A/N: You guys hate me, I know. Especially Nimbirosa and Meg-chan (sniffle). So long without an update! My only defense is that high school started up again, and we all know how THAT goes. (mutter mutter grumble school sucks mutter grumble mutter) I apologize for the lateness and also for the lack of showing (as opposed to telling) in this chapter. Gomen, I'm a horrible writer.
However, my horoscope told me to wish on a star and focus on all the little things that make life wooooonderfuuuuuuul, so I am working as hard as I can on fanfiction, which is sometimes the only thing that keeps me going. (That, and fried dough. And cotton candy. And Mountain Dew – which now has a new flavor! WOOOOHOOOO! Yum. One of you mentioned that I talk about food in my stories a lot, and I will tell you that my mother is worried that I am too food-fixated.)
A lot of you mentioned that you feel the story is close to being wound up. I will tell you – yes, and no. Yes, because I now have the last paragraphs of the last chapter written (took me about two darned days), and no, because since about Chapter Twelve, I have been planning to continue this story throughout every Sailor Moon season. What think you of this, readers?
Subject to Change
Chapter Twenty-Three:
Ami dragged herself home at seven o'clock Sunday night with smarting, sluggish feet. Her muscles felt like they had been wrung out and hung up to dry after the mind-numbing, six-hour patrol she had done of the park.
She did not mind the physical discomfort as much as she minded the apathy that was slowly creeping over her, like clouds creeping across the sky before a thunderstorm. As she fruitlessly searched the park's vicinity for something she had no way to recognize even if she did find it, she had suddenly realized something.
She did not care anymore if they found the princess or not.
She just wanted it to be over. She just wanted to be able to go back to the days when all-nighters meant that she stayed up to cram for tests, not to fight youma and listen to a perpetually dissatisfied feline. She didn't care if they found the princess or not, she just wanted to be free. She wanted life.
For now, she was just an empty shell. When youma attacks whistled past her by mere centimeters, Ami did not see her life flash before her eyes She felt no fear, no dread of what was possible impending death. She only felt a horrible, empty apathy. Because what was there in life for her to miss if she were to die? She didn't even have a life anymore. She stayed up until the wee hours of the early morning to carry out Luna's searches for their missing monarch, caught two or three hours of sleep, woke up, hurriedly finished as much homework as she could on the subway ride to school, mechanically waded her way through classes and tests, hid in the library during lunch, endured more classes, went to meet Rei and Luna at the temple, searched for the princess some more, went home, and then the cycle repeated itself all over again.
Life was friends, life was laughter, life was belonging. Ami did not have any of these things. This truth was stamped as deeply nto her brain as was the quadratic formula, and it was stamped deeper every time she caught glimpses of Serena joking with Darien and his friends or bumping sides with the new girl – whom Luna still insisted was probably an enemy.
The message button was blinking on the phone when Ami entered the apartment. Glowing red in the darkness, it reminded Ami of Luna's cinnabar eyes, and she flinched away from it without noticing that she did.
She put a pot of water on the stove to boil for ramen, then reluctantly pressed the message button.
"You have two new messages. Message one."
"Ami." That strict, no-nonsense voice with the beeping and hum in the background was her mother, undoubtedly calling from the hospital. "Ami, it's two o'clock, I know you're home. Pick up." There was a pause. "Fine. I see you're in one of your moods. Well, Dr. Kitsude called in sick, so I'm covering the night shift. You're on your own for dinner. Goodbye."
"Message two."
"Mrs. Mizuno, this is Ihara Tutetsu from the Kuritusaru Juku calling. I would like to speak to you regarding Ami. Please call me back at your soonest possible convenience."
Ami paled and quickly deleted the two messages. The stove timer beeped, and she spooned some ramen into a bowl, then took it to her room with a bottle of mineral water from the fridge.
She set the frugal meal down on her study table and glanced across the tidy room at the neat stick on schoolbooks on her desk. A sigh escaped her, and she shuffled over to slide one of them out of the pile and return to her food with it. She slipped a notebook and pencil out of her bag to take notes, but something else fell out with them also.
