The Queen's Mother 5

Les Miserables

"To love or have loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further. There is no other pearl to be found in the dark folds of life."

― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

Ikuko didn't know what to do or think about the situation so she just watched. She watched as Ken ran around the house taking care of things, making sure Sammy was alright and staying home, and grabbing Ikuko's light jacket and purse before grabbing her hand and heading out the door. Ikuko only watched the lights as they speed past her while she sat in the moving car. Living so close to the city they barely used their car, but Ken was in a rush not that Ikuko could blame him. This was about their daughter. Ken had been so worried about Serena. Almost as much as she was. The lights on the road passed them by as they got closer to the police station, Ikuko wondered if all of this was real. No, Ikuko was not pondering philosophy about reality but wondered if this who situation could be really about Serena. Could this all be centered around Serena? Ikuko almost found herself hoping that it was another girl's body they had found in the street, and not that of her Serena. The police had only found a body that could be Serena's, and Ikuko could only hope it wasn't.

They had parked the car and Ken practically ran inside of the police station. Ikuko kept a slow walk as she could feel a heaviness in her chest, and the world around her spun slightly. The other officers and various people working around barely took notice of Ikuko and Ken, and honestly, to Ikuko, they're faces blurred. She was too worried to think about those around her. The Police station was loud with the bustle of busy café or a city in the middle of the day. Ikuko wondered if it was like this every day, but it wasn't every day that someone was asked to identify a body. Ken talked to the man at the front desk, and honestly, Ikuko was more focused on keeping her breathing steady, and her mind clear then to hear the muffled question. Ken grabbed Ikuko's hand and lead her down the hallway seemingly aware of her dazed and confused state. Ikuko wasn't sure how he was handling this. More than likely it was the hope that the girl they found wasn't Serena, or was it the want of closure? Ikuko couldn't be sure. Especially with how Ken had tried to keep her from searching things about Serena's disappearance on her own. His anger every time she brought something. His hand in her own was comforting and familiar, but it held something unknown in its grasp. Ikuko wasn't sure what to think of Ken at the moment.

Ken lead her into the morgue where a man and a detective meet them. The detective was a young woman, Ikuko noted. She seemed to know a lot about Serena's case and was sure that the body was Serena's, but needed the family to officially identify her since the body carried no identification. Ikuko braced herself as the coroner moved back the sheet from the body. Ken squeezed her hand tightly just as she did his and Ikuko prayed to any god listening that this girl was someone else. Time seemed to slow as the loudest thing in the room became the hammering sound of Ikuko's own heartbeat. She felt faint, but couldn't afford to be weak now. She had to see this through for Serena's sake. As the sheet was pulled back Ikuko's entire world came crashing down.

The blonde hair, the blonde hair Ikuko remember brushing and braiding since the girl was a baby was caked with mud, dirt, and grime. It was no longer the brilliant color it had been instead its vibrant color was faded as if someone had put a filter on a picture causing the color to dull slightly. Her skin was oh so pale. Far too pale to hold any life in it. Her nails were long and unkempt, Serena had always taken care to clip her nails regularly. She was always so clumsy, she fell so many times as young girl that she kept her nails short to keep from scratching herself over and over again. She was also far skinner than Serena had ever been. While Serena was never overweight, not even anywhere near it, she was always healthily looking, not like the body that laid in front of her. It was so different, but there was no denying that the body on the table was Serena. The face was that of her daughter's, and Ikuko thought her heart might just bust in her chest. Ikuko thought she should just die here. This body that laid on the table was Serena. It didn't feel right in her chest. Serena couldn't be gone, not like this.

It was Ken's anguished cries that brought Ikuko back into the world of the living.

"Not her. Oh god, please." He pleaded. Neither had ever believed in any sort of religion, but here was her husband probably for the first time in his life praying to whoever could here to turn back time, and give him his daughter back.

"So, this is her." The detective inferred from both of their reactions. Neither Ken nor Ikuko could answer her, but she wrote something down on a clipboard she had in her hands and walked over to the parents putting a comforting hand on their shoulders. "My condolences. I really hate this part of my job, but we have some questions we need to ask the both of you since this case has now turned into a homicide. We'll give you some time, but please whenever you're ready. Take as long as you need." The detective released both of their shoulders and motioned for the coroner to follow her out of the room.

