Chapter Nine
The red-haired woman stopped in the living room, clearing up the remnants of the party and smiling to herself. Straightening up, looking at the picture across the wall, maternal love filled her. Her baby had grown up. Her son was getting married.
She shuffled across the floor and bent to shift the table back to its original position from where it had been jarred slightly. As she did so, a slip of white paper on the table caught her eye, alongside a short pencil. Curious, she picked it up and turned it over to look at the drawing on the other side.
It looked like a mask. Intricately drawn, with shading and a delicate mold. She admired her son's artistry for a moment longer, before putting it back down and weighting it to the table with the pencil. He really was a good architect.
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Rukawa stared under heavily lidded eyes at the man who was slowly backing away from him. What is –wrong– with him? Sighing quietly to himself, he stretched and leaned back against the car.
"I'm sorry."
"What?"
"For being rude earlier."
"Oh. It doesn't matter."
He sized up the other even as they spoke, exchanging words that had no real meaning or direction.
"I'd best be going now," the other interrupted his chain of thought. He blinked and then acknowledged the words.
"That's true. Your wedding is in a few days, isn't it?" He wasn't about to admit that he had truly been eavesdropping while the one who had hired him and this one were talking, right before he had gone in. Then again, it was really quite obvious how he knew.
The redhead nodded slightly, bowing his head and then looking up and catching the shadow-darkened eyes of the other man. "It was a pleasure meeting you."
He left.
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Rukawa watched as the car sped away, before uncoiling himself from the position he had adopted and walking around to the driver's side of the car, unlocking the door, pulling it open and sliding in easily. The glowing numbers on the digital clock read 11:00. It was time to pick Sendoh up. Inserting the key into the ignition, he turned it, and the engine rumbled to life.
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As the music ended, the lithe body dropped to the ground in a calculated, dramatic final pose. A smattering of belated applause made a small smile touch the smoky eyes hidden behind the mask, which Haruko bit her lip to see. The group opposite her started giggling and, even in the semi-dark, she could see the blushes that stained every one of their faces.
I probably look worse…
She tried not to look, but her eyes stubbornly followed the sculpted torso as it rose and moved forward quietly to pick up the discarded clothes, before disappearing behind the open door.
Her heart was pounding, and her head felt full, dizzy. The unadulterated lust that coursed in her blood made her suddenly ashamed, and she looked away from the door.
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Haruko.
Thoughts of his future wife made Hanamichi smile slightly and loosen his grip on the steering wheel that he had been clenching.
What I'm feeling now is just a phase. I –am– sure of this wedding. I am.
Making a quick decision, he turned left from the intersection. I'll just go to her house, just to see her for a while.
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Sendoh shrugged on the long coat and wrapped it about him, tightening the belt through the loops and deftly securing his clothes about him as he hurried through the house. Opening the front door, he slipped outside and found his sneakers. He stood up, removing his mask and placing it carefully in a large pocket. A car was already waiting at the curb shoulder on the opposite side, but it wasn't the familiar black sedan, but a sleek gray Porsche, the driver shadowed by the weak light of the street lamps. Anyway… He shivered slightly in the cold.
He strode down the long driveway, and opened the small side-gate, letting himself out, just as the headlights of another car flashed in his face and he turned, wincing at the harsh light. It pulled up beside him, and the door swung open. He got in, to be greeted with a fierce kiss.
He really does hate it when we're apart… The realization was nothing new, but he marveled at it again, as he always did when it came to him. His arms relaxed and encircled the weight of his lover, returning the kiss.
Suddenly the night wasn't so cold anymore.