Shinobu, Ai Dake Chapter 1: A New Student and Surprises
Shinobu, Ai Dake Chapter 1: A New Student and Surprises
By: Steve Jester
Notes disclaimers, and bullshit: Well, if you haven't guessed by now, the young innocent Shinobu is about to have here turn at love. This is my first time working with the Love Hina characters, so bear with me. Before I continue, the phrase "ai dake" is Japanese translating into "my love". I do not own Love Hina.
"Shinobu! You'll be late!" a female voice called from downstairs.
"I'm coming!" I yelled. My name is Maehara Shinobu. I used to be a very shy girl; my hair also used to be black. Now a days I'm a lot more confident in my self; my hair also changed to blond. I dressed in my casual clothing, a blue tank top and jeans. Tonight is a school dance.
Kitsune walked in, "C'mon, Shin-chan. Keitaro's waiting outside!" Kitsune had her usual sweats and t-shirt on.
"Alright," I said resentfully. I may be more confident in my self, but this is still my first dance. Fortunately, it's the first dance of the year. I went down to the main room.
"Hey Shinobu! You finally ready?!" Su said.
"Yea, this is going to be a blast!" I said, turning to face Su, who was lying on the couch in a black t-shirt and jeans.
"You two ready?" Keitaro asked from the doorway.
"Yep!" Su said.
"As I'll ever be," I said as we followed Keitaro to his car.
The drive wasn't all that long. Hinata High is only a few minutes from the apartments. "Thanks Keitaro-sempai," I said as we arrived.
"Anytime. I'll pick you two up sometime around 10:00," Keitaro said as he drove away. The school gym was where everyone was so we started to walk in that direction.
"Maehara! Su! Wait up!" a girl called from behind me.
"Yumi!" I said as I hugged the running girl. "You look great!" I said as she stepped back. She had on a pink mini skirt with a white t-shirt that said "Hinata High, Sophomore Class" on it.
"Thanks, let's go in!" Yumi said as she pulled us into the gym.
An hour had gone by, we were hanging by the refreshment table with Yumi's boyfriend Rei. Rei's one of the star soccer players on the team, and he's only a sophomore. He looked over in the distance, "Hey isn't that the new girl?" Sure enough it was Nagamatsu Hikari. She had on a white t-shirt and a blue miniskirt. Her hair was wild, and blond. She was just sitting there, looking at the floor. She looked beautiful, I started to blush at that thought. Fortunately no one noticed.
"I'm going over there," I said. I remember being the new girl, it felt terrible, So I decided to talk to her.
I sat next to her. She looked a little startled may have even blushed. "Hi, I'm Shinobu," I said. I was surprised at how hard it was to say, as if I was trying to talk to a guy I liked for the first time.
"Hi," she said, not even lifting her head. It seemed like she didn't want to talk.
"Are you ok Hikari?" I said with a little more concern than I anticipated.
"Yea, I gotta go," she said as she stood up and walked out of the gym. While she stood up her skirt accidentally went up showing me her white panties. Surprisingly I blushed and felt hot when I saw it. I just shook my head and walked back to my friends.
"So Shin-chan, anything interesting?" Rei asked. Even though he's a guy, he likes gossip.
"Other than the fact that she's very shy, no. Nothing."
"Well then, I think it's time to head back to the dance floor!" Yumi said as an American pop song started to play.
Time passed by. I kept thinking about that incident all night. Even when Keitaro came to pick us up I was still thinking about it. Somehow Keitaro noticed it. When we arrived he called me to his room. After a fit from Naru, which ended up in a bruised Keitaro, we went up to his room. "Shin-chan, is there anything bothering you?"
I debated in my head telling him, but then all I said was, "Nope." I cursed myself because I could feel the blush in my face.
Keitaro crossed his arms, "Shinobu, I can tell. What's wrong?"
I sighed, and proceeded to tell him what happened at the dance. When I finished my face was beat red.
"Well," Keitaro said, "Have you felt weird around other girls, besides Miss Nagamatsu?"
"Yea, I've been felling weird around the other girls when were in the bath, and a couple of other times at school," I said trying to figure out where he was going with this.
"I see," he said, stroking the small amount of hair starting to grow in around his chin. "Shinobu, what I'm about to say may be a little bit of a shock, but I think that you're a lesbian."
