Regarding who Ryoko will end up with. I decided to go with Soujiro because
that's who I originally thought of and Soujiro came out ahead in the poles
by five. I'm sorry I can't satisfy everyone. I mean if I change it to Rui
then other people will be unhappy. And I truly don't think Akira is right
for Ryoko. You might think it's my character so I could fit her with
anyone but I don't think Akira would fall for her. Besides Yuuki and
Soujiro was never permanent. Maybe it's because I read the manga too many
times, and since they broke up there, I just can't see them together.
Sorry Soujiro and Yuuki fans!
SAT Word of the Chapter: Denigrate - (v.) to slur someone's reputation; attack one's character
Plebian - (n.) a vulgar or coarse person
Baleful - (adj.) harmful; with evil intentions
Ignominious - (adj.) disgraceful and dishonorable
**************************************************************************** ****************
Part II: The Morning After
Chapter 2: Kaede's Proposal
**************************************************************************** ****************
Everyone froze at the sight of the formidable woman in front of them even Kazuya and Yuuki who were unaware of who the woman was felt the sudden increase in tension.
Tsukasa was the first to speak. "What are you doing here?!" Tsukasa said angrily. He couldn't forgive his mother for using every underhanded way she could think of to break him and Tsukushi apart.
Kaede raised her hand, as if she was trying to put up a barrier so that Tsukasa's anger wouldn't reach her. "I'm leaving for New York in the morning, but before then I would like to speak to you and that plebian you insist on being with."
Tsukasa wasn't going to take his mother denigrating Tsukushi. He opened his mouth to yell at his mother when he felt a hand on his arm, holding him back. He turned and saw Tsukushi shaking her head. Tsukasa let it slide this time.
Kaede had turned around and walked out of the room, confident that they will follow her. Warily, Tsukasa and Tsukushi did follow. They held hands, as if sharing their strength. They weren't going to let anyone tear them apart.
They were brought to a private conference room. Kaede sat behind the mohagany desk while Tsukasa and Tsukushi sat on plush red chairs in front of the desk. They waited for her to speak first.
"I'm willing to let you two be together-"
Tsukushi held her breath and thought can it be this easy? After trying to break them apart time and again, is she really going to let them be together?
"If you agree to my conditions."
"We don't have to agree to anything!" Tsukasa retorted. He was sure that they were baleful conditions.
"You should be grateful I'm even offering conditions. Without the Doumyouji wealth and power backing you, you're nothing. How do you think you can have everything you want at the snap of your fingers? If you weren't the only son I have, I would have disowned you a long time ago."
Tsukasa scoffed, "I don't consider that a blessing."
Tsukushi knew this was going nowhere. Neither of them would be the one to back down first. "What are your conditions?"
Tsukasa looked at her with a bewildered expression, shocked that Tsukushi would be willing to compromise with her.
Tsukushi tried to explain herself, "We might as well listen to her. You don't even know what she wants, and besides we don't have to follow it just because we heard it."
Tsukasa quieted down, unable to refute her logic.
Inwardly, Kaede acknowledged that this woman would have a lot of power if she entered the Doumyouji family. Although Kaede knew she wasn't close with her son, she knew his every action and thought. Throughout his childhood, nobody has been able to stop him when he's angry, not even his closest friends, who were as strong as him. But this girl, one with no wealth or charm could. She had been keeping a close eye on them with her spies and realized that this girl was going to be the dangerous element that would destroy the hold she had on her kids. She tried every way possible to break them apart and she thought she finally succeeded when Tsukasa and Shigeru were on the boat. When she received the news that that girl had jumped on the boat with them, she was infuriated. But at the same time she realized she couldn't do anything. She knew that if she tried to separate them again her son would leave her. Even all the wealth and success the Doumyouji name promised couldn't keep him by her side. It was either let him be with her or lose him forever. And she understood that when she saw the engagement rings.
During the five months they were away she had been thinking of what to do. She treated this as a business deal and as such she knew that she had to appease the other party as well as having an advantage.
