A Child's Story

by Ucchan1

In the future, a story about the past is told. Lots of Mysterious elements, though I made it all fit together at the end. Should begin to seem familiar near the end, too. A lot of this has to do with the characters of Love Hina as children. Lots of angst

~A CHILD'S STORY~

Ucchan

A Love Hina Fanfiction

Disclaimer: I do not own Love Hina, I DO however, own this fanfic. I am not making money off of this, so don't sue. Not mine, no money, don't sue!

"Obaa-san!" I heard a young voice ring out, "OBAA-SAN!!! Oh, Obaa-san, there you are! Hey, guys, she's over here!"

I sat peacefully in the cherry wood rocking chair, smiling to myself, as my three young grandchildren came running down the dusty halls of Hinataga Inn to my room where I rocked by the windowsill. They would come to stay every once in a while when their parents brought them to see their old 'Obaa-san' of a grandmother. It always cheered me to see their happy faces.

"Obaa-san!" young Nachan called as she stumbled into the antiquitated room after her two older siblings. Nachan's first word had been 'Obaa-san' and that had always made me so happy to hear her call me that. She was just barely walking, and so she had on small loose shorts and a tiny T-shirt, with her short hair cut to just passed her ears. The young toddler wobbled up to me and I lifted her into my lap as her older siblings stood impatiently waiting for her. I smiled.

"Oy, Nachan, you always take so long!" her older brother, Kei-kun, complained in his young 6-year-old voice. He tapped his shoeless foot and crossed his arms across his chest, which was covered by a Liddo-kun T-shirt and overalls. He scratched the back of his head and I ruffled his dark hair, "Hey, Obaa-san! That tickles!" He laughed.

"Excuse me, Obaa-san?" the eldest girl, Mutsu-ko, tugged my sleeve, asking for my attention politely. She wore a light pink sundress and had her hair in pigtails, as was suited for a girl of 8 years.

"Yes, what is it, Mutsu-ko dear?" I asked her.

My three young grandchildren smiled up at me and replied, "Can you tell us a story, PLEASE!?!?!?" They begged eagerly.

I laughed, covering my mouth with my palm, "Well, I don't see why not…"

"YAY!" The two older children cheered as Nachan clapped to herself in my lap. Kei-kun and Mutsu-ko sat down on the rug in front of my rocker.

I smiled with some mischief, "Well, let's see, I wonder what kind of story I should tell you THIS time…?" The three children were on the edge of their seats, "Okay, there was once these three young children, who were all very good friends…"

"What were their names?" Kei-kun asked excitedly, almost bouncing through the floorboards.

"Hmm… their names were… Nachan… Kei-kun… and Mutsu-ko…" I said, tapping Nachan's nose with the tip of my finger lightly.

"Yay!" Kei-kun smiled, and Nachan giggled and swiped at my finger playfully.

I smiled and was about to tell them the story of how the three friends went off to save the princess from the evil dragon king with the help of the white magic witch, but then stopped myself, remembering another, more interesting story of three young children. I smiled as my grandchildren looked up at me with cute enthusiasm.

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"Aunt Haruka? OHAYO!" a small boy of about 5 years waved a 'good morning' to his aunt as he surveyed his surroundings while still holding his mother's hand.

"Please, call me 'Haruka-san', okay, Keitaro-kun?" Haruka asked sweetly to her young nephew.

"Are you sure it's okay, sis?" Keitaro's mother asked Haruka.

Haruka sat down in a nearby chair, she wore a violet blouse and a form-fitting skirt, with pantyhose and black slippers. The black-haired woman took a puff of her cigarette and waved her hand to dismiss her sister's uncertainty, "Oh, don't worry, Keitaro's no trouble, as it is, our half-cousin's step-daughter is already here, she's been staying with us for quite some time. Hinatasou is a rather large place, we have plenty of room for the both of them. Little Mutsumi has been playing with the children at the nearby park and we've barely had any trouble at all."

Keitaro's mother smiled, sighing with relief for a bit, "Our half-cousin's step-daughter? I haven't heard from our half-cousin in a long while…"

Haruka smiled, winking at her sister, "Don't you and the mister have a train to catch?"

Keitaro's mother blushed, "Oh, you're right," she turned to her son, "Keitaro, Mama-san and Papa-san have to go for a while, you be good for Aunt Haruka, okay?"

"It's 'Haruka-san,' okay?" Haruka interjected.

The 5-year-old, short-brown-haired boy smiled up at his mother, "O-KAY! Bai bai, Mama-san!"

"Bai bai, Kei-kun," his mother stood up and waved to him as she hurried off.

As soon as she left, little Keitaro leaped into Haruka's lap with a thud, nearly knocking the wind out her, "OKAY! So, Aunt Haruka, now what?"

Haruka winced, but calmly told the young boy, "It's 'Haruka-san,' please call me that," she corrected.

