AN: I am SO SO SO SO SO SORRY!!!!! It has been forever since I posted any
new chapters, I know….. gomen!! But I got really sick with this stupid
sinus infection that keeps coming back… I didn't feel like doing anything
and I was so tired I would just go to sleep as soon as I got home. I feel a
little better now so here are a whole bunch of chapters to make up for how
long the few people who care had to wait!!
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Never let a beautiful woman pick your path for you when there is a man in her line of sight.
--Terry Goodkind, Wizard's First Rule
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Chapter Nine: Bitchy Beryl
Serena woke before Darien the next morning, and after fumbling about in his kitchen for a while, she managed to get herself a cup of coffee without his help. She installed herself in a chair across from where he slept on the couch with the steaming mug and her purring cat, feeling pleased with herself. She had just finished checking the paper thoroughly, and was happy to find no mention of herself, when Darien slowly came to life, sitting up, rubbing his messy hair, and blinking groggily. Serena giggled over the paper at him. He looked so cute with his hair all mussed.
"Morning, beautiful," she teased, grinning evilly. He shot her a squinty, but nonetheless murderous, glare and disappeared into the kitchen. Emerging with a mug gripped in both hands a few minutes later, he looked much more sociable. She handed him the paper and was patiently silent while he glanced over it.
The paper could not compete with the beautiful girl in front of him for his attention for long, and he set it down after hardly a glance. Regarding her solemnly, he wisely decided not to mention last night.
"It's 7:40. I'll have to leave soon if I don't want to be late again today." Then he grinned mischievously. "Unless, of course, I decide to play hooky and stay in with a certain blonde…"
Serena threw a nearby throw pillow at him. "Yeah, right. I'm sure watching cartoons with me all day is such an appealing idea," she said wryly.
He gave her an odd look, thinking, The weird thing is, it is. "Were you really bored yesterday?" he asked, a sudden idea striking him.
"Well…yeah," she admitted.
"Ah, then I have an idea which just might suit you. Have you heard of Darmoon International?"
"Um…no," she said, a little embarrassed, since she obviously was supposed to have.
"Really? It's a big corporation, I mean really enormous. It would be hard to tell you exactly what they do because they've taken over so many companies and cover so many different industries all over the world. I work for them in their local office, the original headquarters. The Darmoon family lives around here, and they've got four children, three sons and a daughter."
"What's all this have to do with me being bored?" Serena asked, wondering what the point to this explanation was.
"Well, the youngest of the sons, name's Rubeus, I think, is throwing a party tonight and all the Darmoon employees of this local branch are invited. I didn't remember it until just now because I wasn't planning on going, but if you're bored…" he let his voice trail off in suggestion.
Serena all but squealed, delighted with the promise of something other than mind-numbing daytime TV to look forward to. "A party? Darien, I'd love to!" Then she sagged with a sudden realization. "Oh, but I can't. I don't have anything to wear."
Darien looked taken aback. "What? You have a whole bag full of clothes hanging in my TV room!"
"But is this the kind of party where you can wear jeans and an old t- shirt?" she asked patiently.
"It's not formal or anything," Darien said, but, thinking back to the last (and only) one of Rubeus' parties that he had been to, the girls really hadn't been wearing jeans… In fact, a lot of them hadn't seemed to be wearing much at all… He swallowed and continued quickly, "But I guess something more like a dress would be more appropriate…"
"See? I don't have any dresses." All the pretty things that Mrs. Tsukino had insisted on buying for her were left at the Tsukinos' in her mad dash away. She sighed glumly now, wishing that she had grabbed one out of her closet.
Darien studied her disappointed face, aquamarine eyes downcast, and reached an abrupt decision. He left the room and returned with his wallet. Serena stared at the bills he laid in her palm.
"So buy yourself one," he said casually.
She looked up with wide eyes, completely taken aback. "Darien, I can't take this. You don't have to…"
"I want to," he interrupted her, reaching out and closing her fingers around the money. He held the fist shut between his hands. "Please? I'd really like you to go to the party with me, dressed in something pretty." His eyes implored her convincingly, but still, she held back, not feeling right about taking his money. He changed tactics, grinning rakishly at her and winking. "Of course, if you'd rather have me drag you there in boxers and an undershirt…"
"Oh, fine. But only for you," she conceded, unable to keep from smiling back.
