This story is a collarbortaion between another author, labstractl, and myself

This story is a collarbortaion between another author, labstractl, and myself. The summary and title were also created by labstractl. This story has taken awhile to be completed…so we hope that everyone enjoys it.

Disclaimer : I don't own Sailor Moon.

One Can Truly Never Know

Makoto left her apartment and was glad that the sun was shining. Normally, this was something that would make her happy, but today it just made her mood worse.

When she reached Juuban High School, Makoto hoped that she wouldn't see any of the Inner Senshi. Makoto wasn't sure if she could handle seeing them, especially since she had not had any contact with them for at least a week. The reason is that she ran away after the final battle with Galaxia. She was upset what she had allowed her star seed to be taken.

Makoto wasn't surprised to find the school was vacant since classes were in session. This was a good thing since it allowed her a couple more minutes to think. She purposely took the long way to her classroom in order to have less time in class.

"Maybe I should just turn around and go home." Makoto thought as she walked through the school. "I mean I'm sure that no one wants to see me right now."

It was one of those perfect mornings, for the cherry blossoms floated in the air and intoxicated the nostrils of anyone who passed by. The wind rustled the trees and the sun shined brightly upon the puddles from last night shower. Cobalt blue eyes stared at the sky while walking towards high school. Dark blue reflected upon light blue.

The senshi of ice walked with her usual flair when knowing she was approaching school and the potential new information she may acquire from it. Confidently she strolled passed the eager waves of the young ladies who wished to beckon her to their group. She walked with a steady gaze and one goal in her mind.

Maybe it was the loose fitting jeans that hung low to hips or the tight blouse that was half tucked into her pants that made every young woman heart pitter patter. But all Ami knew in her mind was that she had yet to see Makoto. After the battle with Galaxia, she had realized that their friendship had been altered drastically.

"Maybe I am seeing more into this then what is really there," Ami thought while shaking her head slowly.

They shared the same class so it was hard to miss each other. Ami smiled at the thought of seeing those emerald eyes that seemed to haunt her even in her dreams. She loved her as a friend. But maybe it was more..

Frowning to herself, she wanted to dive deeper into the thoughts that were overflowing in her mind. But before she could attempt the quest, a flash of auburn hair caught her eye as she noticed that Makoto had just entered the room.

Once Makoto walked into the classroom, she was aware that everyone in the classroom was staring at her. This was something that Makoto didn't like to deal with.

"I'm sorry that I'm late." Makoto said as she waked into the classroom. She didn't like that the eyes were all on her, but she was decided not to say something about it since no one asked her where she had been.

Makoto could not stand being in class. She realized that it wasn't necessarily the class, but her so-called friends. The next twenty minutes seemed to drag on and it didn't help that Makoto could see Ami watching her out of the corner of her eye. She smiled at this, but it was mostly the other students that were talking about her.

She wasn't sure why she was letting this bother her today. Usually Makoto ignored them and went on with her day. Today it seemed to be too much for her. Makoto turned around and said, "I would like to at least pretend that I am listening to the lecture. So could the two of you be quiet?!"

Every student in the class expect for Ami broke out in laughter. Makoto could tell that the teacher was upset, but she knew that the instructor wouldn't do anything about it. Right now, this was something that Makoto couldn't handle. She got up and ran out of the classroom. Makoto knew that it was the coward thing to do, but she just needed to get away from the people who don't understand her.

Makoto ran through the hallways as she pushed through the students that were in the way. When she stopped running, Makoto realized that she as on the roof. She was happy that there was no one else on the roof because she was able to think again without any interruptions.

"Why should I care what everyone thinks? They don't know anything about me!" Makoto exclaimed as she walked over to the edge of the roof and sat down. "Why were they saying those things? I have never done any of that!" She was trying her best not to cry because Makoto did not want to give anyone the satisfaction of knowing they made her cry.

The battle with Galaxia had changed the Thunder Senshi. She was no longer the girl who cared about cooking or her friends or what the latest trend in fashion was. Makoto was now well aware of the fact that she was going to be alone. All she had to do know was to get use to that fact.

It was the first time that Ami had left her books abruptly to go to another destination at top speed. She dashed out the classroom but was met by a crowded hallway. Quickly, she looked around to find the long brown ponytail of her close friend. If anyone was looking at the ice senshi they would've saw the hopeful expression quickly fill with void and dejection.

