'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: This is a fun story and thoroughly Alternate Universe/Out of Character from the manga series, as I enjoy going off canon for this quite different romantic tale.
This story is set in more contemporary than the manga was. Also, it has nothing to do with the anime.
Keitaro, Kitsune, Naru, Kanako, Shinobu, Sarah and Haruka are very much OOC. The other characters are somewhat OOC, as you will see. I added many new characters to help enrich the lives of our main cast.
Unlike the Kitsune that we love, and sometimes hate, this woman takes her life a lot more seriously than in the manga. She is a full-time college student and about to start the second semester of her second year. She also has a full-time job. Between these two things, she does not have time for much else, until...
Kitsune works at one of the Urashima stores, but will not make the connection until much later on.
Keitaro too is much different from the manga: he is not obsessed with the old 'promise girl' pledge; his love is art and not archaeology; has a great relationship with his parents as well as many good close friends; not clumsy as he was in the manga and knows where his hands are at all times. (Hence, he has never tripped and pulled down a girl's skirt.) In addition, he is looking for someone 'special'.
Kanako loves Keitaro only as her darling brother and has no overt romantic feelings towards him. We will see why as the story unfolds. She wants to run the Hinata with him as his assistant.
Time line: The end of August- just after the O-Bon Festival and before the summer break ends.
An opening thought…
For some the hand of fate has never brought true love into their lives. For some it might be love at first sight and the red string of enishi has the pair recognizing it right away. For others, recognition by the participants will be absent at first and just might need some help in seeing the missing pieces. When you are young, enishi could go unseen, as many people need seasoning by life's experiences before they are ready to see that certain someone with whom they will be with on their life's journey together.
And now we begin…
-Chapter 1-
"Kitsune, are you up yet?" queried her roommate from the top bunk barely conscious.
Having not heard an alarm clock go off, she naturally assumed that the other woman was still asleep down below.
"Kitsune, come on," the woman said again in a whiny tone about an hour later. Opening her eyes, she regretted doing so because the bright morning sunshine was flooding the room.
Squinting, she then looked over at her clock.
What did she see you may ask? 7:45 a.m. read the LED lit little monstrosity that has been the bane of every college student the world over.
Having groaned after she had rolled onto her other side, the young woman then leaned over the edge of her upper bunk to see if Kitsune was still in bed. Almost calling out the other woman's name again, she spied that her bunk was not only empty but was somewhat made today. Sure, the job was not perfect but the occupant did not appear to be a total slob.
"Hmmm…," she mused and sat up. With a quick look around her room, she took a deep breath taken and climbed out of her bunk. Reaching the floor, the young woman stretched to get the kinks out of her limbs.
When she leaned forward to work out her hamstrings, she caught a glimpse of the hand written note on her desk:
Mariko-san,
I got up quietly this morning because I have an early shift at the Urashima Confectionary in downtown Tokyo today and I did not want to wake you.
I did not drink your OJ because I will get a good breakfast at work.
I will bring dinner home.
See ya tonight, Kit
Mariko read this and realized that her roomy was back to being busy after she had returned from her summer holiday in Osaka.
"Okay," she said as she went to grab her orange juice and have breakfast.
Seated at her desk after she washed her few dishes, Mariko wondered what she was going to do this day.
-Meanwhile-
On a tram headed to the business district of downtown Tokyo, is one Konno Mitsune aka Kitsune. Having turned twenty back on August 1st, she is also student at the Tokyo University of the Arts majoring in journalism. Taking this particular tram on a regular basis, she waited for her stop to come up.
The reason, Kitsune was headed to a place she enjoyed working at because her employer treated her extremely well. Also, she liked the people who worked there along with the items that they served. They made the candy and bakery products themselves on the premises and her salary there was relatively good. When she volunteered to help at any of their six stores in the metro area, he paid her extra. The latter came in handy along with the treats that she took home after closing time.
