Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Seeing Stars ❯ Chapter 27 ( Chapter 27 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Seeing Stars
By Jason Ulloa
Original story by Moonsong
Continued with her permission.


Chapter 27

When Monday rolled around again, almost everyone stopped and stared at Serena in amazement
as she walked into the studio singing softly to herself. As she walked past everyone, she
gave a cheerful smile as she headed to her trailer. When she stepped inside and closed the
door behind her, they all turned back toward Darien, who had walked in with her and who
seemed to be the cause of her exuberant mood, and smiled knowingly.

Darien's cheeks began to heat up as he felt everyone's eyes on him. The fact that some of
the female crew were either winking encouragingly or giggling at him and some of the males
were talking amongst themselves while giving him slightly envious looks weren't helping
matters much.

"Am I seeing things, or did I just see Serena singing and skipping past?" Tanya asked as
she walked up to Darien. She blinked when she saw his cheeks reddening and grinned widely.
"Ooh, did something happen this weekend? I take it that you and Serena had a really good
time, right?" she asked while gently nudging him in the side with her elbow.

"Well...."

"You don't have to tell me," she said with a smile. "I'm just glad that Serena's in just a
great mood today. It's almost like she's back to her old self again."

"I have to thank you, Tanya," he said as he put a hand on her shoulder. "If it wasn't for
you, I might not have found the courage to even ask her out. After all, you were the one
who made me realize that she didn't really hate me."

Tanya nodded in satisfaction. "Yet another satisfied customer," she said with a laugh.
"Maybe I should quit this acting gig and start my own dating service."

"I hope you don't decide to quit acting until after the movie's finished," Melvin said as
he walked up behind them. "After all, it'd be a shame for the movie industry to lose such a
talented actress such as yourself."

"I was only joking Melvin," she said, chuckling. "I'm not changing professions any time
soon."

"Oh! It was a joke," he replied, then laughed as well. "You had me going there for a
moment."

Darien glanced at Tanya, but she just shrugged in reply.

"Anyway, I came to tell you that G.Q. has finished the final revision of the script," he
told them. "Since he finished it on Saturday, I had enough time to make everyone their own
copies. You can pick up yours in the conference room. Tanya, would you mind informing
Serena that her copy is there as well?"

"No problem," she replied as she left.

"So, this's it?" he asked before he left to pick up his copy of the new script revision.
"No more changes? Everything's set in stone?"

"G.Q. says he's completely satisfied with it. Both Amy and myself think that the changes
will really make this movie a big hit."

"Really?" Darien asked, grinning in anticipation as he turned to leave. "Then, I'm looking
forward to seeing it."

**********************************************

The feeling of unconsciousness was beginning to become more familiar to him than he
would've preferred. After losing consciousness from a concussion from a long fall, profuse
bleeding from a knife wound and from almost cracking his head open on a marble floor, and
from receiving a sharp blow to the back of his head, he was beginning to wonder if he
should just stay unconscious for just a little while longer. This constantly becoming
unconscious was getting kinda rough on him and he was developing quite a headache.

Well, at least he was alive to feel it.

Before he opened his eyes, he let himself reach out through his entire body to assess how
banged up he was.

Feet... check. Legs... check. Back... check. Arms... check. Hands... check. Head... a
slight headache, but check.

So far, so good. However, he felt a cold, smooth surface against his back, arms and legs.
Slowly, warily, he opened his eyes and peered into darkness once again.

However, it wasn't the pitch black darkness of a room with no light, but the darkness of
night, lessened only by the faint light of the Moon and stars.

"Hotaru-chan...," he called out weakly, but got no response. "Hotaru-chan?" Still no
answer. 'Maybe she's asleep.'

He slowly pushed himself up off his back and sat up. That helped to clear his head a little
bit. Now that he had sat up, he realized that not only was his shirt gone, but so was the
rest of his clothing. All he had left was his boxers.

'So, where am I now?' he thought as he waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. As
his eyes grew more accustomed to the darkness, he could begin to make out more of the
details of his room... or rather, his cell. After all, he was a prisoner.

As he glanced about the room, he found that he was alone. Hotaru wasn't in the room with
him, which worried him greatly. She wouldn't have escaped without him, so they must've put
her in a different room. But... where? Was she even in the same building? For that matter,
was she even in the same city... or country? He cut off that train of thought so as to keep
from making himself worry even more.

