Disclaimer: I own nothing! Except the plot. :)

I apologise for the fact that this chapter took so long.

Family Planning

By Onkiu

Chapter Sixteen: I spy

"Arghhh! Rui! Slow down, slow down!" came Akira's scream, loud and clear over the little communication device that was plugged in Domyouji's ear. Domyouji winced.

Rui muttered something incoherent and Domyouji then heard him laugh. To his horror, he heard Soujiro's screams of fear being added to the fray. The noise and the static travelling to his ear were killing him, and he felt the urge to take it off. He stuck his finger into his ear, trying to adjust it.

"What's wrong?" said Tsukushi, noticing the fact that Domyouji's face was contorted into a grimace. They were sitting comfortably inside the restaurant, and upon noticing Domyouji's weird facial expression, she had set aside her menu. "Are they sending you any instructions yet?"

"No," muttered Domyouji, "But it sounds like Rui is torturing Soujiro and Akira. I never thought of him as a sadist."

"Dude! You're going to crash into the car behind us if you reverse any further!" cried Akira.

"I wonder if there is any way to turn of this thing," said Domyouji, "I'm getting a lot of useless feedback."

"Oh man, that's another cheque you have to write out," said Akira. There was some muttering from Soujiro, and again, Akira's voice came over, loud and clear.

"Hello, hello, Tsukasa? Can you hear me?"

"I can hear you perfectly," growled Domyouji. "In fact, I can hear you a bit too perfectly. How was your trip down?"

"It was fine," lied Akira. "Anyway, we got ourselves a nice parking spot in front of your restaurant, so I can see you and Makino perfectly. I'm just going to inform you that I can see one of the SPs heading towards the restaurant. She's a woman with iron grey hair. Watch out for her."

Domyouji turned to the window, and following his cue, Tsukushi turned as well. Parked across the road was Rui's handsome convertible, albeit a little dented and scratched on the side. Soujiro's face was pale and he looked nauseous, and Akira's hair was so windswept that it looked as if he had been on a roller coaster. The only one who looked unscathed was Rui, who beamed in their direction as if nothing had happened.

As predicted by Akira, a woman with iron grey hair came in and got a seat near a few tables away from them.

"Have you ordered anything yet? Remember that pregnant women have to be a bit more particular about what they eat." reminded Akira. There was some muttering from Soujiro and then Akira said, "By the way, Soujiro recommends their wood-fire pizzas. Apparently they're really good."

A waiter came to take their orders. Domyouji asked him in a rather loud voice whether the chef's recommendations were alright for a pregnant woman to eat.

"Yes, it is, sir," replied the waiter stiffly, obviously displeased at the fact that Domyouji would even think that their chef's food should be unfit for a pregnant woman.

"I'll take that then. What do you recommend with regards to wood-fire pizzas?" asked Domyouji. He cleared his throat and then declared in a voice loud and proud enough to be heard by the other patrons, "Oh, by the way - my girlfriend is pregnant."

"It is fine, sir," replied the waiter, again, looking sullen.

"Tsukasa, the key is to be subtle!" reminded Akira. "Stop being so blatantly obvious!"

"Well," reminded Domyouji importantly. "She's not pregnant, but lately, her tummy has been getting this big bulge. I really, really, wonder why this would be."

Tsukushi, who could not hear any of Akira's instructions, gave Domyouji a strange look. What on earth was he doing, declaring three times, and rather loudly too, that she was pregnant? Did they really need to be so blatantly obvious, as if they were truly aware that they were being followed?

She glanced at the woman with the iron grey hair and noticed that she was typing something into her laptop, pretending to not hear anything.

What could she possibly be typing on it? A report about us?

"President," said Nishida. "Our agents have returned with their reports on the activities of the young master and Miss Makino. As planned, at 1400, agents Akagi, Kaji and Katsuragi were stationed outside Eitoku Academy. Our targets, the young master and Miss Makino, appeared before the predicted time of 1500, and we were caught off guard as a result. However, we were able to get our act together quickly, and as a result, we followed them as they headed downtown in a taxi towards Pasta Plus. They went in and agent Akagi followed. She will now present her report."

