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Kriseis and Zaza

"Good friends are good for your health."

Irwin Sarason

Makino Tsukushi was returning from her monthly meeting with Kaede Domyouji. Ah, that woman, would she ever let her be? But they made a deal and Tsukushi had to respect it. She had to become the perfect wife for the Domiouji heir and that implied taking all the etiquette classes ever invented by these pompous, stuck-up people. The last thing she wanted to do was to agree with Kaede but deep down she had to admit that entering Tsukasa's world would require that as well. Every month Kaede took some time from her always busy schedule to see/evaluate the progress of her future daughter-in-law. She was a very rigorous person and she did not admit the slightest flaw.

"Oh, Domyouji Tsukasa, I hope you deserve all the effort I put in for you!" Tsukushi sighed.

There was nothing to complain about her relationship with Tsukasa. Things were going great. Maybe a little too well for her taste…what was she saying? She should be happy that things were finally going on the right track. They were going to get married. What could be more wonderful than that? Was she masochistic or something to have nostalgic feelings for the days when they had to fight for their love? The two of them went through enough hardship together to last for a lifetime. That evaluation with Kaede must have disturbed her mind. She loved Tsukasa and she knew that he loved her. Thinking about Tsukasa brought a bright smile on her face, attracting curious looks from the passers by. Domyouji and her still had their random fights over the most trivial things, but she found that it was exactly that the salt and pepper of their relationship. It would be too boring if things would go smoothly… Deep in thoughts, Tsukushi hardly noticed that she was being called:

"Tsukushi, Tsukushi, wait up!" a cheerful voice was heard from behind.

She turned around and saw a radiant Yuki, happier than she had been in the last few months, running towards her.

"Oh, hi Yuki! Take it easy, why were you running like that?"

"Well, I've been calling you for some time now, but you seemed too lost in thoughts. What's the matter? Another Kaede session?"

"Yeah, that woman is going to finish me up before I get to marry her son. Ugh…how I hate those damned classes! I'd rather learn all the articles of the constitutions of fifty different countries ten do these all over again…"

"Hang in there, Tsukushi. You're not going to get beat down by some stupid etiquette classes. You took them all these years, you can resist a few more months. And besides, it will be over soon. And you'll have the satisfaction of the victory. Come on, let's grab a cup of coffee and you can tell me all about it. Coffee always makes you feel better."

Thirty minutes later, seated at one of the table of a small coffee shop, Tsukushi was still going on about her lessons with Kaede to Yuki's the mild exasperation, who had heard it all before.

"…what's the use of knowing how to play the piano, how to correctly cross your legs or step out of a car in a ladylike fashion? I'm serious, she wants to drive me crazy!"

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Yuki, faking horror. "You are right. She wants to drive you crazy, lock you in a mental house and marry Tsukasa with whomever she chooses."

"Ha, ha, Yuki, very funny. Easy for you to say, you don't have to put up with her. And what's with you? You're incredibly happy today. What's with all those shopping bags?"

"Oh, my grandfather is coming to visit us tomorrow. I'll bake him his favorite cake with coffee-cream filling. And he said he wants to invite us to have dinner with him, so I bought a dress for the occasion…and…uhm…look at this coffee cup I bought especially for him. Isn't it pretty?" asked a smiling Yuki, showing Tsukushi a buttery-yellow cup with little beans of coffee around its edge.

"That's great, Yuki, you'll finally have the chance to see him after such a long time! How come he's the one visiting? In the past you were always the one doing the visits."

"Have no idea. It is a little odd, isn't it? Oh well, I'd rather not think about it, I'm just happy he's coming. And besides…"

But Yuki didn't get to finish her sentence because of a familiar ring tone, the theme song of a famous movie about a short, all dressed in black character, who had problems breathing.

"Yo, Makino, are you home yet? We're coming to get you in thirty minutes."

