Author's Note: Only a few more chapters before the end of the story :O Finally I finish this damn thing... hopefully under one year. This will be the first fanfic I ever complete then!
Minor editting again because I've noticed I made some boo boos. Oh dear.
Disclaimer: I own nothing! Except the plot. :)
Family Planning
By Onkiu
Chapter Fifteen: Pre-emptive strike
"Is that so?" said Kaede, nonplussed. She did not look surprised. It was as if she knew about this anyway.
"Yes," stated Tsubaki staunchly, crossing her arms in a rather defiant way. "Kicking her out of the house will be akin to kicking a Domyouji family member out!"
"No, it's okay, sister..." muttered Tsukushi weakly. Kaede's presence was very intimidating, and it simply made Tsukushi feel very small. All the adrenaline from today's 'mission' had been drained from her. "I'll leave. It's not like I really want to stay here with your mother around..."
"Stay, Tsukushi," said Tsubaki gently. "I'll handle this. Just go to your room. Tsukasa, take her there."
"C'mon," snapped Domouji tersely. He grabbed Tsukushi's hand and, before leaving, turned and gave his mother a scathing look. "You're not making her leave. If she's leaving, so am I."
Once she was inside her room, Tsukushi felt a little calmer. It was Kaede's presence that was so daunting, so frightening. She was like a nightmare bottled into the slim figure of a middle aged woman.
"Are you alright, Makino?" said Domyouji, giving her a look of concern. He sat her down on her bed and held her in a comfortable position.
"I'm fine," lied Tsukushi. "To be honest, I don't want to stay here at all."
"No, I want you to stay," said Domyouji, grasping her hand, as if his word was the be all and end all.
"You know, with her SPs around, she'll find out the truth sooner or later," sighed Tsukushi, patting her (fake) stomach.
"It's actually safer here," reassured Domyouji. "If you left immediately, that would be more suspicious."
Tsukushi smiled faintly back at Domyouji, which in turn made he flustered. Kaede's sudden arrival back in Japan shocked her. She hadn't expected her to be here so soon. Knowing her, she would most definitely increase surveillance around Tsukushi, and her secret would soon be divulged.
But, wasn't the whole point of the plan to get Kaede to approve of their relationship, even if it were by such sneaky means? Wasn't this why she had been pretending to be pregnant all along?
What if Kaede really did approve of their relationship? Would she have to marry Domyouji immediately? What about her future? Would she still get to attend university, as had been her dream all these years? Get a job? Be independent, and reliant on herself?
Tsukushi's worrying train of thoughts was broken by Tsubaki knocking gently on her door.
"Can I come in, Tsukushi, dear?"
Tsubaki came in and sat down next to Tsukushi.
"I've fixed up the mess for now. Tama and I managed to coerce her into letting you stay here. Tama's still lecturing Mother as we speak."
"Thanks," said Tsukushi softly. "But you don't need to go to all that trouble. I'd rather go back home."
"You're just scared of Mother, aren't you?" said Tsubaki. "I can tell. You're just like me. I was scared of her too. But you've got to overcome that fear, because you'll be related to her for the rest of your life."
Tsukushi wished Tsubaki wasn't so assured that she'd marry Domyouji, because she'd be most heartbroken if their relationship failed, or if they weren't allowed to marry.
"I think you need to get out of the house a bit. You want to get away from her, don't you? Don't worry, she's barely at home anyway," said Tsubaki reassuringly. "Oh, and your leave of absence ends today anyway. You're going back to school tomorrow."
Tsukushi felt that she'd rather face the collective horrible girls at Eitoku than to face Domyouji Kaede alone.
"Nishida. What has the investigation turned up?"
Kaede stared coolly at her underling, leaning back on her chair as if it were a throne. Her fingers were interlocked on her desk, and she looked much like an empress receiving a report from her general.
"Your majesty," said Nishida. "I'm sorry- I mean, President. - this was what the SPs have gathered. The news that Miss Makino was pregnant happened a few months ago. Here is the report."
Kaede skimmed through it and said, "Continue."
"After the first report, Miss Makino, despite living inside the Domyouji residence, did not opt for any checkups from our own physician. Instead, the young master took her to a small suburban clinic owned by a medical practitioner called Nishikaido. The fact that the young master did not take her to see our own world class, in house physician is deemed very suspicious by my team and I."
