Sincerity to the Cherry Blossom 9
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.
****
Makoto slammed the door to her bedroom in one easy gesture, not caring if the rest of the Juuban High students thought she was crazy in her head for showing she was deeply enraged with something. She was glad she got to have a single bedroom for herself. Like she cared what the other girls thought of her.
In fact it was good to have a single bedroom, as no one was able to argue with their roommate for making awful messes on the floor with their clothes or leftover dinner. Makoto burst out a long exhalation on her bed as her head lay on the pillow supporting the thick cranium she had grown over the years. Flashbacks of today flooded her closed eyelids.
****
In a whole day she had to deal with a total of three Youmas at school today. It all happened again as soon as the day ended for school, which was two hours earlier than scheduled time. This was because of the unusual Youma that jumped straight into Sakura's classroom and started attacking everyone.
Jupiter, Syaoran and Sakura had weakened the half-lion half-dog monster, which was then defeated with a final blow by Yue. But even though that was over, it didn't stop the teachers from being more worried about their students and their jobs. There was only one way to keep the precautions going and that was to send everyone home immediately. Coincidentally Makoto was in the neighborhood while she was on her way back to the hostel and suddenly saw a bright yellow jelly monster attacking Sakura, Syaoran and Yue. Her day couldn't have gotten any better.
It was strange how she hadn't seen Yukito for the rest of the day. Where could he have gone? Maybe he was back home safe and sound already. The last time she saw him was when he caught up with her and Touya outside. Then something weird happened to him that Makoto wasn't able to work out because of the previous Youma's arrival in Tomoeda Elementary and that drifted her attention to something else. Anyway she didn't have to worry so much about him.
Touya was probably keeping him company at his house. Makoto had transformed quickly and was back in action to tackle the female jelly Youma that had begun to crush Yue by his ribs. It was too difficult to get close to her as she was capable of grabbing the victim flawlessly by its own body, turning itself into tentacles.
Jupiter had taken a quick plan by grabbing the Youma into a tight neck hold from behind, forcing the enemy to release Yue. She thought choking it to death would work but the hold didn't last as long and the Youma had thrown the Sailor Senshi off. What an annoying freak this jelly demon was. It was so slimy it made everyone around her sick and disgusted. The Youma had continued to persist in its plan, which was (predictably) to go after Sakura.
Syaoran and Sakura didn't get a chance to use their magic as the jelly Youma seized them both with her body tentacles. Whatever it was planning to do, it didn't work out as soon as Jupiter rose to her feet and smashed her fist into the slimy head of the jelly figure. Adding to that, she used Supreme Thunder to shock its entire body so it would let Syaoran and Sakura go. Jupiter hadn't realized how much angrier she had become from the rest of the day and she had gotten more ticked off as she faced this jelly Youma on the ground.
She lifted the Youma's entire body and threw it into the tree trunk violently. Everyone else around her expected the Youma to splatter then reform and surrender. However that was only half correct. Instead of reforming, the Youma had instantly exploded into small particles after experiencing the mighty impact from the Senshi of Thunder's powerful throw into the tree trunk.
She had to admit she didn't predict such strength coming out like that through one wrestling-style throw. Perhaps her rage had given it to her. Because she was angry that yet another Youma had been summoned to go after an innocent girl like Sakura. Sakura used Snow to freeze the Youma from top to bottom then used Fiery to burn it down. Of course the cherry blossom didn't want to do this because she considered this jelly Youma to still be real like humans.
But Jupiter's warning about getting used to these occurrences would have to taken seriously now or else she would never be able to face more Youmas (like what she did to the jelly creature) or other disturbances in Tomoeda. Jupiter's day hadn't finished so easily when a moving tree came to life out of the open. First there were weird looking monsters and now there were supernatural habitats forming.
