Love Hina Fan Fiction ❯ Fallout ❯ Fallout: Paternity Suit ( Chapter 3 )

Fallout

Chapter 3

Paternity Suit

 

 

“Keitaro! Grandson! It's good to see you today. I've organized a family reunion,” announced Hina, skittering forward on her short little legs. Keitaro smiled uneasily.

 

“I thought this was a Hinata Apartments Reunion?” he said uncertainly.

 

“One and the same, grandson, one and the same. I see you've brought your wife and children. Good! They'll love to meet the others,” she said, gesturing to the crowd of kids running loose.

 

“Wow. There sure are a lot of children,” said Keitaro, looking at all of them. “So cute too. Looks like all the girls got married, huh?” said Keitaro, odd looks returned.

 

“What?” he said at the continued stares.

 

“Keitaro… What have you done?” said Kitsune, eyebrow twitching in a truly Naru-like fashion.

 

“Daddy!” cried a small boy, Mutsumi approaching behind him. Keitaro blinked, looked at Mutsumi, then picked up the boy.

 

“Uh… hi. I'm Keitaro. What's your name?” he said.

 

“I'm Keitaro!” answered the little boy.

 

“Oh, you named him after me, I see,” said Keitaro, relieved. He scratched the back of his head with his free hand turning to smile at Mutsumi. Her expression was not quite what he expected. She was shaking her head.

 

“Not exactly, Kei-kun. He's your son. Remember way back when? Before you got married? Well… we had this beautiful boy. He's been such a joy in my life, and mom has been helping me raise him while I finished school. He wanted to meet you… and I wanted to see you again, beloved.”

 

Keitaro blinked at Mutsumi. He looked at his beaming boy. He had his eyes. Keitaro gulped.

 

“Uh. Wow. I… why didn't you tell me? Maybe I should sit down…,” he said, looking for a finding a chair nearby. His son continued to beam.

 

“Where have you been, Daddy?” asked his boy. “Mommy said I get to meet you, promised since I was little.”

 

“I see. Yes. Well, Daddy has been living with Kitsune. Kitsune is Daddy's wife. She has babies with Daddy too,” he managed to say after some pauses. The other women continued to stare, solemn children lined up before them.

 

“Ah think ah need ta sit down,” said Kitsune, looking a little green herself. Kanako brought a comfortable padded chair, mindful of her back, then found a good place to stand and observe. Her expression was inscrutable, which worried Keitaro periferally. The implications of the crowd of children was… more upsetting.

 

“These are all mine, aren't they?” he said, guessing. The women nodded. “Oh boy.” Introductions began, and circumstances were much the same. During his months of making up his mind at whom to marry, they'd gotten pregnant, each of them. And each of them had opted to keep the child, ignoring the option of abortion which is safe, legal, and easy in Japan, they'd chosen the social shame of raising a child unmarried.

 

“My family disowned me,” said Shinobu, presenting her son. “Keitaro, meet Keitaro. He is the one good thing in my life.”

 

“Oh Shinobu, I'm so sorry,” said Keitaro, examining his son, who looked frightened and on the verge of tears. Keitaro held him close. “Shhh. It's okay. Daddy is here. If only I'd known. Why did you keep this from me?”

 

She turned to Kitsune, sadness in her eyes, and jealousy as well. “You chose her. After all I did for you, you chose her. The drunken fox. The lazy fox. The one who teased us all. I was heartbroken. What did you expect? He's all I have of you, Keitaro. The one bit of you I could call my own. He sustained me through the last 4 years of hell. He's been my rock. My love for him has sustained me. Do you know of a Mother's Love, Keitaro?” she asked, turning back to him, eyes seething with hatred. Motoko pulled Shinobu to her and held her while she cried, ruining her ridiculously expensive suit. Motoko's eyes held compassion, and some fear.

 

“Keitaro, I have something to confess as well. And Kitsune too… Kitsune-san… you have been a fine sister to me, and a good wife to Keitaro. You won his heart and gained all that he has. I was left behind, alone or so I first thought. Tsuruko and Kenjou desired children to take over the dojo, an heir. Our family has a long history of girls, and few of them. There were problems… with conception. I was ordered… it fell on me to produce an heir, to marry and carry on the school. I had hoped Keitaro would choose me. I would have given up law school for him. I would have given up so much… but fate is cruel, or kind. I… how do I explain my shame. I bore him twins,” she finally gushed, turning from Kitsune's shock to that mirrored in Keitaro. The two children stepped forward to regard this man they didn't even know.

 

“Mamma?” asked the boy. The girl looked likewise confused.

