Love Hina Hand in Hand

**Hand in Hand**

Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina... actually it's been so long that at this point I can't claim to even remember much of the plot. But I like what I remember :)

* * *

Naru didn't like it.

She didn't like the feel of the leather boot pressing up against her ankles, the way the back of the boot pressed into her shins whenever she dug the toe pick into the ice. She didn't like clinging desperately to the boards for balance while other skaters whizzed around the rink. She missed the hot springs.

_I'll get you for this, Kitsune!_

Naru sighed, expecting to see the fog of her breath in front of her. It had been a ridiculous idea to start with—that the girls of Hinata Inn try their hands (or rather, feet) at figure skating, but even more discouraging was that somehow, she had been the only one to show up the first day of lessons.

She tapped the ice gingerly with her toe.

The instructor glided over to her and came to a graceful stop. "Now, Naru, you'll never learn to skate by hanging on to the boards! Come now, march. Stamp your feet, march along."

Faced with no other choice, Naru sighed again and reluctantly let go of the boards. The instructor was already gliding along; Naru tried to imitate her actions but ended up sprawled across the ice instead, causing other skaters to swerve in order to avoid a collision.

"Hmm…I don't think your skates are quite laced up right. Stand up and let me have a look."

Naru seethed, feeling like an idiot as she stood and waited for the instructor to finish retying her skates. As soon as this preposterous "lesson" was over—just fifteen more minutes—she'd hurry over to the lessons office and demand a refund. Thank goodness she'd rented skates and hadn't taken the trouble to buy any, although a few weeks ago she might've considered it a worthy investment.

She allowed herself to be dragged around the rink, one hand in the instructor's, content to keep both feet solidly on the ice. Naru chanced a glance at the center of the ice. There was a tiny girl, perhaps only five or six years old, who was rotating so quickly that she appeared to be a complete blur, hands over her head. Naru turned away quickly, feeling her face flush.

By the end of the lesson she was learning slowly to drag her feet along, lifting one up slowly and placing it ahead of the other. The problem with this method of skating was that it was not very efficient and did not generate speed; it made Naru feel rather like a moon-walker, and when the announcements came on requesting everyone to leave the ice, she hurried off as quickly as she could in her toddling way.

The instructor caught up with her in two long strides. "I'll see you back in a week, Naru?"

"Maybe."

She patted her on the shoulder as if she were a five-year-old. "Good girl. You did well today."

Naru sat down amidst a crowd of gabbling teenagers and fumbled impatiently with the laces. Her ankles were numb, and she sighed with pleasure when she could finally manage to slip her feet into a pair of comfy sandals. Naru grabbed the skates and hurried to the skate return counter; once that task was completed, she hurried back to the lessons office and explained her dilemma.

The lady in charge jabbed a finger at the "No Refund" sign.

"Please," Naru begged.

This time the finger made contact with the sign, which shook violently and swung back and forth dangerously close to Naru's face. Grumbling at her bad luck, Naru stormed out of the rink and into the summer heat.

* * *

"Well… you see." Kitsune lounged on the couch, slowly eating her way through a package of rice crackers. "We thought it'd be interesting…okay, flat-out funny…if you learned to skate. As the result of a practical joke."

She chewed slowly while Naru seethed.

"Well, it _wasn't_," Naru snapped, bending down to undo the buckles on her shoes. "And I can't even get a refund!"

"S-sorry…" Shinobu apologized from the corner of the couch, her whole body shaking with fright. Behind her, balanced on the backrest, Su calmly unpeeled a banana and launched it into her mouth with her toes, clearly unconcerned with the current on-goings of Hinata Inn.

Naru shook her head, annoyed with herself for having hurt the younger girl. "I'm not mad at _you_. Now Kitsune, on the other hand…"

Kitsune popped a cracker into her mouth and looked innocent. "Hmm?"

Naru sighed and went upstairs, wondering what she was doing wasting her time on skating lessons when the dreaded day of examinations was not far away.

* * *

Her second week on the ice started off no better than the first. Naru arrived early due to a surprising lack of traffic, and gloomily pushed open the glass doors. A welcoming breeze of cool air wafted past her face. Resigned to her fate, she headed for the skate rental counter and collected a pair of scuffed brown skates.

"Ready, now?" The instructor glided backwards on the edges of her blades, holding out her hands in case the student fell. Naru inched towards slowly, uncomfortably aware of the fact that skating was not supposed to be done while hunching over. She straightened up, lost her balance, and landed with a thump on her backside. Naru blushed with embarrassment and tried to get back to her feet, but realized that the blades added an extra inch or two of height, which made it significantly harder.

The instructor laughed good-naturedly and offered her a hand.

She made it around the rink once, moving along at a painfully slow speed, but without falling over. Now she needed to learn to fix her posture and grow out of the awkward walk she was still doing. The instructor did her best not to embarrass the student while still being helpful, but Naru continued to feel the sting of inexperience as she stumbled along. It seemed that each time she tried a new maneuver she would either discover that her legs did not seem to be designed to move in such a way or she would land face-down yet again. She was beginning to find it very discouraging to block other peoples' paths so often.

The instructor demonstrated how to gain speed and glide on two feet, then skated back to help her arrange her limbs in a way that would most help her stay on her feet. Naru held out her arms for balance and slowly eked out a few inches.

"Very good!" The instructor clapped brightly, and for a moment Naru feared that she would skate over and pinch her cheek like an overindulging aunt. She hurried to skate away and in her haste toppled over again, but this time she didn't need any help in getting up.

