Tragic Rain Part 4

Lost

by

Sailor Janus

         Hotaru stared coldly at the falling drops of rain which pounded relentlessly against her motionless skin. It had been several hours since the fight between the street gang and the meeting of the four odd young men. Deidera insisted on taking a break from walking, seeking shelter under tarp-like roof on the outside of a closed antique store. Unfortunately, the wind was causing more harm than good, throwing water on the two already wet teenaged girls.

         "The rain can stop already," Deidera grumbled from where she was kneeling against the wall. Her pants were still muddy so she could honestly care less about the condition of her clothes. "At least I had my hooded, zip-up sweatshirt, although it's soaked now too. Damn it!"

         "Deidera calm down. I'm wet and cold too."

         "You don't act like it."

         Shrugging, Hotaru replied, "What's the use of whining over something that I can't control?"

         "I'm not whining. I'm just freezing, and shivering and.... fine I'm a whiner and damn proud of it!" Glancing down at her muddy shoes, the burgundy-haired girl sighed in disgust. "Any idea where to go from here? This city seems to be getting worse and worse. Maybe we should have accepted those guys' offer. It'd be better than sitting here. They did seem nice."

         "Looks, can be deceiving. You of all people should know that," the senshi of destruction coolly said, facing into the storm.

         Abruptly, Deidera rose to feet, fury filling her jade green eyes. With one swift move she slapped Hotaru across the face. "Don't ever bring that up again! That was a long time ago and I'm not as foolish as I used to be."

         Narrowing her violet gaze, the dark-haired teen said, "Don't EVER strike me again. I will not hesitate next time to counteract." 

         "You deserved it. You know how much of a touchy subject Lord Cacus is yet you insist on parading my one mistake that I felt eternal guilt for in my face," Deidera growled through gritted teeth. "You were the one who got yourself knocked out against Malice because you charged in, not me! Just let it go."  

         "Will you stop pointing out my failures!"

         "You, brought up mine, Hotaru. Now we are even." The dimensional senshi allowed her green gaze to linger a while longer before turning away, violently shivering. "I'm so cold. We better keep moving."

         Wordlessly, the dark-haired teen nodded, deciding perhaps it was best to let everything go for the moment.

*~*~*~*

         "Hotaru, I'm so hungry. Did you have to get us kicked out of the shelter before breakfast?" Deidera moaned, feeling as though she were about to pass out.

         Clenching her teeth, the shorter girl said," It. Was. Not. My. Fault. Got. It?"

         "Okay, sorry. Geez, don't pop a vein, Hotaru."

         "Shut up."

         Walking in silence the burgundy-haired girl's stomach growled. "We still need to find a way to get food though or we will die."

         Stiffly Hotaru nodded as her drenched hair plastered itself to her wet skin. Deidera did have a valuable point but did she really want to continue on living? "Do you have any ideas?"

         "Not a single one," the senshi of dimensions sighed dropping her eyes to the rain slicked sidewalk. Shivering, she gritted her chattering teeth together. Frustatedly, Deidera began rubbed her hands against her crossed arms, trying to warm up, but it did little to help. "Hotaru, we have to get out of this rain. I feel like my whole body is going to go numb from overexposure."

         "How? Even if we find a warm store to browse through for a while, we will still have to leave sooner or later which will make our condition worse."

         Raising an eyebrow the green-eyed teen said, "So you propose we just freeze to death out in the rain rather than find temporary shelter? Hotaru, I hate to say it, but you are extremely screwed up in the head right now. You really want to die don't you."

         "Just forget it. Let's move on."

         "Where the hell are we going to go?! We don't even know where we are! We have no destination and have probably been walking in circles for hours in this cold, rainy WEATHER!"

         The senshi of destruction closed her eyes in annoyance. 'Not again. I am getting so sick of her tantrums.' Taking a deep breath, Hotaru continued on, ignoring her best friend's outburst.                 

