A/N: Hey everyone! I'm back. Special thanks to sabina21, 0SailorHarmony0, GraphicsChyk, LoveInTheBattleField and Aiyoku Saotome for reviewing the last chapter. Thanks guys! You're the best! Sabina21, here's the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon.
Chapter Eighteen
The Furuhata Family
When they were about to leave, they panicked as they heard the sound of the front door unlocked with the jingling of key from the outside. The door slowly opened. They were stunned to see Rita walk in with the two children from the photograph. She had a bag of groceries in her hand. She gasped when she saw Raye and Serena standing in her apartment. She looked slightly older than they remembered .She wore light makeup. Her hair was in a loose ponytail and she wore a red sweater and blue jeans and sneakers.
She grabbed hold to her children. She asked alarm, "Who are you? Do I know you?"
Serena nervously waved her hands out in surrender. "It's me Serena Tuskino and Raye Hino. We're friends of Andrew."
Rita became quiet. Her eyes became emotional. She recognized the girls. She said sadly, "You don't know, do you?"
Serena asked quietly afraid of the answer, "Know what?"
Rita said silently, "Andrew is dead. He died a month ago." Serena and Raye gasped. If Andrew was dead, then who was the guy they left in Tokyo?
Thirty minutes later, Serena and Raye found themselves sitting at the dining table, that was off to the side from the living room area. Serena came up with some lie saying that Andrew contacted her a month before he died and sent her a key to his apartment. Darien and she were supposed to be coming to Switzerland for some big medical conference. It seemed to calm down Rita since she was also good friends with Darien from university.
Rita strolled out of the kitchen with an antique silver tea tray in her hands. Serena and Raye smiled as Rita placed the tea tray on the table and poured each of a cup of steamy hot tea. Afterwards, she took a seat across from them at the large round table.
The children were very polite and introduced themselves as Amber and AJ. After Rita nicely dismissed them, the kids unquestioningly went into their rooms and watched television.
Raye and Serena thanked her for the tea. Serena was about to take a sip of her tea when Raye nudged her leg from under the table as she continued to talking to Rita. Serena winced quietly in pain as she sat the tea back down on the table.
Serena's eyes widen as she looked down at the small cup of tea. The black tea changed from black to blood red before her eyes.
"Serena?" Serena's head shot up quickly as she glared across the table to see a smiling Rita's eyes meet hers. She looked at Rita and saw no trace of life inside of her. She had no soul.
Rita smiled. "So tell me how Darien is doing? I haven't seen him in years."
Serena smiled. "He's doing great. He's a doctor in America now."
Rita was impressed. "I read about him in a medical journal last year. It said that you two were still married. You looked like the most beautiful couple at a gala in New York." Serena smiled at her. They attended a black and white ball in New York by invitation of Dr. Thornton and his wife. Some of the richest and most famous people in the state of New York were all in one room gushing over the handsome young Dr. Darien Shields and his beautiful wife. They were brazenly trying to steal Darien away from Maryland and Dr. Thornton. Serena wished they would have. Dr. Thornton always gave her the creeps, especially the way he stared at her with lustful eyes when their spouses were only a few feet away.
Serena said amused, "My husband is doing well. He desperately misses his friend Andrew." Serena hoped it would steer the conversation back to Andrew.
Raye asked remorsefully, "What happened to Andrew?"
Rita sighed as a gloomy look crossed her pretty face. "He was severely depressed. The doctor diagnosed him with manic depression. In his final days, he was highly drugged with prescription medication to calm him down. On the Fourth of July, he saw the fireworks in the sky and he said he wanted to fly. So he jumped out of the window to his death." Rita glanced over to the window that was now fixed. Raye could not believe that Andrew would jump out of that window from a fifteen-storied building. If he did, Raye knew that Rita had to be right and Andrew was most likely dead.
Raye gasped when she turned back and saw a speck of red in Rita's eye as she blinked her eyes. Something was not right.
Serena looked depressed. She could not believe that Andrew would have committed suicide. Had life changed him that much? In the apartment, everything seemed so perfect and happy. Yet, her marriage to Darien from the outside looking in, seemed the same way. Serena asked deeply puzzled, "What made him want to commit suicide?"
Rita shook her head. "I don't know, Serena. Our marriage seemed perfect. He seemed happy then he started yelling at me saying that he was tired of me choosing my career over him. He was tired of being the stay at home dad while mommy worked all the time."
Raye asked getting Rita's attention, "So what do you do?"
Rita said, "I still work at the university." Serena and Raye remembered the receptionist saying that she had not worked there in two years. The phone rang.
Rita glanced back at the phone ringing. She turned back to them and said with an apologetic smile to the girls, "I better answered that. I'll be right back." She rose from her seat and walked over to the phone. She grabbed the cordless phone and answered speaking in German.
