A/N – Before I'm crucified, this was a challenge issued by the SMFFQCC over at SmFanFictionDOTnet.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN Sailor Moon or any of its characters. I DO however OWN the story.
The Crown Arcade was practically empty today, except for one lone booth full of the Arcade's regular customers – Serena, Rei, Ami, and Mina. They were having their daily get together – drinking shakes, eating up a storm, and just having some quality girl time. But they were one short today . . . Lita was MIA.
Then the gentle chime of the door sounded as someone entered the Arcade. Simultaneously all four girls looked to the door and sure enough their favorite auburn bombshell was coming straight for them with stars in her eyes.
"Lita, where have you been? It's Friday. Girl's night remember?" Serena pouted as Mina and Ami made room for her in the booth.
"Hmm?" Lita sighed as she took a seat, never hearing a word.
Quirking an eyebrow Mina waved her hand in front of Lita's face. "Ok, let's go over her symptoms shall we?" With a mischievous knowing gleam in her eye, she started to count them off on her fingers. "Dazed expression, goofy grin, stars in her eyes . . . it can only be one thing. Lita's in love!"
"Not again," the priestess moaned as she ran a hand through her inky locks. "What is this the fifth time in one month?"
"Let her be," Ami chided. "Who is it, Lita?"
Silence.
Shaking her head at Lita's blank stare, Serena decided it was time for drastic measures. In the center of the table there was the remains of a platter of buffalo wings, picking one up she threw it at Lita's head. Bulls-eye!
"Serena!" Lita screeched as she wiped the buffalo sauce off the side of her face. "What was that for?"
"Just bringing you back to the land of the living," Serena smiled as she waved another buffalo wing at Lita.
Leaning forward, Ami posed her question once more, "So what's his name?"
"Who's name?" Lita smiled coyly.
"You might as well tell us," Mina reasoned, "make it easier on yourself. We'll find out one way or another, even if that means torture.
"Torture?"
"Basic tickling, embarrassment, and that's only the beginning," Rei chimed.
Lita laughed and threw her hands up in defeat. "Fine, just promise not to laugh."
Four nodding heads answered as they all leaned in to hear the big news.
Blushing furiously, Lita whispered, "Melvin. It's Melvin."
Exchanging glances with the others, Serena choked, "We'll be right back. Excuse us for a minute." Then quicker than lightning, Serena, Rei, Ami, and Mina ran out the arcade door . . . and exploded in laughter.
Just then a short guy with brown hair and thick glasses smiled approached the arcade. He smiled. She must have told them. "Hi, Serena. Girls," he greeted as he momentarily paused at the door.
Glancing up, Serena started to laugh harder. Tears were streaming down her ace she couldn't breathe. And Mina, Rei, and Ami were soon in the same in state. Who could help them? After all it was Melvin that had just said hello.
Melvin playfully shook his head at them as he entered the arcade.
"Are you quite finished?" Lita called upon hearing the door chime.
"Finished? You mean those four?" Melvin teased as he walked over to her booth.
Lita's face lit up as she realized Melvin was standing next to her. "What are you doing here?"
"Aren't I allowed to surprise my favorite girl?" He kissed her and sat down next to her. Indicating towards the still laughing girls with his head, Melvin teased, "I'm glad they're taking it well."
"Those hyenas?"
"Well, it was sort of unexpected," he chided gently stroking her jawbone.
"Mmm," Lita sighed as all thoughts of her friends flew out of her mind. "Unexpected."
"Yes, unexpected." Then leaning in Melvin captured her lips in a passionate kiss.
Darien bit back a grin as he saw Serena, Mina, Rei, and Ami dying of laughter outside the arcade. An elbow to the side brought him back to reality.
"How do you think they're going to take it?" a voice next to him asked.
