Chance Encounter
An Alternate Reality Sailor Moon Romance
by Time Guardian
Chapter 11 - Danger Zone
Usagi lay on the sofa enveloped in Mamoru's embrace, and thought about her life thus far.
Here she was, about ready to rediscover her singing career, a beautiful daughter to love, and a man who loved her for who she was, not the image of Aria Aure, pop idol. She wouldn't trade this moment for the world.
It was early evening, Mamoru made some popcorn and they watched a movie on television, but it was hard to focus on the plot since Mamoru kept caressing her hair and whispering romantic endearments in her ear.
Usagi had kept on her outfit that she had worn that day. Still, she felt the heat of his touch, his embrace and she thought it would drive her mad. The promises he had made for when they reached the bedroom- Usagi couldn't wait for the rest of the night to begin.
The ringing of the phone broke into their thoughts and obliterated the actors' voices in the movie.
Mamoru groaned and made a move to pick it up, but Usagi beat him to the punch. "No don't move. I will get it."
She leaned over and picked up the cordless phone to answer it. "Hello?"
There was little sound, save for some heavy breathing. Usagi made a move to hang up the phone when a deep scratchy voice came on the line.
"Aria Aure, the time has come. Meet me at Titan Records tonight, my love, and I will show you love like Toya never could."
She froze. Fear crept upon the fringe of her thoughts. "What-"
The voice interrupted her. "Now, now. Not to worry my love. I will make it all clear when you come visit me, but make sure you do not bring HIM with you. I wouldn't want to have to punish you before we start on our new life together."
This time she could barely find her voice. "Punish?"
The voice didn't reply. Instead, Usagi heard the click of a door opening and a fearful voice coming on the line. "Usagi? Don't give in to this monster-I-"
-No! Mrs. Chen!-
A loud smack cut off her words, and Usagi's worst fears were realized when she heard children crying in the background.
-No...-
The bastard had Mrs. Chen, Keiko and Chibi-Usa. Her stalker was going to use them as leverage to get her. She gripped the phone tighter as the disguised voice came back on the line.
"Well, my love, did you hear enough, my love? Will you come to me?"
Usagi ground the words out reluctantly, "Yes, but-"
She heard a menacing growl cut her off from the other end of the line. "No buts. You will be mine. Oh, and you better come alone. I wouldn't want anything to happen to them, after all. Mrs. Chen and her daughter are doing there best to keep your daughter calm, but I am not sure how long that will last. I shall see you later, my Aria Aure."
Numbness coursed through Usagi as she hit the disconnect button and placed the phone back over on the table.
"Who was that? Is everything okay, Usako?"
She sat back up, allowing Mamoru's embrace to warm her once more, but her thoughts ran a mile a minute.
After a moment Usagi made her decision. -I can't jeopardize their lives- that's too much to risk.-
She just hoped that Mamoru would buy her story.
After plastering a smile on her face, she turned to face him. "Oh, that was the studio. They were putting the last minute touches on one of my recordings, and they need me there to verify a few things."
Mamoru looked at his watch and frowned. "It seems to be pretty late in the evening to be asking you back to the studio. Can't it wait?"
She shook her head vehemently and struggled to think fast. "They won't allow me to perform tomorrow if I don't. Mamo-chan, please, I will be all right, I promise, but I have to go now. They are sending a car for me."
Usagi stared at Mamoru and awaited his reply.
For precious moments he did not say anything. Finally she was relieved when he sighed and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Be careful, my love. I think I will catch a nap on the sofa and wait for you to get back."
Usagi got to her feet, willing herself to remain calm. She slowly walked to the door and grabbed her shoes to put them on.
Looking back, she saw that Mamoru had nestled himself lower in the sofa.
She called out to him. "Goodbye, Mamo-chan. I love you."
Turning, she quickly went out the front door and closed it behind her.
Mamoru dreamed.
It was rare that he dreamed, but this dream was the strangest to date.
He stood at the end of a long corridor, surrounded by a strange smoke. The colors and the shapes made him think of Titan records, but why would he be here?
That was when he heard the sound- a breathing sound that was low and very distorted.
He called out. "Hello, is anyone there?"
No response. He took small steps forward, not seeing anything through the gloom.
"Hello?"
Still nothing. He began to wonder why he was here until he heard a woman scream.
He began to run. "Usako!"
The screaming continued. Mamoru picked up the pace. Sweat dripped off his back as he tried to find the source of the screams, but the hallway he found himself in seemed to stretch on for miles.
A growling sound came from suddenly came from behind him. He stopped and was ready to turn around when a new pounding sound broke into his thoughts.
Mamoru shot straight up into a sitting position on the sofa and breathed heavily. It took his mind a moment to register that he was in his apartment, laying on the sofa. A pounding had woken him up, and he realized that it was coming from his front door.
The pounding was becoming insistent. Mamoru groaned, getting to his feet and shuffling over to the front door. Opening the door, he was surprised by the sight of Taka standing before him, and judging by his clothes, he looked like he had come straight from his restaurant.
Taka rushed past Mamoru with a nervous energy, and began to pace in the living room. "Mamoru-kun, something is fishy at Titan records."
Mamoru ran a hand through his hair and tried to clear his sleep fogged mind. "We know that already, Taka-"
Taka put his hand on Mamoru's shoulders and gave them a shake to interrupt him. "Listen to me. I had one of the sound techs over in my restaurant eating dinner an hour ago when he got a suspicious call on his cell phone. Seems the caller was on the top floor near the president's office. I didn't get to hear much, but I distinctly heard the words 'gunpoint' and 'baby' mentioned before the sound tech cut off the caller and told him that he must had been hearing and seeing things. I found it suspicious considering the circumstances and rushed over here. Where's Usagi?"
