Sorry about the spacing... i'm trying to do something about it...

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Chapter Two: Unwelcome Visitor

It was a Saturday around two o'clock p.m.; Serena was cleaning her apartment. The apartment was a small one; it had a tiny kitchen, a bedroom, and bathroom and a small living room. The kitchen was peach colored with only a refrigerator, sink, oven, microwave, dishwasher and some drawers. Her bedroom had baby-blue wallpaper with white bunnies; it only contained a double bed, a wardrobe, and a nightstand. On the nightstand there was postcard with the picture of the Space Needle, representing home, which was Seattle, Washington. The postcard was from her parents and little brother back home. The bathroom was also tiny; fortunately she was lucky enough to have a bathtub and space for a washing machine!

The living room was the most personal in the flat; it had a small couch for two people, a small Japanese table, and three armchairs. At a corner of the living room there was a six person Ikea dining table, and at the opposite corner she had a bunch of puffy, soft pillows and a TV, DVD, and Stereo. The walls were covered in pale yellow wallpaper with bright green lines that stretched vertically. In front of the main door there was a small French door that led to a small balcony; it was decorated with bright green curtains matching the wallpaper. Bookshelves were everywhere in the room, they had four to six shelves and most of the books were novels and other pieces of literature. Small figures of porcelain were on top of the shelves; most of them wore kimonos, as she thought that the Japanese culture was very interesting. It was hard to imagine that she lived in the worst neighborhood of London, as her flat was so cozy and inviting.

This Saturday was dedicated to cleaning the apartment, mainly dusting it. Then she would finish her assignments and work on the book she was writing. She wanted it to be a best seller to start off her career as an author. After that she would probably go to Mina's place and see what she wanted to do. Just as she was planning her day the phone rang, interrupting her thoughts and work. She ran to a bookshelf near the French door, where she usually had the telephone. 'It's probably Lita, wanting to ask me why I didn't have brunch this weekend...'

"Hi, 'tis Serena princess of the Moon, what is the subject you want to discuss with moi, your highness princess of Delicious Mouthwatering Deserts?" Serena said picking up the receiver.

"Hello, Serena," said a different voice on the other side of the line, it wasn't Lita's voice, but rather Amy's "Do I really cook that well? I didn't know, Zachary keeps saying I have not any talent for gastronomy..."

"Sorry, my fellow highness princess of Wisdom and Intelligence, I have mistaken you for Lita-" Serena apologized.

"Anyway, Serena," Amy cut excitedly, "Do you remember the gorgeous man from last week in the café?"

"Yeah, what's with him?" Serena questioned with boredom.

"He was there today too!"

"So?"

"He asked for your address, Raye gave it to him! Darien is his name by the way, well; he said he'd be visiting you this afternoon!" Amy spoke in such a voice you could picture her dancing the polka around the Moon! That was exactly what Serena was imagining and forgot to pay attention to what Amy just told her.

"Ok whatever..." realizing what Amy and told her she shouted, "...WHAT? You're kidding me! That PIG, coming here to my palace? Tell him that animals aren't allowed at my place!"

"Um, Serena, it just happens that I don't actually have his number so really can't pass your message to him..."

"Ugh, Amy, why didn't you stop Raye?"

"Because I though it was a good idea for you to start a relationship with him, he's so sexy!"

"I have better things to do than to start something with a PIG," Serena yelled, she was sure the whole building could hear her but that didn't matter now, "I'm a busy person, and you KNOW that, Amy! It's already hard to keep up with my Law Studies, Philosophy, Literature, French, Portuguese, and Japanese! You also know that I am busy with my thesis, the job at your and Zack's medical clinic, the choreographer job, and the manuscript of my first book! Now you so called my "friends" want to add the extra cherry-on-top by trying the match-making business?"

"Well, a little cherry on top of a huge ice cream wouldn't hurt much, Serena," Amy remarked shyly.

"Of course it would," boomed Serena, "It would make the whole ice cream, which I carefully built up, collapse! I'm already having problems balancing the whole ice cream!"

Just then the bell of the door rang, thinking that it was Mina with some money problems, she said goodbye to Amy. Then she hung up, when for the second time the bell rang; she shouted that she was coming. She ran to the door and opened it, to her surprise it wasn't Mina on the other side of door. She felt her face flush with anger at seeing the person in front of her; she was trying hard to control her temper. The man just gave her one of the cynical smiles that rich people give to poor ones and stepped inside without and invitation. He had crossed the line now, and there was no prevention for Serena's explosion.

"Just WHO do YOU think you are, MISTER?" she roared at him.

"Well, I'm Darien Chiba, and I'm guessing you're Serena Tsukino, am I not right?" he answered in an unusual calm voice, "Well then, nice to meet you too!"

"Look, whatever you're for, I suggest you cancel it because the answer will be NO!"

"Now, don't disobey me, Serena. Every girl in this city would want to go out on a dinner date with me, and I chose you of all girls, you should be kind of grateful."

