Love Hina: After The Story Ends Chapter One
Disclaimer: I do not own Love Hina.
This fic has a rating of R (just in case), which is reserved for possible future language, drug references, and detailed sexual situations.
Enjoy!
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Okay, so not everything goes as planned. Nobody ever said life was easy... that was the phrase. But Kentaro just couldn't seem to convince himself that it was just life that kept him from being happy.
He'd been working for Haruka ever since he'd run his father's expensive prototype vehicle through the Hinata apartment floor in an attempt to impress Naru. Obviously, that hadn't worked out too well, just like most of his other schemes to impress girls. Instead, somehow, Naru had ended up with Keitaro. Of course, before it actually happened he'd given up on Naru. He spent hours, money, his reputation and entrepreneurship on her and she never gave a good god damn... so he did one last thing for her- coaxed Keitaro into going for her. Why, he'd never know.
Not that he hated Keitaro for any reason, he just couldn't understand how even a guy like Urashima could get a girl and he couldn't. He held his only flaw at being possibly overworked for his amount of pay. But a busy work schedule didn't mean he had no time! Maybe it was that he barely had a social life any longer. Nobody other than Haruka paid attention to him except for Shirai and Haitani, and he tried to stay away from their harebrained plans for luring women and living the great life. He was out of high school now, and he had a job, had his own small house, thankfully near Hinata, that his dad had bought him, along with his car, for graduation.
The car. What a beautiful car. It was a Masda- not the most expensive car company around, but it was top-notch; a six cylinder turbo, little two-door red convertible sports car. The stereotypical high school grad's dream car.
But he never drove it any more, except to go buy shopping or something like that. He walked to work, the apartments were only six blocks away and he usually enjoyed the fresh air and mild exercise. It was one of the few times he was content to enjoy what life held for him in the moment; just him, straggling along, kicking a rock or something... nobody around bothering him or ignoring him. It wasn't that life had thrown him any sort of curve ball, and he certainly wasn't going to complain, he was better off than some kids his age... he just felt like there should be something more. Or, at least, that's the way he WANTED to reason it.
This particular morning, ten 'o clock on a Wednesday, was cool but sunny. It was supposed to get much hotter later in the day, however, so he'd dressed in khaki shorts and shirts in two layers which he could take off, if need be.
Technically he'd repaid his debt by now, even done the work re-flooring himself. He'd stayed at an agreement with Haruka and Keitaro- hiring Kentaro on permanently (and paying him a legal salary) left Keitaro more time to manage money and study for his classes at Tokyo U. He couldn't say he wasn't content with it, he rather liked the job. Why he wanted to hang around, he didn't know. He supposed it was a better job than any store, franchise, office or restaurant could offer. At least he liked all the people he worked around. Pretty girls... even if they didn't pay attention to him, all the people at Hinata were good people. Besides, he had nothing else to do with his time. It was a lax equilibrium... he went to work doing Keitaro's old busybody chores, and he got free meals if here were there when dinner was served. He brought home enough money to provide for himself and his home. Modest, possibly quaint, but enough. To live financially, anyways. To really live, however, was a concept which Kentaro knew had an entirely different meaning.
He trotted up the front steps to Hinata, whistling some tune that had been playing on the radio in his kitchen earlier that morning. He hung his windbreaker on the coat rack by the door, and went to the kitchen to get his apron, as was ingrained in his mind. Nobody was around at the moment- everyone except possibly Kitsune or Motoko was out at school, most likely. Even Haruka- Tuesday mornings she went to the supermarket for supplies and groceries. When she got back, he'd put them all away. But for right now, he set to cleaning the kitchen, which hadn't been done since breakfast because most everybody went to school after eating. It wasn't incredibly dirty- even when the resident's eating habits became messy, Shinobu was generally a very clean cook (unless Suu was helping her). He wiped down the counters and table, washing the rest of the dishes and sweeping the floor so he could mop it the next day, and then moved on to cleaning the laundry room. He took the time to fold all the dry clothes in the dryer and move the next load through- he assumed they were Kitsune's clothes since nobody else wore shorts that short.
Sure enough, at about two Haruka marched in with several bags of groceries. She left them by the main door, and marched off to go change into her normal outfit- Kentaro got the feeling she absolutely abhorred wearing real shoes, which he found mildly amusing.
The first bag was fruits and vegetables, and three more bottles of curry seasoning. Now he knew what was for dinner. He took his apron off before leaving the kitchen. It had indeed begun to get hot... since he wasn't scrubbing anything at the moment he didn't need the extra layer.
