When the Senshi Is Away, the Cats Will Play
Chapter 7
Artemis watched from behind a trash can as the ambulance and fire people pulled the now sedated Sgt. Hibuki from the wrecked police car. The grizzled old cop had refused to be moved until his partner was out of the wreck. Either way, both would have probably died if Artemis hadn't stayed and used the radio.
For some reason that didn't really make Artemis feel better.
Seeing that both injured men were on their way to the hospital, Artemis dashed out from behind his cover, and down the street, all the way thanking fate that they had chosen THIS route to the train station.
He dashed between a woman's legs when he got to the building, and ran up the stairs, like demons were chasing him. When he reached the apartment he wanted he jumped up and bounced off it with a loud thud. He quickly repeated the jump, doing his best to knock on the door.
Mamoru Chiba opened his door after the third thud, and barely dodged the white blur on its way to his fourth knock. In truth, he barely stayed his hand from throwing the rose, when he realized it was Artemis. "Artemis? What the heck?!"
"Mamoru, I need your help! Call the girls!"
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The Gaki looked at his captives with a dark smile. The woman was bound to her chair, while the little girl and her cat were locked in a cage. "Mrs. Shimaka! Why the long face? It's a lovely evening outside and you're on Tokyo Bay! Just breathe in that salt air." He took a deep breath himself.
"You monster! Let us go!" She yelled in reply. Her defiance a thin layer covering her terror.
"I am sorry, Mrs. Shimaka, but I can't let you go." The assassin pulled a chair over and sat down in front of the frightened woman. "You see you're bait! For your husband and the Sailor Senshi, in fact. Letting you go means not getting a shot at them!"
The mother looked at him in horror, and confusion. Luna's expression mirrored her as she thought 'Why is he after the Senshi?'
"Why are you after my husband? And what the hell does the Senshi have to do with anything?"
The crack of flesh meeting flesh echoed off the walls of the cargo hold. Gaki looked at the hand he had slapped the woman with "Watch your language! You don't want Koneko-chan to learn such language. Also, you know why I am after your husband. I think, also, that you know why I expect the Senshi. After all, they did save your life the last time I tried for you and your family."
Luna gasped in the cage, even as Koneko held her closer, crying into her fur. 'He thinks Artemis and I are SENSHI! Why?'
Mrs. Shimaka's thoughts were the same as the cats. "You think Luna and Artemis are Senshi! They are just little children, why would you think that?"
"Oh, maybe the moon on the girls forehead? Or maybe the boys tail!"
"What tail?" The mother yelled, horrified at this mad mans questions, and that he was focused on those innocent twins. "And little Luna isn't a Senshi! She's just a fan that is all!"
'Well, sometimes.' Luna thought, shocking her self with the trivial thought. 'What am I going to do?' She thought, absently rubbing her cheek against the little girls, trying to give her some comfort.
Gaki kicked the chair he was sitting on away from him. "So you don't know them, eh? Maybe your daughter does! I'll go ask her!" With three long strides, he came to the cage and roughly opened the door on its side, reaching his hand in for the screaming girl.
Luna saw red, and brought a claw down on the killer's hand, opening four bloody gashes in his hand. "Leave her alone you beast!" The cat snarled, without thinking.
"Di...Did Luna just talk?" The shocked Mrs. Shimaka stuttered.
The Gaki shut the cage door, a thoughtful look on his face, completely ignoring his bleeding hand. "Yes. Yes I believe she...Luna...did!"
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Artemis was pacing back and forth, listening to Mamoru talk on the phone. The tall man sighed and hung up. "I'm sorry. It..."
Artemis interrupted him. "It was the wrong hotel, again. I know I speak English! I don't believe you don't have her number! Isn't Usagi your girlfriend?" The cat snarled.
Mamoru knew what the white cat was going through, and didn't take it personally. "Usagi said she would call me every night! You and Luna have a communicator, so I didn't bother to get one."
"So when are you expecting her to call tonight? We'll talk to her then!"
"About half an hour ago. I hung up about ten minutes before you got here." Mamoru sighed. "There is nothing we can do until she calls tomorrow."
"WE CAN LOOK!"
"Where?" Mamoru demanded. "They grabbed Luna and the Shimaka's almost, what? An hour ago? They could be anywhere, and the cops are probably already looking. They could be anywhere!" Sighing, he picked the white cat up, and set him on the couch. "I know how you feel, Artemis! I really do!"
"I know Mamoru. But...I'm afraid! What if Luna's hurt? Dead? Ignoring Koneko or her mother, for that matter! What if..." The words caught in Artemis's throat.
