Serendipity
Ser·en·dip·i·ty: the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for courtesy of Merriam-Webster
Alone in the rough, scratchy embrace of the giant oak tree, the only one that stood on the school grounds, Kino Makoto dozed. Even in sleep, with those flashing emerald eyes closed, her face was not peaceful. It was drawn in tight, angry lines, for her dreams were often nightmares.
"Makoto! Makoto, fifth period is about to start!" a red-haired girl called anxiously, peering up at the brunette's bower of hand-shaped leaves.
She woke with a start, brushed the tears away from her cheeks, and leaned down precariously to answer the girl who had woken her from bad dreams spawned by bitter memories. "Hai, Unazaki. I'll be down in a minute; you go ahead."
As the redhead trotted away obediently, Makoto sighed and clambered out of the oak. She brushed the bits of bark from her uniform and squinted up at the sky. Just three more months, she reminded herself, and she would be finished with school. The law didn't require education beyond high school, and most of the students in her neighborhood didn't plan to attend college, lacking both the ambition and the funds.
Makoto hated everything about the school, from the barren cement grounds to the listless students who attended it. She had transferred there three years ago and was still known as the "Karate Maniac"; she doubted that many of her classmates knew her actual name. Unazaki, a freshman, seemed to pity her: she would talk to Makoto when they met, smile, and, just as she had done moments before, remind Makoto to get to class on time. They weren't very close friends, as Unazaki was several years younger, very popular, and had many friends her own age. Makoto had actually grown to like her loner status – it kept all but the most foolish or cruellest away from her.
She entered the classroom, late as usual, with a level stare for the teacher who announced in a superior tone, "Late again, Miss Kino. Detention Thursday" and marked her tardy with undisguised satisfaction. Resisting the urge to plant her fist in his flabby face, Makoto made her way to her seat and began counting the days to the end of the school year again.
"Detention again?" The tone in which the words were said was casual; the glance directed towards her was concerned.
Makoto nodded, a glum look on her face as she hopped onto the stool. "Yeah. Sensei's had something against me ever since that time I told him his face looked like a prune."
Motoki, the handsome owner of the Crown Arcade, let out a startled laugh. "Well, you can't blame him, can you?"
"It's the truth," she insisted sulkily. When the fair-haired man put down a chocolate milkshake in front of her, she sucked up a strawful of the frothy mixture before digging out her woefully thin wallet.
He had his back turned, polishing the gleaming countertop: the arcade was one of the cleanest places around, thanks to Motoki's hard work. "It's on the house," he remarked.
Her eyes narrowed resentfully. Nothing had gone right the entire day, and Motoki's pity was rubbing her the wrong way. Tossing the bills onto the counter, Makoto finished the shake in quick gulps and stalked out without a goodbye.
She was so angry that as her long legs ate up the garbage-strewn pavement, she didn't notice the eyes of a stranger upon her.
"So, Neph, any luck?"
The brown-haired man strolling in raised an eyebrow in the blond's direction. "Luck? No. Destiny? Yes."
The two blond-haired men looked at each other and broke into identical grins. "Awesome. You were right on target, Ami," Jadeite said, swooping over to kiss her on the lips. In spite of her long acquaintance with him and his behavior, she still blushed.
"What are you so happy about? It's not your girl," the second blond-haired man in the room said grumpily. Despite his disgruntled words, Zoisite also smiled at Nephrite.
Jadeite smirked. "You're just jealous." Looking down at the petite, blue-haired girl, he asked, "One of these days, we're going to run off and get married, right, Ames?"
"In your dreams!" Minako chirped teasingly as she danced into the room, even though she had only caught Jadeite's last sentence.
"What are you so happy about?" he inquired, finally releasing Ami.
With a territorial air, Zoisite strode over to stand behind Ami's chair, and she looked up at him, smiling with amusement and some resignation. "Yes, you do seem very happy today, Mina-chan. Did something happen?"
She practically fell onto the couch with a dreamy smile; Zoisite yelped as a stack of his papers floated into the air and lunged for them. "Oops, sorry, Zoi!"
His response was a pained grunt as he frantically tried to recover the sheets of the white-paper blizzard in the correct order. Nephrite took pity on his friend and bent down to help him.
"Kunzite's coming back in two weeks!" Minako announced with a blissful smile. "And he's bringing a friend, Chiba Mamoru." Turning to Jadeite, she said, "You might be interested to hear that this Mamoru apparently has a very attractive cousin named Rei."
