Ch 33

V 1.75

A/N 1 – The song used in this section is a cover of the theme for the anime Serial Experiment Lain. The version used is on YouTube titled Duvet – Bôa (acoustic cover), by murasakimochi. You can find it by plugging in the title and user name on the YouTube search field. Go ahead and do so right now and pause it if you want to hear the song as it takes place in the story.

The reason Miyuki knows about Keitaro's family background is because she went and looked it up after Granny Hina came to visit. The story of the Urashima and the Tokugawa are semi-historical fact in this story universe; more current events are more foggy, especially where Granny is concerned.

Hinata-sou Dormitory
Mid December
early morning
(three months after story start)

It was not difficult to know what is the right thing to do. What was difficult was doing what you know is the right thing.

When Keitaro Urashima had first heard that saying, he thought it sounded like wisdom usually found printed on a slip of paper in a fortune cookie. Then again, he had never before really had to make a hard choice to make like this. Rescuing Kanako had not been a choice; it had happened before his eyes. Rescuing Sarah had taken some planning and deliberation, but it was something that he could no more turn his back on than chasing after his sister and her abductors had been.

Leaning up against the frame of an upper story window, Keitaro looked out at the grey and black sky, watching as storm clouds rolled in from the Pacific, thinking about his situation. Being stuck with the responsibilities of managing the Hinata-sou and becoming the new clan heir was something he had not initially wanted to do. He had been more than a little angry about the way that Granny Hina had dumped everything on him, and then conveniently took off for parts unknown before he had a chance to protest. But after thinking about it for a few weeks, Keitaro had begun to understand why Hina had done what she did, even if he did not approve of it. He had heard stories (from his father, not from Hina) about what his grandmother had gone through both during and after the Pacific War, when most of Tokyo had been made into a scorched ruin. With her mother too mentally traumatized from the American air raids, her grandfather crippled by age and injuries and her remaining brother younger than her, Hina had become the de facto head of the family at age 10. By innate shrewdness and intelligence, Hina Urashima had not only held what was left of her family together, twenty years later it was thriving again, their affluence and holdings such that when the township surrounding their main home was rebuilt, it was renamed Hinata City. But it was not just financial acumen that made the current clan head the person she was today; both Hina and her brother Hiro had earned their red belts in the desperate years after the war, Hina at age 12.

By abruptly giving him both the Hinata-sou and the clan heir position, this was probably Hina's way of giving Keitaro on-the-job training, in the fine Japanese tradition of 'not telling the person who is learning anything, let them figure it out themselves'. Keitaro did not like it when it happened in anime; he certainly did not like it when it was happening to him. But also in the tradition of the Urashima family, Keitaro was able to take over the operations of the Hinata-sou with the help of his aunt and his sister. It was not the chores and the Sou maintenance that had given him problems, it had been the tenants.

Beating up bikers and pirates notwithstanding, Keitaro had something of a problem standing up to aggressive people. Part of this was due to the bred in the bone politeness that most Japanese people had, but also it had to do with his lack of socializing when he was younger; most of his free time was used for studying for school, practicing the family martial arts, and spending time with his family. Dealing with irrational and unbalanced people was something he did not frequently do, not until he got back from Thailand. Not until he had to deal with the tenants of the Hinata-sou.

With all the training the young Urashima had in his life, he did not have a real problem with defending himself, but he still hesitated when his opponent was female, or at least he hesitated in inflicting possibly crippling or fatal attacks. It was not like he enjoyed smashing someone's knee or doing a shoulder throw headfirst into the ground, but for some reason he had to deliberately make himself attack a female, even if she was an imminent threat to himself. It was not something to be ashamed of, but it was a real problem when an attacker was a seriously cute, hot and crazy girl out for his blood.

