Sincerity to the Cherry Blossom 10
Disclaimer: Clamp own CCS. Takeuchi Naoko created SM.
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Makoto wasn't able to focus on cleaning the tables in Chez Nori as closing time became nearer and nearer on the clock. Fighting the two Youmas yesterday after school was seriously hard work and it affected her performance in the back kitchen all afternoon today. School lessons went smoothly as any normal school day would and nobody was in the mood to jeer at her for being Karate Maniac or to socialize with her.
Various thoughts travelled in and out of her imagination while she went on working conscientiously, cleaning off the rubbish left behind by the customers who didn't understand what the word rubbish bin meant in their vocabulary. Makoto hadn't spoken to Touya or Yukito in person around the school site. Touya wouldn't stop giving her a very strange look every time she walked past him to head to a different lesson to him. Usually when she asked him what was his problem he would say nothing. Like anyone would, wouldn't they?
"Makoto, it's my turn to clean the tables now," Yukito said, breezing by with the familiar smile of his. He took the wet flannel from Makoto's working hands and followed the same chore as her. The super chef still had her apron on and her hands remained in its open palm position. It seemed that she wanted to say she wasn't done yet. But Yukito didn't appear to have heard her and went on working. She let him continue her work and went back to the kitchen.
She never met any boys who were as polite as Yukito. Boys she knew were too chauvinistic towards her about her aggression and accused her of being unable to male chores such as lifting heavy objects. But when they got on her nerves, she would then show she was perfectly capable of lifting large objects like themselves. That was the normal reaction these kind of boys emitted whenever Makoto did this to them. It was fun sometimes.
Yukito was one of the few boys she befriended and who was friendly to her *all* the time. She watched him concentrate on his chore strictly. His eyes hiding behind the round glasses, picking out each stain that stuck out on the table. Makoto wasn't sure how Yukito was able to cheer her up or make the rest of her day lighter than it would be at school. He even made her smile without realising and Makoto couldn't exactly work out his little strategy to do that.
When he said hi to her she would sense an unusual feeling from him. Something very familiar. She didn't know why she kept thinking it was Yue she felt. But then again things had become freakier during her stay in Tomoeda. She only spoke to Yue twice for five minutes and instantly felt a warm aura around him as he spoke to her. Yukito had that same sentimental aura as the Clow Mistress' guardian when he was around Makoto each time. That was weird. Well anything could be considered as strange these days. She was a Sailor Senshi and was used to it daily.
And that reminded her of the previous day. Before the half-lion half-dog Youma got her attention, Makoto remembered getting a tiny glimpse of a disturbing occurrence around Yukito. If she remembered exactly, something bright surrounded him and Touya was there to shield whatever it was. What was it? If only that Youma didn't come then she'd find out what was happening to Yukito. She wasn't sure whether it was worth asking him in person about this. Maybe he didn't like people invading his privacy.
Five PM showed on the wall clock behind her as she changed into her normal school uniform. A loud yawn escaped her lips and her hands covered her mouth to not let anyone see she was tired. People might think she was bored of this training course she was taking part in when in fact she enjoyed every minute of it. Not only was it to earn a little money but also it was also to be able to fight off anything disturbing around Tomoeda. After all she was one of the only Sailor Senshi present here and she was tough enough to take on anything causing danger to the public.
"Hey, are you going home yet?"
Makoto swirled her oval head round to see Touya ready to leave Chez Nori in his school uniform and rucksack. There he was with that stern façade he constantly flaunted extremely well towards her.
"Uh what about Yukito, aren't you going to wait for him?" She asked, giving a blatant excuse to gaze away from his cold eyes.
"He's got the keys, don't worry," Touya said, nudging to the door. Makoto had a hunch he wanted Yukito to be by himself. Or maybe Yukito purposely volunteered so that Touya could talk to her in private about something personal. This didn't sound like it was going in a good direction. Makoto wiped off the guilty face as she looked back inside Chez Nori to see Yukito happily cleaning the tables as if nothing was wrong.
