Snapped

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Chapter 12
Impure

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Rude Awakening

He finally couldn't stand it anymore, and lifted her body up and let her kisses fall to his mouth, and this time their kisses weren't met with hesitation or protest on either side. They were devouring each other's mouths, moreso than any kiss he'd ever shared, or ever even imagined possible. His hands were quickly in her hair, mussing it ruthlessly as their tongues tangled. He wasn't sure if she was arching her body down into his on purpose, or if it were purely instinct, but either way it was well played and their bodies moved against each other in perfect rhythm. As they started lapping at each others' mouths with mad abandon, he grabbed her with finality and picked her up, carrying her to their bedroom.

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Serena lay splayed out over her soundly sleeping boyfriend, wondering what the hell she'd just done. Well, not 'just', since it had happened a few hours ago. The first time. Then, when she was about to ask to go to the hospital, Darien started worrying over her, and before she knew what was going on, it happened again. Now she was almost scared that if she tried to move off his body, to which she was soundly pinned by his gigantic arms, he might wake up and ..do it again! And she wasn't sure she'd live through another time.

So this was love. UGH! —Oh, at first, she was ALL into it. She'd been swept away like Cinderella at the ball, with her own knight in shining armor and everything, and she'd known just what to expect because of Lita's romance novels! Kisses she got completely lost in; explosive touches in places she didn't even know she had…! Her mind had collapsed in ecstasy as Darien took control of their bodies; she had been sure it was the end of the world and she was in heaven!

—and then came the parts they conveniently left out of the romance novels. Because when Darien had gotten down to business, she was all elbows and knees as she realized in horror that sorry! things didn't fit right and maybe she was born a man and her parents had wanted to spare her the embarrassment and she was just finding out now the hard way and Darien was going to have to find a real girl—

Darien had chuckled at her, before pronouncing she was ALL female and his undying love and other crap. Then he took her in earnest, seemingly ripping her insides out. Seriously, she wouldn't be surprised if she looked down and saw her stomach and kidneys hanging on her belly.

Laying there now, reminiscing over the last few months, she wondered if Darien hadn't just pretended to be a boring stick-in-the-mud all this time, just so she'd never suspect what was hiding beneath his stoic exterior. He had warned her that he pitied the day he 'unleashed' on her. Now she could understand that just fine.

But still, as she lay there remembering her first time—times—, she melted a bit thinking about how happy Darien had seemed. And seemed now, asleep under her.

And completely NAKED. Again, she wanted to reach for at least a sheet or something, if not find her clothing and try to get into them, but her new rule was, No Wakey Wakey Darien.

Unfortunately, not everyone was aware of that rule. Luna's communicator sounded a living hell bullhorn: all lights were blinking. She HAD to answer it. If only she could move her rubbery, pained limbs fast enough to get over to it.

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Violin Recital
Octave was creaming everyone when Sailor Moon finally arrived at the violin recital; the daimon had frozen everyone, even the Senshi, with a piercing sound attack, and apparently had the pure heart. And Sailor Mars was fighting to move away from a treacherous beam of energy that was cutting through the ground. Mars was hit and went down hard just as Sailor Moon landed beside her. Tuxedo Mask's rose broke up that particular beam, and Moon should have attacked the daimon right then, but she couldn't take her eyes off of Mars' eyes, which were filled with a mixture of panic, pain, love, and ultimately, disappointment. Sailor Moon was too stunned to do anything.

Tuxedo Mask screamed Serena's name, getting her attention after he'd stunned the violin daimon itself with a sharp rose. Sailor Moon was beside herself with grief—Mars was shredded to pieces, making two times in the last few weeks that Rei was near death. Moon refocused on the Daimon, but couldn't even get her promises of punishment in the name of the Moon out. She glared at the stunned Octave and belted out a Moon Crystal Heart Attack, then watched numbly as Octave devolved into a regular violin, then its daimon egg fell out and split in half.

But Moon's fury was not spent.

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Sailor Mercury was beside Mars and Moon instantly. Sailor Moon watched as Mercury scanned the Martian Senshi… Mars had a broken rib and a punctured lung, lacerations all over her body, and her breathing was obviously labored.

The new Senshi, who Venus said had introduced themselves as Sailor Senshi for the planets Uranus and Neptune, were on the daimon egg like white on rice, and had grabbed the pure heart—

Moon stood to call them for help, and immediately felt a hand on her shoulder, and leaned into it, turning to cry into Tuxedo Mask's arms. In the same split second, though, she saw the brilliant silver jacket. She instantly came to her senses and jerked herself straight up. Prince Diamond. She wasn't quite sure what to do; he bent to her ear without flourish and said sternly, "Serena, I can help your friend."

"Go," Sailor Moon said to Diamond, glancing at Tuxedo Mask out of the corner of her eye. He was glaring at her; she dared look at him directly for just a moment before she knelt down by Sailor Mars. It was Rei! How couldn't he understand?

"We need a distraction," Diamond snapped loudly, seeing the media encroaching upon them rapidly.

Tuxedo Mask was beside Sailor Moon, hand on her arm, as Emerald and Prizma followed Diamond's orders and decided to start some shit with Sailors Uranus and Neptune. Moon was near tears over both Sailor Mars' injuries, AND the new Senshi being yelled at by the former Black Moon women. Tuxedo Mask insisted, "Serena, you can't let this guy heal her with dark energy!"

Sailor Moon glanced up at Mask: "I'm sorry! I can't let her suffer, Dare!" She dropped her head onto his chest, wishing for just a second that they were back in bed, problem-free, sleeping and comforting each other.

But he pushed away from her almost instantly, then asked the victim, "Can you hang on, Sailor Mars?"

Sailor Mercury shoved her handheld into Mask's face: "She'd live, but she's suffering now, Tuxedo Mask."

