.:Chapter Five:.

Lita heard no response and was about to go back there and see if he was all right, but before she was about to make her move, Andrew had emerged from the back room looking a little dazed.

She was a little worried about his present appearance, "Are you all right? I heard a loud noise back there." She looked at Andrew and he was continuously blinking his eyes as if trying to adjust to the light, "Yeah… I'm fine. I had hit my head on a shelf and I knocked some stuff down," he said as he brought his hand to his head to emphasize what he said.

Lita analyzed him as she watched him gaze around the arcade with a blank expression upon his face. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that his hand was slightly shaking. She reached out and placed her slender palm over his hand in concern, "Andrew?"

Lita waited as Andrew turned his attention towards her. She looked into his eyes and could see… fear.

"Lita… listen, he…" his voice had become hoarse and hesitant. As if he was trying to fight back the words that he wanted to say. He was now desperately grabbing her hand. Lita looked at him confused. She was starting to become worried.

As quickly as it came, it was gone. She felt the pressure from his hand release her own hand. Andrew shook his head, to shake away the thoughts that had previously occupied his mind. He straightened his back and regained his composure.

Lita watched with confused eyes as he changed from being a person who looked terrified for his own life to someone who liked that they didn't have a worry in the world.

"Um, sorry Lita. You'll have to excuse my odd behavior, I think that I hit my head a little harder than I thought," he said with a cool expression.

Lita opened her mouth to respond but was cut short when she heard her name being called out to her. She looked over her shoulder to see Nephrite wave towards her as the rest of the guys went to go find a booth to sit at. She fully turned herself around while offering Nephrite a broad smile.

She told Andrew that she would talk to him later while she leapt off of the stool she had been sitting at and made her way towards Nephrite.

As she walked towards Nephrite he gave her a warm smile that made her stomach do a somersault. She felt the heat rise to her cheeks, adorning her facial features with an irresistible blush that would have made any man fall to his knees for her.

His luscious lips caught her attention and were tempting her to just pull him aside and crush her lips against his to satisfy the passion that was starting to well up inside of her. She reluctantly pulled her gaze away from his lips and rested her eyes upon his dark, sensuous blue orbs that seemed to hold her in a trance. She broke out of her reverie as she heard him softly chuckle above her.

He tenderly placed his palm on the small of her back while motioning with his free hand the direction towards their table. All of this seemed to happen in slow motion for her. The way his hand gingerly touched her and sent little shivers of electricity run down her spine. The way he had made her heart beat faster with such a simple smile.

She wasn't sure how she had such intense feelings for him when she had barely met him only a week ago. She figured that it was just an infatuation and nothing more. She let a quiet sigh escape her lips as she let Nephrite lead her away.

The sun shone brightly and the sky was as clear as ever. She loved how the sunbeams felt again her skin and how she felt the shiver from the warm breeze run down her spine. It made her skin tingle from her head down to her toes.

She was on her way to Rei's house. Rei insisted that she would drive Serena to the arcade so that all of them would be on time. Rei was the only one who actually had a car. Her grandpa - who had been secretly keeping a nice amount of money in a safe place – had decided to buy Rei a decent car for all of her hard work that she put into preserving the temple.

Unfortunately, Serena's parents thought that it was not necessary for an eighteen year old to be driving a car that she had made no payment for. Her mother said that if she wanted to have a car, she would have to get a job and save a little bit of money, before her parents decided to help her out. Serena had dropped the idea of getting a car, as she was not intending to get a job any time soon. She wanted to enjoy the rest of her senior year to the fullest and not to be worrying about work.

Serena had soon reached her destination when she saw three of her friends standing besides Rei's car. She waved as she approached them, but held a look of confusion upon her face.

"Hey Serena! Glad to see that you're here on time," greeted Mina, but she paused when she noticed Serena's expression, "What's with the confused look?"

"Where's Lita?" as Serena looked around to make certain that Lita was no where in site, "I thought that we were all supposed to meet here."

