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Makoto found herself back in the Alley where she had been knocked out. She knew that she must have dropped her transformation pen when she was knocked unconscious. It was dark. She used the flashlight on her phone to help her find it, hoping that someone wouldn't come behind her. The last thing she wanted was to get attacked yet again. After sifting around through the ground, she finally felt the familiar surge that was her pen. She picked it up and put it in her pocket.

She knew that she was going to have to talk to the others. Obviously, something had happened and she could only imagine the horrendous sight that The Youma Hunter had created for them. The evening had been nothing but drama. More-so than anything Makoto had dealt with before, and at that point, she was emotionally exhausted. Makoto walked home, staring blankly into the night as she pondered what had just transpired.

Nariko was pacing back and forth around the apartment. She had been awake all night, waiting for Ite to come back home. When he walked through that door, she was going to give him a piece of his mind in the form of ten frying pans. No. Make that 20! That wench must have seduced him into going back to her apartment. She just knew it!

Ite's boss had called Nariko to ask where Ite was the night before. She told him that Ite had fallen ill and that he wouldn't be making it in. It was a partial truth, right? She knew that as pissed off as she was at him, that he needed that job to take care of the two of them. Looking at the clock, Nariko realized that it was time to head out the door. She left Ite's burnt egg omelet lunchbox on the table and took off. She knew her cooking wasn't that great, but surely, he would prefer it over that of the wench!



Everyone had gotten up early and met at the Hikawa Shrine. Makoto had gone over the details of the night before. The other senshi gave their rendention of the events that took place the night before.

"This Youma Hunter..." Minako said. "He's from the Silver Millenium? And he believes that all youma must die?"

"Yes," Makoto replied. "He doesn't believe that there are real people who get trapped in those bodies. So last night's display..." She trailed off.

"It was murder!" Usagi exclaimed, tears streaming down her eyes. "There is no other word for it but murder. I don't... know who that preson was, but I do know that they were someone's son. Someone's brother. There were people who loved him and now they never get to see him again! I mean, did you see the morning news? They're still trying to find his head! We have to find this Youma Hunter and stop him from making another kill."

"Theres only one problem. He didn't recognize you. Any of you. When he told me you appeared to stop him, he had no idea who you were. I think it may be because of our evolved forms. I don't know how to get him to believe any of us is maybe if he sees us in the forms he remembers." Makoto pointed out.

"What if Usagi changed into Princess Serenity? Would he take a direct order from her to not kill another youma?" Rei pondered aloud.

"Perhaps," Ami Responded. "But the ruler at the time was Queen Serenity. He may not take orderes from the Princess if he sees her. The only problem with becoming Princess Serenity is the amount of energy it takes out of Usagi."

"We could use the disguise pen!" Minako suggested.

"Oh, yeah! Thats a great idea!" Rei replied. "What do you think, Usagi?" She asked.

"I'll try it." She said. "But how do we find the Youma Hunter?"

"We meet him at school." Makoto answered. "After all, I'm pretty sure that my friend Ite and the Youma Hunter are one and the same. I just don't know if he will be there. He was pretty sick last night, and I don't know what happened to him after..." Mako's voice trailed off. She couldn't think about what had happened the night before. But the vision of the head appeared in her mind. She fought back tears as she remembered the proud face of the Youma Hunter as he showed it to her. It was like he had won himself a trophy of some kind. Honestly, Mako didn't know if she could even look at Ite again. She felt a hand on her shoulder.


"Its okay." Minako said. "We'll find him. All we have to do is follow the crowd. After all, he is an Olympic Gold Medalist. His groupies will be everywhere he is." She winked.


They stood up from the fire and began to make their way to school, changing the conversation to much happier things as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

As the girls made their way to school, Rei went her own separate ways and the rest of them continued their chatter. As they walked through the courtyard, Makoto stopped. Ite was there, practicing his archery once more.

"Is that him, Mako-Chan?" Usagi asked. Like Mako, she had been oblivious to the fact that there was a gold medalist in the school.

"Yeah, thats him." Mako confirmed. Her face fell. He looked exactly like he had the day before. Except something was different. The sound of the first bell chimed in the distance, but Mako barely noticed it.

"Come on, Mako-Chan." Minako said softly. "We don't have to do this right now. Lets go to class."

"Yeah..." Mako agreed, quietly. She turned and started walking away from the range.

"He's still out there." Minako said. "Should we see if he wants lunch?" She asked.

Makoto just stared blankly at him. 1...2...3... A piece of target went flying. 4...5... Was that a Robin Hood?

After class, they had to tend to the gardens again. Makoto did so blankly. The others stepped in to give her an extra hand. One of their classmates, Sakura, walked up to Mako and asked her "Hey, Kino chan, are you alright?"

Mako gave her a light smile. "Yeah, I'm fine."

They finished their work and walked out to the schoolyard. Ite was still there, as he had been all day, shooting his arrows. The girls all followed Makoto at a distance, giving her space and yet showing their support.

