OMFG I posted the wrong chapter file—how embarrassing… I am…was sleep deprived from night duty… I have reposted the correct chapter, still the same, just more depth.
Thank you for the R&R's!
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Chapter 7
Kino Makoto pouted as she walked to Juuban Junior High. What luck, she grimaced, that she had enrolled herself into school that participated in Saturday lessons. But time was short during the winter holidays; there was not enough time to search for a school that did not do any club activities on the weekend. School clubs were for after school hours, weekends were for herself.
At least it was only for three hours...
The students of Juuban rushed past her, the boys quickly stealing glances as they walked past her, the girls rushed whimpering as they made eye contact. Makoto sighed inwardly and slump. Dejected, Makoto had hoped that by enrolling herself to a more 'posh' Junior High that the tales of 'Herculesa Kino of Ichisan Junior High' would not reach Juuban. After all Tokyo housed over ten million.
Sadly, the odds were not in her favour.
Makoto knew she stood out by not only her uniform, but by her overall physical form. Her height was that of male high school senior. She easily towered the tallest male junior student by at least half a head. Her growth spurts rivalled boys, her overall consumption matched every hungry pubescent boy. Her physique was that of any maturing girl, soft with curves that were still developing. But there was one thing that made her stand out though, one that made her family physician and PE teacher scratch their heads, none matched her strength. No one.
How did the rumours spread so quickly, she wondered... Her first two weeks were peaceful, pleasant. There were no fights to stop, there were none started. The municipal district of Ichisan was on the other side of town, there was nothing in Juuban that Ichisan did not have. Who would be bothered to travel all the way here? But the stories had spread, with whispers, with glares. Disgust from those she became to think as friends.
She was unwelcomed.
Makoto gripped her briefcase. It is what it is. Live with it until it tries to bite you.
Not even a year in Tokyo and Makoto was beginning to regret returning to her childhood home. It wasn't how she remembered it, everything was different, changed.
Was it worth for a dream?
She left her maternal grandparents, she left her aunts, her uncles, her little cousins. Her friends. Did she leave all that for a dream... Did she really leave her mountain city of Takayama for Tokyo?
'Big breaths now Makoto.' Encouraging herself did little though the pang in heart.
She lived now alone. Her grandmother had returned the mountains, back to her family. The two-bedroom apartment, left behind by her deceased parents, was all that brought her back to Tokyo. She wished sometimes it never existed.
She and her grandmother were excited when lifted white sheets that covered her childhood home. They cleaned the windows and dusted the apartment out less than a year ago. They switched on the amenities, bought new bedding supplies, whitegoods. Makoto was happy until the winter came. It had not even been a month since her grandmother left. Makoto wished, somewhere behind the reasons and the pursuit for her dream that, she left with her.
Makoto lumbered forward. Weekends were supposed to for herself. They were supposed to be with her family...
Memories of being alone stirred in the back of her mind.
She spotted Ami by the school gates, leaning against the white school plaster wall, concentrating on the small screen in front of her. A black feline perched on the girls left shoulder, she received odd looks from several students, but she never noticed.
With a tap of her shoulder, dark blue eyes met her green. An exchange of greetings, a large smile, forced, neither of the smiles were real. Tight, tense. They didn't know each other that well. Their eyes downcast as they dragged themselves past the school gates to sit upon a wooden bench, that sat beneath a budding plum tree.
Silence.
They sat side by side. The feline and her companion whispered to each other. They cannot be overheard. The talking cat can be seen but not heard. To anyone it looked like the blue-haired girl was talking her, not the cat. Even if Makoto wished to speak, to voice her suggestions, it would matter little. In the grand scheme of things, it would not benefit the felines quest, and so Makoto stayed quiet, playing the part of an attentive listener.
Makoto was the grunt, the tank to take on the heavy work. Her physical prowess was the only trait she offered to Sailor Warriors.
A gentle smile grew on Makoto's lips as she gazed up at the winter trees. Today Makoto would set aside her mantle of strength; today she would show the gentler side of physical prowess.
Leaning her arm against her lap, Makoto cupped her head. The day was crisp and clear, the weather slowly becoming warmer. In Takayama she would have seen the winter birds arriving home, the animals slowly waking. She swallowed down the grip in her throat, she would be missing Takayama's spring festival for the first time.
