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Here's part A and bit of B. Enjoy.
DA/R
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A Sailor Moon / Ranma fanfiction,
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W A Y L A Y I N G B E F O R E
T H E
O A K T R E E
BY Dark Alpha
DarkAlphaR@aol.com
Within the clause of the Ranmoon Project
Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon and their respective associated
characters are creation of and rightful property of Rumiko Takahashi
and Naoko Takeuchi respectively. They are used here without
permission. This is written purely for free entertainment of writers
and readers, and should not be used for profit in any way.
Enjoy.
---
It would be another half an hour at least, Makoto Kino thought,
before Usagi would finish her cleaning duties. She sighed. She wished
that Usagi would pick up her pace and clean faster, instead of
gripping about her after-school duties.
Stretching out her arms, Makoto leaned back against a huge oak
tree, taking great care not to wake up her sleeping friend who was
resting alongside her. Let the Sleeping Beauty sleep a little while
longer, she decided with a smile on her face.
Pulling up her school case, she popped the cover open and
pulled out a pale green book with a diagram of a cute rabbit
character hugging a slice of carrot cake. Despite the poor writing of
the kanji on the cover, she could read them clearly: 'My Best
Friend's Diary' with Usagi's name in subscript on the bottom corner
of the cover with a cute bunny head next to it. Usagi had given her a
diary of her own for her to record her personal thoughts into it as
her fifteenth birthday gift.
Makoto opened her diary to reveal tens of dozens of pages
filled with her writing. Flipping rapidly through her pages, she
realized that only thoughts from last two years were recorded inside.
So much had changed during those two short years since she had
returned to Japan after that incident which had drastically changed
her life forever. Back then, she used to be a completely different
person.
She returned to the first page and began reading.
About someone named Ranma Saotome...
--- ---- ---
*Finally, a place to myself...* Ranma thought as she sat beside
the young oak tree. Placing her backpack next to herself, she
stretched out her arms and basked in the cool shade provided by the
tree. *I just wish they'd leave me alone!*
She had gotten into a fight with three boys who had been
bullying a girl earlier, but fortunately for her, it had taken place
off school campus so she didn't to worry about being punished for her
actions.
Drawing out a bento box out from her backpack, she opened it
and began to eat. Aside from martial arts and cooking, eating was the
only thing that helped her relax.
Unfortunately for Ranma, her solitude did not last for long.
Her bento box was barely half-empty when she heard a slight
rustling noise. *Amateurs,* Ranma snorted in disgust. Whoever this
person was, he might as well as have been shouting at the top of his
lungs. As she continued to listen intently, her ears picked up the
presence of two girls and a boy in the near-vicinity.
*Great, not again.* She thought sourly, *They're here to pick a
fight with me. Or make fun of me cuz of my curse... Prolly get me
kicked out of the school too. Again.*
Ranma slumped back against the tree and sighed. She should've
known that a moment of peace was too much to hope for. The not-so
silent sneakers approaching slowly behind her and a rustling noise
told her that a young girl was trying to catch a better glimpse of
her from behind a bush.
*Maybe if I ignore them long enough, they'll give up and
leave.* Not entirely satisfied with her reasoning, she resumed
eating.
No sooner than she had taken a bite of her food when she
suddenly found a face shoved into her view. *What the?!*
A pair of crystal blue eyes peered at her out from under blond
bangs, radiating an uber-cute expression that many girls had adopted,
much to Ranma's disgust. The young girl, however, did not speak, but
merely stared at her.
Ranma quickly gave her unexpected visitor a look-over, and
blinked in surprise. Whoever this girl was, she certainly had the
most unusual hair style she had ever seen; long twin blond pigtails
snaking out from two balls of hair mounted on the sides of her head,
trailing all the way to the ground as the girl knelt before her. She
was wearing a white blouse with a red bow, and blue skirt.
It certainly looked lot nicer than her drab brown and white
version of school uniform.
Ranma was reminded once more again how she had been stuck with
her older school uniform because the new school did not offer any
uniforms that would fit her due to her height. As if it hadn't been
bad enough that she was easily spotted because she simply towered
above most of the students due to her height, her old uniform just
made it harder for her to blend into the school without being
noticed.
The girl was still staring at her.
"What do you want?!" Ranma grumbled irritably.
"Huh? But your food looks so delicious!"
"Eh?" Sure enough, the blonde girl was staring intently at her
bento box. A light drool was already forming at one corner of her
mouth.
After glancing between the girl and her food for several
seconds, she smiled tentatively and offered her box to her, "Do you
want some?"
"Oh, yes! Thank you very much!"
Ranma surrendered her bento box to the girl. The girl happily
accepted the box and ate. "Ooh, this tastes great! I never thought
I'd have another bite of food today! Yummy!" The girl made varied
sounds of contentment as she devoured her food, before pausing at her
last bite, "But what about you? Aren't you hungry?"
Ranma shrugged. "Don't worry about me. I've got plenty left."
The girl nodded and ate her last bite. "Wow! It tastes great!
Did your mom make this for you?"
Ranma flinched at the mention of her mother, but quickly
composed herself. "No, I cooked them myself."
"You?"
She nodded. "Like it?"
The pigtailed girl nodded empathetically in delight. "It's
good! How did you get so good?"
"A friend of mine taught me..." Ranma began before a thought
occurred to her. Unexpectedly, her shoulder sagged as her face fell.
*Akari,* she thought. It had been nearly two months since she had
last seen her friend. She had been her only true friend since then.
"What's wrong?"
The words shook Ranma out of her depression. "Oh, sorry. It's
nothing..."
"Oh, OK! You're that Makoto girl, right?"
Ranma narrowed her eyes slightly; how did the girl find out
about her? She then smacked herself mentally. This girl probably has
overheard the rumors about her. There was nothing she could do about
that subject, though. "Yeah. I'm Makoto Kino."
"Usagi Tsukino here! Nice to meet you, Mako-chan!" With that,
Usagi held out her hand. She didn't notice Ranma wince at her usage
of the suffix.
Ranma stared at the offered hand, unsure of how to react.
*Could this be some trick? Any minute now, everyone'll jump out of
these bushes and laugh at me for being so desperate to make friends.
Then they'll splash me with hot water and laugh at the boy who's
wearing a girl's uniform. And I'll jump and turn 'em into street
trash, and get kicked out of the school for fighting. Again.*
She stared at the empty hand before her and reconsidered. *Oh,
hell with it.*
Ranma grasped Usagi's hand firmly. "Same here."
--- ---- ---
Makoto smiled wistfully. It had been a start of a rocky
friendship between her and Usagi. Her life certainly had changed a
lot since she had met her, and, despite the hardships she had
endured, for better, in her opinion.
Flipping over to the next page, she was surprised to see that
it was blank. So was the next page. She blinked for few moments
before realizing why. She had purposely left those pages blank back
then.
What had happened in the afternoon of that day, she couldn't
recall for some reason. She had only vaguely recalled being attacked
by a youma and fighting one of Dark Kingdom Generals... Zoycite,
wasn't it? It wasn't until Usagi had finally explained several months
later about what had _really_ happened.
--- ---- ---
Usagi had been about to retire to the local arcade for another
round of Sailor V game when her communicator had rang. Pausing to
check the signal out, she realized that it was beeping insistently. A
quick glance at it confirmed her fears; it was another Dark Kingdom
attack, this time nearly a kilometer from her current location.
"It's in the Kagaume Park. It looks like we've got a new
opposition this time." Ami explained over the intercom.
Usagi sighed, then nodded. "I'll be there as soon as I can!"
She turned to the entrance of the arcade, staring the Sailor V game
console morosely. She had brought plenty of change this time, who
knows? she might even get lucky and win!
But the urgent beeping from Ami had dashed her hopes. "Oh well,
there's always tomorrow!" She pulled out her transformation wand.
Glancing around to make sure nobody was watching, she ducked
into a narrow alley and held up her transformation wand. "Moon Prism
Power, Make-Up!"
In a flash of light, her school uniform dissolved and
rematerialized into a new uniform after leaving her momentarily
naked. As her transformation sequence ended, she paused for a moment
to curse the pervert who had choreographed her transformation
sequence.
Somewhere, a small black cat sneezed.
Dismissing her personal concerns, she glanced up and
immediately jumped nearly five meters vertically to land atop the
roof of the building. Using her magically enhanced muscles in her
legs, she sprinted across the rooftops at rapid pace, easily
overtaking many of the slower vehicles on the roads beneath her.
It was not going well for Mercury. Despite the fact that she
was considered to be the brains of the Senshi, she was also acutely
aware of the fact that she was also the weakest of the group.
A fact her enemy had quickly taken advantage of.
Zoycite crowned as he attacked the retreating Senshi with a
barrage of flower petals, "Hah! Your pathetic attacks can't even
compare against mine!"
Mercury thinned her lips as she tapped her right earring, and a
blue visor manifested into existence over her eyes. The results her
visor displayed confirmed her what she already had suspected; Zoycite
was not an ordinary youma, as she had hoped, but instead a General
"You're the one who replaced Nephrite when he died, aren't
you?"
Zoycite chuckled. "Of course. He was inept and too...
softhearted. He had to be eliminated."
"In other words, you had murdered him so you would be in
perfect position to take over."
"My, you are the perceptive one! But that will not save your
pretty hide from me. ZOI!" Another swarm of petals pickled the spot
where Sailor Mercury had stood split seconds earlier.
The water element-based Senshi was starting to wear out. She
already had transmitted a call for help to Usagi and Rei, but Rei was
unfortunately too busy at the moment and it would take her several
precious minutes to get away from her engagement. Usagi already had
responded, but it would take some time for her to arrive. Minutes
that she was already running out.
Zoycite cackled loudly as his unleashed another of his petal
attacks, barely missing the Senshi. "You can't keep on dodging
forever! Sooner or later, you'll fall!"
"Shabon Spray!"
Mercury's words belied Zoycite's claims, as the water bubbles
froze his second petal attack. The petals dropped to the ground like
pebbles, crystallized. "I don't think so!" Despite her bravado, she
was clearly starting to tire out. Having continuously unleashed her
Shabon Spray attacks to nullify Zoycite's attacks and keeping him at
a distance had drained her stamina greatly. Unless some help came
soon, she'd be in deep trouble.
Zoycite growled. "Very well, it'll just take longer for me to
finish you off. ZO---!" He never got his chance to finish his words,
as a rock bounced off solidly against his forehead. Yowling in pain,
he reeled back momentarily and caught a glimpse of a girl just before
he doubled over as someone or something slammed into his stomach,
only to fly into the air as his head snapped back from a vicious blow
to his chin.
Mercury, having been about to execute another of her Shabon
Spray attack, stumbled over her motions as a girl came out of nowhere
and connected solidly into Zoycite's abdomen, neatly folding him
over. A split-second later, Zoycite found himself flattened against
the ground.