Shaking her dark blue hair that seemed to always get into her eyes, Ami went back into the classroom and retrieved her books.

"I guess this is how it will always be," Ami thought glumly.

Today, Ami decided not to take the car but walk around the city since it was such a beautiful day. She stopped off to the hairstylist to get a cut before going to meet up with the other inner senshi at the arcade.

As usual, Minako was grouped around two handsome guys that were staring at her as if she had grown two heads.

"Look miss, we just wanted to get directions for the Tofu shop," admitted the dark haired man who Minako had wrapped her arm around.

"I know. You don't have to explain anything! It was love at first sound!!" Hearts were bulging out of her eyes as she stared at the taller man with the firm muscles in his arms.

Usagi and Rei stopped fighting for a moment to look at this hilarious scene. The blue haired young woman took that moment to ease into the seat next to them without having to be detected.

It was just a usual day for the inner senshi, but to Ami it felt all wrong. The scene was missing a tall brown haired woman with amazing emerald eyes. It was the senshi of thunder that normally dragged Minako away from a scene before she embarrassed herself anymore than usual.

After having been on the roof for twenty minutes, Makoto decided that she would just go home. This, of course, was an attempt to make her life and her day not so lonely. When she got back to the classroom, she was a little upset to see that none of her friends waited for her. Makoto gathered her books before walking out of the classroom.

The arcade that her and her friends always go to was on her way home. Makoto could not help but stop and watch Minako make a fool of her self. Before Makoto realized it, she found herself walking into the arcade.

As soon as Usagi saw Makoto, she screamed, "Makoto!" She as a little upset that Makoto did not even stop and turn around to talk to her. Usagi did the only other thing that came to her mind, which was to run over to Makoto and hug her. "Where have you been? Everyone has missed you! We've been so worried about you!"

Makoto laughed. "If any of you seemed to care about me, then you would have made an attempt to contact me." She did not care if it sounded mean because as far as she was concerned it was true. "At least I know that the Outer Senshi care about me." The only reason that Makoto bought the Outer Senshi up is because Setsuna has regularly called her. It wasn't like Makoto was answering her phone, she knew that Setsuna cared.

Rei was confused by what Makoto had said. As far as Rei was concerned, the telephone worked both ways. She figured that there had to be something that Makoto wasn't talking about. "That was pretty harsh, Makoto." Rei said as she walked over to Usagi. "Come on Usagi, we should go save Minako."

Makoto watched them walk away. No matter how much she wanted to stay, Makoto turned around and walked out. Before she was able to, she caught Ami looking at her again. So as she walked past the Ice Senshi, Makoto said, "Good afternoon Ami." To anyone that heard that, they would think that it was forced. Although for Makoto, it was genuine and the nicest thing she could say at the moment.

Ami watched from her seat at the table, the exchange that was happening between Makoto, Usagi, and Rei. From the look of things, it would seem that it wasn't going over so well. Eyebrows connected to form a severe line of a frown by the thought of the senshi of strength being hurt more than she already was.

Across the table, a woman with long black hair was staring at her with lustful eyes. Ami just rolled her eyes and played with the napkin in front of her until she realized that Makoto had caught her looking at her.

Rising out of her seat, she quickly adjusted her tie that was hanging loosely against her white shirt. Walking at top speed, the senshi of ice rushed for the second time of the day to catch up with Makoto's long strides.

"Slow down!" A breathless Ami clutched at her knees in order to channel her energy back to gain some speech.

"We missed you," the blue haired woman murmured while looking earnestly into her friend's deep green eyes, "And I missed you as well."

In a nervous gesture, Ami raked her fingers through her dark blue hair as she waited for the thunder senshi to show some sign of life.

"I hope I wasn't too forward," Ami thought apprehensively as she studied the stream of emotions that flickered on the facial features of the thunder senshi.

All Makoto could do was stare at Ami. She was in shock because she kind of had this conversation with Rei and Usagi. "If that is how you feel, then why has it taken so long for you to say that?!"

Makoto was upset with the whole situation, but no one could blame her. She was also confused about what Ami had said. Mostly, Makoto wasn't sure if she should be happy or not.

"How come you have never called?!" Makoto demanded. "How come you never came by the apartment?" She asked as she walked past Ami. She was past her when Makoto turned around and said, "I know that Setsuna cares about me. She is the only one that bothered to check on me after Galaxia! That leads me to believe that none of you really care what happens to me! In fact I'm sure none of you have since I joined this damn group!"

