'We Fell in Love'
Disclaimer: Ken Akamatsu wrote 'Love Hina' and he owns the rights. This tale written for fun, and I seek no re-dress from it.
Writer's notes:
-Chapter 2: Keitaro-
-In a quiet ward of Tokyo-
We now meet the other main player in our love story.
Fifteen-year-old Urashima Kanako went upstairs to wake her older brother up for breakfast at the behest of their mother. Knowing it could be quite a task and what she could expect, the girl happily went and did so.
As she approached his room, the door was open a crack and the sight of him splayed out on his back almost made her giggle.
Always a bit mischievous with him, she quietly opened the door wider and snuck into his room.
A small grin appeared on his face for only a moment.
"Onii-chan, wake up!" cried fifteen-year-old Urashima Kanako in a loud voice as she straddled her sleeping older brother's chest, "You promised to take me to the park today."
Since it was still warm outside, she had dressed in a blue knee-length denim skirt and a light cotton blouse.
Smiling at the man whose chest she sat on, Kanako had no clue that he was already awake.
If she were not dressed for the day, Kanako would probably snuggle with him until they decided to get up.
Placing her hands on Keitaro's shoulders, Kanako shook him slightly while not paying much attention when he quickly opened one eye and smiled.
Without letting on, he brought his hands up and started to tickle her.
"Gotcha," said her older brother as he dug his fingers gently into her ribs.
Howling delightedly, Kanako quickly grasped that he was in a good mood.
After about a minute, he stopped and pulled her down close to him. Wrapping his beloved younger sister up in his arms, she snuggled in as deeply as she could into him.
This young man is one Urashima Keitaro, a twenty-year-old second-year student at the Tokyo University of the Arts in Yokohama. It was his dream to become an artist and illustrator as well as to own his own studio. Besides being a student, he also taught martial arts with Kanako, as both are masters of their families' style of fighting and self-defense.
However, Kanako also has a special talent that no one else in her family has yet to master. With a precision using her keen intellect, she can instantly deaden any nerve in the human body, even ones that you did not think could even exist. Her other talent is an amazing eidetic memory.
The two have also incorporated many other disciplines into what they have now. He does not believe that MMA or UFC is a path that people should follow, and is very much of a traditionalist.
This pair is also very protective of one other.
"Do you still want me to do a new portrait of you today, Kana-chan?" asked Keitaro.
As he asked her that question, Kanako rose up and moved over to the end of the bed to give him some room to swing his legs off the mattress.
"I'd like that very much, Onii-chan," said Kanako with a bright smile, "You promised to do that for me just before school started back up again." She knows that when her Onii-chan makes a promise, he always keeps it.
She giggled when he stood up and stretched, as she knew that he had a late night out with his friends since he still smelled like beer.
Keitaro put on his glasses on and looked at his alarm clock.
7:53 a.m., it said.
'Five and a half hours sleep. That's about par for the course,' he thought while trying to shake the cobwebs out of his brain.
As he opened his dresser for some clean boxers, Kanako laughed and pinched her nose to let him know what she thought about his present condition.
Before he could respond, Kanako got off the end of the bed and pushed him in the direction of his own private bathroom.
If she had not already taken a shower earlier that morning, she would be in there with him with a towel on washing his back as she did most evenings since they were little.
-A few minutes later-
"Kana-chan, did you get Kei-kun up?" asked her mother. Urashima Kasumi is the glue that held this family together as her three charges go at it all hours. When Kasumi married into the Urashima family, she did so with her eyes wide open, and is very well aware of what is possible with them.
"Yes, Kaa-san. He's in the shower," answered Kanako as she came down the stairs and at the table with her mother. She waited for Keitaro to join them for breakfast.
Kasumi smiled with pride at her daughter.
About fifteen minutes later, Keitaro came downstairs and said, "Ohayō, Kaa-san. Sorry about coming home so late last night. My friends wanted me to do their portraits before they would let me go home. Kina-chan had an issue with me because I wouldn't let her pose topless for me at the bar."
"Kei-kun! Onii-chan!" said the two women who giggled at the news. Both knew about his art talent as well as Kina's obsession with him.
"Well anyway," said Keitaro who sat at the table next to his younger sister, "Kana-chan and I are going to the park today so I can draw a new portrait of her." The two are closer than a real brother and sister could ever hope to be as they protected each other's secrets.
Downing some of his mother's strong hot coffee to clear out any of the remaining cobwebs, Keitaro was very hungry. He was happy that his mother was a great cook.
His father was long gone, because today he was working at his main shop in the downtown Tokyo's business district.
None of them would see him until suppertime.
As she started her breakfast, Kanako was a little more genteel than Keitaro as she ate.
However, being a college student and always on the go as he always was, Keitaro had developed a bad habit of scarfing his food down while barely tasting it.
His mother understood this about her son very well. She just smiled at him while he enjoyed his breakfast.
-Shortly afterwards-
The warm weather outside was just what the two needed this morning as they headed to the local park. The stylized lions at the front gate of the park looked like the ones from the Heian or Tokugawa Eras. Keitaro has already made them the subject of a few of his paintings. Nevertheless, the brother and sister smile at each other while they hold hands.