The Senshi couldn't believe her eyes; whoever this girl was,
she had just knocked down one of the Generals with only a punch and a
_kick_! She blinked. Taking down a General using purely physical
combat was unheard of to her; even with the enhanced and magical
abilities of the Senshi, Generals had proved to be extremely
difficult to overcome. Yet her unexpected helper had taken down one
of them without any aid of magic with ease that defied her belief.
And only a second had elapsed during the entire scene.
What boggled her even further was the fact that this person
appeared to be dusting herself off! Then her jaw almost came unhinged
as she recognized the newcomer. "MAKOTO?!"
Sure enough, it was the same cocky young girl she had met
earlier at her school, and clearly threatening the enraged General.
"That HURT, you bastard!" Zoycite screeched, but Makoto merely
shrugged.
"Not a problem to me," Makoto tossed back to him.
Mercury wasn't sure which she should be scared for Makoto's
safety, or be surprised by the fact that Makoto actually had the guts
to take on one of Dark kingdom's Generals single-handedly without
magical-enhanced abilities that Mercury and other Senshi had employed
against their forces.
As Makoto and Zoycite eyed each other warily, Mercury
discreetly pulled out her communicator to relay another message.
Meanwhile, the General growled at the young girl before him.
"Do you have any idea who I am, you little wench?"
Makoto shrugged. "I dunno, and I don't care. I don't like it
when guys like you pick on the weak, though."
For some reason, Mercury felt enraged by the newcomer's words.
She was one of the Senshi, augmented with abilities that even the
strongest man would have envied; yet Makoto considered her to be
_weak_?!
"I'm Zoycite, one of the Generals of the Dark Kingdom!" He
growled at the impudent girl. "You'll regret this. I'm going to enjoy
disfiguring your pretty face, girl."
Makoto merely cracked her knuckles. "Is that supposed to scare
me?" She then muttered to herself, "What's with girls and pretty
faces?"
Zoycite narrowed his eyes, then quickly jumped to his feet,
preparing to attack. But Makoto already had anticipated this attack
and dodged, ducking under his arm to deliver a solid punch to his
jaw. However, even as she managed to score the blow, she was caught
off guard by his counter-attack, having not witnessed any form of
magical attacks such as Zoycite's petal attack. Hundreds of flower
petals pelted Makoto, ripping up her uniform and cutting into her
skin.
Makoto staggered backwards, reeling from the intensity of
Zoycite's attack. Having raised her arms to protect her face during
the attack, she failed to notice Zoycite following up his attack with
a brutal backhand blow. Makoto's head snapped back under the blow.
Having not recovered completely from Zoycite's earlier attack, she
tumbled to the ground.
Zoycite glared down at the dazed girl and wiped a small trickle
of green blood from his split lip. "That HURT, you damn wench." He
raised his arm and prepared to form a ball of fire in his palm to
incinerate this girl. "Prepare to die!"
But before he could carry out his threat, a blast of chilled
fog swept him along, easily dousing out the flames in his palm.
Another voice cried out, "Moon Tiara Action!" Having witnessed the
attack before, he ducked in time to avoid having his head sheared off
by a golden Frisbee of magic and quickly retreated as the fog cleared
to reveal a newcomer guarding Sailor Mercury.
Sailor Moon pointed at him accusingly, "Attacking a poor,
defenseless girl like that is totally unforgivable!" Since she was
standing in front of Mercury, she failed to see the blue-uniformed
Senshi roll her eyes at her statement. She continued regardless, "In
the name of the Moon, I will punish you!" She then deftly caught the
returning tiara and repositioned herself for another attack.
Behind her, Mercury sighed a breather of relief as Zoycite
retreated further from Makoto.
Moon glanced to Mercury. "Isn't she...?"
"Yeah, it's Makoto. I'll go and make sure she's okay."
Sailor Moon nodded in agreement and turned to Zoycite, who was
starting to make threatening moves. "Back off, you creep! You're not
going anywhere near Makoto!" Zoycite had to duck again in order to
avoid her second Moon Tiara attack.
As Moon kept the General busy, Mercury rushed over to Makoto's
side, fearing the worst. She quickly activated her visor, commanding
it to determine the extent of the girl's injuries.
Fortunately her fears proved to be largely unfounded, as Makoto
appeared to be relatively unharmed, except for some fairly deep cuts.
She noted that Makoto had unusually high levels of stamina and
endurance. She deactivated her visor, relived that multiple cuts
wouldn't prove to be fatal for Makoto. "Are you okay, Makoto?"
Makoto nodded as she groused, "What the hell was that?"
"You got hit by Zoycite's attack," Mercury explained as she
placed her hand on Makoto's shoulder to calm the girl down. "You've
got to..."
Even as Makoto grimaced in pain, Mercury gasped as she got a
clear look at her face. Makoto's forehead was glowing in pale green
light; there was no mistaking of the sigil of Jupiter on Makoto's
forehead.
It was at this moment that Mercury realized that after almost
three months, she had just found one of last of the missing Senshi.
"She's coming, and I need you to contact her," Luna hissed.
Ami frowned. "Not that I mind doing this, but surely Usagi
could be the better choice?"
The black cat shook her head. "No, knowing her, she'll probably
mess up her lines. Rei's too... temperamental. No, I need _you_, who
can think rationally and get the point across."
"Oh, I see."
Luna instantly executed a back flip, trails of sparkling lights
following her through the maneuver. As she reached the apex, the
lights coalesced into a thin cylindrical object and dropped to the
ground.
The cat then pointed her paw to it, "That's Jupiter's
transformation wand, much similar to yours and Rei's. Go ahead, I
want you to hold on to it."
Ami complied as she took it. Luna nodded in satisfaction. "Now,
when you find her, all you have to do is to give this to her..."
Silently, Mercury drew out the item Luna had given her and
regarded it for a brief moment. It was almost identical to hers; the
narrow cylindrical object measured about fifteen centimeters in
length and was painted in green and gold colors. It also had a gold
star capped at one end. The sigil of Jupiter was clearly visible in
the center of the star, a fusion of the numbers two and four.
"Makoto, take this stick!" She handed the rod to the dazed
girl.
"Huh?" Makoto shook her head to shake off the last of her
dizziness and eyed her warily.
Mercury pressed on, "Take it! Take it and say the first line
that comes to your mind!" She could see signs of distrust in Makoto's
eyes, so she added, "Trust me, Makoto."
This time, Makoto seemed to be mollified by her words and any
hesitation Makoto appeared to have seemed to melt away as she took
the rod. Makoto eyed the object in her hand warily and glanced up to
her, as if asking for some kind of permission.
"Go ahead, Makoto. Hold it up and say the first thing that
comes to your mind." She was smiling at her, encouraging her to do
it.
However, the almost-feral grin that had briefly appeared on
Makoto's face disturbed her. Then it was gone as Makoto got up to her
feet and held up her transformation wand high.
"JUPITER POWER, MAKE-UP!"
In a flash of bright green lights, Makoto seemed to vanish,
only to remanifest in a new uniform. It was virtually identical to
hers, Mercury realized, except that Jupiter's primary colors were
green and... _pink_?
The pink bow on Jupiter's chest had the unfortunate effect of
attracting Mercury's attention to her now-obvious talent, reminding
Mercury of how underdeveloped she was, momentarily. Shaking off her
feelings of inadequacy, she cleared her throat and addressed the new
Senshi, "Jupiter, we've got to help Sailor Moon!"
The newest Senshi nodded and stood up, and pointed at Zoycite,
who was currently keeping Sailor Moon busy. "Hey, you asshole! I'm
gonna kick your ass!"
An instant later, Mercury was left blinking at the space where
Sailor Jupiter had just stood earlier as Jupiter attacked the
startled General. Zoycite barely had enough time to react and deflect
her attack with his petal-attack.
He turned around to face his new attacker, even as he felt his
anger intensify as he saw the _second_ Senshi to appear in as many
minutes! They were dropping out of the countryside like flies! Worse,
he couldn't identify this new Senshi, which most likely meant it had
to be _another_ new one!
As his eyes flickered around the place warily, he spotted
Sailor Moon and Mercury getting into position for an attack and
swore. The three-to-one odds were too much even for him to handle. He
quickly decided that it would be prudent to retreat. "All right, you
win--" He never got his chance to finish as Jupiter connected solidly
against his jaw for the second time. He reeled in pain.
"DAMN you! I'll KILL you!" He roared in anger as he tried to
focus his mind. Then an idea occurred to him. "I wasn't planning to
do this, but since you seem so eager to die, I'll oblige! Come out,
my loyal solider of the Darkness! Come forth, and destroy those who
oppose our might!"
The trees rustled suddenly in the intense wind as the creature
of darkness roared into existence, streaking towards Jupiter. Its two
pincers clacked nosily in anticipation of inflicting extreme
injuries, although the beast clearly was looking forward to
decapitation of its victims.
Almost effortlessly, the green fuku-clad Senshi eluded its
rampage, unaware of the fact that two other Senshi were directly
behind her. Having been caught off-guard by the unexpected youma's
appearance, Moon and Mercury barely reacted in time as they realized
that they were in danger. They quickly split off to dodge its attack,
even as they tried to warn each other.
"Watch out, Mercury!"
"He's too fast...!"
A loud thunderclap startled everyone.
"Sailor Moon, look!" Mercury cried, pointing at Jupiter who
held her arms crossed. Moon's throat went dry and felt as if her
heart had lodged itself into her neck. Numerous tendrils of
electricity surrounded Jupiter, but she appeared to be unharmed.
"Supreme... Thunder!" Then everything seemed to explode as the
electrical current expanded outwards from the Senshi. In a blink of
an eye, the current arced a trail between her and the abomination of
the nature, electrocuting him with thousands of volts. Its body
spasmed violently as it convulsed in pain. As the brilliant
electrical display faded, the beast dropped to the ground,
unconscious.
"Yes!" Jupiter held up her fist triumphantly, then snapped her
head back to Zoycite.
Meanwhile, realizing that Jupiter had given them an
opportunity, Mercury quickly summoned her Shabon Spray attack to
soothe the youma's body, cooling its scorched burns on its body even
as Moon was preparing her Healing Moon attack.
No sooner than Moon had a moment to sigh a sense of relief as
the youma slowly reverted back to its human form, freed from the
darkness at last, when Mercury had abruptly grabbed hold of her.
"Moon, we've got to help Jupiter...!"
Not realizing that Mercury had trailed off, she nodded in
agreement and turned around as she stood up, "Oh yeah...!" Then she,
too, trailed off as she saw the scene unfolding before her.
Their bodies seemed to flow as if they were water, Jupiter and
Zoycite trading blows against each other. Their blows blurred
slightly, continuously on defensive as they parried each other's
blows and kicks. Zoycite was slowly giving ground as he continued to
parry many of Jupiter's blows. "I'm impressed, I haven't had faced
such a worthy challenger in years."
