between the girls. "You can leave if you like, Kitsune. We were just about to go and get her anyway," He risked a look at Motoko. "Right?"

Before she had the chance to respond the doorbell rung.

"Aww, damn…" Kitsune cursed, her voice dropping to little more than a whisper as she slumped against the wall and slid all the way down to the floor. "At least Naru and Shinobu were smart enough to get away."

"Ha…" His nervous laugh failed to cut into the tension that descended on them like fog. "It's probably not even her… Maybe someone needs directions or maybe someone forgot they ordered takeout…"

He knew what was coming out of his mouth was just as stupid as it sounded.

No one ever just popped up at Hinata House for something like directions and he knew from experience that the residence was too far away from the heart of the town for food to be delivered. The only people that visited only did so on account of being family so there was no guesswork involved with putting a name to the person that rung the doorbell again.

A single look from Motoko killed any attempt to make good of the situation they found themselves in, but it wasn't her glare that shut him up. As someone that spent most of their time together with a sword angled at his neck, Keitaro felt he had a decent understanding of the tallest tenant's anger. It was easy, ridiculously so, to make Motoko mad enough to draw her blade, but it was first time he ever seen her so angry that she was brought to tears.

Infuriated beyond words, Motoko marched down the steps with watery eyes. The back that slumped upon hearing the doorbell was straightened and the head that was lowered was raised in spite of the tears that started to build. She was extremely angry, but, at the same time, she was hurt. Her mother knew that Tsuruko was sick and all she got amounted to someone stuffing a good luck charm into her hand before pushing her off a cliff.

The swordswoman tried her best to keep her poise, but she moved with no urgency. She couldn't help but drag her feet with every step. She didn't want to open the door. She wanted to run and hide just as much as everyone else did, but she had her pride and nothing would make her give it up.

"Remember what I said, Keitaro." Motoko took a deep breath before she spoke to keep her voice level. "I'll do the talking so… just keep your head down."

"Yeah, I remember."

She jumped, nearly losing her footing and falling down the stairs until the landlord helped her regain her balance via the hand he placed on her shoulder.

"Be c-careful…" He put on a small smile in hopes of escaping the sense of impending doom that started to set in, but it faded when the swordswoman turned to look at him.

"I…" She was sweating, a range of emotions caught in the soft green that stared at him for a few seconds. "I just didn't expect you to be so close…"

He was literally right behind her.

"Sorry. I just felt like this was something you shouldn't do alone." He was surely an idiot and probably a pervert, but, whenever she needed him, he was reliable. "Especially when you're scared."

She meant to say something back, but the sound of the doorbell stilled her lips. Together they reached the bottom of the steps and she picked up her pace to match Keitaro's stride on their way to the front door.

Signaling for him to get behind her, Motoko, once again, took a deep inhale and let it out before opening the front door for her only sister. Tsuruko boldly stepped in, and, just like Motoko told him, Keitaro kept his head bowed so low that he couldn't see anything aside from the floor and his own socks.

"My dear sister…" The voice he heard wasn't at all what he expected. It wasn't so much that he expected her to sound completely crazy, but the silky voice that filled his ears couldn't possibly belong to the same person that terrified the bravest girls he knew. "I've missed you."

She moved, something he wouldn't have known if not for the rustle of clothing… and the sound of something moving across the floor. It was a metallic sound. It reminded him of his childhood, of kids dragging aluminum bats down the sidewalk on their way home, but it wasn't quite scrapping. It was different, a sharper sound that wasn't nearly as annoying.

"I apologize for not coming to see you any sooner. I was quite busy, but I'm here now." The sound stopped so he could only guess that she paused to step out of her shoes. "How have you been, Motoko?"

"I've been… fine." Motoko grumbled out, shutting the door as she spoke.

"Please raise your head, sister." Tsuruko offered. "Come. Welcome me like you used to."

Curiosity was torture on his mind. The sound returned with more emphasis, even more pronounced, as Tsuruko neared her sister and slowed to a stop again.

"We haven't hugged each other in years…" The shape of Motoko's shadow changed as she rose to her full height. "I thought you didn't-"

"Nonsense. You can hug me at any time, Motoko." He was tempted to look because it bothered him. It wasn't that it was annoying. In fact, it didn't annoy him at all. What grated on his nerves was that he was sure that he knew what it was. It just frustrated him that he couldn't think to recall something that sounded so familiar. "You know how that woman is… I only said that to save face in front of her."

"Okay…"

The landlord paid no attention to their embrace and didn't bother to listen to the small talk that followed. His imagination oiled the gears in his mind and they turned, proverbial cogs working together as he started to piece together the puzzle he couldn't see.

Metal…

"I hate to talk business so suddenly, but…" She sighed the same way Motoko did. "I trust that you haven't forgotten what you were supposed to do in the event I took ownership of the dojo again."

A familiar metal…

"So…" Motoko's shadow retreated, the steps she took backwards pulling her whole shadow back into his sight. If that was the reason then it wouldn't just be a simple visit. "That's what this is about…?"

He was sure he knew what…

It dawned on him in an instant and, before he knew it, Keitaro found himself staring at a sword almost longer than its wielder. Brown eyes ran up the length of the blade and across the hilt, up the arm that held it, up the pale neck of its owner, and, ultimately, the face that belonged to the woman with murder in her eyes.

Tsuruko flicked her wrist.