"What, is she coming too?" Zoisite asked, stretching out of the floor as he tried to organize his papers.
"Yes, but don't start complaining about yet another person moving in to disturb your peace," Nephrite informed him.
With a long-suffering expression on his face, the green-eyed man retorted, "As I've said numerous times, I have no problem with people 'moving in,' as you call it; I merely remarked that it was getting crowded in here."
Jadeite smiled evilly. "Well, it wouldn't be so crowded if you would just move in with Ami already."
His response was a scorching look from his friend that clearly expressed his hope that Jadeite would just happen to fall off a cliff the next day.
"Ah – you know, Mina, Nephrite also has good news," Ami announced quickly, trying to change the subject and dispel the redness from her face.
"Really? What's going on? You found her?" Minako asked interestedly, turning to the brown-haired man.
He grinned. "Yes, to all three questions."
"What's her name?"
"Um – you know, I really...don't know."
"How could you not know?" Jadeite demanded, halting his impromptu wrestling match with Zoisite (who had been losing).
Nephrite looked away sheepishly. "Well, you know, she was just walking down the street, so I sort of followed her for a few blocks."
Zoisite snickered. "The objective was for you to make contact with her, not stalk her, you know."
He glared back and said, "Hey, we can't all romance our women like you did, all right? Your idea of 'initiating contact' was to drop a stack of library books, each more than two inches thick, all over Ami's feet. Not only did she think you were a freak, she thought you were a clumsy freak."
Zoisite was rapidly turning as purple as a stewed beet. "That was an accident, okay? Would you stop bringing it up already?"
As they proceeded to start an argument, which Jadeite joined in, Minako turned to Ami and asked dryly, "How old are they again?"
Ami sighed. "If you're asking about physical age, early twenties. But mentally, I would say eleven at best."
"Elise, I've got detention on Thursday so I won't be home until four," Makoto informed her foster mother before she let the front door slam shut and headed for the stairs and the haven of her room.
The perpetually cross, tired-looking woman appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. "Detention again?" she asked with a scowl, the accusatory question completely different from Motoki's sympathetic inquiry. Makoto slammed into her room without an answer, and Elise returned to the kitchen shaking her head. 'That girl...I'll be glad once the year's done and she can live on her own,' she thought irritably.
Meanwhile, Makoto had just thrown her backpack into the corner when the phone rang. "Hello?" she asked after a hasty search under a pile of magazines. Most of them were about gardening, but there wasn't a single plant in her cramped and airless room.
"Hey, Makoto? This is Unazaki."
"Oh, hi, Unazaki," Makoto greeted, trying to sound more friendly than she had initially. "What's up?"
"A bunch of my friends and I are going clubbing tonight. Do you want to come?" Unazaki asked, expecting Makoto to refuse but crossing her fingers behind her back.
The brunette considered briefly, and as she heard her foster parents squabbling downstairs in the living room, she replied quickly, "Yeah, I'm coming. What time are you meeting?"
"Seven thirty," she answered, somewhat taken aback but pleasantly so, "at Fusion."
"Okay. I'll meet you there." There was a pause, and then Makoto added, "Thanks, Unazaki."
"No problem. See you then!"
Makoto hung up the phone, then looked around her messy room uncertainly. Did she have anything she could wear to Fusion.
"Wow, Makoto, you look great," Unazaki said, looking stunned at Makoto's makeshift outfit.
The tall brunette shifted uncomfortably. "Ah, thanks. I couldn't really find anything to wear, so I just...threw this on." She was wearing a hunter green skirt and a white halter, a far cry from the unflatteringly shapeless, tan school uniform. She had also let her hair down from its customary ponytail, and it was swirling about her shoulders in shimmering mahogany waves. "You look nice too," she replied. It was true, but Unazaki always looked pretty – she put a lot more effort into her appearance than Makoto did.
"Thanks. Come on, let's dance!" she said cheerfully, and Makoto followed suit, trying to relax. She didn't like the appraising look she was receiving from one of Unazaki's male friends who wouldn't have given her a second glance at school. Searching her mind, she was trying to remember if he was in her grade or not (she was pretty sure he was older than Unazaki, at least) and what his name was, when she noticed yet another speculative glance directed towards her.
This time, she felt no tingle of paranoid hostility when the brown-haired man ducked his head, as if embarrassed to be caught looking. Makoto, at the receiving end of his shy smile, smiled back before turning away quickly. She was curious about him, somewhat unwillingly. He didn't go to her school, that was for certain.
