Here we go again. Argh. I'm sorry I had to take a break from this story and write some Second Chances because one) I'm pushing the stories limit with four stories. (Life After Death doesn't count right?) But since I'm confident that Boys Before the High Seas will be finished soon (WOOHOO!) that it won't matter. Two) I can't help it, Rui and Tsukushi just aren't fun to write. (Isn't that like a kind of spoiler?) And Three) I've been writing all day because I'm too exhausted to get up. So I'm glad that I'm still going strong over here. Ah, well. So here we go, more interesting stuff…

Disclaimer: I don't own Hana Yori Dango.

Warnings: 'o.o'' Cussing…some other stuff too…sheesh…Teresa! Be forewarned, one of our biggest inside jokes is in this chapter…I had to use it, gomen!

Never Quite As It Seems

Chapter Four

"Was happiness a fad?

Or was it in the lost and found again,

Behind the issues,

It might not be so bad,

We're all addicted to our tragedy,

I guess it's what it had to be,"

            -Yet Another Song Quote That I'm Too Lazy To Look Up.

            I opened my eyes that morning to see that Rui was no longer in bed with me. That was okay though because I needed to get dressed. I changed into one of the outfits Doumyouji bought me, knowing that if I didn't wear one, Doumyouji would march me right back up to change. I still felt like a bit of a sleaze in the short skirt on the outfit but I tried to pretend that it wasn't that short.

            As I went downstairs I wondered if anyone knew Rui and I had slept together. Akira and Soujirou would find out the truth about Doumyouji and me. I felt like they could be kept under wraps but I was hoping that Rui hadn't been found out. It was kind of strange; I didn't want to have to explain it to Doumyouji. Weird huh?

            "I don't want the others to find out." I told myself. I had to justify sleeping with Rui? Why did I feel sort of guilty? I hadn't done anything wrong. I got into the kitchen to see the others eating Lucky Charms but Doumyouji wasn't up.

            "Those are some nice outfits that Doumyouji picked out." Soujirou smiled at me once more in a slightly flirtatious manner. He patted the chair next to him. I flipped him off and sat in the chair next to Rui.

            "Too bad he couldn't buy her some decency…" Akira remarked.

            "You guys," Akira and Soujirou looked up at Rui. "Shut up." I smiled gratefully at Rui.

            "I want some." I grabbed the box of Lucky Charms and poured myself a bowl. If everyone else could get into Doumyouji's cereal then so could I. In fact I felt I heard more of a right to the cereal. Doumyouji chose that moment to stumble on down the stairs. He looked really tired, as if he hadn't slept much at all.

            "Hey, those are mine!" Doumyouji seemed to wake up at that moment.

            "Everyone else was eating them!" I defended. Doumyouji grabbed the box off the table.

            "Your all a bunch of freeloaders." Doumyouji declared. Akira and Soujirou snorted simultaneously in reply. "What?"

            "Um, at least I can't tap into my dad's bank account whenever I want to." Akira's come back seemed to hit home. Or rather the Lucky Charms box that sailed through the air at Akira's face did.

            "Someone is a merry sunshine this morning." Soujirou commented. "Sexual frustration is a terrible thing." My eyes could have doubled as dinner plates at that comment. Doumyouji's face went bright red.

            "Soujirou…" Doumyouji looked ready to hit someone again. I ate my artificial marshmallows and cereal as fast as I could. I wondered if Doumyouji could flip the table. It seemed all too possible at the moment, the way he was gripping the edges.

            "By the way Doumyouji, you have excellent fashion sense when it comes to women." Akira told him. I pulled on the hem of my skirt, wondering if it would magically become longer some how. Doumyouji looked like he was about to reply when someone knocked on the door. Not wanting to be anywhere near the line of fire, I rushed to open it.

            Standing there was the same girl that I had seen Rui walking around in the park with. Up close I saw that she was even prettier than I had thought. I was probably standing there with my mouth open looking completely idiotic for a while.

            "Hello, is Rui here?" She asked. "I need to speak with him."

            "Um, yeah he is, come on in." I opened the door further and stepped aside as she walked past. Rui had been getting up from the table already.

            "S-Shizuka!" Rui exclaimed. The girl ran towards him with her arms opened wide. She threw herself against him. She was actually crying a little.

