'The Hands of a Man'
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: I have read too many stories about Urashima Keitaro as weak and a very shy man, who was not that much on the ball, so to speak. I wanted to come up with a different characterization of Ken Akamatsu's main protagonist from Love Hina.
This version of Keitaro will be older than in either the anime or the manga (age 24). Some of the changes to his character will be: He is bright, articulate, strong, and afraid of absolutely nothing. Along with this, our hero is 1.83-meters (6') tall and weighs in at 90-kilos (197+-lbs.) of solid muscle. In addition, he is a workaholic, very quiet, willing to meet any challenge head on and someone who will not put up with crap from anybody. But, like the Keitaro we do know: he will still be friendly, loyal to his friends and tenants, one to keep his promises religiously and works on projects satisfied that the task was completed in a timely manner.
This will be that Keitaro's story and it will be about his dream of turning the Hinata Hill into his home and the changes that come with it. So, as you can see, he will be very much OOC.
Japanese surnames are always first.
Additional writer notes: Kitsune will be mostly OOC, as she works hard with Haruka, falls extremely hard for Keitaro at first sight and is a successful author/columnist.
Motoko will be the most OOC, as she has had a crush on Keitaro since she was a little girl. Motoko has grown into quite a beautiful young woman.
Haruka, Tsuruko and Naru will have the biggest changes since they are gay.
I will add new characters for continuity, as they will enhance the main storyline.
Our story begins in the spring, just after the new school year had started. So that means early April after the Sakura-blossoms have come and gone.
-Chapter 1-
On the roof deck of her home was one sixteen-year-old Aoyama Motoko.
As such, she was out here on this bright sunny morning going through her Katas with her ancient Katana called Shi-sui (Japanese for: Still water).
Workouts such as these always left her with lots of energy and kept her in great shape. Tall, graceful and very beautiful, this young warrior had dressed in a traditional manner which also covered her very beautiful body. Second-in-line to inherit the Shinmeiryu Dojo and Aoyama Clan properties in Kyoto, she moved here mainly because of problems within her clan. However, she has stayed in touch with her older sister.
Before she started school each day, and even on the weekends, Motoko rose out of her bed early each morning. She was very fastidious about perfecting her daily katas. So zealous was she about her workouts, you could almost set your watch by her steadfastness.
Nevertheless, most of the time Motoko usually discovered that she was not always the first one up and moving about.
All she had to do is take one whiff of the wonderful breakfast that one of her housemates was cooking. The wondrous aromas which emanated from the old manse's kitchen sometimes interfered with her meditation, which it did when she attempted to center herself.
Uncharacteristically for her, Motoko giggled when she heard her stomach growl. It exacerbated the trouble she had in reaching the proper mind frame on this particular morning.
That being said, nothing distracted her concentration as much as the noise from a large helicopter, whose roaring twin engines and whirling rotors were quite loud as it passed overhead.
Looking up, Motoko saw the large aircraft with a cargo net suspended underneath as it carried a square-bottomed load suspended from a heavy cable.
'Nothing like the JSDF to unsettle one's morning,' thought the teenage Samurai.
With her morning meditation already shot, Motoko got up off the deck, gathered her belongings and hurried down to shower before breakfast.
-Forty-five minutes later-
"That's the second time this morning," said Maehara Shinobu to herself as she looked out the kitchen window. That is, after the petite chef heard had felt the vibrations of the large army helicopter as it went over her home.
Meaning nothing to her, she just dismissed this as just another flight event by the JSDF.
Only fourteen years old, the petite miss was a culinary genius and domestic wizard. In reality, she was a shy young ninth-grader who was the heart and soul of this generation of Hinata residents.
Without her, the place would look like the pigsty that it was before she moved in. In lieu of rent, she performed the majority of the chores around the Hinata, willingly and with great skill.
The other residents have said that if it were not for her, the Hinata would implode from all of the clutter and mess that they generated.
Right now, she just waited for her Senpais to come down for breakfast.
-Third time, forty-five minutes later-
"Hey, that's a Boeing™ CH-47D 'Chinook'. I wonder if that's yummy?" asked a young wide-eyed foreign fifteen-year-old Princess by the name of Kaolla Su who hailed from the island nation of MolMol in the Indian Ocean.
Along with three of her housemates, she too experienced the noise generated by the flying behemoth which flew overhead as it had already twice before on this warm and sunny morning.
"The navigator must be using the Hinata as a reference point because it had banked off a little when it flew over us," added Kaolla offhandedly. She stepped out onto the front courtyard and joined her Senpais.