After an hour or so of dancing, Makoto was tired of it, the sweating bodies around her, the not-so-subtle advances from Unazaki's overzealous friend, and the tacky neon lights that ricocheted off the walls and ceiling. Catching the redhead's eye, she shouted, "Unazaki, I'm going to get a drink, okay?"
"What?" she screamed back, moving closer to hear.
"I'm going to get a drink!" Makoto repeated loudly.
An abrupt lull in the music allowed Unazaki to hear her perfectly, and she winced. "Oh, okay! You want me to come with you?"
Although she appreciated the offer, Makoto declined. She regretted the action almost instantly; as she popped the top off a can of soda, the unwanted admirer with the amorous eyes appeared at her elbow. With great satisfaction, she noted that he was shorter than her and puny to boot. With some chagrin, she also realized that he was well on his way to being drunk and wrinkled her nose at his breath and slurred speech.
"Hey, Makino, wanna dance?" He leered at her unpleasantly, and she held back a shudder of disgust with difficulty.
"No, thanks, I'm sort of tired now. And it's Makoto," she corrected. "Look, I'm going to get some fresh air..see you later."
He maneuvered in front of her, his eyes narrowed so they gleamed like beetles in the dim lighting. "No one says no to me, Makoto."
They were just at the back door, and she raised her eyebrows skeptically as she put her hands on her hips. She remembered why she hated going to clubs. "Oh, yeah? You should get your hearing checked, because I just did. Now I said no, and you're drunk, so why don't you get lost before you make an even bigger fool out of yourself?"
She had walked about a yard into the cool night air when he was back, grabbing her sleeve. She whirled around, ready to divert him more forcefully, when his eyes widened – he was staring at a point behind her. Then he sneered, "I should have known a slut like you would be sneaking off to meet someone" before he headed inside.
Makoto turned slowly, fuming despite herself. Why did men always come up with such unimaginative, overused insults? When she looked into the face of the blue-eyed stranger, her breath caught in her throat.
"Hi," Nephrite smiled nervously. "Are you all right?" he asked next, thinking she was upset at the boy's words.
"I'm fine," she answered stiffly, "I didn't need you to scare him off, you know."
He blinked, somewhat taken aback at her defensive attitude. "No, I know you didn't. Listen, I wanted to talk to you earlier. I'm...my name is Nephrite."
Unwillingly, she said, "I'm Makoto."
"Nice to meet you," he said, extending his hand.
Makoto stared at it disbelieving, and he blushed. "You're not from around here, are you?"
His perfect teeth gleamed whitely in the bleached light from the street lamps. "Nope. I'm an off-worlder, from Terra."
She looked impressed despite herself. "Really? Why are you staying in a dinky town like this?"
"It's a long story."
Still eyeing him suspiciously, Makoto replied, "I've got the time." Inwardly, she was wondering if she could take him in a fight and if he was planning to lure her off.
Nephrite smiled uncertainly. He had already discovered that her reactions were not what he expected, but he kind of liked it. "Okay, then. Want to sit down?" he asked, indicating a stone ledge not far away. She nodded after gauging that the club would be in screaming distance if worst came to worst.
They actually talked about other miscellaneous topics, becoming more at ease with each other quicker than Makoto expected, before she reminded him, "You said you would tell me why you're here, with your friends. It's not exactly a vacation spot."
He spoke gently, brushing his fingers over her glossy hair in a way that made her skin tingle. "We are Seekers, Makoto. Our belief in the existence of soulmates leads us to search for those we are destined to be with in life."
She had heard of them before, written them off as dreamers who were privileged enough to be so idealistic. "How do you know who is meant to be together?" she inquired, deciding to humor him.
A beautiful smile broke over his face, like the first, shining slice of sun over the horizon at daybreak. "Do you see that couple over there?" Nephrite asked, motioning at a lean, fair-haired man who was holding a slender, dark-haired woman in his arms. They stood embracing in the privacy of shadows; the others were in the club.
Makoto nodded, unconscious that her gaze had gone wistful when she registered the glowing looks passing between the two. For them, they were the only ones in the universe, the only people that mattered – it was a selfish, enviable intimacy that brought a tightness to her throat.
