Guess what?!? I didn't take a month off, in fact since writing that I've felt so un-obliged to write that I did (go figure). And I knew I was so close to the end of this story that I didn't want to stop. But I decided I'd write as much as I could before I posted any more, and it just so happens that I am almost finished!
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"When Dawn Comes"
By Kimra
Part XXI
Serena stared at Darien across the table. His deep blue eyes where fixed on the menu before him, reading through it with a level of attention she deemed unnecessary. It felt more like studied avoidance then devote attention to food. She shifted her weight against the plush chair, her eyes moving about the restaurant. It was higher class then she would have guessed and she was a little dressed down for the experience since she hadn't put very much effort into getting ready for the dinner.
Not much effort indeed. She snorted at herself. She had spent hours sorting through her clothes, trying to pick what would make her most appealing to him again since he had managed to fend her off in the alley. It was a matter of pride, she kept telling herself, to make him want her again, it wasn't as if she actually wanted him. In the end, having no idea where they where going she had settled for a long skirt and a nice top, all in all, she didn't blend perfectly, but she didn't stand out like a soar thumb.
"Are you going to look at the menu at all?" Darien asked, eyes not rising from the menu before him. Visibly she scowled at him and flicked her menu open. She didn't look at the price's, he would pay, it had been his stupid idea to go somewhere so he would pay. The food all sounded exotic and a bit beyond her tastes, she was used to shakes and hamburgers at the arcade and her mothers cooking, not the things listed before her. The only positive thought she had as she read the menu was that he had just admitted to being aware of her presence, it was a start.
When the waiter arrived Serena ordered quickly, and ordered as much as she thought she could. After all she deserved something for lying to her parents so well that night. She guessed her mother knew though, because her mother wasn't a complete idiot, and girls usually didn't spend hours trying to decide what to wear to go to the movies with their friends. But her mother had let her go, that look of worry that hadn't left her eyes over the last few weeks more intense then usual.
She didn't hear Darien order, but the second the waiter walked away she heard the silence. Or more to the point the silence that ensnared them and didn't affect any of the other patrons. The rest of the restaurant murmured in the back ground, a soft music hanging in the air around them. No one else seemed aware of the tense silence that lingered so near by.
She felt Darien go to talk, then stop. Her eyes moved about the restaurant again unwilling to look at him. There couldn't be any real conversation over this meal, she knew it, anything they had to say to each other would have to be said in privet, no matter how much he detested the idea. A little smirk came to her lips, wondering if it was because he didn't trust his self restraint as much as he would like to. That thought pleased her.
"We're here to talk." Serena began for him, her eyes fixing on the clock just beyond his head. Her breathing was calm, almost effected by their mellow surroundings.
"Yeah we are." Darien replied just as uncertain but desperate to keep the conversation going now it had began.
"Do you even know what you wanted to talk about?" She asked bluntly, feeling a little put out by his poor attempt at a response. Her eyes turned to face him, looking away from the clock. Strands of thick black hair fell into his midnight eyes, eyes that where focused intently on her. And even the table between them didn't make her feel more secure. There was something possessive in his expression that made her feel if she didn't get away she would be bound for eternity to him.
"Yeah." He replied softly, his eyes shifted from her, and the tension of his gaze evaporated before he was looking back at her. A small grin played at the sides of his lips and she desperately wondered what he was thinking. "I know what I want to talk about, but I'm going to guess you do to."
"Is this your way to make me start the conversation?" She snapped a little agitated by his grin, it threatened to make her feel happier, and she did not want to do that.
"Probably." He responded his grin calming a little, the sparkle in his eye's still there. "But then you seem to be starting everything else." He added, and she saw the serious undertones in his expression just as she heard it in his voice.
"Well, you weren't going to do it." She managed, her fingers idly twisting the cloth napkin.
"There's probably a reason for that." He countered.
"Well if it's the whole age thing." Serena didn't meet his eyes for those words, finding the napkin far more interesting as she continued to toy with it. "I mean-" The words froze at the back of her throat, feeling a little helpless, she had thought a lot of it through since the event, she had thought of little else. "Well it's already happened now hasn't it." She demanded a little angrily. She couldn't understand, if that where his problem, why he would really care. It wasn't like it had been their first time together, it had already happened, in her mind it didn't matter if it happened again.
