Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina. Tokyo Pop and Ken Akamatsu do.
WARNING: Contains seines of brief nudity. Reader discretion is advised.
MINDS WITHIN A MIND
Chapter 4- Remembering Memories: Part 1
"Do you remember the 1st time all 3 of us were together at a hospital?" Mr. Meahara asks with a smile. Mrs. Meahara gives a smile of her own. "How could I forget? That was the happiest day of my life." she says with a happy sigh.
(o)
Shinobu moans and slowly opens her eyes and notices that she's in a very bright, very white, very big (yet somehow confining) room. She looks around for a second or 2 noticing there aren't any windows, doors, or any other source for the bright white light.
"Huh? Where am I? What happened to me?" she asks confusingly with a slight echo in the room. Suddenly she gets a surprised look her face.
"That's right I was shot!" she says to herself. She looks down as she feels her stomach. "But where are my wounds?" she asks confusingly as she sees no bullet wounds. "Am I dead?" she wonders Then she notices something else.
"Ahh! I'm naked!" she says loudly as she covers herself. She slowly lowers her hands remembering that no one else is around to see her. Then she notices that her body is surrounded by a bright, misty like light that is blurring all noticeable parts.
She looks around again. "Where is this place?" she asks confusingly again.
"Come on honey you can do it!" shouts a voice in the room. "NNNNNYYYYAAAHHHHHH!" comes a blood curdling scream.
Shinobu is startled by all the yelling. "Where is that coming from?" she asks out loud.
Suddenly the room starts to glow very brightly and Shinobu is forced to close her eyes. After a moment the glow fades away and Shinobu slowly opens her eyes. She notices that she is facing a wall in another room, this time it has floral patterned wallpaper.
"Ok honey another good push now!" "NNNNNNYYYYAAAHHHHH!" comes another louder scream from behind her. She turns around quickly and sees that she is in a hospital room with a woman on a bed, a doctor between her legs, and a man standing beside the woman holding her hand.
Shinobu slowly walks over to the bed that the woman is on. "What's going on here?" she asks. No one answers her; no one even notices she's there even after she waves her hand in front of them. She is even more confused now.
"NNNYYAAHHHH!" screams the woman again. "Very good push Mrs. Maehara. This baby should be out any minute now." says the doctor between the woman's legs.
"Mrs. Maehara? Baby?" Shinobu says confusingly with a bit of surprise. She looks back to the woman and man and then realizes something. "Mom? Dad?" she says with a bit of shock. She looks closer and sees that it's her parents but a lot younger somewhere in their mid 20's. Then something pops into her head.
"GASP! I must be witnessing my own birth!" says Shinobu with surprise.
"NNNNYYAAAHHHHH!" screams Mrs. Maehara once more. "Ok it's out!" says the doctor. "It's a girl!" he adds. The doctor turns the baby over and gives it a smack on the butt causing Shinobu to cringe a little. "WWAHHH!" screams the baby.
A nurse cleans and then wraps the baby into a blanket and hands her over to Mrs. Maehara. "She has a beautiful head full of dark blue hair." comments the nurse.
"She has your eyes." says Mrs. Maehara to Mr. Maehara. "But she has your beauty." says Mr. Maehara. Shinobu blushes a little.
"So what are you 2 going to name her?" asks the doctor while cleaning up "the mess". The 2 parents look at each other confusingly. "You know we haven't been able to decide on one." says Mr. Maehara.
Mrs. Maehara gets an idea and looks over to the nurse. "Excuse me ma'am?" she asks. The nurse turns around quickly. "Can I ask what your name is?" asks Mrs. Maehara. "My name is Shinobu, ma'am." says the nurse. Mrs. Maehara looks up at Mr. Maehara.
"So what do you think?" she asks. "I think it's perfect. Little Shinobu." says Mr. Maehara as he looks at baby Shinobu. Shinobu gives a grin at this lovely sight. Then the baby looks right at Shinobu, startling her a bit, and the room once again glows a bright white, blinding Shinobu causing her to close her eyes once more.
As the glow fades once again Shinobu slowly opens her eyes. She notices that she is now standing in a familiar living room but she just can't put her finger on it.
"Come on Shinobu you can do it!" says a man's voice from be behind her. Shinobu turns around and sees her parents kneeling and waving at something. She looks over and sees a dark blue hired toddler standing up holding onto a couch. She realizes that the toddler is her. She walks over to her parents looking on cautiously.
"Come on Shinobu. Come on." says Mrs. Maehara holding out her hands at little Shinobu. Shinobu watches as little Shinobu slowly lets go of the couch's edge and takes a step toward her parents, then another, and another, and another!
