Love Hina:
A different path taken
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Chapter Three.
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"Well, crap."
Exhaling noisily, Keitaro frowned as he looked at the shelves in the tool shed. He had everything to fix the problem with the boiler- it was just a bad pipe- except for solder. Which meant that he had to go and do a supply run.
"Of course, it's never just a simple fix, is it?" he asked aloud.
The only one's to hear his question were the spiders that had taken up residence in the tool shed, and a lone mouse in the back. None them were forthcoming with answers, so he just shook his head and stepped out.
Closing and locking the door behind him just as a precaution in case Su decided to go exploring, Keitaro headed for the front of the Inn.
And ran into a brunette he hadn't seen before looking around in mild bewilderment in the foyer.
"Excuse me."Keitaro said. "May I help you?"
The brunette looked him over, took in his dirty, semi disheveled appearance, compared it to the Inn, and got an error message.
"Ah, yes." she said. "I'm looking for the Hina Inn. It's a women only dormitory- the lady in the tea shop at the foot of the hill said that this was the place, but-"
"This is place." Keitaro said. "I'm the manager. I'm filling in for my grandmother, who's currently on vacation."
"Oh!" the brunette exclaimed. "I apologize, I didn't realize that."
"It's okay." Keitaro said with a wave of his hand. "Anyways, I can safely assume you're looking for lodgings then?" he asked.
The woman nodded. "Yes, I am." she said cheerily. "Are there rooms available?"
"Yes. They're twenty thousand yen a month*."
"Alright. May I look at them?" the brunette asked.
"There goes me getting to the hardware store before they close." Keitaro thought. "Oh well. I can get there tomorrow when they open and have the boiler good to go by the time everyone wakes up."
"Sure." he said. "Follow me, please."
He led the woman down the hall towards where the empty rooms were. As they walked he took the opportunity to introduce himself,
"I'm Keitaro Urashima." he said.
"I'm Mutsumi Otohime." the woman replied. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Urashima."
"It's Keitaro." he said. "Mr. Urashima is my old man."
The brunette- Mutsumi- gasped at his choice of language, and Keitaro kicked himself mentally.
"You're in Japan, dumbass." he thought. "Not hanging around a bunch of Americans."
"Sorry about that, I hoped I didn't offend you." he said. "I've been working abroad with a lot of Americans, and their grammar rubbed off on me."
"Oh!" Mutsumi said. "What do you normally do?"
Keitaro chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. "I'm a contractor, of sorts." he said, ever so carefully leaving out a few details. "Usually out in the middle of nowhere, up to my eyeballs in monotony."
Mutsumi cocked her head to one side as she looked at him. "You don't find traveling to new places exiting?" she asked.
"It gets old after a while." Keitaro admitted. "Especially if it's just a bunch of rocks and scrub."
Mutsumi thought it over for a second, then nodded. "I can see how that would get boring after a while." she agreed. "Anyways, you were showing me the rooms?"
"Right!" Keitaro said, snapping his fingers. "Follow me."
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Thirty minutes later, Mutsumi had the rental agreement signed and Keitaro had her check for the deposit and first month's rent in hand, with enough time to get it deposited and make it to the hardware store to boot. So, humming a happy tune he left the Inn and hustled down the steps.
And tripped on what felt like a loose paving stone three steps down and took a tumble, ending up in a tangled heap at the bottom. He lay there for a minute as he waited for the work to quit spinning, then sat up with a groan.
"Better add that to the list." he groaned.
Giving himself a quick once over, he saw that nothing seemed to be broken- not that he was surprise by that. He'd survived IED's that had destroyed his Land Rover with nothing more than some bruises and some soot, so falling down some stairs was nothing.
Standing up, Keitaro dusted himself off and started walking.
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He hadn't gotten very far before he ran into a familiar face.
"Heeeey, landlord!" Kitsune called, waving from where she was leaning up against a doorway.
"Hey, Kitsune." Keitaro answered. "What's up?"
The blond grinned cheekily and shrugged. "Nothing much. Just out and about with-" she started to say when another familiar voice interrupted.
"Hey, Kitsune, I think-" Naru said as she stepped out of the shop's door way that Kitsune had been leaning against. Her expression went flat when she saw Keitaro. "Oh. You."