"Serena." He whispered, and her eyes jumped up to met his. She was surprised when he was blurry and realized with a flinch of horror that tears where threatening her again. She blinked them fiercely and they retaliated by sliding down her checks. Her shaking hand brushed them aside.
"Am I that bad?" She asked him desperately, staring into that blank expression again, but managing to find a little consolation in it. "Am I?" She begged with more desperation. His hand moved across the table and settled over her fidgety one, crushing the napkin below them.
"No, your not." He returned honestly, and she could see the honesty in his face. "I am." He breathed out harshly. "It shouldn't have happened the first time, but I was drunk. The second time-" He paused his brows drawing together. "-I have no excuse, it just shouldn't have happened." She saw self resentment creeping into his eyes and her left hand settled over the hand that had captured her right.
"I didn't give you much of a choice." She countered, wanting to battle that self resentment from his features, it just seemed to wrong to be there. He shook his head, still not looking at her directly.
"That doesn't matter, it shouldn't have happened. I was just so frazzled when you showed up."
"Had you just woken up from a dream of memories?" She teased, and absently he nodded in reply. She felt a frown pull, frazzled would probably describe how she had felt upon waking as well. It had completely thrown her to get those memory's back in such a hit. She wondered why the memory's had manifested themselves as they had, but did not get much thought into the matter before she was staring into his questioning eyes.
"Is that why you where there?" He asked, his voice pitched low. "Because the same had happened to you?" He was frowning the smallest frown of concentration and so transfixed with the expression she nodded just as absently as he had done previously. "What did you dream of last night?" He asked carefully. It was the care that brought her attention back, he looked deep in thought.
"I don't remember." She admitted.
"Neither do I." Was the dark reply, and she was surprised to find his expression so changed, it was now possessed of far more dark lines and shadows then before. In an alarming way he reminded her of Tuxedo Mask at that moment, all shadows and secrets. At least Tuxedo Mask before he had lost his crystals, recently he had seemed different.
To break her chain of thought she forced the next words out. "Well what is it then? What's so wrong with what happened between us?"
"Serena there was no love, it was wrong. It was-" He meet her eyes then, and although there was expression there she couldn't read it. "It was your first time wasn't it?" He blurted out suddenly, and she had no way to respond but how she usually would to Darien.
"Was it yours?" She demanded, unwilling to answer that question if he didn't already know. But she could see in his eyes that he knew, and she didn't understand why he had to ask. He looked away from her a second after the question was asked, and she couldn't decipher his response. Forcefully she bit into the insides of her checks, it hurt that she probably wasn't his first and she didn't understand that either. She had seen so many girls fawning over him during their acquaintance and it boiled inside her that he could have bedded any number of them, because they had all seemed willing.
"Yes." He chocked out suddenly. He was looking out over the rest of the crowd, his attention apparently riveted on something trivial. "It's fair that you know, since I know it was yours."
"How gallant of you." She responded with sarcasm, glad he wasn't looking at her, because she suddenly couldn't look at him either. She felt better, strangely, knowing that what had happened between them wasn't a common thing for him. Because it had shaken her world to pieces it made her feel a little better knowing it had had some impact on him.
"If I had been sober-" He began and she swung her head to face him again.
"My mother once said that being drunk is just an excuse. That your still accountable for your actions." She sounded like a petulant child, and nearly cringed, referring to her mother was hardly going to convince him of maturity.
"I'm not saying I'm not. I just didn't want it to happen like that." His calm response was followed by a silent pause as she let the words soak in.
"What?" She squeaked when she realised what he meant. He didn't flinch at her tone of voice, his eyes serious.
"I'm attracted to you Serena, I have been for ages. And it hardly surprise's me that coming across you while drunk I would try and seduce you. But I would never have wanted it to happen like that, and I'm sorry. I like you too much as a person to not regret how this happened."
Her poleaxed silence was interrupted only when the waiter walked over and put the food on the table asking annoying questions that Darien waved away, his eyes never leaving her expression.
