Sorry for the delay on this chapter being posted. 'Luckily' for me I
was sick today and was able to finish up this. It's slowly coming to a
close, so hang in there. The same thing applies to this chapter as the rest
of them . . . . . .I don't own Sailor Moon. Don't sue ME! Enjoy(the fact
that this miserable fic is coming to a close!)
***************RATED R FOR SWEAR WORDS (Lots of F bombs in this one Kiddies
so watch out!)**********************************
____________________________________________________________________
Lita stood in that very same alley and remised the whole situation over again. She felt her heart ripping again. "It's my fault. It's all my fault." She whispered to herself, but then the presents of a firm grip on her shoulder snapped her off of her thoughts. _____________________________________________________________________
As soon as Lita felt the grip on her shoulder, she quickly wrapped her arm up and over, locking the hand. As she turned to face her opponent as she drew back her fist ready to strike. As she threw the punch at the opponent, she noticed who it was before she ever landed the punch. She released her arm lock and coldly asked, "What are you doing?"
There was no fear in her eyes and no smile on her lips. She stood, with a blank expression. Her beautiful blue eyes starred into a pair of, darker than usual, emerald eyes. "I could ask you the same question." Mina replied coldly. She felt betrayed. She considered Lita as a close friend. It wasn't because they were both Sailor Scouts, or they were 'supposed' to be. No, it was by choice. They choose to confide in each other.
"I asked first." Lita said just as equally cold.
"I was checking to see how my 'BEST' friend was doing tonight. As I was closing in on you're apartment building, I see you fleeing into the night like a common criminal. So I followed, like a 'BEST" friend would." Mina answered fiery.
"Christ Mina, I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." Lita stated frustrated, as she absentminded she took a cigarette out of her pack, popped it in her mouth, and continued to say, "I don't need a baby sitter." as she lit her cigarette.
"Jeez, Lita, by the way you been behaving lately it sure looks like you do need one. And where the Hell was I, when you started smoking?" Mina retorted.
"Look Mina, why don't you just mind your own FUCKING business for once. I know that you always like getting the good juicy gossip, but as a friend why don't you butt out for once? Or does not register in your Blonde mind!" Lita said on the verge of screaming, as she puffed out a cloud of smoke into Mina's face. She didn't know why she was being so mean to Mina; Hell it wasn't her fault that she was in the mess she was in now. However, she really disliked everyone asking her what's her problem was. She was sick of everything lately, and she was taking it out on poor Mina. This was the same Mina who would listen to her whenever she had a problem. The same Mina who she spilled her guts to about how Freddy was her first, and how he just used her. The same Mina, who saved her life in several battles, was now the one she was lashing out on. She felt guilty about it, but couldn't stop herself. It was as if something else was controlling her.
"You know Lita, that might scare away the boys at school but I know you better. I know when you push and when to lay off. Right now, I'm going to push until I get what I want." Mina retorted. She was deeply hurt by what her friend was saying; however she would be damned to let her know that.
"And what do you want?" Lita asked sarcastically.
"I want to know why you are out at this time of night, in a FUCKING ALLEY? That's what I want to know." Mina screamed out in frustration.
"I wanted to take a walk." Lita lied.
"BULL FUCKING SHIT! ! !" Mina cursed loudly. "I know for a fact you're not one to be running around in alleys when you could . . . . " Mina paused as she realized something. "Why in the hell would be in a goddamn alley for?" she asked herself aloud. She continued to think aloud, "Especially in this neighborhood. I mean it has one of the highest drug and rape." She gasped aloud as she looked around and realized, "This was the alley that Ami was . . . ."
Lita response was to just hang her head in shame. She was no longer angry with Mina, but herself.
Mina was shocked by her friend's behavior. "Why? Why did you come back here?"
Lita lowly muttered, "He raped another girl."
Mina asked without thinking, "So what does that have to do with you?"
"It's my fault." Lita plainly said with her head hang low.
"WHAT!" Mina couldn't believe that Lita was blaming herself for a rapist's action. "How?"
