"Honor brings death. Duty brings life. Love brings hope…"

My Better Half

By Sailor Emerald

1 Chapter One: "I am strong…"

A tall, melancholy woman walked down the streets of downtown Tokyo. She stopped by a shop to check out restaurant that she knew so well. "Mako- chan," a male voice called to her. She looked for the source and saw Motoki- kun. She waved at him but didn’t have the heart to smile and greet him. Makoto sighed and took a seat on an empty table. "Much like my heart," she thought bitterly. Tomorrow was the one-year anniversary of the rest of the Sailor Senshi’s death. Makoto was slowly breaking down. It was the first semester of her senior year. Her grades were falling, she was dressed in the first thing that came out of her closet, and she hardly had the heart to even eat.

Makoto slumped on the table. "It was all my fault. If I had only been stronger I might have been able to help. I might have been able to help on time. Why did they take them? Serenity-sama was always the selfless one. And this stupid Eternal Stone," she thought as she took a stone out of her pocket. It was a clear green and had a silver Jupiter symbol embedded in it. It was her henshin stone to turn into Eternal Sailor Jupiter. She stuffed it quickly in her subspace pocket.

"It didn’t help me then," she thought, her eyes glassy. The tears just wouldn’t come anymore. "Mako-chan," someone called her from her dreary reverie. She looked up and found Motoki standing there with her root beer float in hand. "I didn’t even have to order it. I guess I’m that predictable. Huh, Motoki-kun?" she asked with a forced smile. Motoki set her root bear on the table. "Makoto…" he began. Mako-chan raised her hand into the air, a motion that caused him to stop. "Don’t Motoki, I’m fine. I have to go now…I er… left my clothes in the washer," she lied. Makoto got up and took and left, leaving a worried Motoki and a small root bear float.

Makoto walked out of the store. She was fuming. "Why does the world give me pity? I am strong…" she trailed off into thoughts that threatened to overwhelm her. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t notice where she was going. Makoto bumped into a man sending them both down to the sidewalk. She looked up and blushed. The man she fell on was gorgeous. He was tall, had long wavy brown hair and very bishoujo the only down side was that he was smoking. "I just had to fall on the most kawaii man," she muttered.

"Gomen Nasai," she said to him. Makoto got up and dusted herself off. The other man got up also. He appeared to be looking her over and had an intense look in his eyes. Makoto blushed again. "I am so sorry Mr. I didn’t look where I was walking. That’s no excuse. What can I do to make it up to you?" she tried to apologize. "My name is Youji," he said. "Um, er, Watashu wa Kino Makoto," she answered to his unasked question.

"There is a way you can make it up to me. How about I take you out to lunch?" he asked innocently with that unnerving gaze still upon her. "Nani? He’s coming on to me! He’s so kawaii but there’s something odd about him. I don’t even know him. Quick think of an answer Makoto! He’s looking at you!" she thought to herself. "So?" he prompted. "I’m lesbian," she blurted out without thinking. "Great Makoto. He probably thinks you’re gay and crazy now. At least he won’t try and harass you," she thought angrily. Youji was taken aback by her response.

"How can such a beautiful woman be lesbian?" Youji thought in dismay. The girl turned and ran off. Youji sighed and walked down the street to a flower shop nearby. He was greeted by the familiar floral scent that made up the shop that he worked at as a second job. The ever so lovable Ken was at the back of the counter saying bye to one of the rare people that actually bought anything. Aya looked glad that the hordes of after school "customers" weren’t out of school yet. Youji looked the woman over. "Average. We need some way to advertise to get the real women in here," he thought. "Can’t pass up the opportunity." Youji casually flipped his hair. The woman blushed as she saw him, a good sign, and walked out of the door.

Youji, not wasting the opportunity, followed her to the door. A hand stopped him on his shoulder. It belonged to Aya. "What?" he asked. "We got a new job," he said. Omi, appearing from nowhere, closed the door to the shop and put up the ‘we’re closed sign’. Youji followed them all to a room in the back. "Manx came in with our new mission. Schwarz is after a new ESRer," Aya said. "And…" Youji trailed off as he paused. That was all they knew so far. Omi popped a tape in the VCR A dark screen in the room turned on. A figure sitting in the shadows behind a desk appeared on the screen.