Serena went through turmoil as time moved on and the silence stretched. What he had said, it made her want to blush like mad, to think that he was actually attracted to her, despite what had happened it seemed strange to hear that. She had began to think of the Darien before that night as a different person to the one sitting before her, but his admittance that even before the night he had wanted her drove into home that they where one and the same. But then she had other things to think about, that he liked her, as a person, was even more of a shocker for her befuddled mind. They had done nothing but fight since the beginning, and she could see attraction brimming beneath that because she too had felt twinges of attraction when she wasn't fiercely declaring her hatred of him. But to like someone as a person, she was almost certain that implied friendship of some level.
Desperately she tried to see friendship between snide comments and fierce arguments but it all seemed so alien. At a distance he had always seemed nice, interesting in his own right. His silent little world inhabited only by his body and thoughts and only occasionally interrupted by the ever perky Andrew, and the flirtatious Raye. But she felt no real friendship for him. Envy, yes, for his solitude, something she didn't even have when at home since she had gotten her cat guardian, yet he could have that solitude in the middle of an arcade of screaming children. Perhaps admiration as well, because he was everything she wasn't, he was smart always studying and passing his exams, he had the attention of every girl who saw him, the way he could exist without the help of others, when she needed that company, and their was a subtle strength that existed around him and no one else.
"I guess-" she began, realising that he was awaiting her response his eyes fixed on her, making her feel uncomfortable. "I never really had anything against you." She mumbled, feeling inferior to him once more, because he had been attracted to her before they slept with each other, and she had barely thought of him in such a way. It made her feel a little cheaper then before.
"What?" He teased flashing her a melting smile. "Didn't you fawn over me and dream about me naked?"
She flushed a bright red at the question, her eyes bulging at such a blatant sexual statement. "No I didn't." She hissed in reply, her face a bright crimson as her eyes jumped about to see if anyone was in ear's shot, but no one deemed to be paying attention.
"I did for you." He replied smoothly, his eyes a little darker. It was funny that although she had entered his car that afternoon with every intent of seducing him into wanting her, that she was suddenly so nervous under his gaze. And he was doing it intentionally, she wasn't stupid enough to think otherwise.
"Well okay, I thought you where cute…" She watched the wisps of black hair that slid about his eyes, framing them to perfection. Then stared at that perfect changing blue of his eyes, darker then usual but still blue, the almost teasing grin that was also softer then usual. She swallowed and looked down at her plate, the food simmering, waiting for her attention. "Okay, maybe…" She smiled a little. "maybe a little sexy." She blushed furiously at the words finding it funny again that although they had slept with each other twice now saying something like that was extremely trying on her nerves. And it was true, he was sexy, but it was also the first time she had ever admitted it to herself or out loud. She sighed in resignation under his watchful amusement. "And I guess, you where always nice, as a person, to everyone but me, and I liked that." She bit into her lower lip. "I always liked the person you where when we weren't fighting."
"Good." Was his only response before he began eating and she took her que from him the conversation over with an odd sort of truce hanging in the air.
Serena tried to control the key in her trembling hand, wanting to get into the house and upstairs with as few questions as possible. She knew her mother was probably still awake, her father oblivious as usual wouldn't have stayed up. Silent curses escaped her and she stopped, calming her shaking body and demanding control. She was Sailor Moon, and if she couldn't control her hand long enough to get a forsaken key into her front door there was no hope for the world.
It was all his fault of course. Well maybe not his fault, but she wanted to blame him. They had gotten through dinner tolerably well, her eyes only wondering to him from time to time. But the second they had left the building there had no longer been prying eyes to discourage her and she couldn't help but walk that little bit closer to him then necessary while they walked to the car. Nor could she resist the smirk when he had responded to her subtle advances.
And somewhere along the road they had pulled up and fallen into each others arms just as readily as they had every other time. Only this time she had known it was the combined effort of both of them that had them in such a situation. And when all was said and done they had straightened up their clothes and continued the drive, both of them shaken, even she could see his trembling hands tight on the steering wheel.
She steadied her nerves forcing herself to settle those nerves he had uprooted. The last thing she needed was to be questioned by her mother. Slowly the trembling's in her hand's subsided and the key followed the path to the keyhole. Her shoulders relaxed when the key slipped in. And it was then she felt eyes upon her, watching her intently. She twisted her head to glance down the street, her fingers lingering against the key, weary as she always was in the dark. Her breathing speed a little, ribbons of adrenaline ready to lace through her the second she confirmed the presence she sensed. But no where on the street could she find life and that irked her enough to calm the frayed nerves.