'Don't be stupid,' he mentally chided himself. 'Why should they go to so much trouble to
keep us apart when all they have to do is put us in different rooms? She could be in the
next room for all I know.'

"Ryo-chan?" he heard Hotaru call out weakly from very close by. Her voice was muffled, but
audible. "Ryo-chan, where are you?" Her voice sounded like she was very close to tears.

'She IS in the next room!' Ryoku thought as he got to his knees and crawled over to the
wall closest to where Hotaru's voice was coming from. "Hotaru-chan?"

"Ryo-chan!" she called out in relief. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the room next to yours. Other than that, I have no clue."

"They took your shirt from me, Ryo-chan," she told him sadly. "All I have left is what you
saw me in before they came to take us away."

So, she was in only her underwear as well. "They took my clothes from me, too," he told
her. "All they left me was my boxers." He thought for a moment. "Hotaru-chan, how long were
you out for? I was blacked out for the entire trip."

"I kept slipping in and out of consciousness during the entire trip," she informed him.
"They kept us blindfolded the entire time, so they didn't notice. However, I could tell
that we were traveling by airplane for the first part, then by car for the second part. I'm
sure we're somewhere far from home, but I have no idea where."

Ryoku wearily leaned with his back against the wall and sighed. "That makes two of us," he
whispered.

"I wonder how Dad is doing," he heard Hotaru murmur sadly. "I miss him so much.... I even
miss Kaye, even if she's always fawning over Dad."

"Kaye?"

"She's Dad's lab assistant and housekeeper, even though she prefers to be called a
'domestic manager,'" she explained as Ryoku chuckled a bit at her wry tone as she told him
about Kaye's preferred title. "Sometimes I wonder if she's also trying to become my new
stepmother...."

"I know what you mean," he replied, nodding to himself in agreement, even if she couldn't
see it. "My mother still has men trying to date her, even though she's still in mourning
over my father." He sighed silently as he let his head lean back against the wall as he
looked up to the ceiling. "Father has been dead for over six years, but to my mother, it is
still fresh in her heart."

"I'm sorry, Ryo-chan...," Hotaru said consolingly.

"Don't be," he replied dismissively. "I'm over it now... but at times.... I still miss my
father, but my mother shouldn't mourn him for too long. Life does go on... and I do want
her to be able to find someone to love her like my father did."

They were both silent for a while. "I wonder if Diane-oneesama knows about what happened to
us?" Hotaru said suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Diane?"

"She's a friend of mine and my Dad's from way back. When Dad moved here from Japan and
started teaching, he met both of Diane-oneesama's parents. This was back before they had
met and shortly after my parents had gotten married. I would be born eight years later.

"Dad met Diane-oneesama's father when he enrolled in one of his classes for his Junior
year. However, after a few weeks, he had found that he was having a very hard time with the
class. Dad tried to help him by arranging for one of his best students in his Senior year
class to tutor him. As it turned out, Dad chose Diane-oneesama's mother as his tutor.

"To make a long story short, they fell in love and got married a year later, and had
Diane-oneesama a few months after that. Of course, they were very grateful to Dad for
introducing them to each other, even if their relationship was just a case of serendipity
to him. They kept in touch with each other, especially after they graduated and Dad went on
from teaching to doing his current job.

"Diane-oneesama was seven years old when I was born. When she came with her parents to the
hospital that I was born in, she gave Mom a stuffed doll shaped as a firefly to give to me
when I was born. Dad says that Mom named me Hotaru because of it.

"She's always been like an older sister to me," Hotaru continued as she sighed
reminiscently. "I've known her my entire life."

"She sounds very important to you," he remarked thoughtfully. "What's she like?"

"She's very nice," she told him. "She's smart and fun to be around, but she can be very
serious when she has to be, especially when it comes to her job at the F.B.I."

"She works for the F.B.I.?" he asked, impressed. "As an agent?"

"That's right," she confirmed. "Maybe she's trying to find us as we speak. She would, since
it's us that's in danger. She would demand to be assigned to search for us. She's one of
their top agents, you know," she added proudly.

"Really?" he asked. "Well, I do hope she's as good as you say. After all, now that we're
no longer in D.C., it's going to be hard to find us. Especially since we don't even know
where we are."

He let himself slide down to the floor and tried to make himself comfortable... or at
least, as comfortable as possible, considering that he was lying on a cold floor with no
clothing on save for his underwear.

