Here is the next section. I hope I have not made you wait too long to find out what happened to our new manager. Please let me know what you think.
Note: I do not own Skip Beat!
Yashiro tried to get his pulse to slow as the emergency crews worked to clear the wreckage. He had cheered with the other onlookers when the firemen had lifted a mostly unharmed Kyoko from the twisted metal. He had even felt a little giddy when Ren scooped her up and carried her off to be checked out, but his happiness was short lived as he turned his attention back to the car that contained the woman that had touched his heart. He paced as the crew used the hydraulic cutters to get the driver's side door open so they had a better angle to remove the steering wheel from the girl's lap. They had to get two police officers to hold him off when the medics produced a white cloth to cover the girl with. They had to explain several times that it was for her protection and not because she was dead before he stopped struggling against them. He understood their caution when he saw the sparks flying from the giant rotary cutter as they started in on the bent steering column pressing into her trapped legs. The officers stayed with him as they watched the medics slipped a backboard underneath the woman before strapped her securely to it. The cops finally let him go to the injured woman after she had been pulled from the car and had been secured to a gurney for transport to the hospital.
"Hey there." Yashiro approached the woman slowly as he tried to gather himself for what he might find. Catherine turned her attention away from the medic putting in an IV to look at her visitor.
"Hey. I was sure you would be over checking on Kyoko." Catherine smiled as she teased the worried man. Seeing the depth of his concern, she reached out her hand to him. He stepped closer and took the offered appendage gently. He could see the small cuts decorating the back of her hand and arm from where she had been laying in the broken glass. Everything that he had suppressed washed over him as he dropped his head to her sternum and nearly broke down in tears. "Come on. Don't do that." Catherine tried to comfort him with a squeeze of the hand and a pat on the head. "I'm alright. I'm only on this thing so they could get me out from that cramped car. And hey, I get to have the ambulance ride that you all were so adamant I take." Yashiro laughed out his tension as she petted his head. Having finally put himself back together, Yashiro stood up and smiled warmly at the woman the medics were waiting to take away. Catherine smiled back at him as she squeezed his hand again as they started to wheel her to the ambulance where Kyoko and Ren had been watching the exchange.
Having been cleared by the EMT, Kyoko stood back and watched as they loaded her manager up for the trip to the hospital. The three friends quickly decided that Yashiro should ride in the ambulance with the woman and Ren would follow with Kyoko as soon as they were able to get past the mess. Catherine asked the two remaining behind to get her coat from the car before it was towed away. Kyoko agreed as she watched Yashiro climb inside for the ride. The two actors waved as the ambulance drove off in a cloud of flashing lights and screeching sirens. Ren walked Kyoko over to the damaged car and had the firemen help to retrieve the coat and Kyoko's phone from the back seat of the car. It was only when Ren handed the electronic device to her, that she remembered that she still had Catherine's phone in her hand.
"I still have Kat-san's phone!" Kyoko pulled out the article and showed it to Ren. Ren laughed and pulled out a phone and showed it to Kyoko.
"That's ok. I still have Yashiro's." Ren shook his head at the folly.
"But, how will we know where they took them!" Kyoko exclaimed.
The medic had let Yashiro into the ambulance first so he could tend to the wounds on Catherine's legs. Since there was no blood and Catherine's good humor had returned when they were able to straighten her out, there was really nothing to do but monitor her till they arrived at their destination. Yashiro studied her face as they bounced along the road and he recalled the last time he was in an ambulance.
"Do you think these guys will start giving me frequent flyer miles?" Catherine spoke up to break the tension riding the air. The medic chuckled at the bad joke. He had been listening to her wisecracks since before they pulled her from the car. When they covered her with the sheet, she had made them all smile when she told them that she didn't like white and asked if they had any Egyptian cotton with a floral pattern on it, preferably 400 threat-count or better. The humor continued when she had informed them that she would have gone on a diet if she had known they would have been carrying her. He could not help but like the woman. Yashiro's face softened before noticing something gray tangled in the woman's hair. Light disgust crossed his face as he carefully pulled the thawed prawn from her hair. Catherine turned to see what the man had removed.
"Are you taking my pet away?" Catherine faked a pout that made both of the men chuckle.
"You are a really lucky guy." The medic told Yashiro.
"We're not together." The medic's eyes dropped to where the man was still holding his patient's hand.
"Maybe you should consider it then." The medic turned his attention the heart monitor that had just registered an increase in Catherine's pulse as the woman blushed deeply. Yashiro cleared his throat and turned his attention to the ceiling as he tried not to blush too. "You two would make as cute a couple as the other pair did." The medic fiddled with his instruments. "I hadn't heard that Tsuruga Ren has such a cute girlfriend." Shock washed over both managers as they took in what the medic said.
"Um, they are not going out either." Catherine corrected him. The medic looked at her in disbelief.
"Well, they should be." Catherine and Yashiro laughed and agreed with the man as they arrived at the hospital.