"Of course I'm not home yet. And I need more than half an hour. I still have to get home, take a shower, grab something to eat, find something to wear…"

"Well, hurry up and get home! Where are you now? I'll send my chauffer after you."

"At some coffee shop with Yuki. You'll just have to wait for me. Be patient and don't be so full of it!"

"That hurt, Makino! You're a cruel woman. Okay, I'll give twenty more minutes. Don't let me wait for you!"

"As you wish, Domyouji-sama." Ironically answered Tsukushi before hanging up

Faced with the impossibility to give an answer to his fiancée, Domyouji Tsukasa kept silent for more than three seconds, a premiere for him.

"So, where's Makino? Should we go get her?" asked Akira.

"No, of course not. She's going to be late. Just like someone else we know. She's in some coffee shop with Yuki, talking, as if they haven't seen each other for years."

The infamous F4 minus one, were finally reunited for the first time that week. They had rented the most fashionable café in Tokyo especially for that day, in order to have the necessary privacy to enjoy themselves.

"Let the poor girls talk! You know they are inseparable. Shouldn't we invite Yuki also to the club?" was the intelligent input of a very bored Akira.

After successfully adding another victim to his collection of seduced women, this time the poor waitress who served them, Soujiroh turned to his friends, his attention being caught by the mentioning of Makino's friend: "Yeah, let's! We haven't seen Yuki in ages!"

"What the hell are you talking about? We saw her last week. Remember, baka?" replied an infatuated Domyouji.

"Pssst…Tsukasa, he wasn't with us that time." Akira chimed in, giving Domyouji a nudge.

"I knew that Akira." mumbled an embarrassed Tsukasa. "Where is Rui? He's late. I'm going to kill him!" Domyouji said, changing the subject.

"If you had kept your promise every time you said that, I should have been long dead by now" replied the missing F4 member, who had just entered the café.

"Where have you been? Why are you late? Do you know what time it is? You are exactly ten minutes and twenty seconds late." boosted Tsukasa, pointing to his wristwatch, proud of his precision.

"Yo, Rui! Welcome back! How was Europe?" welcomed the other F4 members.

"Hi guys! Sorry for being late. My plane was delayed. So what did I miss?"

"We were just thinking about inviting Yuki to the club tonight. In fact, I'll call her…"

Yuki was about to enter the house, when her phone rang. "Akira…how strange!" she thought. But she had just met Tsukushi and things between the Trouble Couple were fine. Could something have happened in the meantime?

"Yo, Yuki, coming tonight with us to the club? The F4 is finally reunited, Rui came back from Europe, we're all going to hang out and have a good time. Makino is also coming, of course."

"I would love to, but I've already made some other plans for tonight. I'm really sorry. Maybe some other time. I count on you to tell me the news next time we meet. Say "welcome back" to Rui for me, okay?"

"Don't worry, I'll pick up the pieces of my broken heart and register everything for you." Akira said, joking. And, turning to the guys: "Sorry, it will be just the five of us, Yuki has other plans. Makino will have to bear with us alone tonight… by the way Rui, Yuki says welcome back!"

"Oh, that's too bad. I wanted to see her too." Rui answered.

After talking to Akira, Yuki returned to the task at hand. At this moment nothing was more important than her grandfather's arrival, not even meeting some of her best friends. She was determined to get everything perfect for the occasion, since the relationship between her mother and her grandfather were everything but perfect. If things ran smoothly maybe they wouldn't have anything to fight over. But her plans for the evening were not as glamorous and mysterious as they sounded when talking to Akira. She spent the evening baking the cake and trying to get the filling just right, not too bitter, not too sweet. Her passion for cooking went against her mother's vision of a modern, independent woman. "Oh yeah, I'm doomed to be a housewife." sighed Yuki.

On the other side of the town, a night with the F4 could not be anything but glamorous and mysterious. In the private booth the F3 and Makino were torturing poor Rui into telling the reasons behind all his trips to Europe.

"I told you guys, you'll just have to wait a little more. All will be revealed soon." replied Rui with a mischievous grin.

