It was nearing midday, and the library was beginning to empty out as its patrons left to grab a quick bite to eat from the various luncheon establishments nearby. Shingo Tsukino was getting hungry as well, but continued to thumb through the library's large comic collection, looking for the newest edition of his favorite comic, The Silver Avenger. His best friend Nakajima was standing nearby, looking for anything to read.
Suddenly, Shingo could hear the quiet noise of a song being played through someone's headphones. He walked past the shelves of comics and saw someone sitting at one of the library's many reading tables, perusing a mystery novel as the song Insane in the Membrane blared loudly through their loose headphones. Quickly turning his attention to the adjacent table, Shingo quickly gasped when he caught the attention of the vision of loveliness seated there. Sitting at the table was a blue-haired girl, wearing her school uniform consisting of a beautiful white and blue sailor shirt with a red bow, a short blue miniskirt, long white socks, and tall blue boots with short heels. She was looking down at a large textbook, flipping through its pages and meticulously studying each one, while scribbling words in a little red notebook also placed on the table in front of her. As the music continued to blare, the girl gently lifted her head and turned to the rude person seated at the table next to her.
"Would you please... just turn your music down... just a little bit, please?" said the girl, with a soft shyness that indicated her quiet, introverted nature. The person who had been wearing the headphones, a tall, lanky boy who must have been just a little older than Shingo, looked over at the girl and stuck out his tongue.
"You can't make me," replied the boy obnoxiously, returning to his mystery novel without so much as a blink. For a few brief moments, an angry glare appeared on the girl's face, and she opened her mouth to speak, but then simply shook her head and returned to her reading. This enraged Shingo, who briskly walked over to the girl seated at the table and began giving her a pep talk.
"Ami, don't take that from him!" Shingo whispered. "You deserve a nice, quiet place to study, and-"
Ami looked up at Shingo, and as soon as her eyes met with his, her lips took the shape of a warm, beautiful smile, a smile that brought happiness to Shingo's heart whenever he laid eyes upon it, because whatever made Ami smile made him smile as well.
"Shingo," Ami replied quietly, her tone a calm familiarity that reflected that she knew Shingo well.
More accurately, she knew Shingo's sister, Usagi well. She'd seen Shingo quite often, however, and through their various meetings, they had become good friends. Their bond was strengthened by one day at the beach, when Shingo and Ami went out on the ocean in a small raft. Their raft had crashed, and they washed up on a small beach, where Ami had saved Shingo's life by giving him CPR. Soon after, however, Ami herself was attacked by a vile fiend, her arms and legs shackled tightly to a tall, wooden board. Shingo had tried to save her, but his efforts simply got him knocked out. When he came to, Ami was safe and sound... she said it was because Shingo had tried to save her, but Shingo knew the real reason. The Senshi had come and saved the day... Shingo was useless, unconscious on the ground... but it didn't matter anyway. Shingo was unworthy to protect Ami, the beautiful angel seated across from him at that small table in the Juuban Library. She was an angel, a beautiful, kind, wonderful girl, and Shingo could never live up to that. Besides, a relationship could never work... Shingo was 13, and Ami was 16, three and a half years older. It would never work... could never work... and Shingo knew it.
"I can deal with that music, Shingo..." Ami continued. "It's not that loud..."
But both Shingo and Ami could still hear the music blaring from the boy's headphones. It was Snow's Informer now, and it seemed to become louder and louder with each second Shingo listened. Nakajima wandered over to the table now, sitting down next to Shingo and also listening to the music.
"Hey, this is a good song!" Nakajima said, a bit louder than what would normally be suitable for a library environment. "Informer, you know say daddy me snow I got to blame... a licky boom boom down..."
"On second thought, I think I'll just move," said Ami, picking up her two books and beginning to walk over to another table. "Shingo, if you want, you can sit at the table with me and read, okay?"
Ami smiled as Shingo walked over to the new table. She pulled out a seat for herself, but then stopped, pushing the seat back into the table and setting her books down.
"I'm getting pretty hungry..." Ami said, looking down at her watch. "Oh dear, it's almost lunch time..."
"If you want to go get lunch, I can watch your books for you!" Shingo offered, sitting down at the table and looking up at Ami, who emitted a slight giggle at Shingo's generous offer. "I'll watch them like a hawk, don't you worry!"
"Okay, Shingo... I won't be too long, I'll only be about fifteen minutes," Ami said, walking toward the exit of the library. "I know you'll do a good job!"
As Ami left, Shingo looked over at Nakajima, who was still seated at Ami's former table, singing along to the music blaring on the lanky boy's headphones. With a long sigh, Shingo drooped his head down next to Ami's books, quickly becoming bored with his duty.
"I hope Ami comes back soon..." Shingo mused to himself as he gazed at Ami's study materials. "But Ami trusts me... I've got to keep at this until she comes back!"
Suddenly, Shingo could feel his stomach beginning to growl. With a loud groan, he clutched his stomach and began shaking his head, a nagging pain rumbling through his midsection.
"Ugh, I knew I should have had breakfast today..." Shingo groaned. "Now I'm really hungry for lunch... but I can't stop watching Ami's books..."
Shingo stood up from the table and turned to his friend Nakajima, who was still listening to the music blaring out of the annoying kid's pair of loose headphones.