Agent Akagi, a woman with iron grey hair, sauntered into Domyouji Kaede's office. She bowed at Kaede, and on her invitation, she took a seat across the grand office table from where Kaede was seated. She pulled out her laptop from her case.

"President, I have typed up a report of my observations for you to view at your leisure," said Akagi in a no-nonsense kind of tone. "We arrived at outside the restaurant at 1535, approximately 5 minutes after our targets. To avoid being too conspicuous, it was elected that only I should enter. I managed to negotiate a seat close to the target."

"Continue," said Kaede, glancing at her perfectly manicured fingernails.

"The young master, as expected of him, demanded to know from the waiter whether the food was suitable for a pregnant woman. Initially, I found the fact that he kept on asking and asking, over and over, in a loud voice whether the food was pregnant woman friendly to be rather strange. It almost seems as if he was emphasising the fact that she was pregnant. However, when I ran this observation past Nishida, he said it was nothing to be afraid of. In fact, after thinking through it, I believe it is safe to declare that this observation is not strange at all."

Akagi waited for Kaede's prompt. All Kaede gave was a look that plainly said "Continue."

"You see, the young master has been known to be quite the show-off ever since he was young. It was never like him to be subtle. He liked to show off his new toys, and as he grew older, he liked to show off his power. I believe that nowadays, he likes to show off the one he loves most, and that he makes no qualms about it."

Kaede merely frowned.

"What happened afterwards?"

"The young master ordered quite a few woodfire pizzas, and kept on piling them onto Miss Makino's plate. Miss Makino ate quite a few of them, but without finishing all seven large pizzas, the young master paid and they left. They then proceeded to go shopping at the Hanazawa Co. Department Stores..."

"Now," said Akira. Domyouji and Tsukushi were walking up the grand steps towards Hanazawa Co., a very famous department store chain owned by Hanazawa Rui's family. "I believe it's time that you guys went shopping. A truly expectant couple would already be decorating the baby's room and stocking up nappies."

"How would you know?" snorted Domyouji derisively.

"I speak from exper- I mean, I speak from my ex-girlfriend's experience. She was expecting a baby with her husband and she was all wild about it. Pregnant women are truly beautiful, did you know that? They really glow. Turns out she only wanted to have a fling while her husband was on a business trip, I was so -"

"Okay," Domyouji cut in quickly, before Akira could go into his sad and forlorn story about how he lost his true love. "So where are you guys now?"

"We beat you here. We're already sitting in the cafe on the top floor, so we have a good view of all the shoppers on the floors below us. We'll stake out who the SP is, but it'll be hard. There's too many people shopping here. Is there anything that will distinguish them from the rest of the shoppers?"

"Well, for a start, they always wear suits," said Domyouji.

"Great, that eliminates approximately forty percent of the shoppers here," said Akira dryly.

"And they always wear sunglasses, regardless. It's to hide their identities."

"Now that's easier. Only fools will wear glasses indoors."

Sure enough, as Akira, Soujiro and Rui scanned the crowds five levels below them, they found a man in a dark suit and sunglasses tailing Tsukushi and Domyouji as they snaked around the crowds towards the baby section.

"Aha. We found him," came Akira's triumphant voice over the little earbud stuck in Domyouji's ear. "Behind you, that man with a combover. Does he look familiar?"

"You bet," growled Domyouji, glancing casually backwards. Although his look was nonchalant, Tsukushi noticed that his fists were balled tightly and his stance seemed to be slowly turning towards the SP. It looked as he wanted to turn around suddenly and punch the SP in a surprise attack.

"Don't!" hissed Tsukushi, before Domyouji could do anything stupid and ruin this great opportunity to trick Kaede.

"Keep walking around casually as if you haven't noticed anything," instructed Akira. "Act as though you are really an expectant couple. Go on, hold hands with each other. I've never seen a soon to be mother and father walking so far apart."

"Here," said Domyouji gruffly, thrusting his hand in front of Tsukushi's face.

