Love Hina Fan Fiction ❯ Legacy ❯ Chapter 42

Keitaro sighed, hanging up the phone in the lobby of the Hinata. I knew that this would happen, he thought dejectedly. Turning around, he saw the girls were gathered not far from him, watching him. “Um…” he said, unsure what to say.

 

“We heard,” Haruka replied, stepping over to him and giving him a hug.

 

“I can't believe that your own mother doesn't believe you,” Kitsune shook her head.

 

“I guess it is kind of hard to believe…” Keitaro offered weakly.

 

“But, they should still believe you,” Shinobu said. The other girls gave her warm, affectionate smiles. Shinobu would always believe Keitaro; it was one of several traits the other girls had come to admire in the domestic.

 

“You know, I have never met your mother,” Kanako noted. The girls of the Hinata looked at each other, realizing that none of them had ever met his parents.

 

“Now that you mention it…” Naru began.

 

“You aren't missing anything,” grunted Haruka. She recalled her aunt as an uptight, vaguely bitter woman who was forever acting like she was insulted whenever she had come to visit her sister - Haruka's mother. “Truthfully, I think we're better off with them not believing he's getting married,” she opinioned.

 

“Haru!” protested Keitaro, even if he didn't necessarily disagree with his cousin and lover.

 

“Do we need your parents to be involved?” asked Kanako, her mind clearly plotting.

 

“It would be awkward if his parents didn't attend the wedding,” Motoko said quietly.

 

“Could be more awkward to have them there,” Haruka returned. “I wouldn't put it past auntie to cause a scene - especially if she learns what we are really doing,” grinned Haruka insolently. The girls traded looks.

 

“Won't I eventually have to meet them?” wondered Motoko. Haruka considered that.

 

“I don't know, Motoko,” she said. “I know of a lot of couples that never get around to meeting the in-laws,” she shared.

 

“Does your mother know about the thing between your two houses?” asked Kitsune, her tone thoughtful.

 

“No,” came Granny Hina's voice from the doorway. “She chose not to follow her heritage shortly after she graduated high school. Since Yoko was the elder of my daughters, there was no reason to tell her anything of the history of our clans,” Hina said.

 

“So, we can just leave her out of it, then,” smiled Kanako.

 

“But, um, what about when we have children?” wondered Shinobu, blushing a little. “Won't she want to spend time with her grandchildren?”

 

“She's never bothered to come check on Keitaro in all this time,” countered Naru. “Even when he made it into Todai, she didn't come to see him.”

 

“She didn't even call when he found the ruins, either,” Kitsune agreed.

 

“We will have to deal with her one way or another,” Tsuruko reminded them. “If she comes to visit the grandchildren, it will be difficult to keep her from noticing how many of them there are; among other things,” noted the elder Aoyama.

 

“There is that,” Kitsune hummed.

 

“Why not just not tell her anything?” Kanako suggested. “All she needs to know is that Keitaro got married. She can play grandmother to his and Motoko's children to her heart's content, but the parentage of any of the other children she might find are not her business,” explained the sister.

 

“That could work,” Haruka thought out loud.

 

“But, won't that make the rest of us look kind of…easy?” wondered Naru, glancing at the others. It was clear that the others were thinking about that observation.

 

“I don't care,” Shinobu said a moment later, her tone firm and certain. “She can think what she wants about me. As long as I can be with Keitaro and my sempais, I don't care!”

 

“Well said,” smiled Mutsumi. Looking at each other, the girls slowly nodded.

 

“Not like her opinion matters,” Kitsune said.

 

“Besides,” Hina interjected, amused, “you all will be spending a lot of time away from here, considering your commitments. She might not even notice,” Hina sighed.

 

“What about inheritances?” Haruka asked her granny.

 

“She traded her share of the Hinata to Yoko about the time she finished college in exchange for the land and house she lives in now. Our holdings here are not going to her hand, and I have already told her that I would not be passing the leadership of our clan to her,” shared Hina. “No,” concluded Hina, “her inheritance will be from her husband's family, not ours.”

 

The group was silent for a few minutes. “In any event,” Keitaro broke the silence, “I told them - even if they don't believe me. Who…is going next?” he wondered.

