The
Cruelty and Fairness of Fate
by
Crawlspace
~ Chapter
4: Finding Out – pt 2 ~
Makoto
fidgeted as she waited for the pharmacist to fill her prescription. She knew it was mostly her imagination, but
she felt like everyone was staring at her.
Why were there this many people in the drugstore anyway? It was a nice Saturday afternoon. Didn’t they all have someplace better to be?
She
got up and walked a few feet so she could see out the door. Ami was outside waiting for her, but Makoto
couldn’t see her from here.
“Kino.”
Makoto
turned when the pharmacist called her name.
She took the bag the man handed her, ignoring the disapproving look he
wore at the sight of her bare ring finger.
She paid quickly and went outside to look for Ami.
After
several seconds, Makoto spotted Ami outside the bookstore across the
street. She had picked up a book from
the outdoor display and looked to be lost within its pages.
“Looks
like it has you pretty interested,” said Makoto as she
walked up to Ami. “May I?” she asked,
holding out her hand.
Ami
closed the book and handed it to Makoto.
‘Raindrops in the Garden & Other Short Stories’ was
written in shiny green script across the cover.
Makoto smiled, then took the book and went inside the store.
“Mako-chan?”
questioned Ami, following behind her.
“You
like it, right?”
Ami
nodded at Makoto’s question.
“Well,
I’m buying it for you. It’s a thank you
for my snack fairy.”
“You
don’t have to do that.”
“I
know. But, you see, she’s been really
good to me recently,” explained Makoto, “and I’ve been pretty rotten to
her. She keeps forgiving me, though.”
Makoto
paid the clerk, then turned to a quiet Ami. Ami was never terribly talkative, but ever
since their phone conversation Wednesday night, she’d barely said three words
to Makoto.
That
phone call had been a disaster, Makoto thought.
She had yelled long and loud at Ami, not caring about what the girl had
gone through for her. All Makoto heard
was that one more person knew her secret, and Ami was the one who had told.
That
conversation had ended with a teary sounding Ami saying she was sorry and would
Makoto please call the doctor anyway. As
soon as she hung up the phone, Makoto had begun to feel guilty.
The
next day at school, Makoto had pulled Ami aside and told her how sorry she
was. When she thanked Ami for her and
her mother’s help it was with an honest gratefulness. She’d even already called the doctor’s
office. Her appointment was Saturday at
Ami
had nodded and said of course she would.
And Makoto was forgiven, because Ami understood. The apology had been given and accepted, yet
to Makoto things still felt wrong somehow.
Ami
accepted the gift Makoto handed to her.
“Thank you,” she said.
They
walked together in silence for a while, until Makoto couldn’t take it
anymore. “I’m not mad at you anymore,”
she blurted out of nowhere.
Ami
looked at her questioningly. “I didn’t
think you where, Mako-chan.”
“You’re
acting like you do,” answered Makoto. “Ever since Wednesday night.
I know I handled that badly, Ami.
I mean, if anyone should be angry, it’s you. You keep doing all this stuff for me, now
your mom, too, and all I do is yell at you and get you
in trouble.”
“It’s okay, Mako-chan.
I…”
Makoto
cut her off. “Don’t say you
understand. Yell, scream, call me names for using you, anything. Just stop saying its okay and that you
understand.”
“All right. You’re an
ingrate, Kino Makoto,” said Ami, a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Feel better, now?”
“Not
really,” said Makoto. “But I’d rather
listen to you call me names than not have you saying anything to me at all.”
“I
know I’ve said it before,” went on Makoto, “but I really am sorry about that
night. All I kept thinking was that more
people knew, and I haven’t even told anyone yet. This is all happening to me and it’s like I
have absolutely no control over any of it.
I don’t like that feeling. You
were just the unfortunate one who was there when I cut loose.”
“You’re
forgiven, Mako-chan. Honestly,” said Ami
with a grin.
“Maybe,
but I still want to do something to thank you.
Your mom, too.
That book is just a token.”
