Revised edition: wondering what I changed? Nothing
plot - I just realized I had all these Japanese version
references, and so got rid of them...
AN: Guess who got inspiration last night?
Yuubou does her happy dance
sorry that I haven't gotten this done before
Christmas not even close, huh? but I figure
quality over everything else - oh, and all I gotta say,
is get ready for mush!
Thank you to all who have read this, and all who
have emailed me in the past.
A special thanks to Princess Destiny, Stormlight
go buy her book the Goblin King!! and Princess
Anya for the constant praise and support. They all
emailed me after each chapter blushes which I
find very sweet...
Another very special thanks to my editor Silver
Moon - girl, you just always seem to know exactly
what to tell me to keep my confidence up ^V^ so
thank you!
As for the story, in case you didn't know, in the
anime episode where the scouts put on a Snow
White play, Makoto says that she should get the
lead part because she has the biggest breasts. DiC
changed the line to her saying that she has the most
talent. . .
Operation: Spread the Spirit
Chapter 2: I Get the Lights Kissed Out of Me
and Regret It To No End
by Yuubou
e-mail: yuubou_san@yahoo.com
aim: yuubouchan
**********The Mall**********
We quickly reached Luna, who pointed to the
Santa's helper negamonster. It was strangely female,
and had much *talent* (as most of them do), and
with a rather revealing outfit that showed off its
large, strong muscles under its green skin. It was
dressed in red and green holiday gear - complete
with pointed shoes with bells on the end. It twitched
its green ears in annoyance as I began my speech.
"I am Sailor Moon! I fight for love and the Holiday
Spirit!!! In the name of the moon, I will punish all
those who wish to destroy it - and that means
you!!!"
It glared at me, and then gave an evil laugh. "Sailor
Clumsy, you mean. You'll never defeat me!!!
Candy Cane Crash!!!" it shouted as a multitude of
swirled razor edged candy canes came rushing
toward me. Shocked that it reacted quickly (and
that even this monster, who I'd never met before
knew I was clumsy) I froze on the spot, simply
watching with horror the spiked ends of the swirling
of red and white candy canes coming at my throat.
For sure, I was doomed. I squinted my eyes shut,
bracing for impact, but instead of sticky pointed
candy canes hitting me, a sweet smelling warm
body did instead. Tuxedo Mask had shown up in
the nick of time and saved my hide.
After a moment I opened my eyes, and looked at the
face of my savior. "Tuxedo Mask." I
murmured dreamily, "You saved me."
"Yes, I saved you again," he bit out angrily. "Sailor
Moon, you need to be more careful! One of these
days, you're going to get yourself, or someone else,
killed!" He pulled me to my feet. In the
background I heard Mars and Jupiter finishing a
joint attack. "It's time," he whispered in my ear.
"It is?" I asked wide-eyed, unsure of what he meant.
Was he finally going to kiss me? I bent my head up
slightly, eyes wavering between his mouth and his
lips. "Oh, Tuxedo Mask."
Tuxedo Mask's eyes had been focused on the
battle however. He glanced down and saw the
dreamy expression that graced my face as my eyes
began to slip close. His harsh tone cut through my
daydreaming state, however, when he exclaimed
impatiently, "The nega-monster, Sailor Moon! It's time
to dust the nega-monster! Are you ready?" he finally
asked while steadying me on my feet.
"Ummhmm," I nodded as I got ready to dust this
puppy. "Moon Tiara..Action!" Before I knew
it, the thing was dusted. I turned to thank Tuxedo
Mask, but to my great surprise, he was gone.
"Come on Sailor Moon! This place is way too
crowded. We gotta get out of here and de
transform," Mars exclaimed impatiently, pulling on
my arm.
"What? Oh yeah," I replied half-heartedly, my eyes
still searching the crowd for the masked savior.
"Come on girl. Dream on your own time," Venus
teased me. I finally snapped out of it and we all
bounded away, finally stopping at a deserted corner
of the parking lot and detransforming.
The five of us ambled our way back toward
Darien's apartment, chattering all the while. Soon
we got into a big argument about who was the best
pop star today. Lita kept on saying Ricky Martin - I
had a sneaking suspicion that she thought he looked
just like her old boyfriend, Freddie. Amy named
some name none of us had ever heard of (Classical
Pianist) she clarified in a small voice while we
dismissed her suggestion. Raye kept on saying that
no one of today had enough talent - she hated
anything modern, and that the only good music was
written hundreds of years ago. Mina, of course,
kept saying Sailor V, a suggestion to which I was
vehemently opposed.
I turned around so that I was facing all four of them
and started to walk backwards - I hate not facing
someone when I'm talking to them, and began my
argument.
"Sailor V doesn't count - because if we count Sailor
V, then you have to count Sailor Moon, and well,
everyone knows that Sailor Moon is more popular
than Sailor V." V-babe stuck her tongue out at me
for that one. "Besides Sailor V doesn't have any
musical talent, and so she's not a pop star."
"But Sailor V has her own video game, and tons of
people look up to her. She's a heroine."
"So is Sailor Moon."
Mina began her tirade on me. "But no one is sure
that Sailor Moon even exists. Sailor V was well
known for stopping both youmas and human
criminals. She was in all the papers, and many
people have witnessed her heroic acts."
"I completely disagree. Sure, there are no pictures
of Sailor Moon, but there are countless witnesses
who swear to her existence as well."
Amy spoke up, "Actually, most eye-witness
accounts of both Sailor Moon and Sailor V are
either made up or full of discrepancies. Most of the
people who actually have witnessed them were
unconscious for most of the time and so weren't
even sure if anything happened at all."
V-babe and I both looked at Amy and shouted at the
same time, "Amy, you're not helping!!" She had
after all, bruised both our egos. I noticed both Lita
and Raye were smirking at each other at this point,
but I brushed it off as laughing at our outburst at
poor Amy until.
CRASH!!