"The man is my friend; his name is Zoisite. Ami is a scientist, who believed that everything in the world fit in its neat little niche, explained by formulas and theories and whatever else scientists use to explain miracles. Zoisite convinced her that love doesn't have to fit into her exacting equations to exist." He turned to her with a beatific expression on his face. "Of our other friends, Kunzite has found his soulmate, Minako. Of the original quartet we set out with, Jadeite and I are still unmatched, and Usagi has joined us since then."
She still thought he was nuts, but she liked the way he had said he was "still unmatched." Actually, she liked a lot of things he said and the way he said them. "Then, you're looking for someone here who you think is one of your soulmates?"
"Yes," he responded eagerly, "Ami has this amazingly complicated process where she inputs data concerning our personalities and searches for profiles who, through her calculations, have a large probability of matching our personalities... And, you know, not everyone is registered, or we can't access the databases where their files are located. I'm not sure I understand completely the whole thing."
She wasn't sure she got it, either. "Sounds tough," she said in a noncommital tone. "So who's looking for a girl around here? You, or...Jadeite?" she asked, testing out the strange name.
Nephrite's smile made her heartbeat quicken. "Me."
She tugged her fingers out of his grasp, hoping he would get the message as she moved away slightly. "Yeah? Who's the lucky girl, then?"
"I think I've found her already," he said softly, undeterred.
"I'm sorry, Nephrite, but I'm not the one you're looking for." Makoto got up to leave but he stood swiftly, barring her path. Looking up at him reminded her that he was extremely tall by all standards, topping her by at least half a foot. He loomed now, bringing to mind the image of a towering angel in shadow.
"We have something, Makoto, and we've only known each other for a few hours."
She laughed shakily. "It's late, and I think we're both overtired. I've got to go now. I hope you have a good stay, and it was nice talking to you."
He released her, becoming his usual unthreatening self again. "All right. Good night, Makoto." As she turned to go, his voice drifted after her once more. "I've had later nights than this before, Makoto, and I've never felt this way with anyone else like I feel with you. You know what I mean."
She didn't turn around, but she didn't start running until she rounded the corner of the building.
The next morning, Makoto was not at her best, and dark smudges stood out against her pale skin as she leaned tiredly against the old oak tree, grateful for its unyielding support.
Almost immediately, Unazaki found her. "Where did you go last night, Makoto? We couldn't find you when we were going to leave, and I looked all over for you!"
"Oh, sorry. I felt a little tired, so I just went home."
"Well, did you at least have fun before you left?"
Makoto shrugged, thinking about her strange conversation with Nephrite and then quickly shoving it to the back of her mind. "Sure. Although – I think one of your friends could use an attitude adjustment, Unazaki. I'd stay away from him if I were you."
"Oh, was Hiroshi bothering you?" She looked upset. "I know, he's such a jerk, but we invited him because one of my girlfriends is really hung up on him... I don't know why..."
Makoto nodded absentmindedly, making the appropriate replies to whatever Unazaki said during the rest of their conversation. She was relieved when the bell signaling the start of classes rang and they all hurried inside.
"What's she like?" Jadeite asked curiously two days later as he and Nephrite leaned against the dusty brick wall surrounding Makoto's high school.
He made an incoherent gesture with his left hand. "Beautiful. Intelligent. Kind. Defiant. She seems unhappy."
Concern was plain on the blond's handsome features. "Yeah? How come?"
Nephrite shrugged. He heard her voice, soft as rose petals, in his mind. "What I've always wanted to do is open a flower shop, but my...guardian doesn't let me have plants in the house."
"She lives with foster parents," he abruptly answered Jadeite's question. "She doesn't seem to have a lot of affection for them, and she doesn't like her school."
Jadeite glanced up at the wicked iron spikes lining the top of the wall. "Can't blame her. It reminds me of my old prep school – oh, not physically, and minus the arrogance that comes with the breeding, but it's just as lifeless."
He was never sure what to say about Jadeite's unhappy childhood before they had met, even though Jadeite made it clear that he was perfectly all right discussing it now.
Sensing Nephrite's discomfort, his friend changed the subject. "You haven't seen her since that night," he said cautiously. They were all eager to see if she was really Nephrite's soulmate but hesitated to pry.
"I want to see her again," Nephrite replied quietly. It was answer enough, and his friend nodded his satisfaction.
Just then, the school gates banged shut, and the girl in question rushed out, looking like storm clouds in August.
"Oh!" Makoto stopped in surprise, seeing Nephrite before her. "Nephrite... What are you doing here?"