The quartet quickly descended the ancient stone steps that would take them to the bottom of the hill, so that they all could catch their tram to school.
-Last time, about an hour later-
The owner of the Hinata Tea Shoppe, which was situated at the bottom of Hinata Hill, stepped out the backdoor to catch her breath after the early morning rush.
The proprietor of the place was one Urashima Haruka, who along with her assistant Konno Mitsune aka 'Kitsune', had turned the place into a raging success.
The Shoppe was a gift from her grandmother which she had received as her inheritance after graduating from Tokyo University.
One this lovely morning, she was glad that she had quit smoking as she did after getting her Master's degree. Inhaling cigarettes as she used to, it had almost affected her health. A little meditation with help from the family Martial Arts, a couple of anger management classes and a large punching bag later, she had finally kicked the habit.
"Shit, again!" growled the Urashima woman.
The same helicopter once more soared low over the Hinata.
Almost anything sets her off in the early morning before she has had her first cup of coffee.
"The fucking Army must be doing some big things around here to fly over a small town like this that many times, eh Haruka?" queried Kitsune who had come out the back of the shop just in time to see the aircraft fly overhead.
"Maybe, Kit," Haruka said after the noise of the helicopter faded off into the distance, "Although, I would have heard if something were up around here."
After a few minutes, one of the wait staff came out Haruka and said that a customer needed to know the prices on some of tea blends that the shop sells, so both knew their break was over.
-Elsewhere, that same morning-
The traffic on the main highway into the western part of Kanagawa Prefecture was almost non-existent at this time of day.
'Good thing I could get all of my stuff moved as I did, or it'd be kind of tough transporting the big shit,' mused one Urashima Keitaro.
Seated on the wrong side behind the wheel of a brand-new Nissan™ Titan© crew-cab pick-up truck imported from the USA, Keitaro drove out to his new home and had more than a few people staring at him because of it.
Ignoring the stares, he continued on to his destination.
The vehicle he drove was a graduation gift from his Tou-san, who had almost bought him a BMW™ or a Porsche™ for his graduation gift instead. Knowing better, the elder Urashima understood that his son did not want a high-performance sports car. What would he do with it?
As a very practical young man, Keitaro was by nature a workaholic. And now at twenty-four, he had earned a Master's Degree from Tokyo University. A very prestigious accomplishment in of itself as he finished a year early.
The truck he drove however was more in-line with his personality as he could now store his more personal items in the rear cargo area.
On the seat next to him, was his dual undergrad Degree in Mechanical and Applied Engineering. Behind that in the stack, sat his Master's Degree which was next to a tin of expensive ground coffee from his mother, along his favorite work jacket. He had taken that particular course of study so he could learn the theories behind the practicality of how things worked and were constructed.
It was just how his mind worked.
"Just glad that's over with so I can get back to working full-time with my hands again," Keitaro whispered as he just wanted to flex his muscles again. Because his studies were extremely demanding, he did not have much time to do so over the past two years. Though he kept at it whenever possible.
Not really in need of a job, he was heir to one of the richest families in all of Japan.
Receiving the opportunity of a lifetime, Keitaro had recently learned from his grandmother's lawyers that he has just inherited a substantial amount of money and land. Not only the Hinata, which made him smile, but quite a few other valuable properties around Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto and Niigata.
Now, with his legacy secured, Keitaro was going to work so he could make the Hinata Hill, and its environs, his home.
Finished with his schooling, he looked forward to the challenge.
Outside of Chigasaki, (Writer's Note: real city SW of Yokohama and Tokyo) he turned off to get onto the main road that led down to his destination.
Crossing a familiar bridge before entering into Hinata City proper, Keitaro looked over to see the well-worn building that was his cousin Haruka's Tea Shoppe at the base of his new home.
It has been a while since he had last visited the ancestral hometown of the powerful Urashima clan.
For the last nine years, except for school and when he helped out his father out with clan business, Keitaro pretty much led a vagabond life.
Since the age of fifteen, he went all around Japan learning all about the different construction and industrial skills. In addition, he still maintained top marks in high school and at Tokyo University.
Nearing the end of his journey, Keitaro pulled into the parking lot aside his cousin Haruka's place and stopped near the front door.
"Shit, this place is going to need some major renovations, and soon by the look of it," said Keitaro as he stepped out of the cab and made a few quick mental notes about the exterior condition of the place. Seeing that the old shop would need at least a minor fix-up in the near future, he knew that the Tea Shoppe was close to four-hundred years old.