I hit something warm and tall and we both went
down, twisting together. My vision swam in an
ugly green jacket, and immediately I knew just
whom I had hit.
"Jerk! Watch where you're going!" I hissed out on
instinct.
"Hey you're the one on top of me! By the way, if
you insist upon crashing on top of me three times a
day, lay off the donuts, why don't cha?"
I scoffed as I scrambled up to a standing position.
"I am _not_ fat!!! And I don't insist upon crashing
into you all the time - it just happens." At this point
Darien was scrambling up as well.
"Hey, Meatball head! I'm only trying to protect
myself here." He flashed me his charming smile,
but my cheeks flamed at his audacity.
"Hmph." I scoffed, and quickly turned and headed
back towards his apartment. We were going for a
few minutes when a question hit me and I stopped
all of a sudden - causing Raye and Amy who had
been at the end of our group to fall down as
everyone crashed into me.
"Meatball head - what is it this time!" both Darien
and Raye shouted at me.
I turned to Darien puzzled. "Wait - what are you
doing out here? Shouldn't you be at your
apartment?"
Darien raised his eyebrow at me. "I had to run an
errand." He pulled out a bottle of eggnog from a
shopping bag that I hadn't noticed before.
"Oh." I blushed, remembering our lame excuse
earlier this afternoon. I looked at the shopping bag,
seeing the name of a grocery store that was right by
the mall.
"Why did you go all the way to the mall when the
closest store is just down the block?"
Darien seemed to squirm a bit under my gaze. "I
figured you guys would clear that one out, the way
you were carrying on. Come on, Meatball head.
What is this - a game of twenty questions? I'd
kinda like to get home before I freeze to death
here."
"Oh, yeah," I murmured absently. I spotted Amy's
face, and she seemed to be thinking hard about
something as well, but then seemed to shake it off.
I turned around and took a few more steps before
stopping once more. I turned to look at Darien
intently, and he seemed to freeze up. "You think I
wouldn't catch it, huh?" I queried.
Darien got a panicked look on his face. "Serena, I
don't think you know what you're talking about.
Come on, let's get to some place warm before we
continue this discussion," he tried to ease over.
"No! I want to talk about this now! How many
times do I have to tell you - DON'T CALL ME
MEATBALL HEAD!!!"
The worry seemed to wash away and a grin broke
over his face. "Lower the decibels, would you?
Besides, you're hair just looks like spaghetti and
meatballs."
"Darien!!! I'm gonna kill you!" I screamed as he
took off running. He was pretty fast, but I stayed
on his heels. He seemed surprised that I was I doing
so well - as was I - I guess anger really motivates
you. I could just hear Luna chastising me - why
can't you run like that during Sailor business? The
image made me giggle. Darien looked back, a smile
on his face as well. The smile seemed so natural -
very unlike the Darien I was used to.
I heard the rest of the girls puffing behind me -
gallantly trying to keep up. Before we knew it, we
were at the lobby of his apartment building. Inside,
we all stopped a while to catch our breath, hands on
knees and slightly bent.
"Darien - if your elevator doesn't work, you're
going to have to carry me to your apartment!!" I
threatened. He just flashed me a warning grin, and I
knew enough to stop there, or else he might think
my little quip was a challenge. Luckily, the elevator
was working, and we even got off on the right floor.
Lizzy answered the door. "Oh thank the gods you
guys finally got here!"
"Why is something wrong?" Darien asked
worriedly.
"No, but those two," she yanked a thumb in Andrew
and Rita's direction, "are driving me crazy." She
began to mock them. "Oh, you're cuter. No, you're
cuter. Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss."
We all sweatdropped. That was a risk we all had to
take with the two love birds whenever we invited
them together to anything. It was cute in the
beginning, but I had to agree with Lizzy that PDA's
could just get plain awkward - especially when there
is only three in the room!
We all moved into the living room, Andrew and
Rita staying on the couch together. Darien leaned
up against the same archway that he had when he
had intently stared at me mere hours before.
Thinking about it sent a chill up my spine, and I
found myself wishing he would do something like
that again - I liked that side of him so much better
than that dreadful teasing, although arguing with
him was sometimes fun as well.
I shook my head to get rid of the thoughts that were
plaguing me. I found that some how I had moved to
lean up against the opposite side of the doorway
from him, and noticed that I was the closest person
to him. The idea of our closeness thrilled me even
more, yet shocked me at the same time. I couldn't
be developing a crush on my worst enemy, could I?
The idea was indeed scary, and I quickly reassured
myself that I'd feel this way if any guy had looked
at me the way Darien had earlier. But even that I
wasn't sure of -how could I be sure how he was
looking at me when it had been so brief? Maybe he
was just out of it and was staring at a random spot
on the wall. Because my thoughts were bringing me
to greater and greater dangerous ideas, I decided to
bring them back to the present, and realized that
everyone else stood completing a circle about us,
some sitting on the back of the couch, others just
standing.
I was about to suggest that we watch the rest of the
movie when another discussion sprouted up.
Apparently, Lizzy was regaling us with the horrors
she had had to face when the three of them had been
left alone. Thus a kissing discussion erupted. My
face became consumed in a blush at this one - I had
never been kissed. I only hoped my inexpertness on
this issue didn't become obvious to everyone else.
Amy was saying shyly, "Well, I just don't get. If
you think about it, the whole thing is kind of
disgusting."
Rita looked at Andrew and smiled.
Lita spoke up, "Its just something - mutual, shared,
and when it happens, feelings bubble inside of you
that makes the whole world disappear. If its done
right." She got a dreamy look upon her face, and I
wondered absently which guy she had on her mind.
I turned my attention to the Scout of Love, who
curiously, had been silent up until now. "Don't
worry, Amy. It'll happen for you when you find the
right person - and then you'll understand. It's
simply.magical," she said mysteriously with a
knowing smile. Amy blushed bright pink - I think
she regretted asking the question, and Mina winked
at me - knowing her little speech applied to me also.