            "Oh Rui…it was terrible…you didn't come last night…Thomas came and forced me to kiss him…I didn't want to…" Shizuka (For I decided that was probably her name.) cried into his shoulder. Rui put his arms around her and all of a sudden I felt like someone had just stabbed me.

            "I know. I saw…I thought…" Rui broke off. I felt a little pinprick in the corner of my eye.

            "What do you do if…you see something that…you don't like?"

            I was such an idiot. He wasn't talking about Doumyouji and me! He was talking about Shizuka and whoever this Thomas guy was! He had only slept with me because he was upset about his girlfriend! I felt totally used.

            "You did? That's why you didn't come…" Shizuka stood a little away from Rui. "That must have been so terrible…" I don't know how I could ever compare to this beautiful lady. She was so gracious and beautiful; I probably looked like a stick does next to a flower. An old crummy stick.

            "This is the girl you've been hiding for about two months?" Akira asked incredulously. "Way to go Rui!" My mouth tightened. That was it, I couldn't take anymore. I was leaving. I grabbed my book bag and started heading for the door.

            "Hey, hey!" Doumyouji called after me. "I'll give you a ride." Doumyouji was up, walking past me, with his keys.

            "As long as you don't drive like a maniac." I muttered. I was completely bitter right then.

            "I won't drive like a maniac." Doumyouji told me. We got into the car and Doumyouji was driving at a nice normal speed. At least I knew that was one bad thing that wouldn't happen to me today. "Is something wrong?" The question made me want to start laughing. What wasn't wrong?

            "No." I lied. I didn't want Doumyouji to know anything.

            "Yeah sure. You fall asleep in their arms and they turn out to have a beautiful girlfriend." Doumyouji's comment made my head snap towards him.

            "What the hell are you talking about?" I asked him.

            "You forgot one of your bags last night. I went into your room and found you sleeping in Rui's arms." Doumyouji was gripping the steering wheel. "You could have said you liked him!"

            "It was really none of your business! Besides what does it matter now? He's got his girlfriend back. He won't need me…" I turned away so Doumyouji couldn't see the tears that started to come down my face. "I'm just an idiot."

            "I don't think you're an idiot." Doumyouji said matter of factly. I turned towards him.

            "Yeah sure." Like I would believe that coming from Doumyouji. Doumyouji stopped the car, we weren't anywhere near our destination.

            "Look, you can sit there and deny what I'm saying all you like, but you aren't an idiot." Doumyouji told me sternly. "Why don't you skip classes today? You can stay home and I'll bring you ice-cream."

            "Why are you being so nice?" I asked him.

            "N-no reason." Doumyouji stammered, dropping his eyes from mine. "You just don't look like you want to really do anything."

            "Well…" I hesitated. After all, college was very important. You couldn't just skip classes. And why was Doumyouji being so nice? It was a little odd but the idea was tempting.

            "And I'll even," Doumyouji paused for effect. "Let you drive the car back to the house." I couldn't help it. It is a cool car! I get to drive it? He's joking! There's no way in a million years…

            "I can drive?" I squealed. Okay, so maybe I was a little too excited about it. Doumyouji took the keys out of the ignition and dangled them teasingly from his index finger. I reached out and grabbed them. "Well…I guess…" Even though I did feel a little better, I still didn't feel that great. I knew Rui hadn't used me intentionally. He had done it without thinking, like so many other things.

            "I knew you had a weak spot for this car." Doumyouji told me. I rolled my eyes as I started it up. I pulled out and felt right at ease behind the wheel.

            "That's what you think." I told him, before pressing on the gas a little more. No wonder Doumyouji sped, it was just too tempting. "This hunk of junk is okay…" I joked.

            "Hunk of junk? I don't think it's ever been called that before." Doumyouji's face was completely defensive, I laughed even harder.

            "Well, maybe you aren't talking to the right kind of people." I quipped before turning around a corner.

            "Whatever! You should have seen your face when I said you could drive the car back. 'I can drive?'" Doumyouji pulled yet another terrible impression of me with his squeakiest voice.

            "I wasn't aware that I sounded like Asai when I talked." I parked perfectly in front of the house. Akira and Soujirou were leaving the house and walking towards the bus stop. Their mouths fell open.

            "You let her drive?" Soujirou asked. "You wouldn't let me drive when you sprained both your wrists!"

