Disclaimer: I do not own Ringu or Love Hina.

Love Sada

Chapter 1

The Tape

“Did you know? There’s this weird video tape that if you watch it, a weird woman comes out and kills you in seven days!”

“Not that rumor again.” Naru sighed as she kept walking.

Tokyo University, once, Narusegawa Naru studied here, the most prestigious of Japan’s prestigious schools. Now, as if it was a way of giving something back, she was teaching there. She loved the academic atmosphere, so peaceful in comparison to the chaos of her home: Hinata Sou. And in all her two years teaching in that grand institution, she would always hear a few students mention the urban legend of a “cursed tape”. She never paid much attention to it though; she dismissed it as nothing more than what she assumed it was: an urban legend. She carried herself along the school with a grace that was all her own, seeing the new kendo team coach meditating in the gym. She smiled; the coach smiled back and stood up to greet the professor. Naru had some free time since she had let her students out early and knew that her companion wouldn’t have much to do for at least an hour from now. It was good, Naru thought, that she had friends among the Todai staff, since professors were not allowed to leave during school hours.

“How’s it going, Motoko-chan?” Naru asked.

“Quite well, Naru-senpai. It feels good, seeing that kendo is not a lost art.”

“It will never be a lost art, not while you’re around anyway.”

“How is...he?”

Naru sighed inwardly, knowing the name Motoko was supposed to say. Not since the two of them got married did Motoko ever mention Keitaro’s name in her presence. She still loved that hentai of a kanrinrin, even though she would rather give up the sword than admit it. Naru didn’t mind, Motoko wasn’t the only one. There was the young Shinobu, the absent minded Mutsumi and the darkly cute Kanako to worry about as well. If she let every little thing like that bother her, she’s go insane. Those four rivals to her husband’s affections didn’t bother her at all, not one bit. But of course, she was only lying to herself whenever she told this to herself. In truth, she was insanely jealous and perpetually worried. Even after their marriage, she was still abusing him physically and verbally. Inside her mind, she feared that Keitaro might come running to one of the others when he finally reaches his limits. Or had he already taken one of them as a mistress, if not all of them? It worried her to no end and the real reason she was with Motoko now was to check up on her. It was now that the thought of losing Keitaro most believable.

As for Motoko, she knew and acknowledged her feelings for Keitaro but would avoid openly admitting them as much as possible. It was shameful for her to even think of being with a married man; it was a serious breach of her strict code of honor. Still, she had found a creative outlet for her frustrated love: writing. She smiled lovingly as she sent her first story to the publisher, a story of a swordswoman kidnapping the love of her life on his wedding, reminding him of their feelings for one another and living happily together. During her spare time, she writes her second story, the sequel to her first, which details the trials and tribulations of the couple she wrote of, this time weaving in a meddling dark sorceress. In this way, she could escape from the harsh reality of having realized her feelings for Keitaro too late. Of course, Shinobu was often on hand to remind her of how close to reality her work was becoming. And her heartless, cold, dark editor, Urashima Kanako, was clearly the basis for the second book’s villain.

“Keitaro’s doing well. I’ll tell him you said ‘hi’.” Naru smiled, whether it was sincere or not, no one could tell. “How’s the story going?”

“It’s going quite well, Naru-senpai. Urashima is a harsh editor but her judgment helps my work.” Motoko smiled back, this one as nervous as it was sincere. “Don’t you have a class now?”

“No, no. I let the kids off early today. I decided to kill some time here.” Naru stopped her train of thought as the alarm on her cell phone sounded. As she checked the time, she found she could leave the school grounds now. “I think I’ll go back to Hinata Sou now. See you later, Motoko-chan.”

“Goodbye, Naru-senpai.”

Naru, of course, couldn’t stand being there anymore. Motoko’s smile, so sincere and caring, despite her love for Naru’s husband was something she couldn’t stand. Naru knew she wouldn’t be able to bear with something like that, had she been the one in Motoko’s shoes. Yet, Motoko was both pinning for Keitaro yet wishing him and Naru well in their marriage. It was unbearable to be in the presence of such sincerity, even Kanako showed the same resolve. She found it virtually impossible, her bitterest rival and darkest nemesis, her own sister in law, was the first to wish them well in their marriage. She knew all four of them really had no intention stealing Keitaro away from her but she was paranoid about their closeness to him. In her eyes, she thought Keitaro treated them better than he did her. The truth is, Naru didn’t deserve him, not after everything he endured because of her. No, in the back of her mind, she knew Shinobu, Motoko, Mutsumi or even Kanako was a better match for him than she was. He was just too dumb to see that fact.

As he arrived at Hinata Sou, she saw that she had a package in her mail. It was some sort of video tape, sent to her by Kitsune, who was vacationing somewhere in the little island of Okinawa with Mutsumi. There was no title of whatever was recorded there, no decorations or anything. It seemed like a perfectly ordinary writeable compact tape. Still, it did call up her curiosity. Why would Kitsune and Mutsumi send her this tape if not to watch it, after all? She wasn’t all too willing to wait a week for Keitaro to come back from his dig with Seta, so she popped it into the player they have in their room and turned on the TV. She didn’t turn it on just yet, changing to her more comfortable, and familiar, yellow, long sleeved shirt and red shirt before sitting down on the couch. As she was about to get comfortable, she heard the phone ring. She got up to answer, finding the voice of Kitsune on the other line.

