Three years later and I've finally finished it... lol there will most likely be an epilogue also since I do love my giripan gals way too much
Hera had decided that the day she would execute her brilliant plan would be that Monday. Partly cloudy skies with slight humidity was the perfect chance she needed to finally meet Sakura. So when she awoke that Monday morning with a spunk in her step, she was dismayed to open her curtains to see hurricane-esque weather plaguing her town. It was almost as tragic as one of the old stories her mother used to tell her growing up. Hera rarely got angry (unless the annoying Turkish girl was involved) so when Hera groaned loudly and screamed more than a few expletives into her pillow, Artemis and Athena were quick to bolt out of the room.
This was supposed to be the day! She had checked and rechecked the weather apps at least 20 times. Somehow someone up in Olympus had it out for her. With a dark could above her and a soft pillow beneath her head she suddenly was reminded of how lovely her bed felt and how if she just took a small nap maybe it'd clear up later and…NO. FULL STOP.
Hera bolted up in bed. So much so that she became dizzy afterwards and clutched her head. She'd learned from her text group of creepy people watchers that Sakura almost always came around this time to get tea from the café. She couldn't fall asleep now.
Motivation for Hera had always been a struggle. Why be so upbeat and hyper about something when you can just y'know… not be? Hera shook her head. Today was different. Today means something more… she just couldn't quite pinpoint what exactly that thing was.
As Hera began to delve deeper into her own thoughts about the meaning of why we do things, her cell phone buzzed violently on her night stand. Deep in her own world, she ignored it at first but after the 10th buzz she eyed the phone with a malicious intent wondering who could be so annoying at a time like this. A long list of messages filled her screen and while that wasn't necessarily something unusual, the content of the messages was.
"SPOTTED: SCARF GIRL"
"It's Miss Sakura!"
"Weren't you looking for her?"
"HEY UGLY FACE WAKE UP YER GAL IS HERE WHERE ARE YOU"
Hera clutched the phone a little tighter feeling slightly perturbed at the last message obviously from Adnan. Even so, after reading the messages she could feel adrenaline rush through her body leaving a tingling sensation in her fingertips and toes. Something otherworldly took over Hera then. With a speed no one had ever seen her display before, she leapt out of her bed and practically flew down the staircase. Artemis and Persephone were left in total shock and slight fear at seeing their normally sloth like owner move with such a quick and honestly feline demeanor. Hera had left her phone on her nightstand and before she bolted out of there she had only sent three words to the group (which had inspired many a "thumbs up" emoji).
"I'm on it."
The main street had essentially been deserted because of the dreadful weather. Many shop owners sat at their windows and glumly observed the absence of customers. A few loyal stragglers trudged on to their favorite shops just barely keeping themselves from being blown away by the wind. Sakura knew it was foolish to come downtown today. She couldn't help it though; her roommate didn't provide the exact ideal studying environment on account to their frequent watching of dramas on their laptop and subsequent screaming following x's death and y's scandalous affair. La Bella Bistro also had a lovely barley tea which was perfect on rather chilly days and if she finished her work early, she might treat herself to an old book in the bookshop down the way. Sakura smiled to herself before quickly glancing around the subway car. Luckily it was practically empty besides for an elderly man deep in REM asleep on the other end of the car. Once her stop came she exited with familiar ease, somehow this part of town gave her a calming feeling. Sakura thought about what pastry she might purchase with her tea as well as she climbed the steps out of the subway station, feeling excited to see the sunny skies the weatherman had predicted. So, she was in quite a shock when upon reaching the top of the stairs she was bombarded with wind and what was equivalent to a bucket of water in her face.
