Several days had passed since the death of the usurper, Fauntleroy, and across the countryside, even Nature seemed to breathe easier as an unknown tension faded from the air. For a while, everything was peaceful. However, discord slowly began to be felt along the countryside as tension began to build once again. Those Musk who had remained loyal to Herb were determined to rub the fact that they had been right in the noses of the ones who joined Fauntleroy. It started with glares and snide remarks, but soon escalated into random brawls that threatened to become something more sinister. Seeing a possible civil war in the making, Herb moved to cut it off at the root. With Helen and Jane by his side, he called together all of the Musk. He had not yet mastered the ability to resume his human form, so he made his speech from the top of the castle as a dragon. With his deep, powerful voice, Herb drove home the fact that they ALL were Musk and that they would have to stand together or risk vanishing into history like they almost had decades ago.
“As the first of my line to embrace my lineage since my ancestor, Shen Long, I hereby declare that the time for fighting is over.” Herb subtly nodded in satisfaction as that declaration had the desired results. There would be no mutterings about whether he was competent or confident enough to resume his position. “Now is the time to heal both the wounds we see and the ones we cannot. To celebrate the ousting of the usurper, Fauntleroy, my marriage to Helen and Jane, and the reuniting of our people, I will be holding a celebration for the entire kingdom in two days.”
A raucous roar was the crowd’s answer. Herb let a small smile come to his face as he felt much of the tension disappear.
The celebration was a major success, with the men reenacting that age-old male bonding tradition: beating each other senseless and getting drunk together afterwards. The women commiserated over having to deal with the moronic males and began sharing techniques for dealing with them*1. The rifts that had been forming vanished under waves of camaraderie.
As the party wound down, Herb, with Helen and Jane at his side, excused himself and the trio retired to the royal chambers for the evening. Only one of the Musk was not fooled by Herb’s jovial act at the party, for Pyrope had been watching the prince carefully ever since the day that Makoto had left. Every evening he would enter the royal chambers with his wives, but she suspected that he didn’t stay in there for long. There were rumors of a hidden chamber somewhere in the castle, and Pyrope had a feeling that Herb went there to be alone.
‘No, not alone,’ the youma thought to herself as she sighed softly in concern for her ruler. ‘He wants to be with her.’
Ukyou knocked on her daughter’s door for what seemed like the twentieth time. Makoto had locked herself in there for almost the entire week since they had returned from China. The young girl had only come out to eat and take care of basic necessities before retreating back into her room with hardly a word to her family. Neither Ranma nor Siofra had felt comfortable in confronting her, but Ukyou had had enough. It was one thing to be upset over a traumatic experience, it was another thing to mope and dwell on it. In her opinion, Makoto had definitely crossed over that line with no indication of stopping, and that was unacceptable.
The twenty-first knock finally generated a response. “WHAT!?”
“Open the door, Mako-chan.” Ukyou tried to mix as much concern and sternness as she could. “We need to talk.”
“No.”
Ukyou’s eye twitched a bit. “Do you want me to demonstrate my door breaking skills, or are you going to let me in peacefully? Either way, I am coming in.”
After a few moments there was the sound of movement and finally a click indicated that the lock had been opened. As the door creaked inward just a bit, Makoto’s tear-streaked face came into view. “What do you want?”
Ukyou pressed her palm against the door and gave a gentle shove. Makoto was nearly knocked off her feet, but her training kicked in and she managed to recover her balance. Ukyou stepped inside and closed the door behind her. Turning around, the elder Kino locked the door before turning back around and moving to sit on her daughter’s bed. “I told you I was coming in. And now we’re going to talk.”
Makoto crawled onto her bed and folded her legs up against her chest in a sulking manner. “About what?”
