Love Hina - Volume 2 - Chapter 2.4

CHAPTER 4: CRAZY KITSUNE 

Motoko, still stuck in Kitsunes body, called from deep in the closet, “Here it is! This!” 

Naru and Kitsune (who was still stuck inside Motoko’s body) leaned forward. After Tsuruko left, the three were looking for ways to break the shin mei ryu Living Souls Exchange by thumbing through old books in Motokos room. 

Motoko-Kitsune poked her head out of the closet, wiped off the cobwebs caught in her hair, and said, “This is the book” 

On the cover was “Shin Mei Ryu: Book of Spell Breakers.” The other two girls opened it up, but the cryptic characters made it difficult to read. 
 
“What’s it written in?” Kitsune-Motoko asked. 

“Not sure,” Naru said, genuinely perplexed. 

“You cant read it, even though you’re a Todai student?” Motoko-Kitsune took the book and said, “It was written so you cant understand it. Since the skills of shin mei ryu are secret, it was written so that only my family can read it.” 

“Well, I’ll be darned.” Kitsune-Motoko huffed. 

“So, how do we break the spell?” asked Naru. Motoko-Kitsune opened the book in the middle. “Here’s a section about a way to break the spell of the Living Souls Exchange in cases of emergencies,” she said. 

“What’s it say?” Kitsune-Motoko asked. She seemed kind of antsy to get back into her own body. 

“Well, it’s kind of long,” Motoko-Kitsune began, “but to it says ‘One: the two switched souls must take a bath to purify the bodies . . .’ ” 

“Again?” Kitsune-Motoko complained, scrunching up her nose. “But my—I mean, your—fingers are all pruny!” 

“Shh!” Naru hushed her; then she said to Motoko-Kitsune, Lo on . . . 

Motoko-Kitsune nodded and continued reading. “ ‘Two: prepare the blade used for the Living Souls Exchange, 5 ” she read. “ ‘Three: the two purified bodies must be naked and go into the futon together. Four: put the sword in the futon and have both bodies grab the sheath 

“Oh, kinky . . Kitsune-Motoko teased. 

Naru jabbed her with an elbow. “Is that it?” she asked. Motoko-Kitsune read the bottom of the page. “It says that by the next morning the souls will be back in their respective bodies” 

Kitsune-Motoko clapped her hands and exclaimed, “Okay! So me and Motoko will embrace while naked, right?” 

“D-don’t say it in such a questionable manner!” MotokoKitsune shouted. 

It was really strange to see the two interact, because “Kitsune” was the one being embarrassed, and “Motoko” was the one laughing. Naru wasn't used to seeing this. 

Motoko-Kitsune turned the page. “Uh-oh,” she said. “What?” both girls asked. 

“It says, this method only works the first night,” MotokoKitsune told them, her eyes wide. She looked up from the book. “After tonight, it will be impossible to go back.” 
 
“What happens if it fails?” Naru asked. 

“If that happens, we must ask a monster hunter as skilled as my sister,” Motoko-Kitsune said, looking queasy. “But no one else in the family is as skilled as my sister.” 

“So, the only person we can ask is your sister?” KitsuneMotoko said. 

“We can’t do that!” Motoko-Kitsune gasped. “If we did, who knows what the punishment for lying will be?” 

“Does the punishment taste good?” someone asked. 

“Well, big sisters punishment is . . . Suu!” MotokoKitsune was startled. Suu and Sara had somehow slipped in during the conversation. 

“What’s up, Kitsune? You sound different.” 

“Well, actually . . .” 

Motoko-Kitsune tried to explain, but Naru grabbed her and whispered in her ear, “No, don’t tell them.” 

“Why not?” 

“If Suu finds out, she’ll make some weird invention and it will just complicate things,” Naru warned. 

“Oh, right.” Motoko-Kitsune went hack to Imitating Kitsune’s speech patterns like she did in front of her sister. “I-I don’t sound no different, do I?” 

“I dunno. Its sort of weird,” Suu said. “What do you think, Motoko?” 

Kitsune-Motoko was asked that out of the blue, so she hastily responded, “I-I-I dunno. I really don’t think so.” 

Suu became even more suspicious. 

Nam quickly tried to change the subject. “So, what brings you here?” 

“Shinobu was looking for you” Suu explained. “She wants to study.” 

“Oh, I forgot!” Naru said. “I was supposed to tutor Shinobu today.” Then something crossed her mind, and she continued, “Motoko, would you like to study with us today?” 

Kitsune-Motoko saw through Naru’s plan. She had to play along so Suu wouldn’t get suspicious. 

“O-okay. I’ll do it, Naru,” she said. Kitsune-Motoko left the room with Naru. 

Motoko-Kitsune turned to the girls. “Well, guess I’ll go back to my room and chill out,” she said, and quickly left. 