Prince Diamond had opted to ignore the dark-vs-light debate around him, since power was power, and focused his energies through the dark crystal earrings. Although the primary source of their power was scattered in orbit a thousand years into the future, with intense focus he could still utilize the potential energy from the small crystals due to the potential of the dark crystal being yet in the future. He had his hands on Mars' worst injuries, near her ribs.

As Mask was about to stop him, Moon moved behind him and wrapped her arms around his back. "He wouldn't do anything to hurt me."

Mask accepted her embrace, but nearly growled back at her, "Not intentionally. But it's Dark Energy—"

There was a loud explosion behind them, which turned everyone but Diamond and the ailing Mars around. Diamond commanded, "Tell Emerald to calm the hell down, please."

"On it," Sailor Moon said, wanting to do SOMETHING useful. She and Luna took off and saw… oh hell, a Deep Submerge was headed straight for them. Sailor Neptune's attack, she winced. Clueless about other options, Moon threw her tiara at the ocean wave and simultaneously yelled, "Sailor Jupiter!", hoping Lita would somehow just know how to blast through attacks coming from these mystery Outer Planet Senshi without causing civilian injuries.

Ahead of her, Emerald laughed as loudly as she could: "Hee hee! HEE! HEE HEE!" Sailor Moon watched in horror as Emerald ramped up another 'distraction' that she probably felt would leave Diamond thrilled with her abilities.

Sailor Uranus laughed at Emerald's laugh: "Oh my, what is that laugh? TINKERBELL?" ..and started preparing her World Shaking attack!

Sailor Moon screamed out to Emerald and the Outer Senshi: "PLEASE! Stop attacking! This is a crowded area; you could hurt someone—!"

Moon stood helplessly with Luna in her arms now, watching a World Shaking coming her way. It wasn't aimed at her; it was aimed at Emerald, but 'world shaking' doesn't really discriminate. She crouched, figuring Rei's idea about a few Hail Marys wouldn't be so inappropriate after all, and hoping Sailor Jupiter was going to be able to counter the World Shaking somehow.

Emerald pulled all the energy she could manage from her earrings and threw a mega dark energy ball furiously at the new Senshi, unfortunately missing the Earth Shaking that was headed towards Diamond and the fallen Senshi. But the dark energy smacked Sailor Neptune directly. While Emerald couldn't laugh well anymore, she could screech a loud, celebratory, "YESSSSSSS!" and she jumped up to high five Prizma, who was dancing a jig herself.

"Sparkling Wide PRESSURE!" Sailor Moon heard from behind her, then saw Jupiter's attack hit Uranus' attack. —Then she saw blackness; she held onto Luna, who was screaming as loudly as she was, as they went flying backwards.

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Zinged, Moon looked up in time to see Sailor Uranus pick up Sailor Neptune and run away, but Sailor Moon knew the latter was hurt. She turned back to Prince Diamond and yelled, "Hurry! We've got another one down you'll need to help!" She didn't mention that it was 'friendly fire'; that made her want to die just thinking about it. She was SO not handling the diplomacy part of her job well, trying to keep her Senshi from attacking the Outers, and everyone to keep from attacking the Black Moon family.

"Injuries thanks to your DISTRACTION!" Tuxedo Mask hissed at Diamond as they left the newly-healed Martian Senshi in Sailor Mercury's hands and took off towards Sailor Moon.

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By the time Sailor Moon had caught up with the Outers, Sailor Uranus was holding Neptune and rocking her in the shadows.

Behind Moon, Sailor Venus appeared and said, "Sailor Uranus, please let us help you!" Beat. "We have somebody that can help you."

Moon reached behind her to grab Venus' hand, squeezing it in appreciation for her help, because Moon didn't think she could speak without bursting into tears.

Uranus growled at Sailor Moon: "I don't know what the hell you have going on here, but I'm not sure we can accept your help. You seem to have gone astray" She lay Neptune down and angrily shook her fist at Sailors Moon and Venus: "Your friends hit us with Dark Energy? SERIOUSLY?"

Moon knelt down, sobbing: "It's … a long story. Emerald was just trying to cause a distraction, Sailor Uranus." She wiped her eyes and said, "So Sailor Mars could be healed without getting caught on camera. —Please let us help Sailor Neptune!"

Diamond got there just then, lightly grasping Moon's pigtail as he ran directly for the fallen Senshi. "This is easier to deal with than the daimon's attack."

Uranus didn't even watch; she was glaring at the sad, but apparently ever-hopeful, Sailor Moon and her boyfriend Tuxedo Mask. Moments later, Sailor Neptune sat up, and Uranus saw that Neptune was healed through Moon's eyes as the blue orbs lit up like a supernova. Sailor Moon jumped up and ran to Sailor Neptune, embracing her fitfully with plenty of apologies.

Diamond stood up and looked at Sailor Uranus. Then down at Sailors Moon and Neptune. He smiled knowingly, then pointed to his love as he asked Uranus: "You're saying, you don't know who SHE is?"

Before Uranus could respond, Diamond had laughed and turned away. He needed to go collect Emerald and Prizma and get them out-of-sight quickly. But he heard his love calling him, and he turned slowly towards her.

"Thank you, Prince Diamond," Sailor Moon said, somewhat shyly, and with a slight bow.

Diamond glanced sideways at an angry Tuxedo Mask, shrugged, and waved goodbye to Sailor Moon. As he left, he said under his breath, "Anything for you, my love."

Knowing she, and only she, could hear it with her Odangos in her Sailor Moon glamour.

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An angry Uranus produced the pure heart that didn't have a talisman in it after all, and prepared again to toss it at Sailor Moon. But Sailor Neptune sat up gingerly and held a finger up: "Please, Uranus. That heart belongs to a gentle soul who makes beautiful music—"

Uranus reached for Neptune's hand, trying to manage a smile, then said, "Let's take care of it, then." Sailor Uranus left Mask, Moon, and Venus with quite an evil glare, then took off with Neptune in hand, headed back into the building to return the heart.