Kaede looked at Tsuksuhi. "If you insist on marrying my son and enter the Doumyouji family, there are a few things you will have to learn. For one, the Eisei training that every kid goes through, you will have to take for two hours after school ends. They will start at 5 pm. These will be private classes, in which you are the only student. I have already arranged everything, and class will start next week."
Kaede handed Tsukushi the schedule.
Monday: English Tuesday: Tea Ceremony & Flower Arrangement Wednesday: How to be a Perfect Hostess Thursday: Piano Friday: Tennis Saturday: Karate Sunday: Violin
Tsukushi looked over the schedule, which didn't seem that bad to her. Some of the classes she wanted to take, like piano and violin. She always wanted to learn how to play some instruments but never had the chance because her family never had extra money to spare. The classes she knew she'd hate were her Tuesday and Wednesday classes. She shuddered. They were going to be hell.
Tsukasa was looking over Tsukushi's schedule. It was like his Eisei schedule when he was a kid except he had more classes. Maybe his mother was finally accepting their relationship.
Kaede turned her attention to Tsukasa. "While she's taking her classes you will learn about the company. The original plan was for you to learn when you graduate but I realized that might be too late. Your father intends to name you as heir when you turn 21, it's better for you to know more about the company before then."
Tsukasa and Tsukushi looked at each other. The same thought going through their minds, these were conditions they could accept.
"Both of you will have to graduate college with a bachelor's degree. In return I give you my word that I won't interfere in any way with your relationship in these six years. And when she graduates from college if you two still want to marry I'll give you my blessings."
Tsukasa looked at Tsukushi. Tsukushi nodded, giving her consent. "We'll accept your conditions."
Kaede got up from her seat. "I will be watching both of you. I don't want any ignominious acts affecting our name."
Tsukushi and Tsukasa got up. They didn't say a word as they watched Kaede leave.
Tsukushi sighed in relief. "It seems your mother finally realized she can't break us apart."
Tsukasa smiled wide, "I knew she'd see it our way." He proceeded to go back to the party.
Tsukushi rolled her eyes. She knew Tsukasa didn't think that way when he first saw his mom. Tsukushi was happy it all worked out. She knew Tsukasa wanted his mother's approval but would never bow down to her.
Tsukushi looked at her engagement ring. It was starting to feel like it was going to last.
********
Kaede was in her limousine, papers for her morning meeting in her hand. She was staring at it, but realized she couldn't concentrate. Disgusted with herself, she put the papers back into her folder and closed her eyes.
She realized that that chit had changed since she last saw her at the mansion. She couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was but there was an air of confidence that wasn't there before. Could it have been the five months on the cruise? Probably. That's why she didn't want them to be together. It was going to be harder to break them apart.
Right now all she could hope for was that this was just a fling, an infatuation. That's why she stipulated that they couldn't marry until the girl graduated. She knew that if she said ten years Tsukasa would have been angry and she would have lost. But by disguising it and instead of saying six years, she said until the girl graduated, this made it more reasonable to them. She's been in the business world too long to not know how to adjust her wording.
She knew that this wasn't foolproof. If they really loved each other and that girl wasn't a gold digger she expected, then it would be very probable that this girl would be her daughter-in-law. That's why she arranged the Eisei training. It was a very weak attempt to mold this girl to be like her daughter. You just can't turn scrap metal into gold. But, she suppose, it was better than not trying.
Kaede sighed silently. She had hoped to arrange a prosperous marriage between her son and one of the daughters of her partners. Life never plays out the way you expect. Kaede scoffed, she knew the reality of this first hand.
She remembered when she was Tsukasa's age. She was the same as him, foolhardy and naïve. She was sheltered and spoiled by her parents. She had fallen in love in college with a poor boy. She loved him, willing to do anything for him, even defy her parents and anyone else that stood in the way of them being together.
But it turns out the boy didn't feel the same about her. Her parents had went to him and paid him off. It turns out their love was worth less than the half a million dollars and the medical tuition at Harvard he accepted. She hated her parents for offering the money and most of all she hated him. It was only after a week that he left her that she realized she was pregnant.
She did the only thing she could do - she had an abortion. She didn't want a baby that had the blood of that scumbag. And she knew her parents would never let her have the baby. It would cause a scandal. She secretly went to an abortion clinic. She didn't regret having an abortion.