"I think we should get some more rest, Hotaru-chan," he suggested. "Maybe we can figure out
something in the morning. Oyasumi, Hotaru-chan."

"Oyasumi, Ryo-chan," she replied as he tried to go to sleep.

**********************************************

The next day had Jack driving cautiously around a high mountain road while Diane sat in the
passenger seat, playing navigator. The map of Vancouver that she had bought earlier showed
the location of various points of interest, including airfields, both commercial and
non-commercial. There was one airfield that caught their interest, a non-commercial
airfield by the name of Victoria Airfield, positioned on the northernmost part of
Vancouver. It wasn't very far from the mountain road they were driving on.

That morning, she had questioned one of the workers at the airfield about Haruka Tenou. He
had told them that she kept her personal airplane - a two-propeller plane - there in one of
the hangars and that she usually came down to fly about every other week for about half a
day or so. He told them that he knew the general area of where she lived, but didn't know
anything more than that. It wasn't very much, but it was enough to give them somewhere to
start.

Jack had called the hospital that morning to check on Tira's condition, but found that she
still hadn't woken up yet. The nurse on the phone had assured him that her condition was
improving, but it still wasn't fast enough for him. Anything short of instantaneous wasn't
fast enough for him. At least she was improving; that was good enough, for now.

"What are we looking for again?" Diane asked as she looked up from the map she had been
studying and turned to look expectantly at him.

"Something," he replied without turning his attention away from the road.

"Something?" she repeated, giving him a skeptical look.

"Something."

"And what, may I ask, is 'something?'"

She waited and watched as Jack's mouth curved downwards in a slight frown. "I cannot say."

"You... cannot say?" she asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly. "Or, you do not know?"

Jack was silent for a while, his gaze remaining transfixed on the road ahead as he
carefully drove the car around a sharp S-turn that followed the side of the mountain. "It's
not that I don't know... at least, not entirely. We have some of the information that we
need. It's not enough, but unfortunately, right now it's all we have to work with."

"I know that already. So, why are we driving around the mountain, looking for... something?"

"During your time in the F.B.I., have you ever worked on a case where you didn't have all
of the information and it was unlikely that you would ever get more?"

"Once or twice," she replied. "Those weren't very easy. There were times when we almost had
to give up the cases, but we always managed to find small leads that helped us resolve
them."

Jack nodded. "It was like that with Lee and myself. He taught me that when it seemed as
though a case was going nowhere, I should just go with what I already knew and keep my eyes
open for anything. He said that sometimes leads could pop up in the most unlikely of
places. 'Expect anything, prepare for everything, and dismiss nothing.' That was his first
rule of policework and the very first lesson he ever taught me."

Diane nodded, but frowned questioningly. "That still doesn't explain why we're out here."

"Right now, all we know is that Haruka Tenou lives out here. The question is exactly where
she lives.

"This road that we're on is the only road to Vancouver for the people who live out here.
Therefore, Haruka Tenou needs to drive along this road if she wants to go to Vancouver."

"I see your point, but the likelyhood of her driving down this road while we're on it isn't
exactly high. Furthermore, we're not even sure of what she looks like."

"I know. However, I wasn't planning on trying to stop her along the road. I was thinking
more along the lines of... well...." He paused for a moment as he grimaced in chagrin. "I
know this is going to sound stupid, but right now, I think this might be our best choice."

"What is it, Jack?" she asked, giving him an encouraging look.

"Well, we could try to ask one of the people who live up here if they know Haruka."

"Going door-to-door in order to find her? You're right; that does sound stupid. However, it
also sounds like our best option right now. It's better than nothing."

**********************************************

Haruka stepped out of her garage and stretched. It had taken her the better part of four
hours, but the work was complete. She had just finished the last part of putting in the new
engine on the old car she was restoring and was taking a long overdue break.

She looked at the old car and smiled. Sure, it wasn't much to look at now, but it would be
soon. The body was old and rusted in some areas, but it was nothing a good sanding and a
new paint job couldn't fix. Almost everything in the car was new or replaced, but she made
sure that the parts going on the outside - the headlights, taillights, bumpers, etc. - were
all the same year as the car. The average person wouldn't notice, but a automotive
aficionado like herself would instantly notice '99 taillights on a '57. Something like that
was pure anathema, almost like watching a colorized version of the same movie you had grown
up watching in black and white. Sure, it was the same movie, but it just seemed... wrong.