Her instructor glided away to help another student in the group, who had already progressed to doing toe-touches and a variety of other moves while skating. Naru gritted her teeth, consoling herself that at least she didn't have to wear one of those dreadfully bright yellow helmets. Another lady had come in earlier, obviously trying out the ice for the first time, and had immediately fallen and hit her head. She had bravely reappeared later wearing a one of those helmets; while Naru appreciated the fact that they prevented one from spilling one's brains out across the ice, she would prefer not to be seen in such a monstrosity.

For thirty minutes she practiced the mix of march and occasional glide while the instructor circled her like an overly excited dance partner. When the announcements came on to declare the end of lessons and the beginning of the public session, Naru hurried for the door, but the instructor glanced at her curiously and commented, "You know that practice ice time is included in the fee you paid for lessons, right?"

"Well, yes…"

Her instructor gestured toward the nearly empty rink. "Now looks like an ideal time to practice."

Scowling, Naru slowly did a 180-degree turn and started on her first lap. She was soon overtaken by three high school girls, who were gliding along casually with their arms linked as they squabbled over which baseball star was best-looking. Naru chanced a glance at her instructor, hoping that the lady had left the ice and wouldn't notice if she escaped early. No such luck—she was working with a private student now, who was trying some sort of a complicated jump, but still managing to keep one eye on Naru. She caught the student's gaze and gave her a thumbs-up. Naru turned away and in her rush to get away quickly, pushed aside with her left blade… and glided several feet on the flat of her right.

Well, that was something new. She tried it again. No—this time she'd been holding her right foot at an angle and lost the edge. Naru peeked at the clock. With just over an hour left, she might as well keep trying.

* * *

Kitsune poked her head into the bathroom. "Naru… aren't you done yet?"

Naru was hunched over her legs with a bottle of antiseptic cream, spreading it lavishly over the cuts and bruises she'd developed as a result of falling. Watching her at her painful work, Kitsune almost felt sorry for getting her into this mess.

"No, and I might note that this is all your fault, so I suggest you find yourself another bathroom."

She squeezed the tube. Too much. Naru wiped the excess away with the tip of a finger and spread it thickly on the next bruise.

Kitsune, knowing that there really wasn't much she could say in response to that, wandered away in search of another bathroom.

Naru capped the cream and placed it back on the shelf. At this hour, she might still be lucky enough to squeeze in an hour of studying for Toudai entrance exams if she hurried. She flipped off the light switch and hurried along the hallway, her sore feet making even pitter-patters against the wooden boards as she reviewed geographic capitals in her mind.

"Latvia… Riga," she mumbled in an undertone, "Iceland… Reykjavik. Mongolia… Ulan Bator."

She rounded the corner and hit something at full force.

"Ah, I'm sorry!"

Naru stiffened, recognizing the voice. "KEITARO! Get off me!"

He backed away quickly, hands up in defense while stuttering an apology. Naru's hands had already clenched into fists when Keitaro managed to stave off the attack by glancing at her legs and asking, "What happened!"

"Skating mishaps."

"Oh…" It was his turn to stiffen as he remembered why she was taking lessons. "Er…I heard…well…sorry about that…"

Her eyes narrowed. "It's not as if you had anything to do with it." Folding her arms loosely over her chest, Naru brushed him aside and continued towards her room. Watching her long hair sway from side to side with her movements, Keitaro was left to stare.

He was still standing in the hallway when Motoko suddenly appeared out of the one of the side rooms, dragging the sword in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. She yawned, glared at him.

The tip of the sword tapped threateningly on the floor. "I hope you were not behaving inappropriately again."

"No!" Keitaro burst out. "I was merely asking her about her legs—ah, the cuts and bruises _on her legs_!" he quickly added, as Motoko's face turned an alarming shade of pink.

"And?"

"They were from skating," he said anxiously, eyeing the sword. The girl said nothing but tipped back her head and drank from the cup. Keitaro watched as the seemingly endless sip went on… when she finally lowered the cup, he ventured, "Perhaps we shouldn't have gotten her into this?"

Motoko glared at him, and Keitaro shrunk backwards—into a shelf laden with a set of old-fashioned metal teacups, which tumbled down and made painful contact with his head.

"She's already survived two of eight lessons," Motoko said philosophically, staring intently at the tea leaves. "Besides… it will be good for her to get out once in awhile, since she studies so often." Her eyebrows knitted and she suddenly whirled at him, her long hair whipping about threateningly: "Speaking of which, shouldn't you be studying as well?"

Keitaro was only too happy to stack the cups back on their shelf and hurry away.

* * *

Naru brought her books, tattered and covered with notes, to her third lesson. These she placed in her bag and stowed in her locker, intending to study while the ice was being resurfaced.

She laced her skates up with only minimal difficulty this time and trudged to the ice, still feeling heavy and clumsy with two metal blades on her feet. The instructor was on center ice, beaming and beckoning, but Naru chose to warm up instead by circling the ice a few times. She could still only push off with her left foot and glide with the right, but it allowed her to move much faster than the marching fashion did, and she made it around the rink twice without falling.

"Good. Very good!" The instructor clapped her gloved hands. "Soon you will be skating like Miki Ando!"

Naru smiled, gritted her teeth, and tried to pretend that she knew who Miki Ando was. The rink was chilly and she bent down absentmindedly to rub her legs, realizing belatedly that she'd forgotten her gloves. In the heat of summer it was hard to remember to pack gloves and socks, as she liked to run free with her arms and legs bare and her feet clad only in sandals—it was usually in this fashion that she usually showed up at the rink.

She moved on to the forward swizzle that day. It involved forming a v-shape with her feet, bending her knees and pushing outward, then quickly turning her toes back in so that they formed an upside-down v-shape. The goal was to do many of these in quick succession to form a series of elliptical-shaped tracings on the ice, but Naru could only form the first v, push outwards, and get stuck in the widest part of the ellipse.