It was about two hours later when Ren and Kyoko finally arrived at the hospital. It had not taken the road crew long to open up enough of the expressway to let cars start to pass again, but the actors were delayed because they could not find out where Catherine had been taken. Without a way to contact them, Ren had spent the better part of their time calling around to see if they could find the injured woman, but her name was not registered anywhere. Yashiro had called Lory when they first arrived to inform him of the accident, but it was not until they had taken Catherine for x-rays that he called the actors to bring Catherine some new clothing.
"I see you found the place." Yashiro teased the actors.
"It's weird. I am sure I called here to see if Saunders-san had been admitted, but they did not have her name listed." Ren puzzled about the oddity.
"Maybe it's because she hasn't made it out of the emergency room yet." Kyoko offered a plausible explanation. The men agreed and headed back to the little curtain covered room to see how she was doing. Catherine smiled when they came in. Ren noted that the woman had several small cuts on her face and a fat lip, but otherwise she look to be in high spirits.
"We need to stop meeting like this." Catherine teased her friend.
"So how are you doing?" Kyoko asked as she placed herself in the chair by her manager's bedside.
"Fantastic." Catherine admitted. "Once I could sit up again and the ache in my back stopped." Kyoko's eyes traveled down to Catherine's legs and Catherine answered her unasked question. "I do have some pain in my legs where they were trapped, but the feeling is back now and I can move them around without problems."
"But she is not supposed to." Yashiro looked pointy at the woman in the bed. Catherine rolled her eyes at the overprotective man.
"I know, I know. 'Wait until we get the x-rays back before you move them.'" Catherine quoted the doctor in a sarcastic tone. "How long does it take to get x-rays back?" Kyoko giggled at the impatient woman. "So did you guys pick me up something to wear?" Catherine changed the subject. "The nice girl in the ER decided it would be best to cut up my nice jeans verses letting me take them off." Yashiro sighed and shook his head.
"Only because they thought you may have broken your femur." He defended the nurse's decision; Catherine's retort was stopped as he continued. "And don't disagree again. I have seen the bruises."
"Oh so you were looking at my legs." Catherine teased him.
"Only because you threw such a fuss when they started cutting your pants off." Yashiro defended himself.
"Well what was I going to do?" Kathren crossed her arms over her chest. "The woman almost cut through my anklet while she was at it." Yashiro shook his hand and so the familiar woven loop of silver shifted around his wrist. After Kathren fussed, the nurse took it off and hooked it around his wrist for safe keeping. Both Kyoko and Ren watched the banter between their managers with surprised eyes. Yashiro sighed again and slipped his fingers under his glasses to rub his eyes.
"She has been like this since they pulled her out of the car." Yashiro explained to Ren. The tall actor placed his hand on his friend's should in a reassuring manor.
"I am sure it is just a self-defense mechanism, a way for her to let off tension. Give her some time and I am sure she will return to normal." Ren offered his advice. Yashiro nodded and straightened his glasses. The two men watched on as Kyoko recovered and presented a bag to Catherine.
"We stopped at the only clothing shop we could find along our way. I hope its ok." Catherine opened the package to reveal a light blue yukata with a large purple, green, and darker blue floral print on it. Before Catherine could comment, a doctor stepped through the curtain.
"Pardon me." The doctor started. "Yashiro-san, I have the results of your x-rays. There was …." The confusion that filled the faces of everyone in the room stopped the doctor.
"Excuse me. What did you call me?" Catherine asked.
"Um… I do have the right charts, don't I?" The doctor looked over the charts and checked Catherine's wrist band. "Yes, Yashiro Catherine, right?" Catherine almost fell out of bed laughing. The other occupants were too shocked to move. Once Catherine mirth subsided some, she informed the doctor of the error.
"I am sorry. There seems to be an error." Catherine pointed to the bespectacled man in the room. "HE is Yashiro-san. My name is Saunders." The doctor looked at the chart, then the woman in the bed, and then to the man that had come in with her. He turned back to the woman and bowed.
"I am extremely sorry for the error. We have just gotten a new receptionist and she must have made an error when entering the information. I will have this corrected right away. Please except my sincere apology." Catherine snickered again.
"It's alright, mistakes happened. So you had the results of the tests." She prodded the flustered doctor.
"Oh yes." He straightened up and turned his attention to his charts. "There was no break in either leg. Please take it easy for the next few days. Just take this to the receptionist on the way out and you are free to go." The doctor handed the paperwork to Catherine before leaving to correct the error.
"No wonder we could not find you listed at the hospital." Ren chuckled, "They must have thought you were married." Yashiro shot the man a dirty look and Catherine just shook her head as she swung her legs over the side of the bed.
"Would you guys get out so I can changed." Catherine suggested. "Unless you want to help me get into this." She held up the yukata. The men shook their heads and slipped outside the curtain. Kyoko stayed to assist Catherine into the Japanese garb.
"But it does have a nice ring to it." Ren spoke just loud enough for his manager to hear him, "Yashiro Catherine." Yashiro glared at him then smiled.
"Almost as nice as Tsuruga Kyoko." Yashiro poked back. Both men fell silent and listened to Kyoko dress Catherine. Ren turned the thought over in his head. Tsuruga Kyoko. He liked that. It was almost as nice as Hizuri Kyoko.