Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina. I'm sure by reading my fics you can guess what would have happened if I did.
A/N: There have been people who have been wondering who Keitaro will be paired up to. Well first I will say that in this fic, it will not be one of the Hinata Girls at all and to be honest it won't be with Kanako either, not that I have a problem with her. Another thing, haters are going to hate even if you try to reason with them. It seems in one of the reviews that I was accused of writing anon reviews for my own fic, it shocked me out of my chair and pissed my off to no end. Let me say what I told to the person who accused me of that garbage. I don't have the time nor would I ever write anon reviews for my own fic, it's deplorable. I'm just lucky that I get many reviews and so what if most of them are anons. You can disagree with how I'm going with my fanfics, it's fine, not everyone is going to like them but to accuse me of either writing my own reviews or not reading the Love Hina manga or anything else that seems outrageous and pure nonsense, I take serious offence to that and it makes me lose the respect for the person who does that kind of idiotic nonsense. I mean…really? Are you serious? Anyway, here's the chapter of An Alternate Keitaro Urashima.
Chapter 5: Attempt
Keitaro was on his way home with his friends, Kimiaki Shirai and Masayuki Haitani. They were talking about the time they hung out at various places in Tokyo.
"So Keitaro, what desserts are going have us try?" Haitani asked.
"You'll see, I've been working on it and I think you two will enjoy it," Keitaro said smiling.
"Well, I'm looking forward to it," Shirai said.
Keitaro, Shirai, and Haitani were at Keitaro's house and they went inside. They went to the living room and when they did, they were surprised to see someone there with Keitaro's parents and his sister. It was Hina Urashima, his grandmother.
"Granny?" Keitaro spoke surprised.
"Hello Keitaro," Hina greeted smiling.
Keitaro, along with his two best friends were surprised.
"Oh, you two are…Kimiaki and Masayuki," Hina said pointed at Shirai and Haitani.
"Uh…yes, hello ma'am," Haitani replied.
"Nice to meet you," Shirai replied.
"Boys, I have some peppermint patties at the counter," Nanami said, "you boys can have some and could you please wait in the bakery and let us know if there some customers?"
Both Shirai and Haitani didn't mind and nodded and then left.
"Sorry guys," Keitaro said sadly.
"No, no, no, you don't need to apologize," Shirai assured.
"Yeah, considering what you told us earlier…" Haitani pointed out.
"Thanks guys," Keitaro was grateful for their understanding as his two friends went to the bakery.
Keitaro then went to sit down next to Kanako.
"It's good to see you again Keitaro," Hina said happily.
"Yeah, good to see you again too Granny," Keitaro replied, "so how was your world trip?"
"…It's great but to be honest, I'm not finished, there are still places to see."
"…Of course," Keitaro paused and then sighed, "Granny, I think I know why you're here. You want me to take over as manager of the Hinata Inn, right?"
Hina was amazed and nodded, "That's right. Now Keitaro, I understand that things didn't go well when you went there."
"Then you mind explaining me on a few things. First off, why did you change the place to an all-girls dorm? Why didn't you tell any of us that you changed it?"
"And why did you lie to big brother?" Kanako asked.
"I had my reasons," Hina said.
"Which are?" Kyoshiro asked.
"I just had my reasons," Hina said not willing to really tell them.
"You don't seem to actually want to tell us," Nanami said.
"Listen, I understand you're upset and I apologize for that, I didn't think it was going to be so bad," Hina saw the expression on the members of her family and was able to tell that they gave expressions that said 'it was unacceptable'.
"I still want to know why Granny," Keitaro said.
"I…wanted to be a nice surprise for you," Hina said.
"A nice surprise? You call telling me to go to your inn saying you were there when in reality you weren't there and not telling me that you change the place a nice surprise? You call setting me up to face rude, arrogant and troublesome tenants a nice surprise? You call trying to get me to accept the duties as manager of the inn without even talking to me about it first a nice surprise?" Keitaro was getting angry at his grandmother.
"Keitaro, please calm down," Hina pleaded, "I did it to help you."
"How exactly were you helping him, Hina?" Nanami asked upset at her mother-in-law's ploy.
"Nanami, why are you taking that tone with me?" Hina asked upset at her daughter-in-law.
"You'll have to excuse me Hina; I just get irritated when someone puts my family in a situation that could get them hurt."
"Keitaro would have never gotten hurt," Hina countered.
"Granny, two of your tenants tried to physically harm, one of them was using a real sword. I told them who I was and that I was there by your request but they refused to believe me," Keitaro said.
"Keitaro, I assure you, it was all a misunderstanding. I talked to the girls and I explained everything to them."