Lita's eyes became fiery as she looked at Mina and asked, "I had him, and I let him live. I should have killed him when I had the chance, but I didn't. It's bad enough that Ami was victim, but now there are others."
"So now what do you plane to do? Keep on waiting for the asshole to try to rape some girl in this alley again? Use yourself as bait? What?" Mina asked. She was scared. Scared that this personal vendetta was consuming her to the point where she would try to accomplish impossible feats through risky means.
"I'm going to find him." Lita said in an eerie calmness.
"Oh, just like that, you're going to find him. What happens when you find the wrong man, thinking that it is him, kill him, and the rapes continue? Umm?" Mina asked, hoping that she could make Lita realize the foolishness of the method she was going about this.
"I won't make that mistake." Lita said a little bit more aggravated.
"What makes you think you won't?" Mina said cockily.
"Cause I fucking carved 'Rapist' in his fucking forehead. That's how I'll know. Christ!" Lita said in frustration, as she put out one cigarette and lit up another one.
The only thing that Mina could respond with was, "What?"
"I guess that Ami forgot to tell you guys about that one. The guy I'm looking for has a nice job description on his forehead, and I'm going to find him! So, if you don't mind." Lita coldly stated as she tried to pass Mina out of the alley.
Before Lita could get an arms length away from her, Mina stuck out her arm, stopping her, and said, "I do mind." She brought her other hand up to the bridge of her nose. She was going about this the wrong way. Lita was a stubborn person, and challenging her, like she was, didn't help the situation. If she was going to have Lita listen to reason, she would have to try a different approach. She looked Lita straight in the eyes. She was surprised that Lita was able to function at all this week with the few hours of sleep she received. She pushed that though aside and said slowly, "Please . . . . .Please Lita hear me out before you go back out there so desperate to have the death of someone on your hands."
Lita was utterly shocked. Mina was actually begging her. She lifted her eyes to meet Mina glaze. She saw that Mina was being genuine, and wasn't about belittling her or preaching to her. "Fine. Say your peace. It's the least I can do, since you came out this far, this late for it."
Mina finally exhaled the breath she didn't know she was holding. "Do you believe in fate?" She asked, not knowing why though. It was just the first thing that came to mind.
Lita believed in fate. She had to, she hated more than anything. It was 'fate' that took her parents away. It was 'fate' that made her the whipping boy for others to use. It was 'fate' that decided to toy with her heart, bouncing her from one love to other. It was 'fate' that choose the path she walked, and she hated it. "Yea, so what?"
"Do you think it's your fate to catch this guy?" Mina asked.
"If it isn't, I'm damn well going to make it my fate!" Lita said charged up with anger. She was going to get her hands on that basterd, come hell or high water.
"Well, if it was your fate to find him, won't you eventually?" Mina asked.
"Yes, I would, if it were my fate." Lita said as a small smile slowly appeared on Mina's lips. She continued so as not to give her friend too much hope. "However, I don't have the time to wait for eventually. I have to find him now, before he can do anymore harm."
"Well maybe the victim has just reported it? If could have happens prior to Ami's?" Mina tried to reason with Lita.
This made sense to Lita, who thought "No one in their right or wrong mind would immediately go back to that sort of thing after almost getting caught by the authorities, especially with that new tattoo. However, there's no way to know for sure." Lita lowered her head, and responded in a whisper. "Mina, I really wish I could wait for fate to intervene, but I can't just let him go. I don't know it for sure, and I can't risk it. I'm sorry Mina for any grieve I have put you through."
Mina saw a shimmer of hope it this though, and asked, "If you knew that recent reported rape did take place before Ami's incident, would you wait for fate?"
Lita knew if for a fact then she could sleep easier at night, and hence call off her own little manhunt. She would be able to, only if she knew for sure. "I would wait, if I knew it were a fact, only then." Lita responded.
"Okay Lita, I will find out tomorrow morning if it was before or after. Can we go back now?" Mina asked, hoping that Lita would take into consideration reason.
