A/N: A new chapter. I know what you guys are thinking, because I'm thinking it, too – FINALLY! I'm really sorry. I had a whole tsunami of schoolwork crash down on top of me as soon as we got back from Spring Break. Here's a new chap – not very good, cause it's hurried, but more will be forthcoming.
Disclaimer: If you think I own Sailor Moon, you must be smoking something.
Subject to Change
"ONE!"
From the very corner of her eye, Sailor Moon caught a glimpse of a crystal sword materializing in Zoicite's hand.
"No!" the blonde choked out as from the corner of her other eye, she saw a flicker of black and red – Tuxedo Mask, still unaware of the huge shard of lethal crystal Zoicite was wielding behind her back. He was lunging towards his death –
Sailor Moon did the only thing she could. She screamed, tearing her throat raw with a shriek issued from lungs that were being crushed beneath the general's grinding boot.
The effect was instantaneous. The glass in the store that had not already been shattered cracked and sprayed outwards in a rain of jagged pieces. Zoicite clutched her ears – dropping her sword – and staggered backwards, off Sailor Moon's bruised back.
A black cane appeared in Tuxedo Mask's hands, seemingly conjured from thin air, and something glinted at its end that Sailor Moon had never seen before: a blade.
The silver edge sliced across Zoicite's chest, scrawling an angry red line across her drab grey uniform. The general shrieked in fury, eyes flashing venom, then disappeared in a storm of cherry blossoms.
Sailor Moon eased her arched, trembling body back to the glass-strewn carpet. She didn't even have the energy to moan. Thank God he's okay. Her eyes sought out Tuxedo Mask's and found them to be unexpectedly stormy behind his mask. His fists were clenched, and the blade protruding from his cane – which had to be at least as long as her arm – glinted red in the dim green glow of the security light.
He looked angry. Unbearably angry. Murderously angry.
Her stomach knotted. But before she could even begin to untangle the mess of emotions, Tuxedo Mask had pivoted on his heel and stalked out of the jewelry store.
It was not until he had vanished completely from sight that Sailor realized that the security alarm was wailing deafeningly. She looked around and saw Mercury and Mars slumped unconscious in the corner. Where's the youma! She scrambled to her feet, wincing at the pull of sorely abused muscles, and spun around in an attempt to find the shelled creature.
Her eyes landed on the dark hulking shadow sprawled across a ransacked display case and focused on the solitary red rose embedded in the demon's quickly moldering flesh.
"My Queen." Zoicite staggered forward. Blood oozed freely from the slash on her chest, but she seemed not to notice it; her lips were curled into an empty smile. "He has weaknesses, my queen. Several, of them. And they are all in conflict with one another."
"When you were interrogating Sailor Moon – what happened?" The shadowy monarch leaned forward intently in her throne.
Zoicite's smile grew wider. Her eyes were empty, deadening; it was as though with each additional drop of blood that left her veins, more of her spirit was sapped away. Her Queen noticed this and smiled, filing the observation away in favor of the more important news.
"He hesitated."
He ran. He ran as fast as his legs would bear him, muscles coiling and stretching and pumping, across roofs and treetops, trying to escape those wet blue eyes. The blue eyes that had stared at him so trustingly, never suspecting what he had done…or rather, what he hadn't done.
He slowed to a stop, breathing raggedly. He could run, but he would never escape the guilt.
"Where's the Silver Crystal?"
He had heard that question and frozen, stopped dead in his tracks and strained his ears to hear Sailor Moon's reply. Pushed aside the nagging voice in his mind that reminded him Sailor Moon was being crushed under Zoicite's doubtlessly considerable weight (A/N: Can you picture an obese Zoicite?), ignoring the fact that she was hurting in order to hear any tidbit about the jewel he so coveted.
"Where's the princess, then?"
She had been slapped after that, so hard that she bled, and still he had remained still. He had placed the value finding out about some dream princess above the value of Sailor Moon's life. But that wasn't the worst of it.
"Tuxedo Mask, what's your relationship with him?"