Jupiter didn't reply as she continued to press her fight,
tossing a wide variety of blows and kicks into his direction.
Zoycite brought his arms up to deflect a low kick and gave up
some ground, which in turn forced Jupiter to follow through her kick
with a high roundhouse. This unfortunately forced the senshi to
overexert herself when Zoycite instantly retreated just as she had
executed her kick, leaving her momentarily vulnerable. An opportunity
the General quickly took advantage as he unleashed his petal attack,
"ZOI!"
Much to his surprise, instead of avoiding it, Jupiter simply
barreled through the petals, sustaining multiple cuts and socked his
jaw again before he could recover.
Zoycite staggered back, but the young Senshi refused to allow
the General a respite. Pressing her unyielding assault, she followed
up with a powerful roundhouse kick to his abdomen, forcing him to
double over again. She quickly brought up her hands into a double-
fist attack, but Zoycite had recovered quickly enough to deliver a
solid uppercut to Jupiter's jaw, sending her flying partially and to
the ground. He quickly cast his petal attack, hoping to kill the
accursed senshi before she could recover.
This time, the petals attacked the space where Jupiter had been
only moments earlier. Realizing that he just had been tricked, he
jumped a considerable distance back and swept the area his eyes
rapidly. He felt a hand tap on his left shoulder, startling him. He
spun around to face a madly grinning Jupiter just in time to receive
another devastating blow against his jawbone, shattering it.
The General yowled in pain, only to have air forced out of him
as Jupiter instantly executed a complex reverse-twist suplex, neatly
flipping him over her shoulder. Then, before Zoycite could
counterattack, Jupiter retreated to assume a defensive position.
"You'll pay for this, I swear!" Zoycite growled as he held his
fist to his broken jawbone. With that, he vanished moments later in a
swirl of pink flower petals.
Jupiter snorted in disdain, wiping her hands clean. Suddenly,
she froze and stared at her hands. Slowly, she glanced down to
herself, seemingly surprised by her unusual green and white Senshi
fuku.
Subconsciously, Jupiter released her magical focus and her
Senshi fuku dissolved into her school uniform. Makoto stared at her
hands, almost as if in awe. Realizing that she wasn't alone, she
glanced up just as Sailor Moon and Mercury approached her.
"You were so cool!"
"Sailor Moon?" Makoto blinked. "You mean you're the Sailor Moon
everybody's been talking about?"
"Yeah," Moon smiled and gestured to her companion. "And this is
Mercury."
"Oh, nice to meet ya," Makoto mumbled. Holding a hand to her
head, she muttered to herself, "What in the world's happening to me?"
Having overheard her words, Mercury tried to reassure her. "I
know it's bit lot for you to absorb, but just take it one step at
time, okay? You'll be fine..."
"Yeah, I know! I guess I'd better introduce myself!"
Sailor Moon's uniform dissipated into a school uniform similar
to Makoto's. Makoto's jaw went slack as she recognized the girl
before her. "Usagi? _You're_ Sailor Moon?"
"Yep!" Usagi nodded vigorously. "I'm so excited that you're
Sailor Jupiter! This is great!"
"I'm... Sailor Jupiter?"
"Yeah," Mercury explained cheerfully as she released her own
focus and reverting into Ami Mizuno. "You're one of the missing
Sailor Senshi we've been searching for. We were getting concerned
that we would never find you. I'm glad you're all right."
The newest Senshi stared blankly at Ami, then shook her head,
backing away. "No... this can't be real. It's got to be some kind of
dream..."
"Makoto," Usagi supplied, "You are Sailor Jupiter. The fourth
Senshi we've been looking for. Do you know who you are?"
Makoto blinked, confusion clearly etched across her face. Then,
almost as if against her will she drew out an answer, "Yes."
"That's wonderful!" Usagi gushed suddenly, embracing her
friend. "Wait until Rei and Luna finds out about this! They'll be so
surprised to meet you!"
Ami smiled, reaching to place her hand on Makoto's shoulder.
"Welcome to our group. I'm sure that we'll get along better, now that
you're one of us."
Makoto just stared, her eyes unresponsive.
"Makoto?" Usagi and Ami glanced to each other, trading puzzled
looks. "Hey, Makoto?"
"I think she's in shock," Ami suggested helpfully.
Usagi waved her hand in front of Makoto's unresponsive face,
"Makoto? Hey, aren't you going to say anything?"
Suddenly, Makoto snapped to her senses and uttered one of the
most vicious expletives she could recall. Ami blushed while Usagi
gasped.
"Damnit, this can't be happening to me!"
Usagi blinked. "What's wrong, Makoto?" Her friend jerked her
head to Usagi, blinking. Finally, she cursed again.
"Leave me alone!" Makoto cried, "Just leave me alone!"
With that, she ran off, leaving two surprised girls in the
middle of the park. For several long minutes, neither of them made
any response.
"Um, what just happened here?" Usagi put in, finally.
--- ---- ---
"Oh, boy..." Makoto muttered, recalling Usagi's story. "Yeah,
that went rather SMOOTH, didn't it?" Flipping the blank pages over,
she resumed reading.
--- ---- ---
Ranma stared at the polished green cylindrical object in his
hand. She could still hear the words echoing inside her head,
*Jupiter Power, Make-up!*
She raised her arm and tried to throw the stick away, through
her windows and out of her sight forever. But for some reason, she
felt reluctant to do so. After several fruitless attempts, she gave
up and merely tossed it on her coffee table and sighed heavily.
She hung her head back over her chair. "Sailor Moon," she
breathed. She recalled the words the young senshi had told her
earlier today: "Makoto, you are Sailor Jupiter. The fourth Senshi
we've been looking for. Do you know who you are?"
And she had replied through the haze of confusion, "Yes."
She was Sailor Jupiter, the defender of...
Ranma chuckled mirthlessly; it hadn't been enough for her to be
cursed, she just had to be one of the magical girls who pranced about
in feminine skirts that were practically too _short_, while
'cleansing' the bad monsters during their left-over mystical war
against some agency known as Dark Kingdom from some millennium ago...
Ranma frowned to herself. Where did those thoughts come from?
She shook her head, but the thoughts beckoned to her, gently
prodding her to remember...
"No!" The denial exploded out of her, and she bolted to her
feet, knocking her chair over. "This has to be some kind of dream.
Yeah, that must be it..."
But why was she making such a fuss over it? She was Sailor
Jupiter, for Kami's sake!
Yet... she could feel doubts gnawing at her thoughts. Why was
it so hard for her to understand what was really going on? She had
always been firm, so sure of herself until she had gotten that...
that transformation wand from Usagi!
It was Usagi's fault for getting her into this predicament, she
decided. After all, it had been her who had handed over the wand...
Clutching to her head, she groaned. Then all of the sudden, her
mind cleared as she focused on something. For some reason, she felt a
strong urge for hot water; she needed some, and _fast_!
In moments, Ranma found herself before her kitchen sink,
fumbling ineffectually at the water knobs. Soon, warm water was
flowing and she continued to twist the hot water knob until it
threatened to snap off. Quickly as she could, she began to splash her
face with the now-scalding water, trying not to flinch as her second
transformation occurred.
Her now-soaked clothes wrinkled as her body changed. Parts of
her body seemed to flatten and shrink out of sight, and develop in
others. Her hair grew darker until traces of brown hair vanished,
replaced by jet-black color.
*Yes,* she thought as she forced herself to relax as she
reverted to her original form. No matter what happened, he would
always be Ranma Saotome, the sole practicer of Anything-Goes Martial
Arts.
The water slowed to a mere trickle as he twisted the knob back
to its original position. Stepping away from the sink, he wandered
over to the counter where he'd kept his hand-held mirror, creating
small puddles of water behind him.
Instead of a young girl with brown hair, the face of a
determined boy faced Ranma in the mirror. Where his eyes had
previously been emerald green, they were now sky blue. He ran his
fingers through his wet hair, noting that it had shortened
considerably. The two-bead scrunchie Makoto had been wearing earlier
now hung limply to one side. He took it off and retied his free hair
into a simple pigtail with a piece of a string left on his sink
counter.
"That's right. I'm Ranma Saotome, not Makoto Kino or Sailor
Jupiter, or anybody like them. Not at all." He sighed as he tried to
convince himself.
--- ---- ---
Makoto closed her eyes after she read the last of the lines of
the entry of that particular day. It had been, what? Almost two years
since she had changed back into a guy.
She could hardly believe that she used to be a boy. It all
seemed like a dream to her now. Only few of her friends knew about
her true gender background, but they had understood her dilemma and
treated her as if she was one of them.
When she had fallen into that cursed spring, it had taken her
weeks just to accept the fact that she had shared a girl body. The
fact that her father had left her behind shortly thereafter, claiming
that she was no longer 'worthy of being his son' also had hurt her
badly.
It was only a coincidence that woman had stumbled across her
when she had. If it hadn't been for her, she might have never...
She frowned. Now that she thought about it, it had to be
anything but a coincidence. Bah! Whenever that woman was involved,
everything about her was immediately suspected.
It was often a best idea to avoid that woman like hell, unless
the unfortunate ones didn't mind being manipulated and having their
lives screwed up even worse than the American politics.
--- ---- ---
Three days had passed before Ranma finally returned to the
school.
For some reason, she didn't want to face Usagi.
Opening her locker, she removed her shoes and placed them
inside. As she was about to close it, she felt a presence approach
her, rather than heard it. "What do you want, Usagi?" *So much for
running away...*
The blonde girl blinked, "How'd you know it was me?"
She shrugged. "I just knew it was you."
"Oh. Well... um, there's something I want to talk with you..."
Usagi glanced around the modest crowd of chattering girls. "Can we
talk alone for few minutes?"
She regarded the girl as she tried to work her lips to refuse
the request. "Yeah, sure." But for some reason, she found it
impossible to turn down Usagi. Sighing, she added, "You know where
the tool shed is, right? Good. We'll meet behind there during the
lunch break. I just have some... stuff to do first."
"Okay! I'll see you later! Bye!"
Ranma watched the enthusiastic girl as she weaved her path
through the crowds to find her friends, then shook her head to
herself. "Now what am I gonna do?" Mindful of time, she quickly put
her slippers on and closed her locker before heading for her class.
Despite her indecision, she was certain of one thing; she would
have absolutely nothing to do with Usagi and her friends, or being
Sailor Jupiter from now on.
*Just where the heck is that girl?*
Glancing back to her watch on her wrist, Ranma glanced back to
the school and tapped her feet impatiently. *C'mon, where're you,
Usagi? I wanna get this over with.*
The lunch break was already well underway. Three bento boxes
resting beside her legs, emptied of its contents, had done nothing to
alleviate her fear. The fear that things might have changed so
drastically for her to cope with.