Running a hand through his thick ebony hair, Darien glanced over at the man next to him. He was the same height as Darien with long thick wavy auburn hair and piercing chocolate eyes. Nephrite. Returning his gaze back to the four giggling girls in the distance Darien swallowed the lump that had suddenly risen in his throat. This wasn't going to be pretty. How was he supposed to tell them? Just walk right up to them and say 'Hi. This is Nephrite, the Dark Kingdom General . . . back from the dead. And guess what he used to be one of guardians.' Nope, this was going to be a bloodbath. Then giving Nephrite a weak smile, he assured him, "As well as to be expected. Think of it this way they can't attack us with all these people around."
Nodding, Nephrite sighed, "It's now or never." With that he began to close the gap between the them and four of the women he feared . . . but the one he feared the most was not with them and for that he thanked the gods. He couldn't face her just yet.
Serena placed a hand over her heart, as her laughter finally started to subside, gasping for breath. That's when her eyes met a pair of midnight blue eyes. Her face lit up and she started to run to him, when something stopped her. Something was wrong, she could feel it but more importantly she could see the fear and worry in his eyes. "Darien?" she murmured.
"Get behind us, now!" Mina growled as she shoved Serena into Rei's arms.
"No matter what happens, don't worry about us," Rei ordered as she took her place next to Mina. "Just get her out of here, Ami."
Taking Serena in her arms, Ami answered, "I will." Then pulling her communicator out of her pocket she discreetly pushed the button labeled Jupiter.
"Not a step further," Mina commanded the approaching pair. "Explain yourselves."
Confusion marred Serena's face. '"Yourselves", but it's just Darien . . . ' Then her sapphire gaze finally came to rest upon the man standing just behind her love . . . Nephrite. 'Oh, God.' But as horror threatened to grip her, Serena could feel Darien's pleading gaze transfixed upon her . . . begging her to understand . . . and as always she could not deny him.
"Answer!" Rei roared.
'At least Sere will make them listen . . . eventually,' Darien sighed. "He's not evil."
"And how can you be sure that it's not some sort of trick?" Ami scolded.
"He was my friend and my guardian . . . "
"That did not stop him from betraying you then, how can you be so sure of his loyalty now?" a voice called from the door way of the arcade.
It was Lita and subconsciously Nephrite cowered under her piercing gaze. She had every right to hate him . . . but he had to at least try to make them understand. "Please," he interjected suddenly finding his voice. "Could we take this somewhere more private?"
At the Hikawa shrine, Darien and Nephrite faced the full fury of seven angry Senshi. Nephrite was surprised that they hadn't tried to burn him at the stake yet . . . but after that last bout he knew to keep his smart mouth in check.
"Look at it this way," Nephrite teased , "at least I'm not an ax murder."
"No, but you may meet one," Rei seethed.
"Has anyone seen my hatchet?" Mina called as she approached an increasingly nervous Nephrite.
Some people just couldn't take a joke . . . Jadeite would've never stood a chance. Chancing a quick glance at Lita, Nephrite could feel the hatred rolling off her in waves . . . but then again the whole room could. The scowl on the girl's face had managed the mirror that had hung in the corner of Rei's room just because she had happened to look at it.
Lita sulked as the Outers took over the Inquisition. She couldn't stand the sight of the man. Who the hell did he think he was coming back from the dead like that? Not to mention the fact that every time their eyes met she could see the love that shone in them . . . for her. I was enough to make her sick. Not only did he come expecting forgiveness but expecting her to welcome him with open arms. What a laugh! Maybe it was time for those little men in white coats to cart him off to the looney bin. An evil smirk crossed her face then.
Catching herself, Lita was surprised that she could be that bitter . . . but at the same time she liked the idea. No one could blame her – after all this man was asking for her love, the same man mind you that had her blood on his hands. How would he like to be split open from the groin up all the way to the base of his throat! Damn, where was that hatchet? Shaking her head she realized she was getting more like Rei everyday.
Besides she had Melvin now and for the first time since she left the arcade a smile graced her lips. Sweet, wonderful Melvin . . . she had to find a way to make up leaving him in the arcade with absolutely now reason at all. Maybe a picnic? That's right a picnic, her first real chance to spoil him rotten with her cooking.
