It's Makoto's birthday and it looks like EVERYONE has turned up to celebrate her special day. But, looks can be deceiving… Pre-Dark Kingdom Arc. Mixed Manga/Anime canon. Written for Makoto birthday 2021.

Rated: T - Family/Hurt/Comfort/Romance - Words: 1,617 - Makoto K./Lita/Sailor Jupiter, Shinozaki/Ken, Tomoko T.

A/N: This fic is a gift for disaster_bi_jupiter and Jubbles

All the thanks to Jubbles for beta reading this fic for me.

You can find her at on Ao3 as: /users/Jubbles

Or check out her FFN account: u/1401129/JBubbles

And she is also on tumblr under the name jubblesbubbles

Makoto's eyes fluttered open, roused by the delectable aroma. She sat up, drinking in the green walls dotted with red and pink flowers.

Almost weightlessly, she got out of bed and, without realizing it, found herself in the kitchen fully dressed. At the stove, a lady with long plaited brown hair flipped a pancake before shooting a smile over her shoulder.

"Good morning, birthday girl!" She said, presenting a full plate of pancakes.

For a moment Makoto hesitated as she felt a faint tremor. Then she gratefully took the plate.

"Thanks, Mama!"

"There's my little girl!"

Makoto spun around, the blood abruptly rushing to her head as she did so. As the sensation passed, she registered a tall man with a darker shade of brown hair and a green sweater vest grinning at her.

"I'm not so little anymore, Papa," blushed Makoto.

Her father laughed. "You might be fourteen today, Mako-chan, but you'll always be a little girl to me."

"And to me," affirmed her mother, "Though you're too big to be flown around the room anymore"

"… What?..."

Another tremor passed through the kitchen.

"Don't you remember? When you were smaller your father would pick you up and 'fly' you all around the room!"

"… Oh… Right. Yeah of course!" Makoto gave a little shake of her head and settled down with her breakfast.

"Eat up now, Mako-chan," advised her father, "You'll be needing your strength for training later. You wouldn't want to crash during a sparring session?"

"No, I… what did you say?"

"You know. You wouldn't want to burn out. Fall apart. Martial arts takes a lot of energy after all.."

"I… Yes! You're absolutely right, Papa. Sorry, I don't know where my head's at today." Makoto steadied her hand.

"Hope it isn't old age."

Makoto felt a brief, but sharp, breeze as she looked up from her plate. She found a boy with very gentle eyes sitting opposite her, an umbrella resting against his chair.

"Shinozaki!?" Makoto gasped. "Where'd you come from?"

"Same place as him."

Shinozaki pointed behind Makoto. Whirling around she looked up and beheld an utterly dreamy older student with dark curly hair.

"Nichogi-senpai," she whispered.

Out of nowhere the boy presented her with a bouquet of roses. She suddenly became acutely aware of the earrings adorning her lobes and her stomach began somersaulting.

"And that's not all," added Shinozaki, "Tomoko also has a little something for you."

He slid a book across the table. On the back was the headshot of a young bespectacled woman in the same style of uniform as Makoto.

"She wrote it for you," whispered Nichogi-senpai.

In the distance Makoto could have sworn she heard a rumbling sound.

"Oh how lovely!" Exclaimed her mother. "Mako, why don't you try reading some of it?"

"Um, alright." Makoto flipped the book open and tried to read the first page. Her brow soon furrowed in confusion. "I… I can't..." The words were all jumbled.

"Nevermind," piped up her father. "The important thing isn't the book. It's the money it made".

"What do you mean?" asked Makoto.

"Tomoko made a lot of cash from this novel and we have all chipped in too." Explained Shinozaki. "We figured you deserved an extra special birthday present."

"You did!" Makoto exclaimed. "You shouldn't have! What is it?"

"It's a vacation!" Her mother replied.

"Really! Where to?"

"Oh, that doesn't really matter, Mako-chan," answered her father.

"I… I don't understand?"

"The important thing isn't where we're going but how we're getting there."

Another rumble resounded in the distance, albeit closer this time causing the plate to shake slightly on the table.

"H-how are we getting there?"

"Well, take another look at the book, dear," encouraged her mother.

Tentatively, Makoto's eyes returned to the book.

"Try flipping it over," advised her father.

Makoto's hand shook as she reached out for the book. In perfect synchrony, the entire room seemed to shudder slightly. Turning the book over revealed the image of a glorious white horse with a shining horn and large feathery wings.

"We… We're travelling via a Pegasus?"

