A/N: Wow. Wow. This story has totally spiralled into something I did not expect.

Please note that I vehemently intended it to be three parts long. But there was simply no way NOT to end last chapter where it did. Therefore, the chapters are now quite grossly disproportioned, and there will be an epilogue, which I detest, but betraying one's principles appears to be an integral part of growing up.

As always, big thanks to Jade-eye for practically being the midwife to this story despite all the crazy work she's had to do.

Disclaimer: I'm starting to think that nobody owns Sailor Moon and company…they're all so headstrong…

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Leather and Lockets

Four

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Hot pain stabbed through the unconsciousness. Suddenly she had a body, and it was doubling like a butterfly pinned to corkboard. More, hotter pain shimmered across her body, seared across her head.

"Sshh, sweetheart, it's alright. I'm just adjusting your IV. It's okay…" A hand touched her shoulder.

She gasped, eyelids flying open, and wrenched away from it.

A cacophony of metallic crashes and plaintive beeps attacked the air.

Serena cringed, then bolted up, eyes darting for Buji. She was the adult, she had to protect him –

White, blue, white met her eyes. Confusion filled her, then slowly drained from her as she realized that she was in a hospital room. She looked down.

Saw a brown-haired woman in scrubs entangled in a jumble of IV stands and wires and tubing.

"Oh, dear," said the woman. "I'm sorry for startling you. It's okay, sweetheart, you're in the hospital. You're safe."

Serena stared at her; slowly, memories began to filter back into her mind. "Get out!" A shattering vase. Headlights. Throbbing music.

For a minute the blue-haired man's face wavered in her mind, but then Seiko's replaced it. She looked down at herself. Saw a thin blanket covering one of her legs, saw the other one suspended in a cast; saw her left arm wrapped in a veritable sleeve of gauze and her right arm encased in a straight cast from shoulder to wrist.

The sight seemed to pull back the curtain that had momentarily fallen to conceal her pain. It roared back to the forefront of the stage, searing along nearly ever inch of her limbs, a second skin of agony that pushed tears to the surface of her eyes.

The nurse must have fought her way free of the medical equipment, for she was leaning over Serena now, murmuring quiet reassurances. She picked up Serena's left wrist and clucked. Serena, watching the compression of her lips, followed the woman's brown eyes to her hand, and saw that the skin on the top of her hand had been ripped when the IV was torn out of her skin.

The nurse murmured apologetically, something about needing to keep Serena on pain medications, and turned over Serena's arm. She fiddled with the IV before wiping an area of Serena's skin near her elbow with an alcohol wipe from her smock and reinserting the needle. Serena's eyes, trying to look at anything but the needle, landed on her wrist instead. They widened as she saw the dark purple streaks there. The blue-haired man burrowed into her mind again.

She bit her lip, gagged as she tasted the bitter ointment that covered it.

"Oh, yes." The nurse looked up and straightened, gently setting Serena's arm back down. "Sorry, I should have told you. You're scraped pretty much all over, so don't lick your lips if you don't want to get a mouthful of that first-aid cream, okay? Would you like some water?"

Serena nodded, winced at the pain that shot up the back of her neck into her skull. She quickly arrested the movement and rasped instead, "Yes, please."

The nurse lifted a cup from the table beside the bed and put it to Serena's lips. Serena sipped the lukewarm water at first, then swallowed thirstily, trying to lift her free hand to hold the cup. But the nurse held it down gently, telling her that she couldn't rip out the IV again.

When the cup was empty – and it hadn't even been full to begin with, thought Serena tiredly, her mouth still full with the ointment's bitter taste – the nurse set it back down on the table.

Then she picked up the chart from the end of Serena's bed and, as she began to write on it, said, "The doctor'll be in just a few minutes, okay? There's a button right beside your hand that you can push if you need something, and I'll be right back – "

"…w…wait…!" Serena rasped.

The nurse glanced over her shoulder, her hand paused over the doorknob, smiling encouragingly.

Serena swallowed, for her own outburst had surprised her. She had told herself she didn't want to know, but – "Are – are my parents here?"

The smile faded from the nurse's face. "Oh, well, you're tired." She opened the door. "The doctor will be right in, and I'll get you some more water, okay?"

She left the door open a crack behind her. Serena stared at it and tried to feel angry instead of like crying.

"I don't care how you feel."

"Get out!"

"You shouldn't be here."

Seiko may have done this, this physical damage to her, but what truly hurt, what made her want to tear the IVs from her arms and stumble out into the snow and die, was what she had done to herself.

Serena had known, she had known, that saying what she meant, doing what she wanted, would only end with her being alone.

She laughed, a sound choked with tears, because why hadn't her brain asked her then, when she was yelling at Darien, when she was arguing with her parents, why hadn't it asked her then what the hell she was doing?