Dropping her head, she swallowed the grip again, her vision blurred, she brushed the unfallen tears against her sleeve. She found the black cat trotting away, her tail straight with a slight curve at the tip. Overexcited boys spotted her and began to take chase, startling the poor black cat to bolt out of the school grounds. She chuckled, sniffling as she watched.
She frowned and thought. This was only a chapter of her life. She will not give up just yet. It was new year. Things will get better.
Makoto looked over beside her, towards the girl with glasses between her brow. She watched as the blue-haired girl tapped on her keyboard, her gloveless finger gliding across the screen.
Makoto sighed heavily. Makoto and Ami were friends, but they only tapped the surface of their friendship. As Sailor Warriors it was important to get along, to understand each other, to work with each other.
The life of a silent and unthankful heroism was definitely not what Makoto expected when she met Luna. A protector of People. A warrior against the Dark Kingdom. A guardian of a Moon Princess. This was a side chapter of her life. Silent. Hidden. Secret.
While Luna had answered Makoto's long-lived questions, the truth to her being, as to why she was different did ease the resentment she had towards herself. She wondered if Ami felt the same.
Makoto sat up and peered over Ami's shoulder, the screen now more visible. A simple graph plotted across Ami's screen.
"What's that?" she queried.
Ami hummed, tilted her head without letting her eyes leave the screen.
"That you're doing… What are you doing?" Makoto reiterated. Looking away from her screen Ami seemed perplexed by the question.
"Oh?!" Ami stopped, holding the machine in both hands, she turned to face Makoto. Her blue eyes scanned over her computer screen once more, deep in thought, before lifting her head towards Makoto again. "I'm analysing energy levels."
Makoto frowned, watching as Ami's focus returned to her screen. They hardly ever spoke unless they were fighting Youma, or Luna had instigated a conversation between them. "And?"
Ami faced her again. "Oh... you want to know?" Makoto nodded.
They really did hardly speak to each other. Were it Luna who asked the question, Makoto had no doubt that Ami would have spilled the words that she held back constantly.
Ami paused for a brief second, adjusting her glasses that sat on her nose, quickly stealing a glance back down onto her lap. "Well… I suppose the best way to begin is..." Ami stopped again.
Makoto raised a brow. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Coughing gently, briefly catching her green eyes "Well... as Luna explained it to me, every living creature emanate a particular type of energy."
This was not what Makoto expected... "Alright…"
The blue-haired girl licked her lips "This program that Luna and I devised," referring to her mini-computer, "helps Luna and I analyse every single Energy that crosses her path, in hopes to find the Moon Princess and/or potential allies and enemies."
"...Go on."
Ami pressed several buttons, showing Makoto an unplotted graph. The vertical axis tagged as 'Energy-Spectrum' while the horizontal 'Date'. "Luna sends information to me every second, every day." A search bar dropped in the centre of the screen, Ami typed in dates from today and three weeks ago. The screen disappeared for a second, a loading screen popped then a series of dark lines travelled across the screen, rows and rows of dark lines sprouted out from the vertical axis.
Blinking, Makoto stopped to think. How could a cat, albeit a talking one, detect peoples energy? "How does Luna search for people?"
Ami tapped her forehead. "Her crescent, it scans everyone that crosses her path."
Huh, wha da know…
"Luna doesn't understand how she sees this energy. We glow apparently. Shine, like a star in the midst of darkness. Like how we see neon lights at night. Every living creature has an aura. I theorised, afterwards, that maybe she saw the spectrum. Visible Light. White light. The 'visible light spectrum'. The wavelengths of the rainbow."
Makoto looked Ami up and down "Wait... What?" glancing down at her screen again. The rows black flooded the mini-screen and among the black were three, strong visible colours.
"This is how we found you and Rei-san." Glancing at the blue-haired girl, Makoto now saw her in a different light. "The green line is you, red is Rei-san and I'm blue. The darker tones are everyone else." Ami smiled at her. "Our powers are like wavelengths in the spectrum. Our auras portray our Power. Each colour of the spectrum corresponds to a certain type of power."
Makoto mouth dropped "So Green is Lightening. Red is Fire and Blue, Water?" Ami nodded. "And the black?"
"They're not truly black. They are just not bright." Ami explained.
…No wonder Luna was enamoured with the girl.
Makoto gestured for Ami computer who passed it over delicately. Makoto studied the three bright colourful lines sitting in between the black. She could see now that the vertical axis clearly, a rainbow. Red at the bottom all the way to the purple right on top. Each of her Sailor comrades sat accordingly to their spectrum of the rainbow. "You really found me and Rei with this?" she whispered, amazed.