"Mina, what if it was my fate to find him tonight?" Lita asked, hoping Mina would understand the position she was in.
"If it was fate for you to find him tonight, I wouldn't be hear." Mina responded. Lita silently nodded. "Would you mind if I said at your place tonight?"
"No, not at all. Actually, it would be nice to have some company." She said as they headed out the alley together.
#Later That Night#
Mina was awaken by a sudden rumbling above her. Her eyes shot open. At first she couldn't see, due to the darkness, but her eyes quickly adjusted. She then realized where she was, on Lita's bedroom floor. As she sat up, she noticed Lita violently thrashing about in her bed mumbling something incoherence. She rolled up from the ground to wake Lita, who was obviously having a nightmare. As she got to her feet, she looked at Lita's alarm clock, and notice it was 5:13 in the morning. She sighed to herself, thinking that she would hate to wake Lita this early, but she had no other choice.
Just as Mina was leaning over to wake up her up, Lita suddenly screamed, "NO!" as she sat upright, grasping her covers close to her chest. Lita's breath was very fast, her heart felt as if it would come out of her chest, and she was sweating profusely. She sat thinking about the haunting images that just plagued her sleep. She shook in the remising of it, but then she felt a warm comforting arm around her shoulders. She looked up to see that she had awakened Mina from her sleep. "I'm sorry if I woke you Mina." She said apologizing.
Mina was surprised by the apology, but understood it. "It's okay. Don't worry about it. How are you? Do you want to talk about it?" Asked Mina, supportively. Mina knew how strong Lita was. Lita had a tough life, and she grew tough from it, however sometimes Lita was just as weak as any other human. After all, even Superman had his Kryptonite. It was times like these that she was glad her Mother was once again out of town for "business." She was glad that Lita didn't have to wake up to an empty apartment after having another nightmare. They all knew that Lita had nightmares; after all she was at most, if not all, of their sleepovers. When she did, she refused to tell them anything, stating that it was only a 'childish' nightmare, but at least she had our support. That was something she didn't have for most of her life, and now was slowly getting adjusted to.
"It's okay. I'll be fine." Lita stated as she hugged Mina back and said, "Thank you though, I do appreciate it." Lita then release herself from Mina embrace, stood up and stretched. She looked down at her alarm clock and noticed that is was 5:16. She yawned as she asked Mina, "Do you want a cup of tea? I'm off to put the water on for myself anyway."
"Nah, that's okay, I'm going to head back to bed, that's if that you don't mind?" Mina responded.
"No, that's not a problem. Might as well take my bed, I'll probably stay up." Lita answered.
"Are you sure?" Mina asked astonished.
"Yea, I'm sure. If not I can always crash on the couch for a few hours." reassured Lita.
"Well, if you decide to go back to sleep, just kick me off or move me over, alright?" Mina stated, refusing to steal her friend's bed while she might need if, and if anyone needed a bed it was Lita.
"I'll keep that in mind." Lita said as she headed out to the kitchen, leaving Mina in her bed.
Mina was awaked by the aroma of sizzling Bacon, chocolate chip pancakes, freshly brewed coffee, and buttered toast. She rolled over and sat up from the warm comfort of Lita's bed. As she stood, she once again noticed the alarm clock. It now read 6:25. She had some time to kill before she even dare try to wake up Rei. She threw her covers off of herself and walked into the living room. As she approached the kitchen she said, "Boy Lita, it smells as if you cook up a storm." However she looked around and noticed that Lita wasn't there. Her eyes quickly noticed something on the counter. She picked it up and started to read.
~Mina, By the time you read this I'll be on my way to school. Lucky you don't have to be in until 8:30! Anyway, I left breakfast on the kitchen table. Feel free to eat as much as you want, and us any means that I have to find out about that other girl. You know what I mean. Let me know after the meeting today.
Thanks so much.
Lita
PS. Sorry for being such a bitch last night. You know I didn't mean anything that I said. ~
Mina put the letter down, and had herself a feasted. By the time she was done eating and cleaning up it was 7:05. She went over to her bag and pulled out her walkie-talkie. She turned it on and spoke, "Rei wake up! I really need to talk to you! It's about Lita!"