"Oh, Rui, you bad boy! You know Shizuka's married, don't you? Married women are my domain, not yours!" teased Akira.

"Shizuka? Who said anything about Shizuka?"

This teasing of Rui was not a habitual thing for the F4, Tsukasa, most often than not, was the favorite victim. Rui found himself amused by his friends' curiosity and surprised that Tsukushi was actually playing along. It was good to be like this again, all five of them together, just having a nice evening. For the past few years they had not met as often as they might have wished and it had been a brutal transition, for Rui at least, from seeing the rest of the guys every single day to being able to talk to one of them maybe once a week if he was lucky. The F4 had been scattered all over the world and each of the boys had concentrated on their own lives.

Still uncertain about what to do with his life, unwilling to take over the family business just yet, Rui had decided to continue his bohemian lifestyle and travel all over the world. He preferred Europe though, and it was there that he had spent the largest part of the last years. He had met the most unexpected person in Prague and, although he had not intended to have a travel companion, he soon found himself unable to avoid that person. And maybe it was then that things started happening without Rui's intention. He did not want to, but still discovered that it was pleasant to travel with somebody. The various places they visited seemed more interesting and fascinating with someone, than just observing them by himself. He did not want to, but still felt a little sad when he had returned to Japan, alone this time. And he most certainly had not intended to see the person again, but still, every few weeks he boarded on his private jet and flew to some city in Europe. How was he supposed to know that his travels would attract the curiosity of his friends?

Looking at his friends mercilessly teasing Rui, Soujiroh's mind was elsewhere. One little thing was bothering him: why had it been Akira the one who called Yuki? Since when were the two of them so close? Why did Akira have Yuki's number? He kept pondering upon this. What did he miss in these last few years while he was gone? In the years spent in the United Kingdom, attending Oxford, he had lost touch with what was happening in Japan. The college years had been a blur for him, between social gatherings, seducing women, attending a few courses and managing some of the family business in Europe. Of course, he had seen his friends during this time but not too often, they were continents apart after all. The only moment they had been together had been his graduation day, a memorable day but for all the wrong reasons. He had missed the party especially thrown for him and the F3 made sure that he paid for that. Now, he was once again home, and he planned to retrieve his old life back by his friends' side. Still the question remained: why did Akira call Yuki?

The answer to that question, unknown to Soujiroh, was pretty simple. Yuki and Akira were the only ones left to put up with Tsukushi and Tsukasa. Just because those two got engaged it did not mean that they miraculously had stopped fighting. Akira and Yuki, who actually got along quite well, even got a name for them: the Trouble Couple. Akira scarcely talked about the business part of his life or his family. From all the F4 members it seemed that he was the most unchanged, the same Akira, always joking, having fun, and since his partner in crime was miles away, he seemed to compensate by playing tricks on Tsukasa and Tsukushi, which always ended with Tsukasa yelling or threatening to kill him. Most of his spare time he spent it with his friends who actually remained in Japan, but talked from time to time with the others as well, on the phone. He really cared about keeping the F4 together.

The only F4 who had any plans for the future was, surprisingly enough, Tsukasa. He knew exactly what will become of him in the next years (precisely because he had spent the last years planning it carefully) and with whom he wished to spend the rest of his life. Tsukushi was a good influence on him, she forced him to mature and be less impulsive, although this was not clear most of the times. Nothing made him happier than knowing they will be married in a few months and his family life was as close to perfection as it could be. Especially since Tsubaki, maybe inspired by her brother's courage and rebellion, had decided to walk out of an unwanted marriage imposed by Kaede. Their mother did not dictate with an iron fist over their personal lives anymore. Of course, one could not say the same thing about the family business. Kaede proved to be a tyrant and Tsukasa was not the one to be exceeded. He showed the same leadership skills as his mother. Even though they did not like to share their success with each other, things were beaming when they put their heads together in achieving something. With their inborn obstinacy no one could get in their way.