[RP Log] Yagyuu and An
Date: Backdated to 8/8. :D;
Rating: G
Summary: After calling to check on An and finding her unwell, Yagyuu drops by to visit.
Yagyuu Hiroshi was uncharacteristically distracted. He paused in his report writing every few seconds to spin his pen between his fingers. It was… most disconcerting. Moreso that he wasn't even quite sure just what he was disconcerted about. He knew it was because he hadn't seen Tachibana An yesterday… though the logical part of his mind reasoned that he rarely saw her daily, anyway. However, this time she'd specifically said they would catch up during the work week…
Even if the week had just started yesterday, Yagyuu was still concerned.
When one o'clock rolled around, Yagyuu didn't bother to finish the report he was working on as usual, but instead immediately set his pen down, flipping his mobile phone open and calling An's number. Speed dial two.
An jerked awake as the phone rang, staring at it blearily across the room. She rubbed her eyes and considered ignoring it. Answering it would require getting off the couch and getting off the couch required energy and desire she simply did not have. The exhaustion that had set in over the weekend hadn't ebbed at all and neither had the curious fogginess coating her thoughts.
She wondered absently what Bunta would suggest she do. She was supposed to be sick, wasn't she? Or she was sick and she was supposed to rest. And eat. Bunta said she had to eat. Maybe she should fix herself a sandwich.
An sat up, slipping her feet into a pair of worn out bunny slippers, and started to shuffle toward the kitchen when the phone rang again. Oh, right. She should answer that. Maybe it was Bunta checking on her and if she didn't answer, he'd worry.
An shifted direction again and headed toward the phone, snatching the cordless off of a bookshelf teeming with paperback romances and held it up to her ear.
"Bunta?" She spoke softly into the phone, little above a whisper, throat still raw from too much crying.
Yagyuu felt his stomach knot. He didn't believe in such things as premonition, but perhaps this was why he had been concerned: the lady sounded frankly terrible. And if she hadn't even had the presence of mind to check her mobile's caller ID, then... "I'm not, apologies..." Yagyuu ventured tentatively. "Are you - that is, An? Are you quite alright, today? I missed your presence here yesterday, and-" He abruptly cut off his own ineloquence. "Is something the matter?"
An blinked slowly a few times and pulled the phone away from her ear a moment, staring at it as if perplexed by how it worked. This wasn't Bunta, she thought, trying to comprehend why someone not Bunta would call her when not even Saeki knew she was sick.
The voice still made her smile, just a little. Hiroshi was always so kind to her, a perfect gentleman, unlike most men, unlike her - An frowned suddenly and put the phone back to her ear.
"I don't know?" she answered honestly, wondering if a question was an appropriate response at all. "I'm sick. I think I think I'm sick."
That almost sounded almost like a rhyme and for a second, An wanted to giggle.
Yagyuu thought that guess sounded uncomfortably accurate. "Are you at home, An? Is there anybody with you?" Switching over to hands-free, he began to gather his things, packing a few of the more urgent reports into his briefcase - to be joined by his as-yet uneaten lunch. He wasn't hungry at the moment, back to business mode: much less socially inept when there was a job to be done.
"I'm at home..." An trailed off, twisting a strand of her hair around a finger. "Resting? I'm supposed to be resting."
An smiled and closed her eyes. Hiroshi had such a nice voice; she never tired of hearing it.
"An," Yagyuu repeated, "Are you by yourself?" Because you shouldn't be... He pulled his coat off the chair, anticipating a positive answer, and closed the office door behind him.
"Yes," An said in a tiny voice. "Bunta's at work."
"Bunta's at..." Yagyuu echoed somewhat hollowly. How long had she been in such a state, then, if the implication held that somebody had been staying with her? 'Somebody' being Marui-san - the doctor for the mind. Yagyuu feared he was no close substitute, ability lying only in the physical fields, but he would certainly give it his best.
"An... I'll be there in about thirty minutes." The words came out tumbling slightly, but it wasn't a question. Even if it wasn't proper to invite oneself over to a lady's apartment.
"Oh. Okay."
An set the phone back down, picking it up again a minute later when it started beeping at her. Her head felt funny enough without the phone's making it hurt on top of it. This time she ended the call before putting it down again and wandered back to her spot on the couch, Gokutora hopping in her lap the moment she sat down.