Ukyou rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Oh, come on… like it isn’t obvious.” Looking back at her daughter, Ukyou let out a sigh. “Sugar, it hurts. I know it does. You spent so long thinking no boy would ever want you. You were too tall, too strong, and too skilled. And then came along someone who didn’t seem to mind about all of that. Oh, sure you didn’t start off on the right foot and you fought a couple of times, but still he ended up showing you his caring side. You discovered that you two were similar. You feel that you have to always be strong and vigilant for your friends, but you have a softer side that you rarely let anyone else see and desperately wish someone would notice. You have a need to find love and companionship. Finally, when it looked like you might have a shot at him, he’s taken away from you by people who don’t seem to care whether you get hurt or not. And he goes along with it, even though he knows it’s going to hurt you.”
Makoto looked up as her mother hit the nail right on the head. As she saw tears forming in the corner of her eyes, the young brunette realized that she was talking from experience. “You’re talking about dad, aren’t you?”
Ukyou shook her head. “No, I’m talking about you and Herb. Don’t tell your father, but I thought you two made a cute couple. It’s just that I do know what it’s like, and I don’t want you to go through what we did.”
Makoto rubbed at her tear-streaked eyes and sniffled a bit. “So, what did you do when it happened to you?”
“I… uh… bombed his wedding.”
Makoto blinked through her sniffles. “You what?”
“Shampoo and I, along with half of the Nerima Wrecking Crew, crashed his wedding. Before you get any ideas, I wouldn’t recommend trying it. I nearly drove your father completely away with that little stunt.”
“So, what would you do in my place?”
“Let him go.”
Shocked didn’t even come close to describing Makoto’s reaction. “MOM?!”
Hugging her daughter tightly while fighting back the tears, Ukyou spoke softly, “I love you and your father, dear, but I didn’t have any right to interfere in his decisions. If I’d left well enough alone, maybe things would have turned out better for everyone. But all I could focus on was that I wanted Ranma and that I deserved him the most. And I nearly lost everything. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Herb is married, or getting that way. If you really love him, you may have to just let him go.”
Makoto mulled over her mother’s words for a little while before letting out a small sigh. She looked away from her mother and out her window. “Mom, you don’t understand… I can’t just let him go. I can’t get Herb-chan out of my head.”
Ukyou felt a small tug in her chest. She knew exactly what her daughter meant. “I know, dear, but maybe after a while you’ll be able to-”
Makoto shook her head and turned to look her mother in the eyes. “No, I mean I literally can’t get him out of my head. If I focus really hard on him, I can tell what he’s feeling and what he’s doing, and right now he’s miserable.”
Ukyou blinked. Twice. ‘That is not good.’ Standing up, she unlocked the door and opened it. “Ranma! I need your help for a minute.”
“Mom?” Her mother’s reaction thoroughly confused the young brunette.
Before Ukyou could answer, Ranma all but appeared in front of them. “What’s wrong?” The worry and concern were plain to read on his face.
“I was wondering if you could check Mako-chan’s aura out for a moment.”
“Okay,” Ranma responded in confusion. Focusing his attention on his older daughter, he immediately noticed something. “Mako-chan, what happened? You’re ki is almost three times stronger than it was a month ago!” Looking closer, while simultaneously shifting his vision more towards the astral, he noticed something else. “That’s odd, there seems to be…”
Makoto blinked as her father’s head suddenly snapped around and he glared at the wall. Following his gaze, she couldn’t see anything for him to be looking at. That is, until she considered the direction he was glaring at instead of the object. He was gazing to the southwest, straight at China. A low growl quickly brought her attention back to her father.
“I’m going to kill him. I’m going to rip him apart and then I’m going to-“
“Do absolutely nothing of the sort!” Ukyou blinked. She had been about to say that herself, but Makoto had beaten her to it.
Staring incredulously at his daughter, Ranma argued, “Mako-chan, do you realize what he did to you?”
Makoto nodded as she looked her father in the eyes, driving her point home. “Yes, he saved my life twice!”
A numbing sensation struck Ranma, cutting off what he had been about to say. His mouth opened and closed a couple of times as he tried to recover from the surprise announcement.
In the end, it was Ukyou who found her voice first with a simple, “What?”
