Time Heals All Wounds
A/N : I'm so glad that you guys like the story so far. Thanks for the reviews. =) Don't forget to review after reading, k? Thanks.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hana Yori Dango
Chapter 2: Her Angel
"Missed me, Makino?"
The way he said it made Kaori shiver. He said those three words just exactly like he would have a year ago. Makino. Despite their familiarity with each other, he always called her by her last name, and vise versa. But the manner her name rolled out from his tongue had such a distinctive characteristic that made her feel unique; it set her apart from the rest of the girls he had talked to.
Half of her was disturbed to have seen him once again. This meant torture. But the other half was happy that he was once again gracing the halls of Eitoku. Kaori realized she missed him. For the whole year he was gone, she had no one to argue constantly with. How she missed the times they got into each other's nerves! It was actually had become their daily routine. At times, she would expect him to show up beside her locker in the mornings, like the way he always did, and irritate the hell out of her. But then she would remember he wasn't in Eitoku anymore.
But now, she was once again standing on a familiar ground.
Before the handsome boy beside her could notice that she was falling into a vulnerable state, she quickly put on her guard. "What are you doing here?"
Keitaro mocked a hurt expression. "What? No 'Hi' or 'Bonjour' for me? Is that the way you welcome the great Hanazawa Keitaro?"
"Who says I'm welcoming you back? Besides, you're not great at all. You're the only one who thinks that way. So, why are you here?"
"I go to school here"
"No, I mean why are you back?" she rephrased her question.
"Well, my father realized that I wasn't such a bad boy after all. I'm a changed man, Makino" Kaori scoffed as soon as he said that but Keitaro continued. "France is great, but being away from home for one year is too much. I don't really like leaving all my friends here" The reason his father had sent him away was that Keitaro was such a trouble maker at school but he always got away with it, being the son of one of the wealthiest man in Japan. Rui threatened him that if he continued on making trouble, he would send him off to a boarding school abroad. Well, Keitaro didn't listen. True to his word, Rui sent his son to France the summer before the first year of highschool.
"You mean you bribed the principal to tell your father that his poor little son can't even hurt a fly."
Although he knew Kaori didn't mean it at all, Keitaro was slightly hurt. Actually, Keitaro did change. When he was in a boarding school in France, no one cared who he was. Everybody was treated equally. There, he learned to be in his own and deal with people with respect.
"Is that how low you think of me? You still haven't changed, Makino. But…" he smirked once again, eyeing Kaori from head to toe, "my oh my! I didn't know that an ugly duckling like you would turn into a hot chick in just 365 days" Then his eyes got fixed to her chest. "Man! Since when did those turn out to be…" He never got to finish his sentence because…
WHACK!!!!!!!!!
"Ouch!" Keitaro placed a hand on his head right on the spot where Kaori had hit him with a book. "Geez Makino, when did you become so violent? I sure did miss a lot when I left. I'm not a masochist, but I like it. " He grinned. "I like my girls rough."
WHACK!!!!!!!!
Kaori had hit him again. "Ok, Ok…I'll shut up now…just stop hitting me. You're getting all my brain cells dead." He waved his hand in front of him, blocking any possible attacks from Kaori.
"Hmpf! You'd better be, Flower boy, or else I'll hit you right there. I'm going to make sure you'll never going to have any kids at all!" Flower Boy was the moniker Kaori gave to Keitaro. Hanazawa: Hana: Flower
"I'm still your precious flower, eh?" he said with a twinkle in his eye.
Kaori rolled her eyes. "Since when did I say you're mine? Arghhh!!!!" Kaori cried in frustration. "Don't you have anything better to do besides taunting me?"
"Relax! It's still early in the morning and you're all worked up now." Using his both arms, Keitaro cornered Kaori by placing them on either side of her, pressing his hands on the locker, his right arm just beside her head and his left beside her waist. "Do I make you all tensed up?" This time, he said it at a slower rate. Little by little, his head was leaning closer to Kaori. She could feel his hot breath brush through her cheek as he inhaled and exhaled. "Know what? You've grown much prettier over the year"
"I..I…." was all she could manage to breathe out. Damn! Why did Keitaro have such effect on her? Their eyes were locked in a gaze. Black to brown. She was like in a trance, drowned into the whirlwind of his hazel eyes. Those pair of eyes weren't empty, she observed. It was full of passion ready to explode right through those windows.