"An? …An?" Yagyuu might have sworn, had he been the type - he'd hoped to keep her on the line until such a time as he could reach her apartment. Just to be on the safe side. Instead, he closed his office door and jogged down to the nearest train station. It was probably just as well, seeing as using mobile phones on public transport was still generally frowned-upon. Yet, Yagyuu would have made an exception just this once; he still felt restless.
Despite not getting lost, having been there a couple of times before, the journey still took too long. Yagyuu found himself almost jogging up to An's door, but didn't pause to catch his breath before knocking two quick taps on the door.
Gokutora jumped down, barking emphatically at the door. An smiled absently at her dog, leaning down to scratch behind his ears briefly before shuffling to the door. She unlatched the chain without further thought; only one person she knew knocked like that.
An ran her fingers slowly through her hair, pouting when it did little to tame it. She'd found the energy to brush it this morning but not much else. At least, her pajamas were clean.
An opened the door, offering Yagyuu a tired smile. "Hi," she greeted quietly. Now that someone was physically here, her mind didn't feel quite so fuzzy.
"An…" Yagyuu said - seemingly incapable of accessing his wider general vocabulary for the time being - and stepped hesitantly forward, closing the door behind himself before Gokutora could leave (though he wasn't particularly the kind of dog to do so).
Now that Yagyuu was here, and An looked… okay, albeit a little worse for wear, he felt a little silly… it would be too forward of him to initiate a hug, though he sort of wanted to. "I… brought you some tea," he said instead, offering her the sealed foam cup - a calming herbal mix, purchased while waiting the two minutes his connecting train took to arrive.
"Thank you." An took the cup, a wry grin slowly surfacing. "Irony's a cup of tea, it seems," she murmured, chuckling a tad mirthlessly. "But not unwelcome. I like tea."
Yagyuu tentatively reached for her free hand. For no real reason, her erratic turn of phrase led him to think that her sense of balance was also suffering, and he wanted to steady her. It was irony indeed that just a few weeks ago, An had been the one at his door, offering support and comfort at the termination of Yagyuu's one long-term relationship. How fast things changed. "Is there… anything in particular I may help with?"
"Your company is enough." An smiled up at Yagyuu, squeezing his hand. "It's just been a little lonely here."
An's gaze dropped to their linked hands before wandering back to Yagyuu's face. He really was a handsome man, perhaps not conventionally so. He'd never be mistaken for a movie star but there was a certain appeal about him just the same, enough to make her think twice about going out with Wakato Hiroshi.
"Would you like to sit down? You came all this way."
"Ah, it wasn't that far..." Yagyuu said automatically, though acquiesced when An lead them to the couch. "Thank you." He wondered what she meant by it being lonely - hadn't Marui-san been with her a mere few hours ago? If there was one think Yagyuu never grasped, it was craving company... Still, An's hand felt warm and strangely delicate in his own.
After a while, he found it in himself to speak again. A careful, quietly-posed but open question: "What is wrong exactly, if I may ask..?"
An's smile faltered but she swallowed hard, angling toward Yagyuu. It was an honest question, wasn't it? If one she was hesitant to answer, if only because she had no answers yet.
"I don't know," she said, meeting Yagyuu's eyes earnestly. "But something a long time coming, I suspect. Bunta's helping me figure things out and once I do, I can give you a better answer."
Yagyuu nodded, seeing her uncertainty - truthfully, the answer didn't matter to him so much as a possible remedy. But since An's answer had revealed he wasn't able to help with that, "I'm sorry to have asked," he said softly, and shifted just enough to allow a careful arm around her shoulders. "Please, take your time."
An leaned into Yagyuu without a second thought, shaking her head a little.
"You have nothing to be sorry for, Hiroshi, and I promise I'll let you know when I do."
Yagyuu nodded almost imperceptibly, content, then, to just offer An his presence for now. Work could be done later - there was always work. But he wasn't always needed, and somehow it felt... nice. Despite the circumstances. "Thank you."
And a calming presence it was, An mused idly as she glanced at Yagyuu out of the corner of her eye. She still felt tired to the bone - hardly sleeping all weekend would do that to you - yet for a few moment, her troubles slipped away and for now, that was the most invaluable.
"You're welcome, Hiroshi," she murmured, resting her head against his shoulder just as she'd done weeks before.
And despite his trust that (whatever was the matter) An would eventually be fine in time - in the quiet of the moment, with just the softly shifting lights of the TV, Yagyuu could almost be led to believe that that time was now.