            "He probably wouldn't let anyone drive even if he were dead!" Akira put in. "Doesn't Tsukushi have a class?"

            "Don't you?" Doumyouji asked him. Akira and Soujirou looked at their watches.

            "If I'm late…" Akira trailed off, gulping. Soujirou and him took off towards the bus stop at a lightening speed.

            "Has anyone ever driven your car?" I asked Doumyouji.

            "Other than you…no." Doumyouji answered. I wondered why I got such a special privilege but decided it was probably because Doumyouji felt sorry for me. I walked into the house, tempted to run upstairs and changed. Rui had obviously already left. I sat on the couch and turned on the TV. Doumyouji sat next to me.

            "Don't you have any classes?" I inquired.

            "Yes but…well let's just say they don't really care if I come or not." Doumyouji replied. "Remember those cops who waved at me yesterday? It's kind of like that. They put me down as being there on the roll sheets."

            "Why?" It seemed unfair that the rest of us had to go to class but Moneybags McGee here could skip whenever he felt like it. "Just cause your rich?"

            "Pretty much. I usually do go to class." Doumyouji told me. "I do have to take over my dad's business when I get out of college."

            "Then you can get married to some girl who likes to wear short skirts and can clean really well." I teased him. "Do you realize that all my outfits have short skirts?"

            "I realize." Doumyouji stretched out his arms. "It's not a crime to look good in public you know."

            "That's easy for you to say, you get to cover up your legs." I shot back. "I don't think this looks good, I think it looks kind of sleazy."

            Doumyouji's eyes swept over my whole body and I felt a heat rise to my face. I tried to make it go away. His eyes met back up with mine. "Looks good to me." I tried to hide my face a little. Why does he have to say things like that? It's almost like…well of course that's just ridiculous but still…

            I tried to laugh, although it came out pretty weakly. The way he was looking at me, with his eyes so intense made me feel kind of weird.

            "Yeah, well you just don't want to admit that you should have never taken me shopping." I teased. Doumyouji leaned towards me and suddenly I was acutely aware of how close he was sitting next to me on the couch.

            "It would have been my loss if I hadn't." Doumyouji told me. Okay so I was slightly impaired on my judgment but I'd say that he was closer than he was a moment ago. I started to panic. They say that when you panic your 'flight or fight' response is triggered in your brain. I think mine leaned on one side a little too much. I hopped up.

            "I'm dying of thirst!" I announced a little too loudly before practically running to the kitchen. I grabbed a glass and drank three whole glasses full of water before I stopped, gasping for breath.

            I'm just imagining things! That has to be it!

            My mind was being very rational in my opinion. So I came back and sat down on the couch, trying to seem as nonchalant as possible about the whole thing. Doumyouji stood up.

            "I guess I'll go buy some ice-cream. What kind do you want?" He sounded a little defeated. I wondered why.

            "Cookie dough!" I answered immediately. He smiled a little. "What?"

            "That's my favorite kind." Doumyouji explained. He walked out of the living room; I heard the jingle of keys and knew that he was off. I suddenly realized how tensed up I was. I decided to try to loosen up by playing some video games.

            They had an extensive collection of systems and games downstairs. Each system and game had someone's signature on it so that it could all be sorted out. I noted that one game had someone's name scribbled out and then Akira's name written above it. Gee, that isn't suspicious.

            I finally settled on Grand Theft Auto Three, popping it into the PS2 and taking a controller. Twenty minutes later, (He obviously drove like a maniac) Doumyouji came in and I was getting chased by cop cars that kept smashing into the side of the convertible I had stolen. He set down the half gallon of ice cream and produced two spoons.

            "Shouldn't we use bowls?" I asked. Doumyouji just shrugged. I dipped my spoon in and started to eat, having to give up playing, so I turned the TV back on. I turned it to a cooking show where coincidentally they were making doumyoujis. I giggled a little, feeling slightly hyper from the ice cream. "Kind of looks like you…" I was giggling hard enough to choke if I swallowed wrong.

            "Does not!" Doumyouji protested.

            "Could have fooled me." I went for another spoonful of ice cream. Doumyouji snatched the carton away from me. "Hey!"

