Property of Kimra Lelanst, do not duplicate without consent.
Serena knocked on the apartment door resolutely, her mind jumbled but certain. The tranquillity of the night around her had no effect on her nerves, nerves which where humming with uncertainty and curiosity.
She wasn’t expecting the door to open when it did. She actually expected to have to knock three or four times before she roused anyone. From her best guess it was somewhere near midnight. But the door opened before her without warning, revealing a frowning Darien, whose’s expression went blank the second he recognised her.
Serena tried to talk, her attempt falling to pieces the second she realised he didn’t have a shirt on, her mind freezing in a loop of memories as she stared at him. Her hands had explored that strong chest before, and they itched to do it again.
“What are you doing here?” His voice seemed strained, and her eyes jumped up from his chest to his eyes making contact. His expression was darker then she could ever remember it being and she went to step back a little scared. As if he sensed it the expression cleared to nothing, but there was still something in his eyes. And it didn’t scare her, although there was some fear in her for the expression, it excited her and she knew why. That dark look existed too in her memories.
“I-“ She stopped, rethinking trying to breath properly, “we-“ again she stopped, not even sure what she was trying to say. She looked down the empty corridor then up to him. “Can I come in?” She asked gently trying to control her frantic heart rate. His presence before her was like an anchor drawing her in and pulling her closer, and she was trying to remain calm in the centre of the overwhelming feelings.
His hand flexed about the doorframe, his body fixed in the doorway and completely unmoving and she realised he was baring her from his apartment. “I don’t think-“ He swallowed his eyes jumping to a spot over her shoulder, breaking eye contact. Then after a pause continued. “I don’t think you should.” There was a slight strain to his voice still, and Serena was struck with a realisation, it was restrain.
Without warning she breached the distance between them, her arm’s enclosing his neck and her lips and body slamming into his. It set him completely off balance and threw him against the wall a step behind him. He gripped her waist and pushed her away sharply before the kiss could be anything but chaste.
“Don’t.” His voice was dark and filled with warnings and she allowed herself to be pushed back a step or two, but not out the door, she refused to leave yet.
“You remember it don’t you?” Serena demanded in between gasps for air. Her body was burning with the need to touch him, to repeat what her mind continued to replay for her.
“No.” He snapped, his eyes averted from her own, she knew he was lying. He went to move her out of the apartment but she refused to budge. He surrendered his struggle to remove her from his apartment and went to walk away from her. She lunged, clasping her hand around his forearm, appreciating the friction of the bare skin contact. Even the slightest touch felt more real then the memories she had been allowed, and she dazedly wondered how much the others sensations would be amplified. She blushed at her own thoughts, but didn’t stop them.
“Just bit’s and pieces. Right?” She managed to snap out. “That’s what you said, bit’s and pieces.” Serena demanded, her fingers tight around his arm. She calmed herself a fraction. “That’s all I got too.” She whispered, but it was enough, his body turned sharply to face her. “Every time I closed my eyes I’d get bit’s and pieces of memories. Of us. I wanted to forget it, forget that I ever lost control of a moment, but tonight, it just didn’t let me go.” She breathed harshly staring up into his eyes pleadingly. “You remember don’t you? You didn’t before, but you do now. More then bit’s and pieces, just like I do.” He frowned at her again and looked away.
“You should go.” He warned.
“It doesn’t work!” She snapped, angry at his rejection. He looked at her, a flicker of concern in his features before they where neutral again. “I can’t just walk away and forget. I want to! But I can’t!” She took a step closer to him and he went to retreat. Her body trembled with the need the dreams had drawn out in her. “I haven’t slept properly since it happened, and every time my eyes close your there! I can’t get rid of it, I can’t ignore it and I don’t want to!” Again she breached the distance between them faster then he could react, her lips finding his, her arm’s locking about him demanding and persistent.
And in the next moment she was in his arm’s again, just like in her memories, only this time it was better, because this time she had control of her sense’s and it was not a frazzled memory that refused to surface properly. And every touch of his was felt like a wave through her nerves sizzling her mind until it could think of nothing but him.
She put as much passion, as much demand as she could into the kiss, knowing there was no other way to get what she wanted. It was strange, inhibition was beyond her, and all she really knew was she needed this more then anything else she had ever wanted.
The kiss’s deepened, and she let it, let him lead her further into passion her hands searching over his bare chest, trusting him to hold her close. Her pulse raced with excitement, feeling the taut muscle’s under her touch, marvelling as he flexed his arm’s beneath her hands and lifted her off the ground. Her legs clamped down around his waist in reflex, the kiss’s still continuing, throwing them deeper into each other.
And no more protests came from either of them as they surrendered to the moment.
* * * * *
Serena woke disorientated, the light, although there was little of it was wrong. She sat up with a groan of frustration wondering why the moonlight would be playing tricks on her. The smooth feel of satin sheets as she slid down her upright body surprised her and she glanced down finding herself bare of clothing.