"Bend your knees when you first push outwards," her instructor encouraged. "Turn your toes in quickly, quickly… because once you get stuck with your legs apart it takes thighs of steel to pull them back together!"

Naru could figure out that one out for herself without being told. She tried it again and got one foot caught behind the other, earning herself another face-plant on the not-so-forgiving ice.

"Let me see your skates."

Again, Naru felt like an idiot standing straight up while the instructor bent over and studied the boot.

She frowned. "Try renting a different pair of skates. Your left blade is mounted incorrectly."

Off-ice, Naru pulled off her left skate and glared at it critically. The left blade _was_ attached at an angle—well, she had never thought of checking for such a thing when she rented skates. She pulled off the other skate and trudged toward the skate rental counter.

The swizzles became much easier once she was clad in a pair of skates with blades properly mounted, but the new pair began to hurt her feet worse than the first. After each slow, effortful series of swizzles across the rink, she had to cling to the boards and lift her feet one at a time to allow the pain to abate. Needless to say, she was thrilled with the session was over. Naru quickly freed her feet and sat down to study, but found the noise of young children in the rink distracting; she laid down her books and wandered instead into the skate shop.

Her eyes widened at the selection of skates that covered the wall. Some already had the blade mounted to the leather base; others sold boot and blade separately. Naru picked up one of the bladeless boots closest to her and was amazed at the amount of ankle support it offered in comparison to the flimsy rental skates she had been using. She tapped the heel of the boot against her palm.

"Can I help you, ma'am?" The clerk appeared from behind a display of hockey pucks and gestured to the wall of figure skating boots. "Which level are you skating at, ma'am?"

She told him, and he plucked a skate from its display stand. "I'd suggest this model. Comes with the blade mounted—saves you a lot of trouble—and we can do your blade sharpening right next door."

Naru fingered the white leather. A self-bought present for her upcoming birthday, perhaps? If she bought a pair, surely she'd have the motivation to keep skating…

"How much are they?"

His answer had her blanching, then handing the skate back to him and stuttering an apology as she hurried out of the store. Definitely not in her budget anytime soon. She gathered up her books and slipped outside in the scorching summer heat.

* * *

Su was singing in the hallway, and Naru was finding the noise her fellow Hinata Inn inhabitant made as she danced across the wooden floors eating bananas particularly annoying. Naru considered going up to the roof, but remembered that it was a hot, humid day, and decided to stay where she was.

The walls of her room were plastered with maps, charts, and complicated diagrams explaining molecular structures and rotational motion.

She rolled onto her back and stared absentmindedly at the periodic table, mentally counting the days until the exam. She would be prepared—she would be! She was not willing to let this chance go to by! Naru grabbed her book by the spine and opened it to the pages between which an embroidered bookmark lay. She would be ready.

Would Keitaro?

_It's none of my concern whether he's ready or not_, Naru scowled to herself. Part of her wanted to let him go his own way and fail again—sometimes she almost felt as if he deserved it—and other times she felt compelled to help. He was, after all, the only one who knew what she was going through, the only one who was traveling along the same journey. Here at Hinata Inn, each of the girls had their own obsessions, and although they were lenient and understanding of each other, there were times when Naru felt very estranged from the rest.

She sighed and turned a page, feeling her initial burst of confidence and surety slowly dissipate.

Naru pursed her lips and perused the page, drumming her fingers lightly on the woven bamboo mat that covered her bed. Her fingertips traveled across a splinter and tore it off. She scribbled notes in the margins of her books, conjugated verbs, recorded world capitals, and quizzed herself on the uses of arsenic and selenium. Her lips hardly moved as she mumbled derivative rules to herself. Several hours passed in this way, until Naru felt that she had satisfied herself for the day with the contents of the review book. The embroidered bookmark slid back into its place just under the first page; then, not trusting her own judgment, flipped to a random page and scanned the information quickly. Yes, she knew about the chain rule and how to apply it.

Naru closed the book and laid it on the table, then fetched her Liddo-kun stuffed animal and held him close. At times like this she dreaded the entrance exams despite knowing that she'd done—and would continue to do—everything she could to ensure her acceptance. She closed her eyes and briefly allowed herself to imagine life at Toudai.

Although it was close enough to Hinata Inn that she could probably come home every night if she wished, she'd always planned to live at the university. She'd take her meals in the university dining hall, study in the library in the evenings; perhaps she'd enjoy a game of tennis on the school courts after classes.

Would she be lonely?

Naru considered. No, she didn't really think so; she'd always been fast to adapt to new environments and if all else failed she could always just bury her nose in a book to drown out what was going on around her. It _would_ be nice though, just to have someone she knew nearby, at least for the first few months when she was settling in…

"URASHIMA!"

The door to Naru's bedroom burst open and a frantic, babbling Keitaro scrambled across the wooden floorboards on all fours as Motoko's sword smashed into the place where he had been sitting just moments ago. She chased him in and out of the bathroom—Naru shouted as her favorite vase of fake flowers tumbled to the tiled floor and shattered—then disappeared out of the room again. The air was thick with the mingling of Motoko's shouts and Keitaro's babbling.

Naru made her way into the bathroom and carefully gathered up the pieces of her beloved vase. Shinobu came to investigate, gasped at the sight, and soon reappeared with a large bottle of superglue. The two girls huddled over a table for several hours, piecing the vase back together as best as they could.

"I'm sorry, Naru," the younger girl apologized repeatedly.

"It's not your fault," Naru reiterated for what seemed like the hundredth time. "Look, it's all glued together, and once we get it back on that top shelf no one will ever notice it was broken." She picked up the bouquet of dusty flowers and placed them back to prove it. "See?"

