Title: Hikari no Hashi

By: silentstar01

Category: Hana Yori Dango

Pairing: Rui/Tsukishi

Status: Incomplete

Chapters: 1

Author's Note:

This is another Rui/Tsukishi fic. (^.^) I am an ardent Rui/Tsukishi fan (after seeing the Japanese live-action drama), so I decided to write a fic!

Disclaimer: I do not own Hana Yori Dango or any of its affiliates.

Chapter 1

"Mou, why did it have to rain today…." Makino Tsukishi moaned as she leaned against the cool bricks of her "special" place—an emergency staircase located in a secluded area of campus. She turned to lean her back against the bricks and slid down until she was sitting on the ground. She hated rainy days.

Looking up at the grey sky, she sighed loudly, this time more out of sheer boredom. Even though she was able to enter the university of her choice and the major that she had wanted, she wondered if she was missing out on anything.

Akira was off at Europe, having the time of his life in romantic Venice. Being the playboy he was, Tsukishi wouldn't be surprised if he was romancing Italian women already with a bevy of adoring women hanging off his every word—which he would thoroughly enjoy, she thought with a chuckle.

Soujiro….she only heard vague news about him. Supposedly he was on the China mainland, attending many social functions, as his mastery in tea ceremony was very much in demand. She didn't know if he and Yuuki were still communicating—her friend was very much close-mouthed about it as he was when she ran across him by chance in Tokyo.

Tsukasa and Rui….the two people she did not have any recent news of. It had been four years since she had last heard from them, and the three of them had parted ways with their own hurts and misunderstandings. But maybe…just maybe…it was better to leave it at that.

"Was it right?" she wondered aloud.

Rui had disappeared, for lack of a better term, and Tsukasa had returned to New York, presumably with his fiancée Shigeru. She had entered university and (almost literally) buried herself in her studies. She was nearing the end of her pre-law program, yet she felt that she didn't advance any further, as if she was stunted in her high-school self. She frowned at herself. Wasn't she the one who promised herself that she would resolutely look forward? And yet she was, dwelling on the past.

"What am I doing?" she moaned to herself, violently shaking her head. "Wake up, Tsukishi! Now's not the time to be going off into space!" Despite her valiant attempt to motivate herself, Tsukishi found herself gazing with glazed eyes at the gentle rain that pitter-pattered on the moistened earth.

She truly was curious as to what happened to Tsukasa and Rui. Not because she wanted to see them again—far from it. Seeing them again would only stir old confusions and feelings she'd prefer to bury deep within herself. But she was truly curious as to how they were doing.

What in the world were they doing, anyway?

Four years.

It had been four years since he had stepped foot in this city—this country.

Four long years.

Funny how time seemed to lengthen once one was out of his usual environment. Life in Canada was dull compared to Tokyo, not to mention the mere distance from his best friend who was in New York. But, after about six months, he had gotten used to the silent distance between them. It was almost a relief, after the torrential drama that happened between them during high school.

He had the odd compulsion to return here, despite the hurts he had nursed while leaving this place.

Dropping his long frame onto the familiar window seat, paperback in hand, he looked out the window at the raindrops that clung to the chilled glass. Rain. He smiled humorlessly. How fitting, considering his less-than-content thoughts.

He had bumped into Soujiro in Beijing: surprisingly, the self-proclaimed playboy was with Yuuki. Despite his vehemently playful denials, he knew that Soujiro was might as well under lock and key by the quiet girl, who had been Soujiro's quiet support despite the latter's attempts to push her away. They had looked happy, and he was glad for them.

Akira he had visited before Soujiro and Yuuki. Akira was content being his playboy self with Venetian women, but promised to shape up and return to Tokyo. No matter how enamored of Europe he was, Akira still longed for Japan.

And here he was, back in the suffocating house he had called home. Interesting enough, it was minimalist in interior design, with various shades of white and barely any furniture, but the atmosphere was still suffocating—at least, to him. The house didn't seem…lived in.

Setting down the paperback he held idly in one hand, he turned his head to have his eyes fall on the single frame that stood on the nightstand next to the bed. Even from his vantage point he could see the bright eyes and smile on her face. It was taken on a bright sunny day, and they were blissful and ignorant of how things would turn out, unknowing of the gloomy present, all scattered all over the globe.

Reaching into the pocket of his beige slacks, he pulled out his phone. Even though he had switched models, he didn't change his number, just in case she had called. It was odd, even after all this time, he still had a strange affinity for her, despite her various flaws. (This was not to say that he was perfect—far from it. He was perhaps even more flawed than her.) He didn't even feel like this when it came to his first love, even though he went to Paris with her.

He knew that she didn't go with Tsukasa back in New York; he had heard that an engagement announcement concerning him and Shigeru was pending. Knowing her, he knew that she wouldn't go overseas for studying—she was always worrying over her family's financial situation to even think about studying abroad for her own interests. Which meant that she was still in Tokyo.

Would she be receptive to his presence? He wondered. Tsukishi was the warmest person he knew, and yet, he was uncertain as to if she would be comfortable around him, after these four years without any contact.

Looking once more out the window, he wondered….and drifted.

Author's Note:

Yes, I know. It's short. But I'm currently revising a dear friend's (Blood_of_Innocence) works, and taking over her projects in addition in planning mine and a children's book that I am revising to be published (hopefully in the future). But there will be more in future chapters!

I am planning for this to be a relatively short story, centered around rain.