As the morning came to awaken the residents of Hinata House, one Kanako Urashima awoke earlier than she would have normally.  As the sun was just beginning to crest over the horizon and bring light to the darkness, the younger Urashima woman stirred awake due to the cold of the night air.  Such a thing was odd for her, as she tended to sleep wearing pajamas, or at the very least some underwear before she went to bed.  However, the coolness of the night air awoke her abruptly, bringing her out of her nighttime slumber.

"Mmph...huh, what the..." muttered Kanako as she awoke from the cool air hitting her skin.  While the sun had just started to crest over the horizon, there was just enough light seeping through the window for Kanako to make out her surroundings.  She could see Haruka laying in bed with Sarah (oddly enough the older Urashima woman managed to somehow convince or force the free-spirited American girl to sleep in the same bed with her).

"W-where are my clothes?" grumbled Kanako as she examined her body.  As she rose from the second bed in the room, she got her answer a moment later.  All around her, her pajamas and underwear laid in tatters around her body.  It was obvious that she had outgrown them during the night while she slept and were thus reduced to torn remains.  Kanako merely sighed at the sight of this as she got to her feet and stood straight up.

The elevation upon her ascension felt otherworldly.  It was as if she were standing on a very tall step stool or a large crate, such was the perspective from her new size and height.  As she looked upwards towards the ceiling, Kanako took another deep sigh.  While she was thankful that she was not so tall that her head was bumping up against the ceiling, she knew that it would only be a few days, three or four from what Kanako wagered, before that ended up being the case.

The younger Urashima woman lifted her arm up to gauge whether or not she could touch the ceiling with her fingers.  Sure enough, her fingertips made contact with the ceiling's surface, and she had not even straightened her arm completely.  The realization that she was large enough to touch the ceiling while standing on the floor sent a shiver down Kanako's spine.  It reminded her of just how BIG she (and all the other women) had become, and they were all still growing too.

Kanako briefly looked over to Haruka and Sarah sleeping together in a bed that was clearly too small for them.  Thankful that they were still deep in slumber, she turned back to her bed and took the bedsheet in her hands.  She proceeded to wrap the sheet around her body as securely as possible, and once that was done, she made her way towards the door, walking as softly as she could towards it so as to not wake Haruka or Sarah.  As she made her way towards the door, she beckoned her pet cat Kuro to follow her out the door (which she had to bend significantly to pass through, lest she bump her nose into the frame).

Fortunately, there was enough light seeping through the windows for Kanako to make her way through the hallways and down the stairs as she proceeded to make her way to the kitchen.  She decided to brew a pot of coffee early, both for herself and as a minor goodwill gesture to the other tenants for when they eventually woke up.

‘If there are enough coffee drinkers living here, we'll probably end up brewing multiple pots per day the way things are looking, especially if these growth spurts keep up,' thought Kanko as she prepared coffee.  She couldn't help but notice how easy it was to search the tallest cupboards  and cabinet spaces and peer into the top shelves, such was her height now (which she wagered was somewhere in the seven foot range by this point).

"Kaolla better have an antidote or something cooking up REAL soon," muttered Kanako.  "I do NOT want to turn into some she-hulk who has to crawl through doorways and sit on the floor while indoors."  Among the Hinata women, Kanako was among the most adamant when it came to finding some kind of cure for their growing dilemma.

Kanako made her way over to the common room and sat herself down upon the sofa, having to bend more at the knees and waist than she would normally have to in the process.  As her rear end plopped onto the sofa cushions with a distinct thud, her back pressed hard against the sofa, with her neck and shoulders over the head rim of the sofa seat.  She also noticed that her knees hovered beyond the edge of the sofa cushion by a few inches - another reminder of how long her limbs were becoming along with every other part of her body.

