A woman walked through a deserted street somewhere in the Azabu district of Japan. She had long black curly hair and a crescent moon on her forehead. Even though it was night and quite chilly out, she was wearing a yellow sundress that nearly reached her knees. Her eyes were staring off into the distance, and by the way her brow turned down she seemed to be in deep thought. She stumbled a bit when she walked, as she wasn't always used to using human legs… in fact, most of the time she was a cat. A cat named Luna.
She suddenly felt herself collide into someone, and fell backward, eyes widening. How embarrassing! Immediately she stood up, bowing and muttering her apologies. She heard the chuckles of a man come from above her head, and she looked up cautiously to see if he looked mad. The face of Darien looked down on her, and she immediately straightened, her heart pounding.
Luna began to say something to him, but then caught herself. She knew that if she said something she would end up calling him Prince or some other name that might make him suspicious, and it wasn't quite time for that… yet. His blue-gray eyes suddenly flashed with a hint of amusement. She gulped silently. She had seen that look before during the Silver Millenium… that was the look he gave someone when he was up to something.
"I'm sorry." She muttered one last time, biting her tongue to keep her from saying anymore.
"It's alright er… I didn't catch your name…" He replied, watching her with a smile as she dusted herself off.
"Luna." She replied quietly, then immediately regretted it. She should have said somebody else's name… now he would start to remember things and…
"That's a nice name." Darien replied. She looked up at him, sapphire blue eyes staring into blue-gray, and watched in fascination as he put a hand on her shoulder. She shivered under the touch of someone so familiar, yet who didn't feel like the person he normally did… "My name's Darien." He told her. Luna looked cautiously at the hand he had on her shoulder. Just what exactly was he getting at anyway?
"I know." She responded softly. The expression on his face was confused, but he didn't say anything about it.
"So Luna…" He began, locking his gaze with hers, "are you busy tomorrow night?" Luna's eyes went wide. Was he asking her what she thought he was asking her?
"Um…" Luna began, but she was finding it hard to speak. Her first natural instinct was to yell, "yes you idiot, you're supposed to be in love with Serena, not me!" but she kept her mouth shut about that. Maybe she should accept… then she would get the chance to talk to him, and possibly bring up the subject of Serena. This could be just the break she needed. Licking her lips, her eyes darted nervously about. If he got to into their "relationship" however, then…
"Well?" He asked, his voice sounding a bit impatient and a small frown danced across his dark features. She laughed under her breath; the prince had never been the patient type.
"No, I'm not busy…" She said slowly. His frown immediately turned into a grin.
"Great!" Darien exclaimed, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a slip of paper, handing it to her. On it were his name, address and phone-number. She looked up at him in disbelief. He carried these things around just incase? What a flirt! "Call me." He whispered into her ear, and it took everything Luna had not to roll her eyes. If he thought that he had her in the palm of his hand, he was quite mistaken. Darien gave her a sly wink before turning around and walking away, leaving Luna alone. The wind whipped her black hair into her eyes, but she didn't bother to brush it away. Had she really done the right thing? She sighed as he walked away.
"Make just one wrong move on me Darien…" She muttered under his breath. "Just one wrong move, and you're in big, big trouble." Turning on her heel she walked worriedly away from their meeting stop.
However, she failed to notice the person in the shadows of the alleyway next to her.
"Don't worry Luna, everything will work out. I'll make sure of it."
~
Luna slowly turned, eyeing the back of her shirt suspiciously in the mirror. She was meeting Darien in half-an-hour, and she wasn't exactly in the mood to wear her traditional yellow sundress. Instead she wore a pair of black jeans that shaped around her long, slender legs rather nicely and a pink sweater that was slightly formfitting. Adorned on her ears were two crescent moon earrings and she had on just a touch of pink lip-gloss and eye shadow. Why she felt inclined to look nice for this "date" she had no idea, yet she felt as though it were necessary. Perhaps it was so that she could make a good impression on him and make him feel open to talk to her about anything… or rather, anyone. And there was a certain, meatball headed girl she had in mind…
Suddenly she heard someone knock lightly on her hotel door. Curious at who it could possibly be, she abandoned the mirror and headed toward the front door. Her hair was still wet (she had just gotten out of the shower) and she grabbed a nearby towel off of the blue couch, pressing onto various spots of her hair to try to dry it a little better. She draped it over her arm and opened the front door, to find an empty hallway. Luna poked her head out of the doorway, looking both right and left, but no one was to be seen. Shrugging it off as a prank, she closed the door and headed back toward her tiny bedroom.
