Okay so I've woken up, finished off Garth Nix's Lirael and eaten a bowl of Cheerio's. Are they really cheery? Oh lame joke time! What's Suzaku's favorite cereal? Chicheerio's! OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO! Yeah, I'm really funny aren't I? I still have a cold. (IS THERE NO JUSTICE?) I might get to skip school tomorrow though if the cold persists. It better because being sick on weekends isn't my idea of fun. Oh well. Well my stereo is right in reach. Everyone's a little queer, why can't she be a little straight? Ehehehehehehehehe! (Sad when your spell check has that documented as an actual word.) Here's a new chapter just for you. (And all the other fans out there…) Oh, and M.B.B. (Was that it?) actually I have watched more than the movie, I just happen to go on a very long rant about the movie. I can understand the confusion. Thanks for all the reviews!
Disclaimer: I don't own Hana Yori Dango. I do own the rather lame joke I just made up. Well parts of it anyway. Oi Pip! (For two whole days at school, I said this instead of cussing or saying hello. It worked wonderfully.)
Warning: This could be hazardous to your health. Just kidding. Cussing, pretty damn mild violence and of course the occasional annoying girl…
Never Quite As It Seems
Chapter Three
"Motivation,
Such an aggravation,
Accusations,
Don't know where to take them,
Inspirations,
Getting hard to fake it,
Concentration,
Never want to break it,
Situation,
Never what you wanted to be,"
-A Random Song Quote
I had just gotten out of my first day of classes. I had made other new friends besides Yuuki and Sakurako. One of them was walking with me out of the building. His name was Kazuya. He had red hair and was slightly goofy but seemed like a pretty okay person in my mind.
"I'm in house F3! I can't believe we live next to each other!" Kazuya exclaimed. "You'll have to come over and visit!"
"That sounds like fun." I replied with a friendly smile.
"I've never met Doumyouji before, everyone says he's really cool. Will you introduce me?" Kazuya asked with an eager face. I frowned slightly. I had forgotten Doumyouji in the course of the day even though people were talking about me wherever I went. Now I realized I would have to see him again. Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll get hit by a bus. My morbid thoughts had run away from me.
"Um, I guess." I shrugged a little. "Where's the nearest bus stop?" I asked as we emerged into the parking lot. I was stopped dead in my tracks by the sight of a very familiar black convertible. Doumyouji was leaning against his car with his arms crossed coolly. A girl with slightly weird spider web like bangs was talking to him. I put my head down, ducking a little behind Kazuya, hoping that he wouldn't see me.
Please don't let him see me, please don't let him see me, please don't let him see me, please don't let him-
"Hey Tsukushi!" Doumyouji's voice interrupted my pleading thoughts. There was absolutely no justice in the whole world. Oh well. He was running up to me and Kazuya was standing there giving me a confused look. I was getting a migraine, though I hoped it was a brain tumor and I only had five seconds to live.
"Hi Doumyouji." I greeted him in a slightly rehearsed voice. Look cheerful, he's supposed to be your boyfriend, remember?
"Come over here and meet Asai." Doumyouji tugged on my arm. My face twitched but I put on my best fake smile before following him over towards the girl with the odd hair. "Asai, I don't believe you've met my girlfriend." He put emphasis on the last word and I wondered if he was trying to get the girl to go away.
"Girlfriend?" Asai's voice was rather grating and I grimaced slightly. "Don't tell me those silly rumors are true!"
"Yes they are." Doumyouji looked incredibly happy. I dug my elbow into his ribcage just to wipe that smug look off his face.
"I'm pleased to meet you. I'm Makino Tsukushi." I extended a hand towards her. Asai sniffed at it, sticking her nose in the air.
"Doumyouji, you could do so much better than this!" Asai complained. "Let's leave this girl and go have dinner some where." I thought that it was a good idea myself. Doumyouji and this girl deserved each other. May they never breed because a Doumyouji with that voice could definitely cause a lot of headaches. But I knew I had to stick up for myself, besides the fact that if I couldn't punch Doumyouji, I wouldn't mind venting some frustration on this girl's face.