Rating: G
Summary: After calling to check on An and finding her unwell, Yagyuu drops by to visit.
Yagyuu Hiroshi was uncharacteristically distracted. He paused in his report writing every few seconds to spin his pen between his fingers. It was… most disconcerting. Moreso that he wasn't even quite sure just what he was disconcerted about. He knew it was because he hadn't seen Tachibana An yesterday… though the logical part of his mind reasoned that he rarely saw her daily, anyway. However, this time she'd specifically said they would catch up during the work week…
Even if the week had just started yesterday, Yagyuu was still concerned.
When one o'clock rolled around, Yagyuu didn't bother to finish the report he was working on as usual, but instead immediately set his pen down, flipping his mobile phone open and calling An's number. Speed dial two.
An jerked awake as the phone rang, staring at it blearily across the room. She rubbed her eyes and considered ignoring it. Answering it would require getting off the couch and getting off the couch required energy and desire she simply did not have. The exhaustion that had set in over the weekend hadn't ebbed at all and neither had the curious fogginess coating her thoughts.
She wondered absently what Bunta would suggest she do. She was supposed to be sick, wasn't she? Or she was sick and she was supposed to rest. And eat. Bunta said she had to eat. Maybe she should fix herself a sandwich.
An sat up, slipping her feet into a pair of worn out bunny slippers, and started to shuffle toward the kitchen when the phone rang again. Oh, right. She should answer that. Maybe it was Bunta checking on her and if she didn't answer, he'd worry.
An shifted direction again and headed toward the phone, snatching the cordless off of a bookshelf teeming with paperback romances and held it up to her ear.
"Bunta?" She spoke softly into the phone, little above a whisper, throat still raw from too much crying.
Yagyuu felt his stomach knot. He didn't believe in such things as premonition, but perhaps this was why he had been concerned: the lady sounded frankly terrible. And if she hadn't even had the presence of mind to check her mobile's caller ID, then... "I'm not, apologies..." Yagyuu ventured tentatively. "Are you - that is, An? Are you quite alright, today? I missed your presence here yesterday, and-" He abruptly cut off his own ineloquence. "Is something the matter?"
An blinked slowly a few times and pulled the phone away from her ear a moment, staring at it as if perplexed by how it worked. This wasn't Bunta, she thought, trying to comprehend why someone not Bunta would call her when not even Saeki knew she was sick.
The voice still made her smile, just a little. Hiroshi was always so kind to her, a perfect gentleman, unlike most men, unlike her - An frowned suddenly and put the phone back to her ear.
"I don't know?" she answered honestly, wondering if a question was an appropriate response at all. "I'm sick. I think I think I'm sick."
That almost sounded almost like a rhyme and for a second, An wanted to giggle.
Yagyuu thought that guess sounded uncomfortably accurate. "Are you at home, An? Is there anybody with you?" Switching over to hands-free, he began to gather his things, packing a few of the more urgent reports into his briefcase - to be joined by his as-yet uneaten lunch. He wasn't hungry at the moment, back to business mode: much less socially inept when there was a job to be done.
"I'm at home..." An trailed off, twisting a strand of her hair around a finger. "Resting? I'm supposed to be resting."
An smiled and closed her eyes. Hiroshi had such a nice voice; she never tired of hearing it.
"An," Yagyuu repeated, "Are you by yourself?" Because you shouldn't be... He pulled his coat off the chair, anticipating a positive answer, and closed the office door behind him.
"Yes," An said in a tiny voice. "Bunta's at work."
"Bunta's at..." Yagyuu echoed somewhat hollowly. How long had she been in such a state, then, if the implication held that somebody had been staying with her? 'Somebody' being Marui-san - the doctor for the mind. Yagyuu feared he was no close substitute, ability lying only in the physical fields, but he would certainly give it his best.
"An... I'll be there in about thirty minutes." The words came out tumbling slightly, but it wasn't a question. Even if it wasn't proper to invite oneself over to a lady's apartment.
"Oh. Okay."
An set the phone back down, picking it up again a minute later when it started beeping at her. Her head felt funny enough without the phone's making it hurt on top of it. This time she ended the call before putting it down again and wandered back to her spot on the couch, Gokutora hopping in her lap the moment she sat down.