She laughed and she laughed and she laughed – and then she stopped.

Why hadn't it asked her?

"Lita, my brain sounds just like you!"

She remembered saying that. What would Lita have done?

Lita would have argued with Darien. If she had seen what Serena had seen, how tterrified Buji was by Darien leaving him alone, she would have yelled at him. She probably would have kicked his ass. And Lita would never, ever, let her parents parents turn her into something that she didn't want to be.

Serena opened her wet eyes and stared at the bare hospital wall.

That was why her brain hadn't yelled at her.

Because she had done what Lita would have done – what was right.

Serena twisted her head, ignored the pain that stabbed up her skull, and scrubbed her mucus-covered, tear-stained face against the pillow.

Then she lifted her chin, pulled the lever to move her bed into a sitting position, and waited with determined lips for the doctor to come in.

But someone else came in first.

"Psst!" Two sets of eyes appeared in the crack between the door and the doorjamb.

She blinked at them – then, as the door swung in, and the eyes' owners darted into the room, she gaped. "Ami? Rei?"

"No need to sound so surprised, Serena," said Ami, looking a little bashful as she tiptoed closer to the bed. "How do you feel?"

"You look HORRIBLE," Rei declared, plunking herself down on the chair beside Serena's bed. Her crutch was gone.

"You wouldn't look good if you'd had eight bones broken by a speeding drunk driver either, Rei," said Ami reprovingly, and she touched Serena's hair gently.

"Oh," said Serena, with relief. "He was drunk?"

"Like it makes a difference!" Rei pounded the arms of her chair. "Why do you sound so happy about it? He practically killed you!"

"Yes, but if he was drunk it wasn't on purpose," said Serena. "If he'd done it sober, that would mean he really hated me."

Rei considered this for a moment, one eyebrow going up and down as she pondered. At last, she shook her head. "Well, I hate him."

Serena ducked her head. She knew that she shouldn't feel good about her friend hating someone, but she did. "Thank you."

"He deserves whatever he gets," said Ami, lips compressed. She touched Serena's cast lightly. "But Serena, really, how do you feel?"

Serena smiled at them. "Really good."

Rei squawked. "That's bull, look at you! You look like the crypt keeper." She leaned forward in her chair, pulling a rolled-up newspaper from her purse and waving it around. "I understand that Shields practically saved Roppongi singlehanded and all, but he couldn't have driven you home afterward? I mean, you help him bust a freaking drug ring but he can't be bothered to spare you half an hour to – "

Ami's eyes widened suddenly; she darted to the window. "My mom's coming!" she hissed.

Rei's eyes snapped wide. "We'll be back!" she hissed at Serena, and together, she and Ami sprinted to the door and darted out.

Serena blinked in confusion once more – but she had barely any time to sort out what the heck Rei had been talking about, because the door opened again, and two women walked in. One was slender in a white doctor's coat, the other taller and curvier in a sweater and skirt.

"Hello, Serena-san," said the doctor. Serena's eyes roved her face

"Hello," returned Serena politely. Her eyes roved the doctor's face uncertainly, noting the crisp black hair that waved around it and the delicate features. "Are you Ami's mom?"

Mizuno-san looked very serious. "I am," she said. "I wish that we could have met under happier circumstances."

Serena flushed guiltily beneath the ointment caking her face. Did Mizuno-san think the same thing that her parents did about her going to Roppongi? What if she didn't let Ami be friends with Serena before. "I'm sorry."

"That is not what I meant. I meant that it was unfortunate that you were injured. You have nothing to be sorry for, Serena." The doctor's voice was firm. "Alright?"

Serena looked up, met Ami's mother's eyes. She nodded. "Alright."

"Ah," said Mizuno-san as she saw Serena's wince. "No nodding for now. You may not have noticed, but you have currently have eight stitches in your scalp, Serena-san."

"Wow, really?" Serena blinked. "Eight stitches and eight broken bones." She smiled a little at the coincidence.

Dr. Mizuno eyed her with a cocked brow. "I would ask how you found out that you have eight broken bones – or rather, who you found it out from – " Her eyes flicked down to the folded newspaper lying next to Serena's arm. Rei must have forgotten it there in her haste to hurry from the room, Serena realized with a wince. " – but I think I already know."

She paused, went to the foot of the bed. "Give me a moment to read this, please." She lifted the chart's clipboard and slid on a small pair of reading glasses.

Serena's eyes slid from Dr. Mizuno to the auburn-haired woman who had accompanied her. She smiled gently at Serena and folded herself into the chair that Rei had occupied a few minutes ago.

"Were you reading the paper?"

"What? Oh." Serena looked down at the newspaper and lifted it clumsily with her bandaged fingers. "Um…"

"It's very exciting, isn't it?" said the woman. "Like something from a movie."