 

“Yes, he is your father,” she said. “Keitaro, you granted me twins. And a son. A SON! We've had no sons in five generations of Aoyamas. Do you understand how amazing this is? You broke our curse. To save myself from public shame, and our family name, Tsuruko adopted them as her own and helped me raise them. Publicly, they are my sister's children. Privately they are mine. Ours. I couldn't tell you… you are too honorable. You would not let such a thing stand, and that would hurt everyone.”

 

“I… I see,” said Keitaro, releasing the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. There were two more children, younger by a year. He did the math. His eyebrows rose, a question unasked. He looked to Kitsune, her mouth tight with anger.

 

“Kitsune. I was not as strong as I wished. You had him with you always, supporting you, embracing you, cooling your ardor. I had work, tests, studies, pressure unlike any I've ever felt. I would stay away but always there was the thought of him in the back of my mind. The memories which replayed again and again.”

 

“So then what? You just slipped into Molmol, sweet as you please, fuck my husband and sneak back out again?” bit Kitsune.

 

“You won, Kitsune. You won him. I lost. The man I love chose another. What was I to do? No one can replace Keitaro in my heart. No one is as gentle or kind. So yes, I came to see him. I begged him. I begged him to make love to me. I became pregnant, again with twins, and my sister cares for my precious angels… A lover I can't call my husband. Four beautiful children I can't call my own. I have five times the heartache. Can you even imagine MY PAIN?!” snarled Motoko. Kitsune blanched, her rage forgotten in confusion and sudden sympathy as the baby kicked in her womb. She turned instead to Keitaro, face hard at his guilt.

 

“You know my nature, beloved. Ask yourself what I would do faced with this choice,” he said simply, sad. The cicadas sang in the trees, shrilling loud and soft, the heavy breeze blowing in off the ocean below.

 

“So you cheated, cheated on me, cheated on your family. Do you think you deserve to be forgiven?” she hissed.

 

“If you must blame someone, blame me,” insisted Motoko. Kitsune's eyes narrowed, turning to Kaolla Su who returned her glare with compassion.

 

“What do you have to say for yourself? You knew she was there. You probably helped her, didn't you? Some friend you are,” accused Kitsune. “You got to have him. I let him have you to keep the kingdom happy, to give you children. Don't you think that ate away at me?”

 

Kaolla sighed. “Kitsune, you're being a retard.”

 

“Don't fall back on insults, Kaolla. You're a woman. If our positions had been reversed, how would you handle this?” Kitsune sneered.

 

“That's just it. I'm not an ordinary woman. I've had to do many things I'm not comfortable with, for the best of reasons. I'm not proud of lying to you. But she had cause. And if you'd paid more attention it would never have come to this. You could have allowed her visits, or to stay. Instead you insisted on driving her away. You know how fragile she is. She's not as strong as you. Yet look at how strong she's had to be, without the support of Kei-domo. You had him with you every day. Imagine how your life would be without him. Imagine raising children, without him. Imagine having to choose between your family honor and your own happiness. If Motoko were any less strong she would have broken under this strain. Keitaro could see this, in a short meeting he could see her plight. He's only a man, but he's a very special man, to all of us. Would you have denied her, in my place?” asked Kaolla.

 

Kitsune was ashamed and confused. She didn't know what to do, so she wept. Shinobu stared, hesitantly stepping forward to embrace her friend. Motoko also approached, uncertain, finally taking Kitsune's hand in her own. Keitaro stared from his weeping wife to his children, clustered around him. Another child approached from the direction of the stairs.

 

“All grownups cry,” announced the small girl in a piping voice. She had brown hair, braids, and a couple antennae on her forehead.

 

“Ah Keitaro. I see you still know how to make girls cry,” said Naru. She'd gained some weight and looked tired in her sunhat and dress.

 

“Naru! You too?” asked Keitaro, guessing in an instant that this little girl was his own as well.

 

“It seems so,” she agreed. “You really fucked the henhouse, didn't you?” said Naru, looking around.

 

“Whoa, what is Amalla Su doing here?” she said. She looked at the three boys. Amalla Su glared at Naru, clearly drunk. Naru stared next at Motoko's twins. Then Shinobu's son, and Mutsumi's son. Then Haruka's children before showing relief. Haruka looked annoyed at the mere threat of a suggested implication.

 

“Mommy is drunk. She gets this way sometimes,” said the little girl. “I'm Narusegawa Mihoshi. Are you my Daddy?” she asked hopefully.

 

“Yep. That's the guy. Chased me over hill and over dale for four full years before he nailed me. Wouldn't you know I caught that one time. A virgin birth! Hah! My mother disowned me. My father refused to speak to me ever again. He says he has no daughter Naru. Only my sister still likes me, and not when I drink. And I drink a lot. Like Kitsune. I'm a fox woman now. I play tricks. So what if I'm alone? Isn't that all I deserve?” she sobbed, breaking down finally. “I guess Dutch Courage ain't what it used to be, huh?”