Makoto thought for a minute. “I
know. When things settle down a bit and
your mom has a free night, I’ll make dinner for you. Something big, with all of
your favorites. Dessert, too. There’s
this recipe I found for a chocolate-peanut butter cake I want to try. This’ll give me a great excuse.”
Right
on cue, Makoto’s stomach grumbled.
Ami
giggled. “I guess we know where that
idea came from.”
Makoto
grinned sheepishly. “I am kind of
hungry. Do you think we have time to
stop for a burger before we go to Haruka’s?”
“I
don’t see why not,” answered Ami.
“Everything for the party was pretty much done by last night, from what
you told me. All we have to do is stop
by your apartment to get the cake and drop it off before we go to the high
school.”
“Great.” Makoto smiled teasingly at Ami. “You know, it’s probably a good thing you got
grounded this week. Because even with
Minako and Rei gone, if you’d actually shown up at the meeting, we would have
wound up studying. I never would have
had time to finish the cake, then.”
Ami
sighed. “It’s good for you, perhaps, but
Usagi is going to fail her next English test.
In any case, I’m just glad no one asked what was so important at home
that I couldn’t make it to the meetings.”
Makoto
nodded at Ami, deciding it would be a bad idea to tell her their friends had
actually wondered about it. They were
just too polite to pry beyond the ‘Ami wants to spend time with her mom’ excuse
Makoto had given them.
* * *
Aika walked back stage to the area that had been designated
the girls’ dressing room. “Hey, Minako,”
she called happily, “I think your stalker is escalating.” She set the bouquet of peach colored roses on
the table in front of Minako.
“Thanks,
Aika.” Minako
pulled out the little note card and smiled hugely.
Aika’s voice had brought over the other girls in the
room. They gathered around Minako, ohhing and ahhing at her latest
gift from her mystery fan.
“So what does it say this time?” asked one of
the girls.
“Same
as every other time,” answered Minako.
“’Break a leg, and I’ll bring the jam.
Signed, Moldy Bread.’”
“That’s
somehow less than romantic,” said Aika. “Couldn’t he profess his undying love of your
beauty and talent? Or at the very least
say what kind of ice cream he plans on hiding your severed digits behind.”
“Jeez,
Aika!” complained one of the girls.
“Forget
the sentiment,” said Yukari. “I want to
know who keeps sending these roses. Spill, Minako. Who’s
the mystery guy?”
Minako’s
smile became secretive. She turned from
the girls and went back to fixing her makeup.
The
girls groaned collectively. Minako heard
mutterings about the unfairness of it all as Aika set
them back to their tasks.
Minako
knew who the roses were from, of course.
Rei hadn’t actually tried to be secretive when they were alone. “Just because,” Rei had said when Minako
asked about the single peach rose and note card that were left on her dressing
table opening night. Each night since
then, there had been a rose and note waiting for her. Thus the teasing about a
mysterious stalker fan.
Minako
reached over and fingered one of the soft petals. There were half a dozen this time rather than
the singles she’d gotten the other five nights.
She wondered why the extravagance tonight.
Looking
over her shoulder at the other girls, Minako wondered what would happen if she
told them about Rei. What would they say
if she told them about the silky black hair that framed a beautiful face with
deep and mysterious purple eyes? Eyes
that could always see into her soul and know all the things she tried to hide
from others. Would they sigh with envy
if she tried to describe the soft lips and gentle hands that held her and took
away all the hurt and burdens she’d carried around with her for so long?
They
would envy her, she thought. They would
also giggle at the girlish romanticism of it all and then proceed to spread the
news of how Aino Minako was in love with the psychic girl from TA. That was the sole reason she kept quiet about
her mystery fan.
Very
simply, Minako’s parents didn’t know about her and Rei. It was very likely that if the collective of
the school found out, it would eventually reach her parents as well. After all, the parents gossiped as much as
their children. Minako just wasn’t ready
to deal with their reactions, yet. And
while there were those who knew, Rei’s grandfather included, Minako felt
relatively secure that those people would never cross paths with her parents.
