A/N: My stars, Kimra-san, I love you. I love youloveyouloveyouLOVEYOU! Your review was so SWEEEEEEET! (EightofSwords sniffs and dabs eyes with hankerchief) I've read most of your SM stories and loved every single one of 'em – you're on my list as, like, one of the veteran writers of Sailor Moon, along with Alicia Blade and Lilac Summer and ChibiCori and Princess Destiny and all them, so the first time I got a review from you, I was like, "WOW!" Your review REALLY meant a lot; thanks.
This is a bit of a filler chapter, y'all – some stuff had to be set up, and it was a long week, so there's not much action.
Disclaimer: My brain cells are too fried by studying geometry formulas to come up with something witty. I need mush, STAT, so let's be short – I don't own Sailor Moon.
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Subject to Change
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"He's got guts, I'll say that for him." Darien's fingers tightened around the mug of coffee he'd ordered from Motoki. Somehow, he just wasn't in the mood for the sweet taste of soda right then. "Rotten, slimy guts that I'd like to tear out of his abdomen and knot around his throat, but guts nonetheless."
"I can't believe it." Motoki shook his head, leaning on one elbow on the counter. "He's got some nerve. I mean, how could any guy be that low? Giving Usa-chan the guilt trip like that – she takes that stuff seriously!"
"Of course she does," said Darien darkly, throwing back a gulp of the steaming stimulant in front of him. "Innocent, naive Odango – he knows that she's susceptible to stuff like that, and that's exactly why he did it."
"Since he can't get her to have anything to do with him any other way," put in Asanuma sourly from behind his own cup of java. His nose wrinkled wrathfully. "Smelly little skunk."
"This has got you really riled up, 'Numa," said Motoki in mild surprise. "I know you're worried about Serena, but – is there something else bothering you?"
Asanuma scowled more deeply. "Nothing," he said, voice muffled behind his mug. "I just don't like Seiko, that's all."
Darien eyed him speculatively. "Would you like to elaborate?"
"No."
Motoki rolled his eyes. "C'mon, Asanuma, stop being such a drama queen. One Darien's enough."
"Hey!"
"It's nothing," said Asanuma more forcefully, ignoring Darien's protest. "Now, shouldn't we be coming up with a plan to get back at Seiko?"
Darien lifted an eyebrow. "Who said anything about getting back at Seiko?"
"Darien's right, 'Numa." Motoki took Darien empty mug and tossed it over his shoulder into the sink. "We don't wanna get in any trouble, we just want to help Usa get outta this."
"That's not what I meant," interrupted Darien, frowning. He leaned forward, placing his palms flat on the counter. "We're not doing anything about this, guys."
"What!" Asanuma leapt up. "What are you talking about? You wanna just sit back and let Seiko yank Serena-chan around like some puppy on a leash?"
"I gotta side with Numa on this one, Dare," added Motoki, eyebrows knit as he stared with confusion at the dark-haired junior. "Any guy who can make Usa sad enough that she abandons one of my infamous raspberry-fudge shakes is not someone I'm gonna trust to take her to the movies." He was referring to a few minutes earlier, when Serena had left the arcade without finishing her favorite chocolatey concoction.
"I can't believe you're letting a basketball player take her to the movies. Especially Seiko," spat out Asanuma. "They date cheerleaders, you know what sort of stuff they expect. You're an idiot!"
"What was I supposed to do?" retorted Darien. "Jump between them and say, 'No, Serena, you can't go?' We all know what that would have looked like."
"It would have looked like you liked her," snapped Asanuma. "Which you do!"
"Even if I did like Serena," continued Darien calmly, speaking to Motoki and ignoring Asanuma, "it's not any of my business anyways. Maybe she wanted to go to the movies with him. I don't know if she did or not – I don't care if she did or not. But for all I know, she could have just been playing hard to get or something."
"Yeah, Reika did that to me lot," admitted Motoki, rubbing his forehead. "But I just can't picture Usa being that crafty…"
"I can't BELIEVE you're just sitting here and doing nothing!" exploded Asanuma, leaping up and grabbing Darien by the shirt collar. "That low-down, good-for-nothing, manipulative, HENTAI is trying to steal YOUR girl! You're just gonna sit by and watch him take advantage of Serena!"