He still continued to lean in to her as if he was about to give her a kiss. Just as his lips were only an inch apart, he quickly pulled away and lowered his arms while taking two steps backwards. He had this annoying victorious smile plastered on his face. "Just as I thought, Makino"
Kaori suddenly snapped back to reality. You are so stupid, Kaori! What on earth were you thinking? Of course he was just playing around. He's Keitaro, for crying out loud! She mentally slapped herself for falling into his trap then round eyes formed into tiny slits. If looks could only kill, Keitaro would have been dead by now. She could feel her blood boiling and rising inside her. How dare he do that to me! The nerve of him! Keitaro had scored the first point. I can't let this continue to go on, making such a fool out of myself. Don't be so sure about your cocky ass, Hanazawa Keitaro!
Before Kaori could yell at Keitaro for making her look like a helpless kid, the school bell had rung signaling the start of the first class. She said instead, "I have to go to class now", regaining her composure. She hurriedly walked away from the smirking boy. Even with her back turned, she well knew he was following her with his eyes.
"By the way, Makino!" He called out. Kaori stopped walking but didn't turn around. "I meant it when I said you were getting prettier"
Kaori didn't say anything and continued walking towards her first class.
***
37-year old Makino Tsukushi pushed open the glass door of Starbucks; its door chimes making high-pitched sounds as the round, hollow metals clanged. The bitter yet sweet aroma of coffee filled her nostrils as she entered the shop. Heaven was the perfect adjective for coffee if one would ask Tsukushi. She was a coffee addict, and for her, it was her ambrosia. Her addiction started ten years ago, and since then her day wouldn't be complete without drinking any coffee at least twice a day. Today, her coffee maker broke so she didn't have any before leaving the house. She had to stop by Starbucks before heading to work.
"I'll have a tall Coffee of the Day with a shot hazelnut, please," she told the girl behind the counter.
Three minutes later, she seated herself on one of the two-seater tables beside the window, enjoying her freshly brewed coffee. She had been there for about fifteen minutes already, reading the day's newspaper when suddenly someone had taken the seat across her.
"Mind if I join you?"
Tsukushi lifted her head up to find out who had disturbed her solitary activity. But upon seeing the person across her, she broke into a smile.
"Rui!"
"Hello, Tsukushi" Hanazaawa Rui finally greeted her with a smile.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. She was kind of surprised to him at such place at his time of the day. First, Rui was not really a coffee fanatic so it was a little unusual to see him walk into a coffee shop alone. Second, they hadn't seen each other for quite a while.
"I was on my way to work then I saw you through the window drinking your coffee. I decided to stop by and say hi to my son's mother "he replied.
It has been already ten years since Tsukushi and Rui had met once again after her disappearance a month later when Tsukasa was stabbed and lost all his memories, including those of Tsukushi's.
***flashback***
It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Tsukushi had taken her 6-year old Kaori to a nearby park and let her play there with the other kids. Accompanying Kaori to the playground wasn't a bore to her; watching her cute little angel play with a huge smile on her cute little face was already enough to cheer Tsukushi up. Besides, there were also other parents there who where watching over their kids that she can have a chat with.
Tsukushi was having this friendly conversation with another mother when suddenly she heard Kaori yell.
"AHHHH" Kaori had fallen over. Apparently, another boy about Kaori's age pushed her down. "You pwooshed me!" Kaori immediately got up to her feet and pushed over the boy in return.
"Hey!" the boy barked.
Tsukushi ran immediately towards the two kids. "Kaori!" she said, breaking the two kids apart. "Stop fighting"
"Mama," Kaori started, pointing at the dark-haired boy, "this ugwy boy pwooshed me. I was pwaying here then he came awong. He said I should go some pwace ews because he said he's going to pway here"
Tsukushi turned at the little boy Kaori was talking about and bent down, her eyes just in level with the boy's. He had a dark hair that ran up to his ears. The way this boy was dressed, she assumed he was from a rich family.
