Title: Flower Garden (A Hana Yori Dango AU)
Author: Yih
12: New Memories (January 6, 2003 to January 9, 2003)
It was amazingly clam so far. But as Tsubaki might have known, it wasn't going to last very long. When Shigeru turned her head around to introduce herself to Tsukasa and Rui, Tsukasa interrupted her in quite a rude manner, "Whatever, don't even bother, we're not interested." And he pointedly turned his face away from her, deliberately ignoring her. Even though he said he'd give it a chance, that didn't mean he had to start right away, did it?
Usually, Tsukushi would leap to the underdog's defense because no one else would. But she didn't and that surprised Tsukasa, giving him hope. Maybe it was because she was jealous that Shigeru was his fiancé. What was that phrase again? Jealous makes the heart grown fonder!
He grinned, but that was soon wiped off of his face because Shigeru's heavy purse came crashing down full force on his head. He winced and saw momentary stars before he was able to shake off the after affects of that momentous hit. When his hearing returned, he heard Tsukushi laughing. When his sight returned, he saw Rui smiling. Traitorous best friends!
Even worse was his older sister, Tsubaki and his fiancé, Shigeru, who were both bawling so hard that tears were falling from their eyes. He felt embarrassed and irritated all because of that Shigeru! He lowered his eyes and lifted his hand and covered Shigeru's still laughing mouth. If he thought it was going to stop her, it didn't work. Shigeru bit him and he yelped and let go. This time he lifted up his hand to hit her only to be stopped by Tsukushi.
"You can't hit a girl, Tsukasa," she reprimanded.
"But she hit me!" he sputtered his protest, earning him an additional smack from his own sister. "Tsubaki, why did you hit me?!"
"Because you deserved it!" she retorted her exclamation. "You were the one that decided to be rude first. If you don't apologize to Shigeru, I'm going to kick you out of the car!"
"Why should I apologize!?"
"I'm serious, Tsukasa!" To emphasize her words, she slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the emergency lane. "Apologize to her!"
With everyone looking expectantly at him, he gulped and chocked out his rather insincere apology, "Sorry, Shigeru."
She chuckled, knowing very well that he didn't mean a word of what he'd said. ""He doesn't mean what he says," she said bluntly, voicing out her previous thoughts. "But it's okay, I'll accept it. He'll just owe me one."
"Why you little..." his words were taken form his mouth when Tsubaki abruptly accelerated the car, causing Tsukasa, who was leaning forward to be thrown backwards. "Are you trying to kill us?!"
~
Akira, who was driving the much calmer atmospheric car was thinking that he wished that he knew what was going on in the other car when Tsubaki pulled over to the emergency lane suddenly. He was about to swerve the car he was driving over to see what was wrong when Shizuka stopped him by resting her hand on his arm. "Nothing's wrong. Rui just messaged me. Shigeru and Tsukasa are arguing and Tsukasa is losing badly."
"Awww," Soujirou responded, "what else can you expect? It's three girls vs. Tsukasa. That car is probably going to have a wreck before we get to the hot springs."
Sara smiled. "Once we get to the hot springs, you've got to make me your tea, okay?"
He glanced down at her and nodded. "Of course, I will. Green tea as always?"
"You remembered!" she exclaimed happily.
He chuckled. "You've never asked for anything that's different before. It's easy to remember!"
She looked up at him solemnly. "It's still been ears though, Jirou."
"That's true," he responded. "But I'm still the same. You're still the same, aren't you?" He could still remember memories from the far back in his childhood, the Sara at his side still resembled the girl in pigtails that he'd rushed home everyday to make tea with and play with.
Sara nodded. "Yes, I'm the same Sara as before."
"I've been meaning to ask you, how long are you staying here?" he questioned softly, the look in his eyes intensely concerned. He'd been thinking about this for a while, and her answer before had satisfied him then. But last night, he'd really been wondering again how long she was staying. He didn't want her to leave anytime soon.
The answer depended on him, but she didn't know how to tell him that without being extremely embarrassed. For the last few years, all she'd wanted was to see him again, and now she was here, she wondered exactly what she wanted out of him. What was the purpose to see him again? Still, it was good to see him again. He was her dearest childhood friend. "For a while," she answered, "that's all I know."