Keitaro gave her a friendly smile. "Ms. Narusawa." he said, figuring the best approach for this situation was to be civil towards the girl.
Which Naru skipped altogether. "What are you doing here?" she demanded. "Are you up to something?"
Keitaro shrugged. "If by up to something, you mean going to the bank and the hardware store so I can fix the boiler, then yeah, I am." he replied, completely deadpan. "What about you guys?"
"We're-" Naru started to say, but Kitsune interrupted before a scene could erupt.
"We're just out running some errands like you are!" she said, clamping a hand over Naru's mouth and muffling the inevitable verbal outrage. "Though, now that I've ran into you, do you mind if we continue the interview where we left off?"
Keitaro shrugged. "I don't mind." he said, watching as Naru went red.
He tensed slightly as he watched Naru start trying to shake off Kitsune's hand so she could really lay into him, but her friend went and whispered something in her ear which seemed to mollify her a bit. Kitsune checked to make sure Naru was okay, then let her go.
"I'll see you back at the Inn." Naru told her before turning her nose up at Keitaro and stomping off in a huff.
"So what did you tell her?" Keitaro asked as she turned the corner and out of sight.
Kitsune sighed. "I told her that I'd be keeping an eye on you to keep you from trying anything." she said. "And that I'd be making sure to get proof on you."
"I see." Keitaro said with a nod. "Just what is her problem, anyways?"
Kitsune shrugged. "I don't know." she said. "I think part of it might be her unresolved crush on her old tutor."
Keitaro arched a brow. "Tutor- let me guess, older guy?" he asked.
Kitsune nodded. "Yeah. Tokyo U student, majorly hot, etc." she explained. "And this was when she had figured things out about boys, so..."
"Didn't stand a chance, did she?" Keitaro mused.
"Not a one." Kitsune confirmed. "Anyways, where were we?"
"If I recall, I was talking about the time we ran into those Girl Scouts running guns..."
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After completing his errands, Kitsune had suggested that they go get a beer (or three) but Keitaro had begged off, citing the fact that the boiler really needed fixing if the baths were to have hot water in the morning. Kitsune had relented and wandered off to go get quietly hammered while Keitaro had headed back to the Inn and the boiler.
By nine thirty that evening the boiler was fixed and the baths were heating up nicely, much to his satisfaction.
"Well, this has been a productive day, hasn't it?" he asked aloud after checking to make sure that the baths were getting hot water. "I think I'll celebrate with some cold beers and a hot bath."
After a quick scrub to take the layer of grime off, Keitaro happily sat down in the pools with a six pack of Sapporo in an ice bucket and his mp3 player.
"Ahhh... a perfect end to a long day..." Keitaro sighed happily.
Then a robotic turtle the size of a Prius flew over the Inn and the backblast from it's jets blasted a dozen tiles from the roof on it's way by.
Lighting a cigarette, Keitaro cracked open a beer. "Not my problem. Not until I'm done." he said, exhaling a blue cloud of smoke. "Then I'll go yell at her."
Taking a swig of beer, he looked up at the night sky and considered the stars.
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"SUU! OPEN UP!" Keitaro yelled, punctuating his yell by banging his fist on her door.
Standing in the hall, a scowl on his face, Keitaro waited a few moments and was about to pound again when he heard the rapid thump-thump-thump of footsteps heading for the door. A moment later the door slid open to reveal Su grinning like a maniac.
"Heeeeeey, Keitaro, what's up-" she started to say but Keitaro cut her off.
"Can it." he growled. "Just what the hell do you think were you doing?"
Su blinked in confusion as she looked at him. "Eating." she answered.
"I was talking about that giant robot turtle that buzzed the Inn and blasted a chunk of the roof!" Keitaro clarified.
"Ohhhhhh, that!" Su said with a wave of her hand. "I was just testing an invention of mine and it kind of got away from me for a bit-"
"And damaged the roof, which is gonna need to be fixed." Keitaro finished. "That's going to be added to your rent next month."
"Okay!" the blond haired girl said with a shrug.
Her blasé reaction to a spike in her rent irked Keitaro and he would have called her on that, but he had more pressing concerns.