Ami nodded, a soft chuckle escaped her lips "Ingenious is it not?"
A pause and Makoto grinned, carefully returning the computer to Ami. "Pity Luna found Rei."
Ami giggled "It's not our choice, we're destined to protect the Moon Princess, regardless of how we feel about each other."
Makoto rolled her eyes and chuckled "You sure red isn't for 'Bitch' instead of 'Fire'?"
"Oh, she's not that bad." Ami chuckled. "She says she finds us tolerable."
Makoto shook her head "That's not a complement, Ami-chan." They shared a giggle. It felt good.
"So, what colour is our princess?"
"Luna is unsure."
"Or she can't remember?"
Ami shrugged, returning to her small screen but did nothing else.
Makoto noticed a small blonde walk into the school grounds. Makoto leaned onto her lap again, "So, what do you see with Usagi?"
Ami raised her head following Makoto's gaze, "Nothing to that makes her stand out, however..." Ami pressed several buttons, opening a file named . "As I said, Luna scans everyone she crosses daily, that includes Youma attacks." The screen went blank.
"Over a month ago, before we found you and Rei, there was a Youma attack in Shinzo."
"I have heard of that! Media thinks it was an earthquake caused all the damage."
Ami removed her glasses, holding them in her right hand as she pinched her brow between her eyes, and took a long breath in, slowly exhaling. "So many people died, so many injured. I saw Usagi at Shinzo, standing amongst the debris, mostly unharmed."
Makoto frowned, she was unaware of this.
Ami slipped her glasses back on as she sighed, typing the date '19xx-12-24'.
Two weeks before Makoto started at Juuban, during the winter holidays.
Then computer screen came to life, rows of black shot across the screen, many of them vanishing less then half-way. Void of green and red, with only Ami's blue, there was an unmistakable bright pink band sitting in between the blacker tones. Makoto studied it closely, noting that the pink band was at first a darker shade before it burst into colour and fading into black again.
Ami zoomed into the screen with her fingers, focusing on the short bright pink bar. "It has only happened once and only for a split of a second, like an electrical pulse. This is why Luna is investigating Usagi-san."
Makoto licked her chapped lips. So, this was why Luna kept creeping around the girl, she wished she knew. They were collecting information about her. Did they think she an enemy, or an ally?
"I theorised that this to be a 'flight or fight' response, however Luna says that the sudden increase in Energy is abnormal. 'You either are a star or you are not' Luna said."
Ami wavered, taking a deep breath as she looked ahead of her, "What happened at Shinzo was a disaster. As I fought that Youma I saw people die, their spectrum, their energy fading off the screen. I saw them die, and I could do nothing about it!" A sob escaped Ami's throat, she grasped her face, arching her back down to her knees. "I was too weak to save anyone." She sobbed softly. "Had I not found you or Rei-san. Had I not found you at all," her voice crackled softly "there would be so much more deaths..."
Makoto cursed as Ami wept. She pick her into an embrace, pulling Ami's shoulder against her own. She really did not know this girl. "Hey, it's all good now. You've found us!"
Ami had been fighting the longest, fighting alone with only her wits to save her. The warrior of Mercury was not the grunt but the support, Makoto realised looking over at the mini-computer held in the crying girls grasp. She helped more than Makoto had been aware, more than she herself was capable of. Makoto brought her other arm around, bringing her into a full embrace. She didn't know Mizuno Ami. They still were in the shallow end of their friendship. "It's okay, Ami-chan, we're here for you now."
The first bell rung, Ami sniffled, lifting her head. "Oh dear." She fretted, taking in slow breaths while fussing with her belongings. "Do I look fine?" her voice cracked.
Makoto gently chuckled, looking over Ami, a face pink and red glazed eyes. "Give yourself a minute or two." she suggested. "We'll take it slow, we got ten minutes before the next bell."
They strolled slowly towards the school doors, Makoto stopped by the entrance and groaned. "I can't believe I'm going to school on a Saturday."
Ami giggled, wiping a stray tear. "Oh Makoto-chan, it's only every second and third Saturday of the month for club activities."
Makoto huffed loudly "Yeah... I know… Well!" she started, puffing out her busty chest and fisting her palm. "Time to test out my art skills!
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Makoto peeked warily through the sliding doors of the arts room. Her eyes scanned the room. Long and wide, the art room was crammed full of canvases, with clay moulds in questionable positions. Chairs and desks lined carelessly in around the room. She spotted Usagi's silhouette quickly, her small frame gazing out the window at the other end of the room.