Darien looked down at Asanuma with something akin to amusement in his dark blue eyes. "You're being melodramatic again, Asanuma. Sure, Seiko's a basketball player, but everyone knows he's never dated any cheerleaders. He's been too gaga over the Odango. And he's been after her for too long to do something that might scare her off."
"Darien's got a point," Motoki agreed. "And Seiko is an honors student…isn't there like, some law against honors students doing – well, you know… running the bases?"
Darien, lapels still in Asanuma's grip, buried his face in his hands. "I can't believe we're having this conversation," he muttered.
"I can't believe you're being so cavalier about this!" Asanuma grumbled. "This is SERENA we're talking about! Whether Seiko tries anything or not, the fact still remains that he was being a jerk by guilting her into the movies with him!"
Darien straightened, prying Asanuma's fingers from his blazer. "That's true," he said thoughtfully, eyes narrowing a bit. He stood. "Fine. What do you propose we do, Asanuma?"
L
Saturday morning:
"Wait…so tell me again why you can't come to a Senshi meeting this afternoon?"
Serena slumped against the wall, twirling the telephone cord around her finger and heaving a sigh. "Because, Rei. I have to go to the movies."
"So what you're saying is that going to the movies is more important than finding the princess and the crystal?" Unfortunately, Rei's voice lost none of its edge over the phone. "I'm sure Luna would love to hear that."
Serena sighed again, the sound turning into a yawn. It was eleven o'clock, WAY too early for anyone to be up on a Saturday. "That's not what I mean, and you know it, Rei. Believe me, I wish I could get out of it, but it's kind of an obligation…"
"Some obligation." Rei snorted. "Wish I had obligations like that."
Serena bit her lip. "Hey, I've gotta go, okay? I need to take a shower and get dressed."
"Of course," said Rei, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "Have fun at your obligation, Odango-brains."
Click.
Serena shuffled to the bathroom with a towel and an armful of hair-care products. She emerged half an hour later, wrapped in a towel, with a sheet of wet hair slapping heavily against the backs of her legs as she retreated into her room.
"Stupid hair," she muttered, staring at the ridiculously long golden tresses in the mirror. Usually, she luxuriated in the lengthy task of combing out her hair, but at the moment, she was dreading the arduous, time-consuming task. She just wanted to flop back down in bed and sleep till doomsday. Or better yet, go back in time to way before any of this, before she had become Sailor Moon, before she had become a sleep-deprived high school flunkie, before she had met Rei…
Serena flushed and shook her head. Here came those horrible, uncharitable thoughts again. She had to keep them away. Rei and Ami were her friends. As was Luna. They all wanted the best for her –
No, they want the best for the princess, corrected a voice inside her mind.
Serena's face trembled a moment, then she pursed her lisp resolutely and spoke to her reflection, "That's because what's best for me is to find the princess. The princess being safe will be best for everyone. Once we find her, everything will be able to go back to normal…"
I think you're just saying that because you know that if you can't count on Ami and Rei, there's no one you can count on.
Serena quailed at this. The voice twisted itself into her psyche like a key unlocking that inner recess of her mind where all of her fears and doubts had been imprisoned.
You don't like change, do you? Change is bad. Change made you Sailor Moon. Change made you drift away from Molly.
It was true. She and Molly had once been inseparable – "joined at the hip," Serena's mother used to joke. But since she had become a Sailor Senshi, nearly the only times Serena conversed with Molly were in notes passed furtively during math class. Unable to prevent this inevitable rift, she had tried to console herself with the thought that heroes had to make sacrifices to protect the world. But it was an empty consolation, especially since the last thing Serena ever felt like was a hero…
Change brought Ami and Rei…but it took them away, too, didn't it?
She had been so happy when Rei and Ami arrived on the scene. Their appearance meant that she would be able to have friends after all, people to share happiness and sorrow and secrets with – but then they had drifted away, too. They had become different – or maybe they had always been different. Either way, Ami now spent all her time counting cracks, disinfecting things, obsessing over classes, and Rei prowled about on the hunt for flammable objects to set afire and spent the rest of her time torturing Chad – neither one had time to talk to Serena unless it was for Senshi business.
