This is part two of Hard Times. Hope you like it.
---^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^---
Hard Times
Part Two
All Out War
---^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^---
"Oh, how could you Darien?" Serena sobbed, her eyes filled
with tears, collapsing on the floor. Then she got up and raced
down the stairs, not caring about anything else. She only cared
about the fact that Darien, her one true love, the one that she
dreamed about every night, had kissed Ann, the girl she hated most.
Alan couldn't believe his eyes. Ann, the one who he cared for
most, was kissing another man. Then he spotted Serena, who was
sobbing on the floor. His heart went out to her, seeing all the
pain she was going through, although a part of him was jealous of
and angry at this dark haired man who had the power to make his
blue eyed goddess cry. He shot a dirty look at the two, who were
still in each other's arms then went after Serena.
Ann and Darien just stared while all this was happening.
---^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^---
`No, this can't be happening. I didn't see Darien and Ann
kissing each other. This is only a terrible dream. I'll wake up
soon and Ann will never exist.' Serena thought as she ran. But she
could taste the bitterness of her tears in her mouth and knew that
this wasn't a dream. This was real. She ran into a nearby alley
and just collapsed, crying.
"Serena?" a gentle voice asked. "Serena, is that you?"
"Who is it? Go away." Serena sobbed, not looking up.
"Oh Serena, I'd never leave you. I'll always stand by you, no
matter what." the voice said as strong arms surrounded her. Serena
just cried into his shirt. After a while Serena looked up into the
most caring eyes she had ever seen. Then she noticed who it was.
"Oh, Alan, I'm sorry. I got your shirt all wet." Serena said
in suprise, managing a small smile.
"That's okay. Serena, you're shivering," Alan said, noticing
the way that Serena was shaking. "Here, my jacket should help you
keep warm. Now, tell me, why were you crying back at the
apartment?" Alan asked, his voice warm and comforting.
"Well, I've never told anyone this before but, I have a little
crush on Darien. But that's all over, since it's aparent that
Darien loves Ann." Serena said, staring at her hands.
"That must be tough, loving somebody and knowing that they
don't love you back. I also love this wonderful girl who is always
cheerful and is more beautiful than Aphrodite herself. And do you know who that girl is?" Alan said, lifting Serena's head to look at
his.
"No." she said, a little fearfully.
"That girl is you Serena." Alan said, looking into her eyes.
"I, I, I don't know what to say." Serena said, her eyes
shining.
"You don't have to say anything." Alan said, his face moving
closer to hers. And then he kissed her. At first she tried to
pull away but he just moved forward. Serena then returned the kiss
and the kiss deepened. Finally they came up for air.
Serena stared into Alan's eyes. Then she pulled away saying
"I shouldn't be doing this. I'm sorry, I have to go." Serena then
ran towards her house, still wearing Alan's jacket.
"Oh Serena, you can't run from your fate." Alan said as he
stared after her.
---^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^---
After that day Serena avoided Alan and Darien as much as she
could. She was still embarrassed about what had happened between
her and Alan and she knew that if she saw Darien she would start to
cry.
There was no hiding from Ann though. Darien and Ann had
started going out and Ann wasn't going to let Serena forget it.
"Why don't you just shut up already Ann? I know that you and
Darien are going out together so why don't you just shut your trap
and get out of here or else I'll make you." Serena spat one day
when Ann was telling her friends about her last date with Darien.
"Oh yeah? You and what army?" Ann scoffed.
"This army." Alan said, showing up out of nowhere.
"You're siding with her? I can't believe it. You're
suppossed to side with me, you are my brother after all." Ann said
to Alan.
"Just because I'm your brother doesn't mean I have to be on
your side all of the time." Alan said defiantly.
"Hmmph." was all Ann said and she and her gang walked away.
"Sorry about her bugging you Serena." Alan said, turning to
Serena.
"That's okay." Serena said, not meeting his eyes.
"Hey, listen. Do you wanna go get a shake at the arcade after
school?" Alan asked Serena hopefully.
"No thanks. I've gotta do my homework and all." Serena said,
starting to walk away.
"Serena," Alan said, grabbing Serena's arm, "why are you
avoiding me?"
"Let go of me Alan! And the reason I am avoiding you is
because I don't want to have anything to do with you." Serena told
him crossly. Alan let go of Serena's arm. "Thank you for letting
go of my arm. Now if you'll excuse me, I still have my lunch to
finish." Serena said a little coldly.