As soon as Makoto said that, she ran off. That was something that she never wanted to tell anyone, but then again it did feel good to let out. Makoto didn't want to have these thoughts anymore so she ran down the street. She stopped two blocks away from the arcade before running again. At this point, she didn't care if she as being followed or not.

After a few more minutes of running, Makoto jogged over t a bench and collapsed on it. "I never should have said that to Ami. She probably hates me now." A breathless Makoto said, "I can't keep my feelings a secret anymore. More importantly, I can't keep hiding and pushing her away." That is when she decided to go back and talk to Ami.

On the way back to the arcade, Makoto was beginning to feel incredibly nervous. She shook her head in disappointment when she realized that Ami wasn't there. Instead of just being upset, Makoto reached in her pocket and pulled out her cell phone as she walked back to her apartment. She text messaged Ami. It said, "Meet me in the park at our spot at 9:00 pm. Make sure that the others don't come." After that was done, she put her cell phone back in her pocket. She was nervous about what tonight might bring.

Sitting at the table with a mound of books surrounding her, Ami was in the middle of solving an equation when she received the text from Makoto. It surprised her to actually hear from the thunder senshi so soon. Normally, it would take days before Makoto came to terms with what had been said and what she wished to do to fix it.

Quickly, Ami rushed to take a shower and to change into some fresh clothes. Maybe it was the anticipation that put butterflies in Ami's stomach and made her fumble with anything in her clutches. Taking one quick glance at her reflection in the mirror she hopped into her car and started to speed towards the park.

She took a moment to look at her watch and realized that it was 8:53pm. She had seven whole minutes and with it she did a quick u-turn and picked up some roses to match Makoto's favorite earrings.

'I hope she likes them,' Ami smiled at the flower lady as she handed her the money.

One more glance at her watch and she realized she had one minute to make it to their favorite location safely. She made it with two seconds left to spare and she spent that fumbling with her dark blue blazer that matched her hair. The ice senshi never tucked her shirt into her pant properly. Shaking her head, she looked down to realized half was tucked in and the other out but it was fashionable.

She heard a chuckle and her head snapped up to have blue eyes gazing into green. It was frightening and yet calming, Ami felt like she was in heaven and yet hell was snapping at her heels. Tonight was the night that could make or break a friendship and a potential relationship.

'I need her,' thought Ami as she took one long glance at the taller woman.

Makoto paced around her apartment. Time seemed to be going very slow and it was upsetting her. There was only so much that she could do in her apartment as far as cleaning went and going through her closet trying to figure out what to wear. She didn't understand why she couldn't find something because she never had this problem before.

She had spent most of the evening either pacing or sitting on the couch. Makoto had managed to fall asleep for about ten minutes before she got ready to go. Finally at 8:00, she decided that she would head over. This way she could take her time getting there.

When she got there, she was glad to see that Ami had not shown up yet. She was just glad that she got to be early for once. It seemed that things were going to be just fine since she didn't see anyone else there.

As Makoto stood there waiting for Ami, she started to think that Ami would come, which made Makoto worry. She needed Ami to come and see her. Makoto was dressed in a pair of tight light blue jeans and a black t-shirt. When those green eyes spotted Ami, Makoto instantly felt underdressed. Although, she did giggle at Ami's outfit. The reason was that every time Makoto saw the Ice Senshi, her shirt was half tucked in and half tucked out.

"I'm so happy that you came. I was afraid that you hated me." As Makoto walked over to Ami, she said, "I was trying to figure out how I would handle that." When she got to Ami, Makoto realized that Ami had flowers. Actually the flowers were pink roses. "Are those for me?" She figured that the roses were for her, but she thought that she would ask. As soon as Makoto had the roses in her arms, she said, "Thank you for the rose. They are lovely."

Makoto sat the flowers on the ledge behind her. She as already nervous enough and she didn't want to crust the roses. She had rehearsed what she was going to say to Ami a million times, but now Makoto could not remember any of it. After looking at the ground for a few moments, Makoto looked up and kissed Ami.

Alright... Despite the comments on Ami's wild love affairs at school, her best friend knew that she was a quiet person that kept to herself. Of course, she dreamt of passionately kissing Makoto, but there's a keyword in this sentence.. Dreamt!

