Tokyo Deception

4

        Mimi felt something warm touching her shoulders and smiled at Shigure as he gently pulled her inside the hotel room. "I can't leave you alone for a second. Look at yourself you're soaking wet," Shigure said as he looked at her vacant expression.

Mimi looked down then said absently-minded "Oh am I?"

Shigure went into the bathroom grabbed some towels then walked over to the suitcases and grabbed some dry clothes for Mimi. Shigure helped Mimi out of her wet clothes then helped to dry her off. He then hung up the wet clothes and towels in the bathroom as Mimi got dressed.

"Thank you Shigure I don't know what I would do without you," Mimi said.

Yoshi had called Shigure two days earlier worried about Mimi. He knew that Mimi relied on Shigure and that when Mimi was in trouble Shigure was the one to contact because he would always come to her rescue. She had stopped giving Yoshi her writing about a month ago and even though Mimi had written enough already to keep Yoshi busy for a year he knew it was not like Mimi to just stop writing. Yoshi had got very close to Mimi over the past five years and he knew pretty much everything that was going on in Mimi's life because he was the only person that she confided her true feelings to. Yoshi knew Mimi and Hatori were not getting along and in the last two months it had got worse. Yoshi also knew Mimi and Shigure secretly loved each other and Mimi still would not admit that it was time to leave Hatori. He knew it had something to do with Mimi's desperate need to be accepted by Hatori's family but there was also something else Mimi was hiding.

When Shigure got to Tokyo he could tell things had gone from bad to worse, Mimi was desperately trying to find out what was wrong with Hatori and was also dealing with the one year anniversary of Erika's death; and Shigure could see Mimi was on the verge of a meltdown. When Shigure told Hatori he was going to take Mimi for a few days and go try to find a birthday present for Shigure's mother he was expecting Hatori to put up some sort of an objection. Instead Hatori told him he did not care and Shigure could take Mimi for a week, a month or a year if it would keep her out of his hair.

Shigure wanted to kick Hatori when he heard him say this, but he managed to restrain himself. Shigure chose to take Mimi to Izu because it was a sea side town and he knew she loved the sea and he figured it was the best place to get Mimi to relax and settle her nerves.

As Shigure walked into the living room of the hotel suite, he saw Mimi staring blankly out the window again. He sighed as he watched her, he knew Mimi was hurting but he really did not know what he could do to help her.

Shigure walked up to Mimi grabbed her hand and said "Come on let's get out of here. I think the fresh air will do us good, and while we're out we can look for a present for my mother."

Mimi gave Shigure a weak smile and followed him. They shared a huge umbrella as they walked into the centre of town, and even though it was big enough for the two of them to fit comfortably under they still walked closely together with Shigure's free arm wrapped around Mimi. Mimi felt very comfortable being so close to Shigure. She even closed her eyes for a moment and pictured another life where they were a couple. This gave Mimi a very warm feeling but it also hurt because she knew it was not real. Mimi opened her eyes and held Shigure's waist tightly. She wanted to keep that nice feeling of closeness she had with Shigure for as long as possible.

Neither of them said a word as they walked. The town was practically empty because everyone was staying indoors to keep out of the rain. It was quiet except for the sound of the rain hitting the umbrella and Mimi's mind wandered back to the funeral. Hatori was away on a business trip so Shigure had come down to stay with Mimi. After the wedding Shigure stopped coming down as much as he had in the past. Mostly it was because Mimi and Hatori were really happy and in love. Shigure did not want to interfere in that and it was also hard for him to watch the woman he loved be with another man. Shigure kept the promise he made to Mimi and he was always there for her when she needed him and the day of the funeral was no different. She needed him so he was there for her. Mimi was a mess and Shigure had to dress her. Mimi kept mumbling things about how Erika expected her to keep a promise and how she didn't know if she was strong enough to do it.