Keitaro had only really had to go toe to toe with one of the tenants, with all of the serious incidents involving Motoko Aoyama, the now former swordswoman. Naru Narusegawa had come close a couple of times, but since the last incident involving him accidentally peeking on her in her room, she had learned to calm down and not completely lose her temper, unless someone deliberately assaulted her, then all bets were off. Mentally, he had the most problems with Kitsune Konno, with her various shenanigans to get out of chores and with her overdue rent payments and extensions, and Kaolla Su, with her penchant to do Tim Taylor More Power! improvements on various home appliances. Shinobu Maehara was no problem at all, except for her earlier inclination to be a doormat to the other tenants, but she was growing out of that nicely.

But after all was said and done, things had improved at the Hinata-sou; Keitaro had learned how to conduct himself around members of the opposite sex while in a position of authority, with the added bonus of cutting back his incidents of clumsiness and accidental groping. But just when he had thought he was getting a handle on things at the Sou, Granny Hina decided to throw a spanner in the works with her little offer to Natsumi and Miyuki.

Keitaro could see why Granny was interested in his being 'fruitful and multiplying'; being the only young male Urashima left in the family, this went beyond the normal call for 'grandbabies!' that was seen in the elder generation. And it was not like she was trying to keep him from meeting his Promise Girl at Todai, however it would be more than a little awkward to introduce his girlfriends and children to the girl he had promised to live happily ever after with.

Maintaining his honor was not the trial some people would expect it to be. It was not like he was Ranma Saotome, the aquatransexual manga character fighting off multiple marriage engagements set up by his criminally inclined father. Keitaro was free to make his own decisions, and not have to wade through omai after omai set up by his parents and his granny, introducing him to various suitable girls with the intention of seeing if they meshed well for marriage. The problem was that he had already found someone that clicked with him, two someones in fact. But the mental image of Natsumi and Miyuki along with the specter of his Promise Girl was not something that comforted him.

Cocking his head, Keitaro could hear the faint sounds of music coming down the hall. As he was standing at the hallway window next to Shinobu's room, he could hear the sound of her stereo through both the door and the wall.

And you don't seem to understand
A shame you seemed an honest man
And all the fears you hold so dear
Will turn to whisper in your ear

And you know what they say might hurt you
And you know that it means so much
And you don't even feel a thing

I am falling, I am fading
I have lost it all

As he focused his attention on the music, he realized that he recognized the song as the theme from an anime, although this was a different version – a slower, guitar based acoustic melody with the lyrics sung in English. Keitaro walked up to Shinobu's door and rested his fingertips against the door as though he was going to knock, but instead he just listened to the song as it continued to play.

And you don't seem the lying kind
A shame then I can read your mind
And all the things that I read there
Candle lit smile that we both share

And you know I don't mean to hurt you
But you know that it means so much
And you don't even feel a thing

I am falling, I am fading, I am drowning
Help me to breathe

I am hurting, I have lost it all
I am losing
Help me to breathe

As the chorus began to repeat, Keitaro turned away from the door. Walking downstairs to his room, he pulled out his hoodie and an umbrella out of the closet. Pausing for a moment to write a short note and pin it to his room door, he walked out of the Sou.

The note on his door fluttered in the slight breeze that entered the house when the door opened. The paper stayed attached, the neat hiragana script spelling out the message.

Gone to meet with some friends. Will probably be late, don't wait up for me.
- Keitaro

Tsujimoto/Kobayakawa Residence
Koto City, Tokyo, Japan
Mid December
late morning

Natsumi had no great love for bad weather like the rain now pouring down outside their apartment building. In their line of work, it meant standing around in cold wet weather in rain gear that was barely worthy of the name, writing incident reports on vehicular accidents that were almost the fault of some idiot that thought that going 30 km above the speed limit was acceptable in conditions that turned the roads and highways into giant Slip & Slides. Some poor unfortunate would be on the receiving end of the crash, and unless they were truly lucky, they would be injured in the accident. The only thing worse than a bad weather accident was a drunk driving vehicle accident with injuries; Natsumi's superiors did not ask awkward questions about the bruised and bloodied suspects that were taken into custody, presumably injured by the crash and not from accidentally slamming their head into a door frame, or tripping and falling while walking down steps while handcuffed.

