Cinnamon Buns: Chapter 1

It was four o'clock and Bunny had just finished her usual detention for being late to school. Like always she was on her way to the arcade. When Bunny got there she walked strait past Darien, who didn't even notice her and started to play Sailor V. A few minutes later Odette walked into the arcade. "Hi Darien!" she said cheerfully, sitting on the stool next to him. "Oh, hi Cinnamon Buns." He replied smiling. Andrew looked over from the group of kids he was serving to see Odette and walked over. "You must be Odette." He said, "Other words known as Cinnamon Buns. Darien was talking about you last night. It's true. You guys do look like twins."
Odette smiled and giggled a bit. "We can't be twins." She insisted, "I'm only eleven and Darien's like eighteen or something." "Seventeen." Darien corrected blushing a bit, "I'm not that old!" "There's no way we could be twins!" she repeated stubbornly.
"OK, then siblings." Andrew said smiling. "Couldn't either." Odette said. "Why not?" Andrew asked. "My parents died when I was eight. He says his died when he was six." "How'd you know that?" Andrew inquired. "Darien told me." Odette replied somewhat surprised, "Why?"
"Darien's never that open with anyone including his Meatball Head." Andrew exclaimed, "You've only known him for a day or so and he's already telling you his life story." "What can I say?" Darien said, "It seems right to tell her." "May be you just found your key to being more social, Darien." Andrew kidded.
Turning back to Odette Darien asked, "Do you have a place to stay?" "No." Odette replied sadly, "I've got a tent and I've been staying in the park and I've got ways of getting whatever I need." "You don't steal do you?" Darien asked alarmed. "No way!" Odette exclaimed, "I'd never do something so dishonest and low! I get what I want with a more special, you might say, elite way." Darien relaxed.
"Do you want to stay at my place?" he asked, "You could sleep on the fold out couch." "Sure!" Odette said happily. In a quieter voice she said, "I've never had a friend like you Darien. Thanks." "No problem." Darien said smiling. He liked this kid Odette Rhea.
Samara jumped onto the counter and walked in front of Darien. Odette quickly pulled her off the counter. Andrew smiled and went to another customer. "Don't let the cat on the counter. OK, Odette?" he said. Odette nodded, "Sorry about that." She put Samara on her lap, but the cat walked over to Darien instead and started to growl. "Your cat is weird." Darien commented. "You wouldn't believe how protective she gets of me, it's ridiculous." Odette said, pulling the cat back onto her lap.
"Who's Meatball Head?" Odette asked suddenly. "She's that girl with the buns and pigtails." Darien said pointing to Bunny, "I call her Meatball Head because her buns remind me of meatballs." "I see what you mean." Odette said. She jumped off the stool, spilling Samara and walked over to Bunny.
Darien watched as she introduced herself. "Hi." She said cheerfully, "My names Odette Rhea." Bunny who had just lost the game turned around to see the little girl Darien had been talking to yesterday. "Hello Odette." She said, "Is Darien bothering you?" "No he isn't." she said, "He's being really nice to me." "That's a first." Bunny mumbled under her breath. "Do you want to be friends?" Bunny asked. "Sure!" Odette replied smiling, "What's your name?" "Bunny Tsukino." She replied. "Darien calls you Meatball Head." Odette said. "I don't like that name." Bunny said irritated. "Then I won't call you that." Odette said. "That sounds good to me." Bunny said,
"Have you ever played the Sailor V game before?" Bunny asked. "No." Odette replied, "Is it about Sailor V? Do you get to be her?" Bunny laughed. "You've got it." she said, "Do you want to try it? My treat." "That would be great." Odette said. Bunny got off the stool and Odette hopped on.
