Title: Flower Garden (A Hana Yori Dango AU)
Author: Yih
Author Note: Thank you so much for your support! Let me know what relationship you'd like to see that I'm hinting or even those that I'm not. Keep reviewing though please!
4: Made Engagements (November 21, 2002 to November 23, 2002)
Everything at Eitoku had finally toned down since it was becoming a pretty common sight to see the famous model Shizuka come to eat lunch with the F4 and Tsukushi everyday. But still even after a week, there would still be some students buzzing around them, which tended at best to get Tsukasa to shout at them to leave them alone. Though, it had decidedly lessened.
"Finally!" Tsukasa exclaimed. "Where have you two been?" he asked Rui and Tsukushi, both of whom had just arrived for lunch. Usually, Rui didn't eat lunch very often with them in the cafeteria and sometimes Tsukushi would go eat with them, but since Shizuka was here--- they came to the cafeteria everyday now--- which Tsukasa was definitely enjoying.
"Sorry, I got a call from my mother," explained Tsukushi.
"I'm sorry, my father called me," Rui also explained.
Both Akira and Shizuka raised a concerned eyebrow, while Soujirou remarked dryly, "Tsukasa was getting so worried that you two were doing something you two shouldn't be doing somewhere else."
Tsukasa blushed, but he didn't bother denying it which caused everyone to laugh except Rui, but then again that didn't surprise anyone since Rui didn't show much expression anyways. "So how's everyone doing?" Tsukushi greeted pleasantly, trying to smooth everything over so Soujirou and Tsukasa didn't get into one of their silly arguments.
"Good," Tsukasa responded, "better if everyone can come over to my beach house tonight."
"Tonight?" Akira queried. "Why tonight?"
"Well," Tsukasa explained, "it's Friday so we can stay the entire weekend over at the place, and it's really nice this time of year. It'll be like old times when we use to stay over at each other's houses on the weekends. How does it sound? The whole gang hasn't been together in so long..."
All of them were looking at Tsukasa with amazement, which caused him to shout out, "What are you guys looking at me like that for?!" They nodded, it was Tsukasa alright, for a moment they had thought something had overcome him since he'd actually had a good idea for once.
"I'm game," Soujirou responded.
"That sounds like fun," Shizuka murmured, which caused Akira to nod that he'd go too.
Tsukasa looked at Rui and Tsukushi, both of whom had said nothing. "What about you two?"
"I can't," Tsukushi began.
"Neither can I," Rui continued.
"I have a meeting with my parents," both said simultaneously, which caused the others to look at them strangely. Tsukushi looked at Rui; he looked at her. "I can meet up with you later tonight, and I guess Rui will too?" she questioned.
"My meeting will probably take longer," Rui answered calmly. "But I will be there."
~
"Tsukushi, what have I told you about dressing nicer when we have a dinner engagement?" her mother said sharply. "Oh, for how long and how hard I've tried to groom you into the perfectly respectable society lady like Shizuka, I cannot get you even to her level. What a tragedy! What a failure of a mother I've been!"
"You picked this outfit for me when you bought it," Tsukushi reminded.
Her mother nodded. "But it was only meant for an afternoon outfit. For a dinner engagement, you should at least be wearing a skirt, preferably an elegant gown!"
Tsukushi sighed. Her mother got a little out of hand when it came to fashion. She did admit that her mother certainly knew how to dress, but sometimes her mother had the tendency to overdress for an affair. "Okay, I'll dress nicer next time."
"Hmph," her mother responded, "walk faster Tsukushi, or else we'll be later than we already are!"
"Yes mother," Tsukushi replied, "I'm walking as fast as I can in these outrageous heels that you chose for me! If you wanted me to walk faster, you should have chosen more sensible shoes for me to wear!"
"Tsk, tsk," her mother remarked, "if you had practiced with those high heels that I gave you when you were younger you'd have no problem walking around now as fast as you needed to. Why is it I that gets stuck with such an difficult daughter? It's a tragedy, truly a tragedy!"
~
"You're late Rui," his father stated severely. "It's a good thing that our guests haven't arrived yet or else this tardiness would have been unacceptable!"
"Yes father," he responded softly. "I understand."
"What your wearing is also entirely unacceptable! Whenever I call you to have a meeting in the evening, that calls for formal wear, not what you wear to school!" his father reminded him sharply. "If you had arrived on time, if you had arrived early, then you would have had the opportunity to change! So that at least you would look respectable, as suits the heir to the Hanazawa Corporation!"
