Loving Evil by Moonlight

Chapter Eight - Minako's Secret and the Expected Visitor

--+--

"Minako?" Usagi repeated. The lights flickered, and finally decided to stay on. Duo's face had paled considerably and little Wufei and Dorothy were no-where in sight. Neither were too good at confrontations.

The blonde turned to Usagi, a big grin appeared on her face and she nodded enthusiastically.

"That's my name, don't smear it out!" she exclaimed cheerfully. Usagi took the time to sweatdrop and Duo...well, when your girlfriend was trying to kill you for not calling her in two weeks...what the hell would you do?

Sneak out the backdoor!

So he attempted, unfortunately for him though, Minako whirled around, an evil look on her face.

"You!" she exclaimed angrilly, Duo "eeped!" and so the chase began. Outside--since the only room with real light was the kitchen. Usagi blinked as brunette and blonde streaked out the backdoor.

"I am so lost here," she muttered, sweatdropping.

--+--

"Get back here and die!" Minako screamed at the top of her lungs, a pair of nunchuku in her hand.

Yeah, like he was really going to walk up to her and let her kill him.

"Never!" he shouted back, running for his life.

So the chase went on for a few more minutes. Too bad for Duo, who wasn't used to running for long periods of time, and Minako was on the track team. So, he stopped. She ran into him. Usagi couldn't really help but laugh.

A lot. With emphasis.

--+--

"So what keeps you here Usagi-chan?" Minako asked over a cup of hot chocolate. Don't ask how it got there. Usagi looked thoughtful, then sweatdopped, realizing that Minako must have meant 'What brings you here?'.

"Well, a crazy--but hot vampire--the possibility of finding light, and the fact that I don't know exactly where I am." Minako tilted her head.

"Well it can't be that hard to leave, I got here! I could take you home." Usagi's face brightened. Then something hit her.

Not literally.

"Wait, what are you doing here? How do you know Duo?"

Minako's face suddenly turned red, and she looked guilty.

"Yeah, I know him..." she trailed off, sparking Usagi's interest even more, "...he's kind of...my boyfriend." Usagi's eyes widened.

"You have a boyfriend!" she shrieked, "Why didn't you tell me? Do the others know? How long have you been together? What's he like? What do you like about him? Does he have any friends? Did you know he's a fairy thing? Come on!"

After that barrage of questions--Minako could actually understand them, she did it sometimes--Duo, who was tied to a chair, looked on with fear in his eyes. His girlfriend could be pretty scary. And so could her friends, apparently.

"Well..." she glanced at Duo, "Leave!" she hissed, pulling on a loose piece of rope, causing it all to fall off of him, he ran off, somewhere in the castle, never to be seen again...

"Anyway," she began, "I knew what he was, because I met him as a fairy. He was stuck on that rosebush out my window and I saw him and I screamed and I set him free. Sort of, I squished the crap out of him to make him talk first--I wanted to know what he was doing outside my window in the first place--and he was trying to take a couple of roses for a friend of his or something and then he changed to his human form!"

Minako stopped, gasping for a quick breath before going on again, "I thought he was way hot! Seriously, no one that hot has ever been in my room before--actually, no guy has ever been in my room before! Anyway he took three roses--he gave one to me and apologized for being an inconvenience and jumped out the window all cool-like! It was like a dream!" Minako sighed.

Usagi had hearts in her eyes, "Wow..." she squealed, "...he gave you a rose? Thats so romantic!"

"Yeah, and I thought I would never see him again! But he came back a few nights later, in human form, hanging out my window. Scared the crap out of me when he knocked--but I was so happy to see him again! It was like Romeo and Juliet! Only if I never saw him again or he died I wouldn't kill myself!"

Usagi stared at Minako. Who would have thought the ribbon-headed blonde even knew that story? Usagi shrugged, downing her own hot chocolate. A thought hit her again and she spit it out.

"Oh my god! You're, you're his--oh my god!" she gasped for air, Minako jumping up and patting her on the back.

"I'm what?"

Usagi's wide blue eyes stared up at her best friend. Duo was going to propose to Minako! That ring was perfect for her! Wow...

"I don't believe it..." Minako was what, sixteen? Wasn't that a bit young? Did Duo have a job or a way to make money? Would Minako say yes? Would she come live here in this castle?

Usagi blinked, Minako was staring at her.

"What?"

"You've been staring off into space for like, five minutes."

"I've been thinking."

"About what?"

"You and Duo."

"What about us?"

"You..." Usagi looked down, wondering how to make sure Duo got the chance to propose! He obviously loved her, from the look on his face when he showed her the ring...

"You shouldn't stay mad at him! Go resolve your problems and...yeah, thats it." she finished lamely. Minako glared at her.