Dr. Mizuno cleared her throat. The woman smiled at Serena and shifted her eyes to the doctor; Serena followed suit.

Dr. Mizuno slid a penlight from her coat pocket. "I'm going to shine this into your eyes, Serena."

Serena obligingly sat very still, trying not to squint as the harsh beam of slight made her eyes, first the right, then the left, water.

"Hmm," said Dr. Mizuno. She sat back, clicked off the penlight and put it back in her pocket. "Why don't you tell me what you remember happening to you, Serena?"

Serena blinked her eyes, chasing the faint film of water away. "I…well, I was walking."

Dr. Mizuno nodded encouragingly. Serena's eyes flicked to the auburn-haired woman; she was nodding, too.

"I slipped," said Serena. "I do that a lot. I fell on the ice, and my locket came off. It fell in a storm drain on the street. There weren't any cars coming, so I went into the road to reach for it."

Reliving the memory aloud, she felt quite acutely how stupid they must think her. Who would lie on their stomach in the middle of a street to get a cheap piece of metal out of a gutter?

"But my arm got stick in the grate. I tried to get it out, but then… I saw Seiko's car coming at me."

The memory of his headlights careening toward her in the darkness collided with her memory of what Rei had said, and her eyes went wide, her mouth dry.

"I should be dead," she realized aloud. Her eyes went to Dr. Mizuno, bewildered. "How am I not dead?"

Dr. Mizuno set down her chart. "I think that would be thanks to this." She bent, picked up something from the floor at the foot of the bed, and held it up for Serena to see.

It was a clear plastic box, its sides smeared with reddish-brown, and inside it huddled a heap of torn black fabric. Just barely Serena could see a glint of silver thread.

"The car stopped in time to prevent any skull fractures or penetrating head injuries, but you still had copious bleeding from a cut made by a hood ornament on the car," Dr. Mizuno said. "You would have bled to death long before the ambulance arrived if your head hadn't landed on the jacket after the car hit you. The leather was heavy enough to staunch the blood flow from the wound until the EMS got to you. You are a very lucky girl, Serena."

"…" Serena stared at the box for a long moment. Her throat was tight and constricted, as though a cast encased her neck as well as her limbs.

Something white crossed in front of her eyes. Startled, she focused on it, only to realize that it was her arm, lifting toward the box with the jacket.

Dr. Mizuno placed it in her lap. Serena opened the lid and brushed the stuff, blood-crusted leather with her finger.

The auburn-haired woman leaned forward, smiling gently. "You parents gave that to you?"

"No." Serena gave a short laugh as tears began to crawl again from her eyes. "They gave me the locket."

For a moment, neither the woman nor Dr. Mizuno said anything. Serena's fingers found the silver wolf patch and tried to scrape the gunked blood from its proud muzzle.

"Well." The auburn-haired woman spoke up, leaning forward. Serena's eyes flicked to her. "Serena, you're probably wondering why I'm here."

She looked very solemn. Serena stopped picking at the patch and began to nod – quickly stopped. "Yes, ma'am," she said instead.

"My name is Sakurada Haruna," said the woman. "I'm a social worker from the Ministry of Welfare for Children and Families."

Serena's eyes traveled to Ami's mom. The doctor was watching her with that same quiet, watchful gaze that Ami often had.

She looked back to Haruna-san. "I…don't understand."

"You were in a car accident, Serena," said Dr. Mizuno.

Serena wasn't sure if it was a statement or a question. "Yes?"

"We receive many patients from car accidents," said Ami's mother. "The injuries are very recognizable to us – although your arm injury was certainly something new." She smiled slightly.

"The problem, Serena, is that you also had extensive bruising not congruent with car accidents. And on your X-rays we saw that you have had a lot of broken bones in the past. These injuries are very common in another type of patient we also see more frequently than we would like." Dr. Mizuno hesitated, seeming to search Serena's eyes for some sign of comprehension, but Serena was still confused. "Victims of child abuse."

Serena's eyes flew wide.

"That," said Haruna-san, "is why I'm here."

Serena stared at them. Her eyes were wide.

"I – " Her eyes darted to Dr. Mizuno, back to Haruna-san, to the door, back again. "My parents – they don't – "

"Serena," said Haruna-san gently. "It's okay to tell us. You're safe here. Okay? You're safe."

"No." Serena shook her head. Her voice was still jerking. "You don't understand – my parents – they don't – "

Haruna-san leaned back into her seat. Her eyes were still gentle. "Serena, it has been my experience that children often don't admit that they're being abused because they're afraid of their parents." She sat forward again. "Serena, we can protect you."

Serena was still shaking her head.

