Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Who Killed Dr. Tomoe? ❯ Chapter 3

Disclaimer: The original Sailor Moon characters and story all belong to Naoko Takeuchi. Any characters that did not appear in the original story are my own creation.

Ratings/Warnings: Rating is PG. There is at least some minor bashing of most of the characters involved in the story, but it is all done for the sake of good clean humor in mind. (As opposed to just making the characters look stupid.) This story uses a lot of my favorite characters, so I'm not going to bash them TOO bad. ^_^

Summary: When Michiru watches one too many murder mystery flicks, she starts to develop suspects of her own... which might not be so bad if she wasn't accusing Setsuna of knocking off Hotaru's father! What's more, she's trying her hardest to convince Haruka of Setsuna's crimes so the two of them can catch her in the name of justice. No sanity can possibly come from this.

Story Setting: Beginning of Sailor Stars.

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Who Killed Dr. Tomoe?: Chapter 3
by Katrina Kadabra

The next ten hours passed incredibly slowly. Haruka had never known herself to be so nervous a day in her life. Every little sound or movement she didn't anticipate made her crazy with anxiety. Much to her own shock, she found herself paging Michiru after almost every class. The girl said that she was okay, but appreciated that Haruka was worried for her. After all, she worried for her friend just as much.

That evening at dinner, Haruka sat nervously chewing her food. Each swallow was like trying to force a ten-pound weight down her throat. This was it. They had to find out as much as they could about Setsuna tonight.

"So..." said Michiru, twirling her fork on the plate and glaring over at Setsuna. "I haven't seen much of Dr. Tomoe around lately, have YOU Haruka?" Michiru was a bit too forward with the question, Haruka thought, but she played along nonetheless.

"No, I can't say that I have," she answered. "Strange, isn't it?" Setsuna did not seem to respond to either of the comments. She simply smiled as she served up Hotaru's plate. The little girl eagerly dove into the feast in front of her.

"Oh, don't worry," Setsuna said pleasantly. "I'm sure there's a little bit of Dr. Tomoe in all of us."

Michiru and Haruka both stopped eating and stared cautiously down at their plates.

"How do you like the steak, Hotaru?" Setsuna asked the small black-haired child. Hotaru looked up at her with a large smile.

"It's yummy!" she replied. Michiru coughed and spat her food into a napkin. Haruka rubbed Michiru's back. Quickly, Michiru stood up and began to gather the plates.

"Well, I think that's enough for now," she said.

"But, Michiru, I just started..." Hotaru began to object.

"Eat your salad," Michiru replied and took the plates over to the sink to wash up. Setsuna looked strangely over at Michiru, but then shrugged her shoulders, passing off Michiru's puzzling behavior to a bad day at work or something of the like.

Haruka stood up to go watch TV, and Michiru put a few drops of dish detergent into the sink and turned on the faucet. As the tub began to fill with soap suds and water, Michiru looked back at the plates. The leftover food stared sadly back at her. Michiru cringed. Sighing, she took a paper towel and placed it delicately over the steak. She then put her hands together and made a small bow.

"Rest in peace."

That night brought much the same routine as the night before. Haruka took her place on the floor as Michiru and Hotaru took over her bed. The two of them were careful not to say a word until they were sure the girl was fast asleep.

"You know, we can't keep doing this," Haruka said.

"I'll say," said Michiru. "Your bed is far too uncomfortable. I think I should move mine in here instead."

Haruka sweatdropped. "I meant this hiding out and avoiding what's going on. Sooner or later, we have to confront Setsuna."

"You can't just confront a murderer!" she said, trying to keep her voice down as best she could. "Don't you realize the only reason we're both not dead is because she doesn't know we're onto her? Once she discovers that, we're obstacles to be eliminated."

"I know it's scary," said Haruka. "But we're not doing anyone any good this way. Plus, no offence, I do need to sleep at night."

"Alright," said Michiru, pulling the covers over her. "We'll confront her tomorrow. Agreed?"

"Agreed," said Haruka.

