Chapter Five: When Lightning Strikes

I'M SORRY! I'M SO SORRY! THIS IS SO LATE AND THIS CHAPTER SUCKS AND I'M SORRY AND I'LL UNDERSTAND IF YOU NEVER FORGIVE ME!

It was a few days later at lunch when Kagome heard the newest rumor.

"Have you heard?" one of her classmates whispered. "About the bridal shop?"

"Oh, the cursed one?" another asked.

"Apparently, every groom who goes there ends up missing!"

Kagome decided to ignore their chatter. Rumors rarely amounted to anything, after all. And she had bigger things to worry about than missing grooms.

She walked to the arcade again after school. Usagi was there already, along with a really tall girl with brown hair and green eyes.

And this girl was kicking the Sailor V game's butt.

"It's just like a real fight," she said when Usagi asked her how she was so good. "Attract the enemy first, then catch him off-guard. Then use a special move to take him in a single blow!"

"A single blow!" Usagi chorused.

"Usagi-chan, Kagome-chan, you're already here?" Ami asked, walking up to where her two friends were.

"Oh, Ami-chan!" Usagi trilled, delighted. "Look at how good Mako-chan is at this game!"

"Mako-chan?" Ami and Kagome chorused.

The brunette stuck out a hand to both newcomers. "My name is Kino Makoto. It's nice to meet you."

Kagome shook it first. "I'm Higurashi Kagome. It's a pleasure."

"Mizuno Ami," Ami introduced, bowing rather than shaking Makoto's hand.

"She's a new transfer to my class!" Usagi announced.

Suddenly, Motoki wandered over. "All of your friends are so pretty, Usagi-chan," he grinned.

"Don't let Genji-san hear that," Ami joked. "You'd be hospitalized for a week!"

"Ami!" Kagome whined, bumping their shoulders together.

It was only then did the girls realize Makoto was blushing.

"Nice to meet you," Motoki was saying to her. The tall girl's face was beet red, and she'd stopped paying attention to the Sailor V game.

The words Game Over scrolled across the screen, regaling her loss.

"Sempai…" she murmured. As soon as the word left her lips, she turned back around in her chair and ducked her head. "Oh, nothing!"

"Oh!" Motoki said, suddenly remembering something. "I just heard a weird rumor from a customer."

"A weird rumor?" Usagi questioned.

"I heard about this in school," Kagome said as the group of four walked to the bridal shop. "A bunch of girls were talking about it at lunch."

"Umino told me about it, too," Usagi noted. "Oh, these dresses are so pretty!" She rushed to the store window and gazed at the wedding gowns longingly. "I can't wait to be a bride."

"Kagome-chan's already got her groom lined up," Ami teased.

"Ami-chan!"

"It's true, though!" Usagi continued, speaking to Makoto. "Kagome-chan already has a boyfriend! He's a third-year high school student!"

"Really?" Makoto asked. "That must be nice."

"In theory, yes," Ami said, "but they're all over each other, even in public."

"Ami-chan!" Kagome punched her friend in the shoulder lightly. "That's not true."

"I caught the two of you making out behind the claw machines yesterday."

"Shut up!"

Makoto wasn't even listening. Instead, she was gazing at a particular dress, modeled on a tall mannequin. "You'd look pretty in that dress," Usagi noted, running up to join her.

"Huh?" Makoto asked.

"You're tall," Ami agreed, "so this kind of dress would suit you."

"You really think so?"

Kagome nodded, moving up to join the rest of the group. "You'll make a beautiful bride someday, Mako-chan."

Makoto blushed even harder.

"I want to wear a beautiful dress for my wedding, too!" Usagi sighed, twirling around on the sidewalk as if she were dancing.

"A pure white kimono would look good, too," Ami said.

"What about you, Mako-chan?" Kagome asked, leaning in teasingly.

Makoto blushed harder still and rubbed the back of her head shyly. "Whichever my husband would like best, I guess."

Usagi ran back to them. "Mako-chan, you're so cute!"

"Well, because..."

"You're so girly!" Usagi continued, poking the taller girl playfully.

"Stop it, Usagi-chan!" Makoto warned playfully.

After their window shopping at the bridal shop, the four girls made their way to Rei's shrine. "Rei-chan!" Usagi called as soon as the priestess came into view.

"Usagi-chan, Ami-chan, Kagome-chan," she called back...and then stiffened when she saw Makoto.

"Guess what, Rei-chan!" Usagi said when the finally got onto the shrine grounds. "There's a bridal shop that has a ghost bride that kidnaps grooms!"

"There's no scientific proof that ghosts exist," Ami said calmly.

"Ami-chan, you're always so calm," Usagi remarked.

Rei scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "What kind of man would be seduced by a ghost bride, anyway? I don't trust men."