"An? …An?" Yagyuu might have sworn, had he been the type - he'd hoped to keep her on the line until such a time as he could reach her apartment. Just to be on the safe side. Instead, he closed his office door and jogged down to the nearest train station. It was probably just as well, seeing as using mobile phones on public transport was still generally frowned-upon. Yet, Yagyuu would have made an exception just this once; he still felt restless.
Despite not getting lost, having been there a couple of times before, the journey still took too long. Yagyuu found himself almost jogging up to An's door, but didn't pause to catch his breath before knocking two quick taps on the door.
Gokutora jumped down, barking emphatically at the door. An smiled absently at her dog, leaning down to scratch behind his ears briefly before shuffling to the door. She unlatched the chain without further thought; only one person she knew knocked like that.
An ran her fingers slowly through her hair, pouting when it did little to tame it. She'd found the energy to brush it this morning but not much else. At least, her pajamas were clean.
An opened the door, offering Yagyuu a tired smile. "Hi," she greeted quietly. Now that someone was physically here, her mind didn't feel quite so fuzzy.
"An…" Yagyuu said - seemingly incapable of accessing his wider general vocabulary for the time being - and stepped hesitantly forward, closing the door behind himself before Gokutora could leave (though he wasn't particularly the kind of dog to do so).
Now that Yagyuu was here, and An looked… okay, albeit a little worse for wear, he felt a little silly… it would be too forward of him to initiate a hug, though he sort of wanted to. "I… brought you some tea," he said instead, offering her the sealed foam cup - a calming herbal mix, purchased while waiting the two minutes his connecting train took to arrive.
"Thank you." An took the cup, a wry grin slowly surfacing. "Irony's a cup of tea, it seems," she murmured, chuckling a tad mirthlessly. "But not unwelcome. I like tea."
Yagyuu tentatively reached for her free hand. For no real reason, her erratic turn of phrase led him to think that her sense of balance was also suffering, and he wanted to steady her. It was irony indeed that just a few weeks ago, An had been the one at his door, offering support and comfort at the termination of Yagyuu's one long-term relationship. How fast things changed. "Is there… anything in particular I may help with?"
"Your company is enough." An smiled up at Yagyuu, squeezing his hand. "It's just been a little lonely here."
An's gaze dropped to their linked hands before wandering back to Yagyuu's face. He really was a handsome man, perhaps not conventionally so. He'd never be mistaken for a movie star but there was a certain appeal about him just the same, enough to make her think twice about going out with Wakato Hiroshi.
"Would you like to sit down? You came all this way."
"Ah, it wasn't that far..." Yagyuu said automatically, though acquiesced when An lead them to the couch. "Thank you." He wondered what she meant by it being lonely - hadn't Marui-san been with her a mere few hours ago? If there was one think Yagyuu never grasped, it was craving company... Still, An's hand felt warm and strangely delicate in his own.
After a while, he found it in himself to speak again. A careful, quietly-posed but open question: "What is wrong exactly, if I may ask..?"
An's smile faltered but she swallowed hard, angling toward Yagyuu. It was an honest question, wasn't it? If one she was hesitant to answer, if only because she had no answers yet.
"I don't know," she said, meeting Yagyuu's eyes earnestly. "But something a long time coming, I suspect. Bunta's helping me figure things out and once I do, I can give you a better answer."
Yagyuu nodded, seeing her uncertainty - truthfully, the answer didn't matter to him so much as a possible remedy. But since An's answer had revealed he wasn't able to help with that, "I'm sorry to have asked," he said softly, and shifted just enough to allow a careful arm around her shoulders. "Please, take your time."
An leaned into Yagyuu without a second thought, shaking her head a little.
"You have nothing to be sorry for, Hiroshi, and I promise I'll let you know when I do."
Yagyuu nodded almost imperceptibly, content, then, to just offer An his presence for now. Work could be done later - there was always work. But he wasn't always needed, and somehow it felt... nice. Despite the circumstances. "Thank you."
And a calming presence it was, An mused idly as she glanced at Yagyuu out of the corner of her eye. She still felt tired to the bone - hardly sleeping all weekend would do that to you - yet for a few moment, her troubles slipped away and for now, that was the most invaluable.
"You're welcome, Hiroshi," she murmured, resting her head against his shoulder just as she'd done weeks before.
And despite his trust that (whatever was the matter) An would eventually be fine in time - in the quiet of the moment, with just the softly shifting lights of the TV, Yagyuu could almost be led to believe that that time was now.