A/N: STC 23's coming along slowly and strangely. I hope to have the new chapter up this weekend.
THIS chapter is dedicated to chocolate cookie dough ice cream, without which I never would have written this chapter. I loooooooove yooooouuuu, coooooookie dooough!
Disclaimer:
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man,
I found my henshin wand in an overfull trash can –
Um, this has nothing to do with me not owning Sailor Moon, does it?
I Don't Want You To See
Darien spent Sunday relaxing – alone. He left the apartment only early in the morning to fetch the newspaper, then lounged around the living room in his socks and sweat pants, switching between rereading The Count of Monte Cristo and reviewing his World History notes as the fancy struck him.
He usually passed his Sundays this way. He had always made it a habit to avoid making any engagements on Sundays because it was his day to re-bury any emotions that might have loosened over the week.
Like the intense self-contempt that had boiled in his veins on Friday afternoon.
The Odango's voice still played mercilessly over and over in his head – "Is that what I am now? Community service?" – reminding him of his woeful inability to be considerate of other people's feelings. No matter how hard he tried – and he had been trying so hard, he'd thought Serena would be pleased by the prospect of a tutor, but obviously she cared less for him than he had thought – he ended up doing something incorrectly. No matter how hard he tried to act like a human being, he would never be one. The golden sparks that shot from his skin when he was injured were proof of that, and so was the icy mask he was unable to take off.
This Sunday, more than ever, he needed the time and solitude to cool down and let frost fog his exterior once more.
But this Sunday, for the first time in his life, he couldn't sit still.
His fingers itched to open the door and walk outside. His eyes flicked from the book in those twitching fingers to the balcony doors, beneath which lay a bustling city full of people. People who lived and breathed and laughed and loved.
He had never before felt such an irrepressible craving to get out. A gnawing yearning to roam the streets and see the people, to wander the park and watch children playing, to lounge in the arcade and spar with Odango Atama – to interact. His mind stubbornly kept replayed the feelings of amusement and…fun that had flowed through him yesterday and the day before.
He wanted to feel those things again.
He snorted at himself in digest and rolled up on his hip to a sitting position. This was insane. He would go out – but not to the arcade. Not where she was. He would go to the park, take a walk – hopefully that would clear his mind. Bring him back to his senses.
He tugged on a white t-shirt and walked out the door, only realizing after he had already entered the elevator that he was still wearing his sweat pants. They weren't dirty or torn, so he reluctantly decided not to trek all the way back up to his apartment to change, but he felt acutely self-conscious as he exited the building – as though everyone were staring at him. He had never worn sweat pants in public before. They felt so…informal.
It happened before he had walked even two blocks. He had expected it, and yet refused to admit to himself that it would happen, because then he would have been forced to take a different route or admit that he was actually anticipating the collision –
Which he was. He was waiting for it with bated breath and jangling nerves.
She did not disappoint him. She bowled into him; they bounced off each other, and she landed on the ground, gabbling out apologies.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going, all my friends say I should get glasses, I – oh! DARIEN!" Her eyes landed on him, and she scowled. A tendril of uncertainty twisted around one of his ribs and tugged. "Why didn't you say it was you? I just wasted a bunch of perfectly good apologies for no reason!"
"Three sorry's doesn't even put a dent in all the apologies you owe me, Odango Atama." The words flowed automatically from Darien's mouth. He was grateful for this because his mind didn't seem to be connected to the rest of his body at the moment.
"Ooh, you meanie…" Serena made a face, then reached up and grabbed a handful of his shirt to pull herself up.
Darien felt a jolt from this unexpected movement and nearly fell down on top her. He righted himself in time to keep that from happening, but he was too late to stop his nose from brushing Serena's.
His head jerked backwards as if he had been burned. He would have moved farther away, but Serena had not yet relinquished her hold on his shirt, and she did not seem in a hurry to do so. She rubbed her nose with a hand, frowning up at him a little, then giggled.
"That tickled."
The tendrils were wrapping around Darien's ribs by the dozens, tightening his chest. He felt as though he had ingested a jellyfish.