It was Ken who moved toward the body first. Ikuko, however, was struck dumb. The information too much to process. She could barely breathe let alone move. Was her daughter dead? Had her searching been pointless? Was this really all there is to Serena's story in life? Taken far too early from the world? Serena was special, magical in a way that all mothers thought their daughters were special. This was her daughter. Not another face of some poor helpless girl on the 9 O'clock news. This couldn't be real. It couldn't be happening. Serena wouldn't die and leave her behind, could she? Ikuko heard a story about a girl who died in a horrible car accident, and at the funeral, the mother had a fatal brain aneurysm. Some say it was the grief that killed her. Ikuko wondered if she would go the same way, as right now all she think about was how alone Serena must have felt. How Ikuko rather it had been her that died instead. Parents weren't supposed to bury their children. Mothers weren't supposed to bury their precious baby girls, but here Ikuko was staring dumbfounded at the corpse of her 21-year-old daughter freshly married to her high school sweetheart. The world should have been her's.

Ken held onto the body's hand apologizing for ever fight they ever had, and every time he grounded her, and every time he hadn't been there. He promised to love her forever, that nothing was ever going to change that, and Ken Cried. Ken cried for the first time in what had to have been years. Even when Serena had gone missing and he was sick with worry he hadn't cried but has he held that hand of his dead daughter, he cried, and so did Ikuko. Ikuko finally gained the courage to gain a closer look at the body, she couldn't fall apart. Not here in the police station. Ken needed her to be slightly stronger right now. She had to be a pillar. Ikuko moved towards Ken pulling her husband into a tight hold and letting him cry into her shoulder. His grip on her was tight almost to the point of pain, but Ikuko didn't mind. She knew what emotions were going on in his head right now for she felt them too. Disbelief, anger, unparalleled sadness, the feeling of helplessness. She knew all too well what he was feeling. Serena finally looked up at her daughter's body and noticed some bruising on her wrist. Serena always bruised so easily. Someone must have tied her up. Something in Ikuko told her to reach out and touch her daughter for what would probably be her last time, and so she did. Ikuko reached for the limp hand of her daughter, not knowing what to expect, but knowing she needed the closer of holding her child's hand a final time.

Electric would be how Ikuko could describe the feeling that went into her body that moment she touched the hand. It was cold, of course, but that wasn't what caused Ikuko to drop the girl's it was the knowledge that now came to her. The hand that she just touched was foreign to her. In didn't at all feel like the hand of her daughter, and that was when Ikuko remembered something important. Ikuko pushed Ken away in a hurry as he through her questioning, startled look.

"I'm sorry," She said responding to his unspoken question. "I can't-", She stopped what was she supposed to tell him. She didn't even know what to think let alone what to say. "I need some air." Ken's questioning look turned sympathetic and he nodded at her as Ikuko ran hurriedly from the room, and straight into someone. "I'm sorry." She said only looking at the person for a fraction of a second before hurting down the hall to the women's restroom she had passed when they were led into the Morgue. Ikuko quickly turned on the water waiting for it to get as cold as possible before splashing it into her face. Startling her system enough to make her gasp loudly for air, clearing her head, and making the world spin a little less. She needed to clear her thoughts. What was all of that? She knew the moment she touched the hand, the girl on the table wasn't her daughter.

She had no poof. Even she had thought the body was her daughter. Hell, her husband still thought it was her daughter, but Ikuko knew that the girl wasn't her daughter. Serena had always had soft hands, and the hand that she held were rough and course. Maybe she was mistaken, maybe she was crazy. All the proof was in front of her. Her daughter's body supposedly sat in the other room, but for some reason, Ikuko couldn't get it out of her head that it wasn't Serena, that it couldn't be Serena. She wondered if this were the grief. Would it drive her mad? Ikuko wasn't sure what to think when the restroom's door swung open quietly.

"Mrs. Tsukino?" A voice asked before the head of the detective popped into the room. Ikuko quickly tried to compose herself, but the woman detective waved a hand stopping her. "You're fine. You've been through a lot." She said understandingly. " You bumped into me when you ran, I just came to check on you. Are we alone in here?" Ikuko raised an eyebrow, but looked around and saw that it was only the two of them in the restroom. Ikuko nodded and the detective steeped closing the door behind them. Ikuko lowered her head not really wanting to hear condolences. the woman seemed nice with her short black hair that only touched her ears and her brown eyes, but Ikuko was not in the mood for niceties.

"Mrs. Tsukino, I just wanted to give my condolences again. I understand what you're going through" The detective said, and Ikuko stopped herself from snorting in disgust. This woman didn't know a thing that was happening. She was just as ignorant about what really happened to her daughter as everyone else. " You see, these things happen to people, even good ones who were warned not to go looking into things that they shouldn't." Ikuko looked up quickly, caught off guard by the woman's continuation.

"Excuse me?" Ikuko asked clearly confused. The woman smiled at her sweetly.