"You don't know?"
She shook her head. "I don't know." It depended on him.
~
Every time he wanted to say something to Tsukushi, he'd turn to her and almost open his mouth, but then he'd remember that it was hardly a private moment. So he'd stop and turn his face back to stare out of the window again, trying to lose his thoughts of the loud, ongoing argument between Tsukasa, Shigeru, and Tsubaki. No matter how hard he tried to tune them out, he wasn't successful.
In her own mind, Tsukushi also wanted to say something to Rui, but this was hardly the time nor the place. It wasn't private, it wasn't quite right. She snuck a sideways glance at him to catch him looking at her, so she quickly averted her gaze away from him. It plagued her mind, knowing he was staring at her, but it also relieved her. If he was looking at her, it meant he wasn't angry at her.
Both of them were ripped away form their thoughts when Tsukasa shouted, "Rui, Tsukushi, you two have to help me! It's not fait that it's two against one! Me!"
"I'm sure you can handle two girls," Tsukushi said in an amused voice. "I mean you are the great Doumyouji Tsukasa, are you not?"
"I am," he responded in his typically arrogant tone, causing both Tsubaki and Shigeu to snort at that statement of power. "But these two aren't two normal girls!"
Shigeru whirled around in her seat to glare at Tsukasa. "What do you mean by that?!"
"Exactly what I said!" he retorted in exclamation. "That you're strange, weird, entirely not normal!"
"Hey! You're not exactly great yourself, Doumyouji Tsukasa," Shigeru remarked in a mocking tone, which succeeded in making his face red. "I mean, look at yourself! You've got awful curly hair, a bad temper, a surly personality, an immature disposition, an intolerable---"
"SHUT UP!" he screamed, his face a dark, crimson red.
"You know," his sister added, "everything she said is true. You do have a horrible temper, a terrible personality, a childish---"
"You're not helping!" he shouted. "And I'm NOT that bad!"
"You are that bad!" Tsubaki and Shigeru exclaimed simultaneously, causing both of them to start laughing uncontrollably.
Tsukasa growled but there was nothing he could do to make them stop. "You two are impossible!"
That only made them laugh harder, which only caused his face to blotchy with the redness of his embarrassment. He finally gave up trying to quiet his sister and his fiancé. There was no way he was going to be able to make them stop their ruckus. So what was a guy to do? Instead, he leaned back to join Tsukushi and Rui in their companionable silence. That at least he could do without starting another riot.
~
Back in the much the more relaxed car, Akira finally had decided to ask Shizuka the big question that had been bugging him for quite a while. It was a good time to ask because Sara had fallen asleep on Soujirou's shoulder, and shortly after, his friend had followed the suit and accompanied her into slumber land. This was the only guaranteed private moment Akira could be sure of with Shizuka.
"I've been meaning to ask you," he began in his trying to be nonchalant voice, "will you go out with me?" For the past few years, he'd suppose that they'd already been considered a couple, especially by Tsukasa and Soujirou. But Tsukushi had pointed out to him that he'd assumed that Shizuka was his girlfriend, but he'd never really asked her out officially.
Shizuka had been trying to find out the full story from Rui what was going on in the other car, but Rui hadn't responded to her probing questions. She was getting a little frustrated with Rui and was thinking of what she'd have to message to him to get him to answer her when Akira had broken the silence with his inquiry. "What did you ask? I'm sorry I didn't hear what you were saying."
He took a deep breath before he repeated his question. "Will you go out with me?"
She blinked. "On a date?" she inquired back. She had no idea what he was asking her exactly. He knew if he wanted her to go somewhere with him, she would. He didn't have to ask her permission beforehand. however, if he was asking her to be his girlfriend, that was an entirely different matter altogether. She'd remembered what Rui had told her yesterday.
"No," he answered in a serious voice, "I'm asking you to e my girlfriend. You know--- a serious relationship."
She stared at him. "I--- I don't know what to say..."
"Give me a chance?" he pleaded. "During this trip, give me a chance?"
She nodded. "Why not?" she said lightly, but to get the cheery words out was harder than it sounded. It was well worth the effort when she saw the grin that came onto Akira's face. He was so good-looking when he smiled, she thought to herself.
