Shigure looked away from the crowd clustered near the two damaged cars and to the road before him on which cars still sped, lights glaring in the pouring rain and dark. He felt the wind strengthen and start to blow the rain towards him at a sharper angle, so that it came closer to him. Drops splattered onto his hands and he moved to tuck them into his sleeves, then frowned when he felt his lack of baggy sleeves; his lack of a kimono. So he settled for cupping his hands over the outer sleeves of his borrowed suit jacket and moving backwards over the pavement, further into the shelter of the eaves of the shop behind him.
He wondered how long it had been since he had phoned Hatori to come and help them. Five minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes? Should he give Hatori another call? He searched the passing cars and tried to spot Hatori's sedan, but failed. Maybe Hatori was deliberately being late. Shigure understood. He imagined that were he in Hatori's position, he would need a few minutes to brace himself before dealing with the current situation. This was not the first time, after all. Shigure wondered how Hatori would deal with the situation this time.
"Shut up!" he heard someone shout from within the crowd. Shigure turned his head and looked back at the crowd and the police officer who had shouted. Before the officer stood a slender lacy-gowned man who was gesticulating madly with one hand and holding a large lacy umbrella over his head with the other.
"Of course not, my dear Sir! How are you supposed to take down my statement if I..."
"LOOK, JUST SHUT UP!" the officer shrieked, red-faced.
There was a sudden silence. Ayame's hand froze. And then, just as abruptly as it had frozen, it started to move again and Ayame continued with his aimless, ridiculous speech. Shigure scanned the irate faces of the other members of the crowd, then looked to the crumpled car into which Ayame had swerved. It was fortunate that Ayame had swerved when he had and not seconds later. Seconds later and there could well have been need to call an ambulance.
Shigure looked back at the road and sighed; his breath misted before his face for a few moments before blowing away. Should he attempt to try to help the police again? Ayame had brushed him off earlier and much as Shigure liked to humour his friend and was stoically loyal to him, it was beyond him to help Ayame see sense. Ayame would persist in trying to snake his way out of this situation even though he was so blatantly at fault.
A sedan suddenly slid out of the masses of vehicles before him, orange lights blinking lazily through the sheen of rain, and slowed to a halt before him. The lights switched off. Shigure's rueful smile of welcome faded as he watched Hatori climb slowly out and stand up in the road to look first at the crowd and then at him, his face expressionless.
Hatori walked around his car and stepped up onto the pavement and beneath the eaves of the shop front to stand in front of Shigure. He pocketed his car keys and Shigure watched the car's indicator lights flash once as the car locked.
"What happened?" Hatori asked quietly, looking at the crowd, which was too occupied with Ayame's ongoing monologue to have noticed his arrival.
"Ayame swerved into their lane and forced them into the dividing strip," Shigure said simply. Then, before Hatori could ask, he added, perhaps unnecessarily, "he was lane jumping."
Hatori nodded silently and turned to go over to the crowd.
" 'Tori dear!" Ayame exclaimed when he spotted Hatori. "Oh 'Tori dear, you are getting all wet and soaked in this dreadful weather!" With an enthusiastic smile, Ayame slipped over to Hatori and held his umbrella over him. "How forgetful of you to not bring your umbrella," Ayame said cheerfully. "How utterly unlike you! Thank goodness that I remembered to bring one."
"What did he do?" Hatori asked quietly, not looking at Ayame, but at the police officer.
"And you are...?" the police officer asked. "Are you a relation of Mr...?" He trailed off, looking pointedly at Ayame. Evidently he had not even managed to get a name out of Ayame.
"His name is Sohma Ayame and I am his cousin, Dr. Sohma Hatori," Hatori said. He pulled his wallet out of his pocket and flicked it open to show the officer his driver's license. "What did he do?"
"Well..." the officer began.
" 'Tori," Ayame interrupted, turning his head quickly to look at Hatori; his hair followed the motion and spilled in a torrent over his shoulders. "You sound as if I am the one here who is solely to blame for this unfortunate situation, which I assure you with all sincerity I am not! I do not know where you found such a ridiculous idea, though I forgive you as it is quite easy for you to assume such a situation if you are only presented with utterly prejudiced sources of information, an unfortunate side-effect of these sorrowful times. It requires two vehicles for there to be an incident between them. Just as two love birds are required for blissful love to blossom for one another in their little beating hearts and the finest lace needs an exceptional designer for it to be considered as of the most beauteous sort of lingerie and..."
Hatori looked down at the booklet in the officer's hands and said, "I will cover this accident." At this, Ayame abruptly fell silent and remained silent while Hatori told the officer his contact details. It was the only sign that Ayame had acknowledged the fact that Hatori had, rather than hand the incident over to the scrutiny of Akito, decided to deal with it alone. Shigure looked thoughtfully at the pair of them. Then, with a small smile, he turned away and looked back at the rain in the headlights of the passing cars.
Minutes later and he saw two tow trucks appear and slow to halt on the outer lane beside the damaged vehicles. A driver in a van who had been behind them horned and swore viciously at the trucks whose drivers ignored him as they climbed out of their vehicles and joined the crowd beside the pavement. The van groaned into an inner lane and zoomed off, its driver still hurling obscenities at the crowd.
Shigure rubbed his hands absently. Then, when he smelt the approach of perfume on the wet air, he turned his head and watched Ayame glide up to him, hands behind his back. Shigure observed that Ayame had left his umbrella in Hatori's possession; Hatori's suit contrasted awkwardly with the lacy umbrella and something flip flopped inside Shigure's stomach as he looked at the sight. He looked at the grave expression on Hatori's face and shivered.
