OMG you guys, I'm so sorry. I have just...not been able to write anything for some time. As a result, my apologies if this chapter is chaotic and just...not great. I didn't even edit it - it was enough I was able to finish it! I promise to come back and refine it later! Some day. Probably. I'm working on To Arms and hope to have that for you soon, and I'm still revising Ruddygore too!

Chapter 4

Crap, crap, crap.

Makoto put her face in her hands and tried not to scream with frustration.

Why had she left her wand in her bedroom?! She made a silent vow to do better. Not to let her guard down. Pluto had warned them already, hadn't she? Makoto darted a quick peek at her purse where it sat tipped on her kitchen counter, a green shine taunting her, and tried not to groan out loud.

Her communicator wasn't an option right now either.

She peered up through her fingers at her very handsome, very brave neighbor. While both of those things made her heart pound, one of them was going to put a serious cramp in her style.

She'd been blindsided in her own apartment and hadn't managed to take care of whatever this thing was before she'd drawn attention. She berated herself for being so lax – for not even knowing an ambush had been waiting for her in her own space.

Now, she had an even worse problem than whatever savage creature was flailing around in her living room strewing rot and destruction.

How was she supposed to be Jupiter with these three heroic if misguided men hanging around trying to protect her? If she didn't do something soon, Hashiba and his friends might get hurt, and she'd never forgive herself if her seriously courageous, seriously civilian neighbor was harmed trying to protect Sailor Jupiter.

Large but gentle hands landed on her shoulders, snapping her from her panic. A shock of warmth slid beneath her skin at the contact and she couldn't help but lean into it just a little.

"Kino, are you all right?"

Makoto looked up into the face of Touma Hashiba and lost the battle with her heart for a minute. He was so handsome. So…tall. There weren't a lot of guys that could tower over her and he managed to do it. She sighed again, remembered that he'd asked her a question, and forced herself to nod.

"Yeah, totally fine," she murmured.

"Touma. Why don't you get your neighbor somewhere safe? Shin and I will try to get this contained," an unfamiliar male voice said, and Makoto jerked to attention. Hashiba turned, shooting someone over his shoulder a solemn look.

"Yeah. Let me get her to my place," he replied still looking over his shoulder, tone urgent.

Makoto's panic shot up several meters as she tried to see around him and get a look at his friends. No way. No way was she going to let herself be led further away from a battle that was hers. If she could just get into her bedroom, Sailor Jupiter could mop the floor with this monster and be done with it all.

Nevermind how she was going to explain it to one acquaintance and two strangers afterward, but that was post-brawl Jupiter's problem.

Touma began with a gentle tug, but when it became clear she wasn't moving with him he simply reached down and swept a strong arm under her knees, rising again with her cradled gently in his grasp. As if she weighed nothing more than a leaf on the wind.

She tried not to melt. Tried.

But this was too romantic for her squishy heart to resist. She studied his profile, his strong jaw clenched, his deep blue eyes intent on his goal of getting her to safety. She wondered if this must be how Usagi felt all the time.

How had she never noticed how tall and…broad he was? Maybe Minako had been on to something. He always seemed so lost – cute and maybe a little dorky – but now his gaze was intense. His focus was razor sharp and carried an edge of steel with it.

Snap out of it Kino! This is not the time!

Makoto shook herself out of her stupor and pressed gently against a very strong, very male chest. Holy cow. What did Hashiba do for a living?! That had been like pressing on a brick wall. And he'd been equally immovable.

"Hashiba, put me down! What're you doing?! Your friends are in trouble!" she yelped, trying to reason with him. He only shook his head, flashing her a confident, arrogant grin that didn't help her resolve.

"Trust me, they've got this. I need to get you safe, ok?"

She twisted in his grasp, looking around his arm, finally able to see the two other men in her space. One with blond hair, one with reddish brown – both wearing some kind of intricate armor and wielding massive, formidable looking weapons.

Wait.

What?

Had they been wearing armor when they'd come in? She couldn't remember – she hadn't been paying attention.

But honestly, wouldn't she have noticed something that…obvious?

Makoto blinked back down at Hashiba's chest where her hand sat, and she realized the solidness of him wasn't entirely muscle. A shining metal plate gleaming deep blue in the low light peeked just above the collar of his shirt.