"Oh come on," Mr. Cynical spoke up, "kissing is
just plain chemistry. There's nothing magical about
it. It has nothing to do with if you love or hate the
person, but rather whether you're chemically
compatible. Anyone who believes kisses can be all
that other stuff is just plain delusional. If you ask
me, Amy, you should just find someone and kiss
them - practice so you don't look like an idiot when
you finally do kiss someone that counts."
His little diatribe angered me to no end - and I let
him hear it. I straightened up as I began. "Darien!
I can't believe how cynical you can be! Amy, life is
what you put into it. If you don't believe and invest
your faith that life can be magical and wonderful
and beyond this world, then you're never going to
feel that way, and anyone who doesn't try to feel
that way, is not only a cynic, but also deserves our
pity - because they will miss out on some of the best
feelings that we humans are able to have."
Amy looked at me curiously - my outburst was full
of heart and I had almost pleaded with her - as if my
very life were at stake. "Have. have you? Had
that feeling?" she stuttered. I blushed. "I mean -
you spoke so, passionately, so, I was wondering.
Well, have you?"
"I." My face felt on fire, and I could feel
everyone's eyes glued to me, though I dared not
look up. The question was so innocent, and I truly
wished I could say yes, but all I could say was the
truth. "No," I stated clearly though in a soft voice;
"but I want to," I continued, this time looking up,
and by accident, right into the most penetrating blue
eyes I'd ever seen.
I desperately wished I knew what he was thinking -
because even with all the mixed signals I had
received from Darien, I still was absolutely sure that
he couldn't possibly be as cynical as he made
himself to be. Part of that had to be some sort of
wall that he had built around himself - a defense
mechanism.
I realized for the first time that I did want Darien to
get into the holiday spirit, and the reason behind it
had nothing to do with Andrew. That smile he had
shared with me when I was chasing after him had
made too few appearances on his face, and everyone
- cynic or not, deserved to feel love and happiness.
The room fell a bit silent, until Rita spoke up.
"Well, here's your chance," she told me.
"Huh?"
"You and Darien are standing under mistletoe," Rita
informed us with a slight giggle.
Some time during the kissing discussion we both
had stood up away from the edge of the doorway,
and were now standing right underneath the arch.
Slowly, our heads moved up to see the little clump
of leaves that Rita had brought with her to the party.
"But." Darien sputtered, shocked. "I saw you
hang it up in a different room!"
"Keeping tabs on it, were you?" Rita questioned
teasingly. "No, it was all very innocent. Earlier,
during the movie, I had this fascinating discussion
with Raye about Feng Shui, and when she was
explaining about it, she used the hanging mistletoe
as an example. Turns out, where I hung it up wasn't
the best place for it, and she explained that it'd be
more auspicious for it to be there," and she pointed
right above our heads. "Apparently, she was right."
Everyone's head moved up and looked at it once
more. I looked accusingly at Raye - she couldn't
have used the position of the couch as an example?
She had the sense to have a sheepish expression on
her face.
"So Darien, you gonna kiss her, or what?" Andrew
encouraged.
"Come on Darien, it's tradition." Lita cheered.
They were all turning against me - even Amy
seemed eager to see us smooch. I sighed heavily,
and with a sense of defeat, slowly turned to my
opponent. I wasn't sure if I wanted to kiss Darien
or not, but I sure as heck knew that having an
audience didn't help matters.
Darien glanced at me reluctantly. The girls and
Andrew kept yelling things like - "Come on and
kiss her already!" and making kissy noises like
Lizzy had earlier when mocking Andrew and Rita.
Darien began to lean down - I felt a blush redden
my cheeks even more.
He turned to them and requested silence, which they
all complied. For a moment I debated slapping him
across the face and then booking it, but before I
knew what was happening, a hand was gently
cupping my face, and Darien's lips were upon mine.
My eyes closed. It was just a slow, tentative brush
of skin against skin, with sweet breath tickling the
senses as well. He held his lips against mine
unmoving for only a mere moment, and then slowly
pulled away. It was a sweet kiss, and I felt
completely disappointed, although I worked hard to
make it seem like I thought nothing of it.
After we had pulled apart, and were looking at our
so-called friends - Feng Shui my a$$, I noticed a
strange glint in Andrew's eye. I recognized that
look. He was going to do something to _help_ me.
"Please don't. Please don't do it. Andrew - I'm
begging you - anything but that," I pleaded
desperately in my head.
Yet he did it - although now I'm not sure if he
thought it was to help me, or Darien, or he did it
simply for his own sick enjoyment of the situation.
"You call that a kiss?" he egged Darien. "Come on,
that was pathetic. I expected more from you,
Darien. I mean - you didn't even move your lips!
Now, this, is a kiss," he exclaimed before promptly
sweeping Rita into his arms, and giving her a very
sensual kiss. I noticed that he kept where his hands
wandered in check, however - his younger sister
was watching this after all.
"Andrew!" she giggled when he began. She had
been completely taken off guard. As he continued
to explore her mouth, however, the "Andrew" that
she muttered became more of a moan. Instead of
pulling away afterwards, he continued to pepper her
neck with sweet little kisses until she was ready to
stand on her own two feet again. Andrew returned
to a fully standing position and looked Darien in the
eye.
"Now that, is a kiss," he challenged Darien again
with an ounce of pride.
Darien, however, was very good at not being baited
by Andrew. "Yeah, Andrew. That was indeed a
kiss. What can I say? I guess I'm a bad kisser."
I was relieved for Darien's self-restraint. The girls
sensed the awkward situation, and so began to joke
about it.
"Give him a break, Andrew, he had to do this one
on the spot," Lita supplied.
"Yeah, bro, he had to wing it," Lizzy agreed.
"Plus look who he was kissing - it must have been
hard just to do that to Meatball brains." That one,
was of course, said by Raye.
"Raye!" I screamed at her indignantly. She just
laughed.