Darien sighed as he watched Bunny show Odette how to use the controllers for the game. "I wish Bunny was that sweet to me." He thought. "Earth to Darien!" Andrew said loudly. Darien snapped out of his daydream. "Yeah Andrew?" he asked. "Stop making goo goo eyes at Bunny! Everyone knows you like her except for Bunny. Do you want her to look up and know too?" Andrew asked walking away laughing. Darien rolled his eyes and returned to watching Bunny and Odette.
Odette was sweet, energetic, extremely friendly, and didn't try to hide her feelings. "How can she be so happy and unaffected?" Darien questioned out loud. "What are talking about?" someone asked. For the second time in a few minutes Darien snapped out of his daydream. Ray was standing in front of him looking around, trying to figure out what he was talking about.
"Hi Ray." Darien said. "Who were you talking about?" Ray asked taking the stool that Odette had been sitting on before. "That girl playing the Sailor V game with Bunny." Darien said pointing to Odette. "She's cute!" Ray said, "Sort of looks like a younger version of me with my hair up." "Yeah, but her hair is darker than yours and she's got sea blue eyes. She could be my little sister." Darien replied. "Weird." Ray commented looking at Odette.
"So why were asking about how she could be happy and unaffected?" she asked after a few moments of silence. "Her name's Odette Rhea." Darien said, "She's an orphan and lives on the streets, yet she's happy and sociable." "Poor thing." Ray said sadly. "She's got a cat with a nasty attitude." Darien said smiling, "Her name's Samara. She's almost protective of the girl." "Is it that cat over there?" Ray asked pointing to a cat near the door. "Yeah, that's Samara." Darien answered.
Samara looked towards them. Ray gasped. "It's got a gold thingy on her forehead like Luna and Artemis!" she exclaimed. "Weird isn't it?" Darien said, "That was my first thought too."
Darien got up. "I'd better get going. I've got company tonight." He informed Ray. "Who?" she asked. "I didn't tell you?" Darien asked surprised, "I invited Odette over for the night so she could have a decent meal and a real bed instead of a sleeping bag." "That was sweet of you." Ray said looking over at Bunny who was watching the younger girl struggle through level one.
Darien walked over to Odette and Bunny. "Hey Meatball Head." He said casually. "Go away Darien." Bunny said. "Be nice." He told her. Cinnamon Buns, I'm going now so you better come along." Bunny starred at Darien. "Why do you want her come with you?" she demanded suspiciously. "I invited her to have dinner at my place and stay the night." he informed her. "Can you wait until I loose?" Odette asked, "It's going to be real soon. And would you please get my bag? It's at the counter where I was sitting." "Sure, Cinnamon Buns." He said going over to get the bag.
As he picked it up a small golden stick fell out. It had a blue ball with two golden circles around it at the end. It almost looked like a sapphire marble. Darien picked it up to examine it closer. Suddenly Samara hissed and came charging at him spitting the whole way. Odette leaped off the stool forgetting about the game and grabbed the stick right out of his hand.
"It's a family heirloom she explained, "If you hold it too long Samara will go after you like mad." Quickly she stuffed the stick into the bag and put it on her back. "I'm ready." She said picking up Samara whose hair was still risen, "Let's go." She turned to Bunny and waved, "By Bunny!" she said happily, "See you tomorrow."
Odette followed Darien out the arcade, but let herself fall behind. "That was close." She exclaimed to her cat. "Too close." Samara agreed. Darien turned around "Cinnamon Buns!" he called, "Stay near me so that you don't got lost." She hurried up.