"Hey, hot lips," Ami whispered.
Jumping, Lita furrowed her brow. 'Did Ami just call me 'hot lips'?'
"This is no time to be daydreaming of lover boy."
"Shut up!" Lita insisted in a furious whisper. "What about you? Running over exam . . ."
"Eek!"
The room fell silent as all eyes turned to Ami.
"Ami, are you ok?" Serena inquired.
Attempting her impersonation of a tomato Ami could only nod.
"Then let's continue," Haruka insisted.
Once the interrogation had resumed, Lita leaned over. "What was up with that?"
"What?" Ami replied innocently, trying to pretend nothing had happened.
"Fine let's recap: you tease me about Melvin and I start to tease you about daydreaming about exam . . . "
"EEK!"
" . . . and you do that."
"What is going on with you, Mercury?" Luna scolded.
"This is certainly out of character for you Ami," Artemis chimed in. "You know how important this is. Stop messing around and pay attention."
"Sorry," Lita piped up. "We'll be good." Then leaning into Ami's ear she whispered, "You have some explaining to do later."
Several long grueling hours later Lita descended the staircase leading to the Hikawa shrine rubbing her temples. 'This has been a day from Hell. First a dead villain appears claiming to be good. Then I shatter a mirror just by looking at it, Ami goes berserk, and Nephrite is on "probation." How stupid is that 'probation'? I know Serena believes that there's good in everybody but then again he didn't kill her.' Throwing her hands in the air she silently yelled to the gods, 'Can't I ever be free of that man!'
But as she caught the faintest scent of rain, a smile crossed her face. She knew a storm was coming . . . most likely in reaction to her mood but it was comforting nonetheless. And if there was any sort of correlation to her mood, they were in for a doozy of a storm. No worries though, she'd cook up a storm of her own as the soothing sound of the rain soothed her frazzled nerves. Then a thought struck her . . . the ground would be wet tomorrow, too wet for a picnic. Her plans were ruined. 'No, think positive! What about an indoor picnic? Soft candlelight, romantic music, delicious food . . . that'll work.' Patting herself on the back, Lita pulled out her phone to call Melvin and tell him of her plans.
Two hours later, things had gone from bad to worse. As expected the storm was colossal, the weathermen were even expecting a tornado . . . but the weathermen were wrong all the time.
Lita had expected to be cooking right now or maybe even done by now . . . but know the electricity had gone off twenty minutes into the process and just her luck everything ran off electricity. Technically she could have just given her appliances a little help . . . but that would have been too draining and in the end she wouldn't have been able to enjoy her romantic evening with Melvin. So since then she'd spent most of her time on the phone with the electric company trying to figure out when the electricity would come back on and trying to order take out. But the gods were against even that . . . because there was massive flooding everywhere and as a result most places had stopped delivering for the night.
And Melvin wasn't even there yet.
Hanging up the phone she decided to give up and walked over to her fridge. Pulling out some cold cuts, lettuce, tomato, and the Miracle Whip, she inwardly sighed. 'Sandwiches it is, how romantic.'
Just then her doorbell rang. And there's your silver lining, she smiled as she put it all down on her counter. Opening the door, her soft emerald eyes met the center of someone's chest. Then a hand shot out clamping something over her nose and mouth and the world faded to black.
Struggling to sit up Lit blinked furiously attempting to make the world stop spinning. She had a blistering headache and had no clue where she was. She felt something showering her. 'Rain?' she wondered.
Well that was a start, at least she knew she was outside . . . and she had some natural advantage. An advantage over what? It was still all so fuzzy. Closing her eyes, Lita struggled to remember. 'Something about sandwiches, the doorbell, and . . .'
"You're awake good," a voice echoed.
It was like she was in a tunnel, running toward reality or waking up from a dream. "Where am I ?" she mumbled.
"In a cemetery, I figured it'd be best if we each had some kind of home turf advantage."
