@ all: Once again, sorry it took so long. I was very busy at the
university, but now, I have spring break, so I have a little time. The next
chapter won't take so long, I promise.
Also I would like to thank Maria, Karla, Lady Sylver, Shimmering Angel, Leeza, bodri, Star-Moon, and all the other readers for their feedback, and their interest in the story. Pretty soon we will find out more about the night when everything happened.
.
.
Chapter 15 - Hands
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If he had been powerful enough to banish the Inner Senshi back to the moon, he surely would have done so. Not even the fact that they had just saved his life changed anything about it. He had been so close to the truth, so close... Uranus was about to tell him, she hadn't taken a vow like the others. Maybe he could get to talk to her later, but for now he could forget all about it.
Uranus struggled against Venus' chain of hearts. Mars ran over to the still unconscious Mercury, while Jupiter yelled at him to run away.
They were three against one, they could get by. Once he was gone, there would be nothing left to fight over.
How unhappy Usagi would be, if she knew about this turn of events. He only hoped that she did not. It would break her heart. If she had been there, she could have stopped the fighting. No matter how different the goals of the Senshi had been, Usagi always knew how to keep the peace. But with her gone, there was no chance to make them realize how incredibly stupid this was. None of it made sense.
He left, because he was so sick and tired of it all. They could fight all night, if it was what they wanted. He didn't care anymore. Just let them fight...
Somehow he made it back to his car and drove home to his apartment. His shoulder hurt, and he didn't give a damn, if anyone found out, he was back home. What did it matter anyway? Nothing mattered anymore.
He finally fell asleep, hoping to avoid any nightmares. It was past midnight already. It was Friday!
Friday! The day he had last seen her! Friday, a week ago! The day his world wasn't broken yet. Her smile, her scent, the tender touch of her lips. Moments forever locked in his memory. Her hair swishing over his face, her skin burning under the touch of his hands. Her breath tickling his throat as it went faster, softly caressing his skin, whenever it slowed. The short moments of pain, when she pressed her chin into his shoulder. The warmth of her body, suddenly gone, as she rolled off to the side.
She lay curled up like a kitten, her head resting on his arm. Sweat glistened on her face, and her wrinkled school uniform revealed much more than it was supposed to. Like always, he couldn't help but think of the future - the day, when they finally would be getting married, and well - things would be a little different then...
He understood well, that she was exhausted now, so he left her alone for a while. Although it was difficult. Very difficult.
But as he noticed, she was breathing very slowly and regularly, he called her name. She didn't respond.
He shook her a little. "Usako!"She gave a sigh and snuggled closer to him.
"Usako, no! You can't sleep just now. That's not fair! Usako!"He shook her a little harder.
She opened one eye and closed it again. Then she turned around and buried her face in the pillow.
It was hopeless. Usagi had the rare talent of sleeping, wherever she dropped, and once she was asleep it was one hell of a job waking her up. Too much for his patience right now. Oh, well!
A few minutes later, he went to the bathroom.
He was still busy washing his hands, when he heard her scampering around again. "Mamo-chan, do you have a brush? I can't find mine, and my hair is so incredibly messy. Oh my gosh, look at my uniform. My mom will freak!"
He leaned at the bathroom door, regarding her with a mischievous smile. "Well, you should've taken it off!"
She gave a shriek, and her face turned bright red. "Mamo-chan! You're disgusting!" She finally found the brush, did her hair, and put the brush back into her school bag. "I really have to get going, I'll be late anyway! Can we meet tomorrow?"
"You know, I have to work tomorrow, and in the evening I'm going to the theater with Saori."
"I'll be sitting at home all alone, while you're having fun with other girls. Will you at least call me, when you get back?"
"Sorry, but I have no idea when I'll get back. We'll probably have a drink somewhere, and it may get late. You can't always make such a fuss when I'm going out with my friends. I'm sure Saori's boyfriend doesn't do that either."
"Saori has a new boyfriend?" Usagi shouted with glee, "why didn't you say so before? I hope, it's serious this time!"
She rushed to the door, but she turned around again, giving him a long, tender kiss. He held her close, wishing the moment to last forever. It had not.
Mamoru opened his eyes, at least there hadn't been any nightmares this time. These memories at least were clear without any riddles! Although the memories didn't hurt any less. Usako couldn't be dead! Their kiss seemed only moments away. It simply wasn't possible!
Despite all of his researching, and investigations there was one thing he had not done. He tried to convince himself, that he hadn't thought of it, but he couldn't deceive himself that easily. He had hoped to avoid it. He had hoped, it wouldn't be necessary. But he would never know the truth, if he didn't know what she had died of.
By early afternoon he was done phoning all the mortuaries in Juuban.
"Are you a relative?" the tiny woman with the round face wanted to know.
"Yes." It was the truth after all. "I'm her fiancé."
