'We Fell in Love'

Disclaimer: Ken Akamatsu wrote 'Love Hina' and he owns the rights. This tale written for fun, and I seek no re-dress from it.

Writer's notes: I am introducing more characters who will also be a part of this story as it moves along. Many are new and many are quite familiar.

-Chapter 3-

"Kit, do you have to work today?" asked Mariko who laid in her bunk as she listened to her roomie get dressed.

It had become a regular occurrence because Kitsune, no matter how few hours she slept, always ran off to one place or another. It boggled the other woman's mind that her best friend had so much energy.

"Yeah, Mari-chan. I've got a full day ahead of me because I'm the store manager today. Urashima-san is going to be checking his other stores," Kitsune said in rapid fire fashion as she headed to the room's mirror behind the closet door, "so don't expect me until at least 5:30."

"Oh," responded the horizontal roommate slightly disappointed.

"I'm not well off like you are," she added teasing Mariko. Kitsune enjoyed having a rich roommate, because she did not have to worry about being hit on for cash.

"Wanna go out afterwards tonight then, my treat," said Mariko as Kitsune grabbed her knapsack.

These two had become good friends since they had started sharing a dorm room together. They went out many times when Kitsune was home, or having just finished their projects and needing to blow off steam. It was something that Kitsune enjoyed about having Mariko around, free dinner somewhere a little bit more highbrow than what she was used to.

"I'd like that, Izakaya and fast-food gets kinda' lame," Kitsune said as she drawled a bit in her Kansai accent. On a number of occasions, she has told Mariko that she was lucky to have parents with lots of money. On the other hand, Mariko would turn the tables on her and tell her that she wished that she had as many friends as Kitsune did.

Since Mariko did not need to work, she was going to try out some of her new anime concepts on her laptop.

"Ja Matane, Kit-chan," said Mariko as Kitsune ran out the door.

As always, when Kitsune departed, Mariko rolled over and went back to sleep. Actually, she believed that her roomie was the lucky one.

Happy that the trams were pretty empty today, Kitsune thought that the weekday trips across town could be very tiresome sometimes. It was not that she minded the trip so much, it was that some of the people could be a little creepy in the late afternoon after she finished work. In her pack, she had a handy little place where she could access mace and a short billyclub in case of molesters.

Once, she used the club to smash in a molester's balls in when he had grabbed her butt. Struck very hard and without mercy, the shitbag dropped like a stone.

She did not know that a man could scream in such a high pitch of voice, but he sang just like a first soprano.

After Kitsune reached her stop, she stepped off the tram. At the top of the steps, she saw the shop across the street and went over to the pedestrian overpass.

During that time of day, the car traffic was such that you took your life into your own hands if you attempted to use the crosswalk. There was even a sign posted stating this. Kitsune never liked to cross the main streets in downtown Tokyo around this time. She hated taking chances with anything that could affect her health. So up and over she goes.

When she entered the shop, it was flat out busy.

"Geezus, this place never changes," said Kitsune who smiled as she greeted everyone.

The other employees smiled as well when Kitsune came through the front door. It seemed like life returned to the place when she arrived at work.

Dropping her stuff in the office off as per usual, she perused the schedule to see what Urashima-san wanted accomplished today. Since it was her day to be the boss again, she would make sure everything was done to her boss' satisfaction, or she would know why.

But, before Kitsune walked out of the office, she spotted a framed photograph of her boss and his family. She eyed the young man who stood next to Kenichi, and smiled. 'What a cutie,' she thought before she closed the office door behind her.

-Father and son, together for a day-

Seated in the office of one of his auxiliary bake and candy shops, Kenichi and Keitaro shared a deli-made lunch together.

With a need to ride his bike and be free for a day, Keitaro told his father that he had nothing better to do since all of his present assignments were complete and was way ahead on all of his other work.

Since it was just them together for the day, he enjoyed carting his father around in the sidecar of his bike. Keitaro likes being with him since they had a lot of fun together.

Sometimes he thought, as did his mother, that his old man was more like an older brother to him than the one who helped conceive him almost 21 years before. What a life, ne?

But as to a certain question, their conversation would veer in a direction that would reveal a certain answer.

"Son, I'm not trying to pry, but are you seeing anyone right now?" asked Kenichi who set his finished bento aside. Earlier, when they came in, he stepped over to the deli side of the shop, scooped out some food and placed it in bowls for them to have during their visit here. Not being a cheapskate or expecting to eat for free, he paid for the bentos himself.