That voice, it was so familiar. It was so sad, strong and soft all the same time. She'd heard it before. She was sure of that, a million times at least. But from where?
"Firefly?"
It was like someone had suddenly turned on a light or flipped some sort of switch. 'I love you, Lita, my firefly.' "Y-you!" she stammered. "What do you want? Why am I here?" With each word her anger started to build . . . the man who had once been her lover, her soul mate, her husband – Nephrite had kidnapped her.
"We needed to talk. Privately."
Crawling backwards, she gasped as her back suddenly came into contact with a tombstone. "And you couldn't have just talked to me at my apartment or asked me to lunch?"
"You wouldn't have given me the time of day nor would you have thought twice about attacking me. It's safer here."
"Safer? For who? You?" Anger was coursing through her veins and as thunder roared overhead a sudden wave of confidence surged through her. "No one would bat an eye if I attacked you right now. You were the one who kidnapped me after all."
"True. But you haven't and this hallowed ground does offer me some protection. After all I was buried here once."
"By Molly, the girl you called love in this lifetime."
Nephrite couldn't help but flinch at that verbal barb. She was right of course . . . but he hadn't known . . . a pathetic excuse but he wasn't exactly in control of himself at the time. "I'm sorry for that. You both deserve better. But I'm not the only one who has called someone else love in this lifetime."
"Does it really matter? You murdered me once and attempted to a second time. I watched you die in the arms of another woman as you pledged your eternal love to her. I may not have remembered at the time but it still felt like my heart was being ripped from my chest." Standing up she slowly walked towards him. "So don't you dare accuse me of infidelity. It doesn't matter now. I don't care how or why you fell prey to Beryl's lies. I don't care whether or not we were actually soul mates. And I don't care if you still love me. I've moved on and so should you."
Nephrite felt as if he had been just stabbed repeatedly in the stomach. He couldn't breathe. She had moved on. Her cruel words echoed in his mind. 'I should have expected it,' he scolded himself. But still he felt as if there were some small shred of hope. "You've always cared and you always will. Tell yourself what lies you need to, to be able to sleep at night. You wouldn't have cared whether or not I loved Molly and you wouldn't still be wearing the same rose earrings I gave you over a millennia ago the night we returned to Earth . . . if that were really true."
"You delude yourself, Nephrite. I . . . . "
"Lita!" someone called from behind her.
Turning Lita recognized the face behind a pair of thick glasses to be her Melvin. "We all have choices to make in each and every lifetime. We make mistakes and we live with them. You made your bed, now lay it. I forgive you but my mind is already made up."
Gulping down the sob that had risen in his parched throat, Nephrite forced himself to give her a weak smile. "As you wish, my princess, but my heart will always be yours."
"Lita." Melvin heaved as he finally reached her. "Are you ok?"
"Fine. Just fine now that you're here," and with that Lita pulled her lovable little geek into a passionate kiss – just as a rainbow formed in the sky.
A/N: So you want to know what the challenge was do you? This was for the September challenge:
This challenge has to be a romance between two unlikely characters. By that I mean two people in the anime or manga that you thought would never get together. An example would be Chad and Amy. See how interesting that would be? It can be any character that ever appeared in the manga or anime. It can be any season. Crossovers are okay.
You MUST include 5 of the following:
- One of the girls gets lost in the woods
- A guy comes back from the dead
- Someone gets a pie in the face
- A picnic goes horribly wrong
- The couple gets caught in a tornado
- Someone has an addiction to Jell-O
- Someone gets committed to the insane asylum
- Usagi gets scared at the circus
- Rei has a horribly dark secret come out
- Ami screams every time someone says the word "exam"
- Someone gets kidnapped
- Luna decides to move out
- Someone gets lost in the cemetery
- Someone shatters a mirror just by looking at it
You MUST include 1 of the following lines:
- "Has anyone seen my hatchet?"
- "Who called in the flying monkeys?"
- "It's bad luck to -----" (You chose what is bad luck.)