Pray for a Storm Chapter 1: Prologue, a sailor moon fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, nor do I own the song "Storms in Africa." I am borrowing them for entertainment purposes only; no money is being made from the writing or reading of this story.

Pray for a Storm

Prologue

Cá fhad é ó

Makoto's emerald eyes grew stormy as she watched and listened to Rei and Usagi argue and blow raspberries at one another. She had gotten sick and tired of their petty, pointless tiffs that constantly interrupted the Senshi meetings she considered to be very important and serious.

She glared at Minako, who giggled while the two fought, and frowned at Ami, for she had somehow managed to block out the racket and bury her nose in a biology textbook. Makoto hadn't yet noticed the overcast sky covered with grey-black clouds.

"Dammit, you two! Just shut the hell up!" she yelled, and her outburst was punctuated by a deafening crash of thunder and jagged streaks of lightning illuminating the shadowy sky.

Makoto blinked and slowly took in the expressions of fear on her friends' faces. She'd frightened them. They were scared of her.

Rain started pouring down in sheets as she ran at top speed away from the temple and the friends she had succeeded spectacularly in making afraid of her. She cursed herself and the day she'd been born. She cursed being a Sailor Senshi and she cursed the powers that came with that position.

The droplets soaked through her school uniform and matted her hair, plastering her bangs to her forehead. Her skin repelled the water, sending rivulets of it streaming down her arms and legs. She couldn't tell if her face was wet because of the rain of because of tears. When she tasted salt at her lips, she knew it. Jupiter, the impenetrable wall of stone, had crumbled and fallen to become nothing more than a pile of broken rubble.

She slipped on a wet patch of sidewalk and let an expletive escape her lips. She landed on her knees, scraping them. Her hands, which she had thrown out to break her fall, fell hard on shards of a broken bottle, cutting them brutally. She stayed in that position for God knows how long, crying and letting the rain beat down on her back.

She lifted her head straight up to the sky, eyes closed. She opened the green orbs just in time to see a blinding white band of lightning flash downward, aimed at her. In a split second, the spot where Makoto Kino had been crumpled on her hands and knees was empty, void of any evidence she'd been there at all.

'Am I dead? Is this was death feels like?' Makoto thought while she lay sprawled on her back in the middle of a valley full of lush, green grass. 'Sure is peaceful. I could get used to this.' She let a lazy grin rise on her face and brought her hands up behind her head to cushion it. She drew them away when she felt stickiness on her brown hair. The pink flesh of her palms was torn up and bleeding. She winced and groaned in frustration.

"So if this isn't heaven or hell, where am I?" she demanded aloud, standing up while being careful of her knees. "Well, since this place is unfamiliar, I'd better be prepared." She took out her transformation pen. "Jupiter Crystal Power Make Up!" she called, and within a few moments she stood as Super Sailor Jupiter.

In the distance, she heard deep pounding that reminded her of horse hooves beating the ground. From a grove of trees about five hundred yards from her burst a pure white horse ridden by a hooded individual wearing a forest green cloak. Following that horse came a group of seven with fierce-looking riders in blood-red clothing.

Makoto glared at the red-clad people. She knew what it felt like to be alone and ganged-up on. She wouldn't let that go unpunished.

"Jupiter Oak Evolution!" she yelled, and her attack slammed into the seven riders, throwing them from their rearing horses. They were knocked to the ground and the force of it caused them to lose consciousness. Makoto then spit in their general direction.

The white horse cantered over to her and its rider dismounted. He threw his hood back and Makoto could see his face clearly, and it was indeed a handsome face belonging to a young man probably a little older than her. He had wavy auburn hair that hung long down his back and riveting dark brown eyes.

"Ne-Ne-Nephrite?" Makoto choked out in disbelief. Could this truly be the general to whom her heart had belonged in her past life? Could this be the man who shared all her passion for life and understood her as no one else did?

"Yes. How did you know my name?" he asked with a bow. "Forgive me, miss, but I have never seen you before in my life. Thank you very much for your help, though. I just couldn't shake those soldiers."

"Y-you don't know me, Nephrite?" Makoto felt that tears would spill out of her eyes at any moment. She didn't want to cry anymore.

"No, I'm afraid not. Tell me your name, please, so that I will know you," he said with a smile that almost caused her to melt.

"Makoto Kino," she answered softly in disappointment. She hoped to God that his memory was just failing him and that he would remember her soon. She was suddenly agonizingly aware of the throbbing pain in her slashed hands and split knees. Blood dripped from her injuries, staining the grass below a deep crimson. The thick liquid trickled down her calves and shins to pool inside her boots.

"You're hurt, Miss Kino!" he exclaimed, noticing her wounds. In a flash he had taken off his cloak and wrapped it around the weakened Sailor Jupiter. Then he scooped her up and plopped her down in the saddle fastened around his horse's middle. He climbed on behind her, reached forward and snapped the reigns, and they were off. Normally, Makoto would not have agreed to such handling of her person, but she was so exhausted she didn't care anymore. She powered down, collapsed backward against his sturdy chest, and passed out.

How long is it since