Walking back out to get another bag, he heard Naru's voice trailing through the main doors, which Haruka had left ajar since the air conditioning system was on the fritz a little and the company crew couldn't make it out for another couple days. Halfway across the room, Naru bounced in the room, her book bag slung over her shoulder, and someone trailing behind her, a new face around Hinata. Kentaro paid no mind, knowing Naru wouldn't stop to think to introduce him, and it didn't matter anyways... if she did, he'd be introduced as the makeshift maid. It was less embarrassing not to bother. They were engaged in some sort of conversation, which sounded more girlish than serious.
The next bag was kitchen supplies.
"Wow, Naru, this is a great place!" Yura exclaimed, sounding a little more bouncy than usual. Her interests were restricted to specific things.
"Well, it isn't the very cheapest place ever, but I wouldn't stay anywhere else." Naru replied, agreeing with Yura's statement. She sighed in relief as she dropped her bag on the floor of her room.
"I wish my parents would let me stay in a dorm. But there's no way! They swear up and down that I'll start doing drugs and sleeping around and doing all the bad, stereotypical 'college kid' stuff. They think if they keep me imprisoned my grades won't fall."
"Well, maybe you could convince them to let you stay here? This is an all- girls dorm." Yura gave Naru a sideways look.
"It IS?"
"Yeah. Well, all the residents are male anyways. Keitaro's the manager." Naru said, correcting herself.
"Ah... but he's your boyfriend, isn't he? That guy that came to lunch with us last week?"
"Yeah, how do you think I met him? He's Haruka's nephew."
"You're dating your dormitory manager!! That's kinda far out. Never get an office job, Naru." Yura poked. She wasn't the closest of friends with Naru, but knew her well enough to know she wouldn't be offended. Naru knew Yura's sometimes lewd implications, odd mannerisms, and ostentatious tendencies quite well by now... and had still invited her to study together. So Yura figured Naru wasn't bothered by it. Which was a good thing.
Naru felt herself blushing. Yura's jest wasn't out of character, but usually Naru wasn't the subject of the tease. She looked over at the girl sitting cross-legged on her floor. Yura was about as tall as Naru, but that was about the extent of similarities. Her dyed burgundy hair ran to the bottom of the girl's shoulder blades. Right now it was loosely tied back with a navy blue scrunchie. Her eyes were a deep chestnut brown, and were framed by a thin, sophisticated-looking pair of glasses. Her dress was never very feminine, but usually not an extreme. Her current outfit was a sleeveless navy blue top with a thin collar and a thin cut in the front that wouldn't have met Kitsune's approval for cleavage-boasting. Her jeans were plain and flared, with a single chain running from the front to the back on one side; the slight bulge in her back pocket giving away the fact that her also plain wallet was on one end. Her feet were bare now, but at Naru's door lay the plain Birkenstock-esque sandals- two wide leather straps complete with buckles.
She was an interesting girl. She'd lived her childhood in Japan before she and her parents moved to Brazil. Her parents had agreed when Yura decided she wanted to go back to Japan for higher education. Not wanting the money to have any chance to go to waste, they had gone to the trouble to rent her her own small townhouse two blocks from Tokyo U's campus. Naru had met her in their economics class- Yura was a year ahead of she, Keitaro, and Mutsumi, but they had some of the same classes anyways, so Naru had invited her to study sessions, since she was the one really good friend Naru had bothered to make. It would most likely be an idea resulting in mutual academic benefits- Naru could help Yura and Keitaro with their math classes and Yura could help Naru with economics.
"Good afternoon, Naru." A soft voice chimed from the doorway. Mutsumi had arrived, it was time to study.
The hot springs. It was the one job Kentaro hated. And this one particular afternoon, it was hot. He'd left both his shirts inside and his apron off, despite the possibility of sunburn. The scrub towel hung from one of his back pockets, swaying as he made each stroke with the mop.
"Hey. We're going to use the hot springs now, you can leave and take a break." Naru's voice wasn't harsh, but held no hint of niceties. Including the dismissal of the need to use his name. He sighed. He'd hoped to finish before this happened, but it was going to be no use actually attempting to argue with Naru. He turned around to face her, drooping one arm over the end of the mop and the other coming to hang, his palm face up, in the air beside him, shrugging.
"Why in such a rush? What's so great about the bath, anyways? You girls might as well pick up an addiction others can enjoy." He said, making the implication rather lazily, not truly caring whether she noticed it or not.
"Ugh. Pervert." She huffed, shoving him aside as she passed, her friend and Mutsumi following her.
"A little joke never hurts." He said, shrugging again and speaking to nobody but himself as he scooped up the bucket and grabbed the mop, heading in. He knew the jokes were now what was left of his sense of humor, every now and then reaching out for some kind of entertainment. It never worked, of course. He'd finish the mopping tomorrow when he did the kitchen, and to make up for it, he'd go ahead and sweep the front stoop before he left after dinner. He didn't have any great meals at home, and Shinobu's cooking usually outdid any of the cheap restaurants.
