Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Her Battle ❯ Confession ( Chapter 27 )

I'm sorry about the long delay with this chapter, some things came up that prevented me from finishing this chapter until now. I hope everyone enjoys this installment.

 

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Chapter 27 - Confession

 

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Makoto groaned as the new day's sun shined on her face and covered her eyes with her forearm. She found sleep had eluded her most of the night, so she wanted to salvage even the last few minutes, even though she realized the futility in her efforts. She had to get up and get ready for another school day. The brunette finally decided she'd delayed the inevitable long enough and kicked off her blankets.

 

Makoto sat up and got out of bed, stretching as soon as her feet touched the ground. She lethargically walked the restroom across the hall from her bedroom. She walked over to the sink and turned the water on. She let it run for a few seconds before putting her hands under the flowing water. Makoto cupped her hands to get her and collected water, which she promptly splashed on her face. She reached for the left wall and grabbed a towel, which she used to dry her face.

 

The tall brunette looked into the mirror above the sink as Minako's words from the night before rang through her head for thousandth time.

 

`Stop foolishly denying your feelings!'

 

The blonde had really lashed out at her and good or bad it got her thinking; hence her insomnia filled night. Makoto hadn't really thought about any of the stuff the blonde brought up. `Sure, she feels closer to her blue haired friend than her other friends, but that only made them best friend's right? Sure, she likes spending time with Ami, but that only meant she enjoyed the other girl's company, right? Sure, she worries about her went she got hurt when fighting a youma, but that only meant she was a concerned friend, right? Sure, she feels happy inside whenever Ami smiles, but that's…that's just being a good friend. Sure, she feels a ting of jealousy whenever Ami's attention is on someone else, but that's…that's…a little more possessive than a friend should be. Sure, she felt something whenever they touched, but that…that didn't mean…did it?' Makoto sighed; she didn't know what to think anymore.

 

The brunette shut off the water, she realized was still running and walked back to her bedroom. She sat on her bed and continued thinking, `I'm not like that…I-I like guys…'

 

`I'm the senshi of love, don't you think I can feel when one of my friends is in love.'

 

`Love?' Makoto didn't think that was an emotion you had to be told you felt. Minako was very serious last night, she understood that. She also understood that she felt different about Ami than she did anyone else she'd known. She'd had crushes before her `sempai' at her old school, but that never went any where because he was too intimidated by her stature. There was Motoki at the Crown, but he already had a girlfriend. And Haruka… Makoto blushed a little as she recalled her fascination with the tall blonde, but that more admiration on her part than romantic feelings, after all Haruka has Michiru.

 

`With Ami, she hit it off with her immediately. She wasn't turned off by her height and she isn't in a relationship.' Makoto told herself.

 

`Kami-sama, you don't realize you're in love, do you?'

 

Even with her playful nature, Minako wasn't one to throw a word like `love' around so frequently without some real backing. Even with all the swooning she did over various guys, Makoto didn't really have a great deal of experience with love. After a long night of thinking she'd come to realize she did care about her blue haired friend a lot, more than she'd even considered until Minako said the things she said.

 

Was she attracted to the other girl though? That should come with romantic feelings, right? Again, the brunette hadn't looked at Ami like that. `She is pretty, her short hair frames her face nicely, and she has a nice figure.' Makoto admitted. `Their sailor fukus really left little to the imagination.' She thought, picturing Ami in her blue uniform, causing herself to blush and finally she let the reality hit her.

 

“Oh my God, I do have feelings for Ami!” Makoto shouted to the empty room.

 

Makoto blushed and covered her mouth, out of embarrassment mostly, `I don't know how Ami feels though…' Makoto closed her eyes for a moment and stood up, before proceeding to her closet and grabbing her school uniform, `I guess there's really only one way to find that out.' She thought and laid her uniform on her bed and went back to her bathroom for a quick shower, knowing Ami left early for school everyday.