Even having days off during bad weather was not a good thing, as she could not go out and participate in the various sports she was involved in. The only activities that were left for her to do was to engage in Special Unit training involving sadistic trainers brought in from the JSDF Airborne Division, which usually involved running through mud, crawling through mud, or doing the first two and then climb up ropes with full gear while covered in the aforementioned mud. Natsumi could do it due to her chi enhanced strength, but then every other member of the unit would get punished for not being able to do it too, and she got tired of the evil eyes she would get as a result. But even now a day of slogging through mud was starting to look good compared to spending the day with her roommate.

Even as different as their personalities were, there was always something unexplainable that kept the boisterous athletic tomboy and the demure gearhead and techie together. And when all else failed, there was always their 'together time', where both their familiarity with each other and the judicious use of various items helped pass the time more quickly. On this day though, that was not to be.

Miyuki was sitting, if you could call it that, in a bean bag chair, slouched down so low it was almost as though she were laying down. A set of headphones were on her head, and a cord lead to the stereo beside her. Her eyes were closed, and she looked as though she was asleep. She was not though as her foot, propped up in her opposing leg, was swaying along with the tempo of the music she was listening to. Given the slow movement of her foot, it appeared as though she was now listening to classical western music as compared to the sugary J-pop or maudlin American love ballads from before.

Natsumi was of two minds about her partner's choice of music. On one hand classical was much preferable to the other stuff she had been listening to, much of which had been about love and the various bad endings that resulted from it. On the other hand, some of Yuki-chan's classical music was so depressing it would probably violate the Geneva Convention if they had played it to prisoners.

Miyuki's depression was understandable, as Natsumi was undergoing certain aspects of it as well. They both badly missed Keitaro, ranging from the way he would smile at them, to the way he felt when he hugged them, to the way he made love to them. And it was love; or at the very least it was not just sex when the three of them were together. But as bad as this was, there was an additional carrot being dangled over her partner's head; the possibility of a child. Natsumi could see herself as a mother somewhere down the line, but she was in no hurry to have it happen. On the other hand you could see what Miyuki wanted every time she would see a mother and child walking together on the sidewalk or playing together in a park.

Natsumi almost wanted to hate Keitaro for what he was doing to her friend, even as inadvertent as it was. But she could see where he was as well; being given carte blanche to have children with two women was enough to set anyone back. Keitaro already had plans for his life, such as entering Todai, as well as responsibilities and duties he could not step away from. And given how dedicated Keitaro could be, she understand why he would want to be involved in his children's lives. So while she could not begrudge their paramour's request to a week to think things over, she was not sure that she and her partner would survive it with their hearts intact.

Sitting at the table in their apartment, Natsumi took a sip from her cup of sake before grimacing. The hot beverage had cooled off, and the bottle in front of her was now empty. Pushing herself to her feet, she started to walk toward the kitchen counter and another bottle of sake when she heard someone knock on the front door. Stopping in mid-step in surprise, she glanced at the door and then at her oblivious partner; they were not expecting any visitors today. In fact, this reminded her of the last time they had an unannounced visitor, and all the turmoil that resulted from it.

Stepping over to where Miyuki was, she tapped her moving foot with her own and got her attention. Pulling off her headphones the dark haired girl looked up at her partner expectantly. Jerking her head to the side, Natsumi motioned toward the front door and raised an eyebrow, silently asking if she was expecting any visitors. Miyuki shook her head and rolled up to her feet from the bean bag chair as her partner walked up the door and peered through the peephole. The brown haired girl froze for a long moment before abruptly opening the door, almost ripping it out of the frame.

The young male standing before them was almost unrecognizable, as he was clearly rain-soaked in spite of his hooded sweatshirt. His black hair was plastered to his head, and the guy was squinting at them as though he was missing his glasses. Looking from one to the other, he asked, "Natsumi-chan? Miyuki-chan? Is that you?" and was barely able to stay on his feet as the girl at the door yanked him into the apartment and slammed the door shut behind him. The girl pulled him into her arms in a tight hug before flinching and pulling back, the cold wet sweater he had on soaking through her thin t-shirt instantly. "Keitaro-kun! Why are you all wet!"

