Author's Notes:

You guys have just been too lovely in persistently asking me to update and finish this story. Every few months I see a new review and my motivation for finishing this story grows. I found a block of less-busy time in the past two months and finally drafted the last 3 chapters of this story. I will be spending time editing these final chapters and will update the story as I have time to make any final changes. Thank you for your support and please enjoy! And as always, reviews are much appreciated!

Phantasy Star

(from Chapter Three)

Serena grinned as he got up and left the room.

"I found the box you were talking about," Luna whispered quickly, "It's in his bedroom – which is locked, by the way – and under his bed. I tried to pull it out but it's stuck, and I just don't have the strength…"

"Are you saying that...?" Serena said hesitantly.

Luna nodded, her eyes serious, "You'll have to find a reason to go into his bedroom."

Serena's face turned bright red.

Enemies

Chapter Four

Phantasy Star

"Well, you know what, at least we tried," Raye said.

"Yeah, great effort, hon!" Lita said, giving Serena a friendly pat on the back.

"What are you guys saying?" Serena said, surveying her three friends seated around the wooden table. The temple fire at the corner of the room flickered brightly.

"Well, the mission is over," Raye said matter-of-factly, "I mean, maybe you could have gotten close enough to Darien to have him invite you back to his apartment, but honestly, show of hands, who thinks Darien – or anyone for that matter – would have fallen for Serena enough to want her in his bedroom?"

Serena glared at her friends and then at their hands which were folded comfortably on their laps.

"Thanks for the votes of confidence," she said bitterly, then sighed, "But at least the mission's over. I really don't like lying to Darien's face. I mean, he's a creep and all, but I'm finally seeing that maybe there's a little bit more to him than being a creep, you know? So now we can just drop this whole thing?"

"We can drop this whole thing after we find an alternative way to get the crystals," Luna reprimanded. The others fell silent in thought.

"I think we should break in," Lita said flatly.

Raye nodded thoughtfully, "I was thinking the same thing. Sometimes the most direct way is the best. What do you think, Ames?"

"Well, we really don't have any more time to lose…" the most passive of the Sailor soldiers said thoughtfully, "I guess we don't have another choice."

Serena sighed, "All right, I guess I'm on board. When are we going to break in?"

"You mean when are wegoing to break in," Raye corrected, gesturing towards Amy and Lita, "We need someone to run interference and you're probably the best one for the job. Just make sure Darien isn't in the apartment when we break and enter."

Serena looked around at her friends, hoping for someone to interject with a better or at least different idea.

She sighed, "All right, I guess one more hour with him won't kill me."

"All right, Meatball Head, what do you want?"

How about a friendly greeting between two normal human beings?

"Well, Darien, you've been so nice to me recently, helping me with my book report and all. I wanted to treat you to ice-cream if that's okay with you."

They stood at next to the pond at the park where they had agreed to meet. It was night time, of course, much better suited for the first crime that the Sailor soldiers have ever committed.

"I don't like ice-cream," Darien said flatly, "I'm going to the orphanage, you want to come?"

Serena blinked. Was he willingly volunteering to spend time with her? Perhaps her tactics were working better than she had thought. Nodding dumbly, she followed him.

"What's going on?" Serena demanded when she saw the sky which had turned a slight pink color over the orphanage mansion. Youma attack, her Sailormoon instincts told her.

"Wait out here and don't move," Darien ordered.

She never even considered listening to him. She followed him through the front gates in a brisk run. When they arrived at the main building, she gasped at the sight of a large troll-like monster which was blowing fireballs all over the room. She saw Sister Joy and a few children huddled, frightened, in a corner.

Darien's eyes were furious when he saw that Serena had ignored his instruction. Then he turned to her, "There's a panic room at the back of the building. Take Sister Joy and the kids inside there and go in yourself. You got that?"

Serena nodded. She dodged the troll's fireballs as she skipped across the room with a series of yelps and screams.

