I don't own Love Hina. Wish I did. Ken does. I'm just along for the ride.

Love Hina – Ronin Rescue

Fanfic

Chapter One – A Man, a Bathhouse, and a Baby??

(AN: had a problem with a chapter uploading correctly, so I had to delete and reload the story. Apologies to anyone who linked or reviewed it already. Slippy)

It is Monday morning. Keitaro sits alone in the dining room finishing his breakfast, looking out the windows. (Well, what am I going to do today?) he thinks dejectedly.

Getting up, he clears the table of cups and plates, and takes the dishes to the kitchen and washes them, placing them carefully back onto the shelves. He walks slowly to the entrance of the Inn.

Stepping outside, he smiles. Haruka has dropped-off a bag of groceries again. (I really should thank her for doing this, it's not like I don't have enough money to buy whatever we need. Heck, I've got more than enough money. Granny made sure of that with the bank account she signed over.) He looks around to see if he can spot his aunt, but Haruka already has gone back down the hill to open the Tea Shop. (I'll talk to her later, after I get today's work done.)

Picking up the bag, he takes it to the kitchen, places it on the table and starts putting the items away. He puts vegetables, formula and meat in the refrigerator; dry goods in the cabinets; extra diapers and baby food on the counter. Sighing, he decides to take a stroll through the dorm before starting his daily maintenance routine.

Walking through the inn, Keitaro slowly runs his hand along the walls. Softly, like memories, he remembers. Voices everywhere; sometimes quiet; sometimes loud; sometimes crying; sometimes angry; mostly laughing; and always the same. Voices like angels surrounding him. Angels he had sworn to protect. And failed.

Stopping at his room, he picks up his sketchbook without thinking, and flips through the pages. Keitaro's heart breaks as he sees them; Naru, Motoko, Kitsune, Shinobu, Su, and Mutsumi. His fingers lightly touch each of their faces.

Setting the book carefully on the table, Keitaro sits back and sighs. "Why did it have to happen this way?"

Yasumiko, drying her hair, comes to his door when she hears he is blaming himself again. Stepping in, she kneels behind Keitaro, wrapping her arms around his chest, comforting him; "Keitaro-kun, it's not your fault. Let it go." In the corner, little Kayato gurgles and giggles in his crib.