This is just a reposting. I couldn't stand the number of errors in the story so I had to take it down to have it edited. Thanks to those who reviewed.
Disclaimer: Sailormoon doesn't belong to me.
A short story about Darien and Serena's first kiss. If it sounds boring already, please read anyway. It's short and sweet (or so I've been told).
First comes Love…
Her parents had hearts of stones!
She had employed every tactic she owned but they were unmovable. She had flailed her arms and legs, cried, pleaded, threw a tantrum and even resorted to telling them that she was suffering from a life threatening disease. All the while Mrs Taylor had hmmed and aahed taking whatever information her daughter gave her all in stride, which made Serena wonder if she really did care for her daughter. Finally when Serena had unwisely paused to catch her breath Irene had pulled the pink cotton dress, one that had not yet been ruined by virtue of it being brand new, and expertly twisted it onto Serena's struggling form.
Within minutes Irene had her daughter in the car belted into place, shoes on the right feet, pretty pink ribbons to hold up the pigtails teddy on hand and a scowl to finish it off.
"You look really pretty dear!" Her dad told her, "you look like my sweet little girl today" meaning that she actually looked like a grubby little tomboy on most other days but he wasn't going to ever say that to Serena or Irene.
As the car backed out of the driveway Irene quickly turned to her daughter her face stern, "and be nice to Darien today!" she said.
This caused the scowl to deepen and Irene briefly worried whether the wind would change before she dismissed the thought as sheer idiocy.
"I am nice to him" Serena pouted angry her mother had stuck up for her arch nemesis, "He's the meanie!" which of course was the truth and she was nice to him, well as nice as she could with him which wasn't very nice at all.
Irene let out a sigh at her daughter. Serena had the face of an angel but unfortunately she was anything but. "Just be extra nice today, it is his birthday after all"
Serena chose not to respond to the comment. Arguing with her parents never gained her anything. Now if only Darien was here. Then she could blame him for everything.
By the time they had arrived at the Shields residence, the scowl had disappeared and Serena was actually smiling. In Serena's view, Darien's house wasn't that bad and she decided that she would actually enjoy coming here if it wasn't for the sole fact Darien lived here. Mrs Shields was already at the door when Irene led Serena in.
"Hi Irene, the party's just starting" she said cheerfully before bending over to greet the cherubic little girl, "and is this my favourite little angel."
Serena displayed her 'cute-as-a-button' girl skills which had been honed to perfection through experience. She gave a heart warming smile complete with dimples sending the present adults into a frenzy as they kissed her and pinched her cheeks and called her angel several times all of which Serena took gracefully, even the funny old people smells she complained about in private. If she hadn't wrapped them around her little finger already she accomplished it when she kissed Irene and introduced her teddy to them as "my best friend Teddy Taylor." This brought a second round of kisses and cheek pinching and Mrs Shields to reward the girl much to, Irene's amusement, with a chocolate cookie.
"Darien will be so pleased to see you" Mrs Shields actually said which only proved how unaware she was of the animosity between the two. The name brought up a momentary scowl before she was ushered into the garden to 'play' with Darien.
Nibbling on the cookie, that was beginning to generously smear itself on her face, Serena looked about the garden. She liked it here. For some reason all of Mrs Shields plants actually flowered, she had heard her mother call it green thumb, she thought it was strange since Mrs Shield's thumb was a healthy human colour. Perhaps it was one she put on to garden. Whatever it was she ought to get her mother one as well. She had to make a mental note to ask Mrs Shields were to get one. In any case the garden was large and colourful with flowers and bushes and lots of things she didn't know what to call except plants. Mrs Shields must also have a thumb for cooking because she made the best kinds of food, chocolate cake, chocolate cookies, chocolate anything. Her own mother was always trying to force her to eat 'healthy' food that always tasted disgusting. She definitely needed to ask Mrs Shields where to get a cooking thumb.
Despite all these good qualities, nothing could negate the fact that Darien Shields lived at the place. He was a nine-year-old towering black haired menace to society. The fact was it was hate at first sight, on her part anyway. And her resentment towards him only deepened when Andrew decided he liked spending time with Darien rather than herself.
"Hi Serena" Andrew called out in boyish exuberance as soon as he spotted his cousin then proceeded to continue to frolic with her nemesis on the grass.