When Serena sat down her friends Amy, Raye, Lita and Mina
surrounded her. "So, Serena, why all the coldness towards Alan?
I mean, he is the hottest guy in school and you should be flattered
that he pays you any attention at all." Lita asked Serena.
"Yeah, even a Meatball Head like you would jump at the chance
to go out with a hunky guy like Alan." Raye added.
"I am avoiding him because of personal reasons." Serena said,
starting to eating her lunch.
"Like what? Huh? What kind of `personal reasons'?" Mina asked
eagerly.
"None that you need to know." Serena told her blonde haired
friend.
"Jeez Serena, don't have to be so cold to us. We're your
friends, remember?" Lita said, scratching the back of her head.
"How come you and Ann are always fighting Serena? I know Ann,
she's in one of my classes, and she is wonderful. I don't see any
reason for you two to bicker." Amy questioned her friend.
"Would you all just leave me alone? My private business is
none of your concern." Serena said, looking up from her lunch, a
look of anger on her face.
"Okay, sheesh. Come on girls, let's go find Ann and hang out
with her. Maybe she'll treat us a little better." Mina said to
everybody. The rest all murmured agreement as they gathered up
their stuff and walked towards Ann.
"Great, now I'm all alone. I have no friends and my dream of
Darien ever being my boyfriend is shattered. What more can
possibly go wrong?" Serena said.
---^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^---
Serena was staring down into her strawberry milkshake,
remembering how passionately Darien and Ann had kissed, when she
heard the door to the Crown Arcade open and close. She looked up
and there was Darien, standing over her. She quickly stood up.
"Excuse me Darien, but I have to go." Serena said curtly,
trying to edge around him.
Darien grabbed her wrist and said, "Serena, we need to talk.
Please sit down." a hint of pleading in his voice.
"Alright." said Serena. "What do you want to talk about?" she
asked, sitting down.
"I want to talk about us. Why you cried when you saw me and
Ann...," Darien stumbled for the right words, "together. And why
you've been avoiding me ever since." Serena didn't answer him.
"Well?" Darien prompted, growing impatient.
"I've been avoiding you because, I, I love you." she said, the
last few words barely audible. But Darien heard her loud and
clear.
"NANI?!" he exclaimed.
"Yes, it's true, I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!" Serena yelled out in
frustration. Then, realizing what she'd just said, she ran out of
the arcade, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.
Darien just stared after her. Then he started when he heard
Andrew say, "So, Darien, I hear that you and Ann are going out
together."
"Yeah, we are." Darien said.
"I wonder what she sees in you to go out with you though. I
think she's only doing it because she pities you." Andrew said
casually as he cleaned a cup.
"What do you mean, `she's pities me'?" Darien asked angriliy.
"Nothing, except that I think that she's too good for you. So
is Serena. They both deserve someone better, like me." Andrew
said, still acting casual.
This time Darien stood up. "Look, Andrew, just because you're
jealous doesn't mean you have to say it like this. Now Ann and I
are going out and you had better get used to it. And I also didn't
ask for Serena to have a crush on me. You can have her if you
want." Darien said to Andrew, his voice low and deadly, his eyes as
cold as steel.
"Crush??? She doesn't have a crush on you Darien, didn't you
hear her? She is in LOVE with you. And back to what you said
earlier, who said anything about being jealous? I'm just saying
that you're not good enough for her." Andrew said, dropping his
casual tone.
"You're jealous and we both know it. So until you get used to
the fact that we are going out together we have no business being
friends!" Darien said, his voice rising.
"That's fine with me!" Andrew retorted, his voice also rising.
"Fine!" Darien said, stomping out of the arcade.
"Fine!" Andrew yelled after him. By this time people were
staring at them. When Andrew noticed this he just blushed and went
into the back room to get something.
---^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^-----^_^------^_^---
When Serena got home that day she felt terrible. She thought
back to when she and her friends had had that fight at school and
groaned. "Man I wish that we had never had that fight today. But
what's done is done and there's nothing I can do about it." Serena
laid down on her bed and fell into a restless sleep.
From then on Serena spent more of her time with Molly and
Melvin. She started to really study. She even began to do good in
her language class, which was teaching English. She raised her
poor grade average that was so low I don't even wanna say it, to a
B+.