"That's it! You're doing it! You're doing it!" cries out her father. Shinobu watches as little Shinobu gives a big smile as she gets closer to her mother.
Another couple of steps and she reaches her mother. "Yeah you did it Shinobu! You did it!" laughs her parents as they pick up little Shinobu who is also giggling. "Ma Ma!" says little Shinobu. Both parents look at her suddenly with bewilderment.
"Shinobu you just took your 1st steps and said your 1st word on the same day!" both parents say proudly as little Shinobu laughs with them as they playfully dance around the room.
Shinobu laughs a bit too as she watches the sight with a big smile. "I never knew I took my 1st steps and said my 1st word all on the same day." she says as she wipes a tear of happiness from her face.
Suddenly toddler Shinobu looks directly at Shinobu and the room once again glows brightly causing her to cover her eyes again by closing them.
The bright glow once again fades away and Shinobu opens her eyes. She looks around to see a familiar long hallway. She sees many kids walking down the hallway. Some with a parent or parents, and some without.
"This is my old elementary school!" Shinobu says to herself. She looks around for a moment or 2 looking at the familiar hallway thinking of all memories that she made here.
"Mommy. I'm too scared." says a little girl from behind Shinobu. Shinobu turns around to see a little girl about 5 years of age slowly peaking out from behind a woman's dress looking a bit frightened with a couple of tears falling from her eyes. The woman turns around and kneels down to the little girl.
"I know you're a bit scared because it's your 1st day of school, but Shinobu we told you everything will be fine." says the woman as she takes a tissue and wipes away a couple of tears from the little girl's face.
"Now I remember! This was my 1st day of school!" says Shinobu a bit surprised. "I remember I was so scared then." she adds. She looks back up at the little girl that was sniffing and looking at her mother with big puppy dog eyes.
"But mommy…"says little Shinobu. "Come on Shinobu. I'll walk you to your room ok." says Mrs. Maehara. Little Shinobu looks down at the ground with a very saddened look knowing that there is no way to get out of it. "….Ok." she says. Both of them start walking to a room down the hallway.
Shinobu follows them (knowing the way) to room 23-A. As she enters the room, a flood of memories come rushing back of her kindergarten years. She looks over to see her young self grasping onto her mother's dress not wanting to let go.
"Come on Shinobu you're going to have to let go of me now. I have to go now so why not go over there have some fun with those children with the ball. I'm sure you'll make a lot of friends." says her mother while pulling Shinobu's hands off her dress. She kneels down and gives little Shinobu a kiss on the cheek and then walks out of the room.
Shinobu watches as her younger self walks over to the chair in the corner desk and just sits down with some tears falling from her eyes. Shinobu wants to go over to comfort herself but a little blonde girl beats her to it.
"Hi!" the little girl says with a yelping hello startling little Shinobu out of her tearful stare. "Hello there! I'm Shiko Aowyama. Pleased to meet you!" says the little blonde girl as she bows happily.
"Gasp! Shiko! My 1st friend!" says Shinobu with a surprised look.
"Um….hello….I'm Shinobu Maehara. Pleased to meet you too." says little Shinobu with a very shy soft voice just barely above a whisper as she stands and bows. "Want to come play dolls with me over by the book shelf?" asks Shiko. "Um….Ok I guess." answers little Shinobu. Shinobu watches as Shiko grabs little Shinobu's hand and pulls her to the book shelf.
Shinobu watches happily as the 2 of them play together, sit beside one another in class, and talk a lot to each other all the class day, but near the end of class she hears Shiko ask her the question that would change her life forever.
"Hey Shinobu. Would you like to come to my place after school?" asks Shiko. "Um…If my mom says it's alright then I guess I can." answers little Shinobu.
The room flashes with light again and the seine changes. Shinobu looks around and sees a long flight of steps. She hears some giggling ahead of her and looks up to see her younger self and Shiko already half way up the steps. Shinobu rushes to catch up with them. When she reaches the top of the steps she is all out of breath. She looks up to see a very familiar sight.
"It's Hinata Sou!" she says out loud.
She hears someone talking and looks up to see the 2 talking to each other. "Wow! Is this your mansion?" asks little Shinobu. "No silly this is Hinata Inn. My dad works as a waiter at tea shop next door and my mom works as a maid in the inn, so the woman who owns both places lets us live here for free. In fact my room is just across the hallway from her room! My parents sleep in the room right next to mine." explains Shiko. "Oh you're so lucky. I wish I could live in a big place like this." says little Shinobu.
The 2 girls head inside. As Shinobu follows them she starts to remember all the good times she had with Shiko. Then she remembers where Shiko is taking little Shinobu.
