Love Hina Fan Fiction ❯ Family Affairs ❯ Meeting the Troup ( Chapter 1 )

Love Hina

 

Disclaimer: This episode of Love Hina is of my own creation. I do not own any portion of Love Hina. “Love Hina” and all related characters, names, etc. are ©1999-2004 Ken Akamatsu/Mixx Entertainment Inc. Love Hina is a trademark of TOKYOPOP®. All rights reserved.

 

 

Family Affairs

Chapter 1:

Meeting the Troup

 

 

Haruka opens and closes her mouth several times, too stunned to get any words out while her slightly younger nephew beams happily at her. “It's been a while Aunt Haruka,” Keitaro begins, leaning in and wrapping his arms around his dear aunt. “I missed you.”

 

The Urashima woman slowly, hesitantly places her hands onto Keitaro, thinking that this could just be a dream, one she doesn't want to wake from so soon. As soon as she touches him, she leans into the embrace and returns it in full, relishing the feeling of holding him in such a state. The younger of the two lets go first and backs up, the large smile still on his face. Haruka quickly tries to regain her composure, but a small smile manages to make its way through her stoic mask. “So what brings you all the way over here Keitaro?” she asks, placing a hand on her hip. Her smile fades as she notices the sudden air of nervousness and uncertainty that has just surrounded the young man. She reaches out and gently places a hand on his shoulder. “Hey…what's wrong?”

 

“Mom and Dad…they kicked me out.”

 

Haruka stumbles back slightly in surprise, her hand falling off of her nephew. “They…they kicked you out!?” she stammers out. Keitaro nods once, bowing his head in shame. “Why?”

 

Keitaro sighs deeply before responding, “Because I failed to get into Tokyo University again. I guess they couldn't take me being a failure anymore…and I don't blame them. I can't do anything right anymo…” he trails off as his aunt pulls him close into a warm, and loving embrace.

 

“Hey, don't say that,” she softly whispers to him, feeling her heart race at hearing her beloved degrade himself like that. To any outsider the two Urashimas look more like two people who are in love, but to the regulars in the café who know Haruka well, they understand that this is a touching moment between an aunt and her nephew. After a few moments Haruka reluctantly releases Keitaro and leans against the counter by the register. “So what are your plans now that you don't have a place to live?”

 

“Well that's what brings me here to the Hina district.” Keitaro replies while sitting onto a stool next to his aunt. “I'm planning on going to Grandma Hina's old hotel and see if she can let me stay in one of the rooms…hopefully at a discount since I don't have a lot of money on me,” he adds with a chuckle.

 

`Oh I don't want to have to break it to him,' she worriedly thinks, not wanting to hand any more bad news over to the young man. `I know there's no way those girls will allow him to stay, especially Motoko,' she adds with an inwards cringe, `and Naru too now that she's gone on her `all guys are perverts' vendetta. But if he can't stay at the dorm and he doesn't have a lot of money, where can I…keep…him…' Her eyes light up as a thought, a very good thought comes to her. `This is the opportunity I've been waiting for,' she thinks in excitement. The slightly older woman adopts a solemn expression before speaking up. “I'm sorry to break it to you Keitaro, but Grandma hasn't been to the Hinata House for over a year now. I've been taking care of it as the house mother…and it's not a hotel anymore, it's an all girls dormitory.”

 

Keitaro feels his hope sink down the drain at this news. “An all girls dorm?” His aunt nods once and the young man's shoulders slump in resignation. “Great, now where can I stay while I study to get into Tokyo U?”

 

“You can stay here if you want,” Haruka replies a little too quickly than she intended, though luckily Keitaro didn't notice. Cursing herself for a moment, she continues, “I've got an extra room upstairs that I don't use, and you can work down here for your stay when you're not studying. I could use the help.”

 

The older Urashima feels her heart melt at the smile Keitaro is giving her. “Do you mean it?!”

 

“Of course,” she calmly answers, though she is dissolving into a puddle of goo on the inside. `Its times like these that remind me why I am in love with him so much,' she thinks with a light inward sigh. She looks to her right as the last two customers in her café leave. “Well since this place is cleared up why don't I close up for a bit so I can take you up to the Hinata House and introduce you to the girls that live up there? One of them is also studying to go to Tokyo University so maybe she can help you a bit with your studying.”

