Disclaimer: Love Hina is the property of the guys and girls of TV Tokyo, and the creation of Ken Akamatsu. This includes all characters that appear in Love Hina.
Cherish Hina is MY property. Takeshi Urashima, Hiroko Urashima, Yumiko Nakamura, Kasumi Mitsumaru and Mizuki Kanashiro are MY characters. Please e-mail me at one_man_cult@hotmail.com if you want to use them, or if you want to post this story on your site.
This is episode 5 of a 13 part series. Reviews and constructive feedback are welcome. The more help and reviews I get, the faster I can finish an episode. No flames accepted. I mean, no-one's FORCING you to read this.
Warning: This piece of fanfiction contains heaps and heaps of original characters. To all those who hate original characters (I really hate self-inserts), go break your butt on my foot. This also contains quite a few indirect spoilers for the manga series.
Extra, EXTRA special thanks to:
-e2
-beege
My editors. For actually taking the time to read this thing, thank you. God knows I don't.
Journal entry: Wednesday, January 15th
Life is starting to get hectic again. The tutorial classes Yumiko, Kasumi and I have been taking are now in full swing, since their final exams are not too far away. The work isn't particularly hard, but there's a lot of it, so it takes up quite a bit of time. Mum's making me do it all, of course. You know how she is with stuff like this. Apart from that I've also been fixing up the inn. Mizuki's recently found a new hobby and is using the hallway as a bowling alley. I've been trying to patch up all the holes ever since. It hasn't helped that little sister has decided to play as well. Iwako joins in sometimes, too. Speaking of Iwako, here are the current scores: Iwako 26 – Masaru 23, Iwako 17 – Me 0, Masaru 2 – Me 13.
I've also gotten a job working for Aunt Shinobu, running errands and transporting supplies for her restaurants. Sometimes I fill in as a waiter as well, and the chefs give me cooking lessons in their spare time. The hours aren't that good, and the pay is modest, but on the upside I've met many well-placed friends. Aunt Shinobu also takes care of all my fuel costs as well, which saves me quite a bit. That reminds me. I'm due for work in about an hour.
Now the important bit. I've set up nearly everything I need for Kasumi's birthday present. All I need now is a bit of co-operation from the girls. Everything's already planned out and ready to go. It's going to be BIG.
And here's something just for a bit of fun. I hope Yumiko never, ever sees this. If you're Yumiko, and you're reading my journal (which you shouldn't be doing, I might add), stop reading NOW.
DATA ANALYSIS: ENEMY UNITS
Nakamura Industries unit 'Yumiko'
One of the more modern designs, the Nakamura Industries unit 'Yumiko' appears to have a similar purpose to the Narusegawa Corporation unit 'Naru', and to a lesser extent, the Urashima/Narusegawa built 'Hiroko'. It appears to be a multi purpose battle unit, lacking the higher offensive power of the Aoyama/Kiriten designs but making up for this by having greater adaptability and having similar stealth abilities to the Otohime/Misumaru creations. Whereas the 'Naru' excels at close quarters combat, the 'Yumiko' specialises in ranged attacks, using its long-range weapons to prevent direct confrontation with our Urashima/Narusegawa Corporations 'Takeshi' unit and the Aoyama/Kiriten built 'Masaru' heavy assault unit.
Although such attacks do not seriously damage the older Urashima Corporations unit 'Keitaro', it seems to be reasonably effective against the weaker armoured 'Takeshi'. Confrontation using the 'Masaru' unit should be avoided at all costs; since the 'Yumiko' unit can easily penetrate its weak armour and take advantage of its slow recovery time.
Known armament is listed below:
Glare (long range)
Lecture (medium range)
Pout (long range)
Mean Comment (medium range)
Punch (short range)
Special weapon: Eye Beam. The 'Yumiko' unit gathers a large amount of ki and fires it through its eyes, hitting a target at long range for high damage. The internal workings of this weapon are unknown; however a substantial amount of anger is needed before it operates. The unit's eyes temporary glow red before this weapon is fired.
