disclaimer: i do not own sailor moon

AN: i hope you all like this chapter.

CHAPTER 6

She was startled; he was seeing her without her mask. "D-Darien," she said stuttering. She took a step away from him expecting that he'd be outraged and try to attack her. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to hurt you so that's why I didn't tell you. I wanted your trust first, please understand."

"Serena, it's ok. I knew before you came," he explained. He grabbed the blanket and stood leaving it on the chair.

"You did? How'd you find out," she asked.

"Everything just fell into place after I left the arcade. It was the star locket, it was only open for a split second, but I know I saw that golden light. The only other time I saw that happen was last night, with you," he said.

"I would have told you earlier but I didn't want your feelings getting in the way of helping me," she said.

He walked over to her. Her face was lowered as if she was hanging her head in shame. "Serena," he said gently but she wouldn't look up. He hooked his fingers under her chin and made her look at him. "Serena, I love you. Nothing will ever change that so don't think that I'll easily give up on you just because of this."

Tears formed at the corners of her eyes. She wrapped her arms around his waist and cried into his shirt. "I love you too Darien. Ever since I first saw you in the arcade."

He wrapped one arm around her shoulder and stroked her hair with his other hand. "I'll help you however I can Serena. I'll stay with you until the very end."

She looked up at him after she had stopped crying, "thank you Darien."

He smiled down at her, "anytime Serena. I know it's not your fault. You cannot change who you are," he said.

"Well since you know it's me, we can meet during the day. I really do need my sleep for school; I'm starting to fall behind. How about we meet here tomorrow. It's a Saturday so I can get here early. I don't work either so I won't have to be anywhere," she suggested.

"You could sleep here for the night," he said. "And in the morning, I'll have transportation for you to your apartment."

"Thanks, but Luna would yell at me if she knew I was here," Serena said.

"Luna, who's she," he asked.

"My cat, don't ask," she answered.

"Well alright then, I'll see you tomorrow," he said.

"Yea, tomorrow," Serena said and started to leave.

"Wait, take this Serena." He went up to her and took out the star locket. He took her hand and laid it in her palm. As they both touched it, the locket opened and the beautiful music started playing as the crescent moon danced in the center.

"Darien I couldn't," she started.

"Take it, I want you to have it. It's so you can remember the song it plays, our song." He curled her fingers around it closing it in the process.

Serena nodded, "thanks Darien." She put the locket away in her pocket. She stood on her toes and kissed him. She put her mask back on and left.

Serena got home faster then she thought possible with her still injured leg. Even though she was shot only about 24 hours before, she didn't feel any pain. She hummed the locket's tune as she got ready for bed. She took the locket with her and laid it on the pillow next to her head. She lay on her side looking at it, her fingertips gently touching its surface. She fell asleep just like that and didn't stir the entire evening.

Serena woke the next morning feeling better then ever before, even her leg felt better. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood finding there was no pain at all. She sat on the bed again and began to undo the bandages. They were stained dark red with dried blood but when she looked at the wound, she found it was gone.

Luna walked into Serena's room, "Serena, you should get up. It's almost-" Luna stopped dead in her tracks seeing the bandages. "Serena what happened, are you hurt," she asked worried. She ran over to Serena and looked at her up and down searching for any injuries

"I'm fine Luna, it was nothing," Serena said.

"Serena, tell me what has happened this minute," Luna demanded.

"Fine, you don't have to get all huffy about it," Serena said crossing her arms. "Two nights ago, I went out and on my way home I was shot in the back of the leg."

"You were shot, and you didn't tell me," Luna yelled.

"Look Luna, its no big deal. I'm alright, see no mark at all," Serena moved her leg so that Luna could see the back.

Luna calmed down visibly, "ok, I guess I can't complain if your not hurt anymore. But tell me, what were you doing out so late and why didn't you tell me you were leaving."

Serena sighed, "I was at Dariens, we're trying to find a way to brake my curse."

"I told you Serena there is no way to brake this curse. All you can do is accept it," Luna said.

"No Luna, there must be another reason why I'm stuck doing this, not to keep up some silly tradition. I mean we have museums for that," Serena said.

"I guess my lie won't work any longer so I'll tell you the truth. Long ago, I was in love with a man. We were true loves and were only separated when we had to go home. I loved him very much. But we never saw each other at our homes, it was considered improper to go to an unwed mans house alone, so we only met in public. At that time I was very rich and so was he. But my fortune was from various items that I had stolen and pawned off for gold. See I was a ninja too, and a very good one. They called me the black cat, the toughest ninja in all of Japan. One night, on a trip out, I managed to steal a very precious item from a large mansion but I was caught without my mask. It turned out the mansion belonged to my love. When he saw me, he cursed me and the rest of my family to forever steal from our true loves. He also said that the only way to brake the curse is to have our true loves show the ultimate act of love. I died a year later. Partially from giving birth to my daughter and partially from my broken heart. When I woke, I found I was stuck in this cat body. I knew it was my job to make sure that my family didn't die the same way as me. For several generations, my family tried to tell their loves of what we were but they all ended up dead. So I gave up on telling the truth and made this lie to protect my family line," Luna said.

"Well that explains why I stole from Darien then," Serena said.

"And that's why you cannot fall in love for him. It'll only mean death or loneliness. If he found out that FMN was his girlfriend, he'd put you to death," Luna said.

"But Luna, I already love him, and he loves me. He knows I am the Full Moon Ninja and he still loves me," Serena said.

"He may say he loves you, but as long as I'm a cat then it's not enough. He has to pass the true test of love," Luna said.

"So what is this test. I'll talk to Darien and I'll see if he's willing to do it," Serena asked.

"I don't know Serena. No one has ever fallen for his or her true loves and is loved in return even though they knew who they were," Luna said.

"Well don't worry Luna, I'll figure it out. We'll have this curse broken before the next full moon and you'll be back to normal," Serena said.

"Just be careful Serena, you're my last hope," Luna said.

"I will Luna," Serena said. Luna left Serena to get ready alone. Serena changed into normal cloths and packed a small backpack of things she'd need on the walk to his mansion. Before she left, she had a faint feeling that she'd need her ninja outfit and the locket. She went back into her room and packed the items away in her backpack and left.

Darien was in his office looking over some papers when someone knocked on his door. "Enter," he said without looking up.

The large wooden double doors opened and in walked four men; all had an evil look in their eyes. Darien looked up at them, "what are you four doing here, I fired you," Darien said.

Malakite stepped forward, "to put it simply, we're going to pay you back for firing us."

AN: please review. the more reviews the quicker i'll have these chapters up.