The notion of being Sailor Jupiter had unnerved her more than
anything; she _feared_ it, almost as much as the training her father
had forced her to undergo...
She heard someone call out her name.
"Sorry I'm late," Usagi apologized as she approached her. "I
had to go back and pick up Luna. Isn't she just cute?" The girl
giggled as she shifted her arms to hold up a furry animal.
The instant the feline was visible, utter terror pierced her
heart.
Those CLAWS! Those FANGS! Those EYES! The utter monstrosity had
come back to haunt her, and dig their claws into her and scratch her
eyes out and...
The scenery quickly absolved of its volition; no longer
accompanying the frightened girl.
Usagi stared at the rapidly receding figure of Makoto even as
Luna blinked, dumbfounded. The cat had barely mewed, but the
prospective Senshi had fled so fast that she might as well as have
just vanished.
That following day, Usagi found a note taped to her locker.
Usagi,
I don't want it. I don't want any part in your matters, and
I'll be damned if I'm gonna let you turn me into a monster like
Jupiter.
Now, please leave me alone.
Kino Makoto.
Inside her locker, a gleaming golden-green Jupiter
transformation stick rested snugly between her school slippers.
--- ---- ---
Makoto winced as she read about what she had done that day. She
had heard from Rei and Ami about how much she had hurt Usagi's
feelings that day. After Zoycite had attacked her couple days later,
they had confronted her about her actions and chastised her rather
severely.
--- ---- ---
The gang felt mixed emotions. "It doesn't make any sense." Luna
finally admitted, her sentiments reflecting the mood of the group.
The letter Usagi had received from Makoto had prompted Luna to
issue an emergency Senshi meeting to discuss the matters the next
day. Ami and Rei were aware that Usagi was taking Makoto's rejection
hard, but they also knew that something had to be done before things
got worse.
"Makoto's an enigma. I don't think there has been a case like
her in decades... well, at least not since end of World War II. She's
good. And I mean GOOD. You should've seen her. Her fighting prowess
is simply phenomenal. I mean, she easily took down Zoycite before she
transformed into Jupiter. She's also just as fast as we are as
Senshi; but when she transformed... I could _barely_ see her.
"In her round against Zoycite, she exhibited uncanny degree of
skill in martial arts. I've managed to recognize some elements such
as Aikido and Judo, and several other forms that I haven't had time
to identify yet. Considering Makoto's high expertise in fighting
skills, she must have had rigorous training for at least six years,
possibly even more."
Luna gasped. "Are you implying that she started training when
she was only eight years old?!"
"Or even before that."
"Oh my..." Rei gasped. "But why?"
Ami shook her head. "I honestly don't know why. I don't know
what would motivate her to undergo such a training, but I'd like to
know _why_.
"I also found it interesting to notice that Makoto has
unusually high levels of stamina and endurance. She shrugged off
Zoycite's attacks as if they were nothing. She also has shown
remarkable tolerance to pain, as well as incredible speed. You
haven't seen Jupiter in action, Rei. Usagi and I have. Her physical
stats as Makoto are almost comparable to ours when we're Senshi, but
I imagine that they're monstrous when they're augmented by her Senshi
form."
"You must be joking, nobody can be _that_ strong."
"I _saw_ her, Luna. She _single-handedly_ fought Zoycite to a
near-standstill and might have won if he hadn't used his magic
against her. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it." Ami
pulled out her Mercury computer, a miniature computer that packed the
equivalent half a dozen supercomputers into a dimension of a pink
compact, and punched in some information into it. After a minute, she
flipped around her computer so she could show the display to Luna.
"Not only Makoto has a lot of finesse, she knows how to use her body
efficiently in combat situations.
"Based on these statistics, I'd speculate that Makoto would be
at least sixth to eighth dan in at least five variations of martial
arts, not mention that her specialty seems to be incorporating a wide
variety of elements of those skills into her arsenal of fighting
ability."
"Sounds like she's a regular fighting machine." Rei remarked.
Ami nodded. "But I found something more interesting about her,
Luna."
"What?"
"My visor also detected abnormal readings of magic in her."
"Well, of course she has. She's one of us."
"She was registering _two_ magical readings."
Luna and Rei instantly perked up. Luna asked, "Are you
certain?"
"Yes, and the second magic set is as powerful as her Senshi
readings."
"As powerful...?" Luna wasn't certain if this was good thing or
not. "What kind of magic is it?"
Ami shook her head. "Actually, I'm not sure what it is, but I
think it's some kind of passive magic."
"Passive?" Rei asked.
"Passive magic usually do not activate unless some outside
stimulus provokes it. Much like water and sodium. Sodium are normally
inert, but when water is added, it reacts violently, causing an
explosion and can ignite fires."
Luna suddenly became concerned. "Could this secondary magic be
a threat to her or us?"
"I don't think so. So far, my scanners haven't indicated that
it could be, but until we know what the trigger is for this secondary
magic, we can't be certain what will happen."
"That still doesn't explain why Makoto ran off like that
today." Luna forced the subject, "She might have felt scared or
overwhelmed by the sudden changes she's been through. I'm sure she'll
be back once she adjusts to them."
"You may be right, but..." Ami shook her head. "She's a
difficult person to understand. She might not want to see us ever
again."
Luna sighed as she sat down. "What do we know about this girl?
Maybe if we shared about what we know about her, we might be able to
understand her why she seems to have an aversion to being a Senshi."
"She likes to cook."
Everyone turned to Usagi, surprised. The young girl had barely
made any noise in the since they had begun their meeting. The
sniffling Usagi helpfully explained, "I know she's a great cook. When
I saw her at lunchtime a couple days ago, she was eating this really
good lunch and she told me that she made her own. She was even nice
enough to share some of her lunch with me!
"And now all of the sudden she hates me! What did I do wrong
here? I like her, I really do! She's a great person; she's nice and
fun to be with, even if she's weird sometimes! But now she's mad at
me! What'd I do to her?!"
"I don't know, Usagi." Ami answered helplessly.
"But she's always lonely. Every time I see her, she's by
herself; she's never around with others."
"So naturally you'd want to be her friend, right, Usagi?"
Luna protested. "That's very dangerous. Not everyone you meet
might be so nice. Remember those THREE bullies you told me about?
They could've hurt you!"
"But Makoto saved me!" Usagi defended her friend. "She just
appeared out of nowhere and kicked them down so hard that they
just... just stayed there for the entire morning until police came by
to get them!"
"They did?" Ami asked, surprised. She had heard rumors about
what had happened, but this was the first time it had been confirmed.
"Yeah! She was so fast and the guys didn't stand a chance
against her."
"Did... she, ah, hit them down 'there'"? Rei asked, morbidly
curious.
Usagi shook her head. "She just hit them in their head and
chest, and they went down just like that! It happened so quickly that
it was all over, just like that!" She snapped her finger to indicate
so.
"No way it's possible." Rei shook her head. "Three against one?
Nobody's THAT good..."
"Well... I'm beginning to think she IS, and maybe even more..."
Luna picked up on Ami's words, sensing that the girl had lot to
say. "What about you, Ami? Did you find anything about her?"
"Well, after Usagi and I first met Makoto, I couldn't help but
wonder about her, so I used my computer to do some background
research on her. Everything on Makoto I've got is pretty much what
you can expect from anybody. Her birthday's December 5th, and her
blood type is O. She attends Juuban school, class B-2. However, her
parents are deceased, no known living relatives and she's living on
her own in an apartment."
"And?" Luna prompted.
"That's it. Like I said, all the information I could gather on
Makoto are the basic ones. Anything else: previous school records,
finical statements, everything about her life up until the last three
months, they don't exist at all.
"Birth certificate, birth and death certificates of her
parents, basic physical appearance, fingerprints - they're all our
government needs to prove that she exists. But as for everything
else, up until the day she first enrolled into Kugsawa School, not
far from here, there was simply no information on her."
"How is that possible?"
"I don't know. It's almost as if she didn't exist until about
three months ago."
"Could she be a ronin?" Rei frowned.
"No... I don't think so, Rei. So far, there's no indication
that she might be one."
Rei only frowned even more. Luna quickly picked on Rei's
expression. "Is something wrong?"
"I recently consulted the scared flame for any insight I could
find on her, but what I saw made no sense to me."
"What did you find out?"
"I saw images of some place filled with pools, hundreds of
them, I think. I think it was called... Jusendo? Jusenkyou... yes,
that's it, Jusenkyou."
"Do you know where it is?"
Rei shook her head. "That's all I could find out about it,
really. Just a name, but in the brief moment of the vision, I felt an
overwhelming feeling of danger and sadness. I know that it's one
place you DON'T want to visit. Even animals avoid it all the time,
instinctively.
"But that's not all what I learned. I also saw a guy."
"A guy?"
"Yeah, a handsome one..." Rei sighed wistfully for a moment
before regaining her sense at Luna's prodding. "Oh, ahem. Well, he's,
um, handsome and all..."
"Reiii..."
Rei blushed as Luna called out her name almost plaintively.
"Sorry about that, Luna. As far as I could tell, he's about fifteen,
maybe even sixteen, I'm not sure because it was hard for me to really
get a good look on him. But his eyes... they were piercing, almost as
if he could see through to my heart..." Rei began to sway slightly,
her eyes taking on a dazed look.
Luna quickly broke into her fantasy and Rei tried to recompose
herself once more again. "I really couldn't get much detail about
him, just some general features. He's got such nice blue eyes and
almost silky black hair... he's also got the cutest pigtail, too. I
think it's odd for boys to have one, but it looks cute on him..."
The black cat sighed in exasperation.
"Do you think there's any connection between him and Makoto?"
Luna silently thanked Ami as Rei answered the question.
"Probably. He wouldn't have appeared in the scared flame when I
consulted it about Makoto had it been otherwise."
"Could he be a relative of Makoto's? A brother, perhaps?"
"I... don't know." The priestess pursed her lips for few
moments before answering. "I'm not sure, but I have a strong hunch
that if we find Makoto, we'll find him as well."
"We could always try asking her." Ami mused lightly. "I did
manage to find her general address, though."
All of the sudden, a face appeared before Ami's face. Usagi
asked hopefully, "REALLY?!"
Caught off guard, Ami backed involuntarily from her friend, who
had been brooding by herself against the far side the room during
after her last exchange.
"You really do know where she lives? Please tell me you do!"
"Um... yes, I have her address..."
"Yahoo!" Usagi burst and embraced her friend. "I can finally go
and tell her I'm sorry!" With that, she burst out of the room even
before others could restrain her.
"That idiot..." Rei muttered as she got up to change out of her
Shinto priestess robes into more comfortable clothes. "She'll be back
in few minutes. She has to; she doesn't know where she lives."
