Say good-bye! (Sorry, my little brother just HAD to see the Hana Yori Dango movie after I had like just watched it. Now I've got Stepping Out stuck in my head.) Oh my poor headache. I've been working hard on a project but I don't think I'll EVER get it done with. (Oh Teresa, you don't know what it is, but when you do you'll understand completely.) I've also been making MORE additions to the TOA cast, Teresa. It's getting out of hand. I mean between, Lo, Lollo, Jade, Ellamaraun, Michellarena, Ruid, Aeris, and Ember, Legends of Annapurna is going to be one big ass book. Oh well. I LOVE THEM ALL! Here goes.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hana Yori Dango, but rest assured, if I did, yes I would create the character socks with the songs. (Doumyouji socks? I WOULD LOVE THEM!)
Warning: Cussing. 'o.o" (THE OFFICIAL DOUMYOUJI FACE!)
Never Quite As It Seems
Chapter Two
"I trace the cord back to the wall,
No wonder it was never plugged in at all,
I took my time, I hurried up,
The choice was mine didn't think enough,"
-Brian's Song by Blink 182
"Why does the kitchen look like this?" I asked as I entered it for breakfast. Now normally, kitchens are expected to have a few dishes in the sink. This one was piled high with dishes. I sighed loudly. If anything was going to get clean, I was going to have to be the one cleaning it. Akira and Soujirou looked up from their bowls of Lucky Charms.
"This place doesn't have a dish washer!" Soujirou told me in immediate defense of himself.
"Rui will get bored and do the dishes in a few days. No big deal." Akira shrugged.
"It is a big deal. You can't live like pigs you know. Or I won't anyway. From now on, we should all take turns doing chores." I explained to the two boys who looked almost horrified with the suggestion.
"Chores?" Soujirou said the word, cocking his head to one side. "Us?"
"Do you have a hearing problem? Look, I'll do the dishes today and Soujirou you can clean up the living room. Akira, you'll mop the floors." I assigned each of them a task.
"Why doesn't Rui or Doumyouji have to do anything?" Akira whined. I rolled my eyes.
"Rui can…clean upstairs and Doumyouji can clean the bathrooms." I knew there were three bathrooms in all. I hadn't been in the third one yet as the only door to it was in Doumyouji's room, meaning it was Doumyouji's. The other two had towels and things littering them.
"I can clean what?" The irritating voice asked from behind me. I whirled around to see Doumyouji with one eyebrow raised in challenge.
"The bathrooms. Do you need it spelled out?" I asked him. Doumyouji really needed to be put in his place sometimes! I had only been there since yesterday and I still couldn't figure out how the others put up with anything.
"I don't clean." Doumyouji said slowly.
"Gee, I guess your going to have to learn then." I was trying so hard not to start laughing at the face Doumyouji was making. It was somewhere between bewildered and angry.
"Learn what?" Rui was rubbing his eyes before seeing Akira and Soujirou. "Hey you better have left me some."
"Good morning Rui!" I chirped happily, glad to see him again. He was already pulling a chair up at the table.
"Good morning Rui!" Doumyouji did a rather terrible impression of me in a squeaky voice. I glared at him.
"Mmm…'morning Tsukushi." Rui didn't look that awake, which didn't surprise me. Akira clapped him on the back.
"So how late we're we out? Eleven, midnight?" Akira guessed with a grin, obviously knowing the answer.
"Three." Rui told him. My mouth dropped open.
"Where were you?" I questioned him.
"Places." Rui was slipping into his I-don't-want-to-have-a-conversation mode so I stopped inquiring about the whereabouts of my best friend. Like I said, it was probably something weird.
"What are you, his mom?" Doumyouji asked me. "Or rather the jealous girlfriend?" My mouth tightened considerably. I chose not to answer back to him. After all, the best way to deal with someone like Doumyouji was really to just ignore him.
"Tsukushi isn't my girlfriend." Rui told him as if commenting on the weather.
"I knew even you had more taste than that." Doumyouji concluded. I threw the sponge I had just picked up at Doumyouji's face. It hit him perfectly. The sponge slid to the floor.
"If your just gonna sit around in talk, then you can get to work on those bathrooms!" I put my hands on my hips. I was ready to just punch Doumyouji in the face.
