Hey there everypeoplz. First off, this is the beginning of my first fan fiction, so if you have any criticism, PLEASE drop it off in the comments, I need to know how I'm doing at this first chapter.

Thanks to Bluezone and everyone else for convincing me that I don't suck that bad! lol. :P

Disclaimer: All of the characters and places associated with Love Hina belong to Ken Akamatsu. But Sazuke is mine, so take him without asking and I'll bomb your freakin house.

So without further delay…

The Light After Dawn; Chapter 1. The Path Is Lain.

He approached the target building. It was just a normal apartment, two stories tall. His one objective was to retrieve what was inside. As he entered, he was stopped by two large men wielding shotguns. He looked around the room, it appeared to be some king of gambling house, there were pool tables, and a bar. People were playing poker, drinking, and shooting up. After the two men asked him a few questions, they led him upstairs to a back room. It was much darker upstairs, and it made him feel uncomfortable. When he entered the back room, the two men did not follow. When he entered the room, he again looked around. A small office-like room. There was only one man inside, sitting in his large chair behind his desk, and he looked angry. He was yelled at by the man, questioned, yelled at, then questioned again. The man suddenly pulled a gun on him, and all he could do was run. He opened the door and ran out, past the two men before they could realize what was happening. He ran down the hall as fast as his legs would carry him, and heard multiple gunshots fired. But he felt nothing, he just kept running. He escaped the building, but still he kept running, running, running until he could find safety at home. At least, more safety than there was for him here.

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

(An view of Hinata Springs is seen high above the ground)

This day started no differently than any other day in Hinata, Japan. The sun rose in the eastern sky… you could hear the sounds of a town awakening… you could hear the sounds of many birds chirping… you cou-

"YOU PERVERT!"

(scene shifts to the Hinata Sou, where we see Keitarou in another hopeless situation)

"No! Naru! It was an accident I swe-", A loud crack could be heard from miles away, as a projectile flew from the old inn's roof, into the distance.

"Humph, you'd think he would have learned after all these years…", sighed Naru as she entered her room and continued to get ready for the day ahead.

A few miles away, Keitarou finally landed somewhere near the train station. He and Naru had been married for well over 3 years now, yet for some reason, these occurrences were still considered commonplace in the Hinata Sou.

'Well, looks like its gonna be another one of those days…' he thought as he chuckled and pulled his bruised body up from the ground. Little did he know this day would be quite different than the one he had pictured at that moment.

… Some time earlier on the outskirts of Yokohama…

A young boy, about 5' 11" with short brown hair, and by his looks no older than 19 or 20, can be seen walking down the street remembering the confrontation that had occurred in his own home with his father just a few hours earlier…

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

"WHERE WERE YOU! YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT!" the boy's father shouts.

"I TOLD YOU TO BE BACK HERE WITH MY DRUGS OVER AN HOUR AGO! WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY?"

"I ran into some difficulties, your supplier pulled a gun on-"

"DON'T GIVE ME EXCUSES GOD DAMNIT!" After making the final remark, he smacks the boy upside the head. The boy however doesn't even flinch. "IF YOU CAN'T GO BACK THERE RIGHT NOW AND GET ME WHAT I NEED, THEN GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

"…"

"WELL?"

"…fine…"

"WHAT WAS THAT?"

"I SAID FINE!" As he says that, he land three punches to the older man, the first two to his torso, and the third to his head, knocking him to the ground out cold."

'I'm going to get as far away from this hellhole as possible…for good. I should've done this a long time ago…' the boy thought. He then packed up what few possessions he held dear in his "home", along with some essentials, and left without another word.

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

He stops and cringes momentarily after the series of images runs through his head again, but then continues on his way. He had been traveling like this for what to him seemed like an eternity (even though its only been about three hours), and had no intention of stopping in the near future. He had no idea how far he had traveled, or what city he was in, but he didn't care. He was just tired of the bull he had put up with for the 19 years of what he wish he didn't have to claim as his life, and he had finally gotten away from it.

It was starting to get dark, and even though for a while he had tried to ignore the nagging feeling, he was beginning to grow tired. He decided it was time to try to find a place to stay, so he began to scan the area for places he might be able to sleep for a few hours before continuing on his way. While looking around, it became obvious to him is was in a pretty small town. There were very few shops or establishments throughout the entire city. He felt his stomach begin to growl, and decided to enter a small café on the edge of town.

"Kitsune's Tea Shop, how may I help you?" A short woman with closed eyes and short blondish hair asked him as he walked up to the counter. "I'll just have a bagel, thank you." The boy replied.

"Just a bagel, you sure Hun?"

