Disclaimer: I don't own Hana Yori Dango. :)
AN (4-8-09): This fanfic is based upon the HYD manga and Japanese drama. All spelling mistakes and all caps wording are intentional. Originally this fanfic had email addresses included in it but unfortunately FFnet does not allow me to include them. Thanks again to La Fee Verte for beta reading and hope you enjoy! –Maho-chan :)
Cold
A Hana Yori Dango Fanfiction
By Maho-chan
The café was cheerfully decorated for Christmas. Tsukasa glowered at the blinking lights, trains, fake snow and Christmas tree. In addition to all the Christmas decorations he observed a few lace doilies. Looking around him, Tsukasa realized all the tables, including his own, sported the dreadful scraps of lace. He was also surrounded by women drinking tea from dainty china tea cups. And they were all staring at him and whispering.
Tsukasa growled. Leave it to Makino to choose such a girly place for them to meet.
He eyed his watch. She was fifteen minutes late. Tsukasa sighed and sipped the water from the glass in front of him. The snow had just started to fall as the sky darkened from sunset to night. Tsukasa sat forward and watched the passerby walking past the window of the café, looking for a glimpse of Tsukushi.
If she didn't show up soon…
Tsukasa flipped open his phone and called her for the fourth time.
"Moron, where are you? I'm here at the café. Get here soon." He said gruffly before hanging up.
Staring at the screen of his mobile phone, he pressed some buttons and began anxiously texting her as well.
Thirty minutes and many phone and text messages later…
"The Way of Tea" writes:
Tsukasa, how could you have lost each other again? Are you sure you can't find her?
Tsukasa glowered and didn't text a reply.
Would he be texting frantic messages and making panicked phone calls if he knew where he could find her? He deleted the message as he imagined punching Sojiro. The next message was no better.
"Bunnies are Evil" writes:
Tsukasa, I am sure she's safe. Could you stop emailing me? I'm with a date and we are busy."
Stupid perverted Akira. Tsukasa added him to the growing list of friends he was mad at.
Kazuya was completely useless; Tsukasa decided that he would be the first person he would pound on.
"Kazuya" writes:
"What!! Tsukushi is missing? NO!"
"Shut up!" Tsukasa said out loud to the phone before deleting Kazuya's message.
And Rui, who didn't answer even though Tsukasa kept repeatedly calling and texting, also drew his ire.
"I AM the best" writes to "Hanazawa Rui":
Rui, dam u. Answr me! Hav u seen Tsukushi? U bettr not b sleping!
Shizuka had tried to be helpful.
"Todou Shizuka" writes:
"Tsukasa I'm in Paris, remember? I haven't seen Tsukushi since I last visited Japan. I really think you should contact Rui."
Tsukasa glowered at Shizuka's message. He had tried to contact Rui! It hadn't helped, Tsukasa wanted to shout.
His sister had been unhelpful as well.
"Tsubaki" writes:
"Stupid brother, why is your spelling so bad? I can't understand a word of what you just wrote me!"
And that old hag, Tama, had lectured him via an all capitals text message! Earlier, Tsukasa had left her a message telling her where he was. Her first text message had arrived just moments ago. He couldn't believe she even knew how to text!
"Domyoji Housekeeper" writes:
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HAVING TSUKUSHI MEET YOU OUT THERE ON A SNOWY DAY LIKE THIS?"
"YOUNG MASTER I TAUGHT YOU BETTER THAN THIS."
Tsukasa growled. Tama had some nerve. And it had been Tsukushi's idea to meet there in the first place!
"Domyoji Housekeeper" writes:
"YOUR DINNER IS WAITING FOR YOU HERE. YOU SHOULD BRING HER OVER HERE INSTEAD OF TRYING TO DRINK TEA IN THE SNOW!"
Tsukasa muttered a curse under his breath and immediately deleted both of Tama's messages. Tsukasa set the phone down on the table and rubbed his temples.
Looking for Tsukushi was driving him crazy.
"Cherry" writes:
"Domyoji-san, maybe she's at her parent's house."
Sakurako's message was at least in an encouraging tone. But Shigeru on the other hand, irritated him with her use of emoticons.
"Cute Gal" writes:
" :( Eh? You can't find her?:o Ne, when you do see her, ask her if she wants to go shopping with me tomorrow! :P"
Yuki was unable to answer "because of work" her cheerful voice message said. There was no email answer from her screen name of "Dango Girl" either.
Didn't any of these idiots understand that this was an emergency? It had been forty five minutes and he still hadn't found Tsukushi.
