Everyone I am so sorry for the month delay for any updates. I was terribly sick and unable to sit at the computer for long periods of time. Once I became well, I lost the focus on all my stories and had to fight to get back into the swing of things. With that said, I thank all of you that were patient with me and encouraged me to continue via e-mails or reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter and read my other stories too. Now on with the show…

Homicide: The Death of Serena

By Crystaldove

Chapter 8

That night Sailor's Mercury and Jupiter continued their search and brought Luna along with them. Luna felt that since she was Moon's guardian, she would be able to sense something the others could not. The girls were searching for about an hour and found out nothing more than they did previously.

"This 'is' the area you were looking in the other day?"

"Yes Luna."

"Are you sure, I'm not picking up anything remotely like Serena's energy, or anything negative either."

"Well maybe you 'aren't' sensitive enough. I don't care what we were told, I hold you responsible for Serena leaving! She never wanted to be a warrior; you should have just found the rest of us. If she wasn't forced to be Sailor Moon she would have had time to concentrate on school!"

"But it was her duty… her destiny! She had to accept her responsibility, the rest of you did."

"But she isn't like us…she was pure."

"This topic is no longer up for discussion; I suggest that we look elsewhere, you were obviously told false information."

"You indignant, selfish, uncaring, little fleabag! I should choke the life out of YOU!"

Jupiter screamed reaching down to strangle the feline. Mercury jumped in to keep her from inflicting fatal damage to the guardian.

"Luna you need to leave, I can't restrain her much longer…"

"Jupiter your conduct is unacceptable!"

"Unacceptable my ass Luna…don't worry about me Mercury I am so outta here."

Jupiter shook herself loose from Mercury's grip and walked past them, not before flexing at Luna…causing her to flinch and jump away. Satisfied Jupiter continued her personal search.

Mercury powered down back to Amy and looked sternly at Luna.

"You 'were' out of hand Luna. Do you realize how hard Serena's disappearance has been on her. Serena was the first person to like her for her…not for her strength or her size. She found something other than a brain in me…and without her intervention I would still be alone…with my books being my only friend."

"I just feel guilty. You girls can do much more than I can. From what you've told me, Serena was hurt by someone she knew…not a monster or one of the generals. So I'm useless…and I'm taking my frustration out on you and Lita. I'm sorry…"

"It's alright Luna. But you still need to talk to Lita. Come on, let's go."

Luna and Amy walked off towards the docks once more. Amy checked on Lita via the communicator and neither found out anything new. Lita agreed to meet with Amy and Luna once more but stressed that she didn't want to hear anything Luna had to say.

Detective Monroe headed back towards the station after speaking with Mrs. Tsukino.

"Monroe how is your investigation going on the missing teen?"

"It seems that everyone I spoke to had motive, some more than others Captain. I need to bring them in for formal questioning."

"That close to solving case Monroe?"

"Yes sir, I am positive that one of these four murdered Serena Tsukino."

"I'll get the judge to issue the warrant; bring them in…"

"It's getting late Lita, we need to come back tomorrow."

"I guess your right Amy. We do have class tomorrow."

The girls and Luna started back towards Juuban when Amy noticed a small child standing in an alleyway.

"Hey wait Lita, there's a little boy over there."

"Huh, what is a kid doing here this time of night?"

"Come on."

The girls cautiously approached the child and noticed that he wasn't afraid and didn't seem lost.

"What are you doing here this time of night?"

"It's only 8:30…it's not late. Besides, I'm always out here."

"Why?"

"You've been here before…you're looking for your friend."

"Yes Serena? Do you know anything about her?"

"I know lots of things…I know that she was scared and lonely. I know that she knew the person who hurt her."

"How do you know that?"

"I told you; I know lots of things."

Lita looked down at the child. He appeared to be no older than 7 and his dirty blond hair was tucked under an old red cap. He wore a dirty white shirt with torn jeans and scraped red sneakers. But the feature that stood out the most was his eyes; they were as blue as a robin's egg.

"What's your name kid?"

"I have no name, but if you must refer to me, call me Simple."

"Simple, what a strange name for a child."

"I told you, I don't have a name. This is what the dock workers refer to me as…said it had something to do with my mannerism."

Lita pulled out a picture of Serena and showed it to him.

"Have you seen this girl?"

"She has experienced more pain than anyone has to…"

"What makes you say that?"