The heart-stopping grin flashed across his tanned face again. "Sight-seeing." Then – "Is anything wrong, Makoto? You look upset."
She looked down at the ground, swinging her backpack sullenly. "I had detention on Thursday, but I forgot to go. Now I have two to serve next week, and my foster mother's going to be annoyed... I'm supposed to run errands for her after school." Shaking her head and sending the satiny locks flying, she asked quickly, "You're going to be on planet a little longer, then?"
Nephrite glanced over his shoulder at Jadeite. "It seems like it."
Seeing the direction of his gaze, Makoto started abruptly, then flushed. "Oh – I'm sorry, I didn't see you earlier–"
"I'm Jadeite, a friend of Neph's," he said easily.
She stuck out her hand. "I'm Makoto."
"Yeah, I know."
She stood stiffly, thinking that his smile and his face were just as nice as Nephrite's but with more boyish mischief. "Are you...well, do you also..."
"Am I also a Seeker?" Nephrite had told him about her skepticism concerning their outlook on life. "Yep. I'm one of the three poor unfortunates."
"Poor unfortunates?" she wondered.
Jadeite grinned. "Yeah, I haven't found my girl yet. You don't happen to want to ditch Neph here for me, do you? I promise, I'm much more charming, and better looking, too."
Makoto was surprised into a laugh by his joking proposition. She pretended to consider. "Mm...I don't know. Can you cook?"
Nephrite was getting more disgruntled by the minute, and Jadeite was enjoying it. "Sorry, sweetheart. I'm one of those people who burns water, as they say it. I can't even scramble an egg."
"Maybe because your brains are scrambled," Nephrite muttered.
They both ignored him. "That's too bad," Makoto said in a mock-considering tone. "Domestic men are so hard to find, you know. I think I'd better stick with Neph here, but I appreciate the offer."
Jadeite winked one azure blue eye at her. "No hard feelings. Listen, I've got to get going – catch you later, Neph?"
"Yeah, sure."
"I hope I see you again, Makoto. It was great meeting you."
"You, too," she echoed softly.
When he was gone, Nephrite said, "Amazing. What I fail at in two hours, he can do in ten minutes."
Smiling again, she chided, "Don't be jealous. It's not becoming."
As she began to walk off, he hurried to catch up with her. "Hey, please don't go yet. Can I get you a drink or something to eat?"
"No, but thanks. I've got to get home." She told herself the brusqueness was necessary, so she didn't have to keep seeing Nephrite's face superimposed on each man she saw, every step of the way home, as she had been doing for the past two days.
"I'll walk you there, then."
"Fine."
After a few minutes' silence, he broke out, "How come you're so comfortable with Jadeite? I don't bite, really."
Makoto was still looking at the ground, which she considered the safe thing to do. "Oh, I don't know. He looks pretty harmless, and he seems like a nice guy. He's your friend, isn't he?"
"Of course. We've been friends for years. But I wouldn't call him harmless. He's the sole heir of one of the most powerful families on Terra."
She stopped then, looking at his shirt buttons now. "Look, Nephrite, I can't give you what you want. I'm not your dream girl, and I don't believe in – in the same things you do."
"Soulmates, you mean. Give me a chance," he insisted, "I've got dreams enough for the both of us."
She couldn't resist the smile in his voice, although hers was a great deal sadder. "You are so incredibly sweet," she whispered, "don't make it so hard for me. Our worlds just don't mix. Here you are, this handsome, confident man with beautiful ideals. You've traveled to places I've never been, seen things I'll never see, and talked to people who would never talk to me. You have wonderful people in your life – I can tell just by having met Jadeite. He's just like you, so optimistic and with such opportunities."
His navy blue eyes were now burning with fearsome temper, but she still wasn't looking at him. "Jadeite has been through hell because of his situation," he said through gritted teeth, "but this isn't about Jadeite. This is about us."
"There is no 'us'! Haven't you heard what I've been trying to tell you?" Makoto tried to tear her gaze away from his, but it was too late – once she looked up, she couldn't look away.
He took her firmly by the shoulders – and bent down to kiss her. She closed her eyes, bracing herself against his chest, and was shocked into opening them again when she felt the sweetness of his lips. She had expected him to be rough and deliberate in his anger; instead, he was gentle and searching. It still felt like he was rearranging all the molecules in her body.
When he released her, Nephrite's expression was no happier than her own had been several minutes ago. Several very important minutes ago.