"Nakajima, can you watch Ami's books while I go grab a bite to eat?" Shingo whispered.
"Sure, sure," Nakajima said, his attention focused on the song moreso than Shingo.
"Nakajima, this is important... you can't let anything happen to them, okay?" Shingo said, backing toward the library entrance. "I mean it!"
"Sure, sure," Nakajima repeated, bobbing his head back and forth. "Boom shakata..."
Shingo turned around and walked out of the library, his hunger-motivated feet briskly carrying him out the door.
I-I-I-I-I
Unbeknownst to Shingo or Ami, a black car had been parked outside the library for the past hour. It had followed Ami to the library, and the two men inside were about to carry out a devious plan, something they'd been talking about for weeks. It would take complex precision, as well as a small bit of luck and brute force. In the waning moments before Ami had stepped out of the library, they were once more running over their plan.
"Now, are you sure we should be doing this?" asked the man at the wheel, a short, fairly chubby man wearing black leather gloves, a brown-beret hat, a camoflauge t-shirt, loose-fitting blue jeans, and a pair of dirty white tennis shoes. "I mean, this girl...."
"Her mom's a really successful doctor... that means she's gotta be seriously loaded!" said the man sitting next to him, a tall, fairly muscular man, who clearly served as the brains of the operation. He wore a cleanly-pressed white business shirt, a grey trenchcoat, tight, acid-washed blue jeans, and expensive-looking boots on his feet, purchased with the money earned from some past criminal caper. "We just grab the girl and take her back to the hideaway, simple as that. I'll grab her, all you have to do is drive."
The tall man was holding several white cloths in his lap, as well as a just-unwrapped roll of silver duct tape. The car was facing the door to the library, and just as the two men had finished their conversation, Ami stepped out into the parking lot, briefly looking up into the sky for a few seconds before continuing into the lot, a cheerful smile on her flawless face.
"There she is!" said the tall man eagerly, pulling a ski mask onto his face and slowly opening his passenger-side door. "Check and see if anybody's around..."
The short man quickly looked around the parking lot. The only person he could see was Ami, drawing nearer and nearer to the black car.
"No witnesses," said the driver, pulling a ski mask onto his face. "Better hurry up..."
Without hesitation, the tall man dashed out of the car and quickly advanced on Ami. She could hear the footsteps drawing nearer, and quickly turned her head, but by then, it was too late. Several of the cloths were quickly jammed between her teeth as the man's gloved hand clamped tightly over her lips. She began to scream, but all of her cries were muffled, and the cloths prevented her from attempting to bite the man's hand. She began to struggle mightily as she was quickly pulled toward the black car, her screams easily silenced by the white fabric in her mouth. The man picked Ami up and roughly tossed her into the back seat, closing his passenger-side door and climbing into the seat next to her, holding her arms to her sides as she struggled to get away.
"Hurry, let's get the hell out of here!" shouted the tall man. The driver quickly nodded, backing out of the parking space and quickly driving out of the lot and into the streets of Tokyo. As the car pulled away, the men inside didn't notice the young, teenage boy just emerging from the library's entrance. He hadn't seen the man grab Ami, but had seen her being pulled into the car, and was now watching in horror as it drove off into the street, with Ami in tow.
"Ami... Ami's been kidnapped! No!" Shingo thought helplessly, his mouth wide open in shock and despair. "Why would anyone... I have to do something! I have to save her!"
Shingo dashed over to the bike rack, where his large red mountain bike was stashed, chained to the metal rack so that it couldn't be stolen. He quickly unlocked the chain and hopped onto the bike, pedaling as fast as he could, out of the lot and following the kidnappers' car into the busy city streets.
"Wait a minute... what in the world am I doing?" Shingo thought, still continuing to work the pedals on his bike. "These kidnappers might be really dangerous... I could get hurt... Ami could get hurt! I've got to save her, no matter what... last time I failed... I won't fail again! I won't let any more bad people hurt Ami! If I don't save her now, I'm a failure... I won't fail Ami again!"
With thoughts of his failure to save Ami from Tiger's Eye still burning within his memory, Shingo pedaled hard down the sidewalk, barely keeping the kidnappers' car, which was slowed down slightly by constantly running into red lights, in sight.
I-I-I-I-I
In the back seat of the black car, a furious struggle was taking place, as the tall kidnapper, duct tape in hand, was fighting to keep Ami in place, and out of view of the other vehicles on the road.
"Hold still!" shouted the man, pulling the tape out into a long strip as his knees pressed Ami tightly into the floor of the vehicle.
"Mmmmbnghffm!" Ami shouted, her cheeks bulging from the cloths packed tightly within. She'd been trying to force them out with her tongue for the past minute or two, even as she struggled to keep herself from being tied up. She could feel her arms being tightly held behind her back, and though she desperately tried to pull away, was helpless to stop the layers of duct tape being quickly wound around her lower arms, from her wrists all the way up to the tips of her fingers. "I can't let them tie me up... I'll be helpless... what in the world could these people possibly want from me?"
