9: Comforting Presence

Motoki had been pacing the apartment (she's late! She's never late!), when he had heard the female scream. It had taken all of a millisecond for him to glance and Mamoru, fling open the door, and run down the fire stairs, with Mamoru hot on his heals. That scream, it sounded like… Serena! His panicked thoughts were echoed by Mamoru, as they followed the direction of the scream.

Serena screamed, paused, and screamed again, it was terrible. The sight was unbelievably horrific and scary, so incredibly cliché that Serena had always assumed she was safe from such a thing. Her mind was wiped blank, her eyes focused on the man in front of her. He had jumped from the bushes, which had been more than a little strange, but then he'd pulled a gun out of his pants. This was not right!

That was when she had screamed, not because the gun was pointed at her, but because the gun had been fired at someone in front of her, Rei. Someone who had once meant so much to her, was now lying on the ground with blood seeping out of a hidden wound.

The man turned around, his faced was shrouded in darkness from the bushes, but the gun was still out, now pointed at her. "Stay quiet girly, or you'll be next." There was a flash of white within the dark face, teeth, a ghoulish smile. Then he disappeared, to god-knows-where, like the ghoul he was.

Serena fell to her knees, reaching out to touch Rei, she was so close, yet so far away.. She was the part of Serena's old life, of Usagi's life, and no matter how much she now despised that part of her life, Serena couldn't let her die.

The two men ran out of the stair well, and across the apartment yard. They turned a corner, the way Serena was supposed to have come. Mamoru took the lead, starting to turn the next corner, he saw Serena kneeling in front of someone. It was a girl, lying on the pavement, not moving.

The girl was vaguely familiar to Mamoru, though he could not place the face.

"Gods, Rei!" Motoki breathed beside him, having finally caught up.

Mamoru's eyes boggled, he had expected more change from the girl he had been rather close to a few years ago, but she looked no different… well, aside from the spreading red stain on her abdomen.

The ambulance came and went, leaving Serena still kneeling where Rei had been, staring at the blood spattered on the pavement. The paramedics had said she was in shock, and that she needed to be taken back to the apartment to be warmed up and comforted. Mamoru had held his tongue during this; he was a doctor after all!

But this wasn't about him, nor was it really about Rei. Really, this was all about Sere- Usagi. And he was steadily realising that it was possible that her change was because of him, although he needed more proof on that.

They took Serena back to the apartment; Mamoru almost had to carry the shocked girl. Motoki made some excuse (Mamoru wasn't really sure what, he had only been paying attention to Serena) when they reached the apartment, and walked away, leaving the two of them on the couch together.

The blonde girl had sat heavily, but now was sitting straight up, staring at some unknown place on the wall. Mamoru made a small noise, trying to get her to relax, trying to get her to do something. His arms moved erratically, trying to decide if he should pull her back into his chest.

Eventually his need to protect the girl won over the part of his mind telling him it was a bad idea. But that was the side of his head that had told him to push Usagi away before he had left.

Mamoru's arms snaked out from him body, drawing the girl close. She shuddered, it was everything she had tried to protect herself from, but it was also exactly what she needed. Suddenly she began sobbing, her breath coming in gasps in between sobs; tears ran freely down her face which she promptly buried in Mamoru's chest.

She hurt. She hurt so badly. And Darien seemed to understand her pain, holding her tightly long after the tears had subsided.

Hey all.. Im so so very sorry about the delay.. i hope you werent wishing for this too hard.. but im happy, i think i did very well with this chapter, even after getting stuck on the bit with Rei.. so tell me if you think im right, or even if im wrong.. just feel free to tell me laughs umm review replies are on my author page.. i love you all! thanks so much!

xx Goddess Usa