In synchrony the whole room began to laugh at her. Makoto however, remained silent and still. The room was quaking more forcibly now, the rumbling sound having intensified.

"No, silly." Makoto's breath caught at the sound of a new, unseen voice. "Hey, under here!"

Makoto's hands drifted to the book and opened it so that both the front and back covers lay flat upon the table.

"Hi there! Happy birthday!"

Makoto's eyes widened as the headshot of Tomoko began to giggle, joining in the eerie laughter of everyone else.

"Haven't you caught on yet?" Tomoko's head nodded to her right, indicating towards the book's front cover. "You're going to fly there!"

"We're all going to fly there! Together!" Added Shinozaki.

"NO!"

The laughter abruptly cut out. Everyone stared at Makoto, disappointment etched on their faces.

"Don't you want us to be with you, Mako?" Nichogi-senpai asked in a breathy voice.

Another rumble.

"That's not it! You have to lis-"

"We understand, Mako," Tomoko said sadly.

Another tremor.

"You'd rather be alone, right?" Added Shinozaki.

Another cold breeze. Another somersault in her stomach.

"No! Of course not! You just have to listen to me! Please we-"

"That's quite enough!" Her father's sharpness caught her off guard. "You are being incredibly ungrateful, young lady!"

"And," added her mother, equally harshly, "if you think you're big enough to go all by yourself you've got another thing coming." She wagged her finger at Makoto.

"That's right! After all, you're still just a little girl!"

"I'm not so little anymore!" Thundered Makoto.

"Oh yes you are," retorted her father.

Her mother nodded. "Trust us, dear, we know best. Seven-year-olds can't travel alone on a big airplane."

"… But… I'm not seven…"

Her father's head tilted slightly "Aren't you?"

The rumbling and shaking of the room intensified, this time causing the plate to fall and shatter along with other items across the kitchen.

Her parents suddenly loomed far larger than they had before.

"Mama! Papa! Make it stop! Please, you have to make it stop!" Makoto's own voice sounded oddly different.

She reached out her hand towards her parents and found it far shorter and stubbier than before. A tightness enveloped her waist. Looking down she discovered a belt securely fastened there. Even with all her strength she was powerless to unfasten. Jerking her head back up, she saw no sign of her parents. More bizarrely, she wasn't in the kitchen anymore either. Instead she was staring at the back of a large, cushioned chair, a plastic tray table fastened to the back of it. She spun her head left and right, finding nothing but a row of seats either side, and a small rectangular window on either end. Beyond the windows she saw nothing except black clouds and the wings of a plane.

The shaking started up again as the flight continued to hit turbulence. The rumbling of the engines was joined by another, far more ominous rumbling noise surrounding the plane.

"Please! Let me go! You have to let me go! I don't want to be here!"

"Don't you want to be with us, Mako-chan?"

Mako suddenly found her mother sitting next to her.

"Would you prefer to forget us?"

Spinning her head to the other side she saw her father staring down at her, a heartbroken look upon his face.

"No! That's not it! I promise! I don't want to forget you! I want to be with you! I just can't be here. We have to go! Please, make this stop! Please!"

CRACK!

A bolt of lightning struck one of the wings!

And then… Makoto was falling.

… And falling...

… And falling...

… And…

She jolted upright, drenched in sweat!

It took her a moment to adjust to her surroundings. What really focused her was the sight of the calendar by her bed. In particular, the square encircled in green ink. December 5th.

She suddenly remembered the upcoming school meeting about her behaviour. And how she needed to read over Tomoko's latest draft. And how Shinozaki had advised her to bring an umbrella to school today. And that Nichogi-senpai had been trying to talk to her about something for the past week.

The thought of all this baggage seemed to relax her somewhat. The more she had to do, the more things had to occupy her mind, the easier it'd be to forget the dream.

She always forgot it in time. Unfortunately, that made its annual return all the worse. Maybe if she tried to not forget it, next year it might not hurt as much.

She didn't bother hoping it wouldn't hurt at all. She knew better than that.

She knew that'd be a waste of a birthday wish.

A/N: I would also like to thank the Tuxedo Unmasked article 'WHY DOES MAKOTO LIVE ALONE?' for inspiring this story and providing helpful research details for it.

Also, just to let you know I am involved in a discord called 'Moonlight Legends' which is dedicated to sharing all sorts of Sailor Moon fanworks, including other fanfics. If you would like to join so you can share your own work, get help with your current projects or just connect to other fan creators shoot me a PM and I'll send you an invite. All are welcome!