"Ugh," sighed Kanako as she readjusted her position so that she was sprawled across the sofa as if it were a makeshift bed.  Once she got herself comfortable, she beckoned Kuro to hop up onto her lap, which her cat did so immediately.  Given Kanako's newly enlarged stature, Kuro weighed very little compared to before the growth spurts.  It was as if she were a newborn kitten, so small and delicate, with her weight hardly registering as she nestled onto her master's lap.  Once settled comfortably, Kanako began gently stroking her cat.  The exercise was as calming to the girl as it was to her pet, bringing both of them a genuine state of calmness as they lay on the couch, awaiting the coffee pot to finish percolating.

"Oh Kuro," groaned Kanako, "from my point of view, you've become so much smaller now.  You're practically the equivalent of one of those ‘purse dogs' I've heard about, even though you haven't shrunk one bit.  I can only hope I don't grow so large that you end up fitting in the palm of my hand.  How tall would I be by then?  Ten feet tall?  Twelve?  More?  Getting around would be more than just an inconvenience by that point.  Nothing would be to scale for me, or really I'd be too out of scale for the world around me.  Oh, why does this have to keep happening?  I'm large enough already, dammit."

Kuro responded with a quiet meow, followed by some tender licking of Kanako's resting hand, trying to soothe her master's troubled mind the best she could.  It was a gesture that was appreciated, given how long the two had known each other.

"Thanks Kuro," replied Kanako with a small grin.  "I'm glad to know I have you to help calm me down during times like these.  I just hope...that Big Brother doesn't fear me.  I...I don't think I could cope if he became afraid of the new me."  By this point, the smile had faded from Kanako's face and genuine sadness and worry were upon her once more.  Sensing this, Kuro responded with more licks and some nuzzling of her face into Kanako's belly, trying to soothe her the best she could.  The little cat REALLY had a knack for knowing when her mistress was not in a good mood.

Trying to relax herself the best she could, given the circumstances, Kanako closed her eyes once more and tried to rest on the somewhat undersized couch, waiting for the coffee pot to finish brewing.  For at least a few minutes, the girl could simply close her eyes and let rest take hold once more before the day began.

A few minutes had passed, and the coffee pot was finishing up its brewing session, with the last bits of coffee bubbling through the filter and into the pot.  Sure enough, the aroma started wafting through the kitchen and into any room adjacent to it, including the common room next door.  In the span of a minute, Kanako had risen from the couch, made her way over to the kitchen, and poured herself a cup of coffee, with generous amounts of cream and sugar to her cup.  She couldn't help but notice how much smaller the mug appeared as she held it in her hands, being able to only fit two of her fingers through the mug's handle as she breathed in the coffee's aroma, following with a delicate sipping.

Kanako returned to the common room, taking a seat once more on the couch as Kuro jumped into her lap.  The Urashima woman proceeded with gently stroking her cat's backside and scratching the top of her head.  Kuro's approval of the act was made known with the vibrant purring she elicited as her master spoiled her with such physical affection.  It was a trade of sorts between the two:  Kuro was gifted with Kanako's gestures of kindness (be it scratches, backrubs, feeding her high-quality foods, etc.), and Kanako was rewarded with what emotional support Kuro could offer her in turn.  Given how many years the two had known each other, Kanako viewed Kuro as more than a pet; the giant-eared black cat was family to Kanako as far as she was concerned.

As Kanako proceeded to shower Kuro with affection while she sipped her coffee, one thought was prominent in her mind above all others:  Keitaro.

Well, to be more elaborate, the thought was on Keitaro, Amalla's harem plan, and Naru's stance on it all.  After the brief one-on-one session between the two following Keitaro's awakening in Kaolla's bedroom (and Tsuruko glomping him upon waking up), Kanako decided to let the issue go for the time being.  However, now that the night had passed, Kanako decided that today she would address things with Naru completely over where things stood between them and Keitaro.

With Amalla's little suggestion of group marriage between Keitaro and ALL of the Hinata women, Kanako was somewhat torn.  

On the one hand, she wanted Keitaro all to herself.  She had made that clear enough upon her arrival to Hinata House during her first visit.  After enough shenanigans between herself and the other female residents - culminating in the incident involving the old annex building - Kanako had begrudgingly decided to let things stand regarding the relationship between Keitaro and Naru.  She didn't outright approve of it, but she could tell that the two of them genuinely loved each other, even if their relationship seemed a little rocky at times.