"Because it's raining outside and the wind ripped my umbrella apart?" Keitaro's laconic response gave Natsumi enough of a pause to enable Miyuki to take hold of his shoulder and turn him toward her. Looking at her, he could see that she wanted to hug him as well, but she was reluctant to and not just because of his wet clothes. "Hi there, Miyuki-chan. Sorry I came without letting you know first."

"You weren't the loudest guy, but we always knew when you were about to come." Both Miyuki and Keitaro slowly turned and looked at Natsumi incredulously for her off-color remark. "What?" she asked, trying to look innocent, or not guilty, and failing miserably.

Shaking her head, Miyuki turned back to look at their visitor. "Where are your glasses, Keitaro-kun?" she asked, trying to ignore memories her partner's wisecrack brought to mind.

Blinking at her, Keitaro reached into his sweatshirt pocket and pulled out his glasses, showing that they were as wet as well. "Glasses you can't keep dry are worse than useless. I can actually see better with them off until I clean them." The young man motioned with his spectacles. "Do you have something like a handkerchief or an old piece of t-shirt so I can clean and dry them?"

"Why not a piece of tissue paper or a Kleenex?" Miyuki asked as Natsumi wandered off, apparently looking for the requested item.

"Tissue paper is made out of wood pulp, it scratches plastic lens. It's better to use a piece of soft cloth." The two fell quiet, with Miyuki not sure what else to say, and Keitaro apparently wanting to be able to see clearly before saying else.

"Here you go, Taro-kun." Natsumi walked back to Keitaro and handed him a wadded up piece of cloth. Hold one edge of it, he let it unfold and saw that it was an old t-shirt, one that was faded and wash-worn with the Romanji words 'Face Up Here' and an arrow pointing upwards. Keitaro's eyes flicked toward the brown haired girl, who merely smiled and shrugged. "It's an old running shirt. I don't wear it anymore, too small."

Keitaro nodded as he started to use the shirt to clean his glasses. He had seen Natsumi come back from some of her runs. The Special Unit officer made it a habit of getting up before dawn three times a week (or have her partner wake her up, to be more accurate) and go for a 10 km run; 2 km at a jog, 6 km at a three quarter speed pace, one and a half km at a full sprint, and a half km to cool down, all the while wearing a t-shirt, tactical pants, and SWAT boots. He could see why she would wear the t-shirt; even wearing an athletic bra, Natsumi had an eye-catching bust, and seeing her run in a thin shirt immediately drew everyone's attention. And it had to be a t-shirt, as her metabolism ran high enough that it affected her body temperature and a sweatshirt would actually cause her to start to overheat.

Finishing drying and polishing his glasses, Keitaro slipped them back on. Looking from one girl to the other, he could see that they were both looking slightly concerned and nervous, although Natsumi was concealing it better. "Sorry I came over without calling, but this is something I didn't want to do over the phone." He saw that they both tensed at that statement. "I know I didn't react well when you told me what Granny offered, but I later realized that I made a mistake that day. I made some assumptions that weren't fair, at least before I asked you about them. That's what I want to do now."

Turning toward Natsumi, he smiled slightly, trying to put her at ease. "First off, I'm guessing that since you brought up the offer, you are not opposed to it?"

Shaking her head slightly, Natsumi responded. "No, we're not. Like I've said before, we have a hard time finding good guys to be romantic with. This is one way to do it, since me and Miyuki-chan want to stay together if possible."

Looking back at the darker haired girl, Keitaro asked his next question. "Since you agree with the offer, that implies that you want to have children. *When* do you want to have these children. Right now? A couple years from now?"

Miyuki started to blush. "I would like to have a child right now, but I can see that it would not be very convenient. You are trying to enter Todai, and I'm still a patrol officer. It would take a year or so to make arrangements so our situations would be more ideal."