"I'm not going to scrub out those bathrooms! It's okay for someone like you. I'm going somewhere." Doumyouji told me. I didn't have to ask what he meant by that last comment. Okay, so my family wasn't spectacularly wealthy, big deal. Even if Doumyouji was rich, it didn't mean he should sit around flaunting it all the time.
"Your going to a party?" Soujirou asked right as I was about to say something in reply. I shut my mouth though. Might as well not drag it out.
"No. I'm visiting Tsubaki." Doumyouji told them.
"Hey, say hello to Tsubaki for me!" Akira piped up, before shoveling more Lucky Charms in his mouth.
"I will. But you guys?" Doumyouji paused questioningly.
"What?" Soujirou asked.
"How many times have I told you?" Doumyouji marched over to the table, grabbing the Lucky Charms box. "These are my Lucky Charms." I rolled my eyes. Just as Doumyouji was leaving though I decided to say something.
"Well I guess you can just clean the bathrooms later!" I called out. Doumyouji turned, his brow twitching in irritation. He made an annoyed noise before turning and leaving.
Finally I got to work, scrubbing all the dishes clean. It took me an hour and I'm fast at doing dishes. When I was done, I found Rui looking completely hypnotized while vacuuming the same foot of carpeting over and over again. I shook my head and walked off. Soujirou had actually done a good job cleaning the living room, until I found out he had shoved all the trash under the couch. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. Akira was moping all wrong; obviously he had never used a mop. I showed him how it was done and he got to work. It was a good thing I had come along.
Doumyouji did get back a little while later. I stood there waiting with a bucket full of cleaning products and a scrub brush. As soon as he got his jacket off, I handed it to him. He glared at me but walked off with them towards the downstairs bathroom. I checked on Rui, who had finally woken up and finished vacuuming. Then I found Soujirou who had finished cleaning up the garbage and was beating Akira at Mario Kart. The floors were nicely mopped. The whole house was clean. I decided to bravely check on Doumyouji.
I entered the bathroom, seeing that Doumyouji was sitting there, scrubbing the mirror with a scrub brush. I winced. He could scratch the glass easily doing that.
"Doumyouji, you can't use a scrub brush on glass!" I told him, taking the scrub brush from him. "Use this rag." I handed him a rag out of the bucket. He gave me a look, which meant to say I wasn't welcome telling him what to do.
"Since when did you order us all around?" Doumyouji asked, compliantly cleaning the mirror with the rag. I picked up the bottle of cleaning solution. It was the tile cleaner. I should have known better.
"Why are you using tile cleaner on a mirror?" I quirked an eyebrow at him. "You can read, right?"
"You know what? I don't clean that often so you can just excuse me for not being up with you poor people on cleaning products!" Doumyouji threw the rag down in frustration. I couldn't help it. The poor people comment made me upset. Call it a weak point. I looked away from the curly haired boy immediately.
"Fine, just go. I'll clean the bathrooms." I said in a tired voice. I was a little tired from having to over see the cleaning all day but I was also tired of going at it with Doumyouji.
"Are you sure?" Doumyouji's deep voice questioned.
"Just go." I insisted, taking the rag that he had thrown down and started to clean the mirror, the opposite side of where he had been cleaning.
"What if I don't want to?" Doumyouji crossed his arms, which I saw only out of the corner of my eyes.
"I don't want this poor person to hold you up." There was an edge of bitterness in my voice that I'd admit. I wish it didn't show that much, how his comment bothered me.
"Well I'm staying." Doumyouji amended. There was a silence. "Are you really poor?" I snapped, dropping the rag in frustration.
"Mind your own business Doumyouji!" I stalked right out of the bathroom, going down a side hall, and falling to my knees. Even though I hated myself for doing it, I started to cry. Not just because of the poor thing but also about the chance that Rui had fallen for another girl. That I missed my parents, I missed my friends from my old college, and I missed Makiko. I dried my tears as soon as I could. No use crying about it now I told myself. I looked up to see someone standing there, watching me with wide eyes.
"D-Doumyouji!" I knew it was obvious I had been crying and who knew how long he had been standing there. "What do you want?" I was trying to pretend I hadn't been crying, maybe some part of me thought he'd forget or something.
"Why are you crying?" Doumyouji asked me, kneeling down beside me.