"Good," he said happily. "And now, Mr. Chiba must partake himself to work, lest he be tardy, yet again." He released her hands and went into his room, coming back out a while later, dressed for work. He knelt before where she was sitting in an easy chair and kissed the back of her hand, like a noble gentleman of old.
"Good day, my lady. I look forward with great pleasure to this evening," he intoned with a fake British accent, grinning at her. He rose and left with his briefcase, leaving her beaming in the chair, feeling simultaneously like a smiling idiot and a beautiful lady.
~----------~
Serena clutched nervously at Darien's arm, seized by a sudden attack of shyness.
He looked down at her and smiled reassuringly. "Relax. You look beautiful, and you're going to have a great time."
She ran a hand down her new dress, hoping it was okay. Darien obviously liked it… if half his compliments were true and not just flattery. She had spent all morning shopping for it and had been one hundred percent sure that it was absolutely perfect…until she reached the doorstep of the Darmoon mansion. The party sounds of loud music and shouting drifted through the door, tying her stomach in knots.
Now, come on, Serena, get a hold of yourself. You've been acting the part of confident, self-sufficient adult all your life. This is just another audience to fool. Pulling up reserves of self-assurance, she straightened and let go of Darien's arm as he rung the bell.
The door swung open immediately. A girl with short hair dyed bright blue and funky, square-shaped glasses was behind it, and a scene of multiple bodies pressed against each other and dancing was behind her. The girl squealed and threw her arms around Darien.
"Dare! You came! Wow, I thought you said you were never coming to one of these again, after last time! Ooo, and you brought a girl with you!" The blue-haired girl turned to Serena and hugged her with as much enthusiasm as she had Darien. She drew away and continued, leaving Serena dazed and slightly breathless.
"So, I'm sure Dare's told you *all* about me," she gushed, taking no notice of Serena's blank look. "But it's probably not true. I'm not really crazy, I just get a little excited sometimes."
Talk about gross understatements, Serena thought as the girl babbled on.
Darien cut right into the girl's chatter. "Serena, this is my friend Ami. She's quite insane, but mostly harmless, usually. Hey, Ames, you mind if we come in?"
"Oh, sorry," Ami said cheerfully, moving out of the way so they could move inside the doorway.
Serena moved unconsciously closer to Darien. There were people everywhere, all of them older than she was. Bodies pressed against bodies, moving in wild rhythm to pounding music, colored lights swinging over their heads and across skin-tight miniskirts and halter-tops. Serena flushed at the amount of skin showing all around her. Her own dress was spaghetti-strapped and short, but nowhere near as short as most in here. It was the same light blue as her eyes, covered with a pattern of silver flowers and leaves. A thin silver ribbon was threaded through the fabric and tied into a small bow under her breasts, and the rest of the dress hung straight to mid- thigh. She tucked her hair behind her ear nervously. She had left it down, afraid that someone would recognize her rather distinctive usual style from the picture in the paper. Darien laid a hand on her arm.
"You okay?" he asked in her ear, so that he wouldn't have to shout over the music.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, smiling up at him to prove the point.
"This a private conversation?" a smooth voice came from nearby. Serena looked away from Darien's face and encountered the coldest stare she had ever seen in her life, directed right at her. A woman in a very short, very clingy, purple dress was standing in front of her and Darien, one hand on a curving hip. She let her cold gaze linger on Serena for a moment more, then turned a heated one on Darien. Her strangely reddish eyes traveled up and down his body, slowly. She licked her lips suggestively, and Serena blushed at such outright insinuation. "Hey, Darien," the woman said in a soft, low voice, completely unlike the one she had used before.
"Hey, Beryl," he said, flatly. "Come on Serena, I want you to meet a friend of mine." He started to pull her away. Another woman stepped in front of him. Serena stared at her bright green hair, which fell in long waves to her black, strappy, and short dress.
"Oh, is this the guy, Beryl? He's cute," the green-haired woman said.
Beryl smiled smugly. "Darien, I want you to meet Emerald Darmoon. Emerald, this is Darien and…ah…his little friend," she said with a subtle sneer at Serena.
She refused to be intimidated, and stood up to her full height, thankful for the enhancement of platform sandals. "Actually, my name is Serena."
Beryl exchanged a look with Emerald. "Oh, really? How…cute."