"I can see it in her eyes; there is no joy in them."

Amy took the picture from his grasp and studied it for a moment. She noticed that Serena had her typically bright smile and noticed her eyes; they lacked emotion. She then refocused on her smiled and noticed that it appeared to be forced. Pictures were taken after she became Mercury four months ago.

Amy reflected on the past months and realized that Serena's 'usual' happiness was false. Serena had been faking her happiness the entire time!

"Oh my…he's right Lita. Look at this picture. Her eyes look clouded and this smile is forced."

"But she has always…looked…that…way. She's been in pain all this time?"

"I know it's hard for you to come to grips with…"

The small child called Simple interjected. The girls looked at him in horror.

"Nobody understood her or the feelings she had. She had no one to confide in, afraid that she would be ridiculed once more."

"How do you know that!"

Lita screamed picking the child up to her face. He looked at her impassively, holding his eyes steady.

"I told you, I know lots of things."

Lita was restrained from doing anything further by Amy's hand. Since Serena's disappearance she'd been highly strung and easily angered.

"Put him down Lita. Simple are you psychic?"

"I have heard that term before… I guess... I was told I was weird. That's why I have no parents…they were afraid of me."

"So you do have an identity…a name?"

"I did, but a child without a family has no need for a name…"

"That's not true! I don't have parents either." Lita screamed at the child.

"Your parents loved you…they didn't want to leave you alone but they needed that trip to work out their problems. And no…you wouldn't been able to absorb all that lightening."

Lita's eyes widened beyond belief… this child knew about things she NEVER told anyone. Her friends knew her parents died in a plane crash, but she never mentioned that it was lightening that caused the engine failure.

Tears rolled down her face and she slumped to the ground. Amy looked at her confused and was about to ask her what was wrong when the child spoke again.

"Your parents are proud of you… just the way you are Amy. Your father didn't abandon you…your parents were having problems and he left. They later decided to divorce and this is why he never came back. He does love you and wouldn't want you to think any less."

Amy now understood why Lita was so upset. Apparently Simple told her something that she had expressed guilt about too. Now they both were in the same state. Simple just looked at them both and began to walk away, but the both were too emotional to notice.

"Don't worry about Serena…"

They both looked up towards the young child.

"She has found peace…"

He turned and walked away. Before the girls astonished eyes, he seemed to vanish. Lita snapped out of her stupor and ran in the direction he was headed. Amy heard the crashing to cans and various curses and knew that Lita was unsuccessful.

"Damn it Amy! How come everyone that knows something significant about Serena vanishes? First Smith and now Simple. How…how did he know about my parents? I didn't tell anyone about how the plane crashed. I didn't tell anyone about my guilt…I am the Senshi of Jupiter…I control lightening…I could have saved them."

"Lita he was right, there was nothing you could do. He knew my name…I never told him that. And I never told anyone of my parent's divorce. He said Serena is at peace…oh god, people only say that when someone is…"

"Dead…it's true isn't it. Serena really is dead. Detective Monroe wouldn't be searching for suspects for just a kidnapping…"

"You can't really believe that child Lita…you need…"

"SHUT THE HELL UP LUNA! What part of keeping your mouth shut didn't you understand? You heard what he said; he revealed things that we haven't told ANYONE! And you still have doubts?"

Lita picked Luna up by the scruff of her neck and stared her down.

"Where is she? You are as least concerned as Raye! Did the two of you do something to her, maybe in retaliation for her not coming to that last battle? But something went wrong…you were torturing her and something happened."

Lita looked at the frightened cat with fanatical eyes as she shouted her accusations. Amy stood to the side disbelievingly as Lita continued.

"You killed her…what did you do to her, where is she? How could you Luna…HOW COULD YOU?"

"No you are mistaken, I didn't do anything to her. I wasn't home when she ran. I was out with you girls."

"That's not true Luna…Serena disappeared after the attack…hours later. You weren't with me or Amy…you were with Raye. What did you talk about after we left huh? Did you plan to kill her then, or to just relieve her of her duties…but she beat you to it when she quit altogether!"

"Lita you're talking crazy…this is nonsense!"

"If it's crazy, then why is Raye a suspect?"

Luna looked at Lita in surprise; this was news to her.

"You seem surprised…didn't think your accomplice would be suspected? Well she is and her motive would be the leadership of the team…she would finally be the hero. You always felt that she was a better warrior Luna, always compared her to Serena; asking why Serena couldn't be more like Raye."