Yura stifled a less-than-feminine snort at the boy's remark, and followed Naru, waiting until he left to actually get into the hot springs. The day had gotten very hot and stuffy, but the clear, warm water felt refreshing on her skin anyways. She'd missed baths like this in Brazil.
"Naru, who was that? I thought you said this was an all girls dorm?" She asked as she sat down beside Naru.
"Oh, that's Kentaro." Naru nearly scoffed. Yura was a little surprised, she knew Naru could have a temper, but usually Naru wasn't so rude.
"Why do you look so offended that I asked?" Yura asked to Naru.
"He's just a washed-up rich kid, and a pervert." She replied, still with her nose proverbially in the air.
"He works here, like Keitaro. But he doesn't live here!" Mutsumi offered helpfully. Yura noted the statement but continued with her attention on Naru.
"Well, he didn't say anything I wouldn't have. Seems alright to me." Yura said, countering Naru with sensible reasoning, which she knew Naru would listen to more easily than an actual argument or rebuttal.
"Yuck. Trust me, I knew him in high school." "And then he was your manager when you were a pop-star." Mutsumi offered as a reminder. "EW! Don't remind me. That creep had the media convinced we were together!" Naru complained. Yura thought for a moment. Naru seemed like she just plain didn't like him. Yura knew what 'washed-up rich kids' were, and she was one of them. Naru didn't really know that, though. She decided it best to drop the subject.
"So, Yura, you came back to Japan from Brazil?" Mutsumi asked, breaking the short silence. Yura nodded.
"Well gee, it must have been exciting to live in Brazil. What was it like?"
"Yes, Yura, what is Brazil like? Is it yummy?" Trilled a silly- sounding voice, followed shortly by a huge splash. When Yura could see again, two girls had joined them in the bath- one was just stepping in, she looked almost timidly at the new face, before lightly scolding the first for splashing everyone. The other was sitting in the water six feet in front of her smiling an impossibly large smile from under pale yellow hair, her eyes brightly awaiting an answer. Yura couldn't believe it, that was a serious question?? She laughed rather heartily at the notion.
"Hah, well, Brazil is a country. But some people like Brazil nuts, coffee, and chocolate. If you like I can have my parents send me some next time I speak with them." Yura replied, not bothered by the oddity of the question, but wondering if that would suffice as an answer.
"Ooooh chocolate is yummy!" The girl crowed, smiling ever wider somehow. The other girl sat down.
"Who is your friend, Naru?" She asked politely.
"This is my friend Yura I was telling you about yesterday. Yura, this is Shinobu, and the other one is Suu."
"That's right, we go to junior high together! Shinobu is cooking my favorite for dinner tonight!" The blonde said ecstatically, hanging on the soft-eyed, blue-haired girl.
"I hope you like curry." Shinobu blushed.
"Curry's great!" Yura assured her. She hadn't had curry in a while.
"Not that you'd have an option if you didn't like it." A calm, tempered voice came from the doorway.
Two more girls slipped through the sliding door. One was quite tall with short pale hair, rather careless about how her towel hung on her. The second was shorter, with long black hair in a high ponytail, and dark, intense eyes.
"It is Motoko and Kitsune!" Suu crowed.
"And who's this?" Kitsune asked, stepping into the bath.
"This is Yura. Yura, this is my best friend Kitsune, and another of our residents, Motoko."
Yura bowed with a nod of her head. She received back a small, formally respecting bow from Motoko and a casual wave of a hand from Kitsune.
"Brazil, huh? Bet it was fun there. I've heard some good things about South American men." Kitsune winked. Now Yura knew why Naru could put up with her.
"Eh, I wouldn't know. I lived on a plantation farm with my parents. Not really a huge social life there." Yura shrugged off the comment.
"You mentioned calling home... your parents are still in Brazil?" Motoko asked, making polite conversation.
"Yeah." Yura replied, not interested in offering an explanation. However, the flow of the conversation wasn't going to allow that to happen.
"What do they do that you lived on a plantation farm?" Mutsumi queried in a bit of wonderment.
"They farm coffee beans. In Brazil it's a very large investment, and very, very lucrative if it's successful." Yura said, a slight dark tone in her voice. She got varied responses... were coffee beans yummy; wow, cool.
"Doesn't that mean your family is wealthy?" Mutsumi dropped the bomb, asking the question with a sort of ignorant simplicity all her own. Yura nearly winced, but knew it was best to play it off like usual- casual, sarcastic, and truthful.
"Well, yeah. Not that it matters to me. There's a reason I came back to Japan to go to school." She leaned back, her arms behind her head, closing one eye lazily, leaving the other one slit open to look almost sardonically at Naru. This would make or break a lot of things, to see if Naru really didn't mind Yura's attitude.
"...One might call me a washed up rich kid." She finished, her one eye studying Naru's reaction.
Naru began to make a flustered look, then saw Yura's expression softening from sly into a grin. Naru clamped her mouth shut... she'd apologize later instead of in front of everyone.