         Sighing, Deidera half-heartedly followed, wishing for once that something good could happen to them for a change. Grumbling, she tore her purse open hoping to find some gum, mints, anything that could qualify as food. Digging through a mass of receipts, some makeup and hair junk, she found a chocolate bar in the small black bag. A huge smile appeared across her face as she yanked it out. 'Should I split it with her?' she thought, glancing up at Hotaru who was walking a few feet ahead of her. 'She's probably just as hungry. Why not. We've both been through hell.' Clearing her throat Deidera called out, "Hey Hotaru! I found a candy bar in my purse. Want half?"

         Turning around, Hotaru was amazed to discover the burgundy-haired girl was willingly offering to split the chocolate bar. "You-"

         "Is that a yes or no? Look, I know we've been at each other's throats lately but that doesn't mean I have to be a nasty selfish bitch." Breaking the bar in half she hold out one of the two pieces to her former best friend. "Truce?"

         Nodding, Hotaru accepted the peace offering. The two girls quietly continued their journey, eating the one piece of food that would have to last them for who knows how long, as slowly as possible.

         Night was quickly falling and the two college students knew they needed to find shelter fast. Unfortunately there was no safe place to rest so they decided to relocate the small park they had passed several times and went to sleep on the park benches on top of their purses in order to conceal them which was rather uncomfortable, but they had no choice.

*~*~*~*

         Deidera awoke, with a horrid cough. She knew she was getting sick from the coldness she was constantly swamped in. She also knew Hotaru was in the same state even though she would not admit it. Sitting up, Deidera looked at the bench where the dark-haired girl was sound asleep or so she seemed. 'If we don't find someplace warm in the next few days..... I don't think we'll survive. This endless wet weather is going to kill us.' Shivering, she pulled her knees to her chest, holding her purse close as her teeth began to chatter. 'I refuse to use my powers again. If this is our fate then so be it, but man what sucky way to go.'

         Curled in the tight ball on the hard wooden bench, Hotaru found it impossible to sleep. The only thing on her mind was trying to stay warm but she knew her body heat was quickly diminishing. It was already dawn and the senshi of destruction was practically starving. The chocolate bar did very little good in satisfying her hunger. Gritting her teeth together, she sat up. Glancing over to Deidera, she saw the poet was just as plagued. Taking a deep yet shaky breath, Hotaru rose to her feet, and approached Deidera. "We better get moving or our muscles will freeze up."

         Coughing she replied, "Hotaru, I don't think we're going to last out here. We need to find shelter. The rain isn't letting up and the air is growing increasingly colder.

         "Come on. We have to go."

         "Hotaru-"

         With a scowl, the dark-haired girl grabbed Deidera by the wrist and practically yanked her to her feet before turning around and headed off. With a sorrowful sigh, the other girl followed. 

         Unfortunately, once again, they found no shelter, no food, and most notably no hope as they quickly became more ill. The seemingly never ending rain was growing thicker as the temperature began to drop.

         "Damn it. I'm ready to go dumpster diving for food!" Deidera shivered as her stomach grumbled.

         "No Deidera. It'll probably kill us with a painful infection due to mold from the rain," Hotaru shook her head as the rain fell heavier.

         "I think my stomach is going to eat me alive. I can't believe that they won't accept our money here! I NEED FOOD DAMN IT!"

         Spinning around the senshi of Saturn practically ordered, "Get. A. Hold. Of. Yourself."

         Tears of frustration began to sting Deidera's eyes. "I can't do this anymore, Hotaru. I can't take constantly feeling cold, wet, alone, and scared! It's going to kill me! This rain has soaked completely through my clothes and my damn curly hair is straight because it's so saturated!" Throwing her hands up in the air in despair she began venting further. "I am starving to death and fear what is going to happen to us next! Hell we could be struck dead by lightening right now but fate seems to be having a great time making us suffer!" Suddenly she burst out laughing almost manically.