"It has also been my experience," Haruna-san's voice was quieter, "that children convince themselves that they are not being abused."

"I'm not," said Serena. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the box in her lap. "I'm not."

Staring hard at its lid, she heard Haruna-san stand up. "Okay," said the woman quietly. "But if you ever need to talk, Serena – " She reached into Serena's line of vision to slide a small white business card beneath Serena's fingers. " – you can call me, okay? My cell phone number is on there."

Without lifting her head, Serena gave a jerky nod. She heard footsteps, then the door clicking shut.

"Well." Dr. Mizuno cleared her throat. "In that case, your parents are waiting outside."

Serena lifted her head at that, and she was not sure what emotion Dr. Mizuno saw burning on her face, for the doctor said quietly, "You're still a minor."

Serena's fingers curled in Darien's jacket.

To her surprise, as Dr. Mizuno led her mother and father into the room, a uniformed police officer followed them in.

The dark-haired officer caught her glance as he walked in, and nodded his head at her with a friendly smile. Serena's fingers quickly snapped the box lid shut.

"Finally," said her father. "It's about time we were let in to see our own daughter!"

"Certain hospital protocols had to be followed," said Dr. Mizuno in a bland enough tone, but to Serena her cordial smile seemed icy. She bit her lip – made a sound of disgust as the foul ointment touched her tongue again.

"Ah," said Ami's mother, noticing. "Let's get you some water." She reached to press Serena's call button, but then she spotted the same thing Serena had: a water bottle poking from Serena's mother's purse. "Mrs. Tsukino, Serena could use some water."

Ikuko glanced away from her knit-browed study of the police officer. She turned slightly, looked at the wall behind her. "Of course you could, sweetheart! Where's the button to call the nurse?"

"I was referring to the bottle of water in your purse, Mrs. Tsukino," said Dr. Mizuno patiently.

"Oh." Ikuko's shaped brows rose for a moment, then she drew the bottle from her purse. She handed it to Serena. "Here you go, darling."

Serena swallowed as Ikuko reached out to smooth her bangs back, her manicured fingernail grazing the row of stitches that Serena could now feel sewn across her scalp. Before, she would have felt relieved, naïve enough to think that her mother had forgiven her, but the constant glances that her parents sent at the police officer were enough to show her otherwise. Dr. Mizuno had said that she was a minor; they had come because legally, they were still her guardians, and they would have been in trouble with the law had they not shown up. And that would ruin their image even more than a disobedient daughter…

She ducked her head, pulling away from her mother's cold fingers under the pretense of trying to unscrew the bottle one-handed.

"Here," said Dr. Mizuno, and opened it. "Do you need help holding it?"

Serena was flushing. "I can do it."

But her hand trembled as she lifted the bottle, and cold water splashed down her front.

Ikuko tutted, pulling her hand back. Dr. Mizuno silently held the cold bottle to Serena's lips. Serena, flushing, swallowed barely enough to banish the taste from her tongue before pulling away.

"Well," said the police officer, who was now regarding Serena's mother with the same unimpressed look she had given him, "I'd like to get started, if we could. The boy's already clamoring for bail."

"He better not get it," said Kenji shortly. "That scumbag nearly killed my daughter!"

"Yes, sir, I know," said the officer. "But your daughter has to give her statement." He looked at Serena. "Miss Tsukino, I'm Officer Hino. I'm in charge of the DUI case involving Mr. Seiko and yourself." His voice was kind. "Do you remember him hitting you?"

"Yes," said Serena. "It was his car, and I recognized the song. But – "

"See!" cut in Kenji. "There you go! He hit her! Now go charge him with attempted manslaughter!"

"What?" gasped Serena, so loudly that she made herself flinch. "No!"

The eyes of everyone in the room snapped to her.

Kenji's burned, looked livid.

Ikuko had her lips compressed. "Serena – "

Dr. Mizuno appeared thoughtful.

"Miss Tsukino," said Officer Hino. He waited until Serena's eyes met his. "Do you understand what that man did to you? From what Dr. Mizuno's said, you may never be able to walk on your right leg again, and you may not regain total use of your right arm."

Serena's lips parted. Her eyes flew to Dr. Mizuno. And then, when Dr. Mizuno would not look at her, her eyes fell to the casts covering her arm and leg. Her fingers clenched the corners of the box.

Then she shook her head. "No."

"Serena." Her father's voice had that threatening edge. "I want this boy put away. He's trash. He doesn't deserve to be around decent people."

Serena lifted her head. She could feel herself trembling, but in disbelief. Her father's perception of her had pivoted so quickly; she supposed she shouldn't be surprised that he could transform Seiko from hero to beast in a few seconds, either.

The disbelief boiled into anger that shook her palms; this sort of automatic judging was exactly what he had used to condemn Darien. And that fact in itself was enough to make her hate it, no matter to whom the judging was applied.