This went on for the rest of the school year. At the
beginning of summer, though, Serena's life got even worse.
She was upstairs doing her homework when she heard the
telephone ringing downstairs. Remembering that her family had gone
to buy Sammy some new shoes she got up and trudged over to the
phone and picked it up.
"Hello?" she asked politely into the mouthpiece.
"Hello, is this Serena Tsukino?" a man's voice asked.
"Yes, this is she. What can I do for you?" Serena asked,
starting to get worried.
"I'm sorry to tell you this but," the man paused, as if
gathering courage for what he was about to say, "but your family is
dead. They died in a car crash. It seemed that they died
instantaneously."
It took a while for it all to sink in. She just couldn't
believe it. Serena had always heard that trouble came in threes;
Darien becoming Ann's boyfriend, the fight with her friends, and
now her family dying. It was all just to much.
"I see. Thank you for telling me." Serena finally said into
the mouthpiece.
"Are you okay?" the man asked, his voice obviously filled with
concern. "Do you want me to send someone over there?"
"No, that's okay, I'm fine. Good©bye." Serena said and she
set the phone back down in it's cradle. Then she went up to her
room and cried and cried and cried into her pillow. Her cat, Luna,
tried to comfort her but it was no use. Serena finally cried
herself to sleep.
A couple hours later, when Serena had woken up, she got out a
pen and a piece of paper and wrote a note. Then she got out a
suitcase and started packing all of her clothes and some food in it. In another she put all of her personal possesions in it. After she did this she gathered all the money she had and called a taxi and told it to take her to the bank.
There she got out all the money in her parents' accounts and
the money in her and Sammy's accounts and left to the airport.
There she got a ticket to America and waited until her flight
departure. When she got on the plane she looked out the window at
Japan, the place where she had grown up in, the only place she had
ever known.
"Good-bye Japan. Good-bye my beloved Darien. Hope you have
a wonderful time with your girlfriend. I shall return some day."
she whispered. And then the plane took off and she was gone.
---^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^---
Oh no! What will happen to Serena in America? How will she
survive? Don't you just looove cliffhangers? :)
Ja ne minna,
PinkPakRat
---^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^---
Hard Times
Part Two
All Out War
---^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^---
"Oh, how could you Darien?" Serena sobbed, her eyes filled
with tears, collapsing on the floor. Then she got up and raced
down the stairs, not caring about anything else. She only cared
about the fact that Darien, her one true love, the one that she
dreamed about every night, had kissed Ann, the girl she hated most.
Alan couldn't believe his eyes. Ann, the one who he cared for
most, was kissing another man. Then he spotted Serena, who was
sobbing on the floor. His heart went out to her, seeing all the
pain she was going through, although a part of him was jealous of
and angry at this dark haired man who had the power to make his
blue eyed goddess cry. He shot a dirty look at the two, who were
still in each other's arms then went after Serena.
Ann and Darien just stared while all this was happening.
---^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^---
`No, this can't be happening. I didn't see Darien and Ann
kissing each other. This is only a terrible dream. I'll wake up
soon and Ann will never exist.' Serena thought as she ran. But she
could taste the bitterness of her tears in her mouth and knew that
this wasn't a dream. This was real. She ran into a nearby alley
and just collapsed, crying.
"Serena?" a gentle voice asked. "Serena, is that you?"
"Who is it? Go away." Serena sobbed, not looking up.
"Oh Serena, I'd never leave you. I'll always stand by you, no
matter what." the voice said as strong arms surrounded her. Serena
just cried into his shirt. After a while Serena looked up into the
most caring eyes she had ever seen. Then she noticed who it was.
"Oh, Alan, I'm sorry. I got your shirt all wet." Serena said
in suprise, managing a small smile.
"That's okay. Serena, you're shivering," Alan said, noticing
the way that Serena was shaking. "Here, my jacket should help you
keep warm. Now, tell me, why were you crying back at the
apartment?" Alan asked, his voice warm and comforting.
"Well, I've never told anyone this before but, I have a little
crush on Darien. But that's all over, since it's aparent that
Darien loves Ann." Serena said, staring at her hands.
"That must be tough, loving somebody and knowing that they
don't love you back. I also love this wonderful girl who is always
cheerful and is more beautiful than Aphrodite herself. And do you know who that girl is?" Alan said, lifting Serena's head to look at
his.
