Makoto had been feeling the need to spar since late into the night and felt thankful when Haruka agreed. Her shoulders felt far too tensed up, as if she had been angry for days. So at 10 A.M., she met Haruka up on the deck near the railing for their practice.

"You still need to work on your right hook. Relax some, you're too tense. You aren't moving nearly as quickly as I know you can." Haruka dodged another punch and tapped Makoto in the stomach. Rei had a strict rule that no one was to injure another person when practicing in the event they were attacked. Taps counted as strikes.

"I am relaxed." Huffing out, Makoto took stance again. They had been at it for two hours and she had managed all of three hits in on Haruka, who had a score of thirty seven now. It was frustrating to her and she tried to focus simply on Haruka, trying to block blows and land her own. So much so that she instantly reacted when she felt another hand on her.

Reaching, she flipped the person over her shoulder and straight over the edge of the ship. Thankfully, Haruka reacted and caught their arm and Makoto had to cringe. She had just thrown Ami towards the ocean and watching her back impact against the side of the ship was painful. Haruka pulled her over, looking concerned.

"Are you okay?"

Ami nodded, trying to get her breath back that was knocked out of her.

Makoto frowned and clenched her fists. Haruka was all over Ami, checking her back under her shirt. Words flashed across Makoto's mind.

"The only time I've ever seen a crew member, outside of you, missing clothes, is when I've been fixing them up."

But what did that say for others undressing Ami and them giving her pleasure in return for fixing them up? Makoto clenched her teeth together hard.

"Mako?" Ami was suddenly in front of her and she looked down at her. "I was wondering if you would come to the room with me?"

It was clear what Ami was suggesting. They hadn't slept together since Minako's arrival with everything going on. Ami must have been incredibly stressed out if she was asking not in a form of privacy, but in a way that averted suspicions from the rest of the crew. Makoto, however, was not interested.

"No."

"…I'm sorry, what?" Ami was clearly started by that, and so was Haruka it seemed.

"I'm busy."

"It's okay Makoto. We can pick this back up later." Haruka was trying to put the fire out on the situation that seemed to be going on.

Rolling her eyes, Makoto shook her head. "I said no."

Ami stared for a moment before reaching out to gently touch Makoto's arm, but she would have none of it. She grabbed her hand and pushed her back. "What part of no don't you get? Some genius."

"Makoto!" Haruka yelled at her for that one, catching Ami to keep her from falling. "What the hell is your problem?"

"My problem? Why don't you go to the bedroom with Ami. You've probably been fucking her anyways."

"Excuse me." Ami's tone turned cold at that one. Did Kino Makoto seriously just accuse her of sleeping around?

"I'm not stupid, Ami. You sleep with everyone else on the ship. They probably get you off after you patch them up as payment. Whatever, I'm done here." Makoto turned to walk off but suddenly was yanked backwards by Ami. "Let me go!"

Ami whirled Makoto around and suddenly it was like the air got icy cold, similar to the look Ami was giving Makoto. However, her cold eyes weren't what got her attention. It was the tears and the heart break that lay beyond that. Why in the hell had she said any of that? Ami had been nothing but devoted to her, in and out. Even with her nightmares as of late.

"You sorely have underestimated me and the kind of person I am. If I'm of such little value to you, then you're just as of little to me. I could care less about what your blood tests have to say."

"So what, you'd rather I die?"

"It'd be just as heartbreaking as now. What difference would it make?"

"You'd be a murderer. Then again, I guess you are one, with how you killed your Comma—" Makoto's next words off by a sharp slap from Ami.

"Fuck you." Ami's words were sobs at this point as she moved to walk around Makoto, who grabbed by the arm hard. "Let me go."

Makoto moved to return the hit to Ami but in the middle of her turn, she saw stars and had to blink several times to clear her vision, registering pain on the left side of her face. When she was finally able to see, she was face to face with Rei, who was holding her collar and looked beyond pissed off.

"It seems I need to remind you of some rules of my ship." Rei forced Makoto to turn around and slammed her into the mast of the ship. "Like getting along with everyone, which you broke. And let's not forget not injuring teammates."

"You mean like you slamming Mina's face into the ship post?" There was another set of stars in her vision, though this one lasted much shorter. Reaching up, Makoto felt blood on her lip and registered that Rei had punched her again.

"I don't know who the hell you think you are, but I'm in command here. I won't take your back talking. Now I don't know if you're started your period or bashed your head this morning, but you'd better start working really quick on getting your attitude set straight."

"Rei it—"

"Ami." The word was short and the point and held enough of a threat that Ami stepped back, knowing where this was going to go.

"What makes you all high and mighty as the leader anyways?" Makoto glared at Rei. "I'm taller than you, stronger than you. I should be the leader. Just because you're a Daddy's girl of the Navy doesn't mean shit."

"You think you can run this ship better than I can? That you're better than me?"

"Yeah. All you do is fucking fight pirates. Why when we can do so much more?"

Rei held Makoto in place for a long while before pushing away from her and pulling her jacket off, followed by her belt. "Then I'll have to both prove you wrong, and knock the shit out of you for calling me what you did."

Makoto stepped away from the post and raised her arms to fight.

Rei really had hoped it wouldn't become a physical situation, but based on what she had seen and heard, she knew there was no choice. She had been in her Captain's quarters when she saw everything start and had thankfully made it in time to stop Makoto from actually hitting Ami. Something was up, Ami had been right about that. Makoto was never aggressive like this, nor did she say these kinds of things. For now though, it was a kick ass situation, ask questions later.

