Disclaimer: I do not own and Sailor Moon characters

Chapter 1

'How did we get here?' Darien thought to himself as he breathed heavily and clutched tightly onto his bleeding side. An unfamiliar, loud groan escaped from his broken lips. Hot tears left clean trails on his dirt covered face as he glanced over at the limp body next him. His breathing heightened as small sobs finally accumulated in his chest. He could feel the color drain from his face as sweat dribbled down in fast paced beads, mixing with his tears.

"I thought we were best friends, Darien," a voice in the darkness cooed to him.

"W-we are!" he stammered through his gritted teeth.

"Friends don't shoot their best friends do they?" the deep, undetectable voice asked.

This man was standing perfectly in the shadows so that Darien couldn't get a correct image of him. This would make it harder for him to actually declare that he knew his shooter … if he makes out of this damp cavern alive.

The man waved his gun around in certain spots of light so that Darien could be reminded of the possible death that was coming his way. He took a well-crafted move partially into the light, concealing his face still thanks to the shitty light bulb that was flickering constantly through their standoff.

"I-I thought we were f-f-f-f—"

"You thought we were friends?" the man's voice concluded. "Really? I thought you just said we were best friends! Well if we're just friends, then that makes all the difference! I can gladly kill you now! You're only a friend, after all … not a best friend."

"N-NO!" he hollered, his growling, low gurgling voice bouncing off of the walls. This made the man put his flinging silver gun back at his side, where it wouldn't try to shoot at anyone for the time being. "W-we're bets friends! I swear to you!"

"We are? Tell me about our friendship, Darien," he insisted. The man pulled a dust, rickety old chair up to his slender body and sat down, "Go on. Tell me how you saw our friendship unfold? It will be a nice end to your life – the story teller."

Darien swallowed hard and leaned his head back, "Can I at least have a cigarette?"

He could sense the shadowed person rolling their eyes. A packet of pre-opened cigarettes flew through the air and Darien caught it with the one dry, free and he had. He took out a cigarette and pulled a lighter from his pocket. He lit it and glanced at the passed out body beside him, wondering if they were okay.

"Don't worry," the voice stated, bringing him back to his task. "Concentrate on me. It's all about me."

"You're right," he replied, taking his first drag. "It's always been about you, hasn't it? You and no one else. You don't care what you do to other people, do you?"

"Not particularly, no," he confessed. "Why should I? When everyone around me dies, I'll only have myself to thank for my vast empire."

"I wish that had been more apparent when we were younger. When I first met you … well … you were there. That was quite a day."

Years Ago…

It was raining. What a perfect way to end this set of unfortunate events. Darien at in the back seat of the Mercedes as it rolled through the lush greenery. Under other circumstances, he would have thought of the view as breath taking, something out of an epic British Victorian novel. But seeing as how his parents had just died in a car accident a few weeks beforehand, he wasn't quite in the mood to look at his surroundings as being positive. He had been tossed from one aunt to the next until finally the eldest of his Shields clan decided to solve the problem with money. Aunt Ethel sent him away to the New England countryside where he would attend boarding school. The school obliging accepted him and promised his aunt that by the time summer rolled around, he would exude the class that everyone at the establishment had naturally.

His father had disappointed the whole Shields troupe when he told everyone that he was marrying a waitress and moving to Manhattan to be a director. Luckily he had been a great director. He earned back his erased inheritance and made sure that all of it would go only to Darien and no one else in the family for excommunicating him. The greedy elders tried to grab at Darien's sealed away money, but none succeeded. Ethel knew she wasn't going to get anything from taking care of her nephew, however she couldn't watch him fall through the foster care system either. She told him that on vacations, he was more than welcome to come back to her East Hampton compound if he so chose to. He never said if he would take her up on that offer, but he did say he would write.

The car finally came to a stop in front of the castle looking school. A slender woman with a jowly face came walking up to the car and opened up the door to let Darien out.

"My name is Mrs. Blankenship. I am the headmistress of the grounds. It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Shields. I hope the ride wasn't too dreadful for you," she greeted stoically.

Darien merely stepped out of the car and then shot his eyes up to the windows where a bunch of boys ranging from thirteen to eighteen were all watching. He followed her up into the Hampshire Boarding School. She went rambling on in a shrieking voice about how he was going to be expected to keep up with studies and outer school activities. He had to pick from playing an instrument, taking a writing class, or playing a sport.

"Can't I do all of them?" Darien asked bluntly.

Mrs. Blankenship turned around and arched an eyebrow, "If you think you can handle that."

"I can," he said simply as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

She continued on with the tour, explaining the schedule for the students and how many credits they were expected to take within in a semester, "Breakfast is at eight. Classes start at nine. You will take a preliminary test to see where you fit in with class levels. We expect you to get through everything by the time you're eighteen. By then, you will apply to universities and excel in anything you choose to do."

