The Truths of Love: Chapter nine

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon. Never have, never will, so please don't sue me.

"Motoki, I don't know what to do," Mamoru confided into the phone, speaking softly so as not to wake the girl who had finally fallen asleep on his bed. "Matt keeps finding ways to distress her. First, the whole episode with the rape and abuse in general, then the walk in the park where he once more managed to criticize and call her names. And now this? I don't get it. Matt would never--"

"Face it, Mamoru. He would, and he did. There's nothing you can do to change that fact. Why don't you call the police?" Motoki asked.

Mamoru sighed and scrubbed a hand through his hair, pulling it away and staring at it.

"I tried," he said. "Usagi stopped me. She was told by Matt that if she ever called the police against him, he'd kill her. She's terrified, Motoki, and personally, I don't blame her. It would take someone with no emotions and no feelings at all not to be affected by this." Mamoru sighed again. "What should I do, Motoki?"

Motoki was silent for awhile, mulling it over. Finally, his voice weary, he said, "Mamoru, I know she asked you not to, but you have to call the police. You don't have any other choice. He's threatened you both, and destroyed your property. That's worth calling the police for right there. And if they can get evidence against this guy for abusing and raping Usagi, you've got him booked for at least fifteen years in a federal prison. I know you don't want to take back your word to Usagi, but if you do, think of it. At least she'll be safe, right?"

Mamoru listened thoughtfully to his best friend's advice, and when Motoki was finished, Mamoru blew out a breath.

"You're right, Motoki. This needs to end. But you do realize there'll most likely be a court case, don't you?"

Motoki laughed.

"If there is, Mamoru, I'll be there supporting you and Usagi-chan through the whole thing. We know what really happened, as do the girls. And I'm sure that they'll be there supporting you two as well. Call the police, Mamoru. Get it over and done with."

Mamoru nodded.

"I suppose. But if Usako blows a gasket, it's your fault, and you'll have no one to blame but yourself."

The moment the words were out of his mouth, Mamoru regretted them. Those were the exact words Matt had spoken to him about what would happen with Usagi.

Shuddering and shaking those thoughts off, Mamoru turned to a different train of thought.

Motoki laughed at Mamoru's comment about Usagi, knowing just how true it was that she probably would get upset.

"I know she'll be hurt that you didn't talk to her before calling them. But at least you'll have that off of your mind. The last thing you need is to be worrying about that while you're performing... brain surgery or something in the hospital."

Mamoru laughed, relaxing slightly. For several minutes, he and Motoki talked about other light things, before finally getting back to the main topic.

"Alright, Motoki," Mamoru said. "I'll call the police. I'll let them know what happened, and then I'll leave it to them."

Motoki nodded to himself, and, realizing Mamoru wouldn't be able to see that over the phone, said, "Good choice. Talk to me later and tell me how it went, alright?"

"I'll do that, Motoki. And thanks for your help."

"Not a problem, Mamoru. G'night."

"Night Motoki."

Their goodbyes said, each of them hung up the phone.

Taking a deep breath, Mamoru picked the phone up once more and dialed the police.

Mamoru feel into bed an hour later. His call with the police had been... interesting, to say the least. He'd told them about the problem, and about how Matt had raped and abused Usagi. The police had given him their word that they'd be on the lookout for Matt, and after answering many more questions, had finally been allowed to hang up.

Closing his eyes, he drifted off to sleep.

Two days later, when Mamoru got home from work at the hospital, the phone rang. Walking over, he picked it up.

"Hello?" He said.

"Is this Mamoru Chiba?" a deep voice on the other end of the line asked.

"It is. May I ask who is calling?"

"This is Detective Dylan Bayes. We spoke a few days ago about Matt LaClare."

Mamoru's eyes widened in surprise. Why would the detective be calling him?

"Yes, Detective, I remember." He paused. "Look, if you guys have more questions, I'm sorry, but I told you all I know."

"No, no, Mamoru. We're calling to let you know that..." There was a pause, and then the detective rushed on. "We've caught Matt LaClare."

Mamoru's eyes bulged.

"You WHAT?!" He shouted into the phone.

The detective laughed, a deep, booming laugh.

"Yes, we caught him earlier this morning. We wanted to let you know so you don't have that on your mind anymore."

Mamoru sank down on the couch, his ears ringing, not believing what he'd heard.

"Th-thank you, Detective," he managed to utter.

"Of course. We'll talk later about court dates. For now I just wanted to let you know, you don't have to worry about him any longer."

"I won't. Thank you, Detective."

"You're welcome."

There was a click, and Mamoru was left staring at the phone for a minute, before jumping up and giving a whoop.

"Usagi!" He called out.

