Title: Trust and Truth

Meaning: n/a
Pairing: Eventual Shin/Makoto
Type: X-over; action/adventure
Rating: PG
Begun: 6/20/02
Ended: who knows?

Note: This takes place somewhere between the end of Sailor Stars, so it's sort of a TWT for the Senshi, and the middle of the Yoroiden Samurai Troopers series (between the first and second invasion - which is supposed to have happened in 1988, anyway), so it's a total TWT for the Troopers. Also, the people in Shinjuku came back from wherever they disappeared to between the two invasions.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or Yoroiden Samurai Troopers. I never will own them, and I'm sure you're all thankful for that. However, I do own this plot and any and all clothing designs.
Warnings: The only senshi found here are Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune. All others appear in mention alone. There will be violence in later chapters, and blood. That’s about it, though.

Chapter 1

“Kotora? Are you sure you’ll be all right? We live right down the road, you know. You could move closer to us.”[1]
Makoto smiled even as she rolled her eyes. “Yes, Haruka-san. I’m sure I’ll be fine. Shinjuku is hardly as large as Tokyo, and all the houses near you are for families. Besides, you’re not *right* down the road, you’re a good six miles. I’d never be able to keep up.”[2]
The Senshi of Wind crossed her arms and huffed out an annoyed sigh. Makoto giggled and Michiru tactfully hid her smile behind her hand. She placed a calming and comforting hand on her lover’s shoulder.
“Really, Haruka, you’re being too protective. I’m sure Makoto will be fine on her own. She has lived on her own before, you know, and look: she’s still alive. With her cooking, you have nothing to worry about.”
“Yeah, yeah,” the blonde conceded. “But ... I don’t like it.”
“No one said you had to. Here, Haruka-san, how about this - I’ll call you twice a week to check in. This way you can be sure I haven’t started a huge fire in the house or killed myself, all right?” Makoto asked, desperately trying to hold back a smile.
Apparently it worked because the taller woman closed her eyes and gave a short nod of acceptance. The red haired girl fought the urge to throw up a hand in victory as she sagely held out a hand to shake on the deal.
“I want to hear from you on Monday and Thursday without fail, any time you like, but on those days,” Haruka said sternly as they shook hands.
Makoto nodded in obedience.
“I don’t like having all you by yourself. It’s too hard to keep track of you all. Usagi wouldn’t like it – she’d be afraid something would happen to you. It’s for her sake as well my sanity.”
Once again, Makoto nodded. She understood completely that her moving to Shinjuku would make it more difficult to protect herself, and even the other senshi, if there should be a battle. They wouldn’t be there to help her, and she wouldn’t be there to help them. It made Haruka even more worried for her safety. It also made Makoto feel even guiltier than she already was – but then, she was here to learn to be independent again. To learn to be self-sufficient again. She’d been relying too much on the others once she’d met them – she was becoming soft.
“I’m sorry, Haruka-san, I’m causing all this trouble. I should have been stronger ... but now I’ll work on that. Be better next time,” Makoto said sadly.
Haruka’s eyes widened, realizing that the girl thought she was angry with her for being what both she and Makoto would normally consider weak. The older woman quickly placed what she hoped was a comforting hand on Makoto’s shoulder.
“Kotora, it’s not your fault. You did all you could. I shouldn’t have said that last bit, but I’m worried about you. I just want you to be careful.”
Makoto looked up hesitantly, but calmed almost immediately. “Thank you, Haruka-san.”
It hadn’t been an easy thing, deciding to move. She was about to start college, and the call of the storms had been pushing her to move, to seek out new experiences. That call had been even stronger than the will of Usagi, and Makoto had found herself in Shinjuku. With Haruka and Michiru acting as her guardians it was easy to purchase a small house in the city and move all her things there. The only thing she needed now was a job so she could keep up with her bills.
“Haruka, I think Makoto would like some time to adjust to her new house. We have overstayed our welcome,” Michiru said. She took the Senshi of Wind by the hand and led her to the door. “Please feel free to call if you would like someone to talk to. We are usually here on the weekends if you would like company.”
“Thank you, too, Michiru-san,” Makoto said gratefully. One of the major problems she had with living alone was being lonely. Company, from the outer Senshi whom she so admired and from the inner Senshi she loved as sisters, was invaluable.
"Remember, Monday and Thursday. That means a call tomorrow."
"Right, right, Haruka-san!"
She watched as Michiru and Haruka disappeared around the corner to where the elevators were located. She waited until they were out of sight before closing the door to her new apartment and leaning against it. A sigh escaped Makoto’s lips unbidden, and she immediately smacked herself mentally for it.
Idiot! She chided herself, Pull yourself together. You’ve done this before – you can do it again. Now at least it’s by choice that you’re on your own. And soon you’ll be attending college here. So stop this pathetic self-pity party.
With that thought firmly in place, Makoto began walking through the rooms of her apartment, making sure that all of the right boxes were in the right place. She paused in front on the large windows and looked out at the setting sun. Then she looked down, watching the tiny people-specks walk around as they went about their daily business. She smiled at the irony of it all.
If you had told her four years ago that she would be living twenty-one floors above street level, Makoto would have laughed at you. After her parents had gone down in that plane, not only was flying a definite out – so was being any higher than six floors up. Things certainly had changed since then. As it was, she had chosen one of the two penthouse apartments on the twenty-first floor of her new apartment building, with large windows, a terrace, and a wonderful view of the Shinjuku skyline.
Makoto yawned tiredly and shuffled to her bedroom, muttering to herself, “Let’s get this place set up for sleep, eh?” It would be her most important room eventually, after all – no point in putting it off, and she would have to sleep. It was nearly ten o’ clock PM and she had to go part-time job hunting tomorrow. There was no sense in her being totally wiped out while trying to impress a would-be boss.