"Huh, what? SHIT! I slept through my alarm again. I'm becoming more like Serena everyday. . . . . .Don't you dare tell her that!" Rei mumbled as she awoken.
"Rei shut up and listen to me!" Mina said being extremely serious.
"Listen Mina, there's no need to . . .. " Rei said shocked, but was cut off by Mina.
"Lita was out every night looking for Ami's assailant." Mina stated, no caring if it was rude or not.
"What!" Rei exclaimed. Mina then told her the whole story about her patrol last night. After hearing all the details, Rei then asked, " What do we do now?"
"Well, I figured that while I was distracting Lita, you could inform Serena and Ami. Then finally we can just put an end to this sneaking around Lita's back." Mina answered.
"Alright, until then. I really need to get going to school. Talk to you later." Rei stated.
"Later." Mina said as she signed off. "Time to find out the truth." Mina said as she picked up Lita's phone and called the police.
#Later that Day at the Temple#
"Well, if that everything that we need to discuss, then meeting is over then." Serena stated.
Usually at this point Rei would get on Serena's case for trying to purposely rushing a meeting to an end, however Serena wasn't the only one would wanted this meeting to end as soon as possible. "Alright then, the meeting over. If you guys want to hang out for a while, you can. You know, it being a Friday and all." Rei purposely added the ending to give Mina and Lita the escape root that they needed.
"Thanks, but no thanks Rei. I was actually thinking about heading in early. Plus, there's that really good movie on with Brad Pitt on tonight that I want to catch." Mina said as she gave Lita a wink.
"I think I'm going to head in early as well Rei. I have been under the weather lately, so I might try to catch up on some Z's." stated Lita as both herself and Mina left the temple grounds.
As soon as they left, Ami finally spoke up. "What's going on with them?"
#Meanwhile-at the foot of the Temple steps#
"So did you find out?" Lita asked nervously.
"Yea, yea I did. It took me all but 6 hours to get to the bottom line, but I did get to it." Mina answered, thinking how exhausting it was to get through to police. She had to make up this huge story about how her and her boyfriend were 'necking' in that part of the neighborhood around the time of Ami's almost rape and saw another couple doing the same thing and plus some. However it was possible that the rape could have been occurring before their eyes. She might as well try to give a tip to the wall, but it did work to find out when the rape occurred.
"So, when did the rape happen?" Lita asked impatiently.
"It happened . . . . . . ."
#Meanwhile - Back at the top of the Temple#
"She was doing what!" Serena exclaimed, once Rei told them what Mina expressed to her earlier.
"She was going after him." Rei said softly, shocked as well about Lita's behavior. "She felt as she needed to stop him from hurting anyone else."
"But why?" Ami asked confused.
"According to Mina, she feels as if is her fault that he got away. And . . . " Rei's voice flatten towards the end of her sentence. She wasn't sure if she such tell them about the other rape, especially Ami. She seemed to be getting over the near incident, and bringing up this new information may shake the poor girl into a paranoid pattern.
"And what Rei?" Serena asked. She knew Rei, and she knew when she didn't yell at her there was something serious going down.
"And Lita believes that someone else was raped by the same man." Before anyone else could say anything more, Rei finished up by saying, "But she doesn't know for sure."
"Does anyone?" Serena asked.
"Mina does." Rei answered quietly.
#Meanwhile-back at the bottom of the Temple stairs#
Lita heard the words that came out of Mina's mouth and understood the important of them. She fell to her knees as silent tears made her way down her face. She finally let out a well-deserved sob. Mina knelt beside her and tried to hug all of Lita's misery away. "It's okay Lita. I understand." Mina said, trying to sooth her strong friend.
"How do you understand? You didn't have to believe that there was a chance you ruined not only your friend's life, but possible someone else's as well." Lita spat at Mina. She was high strung all this week, and she held it all in until now.
