"Andrew... how come you're so nice to me...? I mean... you know... its not like you have to be or anything...," asked Serena, absently stirring her straw through her coke float.
Andrew looked up from the counter he was cleaning, smiling shyly he replied, "You guys are always nice to me Sere, I mean sure, Rei can be a little loud sometimes and Mina cheats on the sailor v game, but you guys are good for business" he gestured wryly to a couple of 12 year old boys who were arguing over who would be the first to ask an oblivious Lita out. Having seen the photos, Serena was pretty sure neither of them in any way resembled any of Litas old boyfriends, and couldn't help grinning at the implication. "Thanks Andy, you always know how to make me feel better." "Any time sere."
Almost absently Serena took a second straw, broke the paper off the end and puffed, the paper projectile, actually managed to ricochet twice (quite a feat considering the non-elastic properties of paper) before hitting Rei in the back of the head. "SERENAAAAAA!!!" Andrew sweatdropped as two blonde pigtails disappeared out the arcade door.
Amy smiled as Serena disappeared out the door before Rei had even registered the hit, she couldn't help but think if sailor moon moved that fast Rei wouldn't have nearly as much need to complain about her performance, but Amy was just glad to see Serena back to her old self, she'd been a bit down lately (another messy breakup with Darien... at this point in time a regular occurrence...). She sent a silent look of thanks to Andrew who just winked and continued cleaning.
As if by just thinking about him had summoned him Darien walked through the door, his eye locked briefly on Mina and one other blonde girl but neither had the twin odango he'd sought out unconsciously. A barely concealed sigh of...what? Relief? Disappointment...? Passed his lips as he sat at the counter "What'll you have, Dar?" Andrew asked pointedly. "Uh... just a coffee." *have to now* he conceded, noticing Serenas friends in their usual booth. Absently he noticed the seat was warm and looked around at Andrew prepping the coffee, seeing the half drunk coke and barely touched sundae, he exclaimed "oh geez, is someone sitting here? I'll move..." "Naw, it's O.K. Serena just left, I'll clean up in a sec" "That meatball head? It's not like her to leave food." Even as he said it he could feel four pairs of eyes burning into his back. He'd be damned if he let them know it bothered him.
Amy frowned even more, which wasn't something anyone really noticed since the difference between Amy's 'regular' frown and her 'even-more' frown was imperceptible to the naked human eye. "Of all the nerve..." Rei exclaimed in that over loud whisper only mikos can master "it might be true, but he didn't have to say it".
Amy looked back at her laptop and pretended to be engrossed (her usual response to anything she wasn't comfortable with... even if she did agree) while Lita joined the onslaught "Yeah! Why does he even come here at all if he's trying to avoid her? Stupid jerk."
Having run out of quarters Mina sat opposite Lita, ""Maybe he's still in love with Serena and came to see her...?" *sigh*
"Maybe he just came to talk to Andrew? I mean, they were friends before we ever met him and..."
"Oh Amy! That's not romantic at all..."
"Oh right Mina, and I guess the way he just keeps dumping her and breaking her heart like that is the way he shows his love..."
"Uhm..."
Serena was half way across Juuban before she realized Rei wasn't on her heels. With a screech and a puff of evaporating rubber sole (as only Japanese shoes - the kind that are made in china can produce) she pulled out of her sprint and realized she'd left her school bag (which normally wouldn't bother her... 'homework' was almost as foreign to Serenas vocab as 'study', but that assignment miss H gave them a fortnight ago was due yesterday and she figured she should at least know what it was supposed to be about for when she was interrogated tomorrow). With adrenaline now at a low she began to trudge back to the arcade.
_________________________
Chugging his coffee (not easy with hot liquids - unless you've conditioned yourself to a life of caffeine dependence) in an attempt to escape the virulent glares as soon as possible Darien smacked his mug down of the counter in record times.
"Hey Serena, back so soon?" Announced Andrew knowing his 'friend' had his back to the door. Andrew might not approve of the way his friend had treated the girl, but he was fiercely loyal to his friend and thought he deserved the warning. In fact Andrew had been less than impressed when he first found out his 20 year old friend was dating the 15 year old, but softened when he saw what he believed was genuine affection from both parties. For a while he had considered banning Darien (friendship be damned) in fear that business would suffer if it was rumored that a 'paedophile' was frequenting the arcade, but this way at least he could keep an eye on the couple, and then business had actually increased when the handsome college student became single again... and since he hadn't tried to hit on any other girls (despite their obvious attempts to get him to try) he let it pass - for now.
"Oh, hey Andrew I left my bag here and you know what miss H is like so I gotta..." Serena paused miss sentence recognizing the rigid back and head that didn't even deign to recognize her presence. Fine. If that's the way it had to be "Uhm.. hey, my sundae is still here!! You're the greatest Andrew." "I thought you'd be back sere." "Thanks Andrew!!!" Gingerly she reached across the silent figure and pulled away the bowl of half melted icecream "oh... uh.. hi Darien" ignored she turned to join her friends at their booth, walking with deliberate care (this was definitely not the time to trip).