Remember Tuxedo Mask? He changed, too…
The Negaverse was hot on the trail of the princess and the crystal while the Senshi still hadn't the foggiest idea as to the whereabouts of either. Ami and Rei's once-amazing fighting skills had dwindled until now they were little more than extra target to distract the youmas in battles. Luna was on her back day and night, yowling at her to do her homework, to look for the princess, to find the crystal, to practice her fighting moves, to help her mother with chores, to stop eating so much, to wake up earlier, to stop getting detention, to stop fighting with Rei, to be more responsible – on and on and on until Serena thought her head would explode. There was too much stress, too much stress, and nothing to relieve it – Tuxedo Mask had once been the only bright spot on the horizon, and now he was extinguished, too, for Luna had forbidden her to speak with him ever again. But it didn't matter, anyways, because he was angry with her for some reason…
And his anger frightened her, so that now he haunted her nightmares and not her daydreams.
Change ruined everything. It made you depend on Darien for company…
Darien…even he wasn't the same anymore…
He isn't, is he? Something happened. You used to be able to believe that he liked you as a person, but now…
She had been floating about. Spending time with Ami and Rei when they weren't otherwise occupied, passing notes to Molly when she wasn't busy writing love letters to Melvin, and the rest of the time, just talking to whoever happened to be there at the moment. And Darien, Serena realized, was the one who usually happened to be there. Darien was the one she had come to depend on to be dependable – no matter what, Darien would be there to tug on her pigtails, to insult her, to make her mad, to make her laugh, to make her sad. He was always there, always himself, always indubitably and irrefutably Darien, arrogant and condescending and witty and infuriating. He had always been the same, and she had begun to take it for granted that he always would be.
But now, something's changed, hasn't it? He never teases you anymore. Never calls you Odango Atama.
Something had changed. Darien wasn't the same Darien. It was visible in the way he hesitated before speaking, in the way he was careful not to invade her space, in the way he didn't glare at her anymore, but only smiled gently. It was audible in the way his voice never held cutting edges anymore, only worn and weary tones, in the way he was careful never to raise his voice, in the way he never insulted her anymore.
Does he not feel comfortable with you anymore? Or maybe he never felt comfortable with you in the first place.
She didn't know. She didn't know the answer to any of these questions. All she knew was that Darien – who she had always been able to count on to set her temper on fire when she herself felt like she was drowning, who she could always win an insult battle against even if she had lost to a youma the night before – wasn't who he used to be.
The world seems a whole lot scarier now, doesn't it? When you realize that there's nothing in your life that isn't subject to change. Doesn't it scare you –
"SERENA!"
Serena gasped and caught her breath, tearing her eyes away from the mirror.
"M – Mom?" she called shakily, stumbling to her door and opening it a crack.
"Serena, honey, it's already quarter till! Don't you need to be going?" Her mother peered up at her from the foot of the stairs, a laundry basket balanced on one hip.
Serena took a double-take at her alarm clock. "Oh my god!" she shrieked, slamming the door shut and leaping back to her dresser to snatch up her comb. "It is! I'm supposed to be meeting Seiko RIGHT NOW!" It would take her at least ten minutes to run to the movie theater – and that was in super-speedy-Serena mode.
It took her five minutes to twist her hair into her customary buns, and by then, she was out of time. "No time to dress, no time to dress," she panted frantically, almost in tears, tearing through her closet. "I don't know what to wear!"
She ripped her school uniform off its hanger and threw it onto the floor behind her. She heard a clunk as it hit the floor, and the sound of something heavy rolling across the wood. She glanced over her shoulder.
"YES!" Serena pounced on the pink pen that had fallen out of her pocket. Luna won't be happy with me for using it like this…but I'm really in a bind…and what Luna doesn't know, Luna can't get mad about, right? She thrust the rod into the air with one hand, clutching her towel around her with the other. "LUNA PEN, DRESS ME IN SOME STYLISH WEEKENDWEAR!"
Pink light exploded behind her eyelids and then faded. Serena only had time to glance in the mirror to make sure she wasn't clad in just a leather thong – it wouldn't be the first time it happened. The Luna Pen could definitely use a V-chip – before she hot-footed out of the house.