"What?" said Tsukushi, puzzled by the fact that Domyouji suddenly decided to shove his hand in her face.

"Hold it," commanded Domyouji.

"Hold what?" asked Tsukushi, looking into his empty palm and searching for whatever he wanted her to hold for him.

"My hand, woman!" barked Domyouji. "How dense can you commoners get?!"

"Oh!" cried Tsukushi in her moment of enlightenment. Quickly, she backed away from his hand as if it were radioactive. "Um, you know... I, er... just picked my nose."

"That's okay. I like the feeling of nose picking on my palm," said Domyouji sarcastically, rolling his eyes at her lame excuse. "I don't see why you should be so afraid of holding my hand."

"Because!" hissed Tsukushi. "Your SPs are right behind us!"

She had feelings of deja vu about this. She felt quite uneasy about open displays of affection in public when one of his mother's agents were so close behind them. It brought back those feelings of being preyed upon from the last time that Kaede had increased surveillance around Domyouji in an effort to stop him seeing her.

"This isn't like last time," scowled Domyouji, as he grabbed her hand before she could make up any more excuses as to why she could not hold hands with him. "Last time, she wanted to stop us seeing each other. This time, she wants to find out if we really are together. We're going to convince her, okay?"

"Okay," muttered Tsukushi, her face flushing up as they held hands for the public to see.

Unbeknownst to them, however, this simple instruction had also been part of the plan by the 'handsome geniuses', as Soujiro liked to call himself, Akira, and Rui (who had politely declined such an extravagant title) to create more romantic situations that Domyouji and Tsukushi could get into. Soujiro and Akira, in particular, had noticed for quite some time the appalling lack romance that their favourite couple had shared in their time together. Barely had they held hands together in public, rarely had they kissed without Domyouji forcing himself onto Tsukushi, and never had they even reached home base! They couldn't even eat lunch together at school without feeling awkward!

This was the kind of situation requiring Soujiro and Akira's expertise. Together, they would formulate every imaginable romantic situation to put Tsukushi and Domyouji through, and with enough of those, they will surely make a baby for themselves! They will have plenty of romance. They will build up on it step by step, and they will get into the mood for love, and then - voila! A baby! It had been the truth all along then. And with that, there would be no need to go through all these fake tummies and whatnot!

Although Soujiro had originally intended for them to have a romantic lunch at the restaurant where he had won many girls' hearts, it had been a failure. Tsukushi had been far to strung up about being spied upon, whilst Domyouji had been trying too hard to make the fact that Tsukushi was pregnant obvious to the SPs spying on them. But now, to finally see the fruits of their labour bloom! What a wonderful sight! But somehow, something just seemed amiss here.

They were seated five levels above Tsukushi and Domyouji, Tsukushi was blushing so furiously that even Soujiro and Akira could see it that far up as if it were a traffic light.

"Embarrassment wasn't really the reaction we were expecting her to have," muttered Soujiro darkly. "It should've been more like..."

"Oh, Tsukasaaa-samaaa! I am so very frightened that there is that scary SP with a combover following us!" cried Akira in a falsetto voice, and thus beginning the infamous Soujiro-and-Akira skit.

"Don't worry, my beloved weed," cried Soujiro reassuringly, putting his arm around Akira as Akira beamed lovingly at Soujiro, hand on his chest. Soujiro gently flicked some loose strands of hair away from Akira's face. "I will stake my life to protect you and our child. Never fear, for Tsukasa is here!"

"Oh Tsukasa! You are so manly. You must be a beast," purred Akira.

"You'd bet I am," growled Soujiro seductively. "Want me to show you the extent of my power?"

"That kind of situation borders on fiction," said Rui, blinking. "I really cannot see either of them acting as such."

"To be honest, I can't see either of them doing that either," said Soujiro.

"It's always good to dream," sighed Akira, pulling away from Soujiro.

Five levels below them, Domyouji had heard enough of the Akira's part of the skit from the little two way headset to gather enough information into what the trio was up to.

"I'll kill you," he hissed, as he and Tsukushi browsed around the baby section, her hand held firmly inside his bigger one.