“Herb saved my life twice,” Makoto repeated softly.
Ranma sat down next to her as his anger vanished. “How?” He asked as Ukyou moved to join them on the bed.
“Well, you know he turned into a dragon to save me from Fauntleroy, right?” When Ranma and Ukyou both shook their heads, Makoto blinked at them. “I thought Siofra told you the whole story.”
“She wasn’t there after you cast the spell. She ran to get help when you started it. We knew he turned into a dragon to fight, though.”
“I had fainted after casting the Imperial Thunder Dragon, but I was just barely starting to wake up when I saw Fauntleroy’s claws heading for me. Then Herb stopped him with that sword. A few moments later, Herb-chan was a dragon.”
‘That would have to have been after he’d already been run through,’ Ranma suddenly understood. Despite that realization, he couldn’t stop a frown from forming at Makoto’s use of –chan. “I… didn’t know that…”
Ukyou shook her head. She was a little surprised that Herb hadn’t mentioned that part. “When was the first time?”
“When I cast the spell. I was trying to use my Supreme Thunder Dragon, but…”
“But what, Mako-chan?”
“Mom… dad… Fauntleroy broke my Senshi pen. I couldn’t transform.”
Her parent’s eyes went wide at that. Ukyou understood now that her daughters’ depression wasn’t just because of Herb, but also the loss of something else that was important to her.
Ranma was a bit confused. “Then how could you cast it?”
A bit of pride entered Makoto’s voice. “I figured out the process that my Senshi transformation uses to tap into Jupiter’s power. The only problem is that the uniform acts as a buffer, and so without it the power was going to kill me.” Makoto’s head dropped as she stared at the floor. She missed seeing the looks of horror that came to her parent’s faces. “Herb… did something. I could feel him, his thoughts, his emotions, his memories, and his soul. I think he fused our auras together so that he could be the buffer for me. His ki, combined with my magic, created a new version of the Supreme Thunder Dragon that I decided to call the Imperial Thunder Dragon. It almost worked.” Tears began to flow as she relived those moments in her mind.
Ranma sat silently as he held onto his daughter. He was still furious with Herb’s seducing Makoto and then dumping her, but he could no longer hate him. Without the prince, his daughter wouldn’t be alive to have her heart broken, or healed eventually.
Ukyou hugged Makoto as well as thoughts rolled through her head. One train of thought in particular came to the forefront. ‘If they are linked like that, and they do both care about each other, then this is going to only end up in a downward spiral. Like the Shishi Hokoudan, the misery that she senses from Herb will make her more depressed, and if Herb feels that happening, he will likely become more miserable, etc. I have to stop this.’ Considering her options, Ukyou came up with a plan. It wouldn’t be pretty, it wasn’t too likely to succeed, and it might lead to problems in the future, but it was also Makoto’s best chance at happiness. “Ranchan, would you mind leaving the room? I’d like to talk to Mako-chan alone.”
Ranma looked a bit hurt at that, but at the same time he could tell that his wife had her reasons. Giving Makoto one more squeeze, he quietly stood up and walked out, closing the door behind him.
Makoto turned to her mother in confusion and was taken aback by the odd look on her face. “Mom?”
“Mako-chan… have you thought about what it means to be married to a prince?”
Makoto looked a bit confused by her mother’s words. “What do you mean?”
“It’s not all like the fairy-tales, you know. He has hundreds or thousands of people who need his attention. He would be busy much of the time, taking care of affairs of state and the like. You’d have to share him with the entire kingdom.”
The young girl mulled that over for a while. “I can understand that, and I think I could live with it. I mean, I understand that we wouldn’t be able to be together twenty-four-seven, but at least we would have some time with each other.”
Her mother nodded in agreement as her face became serious. “Mako-chan, I’m going to ask you a question, and I don’t want you to answer for at least a day. And I don’t want you asking for anyone else’s opinion on it. You have to make this decision on your own. All right?”
Makoto nodded slowly, wondering what her mother was getting at.