"Nishikaido?" murmured Kaede. She had heard that name from somewhere before, but it was not in her nature to remember the details of small fry like that; unless, of course, they were as annoying as thorns on her side like that Makino tramp was.
"When we looked through the past expenditure records of the young master, we noticed a very strange entry. Usually, his spending habits are rather frivolous, but this purchase from his gold card was of an amount far below his predicted spending. When we traced this, it was found to be a costume shop. The shop owner, upon the offering of an undisclosed sum of money, told us everything. He says he remembers it clearly; four handsome young men and a young girl came in to purchase costumes for a nativity scene despite it being nowhere near Christmas. In the end, they only purchased a highly customised tummy with very detailed specifics, and left him a huge tip. When we asked how much the tip was, it was of an amount no commoner could ever afford."
"Continue," stated Kaede.
"A week ago, Miss Makino made it into international headlines as the victim of a hostage drama. She was released and neither her nor her foetus was hurt. However, this is where the coincidence gets uncanny. The doctor in charge of her at the hospital was the very same doctor, Nishikaido, that she had been seeing before. On top of that, when we paid his secretary, Maya, for any more strange information, she told us that his clinic was broken into the very night of Miss Makino's admission. Strangely enough, nothing of value was stolen, and the very next day, all samples, save for one, mysteriously reappeared. The missing samples belonged to a woman who, when asked to check, was found to be a pregnant patient of Dr. Nishikaido's."
Kaede made no answer this time. Instead, she read the report in a more thorough manner.
"Any orders, President?" asked Nishida.
"You are to continue the investigation. Put Miss Makino and Tsukasa under twenty four hour surveillance."
"As you wish, President. We have positioned some SPs outside Eitoku."
Kaede's presence at the Domyouji mansion made returning to Eitoku a very welcoming experience for Tsukushi, despite being bombarded by many of her so-called 'new friends' all enquiring on the status of her baby, the hostage drama and Domyouji himself.
"How is your baby? Still well?"
"Did you really get rescued in a helicopter?"
"Can I have your autograph?"
Tsukushi did not feel at all comfortable being asked so many questions. Had her fighting spirit not been sapped by Kaede's sudden reappearance back into her life, she would have made sarcastic and witty remarks back at all these plastic friends.
Rui accompanied her quietly by her side, reasonably reprimanding those who disturbed her. Not to be outdone by this friend and rival, whom Domyouji still believed to be potent competition, he took to the other extreme of defending Tsukushi: the preemptive strike. Rather than wait for people to disturb her, he threatened to beat up anyone who dared to go within one metre of Tsukushi, or say anything remotely like a word to her.
He did not like the fact that all these other people were sharing his Tsukushi's attention. And so, like a diligent guard dog, he made sure to wait outside Tsukushi's classroom five minutes before school ended so he can fend off any attacks from those troublesome and nosy students. Right on the dot, just as the bell rang, he charged straight into the classroom and whisked Tsukushi out before the students rising from their seats could make their way towards her to inundate her with more useless questions.
"Good afternoon, cla-" said Tsukushi's teacher. He was interrupted when Domyouji charged straight in, grabbed Tsukushi by the hand and charged straight back out, knocking over tables, chairs and students along the way.
"Hey! Hey! What the hell are you doing?" demanded Tsukushi.
"Taking you home, of course," snapped Domyouji gruffly, as if escorting a girl home by dragging her around roughly by the wrists were the norm.
"Domyouji! It hurts! Let go!" cried Tsukushi.
He finally let go when they reached the school gates.
"Good. We're safe," he muttered, looking around at the empty school gates.
"Safe from what?" asked Tsukushi, concerned. Could it be that there are SPs here?
"From Rui, of course!" growled Domyouji.
Oblivious to Domyouji's jealousy, Tsukushi wondered why on earth Domyouji should be so afraid to see Hanazawa Rui. It was no surprise that Domyouji should jump in fright when suddenly, the said Hanazawa Rui appeared with Soujiro and Akira.