"No, not right now Tou-san, even though Kina-chan is still chasing me around at school. She's upset at me because I'm not taking her bait. I just want her as a good friend, that's all," said Keitaro in rapid fashion while slurping at his noodle and beef bowl.

"Is it that you've not met the right girl just yet?" asked Kenichi, as he was truly curious when his son told him that Kina was still after him.

"But that's only part of it, Tou-san, " answered Keitaro who sat back and put his arms behind his head after he put aside his empty bowl, "When I was a kid, I made a silly promise to Otohime Mutsumi-chan that I'd get into Tokyo U, meet up with her again and we'd live happily ever after. I don't want that, even if she is beautiful now. For some reason that sounds too shallow and somewhat creepy. I'm also trying to get my friend Nobu to have the courage to get Kina off my hands. He is probably the shyest person I know."

"You're not giving up on romance, are you?" asked Kenichi stunned that his son remembered such an old event and had also wanted to pawn off such a beautiful girl. He had seen Kina for himself and wondered about his son sometimes. His grandmother has had the same worry about him too.

"Not at all," replied Keitaro as he started to laugh, "I want to find the right girl. Believe you me, Tou-san. You'll know it when I can't take my eyes off of her and start sounding like a gibbering baka. That's what I'm looking for."

Right then, Kenichi believed that could occur, if he were to introduce Keitaro to Kitsune. When his son met the ash-blonde beauty, it would definitely rock his world and turn him into that gibbering baka that he constantly let on about. In getting to know the Osaka native, Kenichi knew that she would be a perfect match for his son.

Now that he has heard his son's confession, Kenichi would put into motion a plan that he and his wife had concocted some time ago.

"So, you want to have a girl that totally bowls you over, eh?" asked his father who smiled.

"That's about the size of it, Tou-san," answered Keitaro.

The two men thanked the crew of the shop for their lunch before they headed out to the next store.

-The Academy student council room-

A certain young woman would now have her own issue with enishi, and with guess who?

For Kanako, the day went by great. In meeting teenage girls her own age, she never knew it could be so fun. With the nervousness and shyness of the first semester in the past, the start of the second term would be filled with more expectations from her. At least that was the way she saw it. Mostly though, she had enjoyed being around her older brother during the summer break, but the girls here at the Academy were not too bad either as far as it concerned her, and they treat her here very well in return. The students here, as she had found out thru her interaction with them, were a lot more serious-minded about their grades than they were about their looks. Nevertheless, many of her fellow classmates were breathtakingly beautiful.

Being both the 1-1 class, as well as the first-year grade representative to the student council, allowed her to see the inner workings of the Academy. She enjoyed what she did and for her, it was difficult for anything to impress her that was not about Keitaro.

Not disappointed by the lack of boys nearby, Kanako always knew that she liked girls. Needing guidance on the matter, she had recently asked her older brother about her Yuri tendencies, as she had wondered if it was strange. At first, he was a little surprised when she confessed that to him.

In a move that made her very happy, Keitaro said that it was up to her to make up her own mind. He would support her no matter what her decision was about her dating proclivities. He also said that he loved her no matter who she chose to be with.

Having confided in her brother, Kanako was very pleased with his unwavering support, so much so that she kissed his cheek as a thank you.

With time each day before Keitaro picked her up, she had joined the Student Council to give her something to do. She took her position there extremely seriously, and having done so, she planned the committee's Founder's Day Festival without any extra input from the other members.

"Mikagawa-Sensei, have the budgets been set for the Festival in December?" asked a student named Denbo Miki. She was the second-year rep from class 2-2, which also made her the grade's assistant rep.

"Onegai, Sensei. I can answer that," interjected Kanako abruptly. She stood confidently and faced the others, then continued, "I've done a study of all of the clubs that wanted to participate in this year's Founder's Day Festival. I then analyzed the budgets for each club to the Yen. The analysis when completed stated that many of the club's funds had been way out of balance for what they needed. That there was also a lot of waste and overage in last year's allocations with none of the unused disbursements coming back to the Council to be used for other purposes," a pause as she opened a folder which was there in front of her and passed out the copies of the new budgets, "these are my proposals for all of the clubs, their allocations and what to do with all of the residuals."

Stunned by her efficiency, the others could not at first believe that a first-year student had fully pre-planned the whole Festival so concisely and efficiently without any assistance. After they all had perused her paperwork, the others all smiled at Kanako and after a moment's discussion, quickly adopted her proposals unanimously without a single change or amendment.