She focused on her hand and realized that a gentle tingling sensation radiated up through her palm wherever her skin made contact with his shirt and what lay beneath. She blinked back up at his face, but he was preoccupied with getting them out the door and wasn't aware of her gawking.

Shocked, unsure of what to do, unsure of what she was seeing, Makoto simply let him carry her out.

She was still debating if she was conscious or not when a door opened and she realized she was in an unfamiliar space, the muted sounds of battle drifting through the wall. She glanced around, feeling dazed, wondering about her sanity as she took in her surroundings.

And realized she definitely couldn't be dreaming. Because she'd never ever be able to dream up such an almighty disaster. Did…Hashiba live here?

Well. Another glance around confirmed that he did, in fact, live in this space, but Makoto was inclined to argue about what kind of life he lived here. He rushed her towards a humble sitting area, hurriedly shoving debris aside to make space for her. She winced as video game controllers landed in a tangled heap of wires and a clunky cordless handset hit the floor with the ominous sharp crack of rigid plastic.

Dirty laundry went sailing away, exploding like grubby fireworks and landing haphazardly over lamps and furniture and appliances. All of it made her itchy to clean. She could only imagine the state of his kitchen. She'd been right. He probably hadn't had a decent meal since he'd left home.

Ten years ago.

She tried not to wince in front of him. She didn't want to hurt his feelings.

She also wanted very badly to scrub every inch of every surface in this place, while at the same time appreciated that doing so would be far too forward. And that it was probably weird that she was even thinking about it. Especially at a time like this.

Hashiba placed her on a worn sofa with infinite gentleness, easing her to rest against its back. He looked so worried as he took her in, checking over her visible injury and looking for others. Reaching out with a tentative hand, he brushed fingers against her sore neck and she couldn't help but wince this time.

"Does it hurt?" he asked anxiously.

Her insides turned into a pile of mush as she smiled cheerfully at him, shaking her head. "I'm ok! This is nothing!" she assured him. He shot her a look full of incredulous disbelief, and everything just felt so weird for a minute.

She was Sailor Jupiter.

But her neighbor and his buddies had just come to a rescue she hadn't needed, wearing armors radiating some crazy magic and packing some very scary looking weapons, and now she was in the apartment of the man that had barely said five words to her at a time in their entire two-year acquaintance.

He was protecting Sailor Jupiter.

She tried to figure out where it had all gone off the rails but came up empty handed. In her entire 26 years of existence, unless another Senshi was in ear shot, exactly no one had ever come to help when she'd been brawling.

Most people tended to flee the area. With good reason.

Makoto was feeling a lot of ways about a lot of things and had no idea where to put any of those feelings. What she wanted to do was shake off Hashiba's kind attention and storm back into her apartment, grab her henshin wand, and fry the stupid thing that had started all this.

Then maybe contact Ami.

And take some pain killers for the migraine she could already feel bouncing around between her ears.

She looked back up at Hashiba. He'd pulled a first aid kit from heavens knew where. It was large and stocked so well she wondered if he were some kind of doctor. He started coming toward her neck with what looked like gauze soaked in alcohol, and Makoto cringed backward.

That was going to hurt. A lot.

She waved her hands in front of her. "Ah! Shouldn't you worry about your friends? I'm really fine, I promise!" Makoto tried to smile reassuringly.

Hashiba shot her a frustrated look. "Cut that out! There's no need for a tough act right now. That thing didn't exactly look like it cleaned its claws regularly. You're going to get an infection if you don't take care of these wounds," he admonished her.

She wasn't sure if she hated more that he was right, or that she couldn't really figure out a way out of this mess. He took advantage of her confusion and pressed the gauze against some of the gouges above her chest and she hissed air through her teeth.

She had been right. The sting of antiseptic felt worse than getting the actual wound had.

"Please bear with me. I'll try to be quick," he murmured in an apologetic tone. It was his face that did her in. It carried a mix of rage and regret, overlaid with a healthy dose of anxiety. As if he were truly upset to cause her more pain, even though he had to by necessity.

Who was this guy? How had he been hiding in plain sight right next to her for two years? Apparently in an absolute ruin of an apartment at that? Makoto let her eyes slide downwards toward the metallic blue glint that sat just above the collar of his shirt.

She really wanted to know about that most of all.

She blinked back up at his face as he finished. "Am I dreaming?" she wondered out loud, suddenly willing to consider the explanation for just how strangely and terribly her night had gone.

