Rating: G Author: AkilahSeven
Note: This is a story about Makoto Kino and Ken from Sailormoon.
It's set in an alternate universe and the Senshi do not appear in this
fanfic, although the other characters will make an appearance in later chapters.
This is the revised version, the original prologue and first two chapters
were posted about three years ago. I abondaned this project but came back to it
recently. I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer:
I do not own sailor moon. Sailormoon and its characters
are owned by Naoko Takeuchi.
"By Your Side" is written and performed by Sade Adu.
You think I'd leave your side baby You know me better than that You think I'd leave you down when you're down on your knees I wouldn't do that I'll tell you you're right when you want And if only you could see into me
Oh when you're cold I'll be there Hold you tight to me
When you're on the outside baby and you can't get in I will show you you're so much better than you know When you're lost and you're alone and you can't get back again I will find you darling and I'll bring you home
And if you want to cry I am here to dry your eyes And in no time You'll be fine
"Makoto, Makoto. Wake up." Hikari Kino woke her daughter from sleep.
"Mom, I'm still tired. Its only like nine in the morning and its Saturday." Makoto said while turning on her other side to get more comfortable.
"Nine o' clock! More like 1:15. Boy, you stayed up way to late last night. And aren't you suppose to meet Ken at 1:30 to go to the movies?"
Makoto jumped out of her bed and looked at her alarm clock. "Mom, why didn't you wake me!" She ran across the room to her dresser and pulled out some clothes.
"What are you talking about? I tried to wake you three times before but you just rolled over and said you were getting up."
"Well you should know me better than that. You should have tried to wake me like three hours before I should have gotten up, that way I wouldn't be late."
She threw on her rock t-shirt with a pair of ripped jeans and a black dog collar with metal spikes. She combed her hair into a quick pony tail and held it with red ballies and and slipped on a pair of black Reeboks.
"Okay, how do I look?" Makoto spun around as if she were a model.
"Very punk rocker. Only one problem."
"What's that?"
"Your morning breath is killing me, so will you please brush your teeth." Her mother teasingly pinched her nose and gave a disgusted look.
"Mom!" Makoto ran to her mother and hit her in the head with a pillow.
Hikari faked a look of shock.
"Oh, so you wanna play pillow fight, huh. Well don't start crying when I do this"
She tickled her; Makoto's greatest weakness. She fell to the floor in laughs and tears
came to her eyes. It wasn't long before she was screaming from the torture.
"Hey, is everything okay in here?" Taichi Kino walked into the room to find his wife and daughter on the floor laughing and screaming.
"No, stop this crazy woman. She's trying to kill me." Makoto could hardly get that out between her laughs and screams.
Taichi smirked at the two people he loved most on earth. "Okay Hikari, can we save killing our daughter for later on this evening because Ken's waiting down stairs to leave for the movies."
Makoto jumped to her feet. "Okay mommy, see you later." She placed a kiss on her mother's cheek.
Hikari smacked her daughter's butt. "Don't think I'm going to forget about tickling you when you get home."
Taichi handed Makoto 15 dollars. "Have fun."
"I will." Makoto took the money and kissed her dad on the cheek.
"Mako, have you brushed your teeth yet?" Taichi waved his hand in front of his face.
"Dad!"
Makoto sat on the soft leather seats of Kathy Williams' car. It was a big spacious Mercedes Benzes, with a TV and playstation in the back.
"Nice car Mrs. Brown."
"That's Mis. Williams. And thank you sweetie."
"Oh, sorry." Makoto felt embarrassed from her mistake. She forgot that Ken's Mother and father were divorced.
Ken's face looked a little red. "Everyone makes that mistake. Don't they mom?"
Kathy nodded. "Yes, so don't feel bad Makoto. Just make sure you don't do it again." She gave Makoto a little smirk form the rear view mirror.
"What movie do you want to see, Makoto?"
"How about George and Me."
Ken looked at her as if she were crazy. "George and Me? Isn't that a kiddy movie?"
Makoto giggled. "Yeah, but it looks pretty cool." She gave Ken a wink. But he just looked at her like she were even crazier.
"Yeah, if you're in Kindergarten." Ken didn't know why someone their age would want to see something that looked like a live action Disney movie.
"But it looks really cool though." Makoto winked her eye even harder and faster.
"Are you okay, do you have something in your eye." Ken was sure this girl was on crack.
"Ken, she is a year younger than you and a year is a big difference at your age. Don't be so mean. Let her see what she wants."