Suu and Sara just stood there. “There’s something definitely wrong with those two,” Suu said. 
 
“Whatever, Kaolla. Lets play outside.” “Gotcha!” 

They had been fooled by Narus plan. 

Kitsune-Motoko started to study with Shinobu in Narus room. And she really had to study, because Naru had come up with a peculiar idea. 

“Motoko, how about you try some high school problems for a change?” 

“Huh?” Kitsune asked in Motoko’s body. 

“Maybe you should try junior high school problems, too. You don’t play around like Kitsune, so you should breeze right through these problems.” 

Kitsune-Motoko was shocked. It was like Naru really wanted her to study. She became irritated, but since Shinobu was there, she couldn’t talk back. She was stuck. 

It had been years since Kitsune had opened up a textbook. The smell of ink reminded her of her school days, and the writing utensils Naru handed her seemed so nostalgic. Kitsune usually used only a red pencil to circle things on the horseracing forms. But back when she was a student, she actually used cute mechanical pencils and highlighters. 

“Um, Nam, I don’t understand this question,” Shinobu murmured. 

“Let me see,” Naru said. Shinobu and Naru were seriously engaged. They weren’t smiling, but they did seem to enjoy it. 

“I didn’t know about this part of the academic world,” Kitsune uttered, but Naru and Shinobu looked at her, surprised. She had forgotten to act like Motoko because she was deep in thought, Kitsune-Motoko tried to shake it off by saying, “That’s probably something Kitsune would have said.” 
Shinobu nodded. Naru rolled her eyes. 

This was going to be a long night. 

Back in Kitsunes room, Motoko used Kitsune’s body to pace nervously. This was a big, big problem. She didn’t even want to think about what would happen if she screwed it up. 
 
Finally, after it was clear she might burn holes in the floor from her furious pacing, she sat down to meditate. 

She had to calm down. 

“Oh, I can’t!” she said, heaving a tremendous sigh. She opened her eyes. It couldn’t be helped. Kitsune’s room was too messy. And the things strewn about were very questionable. There were empty beer cans and alcohol bottles, bits of half-eaten snacks, crumpled horserace forms, and other gambling periodicals strewn about. There were also the types of weekly magazines that a fifty-yearold businessman might read, so this room didn’t seem like a young girl lived in it at all. 

It was just impossible to meditate amidst all the artifacts of excess and earthly desire. 

I quit! 

Motoko-Kitsune flopped back and spread her arms and legs. Her hand—or rather, Kitsune’s hand—brushed against a magazine. She picked it up. 

“Find the virgin out of all these college girls!’ ” she read, disgusted. Kitsune had made red circles throughout this black and white porny article. 

“Why is she taking this article seriously?” Motoko wondered aloud. She threw the magazine to the side and stared at the ceiling. 

She could hear Suu and Sara laughing and enjoying themselves downstairs. They’re probably playing with Tama , she thought. She heard a vendor truck selling hot potatoes drive by. Weirdly, for all of her anxiety and frustration, she realized it had been a while since she had done nothing and relaxed like this. 

She yawned and stretched Kitsunes body as if she were a lazy cat in a patch of sunshine. Kitsunes body was so much more limber than hers; it was kind of a nice feeling. Come to think of it, she hadn’t slept much since her sister had arrived. 

“Guess I 11 take a nap,” she mumbled, and reached for a pillow. But suddenly she jumped back when she saw the cover of a magazine hidden underneath it.

Forbidden Love! Loving a Teenage Boyfriend! 

Motoko-Kitsune was holding a hardcore ladies’ comic, The Monthly Amove. 

“Such filthy magazines!” Motoko-Kitsune blushed, and flung it aside. But ... if she was honest with herself, she had to admit she was a wee bit curious. Well, okay, so she was really curious.
 
“Let me just see inside the cover ...” 

Motoko-Kitsune cautiously crawled to the magazine and flipped the cover open. She saw two hardcore pinups— nothing gross or anything, but even for a ladies’ comic it was pretty racy—foreign models in hot sexy poses. 
She squeaked and dropped the magazine. “I’m not going to look at it anymore,” she told herself. But she was still curious. And really, what would Kitsune do? 

Motoko picked the magazine up again, skin flushed with excitement, and started to read. 

An hour later, after going back and forth, Motoko had read The Monthly Amore from cover to cover, from the readers’ number one manga title Endless Love, to ads that boasted “My Breasts Grew Big With This Machine.” 

And her reaction was simply: pheeew., 

Motoko’s eyes were glazed over; she stared blankly into space. It was too stimulating for her. She finally came to, took a deep breath, and said, “I didn’t know about this part of the non-academic world . 

But it certainly was an educational experience. 

At that same time, Kitsune-Motoko was about to spew steam from both ears. 

