5th December 2020
Chapter One: Dec 5, 2020
It was her birthday and she didn't understand why she was so antsy. It was too early to start her Christmas baking. The presents were laid lovingly under the tree. She once again counted on her fingers to make sure all the Senshi, Shitennou and Hogosha were accounted for.
Although she never missed the looks of longing to the planetarium, they'd still had no luck finding Saturn, and each day that passed Haruka went out in her car looking for the wayward fifteen-year-old.
Shingo still had no idea who he was, even though he lived with the many other warriors. Her fiance had gone out with the boys while the girls were training with some joint attacks. She had been excused, as she had felt ill that morning, leaving her on her own while Ikuko and Kenji were busy getting some of the other rooms ready for the children coming home from the future in a few days.
She looked around and decided she was bored so she would go for a walk and see if she could clear her head. Just as she put her winter coat on she heard small paws padding into the genkan.
"Are you going out Mako-chan?" the small, inky-black feline asked.
"Hai, hai, Luna. I just feel antsy, but it is still a week before I start my christmas baking with Ikuko-Mama," she replied.
"Well, be careful. Your powers may be heightened due to the upcoming alignment that is rarely so close to earth that it can be seen without a telescope; like this year, which is the closest visible alignment of the two since the twelve-hundreds. It's been nearly four hundred years since the planets passed so close to each other in the sky, and nearly eight hundred years since the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter occurred at night, as it will for this year, allowing nearly everyone around the world to witness this "great conjunction." Artemis replied.
Both Luna and Makoto looked at the white feline with confused eyes. "Artemis, try and speak fluently, not a bunch of random facts," Luna chastised gently.
But Makoto quickly gained her composure. "Jupiter and Saturn will align the closest it has been in almost a millennium? We were not here for the last alignment. Mataatode!" She put her shoes on and ran out of the door without another word.
"It's still two weeks away," Artemis said after she rushed down the street.
"Well that could have been mentioned sooner she may or may not find her" Luna said sadly.
"Hai, but I wanted to give her something. She seemed the most despondent about 'Taru not being among us yet," Artemis said. His blue eyes looked sad.
"They are the two closest planets in the system," Artemis replied. Luna nodded. It wasn't new information. In the silver millennium they had been friends, in spite of the age difference. That had always been the way of the Senshi, sisters of the heart. Makoto being one of the three youngest warriors herself, Rei and Hotaru had always been close
Makoto's mad rush out the door ended abruptly three streets over, when she nearly ran right in front of an oncoming car. Breathing heavily, she leaned against the brick wall of a building, watching her lives pass before her eyes. There was so much she still had not done. Feeling shaky and almost nauseous, she gave herself an extra second to think before she stood back upright and took a look around.
"Where am I even going?" she asked herself.
She looked across the district and saw a new building going up, she did not like the energy she felt already emerging from the building; it was dark, twisted even. It didn't feel normal, nothing like the energy of houses going up or other infrastructure that went up daily in Tokyo.
"What is this place going to be?" she wondered. It wasn't a house, and it didn't look like a store. A part of her felt drawn to grab her henshin wand and fight against… something.
"This is going to be a school," a young woman said behind her. Makoto turned to see a young woman in her early to mid twenties, "I've just had an interview for the nursery and although I took the job, I don't like how it feels. But I want to work with children. She looked almost sheepish.
"Hai,follow your dreams, even if where you start is not the best place in the world."
"Arigato, Makoto," the woman next to her said.
Makoto turned about face to the woman at the side of her. "Matte, how do you know me?" she asked.
"EH! I'm so rude. Gomenasai, my name is Kino Kiyoka, you may not remember me, but I am your father;s niece. Sorry it has took so long to find you," she said, her sincere smile turning into a large grin.
"My cousin?" Makoto whispered.
End chapter one -