CHERISH HINA
Episode 5: Yumiko's date. ANGER!
Takeshi closed his journal and put it back on the shelf. It was time for him to get to work. There were lots of stops tonight, and it was important that he made each of them on time.
For Takeshi, work usually started at 8:00am. On market days like today however, he had to leave the house at an ungodly 6:00am. He would work picking up and delivering supplies until lunchtime. Sometimes he didn't work afternoons when he had tutorial classes, but he made up for that by working until about 10:00pm, helping out as a waiter and also in the kitchens. He did this four days a week leaving Monday and the weekend free for other pursuits.
"You drive too fast, Takeshi-kun." Shinobu Maehara, his boss and a valued family friend was accompanying him on his errands today.
"Oh, do I?"
"Yes you do, but at least you don't randomly crash into large objects. Who taught you to drive, anyway? Did Keitaro-san teach you?" Takeshi noticed that his passenger was holding onto the armrest rather tightly.
"No. Some of his old students from the hills taught me."
Shinobu shrieked as Takeshi threw the car around a sharp corner, leaving a cloud of sooty smoke in their wake.
"The hills? As in up in the mountains? I think I've met them before. You really shouldn't learn from road racers, Takeshi-kun."
"Oh."
Takeshi stopped his car in front of the central Tokyo restaurant. Being the first of Aunt Shinobu's restaurants, this was by far the largest one. The top floor of the restaurant was set up with soft lighting and small tables for more romantic meals. 'Aunt Shinobu was always a diehard romantic,' thought Takeshi. Personally, he liked that floor because all the couples that ate up there were generous tippers. Takeshi tied his bandana on to keep the hair out of his face, opened the boot, and lifted out the large box containing bread he had picked up earlier at the bakery.
"By the way, Takeshi–kun, would you mind working a bit late on Friday? My husband and I have our anniversary on Friday and…well I'm sure he has something planned. If he forgets…" Shinobu greeted her various employees along the way to the kitchen.
"Friday night? I can do that. I guess I'll just sleep in a bit on Saturday."
"Thanks. If there's one thing I've learned after all these years, it's to never be understaffed on a Friday night. I'll be sure to pay you overtime."
"That's fair. I'll take care of everything."
***************************************
"I'm home." Takeshi looked around and found everyone hiding behind various pieces of furniture or behind walls. He quietly approached the nearest person and crouched down beside them. "What are we doing?" he whispered.
"Shhh. There's some juicy stuff going on between Yumiko-chan and some guy on the phone," answered Kitsune in a harsh whisper.
"So are we spying?"
"Of course not, of course not! We were just passing by and happened to 'accidentally' overhear some of the conversation, that's all."
"All of us?" asked Takeshi. He looked around the room. Kasumi crouched behind the counter. Hiroko and Mizuki hid behind a sofa with a disinterested Iwako beside them. His parents stood in the hallway, backs towards the wall. "Just because you don't have a man, Aunt Kitsune, doesn't mean that you should live your life through someone else." Takeshi felt a pair of hands around his throat.
"That's none of your business," replied Kitsune with a vein popping up on her forehead.
"Need…air!"
"Okay then. I'll see you on Friday night. Uh-huh. Bye!" said Yumiko, hanging up the phone. "You can come out now."
Kasumi slowly emerged from behind the counter. "Who was that?"
"I'm not going to tell you."
"Ara, aren't you?"
"No."
Sensing that they weren't going to get any more information, the others decided that it was time to leave.
"Hiroko-chan, Mizuki-chan, Iwako-chan? You girls are spying on me too?"
"We weren't spying! It was… um… research. Yeah, that's it. Research. Because… because you're a role model to us. That's sounds right. Bye!" The three girls beat a hasty retreat out of the room.
"Keitaro-san, Naru-san. You too?" Keitaro and Naru stopped mid-step being caught trying to sneak away.