Yura left Naru alone, seeing that Naru obviously knew what she'd said, and that Naru knew she at least wasn't offended by it.
Conversation drifted from Yura, to school, to a few other inane topics.
Dinner came, and Yura sat down to a bowl of wonderful smelling curry.
A few minutes of dining and an older woman came in with a boy not far behind her. The woman had on baggy, rolled up shorts, slippers, an apron, and a cigarette drooping from the corner of her mouth. She smacked a rolled stack of papers against the end of the table.
"Alright, girls... bad news and good news." All the girls looked up to her, with the boy, whom Yura recognized as Keitaro, standing beside her. Yura decided that the woman must have been Haruka. Haruka looked around the table, and furrowed her brow upon finding Yura taking up an extra seat. She cocked an eyebrow.
"Who're you?"
"My name is Yura Toroka. Naru invited me over. Nice to meet you, ma'am." Yura responded, not bothering to sugar-coat her words, but making them respectably polite.
"Oh. Okay, well, a man came to look at the air conditioning today. We found the problem- it's quirks in the system in the unused buildings in the complex. A large crew is coming to work on it Thursday and maybe Friday."
"But the buildings are dirty and yucky!" Suu said, wrinkling her nose.
"Could any safety hazards be present in those buildings?" Motoko asked logically.
"You're all right. We decided that if we're going to fix the air conditioning in the buildings, we should just go ahead and fix them all the way up! There's a whole big center that isn't used that could be a sort of gym, another big lounge, and more rooms. Maybe when summer comes around we can advertise more rooms for rent. What do you all think of that?" Keitaro explained, sounding a little enthusiastic about the new idea.
"Well... I don't suppose it could hurt. But I request that if we take in male residents that we reserve the other building for them." Motoko stated, almost in a warning tone.
"Sounds fine to me." Kitsune shrugged.
"Yay! More friends for me and Shinobu!" Suu chirped, clamping herself around Shinobu's shoulders as Shinobu relented a timid sounding "I don't mind."
"Hey, Yura, maybe you could ask your parents tonight if you could live here with us!" Naru suggested cheerfully.
"I... well... it wouldn't bother me, but what's the rush to ask them tonight? A room can't possibly be ready for me until after all the preparations and repairs have been..."
"Oh, don't worry... if we work at cleaning, we could have a room for you by the end of the week. We'll all end up pitching in with the cleaning, anyways." Yura looked to Haruka, who shrugged.
"It'll all be done eventually, we'll all be pitching in to help with it, so I'm sure if you do your part it'll all work out. Might even go faster. I see nothing wrong with it, as long as it's alright with everyone else."
"It's alright with me." Keitaro said, placing his hands on his hips rather triumphantly. Everyone else mostly nodded in agreement.
"You could stay in Sarah's room until it is ready, she is with Seta on a trip!" Suu exclaimed enthusiastically.
Yura thought for a moment. Well, there wasn't anyone here she disliked, and it was more lively and airy than her stuffy, cramped townhouse. That meant it wouldn't stink of her parents presence as much. And staying in Sarah's room... whoever she was... would keep her from having to make trips to three locations each day. After this moment's hesitated contemplation, she smiled happily for the eight pairs of eyes looking at her.
"That's very kind of you all. Thank you very much, I appreciate it."
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Okay, so although I don't consider myself any sort of novice writer, this does happen to be my first fanfic. Couple author's notes:
-Yes, I'm aware that I said 'Masda'. Well, that's what it is. If you don't believe me, look in Love Hina again, at the part where Kanako and naru argue at the beach and Keitaro drives up and finds the real Kentaro tied up in his own trunk... they show a good shot of the back of the car and it clearly says 'Mazda'... with a backwards 'z'. So, Masda. I'm pretty sure it's a Miata rip.
-Although I haven't been so anal as to search through my dvd's and count out exactly how many buildings Hinata has, it's more than one, and one is all that is ever implied to be used. So I decided to make use of the apparently existent but never mentioned other parts of the complex.
-I have no idea why I began writing about Kentaro. I just did. While I like Kentaro, I will agree with anyone who tells me that the idea is kind of left-field. I suppose I feel since he's a severely underdeveloped character, I have more room to develop him without contradicting the series.
-I also don't really know why I put in Yura. I want opinions on that. And on the idea of more. Although, I feel like if I put in any other new characters it should be a male. I don't know where I'm going with who or what, my ears are open to reader suggestions, but this is intended to end up a drama/romance, possibly comedy. I also don't know if I should include other character perspectives, right now I've only (besides Kentaro and Yura) used Naru briefly, so if you think I should or have ideas for using others please feel free to speak up.
Tell me what you think, pleasing readers is good. I have chapter 2, but I'm tempted not to post until I've received some good feedback.
