Coruscant Rain: Night Fever

"Back off, punk."

Not my usual choice of expletive, but then I've changed a little.

"I mean it... it doesn't take much to make me mad."

The ever-present pair of blasters at my sides that I moved my hands toward was only one of many dangers I presented. Let's see. I could send blaster bolts through various body parts. Or knives. I love knives. And then there's hand to hand. And of course, I could pull some of that new Jedi voodoo.

No, I'm not particularly humble. Or restrained.

I turned my back on him as the man seemed to change his mind regarding his request for all my valuables. I'm not a fool. I knew he hadn't. Which was the reason I spun around and kicked the blaster he'd pulled out of his hand. There was a very satisfying crack that told me I'd broken something. Leaving the man and his broken wrist or hand, I paused to collect the blaster he'd pulled on me. I had to frown at it. The poor thing wasn't kept up at all. People had no respect.

Despite the bad condition, I kept the weapon. It was an older model, and if there was any luck with me tonight, I could scrap it for parts that would fit in with one of the blasters I had on my ship.

I winked at the man as I turned the corner out of his sight.

Coruscant's parks are huge things. The one I was in was no exception. However, despite the size, I could still hear Kyoko trying to break up a fight between Zyta and Audra. Numako was laughing her green head off, while Mara, Yuki, and Kumoko where doing their best not to drool all over the hot padawans.

"Priire!"

I blinked, not realizing that Yuki had approached me. Inside, I cursed. That kind of inattention had gotten better people than me killed. "Hmm?" I pulled my legs closer to my chest so she'd have room to sit down on the bench that I had previously covered.

"Why don't you come join us?" Yuki's normally calm and reserved affect was changed to one of extreme excitement. I'd learned that her mother had done her best to train Yuki for her destiny... but somehow facing it in real life was still exciting.

Boy, did I know that feeling. I shook my head. "No thanks."

"What, guys don't interest you?"

That caught me more off guard than her earlier approach. So much so that I fell off the bench I was sitting on. I cursed, rubbing my elbow where it had caught the edge of the bench.

"Gomen!" Yuki apologized. "I didn't mean it like that..."

I shook my head. "Right." Instead of firing off like I usually did - hey, I'm a pilot. What can I say? - I took a moment to formulate an answer. "Do you think there's someone for everyone?"

A new voice burst on the scene. "I sure do! And I'm going to find him!" Mori Hoshi struck a pose. She was suddenly knocked down by Zyta looking for the snacks that the Kashyyyk girl had promised. "Romance and dreams and love are the stuff of life!"

Yuki's ice-blue eyes focused on me for a moment. It was a little spooky. But that was okay... I knew that my gaze could be that way too. "Yes," she answered me. "I think there is."

I smiled and shook my head, still watching her icy eyes. "I don't."

Kyoko and Numako dove under the tree with us. "It's raining!" Kyoko shouted.

"Sudden rainstorms, Coruscant has. Much rain they give!" Numako informed her. "And much wet they make us!" She laughed.

I stood up, careful not to kick Yuki as she was sitting near my feet. I stepped out into the rain and held out my arms. Thick sheets of rain fell around me, and a lightning bolt screamed out its fury behind the tree everyone was huddled under. "Can all of your romance and dreams and this 'stuff of life' stop the rain?" I asked, having to shout because of the noise.

No one could answer me.

I've always liked rain. I like to stand out in it and feel the cold water washing me. And the night. I love the night. Its cloak of darkness seems to hide all of my iniquities. And I have lots that I need to hide.

That's why I was out in the same park, only many hours later. I was enveloped by the dark, cold rain that washed me and hid me and protected me. It's a feeling that I don't know if I've ever found anywhere else. Maybe superficially, but not this deep. Like some mysterious lover running fingers through your hair and covering your body with kisses...

I was soaked through. I'd told the other girls that I was going to visit some old friends. In a way I was. No planet has rainstorms like Coruscant. I also knew I'd be left alone to enjoy it because they wouldn't come looking for me. Mori wasn't used to big cities, Audra was probably watching the holovision, Numako was more than likely playing practical jokes, and the five Earth girls were... well, from Earth.

That was why I was surprised out of my reverie by something warm enveloping my body. The rain on Coruscant was always a cold cloak around me... not this warm feeling.

I turned to look at the interloper. In the darkness, I couldn't make out much except a tall dark hat with rain spilling off the brim. He had wrapped a brown cape around me and was holding me so close to him that I could feel his warmth through my soaked clothing.

It's not that I don't like men - I don't like distractions. And he was definitely distracting. Plus the fact that I didn't know who he was. "Who are you?" I asked. Not calmly, either. I was still pumped with adrenaline from the rain and the night, so my words came out rushed and low.

"You're soaking wet."

"That's not what I asked." There, I had a little more control over myself.

He tilted his head, spilling more rain off the brim of his hat. "I'm sorry."

Despite his answer, I didn't move. Somehow, parting the veil over his mystery would have ruined... whatever it was. The wind that had been blowing steadily picked up, whipping his brown cape. He tightened his arms around me, keeping me warm.

A flash of lightning brightened the landscape around us. I gasped a little. Not from fear... but from excitement. I don't know how to really explain it. It's like standing with your arms outspread in the middle of a podracer track. Or being on the edge of a waterfall and watching the water hurl itself over the edge into oblivion... then joining it in one fateful plunge.

It's a fever... a madness... a pure adrenaline rush...

And somehow, I didn't mind sharing it with this warm stranger.

"Priire! Where have you been?"

I blinked and tried to remember. Closing my eyes against the worried faces of my newfound allies, scenes from the night flashed like lightning. The rainstorm, the mysterious caped stranger, the abating rain, then... nothing. I suppose that I must have sat down on the bench I found myself on at some point.

"Out here," I answered.

"Are you okay?" Mori worried. "The rainstorm lasted all night! It only stopped early this morning. We thought you'd gotten lost or something."

I shrugged. "I don't get lost."

Audra giggled. "You're not very humble, are you?"

A roguish grin lifted one corner of my mouth. "Nope. I can't afford to be."

The other girls shook their head at me. Mori pointed out a cute male selling ice cream, prompting everyone to produce money. I flipped a coin up in the air and caught it. "Get me something chocolate... if you remember."

Kumoko laughed. "Sure, Priire-chan!"

I watched them run off in the ice cream's direction. "I don't think I'll ever understand that."

Yukiko leaned over the bench. "Sure you will."

"Mindlessly running after any pretty boy that catches my eye?" I shook my head. "Sorry, I'm a little too grounded for that."

"You mean jaded," Yuki admonished me, holding up one of my hands.

I jerked it back from her, not meaning to be mean to her, but still mindful of the scarring wounds that my black gloves hid. "All right, then I'm too jaded."

Yuki laughed. "Someday you'll find a man, get married, and have daughters and a son and..."

With a laugh, I held up my hands to stop her. "What man would want to marry me?"

"Someone who loves you," Yuki said, her tone suddenly heavy with promise for the future and erasure of the past.

I started to offer a retort, but Yuki had gone off the catch the other girls. With a sigh, I leaned back on the bench and put my hands behind my head. Surprised, I brought my hands back in front of me.

I uncurled the fingers of the hand that Yuki hadn't grabbed and reflected that it was a good thing that I had gloves on. Clutched in my hand was a tiny rose bud, complete with stem and thorns.

Foreshadowing? Maybe. I don't know though. Thorny roses have always been a personal favorite of mine. So beautiful, so deadly, and so unexpected.

There are too many things I don't know about. Maybe that's why I seek out the solace of the cold rain, letting the fever take me away...