Only allowing herself to be taken aback for a moment, Sakura (the always prepared woman she was) pulled her umbrella out of her bag. She took a deep breath before making her way towards the downtown district. She glanced down and winced at her pink flats and tights which were now soaked and slightly muddy. If she had known it was going to be typhoon weather she of course would've planned accordingly. So, she was more than a little miffed thinking about the scrubbing and polishing she would have to do later to clean her tights. Sakura rarely got lost in her own thoughts but as she grumbled to herself about bleach and shoe polish, she hadn't noticed a figure speeding blindly towards her. As soon as the figure got about 5 feet from slamming into Sakura, she sensed the oncoming crash and jumped back &braced for impact for whatever was coming and hoping to God it wasn't a mailbox. So, when the predicted pain didn't hit her at lightning speed and she didn't go flying backwards into a puddle, she opened her eyes to see the figure was in fact not a mailbox but a person.
This person, Sakura noted, was soaked and not dressed for the weather at all. Her feet were bare and so were her legs up until some short gym type shorts. She wasn't wearing a rain jacket or a hoodie but an oversize t-shirt with a faded picture of the Parthenon on it. It was hard with the rain to truly make out this girl's face but Sakura was immediately distracted by something else.
"Your hair." They both said at the same time.
Sakura jumped back a bit at the outburst she most definitely did not intend to make. She could feel her cheeks turning redder every second. She turned her gaze down to ground and quickly looked up to exclaim, "Oh!"
How could Sakura be so rude, here she was bogarting her umbrella while this poor woman stood shivering in the rain. She went to hand the umbrella over to the stranger when a rather frightful gust of wind slapped the umbrella out her hand. The umbrella flew away with the wind and the downpour took Sakura by surprise. Before she could even react to what had just happened, the stranger took ahold of her hand and began leading her down the street. All of Sakura's instincts told her to slap the hand away and run for her life back to her dorm, her books, and her anime figures, but a strange sensation in her stomach told her to grab on even tighter to the strange woman's hand.
And that's exactly what she did.
After a few moments running haphazardly through the rain, the duo made their way to the entrance of a bank. There was a front room open for customers to use the ATMs while the bank was closed and luckily for them was open and heated. The stranger let go of Sakura's hand once they made it safely inside and Sakura would never admit to it, but immediately missed the warmth of it. She bent over and let herself catch a few breaths before really looking at this woman she'd taken up shelter with.
Sakura gulped audibly.
The woman sat with her back against the wall, slightly shivering from the cold. She was now drenched from head to toe and her clothes clung to her giving shape to her curvy body and voluptuous chest. Sakura turned her head away as she was almost certain this stranger was not wearing a bra and how indecent was Sakura was gaping like a fool at her. Sakura did look back though as she remembered what she was so impressed by before. The woman's hair.
Her dark brown locks curled and twisted in every direction. They fell past her shoulders and even with the water dulling it down, Sakura could tell how voluminous the woman's hair could be. Strands stuck to her face which was now getting its color back after getting out of the rain. Sakura wasn't sure if she had ever been in such awe of another human before. Here this stranger was half naked & drenched yet she looked like a perfect portrait of a classical beauty. Sakura appreciated art as much as any aficionado and the woman before her was seemingly a perfect muse. She wanted to ask her so many things. Why was she in the rain? What is her name? Why doesn't she have shoes on? Why doesn't she have a BRA on? Why is she so damn beautiful? Wh-
In between Sakura's storm of thoughts, her body decided to abandon any reason or tact and approach the woman slowly. Sakura slowly knelt beside her but kept her eyes on the ground and hands folded in her lap. She looked up to see green eyes staring inquisitively at her and Sakura blushed a deep red. She could see the other woman's cheeks were also red but that could just be from the cold.
Glancing back at the ground and up again to make eye contact with her, Sakura then cleared her throat.
"You have beautiful hair."
The woman's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and Sakura's brain quickly reprimanded her a million different ways before continuing.
"I-I mean I'm slightly envious of you. I've never been able to hold a curl with my hair."
She nervously ran her fingers through her hair, dreading the inevitable bad reaction she predicted would come from the stranger.