"Yes, just a bagel will do."

"Alright then, you want any cream cheese to put on it at least?"
"Does it cost extra? I'm on a low budget."

Kitsune looks around quickly before pulling out a packet and tossing it to him, "It's on the house, you look like you've had enough of a hard time today as it is."

"Haha… you could say that…", he said as the mood of the entire café could be felt darken. He took his bagel and walked towards a table to eat his small dinner.

Kitsune continued cleaning the cups that were on the counter in front of her, but she had lost her concentration. She knows when she recognizes someone, that she's seen them before. She recognized the boy, but couldn't pin just where it had been. And then it hit her, the bar! She'd seen him frequently enter and leave the bar, but never once go to the counter or have a drink. He'd just walk upstairs with the two bouncers, and then leave just as quietly. Her curiosity had been peaked, and she was going to find out who he was.

"Megumi! Take over for a while would ya?" She asked the woman next to her. She put down the dishes and walked over to the table the boy was sitting at.

She took a seat across from him, and sat there for about 20 seconds before the boy looked up from his "meal".

"Can I help you miss?" He asked.

"I'll keep it sweet and simple, "Kitsune replied, before continuing, "I've seen you at the bar down by Yokohama tons, you come in all the time, but never drink anything. Who are you and why are you always there?"

The boy slumped in his seat and took a deep sigh before replying, "My names Sazuke Minashiro, and why I was there… I'd rather not discuss… Let's just say, you'll never be seeing me down there again."

Kitsune was clearly disappointed by Sazuke's lack of an answer to her second question, but by running Haruka's teashop, she had learned not to push it over the last few years.

"Alright, I won't ask why you were there, but why are you out here?"

Again, the Sazuke's mood darkened, "Just getting away from my past, trying to start over. Once I'm out of here I'm gonna go look for a place to stay for the night before I can keep moving along tomorrow."

At hearing this, Kitsune perked up a bit, "You know, a friend of mine owns a hotel of sorts up on the hill a bit north of here, you could stay there if you want."

Sazuke sat there and thought for a while. He seemed satisfied with this invitation, and replied, "Thank you! I'll look into it!"

"No problem, and its 500 En for the bagel."

"Oh, yah, here you go." He said as he took out the coin from his pocket and flipped it to Kitsune, who swiftly caught it with two fingers.

"Thank you for your patronage, have a good evening." Kitsune said to Sazuke as he left the café. 'Something's wrong with this guy, hope I didn't make any trouble for Keitarou and all them. Ah, whatever, if he's a crook Motoko will just kick his ass. No reason to worry…' She pondered as she went back to cleaning the dishes.

He left and started to walk down the street. He had no intentions of accepting the café owner's invitation. He had to go farther, he just had to. He continued to walk for another hour before he heard a shriek coming from a dark alleyway just to his left. He was horrified, his mind flashed back to his many past experiences, and he couldn't move. He heard another shriek and this time, his body just flew into the alleyway. What he finds a few steps in, just matches his earlier thoughts, and enrages him even more. A young blue-haired girl, about his own age by his estimate, was pinned to the wall by a much larger man, probably in his mid 30's, and was screaming for help seemingly to no avail. It took another 10 seconds or so for the thug to finally realize that he wasn't alone, and turned to face the boy now standing there with an angry look in his eyes, a small bag hanging over his shoulder.

"Get lost kid!" The man shouted at him, "Stay out of other people's business, unless you wanna die too!"

Sazuke was enraged. He dropped his bag, and his hands went into his coat, before simply saying to the man, "Bring it…"

At this, the thug dropped the young girl to the ground, and began to charge his new target, however, quicker then he could react, Sazuke pulled out two identical black tantos from under his coat, and made a quick X like slash on the mans abdomen. . After the thug recoiled from then new pain he was experiencing, Sazuke jumped in the air and delivered a hard drop kick on the top of his head. The thug fell to the ground unconscious quicker than a fat man strapped to a meteor. After he placed his tantos back in his coat and brushed himself off, he walked over to the girl and helped her up.

"You alright there Miss?"

She was obviously traumatized, but came over this and bowed multiple times to Sazuke while sobbing, "Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much! If you wouldn't have come, I don't know what might have happened!" She managed to squeal with tears in her eyes.

"It was no problem, really." Sazuke said as if nothing had happened. "Here's your bag, try to be more careful at dusk, alright Miss?" He said as he picked up his own small bag and started to walk out of the alley.

The girl chased after him, "W-wait! Are you looking for somewhere to stay? I noticed your bag!" she asked anxiously. After watching Sazuke reply with a simple nod of the head while he continued to walk, she continued, "My friend owns a inn up on a hill here in town, you could stay there if you'd like!"