Keitaro nodded, "Okay, so what are we going to do? Festivals? Amusement parks? The beach?"

Haruka raised her eyebrows, "All that? How long do you think you're going to be here?"

Keitaro looked confused, then began to eyeball his chubby fingers as if trying to count, "Umm…" he held up three fingers, "Twenty-five months!"

Haruka sweat dropped, sighing, "No, not quite…" she lowered his hands, "But, I'll tell you what we can do today…"

Keitaro's eyes beamed, "What?!?!" he asked excitedly.

His aunt winked, "How about the park?"

"YAY!" He yipped, pulling on a stripped T-shirt over his thin white shirt, "READY!"

Haruka couldn't help but smile, "So soon? Okay… We'll probably see Mutsumi-chan down on the park."

"Mutsumi-chan?" The little boy asked.

"Yes, she's a girl who's been staying with us for a while, she's kind of like a close friend of the family's daughter," Haruka explained.

Keitaro looked confused and blinked his big brown eyes cutely.

"Nevermind, let's go see her, ne?" His aunt offered.

"YAY!" He skipped out the front door and Haruka had to speed up a bit to catch him and hold his small hand as they walked down the stairs toward the park.

When they arrived, it was impossible to miss the wide-eyed smile that Keitaro wore as he took in the large (to him) park. There was a combination slide and monkey bars main piece to the playground. To the left was a swing set with hard plastic swings that hung from chains that were suspended from a cherry wood frame. In the front, closest to Keitaro, there was a large sandbox with little plastic shovels plunged into the ground with buckets nearby. A small grassy field surrounded all of it with a few trees scattered sparsely about.

Haruka let go of her nephew's hand and sat down on a nearby bench with another woman and began to chat with her. Keitaro, however, was so excited he bounded into the playground and darted straight for the swings. Laughing, he jumped into the nearest swing and flung himself about as he swung happily. Keitaro enjoyed the breeze so much that he didn't realize it when someone walked abruptly into his path and he nearly knocked her over.

"Eeeek!" The girl let out a small shout and tripped, narrowly missing being knocked by Keitaro's wild swinging.

Keitaro blinked, hearing the shout, he dug his heels into the dirt and stopped himself, "Hello?"

The little girl, who appeared to be about 6, wore a red and white-striped, long-sleeved shirt and a short skirt that flayed out. She had short dark brown hair and matching eyes. She stood up and looked at him, she stood slightly taller than him, "Hello… you almost knocked me with your swinging! You should be more careful!"

"I did?" Keitaro looked confused, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it…"

The girl looked at him quizzically, "Hmm… Okay, since you apologized. Hey! Do you want to come play with me and my friend?" The girl indicated the sandbox.

The young boy's eyes lit up, "OKAY!"

The two turned to go towards the sandbox, but the girl stopped, "Oh, by the way, what's your name?"

"My name? I'm Urashima Keitaro!" he stated proudly.

"Keitaro…? Okay, Kei-kun, my name is Otohime Mutsumi, but you can call me Mutsu-ko," she told him politely, bowing.

Keitaro giggled a bit, "Mutsu? Like Mutsu wood?" he tapped his palm upon the wooden slide-monkey bars structure.

"Yes, just like Mutsu wood."

The two entered the sandbox to see a big pile of sand that had been gathered up in the middle. From behind the pile, Keitaro could see a plastic shovel being controlled by a small arm, but the pile was so big, he could see who was piling it.

"Nachan! I brought a friend!" Mutsumi called out to the child behind the pile.

Keitaro and Mutsumi walked about the pile to see a young girl with light auburn hair and wearing a light, kimono-style outfit. The little girl, who looked about 2 or 3 had pretty eyes and smiled at the two newcomers, "Hi!" Nachan called out to them with her cute little baby voice.

Mutsumi went over to her and grabbed Keitaro's arm to get him to follow her, "Nachan, this is Keitaro, or Kei-kun. Can you say 'Kei-kun?'"

The little girl smiled and blinked, as if thinking about it, "K-ke… Kei!"

Mutsumi smiled, "Close enough… Kei-kun, this is Naru… but I called her 'Nachan,' so you can call her that, too, okay?" Keitaro nodded. Mutsumi continued to explain cutely, "You see, I'm trying to help her learn to talk, see, I can understand her, but she talks kinda badly right now… so I'm helping her. Just today, we were talking about Toudai!"

"You were?" asked Keitaro, blinking his large brown eyes.

Mutsumi kind of blushed, "Well, not exactly, I was telling her about 'Toudai' and she was trying to learn some words, well… okay, I was trying to teach her some."

Keitaro smiled, "That sounds good, what's a 'Toudai'? Is it delicious?"

Mutsumi laughed, "No, silly, Toudai is a school, Tokyo University."