 

“I will,” Naru said, stepping up to use the phone. Each of the group who needed to break the news could have done so privately, but they had agreed to do it together, as a kind of support group for the one doing it. None of them had really said it, but they had all subconsciously chosen to do it that way because of the clear nervous apprehension Shinobu had.

 

Pausing by Keitaro, she gave him a brief - but deep - kiss. “Wish me luck?” she breathed as she picked up the phone.

 

“Of course, Na-chan,” he assured her. Naru swiftly punched in numbers before holding the handset to her ear.

 

Five minutes later, Naru hung up the phone, a vaguely baffled look on her face. “They didn't seem too surprised,” she shared. “And call me crazy, but I think they were glad to hear I was…involved,” frowned the girl.

 

“Least they believed you, Naru,” Kitsune grinned. Naru inclined her head.

 

“Yes, at least they believed me, Kitsune,” she agreed. “Mutsumi?” she said.

 

“Oh, my family already knows about my engagements,” beamed the Okinawan girl. Naru blinked.

 

“Yes, I guess they do,” she agreed. Looking at the group, she realized that there was only one more `easy' one to go. Moving over to Shinobu, she hugged the girl. “Your turn, Shinobu-chan,” she whispered in the girl's ear. Nodding, Shinobu moved to the phone, and dialed.

 

Her first call was to her mother. From her reactions and the half of the conversation that the others could hear, it sounded like Shinobu's mother was reacting very well to the news her daughter was engaged. After promising to keep her informed and that she would be invited to the wedding, Shinobu hung up before calling her father. To the girl's pleasant surprise, he was just as happy to hear the news. The girls shared a smile as they heard her promise to send him a wedding invitation before hanging up the phone.

 

Exhaling, a teary-eyed Shinobu threw herself into Keitaro's arms with a relieved exhalation of held breath. Keitaro wrapped her up, feeling her tremble slightly. He stroked her back, the other girls joining the two. After a few minutes, Shinobu was calm enough to raise her head from his chest, her face glowing with happiness. Rising on tip-toe, she kissed him passionately.

 

“Well, so much for the easy ones,” Hina said. “Tomorrow, some of us have to head to Kyoto, and a couple more of us have to head for Molmol,” she said. The group shared a look. Yes, they thought as one, the hardest ones are still to come.

 

-

 

The scenery flickered past the windows of the high-speed express to Kyoto. Sitting in a car were four Hinata members. Tsuruko and Motoko were heading home to address the elders of their clan, and with them were Hina and Haruka. Both Aoyama women were jittery about what was waiting for them in Kyoto. Hina, of course, seemed to be looking forward to what was to come.

 

“Hina-sama,” Tsuruko said, setting aside her sake, “are you sure that you would not like to give Motoko and myself the chance to bring this matter before the elders before you begin negotiations?”

 

“What's the fun in warning them, Tsu-chan?” grinned Hina, her eyes sparkling with gleeful anticipation. “Dai-kun will have to be dealt with in any event, and if you give him time to think, he'll just dig in his heels and be stubborn for the sheer sake of being so,” predicted the head of the Urashima family.

 

“I wonder where you know the head of the Aoyamas from, Granny,” Haruka interjected curiously. Hina smiled widely.

 

“Oh, we've known each other for ages,” she said, not making the other three with her feel better at all. “We haven't spoken - seriously spoken, that is! - in more than half a century. I wonder if he has grown up any?” she mused aloud.

 

“Is this going to turn into a fight?” asked Motoko uneasily. She was reluctant to draw steel against her own clan, but then, she wasn't about to allow anyone to harm Granny Hina or Haruka while she present.

 

“It might get a little noisy, Mo-chan,” Hina replied innocently, “but if I were looking for a fight, I'd have brought Kanako,” she whispered playfully.

 

“Why Kanako?” wondered Tsuruko. “Isn't Haruka the more powerful of the two?” she asked. Hina glanced at Tsuruko.

 

“Yes,” she said, “but she shouldn't be fighting Aoyama at the moment,” Hina winked at Tsuruko. The elder sister nearly jerked as she recalled why Haruka shouldn't be fighting.

 

“I see,” she murmured. Motoko glanced at her sister.

 

“Is something wrong?” she asked. Tsuruko shook her head.

 

“No,” Tsuruko said. “Haruka just isn't feeling up to fighting, that's all,” she said delicately. Haruka grunted.