"Why did you push her? Did you know that pushing girls is very bad?" she asked slowly, being aware that she was talking to a little kid.
Instead of being afraid because he was faced with an adult, the little boy crossed his arms infront of his chest then frowned. "Because she's so stubborn. I told her I was going to play here."
"You don't own this pwayground" Kaori butted in.
The little boy just stuck out his tongue.
"You could have hurt Kaori. Don't do it again next time, ok? Now say sorry to her"
"No" he said firmly. This boy was one stubborn child.
"Say sorry to her" Tsukushi repeated. The boy just shook his head. "Where are your parents?" This boy was really hardheaded. He just stared blankly at Tsukushi. "Where are your parents?" she repeated, this time with an authoritative tone.
Finally, the boy gave in, sensing her impatience. He wouldn't want to get into more trouble than he was now. "My father's there" he replied, his little finger pointing at a bench not far away. There was man sitting alone there whose back was turned to them.
"Come with me" Tsukushi grabbed the boy's arm and dragged him along with her. Kaori was closely following behind. "Excuse me, sir" she said, tapping the man's shoulder.
The man turned around. As soon as she saw the man's face, she let out a gasp.
"Hanazawa Rui"
"Tsukushi…erm…Makino…it's you"
From the looks painted on their faces, it was obvious that they were both shocked to see each other, especially on Rui's part.
"Makino" he repeated, still locking his gaze.
"Yes, it's me, Rui and you can still call me Tsukushi. It's not like we weren't close before." she broke the ice. Almost seven years had gone by. She was delighted to see Rui again, for he was one of her bestfriends, but at the same time she was uncomfortable because Rui reminded her of her past that she was trying to forget.
"How have you been?" Rui inquired. Tsukushi could tell that he was ecstatic to see her just by looking at his marble eyes. They weren't as dead as before.
"Fine. Oh, by the way, is this your son over here?" She suddenly remembered that she dad company with her.
Rui looked at the boy behind her. "Keitaro?" he smiled. "Yes, He's my son. Why?" Then his smile turned into a frown "Keitaro, what did you do again? Did you make this lady mad?"
Before Keitaro could reply, Tsukushi spoke for him. "No, he didn't do anything to me. But he pushed Kaori over here." Tsukushi signaled Kaori to come closer.
"Your sister? I didn't know your parents could still have a child at their age now"
"Actually, Kaori's my daughter. She's six" she corrected.
Rui was silent for a while. He didn't really know what to say. He was confused. If Kaori was Tsukushi's daughter, then she would have been born when Tsukushi was 21. But Tsukushi didn't have any husband at that time, as far as he knew unless… "Where's your husband?" he asked.
"I don't have one"
"Oh…" was all he could utter. " Um..sorry for asking"
Tsukushi could sense Rui was getting uncomfortable for asking her those questions. "Don't worry about it. It's the truth and you're bound to know about it anyway."
"So, you were saying? Keitaro pushed your daughter?" Rui changed the topic.
"Tsukushi walked around the bench and helped herself sit beside Rui. "Yes" Then she relayed to her long-lost friend what happened earlier.
"Keitaro," Rui turned to his son, who was staring at the ground. " I think you should say sorry to Kaori here"
"Sorry" he apologized sheepishly. Kaori just stuck her tongue out and made faces.
"Well, that's settled then." Hanazawa Rui finally got up. "Sorry about Keitaro. Sometimes he could be really a brat."
"No problem"
"We have to go now" Rui said. He didn't really want to leave yet. "Um…Tsukushi?"
"Yes?"
It took him some moments to tell the woman infront of her what he wanted to say. He felt like a teenager again. "Um…do you mind if we meet up next weekend? Lunch or dinner maybe? You know, I wanna catch up with an old friend" he blabbered.
Tsukushi was amused by his behavior. Hanazawa Rui wasn't like this years ago. "I would love to, Rui"
His face lit up. "Um…that's great." He stammered while taking out his cellphone. "I'll take your number so I could call or text you where and when"
"Alright" she gave her number. After a few minutes, they had bid their goodbyes and went home.