A few years after that incident her parents arranged her to be married to the Doumyouji heir. She had accepted it without arguing. She knew that if she had listened to her parents from the beginning she wouldn't have been deceived and heartbroken. From then on she hardened herself. To her, all poor people were greedy bastards. They jump at the first chance at easy money.
That had been the case when Tsubaki had fallen in love with a law student. She knew then and there she couldn't let Tsubaki do what she would later regret. She'd rather her daughter hate her than let her go through what she went through. And in the end she was right in her judgment. She paid the boy half a million and he accepted it eagerly, without a second thought to her daughter.
Then she proceeded to arrange a marriage for her daughter. She wasn't a heartless mother. She didn't want her daughter to be in a loveless marriage. She had her pick of son-in-laws. After all, who wouldn't want to be connected with the Doumyouji name? She spent months talking to potential suitors. She didn't simply want a man who had wealth and prestige. He had to love her daughter. She had finally found him at party she attended with Tsubaki. She noticed he was looking at her daughter, but it wasn't the sort of sick way that signaled obsession. It was more like a longing. Afterwards she sought him out and within a month they were introduced and a year later they were getting ready to be married.
She felt so proud of herself. Although her daughter never looked at her the same way again she knew that she did the right thing. If she had left her daughter alone to do whatever she wanted, she knew she'd feel even worse.
She had been convinced that it was the same for Tsukasa. Everyone approaches the Doumyouji family for a chance in getting their wealth. But this time things didn't work out as she expected. She offered them large sums of money to only have it refused, and they had the nerve to look insulted!
Kaede scoffed, they probably only rejected it because they saw the chance for more. (AN: Tsukushi's parents.) She didn't believe that they were as righteous as they seemed. Everybody could be bought at a price. It doesn't have to be money, but there was always something. But she realized there was nothing more she could do. She hoped that within these six years that chit will reveal her true self, and Tsukasa will realize that she had been right all these years.
**************************************************************************** ****************
What do you think? I've always wondered if there was some reason Kaede kept trying to bribe Tsukushi with money, so this was my attempt at an explanation. Seems feasible right? Everyone wanted some Kaede bashing, sorry I couldn't oblige.
Did everyone read the ending of the HYD manga? I can't believe it really ended, after so many years! There were rumors that there might by more and that Kamio-sensei is just taking a break. I hope so!
SAT Word of the Chapter: Denigrate - (v.) to slur someone's reputation; attack one's character
Plebian - (n.) a vulgar or coarse person
Baleful - (adj.) harmful; with evil intentions
Ignominious - (adj.) disgraceful and dishonorable
**************************************************************************** ****************
Part II: The Morning After
Chapter 2: Kaede's Proposal
**************************************************************************** ****************
Everyone froze at the sight of the formidable woman in front of them even Kazuya and Yuuki who were unaware of who the woman was felt the sudden increase in tension.
Tsukasa was the first to speak. "What are you doing here?!" Tsukasa said angrily. He couldn't forgive his mother for using every underhanded way she could think of to break him and Tsukushi apart.
Kaede raised her hand, as if she was trying to put up a barrier so that Tsukasa's anger wouldn't reach her. "I'm leaving for New York in the morning, but before then I would like to speak to you and that plebian you insist on being with."
Tsukasa wasn't going to take his mother denigrating Tsukushi. He opened his mouth to yell at his mother when he felt a hand on his arm, holding him back. He turned and saw Tsukushi shaking her head. Tsukasa let it slide this time.
Kaede had turned around and walked out of the room, confident that they will follow her. Warily, Tsukasa and Tsukushi did follow. They held hands, as if sharing their strength. They weren't going to let anyone tear them apart.
They were brought to a private conference room. Kaede sat behind the mohagany desk while Tsukasa and Tsukushi sat on plush red chairs in front of the desk. They waited for her to speak first.
"I'm willing to let you two be together-"
Tsukushi held her breath and thought can it be this easy? After trying to break them apart time and again, is she really going to let them be together?
"If you agree to my conditions."
"We don't have to agree to anything!" Tsukasa retorted. He was sure that they were baleful conditions.
