Disclaimer: I do not own Love Hina. Tokyo Pop and Ken Akamatsu do.
WARNING: Contains scenes of …..um actually this is a rather calm chapter.
MINDS WITHIN A MIND
Chapter 8- Oh! The Possibilities!
Shinobu looks around for a second and realizes something. "No. This can't be. This can't be my graduation ceremony!" she says with a lot of shock.
She looks up at the man standing behind the podium speaking into the microphone. There she sees Mr. Taguya the high school principle.
"I just want to say really quickly before we hand out the diplomas that this class, the class of 2007, has been one of the greatest classes ever to come out of Hinata High. This class has produced the highest percentage of college bound graduates ever! And I am proud to be the one handing out these diplomas!" he finishes saying.
"Class of 2007?" says Shinobu to herself. She looks up at the gigantic banner hanging up over the stage and sure enough it says "Class of '07." "But how? This hasn't even happened yet! How can I be able to see this?" she keep wondering.
Mr. Taguya reaches over to a table beside him and picks up a diploma. "Miss. Achika Atani." he says into the mic. A girl in the far left front row stands up and walks up on to the stage. Mr. Taguya bows and hands the diploma over to her. She also bows and takes it and returns to her seat. "Mr. Akira Atani (No relation to Achika BTW)." calls out Mr. Taguya. The boy sitting next to Achika stands up and walks to the stage to receive his diploma.
Meanwhile Shinobu looks around still puzzled by this "memory" when she spots herself about halfway back in the rows. She slowly walks to herself. She sees that her older self has a big smile on her face waiting eagerly for her name to be called out.
As each name is said a small cheer from a different part of the bleachers can be heard. Some a little louder than others. Family members of the people whose names are being called out are the ones doing the cheering. Shinobu looks around trying to see if she can find her parents or friends form Hinata Sou in the crowd, but there just too many people. "If this is my High School graduation, I hope everyone is here to see me." says Shinobu softly.
After about 30 mins of calling out names and saying a few words about some of the people called up, like also receiving a scholarship or how well they played for the various sports teams in the school, Mr. Taguya is getting close to older Shinobu. Finally he reaches her name.
"Miss Shinobu Maehara." he calls out. Shinobu is surprised to hear most of the gym start to cheer. She hears one small section cheering louder than the rest and she turns to see who is cheering. She is happy to see Keitaro and the rest of the Hinata Sou gang and her parents cheering for her as older Shinobu stands up.
Shinobu turns back to look at her older self and is shocked to see her older self have a slight limp while walking up to the stage. "Why do I have a slight limp?" she wonders to herself. She is also still stunned and curious on why most of the gym is also cheering for her. She follows her older self on to the stage.
"Miss. Maehara I just want to say that you are one of the most amazing students ever to come out of this school. As many of you may or may not know, Miss Maehara here was shot two years ago and was on the brink of death for many days, but she battled back. She then turned her life around and started to study hard for Toudai. With a 3.97 GPA she has become one of the best students of this year and she has earned a 2,100,000 yen scholarship to any college of her choice! Congratulations Miss Maehara."
(Author Interruption: 2,100,000 yen to roughly $20,000 U.S. Dollars)
Mr. Taguya bows to older Shinobu and gives her, her diploma and her scholarship. Older Shinobu bows and takes them both and then raises the diploma and scholarship above her head and again most of the gym once again cheers for her.
"I think I get it now." says Shinobu with a very slight grin looking up to her family and friends in the bleachers. "I'm being shown what my life would have been like if I had survived." she says with a small tear running down her cheek.
She turns back to look at her older self. She sees that her older self is looking right at her. Suddenly she feels like she is being pulling away again and once again she enters the grayish cloudy spiraling tunnel.
After what seems to be only a few minutes a bright light at the end of the tunnel engulfs her and she is once again in a different place. She looks around to see that she is once again in the living room of Hinata Sou.