"Where are you going?" His question came out abruptly.
"I don't know," she confessed with a little laugh and shrug of her shoulders. "I was just going to wander around until something caught my eye…I'm thinking I want to go to the park, though. I've heard at least six people talk about the rose maze, so it must be something worth seeing." She tilted her head, looking at him. Her blue eyes shone, but it was with a light that was inscrutable to Darien. "Is that where you're headed?"
Darien quirked an eyebrow to hide the surprise that hit him. "What makes you think that?"
Serena nodded at his attire. "You're wearing sweat pants, I figured you must be jogging or something…"
Darien looked down to glare at his incriminating sweat pants. His eyes, while focused downward, caught something else. "Did you notice that your socks are mismatched, Odango?"
"Are they really?" Serena stuck her foot out in front of her and bent to examine it, then did the same with the other. "No, they're the right ones."
"But one has moons on it and the other one has roses."
"Exactly!" Serena beamed. "I think they match, don't you?"
Darien regarded her suspiciously. "I think you purchased two different pairs of socks and mixed them on purpose. I'm a little lost as to your motive, though."
Serena eyed him searchingly for a moment. He shifted somewhat discomfitedly under her gaze, and was even more unnerved when she leaned towards him.
"It's kind of a secret, but…I'm a Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask fan," whispered Serena, her cheeks reddening slightly.
Darien pulled back to stare at her cluelessly. "So?"
"Oh, come on, Darien. Even you aren't that much of a hermit." Serena turned around to face him, walking backwards. Somewhere in the middle of their conversation – Darien wasn't sure precisely when – they had begun to head towards the park. "Haven't you heard of the Sailor Senshi and their GORGEOUS protector, Tuxedo Mask?"
"Of course I have," said Darien, amused by Serena's starry eyes and clasped hands as she spoke of his alter ego. And also by the fact that she was about to walk into a metal pole. Should he alert her to the imminent danger? "That doesn't explain why you mixed your socks up, though. Why not just wear the moon pair one day and the rose pair on a different day?"
"Because I'm not just a Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask fan! I'm a Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask fan!"
"The difference being…?" As he spoke, Darien decided it would be too cruel – even for him – to let her bash backwards into the pole. He grabbed her lightly by the wrist and tugged her more directly in front of him. They passed by the pole with Serena none the wiser as to its presence. She was too ensconced in her raving over Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon. Another chuckle escaped him.
"…can't BELIEVE you don't know what I'm talking about! Sailor – hey, you're not even listening to me!"
"You're right. I didn't hear a word you said," confirmed Darien unabashedly.
Serena's cheeks flushed again as she scowled at him, but it was a different sort of blush than the one that had painted her face a moment before. Relief and disappointment washed over Darien simultaneously.
"You don't even care," said Serena, sniffing a little, miffed. "Never mind, then."
"Stop feeling sorry for yourself," said Darien bluntly. "Go on with your ranting, chatterbox, I'm listening now."
"You're mean." Serena folded her arms and stuck her nose in the air. "To think I was going to tell you who my crush was – I mean, who I think Sailor Moon should – um – "
"Spit it out," said Darien, but he hadn't fully registered Serena's slip. His eyes had caught a beam of sunlight hitting one of Serena's golden curls and arcing across it like a spark. Like a golden spark…and that reminded him…of…
"Are you okay?" Serena fell back into step with him, peering anxiously up at his face. Hs eyes followed that curl until he realized that she was staring at him, at which point they slid down to the sidewalk. "You look weird, Darien."
"Your own reflection is nothing to brag about, Odango," replied Darien glibly, effectively steering the conversation back into less dangerous waters.
"Then why were you staring at it, huh?"
"Because it's considered insulting to stare at someone."
Serena blinked. And even Darien, painful though it was, had to admit that that retort had gone a little into left field. He cleared his throat. "Wait, let me re-do that one. Say it again."
Serena blinked once more, then a grin flitted across her face. "Then why were you staring at me so intently, punk?"
"I was wondering if a nose ring would do anything to enhance your features. But I decided that it would just make you look even more like a cow."