"It looks pretty," Shinobu agreed.

Naru thought so too. Her thoughts wandered back to the sequence of events that had caused the break—perhaps she wouldn't mind being alone at Toudai if it meant being able to save a good deal of her possessions from smashing.

* * *

Four down, three to go. Naru stayed where she was on the ice at the end of the fourth weekly lesson and practiced the swizzles. The rest of her group had moved on to basic stroking, and while she did not particularly care to master the finer points of ice skating, she did not want to be left behind—it was already embarrassing enough to be in a class of fourteen-year-olds who progressed at twice her rate. Naru gritted her teeth and formed a V-with the ends of her blades. Well, she would attack the swizzle the same way she attacked the books she had bought in preparation for the exams—she would learn both those _and_ get the basic stroking motions down today.

The problem with the backwards swizzle was that she couldn't see where she was going, and if she twisted her head around she was unable to watch her feet and ran the risk of toppling over. As the rink was decently empty, she chose the first option and focused on her feet instead. They were still clad in rental skates, but this pair came up slightly higher on the ankle than her first pair, and Naru had laced them extra-tightly in an attempt to imitate the strong support provided by the pair she'd seen in the skate shop the other day.

Her instructor had liked to count out loud while she tried to swizzle, regardless of the fact that her student couldn't move her feet in and out half as quickly as she was counting. Naru repeated the counts in her head now, modifying them a bit to fit her swizzle velocity. One, two, three…! There it was—she'd found the secret to backwards swizzles. It all depended on balancing the blade so that she neither dug the toe pick into the ice (thus causing her to slow down) nor maintaining her weight so far back that she would fall over. Naru took a few tentative steps to find that perfect part of her blade and upon finding it, managed to complete a series of quick, effortless swizzles. A slow, lazy smile spread over her face and she moved her feet to form another v.

Upon gliding backwards, however, Naru collided with something heavy and sharp—and a skate blade dug its way into her side.

"Sorry," she gasped quickly, struggling to her feet.

The little girl with whom she had collided merely rose to her feet, brushed the ice chips off of her hip, and held out a hand to help Naru up. The latter felt like an idiot at being helped by a girl some twelve or thirteen years younger and blushed again when she saw the girl spinning perfectly on center ice, so quickly that she hardly had time to count the rotations.

Ten more minutes of swizzles followed, and then Naru hurried to work on stroking. Unfortunately, she had been practicing swizzles while the instructor had demonstrated the motions of basic stroking to her fellow students and consequently never saw it done properly. The other students had been falling all over the place, and Naru fully expected to follow suit.

She dug the toe pick of her left skate into the ice, pushed, and glided a cautious few feet on her right foot. Time to reverse positions—she pushed off with her right foot, but the left was predictably harder to control, and Naru took several bad falls before she heard a young voice chiding her.

"You're doing it all wrong. You don't need to use your toe picks, and stay on the flat of your blade, not the inside edge."

She turned to see the little girl with whom she had collided earlier, now standing over her with her hands on her hips. The child skated calmly in front of her and turned back to make sure she was paying attention before demonstrating.

"Like this." She bent her knees to generate speed as she pushed off with one foot and glided easily on the other, the first foot in the air behind her. When it came gracefully down to earth, she bent her knees again and this time lifted the other foot. As Naru stood marveling, she did an abrupt 180-degree turn and stopped to face the older girl.

Now feeling insanely stupid, Naru bent her knees and pushed off. She could not lift her free leg as far as the girl could, but it was something; she allowed both feet to stay on the surface of the ice for a few moments before lifting the right leg tentatively. Naru lost her balance and slid into the boards.

"Better," the young teacher acknowledged, "but when you go through testing they won't give you that long to change feet."

"All right." Naru brushed off the ice chips, a part of skating she was becoming quite adept at, and tried it again. She was forced to weave in and out of people, as she was skating during a public session, and circled the rink several times in a frustrating pattern of glide, change foot, fall. The girl, who had completely forgotten about her own practice, swizzled backwards slowly, calling out advice each time Naru fell.

On the third time around the rink, she managed to balance her weight delicately over the ¼-inch left blade, and the girl shouted out "one—two—three!" before Naru lowered her right leg and shifted her weight onto that foot. It was a tiny achievement compared to her new teacher's arsenal of jumps and spins, but they were both thrilled.

The little girl nodded as if she were an expert. "You're getting there."

"Thanks," Naru smiled, knowing that that was the most praise she would get. "I was watching you earlier—you were brilliant out there."

"Thanks!" Her strict features eased into a smile, genuinely pleased in that manner that only a child can exhibit. "Well, I have to get back to practice." And with that she was gone, streaking back to center ice and immediately launching into another spin.

* * *

"What is she doing in there?"

"I don't know… some sort of yoga pose?"

"Maybe, but she's not doing very well."

The two girls winced as Naru fell to the hard floor and rose again, rubbing her sore backside.

"What's this?"

Kitsune and Su turned around guiltily from the small window through which they had been spying—and faced Motoko, sword hanging loosely from a sash on her waist.

"Well, we were kind of planning to spend the day torturing Keitaro… as usual…"

"But this is so much interesting!" Su beckoned and shifted over a few inches for Motoko's face. "Look!"

Intrigued, Motoko slid over to see what had caught the attention of the other two girls.

Naru was standing just to the left of her desk, where there was the greatest area of open space. She held her hands out to her side, both feet planted securely on the ground, then slowly lifted the right leg and placed her foot against her left knee. Her body wavered, and she quickly replaced the foot on the ground and shifted her toes a bit for balance, then tried it again.

"What _is_ she doing?" Motoko asked.

"We just asked that," Su reminded, a hint of exasperation in her voice.