"Are you cold, 'Gure?" Ayame inquired in his ear. Before Shigure could respond, Ayame reached out and took his hands to rub them between his own long hands. Shigure let him and returned his attention to the crowd. The officers were about to take their leave. Hatori was apologising to both the police and the offended party.
Shigure looked down at their hands. Both were mottled with cold. He watched Ayame's long hands coil tighter into his own and looked back at Ayame's face, but Ayame was watching Hatori. A small furrow had appeared in Ayame's brow and Ayame's lips had drawn together in a tight line.
The officers left and Hatori and the driver of the other vehicle spoke for a few minutes with the drivers of the two tow trucks. Then, finally, the vehicles were towed away and the other party were driven away in a relative's car. Hatori turned and stepped back onto the pavement to come over to them, one hand in his pocket, the other clutching the handle of the open umbrella.
"My dear 'Tori, that was very professionally handled," Ayame praised. "I was so right to think to call you as soon as we had pulled to the side of the road." He released Shigure's hands and moved to stand beside Hatori and beneath the umbrella, even though they were all already sheltered beneath the eaves of the shop. He slipped a thin arm in Hatori's pocketed one.
Hatori glanced at Ayame and then looked at Shigure, his eyes heavy-lidded with tiredness. "I will drive you home," he said. Beside the pavement, the car's indicator lights flicked on and off as the doors unlocked. Shigure glanced at Hatori's pocketed hand, then turned to head to the car. He was unsurprised when Ayame, with a sudden flurry of energy, breezed past him, umbrella in hand, to claim the front passenger seat. Ayame left the door open for a few moments so that he could close the umbrella before pulling the lacy item in with him and shutting the door with a sharp snap.
Shigure climbed into the back seat behind him and leaned back, raising a hand to scratch an itch at the back of his head. Through the rivulet-covered windows, he watched Hatori walk to the driver's side of the car, open the door, and climb heavily into the front seat. The door shut, the car engine started, and Hatori wordlessly pulled the car back into the road. Shigure's gaze slid from Hatori to Ayame, whose head was turned towards Hatori. He waited for Ayame to start up the next conversation.
As anticipated, Ayame presently stirred and said hopefully, "How was your day, 'Tori?"
Hatori seemed to hesitate as he stiffened. Then as the seconds passed, his shoulders slowly relaxed; the hesitation drifted into indifference, then nothingness. Shigure looked back at Ayame who was still looking attentively at Hatori.
Moments later, Ayame shifted and turned around to look into the backseat and smile at Shigure. " 'Gure, puppy, would you mind ever so much if I placed this umbrella beside you? It is making my seat and clothes rather wet and I would hate for a chill to seep through to my skin."
Shigure nodded and smiled. "Mm." He held out a hand and with a thankful smile, Ayame slid it over to him. Shigure placed it across the seat beside him. Ayame turned back to face the road.
The silence returned. Shigure turned his attention to watching the road lights pass over Hatori's face and wondered what Hatori felt beneath that lack of expression. Hatori's hands were lax on the steering wheel; he seemed resigned to his situation. Shigure glanced at Ayame on seeing that Ayame's head was still turned towards Hatori, wondered if Ayame was thinking the same.
Shigure turned his head away and looked out of his car door window and the water that wove webs across it. He tried to tuck his hands in his sleeves, but recalled, once again, that he was not wearing his kimono. Unsettled, he let his hands fall lax into his lap. In front of him, he could see the side of Ayame's right pant sleeve leaning out of one of the splits in his gown, against the door, and he absently scratched an itch on his right knee.
The car jolted as it left the bitumen road and entered the dirt drive. Soon, the car had purred up to the front of the illuminated doors of Shigure's house.
Shigure opened the door. Before he left, he turned to look at the pair of them. "Thank you," he said. "Would either of you like to come in for some tea?"
"I should be getting back to the Estate," Hatori said, not looking at him.
There was a sudden creak as the hand brake was pulled up and Hatori turned his head to look down at it. Curious, Shigure leaned back into the car and peered between the two front seats to see that Ayame's hand had jerked it up. Then he yelped when Ayame suddenly leaned into the backseat to seize his umbrella, opened his door, opened the umbrella, and whipped out of the car and onto the porch.
"YUUUUUKKI!" Ayame bawled cheerfully from the porch! "HERE I AM, YOUR DARLING AND MOST EXCEPTIONAL BROTHER WHO LOVES HIS LITTLE SIBLING BEST! I CAME BACK ESPECIALLY TO SEE YOU, MY DEAREST BLOSSOM! PRINCESS TOOOOOOHRU! KYONKICHI, YOU SILLY FLUFFY ALWAYS-WANT-A-FIGHT PUSSY-CAT!" He rattled the door, found it unlocked, and slipped into the house. Shigure heard him continue to call endearments as he made his way through the house and searched for its three occupants. He snorted and smiled.
Suddenly, he felt the car stop humming beneath him. His smile disappeared and he turned his head to watch Hatori turn off the car lights of the now silent car and, with a resigned air, climb out into the pouring rain to head after Ayame.
Shigure watched him blankly for a few moments and then smiled widely. With a delighted bark, he ducked out of the car, slamming the door behind him. As he ran through the rain to the house, he shrugged off his jacket and yanked his tie loose.
He could not wait to get back into his kimono.