Her communicator. She looked down at the pink calculator-like gadget, her bloodshot eyes drawn inexorably to the yellow crescent-shaped button at its top.
In Ami's mother's eyes, Ami's father could not have picked a better time to leave his family. Ami was mere weeks from turning five when her father packed up a suitcase and slipped out of the house as unobtrusively as a shadow, never to darken their door again. Small Ami had been napping when he left, and her mother returned from the hospital to find her sitting tousle-headed in the middle of the living room floor.
Dr. Mizuno immediately hired a babysitter, who was the closest thing Ami had to a parent for the next couple of weeks. Then Ami's fifth birthday rolled around, and Dr. Mizuno was able to ship her daughter off to the same boarding school her mother had attended as a child: a prestigious preparatory academy that sent children home only for the summer holidays.
Ami spent the next ten years of her life at that school, seeing her mother only a few weeks a year – and even then, she was usually absent from the house to work or meetings.
If Ami ever felt hurt by this – and she frequently did – she never mentioned it. She had always been a quiet child, and frequent scolding from her mother or babysitters to stop crying had conditioned her to internalize her emotions. Her mother was too busy saving people's lives to be bothered with such an insignificant thing as building a relationship with her daughter. As a younger child, Ami told herself that this was because her mother trusted her enough to develop into a polite, proper young lady without help, but as the years melted away, so did this illusion. Ami's mother did not spend time with her because she did not care about her. That was the cold hard truth.
But Ami tried to work past that. Many of the characters in her favorite novels had dysfunctional families like hers, but they found happy endings with friends who loved them.
The problem was that no one at school seemed particularly interested in being Ami's friend. Her dorm-mates had already paired off into their own cliques, and whenever Ami tried to contribute to their conversations, they gave her bizarre looks and walked away.
In attempts to ingratiate herself to one group of girls, Ami offered to help them with their homework. What she ended up doing was their homework.
But they allowed her to participate in their conversations after that, so Ami did not mind. She justified her action of doing their homework as the payment she owed them for being allowed to be their friend.
Several years passed in this way, until Ami was fifteen. It was a couple of weeks past her birthday on the day that she was poring over a tattered copy of Voltaire in the school library and she heard a loud, rambunctious group of people settle into a table on the other side of the aisle. Ami ignored them at first, until she recognized some voices and her own name being spoken by these voices.
"God, she's so ANNOOOOYING," dragged out her friend Vera. "She's always following us around like a hungry puppy hoping for food!"
"We've finally gotten a few hours free of her," pointed out another, Jamie sourly. "Why are you wasting our precious time away from Ami complaining about her?"
"Jamie's totally right," agreed the third, Francesca. "What we should really be talking about is that hot new Latin teacher. I am SO taking his class next year."
"Who's going to do your homework for you?" asked Jamie skeptically. "Ami's been going on for years about how she can't wait to take French. She won't be able to do your Latin homework for you."
"Aw, I'll convince her to drop French and take Latin with me," said Francesca dismissively. "You know how eager Ami is to please."
Gales of laughter rang out at this last statement. Ami, neck and face flushing, scrambled to her feet and stumbled out of the library. Tears blurred her vision as she snatched up the student phone in the hallway and dialed her mother's number.
"Hello, this is Dr. Mizuno," began a cool voice.
"Mama!" Ami cried pitifully in her native Japanese, her nose running copiously as she pressed the phone tightly to her ear. "Mama, I want to come home!"
" – and I'm not home at the moment, please leave a message," finished her mother's calm tones.
Ami froze, mucus and tears dripping down her face. Slowly, it sank in – her mother was not home. And even if she was, Ami realized in her slightly more coherent state, she would refuse to let her come home.
Anguish washed over her in steady, unrelenting tides. Ami gripped the telephone tighter, unsure what to do. She couldn't – just couldn't – stay here any longer.
Something strange happened then that Ami was unable to explain. As the shame and pain crashed over her again and again, her surroundings began to fade. Ami squeezed her eyes shut tight, thinking that she was about to faint, but she peeked out of them a minute later only to see her mother's apartment in Japan had coalesced around her.