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"I can't believe I let you two drag me into doing this," grumbled Darien, yanking the brim of his baseball cap lower over his eyes. If anyone saw him (especially Seiko or Serena), his reputation was toast. "This is degradingly low even for you, Asanuma."
"Aw, quit yer yappin," said Asanuma affably. He lifted a pair of binoculars to his eyeballs and leaned forward in his seat, surveying the rows of people that sat in the half-full theater before them. He lifted a walkie-talkie to his mouth. "Shake-boy, this is Eye-candy. So sign of the Dumpling yet, over."
"Roger that, Eye-Candy," crackled Motoki's voice. "You've still got Man-Flesh with you?"
Asanuma glanced over at Darien – who was currently holding a bag of popcorn on front of his face to avoid being seen by a group of giggling girls parading down the aisle – and snickered. "Oh, yeah, he's here, but I'm not sure how long he'll last. I might have to handcuff him to the seat."
"Better you than me," replied Motoki from the other side of Darien. "Over."
Darien exploded, throwing the popcorn into the air with one hand and ripping the walkie-talkie out of Asanuma's hand with the other. "Hello! You guys are sitting two feet away from each other!" He glared at Asanuma, then at Motoki, who was in the seat on his other side. "If you're gonna use these stupid things, at least go sit somewhere else so I don't have to put up with you!"
Motoki grinned at Asanuma and spoke into his walkie-talkie. "No can do, Man-flesh. We have to stay with you at all times to make sure you don't give us the slip."
"AAARGH!" Darien flung the walkie-talkie back into Asanuma's lap. "I give up!"
"Calm down, Dare-bear, don't give yourself an aneurysm." Asanuma tapped Darien 's head with the walkie-talkie antenna. "Hey, why'd you have to go and throw the popcorn all over, huh? I had diabolical plans for that stuff!"
"You mean, your stomach had diabolical plans for it," corrected Motoki.
"Noooooooo….not all of it…"
"What were you planning to do with it, then?"
"If you buy me another bag and wait until Seiko starts to get frisky, I'll show you."
"I don't think I wanna know," Darien sighed, slouching down lower in his seat. He really wished now that he hadn't been so rash with the popcorn; now those girls were glancing back at him over their shoulder and giggling, and he had no bag to hide behind. "Well, I'm sure as heck not going back out there where anyone could see me."
"I'll do it," said Motoki in a long-suffering tone of voice, getting to his feet. He took the money Darien handed him and wove through the aisles to the exit door.
Darien glanced at his watch. "Are you sure we're at the right movie?" he asked. "It's about to start any moment, but Seiko hasn't showed up yet, and neither has Serena."
"Darien, are you doubting the verity of my information-gathering capabilities?" Asanuma placed a hand over his heart and looked hurt. "Your spear stabs deep, my friend."
"Asanuma, you're acting like the first syllable of your name again…"
"Fine, fine, fine!" Asanuma scowled. "Curse my mother's baby name book… no, I'm positive this is the film they're going to see. I have it on very good authority that their film starts at two, and this is the only film in the complex with a two o'clock start time."
"What movie is this, anyway?" asked Darien idly, propping his legs up on the empty seat in front of him. "You never told me."
"Aw, some slasher flick or something," answered Asanuma absently. "I dunno, really, I just saw that it was PG-13, so I didn't have to break out my fake ID cards." He grinned.
Darien missed the joke; he was still frowning over Asanuma's first words. "A slasher flick?"
"That's what I said, old man." Asanuma rolled his eyes. "Get a hearing aide."
"Serena hates horror films."
"Yeah, so do most girls, that's why guys like to take them so that they can be all like, Aw, it's okay and comfort 'em and stuff – " Asanuma paused and looked at Darien. "Hang on, you don't think – oh!" Asanuma pounded the armrest furiously. "That jerk!"
"Calm down." Darien's voice was clipped. "Getting angry isn't going to do anything."
"Maybe not, but neither is sitting here likes a couple of doofuses." Asanuma stood up and began to climb across the rows of seats towards the doors.
Darien grabbed him by the collar. "Stop it! You're not going to accomplish anything but getting thrown out of the theater like that. We don't even know that Seiko's planning anything, maybe he just really enjoys watching blood and guts."