Now that most of the interior work was near completion, it was nearing time to take the car
out and perform a little test drive. Another thing these mountain roads were good for was
giving her restored cars a really good road test.

She nodded to herself and went back into the garage, smiling eagerly. Yes, that's just what
she was going to do. All the car needed was some oil, coolant, antifreeze and some gas,
then she could take her baby out on the road and see what she could do. After all, the
weatherman said it would be clear all day today, so the roads should be just fine.

**********************************************

"Har uka?" the man repeated, blinking questioningly. "Yeah, I know her."

Diane gave Jack a surprised look, which he returned with a confidant, I-told-you-so look.
"Would you happen to know where she lives?" he asked. "It's important that we find out."

He glanced from Jack to Diane and frowned suspiciously. "Why're you asking about her?
What business is it of yours, anyway?"

"I'm a private investigator," Jack said, bringing out his license and presented it to the
man.

"Los Angeles," the man said, examining the license. "An American. So, what's an
investigator from the U.S. doing up here, looking for Haruka?"

"It's a long story," Diane told the man. "We're after a man who we think may be after a
precious gem that she owns. He has already stolen a similar gem from me, so I've hired this
man to help me catch him."

The man's suspicious look didn't change. "Really? What about the police? Haven't you tried
them?"

"The man's already left the U.S.," Jack informed him. "It's out of their hands. However, we
need to find Miss Tenou in order to warn her about the man, and possibly get her to help us
catch the man so we can turn him over to Vancouver police."

The man looked from Jack to Diane again, his expression considering. He started to back
into his house and close the door behind him.

"Wait!" Diane shouted, slamming her hand on the door to prevent him from closing it all the
way. "Why won't you help us?!?"

"I don't believe you people," he said as he tried to close the door. "Your story sounds too
suspicious. Why would you want to hire someone to find your gem - if you ever had one -
when stuff like that is the police's job?

"Finally, there's Haruka's privacy. She likes her privacy; that's why she lives way out
here, when she could just as easily live out in the city. I'm not about to let you intrude
on her privacy."

"Diane," Jack said suddenly, "perhaps you should tell him the real reason why you're after
that man. If you tell him the truth, then maybe he'd help us."

Both the man and Diane stopped their inverse tug-of-war with the man's front door and
looked at Jack. "What are you talking about?" the man asked, then stared intently at Diane.
"What 'truth?'"

Diane sighed as she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her F.B.I. badge. "My
name is Diane Silver. I'm with the F.B.I. The man I am after has kidnapped a pair of
children as well as stolen several precious gems known at the Nijizuishou crystals. I
believe that he is after Miss Tenou's Green Nijizuishou crystal next. That is why I need
to find her."

The man scrutinized her badge carefully. "So, why the duplicity?" he asked cautiously.
"Why not just tell me you're an American federal agent? And what about him?" he asked,
nodding toward Jack. "Since when do American federal agents need private investigators?"

"Right now, I can't risk letting anyone find out that I'm actively searching for him," she
explained. "If that man knew I was hunting him down, the lives of those children would be
at risk.

"As for him," she continued as she gestured toward Jack, "he's my partner in this case."

"The man we're after shot my daughter," he told him; his expression hard. "She almost died.
I'm here to personally see that he is brought to justice."

The man gave them both another considering look, then nodded as he gestured for them to
come inside. "I think I can help you both out. Let me give Haruka a call and see if she's
home. If she is, I'll let her know you're coming."

"Thank you," Diane said gratefully. "You don't know how much this means to us."

He nodded and grinned slightly in embarrassment. "Well... don't worry about it. Let's just
see if we can't catch Haruka before your man does."

**********************************************

"Th ere you go," Haruka said in satisfaction as she closed the hood of the car. "All
finished. Now, let's go for a spin."

As she opened the door to the car, she heard the phone ring at the back of the garage.
Since she spent a good deal of time in the garage working on her restoration projects, she
had a phone installed in her garage as well, so she wouldn't miss any calls that went to
the house.

For a moment, she considered answering the phone. "Nah," she said as she slid into the car,
shut the door, and buckled her seatbelt. "I'll let the machine get it. It's probably not
that important anyway." She started her car and drove off just as her answering machine
turned on.

"Oops, you just missed me. Too bad. Leave a message, all right?"