After a sigh of relief, the Sensei looked at her watch and said that if there are no more items on the agenda, the meeting would be called to a close.

With the meeting adjourned, Kanako organized all of her notes when she noticed a beautiful brunette seated with the other third-year Student Council members. The dark-haired girl just about had her breath taken away by the other young woman. (Just like what her brother had wanted when he found someone.)

A minute later, another student noticed Kanako as she gazed over at the other girl, and so acted to introduce them.

"Urashima Kanako-san, I'd like to introduce you to Narusegawa Naru-san."

-Hinata Tea Shoppe-

With all of the paperwork and bureaucracy completed, Haruka was about to have some sunshine added to her life. It was her hope that it would be just the first of many good things to come.

"Do you remember Haruka Urashima, Sarah-chan?" asked a case worker from the Prefecture adoption office in flawless English, "She was a good friend of your mother's and wanted to see you again." The woman stood there in the foyer of the Hinata behind a beautiful nine-year-old blonde-haired blue-eyed American girl.

There was a tear in Haruka's eye because Sarah was the spitting image of her mother. "Sorry about that, Sarah-chan. But you look so much like her," said Haruka in perfectly unaccented English. Julia, as she liked to be called, was five years older than Haruka. However, after they had met, the two women had become best friends.

Sarah bowed, and in perfect Japanese said, "Ohayō gozaimasu, Urashima-san. It is nice to see you again. My Kaa-san's letters told me that you two were very close."

Haruka smiled at Sarah's command of Japanese and her politeness. She returned the bow and replied, "I hope we can see a lot more of each other and that you can live here with me Sarah-chan."

That was when the girl looked up at the woman she was with.

The woman smiled and nodded which gave Sarah the clue that she could go over to where Haruka sat.

The case worker stepped outside and allowed her charge to get to know the woman who would become her new mother. She did not go too far away, just in case the re-introduction went awry in any way. Outside, she saw how beautiful the grounds were and had even heard second-hand about how rich and powerful the Urashima were, even though Haruka herself seemed to be a very friendly and forthright person. She has even been to the Urashima bakeries in Tokyo and Chiba to get some of the best pastries in all of Japan. That was something different for her as she was a liberal leaning political supporter, that is, to see many members of a very rich family work harder than what their upper-class status required of them. But she was not here to evaluate the whole family, just Haruka and her fitness to raise a non-Japanese child.

So far though, all of the signs looked very positive.

'I guess you really can't judge a book by its cover,' she thought while underneath some very pretty red maple trees.

Twenty minutes later…

Inside the common room of the Hinata, all three sat and waited for the inevitable question.

"Well, Sarah-chan. What do you think? Would you like to live with Urashima-san?" asked the social worker to the blonde young girl. Sarah looks like she is enjoying her meeting up with Haruka again after some time.

Looking hopeful, Haruka was somewhat nervous at the possible decision and final result.

"Yes, ma'am," said Sarah with a smile, "I would like to live here with Urashima-san. She doesn't smoke like Seta-san does and lives in one place. Plus, she's told me all about the girls who live here, the hot springs just outside the door over there (Sarah pointed in the general direction of the onsen door) and the big hill that is out back to play on."

"Well, Sarah-chan. It looks like you'll get your wish," announced the case worker who smiled at Sarah and Haruka. Then she said something that surprised Haruka, "the court appointed administrator for Sarah's case had already decided in favor of having her living with you. First, there will be a 90-day probationary period just to see how the two of you adjust to living with each other. After that, it will be another 90-day period before I only checkup once a year until she is sixteen. We just have some final paper work here to fill out and sign before I release her into your good hands."

Watching Haruka as she signed the release documents, Sarah smiled as the woman stamped with a Hanko and became her mother.

"Urashima-san, can I call you Kaa-san from now on?" asked the now beaming young girl in her flawless Japanese.

"Of course, Sarah-chan," answered Haruka who opened her arms as Sarah ran into them. The two cried tears of joy together as they hugged.

In high spirits now, Haruka was happy that never smoked as her old friend Noriyasu did. That was one of the reasons that she liked Junpei better, but that was not the only one.

After she collected her few belongings from the social workers car, mother and daughter had lunch together. During which, she told Sarah all about her Tea Shoppe as they eat in a booth. Then, Haruka introduced Sarah to some of her employees.

"May I help out here sometime, Kaa-san?" asked Sarah as she turned on her natural charm. Some of the waitresses flocked around and wanted to get close to their bosses' new daughter.