"Doumyouji and I are going out to dinner." I was trying hard not to start laughing of course. Asai looked rather like she wanted to strangle me but wouldn't dare with Doumyouji being there. "Sorry."
"Hmph!" Asai made her huffy noise before stalking off.
"Finally!" Doumyouji sighed in relief. "I thought you were never coming out of that building!"
"Tsukushi!" Kazuya called out. "Wait for me!"
"Oh sorry Kazuya." I giggled. "We had a bit of an emergency it seemed." I shot Doumyouji a dirty look. I had to admit I was a rather good actress but I had a feeling that Asai wasn't just going to leave me alone. I hadn't come to a new college to make enemies.
"Are you Doumyouji?" Kazuya asked him. Doumyouji looked at him with a slight distaste.
"That's me." Doumyouji looked as if he did not want to talk to Kazuya. It was time for my revenge.
"Oh Doumyouji dear! You have to meet Kazuya!" My innocent grin was caused merely by the way Doumyouji's face had twisted slightly when he realized he was trapped. "Kazuya this is Doumyouji."
"Hello! I've heard so much about you." Kazuya's face was bright with enthusiasm.
"Really?" Doumyouji looked as though he was stopping himself from hitting something. "We have to go."
"We do?" I asked him curiously.
"Yeah, I'm taking you to dinner, remember?" Doumyouji nodded his head obviously towards the car. I rolled my eyes.
"Go to hell." I muttered.
"What was that?" Doumyouji questioned me.
"Dinner would be swell." I quickly covered up. "I guess I should be going Kazuya, I'll see you around okay?"
"Of course!" Kazuya gave me the biggest, dopiest grin I have ever seen. "See you!" He ran off.
"I'm going to kill you." I threatened Doumyouji as we got in the car. "What, am I your personal bodyguard? I have to ward off girls?"
"That's kind of the idea." Doumyouji started the car, before pulling out and ripping out of the parking lot at an alarming rate.
"Ever hear of a speed limit?" I cracked. We went right by a cop car and they actually waved at Doumyouji. I shook my head in disbelief. The whole world was against me.
"I know how to drive." Doumyouji suddenly turned, missing another car by inches. I knew it, I was doomed. There was no way I could survive one more car ride with Doumyouji. The law of averages said so.
"I can tell." I watched as we sped right past our house. "Hey! That's our house!" Doumyouji did not seem alarmed. "Where are we going?"
"I have to take you shopping and I did say I was going to take you to dinner." Doumyouji explained.
"I don't want to go shopping." I told him sullenly.
"You aren't like most girls are you?" Doumyouji peered at me curiously. "Most girls would love for me to take them shopping."
"Most girls are stupid then." I crossed my arms. "You don't have to buy me clothes, I mean how long are we going to 'go out' for anyway?" In my mind when I agreed to it, I imagined I was agreeing to a month or two at most.
"As long I need to." Doumyouji pulled into a spot in front of an expensive looking boutique. I made a face. I usually shopped in normal department stores, being known to be a bargain hunter. I doubted this store would have a clearance rack. My motto for clothing was affordable and comfortable. Seeing some of the outfits in the windows, I doubted whether anything contained both.
"Can't we go somewhere else?" I whined slightly.
"Come on." Doumyouji tugged on my arm and I was a bit sick of getting tugged around like some sort of dog. I sighed and walked into the store. Doumyouji immediately began looking through racks. I sulkily looked around. There was a pretty sweater on one mannequin that I wouldn't mind having. I looked at the price tag. No sweater should cost that much money!
"Oh well." I muttered. I hoped that this little shopping trip wasn't coming out of my pay. I tried to keep my mind on things I would buy with my money. I would get all my family presents. That would be nice. Or maybe I could something nice for myself. I could use something nice after this torture.