“Mako-chan, if you could share him with the kingdom in order to be with him, could you share him with other women for the same reason?” Ukyou quickly placed a finger against her daughter’s lips to stop her from speaking. “One day, at least. There is no right or wrong answer, only what your heart tells you.” With that, she stood up and left, leaving behind a confused and somewhat disturbed Makoto.
The next day came, but Makoto realized she wasn’t yet ready to answer her mother’s question. There were too many consequences to consider, and the pain was still too fresh. She somewhat resented her mother for making her promise not to ask for someone else’s help. To help take her mind off the situation, she asked her father to resume her training, to which he happily agreed.
That was why they were now camping out on a small mountain outside of Nerima. There was something naggingly familiar about it, but for the life of her Makoto couldn’t explain away the sense of déjà vu. Finally pushing it from her mind, she focused her attention on what her father was saying.
“I’ve been thinking that maybe if you had more experience with ki attacks, you might have been able to handle that spell of yours a bit better, so I want to try and teach you something today. It used to be my trademark move, back when I was about your age.”
Turning towards the small, nearby lake, Makoto watched her father as he focused his aura and suddenly thrust his hands out. “Mouko Takabisha!” A ball of life force the size of a boulder flew out and blasted into the water, sending a huge spray into the air. Makoto whistled in appreciation at the size and power of the display.
“Wanna know how to do it?” Ranma couldn’t hide his smirk as he noted the awed look on his daughter’s face.
“Of course!”
“All right. First, close your eyes.” Makoto did as he instructed. “Now, I want you to think of something you did that made you feel like you were on top of the world, like nothing could even possibly touch you.”
Makoto tried to think of something that fit, but she couldn’t really find anything at first. She was almost there when she remembered what it felt like when Usagi had asked to be friends with her, but it wasn’t quite enough. She had felt special then, but not really ‘on top of the world’. The only time that even remotely felt that way was when she got her family back. An almost audible click sounded in her mind as she focused on that moment and felt the rush as her ki started to move in response.
“Now, focus on that and on your ki, joining the emotion with your life force. Then push it out of you and towards the lake.”
Ranma watched with pride as the glowing orb formed. He was a bit surprised when it wasn’t blue, like his, but was a pinkish color instead. His surprise grew as the orb quickly swelled in size, going from golf ball to beach ball in no time. He started to back away as the sphere grew to match a wrecking ball. Makoto’s hands no longer cupped it, but were holding it more like a bowling ball, and the attack was now bordering on the size of a small house. “LET IT GO!”
“Mouko Takabisha!” Makoto cried out as she thrust her hands forward. She opened her eyes in time see a colossal geyser of water erupt out of the lake. For a few moments the small body of water became a crater as most of it’s contents did their best to achieve orbital velocity. Fortunately for the rather stunned fish and other occupants of the lake, the water failed in its trans-orbital trip and returned to its former location, although some did choose to merely land in the immediate area.
Makoto turned to face her now redheaded and female father. “What happened?”
Ranma sighed softly as she tried to get the wet hair out of her face. “I didn’t think you were going to be able to force that much ki into your attack so quickly. How are you feeling?”
Makoto shrugged with a happy expression on her face. “Pretty good.”
Ranma cocked an eyebrow at her. “Not tired at all?” ‘When I first learned the Mouko Takabisha,’ she thought, ‘if I’d tried something of that size it would have tired me out fast.’
“Nope? Should I be?”
Ranma looked at her daughter’s aura intently. What she saw left her amazed. Makoto’s aura was regenerating at an incredibly rapid speed. Looking closely at the link that led from her to a certain prince in China, she noticed that ki was pulsing along it, refilling her. ‘They’re still sharing, which means she’s got the ki of a dragon!’ Having met one or two on Jade, he knew that a dragon’s ki was nearly limitless, though few bothered to really learn how to control it. Shaking her head to clear it a bit, she asked, “What did you focus on?”
“Well, you told me to think of something that made me feel on top of the world. So I thought about the time my family came back to me.”