Not too many things have changed it appears from the present but there are a few things different about it. She walks over to the coffee table in front of the couch and looks at a couple of magazines laying there. She sees that the year on them is still 2007. "I guess it's not long after my graduation." says Shinobu to herself.
"I PASSED! Everyone I passed!" comes a yell from someone running through the front door of Hinata Sou. Shinobu turns around and sees her older self run into the living room with a very slight limp waving an envelop and an unfolded letter. She can't tell what the letter is because her older self keeps waving it around.
Everyone from form different parts of Hinata Sou come out and enter the living room. "What's all the yelling about?" says Keitaro as he comes down the stairs. "Sempai! Look!" says older Shinobu as she shoves the letter into Keitaro's face. He grabs it and begins to read it.
"Dear Miss Shinobu Maehara, We are pleased to tell you that you HAVE PASSED THE TOUDAI ENTRANCE EXAMS and have been accepted into Tokyo University! Wow Shinobu this is great!" says Keitaro with excitement.
"Congratulations!" says everyone else as they each give a hug of happiness to older Shinobu who is now giggling with a great big smile. "So I could have gone on to pass the Toudai entrance exams huh, and on the first try too!" says Shinobu to herself.
"This calls for one of Hinata Sou's famous parties!" shouts Kitsune. "I'll get the banners!" shouts Su. "And as usual I'll provide the booze!" says Kitsune. "Not this time guys." interrupts Keitaro.
Everyone looks at Keitaro. "This is a very special event, so as a reward I will be taking Shinobu out on a date." he says. Both Shinobu's faces light up. "Really Sempai!" asks older Shinobu. "Yup." answers Keitaro. Shinobu watches and her older self goes over and gives Keitaro a big hug. But then the grayish cloudy swirling tunnel comes again and Shinobu is "transported" to another place.
Shinobu looks around and sees that she is at the same fair grounds that she was in when Keitaro took her on her first date after she had failed a test. "So Shinobu how do you think this date is going?" says a voice from behind Shinobu. Shinobu turns around and sees Keitaro and her older self near the front of the line to the gigantic fair-is-wheel. "Oh Sempai, this is great!" answers older Shinobu happily.
"Ok! Next two!" says a big fat middle-aged balding man with a stained white fair t-shirt and smoking a cigar. Keitaro and older Shinobu walk up to the enclosed cart that pulls up and lets a family of four step out. Keitaro lets older Shinobu enter first. But just before Keitaro enters he is stopped by the smoking man.
"Hey buddy, she's quit the catch. Tell you what. Pay me a few extra yen and I'll stop the ride while you guys are at the top and you two can 'have some fun.'" he says with a sinister smile and a wink. Both Keitaro and both Shinobus blush a deep red after hearing this.
"Heh Heh." says Keitaro with a forced laugh. "Uh…we don't have that kind of relationship." adds Keitaro with another forced grin with his hand behind his head. "Suit yourself." answers the man.
As older Shinobu turns away to look out the window Keitaro quickly slips the man a 500 yen (about $5). "Heh you sneaky little dog." says the man quietly. "Listen all I need to do is talk with her ok." says Keitaro with a stern look. "Humph. What ever you say Pal. You got five mins." answers the man with in a sarcastic voice.
Keitaro looks at the man with a slightly discussed look but then steps into the cart himself and sits next to older Shinobu. The man closes the door and then pulls the lever and the fair-is-wheel begins turning. But just before it does Shinobu runs up and jumps into the cart also and sits across from Keitaro and her older self.
About two minutes or so go by when both Shinobus notice that the fair-is-wheel begins to slowdown and then stop with them at the very top. Older Shinobu looks over at Keitaro who is looking right at her and she gets a slight worried look. "Sempai…you didn't?" she asks worryingly.
"Yes I did. But don't worry all I wanted was to have a private talk with you." answers Keitaro. Older Shinobu shakes her head a bit telling herself that Keitaro would never take advantage of her like that.