"Let's go!" she said to the paralyzed children. With Sister Joy's help, she escorted them to the back of the building.

A few minutes later, the children were inside the panic room with the door safely shut. At Serena's insistence, Sister Joy was inside too. Serena ran out of the room to look for any other kids who could have been left behind. After finding a few more and sending them to the panic room, she decided to make one last trip – back to the grand hall.

As she ran and turned a corner, she bumped into something hard.

"Excuse me," she said instinctively, then looked down and saw the troll growling up at her.

She screamed in alarm and jumped several meters back, pressing herself to the back of the opposite wall.

The troll snarled and opened its mouth. With a great roar, it produced a fireball that hurtled towards her with startling speed.

She was so busy staring at the bright flame in horror that she didn't notice the body which had thrown itself against her. She gasped when Darien pushed her to the ground. Turning her head, she winced when she saw that the fireball had grazed his side instead, burning a hole in his shirt and most likely in the underlying skin.

She ran to him and was about to check his wounds when a second fireball came, even larger than the previous.

She squeezed her eyes shut, until she noticed that the brightness of flame no longer lit up her eyelids. She stared upwards to find that Darien had wrapped his arms around her protectively, his back to the fireball.

Time seemed to freeze.

She stared up at his eyes. Determined, protective, resolute and indomitable.

His broad shoulders shielded her body and suddenly she felt safer than she ever had before.

Her heart pounded. She wasn't sure if it was because of the life-ending youma attack about to turn them both into crisp or something else. Her hand clutched his arm tightly.

This brave, intelligent and – let's face it – incredibly gorgeous guy was about to have his perfect hair caught on fire just because he wanted to save her life.

'Well, not if I can help it.'

Her hand clutched the locket in her pocket, "Moon, Pr-"

"Venus Creasant Beam, Smash!"

A yellow streak of light hit the fireball and it exploded in midair before it could reach Darien.

'Who's that?' Serena remembered wondering faintly. Then the fear, adrenaline, confusing feelings and incredibly high temperature of the room all kicked in simultaneously, and she let herself go to sleep.

"Serena, wake up."

Darien shook her gently again. She opened her eyes slowly. She was still in the hall, but the attack was obviously over.

Above her, she saw Darien, Sailormercury, Sailormars, Sailorjupiter and a new Sailor Soldier in an orange fuku who she could not recognize. Good thing she showed up when she did. For some reason, these things always seemed to work out coincidentally well.

Then she fixated her eyes on Darien again.

"I'm okay," she said, feeling slightly embarrassed, "You saved me."

"You saved everyone else," he said quietly, "Come on, I'll take you home."

"You didn't get the crystals?" Serena said, astonished.

She sat around the temple table yet again, only this time they had to make room for the new girl.

"When we were about to break in, Raye sensed something evil and we started patrolling the city until we found where the youma attack was," Lita explained.

"It's a good thing Sailorvenus revealed herself when she did," Amy commented.

"I was glad to be of help," the new blonde soldier said.

"Anyway, you must be tired, Serena," Amy said, "After that ordeal, perhaps you should go home and rest."

Serena yawned and nodded, "Thanks, Ames. All right, you guys, finish the meeting without me. I'll see you at home, Luna. And about the crystals, let's talk about that later, okay? I don't think a couple of days would change anything."

As she headed out the door, she turned her head and grinned, "Sailorvenus, I mean, Mina, it's great to have you on board! And thanks for saving my life!"

"Thanks for the welcome, Sailormoon," the new soldier said good-naturedly. Then Serena noticed her face turn thoughtful, as if something bothered her that she did not want to verbalize, at least not yet.

Darien was sitting on his couch drinking coffee when the knock came.

He opened the door to find the person he had just been thinking about.

Serena said looked up at him shyly, "I bought you some soup. I figured after saving my life, you… deserved some soup."

He chuckled. Then his face turned serious.

