Alea Iacta Est…

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or any of its characters (as much as I might like to ;).

Chapter One: Yesterday is a Wrinkle on your Forehead…

The always astute violet gaze was unfocused, dazed, and had been staring blankly up into the bright ceiling lights of the hospital examining room for the better part of the night before the doctor took the pains to mercifully close the unseeing eyes .

A woman lay in the bed, long dark hair wrapped up behind her and with skin as fragile as tissue paper, motionless and unaware of the world around her. The nurse who had come in to run the morning's tests had noticed an unusual pallor about their patient and a drop in her usual vital signs. The doctor had been called and he was in the process of examining his unconscious patient when her family (who had been notified as the law commanded) had arrived. A tall, dark haired man in his late twenties walked in, followed shortly, by a shorter old man with the vestiges of a few grey hairs still eking out a meager living on the top of his skull, and in his arms he was leading a dark haired girl by the shoulders who could not have been more than five or six years of age.

The man was swarthy, a slim professional in a tailored Armani business suit with long arms to match his equally long body. He tried to hold a commanding presence, but it was apparent that he had not fully grown into that role yet and was trying to make up for it by holding onto the false sense of complete authority.

As if to really support this, the young senator was impatient with the current situation. Stepping into the room, Ruyi Hino brushed blindly past his father-in-law and only daughter.

"Well doctor, how is she today?"

"Not well, I am afraid." The elder man shook his head, his pince-nez glasses sliding forward on his nose slightly as he breathed laboriously. Having been on duty most of the night, the poor man hadn't had much of a chance to rest before taking on rounds with his usual patients the next morning.

And Mrs. Hino had become one of his regulars over the past few years.

The twenty seven year old woman was under observation after yet another relapse.

Dr. Noboru Ikeda shook his head as sweat beaded his ancient brow while he double checked her vitals. Ever since the birth of her only child, a daughter, Amaterasu Hino's health had begun taking a frightfully fast spiral downward.

And the clean descent showed no sign of stopping anytime soon.

The monitors at the patient's bedside showed a sudden drop in blood pressure, blood oxygen levels, and also brain activity. It was only a matter of time now, but only Dr. Ikeda seemed to be the one to notice it right up front. As the doctor looked away from the monitors he saw his old friend, Jimmu Niesi and gave him a solemn nod as he watched him hold the small Hino girl by her shoulders.

I am sorry, old friend, but there is not much more I can do.

When Dr. Ikeda's eyes landed on those of the shaking little girl in Jimmu's arms, he knew for the first time, the overwhelming aftershock of real regret.

No child should have to lose their parents, leastwise a mother as yet her knew this girl would have to.

If Ruyi Hino was anything, he was not a patient man and outside of a Senate conference room the man had very little patience for any sort of useless deliberation. Restlessly, Ruyi ran a hand through his head of dark hair, the white gold of his wedding band standing out against the dark strands during the momentary movement.

Finally, his breath came out in a short, frustrated puff of air.

"Dr. Ikeda." It was a statement spoken in an icy undercurrent the senator's opponents would come to fear in later years. He was not the youngest to ever be elected a senator in Japan for nothing. "What is my wife's condition?"

The good doctor swallowed and looked from the fuming young politician to his friend Jimmu and the girl in the background. It was a race between what the young man could handle and what was best for the child. Finally, getting up his courage, he swallowed and nodded towards Jimmu instead.

"Jimmu, may I ask you to please take the girl out of the room for a moment?"

The old man seemed to start at that, but seeing the dire seriousness is the old doctor's eyes he knew it would be better for him to leave and it was not fair to Rei to stay. He knew she was too young to understand most of what they said, but children should never have to listen to the things they did and he was going to shield her from the hard truth for as long as he was able.

"Come along, Rei, let's go see if we can find a nice bouquet of flowers for your mother at the gift shop. You know how she loves looking after the flowers in our garden at home with your grandmother."

Jimmu tried to guide the little girl by her shoulders, but she stayed rooted to her spot watching her immobile mother, torn over whether to stay or leave.

But then came the final push…

The old man bent down and whispered into the girl's ear. "I'll let you pick out a candy bar for yourself and one for your father."

That did it.

For a six year old, it didn't take much else. The adults had asked her to leave the room before and before whenever she had come back her mother had always still been there and sometimes she was awake and smiling. Maybe she would be when Rei came back this time too.

Once Jimmu and Rei had disappeared around the corner and their footsteps could be heard tapering safely down the hall, Noboru Ikeda finally returned his attention to the senator.

"Well?"

"It does not look good, Senator. You should have all of her affairs settled by the end of this week."

The Senator's dark brown eyes widened considerably and he looked visibly shaken. "That soon?"

Ikeda swallowed, "I'm afraid so. Her body is giving out under the strain. I'd prepare yourself for the worst. By Sunday, at the latest, it should be over."

Ruyi stood there in a daze for a moment, staring blankly into the alabaster blue hospital blanket that covered the foot of his wife's bed. He was the eldest son of a former statesman, the infamous Mitsuyoshi Hino from Kagoshima.

He was a privileged son.