Glancing over at Natsumi, she half smiled as she responded. "I want a kid, but I'm not in that big a hurry. I want to see how far I can get with the Special Unit, and that will take a couple years at least."

"What kind of arrangements would you need to make, Miyuki-chan?" Keitaro asked.

"I keep being offered a position with the Forensics Unit. It would be an increase in pay, but it is also partially be an administrative position. It would be easier to be a working mother with consistent hours there."

"You want to be a working mother?" Unspoken but implicit in that query was the question of whether Miyuki would want to keep working after having a child.

"I've… done a lot of work to get where I am. I don't want to leave it unless I need to. Chances are I will anyway, but I don't want to be like those girls that join the department to find a husband." Miyuki and Natsumi worked with an extreme example of a husband hunter, Chie Sagamiono, a rich girl that actually had a Porsche 911 outfitted for official use in police colors and lights and sirens.

Keitaro smiled softly. "Trust me, I'm not in any rush here. I just want to keep my promises and obligations if I can." Miyuki looked like she wanted to hug him, but he held up a hand. "One last thing. Do you have any legal documentation for Granny's offer?"

Miyuki stepped away from Keitaro and toward a desk alongside the wall. Pulling a folder out of a drawer, she handed it to Keitaro who opened it and started reading the sheets inside. Finally he looked at the header of the document and the included business card, recognizing it as the legal firm that handled much of his family's legal affairs. That and the phone number scribbled on the back in Granny's unmistakable handwriting were the final proof that this was all legit on both sides. Closing the folder, he handed it back to Miyuki, who laid it down on the nearby dining table, never taking her eyes from his face. Natsumi, sensing that something big was going to happen, moved so she was standing next to her partner.

"Miyuki-san… Natsumi-san… I need to apologize to you both." Shocking the two girls, Keitaro bowed deeply. "I came to conclusions that were in error, and by acting on them, I hurt your feelings. Please forgive me for my thoughtlessness."

"What conclusion would that be?" Natsumi asked, just before Miyuki's elbow slammed into her side. She had immediately figured out what Keitaro meant and did not want to bring it up again, but her partner beat her to the punch.

Keitaro paused for a moment, hesitant to say the words aloud, before he finally started to speak. "I was thinking that you were not as interested in me as you were in what I could do for you. Since you and Miyuki-chan are together, I presumed that you wanted to have me father a child for you but that you would not otherwise want me to be a part of the child's life. That is not something I could do; if I am to be a father, it will be as the real deal, not just as a sperm donor. But then I thought about it and I realized that I made assumptions without being sure. After all, we've only really know each other for a couple months time total. So I came here to talk to you about it." He would have said more, but he was seized by the front of his sweater and jerked forward. What surprised him was who did it; not brash Natsumi, but the more reserved Miyuki.

Wrapping her arms around him, she did not pull away from his wet clothing. The look on her face was not one he had seen before, that of anger. "You… you… stupid man! How many times do we have to tell you! WE… WANT… TO… BE… WITH… YOU! Yes, I want to have your child, but it would not be the same if you were not with us! What will it take to convince you!" Tears started to trace down her cheeks.

"I am just a ronin, I am not that special…" Keitaro was interrupted again.

"SHUT UP! You are Keitaro Urashima, heir to the noble Urashima clan, hatamoto to the Tokugawa shogunate! You are the descendant of Taro Urashima, the unarmed scholar who saved the life of Ieyasu Tokugawa himself! You saved two different girls from fates worse than death, one from a city that is almost Hell on earth! You are NOT JUST A RONIN!" Miyuki almost screamed at him before burying her face in his neck and starting to cry. "We love you, *I* love you! I know you have trouble believing this, but it is the truth."

"I've done horrible things, Miyuki-chan, things that may damn me in the next life…" Keitaro said before he was interrupted one more time.