Somehow, Ami had teleported herself from the boarding school to her mother's apartment.
Her mother did not believe her when Ami told her. She was already furious that Ami had shown up in the middle of the school year (she called the school and exchanged thinly veiled barbs with the headmistress for a good half hour), and Ami's insistence of an impossible event occurring simply made her angrier. Ami was sent immediately to her room, but her elation at being away from the prep school was so great that she did not care.
A few days later, Ami's mother enrolled her in the local high school on three conditions: that she keep her grades at a steady ninety-five percent average, that she attend juku every day after school, and that she manage her own household duties (like dinner, laundry, etc.) because Dr. Mizuno had no time to "baby her," as she put it.
Again, Ami had no problem with this; she was just thankful that she had not been sent back to Francesca, Vera, and Jamie. As she dressed for the first day of her new school, she made herself promise that no matter how desperately lonely she became or how desperately she wanted a friend, she would not allow them to take advantage of her.
With this determined resolution, Ami stepped into the halls of her new school with a wary expression and her arms wrapped tightly around her folders. A girl bumped into her and Ami smiled at her, but the girl made a face and flicked her off before pushing past her.
Ami's smile died. She kept her head down after that, her eyes on her feet as she navigated the crowded hallway to find her first class.
Which turned out to be an impossible task. Ami was forced to approach the kindest-looking person in the hallway – a beefy, bored-looking guy standing next to the door of Room 408 – for directions. He grunted when she phrased her question to him, then walked away.
Ami's lips trembled, but she tried again – tentatively. She asked a girl with an eyebrow piercing if she knew where to find Room 406, but the girl has headphones blasting in her ears and barely spared her a glance.
The bell rang, and students drained away until Ami was left standing alone in the hallway. An administrator appeared and barked at her for being late, sapping her with a detention before she could even speak. Then he glanced at her schedule and barked, "CLASS!" while pointing to the right. Ami immediately took off in that direction and found Room 406, which was OUTSIDE the hallway.
Classes were a blur of snickers, unfriendly or uninterested faces, and bored, unhelpful teachers. Lunch was spent perched on the very edge of a bench in the cafeteria, nibbling on her lettuce sandwich with her muscles tensed as she felt the nasty glances being directed her way by the girls whose table she had apparently invaded.
When Ami tried to explain her way out of detention after school that afternoon, she was threatened with a referral by the teacher on duty. She quickly and miserably retreated to a corner of the room and hid behind her trigonometry homework until detention was dismissed. At that time, she raced off the campus to juku just in time to catch the teacher locking the class door. After chewing Ami out for missing her first day, she gave her a diskette, which she said students were required to do all of their homework on, and rattld off that night's assignments for Ami.
Ami hurried home, then, to an empty apartment. As she stared around at the dim, lonely living space, the adrenaline drained from her body and she felt very sad and tired as she realized that if every day of school was like this, she would never last. She did not WANT to last if regular school was always like this.
One step at a time, Ami told herself. She turned on her laptop and then made herself a turkey sandwich. She opened up a game of Solitaire on her computer and played it as she ate. She became so engrossed by the game that she continued to play, even after her sandwich was gone, even after the sun had gone down, even after she heard the key scraping in the lock –
Then her mother was standing behind her and looking down at her computer screen. Ami hastily shut the laptop.
"Have you already completed your homework?"
Ami shook her head guiltily. "No, ma'am."
"Then why aren't you doing it?"
"I was…taking a breather, Mama."
"A breather that lasts until ten o'clock? Why don't you show me the homework you did before you took your breather?"
Ami's head drooped further. "I…Mama, today was just so horrible that…I…"
Dr. Mizuno's voice dropped by thirty degrees. "Go to your room."
Ami quickly gathered up her bags and books, scrambling towards her room. Her mother's voice reached her ears, muttering bitterly about her good-for-nothing father's genes showing up in her, and Ami hurried more quickly to her room and shut the door, tryign to escape the gut-wrenching words.
After an hour or so, Dr. Mizuno entered Ami's room. She held a glass of water and something else in her other hand.