"I'm not, I just got some dust in my eyes! You guys never clean in here do you?" I joked even though I could tell from the expression on his face that he knew I was lying.
"Will you show me how to clean?" Doumyouji suddenly asked after a long silence. He was looking at the floor when he asked. I laughed a little. It was funny to think of Doumyouji really cleaning but I went with it.
"Sure." I agreed, getting up and leading him into the bathroom. It was probably the toughest lesson ever. Doumyouji was about as inexperienced as an ant would be. I helped him out with the second bathroom because personally I still didn't think he was ready to go on his own. Then he actually asked me to help with his bathroom. Going into Doumyouji's bedroom, I was amazed at all the things. A huge bed for one thing plus a computer, TV and VCR, and a few game systems.
"Wow." The word popped out of my mouth as I looked out his huge window. Much like my room, it had a really nice view of the park out behind all the houses.
"Well, I couldn't take much less." Doumyouji commented arrogantly. "After all, my dad did pay for this whole street of houses to be built." I rolled my eyes. Doumyouji was obviously bragging.
"Whoop dee doo." The sarcastic reply came out of my mouth, spoiling the silent and somewhat nice atmosphere that had settled over us. It seemed that if neither of us talked, we got along okay.
"You know, most people would die to be where you are right now." Doumyouji told me importantly.
"What, cleaning bathrooms?" I asked in confusion.
"No, hanging out with me." Doumyouji explained, looking only slightly annoyed by my apparent lack of a grasp on the situation.
"Gee, I'm so lucky." This guy isn't for real, right? There must be a lot of stupid people out in the world.
"I'd be willing to let you hang out with me." Doumyouji smiled smugly at his own reflection in the mirror. "But you have to do me a favor." I gave him an odd look. What does he mean "favor"? I have a bad feeling about this.
"What do you mean?" I questioned him. Doumyouji was kind of strange.
"Well, being as rich as I am, I'm quite popular. Unfortunately this means that a bunch of uninteresting, dimwitted girls are after me." Doumyouji informed me. Sounds like a perfect match if you ask me…
"So this has what to do with me?" I asked. Where the hell is this going? I wish he'd just say it instead if dragging it out.
"Therefore, I've come up with a solution. I need a girlfriend." Doumyouji pronounced. I was about to ask who his girlfriend was going to be when it hit me.
Doumyouji was talking about me.
My mouth felt like it was going to hit the floor. "There's no way-" Doumyouji cut me off.
"We wouldn't actually be going out, it would just be for show." Doumyouji began to explain, his speech rapidly speeding up.
"I won't." I answered. This was probably the strangest request ever given to me. Well maybe the time Rui asked if I could buy slugs and fly them on albatrosses was a tad bit stranger but it was a close contest in my mind.
"I could pay." Doumyouji offered. I had to admit, my interest peaked a little bit. I was thinking about getting a part time job after all. Of course this really wasn't what I had in mind though.
"Why me?" I asked.
"Two reasons. One, you could probably handle the stupid girls who want to go out with me, and two, the only other person I could think of is just too annoying." Doumyouji scrunched up his face. "I couldn't even pretend to like her…"
"Are you serious about this? Paying me and all?" I inquired. Although part of my mind said it was morally wrong to get paid to do this sort of thing, I couldn't help but try to shut it out. After all, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. And let's face it, I could use the money.
"You don't think I could?" Doumyouji asked sharply as if I were somehow saying he was less of a person. I stared out the window thinking quietly to myself. I realized why I couldn't. Rui. I was in love with Rui and there was no way I could pretend to-
My thoughts were cut off as I focused on a couple walking through the park. I almost gasped as I recognized Rui; the other was a beautiful girl with long lustrous locks of hair. They were holding hands, walking very close to each other. I turned away from the window immediately. My emotions were so blurred, I don't know what made me think I could decide anything important when I was so upset and angry. Betrayed was really the best word for it. Hadn't I given up all my friends and left my college for him? I felt like I had been slapped in the face by my own gesture. I turned to Doumyouji and opened my mouth.
"I'll do it."