"Um… haha. Don't mind us, we're just passing through." answered Naru as she and her husband continued tiptoeing away.
"Ooooh, someone's got a new boy~friend," stated Kitsune in a singsong voice.
"It's not like that! He's just the son of my parents' friends! You were spying on me as well, weren't you?!" shouted Yumiko, now very agitated. Kitsune with her years of experience in such matters realized what was about to happen. Grabbing Takeshi by the collar, she pulled him to his feet.
"Hehe, human shield!" said Kitsune.
"Wha…" started Takeshi before two red beams arched from Yumiko's eyes directly at him. "Wah!!"
"Hahaha! Quick, drop and roll!" Kitsune let go of the flaming Takeshi and watched him squirming on the floor.
"Hmph!" Yumiko turned around and stormed out.
Takeshi still lay on the floor with his clothes still smoldering slightly. Kitsune knelt beside him, still laughing a bit.
"Sorry about that, kid, but I gotta think of myself first."
"Fire, hot." Takeshi tried to push himself upright before collapsing back down.
**************************************
The three older students sat around a large table in Takeshi's room, studying for a minor test they had on Thursday. They worked diligently at their revision, with various notes and books scattered on the table and surrounding area. After all, today was already Wednesday.
"I feel like some tea." Takeshi slowly rose up to his feet. "Does anybody else want some?"
"I'll have some please," answered Kasumi, her nose still in a book.
"I wouldn't mind some," said Yumiko.
"Okay." Takeshi walked over to his water boiler and opened up a cupboard beside it. "I've got shou mei, oolong, pu li, tikuanyin, jasmine, luk on, traditional green, chrysanthemum…"
"You've got a serious obsession with tea. Are you an old lady or something?" asked Yumiko.
"No! I like tea. There's nothing wrong with that."
"Of course not, Ta-kun," said Kasumi, supporting her friend and giving Yumiko a firm look. "Just choose one."
Takeshi picked up a canister, before changing his mind and choosing another one. Taking out an earthenware tea set, he put some of the tea leaves into the teapot and filled it with hot water before putting it along with some cups and saucers on a tray. He had splurged out about 7000 yen of his salary for this tea set, but it was worth it. The set was hand crafted and came with a matching tray. It seemed almost a waste to use it. He placed the tray on the table.
"Are we supposed to help ourselves?" asked Yumiko.
"Of- of course not, but the tea's not quite done yet." Takeshi chuckled quietly at himself. "To tell the truth, I really should be using a separate teapot with each tea, but I couldn't afford it," he admitted sheepishly.
"If that's not an obsession, I don't know what is."
"I guess you were right."
Yumiko gave Takeshi a look that said 'Well, of course I was right'.
"Ara, I think I'm done for today. I'm going to go to sleep."
"I'm just going to finish off this chapter, and then I'm stopping. Cramming doesn't help me a single bit." Takeshi yawned a little before turning the next page.
"I've only got a bit to go too, so I'm staying," said Yumiko.
"Okie-dokie." Kasumi yawned and headed towards Takeshi's bed.
"Hey, where are you going?" asked Takeshi.
"To bed," answered Kasumi, stifling another yawn.
"That's MY bed."
"I know," answered Kasumi, climbing in. "But it's softer and warmer and it's closer than mine."
Takeshi slapped his forehead with his hand, causing an echo through his room.
Yumiko was a bit surprised that Kasumi had the audacity to go and sleep in Takeshi's bed. Kasumi was always like this and she guessed Takeshi was used to her behavior after all the time they've known each other. Yumiko looked across at her studying partner. After two months living with him, she had learned a lot about him. At first, she had found him annoying and dull. After a while however, she had found him easy to get along with. He simply went along with whatever situation came across him. This was great for someone like her who tended to be a bit… bossy- not that Takeshi was a pushover. He just had a near infinite patience. Thinking back over the last several months, she had noticed him get annoyed at things, but she had never seen him get angry.