"These," said Dr. Mizuno, opening her hand to reveal small white pills, "are a new form of antidepressants I would like you to try, Ami. A colleague of mine has been working on them – you remember Dr. Tomoe."
Ami backed away, hugging her history book close to her chest like a shield or teddy bear. "N-n-no thank you, Mama."
Her mother frowned. "I want you to try them, Ami. They will make you feel happier."
"I am happy, Mama. I don't need medicine."
"Yes, you do." Dr. Mizuno wore her most unwavering expression.
"No, Mama! Please!"
"Ami, you're taking them. I'm sick of people talking about how miserable my daughter looks. You're always crying or miserable when I talk to you, you refuse to go to the psychiatrist or the psychologist, and you don't have a single friend. I'm at my wits' ends with you."
"Mama, I promise I'll do better, I'll be happy! I'll make friends, I promise! If I don't, then you can make me take the pills! Okay? Okay?"
"You have two weeks," said Dr. Mizuno, walking to the door with the pills and water and shutting it behind her.
With trembling hands, Am returned to doing homework. The school homework had taken her no time at all, but the juku work was considerably more time-consuming. In addition, Ami's laptop seemed unwilling to accept the diskette despite all her attempts at reformatting. She finally gave up and did the work manually on paper, a knot of apprehension swelling in her stomach.
The next day of school started out no better than the first, though she was on time to her first class and did not receive a detention. Instead, someone stepped on her lunchbag and totally smushed and ruined its contents. Thus, when the final bell rang, Ami was desperate for sustenance. There was a half hour between the end of school and the start of juku, so she fled the campus to find some place selling food.
She nearly got run over by a car, she stepped in gum, and just when she thought her day could get no worse, a cat suddenly launched itself at her face with a blood-curdling yowl.
Ami tumbled backwards with a frightened grasp and tried to pry the creature off. After a moment later – though it seemed like an eternity – a pair of hands yanked the animal off of her.
"Crazy Odango, needs to keep an eye on her psycho pet – " muttered a voice.
Ami sat up with a gasp, face flushed and cheek stinging where the cat's claws had scratched her. "I – thank you," she gasped.
A black-haired boy stood in front of her, a writhing black cat pinned securely in his arms. He wore the navy blue blazer of Azabu High. He looked far too mature to be a high school student, though, with spectacles perched on his nose and a bored expression on his face. She reflexively shied away from him.
"You go to Azabu?" asked the youth. "Funny, I don't recall seeing you."
"I'm new," answered Ami quietly. "Ah – thank you for helping me out."
"It's no problem," said the guy. He turned and began walking away down the block. Over his shoulder, he threw her a "Nice to meet you."
Ami watched as he reached a corner and suddenly bounces backward, landing on his bottom, the cat still pinioned against his chest. Ami ran forward to help and saw that he had collided with a blonde girl, who wore her impossibly long hair in the most peculiar hairstyle Ami had ever seen.
"SHIELDS!" shrieked the girl, who was wearing a uniform identical to Ami's own. "Must you do this EVER DAY!"
"Oh, yeah, I really enjoy having a perpetually black and blue gluteus maximus!" retorted the boy – Shields? "Notice that it's always YOU who collides into ME, Odango!"
"I WOULDN'T if you weren't always in my WAY!"
"WHATEVER!" shouted the youth. He rolled up to his feet and yanked the girl to her feet also, then dumped the hissing cat into her arms. "Your stupid cat just attacked someone!"
"LUNA?" The girl's bright blue eyes widened reproachfully to the size of dinner plates, and she shook the cat. "How COULD you?"
Luna yowled and shot out of Serena's arms, leaping out of sight. The girl sighed, then her wandering eyes locked on Ami's. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed, dashing over to her. "Are you okay? You're bleeding!"