There were many other couples in the park: some read together on blankets, some texted their friends, a few were somewhat romantic and others just walked-through hand-in-hand. In addition, families had fun together with their little children on the swings and slides with proud parents who took pictures for future memories.
Kanako carried a lunch basket that her mother had prepared for them along with a light blanket. She wanted to spend as much of the day with her beloved brother as she could. The two were very close since her adoption ten years ago and Keitaro watched out for her very closely.
Besides holding Kanako's hand, Keitaro had a new sketchpad and his favorite drawing kit. These two, if you did not know them, looked like another romantic couple that came into the park for a day of fun and frivolity.
"Kana-chan, are you happy about heading back to the Academy next week?" asked Keitaro. He cares about everything that happens with his little sister.
"Yes, Onii-chan," answered Kanako smiling at him, "Thank you for helping me study this summer."
"Oh, you're the smarter one of the two of us," said Keitaro in his usual self-depreciating manner. He knew that she had given him credit for something that he did not deserve. 'Maybe,' he thought that she is thanking him for giving her lots of moral support and being in the same room with her when she studied for her high school entrance exam last winter.
Passing that exam with a perfect score, and for that she had received a full scholarship to attend the top high school academy in the central part of Japan. Now ranked number one in her class, she looked forward to classes starting back up soon.
"Thank you, Onii-chan," is all she could say while turning her head and blushing. To Kanako, he always seemed to compliment her for just about everything that she did.
In his eyes, she could do no wrong and did not mind him praising her either because she practically worshipped him.
Deep down inside though, they both realized that the other has flaws and were not perfect, although neither one would ever admit it.
-Urashima residence, early evening-
"Onii-chan, that wasn't fair," said Kanako who whined a little as she and Keitaro walked home together from a local Dojo.
They were both hungry and looked forward to dinner.
In addition, their father was probably home and had brought treats for them to enjoy.
They quickened their pace.
"What are you complaining about, Kana-chan?" asked Keitaro laughing a little, "You know that if you don't finish a move properly, I'll take advantage of that and you know what the results will be, don't you?" He had embarrassed her in front of others because she got a little ahead of herself and left an opening for his counter.
For the most part, Kanako was better than him at academics and studying, but the family martial arts was just one of a very few of things that he is actually better at than her.
Never one to be mean, Keitaro kept the teasing from getting too much out of hand. Actually, he was very proud of her for picking up the family arts so quickly.
That said, Kanako did have one important skill where she surpassed him, her father or their cousin Haruka; it seemed she could deaden someone's nerves with very little effort merely by using pressure points. She had left bullies and perverts numb, or even crippled in her wake when they thought that she was just some random vulnerable young girl. Until they found that they could not move and went 'totally ballistic' on them.
She was catching up to him extremely fast though, and he is very aware that she will surpass him very soon. Keitaro is very proud of her.
"Okaeri," said their mother as she was outside to get the post.
"Tadaima," said the two before they entered their house together.
Once inside they foyer, they took their shoes and put on their house slippers.
"Get washed up and ready dinner you two, we're having teriyaki beef, rice, miso and vegetables. So, hurry up," their mother said as she re-entered the house. Waking her husband, she roused him from his nap in front of the TV.
The two siblings went upstairs and did as she asked.
-At the dinner table-
"How was your day with Kana-chan, Kei-kun?" asked Kenichi. He took a genuine interest in both of his children. Although adopting Kanako, he treated her the same as Keitaro.
"Great Tou-san, except Kana-chan thought I was cheating when she had me on the mat at the Dojo," said Keitaro as he turned to Kanako.
"Did you forget to finish the moves that you're supposed to use to incapacitate someone again, Kana-chan?" asked her smiling father before she could argue with Keitaro.
"Hai, Tou-san," answered Kanako who looked downwards and turned bright red with embarrassment.
"I did get a great portrait of Kana-chan in the park the today though," said Keitaro who did not like to tease Kanako for very long.
She looked up at him as her visage paled back to normal.
"I believe it's one of the best that I done so far," he added.
She smiled at him now.
"Good save, son," said Kenichi under his breath before slurping down his miso.
His wife snickered.
Kenichi knew that his son would never to be mean to his sister. Keitaro is just too plain nice as it is, until he became angry. He shuddered slightly at that passing thought.
"Yeah," muttered Keitaro in a quiet reply. He did not want Kanako to deaden any of his nerves while he sat at the table.
"Kei-kun, are you dating anyone right now?" asked Kasumi. She saw her son almost hiccup in his miso.
Wiping off his face with a napkin, he shook his head sheepishly.
Kanako giggled.
Kasumi has talked to her husband about finding someone for Keitaro. She did not want to subject him to an Omiai (arranged marriage), because the Urashima's have always said that marriage should be elective in their clan.
Only one person came to mind during that discussion, and they both know her. They liked her too and believed that she would be the perfect wife for Keitaro.
Konno Mitsune was the woman that they both had agreed upon.
Across town, as she was typing on her new laptop, Kitsune sneezed and asked no one in particular, "I wonder who's talking about me?"
-End of Chapter-