On the other hand, there was a chance for Kanako to have the chance to be with the one man she loved above all others.  Though she was reluctant at the idea of sharing Keitaro with several other women, the temptation of getting to spend the rest of her life with him seemed so damn alluring.  She could only hope that he could see her the way she saw him: not merely as a sibling from early childhood years, but as someone to genuinely love in the most intimate sense of the word...and to be loved in turn.  The very thought of it all brought a blush to Kanako's cheeks as she ended up getting lost in her romantic daydream.

"Alright," muttered Kanako as she finished her coffee, "time to rip the band-aid off."  She proceeded to take her empty mug to the sink, washed it empty before placing it into the dishwasher, then made her way towards the staircase and up to one person's room in particular, with Kuro tailing behind her as she did so.

"Really, this is starting to become tedious," said Naru as she examined her freshly destroyed lingerie.

Both Naru and her sister/roommate Mei had awoken to find that both their pajamas and undergarments had been rendered to scraps overnight from the latest round of growth that occurred while they slept.  Apparently, both of the Narusegawa sisters were heavy enough sleepers to not be stirred awake from the latest growth spurt, which had done a good enough job of practically obliterating what clothing they wore during the night.  Left with no other feasible options, both Naru and Mei settled with using bed sheets as a substitute for clothing until Kaolla could fashion new garments to accommodate their larger sizes.  By this point, both girls must have been over seven feet tall by now.  Well, Naru knew well enough that she was certainly over seven feet in height by now; as for Mei, if she wasn't seven feet tall at this point, she was definitely close to being so.  Whenever they made contact with Kaolla and got updated information as to their current heights, they would have definitive answers.

"I'd have to agree with you on that, Naru," replied Mei as she fastened her bedsheets around her newly enlarged body the best she could.  Though she was appreciative of the fact that her body was now far more matured and womanly in appearance, even she had to admit that the concept of perpetual growth was becoming a major inconvenience, especially when it came to finding adequate clothing day after day.  Hopefully Kaolla would have something to counter that dilemma, though Mei was really hoping for an antidote to counter the growth hormone by this point.

‘I REALLY don't want to have to go through life being ten feet tall or even bigger,' thought Mei as she secured the sheets around her torso and substantial bustline.  By now, pretty much all the women had rather large breasts at this point; the only difference was that some breasts were big whereas others were VERY big.  After all, Mei herself was sporting E-cup breasts just yesterday, and that was BEFORE this latest round of growth.  Had she become an F-cup by this point?  Until Kaolla had updated information, Mei could only guess on that, though she was fairly certain that her bosom had in fact increased at a somewhat greater rate than the rest of her body.

"Well then," said Naru, "I suppose we'll need to visit Kaolla once more and find something more appropriate to wear.  Shall we, Mei?"

"Umm, yeah sure," replied Mei.

Both Narusegawa sisters proceeded to make their way towards Naru's seven foot tall door frame, and could not help but notice that the top of the frame was several inches below the tops of their heads.  For Naru, the door frame was roughly leven with her chin, while for Mei the frame was around eye level.  The realization of being so big and tall that even door frames were looking woefully inadequate was just one more thing that made both girls take deep breaths at their current predicament.

At the way things were going, it wouldn't be long before the door frames were no higher than their collarbones, then their bustlines, and then even lower than that.  And by that point, they - along with all the other Hinata women - would be well beyond the nine-foot-high ceilings in their bedrooms.  The beds would be horribly inadequate for them to lay on at that point; chances are good that the bed frames would snap in two the moment any one of them sat down on them.

‘Ugh, please have some good news for us today Kaolla,' groaned Naru to herself inwardly, ‘I do NOT want to go around life having to bend under doorways all the time.'

As Naru was preparing to open her door, the sound of footsteps just outside made themselves known, followed by a voice.