Usagi sweat dropped. "Rei-chan..."

"Sounds complicated," Makoto said then, as if reminding the group that she was still there. "I'm going home now. See you tomorrow, Usagi-chan."

"Bye, Mako-chan!" Usagi called, waving in an over exaggerated manner as the taller girl walked away."

As soon as Makoto was out of hearing range, Rei said, "We'll all be gathering soon."

Luna, who'd followed them from the shadows so as not to alert Makoto of her presence, said, "I think so, too."

"You felt her power, too?" Kagome asked, leaning against a nearby tree.

"It was almost electric."

Kagome was in the middle of a phone call with Genji that night when her communicator, a bracelet designed to look like a plastic game prize, started going off. "Ami-chan, Rei-chan, Kagome-chan!" came Luna's voice. "We have a problem! Tuxedo Mask knows Usagi-chan's civilian identity! He's taking her somewhere!"

She found that a bit rude. Sure, I live with him, but why should he get me? Stupid hormonal brother. "Genji, I gotta go," Kagome said in a rush. "Mama's calling. Love you, bye!" She hung up hurriedly, grabbed her communicator and pen from her nightstand, and raced down the stairs and into the night.

When Kagome and the other Senshi arrived on the scene, Motoki, surrounded by green mist that signified Evil, had Makoto pinned to an alley wall. "Motoki-niisan! Mako-chan!" Usagi cried in dismay.

Evil laughter resonated down into the alley. "It's the ghost bride!" Usagi yelled, pointing up to the roof of a nearby building. where the very mannequin Makoto had been admiring that afternoon stood, swathed in green mist.

"It's not a ghost," Kagome said, teeth grinding. "It's Evil."

"We have to save Motoki-niisan and Mako-chan!" Usagi declared, and all four awakened Senshi began their transformation sequences. As soon as they were all decked out in their battle wear, Usagi commenced her pre-battle lecture. "You pretended to be an innocent bride and used loving words to your advantage! That's unforgivable. The Pretty Guardian in a Sailor Suit, Defender of Love and Justice. Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"

"So you've appeared, Sailor Senshi!" the mannequin said. She/it pointed the display bouquet at them, and a flurry of black petals rained down upon them. When Rei used a fire attack to burn the petals, the mannequin used the smoke to her advantage and grabbed Makoto from where she lay crumpled in the street.

"Attack me now, Senshi!" the mannequin taunted. Her dress turned from pure white to pitch black in seconds. "I dare you."

A vortex of the mist materialized, summoning Nephrite, one of the Dark Kings, to the scene. "He was controlling the mannequin!" Luna realized.

"Pathetic humans," Nephrite laughed. "You're so easily fooled by appearances."

"It was a lie?" Makoto asked.

"She's still conscious?"

"You looked a little like Sempai," Makoto continued. "You said you loved me. But it was a lie?"

Nephrite saw his opportunity to jump back in. "You humans are so obsessed with appearances, but ignorant of the true nature of things."

Makoto seemed to be fighting an internal battle. Kagome knew how that felt, and so she couldn't intervene, and kept the others from doing so. "This is something," she said, "that she has to do herself."

"Yes," Makoto mumbled, almost too quiet to hear, "no one understands me. Loving someone is foolish. I don't believe in anything anymore. The feeling of love and everything else..."

Usagi looked at Kagome, desperate and twitching, as if asking for permission. Kagome nodded, and Usagi started speaking. "That's wrong, Mako-chan! Loving someone is not a foolish thing to do!"

"Usagi-chan…" Makoto whispered.

"I believe in love," Usagi continued. "We all have someone we're destined to be with. I believe one day, I will meet someone I love from the bottom of my heart! Mako-chan, you're a cool and sweet girl. So please, Mako-chan! Please believe in love! Please believe in my words!

"Usagi-chan!"

"Enough, Sailor Senshi!" Nephrite snarled. "Believe in foolish love, and ruin yourselves!"

Kagome didn't remember what happened after that; all she knew was that she was in immense pain. When she finally came back to her senses, Makoto was decked out in a Sailor Scout uniform, and Motoki was in need of some healing. So while the girls rejoiced in the addition of another to their ranks, Kagome mended the arcade manager's wounds.

They fled the scene after that so Motoki wouldn't see them and they ended up in a nearby park, where Luna dropped a bombshell.

"Usagi-chan, Sailor Moon, you will become the leader of the Sailor Senshi. You will lead us to our princess and protect her!"

I AM COMPLETE AND UTTER TRASH!

And I just realized that there's not actual Genji in this chapter. Oops! Well, next chapter will be Kagome-centric and almost completely original, since the next actual episode is mostly about Usagi. I hope you'll stick around despite my complete and utter inability to write.