Raye sensed danger as she saw a speck of red in Rita's eyes again. Raye said through clenched teeth, "We need to get out of here now."
Serena said through her teeth still smiling at Rita, "Why?"
Raye said, "She's setting us up." Serena's smiled faded.
Raye abruptly rose from her seat knocking over her chair and tossed an ofuda scroll on Rita's arm. She chanted Akuryo Taisan. "Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, restsu, zai, zen!" Rita shook uncontrollably as the phone dropped from her hands to the floor. She turned to them with a warped look in her eyes and screamed a loud banshee scream as Raye and Serena covered their ears as glass from the windows, tea cups, pictures frames, and vases shattered around them. Raye remembered the banshee scream in her dream.
The children appeared from the hallway and started screaming loud banshee screams as they pointed at Raye and Serena.
A vision of a SWAT team dressed in black with guns heading their way flashed in Raye's head. Serena gulped when she saw a red dot on her forehead. She looked passed the children through the window and across the street to see a sniper hidden in the shadows of a dark room in a building across from theirs with a rifle in his hands aimed at her. "Raye?"
Raye glanced at Serena. Her eyes widen when she sat the red dot on Serena's forehead. The sniper pulled the trigger. At lightning speed the bullet travelled towards her. Serena quickly ducked out of the way barely missing the shot. Bullets fired through the front door and Raye quickly dropped to the ground. She winced in pain when a bullet hit her leg.
Serena cried out, "Raye" as she crawled to the ground towards her friend. The door burst opened. Serena looked around at the SWAT team that surrounded them with guns pointed towards them.
Serena frowned as she grabbed Raye's hand and disappeared. They reappeared in an alley. Serena helped sit Raye against a brick wall that smelled like urine and behind a hot, smelly dumpster. Raye held back the desire to vomit from the stench. Serena knelt down next to Raye as SWAT team raced passed the alley. Raye winced in pain as blood gushed from her leg. Serena held her hand over Raye's leg. A yellow aura glowed around Serena's hand as the crescent moon appeared on her forehead. The wound started to heal and the blood disappeared. Raye looked at her impressed.
Raye said, "You're going to have to tell me how you learnt that."
Serena smiled. "Another time." She stood up and extended her hand to help her friend up. "But now, we have to find Andrew."
They hid behind the dumpster watching SWAT team raced passed them. Raye asked as they watched them, "You think he's still alive?"
Serena nodded. "I hope so." They ducked when they saw a SWAT member stopped and looked at the alley searching for them. Serena whispered as they pressed their backs against the wall, "If Rita's story was true, he's probably at a hospital-" The SWAT officer slowly walked into the alley holding his gun ready to shoot in front of him.
Raye added, "Or in a morgue." Serena frowned at Raye not wanting to think the worst about Andrew. She prayed that he was not dead.
The officer slowly walked passed the dumpster. Raye surprised the officer with a high kick knocking the gun out of his hands. The gun flipped in the air. Raye turned around in a spinning kick and knocked the officer backwards. The gun landed in her hands. The officer raced towards her. Raye aimed the gun at the officer, pulled the trigger and blasting the officer's chest open. He gasped as he fell backwards.
Serena covered her mouth in horror as she stared at the dead body on the ground. Serena said, "We don't kill humans, Raye!"
Raye looked down. "He's not human, Serena. Look at his body." Serena was stunned to see that inside his now opened chest was a mixture of fried wires like a machine, but he was bleeding out red blood like a human.
Serena asked baffled, "What is going on?"
Raye said, "I don't know, but I think Andrew wants us to figure out." The day he died. He appeared back in Tokyo. He would not tell them about his past or what happened to him. He wanted them to figure it out on their own.
Serena nodded. Raye said, "We probably should disguise ourselves."
Serena said silently, "Probably." Raye's eyes turned green and her long raven hair turned into a short bob that stopped at her cheeks. A red glow covered her body from the neck down. When the glow disappeared, she was wearing a black long-sleeved sweater dress and black legging with black boots. Serena transformed in a plain green eyed brunette with a pixie haircut wearing a long sleeved lilac blouse, blue hip-hugging jeans, and sneakers.
Raye held up her hands as a red fiery aura appeared around her hands where she held the gun. Serena watched as the gun melted into Raye's hands. She then tossed the melted and now not usable gun in the dumpster. They ran out of the alley and blended in with the crowd.
The streets were swarmed with police officers. Every section of the city was blocked as they searched for Serena and Raye.
Serena used her mind control power to manipulate the receptionist at a local hotel into booking her a room.
Serena and Raye quietly rode up the elevator with a large mirror in the back. There was a young couple in front of them. Serena and Raye noticed the speck of red in their eyes. They watched as the couple got off the elevator on a different floor.
Once in the privacy of their hotel suite, Raye said, "What the hell is going on?"