Kathy parked the car and handed Ken $50. Makoto's eyes widened at the sight of the bill.
"Have fun kids and don't get into any trouble, okay."
They stood in line at the ticket booth.
"Boy, it sure does take you a long time to catch on." Makoto said.
Ken turned and looked at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
Makoto rolled her eyes. "When I said that I wanted to see 'George and Me' I wasn't serious. I was just saying that so your mom wouldn't know that we're really going to see 'Murderer Moe'."
Ken looked even more confused. "We are? But they won't let us buy tickets to see a rated R movie."
Makoto slapped her forehead. "No, were going to buy tickets to see George and Me."
Ken shook his head. "Now wait a minute. I thought you said we we're going to see 'Murder Moe'. But now you're talking about 'George and Me'. Which is it?"
Makoto laughed. "Oh gosh! I guess there's a lot you have to learn, Ken. See the plan is we buy 'George and Me' tickets but sneak into 'Murderer Moe'." Makoto could see that Ken was really naive to a lot of things, but that was something that she decided she liked about him. 'He has a really pure heart' she thought.
Ken smiled at his foolishness. "Oh, I see. So is that why you were winking at me in the car? I was starting to think you were flirting with me."
Makoto felt her cheeks warm. She was more surprised that those words came out of his mouth than she was embarrassed.
"Ken! All this time I was under the impression that you were a good little boy,
but you go and say something like that."
Ken smirked at her. "Well that just proves that you don't know me all that well." He felt a little offended by what she said about him being a good little boy. 'She thinks I'm a geek, just like all the other kids in school.' But he masked his feelings with a smirk.
When they got to the booth the ticket lady asked what they would be seeing.
"'Murderer Moe'." Ken slapped his head and Makoto gave a nervous laugh.
"Ah, he means 'George and Me'. Two tickets for 'George and Me' please." Makoto said while trying to keep her composure.
"Well, I hope so. You guys don't want to have the guards catch you trying to sneak into 'Murderer Moe' now do you?" She gave them an intimidating look.
Little beads of sweat started to form on Ken's forehead. "No mam. I assure you that we're going to see 'Murderer Moe'." Ken slapped his forehead again. "Hehehe, I mean 'George and Me'. We aren't like some Juvenile delinquents who would buy 'George and Me' tickets but sneak into 'Murderer Moe'. No mam, that's not us."
Makoto had to pull Ken away from the ticket booth. "Okay. We're going to our movie now... 'George and Me'. Bye mam."
Makoto slapped Ken in the back of his head. "What the heck were you trying to do, blow our cover?"
"Owe. That hurt." Ken rubbed the back of his head.
Makoto still had her arm around Ken's as they looked for the theater with the 'Murderer Moe' sign. She didn't seem to notice but Ken did when they walked past a mirror. 'What an odd looking couple we make.' Ken thought to himself. 'A head banger and a nerd.' He laughed.
Makoto looked up at him "What's so funny?"
"Nothing."
They sat down next to an older couple in the theatre. This way it would look as if they were with parents.
"This is such a rush! I've never done anything illegal before." Ken said excitedly.
Makoto grinned. "Yeah, it is a rush. My friends and I would do
this every weekend in Tokyo." She moved closer to Ken and whispered in his ear.
"One time we even snuck into 'Show Girls' and that's NC-17"
Ken's face turned crimson red.
"What! That's practically a porn flick. Why would you wanna see something like that?"
"I don't know. Curious I guess. And it was something that we definitely weren't suppose to see so it made it that more appealing."
Ken started to feel the heat from his face spread to other parts of his body. It was a new feeling that he started to get since his 12th birthday. It always seemed to happen while he was watching the girls in gym play volleyball or while he was staring at Miaka Kawa.
He turned to face Makoto. "What was the movie like?" He asked feeling the heat intense.
"Well, it was a bunch of naked women stripping during the whole thing. Nothing that made me excited or anything. There were some parts that my friend Minako would cover her eyes with her hands but would still peak through her fingers, and my friend Amy was just so red during the movie that she kept her coat over her head and tried to fall asleep. Usagi was to busy trying to get Amy to watch and remove her coat from her head that she wasn't paying much attention. Rei and I sat through the whole thing and pointed out all the silicon we could... and Haruka, well Haruka really enjoyed the film. She was really attentive through out the entire movie and she even wanted to see it again for some reason. She kept talking about it the whole way home." Makoto shrugged. "Weird."
"Oh." Ken said feeling like he wanted to go to the bathroom. Makoto stared at Ken's red face. She dug her hand into her large cup of soda and pulled out an ice cube then dropped it down Ken's shirt. Ken almost jumped out of his seat.