Licking her lips and taking a deep breath Makoto slowly slide the door open, focusing on Usagi. "Hey you." Makoto dropped her gaze. "You're that new initiate, right?" Makoto's shoulders slumped. Ugh… "Yeah, I am."
A bob-cur girl inspected Makoto up and down, swaying her hips as she hummed. "Alright, if you want to become a member you'll have to do a simple test."
Ugh... "A test?"
"Yes. We don't let just anyone to join." The bob-cut girl gestured with a flick of straight hair, placing a hand then on her hip. "Art…" the girl began, her tone edging towards snarky, "…is a serious matter. You either have it or you don't." she explained with a side bobbing of her head. Makoto held back the urge to roll her eyes, she instead closed them with a twitch "We don't support anyone if Suibo-sensei-sama deems your art poor. We certainly won't feel sorry for you if Suibo-sensei-sama uses you as a prop dummy for the class."
"What?" her eyes snapped opened. What was this about a prop dummy?
"However! If you do have what it takes to join us then you'll receive free art supplies, or anything you want, providing that Suibo-sensei-sama agrees."
"Right..." Makoto nodding, stealing glances at the girl in the other side of them room.
"Sit here." The bob-cut girl ordered pointing at a desk in the corner of the room, in front of the entrance. Makoto huffed and grunted as she dropped herself onto the chair, glaring up at the bob-cut girl. "My name is Outoma Hatsumomo" the girl announced, "I am the Vice-President of the Arts Club. My brother, Outoma Seiichi-nii-san is the Predisent. We two will decide if you are suitable to join us. And… so… you are?" She asked, leaning her head to level with hers.
"Kino Makoto..."
A delicate brow rose, standing up straight "Oh? I've heard of you." She smiled.
A grin twitched along Makoto's lips "Have you now?"
Hatsumomo tilted her head and snickered, her smile stretching her face. "Draw me your favourite animal. If you pass, then you may stay, we don't judge here. You have…hmmm... fifteen minutes."
Makoto chided towards Hatsumomo, her gaze drifting again to meet Usagi's gaping stare, disbelief portraying her blue eyes. Makoto waved and threw a grin, chuckling as the blonde blushed, quickly turning back towards the window.
'This was it!' Makoto thought, turning her concentration to the 'Initiate desk'. She felt determined, confident that today she and Usagi would connect, gain her trust in some way or form. Whatever Luna thought of her in the end would not matter to her.
Finally, looking down at the desk it was then Makoto noticed that there was an assortment of pens, pencils, erasers, three choices of paper and a... paper pencil? People walked in the room behind her as she examined the white papery stick, bringing it in front of her face, tilting it, even scratching the tip. She noticed it then, dropping the paper pencil to gape the most hideous poster she had ever seen. Her eye twitched as she squinted towards the grotesque picture of something, with wide uneven eyes, a nose that was grossly too large with lips to match, and a colour scheme the Makoto found unpleasant.
On top of the poster, in large bold characters wrote 'Praise Pablo Picasso-Dono!'
"Oo-kay…" Makoto whispered, placing her left hand above her brow to avoid looking at the poster. She chose the smoother of the three papers, picking up what she recognised as a 'normal' HB pencil.
Makoto brows furrowed as she drew her favourite animal, the wolf. It took her some time to draw her wolf, the same wolf she had drawn for many years. She rubbed her wolf out more times than she cared, flicking the threads from the eraser away, till she seemed pleased with it.
"Times up." Hatsumomo purred from behind Makoto's ear, her breath was so light it sent shivers down Makoto's body, causing her to crush the piece of paper from fright. A light snicker and Hatsumomo's arm reached over her shoulder, prying the crumpled drawing before walking off.
"What do you think, Seiichi-nii-san?"
"Poor."
"Yes. I quite agree. Poor."
Makoto rolled her eyes and took the opportunity to dash across the room. "Hi Usagi-san." She softly spoke startling the blonde girl away from the window, as Makoto grabbed a seat, placing it in front of Usagi's desk. "How have you been?"
Makoto's wolf came into view. "This will not do." Makoto growled, snatching her drawing inside her fist from Hatsumomo. A boy stood beside her who looked remarkably like... ah… her...