There was no answer when Usagi knocked on the door to Makoto's
apartment an hour later. It was clear that Usagi had held lot of
hopes in meeting Makoto again as her shoulders slumped.
"Maybe she's not back home yet?" Ami suggested. "Makoto might
have gone somewhere, or gone shopping."
"But..."
Rei put in, "I'm sure she'll be back, Usagi. She probably just
needs some time to be herself."
"Ah, all right, but I still want to apologize to her about that
Jupiter thing."
"Cheer up!" Rei remarked suddenly as she grasped Usagi's
shoulders. "Everything'll be fine. She'll be back sooner or later."
An inspiration suddenly struck her. "Hey, why don't we go and eat
some ice cream? Makoto should be back home by the time we finish
eating."
Usagi perked up slightly. "Okay, but you're going to buy me a
double-scoop sundae!"
Just as the girls were about to depart, they were quite
surprised when Makoto's body flew out of nowhere and slammed
forcefully into Ami's, driving them both to the ground.
--- ---- ---
"Makoto!"
"Huh?" Makoto lifted her head from her diary in time to see Ami
running towards her. She appeared to be slightly out of breath,
clearly in a hurry for some reason. "Hey, Ami!"
"There you are... I've been LOOKING all over the place for
you."
She raised an eyebrow at her.
Ami slumped beside Makoto in exasperation. "Just WHY did you
have to convince Kuno to transfer to here? I can _barely_ stand his
awful poetry in my classes."
Makoto chuckled. "Ahh... I get it. Well, at least he's wised up
to the fact that nobody gives a damn about his 'noble' heritage
around here."
"That doesn't mean he hasn't stopped trying."
This time Makoto raised her second eyebrow, painting a
surprised expression on her face. "You mean..."
"Yes. He's still after me, constantly sprouting about how he's
'enlightened to meet such a fair lady with intellectual prowess equal
to his.' Yeah right. Every chance he gets, he tries to impress me
with his poetry or some other arcane skills."
"That's right, you're not interested in stuff like that."
Ami sighed. "I still don't see what Minako used to see in him."
Makoto shrugged. "She's the type to chase after cute and
handsome guys. Although it was pretty amusing to see Kuno react after
she flatly told him outright about how boring he was." She chuckled
for a moment, then asked, "So what are you doing here? I thought you
liked to study in library?"
"I'm doing ANYTHING I can to get rid of Kuno!" Ami answered as
she opened her one of her books, irritated. "He knows better than to
be anywhere near you so as long as I'm with you, I don't have to
worry about him being near us."
This time Makoto couldn't contain her laughter. "Oh yeah, that
WAS priceless, wasn't it?"
"I suppose so..." Ami smiled wanly. "Although that had been
rather... a cruel lesson."
"But it DID teach him one. Don't you agree that things've
improved a lot for girls since then?"
"Well..." Ami normally wasn't the one to advocate such a harsh
resolution to a problem, but Makoto could see that even she had to
concede to her argument. "I suppose you're right. It'd still be a lot
nicer if you'd found more... reasonable resolution in that conflict."
"So does that mean a kick to a guy's balls ain't right way to
deal with horny guys like him?"
As Ami became flustered over her frank admission, Makoto
grinned. She enjoyed teasing Ami like this. Because of Ami's rather
strict adherence to 'proper' etiquette, she found it very amusing to
watch Ami stumble over them whenever she was around her.
"So what are you doing, Makoto? I thought you were going to the
Cherry Blossom festival today?" Ami said in an obvious attempt to
change the topic.
Makoto smirked inwardly and decided to let Ami off easy this
time. "I'm waiting for Usagi."
"Oh, she's in detention again, I take it?"
Makoto nodded. "I thought I'd take her with us to the festival
- you know she doesn't like it when we go to fun places without her -
so I'm reading my dairy to pass time. It's been quite some time since
I'd really read it."
"Oh. It must've been hard on you, to relive your past memories
like that..."
"Not really. I was just thinking about how much of help you've
been to me. Mostly since the start."
"You mean..."
"Yeah, that day. If you guys hadn't popped up when you did, who
knows what would've happened..."
Ami was quiet, clearly recalling the same day.
--- ---- ---
Ranma heard dim noises, then felt pain.
An almost heavenly voice called out to her. "Makoto, you'll be
okay... just rest."
The voice was accompanied by a fuzzy outline of a face that
slowly resolved into a more familiar one. She recognized the girl
almost immediately. "Ami?!" Ranma quickly rebounded to a sitting
position, only to yelp in pain as almost every muscle in her body
protested. "Ow ow ow ow ow!"
Sailor Mercury quickly tried to placate her. "Don't move too
fast; you still haven't recovered completely from Zoycite's attack!"
"Zoycite..." Then Ranma heard noises. Fighting noises. She
could feel the urges inside her, encouraging her to call out for her
powers. In an instant, she squelched them. "What's going on, Ami?"
She demanded.
"Ah, I'd prefer that you call me Mercury when I'm in this form,
but Sailor Moon and Mars are--"
"I can call you damn as well as I please!"
Mercury sighed. Sometimes some people could be so
unreasonable... "Moon and Mars are busy distracting Zoycite so I can
keep you out of harm's way. You know, this is quite a mess you've put
yourself into. Because you recklessly attacked Zoycite several days
ago without bothering to conceal your identity, he's somehow managed
to recognize you regardless of your form. And he's really out for
your blood."
"Hey, that's right; that bastard _ambushed_ me, didn't he?! I'm
gonna make him pay for that!" She growled as she stumbled to her
feet.
"Makoto, NO!" Mercury quickly grabbed a hold of her arm,
protesting. "You'll only get killed! He's too strong even for you!"
"Says who?" Ranma threw back.
"ME! You're way out of league here; I mean, he's almost killed
you already! He was tossing you around like a rag doll. If we hadn't
been here when you crashed into me like that, who knows what might've
happened!
"I did what I could do to redress your injuries, but they won't
heal if you just go barging back into the fight like that! There's a
very GOOD chance that you'll only be worse off if you do."
"Ha! As if he can. I'm best there is."
"This isn't the question of skill, this is about *survival*!
Even with your remarkable abilities, you're still out-classed against
Zoycite. Look at yourself! You can barely stand, and it's a wonder
that you're still moving at all after Zoycite's attack!"
"I don't care; he's still going to pay for what he did to me!"
"And I'm trying to tell you to THINK first, not to run headlong
into mess like this! You didn't back then and because of that, he's
going to be after you all the time unless you do something about it!"
Ranma whirled about to Mercury. "Just whose fault was this in
the first place, Ami?! Huh? I sure as hell didn't want to be involved
in crazy things like this, let alone be one of you guys!"
Mercury frowned at her and got up to her feet, gazing evenly
into Ranma's eyes. She stared back defiantly.
Ranma didn't even flinch as Mercury slapped across her face.
"This isn't the time for you to be feeling sorry, Makoto! This
General wants you dead and we're doing our best to stop that from
happening; the *least* you could do is be grateful to us! Yet instead
you're sulking to yourself and complaining about things you don't
like. You're acting like a spoiled little girl; whatever happened to
the girl I met three days ago?"
Ranma winced at Mercury's words. "But..."
"I don't see the same Makoto I met on the first day we met. The
Makoto I knew was caring and was thoughtful about other people. She
saved my friend Usagi from bullies without any regard for her own
personal safety."
"That's different..." Ranma tried to protest once more again,
but Mercury cut her off again.
"No, it's not! Usagi's doing exactly the same thing for you!
Just like you saved her from those bullies, she's trying to save you
from Zoycite, even though she's hopelessly outclassed against him! Do
you know why she's doing it?" She answered her own question, not
bothering to give Ranma a chance to answer, "Because she thinks of
you as her friend. She cares a great deal about her friends and
she'll do everything in her power to help them. Just as we do; she's
our friend and we'll do everything we can do to help her whenever she
needs it.
"Usagi's helping you because she wants to, and so do we. That's
why we're here. We like to think of you as our friend--" The rest of
Mercury's words were cut off by unexpected arrival of Mars who
appeared to be exhausted, Ranma noted.
"Are you two all right?"
"Yeah, we're fine, Mars. How's things going?"
"Not so good; Zoycite's too strong for both of us." Mars
replied, "Though Sailor Moon's managed to lure him away from here so
we don't have to worry about Makoto for now."
Mercury nodded and turned to Ranma. "Well, you're safe now. No
need to thank us for saving your life, I'm sure you're grateful
already." With that, the Senshi left abruptly to aid Moon, leaving
Ranma alone with Mars with last of her words, "Just remember: we want
to help you; that's why we're here. But we can't help you if you
don't let us... so please let us help you."
An uncomfortable silence ensued between two girls for several
seconds before Mars finally commented, "Hello, you must be Makoto,
I've heard a lot about you." Mars panted alongside her. "You don't
look much of a fighter to me," she observed, indicating to Ranma's
physical condition. "He's worked you over a lot."
Ranma glared at her, folding her arms. "Are you going to give
me one of those 'It's a Senshi's duty' talks now, aren't you?"
Mars frowned at her, then shook her head. "No, I don't have
time for that. In case you haven't noticed, we're pretty busy right
with Zoycite."
"I didn't ask for your help!"
"And we're not helping you either!" Mars replied hotly. "It's
our duty as Senshi to stop the evil forces from exploiting the
innocent bystanders!"
"I thought you said you aren't giving me that talk."
Mars threw him a glare that would have caused a tree to
spontaneously combust, but she quickly reined in her anger. "I've got
more important things to do than argue with you all day. If you'll
excuse me, I have to go and help my friends." As she was about to
depart, she paused and turned to Ranma. "Just a word of advice,
though, unless we stop him right now, Zoycite'll be after you for the
rest of your life."
"Big deal, I can take him."
"Perhaps, but if you were to change into Sailor Jupiter..."
Ranma cut her off. "I refuse to!"
Mars continued anyway, "...you'll be fast enough to counter his
attacks, as well as be able to withstand his magical attacks."
Ranma clenched her fists as she watched Mercury freeze
Zoycite's petal attacks. She hated it when other people were right.
"No matter how good or fast you are, it's ultimately a contest
of magic and power against people like Zoycite. I'm not doubting that
you can take him on without our help, but magic can uneven the odds
very quickly.
"When you fought him the first time couple days ago, you were
doing pretty good up until he used his magic, didn't you?"
Ranma turned to her, about to ask how she had found that out
when the Senshi answered her, "Mercury told me about what happened.
What I'm trying to tell you is that unless you change into Jupiter,
you won't stand a chance in a duel against him.
"You can keep running and dodging, but sooner or later, he'll
catch up and all he needs is just one shot and you might never get up
again."
Ranma was silent as Mars took off to pitch into the distant
heated battle, leaving her alone with her thoughts. The noise of the
fight only served to intensify her growing discomfort of the
situation. As hard as she had tried, she couldn't block out both Ami
and Mars' words from her mind.