Naru dropped her feet to the ground and suddenly turned around, clearly heading for the door. The three girls ducked simultaneously and scuttled behind a corner as Naru came out and walked calmly down the hallway, her bare feet making soft _pitter-patter_ noises as she did so.

"Strange," Su commented.

"Speaking of strange," Motoko added, "has anyone seen Keitaro today?"

"No, or we would be chasing him on the rooftops now," Su replied matter-of-factly.

Motoko leaned back against the wall. "That idiot," she muttered to herself. "What the hell is he doing instead of studying for exams?"

"Worried for him?" Kitsune asked sweetly.

Her eyes widened and a zig-zag pattern of pink appeared across her cheeks. "NO! I was merely _hinting _that I would like to see him out of here—soon!"

"Hey," Kitsune said, suddenly serious, "did anyone see him yesterday, either?"

"He was at dinner," Motoko reminded. "As I recall, you were too busy being sick to your stomach after eating an entire jar of guava jelly to come to dinner."

"Shinobu made really good banana bread," Su added.

Kitsune thought of last night's escapades and decided to change the subject.

"Anyhow, where has he been escaping off to?"

"Well, when did he leave?"

"Ara ara!"

The three Hinata Inn girls let out a simultaneous "eeek" at the surprise appearance of Mutsumi Otohime, who was clad in short blue overalls over a red shirt and stood smiling quite calmly with a spade in one hand. When they had recovered, Kitsune asked, "Hey, have you seen Keitaro around?"

Su scrambled up so that she was balancing on Motoko's shoulders. "Is he in jail?"

"Well…I did see a dark car come by earlier for him. He got in without hesitation and they drove off." Mutsumi admitted, then tipped her head slightly to the side, the smile never fading. "Hmm… is that a bad thing?"

Kitsune and Motoko looked at least other, unsure what to make of this new development.

"That settles it." Su crossed her arms, and suddenly Motoko remembered with annoyance the awkward weight resting upon her shoulders. "Keitaro's done something baaaaad…"

"It doesn't necessarily mean he's in jail," Motoko pointed out. Su slid off of her shoulders and Motoko winced at the pain of having her hair mercilessly tugged.

"Well then, where is he?"

Motoko was forced to admit that she had no better ideas.

* * *

Naru discovered that her balancing exercises had not helped. Standing on the floor at home, even if it was only on one foot, allowed her to use every inch of that foot to maintain balance. On the ice, however, she had only a ¼ inch wide blade running down the center of her foot. Annoyed, she kicked the boards and succeeded in making one more dent among the millions made by other frustrated skaters.

Nevertheless, her instructor was tremendously pleased with the amount of progress she had made. Most of the lesson was spent practicing stroking, but in the last ten minutes the instructor gathered her students around her to introduce them to crossovers.

"It's the last thing we'll be doing in this class—but it's also the hardest, so we'll be spending the rest of lessons working on it," she admonished, the bubbly smiles gone. "Keep your knees bent!"

"You can _never_ have your knees bent enough," the adjacent skater muttered to her.

"So I've learned," Naru replied dryly.

The instructor glided along smoothly on the right foot, then brought the left over so that her legs were crossed but her weight was mostly being balanced on the left. She pushed off with the right, freeing the leg as she glided along a curve, then came to a stop before her students.

They fell all over the place and Naru was no exception. The instructor skated in and out of her students, tracing out large circles with a colored marker for them to follow. Naru circled the markings several times before she gained the courage to try, but halfway through crossing she changed her mind and instead caught the toe pick in the ice, knocking herself over.

"Try going in the other direction, since you're dominant on the other foot," the instructor suggested.

She turned around carefully, found herself facing another intermediate skater, and found herself a new circle to practice on. This time she was following in the wake of another student, who was skating along quite slowly. This suited Naru just fine, as she preferred to move slowly—until the girl toppled over and Naru, unable to move aside quickly enough, tripped over her legs.

The instructor glided over and extended a hand to each girl. In the distance, Naru spotted the young girl she'd worked with last time eyeing her like a hawk. She clambered to her feet and tried again.

"Push off with your right foot," her instructor called after her, "very good… now bring your right foot over."

Naru lifted her right foot too high and sank it into the ice with a thump, but kept her balance.

"Very good! Try keeping your feet closer together next time. And don't forget to bend your knees!"

This tedious procedure went on for the rest of the lesson time, and when the instructor announced the end of lessons Naru was not surprised to see the young girl skating towards her again, no doubt to offer some blunt advice.

She positioned her feet on the circle and held out her hands to Naru, who took them mutely, then began to work her way backwards along the marked curve. Each time Naru did a lopsided crossover she clutched desperately at the young girl's hands for balance, then felt embarrassed to do so. The girl showed no annoyance, however, and after a few circles Naru felt bold enough to loosen her grip on her hands.

"What's your name?" the girl asked suddenly, watching her feet. Naru crossed over a little too far and fell, startled by the question.

"Naru," she muttered, as the girl reached out to pull her up. "And you?"

"Iva. Iva Miyagi."

"Well, Iva," Naru said, trying to muster together some form of dignity, "I'm very grateful that you're here to help me."

Iva smiled.

Naru took a short break while Iva put on a show and performed some of her favorite skills—a scratch spin, a layback spin, and a few double jumps; she stumbled on the last one and confided that it was taking her ages to learn it.

"But better to learn it slowly with proper technique," she cautioned, as if she were a skilled coach with years of experience. "Same with your crossovers. Do it again."

Naru obeyed meekly.