He wondered if there was a class on how to have fun or how to become happy again. He couldn't give two shits about what time he was supposed to go to his drumming lessons in order to make it to his lacrosse practice on time. The world seemed meaningless without his parents around. He had to take care of himself … until he could find someone else or something else to latch onto, he felt lost. His dad had taught him how to be spontaneous and excited about everything. His mother taught him how to be a hard worker and to be grateful for everything. He felt as though he was losing some of the lessons he had learned from them. How can someone be grateful for the life they lead when their only loved ones were ripped from them? Darien didn't make many friends in his public school. The ones he did make were superficial pricks who deserted him the moment his parents died. No one knew the definition loyalty anymore.

Darien suddenly snapped out of his daze and realized that he had come to where he was going to be sleeping. He peered into the opened up doorway to gaze at his room. There was a crackling fire place at the very end of the extremely large space with a few couches. There were six wooden poster beds with matching dark grey sheets and blankets. At the foot of everyone's bed was a leather woven chest and their names engraved on plaques above their beds. Darien took a step back and looked up above the doorframe where there was gold and brick red typography spelling out, "The Lion's Den".

"The boys have taken to naming their room that," she explained to him.

Mrs. Blankenship guided the way down the rows of beds until she got to the second to last one. Darien's name had been scrawled on a gold plaque above the boring bed.

"Your things have been put away during our tour. Your roommates will arrive shortly. They are still at their extracurricular activities," she stated tersely before turning around leaving.

"Wait!" Darien called out. "What about my exams?"

"There will be a note sent to you. Dinner is a six," she answered without turning around.

The sixteen year old ruffian was left to his own devices, sitting on his bed alone. He should have gone through everything to see what his roommates are like, but he had no energy for that. All of his energy had been wasted away on sadness. He slowly started to drift into sleep, but it clearly was not fast enough because no sooner had he shut his eyes did he hear the sound of loud obnoxious laughter. In walked five boys. One of them was tall, muscular, and tanned with long dyed white hair. His grey eyes narrowed at Darien.

"Look at what we have here guys. A new roommate," the silver-haired boy said.

One of the shorter boys with strawberry blonde locks slicked to the side ran up to his bed and read his name out loud, "Darien Shields."

"Shields? I've never heard of that name before," the kid with long dark brown locks said snidely. "Where are you from?"

"Connecticut," he answered.

"What does your father do?" the short haired blonde asked.

"He was a director," he replied quietly.

"'Was'?" the white haired boy repeated.

"Past tense," Darien nodded. "He and my mother were killed in a car accident a few weeks ago."

"Oh … well, my name is Kunzite," he said, extending his hand out to him.

Darien got off of the bed and shook his hand. Right as Kunzite gripped him, his eyes darted to the other boys. They suddenly jump up and all tackled him down to the hardwood floors. He cried out loud as they took sheets from nearby beds to tie him up as they cut off his clothes. They left his pasty white body covered only in his navy blue boxer briefs. He tried to scream for help, but they just shoved is mouth with one of his socks and then wrapped duck-tape around his head. They tied his feet and hands together and the proceeded to create a long rope of sheets. Darien took a few deep breaths in through his nose as they dragged him out of their dorm room down some long corridors and then coming to an abrupt stop. Three of the boys lifted him up while Kunzite grabbed a ladder. He wrapped the thin sheet around a giant hook – its use was uncertain in the school, but made for great fun for all of the boys at the school. This was how they always hazed the new comers. It was tradition and a rite of passage.

When they finally finished hanging him upside down, they all stood in front of him and waved.

"Don't worry Shields," Kunzite reassured him, "the late afternoon classes will be getting out soon. You'll be let down in a minute or so."

"Oh yeah! And by the way, this is a co-ed school. Best to show off all your goods at once to the ladies. Then they won't be surprised when they decided to date you," the dark brown haired boy laughed. "See you soon!"

With that, they waved goodbye to him. Well … most of them. The strawberry blonde kid stayed behind and stared at Darien for a little bit. He had a look of sympathy on his face. He waited until all of his roommates were out of his sight and out of earshot before he approached him.

"I've been in your spot," he said. "It sucks." Darien could only flutter his eyes open and close. All of the blood was rushing to head and making him dizzy. "I passed out too. I wish I had someone to help me…" Darien screamed through his sock full mouth making his newly acquired roommate laugh out loud. "Alright! I'll help you down!"

He grabbed the ladder that Kunzite had used and climbed up to the top to untie the sheet. He tried to slowly let Darien down to the ground without dropping him and ended up roughly bouncing him down to the ground. This kid was rather small and scrawny. Not at all like the other boys who were extremely athletic and quick witted. He seemed like the runt of the litter.

As he started to get down the ladder, the bell for the late afternoon classes went off and students started to escape their jails. A large group of them from surrounding classrooms stopped dead in their tracks and stared at the new kid in just his boxers. It could have been the most scarring moment for Darien in his entire adolescent year, but he immediately thought of what his father would do in this moment. So he stood up straight and smiled at everyone, acting like nothing was wrong.