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Goodnight
After all the excitement had died down, the Senshi started detransforming and chatting almost idly about the Outer Senshi and the Octave daimon. Tuxedo Mask put a hand on Sailor Moon's back before her friends caught up to them: "We should go." While the getting was good. He knew Sailor Moon would hate to leave without saying goodbye, but she nodded—

"Where are you going?" Mina came running, complaining loudly enough to get the media back if she weren't careful. The cats and Lita were right behind her, followed by Ami and a slowly-moving Rei. Mina insisted, "We all came tonight to apologize, Sere! We thought you were here until Octave attacked us and you didn't show up! We were worried about you!"

Rei nodded: "I'd be more than happy to help you learn to wear kimonos." She reached over and hugged Sailor Moon. Then she stepped back and looked carefully at Moon, then over at Mask. Who hadn't detransformed yet.

Lita said, "And cooking? You got it, girl! I'll teach you! I just didn't know you were that serious earlier when you asked—!"

Tuxedo Mask stepped in front of Sailor Moon and said, "We really must be going; you can talk to her tomorrow." He turned and grabbed Sailor Moon's arm.

Which was already latched to Ami: "I'll tutor you as much as I can, Serena! I still think you should start slowly, with high school level chemistry, or even just passing basic junior high science, but we'll get you to genetic engineering in NO time—!"

Lita pushed Ami away: "IN BETWEEN her learning how to whip up a good soufflé, you mean."

Rei spat, "AS IF she could do that while learning how to move around in a kimono like a LADY!"

Mina added, "She can do ALL that, but it'll be IN ENGLISH! So she can learn English. Which means all the rest of you need to learn English if you're going to teach her anything!" She smiled at Serena: "I believe in complete SUBMERSION in the language you're learning, Serena—"

"Fortunately, science is a language of its own, not dependant on English!" Ami interrupted.

Tuxedo Mask started growing angry and spat, "Are you all TRYING to be as daft as Emerald? WE need to LEAVE!"

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All the girls and cats freaked, hair springing up and jaws dropping. Even Sailor Moon's head dropped in mortification.

Ami had noticed earlier that the couple hadn't detransformed, but now shyly said, "We're sorry; you were probably on a date."

Sailor Moon's eyes went wide; Tuxedo Mask blushed against his will, and he stammered, "Um, no, well.. we were—"

"FIGHTING!" Sailor Moon spat out quickly, wide-eyed. "Yes, we had a big, and I mean REALLY big… fight…."

Tuxedo Mask nodded slowly. "Uh, well… a disagreement, maybe." He glanced at her quizzically; she glared fire rays at him. And maybe growled; he couldn't be sure.

Lita glared at the grumpy man: "What'd you do THIS time? Have another BAD DREAM, Tux Boy?"

Tuxedo Mask stepped forward angrily, "Alright, now I'm just about done with that dream being thrown up in my face every two minutes. We've worked through that and you just need to leave it alone!"

Lita stepped back aghast, but Sailor Moon said, "Um, we have?" As he turned on her, she said, "That's ..debatable! And," she smiled widely at all her girls, "that's exactly what we were arguing about."

"It was?" Tuxedo Mask asked.

Sailor Moon elbowed him hard: "See? He can't even agree on what we were arguing about!"

Mina senses were going wild, telling her all sorts of different things at the same time. She simply had NO CLUE what the hell signal she was getting about this couple, so she ignored her instincts and took the easy way out: "I'm sure it was all just a misunderstanding!" And she smiled widely

Rei rolled her eyes: "And WHY are you still in your transformation?"

Tuxedo Mask sorta let go of Sailor Moon, and she stammered, "I was, um.. shower..-ing, in the, um, shower. When you called."

Sailor Moon glared at him; he smiled weakly, looked at his pretend watch, and said, "Um, —gosh darn, look at the time!" then took off.

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Rei watched him leave and stamped over to Serena: "Now you go fix things with him. This should've been a nice date for you and you had to go bring up that damned dream again."

Mina shoved Rei aside and said, "She's naked under there; if she goes to him now… well, you know, he might be ..tempted!"

Sailor Moon squeaked. Then smiled impishly.

Ami said, "They're going to wait until they're married, Mina. Get your mind out of the gutter."

Lita laughed and put an arm around Sailor Moon: "Yep; you don't have to worry about these two doing that! BUT, Mina's got a point. Go finish your shower, and maybe give him a call. We don't need another few months of you being all mopey on us!"

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Who Dat?
A few days later, Serena was en route to Rei's to study when Luna started nagging her about having no social life. "Are you and Darien still fighting?" the nosy cat asked. She'd seen plenty of texting between the two, and witnessed plenty of hushed phone conversations, but Serena was uncharacteristically throwing herself into her schoolwork and Senshi workouts. She hadn't picked up a manga, tried to run off to see her boyfriend, or even stopped into the arcade to play a game.

"I told you we made up," Serena snapped. "It's just I really have to pass the entrance exams, Luna. And, um, these daimon are hard to beat."

"Well I must insist that you at least ..go visit your friend Andrew at the arcade, then. It won't take long, and you need a break!" The cat knew Serena TOO damned well to think everything was just fine with her sudden attention to everything she used to despise, like responsibilities.

Serena was about to argue when she saw Darien speeding down the street on his motorcycle. He had seemed really worried about her reaction to the other night, and even accused her of being mad at him for real. She'd tried to assuage his fears, and they'd made plans for some 'alone time' this evening.

But then Serena saw a woman hanging onto Darien on said motorcycle, and froze. Luna, her smartass caretaker, pointed out, "You see? You drop out of having a social life, that's what you can expect. If I've told you once, I've told you a million times, if you don't use it, you'll LOSE it."