Startled by the realisation Serena grabbed at the blanket and drew it up over her chest, her eyes flicking about quickly, desperate to find orientation. She found it when she realised the room was not entirely unfamiliar, and more when she found the male body lying next to her.
Memory intruded on her sleepy mind, making her blush several times before she forced thoughts of embarrassment away. She tried to reason with herself unsuccessfully, she wasn’t even sure why she was there. But she knew something had brought her there, something beyond her power to understand, beyond her power to fight. She wondered if it was desire, because she felt that as she stared at the strong body still asleep beside her, but it didn’t seem quite right.
Darien made a noise, his body shifting on the blankets, and she held her breath staring at him but he did not show signs of waking. Her breath released and she clutched the sheet to her a little tighter. Out the window she could see it was still night time, the moonlight reflecting of the glass and littering the room with strange sparkles she chose to ignore. Her room was better, that pure untainted moonlight filled her with such solidity that she could feel nothing but stable when she let it protect her. This room had the air of mysticism and inexplicability that enchanted her but put her on edge.
Again Darien made a noise, and absently she rested her hand on his chest in a request for silence. Feeling the gentle heart beat beneath her touch and calming his prone figure with the action.
Her breaths where almost silent as she soaked in the atmosphere of the room, her room might have been better, but there was something enthralling about this one.
She shook her head, removing inconsequential thoughts and turned her attention to the man resting by her side, his warm chest still rising and falling peacefully below her hand. This, she knew, was what she had to think about, not the lighting of the room. This was the centre of all her dilemma’s or more to the point ‘he’ was.
No the centre of your dilemma’s still that night. You still know nothing. She warned herself but finding out about that night had suddenly taken a step backwards in her priority list. She had to think this through. Okay, fact. You just slept with Darien… again. Serena gave a little groan, her head threatening a headache. She had barged into his home and seduced him straight into bed, no talking no asking how he was, it had been sex pure and simple, and although she couldn’t find any real remorse for the night she could feel the beginning of guilt touch her awareness.
She couldn’t imagine explaining it to him, when he woke up, when he had more then male hormones to think with. She hadn’t given him the chance the night before, she had been unwilling to, and if it had been her… when she woke, she would be pissed. And she didn’t want to face that. She didn’t want to face guilt or anger, what ever came. There had been no harm in the actions, after all, they had done it before. But she was suddenly finding a hundred reason’s not to be there when he woke up. And they all revolved around a reaction she was completely uncertain of and her fear for each and every possible one.
Silently she slipped off the bed, finding her clothes this time where she remembered them to be, littering the little hallway between his front door and lounge room. They hadn’t gotten very far into the house at all. The door had been their greatest obstacle the night before, trying to get it shut while not breaking the contact they had between them. It had shut in the end, she wasn’t sure how well, but it had shut.
Serena physically shook the thoughts away, it wouldn’t do now to think about what had just happened, she needed to be away. She needed to get back to the temple before her friends had coronas because she had disappeared so suddenly. Just because Raye had seen her leave didn’t mean they wouldn’t worry about her. And Raye…
Don’t. She warned herself sternly, a drunk fling was one thing, a sober throw yourself at him fling was entirely different, but strangely she didn’t feel guilt this time. Her need to be there had surpassed friendship as selfish as that sounded but Raye’s puppy dog eyed attraction for Darien didn’t hold ground against what Serena now had with him. What ever that was.
She left the apartment, latching the door properly behind her and pressed the elevator down button. She felt a little odd, rerunning the steps she had taken that life changing morning. Her fingers closed over her transformation broach her other hand reached into her pocket to find the communicator just to be certain. Nothing would wake him up this time, she would remember it, and she wouldn’t regret it.
* * * * *
Serena got back to the temple somewhere near dawn, and found three girls sitting on the veranda each watching the other with worry and uncertainty etched across their faces.
“Hi guys.” Serena managed blandly, not acknowledging the changes of emotions that ran across their faces like liquid silver.
Lita got the jump on the other two. “Oh my god Serena!” She propelled herself off the pole she had been leaning on and was across the small clearing in three giant steps. “Are you okay?” Lita demanded, wrapping a hug around the smaller girl then jumping back to check for injuries. Serena almost frowned at the reaction.
“I’m fine. I told Raye I was going for a walk.” She looked over Lita’s tall shoulder to nod to Raye, the scout of fire seemed to acknowledge the words but was not happy with the excuse.
“That was nearly eight hours ago!” Amy cried in indignation, her blue eyes flashing with a rare show of anger.
Serena shrugged and replied airily. “It was a long walk.”
“We went looking for you.” Raye snapped with agitation and Serena saw the agitation rising when she didn’t response. “Anything could have happened!” Raye shouted her voice cracking. Serena expected her to continue but Raye turned sharply away from her, her shoulders slumping.