All she'd wanted to do was experiment with some cupcake decorations and enjoy some tea. Maybe get a little reading in.

"Why? Are you dizzy? Do you think you could be concussed? How are you feeling?" Hashiba asked her urgently. Makoto smiled, determined to ease his mind.

"Really, I'm ok. I'm more worried about your friends. Will they be ok?" she pressed, trying to distract him. Hashiba colored for some reason, his gaze sliding to the floor.

"They're just fine, trust me," he said to his floorboards.

Interesting. Apparently, he was shy about the whole…giant badass armor thing?

A thunderous explosion sounded through the wall connecting their apartments and Makoto grimaced. She supposed it was too much to hope for that those guys would be able to subdue that thing without destroying the place. Whatever it was, she'd known it would be powerful enough to put up a serious fight.

She'd just been hoping to get to her wand and maybe get outside first.

But it had been ferocious. Quick and aggressive, it had caught her off guard and hadn't given her a chance to do much outside of attempt to defend herself with her strength alone. She needed to get to her communicator. She was worried about the other Senshi too. What if she wasn't the only one who'd been attacked?

Another explosion rattled the walls, and plaster drifted down from the ceiling into their hair. Makoto winced, casting a glance upwards.

"Uhh. Should we be worried about the people upstairs?" she asked hesitantly. She cast her gaze in Hashiba's direction. He was staring at the ceiling intently, his brow furrowed, and she could practically see him thinking at a million miles an hour.

After a moment, he turned his gaze back in the direction of her apartment.

"Maybe I should just…make sure everything's ok," he muttered hesitantly. She nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes! Make sure they're all right! I'm really worried about them. I'll be just fine here, right?" she said urgently. He hesitated some more, looking at her out of the side of his eye. Whatever he saw in her face must have convinced him, because he rose then.

He shot her a look, face firm and resolute. "Stay put Kino. I mean it ok? We can more than handle this thing, whatever it is."

She nodded at him repeatedly, fighting the urge to shoo him away. "Yes! I'll stay right here, promise!"

And if she was crossing her fingers behind her back, he didn't need to know about it.

Because there was no way she wasn't sneaking right behind him.

He finally left, shooting her one last, intense look that made her feel strange even though she didn't quite understand it. Like he was really worried about her. And that just didn't click in her brain. She'd been the Senshi of Jupiter for a long time, and before that, she'd been a tough, independent girl who hadn't needed anyone around to worry about her.

She shoved her feelings aside again, giving herself a shake. Her focus was terrible tonight. What was with that!?

She counted to ten slowly in her head, then crept on silent feet toward his apartment door. It wasn't an easy task, considering the state of his floor, but she managed it without falling and breaking her neck.

Pausing with his door open a crack, she listened. The sounds of battle ringing from her apartment made her cringe. Easing his door open, she carefully let herself out, ensuring the door wouldn't lock behind her.

She glided smoothly down the hall, pressed against the wall, and realized that if anyone saw her right now she'd probably look ridiculous, sneaking up on her own apartment. Makoto got to her door, sighing quietly at the damage. Someone had thoughtfully swung it shut, but it wasn't capable of staying that way on its own.

"Ok, so I've been thinking about this for awhile and…I still don't have any clue what this thing is," someone shouted. A fierce roar echoed after his statement. Then the sound of something wooden going crunch. Makoto sighed, envisioning a future spent doing everything on her floor while she worked three jobs just to get new furniture.

Cautiously, she pressed the door open. It swung easily at just the touch of her fingers – almost as if it had been waiting for her to touch it. She shoved her head into the crack and peeked around the doorframe.

It was about as bad as it had sounded.

She no longer had a coffee table and her bookshelf had collapsed, a mountain of mangled paperbacks mounded on the floor in front of it. That one hurt, she thought, grabbing at the shirt over her chest. Looked like she might be talking to Ami about book restoration too.

The modest sofa she'd invested in was sprawled on its back, the throw pillows she'd hand made and embroidered tossed around the room. She rubbed her face in aggravation and sighed again.

It would be fine.

She just needed to get to her transformation wand.

One eye on the melee of destruction that had migrated toward the back of her living room, Makoto slunk along the wall toward her bedroom. It seemed almost too easy to get to her door now, and she was just congratulating herself on her stealth abilities when something hit her with the speed and force of a bullet train, knocking her off her feet and away. At least it knocked her into her bedroom.

