Keitaro Urashima and his wife, Nyamo, stood at the base of the stair case leading up to Hinata House. Keitaro smiled and breathed deeply, taking in the smell of the area. He glanced over at wife apprehensively. He could read no real reaction in her face, and it worried him. Not that there was anything really to be impressed with, but we did worry deeply about the happiness of his wife.
"Well, here we are."
"It sure looks good, Kei-kun."
"Yah, my little sister did a good job keeping it up."
"Your little sister?"
"I never told you about her? Impossible!"
"You never did like to talk about your past."
"I guess I never really thought about it very much."
"well, I guess you could tell me now."
"Alright. I have two siblings, my adopted sister Kanako and my biological little brother, Koji. Kanako's about 21 now and Koji's 17. Kanako's the manager of this dormitory, and my brother's in his senior year of high school. He's the real cook of the family, and he helps out a lot at the family bakery. I'll probably just sell him my share of the family bakery, if my parents don't will it straight away to him. He's still living with my folks, so I doubt you'll get to meet him, but Kanako should be here."
"What's she like?"
"Oh, well, she comes off kind of cold to some people, but she actually pretty sweet and loving once she warms up to you. She used to wreak havoc on my poor parents, because she has this uncanny knack for disguising herself. She doesn't do it often these days, I guess she grew out of it. Anyway, I'm sure you'll like her."
"What about the other residents?"
"As far as that goes, I think we'll have to face that little challenge together."
Kaolla and Sarah sat on the edge of the Hinata House's third floor window paneling, skipping rocks down the wood on the outside.
"Everything's so boring here," said Kaolla with a sigh.
"You say that every day since the ronin left."
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
"Well so what? At least he livened things up around here."
"You still have a crush on him after four years, I can hardly believe it."
"So do you!"
"Yuck, Kaolla! He's my dad's assistant!"
"We don't know that, do we?"
"Maybe you don't..."
"What? You're dad told you where he is?!"
"Maaaaabye."
"What!?, Oh come on Sara, tell me! Pleeeeaaase???"
"He told me no to mention it, I've probably said to- Holy cow! There he is!"
"What the heck are you talking about?"
"The Ronin, he's back! Look!"
"That's mean Sara."
"No! I'm totally serious!" Kaolla looked blithely out the window. Suddenly, her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, and she took off running down the stairs.
"Hey! He's mine! I saw him first!" Sara chased after Kaolla. She grabbed the other girl's blonde/white hair and yanked hard, vaulting herself over Kaolla and into Motoko. Motoko caught the younger girl with surprising reflexes, and held her fast.
"What's going on here?" she demanded, "How many times have I told you girls to stop tearing around the house like this?"
"But Motoko!" cried Sara, "Keitaro's back, he's outside!"
A sudden change came over Motoko, "you girls stay put." She too, began to bolt down the stairs.
"No Way!"
"I saw him first I tell you!"
The three young women, kicked, clawed, punched, and rolled there way down to the front door of Hinata House.
"Uh oh," were the only words Keitaro managed before he was tackled to the ground by the upcoming stampede. Suddenly, he was buried in a dog pile of girls.
"Kei-kun!" came the shrill voice of his wife.
"Hya! I knew Keitaro would come back for us!" That was Kaolla.
"Where yah been, you stupid ronin?" cried Sara.
"Oh, Urashima, I've waited for this for so long," and that, disturbingly enough, was Motoko.
"Uh, guys? You're kind of crushing me." The three girls seemed to jump off of him immediately.
Nyamo helped him up, and he had to bend down and wheeze for a few moments to regain his breath.
"Why'd yah jump on him like that, Dummy? You could've broke him!" teased Sara."
"You jumped on him too!"
"Did not!
"Did –hurupg!" Sarah was stopped short because Keitaro had seized her in a bone-crushing bear hug, lifting her off the ground. He did the same for the other girls, and spinning Kaolla, the lightest, in a circle.
"Why'd ja bring Shinobu with you?" inquired Kaolla.
"Oh, This is my wife-"
"You MARRIED Shinobu???"
"Urashima! How could you go behind us like that?"
"I can cook too, yah know!"
"U.... Urashima-Sempai?" that was the real Shinobu, who had just made her way up the stairs.
"Hello, again, Shinobu."
