Fifteen Years ago...

Two young children were playing in a sandbox, a boy and a girl, both about 5 years old. "Kei-kun?" said the cute voice of the girl as she looked up from the sand they were playing in.

"Yes?" said Keitaro as he maneuvered his shovel, for some reason he had a strange feeling fluttering in his tummy as he stared up at his friend.

"Do you know, when two people go to Tokyo University love each other, they will live happily ever after?" At Keitaro's questioning glance the girl giggled and kissed him on the cheek. "Lets go to Tokyo U when we grow up, promise?"

Keitaro, not sure he would be able to trust his voice simply said, "Y-Yes."

Today...

'Fate and destiny is a fickle thing and even in some cases downright cruel.' Urashima Keitaro thought as he got off the train in Hinata city. 'Grandma isn't the type to ask people to visit out of the blue like this, she must have some kind of reason. It's probably for the best that I leave home for awhile anyway, Mom's been quite unbearable.' Keitaro thought to himself as he sat down on on a bench and laid back with his hands kneaded behind his head. Days like this are better spent enjoying the little things life had to offer. The sound of sniffling interrupted his musings as he craned his neck to detect where it was coming from.

A cute young girl sat alone on a bench sniffling to herself. Keitaro unable to stand the sight decided to cheer her up a bit. He walked up and sat down next to her. "You know, its really quite a lovely day isn't it."

The girl surprised by someone walking up and talking to her could only hesitantly agree. "Y-Yes it is." She looked over at the young man next to her and saw him looking out towards the ocean with his hands formed in a box shape.

Once he saw her looking at him he said, "Whenever I get sad, I like to pretend That I'm looking at a painting of the world around me. For instance, I box my hands and look at the sun setting in the distance and think about what a wonderful scene it is. I stare at it and marvel at the beauty around me that I take for granted. Once I think I can't appreciate it anymore than I do, I simply take my hands away and realize, its not just a beautiful scene, its reality for me. And all the wondrous things I was imagining doing as I stared at it before can now become reality." Keitaro added with a smile as he saw the girl bring her hands up and stare through her hands at the scene before her.

Shinobu stared out at the ocean for a bit and imagined playing in the sand at the beach and swimming at dusk before stargazing. After a minute or two she took her hands away and smiled a little bit. 'I Do feel better...' she thought to herself in wonder as she turned to thank the man who had spoken to her. Looking around she only saw three old men of the town council standing near staring with their hands boxed at the distant sunset, trying to figure out what she was doing. The young man she had spoken to earlier was gone.

Keitaro continued towards the Hinata Inn in a lazy manner. He soaked in as much of the town he remembered from his youth as he could. 'One could say that this is where I started something that has become a centering theme my entire life.' As he approached the hotel he stared up at the building feeling an inrush of memories as he walked in.

"Grandma! Aunt Haruka? Anybody here?" Keitaro Yelled, 'Must not be something important, if grandma isn't here to meet me, she is the host after all..' he yawned a bit and stretched his arms, 'ahh whatever, guess I can just crash on the couch till she shows. He sat his satchel down and proceeded to collapse on the couch in the living room. It didn't take long for him to drift off into a peaceful slumber.

Half an hour later Naru and Kitsune came down to the living room with red faces and relaxed smiles as they chatted happily with one another. "Ahh, nothing like a nice long soak in the hot springs eh Naru?" Kitsune said with a cheeky grin as they headed towards the kitchen.

Naru with a smiled on her face was about to respond till she spotted something "Umm... who is that?" she said as she pointed to the couch where Keitaro continued to snooze away.

"You expect me to know?" Kitsune said with a defensive look, At Naru's raised eyebrow she continued, "One time! And the guy was better looking, and I was boozed up. Look, I have no idea who he is..."

"Well, he's napping in a girls dorm so he's about to be tossed out." Naru muttered as she walked over to Keitaro. "Hey..." Naru said loudly, "HEY!" she yelled. She finally shook him a little bit and yelled, "Wake up!" at a muttering Naru finally stood back up, satisfied she had woken him up.

"...stikdmf..." said Keitaro as he waved his hand dismissively and rolled over on his side.