"Thank you," he replied in an almost sheepish voice. He felt like an idiot after he'd said that to her, but he was so relieved that she'd answered him so quickly that it'd just popped out.
She continued to smile at him. "No problem, why wouldn't I give you a chance?" she teased him. Her cell phone then began to buzz, drawing her attention down to it. She clicked on a button that opened up the message and read the message from Rui. "I can't believe that he still hasn't told her yet!"
"Eh?" Akira said in confusion. "Who are you talking about? Rui?"
"Yes, Rui," she responded. "I forgot that you don't know yet. Well, Rui's determined to go after Tsukushi, but during the car ride he has yet to tell her that he doesn't want the engagement to be cancelled."
"I thought that they had already worked things out..."
"They hadn't," Shizuka responded. "It turns out that Tsukushi rejected Rui because of the insensitive comment that he said to her. It's actually a good thing for Rui that she did it. He needs to come out of his shell; he needs to fight for what he wants. And he sounded like he was going to move forward, but he still hasn't said anything..."
Akira nodded. "But that won't be easy to get Rui to do that. I'm not surprise that he hasn't said anything yet. I mean I can understand where he's coming from," he responded. "It's not private in that car, that's why I had to wait for Soujirou and Sara to fall asleep before I said anything to you. Also, you have to remember that Tsukasa is in that car."
Shizuka nodded, her annoyance at Rui fading away since his words made sense. "Rui's so indecisive and passive," she reflected aloud. "I'm afraid that he'll let the most precious thing to him slip from his fingers because he needs too much time to make up his mind to decide whether or not to act."
It was the same fear that Akira had, that Shizuka would slip through his grasp.
~
It'd taken almost three hours, but if there was anything about Rui that was definite, he was definitely patient. It'd taken time, but Tsukasa had fallen asleep on Tsukushi's shoulder. Rui was also pretty certain that Shigeru was asleep in the front passenger seat. It was his perfect opportunity. It might be his only opportunity to communicate with Tsukushi without a mass of people surrounding them.
He rested his hand over Tsukushi's, causing her to look at him with an inquiring eye. He turned her hand over so that his fingers rested on her palm. Moving his forefinger over her palm, he started writing in her palm what he wanted to say--- no what he needed to say to her. In a way this was better than speaking to her because he'd always found it easier to communicate by the hand than by the mouth.
"Tsukushi, I know that I've already apologized to you. I know that I've already told you that I like you. I know that you know me better than anyone else, so you know that it's not easy for me to say things like this. But I don't want the engagement to be cancelled," Rui wrote clearly into her palm.
As the words slowly formed into clear sentences what he was trying to say, she felt relieved that she wasn't the one that had to close the gap that she had caused because she'd basically rejected. She didn't really know what she was going to do to reserve what she'd said. She found Rui more steadfast in his quiet stubbornness than Tsukasa in his loud bullheadedness.
"I hope you will change your mind," he continued to write into her palm. He was getting anxious that she still hadn't made a move to make an answer back to him.
It took a minute, but she finally flipped his hand over and began writing. "I don't want the engagement to be cancelled either. I was overreacting because I was upset. I don't really want the engagement to be broken. I was upset and I acted with a clouded vision."
"I'm glad," he scribbled back into her palm, "that you feel that way. I was afraid that you'd reject me again."
She shook her head, though stunned how freely he was admitting all this to her. "It was a mistake. You know I'm prone to making mistakes and again you help to bail me out as always. I'd already made up my mind last night after talking to Tsubaki, but I didn't know how to approach you. I didn't know how you were going to react. No, that's not right, I was afraid that you wouldn't react at all."
He rested his head on her shoulder, causing both of her shoulders to be occupied. "Even if this doesn't work out as we hope, we'll always be friends, right?"
"Best friends." After that, she held his hand and he held her hand back. They continued to hold hands for several minutes, both of them staring at their entwined hands before Tsukushi closed her eyes. It wasn't long before he could tell that she'd fallen asleep because she instinctively slumped against him. So he lifted his head up from her shoulder and gently guided her head to rest upon his shoulder.