"Did you really?" Kyoshiro asked.
Hina nodded, "Yes," Hina looks at Keitaro, "Keitaro, I want to one day pass the Hinata Inn to someone, someone who will be able keep and the maintain the place that was started by your great-grandfather, my father, Keisuke Urashima. I've always believed that you are the one fit for the task."
"Why me though?" Keitaro asked.
"Because you're the only one I could ask. Your father has his own bakery here and I'm not willing to have him give that up to take over for me."
"What about Aunt Marumi?" Keitaro asked, "I feel that she would be more qualified to run the place than I would."
"Your Aunt Marumi has her own business to run as well and I don't think it would be possible for her to take the time to run the inn…not to mention she would kick the girls out."
"Actually Granny, I called Yoshinari and told him about what happened and he said that even though his mom runs her company, she can take the time to run the inn or if needed, Yoshinari or someone representing Aunt Marumi could run the Hinata Inn as well. Yoshinari also told me that you already know about it as you and Aunt Marumi have talked about this stuff in the past so please don't say you didn't know."
Hina was shocked and on the inside was not happy to hear about her other grandson, "You…talked to Yoshinari?"
Keitaro nodded, "I'm sure he told his mom by now."
Hina shook her head, "Regardless, Keitaro, I'm sure you want to live somewhere that is close to your school. If you become the manager of the Hinata Inn, you'll be able to live there and be able to commute better for your school."
"That won't be necessary Granny," Keitaro simply replied, "I've already got a place to live that is close to my school."
"What do you mean?" Hina asked surprised.
"Keitaro and I talked about his living arrangements Mom," Kyoshiro said, "a friend of mine is willing to let him live in his apartment building and he also has a job for him there as well."
"When…when did you make these arrangements?"
"Yesterday," Keitaro replied, "Dad's friend Shinsuke was very helpful and understanding."
"So after you left refusing to be manager, the position I personally handpicked you for, you went and made arrangements to live somewhere else?"
Keitaro and the rest of the Urashima family nodded.
"That's right, so really, I'll be fine Granny," Keitaro said able to figure that his grandmother was not happy about his arrangement.
Hina couldn't believe what was happening as this was not what she had planned for, "You really don't want to be my inn's manager."
"No, I don't and Granny, I find it bad that you thought you could do what you did and think you could get away with it," Keitaro said glaring at his grandmother.
"Also Granny, I will not go with you to your world tour," Kanako declared.
Keitaro was surprised, "Go with her to her world tour?"
"That's right; Granny wanted me to go with her to her world trip."
Keitaro was surprised, "Why?"
"I just wanted to help Kanako broaden her horizon," Hina reasoned.
"But Granny, Kanako is in school. Are you saying that you would be willing to have her skip out of school? I'm sure her friends would miss her terribly."
"Kanako is already a genius, it wouldn't affect her too much and she would have the chance to see the world as well."
"Mom, is there something you're not telling us?" Kyoshiro asked suspicious of his mother.
"I don't know what you mean," Hina said.
"The things you're doing don't seem to make sense. Changing the inn into an all-girls dorm and trying to get Keitaro to be the manager of your inn without even discussing it with him, trying to have Kanako go with you on your tour, not bothering to see if Marumi would be interested to take over in your absence, waiting a year to let someone know about the changes you did, not telling your tenants of Keitaro going to the inn. Mom, I get sense that there's some sort of reasoning for it, like you're up to something."
Hina couldn't believe what her son was saying, "Kyoshiro, I sincerely hoped that you're not accusing me of some sort of foul play."
"Are you saying you're not Hina?" Nanami asked.
Hina was shocked and feeling hurt, "I don't believe this. I'm disgusted that you would all think that I would do something like this. I'm here simply to ask Keitaro to watch over the inn in my place. I'm getting very old and I want to able to relax knowing that the inn will be in good hands and taken care of but for you all to accuse me of some sort of foul play is disgusting! It's just as bad as forgetting a promise someone makes."
"A promise? Granny, what are you talking?" Keitaro asked.
"Keitaro, do you remember the time you set out for Tokyo University to see the girl you promised to?"
"Granny, I was five and I doubt anyone really takes those kinds of promises seriously."
"Someone did take it seriously," Hina said.
Keitaro was confused, "Who?"
"Your promise girl, of course Keitaro, I didn't want to mention this because I wanted you to realize it yourself but now I need to tell you this. One of the tenants there is your promise girl."
"Granny, what are you talking about?" Keitaro asked.
"Keitaro, you made a promise that you'd see your girl at Tokyo University and yet, you gave up on that. There are people who take promises seriously and personally I was disappointed that you chose to break your promise."