"You should be grateful I'm even offering conditions. Without the Doumyouji wealth and power backing you, you're nothing. How do you think you can have everything you want at the snap of your fingers? If you weren't the only son I have, I would have disowned you a long time ago."
Tsukasa scoffed, "I don't consider that a blessing."
Tsukushi knew this was going nowhere. Neither of them would be the one to back down first. "What are your conditions?"
Tsukasa looked at her with a bewildered expression, shocked that Tsukushi would be willing to compromise with her.
Tsukushi tried to explain herself, "We might as well listen to her. You don't even know what she wants, and besides we don't have to follow it just because we heard it."
Tsukasa quieted down, unable to refute her logic.
Inwardly, Kaede acknowledged that this woman would have a lot of power if she entered the Doumyouji family. Although Kaede knew she wasn't close with her son, she knew his every action and thought. Throughout his childhood, nobody has been able to stop him when he's angry, not even his closest friends, who were as strong as him. But this girl, one with no wealth or charm could. She had been keeping a close eye on them with her spies and realized that this girl was going to be the dangerous element that would destroy the hold she had on her kids. She tried every way possible to break them apart and she thought she finally succeeded when Tsukasa and Shigeru were on the boat. When she received the news that that girl had jumped on the boat with them, she was infuriated. But at the same time she realized she couldn't do anything. She knew that if she tried to separate them again her son would leave her. Even all the wealth and success the Doumyouji name promised couldn't keep him by her side. It was either let him be with her or lose him forever. And she understood that when she saw the engagement rings.
During the five months they were away she had been thinking of what to do. She treated this as a business deal and as such she knew that she had to appease the other party as well as having an advantage.
Kaede looked at Tsuksuhi. "If you insist on marrying my son and enter the Doumyouji family, there are a few things you will have to learn. For one, the Eisei training that every kid goes through, you will have to take for two hours after school ends. They will start at 5 pm. These will be private classes, in which you are the only student. I have already arranged everything, and class will start next week."
Kaede handed Tsukushi the schedule.
Monday: English Tuesday: Tea Ceremony & Flower Arrangement Wednesday: How to be a Perfect Hostess Thursday: Piano Friday: Tennis Saturday: Karate Sunday: Violin
Tsukushi looked over the schedule, which didn't seem that bad to her. Some of the classes she wanted to take, like piano and violin. She always wanted to learn how to play some instruments but never had the chance because her family never had extra money to spare. The classes she knew she'd hate were her Tuesday and Wednesday classes. She shuddered. They were going to be hell.
Tsukasa was looking over Tsukushi's schedule. It was like his Eisei schedule when he was a kid except he had more classes. Maybe his mother was finally accepting their relationship.
Kaede turned her attention to Tsukasa. "While she's taking her classes you will learn about the company. The original plan was for you to learn when you graduate but I realized that might be too late. Your father intends to name you as heir when you turn 21, it's better for you to know more about the company before then."
Tsukasa and Tsukushi looked at each other. The same thought going through their minds, these were conditions they could accept.
"Both of you will have to graduate college with a bachelor's degree. In return I give you my word that I won't interfere in any way with your relationship in these six years. And when she graduates from college if you two still want to marry I'll give you my blessings."
Tsukasa looked at Tsukushi. Tsukushi nodded, giving her consent. "We'll accept your conditions."
Kaede got up from her seat. "I will be watching both of you. I don't want any ignominious acts affecting our name."
Tsukushi and Tsukasa got up. They didn't say a word as they watched Kaede leave.
Tsukushi sighed in relief. "It seems your mother finally realized she can't break us apart."
Tsukasa smiled wide, "I knew she'd see it our way." He proceeded to go back to the party.
Tsukushi rolled her eyes. She knew Tsukasa didn't think that way when he first saw his mom. Tsukushi was happy it all worked out. She knew Tsukasa wanted his mother's approval but would never bow down to her.
Tsukushi looked at her engagement ring. It was starting to feel like it was going to last.
********
Kaede was in her limousine, papers for her morning meeting in her hand. She was staring at it, but realized she couldn't concentrate. Disgusted with herself, she put the papers back into her folder and closed her eyes.