* * *

Naru dreamed that she'd graduated from Toudai with honors and was now a new mother who had just been blessed with an adorable baby boy. She was lying on her back, cooing to the baby on her chest; she was marveling over the fact that he had just learned to do a log roll-over; she was teaching him to take his first steps—but suddenly he toppled over, opened his mouth, and emitted a high-pitched scream—

She opened her eyes abruptly and fumbled with the alarm clock to shut off the noise.

_What a ridiculous dream!_ She was only nineteen after all; today was her first day of being nineteen. She bounded out of bed and threw open the curtains to let the sunlight stream in.

The girls were waiting for her downstairs; Shinobu had risen early and already spent several hours laboring in the kitchen. Even prior to her arrival (and Keitaro's), the girls had made a point of not exchanging presents on birthdays—just too much trouble. Instead they went out for the day to pamper themselves at a location of the birthday girl's choice. In the past they had visited amusement parks, gone horseback riding, completed extensive shopping sprees, and once even dropped by a vineyard. Shinobu's arrival had changed nothing, as they simply included her in their plans; Keitaro's arrival, however, had caused some debate—several of the girls didn't want him to be present at all, and the others felt that it would be inappropriate to bring along a boy on an outing that had traditionally consisted solely of females. Keitaro had stopped the discussion by voluntarily abstaining from any birthday trips.

He joined in for the birthday brunch, however, and the residents of Hinata Inn shared a light, cheery meal prepared under Shinobu's talented hands.

For her birthday outing, Naru chose to go cherry picking. The girls waved goodbye to Keitaro and piled eagerly onto the bus; Naru and Kitsune sat next to each other, while Shinobu took the only remaining window seat with Motoko beside her, Su sitting on the older girl's lap and shouting excitedly. Haruka-san stood casually in the crowded aisle, one hand gripping the metal bars for balance; and at the last moment Mutsumi stumbled aboard in a frilly dress not at all suited for climbing trees, greeting everyone with her usual "ara ara!"

As the bus started to move, Kitsune turned to her neighbor and poked Naru. "So, you're nineteen now. Any plans for the future?"

Naru thought of last night's dreams and blushed. "The usual. Hopefully do well on the Toudai exams and take everything from there," she replied. "It's been the same for a few years now."

"No boys?"

Naru thought briefly of Seta-san… "No, no boys. Not yet."

Kitsune gave her the smile that clearly hinted that she knew Naru wasn't telling all, but didn't press. Naru turned her face to the window and focused dreamily on the lush landscape of the Japanese countryside. This was one of those rare days where she didn't have to stress herself over exams, and she wanted to enjoy it.

They tumbled off the bus in a pile upon arriving at the cherry farm—all except for Mutsumi, who stepped off gracefully as she held up her skirt with one hand to keep it from dragging.

Kitsune coughed in the exhaust fumes as the bus pulled away. "Uggh."

"Come on," Naru pulled at her arm, suddenly excited, and the group hurried off towards the trees.

Farm hands distributed large wicker baskets and left them to their own. Motoko, who never went anywhere without her sword, found it easiest to walk under the trees and slash calmly at the branches in an effective manner such that the ripe cherries fell easily into her basket. Kitsune decided she liked most to lounge in the curved branches and eat cherries at her own leisurely pace, while Su occupied herself jumped from tree to tree like a flying squirrel, sending leaves and unripe cherries clattering to the ground. Shinobu and Mutsumi moved as a group; the latter seemed content merely to smile and hold the basket while Shinobu plucked cherries from the lower branches. Haruka-san leaned against a tree, smoking casually and biting into the occasional cherry.

As for the birthday girl, she was happy to straddle a branch as high as she dared go and there sit contentedly as she plucked dark red cherries from nearby boughs. From there she could hear Su's laughter, Mutsumi and Shinobu's quiet chatter, and the sound of Motoko's sword making soft _whooshing _noises as it sliced at cherry stems.

Gradually the sun migrated until it was nearly overhead, then past; by then the girls had filled their baskets and stomachs with ample cherries. Each girl paid for her share (Motoko had managed to accumulate the most, as she had been working diligently the whole time, while Su—jumping from tree to tree—had barely managed to cover the bottom of her basket). Upon arriving home after a long, dusty bus ride, Shinobu hurried off to the kitchen to make a fruit cake while the other girls occupied themselves.

Naru had dripped a blotch of cherry juice on her white shirt and hurried off to her bathroom to wash it off. Upon passing her room, she noticed a large white box on her bed, and stepped in to investigate.

It wasn't decorated or wrapped—Naru turned it over and something heavy made a clunking noise inside. There was a moments' hesitation—but it had to be hers; after all, it was on _her_ bed, and it was _her _birthday… Naru pulled off the lid to reveal a pair of new white-leather skates with shining blades: the pair she'd hardly dared to consider buying last time she'd been at the rink.

She pulled them out curiously, then set them aside and frantically searched the box for a name—and upon finding none, any hint as to whom the present might have been from. They were top-of-the-line skates, and she fingered the delicate engraving of the company's name in the blade, which had been already sharpened—Naru tested it by drawing a nail over it, as she had seen the technicians at the rink do.

Who would have given her such an expensive gift?

Her mind immediately brought up the possibility of Keitaro, as he had been the only person in the inn while the rest of them went cherry picking, but she had to admit that that was a bit of a stretch; he had no obligation to buy her stuff for her birthday and as far as she knew, he hadn't done so for the other girls' birthdays either.

_Kitsune, then. She felt guilty about pushing me into lessons…well, no, not really…_

Naru frowned. It didn't make sense for such a lavish gift to just fall out of the sky.

Someone from the rink? Iva? Even more unlikely.

"Naru!" Shinobu called. "The cake's ready!"

She pushed the skates aside and hurried towards the kitchen.