Tarauka
Disclaimer: I do not own Love Hina.
This fic has a rating of R (just in case), which is reserved for possible future language, drug references, and detailed sexual situations.
Enjoy!
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Okay, so not everything goes as planned. Nobody ever said life was easy... that was the phrase. But Kentaro just couldn't seem to convince himself that it was just life that kept him from being happy.
He'd been working for Haruka ever since he'd run his father's expensive prototype vehicle through the Hinata apartment floor in an attempt to impress Naru. Obviously, that hadn't worked out too well, just like most of his other schemes to impress girls. Instead, somehow, Naru had ended up with Keitaro. Of course, before it actually happened he'd given up on Naru. He spent hours, money, his reputation and entrepreneurship on her and she never gave a good god damn... so he did one last thing for her- coaxed Keitaro into going for her. Why, he'd never know.
Not that he hated Keitaro for any reason, he just couldn't understand how even a guy like Urashima could get a girl and he couldn't. He held his only flaw at being possibly overworked for his amount of pay. But a busy work schedule didn't mean he had no time! Maybe it was that he barely had a social life any longer. Nobody other than Haruka paid attention to him except for Shirai and Haitani, and he tried to stay away from their harebrained plans for luring women and living the great life. He was out of high school now, and he had a job, had his own small house, thankfully near Hinata, that his dad had bought him, along with his car, for graduation.
The car. What a beautiful car. It was a Masda- not the most expensive car company around, but it was top-notch; a six cylinder turbo, little two-door red convertible sports car. The stereotypical high school grad's dream car.
But he never drove it any more, except to go buy shopping or something like that. He walked to work, the apartments were only six blocks away and he usually enjoyed the fresh air and mild exercise. It was one of the few times he was content to enjoy what life held for him in the moment; just him, straggling along, kicking a rock or something... nobody around bothering him or ignoring him. It wasn't that life had thrown him any sort of curve ball, and he certainly wasn't going to complain, he was better off than some kids his age... he just felt like there should be something more. Or, at least, that's the way he WANTED to reason it.
This particular morning, ten 'o clock on a Wednesday, was cool but sunny. It was supposed to get much hotter later in the day, however, so he'd dressed in khaki shorts and shirts in two layers which he could take off, if need be.
Technically he'd repaid his debt by now, even done the work re-flooring himself. He'd stayed at an agreement with Haruka and Keitaro- hiring Kentaro on permanently (and paying him a legal salary) left Keitaro more time to manage money and study for his classes at Tokyo U. He couldn't say he wasn't content with it, he rather liked the job. Why he wanted to hang around, he didn't know. He supposed it was a better job than any store, franchise, office or restaurant could offer. At least he liked all the people he worked around. Pretty girls... even if they didn't pay attention to him, all the people at Hinata were good people. Besides, he had nothing else to do with his time. It was a lax equilibrium... he went to work doing Keitaro's old busybody chores, and he got free meals if here were there when dinner was served. He brought home enough money to provide for himself and his home. Modest, possibly quaint, but enough. To live financially, anyways. To really live, however, was a concept which Kentaro knew had an entirely different meaning.
He trotted up the front steps to Hinata, whistling some tune that had been playing on the radio in his kitchen earlier that morning. He hung his windbreaker on the coat rack by the door, and went to the kitchen to get his apron, as was ingrained in his mind. Nobody was around at the moment- everyone except possibly Kitsune or Motoko was out at school, most likely. Even Haruka- Tuesday mornings she went to the supermarket for supplies and groceries. When she got back, he'd put them all away. But for right now, he set to cleaning the kitchen, which hadn't been done since breakfast because most everybody went to school after eating. It wasn't incredibly dirty- even when the resident's eating habits became messy, Shinobu was generally a very clean cook (unless Suu was helping her). He wiped down the counters and table, washing the rest of the dishes and sweeping the floor so he could mop it the next day, and then moved on to cleaning the laundry room. He took the time to fold all the dry clothes in the dryer and move the next load through- he assumed they were Kitsune's clothes since nobody else wore shorts that short.
Sure enough, at about two Haruka marched in with several bags of groceries. She left them by the main door, and marched off to go change into her normal outfit- Kentaro got the feeling she absolutely abhorred wearing real shoes, which he found mildly amusing.
The first bag was fruits and vegetables, and three more bottles of curry seasoning. Now he knew what was for dinner. He took his apron off before leaving the kitchen. It had indeed begun to get hot... since he wasn't scrubbing anything at the moment he didn't need the extra layer.
Walking back out to get another bag, he heard Naru's voice trailing through the main doors, which Haruka had left ajar since the air conditioning system was on the fritz a little and the company crew couldn't make it out for another couple days. Halfway across the room, Naru bounced in the room, her book bag slung over her shoulder, and someone trailing behind her, a new face around Hinata. Kentaro paid no mind, knowing Naru wouldn't stop to think to introduce him, and it didn't matter anyways... if she did, he'd be introduced as the makeshift maid. It was less embarrassing not to bother. They were engaged in some sort of conversation, which sounded more girlish than serious.