Wordlessly Darien stood and walked out. Lita was the first to break the silence mere seconds after the twinkle of the bell on the door closing sounded. "Way to go Serena!!"
"Yeah Serena, you handled that pretty well, you know, for you..."
"Gee. Thanks Mina."
"Hmpf. Glad to see you're finally coming round, meatball head."
"Rei!!"
"It's okay Amy, I had to get over it.. him... sometime, ne?"
"Hey Serena, I made you a new one, your other one was kinda melted and all..." Broke in Andrew, in that silent supporting way he had of just being there.
"Wow!! Thanks Andrew!!"
"Well, that was a pretty impressive shot before..."
"SERENNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!"
-----------------------------
"Well if you ask me, it's your own fault Serena."
"I didn't ask you Luna." Replied Serena, dabbing her handkerchief at the icecream stain on the front of her uniform as she walked home. "Moms gonna kill me."
"Come on Serena, you have a spare uniform, and besides, I'm sure your mother expects this kind of thing by now, your always coming home messy."
"Geez, thanks for your support... but Rei still didn't have to get that mad."
"Oh Serena..."
"Oh No!! I forgot!!" Screeched Serena going up a few octaves in panic.
"What?!? An emergency?!?!? A Scout meeting?!?!"
"No! I was gonna yell at Mina for not telling me she knew how to cheat at the sailor V game"
"Serena!!" complained Luna recovering from her latest heart attack, "can't you just yell at her tomorrow?"
'...but I'll probably have detention tomorrow' Serena thought, absently wondering how she'd managed to get off without it today.
----------------------------
'Must... do... assignment... must... stay... awake' "...ZZZZZ"
Luna twitched slightly through the hypnotic haze of Serenas rhythmic breathing before getting up and answering the communicator that was giving the all-call signal.
"Luna? This is Amy! daimon in the park, we need Sailor Moon!" Luna nodded once and tended to the task of waking Serena, perhaps the least appreciated yet most rigorous of her duties.
"Serena!! SERENA!!! Wake up!! The Senshi need you!!"
"Jusht le' me shleep five more mints Lunaaa..."
"NOW SERENA!!"
"Okay! Okay!! I'm up... what is it...?"
"It's a daimon, you need to transform and get to the park right away!!"
Serena powered up and proceeded to follow Luna (after all, Luna hadn't specified WHICH park... and she was almost sure Japan had more than one...) hoping that neither her parents, Sammy or their neighbors would notice sailor moon leaping from her window.
----------------------------
"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!!!!!!!!!!" ..no effect... not surprising really since the daimon had remembered to wear a raincoat... or maybe the daimon *was* a raincoat... it was hard to tell sometimes. Whatever it was their attacks had left no mark. Mercury took out her computer, scanning the (loosely termed) lifeform for weaknesses.
"DEEP SUBMERGIE!!!" Another failed water attack... Mercury Sweat dropped at the assumption on Neptune's part that *her* attack would succeed where mercurys had failed.
"Mars!! maybe you can melt that thing..."
But not before Jupiter had wasted an attack on the insulated daimon. "SPARKLINGU WIDEU PRESSURE!!!!!!!!" No effect.
"I'm on it Ames!! BURNING MANDELA!!!" Again the attack failed, this time accompanied by mercury's gasp as the daimon laughed, for the first time preparing to take the offensive, it produced an umbrella and reflected the attack at the scouts, whose timely screams drowned out the arrival speech of a certain pretty sailor suited Senshi of love and justice."
"Grrr... you think this stuff just comes to me naturally?!?! (and trust me, with the infinite number of daimon possibilities, there were a lot of speeches to be written) You're gonna pay, nega-trash"
"But I'm not from the nega-verse, I'm one of the..."
"Shut Up !!" screeched Sailor moon, not wanting to be corrected right now. "MOON HEALING ACTIVATION!!!!"
"Wrong attack moron!" shouted Rei... but refrained from saying more as the daimon's umbrella reflected the healing onto the recently maimed scouts.
"Way to go Sailor Moon!!" Cheered Lita and Mina, genuinely impressed at Serena, but still not entirely convinced she hadn't, as Rei put it, used the wrong attack.
"heh, thanks guys! uhm... little help here...?"
Meanwhile Uranus had been studying the pure heart crystal. Nope. No talismans here. returning the heart crystal she casually walked up behind the daimon and smacked it in the head with a conveniently placed length of hard wood. the daimon crumpled and Sailor Moon was able to quickly finish it with a genuine attack, reverting it to its natural form of... a cocktail umbrella? Sometimes she wondered what was going through the mind of the person whom created the daimon to chose such ridiculous forms. Perhaps she would be wondering instead what they'd been drinking. Sometime between then and now Uranus and Neptune had disappeared.
"Well guys, I guess that's that... love to stay and chat but I gotta get home and study... heheh.."
"Not so fast Serena! what the hell took you so long to get here?" Demanded Rei.