**********************************************

"S he's not there," the man said as he hung up his phone. "I got her answering machine."

"Thanks anyway," Diane said understandingly. "Listen, could you just give us directions to
her house? We could just wait for her there."

"You sure that's a good idea? It's below 20 out there. You don't know when she'll get back."

"We'll be all right," Jack replied. "We've got blankets and such. We sort of suspected that
we might have to wait in the car in this cold weather anyway."

"I think you're both crazy for wanting to do this, but I suppose you have your reasons," he
relented as he started to write some directions on a piece of notepaper he grabbed from his
kitchen counter. "Here."

Diane took the piece of paper gratefully. "Thank you for your help."

"No problem," he replied casually. "Good luck finding your man."

**********************************************

As Haruka neared the end of her long driveway, she glanced around, searching. She wondered
if that driver that had been following her would be out here, waiting for her. Well, if he
or she was, then it would be hard for either him or her to track her, since she had never
driven this car before until now.

If there was someone who was shadowing her, then it would be a good time to find out. All
she needed to do was pull a hard turn - she might as well check the handbrake first anyway -
and see if anyone was following her. If not, and if it turned out that she was just being
paranoid, then she would just continue on her merry little way.

She drove a good way down the mountain - just to make sure that whoever was following her
wouldn't suspect anything - before performing her sudden brake and reverse spin.

No one was there.

Except for that one car that had passed her going in the opposite direction a few minutes
ago, there was no one on the road save for her.

"Kami-sama, I feel like an idiot," Haruka muttered and started driving back the way she
came. "Next thing you know, I'm going to start jumping at shadows.

"Well, you handled pretty good so far," she said as she patted the steering wheel as one
would pet a dog or a horse. "What say we head on back home? Suddenly I'm not in the mood
to do more road testing anymore." With that being said, she headed back for her house
feeling very silly about that sudden case of paranoia.

**********************************************

Jed looked up again, his short nap being interrupted again by the sound of another vehicle
passing by. It was a white, four-door sedan, and it was going up Tenou's driveway, not
coming down it.

So far, he hadn't seen the blue four-door hatchback that he remembered seeing Tenou drive
when he had started following her, so she must still be at home. Unless she had other cars,
that is. The only car he had seen leaving the driveway was some beat up old car, which he
figured belonged to a neighbor who was visiting. After all, why would a well-to-do racecar
driver drive around in a clunker like that when she drove something better?

He sighed, bored with all the waiting. It was freezing in the car, but he needed to wait
until either Tenou left or night fell before moving to get the Nijizuishou. It would be
better if Tenou left; that way he wouldn't have to deal with anyone getting in his way
like that damn boy and the Tomoe girl. Well, they had already been taken care of. No more
worries on that part.

Just before he settled back in his seat again, he noticed that clunker car turning back
onto the driveway. One look at the driver made him grind his teeth in annoyance.

It WAS Tenou.

Why the hell was she driving that mobile scrap heap?!?

No matter. In a way, it was a good thing that he didn't go when she did leave. She had
come back way too early for him to find the crystal and leave unnoticed. It had to be
tonight, then. Maybe Tenou's guests would be gone by then, leaving her alone in her
home. He hoped, for her sake, that she wasn't a light sleeper. There could be no witnesses.
Not this time.

No more mistakes.

He grinned darkly as he settled back into his seat to wait for nightfall....

**********************************************
< br> To Chapter 28

**********************************************

Author' s Note: At last, a new chapter! Aren't you glad? I know I am! Sorry for the long
wait... again. Holidays, and all that. Besides, I've got so much to catch up on. I've
finished Alone No More - Minako's Story, so I have more time to work on this fic. However,
I've also started work on Atonement - Rei's Story, so I might have to jump between fics
again. Hey, don't worry. I'm still working hard on this fic. And it's far from over. Next
chapter: The meeting between Jack, Diane and Haruka; Tira wakes from her coma; and Jed
prepares to steal the Green Nijizuishou crystal.

Disclaimer: All original materials belong to their respective
owners. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and a bunch
of big companies. No copyright infringement is intended. This
story belongs to Moonsong and myself, and I would appreciate
you emailing her or myself for permission before posting it
anywhere else. Thank you.

Prologue Copyright © January 24, 2000 Moonsong.
Other Chapters Copyright © August 12, 2000 Jason Ulloa.
All Rights Reserved.