"Yes, I…" Looking at the concerned eyes suddenly so close to her own, Ami couldn't bring herself to tell the girl that it had been her cat that had drawn the blood. "I'm just…"
"You look like you're about to faint," said the girl, slipping an arm about Ami's waist to support her. "Here, come with me, you look like you could use a milkshake! I'm Serena by the way. Hey, do you go to Azabu? I've never seen you! Are you the new girl? My friend Molly told me we had a new girl, but I missed school yesterday and I was late today – "
"As usual," inserted the dark-haired boy, who had followed them down the street and who Ami was beginning to think had to be either related to or romantically involved with this Serena girl.
" – so I didn't get to see you, and I've been dying to talk to you – so how have our first days at Azabu been?"
Ami smiled tentatively. "Passable."
"Really? I was sue you'd hate it. I mean, you came from that super-smart kid school, didn't you? I wish I was smart, my mom would be a lot happier and her blood pressure would probably be a lot lower, too – "
Serena's happy, mindless chatter continued all the way to the arcade that she led them to, and she pulled Ami into a booth with her, interrogating her about what classes eh liked best, which were the most boring, what kind of music she liked ("Tchaikovsky?" Serena repeated, wrinkling her nose. "Bless you!").
When Ami saw that it was time for juku to start, she wished that she did not have to leave so soon. No one in her whole life had ever paid as much attention to her as Serena had in the past twenty minutes.
But fear of her mother – and the threat of meds – drove Ami away, hurrying her out of the relaxed, comfortable conversation with Serena to the tense, jealous atmosphere of juku.
Ami entered school the next day with a slightly happier outlook. She knew someone now – Serena – but part of her still feared that the bubbly blonde had just been a mere apparition or figment of her imagination – or worse yet, someone who had been nice to her yesterday but today would ignore her and pretend that they had never met.
Distracted by these thoughts, Ami did not notice the slender tan leg jutting out into her path. She tripped over it, her books and papers flying out of her arms and onto the floor.
The owner of the leg, a tall, glossy-haired eleventh-grade cheerleader from Ami's trig class, laughed and kicked Ami's dropped calculator across the floor.
"Nerd!"
Ami lowered her head and dropped to her knees to pick up her things. Maybe things wouldn't be improving after all.
"Hey!"
Ami looked up at the indignant voice to see Serena stomping towards her.
Someone laughed. "Look at that, Serena's up before the bell rings? No way!"
"Ha ha," said Serena acerbically. "Too bad your jokes aren't as funny as your face."
The laughter died away abruptly. Serena squatted down beside Ami and looked up at the girl who had tripped her. "Could you please help us pick up Ami's things, Marisa-san?"
The cheerleader folded her arms, shifting from foot to foot and avoiding Serena's blue gaze.
"Please?" persisted Serena politely, handing Ami her pencil bag but not taking her eyes off Marisa's. "You accidentally kicked Ami's calculator all the way over there." The lightest emphasis could be heard on 'accidentally.' "Could you get it for us, pretty please? With sugar on top, and a cherry?"
Marisa did not move, still focusing on a spot above their heads. Then someone else shoved their way into the circle of people surrounding the three girls. Ami recognized him as the black-haired boy from the day before, along with the boy who had been working behind the counter at the café Serena took her to.
The cheerleader's expression changed immediately. "Oh my God, let me help you with that, Mizuno-san!" she gushed, bending down and sweeping Ami's stuff hurriedly into her bag all higgledy-piggledy.
"Wait, Marisa-san," said Serena sweetly. "You forgot Ami's calculator!"
The voice Serena used was warm and not at all accusatory. Ami felt a little jolt. Serena was treating the cheerleader like a friend.
There was no time to dwell over this, though. The bell rang, and everyone scattered to their respective classes.
Twelve hours later, Ami transformed into Sailor Mercury for the first time.
As she spent more time with Serena, Ami was able to tell herself that Serena's friendly speaking to the cheerleader had just been her natural forgivingness shining though. However, the little seed of doubt – that Serena was not as loyal a friend as she seemed – was planted in her mind. Watered by Luna's insistence that Sailor Moon had defected to the Dark Kingdom, the seed sprouted and spread.