This, this question had been the Medusa that immobilized him. Eagerness had swept over him, hunger, a desire to know if she loved him the way he loved her – oh, yes, he thought he loved her, he had certainly shown how much he loved her when he sat by while she spat out blood and writhed in pain beneath Zoicite's boot. Love her, indeed. How had he ever even thought he was capable of love? Much less had the presumption to believe that she could love him back!
She had trusted him.
She still trusted him.
She didn't know that he had waited.
Beep. Beep.
Serena sighed and glanced searchingly around the locker room before ducking into the bathroom stall. She pressed down on the blinking communicator button. "What is it, Rei? Not a battle?" She felt her stomach sinking.
"No, just reminding you that we have a Scout meeting after school. Don't be late this time, 'kay?"
"Rei, I have detention – "
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Me and Ami'll wait for you at the arcade. Can you handle being there by five?"
"I'm not a four-year-old, Rei."
"You act like one," Rei shot back. Then she paused and cackled gleefully. "Hey, I gotta go. We're experimenting with flammable substances in Chemistry today."
Serena rolled her eyes as she switched off the communicator and twisted awkwardly in the cramped stall to replace it in her bag. She accidentally banged her hand on the toilet paper holder and dropped the communicator – splash.
Serena groaned, staring at the pink gizmo floating in the middle of the toilet bowl. "This is not happening to me." She pinched herself, took a second look in the toilet. "Argh! I hate my life!"
Three curse words, four wads of toilet paper, and one dripping wet communicator later, Serena trudged stiffly out of the locker room towards her number. First she was late for school – again – she didn't get to eat breakfast, she forgot her lunch and her homework, she had detention with the jerkwad, Tuxedo Mask was angry with her for only God-knows-what-reason, her back felt like a sumo wrestler had decided to use it for a door mat, and she had just been forced to fish around in a toilet. Oh, and don't forget that pop quiz in English – did anyone really care what Walt Whitman's sexual preference was?
"Hey, Serena."
She rolled one bleary eye towards the boy that had materialized at her elbow. He really has a knack for showing up at the worst times. "Hi, Seiko."
"You look kinda tired."
Yeah, and I'm kinda crabby, so why don't you back off before I use my pigtails as a noose?
But she just said, "Yeah."
"Shields is, too," commented Seiko. She felt him watching her carefully. "Isn't it a coincidence that you two show up looking like zombies on the same day?"
Serena sighed. She didn't have the energy to deal with this right now. "Isn't it a coincidence that you're always talking to me about Darien? The way you go on about him, one might start to think you have a crush on him."
"Who has a crush on me?"
A slightly smirking Serena glanced away from Seiko's slack-jawed face to find that they had arrived at her number and were standing next to the jerkwad. He did indeed look haggard, messy hair and dark circles daubing the skin beneath his eyes.
"No one when you look like that," Serena answered his question in a somewhat strangled voice. Darien Shields, school cover boy, looking like he'd just dragged himself out a war zone? "What happened to you?"
"Nothing, Odango," he bit out.
Serena scowled. After that whole wonderful apology he'd given her for snapping at her yesterday, now he was doing it all over again? That jerk!
"Nothing, my foot," she snarled. "But you know what, I don't care. Be an idiot. Seiko, do you know what we're doing in gym today?"
"Relays," replied Seiko with a gulp, taking a step backward from Serena's flashing eyes and Darien's stormy glare. "W-would you be on my team, Serena-chan?"
"Definitely." Serena flashed a smile at him. "Thanks."
"Y-y-you're welcome to be on it, too, if you want, Darien," stuttered Seiko.
"No, no, he's not!" Serena exclaimed, eyebrows knitting threateningly.
"That's okay, Seiko," Darien interrupted, narrowed eyes fixed on Serena. "Serena might get distracted if she was on the same team as me, and I wouldn't want to slow her down."
"Distracted?" Serena asked puzzledly in spite of herself. "What do you mean, distracted – OH! Oh, you WISH you could distract me, Shields! I'd check out a – a – a llama before I'd check you out!"
