Disclaimer: I don't own Hana Yori Dango. I sure like it, though, even in its utter cracktastitude.

Author's Note: This fic is neither completely manga or dorama based. It combines elements of the manga (Shigeru and Sakurako's active participation in the group's social life, all the extra arcs, Kazuya existing, and most importantly, Soujirou and Yuuki sleeping together) with things from the dorama (Tsukasa in Japan at the end, Sara engaged to her potter, the bike existing, and most importantly, Yuuki not giving up on Soujirou). So please bear in mind that this weird mix of the two canons will not be entirely faithful to either. It still should be a fun ride, though.

Summary: He wanted her to move on. He just never thought of what would happen if she actually did. SoujirouxYuuki, manga and dorama based.

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Uninevitable

A Hana Yori Dango Fanfiction

"Cheers!"

Six glasses clinked together, the champagne inside almost leaping in what Soujirou fancied as sympathetic delight. Indeed, the whole world seemed to be sparkling in celebration. And why shouldn't it? This was a glorious day, a day to be remembered, a day that would live forever in the hearts and minds of those who understood its significance. Because today was -

"But seriously, Tsukasa, I was starting to get scared that you and Makino would stay virgins until you got married," said Akira, lying back in his seat in the club's VIP room and looking quite blissful. "I worried, man."

"At least it happened before he turned twenty," said Soujirou. "I was thinking that I couldn't be friends with a twenty-year-old virgin, no matter how long we've been hanging around together."

"At least Rui didn't disgrace us too badly," said Akira, poking the other man in the shoulder. Rui just blinked at him. "But Tsukasa certainly has redeemed himself now."

"We waited so fucking long," said Soujirou, moaning at the very thought. "I remember when I thought it wasn't even possible to graduate middle school with one's chastity intact, but I was young and naïve then. I couldn't even imagine how deep some people's idiocy could go."

"Nishikado-san," Yuuki, champagne glass clutched in two hands, stared at him. She was blushing, of course. "Are you saying that you lost your virginity in – in middle school?"

He grinned at her. Yuuki could be so fun to tease. "When I was twelve. And I don't need to ask about you, Yuuki-chan."

She just blushed and swigged her champagne so fast that she started coughing and had to be patted on the back by Akira, who was sitting next to her.

"And I was thirteen," Akira said, looking nostalgic. Soujirou grimaced. The maid thing still sounded a lot better in retrospect than it had been in the moment. Akira hadn't quite been so mentally prepared to be a player then.

Sakurako, already a little bit buzzed, was giggling, obviously wanting to be asked when she'd first had sex. But everyone was probably too scared to ask. Soujirou didn't think she'd tell them the truth if they did.

Shigeru tapped her fingers against her chin speculatively. "Twelve, thirteen, seventeen for Rui-kun, and as for Tsukushi and Tsukasa -"

"THAT'S IT!" The guests of honor at the little celebration finally stopped sulking in their corner - they had, of course, refused to participate in the toast - to unleash a barrage of verbal abuse at their friends, who were variously smirking, paying no attention, and still coughing (poor Yuuki).

"Just because some of you guys are impure and always have been -"

"I don't even know why you're bragging about your commitment issues, Nishikado-san -"

"At least my first time was with someone other than, what's her name, Norita Manami, or your fucking maid -"

"And don't go teasing Yuuki, too, when you know very well that she -"

"I don't know why we have to sit here and listen to this kind of effuse when we could be -"

"That's abuse, Tsukasa, and anyway, what a pair of consenting adults do in the privacy of - well, the privacy of, umm -"

"At least I, unlike a certain someone I know, didn't get too excited halfway through and -"

"It's really none of your business what happens to us, especially when you lot are already so depraved, and do not grin at me like that, Sakurako -"

"It was a great success, probably better than anything you bastards have ever done with any of those ugly bitches you -"

"But wasn't it uncomfortable, doing it in a park?"

There was a moment of deepest silence.

"Rui!"

Tsukasa punched him and Tsukushi looked seriously tempted to. Everyone else was snickering, though in Yuuki's case it might more fairly be called giggling.

"But really, we're happy for you guys," Soujirou said. And he was. This was it, now. This was the last thing short of marriage necessary to bind them together forever. Because, god damn it, if he had to deal with another Tsukasa-Makino breakup situation, he'd just shoot which ever of them was being most annoying at that moment and let them realize how much they needed each other that way. Hospitalization had been known to work wonders for them.

"And this is really great, Tsukushi," Yuuki piped up. "You've even started calling each other by your first names."

"Well... that is..." Tsukushi entered one of her rare bashful states, playing with the hem of her skirt and looking anywhere but Tsukasa.

"That's because when we get married, she'll be Doumyouji Tsukushi, and it won't make any sense to call her Makino anymore!" Tsukasa practically chirped. Being reminded of something like this seemed to dispel his bad mood instantly. "And it's the same for her. She can't call me Doumyouji because she'll be Doumyouji too!"

