Hey readers. Just to let you know, I don't own Love Hina, because if I did, Motoko would have got Keitaro. This is my first Lova Hina fanfic. It's rated T for language and sex references.

Enjoy!

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The blade glinted silver as it was held aloft in the sliver of remaining sunlight, but only for a brief second. Then it came soaring down, slicing the log cleanly in half in a flash. The ebony-haired teenager Motoko Aoyama wiped at some sweat from her forehead, squinting slightly at the slit of orange in the horizon, holding one hand over her dark eyes. She had been training for the past hour now, and while it was rewarding, it was extremely tiring, but a young warrior such as herself had to persist, regardless. But as Motoko raised her blade again, the door leading back into the house suddenly was flung open and in burst the noisy blonde whirlwind who was otherwise known as Kaolla Su.
"Motoko!"

Motoko stopped and turned to Su, a puzzled expression briefly crossing her face, then a slight scowl.
"What is it, Su? You are not meant to interrupt my swordsman training, if you remember?"
"Shinobu says it's almost dinner, and to round everybody up, but I can't find Kitsuuuune." Su moaned, exaggerated and stretching her face as she said Kitsune's name. Motoko sighed and nodded once. It wouldn't hurt to stop now.
Besides, it wasn't good to have such an long practice without any food.
"Great! I'll go help Shinobu serve while you find Kitsune!" Su giggled, then vanished, dashing at full speed down the stairs.
"Wait, what?" Motoko stammered, running towards the door. But of course, nobody was around to hear her. Motoko gave an irritated sigh and padded slowly down the stairs, and entered her room. She carefully placed her sword in it's special case, then turned on her heel and walked out, pausing to glance at the beautiful Hina blade, which she had sort of...been given to from Keitaro, before she closed the door quietly behind her as though she had just put a small child that she did not wish to disturb to bed.

"Kitsune?" Motoko called the floorboard squeaking as she came to the landing that led to Kitsune's room. But no sooner had she called out than she heard a groan come from a nearby broom cupboard. Opening it, Motoko leapt back as Kitsune practically fell out of the cupboard. She stank of booze, and there were bottles surrounding the up-turned box she had just been propping her feet up against.
"Kitsune!" Motoko gasped, squatting and staring at her friend.
"Hiya Motoko." giggled Kitsune, pulling herself upright and gazing blearily at the black-haired teenager. "Wassamatter?"
"You're drunk." Motoko told her flatly, nudging Kitsune with her foot. "Pull yourself together, Kitsune! Shinobu has prepared dinner!"
It wasn't very much like Motoko to speak in such short sentences, but Kitsune was completely oblivious to this. Instead she lay back down and kind of moaned, collapsing into another fit of giggling. Motoko gave an annoyed sigh. What kind of childish behaviour was this, anyway?
"Kitsune!" Motoko tried again, giving her another, slightly harder push with her foot. Kitsune moaned again, swatting lazily at Motoko's bare foot.
"Cut it out, Motoko." whined Kitsune, attempted to roll away from the foot.
"Get UP, Kitsune!" Motoko persisted, almost kicking Kitsune now.
"Don't wanna!"
"Ki-aaaah!"
Motoko had gone to give Kitsune another prod with her foot when Kitsune had suddenly grabbed Motoko's foot mid-prod and yanked. Motoko found herself sprawled across the floor and Kitsune.
"Whoops!" Kitsune sniggered. Motoko grabbed onto Kitsune's shoulder and pulled herself upright. Kitsune suddenly let out a noise, which was between a snigger and a gasp.
"What's so funny?" Motoko asked, straightening the neckline of her Yakama.
"Um, Motoko..."
Motoko suddenly realised that it was not Kitsune's shoulder that she had been holding. It was actually her breast.
"EEEK!" Motoko squealed, her hand withdrawing so fast it was like it had been on a hot stove. Kitsune, however, shared none of Motoko's embarrassment. Instead she sat blearily up, a smug expression on her features,
"That kinda felt weird." she drawled, picking up a half-empty bottle of wine and sipping from it, the red liquid staining around her mouth. "What with Keitaro gone, it's almost like we'd forgotten about it."
"I certainly haven't!" Motoko squawked, her cheeks turning pink with anger and humiliation at the memory of Keitaro's perverted (if accidental) moments.
Including the fact he once walked in on Motoko mid-change and found out she was wearing a wrap instead of a bra.
"Maybe you're picking up his habits because you miss him." sniggered Kitsune. Motoko shot her a haughty glare,
"Don't be ridiculous! I'm happy for Naru and that pervert. I wouldn't want to wrench them away from their uh...honeymoon."
"I didn't say that you weren't." Kitsune answered calmly, and Motoko sat down in spite of herself. "I just mean- You can feel it now they're gone. You know?"
"I suppose so. The absence of our companions seems to have affected us all."
"That's what I mean." Kitsune said, nodding. Her sandy-coloured bangs flicked in front of her face. Motoko had a sudden, irrational urge to push them out of the way. Instead, she distracted herself by turning away and saying to the blank corridor,
"I think that Su and Shinobu feel their absence most."
Kitsune nodded. Then Motoko's memory was jolted. What was she doing, sitting down here and having chitchat with Kitsune? She was supposed to be telling her to get up and go to dinner.
"Kitsune..."
"Ssh. They'll be okay. Shinobu will just leave us food to heat up later. Su will eat most of it anyway."
"But still..."
Kitsune sighed and shook her head. Motoko made a disapproving noise in the back of her throat, but decided not to press it. It was too late in the day to bother anymore. Instead, she chewed the bottom of her lip, thinking. Then she said,
"Do you miss them, Kitsune?"
"'Course." the older woman nodded, "It's hard not to, you know? I miss the way Keitaro would bumble through things and try to fix everybody's problems. And I miss the way Naru would spend whole evenings cramming and fall asleep at the table." grinned Kitsune, though there was something like regret on her usually cheerful face. Tipping her head to one side, Kitsune eyed Motoko.
"What?"
"You miss them too, don't-cha?"
"No!" Motoko protested, but Kitsune simply stared smugly at her, and eventually the young samurai conceded,
"Yes...I miss them." muttered Motoko, a blush peppering her pale face. She winced, half-expecting Kitsune to laugh. But when she looked over, Kitsune was staring dreamily out of the window, the sun tinting the whole area around Hinata house a glorious peachy orange. "But not just because of their amusing moments or mannerisms. I miss them because... Because they're my friends."