 

Keitaro turns around and clasps his hands together as he feels tears well up in his eyes. “You're being so nice to me Aunt Haruka. I don't know what I ever can do to repay you.” He grabs his bag and hops off the stool, walking out of the Café Hina.

 

The older woman watches the young man walk away, her eyes soaking in the view. “I can think of a few things,” she mumbles out loud.

 

Keitaro turns around, a curious look on his face. “What was that Aunt Haruka?”

 

Haruka frowns in annoyance as she walks up to her nephew, pulls out a fan and whaps him on the head. “For starters, stop calling me `Aunt' okay?” She puts a cigarette back in her mouth and raises an eyebrow slightly.

 

“Okay, Okay,” he chuckles. “I'll stop calling you that, but,” he reaches over and takes the cigarette from her lips, “could you stop smoking? These things can kill you, and I'd be crushed if something bad ever happened to you.” With another of his award winning smiles, the Tokyo U aspirant exits the café, leaving a flustered Haruka behind.

 

She places a hand over her heart, cursing how Keitaro always manages to get under her outer defenses without even trying. `Damn it Haruka!' she chastises herself, `get a grip! Why can't I keep control around him like I used to?!” She shakes her head and walks out of her café, locking the door behind her. “Damn you Keitaro,” she mutters under her breath, “if I didn't love you so much, I'd kick your ass for making me feel this way.”

 

******

The two Urashimas finally make it to the top of the large stone stairs, revealing the Hinata House before them. “Wow,” the young man begins in an awed voice, “I forgot how big this place is.”

 

“Yeah,” Haruka agrees. “I've lived here pretty much my entire life, and I still haven't figured this whole place out yet.”

 

Keitaro leans over and nudges his aunt on the shoulder playfully. “So what do you say we go on a scavenger hunt and uncover all of this place's secrets? It could be fun. I remember Mom telling me that you used to do that kind of stuff when you were in college.”

 

The dorm's house mother shoves the young man away, shaking her head and pretending not to care while on the inside she is relishing the thought of such an excursion. `I can imagine it,' she thinks, `just Keitaro and me exploring around, discovering new secrets, having tons of fun and…' she trails off for a moment as not so innocent thoughts emerge, `getting dirty and having to take a shower…together.' A pleasant shiver runs down her spine. `To feel all the love I have for him finally returned, to feel his hands touching my body, caressing my…whoa!' Haruka raps her head a couple of times, knocking the thoughts away. `I can't be thinking about that…especially when he's around!' She looks over to see her nephew giving her an odd look.

 

“Au…I mean Haruka, are you okay?” he quickly corrects himself.

 

“I'm fine,” she sighs, rubbing her temples with her fingers. “It's just…well its nothing. Don't worry about it.”

 

Keitaro shrugs slightly, turning back towards the old dorm. “Okay.” The two walk inside the Hinata House, both taking off their shoes at the entrance and making their way into the main living room. The young man sits down on one of the old couches, noticing how loudly it creaks and groans under his weight. Haruka looks up at the closed doors on the floors above and sticks her thumb and index finger in her mouth, takes a deep breath and lets out a very loud whistle, startling her beloved nephew enough to jump out of his seat in surprise.

 

He is quick to his feet while sticking his pinkies into his ears and twisting around in an attempt to stop the ringing. “Did you have to whistle so loud?” he asks, giving the slightly older woman a patronizing look.

 

“It's the only way to get all of their attentions,” she replies with a small smile. “They're a…colorful bunch so stay on your toes, okay?”

 

Keitaro is about to respond when suddenly two young girls, probably close to their early teens, come rushing in from the hallway to the left, one of them literally bouncing in. They stop right in front of Haruka and are about to say something when they notice Keitaro sitting down on one of the couches. The younger looking of the two, who has short dark purple hair, hides behind Haruka and shyly peeks around her. The other one, who appears to be a gaijan, judging by her tanned skin, blonde hair and small dot in the middle of her forehead, clasps her hands together on the back of her head and slowly walks up to Keitaro, her bright green eyes sizing him up as a possible playmate.

 

“Play nice Su,” the older Urashima calmly says, reaching into her apron and pulling out a cigarette. She is about to put it in her mouth when she notices Keitaro frowning at her. With a heavyhearted sigh she puts the cigarette back into her apron, getting her beloved to give her a glorious smile in response. Haruka's eyes widen as she feels her cheeks begin to redden. She quickly turns around, covering her face with her hands. `I'm blushing?!' she thinks in revulsion. `I'm turning into a god damned school girl now!' Summoning all her will power, she manages to get the unwanted color off of her cheeks, just as two other tenants make their appearance.

