Akamatsuverse Motoko Yojimbo

[Prince Charon]

To clear an old debt between the Urashima and Aoyama, Motoko is assigned to be the bodyguard and general samurai retainer to a member of the Urashima clan. Granny Hina selects her grandson Keitaro, who is burdened by a demon which exaggerates his clumsiness at dangerous moments, and drives him into embarrassing situations, thus harming his, and the clan's, reputation, as well as putting him at risk of being killed by embarrassed, angry women, and jealous, angry men. It is hoped that even if Motoko's presence doesn't scare the demon away, she'll be able to track and kill or capture the demon, thus ending its attacks.

In a way, sending Keitaro to the Hinata was pretty clever: the demon will not be able to resist such opportunities, and thus stands a greater risk of being caught, while Motoko will be right there, to protect him from attack by humans, and watch for the demon, to strike at it.

Keitaro's arrival at the Hinata Sou goes as canon for the manga, up until Motoko hears his name. Poor Motoko.

I would say that Kaolla would likely have no problem believing the 'demon' story, and Shinobu is not the sort to tell a sempai she's crazy (or, she might even believe it), but Naru and Kitsune are another matter. Kitsune loves to tease, Naru is a tsundere (so is Motoko, but she might be a bit more kuudere in this one, since she has a framework to put herself in), and both are rather modern Japanese girls, unlike the more traditional Motoko.

Motoko's need to be around Keitaro in order to do her duty has a lot of comedic potential, not least of which is her deciding to bathe with him, or at least be there when he does. Then there's the matter of sleeping... :snigger:

 

[zeebee1]

I thought this was going to be a Usagi Yojimbo crossover where Motoko's revered animal ancestor's recessive traits suddenly showed up in her.

 

[grant]

I think the idea could work better if the 'hired to help Keitaro with demons' is left out (why do so many fics need to insert demons anyway?) and either just make her an out of work bodyguard or someone who owes a favor to Hina.

Alternatively the Usagi idea could work.

 

[DhampyrX2]

Or do a hybrid, Hina hires Motoko just because of Keitaro's canon natural clumsiness. After meeting him, she assumes that he has to be cursed by a demon because no man should be that unlucky naturally. She's wrong, of course, but after getting to know him and how generally nice his is, that's what she'll assume.

 

[Prince Charon]

I included the demon thing to show the contrast between the girls who know perfectly well that magic is real, and the 'sensible' modern girls, who don't believe it, and perhaps pity Motoko and Kaolla for 'buying' the 'excuse' - which would get shot down if they said anything like that to Motoko, since Keitaro never claimed it was the demon's fault. Motoko had to tell him, whether it was something Granny Hina said, or a conclusion Motoko reached on her own.

 

[Ordo]

Demons fit into love hina, as seen with the cursed blade and MotokoÆs childhood memories. So I would keep the demon in, but resolve that plot thread about half way through the story. The rest of the tale could focus on the changes to Keitaro and his life once the clumsiness is gone, and how he and Motoko take that step past Body guard/Master to Boyfriend/girlfriend. YouÆd also show how Mitsune and Naru deal with learning that magic is real, and that Keitaro wasnÆt at fault for all those incidents.

 

[Antimatter]

Demons fit into love hina, as seen with the cursed blade and MotokoÆs childhood memories. So I would keep the demon in, but resolve that plot thread about half way through the story. The rest of the tale could focus on the changes to Keitaro and his life once the clumsiness is gone, and how he and Motoko take that step past Body guard/Master to Boyfriend/girlfriend. YouÆd also show how Mitsune and Naru deal with learning that magic is real, and that Keitaro wasnÆt at fault for all those incidents.

I'm not sure how the girls could have gotten though canon without believing in magic/supernatural. They have a flying turtle as a pet, one of the residents turns into an adult during red moons, and another shoots chi blasts like it's nothing.

 

[Ordo]

Hmm you have a point. That said the really crazy stuff didn't happen until Keitaro's arrival. Which is inline with this tales timeline. Still the girls might be skeptical at first, but going by their manga reactions they would adjust once the truth was revealed really fast. Still I think the realization that slapping Keitaro for being a pervert was unjustified will hit hard for someone like Naru. I donÆt think sheÆd like the fact that a demon was using her to abuse an innocent so it could get itÆs jollies.

 

[Prince Charon]

Hmm you have a point. That said the really crazy stuff didn't happen until Keitaro's arrival. Which is inline with this tales timeline. Still the girls might be skeptical at first, but going by their manga reactions they would adjust once the truth was revealed really fast. Still I think the realization that slapping Keitaro for being a pervert was unjustified will hit hard for someone like Naru. I don't think she'd like the fact that a demon was using her to abuse an innocent so it could get it's jollies.

Very true. If the situation develops in a way that lets her hurt the demon, she'll feel better about it, though. I think she would still feel a deep and intense need to make it up to Keitaro, and to a lesser degree, Motoko... the former of which could fuel conflict in the latter half of the story, especially the early part, when Motoko hasn't yet admitted she's in love with Keitaro, but no-longer needs to serve as his bodyguard.