“No.”
“I’m sorry, we just don’t have the room for one so young.”
“You really think that you’re a better cook than our chef? I’d like to see you try.”
"I'm going to be frank. We're not hiring part time right now, we're in too much of a slump to pay for someone who doesn't do a full day's work."
“If you want to clean tables, sure, girlie.”
“We’re looking for full time employees, not part time table cleaners.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Come back in a few years.”
Not hiring help at this time.

Makoto stared, slack jawed. “Kami-sama! Even signs are rejecting me!” she muttered, and her eyes narrowed, betraying her annoyed state.
She’d been searching for a part time job all day and so far each and every possibility had turned her down. Of course, every place she’d gone to had been a food establishment. What else could she do? There were no flower shops in the immediate area, and she doubted that she’d be able to get a job there with no experience to her name. Was it her fault that attacks seemed to always happen at night? Was it her fault that she had college to worry about when summer break ended? She didn’t think so, but it seemed any and all potential employers did. Makoto snorted and leaned against the wall, taking the pressure off her feet. She berated herself mentally – she’d faced worse pain than hurt feet. This was nothing to be complaining about. Makoto shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans and began a slow trudge away from the mocking sign, looking down at the ground.
“Byakuuen! Come back here! ... Byakuuen, no!”
Makoto looked up towards the sound of the voice, pinning it instantly with her enhanced hearing. Instead of a person, however, she saw a large, white tiger running at her, full speed. Normal people would have been frozen to the spot, or at least screamed, but Makoto had never been “normal” by those standards. When the tiger took a flying leap at her, she merely ducked out of the way with a swift jump to the left. The massive ball of white fur landed near her, staring at her with large blue eyes. Something nearly compelled Makoto to talk to the huge tiger but she was saved by the vision of the apparent owner of the cat running towards her frantically.
"I'm ... so ... very ... sorry!" the woman panted, finally reaching the two. "Byakuuen doesn't normally do that. I can't believe he would just run after you like that, miss ... " the strange woman trailed off as she realized that she didn’t know Makoto’s name.
The green eyed decided to go out on a limb with this woman. It wasn’t everyday you made friends with someone who owned a white tiger, after all. She smiled, "Makoto. Kino Makoto."
"I’m Yagiyu Nasutei. I'm really, terribly sorry. I hope Byakuuen didn't scare you, he's really quite sweet ... "
Once again trailing off, this time with eyes wide, Nasuti realized that Byakuuen was rubbing against Makoto's leg. Feeling the soft fur rubbing against her, Makoto's own eyes widened and she looked down in shock. But as if remembering something Nasutei watched her smile and look back up at her.
"Is this what you mean by sweet? 'Cause it's working already; I'm safely wrapped around his ... er ... tail, I suppose."
Nasutei smiled, "Are you a cat person?"
"You might say that," Makoto answered, smiling that odd little smile. "No, he doesn't scare me. As a matter of fact, I get the feeling that so long as I don't get on his bad side he's almost like an overgrown kitty. I'm almost waiting for him to start purring."
Nasutei laughed. She liked Makoto. Makoto wasn't scared of Byakuuen, nor was she suggesting that Nasutei was insane for having him, and she was treating him almost like a real person. That was hard to find in people around the area, who were convinced that Nasutei and the Troopers were some sort of cult followers and treated them accordingly.
"So what are you doing down here with a large tiger? I expect not many people understand him as well as you do, it must be hard to get anything done," Makoto said, scratching Byakuuen's ears.
"You don't know the half of it," Nasutei giggled. "He's actually replacing my car for a while, while it's in the shop. I've got a few errands to do at the school where my grandfather used to work. Papers to be filed, making sure all his things have been packed – that sort of thing. Why are you down here?"
"Oh, I'm looking for a part-time job. I just moved here and I’ll be starting college this coming fall. It seems, however, that not everyone around here is interested in hiring part time chefs, or even waitresses. Every place I've gone to has rejected me for some reason or other," Makoto grinned ruefully as she stood to meet Nasutei's eyes.