 

Hearing footsteps coming their way, Keitaro looks over to the right, only to cover his eyes and blush furiously in surprise as two beautiful young women wearing only towels come walking in, both looking a bit annoyed at the moment. “This had better be good Haruka,” one of them begins who has short light brown hair and is squinting, giving her a fox eyed appearance, “cause Naru and I were enjoying a very nice soak before you so rudely interr…” she trails off as she notices the young man sitting down not too far from her and her friend. “Well hello there,” she greets, eying him up and down. `Not bad,' she thinks, `lose the dorky glasses and we'll talk,' she adds with a sly smile.

 

The other young woman, this one with long reddish brown hair, Naru, if Keitaro recalls correctly, pulls her towel more tightly around herself upon viewing the young man in the living room. “Haruka,” she begins in a cautious tone, “what's a man doing in here?”

 

“I'll explain everything once Motoko gets here,” the older woman answers. She looks back upstairs, her face adopting an annoyed expression. “Where is that damn girl?”

 

“I am here,” a soft voice responds from the top of the first floor stairs and Keitaro turns to see one of the most stunning sights he has ever seen. A woman, an amazingly beautiful young woman, begins to slowly and quite gracefully make her way down the stairs, her feet not even making a single sound on the steps as she descends. She is wearing traditional training white gi and red hakama and has a long sword firmly held in her left hand. Her long ebony hair cascades behind her while her angelic face has an expression of pure calmness and tranquility. As she reaches the bottom of the stairs, her sharp senses alert her to an unknown presence in the room. She immediately finds the source, a young man sitting in their living room. “A male?” she begins, her eyes narrowing dangerously while she raises her sword up, “in an all girls dorm? Haruka, please explain this at once.”

 

The Urashima woman walks to the middle of the room, both of her hands on her hips. “Since all of you are here now, I'd like to introduce you to someone.” She walks over to Keitaro and places a hand on his shoulder. “This is Keitaro, my nephew.”

 

The young man waves politely to everyone around him. “Hello, nice to meet you all,” he kindly greets.

 

All the girls either wave back, nod or grumble in response. Motoko takes a step forward, her eyes darting over to Keitaro for a brief moment before speaking up. “He may be related to you Haruka, but you know that men are forbidden to enter this dormitory. I do not wish to sound rude, but I think it would be wise for your nephew to leave immediately before I force him to.”

 

The café owner gives Motoko a stern look, getting the young swordswoman to falter in her place. “First off,” she begins, “you don't own or control the Hinata House, Granny Hina does, and she has left me in charge while she's away, meaning that what I say goes. If I want to bring my nephew up here so he can meet you girls and be the friendly person he is, then he can come up here. If you don't like it, then there's the door,” she adds, pointing to the front door, “it's been nice knowing you.”

 

All the girls stare in shock at the Urashima woman's reaction, since they know she rarely ever shows such emotions. Keitaro reaches up and gently places a hand on his dear aunt's. “Hey, you don't have to be so harsh on them, they didn't do anything wrong.”

 

Haruka feels her strong resolve crumble at the young man's pleading look. “Oh all right,” she grumbles. “Well Keitaro's here because his parents just kicked him out and he needs a place to stay.” Several of the young women visibly tense and are about to ask something but Haruka, knowing what the question is, quickly adds, “And in case you are wondering, no, he isn't staying here with you, he'll be staying down in the café with me.” Her eye twitches slightly as a few of the girls sigh in relief, two in particular quite loudly and rudely. Her anger grows as she notices the hurt look on her beloved's face. `He gets rejected by a bunch of girls he doesn't even know. Damn it! Why do bad things always happen to him? He's the nicest and gentlest man I've ever known. He deserves so much more than what he's got.' She leans down towards Keitaro and whispers, “Can you go outside for a few minutes? I've got some…personal things to discuss with the girls. We'll go on back to my café once I'm done”

 

“Sure,” he responds with another heart melting smile. He stands up and bows once politely to all the young women around him before he walks over to the door, puts his shoes on, and walks outside.

 

As soon as the front door closes, Haruka turns back towards the group and they all flinch at the extremely angry glare she is giving them all. “Su, Shinobu, go on upstairs please.” The two young girls wordlessly agree and quickly run up the stairs, sensing that the living room definitely isn't the place to be right now. Once they are out of sight, the Urashima woman faces the three remaining young women, crossing her arms with an angry scowl. “Now listen you three, I don't want any of you giving Keitaro a hard time just because he's a guy and he might be up here from time to time.”