"What if this youma gets lucky? What if this time I'm too late? What if..." Mamoru paused "What if I never see her again? I have asked myself all those questions. Heck, I know Usagi's asked herself all of them for each and every one of us!" He shook his head. "Tell me this, Artemis. Do you think she's dead?"
"NO!"
"And do you love Luna?"
"OF COURSE...um...not?" The white cat stammered, startled by the question, and his instinctive answer.
"AH HA! I knew it!" Mamoru crowed, partly because Artemis admitted it, and mostly because he had successfully distracted the cat.
"Geesh. Now you sound like Minako and Usagi!"
"So what?" Mamoru said. "I know what Usako would tell you right now."
"Yeah? What is that?"
"That if you love her, and you know she's all right...alive and well...then she is!" Mamoru smiled. "Me and Usako are living examples after all!"
"Yeah, she would say that. There is just one small problem."
"What's that?"
Artemis lay down, and closed his eyes with a sigh. "I said I believe she's alive. I didn't say I thought she was okay."
"Oh..."
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Luna looked up at the cargo hold doors, sunlight filtering through. The Gaki had left shortly after she spoke, looking thoughtful. She had ended up speaking with Mrs. Shimaka most of the night, confirming that Artemis and herself were the ones who had rescued them, and were the 'twins' though she couldn't change without her 'magical object'. She had managed to deny any connection to the Senshi, however.
That was really easy to do, since the cage was to small for her to do the flip required to pull out the communicator. She would have in a second and damn the consequences if she could.
The two humans had finally fallen asleep, though Luna couldn't. She was to worried about Artemis.
"I hope he wasn't hurt." She muttered to herself, not having seen him land during the accident.
"Who?" Asked the Gaki, having somehow approached without her noticing.
'I must be more tired then I thought.' Luna stood and looked at the assassin. "I suspect you already know that, beast!" Throwing the mans own phrase in his face.
"Should you really be calling anyone a beast, kitten?" The Gaki chuckled. "And yes, I think I know. The white cat...Artemis? The boy who spotted me that fateful day? Your mate, perhaps?"
Luna just glared at him.
"Hmm, struck a nerve! Well, is he going to come and save you, Luna-chan?"
"You better hope not! He'll kill you, you fool!" She was bluffing, but hopped he wouldn't realize that.
The Gaki chuckled once again. "He'll try, I am sure. He might even have a chance, from what I saw at the picnic table! Either way, I can't wait!" He turned to the exit, then looked over his shoulder. "Any message for him? I am about to call the good detective with my demands, you see."
Luna looked at the dangerous, and insanely cheerful, assassin, shuddering at the maniac gleam in his eyes. She didn't know what scared her more. His cheerful smile or the fact he seemed too sincerely intend to take a message for her. She lay down and muttered to herself.
"What was that? I didn't quite hear it."
"I said tell him...it was like a dream for me, too..."
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The ringing phone woke Mamoru. The dark haired man rolled and fell off the couch he had fallen asleep on the night before. The white cat on his chest rode him down. Reaching up he hit the speaker button on his phone. "Hello?"
"Mr. Chiba?" Came the voice of Detective Shimaka from the phone.
"Um...yeah?"
"Mamoru...This is Daisuke Shimaka...and I am sorry for calling so early. This is going to sound like a strange question, but do you know where your daughter is?"
Mamoru's brain was still foggy from sleep, so he didn't really think about the question. "Yeah?" He wondered why some cop would want to know if Chibi-Usa was in the future or not. That woke him up enough to realize he wasn't being asked about small lady.
The relieved sigh from the speaker caught Artemis's attention. "Good! Could you come to my home? There is something that may concern you and your family I need to talk to you about."
Mamoru knew what had happened to this mans family, along with Luna as a cat, but didn't know why this man would call him about it. "Why? What is going on?"
The man sighed, a shudder audible through the phone in his breath. His voice was strained when he spoke again "My wife and daughter were...kidnapped...yesterday afternoon. The... Man... Who has them called with his demands. He said something that made me fear he had your daughter, and suggests he has an interest in your family."
"What? Why?"
"Something he said when he gave me his demands. I quote: Tell Artemis that Luna says 'It was like a dream for me, too' ... end quote."
Mamoru was looking at Artemis as the detective spoke, and saw the cat's face as his expression changed from worried concern to something darker. Mamoru imagined that was the face a man saw, just before the tiger killed him, and was afraid.
He just didn't know whom he was afraid for.
AN: Do you feel tense? Do you feel, less then satisfied? Are you biting your nails wondering what I am thinking? GOOD! That was my goal. And Commander Galos, thanks for glancing at this before post.