"I have no intention WHAT SO EVER of having dinner with you, besides the word 'date' isn't included in my budget or vocabulary," she said trying to calm down, "So you can go ahead and leave now, because nothing will change my mind."

"You are coming with me, Woman! A red Mercedes will be here to pick you up at 7p.m. tomorrow," he said as he hugged her with a swing of his powerful arms, "How about a kiss now?"

"Take your hands off me, you Neanderthal," Serena threatened, "Or else you'll be rolling down the stairs all the way to the ground floor!"

"And just how do you think you're going to do that, Hon?" he laughed, pulling her closer to his lips.

"I can sue you for very much money, you know," she reattributed.

"Oh, Raye told me you were studying law... Suing is the American's favorite hobby that's for sure," he said; now Serena was only a couple of inches from his mouth. She could feel the rose smell of his after-shave, she knew he was trying to seduce her, but she would never let that happen. It would have probably happened when she was a klutzy fourteen-year-old, but over the years she had learned how to control herself when taking Kong Fu lessons. To not get affected by Darien's actions she had to block her mind from feeling him so close, she did that by screaming in her mind 'I hate you' over and over again. Slowly Darien drew her closer to his lips; they were just about to touch- WHACK! Darien unwrapped his arms from Serena in an impulse to touch left cheek. Serena fell to the floor; she hadn't realized that he had lifted her so high up. Quickly she stood up and put her hand on the doorknob and motioned Darien to leave. This time he obeyed HER, not the other way around! After closing the door she gave a disgusted laugh and though 'That might scare him away for a while...' going back to her work.

It was Monday afternoon, when Serena came storming into her apartment. She had just lost her job at Amy's clinic. Not that Amy and Zack were being mean or anything but they were beginning their career and needed a professional assistant who knows something about medicine. Serena of course knew nothing about such; she wanted to be an author, not a doctor! 'At least they were generous enough to give me this month's salary'. Her agitation was so great the she didn't even notice the man sitting on her couch, as she was nervously searching for that day' newspaper. Realizing that the newspaper wasn't there, she opened to door again and went out.

"Mina!" she roared, seconds later the door to the apartment across of hers opened, "Where the hell is my paper?"

"Uh, sorry Serena, I just borrowed it for a moment," Mina started, "You see I want to stop living on those men's money, so I want to look for a job..."

"What?" Serena's face lightened up immediately, "You're saying you want to stop taking drugs and being a 'ho? That's great! I've got just the job for you!"

"Really," Mina questioned anxiously, "What is it?"

"It's a job as an medical assistant at the Mizuno Medical Clinic," she advised, "You told me that you had a two year medical training didn't you?"

"Oh, I love you Serena!" Mina exclaimed; she took the business card which Serena handed out and hugged her best friend, "How should I ever thank you enough?"

"Um, just giving the paper back to me should be enough," she answered. Mina then returned the newspaper to Serena, and let her go back to her apartment. As she entered her apartment again panic struck her brain, 'how naïve and generous can you be Serena Tsukino? Now you've given away your job!' she thought as she closed the door, 'don't be so selfish, Girl, you were fired anyway, it's not like you had a chance of returning... Go and look for a better fitting job now, what's done is done' another part of her brain spoke.

"Isn't it dangerous to leave the doors unlocked in this part of town?" asked a dark, deep voice, belonging to a... Pig?

"Just what are you doing here?" she screamed at him, "Don't see that I'm having a stressful day?"

"Yeah," he agreed, "Very stressful, enough to not lock a door..."

"I trust most people in this building," Serena cut in, "What do you want with me anyway?"

"You have some explanations to do," Darien said standing up pacing the room.

"Oh yeah," she said walking to the couch, she sat there and opened the paper to the Job Pages, "tell me all about it."

Darien started to talk, but obviously Serena wasn't paying any attention to him. She was busy looking of a job now. Soon enough Darien realized that he was talking to himself, and closed his mouth. He stopped pacing to observe the girl in front of him, he was sure that he'd never seen so much beauty in his life! She had the longest, pure blonde hair he'd ever seen; they were tied up in a ponytail and almost reached her knees. She was about the same length as his shoulders and was not too wide or too slim. Her body looked fragile, but he knew from his own experience that it was as strong as steel...at least her hand was. Today she was wearing extremely baggy jeans and a baby-blue pull over with the words "Men are strong, but girls are stronger!" written across the chest in bright pink. Of all her pretty features, the one he liked best were her eyes; she had lovely light blue eyes that would melt any heart.

"...Has to be attractive, and professional," Serena mumbled under her breath, "Who does that person think he is? Let's see another one: 'looking for a receptionist, had to be charming, honest, professional. Has to know how to manage money, working hours are form 6a.m. to 01p.m. Salary will be discussed.' Good job, but I have classes from 8 to 12... Aha! This is perfect! 'Looking for an organizer, has to be comfortable with mathematics, has to be a good typer (at about 60 words per minute), has to know at least two languages, and is a good precise and concise writer. Work times from 4pm to 6pm."