Ten minutes later Darien and Odette arrived at the apartment. "You'll be sleeping on the couch." Darien explained, "It's a fold out." She put her backpack on the couch. Darien opened a closet next to the door a few seconds later he pulled out a cat bed. "I used to have a cat a few years ago." He explained, "But she got away and I haven't seen her since. Samara can use her bed." Darien put the bed down next to the couch. Then he walked into the kitchen.
"What do you want for dinner?" he asked. "Do you have hotdogs?" Odette asked eagerly, walking to the kitchen. "I just got a few last week." Darien said pulling a package out of the freezer, "We can have them for dinner. What will Samara have?" "She'll have some milk." Odette replied. "I'll get the hotdogs started and you can get Samara some milk." Darien said tearing open the package, "The its in the refrigerator and you can use a saucer to hold it in. They're above the sink." Odette did what she was told. The whole while Samara stood watching over her owner.

A half an hour later Darien and Odette sat at the table eating their hotdogs. Samara had long since finished her milk and the saucer lay in the sink, ready to be washed. She sat watching silently. No one talked.
Attempting to break the silence Darien asked a question, "So how did your parents die?" "In a fire at my house." Odette said. She put her hotdog down. Odette knew that she'd have to tell the story, of course leaving out plenty of parts. "There was a fire in the kitchen and it spread very quickly because Mama and Papa insisted in using oil lamps and fireplaces for light. My parents and their two advisors died in the fire less than an hour after it started. So did the servants. My governess lived though."
"What did you do after the fire?" Darien asked taking another bite of his hotdog. "The only other person that lived was Samara. When the fire stopped burning I salvaged a few things we went to look for a place to live. I've been wandering since then." "That's so sad." Darien said. He knew not to be sympathetic from personal experiences. "When I was orphaned I went strait to the orphanage. I learned a lot there." "I don't want to go to an orphanage!" Odette wined. Samara flinched at the idea of Odette at an orphanage, but no one noticed.
After dessert, Odette and Darien played double solitaire. "So you said before that you had a way of getting money." Darien asked putting down a five of diamonds, "How?" "My parents were very, very rich." Odette explained putting down a six over the five. "So you get money out of the bank?" he asked. After a moment of silence Odette replied quietly, "Yeah that's it."

Late in the night, a ruffling of cloth and a flash of light from Darien's bedroom woke Odette up at one in the morning. She turned around in time to see a black cape through an almost closed door of the apartment. Odette glanced down at Samara who was sleeping then pulled the golden stick out of her backpack.