She decided not to answer opting to give him the silent treatment for a whole 10 minutes. She reasoned that he had defected over to the enemy camp anyway and disowning her cousin would only be making his betrayal official.
Obviously Andrew was oblivious to his cousin's train of thought since he called out "wanna play with us?"
She jumped up excitedly forgetting the fact she still had a whole 9 minutes with which to ignore him but Darien the black haired monster stepped in the way obscuring the cousins view of each other.
"Nah uh… she's a girl" as if being a girl was an insult.
Serena glared at him angrily, "well, I don't wanna play with you too D-A-R-I-E-N" she shouted before blowing a raspberry.
She stalked away and settled down to binge on some food she took from the table. Unfortunately one could not binge all day on chocolate without boring oneself or perhaps all the chocolate had produce a sugar-induced high that made it impossible for her to stay in one place or maybe it was simply the fact she had the hyperactivity of a six year old. Whatever the reason, she decided she was bored and that some fun activities were needed to alleviate the boredom. Her eyes scanned the yard and she groaned. It seemed all the fun stuff which involved rolling around on the ground and getting yourself covered by a respectable amount of dirt was revolved around Darien. So despite her reservations she approached the only group left that Darien was not involved in.
It looked extremely boring whatever it was they were doing. Sitting around in a circle with their dolls in their arms talking like adults. But she figured she qualified to join the exclusive group of girls since she had her disreputable teddy, or whatever it was her mother called it, with her.
"Hi watcha doing?" she asked curiously as a girl brought her doll up onto her shoulder and patted it.
One of the girls with red hair that entranced Serena looked her up and down taking in the fact that the blonde girl had more chocolate on her face than on the cookie and her dress looked like it had doubled as a napkin.
"We're playing mummies" she said at last.
"wow sounds fun" was Serena's genuine reply. Wondering how she never thought of such a game herself. "can I play too?" it never occurred to Serena she would be rejected. After all she was in friendly territory being a girl and all, or so she assumed, and was taken by surprise when the red head looked at her and the bear contemptuously "you have to have a doll dummy!" then turned to pick up where she had left off.
She had never been called a dummy before and it hurt her. Miffed that even one of her own kind could betray her so she slunk off dejectedly teddy acquainting itself with the ground. Perhaps it was this place, she mused, it was all Darien's fault. She turned accusing eyes to her tormentor and as if by some sixth sense he turned around to grin smugly at the fuming little girl.
He was rather surprised when Serena sniffled and ran away.
In all his experience when dealing with anything Serena, she rarely cried unless she wanted something. She could play like the boys and for a six-years-old he thought she was quite gutsy. He didn't exactly hate her, it was difficult for him to actually define what he felt when it came to her. He felt protective when others bullied her, and since he was quite tall no one dared take the chance on upsetting the little girl. However, he felt that bullying and tormenting her was his prerogative not that she didn't give as good as she got. In fact there were at this very moment some very large Serena induced bruises on his body and he still remembered that just yesterday she had called him a poo face.
He found her staring at his mother's rose bush entranced by the vivid colours of the blossoms. Making as little noise as possible, he crept up close to her then demanded in a loud accusing voice, "who said you can have it?"
Serena spun around, her face set in the familiar scowl she wore when she was around him, or more correctly when he was around her since she made it a point to stay away from him when she could. She was clutching one of the roses in her chubby little hands the other busy holding onto Teddy's arm. Darien was well acquainted with Teddy. Whenever her guard was down, he would steal the scruffy bear right from under her nose and run away with it, Serena screeching behind him. Most of the time though he would settle for holding the bear up high so she couldn't reach it. Serena saw the twinkle in his eye when he looked at Teddy and she clutched it tightly to her protectively.
"You did something very bad" Darien told her staring pointedly at the rose "you stole"
"I didn't steal" she said defensively, "I was just looking at it." She threw the rose down at his feet "its ugly anyway, so I don't want it anymore."
Darien knew she was lying. But he was unprepared for Serena's chin to tremble and her large eyes to sparkle with tears, "I hate your birthday and I hate you" she said fervently before running away from him.