The following Saturday, Rui had picked Tsukushi up at her apartment for dinner. As planned, they talked about whatever happened to them during the years they had lost contact with each other. Rui asked her why did she suddenly disappear a month after the stabbing. Tsukasa lost his memories but it was so unlike of Tsukushi to give up. She left without a word. Nobody knew her whereabouts, even her own family. Tsukushi just told Rui that she had to get away from everything or else it would eat her up. Of course, she wasn't telling Rui everything.
During the course of their conversation, Tsukushi learned that Rui's wife, Toudou Shizuka, as she was called then, had died of childbirth.
"She died while giving birth to Keitaro. It was the year after you disappeared, Tsukushi. So basically, I'm raising Keitaro on my own" he explained.
When Tsukushi was 19 and still in second year college (the F4 had just graduated by then. They were 22 already), Rui had married Shizuka months after he graduated. Though Rui and Shizuka were childhood friends, it wasn't really a marriage of love. True, Rui pursued Shizuka once to France but afterwhich, he found out that he loved someone else. That someone was Tsukushi. But things were complicated. Tsukushi had Tsukasa then and his parents had already arranged a marriage for him that he can't say no to. At the moment Tsukushi heard the news, she was devastated. She loved Tsukasa but she also had feelings for Rui. Nevertheless, he was happy for him. He was about to marry Toudou Shizuka after all, the one Tsukushi thought was his love.
"By the way, did you know that Tsukasa is married now?" Rui asked hesistantly. The sound of his name made Tsukushi wince. His name brought back painful memories. Anyhow, she nodded. Of course, she well knew. It was all over the papers. Doumyouji Tsukasa had married a woman of rich family background. Nakanishi, was it? "Anyway," Rui continued, "they're living in New York now. They moved there after they got married and haven't come back yet…and they've been trying to have a child but still no luck"
'So Doumyouji still don't have a child with his wife' she pondered. Rui also informed her that he hasn't gotten his memories back. Tsukushi was disappointed after hearing this but realized things would be better off this way, so as to avoid complications.
Their night was about to end and Tsukushi was a little relieved that Rui hadn't asked about Kaori's father. But as soon as she had thought of that, Rui asked the question she had been trying to avoid.
"I haven't asked you yet, who's Kaori's father?"
Tsukushi didn't really want to talk about this matter with Rui but at the same time completely lying to him won't do any good. "He's dead. He got into an accident before Kaori was born."
"I see. I'm sorry about that"
Since their first "date", Rui and Tsukushi constantly went out together until they decided to make their relationship official. Rui, confessed once more his feelings for her and was really happy that he could now be with the one he truly loves. *Rui have not denied that his feelings for Tsukushi were very special. From the moment that he discovered her existence, he realized he couldn't help but help her get rid of her obstacles, solving difficulties. When Tsukasa got into trouble, he had naturally became the shoulder that she leaned on. But Rui never thought that each drop of Tsukushi's tears would make him unconsciously fall in love with her. He loved her, but he didn't know it himself.*
And now, since Tsukushi was single and so was he, things would somehow turn out smoothly.
Three years later, Tsukushi gave birth to a beautiful son named Hanazawa Ichiro.
***present time***
Rui had always been Tsukushi's angel. He'd turn up always whenever she needed him, just like he did 10 years ago. Though her life had been a roller coaster, she was happy it turned out that way; especially that now Rui was by her side.
"So, any interesting news?" she inquired, taking a sip from her cup.
Rui nodded. It was evident that he was mentally battling himself whether to tell Tsukushi or not. But he did, anyway. "Tsukasa's back." He paused, waiting for any reaction from the woman infront of him. He didn't get any and tsukushi didn't even flinch. He continued, "…and he has regained his memories"
***
A/N
* The paragraph that bears an asterisk was lifted from MG2, episode 29, the scene where Lei was talking to Ah Mei. I just changed the POV and got only a part of it. I decided to include those lines because it was so depressing to see Hua Ze Lei's ache because of San Cai. It was the time I finally felt for Lei.