She came out of the bedroom, a magazine in her hand, and raised an eyebrow at his enthusiasm.

'Well, whoever called must've given him good news. I've never seen him this happy.' She thought to herself with a wry grin.

"Who was on the phone?" She asked.

Mamoru grinned.

"That was Detective Dylan Bayes. Usagi... they caught Matt!"

Usagi blinked once, twice, three times.

"That's funny, Mamoru. Why would they call you and tell you that, when you didn't..." She stopped and her eyes widened. "You called them, didn't you?"

Mamoru looked away his good mood diminishing quickly.

"Usagi, I know you said not to... but... I'm sorry, I had to. And they called now. He was caught earlier this morning. Usagi, we don't have to worry about him anymore."

"Mamoru... this is great!" Usagi squealed suddenly, running to Mamoru and throwing her arms around him. "Thank you so much. For not listening to me," she added wryly, raising her eyebrow once more.

Mamoru laughed and lightly returned her hug, before setting her down.

"Well, seeing as that's the case, tomorrow is a short day, so what do you say we go out to dinner to celebrate?"

Usagi nodded eagerly.

"Sounds great!" She replied.

"Good," Mamoru said. "Now, about dinner for tonight..."

The cell they had put him in was dark, cold, and smelled of mold. His eyes flashed with disdain as he looked around, sitting on the small, hard cot that was pushed against the far side of his cell.

His thoughts turned to the bitch that had put him here. Her long, silver blonde hair, those angelic cerulean eyes. She had been perfect. The very word mortal, if used on her, was an insult. No, the girl was an angel.

And Matt had wanted her to be his. He'd wanted her to be normal.

He remembered the day perfectly. He'd taken her out for a fancy dinner, and then he brought her home. He remembered hitting the angel because she'd talked to another man about him hitting and bruising her. And then, he'd taken her. He still remembered the way she'd felt beneath him, as he'd pumped in and out of her, taking his time to make her as mortal as he could. And instead of being grateful, she'd been upset.

His eyes narrowed as he recalled her begging and pleading with him to stop. But he'd wanted a mortal human, not an angel. You couldn't marry an angel, and Usagi Tsukino was definitely an angel. All he'd done was make her more mortal.

But of course that's what he had done wrong. She didn't want to be a mortal; she wanted to remain an angel.

"Too bad, darlin'," Matt whispered lowly to himself, chuckling. "You're as mortal as the rest of us. And you should be grateful. When I get out of here, I'll teach you to be grateful. I told you never to call the police on me, but you did. And it's time I taught you a lesson."

With a slightly maniacal chuckle, Matt LaClare stood up, and began pacing, plotting in his head just how he was going to escape. And came up with a brilliant plan.

Usagi was lounging on the couch the next day, flipping through channels on the television, when the door opened.

Looking down at her watch, she was surprised to find it an hour before Mamoru should be getting home, even on his short days.

"You're home early, Mamo-chan," she called, not bothering to look up from the T.V.

There was silence for a moment, and then the sound of footsteps walking over to her. Her eyes closed at the touch of a warm mouth on her neck, and she laughed softly.

"You're in a playful mood, Mamo-chan...but why not talk?"

Opening her eyes she looked up... and screamed. Standing above her was Matt LaClare, smirking down at.

"I thought you were in jail..." she whispered, struggling to sit up. "They said you wouldn't find me!"

"Well, little bunny, it seems I did find you," he whispered. "And there are some things I need to talk to you about. First off, there's the whole calling the police thing on me." He raised his hand and hit her, hard, across the face. "I told you never to call them."

Usagi whimpered, raising a hand to where his fist had connected with her face.

"I didn't call them, Matt. I promise, it wasn't me."

"Oh really, bunny? Then who was it, hm?" Matt sneered. "Was it...the tooth fairy? Or maybe it was Santa Clause, hm?"

Tears leaked down Usagi's face, and she held herself still, not wanting to provoke him further.

Matt leaned down in her face, taking in the scent of her hair, lilacs and lilies.

"No, little bunny. I think it was you. But don't worry, I'm not going to kill you. Yet. There are some other things we need to discuss, and something we need to do." His mouth curved in a cruel smirk.

Raising his hand, he hit her again.

"That's for running away from me. Why'd you leave, bunny? Didn't you like the way I was treating you? I was only making you mortal. Your head was always so high in the clouds because you're an angel. I just needed to make you mortal. And now you are."

A third slap.

"That's for being ungrateful for everything I've done for you."

Usagi brought her hands up, shielding her face from his hands. His third slap had knocked her onto the floor, and she'd hit her head on the end table. Touching the spot gingerly, she gasped when her fingers encountered something sticky, and pulling her hand back, wasn't surprised to see it covered in blood.