"Well Serena does live further away than any of u... " began Mercury.
But Rei wasn't about to be put off so easily when she'd been so humiliated... after all it had been her reflected attack that had hurt the Senshi, not the actual diamon.
"And she didn't even klutz up or anything!" Said Minako in a genuinely proud yet backhanded way. "hey! do you think my attack might have worked against it...?"
"Uh... really gotta go now guys..."
"Yeah right, as if you ever study meatball head" Rei added vindictively, thinking the name would hurt Serena.
"oh shut up Rei" Serena replied turning her back on the scouts and starting to walk away.
"Hey! I'm not finished! Don't you walk away from me Serena!! SERENA!!"
"Uh... Mars...? do you really think you should be yelling out sailor Moons real identity like that...?"
------------------------
Sailor Moon managed to get two whole blocks before detransforming in an alley back to regular 'ol Serena. "Oh Luna, I'm starving!" She complained wearily. At this time of night she would have already missed dinner, her mom would think she ate elsewhere, and she didn't have any money for food. She wished Rei hadn't upset her sundae earlier... or that she'd got to eat more of it first.
"Serena, is food all you ever think about?" Demanded Luna.
"Geez, you don't have to get all grumpy on me... its just those attacks leave me so hungry and tired. She stifled a yawn and slowly walked home on shaky legs. Luna frowned, a healing and an offensive in one night, only six months ago that was the sort of energy use that would have blacked usagi out, so Luna was secretly impressed, and she hadn't klutzed even once... if you didn't count the once that she tripped on the way to the fight. If truth be known Luna herself was weary at this point, when she answer the call she'd hoped that the park mercury had referred to was the 'near' park, not one of the many 'far' Parks. Jinxed from the beginning, and cats did after all only have short legs. She jumped on Serenas shoulder and continued to scold occasionally as Serena made her way slowly home. Unfortunately home was a lot further away in Serenas tired and detransformed state, but she seriously doubted she would have the energy to transform. *yawnnn* "I'll get up early and do the assignment t'morrow Luna, 'kay?"
-------------------------
Serena couldn't help but grin at her predicament, Ms H had given her two days detention for not handing in the assignment, Mrs. B had given her two days for being late, now if she just managed to keep her mouth shut she could attend just two detentions instead of four and neither teacher would be the wiser. Of course having to sit any detention at all was a total bummer, but she could sleep through Biology now and if Mr. K gave her detention, it'd just be more even more efficient. Well that was the plan... except Mr. K gave her a three-day detention instead. Way harsh for just sleeping in class, she thought but knew better than to say anything.
"MELVIN?!?! YOU got detention...?" Oh hey Serena, yeah... heh heh... I was a bit late for class... uh... I guess you wouldn't have noticed since you were even later and all..."
"Gee, thanks for your support. MOLLY?!?! You too?"
"Well Serena, the reason Melvin was late for class was because we..."
"No way. I don't wanna hear it."
"...? Serena, did you break up with Darien again...?"
"Erk! Is it that obvious...?"
"Well... actually usually you're a lot more depressed, but I never saw you turn down gossip on someone's love life before..."
"Huh. Well I don't care, who needs that jerk anyway?"
"Good for you Serena... he may be good looking and all but he's waaaay to old for you, you can do much better"
"Oh shut up Melvin"
----------------------------
Was that pity? From Melvin?!?!? Serena sighed morosely... she'd thought she'd hidden this thing pretty well but it seemed everyone was onto her. THIS time she was determined not to let the situation get to her. Maybe when Darien decided he loved her again they'd get back together... but this time she wouldn't welcome him back with open arms... let him suffer a little of what she was going through... not that there was a doubt in her mind that she *would* take him back.
"Yo! Odango atama! Need a ride home?"
"Haruka-san!!" She accepted, after all, Haruka and Micheru were hardly strangers, and it was getting kinda dark... Daimons almost always seemed to act during the day... office hours to be precise... and the occasional Saturday (on a different tangent she wondered if the witches got time and a half for weekends), but then Daimons weren't the only danger at night, and after all Serena was only 15... Melvin and Molly only had a one-hour detention while Serena had been there for the whole afternoon. "Domo Arigato! But could you take me to Rei's instead? I've gotta, uhm... return some books and stuff..." Scout meeting... *groan* and late as ever.
"Sure thing, Odango." Micheru just smiled in that surprisingly bimbo way she had... rather interesting really, since she was actually a musical genius... but then Serena could hardly question Micherus motives, after all, she also played dumb when it suited her.
""Thanks again Haruka san"
"Do you want us to wait for you? how are you going to get home?"
"Nah, that's okay, but thanks for the offer... Luna'll make sure I get home okay."
Luna? wasn't Luna her cat?!?! wondered Micheru as the car pulled away.
---------------------------
"Uh... hi guys, sorry I'm late and all..." Actually, thanks to Huruka and Micherus timely deliverance, Serena wasn't nearly as late as she could of been... but late enough to receive a severe tongue lashing from Rei.