I heard my heart skip a beat, or was that heavy footfalls? My understanding of lesbians were that they were attracted to girls instead of boys, which would explain why I can talk to most guys in my school without stuttering, and why the only friends I have that are girls are Yumi and Su, and the rest of the Hinata residents.
"So, does Kaolla know?" Keitaro said, putting me back in reality.
"She probably noticed."
"Do any of the others know?"
"No."
"Ok," he sighed. He started to think, "I think." he said slowly, ". that you should talk with each of the residents separately. I expect Su and Kitsune will be supportive, probably Naru too. I don't know how Motoko will take it, but they're your friends, as well as I." He leaned closer and hugged me, "Do what's in your heart Shinobu, only you know how to handle it."
He released me and I got up, "Arigato, Urashima-sempai," I said as I bowed and left his room. Tomorrow's the day I'll tell them.
AN: Well, How's that? Remember, if you got this far, please review! More next time!
Shinobu, Ai Dake Chapter 2: Apartment Confessions
Notes, disclaimers, and bullshit: Well, I have to explain something I forgot to do in the first chapter. A lot of reviewers have said that Shinobu is too OOC. I did that somewhat on purpose. I did this with this reasoning, she got a little older. She's 16 in this fanfic. I'll admit it's out of character from the series, but I think it's justified that her attitude would change between 13 and 16. This includes the fact that she wanted to dye her hair, her sudden attraction to the same sex, and her confident personality. I don't own Love Hina.
Morning. My time to be free, especially on Saturday mornings. I woke up at around 8am. My dreams consisted of memories of the night before. Then I remembered what I promised I'd do today. So I went down the hall, might as well start with Kitsune. Her door was open a crack so I knocked and walked in. She was at her computer. She must be typing her second novel. I thought I would check back later and started out the door when Kitsune said, "Go ahead Shin-chan. Sit down." I took a seat on her couch. "Writer's block. I hate writer's block. So Shin-chan," she swiveled her chair to face me, "what are you here for?"
I stared at her, not knowing how to answer her question. Kitsune looked amused, "Shinobu, you look like Keitaro when he first asked out Naru. So who's the lucky guy?"
I stared again. But, "It's not a guy," I said, "It's a girl."
Kitsune's face blanked out. She was surprised. "I didn't realize." she began. Kitsune turned a small smile towards me, "Don't worry Shin-chan. So who's the girl?"
I proceeded to tell her about last night. She nodded her head while she listened. Finally she said, "So, Keitaro told you to talk to us separately?" I nodded my head,
"I'll have to thank him. Well, this situation give me inspiration! I'll talk to you later."
"Thanks, Kitsune," I said as I got up and went to Su's room. I needed to tell her next, she goes to my school.
Su's room was empty, not a sign that Su was there. She must be downstairs. So I went to the main room, sure enough Su was there as if she was waiting for me. "Good morning Shinobu! How are you feeling?"
"Fine," I said quickly. Su noticed.
Su sat up and stared at me. "Shin-chan, something's bothering you. Is it about Hikari?"
"Yea," I sighed dreamily. Su caught on quick. Of course she did, she was there.
"So, what are you going to do?" She asked, "How are you going to tell Yumi?"
"I don't know." I started to say as I heard footsteps from the stairs. It was Naru.
" 'How are you going to tell Yumi' about what?" she asked.
I sighed in annoyance, "About what happened between me and a new girl at school."
"What, did you get in a fight?" Naru said, stepping off the steps, concern in her voice.
"No, it's that."
"Shinobu likes this girl," Su said, interrupting me. I immediately blushed.
Naru stared at me for a few minutes. She made her way to the couch, sitting next to Su. "Well, how are you going to handle living here if your. you know?"
I sighed, Naru was taking this better than I expected, "Have you noticed that when we're in the bath I stay in my own little corner?" Naru nodded, "Well I'll probably continue to do that, my own laundry, and I'll have to be very careful when I enter other people's rooms."
Naru nodded, "Just don't pull a 'Keitaro' on us," she said before hugging me. "So," she said when she broke away, "how many of the residents know?"
"Everyone except Motoko," I answered.
Naru breathed a sigh of relief, which got my attention.
"Good thing you haven't told Motoko yet. She's the ."
" 'She's the.' what?" said a voice from the stairs. It was Motoko, sword drawn and pointed at Naru.