______
So I've made a lot of dumb choices in life. I once decided to see what would happen if I set a towel on fire. This resulted in our bathroom almost catching on fire in my younger days. Another time, I ate all my Halloween candy in one night with Rui. We were both sick to our stomachs, fighting over the toilet. So I knew that this was probably the dumbest choice any human on the face of the planet could make.
Immediately after I got dressed on Monday morning in a pair of plain jeans and a t-shirt I went downstairs. All four boys were eating breakfast. They hadn't seen me the night before, as I was too busy moping in my room about Rui. Doumyouji looked up and eyed me critically. He took me by the wrist and marched me right back up to my room. He began to dig through my closet.
"I don't care if it is just for show, no girlfriend of mine is wearing that out in public." Doumyouji eyed my outfit distastefully.
"I like these pants!" I protested as a black skirt hit me in the face. Then a white button up blouse.
"Looks like I have to take you shopping." Doumyouji sighed. I was going to kill him.
"Maybe I should take you shopping!" I snapped back at him. Doumyouji looked at his own rather stylish outfit.
"There's nothing wrong with my clothes." He told me before I started to take off my t-shirt. I realized he was still in the room, looking at me and gave him a rather interesting expression that suggested he might die if he didn't leave my room immediately. He backed out and shut the door. I was forced to change my shoes from comfortable tennis shoes to black formal shoes to match my skirt. I walked out of the room.
"There, are you satisfied?" I asked him, already aggravated that I actually changed my clothes.
"Can't you do something with your hair?" Doumyouji questioned. My hair went down to my shoulders in a plain style, partly because I had never cut it any other way. I gave him a sour look before going back inside my room and grabbing a scrunchie, twisting my hair into a messy bun.
"Am I fit for public yet?" I asked sarcastically. I better be getting paid a whole lot if I have to put up with this!
"It'll do." Doumyouji still looked a little less than satisfied. As if it were my fault!
"Whatever." I went downstairs again, all three boys looked up this time.
"Hey if you're tired and you look at Tsukushi like this," Akira put his head to one side and squinted. "She kind of looks decent."
"Maybe Doumyouji needs glasses." Soujirou joined in. Great, I have to be the brunt of these stupid jokes? I am going to kill Doumyouji!
"Hello Tsukushi." Rui greeted me, seeming a little distant. I wondered how the news had affected him. Probably not that much now that he had his beautiful girlfriend. I tried not to be bitter about it, pushing down all my upset deep into the back of my mind.
"Hey Rui." I smiled at him, more out of habit than anything. I noticed that they were all eating Poptarts. "Hey I want one!"
"Doumyouji just ate the last one." Akira shrugged. He made me change my clothes AND he ate the last Poptart? I want a bonus…
"What time is it?" I asked.
"Eight thirty." Soujirou informed me, looking at his watch.
"Argh! I have a class at nine! It's on the other side of the campus!" The extra time used to change had wasted my eating time. I couldn't even grab a Poptart. "I have to go!" I grabbed my book bag as I ran out the door, hoping the bus system was better than my old college. As I was walking down the path from our house to the sidewalk, I noticed a shining black convertible parked right outside.
This must be Doumyouji's precious car. I had half a mind to go and slash the tires to vent frustration but went against that thought, walking as quickly as I could towards the bus stop. I heard a car coming at a very illegal sounding speed for a college campus where the speed limit was twenty miles per hour. The car could've stopped on a dime the way that it easily stopped right next to me. It was the black convertible, with Doumyouji sitting in the driver seat looking rather irritated.
"You can't walk! Get in." Doumyouji told me.
"Why not? I've got legs." I told him patiently. A bus was pulling up at the stop, twenty yards away. I could make it if I ran.
"You don't understand anything do you?" Doumyouji shook his head. "Just get in, I'm giving you a ride." I got in the car actually feeling kind of lucky that I got to ride in such a great car. Of course I was not going to give Doumyouji the satisfaction so I tried to arrange my face into a mildly bored expression. Doumyouji took off at such a fast speed that I had barely gotten my seat belt on but was thrown against the seat. "I don't usually just let people ride in this car you know."
"Someone could get their fingerprints on it and then who knows what would happen?" I rolled my eyes at him. He looked slightly less than amused.
"Have you ever dated anyone before?" Doumyouji suddenly asked as we took a corner so sharp I was sure the car was going to flip.