Only seconds after she shut the door however, someone knocked again. Quickly she hurried back to the door and swung it open. Still, she saw no one. Suddenly, something soft and furry brushed against her leg and she gasped and jumped backward. Looking down, she saw a small brown cat. On it's head was a blue and green symbol that she recognized as the symbol for earth.
"Oh… kitty, I didn't see you." She said breathlessly, still recovering from the shock. The kitten grinned at her and meowed. It attempted to jump up onto Luna's lap, but she quickly stood and it slid down her legs. Something didn't feel right about this cat… how did it get that mark on it's forehead anyway? The kitten meowed again. A sudden light flashed, and in it's place stood a full grown man. He had the same blue-gray eyes that the cat had had, and his brown hair was the same color of the cat's fur. He didn't have a muscular build, but was rather very tall and lean. His bangs hung slightly in his eyes and his hair was in a ponytail that fell just a bit past his shoulder blades. He was wearing a brown, very stiff shirt that buttoned down the front, with elaborate designs of roses on the chest, and was wearing matching, plain brown pants. Luna immediately backed away at the sudden change, running into her blue couch as she did.
"Don't be scared, Luna." The man said in a soft, reassuring voice. He inched closer toward her, and Luna backed away some more.
"Who are you and how do you know my name?" Luna inquired in a slightly panic-stricken voice. She was trying not to let him know that she was afraid, but knew that she was succeeding in this task very well.
"Ah yes… I guessed that you wouldn't remember." Luna eyed him suspiciously. Something about him was familiar… but she was certain that she had never met him before… not in this life, at least. "Think Luna… does "Sola" ring a bell?" He said then, catching her off guard. She gasped. That name… she knew that name, had used it many times… but not in this life, no, not in this life… but during the time of the Silver Millenium…
"Sola?" She questioned in a meek voice. It was all coming back to her now. She was beginning to remember the name, the face… the voice… who he was…
He nodded, smiling. Luna smiled warmly back at him, but she was still slightly hesitant. He suddenly pulled her into an embrace, and all suspicions about him were immediately gone. Yes, this was definitely her Sola… this was definitely her brother.
~
Darien impatiently tapped his fingers on the table top, annoyed. He glanced down at the watch on his wrist for the millionth time that minute, seeing if anymore time had passed.
"Where is she?" He growled to his friend Andrew, who was sitting across from him taking a coffee break.
"I don't know." Andrew shrugged, taking another sip of his steaming coffee. He noted the way Darien kept fidgeting in his seat and checking his watch, and asked, "So why are you so anxious to talk to this girl anyway?" Darien immediately looked up from his watch, a small blush dancing across his cheeks. He coughed uncomfortably. Andrew grinned.
"Well I'm not sure, I guess… I just… felt something about her. I'm not sure what it was, but it was a nice feeling… not to mention that she's rather pretty…" Darien trailed off as he looked down at his watch again. Andrew had one eyebrow cocked and was looking at Darien suspiciously.
"So, could it be that Mr. Heartbreaker has finally fallen head over heals in love?" He questioned, faking shock. Darien kicked his leg underneath the table, and Andrew grimaced in pain. "Man, that hurt."
"Well you deserve it. I don't know if it's love, it was just… a feeling." Darien replied snottily, this time checking the clock on the wall, making sure his watch wasn't lying to him again.
The arcade doors suddenly burst open and Luna came running in, looking wildly around for her "date", and wondering if he had already left – after all, she was half an hour late. Spying him sitting at a small table with a man she recognized as Andrew, she waved and, trying her best to regain her composure, headed over.
"And here she is now." Darien whispered to Andrew, who looked stunned as Luna walked over. Something about her seemed very familiar… he knew he had seen her somewhere before, but where? Andrew rose from his seat, leaving it free for Luna to sit down in. Before she did, however, he shook her hand, staring deeply into her eyes.
"Have we met before?" He asked her, studying her face rather intently and making Luna blush.
"Er… no, I-I don't believe we have." She stuttered. Andrew shook his head in hopelessness before letting go of her hand and apologizing. He said goodbye then headed off toward the counter to take the orders of two girls who had just come in. And one of them was…
"Serena!" Luna exclaimed, then immediately bit her tongue and dove into the booth Andrew had left unoccupied for her.
Upon hearing her name, Serena turned and looked around curiously. The arcade was fairly empty, but she did see someone quickly jump into a booth. She wasn't able to see the person, but the person sitting across from them was none other than the boy she had ran into the other day. She frowned at the site of him. He waved at her with an annoying little grin on his face, and she in turn stuck her tongue out at him before hastily turning back toward her friend Molly.
