Tuxedo Mask stood below the tall balcony. The thick fog around him thinned a little, revealing a beautiful young maiden on the alcove. She was not, nor had ever been, completely revealed to his eyes, but he could see some. Her dress was hanging close to her skin, and flowing to the ground. Her slender hands were clasped in front of her, staying perfectly still. Tuxedo Mask couldn't see all of her face, but he knew she was incredibly beautiful, with a natural light inside of her. "Tuxedo Mask…" she said in her perfect, melodious voice.
Feeling the urge to kneel, Tuxedo Mask did and said, "My princess."
A ghost of a laugh escaped from the lips of the princess. "My love, there is no need to kneel to me. I merely wish to speak to you."
Slowly, Tuxedo Mask rose and said, "It's a lot easier to talk to someone when you can see their face. Why is it you hide from me, my dear?" he asked softly.
"After your interactions with Sailor Moon this evening, I am still your dear?" she said, and it took Tuxedo Mask a minute to comprehend. Before he could reply, she continued, "I am only a shadow here, my soul is sealed away elsewhere. It is sealed within the Silver Crystal."
"Ah," he said in understanding, "so that is why you want me to find the Silver Crystal."
She smiled, and her face was brighter for it. "Yes. That, and it is the only way to stop the Negaverse before it completely engulfs your world."
"Is it possible the Sailor Scouts know about the crystal's whereabouts?" Tuxedo Mask wondered.
"No," the princess said sadly, "if they did, they would be the powerful senshi I know they are meant to be."
The princess and hero of Tokyo stared at each other for a while longer. Finally, Tuxedo Mask said, "I care for Sailor Moon. I don't know why, but I do. I protect her for the good of Tokyo and the world. She will be helpful." The princess held Tuxedo Mask's gaze. "I would do so much more for you if I could."
Tuxedo Mask swore he glimpsed a tear before the princess disappeared back into the shadows with a final wish, "Please, my Tuxedo Mask, find the silver crystal, and with it, we shall be fully reunited."
Before he could reply, Darien was awoken by a buzzing noise.
A scratching at her ankles woke Serena up. Sometimes Luna did that, scratching Serena's ankles with her paws. Serena moaned and stretched her arms behind her head, sighing. Her dreams had been exquisite. In one, Serena was a beautiful princess, dancing with a handsome raven-haired prince; in another, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask met passionately under the moonlight; a third found Serena being held by a faceless man in the halls, laughing and playing with him.
Serena's joy was only slightly diluted by the fact that the dreams showed her fickleness and multiple-personality disorder. Not only was she Serena, who had to keep a smiling face on constantly; but she was also Sailor Moon, who could not let anyone of her friends nor the people of Tokyo get hurt. And then there was the part of her that longed to be something better, someone graceful and beautiful and smart and, well perfect. In short, Serena had always dreamed of being a princess, adored by all.
Serena thought of all this as she lifted herself in bed, leaning her back against her headboard. Luna jumped into her lap, wanting to be petted like a normal pet. "Does this mean you forgive me, Luna?" Serena asked, scratching the cat's neck. Luna stiffened under her touch.
"I still believe your actions to have been rash, reckless, and endangered the safety of the Scouts. And to depend have depended upon Tuxedo Mask instead of me or your fellow warriors in arms!" The cat leaped out from under Serena and jumped onto Serena's drawing table.
"I didn't depend on Tuxedo Mask," Serena explained, "he just happened to show up." After I told him not to…jerk. That thought made her smile. "Look, Luna, I was just trying to be a good leader and save the Scouts the hurt if fighting Jadeite. And, I mean, I got fantastic results. Jadeite is gone! We can relax now!"
Luna smiled. "You are right, Serena. I'm proud of you!"
In her happiness of Luna's approval, Serena jumped up off of her bed and froze. She made a small, whimpering noise before falling into a clump on the floor. "Ow ow ow ow ow."
"Well, it does serve you right for not informing me of your plans" Luna observed.
"I was fine last night! What's with all this soreness!" Serena whined. Slowly, 9th grade Health came back to her. Last night, she must've had a wicked amount of adrenaline (epinephrine if you remember Health) in her system and that caused her to ignore all of her pain. And now all of her pain came back with the sun. "Stupid Negaverse generals…stupid adrenaline…stupid talking cats…" Serena mumbled as she forced herself off the ground.
"So you'll be staying home today, then?" Luna asked.
Serena's expression changed to one of glee. "Yessss!" She pumped her fist into the air. Then she saddened again. "Today me and Darienmeeting with the principal."
"Oh?" Luna said, wonderingly. "Well, then how are you going to get to school? You clearly can't walk there as you are now, and your parents both had early mornings today."