 

~~~~******~~~~

 

`I promised myself that I wouldn't return here until I was sure I could rely on what I see, but I can't remain hesitant.' Pluto thought as she stood on a foggy plain, in front of three large doors. Pluto slowly approached the door right and laid her free hand upon it. `Are you still there or have you been irreversibly altered?' Pluto thought before stepping away from it. She closed her eyes and raised her Time Staff in the air. Uttering a few words, she brought the staff down to the ground. A loud clang rang out and a creaking sound could be heard as the large doors before Pluto slowly began to open.

 

Pluto watched as the doors opened fully, allowing her entrance, `Please let it be something good to strive for…' she thought and stepped forward into the newly opened gate, the doors shutting behind her as she entered it.

 

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Ami was already busy preparing her uniform for the day before she took a shower. She'd gotten up as she usually did, very early, well before the sun rose. Once she had everything she'd need situated the blue haired girl made her way to the bathroom down the hall for her shower. She was surprised when she heard the front door open, so she bypassed the bathroom for a moment to investigate. As she grew closer she heard the sound of keys rattling, a bag being place down, and a voice to accompany all the sounds, “Ami, are you awake?”

 

A smile formed on her face as she made her way quicker to the front door, “Mom, I thought you didn't get off until later this afternoon?”

 

“After a rough all-nighter and the rest of the staff told me to go home and get some rest.” She replied and held up the bag she had previously placed on the table beside her. “I thought we could have breakfast together before I get some rest.”

 

“Sure, I just need to take a shower first.” Ami said and turned around went back to her original destination.

 

After Ami had finished her shower she wrapped a towel around herself and stepped out of the bathroom to go back into her bedroom to change into her school uniform. She quickly changed and left her room to join her mother for breakfast. As she walked up to the table looked over everything set on the table, “Wow, everything looks delicious. Where'd you get all this at?”

 

“Just a little place near the hospital.” Her mother remarked and motioned for Ami to sit down. The blue haired girl nodded and took her seat across from her mother.

 

Ami silently placed some steamed rice on her plate and grabbed a small bowl of natto. She proceeded to pour the contents of the bowl onto her rice and stirred the two together with her chopsticks. Ami took a few bites before going back to stirring the contents on her plate again.

 

Mizuno-san watched her daughter as she seemingly played with her food for the most part rather than eating it. `She seemed like she want to eat.' She thought. She also didn't expect them to sit there in silence, they usually talked over dinner or in this case breakfast, mostly because they didn't see each other all that much with her hectic schedule. All this together started to concern her a little, “Ami, is everything alright?”

 

“Huh, I'm fine.” Ami said not very convincingly and she went back to poking at her food.

 

“Are you sure? You've barely eaten anything.” Mizuno-san said motioning to Ami's still full plate.

 

“I guess I'm just not very hungry.” Ami said quietly. She wanted to act as though everything was the same, but she found she had too much on her mind. `Maybe I shouldn't have sounded as eager to eat.' One of her friends tried to kill her and her other friends and with all the stuff Hotaru had said; it was a lot to take in.

 

Mizuno-san looked at her daughter sadly. She'd been acting strangely for a few days now and she was really starting to get worried. Something had to be troubling her; she could see that, `Maybe she got into a fight with one of her friends? Maybe a fight with that Makoto girl Ami is always going on about? I'm sure something like that would upset her like this.' She thought. Mizuno-san decided to go ahead and take the initiative, “Did you get into a fight with one of your friends?” she asked carefully.

 

Ami frowned at her mother's question, “Something like that.”

 

“Was it Makoto?” Mizuno-san asked cautiously.

 

“Makoto!? Why would you think that?!” Ami said quickly.

 

`It wasn't a fight with Makoto?' she thought surprised to hear that, but from way Ami responded she could tell what ever it was it didn't have anything to do with that friend. “Oh I'm sorry Ami; I just assumed it had to do with her. You seem to be closest to her and I just thought that was why you have been acting so depressed.”

 

“Makoto is important to me, but what happened didn't have anything to do with her.” Ami said.

 

“Who then?” Mizuno-san asked.

 

“I really don't want to talk about it mom, I'm sorry.” Ami said.

 

“Well, I can't force you to tell me anything, but I do hope whatever issues you currently have with this friend are resolved soon.” Mizuno-san said sincerely.

 

“Thanks mom. May I be excused? I should be leaving for school.” Ami asked.

 

“You're sure you don't want to eat anymore?” she asked and Ami shook her head no, “Alright, I save some stuff in the fridge if you are hunger when you get home from school.”

 

“Thanks.” The blue haired girl said and got up and went to her to get her school bag, before leaving for school.

 