Ranma smirked as he felt a rush of pride for her daughter. Like she had done, Makoto had reworked a ki attack to fit her own style. Admittedly, the brunette hadn’t done it on purpose like Ranma had, but it was still an impressive feat. “I meant to think of something that filled you with pride and confidence. That’s what makes the Mouko Takabisha work.”
Makoto felt crestfallen. “Oh. I’m sorry I didn’t do it right.”
Ranma’s laugh caught her off guard and she glared at her father for a moment. “Mako-chan, you didn’t fail. You just didn’t do it the way I do. You see, the Mouko Takabisha is a variation I made from another ki attack, called the Shishi Hokoudan. That one works off of depression. At the time, I really couldn’t get anywhere near as depressed as my opponent could, so I had to change it. I made mine on pride and confidence. You… what do you think yours is based on?”
Makoto thought it over for a moment. “Love and comfort.”
Ranma nodded with a smile. “Which fits my little ‘Warrior of Love and Justice’.” Ranma instantly regretted her words when she saw her daughter’s face fall. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t be one of the warriors any more, dad. My pen’s broken.”
Ranma pulled her in for a comforting hug. “Mako-chan, you are still a Senshi, you just don’t have the uniform right now. I think if you ask Usagi, she’ll tell you the same thing.”
Makoto smiled fondly at her father. “Thanks, dad.”
“Now, shall we try that again? But this time, try not to put so much into it.” Glancing over at the lake, she let a smirk come to her face. “I don’t think that the fish appreciated your last attempt.”
The occupants of the Kino’s living room looked up as the front door opened.
“So THAT was Horaisan Mountain.” Makoto’s voice drifted from the entrance. “I wondered what it looked like.“
“Mako-chan!”
The brunette’s head snapped around to see Usagi bouncing up and down happily on the couch. Before the taller girl could react, the blonde had launched herself across the room in a glomp that would do an Amazon proud. “You’re back!”
Fighting for air as the human clamp squeezed tightly, Makoto managed to pry the affectionate young girl off of her enough to breathe. “Usagi! What are you doing here?”
Finally letting go, the blonde put on a pouty face and a mock glare. “I came to see you! You were supposed to get back today, but your mom,” Usagi waved at the other person sitting on the couch, “tells me that you’ve been back almost the whole week! Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Errr…” Makoto fumbled, “I just wanted to relax after the trip. It was a bit stressful.”
Grabbing her friend’s hand, Usagi started dragging her out the door with a strength that surprised the brunette. “You can tell everyone all about it! They’re at the shrine and Grandpa bought us all ice cream to celebrate your coming back! Bye, Missusses Kino!” The blonde waved at Ukyou and the current female Ranma with her free hand. “We’ll have her back before too late!”
Ranma and Ukyou just waved with a smile at the vanishing dust cloud.
“She’s here!” Usagi announced as she dragged a disheveled Makoto into the shrine. The three girls and two cats that were gathered around just stared and blinked at the sight. Makoto was wearing a dirty and somewhat smelly gi, her hair was a mess, and she had apparently lost her shoes at one point.
“Uh, Usagi?” Rei spoke disbelievingly, “You could have at least let her get cleaned up from her trip first.”
The blonde blinked and looked back at Makoto, who had finally managed to stand up straight again now that she was no longer being dragged at a rapid pace. “Mako-chan! Why didn’t you say something? I wondered what that smell was.”
Makoto glowered half-heartedly at her friend as she tried to straighten herself up a little bit. “Maybe if you hadn’t kidnapped me the moment I walked through the door, I would have.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
Rei rolled her eyes as she stood up. “You can use the shower in Grandpa’s house out back. I’ve got a spare miko outfit you can wear as well.”
Makoto nodded in thanks and followed the raven-haired girl. After a quick shower and a change, she met with her friends again.
“So, how was it?” Minako asked while Rei and Usagi argued over something that Makoto had no clue about.
A somber look came over the brunette’s features as she replied. “It was… okay.”
