Boys Over Flowers Fan Fiction ❯ You Want Me To Be What?? ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Title: You Want Me to Be What? 4/?
Author: Makoto Sagara
Series: Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers)
Pairings: Tsukasa/Tsukushi, Sakurako/Kazuya, Mimasaka/Shigeru, and others TBD
Rating: T+
Warning: het, language, based off of manga, OOC, SPOILERS

Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to Hana Yori Dango. I wish I owned Rui though. No money is made from this, and taking my wallet would only get you a bad driver's license picture and my library card.

Author's Notes: I'd like to apologize for the extreme delay for this chapter. The truth is that I've had it sitting on my computer for a while, but I got STUCK and then sucked into the Harry Potter fandom, so writing this went on the extreme backburner. GOMEN NASAI, MINNA! *prepares items for seppuku*

Chapter Four

I made my appointment for the hairdresser and nail technician on time, and was able to even have my makeup done by the artist at the salon, saving me vast amounts of trouble when I got home. In fact, everything else about that night went well. I got home without messing up my hair, nails, or makeup, got dressed with no problems, and my mother helped me adjust things so that I would be able to leave with no trouble. Tsukasa was on time to pick me up, and his face showed openly how good I looked. I couldn't help but smile at his reaction, which was to eye me from head to toe while being polite to my parents and catching up with my brother.

As happy as it made me to see that my family and he were getting along normally without the stiff formality they had previously adopted, I reminded him that we were going to be late for our dinner reservation if we didn't leave soon. He got the hint and escorted me to the car, where we were whisked to a small French restaurant and had a fine meal. Then, we headed to Prom without any problems.

Things there went well. Sakurako and Kazuya were dancing together, and I couldn't help but think that she must have taught him how to do so properly in the past year they'd been dating because his form was a thousand times better than it had been a year prior. It felt odd to be at something like this without our other friends, but it was wonderful to be in Tsukasa's arms again, dressed and made up like a princess and adored by the man who loved me. Not even the few comments made by Asai and her friends that I caught registered in my world that night.

“What do you want to do afterwards?” Tsukasa whispered as he led me around the dance floor.

“You mean you didn't have any plans for after Prom?” I asked in amazement. Usually, between him, Mimasaka and Nishikado, there was always some elaborate plan for the two of us to be alone. The fact that he hadn't planned anything was a little worrying.

“There were offers to go out with Akira and Soujirou, but I declined. I'm not even sure why Akira wants to go out anyway.” I watched as he frowned in thought, and it was then that I noticed how tired he'd grown in the year we'd been apart. While I'd been ready for him to become more mature, handsome, refined, and whatever, I hadn't prepared myself for the fact that he didn't sleep much anymore and spent all of his time going from meetings, to classes, to business dinners, to studying sessions, and parties.

“Tsukasa, his wedding is in a week.” I smiled as it finally dawned on him why the offer had been made. “They probably wanted to have a stag night. I'm sure Hanazawa Rui was invited as well.”

He frowned and sighed. “How stupid. As if I'd want to be anywhere but with you while our time is so short.”

While his words warmed my heart, I felt as if I was taking him completely from our friends with my selfishness. “They… Tsukasa…” My face flushed as I tried to keep my thoughts straight. “You don't have to spend all of your time with me. I'd understand if you want to go out with them as well. You've been friends since you were children.”

That unavoidable vein popped out on his forehead as he scowled down at me. “Do you not want to be with me? Would you have rather come with Rui then? I can leave if you do.”

I dragged him outside into the cool night air and gave him a withering glare. “Are you going to behave like a child about this? I was only worried that I was monopolizing your time while you're here in Japan. I love you and want to spend as much time as I possibly can together, you big dummy, but we can spend time with our friends as well.”

His face relaxed into his happy boy smile and I could feel my heart begin to beat erratically. “Don't be stupid,” he whispered in my ear as he pulled me against his broad chest. “I'm with who I want to be with right now.” Then, he kissed me passionately, and the rest of the night passed with a blur.