She was sure to walk up behind Ite, careful not to put herself in the path of his arrows. "Your arrows can't explain what happened last night. But I think I can... Youma Hunter" She said, softly.



Nariko had been so worried about Ite all day that she couldn't concentrate on her classes. She had no clue where her brother was and finally decided to skip her last class to go looking for him. The last place she thought to look was the archery range at school. But there he was, shooting away in the courtyard. She crouched behind a bush watch for a minute. Then, she noticed a group of girls headed in his direction. That wench from the day before was leading them. How dare she!


Nariko burst out of her hiding spot "Hey-!" She began to call out, even though she was too far for anyone in the group to hear her. There was a tug at the back of her shirt.


"Excuse me, Miss. You dropped this." Sakura said, handing Nariko her phone. The screen flashed on and a picture of Nariko and Ite popped up. "Is that your boyfriend? Ite is so cute. You look adorable together!" She quipped.


"Oh, thats not my boyfriend. Thats my brother! And stay away from him!" She snapped, snatching her phone away from Sakura.

"Oh. Well I'm sorry. Its not like I'm interested in being his girlfriend or anything. Hes way too good for me." She blushed. "Besides, I'm in three of his classes and he doesn't even seem to notice that I exist. It looks like he has someone else on his mind, anyways." She giggled.

"Damnit! What am I going to do? He can't just let that wench take him!" Nariko complained.

"Hey, I have an idea. Why don't you come with me? I know of a way that you can win your brother back for sure!" Sakura smiled. Nariko didn't notice it, but a firey flash passed through Sakura's eyes.

"What do you have in mind?" She asked, a devilish grin entering her face.

"Just come. You'll see." She smiled, pleasantly. If Nariko hadn't been so jealous of Ite's new friend, then perhaps she would have detected the sadistic tone which Sakura had in her voice as she agreed to follow her. Nobody would be able to sense Sakura's true identity. Not while she was in her human form...

"Its not a rock band. Its what you became last night. You don't remember, do you?" Mako asked quietly. "I think that you may want to come with us for a little bit. We can't explain everything, but I think we can give you a good idea of what is going on. And the sooner you can connect your two consciousnesses, the better."

Looking at Ite, Makoto could tell that there was something wrong. But she couldn't put her finger on it.


Nariko found herself sitting in a cafe with Sakura. A waiter came up to take their orders. "Just water, please." Nariko said.

"You're not going to order anything?" Sakura inquired.

"I don't have any cash." She admitted.

"Oh, well I'll get it. My treat." Sakura smiled.

"Well, okay... Can I have a cheeseburger, fries and a milkshake with whipped cream, sprinkles and a cherry on it?" She asked the waiter.

Sakura copied her order and the waitress took off.

"So... How do I keep that wench from getting to my brother?" Nariko asked after the waiter was gone.

Sakura's face turned a devilish red as she formed a spiked tooth grin. "We murder her..."

"This is not the best place to have this conversation. But I do have a question for you. Have you had any strange dreams lately? A knight, outside of a castle, being told by a princess that he failed to keep his promise just before she died?" Makoto asked. "Well, I have. That princess was me, in my past life. And that knight... I think that knight was you!"

"You didn't tell us about that part!" Usagi said to Makoto.

"Yeah, why don't you tell us the rest of the story over dinner at the shrine?" Minako pushed.

"Ite, do you have time tonight? Or do you have another job you need to be at?" Makoto inquired. "By the way, these are my friends Usagi, Minako and Ami. I think you're going to get to know them very well, soon."




Narkio's eyes filled with fear. "Kill her? What do you mean kill her? I'm not a murderer!" She exclaimed.

Sakura started chuckling at Nariko. "I don't mean it in that sense. I mean, kill her reputation! There are plenty of things that you can do to make a girl's 'true reputation' shine." She said with a devilish grin. "Of course, Makoto Kino is a force to be reckoned with. She is strong and not afraid to stand up to herself. But," Sakura lowered her voice. "What many of her classmates don't know is that she was a bully at one of her junior high schools. She got kicked out for beating up a sempai!

"What you gotta do is force her to get in a fight with you. And set it up so that when your brother walks in, all he sees is Makoto kicking your a**!"

"Hey, I'm not a mobile punching bag!" Nariko snapped.

"Thats why you layer on some extra clothes, duh! Just make sure she doesn't hit your face and you're golden."

Makoto could tell that Ite was confused. She sighed. This was going to be harder than she thought it was going to be. Pushing her feelings to the side, she smiled. "I'd love to go on a date. Where would you like to go?" She asked. Part of her was concerned. She hoped that Ite wasn't going to go out of her way to treat her when the day before he had been in a terrible condition from working to support his family.

"Well, I can tell we're not needed so... See ya! Meet up at the Hikawa Shrine later?" Minako inquired.

"Eh, sure!" Makoto agreed. "I'll call you." Makoto promised.

The girls took off and left Makoto and Ite to themselves. He was so handsome. She could hardly believe that there was a possibility that these two had a past together. Her entire life, she had always thought that the only member of the group with a destined lover was Serenity. Could this be the start of her happily ever after?