"Too bad no self-respecting llama would take a second glance at you," Darien retorted.
"Excuse me, but I think Serena looks hot," Seiko injected into the conversation. He grabbed Serena's hand, and she forced a grateful smile for him, feeling somewhat deflated.
"You need glasses, then," said Darien harshly.
"BOYS! Could we stop fighting over Miss Tsukino and get on our numbers?" Coach Etoukou's voice boomed out across the field.
Seiko dropped Serena's hand. "See you in a few minutes for relay," he told her and jogged off.
"Shields, Tsukino! Remember that you've got detention with Miss Lanai today!" Coach ambled over with his clipboard. "She's over in Room 342."
"Coach," began Serena desperately, "Please, don't make me go to detention with him – I'll do anything, I swear, I won't talk or read manga or be late to class ever again!"
"Whoah." Coach looked at Darien. "You musta really doen something bad to get her for her to sacrifice her manga to get away from you. What did you do, forget the anniversary?"
"We DON'T have an ANNIVERSARYYYYYY!" wailed Serena, collapsing to the sidewalk and kneading her eyes with the heels of her hands. "I HATE him!"
Coach chewed on the ends of his mustache thoughtfully for a moment. "You know, as much as you two get under mu skin, I really think you make an adorable couple. I'd hate to see you end up like Brad and Jen. So I think it's best if I make you go to Miss Lanai anyways. She's very good at dealing with teen soap operas like this."
"But – but – "
"And just so you can start working things out now, why don't you two be on a relay team together? You can be on a team with Asanuma."
L
A/N: Not much humor, sorry. I have a couple of thank-you's that I typed – oh, about three weeks ago? Not everyone's here, gomen…thanks for being so patient, mina-san!
Nan-chan: A new one! I'll need your help w/the next chapter on Monday…
Tropical Remix: That is, like, the coolest penname ever. It makes me think of that new Sprite…man, now I'm hungry again…time for another Reese's.
Sailormoonhannah: I wish it would be made into a real anime/manga! I would be so RICH! Thanks you so much for your wonderful review, it really made me glow.
Sumiko Kenchi Haimoto: Wow, that makes me really happy. I love when people say that my story makes them laugh, cause I'm usually not a funny person at all, but this story is really wild, and it gives me the confidence to write more. I totally feel what you're saying about reading when you were supposed to be writing a paper – I do that ALL the time. Essays suck, fanfic rocks! Down with nonfictional writing!
Selphie108: Yeah, isn't Ami insane? I really have fun w/her, tho not as much as w/Sere and Dare. I'm glad you liked the guys; it's really REALLY fun to write their conversations.
Ffgirlmoonie: I shall. Thank heavens for Spring Break. (ManiacMagee really was quite a good book, tho I can hardly remember it. I think it's been about five years since I last read it.)
oOtHeReSeOo: My spellcheck does NOT like your name. ; ) But that's okay, b/c I DO. I'll have to check out that story of yours.
Revolutionnaire Rouge: Oh my geez! I'm smoking ambrosia, of course, Giri-chan! Teeheeheeheehee. No, not really. I smoke aerosolized Mountain Dew. (Picture me saying that w/a straight face.) The 'Numa/Toki/Dare triangle rocks. They're so crazy. I can't wait to write more of them. Imagine THEM getting ahold of the magazine we talked about…ah, priceless. You better be having an awesome vacation, Giri-chan. Lots of drooling over Chrono and Shigure and stuff. Hanyaaaaaan!
LONG LIVE SUCTION NOISES!
Makura Koneko: You're a sly one, you are! I totally freaked out when I read that you'd heard that simile before, and then I was like, "Oooohhh." Thank you SO MUCH for what you said about my fic being a "gem…" It's so sweet!