"Woah, woah, steady," said Soujiro. "No need to be so excited whenever you see me. I know I'm handsome, but I don't swing that way."
"What are you doing here?!" demanded Domyouji, as if Soujiro had no right to be at the school gates.
"We go to this school too, Tsukasa," reminded Rui. "Not just you and Makino."
"Anyway, I wouldn't be leaving the school right now if I were you," said Soujiro smugly, as if he knew something that Domyouji obviously did not.
"Why not?" said Domyouji irritably, having spent all morning trying to pull Tsukushi away from Rui's magnetism, which was now all in vain seeing that Rui chose to reappear at the very moment he was about to leave. He was very eager to get Tsukushi away from Rui's allure.
"Look through the gates and peer towards your left. Don't make it so obvious though," murmured Akira casually, "See that black car there? Do you recognise it?"
"That's one of our SPs!" gasped Domyouji.
"That's right," said Akira casually, as if they were having a chat. "They've been here all morning."
"How dare she do this to me!" roared Domyouji. "I'm going to go home and teach her a lesson!"
"Hold on a sec there, Tsukasa," said Soujiro, grabbing Domyouji by the collar before he could charge out and beat the SPs senseless. "Being the handsome genius that I am, I've already thought out a plan for you. We could turn what looks like a horrible dead end into something to our advantage."
Good grief, thought Tsukushi. I really wonder how being handsome has anything to do with his genius...
"Actually, Rui and I made the most contribution to it," corrected Akira. "All Soujiro did was see that there were a few SPs posted outside the school."
"See here, Tsukasa," said Rui. "These SPs were probably ordered by your mother to monitor your movements and report any oddities to her. We're going to stage a brilliant act to prove beyond dispute that Tsukushi is indeed pregnant with your child. I am sure your mother will trust what her SPs report to her, and if they see with their own eyes that she is pregnant, they will report that and leave Tsukushi alone. We will show them everything to say that Tsukushi is pregnant."
"And how are we supposed to report that to them in a discrete way?" said Tsukushi. "I'm not going to dance around the street singing 'Hello, I'm pregnant!'"
"This is where the three most gorgeous geniuses ever to grace the lawns of Eitoku will sacrifice their afternoons with their girlfriends to help you," declared Soujiro importantly. "While you were slaving around on a meaningless curriculum, we've been putting our creativity to use and come up with a foolproof plan guaranteed to trick everyone into believing your pregnancy."
"Right," sighed Tsukushi, rolling her eyes.
"Our plan is for you to let them follow you, and while pretending to not know that they are watching your every move, you prove beyond dispute that Makino is pregnant, and in turn, they will report it to your mother so you can marry her," said Rui. "If everything goes well, they'll only discover that Makino was not pregnant after your marriage, which, by then, should be too late to change."
"Tsukasa, the first thing I suggest is for you to take Tsukushi out on a date," said Soujiro. "May I recommend to you this Italian restaurant I went to a few nights ago?"
"No," said Domyouji.
"Take this." said Akira, putting something into Domyouji's hand. Domyouji inspected the strange looking thing with wonder. "Knowing you, you're going to do something stupid if we're not here to guide you. It's a miniature two way communication device that my mother bought from Europe. She was going to use it to have direct communication with my father in Spain, but then she realised that those signals won't be able to travel over a few thousand kilometres of ocean. Let's test if this thing works before you take off with it."
Akira put the strange device into his ear as Domyouji did the same with its twin.
"Hello, Tsukasa. Can you hear me? Testing, testing, one, two, three!"
"I can hear you loud and clear, because you're standing right in front of me," said Domyouji flatly.
"Ooops, sorry," said Akira sheepishly. He walked across the lawn so that he was out of Domyouji's earshot. His voice then came through, albeit a sounding a bit more mechanistic due to it being distorted by the little device. "Can you hear me now?"
"Yep. Perfectly fine. Can you hear me?" replied Domyouji.
"Yeah."
"So, Akira, if this can't travel over a few thousand kilometres, how far can it travel?" said Domyouji.
"Five hundred metres," said Akira sheepishly.
"Tell me," muttered Domyouji, "How are you going to communicate with me when this bloody thing can only send signals up when the two devices are only five hundred metres apart?"
