Greetings to one and all! No, I have not put my other series in the trash... Merely set them aside as I'm having a brainfart on how to progress with it. This story is my latest brainstorm, so I hope you enjoy!

As always, Love Hina and its characters belong to Ken Akamatsu.


Lineages

Chapter 1: Chance meeting

Keitaro sighed as he turned the last two pages of his cram school textbook back and forth, unable to comprehend how to get the answer displayed on the back of the question. Time passed ever slowly, and after wearing out two pencils and nearly wearing holes out of his calculator, the three time ronin landlord decided to ask for tutoring help from his study partner.

"Hey Naru?" Keitaro pushed aside the board covering the hole which connected their rooms and popped his head in. "I'm stuck on this problem, and..."

The landlord never got to finish his sentence, as he gaped in shock. Having just gotten back from the hot springs, Naru had just changed into a set of white lace lingerie, and looked back equally in surprise at Keitaro's entrance. However, the surprise quickly wore off, and she stormed towards him with an enraged look.

"Don't you ever knock, pervert!" Naru growled, reeling her fist back.

"Oh kami, why me...?" Keitaro muttered in fear, closing his eyes and praying he won't land on anything too painful...


In the living room, Kitsune's eyes were glued to the television while several horse racing tickets were clenched in her hands. Beside her on the couch, Motoko sighed as she rested her chin in one hand, her eyes keeping watch outside the screen door with a bored expression.

Meanwhile, Shinobu hummed quietly to herself as she whisked together a bowl of batter to make a cake she had seen on a cooking show. No one in the house seemed surprised in the slightest when they heard a sound which seemed like an explosion, followed by Keitaro rolling down the stairs and landing in a heap.

"That looks fun!" Kaolla beamed, bouncing onto the still recovering landlord. She then brought out what appeared to be a laser rifle from a backpack. "Come on, I need your help on testing my new invention!"

"Maybe later..." Keitaro chuckled nervously as he set the young inventor down and dusted himself off. He then moved to join the others beside the television, smiling to himself as Kitsune jumped up and whopped for joy while clutching onto one of her tickets as if it were made of gold.

"Honestly, Kitsune." Motoko spoke, raising an eyebrow at the resident slacker. "Your fascination with horse racing is almost as bad as your drinking."

"Bah! Bad habit or not, this baby is going to let me swim in sake tonight!" Kitsune's smile was from ear to ear as she clutched her winning ticket, she then raised an eyebrow at the two. "So what are you two doing here? I don't recall you guys being interested in horse races..."

Motoko was about to reply when she suddenly perked her ears, then rushed out of the house in a blur to empty the contents of the mailbox before anyone realized what had happened. Putting all other letters aside, she pulled out three letters addressed from the placement test facility and handed two to Keitaro and Naru, who had joined them a second ago. She then began shredding the one addressed to her apart to see her results.

"Alright, an A!" Naru smiled, then elbowed Keitaro. "What about you, slacker?"

"I got a C!" Keitaro jumped for joy. "I actually have a chance this time!" He then cried in joy at his score while Naru double-checked his letter, claiming that there must've been a mistake somewhere.

However, no one had paid attention to Motoko, who stood with a empty gaze as she read her letter:

Grade: D -

Status: Unlikely chance of entering university of choice.

Focus: Student is strong in subjects of history and literature, but weak in mathematics and science.

"So, Motoko!" The swordswoman gasped as she folded up the letter. "What did you get on your mock exam?" She then turned to glare at Keitaro, who had to stand on his toes to peek over her shoulders.

"Just what are you looking at, pervert!" Motoko roared, and uppercutted him through the ceiling. Seeing the swordswoman seething in rage, Naru thought better of it and decided not to ask about her friend's score...

"Um, Motoko...?" Shinobu's voice seemed to cut through the swordswoman's rage, who turned to the young chef. "I seem to be short a few ingredients for the cake, could you..."

"Just give me the list, Shinobu." Motoko replied before the chef could finish. "I need some time alone to think, anyways..."


Having landed in a public swimming pool, Keitaro began his long trek back home. Along the way, a small flying turtle drew the attention of many people, but the landlord gave it no thought as it landed on his head. Tama was, for all intent and purposes, an unofficial mascot of Hinata-sou and pet of his other study partner - Mutsumi Otohime.

"Well, what do we have here...?" A young man about the same age as Keitaro drove up beside him in a sports car. "Did someone get dumped by the lovely Naru Narusegawa?" The comment struck the landlord deeply, as he felt unappreciated by the tenants as is. Kentaro Sakata, rich playboy and spoiled brat, laughed as he drove off.