The thing about Rei was that she was very quick in her movements and extremely good at analyzing her opponents and she already knew how Makoto fought. Not to mention she was so tense that any movement she made would be clear before it was done by the way she tensed up more before the action. She didn't even assume a fighting stance, just to serve to irritate Makoto more.

It apparently worked because within a minute, Makoto swung at her and Rei dodged it, moving into land a punch on Makoto's ribs. She really had to avoid breaking anything or doing anything too damaging. They had enough injured on the ship as it were and Rei already had her shoulder to be concerned about. The next swing was a kick, where Rei caught her foot and pulled hard, sending Makoto right onto her ass and pissing her off even more.

"You're not doing very well, Makoto." Rei sighed and ran a hand through her hair as Makoto stood back up and charged her. Rei expected a right hook and instead was met with a hard hit into her injured shoulder that caused her to hiss in pain and buckle down to one knee. Makoto continued to press down on it with intense pressure. Instantly, Rei could feel the blood and numbness in her arm. Well that wasn't good. She had to end this, quickly.

Taking a deep breath, she forced herself upwards and caused Makoto to stumble back. Then she reached forward, grabbed Makoto's arm, and threw her over her shoulder, right into the ocean in a way similar to how she had thrown Ami. She stepped over to the edge of the railing and stared down at her. It was clear Makoto knew she had lost and Rei watched her for a long while.

"Throw her a rope down, but don't help her up. Make her climb it." With that she stepped away.

"Rei…" Ami had grabbed her sleeve, a case of emotions and Rei knew it. "I..why…" Ami didn't understand why Rei had done all of that. She had no idea what had caused Makoto to even act that way.

"Why is she being this way…?"

"Her blood tests."

"I…"

"Are they done?"

Ami shook her head and pulled her hand away, feeling more tears fall, her vision too blurry to see the deck.

"Let me know what you find. Minako and I are looking into something that she heard about in the Navy." A pause for a brief moment. "Make sure I didn't hurt her too badly. When you're done, come check on me."

"I can-"

"It's her first." Rei finally turned to look at her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder despite the grimace she made of pain at the action. "I ask that you forgive her for what she said. We both know that isn't the Makoto we know and love. You already said she had signs of acting strange. I'm not asking you to share a room with her currently, but I need everyone to work together."

Hesitating for a slight moment, Ami nodded. "I…I-I'll try."

"Thank you." With that, Rei left Ami alone by herself for a few moments until she heard the sound of water hitting the deck. Clearly Makoto had made it back up. Did she really have the courage to go over and face her after all she had said? Ami felt completely broken by it all. Were these true feelings of how Makoto felt about her? Did she see Ami as a slut and a murderer?

She slowly looked over at the woman she truly did love. Makoto was slouched against the railing and looking down at her hands. It was hard to tell if she was crying due to all the water on her, but Haruka was watching her closely, obviously concerned. What was going on with the girl she was so deeply in love with? The very one she trusted every secret with and gave her heart to?

Makoto felt like total shit and that was putting it pretty damn politely. Her eye had started to swell from where Rei had punched her and her lip was stinging, but perhaps her pride as a fighter and dignity as a human were the most damaged part of her. Calling Ami stupid, suggesting she slept around? Going to strike her? Maybe she should have remained in the ocean instead. Drowning sounded like a much better path in her life after today. Slowly, she raised her hands and looked at them, feel like they were filthy. It was like the phrase "covered in blood" suddenly made sense, though hers didn't have blood on them.

She let them drop in her lap and continued to sit there, feeling each water droplet fall and hit the deck. She supposed she could sleep in the crow's nest from here on would be when it rained, which rainy season was coming up. Meant she would always be super clean at the very least. And she could cook meals for everyone in the dead of the night so she didn't have to face them.

It took her a moment to register someone drying her hair off and she looked up to see Ami quietly and patiently working on getting the water out of her hair. God she couldn't even look Ami in the eyes, choosing instead to look back at the floor, feeling her heart in her stomach.

"You'll catch a cold like this…."

The words were soft, but it was no real force behind them.

"I deserve worse. I should just go back over the railing." Makoto half mumbled the words as she sat there and let Ami dry her off.

"Let me see your eye and lip."

Makoto shook her head. "I'm fine."

"Mako…"

God did that pull at her heart and she had to force her eyes shut as the tears started to come. Reaching out, she grabbed onto Ami's arms and pressed her forehead into her shoulder, her body shuddering at the overwhelming emotions.

"I'm sorry…I didn't…god sorry isn't enough.." Her words were a total mess and Makoto had no idea how to apologize. "Something's wrong with me and I don't know what it is…I'm…" She swallowed at her next word. "Scared."

Makoto never admitted her fears to others. She faced them head on, with Ami at her side. When it made Ami her enemy though? She couldn't bear that.

"Listen to me, okay? I'm going to try and give you some medicine. It'll help you sleep and clear your mind…part of is where you haven't really slept in days and had delusions and nightmares. Then we'll go from there."

"Why…"

"Hm?"

"Why are you still so willing to help me?"

Ami forced her to look up, giving her a weak and strained smiled. "Because I still love you. We'll figure this out together. Step one is rest for you…and I think me too. This was…too much for my head to handle."

Makoto felt a fresh wave of tears start and she couldn't stop the sobbing that wracked her body as Ami held her. They would figure it out together.

So this chapter was a heavy one too! We're closing in on the end of all of this going on with Makoto, but it makes you wonder how it's resolved and what's going on with everyone, I hope!

Next chapter will be a more entertaining one!

R I P PD by the way.