Author's Notes
I'm not normally a fan of romance manga, much less the "harem" genre, but I have an... interesting love/hate relationship with Love Hina. But trying to explain all THAT would take too long. Instead, I'll cut t' the chase 'n present you with this little AU-y thing as a little for-fun story. What's the AU? Meh, stick around and you'll find out- eventually.
Disclaimer: Love Hina belongs to Ken Akamatsu, not me. All I'm doin' is playin' with it a bit.
Please enjoy our feature presentation.
Love Hina: Aozuki-hen
Act 1: An Unwelcome Visitor
Part 1: The Ronin and the Mysterious Inn
-Hinata House [Front], Early Afternoon-
It was a bright and beautiful day in the seaside town of Hinata, and one Keitaro Urashima, nineteen years old, staggered his way up the seemingly never-ending stone steps, cursing his nonathletic nature to the high heavens as he stumbled up the hill they were built into.
"Stairs," he huffed once he reached the top, "why is it always STAIRS?" The bespectacled young man sighed and slumped over, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath, and mentally vowed, not for the first time that day, that stairs were officially his worst enemy.
His reason for being here was unclear. Kicked out by his parents, who ran a bakery, Keitaro had been summoned to the ancestral inn of the Urashima family by Hina, his paternal grandmother and Hinata House's current proprietor. He'd been sent a letter, but all that the letter contained was a message to come to the inn. No circumstances behind the impromptu calling were mentioned.
"What could Granny Hina have wanted with me?" the youth mused to himself as he looked over the pale blue front of the majestic, three-story inn. Formerly a popular attraction for its majestic hillside view, renowned hot springs, and rumors of some kind of supernatural ability to hook up any couple, Hinata House had been in a state of decline for a long time. Why Granny Hina had called Keitaro to this sad old hotel, of all places, was a mystery. He had better things to do- like get into Toudai, the most prestigious university in Japan! Sadly, Keitaro's progress on that particular front had been shaky at best for the past three years, owing to severe trouble with the nightmarishly tough entrance exams, as well as...
Keitaro shook his head. Best not to be thinking of THAT right now, he'd just end up getting ticked off. Carrying the shame of a three-year streak as a ronin, a reject who hadn't passed his entrance exams, was bad enough without factoring THAT into the equation. Said ronin straightened himself and stepped up to the large doors of the Hinata, before knocking.
To his surprise, the door just slid open, revealing the foyer. "...Huh." Keitaro blinked and adjusted his collar, before walking in and removing his shoes.
The inn was eerily silent. Was there nobody around?
"Hello? Granny Hina?" Keitaro asked, only to cringe as he heard his voice ring out in the quiet. He'd been in far too many bad situations where talking too loud had caused trouble for him, so he immediately decided to keep his yap shut for the time being.
Quickly, he reviewed his mental map of the place, which was rusty from having been away for ages. If his memory was correct, the tenants' rooms were on both upper stories to the left and right of the stairs, so upstairs it was. Maybe if someone was in their room, he'd be able to ask them the whereabouts of Granny Hina. As quietly as he could, so as not to freak out anyone who might be listening, Keitaro crept up the stairs to the second floor, and headed right, to Rooms 202 and 201.
-Hinata House [Second Floor], Early Afternoon-
Room 202 was unoccupied, judging by its current state of almost Spartan cleanliness- the only item of any note was, for some reason, an empty bottle of Gekkeikan-brand sake lying on the floor. Keitaro didn't know what to think about that, so he just left it be. Closing the door, he padded over to Room 201, and knocked on the door.
Keitaro's face lit up when he heard a surprised yelp come from inside, followed by the pattering of feet and the opening of the door- but he did a double take when he saw who was doing the opening.
-A middle schooler?- he thought as he saw the wide-eyed little girl in front of him. She couldn't have been older than twelve or maybe thirteen. She had dark blue, almost navy hair in a bob cut, steel-blue eyes, and was wearing a yellow, short-sleeved hoodie with a green skirt and sneakers.
"U-Uhm..." the girl stammered, brushing a stray lock of deep blue hair out of her eyes. "M-May- may I help you?"
Keitaro smiled a little, hoping to ease the girl's evident shyness. "Good afternoon," he said politely. "I'm looking for Hina Urashima. Is she around?"
"G-Granny Hina?" The little girl blinked, surprised. "She's been gone for a while, on a tour of the world's hot springs."
That information was enough to knock Keitaro for a loop. "Say what?!" he shouted, causing the girl to draw back in fright with a little squeak of shock. "She's GONE?"
"Y-Yes..." The girl cringed, wringing her hands. "I-I'm very sorry, sir..."
"Oh my God, this is unbelievable..." Keitaro held his head in his hands, severely annoyed. The first time in years he'd come back to Hinata House, following instructions without any background information as to why he was being called there, and the person who had sent for him was probably not even in Japan! Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of his conversation partner's distress, and winced. "A-ah, it's okay, don't worry!" he tried to reassure. "I'm not mad at you!"