It was an excellent opportunity for him to study her pretty, cute face. No, she wasn't gorgeous like Shizuka, but she was very pretty. And she did have beautiful eyes and utterly kissable lips. Lips that he was tempted to kiss right now, but now was not the right time. Not with Tsubaki looking at them through her rearview mirror. He knew she'd been spying on them for quite a while. He didn't mind too terribly, but he wasn't a showy person by nature.
And he was too caught up with Tsukushi to really pay attention to Tsubaki. He was particularly caught up by the fact that since she was asleep, it gave him the chance to play with her cute, little hands. He was fascinated by how her hands could fits so easily within the palm of his own hand. It was so cute how short her fingers were and how ting her palm was. He didn't know how long he played with her hands when he heard a vague, faraway voice say, "I'm glad you two have worked things out."
It was obviously Tsubaki talking to him. "Mmm," he murmured back a response that he had heard her. He was so close to falling asleep that that was the only real response that he could make to her before he truly fell under the somnambulistic spell. He hadn't really gotten that much sleep until the early hours of the morning because he'd been thinking of how to get Tsukushi back. Now that he had her, he could finally rest.
~
"How are things in your car?" she asked. She'd called Akira because they were nearly to the house she'd picked for their stay in the hot springs. "Everything okay?"
"I should be asking you that," Akira responded. "So why did you pull the car over? All I heard from Shizuka was that Shigeru and Tsukasa were arguing and that Tsukasa was losing rather badly. And Shizuka heard that secondhand through cell messages from Rui."
"Yeah," Tsubaki answered, "that was basically it. And my idiotic brother was definitely losing the battle and the war. He should know better than to mess with a girl that I'd chosen to be her fiancé!"
Akira blinked, then slowly grinned. "I was wondering what that girl's relation was to you. So you're setting Tsukasa up? Poor Tsukasa."
"Poor Tsukasa?" she said derisively. "More like poor Tsubaki. You haven't been stuck in a war with him for hours! Luckily, everyone is finally asleep in my car. Even better is that Tsukasa has been asleep for more than an hour. So is everyone awake in your car?"
"No, everyone is asleep. Shizuka just fell asleep. Has Rui said anything to Tsukushi? Because Shizuka's been really curious about if Rui has told Tsukushi his feelings..."
"He has said nothing," she told him with a hint of amusement that made him suspect that she wasn't telling him everything. He was about to ask when she continued, "But they're back together it seems. I got confirmation from Rui that they have worked things out between the two of them. Anyways, Tsukasa is sleeping on Tsukushi's shoulder and Tsukushi is sleeping on Rui's shoulder. It's quite an adorable scene, and it's only going to get cuter."
The way she said it seemed like she had something in mind, which only made him smile. "You've got everything working out, haven't you, Tsubaki? You always have a plan, don't you? You're trying to set everyone together, aren't you?"
She laughed. "You'll see. You'll see what I have planned for you guys. I'm sure you won't mind what I've got in mind at all, especially with the way you like Shizuka. We're almost here and road's tricky. Just follow okay?" She clicked the phone off before he even had the chance to make a response.
Akira clicked off his cell phone and blushed as he glanced at the lovely sight that Shizuka made in her peaceful slumber. The sunlight reflected off of her brown locks making them appear as a visionary golden luster. It wasn't her beauty that drew him to her, though he had to admit it wasn't hard for him to admire her. It was the way she was that attracted him. He had so many hopes for them. He only hoped that things worked out during this trip and that they got closer, even closer. She meant the world to him.
Author's Note: Thanks for your support. Chapters will be sporadic due to whether I feel "divinely" inspired by this "creative" gene within me that sometimes functions and sometimes decides to take a vacation for a while reason. Or I just get bored as was the case with my two fairly popular CCS fanfics. I can't compare the CCS fandom to HYD since HYD has a much smaller fandom base, but I'm still happy with the reviews I've been getting. So please review and tell me what you think! Maybe it'll inspire me to write faster/more!
Check out my newest HYD fanfic: SEASON OF FIREWORKS! & my original novel: SECRET, A TALE OF LOVE. (it's about friendship and family as well, you guys should like this.) If you read, please review, it means A LOT to me.