"We're going to follow you too," smiled Rui serenely. "I recently got my license, you see."
"Rui, we already said we're getting my chauffer, didn't we?" cried Soujiro, horrified.
"Did we?" said Rui, bemused. "I must've been asleep - I didn't notice."
As directed by the 'handsome genius who knows more tricks than the karma sutra', as Soujiro had proudly called himself, Domyouji and Tsukushi were sent off on a date at the Italian restaurant that Soujiro had been shamelessly promoting.
They were given time to go ahead so that the SPs could follow them, and in turn, the F3 could follow the SPs so they could keep track of who and where they were. Akira and Soujiro, who claimed credit for most of the plan, were very proud of it indeed - it felt like they were killing two birds with one stone. Not only could they advance their 'absolutely ingenious' plan in which they claim that Makino is pregnant (which, of course, had been Domyouji's idea in the first place), but they also managed to secretly create romantic situations for Tsukushi and Domyouji to be in - without them actually knowing. They were fooling the SPs and their beloved couple at once!
Chuckling with pride, Akira and Soujiro were about call either of their chauffeurs and run off to the front gate when Rui announced that they should go in his car, thereby destroying their very scheme to not go in his car.
"Why are you heading to the front gate?" enquired Rui, oblivious to the fact that they thought of him as a very dangerous driver.
"To wait for my chauffer, of course!" said Soujiro, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Why would you need a chauffer when you have me?" said Rui, again, oblivious.
"You know, as the son of the Hanazawa family, I believe you should not trouble yourself with the menial tasks easily performed by your servants," said Akira sagely, putting his hands on Rui's shoulders and looking him squarely in the eye, as if they were having a father to son talk.
"But I don't mind," said Rui generously.
"Oh, man," muttered Soujiro.
"Where'd you park you car?" asked Akira, hoping it would be so far away that he could complain about the long walking distance and thereby escape getting into Rui's car. He knew for a fact that Eitoku didn't have student carparks as most students were driven to school in limousines anyway.
"In the teacher's carpark, just over there," said Rui, pointing at the carpark adjacent to the lawn.
"Oh, man," muttered Akira.
"Let's go before we lose track of Tsukasa and Makino," suggested Rui.
Akira and Soujiro followed Rui reluctantly, and found themselves more afraid than ever before they even got into his car. Rui's parking skills were obviously nonexistent for his car was not parked neatly into one parking space, but rather, sprawled diagonally across not one, not two, but three spaces.
"Come in," said Rui cheerfully, humming as he unlocked the doors. Impassive Rui looking so happy was not a good sign. Akira and Soujiro gave each other looks, as if to say "You first."
Finally, Akira caved in and got on at the back, leaving the dangerous front seat for Soujiro.
"Alright," said Rui, sounding more excited and happier than he had ever sounded before. "Let's go!"
He started up the car and began to maneuver out of his two parking spots. Even though he had such a wide space with which to get himself out, somehow he was unable to manage it without scraping the two cars parked adjacent to his spaces.
"Oops," said Rui, as he bumped the car to his left while reversing.
"Poor Mr. Naruhodou," sighed Akira. "I heard that being a P.E teacher at Eitoku doesn't pay well despite the high fees."
"Oh no," said Rui, as he bumped the car to his right while going forward.
"Poor Mr. Mitsurugi," sighed Soujiro. "I heard that he still had a few repayments left on his new car."
After many twists and turns, Rui finally managed to negotiate his way out of his parking space(s), leaving the two adjacent cars with very noticeable dents to their sides.
"I feel so sorry for them," said Akira.
"I feel more sorry for us," corrected Soujiro.
"I promise I'll write them a cheque to get their cars fixed," said Rui. "Are you ready yet? Let's go!"
Without waiting for their answer, which was obviously going to be a no, he stepped (a bit too hard) on the accelerator, and they sped out of the school - unleashing Rui the dangerous driver and his unwilling allies onto the unsuspecting world.
Next Chapter: The F3 carry out a subplan of their big plan! What happens when they follow the SPs who are following Domyouji and Tsukushi? And with our 'handsome geniuses' being the masterminds of this, what kind of trouble will they stir up? Find out next chapter!
(No, this fic is not dead) :(