Serena almost spat out that she'd already lost 'it', but really, that was a top state secret as far as she was concerned. However, she was truly about to lose it again when Darien pulled up to her and waved. It took every bit of patience she could muster to not rip that waving hand off his arm and beat him with it. He took off his helmet and said, "Serena, you've met Unazuki, right?"

"Una-who?" Serena sneered, then 'helped' the bitch off Darien's bike. THAT'S how it was going to be, huh? If she didn't put out, he'd find someone who would?

Unazuki picked herself up off the ground and brushed her butt off: "Hello, Serena," she smiled, embarrassed. "Boy, you sure have a strong handshake."

Darien gulped and coughed out, "She sure does!" He glared at her and said, "This is ANDREW'S SISTER, Serena. She needed a ride to take Andrew something he forgot, and then to her work—"

Serena held a hand up: "Why don't you just take it to him yourself. Una-whatever and I'll just have a little walk, mmm'kay? Get to know each other a little," and she dragged Unazuki down the street.

Darien almost jumped off his bike to chase after them, but Luna jumped up on his lap and said, "Let the girl do something besides schoolwork. Sheesh!"

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Friends
Serena chilled out considerably as Unazuki started rambling on about some guy she liked at school; Serena worried a bit about her own sanity at that moment. Was she really that jealous of a person? …well, hell yeah. But this was Andrew's sister.

Unazuki said, "I've heard so much about you from Andrew—"

"Yeah, …about that," Serena said, "I tried to stop Reika from leaving, you know. But then we had this big accident and Reika's plane took off anyway."

"Why would you want to stop Reika's semester study abroad?" Unazuki asked, appalled. "She worked so hard to get that scholarship! —I'd love to be able to study abroad." Beat. "Oh, here's where I work!"

Serena recognized it as the coffee shop where Haruka and Michiru had stopped in the other day. She wondered idly if Haruka might show up soon. Serena said, "Great, I could use a …well, I don't drink coffee."

"I'll make you a frozen mocha if you'd like!" Unazuki said while tying on her apron. Serena took a seat at a table and waited for the girl to do just that.

She was quickly joined though. She looked up as Michiru sat down by her: "Serena?"

Serena blushed—this was the perfect woman she'd wanted to hook Darien up with, but had just learned that seeing Darien with another girl wasn't exactly her idea of a good time, after all. "Hey!" Serena smiled. Well, Michiru wouldn't have a problem finding another guy, and Serena did adore this woman completely. "Sorry I missed the concert the other night."

"Yeah, we didn't think we saw you there," Michiru smiled. Which was truly odd; she and Haruka had begun to believe that this 'cute girl' Serena was around EVERY time a daimon popped up, but she surely hadn't been at the concert when Octave had attacked. Or when the Sailor Senshi's strange friends had attacked her, then healed her, with dark energy. She cleared her throat and said, "I'm sure you heard on the news how the auditorium was attacked that night; maybe it was for the best you didn't come."

Unazuki finally brought the iced mocha, and took Michiru's order. It was then that Michiru noted, with no small amount of shock, that the 'cute innocent' Serena had a hickey the size of a freakin golfball on her neck which she was trying to cover up with a scarf. When the waitress left, Michiru tried to lead the conversation to where Serena could confess if she'd been attacked or something. "I really expected to meet that man I've seen you around town with."

Serena choked on her mocha, grabbed a napkin, then stared at Michiru with absolute fear. Michiru might have normally found her reaction 'cute', but given the hickey… "Serena? Are you okay?"

"Fine!" Serena spat out quickly, then turned beet red. "Darien."

"Darien?" Michiru asked, leaning in closely to get the dirt she could feel was about to be dumped on the table.

Serena nodded. "Yeah." Serena bit her lip and started fumbling with her napkin nervously. "He's very nice."

Michiru smiled and said, "I saw you with him last week, at a car lot. You two seemed very, um, 'close'." When Serena looked around the room uncomfortably, Michiru couldn't stand it anymore—she reached over and adjusted Serena's scarf a bit so the coverage would actually work. "If you tie it a different way, it might cover the whole ..'mark'," she offered kindly.

Serena nodded and took and took another large gulp of her mocha.

Michiru bit her lip, then said, "You know, when I met Haruka a few months ago, I was sort of ..um, swept away."

"Yeah I can see why," Serena said nervously, looking around to make sure the hunky 'girl' wasn't around to listen, much less Unazuki.

"Sometimes, I'm afraid I got too involved with her too quickly," Michiru continued quietly. "She was my… um, my 'first'." She met Serena's stare directly. "Don't get me wrong," the beauty smiled, "everything about Haruka is magical. But …I sometimes wish I would have looked before I leapt, if you know what I mean."

Serena smiled with complete understanding, but said, "I have no idea what you mean." She gave her idol her most sympathetic look; Michiru might want to be talking to someone else about this.

Michiru smiled warmly at Serena: "Serena, your 'Darien' was playing with you last week at the car lot. But you weren't…" she pointed to Serena's scarf, "THAT intimate last week."

Serena's eyes grew wide as saucers.

Michiru shook her head lightly: "No, unless you were forced, don't be sorry or ashamed. You're young, maybe too young—"

"I'm fourteen!" Serena agreed with a gasp.

Michiru shrugged. "Soon to be 15, I'm sure. Then 16. But no matter when it happens, Serena, your first is always going to be ..your FIRST. And if you enjoyed it, and he is the right person, you shouldn't be ashamed of it. Just give yourself some time; speak your mind to your partner. Don't let anyone push you, but don't feel ashamed for …being 'very close' to someone you love." Beat. "You DO love him, right?"

Serena looked out the window. "Of course I do," she said quietly. "But—"

"No buts," Michiru said smartly, patting Serena on the hand. "The whole world may question you, and if he's anything like Haruka, you might question yourself sometimes. BUT you shouldn't be ashamed for expressing love."