Before he went inside, Keitaro took a deep breath because it has been a couple of years since he was last here. Hoping that Haruka was not too angry with him since he had not called her since New Year's, the man steeled himself for the possible 'shit storm'.
-Inside-
Out on the main floor, Kitsune had just finished clearing a table whose former occupant had left her his phone number.
After she had tossed the number into the trash, Kitsune looked up and saw the most perfect specimen of a man walk in the front door.
Dropping her table rag, Kitsune stopped work as her mouth had fallen open.
What did she see? Before her stood a tall, muscular young man with bulging biceps, a narrow waist with what might be a washboard torso underneath his tee shirt, he was also slim-hipped and stood on powerful looking legs. To top it all off, he has a well-combed mop of jet-black hair, which to her made him seem to be an absolute god-like example of what a man should look like.
Gob-smacked, Kitsune along with every other woman in the shop could only drool at the young man who had just walked in. With a slight smile, nothing seemed to bother him with all the attention he had garnered at this moment.
"Kei-kun!" rang out the familiar voice of Haruka from the kitchen.
It woke Kitsune and the others out of their reverie.
The young man smiled as Haruka strode into the main room.
However, she surprised everyone by swatting his arm with a paper fan that she kept in her apron.
After that bit of silliness, the two hugged each other warmly.
"Kei-kun, you silly baka," said Haruka hugging him again as tears fall from her eyes, "you had better have a damn good reason why you haven't bothered to call or e-mail me at all in the last four months? I ought to kick the living shit out of you for ignoring me so long."
As someone had just cleared a now empty booth over in the corner, she gestured for them to sit there so that they could talk.
"Sorry about that, Haru Nee-chan," Keitaro said with a sheepish smile.
With a nod in reply to her cousin, she wanted to hear what he had to say.
Keitaro placed one of his huge calloused-over hands onto one of Haruka's, and then continued, "You know how I get when I'm concentrating on something. It seems like I forget the rest of the world sometimes. I wanted to get my Master's Degree so that you would be proud of me."
"How can you say that?" asked Haruka who smiled and gave him a dubious look, "I've always been proud of you. Shit, I practically raised you because your Kaa-san and Tou-san were always so busy. Why would I not be proud of you? Shit, everything you've ever done I've taken pride in."
Smiling at her exaggeration, he knew how much she watched him when his parents were busy with the family businesses.
"Yeah. I know, Haru-nee," said Keitaro in a quiet voice, "But I'm here to stay now, because Hina Obaa-san has finally ceded the Hinata to me."
"Good, I'm glad to hear that because we've a lot to catch up on," said Haruka who spied Kitsune as she headed their way, "and Reiji-kun will be happy as well."
After a few moments, Kitsune sat next to Haruka and placed her chin in her hands. Even without a formal introduction, she could not keep her eyes off him.
Because as strange as it may seem, Mitsune, aka the 'Fox', due to how her eyes were when not fully opened, stared at the man seated across from her. In a world of her own right now, she ignored the conversation happening between the two cousins.
Usually catching the eye of a man first, Kitsune could be a bit of a flirt because she was an extremely striking woman…
However, no one, and I mean no one, had ever captured her attention like the handsome stranger who had just walked in and was now seated across from Haruka.
"Kitsune! Earth to Kitsune, over," said Haruka who looked at the woman seated next to her. Then, she realized that Kitsune had just fallen victim to her cousin's natural charm.
Having not received a response from the Fox, Haruka gently prodded her until she jumped back into this plain of existence.
Laughter from Haruka while Keitaro just sat there with a slightly amused look on his face.
"Wha….? What is it, Haruka?" asked the ash-blonde who shook her head trying after she had previously failed to compose herself.
The older woman used her thumb to point at Keitaro.
"Oh sorry, suga'," she said while extending her hand, "I am Konno Mitsune, but you can call me Kitsune."
"It's my pleasure, Kitsune," said Keitaro matter-of-fact as he understood from her Kansai accent that she was from probably from Osaka, "Call me Keitaro."
With a warm smile now, he kindly took her hand.
Even though her wits had returned, all she could do was to simply nod her head. It seemed like an unknown strength or power shot right through her as their skin made contact.
It just about overwhelmed her.
His huge calloused hand had a rough texture to it, but he was also very gentle with hers.
Her only thought was, 'I am so wet,' after she had received that tingle from him. In her many experiences, this was a something new that had never happened before. This beautiful woman, this charmer who had in the past entranced many men and women with just her looks alone, had in turn just fallen very hard for a man she had met mere moments before.