"We hold a high standard and praise ourselves here at Juuban Junior High for our excellent visual arts." Hatsumomo's brother began to drone, looking down at Makoto from his nose. "With the help of our gracious teacher, Suibo-sensei, we have awed the public with our talents. While we have odd apples here, we cannot, have one bad apple bring down our reputation. We do not turn away talent, as you can see from our present company." Makoto gaped the boy, "We simply do not take in all strays out of pity." He sniffed when he finished, raising his nose with disdain.
Makoto chortled darkly... it seems she met her first prick at Juuban!
LoVely~!
Makoto gripped the back of the chair, she could feel the wood crack; her temper rose, heating her body, as she held back trembling fist. She rose slowly from her chair, stretching to her full height till she towered over the siblings. It didn't matter anymore, Juuban knew, they already knew that the female Hercules of Ichisan was enrolled here. They each took a step back as she hissed "I'm sorry, do ya mind repeating that last bit? I didn't quite hear…"
The doors slide open, other students quickly scrambled their seats, the siblings1 stumbled away back to their seat at the front of the room.
A teacher.
Makoto backed down immediately, turning her seat forward, sitting down with a not a second longer Seiichi barked "Rei!". Makoto gritted her teeth, forcing herself not glare at them, and bowed the art teacher.
Suibo-sensei happily threw her bag onto her desk, ignoring her students bows, and happily greeted everyone with open arms. The art room then became alive, students shuffled and scrapped their tables to sit across from their friends, pulling out thick artbooks, pencils, brushes brought from the window counters. The room burst with talk and laughter, wild as the room setting was. All except for the siblings, whose desk was straight orderly as they were. They spoke with Suibo-sensei, who seemed enamoured with them, nodding at every word they spoke.
Makoto copied the class, lifting the desk around. Makoto hoped she had not scared Usagi off with her temper. When Makoto finally aligned her desk with Usagi's, she found that Usagi had placed an assortment of colourful pens neatly onto her desk, a dark thick bound book sitting in front of her. She looked calm, despite the slight blush that painted her cheeks. Makoto could not help but smile "So, how are you Usagi-san?"
Usagi's bright blue eyes flickered towards her green. A timid "Fine." was all Makoto received. A shy smile, the faint blush painting across now her nose. Pushing back her stray blonde hair behind her ear, Makoto watched as Usagi slowly picked through her assortment of dark and colourful pens.
Makoto evened out her crumpled little wolf. "Hey Usagi?" the blonde looked up, "Do you really think my wolf is that bad?" Usagi dropped he gaze towards her wolf. Makoto thought her little chubby wolf was... cute, it was by no means an accurate portrayal of the animal, especially with its stumpy short legs and round belly.
"No," a tight reply came. "I-it's cute…"
"Well then." Makoto laughed gently. "That's all that matters." Usagi brow furrowed, her mouth quivered up.
Usagi carefully opened her artbook onto a clean page, leaving the remaining pages hidden, her thumb pressing hard down the spine of the artbook. Usagi hand hovered over a clean page, her eyes examining Makoto's chubby wolf before her hands began to glide along the rough paper. Round strokes several times along the same line before leaving to resume and connect. A body formed, then a tail, a head.
Makoto smiled softly as Usagi concentrated on the task before her, a pink tongue poking past her lips. She watched Usagi pick out a fine-tipped pen, her eyes squinting as she drew the details of fur, eyes, a shiny black nose, claw tipped paw.
Makoto gaped, watching as her fat wolf became alive. "Wow," Makoto breathed out "you're really good." Picking up her own wolf, awkwardly laughing, this club was out of her league, "No way my little guy could ever compete with yours!" Makoto joked.
Usagi frowned, shaking her head "No..."
Makoto pouted staring at her drawing. Her poor little, fat wolf…
"...it's not important as to what your art looks like, sometimes with art, it is important just to look and not judge."
Makoto lifted her eyes and stared at the smaller girl whose blush quickly spread down her neck. "Umm… w-what I meant was...I..." Usagi stammered, her eyes roving everywhere but her.
"Thank you, Usagi-san."
Usagi blinked several times, coughed into her hand and grabbed her braid, caressing it hastily. "U-ummm you're welcome..." she croaked, a smile rising that refused to leave.
"Ah, so you are our new member?" spoke a honeyed voice.
Suibo-sensei stood in front the two. A curvy woman, dressed in quite homely clingy clothes, gazed down at them, her eyes were deep brown, her light brown hair hung freely past her shoulders.
