An AU "Love Hina" fan-fiction
In association with Too-Much-Free-Time Studios
A "holy-shit-i'm-failing-engineering-maths-but-still-goofing-off" writer, izzaku presents…
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Hinata, a relatively small town in the Kanagawa prefecture, interesting things about it being it's hot springs and the old fashioned architecture of the buildings. Naru emerged from one of the buildings that was modern, it's train station and flagged down a taxi.
"Where to, miss?"
"Hinata Sou."
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Love Hina: You Go Your Way, I Go My Way.
Written by: Izzaku
All characters are property of Ken Akamatsu and have been used without permission. (I ain't making money outta this, who told you that? I'LL KILL EM)
Chapter One:
Getting New Lodgings
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Naru sighed and sank back into the taxi's leather seats, staring blankly at the view passing outside. Sighing yet again (she was going to break the world record in number of sighs soon), she rummaged through her small backpack and brought out her journal.
XX/XX/1999
Well, I'm on my way to my new home… at least for the next year or so. I really didn't feel like staying at home, Mom and Dad were quite disappointed. Not that they haven't a reason to be... I just can't face them again until I get into Toudai. Reiko-chan wanted me to stay, but I really can't. I might just give up halfway...
After she brought back the news, the hope in their eyes had drained away. To be filled with sadness. With disappointment. But they once again tried to hide it from her, with weak smiles and assurances of support. Naru wished that they would just scold her, or at least do something. But they always loved her, always supported her.
And their encouraging words: "You can try again next year, don't worry." ate at her inside. Her resolve wavered, could she so blatantly go on? After she had caused them much worry, could she really be so selfish? The Narusegawa Cafe was doing well, and she had a knack for cooking. She could help them there, and she knew that was what her parents were hoping she'd do. Take over the business,
Maybe... maybe just one last time. One last try, then she would stop going for it.
They always wanted her to be successful, just like the other children. Perhaps,her mother said after Naru had left, they could find a husband for her. Someone who would take care of things, and take care of her. Then they needn't worry so much. No. Came, her husband's reply. They were going to trust their daughter's decisions, if she asked for their guidance, only then would they intervene.
I had to convince Haitani that I would be alright on my own... her kept insisting that I stay with him and Shirai. As much fun as that would be, I don't think I'll be able to study with those two around.
She laughed quietly at the thought of them studying hard and pulling all nighters, they were too hyperactive to concentrate on one thing for very long. Both always running of on some hare-brained scheme to make the "bigu monay", as Haitani put it. If only they had some focus, they would surely pass the enterance exams, maybe even the Toudai enterance exams. They were so much better at studying than her, and they never really studied.
I found this place in an advertisment for dorms, it seems like a nice place. Supposedly it has it's own hot springs too, it's been awhile since I've been to one...
"Miss, we've reached," said the cabby, interrupting her writing. "You'll have to go by foot from here up the stairs."
"Oh okay, thank you."
She paid the fare and stepped out of the taxi, nearly falling flat on her face as she stumbled. Looking up from her embarassing near fall, a long flight of stairs up a hill greeted her, groaning she slung on her backpack and started up. At the top, she was panting hard, with thighs burning from the strain. She vowed she would exercise after she got into Toudai.
In front of her stood Hinata Sou, quite a impressive sight, looking like it came out of the feudal era. She wondered if the place had any historical importance, a large mansion on a hill overlooking the rest of the town. The view from the top was breathtaking, one could see for miles till the more urban sectors of Tokyo. There was a peaceful quiet with the soft sounds of nature sifting through the wind.
'I could like it here.'
Entering the glass sliding doors,the ronin removed her shoes and placed them in the racks. She peered around the reception area.
"Konnichiwa, is anyone here… I called yesterday, I'm here for a room?"
She was met with only the sound of the wind and cicadas from outside. The dorm seemed to be empty of any person.Finding it strange that there was nobody to receive people, she considered for moment and decided to look for the manager's room. The faster she got into her room, the faster she could start studying. Padding round the airy corridors, she found that most of the rooms were empty. Their doors open wide and devoid of any furniture, only a few were locked but with no one inside. Strange, she thought, the place was rather nice. It should'nt have a shortage of tenants. She finally came to a room with the manager's sign above it, rapping on the wooden frame of the door she called out.