"Oh yeah, Haru-nee," said Keitaro apologetically to his cousin, "Sorry about the helicopter flights earlier this morning. A friend of mine, Hanabi Matsuo-san helped me by flying in my heaviest tools and equipment out into the back of Hinata Hill. His family owns a helicopter charter business over in Kamakura. They just bought a couple of surplus US choppers from the JSDF, so I helped my friend repair and modernize them. To say thanks, he flew my stuff out to the back of the hill free-of-charge. I didn't realize that I had accumulated that much stuff."
With a slight snicker, Haruka knew from past experience that he has a habit of doing things himself and not delegating his work to others.
"I had my larger equipment and tool boxes stored in one of their empty hangars along with some shed kits," he added. "Now that my equipment is up on the hill, the new choppers have place to call home, and so do I."
"I was wondering what-the-hell was going on so early this morning," said Haruka, "If I had known it was you, I would have just said 'that's typical of the workaholic Kei-kun' the man I have known since he was born." Then turning to the Fox, she said, "Kitsune, this man here (pointing at Keitaro) would get up before anyone else I know and start right in. Keitaro also only went to bed when he needed to, and would work until either the point of collapse over his work area or his Tou-san told him to stop for the day. You do not know how many times I had to put him to bed when he was a kid after I found him asleep over something he had been working on. It's more times than I can remember, that's for sure."
"Yes, Haru-chan. You did," said Keitaro with a warm smile on his face, "and I remember that there were many times you would just lay a blanket over me when I got older. Hey, I just love to keep my hands busy. You know the old saying about life being short and all."
With a hearty laugh, Haruka nodded at those fond memories.
"Oh, and before I forget, Haru-chan," he added, "I'm going to head up the old back hunter's road that goes up by the old dilapidated Annex and unpack my equipment. We dropped off quite a few pallets. Then I also have to organize everything and then convert some of the empty rooms in the manse's lower floor for my wood and machine shops."
"Have you had anything to eat this morning, Kei-kun?" asked Haruka remembering how large his large appetite could be. Especially right before he focused in on a new project.
"I'm a bit hungry after all of the shit I had to move this morning," he said knowing she was not about to let him get away without a proper breakfast.
A growling stomach caused some female giggling.
"Kei-kun, you stay right there," said Haruka who got up and went to get her cook to fix her beloved cousin a big breakfast.
Still staring at him, Kitsune was still all mushy inside.
'Shit, this has never happened to me before,' she thought as her mind had difficulty coalescing back to the present.
"Hey, Kei-kun," said Haruka from the kitchen as she helped the cook, "Did Obaa-san or her lawyers tell you about the old place?" Haruka hated to put a damper on his growing enthusiasm, but someone has to tell him the truth about what their grandmother did to the old place.
A few minutes later, she brought out a big plate with many dishes on it for him.
"Yeah. I just hope the girls won't feel put out by what I'll be doing to the old place," said Keitaro, again using a matter-of-fact tone as he wolfed down his cousin's food, "Do you have any info on them, Haru-chan? I want to know who I'll be dealing with later when I formally introduce myself to them."
Looking a little startled by his tone and nonchalant attitude about people living in his new home, Kitsune did not know what to think.
Having sensed something from the ash-blonde beauty, Keitaro looked at her and said, "Oh don't worry, Kitsune. I'm just curious as to why my Obaa-san would have done something like that to the old manse, so I will not ask you or the others to leave. As a matter-of-fact, I'll be staying out at a camp right in the back during the spring and summer months."
Surprised, both women were taken aback when he said that he would not be residing in the Hinata itself.
"It's your home, Kei-kun," said Haruka who stood and went back to her office to get Keitaro the file which had the information he wanted about the residents.
Wondering how he knew that she lived up there, Kitsune was happy to know that Keitaro would be nearby and possibly be available for whatever.
"Hina Baa-chan sent me a preliminary list of the residents who lived up there," said Keitaro after Haruka handed him a manila folder from a larger legal binder, "As of right now, only five rooms are occupied on one side."
"Kitsune, I'm glad to see you live up there," added Keitaro making her feel better. That statement from him answered any of her remaining doubts.
Due to his unintended use of innuendo, dirty thoughts then came into her mind. Which she would happily allow herself to indulge in.
After Keitaro had downed the last of the delicious Miso that Haruka brought out for him, he opened the folder.
He perused pictures of the residents, and continued, "I see Aoyama Motoko-chan resides there too. She has had a huge crush on me since the time I had helped with the rebuilding of the Aoyama Dojo seven years ago."
'Is he talking about the same Kendo girl?' Kitsune thought. Having known her for the last three years, that did not sound like the same Motoko to her.