"He's like a three-year-old when he gets happy like this," Akira whispered to Soujirou, who nodded.

"I don't get how he can be happy about the idea of marriage. Getting tied down to one girl for the rest of his life –"

"It's disgusting, right?"

"Right!" Soujirou grinned at him. "It'll never happen to me."

"Oh, you say that now!" Shigeru said. She was in high spirits, probably due to the champagne. "But I know better. Someday you'll come across a girl so perfect that even you, Soujirou-kun –"

"Impossible," said Akira.

"Absolutely not happening," said Tsukasa.

"What they said," said Rui.

The girls all laughed. Soujirou spared a glance at Yuuki, but she seemed unaffected by the joking. That was good. Teasing was one thing, but it wouldn't do to actually upset her. Tsukushi would kill him, for one thing.

"It is nice, though, isn't it?" Shigeru continued. "True love, and all that!"

"If this is true love, I don't want any part of it," said Sakurako. "At least if it means having to act as dumb as Makino-senpai."

"As dumb as Tsukasa, you mean," said Akira.

"No, I think that she beats him."

"Definitely not. You know that she –"

The conversation devolved into three-way argument between Sakurako, Shigeru, and Akira over who was stupider of the Tsukushi-Tsukasa pair – Soujirou, who couldn't decide himself, stayed out of it. Rui watched them, snickering occasionally. Tsukasa and Tsukushi themselves had gone off somewhere, and were going to get teased terribly when they came back.

That left him and Yuuki to talk to each other.

It wasn't a problem. He liked talking to Yuuki. She was simply fun to be around. But the fact that she still had not given up on him, even after that one night together, sometimes made him feel – suffocated – just being around her. She had never mentioned it, never tried to hold it against him. Of course, Yuuki of all people would never do something like that. She was far too kind. But it was that very kindness that sometimes made him feel like he didn't deserve to be breathing the same air as her.

As he said, suffocating.

"So how's school, Yuuki-chan?" It was odd that he had to start the conversation. She normally had some topic ready for him.

"Oh, really good. Our exams just ended, so I have a lot of free time right now. It's wonderful."

She had a lot of free time? That was odd. He'd thought that he hadn't heard much from her recently, and had assumed it was because of her tests. "Exams are brutal, aren't they? That's my least favorite time of year."

"Oh, but I'm sure you've never needed to worry that much about your grades," she said, smiling. From any other girl, this would have been meaningless flattery. The worst part about Yuuki was that she meant it.

"Despite appearances, I am just a normal human being," he said with a laugh. "Don't rate me too highly."

She laughed, too. "I think I rate you very accurately indeed."

The comment stopped him cold for a moment. Of course, he managed to keep up the conversation (he was Nishikado Soujirou, after all), but even after Tsukasa and Tsukushi came back and Yuuki turned to talk to her friend, her words were on his mind.

Accurately? Rated him accurately? Yuuki did? Well, of course, that was probably true. She knew him as well as anyone did, and certainly better than any other woman. But it was one thing to feel understood by a person, and quite another to feel judged.

Of course she judged him. She had judged him and found him perfect enough to dedicate herself to him, even if it had only been for so many months two years ago. But the way she had made it sound now – it was as if the scales had fallen from her eyes. Did she see him, now, as human, and not as the man of her dreams?

That was better, of course. That was much better. Yuuki was his friend, and he hated to think of her hurting, as he knew being in love with him had hurt her. Platonic friendship – it was to achieve that between them that he had slept with her. So it had worked. After a year to let the effects sink in, it had finally worked.

He grimaced. He tried not to think about that night – that morning, really – if he could avoid it. The problem, though, was the way his mind drifted to it when it had nothing else to fix upon. Of course he was attracted to her, and it wasn't odd that he hadn't been able to get it out of his system in one go, but it could never happen again. Because Yuuki was his friend, his good and loyal friend, it could never happen again.

As they left the restaurant, she waved at him once, smiling brightly. It was the same farewell she gave to all the other boys. Sakurako, who lived in the same direction and was dead drunk anyway, was clinging to her and talking very quickly and very incomprehensibly about the car that was supposed to be picking them up.

"Yo, Soujirou, do you need a ride?" Akira asked.

"Nah," he said, grinning at his friend. "I've got my bike."

"Are you sure? You had your share to drink."

Trust Akira, everyone's mother, to act like this. "I'm fine, you old woman. Hey, look at Tsukasa and Makino. They never kiss in public like that."

Akira looked. Soujirou took the chance to steal a glance back at Yuuki and Sakurako – if Sakurako started throwing up, someone might have to help them – but they were already gone, dissolved into the late night crowd.

He blinked at the spot where they'd been. Riding home that night, feeling the wind on his face and the vibration of the bike under him, he thought that Akira was probably right that he shouldn't be on a motorcycle. He had obviously had way too much to drink.

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Read and review, please! I want to know if I got Soujirou's internal voice right. He's a tricky one.