A/N: Hello all, once again, it's me. I've responded to all reviews personally that I could, so I feel it's time to get this one out. It only took an hour to write, but it was about 3 days of trying to come up with an idea, and all the ones I had, sucked, so thanks Stuka87 for giving me a kick in the ass to help me out.
Now this girl has been hotly requested, and I do hope that you find this small story adequate for her.
Next up, is YA-MA-TO! It was initially gonna be Haruna, but someone made me change the order, which I don't mind at all, so please enjoy!
A Rainy Day at the Office
"Mamiya, as always, that lunch was amazing." Admiral Dixon smiled, pushing the plate away from him "If I keep eating here, I'm gonna need to hit the gym a lot more."
"Thank you, sir. I'm pleased that you enjoyed the meal." Mamiya said, a grin on her face as she cleared his table.
He prepared to pull out his wallet, but Mamiya had said it was on the house.
So he waited until her back was turned and put a thousand yen note down on the table before making a hasty run to the door.
Only to find out that it was absolutely pouring rain outside.
"Aw crap. It's really coming down out there." he thought, rubbing his chin.
"Ah, it's raining." a quiet voice piped up from next to him.
"Oh Shigure. I didn't see you there." Andrew said, looking to his left, at the destroyer looking out the door at the pounding rain.
"Admiral, were you heading back to your office?" she asked, looking at him with a small smile.
"Yes, I was, before it started raining cats and dogs out that is." he replied, gesturing to the weather.
"I'll walk with you to your office then sir…if you're okay with that, that is." Shigure stated, looking down a little and toeing the ground.
"That would be wonderful. Just a moment." Andrew said, giving her a soft smile before calling "Mamiya, do you happen to have an umbrella kicking around I can borrow?"
"Of course Admiral. Here you are." Mamiya replied after a moment of searching in the coat closet.
"Thanks. I'll be sure to return it later." he grinned, stepping outside under the awning with Shigure and opening it up.
The pair began walking at a demure pace towards the administration building, as a small rumble of thunder sounded in the distance.
In response to that, Shigure jumped slightly and grabbed his arm, before proceeding to link arms with him, much to his surprise.
Her bright blue eyes watched the rain pound all around them, bouncing off the umbrella to create a medley that any snare drummer would be proud of.
Andrew had quickly found that in the first few steps from the restaurant, that the umbrella was not large enough to cover them both, unless she was sitting on his shoulders, so, being the gentleman that he was, he kept Shigure dry, while taking most of the brunt from the rainstorm himself.
Finally getting back to his office, Shigure led the way in with Andrew following, closing the door behind him and dropping the umbrella next to the door.
As he proceeded to drip all over the floor, his teeth chattering slightly and shivers from the now chilly uniform that clung to his body.
"Admiral, you're all wet." Shigure pointed out, walking up to him.
"Yes well," Andrew said, chuckling lightly "If me being wet is the only price I need to pay to escort a lovely girl around so she doesn't get soaked in the rain, that's alright by me."
Shigure blushed slightly, red appearing on her cheeks as she grinned and looked down.
Stripping off his sopping tunic, he hung it up to dry, and was relieved to see that there was a spare uniform in the coat closet in his office.
"Admiral?" Shigure called, just as he was about to head into the bathroom adjoined to his office to change.
"Yes? What is it?" he asked, pausing midway through opening the door.
"Would you…would you like me to help you get warm again?" she questioned, flushing a deep red but not breaking eye contact with the officer.
"Of all the questions to be asked today, this was definitely not on the list I had thought of." he thought, hanging the fresh uniform on the doorknob and walking over to the destroyer, a faint blush on his cheeks.
"Shigure…" Andrew said softly, a small smile on his face "I'm happy how we are right now, as friends. Maybe eventually, we'll have something more, but for now, let's avoid anything deeper, alright?"
"Okay Admiral." she said, but not before throwing her arms around him in a hug "Thank you, for being my friend."
"For sure." he replied, letting his own arms encircle the destroyer "And I do hate to break up the moment, but I'm getting your uniform all wet by dripping on it."
They broke apart laughing, both with a faint bit of red on their cheeks, but with genuine smiles on their faces.
One quick uniform change later, Andrew was sitting at his desk, talking with Shigure about how her day was.
"I was okay on the torpedo range, but my gunnery skills are what I really want to work on. I want to get up to a ninety percent hit ratio, and I'm only at a seventy six percent right now." Shigure stated, her eyes sparkling.
"Practice makes perfect Shigure. That and never give up on yourself. Remember those, and you'll have no trouble reaching your goals." Andrew replied, signing another requisition order for ammunition.
"How was your day Admiral?" she asked after a moment, cocking her head cutely to one side.
"Good. Got some paperwork done, watch DesDiv 6 perform a few simulated attacks on a battleship target, and then had lunch at Mamiya's. You know the rest from there." he said, looking out the window at the still pattering rain.
"I love the rain." Shigure said, standing up and walking around his desk to look out the window. "It makes it so…peaceful outside."
"Like the world is cleaning itself off from the days events, giving us a clean slate to work with while giving all living things a necessary element for survival. It's beautiful." he murmured seeing the sun peek through a break in the clouds before disappearing again.
"You like the rain too Admiral?" she asked, looking at him for a moment before glancing outside again.
"Yeah. Always have." he replied softly "Back when I still lived in Canada, way back when I was just a little kid, I can remember going out to play in the rain with my parents. I assume they weren't too fond of it, but they put up with it because I was just a kid, too young to know any better.
"Ever since then, I've always loved rainy days. As I got older, it became less about playing in puddles and getting soaked, and more about focusing on reading and writing. It helped expand my musical tastes and keep me relaxed with the drumming of rain on the sheet metal overhang outside my bedroom window.
"I guess the rain kinda helped make me who I am today. The Admiral at this naval base, and it helped get me here with all of you."
He punctuated that by standing from his chair and taking her hand in his, a small smile gracing his features.
"I'm glad you're here Admiral." Shigure finally said after a few minutes of silence.
"Me too Shigure…me too." Andrew replied, letting go of her hand as they both focused on the rain outside.
No more was said between them that day, but both knew in their hearts, that they had taken the first step towards something that was really special.
The first step, towards lifelong happiness.
Fin