Serena panicked as she remembered teleporting in front of everyone. Raye asked, "What's wrong?"
Serena said upset, "Rita or whatever she is… has Rita's memories. She knows who we are and where we live. They are searching the city for us and if they do not find us here, they are more than likely going to go to Tokyo to find us." Serena pointed to herself. "We have family and friends there. My daughters are there!" Raye cursed underneath her breath.
Serena cried horrified, "What the hell have we done?"
Raye said worried, "There is a reason Andrew wanted us to come here."
Serena snapped sharply, "I don't care what Andrew wanted. I placed my children in danger for him. My parents, my brother, and my daughters…" She lashed out angrily. "I will never forgive him if my family is harmed because of him."
Raye became quiet as she looked at a heated Serena who was trying her hardest to calm down. Raye flipped on the flat screen television. The news was on as a Swedish reporter had a picture of Serena and Raye on the screen in upper right corner. Raye did not understand because they were speaking in German. Raye said, "Serena."
Serena angrily lashed out, "What!" Raye flinched, not use to seeing an angry Serena.
Raye said, "Our pictures are on the screen. But I can't decipher what they are saying."
Serena stood next to Raye as she looked at the screen. Her eyes turned yellow. She learnt from living in America that she had developed the ability to understand almost any language. She remembered confessing her worries to Darien about not being able to understand English which he quickly calmed her down. It was at a dinner party that one of Darien's colleagues invited them to in Los Angeles that Darien noticed that Serena spoke perfect English and understood everything his colleagues said and asked her. When they got home that evening, Darien explained this to her. She thought he was crazy until he started speaking to her in several different languages and she understood everything he said to her and spoke it back to him fluently in that language. To her, it was like she was speaking Japanese and everyone spoke one language. To everyone else, any language they spoke to her, she answered back perfectly in that particular language. Darien joked that if push came to shove, she could land a job as a translator. They assumed that it was some weird ability she developed then they later realized that she was developing her Lunarian powers like he was developing his powers as Endyimon.
Serena listened as the reporter explained in a breaking news bit about how Serena Tuskino and Raye Hino were fugitives of the law and were wanted for the murder of Rita Furuhata and her small children Amber and Andrew Furuhata Jr. They showed a smiling photograph of Rita and her children on the news. The reporter went on to say that Serena and Raye were armed and dangerous. If the public had any clues about their whereabouts, they left a contact number to call the police and Interpol and also said that the contact information was placed on the news station's website. They went on to report about something else.
Serena remained quiet as she pondered on what the reporter said. She said to Raye, "It's says that we are screwed." Raye turned to Serena. "They know who we are. Our photographs and names were on the news. We are being accused of murdering Rita and her children and are wanted by the police and Interpol." Raye's eyes widen.
Raye shouted in disbelief, "That is impossible. This all happened an hour ago and they have all our information. How is that possible? Rita and her children are still alive."
Serena said, "You're right. We are being set up." She turned to Raye. "There's a chance that we will not be able to change back into our normal selves."
"What!" Raye said without thinking. Then she realized that Serena was right. If their names were not clear, they could no longer be Serena and Raye again. They would always have to remain in disguise.
Serena said, "We should call the girls and let them know what is going on especially Lita."
Raye added, "We might as well start calling all of the hospitals in Zurich to see if we could find Andrew." Serena nodded.
They sat on opposite sides of the heart-shaped bed in the honeymoon suite. Serena and Raye began calling their friends and telling them what was going on. Lita was really upset that they did not tell her what was going on. Ami, Mina, and Lita wanted to teleport there but Serena warned that it could be dangerous. Over the next couple of days, news stations throughout the world reported about Zurich, Switzerland search for Serena and Raye, who were wanted in the brutal murder of beloved archeologist Rita Furuhata and her two small children. The public was outraged and called them monsters for murdering a mother and her two small children.
Irene and Ken looked in horror as they woke up the next morning to see a breaking news report of Serena and Raye on the run for murder. The police still believed they were in Zurich, Switzerland. Ken comforted his crying wife; both did not believe that their daughter was a murderer.
After calling their friends, Raye and Serena spent hours calling every hospital in the country for a patient named Andrew Furuhata. They repeatedly received the answer, "No, they did not have a patient by the name of Andrew Furuhata." Serena reluctantly started calling morgues, but the morticians informed her that they never received a body of anyone by the name of Andrew Furuhata.
Raye remembered what Rita said about Andrew jumping out of the window. If he was alive, his bones were broken and his skull was probably bashed in pretty badly from impact of the fall. Maybe he was a John Doe. Raye began calling all of the hospitals again for John Does. Serena was getting nowhere in her search. She joined Raye in calling back all of the hospitals.
