Disclaimer: I don't own sailormoon or any of its characters

Hope chapter 2

I ran for at least 15 minutes untill I made it home. I was breathless. I took out the house key from its hiding place under the railing but it wasn't there.

'Where could it be?? I know this is where mom usually keeps it.' I thought to myself, still looking for it. I heard the doorknob opening. And I saw my dad looking at me with red hateful eyes.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN YOUNG LADY!?!?!?!" yelled my daddy, Ken Tsukino.

"I was at my friend's house." I replied in a small voice.

"DON'T LIE TO ME!!! I WANT YOU OUT OF MY HOUSE. BECAUSE I DON'T WANT A WHORE LIVING HERE." With that said my dad slammed the door in my face. For the longest moment I stood staring at the door to my house. This wasn't real. This was some silly joke. Any moment now Mom will open the door and tell me to come back into the house. I'm not really cast out. My family wouldn't really do that to me.

I hear the door latch turn and look up hopefully. No Mom. Just a obnoxious little brother peering out at me.

"What are you still doing here?" He sneered at me with hate-filled eyes, and a superior smirk. "You're wasting your time if you think Mom and Dad are going to let you back in. They've already started to move all my stuff into your bedroom."

I returned the glare. "What about my stuff?" I asked.

The smirk on his face seemed to get even more vicious. "That's already being taken care of." he said pointing upwards.

Following the direction of his finger I look up at the roof. There I saw a column of black smoke rising from the chimney. No, please God no. I felt a horrible twisting in the pit of my stomach.

Sammy actually laughed at the expression on my face. "The books were actually the easiest." he said almost conversationally. "Not that they really mattered. You never got any use from them. And besides, you're just going to end up some street whore anyways." He shrugged his shoulders. "Of course the stuffed animals were a little more difficult. Being flame retardant and all that. But still," he continued with sadistic glee. "Dad just cut them open, poured on some lighter fluid, and they just lit up. Boy, did they stink too." he laughed.

I shut my eyes tightly and turned from the house. A feeling of bile rising from my throat. This was getting to be too much. I couldn't stay around. I had to get away from all this. Blindly I stumbled away. It was hard enough to think my family thought so little of me. But this display of hatred was beyond my endurance.

As I walked I thought about where I was to go next. Certainly not to Darien. That asshole is the reason I'm in this mess. I thought for a moment of going to one of the other Scouts. But if I did that they would have to tell their parents why I was asking to stay with them. It would be too humiliating to explain my family disowning me. Worse, what if they agreed with them? What if the scouts did?

I could try the Outers. They certainly wouldn't turn me away. I am, after all, their Princess. But for some reason that thought just leaves me feeling cold. Their Princess. Their duty. Their whole purpose in life revolved around making sure I become the ruler they want me to be. Unfortunately that involves a relationship with Darien. They may be able to hide it for a while. But I just know sooner or later they would try talking me into forgiving him. Besides Trista is the Sailor Scout of Time. Am I supposed to believe she didn't know about Darien's little affair with Ray? Why didn't they try to stop it then? I'll tell you why. Because it doesn't matter what Darien, or Ray, or any of them do between now and the birth of Crystal Tokyo. Only what I do. Well sorry. But I am sick of the hypocritical games.

I was interrupted from my thoughts by the familiar sounds of beeps and bells. The Crown. Somehow I had walked down to the arcade. My face lit up. Andrew might be able to help me. Quickly I walked through the doorway.

"Andrew, hi!" I called out to him behind the counter. He looked up at me with a strange expression on his face.

"Um, excuse me Serena." he said looking rather shame-faced. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"WH-What?" I asked, feeling the smile slide off my face.

"I'm sorry." he said, his voice barely over a whisper. "Your folks just called. Your dad said if I tried to help you he would do one of his newspaper exposé's on the arcade."

"But that's ridiculous." I stammered. "There's nothing illegal happening here."

He shook his head. "That doesn't matter." He replied. "I can't afford any bad publicity." He gave me an apologetic look. "Why don't you try Darien? He called earlier, asking about you."

Oh sure. I could try going to Darien. And Baskin-Robbins could open a new franchise chain in Hell. I shook my head sadly. "If he calls again, tell him you didn't see me." I told him sadly. He nodded and returned to wiping the counter, as I walked out the door.

BUMP I suddenly found myself in a familiar position. Sprawled out on the sidewalk rubbing my nose. Damn that hurts. As if everything else wasn't bad enough.

"Serena, there you are." I looked up to see Molly smiling down at me. "I thought I'd find you here."

I blinked for a couple of seconds. "You were looking for me?" I asked.

"Of course." she answered. "Ever since your dad called my mom's store."

I was stunned. "He called you? Did he tell you what happened?"

She frowned angrily. "He sure did. Then he threatened to write a nasty article in the newspaper, ruining mom's business if we tried to help you." A smile crossed her face. "You should have heard my mom. She does NOT like people threatening her. Especially her business."

"Y-You mean you're still going to help me?"

"Well duh." she said with a bright smile. "You're my best friend. Why wouldn't I help you?"

Best friend. That answered everything. Not duty or pity. Not threats or obligation. Molly didn't know anything about me being Sailormoon. And if she did, she didn't care. She went searching for me in my time of trouble simply because I was her best friend. None of the others seemed to have done that. If they knew they were probably sitting at home waiting for me to come crawling to them begging for help. Well screw them. If they didn't give a damn enough about me to go looking for me them to hell with them.

I looked up at Molly, still standing there with her hand offered. A big smile on her face. "Come on Serena." she said. "Let's go home."

END OF THIS CHAPTER

I want to thank Aleric, who helped me with chapter! I was having troubles of new ideas but Aleric helped me. THANK YOU THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!! Please review. And THANK YOU ALERIC!!!!!!!!!