"Serena doesn't, though."
"Serena's a big girl," said Darien firmly. "She can take care of herself as far as blood and guts go. She knows how to stand up and walk into the lobby if she doesn't like it."
Asanuma wrenched out of Darien's grip. "What are we even here for, then? If we're not gonna do anything – "
"If Seiko makes move on her that she clearly doesn't like, then we'll interfere," answered Darien calmly. "But otherwise, this is none of our business."
Asanuma chewed on his lip for a minute, regarding Darien. At last, he said, "You're gonna lose her if you keep sitting back like this, you know."
Darien snorted. "So I've heard multiple times. It's a good thing I don't like her, then, isn't it?"
Asanuma shook his head. "You're gonna regret it, Dare, I'm not kidding – you find that person, you can't let 'em go. Cause they don't come back." Asanuma's eyes hazed over slightly. "They don't come back, man. Not the same."
Darien gripped Asanuma's shoulder concernedly. "Hey. Is there something that you, you know, wanna talk about?" He flashed a smirk. 'We could go to the arcade and Motoki could psycho-analyze you over a shake and a burger."
Asanuam recollected himself. "No. Nah, I'm good. Just spaced out a second. Hey, here comes Toki – Toki! Be careful with those drinks, man!" He bounded over to help their friend with the overflowing tray of concessions he balanced.
"How do I always end up carrying around the food?" asked Motoki, shaking his head. "Do I have some stamp on my forehead that says, Load me up, I'm a waiter?"
"Hey, don't complain, dude. Chicks love a guy in an apron." Asanuma snagged a platter of nachos and poured the container of melted cheese straight into his mouth. Darien grimaced at him and received a grin in return. "Kiss the cook and all that – hey, you guys'll give me the Heimlich if I choke, right?"
"At this point, I'd rather let you suffocate," grunted Motoki, disgruntled.
"You're so mean, Motoki." Asanuma pretended to pout. "What about CPR? You'd give me CPR, right? I mean, look at these luscious lips – "
"Whoah, whoah, WHOAH!" Darien exclaimed, throwing out his hands. "Red light!"
"Why, yes, I am employed in the red district – "
"STOP! STOP!" Darien clapped his hands over his ears. "I'm too innocent for this! Stop violating my virgin ears!"
"Oh, please – virgin ears? With all those college girls after you?" Asanuma snorted. "Please."
"Hey, where'd the cheese go?" Motoki lifted a soda, then the popcorn. "Asanuma, did you eat it all again?"
"Nooooooo…."
"Liar!"
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Am not!"
"Are TOO!"
"Would you two stop flirting and shut up?"
"Darien!" Motoki yelped. "I have a GIRLFRIEND!"
"All the more reason you should be ashamed of yourself for flirting with Asanuma." Darien shook his head reproachfully. "I'm telling Reikaaaaaaaaaa…."
Asanuma looked at Motoki. "Darien's really annoying when he's trying to be funny."
"But you're annoying twenty-four seven," retorted Darien. "And I don't try to be funny, I am funny."
"Sure, funny-looking." Asanuma and Motoki dissolved into snickers. Darien rolled his eyes but smiled, then something caught his eye.
"Hey! It's the Odango!"
Immediately, Asanuma and Motoki quit laughing and pulled on their disguises – a pair of wraparound sunglasses for Motoki and a long, curly black girl wig for Asanuma, who swore it had belonged to his mom in her salad days (Darien and Motoki weren't buying) – then leaned back nonchalantly in their seats to watch Serena and Seiko find their seats.
Motoki whistled. "Whoah, check out Usa."
Asanuma nodded in wholehearted agreement, making his wig bounce. "I've never seen her wear a skirt that short before. Those are some looooong legs for a Pygmy like her."
Darien threw them both a glare. "Now I see the real motive behind you two coming to stalk Serena. You just wanted to check her out, didn't you? Despicable."
"Oh, please, Dare-Bear, you can't pretend you can't appreciate how nice Dumpling looks."