"Well, Raye does have a point. Like Darien was
saying earlier, its all just based on chemistry which
apparently you are lacking," Amy added with a
smile.
"So Amy, you're saying that Serena was part of the
problem too?" Mina asked. Amy shrugged.
"Come on guys, it's not my fault Darien's a bad
kisser," I bit out cutely as I tried to casually saunter
away, but although Darien is famous for being able
to ignore Andrew's challenges, he is notorious for
never being able to resist mine, which,
unfortunately or not, I had forgotten. I guess I had
taken his self-restraint for granted.
I hadn't taken two steps before I felt a hand enclose
around my wrist.
He quickly pulled me back to me, slightly spinning
and twisting me in the process until I was enfolded
in his arms completely, dipping me as if we had just
finished a round of dancing, which, in a way, we
had. My blond hair pooled on the floor below me,
as I hung completely supported by his strong arms.
The blood rushed to my head, and my eyes were
glued to his passionate ones, that seemed to say -
you asked for it, Serena - you shouldn't have
challenged me if you didn't want this.
My breath quickened, as my pulse sped and raced.
God - the way that man could just look at me. Face
emotionless except for the intensity in his stare. His
entire consciousness was focused on me, and I knew
that his attention would not wander when we kissed.
The thought that he was going to kiss me excited
me to no end. He looked at me now like he had
earlier. He looked as if we were the only two in the
room, and drowning in his gaze, I knew he had
forgotten the world around us, as I soon did as well.
His face descended upon me, and with startling
gentleness, his lips were massaging mine, for the
second time today. My eyelids drooped.
There was nothing tentative about it - from the
moment he had looked down on me, I knew there
was no turning back. I responded as he gently
moved his lips against mine, which prompted him
to move more urgently and with added pressure. He
pulled my body closer to him - I felt the tops of my
breasts brush against his chest and then I was
clasped firmly to his body as he groaned into my
mouth.
I drowned in his lips as I earlier had in his stare. He
pulled away slightly to quickly breathe before
moving back in. Warm skin brushed against mine,
and I moved one of my hands up slowly from the its
resting place at his arms to the back of his neck, the
other massaged the hard muscle underneath the thin
fabric of his dress shirt of his arm. My fingers
twirled his hair, and I gently teased the back of his
neck with my touch.
His tongue darted out and drew a line across the
opening of my lips. My heart skipped a beat, and
slowly, I opened my lips to him. His tongue move
slowly into my mouth - and the feeling was nothing
like I had experienced before. He tasted like
chocolate and peppermint.
He was warm and sensual. He explored my mouth
slowly, our tongues brushing, moving together and
apart. He was kissing me in the fullest sense of the
word, in a way I had only hoped and dreamed about
before, unsure of what it actually was like, and I
suddenly realized that he was inside of me -
intimately inside of me, and nothing had felt more
right than anything else in my life.
How could this feel right? He was kissing me on a
dare, and it felt as if he was inside of my head,
inside of my heart. He felt me pulling away and he
lifted his head a bit. His eyes found mine for a
moment, and were glazed with desire and lack of
oxygen, and the expression in his eyes convinced
me that this wasn't about a dare anymore.
We spent a few heady moments simply staring into
the window that was each other's eyes, this time
only a few inches apart, gasping for breath.
Desperately, I slowly strained my head forward,
closing the gap between us. This time, my mouth
sought out his first. This time, my tongue drew a
thin line across the threshold of his mouth, and then
languidly entered it, so that I was inside of him.
It was wonderful, and magical, and beyond this
world.
"Darien." I couldn't stop myself from murmuring.
He groaned in response, and held me tighter, his
fingers brushing the skin near my hip, and I felt
completely out of control - my head was spinning,
and all I could feel was him, all I could breath and
smell was the scent of him. I hoped it would never
stop.
So, of course, it did.
Stop, that is.
He pulled us both up, me collapsed to his chest. I
could feel the pounding of his heart beneath his
highly developed pectoral muscles. We both gasped
for breath, and I now fully understood the term
weak in the knees. I could barely keep myself
upright and leaning against him, even with the help
of the arms which were still wrapped around me. I
wondered if he had planned to make me feel this
way. I wondered if he felt the same way.
After a few moments, I turned my head to glance
out at our audience. Everyone seemed shocked still,
except Mina, who was grinning broadly.
"Well, Darien, I guess you proved to us that you
aren't completely stiff - or are you?" Mina kidded
him. I looked up and glanced at Darien - his eyes
had darkened to a shade I'd never seen before. His
breath still pounded out, I could feel, as I hadn't
moved from my place against his chest. I still
didn't trust my legs, and everything going on around
us was still a dreamy blur.
After scandalous glances at Mina from the rest of
us, she amended, "What? You can't tell me that
after a kiss that passionate, no guy wouldn't be
thinking ahead."
The others kidded him as well, although I didn't
really listen to what they were saying - my head was
still reeling, until shy Amy spoke up - I think she
was still mad about Mr. Cynical's little speech
earlier.
"So do you still think kissing is still just
chemistry?" she questioned.
"Or does lo-ve figure into it?" Rita continued
teasingly.
I could feel Darien blush above me. "I just kissed
her because of a stupid dare, guys. Get over it," he
spat out, embarrassed.
Everything went still, and the spinning of my head
stopped. My vision cleared, and my legs steadied.
So it was just because of a dare, and Darien had
been right - anyone who feels that extra stuff is just
delusional.
I stepped away from him, careful to keep my face
and voice numb. "Guys, I think I have to be going.
It's getting pretty late, my mom'll get worried if I'm
not home soon." I could sense the scouts giving
each other worried glances, but I didn't care - I had
to get out of there.
"We'll come with you," they finally decided, while I
quickly gathered my things without one backwards
glance to Darien. I didn't even bother putting more
on than my shoes at his place, choosing instead to
carry the rest to put on later. Which explains why I
could have left my scarf there and not noticed it was
gone, until I was clear out of the building.
plot - I just realized I had all these Japanese version
references, and so got rid of them...
