Chapter 19 – Sick ~ おみまい.. ねつがあります。

Tsukushi: Wait a minute.. I'm sick?! Damn.. did you HAVE TO follow HYD? *sigh*

Angel: *smiles mysteriously* it's going to be a bit different. Prepare yourself.. for a ____ Tsukasa..

Tsukasa: What?

Angel: hehehehe.. you'll see.

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Makino's P.O.V:

I bit my lip as I followed Shizuka into the bathroom. That was so embarrassing.. And now, because of me Rui and Tsukasa weren't friends anymore.. I sighed, from behind her, Shizuka's hair looked so beautiful and shiny. She was tall with a great body. Even though she was rich, she wasn't snobby like the rest of them. She seemed almost too good to be true.

"Here Makino, I'll help you clean up.. Are you okay? Those boys were really too rough.." Shizuka commented as she fussed over me.

"Call me Tsukushi."

"Then you can call me Shizuka. So you are the girl who has been standing up to F4? You really are very brave."

I blushed, "Not really.."

"I heard from Akira you are Tsukasa's friend?" she asked lightly before passing me a handkerchief, "Here, use this."

I couldn't help noticing it was a Chanel handkerchief. "Umm.. yeah. We're childhood friends."

She smiled, "I can't believe Tsukasa had a friend outside of F4.. Then.. why did he call you his enemy just then?"

"Oh.. umm.. we had a fight." I couldn't bring myself to say it was all my fault.

"I bet Rui likes you a lot. I've never seen him stand up for anyone like that before," she remarked, "Not even me.." she murmured quietly.

"Oh no.. You are so much better than me.. I'm sure Ru… Hanazawa-san likes you!" I declared.

"Mmm.." she seemed to be thinking deeply about something. I used this chance to observe myself in the mirror. I did look much better. I turned to look at Shizuka, everything about her was perfect. It seemed nothing about could ever mess up. She was like an angel. No wonder she is a model..

She suddenly snapped out of her trance, "Tsukushi.. you look very pretty now. You should look nice all the time, a girl should be ready for any opportunity."

"Nice shoes.." I complimented. How lame was that? But the words had just popped out of my mouth.

"Oh.. I believe that if I wear nice shoes, they will bring me to a nice place."

(exact same dialogue.. I know, it must be so boring eh?)

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Tsukasa stopped, why wasn't Tsukushi at school today? Was she avoiding him? Maybe he had been too mean yesterday? No matter how hard he tried to forget Tsukushi, deep inside him he still loved her. He would be lying if he said he didn't care about her.

"Doumyouji you big bully! You are the one who made my Tsukushi-chan sick!" a loud voice shouted in his direction.

His Tsukushi-chan?! Tsukasa looked up and saw Kazuya running towards him. Tsukasa glared menacingly at the approaching figure. How dare Kazuya call Tsukushi his? Wasn't the red tag enough? Did Kazuya know better than to provoke his anger again? "What do you want?" he snapped.

"You.." Kazuya's confidence seem to falter as he gazed at the angry eyes of Tsukasa. "Er.." he stammered.

"What did you say about Tsukushi being sick?" Tsukasa demanded.

"Um.. she's got a really high fever now.. and.." Kazuya mumbled.

"Oh get lost." Tsukasa pushed Kazuya out of the way and headed to his car. Tsukushi.. sick? He could never remember a time when she had ever been sick. Now he was the cause of her fever…

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Makino's P.O.V:

Ahh.. my head is burning… I can't think properly. Waves of nausea.. I feel so sick..

"O-neesan? Are you okay? You've been asleep for a long time." Susumu told her, carefully placing another cold wet towel on her forehead.

"What happened?" I croaked. The cold towel on my head was making me feel a bit better. But I felt so dizzy. I closed my eyes again.

"Oh.. you came home yesterday. Saying you were really tired and everything. Then o-kaasan found out that you had a fever. You've been sleeping since yesterday evening. I can't believe you are sick.. you always seem to be so strong."

I smiled, "Susumu.. everybody gets sick.." I was feeling so peaceful. It would've been great if I wasn't feeling so bad. My eyes flickered open as I heard shouts from outside my room.

"Who are you?! Why are you here in our house?!" I heard my mother shriek. Then some bangs and muffled shouts. Before I heard someone say, "Doumyouji Tsukasa."

Oh no.. Tsukasa was here to see me? Why? The door creaked open, my mother was positively beaming. "Tsukasa is here to see you, Tsukushi." She winked at me, doing weird gestures behind Tsukasa's back. I rolled my eyes, my mother was so hopeless. I reached out my hand to stop Susumu from leaving us alone but he had already gone. I looked up and saw Tsukasa staring at me.