"Shinobu I was wondering. Do you remember that bouquet of roses you got about six months after you came home from the hospital?" asks Keitaro. Older Shinobu looks at him with a bit of shock. "Yes." she answers. "I was wondering if you remember what the card said?" asks Keitaro again.
"Not word for word." answers older Shinobu. "Did you ever find out who it was from?" he asks again. "No I never did. It said it was from a secret admirer, so I figured it was from a boy at my school who wanted to congratulate me for completing my rehab, but I'm not sure. Why do you ask?" asks older Shinobu.
"Heh. No reason I was just curious that's all." answers Keitaro. After a short moment older Shinobu speaks up. "Is that all you wanted to talk to me about?" she asks. "No. There is something I have been needing to tell you and the rest of the girls of Hinata Sou about. It's about me and Naru." says Keitaro with a bit of sadness in his voice.
"Are you two having trouble in a class or something?" asks older Shinobu. "No I'm afraid that it's something a little more serious than that. You see me and Naru have decided to go our own ways. You know to see other people." answers Keitaro.
Both Shinobus look right at Keitaro with shock. "You two broke up?" says older Shinobu with shock. "Well I wouldn't say broke up; more like went our separate ways." answers Keitaro. "How long?" asks older Shinobu. "About eight months now." answers Keitaro.
"How did this happen?" asks older Shinobu. "Well we just seem to get less and less happy about being together. We were so happy that we had made it to Toudai together at last and we felt as if we were on cloud nine. But lately it just seems that we were getting too use to seeing each other and so we started to spend less and less time with each other until we decided to call it quits." answers Keitaro. After a few seconds he speaks up again.
"I'm sorry to tell you all this before I told the others, but I needed to get this out; and since you are the most understanding of all the others girls I knew you would understand and not get angry or anything like that at me." says Keitaro as he looks down with a downed look.
Older Shinobu scoots over to Keitaro and lays her head on his shoulder and gives a slight caring grin. "Don't worry. It's ok that you told all of this to me. I'm not mad, nor can I be at you. Just don't take so long in tell us next time ok." says older Shinobu. "Thank you." says Keitaro as he looks out of the window of the cart over all of Tokyo with a slight smile.
All three of them feel the fair-is-wheel start up again and begin to move. Shinobu can only smile as she watches her older self keep her head on Keitaro's shoulder. She also looks out over at the beautiful sight of downtown Tokyo. She turns back to look at her older self only to see that she is looking right at her.
Once again she feels herself pull away and once again enters the grayish cloudy spiraling tunnel. After what seems to be only a few more minutes the light at the end of the tunnel engulfs her once again. After it fades Shinobu looks around and notices that she is in a large classroom.
She looks around and sees almost 100 people or more in the room with a teacher doing a lecture. Shinobu walks up to the front of the room to look at the marker board. She looks up and sees the year 2009 written on it. "Two years after my high school graduation huh." says Shinobu to herself.
"Ok class that's it for today. Be sure to read chapters nine and ten and be prepared for a quiz on them during next class time." says the teacher. Shinobu turns around quickly in time to hear most of the class moan at hearing this. She looks up and spots her older self packing a couple of books into a bag and begin to walk out the door.
Shinobu is a little stunned to see her older self with longer hair bunched up into a scruntchie. "Wow. I actually grew my hair out for once. Cool." says Shinobu to herself. Shinobu follows her older self out the door. As she comes around the corner she is stunned again to see her older self walking hand & hand with a young man whose face is covered in a shadow. "Who is that?" asks Shinobu to herself.
"Are you ready for our special date tonight Shinobu?" asks the young man. "Uh-huh I'm really excited about it!" answers older Shinobu with a big loving smile. "Who is that guy?" asks Shinobu to herself again. She tries to catch up to them but no matter how fast she tries to go she just doesn't seem to be catching up to them for some reason.
Shinobu looks back up at the couple and sees that her older self is looking back right at her and once again the grayish cloudy spiraling tunnel comes once again. The light at the end engulfs her and then fades quickly. As it does Shinobu looks around and sees that she is in a very fancy looking restaurant.