"Excuse me, anyone here?"
Hearing no answer, she slid open the door and found the room in a cluttered mess. With books and CDs strewn over table, dirty clothes haphazardly bundled at a corner. Several bottles of beer and sake were the only things that were in order, lined up on a shelf. Must bea guy manager. But still, it had the nice feeling of a very lived-in place, welcoming and homely. Sighing once more, she placed her backpack at the side of the room and sat by the table.
'I'll just wait awhile here… maybe the manager's coming back.'
It was then she noticed a magazine in front of her, on its cover a man, wearing only a pair of shorts.
"Men's Health™, the definitive guide to fitness and lifestyle for the new age man."
Flushing slightly at the well muscled torso of the model, she pushed the magazine aside… albeit a little reluctantly. Yep, definately a guy manager. Naru's mind unconciously drifted to a small fantasy of her having such a tasty looking boyfriend like the model.
'Yummy...'
She blushed as she caught herself with that thought.
'Bad Naru! Stop thinking about those things.'
She then went back to sighing again, hit with a string of self depreciating thoughts.
'Yea, like that'll ever happen. A second year Ronin, failing every subject, with mega dork glasses.'
Thinking back to her days in elementary school, she was always scolded by her teacher for being slow in learning. That continuing all the way up through middle and high school. She was rather clumsy and bad at speaking, never mixing well with the other girls in her class.
In fact she was often bullied by the other girls, often calling her names like "super-megane-chan"(super glasses). She was made to believe she was the ugliest of the girls.
Fortunately, she found two good friends in Haitani and Shirai, them always being the big brothers and helping her when she needed it. She remember how they met…
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Middle School First Year
A bunch of snooty girls, were teasing her yet again.
"Oy, megane-chan. Why do you keep failing huh? With your dorky glasses you should be able to see the answers from the teacher's desk right?"
All of them laughing at her, and was going to cry
"Orh? What's wrong? Are you deaf to- "
The girl's words were cut off by a wet piece of paper smacking here right between the eyes, a spitball.
"YUCKS!"
Swatting off the offending lump, just to be hit by yet another.
"HAITANI!"
The girl screamed and went running out off the class, closely followed by the others.
"Nani?" looking round she spotted her defenders.
"Hey!" said the cheeky looking boy, holding a large straw. Behind him another, slightly shorter and plump boy waved at her.
"My name's Haitani, and this is Shinai. What's your name?"
"N-naru."
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The three of them were always sticking together after that. Too bad, they weren't much of a help in her studies. All of them still stuck without a place in a university. Despite that she still hoped with all her heart to be able to get into Toudai, to meet her promised boy.
'Oh man, where is that manager…'
Sighing yet again, the world record for that well and truly broken, she stretched and stood up. Deciding to explore the dorms and re-search the area for someone, she went out and walked down the hallway.
'Wonder if that boy still remembers me, I wonder if I'll even meet him again…'
Turing a corner she saw a cloth sign flapping slightly in the breeze. Onsen.
"The hot springs!"
Popping her head inside she saw a beautiful outdoor bath,
"Sugoi…"
She then hurried back to get her bathing materials from her backpack.
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"Ahh… That feels good."
Soaking in the warm waters, the Ronin felt all her stress and strain melting away.
'I really could get used to this,' she thought, swirling the water with hand.
"Afterwards, I'd better get back to studying for the tests…"
The sliding door opened up, with a rattle. And a person walked to the taps and emptied a pail of water on them self. Fog and myopia obscuring her vision, she tried to see them.
'Who is that...?'
Footsteps were heard coming to her direction, her eyes bugged out as she saw a rather muscular and rather towel clad guy sliding into the water next to her.
'What the...!'
"Ahh.. Great to have a soak after excerising."
The man looked at her for a moment, smiled at little and shook his head, and stretched out into the water trying to work in kinks in his back. Her heartbeat increased as he reached under and took off the towel from in water.
"Tsktsk… this is the men's side. You drunk again aren't you. I told you not to drink so much in the day."