I vaguely remember being whisked away to the Domyouji mansion and carried, bridal style, up to his room, but details after that became truly ethereal when the door shut behind us. I woke up the next day in his arms, his inhuman warmth making up for the fact that the door to the balcony was wide open and a chilly March breeze was blowing in through the curtains. I sighed happily and ran my fingers through his curls as they caressed his sleeping face.

“Tsukushi, come back to New York with me,” he said huskily as he kissed my forehead and cheeks.

“We've been through this before. I won't. Not now.” I tried to make it sound soft, but he was so damn stubborn on the subject.

“Woman, I want to wake up with you in my bed like this all the time,” he replied heatedly as he moved his body closer to my own, indicating his growing arousal. “I want to be able to hold you as much as I want in the morning and at night. I'm tired of worrying about if some other man is trying to make moves on you.” Each sentence was punctuated by a passionate kiss that left me so breathless that I couldn't reply.

“Tsukasa,” I whispered. Part of me wanted to continue talking, but a much larger part wanted to pick up where we left off the night before. It was that part that won out for the rest of the morning.

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He returned to New York three days later, spending every moment of his vacation with me. To be honest, I was thrilled to be by his side, in a way that surprised even me. While we did things with our friends, it felt as if time had stopped to allow us that pocket of time together. When he boarded the plane, something told me that I wouldn't see him again for another three years. I cried hard, probably harder than I had since he left the first time, as his plane took off. The others left me to myself, giving me the space they could sense I needed. It was only Hanazawa Rui's calm, cool hand on my shoulder that roused me from my morose thoughts and back to our obligations.

“I don't think I'll use your apartment this vacation,” I told him after a few minutes of companionable silence.

“Oh?”

“Tsubaki-nee-san has invited me to LA for a few days, and I think I'll go there before school starts.”

“Does this have anything to do with Tsukasa?” His large eyes seemed as if they could look right through me.

“Yes and no,” I replied. “I just think that I have to do things that are my own again, things that don't revolve around who I'm dating.”

“I can understand that,” he said. “However, it's there whenever you need it.”

“Thanks, Hanazawa Rui,” I told him before running off to chat with Yuuki about our upcoming trip to California.

A few days after Tsukasa left, I watched Shigeru and Akira get married in a lavish, ostentatious affair that made me feel a little sick to my stomach. Actors, directors, politicians, businessmen and society people were everywhere. I could only assume that they all had some sort of affiliation with either the Mimasaka or Ookawahara families. So, in order to not embarrass my friend on her wedding day, I played the part of maid of honor, helping out where needed, keeping her from hyperventilating and her dress from getting dirty, and dancing with Hanazawa Rui while Yuuki and Junpei-kun moved around us, as graceful as flatfooted geese and as happy as loons.

And as soon as that excitement died down, the next day Yuuki and I were on a plane with Tsubaki on our way to Los Angeles. We did things like shop on Rodeo Drive, where Tsubaki bought us both clothes that neither of us could think of places to wear, took us to a luxurious spa, and fed us things that tasted way better than in Japan. It was strange to think that I was in the same country as my boyfriend, but that we wouldn't be able to see each other. In fact, it was just strange to think that I was so close and yet so far from Tsukasa.

I knew, truthfully, that I could extend this little vacation and spend some time in New York, but that meant spending time with his awful mother, and I wasn't ready to do that just yet. I would need many more months before I was strong enough to be anywhere near that woman again. I just couldn't do it, and I wasn't really willing to fight with Tsukasa about it. Not then anyway.

As soon as our vacation was over, I was back in school, surrounded by all of my friends day in and out, trying to make friends with some of the other college students at Eitoku, but not really too hard, as they weren't that different from the high school students I knew and loathed. I took classes with an interest in actually learning more about the business world that I had only barely peeked into with my relationship with Domyouji Tsukasa. However, I did take my friends' advice and studied English and took some private music lessons. I even learned tea ceremony, correctly this time, from Soujirou.

A girl can never know too much, right?

My life was so uncomplicated that I began to wonder what alternate universe I'd stepped into. I should have known better than to take it for granted.

Two weeks before I started my senior year of college, a mere thirty-five credit hours from getting a degree in business management, Hell descended upon my household. In the form of Domyouji Kaede, the Iron Lady of the Domyouji Empire.

TBC