That statement stung Mina. She had been in a similar situation in London, however she wasn't going to bring that up now. Her friend was suffering through this, and she would be damned if she let a few words get to her. "At least now you know." She said releasing her from their embrace. "You know now." She said as she stood up.
Lita dried her eyes and said as she stood up as well, "Yes, now I have to wait for fate."
Lita stood in that very same alley and remised the whole situation over again. She felt her heart ripping again. "It's my fault. It's all my fault." She whispered to herself, but then the presents of a firm grip on her shoulder snapped her off of her thoughts. _____________________________________________________________________
As soon as Lita felt the grip on her shoulder, she quickly wrapped her arm up and over, locking the hand. As she turned to face her opponent as she drew back her fist ready to strike. As she threw the punch at the opponent, she noticed who it was before she ever landed the punch. She released her arm lock and coldly asked, "What are you doing?"
There was no fear in her eyes and no smile on her lips. She stood, with a blank expression. Her beautiful blue eyes starred into a pair of, darker than usual, emerald eyes. "I could ask you the same question." Mina replied coldly. She felt betrayed. She considered Lita as a close friend. It wasn't because they were both Sailor Scouts, or they were 'supposed' to be. No, it was by choice. They choose to confide in each other.
"I asked first." Lita said just as equally cold.
"I was checking to see how my 'BEST' friend was doing tonight. As I was closing in on you're apartment building, I see you fleeing into the night like a common criminal. So I followed, like a 'BEST" friend would." Mina answered fiery.
"Christ Mina, I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." Lita stated frustrated, as she absentminded she took a cigarette out of her pack, popped it in her mouth, and continued to say, "I don't need a baby sitter." as she lit her cigarette.
"Jeez, Lita, by the way you been behaving lately it sure looks like you do need one. And where the Hell was I, when you started smoking?" Mina retorted.
"Look Mina, why don't you just mind your own FUCKING business for once. I know that you always like getting the good juicy gossip, but as a friend why don't you butt out for once? Or does not register in your Blonde mind!" Lita said on the verge of screaming, as she puffed out a cloud of smoke into Mina's face. She didn't know why she was being so mean to Mina; Hell it wasn't her fault that she was in the mess she was in now. However, she really disliked everyone asking her what's her problem was. She was sick of everything lately, and she was taking it out on poor Mina. This was the same Mina who would listen to her whenever she had a problem. The same Mina who she spilled her guts to about how Freddy was her first, and how he just used her. The same Mina, who saved her life in several battles, was now the one she was lashing out on. She felt guilty about it, but couldn't stop herself. It was as if something else was controlling her.
"You know Lita, that might scare away the boys at school but I know you better. I know when you push and when to lay off. Right now, I'm going to push until I get what I want." Mina retorted. She was deeply hurt by what her friend was saying; however she would be damned to let her know that.
"And what do you want?" Lita asked sarcastically.
"I want to know why you are out at this time of night, in a FUCKING ALLEY? That's what I want to know." Mina screamed out in frustration.
"I wanted to take a walk." Lita lied.
"BULL FUCKING SHIT! ! !" Mina cursed loudly. "I know for a fact you're not one to be running around in alleys when you could . . . . " Mina paused as she realized something. "Why in the hell would be in a goddamn alley for?" she asked herself aloud. She continued to think aloud, "Especially in this neighborhood. I mean it has one of the highest drug and rape." She gasped aloud as she looked around and realized, "This was the alley that Ami was . . . ."
Lita response was to just hang her head in shame. She was no longer angry with Mina, but herself.
Mina was shocked by her friend's behavior. "Why? Why did you come back here?"
Lita lowly muttered, "He raped another girl."
Mina asked without thinking, "So what does that have to do with you?"
"It's my fault." Lita plainly said with her head hang low.
"WHAT!" Mina couldn't believe that Lita was blaming herself for a rapist's action. "How?"
Lita's eyes became fiery as she looked at Mina and asked, "I had him, and I let him live. I should have killed him when I had the chance, but I didn't. It's bad enough that Ami was victim, but now there are others."
