Notes: OH MY GOD! I am so unbelievable sorry about this huge delay. . If you're reading this (lol and not spike or a wife) I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am. I know how annoying it is to read a story, of any quality, and get into it and find it not updated. And after so long? Honestly, I don't deserve people to still read this. *smiles* If you are, thank you. I had this chapter about half way done and lost the disk, and that little action of fate set me back about 300 steps. So I finally found some direction. I know this bit is short, its about half of the last one…but, every little it is better than none, eh? LOL. I'm working on the next chapter now.
Again, that you all so much for reading and sending the reviews…those really helped me keep this story going.
Chapter 6
I lifted my arms around his neck and gave myself to him. My world, my mind, my everything was flipped. I knew I should stop, but couldn't. We were moving, slowly, backwards. We turned and I fell onto the bed with his weight upon me. The warmth from his body was something I had missed, five years and never once had I found that warmth. I lifted my head and kissed his mouth slowly. I had to savor every touch, every taste. He stopped and locked eyes with mine, even in the dark I could see the midnight blue tint.
Right and wrong, there has always been a fine line between the two. Madmen, lovers, common people crossed that line everyday. Part of me, perhaps, knew what I was doing. By surrendering to Mamoru I was sacrificing my life; no longer could I be the justice seeker I had been only months ago. I could no longer walk through the streets without worry of justice coming to me, for hadn't I knowingly stopped a criminal investigation against one of the most hated men?
Mamoru looked at me, lifting my arms above my head and entwining our fingers. I might have crossed a line, but it was a cross that gave me a safety I hadn't felt in too long. Seiya had been my husband and my duty, our love had existed but never the same after the kidnapping. Strain and pressure weighed us down and hurt us. Distance from Mamoru had only ignited a passionate lust I had. With our eyes still locked he opened his mouth to say something when the alarms screamed out. Flashing red lights and screaming sirens filled the room, and hallway of the hotel. The jolt had us both on our feet in an instant. I rushed for the door and ran to Chibi-Usa. Was it fire? A bomb? I couldn't smell any smoke and hadn't felt the ripple from an explosion, but that meant nothing. We were on the top floor and would be the last to hear, smell or know anything.
I opened her door and heard Mamoru behind me. Together we walked in and found an empty room. The bed was ruffled and looked as if someone had recently been in it. The comforter, pale purple, was half on the bed and half on the floor. One pillow lay limply on the bed about to fall and the other pillow was in the middle of the bed cut in half. I couldn't believe it. I…my life again. I turned around and began beating on his chest. You bastard, I want her back. It was a chant I said both in my mind, and must have began yelling out loud. I hurt, I felt physically ill.
Why me? Why us?
I watched as he searched the room, all the while I stood numb. I knew this scene. I knew what had happened here. Someone had taken her. Again. I think in that moment, I gave up. Had Mamoru taken her, from me again? Was this all a sick joke? A lessen on keeping her from him? He came back to me, grabbed my arm and dragged me down the hall. I followed like a child. I didn't care what happened to me now. How could he take her again?
We walked…we ran through the halls to the elevator where we went below the hotel. The room was similar to the one we had seen in the RADK building. Pure white covered from wall to wall with computers and machines. Hums, beeps, and printing outs were coming from all directions. And I barely heard them.
We stopped and Mamoru went from computer station to station, grabbing papers and pushing men in one direction and the next. As I watched I saw how the game was over. Someone else had come into this and Mamoru was lost. The man who men feared was alive and furious. The men beside him, behind him, all in the room watched in terror as he ravaged the information. I could almost see the anger and the power coming from him.
And I was not afraid. My life seemed to be a roller coaster; once I felt safe and had my family it was taken away, then I got that family back only to have it disappear again. The first time I had been after a man who I now found myself depending on, a man who I had almost been making love with when she was gone. Who was I?