"Geez, lighten up Rei" Interceded Minako, "Serenas only 15 minutes late... that's gotta be a record for her..."
"18 MINUTES!!!" Shrieked Rei. Minako sweatdropped.
"Well... anyway... what's up?"
"Actually Serena, not much... we still don't know anything about the new sailors..." Serena wondered if she should tell them that she suspected Haruka and Micheru, their arrival coinciding was almost too much to be a coincidence... not to mention their personalities... the way they disappeared when diamon appeared... Rei would probably think they were connected with the bad guys though and order them to stay away... which was kinda a logical assumption... but Serena liked Haruka and Micheru, so she said nothing. "What these talismans are..." Well Serena had had dreams hinting at those too... but again kept silent to avoid ridicule. "Heck, there doesn't even seem to be much of a pattern to the daimon attacks... except the targets are usually extraordinary in *some* way..."
"So... we know nothing. Hmm... very deep... well unless anyone's got anything to add I really gotta get home and do this makeup assignment..."
"SERENA!" Gasped Luna.
"What?!? Well its true..." She managed to fake a contrite look for a few minutes.
Amy ahemed: "Er... does anyone have anything to add...?" Silence. "Well... I guess we all take Serenas advice and go home and study!" She finished happily. Joint groans form Minako and Makoto.
"THANKS AMES!!"
---------------------------
Serena was barely a half block away before she ran into Michiru and Haruka again. Huruka had her head down on the steering wheel and Michiru was reading. "Hey guys! I thought you'd have left already!"
"Peak-hour traffic" whispered Micheru... Huruka didn't respond but a sigh was heard from beneath the lowered head.
"Still need a ride Odango?"
Serena felt a set of cat claws pierce her shoulder.. in fact Luna kept them perfectly manicured and sharp just for occasions such as this when Serena trusted people too readily... which was just about always. Serena winced slightly. "Is it okay? what about the traffic?"
Haruka visibly brightened and even deigned to look up. "We'll be going the other way to get to your place anyway!"
"Great!" That slightly more aware but hugely overruled part of Serenas mind couldn't help but wonder how Haruka and Micheru knew where she lived, but a free ride was a free ride after all. She couldn't possibly know that one of the Witches Five had targeted her for a Talisman. In fact, right this moment Eudial was putting in overtime to watch the little interaction, she knew Haruka and Micheru were the civilian identities of one sailor Uranus and one sailor Neptune, and fumed slightly at them acquiring the target... but she also knew that despite their claims otherwise they would wait for her to attack and remove the crystal... she wondered if maybe they didn't know how to remove a heart crystal... that was also a definite possibility.
Eudial had wasted an entire day in front of the school the girl went to, first arriving early to wait... only the girl arrived late, by which point there were far too many people about for her liking... sure a daimon could easily take out a dozen humans, but hundreds in such a confined space...? Eventually the Daimon would be overpowered, and as had happened in the past, someone was likely to return the heart crystal before she got a chance to examine it.
Then she had waited after school... but what kind of student was this to receive a three-hour detention...? every day? for a week? of course she had been consistently late for a week as well... Eudial was actually beginning to think she'd made a mistake thinking this girl had a pure heart... then the outer senshi had taken an interest and Eudial had redoubled her efforts.
----------------------
Usagis parents glared out the window as a car pulled up street side. Papa sorry... I forget his name.. kenji? noticed the car was going at least 5 kilometers over the speed limit...at least... and who was that blond boy fawning over his baby? Mama noticed Usagi wasn't with Darien... and hadn't been for a few days now... it'd considerably drop her status in her social group if her daughter was no longer dating the handsome med-student... but then again that blond boy was wearing one of those private school uniforms, and that was no jalopy he was driving.. maybe this could work out after all... maybe if it wasn't for that other girl in the car. She also wondered if Sammy were too young to start dating.
"Serena!! Who is that boy? He looks too old for you!" Demanded Kenji as soon as the door was closed.
"Oh daddy... Harukas only a year older than me, an besides, He is a girl."
Serena skipped up the stairs in a pretense of going to start homework. Daddy spent the rest of the night in a foetal position muttering about his baby girl.
--------------------------
Eudial didn't like attacking people in their homes. She considered it bad form. And besides, Japanese houses were typically small and clumsy diamons needed room for their attacks, so she opted to put aside her personal life for yet another weekend and hope the girl decided to go out in her spare time... a park, a mall... maybe a hair salon or coffee shop... As fate would have it Serena HAD decided to go to the mall that weekend, Molly needed a new dress, and Serena needed... well Serena didn't actually need anything, she was just a shopaholic, and after all she had just broken up with her soul mate - excuse enough to hit daddy up for some cash.