"Here." Doumyouji handed me an armload of clothes. "Try these on." I sighed. I went into the dressing rooms where a lady gave me a number. I tried on the first outfit. It was a mini-skirt and button up shirt with a small jacket over it that all matched. I blinked at my reflection. The skirt showed off most of my legs. I wasn't use to being exposed like that so I tried to pull the skirt down nervously.
"Hey, come out so I can see!" Doumyouji called out. I grimaced. There was no way I wanted him to see me like this. Even so, I walked out, feeling completely ridiculous. Doumyouji's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head.
"What?" I asked defensively, putting my hands on my hips.
"We are definitely getting that one." Doumyouji looked as if he were in a bit of a daze. I raised my eyebrows suspiciously. All the same I could feel heat rising to my face.
"Don't get any funny ideas!" I told him. "I'm just posing as your girlfriend! Besides," I paused as I turned to walk back into the dressing room. "There's not enough money in the world to convince me to do that."
"Like I wanted to do anything!" Doumyouji yelled back. I saw that his face had gone red much like mine probably was.
I changed out of it and put it back on its hanger. I tried on about a thousand other outfits that day. All of them made me extremely self-conscious. We ended up buying ten outfits, including the first one I tried on. I was still ticked off at the way Doumyouji had looked at me. Plus he made me change into one of the outfits. I noticed almost all my outfits had really short skirts. I didn't care what was in fashion, I wasn't some sleaze.
We drove up to a regular looking restaurant, which was a relief because all this expensive stuff was making me feel really uncomfortable. We sat down at a table near a window and were silent.
"Was that so bad?" Doumyouji finally asked, peering at me over his menu.
"No, it was worse. That was a lot of money! You can't just sit there and spend it like that!" I was use to saving every penny and using money sparingly. Doumyouji seemed to just throw his around.
"Are you worried about me?" Doumyouji asked with a teasing smile. I wanted to throw my ice water right at his head.
"No." I said quickly. "But still, it was a total waste of money."
"Maybe I don't think so." Doumyouji told me, looking back down at his menu. "If I thought it would be a waste, I wouldn't have taken you shopping."
"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" I asked him. The waiter approached us and we gave our orders. As soon as he was gone though I turned back to Doumyouji. "Well?"
"Let's talk about something else." Doumyouji changed the subject. "Tomorrow, we're going to go visit my sister Tsubaki."
"Oh swell." I said sarcastically. He had siblings? More Doumyoujis running around? I hoped with all my might that his sister was not like him.
"Tsubaki still goes to this college, she's in her fourth year here. She lives in houseF6." Doumyouji informed me.
"That's Yuuki's house!" I exclaimed in recognition. "I think it's Sakurako's house too."
"Sakurako? That girl is annoying…" Doumyouji trailed off grimacing.
"She seems really nice!" I jumped in defense of the pretty girl. "Plus I say that if anyone takes the annoying cake among girls its Asai."
"You haven't met my sister's best friend yet." Doumyouji told me wryly. "Shigeru is undoubtedly the most annoying person on the face of the planet."
"Looked in a mirror lately?" I wasn't in a pleasant mood, that much I'd admit. Plus there was some guy in a table next to us giving me a disgusting look. I wish my legs were covered a little more.
"You should be a little more grateful! I took you shopping and let you ride in my car!" Doumyouji reminded me. I threw down my napkin that I had been playing with.
"I didn't ask you to do any of that!" I stomped out of the restaurant. I would walk back home, even if I didn't know this town very well. Anything was better than another second of Doumyouji. I wanted desperately to get out of the new clothes but I stayed in them anyway. I hoped Doumyouji wouldn't follow me. I crossed a street before I heard the squealing of tires and knew Doumyouji was coming. I blatantly ignored the car as if pulled up. Doumyouji got out, standing in front of me. I tried to walk around him.
"You don't know the way back! You could get lost!" Doumyouji told me, sidestepping so he could get in front of me.
"Like you care!" I angrily countered. Doumyouji grabbed my arms.
"If I didn't care I wouldn't have bothered following you!" His words struck me. I was totally frozen. What did he just say? I blinked a few times in confusion. "Why don't we go home?" His eyes were pleading with me. I looked away.