A glass was held up to me and I looked over to the young woman who handed it to me. Cher. I smiled and walked with her over to the corner. Without a word she wrapped her arms around me and I cried. Chibi-Usa was not in the hotel. Mamoru had not taken her. And this time I had no idea who would taker her, or how.
"Usagi, he'll get her back. You both will," her voice was the only sound I could fully hear. I think that was what brought me back, this time. We would get her back. I would. I turned back in time to see Mamoru cursing at one man and grabbing another by the shirt cuff.
"… find the tape, find the guard and bring both to my office in one hour. If not, don't bother existing," he threw the man back and stormed towards the corner Cher and I were in, "Princess let's go, Cher double the guards on the hotel and get in my office now."
- - - - - - -
I had never been on the side of the coin toss where you had the resources that Mamoru had. The phone in his office had four lines lit and he was angrily conversing on one line. I walked to the side wall and traced my hand along the shelf. Why had we left her alone? Because we were in a safe place, guards at every corner. Why wouldn't we?
I sighed and went over to the desk and listened to the half of the conversation I could get. He was angry, and he was fuming. Cher entered quietly and held up a video before turning to the VCR and waiting for Mamoru's signal.
"Send him up, both of them. Now." Mamoru commanded, then hung up. I stayed were I was by the desk and relaxed slightly when he slid his hand into mine. That action stopped me for a second, would Seiya have done that? Of course he would…unless he had been too caught up in the case, investigation…anything.
We watched as Rini got up from bed and left the room. The quality had been the same as when I had seen Seiya and Mamoru together. Black and white, with no sound, this screen held four small screens. Chibi-Usa's room, the hallway, and the elevator, then Mamoru's office. Had she heard a knock? A bell? Someone calling to her? We watched as she left the room and went down the hall to the elevator. Alone. I tightened my hand in his as I watched with a growing sense dread the scene I knew would end with her gone. Cher fast forwarded the tape for a few minutes and then four new screen showed. One was the hallway of the first floor, another was the front desk, one was the kitchen, and the final one was of the front doors. We watched as she sleepily walked to the kitchen and poor herself a glass of water. Then the black sweater grabbing her, putting a rag over her mouth. She tried to scream, she struggled and then fell unconscious. I watched helplessly as she was pulled outside of the camera's viewing screen and out of the hotel.
I let out a breath when the door opened again and turned to the newest visitor. I could feel Mamoru's anger. His hand was tight in mine, and he was silent. I had learned one characteristic of Mamoru. Silence was his weapon against everything. Most screamed and yelled, paced and got their anger physically out. Mamoru used his anger in commands, in instilling fear and in silence.
Two men walked in, almost cowering before us…before him. Both were dressed in the black uniforms that the men in the computer room had been dressed in.
"Well?" Mamoru had sat behind his desk and was staring intently at them. I was merely a figure in the background, with Cher at my side. It was amazing how in just a few moments I had become dependant on her. She wrapped an arm around me and walked me to stand against the far wall, away from the men.
You have to stop this, my mind was functioning but my body was still. I didn't know what I was to stop, and I didn't know if I wanted to. I needed to be a good mother, and had failed twice. This time would perhaps be the fatal mistake.
"Sir, we had guards at every entrance and exi--"
"Obviously you didn't," he was calm. The same silent stillness that had been in the room with Taiki. I watched paralyzed. These two men would not leave here alive. I looked back to Cher, hoping to get an idea that I was wrong but she turned away and back to them. I couldn't let this continue…but I would. I had fallen onto a path that was a reversal of my previous life. Goodness and justice were words that didn't matter. Actions and consequences were the way that life was led. Someone had allowed an intruder to enter a secure building and kidnap a little girl; my little girl.
"Sir, there was a situation in the front of the building and guards had gone to sort it out."
"And, you didn't think to check the other doors? Other entrances?"
The other man stepped forward and wringed his hands together, "We….um, we checked the other doors…," he gulped and continued, "…there wasn't anybody there so we…we sent those guard to the front."
