The last chapter of hospital visitations. Written whilst feeling angsty and alone. Blame that for all the horribleness. The next chapter is very strange and sort of... Well, necessary plot advancement carried out without finesse or cunning. Many apologies, but I wanted to get a move on on this beasty.

With love, Jiia

There were several things with this situation that didn't make any sense to Shigure. Each and every one had something to do with the story Hatori had told him. Fallen through a window indeed. There wasn't a scratch on his beautiful friend. The only sign of injury was the white bandages encircling his pale arms. Falling through glass would have left him with nicks and cuts all over, not just on his arms. And then there were the restraints. Why would he need to be restrained if he'd fallen through a window? Despite the tenderness that had yet to fade from his nose, he'd never known Ayame to be violent. He highly doubted he'd deliberately try to hurt another person.

What bothered him the most, however, was the suspicious lack of people. Usually Ayame was surrounded by a loving horde. He'd expected Hatori at the very least. Walking into that room and finding it almost empty was one of the most unsettling experiences he'd ever had. Ayame was rarely ever alone, and for him to be alone while hurt and in pain was so strange and unsettling that he almost didn't believe it. He half expected Mine to suddenly jump out from behind a curtain with a bundle of flowers and scare the living daylights out of all of them.

But as Ayame fought off the inadvertent flailing attack Tohru sent his way, and comforted her as best as he could without his usual exuberant hand gestures, and exchanged the necessary pleasantries with his brother, no such event transpired. There was no one hiding in the bright corners, no one lurking behind the transparent drapes. Ayame was alone.

Yuki ran out of nice things to say. Tohru was still incoherent, big blue eyes shimmering with worried tears. It only took a look, and he was leading the girl out of the room, arm wrapped around her shoulders in a familiar way he probably would have teased the boy about if it had been any other day, any other place.

And then they were both alone.

"What really happened to you, Aya?" He asked, his voice little more than a whisper.

"Exactly what Hatori told you." The snake intoned, smiling a painful smile that had become all to familiar to the dog over the last few months.

"And what was that, Aya? Do you even know?"

The other man said nothing, empty smile dropping from his lips as he turned his gaze to the grey, rainy sky outside his window.

"Why does it always rain at times like this?" He mumbled under his breath, fingers playing idly with the edge of his blanket. "It should be sunny, but it isn't. It's like the universe conspires against you or something."

Shigure clenched his fingers at his side. He wanted answers, but he didn't know how to ask the questions. Not without unintentionally making the situation worse. He felt so useless, standing on the sidelines, watching the players but barely understanding what was going on. He wanted to help, but he didn't know how. He wasn't even sure what was wrong.

"I'm worried about you, Ayame." He whispered, voice so loud in a room so quiet that he wished he hadn't said anything at all, let alone something so predictable and meaningless.

"Aren't you all." The snake turned to him, smiling so sadly that Shigure felt part of his heart shatter and break. "You don't need to worry about me, Shi-chan. It was an accident, that's all. Nothing that can't be healed."

He should have stayed. He should have sat down in the chair next to his lover's bed and refused to budge until Aya finally broke down and poured out his soul. He should have rushed out onto the stage and forced them to give him a part. He should have insisted on being a part of this, this thing that was happening with his best friend.

But at that very moment, as he took his first hesitant step towards the man who was his best friend in all the world, he heard the girl who he had somehow come to love as much as the rest of them let out a choked sob, and knew that her tears had gone beyond simple fear for someone she barely knew. This dreary hospital had been the last place she had ever seen either of her parents. Of course a visit here would bring up things that even the all-powerful Tohru wasn't ready to deal with.

She needed him.

He turned on the ball of his foot and dashed out the door, taking the shaking girl in his arms and helping Yuki guide her out of the empty white halls.

The door stood open on an empty room and an empty man, looking out the window to a grey sky and thinking about correcting the mistakes he hadn't even realized he'd made.