Serena licked her lips thoughtfully, trying to find a reaction inside herself, but nothing came. She felt disconnected from the scene of her angry and upset friends. Slowly, almost reluctantly she responded. “Well it didn’t.” It was the wrong thing to say she could tell from their reactions but till couldn’t find it in herself to care. “Hey where’s Luna?” Serena asked passively, her eyes scanning her motley group of friends who watched continued to watch her with transparent emotions. “I haven’t heard any scathing remarks from that direction all day.”
“She’s been doing a lot of work on central recently, scanning for Nega-“
Serena cut Amy of quickly, not in the mood for the words about to be said. “Yeah whatever.” She muttered to the blue haired girl, all she needed to know was when the reprimand would come.
“Don’t you care Serena?”
“Not right now.” She muttered snuggling into the blankets sprawled across the floor.
“What kind of a leader are you? This is important, and instead of showing even a mild interest you disappear for hours in the middle of the night.” Raye began her usual chant of insults, all dutifully ignored by the impassive Serena. “And your not even listening!” Raye’s scream managed to filter through and Serena tried to be calm, that she was exhausted helped her attempt.
“I’m trying not to.” Serena muttered her eyes moving past the three angry teens through the temple doors where her bag waited.
“Where have you been?” Amy demanded in a tight voice, surprising Serena a response.
“I went for a walk!” She snapped, the impassive emotions drawing out into anger in the face of their reprimands.
“Do you think were stupid? Not even you go for eight hour walks in the middle of the night!” Raye warned.
“How would you know?” Serena growled her hand’s closing into a fist. They didn’t know anything about her. They had been pretending, and prying into her life for the last few weeks and it had done nothing but get in her way.
“We’re your friends we just know.” Lita tried calmly.
“Well maybe your assuming too much.” Serena snapped, her anger taking full hold. “Maybe your assuming just because we’re all Scouts we’re friends. Just because of that we have to tell each other everything.”
“Serena-“ Amy began in a calm voice.
Serena interrupted her quickly. “We don’t okay! It’s none of your business what I do with my time or where I go! So get off my back!” She stormed past them, having to physically shove Raye aside so she could grab her night pack out of the temple. Then without another word, ignoring their pleading expressions she left the temple grounds.
* * * * *
Serena twisted the shower knob as far at it would go, the cold water cascading down against the tiled floor and quickly swirling down the drain. She stepped back, shaking her hand to remove the few drops of icy water that had splattered against her and moved to the corner of the tiled room to where she had dropped her night bag.
She had left the temple and gone straight to school, several hours early. She’d transformed and jumped the thick walls that protected school grounds then broken into the girls locker room before de-transforming again. The last thing she wanted was to make herself easy to find, should her shocked friends take it upon themselves to look for her again.
The silence of the building around her as she stripped her clothes off and threw them beside her night bag pressed in against her, a sterile silence that only schools and hospitals seemed to hold. She ignored it as best she could, finding it more comfortable then being at the receiving end of her friends expressions of hurt and anger.
Her hand reached out to test the water and it burnt into her skin, turning it red immediately. Serena sighed ignored the head and stepped in beneath the pounding water. It burnt her skin at first making her quake until her body had slowly adjusted, then she began to scrub herself clean.
She washed the matted sweat from her body, striving to remove a scent that was not her own. A scent that assaulted her senses and drew forth real memories, not dream memories. But it lingered under the scolding water, musky and sweet and entirely too overwhelming.
* * * * *
She got through the day with relative ease ignoring her friends, who in turned watched her solemnly yet silently. Her teacher berated her for not doing her homework, and then berated her about a test score, all of which Serena did not care about. The class sat a test which she barely attempted and when class was let out Serena managed to avoid any contact with anyone before she had gotten home.
Her mother greeted her entrance and Serena responded briefly before slinking off to her room. In her room Luna lay, asleep and oblivious, Serena decided she would keep the cat that way for as long as she could and instead gathered new clothes and locked herself in the bathroom, ready for the battle of getting rid of the sensation that he was still there, still a part of her no matter how far away from him she was.
* * * * *
* * * * *
* * * * *
She was in the shower when her communicator began beeping. Not entirely sure how long she had been there, briefly aware that she would have to surrender the security of the bathroom. It was strange again, in her own home it felt the safest of havens. Perhaps it was because she could think of other things while in the shower, she always could.
But the aggressive beeping of her communicator shattered her blissful ignorance. She jumped out of the water, fumbling with the taps before the spray ceased. She grabbed at her clothes pulling the pair of black denim shorts and white bonds shirt over her water drenched body, cringing only a few times at the texture before darting out of the bathroom into her own room.
She grabbed at the communicator on her desk and answered it. Luna’s face appeared on the screen immediately.
“Quickly Serena! There’s a Youma at the mall.” Was all Serena heard before she tucked the communicator into her pocket, her other hand grabbing at her broach. The cool metal sent shivers of power through her body and as she held it above herself, almost shouting the required words the power increased, engulfing her body and hissing through her veins. The world around her seemed to tilt at the intensity of the magic in her small body before she had control of it all. She pushed the feelings deep inside, ready to be recalled the moment an enemy was near, and jumped out of her bedroom window.