"You know, Motoko..." Kitsune mused, taking another hearty swig of her sake, "For a tough kendo-girl, you're pretty deep. Not to mention sensitive."

Motoko tilted her head to one side.
"You're quite complex yourself, Kitsune."

There was a pause. Neither girl moved, they simply sat, considering what the other had just said. Motoko was not sure whether it was simply the sake or Kitsune was genuinely embarrassed, but there was a dull fuchsia flush on her face. And Kitsune had noticed Motoko fidgeting with a small peel of skin next to her finger.
"Gorgeous sunset." Kitsune articulated, nodding at the window. Motoko swallowed,
"Gorgeous." she echoed, smiling a small but genuine smile.
Another silence. Then,
"Mot-"
"Kit-"
"MOTOKOO! KITSUNEE! GET UP HERE FOR DINNER!"
Su seemed to be bursting in at bad moments a lot today. Thundering noisily down the corridor, she had Sarah in tow with her as well,
"Come on, you two!" grinned the blonde banana-loving girl, apparently choosing to ignore the sake bottles scattered around Kitsune, "Dinner's going cold and Shinobu won't let us eat until you guys come up!"
"Yeah, hurry it up!" Sarah grinned slightly evilly from behind Su, "Race ya, Su!"

Giggling, Su and Sarah raced back off the corridor, with shouts of, "Hey! You ran before I finished!" and "Nyehehe, can't catch me!"
Motoko stood quickly up, then turned and offered a hand to Kitsune, who accepted and stood up too, shaking her head slowly like a fox trying to dislodge water from its ears.
"Come on." Motoko said quietly, a light tone in her voice, "I won't race, but let's hurry. Dinner's ready."
“Yeah, yeah.” Kitsune grinned, and followed the ebony-haired Motoko, forgetting the stray bottles of sake and the almost-gone sun, heading towards the heavy smell of food.