Author's notes at the end =)
Chapter 3; The Catalyst
Shigure hardly noticed the changing hues in the sky, all he could see was a woman with short hair, laughing with him… or in most cases… at him. He wondered how badly hurt she was, was it critical? Or was it like all those years ago when they had first met.
His mind flew back to an incident way back when he received a car from his parents for his twenty-first birthday.
*
"Isn't it fun to have parents who don't acknowledge your existence!" Shigure exclaimed as he admired the new car in front of him.
"Especially when they give you an expensive present once in a while to quieten their guilty conscience!" Ayame flung his arms around the older Jyunishii enthusiastically.
"Ayame, shouldn't you be somewhere else right now?" came a calm voice to disturb the duo's cries of joy.
"Oh damn. That's right. Akito is making me check up on Yuki. Something about the kid having an asthma attack or something." Ayame made a face.
"You know, it wouldn't kill you to be nicer to your own sibling." Hatori frowned, they had this conversation everytime the subject of Yuki was brought up. And much to Hatori's dismay, it was the only subject where the snake never listened to him.
"You might regret this one day." Shigure said solemnly. "Us dogs are known for our 'seeing' abilities."
"I thought it was your sense of smell."
"Eh." Shigure shrugged. "They're both part of your senses. Can you blame me if I get confused sometimes?"
"I'd better go. Akito might get angry if I don't show up soon."
The two waved to Ayame who dramatically flipped his long silver hair and walked back to the main house.
"Shall we?"
"Dear God. Will I live after this?"
"We're only going for a short drive Hari!"
"To the nearest hospital most probably."
"Have you no confidence in me?"
"No. Not really."
His suspicions were confirmed as soon as Shigure turned the car on.
"The clutch Shigure. No! Don't do… Shigure!!!" he tried to sound calm but ended his speech with a little squeak as the car sped off.
"Relax!"
"How can I relax? Watch out for that tree!!!"
"We're only in the Sohma Woods, Hatori. Calm down."
"Just slow down!"
Meanwhile, a young woman looked at the address written down on the piece of paper hesitantly. The people pointed her in this direction but… All she saw was an endless row of trees. Her new charge's house seem to be in the middle of no where. She shrugged her bag closer to her body and looked ahead. Sohma Shigure… She wondered what kind of writer he was. Because from today… She was his newly appointed editor.
She looked around carefully. Was it her imagination or was that a screech of brakes she heard??
Shigure laughed as he saw his best friend pale even more.
"Shigure… Please…"
"Okay, okay." He hit the brakes suddenly, causing the car to lurch and began to move again in a slower pace.
"Better. Much better."
"Good. You should trust me more. You know that I only did that to scare you didn't you?"
"Really?"
"Oh come on! I've been driving since I was fifteen!"
"Illegally."
"But I can drive."
"I'll admit it if you don't get arrested in the streets."
Their attentions were distracted as they looked at each other. Shigure laughed aloud and Hatori spared him a smile.
He was thankful for even that small show of emotion. After a few years ago when Hatori had to erase the memory of Yuki's friends he had been even more withdrawn.
As good as all that was… they managed to not notice the figure in a soft pink coat.
"Shit! Shigure!"
Shigure swore under his breath as he swerved to the right. A high pitched scream filled the air.
The black seemed to engulf her, making her question where she was. She tried opening her eyes to find one handsome face very close to hers.
"Waa!!" she managed to shriek before coughing violently. Her throat was very dry. Must have been all the screaming from terror thing.
"Hey Hatori! She's awake! Oh look. She's coughing really badly. Get her some water! Quick!" Shigure gestured to is cousin who was just coming in from the kitchen. He received a quick slap on his head.
"Hey, the whole thing is your fault. Try helping instead of scaring her. Here, try to drink this slowly."
"Can you manage on your own? I can help you if you want. Mouth to mouth if necessary!"
"Helping. Not flirting."
"Was not flirting!" the one with longer hair exclaimed indignantly.
"Ano… Where am I? What happened?"