Yumiko glanced again at Takeshi. 'He's spacing out again.' Takeshi would get this look whenever he was doing something tedious like studying for long hours. Yumiko knew that he was still paying attention to what was going on around him. Takeshi could study for hours while spacing out, but he still got high marks and could even recall the conversations during those times. 'I wish I could space out like that. It seems like it save a lot of energy. Maybe I should follow Kasumi's example and go to bed.' Yumiko looked up again only to find herself looking straight into Takeshi's eyes. She found herself blushing slightly at being caught sneaking a peek.
"You look tired," said Takeshi. "You should go to bed. You've got school tomorrow."
Yumiko nodded in agreement. She placed the stepladder under the trapdoor and climbed up.
"Well, good night. I've got to go and kick Goldilocks out of my bed."
"Good night."
**************************************
Takeshi was outside on the driveway, with his pants legs rolled up and sandals on his feet. In his hands were a bucket of soapy water and a sponge. Before him stood his eighteenth birthday present, which was currently covered with inner-city grime.
"Let's get to work," he said to himself.
This was one of Takeshi's free afternoons; he had just returned from his tutorial class. The test hadn't fazed him too much. 'Except question six. That one was really dodgy.' Takeshi preferred to do some manual labor to keep his mind off things. He started washing the fender of his car. His parents had given it to him this car for his birthday about a week ago. A Toyota Trueno AE86 built during the mid 1980's. It had been made popular by a manga and an anime series called 'Initial D' before the turn of the century, which was probably the reason why his Aunt Kaolla got one. 'That must have been the reason,' thought Takeshi. It had been painted with the same black and white panda colour scheme, and on the driver's side door there was a large label that read 'Hinata Sou - Self Use'. Not many people remembered Initial D any more, with the exception of anime aficionados. The Eight-six (as it was affectionately known as) still turned heads on the streets as a forty year old classic car, though, because it didn't have all those driver assisting whiz-bang gizmos that were standard equipment of today's cars. 'All those gadgets even make my parents safe drivers,' thought Takeshi with a smirk. But driving such an old car had it's own problems. It hadn't been used for ages, and the body was showing signs of rust, which he had fixed himself. It tended to be a bit temperamental when he tried to start the engine, especially on cold mornings. On top of that there were buttons in the car labelled with things such as 'rocket boost', 'missile launcher' and 'self destruct'. Takeshi didn't dare touch those.
Takeshi finished scrubbing the wheels and got into the car to drive it into the garage. It was actually more like a hangar, located underneath the inn itself. Inside were lots of various bits and pieces, and weird turtle robots with Mecha-Tamago written on the side of them. He reversed the car back to the spot it had been sitting for fifteen odd years, switched off the engine and shut the door, giving the windscreen a final wipe before leaving.
***************************************
"Are you ready to order, Yumiko-chan?"
Yumiko really didn't appreciate her date for the evening, Hyousuke, calling her that. They weren't really that close. In fact, she didn't consider them any more than acquaintances. They had first met when their fathers had played golf together for a business meeting a few years back, and they occasionally bumped into each other at school. Their parents thought that the two of them could spend some time together since they attend the same school, probably with some corporate takeover scheme in their minds.
"Yumiko-chan?"
Yumiko's eyebrows knitted slightly. "Sure."
"Hey, waiter!" Hyousuke shouted. "We'd like to order now!"
The waiter walked over to their table. "Of course sir. What will you be having tonight?"
Yumiko looked up from her menu at the waiter. 'Takeshi?! What was he doing here? I didn't know he worked here!' In her surprise, she accidentally bumped her glass sending water spilling all over his apron.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!"
"That's alright, miss. I'm quite used to it by now," replied Takeshi. Yumiko could've sworn that he had given her a wink. He wiped the water off with a tea towel.
"I'm sorry," repeated Yumiko.
"We'll both be having the lamb roast," said Hyousuke.
"Was that the lamb roast?" Takeshi put the towel away and wrote the order on his pad. "Is there anything else?"