"Oh, Lita called me this morning and said that she decided to walk there since she lives so close to it," Rei stated while searching for her keys that were buried inside her purse.

"Alright girls, let's get in the car and get going. I've been waiting all week long for today," exclaimed Mina as she was the first to get into the front seat.

"Yes, we are all quite aware of it as you have been talking about how much you like Kunzite all week long!" Ami replied as everyone giggled and Mina gave them all a small pout.

The girls walked through the arcade doors as they automatically opened for them. As Rei took a few steps into the building, she instantly froze in her spot. She felt the hairs on the back on her neck stand on end as an unknowing shiver ran through her body. She could sense some evil presence near her. A dark, ominous being that made her feel very uncomfortable at the moment. She could not pinpoint the location of her uneasiness, so she quickly glanced around the large room in hopes of finding it.

Her eyes eventually landed on a tall blonde with dark green eyes… Andrew. His eyes were slightly narrowed and he had smirk across his face. She was shaken from her gaze as Mina tugged on her wrist, "What's wrong Rei?"

"I don't know," She looked back towards Andrew to find him smiling towards everyone, "it just felt as if something was not right. I felt a dark aura very close by, but I'm not sure what it was."

Mina shrugged her shoulders and looked around the room, as she had not felt anything dangerous. She mentally noted in her head that she would have to talk to Rei and have her thoroughly explain what she felt just as a safety precaution.

Mina pulled Rei along to catch up with everyone else who were all ready sitting at a table. She greeted the guys with a genuine smile and took a seat next to Kunzite. After everyone had finished their little initial conversations, she soon excused herself to go and talk to Andrew.

"Hey Andrew!" Mina greeted as she leaned on the counter near him.

"Hi, um…" he paused as if he was trying to remember something, like as if he forgot her name, "Mina."

She raised an eyebrow towards him at his hesitance towards saying her name. She also noticed the slightly distant look that he held within his eyes. Like as if he had a thin layer of fog covering over a secret that he was trying to keep hidden behind his eyes. She shrugged her shoulders and brushed off her uncertainty as she remembered Lita previously telling them about Andrew's little incident of bumping his head.

"C'mon Andrew, pay up, 20 tokens just like you promised!" she held out her hand awaiting her desired coins that he had previously promised to give to her the next time she came to the arcade.

Andrew raised his eyebrows before tentatively reaching into a cupboard behind the counter and giving her the amount of coins that she had asked for.

"Thanks Andrew, you're too kind," she dropped the coins into her purse as she happily made her way back towards her friends.

She remained standing behind her empty seat and tapped Kunzite on the shoulder. He turned his attention towards her waiting for her to speak first, "Kunzite are you any good at car racing games?" She shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she awaited his reply.

"Yea, but I'm not that-"

"Great!" she interrupted as she gave him a wide grin, "you can come and play a few games with me, please? My treat!"

She didn't really give him enough time to supply her with an answer, because she began pulling him out of his seat towards the racecar games. Even if she did let him answer, it's not like he would turn down her offer, especially when she was looking at him with such innocent blue eyes. Eyes that were pleading him to say yes, just like how a child would look when pleading to their mother to buy them some candy.

He let her freely guide him through the arcade as he gently shook her hand off of his wrist and softly grasped her small hand while interlacing their fingers. He slightly blushed at his own boldness and then took a secret glance towards the blonde beauty beside him and saw a faint blush spread across her face.

Ami giggled at Mina's tactics, "And to think that she's actually eighteen years old, yet still acts like a little kid dragging off one of her friends to go and play videogames." She admired Mina's confidence when it came to any issue concerning guys. Mina was so straightforward and outspoken when compared to herself.

She looked away from the couple as they walked out of sight. She turned her head back and was caught in Zoicite's warm gaze. Her first reaction to his blatant stare was to turn away and hide her embarrassment but she gathered her confidence and was able to meet his emerald stare with one of her own.

