Kissing Chocolates
Part One
By Kimra
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Mina skipped merrily into the arcade, a white box tucked securely under her left arm. It took less then a second to spot the victims… errr… test subjects… umm… lucky couple… yes that's more like it. Her smile cracked into a grin at the thought, tenderly making certain the box was still secure below her arm.
They where already fighting, of course, they always where fighting but she had thought all of this through already. With her usual cheer and determination she bounced into the middle of the fight, a smile of supreme satisfaction on her lips. The entire arcade froze to stare at the insane girl who had just interrupted what none of them would dare interrupt.
"Serena! Darien!" She chirped, quickly pulling the box from below her arm. "How are you today?" She didn't wait for any response's instead held the box open before them. "Would either of you like some chocolate? This annoying boy that's been following me around all week just gave them to me and I'm slap in the middle of a diet."
"Mina, you don't diet." Serena said it uncertainly but her eyes where already locked on the chocolates open before her.
"Of course I do silly!" Mina made a brushing motion with her hand, waving the thought away. "Now! Do either of you want one?" Mina held the box up to Darien first, aware that convincing Serena to eat chocolate would be as simple as telling a fish to swim.
"No no! Don't waste good chocolate on the jerk!" Serena lunged for the box, and Mina deftly held it out of reach.
"Serena!" Mina chided. "Share." She looked away from the angry blonde to smile her most dazzling smile at Darien. That he wasn't effected told her once more he must be in love because otherwise he would never be able to resist her. He barely looked to her, his eyes where instead on her fuming friend. "So do you want a chocolate Darien?" He smirked, and took one, an action more to infuriate Serena then to appease his taste buds. With little concern he popped the sweet into his mouth and finished it off.
Content that the he was dealt with Mina turned the box to her sulking friend.
"Serena?" Mina asked enticingly waiting for the final piece of her plan to slip into place. Serena stared at her for a minute, a frown across her features until she hesitantly reached forwards and withdrew one of the chocolates. "Okay!" Mina cried in excitement and her friends expression became suspicious the chocolate not yet eaten. "I'm going to sit and wait for the girls." Mina declared and without a glance at them now that she was sure her plan was going flawlessly she found an empty booth and made herself comfortable. Of course she had few doubts that Serena would eat the chocolate so she was unconcerned by the initial hesitation she had seen.
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Mina sipped at her drink cheerfully, Plan A had gone into flawless action only ten minutes ago and she was buoyant in her success. The others would be too, once they got over their initial anger. She would have to think of a way to work around Rei, though she seriously doubted if the priestess had a real thing for Darien.
Mina noticed as her friends arrived, all three of them making their way over to the booth.
"Where's Serena?" Lita asked as she took a seat.
"Oh-" Mina waved her hand about. "She stormed out a while ago."
"Was that Meatball Head fighting with Darien again?" Rei demanded as she pushed Mina further into the booth so she could get a seat, Amy taking the one next to Lita.
"Yep!" Mina declared in joy. Her friends immediately picked up on her over-enthusiasm and Mina only grinned at their suddenly worried expressions.
"Mina…" Amy began, sounding concerned. "What did you do?"
"I just gave them some chocolate. Nothing to worry about." Mina waved off their concern easily but couldn't seem to rid herself of the broad grin fixed on her lips at the thought off what she had just achieved.
Rei surprised her, instead of getting angry and demanding to know what was happening she went straight for the box of chocolates poking out of the bag between them.
Mina squeaked as the precious goods where snatched up (after all she had other plans for them) but gave up when the priestess's glare settled on her.
"What exactly are these?" Rei demanded as she looked the box over.
"Their kissing chocolates!" Mina declared for the table, her conspiratal whisper loud enough for anyone in the arcade to hear, if they had been bothered to listen.
"Kissing chocolates?" Amy's dubiousness was quite apparent.
"There completely harmless." Mina assured her friend earnestly.
"Mina!" Rei growled suddenly. She was staring at the back of the box with an earnest expression. Mina's doe eyes jumped to meet Rei's and the expression she spied there made her gulp dramatically. "These are out of date." Was the following reprimand.
"Out of date?" Unfortunately her friends where much acquainted with her 'I didn't do anything wrong' expression and therefore continued to glare threateningly. "Yeah, but only by a few days!" Mina relented with indignation. Rei's eyes bored into her like death itself.
"And did you happen to notice the big red warning sign blaringly obvious beneath the expiry date?" Rei's voice dropped to a level of sweet concern that terrified the blond far more then any threats could have.