Serena blushed deeply, then drank some more of her mocha as Unazuki served Michiru's drink. And when the coast was clear, Serena whispered, "It's not just that."

Michiru squinted, eyeing Serena closely. "Scared you're pregnant?"

Serena almost laughed, but held it and shook her head. "Oh no. Darien doesn't know it, but the minute I found out …that I might get … well, I went to the nurse and got some pills last month." When the doctor refused to rip out her womb.

Michiru smiled at the girl's nervousness. She WAS cute. "So what's the problem, then?"

Serena took a deep breath, looked around conspiratorially, then whispered harshly. "It hurt."

Michiru set her drink down and stared at Serena with all seriousness. "Did you TELL him it was ..uncomfortable?"

"Well I thought he KNEW!" Serena whined loudly, then literally ducked her head like she'd just announced her life to the world.

Michiru said, "Well, to be honest Serena, I haven't …had that experience." Michiru hadn't been sure why she hadn't been that interested in any of the 'hot guys' at school; it was like she'd been waiting all her life for Haruka to show up and show her what she was all about. In fact, when this very girl and her friend Mina had asked if she and Haruka were lovers, Michiru hadn't been sure how to answer that question honestly. Haruka was her first, and at that time, they'd gotten very friendly, but at what stage are you 'lovers'? At that time, most of what she and Haruka had shared might have been shared by any best friends or even cousins, only with kissing. And ..yeah, a little more. But since then, Michiru could hardly consider herself a virgin anymore.

Serena was still fidgeting with her napkins. She was near tears now. "I love him, but …Michiru, it just doesn't happen like those romance novels say." She turned on her new confidante and grabbed her hands: "There's blood. Sweat. PAIN. And it's almost like they forget you're even there and your body's being RIPPED in two!"

Michiru couldn't help it; she leaned over and embraced the poor girl and hugged her tightly. She whispered, "Nothing's like it sounds in the romance novels, Sere. But it gets better." She pushed away from Serena and looked her in the eyes: "Just think, if it didn't get better, there'd be NO people on the earth; no prostitution problems; no porn; no STDs…."

Serena chuckled, embarrassed, just as Haruka put a hand on Serena's back, causing her to jump a bit. Haruka bent over and told both girls, "I see interesting possibilities here."

Serena blanched at the innuendo, having finally put a few things together about Michiru and Haruka.

But Michiru turned red and a bit angry, then stood up and said, "Excuse me, Serena. It's gotten a bit stuffy in here for me." And she left.

Haruka stayed bent by Serena, though. "Nice hickey," she breathed into Serena's hair. Then stood up and followed Michiru out.

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Unazuki's Problem
Serena was standing up to leave when Unazuki appeared and sat down: "Hey! So you know Michiru and Haruka?"

"Do YOU?" Serena asked, surprised.

Unazuki shrugged: "I've seen them in school. They're both very talented at everything they do. Michiru's very popular."

Serena said, "I can see why. She's pretty awesome."

Unazuki said, "Serena? You're dating Darien, right?"

Serena's eyes narrowed; if this bitch was going to ask if Darien were free—

"Have you ..well, you know? With Darien yet?" Unazuki asked.

Serena wondered, 'what am I wearing a sign?' —then remembered the scarf, which was actually covering the signs.

Unazuki saw her eyes widen, then said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I just thought since you were dating, maybe you'd shared a first kiss with him."

"Absolutely NOT!" Serena snapped, then realized belatedly what Unazuki had asked. Serena blushed, then clarified quickly, "A first KISS with Darien?"

Unazuki dropped her head sadly: "I'm sorry, you're so much younger than I am, and I should have known you weren't ready for that yet." She smiled at Serena; Unazuki could tell Serena was clearly offended that she'd even made the suggestion. "I'm sorry. But you can appreciate how much a first kiss means, Serena, even if you haven't kissed a boy yet. Right?"

Serena looked around the ceiling for a hidden camera; she could feel it in her bones. She was being PUNKED. Ashton Kutcher was about to jump out any minute now…

"Serena?" Unazuki asked.

Serena's head snapped back to Unazuki. "What."

Unazuki squirmed in her seat, fidgeted with Serena's shredded napkin, banged her head on the table.

And Serena felt guilty. This 'girl', who was several years OLDER than she was, wanted to know about kissing a boy. Serena slumped over and said, "Just kiss him and get it over with."

Unazuki got a little angry and said haughtily, "Well why haven't you done it with Darien yet if it's no big deal!"

There was a LOUD snicker behind them, and they turned back to see Haruka had returned to the coffee shop with Michiru in tow, and sat on a higher level than them but could apparently hear what they were talking about. Serena GLARED at Haruka, then looked at Unazuki with her face burning bright red.

Serena said quickly, "Look, yes it's important, and you want it to be a big deal. Just make sure he's the right guy." She wanted to yell out, 'and not a FAKE guy' to sorta get back at Haruka, who was STILL leering at them both; but Serena held her tongue.

Unazuki's face brightened, "So you don't think I'd be a complete slut if I kissed this guy? On the LIPS?"

Serena jumped up at Haruka's next bout of laughter; she glanced up to see Michiru slapping Haruka's hand, but Serena was NOT about to be outed right now.

Haruka had to greet the cute girl who was dreaming about her first kiss; Michiru followed behind and looked apologetically at Serena. Haruka said, "How sweet, dreaming of your first kiss."

Unazuki blushed, knowing Haruka had probably kissed plenty of people already. Haruka said, "You know, there are all kinds of kisses. RIGHT, SERENA?" She smiled and put her arm around Unazuki, "There's the sensual butterfly kiss on the lips where you lips barely brush each others'—"

Unazuki smiled, "THAT sounds nice."

Haruka added, "Then there's the kind where, in the heat of passion, someone sucks your neck so hard that you're left with marks everywhere."