What the hell was going on? With the jelly Youma gone Jupiter, Yue, Syaoran and Sakura had to now deal with a live oak tree that had grown twice as tall as its normal size for its age. Jupiter wasn't sure how to stop this living being. It wasn't human or a Youma. It was just more than out of this world.
Sharp leaves shot into the air like bullets from guns and flew all over the place around Sakura and her friends. Jupiter thought she could match the tree's attacks by striking with her Oak Evolution. Somehow the lightning bolts shooting from her hands didn't quite equalize the tree's attack strength and these were real leaves she was against here. Syaoran tried to cut through the branches though each broken part ended up being mended magically.
Wood didn't have any effect whatsoever. It was weaker than the tree and couldn't pull it down. I'll have to be tough on this tree Jupiter thought, deciding to grab the tree's feet was one of the ideal suggestions to stop it from moving as much. The tree wouldn't lose its direction on its target and that enhanced its agility to miss the Thunder Senshi's numerous grab attempts. Jupiter cursed each time she was unsuccessful.
Ten tries later, her final grab attempt did connect and she grabbed the tree till it collapsed with a noisy thud on the ground. Yue flew in to have his turn to stop the moving tree, throwing crystals to strike it as if sticking pins to keep a piece of paper stuck down on the table. Jupiter told Sakura and Syaoran to combine their fire magic and burn the tree. Miraculously the attack didn't burn the tree till it was ashes. Instead it spontaneously returned to its originally still form. The legs vanished and the sharp leaves softened round the edges.
"That wasn't a Youma," Jupiter said, staring straight at the tree in its normal state. She wiped the sweat leaking on her hands using the pleats of her fuku. "But it still gave me a hard time."
"I'd say someone used magic to bring the tree to life," Syaoran added, "And I know it's not Clow Reed. I can't sense him anywhere."
"None of us can," Yue stated generally then turned to Sakura. "Go find Touya. Tell him to take you home. You've had enough trouble today. I'll follow you later." The Cherry Blossom agreed and skipped away down the street. Syaoran flinched as Yue's face turned to him. "She'll want your company before you go home."
The Chinese boy accepted this simple task and ran as fast as he could to catch up with Sakura. Observing her face in his direction, he could see what Yue meant by having enough trouble all day. Her usually innocent green eyes had narrowed into immense sleepiness. It reminded him of when her magic wasn't strong enough to turn all the Clow cards into Star cards a few months ago and she couldn't control her immediate exhaustion after this happened each time. He beckoned her and she stopped walking to give him a gentle smile to show she was okay.
Yue and Sailor Jupiter watched from a far distance at the two card captors walking further away from the latest fight scene.
"Sakura isn't used to this," Yue said, sounding slightly sad in some places of his voice. "She's young. I can't blame her for her anxiety.
"You and Syaoran really care for her, don't you?" Jupiter noticed. "And Touya cares for her too."
Yue glimpsed at her in shock when she said the name of the cherry blossom's sibling, "How do you know her brother's name? He never introduced himself to you properly."
She gulped accidentally at his point. Damn he was right. Touya and Jupiter had never exactly talked to each other in person yet - like she was doing with Yue. So it was a huge surprise to see her mentioning Touya's name out of the blue. Makoto knew his name yes but Jupiter didn't and Sakura hadn't told her who her brother was or who Syaoran was because they hadn't had a proper chat before. Nice one, Mako Jupiter thought, angry at her carelessness. To the kids, Yue, Touya and Cerberus, the Thunder Senshi was a mysterious warrior coming to protect the new mistress of the Clow cards and not in fact a normal schoolgirl.
"Oh uh…I heard it somewhere you know. Um…"Jupiter wasn't good at making things up and decided to alter the conversation. "Hey what does it matter? I'm here to help Sakura and that's it. Man I have to go now, ok? See you next time trouble comes." She ran off in a matter of seconds before Yue could protest further.