"Wow I can't believe you're able to afford this expensive place." says a voice from behind her. Shinobu turns around and sees her older self on the other side of a two person table wearing a rather cleavage reviling black mini-skirt and herself standing right behind the same young man from before who is wearing a typical black tux.
She tries to walk around to the other side to see the young man's face but it feels as if her feet are glued to the floor. "Heh. Don't you worry about the price. This is a special night for us and nothing is too expensive for you." answers the young man.
Shinobu watches as a waiter brings in their meals and they begin to eat them. After a little while older Shinobu and the young man finish their meals and begin to talk with each other. Suddenly the young man looks slightly away as if trying to gather some courage.
"Shinobu there is something I have been wanting to ask you for a while now. Ever since your shooting I have been amazed by your determination and resilience to live and go on with your life. And ever since I put at bouquet of roses in your room six months after you came home from the hospital I have been deeply in love with you. We have been seeing each other ever since you entered Toudai and you have made me a very happy man. So I want to ask you a question.
"Hmm. I must have found that boy who gave me those roses and decided to give him a try. I guess it's about to pay off." says Shinobu to herself.
Older Shinobu is a bit surprised to see the young man get down on one knee and pull out a ring from his back pocket. "Shinobu Maehara will you make me the happiest man alive and become my wife?" he asks.
Older Shinobu looks right into the young man's eyes. "Yes of course I will!" she says happily with a tear of happiness rolling down her check. The young man takes older Shinobu's left hand and places the ring on her ring finger. He then stands back up and gives older Shinobu passionate kiss on the lips. A group of people form another table applauded the successful proposal.
Shinobu still can't see the young man's face from where she is at. She looks back at her older self who is still kissing and sees that she is looking right at her. Once again Shinobu feels herself being pulled away and into the grayish cloudy spiraling tunnel. "Who is he?" asks Shinobu to herself.
The light at the end of the tunnel once again engulfs her and the light begins to fade once again. As it does she sees that she is in an open soccer field on a bright sunny day, with a lot of people sitting in the stands that circle the entire field. She also sees literally hundreds of people sitting in fold out metal chairs wearing graduation gowns in the middle of the field with a very large stage set up near one of the ends of the field. She looks up at the stage with a rather short elderly man behind a podium.
"Today we are here to send off the graduates of Tokyo University of the year 2011 as they embark on the journey known as life. We wish them the best of wishes as they proceed head strong into the world and contribute everything they can to the world and its people." says the old man. "Well you please come up to the stage and receive your degrees as your name is called please." adds the old man.
He starts to call out names of people and the degrees in which they have earned. Shinobu in the meantime looks around trying to find her older self. It takes nearly half an hour before she does.
Another hour passes and the old man finally calls older Shinobu. "Next. Miss Shinobu Maehara." he calls out. A big cheer erupts from one large section of the stands. Shinobu looks over and can just barely make out everyone from Hinata Sou, her parents, and a lot of her other friends cheering her on.
She watches as her older self walks up to the stage with a slight limp. "Miss Maehara is receiving a master's degree in the coronary arts. With a 3.9 grade point average she is one of the top students graduating this year!" says the old man proudly.
He bows and hands the master's degree to older Shinobu. Older Shinobu bows and takes the degree and then turns around and holds it up to her friends and family in the stands who are now cheering even louder and taking a lot of pictures.
Shinobu looks back at her older self who is now looking right at her. Once again she feels as if she is once again being pulled away into the grayish cloudy spiraling tunnel.
The light at the end of the tunnel comes up and engulfs her once again. As it fades Shinobu looks around and sees that she is in a large church with a lot of people in the pews. She also sees the church is really decked out in a lot of decorations. Suddenly the organ begins to play the "Here comes the bride" song.