The run to the mall went by at a dizzying speed, leaving her little time to contemplate the first meeting with all her scout friends since her explosion at them the night before. Nor the need she would have to lie to them again. It hurt that they kept forcing her to lie, if they had just left her alone then she would never have had to betray them.
She found her way into the mall and discovered nothing but silence. It bit into her psyche, she had expected to walk into a fiery battle where four scouts would immediately demand to know what took her so long while a Youma tried to rip her to shreds. Instead she was met with ominous silence. Silently she stalked deeper into the mall, listening intently for signs of battle. Serena trembled with the silence that met her. Her hand fumbled for a second before she had her communicator and pressed the button for Luna. Almost immediately Luna’s face appeared looking concerned.
Before the cat could talk Serena began. “Where is it?” She hissed irked by the surrounding silence and unwilling to break it. Luna looked baffled for a moment then a little disappointed.
“It’s at the mall Sailor Moon.” Luna snapped back, her voice jumping out of the small speaker and reverberating off the empty walls. Serena physically ducked behind something.
“Luna! Haven’t I spoken to you yet for shouting on the communicator?” Serena hissed with animosity. Luna looked a little puzzled and Serena chose not to further that discussion, it could be had at another time. “I’m at the mall. Where in the mall is the Youma?” She bit out with wavering patience.
“I don’t know!” Luna seemed frazzled, her eyes skipped away from the communicator for a moment then returned. “I assumed it would be making itself known by now.”
“Your not at the mall?” Serena snapped agitated by the anti-climax. Her battle sense’s falling lax in disappointment. It had every tell tale sign of a false alarm, though that had never happened before she couldn’t overcome the feeling.
“I’m at central, I’ve been working on-“ A loud explosion drowned out Luna’s mumbled explanation and Serena’s head jumped up in response.
“Never mind. I found it.” Serena muttered as she once more turned the communicator off and put it away. Then without hesitation she began her sprint in the direction of the explosions. Her feet pounding against the tiled floors her thoughts suspended as the adrenaline of battle returned pulsating through her.
She ran around a corner and found herself face to face with red skinned woman. She blinked in surprise before she felt herself lift off the floor and fly backwards only able to acknowledge that she had literality run into the Youma before she hit the solid wall.
A groan escaped her lips as she forced herself to her feet, her eyes darting to find the blurry Youma watching her with a smug expression.
“Is that the best you’ve got Sailor Brat?” It sneered, and Serena shook her head, trying to regain focus. It did not approach her immediately, but stood, almost waiting for her to get her bearings. Serena tried her best to study the creature as she righted herself. It was once more more human then Youma in appearance. It was a bit unnerving, usually the average citizen was easy to distinguish from the Youma’s when in battle, but this one looked almost human. If you ignore the lobster red skin. Serena admitted.
She felt the currents of the second blast before it hit, but hadn’t quite gotten herself that much together to be able to avoid it.
“I thought you’d be a challenge.” The Youma sneered once more, revelling in it’s role as the superior warrior.
“Yeah well, the Negaverse has always been stupid now hasn’t it.” Serena snapped grimacing at the pain that rid up her left leg. If the stupid Youma didn’t stop blasting her she was going to have a hard time fighting back.
“Look who’s talking.” The creature growled, and another blast slammed her back. Thankfully pain wasn’t entirely overwhelming, and in her current state of mind these attacks seemed more an annoyance then anything else.
“Would you quit doing that?” Serena demanded, her breath ragged as she attempted to stare down the Youma. Something was odd about the situation, she could tell the second her eyes skipped past the Youma, though in her predicament she didn’t have time to consider exactly what that was.
It gave a laugh, energy balling at it’s fists when out of nowhere a cloud of bubbles flooded the corridor. Serena heard the booted steps of Mercury as she entered the scene cautiously, but didn’t seek out the scout. Her back was a little sore from the encounter with the wall, for all she belittled the experience.
Slowly the bubble fog began to fade, revelling the figures of the three friends, parallel to her, the Youma directly between them. It turned to face the new arrival’s ignoring Serena as she grasped at her side, feeling a line of blood trickling over her fingers. She frowned suddenly ignoring the fight, she hadn’t thought she was hurt, but glancing down, she could see the cut along her waist.
“Mars, Fire Soul.” Shattered the lull in the battle, and immediately the Youma took a greater interest in the fighting. It was no longer facing a lone individual who had been taken by surprise, it was facing three Sailor Scouts who where set on it’s destruction.
With it’s back to her, Serena drew forth her energy reserves, that which she had tucked away, storing it within her tiara ready for the final attack. The three scouts continued to shout their battle cries, power lacing through the abandoned mall lighting up the derelict and closed stores.