"So now what do you plane to do? Keep on waiting for the asshole to try to rape some girl in this alley again? Use yourself as bait? What?" Mina asked. She was scared. Scared that this personal vendetta was consuming her to the point where she would try to accomplish impossible feats through risky means.
"I'm going to find him." Lita said in an eerie calmness.
"Oh, just like that, you're going to find him. What happens when you find the wrong man, thinking that it is him, kill him, and the rapes continue? Umm?" Mina asked, hoping that she could make Lita realize the foolishness of the method she was going about this.
"I won't make that mistake." Lita said a little bit more aggravated.
"What makes you think you won't?" Mina said cockily.
"Cause I fucking carved 'Rapist' in his fucking forehead. That's how I'll know. Christ!" Lita said in frustration, as she put out one cigarette and lit up another one.
The only thing that Mina could respond with was, "What?"
"I guess that Ami forgot to tell you guys about that one. The guy I'm looking for has a nice job description on his forehead, and I'm going to find him! So, if you don't mind." Lita coldly stated as she tried to pass Mina out of the alley.
Before Lita could get an arms length away from her, Mina stuck out her arm, stopping her, and said, "I do mind." She brought her other hand up to the bridge of her nose. She was going about this the wrong way. Lita was a stubborn person, and challenging her, like she was, didn't help the situation. If she was going to have Lita listen to reason, she would have to try a different approach. She looked Lita straight in the eyes. She was surprised that Lita was able to function at all this week with the few hours of sleep she received. She pushed that though aside and said slowly, "Please . . . . .Please Lita hear me out before you go back out there so desperate to have the death of someone on your hands."
Lita was utterly shocked. Mina was actually begging her. She lifted her eyes to meet Mina glaze. She saw that Mina was being genuine, and wasn't about belittling her or preaching to her. "Fine. Say your peace. It's the least I can do, since you came out this far, this late for it."
Mina finally exhaled the breath she didn't know she was holding. "Do you believe in fate?" She asked, not knowing why though. It was just the first thing that came to mind.
Lita believed in fate. She had to, she hated more than anything. It was 'fate' that took her parents away. It was 'fate' that made her the whipping boy for others to use. It was 'fate' that decided to toy with her heart, bouncing her from one love to other. It was 'fate' that choose the path she walked, and she hated it. "Yea, so what?"
"Do you think it's your fate to catch this guy?" Mina asked.
"If it isn't, I'm damn well going to make it my fate!" Lita said charged up with anger. She was going to get her hands on that basterd, come hell or high water.
"Well, if it was your fate to find him, won't you eventually?" Mina asked.
"Yes, I would, if it were my fate." Lita said as a small smile slowly appeared on Mina's lips. She continued so as not to give her friend too much hope. "However, I don't have the time to wait for eventually. I have to find him now, before he can do anymore harm."
"Well maybe the victim has just reported it? If could have happens prior to Ami's?" Mina tried to reason with Lita.
This made sense to Lita, who thought "No one in their right or wrong mind would immediately go back to that sort of thing after almost getting caught by the authorities, especially with that new tattoo. However, there's no way to know for sure." Lita lowered her head, and responded in a whisper. "Mina, I really wish I could wait for fate to intervene, but I can't just let him go. I don't know it for sure, and I can't risk it. I'm sorry Mina for any grieve I have put you through."
Mina saw a shimmer of hope it this though, and asked, "If you knew that recent reported rape did take place before Ami's incident, would you wait for fate?"
Lita knew if for a fact then she could sleep easier at night, and hence call off her own little manhunt. She would be able to, only if she knew for sure. "I would wait, if I knew it were a fact, only then." Lita responded.
"Okay Lita, I will find out tomorrow morning if it was before or after. Can we go back now?" Mina asked, hoping that Lita would take into consideration reason.
"Mina, what if it was my fate to find him tonight?" Lita asked, hoping Mina would understand the position she was in.
"If it was fate for you to find him tonight, I wouldn't be hear." Mina responded. Lita silently nodded. "Would you mind if I said at your place tonight?"