The assassins of the room recognized her as Persian, their boss. He spoke. "There were a couple of random reports in the news papers a few years back of Sailor Senshi sightings. Shwartz got the identities of the Senshi. All of the others are presumed dead except for one, Sailor Jupiter or Super Sailor Jupiter, as I believe she is now called. We can’t let them recruit. Even one of the Senshi are said to be stronger then any one member of Shwartz. Something is not right about Shwartz lately and they probably have a way to tame her or have her cross over. We can’t allow that. Takatori has gotten new allies and I sense darkness. Something is going down tonight. Your mission is to keep her from going to their side and get her to join us. She will help us because it’s her duty to protect humans from evil but if she does cross over don’t hesitate to destroy her," Persian said.

"She?" Youji exclaimed already wanting to go on the mission. The figure on the screen nodded. "Yes, her name is Kino Makoto," Persian said. Youji gasped. "You know her?" Omi asked noticing Youji’s expression. "Yeah, the girl I bumped into earlier. She said her name was Kino Makoto…"

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Makoto Kino sat in her apartment. It was 8:40 p.m. and she was counting down the time until tomorrow, July 16th, the anniversary of the death of the inners. The outers had deserted her for her cowardice (they disappeared after the battle so that is what she assumed) and there had been no word from Setsuna. Makoto rolled over on her back. She couldn’t sleep. "I just feel like punching something!" she screamed in frustration. She threw the covers off herself and threw on a pair of blue jeans, a red plain top, and a pair of red Adidas. To her this was dressing up. She looked over herself and smiled. "Well might as well paint the town red," she thought as she headed out of the door.

1.1 Chapter Two: "Makoto-hime…"

Makoto walked through the streets of Tokyo. She wandered aimlessly by familiar buildings and reminisced about the past. Only in memories did she get to be with her Senshi. Occasionally she thought she was being watched. Minutes later, she found herself sitting on a swing in a deserted playground under a blue moon. "How ironic," she spat out bitterly. She sighed. "Everybody I love is gone. My parents, Rei, Ami, Mina, Mamoru, Usagi, Artimis, Luna," she checked off the names on her fingers. "It was all your fault," an alien voice whispered in her mind.

"It was all my fault," she repeated thinking that she imagined the voice. "Because of that I’m left alone...Why?" she demanded loudly. Makoto jerked her head up. "Somebody was watching me," she whispered. The back of her neck tingled, reassuring her assumptions. She cocked her head to the side as she felt the familiar taint of evil. Her eyes widened in shock. "Impossible! There are no more youmas. We defeated Galaxia and that loose youma. It had to have been the end of it!" Makoto thought.

Her mind felt as if she was being probed. It was approaching her. They were good because if they hadn’t triggered her sixth sense…she shuddered to think what might have happened. She turned her attention to pretending she didn’t notice anything. "Hello Makoto-hime," a voice said in her mind. "That’s the voice I thought I heard earlier. Who is messing with me!" she thought angrily.

She felt the mental probing cease as she tried a mind shield Rei taught her for the first time. Makoto stopped swinging as she saw a strange black mist wrap around her. She stood up and the mist shrank back. "Nande kuso?" she whispered. The black cloud shrank back and floated beside a man. He was gorgeous and had long orangish hair and wore a headband. The odd thing was that the man had red glowing eyes and, with her sixth sense, she could see a little black mist radiating from him. If it would have been daylight she would have missed it or if she didn’t look for it.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Makoto yelled already in her fighting position. The man spoke. "I am Schuldich. Well what I want is what you want Makoto-hime. To end the pain and the memories of the loss of your friends," he said smoothly. It was obvious that he knew her dual identities. "How do you propose to do that?" she asked hesitantly, her eyes still trained on Schuldich and the dark cloud. "This cloud will take all of your pain away like it did mine. You will be a new person with a new lease on life," he said.

"What do I do? His offer seems tempting but what if he’s evil? Does it even matter anymore? What are the strings attached?" she thought to herself. "I assure you there are no strings attached Makoto. So do you accept?" he asked.