Ami stared at the crescent-shaped button. Back when it had only been she and Sailor Moon fighting youma, she had cared about her life. She had been panicked and frantic in battles, desperate not to get killed because there were so many reasons to live, too many things that she would miss if she died. She would miss eating lunch with Serena and listening to Serena's stories about her crazy family and Serena's quiet sympathy when Ami spoke haltingly about her own mother. She would miss the unconditional acceptance Serena welcomed her with everyday, the way she didn't expect anything from her, the way she could spend hours with Serena in the arcade doing nothing but joking around, laughing, whispering over hot guys or squealing over cute outfits.
But Serena had never really meant it. The whole time, from Day One, she had been acting. None of it was real.
The communicator beeped, and a pale Rei appeared next to Mars' symbol, saying that Luna wanted them to check up on a potential princess.
Ami said that she would be at the temple in ten minutes and signed off. Then she sighed and shut her textbook.
What was the point?
Several days floated by without any attacks. This lack of Dark Kingdom activity was both relieving and nerve-wracking. Serena welcomed the absence of fighting, but felt queasy when she imagined what trouble the generals must be brewing while they bided their time. Was this to be the calm before the storm?
Darien thought so. Since he and Serena met up again at the park on Sunday afternoon, he had not let her out of sight once – well, except for necessities and classes, of course. Black smudges painted the skin beneath his bloodshot eyes, and he guzzled a liter of Mountain Dew every hour. Anyone other than Motoki, Lita, and Asanuma who came within a two-meter radius of Serena was speared with a bone-freezing glare.
Serena herself was little better rested than Darien was. The nightmares, as she had feared they would, continued in frequency and intensity, waking her up at least three times a night. Each time, she lay still in bed for a half hour afterwards flinching at every creak, rustle, or shift of shadow she saw or heard before she was able to fall asleep again.
Because she now closed her curtains every night to minimize the frightening shadows the moonlight threw across her bed, Darien was not aware of the continuing dreams. Serena did not inform him of them, either. She knew that he would have wanted to know about them, especially because they so closely resembled his dreams about the princess, but for some reason, she was loathe to share them with him.
Perhaps it was because in every dream, she could feel a salty liquid pouring out of her mouth.
The two exhausted teens soon fell into a routine. Serena's life felt sharply juxtaposed: during the day, she bounced about with her usual enthusiasm, laughing and chattering, hugging and skipping, but when darkness fell, she tossed and turned feverishly in her bed. She had begun to keep a glass full to the brim with water on her night side table so that when she woke up, she could try to rinse the salty taste from her mouth.
Darien's life, on the other hand, blurred into an endless cycle of exhaustion. During the day, he attended his classes and took careless notes that only half-penetrated his hazed brain. He was frequently late to classes because he followed Serena to make sure she reached her next class safely. (Luckily, his status as resident teachers' pet saved from detention for these tardies.) When the dismissal bell rang, he stalked beside Serena to the arcade, where he guzzled an average two pots of java while they whiled away the afternoon with a concerned Motoki, protective Lita, and overly exuberant Asanuma.
When they left the arcade, he walked her home, then returned to his perch in the tree beside her window, where he kept himself awake all night with the stock of Mountain Dew he had secreted in his Sub-Space pocket.
On Thursday morning, Serena woke up late. She yanked on her uniform and barreled down the stairs to root through the kitchen for some food. Finding the cupboards and refrigerator empty save for an eggplant, Serena was too hungry to run the draining dash to school. She settled instead for a stool to conserve energy and arrived at school half an hour late.
"I must admit, Serena, this is late even for you," observed Miss Haruna as she filled out Serena's detention slip. "And you look exhausted. Are you sure you wouldn't like to go to the nurse?"
"I'm sure," said Serena confidently, mustering a bright smile. "I just stayed up too late last night watching TV, Miss H.!"
"The History channel, I hope."
"What, and learn something?" Serena adopted a horrified expression, making Miss Haruna chuckle. "Do I LOOK like Melvin, Miss H.?"
"I had hoped that maybe Mr. Shields would have rubbed off on you, but I guess I as wrong," conceded Miss Haruna, handing Serena the detention slip. "Here you go. Now go sit down and stop disrupting my class, Miss Tsukino."