"What do you want from me?" she whispered, shaken.
He took her hands. "I want to take you with me...far from here, far from the life you hate. I want to show you those things you want to see, and fall deeper in love with you every day we're together. Just say yes, Makoto."
"I can't," she choked, tears brimming in her eyes.
He dropped her hands. "What do you want from me, then? One of us should be happy, at the very least."
"Please leave. Please go back to Terra – or any other planet you'll be stopping off at next – with your friends."
Nephrite swallowed hard. "Very well. If that's what you want."
"Yes. Goodbye, Nephrite."
"Makoto – I will never love another woman but you."
She laughed shakily, broadening the distance between them. "I don't believe you. You'll find someone else, or many someone elses."
"If you think that, then there was no hope to begin with. Farewell, Makoto."
Minako watched a dispirited Nephrite pacing the room sympathetically. "No luck, sweetie?"
"None at all," he said tiredly, sinking into the couch cushions beside her.
"Want to tell me what happened?"
"She thinks I'm some – I don't know, some thirtieth-century equivalent of a hippie who believes in free love and intergalactic peace and who knows what else."
A laugh bubbled up in her throat. "But Neph, isn't that basically what we are? Perhaps not the free love, at least not between all of us, and we all know that with Zoi and Jade around we'll never have intergalactic peace, but..."
"I suppose so," he said grudgingly, with a pout that made her want to laugh all over again. "But it's different. I'm not some naive, fresh-out-of-school guy on a pleasure trip around the universe trying to pick up any girl I see, you know."
"Did she say that?" Minako asked, surprised.
"Well...not exactly in those terms...but she implied it." Before she could laugh again, Nephrite said rapidly, "She wants me to leave the planet."
Minako smiled then. "Well, in that case, all hope isn't lost. If you're making her uncomfortable enough to wish you off the planet, you must be having some effect on her. Indifference to your existence would have been a very bad sign."
Nephrite sighed. "I could do with a little less discomfort and a little more of that confidence she thinks I have. What should I do, Mina?"
She tapped a polished nail against her lip. "Nothing for a while. But you know, there might be someone else who could talk to her..."
"You?"
"No, not me. Ami."
They allowed Makoto one week to stew over things, get another detention, and have a fight with her foster father. Nephrite made himself scarce, giving her the impression that he had indeed left the planet, and her entire world, behind. Then, one stormy afternoon, Ami walked into the Crown Arcade.
She had graduated from her Terran high school approximately four years ago, but her petite form and studious air, supplemented by her neat black school bag and spectacles, were enough to convince the observers that she was still a student.
Makoto looked up when the gray shadow fell over the plastic tabletop and heard an unfamiliar voice ask, "Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?"
"Yeah, sure. Go ahead, I mean," she amended quickly when the girl looked unsure of the answer. Makoto peered at her as she arranged her belongings beside her somewhat nervously. She looked vaguely familiar... "You're Ami, aren't you? Neph's friend?"
The other girl, who had been searching for a tactful way to introduce herself, nodded gratefully. "Yes, that's me. It's nice to meet you, Makoto."
"I thought you guys left."
She looked uncomfortable. "Well...we promised one of our friends who usually travels with us that we would rendezvous with him here. We're used to journeying together, so none of us wanted Nephrite to leave without us – where one of us goes, all of us goes."
It sounded like a nice system to Makoto, having five or six friends you were close to, who you didn't mind living with for several months at a time.
"But he is trying not to run into you, because you said you didn't want to see him again."
Makoto winced: Ami's polite, crystalline voice made it sound even worse than she had remembered.
"Don't you – don't you like him?" Ami asked, a worried expression on her face.
"Of course I like him. Who wouldn't? He's a great guy," Makoto answered sincerely, "but the sooner he realizes that I'm not the girl he's looking for, the better."
The uncertainty cleared from her features. "Why do you think that?"
Makoto tapped her fingers on the table, unsure how to respond. Yes, she still thought Nephrite and his friends were impossible dreamers and this girl was one of them, but Ami seemed just as nice as Nephrite and very shy. She didn't want to run her off. "Look," she said finally, "I used to love reading fairytales as a kid. You know, those stereotypical pilot-in-a-silver-space shuttle who rescues the princess-from-another galaxy stories. He hasn't got the shuttle, and I'm not a princess, okay?"
To her surprise, Ami giggled. "Nephrite is actually a very good pilot, you know. He can fly anything, anywhere in space."