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
TBC (maybe... well it doesn't really go anywhere yet... wanna break up Darien and Usagi more and maybe introduce a new love-interest... and dis Rei some more...always thought she was a cow ^_^;)
I know everyone says it, but i really mean it!! PLEASE REVIEW!!! (and yes i know i keep switching between english and japanese names... just sometimes the japanese ones fit better and sometimes i forget :P
Andrew looked up from the counter he was cleaning, smiling shyly he replied, "You guys are always nice to me Sere, I mean sure, Rei can be a little loud sometimes and Mina cheats on the sailor v game, but you guys are good for business" he gestured wryly to a couple of 12 year old boys who were arguing over who would be the first to ask an oblivious Lita out. Having seen the photos, Serena was pretty sure neither of them in any way resembled any of Litas old boyfriends, and couldn't help grinning at the implication. "Thanks Andy, you always know how to make me feel better." "Any time sere."
Almost absently Serena took a second straw, broke the paper off the end and puffed, the paper projectile, actually managed to ricochet twice (quite a feat considering the non-elastic properties of paper) before hitting Rei in the back of the head. "SERENAAAAAA!!!" Andrew sweatdropped as two blonde pigtails disappeared out the arcade door.
Amy smiled as Serena disappeared out the door before Rei had even registered the hit, she couldn't help but think if sailor moon moved that fast Rei wouldn't have nearly as much need to complain about her performance, but Amy was just glad to see Serena back to her old self, she'd been a bit down lately (another messy breakup with Darien... at this point in time a regular occurrence...). She sent a silent look of thanks to Andrew who just winked and continued cleaning.
As if by just thinking about him had summoned him Darien walked through the door, his eye locked briefly on Mina and one other blonde girl but neither had the twin odango he'd sought out unconsciously. A barely concealed sigh of...what? Relief? Disappointment...? Passed his lips as he sat at the counter "What'll you have, Dar?" Andrew asked pointedly. "Uh... just a coffee." *have to now* he conceded, noticing Serenas friends in their usual booth. Absently he noticed the seat was warm and looked around at Andrew prepping the coffee, seeing the half drunk coke and barely touched sundae, he exclaimed "oh geez, is someone sitting here? I'll move..." "Naw, it's O.K. Serena just left, I'll clean up in a sec" "That meatball head? It's not like her to leave food." Even as he said it he could feel four pairs of eyes burning into his back. He'd be damned if he let them know it bothered him.
Amy frowned even more, which wasn't something anyone really noticed since the difference between Amy's 'regular' frown and her 'even-more' frown was imperceptible to the naked human eye. "Of all the nerve..." Rei exclaimed in that over loud whisper only mikos can master "it might be true, but he didn't have to say it".
Amy looked back at her laptop and pretended to be engrossed (her usual response to anything she wasn't comfortable with... even if she did agree) while Lita joined the onslaught "Yeah! Why does he even come here at all if he's trying to avoid her? Stupid jerk."
Having run out of quarters Mina sat opposite Lita, ""Maybe he's still in love with Serena and came to see her...?" *sigh*
"Maybe he just came to talk to Andrew? I mean, they were friends before we ever met him and..."
"Oh Amy! That's not romantic at all..."
"Oh right Mina, and I guess the way he just keeps dumping her and breaking her heart like that is the way he shows his love..."
"Uhm..."
Serena was half way across Juuban before she realized Rei wasn't on her heels. With a screech and a puff of evaporating rubber sole (as only Japanese shoes - the kind that are made in china can produce) she pulled out of her sprint and realized she'd left her school bag (which normally wouldn't bother her... 'homework' was almost as foreign to Serenas vocab as 'study', but that assignment miss H gave them a fortnight ago was due yesterday and she figured she should at least know what it was supposed to be about for when she was interrogated tomorrow). With adrenaline now at a low she began to trudge back to the arcade.
_________________________
Chugging his coffee (not easy with hot liquids - unless you've conditioned yourself to a life of caffeine dependence) in an attempt to escape the virulent glares as soon as possible Darien smacked his mug down of the counter in record times.
"Hey Serena, back so soon?" Announced Andrew knowing his 'friend' had his back to the door. Andrew might not approve of the way his friend had treated the girl, but he was fiercely loyal to his friend and thought he deserved the warning. In fact Andrew had been less than impressed when he first found out his 20 year old friend was dating the 15 year old, but softened when he saw what he believed was genuine affection from both parties. For a while he had considered banning Darien (friendship be damned) in fear that business would suffer if it was rumored that a 'paedophile' was frequenting the arcade, but this way at least he could keep an eye on the couple, and then business had actually increased when the handsome college student became single again... and since he hadn't tried to hit on any other girls (despite their obvious attempts to get him to try) he let it pass - for now.
"Oh, hey Andrew I left my bag here and you know what miss H is like so I gotta..." Serena paused miss sentence recognizing the rigid back and head that didn't even deign to recognize her presence. Fine. If that's the way it had to be "Uhm.. hey, my sundae is still here!! You're the greatest Andrew." "I thought you'd be back sere." "Thanks Andrew!!!" Gingerly she reached across the silent figure and pulled away the bowl of half melted icecream "oh... uh.. hi Darien" ignored she turned to join her friends at their booth, walking with deliberate care (this was definitely not the time to trip).