"Yes father," Rui replied. "I'm sorry that I didn't arrive earlier. I didn't know that this meeting was anything more than a casual business affair."
"You should never assume," his father reminded him sternly. "Ask if you don't know. Haven't I told you that since you were born to never be ignorant about things? That will get you killed in the business world if you don't know what you're doing! You'll never know who you'll offend and how it will hurt your interests, so you should always come prepared with as much information as you'll need!"
Rui nodded. He didn't have to answer his father this time because his father was turning his attentions over to the door where the guests were arriving. Slowly, he turned his head toward the direction that his father was looking. When the guests made their way in, Rui's eyes widened immensely. He wondered what Tsukushi was doing here with her mother.
When Tsukushi entered and saw Rui and his father, she stood paralyzed for a few moments before she continue walking, trying to look like nothing was wrong. She whispered to her mother, "Why is Hanazawa Rui here?"
Her mother didn't answer her, instead she went up to Rui's father and greeted in a warm, infectious voice, "Oh, my daughter and I are so sorry that we are late. But you know how it is with the traffic nowadays. The streets are just so congested at this time of night. We really do apologize, but we are here now. Your wife couldn't come?"
His father shook his head. "No, she has an important meeting for her own business in Australia right now. What about your husband?"
Her mother giggle like a young girl. "My husband is busy in Hong Kong trying to start another branch of our business there, but you know how hard it is since Hong Kong has become part of China now. It wasn't as easy nor is it such a good place. But my husband is so stubborn. He insists we must have a foothold there."
"Quite understandable," his father responded. "Awww, this must be the lovely Makino Tsukushi that I've heard so much about from my wife. I'm Hanazawa Rui's father, it's nice to meet you, Tsukushi." He bowed to her and she immediately bowed lower than he did to show her reverence to him as an older person.
"It's very nice to meet you, too, sir," she replied immediately. "Good evening, Rui," she greeted with a warm smile, her face really lit up when she smiled.
His father stared at her while she interacted with Rui, thinking that his wife had picked a very common-looking girl for Rui. But when she smiled, he vaguely remembered a cute little girl that was always around the house with Rui and Shizuka when they were little. He'd never met her, but he had seen her around. Though, he had to admit, she really was quite pretty when she smiled, but nothing compared to Shizuka of course. "Well," he remarked to her mother, "we might as well tell them the reason that we arranged this meeting."
Her mother agreed. "Shall I tell them or would you like the honor?" He gestured for her to go ahead. "The reason that we wanted this meeting is..." her mother paused dramatically, "is to tell you of your arranged marriage to each other! Isn't that terribly exciting?"
Both Rui and Tsukushi stare at their parents in absolute shock because both of them were thinking that this was a business meeting, not an arranged engagement, since both of them considered themselves far too young to be thinking about marriage. "Well," her mother continued, "when your mother," she said to Rui, "and I saw how well you and Tsukushi got along, we decided that our arrangement would work very well. The two of you were engaged before you even met, didn't it turn out wonderfully?"
Backing up slowly away from Tsukushi and his father and her mother, Rui shook his head in disbelief. Thoughts flash in his head of how Tsukushi always kept him company when they were little children, how she was always willing to sit in silence with him, how she was always so understanding and patient with him, how she was always humoring him, and how unfailing kind she always was to him. It was all because of this arranged marriage, that was why she was so nice to him.
Tsukushi wasn't even aware that Rui was backing up because she was still staring dumbstruck at both her mother and his father. She didn't even turn back until his father asked sternly, "Where are you going, Rui?"
Not answering his father, Rui left the room quickly. Tsukushi turned around and saw Rui's disappearing back. "Don't worry," she declared, "I'll get him."
His father nodded and Tsukushi ran out of the room after Rui. It took her a moment to decide which direction Rui had gone. She nearly missed it, but she recognized his silhouette and shouted, "Rui! Wait!"
Whirling around, Rui exclaimed sharply, sounding eerily like his father, "Did you befriend me when we were little because of that--- that arrangement?!"
Tsukushi's eyes widened with absolute shock at what Rui said. She shook her head vehemently as she ran up to him, grabbing his hand, which he jerked from her grasp. "No," she denied earnestly, "I was as surprised as you were. Didn't you see the look on my face when they told me? When I was little, I had no idea why I was transferred to that elementary school! I was so unhappy to be going there because I lost all my friends! But you were there, and you befriended me--- and you became my best friend!"