His emerald eyes held so much depth that for a split second she lost all conscious thought of her surroundings and was lost in the intensity of his eyes. She saw his eyes soften and the curves around his mouth slightly shifted upwards as he let out a small chuckle, "So tell me Ami, are you any good at a particular videogame?"

His voice had echoed in her ear. The soft, velvet sound of his voice, which seemed to resonate throughout her mind and send tendrils of excitement to the ends of her body. Such a thing was not familiar to her when hearing the sound of a man's voice. The thought of his voice creating excitement in her was ridiculous and made her nervous about what other emotion he could cause in her.

She pulled her hands closer to her and folded them in her lap, "Well, I'm pretty good at a few games."

"Oh stop being so modest, Ami," Rei leaned towards Zoicite from across the table as if telling him a deep, dark secret, "Don't listen to her Zoicite, she's just being humble. Truth is, she has reflexes like no other and holds the highest score on one of those gun shooting games."

"Rei!" Ami gasped out as she sat up straight staring at Rei with wide eyes. Rei returned her gesture with a teasing smile.

"Highest score, huh?" Zoicite said while rubbing his fingertips against his chin as if contemplating his next move, "I adore your humbleness Ami, but I'm going to have to challenge you for that high score to see if you really deserve it. That is, if you don't mind acting like a kid for a little bit, while dragging your friend off to play a videogame?"

He stood up from his seat while extending his hand out to her, waiting to see if she would accept his offer.

Ami softly laughed while placing her hand in his, "Well, I guess I'll have to accept your challenge." She led him through the arcade towards her specific "high score" game while he followed courteously by her side.

"He looks like he's genuinely interested in her," Lita mused.

"That's because he is," commented Nephrite with a smirk, "He will not admit it, but he has been secretly awaiting this day all week long." The girls laughed.

"Well, unlike Zoicite, I freely admitted all week long about looking forward to seeing Rei today," Jedite placed his arm on the back of Rei's seat as if he had done it a million times before. Rei rolled her eyes and made no attempt to remove his arm, as he would just place his arm back to where it had been before she moved it.

Nephrite looked towards Rei with a glint in his eye, "Yes, he was so excited to see you again, that he even called me this morning to ask advice on what he should wear that might impress you."

Rei, along with everyone else at the table, laughed as Jedite stiffened and lowered his head in embarrassment. Rei saw how humiliated Jedite looked and thought that she should attempt to fix it. She leaned close enough to him so that she could whisper in his ear. She could feel his breath upon her neck as he took in shallow breaths waiting for her to say something. His warm breath tickled her neck and she inwardly smiled at his nervousness. "If it helps at all, I do like your shirt," she said as she tugged on the edge of his crisp, navy-blue shirt.

Rei took her leave from the table and headed towards the front counter and took a seat on one of the many stools. She glanced back and watched as Jedite recovered from his stupor and made his way towards her.

She turned her attention towards Mina's cries of joy several feet away. Obviously, it looked like Mina was winning the driving race because Kunzite had his face set on determination and she could faintly hear him quietly cursing to himself.

She heard Jedite's voice behind her and turned back to face him, "See, I knew that you had to be somewhat attracted to me."

"I said that I only liked your shirt, it didn't mean that I was attracted to you," Rei scoffed.

All of a sudden, it seemed like a cold chill surrounded her and Jedite's voice seemed to drone out and become incoherent. It had felt like a dark aura was slowly consuming her very being. The very air she breathed became thick and was becoming harder and harder for her to breath. Her eyes frantically looked around to see if anybody else were affected the same way that she was, but there was none. She concluded that it was perhaps her spiritual abilities that enabled her to sense something menacing residing in the arcade.

Her eyes had then landed on Andrew. He was happily serving the other customers who were residing at the counter. Her every instinct was telling her that Andrew was the source of her uneasiness, but she had never sensed something like this from him before. Her mind was denying the fact that Andrew could be causing her all of this apprehension; she had considered him to be one of her close friends.

She froze as Andrew glanced towards her and gave her a big grin. At that moment, she felt nothing. No fear or uneasiness. It all seemed to disappear and she wasn't able to sense anything that would be threatening.