'Ohnoohno who is he? I'm not drunk… Wait, men's side?' she thought.
Yes, indeed in her hurry to go to the bath, Naru didn't see the sign. Now she had a hot naked guy between her and the door, and she found herself very interested in a rivulet of water running happily down his chest and abs.
"Motoko's gonna have a fit again about your 'loose' ways." the said hottie chuckled. "Hey, why so quiet today?"
Naru's mind was currently too overloaded, to think give a reply.
'I must get out of here. I must get out of here. I must get out…' one part of her mind was saying.
'Check out that body, woo-woo!' said another in glee, right now her body seemed to only be able to obey that part. Luckily the water was slightly opaque, hiding his lower body.
"Speaking of Motoko, she really went hard on me during sparring today. She even nailed me right on the butt again!" he stood up showed the mentioned firm body part to the poor girl, causing further malfunctioning of her brain. She desperately tried to stem the trickle of blood from her nose, so much for the cover of water.
"Man, I think she does it on purpose…" he sighed. "Hey Kitsune, you ok?"
Naru did her best impression of a fish as he moved closer to her, the perverted side of her mind was screaming: "YES!"
"You seriously stoned or what? And what's with the new hairdo, you got extensions? Let me see em..." the guy reached out to the side rocks and put on his glasses… only to drop them in the water.
"Wh-who are you!"
That snapped her body to obey to first part of her brain. She scrambled out of the water, trying to shield her body with the small towel she had. Sprinting out the door, she slammed it behind her.
Turning round to run again, but she toppled over a stray bucket lying around and slammed against a rack of towels and clothing. Landing painfully on her rump, the contents of the rack fell on her and she scrambled round trying to get out.
"Eh, Su-chan is that you?"
Naru looked out of her cotton prison to a girl with half closed eyes, her face closely resembling a fox.
"Who are you? And why are you wearing Kei's boxers on your head?"
"I-I'm…"she couldn't finish her sentence when the door behind her burst open.
"You!" the red faced guy was pointing at her. "Hey, those are mine!"
Naru tried to sputter an apology, as he approached her, her brain then hit breakpoint, she fainted.
"Uh…"
"Kei, look what you did."
"I didn't do anything!"
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"Ugh…" Naru groaned, waking to a painful headache. "What…"
"Ah, you're awake." A woman's voice said. "You fainted, hit your head a little. Don't worry, there's no serious damage."
"Uh?" she asked, trying to get up.
"Here." she was pulled up gently. Naru vision slowly focused and she saw a woman with an apron on, she looked to be in her 30s with lidded brown eyes. Still she emitted an aura of calm, cool and sexy.
"I'm Haruka, you must be the new tenant Naru am I right?" the woman raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her.
"H-hai."
"Ah, gomen. Must have slipped my mind, I forgot to tell Keitaro that you were coming. Anyway, this will be your room, or if you want another we got plenty others."
Naru finally regonised Haruka's voice as the one she called the day before.
"N-no, this one's fine." Naru said, looking round the place.
"How do you feel?" Haruka asked, checking the bandages wrapped on Naru's head.
"Alright… Thank you Haruka-san"
"Just Haruka will do. Come on, everyone should be finished with dinner. I told them to wait at the living room," she said, lighting up a cigarette.
Naru stood up wobbly, and followed closely behind the older woman, heading throbbing slightly. Walking down the stairs they met with a tall girl in kendo gi, who greeted Haruka with a bow, glared daggers at Naru (actually they felt like katanas and flambergs) and went ahead.
"That's Motoko, don't mind her. She just got a warped story from Kitsune about you." Haruka said.
"Hai…" Naru replied,not feeling very assured.
Reaching the living area, she saw a small group seated around chatting. The kendoist girl started to glare at Naru again, and the foxy eyed girl seemed to be teasing the guy, thankfully now fully dressed in a track suit. There two other young girls there, an energetic tanned skinned blonde munching on a banana, and blue haired girl sitting shyly beside her. Haruka cleared her throat to get their attention before speaking.
"Everyone, this is Narusegawa Naru. She's going the newest tenant here, hope you can give her a warm welcome." she announced, thumbing a hand at Naru.