The woman eyed him dubiously, then she nodded. "This way, please."
He knew this would be hard. But it wasn't the first time he saw a dead body after all, so it probably wouldn't prove such a shock to him. There were worse things after all. After everything he had been through, it didn't really matter. If he just didn't think about it, he would be all right.
But it wasn't. It was, as if something inside him tried to strangle him, he gasped for air and couldn't get any. For one moment he thought he would faint, faint like a girl, then he had himself under control again. The moment he had feared so much, had finally come. He couldn't lie to himself anymore. She was gone, and she would never come back.
Her pale slender figure seemed to be carved out of stone, more like a marble statue than a human being. He couldn't help thinking of the queen of Crystal Tokyo sleeping in her crystal shrine. Only she wasn't sleeping. And she would never be queen, because the future had changed.
Whatever had happened to her, she must have met it with great calmness and serenity, since her face didn't show any signs of pain or fear. Hopefully, Haruka was wrong, maybe she didn't have to suffer that much after all.
He remembered Rei's different versions of the story, at first she had claimed, Usagi had been dead right away. But yesterday she had told him, Usagi had still been alive, when she found her. The second version made more sense, it would explain the promise the Senshi gave her. But what did Usagi want to keep from him and why?
He asked the round-faced woman to leave him alone for a little while. As soon as she was out the door, he pulled back the sheet. There wouldn't be much time, but it was enough to take a quick look at Usagi's injuries.
It wasn't difficult to see, that heavy objects had fallen on her, her whole body was bruised and battered. Many bones were broken. Her neck, too, it was not unlikely, that this had been the mortal injury. So far it made sense, considering she could have been hit by the rocks, as the cave broke down.
It also didn't go against Rei's first story about the barrels in the storehouse. There were ways to find out more about the objects, that had hit her, how sharp they were, or how heavy, but that wasn't the point. He was looking for something else. If Metallia had killed Usagi by letting rocks fall on her, the Senshi wouldn't have to keep it a secret.
He examined her broken neck more closely. The large bruise going all the way down her throat to her chest showed that this injury was also caused by one of the heavy objects. Barrels? Or maybe the rocks in the broken cave?
Yet something about it seemed strange to him. It was something about her throat.
The large bruise was hiding them well, if you didn't know what you were looking for. And since no one had had any reason to believe she died of an unnatural cause, no one had been looking.
But these were finger marks. Marks of strangulation. He was absolutely sure about it.
Whatever had happened down there, wasn't simply the doing of an energy being. Someone else had been involved.
Someone with hands.
Also I would like to thank Maria, Karla, Lady Sylver, Shimmering Angel, Leeza, bodri, Star-Moon, and all the other readers for their feedback, and their interest in the story. Pretty soon we will find out more about the night when everything happened.
.
.
Chapter 15 - Hands
-------------------------------
If he had been powerful enough to banish the Inner Senshi back to the moon, he surely would have done so. Not even the fact that they had just saved his life changed anything about it. He had been so close to the truth, so close... Uranus was about to tell him, she hadn't taken a vow like the others. Maybe he could get to talk to her later, but for now he could forget all about it.
Uranus struggled against Venus' chain of hearts. Mars ran over to the still unconscious Mercury, while Jupiter yelled at him to run away.
They were three against one, they could get by. Once he was gone, there would be nothing left to fight over.
How unhappy Usagi would be, if she knew about this turn of events. He only hoped that she did not. It would break her heart. If she had been there, she could have stopped the fighting. No matter how different the goals of the Senshi had been, Usagi always knew how to keep the peace. But with her gone, there was no chance to make them realize how incredibly stupid this was. None of it made sense.
He left, because he was so sick and tired of it all. They could fight all night, if it was what they wanted. He didn't care anymore. Just let them fight...
Somehow he made it back to his car and drove home to his apartment. His shoulder hurt, and he didn't give a damn, if anyone found out, he was back home. What did it matter anyway? Nothing mattered anymore.
He finally fell asleep, hoping to avoid any nightmares. It was past midnight already. It was Friday!
Friday! The day he had last seen her! Friday, a week ago! The day his world wasn't broken yet. Her smile, her scent, the tender touch of her lips. Moments forever locked in his memory. Her hair swishing over his face, her skin burning under the touch of his hands. Her breath tickling his throat as it went faster, softly caressing his skin, whenever it slowed. The short moments of pain, when she pressed her chin into his shoulder. The warmth of her body, suddenly gone, as she rolled off to the side.
She lay curled up like a kitten, her head resting on his arm. Sweat glistened on her face, and her wrinkled school uniform revealed much more than it was supposed to. Like always, he couldn't help but think of the future - the day, when they finally would be getting married, and well - things would be a little different then...
He understood well, that she was exhausted now, so he left her alone for a while. Although it was difficult. Very difficult.
But as he noticed, she was breathing very slowly and regularly, he called her name. She didn't respond.