She continued to gawk at Andrew until she was slightly shaken by the shoulders. "I'm hurt that you are deliberately looking at that employee over there while I'm over here trying to talk to you," Jedite said with a pout.

A female's shouts interrupted Rei before she could give him an answer.

Serena turned her attention to a certain blonde from across the room. She could clearly hear her friend complaining about her defeat against Kunzite as she stomped over to where Rei sat. She watched, as Kunzite was not that far behind her with a satisfied grin upon his face. He had walked up behind her once she had seated and placed his hand upon her shoulder. He had offered to buy her a sundae to repay her for her lost to him and she of course, willingly accepted.

Serena laughed at Mina's childish nature, while Lita and Nephrite decided to go join them.

"You know, it's practically a miracle to see how fast Kunzite is warming up to Mina," Darien said, "Kunzite always seems to put out a cold, kind of stoic persona and I think Mina's warm personality is just what he needs."

Serena nodded her head in agreement with Darien. She also thought those two seemed to be quite compatible with each other. She looked through Darien's jet-black hair, which hung over his face in an irresistible way, and into his cobalt eyes and wondered if the two of them would be compatible together. She wasn't quite certain if he was attracted or interested in her as much as she was into him. The thought that he wouldn't like her saddened her.

She lowered her eyes away from his face to try and hide her emotions. Unexpectedly, she felt warm flesh graze her cheek as she looked up and saw Darien's hand push a strand of her hair back that had fallen out of place. His fingers lingered upon her face for a few more moments as if trying to take some of her warmth with them.

"Serena, do you mind if we get out of here and go see a movie or something?" Darien asked while motioning his head towards the door.

Serena quickly glanced at her friends then turned her attention back towards Darien, "I'd love too!"

Darien pulled up into Serena's driveway and parked his car. They had spent the entire afternoon together. He took her to go see a movie together and then had gone to get a little something to eat afterwards. He loved being in her company. She was such a happy person that it was hard not to also become happy when near her. Every time she seemed to talk or laugh it felt as if he was being drawn closer and closer to her.

He walked her to her front door and she stopped and turned around to face him, "Thank you for taking me to the movies and buying me something to eat. I had a really great time with you today!"

He looked down at her petite form and gave her an affectionate smile while leaning down and giving her a soft kiss on the cheek. As soon as he pulled away from her cheek, a slicing pain ripped through his mind. He stumbled back a step while raising his hand over his forehead and squinting his eyes shut.

"What's wrong Darien?" Serena asked worriedly.

"It's just a headache that came on really fast. Nothing a little Tylenol can't cure," he said while opening his eyes, as the pain seemed to weaken.

He watched as Serena removed his hand from his head and positioned both of her hands delicately on the sides of his head while gently pulling his head down to her height as she placed a chaste kiss upon his forehead, "I hope that your headache goes away soon." With that done, she turned around while unlocking her door and he watched as she gave him one last smile before she shut the door.

Darien entered his apartment and dropped all of his belongings on the floor while he made his way into the bathroom. Unfortunately, his headache had gotten worse after he left Serena's house. He opened his mirror cabinet and quickly grabbed some Tylenol.

He washed down the pills with some tap water from the sink and the made his way towards his bedroom. He suddenly felt exhausted from all the pain going through his head that he didn't even bother to change his clothes or kick off his shoes as he laid down on his bed and instantly fell asleep.

Author's Note: Okay, should I even try to apologize for taking so long to update? I'm sorry, I'm so VERY SORRY! It seems that I got a bit too lazy these past few months and neglected my story, but all is well now! Anyways, I apologize for all the grammatical errors and whatnot in this chapter, but I hope that you enjoyed reading it! Please, if you have anything to say, whether it be a comment, question, constructed criticism or anything else, don't hesitate to tell me in a review or email!

Oh yeah, HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE! I hope that everything goes well for you guys throughout the year!

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon

--Shortie

1/1/06