“How are you, Naru?” there was a taint of distress in Kitsune’s voice. Not enough for Naru to pick up though.

“Kitsune! So, how’s everything in Okinawa?” Naru said, overjoyed. “And how’s Mutsumi-san?”

“Everything’s fine on this end. Mutsumi says hi. Say, did you receive the video tape I sent you?”

“Yeah, I did. What’s up with it? It looks weird.” Naru said. “It looks like it’s just an ordinary video tape.”

“Have you watched it yet?” Kitsune asked the distress in her voice more apparent.

“No, I’m just about to.” Naru said, she was wondering why Kitsune sounded so eager for her to see it. “You sound worried about something Kitsune. Is anything the matter?”

“No, there’s nothing wrong.” Kitsune stopped, worried. “I better go now. Mutsumi-san needs my help with something. Bye.”

“Bye.” Naru barely managed to say before Kitsune put the phone down.

“She hasn’t watched it yet…” Kitsune muttered, partially relieved, partially afraid. “I hope she watches it soon. We only have three days left, Mutsumi-san.”

“Ara, do you think we did the right thing? Sending that tape to Naru-san?”

Back in Hinata Sou, Naru sighed and thought Kitsune was up to something but didn’t pay it that much attention. She ignored the sounds of distress in Kitsune’s voice when they talked over the phone and decided to sit down and watch the tape. Suddenly, she had an ominous feeling come over her as she turned the TV and player on, a feeling of dread. Once more, she ignored what seemed to be a warning of some sort and kept on watching. As she sat down, the first thing that came to her mind was the strangeness of the video. It was, for starters, only in black and white, which was a format that was no longer used. The first image that assaulted her eyes was that of a lovely woman, roughly in her mid-thirties, combing her long, beautiful black hair in front of a mirror. Naru blinked for a moment, wanting to both stop the video because it was starting to freak her out and to keep watching, curious as to what would happen next. Then, a split second image caught her eyes. For a split second, the woman’s face changed to that of a child’s, the hair covering the face with the exception of a single eye. It was infinitely perplexing.

“What the hell is this?” she asked herself as she kept watching.

As the image of the woman disappeared, it was replaced by another strange and seemingly random image: that of what seemed to be a news report. The characters used were definitely Japanese but she couldn’t identify most of them. However, there was one line she could identify clearly, in an instant, if you will. As far as she could see, the report apparently was about a volcanic eruption in some small village in northern Japan, near the Izu region. The following image, that of countless people, seemingly burned by the eruption and their bodies covered in ash, crawling on the ground, wallowing in pain, disgusted her. She began to wonder if this was what Kitsune really sent her or the post office somehow got some packages mixed up. Still, she kept watching, despite the horror and disgust. Then, she could tell somehow that the video was ending. She was startled suddenly by the image of a man, with a towel over his head, pointing his finger directly at her. It made her nervous but it didn’t actually scare her. After that, the video ended.

“That was…weird.” Naru thought to herself. “I think I’ll ask Kitsune about it.”

In Okinawa, Kitsune’s entire body trembled, something was wrong. Mutsumi could feel it was well, Naru had watched the video she sent her. It worried her and relived her at the same time. She knew what evil was in that video, an evil even Motoko would not be able to exorcise. She looked at Mutsumi, then making a decision. They decided to call her, to warn her, to tell her how to save herself. But as she called, she encountered a problem. The line in Hinata Sou was suddenly, mysteriously cut. She had no way to contact Naru, or anyone in Hinata Sou. Back in Hinata Sou, as Naru approached the phone, it suddenly rang. Somehow, something inside her, call it intuition, call it a gut feeling, call it a premonition, call it what you will, she just had a feeling that she shouldn’t answer it. Ignoring her instincts once again, Naru picked up the phone. For a few moments, no one on the other line answered, which seemed odd to her.

“You watched it, didn’t you?”

“Who is this?” she asked.

“In seven days…” the voice, a feminine but grim one, said. “…you will die.”

Naru put the phone down quickly, scared for a second. Then, her mind dismissed it as nothing more than a prank call, a damn lucky one at that. As she struggled to lower her heart beat, the air was pierced by a scream of absolute pain and anguish. She turned, hearing the scream from her sister in law, Urashima Kanako’s, room. She rushed to Kanako’s room, encountering Shinobu just outside the door. They looked at one another for a split second then opened the door. Inside, they found Kanako on the floor, clutching her head, running her fingers in a rough manner through her hair. Her eyes, her lips, her expression showed nothing but absolute, pure and unadulterated terror. An emotion, a reaction everyone in Hinata Sou thought was impossible to find in Kanako. She was clearly in pain and appeared to have been crying.

“Help….me….” she managed to mutter before losing consciousness.

End Chapter 1