Ayame shows up. One thing: bathrooms and toilets are seperate in japan, and addresses are useless for finding houses. Toru would be given directions or drawn a map to Soma House. ____________
Toru looked at her directions again, and turned the corner. It was late aftenoon after school, and Toru was following the directions Shigure gave her to Soma House. The house was big enough to see the walls from the street she was on but there was only one gate. She would have to make her way towards it. She didn't go over one street to look along the wall, because she hadn't gone this way before, and she wasn't sure she could find her way back if she got lost. Everything looked so similar.....
Shigure's directions were different than the ones Ha'ri gave her late last year, and a great deal more complicated. The final parts of the directions had a doodle next to the part where it her to turn. She did.
The gate wasn't there. Just a small garden along the wall, with roses and a sort of climbing ivy on a trellis. She looked at the directions again to see if it was right. She read the two pages again and when she got to the end, she looked closer at the doodle. It was of a stick figure in a sailor fuku, like she wore to school climbing up a crosshatched wall. The fit of the fuku was alarmingly accurate, and the drawing had little hearts and stars drawn around it.
Toru almost panicked. She was supposed to sneak in? Like a thief?? She paced up and down the short length of the garden.
"Oooooo, hello Toru-kun!" there was no mistaking that voice.
"A-Ayame-san!" said Toru, and turned in his direction.
"Ha ha ha! No need to worry! I won't need a ride today, as lovely as it is a carriage! It is warm as you could want for the spring!" He was wearing his usual silk blouse and nice pants, but without the chinese overcoat.
"Yes, it's very hot, really. I would have gotten a drink from a vending machine, if I knew it was so long a walk! I haven't seen you wear this sort of thing outside before! N-no, wait, that was rude, I shouldn't have commented on-"
"O, worry not sweet Toru-kun! I'm perfectly happy you have seen me in such intimate circumstances. After all we've been though together, there is hardly room for embarrassment."
"Ne? I'm not sure what you mean," Toru said.
Ayame laughed and rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed, "To be perfectly honest, neither am I. I forget myself sometimes. I'm lucky you can keep me grounded, it would be a shame to go overboard and ruin our friendship. In any case, these are my grubbies! I would like to wear something more formal, but I cannot outshine the roses in dirty clothes, no matter how fine the cut of cloth!"
"Oh, you can garden!"
"Wellll, yes. But only roses. The rest sort of turn brown."
"But roses are really hard! I've read about gardening to help out Yuki with his secret base!"
"Secret base? Like a fort? Ah the wonders of boyhood! Roses in one would calm the roughness of such a place!"
"N-no. It's just a garden for....... onions and things. Vegetables. Yuki planted strawberries too, just after I started helping!"
"You like those, do you?" Ayame looked thoughtful.
"Yes, I really do!"
"Well........ you need to get over the wall, right? Ha-san wouldn't want you to be late for your date!"
"Date? No! It's just a-"
"Worry not, little Toru-kun! That's why the three of us put the trellis and garden here! You will not be the first young lady to climb this wall into his waiting embrace! " "Really? Y-you don't say......."
"No. Not really, I'm just fibbing! But it's fun to think about, ne? Up you go! Alas, I'm afraid I can only catch you if you fall, but not hoist you myself! Such a shame for a young lady to exert herself when a man is around! At least in this particular situation......"
"W-w-well thank you!" said Toru who started to climb the viney trellis. Her skirt was too short to keep decent while climbing, but she was already late, so she didn't worry.
"Bye bye!" Ayame called after Toru, looking up at her while she climbed.
----
Toru was on top of the wall, and wondering how to get down. She was looking into Ha'ri's rock garden, but it was a 10 foot drop. Rocks weren't known for being soft, and sand wasn't much better.
"Use the tree in the corner," Toru started and looked down at the door to Hatori's room. He was in standing next to his desk, writing something down. He looked up at her. "The smooth branches are solid enough for someone...... my size, so you should be fine."
"Uh, sure." Toru said. She walked over the tiled roof to the pine tree in the corner of the yard, next to the house. It was tall enough tower over Toru, even standing on the wall.
There were, as Hatori said, certain branches that had been worn smooth and without bark from being climbed on. On the way down, she could even see where fingers had worn grooves in the wood. She walked along the edge of the garden, trying not to mess up the raked sand.
"I'm so sorry I was late! I didn't know that I was coming this way, or how long it took. I had a little trouble with the instructions."
"Really? Let me see," She took off her shoes and handed the directions to Ha'ri. He frowned, and instead grabbed her hand, setting the directions aside, "Why are your hands red? Do they hurt?"
"Oh, they itch some. I think the tree was a little rough."
"Mmm. Wash your hands, please. The wash room is right there."
"Okeh."
She walked into the bathroom, through a door from Hatori's room. It was modern for such an old house, with a shower and tub. The tub had water in it already. There was a switch on the wall to heat the bath, instead of a wood stove like at Shigure's house. The heater would be expensive. She washed her hands, and went back into Hatori's room. Hatori was sitting and reading the directions. He looked up at her.