"I would've told you if there was."
"Of course."
Yumiko shot her date a sullen look. He seemed to notice it, but she couldn't tell what he was thinking. After a minute, he finally spoke up. "Hey, don't worry your pretty little head. It's not your fault you spilt the water on that guy. That poor guy working the night shift like this - this is probably the best he can do. After a minute, he finally spoke up. "Hey, don't worry your pretty little head. It's not your fault you spilt the water on that guy. That poor guy working the night shift like this - this is probably the best he can do. "
Yumiko didn't particularly appreciate Hyousuke's attitude.
The date continued without further incident, with Hyousuke talking continuously about himself. Yumiko played around with her dinner. She would have liked to say something, but her parents had taught her that it was rude to interrupt. Yumiko grimaced and cleared her throat, hoping her dinner companion would take notice. Hyousuke continued to gab on about some practical joke he pulled when he was younger.
"… So I rang her up and told her she won the lottery," he continued," and she came running out the door, straight into the flypaper. It was hilarious!"
"I'm sure it was," Yumiko simply rolled her eyes. 'This is a new technique,' she thought. 'Trying to get into a girls pants by boring them off her. I don't really see why all those other girls flock around him, though. Probably for the money.' Her stomach rumbled slightly. She had barely touched her dinner. It wasn't turning out to be a good night.
"I don't feel like dessert, so let leave now," suggested Hyousuke.
Torn between being stuck with Hyousuke for another hour or leaving early, she decided that leaving was indeed a good idea.
"Okay, lets go," she replied.
***************************************
Yumiko and Hyousuke were riding inside his limousine, heading back towards Hinata Sou. It hadn't been much fun at all for Yumiko, who was still hungry from her lack of any real dinner. Her date for the evening didn't seem to notice that she didn't eat much that evening. He was much too busy talking about himself. 'I can't believe my parents told me to go out with this guy,' thought Yumiko. 'He's so annoying, and on top of that, he's such a stereotypical bad date. How boring.'
"This is it, isn't it Yumiko-chan? Your home?"
"Yes, this is it. Just stop in front of the stairs," she replied, indicating to the driver where they should park. The limousine rolled to a stop.
"Well, bye," said Yumiko, opening the door.
"Wait, aren't you going to kiss me goodnight?"
"WHAT?! After all you did tonight, you think you deserve a kiss?! GET REAL!" she yelled, slamming the door and storming up the stairs.
"I thought I deserved one," Hyousuke said to himself. "Ah, well."
Yumiko stepped into the inn and took her shoes off. Too hungry for bed, but too tired to cook, she curled up on the couch and drifted off to sleep.
***************************************
Takeshi tiptoed through the foyer, stepping over the turtle that was resting on the floor. He suspected that everybody else would be asleep as well, since it was fairly late at night. Takeshi had lost track of time, and he was too tired from the day's work to bother about finding out. He continued into the kitchen holding a shopping bag, which held some leftover food from the restaurant. It seemed a waste to Takeshi to let such good food go to waste. If he hadn't taken the food from the fridge it would've been thrown out. Walking over to the microwave oven, he placed the fried noodles in and set the timer, walking back to the lounge room when the familiar hum of the device started. Takeshi stiffed a yawn and sat down on the couch.
"Eeeek!"
"Eh?" Takeshi looked down at where he was sitting. On the right hand side of the couch laid a rather shapely pair of legs, and on the left was a torso and a head, with two angry eyes staring back at him. "Sorry!"
"Get off me, idiot," said Yumiko while pushing Takeshi off her lap. She stood up and glared at him while he climbed back on the couch, rubbing where his backside had impacted with the floor.
"Ouch," he said before turning to Yumiko. "Don't yell. You'll wake the others."
Yumiko sat beside him on the couch. She smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress before starting. "Look, I'm sorry about spilling water on you from before, but I'm not apologising for pushing you off me."
"Don't worry about the water thing. It's part of the job."