For what felt like the millionth time, Tsukasa messaged Tsukushi.
"I AM the best" writes to "Makino Tsukushi":
"Yu idot, wher are yu? Cal me NOW!"
As the message sent, Tsukasa agitatedly ran his fingers through his hair. She was late and it was snowing. She might be freezing without her coat or caught pneumonia. Some guy might have attacked her. She might have been kidnapped.
Overcome by agonized thoughts, Tsukasa stood and threw a bunch of bills on the table before running out the door of the café and into the snow.
The sun had set, the streets were busy and the air was icy cold. Tsukushi wrapped her arms around herself and looked around her frantically. Where was that idiot?
Earlier Tsukasa had said he would meet her and take her out to the tea shop they had seen on their last shopping trip together. Hadn't he nodded when she suggested meeting at the dog statue like they always did? She was sure that he had agreed.
She had headed to this spot right after she had finished with work, feeling determined not to be late to meet him. She had arrived on time, but after waiting over forty five minutes for Tsukasa to arrive, Tsukushi had started to wonder. Why was he so late?
Tsukushi patted her pocket and wished for the tenth time that she hadn't forgotten her phone at home. She would have gone to a pay phone but then she would have had to move from their agreed upon meeting spot. And she was certain he would be there soon.
She'd just have to wait a little longer.
Looking left then right, Tsukushi finally caught a glimpse of Tsukasa coming around the corner.
"Domyoji!" Tsukushi shouted, waving her arms frantically to get his attention. As Tsukasa caught sight of her, he frowned and began running towards her. After finally reaching Tsukushi, the first words out of Tsukasa's mouth were "Where the hell have you been? I've been trying to find you for almost an hour!"
"Where was I? Where were you? We agreed to meet here, remember?" Tsukushi retorted as she gestured to the dog statue.
The cold wind began to blow and Tsukushi glanced up at the sky and at the snowflakes drifting down from the gray clouds above.
"Hah? I thought you said you wanted to meet at the shop. But when I went to the Candy Topple Soufflé, you weren't there! I even asked the owner if she had seen you." Tsukasa said, frowning at Tsukushi.
"Huh?" Tsukushi stared at him in confusion. Candy Topple Soufflé? Tsukushi thought about this for a moment then let out a little "Oh!" when she realized what he was talking about.
"Do you mean the Happy Apple Café?" Tsukushi asked while trying to suppress an amused smile. He must have meant the café they had planned to go to. Either that or he had gone to some strange place that she had never heard of.
Tsukasa grumbled "Of course that's what I mean, moron. The Happy Apple Café is what I said!"
Tsukushi fought the urge to laugh.
He was always getting words wrong! "But you didn't say Happy Apple Café, you said Candy Topple Soufflé. Domyoji, where did you really go? I've never heard of a shop called the Candy Topple Soufflé." Tsukushi said, giggling softly in spite of herself.
Tsukasa pointed at her, frowned and said angrily "You know what shop I mean! I went to the shop you said you wanted to go to. I even made them save us a table."
"Are you sure you went to the right place?" Tsukushi teased. "Did you go to another planet or something where you can throw candy and topple a soufflé? Is toppling a soufflé like a game?"
"Stop making fun of me Makino." Tsukasa replied testily.
As he looked away from her, Tsukushi glanced around them as well. There were people milling all around them, all bundled up in coats and hats to escape the chilly winter air. Tsukushi was distracted as more flurries of snow began to fall. She reached out her hand to catch a few falling snowflakes and then looked over at Tsukasa who was glowering at some indistinct point. As he narrowed his eyes, Tsukushi saw a housewife duck in alarm.
It was probably best to go to the café before he scared the passersby around them any more than he already had. As Tsukushi reached out and grabbed Tsukasa's arm with the intention of leading him in the direction of the Happy Apple Café, she noticed that he was shivering.
"Domyoji, are you cold?" Tsukushi asked concernedly as she pulled him closer. Tsukasa looked down at her and narrowed his eyes. "Stupid woman, I'm not cold!" he said with annoyance as he shivered again. Tsukushi took in his attire.
"But you are trembling! Why are you only wearing this thin sweater and no jacket? It's snowing!" Tsukushi asked with concern.
Tsukasa ignored her and began to drag her down the street. "Forget it, let's just go to the tea shop."
"Domyoji, you are going the wrong way. The Happy Apple Café is that way. And seriously, why aren't you wearing a jacket? Aren't you cold?" Tsukushi asked as she dragged her feet to slow him down.