As soon as she felt the brush of the soft as rose petals lips of Makoto, Ami felt the electric bolts go through her veins. In all honesty, they both had been waiting for this moment, but now that it was happening it seemed so much sweeter and important.

It was destine to be a long kiss, but nature had other plans in mind. So when Ami reacted by trying to deepen the kiss, the sound of thunder rolling and drops of rain hitting the pavement broke them out of their trance.

Desperate to hang onto the moment, Ami kept her arms still wrapped around the waist of the woman with emerald eyes.

"You're amazing," admitted Ami in a low voice, "and I want you to know that you can always lean on me, Mako-chan."

Makoto blushed. She didn't know what to say to that. Makoto didn't dwell on it because she figured that Ami already knew the answer. "Thanks Ami." She knew that they shouldn't be standing there in the rain, but she didn't want to move. She was afraid that this moment wouldn't happen again.

There the two of them stood with their arms wrapped around each other. Neither one of them wanting or even thinking about moving. After a few minutes, Makoto let go of Ami and grabbed her hand. This was one of the times that Makoto wished she owned a car.

"I want to talk more about this whole thing. I don't know where the kiss leaves us, but I would like to find out." Makoto brushed a strand of hair out of Ami's face. "I really want to find out what this feeling is, but I think that we should probably do this inside." Makoto said as she grabbed her flowers.

Makoto sighed. "Everything after Galaxia has been hard. I don't know why…well…I think I do know why my personality is this way, but what I'm trying to say is that this is partially my fault." She looked at Ami. "Before we do anything, I need to know that nothing has happened to our friendship since Galaxia." Makoto took a deep breath before saying, "I couldn't save you or even protect you from Galaxia. Screw Usagi…all I cared about in that moment was to save you and I failed."

Makoto was glad that she finally told Ami that. However, now she was starting to get nervous because Ami has not said anything. Makoto stopped walking and said, "Why haven't you said anything yet? Are you mad? Do you hate me?" She looked into Ami's blue eyes and then quickly looked away. She noticed that the rain started to come down fasters. Makoto didn't care because she was with Ami.

"I don't know what I would do if you hated me. I don't think that I could stand to loose my best friend. Please…please say that you don't hate me." All that Makoto could do was stand there and hope that Ami didn't hate her, but the look on the Ice Senshi's face was not a good one.

Ami just stood there staring at Makoto. She couldn't believe what the taller girl was saying, but was glad to finally have a reason for the behavior. Even if she was happy for that reason, she just couldn't let Makoto get away with everything. "You act like you don't even care for Usagi! In fact you haven't cared about any of us since that battle! So I don't understand why you feel the need to do this!!" She hated having to do this, but she just couldn't let Makoto win that easily.

Makoto stood there starting at Ami. She was in complete shock over what Ami had said. "I did care and I still do, but I never wanted Galaxia to get your start see. I wanted to protect you from that cruelty, but I failed at that."

The logic in Ami was telling her that what she was dong to Makoto was fair; however, her heart was telling her the complete opposite. "You are a Sailor Senshi, therefore; it is your duty to protect your princess."

"Don't you understand that it wouldn't have mattered what happened during that final battle. None of us were strong enough to beat Galaxia."

"But we did."

"No, Chibi Chibi did." Makoto really believed this and she was happy that she told it to Ami. "I guess this whole thing was a mistake."

Ami felt her heart stop when she heard Makoto say that. "No, it wasn't. I just wanted to do to you what you have been doing to me." Ami took a couple of steps forward so that she could wrap her arms around Makoto's waist. "I know that it was really selfish, but I had to do it."

Instantly, Makoto smiled. "I think that I can forgive you." After a few minutes of holding Ami, Makoto said, "We should probably get out of the rain before we are both sick."

Ami nodded, but not before deeply kissing Makoto. After a few moments, she broke the kiss and said, "Now, you shouldn't have any worries about where the kiss leaves us."

"No more worries." Makoto smiled. "You wouldn't happen to have your car with you, would you?"

Ami nodded again. "Yeah I do." She grabbed Makoto's hand and they walked to her car. "I'll drop you off at you apartment."

"Just going to drop me off?" Makoto asked. "Because I was hoping that you would go to my apartment with me."

Ami smiled. "We'll see."