* * *

Even Iva was impressed with her new skates the next time Naru stepped on the ice, although skating in newly sharpened blades and a new pair of boots was quite different from the dulled skates she had used before. Naru stepped on the ice and attempted to warm-up the way she usually did, simply by gliding around the rink a few times, but instead rocked backwards and fell spread-eagled with one leg bent under her. She skated off again shakily, grumbling as she realized that the temporary pain in her left knee was quickly developing into a purple bruise.

Once she managed to spread her weight across the blades, however, everything came into place. The swizzles were beautifully simple and required little effort at all. Stroking became easier as her ankles no longer wobbled in the stiffer boots. And the crossovers—well, it would come with time. She was certainly not about to kick any boards in these skates!

Her instructor gushed unnecessarily over the quality of her new skates and praised her for making the effort to progress with her skating and left her to swizzle and glide about while she helped another student. Naru suppressed a small smile; she was no longer the worst student in the class!

All too soon the simpler moves were stopped and the class was again to work on the crossovers. Circles were traced on the ice and the students dispersed themselves to find one of their own. Naru crossed one leg over, transferred her weight, and instead of immediately putting the other foot down on the ice she lifted it into the air as she glided along the curve of the circle.

It was fun. Naru smiled. For the first time, she was finding skating fun… she picked up speed and did it again, liking the feeling of mingled balance and grace. She didn't hesitate to stay for the practice session.

Once off the ice, Naru stepped into the skate shop and chose a pair of pink skate guards to protect her blades. The clerk complemented her on her choice and suggested that she purchase a pale pink skating dress to match, but Naru smiled and said that she preferred to skate in jeans and a tank top, thank you very much. She was nowhere near the level of skating that required such a dress—and those things were costly, too.

* * *

Precisely a week later she was back on the ice, but this time feeling infused with apprehension. Today was test day. Today they'd be tested on everything they had learned across the course of the class. Naru avoided the crowded circles and glided along the edges of the rink with a vague feeling of satisfaction. She'd continued with them only as not to waste her money, but instead she'd actually learned quite a bit. Now if only she could put it all into motion.

It was a casual exam; the students lined up in alphabetical order along the side of the rink, and as each examiner called out the next name, the student glided out and waited for further instructions. Naru watched one skater complete everything perfectly, only to fall while skating over to get his marks; another fell badly during a crossover and had to leave to ice her elbow. She felt as if she were in a haze and didn't notice that the examiner had called her name until the girl behind her gave her a gentle push and said, "That's you."

She breathed a sigh of relief when it was over: a series of swizzles forwards and backwards, one-foot gliding, and few primitive forward crossovers in each direction. The crossovers had given her some trouble, as she'd caught the back of her right blade in the lacing of her left skate and tripped, but the examiner was kind enough to give her a second try. As a reward, the instructors presented her with a small diamond-shaped badge embroidered in green and white. Her own instructor approached her afterwards, wished her luck and bid her goodbye, adding that she hoped that Naru would return to continue her lessons. Naru smiled and agreed to consider it, although she secretly had no such intentions.

She felt relieved as she sat down with an old rag to dry her blades; proud, too, but a good deal of relief surged into her veins as she felt the exhilaration of having succeeded. She only hoped that she would feel the same way after Toudai examinations.

She heard someone call her name and turned around to see Iva coming towards her with a flyer. "It's for the annual show we do at the end of each summer, just before school starts. I'll be skating in it, and afterwards there will be an extended public session where you could practice too."

The little girl rocked back and forth on the slight curve of her blades while Naru read the flyer.

"I'll be there," she promised at last.

Iva smiled and hurried off to dry her own blades.

Naru read the flyer over and over again on the short bus ride home, given that she had nothing better to do. It _did_ seem like it would be fun, and she would like to see Iva perform instead of repeating the same skill over and over again on a small patch of ice. Besides, it _would_ be quite a waste to never skate again, now that she had such an expensive top-quality pair of skates.

Naru patted the white leather fondly, feeling the wrapped blades dig into her thighs lightly. She had still not figured out who had given them to her, but whoever it was, she was certainly very grateful.

She brought up the issue at dinner and invited her roommates to come, but not to her surprise, all of them demurred and gave various reasons for doing so. Keitaro mumbled something inaudible into his orange juice.

"What's that?"

Keitaro choked and coughed while Su pounded him mercilessly (and rather unhelpfully) on the back. "I uh, have to study…"

Half a dozen pairs of eyes widened.

"Keitaro…when have you _ever_ studied seriously?"

"Don't discourage him," Motoko muttered, stirring the peas around the edges of her plate. "He needs all the help he can get."

Keitaro, grateful for the defense despite the blow to his dignity, concentrated intently on his meal.

Naru sighed and resigned herself to attending the show herself.

* * *

She arrived late due to a confusion on the buses; by the time she arrived and squeezed herself into a spare spot on the bleachers, the show had already started. Naru balanced her skates on her lap and leaned forward to watch, the program clutched tightly in one hand.

A number of little girls dressed in white with matching ribbons in their hair were circling the ice in perfect formation under the blue spotlight. Iva was there; Naru caught her eye and the girl smiled before skating away, clearly loving what she was doing.

Several girls came out and skated short routines; one went as far as to land two triples (or so Naru supposed by the crowd's shrieking—it was still a challenge for her to distinguish between double and triple jumps) but Naru did not completely become absorbed in the skating exhibited before her until Iva took the ice, now clad in a simple red dress. The crowd was silent: Iva glanced towards the entrance in the boards, and a few moments later a much taller boy stepped on to join her.