"Great. Just great," she mumbled, thinking that Ami hadn't gotten the point of her words.
"Makoto, we aren't asking you to be part of a fairytale. Please understand this. I know how you feel: who are these crazy people, why have they intruded in my life, and why can't they get out, right?" She nodded wordlessly, and Ami continued, "When Zoisite first approached me, and I told him that if he didn't leave, I would call security. I didn't believe him, I had just begun working my way up in a prestigious laboratory, and I didn't want anything in my life to change."
Intrigued despite herself, Makoto asked, "What made you change your mind?"
"I didn't. I really called security."
Makoto grinned despite herself. "I meant, about Zoisite."
"Oh, a number of things," Ami smiled. "But my telling you won't smooth your way, Makoto. It won't tell you what you should do; what's right for me isn't necessarily right for you. I just wanted to ask you to give Nephrite a chance. What do you have to lose?"
She hated that question. Her counselor asked her that constantly, whenever he was trying to make her do better in school and get along better with her foster parents. She suddenly realized that she'd never really given it much thought because of that. Slowly, Makoto responded, "My parents died when I was five or six years old in a shuttle crash, and for about three years after that, I moved from orphanage to foster home to foster home until I was placed with the couple I live with now. I don't love them. They aren't good people, but they aren't, you know, criminals or anything. They've just been beaten down, downtrodden by lives that never really went anywhere. I turned out to be another disappointing burden in their lives."
"Do you want to stay here and become one of them? We can take you with us, Makoto, even if you don't believe in us, in Nephrite. We'll take you anywhere you want," Ami promised rashly, her heart filled with sympathy. "You don't have to stay with us if you don't want to, but if you do..."
She found that she couldn't speak for a few minutes. "I don't have much to lose, but this is all I've got. I've lived here all my life, Ami. I need something permanent, something I'll always have that never changes, that I know will always be there."
Ami looked steadily into her eyes. "What is life without change? What makes a home a place you want to hold onto isn't the physical setting but the people and things you love that are there. Yes, it's true that Jadeite can be a pain, the guys' collective idea of hygiene can be truly disgusting, Minako is overly cheerful in the morning, and Kunzite is always moping about the fact that we never have a set schedule, but we've traveled for years with each other as the only constants in our lives. I wouldn't give that up to head my own research laboratory."
Makoto felt herself tearing up. It was like receiving a ready-made home; she had the house and all the furniture was just waiting to be arranged. But... "No. I can't do it."
"Why not?"
"Because...it's not fair to Nephrite."
"If you're willing to give us a chance," Ami pointed out reasonably, "why can't you give Nephrite one?"
Makoto twined her fingers together. "It's different. If I – if we – I don't want to give him the wrong impression. I feel like I would be leading him on if I said yes."
"Why? You've already been honest with him that you don't believe in the same things. If you find out that you aren't compatible, Nephrite will understand, and no one will force you to stay with us if you don't want to. And if you find out that you are suited to each other, what's wrong with that?"
After a long silence, she asked, "He's really still here, right? He isn't – gone?"
"Yes, he's really here. I can take you to him now," Ami offered, rising.
Makoto stood up as well, bracing herself as if she was preparing for an interstellar battle. "Ami, if he says yes, and we give it a shot...I can't leave right away–"
"We will wait for you, Makoto. As long as you need."
"All right. Thanks. Let's go," she said more bravely than she felt, and they went to see Nephrite together.
Three months later, Makoto graduated from high school without receiving any more detentions. She left her foster parents, said goodbye to Motoki and Unazaki, and prepared to leave the only place she had ever known. During that time, Kunzite returned, bringing with him a personable young man named Mamoru Chiba and his fiery cousin, Rei Hino. None of them thought there was the remotest possibility that she could be Jadeite's soulmate, including Rei herself, but he wasn't giving up. Their last day on Makoto's home planet, it looked as if there might finally be hope for them...
They were all watching Jadeite land the shuttle expertly after he had taken it up for some elated loop-de-loops (Rei had muttered that he was a show-off under her breath, then smiled fondly when she'd thought no one was looking) when Makoto said urgently, "Ah – Nephrite, there's something I need to tell you now that I should have told you before."
He looked down at her with a nervous smile and took her icy-cold hand. "Yeah? What is it now?" It was her last chance to make a break for it, and he wasn't letting it happen.
Makoto swallowed hard. "I have a phobia of space shuttles."