The next bag was kitchen supplies.
"Wow, Naru, this is a great place!" Yura exclaimed, sounding a little more bouncy than usual. Her interests were restricted to specific things.
"Well, it isn't the very cheapest place ever, but I wouldn't stay anywhere else." Naru replied, agreeing with Yura's statement. She sighed in relief as she dropped her bag on the floor of her room.
"I wish my parents would let me stay in a dorm. But there's no way! They swear up and down that I'll start doing drugs and sleeping around and doing all the bad, stereotypical 'college kid' stuff. They think if they keep me imprisoned my grades won't fall."
"Well, maybe you could convince them to let you stay here? This is an all- girls dorm." Yura gave Naru a sideways look.
"It IS?"
"Yeah. Well, all the residents are male anyways. Keitaro's the manager." Naru said, correcting herself.
"Ah... but he's your boyfriend, isn't he? That guy that came to lunch with us last week?"
"Yeah, how do you think I met him? He's Haruka's nephew."
"You're dating your dormitory manager!! That's kinda far out. Never get an office job, Naru." Yura poked. She wasn't the closest of friends with Naru, but knew her well enough to know she wouldn't be offended. Naru knew Yura's sometimes lewd implications, odd mannerisms, and ostentatious tendencies quite well by now... and had still invited her to study together. So Yura figured Naru wasn't bothered by it. Which was a good thing.
Naru felt herself blushing. Yura's jest wasn't out of character, but usually Naru wasn't the subject of the tease. She looked over at the girl sitting cross-legged on her floor. Yura was about as tall as Naru, but that was about the extent of similarities. Her dyed burgundy hair ran to the bottom of the girl's shoulder blades. Right now it was loosely tied back with a navy blue scrunchie. Her eyes were a deep chestnut brown, and were framed by a thin, sophisticated-looking pair of glasses. Her dress was never very feminine, but usually not an extreme. Her current outfit was a sleeveless navy blue top with a thin collar and a thin cut in the front that wouldn't have met Kitsune's approval for cleavage-boasting. Her jeans were plain and flared, with a single chain running from the front to the back on one side; the slight bulge in her back pocket giving away the fact that her also plain wallet was on one end. Her feet were bare now, but at Naru's door lay the plain Birkenstock-esque sandals- two wide leather straps complete with buckles.
She was an interesting girl. She'd lived her childhood in Japan before she and her parents moved to Brazil. Her parents had agreed when Yura decided she wanted to go back to Japan for higher education. Not wanting the money to have any chance to go to waste, they had gone to the trouble to rent her her own small townhouse two blocks from Tokyo U's campus. Naru had met her in their economics class- Yura was a year ahead of she, Keitaro, and Mutsumi, but they had some of the same classes anyways, so Naru had invited her to study sessions, since she was the one really good friend Naru had bothered to make. It would most likely be an idea resulting in mutual academic benefits- Naru could help Yura and Keitaro with their math classes and Yura could help Naru with economics.
"Good afternoon, Naru." A soft voice chimed from the doorway. Mutsumi had arrived, it was time to study.
The hot springs. It was the one job Kentaro hated. And this one particular afternoon, it was hot. He'd left both his shirts inside and his apron off, despite the possibility of sunburn. The scrub towel hung from one of his back pockets, swaying as he made each stroke with the mop.
"Hey. We're going to use the hot springs now, you can leave and take a break." Naru's voice wasn't harsh, but held no hint of niceties. Including the dismissal of the need to use his name. He sighed. He'd hoped to finish before this happened, but it was going to be no use actually attempting to argue with Naru. He turned around to face her, drooping one arm over the end of the mop and the other coming to hang, his palm face up, in the air beside him, shrugging.
"Why in such a rush? What's so great about the bath, anyways? You girls might as well pick up an addiction others can enjoy." He said, making the implication rather lazily, not truly caring whether she noticed it or not.
"Ugh. Pervert." She huffed, shoving him aside as she passed, her friend and Mutsumi following her.
"A little joke never hurts." He said, shrugging again and speaking to nobody but himself as he scooped up the bucket and grabbed the mop, heading in. He knew the jokes were now what was left of his sense of humor, every now and then reaching out for some kind of entertainment. It never worked, of course. He'd finish the mopping tomorrow when he did the kitchen, and to make up for it, he'd go ahead and sweep the front stoop before he left after dinner. He didn't have any great meals at home, and Shinobu's cooking usually outdid any of the cheap restaurants.
