He loves me, he loves me not
Disclaimer:
Sailor Moon and its characters belong to Takeuchi Naoko. Original characters and this story however, belong to me.
Author Note:
I know I owe all my readers an apology for not having updated my story for more than three years. There is no excuse for this and I am sure I have lost all of my readers. I deserve that.
As for the reason as to why I have not updated: Initially it was because of a writer's block, not to mention medical school has kept me busy. Later on, it was because one of my best friends, Linda, passed away in a car accident in 2004. Amongst all my friends, she and two other friends certainly had been the most supportive when it came to fanfiction writing. When everyone else teased me about 'living in a dreamland' and tried to discourage me from writing, she would sit down with me to hear how I envisioned the story.
The day before she passed, I told her that I wanted to stop writing because I do not have any talent as a writer, after all, everyone else made fun of my love of writing. She asked me whether I wrote for acceptance and acknowledgement of my skills, to prove others wrong or for the love of writing. I did not know the answer then and took the easy way out by telling her that whatever the reason was, her question would not make a difference. It still seems like it was yesterday when she said 'If you keep running from yourself and keep asking me to hold your hand just so that you won't run, then it is probably better that you stop writing. You're going to tire everyone out, especially me, because I cannot keep on chasing you to stop you from running. I won't always be around, you know?'
After she passed away, I stopped writing altogether. I still did not know why I wanted to write until a few weeks ago. Last time I wrote to prove to others that I am a talented writer, now, I am writing because I love it, it's a passion that I will not abandon again.
With this realization, I found myself re-reading my old script for this and my other stories. While I wasn't appalled by what I saw, I did find myself unsatisfied with how I wrote my stories and before I knew it, I started the revising and rewriting this story. While the story still revolves around the same theme, I have decided to rewrite the story with a darker undertone to it. Do not worry though, I have not lost my hu7mour and will continue to have comical scenes here and there.
Another thing: Now that I am finishing medical school, I will have less opportunity to sit down at the computer and update. I will finish this story though.
CHAPTER 1: THE BEGINNING
November 9, 2002
11.32 pm. Somewhere in Tokyo.
A lonely figure is seen running into a dark alleyway, soon after a man is seen to be walking slowly into the same alleyway. The latter seemed to be moving with such calm and grace that would remind observers of a panther stalking its pray. A few minutes of silence passed, Professor Yamaguchi, the old man who was the first person running into the small street, started to feel nervous because he knew that the person following him was there, alas he could not see him. Waiting for a few more minutes, he decided to step out of his hiding place behind two garbage containers. Before he had an opportunity to take any further steps though, he found himself pinned to the wall by the other person, an expressionless young man wearing dark glasses and dark clothes. He was about to struggle, but again the young man was faster than him and before he knew it, a gun was pressed against his abdomen.
Helpless, the frail old man asked "What do you want from me?" , the young man though stayed quiet. The professor asked again "Is it money? I can give you money if you want it", this time the young man pressed the gun harder into the professors abdomen and answered with a deadly voice calmly "I don't need your money, I need answers."
"What kind of answers are you looking for young man? What could you possibly want from me?"
Again silence greeted the professor.
"You never asked me a question, how could I possibly answer you?"
The dark clad man shifted his stance and pushed the professor harder into the wall and finally answered with a cold smirk on his face, "What can you tell me about the MINOTAUR project, Professor Yamaguchi?"
Stunned the old man took a while to respond, "How do you know who I am? And how did you find out…"
This time the assailant interrupted the professor calmly, but his cold voice sent shivers of fear down the trapped man's spine.
"Yamaguchi, how I know what I know is my business. You on the other hand have this one last chance to tell me what you know of the project. Now, Professor, please tell me the answer I so long to hear"
"Go to hell. I'd rather die than tell you anything about the project"
"I think it's you who will go to hell, old coot", the assailant released the safety on his gun and was about to pull the trigger when he was interrupted by another young man clad in a suit and wearing dark shades as well. "Ah, ah, ah, not so fast! ", watching Yamaguchi's attacker impassively, he continued "Are you okay, Professor?"
"It's you! Thank goodness you are here. I'm alright, if you would just remove this –ah- nuisance though, I would feel much better."
The professor's assailant turned to see a gun pressed to his forehead and then everything turned black.
"Everything's alright now, Professor. We will clean up the mess. Just make sure MINOTAUR is running smoothly and please, be more careful next time. The agency has more important things to handle. You're lucky Urawa saw this idiot following you."
