October 5- Juuban Police Department- Interrogation Room

11:13 am

"Ken, don't let them do this to me... I didn't do anything to her! Why aren't you helping me?"

"Why are you asking me Ilene? My daughter is missing, my son is confused and my wife is being arrested for my daughter's disappearance! Now I've realized that the woman I married lied to me. I don't know who you are, but you will not be in my life any longer."

Ilene looked at him with tears streaming down face, fear evident as she began to quiver.

"What do you mean Ken? I'm your wife!"

"You are for now... but you won't be much longer. Its over, I'm filling for divorce!"

"No you can't do that... what happened to for better or for worse?"

"For worse...for worse? We are past worse; my daughter could be dead because of you and all you are concerned with are our vows? Yes, till death do us part indeed."

Ken stormed out of the police station and retreated to his car. In the sanctuary of his vehicle he broke down into uncontrollable sobs.

Ilene turned to look at Det Monroe, her previous tears gone her face turned up with a snarl.

"This is all you fault! My life is over because of you." She charged at him while the officers tried to restrain her. "If you never came snooping around about Serena my life would be perfect and my family would still together!"

He easily grabbed her before she completely embarrassed herself. "Oh yes your family... the ones you wanted included in your family! Maybe if you were a decent, loving and observant mother maybe Serena wouldn't have left home. Tell me Ilene, did you see leave that night and decided to follow her...to punish her."

"Did you confront her and the two of you had words. But you did more, did you hit her and knock her out. Was it an accident and you covered it up?"

Ilene looked at him with wide eyes. "No, you're wrong! That didn't happen at all. Why do you keeping saying that I killed her?"

"Where is Serena, Ilene? For once show compassion for the daughter you never gave any love to, give her soul and your husband peace!"

She looked up at him as the officers restrained her. "Peace, why should she have the good life when I suffered? All I wanted was for my father to love me, to be proud of me. For as long as I can remember I was just a waste of space to him. Any academic achievement was frowned upon because I could do better. He told me that he was surprised that someone actually wanted to marry me."

"Ken is a wonderful man; he respected me, my opinions and my desires to raise a family. I wanted to give him a son so bad. When Serena was born I was crushed. I had failed at something again. But surprisingly he stayed with me, he told me that he wanted a little girl... a little princess to pamper. I knew he was just trying to make me feel better."

"But the joy he had on his face when we had Samuel 3 years later. I have never seen him so happy..."

"Really, he wasn't happy to have a daughter? Could it be your disappointment clouded your perception of just how happy he was to have a daughter. You were depressed, afraid that he would abandon you therefore you saw what your 'heart' allowed you to. When I was at your home looking over your family portraits I did see a couple of Serena and her father..."

"Yes, Ken actually insisted to take pictures with just him and Serena." Ilene interrupted. "I guess he didn't want her to feel bad so he would take her places when she was younger. And that wore off as she got older. He finally saw what a waste of time she was..."

"YOU WILL STOP TALKING ABOUT YOUR DAUGHTER LIKE THAT!"

The entire prescient was rendered silent as Det Monroe continued.

"Just because your father didn't love you due to his ignorance didn't give you the right to treat Serena like she wasn't important! F.Y.I Ilene MEN determine the gender of their children. So if your father wants to blame someone for having a daughter, tell him to look at himself! Most men dream of having a daughter to nurture and protect. Just because your father's sick and twisted mind made you think you were worthless, didn't mean you have the right to make your own daughter feel that way."

"Parents are supposed correct the mistakes their parents made with them, not continue them. Contrary to your beliefs Ilene there are people out there that love your daughter and hope for her safe return; your husband happens to be one of them! Get this scum out of my sight."

Wide-eyed and speechless, Ilene was taken away by the arresting officers for processing. After she was lead away, Monroe headed back into the interrogation room.

"Monroe are you alright?"

"Yes sir, well I just can't believe there are other people like my father in the world. For a parent to purposely cause the suffering of his/her child. That is a crime worse than murder. It's just a shame that our society doesn't view it as such."

Commissioner Tenou looked at his newest detective and smiled. "Jared you're not alone in your desires, there are many that fight for the plight of abused and neglected children. It's just that those who make the rules are the ones that limit what can and will be done with prosecuting."

-----

Ken Tsukino sat in his car still shaken by the responses his wife made about Serena. Every time he remembered her words the more hardened his heart became. His wife, the mother of his children expressed nothing but disdain and contempt for his baby girl and he had been blind to it the entire time... or was he?

Flash

"Ken I have great news...we're going to have a baby!"

"Really? We can start a family of our own. I hope we have a girl I can spoil..."

Ilene's eyes darkened as she looked at him. "Why have a girl when a son can carry on my father's business and your family name?"

"I don't care about that, I have always wanted a daughter to protect and be her hero..."