Mamoru nodded and picked up a pen from the desk and began moving it between his fingers, weaving it through his hand, "Charles, tell me why I hired you."
The man looked up and a fine line of sweat was across his brow, "Well, sir, you hired me because I am qualified in security and have knowledge of computers."
Mamoru nodded and opened his desk drawer, then closed it, "And oddly, now you are no longer of use. You failed in your primary job. You allowed a stranger to enter the premises and take my child," I took a step forward and told Mamoru that we needed to concentrate on finding Chibi-Usa and not on assigning blame, "You're right, Princess."
He turned back to me and Cher, then back to the two men and shot twice. The silencer made a slight buzz sound for each bullet, and the two men fell before they were able to cry out. I closed my eyes and turned away. Not because of their deaths, but because I didn't mourn. It was because of those men, because of someone, that my daughter had been taken.
"Cher, I want the reports on Rei and I want the man trailing her on the phone now."
She nodded and moved, without a second glance to the two bodies on the floor. We were then alone, a killer and myself, with two bodies laying on the floor. I didn't know what to feel. In a sad way, this was all a dream. I would wake up and Seiya would be next to me, he would be the faithful and loyal husband I had married, Chibi-Usa would be in the next room, and Mamoru would…Mamoru would be still on my every thought. It was hard to accept that this wasn't a dream, that it wouldn't end happy. More people would die, more people would hurt and somehow I believed I would be the cause of that hurt and that death.
"Its Rei, isn't it?" I asked the question knowing the answer. Only she would have the audacity to kidnap Chibi-Usa, Mamoru's only daughter.
"I would say that is a safe bet. Rei made a mistake by taking her," he replied walking over to me.
"Was this your truth? Was this what I had to know? That a sick woman who is obsessed with you would take my child? That this sick woman would deceive my husband into kidnapping her?"
"No. This isn't the time Usagi," he walked to the door and opened it slightly when I continued,
"When will be the time? When she send us the video of our daughter's death? What have you brought us into?" I was furious and screaming at him and had hot tears going down my face.
"She won't kill her. That I can assure you."
- - - - - - -
I sat in my room, waiting for anything. It would be useless leaving the hotel, I was in a foreign country and had no knowledge of Rei or her whereabouts. I looked at the envelope on the bed and opened it, dropping the contents onto the bed. It was a case file, or something like it, on Rei Hino and as hard as it was to look at it, a letter from Seiya. Even without reading the note, I knew the handwriting.
Rei Hino, age 27 and estranged daughter of the corporate executive for the RADK offices. She had multiple warrants for her arrest in both the United States and Mexico. She was wanted on charges of theft, arson, murder and wanted for questioning in the assassination attempt of one of the top political senators for Washington, D.C.. I looked at her picture and tried to recognize her, to tell when she had been near my family.
She was attractive. Young looking, with long black hair. She had violet eyes, and in this picture she was smiling at the camera with a secret about to be told. Who was she? Even with the basic information I felt like a stranger. She didn't look familiar, she had never been in contact with me. I sighed and closed my eyes, then picked up Seiya's letter. I was scared. I opened my eyes and tried to focus on the "case" of Seiya and not the husband. I failed but tried not to show any emotion, even to the empty room.
Mamoru,
Undoubtedly you have the previous letter from myself and Rei. You will not survive our next encounter. You stole from me the one thing I had, my family, and for that I will show no mercy. Chibi-Usa is not my daughter. You know this and have flaunted the fact that my daughter had a secret that would ruin me. By the time you have this letter I will have contact the authorities with your present location…or rather the location that you will be found in. Suicide. Be prepared, old friend. Your game is over. Usagi will be left out of this; and Chibi-Usa…who knows? She is your daughter, and evil breeds evil. Rei and I have agreed that your reign of terror and injustice shall end. Be prepared.
--Seiya
