Rating: K+
Summary: Though Yamamoto normally loves the rain, he is annoyed with it when a downpour forces him to pull over into a diner, preventing him from making a straight trip home. But sometimes it doesn’t take much to turn a bad day into a good one. Such as a sweet person with a cellphone.
Yamamoto loved the rain. He enjoyed the way the water felt against his skin, admired how it fell from the sky, either in a graceful drizzle or in a rough, unyielding downpour. It was entirely fitting that he was the Rain Guardian, and it was not just because of his qualities.
But in this particular instant, Yamamoto was having a rare moment where he wished the rain would cease. It fell from the dark grey sky in sheets, flooding roads and fields in seconds flat. It was so bad, in fact, that he was forced to pull into the first roadside establishment he came across—a quaint diner. Road visibility was awful and it wasn’t worth the risk to force onwards.
Though he was sorely tempted to do so. He’d been away on a mission for the past two weeks, and he didn’t want to spend any more time away from his family than necessary.
Heaving a sigh, Yamamoto used his neon-coloured straw to swirl the contents of his drink. He sat at a corner table, eyes flitting from the scratched tabletop to the dirt-streaked windows.
“Got caught in the rain too, huh?”
Surprised, Yamamoto looked up to see a slim, blonde woman standing near his table. She offered a smile. “I’m sorry for intruding. You don’t seem too happy to be here, so I figured you might be sharing my problem.”
“You’d be right.” Yamamoto smiled back. “Take a seat, if you’d like.”
She took the seat across from him. “Thanks. I’m Serena.”
“Yamamoto. It’s nice to meet you.” He moved his drink to the side and folded his hands together. “Where were you headed before the rain hit?”
“I was on my way to visit my sister. I only had an hour left to travel before I got bombarded by water.” Serena gave a shrug. “But hey, what can you do? I’ll get there eventually. How about you?”
“I was on my way home. I’ve been gone for two weeks, so I was excited to get back.” He stared over her shoulder and out the window. The rain was showing no signs of stopping.
Serena looked at him with sympathy. “You miss them, huh?”
“Yeah. But it’s like you said, I’ll get back eventually.” Yamamoto gave his head a slight shake and tried to brighten his spirits. “I just wish I could let them know I’ll be late getting back. My phone died a couple of hours ago and it turns out I left my charger back at the hotel I was staying at.”
“One of those days, huh? I hear that.” Serena reached into her pocket and pulled out a thin white cell phone. She slid it across the table and when Yamamoto looked at her questioningly, she laughed. “You can use my cell to call them.”
“Oh, no, I couldn’t do that,” protested Yamamoto. “There’s long distance charges—”
But Serena waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. I already racked up a bill calling my parents back home to let them know what’s happening. Another charge won’t hurt. Go ahead.”
A grateful smile crossed Yamamoto’s face and he took the phone into his hold. “Thank you. I’ll be as quick as I can.”
“Go.” Serena shooed him away. “I won’t eavesdrop, swear.”
Laughing, Yamamoto stood up and went to an empty corner to make the call. His heart pounded hopefully in his chest, and then burst in elation when Lambo’s familiar voice drifted into his ear. “Vongola residence—wait, no, Sawada residence—uh…Lambo speaking. Who do you want?”
“You really need to work on your phone skills,” teased Yamamoto.
“Take-nii!” Lambo cried. “When are you coming home?”
“Soon, Lambo. I just have to wait out this rainstorm. How have you been?”
“Okay,” he replied. “I-Pin and I have a project to do in school. It isn’t due for ages, but she wants to start on it right away.”
“Don’t let her do all the work,” Yamamoto chided. “You both need to do equal parts.”
“I know, I know. Everyone’s already given me the speech. We—”
“Lambo, who are you talking to?” Gokudera’s voice cut the fifteen-year-old off. Yamamoto’s smile widened.
“Take-nii,” the boy responded.
“Give me the phone!”
“Haya-nii! I’m talking to him!”
“Go find I-Pin.” There were sounds of a brief struggle before Gokudera managed to get possession of the phone and send Lambo on his way. “Baseball Idiot, where are you?”
“No clue,” he admitted. “But I’m still several hours away from home. There’s a massive rainstorm and I’m waiting for it to pass.”
“You find an okay place to wait?”
“It’s just a roadside diner,” answered Yamamoto, leaning against the wall. “Listen, I can’t talk for much longer. I’m borrowing someone’s phone and I don’t want to rack up the charges. My phone is dead and I forgot my charger back at the hotel.”
“Typical,” snorted Gokudera. “Don’t worry about the charges. We’ll cover it.”
“That’s what I want to do. But she seems like the type of person who does things for the sake of helping people.”
“You didn’t say you were borrowing a girl’s phone.”
Yamamoto rolled his eyes at the teasing tone. “Very funny. She’s just someone who’s in the same position as I am.”
“Sounds like you found someone nice to keep you company.”
“Yeah. But I wish I was with you guys.”
“Us too. But—” Gokudera suddenly paused, and Yamamoto could hear a voice speaking in the background, though he couldn’t make it out. “What do you mean, who am I talking to? It’s none of your business—ouch! All right, all right! Freak. I’m talking to Takeshi. He’s going to be home late—he’s waiting for a storm to pass.”
Yamamoto grinned. “Is that Kyoya?”
“Yes, and he just jabbed me in the gut with a tonfa. He wants to speak to you.”
“I’ll see you soon, Hayato.”
There was a crackling sound before Hibari’s smooth, cool voice travelled down the line. “You found a place to stop, then?”
“Yeah. A roadside diner.”
“That doesn’t sound secure.”
Yamamoto laughed. “Don’t worry, Kyoya. There’s not a lot of people in here. Just a couple of motorists who don’t feel comfortable driving in the rain.”
“At least you’re not idiotic enough to attempt to drive in horrendous weather.”
“It’s not that bad,” said Yamamoto, feeling the need to defend his favourite element. “It’s just not the safest to drive in. Though I don’t know why you guys think I would try and drive through this downpour.”
“Because you have some odd affinity for rain, and it wouldn’t surprise us if you did enjoy driving through such madness. And if you had tried, I would have bitten you to death.”
“Yeah, I figured as much. Is everything okay down there?”
“Everything’s fine. Don’t worry about us.”
“Well, that’s an impossible thing to ask for.” Yamamoto spotted Serena waving at him out of the corner of his eye and he turned his head. Smiling brightly, Serena pointed at the window. Yamamoto looked out the glass and grinned widely. The storm was over. “Actually, I won’t be worrying much longer. The rain seems to have stopped.”
“Make sure,” warned Hibari. “Give it ten minutes.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you soon, Kyoya.”
“I’ll expect you home in the next three hours, then. Don’t be late.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it. Later.” Yamamoto hung up and went back over to Serena. “Hey, thanks a lot.”
“No problem.” She slid her phone back in her pocket. “I know how important family is.”
“Listen, I talked longer than I intended to. I’ll cover the charges.”
“Don’t worry about it,” insisted Serena. “I’m happy to help. It completely sucks to be without a phone.”
“Well, the rain may have stopped, but I think I’ll wait for a few minutes to make sure I’m in the clear.” Yamamoto settled across from the girl. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d enjoy your company.”