"I wouldn't put it past some of the people here to discriminate,” Nasutei said grimly. She stood still for a bit, thinking, then grinned, “Oh! Tell you what, my friend Shuu's family owns a restaurant. They could use some help, even if it's part time. Maybe I can call and set up an interview for you, I'm sure they'd be glad to have you onboard."
Makoto's face brightened slightly. "Are you sure? I mean, they won't think it's ... odd? To just sort of ... throw me at them?"
"If you feel uncomfortable I can write down the address and you can see their restaurant for yourself," Nasutei offered. "They're really very friendly people, and their food is wonderful, but they're often short-staffed."
The taller girl contemplated the offer, brow furrowing slightly as she weighed her options. She seemed almost as if she was having some internal debate with herself. Finally she reached a decision and nodded.
"I'd love to visit their restaurant," she said, thinking as an aside, And I really need that job. "Here." Makoto dug in her pockets for some spare paper and a pen. "If you could write the address and your phone number here, I'd like to keep in touch."
"Only if you give me your number," Nasutei countered with a grin.
"Sure thing," Makoto smiled as well and wrote her number on the paper before tearing it in half. She waited for Nasutei to write the address and her phone number and looked at it as she would a business card when they were handed to her. If Nasutei thought it odd, she made no indication, and did the very same with Makoto's phone number.
"So you're new to Shinjuku, right?" Nasutei asked. Byakuuen, who until this time had been forgotten, butted her leg with his head for attention.
Makoto laughed and nodded. "Yes, I'm new." She scratched Byakuuen’s ears softly, almost absently, and Nasutei got the feeling that Makoto was very used to being around cats.
Not that that was something to be suspicions of – there were lots of cat people in the world – but Byakuuen had taken a liking to her so instantaneously ... Nasutei shook her head a little and decided to forget it for a while. She smiled, "Then I hope I'll be seeing you around. I'm usually up at the school. My grandfather used to teach and so I may be taking over his job. It depends on if the school still wants me there, you know?"
"Yeah, I've had that happen to a friend before. Or it will eventually happen. She's going to take over for her mother, when her mother retires, as a doctor."
Nasutei nodded even as Makoto's watch beeped loudly. Makoto blushed and looked down quickly to shut it off. She grinned sheepishly when she looked back up at the older girl. "Sorry about that. I forgot it's Thursday; I have to call my guardian in about an hour," she explained. "It was nice meeting you, Nasutei-san, and thank you for the address."
"My pleasure, Makoto-san. I hope we'll keep in touch. I’ll see you, ne?"
"Aa, see you!"
Nasutei and Byakuuen watched Makoto wave to them and jog away, in the direction they assumed was her apartment. When she was far enough from them, the tiger butted Nasutei's leg with his head again, once more looking for attention, but for a different reason. The older girl looked down and met his blue eyes her own looking worried.
"Yes Byakuuen I felt it, too. There's something different about Makoto-san, but I can't for the life of me think what. There aren't any more armors, are there? I really don't think I can handle any more Arago's popping up." The tiger almost seemed to laugh at her and she huffed slightly. "No, I am not being paranoid. Come on, we'll put more thought to it later. I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of Makoto-san, whether or not we want to. Even so ... " she looked off in Makoto’s direction, “It might not be a horrid thing.”

~~~

NOTES
[1] So, this is totally my thing, but I imagine that if Makoto and Haruka ever got close ‘kotora’ would be Haruka’s pet name for her. ‘Kotora’ meaning ‘baby-tiger’.
[2] Okay, I’ve been yelled at for using Japanese before, and I’ve seen the point to the arguments. BUT. I will continue to use suffixes such as ‘-san’, ‘-chan’, ‘-kun’, etc. These suffixes denote speech patters and politeness. Therefore, they stay. Likewise I’m keeping names of places in the original Japanese. Why? Because they’re proper names. If I were to translate them, I might as well go around translating the names of the Senshi and Troopers.