She realized that that chit had changed since she last saw her at the mansion. She couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was but there was an air of confidence that wasn't there before. Could it have been the five months on the cruise? Probably. That's why she didn't want them to be together. It was going to be harder to break them apart.
Right now all she could hope for was that this was just a fling, an infatuation. That's why she stipulated that they couldn't marry until the girl graduated. She knew that if she said ten years Tsukasa would have been angry and she would have lost. But by disguising it and instead of saying six years, she said until the girl graduated, this made it more reasonable to them. She's been in the business world too long to not know how to adjust her wording.
She knew that this wasn't foolproof. If they really loved each other and that girl wasn't a gold digger she expected, then it would be very probable that this girl would be her daughter-in-law. That's why she arranged the Eisei training. It was a very weak attempt to mold this girl to be like her daughter. You just can't turn scrap metal into gold. But, she suppose, it was better than not trying.
Kaede sighed silently. She had hoped to arrange a prosperous marriage between her son and one of the daughters of her partners. Life never plays out the way you expect. Kaede scoffed, she knew the reality of this first hand.
She remembered when she was Tsukasa's age. She was the same as him, foolhardy and naïve. She was sheltered and spoiled by her parents. She had fallen in love in college with a poor boy. She loved him, willing to do anything for him, even defy her parents and anyone else that stood in the way of them being together.
But it turns out the boy didn't feel the same about her. Her parents had went to him and paid him off. It turns out their love was worth less than the half a million dollars and the medical tuition at Harvard he accepted. She hated her parents for offering the money and most of all she hated him. It was only after a week that he left her that she realized she was pregnant.
She did the only thing she could do - she had an abortion. She didn't want a baby that had the blood of that scumbag. And she knew her parents would never let her have the baby. It would cause a scandal. She secretly went to an abortion clinic. She didn't regret having an abortion.
A few years after that incident her parents arranged her to be married to the Doumyouji heir. She had accepted it without arguing. She knew that if she had listened to her parents from the beginning she wouldn't have been deceived and heartbroken. From then on she hardened herself. To her, all poor people were greedy bastards. They jump at the first chance at easy money.
That had been the case when Tsubaki had fallen in love with a law student. She knew then and there she couldn't let Tsubaki do what she would later regret. She'd rather her daughter hate her than let her go through what she went through. And in the end she was right in her judgment. She paid the boy half a million and he accepted it eagerly, without a second thought to her daughter.
Then she proceeded to arrange a marriage for her daughter. She wasn't a heartless mother. She didn't want her daughter to be in a loveless marriage. She had her pick of son-in-laws. After all, who wouldn't want to be connected with the Doumyouji name? She spent months talking to potential suitors. She didn't simply want a man who had wealth and prestige. He had to love her daughter. She had finally found him at party she attended with Tsubaki. She noticed he was looking at her daughter, but it wasn't the sort of sick way that signaled obsession. It was more like a longing. Afterwards she sought him out and within a month they were introduced and a year later they were getting ready to be married.
She felt so proud of herself. Although her daughter never looked at her the same way again she knew that she did the right thing. If she had left her daughter alone to do whatever she wanted, she knew she'd feel even worse.
She had been convinced that it was the same for Tsukasa. Everyone approaches the Doumyouji family for a chance in getting their wealth. But this time things didn't work out as she expected. She offered them large sums of money to only have it refused, and they had the nerve to look insulted!
Kaede scoffed, they probably only rejected it because they saw the chance for more. (AN: Tsukushi's parents.) She didn't believe that they were as righteous as they seemed. Everybody could be bought at a price. It doesn't have to be money, but there was always something. But she realized there was nothing more she could do. She hoped that within these six years that chit will reveal her true self, and Tsukasa will realize that she had been right all these years.
**************************************************************************** ****************
What do you think? I've always wondered if there was some reason Kaede kept trying to bribe Tsukushi with money, so this was my attempt at an explanation. Seems feasible right? Everyone wanted some Kaede bashing, sorry I couldn't oblige.
Did everyone read the ending of the HYD manga? I can't believe it really ended, after so many years! There were rumors that there might by more and that Kamio-sensei is just taking a break. I hope so!