"When we last went to Kyoto, Haru-nee," said Keitaro as he looked at her, "That girl, though shy as she was, hung around me like a little puppy."
Smiling, he fondly remembered Motoko as a little girl.
With a giggle of her own, Kitsune now had something new to tease her with now.
"Thanks for a great breakfast, Haru-nee," said Keitaro who looked toward the door.
"Heading out?" asked Haruka with a smile. It was a very obvious question, and she knew it.
"Yes, I am heading out and going up to start right in," said Keitaro as he pulled a business card out of his shirt pocket and handed it to Haruka, "I will take this folder with me. Please call me when the others get home so I can formally introduce myself to them."
The Fox did a bit of 'rubber-necking' to try and see his number.
Haruka laughed as she handed the card to her.
"Kitsune-san, it's been a pleasure, and I look forward to seeing you later," said Keitaro who slid out from the booth and stood.
As he headed out, Kitsune followed him outside of the shop.
Smiling, she stood there in the doorway and finger-waved to Keitaro as he climbed into his pick-up. She then fought a wild hair to jump into the truck with him. It would have been an enjoyable for her to be with him as he tended to his belongings, and maybe to her as well.
The engine started and some throat-clearing from a smiling Haruka brought Kitsune back to reality.
As she headed back inside, Kitsune's smile grew wider as she would see him later in the day.
Having enjoyed the sight of the good-looking young woman who worked for Haruka, Keitaro stored away any thoughts about her into the back of his mind as he drove off.
Though not for too long…
-Mid-morning, back property of Hinata Hill-
On the way over to the old grassy road that led to the back of Hinata Hill, Keitaro had a pleasant memory come to him from when he was a little boy.
Showing him how to build birdhouses, his father wanted Keitaro to enjoy doing things with his hands. Afterwards, they would often come back here with Kanako and hang them for the finches, sparrows and swallows that lived up here on the hill. Many times, they would also have lunch or fire up a hibachi set up to cook on, so they could watch the little birds as they enjoyed their new homes. Then, the three of them would also have fun swimming in the freshwater lake by the waterfall that cascaded down from the higher points from behind on Hinata Hill.
There were so many great memories from when he was young.
'Why did I allow the good times in my life to end back then?' he pondered retrospectively as Keitaro missed his younger sister right now.
Frowning before he put those thoughts aside, Keitaro knew that he has to deal with that situation as soon as possible too.
For now…
Unloading all of the pallets took only a few hours.
Breaking the smaller loads down, he organized everything by priority, size, where they were going and the time of year that he would be using them. Keitaro arranged everything down to the smallest detail.
Then, there were his three tractors that he needed to unstrap and drive off their pallets: one, which had a front-end loader and backhoe, two, a farm-type tractor he used to his tow his medium-sized loads around, and lastly, a smaller garden tractor with wide-cutting deck attachments.
It was also good for him to have a four-wheel stake-sided flatbed trailer along with a heavier capacity low boy ramp trailer that could haul his possessions over to the manse. Or, wherever else they might need to be.
With his machine shop equipment placed onto the lowboy, which he had disassembled for aerial transport and packed in smaller loads which could easily be put back together by him later, he then secured everything on it for transference over to the manse.
Next, came his woodworking and metal-shop equipment: horizontal and bench lathes, 3d printers, drill presses, saws and shop hand tools. These were secured onto his trailer as well.
They were going to the same place, but in different rooms.
Uncrating some resin sheds of different sizes, he assembled them quickly. These would store his two smaller tractors, a couple of small generators, chainsaws, fuel and oil cans, welding equipment, two large and two small capacity air tanks, gardening equipment, masonry and plumbing supplies, plus a nail-gun and boxes of nails.
And last for now, Keitaro set up his large ripsaw: he assembled the table, cradle, pulleys and placed the drive strap back where the medium tractor could back up and run it. This last machine was of his own design, so he did not ever have to buy any lumber. A drying kiln for seasoning wood he would build later for the excess trees that he would cull when he was ready to start the second phase of his plan.
To clean up, he stacked away the pallets behind one of the sheds to be recycled into something else, or be cut up and burned as kindling.
When he had all of his possessions stowed, Keitaro began to build a camp for his temporary summer home.
His camping equipment is in the back of the pick-up truck.
First, up went an army-style tent. It is a large enough to house six soldiers comfortably in the field.
Next, he opened in a portable bed frame for inside the tent and laid an actual mattress on it.
