Title: Waiting for the Rain to Stop
Author: Maetel
Email:
Rating: G
Summary: A nasty storm leads to Mamoru finding Usagi somewhere he didn't expect.
Couple: Usagi and Mamoru
Chapters: One-Shot
Series: No
Multipart: No
Completed: Yes
Year Completed: 2008
Challenge #: 178 Scene: Your 'Couple' get trapped together in a phonebox during a thunderstorm.
The rain was pouring, virtually blinding everyone who was unfortunate enough to be out facing the weather. While the number of people out was minimal, there were a few unfortunates who were forced to face the wrath of mother nature's fury.
Chiba Mamoru was one of those few. The eighteen year old was glad that he was getting close to the university library, where he was meaning to study for his last final before winter break. He was just wishing that he'd taken the opportunity to study for Advanced Bio-Chemistry with his lab partner.
It was the course that he'd been having to put aside thanks to the repeated black outs and exhaustion that he'd been dealing with lately. It was threatening to hurt his academic career, but fortunately, he was fortunate enough to have read ahead in class to not be completely lost. And Mariko had been understanding enough to accept his reasoning (and begging) to study for finals for so long
A flash of lightning blazed across the sky as Mamoru saw a shadowed figure dart across the street. It looked almost like a hooded figure racing for shelter, but Mamoru barely had an instant to let this fact cross his mind as he fought to stop his car seemed to take on a mind of its own. The combination of a (what he hadn't considered) flooded road and going 48 kilometers an hour.
He tried to remember everything that he had learned about how to deal with hydroplaning, but for the moment, that much seemed to have slipped his mind. Especially considering, he never thought about it since it was rare for him to drive anywhere in lieu of walking.
He managed to regain control of his car, but wondered if he should push his luck since he was starting to feel a familiar pulsing in the back of his skull. The same sort of pulsing that struck before he always wound up blacking out.
This time, it was different. The sensation didn't seem quite as intense, but still enough to force him to stop for a while. He just needed to call the university library to see if he could relay a message to Mariko.
He could have sworn he saw a phone booth a short distance back, Mamoru looked out, and hoped that it was closer than he remembered.
With a sense of dread, he slipped out of his car, cramming the keys into his pocket before pulling his jacket up over his head. He raced through the water, his pants soaking up every ounce of water they could. A chill ran up and down his spine as he fought off the cold.
Peering through the sheets of rain, Mamoru trudged on as fast as he could. After a few minutes, the phone booth he saw finally came into view, though it looked as though it was partially flooded. Didn't seemed like a likely occurrence, but physics wasn't his forte, and neither were phone booths. He'd just have to deal with that inconvenience.
He walked up to the phone booth, still incapable of seeing its insides clearly without any sort of light source. One thing became apparent though, whatever was inside it wasn't water.
He thought, for an instant, of going back to his car but shook off the idea. Forsaking someone trapped out in the elements was unforgivable. The idea became even more so when he heard an all too familiar shriek ring out as a bolt of lightning flashed and thunder roared overhead.
"Odango?" he muttered softly as he walked the short distance remaining to the phone booth. He slowly opened the door, garnering himself yet another shriek out of its occupant. She couldn't have been the figure he'd seen dashing across the street.
"Please don't make me go back out there," she pleaded.
It was her all right. Gone were the usual odango, probably taken down by the torrential downpour.
"Usagi-chan," he murmured softly, kneeling down, despite the rain that was entering through the open door.
She looked up hesitantly at Mamoru before instinctively launching herself at him, her arms wrapping around him tightly.
"Mamoru-san," she whispered, her voice tremulous. "Please don't leave me here by myself. I can't go back out there. The thunder… It's too much."
Gently stroking her hair, he pulled her up from where she kneeled on the ground, lightly stroking her hair as he backed her into the tree.
"It's all right, Usagi-chan, I'll stay right here and wait out the storm until it passes, all right?"
Slowly, she nodded, leaning against him, taking in the warmth that seemed in through the soaked shirt he was wearing. "Thank you, Mamoru-san."
He didn't say a word, and instead, just held her, waiting for the rain to stop. The throbbing didn't bother him for the rest of the night.