“All
right, everybody,” called Aika, “it’s time. Tonight, we go out with a bang.”
A
wave of excitement rose up as the students filed out to take their places on
the stage. So occupied
where they, that no one noticed a pair of amber eyes staring out from a dark
corner or the low hiss that issued from their owner.
* * *
Hotaru
sat in the windows outside the auditorium waiting for Chibi-usa. Michiru and Setsuna were inside, holding
seats for everyone. Haruka was with
Hotaru out in the hall.
Hotaru
looked over to where her Haruka-papa had been cornered by some fans. She was rather enthusiastically relating
something to the girls who had gathered around her. Hotaru grinned and lifted the camera she had
hanging around her neck, snapping a picture as the young girls continued to
moon over her papa.
Keeping
the camera to her eye, Hotaru gazed at the people milling about in the hallway. Her lens landed first on an old woman
standing patiently by a display case. A
teenaged boy dressed as a butcher put a hand on the woman’s shoulder. She startled, but her expression became happy
and she put her arms around him.
Snap. Hotaru smiled. That would be a good one.
Moving
her focus further down the hall, Hotaru saw another boy about the same age as
the butcher. He was dressed in baggy
jeans and a dark green t-shirt.
Headphones were on his ears, and he was playing something on a green Gameboy, yet his expression and the way he slouched against
the wall made him appear to be very bored.
Snap.
Her
lens next caught a little girl running into the hall from another part of the
building. She was wearing a school
uniform, but Hotaru didn’t know what school it was from. The girl’s hair was dark brown and came just
past her shoulders. And on top of her
head…
“Cat
ears?” mumbled Hotaru to herself.
Before
Hotaru could snap a picture of the girl, a face popped up into her viewfinder.
Hotaru
bobbled her camera. Balancing it, she
frowned at the boy in front of her. He
had blond hair, brown eyes, and a playful smile.
The
boy blithely ignored the look Hotaru was giving him for interrupting her
shot. “Hi,” he said, “my name’s Ti. What’s yours?”
“Hotaru.”
“That’s
a neat camera, Hotaru,” went on Ti.
“Where’d you get it?”
Hotaru’s
mood towards the boy quickly lightened as he brought up her current favorite
thing. “My Setsuna-mama bought it for me
for summer vacation. Michiru-mama plays
the violin, and she went on tour. I went
with her and Haruka-papa, and Setsuna-mama wanted me to be able to take my own
pictures of the trip.”
“Wow. You have a lot of parents.”
“So,”
said Hotaru defensively.
“I
think it’s cool. I only have my brothers
and sister,” said Ti, pointing to the boy with the green Gameboy. Next to the boy now stood an older boy
dressed all in black and the little girl with cat ears. “But Shin gets us stuff to play with all the
time,” continued Ti. He stuck his hand
in his pocket and pulled out a blue and white rubber ball. “See, he just got me this last week.”
“Ti! Get over here!”
called Shin.
“Awww, but I was gonna see if she
wanted to play,” Ti called back.
“You
can play later. Let’s go.”
Ti
shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry,” he said
to Hotaru, then ran to his brother.
Hotaru
put the camera back to her eye and watched as Ti and his siblings went into the
auditorium. The older brother, Shin,
unnerved her. He looked about the same
age as her papa, but stood at least a head taller. His hair was as black as his clothes, and a
small goatee gave him a sinister look.
His eyes were dark as well. Not
the soft brown of his little brother’s, but nearly as dark as the depths of
space.
A
high-pitched voice calling her name got Hotaru’s attention. She aimed her camera in the direction it had
come from and caught Chibi-usa in her sights.
Hotaru smiled.
Snap.
As
the film began to rewind itself, Hotaru ran to greet her friend.
* * *
Minako
stood and stared in shock at the shredded roses that lay scattered on her
dressing table. The top of the table was
a mess, water from the flowers and makeup mixed among the remains of the roses.
Yukari
put a hand on Minako’s shoulder. “Aww, Minako. They
were such pretty flowers, too. Who would
do something like this?”