Then in went a footlocker, coat rack, Franklin Stove®, a small refrigerator (he would later run a line to it when he headed over to the Hinata. Utilizing one of his generators for the appliances out here seemed a little wasteful to him), his laptop, a military-style clerks folding desk and stool.
The last thing, out of the backseat of his truck, he took an antique American oil lamp that was a gift from his mother. The lamp was one of his most prized possessions and accordingly, he placed on top of his desk.
Having grabbed one of his chainsaws, he gassed and oiled it for use. At that point, Keitaro proceeded to cut down a few small trees that were already dead for some instant firewood.
Later, he would thin out some of the overgrowth and cut up the dead logs into woodpiles. That would season them for burning during the winter months.
Finding some old slate and medium-sized stones, Keitaro cleared away some grass and laid out a good-sized fire pit about five meters away from his tent. Then as an added measure, he placed a slotted grate over where the fire so he could do some open-air cooking.
Looking over the entire encampment and storage areas, Keitaro was happy with how fast he unloaded everything and had it stowed away. As stated before, when he started a task, he did it efficiently and in a timely manner.
Next, Keitaro filled a large camping cooler with some cold spring water and took a drink from it. He was grateful that his clan could truly boast of having the freshest water in all of Japan.
Taking a deep breath, Keitaro set the cooler on a folding table that he erected as part of his outdoor kitchen. He enjoyed cooking and baking having learned these skills from his parents.
Speaking of which, he wanted to call them later today, so they would know that he had taken possession of his inheritance.
Looking at the rear of the manse, Keitaro saw the door which led to the lower-level storage areas. It had six large rooms and connected to a hallway that went up into the main house.
Choosing two rear storage rooms for his shops, he hoped that they would be far enough away from the residents. Yes, he wanted his shops, but he did not want to interfere with the girls' lives or their daily routines.
Backing his tractor to the loaded trailer, Keitaro connected them together and hooked up the safety chain as well as the rear lights.
Finding a shallow ford in the stream, he drove his tractor across it and parked by the door.
"This door needs to be replaced," he muttered and made a mental note of its condition.
Unlocked, Keitaro opened the door and saw for himself how the rooms were arranged. He took a quick look at the hinges and saw that they were still in good condition. No rust.
Going back outside, Keitaro then hauled all of machinery in parts that he would reassemble as soon as he could. Woodworking equipment in one room and machine shop apparatus tools in another.
'At least this place looks decent,' he mused after inspecting all six rooms. The rooms could easily be expanded by knocking out the wall in between two of them.
"That will work," Keitaro whispered as he went up the inside passageway.
Going upstairs to the second floor where the main junction box was, Keitaro opened the closet and immediately knew that he had to replace it before either there was a major blackout up here, or the thing started a fire. Boxes of old fuses strewn about with a pair of offsets and a heavy-duty rubber glove sat in here as well.
Since the manse was old and the wood is dry, it would quickly go up in flames.
'This damned thing should've been replaced a long time ago,' thought Keitaro with a bit of scorn at how dilapidated, outdated and dangerous the old fuse box was, 'There is no way in hell that this fucking thing would support all of my power equipment.'
Having gone back outside for a moment, Keitaro checked his lowboy. Opening a large cardboard box, he pulled out a large brand new high-capacity breaker box, a fire panel and four new chemical extinguishers.
Keitaro placed them in the closet where the old fuse box was, and made it a high priority to fix this possible problem first before it too started a fire.
Pulling a small well-worn leather covered notebook from his front shirt pocket, Keitaro wrote a few notes in it (not that he needed to, mind you).
"0 for 2 so far," whispered Keitaro while he walked down to his grandmother's former bedroom.
He slid the traditional door open, and the first thing he noticed was a hole in the ceiling that had a sheet of plywood sheet over it. That definitely needed repairing before someone fell through it and got hurt.
Satisfied for now, he stepped out of the room and slid the door closed behind him.
Heading downstairs out the old backway, he went to tend to the rest of his belongings.
Out of the back of his four-door pick-up's cab, Keitaro grabbed some clean clothes and a pair of fresh boxer shorts. The clothes he has on were now dirty and sweat stained.
In need of a break, he decided to take a dip in the hill's pristine lake.
Looking around, Keitaro smiled when he realized that many of the birdhouses that he made as a child with his father were still in use.
Stripped naked, he draped his dirty clothes over a low branch and waded out into the cold refreshing water that had always re-invigorated him as a youngster. He swam over to a low hanging part of the falls, stepped underneath the cascade as the fresh water washed over his head.
'Wow,' he thought, 'this place is all mine now.'
