The icy expanse of space slipped silently past the hull of the
military frigate, though the majority of her passengers could care
less about the goings on outside the vessel.  The ship's crew were all
hardened spacers, and generally had more important things to do than
watch the vacuum go past while those passengers who were not veteran
spacefarers had already grown bored with looking out the chilled
portholes.  The passengers were a mixed lot, the majority of them
being soldiers moving from post to post while the rest were a cross
section of the social strata.

Closer to Sol, civilians would likely have been aboard a passenger
liner or a transport of some kind, but this wasn't close to Sol, not
by a long shot.  Out here in the depths of space, anyone who didn't
own their own ship took a slip where they could find it.  The Imperial
Navy wasn't above taking on passengers for a nominal fee and
acceptance of the fact that there was a very real chance of getting
fired upon before reaching their destination.  Thus many folk found
themselves bunking down between ration and ammunition crates at one 
point or another.

One of those passengers had taken up a position in a darkened corner
of what served as the passenger's meal hall.  Passengers and crew did
not officially mix, though they came closer in this area than any
other.  Here, a crude form of alcohol was sold along with the slightly
substandard rations which were generally the best passengers could
hope for.  Alcohol, however, proved to equalize the different social
tiers aboard the ship, and virtually everyone save officers, who had
their own source of booze, could be seen in the meal hall eventually.

The figure in the corner took a long, slow sip of his beverage, some
of the aforementioned alcohol, and sighed.  Had he been in better
light, his purely Asian features would have been obvious as well as
his slight build, far smaller than any of the soldiers and almost all
of the passengers, as well.  One of his hands rested unnoticed
against his hip where a worn pattern in the material of his belt
showed that a holster of some type normally rested.  Passengers were
not, of course, allowed to carry weapons aboard ship.

Sighing again and taking another drink, the passenger settled back
into the shadows, his eyes slowly but methodically watching his
surroundings for any sign of trouble.  All his vigilance served to do,
however, was make the arrival of a second figure at the table all the
more startling.  Falling backwards from the chair, his flailing arms
managed to maintain his balance just long enough for the other figure
to seize his arm and pull him forward again.

"You should be more careful," the newcomer said, her lilting voice
pronouncing the garbled Indo-Chinese of Imperial Basic in a clearly
feminine manner, though the dark baggy clothing and tied back hair
could have hid either gender in the dim light.  "I do not believe you
have changed at all since last we saw each other."

The original lurker laughed nervously.  "I..." The figure sighed
again.  "I wish you would come home with me.  I have been looking for
you for a long time.  The children..." he trailed off as he realized
that the female was staring at him intently.  "What?"

"You have changed so much since we met.  Am I so changed as well?"  It
was the woman's turn to sigh.  "How many years has it been?  I no
longer count..."

"Six hundred, seventy four years and about six months, as near as I 
can tell.  Calendars were not so accurate during the Great War."  He
shrugged. Keeping track of the years was apparently something of a 
guilty habit for him.

"So long...  I..." she sighed, the calm confidence of her voice
wavering a little.  "How are the children?"

"Tamago is married now, though I thought he would end up a spinster.
He is almost fifty.  And our first great-great grandchild should be
turning five any day now."  The oddity of the situation made him
laugh, though a slight tinge of nervousness still crept into his
voice.

The woman may have been smiling in the darkness, though in the dim
light there was little the man could make out.  He pressed on, "Look,
I know how you feel about everything.  We shouldn't be here.  It
should be one of them.  They shouldn't be dead or we should be or
something else entirely.  We didn't know.  We couldn't have known,"
his voice wavered, indicating that this was a topic that he was
struggling with as well.

"If only I had been... stronger," she said, softly and almost timidly,
"I should have known."

"That's not true.  You couldn't have known what was going to
happen..." he took a deep breath.  "They are avenged.  There is
nothing more we can do.  Please, just... come home with me."