Ami's hands were now useless, taped tightly and securely behind her back. Her Mercury transformation pen was kept inside a small pocket in her skirt, but she knew with her fingers taped that she couldn't possibly reach it, not to mention the fact that she couldn't transform in front of these two complete strangers and risk revealing her identity. However, she could still put up a fight without her Senshi powers... her legs were still untied, and Ami knew that they would probably be the kidnappers' next target. She beat them to the punch, kicking the tall man in the face as he leaned over her, duct tape still in hand. He cried out in pain as he was knocked up against the side of the vehicle, his back impacting hard against its upholstered frame.
"What's going on back there?" shouted the driver, briefly taking his attention off the road to witness his partner's struggle with their blue-haired captive. The first thing he saw was a set of round, blue eyes, staring straight into his with an angry, determined glare. Ami leaned back, then headbutted the driver right in the forehead. He recoiled, his head snapping back toward the dashboard. For a brief second, he lost control of the car, as it began to serve into the path of oncoming traffic. He cried out in surprise and corrected the wheel, twisting it back in the right direction. Ami's minor victory was short lived, as the tall man's hand wrapped around her ankles, pulling Ami back down beneath the back seat. Her ankles were then tightly taped, looped with more than a dozen layers of duct tape, wrapping around her socks and quickly immobilizing her feet. She let out another garbled cry, trying to twist away as even more tape was wrapped around her legs, this time just above her knees, immobilizing her even further.
"Mmmmmmmph!" she cried out in protest, twisting her body back and forth in a desperate attempt to avoid being bound further. As soon as the second taping was finished on Ami's legs, the tall man turned her around, her face pressed against the floor of the car as the man began winding tape tightly around her stomach, fixing her already bound wrists to her back, immobilizing them as well. He then wrapped several more layers of tape around her shoulders, immobilizing her arms completely. Ami was now completely helpless, her arms and legs doubly bound with tight, thick layers of silver duct tape. She winced as the tall man rolled her onto her back, staring up into the tall man's face, all features except his eyes concealed by the ski mask over his head.
"There, that wasn't so bad now, was it?" asked the man, looking down at Ami as a sly smile slowly appeared on his face. "If you play your cards right, you won't get hurt... we just need to get about a billion yen from your mom. She is a famous doctor, right? I think she fixed my dad's heart a few years back... quintuple bypass surgery... that must've been a pretty tough operation, huh?"
"Mmbgggmph!!! Mmph hhhhhhmphmph!!!" Ami's words of anger were muffled through the white cloths, her vehement protests silenced. "How dare you try to ransom me off to my own mother... you people are sick!"
"You know, with all that yelling, that stuffing might come out if I'm not careful," said the taller man, picking up the roll of duct tape he'd just set down on the back seat. "I'd better take a few precautions."
The man ripped off a long strip of tape, his hand flying to Ami's chin and forcing her lips closed as he pressed the tape over her face, sealing the heavy packing inside her mouth and further quieting her muffled cries. He ripped off several more strips, placing two more long pieces of tape across her mouth before pressing two shorter pieces diagonally over those, forming an X. He then repeated that with two more pieces, forming a two-layered X. Satisfied with the gag, he then pressed two long strips of tape over Ami's eyes before sliding into the front seat of the car, leaving his bound, gagged, and blind captive squirming helplessly on the floor behind him.
"You sure you needed to use that much duct tape?" asked the shorter man, braking as he reached yet another traffic light.
"Eh, the stuff's not that expensive," replied the taller man, peering back at Ami and smiling. "Besides, now there's absolutely no chance she'll get away."
But Ami knew better, and she realized that if she could somehow get her head up to the window, she would be seen by a passing car. This might be her only chance to escape.
"It's not everyday you look in the window of a car and see someone with their face covered in duct tape...." Ami thought. "If I can just get my head up to the window, someone will see me and call the police... I hope..."
Using the tips of her fingers, the only things poking out of the mass of tape wrapped around her hands, Ami scooted around and felt the floor around her for several seconds before finally identifying the door, lying just behind her. She sat up and began trying to pick herself up off of the floor, using the door to balance herself while turning her face around and pressing it up against the door, inching it upward toward the window. She was able to get into a kneeling position, her legs bending just slightly at the knees, which were just below the layers of tape. As she started to stand, she could feel herself losing her balance on her bound feet, and before she could stop herself, she fell onto the floor, her face impacting the soft upholstery of the car. With a groan of annoyance, she strained herself into a sitting position and once more began to scoot back toward the door. Suddenly, she could hear the car stop, and the engine shut off.
"Am I.... have they reached the place where they're going to keep me?" Ami thought, confusion rapidly entering her mind. "This is it...."
"If we keep stopping, someone's eventually going to see her," said the tall man. The driver of the car had actually pulled into an alley, and the tall man had climbed into the back seat again. Ami could feel herself being picked up, and began once more to struggle against the man's grasp, though she knew with her limbs bound, the struggle would be futile. The man carried her out of the car and popped the trunk. "We've gotta stash her in the trunk."
When Ami heard that, her protests became even more frantic, and she squirmed desperately in the tall man's arms.
"Ymmph nmmph mphbgm mmph mmmmphk!" Ami shouted. "You're not going to put me in that trunk!"
Ami wasn't claustrophobic, but the thought of being tied up and crammed in such a small space brought a chill to Ami's spine, and she continued to squirm even as she was lowered into the dark trunk, her struggles useless as the lid closed and locked over her. The tall man chuckled, and then walked back to the car, sliding into the front passenger seat as the car sped off into the streets again.