"Naru, you in there?  Are you awake?" asked the surprise visitor.

Naru blinked her eyes rapidly in response, not expecting such an early morning visit.  And given the voice of the person on the other side, it made things even more intriguing.

"Kanako?" replied Naru.  "That you?"

"Yeah," answered the younger Urashima woman.  "Sorry to step in early in the morning, but we need to talk, you and me.  May I enter?"

There was a momentary pause before Naru made her decision.

"Uhh, yeah sure thing," replied Naru before turning to her sister.  "Mei, go on ahead and find the others.  You should get yourself dressed in something more than bed sheets.  I'll catch up with you in a little bit."

"You sure, Naru?" said Mei.

"Yeah, I'll be fine.  I just need to have a little one-on-one girl talk with Kanako, that's all.  Hopefully it won't take too long."

"Okay then," replied Mei, figuring that Naru had the situation under control.

As the door opened, Kanako ducked her head underneath the frame with her pet cat following right behind her.  In turn, Mei ducked under the frame (not as much as Kanako had to) and secured her sheet as she proceeded down the hallway, her footfalls making distinct thuds as she made herself scarce.

"So..." began Naru, trying to break the ice between herself and Kanako, "what's up?  What brings you here so early in the morning?"

Kanako took a deep breath before responding, which in turn made Naru all the more curious as to what the girl was about to say to her.

"Last night," said Kanako as she looked Naru straight in the eyes like a hawk.

"What about last night?" replied Naru with slight confusion.

"When Keitaro awoke, that whole little scene involving you, me, and the others in Kaolla's bedroom..."

"Yeah...what about it?"

"Amalla's proposal."

"What are you getting at?" Naru asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"What do you think I'm getting at?" replied Kanako with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.  There was a momentary pause before Naru responded.

"You can't be serious."

"Do I look like I'm joking around?  Do I look like the kind of girl who would suggest such a thing and then respond with ‘just kidding'?"

"B-but you're in love with Keitaro...why would you want to share him?"

"I don't WANT to share him.  Ideally, he would be mine and mine alone, but I'm being something of a realist on this topic.  At least, I like to think that I'm being realistic about this kind of thing."

"So...why are you bringing this up with me then?"

"I just want to be upfront with you, that's all.  And to also let you know that I'm going to do everything in my power to make this plan of Amalla's happen.  From what I've gathered since that night, I'm not the only one who is pushing to make this plan happen either."

"Who else do you know of?" asked Naru.

"Well, besides Amalla, Kaolla appears to be in on it as well."

"Kaolla's really in love with Keitaro?  I always thought she had more of a sibling-based affection for the guy, you know something more...what's the word, platonic?"

"Maybe at first she did, but she's definitely interested in him as more than just good friends or siblings.  She wants to be with him, marry him, have kids with him I'd wager.  And she's definitely Amalla's wingman...or wingwoman, I suppose...on making this little plan of theirs come true.  And also, from what I remember of last night, I think that they have Tsuruko on board as well."

"Motoko's sister?" Naru replied skeptically.  "Why would she want to be part of some harem?"

"When we were in the marketplace yesterday, I saw how Tsuruko looked at Keitaro the moment he was hurt.  Her eyes...she had genuine concern in them as she saw what happened to him.  She had the eyes of a lover who had just witnessed someone she cared deeply for get hurt...protecting her of all things.  That and the way she darted off to Kaolla's room last night.  Maybe she wasn't fully aware of it at the time, but I'm pretty sure she's fallen in love with Keitaro by now, and she doesn't seem to be bothered very much by the idea of sharing."

‘Great,' thought Naru upon hearing this, ‘the way things are going, Keitaro may very well end up with EVERYONE pining for him.  I'd probably come up with a shorter list of who ISN'T in love with him by this point.  Let's see, the only ones who I don't think have feelings for the guy are...Haruka, Mei, Sarah, and maybe Nyamo, though I'm not sure about her.  Everyone else is basically in love with Keitaro or in the process of falling for him.  Just what I need, more love rivals.'