"I told you to go into the panic room with them," Darien said, "Instead, you kept going back and looking for the others. That… that was incredibly selfless of you."

Serena smiled, embarrassed. She guessed it was a pretty courageous thing to do, for a normal teenage girl anyway. All in the day of a Sailor soldier though.

"How's your wound?" Serena asked, changing the subject. He lifted his shirt slightly to show her the burn which Sister Joy had taken care of.

She touched his skin gently, tracing the contour of the burned area.

He took hold of her hand and the next thing she knew, he was leaning down towards her. Her heart pounded fiercely against her chest as he snaked his arm around her back. Then he pressed his lips to hers. Gently at first, then with increasing urgency.

He released her abruptly and took a step back.

"Serena, I'm sorry…" he said, "This isn't right. You, me, alone in my apartment, this isn't okay. You should go."

Her heart which was beating at two hundred times a minute broke into two hundred pieces.

"Okay," she said, forcing a whimper down as she turned to leave.

"Wait, Serena," he said, "Uh, tomorrow. Seven o'clock. Are you free?"

She shrugged, the nodded, her back still to him.

"Want to take a canoe out with me at the park?"

She stopped in her tracks.

Is he asking me out? Yes! I can't believe he's actually asking me out on a date! Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!

"Yeah, I guess," she said, "Whatever. I'll see you then."

It took Serena about three weeks to realize that Darien was perfect, perfect, perfect.

What could she have been thinking to believe that he was a jerk? This man was smart, caring, fatherly and brave. He took care of orphans, for goodness sake! So what if he used to tease her a bit, make fun of her a little. It wasn't as if the things he said weren't true.

Sure, the first few dates, going to orchestras and watching German documentaries, bored her a little, but watching him watch those things was entertainment enough for her. His passionate comments – though she didn't always understand what he was saying – and his focused and intelligent eyes, these were more interesting than what they were watching or doing. Besides, she found herself not minding the occasional Mozart concert now.

Serena giggled as she thought about her newfound relationship. The giddiness and excitement of her first love fuelled her fingers which knit furiously at the white sweater she had hoped to complete in time for his upcoming birthday.

She sighed.

Perhaps being a Sailor soldier wasn't so bad after all.

"Serena, it's my birthday next weekend. I wanted to take you to my friend's ski cabin for two days, if that's all right with you."

They sat on their favorite park bench staring at the lake in front of them. She blinked, her heart filled with pride. He really wanted to go away with her? Were they really ready?

"Uh, we'll have separate rooms," Darien added quickly, "It's completely innocent, if that's the reason you're hesitating."

"I'm not," Serena grinned, "I think it's a great idea! I guess I'll tell my parents I'm going on a trip with some girlfriends."

"Lying to your parents?" he said mockingly, "You're not keeping anything from me, are you?"

She pretended to laugh at his joke.

"But that's what I like about you, Meatball Head," he said, looking at her affectionately, "Some of the girls I've been with are pretentious, manipulative. I know you're always straight with me and that's one of the reasons I can imagine being able to stand you for a long time to come."

She swatted at his shoulder playfully. But his words bothered her. She felt an unnerving guilt welling up inside her she had not noticed before. Was she manipulating him? Making him have feelings for her that he otherwise wouldn't have?

"Hey, I got you something," Darien said, interrupting her disconcerting thoughts.

She gasped when she saw the Tuxedomask doll he pulled out from his bag.

"Tuxedomask!" she squealed, "I'm totally in love with him!"

She was too busy examining the newest addition to her stuffed toys collection to notice the huge blush on Darien's face.

"Are you falling in love with him?"

Serena stared at her friends' inquiring and accusing eyes.

"No," she said, averting Raye, Amy, and Lita's intense gazes which then rested on the half-knitted sweater in her hands. Mina and Luna sat silently behind them.

"You're knitting," Lita said with a disapproving frown, "You don't knit, Ser."