“Did you take care of that Flaunty, Monty, whatever guy?”
Makoto flinched a bit, which did not go unnoticed. “Yeah, he won’t be causing any more trouble.”
The jovial mood in the shrine dampened a bit. Trying to find a safer topic, Ami asked, “What was China like?”
“What we saw of it was pretty beautiful.” As she spoke, Makoto’s mind wandered. She thought about the first night they were there. The stars were sparkling, the countryside was beautiful, the river was clean and cool, and Herb-chan was gorgeous. A small blush came to her face as she realized where her train of thought had led her. A certain blonde Goddess of Love noticed the blush and instantly pounced.
“I think Mako-chan was looking at something more than just the countryside,” Minako said slyly as she leaned in close. “So, what was his name? Is he cute? Does he have a twin brother?”
Caught off guard, Makoto blurted out, “No, Herb doesn’t have a twin-“
“Herb? That hunky prince? You go, girl! How far didja get?”
Makoto blushed fiercely, causing the other girls’ eyes to go wide.
“You didn’t do… THAT, did you?” Usagi asked incredulously.
“No! Herb-chan isn’t like th-“
“Herb-chan? Ooooooooo!” Minako cooed.
Makoto decided that now would be a very good time to divert attention away from her. “Usagi, where’s Mamoru?”
Successfully distracted, the blonde sighed wistfully. “He’s taking a summer course at his college, so he’s a bit busy right now.”
‘Darn,’ Makoto thought to herself. She had to find something else and looked over at Rei, “Where’s Yuuichirou? I didn’t see him on the way in.” Makoto blinked as everyone except for Rei was suddenly sporting earmuffs, earplugs, or headphones. Even the cat’s had shoved cotton in their ears. The reason quickly became clear as Rei launched into a loud, verbal tirade, the volume and viciousness of which was normally reserved for Usagi. This time, however, the target was Yuuichirou.
Makoto couldn’t quite follow everything the priestess said, but she thought she caught the gist of it. Apparently the young man had no ambition in life and was way too meek around Rei for her liking. This she guessed from comments such as ‘jellyfish’, ‘earthworm’, and ‘Shinji-wannabe’.
“Uh, Rei?” The raven-haired girl continued to rant, apparently oblivious to Makoto’s attempt to get her attention. “Rei!” Still nothing. “HEY PYRO!!”
“WHAT?!”
“You’re frothing.”
That managed to stop the tirade as Rei blushed and wiped her mouth off. Taking that as a sign that it was safe once again, the others removed their ear protection. “I’m sorry, it’s just that he’s so infuriating! Yuu-kun doesn’t have even a remote clue as to what he wants to do in life. He doesn’t realize that a girl wants more than just a guy, she wants a partner with at least some ambition! I mean, that Herb guy may have been a bit of a jerk, but at least he seemed to have some goals in life.”
“Yeah,” Makoto commented miserably.
Instantly concerned over her friend’s strange reaction, Usagi was by her side. “Mako-chan, what’s wrong?”
Deciding against trying to fight the inevitable, Makoto told them most of the story. She made them swear to silence until after she was done. When the youma came up, everyone let out a loud ‘WHAT?’, but she explained what had happened and they calmed down enough to wait till her story was finished. When it came to the fight against Fauntleroy, she left out the almost dying parts and the bonding, but she did emphasize the fact that Herb had saved her twice. The girls all got hearts in their eyes at that, even Ami, but the look vanished when she told them about Herb’s decision towards Helen and Jane.
“Why that jerk!” Though most of them agreed with Ami, the girls were still shocked at the normally reserved girl’s outburst.
“It’s not really his fault. He’s a prince, he can’t just say ‘forget the rules, they don’t apply to me’. He swore he’d do whatever they said, and that’s what Helen wanted.”
“That just doesn’t seem fair,” Usagi nearly cried. The blonde was bordering on tears.
“It’s not, but there’s nothing I can do about it, so could we just drop it?”