"Hmm?" said Tsukushi, turning away from the baby's clothes.

"Nothing," said Domyouji, quickly flashing her a smile before whispering back into the small microphone, "You'd better make sure you lock all your doors and windows tonight."

"What's wrong, Domyouji?" asked Tsukushi, looking in his direction worriedly. She had never seen him talking to himself before.

"Nothing," repeated Domyouji, feeling around his head, trying to find a way to switch it off, though it was to no avail.

"Alright..." said Tsukushi, though her look plainly said she was still questioning it. But pushing such worrying thoughts as Domyouji's sanity aside, she was starting to feel at ease with such a public display of affection as she deemed holding hands to be. In fact, having his fingers interlocked with hers was so reassuring. She felt so secure, with his hands wrapped around hers in a protective manner. Even the SPs she knew were tailing them could not destroy how safe she felt to be with him.

Tsukushi was feeling less self conscious, and was beginning to enjoy this simple date more and more.

"Hey, look at this, Domyouji!" said Tsukushi, grabbing a tiny set of baby's clothes. "Isn't this cute?"

"Sort of," said Domyouji gruffly. "Not as cute as you, though."

"Ha ha ha," said Tsukushi sarcastically, though she couldn't help but feel a little amused at the way he could compliment her in such an insulting fashion - comparing her to baby's clothes!

"Hey, I was being serious!" said Domyouji, offended. "But this piece of clothing has got to be worth more than what your whole family earns in a month."

"Shut up," said Tsukushi. "I know I'm poor, so you can stop rubbing it in."

Simply browsing through the displays at an upper class department store was the type of date that Tsukushi had always dreamed of having with Domyouji. Nothing fancy - just dating the good old commoner way. Secretly, she felt she owed one to Soujiro and Akira for this. Had it not been for them purposely setting them up like this, she would otherwise have a hard time trying to convince him to go on dates like these.

They had so much fun looking at baby's clothes, baby's toys and all other sorts of unnecessary paraphernalia related to babies that she nearly forgot that they were being spied upon by a man with a combover who was pretending to be interested in nappies.

It just wasn't worth worrying about right now, thought Tsukushi, as she flicked through a book of baby's names. Better to enjoy it now while it lasts. I wouldn't usually get opportunities like this.

"So, what should we call our 'child'?" she asked, as she flashed some names past Domyouji for his approval.

"Well," Domyouji said thoughtfully. "I believe it should keep to the tradition of naming in the Domyouji family. My sister's name is Tsubaki, and mine's Tsukasa. Do you see a pattern there?"

"You want it to be Tsu-something, right?" replied Tsukushi.

"That's it. That's the naming tradition that has been in our family. In addition to that, your name is Tsukushi. It makes so much sense have our child's name to be Tsu-something too."

"How about..." said Tsukushi, flicking through the pages trying to find a name that satisfied their criteria, though they couldn't. Most names were too common, too bland. "... how about something unique?"

"Like?"

"Tsunami?"

"Don't be stupid," scowled Tsukasa, "Our kid isn't some kind of disaster."

"I think it's pretty unique," said Tsukushi stoutly. "Domyouji Tsunami. Has very forceful ring to it, doesn't it?"

They progressively wound their way around the baby's section, looking at all sorts of baby products. At Akira's convincing that real parents-to-be would be stocking up baby supplies in the months leading up to the birth, Domyouji suddenly felt the need to stock up on nappies and other baby hygiene products.

Tsukushi, having lived a life being thrifty, tried to urge him not to spend so much money on products for a baby that didn't even exist with comments such as the fact that they wouldn't know how big the baby will be and therefore what size nappies or clothing they would need for it, or which brand is beter. In response to Tsukushi's comment, Domyouji proceeded to buy out the whole of Hanazawa Co's baby department stock so that at the time of birth, regardless of whatever size the baby would be, they would have something suitable for it.

Tsukushi couldn't help but feel pained at the way he was wasting his money. The money that he had just spent buying out everything Hanazawa Co owned in the baby department (including its very expensive furniture) could have been better spent to pay her way into university...