~~~~******~~~~

 

The double doors from which Pluto had recently entered began to open once more and after a moment, a very distressed looking senshi of time emerged from the opened doors. When Pluto cleared the doors she struck her Time Staff to the ground and the door behind began to shut.

 

`How can this be? Have I been away so long that timeline has been so altered?' The dark haired woman thought and lowered her head. She'd never, in her many years, been in the position she was currently in. She was supposed to know the proper path to take and even if she couldn't out right tell everyone what to do, she could hint that certain things would be better to do than others. Pluto gripped her staff tighter and raised her head as she recalled of what the young senshi of death and rebirth said.

 

`If you're going by the timeline you knew, I shouldn't even be here right now and none of this should have happened. If all this isn't a sign that some things have been done…that some things have been changed, that can't be undone; I don't know what is. Furthermore, you know as well as I do that me being here, right now, is a sign that it is time.'

 

`She's right, things have changed and depending upon what happens, the future will take one course or another and at the moment neither is very appealing. If Rei loses her life here, Crystal Tokyo will fail. If Rei survives and we're able to return her to normal, Crystal Tokyo's existence is still in question. It's a catch-22…' The senshi of time thought and brought her hand up to her chin and stood silently in thought. She closed her eyes and sighed sadly, `There is only one way to stop all of this from happening now then…' Pluto thought and looked the large gate to her far left.

 

Pluto repeated the same process she had done in front of the gate to the future, with the gate to past. Again when her staff hit the floor, the doors answered her call, by opening for her. Pluto took a deep breath and stepped through the opened gate. She heard the gate close behind close behind her loudly, but she disregarded the noise and continued forward, into the foggy darkness that lay in front of her. She knew these paths like that back of her hand, and where she was headed, she knew she would encounter another large doorway soon.

 

The closer she got to her destination she began to sense another presence. `There shouldn't be anyone else here.' She thought and continuously made her way to the gate that leads directly into the past. The presence grew stronger as she closed in on the gate, telling her who ever it was; they were at the gate she was heading to. Pluto finally saw the gate, as well as something else. Someone was standing in front the gate, it seemed as though they were waiting for her to get there.

 

“I've been waiting for you…” the woman said once she was sure Pluto was within earshot.

 

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`I hope I can make it before she gets to school.' Makoto thought as she hurried toward Ami's house. The brunette was thankful that they didn't live too far away from each other, since that made it more likely she'd be able to catch the other girl before she got to school. She didn't want this wait until after school and she certainly didn't want do anything like this at school. `People think were weird enough…' she thought and turned down Ami's street.

 

Honestly though, she didn't really care what other people thought about her, except her friends and she wasn't worried about what they'd think, except Ami, but that was for a different reason. Makoto counted the blocks in her head; she knew Ami lived on the fifth block, forth building, and second floor of that apartment. The brunette slowed her pace to just a little faster than a walk once she reached the fourth block; she'd left her house so quickly she realized she hadn't exactly thought about what exactly she planned on saying.

 

`Hey, Ami I know this might sound a bit abrupt, but think I like you…you know…more than a friend likes a friend.' Makoto said in her head. Sure, that would say what she wants to say, but was that really how she wanted to say it. She'd seen plenty sappy romance movies before, so it shouldn't be so hard to think of a good romantic way to tell Ami how she feels about her. Makoto sighed, `Maybe it wasn't the smartest thing to just rush to her house without some kind of plan worked out in mind.'

 

She could feel some of her nerve leave her as she reached the street before Ami's block. `Maybe I should go back home and write everything in a letter and give it to her at school.' The senshi of nature thought, but shook her head after a second of thought, `No, that's cowardly…and Ami doesn't take love letters very well…' Without realizing it she had crossed the street and steadily getting closer to the apartment where Ami lived.

 

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Ami sighed as she descended the stairs to the exit of her apartment; she'd missed a rare opportunity to speak with her mother. Had it been any other day, it would likely have been different, but she was preoccupied with other things. She was glad that her mother was understanding, though. She'd have felt really bad, if she hadn't been. She was sure her mom realized she was acting unusual, mainly because of her bad attempt at acting like everything was fine. Ami sighed again as she reached the bottom of the stairs and walked to the door. As the blue haired girl stepped out the front door the apartment complex she lived, she spotted a sight she hadn't expected, standing just outside the gate of building, seemingly deep in thought, because she didn't notice her approaching at all.

 

“Mako-chan!” Ami exclaimed to the brunette in front of her apartment.

 

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“Why do you block my way to the past…Serenity?” Pluto asked.

 

“Because I don't want you to do something you're going to regret, Kam…no…Setsuna.” The woman said and held her ground.

 

“Does you're coming here have something to do with my daughter?” She asked quietly.

 

“Yes.” Pluto replied.

 

The other woman looked Pluto in her eyes and shook her head when she realized, “You've come to kill your former pupil.”

 

Pluto was surprised to hear her state it so directly, but she nodded her head slowly in response, “I have come to rectify my mistake.”

 

The woman shook her head slowly once again, “I can not allow you to do that.”

 

“Why?” the senshi of time questioned.

 

“For the same reason she wasn't executed for what she did. The same people, who called for her to be trained, called for her death and while execution would have been justifiable, I don't believe in killing humans even in that case. There should always be room for redemption and so I sealed her away rather than ending her life.” Serenity explained.

 

“But that was only a temporary solution. She is once again bringing pain to your daughter. She is…” Pluto stopped when she saw Serenity raise her hand, signaling for her stop.

 

“And you know she was different at one time. I know you would have never trained her if you thought she was capable of all that she did.” Serenity said and took a deep breathe. “You didn't make the wrong decision back then. She didn't change like she did by chance.”

 

“What are you saying?” Pluto asked.

 

“It was wrong of us to ignore the problems outside our solar system. There were and still are greater threats from outside our solar system. It could be that a certain threat was closer than we realized.” Serenity said cryptically.

 

“What is Kei then?” Pluto asked.

 

“She's simply a lesser threat of a far greater evil.” The silver haired woman said.

 

“A greater evil? You mean…?”

 

“The final most deadly obstacle…is drawing closer to my daughter. There is still time, but not much. When that time comes she will need all of her solders…Mars included.”

 

Pluto closed her eyes and lowered her head, “You're telling me that we must succeed in bringing back Mars.”

 

Serenity remained silent and simply stared back at Pluto, but finally when Pluto didn't say anything she spoke once more, “You know what I'm saying without my confirmation.”

 

“You know the future will be irrevocably changed. Mars will not keep her feelings to herself afterwards.”

 

“Is it right to expect her to?” She asked, but Pluto remained silent. “It was inevitable, such fires can not be snuffed out by the passage of time…you are aware of that.”

 

Pluto bit down lightly on her lower and quietly said. “Indeed…”

 

Serenity was thinking silently and decided to change her line of speech away from talking about Pluto herself, “I was forced to not allow my daughter to live her life freely and I regret that. Whether she bows down to destiny or not, I want that to be her choice this time.”

 

“Even with what that could mean for the future…”

 

“I believe my daughter will have a bright future.” She stated calmly.

 

“But what about…”

 

“I'm sure you already looked into what the future holds at the present's current state.” Serenity said and looked questioningly at Pluto, who nodded her head after a few seconds. “You should know there is still hope. You can't run your life by what you've seen of the future. I never wanted to know the future, I asked for guidance in some matters, but I didn't allow myself to know too much nor did I want you to.”

 

“Then why did you come to me? Even you knew I could be giving you poor advice.” Pluto asked.

 

“I trusted you. Not because you could see the possible futures. I trusted you because you were an important friend whose opinions I valued.”

 

A faint pink tinged Pluto's cheeks and she turned away from Serenity, “If you'd have allowed me…we could have prevented…”

 

“Do you know why I gave my life so that my daughter and everyone could have another chance at life?” Serenity asked Pluto. The senshi of time studied the silver haired woman for a few minutes and shook her head. Yes, she had an idea, but she wanted to hear it from her queen or rather her former queen. “More than anything, I wanted them to live their lives freely, my daughter especially.” Serenity said and paused, “It was cruel of me to take my daughter's happiness away from her despite the pressure I felt from the other planets.”

