Chapter 7: Kurumi Kino
The smell of a cake baking wafted through the Kino household, leading the noses of two pre-teens, a boy and a girl, into the kitchen where Makoto was sitting on a chair as she waited for the familiar ding of the timer.
"Kurumi, Mortimer, let me tell you a funny story about a girl who tried to bake a cake but couldn't. It's a true story," Makoto said with a wink.
"Is it about one of your Sailor friends from when you were my age?" asked the girl eagerly.
"Of course it is. I was there. We were on a cooking show, and actually my friend wasn't supposed to be there, but she came along anyway. I'm surprised she was able to get past security. I was there with the famous Kou Taiki, one of the Three Lights; he was making a guest appearance on the show. My friend popped up on the show and she thought she was helping. But she put baking powder in the cake instead of flour and it exploded."
"Was your friend Usagi, the one who's the Queen now?" asked the girl.
"Of course she was, Kurumi. I just thought of that time now, especially since one of my other friends is coming over soon and I'm baking the cake for her. She's going to give one of you the power to be a Sailor Senshi."
"When I'm a Sailor Senshi, I shall be a great leader," boasted the boy, who had an aristocratic-sounding English accent.
"You?! Good leaders aren't mean and bossy, Mortimer!" Kurumi retorted, "Good leaders are like Neo-Queen Serenity."
"How good a leader can she be if she blows up cakes?" scoffed Mortimer.
"Well, being good at cooking doesn't give people automatic success in life, now does it? I think it would go the other way, too," replied a new voice. They all turned to see Minako standing in the doorway, carrying an orange purse.
"Oh, hi Minako! The cake's almost done!" Makoto exclaimed, jumping to her feet. Minako didn't answer, though, she was busy staring at Mortimer and Kurumi, especially the latter. Many people stared at her, mainly because she was 12 feet tall, 3 feet of that height being her gigantic forehead. Mortimer was also tall, his height was 7'3".
"Makoto, are you sure you didn't pick that boy because of his height? If he was our age, he looks like the type of guy you would've wanted to marry," Minako teased. Makoto blushed.
"That's a dumb reason to love someone," snorted Mortimer.
"You don't understand. When I was younger, it wasn't very acceptable for a woman to marry a man who was shorter than her, and I was taller than almost everyone I knew," Makoto said in defense of herself.
"Why is that? Did they think that short people were better than tall people? I mean, everyone says that girls are better than boys..."
"Kurumi, it may be hard to believe, but things used to be the opposite of that," Minako informed the surprised youngster, "And this is for you." Abruptly changing the subject, Minako took a deep teal-colored bracelet out of her purse.
"Wow! Do I get to be Sailor Venus, like you?" Kurumi asked.
"Probably not exactly Sailor Venus in name, but your powers will probably be like mine were." As Kurumi slipped the bracelet reverently over her wrist, it was rudely snatched away from her by an angry-looking brownish-red bird creature.
"Give that back!" she shouted, and she leaped into the air and managed to grab the bracelet back, then she called "Caramel Power, Make Up!" When the transformation was finished, she was wearing a turquoise outfit with purple bows.
"How come her colors are so different from yours if she's the new Venus-type Senshi?" Mortimer asked, confused.
"I don't know, but I don't think the color of the Senshi outfit matters. It's probably just...EEEEK!!" Minako screamed and ducked as the bird flew at her this time, luckily all it did was tear her trademark red bow off.
"Don't hurt her! Crescent...OW!" Sailor Caramel shrieked as the bird monster smacked into her forehead beak-first. Makoto roared like an angry mother bear and flung an open bottle of chocolate syrup at the monster, knocking it dizzily out of flight and spilling sticky syrup all over its feathers. It stopped to preen them, and Sailor Caramel stood back up shakily, but determined.
"Crescent Beam!" This time, the attack was successful, and the aqua-colored beam of energy shot out of her finger to the monster bird, knocking it to the floor again. As it hit the floor it disintegrated in a pile of sparkles.
"Wow...good thing, or is it a bad thing that you have a house with such tall ceilings, Makoto?" Minako commented as she tied her precious bow back in her hair. Makoto seemed somewhat embarrassed, but explained anyway.
"This house actually was an old warehouse that someone once used for their family business, which is why it had plumbing and electricity and a built-in stove. It actually wasn't that expensive. The best thing is, of course, the tall ceilings since it would still be quite a long time until Kurumi, if she reaches that point, is unable to be in her own house without ducking."
"But, um, why is her forehead so big? I know that you used the Silver Crystal for artificial insemination, but that doesn't explain..."
"Minako, Ami has a theory that the Silver Crystal, being a stone with powerful and mysterious magic, helps create children with extraordinary physical traits. I think Rei's daughter Madoka is inhumanly muscular for the same reason Kurumi's forehead is so big," Makoto whispered. Luckily Kurumi didn't hear her, she was busy turning off the dials on the stove since the cake was done.
"I smelled it and it was yummy and I didn't want it to burn like that other time. Then it smelled yucky," she said, a little confused as to why the grown-ups were whispering to each other again like they had special grown-up secrets.
"Great! We can eat Makoto's cake and watch the latest episode of Twinkle Twins. It's a sneak preview I brought in from the animation studio, I did the voice of the character the twins rescue. It was kind of strange playing the part that WASN'T the hero, though, but I really think this could be my big break into playing a real good part in an anime," Minako informed them excitedly.
"Oh no, not another of those magical girl shows where love and friendship save the day. Can't there be a story about how the girls save the day with science and logic? Or a girls adventure story?" complained Mortimer.
"You did a voice on Twinkle Twins?! I LOVE THAT SERIES!!!" squealed Kurumi, not seeming to hear that not everyone shared her enthusiasm.
"Figures YOU would, since you're such a ditzy idiot."
"WAAAH!!! Mortimer called me an idiot!"
"Stop arguing, you two! I brought that video as a treat for Makoto since she baked me the cake, so we're going to watch it no matter what!" Minako commanded.
"Hmmph, that goes against the idea of free will. I want to watch action movies instead of that cutesy...what are you doing?!"
"Caramel Power, Make...Give me that back, Mommy!" Kurumi cried as Makoto took back her magic bracelet.
"Don't fight him over it, it's not worth it. How about we just compromise and say that logic and emotion have equal value," Makoto said in attempt to stop the fighting though she did lean towards agreeing with Kurumi.
"Fine, but why don't those silly magical girl shows say that then?"
"Um, because they're about magic, not science. There are other shows about science out there, though, Mortimer," Minako explained, "Now let's just watch that anime together!"
"That time we actually got fairly close. If we could get the new Senshi alone, we could have more of a chance, her mother interfered," Fuu said, reviewing what she had seen of the battle through their magic water mirror.
"Or we could hope that the next Senshi isn't so tall since this one was able to grab the bird monster even though it tried to fly away from her," added Umi.
"I have a hunch that the next Sailor might be Akane Aino, and she's in a wheelchair, so another flying monster might be in order. Or possibly one that can move quickly. But there is the fact that Sailor Cupcake lives with her, and that could prove to be a problem," Fuu pondered, thinking ahead.
"Akane Aino? Why her?" Hikaru asked.
"Because, um, I don't know, actually, but she's just a guess, but it's an educated one. Of the first five Senshi, four of them all lived at the same house. And then Minako and Makoto seemed to be switching off giving each other's children Senshi powers, no matter whether those children are temporarily adopted or not," was Fuu's explanation.