"No Lita…that's not true. You have to believe me!"

"Why should I, you haven't done anything to make me think otherwise. Is this why you disputed our leads and tried to get us to search in other areas, because we are on the right track!"

"Amy do something, you can't possible believe her!"

"I don't know Luna…she makes sense. And you don't have an alibi…neither does Raye. And Raye did try to convince us that Serena wasn't fit to be leader…that she would have."

"And I defended Serena with Lita!"

"Just a cover-up…and even if you did, your feelings could have changed!"

"No it's not true, I didn't do anything to Serena…"

Luna's pleading was interrupted by a call from an upset Sailor Mars…

"Mercury here."

"Where are you two, there is a monster here at the amusement park and I am all alone. I thought things would have been different without that Sailor Moon botching things up, but you two aren't doing any better!"

"Well you must not need us…well be there when we get there! Jupiter out!"

"Lita you aren't going to leave her to fend for herself?"

"Why not Luna, she did it to Sailor Moon…convinced Amy to do the same."

"Yeah, took my confusion for siding against her…but we won't sink to her level. Come on Lita."

"Right."

"MERCURY POWER"

"JUPITER POWER"

"Wait for me."

"You have four feet…get there on your own."

Mercury and Jupiter ran away leaving the panting Luna behind. She couldn't believe that the others believed that she had something to do with Serena's disappearance. She was amazed by the fact that Raye was a suspect. In their conversation's, Raye never mentioned that the police interviewed her. She would have to think about that later, with the others suspecting Raye, she would have to get there in time to intervene.

By the time the others got to the amusement park, there were several people lying about with their energy drained. Mars was fairing quite well having only minor scratches. Since Sailor Moon vanished, Zoicite didn't hang around like she used too. Her major battles were with Tuxedo Mask and since he wasn't there to stop her, the Negaverse were collecting all of the Rainbow Crystals.

"Well here is another Rainbow Crystal for me Sailor Failures…all I need are the ones that Cape Boy has and the Silver Crystal will belong to us."

She laughed hideously, causing the others to cringe.

"But don't feel so bad, I'll leave you a going away present."

Suddenly she felt a pain in her arm and almost dropped the crystal.

"You're not going anywhere Zoicite!"

"On the contrary Tuxie…now you can have your share of my PRESENT!"

In saying that, she released a huge ball of energy that slammed into the four warriors. Mars was in the front and took the brunt of the blast. Luna came upon the battle at this time and ran to check on them.

"Are you alright?"

Tuxedo Mask, Jupiter and Mercury had various cuts and scrapes. Their uniforms were severely torn and they were all bleeding in several places.

"I think I sprang my wrist."

Jupiter muttered. They all noticed that Mars hadn't said anything and feared that she had met her demise. Dirt and debris covered her and Luna ran to dig her out. Tuxedo Mask limped to join her but was halted when she crawled out of the dirt.

"Boy, someone needs her Midol."

The others looked at Mars in extreme shock.

"What are you staring at?"

"You were standing in front of all of us, yet there isn't a scratch on you anywhere."

Mercury pulled out her computer to check her initial observation.

"There is nothing physically wrong with you. Let me do another scan."

"Stop that!" Mars said while snatching the computer from her grasp. "I am fine, I used an ancient Martian chant to block her power…that's all. Now lets go and there will be a meeting tomorrow."

With that said she tossed the computer back to Mercury and headed home. Tuxedo Mask departed after asking the others to relay a message to Sailor Moon. Luna ran off before Jupiter could get her hands on her again.

"I still think she did something to Moon. And I don't believe that shit about some Martian chant either."

"I'll look into that later Jupiter. She might not have done anything. But you are right, that Martian chant stuff is fishy. I do believe that whoever hurt Serena didn't do it alone. I have been doing my own research and will relay my findings to the Detective by the end of the week. Maybe you can do the same about Mars."

Jupiter powered down and looked at Mercury. She collected her thoughts for a moment before she spoke again.

"Who do you think killed Serena?"

At this question Mercury powered down also and fixed her unblinking gaze on Lita.

"Who do I think killed Serena?" She repeated. "Our teacher…Miss H."

End chapter

Ok I hope this filled your craving for a mystery. I know this chapter may have lacked some of my usual charm, but every chapter can't be gold. Stay tuned for the next installment and review!

Dove