One would never ever peg Narusegawa Naru as a patient person, ever. Thought there was going to be more to that statement did you... well there isn't. "You lazy bum! This is a girls dormitory, you just can't walk in here off the streets and sleep here!" she yelled at his lazing form. Kitsune however was loving every second of it. 'Naru is getting mad, this guy hasn't said a word yet and I already know he's entertaining, I wonder why he's here though. ' She thought to herself as Naru's yelling attracted the other tenants of the Hinata Sou.

"Narusegawa-sempai, what is the distur..."Aoyama Motoko said but stopped in mid-sentence as her eye's narrowed on Keitaro's form, his male form and she said, "Why is there a strange man on the couch?" in a cool tone her eyes traveling to Kitsune. Kitsune sighed in exasperation and shook her head indicating she wasn't the cause of this.

Kaolla Su leapt from Motoko's shoulders and said, "Is he a bum? can I use my Su-Missle array on him?" Su asked cheerily as she inspected him closer. She began to stretch his mouth and made him smile while she laughed. "He sleeps like my Poppa, I like him, lets keep him!" She leapt away and took off towards her room as Keitaro simply swatted at empty air before rolling back over.

"He must be some kind of vagrant, I can't imagine any other kind of person simply sleeping wherever..." Motoko muttered.

"Naru nodded and said, "Well, what do you guys think? Should we just toss the couch out with him on it since he won't wake up?"

Kitsune shook her head emphatically and said, "No way! I crash on that couch all the time to watch the races and drink, I'll be damned if we give a couch to a Hobo just because he won't wake up. Just pour some water on him or something." Kitsune finished as Naru smiled at the idea and Motoko merely nodded.

As Naru went into the Kitchen, the front door opened reveling Haruka. Motoko walked forward and said, "Haruka-san, we were just getting ready to rid ourselves of a vagrant, perhaps you can help me subdue him if he gets violent. I'd rather not dirty my sword hitting helpless bums around."

At Haruka's questioning look Motoko merely stepped to the side and allowed her to view the couch in question where Keitaro was still dead asleep. Recognizing Keitaro, Haruka opened her mouth but was quickly cut off by Naru who charged into the room and threw the glass of water on the sleeping bum in question.

"Gaaaaaakkkk! Thats cold! Whats the matter with you!?" Keitaro yelled as he sat up shivering. "Aww you got my bag too, ah-"

"Hello Nephew, seems like you were just getting comfortable." said Haruka in her typical deadpan.

"Hey Auntie Haruka-"

"Auntie..." said Kitsune and Motoko in unison as Naru simply held the glass forward in shock apparently too confused to resume function.

"BAM"

"Ouchie! Haruka, why'd you hit me, I haven't seen you in 2 months and this is how you greet me?!" Exclaimed Keitaro as he rubbed his head with a scowl.

"What have I said?" Haruka asked in a condescending manner.

Keitaro simply rubbed his head and blushed at having to repeat it in front of everyone and mumbled something inaudible.

Haruka smirked and put her hand to her ear before she said, "What was that nephew?" Her eyes gleaming in amusement.

Kitsune, Naru, and Motoko simply watched this unfold with eyebrows quirked as Keitaro crossed his arms on his chest and said, "Don't call you Auntie, cause your too young and beautiful to be called something that implys both age and lack of beauty." Keitaro said with practiced monotone that came with being told something a million times.

Haruka simply smiled and said, "Its good to see you, Keitaro, what brings you here?"

Keitaro returned the smile and said, "It is good to see you again aun- ahh Haruka, I'm looking for Grandma, she called me earlier today and told me to come see her here."

Haruka simply looked at him and said, "You do know that Granny Hina has not been here in almost a year don't you? This place has since been changed into a girls dormitory." The three girls simply nodded in affirmation, glares being thrown by two, and a saucy wink by the third.

Keitaro's eyes narrowed and his brow knitted together as he sat back down on the couch. Possibilities played out in various scenarios in his head all focused on why Granny Hina would have called him here and not have told him about the oh so forgettable fact that her hotel had become a girls dorm. Before the inevitable came to mind. 'Granny Hina must be trying to set me up with one of the girls here...' he immediately felt a sense of betrayal as he thought of his Grandma, he had talked with her about the promised girl a few times and she had seemigly supported his path.

Flashback...

"Granny do you believe in destiny?" said a thirteen year old Keitaro who was visiting on break from school.