"Just remember: we want to help you; that's why we're here. But
we can't help you if you don't let us... so please let us help you."
They could be right, but what good was she now? Ami was right;
Zoycite's immense arsenal of magic had tipped the odds to his favor
and Ranma had nothing she could use to counter it... unless...
But no, that was impossible now. Ranma had had tossed the stick
away somewhere and couldn't remember where it was now. She clutched
her hand around the henshin stick tightly, feeling frustrated as she
realized that she couldn't... wait.
She blinked, glancing down to the transformation stick in her
hand. Where had it come from? She didn't recall having recovered the
stick, so how did it get into her hand? But... it felt so right in
her hand.
As she turned her attention back to the ensuing battle in front
of her, she grew confident in Ami's words. Well... just this once
then...
A slow smile crept to her face as the henshin stick began to
glow in her hand. The words began to form on her lips before she
could reconsider: "Jupiter Power Make-Up!"
Just like the first time, she felt a surge of magic overwhelm
her senses. In a brief moment, she felt like she was with the world.
She was a tree, a flower, a blade of grass. Through them, she
experienced the warmth of the sunlight, the cool droplet of water
against her skin, and the gentle tugging of the breeze.
Then from there, she felt as if she was being elevated to
higher stature and felt the gentle bending of will of the living
beings to her. They wanted to help her, she subconsciously sensed,
and they wanted to be with her...
In an instant, Ranma accepted their offer.
And there was a rush of energy, bathing her in its purity and
nature. They freed her from the earthly imprisonment of her clothing
and replaced them with more durable, yet caressing comfort and
support of her long-missed uniform in a splash of green ribbons,
adding green skirt and pink ribbons. The waning energies then bade
her farewell and best of luck.
Makoto Kino, formerly known as Ranma Saotome, had transformed
into Sailor Jupiter once more again. She both enjoyed and hated this
fact.
When the dimension around her returned to normal, her
perception of everything became sharpened. Ranma could sense the
faintest noises of rodents scurrying about, leaves rustling in the
breeze. It was magic, she knew, that was amplifying her physical
senses to beyond their normal limits.
The green-uniformed Senshi softly clenched one of her fists,
smiling as she felt the surge of power inside them. Flickering her
eyes back to the duel between Zoycite and three Senshi, she grinned
even wider. Straightening to her full height, she gave her head a
rather jaunty toss, her brown ponytail swirling around behind her in
the air. She felt so... FREE!
In a flash, she was moving, relishing in the newly found
abilities she had gained. Moments later, she was already well in the
midst of the heated battle, dealing in her own licks against Zoycite.
"Jupiter!" Sailor Moon cried happily, "You're back!"
"Just this once, understand?" Ranma grinned rakishly at her.
"Now let's kick his ass!"
The rest of the Senshi chorused as one. "Yes!"
Together, as one, they moved as they attacked Zoycite, catching
him by surprise. Needless to say, the fight was *very* brief.
"Shabon Spray!"
"Fire Soul!"
Ranma couldn't resist adding in her two cents. "Supreme
Thunder!"
Zoycite screamed as the combined might of Mercury, Mars, and
Jupiter struck him. He was charbroiled, electrocuted, and frozen
simultaneously. He collapsed to the ground and this time, the General
didn't come up.
"Sailor Moon!"
Moon nodded at Mars, understanding what the Fire Senshi was
implying and readied her Moon Stick. For once, they would finally be
able to stop--
There was a blur just in front of the downed body of Zoycite,
and it quickly solidified into a tall man wearing grey uniform and a
white cape. He was clearly upset. "I see that you've managed to
defeat Zoycite. You will regret doing that, Senshi. When the time
comes, I will personally make you all pay..."
"Who are you?!" Jupiter threatened, preparing to launch herself
at the new opponent in case of an attack.
"Another General?!" Mercury recognized the uniform of their
newcomer as similar to Zoycite's.
He glared at her for a moment before answering. "You can call
me Kuntize. I am one of Queen Beryl's servants." the General finished
as he gently levitated the unconscious form of Zoycite into his arms.
"He was far too careless in this duel, but next time we meet, things
will be different. Mark my words."
With that, the new arrival disappeared in a black flame that
had engulfed him for a moment, before extinguishing and leaving
behind no trace of him.
Ranma refused to let herself relax for several minutes until
she was certain that there would be no more fighting for now. She saw
Ami and other two Senshi reassuring each other of their hard-won
victory, even though it had resulted in nothing more than a stalemate
thanks to the arrival of another General.
No sooner than she had released her focus on her inner magic,
allowing herself to de-transform back into Makoto, than she had
dropped her transformation stick as if it was a live poisonous snake.
The sensation of being a Senshi was too much for her, it unnerved her
too much.
"What's happened, Makoto?"
Ranma turned around in time to see Moon and Mars detransforming
into their civilian identities. She recognized Usagi with no
difficulty, having met her before, but the long black-haired girl was
a different matter. "Who the heck are you?"
The girl quickly introduced herself as Rei Hino. "Maybe you
could've heard about a Shinto priestess at the Hisakawa Temple?
That's me. Nice to meet you, Makoto. Usagi and Ami told me a lot
about you."
Mercury approached alongside Rei and detransformed into Ami who
added, "You don't have to worry about Rei. She's with us."
Ranma was instantly wary. Another Senshi to keep her eye on...
Then she remembered the Senshi's words earlier. This Mars...
Rei person had done nothing to pose herself as a threat. Rei was
simply yet another Senshi, apparently friends of Ami and Usagi's.
Ami's words still echoed inside her mind, reminding that they were
only trying to help her.
Hesitantly, she extended her hand to shake Rei's. "So you're
that priestess, eh? Must've been a good one, considering how
everybody keeps on blabbering about you at my school..."
Rei seemed to be unsure whether to take her comment as a
compliment or an insult, so she added with a slight smirk on her
face, "I'll believe it when I see it, though."
"Oh yeah?" Rei challenged, "Just wait and see!"
"I'll be waiting then."
As Ranma finished, three pairs of eyes stared back at hers, and
she stared back at them. For what seemed like an eternity, they
continued to stare at each other, the girls clearly feeling very
uncomfortable.
Sighing to herself, she realized the inevitable. "Oh, all
right, you guys're forgiven. It's only fair anyway, since you guys
helped me out here."
Usagi released a small breath, evidently relived. "I'm glad.
Ah... about what happened few days back then..."
Ranma tensed.
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about what happened back
then. I didn't mean to cause you any trouble."
She regarded the short girl before her for few moments. She
could sense the sincerity of Usagi's words. Forcing a smile to her
face, she waved Usagi's worries off. "Feh, it's nothing. It's done
over with it, so can we just forget about it, all right? I don't
wanna be reminded..." She trailed off as her friend approached her.
Quietly, Usagi placed the Jupiter henshin stick she had dropped
several minutes ago, into her palm and closed it. "Please, Makoto,
take it. This belongs to you, and you alone. I don't know what I did
to you, but I'm sorry I hurt you.
"If you don't want to be Sailor Jupiter, that's fine with me. I
just want us to be friends again. We'll just pretend that what
happened before never happened, and that's all."
"Well..." Ranma tried, but Usagi didn't give her a chance to
finish her words as she embraced her.
For a moment, she stiffened then returned Usagi's hug. After a
while, they broke up. "So... what do I do with this stick?"
Usagi glanced to Ranma's henshin stick, then back to her
friend. "I don't know. You can either keep it or just throw it away.
I don't care. Do whatever you want to do with it; it's your decision.
I won't pressure you into being Jupiter anymore. If it comes to
losing you as a friend, then I'd rather lose Jupiter."
"Ah... I think I'll hold on to it for a while." Ranma hastily
added, "It's not as if I'm gonna be Jupiter again, okay?"
A faint smile appeared on Usagi's face. "Yeah, I understand.
Now... will you pleeease make me more of those sweet cakes? Pleaseee?
They're so yummy!"
Caught off guard by Usagi's sudden change of demeanor, she
almost didn't answer until she finally regained her senses. "What?
Oh, yeah, I'll cook 'em for you." She turned to Ami and Rei. "Why
don't you guys come in as well? I'll make some for you too."
"Yeah!" Usagi cheered.
--- ---- ---
"You didn't make it any easier on us, you know."
Makoto nodded. "Yeah, well..."
Ami reassured her by placing a hand on her shoulder. "I
understand. You just needed some time to get used to it."
"Easy for _you_ to say," she stuck out a tongue at her. "You
weren't born as a guy in the first place!"
Ami shuddered at the thought and tried not to show her
discomfort, then smirked as a thought occurred to her. "Well,
technically, you were born as a girl to start with. You were a girl
back then during the Silver Millennium, so you never really was a guy
in the first place anyway.
"And to think I used to be so insecure of my 'manhood'," Makoto
muttered.
Ami giggled. "That reminds me about your first period after you
found out that you're a Senshi."
Makoto's face instantly went sour for a moment before perking
up slightly. "Oh, it _figures_, it'd be YOU guys who thinks it's
funny!"
"But..."
"Shut up, Ami." How was she supposed to know that after
accepting the Senshi nature of her had meant that every nuance of her
senses were amplified several times-fold, and that included her
already-heightened sensations she experienced whenever her body
underwent its monthly cycles.
"But still..." Ami couldn't hold it back; she collapsed into a
fit of uncontrollable giggling. She buried her face into one of her
books in an attempt to hide her embarrassment.
"Har, har," Makoto said mockingly as she put her arms behind
her back to rest against the tree. She blew away a cherry petal that
threatened to land on her nose.
Things had brightened up considerably since she had accepted
the fact that things would be never the same again, after Usagi and
her friends had helped her. It had taken her quite a while to warm up
to the newcomers, Rei and Minako, but she eventually overcame her
reservations and grew to know them, even as her friendship with Ami
had grown almost as strong as hers with Usagi's.
She had lost track of how many times Ami had pitched in to bail
her out of her latest problems within school (although, not
necessarily limited to just classes and on-campus activities). And
especially in helping her deal with her super-heightened senses and
the new sensations she experienced.
But even good things had to come to end eventually, and it did
one day. That single day had changed her perspective forever, as it
had marked the last of the days when she had retained her curse.
It had begun, innocently enough, with an ask of help...
--- ---- ---
"We need your help."
Makoto paused from her cooking to turn to Usagi. "Sure, I'll
teach you how to make this cherry pie..."
"No, no, that isn't what... a cherry pie?"
"Usagi!" Ami quickly reminded her friend and clarified to
Makoto, "Actually, we need your help as... Sailor Jupiter."
This time Makoto did abandon her cooking completely. "You want
me to be Sailor Jupiter again?" She tried to cover her disgust and a
trace of anger, but failed miserably. Ami picked up on that.