Watch out for the next chapter ---- ROOM MATTERS ---- (good sign if I've got the next chapter title ^-^;;)
Author: Yih
12: New Memories (January 6, 2003 to January 9, 2003)
It was amazingly clam so far. But as Tsubaki might have known, it wasn't going to last very long. When Shigeru turned her head around to introduce herself to Tsukasa and Rui, Tsukasa interrupted her in quite a rude manner, "Whatever, don't even bother, we're not interested." And he pointedly turned his face away from her, deliberately ignoring her. Even though he said he'd give it a chance, that didn't mean he had to start right away, did it?
Usually, Tsukushi would leap to the underdog's defense because no one else would. But she didn't and that surprised Tsukasa, giving him hope. Maybe it was because she was jealous that Shigeru was his fiancé. What was that phrase again? Jealous makes the heart grown fonder!
He grinned, but that was soon wiped off of his face because Shigeru's heavy purse came crashing down full force on his head. He winced and saw momentary stars before he was able to shake off the after affects of that momentous hit. When his hearing returned, he heard Tsukushi laughing. When his sight returned, he saw Rui smiling. Traitorous best friends!
Even worse was his older sister, Tsubaki and his fiancé, Shigeru, who were both bawling so hard that tears were falling from their eyes. He felt embarrassed and irritated all because of that Shigeru! He lowered his eyes and lifted his hand and covered Shigeru's still laughing mouth. If he thought it was going to stop her, it didn't work. Shigeru bit him and he yelped and let go. This time he lifted up his hand to hit her only to be stopped by Tsukushi.
"You can't hit a girl, Tsukasa," she reprimanded.
"But she hit me!" he sputtered his protest, earning him an additional smack from his own sister. "Tsubaki, why did you hit me?!"
"Because you deserved it!" she retorted her exclamation. "You were the one that decided to be rude first. If you don't apologize to Shigeru, I'm going to kick you out of the car!"
"Why should I apologize!?"
"I'm serious, Tsukasa!" To emphasize her words, she slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the emergency lane. "Apologize to her!"
With everyone looking expectantly at him, he gulped and chocked out his rather insincere apology, "Sorry, Shigeru."
She chuckled, knowing very well that he didn't mean a word of what he'd said. ""He doesn't mean what he says," she said bluntly, voicing out her previous thoughts. "But it's okay, I'll accept it. He'll just owe me one."
"Why you little..." his words were taken form his mouth when Tsubaki abruptly accelerated the car, causing Tsukasa, who was leaning forward to be thrown backwards. "Are you trying to kill us?!"
~
Akira, who was driving the much calmer atmospheric car was thinking that he wished that he knew what was going on in the other car when Tsubaki pulled over to the emergency lane suddenly. He was about to swerve the car he was driving over to see what was wrong when Shizuka stopped him by resting her hand on his arm. "Nothing's wrong. Rui just messaged me. Shigeru and Tsukasa are arguing and Tsukasa is losing badly."
"Awww," Soujirou responded, "what else can you expect? It's three girls vs. Tsukasa. That car is probably going to have a wreck before we get to the hot springs."
Sara smiled. "Once we get to the hot springs, you've got to make me your tea, okay?"
He glanced down at her and nodded. "Of course, I will. Green tea as always?"
"You remembered!" she exclaimed happily.
He chuckled. "You've never asked for anything that's different before. It's easy to remember!"
She looked up at him solemnly. "It's still been ears though, Jirou."
"That's true," he responded. "But I'm still the same. You're still the same, aren't you?" He could still remember memories from the far back in his childhood, the Sara at his side still resembled the girl in pigtails that he'd rushed home everyday to make tea with and play with.
Sara nodded. "Yes, I'm the same Sara as before."
"I've been meaning to ask you, how long are you staying here?" he questioned softly, the look in his eyes intensely concerned. He'd been thinking about this for a while, and her answer before had satisfied him then. But last night, he'd really been wondering again how long she was staying. He didn't want her to leave anytime soon.
The answer depended on him, but she didn't know how to tell him that without being extremely embarrassed. For the last few years, all she'd wanted was to see him again, and now she was here, she wondered exactly what she wanted out of him. What was the purpose to see him again? Still, it was good to see him again. He was her dearest childhood friend. "For a while," she answered, "that's all I know."