"Well…no." I finally answered. "Could you slow down a little? I don't think we need to break the sound barrier." I was trying to jump off the dating subject. All through high school I had used the excuse that I was too busy and had too many things to do to date people. What I realized later was that I didn't want to date anyone but Rui.
"That explains a lot." Doumyouji stated.
"Have you ever dated anyone before?" I inquired. Silence was my only answer for a little bit.
"…No…" Doumyouji admitted sheepishly. I was going to kill him. I was fully ready to commit homicide and see if I could get acquitted for doing the whole world a favor. Not that I'd have to worry about at it, the speed we were currently going, if we hit anything it would be the end of both of our lives. I just hoped that whatever happened after we died, I wouldn't have to endure eternal punishment by being in the same place as Doumyouji.
"Then stop going around acting like you know everything!" I snapped at him. We pulled up outside the psychology building where I had my first class. A crowd of girls began to run up towards the car but spotted me and stopped dead in their tracks. I was about to get out of the car when Doumyouji got out, then opened my door for me, offering me a hand to get out. I took it, putting an innocent look on my face before smashing my heel into his toes as I got out. I felt incredibly justified right then.
"You idiotic…" Doumyouji trailed off, trying to keep his face straight as he could. "I'll see you later Tsukushi." He said the last part loudly. I felt like I was in a play.
"See you." I replied through clenched teeth. I'd rather get hit by a bus…Doumyouji leaned over and pecked me on the cheek. I wanted to punch him in the face so badly that I had to grind my fist into my book bag to make sure I didn't. I would punch him later, when no one else was around.
I walked off, passing the same group of girls who had stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of me in Doumyouji's car. They were all glaring at me murderously and suddenly I wondered nervously if all my homicidal threats were coming back to haunt me. I tried to ignore them the best I could. I went into the psychology building feeling better. I loved psychology and was thinking of switching my major to it. I walked into my classroom and looked for a good seat to sit in. There were only a few empty seats. All of them were next to boys except one. I sat there.
"Hey, I don't think I've seen you before." The girl sitting next to me spoke. "I'm Yuuki."
"Tsukushi." I introduced myself. "I just transferred here."
"Really? Which house do you live in?" Yuuki asked me. "I'm in house F6."
"I'm in house F4, I guess that means we're practically neighbors." I smiled at her. We were only separated by one house, F5, but I didn't think it would make a big difference.
"F4?" Yuuki looked astonished. I don't think she could have looked more so unless I had proved that there was no sun. "No way!"
"Um, yeah, F4." I felt a little embarrassed. The girl in front of Yuuki turned around. She was really pretty with honey-colored hair and big expressive eyes. Like a doll almost.
"The F4 house?" She asked in slight disbelief. "Your not that girl everyone is talking about are you? The girl that drove up this morning in Doumyouji's car?"
"How did you know that?" I asked.
"Everyone is talking about it." She replied airily. "I'm Sanyou Sakurako."
"I'm Makino Tsukushi. Why is everyone talking about it? It's not that big of a deal, right?" I asked tentatively. I could already tell that to everyone else it was a big deal.
"It's Doumyouji, that's why! Girls have been trying all year to get him to go out with them!" Sakurako exclaimed as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Now suddenly you transfer here and you're his girlfriend?"
"Well…" I wished I could deny it and then start making fun of Doumyouji. Unfortunately I knew what I had to do. "Sometimes people just click." And sometimes people are paid to click.
"I wish I had your luck!" Yuuki jumped in. "Living in the F4 house, I think all the F4 boys are so cute! Not only that but also bagging the richest and cutest guy at this whole college!" I smiled weakly. Doumyouji is the cutest guy at this campus? That sure brings its prospects down…I knew that somehow, this whole thing was going to turn into a big mess really fast.
What have I gotten myself into?
_______
CHAPTER IS FINISHED! Ah, well you should have known that I couldn't possibly just sit back and not throw a plot twist in. Of course, from here on out it's not going to get any less complicated. Don't worry, I'm not rushing anything. In fact, I'm taking things just a tad bit slow…which says something…though what it is, I don't know! Well I'm going to bed. I have the cold from hell and it's one in the morning! More tomorrow…I think…
My Favorite Line From This Chapter: "How many times have I told you? These are my Lucky Charms!"