Damn rich people, she thought.

"... and it is here at Hanazawa Co. Department Stores that our second SP, Kaji, observed their behaviour," finished Agent Akagi. "I will now hand over this briefing to him."

A man with a combover walked into the room where Kaede was seated most pompously on her president's chair. He gave her low bow before beginning his report.

"Good evening, President," said Agent Kaji, as he was better known. "I am here to present my report on my observations of the young master's and Miss Makino's behaviour today. We left the pizza parlour and proceeded to Hanazawa Co, where I took over Agent Akagi's duties in observing them. Initially, Miss Makino seemed to be very shy, as she initially refused to hold his hands. After the young master grabbed her hand, however, they proceeded to browse through items for their child."

Kaede made no reply.

"They looked at different clothes and tried finding a name for their baby. Moreover, because Miss Makino was indecisive about which products were suitable for the child, the young master proceeded to buy out the whole stock so that she could try them on the baby at her own leisure."

"Anything odd with their behaviour?" said Kaede. "I need not hear this utter nonsense."

"Apart from being shy about holding his hand at first, I believe there is nothing strange to be concerned about," said Agent Kaji. "Her shyness may have been derived from being previously spied upon and their apparent lack of public affection. Also, I did not believe that they were aware of my tailing them. They went about shopping as natural, in a way that I have seen many expectant couples do."

"Useless," replied Kaede. "My intuition tells me that there is something profoundly odd about this. Do you not believe that an expectant couple would have done their research as to which baby products would be appropriate?"

"Well, yes, but knowing the young master's extravagant behaviour, he certainly seems to be the type to buy out everything without thinking of the consequences," stated Agent Kaji reasonably.

Kaede merely paused for a minute, almost as if considering whether to dismiss this useless agent, but decided against it.

"Continue," she said.

"After their uneventful time shopping, they proceeded to go to a maternity wear boutique..."

"I don't see why we need to buy clothes like this," said Tsukushi, as she and Domyouji stood outside the grand doors of a designer boutique specialising in maternity wear.

"Perhaps it's because a pregnant woman's stomach may get bigger?" snickered Domyouji. "You shouldn't be able to fit into your school uniform a few months from now."

"No, I meant that we don't need to get such expensive clothes," stated Tsukushi. "I'd much rather get more affordable clothes from a cheap shop since I'm only going to wear it for a few months."

"No future member of the Domyouji is going to dress in cheap clothes," declared Domyouji. "Let's go."

He pushed open the double doors of the upmarket boutique and was instantly greeted by a pretty salesperson. Domyouji introduced himself and was given a reception fit for a visiting dignitary of a foreign country. Consequently, Tsukushi was treated as if she were a queen. Salespersons rushed back and forth, bringing her gorgeous pieces of maternity wear and tried helping her try them on (Tsukushi had politely declined all offer of help for fear of them seeing her fake tummy) whilst Domyouji lounged on a comfy armchair, sipping his complimentary coffee while waiting for Tsukushi.

"Like the shop?" came Akira's voice over the little device. "My ex-girlfriend got her clothes here when she had her son."

"It's okay," said Domyouji noncommittally. "Not like I've ever gone shopping for eternity wear before."

"You mean maternity wear?" said Akira. "Anyway, we're parked outside the shop, just across the street. See us?"

Domyouji turned to the window and saw Akira give him a small wave.

"Yeah. Don't make it so obvious though."

"Sorry," replied Akira sheepishly. "Anyway, we've found your SPs for you. She's sitting in that black car parked directly in front of the shop. It's a good thing that this is a small place, because she can't enter it without making herself plainly obvious to you. But she'll still be watching you from behind those tinted windows."

"We'll talk more later, Makino's just finished changing," said Domyouji. He got up and walked over to where Tsukushi was inspecting herself in front of a large mirror, the (fake) bulge quite evidently pressed against a tailored shirt.

"How do I look?" said Tsukushi, noticing him appearing behind her in the mirror. "I look so much more mature, eh?"