Keitaro laughed, "What do you know about a big school?" he asked happily, dismissing it. He turned to Naru, "What are you building there, ne?"

The little girl smiled and pointed at her sand structure, "Toudai!"

Mutsumi laughed, "That was the first word that *I* taught her to say…" Mutsumi brought her small hand to her hair and brushed it behind her ears.

"She must've really liked what you told her about it, then," Keitaro assumed, sidling up to the sand pile and helping Naru to build 'Toudai.'

Mutsumi scooted around the pile a bit and placed her hands on 'Toudai,' patting it with her childlike hands, "I think we should have three holes in our Toudai!"

Naru chanted, "Three holes!" Her voice was cute and succinct.

Keitaro smiled, "Three holes? That sounds like lots of fun! They should all connect, that way, we can see each other and be friends forever!"

Mutsumi blushed, "Friends forever? I've never had a friend forever, except for Liddo-kun."

Keitaro blinked, and peered around the sand tower, "Liddo-kun? Like that really fun anime that comes on TV?"

Mutsumi held up her stuffed animal, which looked like a cross between a yellow cat, squirrel, and a bear. Keitaro recognized it as a 'Liddo-kun' from the popular kids' anime, 'Liddo-kun and friends.'

"Liddo-kun!" Naru chimed in happily, reaching out her arms for the little stuffed animal (even though it was almost the same size as her).

Mutsumi smiled, "Nachan keeps telling me that she wants my Liddo-kun, but he's my best friend, I can't just give him away. It's just like in the show, where the Liddo-kun are being chased by a hungry tiger and the mean Liddo-kun is just about to give Liddo-chan to the beast, but the main Liddo-kun stops him and tells him 'you can't give her away, she's my friend' and then all three of them get eaten by the tiger!"

Keitaro twitched a bit, "Is that how it went?"

Mutsumi nodded, "Hai, I can almost her the theme song playing right now."

Naru laughed, "Liddo-kun! Liddo-kun! Gimme! Liddo-kun!"

Mutsumi sighed, "We have to finish Toudai first, we have to add the three tunnels."

Keitaro frowned, holding a Popsicle that Naru had left on a napkin near him, "But I don't have a shovel, Mutsu-ko…"

"That's okay," Mutsumi giggled at the Popsicle, "Nachan? Could you get Keitaro a shovel?"

Naru smiled and stood up shakily, "Hai, Mutsu!" She toddled slowly over to the shovels while Mutsumi and Keitaro continued patting at 'Toudai.'

"So, Mutsu-ko, what was it that you were telling Nachan about Toudai?" Keitaro asked.

"Well, I told her about what I heard from other people about it," Mutsumi was blushing.

Keitaro didn't understand, "What did you say?"

Mutsumi blushed again, continuing to pat at the sand, "Well, do you know? When two people in love can both get into Toudai, they'll live happily forever…"

Keitaro's eyes widened, "Really?"

Mutsumi blushed and moved over to Keitaro and kissed him on the cheek, blushing even more. Keitaro's face was equally red as he stared as his new-found crush.

Mutsumi smiled as she saw his blush, "When we grow up, let's go to Toudai together…"

Keitaro nodded, "Okay! It's a promise…" he said happily.

Mutsumi blushed, "A promise," she repeated.

"A PROMISE!" Naru repeated happily as she returned with the shovel for Keitaro and took her Popsicle back from him.

Mutsumi and Keitaro blushed. For the rest of the afternoon, the children worked hard and finished their Toudai with its three holes.

Naru's mother, who had been the woman Haruka was chatting with, came over and picked up her little toddler, who bade goodbye to her playmates.

Mutsumi and Keitaro waved back as Haruka walked over to them slowly.

"Aunt HARUKA!" The two called in unison.

"It's Haruka-san!" The woman corrected, a bit more agitated this time. Calming down, she added, "Oh, Keitaro, I see you met Mutsumi-chan…"

"WHAT?!?!" The two looked astonished. Keitaro stuttered, "You mean THIS is THAT Mutsumi…"

Mutsumi seemed equally perplexed, "And he's THAT Keitaro that you told me about!"

Haruka sweat dropped, "You mean the two of you didn't make the connection?"

Mutsumi and Keitaro both placed their hands behind their heads with similar expressions and replied, "I must've forgot you were gonna be here today! Sorry!"

Haruka sighed and face-faulted, "They're not even related and they are so similar!"

"Is it time for dinner, Aunt Haruka?" Mutsumi asked innocently.

"HARUKA-SAN!!!" Haruka 'calmly' corrected, "And the answer is no… Mutsumi-chan, I'm glad you've made good friends with Keitaro, but you'll have to see him some other time, because your parents are here to pick you up to go home to Okinawa…" Haruka paused suddenly when she noticed Keitaro's and Mutsumi's eyes widening and beginning to cry.