Wordlessly Darien stood and walked out. Lita was the first to break the silence mere seconds after the twinkle of the bell on the door closing sounded. "Way to go Serena!!"
"Yeah Serena, you handled that pretty well, you know, for you..."
"Gee. Thanks Mina."
"Hmpf. Glad to see you're finally coming round, meatball head."
"Rei!!"
"It's okay Amy, I had to get over it.. him... sometime, ne?"
"Hey Serena, I made you a new one, your other one was kinda melted and all..." Broke in Andrew, in that silent supporting way he had of just being there.
"Wow!! Thanks Andrew!!"
"Well, that was a pretty impressive shot before..."
"SERENNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!"
-----------------------------
"Well if you ask me, it's your own fault Serena."
"I didn't ask you Luna." Replied Serena, dabbing her handkerchief at the icecream stain on the front of her uniform as she walked home. "Moms gonna kill me."
"Come on Serena, you have a spare uniform, and besides, I'm sure your mother expects this kind of thing by now, your always coming home messy."
"Geez, thanks for your support... but Rei still didn't have to get that mad."
"Oh Serena..."
"Oh No!! I forgot!!" Screeched Serena going up a few octaves in panic.
"What?!? An emergency?!?!? A Scout meeting?!?!"
"No! I was gonna yell at Mina for not telling me she knew how to cheat at the sailor V game"
"Serena!!" complained Luna recovering from her latest heart attack, "can't you just yell at her tomorrow?"
'...but I'll probably have detention tomorrow' Serena thought, absently wondering how she'd managed to get off without it today.
----------------------------
'Must... do... assignment... must... stay... awake' "...ZZZZZ"
Luna twitched slightly through the hypnotic haze of Serenas rhythmic breathing before getting up and answering the communicator that was giving the all-call signal.
"Luna? This is Amy! daimon in the park, we need Sailor Moon!" Luna nodded once and tended to the task of waking Serena, perhaps the least appreciated yet most rigorous of her duties.
"Serena!! SERENA!!! Wake up!! The Senshi need you!!"
"Jusht le' me shleep five more mints Lunaaa..."
"NOW SERENA!!"
"Okay! Okay!! I'm up... what is it...?"
"It's a daimon, you need to transform and get to the park right away!!"
Serena powered up and proceeded to follow Luna (after all, Luna hadn't specified WHICH park... and she was almost sure Japan had more than one...) hoping that neither her parents, Sammy or their neighbors would notice sailor moon leaping from her window.
----------------------------
"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!!!!!!!!!!" ..no effect... not surprising really since the daimon had remembered to wear a raincoat... or maybe the daimon *was* a raincoat... it was hard to tell sometimes. Whatever it was their attacks had left no mark. Mercury took out her computer, scanning the (loosely termed) lifeform for weaknesses.
"DEEP SUBMERGIE!!!" Another failed water attack... Mercury Sweat dropped at the assumption on Neptune's part that *her* attack would succeed where mercurys had failed.
"Mars!! maybe you can melt that thing..."
But not before Jupiter had wasted an attack on the insulated daimon. "SPARKLINGU WIDEU PRESSURE!!!!!!!!" No effect.
"I'm on it Ames!! BURNING MANDELA!!!" Again the attack failed, this time accompanied by mercury's gasp as the daimon laughed, for the first time preparing to take the offensive, it produced an umbrella and reflected the attack at the scouts, whose timely screams drowned out the arrival speech of a certain pretty sailor suited Senshi of love and justice."
"Grrr... you think this stuff just comes to me naturally?!?! (and trust me, with the infinite number of daimon possibilities, there were a lot of speeches to be written) You're gonna pay, nega-trash"
"But I'm not from the nega-verse, I'm one of the..."
"Shut Up !!" screeched Sailor moon, not wanting to be corrected right now. "MOON HEALING ACTIVATION!!!!"
"Wrong attack moron!" shouted Rei... but refrained from saying more as the daimon's umbrella reflected the healing onto the recently maimed scouts.
"Way to go Sailor Moon!!" Cheered Lita and Mina, genuinely impressed at Serena, but still not entirely convinced she hadn't, as Rei put it, used the wrong attack.
"heh, thanks guys! uhm... little help here...?"
Meanwhile Uranus had been studying the pure heart crystal. Nope. No talismans here. returning the heart crystal she casually walked up behind the daimon and smacked it in the head with a conveniently placed length of hard wood. the daimon crumpled and Sailor Moon was able to quickly finish it with a genuine attack, reverting it to its natural form of... a cocktail umbrella? Sometimes she wondered what was going through the mind of the person whom created the daimon to chose such ridiculous forms. Perhaps she would be wondering instead what they'd been drinking. Sometime between then and now Uranus and Neptune had disappeared.
"Well guys, I guess that's that... love to stay and chat but I gotta get home and study... heheh.."
"Not so fast Serena! what the hell took you so long to get here?" Demanded Rei.