Slowly, her words penetrated into his mind and eventually, he calmed down enough to listen to what she had said. "Then you didn't befriend me because of the arrangement?" he asked once more.
She broke out into a smile. "No," she said honestly, reaching to hold both of his hands in hers, "I didn't. You don't know how much better you made me feel in elementary school when you befriended me, especially since Tsukasa was the ringleader of the school even way back then. I can tell you I honestly didn't know Rui, until tonight."
He finally nodded and stated, "I don't that they didn't even tell us that they had arranged this."
She agreed wholeheartedly. "I don't like it either."
~
It was quite dark when F3 and Shizuka reached Tsukasa's beach house after partying at a popular dance club. Tsukasa was berating the others, since he was worried that they wouldn't reach the beach house before Rui and Tsukushi. "What if they arrive there before us?" he asked anxiously. "That would be a bad affect!"
"Effect," Akira corrected, "but what you're saying doesn't even make sense anyways. At least if Tsukushi was here, you'd at least be more careful with what you say."
"You do tend to mess up a lot less when she's around," remarked Soujirou. "It must be because she always makes you red when she corrects you nicely and makes you say ten correct sentences to try to make you remember not to use the word incorrectly."
"Just hurry up!" Tsukasa yelled in a flustered voice. "We haven't even reached the front door yet!"
Shizuka smiled and whispered to Akira, "He really hasn't changed at all. He's still the same old Tsukasa."
Akira nodded. "He hasn't really changed," he agreed. But in his mind, he slightly disagreed with her, since Tsukasa had changed a bit. Of course, Tsukasa had changed a little--- Shizuka had been gone for over a year. How could all of them not changed?
~
"So are you giving up all other women now that Shizuka's back?" Soujirou teased.
Akira quickly turned his face toward Soujirou. "What other women?" he retorted. "Compared to you I don't have any! You should be the one to talk, one girl doesn't even last a week, much less 5 days."
Soujirou snorted. "You and your in-fat...ua..." he trailed off when he saw a dangerous glint in Akira's eyes. He coughed instead and turned to Shizuka. "So how was France?"
Shizuka turned her attentions to Akira instead. "You don't have a girlfriend yet, Akira? How come? Do you want me to introduce you to one of my older model friends?" She smiled understandingly. "I know how you like older women."
Interrupting quickly knowing that Akira was at the edge of his temper, Soujirou remarked, "You know, I'd love to meet your model friends. I don't prefer much older women, but I don't mind if they're models."
Shizuka was still looking at Akira, studying him when Tsukasa shouted from outside where he'd been waiting for Rui and Tsukushi, "What took you two so long?"
Inside the beach house, Shizuka, Akira, and Soujirou knew that meant the two latecomers had finally arrived, so they rushed out. In the back of each of their minds, they had been wondering what had taken Rui and Tsukushi so long. It was nearly midnight, and they had arrived at the Doumyouji beach house at 9, since Tsukasa had been afraid that Rui and Tsukushi would arrive before they would.
"There was traffic," Tsukushi explained, since Rui hung behind her--- staring out at the dark sky.
"What's your reason, Rui?" Tsukasa asked. He was wondering why both Tsukushi and Rui had arrived at the same tim, since from what they'd told him, it had seemed to him that they had gone to separate meeting affairs.
Rui turned to Tsukasa and responded softly, "The same reason."
"Did the meeting go well?" Shizuka finally asked to break the awkward silence as Tsukasa stared at Rui with a determined look on his face, like he was trying to force Rui to say something else that he had suspicions about.
Tsukushi glanced at Rui and Rui glanced back at Tsukushi, their shared look caused the rest to look at them wonderingly. "Can you excuse us?" Tsukushi asked and Shizuka of course nodded her consent even though it wasn't her house because she was the eldest.
"Of course," Shizuka responded.
"Sorry," Tsukushi apologized, "Rui and I really need to talk about something privately."
The rest of them watched the two of them disappear into the house before Soujirou remarked everyone's sentiments, "What was that about?"
"I don't know," Akira responded.
"I want to know!" Tsukasa exclaimed. "Why did they arrive both together? Weren't they suppose to be at separate meetings? And why do they need to talk privately?"
"Calm down, Tsukasa!" Soujirou and Akira retorted simultaneously, causing Shizuka to chuckle.
