The Eternal Lost Lurker (EternalLostLurker@worldnet.att.net) Notes: This is going to be rather short, and cuts out a lot of details which I felt would be unneccessary to rehash. Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon property of Takeuchi Naoko, Kodansha, Toei Animation Kusanagi Sakura property of Capcom Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon: In A Cherry Blossom Scented Dream Kino Makoto leaned against a tree at her new school and sighed. The twelve-year-old girl was having a lot of trouble lately. Since the deaths of her parents, she'd been angry a lot, and had gotten into a few too many fights, causing her to be bounced around the school system of Japan, thrown out of schools that couldn't deal with her attitude. Now she'd been placed in a school for "spirited students", on the outskirts of one of the strangest places in all of Japan, Tomobiki. She almost wished she was old enough to go to the local high school, having heard of the weirdness there and wanting to be a part of it. However, she was stuck at "Kakuto Junior High", the school for young boys and girls who liked to pick fights. "You'll stay here until you reform, Kino-san," the guidance counselors had told her rather bluntly. She snorted. Reform? Not bloody likely. She watched disinterestedly as various boys began beating the snot out of each other over something or another...probably someone accusing someone else of being gay, she decided. It didn't matter to her. In another corner of the grounds, something was taking place that did catch Makoto's attention. A slight girl, wearing a ridiculously normal fuku, was being surrounded by several larger boys. Makoto scowled. She wondered how a girl like that had wound up here, and was about to go help the kid out of whatever trouble she'd landed herself in when suddenly... "SHOU-OU-KEN!" All six boys went flying in various directions, as the fuku-wearing girl landed on her feet. Makoto's eyes narrowed, partly at what had happened, and partly at the ridiculousness of the rest of the girl's outfit: a clear look at her revealed that she wore sneakers which simply did not go with the rest of her ensemble, as well as padded fighter's gloves, and a white hairband which trailed behind her stringy brownish-black hair. A faint aura faded from around the girl as her hair and hairband settled behind her. Makoto wandered over to the girl. "Hey! What's your name?" The girl looked at Makoto warily, and replied, "Kusanagi Sakura." "Kino Makoto. You did this?" she asked, motioning to the downed boys. Sakura nodded. Makoto grinned. "Cool." "You fight?" Sakura asked. "Would I be here if I didn't?" Makoto asked. Sakura laughed. "Guess not." The bell rang, and the two girls joined the rest of the conscious students in filing into the building. Lunchtime was a battleground. Makoto could barely believe it. All around the cafeteria, boys and girls were shoving, pushing, shouting, punching, and kicking, trying to get to the best selections of the cafeteria food. Makoto was glad she'd brought her own. As she began to eat, she caught sight of Sakura cutting a path through the writhing mass of preteens, trying to get a decent meal. She started to go over to her new friend and offer to share her lunch when... *splatter**crush**crunch* "Oops. Sorry about that. Heh heh." Makoto looked at the table where her lunch had been. Now, it was splattered with the remains of her food, and a biker boot was planted firmly in the middle of one of her bento boxes. Her *favorite* bento. Makoto snarled. "Hey! What the hell did you do that for?" "So cry about it little girl," the large boy in the biker boots and leather sneered down at her. Makoto scowled, and dashed forward, throwing a hard right cross...which hit the rude youth directly in the groin. His eyes rolled up in his head, and he fell off the table. Several nearby students cheered. Sighing as she examined the leftovers of her meal, Makoto realized she'd have to join the melee and try to get some of the cafeteria food. Sakura grinned. She was almost to the counter, and there were some steamed bean buns left! She delivered a sharp kick to a boy's ribs, and kneed a pesky girl in a very uncomfortable place. Using her momentum to slide up to the counter, she was about to take the prize when a flash of brown caught her attention from above. Someone was about to land on her head and steal her food! "I don't think so," Sakura said. "SHOU-OU-KEN!" Makoto heard the familiar cry from when Sakura had dropped the gang of boys, and her eyes widened. Then she felt a fist impact her gut a number of times. Then she felt nothing as she fell to the floor. Sakura's eyes widened as she realized she'd just KOed her new friend. "Ack! Mako-chan..." Suddenly food didn't matter anymore. Some of the bystanders would later swear they saw a green spark flare between the two girls for a moment as Sakura's attack connected. Neither of the girls would remember anything about it. --two years later-- "Hey Usagi-chan! Didja hear? There's two new students today!" Usagi blinked. "Two?" Naru nodded. "Yeah!" Umino popped up out of nowhere, momentarily startling the two girls. "That's right! One of them transferred from a reform school, Kino Makoto. They let her out because she's cleaned up her act. The other one keeps getting kicked out of schools for fighting; her name's Kusanagi Sakura." He pointed to a nearby tree. "That's Kino, and..." He looked over to the gateway, and frowned. "That's Kusanagi. Be careful around her, she's dangerous," the geeky boy warned. Makoto winced as she saw the girl standing near the gate. She decided it was time to bury the hatchet, and made her way over. "Hey...Sakura-chan..." Sakura turned, ready to snap, and stopped. She blinked. "Mako-chan? What're you doing here?" Makoto shrugged. "They transferred me here this morning." "Me too," Sakura said. "Listen...about what happened..." Makoto smiled. "It's