"Hmm I believe that there are those who have a destiny and those who don't Kei-chan" Granny Hina said with a bit of a cackle.

Keitaro looked at the woman as they stared out at the sun and finally after a minute or two said, "Do you think that I have a destiny Granny?" His eyes shined in hope as he looked at one of the people he admired most, Granny Hina was indeed very old, but with that came wisdom that no book could offer.

Hina simply looked at Keitaro and said, "Kei-chan, why would you ask me that, you know very well that you have a destiny, your destiny was sealed when you came here for your first time. I know your true motivations for your studies and ambition to get into Tokyo university, and I must say, I approve wholeheartedly." She added with a wink as they both turned and continued to admire the distant sunset in silence.

End Flashback...

'Though she only said I had a destiny and that it was tied to this place. I wonder...' further thoughts were cut off however by snapping fingers.

Keitaro sat like that for about thirty second before Naru looked from him to Haruka and said, "Umm what is he doing?" Naru eyed Keitaro mistrustfully and thought, 'I hope he's not getting any ideas, he froze after he heard this was a girls dorm, must be a pervo as well as a bum...'

Motoko examined his expression and quickly connected it to some kind of meditation, perhaps not like hers, 'less spirtual, and more mental...' she noted as she watched him, her curiosity increased by his strange behavior.

Kitsune was quietly examining the young man as he sat in thought, 'that intense expression kind of makes him look sexy..' her train of thought was ruined by Naru's question as she jerked up, and wondered what he was doing as well.

Haruka sighed and said, "He's thinking, while he's mulling something over he tends to misplace reality." Haruka then turned before snapping her fingers in from of her nephew's face, his eyes stayed in place for a moment more before he seemingly broke out of his trance.

"Haruka, do you truthfully know why Granny would have called me here if she were not here." His tone far more serious that it was five minutes ago, as he plaintively stared at his aunt, his eyes demanding an answer.

Kitsune shivered at the sound of his voice, 'His voice must have gone down an octave or two, between that and his expression he almost looks like a totally different person...' she mused silently to herself as she made a note to question Haruka more about her nephew later on.

Motoko had also noted the change and widened her eyes a bit in surprise, 'His demanding tone sounds like something I'd imagined one of my main characters from my novels having. He seems to be giving off a totally different aura than before..' Motoko mused quietly remembering the way some of her best opponents in kendo seemed to have a battle persona, which was different than their normal personality.

Haruka simply shook her head as she took a drag from her cigarette, "I don't know for sure, but I imagine she'll let us know sooner rather than later, you should probably crash here tonight and hopefully she'll be satisfied at stirring up enough hell to finally tell us what she wants."

Su quickly made her way back into the room with a Bazooka of some kind on her shoulder. She set it on the ground and gave a thumbs up as she said, "Yeah, if the lazy bum wants to stay the night, lets let 'em I wanna play and he looks fun when he's awake."

Kitsune nodded and said, "I agree, we can't just make this poor guy leave if he'll just be coming back tomorrow to find out what Granny Hina wants with him." She grinned and winked at him after she said this making a bit of a blush rise to Keitaro's cheeks.

"Absolutely not, this is a girls dormitory, related to the owner or not, its not proper to allow him to stay." said Naru with her arms crossed.

"I agree with Naru-sempai, while I think he's too lazy to be a pervert and he's done nothing dishonorable so far, it would be dishonorable to allow him respite here." Motoko said with a neutral expression.

"Ahh I wasn't even thinking of actually staying the nig-" Keitaro said before he was interrupted by Haruka.

"Why, not Keitaro? This place is a lot closer to Tokyo U, right?"Haruka said knowing silently what would happen.

"Tokyo U?!" cried everyone in unison, except Su who simply sat back and said, "Whats Tokyo ewe, is it tasty?"

Keitaro who'd caught onto the pun snickered and said, "No little one, Tokyo U is a place where college students go to continue their schooling. He looked at everyone else who were all gazing expectantly at him before he said, "What?"

"Are you really a Tokyo U student." asked Naru, Kitsune and Motoko leaned in waiting for ananswer as Keitaro shook his head.

"No, not anymore." He said as he smiled up at them watching them all fall to the ground. Once they all got up he rubbed the back of his neck and said, "I'm a Tokyo University Alumnus now, I'm Urashima Keitaro." He said with a bow to them.