"No, not at all. Actually, it would be nice to have some company." She said as they headed out the alley together.
#Later That Night#
Mina was awaken by a sudden rumbling above her. Her eyes shot open. At first she couldn't see, due to the darkness, but her eyes quickly adjusted. She then realized where she was, on Lita's bedroom floor. As she sat up, she noticed Lita violently thrashing about in her bed mumbling something incoherence. She rolled up from the ground to wake Lita, who was obviously having a nightmare. As she got to her feet, she looked at Lita's alarm clock, and notice it was 5:13 in the morning. She sighed to herself, thinking that she would hate to wake Lita this early, but she had no other choice.
Just as Mina was leaning over to wake up her up, Lita suddenly screamed, "NO!" as she sat upright, grasping her covers close to her chest. Lita's breath was very fast, her heart felt as if it would come out of her chest, and she was sweating profusely. She sat thinking about the haunting images that just plagued her sleep. She shook in the remising of it, but then she felt a warm comforting arm around her shoulders. She looked up to see that she had awakened Mina from her sleep. "I'm sorry if I woke you Mina." She said apologizing.
Mina was surprised by the apology, but understood it. "It's okay. Don't worry about it. How are you? Do you want to talk about it?" Asked Mina, supportively. Mina knew how strong Lita was. Lita had a tough life, and she grew tough from it, however sometimes Lita was just as weak as any other human. After all, even Superman had his Kryptonite. It was times like these that she was glad her Mother was once again out of town for "business." She was glad that Lita didn't have to wake up to an empty apartment after having another nightmare. They all knew that Lita had nightmares; after all she was at most, if not all, of their sleepovers. When she did, she refused to tell them anything, stating that it was only a 'childish' nightmare, but at least she had our support. That was something she didn't have for most of her life, and now was slowly getting adjusted to.
"It's okay. I'll be fine." Lita stated as she hugged Mina back and said, "Thank you though, I do appreciate it." Lita then release herself from Mina embrace, stood up and stretched. She looked down at her alarm clock and noticed that is was 5:16. She yawned as she asked Mina, "Do you want a cup of tea? I'm off to put the water on for myself anyway."
"Nah, that's okay, I'm going to head back to bed, that's if that you don't mind?" Mina responded.
"No, that's not a problem. Might as well take my bed, I'll probably stay up." Lita answered.
"Are you sure?" Mina asked astonished.
"Yea, I'm sure. If not I can always crash on the couch for a few hours." reassured Lita.
"Well, if you decide to go back to sleep, just kick me off or move me over, alright?" Mina stated, refusing to steal her friend's bed while she might need if, and if anyone needed a bed it was Lita.
"I'll keep that in mind." Lita said as she headed out to the kitchen, leaving Mina in her bed.
Mina was awaked by the aroma of sizzling Bacon, chocolate chip pancakes, freshly brewed coffee, and buttered toast. She rolled over and sat up from the warm comfort of Lita's bed. As she stood, she once again noticed the alarm clock. It now read 6:25. She had some time to kill before she even dare try to wake up Rei. She threw her covers off of herself and walked into the living room. As she approached the kitchen she said, "Boy Lita, it smells as if you cook up a storm." However she looked around and noticed that Lita wasn't there. Her eyes quickly noticed something on the counter. She picked it up and started to read.
~Mina, By the time you read this I'll be on my way to school. Lucky you don't have to be in until 8:30! Anyway, I left breakfast on the kitchen table. Feel free to eat as much as you want, and us any means that I have to find out about that other girl. You know what I mean. Let me know after the meeting today.
Thanks so much.
Lita
PS. Sorry for being such a bitch last night. You know I didn't mean anything that I said. ~
Mina put the letter down, and had herself a feasted. By the time she was done eating and cleaning up it was 7:05. She went over to her bag and pulled out her walkie-talkie. She turned it on and spoke, "Rei wake up! I really need to talk to you! It's about Lita!"
"Huh, what? SHIT! I slept through my alarm again. I'm becoming more like Serena everyday. . . . . .Don't you dare tell her that!" Rei mumbled as she awoken.