 

“But he is a male!” Motoko practically whines, “I do not care that he is your nephew and you have control of the entire Hinata House, he is a male and all males are driven by their perverted desires. He has no place anywhere near here.” Naru nods furiously in agreement.

 

Kitsune, on the other hand, shakes her head in dismay and walks to the stairs. She turns back towards her two friends, the frown quite evident on her face. “You two don't know how to have any fun. Its no wonder I can't get any good dates up here anymore,” she adds before turning around and going upstairs to her room to put some clothes on.

 

Haruka's aura flares to life in anger, getting Motoko to back off in shock. Normally she has a very strong, but amazingly calm and stoic aura, but nobody insults her Keitaro and expects to get away with it…especially in front of her. “Tell me something you two,” she begins, her fists clenching and unclenching subconsciously, “are your fathers perverts?” When they don't respond, she continues with, “Your grandfathers? Uncles? Male cousins or any male relatives?” She turns her head towards the young swordswoman. “And you Motoko, are any of the masters or other men in your school perverts…or driven by their `perverted desires' as how you so delicately put it?”

 

“Well…um…” she hesitantly answers, “you see when I said all males, I was not referring to any of them, just…” she is stopped by Haruka holding up a hand to silence her.

 

“Yes you were,” the older woman practically snarls. “You know, I'm getting tired of the two of you and your high and mighty attitudes. Both of you judge almost every guy before you even meet them. Now I know you each claim to have your own reasons, but personally I think both are a load of bull.” She turns to the older of the two girls. “Naru, I …know about your little crush on Seta, and I know how upset you where when he left suddenly two years ago, and you base your ideals on men because of that. But you have to know that Seta, for starters, was never interested in you that way, and I know that he never will be because I still keep in contact with the big dummy. And about him leaving like he did, he's been doing stupid things like that for as long as I've known him, so suck it up and get over him.”

 

Naru's only response is to look aside with her head down, her lower lip trembling slightly as she remembers the man she has such a strong crush on…and how heartbroken he had left her when he suddenly departed without so much as a goodbye. Motoko notices her friend's downtrodden state and stands up off of the couch. “Haruka, that was most uncalled for!”

 

“No it wasn't, and sit back down, I'm not finished,” she icily responds, reaching down into her apron and grabbing a cigarette and her lighter. She is just about to light up when Keitaro's smiling face appears in her mind, halting her hand. “Damn it,” she mumbles before putting the cigarette and lighter back into her apron. “Motoko, Granny Hina told me that you came here because of some stuff with your sister getting married, making you the successor to your sword school. I don't get why you hate all men because of that. I thought you'd enjoy the idea of becoming the successor to your sword style, I know how much you love it.”

 

“She…she was not supposed to get married,” the young swordswoman meekly replies. “She was supposed to take over the school…not me.”

 

Haruka walks over to the young woman and places a hand on her shoulder. “Why wasn't she?” the older woman softly asks. “What's wrong with you taking over?”

 

Instead of answering, Motoko stands up and rushes towards the stairs. She stops at the foot of it and, without turning around, says, “A male has no business in the Hinata House,” before rushing upstairs to her room.

 

The Urashima woman sighs while looking back down at Naru. “I'm sorry about being so mean, but this had to be said.”

 

“I…I guess its okay Haruka,” the long haired girl replies, her small smile not reaching her eyes.

 

Haruka turns to leave, but stops after a few steps and turns back around, an unreadable expression on her face. “Oh, by the way, Keitaro's also studying to get into Tokyo U, and I'm going to send him up here once in a while to study with you.” The way she says it leaves absolutely no room for any complaints. She then walks on out, smiling as she hears the woman behind her groan loudly. As she closes the large front door, she notices her beloved sitting down at the top step ahead, gazing out at the town below. Smiling softly, Haruka walks up behind him and ruffles his hair affectionately.

 

The young man looks up in surprise, and then smiles at who he is looking at. “So you ready to go back down?”

 

“Yeah, let's go.” The two Urashimas begin the walk down the long stone steps. They are about halfway down when Haruka suddenly speaks up, “I'm sorry about some of those girls, they're not…male friendly,” she sighs slightly as Keitaro chuckles at her comment. “I'll try to bring you up again tomorrow when they've cooled down a bit. Maybe we can actually get through the introductions this time,” she adds while shoving her nephew playfully.