"Okay Granny, first, it's really not your concern if I 'keep promises or break them' since they have nothing to do with you anyway and second, I was five. Five years old Granny, kids at that age say all kinds of things but they either don't take them seriously or don't remember. Besides, I don't remember the girl's name or what she looked like. I would have put myself in such unnecessary hardships and what makes you think the girl in question would remember me. I doubt she does and if you say that one of the tenants is my 'promise girl', she definitely didn't recognized me when I was there so it's really pointless. Who knows, she might have actually moved on and decided to live her own life like I have."
"Mom, have you actually told this girl about the 'promise'?" Kyoshiro asked.
"Well…no, I haven't," Hina admitted.
"Then again, there's no point," Nanami commented, "I'm surprised you kept it to yourself."
Keitaro, Kyoshiro, and Kanako agreed.
Hina then looked at Kyoshiro and Nanami, "How could you two support this? Are you not disappointed that Keitaro has made unreasonable choices in his life?"
"Actually Mom, we're not. In fact, they are not unreasonable and I'm rather proud of my son because he knows what he wants to do and sets himself to take care of himself," Kyoshiro said.
"Also, Keitaro always helps out here and he intends to continuing to do so when he can, not that we expect him to do that now with what he's going to do when his school starts but he chooses to do so as does Kanako."
"Also Mom, you can forget about taking my little girl with you," Kyoshiro added, "Kanako will be school and I'll be damned if I let anyone get in the way of her education, even from you, my own mother."
"I also refuse to allow you to take my daughter away for whatever reason they are," Nanami added determined as was Kyoshiro.
Kanako and Keitaro smiled at what their parents were doing while Hina was upset and disappointed.
"Keitaro, Kanako, are you really satisfied with what the two are doing now?" Hina asked.
"I am Granny," Kanako said.
"I'm perfectly content with how things are going for me now Granny. I'm just not going to run your inn," Keitaro said as a state of fact, "it's as simple as that."
"Mom, if you really want someone to run your inn, then call Marumi and I'm sure my sister would be more than happy to oblige and I'm sure it won't get in the way of her running her company."
Hina didn't want to give up but she knew that at that moment, she had lost on her attempt. Keitaro still refused to run the Hinata Inn, Kanako refused to go with her on her world tour, and Kyoshiro and Nanami were supporting their kids and making sure that Hina didn't get her way. In the many years for Hina Urashima, it was the first time that she proposed something and had failed.
"You are all serious about this?" Hina asked feeling defeated.
"Yes," the four members said.
Hina had a sad look on her face, "Then in that case, I'm leaving," Hina get up, "all I'm going to say is that all of you have really let me down. I thought you all would understand but it seems all of you all have become selfish. When something happens, I hope you all think about the decisions you have made."
"It's too bad you feel that way Mom," Kyoshiro said.
"Kyoshiro, I did not raise to be so cold towards family members and it's obvious that you and Nanami have taught Keitaro and Kanako very bad."
Kyoshiro simply shook his head, "Mom, you're not in any position to lecture us on how we raise our kids. Besides, you have just shown that you want things to go your way and you're not willing to support your own grandchildren of their goals and I just don't understand."
The phone suddenly rang and Keitaro went to pick it up, "Hello, Urashima Residence," the person on the other line was a young woman and Keitaro had a huge grin on his face, "Oh hi, how are you?" The woman talked happily and Keitaro was happy when she told him something, "Oh, really...Yeah sure, I'll come and pick you up in two hours. Yeah…see you soon."
Kyoshiro and Nanami raised their eyebrows and Kanako pouted a little.
"Son, is that who we think it is?" Kyoshiro asked.
Keitaro rubbed the back of his head with a smile, "Yeah, my girlfriend."
This surprised Hina, "Wait, Keitaro, you have a girlfriend?"
"Yeah, I do," Keitaro replied.
Hina was shocked, "When did you have a girlfriend?"
"A year ago."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Keitaro simply shrugged, "You didn't ask."
Hina couldn't believe this, "Could this get any worse? He should be with Naru...Who is this girl that Keitaro is with? Poor Naru..."
Outside of the Urashima Residence/Bakery
A blue car stopped in front of the bakery. The driver came out and it was a woman was a middle aged woman with brown short hair and brown eyes with glasses that wore a black business suit.
"Hm, it's been a while. I wonder if Mom is still here," the woman said, "I guess I'll find out.
The woman went to go inside the bakery.
That's it for this chapter and nothing has gone Hina's way. Next chapter: Keitaro's girlfriend is introduced. Hina returns to the inn with bad news and the girls and Haruka don't take well to what they think Keitaro disrespected her. How will they respond?