 

Mihoshi clambered up onto his lap among the other children a grinned with the sort of indomitable spirit he recognized. Keitaro couldn't help but smile in return and give her a proper hug.

 

“Wow. You don't hurt when you hug, Daddy. Can I call you Daddy?” she asked, curious and hopeful.

 

“Yes, yes you can. That would be fine,” he agreed.

 

“You have a nice lap, Daddy. I think we need a bigger chair, though. We're starting to fall off,” she pointed out sagely.

 

“Well, that was most interesting, wouldn't you say, Haruka dear?” said Hina finally. Haruka snorted and lit a cigarette.

 

Kanako was blank on the outside, pale and gothic as ever. Inside she was a roiling sea of emotions. “All of them! He fucked all of them? And they all loved him enough to suffer the shame and bear his child? All of them? How? Why? And why not me?” she thought, furious and confused. She wanted to scream and cry, but she kept it inside. “He can inspire this much love in a few short years. They lived with him more than I did. He never saw them as siblings. He won't see me as other than his sister. Grandmother, what have you done?” she wondered. Grandma Hina simply smiled gently, as secretive as ever.

 

“Come on, kids. Lunch is ready!” called out Haruka, distracting them all from tears and angst. They took a break from introductions and ate. The buffet was good. Kanako had hired a chef to cook for inn residents on the busy weekends. She probably needed more help, from what Keitaro could see, but he was sure she had her reasons. While technically the Inn and all its grounds were part of Keitaro's inheritance, he wasn't fussy. Money hadn't been an issue since he “married” Kaolla Su. And speaking of Su, why was Amalla there?

 

Keitaro's wandering eye caught Kitsune's attention, which gained a huff of unhappiness. Amalla nodded to Lamba Lu, who followed her to the bathroom in the Inn. Kitsune slammed the sliding door in his face, but he waited outside, patiently.

 

“Lady Kitsune, have you ever wondered just WHY Kaolla would be allowed a Consort rather than simply marry Keitaro and be done with it? And why that was allowed for Keitaro?” he asked.

 

“I'm in the bathroom. Don't you respect a lady's need for privacy?” she objected through the ricepaper door.

 

“Lady Kitsune, there are circumstances involved which must not become public knowledge. Amalla and I… we can't have children.” There. He said it. It was humiliating but it was true.

 

“What? But you've got three children!” she replied from within the bathroom.

 

“No, Amalla has three children. Officially, they are mine. They will grow up to look like me, and I will raise them as if they were my own. But their father is Keitaro. He… he doesn't know.”

 

“How can he not know?” she asked, washing her hands.

 

“Well, from what Kaolla and her parents told me, she snuck into his chambers and took Kaolla's place. He wasn't aware of it, and had no idea.”

 

“Wait a second,” said Kitsune, sliding open the door before setting aside the hand towel. “You're telling me that Molmol, the seat of technological innovation on the Pacific Ocean, has never heard of a sperm donor or artificial insemination? You gotta be kidding me,” she snorted.

 

“Of course we have. We even have a clinic in the capitol, but that would not do, politically speaking. Its full of spies, there would be claims that the donor was unworthy, and it would threaten the stability of my kingdom, already at war with neighboring states as well as pirates. I would be denied right to ascension if I can't father a child. If I took a second wife, Amalla would be heartbroken, and if I failed a second time, the crown would pass to…Kaolla… and her husband.”

 

“OH,” said Kitsune, registering the consequences of that statement. “Oh dear. I see.”

 

“So you see, it must appear as if Amalla and I have three beautiful boys who look just like me. That's why Keitaro was not forced to marry Kaolla, and why you were allowed to. She did that for you, Kitsune. Kaolla would have been happy to marry him, you know. Very happy, despite the fact that he's clumsy and charming rather than brilliant like she is. The crown is a heavy weight to bear and I am pleased that my Uncle remains well. Oh, and by the way, Amalla is pregnant again. We haven't announced it publicly in case something happens.”

 

“I… I see. Is this one yours?” she asked. The Prince shook his head no.

 

“I will love our children to the best of my ability and raise them to be strong and smart like their mother, and determined like their father. It is the best I can hope for the sake of our people.”

 

“Well, at least your heart's in the right place. Why are you telling me this?” she asked.

 

“I thought you deserved to know it from someone in the same position as you are. This situation is not normal. Then again, neither is Keitaro,” he admitted. “He has been unusually blessed, despite his bad luck and clumsiness.”

 

“Huh. Sounds like the kids are settling down. Will you join me for lunch?” she offered.

 

“Perhaps after I use this facility. Even a Prince must Pee,” he joked politely, stepping into the bathroom. Kitsune twitched at that. Looks like some of Keitaro's bad manners were starting to rub off on the royal family.