With a bounding leap, Tama landed on Kentaro's windshield with a smile. This caused him to veer wildly out of control as he tried to shake the turtle off, while unknowingly speeding towards Keitaro. The landlord looked up from his depressed mood and stared in shock as the car was on a collision course with him.

"I'm so dead...!" Keitaro cried in fear. He then stared as a figure seemed to appear from nowhere, wearing the traditional red and white of the Shinmei-ryu. The figure drew her sword in a single smooth stroke, causing the car to stop mere inches before them, then falling to pieces around the unfortunate Kentaro, who continued to gibber in fear.

"That was the rock splitting sword, second form...!" Keitaro then smiled brightly. "Wow, thank you so much Motoko!"

"Oh...?" The figure sheathed her sword just as a golden bird landed on her shoulder. "Did you just say Motoko...?" She then turned to look at the landlord, who stared in awe at the swordswoman, who seemed every inch an older and more beautiful version of Motoko.


A half hour later, Keitaro and the woman he met was chatting and laughing as they entered the Hinata-sou.

"That's very interesting to hear." The swordswoman smiled as she turned to the landlord. "I'm happy to hear that my sister is vigilant on maintaining her training."

"She takes her training very seriously, Miss Tsuruko." Keitaro nodded. "You must be proud to have her as your sister, just as we are to have her as a tenant."

"Of course I'm proud." Tsuruko smiled. "And please, Tsuruko is fine. There's no need for titles between us." The two chuckled as they entered the living room, and was surprised to find almost everyone present having tea and chatting with another woman wearing the same Shinmei-ryu outfit.

"Finally made it, sister?" The seemingly younger woman greeted the newcomer. While Tsuruko seemed to have a constant cheerful air about her, the younger woman seemed to have a no-nonsense, purely business attitude even as she sipped her tea.

"My apoligies." Tsuruko smiled as she sat with the group, and thanked Shinobu as she brought her tea as well. "I would have come sooner, but I was sidetracked by meeting the well mannered landlord of Hinata-sou." This caused Keitaro to chuckle nervously, while eyeing Naru and praying she wouldn't take the comment as another 'act of perversion.'

"Wow... You're both Motoko's sisters? You're both so beautiful like her..." Shinobu smiled timidly as she sat beside Naru. Indeed, both of the Aoyoma sisters sported long and silky black hair, and despite wearing a training gi and hakama, one could see very feminine curves hidden underneath.

"Yeah, even the ronin is staring!" Kaolla grinned, causing Keitaro to snap out of a trance. His gaze at the younger of the two sisters didn't go unnoticed, as the young woman smiled with a faint blush, while Naru growled threateningly at the landlord.

"So I overheard that Motoko is training every day diligently?" The younger woman commented, preventing Naru from exploding on the poor landlord. Upon seeing the tenants nodding in unison, the woman raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? I'm not so sure, seeing as there's plenty to distract her with here..." Her last remark was directed at Tsuruko while her eyes remained on Keitaro, causing the elder Aoyoma to chuckle while the landlord tried to hide his reddening face.

"I'm home!" Motoko's voice suddenly called out, as the front door closed seconds later.

"Come on in, Motoko!" Keitaro called out. "You have some visitors!"

With a curious look on her face, the resident swordswoman walked into the living room. Her face froze as she saw the two newcomers, before she scrambled backwards in fear and nearly cracked the wall with the impact as her expression was replaced with absolute fear. The tenants merely watched in surprise, as they have never seen the stoic swordswoman being scared of anything other than turtles.

"Why, hello dear sister..." Tsuruko smiled cheerfully.

"...You look well." The other woman finished, smiling as well.

"Tsuruko... Kanako..." Motoko gulped nervously, suddenly wishing she had chosen to wear her training outfit rather than her choice of tank top and jean shorts in front of her siblings. "What... brings you two here...?"

"Have you forgotten already?" Tsuruko smiled, shaking her head. "You're so forgetful, Motoko..."

"We're here to bring you back, dear sister." Kanako crossed her arms. "It's time you take on the responsibilities as head of the Shinmei-ryu, as you have promised to do a year ago."

"But..." Motoko was at a loss of words, as were all the tenants...


Like? No like? Please review!

Well, like I said - It's just something for me to tinker with while I brainstorm for my other series, hopefully this chapter perked your interest, as more are coming soon!