Lita watched from the sidelines as Andrew dressed in his work attire trained the girls dressed as miko. They were beginning to become better fighters as they engaged in hand to hand combat with Andrew who easily defeated the little girls. He coached them on what they needed to improve on in order to defeat their opponent.
When Andrew dismissed the girls for a water break, Lita walked over to Andrew. He heard her footsteps and smiled happily as he saw her approaching him. His smile faded when he saw she was angry. He sensed danger as he stood in a fighting stance as Lita suddenly attacked him engaging in a hand to hand combat. He blocked every punch and kick with her powerful legs. He yelled as he shielded himself from her attacks, "What is going on with you, Lita?"
He held her in a chokehold position that was enough to restrain her but not harm her. "Who the hell are you? You're not Andrew." She pulled down on his arm and flipped him over. Andrew landed in a knelt position.
He stared that her. "I am your friend."
Lita yelled as she launched towards him, "Liar!" He blocked her punches and leaving him open for a side kick as she kicked him in the ribs causing him to whimper in pain as he bent over. Lita leaped up in the air and did a spinning kick knocking him on side of the head as he fell sideways to the ground. Lita landed on her feet. She saw one of the staffs the girls left on the ground. She kicked it up with her foot into her hands. She quickly flipped it in her hands and pointed it at him.
She said seriously, "Who are you? I will not ask you again."
Andrew breathed heavily. His head was pounding and his arms were holding a bruised rib. He did not respond. An angry Lita screamed as she lifted up the staff and thrust it down to the ground. She watched the pain in his eyes. He closed his eyes awaiting the stroke of death.
Raye quickly grabbed a pen and paper. She lied to the hospitals that she was searching for her big brother who disappeared a month ago. One of the receptionists at a hospital confirmed that there was a John Doe around age thirty at the hospital. He has been there since the Fourth of July. He attempted suicide after falling out of a building and shattered most of his bones and was now extremely disfigured. After an emergency surgery, his body was wrapped in bandages and he has been in a coma ever since. The doctors wanted to declare him brain dead but there was still some activity in his brain. He was on life support but the doctors were going to pull the plug on him next week to see if he could breathe on his own. Raye thanked the receptionist. She informed Serena of what she learnt.
As they rode in the taxi towards the hospital, Serena gasped when she saw a man that looked like Darien walking down the busy streets of Zurich. He was wearing a black leather jacket and jeans. His dark hair was longer. Serena's heart skipped a beat. When the taxi came to a stop, Serena glanced at Raye. Raye's eyes widen, "What are you planning on doing?"
Serena said, "I'll meet you at the hospital."
Raye said heatedly, "Serena!"
Serena pleaded with her big green eyes. Raye said angrily, "I am so going to kick your ass."
Serena said, "I think I saw Darien." Raye sighed. Serena quickly raced out of the car closing the door behind her as the driver spoke in broken German outraged. Serena raced across the highway nearly getting hit by cars as she maneuvered between them. The driver turned around and yelled at Raye.
Raye gritted her teeth. "I do not speak German."
Serena followed the stranger into an alley. There were no exits. He walked towards a brick wall. She hid behind a dumpster as he checked to see if he was being followed. Serena looked up and he was gone. She panicked afraid that she had lost him. She walked to the brick wall where he stood. She sighed when she saw no trace of him. She turned around and leaned against the wall. She yelped when she fell backwards into the wall.
Serena groaned in pain as she rubbed her sore rear end after falling on her butt. She slowly stood up and saw that she was in a small white room with no exits. She gulped. She touched the solid white wall in front of her. Her hands went through the wall. She poked her head out of the wall and saw that she was looking through the brick wall in the alley and saw people and cars passing by. She screeched as she felt rough hand yanking her back into the room.
A pedestrian with a speck of red in their eyes stopped in front of the alley after believing he heard a strange noise. He glanced at the alley and saw no one. He scanned the area with his eyes before realizing there was no one there and continued on with his walk down the sidewalk.
Serena tumbled hard on the floor and banged her head against the concrete floor. She moaned faintly, rolling on her side wanting to get up but her equilibrium was still off. Her head throbbed and she felt woozy like everything was spinning around her. She fell back on her back. The spinning stopped as she heard footsteps approaching her. She turned her head to the sound of the footsteps approaching her. Her eyes landed on a pair of black sneakers in front of her. She asked quietly, "Darien?"
Her eyes traveled upwards to a pair of black jeans, black t-shirt, and black leather jacket. She stared into angry, piercing blue eyes on a handsome face with high cheekbones, and a chiseled jawline with long ear-length dark wavy hair. There was something dark and mysterious about sexy six-foot plus stranger in black with devilish good looks. He favored Darien and looked around her age. In his hands was a black pistol pointed directly at her. He demanded as he cocked his gun, "Who the hell are you?"
Serena said weakly, "You're not Darien." She passed out as her head fell sideways.