"What the heck did you do that for?" He screamed.
Makoto giggled. "To cool you down, Mr. Horny Hot Pants." She laughed uncontrollably. Ken wanted to kill her at that moment. He was so embarrassed that he couldn't look at her. Makoto pinched his cheek.
"Oh, so you really are a boy, huh. You do like to look at girls. Well that's a relief cause after watching the way you throw a ball I was starting to think that you were a little," Makoto flagged her hand. "...you know." She laughed more. Ken sat with his face looking the other way. Makoto noticed that he seemed genuinely upset.
"Sorry." Makoto put her arm around Ken and shook his shoulders reasurringly. "Did I hurt your feelings. I'm sorry, I didn't know you were so sensitive."
Ken smirked. "No, I'm not that sensitive. I just wanted to feel your arms around me! Wow, no woman can resist Mr. Horny Hot Pants charm." Ken started to make smoochy noises to Makoto. She jumped off him and threw an ice cube at his head.
"You jerk."
Ken laughed. "Oh please, like I would waste my charm on you."
Makoto felt a little sting when hearing that. She didn't know why because it wasn't like she liked him or anything, it was just unexpected she guessed.
"Ouch that hurt." Makoto put a hand on her chest as if she were wounded.
"So you can dish it but you can't take it, huh." Ken laughed. "Well, well, whose the sensitive one now."
Makoto punched him in his shoulder. He's so unpredictable.' She thought. I like that. Keeps things from getting boring.'
The lights went off and the theatre was suddenly silent. Ken leaned over to Makoto and whispered in her ear. "Are you sure you want to sit next to Mr. Horny Hot Pants in he dark."
Makoto slapped Ken in his head for the second time that day. "Okay, that's getting kind of old now, Ken." She said loudly.
"Shh, be quiet!" A man beside them said.
They both sat straight up and watched the film. A man in a mask stabbed a teenage boy and blood squirted out of his wounded arm. Makoto jumped and dug her face into Ken's arm. Ken felt his face get warm again for the 100th time that day.
Why does this feel so nice. It's not like I like her or anything.' Ken thought slilently to himself. But she is kind of cute.' He looked down at Makoto and stared at her long brown ponytail.
"Its okay. This movie is not scary at all. Look at it."
Makoto shook her head. "I can't look. It's scary."
Ken silently giggled, a girl that seemed to be so tough was scared of a cheap horror film.
"Look at it. The blood isn't even real, its corn syrup."
Makoto reluctantly removed her head from Ken's arm and looked at the screen. The wounded teenage boy's shirt was drenched with red corn syrup. Ken was right. She laughed "It is corn syrup."
A woman in front of them turned around. "Please be quiet children."
On the screen a girl's car was stuck on the road in the middle of nowhere at night. She walked out of it and headed straight into the wilderness.
Ken shook his head. "Now look at this. How dumb can you be? She's practically asking to be killed."
Makoto laughed again, this time she was louder. "I can't believe I wanted to see this crap."
Ken nodded in agreement. "'George and Me' would have been better than this."
Makoto laughed even harder. "I know, it would have."
"Shut the f#& up!" Came a voice from behind them. They both turned around to see the owner of it.
"Who said that!" Makoto screamed angrily. A teenage boy stood up. He was sitting 5 rows behind them.
"I did. You gonna do something about it." He spread his arms open and started beating his chest as if he were Tarzan. His friends were all making loud noises, cheering him on. Makoto stood up.
"In fact, I am."
"Makoto, what are you doing! Sit down!" Ken pleaded with his friend.
Makoto dug her hand into her large soda, pulled out an ice cube and hit the boy in his forehead with it. The whole audience was watching and telling them to sit down and be quiet.
The boy's friends laughed. "You gonna let a little kid do that to you, Kazu?" Kazu picked up his half eaten hot dog and aimed it at Makoto but it missed and hit Ken instead. He stood and Kazu and his friends started cracking up.
"Look at that nerd. He looks angry so you better watch out." One of Kazu's friends said mockingly. Ken felt his blood boil. He hated being called a nerd even though he should've been use to it.
The audience was upset and making a big noise. "Young people today, they have no type of respect." An older man said.
"He's not a nerd. He's a heck of a lot tougher then you." Makoto defended her new best friend.
Kazu laughed again. "Aww, she's standing by her man. Ain't that cute."