            "You can't have anymore until you admit that those do not look like me!" Doumyouji declared. I tried to fight for my ice cream but he was holding it well out of my reach. I tried to get up but and go over to it but Doumyouji accidentally tripped me. I fell right in his lap.

            "Give me the ice cream!" I was in too silly of a mood at the moment to realize where I was but I reached out for the ice cream. I was laughing so hard though that I could barely move. The chef on the show had just put some shavings of something on top, making it look like they had curly hair.

            "Say please." Doumyouji insisted. I rolled my eyes.

            "P-P-Please!" I could barely get it out because the chef had just said something about the best way to serve a doumyouji. I found it hysterical.

            "I'm not sure you need anymore." Doumyouji handed me the carton, I began to dig in with my spoon. There wasn't much left but I didn't care. Doumyouji shifted slightly and it struck me that I was still on his lap. I scooted myself off with a sheepish grin.

            "Sorry." I murmured, trying to keep my face on the TV screen.

            "It's okay." Doumyouji sighed slightly. "You weren't that heavy or anything."

            "Well that's always good to know, I guess that means it's okay that I ate all the rest of the ice cream!" I yelled triumphantly, hitting the box on the table in a sort of ceremonial way.

            "Hey!" Doumyouji yelled in protest. "That's it…" Before I knew it, I was in hysterical laughter once more as Doumyouji starting tickling me.

            "Ahahahahahahahaha! Stop! I'll puke!" I tried to stop to fight him off. "Stop!" I yelled in desperation. He stopped; my sides were aching from too much laughter. My eyes were watering slightly. It occurred to me right then that if you had told me the day I moved in that I was going to end up getting tickled by Doumyouji over ice cream, I would have probably said your crazy. So Doumyouji wasn't as bad as I had original thought him to be.

            I still felt that ache in my chest when my thoughts drifted onto Rui but I kept forcing the thoughts away. It wasn't as bad as it might have been, if perhaps I had gone to school. Doumyouji had really cheered me up. I was grateful to the obnoxious curly-haired boy.

            "You know, your still meeting my sister today." Doumyouji reminded me. My face dropped a little. Well I guess I could handle that. Maybe his sister wasn't too bad…

            "Fine." I made a face. "But those things still look like you."

_________

            Doumyouji was critically studying me to see if there was anything else he deemed that he needed to fix. He made me paint my nails and do my hair up very nicely. I almost told him to drop dead but refrained from it. After all he had been pleasant almost all day.

            "I think your good to go." Doumyouji nodded finally.

            "Gee, are you sure?" I asked sarcastically. We drove to house F6. I argued that we could have just as easily walked there but Doumyouji didn't seem to believe in the power of walking.

            We knocked on the door still bantering about how we could have walked. The door opened up. It was Asai. Great, just who I wanted to see.

            "Oh Doumyouji! What are you doing here?" Asai batted her eyelashes at him.

            "I'm visiting Tsubaki. She's home right?" Doumyouji inquired.

            "Yes she is, I'll take you to her." Asai looked a little disappointed. Doumyouji kept a firm grip on me, just in case I were too fade away and he would be stuck without any protection against Asai. Doumyouji's arm was around my waist and I was trying not to hit him for his weird presumption. He could have just held onto my arm or something! We were lead to a big sitting room. There was a grand piano in one corner of the room. A girl with short sandy-colored hair was playing it beautifully.

            I gasped as my eyes fell on the only girl who could compete with Shizuka for prettiness. She had dark hair that fell down to her shoulders and dark eyes, much like Doumyouji's.

            "Hello Tsubaki, I thought I'd bring over Tsukushi to come meet you." Doumyouji pushed me forward a little. I turned to shoot him a glare before turning back.

            "Your girlfriend?" Tsubaki cocked her head to one side, as elegantly as a princess.

            "Yes." Doumyouji nodded. Tsubaki surprised me by jumping up and grabbing my hand, shaking it wildly.

            "So pleased to meet you! I'm Doumyouji Tsubaki. You can call me Tsubaki though." Tsubaki introduced herself. I thought my arm might come off in the process.

            "I thought Doumyouji was your first name." I turned to look at Doumyouji.

            "Tsukasa! You dork." I looked to see that the piano player had turned around. "Imagine not telling your girlfriend your first name!"

            "Tsukasa?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

            "It's my first name. Everyone just calls me by my last." Doumyouji explained.