Makoto quickly rose and bowed. "Yes, my name is Kino Makoto. I recently transferred to Juuban. I have yet to join a club officially. Thank you for allowing me to experience your class Suibo-sensei." Suibo-sensei paid no attention to Makoto, her gaze instead lingered towards Usagi who trembled beneath her gaze. "I see you have chosen to sit with my little rare bird." Her voice husky as she took a small step left. "My little shining star."
Frowning, Makoto watched as Suibo-sensei reached out for the open artbook, pulling it towards her by the corner. "My Tsukino-san, you have been busy during the holidays." Suibo-sensei gushed as she flicked through thick pages. Curious, Makoto took a peek, her mouth dropped, gaping wide. There was not a spot of free space, no corner untouched, each page was traced or drawn in black pen, with streams of white or colour that broke through the monotonous colour of darkness.
As the teacher slowly flicked a page, one by one, Makoto slammed her hand down, surprising them both. Makoto's eyes roved over an unmistakable silhouette. Thick black lines whirled and shaped its long body, fine black lines accentuate a grotesque head, live glassy black eyes peering up at her.
"Is it not beautiful!" Suibo-sensei raved, awed, marvelled.
The background drawn boldly, destroyed buildings, broken beams, the ground torn.
'…What happened at Shinzo was a disaster...'
Vibrant colours sat along the Youma's back, dripping upwards before fading in delicate spots of colour, then black.
'…I saw people die, their spectrum, their energy fading off the screen. I saw them die, and I could do nothing about it!'
Suibo-sensei questioned Usagi's inspiration, she prodded and probed but Usagi refused to answer.
'…I saw Usagi at Shinzo, standing amongst the debris, mostly unharmed.'
Makoto's hand dropped from the page...
'This is why Luna is investigating Usagi-san'
She had seen a scenario before. Once upon a dream…. Of ruins, glowing eyes as death rose around them...
Makoto inhaled returning her focus to Usagi. Suibo-sensei now loomed over the small blonde's form, her smile wider, her breath huskier. "Usagi-san!" Makoto cried, startling both, "Come with me to Crown Arcade after school! Please!"
"Ah!" Suibo-sensei voice rung with glee. "What a wonderful proposition!" hovering closer to the shaking girl. "A chance to inspire your mind!" she inhaled with obvious excitement.
"Yes, yes! Yes!"
Was that answer for Makoto or Suibo-sensei?
Suibo-sensei's body shook from excitement, patting Usagi's golden mop, sending even shivers even down Makoto's spine. The gesture seemed too personal. She held herself back as she watched the teacher lean down to Usagi's ear, who nodded at every whisper. Too personal…
Makoto eased back into her chair as Suibo-sensei finally walked off, Usagi focusing on the snake Youma, her delicate fingers gliding along the creatures back before closing the book shut. Makoto watched as she pulled the portfolio into her lap, hidden now from her view.
Makoto glared as the art class when she heard whispers, hidden behind their hands. She noticed Suibo-sensei did not approach any other student. "You draw really well, Usagi-san." Makoto praised. "You should be proud!" Usagi all but shrugged.
The remaining hours of the class was filled with jokes and amusing stories of the winter holidays. Even Usagi laughed, her smile unhinged, wide, real. Makoto had learned a bit about Usagi this day. She had seen what laid hidden between the pages, the experiences Usagi dealt with alone. What Ami had experienced that day...
As the school day drew to the end Suibo-sensei announced that this was her last semester at Juuban. She was transferring to Mugen Academy, and before she left she wished to leave a mark that Suibo Aiko once prowled these very halls. She proclaimed more than announced, yelled more than spoke.
Makoto cringed at the arts teacher. How a teacher such as Suibo-sensei obtained a position at one of Tokyo's famous private school was… actually she didn't care. Makoto succeeded in the first step of her mission for Luna and Ami, and whatever happened afterwards, Makoto would not let the small girl slip through.
After all, her and Makoto, were in some ways the same. One was: neither had parents. Makoto was young when her parents passed away. It took a while for Makoto to realise what she had gained when her maternal grandparents took her away with them to the mountains of Takayama, where her mother's family resided. She did not understand at the time the plight of those who were left behind, alone, cut off from everything and everyone.
She remembered how scarce a tender kind word was. How rare a warm embraced by warm gentle arms was. She understood now that a kind word, a gentle smile could lift the heaviest of shadows from those who never could see past the dark shroud.
Makoto was going to make this chapter of her life meaningful for someone else.
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No Beta
Sorry for errors, words hurt my eyes…
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