His glasses fell to the ground in two separate pieces and splinters and bits of wood flew into the air like she smashed the panels that lined the floor with a sledgehammer. Before blood had time to flow from the shallow cut above his eyebrow, before he could even blink, Keitaro dodged the blade that would have pierced his eye socket by shifting his head to the side.

It was only after the assault, after the slash and thrust that nearly killed him two times over, that his heart started to beat again. It was only after he was certain that her sword wasn't coming at him again that he felt his body taking in the oxygen he denied it on account of needing to invest every ounce of his being in survival.

Keitaro slowly raised his head to look at the white and red blobs in front of him, but he couldn't focus. The adrenalin wore off. His body hurt. The muscles he strained to throw himself backwards started to ache, and his heart started to beat so hard that it hurt. Though he lived, he was reduced to sweaty mess on the floor. He could barely breath and the bare concept of moving again was enough to make his stomach churn.

He was at the mercy of the sword that was held above his head.

"T-Tsuruko!" Motoko all but dived between them and shielded her landlord by confronting the sister she feared. "What are you doing!"

"I won't allow it." Tsuruko stated her truth like it was universal, like it was something that Motoko was supposed to accept just as much as she did. "I won't allow you to make the same mistakes I made…" The sword that was raised at Keitaro was lowered in the presence of her sister. "Men are evil, Motoko. I won't let you fall into their clutches… I won't fail you. I won't allow you to get married."

The reason, the motive, behind what would have been a homicide was revealed. In an effort to protect the only person she still thought of as family, in an attempt to keep her only sister safe, she acted with without any regard for the consequences of her actions.

"That's suppose to make it okay…?"

"Keitaro!" Motoko looked over her shoulder at the rising form of her landlord with the intention of making him back down before things really got out of hand, but one glance was enough to confirm that it was too late.

A thin line of crimson trailed down his face, but he ignored it as he stood on knees that were supposed to be shaking. He was supposed to be scared, but he wasn't. He was supposed to be running away with his tail between his legs, but, for the first time in recent memory, he was angry.

He was pissed.

"You almost killed me for a reason like that?"

Keitaro walked passed Motoko without any hesitation, and neared Tsuruko without any fear in the depths of his eyes. The glob of color that made up her face gradually cleared with every step. It was still blurry when he came to a halt in front of her, but, even without his glasses, he could tell that she was beautiful.

She didn't look like an older version of Motoko, or even anything remotely similar. It wasn't difficult to tell they were sisters on account of a passing resemblance he noticed in the mother and daughters, but they all radiated with a different kind of beauty.

Motoko was a flame akin to her passion. There were times when she felt like a wildfire, like an ocean of fire that spread as far as it wanted, and there were times when she was nothing more than a candlelight, a flickering bit of heat that needed help to do bigger things. It all depended on her mood. How she felt dictated the things she said and the things that she did. It was like that for everyone, but, in Mokoto's case, her sense of pride and unabashed honesty made it so the things she said were always in line with her thoughts. Though he could never outright tell her in fear of feeling embarrassed or having a sword at his throat, Motoko would always be something like a beacon when he needed an honest opinion.

It was just one of the many reasons she would always be beautiful to him.

Her sister, on the other hand, was completely different…

Motoko was real. If she was grumpy, then the annoyed grimace she had on her face wasn't something she wore. It was how she really felt. If she was happy then she'd smile and laugh just like anyone else. He wasn't usually privy to the sight of her smile, but he imagined it'd look a little like the one Tsuruko wore as they made eye contact.

A mix of blood and sweat started to get in his eye, but he didn't blink even though it stun. He merely looked at the woman in front of him and waited. He waited to see if she had anything to say, if she had any reasonable explanation for what occurred even though there wasn't any kind of justification he would settle for considering his life was almost ended.

Long seconds passed and minutes seemed to tick by, but the only thing she gave him was a light smile, a carefully crafted present, for entering her personal space.

"You…"

Keitaro didn't think of himself as a fortunate person.

He was grateful for the friends and family he had and he was happy that he could consider himself satisfied with the way things went, but, deep down, he always felt like a clumsy loser that didn't really deserve to be in the presence of all the wonderful people in his life. He was a two-bit artist, a failure of a student, and a liar to the people that cared about him the most.

He was pitiful, but she…

"You are a monster…"

The strained eyes that never matched her smile warmed before she chuckled. The sword that embodied her soul was dropped as she broke into a hearty laugh. Hilarious! It was hilarious! "You're seriously saying that to me without looking into a mirror?" Her calm, the lid that covered the kind of person she became in the shadows, shifted and a little of her true self was exposed as she blatantly laughed in his face. "I might be monster, but you!" The swordswoman threw her head back and laughed out loud before being able to get out what she wanted to say. "You!" She pointed at him as tears built in the corner of her eyes. "You are surely one!"

The words that normally would have shocked him into silence did nothing of the sort. An accusation was nothing compared to her actions. Keitaro and Motoko silently watched Tsuruko ride her amusement until it died, but neither thought to speak.

Tsuruko, though, was more than happy to share. "That was good…" Even though she abandoned her sword, she was perfectly capable of handling a mutt without it. He gave her a good laugh, but, at the very least, she needed to punish him for being so cheeky.

Her fist didn't move any faster than her blade.

"Keitaro!"

But he was too tired to dodge…

Continued…

Author's note: Man, it's been a minute. I've been sort of busy and I'm trying to finish stuff before I start posting again, but I eventually realized that I don't really have the time to finish everything the way I wanted so I'm satisfied with just putting up what I have.

Once again, thanks for reading everyone and I wish everyone happy holidays.

CF