Inside the trunk, Ami lay still and silent, sweat flowly freely down her face as thoughts of what might happen to her began flooding through her mind.
"My mom... she's not a billionaire! We've got money, but not THAT much..." thought Ami. "I know my mom loves me, and she'll do whatever she can to get the ransom money... but what if they decide to kill me anyway? I haven't seen their faces, they don't have any reason to, but.... what am I going to do?"
I-I-I-I-I
Had the criminals not pulled their car into that alley for those brief minutes, Shingo, who was beginning to tire out from all of the fast pedaling he'd been doing, would not have been able to catch them. He'd fallen so far behind that he'd lost sight of them, and when he saw the black car pull out of the alley just a few dozen feet ahead, he heaved the biggest sigh of relief of his entire life.
"Now's my chance!" Shingo said to himself, his bike racing down the sidewalk. "I have to catch them!"
But the car quickly accelerated, and Shingo was once again outmatched. The car pulled away quickly, and Shingo began to lose sight of it again. Gathering all of the energy he could into his already aching legs, he sped up, pedaling as quickly as he could, tearing down the sidewalk faster than he'd ever gone in a bike before. He nearly collided into several people as the bicycle raced past them. One man even spilled coffee into his shirt, and he shouted curses at the young boy as he cycled past.
"Sorry!" Shingo yelled back at the man, still cycling frantically down the road, desperately trying to keep the kidnappers' car in his sights. "When Ami grows up to become a doctor someday, and she cures cancer or something, you'll thank me..."
That day at the beach, Ami had told Shingo about her dream... her dream to be a doctor and help others... to find that special someone, settle down with them, start a family... all of those dreams could be shattered if Shingo couldn't save Ami now. If he failed her this time, even the Sailor Senshi might not be able to save Ami...
I-I-I-I-I
The black car raced through the streets for several more minutes, before finally entering a dirty, run-down looking neighborhood on the edge of Juuban. The car slowed down, nearly to a snail's pace as it neared the criminals' house, where the two men lived together, planning their various capers. This one, if it could be pulled off, would be the biggest one of all.
Inside the trunk, Ami could feel the car begin to slow down, and continue on its slow pace for more than a minute.
"Something's going on..." Ami thought to herself. "The car's not going very fast at all... they must be getting close to..."
Ami squirmed in her tape bonds, but they held tight, her fingers sealed within layers of the sticky wrap, useless to assist with the unwrapping of her wrists. She was inescapably tied, bound, blind, and helpless. She was at the criminals' mercy now.
"Oh, mom..." Ami thought, realizing her mother may have to spend her life's savings to free her, all of that money she'd earned as a successful doctor gone in an instant. "I'm so sorry..."
Suddenly, the car came to a stop, and Ami could feel the heat of the day as the trunk popped open. The tape was still tight over her eyes, and Ami could see only blackness as her still slightly squirming form was lifted from the trunk and carried up the steps to the two men's dilipidated, one-story house.
"Mmmmph! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmph mpbgh mmmmmmmmmph!!!"
Ami was screaming as loudly as she could, desperately trying to gain the attention of anyone in the neighborhood that might be within earshot. But through the stuffing and layers of tape, only stifled, muffled shrieks could be heard, severely dampered by the highly-effective gag. The two men didn't even bother telling her to be quiet as they pulled her inside the house and sat her down in a chair that had already been placed in their living room. The taller man reached down into a bag that had been placed on a nearby couch, pulling out several lengths of thick, white, nylon rope. The man then looped the rope around Ami's midsection and the chair, wrapping it around her several times, first her upper chest, near her shoulders, and then below, near her stomach and around the back of the chair. Her wrists were already securely fastened to her back, but that didn't stop the man from looping the rope inside the tape layers and fixing it to the back of the chair as well, cinching it off so that the two ropes kept Ami's back fixed tightly to the chair. The shorter man looped rope around Ami's legs, tying them to the bottom of the chair and then securing that rope to the chair legs. Now, Ami was completely secured, the tips of her feet barely able to touch the floor, her body fastened tightly to the cold, wooden chair. She let out several loud, muffled cries of discontent, then yelped when the two pieces of tape were suddenly ripped from her eyes.
"Now that you're back at our hideout, it doesn't matter that you'll be able to see," said the taller man, who had sat down next to his accomplice on the couch facing Ami's chair, "though we still can't let you see our faces, for obvious reasons."
"Just be as cooperative as you can, and we'll let you go as soon as your mom gives us the ransom money," said the short man. "That might even be as soon as tonight. It had better be quick, that's for sure... because we won't hesitate to hurt you if we don't get what we want."
Ami's eyes opened wide with fear, as she quickly remembered the danger of the situation she was in. She began to shake her head, and even more sweat began to run down the sides of her face. She almost felt like crying, but kept her tears inside, not wanting her captors to notice her intense disdain. An angry look quickly returned to her face. She wasn't going to take being kidnapped and held for ransom sitting down... though the ropes and tape layers told a different story.
"Mmmmbphmphgmm...." Ami muttered, hoping that beneath the cloths and duct tape, the criminals holding her would get the message. "You won't get away with this..."
