Problem Solving
by Shade
Disclaimer 101: Love Hina created by Ken Akamatsu, all rights reserved by him and his publishers.
Fusion of the Anime through ep. 25 and the manga through the end of vol 9
Synopsis:
Tsuruko Aoyama has a problem. Her husband has been unable to
provide her
with a child. Fortunately for her, she's found a
solution to this problem.
Amalla Su has a problem. She's married to a man who's too focused
on the battlefield
and not on providing the needed heir for the
Kingdom of Molmol. Fortunately for her,
she's found a solution to
this problem.
Keitaro Urashima has a problem. He's about to receive some guests
who think he's the solution
to all of their problems.
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Prologue: Planting the
Seed
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Life is a Grand Cosmic Irony. Few people realize this of course,
since they tend to be the direct victims
of said irony and have no
time to reflect on just how they got there in the first place.
However Tsuruko Aoyama was one of those dubiously lucky few. She
had first realized this startling truth
several years ago. To be
quite precise, on her wedding night. Or rather what was supposed to
have been
one. Her spouse was handsome, kind, intelligent and
loving. Perfect in almost every way. Except one.
Naturally upon discovering this little shortcoming she'd reacted in a perfectly sensible and mature fashion.
Fortunately for him, she used the back of the blade when she blasted him through the roof.
Even though she eventually forgave him, the damage had been done.
Under other circumstances an anullment
or divorce would not have
been out of the question. Unfortunately for them both, family
politics made any
option along those lines unfeasible. With
various internal factions striving for control over the family's
extensive holdings and heritage, the only way to keep the
vultures and jackals at bay was to present
a solid and united
front towards them.
Which of course had finally led Tsuruko into this predicament.
She had been married for three years now after all, and tongues
were starting to wag freely about
the fact that their union had
not produced a child in all that time. Quiet whispers at first, but
growing increasingly louder of late. Never directly within range
of Tsuruko's keen hearing of course.
The opposition was greedy
and stupid, not suicidal.
But something had to be done about it, and done quickly.
While they had managed to keep her spouse's 'little problem' a
secret, the fact remained that without
a direct heir from her
loins the line of succession for the God's Cry School and the
responsibilities
that came with it would continue to rest on the
shoulders of her volatile younger sister Motoko.
Tsuruko needed no crystal ball to forsee that that path would end
badly. Motoko was too open, her inner depths
as clear and easy to
read as a pure mountain spring. As well drop a helpless chick down a
hungry snake's gullet
as let such a straightforward innocent like
her sister into reach of the waiting fangs of the 'progressives'
who
only wanted to sell off what generations of Aoyamas had defended with
blood, sweat and pain.
They would easily twist her naive little
sister around their plotting fingers, binding her honor
with
cleverly sharpened words before stripping it all away and leaving
nothing but a hollow shell behind.
No, while Motoko might yet fulfill her potential to become one of
the best swordmistresses their school had seen
in generations,
she was ill-suited for the task of leading the entire Clan. But
unless Tsuruko bore a child before
Motoko's 20th birthday, the
line would be passed on to her sister once she was legally recognized
as an adult.
And while Tsuruko could try to contest that claim,
she knew with a grim certainty that the end result would be
a
power struggle that could end up splitting the family into various
weakened factions to the detriment of them all.
And perhaps more importantly to herself at least, Tsuruko
desperately wanted a child of her own to nurture and cherish.
Her
chest ached whenever she saw a baby these days. Her keen mind's eye
found it all too easy to substitute a feature
here and there to
show her what might have been had Fate not played such a cruel jest
with her marriage.
'And now we come to the cusp of the matter,' she reflected bitterly.
She knew that there were modern means of artificial conception,
but such would not help her situation.
While rich in lands and
prestige the Aoyamas had never been wealthy as Westerners counted
such things.
And the few discrete inquiries she'd made in that
direction had merely confirmed what she'd already suspected.
There
was no way to use such a clinic and not get caught. They required
identification, medical records
and payments too large to make
without liquidating assets that would draw unwanted attention. Her
best efforts
might keep it secret for a few weeks at best, but
any determined investigation would collapse that house of cards
sooner or later. And the Opposition was very determined to find
something to bring her side of the family
down in disgrace.
'If only...'
If only her younger sister could have been a little more wiser and
trustworthy.
If only Motoko's relationship with Urashima had been
real instead of a lie.
If only her husband had not kept the truth
from her before they had wed.
If only she had met Urashima
before...!?
Tsuruko's train of thought derailed as she suddenly realized the
unexpected direction those same thoughts
had trailed off towards
and the first faint glimmers of a truly outrageous plan began to
form.
'Their eyes are similar in shade, almost the same hair color...'
It could work. More importantly, it had to work for the all of
their sakes.
Even if her own sister might think of this as yet
another betrayal, she had to try.
'Forgive me, Motoko. But I will do what I must, even at the
cost of your love,
for the sake of those who came before us and
those who will come after.'
She laid one hand lightly on the white uwagi cloth covering her tight flat stomach.
'Urashima should have no complaints of me. And he himself is not unattractive either.'
Tsuruko mentally brought up the memory of the last time she'd seen
him into clear focus,
it had been at the train station where
Narusegawa and Motoko had taken Urashima with
them back to the
Hinata Sou. He had been so cutely flustered at that time,
caught
in the middle between the two interested parties.
'I believe I will find this family duty most enjoyable.'
Smiling faintly to herself, she began to pack for her trip.
-End Prologue: Planting the Seed-