Yura stifled a less-than-feminine snort at the boy's remark, and followed Naru, waiting until he left to actually get into the hot springs. The day had gotten very hot and stuffy, but the clear, warm water felt refreshing on her skin anyways. She'd missed baths like this in Brazil.
"Naru, who was that? I thought you said this was an all girls dorm?" She asked as she sat down beside Naru.
"Oh, that's Kentaro." Naru nearly scoffed. Yura was a little surprised, she knew Naru could have a temper, but usually Naru wasn't so rude.
"Why do you look so offended that I asked?" Yura asked to Naru.
"He's just a washed-up rich kid, and a pervert." She replied, still with her nose proverbially in the air.
"He works here, like Keitaro. But he doesn't live here!" Mutsumi offered helpfully. Yura noted the statement but continued with her attention on Naru.
"Well, he didn't say anything I wouldn't have. Seems alright to me." Yura said, countering Naru with sensible reasoning, which she knew Naru would listen to more easily than an actual argument or rebuttal.
"Yuck. Trust me, I knew him in high school." "And then he was your manager when you were a pop-star." Mutsumi offered as a reminder. "EW! Don't remind me. That creep had the media convinced we were together!" Naru complained. Yura thought for a moment. Naru seemed like she just plain didn't like him. Yura knew what 'washed-up rich kids' were, and she was one of them. Naru didn't really know that, though. She decided it best to drop the subject.
"So, Yura, you came back to Japan from Brazil?" Mutsumi asked, breaking the short silence. Yura nodded.
"Well gee, it must have been exciting to live in Brazil. What was it like?"
"Yes, Yura, what is Brazil like? Is it yummy?" Trilled a silly- sounding voice, followed shortly by a huge splash. When Yura could see again, two girls had joined them in the bath- one was just stepping in, she looked almost timidly at the new face, before lightly scolding the first for splashing everyone. The other was sitting in the water six feet in front of her smiling an impossibly large smile from under pale yellow hair, her eyes brightly awaiting an answer. Yura couldn't believe it, that was a serious question?? She laughed rather heartily at the notion.
"Hah, well, Brazil is a country. But some people like Brazil nuts, coffee, and chocolate. If you like I can have my parents send me some next time I speak with them." Yura replied, not bothered by the oddity of the question, but wondering if that would suffice as an answer.
"Ooooh chocolate is yummy!" The girl crowed, smiling ever wider somehow. The other girl sat down.
"Who is your friend, Naru?" She asked politely.
"This is my friend Yura I was telling you about yesterday. Yura, this is Shinobu, and the other one is Suu."
"That's right, we go to junior high together! Shinobu is cooking my favorite for dinner tonight!" The blonde said ecstatically, hanging on the soft-eyed, blue-haired girl.
"I hope you like curry." Shinobu blushed.
"Curry's great!" Yura assured her. She hadn't had curry in a while.
"Not that you'd have an option if you didn't like it." A calm, tempered voice came from the doorway.
Two more girls slipped through the sliding door. One was quite tall with short pale hair, rather careless about how her towel hung on her. The second was shorter, with long black hair in a high ponytail, and dark, intense eyes.
"It is Motoko and Kitsune!" Suu crowed.
"And who's this?" Kitsune asked, stepping into the bath.
"This is Yura. Yura, this is my best friend Kitsune, and another of our residents, Motoko."
Yura bowed with a nod of her head. She received back a small, formally respecting bow from Motoko and a casual wave of a hand from Kitsune.
"Brazil, huh? Bet it was fun there. I've heard some good things about South American men." Kitsune winked. Now Yura knew why Naru could put up with her.
"Eh, I wouldn't know. I lived on a plantation farm with my parents. Not really a huge social life there." Yura shrugged off the comment.
"You mentioned calling home... your parents are still in Brazil?" Motoko asked, making polite conversation.
"Yeah." Yura replied, not interested in offering an explanation. However, the flow of the conversation wasn't going to allow that to happen.
"What do they do that you lived on a plantation farm?" Mutsumi queried in a bit of wonderment.
"They farm coffee beans. In Brazil it's a very large investment, and very, very lucrative if it's successful." Yura said, a slight dark tone in her voice. She got varied responses... were coffee beans yummy; wow, cool.
"Doesn't that mean your family is wealthy?" Mutsumi dropped the bomb, asking the question with a sort of ignorant simplicity all her own. Yura nearly winced, but knew it was best to play it off like usual- casual, sarcastic, and truthful.
"Well, yeah. Not that it matters to me. There's a reason I came back to Japan to go to school." She leaned back, her arms behind her head, closing one eye lazily, leaving the other one slit open to look almost sardonically at Naru. This would make or break a lot of things, to see if Naru really didn't mind Yura's attitude.
"...One might call me a washed up rich kid." She finished, her one eye studying Naru's reaction.
Naru began to make a flustered look, then saw Yura's expression softening from sly into a grin. Naru clamped her mouth shut... she'd apologize later instead of in front of everyone.