"Umm…" Mina thought back to when she had brought the box of chocolates. Somewhere in the middle of China Town it had been. And there had been that really cute boy, body like a Greek god, eyes a deep sea green, and tanned all over, because without his shirt and in those nice little shorts of his she'd been able to see pretty much all over. She realised she wasn't thinking about the right thing and pushed her mind beyond the boy. "Err..." Of course in the store there had been that amazingly gorgeous man, long black hair, tied into a pony tail, black jeans and a light blue silk shirt, lean frame and soft features that had left her perspiring long after he had left the shop. Nope, that wasn't what she was meant to be thinking about…
A loud bang shocked Mina back to the present and she found her eyes staring into the flaming purples of her friend… though she doubted even friendship would save her from the anger that was directed at her just then.
"IT SAY'S!" Rei screamed, her voice gaining and captivating the entire arcade's audience. "'WARNING! CONSUMPTION OF PRODUCT AFTER EXPIRATION MAY CAUSE SEVEAR SIDE EFFECTS. IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU CONTACT YOUR LOCAL MYSTIC, SHOULD THIS OCCURE!'"
Mina 'epped' and went to duck under the table, the other two girls stared at her.
"Like what?" Lita demanded suddenly.
"Local Mystic?" Amy repeated with a vague and not to impressed expression.
"OH WAIT!" Rei continued to shout across at the cowering Mina. "Inca incorporated can not be held liable for damages, actions, effects or other anomaly's, pertaining to the consumption of expired goods!"
Everyone blinked.
"They have a clause?" Amy went to grab the box with overwhelming curiosity.
"Probably means they've been sued for faulty goods before." Lita interjected also oddly curious. All three girls expressions grew dark and locked on the blonde.
"Oh come on!" Mina jumped to her feet and shouted, deciding she had had enough bullying for the day. "There 'KISSING CHOCOLATES' what could possibly go wrong?" It was about this time they realised they had a captive audience, or at least Mina did because the other three girls where staring at her slack jawed… as if they had never realised the full extent of her stupidity. Mina turned to the arcade and frowned at them. "And what are you all looking at?" She demanded petulantly. Immediately the arcade decided that listening to crazed threatening girls wasn't worth the effort and promptly returned to their lives.
Rei took her shocked expression from Mina to read the back of the box once more, and as her eyes skimmed over words, lips moving in a soft synch her face began to loose colour. Amy was fast to notice. "What's it say?" she demanded in as professional manner as possible. After all, if something was wrong with Serena's health it was her job to fix it. "What are you reading?" Amy tried again when her first query got no response. As Rei continued to read, continued to look paler and continued to fail to response Amy's impatience grew. The little blue head wasn't known for impatience generally but nor was she known for ignoring important information. Her hand hit the table and Rei's worried eye's jumped up in surprise.
"I'm…" Her purple eyes flicked back to the box then back to Amy. "I'm reading the list of possible side effects." Absently, eyes glazed with worry she handed the box over. Amy was quick to find the list.
"Vomiting, nausea, sickness," Amy rattled off unconcerned "dizziness, death, delirium-" Her eyes jumped back a word and she looked up to find the all the scouts staring at her in horror, but for Rei who still looked more stricken then the rest of them. Seeing that Rei was not so concerned about death Amy returned herself to the task of reading the rather substantial list of 'possible side effects'. It wasn't till towards the bottom that she felt the sense of foreboding that Rei personified. And it wasn't until the very end of the list that the box tumbled from her hand and hit the table with a deafening thud. Her eyes locked with Rei's in shock and realisation and all she could say was "O dear."
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Serene stared at the chocolate in her hand, it looked safe, it felt safe and the tiny little nibble she had take at the edges hadn't made her sick yet, but there was something about the look in Mina's eyes that had absolutely sent her 'danger' warnings ringing. The main problem was, until she could prove it wasn't absolutely safe, she Serena Tsukino could not bring herself to throw away chocolate.
Serena was being reasonable though, Mina may have wanted to poison her for some crazy scheme that would bogle the mind but she certainly wouldn't have wanted to poison Darien. After all, Darien wasn't a part of any of Mina's schemes, so it was presumable that the chocolate was safe.
Then again, maybe Mina had skipped a little higher on the insanity scale and had decided that Darien would be a wonderful target for whatever she was trying to do.
Serena frowned at the tasty looking treat deliberating the pro's and con's and soon after the pro's won. After all, what sane person would give up chocolate, even given the circumstance's?
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I know! I Know! She's half way though a hundred stories all ready… but it was already written so I figured… why not post it? Please review!