Both Soujirou and Akira turned to the softly chuckling Shizuka with a common thoughtfulness They shared a look with each other and nodded. "Shizuka, why don't you go find out what's going on?" Soujirou suggested. "You're good friends with both of them, so you could find out what's up and then relate it to us."
Tsukasa immediately seized upon the idea. "Yes, Shizuka! You must go and find out!"
Seeing that F3 were all for it, Shizuka raised her hands up in defeat and said, "I guess, I have to go."
~
"How do you feel about it?" she asked.
He stared out the window and shrugged. "I don't know. I never thought it'd be you."
She nodded. She understood what he meant. "I never thought it'd be someone that I knew."
"Yes," he responded. "I always thought it'd be someone I didn't know and I could just tell my father no."
She reached to touch his face and turn it towards her own. "Would you really be able to tell your father no?"
He shrugged and turned away again. "I'm not weak."
"You aren't. You are so much stronger than you know," she murmured.
He shrugged again. "How do you feel about it?"
"Odd," she replied. "I always thought it'd be someone that I'd never met before and I could just flat out reect the person to my mother and my father. But since it's you... it's not so easy."
He dropped his gaze down to hers. "Not so easy?"
She was about to respond to him when a soft knock came onto the door. "Who is it?" she called.
"Shizuka."
"Come in," Tsukushi answered. Shizuka entered into the room and smiled at both of them. Looking apologetic, Tsukushi asked, "Have we been in here too long?"
"No, of course not," Shizuka replied quickly. "I was just wondering if there's something up between the two of you. Is there something that you want to tell me?" Rui shook his head in 'no', but Tsukushi shook hers in 'yes'. "Yes or no?" Shizuka inquired.
"We should tell her," Tsukushi told Rui. "The rest are going to have to know eventually."
"It's up to you."
She smiled and took Shizuka's hands. "The meeting with my mother and his father was actually a meeting between our parents and ourselves. They had something to tell us."
"Is something wrong?" Shizuka asked worriedly.
Tsukushi shook her head. "No," she denied, "there's nothing wrong. It's just our parents wanted to tell us of our arranged marriage to each other."
"Arranged marriage?!" Shizuka exclaimed in absolute shock.
Author: Yih
Author Note: Thank you so much for your support! Let me know what relationship you'd like to see that I'm hinting or even those that I'm not. Keep reviewing though please!
4: Made Engagements (November 21, 2002 to November 23, 2002)
Everything at Eitoku had finally toned down since it was becoming a pretty common sight to see the famous model Shizuka come to eat lunch with the F4 and Tsukushi everyday. But still even after a week, there would still be some students buzzing around them, which tended at best to get Tsukasa to shout at them to leave them alone. Though, it had decidedly lessened.
"Finally!" Tsukasa exclaimed. "Where have you two been?" he asked Rui and Tsukushi, both of whom had just arrived for lunch. Usually, Rui didn't eat lunch very often with them in the cafeteria and sometimes Tsukushi would go eat with them, but since Shizuka was here--- they came to the cafeteria everyday now--- which Tsukasa was definitely enjoying.
"Sorry, I got a call from my mother," explained Tsukushi.
"I'm sorry, my father called me," Rui also explained.
Both Akira and Shizuka raised a concerned eyebrow, while Soujirou remarked dryly, "Tsukasa was getting so worried that you two were doing something you two shouldn't be doing somewhere else."
Tsukasa blushed, but he didn't bother denying it which caused everyone to laugh except Rui, but then again that didn't surprise anyone since Rui didn't show much expression anyways. "So how's everyone doing?" Tsukushi greeted pleasantly, trying to smooth everything over so Soujirou and Tsukasa didn't get into one of their silly arguments.
"Good," Tsukasa responded, "better if everyone can come over to my beach house tonight."
"Tonight?" Akira queried. "Why tonight?"
"Well," Tsukasa explained, "it's Friday so we can stay the entire weekend over at the place, and it's really nice this time of year. It'll be like old times when we use to stay over at each other's houses on the weekends. How does it sound? The whole gang hasn't been together in so long..."
All of them were looking at Tsukasa with amazement, which caused him to shout out, "What are you guys looking at me like that for?!" They nodded, it was Tsukasa alright, for a moment they had thought something had overcome him since he'd actually had a good idea for once.
"I'm game," Soujirou responded.
