--Motherhood--
Chapter 3: Disappearance
By: Tisha

	It was a beautiful, bright spring morning on a Saturday and the four girls decided to attempt a 
picnic with the kids. Makoto had a basket full of delicious food that she prepared, Ami was carrying a 
half-asleep Kado, Minako was holding Aiko's, and Rei was carrying Kioshi since his moth had her hands 
full with the food. Following the four adults were four children. Takara and Naomi walked ahead of the 
adults.

	They were headed to the Tsukino house to see if Chibi-Usa could join them. The kids were 
already starting to get tired from the walk when they finally neared the correct street. Makoto and 
Minako, who were leading the group, started to slow down.

	"Hey, what's wrong?" Rei pushed through between them and stopped as cold as they had. 
There were at least four police cars with flashing lights parked right outside of the very place they 
were heading. Silently, they all continued walking. The door was open but they didn't go in. Instead, 
Minako rang the doorbell. After a few minutes of waiting impatiently a panicked looking Ikuko finally 
came to the door. She looked at all of them and waved a hand for them to come in. 

	"What are you girls doing here?"

	Makoto looked at the others and spoke up. "We were heading for a picnic and wanted Chibi-
Usa to join us."

	Ikuko cringed a little at the mention of Chibi-Usa's name. "Chibi-Usa's gone."

	"What?!" was the response of all four women. "What do you mean? When?"

	Ikuko wrung her hands together. "Not long ago. I wasn't gone for more than five minutes and 
she was just gone. I didn't even hear anything." They could tell that she hadn't even cried, she was just 
in a state of shock.

	Rei  pulled Kioshi closer to herself. "Have you called Usagi?"

	Ikuko bit her lip. "No. How can I tell her that I lost her daughter?"

	Rei handed Kioshi to Makoto, who had set the picnic basket down. "Tsukino-san, she's not 
going to blame you, but she has to know. We can't let them stay in California for another week."

	Ikuko nodded and led toward the kitchen. The girls got a glimpse of policemen all through the 
living room. She took a piece of paper off of the refrigerator. "This is the number in San Francisco. 
That's where they are now." She handed the phone to Rei, not feeling stable enough to make the call 
herself.

	Rei looked at Ami. "What time is it in California?"

	"About six."

	Ikuko nodded. "They usually call in about an hour."

	Rei dialed the number and waited until a man answered the phone. "Please connect me to 
room 304." Rei tried her best to speak proper English and there was a long silence and then ringing, so 
she figured she said it right. It just kept ringing though, but Rei waited. The man came back on. "Would 
you like to leave a message?" Rei mentally tried to work through the words and then she quickly 
repeated them to Ami, who responded by taking the phone.

	"Do you know when Mister and Misses Chiba should be back to their room?" There was a 
second of silence and then the man responded. "Actually I think they had dinner reservations about 
now, should I connect you to the restaurant?" 

	"Sure."

	Ami waited while there was more ringing, and she told the woman who answered to page 
them. "They aren't here, they had a reservation twnty minutes ago but they never showed up." "All 
right, thank you." Ami hung up the phone. "They didn't show up for their dinner reservations."

	Makoto bit her lip. "Is this all supposed to mean something?"

	Minako shook her head. "I don't like it. It doesn't seem like them to not show up."

	Ikuko was looking even more worried now. "Are you saying that maybe Usagi and Mamoru are 
missing too? How could that be?"

	Rei put a hand on her arm to comfort her. "I'm sure they're fine. Let's just wait for an hour and 
see if they call. If they don't, we'll try again."

	"Why don't we just focus on Chibi-Usa? Have the police found anything? Were there broken 
windows or fingerprints? Was the door unlocked?" Minako tried to make sense of the strange 
disappearance.

	"Well, I'm not sure if the door was locked, but I was right here in the kitchen and I never heard 
it open or close. There's nothing broken and they haven't yet found any signs of anything. I never 
even heard Chibi-Usa make a sound." She shook her head at the obvious mystery of it.

	The four looked at each other, their eyes telling each other of their silent worries. The three 
who were mothers felt the urge to hold tightly onto their kids. 

	One of the policemen came into the room and looked at all the women. "I'm sorry miss, but 
we can't find any evidence. We'll take the picture and make some fliers. Please contact us if you think 
of anything else that can help."


•••••••••••••••••••


	Four hours and six attempts later they still hadn't talked to Usagi or Mamoru. The police had 
called to say that they had done everything possible and would just have to wait until something came 
up about Chibi-Usa. Poor Ikuko was going out of her mind worrying that she not only lost her 
granddaughter but her daughter too. The kids had all fallen asleep in Usagi's old room upstairs, which 
was now used as a playroom for Chibi-Usa.

	Everyone finally agreed that they needed to go home. Kenji had been home for over an hour 
so they didn't have to worry about leaving Ikuko anymore. Each of the four gathered the kids and left 
the house, but they gathered outside to talk.

	"I say we get all these kids home and meet at the shrine in about a half hour." Everyone 
agreed with Rei's suggestion. 

	A half hour later they all managed to meet up at the shrine. Once they were seated, Minako 
didn't waste any time in expressing her concern. "You think this is another enemy?"

	Rei shrugged. "I tried a fire reading but I couldn't get anything."

	"If Usagi and Mamoru really are missing, then I wouldn't doubt it."

	"But who could possibly want both of them and Chibi-Usa, but ignore all of us?"

	"Who knows, I'm just worried that they'll come back and want more." Makoto, like Ami and 
Minako, was worried about her kids above all else.