Her voice came out much stronger than she had expected. "That's not what you were saying a few days ago, Dad. If you'd known anything about Seiko, you wouldn't have tried to make me date him. You don't know anything about him him. Stop trying to judge people you don't know anything about!"

Kenji's nostrils flared. "Serena Tsukino – "

" – is very tired right now," Dr. Mizuno cut in. "And in a lot of pain. I think it's quite clearly not the time for this conversation. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask everyone to leave."

"Please." Officer Hino lifted a hand, cutting off both Kenji's and Dr. Mizuno's protests. "One more thing first."

He looked at Serena and pointed at the folded-up newspaper lying on her bed. "Did you read that?"

Without waiting for an answer, he continued. "I want you to think about something. I want you to think about those kids from Roppongi who helped bust that drug ring. I want you to think about what their lives must have been like, how hard it must have been for them to survive just one more day, every day. And I want you to think about how they risked their lives anyway. Then I want you to think about this kid Seiko who nearly killed you. I want you to think about how easy his life's been compared to theirs, and then I want you to compare what he's done to you to what they did for this city." Officer Hino lowered his hand and turned toward the door. "I'll be in touch, Mr. Tsukino."

Her father said something, but Serena didn't hear it, for a nurse had appeared and was escorting them out, and Dr. Mizuno was injecting something into the pouch of liquid that hung from the IV stand. Her vision was getting blurry.

But she picked up the newspaper from the bed with her heavy fingers, propped it on top of the box with Darien's jacket, and opened it to the front page.

ROPPONGI GANG HELPS TOKYO POLICE BUST DRUG RING

She had just enough time to see the huge picture of a man with ashy-colored hair being handcuffed by a police officer and read the caption Officer Tadashi Kamiya restrains Black Moon Gang leader Diamante Nemes at the Makaiju Club after recording devices installed at his residence by rival gang members revealed the location of Nemes' drug storage before her eyelids floated shut and numb darkness reclaimed her body.

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"…ridiculous implications! We've never laid a hand on her – "

Serena floated vaguely back to consciousness. The sound of someone angrily hissing rippled like a shadow above her in the water; then, like her head breaking to the surface, she realized that it was her father's voice.

She went immediately still, barely breathing beneath the thin hospital sheet.

"I should sue you for slander – "

Dr. Mizuno's voice, even quieter than her father's hiss, reached Serena's straining ears. "I welcome you to try, Mr. Tsukino. The evidence is overwhelmingly against you. Serena would be out of your custody before you could blink."

"Doctor, you are severely testing my patience – "

"Dr. Mizuno." That was her mother's voice, soft and smooth as silk. Serena tensed further yet. "If we abused Serena, why wouldn't she have told you or Ms. Haruna when you asked? Please answer me that."

There was a short second of silence. Serena strained her ears harder, biting so hard into her lip that she tasted salty blood instead of the horrible ointment.

When Dr. Mizuno spoke, her voice shook. "There are more types of abuse than just beating a child, Mr. and Mrs. Tsukino." Goosebumps ran down Serena's skin from the fury in her voice. "There is such a thing as emotional neglect and failure to thrive."

Her voice paused. "It's very clear to me that your image is very important to you. So I am going to give you instructions, and I am going to give you a warning. You will not lay a finger on Serena from now on. Not even to pick a piece of lint from her hair. You will not comment on her life, you will not interfere with it. You will let her see her friends like my daughter and Officer Hino's daughter Rei. A year from now, when she has graduated from high school, you will pay for whatever college she chooses to attend without argument. You do these things, and I will not call Sakurada Haruna at the Ministry of Welfare for Children and Families to tell her that I believe you have continued to abuse Serena. If you do not do these things, I will tell her, and I promise that the whole city will find out about your treatment of Serena. Have I made myself clear?"

There was a pause, this one longer than before. Then, her father's voice, grinding out. "Perfectly."

"Excellent." There was a sound, and light spilled into the room, over Serena's bed. Serena quickly shut her eyes and gave a little groan, cracking open her eyelids as though the light had just woken her.

"Good morning, Serena," said Dr. Mizuno, crossing to the windows and twisting open the blinds. Bright morning sunshine bounced inside. "You get to be discharged today."

Serena blinked against the light, squinting. Her eyes flicked toward her parents, standing stony-faced in the doorway.

"Your parents are here to sign the discharge papers," said Dr. Mizuno. "Then Rei wanted you to come over and have a Charmed marathon with her and Ami. She asked me to tell you that they will be making spaghetti and meatballs to eat."

A laugh escaped Serena. Then another one. Until laughter and tears were both streaming from her in a steady, unstoppable flow.