"That sounds like fun," Shizuka murmured, which caused Akira to nod that he'd go too.
Tsukasa looked at Rui and Tsukushi, both of whom had said nothing. "What about you two?"
"I can't," Tsukushi began.
"Neither can I," Rui continued.
"I have a meeting with my parents," both said simultaneously, which caused the others to look at them strangely. Tsukushi looked at Rui; he looked at her. "I can meet up with you later tonight, and I guess Rui will too?" she questioned.
"My meeting will probably take longer," Rui answered calmly. "But I will be there."
~
"Tsukushi, what have I told you about dressing nicer when we have a dinner engagement?" her mother said sharply. "Oh, for how long and how hard I've tried to groom you into the perfectly respectable society lady like Shizuka, I cannot get you even to her level. What a tragedy! What a failure of a mother I've been!"
"You picked this outfit for me when you bought it," Tsukushi reminded.
Her mother nodded. "But it was only meant for an afternoon outfit. For a dinner engagement, you should at least be wearing a skirt, preferably an elegant gown!"
Tsukushi sighed. Her mother got a little out of hand when it came to fashion. She did admit that her mother certainly knew how to dress, but sometimes her mother had the tendency to overdress for an affair. "Okay, I'll dress nicer next time."
"Hmph," her mother responded, "walk faster Tsukushi, or else we'll be later than we already are!"
"Yes mother," Tsukushi replied, "I'm walking as fast as I can in these outrageous heels that you chose for me! If you wanted me to walk faster, you should have chosen more sensible shoes for me to wear!"
"Tsk, tsk," her mother remarked, "if you had practiced with those high heels that I gave you when you were younger you'd have no problem walking around now as fast as you needed to. Why is it I that gets stuck with such an difficult daughter? It's a tragedy, truly a tragedy!"
~
"You're late Rui," his father stated severely. "It's a good thing that our guests haven't arrived yet or else this tardiness would have been unacceptable!"
"Yes father," he responded softly. "I understand."
"What your wearing is also entirely unacceptable! Whenever I call you to have a meeting in the evening, that calls for formal wear, not what you wear to school!" his father reminded him sharply. "If you had arrived on time, if you had arrived early, then you would have had the opportunity to change! So that at least you would look respectable, as suits the heir to the Hanazawa Corporation!"
"Yes father," Rui replied. "I'm sorry that I didn't arrive earlier. I didn't know that this meeting was anything more than a casual business affair."
"You should never assume," his father reminded him sternly. "Ask if you don't know. Haven't I told you that since you were born to never be ignorant about things? That will get you killed in the business world if you don't know what you're doing! You'll never know who you'll offend and how it will hurt your interests, so you should always come prepared with as much information as you'll need!"
Rui nodded. He didn't have to answer his father this time because his father was turning his attentions over to the door where the guests were arriving. Slowly, he turned his head toward the direction that his father was looking. When the guests made their way in, Rui's eyes widened immensely. He wondered what Tsukushi was doing here with her mother.
When Tsukushi entered and saw Rui and his father, she stood paralyzed for a few moments before she continue walking, trying to look like nothing was wrong. She whispered to her mother, "Why is Hanazawa Rui here?"
Her mother didn't answer her, instead she went up to Rui's father and greeted in a warm, infectious voice, "Oh, my daughter and I are so sorry that we are late. But you know how it is with the traffic nowadays. The streets are just so congested at this time of night. We really do apologize, but we are here now. Your wife couldn't come?"
His father shook his head. "No, she has an important meeting for her own business in Australia right now. What about your husband?"
Her mother giggle like a young girl. "My husband is busy in Hong Kong trying to start another branch of our business there, but you know how hard it is since Hong Kong has become part of China now. It wasn't as easy nor is it such a good place. But my husband is so stubborn. He insists we must have a foothold there."
"Quite understandable," his father responded. "Awww, this must be the lovely Makino Tsukushi that I've heard so much about from my wife. I'm Hanazawa Rui's father, it's nice to meet you, Tsukushi." He bowed to her and she immediately bowed lower than he did to show her reverence to him as an older person.
"It's very nice to meet you, too, sir," she replied immediately. "Good evening, Rui," she greeted with a warm smile, her face really lit up when she smiled.