“Minako,”
started one of the girls hesitantly, “you do know who’s sending you these,
right?”
“Yes,
I know,” answered Minako, understanding what an overactive imagination was
causing her friend to ask. “They
wouldn’t do something like this.”
“It
wasn’t a ‘they’,” said Aika. “It was a ‘what.’ If I had to guess by the paw marks, I’d say a
cat,” she explained, pointing to the paw prints left in the mess on the
tabletop. “I’m sorry, Minako. I left the window open. It must have come in through there.”
“It’s
not your fault, Aika,” said Minako sadly. “And this is going to be a pain to clean up.”
“The
sooner we get started…” said Yukari. She
went over to the table and bent to right the overturned chair. Instead she stood, a
bright smile on her face.
“Hey,
Minako,” said Yukari, “look what I found. And it looks like it survived pretty much
intact.”
Minako
took the rose Yukari held out to her.
“Thank you,” she said, happier to have at least one to keep with her.
* * *
“It
looked like Artemis had a temper tantrum,” Minako explained to her friends as
they walked to the parking lot.
The
entire group was together tonight. They
were headed back to the Outers’ house, ostensibly for a spur of the moment,
take-out dinner. In truth, Setsuna’s
clan had offered their house for the party the girls wanted to throw for
Minako.
The
school parking lot was all but deserted as they tried to figure out how to fit
ten people and two cats into Haruka’s and Setsuna’s cars.
Minako
was leaning up against the door of Setsuna’s car, tapping the surviving rose
absently against her cheek, when a small hand took hold of her arm. She looked down and saw a little girl about
Hotaru’s age with costume cat ears on her head.
The
little girl grinned up at Minako.
“Hi. My name’s Kei,
and I thought you were really great in the play.”
Hotaru
followed behind Chibi-usa, her arms outstretched for balance. Together, they
tightrope-walked along the logs that ran the perimeter of the parking lot as
they waited to be told who they were to ride with.
A
small bark got the girls’ attention, and they knelt down to the puppy it had
come from.
“Aren’t
you cute,” said Chibi-usa to the little golden retriever as she scratched the
top of his head.
The
puppy barked as if to agree. His tail
wagging gleefully, the puppy ran over to the grass and picked something up in
his mouth. Then he ran back over to the
girls and dropped the blue and white rubber ball in front of them.
“Do
you want to play with me, now?” asked the puppy.
Both
girls stared wide-eyed in shock. Then
something clicked in Hotaru’s mind.
“Ti?”
Makoto
sighed in frustration. They had been so
careful in planning everything out. Why
hadn’t anyone thought about the driving arrangements? She was just about to suggest that some of
them walk when she noticed the little girl talking to Minako. She squinted her
eyes, thinking maybe they were playing tricks on her in the twilight.
“Hey,
Rei,” said Makoto, nudging the dark haired girl beside her, “look at the kid
over there with Minako. Is it my
imagination or does she have a tail?”
Rei
turned to look at her girlfriend. When
she saw the child, her mind flashed quickly to a stone room, a large bed, and a
kitten lying in a pile of pillows. Rei
cursed under her breath and started for Minako, only to be stopped as a teenage
boy stepped in front of her.
His
grin was less than friendly as he said, “That’s my sister over there. She likes your friend, but I think I like you
better.”
From
the shadows, Shin watched as his younger siblings found their desired
targets. The playroom was already a bit
cluttered, but he supposed a few more additions couldn’t hurt. Besides, this would be a good exercise in how
and not how to get the things you wanted.
The
black dog that was Shin’s true form relaxed into the shadows and waited.
Kei’s
head turned quickly when she heard her brother’s words. Her grin turned to a scowl as she glared at
him. “Not that one, Kai! I don’t like her!”
Kai
huffed at his little sister. “Like I care.”
“I
said no!” Kei’s grip tightened on
Minako’s arm, her nails digging into the skin.
“Ow! Let go,” said
Minako, trying to pull away. The child’s
grip was like iron. Little rivulets of
blood began to drip from where her nails were digging in.