She faltered in her attack her head tilting as she stared at the scene. The Youma still looked unsettlingly human, but that was of little consequence, what bothered her, and she knew what had seemed odd to begin with, was the solitude of the moment. Amy had said it before, the Negaverse had reverted to energy gathering Youma, or maybe it had been Raye who had said it. But there was nothing to drain energy from in the deserted mall.
Fire ploughed into her throwing her across corridor into the steal grate of a shop window. She felt the metal bend behind her and the slight crack of the glass as the force pushed through. Then the attack stopped, and Serena’s body, released, hit the floor. She rolled to the side and stood in the same motion, her eyes looking to where she best guessed the power had come from. She found a pair of greens eyes laughing at her.
“Zoicite.” Serena sighed in resignation. It wasn’t bad enough that she had to fight Youma nine to five, but the generals just rubbed her the wrong way.
“Sailor Moon.” He sneered pushing a strand of orange-red hair behind his ear. In his left hand a ball of fire simmered, doubling in size before he flung it at her.
As if by second nature a rose flew to intercept the flames killing them before damage could be done. Zoicite’s eyes jumped away from Serena in agitation and landed on the familiar figure of Tuxedo Mask. Serena didn’t pause to think, she jumped immediately to her feet searching for her tiara, and found it, clasped in a death grip in her right hand. She was a bit surprised by that, but didn’t pause to think. She charged it again throwing it at Zoicite with a speed quite unlike her usual self.
Zoicite disappeared and the tiara sped through empty space before returning to Serena’s grasp. She automatically pulled the energy back into herself her eyes darting about for the general. Somewhere to her left, between herself and Tuxedo Mask she felt the ripples of power as the general reappeared. She didn’t have time to turn before another blast of energy was directed at her, throwing her across the room, the tiara in her grasp jumping from her hand and skittling across the tiled floor with a clattering noise dulled out by the sounds of distant battle.
“Is that the best you can do Sailor Moon?” Zoicite taunted then laughed mockingly at her.
Another rose sped through the air, Serena heard it with the skill of familiarity and she heard Zoicite shout something out in anger, but her attention was fixed on retrieving her tiara not on aimless words spoken. Her eyes hungrily scanned the mall floor for the golden metal wanting to finish the fight as quickly as she could.
She had ignored it before, but her side was beginning to burn, and her back felt broken and bruised from the countless collisions she had been party to during this battle.
Her eyes fell on the tiara and she breached the distance, grabbing it up immediately, and spun around ready to throw the attack at Zoicite once more, only to find that the battle had moved around another corner. She cursed silently wondering why the Youma hadn’t at least had the courtesy to chose an open battle ground. Like the food court. She muttered to herself even as she ran after the general and masked hero.
She did spare a glance for her three friends before she turned the corner, their power’s soaking the air around them. Water strewn across the titled floor mixing with the broken glass, spot fires having blazed into existence around the scene, while electricity danced through the air with menace. But the Youma looked almost dead on it’s feet so Serena continued her chase, leaving them to there own devices.
* * * * *
She came upon the battle between Zoicite and Tuxedo Mask quickly, and found that for a man who could do little more then throw roses and spout poetry he was doing fairly well for himself. She wondered why he was fighting still, wondered if he still maintained his hope of retrieving the rainbow crystals. But to do that he certainly didn’t have to save her from Zoicite as he had done he merely had to defeat Zoicite and what ever else the Negaverse was going to throw at him.
She pushed thoughts away, focusing instead on battle. In her hand was the uncharged tiara, and she quickly forced energy into it again. Drawing from reserves of power she had not tapped for a long time. She guessed the power surge was detected because she immediately became a focus of the generals attention. His green eyes darkened at her.
“Don’t you know when your not wanted?” Zoicite taunted, jaw muscles tightening.
“Funny.” Serena drawled, her body tense as she stared at the general. She knew as with before that if she threw the tiara he would simple disappear and rematerialize somewhere else to launch an attack. “But no.” She continued, then with a dramatic arch threw the tiara straight for her enemy. As if on cue he disappeared, letting the tiara slice through empty air and swing back into her grip. This time she didn’t draw the power in, her attention focused instead on the power in the air around her.
She felt Tuxedo Mask’s presence, her own power, the residue of her tiara’s travels, residue of Zoicite's presence, and then the ripple of blooming power. With a little glance upwards for guidance she spun on her toe’s and released her tiara aiming directly for this new source. A little too slow she realised as the generals flames raced at her. The tiara sliced through the fire and continued to travel, the flames too ignored the brief meeting and Serena froze.
A force slammed into her side, throwing her off balance and against the ground. For a moment she was frazzled, she was sure rescues where meant to be more gentle, but she was also sure death was meant to be less… painful. A cry of agony shot from her mouth and she rolled off her side. A second latter she pushed the weight that rested against her off, and jumped up catching her tiara, her eyes searching the corridor around her but no other strange currents of power came.