"And now that we got that settled, you and I need to have about these inventions of yours." Keitaro told her.
Su gave him a blank look. "What about them?" she asked.
"I don't want you testing them around the Inn." Keitaro answered. "There are enough things wrong with this place, I don't need you adding to them."
Su gave him a blank look. "But where am I going to test them?" she asked. "I can't test them anywhere else because the police yelled at me, and then the Foreign Secretary called me and yelled at me, and then my parents called and yelled at me-"
"Foreign Secretary-" Keitaro asked, somewhat confused. "Su, why did a high level minister call you?"
Su grinned at him. "Because I'm the princess of Molmol, silly!" she told him. "
Keitaro's left eye twitched. "You mean you're not just a foreign national, but you have diplomatic immunity?" he asked.
Su nodded in reply.
"Of course." Keitaro muttered under his breath. "Okay. Diplomatic immunity or no, I still can't have you wrecking the place."
"But the-" Su started, stopping when Keitaro held up his forefinger.
"As an alternative, why don't you try testing them in the Nerima district?" suggested Keitaro. "Trust me, no one cares about what goes on there."
"Oh, okay!" Su said, giving him a back- snapping hug. "Thanks for the suggestion, landlord!"
"You're... welcome...!" Keitaro gasped as he felt his internal organs get squeezed. "Can't...breathe... dialogue...becoming... Shatnerian..."
Su released him from her hug and skipped backwards into her room. "See you tomorrow! Byes!"
Keitaro sucked in a lungful of air and winced as his ribs ached. "I think that would have killed anyone else." he said aloud. "I think I need some more beer."
Turning on his heel, he limped off to the kitchen.
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His alarm went off the next morning right as someone started pounding on the door to his room.
"Gyaaah!" he yelled, whipping his pistol up and sweeping the room. "Oh. Not there."
Wincing against the alarms grating tone, he slapped the sleep button and it fell mercifully silent, right as there was more pounding at his door.
"Alright, I'm coming! I'm coming1" he yelled at the door as he threw covers back and got up off his futon.
Rubbing his eyes with the heel of his free hand Keitaro slid the door open and found himself staring at a blur that his sleep fogged brain identified as Naru.
"Yes?" he asked, his voice rough.
"Why did you forbid Su from working on her inventions?" Naru demanded.
Keitaro was confused for a brief moment, then his brain kicked into gear when that information clicked with recent events.
"I didn't tell she couldn't work on them. I told her she couldn't test them here." Keitaro informed her. "She was testing a flying robot and it blew some tiles off the roof."
Naru folded her arms gave an annoyed sigh. He supposed that she was giving him an annoyed look, but couldn't be sure because he hadn't put his glasses on.
"Don't you think that's a little extreme for a couple of loose tiles?" she asked.
Keitaro gave her look like she had mushrooms out of her forehead. "Extreme?" he asked. "You ever replace roofing tiles before?"
"No."
"Well, congratulations, when you get back today you get to." he told her.
"Why you-" she started to sputter in outrage.
Keitaro fixed her with a look. "You can either do this, or pay for the replacements." he growled.
Naru stood there looking at him for several seconds, then she turned on her heel and stomped off. "Asshole." she muttered as she left.
Keitaro leaned into the hall after her. "You'll be singing a different tune when you're replacing those tiles." he called after her. "Change into some old clothes before we start."
Sliding his door shut, Keitaro turned around and looked at his blurry room. "Okay, where the hell are my glasses?"
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His glasses found, a couple of cigarettes, and a change of clothes later, Keitaro stepped out of his room ready to face whatever the day was going to throw at him until he could get his morning coffee.
Thankfully there was nothing waiting for him when he got to the kitchen, so he poured himself a cup and headed for the front of the Inn. And found his new tenet, who was standing in the foyer looking slightly confused.
"Ms Otohime?" Keitaro asked to get her attention as he walked in.
"Oh, good morning!" she said as she bowed to him in greeting.
"Good morning." Keitaro said, returning the bow. "You need help with something?"
She nodded. "Yes. I'm trying to remember where my room is, and I'm not doing too well." she said.