"The nerve of that guy!" She had now completely forgotten about the fact that someone had called her name, and grumpily ordered a chocolate sundae with extra fudge from Andrew.
~
"Do you know that girl?" Darien questioned Luna, who was spying on Serena. Realizing what she was doing she straightened and turned back to Darien, blushing nervously.
"Serena? Oh, we've met…" Luna muttered, looking down at her fish-burger that she had ordered from Andrew.
"So her name's Serena? What a little brat." Darien replied, sounding annoyed. "Did you know that she actually hit me with her test paper yesterday? And she only got a 30 on it to!" He took a sip out of his coke after saying this and Luna tried not to grin.
"Oh really? She seems pretty sweet to me…" She commented, trying to make Darien see the better side of Serena. He snorted and turned away from her, but said nothing. Taking a drink from her vanilla milkshake, she licked her lips in ecstasy. When she was a cat she never got to drink anything as good… all she got was milk and water. This was much better, and the fish-burger was great… maybe she'd have to start being a human more often. She looked up at Darien and noticed that he was staring quite intently at her lips. Nervously she coughed and covered her mouth. This seemed to snap him out of his trance, and he looked up into her eyes and smiled. She attempted to smile back, but didn't want to draw much attention to her mouth. All in all same she was very grateful when Andrew walked over asking if they wanted anything else. Darien ordered a dish of chocolate ice cream, and she a piece of chocolate cake. Luna cleared her throat again and said, "I think you really should give her a second chance though, Darien. She's very sweet."
"I'll think about it." He replied quietly. Luna smiled. He really was pretty sweet… if he didn't have "property of Serena Tsukino" written all over him and if she wasn't already married to Artemis, she might even consider going after him. But that was never happening. Absentmindedly she looked over to where Serena and her friend sat and had a double take. Sola was sitting next to Serena, and they were both talking and laughing and seemingly enjoying each other's company a great deal.
"What does he think he's doing?" She whispered under her breath. Darien, overhearing a few of her words, looked back at her face.
"What's that?" He asked.
"Oh, nothing, nothing." Luna replied, laughing nervously. "So, Darien… why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?" She said, trying to strike up a conversation so she didn't seem quite as suspicious.
"Oh… ok. Well, there's not much to know about me." He continued talking, but Luna blanked him out. It wasn't like she actually needed to hear any of it; she already knew it all. She kept glancing over to where Sola was obviously flirting with Serena, each time her anger getting stronger and stronger. If he wasn't careful he could ruin her whole plan! Not that she really had one, but if Sola and Serena became too close she wouldn't even want to be with Darien, and then what? To make sure that his lips were still moving, she looked back at Darien, who seemed to be listing something off on his fingers. She nodded and smiled reassuringly. For someone who didn't have "much to know about me" he sure was going on for a long time.
When Luna checked back at the area occupied by Sola, Serena and Serena's friend, she had a double take as she saw that Serena's friend was already gone, and that Serena and Sola were leaving… together! Her eyes went wide, and she quickly looked back to Darien. There had to be some way to get him to shut up so that she could leave and stop Sola! She glanced worriedly at Darien, who was laughing at something. She laughed as well, then looked back toward Serena and Sola. They were almost to the door… no wait, Serena seemed to have forgotten something… she was running back to the counter to get it…
"Luna?" Hearing her name, she whipped back around to look at Darien, feeling slightly worried that he may have stopped his speech some time ago.
"Y-Yes?" She stuttered.
"I'm really sorry… I've been having a great time, but I've got to go now." He told her, rising from his seat. Luna nearly shouted in joy, but thinking it inappropriate, refrained from doing so. She tried to frown and sound disappointed.
"Oh, ok. I have to go too. See ya." Without saying another word she quickly rose as well and walked very quickly toward the door and out it into the cool evening air. She looked left and right, but saw no sign of either Serena nor Sola.
"Sola, you idiot!" She hissed, stamping her foot in aggravation. A few people turned to stare at her curiously, but she didn't notice them. A solitary tear, colored the pale color of moonlight, fell silently down her face and onto the cold pavement below. She turned her head upward toward the now blackening sky, where the moon was just visible through a few wispy clouds. "Serena…"
~
Love? Hate? Wishing my chapters were longer? Please read and review! Sorry this chapter is so short, but I've got major writers block and this was as much as I could think of for now. Also, sorry it's taken me so long to submit the second part of this story, but you know how life is… I've been really busy, but I'll try to be better on submitting parts to my stories more frequently ^_^