"I think it's time to make that ransom call right about now, wouldn't you say?" said the taller man to Ami, standing up and walking over to a small table in the corner of the room. On that table was a small, white cell-phone, with a scrap of paper next to it. On the paper was a phone number, apparently for Dr. Mizuno's office. The man picked up the paper, scanned it for a few seconds, and then picked up the phone, dialing up the number on the paper. After a couple of rings, the phone was picked up, not by Dr. Mizuno, but by a young, female secretary, almost completely new to the job.
"This is Dr. Mizuno's office, if you wish to make an appointment-"
"I wish to speak to the doctor personally, right now," said the man. "It's very important."
"The doctor is in a meeting, if you wish to speak to her-"
"It's about Ami. It's VERY important," said the man, walking over to his bound captive and pointing his phone at her face. "Say cheese."
The phone snapped a digital picture of Ami's bound form, and after pressing a few buttons, the man began to speak into the mouthpiece of the phone again.
"You have a fax," said the tall man, prompting the secretary to turn her head to the fax machine on the desk next to her. When the picture of Ami, bound and gagged, printed out of the machine, the secretary grabbed it and emitted a gasp of surprise.
"Who... who is this?" shouted the secretary, her voice beginning to tremble. "Is this some kind of joke? Because if it is-"
"Get the doctor right now!" shouted the tall man, his tone changing from calm to furious in a very short amount of time.
"Mmmmph!" Ami squealed, shaking her head as she realized what was going on. The tall man turned to her and smiled, though Ami couldn't see his smile under the ski mask.
"You'll be fine... as long as your mom-"
"Whoever you sick bastards are, you had better return my daughter to me right now!" shouted an angry sounding female voice through the phone. The tall man quickly turned away from Ami and began to speak once again.
"I assume I'm speaking to the doctor now, am I right?" asked the man, looking back and forth between Ami and his accomplice. "Yes, we do have your daughter here... rest assured, we haven't harmed her, though as you can see by the photo, she's been quite a handful to us, which is why she's been so tightly restrained."
"You won't get away with this..." said Dr. Mizuno. "I'll go straight to the police!"
"And Ami goes straight to the bottom of the Sea of Japan... I really don't think you want to do that, doctor."
"Let me talk to her... I have to know she's alright!"
"You've got one week to come up with one billion yen in unmarked bills, doctor-"
"LET ME TALK TO HER, DAMMIT!"
The phone was placed up to Ami's still gagged face. She hesitated for several seconds before finally offering a few muffled cries into the mouthpiece of the phone.
"Mmmphmph! Mmmm!" Ami shouted. "Mom, don't listen to them!"
Though Ami was gagged, her mother could clearly recognize the muffled voice as the one that belonged to her sweet, loving daughter of sixteen years. The doctor was filled with a renewed rage, her angered shouts becoming more and more vehement by the second.
"If you harm one hair on her head, I swear to you, I'll rip out your-"
"Please, please, control your temper... your daughter really is a wonderful girl, one billion yen is a bargain for her safe return. Besides, you've got a whole week... you'll figure something out. You could hold a fundraiser, you could raise your medical fees... you could embezzle money from the hospital, whatever you decide to do, you've got a week. Bring the money to the dumpster on Kiyaki Street and call from there. We'll come to get it sometime after the call. Goodbye, Dr. Mizuno."
The taller man pressed the 'End' button on the phone, abruptly bringing the conversation to a halt. His accomplice, who had remained silent for the duration of the call, began to voice his concern almost immediately.
"What if she goes to the cops?" stammered the shorter man, nervously wiping sweat from his brow. "I mean, she's a really famous doctor... she probably knows the chief of police and everything... if she talks, we're-"
"If she talks, Ami will never talk again," said the taller man, glaring over at Ami. "Isn't that right, my dear?"
Ami groaned through her gag, her hands weakly struggling beneath the tape binding them.
"I WILL get out of here...." Ami thought, an angry stare remaining on her face. "I won't let you take advantage of my mom..."
I-I-I-I-I
Shingo pedaled into the dark neighborhood about two minutes after the criminals' car arrived, following the road straight after losing sight of them and hoping that it would take him to Ami. As he rode his bike past the old, dilapidated houses, a shiver of fright ran down his spine. Whether it was fright for himself, or fear for Ami, Shingo didn't know. Maybe it was just a little bit of both.
"This is a terrible place..." Shingo whispered to himself, glancing at the sides of the street and noticing the many houses, some of them abandoned, with broken windows and fallen doors. "Really creepy... just the kind of place a couple of mean kidnappers would hide..."
And then, Shingo saw it, parked in a driveway just ahead and to his left. A shiny black car, just like the one he saw the kidnappers shove Ami into. It was parked in front of an old, dirty one-story house, and Shingo could almost hear the house creek as a breeze blew past it.
"That... that's it... that's the place!" Shingo said, wheeling his bike up the driveway and stopping right next to the black car, leaning the bike on its kickstand and slowly walking toward the stone steps leading up to the house. "What am I doing? These guys are... no, Shingo, you already went over that... I have to save Ami, no matter what! If I can't save her, then I don't deserve to...."
Don't deserve to live? Was saving Ami really worth Shingo's life?
"Yes it is... I don't know why, but for some reason, it is... something deep inside me is telling me to walk up those steps... something deep inside me is telling me to save her!"