"Could have your explanation now, Lady?" asked Darien as he watched Serena circle the ad with a highlighter. She then looked up at him surprised.

"Now, Mister Whoever You Are (I don't think I caught your name yet), would take that over again?" she said mockingly, "As you may have noticed I was not paying ANY attention what so ever to you, as I had more important things to do..."

"The name is Darien Chiba...You, young lady, did not come to our date yesterday," he started in a serious tune, "I had ordered a reservation in London's finest restaurant and you did not show up. Who do you think you are? I mean every girl would like to dine with ME at Silver Millennium."

With that said Serena couldn't help but to laugh! Seconds later she was trying to control her laughter as her stomach was ached.

"And who the heck told you I wanted to dine with a PIG? Just for your information, I'm NOT every girl! I'm actually very different from every girl, I'm more unique!" she said between laughs, "Thirdly, Silver Millennium is owned by Lita and Nicolas Kino! I don't need 'reservations' to eat there, and I don't think they would like to have a guest who's impolite to the waiters like they saw you do in the café last week."

"You haven't explained yourself yet," he remarked.

"I have no explanations to give you, of all people, and if I simply didn't want to go? You can't do anything to me!" she answered as a matter of factly. Then she stood up and went to the kitchen, minutes later she was back with a huge glass full of orange juice. He had noticed that she had those glasses all over the living room, some of them contained a bit of juice too. He watched her sip the liquid rapidly into her mouth; her distressed face became softer as she drank more of the juice. Darien felt awkward with the silence that fell a slight moment ago.

"So Lita and Nicolas are your friends?"

"Yeah," she answered and she lowered the empty juice glass on the Japanese table, "Lita was the girl making sandwiches and Nick was the one arm wrestling with me in the café last week."

"So you've got people of career around you?"

"Why wouldn't I have? In fact Lita and Nick are not the only friends with a career that I have, Amy and Zachary Mizuno own a medical clinic and Joachim works for them-"

"...And Raye is a fairly rich model! She told me that last week," the said in an inpatient voice, "How come you are living in such conditions then?"

"Fortunately my parents taught me that dropping out of school, like all of them (except the Mizunos) did, is a bad thing," she answered angrily, "And as my family was not lucky enough to be as rich as yours, we actually have to work fairly hard to pay for schooling. You probably even bought your way out of school; I mean who knows what money can buy..."

"You are a very obnoxious little girl, aren't you?" he said calmly.

"Maybe, maybe not," she responded in equal calmness, "I actually have work do, so I would appreciate if you left."

"It's alright, I can watch you work, it won't bother me."

Serena simply nodded and went to the stereo with a CD of Aerosmith. She put the song "Jaded" on. Serena was a choreographer for a TV show; she didn't actually know the name of it (AN: neither do I so don't ask), as she wasn't that interested in the show itself. All she wanted was to have fun and get her salary. The song started to play, and she started to dance to it. Occasionally, she stopped the song and jotted down the dance movements in stick figures. All the time she hadn't noticed the look in Darien's face.

Darien looked at the angel in front of him; she couldn't possibly be human at that time. Forgetting his past and all his worries, he let himself gladly hand over his heart and soul to her. It was not only her beauty that fascinated him, but also her aggressive attitude, and her tough character. He had never met a woman so different and so... unique, yeah she was right: she was very unique! Under that hard straightforward personality there was a sweet, generous, kind, and loving creature that he knew from the conversation with her neighbor. 'I'm in love with her, oh God, this can't be happening to me...and yet I feel so happy and lighthearted! I can't believe what she is doing to me, I'm sure I've never felt like this before not even with Ann...Why am I thinking about Ann right now?' He simply continued watching HIS goddess dance.

Finally the song ended, Serena still didn't bother to look at her company. She went to get a baby blue backpack and took out a bunch of stapled, photocopied pages. It was a Shakespeare scene, an assignment from her Literature class. Darien watched her in silence struggling to memorize the scene. She looked very cute in his eyes. Thirty minutes later he saw her slamming the paper on the table angrily.

"Damn!" she shouted, "Why do we have to study all this mumbo jumbo?"

Darien laughed, "Would you like me to help you with the scene?"

"No you idiot!" she yelled, "You'd help a lot if you left my apartment!"

"Gee, Serena, that's not a nice thing to say to your boyfriend..."

"OUT!" she roared running to the door, then she opened it, "Out or you'll be flying down those stairs in no time!"

Darien of course felt threatened by her remark and didn't want to stay around to find out what she'd do. So he hurried to the door and waved goodbye to Serena. Serena, however, didn't see it for she had closed the door immediately after Darien's feet stepped out of her flat. She went back to her assignment but didn't move a step forward. 'Perhaps I should have accepted his help after all...' she thought, '...no, thank god I didn't, my, this scene's got kissing in it! I'll ask Mina for help'. Soon enough she was knocking on Mina's door asking for help. Mina opened it and let her in.

Done with chapter two!