Double Jeopardy

Rated M

Summary: Chiba Mamoru is a renown detective notorious for pushing boundaries. Tsukino Usagi is the sharpest criminal defense attorney in Tokyo. When someone from Mamoru's past gets arrested that he believes is innocent, he turns to the deadliest shark he knows. AU UsaMamo

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or any of the characters written in this scene. Also, I do not know anything formal about the Japanese law structure; I did my best with research, but I apologize if it's not spot-on.

A/N: Hey guys! I am so excited to be posting this new story and sharing it with you! The inspiration from this story comes from two sources... one is my love of Law and Order SVU (cuz I heart Elliott Stabler) and the other is that my husband is a detective (well, investigator, but tomato-tomahto)! I also used to have a career in law enforcement, and let me tell you, it really is like high school with the dramatics, man! Hahaha.

Ultimately, my goal with this story is to hit a variety of genres: romance, crime, suspense, drama, and mystery all rolled into a Usa-Mamo AU. I hope you enjoy it!

Also, a special thank you to CassieRaven, who beta-previewed this for me and enthusiastically encouraged me to continue writing this. I really appreciate your help! Additionally, a thank you to Pia Bartolini for taking a fine-tooth comb and making some fantastic edits! You two are AMAZING.

Please review and let me know your thoughts!

#

"Dear, dear, Tanaka-san, your son is very young, 18, correct?"

"17," Tanaka Aiko corrected.

"Ah, yes, right. 17. My, my, my and to think he'd have to spend the rest of his life in jail, since he's too young for the death penalty. Mhmm," Detective Mamoru Chiba mused, walking around the interrogation table; "If only there was a way to cut his sentence in half." Mamoru grinned, rested his hands on the table and nodded. "Oh, I know, and I think you do too, Tanaka-san. All we need is a confession from him, and the two other mongrels who broke into the store."

Aiko looked uncomfortable. "You know he can't do that," she said in a quiet voice. "He made a pact with his friends."

Mamoru arched his eyebrow. "Although this may be true, wouldn't it be better if he only had, let's say, five to ten years in prison instead of fifteen to life?"

Still silent, Aiko nodded.

"And wouldn't you agree that if his father was still alive, he'd want his son to tell the truth?"

Aiko jumped out of her chair, her face tense, her lips pursed. "Don't bring my dead husband into this, you fool," she said with an intense fierceness in her voice.

Mamoru grinned with triumph; he had hit a nerve. "Fine, but you do know that your son is going to end up just like his father: found dead in prison. However, unlike his daddy, he probably wouldn't hang himself. He'd probably get beaten up in the very first week."

"Enough!" Aiko shouted. "You bastar—"

Mamoru held out his hand to cut her off. "Listen" he said in a calm, soothing voice, "All I want is the best for your son, but I can't help if you are not willing to help me."

Aiko sat back down in her chair. "Is there any other way?" she asked, but he could hear the perseverance in her voice dwindling. Clearly, she realized the stupidity of this all, so adamant in defending her son's foolish actions.

"Well…" Mamoru thought for a moment. "You said that Yuki-san made a pact to his friend not to say anything about that night, but YOU, Tanaka-san, never made such a promise. With that said," — a grin surfaced on Mamoru's face— "I believe it's best for you to tell me what happened that night. As the mother of this young boy, I'm sure you know something…"

He could see the wheel's spinning in her head, her lips parting, her breath heavy. Yes, the confession he needed was surfacing. Aiko fidgeted in her chair. She brushed her hair back, sweat beads budding on her forehead, and then released a big breath.

"Look," she finally said, "I'm not going to give you all the details, but I can give you what you need."

With a swift motion, Mamoru sat in the seat across from her. "Now," he said with a click of his pen, "what do you know?"

"First," Aiko spoke up again, "I want to have your word that my son doesn't get life in prison."

#

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how it's done," Mamoru boasted as he sat in his office chair, relishing in full exaggeration as he extended his arms behind his head.

Kino Makoto, his partner, looked up from her paperwork, her green eyes peeking through her brown bangs, twinkling with curiosity. "How'd you do it?"

"Easy. I told Tanaka-san that I would reduce her son's sentence if she gave me the information I needed," Mamoru stated with a crack of his knuckles.

Makoto looked at him inquisitively. "You don't have the power to do that."

Mamoru grinned wickedly. "I know."

"You clever bastard," she exclaimed with a slap of her hand on the desk. "You never cease to amaze me."