"Well Serena does live further away than any of u... " began Mercury.
But Rei wasn't about to be put off so easily when she'd been so humiliated... after all it had been her reflected attack that had hurt the Senshi, not the actual diamon.
"And she didn't even klutz up or anything!" Said Minako in a genuinely proud yet backhanded way. "hey! do you think my attack might have worked against it...?"
"Uh... really gotta go now guys..."
"Yeah right, as if you ever study meatball head" Rei added vindictively, thinking the name would hurt Serena.
"oh shut up Rei" Serena replied turning her back on the scouts and starting to walk away.
"Hey! I'm not finished! Don't you walk away from me Serena!! SERENA!!"
"Uh... Mars...? do you really think you should be yelling out sailor Moons real identity like that...?"
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Sailor Moon managed to get two whole blocks before detransforming in an alley back to regular 'ol Serena. "Oh Luna, I'm starving!" She complained wearily. At this time of night she would have already missed dinner, her mom would think she ate elsewhere, and she didn't have any money for food. She wished Rei hadn't upset her sundae earlier... or that she'd got to eat more of it first.
"Serena, is food all you ever think about?" Demanded Luna.
"Geez, you don't have to get all grumpy on me... its just those attacks leave me so hungry and tired. She stifled a yawn and slowly walked home on shaky legs. Luna frowned, a healing and an offensive in one night, only six months ago that was the sort of energy use that would have blacked usagi out, so Luna was secretly impressed, and she hadn't klutzed even once... if you didn't count the once that she tripped on the way to the fight. If truth be known Luna herself was weary at this point, when she answer the call she'd hoped that the park mercury had referred to was the 'near' park, not one of the many 'far' Parks. Jinxed from the beginning, and cats did after all only have short legs. She jumped on Serenas shoulder and continued to scold occasionally as Serena made her way slowly home. Unfortunately home was a lot further away in Serenas tired and detransformed state, but she seriously doubted she would have the energy to transform. *yawnnn* "I'll get up early and do the assignment t'morrow Luna, 'kay?"
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Serena couldn't help but grin at her predicament, Ms H had given her two days detention for not handing in the assignment, Mrs. B had given her two days for being late, now if she just managed to keep her mouth shut she could attend just two detentions instead of four and neither teacher would be the wiser. Of course having to sit any detention at all was a total bummer, but she could sleep through Biology now and if Mr. K gave her detention, it'd just be more even more efficient. Well that was the plan... except Mr. K gave her a three-day detention instead. Way harsh for just sleeping in class, she thought but knew better than to say anything.
"MELVIN?!?! YOU got detention...?" Oh hey Serena, yeah... heh heh... I was a bit late for class... uh... I guess you wouldn't have noticed since you were even later and all..."
"Gee, thanks for your support. MOLLY?!?! You too?"
"Well Serena, the reason Melvin was late for class was because we..."
"No way. I don't wanna hear it."
"...? Serena, did you break up with Darien again...?"
"Erk! Is it that obvious...?"
"Well... actually usually you're a lot more depressed, but I never saw you turn down gossip on someone's love life before..."
"Huh. Well I don't care, who needs that jerk anyway?"
"Good for you Serena... he may be good looking and all but he's waaaay to old for you, you can do much better"
"Oh shut up Melvin"
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Was that pity? From Melvin?!?!? Serena sighed morosely... she'd thought she'd hidden this thing pretty well but it seemed everyone was onto her. THIS time she was determined not to let the situation get to her. Maybe when Darien decided he loved her again they'd get back together... but this time she wouldn't welcome him back with open arms... let him suffer a little of what she was going through... not that there was a doubt in her mind that she *would* take him back.
"Yo! Odango atama! Need a ride home?"
"Haruka-san!!" She accepted, after all, Haruka and Micheru were hardly strangers, and it was getting kinda dark... Daimons almost always seemed to act during the day... office hours to be precise... and the occasional Saturday (on a different tangent she wondered if the witches got time and a half for weekends), but then Daimons weren't the only danger at night, and after all Serena was only 15... Melvin and Molly only had a one-hour detention while Serena had been there for the whole afternoon. "Domo Arigato! But could you take me to Rei's instead? I've gotta, uhm... return some books and stuff..." Scout meeting... *groan* and late as ever.
"Sure thing, Odango." Micheru just smiled in that surprisingly bimbo way she had... rather interesting really, since she was actually a musical genius... but then Serena could hardly question Micherus motives, after all, she also played dumb when it suited her.
""Thanks again Haruka san"
"Do you want us to wait for you? how are you going to get home?"
"Nah, that's okay, but thanks for the offer... Luna'll make sure I get home okay."
Luna? wasn't Luna her cat?!?! wondered Micheru as the car pulled away.
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"Uh... hi guys, sorry I'm late and all..." Actually, thanks to Huruka and Micherus timely deliverance, Serena wasn't nearly as late as she could of been... but late enough to receive a severe tongue lashing from Rei.
