Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Love Hina.
Pre-Read by: HinaGuy749 and DeathofHell
Keitaro...I'm Pregnant Epilogue
On a warm April afternoon, Shinobu and a few of her friends are sitting outside a small restaurant, waiting for their lunch to arrive.
"I still can't believe it, Shinobu!" Kitsune says, acting very giddy and happy. "You passed your Toudai entrance exam!"
"Yeah! You're one of us now," Tsuyoshi smiles, putting his arm around her and Sachiko. Shinobu still can't believe it. It has been nearly four years since she gave birth to Kappei. With her and Keitaro constantly taking care of him while Keitaro focused on his studies, she thought her dream of going to Tokyo U. would be impossible. It wasn't until he finally graduated last year and got a job as a paramedic at the hospital where Kappei was born that they somehow managed to balance taking care of their baby and having her go to cram school. As she reflects on her struggles getting into Toudai, she notices Sachiko a bit sad.
"Hey Sachiko. You alright? You don't look happy."
"I'm sorry," she replies. "I'm happy that you made it in with Tsuyoshi and me, but I'm a bit jealous of the both of you."
"Jealous?" Kitsune confusingly ask. "Why would you be jealous?"
"Both Shinobu and Tsuyoshi passed on their first try. It took me my third try before I got in!" Shinobu sees the inner pain Sachiko is going through and leans in, putting a hand on her shoulder for comfort.
"Don't be jealous about that Sachiko. The only other person to pass the Toudai entrance exam on their first try is Su. Not Naru, Motoko, Mutsumi or Keitaro did that."
"Besides, it's not how many times you take the entrance exams, it's if you can pass it; which you did," Tsuyoshi adds in his own comfort, again putting his arm around her. "So cheer up!"
"If...if you say so." Shinobu notices a deep red color on Sachiko's cheeks just as the food arrives.
"I feel kind of bad celebrating you passing your entrance exam like this," Tsuyoshi says with a displeasing tone. "I mean, shouldn't you be celebrating with Keitaro?"
"Don't worry about that," Shinobu replies. "I already called him about passing and we're go on a romantic dinner to celebrate."
"Hey!" Kitsune shouts. "Are you leaving me with Kappei without telling me again?"
"What are you complaining about? We already knocked down the cost of your rent in exchange for you babysitting him."
"But..."
"But nothing. Now be a good babysitter and eat your food." Sachiko and Tsuyoshi chuckle at Shinobu's comment before they all eat.
Once they're finish, they pay their bill and walk Tsuyoshi to the nearest bus stop.
"Thanks for coming to see my results Tsuyoshi," Shinobu says to him as they see the bus coming into view.
"Don't mention it. I'm happy that you passed." The bus finally reaches the stop and opens its doors. "I gotta get going now. I'll see you tomorrow." He waves good-bye to them before boarding the bus. When he finds a seat, he sits down and looks out the window, seeing his friends waving good-bye. They watch the bus take off and fade away into the distance street. They all sigh before walking back home.
During their walk, both Shinobu and Kitsune notice the bright rosy cheeks and huge smile on Sachiko's face. They look at each other, knowing what she's thinking of. Neither of them say a word until Shinobu speaks where they reach the long stairway.
"Thinking how cute Tsuyoshi is, huh Sachiko?"
"What!" She yells, sweating profusely.
"Oh, come off of it girl," Kitsune slyfully says, putting an arm around her and showing a foxy grin. "We both knows that you have a crush on him."
"I...I...I don't know what you're talking!"
"You know exactly what we're talking about!" Shinobu cries out. "You been flirting with him for years now; always asking him to help you study for the entrance exams or in a certain class that he took before, even through you know the material." Sachiko begins to really blush harder, dropping giant sweat drops one right after another. She tries to talk, but all that comes out of her mouth is teeth clunking together, sounding like Morse code, causing the other two girls to laugh.
Once they all calm themselves, they enter the apartment and see Kappei playing with a few of his toys in the living room. When he turns to see the girls, he stands up, dropping his toys and runs towards Shinobu.
"Mommy! Mommy!" Seeing his cheerful face as he runs towards her puts a smile on Shinobu's face. She bends down with her arms wide open and hugs her son. She picks him up and gives him a kiss on the cheek.
"Hello Kappei. Did you miss me?" He smiles and nods his head. He leans over to kiss Shinobu on the cheek, then looks at Sachiko.
"Aunt Sachiko!" He says with such enthusiasm and his arms out.
"Hello Kappei." She leans over and also hugs him, feeling a kiss on her cheek. "Awww. You're so sweet Kappei." She lets go of him and steps to the side. He smiles at her before looking at a smiling Kitsune.
"Hey Kappei." He begins to giggle, pointing at her.
"Aunt Sake!" Kitsune falls down in embarrassment before shooting herself back up.
"It's Kitsune!" Though she yells at him angrily, it only causes Kappei to laugh hysterically and clap his hands repeatedly.