Kei
turned back to Minako. Her lips were
pulled into a feral grin, her eyes glowing amber in her anger. “I said I liked you. I plan on keeping you,” said the girl, a
slight hiss to her tone.
Kai
was steadfastly ignoring his sister, instead focusing on Rei. “How about you come home with me,” he said as
he advanced slowly. To make his point, a
low growl emanated from his throat and his eyes glowed
a pale red.
Before
he could get very far, Kai was hit by a ball of bright orange light. He was knocked off his feet and landed
against the concrete wall of a storage shed.
The boy slumped to the ground, not moving.
Makoto,
Ami, and Usagi turned to see Setsuna, Haruka, and Michiru already transformed. Rei didn’t bother looking at what she knew
she’d see. Her attention was instead on
Minako and the cat girl.
Kei
had Minako on her knees. One hand
clutched at Minako’s throat, the other still gripped her arm. Rei could see Minako struggling to stay
conscious as her air was being cut off.
Without
hesitation, Rei charged forward and tackled Kei. The girl screeched as her grip on Minako was
lost. Minako fell
the rest of the way to the ground, coughing and gasping as Rei rolled with Kei.
Uranus’
World Shaking slamming into Kai had drawn the attention of the ones across the
parking lot. Shin looked up from his
place in the shadows.
“Well,
that was unexpected,” he said to himself.
Kai’s target was already heading for Kei, and Ti’s
two were getting ready to join her. “Not
exactly fair, now is it?”
Shin
turned first to his youngest charge. Might as well let Ti play with his toys rather than have them add
to the fray. Shin’s eyes glowed
bright red as he stared at Ti and the girls.
His chuckle was a low growl as Chibi-usa ran head first into the barrier
that appeared around the three.
Rei
was struggling on the ground with a scratching and hissing Kei. Uranus and Neptune began to move towards them
when Shin jumped into their path. The
two braced to fight the snarling black dog.
Movement
by the shed where Kai had fallen caught Usagi’s attention first. She grabbed Makoto’s arm, frantically
pointing out the boy as he slowly rose to his hands and knees. His lips pulled back in a snarl and his
features filled out to resemble a shaggy German Sheppard. His red eyes locked on to the three who were
staring at him.
Setsuna
stepped between them, giving the girls the opportunity they needed. Makoto grabbed Usagi and Ami and pulled them
off to the side. “Come on. We have to transform.”
Usagi
nodded, her brooch appearing in her hand.
Ami hesitated, however, a worried look on her face.
Makoto
noticed and shook her head at her friend.
“There’s no time for that, Ami.
Transform.”
Ami
held back her argument and called her henshin pen. Duty first, she reminded herself, a speech
Luna had given them not so long ago coming back to her.
The
other two in the midst of their transformations, Makoto held her henshin pen
before her. “Jupiter Crystal Power,
Make-up!” she called out. She could feel
the slight physical change that signaled her transformation beginning. The familiar feeling of light and power began
to envelop her. And
then abruptly stopped.
Makoto
blinked in confusion at the henshin pen in her hand. She looked at the other two, now
transformed. They looked as confused as
she felt. Once again she held the pen
before her and called out her transformation phrase.
Nothing
happened.
From
the parking lot, they heard
“Go!”
said Makoto. “Don’t worry about me. Just help them.”
Sailors
Moon and Mercury obeyed their friend’s command and ran to help the others.
Makoto
watched as they left, her hand wrapped so tightly around her now useless henshin
pen that her knuckles were turning white.
Chibi-usa
and Hotaru were stuck inside the enclosure Shin had trapped them in. They pounded against it futilely, screaming
to be let out, as Ti yipped excitedly and jumped around their feet. Shin was now staring down Pluto, while Kai
had made a lunge for
Ami
looked over and saw Rei. The miko was
still struggling with Kei, who, while still in human form, had taken on more felinoid features.
Her fingernails were long and sharp as they slashed across Rei’s
chest. Her fangs were obvious as she
hissed her anger at her opponent.