The youma was hideous. It seemed to be made out of green rock and was throwing small boulders mostly at Sailor Moon. Many roses littered the ground. Every time one of the scouts attacked the youma it only made a small chip in it. Sailor Moon couldn't stop long enough to throw her tiara at the youma. The scouts were desperate. Sailor Jupiter continually threw attacks at it, as did Sailor Mars. Mercury was busy typing on her computer and Venus was looking for something that would help. Her eyes caught on a pair of dark blue eyes. "It can't be Tuxedo Mask." She thought confused, "He's in that tree over there." Then she realized. The eyes belonged to the girl in the Sailor Suit that she had seen at the last fight.
BANG! CRACK! CRUMBLE! Sailor Moon had been able to throw her tiara. The youma was gone. Sailor Venus ran towards the young girl who took off with ease through the thick undergrowth of the park. Seeing that Sailor Venus was chasing someone Tuxedo Mask decided to help. He positioned himself so that when the person, who ever he or she was came by he would stop him or her with his cane.
The footsteps were almost silent but he heard them. Whoever was making the noise was almost next to him. Tuxedo Mask let his cane out. THUD! Alarmed, he looked down to see what he hit. There lying on the ground was a young girl in a Sailor Suit. Quickly, Tuxedo Mask jumped out of the tree he had been in and checked the girl. He hadn't meant to hit her, just stop her.
Sailor Venus arrived and gasped to see Tuxedo Mask and the girl she had been chasing. "You wanted her didn't you?" Tuxedo Mask asked Venus, "I didn't mean to knock her out, just stop her. She should be awake in a little bit." "Won't you come back with me?" she asked, "Sailor Moon would love to see you and thank you for saving her so many times!" He got up and handed the girl to Sailor Venus. With out a word he was gone.
A few seconds later Sailor Venus returned to the battleground to see the rest of the group around Sailor Moon. "What happened?" she asked carefully putting the girl on the bench. "Sailor Moon got hit by a few more rocks than we thought." Sailor Mars said in a bored voice, "I don't think she knows how to jump. SWACK! Jupiter had hit her. "Be nice." She demanded.
"Pink elephants and purple giraffes!" exclaimed Sailor Moon, "I see dead people! (For non movie watchers this is from a movie called 'The Sixth Sense') So off to Never Land! (Peter Pan)" "She's a little loony at the moment." Mars said snickering, "Not like she doesn't act like this every day." SWACK! Jupiter hit her again.
"That girl I was talking about at the last battle appeared again today." Venus informed the group. "Did you catch her?" Jupiter asked. "I didn't but Tuxedo Mask did." She replied. "WHAT" Sailor Moon screamed. Mercury gave her a stern look. "Is he here?" Sailor Moon asked, seemingly sane again. "No, but I asked him to stay." Venus replied. "Well did he!?" she demanded. "No." Venus replied. "Drat! Drat! Drat! Drat! Drat! Drat!" exclaimed Sailor Moon.
There was a sigh from the girl on the bench. Everyone gathered around her including Sailor Moon. When she opened her eyes Mars demanded, "Who are you?" the girl sat up strait. "I-I'm Sailor Earth." She stammered. Mercury whispered something under her breath that no one heard. Sailor Earth sat up carefully. Five sets of eyes watched her. Without warning she swiftly jumped over their heads and disappeared.
Sailor Earth ran and jumped as fast as she could. She had to get back to the apartment before Darien got there. He must not know that she's Sailor Earth. She looked behind her and saw Tuxedo Mask. She sighed and sped up. In no time she was on Darien's small deck outside the living room. Detransforming, she opened the sliding glass door and jumped into bed.
The glass door opened again and Tuxedo Mask walked in. He also detransformed and checked on Odette who pretended to be sleeping. He smiled and walked away. Odette turned her head to him. He was talking to himself.
"I can't believe I miss judged where that girl was and hit her instead of blocking her!" he exclaimed to himself. "So that was what I felt and why I went blank." Odette thought silently, "Maybe there's a reason Samara doesn't want me to work as a scout. Being the-" she drifted off to sleep.

The next morning Odette left the apartment around five thirty in the morning. She packed her bag, changed the couch back into a bed and folded the sheets neatly. Putting her book bag back on her back, she and Samara left quietly. In fact, the only trace of her being there was a note, which read,
Darien-
Thank you for the dinner and shelter. It was very kind of you to take
me in for the night. I thought that it would be best if I left before you
woke. See you at the arcade this afternoon.
-Odette

Darien walked into the living room at six thirty to check on his young guest. He was surprised to find the bed put away, the sheets neatly folded, and the cat bed on top of them. Darien read the note and frowned. He had planed to let her stay until she moved on to the next town. "I might as well get my plan into action." He told himself.
Walking into his bedroom he pulled a folding bed out of his closet and rolled it into his computer room. Then Darien made the bed. He moved the computer into the living room and put the cat bed next to the folding bed. Darien looked at his work. He had created a bedroom in a few minutes! "Maybe Odette will stay now." Darien thought.

Sighing, Odette put her tent up in a small thicket at the park for the second time. Samara was taking a nap close by. Crawling into the tent, she spread out her sleeping bag. Odette looked up and said, "Darn it! An other hole In this stupid old tent!" Taking her backpack off her back she pulled out a small golden box and the golden stick that had fallen out the day before. Odette put the stick in her pocket. She picked up the box.
The box was made of pure gold. It was hollow, but there was no trace of a seam. The only opening in the box was a small rectangular slot. "Give me the money to buy material to patch the tent!" she commanded. Two five- dollar bills fell out of the slot. Odette crawled back out of the tent and walked towards town.
"Where do you think you're going and why is your transformation stick in your pocket?" Samara demanded. Odette turned around. "There's a hole in the tent and I'm going to get material to patch it with." She explained. "Ok." Samara said, "But why do you have your transformation stick with you? You know that I've forbidden you to transform!" "It's pretty." Odette said touching it. Rolling her eyes Samara went back to sleep.