"Ken, you aren't gonna take that are you." Makoto said while handing him her
cup of soda. He pulled out an ice cube and aimed it at Kazu, but missed and
hit some little old woman sitting in front of him. It hit her so hard that her
dentures fell out. Ken's face turned pale when he saw what he had done.
Makoto shook her head.
"I guess that wasn't such a good idea, knowing how your aim is."
The little old woman picked up her cain. "You little bastard, I oughta kill ya." She managed to make out with her gums. She swung her cain but Ken ducked just in time and she hit some man sitting next to him instead.
The man's wife stood up and screamed at Ken. "This all your fault! You juvenile delinquent!"
Makoto stepped up to the woman. "Don't you dare talk to Ken that way." She dumped her popcorn on the woman's head. The woman screamed and threw her popcorn and it hit another woman in the next row. A minute later everyone in the theatre was throwing stuff at each other and arguing. A security guard walked in with two police officers. "WHAT'S GOING ON IN HERE!" A police officer with a blow horn screamed over the noise the crowd was making and the audience fell silent.
"Uh oh." Makoto said while Ken's face was as pale as a ghost.
"Those kids over there started it." Kazu pointed to Ken and Makoto. "See! They aren't even old enough to see this movie. They probably snuck in here."
Ken turned to Makoto. "See, I told you we shouldn't have snuck in. Now I'm going to go to jail and I won't be able to become a doctor." He felt his heart racing as the police came closer.
"Let me see your ticket stubs kids." The officer flashed a light into the kids faces. The officer was in the aile that made him closer to Makoto than Ken. Makoto almost fainted. Her mind went blank and her eyes were blinded by the bright light.
"Hey, do I see someone with a dozen donuts!" Ken said pointing to someone behind the officer.
"Where." The officer turned around to find the donuts and Ken grabbed Makoto's hand and ran out the theatre. The police officer turned back around "Hey, I don't see any... Where'd they go!"
The woman with missing dentures pointed to the exit sign. "They went that way."
The officer was angry for being out smarted by some kids.
Makoto threw her self on a chair while trying to catch her breath and control her laughter at the same time. Ken was breathing hard but managed to sit down while laughing hysterically. Makoto caught her breath finally.
"My gosh Ken... that was so much fun! I never knew I could run that fast."
Ken wiped the sweat from his forehead. "You're telling me, I felt like Dango. Hey, do you think he'll run this far out to the food court."
Makoto shook her head. "No, he probably stopped at that bakery shop we passed by to buy a dozen donuts."
They went to Ken's favorite ice cream shop called 'THE FLAVOR'. Makoto eyed the menu. She had never been to an icecream parlor with so many unique flavors.
"I don't know what to get, any suggestions?"
"How about chocolate heart attack? That's what I always get."
Makoto frowned. "That sounds delicious. Just what I want to know about the food I eat; that it may kill me."
"Oh it's not that bad. They call it that because its made up of chocolate ice cream with marshmallows, peanut butter, peppermint, Gumi bears, and caramel. Its really delicious."
Makoto shook her head. "Okay Ken, I trust you."
The ice cream boy handed Ken a comb. "And here's one for your girlfriend." He said with a wink of his eye. Makoto's face turned red.
"He... he... he's not my boyfriend." Makoto stuttered, shocked by the embarrasing words that came out of the ice cream boys mouth. Why did everyone think they were boyfriend and girlfriend? For goodness sakes she was only 11 years old.
The ice cream boy smirked. "Sure, that's what they all say"
Makoto turned to Ken for support but he was frozen in shock.
She pulled him over to a table and they sat. She eyed the comb in her hand,
it looked like mud with pieces of crap stuck in it. Ken looked over at her.
"What? You're afraid to try it?" He said teasingly.
Makoto looked at him as if he were challenging her. Makoto Kino was not afraid of anything... except maybe a cheesy horror movie.
She reluctantly took a lick of her ice cream and her face lite up. She ate it quickly while Ken watched her enjoyment.
"So, you like it huh?"
Makoto shook her head while eating he comb. "Um, hum."
Ken smiled. "I love it. Whenever I'm in a bad mood I eat this and I always feel better." He paused and his face turned serious. "I remember when I was ten and my dad called. He said he was going to visit me in Japan for a few days."
Makoto looked up from her ice cream comb to listen to him.
"I was so excited. I told everyone I knew. But when the day came that he was suppose
to come home he never showed. I was so disappointed that I spent the entire day in
bed crying. So my mom went to the mall, brought a gallon of chocolate heart attack for
me and I ate the whole thing by myself. Of course I ended up puking the whole night"
Makoto giggled.