"You don't have to ask me," said Domyouji. "You will always look like a commoner regardless of what you wear."

"Shut up."

"I'm just kidding. You know what I think - you look like a goddess," he teased.

Tsukushi couldn't help but feel her cheeks warm up in pleasure. "I look less like a commoner now, eh?"

Domyouji simply gave her a wry smile, though his eyes looked sad, almost distant. Noticing this, Tsukushi couldn't help but feel slightly worried. What's with this sudden change of mood? He was so relaxed, so happy, just a minute ago...

"What's wrong?"

Domyouji sighed. He stared at their reflection in the mirror; he was standing behind her and she had a small baby bulge poking out from the shirt. He bent down towards her and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"We look just like a family," he whispered tenderly into her ear, his chin propped lightly on her shoulder. She could feel his breath tickling her ears.

Tsukushi shuddered. Suddenly the room seemed to dim, almost as if Domyouji's melancholy was sucking all the light from it. It felt like there was only him and her inside the shop.

Ever since she had started wearing the fake tummy, she found that Domyouji was becoming increasingly fixated with the idea of them starting a family. At first, this was only started as a way for Domyouji's mother to approve of her and to let them date in peace. The tummy had been provided as a prop for that to happen. The F3 had thought of it as one very good joke.

Yet now she realised that Domyouji, upon seeing her in a 'pregnant' state, thought that she looked even more beautiful than if she was not pregnant.

What if he did want to make it a reality? thought Tsukushi. Would he... would he force himself onto me?

Suddenly, everything about this plan - from the start to this current little episode - seemed to have been a fiasco from the very beginning. She didn't want to encourage Domyouji any more than she needed to. After all, much as she loved Domyouji, she still had her life ahead of her. She would, of course, love to spend the rest of her life with him. But children can wait - she wanted to study while she was still young, and after all, if she had the rest of her life to spend with him, they can have children whenever, right?

She felt so cold and clammy inside now, and shuddered. To think that Domyouji could be harbouring such thoughts was eerie.

"Let... let go," she whispered.

"I will never let you go," he whispered back. He simply held onto her.

"The SPs are watching us!" she hissed.

"Why should you care?" he said slowly. She tried looking into his eyes in the mirror to tell him to let go of her, but despite the fact that he was looking into her eyes, his was shrouded in a dark shadow, almost as if he was mutinous. He wasn't looking at her; he was looking beyond her. "Put your trust in me. Let me handle it. I will protect you."

"I..." stammered Tsukushi. She was rather afraid now - he looked as if he was ready to murder anyone in his way. It really was true when the F3 had likened her to an animal trainer - Domyouji was like a beast. His mood was like a pendulum, to be able to swing so quickly from one end of the spectrum to another!

Unbeknownst to either of them, both of whom were so caught up in the moment, a woman in a suit and sunglasses was taking pictures of them from her car parked in front of the boutique.

"Agent Katsuragi will now present her observations," said Nishida, and a young woman with her hair held tightly in a bun walked in purposefully.

"Good evening, President," she said. "I am here to present my report on the young master and Miss Makino. After they left the Hanazawa Co. Department Store, they made their way to the Vouis Luitton maternity wear boutique. However, due to various circumstances, I was unable to follow them into the shop as it would compromise on my visibility. I was, however, able, to take as many pictures of them as I could."

She handed over various blurred photos of Tsukushi in maternity wear and of Domyouji sipping coffee, and then some photos of them in an embrace.

"What would be your opinion on what you saw?" said Kaede.

"President, I did not see anything odd that would otherwise say that Miss Makino is not carrying a child. There was nothing in their behaviour to suggest anything as such. They acted as a truly expectant couple would."

"What rubbish," said Kaede. "My intuition tells me that there is something profoundly odd with what they have been doing."

"But, President-"

"What kind of people have you been hiring, Nishida?" said Kaede, ignoring Katsuragi's pleas. "They seemed to have missed all these important points, and they were the ones on the scene, not I!"

"President, what is it that they have missed?" said Nishida, trying not to sound accusatory.