His father stared at her while she interacted with Rui, thinking that his wife had picked a very common-looking girl for Rui. But when she smiled, he vaguely remembered a cute little girl that was always around the house with Rui and Shizuka when they were little. He'd never met her, but he had seen her around. Though, he had to admit, she really was quite pretty when she smiled, but nothing compared to Shizuka of course. "Well," he remarked to her mother, "we might as well tell them the reason that we arranged this meeting."
Her mother agreed. "Shall I tell them or would you like the honor?" He gestured for her to go ahead. "The reason that we wanted this meeting is..." her mother paused dramatically, "is to tell you of your arranged marriage to each other! Isn't that terribly exciting?"
Both Rui and Tsukushi stare at their parents in absolute shock because both of them were thinking that this was a business meeting, not an arranged engagement, since both of them considered themselves far too young to be thinking about marriage. "Well," her mother continued, "when your mother," she said to Rui, "and I saw how well you and Tsukushi got along, we decided that our arrangement would work very well. The two of you were engaged before you even met, didn't it turn out wonderfully?"
Backing up slowly away from Tsukushi and his father and her mother, Rui shook his head in disbelief. Thoughts flash in his head of how Tsukushi always kept him company when they were little children, how she was always willing to sit in silence with him, how she was always so understanding and patient with him, how she was always humoring him, and how unfailing kind she always was to him. It was all because of this arranged marriage, that was why she was so nice to him.
Tsukushi wasn't even aware that Rui was backing up because she was still staring dumbstruck at both her mother and his father. She didn't even turn back until his father asked sternly, "Where are you going, Rui?"
Not answering his father, Rui left the room quickly. Tsukushi turned around and saw Rui's disappearing back. "Don't worry," she declared, "I'll get him."
His father nodded and Tsukushi ran out of the room after Rui. It took her a moment to decide which direction Rui had gone. She nearly missed it, but she recognized his silhouette and shouted, "Rui! Wait!"
Whirling around, Rui exclaimed sharply, sounding eerily like his father, "Did you befriend me when we were little because of that--- that arrangement?!"
Tsukushi's eyes widened with absolute shock at what Rui said. She shook her head vehemently as she ran up to him, grabbing his hand, which he jerked from her grasp. "No," she denied earnestly, "I was as surprised as you were. Didn't you see the look on my face when they told me? When I was little, I had no idea why I was transferred to that elementary school! I was so unhappy to be going there because I lost all my friends! But you were there, and you befriended me--- and you became my best friend!"
Slowly, her words penetrated into his mind and eventually, he calmed down enough to listen to what she had said. "Then you didn't befriend me because of the arrangement?" he asked once more.
She broke out into a smile. "No," she said honestly, reaching to hold both of his hands in hers, "I didn't. You don't know how much better you made me feel in elementary school when you befriended me, especially since Tsukasa was the ringleader of the school even way back then. I can tell you I honestly didn't know Rui, until tonight."
He finally nodded and stated, "I don't that they didn't even tell us that they had arranged this."
She agreed wholeheartedly. "I don't like it either."
~
It was quite dark when F3 and Shizuka reached Tsukasa's beach house after partying at a popular dance club. Tsukasa was berating the others, since he was worried that they wouldn't reach the beach house before Rui and Tsukushi. "What if they arrive there before us?" he asked anxiously. "That would be a bad affect!"
"Effect," Akira corrected, "but what you're saying doesn't even make sense anyways. At least if Tsukushi was here, you'd at least be more careful with what you say."
"You do tend to mess up a lot less when she's around," remarked Soujirou. "It must be because she always makes you red when she corrects you nicely and makes you say ten correct sentences to try to make you remember not to use the word incorrectly."
"Just hurry up!" Tsukasa yelled in a flustered voice. "We haven't even reached the front door yet!"
Shizuka smiled and whispered to Akira, "He really hasn't changed at all. He's still the same old Tsukasa."
Akira nodded. "He hasn't really changed," he agreed. But in his mind, he slightly disagreed with her, since Tsukasa had changed a bit. Of course, Tsukasa had changed a little--- Shizuka had been gone for over a year. How could all of them not changed?
~
"So are you giving up all other women now that Shizuka's back?" Soujirou teased.
Akira quickly turned his face toward Soujirou. "What other women?" he retorted. "Compared to you I don't have any! You should be the one to talk, one girl doesn't even last a week, much less 5 days."
Soujirou snorted. "You and your in-fat...ua..." he trailed off when he saw a dangerous glint in Akira's eyes. He coughed instead and turned to Shizuka. "So how was France?"