Emerald tried to effect a look of sweet innocence, and didn't quite manage it. "Is she your little sister, Darien? How nice of you to bring her!" She grinned and cocked her head at Serena. "And are you having a good time, sweetie?"
Anger started to rise in Serena, and she felt Darien tense beside her. She had to do something, and fast, or he might do something that he would regret.
Grinning back at Emerald, she bounced up and down and said in a sickly- sweet, baby voice, "Oh, yes, I'm having *such* a great time with all these big growed-up people, and it's all thanks to my big brother!" She hugged Darien and looked up at him with big eyes. "You're the bestest brother ever, Darien!"
He looked down at her first with bewilderment, then, slowly, surprised amusement. His eyes laughed down at her as he effected a serious expression and patted her on the head.
"Oh, that's okay, you know you've always been my favorite little sis! Come along now, I want you to meet another one of my big *growed*-up friends," he said in a patronizing big brother voice. "I'd love to stick around, girls, but, well, you know how sisters are," he told the miffed women, shrugging and putting an arm around Serena's waist. He led her away from them, and she threw a glance over his shoulder to see Beryl shooting daggers through her eyes and Emerald sighing in a bored manner and checking her long, green nails.
"Way to go, Serena, you handled that really well!" Darien said, laughing with her.
"Yeah, well, it was either that or get in a full-blown catfight, and I don't know about you, but I really don't want to be on the wrong side of that Emerald's two-foot claws," she replied, still giggling a little and feeling flushed from her small success. She, a seventeen year-old at her first real party, had gotten the better of two older women who were infinitely more experienced than she. Experienced in more ways than one, she thought, wryly, remembering the seductive way Beryl had licked her lips at Darien.
"So who were they?" she asked, suddenly having a bad feeling about how Darien knew the auburn-haired witch.
He looked away, scanning the crowd. "Oh…well, you heard Emerald's last name. She's the daughter of the Darmoon family. As for Beryl…she's just Beryl. There are no words to describe her," he finished, in a strangely weary tone.
"I can think of a few," Serena muttered, various obscenities coming to mind. Either Darien didn't hear her, or he pretended not to.
"Well, I really did want you to meet a friend of mine…actually, a couple of friends. Do you mind?"
"No, I'd love to meet anyone you want me to," she assured him, agreeably. As long as all of them are male and decently clothed, she added silently.
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Never let a beautiful woman pick your path for you when there is a man in her line of sight.
--Terry Goodkind, Wizard's First Rule
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Chapter Nine: Bitchy Beryl
Serena woke before Darien the next morning, and after fumbling about in his kitchen for a while, she managed to get herself a cup of coffee without his help. She installed herself in a chair across from where he slept on the couch with the steaming mug and her purring cat, feeling pleased with herself. She had just finished checking the paper thoroughly, and was happy to find no mention of herself, when Darien slowly came to life, sitting up, rubbing his messy hair, and blinking groggily. Serena giggled over the paper at him. He looked so cute with his hair all mussed.
"Morning, beautiful," she teased, grinning evilly. He shot her a squinty, but nonetheless murderous, glare and disappeared into the kitchen. Emerging with a mug gripped in both hands a few minutes later, he looked much more sociable. She handed him the paper and was patiently silent while he glanced over it.
The paper could not compete with the beautiful girl in front of him for his attention for long, and he set it down after hardly a glance. Regarding her solemnly, he wisely decided not to mention last night.
"It's 7:40. I'll have to leave soon if I don't want to be late again today." Then he grinned mischievously. "Unless, of course, I decide to play hooky and stay in with a certain blonde…"
Serena threw a nearby throw pillow at him. "Yeah, right. I'm sure watching cartoons with me all day is such an appealing idea," she said wryly.
He gave her an odd look, thinking, The weird thing is, it is. "Were you really bored yesterday?" he asked, a sudden idea striking him.
"Well…yeah," she admitted.
"Ah, then I have an idea which just might suit you. Have you heard of Darmoon International?"
"Um…no," she said, a little embarrassed, since she obviously was supposed to have.
"Really? It's a big corporation, I mean really enormous. It would be hard to tell you exactly what they do because they've taken over so many companies and cover so many different industries all over the world. I work for them in their local office, the original headquarters. The Darmoon family lives around here, and they've got four children, three sons and a daughter."