She heard the panicked, surprised exclamation of her name, but the call sounded far away as she groaned and gingerly pulled herself out of the mangled pile of splinters that had been her bedroom door.

This repair bill is going to take months to pay off she thought, trying to blink her vision clear. At least she was in her bedroom now. On her hands and knees, still trying to get her bearings, she fumbled around on her nightstand until her fingers closed around the familiar, smooth surface of her wand.

As always, that first touch was electric, charging her body, clearing her head.

She didn't get a chance to call her transformation. The next blast sent her right through her bedroom wall, and then she was floating – for just a heartbeat – in the air several stories above the alley below.

And then gravity remembered itself and she rocketed toward the black top.

This was going to suck.

Makoto looked up as she fell, startled to see the monster so close she had to maneuver away from its claws. How did it manage to keep sneaking up on her like that?!

Well, she thought, at least Touma and his buddies should be safe now, and we are finally outside of my apartment. She kicked at the monster, sending it sprawling away from her as they fell. And then the ground was too close, coming at her too quickly, and she closed her eyes, bracing for impact.

There wasn't an impact.

After several moments of uneventful silence, she risked opening her eyes.

And found herself looking up at Hashiba yet again.

He looked angry.

"What in the hell were you thinking Kino?! Do you have a death wish?!" he snarled at her.

She might have been angry, except that they were both just sort of…floating right now, in mid-air, and she really, really thought she might actually be dreaming.

"You know," she told him conversationally, "I think I'm dreaming. I must be. This whole thing has got to be some kind of crazy dream, because you're flying. Right?"

He immediately clammed up, his face turning an interesting shade of red before he suddenly broke eye contact, clearing his throat awkwardly. He seemed to get himself under control by the time he turned back to her.

"You aren't dreaming," he said sullenly. "I know this is a lot. Just…bear with me, ok? And please, please stop throwing yourself in harm's way? Okay?"

Makoto blinked up at him, still pretty sure this was the most lucid dream she'd ever had.

"Uh. Okay," she responded reflexively, wondering what might happen next.

Maybe Alice would drop in for tea.

They were still several meters in the air, so it seemed like a reasonable possibility.

And then without warning Hashiba cursed, and Makoto felt her stomach drop as they suddenly maneuvered to one side. She felt a breeze blow past them, ruffling her hair and her clothing as it went, and then a distant explosion.

"Damn! He's fast!" another male voice called out in alarm.

"Touma!" someone else snapped in warning. Her world tilted again, but this time she felt the impact of whatever had been aimed at them. Hashiba grunted and she looked up at him in alarm, but he appeared unharmed.

And then she noticed the faint glimmer of dark blue surrounding them.

"Man, that thing packs a punch. Any idea why it's after you?" he asked her. Makoto blinked dazedly at his face.

"No. I have no idea," she admitted. He nodded.

"That's ok. We'll find out," he replied, a dark undertone to his voice.

The sound of battle rang out below them, and she turned to see the other two armor-clad men engaging with the monster again. Out in the open, their fighting took a noticeably more vicious direction – as if they might have been holding back inside.

Not that her apartment had been spared, anyways.

It didn't take long after that for the monster to collapse into a pile of ash. Makoto was unable to stop herself from clinging to Hashiba like an octopus as they began to descend, squeezing her eyes shut and trying hard not to shake.

"Hey, it's all right Kino – I've got you, I promise," he reassured her in a voice that sounded incredibly gentle now.

"S-sorry. I don't…I don't do flying," she stuttered out in response.

"We're good. Open your eyes," he replied after another moment. Makoto eased one eye open and cautiously angled one foot toward the ground. When her toes met the solid asphalt, she breathed a sigh of relief and stood up, opening her eyes all the way.

Only to find herself the center of three very intrigued stares.

Well.

This was different.

Makoto tried not to fidget. "Um. Thanks for your help?" she said timidly.

Hashiba and his friends chuckled.

"You'll probably take that back once you see your apartment," the blond in the armor with emerald green trim quipped.

Makoto made a face. She'd already seen it.

"I'm trying not to think too hard about it," she admitted with a light laugh.

Inside, she was starting to really panic.

She'd been the damsel who hadn't been in distress.

And she'd gotten a rescue she didn't need from men she didn't really know wearing mystical armor she'd never known existed.

Now the monster was gone, but she had bigger problems to deal with.

She wondered if she could squeak a call in to Ami.