She turns around and sees and beautiful woman start to slowly walk down the aisle with a slight limp escorted by her grandfather. Everyone in the church stands up as she enters the room. Shinobu walks out into the aisle to get a better view of the bride and is shocked to see it is her!
She looks again and is stunned to see her older self wearing an all white with red trimming silk wedding kimono. "Wooow. I look……so beautiful… and I've cut my hair short again." says Shinobu still in shock as her cheeks rose up. "Wow! That kimono must have cost a fortune!" she adds.
As the older Shinobu walks down the aisle Shinobu looks around to see if she can spot anyone she knows. Of course she spots her parents sitting in the front row along with other relatives and friends of the family. She then receives the shock of her life when she sees Seta, Haruka and Sara with a kid about three years of age who looks just like Seta.
"Well I'll be darned. Seta and Haruka have a kid after all…" says Shinobu to herself. She also sees Kanoko sitting right next to them. She looks around some more but notices Keitaro isn't there. She seems almost heart broken when she doesn't see him. "I guess…he's on another archeological dig or something and couldn't make it." she says in a very sad voice.
She snaps out of her sad daze when the pastor speak up. "Dearly beloved we are gathered here today to join Miss Shinobu Maehara and Mr.-" Just then a man coughs right beside of Shinobu thereby muffling the name of the young man. "- in holy matrimony." says the pastor.
"Gee thanks a lot pal!" she says sternly to the man who coughed. But realizes he would never hear her. She looks back at the couple and the pastor up front. She walks up front and sits in the front row. She watches as the pastor goes through the usual speech and traditions of the wedding.
As he does Shinobu looks over to see the bride's maids. She's happy to see Kitsune, Naru, Nyamo, and Mutsumi there dressed in bright pink bride's maids' dresses. But there is another girl there wearing glasses who is younger than them that she doesn't recognize. She figures it to be a friend of the groom's.
She looks over at the best men and two guys there with glasses that look familiar but she just can remember their names. The other men there see doesn't recognize. So she also figures that they are friends or relatives of the groom.
(Author Interruption- I'm going to spare you all the pastor's speech and get right to the nitty gritty)
About an hour and a half passes and Shinobu is a little annoyed because no matter how many times she tries to see the young man's face or here his name something always seems to get in the way. And every time she tries to walk up to the couple her feet always seem to be glued to the floor still.
"May we have the rings please?" says the pastor to the little ring barer. The young man takes the wedding ring for the bride. "With this ring I be wed." says the young man as he slips the ring onto older Shinobu's left ring finger. Older Shinobu then takes the other wedding ring. "With this ring I be wed." she says as she slips the ring onto the young man's left ring finger.
"Do you Shinobu Maehara promise to take this man as your awfully wedded husband? To love, cherish, and to hold, through sickness and in health through richer or poorer, forsaking all others, so long as you both shall live?" asks the pastor. Older Shinobu blushes slightly. "I do!" she says happily.
"And do you- (yet another cough muffles out the young man's name) take this woman to be your awfully wedded wife? To love, cherish, and to hold, through sickness and in health, through richer or poorer, forsaking all others, so long as you both shall live?" asks the pastor once again. The groom smiles. "I do." he answers.
"With that I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride!" says the pastor happily. At that moment Shinobu feels herself lift off the pew and quickly float over to older Shinobu. She then merges with her.
Shinobu opens her eyes and sees that she is looking right through her older self's eyes. But still the young man's face is covered in shadow. "What's going on now?" she says to herself surprisingly. She watches as the young man places his hands on her or rather her older self's waist.
With no control over herself she watches as her older self wraps her arms around the young man's neck. They start to lean into each other. "IM GOING TO BE KISSED!" says Shinobu very shocked.
As their lips come into contact Shinobu can actually feel the warm moist sensation of the young man's lips against her own. She blushes deeply at this feeling.
At that moment of the kiss other "memories" of the future begin to flash before her. She sees what's going to happen on their wedding night making her blush even more. She then sees her getting a job of being one of the head chefs at the most prestigious restaurant in all of Hinata town that serves the richest people in Japan and even the occasional rich foreigner.