End flash

"But I didn't protect you Serena...my little bunny. Ilene never wanted a girl and was upset when you were born. I just attributed it to post partum depression. Back then I was still around to give you the love and attention you needed. But the demands of running the home became too much on my meager salary and I had to get another job. I was proud when I became editor of the paper, which meant you would never have to want for anything. The only thing I couldn't provide was you was a mothers' love."

----

Crown Arcade & Fruit Parlor- 1:30

5 young adults sat in silence in the back booth at the Crown Fruit Parlor. Before them sat untouched food and watered down drinks, sighs would occasionally pass from one to the other.

"After all this time, the police are still no closer in finding Serena as they are in finding a suspect. I hope she is still ok." Molly stated as she played with one of her fries. She noticed as the days passed how much Serena meant to the other people sharing the booth. Granted she was Serena's best friend but the others have only known her for a few months yet there were in as much pain as she was.

"I just can't believe that Serena's mother is a suspect." Everyone looked at Molly like she grew a second head. "You guys didn't know?" Everyone shook his/her head in the negative as they were still unable to speak. "Her brother told my Aunt this morning. He was sent to my cousin Mika's house because the police took Mrs. Tsukino in for questioning. Sammy also told them that Mrs. Tsukino packed up Serena's room a few days ago and moved Sammy into it. Apparently she treated her daughter like an outsider in her own home."

"Well that explains why Serena never wanted us to visit her." Amy stated. "She always wanted to meet other places, even the shrine rather than having us to come to her house. All this time, we didn't know."

"But Mrs. Tsukino seemed concerned enough when we went by the house."

"It could have been a ploy Lita. History has shown when a parent is involved in the disappearance of a child, they normally show concern until the pressure is turned up on him/her to do otherwise." Darien finished.

"I didn't know anything either and I'm supposed to be her best friend." Molly put her head down as tears began to cloud her vision.

"Don't beat up yourself Molly, there were many things that went unnoticed by all of us. Poor Serena, I thought she would have been the most stable of us, having both parents to guide and nurture her..."

"Having parents is underrated. For Serena to not have a loving home and to bare the burden of that secret for so long, I'd say she is better off without a mom like that." Molly and Amy looked up to see Lita staring off out of the window. "My parents died when I was 10 and I have done pretty well without them. Serena's a tough girl... whoever was out to hurt her knew this... that's why she hasn't been found."

"I don't have any parents either Lita. They died in a car accident when I was 6. I don't remember them, I barely remember myself. But we can say that both of our parents loved us... that's gives me strength to go on each day. But Serena couldn't say that. From what I gathered, her father loves her dearly. I feel sorry for him."

Andrew stood up to help his sister take a few orders. Deciding to leave the two alone, Amy and Molly retreated down to the arcade.

"I know I wasn't the nicest person to Serena and everyday I regret my actions. I regretted them when they occurred but I thought if I apologized she would throw it back at me. I wouldn't blame her either I was rotten to her."

"She wouldn't readily admit it Darien, especially around Raye, but she liked arguing with you. If you think about it, you helped her get rid of the built up frustration from her mom and Ms H. With all of us I think she felt normal." Darien stared at Lita as tears began to stream down her face. "She was the first real friend that I had. She ignored all the whispers of our other classmates and introduced herself. She embraced me for me and didn't care that I had a reputation as a troublemaker."

"I have never felt as useless as I do now. Darien, we owe it to ourselves to find out what happened to her!"

"Your right, lets go find her."

Central Headquarters- 2:15

Mina Aino also known as Sailor Venus sat at the computer scanning over the events of the last few months. When she was working under the alias Sailor V she was helping the police stop jewel thieves, while making sure the jewels were not the ones she was looking for. It was a lonely job; at least she had Artemis to guide her. That is more she could say for Sailor Moon. The heroine literally stumbled on the scene and foiled a jewel robbery that happened to be the 1st real attack of the enemy.

With little to no advice or assistance, she foiled the exploits of the Dark Kingdom and found their fellow Soldiers. Serena's disappearance could be related to the enemy, she thought, however the enemy wouldn't keep that kind of secret to themselves.

"Artemis, this doesn't bode well. From our research there 1 rainbow crystal in our possession, 2 are with Tuxedo Mask, the enemy has 4 and we have not located the carrier of the 8th and most important crystal. Also the enemy has been quiet up until the Sailor Moon impersonation done by Zoicite a few days ago. That trap seemed personal; she wasn't after the rainbow crystals."

"Do you think they know...?"

"Of course they don't! She snapped. "The others can't even fathom the reason behind these battles, so I know the enemy is clueless as to what we are up to. But that doesn't mean we can't slip up now. I feel something big is about to happen and it's going to happen soon."

End chapter

This is for you Sean! I hope this chapter satisfies you for now. And yes, the finale is coming and I am writing it now. Its something how as a writer you have this grand vision, you see the ending of your story and it takes you forever to get there.

Enough babbling… please review.

An update on Tangent is forthcoming.

Dove