"You don't know?"
She shook her head. "I don't know." It depended on him.
~
Every time he wanted to say something to Tsukushi, he'd turn to her and almost open his mouth, but then he'd remember that it was hardly a private moment. So he'd stop and turn his face back to stare out of the window again, trying to lose his thoughts of the loud, ongoing argument between Tsukasa, Shigeru, and Tsubaki. No matter how hard he tried to tune them out, he wasn't successful.
In her own mind, Tsukushi also wanted to say something to Rui, but this was hardly the time nor the place. It wasn't private, it wasn't quite right. She snuck a sideways glance at him to catch him looking at her, so she quickly averted her gaze away from him. It plagued her mind, knowing he was staring at her, but it also relieved her. If he was looking at her, it meant he wasn't angry at her.
Both of them were ripped away form their thoughts when Tsukasa shouted, "Rui, Tsukushi, you two have to help me! It's not fait that it's two against one! Me!"
"I'm sure you can handle two girls," Tsukushi said in an amused voice. "I mean you are the great Doumyouji Tsukasa, are you not?"
"I am," he responded in his typically arrogant tone, causing both Tsubaki and Shigeu to snort at that statement of power. "But these two aren't two normal girls!"
Shigeru whirled around in her seat to glare at Tsukasa. "What do you mean by that?!"
"Exactly what I said!" he retorted in exclamation. "That you're strange, weird, entirely not normal!"
"Hey! You're not exactly great yourself, Doumyouji Tsukasa," Shigeru remarked in a mocking tone, which succeeded in making his face red. "I mean, look at yourself! You've got awful curly hair, a bad temper, a surly personality, an immature disposition, an intolerable---"
"SHUT UP!" he screamed, his face a dark, crimson red.
"You know," his sister added, "everything she said is true. You do have a horrible temper, a terrible personality, a childish---"
"You're not helping!" he shouted. "And I'm NOT that bad!"
"You are that bad!" Tsubaki and Shigeru exclaimed simultaneously, causing both of them to start laughing uncontrollably.
Tsukasa growled but there was nothing he could do to make them stop. "You two are impossible!"
That only made them laugh harder, which only caused his face to blotchy with the redness of his embarrassment. He finally gave up trying to quiet his sister and his fiancé. There was no way he was going to be able to make them stop their ruckus. So what was a guy to do? Instead, he leaned back to join Tsukushi and Rui in their companionable silence. That at least he could do without starting another riot.
~
Back in the much the more relaxed car, Akira finally had decided to ask Shizuka the big question that had been bugging him for quite a while. It was a good time to ask because Sara had fallen asleep on Soujirou's shoulder, and shortly after, his friend had followed the suit and accompanied her into slumber land. This was the only guaranteed private moment Akira could be sure of with Shizuka.
"I've been meaning to ask you," he began in his trying to be nonchalant voice, "will you go out with me?" For the past few years, he'd suppose that they'd already been considered a couple, especially by Tsukasa and Soujirou. But Tsukushi had pointed out to him that he'd assumed that Shizuka was his girlfriend, but he'd never really asked her out officially.
Shizuka had been trying to find out the full story from Rui what was going on in the other car, but Rui hadn't responded to her probing questions. She was getting a little frustrated with Rui and was thinking of what she'd have to message to him to get him to answer her when Akira had broken the silence with his inquiry. "What did you ask? I'm sorry I didn't hear what you were saying."
He took a deep breath before he repeated his question. "Will you go out with me?"
She blinked. "On a date?" she inquired back. She had no idea what he was asking her exactly. He knew if he wanted her to go somewhere with him, she would. He didn't have to ask her permission beforehand. however, if he was asking her to be his girlfriend, that was an entirely different matter altogether. She'd remembered what Rui had told her yesterday.
"No," he answered in a serious voice, "I'm asking you to e my girlfriend. You know--- a serious relationship."
She stared at him. "I--- I don't know what to say..."
"Give me a chance?" he pleaded. "During this trip, give me a chance?"
She nodded. "Why not?" she said lightly, but to get the cheery words out was harder than it sounded. It was well worth the effort when she saw the grin that came onto Akira's face. He was so good-looking when he smiled, she thought to herself.