“I think you scared him.” Tuxedo Mask muttered from his sprawled position on the floor. “Usually your too busy shouting about how you ‘don’t wont to die’ to fight that well.” He got too his feet as he spoke and offered her a charming grin when he was finished. At least she would have found it charming once. It did little but make her feel hollow at that moment.
She turned her back to him and began walking away. “I guess I just don’t care right now.” She tired to sound flippant, but the words stirred bile in the pit of her stomach.
She hardly made it past five steps before she was spun around by a strong hand to face her constant saviour. For all his eyes where masked she could detect a lot of worry in his expression as he looked down at her.
Silence reigned as he searched her face, his secure grip softening as the time stretched on. She felt his concern like a thick blanket surrounding her and comforting her, making her barriers waver. And he hadn’t even began talking. Tiny tears threatened to escape her hold.
“Are you okay?” His left hand caught her check reverently, his thumb brushed below her eye and she realised some tears had escaped her.
She blinked the water in her eyes back into non-existence and tried to met his eyes through the mask. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t see the contact as he looked straight back at her, she could feel it in her bones.
She tried to say she was fine, that nothing was wrong, but the tears continued to fight her control and build, glazing her eyes over. The words wouldn’t move past her throat.
His concern was pliable and it broke through her last layers if control.
“No.” She chocked out, looking away from his face to the ground.
She couldn’t lie to him, he had never demanded anything from her. They where not friends, but nor had they ever been enemies. They where not lovers but neither where they indifferent. It was a stable and frank relationship. When she had asked for the crystals, he had said no, he had been brutally honest and she had seen that it hurt him. And she would forever return that honesty.
“No. I’m not okay.” She looked back to his expression her eyes brimming with the tears that with her admittance she had stopped holding in.
Immediately she was pulled into his embrace, his hold warm and secure around her and the dam of tears collapsed, leaving them to flood down her checks into his soft vest.
She decided then as he tried to cradle her against her worries that he was the only constant in her life.
No matter what judgement he passed on her, he would always return.
It was strange the sense of security that alone gave her. Even Luna had changed, angry first, then horrified, then uncertain because of one event and the way she treated her had changed. But he would always be there to save her, just like he was doing now. Helping her, but not asking what was wrong, offering his shoulder to cry on instead of demanding she stop.
Even when she had caused the loss of the Rainbow Crystals he had not hesitated in saving her, the battle following that he had insulted her in bitterness, but again he had saved her, and then he had saved her from Zoicite, and now from her fears.
She looked up at him, her face tear streaked but an accepting smile in place of her previous frown. She was wiling to tell him, in a way she wanted to tell him. Oddly it felt right to tell him, she was already open to him, it was natural for everything else to follow.
“Hey! Sailor Moon!” Raye’s sharp voice interrupted Serena. Serena did not respond, her shoulders tensing under the man before her’s touch. “In case you forgot there’s a Youma waiting for you to dust it back there. Romantic rendezvous can wait still your not on scout time.” Raye’s voice was bitter and resenting, and Serena didn’t turn to face the expression that would match.
Her fingers curled into Tuxedo Mask’s vest, her head nestling into the side of his neck, lips by his ear.
“I don’t know what I’m doing any more. I can fell it slipping away. Like I’ve fucked it all up and nothing can make it better.” She confessed in a strangled voice, only audible to him.
“Any time Sailor Moon.” Raye growled, the echoing sound of her foot tapping at an unsteady rhythm.
Tuxedo Mask’s grip tightened around her, holding her closer. She felt a soft kiss against her check and the tears came out again with a visible sob.
“When there all gone, will you stay?” She begged, hearing the low growl coming from Raye. She didn’t want to lose them, any of them, but they kept pushing and pushing, and all she could do was cave under their pressure of push back. And since caving would require relinquishing a secret she was anything but proud of pushing back had been all that was left for her to do. Eventually she knew she would push them too far and try as they might what had been between them would be broken. And she was scared the line had been crossed already.
“I’ll protect you, no matter what happens.” His promised her in a delicate whisper, her hold tightening once before releasing her entirely. She stepped back from him, bitting into her lower lip, her eyes burning with gratitude. If he had known what she needed or not did not matter, he had given it to her.
She mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to him before squaring her shoulders and turning away. She felt safer, she felt more secure, but it did nothing when she turned to find Raye glaring daggers of anger at her from much further down the corridor. Serena brushed quickly at her checks to remove the tears stains and then, without acknowledging the priestess, Serena returned to the Youma battle scene.
Amy stood to the side of the corridor, silently watching the floor, her computer already having been put away. Lita loomed over the Youma, daring it to some how gain the strength to stand up and try for a second round. Serena tried to great them both with a false smile, but Amy did not look up when she entered and Lita’s expression was void of any response.
She fought off the onslaught of true tears valiantly. Already they where not talking to her, already they where keeping their distance, and already she felt their loss. But it was her own fault and she knew it better then they did.
So she focused her attention back to the almost dead Youma on the mall’s tiled floor and finished off what none of them could, before silently turning from them all and returning home.