"Now Now, Mrs. Tsukino, our mutual friend, did warn you to mind your business, did she not? Come on now, you know who I am talking about. Blonde, a bit bossy, and cold enough to threaten your entire life with a smile on her face." Ikuko froze at the implication. Venus did this? Was sailor venus the cause of this? The woman must have noticed the realization on Ikuko's face for she kept speaking. "You must have thought you were awfully smart going to Mina Aino's mother for information. After all, it wasn't technically your daughter you were investigating at all." Ikuko bit her lip as the not-detective stalked around her like a predator watching its prey.

"But we see everything, and next time not only will we delegitimize whatever kooky story you come up with we will carry out our promise to make sure that you won't even remember you had a daughter. I've seen Jadeite try to take such important memories out of people's heads before, and let me just say that they were never the same." Ikuko was in shock. What had she stumbled upon trying to find her daughter? She wasn't sure, but the woman kept talking.

"Now, let's set some more house rules since you seem to be the type who likes the push the rules to the limit." She said stopping in front of Ikuko and looking her straight into the eyes. "You will not continue to investigate anything about Serena Tsukino or her friends that are missing. You are not to initiate contact with anyone closely related to them. And lastly, you are not allowed to tell anyone about what you think you know, or what you don't know. Mention it or our little chats with anyone, even your husband, and we will wipe your and their memories clean. Like Sailor Venus told you, it's time you move on, Your daughter is gone." She said so pleasantly that Ikuko almost forgot she was being threatened.

Ikuko frowned at these rules that clearly locked her in a way that she couldn't actively look into her daughter's disappearance. "These rules… I'd imagine you must have some way of monitoring me in order to know if I follow them?" Ikuko asked.

"Well, actually, I'm tasked with keeping watch on you as well as some others, but you'll mostly be dealing with me, So I'll get to know you a bit more." The woman smiled. " And since you asked nicely, Let's just say I have a way of getting around without being noticed." Suddenly the woman that stood before Ikuko turned into a completely different person, a man with long sandy colored hair, and green eyes that shined with humor. Ikuko recognized this man with his feminine appearance. He was at the Q and A, one of the generals that stood watch over the event. As quick as the change was, it went back to the female detective almost like they had never changed at all.

"I hope you understand your position, not that I know why Venus is bothering. The world thinks your daughter is dead now. Anything you say to contradicts that makes it looks like the mad ravings of a grieving mother, but she clearly overestimates you," A prideful glint shined in the eyes of the woman…. or man. Ikuko honestly wasn't sure at this point what they were. "Now play nice, and I'll be watching you." Blowing a kiss to Ikuko, they walked out the door leaving Ikuko alone in the restroom.

Ikuko almost didn't know what to think. So many things were floating around in her head. Her daughter's disappearance was being covered up. The new King and Queen and their so-called benevolent intentions for the world, and their soldiers who would do anything to ensure the success of their plans even blackmail a harmless civilian. These things were all connected to each other, but Ikuko didn't know how or why. Ikuko looked into the mirror of the bathroom and found herself smiling. Soon the smile grew and Ikuko found herself laughing hard and loud. She felt a tear form in her eye, she stopped laughing as she wiped it away, still smiling ever so relieved. Sailor Venus was a fool. Ikuko would never stop looking for daughter now, not when Sailor Venus had given the only information she needed to keep searching. Her daughter was not the body in the morgue. Her daughter was out there somewhere. Her daughter was alive.

And that was all the information Ikuko needed.

Word Count: 2,923

Author's Note: It's good to be back. I'm on Christmas break now for the next 8 weeks, So I figured I would post some chapters. I like to get them done during the break, but sometimes it doesn't work out like that. This time however it did. So I am sorry for the wait, but school and work are around to take up all my free time.

So about this chapter... It was supposed to be way longer, but when I was writing it was just too natural for me not to end the chapter here. Usually, my chapters have about five or six points I like to hit, but this one was only one probably because there was just so much to this chapter. As short as it is, it filled with plenty of things and I didn't want to overstuff the chapter. On word this is about four and a half pages typed and my usual for this story is about 6-7.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. This was a chapter that I had imagined since I thought of this story concept back when I was still in high school. I'm glad you can all read it now!

Special thanks to Flareup4Ratchet, Astraearose-silvermoon, and flaxj for their wonderful reviews. You guys are the reason I can get off my ass and write.

Please don't forget to Review/Follow/Favorite this story. It really helps my drive to know I have readers. As always I love any sort of criticism so please send some, but do be nice I am on my own here.

Love,

~Miyu K.