AN1: I apologize in advance for the suckiness of this chapter. Reason for suckiness is at AN2 at the bottom of the chapter

Disclaimer: All the Hana Yori Dango characters are owned by Yoko Kamio

Chapter 6: First Foray into Normalcy

It had been a restless night for Tsukushi and Tsukasa, while for Rui, he slept soundly as usual. Tsukushi and Tsukasa were not able to sleep properly because of what had occurred the night before. Tsukushi did not answer Tsukasa's question at all; instead, she said she was tired, and had immediately escaped to the bedroom that was assigned to her. The unanswered question kept both awake half the night, one trying to remember; the other wondering if she remembered.

But the new day bought itself another problem (at least in Tsukasa's thinking): Junpei.

He arrived uninvited at Rui's house just when they were having breakfast. The maid bought Junpei to the table. Tsukasa demanded, "What are you doing here? It's as if you're haunting Makino's every move!"

Junpei retorted, "Isn't this a case of the pot calling the kettle black? It seems to me that you are the persistent ghost who refused to leave Makino-sempai alone."

Tsukasa jumped out from his seat and moved as if to attack Junpei, "Why you…"

"Tsukasa," Rui's unfettered voice stopped Tsukasa's advance. "Please, not while we're having breakfast. It's bad for one's digestion."

Tsukasa reluctantly retreated back to his seat, but not before giving Junpei a heated glare. Junpei ignored him and instead turned to Tsukushi, who was silently pushing her food around the plate. "Good morning, Makino-sempai. Did you have a good night's rest?"

Tsukushi, who seemed to be lost in her thoughts, did not answer him at all. Suddenly she jerked, as if startling herself and became conscious of her surroundings again. "Oh, hello, Junpei, didn't expect to see you this morning," she greeted him. 

He gave her the smile that captivated millions of girls' hearts, "Glad to see you looking well today, Makino-sempai."

The smile seemed to have no effect on her at all, as she went back to pushing her food around the plate. Then she dropped the fork onto the plate, "I'm done."

Tsukasa saw that she barely had a bite at all and demanded, "Makino, sit down and finish the food on your plate. You barely even started! And you're so skinny!"

Her temper flared up, "You're not my father, you pineapple head, I don't have to listen to you! Why do you always force food on me when I don't want to eat!"

"Hey, you remember!" Tsukasa's anger was overwhelmed by his happiness that Tsukushi was again regaining her memory bit by bit. He enthusiastically went to grab her hand, "Come, let's go to school now and maybe by lunchtime, you will have all your memories back!"

"First time I ever saw Tsukasa so eager to go to school," Rui sardonically remarked.

**************

The Tweedledee and Tweedledum duo, as Tsukushi had privately dubbed them, were waiting for Tsukasa, Rui and Tsukushi at the school gates. However, they were not alone there; there were hordes of girls gathering around those two, hoping to catch at least some of the infamous playboys' attention. But, as soon as the duo saw them, they skillfully dispatched the girls, knowing that Tsukasa would have no patience to deal with the girls' simpering attention.

After exchanging morning salutations, they walked into the school, with Tsukushi kind of in the middle of the F4 group. The F4 had privately discussed Tsukushi's problems in school (read: girls widely jealously of her connection to the F4), and knowing that they could not be with her all the time, they had decided to make an overt show of her being part of their group now; so that no one would have the guts to bully her, at least not openly.

It was a strange sight that the students of Eitoku were treated to: a slight girl in the midst of 4 much taller guys, almost as if they were her bodyguards. However it also conveyed to the school at large that if they mess with Makino Tsukushi, they would be messing with all the F4.

Tsukushi herself found it awkward to be the focus of everybody's attention. She also felt uncomfortable, walking in the middle of the four guys; she felt as if she was in a cage. However she had to walk and could not stop, or she would be bumped by the two guys at her back. She glanced behind and saw that Junpei was walking some distance back from them. She longed to be walking beside him; he was the only one she felt at ease with since she had woken up from the coma.

The walk to her classroom seemed like an endless one in Tsukushi's mind. Finally they reached it and Kazuya's grinning face greeted her, "Tsukushi-chan! I'm so happy to see you again. School had been insufferable without you!"

"Hey you, nouveau riche, do not be so familiar with Makino!" Tsukasa's possessiveness reared its ugly head once again.

Kazuya ignored Tsukasa and said, "Come Tsukushi-chan, let me show you to your seat!"

Tsukasa also entered the class. The whole class silenced when they saw who were in their midst. They watched intently as Tsukasa followed Tsukushi and Kazuya to an empty seat near the back of the class. Tsukasa glared at a boy who was sitting next to the empty seat and the boy hastily got up from his seat and moved to another place. Then as Tsukushi sat down on her seat, he sat next to her. Tsukushi asked in a strange voice, "I thought you were one grade above me, why are you in this class then?" 

Tsukasa imperially replied, "I go to what classes I want to, and nobody dare question my presence."

Tsukushi inwardly groaned; she had thought she could have a respite from Tsukasa when she got to school but now it was not the case. When would she ever be truly alone so that she could slowly digested what had happened to her so far, she despaired.

AN2: I realized that it had been almost half a yr since I updated this. This is because I really have no idea where this fiction should be going. This is apparent in this sucky chapter. So I'm looking for inspiration, and hopefully you, the readers, can provide me with some. Thanks! I'll credit your ideas if I use them. However, expect this story to have a long updating interval period…