Just
as Kei’s arm came up with the intention of raking across Rei’s face, Venus’
Love Me Chain wrapped around her arm.
The action caught both girls by surprise, and they looked over to see Venus
glaring daggers at Kei. With a sharp
tug, Venus pulled Kei off of Rei. The
cat girl yowled as she landed hard against the ground.
The
pained cries from his two younger charges pulled Shin’s attention away from
Pluto. Kai was closer to Ti now, struggling
to get up. His right front leg was
giving him no support and looking from Shin’s perspective as if it were
broken. Kei was on her back, dazed. Her plaything had transformed like the others
and was looking very unhappy. And here
there were two more running in to make things worse.
Shin
ground his fangs together. This was too
much trouble to go through just so the kids could have a few more toys to play
with. His decision made, Shin turned
from Pluto and started running towards Kei.
Reverting
back to his human form as he moved, Shin pushed a wobbly Venus aside and
grabbed Kei by her shirt collar. He
hauled her up and headed towards the other two, ignoring his little sister’s
protests.
“Kai! On your
feet! We’re going home,” called
Shin. A portal quickly opened near
Kai. “Ti, say goodbye
to your friends.”
Kai
managed to limp the few feet to the portal and stumbled through. Ti whined in disappointment, but obeyed his
older brother and made a run for the portal as soon as the barrier dropped. Shin and Kei followed on Ti’s
heels, and the portal closed a second later.
Those
Senshi who needed to detransformed.
Michiru was leaning against Haruka, trying to keep the weight off her
injured leg. Minako leaned against
Setsuna’s car and slid to the ground.
Rei quickly joined her, the two checking each other for injuries.
“Guess
I had a stalker fan after all,” said Minako with a weary chuckle. There was bruising around her neck and
bleeding puncture wounds in her arm from Kei’s claws.
Minako
frowned and gingerly lifted a finger to Rei’s face. She let it hover, not wanting to hurt the
girl by touching the scraped bruise on her cheek. Minako panicked when she saw the slashes
across Rei’s chest.
Rei
took the blonde’s hand and smiled. “That
little brat ruined my jacket and I think there may be some pulls in my shirt,
but she didn’t break skin.”
Minako
sighed in relief.
Hotaru
had run up to Michiru. The little girl
had an arm around her mama’s waist, feeling as if she were offering some
support even though Michiru’s full weight was on Haruka.
Setsuna
was wrapping a handkerchief around the bite on Michiru’s calf, telling the
young woman she should probably go to the hospital, just to be safe. Michiru, for her part, was doing her best
stubborn Haruka imitation by refusing and saying they could treat it well
enough on their own.
Makoto
began walking slowly towards the group.
Ami saw her, but stayed still, not knowing what to say or do. Usagi, on the other hand, ran up to the girl,
full of questions.
“What
happened, Mako-chan?” asked Usagi, her concern evident. “Why didn’t you transform?”
“I…
I don’t know,” answered Makoto. “I
tried, but…”
From
where she stood, Ami could see one of Makoto’s walls begin to crack. Makoto’s right hand flexed around the henshin
pen she still held. As tears of defeat
filled Makoto’s eyes, Ami hurried over to her.
All
of her anger and frustration came to the surface as the others watched
her. Makoto looked into the face of her
princess, feeling as if she had failed the girl utterly. When Ami’s warm hand touched her arm, Makoto
lost it.
She
shook off Ami’s hand and raised her arm.
Her henshin pen hit the ground with a loud clatter and rolled away. “Damn it!
I don’t want it this way!” Makoto
sank to her knees, Ami going with her.
“This isn’t what I wanted. I only
wanted someone to stay.”
Ami
put her arms loosely around Makoto as the taller girl’s head rested on her
shoulder. Ami’s heart ached for her
friend as Makoto cried quietly.
The
others didn’t know what to do, completely lost at what
was going on before them. It was Luna
who finally broke the trance everyone had seemingly lapsed into when the
usually strong Makoto broke down.