"What's all this have to do with me being bored?" Serena asked, wondering what the point to this explanation was.
"Well, the youngest of the sons, name's Rubeus, I think, is throwing a party tonight and all the Darmoon employees of this local branch are invited. I didn't remember it until just now because I wasn't planning on going, but if you're bored…" he let his voice trail off in suggestion.
Serena all but squealed, delighted with the promise of something other than mind-numbing daytime TV to look forward to. "A party? Darien, I'd love to!" Then she sagged with a sudden realization. "Oh, but I can't. I don't have anything to wear."
Darien looked taken aback. "What? You have a whole bag full of clothes hanging in my TV room!"
"But is this the kind of party where you can wear jeans and an old t- shirt?" she asked patiently.
"It's not formal or anything," Darien said, but, thinking back to the last (and only) one of Rubeus' parties that he had been to, the girls really hadn't been wearing jeans… In fact, a lot of them hadn't seemed to be wearing much at all… He swallowed and continued quickly, "But I guess something more like a dress would be more appropriate…"
"See? I don't have any dresses." All the pretty things that Mrs. Tsukino had insisted on buying for her were left at the Tsukinos' in her mad dash away. She sighed glumly now, wishing that she had grabbed one out of her closet.
Darien studied her disappointed face, aquamarine eyes downcast, and reached an abrupt decision. He left the room and returned with his wallet. Serena stared at the bills he laid in her palm.
"So buy yourself one," he said casually.
She looked up with wide eyes, completely taken aback. "Darien, I can't take this. You don't have to…"
"I want to," he interrupted her, reaching out and closing her fingers around the money. He held the fist shut between his hands. "Please? I'd really like you to go to the party with me, dressed in something pretty." His eyes implored her convincingly, but still, she held back, not feeling right about taking his money. He changed tactics, grinning rakishly at her and winking. "Of course, if you'd rather have me drag you there in boxers and an undershirt…"
"Oh, fine. But only for you," she conceded, unable to keep from smiling back.
"Good," he said happily. "And now, Mr. Chiba must partake himself to work, lest he be tardy, yet again." He released her hands and went into his room, coming back out a while later, dressed for work. He knelt before where she was sitting in an easy chair and kissed the back of her hand, like a noble gentleman of old.
"Good day, my lady. I look forward with great pleasure to this evening," he intoned with a fake British accent, grinning at her. He rose and left with his briefcase, leaving her beaming in the chair, feeling simultaneously like a smiling idiot and a beautiful lady.
~----------~
Serena clutched nervously at Darien's arm, seized by a sudden attack of shyness.
He looked down at her and smiled reassuringly. "Relax. You look beautiful, and you're going to have a great time."
She ran a hand down her new dress, hoping it was okay. Darien obviously liked it… if half his compliments were true and not just flattery. She had spent all morning shopping for it and had been one hundred percent sure that it was absolutely perfect…until she reached the doorstep of the Darmoon mansion. The party sounds of loud music and shouting drifted through the door, tying her stomach in knots.
Now, come on, Serena, get a hold of yourself. You've been acting the part of confident, self-sufficient adult all your life. This is just another audience to fool. Pulling up reserves of self-assurance, she straightened and let go of Darien's arm as he rung the bell.
The door swung open immediately. A girl with short hair dyed bright blue and funky, square-shaped glasses was behind it, and a scene of multiple bodies pressed against each other and dancing was behind her. The girl squealed and threw her arms around Darien.
"Dare! You came! Wow, I thought you said you were never coming to one of these again, after last time! Ooo, and you brought a girl with you!" The blue-haired girl turned to Serena and hugged her with as much enthusiasm as she had Darien. She drew away and continued, leaving Serena dazed and slightly breathless.
"So, I'm sure Dare's told you *all* about me," she gushed, taking no notice of Serena's blank look. "But it's probably not true. I'm not really crazy, I just get a little excited sometimes."
Talk about gross understatements, Serena thought as the girl babbled on.
Darien cut right into the girl's chatter. "Serena, this is my friend Ami. She's quite insane, but mostly harmless, usually. Hey, Ames, you mind if we come in?"
"Oh, sorry," Ami said cheerfully, moving out of the way so they could move inside the doorway.