AN: Guess who got inspiration last night?
Yuubou does her happy dance
sorry that I haven't gotten this done before
Christmas not even close, huh? but I figure
quality over everything else - oh, and all I gotta say,
is get ready for mush!
Thank you to all who have read this, and all who
have emailed me in the past.
A special thanks to Princess Destiny, Stormlight
go buy her book the Goblin King!! and Princess
Anya for the constant praise and support. They all
emailed me after each chapter blushes which I
find very sweet...
Another very special thanks to my editor Silver
Moon - girl, you just always seem to know exactly
what to tell me to keep my confidence up ^V^ so
thank you!
As for the story, in case you didn't know, in the
anime episode where the scouts put on a Snow
White play, Makoto says that she should get the
lead part because she has the biggest breasts. DiC
changed the line to her saying that she has the most
talent. . .
Operation: Spread the Spirit
Chapter 2: I Get the Lights Kissed Out of Me
and Regret It To No End
by Yuubou
e-mail: yuubou_san@yahoo.com
aim: yuubouchan
**********The Mall**********
We quickly reached Luna, who pointed to the
Santa's helper negamonster. It was strangely female,
and had much *talent* (as most of them do), and
with a rather revealing outfit that showed off its
large, strong muscles under its green skin. It was
dressed in red and green holiday gear - complete
with pointed shoes with bells on the end. It twitched
its green ears in annoyance as I began my speech.
"I am Sailor Moon! I fight for love and the Holiday
Spirit!!! In the name of the moon, I will punish all
those who wish to destroy it - and that means
you!!!"
It glared at me, and then gave an evil laugh. "Sailor
Clumsy, you mean. You'll never defeat me!!!
Candy Cane Crash!!!" it shouted as a multitude of
swirled razor edged candy canes came rushing
toward me. Shocked that it reacted quickly (and
that even this monster, who I'd never met before
knew I was clumsy) I froze on the spot, simply
watching with horror the spiked ends of the swirling
of red and white candy canes coming at my throat.
For sure, I was doomed. I squinted my eyes shut,
bracing for impact, but instead of sticky pointed
candy canes hitting me, a sweet smelling warm
body did instead. Tuxedo Mask had shown up in
the nick of time and saved my hide.
After a moment I opened my eyes, and looked at the
face of my savior. "Tuxedo Mask." I
murmured dreamily, "You saved me."
"Yes, I saved you again," he bit out angrily. "Sailor
Moon, you need to be more careful! One of these
days, you're going to get yourself, or someone else,
killed!" He pulled me to my feet. In the
background I heard Mars and Jupiter finishing a
joint attack. "It's time," he whispered in my ear.
"It is?" I asked wide-eyed, unsure of what he meant.
Was he finally going to kiss me? I bent my head up
slightly, eyes wavering between his mouth and his
lips. "Oh, Tuxedo Mask."
Tuxedo Mask's eyes had been focused on the
battle however. He glanced down and saw the
dreamy expression that graced my face as my eyes
began to slip close. His harsh tone cut through my
daydreaming state, however, when he exclaimed
impatiently, "The nega-monster, Sailor Moon! It's time
to dust the nega-monster! Are you ready?" he finally
asked while steadying me on my feet.
"Ummhmm," I nodded as I got ready to dust this
puppy. "Moon Tiara..Action!" Before I knew
it, the thing was dusted. I turned to thank Tuxedo
Mask, but to my great surprise, he was gone.
"Come on Sailor Moon! This place is way too
crowded. We gotta get out of here and de
transform," Mars exclaimed impatiently, pulling on
my arm.
"What? Oh yeah," I replied half-heartedly, my eyes
still searching the crowd for the masked savior.
"Come on girl. Dream on your own time," Venus
teased me. I finally snapped out of it and we all
bounded away, finally stopping at a deserted corner
of the parking lot and detransforming.
The five of us ambled our way back toward
Darien's apartment, chattering all the while. Soon
we got into a big argument about who was the best
pop star today. Lita kept on saying Ricky Martin - I
had a sneaking suspicion that she thought he looked
just like her old boyfriend, Freddie. Amy named
some name none of us had ever heard of (Classical
Pianist) she clarified in a small voice while we
dismissed her suggestion. Raye kept on saying that
no one of today had enough talent - she hated
anything modern, and that the only good music was
written hundreds of years ago. Mina, of course,
kept saying Sailor V, a suggestion to which I was
vehemently opposed.
I turned around so that I was facing all four of them
and started to walk backwards - I hate not facing
someone when I'm talking to them, and began my
argument.
"Sailor V doesn't count - because if we count Sailor
V, then you have to count Sailor Moon, and well,
everyone knows that Sailor Moon is more popular
than Sailor V." V-babe stuck her tongue out at me
for that one. "Besides Sailor V doesn't have any
musical talent, and so she's not a pop star."
"But Sailor V has her own video game, and tons of
people look up to her. She's a heroine."
"So is Sailor Moon."
Mina began her tirade on me. "But no one is sure
that Sailor Moon even exists. Sailor V was well
known for stopping both youmas and human
criminals. She was in all the papers, and many
people have witnessed her heroic acts."
"I completely disagree. Sure, there are no pictures
of Sailor Moon, but there are countless witnesses
who swear to her existence as well."
Amy spoke up, "Actually, most eye-witness
accounts of both Sailor Moon and Sailor V are
either made up or full of discrepancies. Most of the
people who actually have witnessed them were
unconscious for most of the time and so weren't
even sure if anything happened at all."
V-babe and I both looked at Amy and shouted at the
same time, "Amy, you're not helping!!" She had
after all, bruised both our egos. I noticed both Lita
and Raye were smirking at each other at this point,
but I brushed it off as laughing at our outburst at
poor Amy until.
CRASH!!