****
Makoto knew she had made a mistake today. She almost let her tongue roll off into an unknown direction while she spoke with Yue. How could she have been clumsy? How could she forget she wasn't herself at that time? She was Sailor Jupiter NOT Kino Makoto. Her day was really full of hard work. That tree was a toughie to defeat and if Yue wasn't there, she would have been in trouble and so would Sakura. Dammit why did she have to be here?
All this was from a dream. How unbelievable. The only thing she did know was that someone wanted Sailor Jupiter to be around and to hurt Sakura in many ways. Whoever it was, he or she was going to get a pummeling the Thunder Senshi had seldom pulled off in her life as a fighter. Seeing Sakura in sadness and shock made Makoto want to say how sorry she was for anything. It was like an emotion kicked in her veins. She felt…close to her even though the Sailor Senshi hadn't had a proper talk with her yet.
Makoto picked up her communicator and contacted Ami this time, giving her the latest information on what was going on in Tomoeda. She could tell the clever blue haired girl was in the middle of homework and her face had a description of concentration on the screen. When Ami saw it was Makoto, she knew this was an appropriate interruption and not a time to talk sociably. Makoto got into her explanations as clearly possible, giving out details on how she felt towards Sakura honestly.
Ami pinpointed. "You treat Sakura as though you know her as someone very close. Like a relative." Those were Makoto's own words. And it was true, wasn't it? From protecting Sakura in the last two days and getting to know her and her friends Makoto sensed an instant click between them. Not only with Sakura but also with her brother and friends. Even Yue. That was remarkable. He told her she wasn't clumsy from remembering about her past in the Silver Millennium.
Why did he tell her that? Maybe he thought Jupiter was his preferred Sailor Senshi between the rest of the Inner Senshi. Don't be silly. He doesn't know who you are YET. He doesn't know you're Kino Makoto She thought.
"Ami-chan, you're right. I can't help sympathizing the girl or her brothers and guardians," Makoto said. "There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"
"That is something you can find out yourself," Ami smiled. "Don't think too much now. Rest till the next Youma or disturbance comes."
Makoto nodded and signed off on her communicator. How could she not stop thinking about Sakura or her brother and Yue? It was too addictive. Too intriguing. Was this why she was chosen by the Gods or whoever it was to protect the cherry blossom? To deepen her intriguing thoughts.
The others would probably be thinking the same thing as her, wondering who the hell she was underneath the green fuku and electricity. It was likely that Yue and Touya were already onto her, especially from the tiny mistake she made in the Yue conversation. But with Touya, seeing his daily stern face was a definite sign he was suspicious of her. Makoto had to be cool with him.
****
Who are you? Why are you mysterious? Yue knew she was the Sailor Senshi of Protection. That was what Princess Serenity had stated to his master Clow Reed but he couldn't understand why she had to take off so suddenly while they were talking. Was she hiding something from him? Yue sensed someone behind his back, switched his head round and blew away the bushes to see a clearer angle. Touya came out to greet him from outside his house.
"Touya, what is it?" Yue commented, his defense lowered at the recognizable face approaching him. Touya crossed his arms over his chest and looked on at the other side of the road, which happened to be the direction that Jupiter had taken when she exited. Touya's eyebrows arced downwards sharply and Yue had the feeling he knew what he was thinking about.
"You're thinking about her, aren't you?" He asked. "Sailor Jupiter clouds your mind."
"She reminds me of someone at school," Touya said. "The way she acts, her character…it reminds of…no it can't be her. Surely it couldn't. What am I thinking? Only one girl has this attitude "
Yue filled his gaps in, "I wouldn't be surprised if Sailor Jupiter was someone who attended the same school as you. I was certain her presence was nearby before she came to rescue Sakura." Touya didn't realize this would result like this. He thought Yue would have the same idea as him on discovering the true identity of Sailor Jupiter. Why couldn't either one of them spit out the girl's name? Would it be wrong to suspect someone already?
"I'm gonna find out who she is," Touya decided with determination, "I'll see you in school tomorrow."
TBC.