Rain.

Nothing but rain, dread and darkness blanketed Lastation. Droplets hit the nation like bricks, with near-hurricane levels of winds and thunderclaps shaping a truly chaotic scene on the outside.

It was a miracle that there wasn't a power outage yet, really.

In the Basilicom of the prestigious Nation, squared off in one single bedroom, a certain CPU Candidate sat in a seiza position on her bed, staring out the large window beside it. The raindrops hammered against the glass, so she couldn't see out of it anyway.

Not that she cared. There was such an intense feeling of sadness and despair in her heart that she couldn't find it in herself to even move. She had been like this for a few hours, and she wasn't going to move for many more.

"Urgh…"

… Well, that was the plan.

Sparing the noise only a single glance, she found the source on the laying on the floor. Face down, completely disheveled and no doubt just as miserable as Uni was.

"... Why are you here?" She grumbled disparagingly, loud enough for her to hear.

"Y-You could be a little nicer, you know…" The older woman croaked in response. She sat up, glaring at Uni with her crimson eyes, raw from tears. "Y-You and I are in the same boat here, after all."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Uni turned away from the woman, staring back out the hazy window.

"Don't lie to me. You off all people know that we've lost both of our loved ones today…"

Uni's hand curled into a tight fist.

"... to each other."

"Ugh!" Hearing it said to her caused the teenage girl to slam her head against the window. It didn't break as she hoped, ruining her chances of escape.

"To think, my dearest would actually fall for yours in a romantic sense." Leanbox's Oracle huffed. "Her irresistible physical charms have always been her best factor, but I never thought someone like Nepgear would reciprocate her affections…"

"..." Uni didn't respond to her annoying rambling. Her gaze was solely locked on the window.

"... The wedding is next week, by the way."

"I know, s-she told me…"

Dammit, she was crying again.

"Do you get why I came here now?" Chika's voice was bitter. "You're the only one who understands, and will listen. The other Oracles don't take my laments seriously, and Cave isn't even here." She went off, mumbling about a 'gilvardo' or whatever it was. Uni didn't care. "And I know for a fact that you don't talk to your sister about relationship issues… or anyone, really…"

"Who cares?!" Uni turned her entire body and glared at the Oracle. "It's done now, nothing we can do about it! I-I don't want your stupid fake sympathy! Just leave me alone!"

"You were always the stubborn one…" Chika sighed, causing Uni to grunt. "I'm not saying we should try and stop the marriage, what I'm saying is that we can at least try to help each other out."

"You barely know me, I doubt you can do much."

"I know more than you think, thank you very much." Chika defended. "Your sister loved to talk about you whenever there was a business meeting in Leanbox, and I may or may not have picked up a lot of things."

"... That's kind of creepy, you know."

"I'm an Oracle, it's my job to know the ins and outs of every CPU and Candidate." Chika shrugged. "For instance, you name your guns and keep your favorites on holders…" She glanced at Carmilla and Angela, proudly perched above her dresser. "Despite claiming to hate the game, you've amassed hundreds of hours of Battlenight: Fortress Royale on both your computer and LS4." Okay, that was just a guilty pleasure. "You love to read in your free time, but fail to mention that most of the books you own are por-"

"Okay!" A red-faced Uni stopped the Oracle short, before she could reveal any troubling information.. "I get it, you know a lot about me, but that doesn't mean I want your stupid help."

"So you're just going to sit in your room, all by yourself, and waste away in your misery?" Chika stood up, picking up a stern tone.

"It's better than being out there and watching Nepgear looking the happiest she's ever been in her whole life with someone else!"

"You honestly think I don't feel the same way? I've known Vert since I was only a child, I've dedicated my entire life to her. Taking care of her, raising her, helping her with her duties as a Goddess. I went above and beyond for Vert, and never once did she spare me a thankful glance, a caring word, nothing! All she ever did was waste her time on that stupid game, far too attached to that dreadful JRPG to notice everything I've done for her! You think you're the greatest sufferer in Gamindustri right now? You haven't lived my life.:

"..." Uni was wide-eyed, unable to fathom a response to Chika's rant.

"... I loved her." She sat on Uni's bed, her expression nothing short of devastated. "I loved her more than anything in the world, and she turned and threw it in the trash. She toyed with my feelings and then betrayed me by proposing to Nepgear. Never once did she look at me or consider how I felt. I was like some old, battered toy she dumped to play with something new."

"Chika…" Hearing the Oracle's heartbreaking story was too much for Uni to handle. She put a hand on her exposed shoulder, hoping it would help in some way.

"I couldn't stand to be in that place anymore. I doubt Vert even noticed I left, how could she? She's never been happier…" Chika sniffled. "I wandered the streets for an hour, filled with nothing but grief, before I decided to come here. I knew it would be hard for you, so I thought we could alleviate our grievances within each other." She smiled bitterly. "Of course, even you don't want me here. I should've figured as much, but I guess I got to hopeful. I won't bother you any-"

"No!" Uni grabbed the despairing woman by her shoulders and jumped onto her lap, denying the surprised Oracle a chance to escape. "Don't go, I… I want you to stay here."