"You see, little bunny? You're mortal now. But I knew you were mortal the first time I took you. After all, angels don't bleed. And you bled."

He looked down at her, and his lip moved up in a half smirk, half sneer.

"Now this looks familiar. And I think I'll repeat that little scene."

He bent down, picking her up and throwing her on the couch, unzipping his pants and letting them drop to the floor, and then moving to unzip her pants as well, pushing them down her.

"No, Matt, stop!" Usagi screamed.

"Shut up, you little bitch," Matt muttered as he crawled on top of her. "There's no one here to save you now."

"Usagi, I'm home!" Mamoru called as we walked into the apartment.

Setting his keys down on the end table, he was about to walk into the kitchen when he heard it. A high pitched scream that could only come from Usagi. Dropping everything, he ran towards the den, and pulling open the door, was encountered with a scene from his worst nightmare: Usagi, pinned to the couch, and Matt LaClare about to thrust into her.

"Shut up, you little bitch," He heard Matt say. "There's no one here to save you now."

Walking over to Matt, Mamoru grabbed him by the shoulder, swung him around, and punched him in the face.

"Guess again," he gritted out. "Tell me, Matt, how did you manage to get out of jail?"

Matt laughed harshly. His eye was already starting to swell from where Mamoru had hit him, making it hard to see out of that eye.

"And why would I tell you that, Mamoru? No, I'm not telling you that. But I will say this: next time, maybe you should request that they have more people watching me."

He laughed low in his throat, and stood, pulling his pants back up.

"Well, little bunny. We had a nice chat. I do hope we can have one again. And next time, I'll make sure we're uninterrupted. Mamoru, it was good to see you again. Until next time." And turning around, he sauntered out of the apartment, his hands in his pockets, leaving Mamoru staring after him, hatred filling his eyes, and Usagi finally falling unconscious from the wound on her head.

"That bastard will pay," Mamoru muttered under his breath. "Did he hurt you, Usagi?" There was no answer.

"Usagi?"

Bending over her, he noticed the new bruises forming on his face, but what caught his attention was the little puddle of blood underneath her head.

Picking her up, he moved her hair aside, quickly finding the gash on the back of her head. Realizing how serious even minimum head wounds could be, he set her down on the couch, and rushed to the telephone.

Picking it up, he quickly dialed an ambulance to come and pick her up, knowing he didn't have the equipment to treat her himself. That call made, he quickly picked the phone up again and dialed Motoki's number.

"Hello?" Motoki's voice answered.

"Motoki, its Mamoru. He was here, Motoki. He hit Usagi, and knocked her from the couch. Her head must have hit the end table; it's bleeding, and she'd unconscious. I called an ambulance. They should be here shortly. Meet me at the hospital, alright?"

Motoki drew in a deep breath at what Mamoru told him, and when Mamoru was finished, he nodded.

"Right. I'll call the other girls, and we'll be at the hospital as soon as we can. Take care of her, Mamoru."

Hanging up the phone, Mamoru rushed over to Usagi's side, picking her up and cradling her in his arms.

"It's alright, Usagi. You're going to be fine. Everything is going to be alright," he whispered, carrying her carefully down the stairs when the ambulance arrived, careful not to jar her.

The paramedics came and took Usagi from him, laying her down on the portable hospital bed and wheeling her into the back of the ambulance. Motioning for Mamoru to come with, the other paramedic got into the drivers seat of the ambulance, and Mamoru went to get in on the passenger side. The last he saw of Usagi before the door closed was the paramedic hooking her up to an artificial respirator, in hopes of getting her to breathe again.

In the ambulance, the paramedic looked over at him.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Someone..." Mamoru paused, unsure of how to say it. "Someone hit her, and she fell off the couch she was on. I think she hit her head on the end table, and when I got to her, she fell unconscious."

The paramedic's eyes widened.

"Someone hit her, you say?"

Mamoru scowled and nodded, not wanting to have to repeat himself.

"I swear to you, it wasn't me. I would never hit her... never."

The paramedic looked skeptical for a minute, but after looking once at Mamoru's face, the tight line of his jaw, his furrowed eyebrows, and the look of immense concern in his eyes, knew he was telling the truth.

"Alright," the paramedic said. "I believe you. She'll be okay. Don't worry about it."

Mamoru nodded, his hand clenched tightly into a fist, belying his calm exterior.

Looking at the paramedic, Mamoru finally asked, "What's going to happen to her?"

The paramedic shrugged. "Based on how she looks right now, I'd say just a few stitches, an overnight in the hospital to make sure she's truly alright, and she'll be good to go. There's not much more we can do than that."

Nodding, Mamoru looked out the window. Silently, the two of them rode the rest of the way to the hospital.