"Well, you're always drinking in front of him almost ever time you're babysitting him," Sachiko calm says.
"What!" Shinobu harshly shouts out. "Is that why he tilts his head way back and tries to chug anything he drinks?" Shinobu really isn't mad at Kitsune for her son acting like that. She just wants to know since its strange to see a kid his age to be doing something like that.
Shinobu feels Kappei being fussy in her arm and gently puts him down on the floor, watching him run off before staring at Kitsune, waiting for an answer. She finds it funny how Kitsune is delaying her question with a whole lot of useless nonsense. She shows a serious face, but really wants to fall on the floor, laughing until her stomach hurts. Suddenly, they all hear Kappei yelling, turning their attention towards him.
"Come on uncle! Let's play!" Each of the girls gives a bewilder look. The only person he calls uncle is Tsuyoshi and they saw him leave a short time ago. They watch him tugging on the couch, attempting to pull something. After struggling for a few seconds, he lets go on whatever he was holding and walks over to his toys, picking up a small police car. "Wake up uncle!" He throws the police car at the couch, hearing a loud thump when it reaches it.
"Ouch!" Someone shouts out. The girls are stunned when a person from the couch sits up, but slowly feels calm when they realize it's Raymond, holding his forehead and looking at Kappei. "Come here you! I'm going to teach you some English!" He gets off the couch and chases after the little kid.
"NO!" Kappei screams, running towards Shinobu and holding her legs. "Mommy! Mommy! Uncle Raymond is going to hurt me!" Shinobu can't help but giggle, knowing that the only torture he would do to her son is blowing on his stomach. She picks him up and tightly holds him.
"Don't worry Kappei. Uncle Raymond only wants to teach you English." She looks over to him and notices blood dripping out from his forehead. "Oh my gosh. You're bleeding."
"I am?" Raymond takes his hand off his forehead and looks at the blood on it. The girls don't even look at his bloodily hand, staring at the cut he was covering up.
"Here Kitsune," Shinobu says, handing over Kappei. "You and Sachiko watch him. I'll treat Raymond's cut." Both of the girls nod and head upstairs with Kappei.
Shinobu takes Raymond into the kitchen to treat his wound. She wipes the blood off his forehead and places antibiotic on the cut with a q-tip before putting on a large enough Band-Aid.
"There! All done." She says, putting away her first aid kit that she has had since she started treating Keitaro's wounds when they first met. "I'm sorry about Kappei throwing that toy at you."
"Don't worry about it. I was pretending to sleep and should have woke up when I had the chance too."
"But you didn't deserve getting hit in the head with one of Kappei's toys. Anyway, what are you doing here?"
"Keitaro didn't tell you?" She shakes her head. "Well, a colleague and I are working on making a photo book about the difference in sports from America and Japan. Since I knew you guys, I called him to see if we could stay for a week and he very much agreed to it. I didn't know he never discussed this with you."
"Oh, don't worry. I'd agree to you staying here too. Say, where is that colleague of yours?"
"In our room, sleeping. He's very jet lagged. Anyway, I heard from Keitaro that you just passed you Tokyo U exam thing?"
"Oh yes! I did!" Raymond sees that excitement in Shinobu's eyes as she spins around the kitchen. "I'm finally a Toudai student! My life long dream has come true!"
"Well, congratulations. I'm very happy for you. By the way, Keitaro said something about taking you to dinner to celebrate you passing your entrance exam."
"Yeah. We're going to celebrate."
"He wanted me to tell you that he wants your help picking out what to wear for your dinner." Shinobu thanks him for the message and walks over to their room.
She thinks of the many different clothes he could possibly wear for their dinner when she opens the door to their room and sees an endless amount of pictures hanging on the walls. She stares at them, noticing the pictures are of either her or Keitaro when they were babies. As she goes farther on, it changes to pictures of them going to school. She knew that neither of them had a good time in school, but notices that the pictures were of them smiling. Soon, it changes again to when they met each other in the Hinata Sou. The pictures shown the shyness of the both of them when they first met, but as she went on, it seems that the two of them became more relax and comfortable with each other. Shinobu didn't understand the series of all these picture until she recognizes the ones from San Francisco.
"Oh my gosh. This is a timeline of happy memories between the two of us." She continues on to see the shots of them while she was pregnant. Then there is a large picture of the two of them with their son. After having a tear run down her face, she finishes seeing the three of them like a happy family. When it was all over, she turns around to see Keitaro, wearing a three-piece gray suit with pinstripes and a blue tie, with his hands behind his back.
"Do you think this is nice to wear for our dinner?" he ask, sounding sarcastic while he blushes a little.
"That depends on where we're going."
"I was thinking Tonello?"
"What!" Shinobu shouts surprisingly. She couldn't believe he would pick the new Italian restaurant that just opened up in the city. "Are you sure? Isn't that place very expensive?"