Ami's mom helped her wipe her face and climb out of bed. "Come on," she said softly, helping her gently into the wheelchair waiting beside her bed. "Let's get you home."

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Rei and Ami fussed over her that day until Serena felt like it was her birthday. It was hard to concentrate on the episodes they watched and laughed at, though, and not because of the casts that weighed down her limbs or the thought that she might never walk normally again or even the memory of what Dr. Mizuno had said to her parents.

It was the newspaper article that would not leave her mind. It dug its heels in there, and into its footprints seeped guilt. Certain though she was that Buji should not have been left alone without any idea of what his brother was doing or when he would be back, Serena kept remembering Darien's words. "Everything I'm doing right now, I'm doing so that he'll be safe."

That was where he had been that night that she went to Roppongi to help Buji. While Diamante Nemes was at the Makaiju Club – for Serena had seen him, had she not, had even spoken to the leader of the Black Moon gang, that ashy-haired man – he and the others had been at the Black Moon's warehouse, bugging it.

Because even without what Rei had said, Serena knew, without doubt, that he and the other Wolves – Lita and Asanuma and Motoki, and who knew who else – were the ones to whom the article had referred. The coincidence of him being somewhere, doing something that was "almost over," on the same night that the Black Moon's drug ring was busted by a rival gang was too great.

Which meant that she had torn into him after he had just risked his life.

The guilt and regret that filled her tasted worse than any ointment ever could.

"Okay, get up."

Serena blinked, eyes refocusing, and lifted her eyes from her cast to meet Rei's expectant face. "What?"

"C'mon." Rei jerked her head. Behind her, Ami was turning off the television and putting the DVD back into its case. "It's obvious you're mooning over Mafia Man, and you won't be able to actually contribute to the Charmed fun until you've gotten it out of your system. Let's go see him."

Serena's eyes flew wide. "You'd – ?"

"I've got a car, don't I?" Rei grabbed a pair of crutches from the corner of the room as Ami grasped the back of Serena's wheelchair. "And I don't have these in my way anymore. So let's go."

"But – " Serena twisted slightly, neck twinging, to look up at Ami. "I can't let you guys go to Roppongi!" Unconsciously she hugged the stiff leather jacket that had been sitting in her lap since she left the hospital. "It's too dangerous. I'll – I'll go alone sometime – "

"Seiko's car must have hit your head harder than we thought if you think we're about to let you walk into Roppongi alone," said Rei.

"Even if the newspaper reporter thinks that Shields-san's drug bust has greatly improved Roppongi's chances of decreasing the crime rate, we would feel much better if you let us come along," Ami translated. "So please humor us."

The drive to Roppongi was fun. Serena finally dragged herself from her funk, feeling horrible for ignoring the friends who had – granted, with the help of their incredible parents – saved her.

They had been saving her all along, she realized when she stopped to think about it. Rei had stepped in at the bonfire, Ami had first agreed to eat lunch with her, and then unquestioningly let Serena borrow her bike when she needed it. And even when she had been a bad friend, not paying attention to the TV marathon they had engineered to cheer her up, they hadn't gotten mad at her but instead were still helping her.

So, in a nest of pillows and with her leg propped across the whole backseat of Rei's Accord, Serena helped Ami shout down the rap music that Rei had cranked up until Rei gave in and turned it to a pop station. Then they all sang along trying to use different accents, and when soprano-voiced Ami attempted a growling Scottish brogue, Serena thought her arm cast might pop off because she was shaking so hard with laughter.

The happiness seeped back into the corner of her mind where she was still wondering what Darien would say when she showed up in Roppongi, and it tinted her imaginings bright and happy. With the Black Moon out of the way, he wouldn't be so scared and desperate, and he would never have to leave Buji alone again, and he'd tell her that and ask her to forgive him, but she would tell him that she was the one who needed to be forgiven for what she'd said without being willing to listen to him, and now that Dr. Mizuno had threatened her parents and he was done with his police-assisting, they could be together so much more, and she could see Buji and Lita and even Asanuma, and introduce them to Ami and Rei –

"You said Fourth Street, right, Serena?"

Serena looked up as Rei abruptly turned down the volume of the radio. "Uh-huh," she said, wiping the tears of mirth from her face with her free hand. "Are we here?"

"Yes…" But Ami's voice was guarded.

Serena sat up straighter, ignoring the twinge from her leg, and looked out the window. There was the broken streetlight and the empty storefront with the alley beside it full of Dumpsters, and…as the car rolled to a stop beside the curb, she saw the side door that Lita had used, half-hidden behind a Dumpster. Saw that it was ajar, swinging slightly back and forth in the cold wind.

Serena scrabbled open her door.

"Serena, wait!"