"He's taking me to his friend's ski lodge for his birthday!" Serena exclaimed, "I can't go on a two-day trip with all expenses paid without contributing anything!"

"Serena…" Mina spoke up, and the others all turned to look at her, "I don't know you that well yet, and I certainly am in no position to comment on your love life…"

She took a deep breath, "But this isn't just your relationship. This is a Sailor soldier mission. You feelings for this guy will not only compromise the mission but also lead to heartbreak in the long run… Never mind the fact that you are the Sailor soldiers' leader, the most integral part of the team. We can't send the leader on a dangerous mission like this… What if we lose you?"

Serena couldn't think of a rebuttal.

"We talked about this before you got here," Luna took over, "We decided that Mina will take over your mission. She is more experienced and is more capable of distancing herself from the enemy."

"That's ridiculous!" Serena exploded, "First of all, I'm not getting too close. And second of all, Darien's not the enemy! I don't know why he has the crystals, but he certainly isn't working with the Negaverse!"

"See what you're doing!?" Raye demanded, "You're defending him, without even having any proof at all of what you're saying. Just because he's smart and sinfully attractive and because you're in love with him doesn't means he's not our enemy!"

"Serena," Amy spoke up, "When each of us became Sailor soldiers, remember the oath we took? Our sworn duty?"

Lita, Raye, and Amy murmured patriotically, "We're Sailor Soldiers, champions of love and justice. In the name of the moon, we shall right wrongs and triumph over evil."

Raye's voice turned sympathetic, "Everything else – what we want, what's important to us – everything else is secondary to our mission. Nothing comes in the way of ensuring the safety of the citizens of Tokyo."

Serena's gazed was downcast. She didn't want to admit it, but she knew what she had to do.

"I…" she said softly, "I have to break up with Darien."

"Where are your suitcases?"

Darien stood beside his car as Serena came down the doorsteps to her house in sweats. The sun had barely risen, giving everything an orange haze. She stood in front of him and stared up at him emotionlessly.

"I'm not going," she said.

"Serena, are you sick?" he said, concerned as he put his hand on her forehead.

"No," she said, pushing him away hastily.

"You forgot about our trip?" Darien said incredulously, "We were going to spend two days on the ski hills, remember? At my friend's cabin?"

"This is the problem," Serena said flatly, "It's always about you. What you want."

He stared at her, surprise and an unsettling anxiety building up inside of him, "If you don't want to go skiing, we can do something else. Just because it's my birthday doesn't mean we have to do what I want-"

"And this," Serena said accusingly, "Always having to be the nice guy, so considerate and perfect. This whole pretentious thing, I'm sick of it, and I'm not buying it anymore."

"Serena…" he said, panic growing in his voice.

"I hate going to the orchestra. I hate your stupid foreign films. I'm just a teenage girl and you're a pompous egomaniac. We're completely different people. It'd never work out and you know it."

"We don't have to go to the orchestra… or do anything you don't want to. Come on, Serena, what is this about? Did I… did I do something wrong?"

"You didn't do anything wrong. It's your personality that's the problem."

He stared at the ground between them, taken aback.

"We've only been dating for three weeks," Serena said, "I'm sure it wouldn't affect you that much. Just pretend you had a weird dream and now it's over."

She reached into her purse and took out the Tuxedomask doll.

"I hate Tuxedomask," she said coldly, "And I hate you. I'll make it easier for you, I'll stop coming to the arcade and I'll take a different route to school. I hope we don't see each other ever again."

When she shoved the doll into his arms, he took hold of her wrist.

"Serena… I… I think we really have something special. Please, give me one more chance."

Her eyes blurred as she stared at his, so full of sincerity. She turned away quickly and shook free of his grasp. Then she turned and ran back into her house.

He stared at her retreating figure for a few minutes. His shoulders suddenly felt heavy and the sky seemed darker than before, despite the sunrise. Dropping the Tuxedomask doll on to the the floor, he got into his car and drove away.