"I know you're still upset about the whole Sailor Jupiter
fiasco from couple months ago, but we've respected your wishes and
let you join whenever you preferred. But it's different this time..."
Rei picked up after Ami, "We're going after Queen Beryl
tomorrow night."
Makoto just stared at her. "Queen Beryl... you mean the top bad
gal who's behind all those attacks?"
"None other." Makoto went silent after the priestess' reply.
"We've located her hideout in Point D near North Pole," Rei
explained, "And we're planning for an all-out offensive against her
forces. We can't afford to let this opportunity to go to waste, now
that we've eliminated all four Generals, along with most of her
youmas. Beryl's at the most vulnerable at this moment."
"However," Ami cautioned, "I'm sure you recall the expression,
'the animal is the most dangerous when cornered.' We have no idea
what Beryl's got in store for us once we get there. That's why we
need your strength."
"That's right!" Usagi agreed. "If we work as a team, we'll win!
I just know it!" Ami, Rei, and Minako nodded in agreement. Their
leader continued, "I promise you, after this mission, you won't have
to worry about being Senshi ever again. Once we beat Queen Beryl,"
Usagi paused for a moment as she saw Makoto clench her fists at the
mention of Beryl's name, then continued, "there'll be no more youma
attacks. We'll have peace at last. You won't have to worry about
being Jupiter anymore. We'll just have a normal and peaceful life,
all five of us..."
Makoto couldn't help but smile. "Sounds too good to be true,
doesn't it?" Everyone chuckled lightly for a moment. She patted
Usagi's head, "Don't sweat it. All this Jupiter business doesn't
bother me as much as it used to."
"Does that mean you'll...?" Usagi's face brightened.
"Take down the boss and throw the bad guys into chaos, huh?"
Ami managed a weak smile. "You could say that."
After a lengthy period of time, Makoto lifted her head to face
her friends, her henshin stick sliding into her open hand. "Well, if
you say so... I'll help ya out then." She then bared a feral grin.
"Besides, I'm gonna enjoy wipin' grins off their faces after I pound
them into the ground!"
--- ---- ---
In retrospect, Makoto's unsaid hunches had been right all
along. The whole thing had been a trap for them, and they had barged
blindly into it. No sooner than they had emerged from the hidden
tunnel leading them to the Point D were they attacked by five
bloodthirsty youmas. They had proven themselves to be far more
powerful than Kuntize.
Glancing aside to Ami, who was absorbed into her book, she made
a small prayer of forgiveness for what she had done to her friend
that day.
Makoto had let Ami down when she had needed her the most and
others as well.
--- ---- ---
They were toying with her, mocking her skills. They had known
that Jupiter was one of the strongest, but instead of attacking her
directly, they had opted to go for the weakest of their group. With a
sickeningly easy ease, they had picked Sailor Mercury off before she
could even attempt to save her. Venus followed shortly afterwards.
She was panting heavily, even as the youmas began to close onto
her; in volleys of twos and threes. A blow struck here, another
there...
"SUPREME THUNDER CRASH!"
No good, her shot went too wide and the four youmas were too
fast for her to get a bead on. A failure.
"A failure! You are a failure!" The voices echoed deeply inside
her head as she heard Ami and Minako cry out, "You let me die! Why
did you let them kill me?"
A failure. That's what she was, a failure. While her father
hadn't been one of the best, he had taught her to uphold an important
belief: that she should always protect those who were weaker than
her. The voices continued to needle her mercilessly. "You let them
murder me!"
Already heavily battered by the physical blows, she collapsed
to her knees into the cold snow. "No, I didn't mean to let you die!"
The youmas quickly sensed an opportunity and closed in around
her, cutting off any possible avenues of escape for her. Not that
Ranma would have, since the pain of the loss of her friends was too
much for her to bear. She didn't even notice several dozen vines
entangling her body. She didn't even offer any resistance at all.
Bolts of electricity came, causing her body to spasm in pain,
but she was barely aware of pain. Why should she resist at all, when
she'd already failed everyone anyway? Everything about her had been
nothing but empty bravado and false words.
Just as she began to wish for the end, she heard a voice...
"You can practice all you want, but sometimes it's better to
just lean back and take a rest once in a while. Trust me, Usagi keeps
on telling me that..." A soft laugh followed afterwards.
Through the haze of pain, Ranma heard a voice. It was... Ami's?
Yes, Ami had taught her how to relax, to take things one at a time.
She certainly had given her a tremendous break from her school work,
and even helped her bounce up an 'A' in a course other than P.E. and
home economics.
"You can do it, Makoto!" A different voice, this time...
Minako's? "Just go up to that guy and make some moves on him! You
don't have to be serious; just tease him a bit! It'll be fun - trust
me!"
It _was_ fun, she agreed in retrospect to that particular
memory, watching several boys tripping over themselves trying to make
an impression on her. All the time, she had been trying so hard not
to laugh...
Rei, in her own way, had proven to be a match for her in terms
of sheer determination and stubbornness, if not in strength. The
brief session with Rei in her temple had proven that, as they had
attempted to mediate in silence for four hours. "What's an hour or
two with numb legs?" She had remarked back then when she had
complained about her growing impatience and discomfort with numbness
of her legs. After Ranma had conceded defeat, Rei had dismissed it.
"Why? This isn't a challenge, I did that because I wanted to.
Mediating is when I'm in most tune with my innermost self, just like
when you're cooking." That day, she had learned that strength did not
necessarily rest in physical strength.
If there was a person who was the most powerful of them all, it
was Usagi. Usagi had befriended her when nobody else had been willing
to try, despite the ugly rumors about her. Her heart hardened with
resolve as she heard Usagi's voice. "We're friends, aren't we? We'll
be the best friends, forever! Right?"
"Yes..." she bit through her lips, the field of her vision
blurring as she tried to focus at the descending monsters. A quiet
rumble of thunder echoed, but Ranma wasn't sure if it was only her
imagination. "No...! I won't... give...UP!
"I am... Ranma Saotome...!" She staggered to her feet, baring
an expression of defiance towards her attackers as she continued to
build up her powers despite the tightening of the vines around her
body. Suddenly, she snapped her head to the skies and shouted out,
"And... I am Makoto KINO AND I AM SAILOR JUPITER, AND I WON'T LET
ANYBODY STOP ME!!"
Then came the release...
--- ---- ---
Makoto didn't have to look into her journal to find out that
several pages after the Point D incident were blank. She had
purposely left them that way. While it severed as a symbolic gesture,
it clearly illustrated how little she had managed to recall of the
events that had occurred afterwards. Even Ami and others had only
little recollection.
Only Usagi knew everything, she was sure, but she didn't have a
heart nor desire to ask her friend about it.
--- ---- ---
It shouldn't have happened, Sailor Moon thought numbly as she
stared in the shock at the bruised and battered form of her dearest
friend, Makoto. Even Mars was having difficulty in trying not to lose
whatever she had eaten earlier in the morning.
She had just witnessed her friend die, just like Mercury and
Venus had before her. Mars would have had if it hadn't been for
Jupiter who had managed to snap out of her self-denial to save them
both...
But what had made it harder on her was that it all had been
because she had *asked* her to come along. If she hadn't asked her
to, Makoto would be still be alive.
"No..." Moon felt tears form in her eyes. "No, we shouldn't
have brought you into this. You never wanted to be part of this..."
Unfortunately Makoto couldn't hear her words.
Before Moon could do anything, Mars forcefully dragged her away
even as the remaining youma descended to attack them at their moment
of greatest vulnerability.
Later, much later, she found herself in middle of darkness.
She was falling, she realized. Sailor Moon remembered her
friends who had scarified their lives for her and her heart went out
to them all. Especially Makoto. None of this should have happened to
her, to all of them.
Having just defeated Queen Beryl and avenging her friends did
not reassure her, nor did it alleviate her sadness.
"I wish..." she whispered even as the Ginzuishou shattered into
pieces, "I wish I were a normal girl..."
Everything slowly faded into the brightness of the day, as the
sun slowly roused her out of her slumber. Suddenly, Usagi realized
that she was late for her class! "Aieee! I'm late! I'm late!" With
her words, she went into a flurry of motion, got dressed, and was
already out of the house, running with a piece of toast firmly held
in her mouth.
Two black birds cawed loudly as the runaway girl passed past
them, startling them. However, a raven-haired girl came by and
soothed their anxiety by offering them some food. "Enjoy some, Phobos
and Demios." Rei told them. As her pet ravens did so, Rei took a deep
breath and marveled at the clear skies, hoping that there wouldn't be
too much petals on the ground for her to sweep away in the afternoon
after her classes.
And then maybe she would be able to finish reading her manga
before Usagi did.
Meanwhile, Ami quickly caught up to her friend and managed to
slow her down. "You should be up on time more often." She admonished
Usagi gently, not noticing a blonde girl creeping up behind them
until Minako quickly covered Usagi's eyes with her hands.
"Guess who, Usagi!" She bubbled.
"Minako!"
Before Usagi could retort at Minako, someone handed her a pink
bag. "Hey, Usagi-chan, here's your lunch."
She turned to Makoto with starry expression in her eyes. "For
me?! You're a lifesaver!"
"Hey, hey, it's just a lunch. I made bit too much last night so
I thought I'd share some..." Makoto warded off her friend, holding
her hands up with a nervous expression on her face.
Above, on the rooftops, two cats observed the commotion as they
followed them discreetly. "I hope they're happy." Luna sighed sadly.
"They are, Luna. They're happy right now." Artemis reassured
her.
"But how long will that last?"
He couldn't answer the question.
END Part A
--- --- --- --- ---
BEGIN Part B
For a while, perhaps Makoto's story would be best told from her
diary.
--- ---- ---
"Hello, Diary.
"It must feel strange for me to write this, but I don't think
I've really introduced myself to you. My name's Makoto Kino, but at
times I still catch myself going by my other name.
"I'm sure you already know what I'm talking about. After all,
as soon as Usagi gave you, I felt compelled to write down everything
I could remember about what happened to me ever since I met her. That
was five weeks ago, but I still've got a lot left to write down.
"I hope you'll be patient little longer.
"I still don't remember much of what happened after I...
died... in North Pole, but next thing I know, I was alive and with
Usagi and my friends. I didn't know what had just happened.
"Sometimes I wish I had known. If I had, a couple of things
wouldn't have happened, but... oh well. It's fate, I guess.
"But, you know what? On that same day, when I woke up with no
memories about what had happened after our last fight with Queen
Beryl? Luna had later told me about how concerned she had been for
us.
"Nothing had been truer than Luna's concerns at that day."
--- ---- ---
She felt a light tap on her shoulder as she packed her school
bag. Makoto glanced around and immediately recognized the handsome
boy behind her. "Senpai! What are you doing here?!" On an impulse,
she hugged her boyfriend and gave him a quick peck on his cheek. She
giggled as Hiro seemed to blush slightly.