 

******

 

A few hours later, the sun has set and Haruka relaxes on her rooftop, wearing a small silk bathrobe and smoking a cigarette, her hair still slightly damp from the bath she took not too long ago. As she takes a long smooth drag, her mind wanders back to earlier. Keitaro and her talked for almost the entire time they were back at her place, catching up a lot on what has been going on since they last saw one another. The grown woman allows herself a nice smile as she remembers the subtle physical contact both her beloved and herself had. For Keitaro, the big loveable dummy, he didn't notice the deeper meanings behind them, but for Haruka, every touch and brush of skin against skin had sent a shiver of excitement and wanting throughout her entire body. Now that he will be around a lot more, the older Urashima feels that she can finally let her feelings for him be known, and pray that he will not reject her because of their family status to each other.

 

Haruka's thoughts are suddenly interrupted by the sounds of someone walking up the stairs to the roof. Acting quickly, she puts out her cigarette and tosses it off of the roof and, for added affect, she pulls open the top of her robe slightly and hikes up the bottom a bit, showing off more of her long, smooth legs. Keitaro walks up and takes the spare seat next to her, wearing a large men's robe. The young man looks up at the starry night sky and then down to the vast sea of lights all over town and mutters, “Wow, what a view.” He looks over to his aunt, and it is now that he notices how revealing her robe is, and how much skin is out in the open. He quickly looks away, albeit with very flushed cheeks. `Why am I blushing, she's my aunt!' he thinks to himself.

 

Unfortunately for him, Haruka noticed him looking at her, and she caught the appreciative look in his eyes. Smiling to herself, she causally replies, “Yeah, that's why I usually come up here every night before I go to bed,” while stretching her arms over her head, putting her body on full display for her beloved.

 

`Don't look,' Keitaro's mind coaches him. `Just keep your eyes straight ahead and don't look at her. You can do it.' Despite how strongly his mind is protesting against it, his eyes slowly make their way over to the beautiful woman beside him. He takes a quick look up and down before turning back, mentally punching himself. `Damn it! I looked.'

 

Once again, the ever aware Haruka catches him looking at her. It takes all of her willpower not to smile from ear to ear at how visibly tense the young man is becoming, liking how she's affecting him greatly. `I think I should back off before I give the poor guy a heart attack.' With a small inward sigh, she stands up and turns to Keitaro, placing her hands on her hips lazily. “Well I'm going down for the night, I'll wake you up in the morning so we can both get the café ready and everything. I'll probably have you working in the back, making the food and drinks.”

 

“Okay,” he replies with a smile. “I'll make sure to do my best tomorrow.”

 

The older Urashima leans down and gives her beloved a small kiss on the forehead, purposely also giving him a good view down her robe and the forbidden pleasure within. She smirks at how flushed his face becomes and the small amount of blood that is dribbling from his nose. “Goodnight.” She then turns back around and walks to the stairs, seductively swishing her hips back and forth.

 

Keitaro, despite how much his mind is protesting, watches his aunt as she walks away, feeling quite ashamed of himself at the thoughts that were running through his mind about her, none of them exactly appropriate. `Damn it this is wrong!' he mentally chides himself while rapping his head a few times. `She's my aunt…my dad's sister for crying out loud!' He shakes his head with a sigh. “Things sure are going to be interesting around here now.”

 

A little bit behind the young man, just out of sight on the stairs, Haruka looks up to the sky, a genuine smile on her face. “I can guarantee you that Keitaro,” she mumbles under her breath. Her eyes widen slightly as a shooting star streaks across the infinite darkness. She closes her eyes and places a hand over heart and thinks, `I wish that someday soon Keitaro will open his eyes and love me as much as I love him.'

 

To be continued…

******

Author's notes: Well this is the first chapter of `Family Affairs' and I happen to think that the story is progressing nicely.

On Love Hina news, I was quite surprised at how many reviews I got for the prologue to this story that wanted me to continue. I was originally only going to make this story a one-shot, then just a few chapters and now I'll keep it going as long as I keep getting good ideas to continue and all you loyal fans back me up.

Now Keitaro has had a partial introduction to the girls, but he'll get the full one next chapter, and plenty of fun will arise from it! I promise.

Questions or comments? E-mail me at: lighthawkdemon@yahoo.com