Disclaimer: I make no claim of ownership over the Hana Yori Dango series/manga.
Story Summary: Tsukushi needs a heart transplant! They're having trouble finding a suitable heart, and the future is seriously cloudy. Read to see how this plays out!
Chapter One: The Beginning of Hardship
It started as a normal day.
She had a big breakfast at home, explaining to her concerned mother that it was necessary to sustain her 'weed' power. It was a quiet walk to school; she was beaming with confidence. Kazuya joined her at the school gates after exiting his still gaudy car. She was thankful for Kazuya. She and Makiko were still good friends, but she didn't want her friend to get in trouble because the F4 were troubling her. Yes, Kazuya provided Tsukushi with a port of haven throughout the day. Tsukushi had always felt bad that Kazuya received a red tag simply for being an old friend. Sure, she knew now that Tsukasa Domyoji had done it out of jealousy at seeing her with another boy, but back then it had only been her friend's first day of school. He had known nothing of Domyoji or the F4, or of Tsukushi's own red tag. She had been so angry with Domyoji. If only she had worked harder to keep him away, but she had been overcome by the selfish need for a companion in her hell-on-earth days. Oh well, too late to change the past.
Ahead of them, Tsukushi saw Sakurako's doll-like face. She was talking to another girl while walking inside. Sakurako was still a slight mystery to Tsukushi. First she had seemed innocent. The next moment she was competing unnecessarily with Tsukushi for Domyoji's attention. She could have it for all Tsukushi cared! Then there was an incident, and suddenly she was acting the angelic doll towards Tsukushi again. Headaches ran rampant when that girl was involved. Sakurako caught Tsukushi's eye and waved sweetly back. Tsukushi and Kazuya talked on the way inside, and then parted ways to go to their lockers.
"Good morning, Makino," a voice said acidly. Tsukushi turned to find Asai and her group of friends standing nearby. "We saw you walking in with your clumsy boyfriend. Shouldn't you stick with your poor people friends and stop hanging on Domyoji?"
"And shouldn't you be hunting for men you actually have a chance of catching?" retorted Tsukushi.
"Oh! Well I never!" Asai walked off in a huff, followed closely by her friends. Tormenting the increasingly idiotic Asai was one reason school was still worth going to. Glancing at the clock, Tsukushi noted that there was plenty of time left before classes began. She hurried off to the emergency stair well. Slightly out of breath, she pushed open the door leading outside. There was Rui Hanazawa. Because none of the F4 attended classes, she often found Rui hanging around her. They had formed an Emergency Stairwell Friendship.
"Good morning to you, Hanazawa Rui!" Tsukushi sat down on the top step, above where Rui was seated. He made a sound back at her that she knew to take as a replied "Hello." Sometimes they talked. Sometimes they just sat in a comfortable silence. More often than not it was the former because of Tsukushi's school girl crush on Rui. Today they talked (well, mostly Tsukushi talked) on random topics. After awhile, realizing how long she had been there, Tsukushi stood to leave.
"Hey." Tsukushi turned back around.
"Yes?" she answered.
"You look pale." Tsukushi felt like driving her head against the wall. It was so rare that Rui willingly spoke, especially unprompted; she thought it was going to be something more important than how she looked.
"Oh. Thank you. I have to get to class now. Bye bye." She left and went to her classroom. As usual, the classes were somewhat boring. At least, they were compared to the interesting mini-society of Eitoku Gakuen. Lunch came and went. Tsukushi was roped in to drinking tea and eating rich snacks with Nishikado and Mimasaka. They did the usual and talked about girls they were currently with and girls they had their eyes on. Tsukushi could never say that she approved of their habits: Nishikado was a huge playboy and Mimasaka only dated older, sometimes married, women. Usually she would try to join in the conversation and steer it somewhere more general, but today she kept quiet. She felt tired.
"Hey! Tsukasa, come join us!" Nishikado suddenly called. Tsukushi looked up as Domyoji approached. He sat down next to her. Domyoji was the only member of the F4 with whom the silence was 99 of the time an uncomfortable one. Too much had happened between them for conversation to come naturally. Feeling awkward Tsukushi felt a faint blush creep into her face. From the way Nishikado and Mimasaka were starting to poke fun, she could only assume that her face wasn't the only red one in the group. Sneaking a glance out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Domyoji was slowly turning a red that could match the shirt color of his non-uniform outfit.
"Ahem." Domyoji cleared his throat in a not-so-subtle way. It was one of the ways that he singled his friends to shut up whenever there was something he wanted to say. "Makino, why don't we go out someplace this weekend?" Ah, there is was. Tsukushi suspected that was why he seemed so tense. He spent a lot of energy chasing after her attention. There were times when he seemed just like a little child looking for praise from his parents. Well, not his parents, at least. Tsukushi hadn't yet met his father, but his mother was the strictest mother she had ever met. She knew that Domyoji gave her opinions of him little or no thought.
"Um. I don't know," she answered. "I have to work, you know." It was a stupid excuse. Sure, she worked to help support her poor family, but if her parents heard this offer they'd probably offer to work for her if that's what it took to get her out with Domyoji. She just hated being alone with Domyoji. He was definitely nice enough, when he wasn't being a pompous and egotistical jerk, but she wasn't sure how she felt about him. There was definitely something there in her heart for him, but that same heart held a place for Rui, too. How was she to know who to choose? She sometimes felt so angry with Domyoji. He figured out what he wanted so easily, but couldn't seem to realize how hard it was for her!
"I'll pay you, if you want." Tsukushi inwardly grinned at Nishikado and Mimasaka's reactions. They both groaned and smacked their foreheads. They both hated that their friend and leader was so inept at dealing with women!
"There you go throwing your money around again! How many times do I have to tell you that I don't care about your money!" shouted Tsukushi. She stood up and grabbed her bag.
"We'll go to a restaurant or something. You look pale; you're obviously not eating well enough on that poor people food! Stop being stubborn!" replied Domyoji, angrily.
"I'm not going anywhere with you! And so what if I look pale!" Tsukushi kicked at Domyoji and stalked away. What nerve! The rest of the day seemed to pass in a blur after that. Every time she thought about it she felt her heart start to race. At the end of the day, after dodging around Kazuya with a quick excuse, she headed for the school gate to leave. Nishikado and Mimasaka suddenly appeared on her sides.
"Makino, we've talked, and we feel that you should think harder about Tsukasa's request," started Nishikado.
"I know his mother doesn't approve of you, but if you were to get together with him, it would be a great opportunity for someone like you," added Mimasaka. Tsukushi's anger swelled and she felt her heart start to race again. Only…now it was slightly painful. Her breath caught in her throat.
"Hey, are you okay?" asked Mimasaka. "You don't look so good."
"I'm fine," said Tsukushi. It was a lie. Her head felt light, and she was having trouble breathing.
"Are you sure?" persisted Nishikado.
"Yeah, I'm…" Tsukushi never finished the sentence. She stumbled and collapsed on the ground.
"Makino!" Nishikado and Mimasaka quickly knelt down to check her. Nishikado jumped back up and raced back into the school.
"Tsukasa!"
-End of Chapter One-
Okay, everyone! This is the end of chapter one! I hope you enjoyed it. I'm suspecting right now that this will probably be somewhere between 5-10 chapters. Just to let you all know, I'm a sophomore in college, so if you don't see an update as soon as you'd like, it's probably because I've gotten bogged down with work.
I hope you'll leave a review if you have some time.