I hit something warm and tall and we both went
down, twisting together. My vision swam in an
ugly green jacket, and immediately I knew just
whom I had hit.
"Jerk! Watch where you're going!" I hissed out on
instinct.
"Hey you're the one on top of me! By the way, if
you insist upon crashing on top of me three times a
day, lay off the donuts, why don't cha?"
I scoffed as I scrambled up to a standing position.
"I am _not_ fat!!! And I don't insist upon crashing
into you all the time - it just happens." At this point
Darien was scrambling up as well.
"Hey, Meatball head! I'm only trying to protect
myself here." He flashed me his charming smile,
but my cheeks flamed at his audacity.
"Hmph." I scoffed, and quickly turned and headed
back towards his apartment. We were going for a
few minutes when a question hit me and I stopped
all of a sudden - causing Raye and Amy who had
been at the end of our group to fall down as
everyone crashed into me.
"Meatball head - what is it this time!" both Darien
and Raye shouted at me.
I turned to Darien puzzled. "Wait - what are you
doing out here? Shouldn't you be at your
apartment?"
Darien raised his eyebrow at me. "I had to run an
errand." He pulled out a bottle of eggnog from a
shopping bag that I hadn't noticed before.
"Oh." I blushed, remembering our lame excuse
earlier this afternoon. I looked at the shopping bag,
seeing the name of a grocery store that was right by
the mall.
"Why did you go all the way to the mall when the
closest store is just down the block?"
Darien seemed to squirm a bit under my gaze. "I
figured you guys would clear that one out, the way
you were carrying on. Come on, Meatball head.
What is this - a game of twenty questions? I'd
kinda like to get home before I freeze to death
here."
"Oh, yeah," I murmured absently. I spotted Amy's
face, and she seemed to be thinking hard about
something as well, but then seemed to shake it off.
I turned around and took a few more steps before
stopping once more. I turned to look at Darien
intently, and he seemed to freeze up. "You think I
wouldn't catch it, huh?" I queried.
Darien got a panicked look on his face. "Serena, I
don't think you know what you're talking about.
Come on, let's get to some place warm before we
continue this discussion," he tried to ease over.
"No! I want to talk about this now! How many
times do I have to tell you - DON'T CALL ME
MEATBALL HEAD!!!"
The worry seemed to wash away and a grin broke
over his face. "Lower the decibels, would you?
Besides, you're hair just looks like spaghetti and
meatballs."
"Darien!!! I'm gonna kill you!" I screamed as he
took off running. He was pretty fast, but I stayed
on his heels. He seemed surprised that I was I doing
so well - as was I - I guess anger really motivates
you. I could just hear Luna chastising me - why
can't you run like that during Sailor business? The
image made me giggle. Darien looked back, a smile
on his face as well. The smile seemed so natural -
very unlike the Darien I was used to.
I heard the rest of the girls puffing behind me -
gallantly trying to keep up. Before we knew it, we
were at the lobby of his apartment building. Inside,
we all stopped a while to catch our breath, hands on
knees and slightly bent.
"Darien - if your elevator doesn't work, you're
going to have to carry me to your apartment!!" I
threatened. He just flashed me a warning grin, and I
knew enough to stop there, or else he might think
my little quip was a challenge. Luckily, the elevator
was working, and we even got off on the right floor.
Lizzy answered the door. "Oh thank the gods you
guys finally got here!"
"Why is something wrong?" Darien asked
worriedly.
"No, but those two," she yanked a thumb in Andrew
and Rita's direction, "are driving me crazy." She
began to mock them. "Oh, you're cuter. No, you're
cuter. Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss."
We all sweatdropped. That was a risk we all had to
take with the two love birds whenever we invited
them together to anything. It was cute in the
beginning, but I had to agree with Lizzy that PDA's
could just get plain awkward - especially when there
is only three in the room!
We all moved into the living room, Andrew and
Rita staying on the couch together. Darien leaned
up against the same archway that he had when he
had intently stared at me mere hours before.
Thinking about it sent a chill up my spine, and I
found myself wishing he would do something like
that again - I liked that side of him so much better
than that dreadful teasing, although arguing with
him was sometimes fun as well.
I shook my head to get rid of the thoughts that were
plaguing me. I found that some how I had moved to
lean up against the opposite side of the doorway
from him, and noticed that I was the closest person
to him. The idea of our closeness thrilled me even
more, yet shocked me at the same time. I couldn't
be developing a crush on my worst enemy, could I?
The idea was indeed scary, and I quickly reassured
myself that I'd feel this way if any guy had looked
at me the way Darien had earlier. But even that I
wasn't sure of -how could I be sure how he was
looking at me when it had been so brief? Maybe he
was just out of it and was staring at a random spot
on the wall. Because my thoughts were bringing me
to greater and greater dangerous ideas, I decided to
bring them back to the present, and realized that
everyone else stood completing a circle about us,
some sitting on the back of the couch, others just
standing.
I was about to suggest that we watch the rest of the
movie when another discussion sprouted up.
Apparently, Lizzy was regaling us with the horrors
she had had to face when the three of them had been
left alone. Thus a kissing discussion erupted. My
face became consumed in a blush at this one - I had
never been kissed. I only hoped my inexpertness on
this issue didn't become obvious to everyone else.
Amy was saying shyly, "Well, I just don't get. If
you think about it, the whole thing is kind of
disgusting."
Rita looked at Andrew and smiled.
Lita spoke up, "Its just something - mutual, shared,
and when it happens, feelings bubble inside of you
that makes the whole world disappear. If its done
right." She got a dreamy look upon her face, and I
wondered absently which guy she had on her mind.
I turned my attention to the Scout of Love, who
curiously, had been silent up until now. "Don't
worry, Amy. It'll happen for you when you find the
right person - and then you'll understand. It's
simply.magical," she said mysteriously with a
knowing smile. Amy blushed bright pink - I think
she regretted asking the question, and Mina winked
at me - knowing her little speech applied to me also.