"NO!" Mutsumi said suddenly, "I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE KEI-KUN!"

"Oh… no… Mutsumi-chan…," Haruka soothed, "It'll be okay… you'll get to come back and maybe Keitaro'll be here again… don't cry… oh no… Mutsumi-chan… Keitaro-kun…"

Keitaro sniffled, "But I don't want her to go…" Tears poured down his little face, "I ABSOLUTELY DON'T WANT HER TO LEAVE!!" He ran off into the alleyways of the town, back towards Hinatasou.

Haruka frowned, but seeing where he was headed, she took Mutsumi's hand and led her back to Hinatasou where her parents were waiting.

"Mutsumi!" her parents greeted her with a hug, "Oh, what's wrong?" her father asked.

Haruka spied Keitaro, who had gotten there before them, sitting in the shadow of the doorway, hiding behind some tall grass. Haruka supplied Mutsumi's parents with an answer, "She met a friend at the park today and she doesn't want to go off and leave him."

Her father nodded, knowingly, then turned to his little girl, who he scooped up into his arms, "Ah.. so you found yourself a boy and don't want him to chase other girls, eh?"

Mutsumi crossed her arms indignantly, "He's not a boy, he's my Kei-kun! And we're gonna go to Toudai together!"

"Oh… I see, that story you keep telling her about Toudai and student love, dear, she seems bent on it, now," Mutsumi's mother told her husband.

Mutsumi's father laughed and headed for the door, "Well, you know who really needs to get to Toudai for student love, is our own little Haruka-chan… why aren't you getting yourself a boyfriend?" he winked at his half-cousin.

Haruka blushed, "Well… I… A Toudai student? I don't know, I…"

He laughed, "Oh, don't sweat it, 'Aunt Haruka,' you'll find yourself someone someday, just like Mutsumi-chan, ne?"

With that, Mutsumi's family left the Hinatasou, leaving Haruka to think about her half-cousin's words. Outside, however, Keitaro 'stealthily' tailed them down the stone stairway to the van. He watched them climb in, one at a time, last of all Mutsumi.

He called out to her quickly, "Mutsu-ko!"

Mutsumi froze for a second and looked over at him, smiling with tears in her childlike eyes, "Bai bai!" she said sadly as she climbed into the vehicle.

The door closed behind her and the van roared to life as smoke slowly puffed out of the exhaust pipe. Mutsumi poked her head out of the window of the van as it began to drive off. Keitaro saw her and began to follow it, slowly at first, then he had to run on his short legs to keep up with it as it reached open road over the bridge.

Mutsumi yelled out to him, "Kei-kun!!!! BAI BAI!!!"

"No! Don't leave me!" Keitaro yelled back to her, reaching his little arm out to her receding form from the van.

"REMEMBER!" She yelled, her eyes pouring tears, "when we grow up, we'll go to Toudai! Don't forget!"

"Ah--!" Keitaro began to reply, but at last unavoidably, he tripped, her van finally escaped from his sight with only a last fleeting glance at her.

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As I finished the sad tale, my three grandchildren nearly jumped out of their seats, "HEY!! OBAA-SAN!! Then what!?"

I laughed, in spite of the tears that welled up in my eyes, "Well…"

"Come on, Obaa-san! You can't end it there!" Mutsu-ko pleaded.

"Okay… You see, Kei-kun and the others grew up and met each other again when they were adults. Kei-kun was trying to keep his promise to his girl, but unfortunately for him, he couldn't remember her name or face, only the promise. So he, Nachan, and Mutsumi were all trying to get into Toudai. Well, along the way, Kei-kun and Nachan fell in love. And even though many things tried to drive them apart, they had somehow managed to stay in love," I almost cried then and there in front of my grandchildren.

"Then what?" Kei-kun asked intently.

I continued, "So when Mutsumi, who had also forgotten Kei-kun's name and face, when she realized who he was, she told Nachan and Kei-kun that Nachan had been the one to make the promise to Kei-kun. This made Nachan and Kei-kun happy. And with this happiness, all three of them made it into Toudai, where they had promised to be…"

Nachan, my littlest grandchild, smiled up at me, "That was a nice story, but very sad, Mutsumi-obaa-san…"

I, Otohime Mutsumi, felt the tears flow over my cheeks, "I know."

END

A/N: Well… This was my interpretation of how it happened. It makes the most sense after watching the whole Love Hina series. I thought the drama seemed to fit the story. If you didn't like how I played it out, use your own imagination, I just thought this made sense, okay? Um… for those who don't know, Obaa-san means Grandmother, Bai bai means Bye bye, and Toudai means Tokyo University. Although if you didn't know that, you probably have never watched anime or Love Hina… Still, I thought it would be nice to include that. I hope to write more Love Hina fanfiction. Please read and review and tell me what you think I should write next! Till next time, BAI BAI!!!!