However, Keitaro did have one quite normal problem to deal with, and that was, cold water usually caused his huge cock to become quite erect. Being much larger than the average Japanese male, he did not relish needing to relieve himself out here. So, Keitaro chose to meditate under the falls for as long as it took for him to re-center his mind.
To compound matters, Keitaro then remembered Kitsune, as their earlier introduction did not help him since the beautiful woman was still on his mind. There was also Mutsumi and his sister Kanako, as he missed them both terribly as well.
After his swim, he dressed and then pulled a small snack out from an ice chest, along with a can of cold beer.
After finishing his workday, Keitaro usually ate his dinner and packed away as many calories as humanly possible. By the looks of his physique, Keitaro worked off all of them.
BRRR! BRRR!
Picking up his smart phone, he ran his finger across the face and saw that it was Haruka on the line.
"Moshi, moshi. Hi, Haru-nee," he responded.
"Everyone's home, Kei-kun," she said, "but I have not told them that you are here yet."
"No problem," he responded, "I will meet you out in front of the Hinata in 30 minutes." He hit the disconnect icon.
Half an hour later…
At the front entrance of the Hinata, Keitaro waited for Haruka to come up from her place.
With the Tea Shoppe closed for the evening, he believed that she would be alone and that Kitsune must be up here already.
"Well, I hope you weren't waiting too long, Kei-kun," said Haruka as her cousin looked up at the front walls and upper balconies of the ancient building.
"The old place needs a lot of work, Haru-nee," said Keitaro off-handedly as the two then went inside together. After they changed from shoes to slippers, the cousins stepped into the common room.
"Have a seat, Kei-kun. I'll go get the girls," said Haruka who strode over to the staircase.
A few seconds later, she let a loud whistle out from her lips and fingers to signal the residents to come downstairs.
Motoko's POV…
In her room up on the third floor, Motoko had just finished her homework. After she closed her laptop, there came the familiar whistle that only Haruka could produce.
Loud, shrill and very piercing, it would easily give you a headache if you were not used to it. When she cut loose, that sound meant that there was a meeting in the common and attendance was always mandatory.
The teen Samurai stood and straightened her Hakama, then checked her Gi before she took her favorite Bokken from the weapons rack, which sat next to the suit of traditional armor, and placed it in her Uwa-obi before she stepped out.
As she walked down the hallway, the warrior maiden sensed a familiar aura that made her heart leap out a little out in joyous anticipation. Her pulse raced faster as she descended the steps to the main floor. There, Motoko saw her Keitaro-sama seated on a couch in the common room.
Liking what she had gazed upon, Motoko usually had a negative opinion of the male half of the species, as the only exception to this rule was her Keitaro-sama.
Centering herself the best she could, Motoko smiled and went to greet him.
Naru's POV…
Putting on comfortable clothes and looking rather sloppy, a beautiful young woman sat at her Kotatsu with a college study guide in her hand. Ranked first in her particular high school after having just started her third year, Naru usually wore her coke-bottle glasses and braids just to make the boys in her class avoid her.
In addition, she also had quite a Ki-loaded right hand that was extra insurance against them confessing to her.
This young woman is not into men, as she was gay. With her girlfriend as a first year at Tokyo University, she wanted to concentrate and enter that school just to be with her. With this, Naru also had formed some very negative opinions about the other half of the species.
Even though deep in thought, what drew Naru out of her zone was a loud whistle that only Haruka could produce, and she understood it was time to meet downstairs to the common room.
Having run down the stairs, she spied Keitaro as he sat there and waited.
"What the hell is this man doing here in an all-girl's dorm, Haruka-san?" asked the bespectacled brunette.
That query brought Motoko out of her reverie, just before she was to walk up to Keitaro.
"All men want to do is peep on innocent young girls and molest them with their perverted ways," cried Naru in a brusque manner.
With the Samurai standing nearby, the temperature in the room suddenly and mysteriously dipped.
Before Motoko could respond to Naru's insult and possibly smack her senseless with the bokken, her close young friend happily scampered in.
Kaolla's POV…
Ensconced in the hallway on the third floor, a certain young Princess enjoyed the late afternoon sun as it came thru the hallway windows of the Hinata, Kaolla perused the designs of her latest revision of a flying Mecha-tama.
This hyperactive foreign young teen genius had a penchant for creating small turtle-shaped mechanoids and then unleashing them. With a truly maniacal laugh, she did all of this with the wide-eyed wonder and the innocence of a young girl.