But Serena lurched out of the car, just catching herself under her good arm with one of the crutches that Rei had put in the backseat with her before she could spill onto the pavement. She swung herself wildly, lopsidedly, through the morass of trash bags, toward the swinging door.

"Serena!"

A blue bandanna lay beside the doorstep, half-covered by a soft drink whose lid had come off and spilled its dark contents across the fabric. Serena stared at it for a moment, then into the darkness of the yawning doorway.

She steadied herself on one leg for a moment, and pushed the door the rest of the way open with her crutch.

"Hello?" she shouted. "Darien!"

Silence.

She rocked across the threshold. "Lita!"

Silence. Her eyes were burning again.

"Buji?" It was a whispered question, inaudible because she knew that if they were there, they already would have answered.

" 'ey, 'ey, wussallthis?" In the dark shadows something shifted.

Serena lurched backward as hope lurched her heart forward.

Then the lights switched on, and the room jumped out at Serena. The room was nearly bare. The couch she could remember Asanuma perching on like Spiderman was shoved against a wall, a lamp lay broken in pieces on the floor, and a shopping cart full of old bags was parked beside it. Other than that, the room was empty except for –

" 'ey…I remember you!" The gaunt, whiskery hobo who had talked to Lita from a bed of trash bags in the alley was not sitting up on the couch, squinting against the lights he had just turned on. He grinned at her. "'eard you beat up some junkies. What 'appened t'you, they come back for revenge?"

"What?" said Serena. Her heart was beating fast. "Please. What – what happened to the people who lived here? Darien and Lita and?"

"Them?" The hobo scrunched up his stubbled face. "Left, I guess. Door was open and the lock all busted up when I came back to the alley last night. Stuff's all gone, so I figured they musta moved." He winked at her. "Good timin', too. Been gettin' real cold outside, y'know?"

"But…" Serena had conceived so many scenarios of their reunion on the way to Roppongi. The idea that everyone would be gone had never been one of them. "But!" She could feel herself beginning to cry and champed down, hard, on her tongue to kill the tears before they began. "Where did they go?"

" ow'm I s'posed t'know?" The man shrugged, sounding indignant. " 'ey, you got anythin' to eat?"

"Serena!" A hand grabbed Serena's shoulder, and she fell backward a step, toward the door. "What were you thinking – "

" 'ey, watch out, lady, she beat up a junkie," said the hobo, but Rei was already pulling Serena out the door.

"Haven't you been almost killed enough times?" she demanded, catching Serena as she stumbled with her crutch back into the alley. "We didn't come here with you so you could go in alone!"

Ami caught them both. "You wouldn't want witnesses to your romantic reunion, either, Rei."

A laugh escaped Serena. So did a few tears.

Ami noticed at once. "What happened? Rei, what did you do?"
"Me?" exclaimed Rei. "I saved her from the hobo that was lurking in there – " She cut off suddenly. "Oh…"

"Oh, Serena…" An arm encircled her. "He wasn't there?"

Serena pressed her face against Ami's shoulder, letting the fabric of her jacket soak up the leftover tears.

Another arm joined Ami's. "Come on," said Rei in Serena's ear. Her voice was rough. "Let's go home."

They helped Serena back into the backseat, and Serena managed to smile and laugh at the jokes they made to try and cheer her up, but echoing in the back of her mind as she hugged the blood-encrusted leather jacket close was Buji's voice.

"Home is where Darien is."

L

The door opened. The man holding the doorknob looked down at her and sighed. Then he opened the door wider and made a motion with his hand. "Come in, then."

Serena hobbled through the doorway, swinging herself clumsily into one of the plastic chairs that sat in front of Detective Kamiya's desk. She propped her crutch against her knees and watched the gray-haired man, who was much more clean-shaven now than the last time she had seen him, standing beside a phone booth at a shopping plaza, sit down behind his desk.

The detective picked up a pen and clicked it with his fingers, watching her with an expression that the past few days had taught her to recognize as pity. Then he put the pen down and leaned forward.

"I'm not gonna lie," he said. "I figured I'd end up seeing you in here some time or other. Though…" He hesitated, glancing at her casts. "Not in this condition."

Serena ignored his question. She hadn't fought all the way to the police station on a crutch and then argued with the officer at the counter for an hour so that she could tell this man about her encounter with a drunken teenager's car. "Do you know where they went?"

He sighed and picked up the pen again. Set it back down. "I don't."

"Don't – " Serena's anger bubbled up through her mouth. She caught herself, lowered her tone. " – lie to me. How could you not know – "

He cut her off. "Miss, have you ever heard of witness protection programs?"

Serena stared at him. Her heart liquefied and poured into her toes.

Kamiya leaned back in his chair and rubbed the bridge of his nose with both hands. "Darien took a very dangerous risk by agreeing to help us." He lowered his hands and looked at Serena. "Do you know what he did?"