The two Chez Nori co-workers both walked in shear silence and didn't bother exchanging friendly glances every minute. Makoto wasn't sure whether it would be worth smiling at him. Yeah she admitted Touya was cute, athletically tall and his eyes could be stared at for hours – when not in a glare that is- though drooling over a cute Bishounen wouldn't be suitable at this moment.
"I think it's time you and I had a real talk, Makoto," He told her, his eyes staring erect as they both walked simultaneously.
"Yeah I can tell," She replied lowly. Whatever was on his mind had to come out now! Makoto wasn't good with patience around people who kept her in the dark. It couldn't be about what her being someone in a short green skirt with electricity, could it?
"Who are you?" This question made Touya stopped walking and he forced her to look up at him, turning her shoulders round. Makoto didn't have a chance to calm down a startled reaction as her green eyes locked into the dark pools targeting at her face. The way he asked her the question was straight to the point and Touya didn't even hesitate in regret.
"What do you mean?" She asked coolly. That was an obvious lie to begin the interview. She had a feeling he knew what she meant it and kept the conclusion concealed.
"Stop pretending you're stupid. Answer the question!" Touya's voice picked up a volume and he landed his hand firmly on Makoto's shoulder. A few passers-by turned their heads round to see the tall schoolboy become impatient with his female companion. They assumed the girl and boy must have been having relationship problems, which could explain why the boyfriend was looking at his lover so intensely and angrily. Maybe she cheated on him or something, people thought. The noisy faces immediately stormed off when Touya caught their eyes. Yes it was best to go away and mind your business.
Touya then said, "You look at my sister as though she's an alien."
"She's not an alien, Touya. Her name is Sakura," Makoto corrected. He disregarded the weak humour in her voice and slapped his forehead. If he had his powers still he would notice other things about this girl faster than his present pace. He didn't regret giving his powers to Yue to save his life. He only did for his sister's sake. But this was one time where he wished he had his secret abilities inside of him – to find out who this girl was. Touya's hand pressed harder on her shoulder.
"What the hell is your problem, Touya?" Makoto whined painfully.
"Who are you? What do you know about my sister?" Touya continued to question her. How was she able to answer him while she was in pain? It wasn't easy to be honest while undergoing torture. She could have flawlessly thrown him to the ground using a quick judo technique but this was a friend and they were both in a very public place. She didn't want the whole of Tomoeda finding out this girl was as vicious as a young feline.
How else was she able to fight him without using physical force? Sweet-talking was just a waste of her time. He wouldn't care. He wanted answers.
"I'm sorry, Touya but it's hard to explain. There are things that are known as personal," Makoto stated apologetically. However the boy wouldn't accept her excuse and persisted in the truth.
"You're so secretive around Yukito and me. You only ever talk if it's about cooking or school. Nothing else. Also I can't understand why you look at my sister funnily. One day you're being nice to her and Tomoyo then you're looking at her as if she's dangerous," Touya said, sighing confusingly. His impatience and anger had dramatically dropped from his cooling down a few minutes ago.
Makoto wasn't sure if this boy was to be trusted. What would he understand about her Sailor Senshi duty? She and the others had kept their identities a secret for long periods of time and it wouldn't sound right to suddenly tell someone who she was. The world didn't have to know who the Inner Senshi was. There wasn't a point, was there? Unless there was a real excuse to spill everything about her Senshi duty then Makoto would explain all. However this present moment DID seem to be a serious matter.
Kinomoto Sakura was the Clow Mistress and someone was sending monsters to attack her and had caused unnatural phenomenon in Tomoeda. Makoto happened to be in the right place to be able to help her and all this had come from one dream she had back in Juuban. One dream that brought her here. She thought she had to keep her identity as Sailor Jupiter a secret but one repeated flash of Sakura's depressed face made her think twice. Maybe she ought to tell the girl who she was.
Including Touya, Syaoran, Cerberus and Yue to her list as well. Sakura was still a young girl who wasn't a full teenager yet. It wasn't a surprise that she was a little fearful of being against such scary Youmas or having to fight off paranormal happenings. Yue was right about this point and when Makoto heard him speak like this she could feel him worrying about the young Clow Card Mistress deep inside. Like she was right now.