"It's not everyday we can celebrate you passing your entrance exam and on your first try! Besides, we can effort it with the amount of overtime I been working this past week." Shinobu really couldn't believe it. She has been worried about him working too much lately, but realizes that he's been doing it for this celebration.
"Oh, thank you so much." She goes over to him and gives him a kiss on the cheek. "And I like the picture timeline you did."
"Oh that!" He blushes even harder, slightly turning away from her. "Well, I was working on that since you left to see if you got in Toudai."
"What? Why?"
"I knew you sounds pass those entrance exams a long time ago." Keitaro is starting to look like a strawberry while beginning to sweat. "You see, I did that because there is something I wanted to tell you."
"Yes?" Shinobu was very surprised. She hasn't seen him this nervous since they started admitting to everyone that they were going out.
"Just listen. If you speak, you'll make me even more tense then I already am." She nods, waiting for him to continue. "Since the day I met you, I felt this special connection. I'm not going to lie, but I really didn't know what it was. I thought it was like my relationship with Kanako, but as the years passed, that feeling became something more. Before I knew it, I fell in love with you. I never imaged that we would have a baby together, let alone being able to be with the one I truly love." Keitaro starts to breath heavily, hearing his heart beating loudly. "Shinobu Maehara, you are my best friend, the love of my life and the mother of my son. And although we are a family, it doesn't quite seem right without making it official. So I ask you this, on the day you passed you Toudai entrance exam." Nervous as he has ever been, he slowly drops to one knee.
"Yes! YES! Oh Keitaro, YES!" Shinobu jumps into his arms before he could get himself settled, causing the both of them to fall to the floor.
"Hey! Why did you do that for?"
"Weren't you going to ask me to marry you?" He nods his head embarrassingly. He isn't mad that she jumped the gun, rather is shocked that she did. Shinobu gets to her feet and helps him up. They both stare into each other eyes before realizing what must be done.
Keitaro gets back to one knee and ask "Shinobu, will you marry me?"
He opens up a jewelry box, which contains the ring. Shinobu never looks at it, seeing the loving eyes of her true love. She smiles and nods her head, extending her left arm. With a smile, Keitaro takes the ring out of the box and gently places the ring on her finger. He quickly gets up, watching her staring at her new ring.
"I'm sorry if it's not what you excepted." She immediately turns her head towards him.
"You could have given me a ring pop and I would still love it, knowing that we will be husband and wife." They both laugh and wrap each other in their arms. They stare at each other before kissing to a happy and wonderful life together.
The End
Words from ShinobuFan175: In case you're wondering if this will be a trilogy, well...I hate to disappoint you, but no. I have thought of this story for the past two years and this is all I had. Sorry if you expected something more out of this.
Now for my thank-yous. My first thank-you goes to David a.k.a. "EL CURANDERO". In my very first fic, 'Shinobu's First Kiss', he wrote this review: "That was good, not bad, job well done. buty the best part here is you left something open with this story. You have potential on creating a small series for a shinobu/keitaro fic." I was thinking about what he wrote for a week or two and didn't come up with anything until I was sitting on the bus, waiting to get to my archery class, when I thought to myself how beautiful the city of San Francisco is. The next thing I knew was this story. It took me about a month to do the research on where to go in San Francisco, but it was well worth it.
My second thank-you goes to HinaGuy749 and DeathofHell. Both of you offer to take your own time to pre-read this story when Zenapax became busy (and forgetful). Without you two, I would still be on chapter 6, wondering what Zenapax is up too.
The next thank-you goes to these people: As of 12:01 a.m. on February 4 2005, I'd like to thank the 66 people who put me on their 'favorites list' and the 51 people who put me on their 'author alert watch list'. I never thought even one person would put me on their favorites or author alert watch list, let alone the numbers I just gave out. I can't give out names since it'll be too long of a list, but you know who you are.
I also would like to say thank-you to the people who wrote reviews in this story and 'I Fell For You In San Francisco'. Each review of encouragement made me happy that people really liked the story and made me eager to write the next chapter (the ones that were flames ticked me off, but didn't really care what they wrote since a lot of people didn't agree with them). This started out just as an idea and with every cheerful review, ended up being consider one of the best Keitaro/Shinobu fics out there.
My last thank-you actually goes to you, the reader. You read this right. I'm thanking you. I'm going to guess that you read this story from the start and whether you have been a reviewer or been the 'silent reader', I'm happy that I've entertain you with my writing. I have never been a very good English student (hint the grammar), so with you just reading this makes me believe I'm better then that.
On a little sad note, I'm going to stop writing Love Hina fics for a while (with the exception of 'Mayhem'). I want to venture in writing different areas like Resident Evil and Codename: Kids Next Door. I have tons of ideas to write in those areasand want to concentrate on them. I will be back in this section to post a Shinobu fic, but don't expect it any time soon. Until then...
GOOD OR BAD, PLEASE REVIEW :)