To this, the boy stopped cold. The same inn? This guy must be pretty popular around here. He remembered not wanting to go before, but it was much later, and he was now extremely tired from both his day and the confrontation in the alley. He decided he might as well and replied, "Really? You think he'd let me? I would be grateful."

"Sure! He'll let you stay! Just come with me!" She said as she started to skip happily down the street, already seeming to have forgotten about the incident in the alley. Sazuke just sighed to himself and followed her.

While walking through town, they passed the café he had been in earlier. Sazuke thought that the girl here and the owner of the café might know each other, so he asked,

"Say, do you know who owns that café over there? I went there earlier and talked with her for a bit, she mentioned the same inn you're bringing me too."

Shinobu looked a little excited at this, "Oh! Mitsune! Konno Mitsune! She's been running that place for three years! She moved in there after the last owner left. She used to live up with us in the same Inn. How's she doing?"

"By the look of the place, pretty well, it's a first class establishment if ya ask me."

"Well, here we are!" She stated, and looked to Sazuke who quickly jumped and said,

"That's a lot of stairs… We goin all the way up there? You must get quite a workout living here…"

"Yup! All the way up!" And with that they started their climb up the longest flight of stairs he had ever seen. The girl waved her hand in front of him about halfway up to get his attention, then asked, "I never even got your name, it'd be nice to know the name of the person who's gonna be staying here."

"Oh yah…" he said, slightly embarrassed he had forgotten something so trivial. "My names Sazuke, Sazuke Minashiro. And yours?"

"I'm Shinobu! Shinobu Maehara! Nice to meet you!" she said as she bowed slightly before saying, "Alright! Up we go!"

Sazuke continued following Shinobu up the stairs, and when they reached the top, he had to brace himself from painfully falling back down them again. "HOLY SHIT! THAT'S THE BIGGEST BUILDING I'VE EVER SEEN! Are you sure this is an inn!"

"Yup yup! I've been living here for 6 years now!"

Trusting her word, they continued to enter the building. As soon as they went in the door, Shinobu shouted to no one in particular, "Minna-san! Tadaimasu!"

Only a few seconds after she had said this, an older women with light brown hair entered the room, greeted Shinobu with a wave. However, she then stopped, ran over to Sazuke, and grabbed him by the throat, shaking him violently.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN KEITAROU? I DIDN'T HIT YOU THAT FAR!" she shouted angrily. He was about to pull his tantos when Shinobu shouted,

"NARU! That's not Keitarou… calm down…"

She stopped and looked at Sazuke before putting him down. "Huh? Oh, sorry… Wait, who is this guy?" Naru questioned, "and what's he doing he-"

Another male voice, who Sazuke guessed was probably this Keitarou guy they were talking about, could be heard as the door behind them closed, "I'm home everyone!", and the aforementioned scene repeated itself, with the slight difference of personnel the second time around.

"AGHHH! IM SORRY! I HAD TO DO A FE-, eh?" He stopped as Naru stopped shaking him, "Who's this?"

"Oh, yah sorry." Said Shinobu, before she began the introductions, "This is Sazuke Minashiro. He helped me out earlier and I found out he was looking for a place to stay. So I offered for him to stay here." She said. "Sazuke, this is Naru Urashima," she pointed to the girl with brown hair, who shot an angry glare at him before he looked back to Shinobu, "And this is the owner of the dorm, Keitarou Urashima!" Sazuke shook hands with the older man, who then rubbed his chin and said,

"Hmmm, I don't see anything wrong with Minashiro-san staying here." said Keitarou, "but let's get everyone into the kitchen so we can get a census."

"A census?" asked Sazuke, he was just a bit confused at this point. 'Dorm? Census? How do all these people know about this place?', "aren't you the owner?"

"Ummmm yah, I am, but the thing is, this is kind of an all-girls dorm, so we'll need a majority vote for you to be able to have permission to stay here."

'Ah, that explains it.' he thought. 'Ho boy, just what I wanted to hear…' thought Sazuke as they entered the kitchen. 'A group of girls living out in the middle of nowhere get to decide my fate for the day… how nice…'

They all sat down and Keitarou pulled a loudspeaker out from under the table before shouting in the direction of the stairs, "EVERYONE! COME DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A GUEST!"

Sazuke looked down at the table and got a bit depressed when he heard footsteps starting to come down the stairs…

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

Ok, done with that first chapter. Once again, please leave me any criticism or comments you have, (looks around) including flames if you must! (crosses fingers). I'll fix up chapter two in the next few days.