"Sure, why not," replied Haruka who like the idea, "I'd be proud to show off my new daughter to everyone. But I do have to ask you a question first. Would you like to go to a really good school and make new friends, Sarah-chan?" She did not 'shoo' any of her employees away, because there was a momentary lull in business. Plus, she wanted them to get to know one another.

"Yes, though I'm a little shy sometimes," said Sarah.

Her honesty surprised Haruka quite a bit.

The waitresses collectively said, "aw".

"Okay, then," announced Haruka, "before we do that, my new daughter, I'm going to spoil you a little today and buy you things that any girl your age would want or need. First though, I'm going to wait for the residents of the big manse up there to come home. I want you to meet them before we go shopping together, okay?"

Now that she has Sarah, Haruka wondered where they could go first. A million and one new details now run through her head since Haruka has in her care what seemed to her to be a very precocious nine-year-old girl.

To say that Haruka has been looking forward to this since she had filed for custody shortly after her best friend's death, was an enormous understatement.

Now Haruka will taste the honey along with the vinegar.

-Urashima residence, at supper time-

Granny Hina had opened a door for her grandson, but he believed he would not travel down the road that she had paved for him. Plus, in time he was going to shake things up. At least that was what he thought...

"Kei-kun, this came for you from Haruka's Tea Shoppe," Kenichi said after handing a legal-looking packet to his son, "She gave it to Taishi-san when he made his delivery there earlier today."

Keitaro recognized the Hanko of the families' solicitors, along with the Urashima crest in the upper right corner of the large envelope.

As he opened the envelope in front of his family, Keitaro took all of the contents out and placed everything on the table. Reading portions of it while ate, Keitaro stared at the legal papers and stopped chewing in mid-bite. He handed some of the pages to his father next to him as he kept reading from the stack.

"You've got to be kidding me," said an incredulous Kenichi, "I knew my Kaa-san was going to will the Hinata to you son, but this." His mother had a bad habit of doing things without thinking about the consequences, or other people's feelings. He then added, "There must be something that she's not telling you son because she never does anything without a reason."

"Yeah, Haruka-chan is definitely going to hear from me after I finish this," said Keitaro, "I know from what she's been texting me lately that Obaa-san has been doing some strange things at the old family home." His dander was up because he did not like this abrupt handover.

"I will help and support you, Onii-chan," said Kanako with steely determination.

Usually, Keitaro was one who always took everything in stride. Yes, he wanted the Hinata, but he had expected his grandmother to hand it over to him personally. He did not expect her to be this cold and give him all of that property through a second-party or solicitor.

"So, she did it again," said Kasumi who cared about how her son was treated by his relatives. Her family at least treated Keitaro with love and kindness. Not just like some piece on a Go board.

"Do you still want it son?" asked Kenichi who questioned his mother's motives when she did not pass the families' ancestral home in the traditional custom. He thought that something was very odd here, but no matter, in the end Kenichi would back his son to the nth degree if it came to a confrontation with one Urashima Hinata.

"Yeah, I do want it, Tou-san," declared Keitaro who received approval from the other three seated here, "and very much so. But I'm going to take it over on my schedule and not hers."

And there will be changes that Urashima Hinata would not imagine that her grandson could come up with. Or would they?

-Kitsune's dorm room-

To quote Shakespeare, "the die is cast."

Writing in her new blog for the evening, Kitsune could not help but think about the young man whom she saw in her bosses' family photo. He had such beautiful eyes and was a real cutie. If the son was anything like his father, he would be someone worth becoming better acquainted with. But she only fantasized here. Or was she?

In her own little world, Mariko was out for a while so Kitsune was alone their room. These times were few and far between with her hectic schedule. So she went back to her thoughts about the cutie in the picture.

BRRRR! BRRRR!

Her cell phone rang and brought Kitsune back into the real world.

"Moshi, moshi Kitsune here," said the ash-blonde, "oh, hi Urashima-san, what's up?" Then she listened and scribbled some notes on a nearby pad. "Dinner…., Sunday…., your place…., noon…. Sure, I'll be there. See ya then," said Kitsune before the line went dead.

Her curiosity now started to peak, as the call set her thought process a-whirl. She hoped that the cute young man in the photo would be there and that he would be like ideal that she had set for him.

Smiling, she returned to her blog.

Little did Kitsune suspect the man that she would meet, would one day become a huge part of her life. Bigger than anything she could have imagined.

-End of Chapter-