"How can I? For the past two weeks he hasn't come to see me or anything!"

"Hey--forgive all men, okay? Just go talk to him!"

"Fine, but...how?"

Usagi looked thoughtful, "Just call for him! But make sure he knows you just want to talk!"

Minako sighed, "Alright, we can talk about getting you home later--I think you've got to know some things that have been going on back home too!"

--+--

"I wonder when that girl is going to get here..." Usagi muttered, wandering around the lobby of the mansion.

Yes there was a lobby, in the past half-hour candles had lit themselves and there were hundreds of them! A huge chandelier hung up high, giving off the most light. A nice couch and little coffee table was off to one side, a rather grand staircase right down the middle of room, the marble floor gleamed in the candlelight...it was like something out of a fairy-tale!

And according to Wufei--who had flown past her a while ago--it was all done for 'Relena'. Some girl who fancied Hiiro--but Hiiro didn't like back. Usagi was relieved to hear that--and she didn't know Hiiro was a vampire or that his castle was infested with magical creatures. Creatures that Usagi couldn't wait to meet--even though she and Minako were supposed to be planning Usagi's escape so she might never meet them.

So anyway, Relena was supposed to be really annoying and like pink and apparently Dorothy was her best friend even though Relena didn't know that her best friend had been turned into a half-fairy!

A loud knock came at the door. This caused Usagi to jump up, since she was't expecting a banshee to howl--that was the noise the door made when hit for some reason. Another loud knock came and a girly voice called Hiiro's name. Usagi walked up and opened the door.

There was a young woman, no older than twenty. Obviously, it was Relena. She had long wheat-blond hair pulled back into a french braid and two sparkling cornflower blue eyes. The sparkle seemed to vanish as the woman looked at Usagi.

"Hello? Um...Bonjour?" the woman spoke, not sure of Usagi's nationality (since in the anime world you never can be sure) and wondering what this pretty young girl was doing in the castle.

"Uh...I don't speak French." Usagi stated, sweatdropping. This calmed Relena, who sighed in relief.

"Well thats good! My French isn't perfect and people around here talk too fast when they do!" she chuckled, dropping a curtsy, "I'm Relena Peacecraft. Its a pleasure to meet you..."

"Usagi. Tsukino, Usagi." Usagi bowed, she wasn't even going to attempt a curtsy! "So you're Relena! You're expected so...come on in!" the woman nodded, smiling. She stepped through the doors and looked around.

'Hasn't changed a bit,' Relena thought.

She sighed, Usagi shut the doors with a loud bang, causing them both to jump. They shared looks and laughed.

"Sorry about that..." Usagi muttered as it once again got quiet. Relena sighed, walking into the middle of the room.

"Its always like this, I wish Hiiro would consider electricity or opening the windows! It would just brighten the place up!" Usagi nodded in agreement, "Oh, is he here?" she looked at Usagi, who wasn't sure how to respond. Since she didn't know...

"Of course I'm here, Relena." the new voice turned the girls to the staircase. Hiiro had a very, very small smile on his face. (Probably so she wouldn't see his teeth or something) He walked down the steps gracefully, Relena walked eagerly up to him, but still in a lady-like fashion.

He wore a pair of black slacks and a dark blue dress shirt, a black tie hung loosely around his neck. Pretty normal clothes for a vampire. He was to die for! Usagi blushed at her thoughts and blew a strand of hair out of her face nervously.

'I should just...'

"I see you've met my personal assistant, Miss Tsukino." Hiiro said, bringing Relena's hand to his lips. Relena turned her head and smiled, nodding. Usagi just shuffled her feet nervously, not sure how to respond.

Why did everyone say Relena was so terrible? She seemed very nice. Very beautiful, graceful, and tall!

Put them next to eachother and Relena made Usagi look like a puny middle-schooler. Then again, it kind of made sense, since Usagi was barely 5'0" and Relena was 5'5".

"I suppose we'll have lunch then." he spoke again, he motioned for Usagi to follow. Surprisingly, since she thought this was some kind of date. Then again, Hiiro didn't like Relena and...he was pretty good at acting like he did.

Maybe thats why Relena kept coming back?

So the three headed into what must have been the dining room--more candles lit it up, the red carpet giving off a pretty, cool glow. A long dining table stretched out across the room and a large fireplace roared with life.

The three sat down, Hiiro at the head of the table with Relena on his right and Usagi on his left. There were like, three forks and spoons! And what looked like wine in one glass, water in the other, salad on one plate and...spagetthi right in front of her.

Usagi glared at Hiiro, who didn't seem to notice as Relena started up a conversation about her brother. So he was going to make fun of her hair, was he?

'This is war!' she thought evily.

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Notes: