The day was sunny and warm, with a slight breeze that blew in the hospital vestibule as the traffic went in and out.
Ami knew there was something wrong the moment she set foot in the hospital. It wasn't something she could pinpoint as tipping her off, but the hair rose on the back of her neck as she hurried down the temperature-controlled corridor towards Nephrite's room. The sound of her own footsteps echoing was enough to make her heart beat faster and she broke into a run as she entered the last hallway.
Everything was in order in Room 157, from the neatly made bed to the perfectly arranged curtains, with one minor exception; Nephrite was missing. There was no sign of a struggle, so she tried to calm herself down by telling herself that he had just been transferred unexpectedly. Taking a deep breath, she marched over to the nurse's station to try and get some information.
Although the station was busy with nurses bustling about trying to read the monitors or answering pages, a petite nurse took a moment to talk to her. "No one has been moved this morning, Mizuno-sensei," the nurse politely informed her. "Which patient are you looking for?"
"Who was in Room 157?" Ami asked, rather than answer the question.
"There hasn't been anyone in that bed for a few days," the nurse said.
Ami swallowed loudly. "My mistake then," she said, nodding her thanks. Her heart began to pound in her chest as she walked away. She headed straight out into the bright sunlight of the courtyard and ducked into a quiet corner, where she immediately pulled out her cellphone and dialed a familiar number.
"Moshi, moshi," Usagi answered breathlessly. Ami could hear the sound of a baby crying in the background, partially drowning out the sounds of some children's show. Usagi and Chibi-Usa had been released earlier in the week, and it sounded like the two of them were at home.
"Usagi, has anything strange happened to you?" Ami asked.
"Strange? Not that I-"
"Hello? Usagi-chan?" Ami asked anxiously, but her phone displayed the ended call dialog. She called again, but was diverted straight to Usagi's voicemail.
With a rising sense of dread, she called Rei's phone, hoping the miko was at her temple and not one of the more remote locations she had been training at. Rei picked up on the third ring, much to Ami's relief.
"Rei-chan, have you noticed anything odd recently?" Ami asked.
"Odd?" Rei paused for a moment. "Ami-chan, is that you? I haven't sensed any dark energy, if that's what you're asking."
"I just called Usagi and she hung up suddenly," Ami explained.
"I'm not surprised," Rei said with a laugh. "I can't see Usagi being one of those mothers who has everything under control all the time. She probably dropped the phone and can't find it now."
Ami had to admit Rei was right on that point. Maybe her ditzy friend had just dropped the phone while attempting to prevent some sort of household disaster. Well, more likely it was Usagi who was causing the household disaster. "Maybe. I guess. I'll just try to call her back later," Ami said glumly. "Thanks Rei, sorry to bother you."
She tucked the phone back into her purse and sighed heavily. Maybe she was just being paranoid, but she couldn't shake the nervousness that was twisting up her insides into knots. There was still the question of where Nephrite went. She would have liked to think he wouldn't just leave the hospital without telling her, but the hospital wouldn't just misplace him like a lost file.
She turned to go back inside to question the nurses some more and noticed something odd reflecting beside her head in the perfectly clean glass of the door. She spun around to look behind her, but there was nothing there except for a few smokers at the other side of the courtyard.
--
Her mother's apartment was dark when she entered late in the evening, but that wasn't unusual in the slightest. More often than not, her mother worked into the early hours in the morning and the only evidence that Ami would find of her coming home at all was a tea cup in the sink and a note on the white board. Part of her loved the nostalgia she felt when she checked the board. There was no cheery note on the board tonight, however, just an empty kitchen and a frozen supper to put in the microwave.
Ami read the local newspaper as she ate her reheated meal alone, but there was nothing truly unusual in the headlines. She scanned for medical emergencies, suspected gas leaks, or mysterious happenings in downtown Tokyo, but the search was fruitless. A few thefts occurred, some political news and a thunderstorm predicted for the next day, but that was hardly cause for any concern. Still, she was just worried as she had been in the morning.
She still hadn't been able to locate Nephrite, and her concern was beginning to border on a feeling of resentment. There wasn't any sign of anything going wrong at the hospital no matter how long she searched, so chances were he was okay and had simply not bothered to contact her and tell her he was going to wander off on his own.
One of the other Shitennou should have had enough sense to make him at least call her. Unless he had run off to some place besides the Dark Kingdom, of course. She had thought to call her apartment in New York, but he wouldn't answer the phone anyway, especially not if something on the television had caught his attention. Luna wasn't answering her phone either, but to be honest, Ami wasn't sure that the cat was still in America, anyway.
She stabbed a piece of tofu with her chopsticks and drummed her other fingers on the table. It was unreasonable to be so annoyed, she knew, but she couldn't help it.
--
The drop in temperature was what woke her up. At first she just clutched the blanket tighter to her body, but her bleary eyes noticed a human shaped shadow looming on the opposite wall. Her eyes opened wider in surprise and when she looked around she could just make out a familiar silhouette in the light of the moon streaming through the window.
"Kunzite," she whispered as she sat up and tried to untangle herself from the bedding which seemed to twine itself around itself even more as she struggled. When her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she could see he was just as deathly pale as he had been when she saw him in the hospital.
She slowly edged away from him on the bed as he stood like a statue, the moonlight giving him a halo. Even when she had been fully under his power he had never invaded her home and she almost instinctively realized that something was wrong. Her heart was beginning to race as she began panicked, wondering if she could make it out of the apartment before the Shitennou.
Tucking her legs beneath her, she prepared to spring for the door, but Kunzite spoke quietly as if reading her thoughts. "Mercury," he nearly purred. "You won't be able to escape."
We'll see about that, she thought grimly and dove for the door. She grabbed the doorknob of the exact moment that Kunzite cold hand caught her wrist and there was a momentary tug-of-war before Kunzite's superior strength won out. As she tumbled backwards she swung wildly, catching her captor in the throat and she drew back a hand covered in already congealing blood.
"What?" she choked out before spinning in Kunzite's grasp. The wound he had received in Hotaru's house had not healed at all and she could see the exposed tendons in the neck twinge as he moved. The burst of adrenaline that followed gave her enough strength to wrench her arm away and she stumbled backwards until her back hit the door. "Stay away from me," she gasped out, pressing herself flat as she groped over her head.
Kunzite merely stepped forward slowly seemingly enjoying her terror, letting her desperately try to turn the knob with her blood covered hand. Finally, the door opened with a lurch and Ami tumbled backwards before staggering to her feet. She didn't bother to look behind her as she ran for the door at the top speed, eyes trained only on the one exit to the apartment.
His footsteps were following her, sounding more heavily than they should have on the carpeted floor. When they stopped she risked a quick glance behind her. Kunzite had stopped several feet away and was watching the apartment door expectantly.
She came to an immediate halt, knowing that anything the Shitennou was anticipating would not bode well for her. Her eyes darted around the room, searching out anything that would help her escape, but there was nothing in the sparsely furnished front room that would serve as a weapon. Behind her, Kunzite was lazily drawing his sword letting it scrape the sheath with a bone-shilling ring.
The front lock clicked, and Ami's eyes immediately jerked back to the door. The door opened several inches, but the bolted chain stopped it before she could see who was behind it. Before she could breathe a sigh of relief, it exploded off its hinges and she had to duck to avoid being bowled over. As she listened to Kunzite split the wood in two, she couldn't stop staring at the doorway.
Hotaru stood awkwardly, her limbs hanging awkwardly as if she were a marionette. Her dark eyes were blank and glossy like a dolls and she seemed to stare straight through Ami. "Come with me?" she said quietly, and Ami understood it wasn't truly a question.