Odette ran to town. It had been so long since she had been alone without her annoying cat adviser. She didn't count the two occasions that she had transformed. Samara didn't know about them.
It didn't take Odette long to find the fabric she was looking for and buy the right amount for the patch. She checked the time. It was four o'clock. Darien would be at the arcade. Looking through the window of the arcade she didn't see him. Odette recognized a black haired girl she had seen at the arcade before with Bunny. "No time to stop." She told herself, "I've got to find Darien and say hi." Odette continued walking.
"Odette wait!" someone called after her. She whipped around to see the black haired girl running after her. "I'm Ray." She said, "I'm a friend of Darien's. He wanted me to give you this." Ray pulled a letter out of her pocket. Odette took it. It read,
Dear Odette,
I was hopping that you'd stick around till breakfast today. I
wanted to tell you that you could stay at my place until you
moved on to the next town. I'll be at my apartment all day
today. Please come over. I'll be expecting you.
-Darien
Odette finished reading. "Thanks for giving me this Ray." She said shaking the girl's hand. "You're welcome." she replied smiling, "Well I've got to get back to the arcade. See you around!"
Odette ran to Darien's apartment. Strangely she remembered the way exactly. CRASH! HONK! She whirled around. Standing in the middle of the street was a youma. Odette gasped and grabbed her transformation stick but didn't transform. She ran to an ally that was close. She transformed there. Sailor Earth would wait in the small ally until the Sailor Scouts arrived on the scene.

Bunny and Ray's communicators both went off at the same time. Quickly the two looked out the window to see a youma in the middle of the road, blocking traffic, though most of the people had abandoned their cars, sucking energy out of its victim. Bunny ran out as Ray quickly paid and followed.

Sailor Earth watched as each Sailor Scout showed up to fight the youma. Near the beginning of the fight she had heard a rustle of fabric and looked up. Tuxedo Mask stood on top of a streetlight waiting for his chance to save Sailor Moon. (I think he likes streetlamps. He appears on them a lot. Weird place if you ask me.)
The youma was strange. Like the last one, it appeared to be made of rocks. This time they were red. Once again the youma threw rocks and this time all of them were aimed at Sailor Moon. They were much bigger than the last ones. Tuxedo Mask threw quite a few roses, each one barley pushing the rock off course. Each time one of the Scouts attacked the youma the attack bounced off. There was not much they could do.
The rocks came quicker. Sailor Moon barley had time to dodge the rocks let alone throw her tiara. She dodged one, stepping into the path of a particularly large bolder. "SAILOR MOON, WATCH OUT!" Sailor Venus yelled. Tuxedo Mask threw a rose. It did absolutely nothing. Sailor Moon turned around. There was nothing she could do to block it now she was going to die and it would be painful. "I don't want to be a pancake!" she whispered.
Sailor Earth watched the bolder speed towards Sailor Moon. She watched the rose bounce off of it. There was nothing the other scouts could do. Sailor Earth sighed. Samara was going to kill her. She stepped out of the ally and yelled, "EARTH ADAGIO!" (For the non music people out there adagio means slowly.)
The rocks stopped. Well almost stopped. They traveled so slow that it was almost impossible to see them move. All eyes turned to Sailor Earth. She made a mad dash to disappear. Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Venus expected this. Quickly they chased after her.