 

“If it's just Aoyamas, it isn't really a fight…” she offered her former rival a lazy smile. Tsuruko returned the careless smile.

 

“Hmm,” was all she said, her hand ostentatiously clicking her sword in its sheath.

 

“Sister!” hissed Motoko. Tsuruko patted her sister's shoulder.

 

“We're just playing with each other, Motoko,” she promised. Besides, at this range, with perhaps the two best practitioners of the style sitting opposite us, we wouldn't have a chance; though if we had short swords, maybe… she pushed that line of thinking aside. We're coming home to end this sort of thing, after all.

 

Minutes passed. “I wonder how Shinobu is doing, going to Molmol with Kaolla and Amalla,” she thought aloud.

 

“Shinobu will be fine,” Hina replied immediately. “Keitaro and Kitsune will be going there once we get the answer we need out of the old men of the Aoyama, and until then, she's with Su, who won't let anything happen to her,” Hina explained.

 

“Hina-sama, are you sure? Kaolla is very…excitable, after all,” the older sister said diplomatically. Hina turned to Motoko.

 

“Mo-chan,” she said firmly, “have you ever seen Su let anything happen to Shinobu? Ever?” she pressed. Motoko frowned.

 

“No, Granny,” said the younger after a moment, “I cannot think of one single time that Shinobu - or any of us girls, in fact - has gotten so much as a scratch from anything Su was doing. And I also cannot recall a single time that she allowed anything else to harm Shinobu, either,” Motoko replied.

 

“She hasn't,” confirmed Hina. Tsuruko considered that. Hina has kept far closer tabs on what happens in the Hinata than I had thought, the woman realized. “And since she and Shinobu are engaged, I can't think of anything that would be allowed to hurt her, either,” pointed out Hina.

 

“I'm a little more concerned about leaving Naru and Kanako in charge of the Hinata while we get this worked out,” Haruka said.

 

“Naru and Kanako actually make a pretty good team,” Hina said, waving to the attendant who was pushing a tray of bentos down the aisle. Holding up four fingers, she beckoned the girl to their seats. “And Mutsumi will be there to curb their tendencies; if necessary,” Hina reminded the three. “Recently, Naru has been more like she was before, thankfully.”

 

“Granny, why didn't you bring Keitaro with us?” wondered Motoko. Hina smiled, handing out bentos to the girls.

 

“Because we need to work out the deal before he arrives to put his hanko on the paperwork,” she replied.

 

“But, why?” pressed Motoko.

 

“Think about what always happens to him,” hinted Hina. Seeing that Motoko wasn't following her, she clarified things for the samurai girl. “Keitaro tends to have things go out of control, doesn't he?” she suggested. Motoko blinked. “Not what we need when negotiating the terms of this union, hmm?”

 

“I can understand,” Motoko said softly. When did I forget about his bad luck? wondered the girl.

 

“I thought you might,” Hina said, digging into her bento. In short order, it was gone. “Not nearly as good as Shinobu's cooking,” she said disdainfully, setting the bento aside.

 

“Indeed,” agreed Tsuruko, swiftly finishing off her own pre-made bento. “Have you any sort of plan, Hina-sama?” asked the elder sister. Hina smiled at her.

 

“I'll just play it by ear,” she purred. Tsuruko suppressed a groan.

 

“You are enjoying this far too much,” noted Haruka, a trace of sourness in her voice. The matriarch of the Urashima clan patted her oldest grandchild's cheek.

 

“Aw, it's hard to find amusement at my age, dear,” she soothed. Haruka rolled her eyes, sighing.

 

“Amazed you made it to your age,” muttered the tea shop owner. Hina just cackled. For several minutes, the four were silent. As Kyoto came into view, Hina stretched.

 

“Tsu-chan, call your family,” she said. “Tell them that we'll be hitting their gates in less than a half hour, and they better be ready to negotiate!” the old woman leered eagerly. Tsuruko pulled out her cell phone.

 

“Perhaps you shouldn't use those exact words, sister,” whispered Motoko.

 

“I hadn't planned on wording it that way, no,” Tsuruko whispered back.

 

“You two are no fun,” pouted Hina playfully. Looking out the window as Tsuruko spoke quietly to her family, Haruka felt a small knot of worry form in her stomach. This is the big one, she thought, one hand absently brushing across her stomach.