They reach the top part of Hinata Inn and Shinko starts to climb up onto the roof. "Oh wait isn't that dangerous!" calls out little Shinobu. "Don't worry I come up here all the time; this is my secret special place." she says as she reaches the top part of the roof and starts to go across. "Come on Shinobu I want to show you something!" calls out Shiko again.
Little Shinobu hesitates for a second before slowly climbing onto the roof. She reaches the top and slowly walks across the roof to where Shiko is near the edge. Shinobu also follows.
"Look!" says Shiko as she eagerly points out. Little Shinobu looks to the direction Shiko is pointing. "WOW! What a view!" she shouts in amazement. Little Shinobu and Shiko stare out at the evening sunset overlooking all of Hinata town. "You can see all of Hinata town and even a part of Tokyo over to your left from here." says Shiko. Little Shinobu just stands there staring at the sight with a look of amazement on her face.
"This is my special place I like to come too when I'm feeling down. So I thought since you were down a bit today I would share this place with you. We can come here together when ever we feel down." says Shiko.
Shinobu is crying some more tears of happiness when she looks back up to see little Shinobu looking right at her. The bight glowing white light comes again blinding Shinobu once more.
As the glow fades Shinobu slowly opens her eyes to see a very familiar sight. "Hey! My old room at the restaurant!" she says to herself. She hears a giggle behind her. She turns around to see an 8 year old Shinobu playing with some dolls.
"He He!" giggles the younger Shinobu as she plays with her dolls. "I can't wait for Shiko to get here. We're going to have a great slumber party! He He He!" the younger Shinobu giggles some more.
"Oh God! Not this please anything but this memory!" says Shinobu fearfully.
The younger Shinobu looks up at the clock. "But it's already 9:00. She was supposed to be here 2 hours ago. I hope she didn't forget." adds the younger Shinobu.
Then there is a knock at her door. "Come in!" the younger Shinobu calls out thinking it's Shiko. But instead her mother walks in looking extremely shaken up.
The younger Shinobu looks at her mother confusingly. "What's wrong mommy?" she asks. Mrs. Maehara looks up with tears starting to poor down her face.
"I'm so sorry Shinobu, but Shiko and her family…..were killed in a car accident on the way up here." says Mrs. Maehara. The young Shinobu who was now standing just stares at her mother, dumbfounded at what she has just heard.
"What?" asks the younger Shinobu confusingly.
"They were going through an intersection; they had the right of way, but a speeding freight truck blew through the intersection at the same time and slammed into their car. Shiko and her parents were all killed instantly." explains Mrs. Maehara while crying a bit. Younger Shinobu just stands there in shock for a few seconds when her eyes fill up with tears and she drops her doll that she had been holding.
"Oh Shinobu I'm so sorry!" says her mother as she kneels to the ground with her arms open. Younger Shinobu runs into her mother's arms and begins to cry very heavily.
Shinobu also starts to cry as all the heartache from that day comes rushing back. She looks back up briefly to see younger Shinobu looking right at her, and then the bright white glow comes back quickly and blinds her once again.
The glow fades away and Shinobu opens her eyes once again. She sees that she is in the main room of Hinata Inn with a bunch of people wearing black. "Sniff This is the gathering of family and friends at Hinata Inn for Shiko and her parents right after their funeral." remembers Shinobu.
She sees Grandma Hina and Haruka talking to some people over in the corner, and she walks over to them.
"So what are you going to do with the Inn Mrs. Hina?' asks a man in black. "Well I'm suddenly out 2 hard working employees. So I guess I have no other choice but to close it." says Grandma Hina.
"Well I might know of a way to save the place. My brother had an inn in Asahikawa that began to falter. So he converted it into an apartment building and it ended up saving his career." says the same man.
"An apartment building you say? Hmmm that is a good idea. The tenants would be responsible for cleaning there own rooms and cooking there own food. I would still be reliable for repair and upkeep of the building itself but this would earn enough money to save the place so maybe I will convert it into an apartment, but only for women. I've seen how messy and destructive men can live so an all girls dormitory I think would be best." (Yeah right!) finishes Grandma Hina.
"Excuse me Mrs. Hina, but have you seen my daughter?" asks a woman in a long black dress. Shinobu looks up to see her mother asking the question.
"Let's see. You may want to cheek the roof." answers Grandma Hina. "Huh? Why the roof?" asks Mrs. Maehara. "Well because she and Shiko use to go on the roof all the time. It was their special spot where they would go when ever they felt bad. It really has an amazing view of Hinata Town." says Grandma Hina. Mrs. Maehara heads to the roof while Shinobu follows her, knowing what is about to happen next.