            "What was your name again?" Tsubaki asked as she sat down. Doumyouji and I sat in the seats across from her at a table.

            "Makino Tsukushi." I said, feeling a little overawed by Tsubaki.

            "Tsukushi? That's a great name!" The piano player grinned the friendliest grin imaginable at me.

            "Shigeru, just go back to playing the piano." Doumyouji told her. I looked at her in wonder. This is the supposed 'most annoying person in the world?' She seems okay to me.

            "I think I'll join in this little Doumyouji family visit." Shigeru seated herself next to Tsubaki. "I am Shigeru. I'm sure Tsukasa mentioned me."

            "Actually yes he did." I agreed with her.

            "Did he tell you that I was the most annoying person in the world also?" Shigeru raised her eyebrows and I blinked.

            "How did you know?" I asked her.

            "He tells everyone that. I don't say what I think of some of his friends." Tsubaki said pointedly. "Namely ones that grab me at certain parties…"

            "Akira didn't know who you were!" Doumyouji defended. I started to laugh. That sounded like something either Akira or Soujirou would do.

            "That's okay, every morning I get catcalled when I come down for breakfast." I informed the two other girls.

            "You tell Akira to not say anything or I'm coming over." Shigeru told me. "And I will too…"

            "Akira will probably wet himself." Tsubaki started to laugh. "It wouldn't surprise me!"

            "Hey did you hear about Shizuka? Apparently she's been spotted with a certain Hanazawa Rui…" Shigeru nudged Tsubaki. "When did we introduce those two? I thought they had forgotten about each other." My heart sank in my chest. These two had gotten them together? They were the ones responsible? I couldn't really hold it against them; they didn't know me or anything. They had just done it because it seemed like a good idea.

            "No wonder she's been so love-struck these days! I had to ask her five times if she had an extra floss." Tsubaki remarked.

            "Yeah but that stupid Thomas guy is all in love with her. She keeps having to throw him out." Shigeru muttered. "Oh well. So Tsukushi, I don't remember seeing you before."

            "Oh?" I snapped out of my sad daze when I realized the subject had been changed. "I just transferred."

            "Really? I guess Tsukasa finally got over his fear of women." Shigeru commented. "Only known him a few days? He's getting to be quite the charmer than I presume."

            "Um actually, I wouldn't say I found him charming at first." I said hesitantly. "I mean he was yelling about me being in his parking space the first time we met."

            "Oh god! Do you remember when we accidentally parked in his space?" Shigeru asked, turning towards Tsubaki.

            "Who says it was an accident?" Tsubaki replied slyly. I had to admit, I liked the two girls a lot. Shigeru and Tsubaki were intelligent and cool. Not to mention they were funny. They also seemed to hold a no-nonsense attitude towards Doumyouji, who currently was glowering in his seat.

            "Well we can't stay very long." Doumyouji cleared his throat. Shigeru and Tsubaki turned towards me.

            "You can't?" Shigeru asked me. I turned to Doumyouji who was making a face at me.

            "Er, I guess not." I smiled. "I hope I can come back and visit."

            "Of course! We'd love to have you! Stop by anytime." Tsubaki smiled at me. Shigeru was still grinning.

            "Keep Tsukasa in line!" Shigeru called after me. "You know, he has sensitive ears…" I froze, my face going about as red as a tomato. Doumyouji's face looked as though we probably had the exact same expressions on our faces. We walked out the door, running straight into Sakurako.

            "Yikes!" She cried as she dropped a tray that had a teapot and several tea cups on it. The pot smashing and delivered tea all over the place.

            "Oh Sakurako! I'm so sorry!" I apologized. "I wasn't even paying attention." I helped her up. There was tea on her shirt where it had splashed.

            "I-It's okay." Sakurako tried to brush herself off. "I'll have to clean this tea up."

            "Let me help." I offered. Doumyouji tugged on my arm.

            "We should be going." He told me. I put my hands on my hips indignantly.

            "We just ran straight into Sakurako, I think we can help her clean up this mess." I told him, my face glaring defiance. He hesitated slightly. Yuuki came running down the hall.

            "Ah, I heard something break. Here I brought a towel Sakurako." Yuuki was already kneeling down. "Hey Tsukushi, next time don't go around running into people." Yuuki smiled at me to show she was just kidding around.