Tsukasa turned around and yelled "I told you, I'm not cold!" Pulling on his arm to make him face her, Tsukushi then grabbed Tsukasa's hands and held them in her own. His fingers were freezing.
"You are shivering!" Tsukushi said in a chastising voice. Undoing the scarf around her neck, Tsukushi quickly pulled it off. "Bend down." Tsukushi ordered while firmly pulling on the collar of Tsukasa's sweater.
"Hey, Makino, stop pulling on me." Tsukasa protested.
"You could get sick wandering around like this without a jacket or a scarf and hat. Now stop moving!" Tsukushi commanded while pulling on his collar harder. After firmly wrapping the scarf around Tsukasa's neck, Tsukushi tied it carefully, all the while focusing on the brightly knitted pattern instead of meeting his eyes. "Why do you always do strange things like this?" Tsukushi queried softly.
"Don't call me strange." Tsukasa muttered, watching Tsukushi's face as she adjusted the scarf and made sure that it covered his neck.
Blushing at Tsukushi's closeness, Tsukasa grumbled "This entire situation is your fault. You were the one who wanted to go to that dumb tea shop. Instead of coming here we could've just had tea at my house."
Feeling more concerned about Tsukasa's health than what they were talking about, Tsukushi nodded absently at him and said "Yeah." At the moment it really didn't matter to her if it was her fault or not. Snow was falling and he was trembling right in front of her.
Taking her earmuffs off of her head, Tsukushi then tugged him down to her eye level again. She put the earmuffs over Tsukasa's head and made sure they covered his ears. She broke out into a smile at the sight of the "almighty" Domyoji Tsukasa wearing white, furry earmuffs. Right before he began to complain, Tsukushi reached up to cover his cheeks with her warm hands.
"Don't forget to wear your jacket next time you are looking for me okay?" Tsukushi said softly, looking affectionately into his eyes. Tsukasa's expression softened at her words. "Y-you…but you are always late. What if something happened to you?" Tsukasa said defensively.
Tsukushi reddened as she comprehended the depth of Tsukasa's concern for her.
Tsukasa gazed at her blushing face for a moment before wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her towards him.
"Ah forget it. Just come here." Tsukasa mumbled. As Tsukushi wrapped her arms around his neck, Tsukasa kissed her deeply.
Tsukushi curled her fingertips into Tsukasa's hair, forgetting the busy street and the passersby around them, completely caught up in her feelings and the sensation of his lips upon hers. And as Tsukasa and Tsukushi continued to kiss underneath a darkened sky, the snowflakes fell softly around them as they were both warmed by each other.
Tsukushi walked through the front door of her apartment and gently took off both coats, before placing them gently atop her kotatsu. She knew she had looked ridiculous walking up the street to her apartment with his long coat placed over hers, but he had insisted that she wear it up to her apartment because of the cold.
Tsukushi looked down at the entwined coats and blushingly remembered their warm kisses in the snow.
Absently picking up her phone, she flipped it open and gaped at the screen.
Sixty messages.
Tsukushi began scrolling through them quickly. Many of her friends had messaged her, mostly asking her if she was okay and telling her to contact Tsukasa. Except for Shigeru who had asked if Tsukushi was okay and if she wanted to go shopping. Tsukushi continued to scroll through the messages. She furrowed her brow in consternation. Little had she known that their date tonight would cause so much worry and panic.
She counted at least fifty text messages from Tsukasa alone.
Beginning to feel a little horrified, Tsukushi quickly read through Tsukasa's text messages, doing her best to decipher all the frantic misspelled words from him. As she read the forty fifth message, one that was more misspelled than the ones before it, she made an internal vow to make sure to call him, from a pay phone if necessary, whenever she was lost or late.
The forty seventh message included the words "realy wurried".
She would definitely never let him worry like that again.
Forty nine was a curt message. It said "Just stay were u ar, I'm looking fer yu." Tsukushi sighed.
She scrolled to message number fifty and blushed to the roots of her hair.
"I AM the best" writes:
"Im glad we finlly got to met tonght. Im specialy hapy we kised a lot. But don't furget, if yu r evr late like that agin, ill kill yu."
It was sent just moments ago. Leaning against the kotatsu, Tsukushi absently pressed the phone to her lips for a moment before texting back.
"Makino Tsukushi" writes:
"I was glad to see you too, stupid. Next time wear your jacket okay?"
Tsukushi was about to press send when she impulsively added.
"Love you, Tsukushi."
The message sent and his reply came within seconds after it.
"I AM the best" writes:
"I lov you, two."
-Maho-chan (4-8-09)