Darien glowered. "Don't call me Dare-Bear…" But it was true. He had noticed the length of Serena's pleated grey skirt – almost as short as Sailor Moon's fuku. Her shirt was nothing to sneeze at, either, a pearly-colored, high-collared, Chinese-styled top that smoothly conformed to Serena's slender naturally slender arms and neck instead of making her look like a scarecrow. But he wasn't about to admit to any of that – not that it meant anything, anyways. Anyone was capable of feeling physical attraction; noticing someone looked nice was no big deal. Asanuma and Motoki would try to make it a big deal, though, which was why he was going to keep his mouth shut.
"Okay, looks like they're heading towards the front row," reported Motoki, who was in current possession of the binoculars. "Fourth to front, third to front, second to front – they have landed, I repeat, they have landed."
"Nothing's ever easy, is it?" griped Darien as he, Motoki, and Asanuma dropped to their knees and began to crawl under the seats closer to Seiko and Serena. "WHY do I let you two drag me into these things?"
A few minutes later, the trio popped up a few rows behind Seiko and Serena. They carefully positioned themselves behind a – er- busy couple so that Seiko and Serena wouldn't be able to see them.
"Man, it's a good thing we found these two," whispered Asanuma loudly, motioning with his binoculars towards the couple making out in front of them. "Otherwise we'd be dead – hey, look, it's starting!"
The opening credits scrolled down the screen, and the boys watched silently as the camera panned through a graveyard, then zoomed in on a patch of trembling grass. A skeletal hand popped out of the grave; then an explosion of dirt, grass, and mouldering flesh, erupted into the camera and faded the screen to black. Maggots burrowed out of the darkness, squirming, and formed the movie's title, Attack of the Something or Others, Darien wasn't really paying attention.
The first fifteen or so minutes of the movie were filled with screams, blood, guts, more screams, dismembered limbs, growling things, gore, anorexic blondes, and more screaming. Darien kept one eye on the screen and one on Serena and Seiko, though he was careful not to report anything of what he saw. The farsightedness of his alter ego allowed him to focus on them and magnify their images clearly in his mind's eyes, but he wasn't about to apprise Asanuma and Motoki of this ability.
To his surprise, Serena seemed to be taking the horror film very well. He had expected her to leave immediately when the movie started, or scream a couple of times, or be crying, or at the very least, huddle to Seiko for comfort – but she was just sitting calmly in her seat, with cheek hand propped on her drawn-up knee, popping Skittles in her mouth every once in a while. Serena, it seemed, was surprising him again and again.
And so was Seiko – surely he hadn't invited Serena to this movie if he wasn't planning on doing anything? Darien began to think so until his eyes caught a small motion near Serena's side. It was Seiko's right hand, inching slowly towards Serena's on the armrest. Darien choked and spewed his soda all over the girl sitting front of him. Luckily for him, she was still too preoccupied with her boyfriend to notice.
"What? What is it?" Asanuma grabbed the binoculars from Motoki and swung them towards Seiko and Serena. "Oh, no you don't!" He grabbed a handful of popcorn from his bag and aimed. "Take that!" He flung the fistful of buttery kernels at Seiko's head. The fluffy white pieces lodged themselves securely in Seiko's nest of rusty brown curls.
Seiko twitched, and his hand moved from the armrest to pat his hair. They watched as he found a piece and stared at it a moment. He twisted around in his seat in an attempt to locate the thrower of the popcorn, but Asanuma, Motoki, and Darien were safely hidden by the amorous couple. Seiko turned back around. Darien relaxed, thankful that they hadn't been noticed, then tensed again. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end, something in the air –
BOOOM! The wall behind the screen exploded outwards, ripping through the screen and sending car-sized boulders of concrete bowling and crunching into the rows of seats. Screams erupted, and in the midst of the destruction, an impossibly well-endowed creature cackled maniacally.
L
A/N: Oh my. A youma in the movie theater. What's going to happen? Is Serena injured? She was, after all, in the front row…. Will she and Darien find out each other's identities? Does that girly wig really belong to Asanuma's mother? Will the boys get kicked out of the theater for throwing popcorn? And most importantly – will EightofSwords ever meet any of the guys on her Hot Guys List? Other than #1152, that is. (Not a word, Giri-chan! Not a word! You neither, Nan-chan!)
Please tell me what you thought of Serena's soliloquy. I'm kinda iffy on it.