"Nh. Shigure didn't even need to send you the back way. Akito always gets sick mid-spring, and I gave him rather more medicine than was usually recommended, just to be safe. With his health, I mean. If he weren't asleep I would have delayed the appointment."
Ha'ri looked back down at the directions. He read under his breath and moved his finger in the air, like tracing the route on an invisible map, "And this route seems to double back at least..... three times. And he didn't say explicitly enough how to get in," Hatori shook his head, got up and slid open the door to a closet, "He didn't need to send you off on a twisted route and use codes, like you were some secret agent trying not to be caught."
"Huh? Then....... why did you write that letter so only Shigure could read it?"
"The boys would not approve of me being your doctor. I thought if he read it first, it would be harder for them to argue. But there was no need to further confuse the situation, or make it hard to know how to get in."
"That's okeh! Ayame was in the garden so it turned out fine!"
He glanced behind him, his left eye peaking out behind his hair. His hair was getting longer. Ha'ri hadn't cut it in the time Toru had known him. "Don't pay any mind to what Ayame said. Discretion is not his strong point. Especially if there is no need to be discreet," He found a large thin case and a roll of paper in the closet. He carried them to the center of the room.
"Y-you heard him?"
"No. I just know him." He opened the case , which unfolded , into a long padded surface. He went back into the closet and took out a thick wooden frame, which he also had to unfold, and a sheet. He put the sheet on the frame and the pad on that. He tore off some paper and folded it between the frame and the top to prevent it from slipping.
"Oh that's smart! You have more room if you can put the table away." She thought for a second, "Do you....... normally do checkups, uh.......... here?"
"Yes. For Junishi members I do checkups in my quarters, but others must go in the office. I am fully equipped here, I assure you. Do you need anything before we start?"
"Well, I'm a little thirsty. But it can wait!"
"All right. Down to underclothes please. There's a screen in the corner."
"Uh...... I think you should know I'll need to arrange a payment plan before-"
"No need to discuss that now. We'll arrange something afterward."
"Okeh," she walked over behind the screen and started to take her shirt off over her head.
"No need to be nervous, my bedside manner is not the best, but I am professional."
"Oh, I'm not nervous!" she called.
"I do need to tell you........ I am bound by my oath as a doctor, but also by other obligations. I am asking you not to give me any more information than you need to. If possible just say yes or no. That would be the safest."
"Wstfugl?" Toru said stopping at the button at the side of her skirt.
Toru looked at her directions again, and turned the corner. It was late aftenoon after school, and Toru was following the directions Shigure gave her to Soma House. The house was big enough to see the walls from the street she was on but there was only one gate. She would have to make her way towards it. She didn't go over one street to look along the wall, because she hadn't gone this way before, and she wasn't sure she could find her way back if she got lost. Everything looked so similar.....
Shigure's directions were different than the ones Ha'ri gave her late last year, and a great deal more complicated. The final parts of the directions had a doodle next to the part where it her to turn. She did.
The gate wasn't there. Just a small garden along the wall, with roses and a sort of climbing ivy on a trellis. She looked at the directions again to see if it was right. She read the two pages again and when she got to the end, she looked closer at the doodle. It was of a stick figure in a sailor fuku, like she wore to school climbing up a crosshatched wall. The fit of the fuku was alarmingly accurate, and the drawing had little hearts and stars drawn around it.
Toru almost panicked. She was supposed to sneak in? Like a thief?? She paced up and down the short length of the garden.
"Oooooo, hello Toru-kun!" there was no mistaking that voice.
"A-Ayame-san!" said Toru, and turned in his direction.
"Ha ha ha! No need to worry! I won't need a ride today, as lovely as it is a carriage! It is warm as you could want for the spring!" He was wearing his usual silk blouse and nice pants, but without the chinese overcoat.
"Yes, it's very hot, really. I would have gotten a drink from a vending machine, if I knew it was so long a walk! I haven't seen you wear this sort of thing outside before! N-no, wait, that was rude, I shouldn't have commented on-"
"O, worry not sweet Toru-kun! I'm perfectly happy you have seen me in such intimate circumstances. After all we've been though together, there is hardly room for embarrassment."
"Ne? I'm not sure what you mean," Toru said.
Ayame laughed and rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed, "To be perfectly honest, neither am I. I forget myself sometimes. I'm lucky you can keep me grounded, it would be a shame to go overboard and ruin our friendship. In any case, these are my grubbies! I would like to wear something more formal, but I cannot outshine the roses in dirty clothes, no matter how fine the cut of cloth!"
"Oh, you can garden!"
"Wellll, yes. But only roses. The rest sort of turn brown."
"But roses are really hard! I've read about gardening to help out Yuki with his secret base!"
"Secret base? Like a fort? Ah the wonders of boyhood! Roses in one would calm the roughness of such a place!"