* * * * *
Serena stared at the chocolate milkshake before her with intensity She had foolishly chosen to sit in one of the booths upon her arrival at the arcade, thinking that Darien would sit at the counter and talk to Andrew as he always did and now she was trapped.
He had come in only five minutes before, and there had been no pause to conceal where his attention belonged before he had strode over and sat next to her. Trapped. She spat at herself fiercely.
“Talk to me.” He demanded, though his voice wasn’t as angry as she wished it was. Serena raised her chin stubbornly but did not met his eyes. This time it had been all her fault, no matter whose it had been the last time.
“How’s college going for you Jerk?” She sneered, her stomach twisting at the words and even less able to meet his eyes then she had been the moment before. Two nights ago she had thrown herself into his arms and coerced him into making wild passionate love to her, and today she wanted to forget it again.
“Not about that.” He growled, his body turned to face her, hers still facing the table, her legs turned further away from him. If she’d been on the edge of the booth she would have found a reason to leave, but right now that meant going past him.
She could smell his musky cologne over the brief gap between them. His hair was brushed back, tendrils of fringe falling into his intense and demanding blue eyes. He wore a short sleaved bonds shirt, and it clung to the muscles of his chest. Accenting what she had already seen and admired. He wasn’t even holding a mug of coffee, like he usually would. All formality’s had been skipped.
“Well then about what Jerk?” She spat out, trying to get rid of him with blunt rudeness where avoidance didn’t seem to be working. He shifted closer, and skittishly she jerked her body further form him, her back coming in contact with the arcade wall. His eyes didn’t even have their customary mocking humour in them, the emotions hidden deep within where to intense to be overwhelmed with anything as petty as humour.
“You know.” He warned. She went to back away again and his left hand caught her bare knee below the table and refused to allow her movement. She flushed at the contact, remembering the things those same hands had done to her while in his apartment.
Her eyes jumped to his, pleading begging, wanting him to do it all over again. And she didn’t even care that they where in the middle of the arcade. He ignored her look, though the anger seemed to soften away slowly as she stared desperately at him.
“Just talk to me.” He said once more, sounding more like begging for the first time since they had met. He let out a reluctant breath and released her leg, his hand quickly brushing his fringe back. She waited until it had fallen back into his eyes before she tried at a clam and perhaps reasonable response. Not much came to mind however.
“Why don’t you ask me something, and I’ll answer. That way at least I’ll know what you want me to say.” She growled in reply, her eyes locking with his trying to convey the anger she felt for her current situation to him but he didn’t seem fazed.
“Why did you leave?” He began bluntly, and she frowned. She had almost hoped he would ask something easy, but she reminded herself that it was Darien she was talking about and knew without a doubt that he would be anything but easy.
“I had places to be.” She drawled out in response, her voice dropping in pitch.
“Like where?” He demanded, though his eyes had taken on a darker tone.
“Like, none of your business.” Serena managed to snap, ignoring the heat in her body as he gazed at her in what she knew was hunger.
He went to say something, when a loud clang surprised them both. Automatically she felt herself shift away from him, not having realised she had approached, and she saw him do the same. Mentally she cringed for a mans he was trying to get rid of she had been getting awfully close.
A soft mew came from the table and Serena’s attention jumped from her slight humiliation to the black cat that stared at her from the table.
“Luna.” She stated carefully, the crescent moon a give away, but she absently wished she was wrong. She hadn’t seen the cat for a while now, but then Luna had been doing something with central and Serena had been religiously avoiding the arcade.
“Your cat Meatball Head?” Darien interjected, his mocking tone back in place. Serena felt angry and her attention jumped to him, ready to reprimand him when she found her three friends standing at the edge of the booth frowning a little.
Before Serena could demand from them what they where doing anywhere near her they began.
“Gesh Darien, don’t you have anything better to do then pick on Serena every day?” Lita demanded, her hand’s going to her hips as her eyes narrowed. Amy behind her looked equally as angry, in her own right.
“I would have thought you above being so petty.” The blue haired girl stated defiantly.
Raye was more upfront about her opinion then the others. “Go away Darien. You pick on Serena way to much.” And with that Raye physically removed him from his seat beside Serena, Lita a step away ready to force him all the way away.
Serena felt his lose immediately, she hadn’t been aware of it at first, but there was a strange energy to the air around him and she realised with a small flash of self loathing that she wanted to be in his company again. He titled his head to her ever so slightly and offered an apology to the others before strolling out of the arcade and she watched his exit with curious intensity. Her body willed her to go after him, her friends as they immediately sat beside and opposite her obviously willed her to stay.
She felt insulted on his behalf as well. It was uncommon for them to gang up on him like that, and for the first time ever he had not been there for a verbal sparing match. She turned her indignant feelings to the three girls who sat around her. Amy had taken the place by her side, Lita and Raye opposite her. Luna continued to watch Serena from the table top.