However, when Sakura looked back up from the very interesting spot on the ground she had glued her eyes to, she was taken aback. The woman was smiling and then suddenly, she started laughing. Sakura began laughing too, first as an automatic nervous tic but then realizing the absurdity of the whole situation she laughed genuinely.
The woman tilted her head and smiled at Sakura. "My name is Hera."
Sakura smiled back while feeling an unfamiliar warmth engulf her whole body.
"My name is Sakura. It's nice to meet you."
Immediate regret is what Hera felt as she rushed out into the storm. She could already hear her mother's voice yelling at her about being reckless and foolhardy. She could also just feel the congested nose, fever and chills, and impending cold she was going to get because of this little adventure. But, none of those things mattered much right now. All that mattered was finding the Woman In Pink, Sakura Honda, and Future Mrs. Karpusi if all went right. Hera's legs moved through the slippery street at a pace she consciously had never chosen to enact herself before. Some kind of supernatural force gave her unnatural strength to run like a damn gazelle. In the back of Hera's mind beyond the sweet, romantic things she was planning to say to Sakura, was the fear that she had no clue where she was actually heading. Too much energy coursed through her for her to stop and think rationally. So, she was incredibly surprised when she looked up to see another person coming towards her at a rapid speed. Hera slowed down a few feet away from the stranger just before the two collided. She couldn't make out much with the rain constantly getting in her eyes but her heart almost stopped in her chest when she saw the faded pink dress adorning the stranger in front of her.
Sakura Honda. The Woman In Pink. She stood right before her and Hera silently thanked whatever god above concocted this plan for her. The truth was that Sakura was even more breathtakingly beautiful in person. She was shorter than Hera and definitely smaller in stature. She gripped onto her umbrella with dear life as she stared up at Hera. Sakura's face was plain but not in a negative way. She wore no makeup but had a natural glow. Her haircut complimented her face and oh god, her hair. The inky, silky locks looked even more stunning up close. How Hera wanted to reach out and ruffle her hair, perhaps kiss her forehead while she was at it… Hera inwardly scolded herself. She hadn't even introduced herself yet! And while her head said, 'say something memorable and impressive', her mouth betrayed her and out came, "Your hair."
Hera must've been hallucinating because she swore she heard Sakura say the same thing. Perhaps she did though because the other woman began to blush before she audibly said "Oh!" and began to hand Hera her umbrella. The gods must be having a boring work day because in a tragic comedic fashion, the umbrella was swept away by the howling wind.
As soon as she saw Sakura becoming soaked by the rain, a protective instinct took over to guide her to safety. Hera grabbed Sakura's hand, noting the smoothness and absence of rings. She knew a bank down the way which would be private and a decent place to take shelter. Once they reached the bank, she reluctantly let go of Sakura's hand. She knew if she looked down her hand would be trembling, so she plopped herself down against the wall instead and buried her hands in her hair.
Hera closed her eyes and thought about the first time she saw Sakura from her window. Her cool demeanor, her shy smile, and the way she lovingly looked at the cats. The memory flooded her brain and she could feel herself beginning to warm up just thinking about it.
Do soulmates exist? She had never believed in it before but perhaps they did. Perhaps there was a person out there that fits you in ways you never could have imagined. Maybe you aren't destined to ever meet this person or maybe you are. All Hera knew was that the way Sakura had made her feel, even from the comfort of her own bed gazing out a window, was important. It was special and that's why she refused to give up. She may have been creepy or used weird tactics that surely, she would never tell anyone about ever again, but it led to this moment.
Sakura had come over by her side while she was lost in thought. She mentioned something about her hair again but it wasn't cruel or mean. Sakura was sincere as she said it and earnest. She had a twinkle in her eyes and the look upon her face made Hera's heart practically stop.
She couldn't help but laugh. She could've never predicted this is how she would end up. Soaking wet and sickeningly in love with a woman who seemingly always wears pink.
"My name is Hera."
"My name is Sakura. It's nice to meet you."
Yes, Hera was quite sure she wouldn't mind adding a bit of pink to her day from now on.