When she left her dorm room, Kitsune had her backpack slung over one shoulder. Just like most of today's modern college students, it has her life inside. In it was her wallet, a new laptop, cell phone, the syllabus for her upcoming semester and a new agreement from the Tokyo Shimbun, so she did not hurt financially. She could quit the bakery, but she was having too much fun working there. (Shimbun= newspaper)
Her editor told her that her columns were becoming very popular with young people her age. They want her to write more about the happy times and problems that University women are going through these days to get ahead. Kitsune is very familiar with this particular subject. She has many experiences from her own life to write about.
The last check she received from the Shimbun not only paid for half a semester of school, but her ticket home to see her mother and older brother during the summer break. 'That trip was a lot of fun' she thought as she hopped off the tram at her stop.
The sidewalk outside of the store is as busy as ever. The owner has always stated that getting this location was an act of good Karma and/or divine intervention. In Romaji and Nihongo, the sign over the entrance read as follows, 'Urashima Chocolatier and Bakery, est. 1997'.
It seems that everyone in Japan had a sweet tooth and seemingly wished to satisfy it here.
"Ohayō, mina. Ohayō Urashima-san," said Kitsune breathlessly coming in the front door and stepping behind the counter. (Ohayō= Good morning (informal)) This was her first day of work since she had returned from her summer holiday.
In the back office, Kitsune placed her bag on the desk and grabbed a clean apron off a shelf nearby. She perused the latest schedule that her boss had posted on the pegboard after saw that she was the acting manager after the owner Urashima Kenichi left for the day.
Nodding at this, Kitsune smiled and moved on.
Next, she stepped over to where a thermos of tea and one of coffee sat on large table along with some pastries.
After downing some of the strong coffee and a couple of Danish, she started in on her day.
"Welcome back, Kitsune-san," said Kenichi who smiled at her and then asked, "Did you have fun in Osaka while you were away?"
He liked having the ash-blonde Osaka native behind the counter, as she knew how to please the regular customers with her smile, friendliness and wit.
'Just maybe,' mused Kenichi as an afterthought. He had been going hard at it since 4 a.m. and when finished here, he still other places to go. It helped that he had trained a good staff to keep his places going until closing time, so life here was good.
"Yes, Urashima-san," answered Kitsune who stepped behind the counter after her impromptu breakfast. In the early morning, it was usually so busy around the shop that she did not have a chance to say anything more than just a quick greeting. Everyone was now almost running flat out just trying to keep up with their customers. This was the usual scenario around here, so it is a good thing that she ate those pastries when she did because her lunchbreak today would be a late one.
"Oh, Kitsune," said Kenichi a short time later as he rolled out another rack of sweets to re-stock the fast-emptying shelves, "Before you leave today, take a look in the walk-in. There are two bags of special treats for you on the back shelf because I know tomorrow's your birthday."
The normal cacophony and kerfuffle of store activity just about muffled his words.
"Oh yeah, also check the schedule Kitsune if you haven't yet," added her boss, "You're acting manager for the rest of the day. I have to leave in a short while, family business."
Even so, the register kept ringing while product flew out the door and into the open mouths of some extremely happy people.
"Okay, Urashima-san," said Kitsune who happily acknowledged her boss, "I've read it already."
Then it was right back at it.
-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 adopted 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.
-Early in the evening-
"Hey, Kit-chan. What've you got there?" asked Mariko who knew that Kitsune usually returned home from work at about this time.
Having set the bags of goodies from her boss on the floor for a moment, Kitsune closed the door behind her. After she changed into her slippers, she then walked the short distance over to their little kitchenette and placed the bags on the counter.
Out of curiosity, Mariko came over to where Kitsune was as she emptied the contents from the bags.
"We have treats of all kinds plus those meats buns you love from Urashima's," said Kitsune in a breathless manner as she smiled at how generous her boss was for her birthday, "Mariko-chan, look at this, here's those Choco-cherries that you love. You can have them, but these dipped pretzels are mine. These bags are really full." The generosity of her boss is one of the reasons why she worked so hard at his shops.