"So," resumed Naru, "why are you bringing this up with me again?  I'm not following your reasoning."

Kanako responded by crossing the threshold until she was standing right in front of Naru, with their bosoms nearly touching one another.  Her body language conveyed just how serious she was at that very moment.

"I'm in love with Keitaro," said Kanako.

"Yeah, I know that," replied Naru with some confusion about what Kanako was getting at.

"I know that you love him too, and that he loves you," Kanako continued stating the obvious.

"Uh-huh," said Naru, nodding her head.

"Under these circumstances, I've made up my mind on something."

"And...what would that be?"

"I'm never going to stop loving Keitaro.  Until the day I die, I will always love him, and I will always want to be loved by him, and not in the way siblings love each other.  I want to be Mrs. Keitaro Urashima, you understand?"

"I get that, but what are you..." replied Naru, before Kanako cut her off.

"Let me finish, please."

"Very well, please continue."

"So...given how much I love Keitaro, and given that you're in love with him too, I only see one solution to this little dilemma of ours.  The way I see things, this is becoming essentially an ‘all or nothing' scenario when it comes to Keitaro's love, and I have no intention of having ‘nothing' be the outcome.  If the price of being with Keitaro means that I have to share him with other women, then so be it.  Like I said at the beginning, I'd rather have him all to myself, but I'm willing to compromise if that means I get to spend the rest of my life with him and have cherished memories with him.  And you should know, I have no intention of backing down, Naru."  Kanako finished with a deep breath, having finally gotten everything off her chest.

"So then, what you're getting at is...you're really serious about..." Naru was finding it difficult to say the words, given that she could hardly wrap her mind around the very notion that Kanako was actually siding with Amalla in forming a harem around Keitaro.

"Yes, Naru," replied Kanako, "I'm not letting up on being with Keitaro, so if that means having to share him with you and everyone else, then so freaking be it."

Naru was simply stunned upon hearing this admission.  Never in her life would she hear Kanako of all people declare that she would be willing to join in on being in a harem, and with Keitaro no less.  The girl was smitten with her adoptive older brother, that much was obvious.  But Naru underestimated just how far the girl would go when it came to matters involving romance.  It was all a lot to take in at once.

"W-well, while I'm glad you were willing to be honest and upfront with me about all of this, who is to say that I'm simply willing to let you all in on being together with Keitaro?  Last I checked, he is MY boyfriend, and I don't recall giving permission for anybody else to act like he was their lover or anything like that.  And furthermore, I..." Before Naru could get another word in, Kanako took the girl by surprise with a spur-of-the-moment act.

As Naru was speaking, Kanako came forward once more and placed her hands upon Naru's shoulders, before bringing her face right up to Naru's face and proceeding to kiss Naru directly on the lips.  Given that both girls were around the same height, neither one of them had to lean upwards or downwards during the kiss.  Of course, Naru's eyes went wide as her lips were assaulted by Kanako's lips, though she didn't scream or instinctively shove Kanako away from the gesture.  For a few seconds, Naru simply stood there like a deer in the headlights, her mind trying to process just what was going on in that moment.

After a few seconds of standing flabbergasted with a heavy blush on her cheeks, Naru used her arms to push Kanako away from her, finally breaking off the kiss after having her lips locked to Kanako's for a good five seconds or more.

"K-Kanako, what was that you just did?" asked a flabbergasted Naru.

"I'm just willing to show you how committed I am to this newfound relationship we're going to be entering Naru, that's all," replied Kanako with firm resolve in her voice.  "I want to be with Keitaro THAT badly, and if I have to end up getting married and intimate with EVERYONE here at Hinata, then that's a compromise I'm willing to make."

"You can't just force love onto somebody, Kanako.  If it's not genuinely from the heart, then it's doomed to fail.  I mean, I appreciate how earnest you are in all of this, but I really don't think that..." Once again, Naru was cut off by Kanako.