Yura left Naru alone, seeing that Naru obviously knew what she'd said, and that Naru knew she at least wasn't offended by it.
Conversation drifted from Yura, to school, to a few other inane topics.
Dinner came, and Yura sat down to a bowl of wonderful smelling curry.
A few minutes of dining and an older woman came in with a boy not far behind her. The woman had on baggy, rolled up shorts, slippers, an apron, and a cigarette drooping from the corner of her mouth. She smacked a rolled stack of papers against the end of the table.
"Alright, girls... bad news and good news." All the girls looked up to her, with the boy, whom Yura recognized as Keitaro, standing beside her. Yura decided that the woman must have been Haruka. Haruka looked around the table, and furrowed her brow upon finding Yura taking up an extra seat. She cocked an eyebrow.
"Who're you?"
"My name is Yura Toroka. Naru invited me over. Nice to meet you, ma'am." Yura responded, not bothering to sugar-coat her words, but making them respectably polite.
"Oh. Okay, well, a man came to look at the air conditioning today. We found the problem- it's quirks in the system in the unused buildings in the complex. A large crew is coming to work on it Thursday and maybe Friday."
"But the buildings are dirty and yucky!" Suu said, wrinkling her nose.
"Could any safety hazards be present in those buildings?" Motoko asked logically.
"You're all right. We decided that if we're going to fix the air conditioning in the buildings, we should just go ahead and fix them all the way up! There's a whole big center that isn't used that could be a sort of gym, another big lounge, and more rooms. Maybe when summer comes around we can advertise more rooms for rent. What do you all think of that?" Keitaro explained, sounding a little enthusiastic about the new idea.
"Well... I don't suppose it could hurt. But I request that if we take in male residents that we reserve the other building for them." Motoko stated, almost in a warning tone.
"Sounds fine to me." Kitsune shrugged.
"Yay! More friends for me and Shinobu!" Suu chirped, clamping herself around Shinobu's shoulders as Shinobu relented a timid sounding "I don't mind."
"Hey, Yura, maybe you could ask your parents tonight if you could live here with us!" Naru suggested cheerfully.
"I... well... it wouldn't bother me, but what's the rush to ask them tonight? A room can't possibly be ready for me until after all the preparations and repairs have been..."
"Oh, don't worry... if we work at cleaning, we could have a room for you by the end of the week. We'll all end up pitching in with the cleaning, anyways." Yura looked to Haruka, who shrugged.
"It'll all be done eventually, we'll all be pitching in to help with it, so I'm sure if you do your part it'll all work out. Might even go faster. I see nothing wrong with it, as long as it's alright with everyone else."
"It's alright with me." Keitaro said, placing his hands on his hips rather triumphantly. Everyone else mostly nodded in agreement.
"You could stay in Sarah's room until it is ready, she is with Seta on a trip!" Suu exclaimed enthusiastically.
Yura thought for a moment. Well, there wasn't anyone here she disliked, and it was more lively and airy than her stuffy, cramped townhouse. That meant it wouldn't stink of her parents presence as much. And staying in Sarah's room... whoever she was... would keep her from having to make trips to three locations each day. After this moment's hesitated contemplation, she smiled happily for the eight pairs of eyes looking at her.
"That's very kind of you all. Thank you very much, I appreciate it."
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Okay, so although I don't consider myself any sort of novice writer, this does happen to be my first fanfic. Couple author's notes:
-Yes, I'm aware that I said 'Masda'. Well, that's what it is. If you don't believe me, look in Love Hina again, at the part where Kanako and naru argue at the beach and Keitaro drives up and finds the real Kentaro tied up in his own trunk... they show a good shot of the back of the car and it clearly says 'Mazda'... with a backwards 'z'. So, Masda. I'm pretty sure it's a Miata rip.
-Although I haven't been so anal as to search through my dvd's and count out exactly how many buildings Hinata has, it's more than one, and one is all that is ever implied to be used. So I decided to make use of the apparently existent but never mentioned other parts of the complex.
-I have no idea why I began writing about Kentaro. I just did. While I like Kentaro, I will agree with anyone who tells me that the idea is kind of left-field. I suppose I feel since he's a severely underdeveloped character, I have more room to develop him without contradicting the series.
-I also don't really know why I put in Yura. I want opinions on that. And on the idea of more. Although, I feel like if I put in any other new characters it should be a male. I don't know where I'm going with who or what, my ears are open to reader suggestions, but this is intended to end up a drama/romance, possibly comedy. I also don't know if I should include other character perspectives, right now I've only (besides Kentaro and Yura) used Naru briefly, so if you think I should or have ideas for using others please feel free to speak up.
Tell me what you think, pleasing readers is good. I have chapter 2, but I'm tempted not to post until I've received some good feedback.
Tarauka