Leopardess
Chapter 3: Makoto
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Juno's eyes fluttered open and she shakily climbed to her feet, pulling
the cape around her as she did so. She stared wide eyed around at the z-senshi
for a moment before turning her undivided attention to Kunzite. Her eyes
widened and she gathered her energy. Kunzite's eyes widened when he felt
the static grow in the room. And he could only watch as she shot a huge
bolt of lightning at him. He screamed in pain and shouted, "You will die!"
Before turning to dust.
Juno stared at the pile of ash, he face carefully blank as she watched
what was left of Kunzite blow away in the wind through the holes in the
walls of what used to be Bulma's kitchen.
"Juno?"
Her head snapped around and her eyes widened when she saw who had spoken.
Trunks and the others stared back.
"It is her," Krillan said quietly.
Her gaze landed on each of them in turn and she began to back up. Trunks
tepped foreward whispering her name and reaching toward her. She shook
her head in disbelief and brought one cream white hand to her face.
"No," she whispered, "No, it wasn't supposed to be like this."
She felt her knees give out and waited for impact with the ground.
It never came. Warm arms surrounded her, the same arms that had hugged
her and held onto her through tears and laughter. She looked up at the
purple-haired Sayain and took in a shakey breath. He just look at her concerned,
betrayal underlying the concern in his eyes.
"I'm sorry," she said softly as a tear fell freely from one of her
emerald eyes, "Y-you saved me and I couldn't tell you. I-I'm so sorry."
"Shhh," Trunks said and swept her up into his arms.
Bulma stepped foreward, "Take her to the med lab, I want to have a
look at her."
Trunks headed foreward, not replying as he watched the brunette cry
silently. Mumbling brokenly between sobs.
~*~*~*~*~*~
When Trunks had reached the mad lab, Juno had passed out cold. Bulma
prescribed her with two weeks rest and all but Trunks left. He sat down
next to the sleeping form and sighed.
"I wish I'd have known Juno," he began trailing off.
He looked up at the clock, two a.m.. He rested his head in his hands
and closed his eyes.
He awake shortly after to something caressing his face and looked down
in time to see Juno drop her hand to her side. She still gazed at him lovingly,
like she had in leopard form.
"Juno," Trunks asked softly.
Juno nodded, "My real name."
It came out as a mere whisper but Trunks heard it loud and clear.
"What is your real name," he questioned.
"Juno," she said, "My friends called me Makoto though. I like Juno
better."
"Why?"
"Because you gave it to me," she responded, then blushed and looked
away.
Trunks' eyes widened, "So I was talking to a human the whole time?"
"Hai, though I regret to say it, " she replied.
"Why do you regret it," he asked.
"Because I betrayed your trust by not being just a mere companion,"
she said.
"But I wanted you to be human," he said.
Juno's eyes widened, "But you thought it would never happen."
"I know," he said.
Tears sparkled in her eyes as she looked up at the man she had secretly
fallen in love with, "I'm sorry."
"Sorry? For what, you did nothing wrong," he said.
"I let you belive..."
"You couldn't have told me," he replied.
"But I could have tried," she said, tears flowing freely.
Trunks wiped the tears away and gazed at her. She brought a hand up
to caress his cheek, and then let it drop in defeat.
"What is it," he asked.
"I-I fell in love with you," she began, "But now that I'm human again
there isn't any remote possibility we could be together."
"You fell in love with me," he asked , at her reluctant nod he continued,
"Why couldn't we be together?"
"Because of my duties to the crown," she said.
"I thought you were a princess," he said, confused.
"I am," she began and then proceeded to tell him the entire story,
from the Silver Millenium to the day he found her.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Juno awoke the next day, she sat up and saw that Trunks was gone, but saw some clothes on a chair, obviously for her. She stood and dressed in the dark blue jeans and oversized t-shirt and then headed for the kitchen.
When she reached the kitchen, she almost immediately regretted making
the decision to go there. All of the z-senshi were there, and had stopped
what they were doing to stare at her when she entered the room. She lowered
her head and refused to make eye-contact with anyone. She moved to the
newly repaired back door and exited the house. The feel of the wind blowing
through her loose hair felt somehow comforting to her. She felt the presence
of the others behind her, she sighed and raised her face to the sky.
"Serenity-sama," Juno whispered, "Why?"
"You know why," was the soft silvery reply.
Juno turned to the elegant queen, "Do I, I used to, but now I'm not
so sure. Why did you bring me here?"
"You know we did it to save your life," Serenity replied.
"Why?"
"What do you mean why? We need you," Serenity said.
"Do you? Sometimes I feel like you don't. I mean, I may be a warroir,
I may be the center senshi, and I may have the lives of thousands resting
on my shoulders, even the other senshi's lives, but at least if I was dead
I would be with people that truly loved me," Juno said.
At this the queen becaome so pale she blended in with her dress, taking
a step toward Juno she said, "If I'm not mistaken, the people behind you
love you."
Juno turned to look at the z-senshi, who were staring with wide eyes,
she then turned back to the moon queen, "No, they loved the Jovian leopardess,
not the girl."
"Juno Makoto Kino--"
"No," Juno cut the queen off, "They don't I can sense it--"
"We just don't understand Juno-chan," Gohan said, stepping toward her.
Juno's emerald eyes widened.
"Don't even ask to go back, you're not," the queen said, and then dissapeared.
The silence seemed deafening to all of the senshi, until Gohan stepped
foreward and put a hand on Juno's arm. She jerked away as if he'd burned
her and backed away.
"Juno? Please tell us, we just don't understand," the twelve-year-old
said.
"She turned wide eyes to Gohan, "You wouldn't. You've never had your
home destroyed in front of your eyes, you family murdered before you, and
yet you can't do anything. You've never been hunted just because of who
you are, you've never had to watch as the people you thought loved you
slowly stopped trusting you. You don't know what it's like to die so many
times only to be reborn just to relive the pain and horror, knowing that
you failed."
"Yes we can," Vegita said, "In a way. My planet was blown up, my family
murdered. Kakarotto and I have been hunted for who we are, we've had to
deal with mistrust. We do know what it's like to die and be wished back,
feeling like you failed. So we do."
Juno shook her head sadly, "No. No you don't. I am supposed to be the
strongest warrior, but even I couldn't save them."
She collapsed to her knees and looked at them, her eyes full of pain,
fear, and hopelessness, "I have no reason to live."