Michiru smiled and punched Haruka in the back, sending her flying across the room. "There's also things like 'love taps', where you shut someone up before they make a complete ASS of themselves." Michiru smiled at the cute girls before stepping off to drag Haruka out of the coffee shop.

Serena took a deep breath and said, "Let's just worry about the first kiss, Unazuki. I've got to go study before my friend Rei kills me, but no, I don't think it's a bad thing to kiss a boy if you really like him a lot, and the timing is right."

Unazuki breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Serena! Hey! Would you like to come over later?" Serena was about to beg off until Unazuki mentioned cake.

.

On her way to Rei's, Serena texted Darien that Unazuki wanted to know if she'd kissed him yet.

Darien:
n0t enuff for my liking
&TM ROCKS&

Serena:
Haruka noticed hickeys and tsed me.
M sooo embrssed.
**Dare+Sere**

Darien:
wat did u say?
&TM ROCKS&

Serena:
Mich helped w scarf, UNA didn't C
**Dare+Sere**

Darien:
u still coming tonite after Rei's?
&TM ROCKS&

Serena:
tonit after Unas…she has cakes!
**Dare+Sere**

Darien:
good you can kiss me more
&TM ROCKS&

Darien:
txt me when you need ride
&TM ROCKS&

Serena:
get rid of stupid sig pls b4 u blow secret ids thx
**Dare+Sere**

Darien:
bite me
&TM + SM&

Darien:
please
&TM + SM&

Serena:
don worry will be plenty of pain
**karma bites**

Darien:
counting the mts
**I bite back**

.

.

.

Let Them Eat Cake
Serena practically slunk to the Furuhata's apartment. The other girls were GIDDY about the cake party at Andrew's, and about Unazuki gearing up for her first kiss. Lita and Mina were giddy about being near Andrew's bedroom. But leading the way, and the reason Serena was slinking, was their new buddy Emerald, who'd heard 'cake' and threatened pain of death if she couldn't come. She promised to be very good. Serena had known better, but after the battle with Octave, knew she and the Senshi had to try a little harder with Emerald to integrate her into polite society, so she'd agreed that Emerald could visit Unazuki with them for cake.

"Bitch ain't here," Emerald snapped, punching the doorbell numerous times before banging furiously on the door itself. Serena and Rei pulled Emerald back, and noticed the door was opened slightly. Emerald was looking through the window to see if anyone was hiding cakes. "You know, maybe we can just bust in through here and find that cake?"

Serena said, "Emerald, put the rock down!" DAMMIT! Was she doomed to have a Rini-like person in her life forever? She glared at the over-dressed Emerald and said, "The door's OPEN!"

Rei and Mina entered first, with Serena behind them, hand on Emerald's wrist. Mina gasped, just as Serena saw Unazuki laid out on the floor, an all-too-familiar sight for them all now. Artemis was the first to voice their fears, that Unazuki's pure heart was burned out of her chest. Luna ran over quickly with Ami and said, "Quick, we've got to find the daimon and her heart crystal!"

"Trying…" Ami said, pounding furiously at her handheld's keyboard.

.

Sailors Uranus and Neptune were on the job already, following the daimon who'd been taken, then lost, the heart crystal. Uranus grumbled about Serena being around for yet another pure heart robbery, but Neptune reminded her gently, "She wasn't at the violin recital, Uranus."

Sailor Uranus frowned. "I wouldn't be so sure about that, Sailor Neptune."

Uranus had become very, VERY fond of her partner quickly, and that fondness had developed into a lot more very quickly, but Uranus was afraid Neptune was losing sight of their overall mission. They needed to look out for ANY common elements in these daimon attacks; they couldn't afford to allow the daimons to find and abscond with a talisman just because Michiru had her head up her ass. This wasn't a job for wussies. Sometimes, Uranus questioned if Michiru was the right person for this job. It pissed her off to no end, although she wasn't quite aware WHY it would get under her skin that bad.

"We didn't see Serena there," Neptune repeated with finality.

"Well even YOU have think it was quite a coincidence that all her friends were there. All except herself and that guy she hangs out with." Uranus snapped back. And then she remembered the hickeys she'd seen on Serena's neck today, which had also pissed her off. Michiru had accused her of being jealous. But Haruka had felt it wasn't jealousy at all; it was ..protectiveness. Serena was a cute girl; an innocent. The guy she was with reminded her a bit of herself, but without the class and the flair. Haruka simply didn't want Serena used and tossed aside, for some reason.

Sailor Neptune turned suddenly and dove, leaving Uranus confused and flying the wrong way. Uranus called for Neptune, who'd long since noticed that the vacuum cleaner daimon had found the pure crystal heart and was immediately below them.

.

Ami had located the daimon several kilometers away, but couldn't give them even a street name; Luna said they'd have to split up to find it. Just as the girls prepared to leave, though, Unazuki started waking up—and THAT hadn't happened before when someone had lost a heart crystal, so the girls were pinned to their spots, wondering what the hell was going on.

Unazuki stood up with glazed eyes, and Emerald pushed her ass back down: "You're sick, just lay there and shut up till they can find your stupid heart."

Serena blanched and said, "Emerald, we REALLY need to have a talk about how we address our friends."

Lita and Mina had to nearly jump on the heartless girl, though, because she kept trying to stand up and talk. "Kiss! Must have first kiss!"

Lita shrieked as Unazuki started trying to kiss her, and as the other girls jumped trying to pull them apart, Emerald decided to impart some first kiss wisdom to the zombiefied girl: "Look here, sweets, a first kiss? Hee hee! You're going to kiss so many guys after that you won't even remember any first damned kiss! Heck, I think I Frenched my brother first, but then you think, does he even count? Since, you know, brother." She smiled. "I've Frenched YOUR brother, in fact. That arcade owner—"

"ACK!" Serena, Lita, and Mina screamed in disgust —but Rei was on this: she used a special spell scroll to slap across Emerald's mouth so no more advice could come out, especially the kind that turned their stomachs.