At age thirteen, Ruyi had the highest class average in his grades, at eighteen he was voted the most popular boy in his high school class. At twenty he had entered the political scene and at twenty-five he had been the youngest senator to ever be elected into office. Then at twenty-three he had met and married Amaterasu Nisei and not a year later then had a daughter and a comfortable married life. Now he was on the fast tract to becoming the governor of Tokyo and all before he was thirty.

Ruyi would be the first to admit that he had a gifted life. Everything he had ever planned, everything he had worked for had worked itself out in his favor.

Until now.

Takashi Hino, or Ruyi, as he preferred to be called, was not a man to take losing gracefully and this matter would be no different. But this was not a career loss, this was his wife, it was his Amaterasu…his wife!! No one else's. His. It was not a thing he had planned on.

"I'm sorry, son."

The doctor's sympathetic words lulled Ruyi out of his stupor, but they did not quell the burning of his smoldering pride nor the seductive ardor of his reawakening ambition. And even as Ikeda's hand came down heavily on his shoulder, he shook it off and turned towards the door, his usual swagger returning.

"Tell my father-in-law I am going back to my Hotel for the evening and will be flying out in the morning for the Windsor in Toyako for a conference. I'll send my driver back to pick them up this afternoon if they would like. Other than that I have business to attend to that will hold me over until the end of the month." He sniffed at his nose which he suddenly realized had begun to run and his eyes that were wet and sticky. "Will there be anything else doctor?"

Ikeda straightened up and swallowed, eyeing the young man's back empathetically. "No, that's all for now. I will keep you updated of her condition throughout the week."

Ruyi swiped at his eyes and stared straight ahead, only blinking once. "Don't bother, my secretary will have my phone. Tell Jimmu, he'll be expected to take care of my daughter until I return. Good day, Dr. Ikeda."

And with that Senator Hino was gone and the old doctor was left with nothing more, but the monotone beeps of the heart monitor.

----

Rei had decided she liked the color red, a lot, which was why she and grandpa had picked out a thick bouquet of a dozen red roses for her mother's bedside table. Her mother liked red too, if she remembered correctly and Rei was sure she would like them.

Waiting in the line at the gift shop on the hospital's main floor, Rei held the plastic vase of flowers, very proud of her choice. An electric grin was spread all over her face as she struggled forward with the semi heavy burden behind her grandfather as the line moved again.

Taking a precarious step against gravity, Rei leaned forward and thrust her nose into the bundle of red blossoms to get a better whiff of the fresh, clean scent. However, no one rose is without its peril and nor were these.

Rei let out a pitiful little cry as the pointed edge of one thorn one the side of a rose snagged at the skin on the tip of her nose and cut the surface, drawing a few drops of blood to drip down onto the clear plastic of the vase.

Almost immediately, the vase of roses crashed into the ground and the dozen roses and their water spilled all over the carpeted floor. The attention of the entire line of customers as well as that of the cashier and everyone else in the room was now centered on the soundly sniveling little girl.

"Rei! What happened?" Her grandfather knelt down beside her, seeing the blood covering the hand she was holding over her injured nose.

Rei lifted a finger from her other hand and pointed at the roses while mumbling some unintelligible explanation.

"What's the problem here, sir?"

A man in a uniform came up to them and grandpa waved him off. "Shoo you, she wasn't causing any trouble, she just cut her nose."

"Let me guess." The Uniformed man took another imposing step forward. "On something she broke and that you will have to pay to replace, eh?"

Grandpa indignant now that Rei's cries had died down to tiny whimpers as the cut was beginning to stop bleeding, stood up to his full 5'5" and held up the emptied vase for all to see, the clear plastic exterior still very much intact.

"Please!" Grandpa shouted at the top of his mortified lungs, "It's plastic!"

As the miniature squabble took place and a shop employ rushed over to make sure the situation did not turn into an upscale fight, a little blonde girl approached Rei's side with a handkerchief.

She nudged at her and Rei looked up at her, surprised all the more at the lack of personal space afforded between the two. Rei stumbled a step backward in shock and the little blond covered her mouth with her hand and giggled at her antics.

When her giggles had finally died down, the blonde reached forward with the yellow handkerchief and dangled it in front of Rei.

"Here." She said with a small, carefree smile with a few giggles still hidden yet behind it. "Well, what are you waiting for? Take it."

Rei's watery eyes narrowed. She was not and had never been a people person, but there was something about this girl. Perhaps it was the smile in those blue eyes or just the fact that she had been bold enough to approach her. Whatever it was, Rei found herself reaching out for the handkerchief without much resistance.

"There now, was that so bad?" The girl asked after Rei had wiped the last of the blood from her nose. Without being asked to, the little girl moved suddenly closer and Rei felt an uncomfortable heat rush up her cheeks at having her personal space violated in such a manner again.

"What are you doing?" Rei asked as the girl batted her eyes innocently at her.

"Introducing myself." The blonde gave a wink and advanced forward one more inch placing a kiss on the cheek of a very surprised Rei. "My name is-"

"That's it! This is loony, it was just a vase of cotton picking roses!!"

Grandpa had apparently had it with the man in uniform across from him and vice versa.

"I am sorry sir, but you are causing a scene." The shop employee who had intervened to try and keep their disagreement at a healthy level had put his hands on his hips and was now nodding towards the door. "If this continues I am afraid I am going to have to ask you to leave."

Grandpa swallowed his next retort, remembering himself and he bowed to both men before rushing over and taking Rei by the hand. When he spoke, however, his words were uncharacteristically terse as he rushed her along out of the store.

"We're leaving, Rei, we'll find flowers for your mother somewhere else."

Rei tried to protest, but no words came out. She looked back once, but the little blonde girl was gone. Silently, Rei allowed herself to be pulled down the hospital corridor towards the lobby, her hand still clutching the yellow handkerchief.

----

Grandpa had ended up leading Rei a little ways down the street to the flower shop of yet another old friend of his who he deemed more trust worthy than the hospital staff. It had ended up being a long enough stay for Rei to reevaluate her taste in flowers and in the end, she and
Grandpa had left with a plastic vase of peace roses.

Rei's pride in their choice showed in the reawakened grin plastered all over the little girl's face.

Only once did her brow furrow and she turned to look up at her grandfather who, was mercifully, carrying the vase this time. "Do you think mama will really like the flowers we bought for her, Grandpa?"

Grandpa looked down at her, a smile on his face. "I am sure she will. Why wouldn't she when we're her two most favorite people in the world?"

Rei giggled at the little secret they kept between the three of them. "I wonder what papa would say if we told him our secret."

"Probably 'I knew it'." Grandpa laughed down at her.

It was a fairly sunny afternoon outside. The sky over Tokyo was a clear blue with very few visible clouds and the temperature was at its usual spring warmth. There was a breeze that was cool enough to balance everything out to form a comfortable atmosphere around the two bystanders slowly making their way back towards the hospital.

"Grandma would probably say the same thing." Rei said. "Though, she would probably try to bribe mama with some sort of chocolate dessert to change her mind. You know how mama loves chocolate."

They walked in companionable silence back into the hospital. After a while, Jimmu began humming along to a little tune, trying to get his granddaughter to follow, but for all of her quickly rising talents (of which singing was one); Rei was exceedingly shy. So she did not hum with him, but she could not keep the smile off of her face that went with the story she knew accompanied the folktale's melody.

As the two entered the elevator, a thought popped into Rei's head.

"Grandpa?"

"Hm?"

"Do you think papa will be jealous that we didn't bring him back any flowers?" Rei asked staring up at her grandfather suddenly serious. "Maybe we should go back and buy him a bouquet too so papa isn't lonely without his own flowers."

"I promise, Rei, he won't be jealous." The old man reassured her and when her attention was turned away from him he finished with a choice few words under his breath that showed best just how well he thought of his son-in-law, "And if he is then the man has more nerve than I have already judged him for, the cheap suit."

They arrived on her mother's floor in a short amount of time, considering how quickly hospital elevators go. As soon as the shiny metal doors opened, Rei burst out off running down the hall like a bullet out of the barrel of a gun leaving the old man struggling to keep up.

"Rei! Rei, slow down would ya! I'm not a young man anymore!"

The little girl kept up a break neck pace down the corridor, so much so that when she reached the doorway to her mother's room, she almost missed it. But for what it was worth, she didn't miss much.

Rei stood in the center of a doorway to an empty hospital bed and an empty room.

Slowly, she back pedaled and took a second look at the number on the wall. 607. It was her mother's room number all right, but her mother just wasn't there.

"Grandpa! Grandpa come quick!"

Grandpa, coming to a halting stop near his granddaughter, doubled over the vase of flowers in his hands, breathing heavily after the high speed chase from the elevator.

"Really, Rei, I thought we taught you to have more respect of your elders than that."

The six year old stood tall and put her hands on her hips in a very authoritarian pose. "Grandpa we have more important things to worry about, someone stole mama!"

"What?!"

The old man shot up and stuck his head into the room and low and behold the sheets and covers on her bed were folded neatly, with no sign that his daughter had ever slept in them. Instantly, his spirits fell. They wouldn't have moved her without notifying him first, they would have waited. The only reason they would have taken her anywhere would have been if something had happened and since there had not been a nurse waiting to inform him or her change in condition, he knew it was nothing good.

Dr. Ikeda was just shutting a door another patient's room when he caught sight of Jimmu and his young granddaughter. He sighed and wiped the sweat his brow with his handkerchief. This was not going to be easy.

Steeling his resolve, the good doctor advanced down the hall towards the two.

"Jimmu." Ikeda addressed him gravely.

"Noboru, where is my daughter?"

Dr. Ikeda took a deep breath, not wanting to have to be the one to break the news to him.

"Jimmu, after your son-in-law left….she took a turn for the worst. I am sorry, old friend. There was nothing more we could do for her."

The sound of the vase full of flowers smashing into the floor echoed down the hospital corridor for all to hear and with it went all of Rei's childish hopes and dreams that her mother would ever come home again.

"Thus bad begins and worse remains behind."

-From William Shakespeare's Hamlet-

A/N: Hope everyone liked it. R & R!