	A ringing suddenly brought everyone to attention as Minako fished in her purse for her cell 
phone. They were all hoping it'd be either Usagi, returning their messages, or Ikuko, with some news. 
"Hello?" The others watched as Minako's face went completely pale. For a minute she just listened 
with her mouth open. It obviously took her a lot of strength to say something. "Are you sure? Have 
you looked everywhere?" With a little more listening she hung up. Her eyes filled with water.

	Ami put an arm around her shoulders. "Minako, what is it?"

	A sob escaped her throat and she looked at her friends. "Takara's gone. Nothing broken. It's 
the exact same thing."

	"Oh my God. What about Aiko?"

	"Aiko's fine. Exactly where she was."

	It was quiet for a minute and Makoto asked to use Minako's phone. She dialed quickly and 
waited. When she heard her husband answer she blurted out the sentence. "Please tell me that our 
children are okay."

	"Makoto? What are you talking about? I just put them to bed a few minutes ago."

	Makoto's voice became hoarse. "Please check."

	"All right." She waited and she heard the sound of a door. "Kioshi's fine." She waited until she 
heard the second door but Jifu didn't say anything.

	"Jifu? Naomi- is she okay?" 

	"Mako...she's gone."

	Makoto closed her eyes. "I'll be home soon." She hung up the phone and cursed out loud. The 
others looked at her, waiting to find out. "Naomi's gone."

	Without a word Ami took the phone and mirrored everything Makoto had just done. She 
heard Urawa going up the stairs to check. "He's fine, Ami. Sleeping just like he was." She sighed in 
relief. "Don't leave that room until I get home, okay?" "Sure." She hung up and looked at the others. 
"Kado is fine."

	Rei looked at the three. "This doesn't make any sense. They are disappearing quietly and 
randomly." 

	Minako, who had managed to control her sobbing, took the phone that was being handed to 
her. "So all of us are missing a kid except Ami. Why hasn't this person taken Kado? And why would it 
take Mamoru and Usagi if it hasn't gotten any of us?"

	"Well it could still come back. Usagi, Mamoru, and Chibi-Usa disappeared hours before the 
others." Makoto paused and stood up. "I have to get home." The others nodded in agreement and 
each went their ways, each worrying about the kids that had been taken and scared for the ones that 
hadn't.


•••••••••••••••••••



	Minako sat silently with Shiro's arm around her while the policewoman questioned them. "So, 
you weren't Takara's real father?"

	"Well, not biologically, but-"

	Minako cut him off. "Stop it. You can't ask that. Shiro didn't do anything to her. She loves him. 
He is her father to us all."

	The woman looked at her for a second and then went on with her questioning. "No one ever 
came in through the door?"

	"No. I was right here and the girls were both upstairs."

	The woman wrote everything down. "Now, don't you people know all the parents of these 
other disappearances?"

	Minako only nodded and the woman gathered her stuff. "I don't know what to tell you. This is 
the biggest mystery we've had for a while. We'll add your daughter to the fliers. I'll call you later if we 
find anything." Shiro showed the woman to the door and returned to give Minako a comforting hug. 

	"We'll find them. All of them."

	Minako sighed. "I hope so."


•••••••••••••••••••


	Usagi moaned and rubbed her eyes. She slowly opened them to take in her surroundings. All 
she saw was big stone walls and she squinted, trying to clear her head.

	"Usako?"

	She turned to the voice and found Mamoru sitting nearby against the wall. She held her head. 
"Where are we?"

	"You don't remember?"

	She thought for a second, desperately trying to remember. She remembered being in the 
hotel room and then a man appeared out of nowhere. She shivered at how much it had reminded her 
of Raidon and her encounter with him three years ago. "Vaguely."

	"I think he put us to sleep somehow."

	Usagi scooted closer to Mamoru and leaned her aching head on his shoulder. "Why do things 
like this always happen to us?"

	"I wish I knew. I just hope Chibi-Usa's okay."

	She bit her lip. "No one will even know we're gone."

	Mamoru put his arm around her, pulling her close to him and savoring the feel of having her 
near. "Well eventually they'll realize it. If we miss calling everyday they have to wonder."

	Just the thought of her daughter made Usagi want to cry. She had been taken away from her 
once, when she was only a baby, and even then it seemed that the little girl missed her. Now both of 
her parents were gone, and she had no idea how long they'd be gone before they could get out of 
this. "Poor Chibi-Usa, she'll think we're not calling on purpose."

	Usagi and Mamoru both snapped to attention as one of the walls flickered with light and the 
picture of a man appeared, as if it were a giant television screen. Usagi recognized it as the same man 
that suddenly appeared in their hotel room before they ended up here.

	"I don't think you have to worry about the little girl missing your call. She's not home to get it 
anyway." Usagi gasped as she suddenly heard the sound of children coming from the screen; it 
sounded like they were crying. The man suddenly bent down and came up with Chibi-Usa in him arms. 
"Look familiar?"

	Usagi held onto Mamoru's hand even tighter. "Please let her go!"

	Mamoru stood up, pulling Usagi up with him. "If you dare touch her I'll make you regret it."

	The man looked amused at this as he looked at the girl in his arms. "Really? Now I don't see 
anything you can do." He set her down and then picked up another child. "I've got more, you see?" 

	Both Usagi and Mamoru knew exactly who that was. And as he continued to pick up little girls 
they recognized them all. Usagi couldn't stand the thought of her mother and friends at home in Tokyo 
missing all these children. "What do you want? Why are we here?"

	The man put down Naomi, the last child he was holding, and stared straight ahead through the 
screen. "Well, I guess you'll have to find out soon enough." With that the reception was cut and the 
wall went back to its normal, dark state. Usagi fell into her husband's arms and started crying as he 
held her close.


To be continued....