She couldn't control the sympathising feeling burn her insides. She knew as Sailor Jupiter she was here to help Yue and Cerberus keep Sakura safe from this opponent but she wasn't sure why she felt rather generous towards the Cherry Blossom. Did she remind her of Usagi? The girl had innocence like the princess but her personality wasn't completely identical to her and she was younger too. As a Sailor Senshi Makoto had always protected Usagi day and night from Youmas and it seemed to be the same job for her to protect Sakura. Though this time as she told Ami on her communicator, she felt closer to this girl than to the Moon Princess.
Speaking of secrecy, Makoto was certain Touya was being the same as her, acting reserved about himself or Yukito. And that did ring a bell from yesterday in school. He did cover Yukito up when something strange happened to him. Why was he being so suspicious and rude to her when he was also being secretive himself? Makoto wasn't rude to him about his secrecy now, was he?
"Touya, you have to tell me something in return if I tell you why I'm here," She said. Now this shocked him. Ha he just got a fierce counter attack. "Tell me what happened to Yukito yesterday. Why did you cover him up?"
"No, you answer my question before I answer yours," Touya argued. "Ladies first, right?"
Smart guy She grimaced at the well-pointed statement, heaved in a deep breath and gave in to Touya's sharp prying, pulling her loose strands of hair behind her ears. Touya's eyes suddenly grew bigger when he saw the earrings she wore. This was more than a lucky coincidence. Did Sailor Jupiter have a twin sister who looked the exact same as her? It was impossible to get the same pair of rose shaped earrings as hers. If that was so, that only meant one thing.
"Do you like my earrings?" Makoto queried, "HEY!" Touya's hand touched her left ear and his face had zoomed in to look at the shiny red rose earring. He didn't need glasses to mistake this jewellery. It definitely looked like the same earrings that Sailor Jupiter wore. He recognised them pretty well. Makoto was a bit embarrassed by his sudden touch of his hand on the side of her neck.
"Tell me your true identity," Touya commanded.
Makoto whipped his hand off her neck roughly, "From the way you've been looking at me these past days I doubt I need to tell you myself." It may seem so obvious that he was going to get his guess right. She knew she had already made one mistake in saying how Touya cared like Yue and Syaoran did when she was in her Sailor Senshi fuku. It was probably ideal to stop Touya becoming more suspicious and angrier in future if the truth just came out itself.
"You're…" His full sentence paused as he turned to his right and saw another figure approaching them. Yukito sprinted over to them, panting heavily as his breathing slowed down in his crouching position. Makoto looked at her watch then saw time had passed quickly during her walking conversation with Touya.
"Hey, guys," Yukito cheerily said and stood back up again.
"I didn't realise you would finish cleaning so quickly," Touya noticed Why now?. He thought his best friend would take longer than that – unless his other half did some of the chores while he was out with Makoto.
"Yeah I know I worked harder than I thought," His best friend joked. This smile he was showing this time didn't look too convincing to Makoto.
"OK a little voice is telling me that you guys planned this scheme," She pondered carefully. Yukito and Touya looked at each other surprisingly for five minutes then slowly nodded in agreement. What are they doing? Makoto wondered. Yukito's smiley face faded as his eyes closed in the same way as Makoto saw yesterday. His body became lighter and swayed back and forth on its own. Touya moved over to cover the same bright light surrounding his best friend but Yukito's arm raised as he continued to change in front of Makoto's eyes. It was as though he wanted her to see this entire theatrical trailer or whatever it was called these days.
Yukito's hair grew longer and pure white and wings grew from his shoulder blades to then cover his entire physique. Makoto gasped when she began to piece the various body parts through the transformation, trying to work out what was going on. One thought went to her mind immediately Could it be?. The closed wings opened and Makoto's question had an instantaneous response. Her guess was correct and it wasn't done to hallucinations.