"Thank you," he replied in an almost sheepish voice. He felt like an idiot after he'd said that to her, but he was so relieved that she'd answered him so quickly that it'd just popped out.
She continued to smile at him. "No problem, why wouldn't I give you a chance?" she teased him. Her cell phone then began to buzz, drawing her attention down to it. She clicked on a button that opened up the message and read the message from Rui. "I can't believe that he still hasn't told her yet!"
"Eh?" Akira said in confusion. "Who are you talking about? Rui?"
"Yes, Rui," she responded. "I forgot that you don't know yet. Well, Rui's determined to go after Tsukushi, but during the car ride he has yet to tell her that he doesn't want the engagement to be cancelled."
"I thought that they had already worked things out..."
"They hadn't," Shizuka responded. "It turns out that Tsukushi rejected Rui because of the insensitive comment that he said to her. It's actually a good thing for Rui that she did it. He needs to come out of his shell; he needs to fight for what he wants. And he sounded like he was going to move forward, but he still hasn't said anything..."
Akira nodded. "But that won't be easy to get Rui to do that. I'm not surprise that he hasn't said anything yet. I mean I can understand where he's coming from," he responded. "It's not private in that car, that's why I had to wait for Soujirou and Sara to fall asleep before I said anything to you. Also, you have to remember that Tsukasa is in that car."
Shizuka nodded, her annoyance at Rui fading away since his words made sense. "Rui's so indecisive and passive," she reflected aloud. "I'm afraid that he'll let the most precious thing to him slip from his fingers because he needs too much time to make up his mind to decide whether or not to act."
It was the same fear that Akira had, that Shizuka would slip through his grasp.
~
It'd taken almost three hours, but if there was anything about Rui that was definite, he was definitely patient. It'd taken time, but Tsukasa had fallen asleep on Tsukushi's shoulder. Rui was also pretty certain that Shigeru was asleep in the front passenger seat. It was his perfect opportunity. It might be his only opportunity to communicate with Tsukushi without a mass of people surrounding them.
He rested his hand over Tsukushi's, causing her to look at him with an inquiring eye. He turned her hand over so that his fingers rested on her palm. Moving his forefinger over her palm, he started writing in her palm what he wanted to say--- no what he needed to say to her. In a way this was better than speaking to her because he'd always found it easier to communicate by the hand than by the mouth.
"Tsukushi, I know that I've already apologized to you. I know that I've already told you that I like you. I know that you know me better than anyone else, so you know that it's not easy for me to say things like this. But I don't want the engagement to be cancelled," Rui wrote clearly into her palm.
As the words slowly formed into clear sentences what he was trying to say, she felt relieved that she wasn't the one that had to close the gap that she had caused because she'd basically rejected. She didn't really know what she was going to do to reserve what she'd said. She found Rui more steadfast in his quiet stubbornness than Tsukasa in his loud bullheadedness.
"I hope you will change your mind," he continued to write into her palm. He was getting anxious that she still hadn't made a move to make an answer back to him.
It took a minute, but she finally flipped his hand over and began writing. "I don't want the engagement to be cancelled either. I was overreacting because I was upset. I don't really want the engagement to be broken. I was upset and I acted with a clouded vision."
"I'm glad," he scribbled back into her palm, "that you feel that way. I was afraid that you'd reject me again."
She shook her head, though stunned how freely he was admitting all this to her. "It was a mistake. You know I'm prone to making mistakes and again you help to bail me out as always. I'd already made up my mind last night after talking to Tsubaki, but I didn't know how to approach you. I didn't know how you were going to react. No, that's not right, I was afraid that you wouldn't react at all."
He rested his head on her shoulder, causing both of her shoulders to be occupied. "Even if this doesn't work out as we hope, we'll always be friends, right?"
"Best friends." After that, she held his hand and he held her hand back. They continued to hold hands for several minutes, both of them staring at their entwined hands before Tsukushi closed her eyes. It wasn't long before he could tell that she'd fallen asleep because she instinctively slumped against him. So he lifted his head up from her shoulder and gently guided her head to rest upon his shoulder.