Silently she turned the key, the corner of her eye fixed on the street as she stepped though, closing the door calmly. She saw her mother sitting in the lounge room, a magazine opened before her. Serena gave a smile to her mother which was returned before she went up to her room. Passively closing her windows and locking her door, ignoring the cat that watched her from the end of the bed with curiosity.
Serena dropped her clothes to the floor, too tired to change, not really minding the smell of him that lingered against her. She then snuggled in under her blankets and as always sleep refused to come.
Serena watched her friends as they chatted amongst themselves. She had made herself late on purpose, she absolutely refused to be trapped in the booth for questioning again. She could have stunned them all by being there early, lack of sleep did wonders for your punctuality.
When she had arrived they had asked her a few trivial questions before continuing their gossiping, perhaps knowing that if she was inclined she would join in. It was the first time around them in a long time she didn't feel like she was being pushed around or left with a sense of overpowering guilt. It was still a little cold though, sitting in silence while her friends continued to chatter, she felt detachment creeping up on her again.
"I'll-" She began, gaining all three girl's attention. "I'm gong to go get a drink." She mumbled sliding out of the booth, she stopped before walking away and turned a smile onto them all. "You guy's want anything?" Each of the girls looked at their own food and drinks, then slowly shook their heads in a no.
She felt their eyes on her as she approached the counter and waited for Andrew to finish with another customer. The second he was done he popped up before her with his customary smile.
"What can I get for you today Serena?" The smile never dulled, and she smiled calmly in response to it.
"Just a coke, please."
His head bobbed in confirmation as he turned to fetch the requested drink. When he handed her the drink she smiled at him and turned around on her stool.
She nearly screeched in shock when she discovered Darien standing about a foot away from her. Instead the drink managed to slip from instantly numb fingers. The shattering of glass filled the arcade and conjured immediate silence. Darien jumped back from the mess quickly, putting a more respectable distance between them and Serena gapped in shock.
She couldn't believe she had just dropped a drink, she couldn't believe Darien had been standing that close to her and she had been unaware of it, and she couldn't believe that her thoughts had already progressed past sticky feet and shattered glass to strong muscles and sweaty activities.
Her best defence against the bombardment of desire, she knew, was anger. "Darien! You jerk! Look what you made me do!" Dramatically she gestured at the mess laying between them, a physical barrier she was appreciative off.
He recovered from shock quickly. "Me?" He asked incredulously staring at her in disbelief, then after another pause gave a mocking chuckle. "Please Meatball Head, as if you needed help being a klutz."
It actually hurt, she hated that, it had never hurt before when he insulted her so smoothly. But right then she could hardly tell if he was acting for the behalf of a crowd who did not need to know their relationship had changed, or if he meant it. In many ways she suspected the later, despite everything, there was no love, just attraction, and you could hate someone and still want them.
"Why you insufferable jerk-" She hissed.
"What? Using big words again Meatball Head? I'm impressed."
"It doesn't take much to impress you though does it." Her eyes shifted to Raye waiting for him to follow her gaze before she smirked at him. He looked angrier when he glanced back, and she was just glad Raye didn't seem to notice, her eyes where squinted with interest towards them but the implication was lost on her.
"No I guess it doesn't." He bit out, his eyes moving over her body quickly. His meaning quite obvious and her resentment towards him seemed to be double what it ever had been before the physical had become a part of their relationship.
"Just as well, cause I doubt you impress half as much as you think. And you know. Beggar's can't be-"
"That's it!"
Serena and Darien, along with most of the arcade, turned their eyes to Andrew who was glaring at the two with immeasurable anger.