"For example - their department store expedition. Would a truly expectant couple not have done their research and determined some sort of favourite brand for their perusal upon the birth of their baby? They would probably have asked other people, would they not?" questioned Kaede. "Secondly, what kind of parents-to-be would buy every sort of nappy out there before their child is born? Before a child is born, parents would most likely stock up on nappies for newborns, and probably would not have given nappies for toddlers a second glance! But they - without even bothering to look at what types of nappies existed - had just bought out everything. How very lazy of them."

The three SPs looked at each other, pursing their lips.

"How long have you been in the service of the Domyouji family?" asked Kaede.

"Fifteen months, President," replied Katsuragi. Kaji and Akagi did not reply. They knew what was going to happen.

"Thank you very kindly for your service," said Kaede. "But from tomorrow on, you need not come to work anymore. You are dismissed. Nishida, please escort them out."

Once they were sent out, Kaede gave her secretary new orders.

"Hire me three competent SPs tomorrow."

What had started off as a fun date of sorts had gone spectacularly wrong, all thanks to Domyouji's strange mood swing. Tsukushi and Domyouji sat together in an uncomfortable silence in the limousine on their way back to the Domyouji estate. Once they were back, Tsukushi quickly ran back to her room before he could say or suggest anything to her.

I... I can't last here any longer, she thought. I have to get out of here. All this spying - and Domyouji's behaviour lately - is all too much for me. If I stay here any longer, he'll force himself onto me... and ... what if...

She shuddered at the horrible thoughts that came like a relentless flood. She bounded down the vast corridors that she had come to be familiar with and found her room. Quickly, Tsukushi shut the door and looked for her suitcase that was tucked neatly in a corner of the room. She went around the room, gathering what meagre possessions she had, and was about to shove them all into her suitcase when there was a gentle knock on the door.

She nearly jumped. It couldn't be that.. Domyouji... he wants to... make-

"Tsukushi dear? May I come in?" said Tsubaki.

Tsukushi looked guiltily at the possessions that were sprawled messily across her bed. Although she really wanted to say no, she knew she could never refuse Tsubaki like this.

"Come in..." Tsukushi began hesitantly.

Tsubaki came in cautiously and noticed all the packing Tsukushi had been doing.

"What are you doing, Tsukushi?!" cried Tsubaki.

"I can't stay here anymore," said Tsukushi. "All this spying is just getting a bit too much for me. And there's also the-"

She paused. She really couldn't tell Tsubaki the other half of why she really wanted to leave, because that would make her sad. She knew that Domyouji had made no qualms about making love to her, and she knew that, given the opportunity, he probably would not hesitate to do so. But Tsukushi, the working class virgin, on the other hand, wanted to put it off until they were married.

"Tsukushi, please don't leave!" cried Tsubaki, who, upon hearing the first reason why Tsukushi wanted to leave had not even bothered to hear the rest of Tsukushi's story out. "I know it's tough, because I've been through the same thing before! And look at me, I've survived through all of this. I know you're a strong girl, you will survive too! Don't let my mother get to you like this! If you leave, it'll just be the same as conceding defeat to her!"

Tsubaki gave very pleading looks to Tsukushi, who started to feel her resolve crumbling.

Sister has been so good to me... I just can't disappoint her like this.

But then the more pressing reason hit her again.

"But... I can't... encroach on your hospitality any longer," offered Tsukushi lamely.

"Don't worry about that," beamed Tsubaki reassuringly. "You're welcome anytime."

"Sister, I really can't stay here any longer," asserted Tsukushi.

"How about this, Tsukushi, dear," said Tsubaki. "I know that you're determined to leave, because you're the type who likes to depend on herself. But please, just stay a little bit longer, okay? Just stay until my birthday party, please? For my sake?"

"When will that be?"

"Oh, pretty soon," replied Tsubaki. "It'll just be a small thing for family and a few friends, and I'd definitely love for you to be there. You're already like a younger sister to me, and soon you'll be officially a part of the family. I would be most honoured to have you there."

And with those words, Tsukushi felt all resolution to leave evaporate.

"I'll stay," sighed Tsukushi.