"No." she said, a little fearfully.
"That girl is you Serena." Alan said, looking into her eyes.
"I, I, I don't know what to say." Serena said, her eyes
shining.
"You don't have to say anything." Alan said, his face moving
closer to hers. And then he kissed her. At first she tried to
pull away but he just moved forward. Serena then returned the kiss
and the kiss deepened. Finally they came up for air.
Serena stared into Alan's eyes. Then she pulled away saying
"I shouldn't be doing this. I'm sorry, I have to go." Serena then
ran towards her house, still wearing Alan's jacket.
"Oh Serena, you can't run from your fate." Alan said as he
stared after her.
---^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^---
After that day Serena avoided Alan and Darien as much as she
could. She was still embarrassed about what had happened between
her and Alan and she knew that if she saw Darien she would start to
cry.
There was no hiding from Ann though. Darien and Ann had
started going out and Ann wasn't going to let Serena forget it.
"Why don't you just shut up already Ann? I know that you and
Darien are going out together so why don't you just shut your trap
and get out of here or else I'll make you." Serena spat one day
when Ann was telling her friends about her last date with Darien.
"Oh yeah? You and what army?" Ann scoffed.
"This army." Alan said, showing up out of nowhere.
"You're siding with her? I can't believe it. You're
suppossed to side with me, you are my brother after all." Ann said
to Alan.
"Just because I'm your brother doesn't mean I have to be on
your side all of the time." Alan said defiantly.
"Hmmph." was all Ann said and she and her gang walked away.
"Sorry about her bugging you Serena." Alan said, turning to
Serena.
"That's okay." Serena said, not meeting his eyes.
"Hey, listen. Do you wanna go get a shake at the arcade after
school?" Alan asked Serena hopefully.
"No thanks. I've gotta do my homework and all." Serena said,
starting to walk away.
"Serena," Alan said, grabbing Serena's arm, "why are you
avoiding me?"
"Let go of me Alan! And the reason I am avoiding you is
because I don't want to have anything to do with you." Serena told
him crossly. Alan let go of Serena's arm. "Thank you for letting
go of my arm. Now if you'll excuse me, I still have my lunch to
finish." Serena said a little coldly.
When Serena sat down her friends Amy, Raye, Lita and Mina
surrounded her. "So, Serena, why all the coldness towards Alan?
I mean, he is the hottest guy in school and you should be flattered
that he pays you any attention at all." Lita asked Serena.
"Yeah, even a Meatball Head like you would jump at the chance
to go out with a hunky guy like Alan." Raye added.
"I am avoiding him because of personal reasons." Serena said,
starting to eating her lunch.
"Like what? Huh? What kind of `personal reasons'?" Mina asked
eagerly.
"None that you need to know." Serena told her blonde haired
friend.
"Jeez Serena, don't have to be so cold to us. We're your
friends, remember?" Lita said, scratching the back of her head.
"How come you and Ann are always fighting Serena? I know Ann,
she's in one of my classes, and she is wonderful. I don't see any
reason for you two to bicker." Amy questioned her friend.
"Would you all just leave me alone? My private business is
none of your concern." Serena said, looking up from her lunch, a
look of anger on her face.
"Okay, sheesh. Come on girls, let's go find Ann and hang out
with her. Maybe she'll treat us a little better." Mina said to
everybody. The rest all murmured agreement as they gathered up
their stuff and walked towards Ann.
"Great, now I'm all alone. I have no friends and my dream of
Darien ever being my boyfriend is shattered. What more can
possibly go wrong?" Serena said.
---^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^---
Serena was staring down into her strawberry milkshake,
remembering how passionately Darien and Ann had kissed, when she
heard the door to the Crown Arcade open and close. She looked up
and there was Darien, standing over her. She quickly stood up.
"Excuse me Darien, but I have to go." Serena said curtly,
trying to edge around him.
Darien grabbed her wrist and said, "Serena, we need to talk.
Please sit down." a hint of pleading in his voice.
"Alright." said Serena. "What do you want to talk about?" she
asked, sitting down.
"I want to talk about us. Why you cried when you saw me and
Ann...," Darien stumbled for the right words, "together. And why
you've been avoiding me ever since." Serena didn't answer him.
"Well?" Darien prompted, growing impatient.