Serena moved unconsciously closer to Darien. There were people everywhere, all of them older than she was. Bodies pressed against bodies, moving in wild rhythm to pounding music, colored lights swinging over their heads and across skin-tight miniskirts and halter-tops. Serena flushed at the amount of skin showing all around her. Her own dress was spaghetti-strapped and short, but nowhere near as short as most in here. It was the same light blue as her eyes, covered with a pattern of silver flowers and leaves. A thin silver ribbon was threaded through the fabric and tied into a small bow under her breasts, and the rest of the dress hung straight to mid- thigh. She tucked her hair behind her ear nervously. She had left it down, afraid that someone would recognize her rather distinctive usual style from the picture in the paper. Darien laid a hand on her arm.
"You okay?" he asked in her ear, so that he wouldn't have to shout over the music.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, smiling up at him to prove the point.
"This a private conversation?" a smooth voice came from nearby. Serena looked away from Darien's face and encountered the coldest stare she had ever seen in her life, directed right at her. A woman in a very short, very clingy, purple dress was standing in front of her and Darien, one hand on a curving hip. She let her cold gaze linger on Serena for a moment more, then turned a heated one on Darien. Her strangely reddish eyes traveled up and down his body, slowly. She licked her lips suggestively, and Serena blushed at such outright insinuation. "Hey, Darien," the woman said in a soft, low voice, completely unlike the one she had used before.
"Hey, Beryl," he said, flatly. "Come on Serena, I want you to meet a friend of mine." He started to pull her away. Another woman stepped in front of him. Serena stared at her bright green hair, which fell in long waves to her black, strappy, and short dress.
"Oh, is this the guy, Beryl? He's cute," the green-haired woman said.
Beryl smiled smugly. "Darien, I want you to meet Emerald Darmoon. Emerald, this is Darien and…ah…his little friend," she said with a subtle sneer at Serena.
She refused to be intimidated, and stood up to her full height, thankful for the enhancement of platform sandals. "Actually, my name is Serena."
Beryl exchanged a look with Emerald. "Oh, really? How…cute."
Emerald tried to effect a look of sweet innocence, and didn't quite manage it. "Is she your little sister, Darien? How nice of you to bring her!" She grinned and cocked her head at Serena. "And are you having a good time, sweetie?"
Anger started to rise in Serena, and she felt Darien tense beside her. She had to do something, and fast, or he might do something that he would regret.
Grinning back at Emerald, she bounced up and down and said in a sickly- sweet, baby voice, "Oh, yes, I'm having *such* a great time with all these big growed-up people, and it's all thanks to my big brother!" She hugged Darien and looked up at him with big eyes. "You're the bestest brother ever, Darien!"
He looked down at her first with bewilderment, then, slowly, surprised amusement. His eyes laughed down at her as he effected a serious expression and patted her on the head.
"Oh, that's okay, you know you've always been my favorite little sis! Come along now, I want you to meet another one of my big *growed*-up friends," he said in a patronizing big brother voice. "I'd love to stick around, girls, but, well, you know how sisters are," he told the miffed women, shrugging and putting an arm around Serena's waist. He led her away from them, and she threw a glance over his shoulder to see Beryl shooting daggers through her eyes and Emerald sighing in a bored manner and checking her long, green nails.
"Way to go, Serena, you handled that really well!" Darien said, laughing with her.
"Yeah, well, it was either that or get in a full-blown catfight, and I don't know about you, but I really don't want to be on the wrong side of that Emerald's two-foot claws," she replied, still giggling a little and feeling flushed from her small success. She, a seventeen year-old at her first real party, had gotten the better of two older women who were infinitely more experienced than she. Experienced in more ways than one, she thought, wryly, remembering the seductive way Beryl had licked her lips at Darien.
"So who were they?" she asked, suddenly having a bad feeling about how Darien knew the auburn-haired witch.
He looked away, scanning the crowd. "Oh…well, you heard Emerald's last name. She's the daughter of the Darmoon family. As for Beryl…she's just Beryl. There are no words to describe her," he finished, in a strangely weary tone.
"I can think of a few," Serena muttered, various obscenities coming to mind. Either Darien didn't hear her, or he pretended not to.
"Well, I really did want you to meet a friend of mine…actually, a couple of friends. Do you mind?"
"No, I'd love to meet anyone you want me to," she assured him, agreeably. As long as all of them are male and decently clothed, she added silently.
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