okay, Sakura-chan. It was an accident, y'know?" The two friends began catching up on old times. Makoto later met Usagi, and the two became fast friends. At the arcade, Makoto was introduced to the local UFO catcher wiz, Game Machine. Luna was keeping an eye on Makoto, as something seemed familiar about her. Meanwhile, across town, Sakura had noticed some weird guy in a grey uniform walking around with a black crystal, and deciding there might be trouble, felt the natural inclination to get right in the middle of it. Makoto grunted as she fell to the ground. She hadn't even managed to scratch the man who had attacked Game Machine. She watched as the strange man in grey began doing something with a black crystal... Suddenly, a swirl of cherry blossoms flooded the alleyway. The strange man looked up, as did Makoto. "So, this is what you're up to, huh?" a girl's voice called out. "Pickin' on guys, and pickin' on my friend..." "Who's there?" the ponytailed man snarled. Sakura stepped into view, pounding one fist into her palm menacingly. "My name's Sakura, and whoever you are, you're about to get hurt." The man laughed, and raised one hand. "ZOI!" he shouted. A dark bolt of lightning streaked toward Sakura. Sakura smirked, and extended her hands. Her fuku and hair rippled in a mysterious breeze as she cupped her hands together. "HA-DO-KEN!" she shouted. A ball of bright blue energy shot forth, intercepting and cancelling out the lightning. The attacker's eyes widened. He sneered. "Well, you have some kind of superhuman ability. Fine then. We'll meet again!" And with that, he vanished in a shower of cherry blossoms. "Sakura-chan! Thank you!" Makoto called. Sakura nodded, and scowled. "Who was that idiot?" she said. Makoto shrugged. "I don't know. He was attacking Game Machine here...hey, what's wrong?" Makoto asked, noting the look on her friend's face. "That asshole ripped off my entrance," Sakura said. Makoto facefaulted. Some time later, Makoto and Sakura looked on in horror as Game Machine transformed into a monster. The famous Sailor Senshi were battling the creature, and not doing very well. "I'll help them," Sakura announced. Suddenly, a UFO catcher claw shot out and grabbed both girls. "HEY! Leggo you big jerk!" Sakura yelled. The girls struggled ineffectually against their bonds. Luna watched Makoto closely, anticipating something. She had a feeling another Senshi was about to emerge. Anxiously she awaited the appearance of a green sigil on the girl's forehead. There was a faint, ghostly green haze on Makoto's forehead, which disappeared as soon as it appeared. Luna blinked. "This isn't right," she said. Deciding to make sure, she did a backflip through the air, producing a green stick with the sigil of Jupiter on it. Catching it in her teeth, she leapt at Makoto, pushing the stick into her hand. "Take this and yell Jupiter Power Make-Up!" she shouted at the brunette. Makoto blinked at the talking cat, but did as it asked. "Jupiter Power Make-Up!" Nothing happened. Sakura blinked. There was a talking cat, and Makoto was holding a stick and shouting something about make-up. And the monster was tightening its grip. "Let GOOOO!" she shouted, straining against the monster. Suddenly, something in her mind clicked. Everyone stared as a green aura flared around her. "I...said...let...GOOOOOOO!!!!!!" A shape, like the numeral four, appeared on her forehead, shining strong and clear. Luna gasped. "SHE'S the one?" Sakura clenched her teeth, and strained every muscle in her body. Her aura flared brighter, and she cried out, "RAI-OU-KEN!!!" A bolt of lightning shot down from the impossibly cloudless sky, striking the monster, which released the two girls. It reeled back as,upon her release, Sakura shot forward in a dashing uppercut, connecting with it several times. Makoto rolled away from the monster, and Luna padded over to her. "Quickly! Throw the stick to your friend!" Makoto blinked, then called, "Sakura-chan! Heads up!" She threw the stick at Sakura, who caught it, and blinked at it. A thought occurred to Makoto. "I must be nuts," she mumbled to herself, before yelling, "Say Jupiter Power Make-Up!" Sakura blinked several times. The monster began to rise to its feet. "DO IT!" Luna shouted. This was too much for Sakura. She raised the stick over her head. "JUPITER POWER, MAKE-UP!" Swirling energy overtook Sakura, as a field of electricity crackled around her body. Her familiar fuku and sneakers reformed, becoming a more abbreviated, green-skirted fuku. New footwear, smaller than her previous sneakers, and green like the skirt of the new fuku, appeared on her feet, as white gloves trimmed in green wrapped around her hands, and a tiara formed on her forehead. The Sailor Senshi stared at their new ally. Sakura looked down at herself, and eeped. "What the hell?" Then, she realized what was going on, and grinned. "Heh. Alright you, round two," she said to the monster. "I'm Sailor Jupiter! Say hello to a few million volts, freak!" A small lightning rod extended from her tiara, and she crossed her arms. "RAI...OU....KEN!" This time, the attack was slightly different. The lightning bolt struck Jupiter's tiara, and collected around her body. She dashed at the monster, fist extended. The monster brought up its arms to block...and Sakura plowed right through it with an electrically charged uppercut. Six times. The monster crashed to the ground. Luna shouted something to Sailor Moon, who used a strange wand on the thing, turning it back into a human. Meanwhile, Sakura ran over to check on her friend. "Hey Mako-chan, wake up now..." Makoto blinked at Sakura, who was now dressed in a ridiculously short green fuku. "Nnn...Sakura-chan? What the--?" Sakura grinned. "That's pretty much how I feel about it," she said. Turning serious, she indicated her new attire. "I, uh, think this was supposed to be you, or something," she said. Makoto nodded once, and passed out.