Naru stumbled but kept her composure, ". best Kendo warrior in all of Hinata." Naru ended that with a nervous giggle.
Motoko came down the stairs and pointed her sword at me! "No, I happened to over hear some of the conversation you and Keitaro had last night!" I gasped, it was footfalls I heard. "You are a lesbian! I cannot accept that! You have been in our bath and who knows other than you and Kami-sama what you think about in there! You are a disgrace!" She pushed her blade closer, "Leave or die!!!"
Su put herself in front of me, "No one will hurt Shinobu!"
"Motoko, put the kitana down!" a voice from the doorway said.
"Haruka, Shinobu's a." Motoko pleaded.
"PUT IT DOWN NOW!" Haruka said.
Motoko hesitated but followed the order.
At that moment Kitsune and Keitaro came down the steps. "I take it Motoko found out about Shinobu?" Kitsune said.
"The Understatement of the World award goes to Konno Mitsune!" said Naru. I was trying to adjust to the situation.
"Shinobu, Keitaro," Haruka said, "Come with me. The rest of you stay here. And you," Haruka sent a death glare to Motoko, "calm down." Keitaro and I followed in silence until we reached the tea house. Once inside Haruka seated us. Taking a seat herself, she lit a cigarette. "First I want to praise you Shinobu for having a lot of courage back there. Many would bend there will to Motoko's blade."
"Thanks I guess," I said.
"Now, ever since I've been the 'House-mother' of Hinata Apartments I've been the person to settle arguments and discomfort. When Motoko came here, she told me that she despised homosexuals. Now that we know you're a lesbian, you cause discomfort to Motoko. See the problem?" Haruka said taking several puffs of her cigarette.
"Yea, but why kill me?!" I said, unable to understand.
"What Haruka is saying is that." Keitaro started to say, stroking the stubble growing at his chin, "Remember when I first came here, her attitude towards me? Well, you are another person who is attracted to girls. She takes offence to that."
"Well, that makes sense in a way," I said. "So, what will I do? I don't want to leave, but I don't want to die either."
"Well, this is where I'll intervene," Haruka said. "We're going to go back to the house. Don't worry Shinobu, we'll be behind you," Haruka said rising from the table. We followed her back to the house, Haruka stopped before the doorway. "Stay here," she said as she entered the house. When she came back out she had Motoko's katana. "Alright, come in."
We went in, Motoko sitting on the steps, unarmed. She didn't even look at me as I entered. Kitsune, Naru, and Su were sitting on the couch. I sat down in a beanbag chair and Keitaro sat on the floor. Haruka took a leaning position on one of the beams of the house. "Well Motoko," Haruka said, "explain yourself."
Motoko rose from where she sat, so did Kitsune and Naru. Motoko took that as a hint and sat down, turning her head away in disgust. "The reason attacked her is because she's a homosexual."
Naru had resumed sitting and was looking at Motoko hard. I thought she was going to kill Motoko with that glare. "Homosexuals," Motoko continued, "are immoral, perverted, and sick!" Each word made me feel a sting in my heart.
"So your saying that it's wrong for Shinobu to follow her heart when it is against your beliefs?!" Naru exclaimed, "Shinobu's only following what's right in her heart! You have no right to deny her that!"
"Motoko, what Shinobu need is support, not conflict," Haruka said, silencing the beast know as Naru, "Now you don't have to accept it, but you'll have to live with it. Shinobu's going to continue to live here. You are not to attack her. If you do, your leaving understand?" Motoko nodded her head, "Shinobu, do you want to say anything?"
I rose from my beanbag chair, the urge to run was there, but I stayed, I need to be strong. "I want to thank everyone for letting me stay. Motoko, I realize I must be the last person you want to hear this from, but I want to thank you for showing me how some people will react. I'm going to need all the support I can get. Now, I want to go to my room, I'll see you all later." I bowed to the residents and went up stairs and into my room. I flopped on my bed and looked at my alarm clock. 12:00pm, damn. The morning is over. The afternoon is just beginning, and outside my window a storm approaches on the horizon.
OK, yes, I hope you people now understand why Shinobu is so OOC. Please review! I don't mind the criticism, but just don't flame. BTW, try and guess what the foreshadowing is in this chapter.
Next Chapter: School