Naru blinked. She thought she recognized that boy—but it couldn't be him—

They faced each other calmly; as the music began, the boy circled her effortlessly while Iva spun on the spot like a figure in a music box. Then, without warning, the music speeded up into a quick, lively tango; Iva gained speed but her boy skated still faster, grasping her around the waist and lifting her up into an overhead position so that her body was parallel to the ice and her arms were flung out as if she were flying. Naru cheered with the rest of the crowd and noticed with amazement that the boy's legs and arms hardly wavered as he rotated slowly across the ice. The black of his costume contrasted sharply with Iva's red. Again she was struck by the familiarity of his brown hair and square glasses.

She remembered suddenly the program still clutched in her hand and dug through the list of skaters until she saw Iva's name printed in curly font—and beside it, that of Keitaro Urashima.

The program was drawing to an end, and Naru lowered the program to watch Iva's finale. It was simple but elegant, with Keitaro skating backwards and Iva forming a mirror image of his movements as she completed crossovers towards him. Unexpectedly he pulled himself into an upright spin like the one Iva had completed at the beginning of the program, while she circled around him, drawing closer and closer. When she was finally close enough Keitaro picked her up and held her up in front of him until he slowly stopped revolving.

The audience burst into applause, and Naru added her own startled clapping to the medley. Keitaro bowed and Iva curtsied, apparently very pleased with herself.

Naru laced her feet up in her skates clumsily as soon as the beginning of the public session was announced and hurried onto the ice. The star skaters, Keitaro and Iva among them, were scattered around the rink with little clusters of people around them and carrying bouquets of flowers. Iva spotted her and waved excitedly; the crowd around her smiled understandingly and gave way for Naru to enter.

"Iva, you were wonderful," Naru complemented her. "And you, Keitaro."

Iva looked curiously as an amusing look of confusion passed between the two before Keitaro smiled and replied simply, "Thank you."

"You know him?" she asked.

Naru replied, "Yes, very well," at the same time that Keitaro laughed and said, "Iva, if you'll excuse us…"

Naru backed out of the crowd and skated slowly to allow Keitaro to catch up with her.

"You didn't tell me you skated, much less skate pairs," she reproached him. "I had no idea."

Keitaro laughed sheepishly and scratched his head. "Yes, well… most of my skating skills have disappeared. Iva's way above my level. I can't do any sort of jump anymore, and she's landing consistent doubles."

Naru recalled suddenly all the afternoons in which Keitaro had been disappearing from Hinata Inn and Su had predicted he had been thrown in jail.

"So that's where you were! You were practicing for the show, weren't you?" A small child in rental skates and a helmet eyed them with fear, and Naru and Keitaro glided around him easily. "Su will be disappointed," Naru commented thoughtfully, as they skated along peacefully side-by-side, Keitaro doing slow swizzles, Naru simply gliding along without paying any attention. "Why didn't you tell us about it? How'd you get into this?"

Keitaro's answer was mumbled and incomplete. "I just saw an ad and…well…thought it might be fun…I didn't know if you would believe me, and if…"

His voice trailed off as another young fan skated up to him awkwardly and congratulated him on his performance. Keitaro thanked her and bent down to hug her; utterly abashed and pleased, the young girl squealed and skated away to join her friends. Naru laughed.

"Well, I believe you," she said, and slipped her hand casually into his.

Keitaro pulled away awkwardly, then quickly excused himself. "Let me drop off my flowers," he said uncomfortably, then elaborated: "I must look like an idiot, skating around with a bouquet of flowers!" He laughed to himself in an attempt to cover up his rudeness as he skated off the ice and hurried away.

Naru glided to the boards and placed her elbows on them, tapping the ice with one heel. She felt mortified and disappointed. _A stupid move on my part_. She wondered if he would even show up again.

He did appear again a few moments later and skated against the flow of traffic to join her. Naru turned away, still embarrassed. He reached for her free hand and held onto it as he balanced both elbows on the boards. Naru was surprised.

"I'm still having trouble seeing you as a skater," she mumbled ruefully.

Keitaro laughed. "Well, you just did."

There was a lull in the conversation, and then Keitaro shifted position and said, "What have you been working on in lessons?"

"Just—simple stuff. Crossovers and things like that."

His elbows came off the boards as he gestured to the ice. "Can I see it?"

"But—but it's crowded," Naru sputtered, "and there are no circles."

Keitaro stepped out and began doing crossovers backwards, gesturing to Naru that she should follow him. She did so reluctantly at first, not wanting to show her mediocre skating talents to an expert. But Keitaro didn't laugh; in contrast, he simply smiled, and after a few moments Naru realized that this had been an integral part of his and Iva's performance of the night.

Across the rink, Iva was demonstrating a spin for a fan. She came slowly to a stop, facing the direction of Keitaro and Naru. A smile spread across her face as she noticed that they were reenacting the entrance to the closing pose of the program that Iva had shared with him.

"That's so cool!" the girl gushed. "Hey, I'd like to skate pairs too—do you have any advice for me?"

Iva turned to look at the younger girl, bundled up in winter clothes and in rental skates so loosely laced that the weight was balanced on two very crooked inside edges. She did a 180-degree turn and gestured towards Naru and Keitaro.

"Watch them."

* * *

Author's Notes: A short, rather strange little piece I wrote both to record my experiences in taking skating lessons for the first time and to practice for a longer story also revolving around skating. Also, as "A Different Toudai" has pretty much died, I wanted to try my hand at writing another Love Hina fic. I apologize for any obvious errors or out-of-characterness since I'm writing this after having not seen the anime in more than a year.

Miki Ando was the 2004 World Junior Champion in Ladies' Figure Skating and the 2005 Japanese National Champion. She is often credited as the first lady to land a quadruple jump (the salchow) in competition.

And I'll assume that since Keitaro didn't need to do any complicated jumps, his glasses stayed on his face during the whole routine :)


End file.