Keitaro chuckled, remembering when he was little and trying to navigate the maze that was the Inn. "It's kind of hard to navigate until you get the feel for the place." he admitted. "Come on. Follow me. I'll show you where you are."
"Thank you Mr Urashima!" she said, picking up the large suitcase by her feet.
"Not a problem." Keitaro said. "You want me to carry that for you?" he asked, nodding at her suitcase.
"Thank you, but I got it." Mutsumi told him cheerily.
"Okay." Keitaro said. "Follow me."
Down a hallway and a couple of turns later, they were in front of her room. "And here we are." he said. "If you need anything, let me know."
"Okay." Mutsumi said, giving him another bow. "Thank you."
Keitaro returned her bow and left her to get settled. He, meanwhile, had other things to do. Like have another cup of coffee and then go look at a few other problems he had noticed.
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Keitaro was waiting for Naru on the steps leading up to the Inn when she came back from school.
"Welcome back!" he greeted her. "You have an appointment with a patch of roof and some new roofing tiles."
Naru scowled at him as she paused on the steps. "You're getting off on this, aren't you? This power trip of yours." she said accusingly.
Keitaro laughed at her accusation. "I am getting some enjoyment out of this, but getting off on a power trip?" he asked, then shook his head. "No, not in the least."
Standing up, he stretched and jerked a thumb at the Inn. "I already moved everything up there, so you're not going to be doing anything tricky like carrying tiles up a ladder." he told her. "And I'll be up there with you to walk you through it."
Naru scowled at him. "You're being suspiciously helpful." she told him.
Keitaro sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Contrary to what you have made up about me, Ms Narusawa, I am not an asshole, or a monster, or pervert, or a criminal, or whatever else you've thought up to describe me." he said. "I'm actually a pretty decent guy, if you want to get to know me. I just don't take shit from people. Now go change into some proper clothing. We're burning daylight."
Naru hmphed and stalked past him towards the Inn. Keitaro watched her go, shook his head, and strolled leisurely after her.
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When she came back downstairs, Naru was wearing a pair of her older jeans and a slightly faded t-shirt.
"Good enough." Keitaro said, giving her a once over. "Follow me."
Grinding her molars in frustration, Naru followed him upstairs and onto the upstairs patio, then onto the roof itself, to the side facing the baths.
"And here we are." Keitaro said, pointing to a patch of roof where there were scorch marks surrounding a spot where the tiles had been blasted away.
"So, what am I supposed to do?" Naru asked, irritation evident in her voice as she crossed her arms.
"Well..." Keitaro said, pointing to where there was a tool box and assorted supplies stacked near the damaged section of roof "First, you'll want to get some tar paper, a utility knife, hammer, and the box of tacks and start covering the bare section of roof..."
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There was a scrape of ceramic as Naru set the last tile in place then wiped the sweat off of her brow.
"And you're done." Keitaro said, standing up and dusting himself off. "And now that we're done, do you still think I overreacted with Su?"
Naru leaned back on her heels and took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "No." she admitted with a grimace, like her words tasted like spoiled food "You didn't overreact."
"Good!" Keitaro said with a grin. "You can go, I'll take care of the rest."
Naru bolted, moving as fast as her aching legs would take her across the roof. Keitaro watched her go with an amused look, then started gathering up the tools and the remainder of the supplies.
"Glad I don't have to haul those tiles back down." Keitaro said to himself as he shut the lid to the tool box. "Those things weighed a ton."
"Talking to yourself, Keitaro?"
He looked up to see Kitsune standing on the roof watching him, grinning a grin that would have a Shinto priest reaching for his warding supplies.
"A little." he admitted. "Not too much, though. My boss always says that talking to yourself is all well and good, but when you start arguing with yourself and lose, that's when it becomes a problem."
Kitsune cocked her head to one side as she considered what he had said. "Have you ever had that problem?" she asked.
"Skeeter did for a while, but that's because of that thing with the chickens, not that it makes any sense at all..." Keitaro answered.
"Skeeter's one of your coworkers?" Kitsune asked.
Keitaro nodded. "Yeah, he's our tech and commo guy." he explained. "If there's something that needs fixed or jury rigged, he's the guy who can do it."