"Oh come on," Mr. Cynical spoke up, "kissing is
just plain chemistry. There's nothing magical about
it. It has nothing to do with if you love or hate the
person, but rather whether you're chemically
compatible. Anyone who believes kisses can be all
that other stuff is just plain delusional. If you ask
me, Amy, you should just find someone and kiss
them - practice so you don't look like an idiot when
you finally do kiss someone that counts."
His little diatribe angered me to no end - and I let
him hear it. I straightened up as I began. "Darien!
I can't believe how cynical you can be! Amy, life is
what you put into it. If you don't believe and invest
your faith that life can be magical and wonderful
and beyond this world, then you're never going to
feel that way, and anyone who doesn't try to feel
that way, is not only a cynic, but also deserves our
pity - because they will miss out on some of the best
feelings that we humans are able to have."
Amy looked at me curiously - my outburst was full
of heart and I had almost pleaded with her - as if my
very life were at stake. "Have. have you? Had
that feeling?" she stuttered. I blushed. "I mean -
you spoke so, passionately, so, I was wondering.
Well, have you?"
"I." My face felt on fire, and I could feel
everyone's eyes glued to me, though I dared not
look up. The question was so innocent, and I truly
wished I could say yes, but all I could say was the
truth. "No," I stated clearly though in a soft voice;
"but I want to," I continued, this time looking up,
and by accident, right into the most penetrating blue
eyes I'd ever seen.
I desperately wished I knew what he was thinking -
because even with all the mixed signals I had
received from Darien, I still was absolutely sure that
he couldn't possibly be as cynical as he made
himself to be. Part of that had to be some sort of
wall that he had built around himself - a defense
mechanism.
I realized for the first time that I did want Darien to
get into the holiday spirit, and the reason behind it
had nothing to do with Andrew. That smile he had
shared with me when I was chasing after him had
made too few appearances on his face, and everyone
- cynic or not, deserved to feel love and happiness.
The room fell a bit silent, until Rita spoke up.
"Well, here's your chance," she told me.
"Huh?"
"You and Darien are standing under mistletoe," Rita
informed us with a slight giggle.
Some time during the kissing discussion we both
had stood up away from the edge of the doorway,
and were now standing right underneath the arch.
Slowly, our heads moved up to see the little clump
of leaves that Rita had brought with her to the party.
"But." Darien sputtered, shocked. "I saw you
hang it up in a different room!"
"Keeping tabs on it, were you?" Rita questioned
teasingly. "No, it was all very innocent. Earlier,
during the movie, I had this fascinating discussion
with Raye about Feng Shui, and when she was
explaining about it, she used the hanging mistletoe
as an example. Turns out, where I hung it up wasn't
the best place for it, and she explained that it'd be
more auspicious for it to be there," and she pointed
right above our heads. "Apparently, she was right."
Everyone's head moved up and looked at it once
more. I looked accusingly at Raye - she couldn't
have used the position of the couch as an example?
She had the sense to have a sheepish expression on
her face.
"So Darien, you gonna kiss her, or what?" Andrew
encouraged.
"Come on Darien, it's tradition." Lita cheered.
They were all turning against me - even Amy
seemed eager to see us smooch. I sighed heavily,
and with a sense of defeat, slowly turned to my
opponent. I wasn't sure if I wanted to kiss Darien
or not, but I sure as heck knew that having an
audience didn't help matters.
Darien glanced at me reluctantly. The girls and
Andrew kept yelling things like - "Come on and
kiss her already!" and making kissy noises like
Lizzy had earlier when mocking Andrew and Rita.
Darien began to lean down - I felt a blush redden
my cheeks even more.
He turned to them and requested silence, which they
all complied. For a moment I debated slapping him
across the face and then booking it, but before I
knew what was happening, a hand was gently
cupping my face, and Darien's lips were upon mine.
My eyes closed. It was just a slow, tentative brush
of skin against skin, with sweet breath tickling the
senses as well. He held his lips against mine
unmoving for only a mere moment, and then slowly
pulled away. It was a sweet kiss, and I felt
completely disappointed, although I worked hard to
make it seem like I thought nothing of it.
After we had pulled apart, and were looking at our
so-called friends - Feng Shui my a$$, I noticed a
strange glint in Andrew's eye. I recognized that
look. He was going to do something to _help_ me.
"Please don't. Please don't do it. Andrew - I'm
begging you - anything but that," I pleaded
desperately in my head.
Yet he did it - although now I'm not sure if he
thought it was to help me, or Darien, or he did it
simply for his own sick enjoyment of the situation.
"You call that a kiss?" he egged Darien. "Come on,
that was pathetic. I expected more from you,
Darien. I mean - you didn't even move your lips!
Now, this, is a kiss," he exclaimed before promptly
sweeping Rita into his arms, and giving her a very
sensual kiss. I noticed that he kept where his hands
wandered in check, however - his younger sister
was watching this after all.
"Andrew!" she giggled when he began. She had
been completely taken off guard. As he continued
to explore her mouth, however, the "Andrew" that
she muttered became more of a moan. Instead of
pulling away afterwards, he continued to pepper her
neck with sweet little kisses until she was ready to
stand on her own two feet again. Andrew returned
to a fully standing position and looked Darien in the
eye.
"Now that, is a kiss," he challenged Darien again
with an ounce of pride.
Darien, however, was very good at not being baited
by Andrew. "Yeah, Andrew. That was indeed a
kiss. What can I say? I guess I'm a bad kisser."
I was relieved for Darien's self-restraint. The girls
sensed the awkward situation, and so began to joke
about it.
"Give him a break, Andrew, he had to do this one
on the spot," Lita supplied.
"Yeah, bro, he had to wing it," Lizzy agreed.
"Plus look who he was kissing - it must have been
hard just to do that to Meatball brains." That one,
was of course, said by Raye.
"Raye!" I screamed at her indignantly. She just
laughed.