Here's a challenge for you to write; I was going to do it, but let's see how you fare…
A youma shows up at some location Serena and Darien are at (they can bump into each other by accident or be there together for some reason), and it's looking for a girl with Sailor Moon's brooch. Serena gives the brooch to Darien for safekeeping…what will happen? Tell me if you want something different, and if not, then tell me in one of your reviews when it's finished so I can check it out!
Icy Frost and Blue Angel: R U leaving? I will add the other Scouts eventually, but I think "Scythe Reaps What Is Sown" is on hiatus for a while until I write more of this story and "Why We Can't."
Meg-chan: Is Seiko cute, or is he competition? Domo arigatou for all the reviews – they never fail to make me laugh. And your baka updates – it's nice to know that I'm not the only one in the world who goes through that sort of stuff. I wish I could give you more advice, but I probably wouldn't be all that reliable, since my only experience in romance comes from books, movies, and fanfiction. (sigh) But that's okay, because it'll just make the real thing all the sweeter when we find it, ne? In the meantime, write more fanfiction, onegai!
Serenity-hime: Hime-sama! Are those enough exclamation points? I get so excited every time I see one of your reviews; you're, like, my Sailor Moon fanfiction mentor. (Oops, did I sound preppy there?) I'm thrilled that you like Asanuma & Motoki – I thought I was taking a big gamble with them, but they turned out quite nicely. I'm also glad that you liked Serena and Darien's blossoming relationship…I am taking it very, very, very, very slowly in order to drag it out and savor it as long as possible, kind of like Wish-chan's New Trials. I want them to have a comfortable friendship before anything happens, and they're still nowhere near that point. But it's fun to have them walking on eggshells around each other while they ponder the prospect of romance. Um…credit for the explanation of the girls' disorders goes to RR; she gave me the idea. Thank you so much for your reviews, and I hope you like these new chapters!Cuteness is definitely approaching.
Becx: Heeheehee, aren't they funny when they think about liking each other?
Eternalsailormooncosmo: Domo arigatou! Your DiC episodes were way more gut-splitting than my stuff – we can't promote teen pregnancy! Ha! It's classic! I think about it every time I see Chibi-Chibi now!
Chibi Doo: I am usually an extremely depressing writer. That was all I wrote when I first got on but then Meg-chan dared me to write a happy story – this – and now I'm hooked. I can't write even an ounce of angst anymore. I am also proud of you for not thinking they knew each other's identities.
Sirenic Griffin: giggles back. I'm glad you think so. Thanks for keeping the dialogue v. action thing in mind, too, I was wondering if anyone would notice.
Starlit Warrior: Thank you very much. I really do need the luck, cause Zoicite and her plotting is driving me crazy.
Nekoinuhanyou: merci beaucoup.
Neonlights: I will, really soon! Thank you for reading and reviewing!
Emmastarz: Thank you. PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ review lots more!
Sun+Moon, Earth+Sky: (Swords-chan rubs hands together) Hmm, fresh meat. A new reviewer. I have a lot to say to you. First off, I adore your name. Not only does it sound cool, but it looks really cool, with those + signs. Whenever I see your plus signs, I know there's going to be a long, juicy review coming up. I'm really flattered that you say my fic sounds like how you act with your friends – cause that was really my goal when I started this fic, to place Serena and Dare in more everyday situations that we regular people could relate to. I feel your pain with the whole hot guy thing – I have yet to see a guy of Darien's hotness caliber, and there are absolutely NO hot guys at my high school, just a lot of rednecks with crewcuts and camo. Darn it. Anyways, I digress so that I can thank you SO MUCH for being such an awesome reviewer. I'm looking at your Chap 7 review right now, and I totally agree with you. I prefer Sere/Dare when they're with each other in regular life, I have a really hard time writing them in their Moon/Mask identities, cause it just feels really boring…I promise more Sere/Dare interaction.
Secret Heart: I am honored that you think so. (bows) I shall do my best. Love your name, BTW.
Poisonmoon: Oh i like your name
yes i do
Nanie-san: I didn't mean any offense to freshman, either …in fact, I'll tell you a secret, I'm one, too! And seniors are really mean, aren't they?