"Tsukushi.. are you sick?"

"Well.. obviously.." I said sarcastically.

He smiled, "I'm er.." There was a weird mix of emotions on his face, he looked very uncomfortable and awkward.

In any other circumstance I would've burst out laughing – except I was so sick. "What?"

"I'm sorry Tsukushi.." he mumbled, looking down.

"No.. I'm sorry Tsukasa. I shouldn't have said those things that I said yesterday." I apologised before collapsing back into my pillow. I had just woken up from my restless slumber and Tsukasa's face wasn't that clear. But I thought I could still see a large grin plastered on his face. I smiled to myself – he was really like a little kid, takes so little to make him happy.

He looked around my room, "Why is your house so small? Your room is the size of my toilet.."

I groaned, why was he bringing this up? I didn't want to be poor.. but my parents had lost their money. My room wasn't really that bad. Why would you want a toilet so big anyway? "Idiot.." I muttered. "Why are you here?"

"Umm.. to see how you were."

"To see how weak and pathetic I look?" I asked – the sarcastic tone back again. Sometimes I can't help it, I always tend to be a bit grumpy and unreasonable when I am sick..

"No.. I just wanted to make sure you're okay." He said blushing.

I smiled, he looked so cute when he blushed.

"Tsukushi! It's dinner time!!" I heard my mother scream. Oh god.. she was so embarrassing. Seconds later her round face appeared at the crack of my door. "Tsukasa.. would you like to eat dinner with us?"

I rolled my eyes, the fake nice tone that my mother used with rich people. It sounded so bad, I felt my face burn hot. "No, Tsukasa has better things to do.. Right?" I turned to him, desperately wishing he could see what I was thinking.. read all the telepathic messages I was trying to send him. But he seemed oblivious to the looks in my eyes. "Thanks, I'll stay." He said. I slumped back into bed in defeat.

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At the dinner table, Tsukasa's table manners were.. bad. It was even worse than I expected. Of course, when we were young – he had always been this messy. But I would've thought he would be taught etiquette as he grew older. He was, after all, heir to the Doumyouji Corporation. I burst out laughing once or twice – just to have my mother elbow me in the stomach. That would keep me quiet for a while. My parents had cooked expensive dishes – the aromas of the roast chicken made my mouth water. It was very rare that they cooked something like this for dinner.

However.. I was sick. I had to eat a bowl of plain congee. But watching Tsukasa eat entertained me enough. Food dropped from his mouth onto the table – staining the newly-washed white lace tablecloth. When he ate the chicken, he never once used his chopsticks. He slurped when he drank his tea. Even my brother- king of bad table manners, was disgusted. I couldn't help but grin at the revolted looks on my parents' faces. So now they knew that the rich Tsukasa wasn't so perfect after all. I bet they were regretting inviting them to dinner..

After we had all eaten – more correctly, after Tsukasa had eaten, my mother made me accompany Tsukasa while she cleaned up. I think Tsukasa must have eaten everything because the way he ate had taken away everyone's appetites.

"Tsukushi, you should send him off to the station," my mother ordered.

"But I'm sick!" I protested.

"No it's okay Aunty. My chauffeur is waiting outside, I don't need to go to the station."

My mother's expression changed to one of utmost delight. "Oh of course. You wouldn't need to catch a train.." she laughed, "How silly of me." She turned to look at me, "Walk with him to his car."

"No! I won't go with a stupid pig!" I cried.

She glared at me before stepping hard on my foot, I let out a yelp. "O-kaasan! How.." she covered my mouth with her hand. "I'm so sorry Tsukasa. Tsukushi is like this when she is sick. We're so sorry." She bowed, "Thankyou for coming.."

"Thank you for the dinner." He replied smiling before walking out the door. The minute the door closed, I gulped. I knew I was in for with my mum. "Tsukushi! How can you be so rude to a guest?!"

"I wasn't rude.. he is a pig! Didn't you see him at the dinner table?!"

She looked slightly uncomfortable, "It doesn't matter. He is still the guest. Besides.. he is so rich…" A dreamy look came over her face, "Imagine if you got married.."

"Married?!" I burst out. A wave of nausea came over me again. I don't know if it was because of the prospect of marrying Tsukasa was too horrible to imagine.. or if it was just the effect of my fever. "I'm tired.. I need to rest." I said before heading to my room.

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okay.. another little twist of mine.. I know Tsukasa's supposed to have perfect table manners.. but I couldn't help it!

Sorry if I'm making him sound like a pig.. hehe.. =P

Thanks 4 ur lovely reviews!!

*Angel *