"Shinobu! Keitaro says he came back to marry you!"
"What??? Ano.. Sempai.. I'm... please... so... happy and.... Confused." A which point Shinobu feinted, but Keitaro caught her deftly, and slung the girl over his shoulder with practiced ease.
"Come on, let's go inside."
"Great, what are we gonna do with two Shinobu's?"
"Twice the cooking! Yay!"
"There better be a very good explanation for all this, Urashima."
Upon entering the house, Keitaro laid Shinobu on the couch gently.
Kaolla tore through the house, announcing Keitaro's return by shouting, "Keitaro's back! Keitaro's back! Kitsune owes me five-hundred yen!"
Soon, there was a loud tumbling down the stairs and a final crash, Kietaro got up to investigate. It was, of course, Kitsune, who, hearing the news, had tumbled down the stairs and into a heap on the landing. Keitaro picked her up with a sigh and she wrapped his hands around his neck.
"Just like old times, eh, Kei-kun?"
"It's good to see, you again, Kitsune." Upon entering the living room, he laid her down upon a chair and stood in the middle, where the Hinata House girls were gathered.
"Well, I suppose I should start with introductions, these are my youngest daughters, Shinobu Maehara, Motoko Aoyama, Kaolla Su, Sara Macdogal, and Konno Mitsune." Each girl bowed with her name, smiling warmly, except for Shinobu, who was still unconscious.
"And these," he said, wrapping his arms around Naru and Mutsumi from the behind and embracing them in a warm embrace, are my two little sisters, Naru Narusegawa and Mutsumi Otohime. They both smiled and leaned into his embrace."
"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Nyamo Namo," with this he sat down next to her and pulled her towards him, "My wife."
Every girl's eyes widened greatly, except for Shinobu, who muttered, "Oh, sempai, take me now," in her unconscious daze.
"It's good to finally meet everyone," began Nyamo, "And it's not Namo any more, it's Urashima."
"But... but where have you been?" asked Motoko.
"Well," he said with a sigh, "It all began about four years ago..." He began with his journey to Seta, intentionally leaving out his reasons for departing, and, about a quarter of an hour later, brought them up to speed. Shinobu was awake by now, who was being fanned lazily by Kitsune.
"That still doesn't explain why they looked so much alike," grumbled Kaolla.
"Who?" asked Keitaro.
"Shinobu and the new girl!"
"What are you talking about? Their hair colors are completely different!"
"Oh come on, everyone knows Shinobu dyes her hair..."
"Kaolla! You promised not to tell!"
"Alright, alright, that's enough, where's the rest of the crew?"
"Right behind you, little nephew."
Haruka, Kanako, and Kentaro stood in the doorway, Kanako smiling warmly with her hat tilted low, Haruka holding a cigarette, and Kentaro feigning disinterest.
"Aunt Haruka!" cried Keitaro, embracing her.
She whacked him promptly with the back of her hand, "It's Haruka."
"And my beautiful sister! My, how you've grown!"
"It's wonderful to see you again, older brother."
"How's everything keeping up? Have you seen Koji recently?"
"Everything's fine, brother, Koji's same as ever."
Finally the other shoe dropped.
Kentaro and Keitaro walked silently into the middle of the room, watching each other with an appraising eye and glaring. Slowly, they began to circle each other.
"I've been waiting for this for a long time, ronin."
"Me too, you two-bit dish washer."
Naru watched the two, obviously frightened, and her right shoe tapped nervously on the floor.
The two men watched each other for what seemed like an eternity, and then finally, the both started laughing and embraced each other in a big guy-hug. A cumulative gasp ran around the room, but stopped at Haruka and Kanako.
"So you finally did it, huh?"
"Yup, I sure did!"
"You're finally gonna graduate Tokyo University!"
"WHAT???"
Author's Note
Ok, lots of new background in this chapter, try to keep it all in mind. I'm gonna keep myself to a minimum by only adding one new character, Koji, Keitaro's little brother. Actually, I'm pretty sure he was mentioned once in the manga, but, then again, I don't really know. Anyway, kind of a shocker, Kentaro, A Todai student. Well, at least it makes sense to me. Sorry if he gets kind of OOC, but he really wasn't that much of a developed character anyway, so leave me some wiggle room.
