Chapter Six: "Stop that you baka…"

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*Makoto’s Apartment*

It was about 4:00 in the afternoon. She woke up groggily to the rays of evening sun that peeked through her windows. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying herself to sleep when she came back from the battle. It was a late Monday Afternoon but she could not bring herself to go to school. Today was July 16th, the one year anniversary of her friend’s death. She got up and drowsily threw on a black skirt, boots, and spaghetti straps. Mako walked out of the door mumbling something about forgetting the flowers.

For a few minutes her mind was numb to the world. Her feet were walking to the Koneko no Sumu le (kitten in the house) flower shop but her mind was elsewhere. "Snap out of it Makoto you are going to hurt yourself," she thought and shook her head. She sighed and stopped walking. "Now where is that flower shop? I could have sworn it was around here before? Ah…there it is," she whispered as she spotted the shop across the street. Makoto ran across the street, ignoring honks from angry drivers.

When she reached the Koneko she nearly decided to turn back. There were about fifteen girls in there. They were swooning over four men who apparently worked at Koneko. Most of them were around one man but she couldn’t see his face clearly. The one employee that caught her eye was the red head and although he looked so cold he was gorgeous. "Why do I feel so drawn to him…is it because he looks lost like me?" she thought but shook her head. Makoto stepped into the store. The girls all threw dirty looks at her. Makoto gave them all death glares and fortunately the flower shop owners didn’t notice her arrival.

She made her way through and tapped the nearest employee. He spun around. He was tall, had brown hair and green eyes. Makoto blinked away the familiar dreamy eyes she had acquired. "I need some help," she said bluntly. Mako winced as a jealous fan girl "accidentally" elbowed her for getting his attention so she missed his shocked expression. "What kind of flowers are you looking for?" he asked slightly nervous. The brown haired employee looked to the other employees who now noticed her arrival. Makoto ignored his question for a second and watched his fans leave the store, mad that they didn’t think of buying flowers first. "I need…"she trailed off into a large order of multicolored flowers. "Ok is that all Miss Makoto?" he asked as he led her to sit in the chair in the front of the shop. She was left with a kawaii boy, the cold red head and the bishounen man.

"…Yeah that’s all Mr.…"she trailed off not knowing his name. "Ken, call me Ken. I’ll be back in a minute with your order Makoto-san," he said and left Mako deep in thought. "Strange I don’t remember giving him my name…" she whispered but filed that thought for later. Today wasn’t a day for suspicions. "That’s right, today is the day that…" she couldn’t finish the thought as she felt hot tears make their way down her cheeks.

Suddenly she looked up as she felt someone wipe a tear away. It was Youji. She stood up quickly from the chair and glared at him. The playboy Youji attempted to put a comforting arm around her. She pushed him away. By now the tears she shed were dry and she looked defiant, not sad at all. "Don’t touch me!" she hissed. "Sorry I forgot that you’re um…lesbian," he said looking slightly hurt. She flushed as she recalled her lie. "I’m sorry its just that-that-" she burst into tears again.

Youji pulled her into a comforting embrace as she sobbed into his chest. "What could have happened to her?" Youji thought. He rubbed a hand on her back aware that for a change this wasn’t the time to take advantage of her; after all she was their tenshi and they needed her to complete their mission. Mako pulled away as she felt someone watching her. She saw the red head quickly move his gaze and continue arranging flowers. She turned and saw someone else watching her, the kawaii little brunette who was working the register. They all averted their gazes from the Senshi of thunder.

Makoto turned back to Youji. "Thank you Youji-san…I needed that. I haven’t cried in Kami knows how long," she said and smiled, a genuine smile. "You’re welcome to it anytime. If you need a shoulder to cry on or just a, er, man you can count on me, hime," he said and attempted to wrap an arm around her waist. She was somewhat startled by her new nickname. "Stop that you baka," she said while laughing like an innocent schoolgirl, like before she became one of the Sailor Senshi. Youji sighed and reluctantly stopped, happy that she was happy.

She felt the same familiar tingling at the back of her neck. Somebody was watching her. Two someones she found as she turned. The other two florists averted their gazes. "Youji-san…who are those people?" she asked cautiously. "Huh? Oh them. The boy with the brown hair working the cashier is Omi-kun. The red head is Aya-kun. Don’t worry that’s a permanent expression he always looks like he has a stick shoved up his a-" "Here is your order Miss," Ken came and interrupted Youji just in time. Makoto smiled and accepted the odd assorted bouquet. "Thank you Ken-san. How much is it?" she asked.

Ken appeared to consider it for a moment. "Its free Makoto-san," he said and gave Mako back the money she tried to pay him with. "Arigato Ken…they are beautiful. You know, the world needs more people like you," she said in a sad tone. Makoto smiled and breathed in the fragrance of the bouquet. She missed Ken’s blush and Youji elbowing him in the ribs. Mako looked up as she heard Ken curse. She gave him a quizzical expression that caused Ken to blush again. "Where are you off to Makoto-chan?" Youji asked.

Makoto dimly realized that her status with Youji was now friend as she experienced some of the depression and self hate from the night before. A person wouldn’t be able to tell that she had actually smiled only moments earlier the way she now looked. Her teary emerald eyes radiated sadness, loss and pain. "This is the way she was acting last night…maybe it has to do with her friends? She shouldn’t be sad," Youji thought and immediately wanted to comfort her. After he broke out of his reverie, he found Makoto crying on Ken’s shoulder.

"I shouldn’t be crying, I am a strong woman and with these people I have just met!" she mentally berated herself. "It was your fault hime. Your friends deaths are on your head," a voice whispered in her mind. "Schuldich (is that spelled right?)" she whispered, still in Ken’s comforting embrace. Ken stiffened under her hold at the name or maybe it was the fact she was squeezing his hand very tightly as she weakly fought off Schuldich’s probe. "No, you will not get anything from me," she whispered and put all of the remaining energy into the psychic shield.

Ken felt Makoto as she went limp in his hands. Omi, Aya, and Youji gathered around Ken as they watched. They knew that Schwartz was tampering with her. Ken tipped her head back and examined her face. Her eyes were dilated. Omi checked her pulse, she was still alive.

Makoto felt Schuldich as he gave up probing her mind. Subconsciously she was glad that she was psychically drained because she knew the he had to be too. Her eyes swan into focus and she found herself just inches in front of Ken’s face. For a moment she just stared into his green eyes (A.N.- I think they are brown or green…That just ruined the mood). She felt drawn to him… but then she noticed how close the two of them were. Pulling away she found herself surrounded by Omi, Youji, Aya and Ken.

"Are you ok?" Ken asked. His concern was mirrored on the expressions of the other assassins because their mission or their strange protectiveness of their "tenshi." "I’m fine minna. Arigato for the concern though. Oh and Ken-san, please give me back my hand," she reminded the man in the apron. Ken blushed as he realized he still had her hand and let go. The men exchanged looks with Youji as if coming to a consensus on something, however she did not notice. "So hime, would you like to stay for dinner seeing as its almost sunset," Youji asked.

Makoto didn’t react to the use of the nickname but didn’t like it. "It sounds tempting but I have to meet with some…friends," Makoto said. "We understand," he said with a melodramatic sigh. Makoto began to walk to the door -flowers in hand- but paused and turned. "Cheer up Youji-kun, there’s always next time. Sayonara minna," she said with a small, sad smile and walked through the door to visit her friends.