"This place has been quite for the last couple of weeks, I refuse to allow it to become a cockfight again just because you two can't get along for a few minutes." His fists where on his hips eyes demanding a response from them
Serena gave a little laugh to herself feeling almost angry with Andrew for interrupting her come back. "What do you mean?" She screeched as loud as she could. "It's the jerks fault!" She pointed wilding in Darien's general direction. "If he'd just keep his mouth to himself there wouldn't be a problem now would there?" The words, as innocently as they where meant brought some interesting images to her mind. No he can't keep his mouth to himself. A cheeky grin broke through her defences at the thought and she found herself the object of intense scrutiny from Andrew. She flushed immediately, foolishly afraid that he knew the thoughts going through her head. His eyebrow rose at the blush and those inquisitive eyes went back to Darien.
She didn't dare turn around and see what his reaction had been, afraid to give herself away further.
"Right you two." Andrew sounded the same, angry, but his expression had changed. "Out the back." He motioned towards the employee's only door.
Serena didn't move at first, staring at the door with uncertainty. If Andrew had an inkling then she didn't want to be alone near him. The hand that touched the side of her arm nearly made her shout out in shock.
"No point arguing with Andrew, Meatball Head." Darien muttered, the light touch sliding off her arm as he walked for the door and disappeared through it. She was still frozen, riveted on the spot with uncertainty. She met Andrews eyes trying to keep the pleading out.
"Do you want to be banned from the Arcade?" Andrew asked casually. Serena frowned sharply at him and stormed past, pausing only for a moment to glance back at her gaping friends before walking through the door and hearing it latch closed behind her.
Instantly she was grabbed and pulled against Darien familiar body, his lips closing over hers with a ferocity that seemed like instinct. His lips moved quickly, her mind a buzz, her eyes locked on the door they had walked through.
"Tell me that was an act." He demanded off her, unaffected by the possibility of Andrews entrance. His kiss's started getting deeper, trailing over her and she couldn't quite concentrate or get over her fear of intrusion.
"Don't sneak up on me like that." She demanded trying to push him away. He refused to budge, his body bending, his mouth closing over the bottom of her colour bone, his tongue sliding across it.
"Don't worry." He told her sternly when she tried to pull away again. "He only sends people back here when his going to lock them in." He assured, but she still wasn't convinced and when she pushed him away and walked to the door she was surprised to find it locked.
She grinned the impish part of her nature finding the moment to it's liking. Then turned to him, that grin still in place. "How long do we have?" She asked sultrily and he caught her up, again his lips descending against hers.
"Long enough." He growled into her ear before nipping it. She shuddered her hands twisting into his shirt and seeking out skin. His own doing the same, but much more effectively, unlatching her shirt buttons with skill.
It was as he kissed her heatedly, exploring her throat and chest that she heard the most intrusive noise of her existence. She gasped sharply, his fingers sliding down her skirt and the noise came again.
"Do you take that everywhere?" He teased and she remembered he had heard it before.
"Shit." She growled. "Shit." The noise persisted. "Stop." She ordered sharply, his hand continued to explore and she shoved his shoulder fiercely. "I said stop." She ordered once more, and his eyes met hers a little confused, but he moved away from her his breaths forced and fast. She clasped her shirt buttoning the middle button to conceal herself a little. He turned sharply, walking across the room before leaning against a bench, his fists curling around the edge. Her hand fumbling in her bag, her eyes fixed on his bunched shoulder muscles, her own breathing as affected as his.
She pulled the communicator out, pressing the button that flashed at her. Automatically she turned her back to Darien, pulling the object closer and stared at the face that flashed up. Amy as Sailor Mercury blinked her frown dissolving.
"The park, hurry." Was all she whispered before the connection was terminated. Serena shoved the communicator into her bag again, fingers catching at her button's and doing a few more up quickly as she moved for the door. She felt Darien tense and turn to face her as she yanked at the door handle. She suddenly remembered, when the door refused to budge that they where locked in. That was when panic took hold. Fiercely she slammed her fist against the solid door.
"Andrew!" She screamed fiercely if she took too long to reach the battle there was no saying what damage could be wrought. "Andrew!" She continued without a pause. "Let me out of here right now!" There must have been something desperate to her tone, something of the panic in her body that was personified in her voice because she heard the muttering on the other side of the door in seconds.
Immediately she felt Darien moving, not towards her, perhaps fixing the shirt she had rumpled for him.
"Andrew I'm not kidding!" She continued to shout, wondering if it did any good to rush him but feeling the seconds tick by alarmingly.