"But when I was throwing up the ice cream, it was like I was throwing up the hurt and anger I felt for my father. It was really therapeutic."
Makoto stared at him. She realized that he held a lot of pain in his heart towards his father.
Ken's eyes begin to look glassy. She put her hand on top of her friends to comfort him. Ken looked up. "Hey, I'm okay. Really I am." He put on a phony smile. Makoto took her hand from his.
"Okay, if you say so."
Sunday afternoon Makoto and her father prepared for the basketball game.
"Three extra long hoagies."
"Check" Makoto said while checking off their list. They invited Ken to watch the game with them and Mako wanted everything to be perfect.
"Two grand Slam Pepsis"
"Check."
"One bag of ruffles sour cream and onion potato chips."
"Check."
"Well that's everything, the only thing we're missing is our guest."
The doorbell rang and Makoto smiled at her father. "There he is. I'll get it"
She let Ken in and led him to the living room. Taichi greeted him with a high five.
"Hey Ken. What's up, brother."
"Nothing much." Ken said shyly.
"Make yourself at home Ken. Sit down."
As they watched the game they cheered, screamed, booed, and finally in the end when the Bears won they jumped up and down in excitement. Taichi picked Makoto up and spun her around. Mako screamed for her dad to put her down while Ken smiled at them. That moment he felt happy and envious at the same time.
Happy that Makoto had a great dad that loved her, and envy because he didn't.
Taichi let Mako down and she looked over to Ken. She quickly picked up on his
vibe but he dismissed his feelings with a smirk.
Mako pulled her bike out of the garage. "Where are we going?"
Ken fixed the strap on his helmet. "That's a surprise. Just follow me and enjoy the ride."
"Everything's a surprise with you."
They rode through the town for what seemed like forever to Makoto. She felt her legs ache with every push of the pedal. Little beads of sweat caused her shirt to stick to her back. She looked ahead towards Ken. "How much longer. I'm getting tired."
Ken looked back and smirked. "Just a little bit. Its right up here."
They rode into the town park and Ken disappeared into the bushes while Mako followed behind him. He jumped off his bike and put it behind a tree.
"All right, were here."
Mako got off her bike and looked at Ken as if he were crazy. "You made me ride all the way up here just to look at trees."
Ken shook his head and smirked. "Of course not. Now close your eyes and give me your hand."
Mako looked at Ken strangely. "Hey, this isn't some kind of trick is it."
"No, no. Just close your eyes. You said that you trusted me. Now do you?"
Makoto let out a deep breath and closed her eyes. Ken took her hand and led her
down a small trail. Ken slide through a small opening between two large trees as he pulled
Mako along.
"Open your eyes now." Mako opened them and looked around at what seemed
like one of her mother's photographs. It was a section in the forest that was
surrounded by trees and in the middle was a small pond. The sun seeped through
the bushes of the tall oak trees, making golden rays of sunlight reflect a rainbow
off the water.
Mako looked around with wide eyes. "Wow! This is awesome!"
Ken remembered the first time he found this place. He was on a camping trip with his parents when he was eight. While they were arguing, Ken ran away from the camping grounds and found this place. Its been his refuge ever since. Now he was sharing it with someone else.
"I knew you would like it. This is my secrete place. No one else knows about it besides us. So... know its ours." Mako ran over to the pond, threw her shoes off and jumped in. Ken followed her and they played in the water until sunset.
Later that day as they sat on a log watching the sun go down, Ken asked Makoto about her father.
"Your dad is really cool."
Makoto looked over at him and saw the same look on his face that he always had when he talked about his own father. "Yeah, he is cool."
Ken's eyes started to become glossy. "You sure are lucky. I wish I had a dad like that."
Makoto could almost feel Ken's pain. She put her arm around his shoulders and pulled him toward her. He laid his head on her shoulder and felt her warmth. For the first time in a very long time, he felt protected. A feeling he lost when his father left two yeas ago. He let his reservations go and released his anger in the form of tears. Ken's body shook as he sobbed uncontrollably.
Makoto wrapped her other arm around him and rubbed his hair. She laid her cheek against his and whispered in his ear.
"I'm here for you Ken. I'm right by your side."
Oh when you're cold I'll be there Hold you tight to me Oh when you're low I'll be there By your side baby
So, What do you think? Check back for Chapter 2: 'By Your side (Pt. 2)', where Makoto starts her first day of school and meets Ken's bullies.
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Thank you for reading and may God Bless,
Akilah