It was a dark and stormy afternoon.
Miko Tsuabuki ran, head down and arms up, trying to make headway through the rain without getting too much of it in her face. Of course, this meant she had some near misses with both telephone poles and people, but such was the price of wearing contacts in bad weather.
She splashed toward the bus stop, squishing in her dress shoes and only thinking of the relative dryness of the bus; and naturally, that was when she fell.
Dress shoes abruptly slipping in opposite directions, Miko crashed to the sidewalk and skidded painfully along the rough concrete, watching helplessly as her briefcase somehow went flying from her almost to the curb. And ahead, through the sheer grey curtain of rain, she could see the bus pulling away.
"NO!" she shrieked, slapping the sidewalk and splashing dirty water into the air. Another moment and the bus driver would have surely seen her; now, she had to wait for another hour. Furious, frustrated and finally beginning to cry a little - it had really been quite a day - Miko tried to struggle to her feet, wincing as she finally began to register just how much damage she'd done to her knees.
And then suddenly, the rain directly over her stopped.
She looked up, surprised to find a man's legs dressed in men's white dress pants standing beside her, connected to a man in all white who was currently holding an umbrella - curiously blood red - over his head and hers.
"It looks as though you've had an accident," the man said in low, articulate tones, and something about his manner made her think he was a doctor. Or perhaps it was just the stethoscope she could see peeking out of his coat's inner pocket.
"I.... yes," Miko said, feeling embarassed and noting vaguely that the single earring he wore matched his umbrella; very striking. "I... I'm sorry to bother you, but could you...?"
The man offered her his hand without another word; and no one in the world of living humanity heard from Miko Tsuabuki ever again.