The girls nodded. Luna suddenly spoke up, “Good, now we can focus on the important subject: What are we going to do about those youma?”
“Nothing.” Makoto blinked. She had been going to say that, but Usagi had beaten her to it. She looked at the blonde gratefully.
“Nothing?!” Luna shrieked. “There are YOUMA still running around free!”
“Luna, didn’t you hear what Mako-chan said? They were being controlled by Metallia, so without her they’re back to being normal people again.”
Rei raised an eyebrow at that. “You call being vampires normal?”
Usagi rolled her eyes. “I meant they’re just people again. Not homicidal maniacs!”
“But how can we trust them?” The moon cat protested. “We should-“
“What? Commit murder? Genocide?” Makoto growled dangerously at the cat. Luna scooted back a bit in fear as she caught the look in the brunette’s eyes. “Should we kill their children too? Make sure that they can’t pose a threat later on?”
“Children?” Usagi asked quietly.
Makoto nodded, but she never took her eyes off of Luna. “Pyrope was pregnant when we left. I don’t know when the baby is due, but she already said I could be her child’s godmother. And I agreed.”
“That was a bit rash, you know,” Artemis cut in. Before Makoto could yell at him, he raised his paw, “But it seems like a good idea.” Noticing the incredulous look that Luna gave him, he explained. “Think of it this way, if she’s the child’s godmother, that means that at least some of the youma trust Mako-chan. If they trust her, then they’re not likely to cause a problem for the princess, are they? And they know that Mako-chan isn’t likely to allow anyone to hurt her godchild, so they don’t have to fear us. It sounds like a pretty good idea to me.” Turning back to the brunette, he continued, “But next time I strongly recommend you ask your princess first.”
Makoto nodded gratefully to the white cat. “Thanks, Artemis, and I will. Usagi, do you agree with what I did?”
The blonde nodded enthusiastically. “I think it’s great! Ranma always said it’s best to make an enemy into a friend, and it sounds like you did a great job!”
Feeling some of her depression lifting, Makoto smiled gratefully at her leader. She had been worried that maybe Usagi wouldn’t have liked the fact that she had promised peace without talking to her first. It was a great relief that her fears had been unfounded. Her thoughts were distracted, however, by Artemis’ next comment.
“There is one thing I’m still trying to figure out, though. Ami, have you had any luck in finding out what made Minako wake up screaming the other night?”
The blonde shot the cat a dirty look as Makoto looked at her in concern. “V-chan, did you have a nightmare?”
Minako shook her head as she picked up the white cat by the scruff of his neck. “No, and Artemis is exaggerating. I didn’t wake up screaming.”
“That’s not what your parents thought,” the moon cat said defensively. “They came charging into your room at three in morning!”
“Yeah, yeah, you know my parents are overprotective of me. Besides, I wasn’t the only one who had to deal with a psycho cat and freaky parents, you know.” She cast a meaningful look towards Usagi.
Makoto slowly held up her hand like she was in a classroom. “Uh, would someone care to tell me what you’re talking about?”
“Oh, earlier this week,” Usagi explained, “I had a really bad nightmare about you. I thought you had died for some silly reason. But Luna and the others convinced me that you were all right, which you obviously are.”
Artemis continued from where the blonde left off. “And at the same time, Minako had one too.”
“It wasn’t a nightmare, I tell you! I just had a really bad feeling!”
“Okay, it wasn’t a nightmare,” Artemis relented.
“Thank you.”
“It was a panic attack.” The white cat promptly found himself in a headlock.
Figuring that the two blondes weren’t going to get any further in the story, Rei picked up. “We asked Ami to use her computer to try and figure it out, but she hasn’t found anything.”
“Well, that’s not exactly true,” the shorthaired girl responded. “It’s just that I received conflicting data, and once Makoto came back the results were completely corrupted.”
Luna perked her ears up at Ami’s revelation. “What was the conflicting data?”