            "If you guys need to go you can. We've got it under control." Sakurako was picking up pieces of the broken teapot.

            "Yeah we do…" Doumyouji told them. "Sorry about that teapot."

            "Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" I asked them. "I could help."

            "No, no." Yuuki was patiently mopping up tea. "Go ahead."

            "Well, I'm sorry about the whole thing, really I am. I'll see you guys." I waved to them before following an impatient Doumyouji out of the house. "We weren't even going anywhere, you were just too lazy to help!" I snapped at him, walking right past the car. I could walk the two houses over that it was. Doumyouji was such a baby sometimes.

            "I don't see you doing anything!" Doumyouji retorted, following me.

            "Well, I offered to help." I told him blandly.

            "Please come back and get in the car? Everyone in that house is going to think we had a fight and then they'll be all over me again…" Doumyouji trailed off a little. I whirled around angrily.

            "Good, you should get the worshipping girlfriend that you obviously want! I'm going home!" I was about to turn when Doumyouji grabbed my shoulders.

            "I don't want a girlfriend that worships me!" Doumyouji insisted. I had to admit, I was a little struck by this. After all the times Doumyouji had bragged to me about people who would love to be where I was and all that, he was saying that he wouldn't want someone like that? I was surprised to find that my heart as pounding loudly. What the hell is up with my heart?

            "D-Doumyouji…" I trailed off, not sure what to say. We were standing pretty close and his hands were holding my shoulders.

            "Kiss her!" I heard Shigeru yell from a window. I looked up to see a grin that would have put the Chesire cat to shame. Her and Tsubaki were both watching with eager looks. I realized that they both expected to see us kiss. But I couldn't actually kiss Doumyouji.

            "Um, Tsukushi?" Doumyouji was barely moving his mouth. "Don't kill me." That was all I heard before he pushed his lips up against mine. I was temporarily stunned. I was going to kill him…I heard wild cheering from Shigeru and Tsubaki. I suddenly realized that this was my first kiss ever from a guy. I had wanted the guy to be Rui and now Doumyouji was just taking my first kiss? I was definitely going to kill him.

            Doumyouji broke away. I was still standing there. Trying to gather my mind up. Shigeru and Tsubaki were laughing and I realized that it probably looked like I was swept away by the kiss. I pursed my lips and strode past Doumyouji, getting in the convertible. He sat in the driver side, turning on the engine before driving the thirty feet to our house. As we pulled up, I turned to him.

            "I'm going to kill you." I announced.

            "You know it would have looked awfully suspicious if I hadn't done it! It's not that big of a deal, right?" Doumyouji asked me.

            "You wouldn't understand." I crossed my arms stubbornly.

            "It was your first kiss wasn't it?" Doumyouji inquired, already knowing the answer from the look on my face. He started to laugh.

            "What's so funny?" I asked him crossly.

            "Well…" He trailed off.

            "Well what?" I questioned, losing the small ounce of patience left in me.

            "You really want to know?" He got out of the car and I followed him.

            "Are you going to tell me or not?" I asked as we got up to the front door. He opened it up.

            "It was my first kiss too." Doumyouji suddenly disappeared into the house before I could say anything. That sneaky little bastard! I would kill him! He kissed me and then made fun of me when he found out it was my first kiss! I should have shoved him away or made some joke to Shigeru and Tsubaki so we didn't kiss. We could have avoided it, he just wanted to embarrass me! I walked into the house, slamming the door. At that moment, I was ready to snap at anything.

_________

            Feh! Chapter finished! Sushi awaits folks! (Invest in your dad being an amazing chef and good at making sushi, for then it is cheaper and easier to get to.) I like this chapter. It's just funny. Just remember, now I have you in the palm of my hand! I shall lull you into quite the slumber before your rude awakening! OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO! Sorry. So anyways, before I went berserk, I think I was talking about sushi. Well, it's good.

Side Note: There really is such a thing as a doumyouji. I saw them make them on Iron Chef. One day I will eat nothing but doumyoujis and drink Henry Reinhard's Root Beer. I must have my expensive micro-brews! As I'm sure Teresa could tell you…

Favorite Line From This Chapter: "Kiss her!" (Words of wisdom often needed in the Hana Yori Dango universe in my opinion…)