-1AN: This fic was stemmed from when I was reading some Dragon Riders of Pern book by Anne McCaffery.

Mina was with the senshi before Zoicite's defeat in this story. Also, please consider that the senshi are 18. That makes Darien infinitely less creepy, and I think that I have given them sufficiently grown up personalities… with the possible exception of Raye.

Writing Began: October 2003

Originally Posted: February through May 2004.

Updated: April-May 2010

The fight with the youma had been draining. They had come upon the scene to find people passed out up and down the sidewalk of the shopping district. Zoicite had chosen to remain for the battle for a reason known only to him, and his comments were had begun to grate on the senshi's nerves. Presently, the youma was threateningly waving the long claws on it's black and yellow arm in the air. The Sailor Senshi were barely managing to keep it distracted.

"On three!" Sailor Mars yelled. "One! Two! Three! Fire Soul!"

Sailors Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus sent their attacks out at the same time. Mars had been getting the youma's attention, so with its eyes fixed on her, it easily dodged her attack. The other two senshi managed a direct hit.

"Now, Sailor Moon!" Mars called. The three watched their leader anxiously as the youma staggered from side to side behind them. Tuxedo Mask stared fixedly at the creature, in case it thought to attack the Moon senshi.

Sailor Moon aimed her tiara at it and called, "Moon Tiara Action!" The youma stopped staggering and flashed brightly twice before the fatal attack reduced it to dust.

Zoicite cackled. "I got what I came for. Thank you for your help, Sailor Moon!" Zoicite called. He disappeared amidst rose petals.

Darien had an unshakable feeling that someone was watching him. He had always had an acute awareness of people's gazes, and his time as Tuxedo Mask had only sharpened his senses. With each step away from the battle, he felt the hairs on his neck prickling more and more until the point when he felt someone invade his personal space.

Abruptly, Darien came to a halt and whirled around. No one was there. With a grunt of annoyance, he narrowed his eyes. As he turned back to his path, he thanked the busyness of the city for keeping other pedestrians from noticing his moment of lunacy.

"Why is he thanking you?" Sailor Jupiter voiced the question on all of their minds.

"Who knows?" Sailor Moon responded with a huff. She left every battled with said Dark Kingdom general feeling all sorts of annoyed.

Wisely, Mercury put in, "He's a homicidal maniac. Do we really want to try to get inside his mind?" Sure, Amy watched the occasional serial killer profile on television, but that didn't mean she wanted to speculate on their motives. Much. She was too far behind Mina to hear the tiny, sad noise the blonde made at this.

As Sailor Moon followed the other tired senshi down the alleyway, she sensed an unusual presence. "Hey, Raye," she murmured, "do you feel that?"

"Feel what, Meatball Brains?" the priestess snapped. "I'm the psychic, remember?" Serena was always driving her crazy with these feelings about things; more than half the time the blonde was just hungry.

Serena sighed. She knew Raye was tired--they all were--but did she have to get so angry? Serena stopped in her tracks; an intense feeling of shock and fear had washed over her suddenly.

"What in the hell?" a deep, male voice muttered. Serena looked around frantically for the source. Just as she reassuring herself that it was her imagination, her thoughts were interrupted.

"Let's go, Serena. We don't have all day," Lita commanded, prodding her shoulder. She had apparently been the first to notice that Serena wasn't behind them and had come back to get her.

Serena shook her head and plodded along after Lita to the rest of the group. "I'm going home to sleep," she announced as soon as she reached them. Her friends looked amused, probably thinking that she wanted to sleep as always, not knowing that she was hearing crazy voices. "Good night."

Just as she turned the corner away from her friends, the male voice returned. "My imagination is running away from me. I need sleep or something."

Once again, Serena looked around for the man who had spoken. She refused to believe that the voice was in her head. "The voice is somewhat familiar," she thought.

"Yes, it is," the man's voice agreed. Serena felt a sharp sensation in her forehead as if it had been smacked. "Now my imagination is talking to me. Maybe I should skip sleep and go to a psychiatrist. I could really use some Zyprexa."

"What is Zyprexa? I'm not your imagination," Serena grumbled. "You're mine." She noticed people staring at her and realized she was standing in the middle of the sidewalk, talking to herself. She began walking again. Even if she was crazy, she didn't need to look it.

Now the voice sounded amused. "My imagination is telling me that I'm it's imagination. If that doesn't mean that I need to see a doctor I don't know what does."

Serena glared ahead of her. Despite her size, the look terrified a passerby, though she was too wrapped up in her mind to notice. "I don't know who this guy thinks he is, but he's going to get a face full of imaginary fist," she thought in annoyance.

The male chuckled. "As long as I'm insane, I might as well go along with my imagination. I think I'm Darien Shields."

Serena froze in the middle of a sidewalk, nearly getting sideswiped by a bike. "Jerk? Where are you?" Serena demanded, searching the area for him. "When I find you, I'm going to hurt you." She peered down the nearby alley.

"Meatball Head!" Darien sounded alarmed. "What are you doing in my apartment?"

Serena stepped away from the alley. "Don't be ridiculous! Why would I be in your apartment? We're outside, dumbass!" Serena growled, picturing a few cruel things to do to Darien. Throwing a beehive at him. Tying him to a tree indefinitely. Pushing him into traffic.

"Damn! You wouldn't really push me in front of a bus, would you?" Panic seized Serena and Darien simultaneously.

"How'd you know I thought that?" she demanded to the empty space. She noticed people were staring again and begrudgingly began moving her feet.

"Yeah, wouldn't want people thinking you're crazy. Not when I can hear you in my head! What did you do?" Darien yelled. Serena covered her ears to no avail.

"Jerk?" she thought experimentally, being sure to say nothing aloud.

"Now is not the time, Meatball," he replied.

She sensed the impatience he felt, rather than hearing it in his voice. "Darien," she thought in a whisper. "I'm in your mind."

"You mean telepathy?" he asked.

"Exactly," Serena confirmed. Realizing that she had again stopped, she started home.

"How did this happen?" Darien wondered.

Serena remember the youma's brief glowing and Zoicite's words. It had to have been the youma Had Darien been there? If she was affected why weren't the senshi?

"That's simple. The senshi were looking at Sailor Moon. If that's what caused this Sailor Moon will be affected. What were you doing there?" Darien questioned.

Serena sent him a mental groan. "Rule number one: don't read my thoughts."

"I can't help it, Meatball." This time the voice was smug.

"Listen, jerk, I look forward to the time I spend away from you, and I'm not going to put up with you insulting me 24/7. You're going to be nice until we've straighten this out. Now, what were you doing near the senshi battle?" Serena burst. She received an image of the fight from a rooftop.

"I was driving past on the way home," Darien informed her.

"Let me guess. You flew your car to the top of a building for safety," she retorted. All at once, she was bombarded by many thoughts and images, but Serena managed to get one thing from them. "Darien," she breathed mentally, "you're Tuxedo Mask!" Serena stumbled and nearly fell down. A thought occurred to her. She tried to think of something, anything else but failed.

"Meatball Head, you can't be Sailor Moon!" Darien exclaimed.