"Miyo-chan!" he cried, running to her, arms wide. Forgetting all of her troubles at his exclamation, Miyo threw herself into his arms, sobbing wildly. Holding her tightly, he held back tears as well as he said, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so indiscreet with your fourth identical evil sextuplet, Miya!"
Shigure read over his last paragraph, wavering over changing the phrase 'been so indiscreet with' to 'wildly sexed over' - though that was certainly what had happened. Five whole pages, it had taken. Even for him, that was a record. He sat back in his chair and stared at the ceiling, his hands behind his head. His writing hand hurt, he noticed.
That was as good an excuse to take a break as any. He stood up happily and padded to the kitchen, mildly inconvenienced by the absence of his little housekeeper/slave/secret weapon. He found some cold rice left over from the last night's dinner and, totally failing to mold it into a passable onigiri, simply took a bite out of the lump in his hand. He hummed an old tune as he wandered through the house. It certainly seemed big when it was empty. Perhaps he would write his next novel based in a haunted house…
The phone rang and, not one to be hurried, Shigure made his way to the main hallway. He held the receiver to his ear and, in as sultry a voice as he possessed (on the off chance that it was a wrong number and the person was an incredibly attractive woman), he murmured, "Hello, Shigure speaking."
There was silence on the other end of the line, until Hatori said disdainfully, "Are you trying to seduce me?"
The author's face lit up, and he squealed, "It's my new come-hither voice! After twenty-seven years, I've finally perfected it! Do you like it? Oh, my, Haa-san, did I accidentally make you fall in love with me? I'm so sorry, but you know how I've promised myself to Ayaa-san. If neither of us is married by forty, you know-"
"You and he will get married, I know. I have known ever since high school, when you idiots made that obtuse pact. I have been the bystander at many a display of love and devotion."
"You know, I'm sure there is some way for all of us to get married to each other at once, if you're feeling left out…"
"No thanks. I'm good." There was a pause, and Shigure knew that the doctor was calming down, his golden eyes closed. "Anyway, Akito would like to see you. When can you be here?"
"Well, Mitchan is supposed to come by soon, so," he heard a knock on his door, "how about immediately?" He had a happy smile, and it showed through his voice. He had found a reason to avoid another deadline! Hooray!
"You're cruel, Shigure."
"Deliciously so, aren't I? I want an honest opinion, though I know that's impossible, what with you being in love with me. Did I mention I was sorry about that?"
"My feelings toward you are not, to say the least, romantically inclined."
Ignoring the persistent knocking, Shigure laughed, "A harsh denial, Haa-san, but you still tried to make it soft for me. How sweet!"
"I must have been insane to have expected a serious conversation."
"And that's why I love you." There was as stricken pause. Shigure whined, "This is the part where you say how wrong you were to be mean, and that you love me, too."
"This isn't one of your 'novels'. Are you coming, then?"
Shigure smirked. Hatori certainly walked into these things often, didn't he? The author's voice dropped back to his 'come-hither' baritone as he purred, "For you, Haa-san, I'll come any time."
There was an annoyed stillness once more. Without reply, Hatori hung up. Shigure laughed whole-heartedly and announced to the empty hallway, "He totally wants me!" He quieted and listened to the muffled sobbing on the other side of the front door and his eyebrows settled. This would be an all-or-nothing dash.
He opened the front door, waved brightly to his prostrated editor, and high-stepped it toward the city. He made quite a sight, his loose kimono billowing out around him as he picked up speed and dropped out of sight.
The stunned and frozen Mitchan watched his retreating figure and shouted, "Not again! God, kill me now!"
Ah...yes. Please, review. This was only intended as a peek into Shii-chan's head, and mostly humorous. Haha, I had fun writing the phrase 'wildly sexed over', even if it means bumping the rating up to T.