"Oh no! She has amnesia! We'll have to take care of her forever and ever and ever!" an evil gleam entered Shigure's eyes. "You're my secret mistress and we were just about to elope to a beautiful…"
"Ignore him. You fainted because of this idiot almost crashing into you." The idiot mentioned continued to babble on about secret paradises for forbidden lovers.
"Oh! I'm so sorry for troubling you!" the small woman in front of him blushed ten shades of scarlet as the doctor checked her pulse.
"It's okay. It was his fault anyway." He calmly replaced her hands in her lap and hit Shigure's head in hopes that his best friend will shut up. It didn't even slow down the writer as he continued to describe lush green fields and meadows of Tulips dancing in the wind.
"He's been going on about the castle for a long time… He should be a writer or something." She commented. She didn't think that the young man was Sohma Shigure who wrote serious novels, but maybe she could persuade the young man to write cute shoujo romance novels! He seemed to speak the language fluently.
"He is. Ah, we haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Sohma Hatori." The woman looked up with a start at the offered hand. She shook it softly. Then that must mean…
"Ah! Nice to meet you Sohma-san! And he must be Sohma Shigure!" she took a wild guess.
"How did you know? Oooh! Can you read minds?" Her heart drooped.
"Aa… I am Kirisawa Minami! I'm your new editor."
*
After Mii-chan had gone home he had given Hatori his car keys with shaking hands. Asking his best friend to never ever let him drive again. As a person with a vivid imagination, Shigure had imagined a very blood scene which could have occurred had he not swerved in the last minute.
Hatori was only too pleased to oblige him.
"Sir, excuse me sir… I'm afraid you can't sleep here. This is the entrance of the hospital. If you need a place to stay there's a government funded hostel nearby." A young looking man in his mid twenties tapped Shigure's stooping shoulders. He was bewildered for a few moments before a light bulb clicked in his head.
"What? Oh no. You misunderstand! I'm waiting for visiting hours to start again. My friend had an accident and I wanted to see how she is doing."
"I'm very sorry to hear that. I… I'm a doctor here, if you want… I can look in on how the patient is doing and tell you." The doctor felt very sorry for the man who looked as if he could drop dead from exhaustion any minute.
"That would be great. Thanks."
"What's here name?"
"Minami Kirisawa." He mumbled the name under his breath so that he'd remember it. "I'll be right back."
Minutes passed by. Shigure felt that all the waiting he had done in the past day filled his whole life. He hated waiting, always had, always will. Now he remembered why.
"I'm sorry, you must have received the wrong information. The receptionist's data says that a Minami Kirisawa was indeed admitted in at five to six yesterday afternoon, but she was immediately discharged. Her injuries were not serious."
He felt as if a huge stone that weighed on his back fell off. But he was really confused. What sort of injuries did she suffer? But he noticed the doctor's impatient looks.
"Ah… Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Shigure walked away with shaking steps. He was going to kill Haru when he next saw the kid. He made Shigure dash of in the night… in the cold night and wait until the hospital admitted visitors again!
But then again… he did rush off before Haru could explain anything.
He blamed every rash action he made on his doggy self. His normal human self was calm and collected, thank you very much.
At least he tried to convince himself of the fact every now and again.
He really didn't feel like walking right now.
Shigure walked up to a public telephone booth and dialled a number. He knew that the person he was calling was the only one who would be awake at this time of… morning? It was barely so, but the dragon of the Jyunishii seemed to love really really early mornings.
"Yo. Hatori. Can you pick me up?"
"Don't tell me… you're in jail."
"Do you think I'm that stupid?"
"Honestly?… Yes."
"Ha ha. Seriously though. I'm near a hospital right now."
"The usual one?"
"Yep."
"What happened."
"Oops. My coins are running out. If you come… I'll tell you." Shigure put the handle of phone back in it's place.
"Wait… Shigure?… Shigure!"
Hatori frowned at the phone. What was that idiotic dog planning now?
On the other side of town Shigure laughed weakly. A huge weight had been lifted of his shoulders. He suddenly felt all his energy leak out and collapsed near the phone.
TBC…
Author's Notes; There now, the wait for it wasn't that long I hope! Thanks to my reviewers; Kireina, Lady of the Ink, Ssjgoddesschico and Tai… I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint!