Chapter Ten: "Want to race…"

Ken stood in shock as Makoto fell unconscious. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to happen. She wasn’t supposed to attack them she was supposed to listen and come to their side. Their weapons were only for their defense in the small chance she was already on Schwartz and Takatori’s side. "How will she ever trust us?" Ken asked aloud. "Let’s move her to a bed," Aya said, not answering his question. They moved her to the bed in question, Ken’s bed. Covering her with a blanket they left her, Omi and Ken as guards.

Makoto woke up hours (about 12:00 out now) later. It felt as if her bones were made of rubber and her head ached. Despite of all of this she felt surprisingly warm. Opening her eyes she found herself in a plain bedroom (full of soccer stuff, ne?). There were two figures also in the room. They were in a chair and snoring lightly, obviously asleep. Though the volume of their snoring wasn’t important at the time. She was in a bed as she had guessed. And was in the apartment, as far as she could tell. As all of the events of the present night came back to her. She let out a tiny gasp. The two men stirred slightly.

"I have to get out of here," she thought. She peeled off her sheets very quietly. She swung her legs over the side of the bed but thought the better of getting up because she needed to catch her breath. "Now what am I going to do about Ken and Omi?" she thought, recognizing the figures on the bed. Makoto closed her eyes.

*Flashback*

"Makoto come closer. I have one last gift for you," Usagi said. Makoto trusted her friend and stepped closer. She was now a foot away from the ghost. The ghost’s kanji, her golden crescent moon on her forehead, glowed brightly. Usagi reached up and pressed a translucent finger on the center of Makoto’s forehead. Mako closed her eyes as Usagi did. Makoto’s kanji - the Jupiter symbol- glowed a pure, bright green.

Both of the Senshi, dead and alive, now engulfed in a bright light. As soon as Makoto felt her kanji flare up she felt inner peace, contentment, and all of her negative feelings evaporated. She still felt guilty but she knew that feeling would dissipate when she defeated the enemy and fulfilled her promise. But she felt Usagi’s presence gone most of her worries returned. Makoto opened her eyes and saw a few white feathers float downwards. "If you concentrate you can find your own peace. Share that peace. Never loose hope," that voice said.

*Owari Flashback*

"If you concentrate you can find your own peace. Share that peace. Never loose hope," those words drifted into her mind. Makoto still had a very vivid recollection of the night before. She kept her eyes closed her eyes and concentrated on nothing. Feeling the serenity float through her veins temporarily she sighed. She dreaded opening her eyes it had to be done. When she opened her eyes she saw the room still the same as before. But it was sharper in her mind. Her mind was clearer and she thought of an idea.

Makoto got up slowly; relieved she was still clothed, and rested. Her body was recovering with her special abilities but it could only do so much. But her elemental power was another thing…she was never this drained before and didn’t know how long ‘till she would be at full power. "I can do this," she reassured herself. The black combat boots she wore padded softly against the carpet.

As she reached the two chairs she panicked. "You can do this," she thought. Makoto stood in front of the two chairs. She used both hands (one for each of them) and gently touched their foreheads. Her kanji appeared on her forehead and glowed a soft pure green. The same light came from her hands. Mako entered that peaceful state. She broke out of it reluctantly and saw that both of the men were in a sleep like trance with smiles on their faces. They also had copies of Makoto’s glowing green kanji (like => 4) the Jupiter symbol on their heads. She knew that it would vanish as they woke. Makoto’s vision blurred slightly but she blinked it away. It was a side affect of her trance.

She had a worried expression on her face. "That worked but I don’t think it can hold if someone tampers with them. I just have to make a clean getaway, I guess." Makoto realized that Youji and Aya were in the apartment. She turned her attention to getting out. The bedroom door was out of the question because of her other two enemies. "The window," she whispered. She walked to the window and opened it. There was a fire escape on it. (A.N.- excuse me if I get information from the show wrong in this chapter).

Makoto slipped down the fire escape noisily although she was trying to be quiet. "I should have a couple of minutes," she thought as she hopped down the last rung. But she had collapsed to her knees; the energy she wasted was too much. "There was a time when I could do all of that easy," she thought ruefully. Makoto got to her knees and staggered slightly. Her hands came to rest on the seat of something soft. She looked to see a motorcycle. It was to dark to see what color it was. It wasn’t important anyway, what was important was that she gets away because surly they suspected her absence.

They were idiots, all of them. They forgot to lock the motorcycle or put it away. There was another motorcycle behind the one she chose as a getaway vehicle. But it didn’t look as fast. "I have to go now," she thought as she pushed her body to the limits and got on the motorcycle. There was a helmet with a tinted visor on it that she hurriedly put on. She felt stupid as she realized she had no keys to star it with. But a little jolt of electricity rushed to her fingers and into the ignition system of the motorcycle. "Thank Kami for my what ever little power I have left. I am so glad Haruka taught me to use this thing," she thought.

Makoto sped away on the motorcycle. She was briefly aware she had left skid marks. "Where am I going?" she asked herself. But she had no answer. A she drove through the empty streets she realized she was being followed. She looked in her rearview mirror. There was another motorcycle following us. Their headlights nearly blinded her. It was obvious it wanted to pass her. The rider, also helmeted, was dangerously close to her. Makoto swerved her cycle to the side and let the other one pass.

The other rider rode side by side with her for a moment then passed her. "Hey you baka! There’s a whole other two lanes," Makoto yelled to the rider. The other rider laughed, a laugh that sounded familiar to her. It dropped back and rode side by side with her again. "Want to race?" asked the voice. Makoto was now sure she knew it. The other rider, with one hand, flipped his visor up. It was Haruka. Makoto struggled to keep on driving. Haruka didn’t know it was Makoto. "3…2…1…go!" Haruka counted then sped off, leaving Makoto in the dust. Her vision blurred and she had no control of her muscles.

That was too much for her. With all of the event’s that was too much. Makoto was very aware of her body’s pain as she crashed into a parked car. Her visor cracked. The motorcycle skidded and stopped by her, mostly undamaged. "Haruka," she whispered and slipped unconsciousness.

1.4 Chapter Eleven: "Have hope…"

*As Makoto climbed down the fire escape*

Youji felt something wrong. His fear was justified as he heard something scrape down the fire escape. "Kuso," he cursed and quickly threw on some clothes (he sleeps naked…interesting). Youji ran to Ken’s room where he was joined up Aya. They opened the door. They expected everything to be the same. It was, mostly. But the window was open and the bed was empty. Aya and Youji checked on Omi and Ken. They were asleep, deeply asleep. But there was a faint glowing ’s on their foreheads. Youji prodded them but they didn’t wake. Aya felt compelled to touch the mark. He felt a brief sense of peace. But the mark disappeared on Ken. Youji did the same to Omi.

When both of the marks disappeared they started to awaken. Omi and Ken’s faces looked guilty, like they had taken candy they weren’t supposed to. "How did she do that?" Youji asked. Ken looked puzzled. "Do what?" he asked. "You fell asleep on the job, an unnatural sleep," Aya said. Omi looked at the empty bed. "Where’s Makoto…ohh…" Omi said as he saw the open window.

All of the Weiß boys knew Makoto had put Ken and Omi in a trance then left through the window. "We have to find her. She’s still very weak," Ken said. "How?" Youji asked. Suddenly they heard a motorcycle starting outside. They all ran to the open window in time to see Makoto speed away. Ken jumped out the window to the fire escape. "Hurry, we can still catch her," he said. Omi followed him. Youji and Aya followed.

When they reached solid ground they looked around. Omi got to his motorcycle (that looked disturbingly like a go-cart:). He jumped on it and started it. Ken hopped behind it; after all it was their fault she escaped. Youji and Aya waited there a little uneasy, as Omi and Ken followed the tracks.

Omi drove the motorcycle with a purpose as they followed in the direction Makoto went. Ken was happy that Makoto was such a reckless (Haruka like) driver and that she left skid marks every so often and that the streets were empty. Suddenly they heard a crash up ahead. Ken was afraid for Makoto and unconsciously dug his knuckles into Omi’s waist. Omi winced but said nothing, he was afraid for Makoto too.

Ken was startled as Omi stopped the motorcycle abruptly. They both got off. A couple of feet away from them were Ken’s motorcycle and Makoto’s crumpled form. "Makoto," Ken whispered and dashed by her side. Omi appeared by him. Makoto’s body was in critical condition. Although she still had the helmet on, it was cracked. Her skirt was ripped as well as her top and there were long gashes scrapes and bruises. Her top was soaked in blood. "Come on Kenken, we have to get her out of here now!" Omi said. Ken nodded and got his motorcycle; glad it wasn’t damaged much. (Big A.N.- I am not sure if Ken had a racing type of motorcycle. I know Aya had a car {Porsche?} but in my story Ken has his own expensive motorcycle, damn, they must get paid well…)

Ken lifted Makoto up in his arms and laid her across his lap and sat on his Motorcycle. But the question that passed through his mind was how Makoto started the Motorcycle with out keys. Omi nodded to Ken and pulled away. Ken did to but noticed that there were two sets of motorcycle tracks, one of which were Makoto’s. "No time to worry about that, I have to get her back to the flower shop," Ken said decisively. He forced his cycle and soon was riding side by side with Omi. They stopped minutes later in front of the flower shop. Aya and Youji were still there.

"Makoto?" Youji whispered. Ken reluctantly gave to battered body to Youji and got off his cycle. They went up the stairs quickly. Youji was careful not to hurt Makoto further but Ken was still uneasy about the whole thing. The silent procession made its way up the stairs and to their apartment. They waited impatiently for Youji to open the door. After he did they cleared a table and Youji placed her carefully on it. The Weiß boys all kind of just stood around the table for a moment. "Where’d you find her?" Aya asked. "She was on the floor like this. It looked like she had an accident with her bike," Omi said. Ken kept the fact that there were two sets of marks to himself. Omi ran to go get a medical kit for Makoto’s assorted cuts and scrapes.

"I think we should take her helmet off," Aya said breaking the odd silence. With trembling hands Ken took off the helmet. He placed it to the side then turned back to Makoto. She had a large bruise on her forehead. But that wasn’t what he was worried about. There was a large puddle of blood surrounding Makoto. She had some injury they hadn’t seen.

Omi came in and dropped the bottle of antiseptic and gauze he had, it wasn’t going to cut it. It’s not that they weren’t used to blood or death. But their mission was to get her to join them. Aya had been checking Makoto’s pulse. It was determined but slowly growing weaker. Aya shook his head. There was nothing they could do. Omi rushed to where the other assassins were standing. "Have hope," they heard a feminine voice say. The boys all looked to see where the voice was coming from. There was a portal by the table. A figure stepped out.