"Then we have something in common," said Serena sweetly.
Darien opened his mouth to retort when a huge cloud of birds shot suddenly into the air. It was like something straight out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie, and Darien knew instinctively what it meant.
Another one.
He blurted something out at the same time Serena spoke.
"Serena, I forget about something I had to do – "
"You know, my mom wanted me to clean my room, I just remembered – "
They froze and stared at each other. Their expressions were identical: relief.
"Okay, bye, then!" Serena ran off.
Darien watched her golden hair flapping wildly as she disappeared behind a copse of trees and debated whether or not to follow her to make sure she left safely. After a moment, he took a step forward to do just that when his body was frozen. Pins and needles prickled across his skin; sweat broke out in beads on his forehead.
Too late.
Black material swathed his body, and an invisible chain tugged him towards the spot the flock of birds had flown away from just a moment before.
It was a bad battle.
The youma was no worse than others they had faced – it had whipping vines for arms, and thorns covered its buxom body, plus it emitted a stun gas that had soon knocked out Mercury and Jupiter – but sparks flew between the Senshi today, and they were not the romantic kind.
Tuxedo Mask hung back, crouching on a tree branch, where it was easier for him to see where the youma's vine-arms were headed so that he could quickly slice them with his roses when they came too close to Sailor Moon.
The blonde Senshi, always a klutz, had an especially difficult time with this youma. The vines not only slashed at her, they also tripped her. The several tiaras Sailor Moon had thrown at the youma had been deflected by vines, which were slashed by the weapon but quickly grew back.
Sailor Mars' attacks had fared no better, but she was berating her leader for all she was worth – perhaps because she was so used to Sailor Moon's tiara defeating the youma on its first try, and its sudden fallibility unsettled her.
"How hard is it to aim a Frisbee, Sailor Moon? Hurry up and dust it already!"
"I will! I will!" promised Sailor Moon frantically, twisting panickedly out of the way of another vine-whip and landing hard on her bottom. Her teeth banged down on her lip and split it open. The blonde automatically sucked the blood from her lip as she scrambled back up to her feet, only to fall down once again as Sailor Mars angrily shoved her.
"Get a move on, Moonface!" Sailor Mars' voice was cutting, dripping the same venom as Rei Hino's did when she spoke to Serena.
Tuxedo's fists clenched.
Blood dribbled down Sailor Moon's white chin again. She swiped it from her face with a white glove, leaving a red trail on the snowy material.
Tuxedo Mask gritted his teeth.
"Come ON, I said!" snarled Mars, yanking viciously on one of Moon's pigtails. The girl's head snapped backwards with the force of the yank, and something inside Tuxedo Mask snapped also.
His arm whipped back before he even thought, hurling a jet of roses down between the two Senshi. Several of the roses' thorns sliced Mars' skin, leaving gratifying red slashes.
All movement ceased on the battlefield. Sailor Mars threw down Moon's hair to whip around and search for the roses' thrower. Tuxedo Mask dropped down out of the tree to glare at her, the only coherent thought in his mind that he wanted to scare her.
Badly.
"Ahahaha!" cackled the youma suddenly, retracting her vine-arms. "So Flower Boy has turned against the pretty little girlies!"
"MOON TIARA MAGIC!"
The unexpecting youma disintegrated with a squawk.
Tuxedo Mask tore his eyes away from a murderous-looking Mars to look at Sailor Moon. Shock rocked him when the blonde warrior spared him and Mars only a glance over her shoulder before dashing off into the trees, fleet-footed as a doe.
Her blonde ponytails flapping behind her as she vanished reminded him of Serena. With one last growl and threatening glare at Sailor Mars, Tuxedo Mask leapt away to find the little imp and reassure himself that she was alright.
He felt a slight bit of sympathy for Sailor Moon after the beating and the Mars-abuse she had been dealt, but overpowering his pity for her was fury. Were it not for her damned chains on him, he would have been able to ensure that Serena was safe before he was yanked into battle.
Damned youma. Damned Mars.
Damned Moon.