         All Hotaru could do was helpless watch. She had no idea what to do to help her friend. It seemed Deidera was slowly breaking down and truthfully, she couldn't blame her. Finally the violet-eyed teen found her voice. "Deidera, calm down and pull yourself together. We will get through this. Listen to me! DEIDERA!" Frowning, Hotaru carefully walked up the laughing girl and smacked her across the face. "SNAP OUT OF IT!"

         The senshi of dimensions completely froze, ceasing her maddening laughter as her face went completely blank. Dropping her head, Deidera's knees gave out, causing her to fall soundly to the ground, landing on her hands and knees. "Fuck."

         The princess of Saturn stood a foot away, closing her eyes and the rain began pounding harder and their drenched skin. Her hand stung slightly from when she made contact with her best friend's face but she had to do it even though she hated to. "I'm sorry Deidera. I had to do it," she said in an eerie even tone.

         Stiffly nodding she whispered, "I know."

         "Think you can walk again? We need to destroy our identification cards, and anything with the year printed on it."

         "Why?" the green-eyed teen softly asked, rising to shaky feet.

         "Because the year is AC 199 here."

         Deidera blinked in surprise. "You-you mean we were sent forward in time? How? I mean Setsuna-"

         Hotaru quickly began walking at an almost frantic pace upon the mentioning of the senshi of time's name. "No. They renamed the year for some strange reason. I also believe we should try to find the location of a library and do some research."

         Jogging to keep up Deidera nodded, "Well that makes sense, not to mention that we can at least get out of this fucking rain!" Hotaru gave her look worthy of Setsuna, Haruka, and Michiru combined. Sighing she flipped soaking wet strand of hair from her face. "I know, watch the language. I'm just pissed off right now, that's all. Once we are out of this rain, I might feel better."

         Pausing at a dumpster, the dark-haired girl inquired, "Do you still have your pocket knife?"

         Nodding, Deidera took it out of the pocket of her jeans. "Never leave home without it. Or your dimension for that matter, why?"

         "Take out everything with the year as will as your checks, bank card, etc. We'll hack them into bits and deposit them in the dumpster."

         "Okay." Handing her knife to Hotaru, she fished out everything she could think of that would link them as not from this world as the senshi destruction began cutting her driver's license into tiny pieces, followed by her bank card. In a matter of minutes she was done with the task and handed the knife back to Deidra before depositing the mutilated items in the dumpster.

         "I never liked this picture anyway. Die!" Deidra giggled as she hacked up her driver's license.

         Wincing slightly, the violet-eyed Sailor senshi felt her stomach groan. "You know, I am so hungry right now, that I eagerly eat your burnt, almost completely cremated popcorn."

         "Hey! Half of it was edible!"

         "Yes and the other half was completely black. Why didn't you every learn how to cook?"

         With a sigh, Deidera rose to her feet, carrying her mess to the dumpster, promptly dumping it inside. "I traveled a lot and never had a chance," she quietly replied. "Where to now?"

         "I don't know. Let's just walk and find out." Hotaru began heading out the alley with Deidera at her heels.

         "What about the library?"

         "We'll go there tomorrow. We have to find it first of course."

         "Right. I guess we do have all the time in the world. Hey! Maybe we'll find some food by then!"

         "Deidera, please don't talk about food. I don't think my stomach can take it."

         "Sorry. Shutting up now."

         In silence the two girls continued on their journey. Where?  Not even they knew for sure.        

*~*~*~*

Author's Note: So sorry about this being so extremely late. I've had to deal with finals, moving, (Yay! No more roommates from hell!) a well needed vacation and a nasty case of writer's block.

Special note, I know the GW guys didn't appear this chapter but they play a significant role in the next one when everything hits the fan.... extreme angst, here we come!                   

Oh and sorry about the extreme swearing by Deidera. It was needed and you can well expect that the Outer senshi made her watch her language so the fact that she has really been slipping plays a major role.