I-I-I-I-I
A tall, electric fan blew on Ami at full blast, causing goosebumps to appear on her skin as the cold air repeatedly circulated over her body.
"Hey, why does she get the fan?" asked the shorter man, pointing at Ami, who emitted an annoyed groan from her sealed lips. "I'm the one burning up over here!"
"Duct tape is a very insulating material," said the taller man. "If we let her heat up too much, she'll smother under all of that tape, so we've got to constantly keep her cool. We don't want anything bad to happen."
"You just don't want to lose your billion yen," Ami thought, glowering under the tape. "Thanks for being considerate."
Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door, causing both criminals to jump. The front door was located in a hallway just outside the living room, out of sight to Ami and the two men.
"Who is that?" shouted the shorter man. "Whoever it is, don't answer! What if it's the cops?"
There was another knock. Ami curiously leaned her head to the side, trying to see into the hallway, but in her fixed position, she had no hope of possibly seeing who was at the door. That would be up to the taller man, who walked out of the room and into the hallway.
"It can't be the police, she couldn't be that stupid," said the tall man. "If it is, you know what to do."
"You mean the gun?" asked the shorter man. "But that's in your room!"
With a sigh of annoyance, the taller man opened the door, knowing that whoever it was most likely wouldn't pose a threat. Sure enough, it was Shingo, an innocent, oblivious look on his face that betrayed the fact that he knew exactly what had happened to his friend Ami.
"What is it, kid?" the taller man groaned. "I'm sorta busy right now."
From the living room, Ami couldn't hear the conversation that Shingo and the taller man were having. She didn't even know that Shingo had come all the way out to save her. But Ami knew that whoever was at the door might be able to help her. She screamed through her gag as loud as she could.
"Mmmmmmbphmmmmmmmghff!!!" screamed Ami, trying to alert whoever was at the door. "Mmmmmph!"
"Shut up!" shouted the short man, quickly grabbing the roll of duct tape from the floor and looping several times around Ami's mouth, the tape stretching out over her hair as he completely wrapped the lower side of her face in layers of duct tape. Shingo couldn't hear any of this from the front door, but he still knew that Ami was inside, and knew that she needed his help.
"Um, well, um... I was playing basketball, and... my basketball sort of went through your window and into the house, and um... I was wondering if I could come in and get it..."
"Basketball?" thought the taller man. "There's no... maybe it happened while we were gone... no, our house doesn't have many windows... who throws a basketball through a window? There's something funny about this kid..."
But before the man could ponder Shingo's request further, Shingo decided that he'd had enough of trying to tNakajima his way into the house. He kicked the tall man in the groin as hard as he could, immediately bringing him to his knees. Shingo quickly ran past the man and dashed into the living room, where the shorter man had just finished wrapping about eight or nine layers of tape around Ami's head. As soon as she saw Shingo, she screamed out.
"Smmmmmmmmmmph!" Ami screamed, her voice reduced to a very low moan by the tightly wrapped duct tape.
"Ami!" Shingo replied, running into the room as quickly as he could, not even noticing the short man now lunging toward him, trying to tackle the boy to the ground. With incredible agility, Shingo sidestepped the man, who tripped and fell to the carpeted floor with a loud thud. "Yes!"
"Mmmmph, mmmph mmfmfmph mmmph!" Ami said as Shingo ran behind her and began unwrapping the tape from her mouth. "Shingo, what are you doing here?"
"Hold still, Ami, I'm trying not to rip out your hair or anything..." Shingo said as he carefully unwound the tape from Ami's head. "Geez, did they use the whole roll or something?"
"Hmmhmhph hrrrrrrm mmmmph mmmbmgmph!" Ami said. "Shingo, you have to get out of here... these guys are dangerous!"
"Just about got it..." Shingo said, unwrapping the last of the loops of tape from Ami's head, taking only a couple of Ami's dark blue hairs with it. "Now, what were you saying?"
"Mmmmbmphgmph!" Ami shrieked, the stuffing still tightly packed in her mouth, along with the seven strips that had been placed on her lips by the taller man in the car. She could see the shorter man beginning to stand up, and the taller one just walking into the room. "Shingo, look out!"
"There's more tape?" Shingo asked, walking around and looking at the strips of duct tape plastered on Ami's lower face. "Geez..."
"MMMMMPH!"
Shingo turned around just in time to see the shorter man's fist headed straight for his face. He ducked, and the man's fist swooshed harmlessly past Shingo, though it did miss Ami's face by about six inches. Shingo ran around and kicked the shorter man in the side, but this time, it only served to make him angry. He turned around and pushed Shingo away, knocking the boy into the nearby couch.
"Smmmmmymph!!!" Ami shrieked, frantically beginning to struggle in her bonds again as she realized the danger her friend Shingo was in. The tall man had left the living room, and Ami could only assume it was to retrieve his gun, which would spell instant death for her would-be savior. "Mmmmmph hmmm mmmmphmhpmhph!!!"
"Come here, kid!" shouted the shorter man, now angrily walking toward Shingo, still seated in the couch across the room.
"Oh, no you don't!" shouted Shingo, pressing his body into the back of the couch and leaping forward, planting both of his feet into the shorter man's face. The kick sent the man sprawling to the ground, where he hit his head on the floor and was immediately knocked out. Shingo gasped in surprise and stood up from the couch, quickly inspecting his work. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall... I totally kicked that guy's butt!"