The door swung open a second latter, and she dashed past Andrew not hearing what ever he attempted to shout after her. She ignored the fact that her shirt was half undone still, her body set to the task of getting her to the park with more speed then her human form could offer.
Serena, decked in her Sailor Moon form, skidded into the battle with a lack of grace she was by far accustomed to. Amy looked at her quickly, relief evident in her features, before looking back down at her palm sized computer.
"What have we got?" She asked, oddly perky about the ability to beat the crap out of a Youma that had interrupted her. She shouldn't have asked of course, because not to far ahead of her she could see it. A creep ran up her spine, the Negaverse had abandoned it's 'almost human' Youma faze, because the one that Raye and Lita where fighting against towered over them, an extra three feet in height, sky blue skin and a skimpy little outfit that declared it not only a poor judge in fashion but entirely alien.
"It's a-" What ever else Amy was going to say was cut short by an energy blast that slammed her across the field and into a near by lamp-post.
"Mercury!" Serena shouted out in shock, her eyes quickly skipping from the Scout of water to the Youma who had harmed her. She had no doubt that Amy was little more then bruised, they had all taken such blasts before, but on top of her frustration that this Youma had interrupted her it fuelled Serena into relentless battle.
With quick effortless motions, Serena drew her tiara forwards, focused her energy into the weapon and let it fly in a smooth arch to the enemy. The weapon sliced through the Youma was a precision that was hardly likely, the creature disintegrating into moon dust immediately, leaving the two uninjured Scouts gapping in shock.
Raye and Lita froze for several seconds, staring at Serena until Amy managed to groan out something. Instantly the two girls sprung to their fallen comrades side checking her injuries.
Serena turned from the battle feeling no better then she had upon entering it. Her frustration still lingered, her friend had been mildly harmed, and the battle had taken so short a time she was considering writing a letter of complaint to the Negaverse.
It surprised her when her vision was blocked but black and white. She blinked, found it was still there and in the form of a shirt and cape, and looked up to meet the masked crusaders face. It was rather surprising, almost unsettling that he was there. After all, he had no part in the battle, he hadn't shown up, he hadn't saved the day, and when he did that he rarely lingered. But there he was standing before her, the frown obvious above the mask, staring at her.
"Can I help you?" Serena asked wearily.
"I see you've made up with your friends." The voice was light but the frown was still there.
"Not really." She responded shortly, a glance over her shoulder showed them to still be fawning over Amy. "It's not healed, I don't think it's even got a bandage, maybe a bandaid but that's it." She gave a sigh. "It wont heal either." She whispered cryptically.
"You wont let it?" His deep voice resonated around her and she nodded absently.
"I don't think I can." She looked up to meet his eyes and was disappointed again by the blank mask that stared at her. She might not have had much with Darien, but she had his eyes, and that was something she had always liked about him.
"I think we should talk." He stated suddenly, voice void of the deep undertones he usually used making him sound so human it was disturbing.
"Funny." She responded nervous with the change in him. And it wasn't just his voice she realised it was his entire manner. "Everyone seems to be saying that these days." She thought of Darien again, she'd left him not that long ago without a word of excuse without a word of goodbye and she felt guilty for that exit. But she had been needed and what ever she had with Darien when compared to the lives of her friends it was nothing. She wondered how she would explain that sudden departure, then wondered why she would, but the guilt was undeniable.
"Maybe their right." He continued taking a step closer. The oddities in his behaviour made her take a step back in retaliation. His left brow rose, his lips twisting in an odd smile before the his face settled into a charming smile. That alone scared her senseless, this wasn't the same man she had been confiding in the night before.
"Maybe their all too full of themselves and theirs nothing to talk about." She snapped. When he went to take another step closer she raised her hand between them glaring at him. "Don't." Her demand was met with his puzzlement. "I don't know you." She told him clearly. "Your not Tuxedo Mask." Her chin rose in defiance, that hand still between them. His smile became more genuine.
"I am. But your right, you don't know me." He rubbed the side of his face, watching her closely. "But I know you." His hand reached out gently past her own and brushed the side of her face. Then in a flourish of black and red he was gone.
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Remember to Review! Please! Please! Reviews make my day and when I'm having a good day I find writing those final few scenes soo much easier.