Mamoru laughed as he reached for the phone. "And with that confession, I have all I need for a one-way ticket for Tanaka Yuki to Fuchū."

"Need me to call Hino-san?" Makoto inquired as Mamoru asked to be transferred to the prisoner transport line.

"Could you, please? That would be great," Mamoru thanked Makoto for her suggestion to call in their assigned Public Prosecutor's Assistant Officer. "Let her know that we have Mom putting him at the scene and he's going to holding until arraignment— Hi, yes, this is Chiba Mamoru of the Criminal Investigation Bureau. Yes, I have one prisoner ready for transport."

The two partners wrapped up their phone calls before diving back into their routine: necessary paperwork. A few exchanges here and there, the stationhouse began to quiet down as night fell, a nice reprieve from the chaos earlier. Between the arrest, dealing with a hysterical mother, and the mental exhaustion that comes from a calculated interrogation, Mamoru was looking forward to his apartment, unwinding, and getting some much-needed sleep.

His navy eyes focused on the computer screen, reviewing the document on the computer one last time. Satisfied, Mamoru clicked on the print icon, believing his report to be complete and error-free. "Just need the Inspector to sign off on this, and we will be all—"

"Set? I don't think so." Mamoru's face went from pleased to perturbed at the sound of her voice in about point-five seconds. It was like nails on a chalkboard; so piercing, so crippling, so, so… dreadful.

What fucking dumb luck. "Ah, I thought I heard a rat skulking in here."

Tsukino Usagi only smiled. "Ah, well, glad to see you looked in the mirror this morning, Chiba-san. Now, my client, please?"

Un-fucking-believable. Mamoru snorted as he stood up. "Who called you in?"

"Tanaka Natsumi," Usagi replied as she inspected her manicured nails in faux boredom, as if he should have known this information. "Now, my client?"

"Tanaka Natsumi… wait, the grandmother called you in?"

"Wow, so you do have a brain in there," Usagi responded with an eye roll. "Considering you have my client and his mother under your roof, I'm going to go ahead and use the one 'duh' moment I had saved in my back pocket. Although, I didn't think I'd have to use it quite this early in our conversation."

Mamoru creased his brow. "Where the hell did she find you? Wait, wait, I know; she looked you up in the phonebook or something, right? 0120-WEASEL?"

"Hah, good one" Usagi replied with a roll of her eyes. "Considering phonebooks are obsolete nowadays, I'd say that line belongs back in 2002. Now, once again, my client?"

Mamoru crossed his arms. "On his way to Central Booking. If you hurry, maybe you can hitch a ride, too."

Usagi's lips pressed into a thin, pink line, the apples of her cheeks swelling slightly, her icy, blue eyes narrowing in his direction. "I'd think twice before you mess with me again, Chiba-san. It's that cocky attitude of yours that's going to get you into some real trouble one of these days."

Mamoru smirked; nothing gave him more pleasure than getting under people's skin, and when he was able to chafe Tsukino Usagi, the sleaziest, wormiest, biggest rip-off of a defense attorney in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, he went home feeling a little bit better about himself.

"Nah, I'll continue to take my chances," he responded as he leaned back against the wall behind him. Satisfaction lit up inside of him when he watched her lips curl into a frown.

It didn't last; the petite attorney squared her shoulders, hardened eyes staring at him. "My client," she repeated with cold force. Had it been their first, or even their tenth encounter, Mamoru may have been a little frazzled by her demeanor. The light grey power suit, a powder blue button-up shirt peeking out from underneath, she looked every bit as professional as she made herself out to be. Hell, some may even say she was attractive. But ever since she undermined him on the bench two years ago, embarrassing the hell out of him on a case he spent six months working his ass off on, he had no problem giving it back to her any time she set foot in the station.

He leaned forward ever so slightly. "Central. Booking."

"You might want to cancel that transport," Usagi stated, "before I go ahead and file charges for unlawful imprisonment."

"Come again?"

"You heard me. Get him back here. Now."

"Sorry, but he's already on his way to the party house. Don't worry, he's in good hands," Mamoru taunted with a wink of his eye to her, but Usagi remained unresolved.

"My, my, Chiba-san; tell me, are you a betting man?"

"Only with birth control."

"Cuz' I'd go ahead and fold your cards, buddy," she stated with a toss of her blonde hair over her shoulder. "You're not going to win this one. And you're a pig!" she added with a wrinkle of her nose in disgust.