"Are the meat buns for dinner tonight, Kit?" asked Mariko who had made a pitcher of fresh ice tea for the two of them, and then added, "I stopped at the market earlier and picked up deli-made nori and fresh wasabi."
"They'd be good together," said Kitsune, "as I like wasabi with just about everything."
"Yeah, I know Kit," said Mariko as a comeback in mock disgust, "you even dropped a big dollop into the nabe I made for us last winter."
"I only put it in my portion after it was already in my bowl. You just like everything so plain," said Kitsune as she giggled at her roommate's dislike of spicy food and condiments.
Afterwards, Kitsune sat her desk, unloaded the contents of her backpack and thought about what had transpired that day. It was a very busy day that only got more so after her boss had clocked out.
The product that they made today just flew out the front door boggling her mind with how popular Urashima's had become. The bakers and candy makers everyday have their work cut out for them, but that made the day go by faster until the 5 o'clock p.m. closing time. Locking the place up before she and her fellow employees get the place to look immaculate for the next morning, they all knew that Urashima-san or one of his senior bakers would be back at 4 a.m. to start everything up all over again.
Kitsune, after having her tea, grabbed her basket and headed over to the locker room in their dormitory to clean up from work.
Not lonely because of all her friends, she did not have anyone special in her life right now. The young man she dated in high school tried to take advantage of her because she was better developed than her classmates were. Breaking up after kicking him in the balls, she held her older brother back from ripping her ex-boyfriend in half. Mitsune and her brother are very close to their mother since their father had deserted the family when they were young. The whole of the Konno family had drawn together and had become very tight. When accepted into the Tokyo University of the Arts in Yokohama, her mother and older brother took her out for dinner, before they presented her with her first laptop and a statement which said that her first semester was paid-in-full.
Yes, she was also very beautiful, though she did not care about that right now. Mitsune could use her looks and body as a weapon, but she was having too much fun right now with school, her friends and work. She was not into the dating scene, as that held no interest for her.
She wanted to wait for the right man to come along.
-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; you see, she could deaden a person'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 after she 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 nasai," said their mother as she was outside to get the post.
"Tadaima," said the two before they entered their house together.
Once inside the foyer, they took off their shoes and put on their house slippers.
"Get washed up and ready dinner you two," their mother said as she re-entered the house, "We're having teriyaki beef, rice, miso and vegetables. So, hurry up."
When she finished with the, Kasumi woke her husband and roused him from a 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," replied Keitaro as he turned to look at Kanako, "Except that Kana-chan thought I had cheated when she had me on the mat at the Dojo."
"Did you forget to finish the moves that you were 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 deflected as he never like to tease Kanako for too long.
Having instantly caught on, 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.
Kanako smiled at her older brother and remembered why she thought so highly of him.
"Good save, son," said Kenichi under his breath before he slurped his miso down.
His wife snickered and nodded in agreement.
Kenichi knew that his son would never to be mean to his sister. Keitaro was just too plain nice as it was, until he became angry. He shuddered slightly at that passing thought.
"Yeah," muttered Keitaro in a quiet reply. He did not want Kanako deadening any of his nerves while he sat next to her at the table.
"Kei-kun, are you dating anyone right now?" asked Kasumi who saw her son almost hiccup in his miso.
Wiping his face with a napkin, he shook his head sheepishly and wondered where that came from. There was no mention of the beautiful woman who had been after him for years. Even they knew the two would be quite mismatched.
As she listened in, Kanako giggled.
Not wanting to subject her son to an Omiai (an arranged marriage), Kasumi had talked to her husband about finding someone for Keitaro. The Urashima have always believed that marriage should be elective in their clan.
Only one person came to mind during their discussion, and they both liked her too. Both of the parents' believed that she would be a perfect wife for Keitaro.
Konno Mitsune was the woman that they had both agreed upon.
Over in Yokohama, as Kitsune typed away on a newer model laptop, she sneezed and asked off the cuff, "I wonder who's talking about me?"
-End of Chapter-