"If I may be blunt, I'm pretty sure that Amalla can charm the pants off of literally anybody and everybody here.  Give that woman enough time, and she'll have every single woman here turned bisexual in a few days, a week tops.  And while I find the idea of such a thing to be rather odd myself, I'm willing to take a leap of faith and give this harem plan she's offering a shot.  I know it's odd, but I'm willing to be the bigger woman here and do my part to make this thing work."

‘Interesting choice of words on the whole "bigger woman" statement, Kanako,' thought Naru.

"And besides," resumed Kanako.

"What?" asked Naru.

"You ARE a pretty girl, Naru.  Scratch that, you were pretty before these growth spurts we've been having; I'd say you're a knockout in the looks department now, along with all the other ladies here at Hinata House.  If I had to be in a harem in order to be with Keitaro, I certainly could think of worse people to tie the knot with.  So under the circumstances, I'd say I lucked out rather well all things considered."

Naru replied with a blush on her cheeks.  Was Kanako actually hitting on her?  A few months back, two of them were fierce love rivals with Keitaro as the prize.  And now, Kanako was actually bringing herself to not just accept a harem, but even to go so far as to help bring it to fruition?

"Who are you and what have you done with the real Kanako?" asked Naru with a bewildered look on her face.  The meaning wasn't lost on Kanako, who simply chuckled in response.

"Look, I get it Naru," said the Urashima woman.  "I know this is all a little sudden, but I like to think that in due time we'll learn to get along with each other as sisters and co-wives to both Keitaro and one another.  It's like I said, I'm not giving up on being with Keitaro, and neither is Amalla from what I've seen of her.  If this is inevitably going to happen, might as well make the most of it and try to enjoy it.  And I get that you're hesitant in sharing Keitaro, just like I am...or was anyway.  It'll take time, but I'm guessing that eventually we'll learn to be patient and enjoy each other's company as much as Keitaro's.  Anyways, now you know, so I won't take up anymore of your time.  We should go see Kaolla and get something more appropriate to wear.  Just wanted to get that off my chest with you."

Kanako proceeded to turn around and head out the door, with Kuro following right behind her master.  As she left, Naru couldn't help but stare at Kanako's figure, particularly her rear end as she walked gracefully out of Naru's bedroom, bending down to clear the doorway as she did.  A moment later, Naru was shaking her head side-to-side rapidly, trying to purge her mind of naughty thoughts as she watched Kanako's figure depart from the bedroom.

‘What is wrong with me?' thought Naru in self-reflection.  ‘Am I actually getting turned on by the sight of Kanako?  Will I feel the same way about the other girls?  Am I actually considering this harem plan of Amalla's?  Ugh, I'm so confused right now.  This is all too much to take in at once.  I need some coffee or something to take my mind off of all this.'

"Anyways, better head over to Su's room and catch up with Mei," said Naru, thinking out loud.  "She's probably curious as to what's taking so long."

With that, Naru made her way out the bedroom a moment later, bending down through the doorway and making sure her sheets were secure on her enhanced form.

As Naru slipped out of her bedroom, she didn't notice a figure who masked her presence and stayed out of eyesight.  Said figure was lingering nearby, keeping an ear just outside Naru's room and taking in everything she heard.  A smile graced her lips as she was bubbling with giddiness and pure bliss at how quickly things were progressing with regards to her harem plan.

"Well now," muttered Amalla upon eavesdropping on the conversation within Naru's bedroom, "this is working out better than I expected.  I've already got one major obstacle out of the way, and wouldn't you know it, that obstacle is helping me tackle the other major obstacle.  You really surprised me there, Kanako.  I'll have to thank you for doing your part in helping me sway Naru and getting her on board with this.  Not much longer now.  Just have to get her and Keitaro on board, and then we can all start having some fun."

The tall, dark-skinned seductress tiptoed her way towards Kaolla's bedroom, trying to keep her footfalls as soft as she could as she moved down the hallways.  Amalla Su was only too overjoyed at how quickly the harem plan was progressing.

"Just a matter of time, now," said Amalla with a big grin.