“Uh…” Serena paused, her eyes skipping from one friend to the other as she remembered that they where fighting. “Guys?” She asked tentatively uncertain of where this confrontation would take her. “I really have to help mum out with something today.” She tried to motion Amy out of her seat but the blue haired scout seemed determined to remain in place.
“No.” Amy stated clearly. “We need to say something first.” Amy told her sternly, then her blue eyes turned to the other two. Raye sighed her surrender.
“Look Meatball Head, we’re sorry for being so…” Raye paused on the edge of a word then frowned. “We’re just sorry.” She snapped after a long pause.
“We’re your friends, and we don’t want our friendship to deteriorate because of one thing, no matter what it is.” Lita slammed her fist into the table to emphasise her point.
“I was going through the data of last nights fight with central and Luna, I didn’t even know Zoicite was there until this morning. I shouldn’t have acted like that anyway.” Amy hung her head quickly, a blush staining her checks at the words.
Serena looked to find her two friends where watching her carefully, their eyes certain and waiting for her response with a little apprehension.
“Okay.” Serena whispered, there was expectancy in their gaze’s as if they suddenly expected she would surrender her secrets because of a few apologies. She stepped on the anger in herself, accepting the apology for what it was, although she doubted they needed to apologise to her at all. She knew she was the one being difficult. “Okay. I have to help my mother now. I’ll see you all tomorrow. Here.” She tapped the table to emphasise the point and rose to her feet.
Her response was perhaps less then adequate but Amy let her past and the other two said nothing as she walked once more out of the arcade.
* * * * *
Serena turned towards her house from the arcade, took three steps and stopped dead, her eyes locked on Darien’s lean frame as he lent against a different shop window. His eyes where fixed on her, the instant message simple to read, she didn’t get away from the situation that easily.
Serena gave a sigh of disappointment and went to walk past him. Instead he caught her arm and pulled her down the ally to the back of the arcade. She had only been there once before, but she guessed he had been there a few more times then that.
It took a second to make sure she was alone with him before she glared up at his frowning face.
“What now? I have to go home!”
He smiled at her sharp tone and glanced at his watch.
“On a Saturday, you have to be home before eleven am?” He raised a curious mocking eyebrow. When she went to turn away and leave in anger he caught her shoulders and pulled her to face him. “We need to talk.”
“You keep saying that.” She snapped angrily. “And it doesn’t get either of us anywhere.”
“Well let’s actually talk this time.” He growled at her, his eyes narrowed.
“Fine!” Serena shouted, her eyes locking on his lips , her mind recalling the wicked things they had managed to do to her not so long ago. “Let’s talk!” She continued to shout. “Why don’t you start Darien? Because personally I can’t think of what there is to talk about!”
“You can’t think?” He demanded, his glare fierce as he towered above her. “You stormed into my apartment two nights ago, we slept with each other and when I woke up you weren’t there!”
“I had to get back to the temple, I had to explain away an eight hour absence as it was.” She snapped, her eyes still lingering on his lips. She felt the energy between them brimming and tightening drawing her willing body closer to his although she did not breach the distance the tension seemed to build. “And who cares if I was there when you woke up? It’s not like it meant anything to either of us!”
“We needed to talk!” He shouted in reply. His body shifted a little closer and her eyes darkened with determination once more.
“Screw talking.” She growled and she let the tension tug her body to his, let herself forget that this was just the thing he was angry with her for. And just like the other night he responded automatically, his hands clinging to her and shifting her body tighter against his own.
Their lips delved against each others, tongues working magic as they warred with each other. Her hands clung to his shoulders, fingers curling around his tense shoulder blades and she tried to pull herself closer still. She felt his arousal as real as her own. The heat in her body burning away any rational thought process.
Abruptly he pulled away form her, his arm’s locked straight holding her at a distance.
“We need to talk.” He growled, his voice husky with the effort to sustain control.
“You place?” She asked, her bright eyes locked on his dark ones. A frown pulled at his expression and he looked down at her.
“No. Come to dinner with me tonight.” He demanded.
“Your place?” She asked again, her body yearning to breach the distance between them again but he would not allow it.
“Serena.” He stated bluntly and she calmed under the reprimand her eyes meeting his carefully.
“Come to dinner, at a restaurant.” He persisted.
“I doubt anything we need to say can even be said at most restaurants… Maybe McDonalds, it’s a restaurant right?” A small frown appeared as she considered it.
He laughed at her outright, the crinkles of mirth she was strangely used to seeing returning to the corners of his eyes.
“Just talk.” He repeated, and his smile was disarmingly charming. “Otherwise we will never get control of what ever this is and deal with it.” He took a shaky breath and released her, but she did not approach him.
“Okay. Dinner.” She agreed, her head bobbing in acceptance her eyes a little worried. She wasn’t certain what they would discuss, but he was right, the jerk, they needed to figure this out.
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Property of Kimra Lelanst, do not duplicate without consent. |
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