“Well, the first data set reported that the link to Sailor Jupiter had been severed. However, it then reported that the link was active. When I did a search as to possible explanations, the computer couldn’t come up with any likely answers.”
A cold feeling crept its way up Makoto’s spine. “When did this happen?”
“The day after you left. Why? Do you have an idea?”
Makoto closed her eyes as she struggled to find some way of telling her friends the truth. Her father’s words had eased her concerns, but they hadn’t been completely eliminated. Finally finding the strength she needed, she spoke softly, “My pen was broken.”
Dead silence filled the room for several long moments that seemed to stretch into eternity. Finally, Usagi managed to find her voice. “Broken?”
“Yes. Fauntleroy broke it in order to taunt Herb.” Tears began making their way down Makoto’s face as she awaited their reaction. She didn’t know if they’d comfort her, pity her, or cast her out since she was no longer a Senshi. Suddenly she felt arms encircle her from every direction as Usagi, Minako, Ami, and Rei all moved to hug their friend. There was no way for Makoto to miss the love and compassion that they felt for her and the brunette broke into soft tears as she hugged her friends back.
After a fair amount of time had passed, Ami eventually pulled away from the group hug. Wiping away some of her own tears, she spoke. “That would explain the severed link, but I don’t understand why the Mercury computer then said the link was still active.”
“Oh, that.” Makoto wiped her face clean as the girls waited for her to continue. “I figured out how to access my Senshi abilities without transforming.”
“You did?!” Six voices shouted in unison. “That’s incredible!”
“Not really.”
Confused, Usagi prodded her friend gently. “What do you mean? It’d be nice not to have to transform in order to do some of the things we can as Senshi.”
“It’s not that simple, Usagi-chan. The uniform acts as a buffer. Without it, casting even the weakest spell could be deadly.”
“How do you know?” Ami questioned.
Sighing, Makoto realized she would have to explain everything about what happened in the fight against Fauntleroy. This time, she left nothing out. When she told them about the fusing of her aura with Herb, Ami gave her a strange look. Makoto, however, was too wrapped up in her story to notice. When she was done, everyone was staring at her in shock. Artemis was the first one to be able to speak, this time.
“You have GOT to stop cutting it so close, Mako-chan. I’m going to get gray hairs and die of a heart attack before I reach old age if you keep this up! First it was at the DD point, and now in China! If it were up to me, I’d have you grounded until I retired.” His tone was light in an attempt to break the tension in the air, but honest concern could still be felt in his words.
Smiling just a bit, Makoto rubbed the cat’s head affectionately. “You can’t get gray hairs, silly.” The smile faded shortly after. “Usagi… Am I still a Senshi?”
There wasn’t even a half a second of delay before the blonde responded. “Absolutely. You and Ami and Rei and Minako will always be my Senshi, no matter what, for as long as you want.” She pulled Makoto into another hug as relief flooded through the brunette.
Minako turned towards Luna. “Is there any way of fixing it?”
Luna shook her head sadly. “It would take a master craftsman from the Silver Millenium to repair the pen, and then Usagi would have to recharge it with the Crystal.”
“Master craftsman?” Makoto asked slowly. “As in an artificer?”
“Yes, although where one could find-“ Luna paused as dawning realization struck her. Looking up at Makoto, she saw a similar look of understanding on the girl’s face. “Perhaps Siofra can repair it. If she did, then we can restore its power and everything will be fine.”
With that announcement, what was left of the tension evaporated. The girls and the cats were able to completely relax and spend the rest of the evening chatting amiably about nothing in particular. When the meeting finally broke up and everyone said goodbye, Ami approached Makoto as the brunette was heading out the door. “Mako-chan, would it be all right if I went home with you?”
“Sure, Ami-chan. What’s up?”
“Oh, nothing really. I just want to talk with your father about something.”
Author’s notes:
Tutti – A direction for the entire ensemble to sing or play simultaneously.
*1 – Sorry for the gross stereotypes here, but I really couldn’t think of anything better. Personally, I detest getting drunk and beaten up. 8)