"Then let the gods judge you, because we won't! You are a part of our lives, and I'll be damned if I let you go again!" Miyuki looked up at him, tears now streaming from her eyes. "Please don't leave us again, please don't go…"

Slowly, Keitaro wrapped his arms around her, pulling her fully against him. He closed his eyes for a long moment before making his decision and opening them again. "Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure?" He looked over at Natsumi, only to see that her eyes were tearing up as well as she nodded her agreement.

"Yes! Oh gods yes!" Miyuki may have wanted to say more, but Keitaro's lips on hers cut her off. Moaning, she tried to pull herself closer, but she was pressed up as much as she could against Keitaro. She did feel a female body press up against her from behind, however.

"As much as I don't want to be the voice of reason here, Taro-kun is wearing cold wet clothes." Natsumi had an amused tone in her voice. "He needs to take them off and take a hot bath."

Miyuki moaned again as her partner tried to pull her away. "I'll warm him up," she said, her voice sultry.

Chuckling softly, Natsumi finally got the other girl away from their boyfriend. "We don't want him to get sick just as we got him back, now do we? Let the poor man take a shower at least."

Opening her eyes, Miyuki giggled at the shell-shocked look on Keitaro's face that was a result of her passionate attack on him. "Well, I think we can wait ten minutes for him to shower. Keitaro-kun?" The young man blinked repeatedly before focusing on her. "Hurry with your bath, or Natsumi-chan and I are coming in after you."

Keitaro blinked a couple more times before he started to move toward the bathroom. The shower stall in the girl's apartment was literally the size of a phone booth; while it was possible for two people to squeeze in there, three people was too much.

"Kei-kun? Please hurry, we're starting to get cold too." Glancing toward the girls, Keitaro almost stumbled as he saw that they had stripped off their t-shirts and shorts, leaving them in bras and panties and embracing each other. Regaining his footing, the young man hurried into the bathroom, the happy laughter of the two women following behind him.

A/N 2 – since it's been over a month since my last posting, and things have been happening in my life, I thought I would make a game of it. Below are various excuses for me not coming out with this chapter sooner; you get to pick out which are true/apply.

A – a massive sore throat, one that required a day off from work, that not only took a full ten days of antibiotics to stop, but an extra ten days of medication when the damn thing came back again.

B – extreme tiredness, maybe related to the previous sickness. You know how I mentioned that I sometimes drink Red Bull before I write? I would finish a 12 oz can and STILL fall asleep – five minutes later!

C – ammo in storage that was whispering my name and begging me to go shooting.

D – a city inspection of the rental house I live in. So not only did I have to clean the place up (I am not the neatest of persons), the inspector in his infinite wisdom decided that I needed to have a natural gas heater installed in the house. Never mind the fact that I've lived in this house for 15 years without one, and that another family member lived here for over 20 years before that without a heater, and I'm in Southern California in the middle of a heat wave - I needed a gas heater ASAP! So my nice new heater is now installed in the wall beside me… with the gas line shut off since the day I fire that sucker up is when global climate change results in a daytime high of just above freezing!

E – The video games Mass Effect (the first one) and Max Payne 3. I can tell you this – I am not wearing the damn pink and white armor in ME, no matter the armor rating!

F – None of the Above

G – ALL of the Above!

Winner of the most unusual place reading my story is Bangladesh, where someone once again read the entire story in one crack. The runner up is Guyana. Honorable mentions go to the person reading this story via Internet Satellite Provider and the other person reading this story on the Mediterranean island of Malta.

For people that are into Black Lagoon stories, go read 'Broken Birds Fly to Roanapur', by Vengeful Soldier. Yes, it is mostly OCs at this point and the spelling and punctuation is a bit rough, but it's an excellent story. It is in the Black Lagoon section of FFN.

Once again thanks to AZ MII and PCH for their help in beta-ing this chapter.

As of 0015 PDT 21May12, this story had 214,182 hits, 407 Reviews,47 C2 Listings, 567 Favorite Listings, and 500 Story Alerts(!) Thanks again for reading, guys.*double thumbs up*