Shingo turned to Ami, who was still breathing heavily, her nose whistling with every breath she took. Sweat continued to run down her face, now flushed with a shade of bright red.
"I'll have that tape off in a jiffy, Ami, don't you worry..." said Shingo, walking over to Ami and gently peeling the numerous pieces of duct tape from her lips. "Are you okay?"
"Mm-hmm," Ami said, nodding her head as Shingo worked on removing the tape from her lips, while silently pleading for him to expediate his work. "Hurry, Shingo... that other guy could be back any second...."
Shingo finally removed the last piece of tape, and Ami pushed as much of the white cloth as she could out from her mouth, though it was still packed in tightly, definitely enough to continue to muffle her words.
"Mmmph..." Ami groaned, nodding her head up and down to indicate that she was still gagged.
"Is this the last gag?" Shingo asked as he reached up to Ami's mouth and began to pull out the cloth. "Because-"
"Get away from her now, or you'll both be together on my wall," said the taller man, holding a black pistol in his left hand. "I said now!"
"Mmmph!" Ami shouted, her entire body once more beginning to tremble. Shingo slowly stepped away from her, leaving the cloth packing still inside Ami's mouth.
"Please.... don't hurt her.... it was me," said Shingo, beginning to worry that Ami might be punished because of his attempt to save her. "She didn't know I was coming, I swear...."
"Tell me something... why would you risk your life for this girl?" asked the taller man, stepping into the room but keeping a safe distance from the trembling Shingo, fearing another kick to the family jewels. "You knew coming in here was dangerous... two dangerous criminals, probably armed to the teeth... so why did you come here? Ami isn't your girlfriend, is she?"
Shingo shook his head. Behind Shingo, in the chair, Ami was frantically working to free her hands. She knew that if she could only reach down just a few inches, she could retrieve her transformation pen from her pocket... just a few inches...
"I can't let Shingo get hurt.... I can't let him be killed because of me being captured... it's all my fault..."
"So if she's not your girlfriend... why did you come for her? Is she your sister? We've done a lot of research on Dr. Mizuno, and she only has one daughter. You can't be Ami's brother, that's not the reason."
"Ami... is my friend..." Shingo stammered. His anger was gone, replaced with tremendous fear and despair. He'd failed Ami again... just like when he faced Tiger's Eye... he was too weak to save Ami, and he knew it.
"Just... a friend?" asked the taller man. "Really. I can't believe that. I can't believe you'd risk your entire life for just a friend."
"MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMPH!" Ami screamed, her fingers desperately working beneath the tape. She had only been able to loosen her bindings slightly, but with all the layers of tape wrapped around her, she knew it wouldn't be nearly enough. The ropes crushing into her midsection and the tape around her shoulders and stomach had held incredibly strong, and she was barely able to budge her arms. "Don't you dare hurt Shingo! He's got nothing to do with this!"
Memories of Ami came rushing back to Shingo's mind once more. His head filled with every warm gesture, every smile, every word she'd ever spoken to him... and the time he could have saved her, at the beach... she'd saved his life, and he was completely unable to return the favor. And now, here, Shingo was living the nightmare again, unable to save Ami... and now he would pay with his life.
"Why did you come for her?" shouted the man, angrily pointing his pistol at Shingo's chest. "TELL ME!"
"BECAUSE I LOVE HER!" Shingo shouted back. Immediately, Ami was taken by surprise, as she stared out at Shingo in shock for several seconds. The man smiled, having gotten the exact response he'd wanted. "I... I love Ami... I don't want... don't want her to get hurt..."
"So you have no regrets, then," said the man, his finger wrapping tightly around the trigger of his gun.
"My only regret is not being able to save Ami.... Ami... I'm so sorry..."
With all the strength she could muster, Ami forced the cloth from her lips, spitting it all out onto the floor beneath her. She and Shingo had just one chance... if this didn't work...
"Mercury Crystal Power!"
The transformation wand in Ami's pocket began to glow with a brilliant blue light, blinding the criminal and startling him enough to make him drop his gun to the ground. Shingo turned around and quickly raised up his hand to shield his eyes from the brilliant glow of Ami's transformation, which vaporized the bonds from her body as she rose from the chair and stood atop it, completely freed and transformed into the beautiful Senshi of Water, Sailor Mercury.
"Ami... you... I don't believe it..." Shingo said, gazing up at the girl who had once been his beautiful beloved, now transformed into something far more. "You're Sailor Mercury..."
Sailor Mercury leapt down from the chair and walked over to the criminal, who was fumbling with his gun while stammering in shock at the incredible transformation that had taken place.
"You tried to kidnap me, an innocent girl, and use me to extort money from my beloved mother... and that I cannot allow," said Sailor Mercury, kicking the gun out of the stunned criminal's hand. His gaze quickly went down to his accomplice, still lying unconscious on the ground. "I am Sailor Mercury, I fight for love and justice, and I will not allow you to commit another crime! Mercury Bubbles Blast!"
Within seconds, the bubbles washed over the man, their powerful magic quickly chilling his body more than he could stand. He collapsed into unconsciousness next to his accomplice, his body still shivering as it hit the ground.