"Well aren't you helpful?" Serena grumbled. Luna looked away and began cleaning her paws. "Aha! The beauty of having older friends!" Serena exclaimed, grabbing her cell phone. She used speed-dial number 4; Rei and Ami were 1 and 2, Mina was three and couldn't drive yet. She waited for Andrew to pickup. "Hey, Andrew. It's me Serena…oh, I'm good, but do you think you could find it in your big heart to give me a ride…oh, yeah, it's fine, I'll call someone else…no, I'm fine, Andrew…all right, later." She had similar conversations with number 5, 6, 7, and 8, who were Kevin, Nick, Jed, and Zelda. Except Jed didn't answer his phone, so she left a mock-angry voicemail.
"Well, Serena?" Luna asked expectantly, ready to enjoy herself.
Serena glared at the cat and then at her phone. Number 9. The other line rang and rang until someone picked up. "Hello?"
"Hello, Darien, it's me—"
"Oy, Meatball, why are you calling me so early in the morning?"
"Well, I, er, was wondering if you could give me a ride to school. Everyone else crapped out on me."
She heard a long, loud sigh on the other end before, "Be there in an hour."
Serena jumped up again, not learning her lesson the first time.
Darien pulled his black Mustang convertible up to Serena's house and waited. And waited. Finally, the blonde girl walked out of her house. Darien now saw her as the princess she was. The sun perfectly caught Serena's golden hair nd made it shine. The white and blue top she wore looked great on her slim figure and her skirt, as many noticed, was slightly higher than other girls' due to her long legs. The goddess seemed to be gliding over to him.
Darien's daze was broken when a child's voice rang out. And then it was just Serena in her school uniform with her hair in her usual style. She was skipping towards him, by the looks of it, because one of her shoes was messed up. After blinking to clear his eyes of the sun's rays, Darien noticed that the child's voice had come from Serena's house. "Hey idiot!" the voice cried again. A young boy, of about 7 or 8, came running out of the house with his primary school uniform on and shaggy brown hair. Serena had reached the 'Stang when the boy reached her. "Wait, who's this?" the boy asked, jerking a finger towards Darien.
"Ugh, Sammy! This is my friend, Darien. And I loosely use the term friend," Serena explained and Darien sneered. "He's giving me a ride to school today."
Sammy looked between the two of them and said, "Are you going out?"
"No way!" Serena exclaimed, horrified.
"No way in hell!" Darien said, equally shocked.
Serena turned around to look angry/hurt at him. "Did you have to say 'no way in hell?' I mean honestly, that's really cruel!"
"But you said 'no way'!"
"Exactly, I left it open, I didn't say you were so ugly that no one would ever date the likes of you."
Darien's mouth fell open. "You just said it, and I never said that!"
"Of course you did!" Serena screeched.
"You guys are crazy. But, er…" Sammy trailed off.
"…Darien," Darien said, supplying his name again."
"Right. Darien, could you give me a ride to school?" Sammy begged, getting eyes as sad as Serena's could get.
"Sammy! Not only is that rude to ask someone you barely know a favor, but why can't you just walk to school?" Serena reprimanded.
Without taking his pleading eyes of Darien, Sammy retorted, "Why can't you?"
Defeated, Serena said, "Darien, would you mind, it's just a few blocks."
Gripping the steering wheel tightly, Darien said, "Sure, but hurry and get in before we're late."
Both Tsukinos got into the car, Serena getting in the front ("Seniority, Sammy!"). Before the seat belts were even buckled, Darien took off away from the suburban house. Serena and Sammy slid around in the car whenever Darien took a sharp turn. "Whoa! Darien, you know the speed limit's like 30, right? If you went that speed, we wouldn't be sliding everywhere!" Serena said.
"Maybe you should try your seat belt, Meatball Head," Darien replied, and turned onto a busier street, with a speed limit of fifty, Darien going 65.
"Oh, right," Serena said meekly. She buckled up and closed her eyes tightly as Darien weaved through traffic.
Meanwhile, Sammy was cackling in the back seat. "Meatball Head!" he laughed. "Where'd you come up with that, man?"
Darien smiled at himself. "Well, just look at her, her buns look like meatballs, don't they?"
Sammy continued to laugh and Serena turned to glare at Darien, but she didn't open her eyes, so it just looked like she ate a lemon. This made Darien laugh as well. The speed demon finally screeched to a halt, knocking the passengers forward and backwards quickly. "This is it, right, Sam?" Darien asked.
"Yep, thanks for the ride." Darien nodded as the boy got out. "See ya at home, Meatball Head!"
Serena leaned out of the window and shouted, "Hope you fail, dweeeeeeb!"
Her last word was elongated into a squeal as Darien took off again. He apparently thought that since Sammy was no longer in the vehicle, he could increase his speed. I think I'm more scared than Sammy was! Serena thought. They finally(and thankfully!) got stopped in traffic. When they stopped, Serena still had her eys shut, so she thought she had either died or they had crashed, or both. She opened her eyes to find Darien playing with the radio, finally finding a hard rock station. She let out a large sigh and tried to control her breathing.
"Sheesh, what's the matter with you, Meatball?" Darien asked innocently.