Yue had appeared right in front of her and she was staring straight into his mysterious grey irises. Makoto didn't even move because her body was still in shock from the transformation she had witnessed. She couldn't pinch herself from this dream and wake up. What she was seeing was all too real. How could Yukito be Yue? It sounded impossible. Or didn't it? In a matter of seconds Makoto felt the surge of warm feeling travel all over her body as she looked at his stern and silent façade.
So this was why she felt this same sensation around Yukito. Now it did make sense after all. These two people were one. Yue's wings brushed openly and caused a breeze in the street as he slowly walked towards Makoto. He lifted her chin up till it was the same level as his face.
Yue said bluntly, "I was right all along. You truly *are* the Sailor Senshi of Thunder. You *are* Sailor Jupiter."
"H-how…how did you…?" Makoto stammered. Was this what Touya wanted to tell her in the face? Did he know all along she was Sailor Jupiter?
"I could easily sense your power while in Yukito's form." Yue's hand moved to touch her shoulder. "Touya and I were certain you were normal like everyone else in the school. Your aura was full of magic and it shone in my eyes. I could see who you really were." Moving a step backward, Makoto's cheeks reddened in nervousness and shock, her eyes lowered to the ground as her face avoided Yue's gaze. It was still hard to believe this was Yukito's true form. Wasn't Touya or Sakura just as shocked as she was when they found out Yukito was really Yue? This was a piece of news the other Inner Senshi wouldn't be able to believe.
"I'm usually suspicious about new people," Touya accounted. "I'm sorry if I sounded mean to you a few minutes ago but I had to be sure of the truth." His tone switched to an even kinder volume as he spoke to her. Makoto saw a tiny smile form on his lips and it surely looked realistic here. He didn't have the stern look anymore.
"Oh I see. So as soon as I came to Tomoeda you instantly noticed something weird about me. Wow, Touya, you've got a gift." She turned on her heel. "Well now that the truth about me is out guess that's my cue to say goodbye." Touya grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "What the…? Hey you got we've got each other's answers! What's the problem now?"
"You have to tell Sakura who you are. She's been telling me why you're always making her nice food and I think she deserves to know the truth about your identity," Touya explained. "After all you did save her life over the past two or more days."
"I will remind Cerberus about the past. I'm certain he remembers you as well, Lady Jupiter," Yue added.
Makoto couldn't help the flush of shyness creep up her spine when he said that. It sounded nice to be in royalty but she wasn't really the kind of person to be staged as a gentle princess like Usagi was.
"Listen, Yue, call me Makoto. Or Mako-chan. It's cool to be treated royally but that's not my style, ok?" She smiled innocently. Yue frowned in bemusement at the puzzling remark 'Lady Jupiter' had suggested to him. Didn't this guy ever smile like Yukito? She was about to comment on his emotionless façade when to her surprise he did grin lightly from the corner of her eye, showing that he thought her suggested naming was fine.
Along with Yue, Touya guided Makoto to his house and the tension between them from before was no longer in existence. In fact Makoto felt a high sense of relief since Yue told her that he and Touya had a hunch she was Sailor Jupiter. She didn't have to tell them they were wrong because it would too hard to reveal her identity in easy words. If these were normal people she was talking to, they'd think she was a freak without a doubt. But Yue and Sakura weren't living in a normal world presently.
The Clow Mistress, her guardians and Syaoran all had magical powers and so did Jupiter. The Thunder Senshi had allies who had other identities hidden to the public. It was good to know she was with the right people for this unknown duty. Touya replayed Makoto's compliment on him having a gift for being able to sense something weird about her from the first day. He knew it wasn't completely correct in every way. The correct term to describe Touya was 'he *did* have a gift'. A gift that was given up to save Yue. Makoto was going to get another surprise when she discovered he too had a gift like his sister.
Being cold towards her in school was a precautious act by Touya. He didn't want his crazy suspicions to get to his head too much whenever he met Makoto during classes. He had to watch her every move to be sure she wasn't a threat to his sister. It was a good thing he realised she was on the same side as her, protecting her like Yue and Cerberus did. And now Touya was open to show more generosity to Makoto for helping Sakura. He couldn't say his thankful comments out loud yet in case she laughed at him. For now it was going to stay in his heart for a while.
TBC.