"Well, Raye does have a point. Like Darien was
saying earlier, its all just based on chemistry which
apparently you are lacking," Amy added with a
smile.
"So Amy, you're saying that Serena was part of the
problem too?" Mina asked. Amy shrugged.
"Come on guys, it's not my fault Darien's a bad
kisser," I bit out cutely as I tried to casually saunter
away, but although Darien is famous for being able
to ignore Andrew's challenges, he is notorious for
never being able to resist mine, which,
unfortunately or not, I had forgotten. I guess I had
taken his self-restraint for granted.
I hadn't taken two steps before I felt a hand enclose
around my wrist.
He quickly pulled me back to me, slightly spinning
and twisting me in the process until I was enfolded
in his arms completely, dipping me as if we had just
finished a round of dancing, which, in a way, we
had. My blond hair pooled on the floor below me,
as I hung completely supported by his strong arms.
The blood rushed to my head, and my eyes were
glued to his passionate ones, that seemed to say -
you asked for it, Serena - you shouldn't have
challenged me if you didn't want this.
My breath quickened, as my pulse sped and raced.
God - the way that man could just look at me. Face
emotionless except for the intensity in his stare. His
entire consciousness was focused on me, and I knew
that his attention would not wander when we kissed.
The thought that he was going to kiss me excited
me to no end. He looked at me now like he had
earlier. He looked as if we were the only two in the
room, and drowning in his gaze, I knew he had
forgotten the world around us, as I soon did as well.
His face descended upon me, and with startling
gentleness, his lips were massaging mine, for the
second time today. My eyelids drooped.
There was nothing tentative about it - from the
moment he had looked down on me, I knew there
was no turning back. I responded as he gently
moved his lips against mine, which prompted him
to move more urgently and with added pressure. He
pulled my body closer to him - I felt the tops of my
breasts brush against his chest and then I was
clasped firmly to his body as he groaned into my
mouth.
I drowned in his lips as I earlier had in his stare. He
pulled away slightly to quickly breathe before
moving back in. Warm skin brushed against mine,
and I moved one of my hands up slowly from the its
resting place at his arms to the back of his neck, the
other massaged the hard muscle underneath the thin
fabric of his dress shirt of his arm. My fingers
twirled his hair, and I gently teased the back of his
neck with my touch.
His tongue darted out and drew a line across the
opening of my lips. My heart skipped a beat, and
slowly, I opened my lips to him. His tongue move
slowly into my mouth - and the feeling was nothing
like I had experienced before. He tasted like
chocolate and peppermint.
He was warm and sensual. He explored my mouth
slowly, our tongues brushing, moving together and
apart. He was kissing me in the fullest sense of the
word, in a way I had only hoped and dreamed about
before, unsure of what it actually was like, and I
suddenly realized that he was inside of me -
intimately inside of me, and nothing had felt more
right than anything else in my life.
How could this feel right? He was kissing me on a
dare, and it felt as if he was inside of my head,
inside of my heart. He felt me pulling away and he
lifted his head a bit. His eyes found mine for a
moment, and were glazed with desire and lack of
oxygen, and the expression in his eyes convinced
me that this wasn't about a dare anymore.
We spent a few heady moments simply staring into
the window that was each other's eyes, this time
only a few inches apart, gasping for breath.
Desperately, I slowly strained my head forward,
closing the gap between us. This time, my mouth
sought out his first. This time, my tongue drew a
thin line across the threshold of his mouth, and then
languidly entered it, so that I was inside of him.
It was wonderful, and magical, and beyond this
world.
"Darien." I couldn't stop myself from murmuring.
He groaned in response, and held me tighter, his
fingers brushing the skin near my hip, and I felt
completely out of control - my head was spinning,
and all I could feel was him, all I could breath and
smell was the scent of him. I hoped it would never
stop.
So, of course, it did.
Stop, that is.
He pulled us both up, me collapsed to his chest. I
could feel the pounding of his heart beneath his
highly developed pectoral muscles. We both gasped
for breath, and I now fully understood the term
weak in the knees. I could barely keep myself
upright and leaning against him, even with the help
of the arms which were still wrapped around me. I
wondered if he had planned to make me feel this
way. I wondered if he felt the same way.
After a few moments, I turned my head to glance
out at our audience. Everyone seemed shocked still,
except Mina, who was grinning broadly.
"Well, Darien, I guess you proved to us that you
aren't completely stiff - or are you?" Mina kidded
him. I looked up and glanced at Darien - his eyes
had darkened to a shade I'd never seen before. His
breath still pounded out, I could feel, as I hadn't
moved from my place against his chest. I still
didn't trust my legs, and everything going on around
us was still a dreamy blur.
After scandalous glances at Mina from the rest of
us, she amended, "What? You can't tell me that
after a kiss that passionate, no guy wouldn't be
thinking ahead."
The others kidded him as well, although I didn't
really listen to what they were saying - my head was
still reeling, until shy Amy spoke up - I think she
was still mad about Mr. Cynical's little speech
earlier.
"So do you still think kissing is still just
chemistry?" she questioned.
"Or does lo-ve figure into it?" Rita continued
teasingly.
I could feel Darien blush above me. "I just kissed
her because of a stupid dare, guys. Get over it," he
spat out, embarrassed.
Everything went still, and the spinning of my head
stopped. My vision cleared, and my legs steadied.
So it was just because of a dare, and Darien had
been right - anyone who feels that extra stuff is just
delusional.
I stepped away from him, careful to keep my face
and voice numb. "Guys, I think I have to be going.
It's getting pretty late, my mom'll get worried if I'm
not home soon." I could sense the scouts giving
each other worried glances, but I didn't care - I had
to get out of there.
"We'll come with you," they finally decided, while I
quickly gathered my things without one backwards
glance to Darien. I didn't even bother putting more
on than my shoes at his place, choosing instead to
carry the rest to put on later. Which explains why I
could have left my scarf there and not noticed it was
gone, until I was clear out of the building.