It was an excellent opportunity for him to study her pretty, cute face. No, she wasn't gorgeous like Shizuka, but she was very pretty. And she did have beautiful eyes and utterly kissable lips. Lips that he was tempted to kiss right now, but now was not the right time. Not with Tsubaki looking at them through her rearview mirror. He knew she'd been spying on them for quite a while. He didn't mind too terribly, but he wasn't a showy person by nature.
And he was too caught up with Tsukushi to really pay attention to Tsubaki. He was particularly caught up by the fact that since she was asleep, it gave him the chance to play with her cute, little hands. He was fascinated by how her hands could fits so easily within the palm of his own hand. It was so cute how short her fingers were and how ting her palm was. He didn't know how long he played with her hands when he heard a vague, faraway voice say, "I'm glad you two have worked things out."
It was obviously Tsubaki talking to him. "Mmm," he murmured back a response that he had heard her. He was so close to falling asleep that that was the only real response that he could make to her before he truly fell under the somnambulistic spell. He hadn't really gotten that much sleep until the early hours of the morning because he'd been thinking of how to get Tsukushi back. Now that he had her, he could finally rest.
~
"How are things in your car?" she asked. She'd called Akira because they were nearly to the house she'd picked for their stay in the hot springs. "Everything okay?"
"I should be asking you that," Akira responded. "So why did you pull the car over? All I heard from Shizuka was that Shigeru and Tsukasa were arguing and that Tsukasa was losing rather badly. And Shizuka heard that secondhand through cell messages from Rui."
"Yeah," Tsubaki answered, "that was basically it. And my idiotic brother was definitely losing the battle and the war. He should know better than to mess with a girl that I'd chosen to be her fiancé!"
Akira blinked, then slowly grinned. "I was wondering what that girl's relation was to you. So you're setting Tsukasa up? Poor Tsukasa."
"Poor Tsukasa?" she said derisively. "More like poor Tsubaki. You haven't been stuck in a war with him for hours! Luckily, everyone is finally asleep in my car. Even better is that Tsukasa has been asleep for more than an hour. So is everyone awake in your car?"
"No, everyone is asleep. Shizuka just fell asleep. Has Rui said anything to Tsukushi? Because Shizuka's been really curious about if Rui has told Tsukushi his feelings..."
"He has said nothing," she told him with a hint of amusement that made him suspect that she wasn't telling him everything. He was about to ask when she continued, "But they're back together it seems. I got confirmation from Rui that they have worked things out between the two of them. Anyways, Tsukasa is sleeping on Tsukushi's shoulder and Tsukushi is sleeping on Rui's shoulder. It's quite an adorable scene, and it's only going to get cuter."
The way she said it seemed like she had something in mind, which only made him smile. "You've got everything working out, haven't you, Tsubaki? You always have a plan, don't you? You're trying to set everyone together, aren't you?"
She laughed. "You'll see. You'll see what I have planned for you guys. I'm sure you won't mind what I've got in mind at all, especially with the way you like Shizuka. We're almost here and road's tricky. Just follow okay?" She clicked the phone off before he even had the chance to make a response.
Akira clicked off his cell phone and blushed as he glanced at the lovely sight that Shizuka made in her peaceful slumber. The sunlight reflected off of her brown locks making them appear as a visionary golden luster. It wasn't her beauty that drew him to her, though he had to admit it wasn't hard for him to admire her. It was the way she was that attracted him. He had so many hopes for them. He only hoped that things worked out during this trip and that they got closer, even closer. She meant the world to him.
Author's Note: Thanks for your support. Chapters will be sporadic due to whether I feel "divinely" inspired by this "creative" gene within me that sometimes functions and sometimes decides to take a vacation for a while reason. Or I just get bored as was the case with my two fairly popular CCS fanfics. I can't compare the CCS fandom to HYD since HYD has a much smaller fandom base, but I'm still happy with the reviews I've been getting. So please review and tell me what you think! Maybe it'll inspire me to write faster/more!
Check out my newest HYD fanfic: SEASON OF FIREWORKS! & my original novel: SECRET, A TALE OF LOVE. (it's about friendship and family as well, you guys should like this.) If you read, please review, it means A LOT to me.
Watch out for the next chapter ---- ROOM MATTERS ---- (good sign if I've got the next chapter title ^-^;;)