Luna
walked silently up to the girls, stopping Usagi from bending down to them. The black cat watched for a moment, hearing
Makoto apologize over and over as she cried.
“Mako-chan,” she said quietly.
Makoto
looked down at Luna. Their eyes held for
several seconds. Then Luna shook her
head in disappointment. She wouldn’t
have thought the girl to be so careless as to let something like this happen.
Luna
turned to the group. “We’re having an
emergency meeting at Makoto’s. We’ll get
you all bandaged up there. Setsuna, I
would appreciate it if the Outers came as well.”
Setsuna
nodded her agreement.
That
decided, the group split up between the two cars and headed to Makoto’s.
* * *
As
soon as they got to the apartment, Luna and Makoto disappeared into Makoto’s
bedroom. The others spread out around
the living room as Haruka and Ami administered first aid to those who needed
it.
Haruka
was carefully wrapping a bandage around Michiru’s leg. Even with her rapid healing ability, it would
take a few days for the swelling and marks to go away completely. Not to mention that Senshi healing did
nothing to alleviate the sting of peroxide on an open wound.
Minako
was getting similar attention from Ami and Rei.
She winced as Ami dabbed on the peroxide, then again as raised voices
floated in from the bedroom. The words
were too muffled to understand, but the noise was enough to have everyone on
edge.
“What’s
going on?” Minako asked Ami quietly. “I
know you know, and that you haven’t told us everything. How sick is she really?”
Quiet
in a small room didn’t really count for much.
Haruka proved this by turning her head to them and asking, “She’s
sick? What’s wrong with her?”
“She
has anemia,” answered Usagi from her place on the floor. “But she said it was under control. That’s right, isn’t it, Ami?”
Ami bowed
her head even further to Minako’s arm, suddenly finding her bandage the most
interesting thing. She chewed on her lip
as she tried to ignore her friends’ questions.
As
the others pushed Ami for an answer, Chibi-usa went over to Setsuna. “Puu,” whispered
the pink haired girl, “I know why Senshi can’t transform sometimes. And I think I know why Mama sent me here
now.” Chibi-usa looked to a suddenly
quiet hallway. “My Jupiter tells me
about it sometimes. And Mama reminded me
that I wasn’t supposed to talk about this at all while I’m here, because if
they knew about it before it happened, then it
wouldn’t happen at all. And they need
each other too much for it not to.”
Setsuna
smiled at the girl. “I believe you’re
right, Small Lady. But take care that
you don’t accidentally disobey your mother.”
“What
are you two whispering about over there?” called Haruka.
“Nothing
of importance,” answered Setsuna.
“I
don’t believe that,” said Michiru. “You
two know something.”
“I
wouldn’t be surprised if they did,” said Makoto as she entered the living
room. “Everyone seems to be finding out
without me having to tell them.”
Luna
jumped up on the back of the couch with Artemis. The others in the room all turned to Makoto
as Usagi ran up to her.
“Mako-chan,”
said the blonde, “how sick are you really?
It’s worse than you told us, isn’t it?”
Makoto
put on a smile to try and hide the guilt she felt for lying to her friends and
making the girl in front of her worry so much.
She reached up and tugged playfully on one of Usagi’s ponytails. “I’m not sick at all, Usagi. I’m as healthy as I’ve ever been.”
Usagi
looked confused by this answer, but Minako beat her to the question. “Then what was wrong? Because you were sick,
Mako-chan. The meetings you
missed, the soccer game, whatever else you and Ami have been hiding. If it wasn’t anemia then why tell us that
instead of the truth?”
“Because,”
began Makoto. She hesitated and took a
deep breath. “Because
I wasn’t ready to tell you yet. I
just needed a little time.”
Usagi
reached over and took Makoto’s hand. The
gesture was done as much to reassure herself as it was for the other girl.
Makoto
forced a grin. “It’s all right,
Usagi. I promise I’m not dying. It’s just…”
Makoto shrugged, her grin faltering.
“I’m just pregnant.”