Shizuka turned her attentions to Akira instead. "You don't have a girlfriend yet, Akira? How come? Do you want me to introduce you to one of my older model friends?" She smiled understandingly. "I know how you like older women."
Interrupting quickly knowing that Akira was at the edge of his temper, Soujirou remarked, "You know, I'd love to meet your model friends. I don't prefer much older women, but I don't mind if they're models."
Shizuka was still looking at Akira, studying him when Tsukasa shouted from outside where he'd been waiting for Rui and Tsukushi, "What took you two so long?"
Inside the beach house, Shizuka, Akira, and Soujirou knew that meant the two latecomers had finally arrived, so they rushed out. In the back of each of their minds, they had been wondering what had taken Rui and Tsukushi so long. It was nearly midnight, and they had arrived at the Doumyouji beach house at 9, since Tsukasa had been afraid that Rui and Tsukushi would arrive before they would.
"There was traffic," Tsukushi explained, since Rui hung behind her--- staring out at the dark sky.
"What's your reason, Rui?" Tsukasa asked. He was wondering why both Tsukushi and Rui had arrived at the same tim, since from what they'd told him, it had seemed to him that they had gone to separate meeting affairs.
Rui turned to Tsukasa and responded softly, "The same reason."
"Did the meeting go well?" Shizuka finally asked to break the awkward silence as Tsukasa stared at Rui with a determined look on his face, like he was trying to force Rui to say something else that he had suspicions about.
Tsukushi glanced at Rui and Rui glanced back at Tsukushi, their shared look caused the rest to look at them wonderingly. "Can you excuse us?" Tsukushi asked and Shizuka of course nodded her consent even though it wasn't her house because she was the eldest.
"Of course," Shizuka responded.
"Sorry," Tsukushi apologized, "Rui and I really need to talk about something privately."
The rest of them watched the two of them disappear into the house before Soujirou remarked everyone's sentiments, "What was that about?"
"I don't know," Akira responded.
"I want to know!" Tsukasa exclaimed. "Why did they arrive both together? Weren't they suppose to be at separate meetings? And why do they need to talk privately?"
"Calm down, Tsukasa!" Soujirou and Akira retorted simultaneously, causing Shizuka to chuckle.
Both Soujirou and Akira turned to the softly chuckling Shizuka with a common thoughtfulness They shared a look with each other and nodded. "Shizuka, why don't you go find out what's going on?" Soujirou suggested. "You're good friends with both of them, so you could find out what's up and then relate it to us."
Tsukasa immediately seized upon the idea. "Yes, Shizuka! You must go and find out!"
Seeing that F3 were all for it, Shizuka raised her hands up in defeat and said, "I guess, I have to go."
~
"How do you feel about it?" she asked.
He stared out the window and shrugged. "I don't know. I never thought it'd be you."
She nodded. She understood what he meant. "I never thought it'd be someone that I knew."
"Yes," he responded. "I always thought it'd be someone I didn't know and I could just tell my father no."
She reached to touch his face and turn it towards her own. "Would you really be able to tell your father no?"
He shrugged and turned away again. "I'm not weak."
"You aren't. You are so much stronger than you know," she murmured.
He shrugged again. "How do you feel about it?"
"Odd," she replied. "I always thought it'd be someone that I'd never met before and I could just flat out reect the person to my mother and my father. But since it's you... it's not so easy."
He dropped his gaze down to hers. "Not so easy?"
She was about to respond to him when a soft knock came onto the door. "Who is it?" she called.
"Shizuka."
"Come in," Tsukushi answered. Shizuka entered into the room and smiled at both of them. Looking apologetic, Tsukushi asked, "Have we been in here too long?"
"No, of course not," Shizuka replied quickly. "I was just wondering if there's something up between the two of you. Is there something that you want to tell me?" Rui shook his head in 'no', but Tsukushi shook hers in 'yes'. "Yes or no?" Shizuka inquired.
"We should tell her," Tsukushi told Rui. "The rest are going to have to know eventually."
"It's up to you."
She smiled and took Shizuka's hands. "The meeting with my mother and his father was actually a meeting between our parents and ourselves. They had something to tell us."
"Is something wrong?" Shizuka asked worriedly.
Tsukushi shook her head. "No," she denied, "there's nothing wrong. It's just our parents wanted to tell us of our arranged marriage to each other."
"Arranged marriage?!" Shizuka exclaimed in absolute shock.