"He bugged the Black Moon's warehouse for you." Numbly Serena repeated what she had read in the newspaper. "So you could get taped proof of their involvement in the drug ring and bust them."

"Yeah…" Kamiya nodded slowly. "He did that. The second time."

Serena regarded him steadily, though her pulse had begun to pound as loudly as the music at the Makaiju Club.

"Those drugs that Nemes distributed went all over Roppongi. But mostly? They went to kids. They ended up in the high schools, the junior high schools, with girls willing to sell themselves to get some, with boys willing to kill to get some, with people willing to sell their kids to get some. We found one of the Black Moon's warehouses about two months ago. But we didn't have any solid proof it was theirs because we couldn't get a warrant from the judge. I knew the drugs were there, Darien knew the drugs were there, but we couldn't go in that warehouse until the judge had signed our warrant, and he wasn't gonna sign it anytime soon.

"I told Darien, I sai, 'You gotta wait, kid. Gotta do this by the book, we'll get him next time.' He was pissed. Said if I didn't stop that shit from getting out to the streets, he would." Kamiya snorted and rubbed his eyes. "He did, too. Took his Wolves and snatched that drug shipment right out of Nemes' warehouse before he could get it to the dealers."

Serena remembered the white packages she had seen in the room when she went to Roppongi on her own to return Darien and Lita's clothes. "Oh…" Her eyes narrowed in thought, and she looked up. "And they knew that Darien did it, didn't they? That's why he got in that knife fight with them."

"They suspected," said Kamiya. "They weren't sure. But see how much more dangerous that made it for him? The Black Moon was already keeping an eye on him. If Nemes had decided Darien was the one who stole his drugs, there wouldn't have been enough left of him – or his little brother – to put in an envelope. Darien knew that. He started hesitating. Didn't want to risk anything happening to Buji."

Kamiya pinched the bridge of his nose again. "I convinced him to give it one more try. I needed him. I'd been working on the Roppongi ring for eight years, and for the past six of 'em, I didn't have a budget for me to get help. I needed him, you see?"

Serena didn't say anything. She heard in the detective's tone that he was looking for acceptance, for her to reassure him that how he had used Darien was okay.

She wasn't going to tell him that.

Kamiya gave a bitter laugh. "I begged the commissioner to keep the Wolves' role in the drug bust a secret. Honest to God, miss, I got down on my knees and begged him. But he thought that the public finding out that Roppongi residents had risked themselves to help the city would be a big morale-booster. So I had to do what was best for Darien."

Serena's eyes were widening, her chest constricting as the detective's meaning trickled into her. "You didn't tell him…" she breathed. In her mind, like a video on fast-forward, sped the memories of Darien's actions, his expressions, his words, and nowhere did she see – "He had no idea!"

"Miss – "

"No!" Serena spat. "You took advantage of him and tortured him and made him endanger his family, and when you were done with him, you ripped him out of his home!"

Her fist was clenched and shaking, her chest heaving; she breathed harshly and glared at Kamiya.

He spoke quietly. "I think you knew Darien better than that. He wasn't a stupid kid. He knew going in what the consequences might be – "

"No!" Serena threw her hands over her ears. "He wouldn't have helped you if he knew!"

But that was a lie, and she knew it. Just like telling Darien that she was angry with him only because he had left Buji behind had been a lie. She had been angry that he left her behind, too, totally clueless to his whereabouts. And she was refusing now, to believe what Kamiya said, what she knew was true because Darien would do anything to give Buji a better life than the one he had had in Roppongi – even let himself be used by a cop and taken away from Roppongi – for the simple reason that she didn't want to think that Darien had been willing to leave her.

She lowered her hands from her ears and bit her lip. Hard.

"Miss." Detective Kamiya leaned forward and met her eyes. "I regret approaching Darien. Really, I do. What I asked him to do caused him a lot of pain. Just from that time I saw you with him, I could tell that you meant a lot to him. And I know that leaving you had to have caused him a lot of pain.

"But I have to tell you that I think that everything that has happened is better for Darien in the long run. Wherever he is now will give him the chances he deserved. A boy like – " He stopped. "A man like that was being wasted in Roppongi."

He fell silent.

Serena swallowed. She looked at her hands.

At last, she nodded. "I know." She stood, bracing herself with the crutch, and tried to bow. "Thank you, Kamiya-san."

She straightened and limped toward the door without looking back.

But just as she reached the doorway, he blurted out – "Miss!"

Reluctantly, an inch away from ignoring him and just hobbling away as quickly as she could, Serena looked back over her shoulder.

But Kamiya-san looked consternated now that he had called out to her. "I – well – you might see him again. Someday."

But his voice held no conviction. Serena nodded and exited the room.

L