"I thought you wanted to be alone…"

"I thought so too, but you need someone right now. A shoulder to lean on, or something like that. It's obvious you can't recover from this alone, and… hey, you went through the effort to get here…"

"... Yeah, I did, didn't I?" She sniffled again, but seemed to smile genuinely. "It'd be a shame to waste the trip…"

"Yeah…" Uni glanced out the window. "Can't really go anywhere, though. Not in this weather."

"You got a point…" Chika agreed. "I guess we're stuck here then, unless you want to see what your sister is up to."

"I'm fine, thanks." Uni made an unconscious move to rest her head on Chika's shoulder, moving her arms down to hug her waist and pull her close. She feels the Oracles arms wrap around her as well.

The hug was comforting, to say the least. Uni felt her issues simmer down to little more than a whisper, tucked under the rug of her heart for the time being.

She felt… at peace, an odd thing to feel with someone she barely knew. Maybe she just wanted a hug, or maybe there was something more. Who knew?

"..." Uni raised her head the same time Chika did. For a moment, they simply gazed in their equally colored eyes, neither willing to break contact, at least for a single moment.

Then, Chika leaned in. Uni did the same and closed her eyes. She felt her heart race in anticipation, increasing tenfold when she felt a pair of lips press against her own. They were soft, and tasted like cherries to her surprise.

What also surprised her was not the fact that she was kissing the Oracle of Leanbox, or that this was her first kiss, but that she found herself not resisting. No, she accepted the kiss, engaged in it. She even pushed her tongue against Chika's own feisty appendage, making for a tough mouth battle.

Overall, she was enjoying it.

It took several minutes for the two to regain themselves and break the kiss. A sliver of drool broke and ran down Uni's lip, but she didn't notice. Both of them were breathing heavily, surprised but definitely not distaste or disgust.

Uni wanted more.

Chika seemed to read her mind. She grabbed Uni by her hips, swings her around and pushes her onto the center of her bed. Chika then climbs on top of her, sitting on her lap as Uni was as the Candidate lays on her bed. Her breathing hitched when Chika's hand glided across her stomach, up to her chest. Her heartbeat accelerated to a mile a second when her fingers danced along the blue button that connected her dress to her collar. Chika smiled teasingly.

Uni nodded.

Chika undid the button, grabbing the sides of her dress and pulling down. The dress was off in seconds and on the floor, leaving the young teenager in nothing but her gloves, boots and black panties. Her unimpressive front was exposed to the Oracle, who eyed her hungrily.

"N-No fair… I want to see you too…" She mumbled, almost a whisper.

"A reasonable request…~" The teasing was laid thick, but she obliged regardless. With a simple press of the X-shaped button above her collarbone, the entire top half of Chika's black risque dress fell down. With two twists to the knobs on the sides, her dress was off completely and tossed aside, exposing Uni to her black thong and bare chest.

Her face was absolutely flushed and her poor heart wouldn't calm down, but Uni couldn't stop staring at Chika's breasts. Not chest her breasts, but her entire body as well. She never realized how truly beautiful Chika was until now. A beautiful face, gorgeous curves, perfect breasts, a fine ass, smooth pale skin… calling it a model's body would be an insult. Chika was perfect.

The Oracle noticed her stares, and moved to grab Uni's hands.

"My dearest will never know what she lost today…" Chika moved Uni's hands up to her chest, where they grabbed her breasts. "But you, Uni, you have the chance to claim it. I offer you my body and my heart. Will you accept these gifts, or will you be foolish like my former love?"

Uni didn't need to be asked twice. She pulled Chika down onto her and kissed her passionately. Chika happily recipercrated, knowing their lovemaking was only beginning…

...

...

...

It was many hours later. The two girls were bare of any clothing they had left, covered only by the single blanket that shielded their nudeness from the outside.

Chika was asleep, but Uni was just awake enough to process what happened.

She had sex, that much was clear.

She had given her first to the gorgeous woman that lay beside her.

A woman that was now hers.

Uni smiled softly, resting her head on the Oracle's pillowing breasts and drifting off into a slumber. In the back of her mind, she knew she wasn't going to be able to let go of Nepgear so easily, neither was Chika to Vert. But she knew, they both knew, that they were willing to try and move onto to something much better.

Uni never realized how much she needed Chika until this moment, and she knew that her lover felt the same way.

'Chika Hakozaki… I think I'm in love with you…'

What really killed her was how much those words caused her heart to flutter and beat rapidly.

'... and I'm okay with that.'

...

...

...

A/N: A short one-shot I wrote over the course of a few hours, just to kind of prove to myself that I can get things done within a reasonable time frame. Sorry about that inactivity, at this point I can't blame it on anything else but my own laziness. Still, enjoy this little thing. An unorthodox pairing that's been circling in my mind for a while now, come to life.

- Yuri