 

“You avoided war.” Pluto reasoned.

 

“By disregarding my only daughter's feelings.” Serenity countered. She sighed and looked away from Pluto before continuing, “I'm sorry, but I'll never forgive myself for caving in under that pressure. Because I took that choice away from her in the past I want her to freely choose what she wants this time.” She turned back to the time senshi and added, “I would like for you to let everything unfold how it will.”

 

“That is what you wish me to do?” Pluto asked.

 

The former queen of the moon nodded, “It is.”

 

The green haired woman sighed, “I shall do as you wish then.”

 

“Thank you.” Serenity said and paused, “It might be about time for you to return.”

 

“You're right, but before I return to the present, will you tell something?” Pluto looked at Serenity for her answer. When she saw a slight nod of her head she spoke again, “How is it…exactly…that you are here?” Pluto asked and knelt on one knee.

 

The silver haired woman watched as Pluto dropped to a knee before her, she sighed and crouched down in front of the senshi of time, “Since this place exists outside of space and time, I'm able to be here, in spirit only.” She extended her hand toward Pluto's cheek, but her hand merely pasted right through her, “You see, I have no body in this world.”

 

“Why have you never appeared here before then?” Pluto questioned.

 

Serenity smiled, “I can not does this easily, but I needed to stop you from making a mistake.”

 

“Thanks for stopping me.” Pluto said seriously. “You're still watching over us, even now.”

 

The other woman simply smiled, “I'm sure your fellow outers are waiting for your return.”

 

Setsuna nodded and turned back the same way she came, “I do wish for Usagi to be happy, but I always pushed for her choice a secure…a known future. It seems in doing that I may have been doing the opposite.”

 

“She'll hold no ill-will towards you. She'll understand you've always had the best of intention at heart.”

 

Pluto lowered her head and started walking, “She has too pure of a soul, for her own good some times.”

 

~~~~******~~~~

 

Makoto grabbed her chest as her heart pounded furiously against her rib cage. She turned towards the building she stood in front of and her eyes widened, “Ami!”

 

“You're out really early today. We don't usually run into each on our way to school.” Ami said.

 

She had to will her heart to beat at a normal pace so it took Makoto a little longer then it normally would have to respond, but after a deep breath she said, “I'm glad I caught you before you made it to school.”

 

Ami paled at that, immediately thinking the worst, “Oh no. What happened now?”

 

Makoto looked at the blue haired girl curiously, before a realization dawned on her. “No. No. It's nothing bad. That just didn't come out right. I'm just glad because I wanted to talk to you.”

 

Now it was Ami's turned to look inquiringly at the other girl, “What is it?”

 

Makoto froze for moment, was this really how she wanted to go about this, talking to Ami about something this personally on the way to school? The brunette looked at her watch, `There's still a little over an hour before school starts.' She thought.

 

Ami was getting a little worried at her friend's odd behavior, “Umm, Mako-chan?”

 

Makoto turned her attention to Ami quickly after her question, “I want to talk to you about something, but…”

 

“But what?” Ami asked, urging the other girl to continue.

 

“But, I'd like it if we could talk away from other people. We've still got a lot of time, so why don't we go some place quiet before school?”

 

Ami looked thoughtful for moment, “What about the school's roof?”

 

“The school's roof?”

 

“Yeah, no one's going to be there this early. It'd be private and we wouldn't far to go to get to class.”

 

Makoto sweat-dropped at her friend's reasoning, but it did matter as long they wouldn't be interrupted. “Alright, let's get going.”

 

~~~~******~~~~

 

The walk to school was uneventfully, as neither girl saw fit to start up a conversion. Ami because she was curious about what Makoto wanted to say and Makoto because she didn't want to let anything slip before she wanted it to. Any other conversion either could think of was too discouraging to discuss. Besides, there was going to be plenty of time to talk about Rei and their plans to bring her back later, during their senshi meeting.