"Yes, Sir"
"That's alright, go home. You're family is waiting for you"
"Aye aye, Sir"
Yamaguchi walked away from the dark alleyway, leaving the dead assailant and the other young man behind. The young man looked down at the dead body and then took his cellphone out, "Urawa, we've got some road sweeping to do in Sector 12. You know the exact location, I trust?"
"Of course Sir, the Agency's technology has not failed us until now."
"Urawa, hurry" and then he hung up.
The young man looked down at the dead man again and then looked up to the sky. He removed his shades to reveal piercing green forest eyes which looked sad for a moment, seconds later a car came to a halt and the young man turned his head to the car. A group of dark clad people arrived and cleared up the area fast while the young man just observed them silently. When all was done, the team left the scene again without a word, only a nod to the green eyed man, signalling him that they were done.
Left all alone again, the young man sighed, put on his shades again and walked to his car that was parked around the corner. Reaching the door, he hesitated for a while, looked up at the sky again and looked at his watch. It was now a minute past midnight. "Seika… I miss you." With that, Masaya Hikawa entered his car and drove away.
The neighbourhood returned to its normal quiet state.
November 10, 2002. Tsukino Residence.
Narrative
For once, I figured that my life could not be any better. The sun was shining brightly outside, birds were chirping outside my window and so it seems that my post-graduation break is on its way to a perfect start. Trying to make the best out of this wonderful holiday I decided to go back to bed immediately when I woke up at 10 am. However, as it is, fate is playing a cruel game with me and my perfect holiday seems to drift further and further away from reach when I was rudely awaken a mere 15 minutes into sleeping in.
"SERENA TSUKINO!!!!!! WAKE UP NOW AND COME DOWN. I WANT YOU TO MEET SOMEBODY".
Yes, you guessed it: that was my mom. I love her to bits, brilliant woman, knows what she wants in life, extremely intelligent, best cook ever, and yet her glass shattering shrill voice drives me up the wall sometimes, this being one of those moments. I, Serena Tsukino, am a young adult, who just graduated from Tokyo University's Law Faculty as one of the best in my year yesterday and I am not allowed to sleep in? Give me a break.
That being said, we all know how mothers can be when they think you are not listening to them, so obviously the wise thing to do was to jump out of bed, reply with a quick "I'll be right there" and have a quick shower. While showering, I couldn't help but think that my mother really did sound extremely excited and delighted just now. Not to mention, I started to have a bad feeling about this morning.
See, after I started Law School, I have not been in any committed relationship with anyone. Sure, there were dates here and there, and I certainly could never complain about any lack of date offers, but during that period of time I just wanted to concentrate on my studies and do well. As a result, Mom is now worrying incessantly that I might end up an old lonely lady. Personally, I think that is way too early. After all, I am only 22 years old and she herself only got married at the age of 27. So really, there is no big deal.
15 minutes later I was dressed in a baby blue halter dress, had my hair in a high ponytail (I have finally decided to retire my old hairstyle after being called "meatball-head" incessantly by that insufferable bratty arrogant jerk Darien Shields) and had a little make up. Just when I was leaving my room, I heard my mother calling me again from downstairs, "SERENA, DARLING WHERE ARE YOU? HURRY UP NOW, YOU KNOW IT'S RUDE TO KEEP YOUR GUESTS WAITING!!!!!" I was still wondering who this important guest might be, but I figured the only way I would find out would be by meeting him or her myself.
Walking down the stairs that dreadful feeling of an imminent bad experience befell me and the last thing that came up in my mind was 'Please, do NOT let it be Darien Shields!'
Normal POV
Opening the door of the living room, Serena was greeted by a dreadful scene: Her mother was sitting on a sofa chair that was facing the door. The moment she walked in, her mother looked at her with a glare and yet still had a very larger smile on her face. The guest, on the other hand, was sitting facing away from the door and thus, only the back of his head was visible to Serena, and yet the sight of the familiar short clean cut dark ebony hair was more than enough to cause Serena to want to walk out of the room immediately.
Not missing a beat, Irene Tsukino sensed what her daughter's intentions were and decided to address her to prevent her from running away.
"Ah, Serena. It is nice of you to finally grace us with your presence, dear. I want you to meet this young man working for your father's company. He's going to guide you through your first cases as you'll be assisting him."
Slowly, Serena walked towards her mother and she slowly turned to face her dreaded guest, not even trying to conceal her displeasure of seeing him.
"Good morning, Serena. It is nice to see you, how are you? I hope that we can work together nicely. I mean we will surely make a great team in the courtroom, don't you agree with me?"
At this, Serena scowled even more and just answered with a short "Of course, but only in your dreams, Shields, only in your dreams. I don't work with people who think they are better than others and act like jerks to younger girls"
To be continued
Constructive criticism and reviews are welcome