Emerald mumbled through the scroll at Rei, though: "You're just upset that I Frenched your boy Yuuichirou!"

"HOW CAN SHE SCREECH THROUGH THAT SCROLL?" Rei fumed.

Lita was pushing away from the zombiefied Unazuki, begging for help, and a hurt Rei finally stuck a scroll on Unazuki's lips and pushed the heartless girl on the bed. Then the priestess glared at Emerald.

Serena wanted to turn around and unload a heaping pile of what for on Emerald, who probably really HAD kissed Rei's sorta boyfriend. They'd have to grill Yuuichirou about it later, but Rei was hurt now, and that pissed Serena off.

But Rei was ignoring everything now, except Unazuki and the spell scroll across the girl's lips. She said, "They took your pure heart crystal because you've never kissed a boy before; we have to protect your innocent heart, Unazuki. Just give us time—"

Serena's heart fell out even when she heard that: "You mean, if you just kiss someone, you don't have a pure heart?" Geez, no WONDER the daimons hadn't come for her!

Rei turned on the girls and said, "Go! And HURRY! You'd better get that pure heart back before she really goes nuts and starts sleeping with a guy before they're married!"

"Right!" Lita said, thinking, "But you know, she could probably GET BY even if we didn't recover it—?"

"Yeah, and be a whore in the Red Light district!" Rei shot back angrily. She knew Lita was the most liberal-thinking amongst them all about how far a girl could go with a boy, true love or just hot boy, but this was ridiculous. "Just get her pure heart crystal back! The reason they're so valuable is that it hasn't been stained with a first kiss! Just IMAGINE if a girl were to have …I won't even say it. It's not proper to say in polite company."

.

Serena stumbled guiltily down the street; she was so tainted that she probably shouldn't be anywhere NEAR Unazuki's heart even if she FOUND the thing! When Ami called her on Luna's communicator, she let Moon know that she was the closest to the daimon. Serena almost fell over with misery, but agreed to get right on that.

She turned and started running to the landfill when Darien pulled up: "Serena! Hop on!"

She hopped on, reminding herself that this was for Unazuki, and she couldn't repair her 'pure' crystal heart with all the Hail Marys in the world.

.

Upon arriving at the landfill, they saw Osouji battling Sailors Uranus and Neptune. Serena transformed and told the vacuum daimon that she couldn't have the pure crystal heart… which pissed Osouji off, and the latter nailed Sailor Moon with a blast of vacuum exhaust before turning on the other two Senshi.

Tuxedo Mask suddenly appeared and stunned Osouji before she could finish off Sailor Moon, and told Moon to hit the vacuum now so they could help Unazuki. Sailor Moon swallowed her 'duh' — she had been in sort of a reverie feeling sorry for Unazuki and other pure-hearted people who were just hoping for a first kiss with a special boy. She stood up and easily dispatched the daimon with her Spiral Heart Attack, then moved to get the pure heart left floating in the air.

Unfortunately, Sailor Uranus snatched it up first. Sailor Moon screamed that her friend needed it, and charged Uranus with her Sailor Kick. Sailor Uranus tossed the heart to Sailor Neptune, who caught in just in time for Tuxedo Mask to materialize before her. She took off and jumped down to Uranus, who'd easily dodged Moon's kick. As Sailor Moon got up, the Outers had decided that this heart didn't have a talisman, and tossed it back to Moon, who grabbed it without hesitation and moved to get it back to her friend.

.

.

.

Fitting In
Emerald stamped into the Ayakashi boarding house, an overnight bag in hand. And burst into tears. Catzi was quickly beside the former general of the Black Moon Family, and listened as Emerald spilled about how impossible these 20th Century fools were.

Catzi interrupted: "You kissed Yuuichirou?"

"IN HIS SLEEP!" Emerald spat out. "And let me tell you! —he was way into it. If I weren't trying out this 'pure heart' crap to try to win Diamond's ever-loving devotion to me instead of that beanpole, Yuuichirou would be de-flowered!" Emerald stood and paced, steam coming out of her ears. "I mean, I just wanted a little something to tide me over, ya know? And that Rei priestess …slapped me! IN MY FACE!"

Catzi grimaced. "Um, yeah, well, she doesn't seem to acknowledge her feelings for the chimp. You have to remember, that Yuri kid is the very reason they fought me so hard and I got purified to begin with. I couldn't understand why he kept throwing himself under the bus for her when she didn't return the feelings."

Emerald gleamed: "He's got PLENTY to return, too, if you know what I mean!" She winked lustily at Catzi. "You wouldn't know it to look at him!"

Catzi said, "So you're here for the night?" She'd need to go set up another bed in the already-crowded boarding house.

Emerald shrugged: "I guess so. I'd go to Saphir's since he's got plenty of guest rooms—"

"Oh HELL no!" Catzi bristled. "Please don't do that!"

Emerald sniped, "I know. Prizma would have a cow, like a little loving would ruin her thing with Saphir. —which, by the way, isn't a 'thing'. He still wants ME. I'm just being NICE to her like you and the beanpole suggested. Although I really believe she'd be better off if someone just told her that Saphir is just using her."

Catzi winced. "We don't know what the truth is. Saphir might actually like her." She mumbled, "Just like Diamond might actually like you."

"HE DOES!" Emerald screeched. "And I'd be there NOW if he weren't trying to keep up that pristine 'reputation' so he can take over Japan!"

Avery came in and dropped her makeup bag on the sofa, then pulled out a lipstick for a touch-up: "It's not called 'TAKING OVER JAPAN', Emerald." Damn, she laughed and messed up her lipstick application.

Catzi agreed: "He's running for President. It's very different back in this age."