"'What's the matter with me?'" she asked incredulously. Darien nodded. "How about your insane driving skills!"
"Did we crash?" he asked, and she slowly shook her head. "Then I must be a pretty good driver."
Serena gaped at him. "I think there's something seriously wrong with you," she muttered and looked out her window.
When they arrived at school, they found their friends hanging out in the courtyard. Andrew was selling drinks for the Culinary Arts club with Mina helping, Elizabeth was chatting on her mobile (AN: In a British accent say 'mobile' sounds so much cooler. Mow-BILE. I'm weird.), Zelda and Ami were doing Math homework, and Nick and Kevin were arm-wrestling. "Kevin!" Serena cried, and rushed to him. He gave her a friendly pat on the back, but she did not let go.
"Umm, Sere?" Kevin said suspiciously. "What's up?"
"I'm just so happy to be alive!" Serena said. "I almost died this morning!"
The group of teens looked from Serena holding tightly to Kevin, to Darien, rolling his eyes and swinging his car keys around his finger. "Honey, you didn't ride in a car with Darien, did you?" Kevin asked tentatively.
At her frowning nod, everyone who had ever ridden with Darien let out a small gasp. All of Serena's friends surrounded Serena in a protective hug, except for Ami, who grabbed the money Andrew dropped and Darien who said, "What's the big deal? I'm a good driver!"
"Yeah, if you want to die!" Andrew retorted and hugged Serena tighter.
Darien merely shrugged and then the bell rang. Students begrudgingly ambled to their respective classrooms. "Serena, do you think you'll be all right getting to class without breaking down?" Darien sneered.
"Maybe!" Serena said defiantly and glared at him. "Jerk."
Darien looked offended. "I can't believe you would be so rude to someone who has just thanklessly given you a ride from your house, which is out of my way, to school without even asking for gas money."
Serena would rather pull a Juliet than say thank you to Darien, but wanted everyone to think she was polite. "Thank you…Darien," she said through clenched teeth.
Darien reached over to pat Serena on the head. "Your welcome, Odango." With this, he raced off towards Kaioh-san's classroom. The rest of the group realized they needed to get to class too, and reluctantly left. Mina volunteered to walk Serena to class.
En route, Mina linked arms with Serena. Serena raised a questioning eyebrow to her near-twin, but said nothing. Then, further on, Mina began to stroke Serena's forearm. "Um, Mina, is there something you want to talk about?" Serena asked nervously.
"We've been friends a long time, right, Serena?" Mina asked vaguely.
"Well, uh, yes?" Serena said tentatively.
"And you remember last year when you had the measles, I went out and got you that bouquet of roses and baked you that yummy cake?"
"Yeah…" Serena said, hesitantly as before.
"So you'd say that friends do favors for each other, huh?" Serena slowly nodded, so Mina went on, "Then, you would have no problem doing a favor for me right?"
Now Serena caught on. "Depends on what it is."
Mina gave Serena her best grin. "Well, you see, it's like this: we had cheerleading tryouts this weekend, and no one showed up to be Jerry," she ended sadly.
"The jaguar?" Their school was the Juban Jaguars. (I'm inventive, huh?)
"Yeah, so…Iwaswonderingifyouwantedtobehir, er, her!"
Serena blinked at her friend. Then she doubled over in laughter. "You want—" Another fit of laughs, "me to be—", and another, "THE JAGUAR! Ha, ha, good one, Mina!"
In a chilling voice, Mina said, "I'm not joking here, Serena." Serena bit back the giggles after that. "As head cheerleader, it is my distinct job to procure a mascot before Friday's game." Mina and Serena's blue eyes fought each other.
"You know, I would be glad to do you the favor, Mina, but I just really have no time! I mean, with school, and then homework, and then, uh.." Serena trailed off. She had come very close to revealing her secret to Mina, which was the only real reason she couldn't be Jerry. Other than her supreme revulsion at the costume, that is.
By this time, they had reached Serena's homeroom, Japanese. Kaioh-san was standing in the doorway. "Konichiwa, Tsukino-chan, Aino-chan." Serena gave a slight bow, but Mina gave the teacher a devious smirk.
"Miss Kaioh, I was just informing Serena of our problem with the mascot."
A look of comprehension crossed the teacher's beautiful features. "Ah, yes. We would love to have you become Jerry, or in your case, Jenny."
Serena was dumbfounded. She hadn't realized that Miss Kaioh was the cheerleading sponsor. This made things simpler. "Well, I would like to but—" Just as Serena was going to give her excuse again, the bell rang.
"Hmm." Kaioh-san looked thoughtful. This was not good. "You know, Serena, this is your fourth tardy. Normally I turn my head for students with school spirit, but you seem to have none. I guess you'll have to do with your suspension."
Serena's jaw hit the floor. Her teacher was blackmailing her? She thought briefly of going to Ms. Meioh about this, but she was not the principal's favorite person. "Fine," Serena said tersely and took her seat.
Well?