It flashes again to her pregnant and then giving birth to a healthy baby boy. It flashes again to her pregnant and once again of her giving birth to another healthy baby boy. It flashes again to show her pregnant once again, but now giving birth this time to a healthy baby girl.
More "memories" start to flash faster. Of her sending the children off on their first days of school. The little girl actually acting like her on her first day of school.
It flashes again of her watching Naru getting married to some other guy. It flashes again to Mutsumi's wedding and then to Kitsune's wedding (if you can believe that!) and then to Motoko's wedding and then to Nyamo's, and then onto Su's and then finally to Sara's wedding. She watches as they also get pregnant and give birth to their own children. Mutsumi of course gives birth to at least 12 kids!
It flashes again to her kids going to junior high and then to high school and then graduating. She watches as her daughter takes after her and also loves to cook. Her oldest son seems have a knack for picking up girls. Her youngest son seems to be very smart and goes on to graduate with honors.
She watches as she and her husband send all three of them to Toudai. It flashes again to all of them graduating from Toudai. She goes on to watch all their weddings. And then to her grandchildren being born and raised.
She watches as her and her husband (whose face she still can't see) go on their second honeymoon and then on to retirement. She watches as they grow older together. Then she is saddened to see them attend a couple of funerals for some of her friends from Hinata Sou. First Haruka and Seta's and her parents', then on to Kitsune's, then to Mutsumi's and then to Naru's.
Then she sees her way older self standing alone at another funeral crying. She realizes that it must be for her husband. She goes on to watch herself grow even older to at least to her 90's, and watch Kanoko's funeral and then Su's, then Nyamo's and then surprisingly Sara's funeral.
Although these last few images are very sad, Shinobu feels a since of joy come over herself as she realizes that she could have had a very happy and prosperous life. She can still feel the warm lips from the young man as he and her keep kissing in the church. "I feel….I feel….so happy!" she says to herself with an overwhelming since of happiness, joy, and peace coming over her
The pastor doing the wedding seeing that the kiss is going take while decides to go on and finish. "Ladies and Gentlemen I have the greatest honor of being the first person to introduce you too Mr. and Mrs.-" Suddenly the vision of a burial sight with a tombstone over it pops into Shinobu's head. She sees an inscription on it and begins to read it. "Here lies a great woman of this town. A great chef, wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She brought a since of well being to who ever she met and where ever she went. Always happy, always understanding, and always caring, she never backed down from anything. Through hardships and through easy times she never lost face with herself or of other people. She would always be there for anyone having trouble in their lives and would always have something important to say no matter how casual the conversation was. She would always have her kitchen open to any one who needed something to eat. Always giving to others, she never though of herself as someone important. We of Hinata Town all know better. She will be sorely missed and will always be remembered as an important pillar to the history of our town. Goodbye. And we will always remember you Mrs. Shinobu- (she can't see the rest because some dirt is covering it).
Shinobu opens her eyes in surprise, and then suddenly everything goes black.
End of Chapter 8
To be continued in Chapter 9- The Moment
Author Note: Well this one was sure a toughie to do. I had to do several edits to get this to sound right. I also know that this chapter is a bit confusing but it will make a lot of since when the story is about to finish (which should be in the next few chapters). Now the next chapter I must warn you will sound even more confusing so be prepared to read it several times to understand it. Also it will be a bit shorter and have a different format from the other chapters. Just warning you because you might get confused if you didn't know.
Story Note: If you haven't noticed, the pace of this chapter was very quick. This was intentional as I am building to the climax of my story. The flashes of her future self during the wedding is symbolizing well her future life flashing before her eyes. This will be explained better in one of the last chapters. Also the part where she is seeing her friends weddings I purposely left out Kanoko as I think because of her "loner" attitude to everyone she will never get married. BTW The girl with the glasses as a bride's maid is Ema if you already didn't know.