Her brain bad broken down. It couldn’t be helped, since she had been orced to study for more than two hours straight. She was sweating all over, and her face oscillated from red to green, like a traffic light. 

Shinobu noticed her reactions and asked, “A-are you okay?” 

Naru finally glanced over and said, “Maybe we should take a break.” 

Yes, thank you, Kitsune-Motoko said. Once she wobbled out of the room, she let out all her repressed feelings. 

“Enough! I can’t keep imitating Motoko like this! I can’t live like Motoko or Naru.” 

Suddenly, Tama floated over. “Myu?” 

“Hey Tama!” she said. “You sure don’t do much of anything. You’re a floater, like me.” 

“Myu?” Tama was puzzled to see Motoko reacting differently than usual, so he tilted his head. 

But Kitsune, in Motoko’s body, was pretty puzzled, too. “Wait a minute. What is this? Looking at Tama, I can’t help but wonder if I’m forgetting something big . . It finally dawned on Kitsune-Motoko. “Oh yeah! Usagi to Kame!” 

Kitsune-Motoko ran to her room ... in other words, Kitsunes room. Motoko-Kitsune was there, still thinking about The Monthly Amove. 

Even though no one asked her about it, Motoko-Kitsune suddenly blurted out, “K-Kitsune, I did not read The Monthly Amove!” 

But Kitsune-Motoko didn’t seem to care and starting throwing out clothes and underwear from her drawers. 

“W-what’s wrong?” Motoko-Kitsune asked. 

Kitsune-Motoko didn’t respond and started to take off her kimono. 

“Urn . . .” Motoko-Kitsune didn’t know what to do as Kitsune-Motoko stripped down completely and picked out a flashy negligee from the mess. She slipped it on, then put on a micro-miniskirt that was closer to her crotch than her knees, and an open-neck angora sweater. 

As a finishing touch, she pulled on a leather jacket and said, “Okay, Im ready to go!” 

Motoko-Kitsune croaked. She was shocked to admit that her body looked pretty hot under Kitsune s control, but what Kitsune had put on was way more daring than any of the girls in town would ever even try. 

She shook it off and asked, “What’s going on, Kitsune?” 

“I’m going out tonight!” 

“G-going out?!” 

“Need some fun! See ya!” 

And with that, Kitsune-Motoko bolted out of the room. 

It took a few seconds to set in, but then Motoko-Kitsune gasped. “Oh no!” she cried, and chased after her. 

Motoko-Kitsune finally caught up with Kitsune-Motoko at the front entrance of the Hinata House and called out, “Kitsune! Don’t go!” 
 
But Kitsune-Motoko ignored her and tried to leave. 

Motoko-Kitsune ran in front of her, and they faced off at the front entrance. “Please don’t go out today” she begged. “If we don’t do this tonight, we cant ever go back!” 

“No! I want to go out!” 

Motoko-Kitsune grabbed a broom and held it like a sword. “If you insist, then I must stop you by force!” she said with a stern face. 

“Try me!” Kitsune-Motoko grabbed a rake and attacked. 

Motoko-Kitsune stayed calm and tried to read her moves. But she couldn’t. 

“W-why?!” Motoko-Kitsune uttered in surprised. “Oh gosh! I can’t use my skills with this body!” 

And it was true—Motoko had trained hard over the years, but she was now in Kitsune’s body. And the fact that Kitsune was using Motoko’s body meant that, despite the random swings, Kitsune’s moves were a lot sharper. 

“Hey! The girls are fighting!” Suu and Sara rushed over to the scene. They didn’t try to stop it, but rather cheered them on. 

“Don’t lose, Kitsune!” 

“I’ll cheer for Motoko! Do it, Motoko! Beat the crap out of her like you always do!” 

Kitsune-Motoko stopped when she noticed the younger girls; she held the rake at the center stance. “What did you just say?” 

Motoko-Kitsunes eyes widened. Had Kitsune not realized yet that she could use Motoko’s skills while in her body? 

“Wont know until I try it. Eat this secret move!” Kitsune-Motoko raised the rake and swung down while yelling, “Kitsune Secret Skill! Earthly Desires Sword, Lustful Motoko had never heard of that skill, of course. Kitsune just copied Motoko’s moves and said a bunch of nonsense. But even so, Motoko’s real body responded to Kitsune’s ridiculous chant. Kitsune’s aura of earthly desires were absorbed by the weapon, and Motoko’s trained body swung down, releasing a powerfully bright burst of energy. 

Motoko tried to dodge it, but Kitsune’s body couldn’t respond fast enough. 

A bright flash of light came closer, followed by a huge explosion! A loud thunderous roar accompanied the large flash, then everything went quiet. 

“My . . . loss . . ” said Motoko-Kitsune, falling. Kitsune-Motoko dropped the rake and took off toward the entertainment district.