After their decision to confront Setsuna about Dr. Tomoe, Haruka was barely able to sleep a wink. She starting thinking of all the things that could happen. What if Setsuna tried something? Would Haruka be able to protect Michiru and Hotaru? Maybe they should all just run away and not get involved at all. But even if they did get away, where would they go? How would they explain to Hotaru that one of her guardians ruthlessly killed her own living parent? The thoughts were enough to make Haruka mad.

Haruka arose the next morning bright and early. She looked around the room. Hotaru was fast asleep, but Michiru was not.

"Good morning, Ruka," she said wearily.

"Good morning," Haruka answered. "Did you sleep last night?" Michiru shook her head.

"Not a bit."

Just then, the two of them heard an unusual noise. It sounded like some sort of conversation. And it was coming from the kitchen.

Michiru quickly got up and slipped into her robe. While Hotaru slept peacefully, Haruka and Michiru crept nervously towards to kitchen. As they entered the room, they saw Setsuna sitting at the table. And next to her was the last person either Haruka or Michiru had ever expected to see, at least alive.

"D-Dr. Tomoe!" they both exclaimed in unison. Michiru almost fainted backwards into Haruka's arms.

"What are you doing here?" Haruka asked as she tried to help Michiru back to her feet. "We thought you were dead!"

"Nope," said Dr. Tomoe. "I'm very much alive." He turned back to Setsuna.

"Your friends have quite the imaginations," he said.

"Whatever made you think Dr. Tomoe was dead?" Setsuna asked. Michiru opened her mouth to speak as she caught her balance.

"W-well, we hadn't seen him around much lately," she said. "And then I saw you the one night with the bag over your shoulders, so..." At Michiru's explanation, Setsuna almost burst out laughing.

"Wait a minute. You're saying you thought I had killed Dr. Tomoe?" Michiru nodded. Setsuna looked back at Dr. Tomoe and this time both of them laughed, which Haruka didn't appreciate in the least.

"Do you have to humiliate us like that?" she asked.

"Well I'm sorry," said Setsuna, pausing to wipe a tear from her eye. "But you must admit, it is rather amusing..."

"Now just wait a moment!" said Michiru. "If nothing happened then what were you carrying in that big bag the other night?"

"Big bag?" Setsuna questioned. She thought back for a moment. "If you're talking about Tuesday night, I took the trash out late. I knew I'd forget all about it if I waited to do it in the morning."

"Oh."

"What about that morning when you came in with that big butcher knife?" Haruka asked. "I thought you were going to stab me in the chest."

"Well!" said Setsuna. "You DO need a knife at time when you're cooking. Goodness, see if I ever make the two of you sausage and eggs for breakfast again."

Haruka sweatdropped.

"But where have you been sneaking off to every morning?" Michiru demanded. Dr. Tomoe raised his hand.

"I can answer that," he said. "Setsuna's been helping me with one of research projects every day and dropping Hotaru off at school. It's so nice of her to give up her morning time like that, and I should thank you two as well for helping take care of Hotaru while I've been away."

"N-no problem," Haruka stammered.

"Excuse me," Michiru said. "But where HAVE you been lately, Dr. Tomoe?"

Dr. Tomoe smiled. "I have a project I'm working on with a team in America. I had to leave for several weeks to attend some business conferences. I didn't know what I was going to do with Hotaru, so when Setsuna approached me, I was quite pleased as her offer."

Large sweatdrops formed on both Haruka and Michiru's heads.

"Please forgive us," said Haruka with an apologetic bow. "I don't know how we convinced ourselves of such a crazy idea."

"It was mostly my fault," Michiru admitted with the same gesture.

"It's alright," said Setsuna with a smile. "Please don't think another thing of it. After all, what's a good friendship without a couple accusations of murder now and then, right?" Setsuna smiled as she spoke, which only made the sweatdrops on Haruka and Michiru's heads bigger.

"Why don't we go wake Hotaru up?" Michiru suggested as she hurried out of the room. Haruka followed behind her.

"Sorry again," she said as she left.

After the girls were gone, Dr. Tomoe laughed a bit to himself and turned to stir some more sugar into his coffee.

"Well, overall, I'd say that didn't turn out so badly," he said to Setsuna.

"Oh yes," Setsuna agreed. "Now they will not suspect a thing about what we did to Usagi."

The End!