"I've been avoiding you because, I, I love you." she said, the
last few words barely audible. But Darien heard her loud and
clear.
"NANI?!" he exclaimed.
"Yes, it's true, I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!" Serena yelled out in
frustration. Then, realizing what she'd just said, she ran out of
the arcade, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.
Darien just stared after her. Then he started when he heard
Andrew say, "So, Darien, I hear that you and Ann are going out
together."
"Yeah, we are." Darien said.
"I wonder what she sees in you to go out with you though. I
think she's only doing it because she pities you." Andrew said
casually as he cleaned a cup.
"What do you mean, `she's pities me'?" Darien asked angriliy.
"Nothing, except that I think that she's too good for you. So
is Serena. They both deserve someone better, like me." Andrew
said, still acting casual.
This time Darien stood up. "Look, Andrew, just because you're
jealous doesn't mean you have to say it like this. Now Ann and I
are going out and you had better get used to it. And I also didn't
ask for Serena to have a crush on me. You can have her if you
want." Darien said to Andrew, his voice low and deadly, his eyes as
cold as steel.
"Crush??? She doesn't have a crush on you Darien, didn't you
hear her? She is in LOVE with you. And back to what you said
earlier, who said anything about being jealous? I'm just saying
that you're not good enough for her." Andrew said, dropping his
casual tone.
"You're jealous and we both know it. So until you get used to
the fact that we are going out together we have no business being
friends!" Darien said, his voice rising.
"That's fine with me!" Andrew retorted, his voice also rising.
"Fine!" Darien said, stomping out of the arcade.
"Fine!" Andrew yelled after him. By this time people were
staring at them. When Andrew noticed this he just blushed and went
into the back room to get something.
---^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^-----^_^------^_^---
When Serena got home that day she felt terrible. She thought
back to when she and her friends had had that fight at school and
groaned. "Man I wish that we had never had that fight today. But
what's done is done and there's nothing I can do about it." Serena
laid down on her bed and fell into a restless sleep.
From then on Serena spent more of her time with Molly and
Melvin. She started to really study. She even began to do good in
her language class, which was teaching English. She raised her
poor grade average that was so low I don't even wanna say it, to a
B+.
This went on for the rest of the school year. At the
beginning of summer, though, Serena's life got even worse.
She was upstairs doing her homework when she heard the
telephone ringing downstairs. Remembering that her family had gone
to buy Sammy some new shoes she got up and trudged over to the
phone and picked it up.
"Hello?" she asked politely into the mouthpiece.
"Hello, is this Serena Tsukino?" a man's voice asked.
"Yes, this is she. What can I do for you?" Serena asked,
starting to get worried.
"I'm sorry to tell you this but," the man paused, as if
gathering courage for what he was about to say, "but your family is
dead. They died in a car crash. It seemed that they died
instantaneously."
It took a while for it all to sink in. She just couldn't
believe it. Serena had always heard that trouble came in threes;
Darien becoming Ann's boyfriend, the fight with her friends, and
now her family dying. It was all just to much.
"I see. Thank you for telling me." Serena finally said into
the mouthpiece.
"Are you okay?" the man asked, his voice obviously filled with
concern. "Do you want me to send someone over there?"
"No, that's okay, I'm fine. Good©bye." Serena said and she
set the phone back down in it's cradle. Then she went up to her
room and cried and cried and cried into her pillow. Her cat, Luna,
tried to comfort her but it was no use. Serena finally cried
herself to sleep.
A couple hours later, when Serena had woken up, she got out a
pen and a piece of paper and wrote a note. Then she got out a
suitcase and started packing all of her clothes and some food in it. In another she put all of her personal possesions in it. After she did this she gathered all the money she had and called a taxi and told it to take her to the bank.
There she got out all the money in her parents' accounts and
the money in her and Sammy's accounts and left to the airport.
There she got a ticket to America and waited until her flight
departure. When she got on the plane she looked out the window at
Japan, the place where she had grown up in, the only place she had
ever known.
"Good-bye Japan. Good-bye my beloved Darien. Hope you have
a wonderful time with your girlfriend. I shall return some day."
she whispered. And then the plane took off and she was gone.
---^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^------^_^---
Oh no! What will happen to Serena in America? How will she
survive? Don't you just looove cliffhangers? :)
Ja ne minna,
PinkPakRat