When they reach the roof, Mrs. Maehara looks around a bit until she sees younger Shinobu on her knees with her hands up to her face balling her eyes out near the edge of the roof.
"I remember this. I had been on the roof crying in the same spot for almost 20 mins before my mother found me." says Shinobu to herself. Mrs. Maehara hesitates for a moment before calling out to young Shinobu.
"Shinobu!" her mother calls out. "It's about time to leave. Come on down so we can go ok." Mrs. Maehara calls out. Younger Shinobu looks back and slowly nods her head. She stands up and starts to turn around. But because of all the tears that younger Shinobu had been crying there was a small wet spot on the roof. Younger Shinobu steps right on it and her foot slips right out from under her and she begins to fall backwards.
Mrs. Maehara has just turned around to head back downstairs when she hears a scream from behind her. She turns around quickly to see a foot go off the edge. "SHINOBU!" screams her mother. All they hear next is a loud thud. Shinobu sees her mother jump the railing and run to the edge of the roof repeatedly screaming her name. Then the bight light flashes and blinds Shinobu for a few seconds.
When the light fades she sees she is in a hospital waiting room. "Mr. and Mrs. Maehara." says a voice from behind her. She turns around to see a doctor talking to her parents.
"Your daughter was incredibly lucky today. Although she landed hard on her left side suffering a sprained left ankle, a broken left arm, a couple of bruised ribs on her left side and receiving a mild concussion from the impact she will be fine in a few weeks. Man she was lucky those bushes where there to break her fall from a 4 story building. Just have her take it easy for the next couple of weeks and she should heal just fine." finishes the doctor.
A nurse wheels out a bandaged up girl through the door into the waiting room in a wheel chair. Her parents walk up to her a give her a loving hug of relief. "Oh Shinobu thank goodness your alive." says her Mother. "I'll be ok mom really." says the younger Shinobu.
"Yes. But you are not allowed to go up on that roof anymore. It's far too dangerous!" says her mother while her father nods in agreement but then speaks up himself.
"If fact you can't ever go back to that inn." he says forcefully. "And why not?" yells her mother. "Because that whole place is dangerous! That place is falling apart! I wouldn't be surprised if there was a hole there just covered by a weak piece of cardboard that she could easily fall through somewhere!" argues her father.
"That was the place where her best friend grew up! So why can't she go visit every so often?" shouts her mother. "I'm not letting my daughter go inside a hazardous area like that ever again! She was lucky this time but what happens if something fell on her huh?" shouts her father back.
The shouting keeps getting louder until the doctor asks them to leave because they are making quite a big seine. Both young Shinobu and Shinobu let out a sigh.
"This was the worst day of my life. 1st I had to go to my best friend's funeral, then I fell off the Hinata inn roof injuring myself, then I was restricted from ever going there again, and this was the day when all the arguments between my parents started that lead to their divorce. I would be very depressed for a long time after this day, until HE came into my life." she says to herself. She then looks over and sees the younger Shinobu looking right at her and then the bright glow returns once again blinding her for a few moments.
When the light fades she sees that she's in the bright white room once again. She's feels a bit depressed from the last couple of memories that where shown to her, and yet she also feels a bit relieved that they were over.
She stands in the room for what seemed like an hour until she hears some foot steps. She looks around but sees no one until the room glows a bright white once again blinding her.
The bright light fades and she opens her eyes to the long flight of steps again. She hears foots steps beside her again and she looks over to see her 10 year old self walking up them. Shinobu follows herself to the top. As she reaches the top she sees 5 people standing in the front of Hinata Sou. Grandma Hina, Haruka, a slightly younger Naru and Kitsune who are in their high school uniforms and a younger Su clutching Kitsune. Then she realizes something.
"This is the day in which I decided to move to Hinata Sou!" she says with amazement.
End of Chapter 4
To be continued in Chapter 5- Remembering Memories: Part 2
Author Note: Sorry this one ran a little long but I had a lot of ground to cover in this chapter. I hope you have found the pattern to the story. If you haven't then you probably won't figure it out until I in one of the last chapters.
Story Hint: Shiko is a character I made up to help explain why Shinobu turn out the way she did before she met Kietaro. I hope you all found it to be acceptable. Also Shinobu's past may not have gone this way so I made it up a bit. And if you haven't noticed I am using elements from both the manga and anime versions of Love Hina so I hope you all have read and seen both of them, otherwise you might get a bit lost in a couple of areas. Also the part about Grandma Hina converting the Inn into a dormitory is true, it was called Hinata Inn until it was converted. Its name was then changed to Hinata Sou.