"Hello everyone, nice to meet you…"
"Why don't you guys introduce yourself to her." Haruka said, taking a drag of her ciggy.
"Hiya! My name is Kaolla Su!" the tanned girl ran and latched herself on Naru's back. "Wow you're hair is really cool, I've never seen someone with such a nice reddish colour..."
"Uh.. Su-chan." Naru tried to balance the hyper girl, clambering on her.
The short haired girl came up to her and bowed. "H-hello Naru-sempai, my name is Shinobu Maehara... Nice to meet you."
"Hello… Shinobu-chan." Naru still struggling with the girl on her back managed to say. Thankfully, Shinobu produced a banana from her pocket and the lively girl bounded off Naru.
"Banana!"
"Hey girl, I'm Mitsune, but you can call me Kitsune!" the foxy eyed girl smiled at her. "And this handsome man I'm sure you already know, ne?"
"Kitsune…" the said person sighed, shooting a glance at Naru.
"Speak you lewd woman! What were you doing in the men's bath? Were you peeping on Urashima-sempai?" it was the kendoist girl, still glaring at Naru from her seat. Naru thought she thought she saw a throbbing vein on the angry girl's forehead, and was getting very nervous of the hand that kept clenching around the bokken on her lap.
"Motoko-chan, don't be like that. I'm sure it was an accident. She didn't peep on me…" the guy tried to clam her down, Kitsune seemed highly amused at the situation.
"No sempai! What she did was inexcusable! Why she…" the kendoist went off rattling to him about how such wanton women like Naru and Kitsune were bad to allow around, the poor guy trying but failing to calm her down.
"Ah, well. Motoko's like that." Haruka walked up to her. "That guy's Keitaro, he's the manager here. He's my nephew."
"Oh, ok…"
'The manager!'
"Don't worry about Motoko, she was like that to all the other female tenants, I think she scared them away." Haruka sighed.
"Right…"
"Kitsune is the only one that bothered to stay, though sometimes I almost wish she left."said the woman, massaging the bridge of her nose."Ugh...Kitsune scared the male tenants away. They're going to drive this place totally bankrupt." the fox was now aggravating Motoko further by rubbing herself against Keitaro.
"Ah well, welcome to Hinata Sou." Haruka smiled at her.
"Thank you..."
"Hiya Naru, come with me!" the lively girl appeared. "I wanna show you my new invention!"
"Uh, I really got to go study...wooahh! " Naru was strongly dragged off by the smaller girl.
'She looks kinda familiar.' Haruka wondered, but was distracted by a yelling Motoko. Shaking her head, she went back to her TeaHouse.
"Hey look Motoko! Turtle!"
"UWAHhhh!"
"Kitsune...!"
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Author's Note:
Oh my god, only one day and already an update? Nah, this won't be too often. I was almost done with the first chapter when I posted.
Well first off thanks to:
NefCanuck ,Rioes ,Cornell Valentine Gainsborough , animeboy-12 , Drgnmastr-Alex of the Dark Icon Writers
For your reviews! I know the prologue was kinda short, but I was afraid of blasting too many words in. I might rewrite the prologue if I get ideas how to change it. Anyways the first chappy is longer, I think I maybe made it too long. I'm hardly through 1/8 of the first book of manga and it's already 3000 words long.
Damn...
FF has a very irritating word editor, anyone else think so? The inverted commas are screwed man. And I wanted to put line breaks but they kept moving around so I settled for a line of text to divide the scene changes. If anyone knows how to clear the problem of the line breaks please tell me!
Let me tackle to question of Keitaro OOC indifference to being in a bath with who he thought was Kitsune before it arises. In my story our favourite ronin has been friends with Kitsune for quite some time, (since he took the place of Naru, in case you haven't noticed. lol.) so a guy who's been with Kitsune for so long would have gotten immune to her foxy ways somewhat. Coupled with the fact he doesn't have bumbling clumsiness, he's quite a normal guy. And maybe there's some other reasons, but those are for later. The clumsy one is Naru! Bwahahahaa! Interactions with the other tenants will be elaborated in later chapters.
Click review it's below this line. Yes, you know you want to... you know you want toooo...