"N-no. It's just a garden for....... onions and things. Vegetables. Yuki planted strawberries too, just after I started helping!"
"You like those, do you?" Ayame looked thoughtful.
"Yes, I really do!"
"Well........ you need to get over the wall, right? Ha-san wouldn't want you to be late for your date!"
"Date? No! It's just a-"
"Worry not, little Toru-kun! That's why the three of us put the trellis and garden here! You will not be the first young lady to climb this wall into his waiting embrace! " "Really? Y-you don't say......."
"No. Not really, I'm just fibbing! But it's fun to think about, ne? Up you go! Alas, I'm afraid I can only catch you if you fall, but not hoist you myself! Such a shame for a young lady to exert herself when a man is around! At least in this particular situation......"
"W-w-well thank you!" said Toru who started to climb the viney trellis. Her skirt was too short to keep decent while climbing, but she was already late, so she didn't worry.
"Bye bye!" Ayame called after Toru, looking up at her while she climbed.
----
Toru was on top of the wall, and wondering how to get down. She was looking into Ha'ri's rock garden, but it was a 10 foot drop. Rocks weren't known for being soft, and sand wasn't much better.
"Use the tree in the corner," Toru started and looked down at the door to Hatori's room. He was in standing next to his desk, writing something down. He looked up at her. "The smooth branches are solid enough for someone...... my size, so you should be fine."
"Uh, sure." Toru said. She walked over the tiled roof to the pine tree in the corner of the yard, next to the house. It was tall enough tower over Toru, even standing on the wall.
There were, as Hatori said, certain branches that had been worn smooth and without bark from being climbed on. On the way down, she could even see where fingers had worn grooves in the wood. She walked along the edge of the garden, trying not to mess up the raked sand.
"I'm so sorry I was late! I didn't know that I was coming this way, or how long it took. I had a little trouble with the instructions."
"Really? Let me see," She took off her shoes and handed the directions to Ha'ri. He frowned, and instead grabbed her hand, setting the directions aside, "Why are your hands red? Do they hurt?"
"Oh, they itch some. I think the tree was a little rough."
"Mmm. Wash your hands, please. The wash room is right there."
"Okeh."
She walked into the bathroom, through a door from Hatori's room. It was modern for such an old house, with a shower and tub. The tub had water in it already. There was a switch on the wall to heat the bath, instead of a wood stove like at Shigure's house. The heater would be expensive. She washed her hands, and went back into Hatori's room. Hatori was sitting and reading the directions. He looked up at her.
"Nh. Shigure didn't even need to send you the back way. Akito always gets sick mid-spring, and I gave him rather more medicine than was usually recommended, just to be safe. With his health, I mean. If he weren't asleep I would have delayed the appointment."
Ha'ri looked back down at the directions. He read under his breath and moved his finger in the air, like tracing the route on an invisible map, "And this route seems to double back at least..... three times. And he didn't say explicitly enough how to get in," Hatori shook his head, got up and slid open the door to a closet, "He didn't need to send you off on a twisted route and use codes, like you were some secret agent trying not to be caught."
"Huh? Then....... why did you write that letter so only Shigure could read it?"
"The boys would not approve of me being your doctor. I thought if he read it first, it would be harder for them to argue. But there was no need to further confuse the situation, or make it hard to know how to get in."
"That's okeh! Ayame was in the garden so it turned out fine!"
He glanced behind him, his left eye peaking out behind his hair. His hair was getting longer. Ha'ri hadn't cut it in the time Toru had known him. "Don't pay any mind to what Ayame said. Discretion is not his strong point. Especially if there is no need to be discreet," He found a large thin case and a roll of paper in the closet. He carried them to the center of the room.
"Y-you heard him?"
"No. I just know him." He opened the case , which unfolded , into a long padded surface. He went back into the closet and took out a thick wooden frame, which he also had to unfold, and a sheet. He put the sheet on the frame and the pad on that. He tore off some paper and folded it between the frame and the top to prevent it from slipping.
"Oh that's smart! You have more room if you can put the table away." She thought for a second, "Do you....... normally do checkups, uh.......... here?"
"Yes. For Junishi members I do checkups in my quarters, but others must go in the office. I am fully equipped here, I assure you. Do you need anything before we start?"
"Well, I'm a little thirsty. But it can wait!"
"All right. Down to underclothes please. There's a screen in the corner."
"Uh...... I think you should know I'll need to arrange a payment plan before-"
"No need to discuss that now. We'll arrange something afterward."
"Okeh," she walked over behind the screen and started to take her shirt off over her head.
"No need to be nervous, my bedside manner is not the best, but I am professional."
"Oh, I'm not nervous!" she called.
"I do need to tell you........ I am bound by my oath as a doctor, but also by other obligations. I am asking you not to give me any more information than you need to. If possible just say yes or no. That would be the safest."
"Wstfugl?" Toru said stopping at the button at the side of her skirt.