"Geez, lighten up Rei" Interceded Minako, "Serenas only 15 minutes late... that's gotta be a record for her..."
"18 MINUTES!!!" Shrieked Rei. Minako sweatdropped.
"Well... anyway... what's up?"
"Actually Serena, not much... we still don't know anything about the new sailors..." Serena wondered if she should tell them that she suspected Haruka and Micheru, their arrival coinciding was almost too much to be a coincidence... not to mention their personalities... the way they disappeared when diamon appeared... Rei would probably think they were connected with the bad guys though and order them to stay away... which was kinda a logical assumption... but Serena liked Haruka and Micheru, so she said nothing. "What these talismans are..." Well Serena had had dreams hinting at those too... but again kept silent to avoid ridicule. "Heck, there doesn't even seem to be much of a pattern to the daimon attacks... except the targets are usually extraordinary in *some* way..."
"So... we know nothing. Hmm... very deep... well unless anyone's got anything to add I really gotta get home and do this makeup assignment..."
"SERENA!" Gasped Luna.
"What?!? Well its true..." She managed to fake a contrite look for a few minutes.
Amy ahemed: "Er... does anyone have anything to add...?" Silence. "Well... I guess we all take Serenas advice and go home and study!" She finished happily. Joint groans form Minako and Makoto.
"THANKS AMES!!"
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Serena was barely a half block away before she ran into Michiru and Haruka again. Huruka had her head down on the steering wheel and Michiru was reading. "Hey guys! I thought you'd have left already!"
"Peak-hour traffic" whispered Micheru... Huruka didn't respond but a sigh was heard from beneath the lowered head.
"Still need a ride Odango?"
Serena felt a set of cat claws pierce her shoulder.. in fact Luna kept them perfectly manicured and sharp just for occasions such as this when Serena trusted people too readily... which was just about always. Serena winced slightly. "Is it okay? what about the traffic?"
Haruka visibly brightened and even deigned to look up. "We'll be going the other way to get to your place anyway!"
"Great!" That slightly more aware but hugely overruled part of Serenas mind couldn't help but wonder how Haruka and Micheru knew where she lived, but a free ride was a free ride after all. She couldn't possibly know that one of the Witches Five had targeted her for a Talisman. In fact, right this moment Eudial was putting in overtime to watch the little interaction, she knew Haruka and Micheru were the civilian identities of one sailor Uranus and one sailor Neptune, and fumed slightly at them acquiring the target... but she also knew that despite their claims otherwise they would wait for her to attack and remove the crystal... she wondered if maybe they didn't know how to remove a heart crystal... that was also a definite possibility.
Eudial had wasted an entire day in front of the school the girl went to, first arriving early to wait... only the girl arrived late, by which point there were far too many people about for her liking... sure a daimon could easily take out a dozen humans, but hundreds in such a confined space...? Eventually the Daimon would be overpowered, and as had happened in the past, someone was likely to return the heart crystal before she got a chance to examine it.
Then she had waited after school... but what kind of student was this to receive a three-hour detention...? every day? for a week? of course she had been consistently late for a week as well... Eudial was actually beginning to think she'd made a mistake thinking this girl had a pure heart... then the outer senshi had taken an interest and Eudial had redoubled her efforts.
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Usagis parents glared out the window as a car pulled up street side. Papa sorry... I forget his name.. kenji? noticed the car was going at least 5 kilometers over the speed limit...at least... and who was that blond boy fawning over his baby? Mama noticed Usagi wasn't with Darien... and hadn't been for a few days now... it'd considerably drop her status in her social group if her daughter was no longer dating the handsome med-student... but then again that blond boy was wearing one of those private school uniforms, and that was no jalopy he was driving.. maybe this could work out after all... maybe if it wasn't for that other girl in the car. She also wondered if Sammy were too young to start dating.
"Serena!! Who is that boy? He looks too old for you!" Demanded Kenji as soon as the door was closed.
"Oh daddy... Harukas only a year older than me, an besides, He is a girl."
Serena skipped up the stairs in a pretense of going to start homework. Daddy spent the rest of the night in a foetal position muttering about his baby girl.
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Eudial didn't like attacking people in their homes. She considered it bad form. And besides, Japanese houses were typically small and clumsy diamons needed room for their attacks, so she opted to put aside her personal life for yet another weekend and hope the girl decided to go out in her spare time... a park, a mall... maybe a hair salon or coffee shop... As fate would have it Serena HAD decided to go to the mall that weekend, Molly needed a new dress, and Serena needed... well Serena didn't actually need anything, she was just a shopaholic, and after all she had just broken up with her soul mate - excuse enough to hit daddy up for some cash.
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TBC (maybe... well it doesn't really go anywhere yet... wanna break up Darien and Usagi more and maybe introduce a new love-interest... and dis Rei some more...always thought she was a cow ^_^;)
I know everyone says it, but i really mean it!! PLEASE REVIEW!!! (and yes i know i keep switching between english and japanese names... just sometimes the japanese ones fit better and sometimes i forget :P