"Rei shut up and listen to me!" Mina said being extremely serious.
"Listen Mina, there's no need to . . .. " Rei said shocked, but was cut off by Mina.
"Lita was out every night looking for Ami's assailant." Mina stated, no caring if it was rude or not.
"What!" Rei exclaimed. Mina then told her the whole story about her patrol last night. After hearing all the details, Rei then asked, " What do we do now?"
"Well, I figured that while I was distracting Lita, you could inform Serena and Ami. Then finally we can just put an end to this sneaking around Lita's back." Mina answered.
"Alright, until then. I really need to get going to school. Talk to you later." Rei stated.
"Later." Mina said as she signed off. "Time to find out the truth." Mina said as she picked up Lita's phone and called the police.
#Later that Day at the Temple#
"Well, if that everything that we need to discuss, then meeting is over then." Serena stated.
Usually at this point Rei would get on Serena's case for trying to purposely rushing a meeting to an end, however Serena wasn't the only one would wanted this meeting to end as soon as possible. "Alright then, the meeting over. If you guys want to hang out for a while, you can. You know, it being a Friday and all." Rei purposely added the ending to give Mina and Lita the escape root that they needed.
"Thanks, but no thanks Rei. I was actually thinking about heading in early. Plus, there's that really good movie on with Brad Pitt on tonight that I want to catch." Mina said as she gave Lita a wink.
"I think I'm going to head in early as well Rei. I have been under the weather lately, so I might try to catch up on some Z's." stated Lita as both herself and Mina left the temple grounds.
As soon as they left, Ami finally spoke up. "What's going on with them?"
#Meanwhile-at the foot of the Temple steps#
"So did you find out?" Lita asked nervously.
"Yea, yea I did. It took me all but 6 hours to get to the bottom line, but I did get to it." Mina answered, thinking how exhausting it was to get through to police. She had to make up this huge story about how her and her boyfriend were 'necking' in that part of the neighborhood around the time of Ami's almost rape and saw another couple doing the same thing and plus some. However it was possible that the rape could have been occurring before their eyes. She might as well try to give a tip to the wall, but it did work to find out when the rape occurred.
"So, when did the rape happen?" Lita asked impatiently.
"It happened . . . . . . ."
#Meanwhile - Back at the top of the Temple#
"She was doing what!" Serena exclaimed, once Rei told them what Mina expressed to her earlier.
"She was going after him." Rei said softly, shocked as well about Lita's behavior. "She felt as she needed to stop him from hurting anyone else."
"But why?" Ami asked confused.
"According to Mina, she feels as if is her fault that he got away. And . . . " Rei's voice flatten towards the end of her sentence. She wasn't sure if she such tell them about the other rape, especially Ami. She seemed to be getting over the near incident, and bringing up this new information may shake the poor girl into a paranoid pattern.
"And what Rei?" Serena asked. She knew Rei, and she knew when she didn't yell at her there was something serious going down.
"And Lita believes that someone else was raped by the same man." Before anyone else could say anything more, Rei finished up by saying, "But she doesn't know for sure."
"Does anyone?" Serena asked.
"Mina does." Rei answered quietly.
#Meanwhile-back at the bottom of the Temple stairs#
Lita heard the words that came out of Mina's mouth and understood the important of them. She fell to her knees as silent tears made her way down her face. She finally let out a well-deserved sob. Mina knelt beside her and tried to hug all of Lita's misery away. "It's okay Lita. I understand." Mina said, trying to sooth her strong friend.
"How do you understand? You didn't have to believe that there was a chance you ruined not only your friend's life, but possible someone else's as well." Lita spat at Mina. She was high strung all this week, and she held it all in until now.
That statement stung Mina. She had been in a similar situation in London, however she wasn't going to bring that up now. Her friend was suffering through this, and she would be damned if she let a few words get to her. "At least now you know." She said releasing her from their embrace. "You know now." She said as she stood up.
Lita dried her eyes and said as she stood up as well, "Yes, now I have to wait for fate."