Unfortunately for Keitaro, this young lass was only one of five current tenants at Hinata House, and as fate would have it, one of them was alerted by Keitaro's shouting.
"Shinobu-chan!" came a slightly older-sounding voice from above, as someone rushed down the stairs and towards Keitaro. "Are you alrigh-"
In that moment, the world seemed to stop, as Keitaro and the girl turned to see the teenager who had been alarmed by Keitaro's noise. She looked like she had just stepped straight out of a martial arts school- a girl of roughly fifteen with dark hair in the traditional "hime" cut- short in the front, shoulder length fringe on the sides, long in the back. Her choice of dress was a white haori over a blood-red hakama, and most alarmingly, she was carrying a SWORD. A real life, honest to God, razor sharp metal katana. Her dark, almond-shaped eyes widened as she saw Keitaro-
-And in an instant, he was at swordpoint.
"What are you doing accosting Shinobu, you lecherous swine!?" the swordswoman snarled, holding the tip of her katana to Keitaro's neck, close enough to poke him but not enough to actually cut.
"A-Accosting-!?" sputtered Keitaro, backing away as fast as he could until he ended up impacting the wall.
"Mo-Motoko-senpai, wha-!?" the little girl (Shinobu?) squeaked, also drawing back into her room.
The swordswoman (Motoko?) glared viciously as she advanced upon the ronin, and if looks could kill, she wouldn't even need her blade to gut Keitaro like a trout. "Save your breath, scum," she said contemptuously. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't slice you to pieces right now for breaking into Hinata House and trying to corrupt Shinobu with your filthy perversion."
"P-Perverted?! I wasn't doing anything perverted!" Keitaro protested, eyes darting back and forth between the swordswoman and her short fellow.
"A likely story," scoffed the swordswoman.
"B-But he's right!" the shy girl managed to get out. The swordswoman tensed up for a second, before turning her head towards her friend and cocking a skeptical eyebrow, making sure to keep Keitaro at the mercy of her sword. "A-All he did was ask me where Granny Hina was..."
"Granny Hina?" It was the swordswoman's turn to be surprised. "But... She's been gone for a week." She turned back to Keitaro, scoffed again and almost reluctantly sheathed her sword, causing him to collapse to the ground in relief.
"I do not know what you want with Granny Hina, intruder," she said, "but if you have come here in search of her, your efforts to find her are in vain. She is traveling abroad in search of the world's most renowned hot springs."
"S-So I've been told..." Keitaro mumbled, getting to his feet while warily eyeing the sheathed katana. He adjusted his specs and laced his fingers together, looking embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry for scaring you like that," he apologized. "M-My name's Keitaro Urashima. Hina is my grandmother."
The swordswoman's and the middle-schooler's eyes both widened.
"Your... grandmother. Granny Hina never told us she had a grandson," the swordswoman said, relaxing slightly (though still remaining on guard). She glanced at her sword, then at Keitaro, then at her sword again, and looked incredibly embarrassed, a blush coloring her pale cheeks. "Erm... My apologies for frightening you as well." She bit her lower lip. "My name is Motoko Aoyama. This is Shinobu Maehara. It is... a pleasure to meet you, Urashima-san."
"Um, nice to meet you too." Keitaro scratched the back of his head, wondering just how nice it was to make the acquaintance of someone who had just pulled a live blade on him and threatened to kill him for a completely imagined slight. "Uh, are your parents here? You two seem awfully young to be staying at an inn all by your lonesome."
Motoko stiffened again, but Shinobu shook her head. "U-Um, Urashima-san, this isn't an inn..." the blue-haired girl explained carefully. "A while ago, Hinata House became an all-girl's dormitory."
The sound of Keitaro's jaw dropping all the way to the floor in pure shock and disbelief could have woken the dead.
"...Shinobu-chan, perhaps it would be better to explain this in the company of the others," Motoko said, looking somewhat concerned.
Glossary - A collection of terms used in this fanfiction that may be unfamiliar to the reader.
Aozuki-hen: Literally translated from Japanese, "Blue Moon Chapter". The reasoning behind this title will become apparent later on, believe me.
Toudai: Officially the University of Tokyo (Tōkyo daigaku in Japanese), it's a real place- a very prestigious university located in the Bunkyō municipality of Tokyo. It has a heavy emphasis on research. This is Keitaro's dream school, but it doesn't look like he'll be getting his acceptance letter any time soon.
Ronin: In feudal Japan, a ronin was a samurai without a master. In modern Japan, the word "ronin" is used as slang to describe an unemployed white-collar worker or a high school graduate who hasn't gotten into college or university. Poor Keitaro has been a ronin for three years straight- maybe he should aim a little lower than Toudai if the exams are that hard...