A baby? A sinking feeling began to form in the pit of Mamoru's stomach. He rushed back over to the side table and snatched up his phone. Quickly dialing the number for the nearest police branch, he went through three different people before he managed to get a hold of Makoto Kinoto.
He spoke with any preamble. "Listen there's not much time, I need to know if you have received any home invasion or kidnapping calls in the immediate neighborhood in the past hour or so. It's important."
He voice sounded surprised. "Let me check."
Mamoru held the phone tightly as he heard Makoto typing away on a computer.
Makoto came back on the line muttering. "All right, out with it Chibia-san, what gives?"
The taxi dropped Usagi off right in front of the Titan records building. She got out and paid the man, then stepped forward.
The sun had set long ago, and the night around her seemed dark and foreboding. She had not been out this late since her day's as Aria Aure. Staring at the building, she bit back the wave of fear that had been threatening to tear her apart ever since she left the security of Mamoru's apartment.
She felt incredibly guilty for not telling Mamoru the truth, but it couldn't have been helped. Her daughter needed her and upon that, Mrs. Chen and Keiko had been brought into her mess as well. Usagi had thought running away was solving all of her problems, but instead it brought up new ones. Now it was up to her to save them from the madman that was stalking her.
Usagi opened the main door and encountered a security guard, but little else. The guard was dressed in a drab grey uniform and seemed trim for his age, but if the grey in his beard was any indication, the man had to be in his late fifties at least.
She approached the man. "Excuse me, my name is Usagi and I-"
The guard regarded her carefully and asked. "Tsukino Usagi?"
She nodded nervously. He was the only one here, and she was pretty sure he had never seen her before.
The guard fished in the trouser pocket of his uniform and brought out a small folded note. "One of the sound guys told me to give this to you when you came in tonight. Said it came from one of the offices upstairs."
He handed her the note and walked off, as if this was a normal night and she was just there for business.
With a nervous hand, she opened the note and read:
My sweet Aria Aure,
We will be reunited at last.
You never gave me a second glance
but now I ask for a chance
to win your hand.
Take the elevator to the top
do not pause, do not stop,
I want to see your smile again.
Her blood chilled as she read the signature below the twisted prose:
Sachi Shinjiro
Mamoru's worst suspicions were verified. "You found something."
Makoto read off what she had found. "An alert was posted about a half hour ago to our network. Neighbors in a neighborhood near to yours reported hearing a door busted in and one spotted a man dragging off a woman and two children."
Mamoru tensed. "What's the name of the person who lives there?"
"There is a woman named Maria Chen who is reported to live there with her child, Keiko. Strange though, one of the children reported taken was a baby."
He cursed. "Makoto, the stalker has Mrs. Chen, her daughter Keiko, and Usagi's daughter. I have reason to believe he is at Titan records and has lured her there, probably with the threat of harming them. Damn, I should have realized it when she walked out of here acting weird an hour ago. I am leaving here now with Taka. Can you get there right away?"
Makoto warned him. "I will join you as soon as I can with backup. We have enough proof this time, so we can not be denied. Be careful, Chibia-san, because if this guy was sadistic enough to kidnap a woman and two children, he will be dangerous."
He trembled slightly as Makoto parted with that warning. If anything happened to Usagi...
Mamoru quickly put the phone back on the table and stalked outside to his bike with Taka hot on his heels. All the while, he struggled with his feelings of helplessness. He had to get to the studio before it was too late. He couldn't bear to lose the woman he loved.
Mamoru motioned to Taka and handed him his spare helmet from his bike.
"We have to get to the studio. Now."
The elevator ride to the top floor felt like it was taking forever. Despite that, Usagi still did not have a plan. She said a quick silent prayer, hoping that she would know what to do if it came down to it.
The doors finally opened after a long moment, and she stepped out into the hallway. It was empty, but she heard a noise that sounded like a baby crying.
-Chibi-Usa!-
She ran, putting her ear up against every door that she encountered. Finally near the end of the hallway, she seemed to find the source of the noise.
A quick test of door yielded no results. It was locked, and no amount of physical force on her part was going to get it open.
She cried out, partly in frustration, partly in relief. "Hold on, Chibi-Usa. I'm coming!"
The crying continued as Usagi switched tactics and tried the next few doors, hoping to find something she could use to force the other door open.
The next door she opened beheld a surreal sight. A man lay sprawled on the floor of the vacant office. Blood was oozing from a cut on his forehead, but the glasses, the hair - she recognized him instantly.
Usagi stumbled away from the prone form of Sachi Shinjiro. For a moment, she had thought that he was dead, but upon closer inspection, she saw his chest slowly rise and fall. It looked like whoever had attacked him had only stunned him.
-But who could have done this?-
Seeing nothing that she could use to open the other door, Usagi turned to run and ran smack into Akuma. Relaxing slightly, she grabbed the front of his dress shirt and nearly broke down babbling.
"Please help me, Akuma-san. Sachi's has been acting real crazy and I think he may have kidnapped my daughter and my friends to get me here. He's been stalking me and-"
"Akuma's" face suddenly lightened, and he laughed as if he found the whole situation funny.
He looked at the body on the floor and then turned to Usagi, his features twisted into a forced smile. "Relax, my Aria Aure. There is nothing to worry about now. These contacts are a breeze once you get used to them. I figured I would give my glasses to my brother Akuma. After all, he always complained about having trouble reading the small type in all those documents he works with. I won't need them anymore. In fact, he kicked up
a big fuss, so I had to shut him up for a while."
Usagi's eyes widened in horror and realization as she released her hold on his shirt and backed away. The person standing before her was not Akuma-
It was Sachi.
Ok, the climax is here and Usagi is face to face with her stalker.
Find out what happens next time. -ducks as objects are thrown-
Till then, I remain faithfully,
Time Guardian