"Nah, I don't think so." Mamoru with a wave of his finger before sitting back down dismissively.

"Chiba-san, Tsukino-san, that's enough!" a voice with the accompanying sound of clicking heels interrupted their quarrel. Assistant Public Prosecutor Hino Rei slipped in between the two, her attention turned to Usagi. "Tsukino-san, your client is on their way to detention; you can counsel him there. My God, you'd think this is your first rodeo with your patronizing insistence at this."

Usagi smirked. "That's where you are wrong, Counsel. Now, I would like my client, produced, here in the next 30 minutes, so I can take him home."

Mamoru scoffed as he stood back up again. "Home? I don't think so."

"We have his fingerprint on the knife. His own mother places him at the crime scene. There's nothing for you here," Rei countered, her hand resting on her hip.

"Oh, Rei-chan, that's what you think," Usagi mused with an ominous smile as she produced a folded piece of paper. Mamoru and Rei both stared at the item, their once-confident grins falling fast.

Mamoru glared as Usagi shuffled around Rei and towards him, dragging the paper down his chest softly. From the playful wink, to the pursed lips, had it been anyone, anyone else, with any other item, this may have been a turn-on.

"Motion to dismiss."

Mamoru snatched the paperwork out of Usagi's hands. "Bullshit!"

Usagi turned around, her skinny black heels clicking matter-of-factly against the ground as she made her way from the sputtering group. "See you tomorrow morning in Chambers," she stated with a wave of her hand, not bothering to look back at the baffled detectives and prosecutor.

"But, what, how?" Mamoru stated as he looked at the document, only for Rei to rip it out of his hands.

"You sure you didn't do anything unethical?" Rei inquired as her violet eyes grazed over the wording, her brows furrowed.

"Positive!" Mamoru exclaimed. "All by the book, I swear!" Dropping his head into his hands, Mamoru let out a string of curse words. That bitch. What the fuck did she think she had on them? They had the evidence. The blood. Statements. All items pointed to Tanaka Yuki as the perp. There was no way—

"Mother fucker, son of a bitch," Rei muttered as she reached the second page.

Mamoru raised his head. "What?"

Rei threw the paper against his desk. "Fucking chain of command was broken!"

"What?!"

"Looks like your evidence technician logged in your bloody knife incorrectly," Rei scoffed. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"That's not fair!" Makoto interjected with a slam of her hands on the desk. "His fingerprint is on there! Surely that has to count for something."

"Nope. And tomorrow at 8:00 Tsukino Usagi is going to get him off. Un-fucking-believable."

"Come on, Rei. There has to be something you can do," Mamoru insisted.

"Nope. You can go ahead and thank Tokyo's forensic lab for this screw up," Rei sneered as she shoved the document into her briefcase.

"Son of a bitch!" Mamoru shouted as he slapped at the paperwork, files exploding across his workstation. He didn't care; he'd clean it up later. But to have his hard work discredited due to a fucking technical error? A burglar who stabbed the shop owner as he robbed him, free on the streets? He felt sick. She was going to get Tanaka Yuki off. And not just Tanaka, but his accomplices as well.

"Find me something else," Rei insisted as she made her way toward the exit, "or tomorrow he walks. You have him booked already; yes?"

Mamoru ran his hands down his face. "Yeah."

"That at least gives us some time. Dig up something. Anything. Otherwise, he walks."

So much for going home. "I'm on it," Mamoru groaned.

#

Mamoru paced around the judges chambers.

He could feel his temper boiling with each word that shrew stated, twisting the truth in her favor, bringing up the smallest mistake to undermine his entire investigation.

"That's bullshit. This is bullshit. It's ALL bullshit," Mamoru interjected as he pointed his finger at Usagi. She cocked her head to the side slightly, her blonde hair wound into a bun as tight as her personality. He could feel his fury build as she tossed him a knowing smile, one that told him I win, you lose.

Mamoru snapped his mouth shut once he received a piercing look from the judge. "One more outburst from you and you'll be asked to leave."

"Yes, sir," he acknowledged, turning away from the two women professing their claims.

Rei did her best.

But in the end, Tsukino Usagi walked out of Chambers the victor, Mamoru's case dismissed.

His eyes lingered on her as she walked away, like she owned the fucking courthouse. She was a thorn in his side. A constant pit of misery.

He hated Tsukino Usagi.