"Okay." I nodded my head before going towards the car. I got into the passenger side and was surprised when Doumyouji drove at a normal speed. "Hey what happened? Decide that you weren't being chased by a tornado?" I asked him jokingly. He shrugged slightly.
"Why are you complaining? I thought you didn't like it when I drove fast." Doumyouji raised his eyebrows at me.
"Well you have to admit, when your not driving like a maniac, the chances of you dying go down." I told him intelligently. It was kind of nice when you didn't fear for your life and could comfortably watch the world outside the car.
"Hmm." Doumyouji seemed to be thinking about something else.
"What are you thinking about?" I inquired. He looked a little distracted. He turned a corner slowly.
"Nothing." Doumyouji answered, reminding me of myself sometimes. I almost laughed.
"Fine don't tell me." I looked back out the window. We pulled up in front of the house. I reached to grab my shopping bags but found that Doumyouji had already grabbed them. I whirled around in surprise and he opened the car door for me. "No one is around, I don't think you have to do that."
"Someone could be around." Doumyouji made it sound more like an excuse than anything. What was with him all of a sudden? We entered the house to find Akira and Soujirou playing video games. Akira dropped his controller, causing his car onscreen to crash and Soujirou's mouth was hanging open.
"Nice outfit." Soujirou flashed me a flirtatious grin. My face went a little red.
"Damn, Doumyouji, you know how to pick them!" Akira declared.
"Shut up!" I snapped at them before grabbing my shopping bag from Doumyouji and marching upstairs. As I entered, I hadn't even turned on the light when I saw Rui, stretched out on my bed. "Hey Rui." I closed the door behind me. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing. I was kind of tired." Rui told me. His eyes focused on me. "Did Doumyouji take you shopping?"
"Y-yeah." I stammered, knowing that Rui might be thinking some of the things that Akira and Soujirou had said out loud. I sat down on the edge of my bed. When Rui and me were little kids, we use to share a bed whenever we spent the night at each other's houses. I have no clue why that thought popped up in my head.
"You want to sleep together?" Rui asked. My eyes widened considerably. My face instantly reddened. "Like when we were little kids?" I smiled a little.
"Um, sure." I said, lying down next to him. I was surprised when he put his arms around me. Rui just wasn't a mushy kind of guy.
"Tsukushi…you and Doumyouji…is it really serious?" Rui pulled me a little closer. I gulped nervously.
"No…not really serious…" I debated on what I should say. Rui had never been like this. Maybe when he found out I was going out with someone, he realized he liked me.
"Good." Rui leaned over, kissing me on the forehead softly. Now there was something that I thought would never happen. "I just…it's weird…"
"What's weird?" I asked, feeling completely happy.
"Nothing…what do you do when you see something…that you don't like at all?" Rui asked me. I froze. Was he talking about Doumyouji and me? Maybe he really did love me.
"I'm not sure." I finally answered. "I would try to make it into something that I like."
"Thanks Tsukushi." Rui sounded only half awake. I snuggled deeper into his embrace. I hoped that he wouldn't let go. I fell asleep not with tears like the night before but full of a nice warm feeling.
______
DOOM! Ewwww…it's just so wrong! Rui and Tsukushi…gross…:p Oh well. So my cold is still quite nasty. Oh well. My room has posters up. None of my clothes are hung up which is what I really need to do. I am so torn! But I needed to see Captain Harlock staring at me and Valkyrie taking off her helmet and Vampire Hunter D letting his bloodlust take over and my creepy Jin-Roh poster and the cast of Love Hina and Ranma-chan! I have no life. MOGGET RULES! Okay that's enough Garth Nix for me. Sheesh…I hope this fanfic is doing all right…No one is reading it but me till I get the Internet back. I think it looks alright but you know, I thought that Legend of the Shards was written well when I finished it. 'Course I was about what, twelve? For a twelve-year-old I have to admit I was pretty original. Oh well ja!