A loud piercing whistle resonated up the stairs which brought her back to reality. Wrapping up her blueprints, she put everything inside her room and ran to the common room. That was, after she literally jumped down two flights of stairs barefoot. The blonde, dark-skinned foreign Princess then gazed upon a very handsome man seated on the couch.
"Someone new here at the Hinata, all I want to know is he yummy and can he be my playmate?" asked Kaolla Su in rapid succession.
Kitsune's POV…
Still deep in thought about having met Haruka's cousin earlier in the day, the Fox went through her closet. Kitsune wanted to find something a little less appropriate to wear when she went to meet Keitaro again.
In her life, no one had ever smitten her like that before. Previously, she had thought that her former boyfriend was a stud, but he was nothing like the man that she saw seated across from her in the booth that morning.
Moreover, she just loved how he radiated such confidence and had a good sense of himself. It also helped that he was rich, smart and had a 'killer' body. The 'six-pack' torso outlined by his tee shirt made the ash-blonde drool. It caused her to fantasize about him as he held her in those magnificent arms of his before she touched him all over.
'I wonder if he's packing too,' thought the Fox while she wiped the drool from her mouth.
Hearing Haruka's whistle, she almost started to freak because she had not picked out anything special. Sizing up her luscious body in her full-length mirror, she quickly decided that what she had on would catch his eye.
After another moment or so, Kitsune headed out to catch herself a new man.
A further interruption in Motoko's greeting came in the form of the ash-blonde bombshell who made her presence known in the common room.
Definitely not dressed for work, Kitsune sauntered over and sat on the couch in the spot that Motoko had picked out for herself.
In an almost audible whimper from the Samurai, as any casual greetings from the taller teen would have to wait until later.
From over by the staircase, Haruka said in a loud voice, "Naru-chan, knock that shit off right now. You will be in a hell of a lot of trouble with me if you ever refer to my cousin, and your new Kanrinin here, as a pervert ever again."
Everyone looked at Naru as she blanched, and from that moment on, she knew to keep her mouth shut.
No one ever wanted to antagonize Haruka, or be on her shit list.
Coming back over to the common room, a petite teenager followed close behind the now former housemother. She smiled shyly.
Shinobu's POV…
There must be some magic in this old place thought a petite bluenette as she prepared dinner. To keep the foreign Princess out of her hair, she gave Kaolla a small bundle of bananas.
After she had moved in, having smart Senpais in residence had definitely helped with her grades, as she was near the top of her class now.
Nevertheless, that was only the surface of how things were in her life. The thing was, after her parents' divorce, the two still sniped at each other and sometimes included her when they bitched at each other.
Unbeknownst to her, Shinobu's life was about to take a drastic turn for the better.
When she had heard the piercing whistle from Haruka, it signaled some meeting or other, and so there everyone was.
With it quiet now, it began…
As he stood up and stepped over to the end of the room, Keitaro took a good look at everyone.
Two pair of eyes just drooled at this specimen of a man before them. Two others wondered who he was and the final one would wait until the picture became clearer.
Haruka just smiled at her cousin.
"Generally, I am a man of very few words, as I believe in letting my actions speak for me instead. There are just have a few things I have to say before you formally introduce yourselves to me. First, my name is Urashima Keitaro. I am the new owner of the Hinata and all of its surrounding property save only the Tea Shoppe. Second, until I have a full handle on the living situation here, I will be staying at a camp that I have set up outside in the back until the end of the summer. Third, I will be making big improvements and modernizing this place, because frankly, it really needs it. For sure, I will be replacing the old fuse box with a new more modern breaker box in a few days before we have a fire in here. Also, if I am working in the onsen or anywhere else on the property, be extremely careful because this place needs a lot of cleaning too. I mean to restore the Hinata to its former glory. Lastly, and until further notice, the office will be wherever I am. Usually, I work very long hours and it is my wish not to wake anyone after they have gone to bed. If you need me, just want to talk or you want to help me out here, I am going to set up a radio system and post my cell number. Oh yes, and there is one more thing (a pause), I am converting the old storage cellar into workshops. I'll be using them mostly during the day, so if you want to see me, need something fixed or want something made, come see me there."
Finished as abruptly as he had started, Keitaro sat down between Kitsune and Motoko.
Kaolla's eyes lit up when he had mentioned the word, workshops.
All three smiled at him.
"Kei-kun, why are you being so modest?" asked Haruka teasingly, "Mina, this man before you has just recently received his Master's Degree in Engineering from Tokyo University after he had graduated at the top of his class with dual degrees. I had to call your Tou-san to find out what you have been doing since you weren't forthcoming with me."
"WHAT?"
End of Chapter