"He'll be alright... he might be running a cold for a few days, though," said Sailor Mercury, turning to Shingo. "I'll watch these two... you call the police, alright?"
Shingo nodded, and then began to run over to the table where the cell phone was. Before he could, however, he was stopped by a hand gently touching his shoulder. He turned around to see Sailor Mercury, smiling at him with that same, beautiful, warm smile he always remembered Ami wearing.
"Thank you, Shingo... you saved my life, you know that?" Sailor Mercury said, standing nearly eye-to-eye with the rapidly growing young teenager. Shingo smiled, and shook his head.
"You... you did it yourself, Ami," Shingo said modestly. "You transformed and kicked that guy's butt! If anything, you saved my life..."
"No, Shingo," said Sailor Mercury. "Without you, I never would have been able to transform... unless I'm touching my wand, I can't transform, Shingo. Something about you being here... gave me what I needed to activate my transformation wand. When your life was in danger, I... I felt something, and-"
"Was it the same thing I felt, Ami?" Shingo asked. "Was it..."
"I'm not sure..." Sailor Mercury replied, her gloved hand gently touching Shingo's cheek. "But whatever it was... I'm sure it made the difference."
"Thank you... Ami..." Shingo said, smiling at her again as he walked over to pick up the cell phone. "It had to have been the same thing..."
I-I-I-I-I
"I'm tellin' ya, the chick just transformed into Sailor Mercury!" shouted the taller man as he was dragged into the police car. "I swear to God!"
"Tell it to the judge," said the police officer, slamming the door on the squad car containing the two now handcuffed criminals. Another officer was on the scene to make sure Ami, who had detransformed soon after the call to the police was made, was alright.
"You've had a pretty harrowing experience... are you sure you're-"
"I'm fine... both of us are," said Ami, looking over at Shingo, who was standing next to her. "Right, Shingo?"
Shingo nodded.
"Well, I've notified your mother that you're safe, Miss Mizuno... and Shingo, I've also notified your parents. They'll be coming to pick you up shortly. Would you like me to stay until-"
Ami shook her head.
"Shingo and I... we'll be alright by ourselves, right, Shingo?" Ami asked, looking at Shingo and smiling. "I mean, you DID rescue me, after all."
Shingo nodded again, turning back to the police officer.
"Man, wait until the 5 o'clock news hears this... a thirteen-year-old boy, taking out two armed criminals all by himself. You're some kid, you know that?"
The police officer climbed into his car and drove off, leaving Shingo and Ami sitting on the steps of the arrested criminals' house.
"Ami, I... are you sure you wanna give me all the credit for saving you?" Shingo asked. "I mean, you did do most of the work-"
"And give away my secret?" Ami asked, with a slight giggle. "Shingo, you deserve just as much credit as I do, if not more... what you did was incredibly brave..."
"I mean, you could just say you got free by yourself," replied Shingo. Ami giggled again.
"All that rope and tape... I'm smart, but I'm no escape artist," said Ami. "It's... Shingo, you did save me. That's the whole truth, and... and there's no way I can ever repay-"
"You did repay me," replied Shingo, looking straight into Ami's eyes. "You... you transformed... and you took out that guy with the gun... Ami, I... I... I love you..."
"I know," said Ami. "I mean, I didn't know... before you told him..."
"I'm three years younger than you, Ami, it would never... I mean, it couldn't... it couldn't work... right?" Shingo asked, a frown appearing on his face. He looked down, almost as if he was ashamed to look at Ami, now that she knew his secret. But Ami didn't reply with words... instead, she simply took his hands into hers, beckoning Shingo to look back up into her eyes.
"I... wouldn't say that," said Ami, her soft fingers gently rubbing the tops of his hands as she held them. "You... wouldn't mind going to have dinner with me tomorrow night, would you? Just the two of us?"
"Ami, I...."
"You saved my life, Shingo..." Ami said, smiling brightly. "It's the least I can do."
Shingo smiled, and leaned his face toward Ami's. She didn't pull away, instead, leaning toward Shingo herself, her lips meeting his in a brief, one-second kiss before the two slowly pulled away.
"My first kiss..." Shingo whispered, briefly releasing Ami's hand and lifting his finger to his lips. "Ami..."
"Mine too," replied Ami, still smiling. "Greg and I... never really..."
The sound of a car horn quickly brought the two teenagers back down to earth, as Shingo saw his mother and father seated in the front seat of a car that had just pulled into the driveway. Next to that car was another, slightly fancier car, driven by Ami's mother. Shingo and Ami stood up and slowly began walking toward the driveway, their unexpected adventure finally over.
"I guess I should have mom take me back to the library first..." said Shingo, looking over at Ami as the two walked toward the driveway. "I've gotta go see if your books are okay. I had Nakajima watch them while I was gone. He's a good friend, but... easily distracted."
Ami giggled.
"I'll go back to pick them up, don't worry about it, Shingo... unless... you want to get that comic book you wanted... isn't that why you went to the library in the first place?"
Shingo nodded again, still looking at Ami even as his parents stepped out of their car and began running toward him, extremely happy to see their son unharmed.
"But it's not why I'm going back..."
Shingo would return to the library just to be with Ami for a little while longer... he was her guardian now, after all. Sometimes, even Sailor Senshi needed rescuing every now and then.
I-I-I-I-I
The End