'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.
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 a barely conscious voice from the top bunk.
Having not heard an alarm clock go off, she naturally assumed that their bunkmate was still asleep down below.
"Kitsune, come on," the voice 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 was the bane of college students 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 today.
-Meanwhile-
On a tram headed to the business district of downtown Tokyo, was one Konno Mitsune aka Kitsune. About to turn twenty tomorrow on August 31st, she was 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, her boss paid Kitsune extra. The latter came in handy along with the treats she took home on a regular basis after closing time.
When she left her dorm room that morning, Kitsune had her backpack slung over one shoulder. Just like most of today's modern college students, it had her life inside. In it was her wallet, a new laptop, smart phone, the syllabus for the upcoming semester and a new agreement from the Tokyo Shimbun. So, she was not hurting financially. She could quit the bakery, but she was having too much fun working there. (Writer's note: Shimbun- newspaper)
Her editor had texted and said the columns she wrote had become very popular with young people her age. They want her to write more about the happy times and problems that University women were going through these days to get ahead. Kitsune was very familiar with that 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,' Kitsune thought as she came to her stop and hopped off the tram.
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 seemed that everyone in Japan had a sweet tooth and apparently wished to satisfy it there.
"Ohayō, mina. Ohayō Urashima-san," said Kitsune breathlessly as she came in the front door and stepped behind the counter. (Writer's note: Ohayō- Good morning (informal)) It was her first day back to 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 nearby shelf. She perused the latest schedule that her boss had posted on the pegboard and saw that she was the acting manager after the owner, Urashima Kenichi left for the day.
Nodding at the schedule, Kitsune smiled and moved on.
Next, she stepped over to where a thermos of tea and one of coffee sat, it was on large table along a platter of 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 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 had other places to go. It helped that he had a well-trained 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 she ate 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. That was the usual scenario around here, so it was 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 while 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 that tomorrow is your birthday."
The normal cacophony and kerfuffle of store activity just about muffled his words.
"Oh yeah, also check the schedule if you haven't yet," added her boss, "You are 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.
"Taken care of, Urashima-san," said Kitsune who happily acknowledged her boss.
Then it was right back at it.
-In a quiet ward of Tokyo-
At the behest of her mother, Urashima Kanako went upstairs to wake her older brother up for breakfast. Knowing that might 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 tickling 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 were masters of their families' style of fighting and self-defense.
However, Kanako also possessed a special talent that no one else in her family had yet mastered. With precision and using her keen intellect, she could instantly deaden any nerve in the human body, even ones that you did not think existed. Her other talent was being gifted with an amazing eidetic memory.
The two have also incorporated many other disciplines into what they have now. Keitaro believed that MMA or UFC were not paths that people should follow, as he was very much of a traditionalist fighter.
This brother and sister were also very protective of one other.
"Do you still want me to do a new portrait of you today, Kana-chan?" asked Keitaro smiling up at her.
As he asked that question, Kanako got up and moved over to the end of the bed to give him some room to swing his legs off the mattress.
"I would like that very much, Onii-chan," said Kanako with a bright smile, "You promised me that you would do one just before school started up again." She knew that when her brother made a promise, he always kept it.
She giggled when he stood up and stretched, and knew that he had a late night out with his friends since he still smelled like beer.
Keitaro put 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 was the glue that held this family together as her three charges went at it all hours. When Kasumi married into the Urashima family, she did so with her eyes wide open, and was very well aware of what was possible with them.
"Yes, Kaa-san. He is taking a shower," answered Kanako as she came down the stairs and sat 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 would not let her pose topless for me at the bar."
"Kei-kun! Onii-chan!" said the two women who giggled at the news. Both knew of 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."
Hungry, Keitaro downed some of his mother's strong hot coffee to clear out any of the remaining cobwebs. He was happy that his mother was a great cook.
He knew that his father was long gone, because on this day of the week he usually worked at his main shop in Tokyo's downtown business district.No one in the family would see him until suppertime.
As she started in on her breakfast, Kanako was a little more genteel than her brother as she ate.
However, Keitaro being a college student and always on the go, he had developed a bad habit of scarfing down his food while barely tasting it.
Smiling, his mother understood that about her son very well and watched as 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 had already made them the subject of a few of his paintings. Nevertheless, the brother and sister smiled at each other while they held hands.
There were many other couples in the park: some read together on blankets, some texted their friends, a few were somewhat more 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. That was why Keitaro watched out for her very closely.
Besides holding Kanako's hand, Keitaro had a new sketchpad and his favorite drawing kit with him. 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 cared about everything that happened 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 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 was thanking him for giving her lots of moral support when she had 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 resuming in a couple of days.
"Thank you, Onii-chan," was all Kanako said while she turned her head and blushed. To Kanako, he always seemed to compliment her for just about everything that she did.
In his eyes, Kanako could do no wrong as she did not mind him praising her either, because the girl practically worshipped him.
Deep down inside though, they both realized that the other had flaws and were not perfect, although neither of them would ever admit that.
-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 that time.
Having set the bags of goodies from her boss on the floor for a moment, Kitsune closed the door behind her. After changing 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 and watched as she emptied the contents from the bags.
"We have treats of all kinds, plus those meats buns that 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 was 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 after your nabe 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 was more so after her boss had clocked out.
The product that they made today just flew out the front door boggled her mind with how popular Urashima's had become. The bakers and candy-makers everyday had 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 got the place to look immaculate for the next morning, they all knew that Urashima-san or one of his senior bakers would be back in at 4am 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 have always been 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 at the present moment. 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 was not fair," said Kanako who whined a little as she and Keitaro walked home together from a local Dojo.
They were both hungry and very much looked forward to dinner.
In addition, their father was probably home and had brought some treats for them to enjoy.
They quickened their pace.
"What are you complaining about, Kana-chan?" asked Keitaro laughing a little, "If you do not finish a move properly, I will take advantage of it and you know what the results will be, right?" He had embarrassed her in front of their students because she got a little ahead of herself and left an opening for his counter.
For the most part, Kanako was better than him when it came academics and studying. The family martial arts were still one of the very few of things that he was actually better at than her at. But she gets her shots in.
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.
As previously stated, Kanako did have one important skill where she surpassed her brother, her father or their cousin Haruka; you see, she could deaden a person's nerves with very little effort by merely jabbing certain pressure points. Since she was little, Kanako had left bullies and perverts numb, or even crippled in her wake. Especially when they believed that she was just some random vulnerable young girl. Then, they found themselves not able to move after she had gone 'totally ballistic' on them.
That said, Kanako was catching up to him rather quickly, and Keitaro was very aware that she would surpass him in the near future. As an older brother, he was very proud of his younger sister.
"Okaeri nasai," said their mother as she was outside retrieving the post.
"Tadaima, Kaa-san," said the two before they entered the 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 them, Kasumi woke her husband and roused him from a nap in front of the TV.
The two siblings went upstairs and did as she had requested.
-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 liked 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.
Smiling at her older brother, Kanako remembered why she thought so highly of him.
"Good save, son," said Kenichi under his breath before he slurped down his miso.
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 were 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 his 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 off the cuff asked, "I wonder who's talking about me?"
-End of Chapter-