A moment of silence passed by before either of them started talking. "I didn't know you worked there."
"I just started last week. I thought I already told everyone."
"I mustn't have been paying attention."
The beeping of the microwave interrupted the conversation.
"Oh, supper's ready," declared Takeshi. "Excuse me for a moment." He hurried off to the kitchen to fetch his meal. He came back a moment later with a steaming box full of yakisoba. "Mmm, smells nice."
Yumiko's stomach rumbled as her nostrils filled with the scent of stir-fried noodles. "That looks nice," she said.
"It is," replied Takeshi. "Have some. I know you're hungry."
"You must be psychic."
"Huh? Why do you say that?"
"You always seem to know stuff like that."
"It doesn't take a genius to figure out that when someone's drooling at the mouth and a has growling stomach that they're hungry."
"Mmmph," was all Yumiko could get out with a full mouth.
Takeshi watched on as Yumiko scoffed down the noodles in a most unladylike way. "If you're really that hungry you can have the rest."
"Thanks," Yumiko attempted to say, but it came out all muffled. She gave him an appreciative look instead.
"Uh, you're welcome." His reply sounded more like a question than an acknowledgement. Takeshi hoped that he didn't misinterpret the look she gave him.
"It was a pretty bad date," said Yumiko after she had finished her meal.
"Was it?"
"Well, it went as well as most first dates go."
"Oh."
"What do you mean, 'oh'?"
"Well, I don't exactly know how first dates go because I... umm... I haven't been on a date before," answered Takeshi sheepishly.
"Oh, I didn't know."
"That's alright," said Takeshi, shrugging.
"So, you want to hear about how it went?"
"Umm..."
"I'm going to tell you anyway, so I won't have anybody asking me how it went tomorrow."
"Do I look like a gossip to you?"
"Guess you don't, but I'll tell you anyway. Think of it as repayment for supper."
Takeshi sighed. "It doesn't sound like I have a choice."
"You already know where we went..." said Yumiko, thinking. "His name is Hyousuke and my parents suggested that I go out with him because they're business associates with his parents. Or something like that. I don't pay much attention to my parents' business. It's not like I like him," explained Yumiko. "The guy's a bit of an ass. It's strictly social." For some reason Yumiko felt the need to explain to Takeshi that she wasn't really going out with Hyousuke.
"That's a bit harsh isn't it? He didn't seem that bad a guy," Takeshi said quietly.
"Oh, you have no idea how bad it was. First of all…" Yumiko's mobile phone started buzzing from the vibrate alert. "Excuse me for a second." Flipping it open, she answered her phone. "Hello?"
Takeshi couldn't hear what was being said, but he was pretty sure the person on the other line was a woman.
"Oh mother, it's you." Yumiko relaxed back onto the sofa, and rolled her eyes. Takeshi attempted to stifle a chuckle. More talking was heard.
"It wasn't that good to be honest."
Yumiko's mother said something else that Takeshi couldn't quite hear.
"You did what?! Mother, how could you?!" Yumiko hissed. Takeshi could hear Yumiko's mother trying to make a rather hasty explanation.
"Fine, but this wasn't by choice, okay. Bye mother." Yumiko turned off her phone rather violently. She turned to Takeshi to explain what had just happened. "My mother," she fumed, "just promised to Hyousuke's parents that I would go to the school formal with him."
"That's bad… right?"
"Yes, it's bad! I have to put up with him for another night! And I don't get to choose my own date!"
"Did you already have someone in mind to go with?" asked Takeshi.
"Well, no, but that's not the point!"
Takeshi checked the time on the wall clock. "Umm, we have tutorial school tomorrow, so why don't you go take a bath and relax a bit. It won't do you any good fuming about it all night." Takeshi stood up and headed off to his room.
"Takeshi?"
Takeshi turned around to reply. "Hmm?"
"Thanks."
"For what?"
"Just… thanks." Yumiko gave him a shy smile, which Takeshi returned.
"Well… goodnight, then."