 

The school grounds were rather empty, like Ami said it'd be. They both entered the school and proceeded to make their way upwards, to the roof. After a number of flights of stairs, they reached the door to roof. Makoto opened the door and motioned for Ami to go first. She thanked her stepped out on to the paved roof and waited for Makoto to join her. The taller girl followed Ami after a moment, shutting the door behind her. Out in the open again, Makoto felt herself getting nervous again.

 

Ami watched the Makoto, she'd known her for a long time and she could tell something was up, she just didn't know what yet. “Why are you so nervous?” Ami asked, cocking her head to the right slightly.

 

“N-Nervous? I'm not nervous.” Makoto denied.

 

Ami eyed the other girl carefully, which only seemed to increase the brunette's nervous behavior, so she added, “You're fidgeting…are you sure it isn't something bad…?”

 

“I'm sure or at least I hope it isn't.” The brunette responded.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I've been thinking about some things…” Makoto said

 

“Like what?” Ami asked curiously.

 

“Well first, can you promise me that what I have to say, won't change how you feel about me.”

 

“Mako-chan, why do you think anything you tell me can change how I feel about you?”

”Because, I have to tell you some thing that could really hurt our friendship.” Makoto explained and looked away from her friend.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Makoto took a deep breath and looked back at her companion `now or never', “I like you Ami and after a lot of thinking, I think like you more than a friend likes a friend”

 

Ami stared at Makoto, wide eyed. She opened her mouth to form some kind of response. `Did I really hear what I think I heard?' she asked herself. Finally willing the words to leave her lips, she asked, “You…you what?”

 

“I think…no…I'm sure, I've fallen in love you. I don't really know how, but I have.” Makoto said and paused for a moment before adding, “I'm not asking anything of you or anything…I just want you to…mmph…”

 

Makoto eyes widened as she speech was unexpectedly cut off by the soft lips of her companion. The brunette stiffened at the contact and was so surprised it took her a few seconds to realize exactly what was happening. When her mind finally wrapped itself around the situation, she closed her eyes and returned the soft kiss in kind. To the two girls it felt as though time stood for them, but reality set in as their lungs cried out for air. Although both wished for that moment to not end, the need for air out weighed their desire to continue their first kiss, and they were forced to separate.

 

Makoto pulled back a little from Ami, opened her eyes, and stared at the other girl. She grew a little concerned when she saw tears stained her companion's face, “Ami?”

 

“You don't know how long I've wanted hear you say that.” The blue haired girl said and wrapped her arms around the taller brunette.

 

“Ami?” Makoto questioned as she held Ami as well.

 

Ami looked up at Makoto, “You mean the kiss was enough to tell you? I feel the same as you do, I have for a while. I love you, Mako-chan.” She said and leaned up to other girl, who in turn leaned down to meet her half way, but just as they were about to meet, the school bell rang out around them.

 

Both girls sighed and Makoto looked at a dejected Ami with a smirk, “You're the one who wanted to talk up here.”

 

Ami blushed and grabbed Makoto's hand, “Come on, let's go to class.” She looked back at Makoto as she said, “We can finish our talk later.”

 

End Ch. 27

 

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After a very long wait chapter 27 is complete.

 

I hadn't really gone into Makoto's feelings for Ami until now, though I made Ami's feelings obvious since the early chapters, so that's why the early part of this chapter dealt with Makoto setting her feelings straight (if you will). Sigh It all felt kind of abrupt though, I think I'll rewrite that last scene down the road (when I finish the entire story), I just wanted to complete this chapter since it's taken me so long as it is. I'm just not very satisfied with how it turned out. I wrote some scenes a while ago for this chapter, but then I didn't end up using them because the entire setting was different than what I originally planned. Maybe that's where some of my dissatisfaction comes from, not doing this chapter how I originally choreographed it.

 

There's quite a bit of information thrown in during the short scenes with Pluto, all of it might not make sense now, but it all will eventually. Anyone who's been picking up on the subtle hints I've been dropping every once in a while, Pluto's scene with Serenity will confirm something I haven't directly stated in the story.

 

For anyone unfamiliar with natto, it's fermented soybeans. Natto is a very commonly eaten for breakfast in Japan, but it isn't usually eaten by itself, it's often mixed with something.