Emerald rolled her eyes. "What. EVER. You'll notice he DID take me to the violin concert the other night." She gleamed at them. "He knows beanpole's out of his grasp; he's got me; one day we'll marry and I'll STILL be QUEEN OF THE WORLD! Hee hee!"

.

.

.

Balcony Scene
Serena stared out at the night sky, thinking about Rei and Yuuichirou. Rei hadn't accepted Emerald's statement that Yuuichirou's first kiss was still open since Emerald had kissed the boy in his sleep. Rei threw Emerald out, and went to throw Yuuichirou out as well, until Mina and herself had talked her down. It's possible Yuuichirou wasn't ever aware of what had happened in his sleep. Serena winced as she thought about Rei's cruel words afterwards. Rei was clearly hurt.

An arm snaked around her waist, but she'd been expecting it. Darien's mouth was close to her ear when he said, "You saved Unazuki's first kiss, Serena. You should be proud."

"I'm happy for her," Serena said morosely. "Emerald tried to say it wasn't a big deal."

"It is for Unazuki," Darien responded, pulling her against him tightly from behind. "It was for you." He wanted to kiss her neck, but some freaky scarf was in his way and he ended up with a mouthful of cotton. He let go of her and slowly pulled the scarf off. He noticed her stiffen, and even try to struggle with him to keep the scarf on.

But he teased the material out of her hands, and the let the scarf fall to the balcony. He saw the marks he'd left on her and pulled her even more tightly against his body, groaning with the memories of how she'd gotten them.

Serena felt his reaction, and, as usual for her now, felt a confusing rush of both shame and desire. She'd known all day what would be happening tonight if she came over; they'd texted about it. But since then, her friends had defended 'innocent maidens' who hadn't even kissed yet, and while they'd teased her mercilessly for sharing kisses with Darien, they'd also talked amongst themselves about how Serena wouldn't even go to second base without a ring on her finger.

She ran her fingers over her neck; the marks actually hurt, especially the ones hidden by her shirt. They had a rough feel to them, as well as looking bruised and ugly.

Darien suddenly turned her around, ready to kiss her. His arms rested on her shoulders, and he was smiling widely at her when he noticed she didn't seem quite so taken by the moment. "Hey, I thought you were okay with this?"

Serena winced at the sound of worry and concern in his voice. Yes, they'd talked, and talked, and texted, about a thousand times about their first time together. Mostly, it was her telling him that she was okay, she loved it, yes she felt like one with him whatever that meant, yadda yadda yadda. Because he'd truly freaked out about it, maybe worse than she had. And as usual, it all boiled down to her age. Heck, SHE'D had to use their future knowledge and Rini's existence to assuage his fears about his ruining everything.

"The girls just ..they said some things," Serena said softly, looking at his neck. Strangely mark-free. A mean streak in her wondered how HE'D like to walk around town in the dead of summer with a turtleneck or scarf on.

Darien said, "You didn't tell them, did you?" He imagined being hauled off to jail for statutory rape, and his breath caught.

Serena rolled her eyes: "Of course not, you dolt." She put a hand on her forehead as she fought for the right words…"All this 'first kiss' business, and of course they know we've kissed, so —they started talking about girls who go all the way." She turned back around furiously embarrassed. "I could never tell them."

Darien cradled her again, not wanting to ruin the mood he'd set out so hard to make perfect. He soothed, "They're ..they're not like us, Serena. They couldn't understand what we have."

Serena felt his kisses on her neck, and a part of her started warming up immensely. She said, "I told Michiru."

Darien choked. He turned her back around: "What? That woman who hangs out with Haruka?"

She nodded. "I told you that Michiru saw the marks," she blushed. "She guessed, and then we talked about ..well, Haruka."

"Haruka," Darien said, staring into her eyes, wondering what other little bomb Serena had to toss out at him tonight.

Serena shrugged. "Michiru's very nice." And she pushed a finger into Darien's chest: "And she'll keep my secret. It was just nice to have someone older to confide in and not judge me."

Darien was about to say how he didn't go blabbing to Andrew, but she looked up at him and asked, out of the blue, "Do you remember our first kiss, Darien?"

He stammered. He started going over all their kisses in his mind… would the one at the ball count? Or the one in the Negaverse?

"Darien!" she spat out, slapping his arm. "I mean so little to you that you can't even recall the first time we kissed—?"

Darien pulled his shirt sleeve up and shoved his wrist into her face: "See that?"

Serena nearly died.

After several seconds of trying to breathe, she screeched, "Are you INSANE?" She grabbed for the tissues and wet them, then started scrubbing his wrist furiously.

"It's the date of our first time together, Serena!" he said haughtily.

Serena's jaw was on the ground: "TATTOOED! With my NAME, Darien! And a crescent moon, and a freaking rose… PENETRATING the moon!" She wanted to slap him silly. "And a date from TWO DAYS AGO! You don't think that's a little OBVIOUS, baka?"

"I didn't want you to be the only one marked," Darien said, swooping her up and carrying her inside quickly, before the mood was completely gone. He was going to take his time tonight, and truly make her feel how right this was, regardless of their ages and her friends' opinions. He pressed her into the bed and started kissing her slowly. When she finally started returning his kisses, he eased off a hair and rolled over, leaving her complaining at the loss of his touch. He smiled as she climbed over his body to resume their kisses. Because this time, he was going to make sure that she was the one taking the initiative.

.


.

/AN/

Only one note this time: sorry it wasn't clear that Wiseman was truly defeated in Ch. 10. I might re-write some of that, but I just didn't want to focus too much on Rini/Wiseman. Looking back, I'm already walking a thin line with the BMC's dark crystal earrings still working, and maybe that's why I left some of that up in the air. I tried to make Wiseman a joke of a bad guy (rattling bones, trampoline effect, etc); and showed that Rini got the future Silver Crystal back to help Sere w/ the destruction of Wiseman. I just didn't spell it out.