The female turned from him as though to hide her face.  "I... I'm
sorry, but-"

The ship suddenly lurched and gravity failed.  The woman stumbled and
collapsed on top of the man, both of them calling to the floor only to
rebound and float, on top of each other for a few brief seconds.
Everywhere around them, people were screaming and drifting out of
control in zero-g.  The ship shuddered violently again and the
floating pair slammed hard into a bulkhead.

"I... love you..." the male figure gasped out as the taste of his own
blood welled up in his mouth.  The female form did not stir.

And then a third violent shiver struck the ship and everything went
black.

--------------------------------------

The Rebound Effect:  Again!

Disclaimer:  Love Hina characters are the property Ken Akamatsu and
others.  The story is all I claim.

See the end for the Author's Notes section!

--------------------------------------

Urashima Keitaro gripped the bus transfer in one hand and gulped.  He
hadn't seen his grandmother in years, but with his parents kicking him
out of the house, she was his only hope.  Sighing deeply, his mind
raced over what had gone wrong at the last entrance exam for Tokyo
University but he cut it short.  "No, that was last year.  This year I
will make it in for certain."

During his walk through the last few blocks, to the long and winding
staircase of the inn, he ran over what he was going to say to his
grandmother a few times.  The promise he had made 15 years ago still
gave him strength, but it was all he could do to keep desperation out
of his thoughts.  This was truly his last chance.  Working part time
was the best he could hope for and still be able to study for the
entrance exams, and a part time job would never cover rent as well as
other necessities.  Steeling himself against thoughts of failure, he 
forced a smile.  Second year ronin or not, this time he would succeed.

At the top of the steps, the sprawling complex of the Hinata Inn was
revealed.  The building looked to be in failing repair, though not
abandoned which caused Keitaro's hope to swell slightly.  A lack of
visitors would mean extra rooms, which might be all he needed to
convince his grandmother to let him stay.  However, as he entered he
was surprised to find the building empty.  Several pairs of slippers
were laid out by the door, and the place looked clean enough, which 
proved that it wasn�t abandoned, at least.  It was just that no one
appeared to be home.

The rough bus trip started to take its toll and Keitaro ventured into
the room marked "landlord" assuming it was his aunt's.  After a little
rest and a brief pity party for his plight, the knotted muscles in his
back got the better of him and he decided to try out the hot springs.
There was nothing better for an aching back, after all.

--------------------------------------

"Are they dead?" a soft, almost childish voice asked, almost sounding
frightened.

Struggling with the fuzziness, the male sat up, his hand going to his
throbbing temples.  "Gajaka vosh," he spat, a curse he'd picked up on
a mining colony some time back.  "What happened... the ship..."

"What is he saying?" a voice asked and the sound of several feet
backing away could be heard.

"What the hell happened?  Was there a woman found as well?"  He asked,
looking up for the first time and realizing that the bright lights
overhead were not those of a medical bay, but rather sunlight.  This
fact sank in at approximately the same time as the realization that
the voices had been speaking Japanese, a language three hundred years
dead.

The final shock was seeing them.  The girls he had lost that fateful
day six hundred years ago, all standing around uncertainly and staring
at him as though he were speaking a strange language.  Though, he
realized in a calm, detached fashion, to them he must be.

Darkness came rushing in and he fell backwards, unconscious.

--------------------------------------

Authors notes:  The original series �The Rebound Effect� was a 
Sailor Moon Fanfic written during various parts of 1998.  TRE and
TRE: Again take place in vastly different realities, though the
the rebound effect is being felt here as well.  There is no need to
have read the original series, though if you wish to do so, they can be
found here:

http://www.angelfire.com/tn/twillia

Love Hina material will follow the Manga fairly closely (with some 
anime creeping in on occasion, possibly), though I�m reading the 
English translations so my use of Japanese terms will be sparse, at
best.  This is particularly noticeable in the names of Tokyo University
and Hinata House (the Japanese for which would prove a chore for me to
use).

C&C always welcome.

Tim Williams


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