Ten minutes later Sailor Earth, who was still running looked behind her. She sighed. She had lost her two procurers. Looking around she noticed she was in the park. She sat down against a big old oak. Sailor Earth was exhausted. She had run all over Tokyo to escape the Venus and Mask.
"Gotcha." A satisfied voice said from behind her. Strong arms grabbed her. "You know you're a speedy little girl." The voice said. She tried to squirm out of the grip but her captor was too strong. "Did you get her?" another voice asked the first. Sailor Venus appeared from behind a tree. "Yeah I did." Replied the first voice that Sailor Earth had just figured out was Tuxedo Mask. With a leap they were off, half jumping half running. The whole time Sailor Earth wiggled and attempted to loosen the grip on her arms.
Tuxedo Mask only stopped when they had reached the other scouts. "Tuxedo Mask!" Sailor Moon and Mars said dreamily. The other's including Sailor Earth, who was still squirming, rolled their eyes. "Thank you for retrieving her Tuxedo Mask." Sailor Mercury said sweetly. "You're welcome." He replied, "She's like a fish! It was hard to keep a grip on her." Sailor Venus took Sailor Earth's arm and Tuxedo Mask jumped away.
"So Sailor Earth we meet again!" Sailor Mars said. Sailor Earth made herself as small as possible. "You're scaring her!" Mercury exclaimed. "Sorry." Mars said. "Thank you for saving me." Sailor Moon said. "You're welcome." Sailor Earth replied. "Why are you just appearing now?" Mercury asked. "I just arrived in Tokyo." She answered. "How old are you?" Venus demanded. "Twelve." She retorted shyly. "Why'd we need to know that?" Jupiter asked a bit annoyed. She could tell that the girl as scared and wanted to let her go as soon as possible. "We didn't." Venus said, "She just looked younger than us and I was curious."
"Let's jump to the most important thing we need to know." Sailor Mars said, "Detransform." Sailor Earth flinched at the word. She looked around. There was no way to get away. Sighing, she did as she was told. "ODETTE?" screeched Sailor Mars and Moon. Odette looked down, blushing. "Do you guys know her?" Venus asked unconsciously letting go of her. Odette saw her chance to get away springing onto Sailor Venus she was able to jump onto the nearest building.
Sailor Venus exclaimed, "Ouch! Did she have to jump on me?" "Forget about yourself for a bit! Look what you did! We lost her!" screamed Mars. Sailor Venus looked down in shame. "I didn't mean to!" she said blushing. She knew it was her fault. "I did it on instinct!"

Odette entered the thicket. "That took awhile." Samara commented. She was lying in the same place as she had been before. "I was starting to get worried." Samara added. "I had some extra money and went to the arcade." Odette lied, "We're going back to Darien's place. He invited us to stay until we move on." "That was nice of him." Samara said, "I've decided I like Darien." "Odette beamed. "That's a first." "And maybe a last if you take advantage of it." Samara warned. "How could I take advantage of it?" she asked. "No clue." the cat replied, "But I know you will." Samara rolled her eyes.
She wanted to get out of the park and to Darien's house as quick as possible. Odette suspected that the scouts would try and find her. She'd probably be safer at Darien's.

Twenty minutes later Odette was ringing the doorbell at Darien's apartment. Samara was pacing the hallway. Odette had packed in a hurry. The only things she had brought with her in her backpack were her transformation stick and the box that had given her money. Samara did not know why
The door opened. "Hi Darien!" Odette said happily. Samara stopped pacing and walked towards her master. "Hi Cinnamon Buns." Darien replied holding the door open for her. She walked in followed by Samara. "I changed things around so that you'd have a room to yourself." He informed her." Darien led Odette into the once 'computer room'. Odette gasped. "Thank you Darien!" she exclaimed, "I haven't had my own room in so long!" "No problem." Darien said smiling.
Odette looked around. The walls were white. There was a bed in one corner with royal blue sheets on it. In another corner there was a desk and a chair. Against the opposite wall was a dresser. Odette smiled. No one had ever done so much for her. Ever. She turned to face Darien. He had already left the room. Quietly Odette opened the bottom drawer of the dresser and put the golden box and her transformation pen in it.

Do you like it? I know it's a bit slow at the moment but bare with me! I promise it will get better.