The declaration stung Darien more than he cared to admit. She was quite cute if he came right down to it. Even to him, he could see why the parents doted on the little girl. She had blonde hair that were tied into two curling pigtails and when she was clean, which was rare, looked like a doll. And she was entertaining when he found himself with nothing to do. In fact, he found himself wondering what he would do to fill up the time if she wasn't there for him to annoy. He began to worry. What if he had hurt her feelings so much she never came back, then what would become of him? Fear gripped his heart. He had to find her and apologise and make his feelings clear to her. With that resolution clear in his mind he picked up the rose and went searching for Serena, the one and only girl in his life that could ever make him truly happy.
He found her sitting behind a bush talking to Teddy her face tear streaked.
"Hi Serena" he said slowly as she stood up her face tilted back so she could look at him. He produced the rose she had thrown down and handed it to her, "I want you to have this."
She looked suspiciously at the flower since never in her six years of existence had Darien once been nice to her, well perhaps when she had been pushed by that kid and Darien had piggy backed her home because she was bleeding.
"I was only joking" he said quickly, "So don't cry kay Serena?"
She nodded taking the rose, forgetting the fact they were suppose to be enemies. "fanks" she said smiling brightly, the kind reserved for anyone that wasn't Darien.
He scuffed his shoes embarrassed, "you wanna play with us…I mean you can be my friend if you want."
Serena's head shot up at the statement in surprise "Really?" she asked hopefully. Darien always did have the best toys and games.
"Yeah" Darien grinned glad that he had accomplished what he had set out to do. He felt as if all the wrongs of the world had finally been corrected.
At that moment as the two children were grinning idiotically at each other Mrs Shields came out, "Darien its time for the cake."
Cake, especially on birthdays, was a word that transcended age and nationality. The word cake was universally understood to mean obscene amounts of sugar and the promise of hyperactive children for the rest of the afternoon. All the children and adults made their way to where Mr Shields carried out the cake, a large affair with lots of chocolate, icing and m&m's dotting the top. Darien climbed onto the seat of honour wearing a party hat his mother had just shoved onto his head and a big grin as he looked at the choc fest in front of him.
Meanwhile in the scramble for the best seats in the house, Serena had been separated from Darien, and being the smallest had been shoved and pushed until she was right at the back and the only thing she could see from between the pairs of legs in front of her were more pairs of legs. She had two options. One, she could sit down on the grass and cry or two, she could push her way to the front. She opted for crying since all those bodies packed together looked foreboding and impenetrable to the little girl and before she knew it an old man she identified as Grandpa Shields had picked her up.
"Hello Serena. Why are you hiding here?" he asked kindly. The old man liked the little girl and she liked him since he always told the funniest jokes. "Why don't I take you to the front? How does that sound?"
She nodded enthusiastically and hugged the man unmindful of the fact that she was getting chocolate on his face and beard.
He placed her next to the girl with the bright red hair. But nothing, absolutely nothing, could draw her away from the magnificent work of art that lay before in all its chocolaty glory once she lay her eyes on it. The candles were already lit, an impressive nine, and Darien seemed on the verge of extinguishing it when he looked up and smiled.
Mr Shields who was in the very act of taking a picture frowned, "what are you waiting for Darien?" he asked.
"I want my friend to help me blow out the candles" he said loudly.
The collective children went wild. Who was going to be the guest of honour?
"It's gonna be me"
"No way. He's MY friend"
"uh uh, I'm his bestest friend"
The red head actually looked like she was going to burst as she stared expectantly at Darien her whole body was trembling with anticipation, join him when he declared her his special friend. After all she was the most popular girl and she knew all the best games.
Darien got off his seat and the girl grinned as he approached her. Then in a move that surprised everyone but Mrs Shields grabbed Serena's hand possessively and led her to join him.
"Come on Serena, you can help me" he said as the little girl giggled charmingly to the delight of the parents.
"Would you look at that! It's puppy love" Mrs Taylor sighed at the cute couple. Then realizing that Serena's face was hidden under all the chocolate quickly grabbed a napkin and wiped the mess off. After she was presentable again the two leaned over and blew out the candles to the childish strains of happy birthday.
"Happy Birthday honey" Mrs Shields gushed as she smothered her only son with kisses. His two grandma's joined in the act as a jubilant Serena clapped enthusiastically and acting on impulse as was the usual for her, grabbed Darien about the neck and planted a big wet kiss on his cheek just as the flash on the camera went off. Darien smiled widely at her his hand automatically coming to scrub at his cheek as the two both decided this was the bestest day of their life.