He shook her a little. "Usako!"She gave a sigh and snuggled closer to him.
"Usako, no! You can't sleep just now. That's not fair! Usako!"He shook her a little harder.
She opened one eye and closed it again. Then she turned around and buried her face in the pillow.
It was hopeless. Usagi had the rare talent of sleeping, wherever she dropped, and once she was asleep it was one hell of a job waking her up. Too much for his patience right now. Oh, well!
A few minutes later, he went to the bathroom.
He was still busy washing his hands, when he heard her scampering around again. "Mamo-chan, do you have a brush? I can't find mine, and my hair is so incredibly messy. Oh my gosh, look at my uniform. My mom will freak!"
He leaned at the bathroom door, regarding her with a mischievous smile. "Well, you should've taken it off!"
She gave a shriek, and her face turned bright red. "Mamo-chan! You're disgusting!" She finally found the brush, did her hair, and put the brush back into her school bag. "I really have to get going, I'll be late anyway! Can we meet tomorrow?"
"You know, I have to work tomorrow, and in the evening I'm going to the theater with Saori."
"I'll be sitting at home all alone, while you're having fun with other girls. Will you at least call me, when you get back?"
"Sorry, but I have no idea when I'll get back. We'll probably have a drink somewhere, and it may get late. You can't always make such a fuss when I'm going out with my friends. I'm sure Saori's boyfriend doesn't do that either."
"Saori has a new boyfriend?" Usagi shouted with glee, "why didn't you say so before? I hope, it's serious this time!"
She rushed to the door, but she turned around again, giving him a long, tender kiss. He held her close, wishing the moment to last forever. It had not.
Mamoru opened his eyes, at least there hadn't been any nightmares this time. These memories at least were clear without any riddles! Although the memories didn't hurt any less. Usako couldn't be dead! Their kiss seemed only moments away. It simply wasn't possible!
Despite all of his researching, and investigations there was one thing he had not done. He tried to convince himself, that he hadn't thought of it, but he couldn't deceive himself that easily. He had hoped to avoid it. He had hoped, it wouldn't be necessary. But he would never know the truth, if he didn't know what she had died of.
By early afternoon he was done phoning all the mortuaries in Juuban.
"Are you a relative?" the tiny woman with the round face wanted to know.
"Yes." It was the truth after all. "I'm her fiancé."
The woman eyed him dubiously, then she nodded. "This way, please."
He knew this would be hard. But it wasn't the first time he saw a dead body after all, so it probably wouldn't prove such a shock to him. There were worse things after all. After everything he had been through, it didn't really matter. If he just didn't think about it, he would be all right.
But it wasn't. It was, as if something inside him tried to strangle him, he gasped for air and couldn't get any. For one moment he thought he would faint, faint like a girl, then he had himself under control again. The moment he had feared so much, had finally come. He couldn't lie to himself anymore. She was gone, and she would never come back.
Her pale slender figure seemed to be carved out of stone, more like a marble statue than a human being. He couldn't help thinking of the queen of Crystal Tokyo sleeping in her crystal shrine. Only she wasn't sleeping. And she would never be queen, because the future had changed.
Whatever had happened to her, she must have met it with great calmness and serenity, since her face didn't show any signs of pain or fear. Hopefully, Haruka was wrong, maybe she didn't have to suffer that much after all.
He remembered Rei's different versions of the story, at first she had claimed, Usagi had been dead right away. But yesterday she had told him, Usagi had still been alive, when she found her. The second version made more sense, it would explain the promise the Senshi gave her. But what did Usagi want to keep from him and why?
He asked the round-faced woman to leave him alone for a little while. As soon as she was out the door, he pulled back the sheet. There wouldn't be much time, but it was enough to take a quick look at Usagi's injuries.
It wasn't difficult to see, that heavy objects had fallen on her, her whole body was bruised and battered. Many bones were broken. Her neck, too, it was not unlikely, that this had been the mortal injury. So far it made sense, considering she could have been hit by the rocks, as the cave broke down.
It also didn't go against Rei's first story about the barrels in the storehouse. There were ways to find out more about the objects, that had hit her, how sharp they were, or how heavy, but that wasn't the point. He was looking for something else. If Metallia had killed Usagi by letting rocks fall on her, the Senshi wouldn't have to keep it a secret.
He examined her broken neck more closely. The large bruise going all the way down her throat to her chest showed that this injury was also caused by one of the heavy objects. Barrels? Or maybe the rocks in the broken cave?
Yet something about it seemed strange to him. It was something about her throat.
The large bruise was hiding them well, if you didn't know what you were looking for. And since no one had had any reason to believe she died of an unnatural cause, no one had been looking.
But these were finger marks. Marks of strangulation. He was absolutely sure about it.
Whatever had happened down there, wasn't simply the doing of an energy being. Someone else had been involved.
Someone with hands.