"Oh." Kitsune said. "What does 'commo' mean?" she asked.
Keitaro stood up and hefted the tool box. "Communications." he explained. "Skeeter's our radio man."
"Ohhh..." Kitsune said, understanding dawn on her. "Now I understand. Thank you."
"You're welcome-" Keitaro started to say, but was cut off by a scream downstairs. "What the hell?"
"That sounded like Shinobu!" Kitsune said as they both broke out in a run, Keitaro dropping the tool box.
"Shit." he growled as he drew his pistol.
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On their dash downstairs they ran into Motoko coming out of her room, sword in hand.
"I heard Shinobu screaming-" she started to say.
"We heard!" Keitaro snapped. "Follow me!"
Motoko opened her mouth to say something, thought better of it, and dashed off after Keitaro and Kitsune.
When they got downstairs, they found the reason for Shinobu's screaming: there was a woman lying crumpled on the floor in the foyer, a woman Keitaro recognized as Mutsumi.
"Mutsumi?" he asked, holstering his gun.
"You know her, Urashima?" Motoko asked.
"Yeah, she's a new tenet. She just moved in." Keitaro answered as he moved over to her.
Kneeling down, he saw that she was very pale as he checked her pulse. Thankfully, it was there, faint, but there. Her skin was also cold and kid of clammy.
"Is she okay?" Kitsune asked.
Keitaro nodded and looked up at her. "Yeah, I think she passed out, but she's got a faint pulse and her skin feels kid of cold-" he started to say, but stopped when he heard her groan. "Mutsumi?"
"Nnnnhh... I think we shouldn't have rode down the hill in the wagon, Kei-chan..." she muttered as she rubbed her head.
"Huh?" was Keitaro's response. "I think you got me mixed up with someone else."
Mutsumi blinked and then looked around at her surroundings. "Oh." she said, taking in the residents of the Inn. "Oh, dear. Did I faint again?"
"Again?" Keitaro asked. "This is a regular occurrence?"
Mutsumi held a hand to forehead as she sat up. "Yes. I have anemia, so I get light headed or faint occasionally." she explained. "I don't let that stop me, though."
"Well, that's good." Keitaro said. "Unfortunately, you scared the crap out of Shinobu and everybody else."
"Oh." Mutsumi said, a worried look creeping onto her face. "I'm sorry about that."
"Don't be." Keitaro told her. "We didn't know, and you're alright. There's nothing to be sorry for." he added, then looked at Shinobu, who was watching the scene and nervously chewing on her lip. "Hey, Shinobu, could you get Mutsumi a cup of tea and a snack while help her to the couch?"
"Oh! Ah, Yes, yes." the girl said, shakily bowing before scurrying off to the kitchen.
Carefully, Keitaro helped Mutsumi up and got her moved onto the nearest couch with her feet elevated. After she was situated, he turned to face the group.
"Alright everybody, since there isn't an emergency, allow me to introduce our newest resident: Mutsumi Otohime." Keitaro announced.
"Hi!" Mutsumi waved from the couch.
"I was planning on introducing her in a much less dramatic fashion, but no plan survives first contact intact." he continued. "Anyways, Mutsumi, you already know me, these nice ladies are your neighbors. From the left they are Mitsune Konno, aka Kitsune-"
"Hey!" Kitsune drawled.
"-the Kurosawa extra there is Motoko Aoyoma-"
Motoko gave a graceful bow "Greetings." she said.
"-and coming in with tea and snacks is Shinobu Maehara." Keitaro finished as Shinobu came in with a tray loaded for everyone.
"H-hi." Shinobu said timidly. "I-I got tea and snacks for everyone..."
"Good thinking, Shinobu." Keitaro said, Shinobu blushing slightly at his praise. "And currently not here are Naru Narusawa and Kolla Su. You'll know then when you see them. Naru's the one who's usually giving me shit, and Su is the one doing something crazy."
"Oh, my." Mutsumi. "How interesting."
That made Keitaro laugh. "Yeah, interesting. I'll go with that." he said as he poured a cup of tea.
Stepping back, he let the other residents in so they could get their own tea and snacks as they got acquainted with their new neighbor.
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End.
Author's note: Man, it has been a while since I updated this.