"Nice greeting, huh?" he said to all of his fellow students, both male and female.

One of the teachers came walking out of their classroom and nearly dropped all of the tests they received when seeing the two young men standing in the center of the circle of onlookers. The teacher pointed down the hallway, gesturing to the dean's office at the end. The younger boy gulped while Darien just nodded and walked down the hallway as though he were sporting the best out in the whole school. As they walked down the corridor to what seemed like a punishment, he tore a piece of the sheet off and handed it to the shaking boy next him. He had a plan at work.

He walked into the office and sat down on a chair in the receptionist area. The young secretary behind the desk called for dean who came out promptly. He sighed upon seeing the two teenagers through his thick glasses. He waved them into his office and shut the door behind them. He sat at his desk and folded his large, rough looking hands. When he breathed heavily, his grey and black mustache fluttered a bit.

"Again, Gavin?" he asked the boy sitting next to Darien.

"Sir, last time it was me hanging upside down, remember?" Gavin replied.

"Mr …" Darien glanced at his name on the desk, "Mr. Andersen, he wasn't behind this."

"Oh? And who was?" he asked.

"I don't know. I was blindfolded," he answered. Gavin held up the ripped up sheet he was handed when they had walked down the hallway together. "See? Luckily my roommate found me and helped me down."

Mr. Andersen, whose face was usually in a grave expression lightened up at the sound of a young student doing well here at the boarding school. For once students weren't sneaking out or hazing one another, but they were helping each other become more accustomed to their surroundings. It was endearing to hear.

"Well then, I'll have to keep that in mind when I grade everyone's overall school spirit, huh?" he replied, his eyes wide with happiness.

"Yes sir!" Gavin smiled.

"May I return to my room, sir?" Darien asked.

"Yes. Yes, you may," he nodded.

The pair left the office as fast as their legs could carry them down the winding hallways. They finally made it to their room, laughing together at how they had gotten away with that. Kunzite turned around from his desk and smiled broadly.

"Wow. You got out of that fast," he said. His eyes jumped to Gavin, "Did you help him down?"

"He did one better!" Darien exclaimed, draping an arm over his shoulders. "This kid got the dean on our side!"

"And that's supposed to be a good thing because…?" Kunzite pressed on.

"Because then he'll only see us as these great ruffian kids who have good morals and values. He'll never believe anyone if they say they caught us sneaking out late at night or saw us smoking a cigarette on the grounds," he replied as he removed the remaining sheets from his wrists and started to rummage through his chest for a pair of trousers. "Trust me. I did this with my old public school. You need to be the best possible in front of the teachers so you can be your worst when you're not around them."

"Smart man," a long haired blonde said, laying on his bed. "I don't think we all introduced ourselves properly. I'm Zoisite."

"I'm Nephrite!" the one with the long brown hair said, raising his hand in the air.

"I'm Jadeite," the blonde short haired kid said at the other end of the room.

"Nice to finally meet all of you without you attacking me," Darien smirked.

"We'll see how well you fare here," Kunzite replied slyly as he went back to his homework.

So far, the first day was hectic and crazy, just like he had expected. He knew that not every day was going to be like this. The boys were trying to test him out, see how he worked. He hoped he had the approval of Kunzite. That strange looking creature seemed to have a stronghold over this group. Gavin on the other hand was at the bottom of the totem pole. He clearly was their footstool. He hadn't learned how to command attention and go with the flow. He was timid, but a fast learner. Darien liked him.

"Dinner isn't for another forty five minutes," Gavin said. "Wanna go toss a football around?"

"Sure," Darien replied, jumping off his bed and donning on an old Yale sweatshirt that his father had given him from his great grandfather.

"Wait! I want to come too!" Jadeite hollered.

"Me too!" Nephrite and Zoisite said in unison, dropping their books onto their desks or beds and running out after the small group. Kunzite simply glanced at them as they walked out. Darien felt that he was the type of character who felt it was everyone else's duty to invite him along so he paused at the doorframe.

"You coming?" he asked.

"I'll be there in a minute," he answered.

"And to think," Gavin said breathlessly, "that was only half of the first day."

He leaned forward and grinned maliciously at Darien, his eyes glossed over with insanity. He ran a hand through his slicked back hair and leaned back in his rickety wooden chair. His eyes stayed glued onto Darien who was still bleeding on the ground from an apparent bullet wound to his side. He kept smoking the cigarette as though he wasn't in pain, just so he could get a rise out of the man in front of him. Somehow between when they were kids until now, Gavin had snapped. Darien did his best to keep his friend calm by explaining how they got their in the first place. His eyes fell onto the still body beside him …

"Keep going Darien," Gavin begged. "I'm intrigued now…"

He took another drag of his white cancerous stick and sighed, "Fine…"

Stay tuned! Chapter 2 up next! Please review! ^_^