--

Minako sat on her bed staring at her homework, but not feeling the urge to do any of it. The truth was that she was worried about Ami. She didn't want the blue-haired genius to get hurt, but Minako had no idea if that is really where she was. She looked at her phone before deciding to text Rei.

As much as Minako wanted to text Rei, she knew that the Fire Senshi wouldn't appreciate it. So she went back to starring at her Math homework. It just wasn't coming to her. So she decided to call Ami.

Minako dialed Ami's cell phone and sighed when it went straight to voice mail. Instead of leaving a message, Minako ended the call. "That was weird. Ami never turns off her phone. Oh well, I guess I'll try and figure it out."

Minako went back to doing her math homework, but she was more focused on why exactly Ami's phone was off. Minako made a mental not to remember to ask Ami about it tomorrow.

--

When Ami arrived at the apartment complex that Makoto lived in, she pulled in o a parking stall before turning off her car. She looked at Makoto and laughed.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Because we are soaked."

"Well, t-"

"It is ok though because we had fun in the rain."

Makoto smiled. "We did."

"I think I'm going to head home and get dried off before I get sick."

"You can do that at my place though." Makoto smirked. "You could just spend the might."

"Well, I'm going to go home." As much as Ami wanted to stay with Makoto, she was afraid of what she would do.

"Fine, then, you can just leave me all by myself."

"I'm going to." Ami joked as she watched Makoto get out of her car. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

Makoto nodded. "Yeah, I'll see you later." Makoto walked into her apartment building. As soon as she walked into the building, she turned around to see Ami pulling out. For the first time, Makoto was excited about the day.

--

When the next day arrived, Ami woke up and was anxious to go and see Makoto. She was glad that she wasn't sick this morning. The entire morning seemed to go by slowly until she left for school.

Ami walked to school even though it was still train. This time, though, Ami had an umbrella. When she got to school and to the classroom, Ami frowned when she didn't see Makoto.

"Here I thought that last night would have changed everything." Ami whispered as she sat hat her desk. "I was really hoping that Makoto would be here." Ami didn't have to wait long to see her auburn haired beauty.

When Makoto walked into the classroom, everyone looked at her. She could hear the other students talking about her, but she was only here for one person. Makoto walked over to that person's desk and stood there for a moment.

"What did you need Makoto?"

"To talk to you."

Ami smiled. "Of course."

"How about lunch?"

Ami nodded. "Lunch sounds good to me." She was curious about what this talk would be about. "Where?"

"The roof."

"Ok…I'll see you then."

Makoto nodded. She needed to talk to Ami, but didn't feel comfortable having a conversation in form of her classmates. "Good." She walked back over to her desk and sat down.

--

Lunch break couldn't have taken any longer to arrive. Makoto was fidgety all class and she knew that Ami was just as nervous. This was because she had never seen Ami doodle so much before. When it was finally time for lunch, Makoto casually got up and left the room. She was so nervous that she didn't want to wait and walk with Ami.

When Ami left the classroom, she made an attempt to walk slowly. This was just an attempt because Ami was running. She wanted to get the talk over with. When she reached the rooftop, she saw that Makoto was pacing. She smiled and stood there for a few moments to watch her. After a few minutes, Ami said, "Are you really that nervous? You didn't seem this nervous last night."

Makoto came to a complete stop. She turned to look at Ami before saying, "I was nervous, but you just didn't realize it."

"I see." Ami walked over to where Makoto was. "What did you want to talk about?"

"About last night." Makoto just needed to know where they stood.

"What about it?" Ami was pretty sure what she meant, but then again, Makoto was sometimes very mysterious.

"I need to know what we are doing." Makoto walked over to Ami and said, "I need to know because I want to be with you but I don't want my heart broken."

That made Ami rethink what she was going to say. "I wouldn't ever do that to you." She looked into Makoto's green eyes and said, "I love you way too much to do that."

Makoto smiled when she realized what had been said. "That is good then." She cupped Ami's face before softly kissing her. "I'm not exactly sure how this works…but will y-"

"Be my girlfriend?" Ami asked. She wanted to say those words for so long and she wasn't afraid of the answer.

Automatically, Makoto kissed the one that would become her girlfriend. Once the kiss was over, Makoto said, "I would love to be yours."

After that the two kissed again, but this it was more passionate. Neither one cared about the bell ringing that signaled class starting. All they cared about was each other and how they were finally feeling like everything was right after Galaxia.