"Um," Akira tried as he scratched the back of his head.
"There's this party going on at a friend of mine's house. Wanna go
with me tonight? I heard it's going to be a big hit."
Makoto smiled at Hiro. "You're _really_ asking me out? Sure,
Senpai, I'll be there! You'd better make a gal like me happy, though!
You do know what'll happen, right?" She gave his shoulder a mock hit
to indicate that she was merely joking.
"Of course I do. Wouldn't think of it! See you tonight, Mako-
chan!"
"Bye, Senpai!" She waved goodbye to Hiro as he left. For the
first time in her life, she felt truly happy. She had a place to
stay, new friends, and most importantly, a new boyfriend. Wait until
Usagi and others hear about this! she thought.
Moments later, she left the classroom as well, thoughts of boys
and cooking a priority on her mind.
Unfortunately for her, it was not until the next day before a
black cat attempted to restore her memories.
When she finally came home, she was still crying.
Her first kiss...
She had dreamed about how her first kiss would be like, with a
guy she liked. Usagi had gushed over happily about how she had shared
her first kiss with that Mamoru guy. Normally, she had never given
the topic much thought. But when Hiro had entered into her life and
swept her off her foot with his charmingly cute looks and incredible
boy... well, she'd discovered that Hiro was constantly on her
thoughts.
She had never pegged him as a complete womanizer.
The party she had gone with Hiro earlier had been a hit, and
she had quickly snagged her boyfriend up for a dance number. After
several hits, she was too absorbed into her bliss that she was caught
off-guard when Hiro placed his lips forcefully upon hers.
No sooner than they had broken their kiss had she slapped Hiro
so hard that he was sent reeling back several steps. "What was that
for?!"
"I should be asking you that question... why did you do that?!"
"Quit pretendin' being na�ve, Makoto." Hiro straightened to
face her, matching the intensity of her glare with his. "You know
what it was for. That kiss and you belong to me, and you know that,
baby." He gestured to the audience around them. "Look at 'em. They
already know you're mine. You just don't know it; sooner or later
you'll give in. After all, I'm everything you've always wanted in a
guy, am I?
"And besides, I've considered the challenge of taming the
'wild' Makoto Kino rather irresistible myself."
As she stared at Hiro, the boy she had really liked, in utter
shock, trying to come to grips at the situation, she recalled a
conversation she had with one of her friends, Miyako, who had warned
her about Hiro.
'Everyone knows that guys don't mack out with girls just
because they want to - there's always something they want from the
girls.' She had warned, but she had dismissed it, confident that Hiro
was better than.
Miyako had seen this coming long time ago and even had warned
her repeatedly. But she had been too bull-headed to pay her any
heed...
"So..." she clenched her fists, trembling with anger, "That's
it, then? You were using me, weren't you? All the fun we had, our
rides, our dates..." She barely noticed a tear streaming down her
cheek. "It's just a lie... everything was a lie!"
Hiro shrugged. "Hey, it's not my fault you fell for it. What
matters to me is that you're mine, not nobod--"
Makoto only vaguely recalled decking the idiot with a punch to
his face. She was certain she broke his nose, maybe worse. She didn't
want to check on him to find out though; instead she fled the
ballroom, sobbing.
To think she had even considered giving her body to him...!
For hours afterwards, she had wandered through the streets at
the night aimlessly before she finally came home. A couple of thugs
had tried to take some pot shots at her or rob her blind in
meanwhile. She didn't care; she got rid of them easily.
Too bad same couldn't be said about the pain of Hiro's
betrayal.
It took her several minutes of fumbling with her keys before
she finally entered her apartment. She just wanted to run to her bed
and curl up into a ball, to escape from the harsh world.
She wanted to be left alone. It was not to be.
As she slammed the door shut behind her, she heard a voice
behind her, causing her to spin around, startled to see a familiar
cat... with a... glowing forehe...
It was the last coherent thought she recalled before she fell
into an abyss of memories.
--- ---- ---
"It had been a huge surprise for me when I met Luna that
morning. I still hadn't gotten over Semp- Hiro's rejection of me when
she appeared out of her no where...
"I just wasn't ready for everything that happened afterwards,
damnit!
"Why couldn't she have let me alone to deal with my problems?
They're _my_ problems, not hers, not anybody's! She had no right to
poke her nose into my matters!
"And what she actually did to me...
"I'm still mad at Luna for that - it was a cruel thing for her
to do. I understand why she had to it, but it still doesn't make it
any easier for me.
"Because it was the last time I would ever truly be a 'normal'
person."
--- ---- ---
Just earlier, Luna was sitting atop a piece of furniture,
relived that she had managed to sneak into Makoto's apartment. It
hadn't been easy, but she figured that it would be best to take care
of this pressing matter in privacy of Makoto's home, where there
would be nobody around to witness her attempt at reawakening Makoto's
memories as Sailor Jupiter.
The timing had to be right... a second too late, and Makoto
would be miles away thanks to her fear of cats.
There!
"Makoto, look at me!" Luna shouted as she pounced down to the
floor just as the girl shut the door closed. She could tell by the
girl's startled expression that she caught her by surprise. Wait,
Makoto wasn't crying... was she?
She quickly chided herself mentally, she had no time to waste!
Luna quickly locked her gaze with Makoto's, intoning the words,
"Makoto Kino, you have long-sealed memories locked inside you!"
Makoto's eyes began to glaze over as the crescent moon mark on
Luna's forehead glowed. In moments, a golden beam of light between
them linked a cat and a human together, as one mind, one heart.
Together, they recalled the repressed memories of Sailor
Jupiter as the girl lived her life as a Senshi, a guardian of the
legendary Moon Princess. About how she had gave her life during the
fall of the Silver Millennium, to protect the person she loved more
than life itself.
About how she had been reincarnated a thousand years later by
Princess Serenity's mother... except a small mistake had occurred in
the process for her. Unfortunately for Luna and Makoto, the events
that had occurred afterwards were too vague, almost if they were
viewing them through a thick fog.
All of the sudden, they saw the girl Makoto had sacrificed her
life for in the past, alive again but this time as a normal girl.
Usagi was staring at Makoto's bento box, drooling. Since then, Usagi
had grown before them from a spoiled and whiny girl, maturing into a
fine young Princess Makoto... no, Sailor Jupiter had remembered and
fulfilled her duty in protecting her to her own death once more
again.
Then, finally, about how Makoto had awakened one day, alive
after her friend... no, her Princess had drawn her back from the
depths of darkness.
At the last second, Luna managed to snap out of the endless
spiral of memories that threatened to suck her into the depths of
Makoto's mind. She had no right to probe further than she had - she
had a duty to accomplish first.
Makoto was still in a trance-like state. Usagi and others had
told her about how unnerving it had been for them to review their
past lives as if they were watching a slide-show. No time to worry
about that right now - she had resurfaced enough of Jupiter's
memories for the final and crucial move.
"Remember, Makoto! Discard those mental barriers and remember
who you really are!" Luna shouted. In that instant, the link between
them was severed and Makoto snapped out of her trance.
This time, Luna had been prepared for the mental backlash,
after experiencing them when she had attempted the same trick with
Usagi and her friends. But it still was disorienting nonetheless.
At the last second, just before she had terminated her mind-
link, some of the memories had cleared up dramatically, but what she
had saw disturbed her greatly. They featured the same elusive
pigtailed boy that had haunted the minds of the Senshi crew.
"So... are you, uh, back with us?" Luna asked nervously, trying
not to dwell on the mysterious link between Makoto and this
mysterious pigtailed boy phantom.
Makoto lifted her head, staring at her groggily as if awakening
from a deep sleep. "What just happened...?
"I'm sorry, we've got stronger and more dangerous enemies now.
I had to reawaken your memories as Jupiter before they could hurt
you, or worse..."
Makoto's eyes widened and she gasped. "What?! No... No, you've
_got_ to be KIDDING!"
This... wasn't the kind of reaction Luna had expected at all.
Then next thing she knew, Makoto had grabbed her and was shaking her
violently.
"Tell me this is just a dream! Tell me, damnit! TELL ME IT WAS
ALL A DREAM!"
"I-I-its-s-j-jus-t-t-a-a-d-d-d-r-ea-m-m-m!-!-!"
This snapped Makoto out of her state of mood, as she dropped
the cat. Still in a state of daze, she staggered over to a couch seat
and collapsed on it. "What... what hell is happening to me?"
Luna advanced cautiously, "I'm sorry, it couldn't be helped. We
had to awaken your repressed memories of past. We would've preferred
to leave you alone with your new life, but lately..."
"It's youma, right?" Makoto interrupted.
"Well, we don't know who's attacking yet, but we're sure it's
someone else. A new enemy we haven't faced yet. We were afraid that
you'd be in danger if we didn't..." The cat trailed off as she
realized that the girl wasn't listening. "Makoto! Please pay
attention! It's important!"
"Yeah, right." Makoto replied gruffly. "You just want to use me
again like you guys did last time."
"But..." Luna couldn't parse a response to that. An uneasy
silence prevailed as Makoto massaged her forehead in frustration.
Things weren't looking good, Luna concluded. She then realized
something else.
"Um.... why aren't you freaking out like you did when you were
with me before?"
Makoto just stared at her, as if realizing for the first time
that she was a cat. "Oh. Great, she probably fixed that too, just
like she did with my stupid curse."
Luna's curiosity was instantly piqued. "'Curse'?"
"None of your damn business," Makoto replied gruffly. "Why am I
even surprised? Usagi always messes everything up, as usual, so why
not this too?"
The black cat quickly pounced on Makoto's lap, mewing angrily,
"I can't believe you'd say a such thing about her!" Her sharp and
biting statement caught the girl off guard.
"Oh, look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that about her,
but... It's just that this isn't good time for me right now. I just
need some time to myself to sort everything out."
Luna wasn't quite convinced.
"Really." Makoto pressed and left it at that.
--- ---- ---
"I left quickly the next day so I wouldn't have to face Usagi
or anybody else. I guess I needed a bit of R&R, to clear up my head.
To be continued (Unfinished.)
---
I hope you enjoyed this piece of work; if any of you have had visited
my site, the chances are that you may have read the draft version.
This version isn't much different from the one on the site, save for
the errors that I caught while proofreading.
Please keep in mind that this fanfic is still a work in progress.
I apologize for having not been active lately, so I thought I'd post
this fic and give you something to tide over while I finish my work
on segment III of Riptides. For those who are fans of Riptides
series, here's the good news: it's almost complete, and will be sent
off to prereaders as soon as the final two sections are written.
Until then, happy holidays and happy New Year,
DA/R
Dark Alpha
DarkAlphaR@aol.com
http://darkalpha.anifics.com
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