Serena bounded obediently over to her desk, plopping into her seat beside Lita. "Morning, Lita!" she whispered.
"I took notes for you," Lita muttered out of the side of her mouth, sliding a sheet of notebook paper over to Serena.
Serena looked down in dismay at the circle diagrams on the paper. "Oh, Lita, you
shouldn't have," she deadpanned.
"Jiminy Cricket forced me to do it."
"Yeah, yeah. Hey, check out what I brought!" Serena dug around in her backpack and pulled out a manga. "Fruits Basket number eleeeeeeveeeeen!"
"Awesome!" Lita took the precious comic reverently and gazed at it with adoring eyes. "Shigure, I love you…."
"Just don't drool on it," whispered Serena teasingly. She leaned over and slipped another comic book out of her backpack, then followed Lita's example, propping the manga between the pages of her geometry textbook.
They passed the rest of their morning classes quite happily like this until they had to split up for PE and Home Ec (Lita promised not to let any of the candied yams they were making in class that day get on the precious tome).
"Darien," began Serena as they headed out to the field after role call for yet more discus throwing. "Why are you so tired?"
She was answered by silence. Serena sighed and repeated the question more loudly.
"DARIEN!"
"Eh?" Darien jerked and flailed his arms around for a minute, a rose appearing in his hand. "Whassamatta?"
"WHY ARE YOU SO TIRED?"
Darien shook his head and focused bleary eyes on Serena. "… Because."
"Because what?" Serena shifted the heavy discus to her other hand. She hesitated for a moment, fingering the cool, tarnished metal. "Are you having dreams?"
In a moment, Darien was alert. His head snapped around to look at her. "Are you having dreams?"
Serena stumbled, startled by his sudden swing in demeanor. "Ah – no! It's just that you're so tired, I thought maybe you were dreaming about the princess…"
"No, no, no, I've been sleeping perfectly fine. Like a baby," Darien gabbled.
Serena stopped. She looked at him. "Liar! You have not been sleeping!"
"No, I haven't," Darien conceded, realizing his mistake. "I've been…uh…on watch."
"For what?"
"The Dark Kingdom, what else?"
"Geez, you don't have to be so grumpy!"
"I'm not being grumpy!"
"Yes, you are!"
"No, I'm not!"
"Yes, you are!" Serena stamped her foot. "You're taking a nap, right NOW!"
Darien's jaw dropped and he looked around. "What, in the grass?" he said sardonically.
"No, in my lap." Serena rolled her eyes sarcastically and crossed her arms. "Of course the grass! Or in the antbed if you want, it's your choice."
Darien eyed her.
Serena eyed him.
Darien narrowed his eyes at her.
Serena narrowed hers.
"Oh, fine!" Darien muttered, stomping past Serena to a patch of grass beneath a tree that blocked out the intense spring sun. "But if Coach catches us not throwing discus, I'm blaming you…"
"How honorable of you." Serena rolled her eyes.
Thus it was that PE, like Serena's morning classes, passed by quite peacefully – restfully, even. To Serena's delight, Darien began to snore as he slept, and she carefully tucked away that little piece of potential blackmail for later use.
Serena roused Darien awake a few minutes before Coach blew the whistle to go back to the locker rooms. Darien looked heaps better considering how short his nap had been – Serena wondered if maybe she hadn't imagined the dim golden glow beneath his skin after all. Was that another manifestation of his healing golden sparks (which he had told her about in their extensive conversation on Friday)?
"God, I thought Chemistry would never END," groaned Asanuma , stretching his arms up to the sky as he threw himself down on the grass at lunchtime. "I was so BORED...hey, have you ever noticed that the mole beside Mrs. Tameki's nose is shaped like a camel?"
Motoki spewed carrot juice. "Why were you LOOKING?"
"I told you, I was BORED!" repeated Asanuma, blinking as the orange liquid dripped down his face. He lifted his arms to wring his tie dry. "Lita, do you have a napkin, your boyfriend just had an accident all over me…"
Lita, who had just plopped down next to Motoki, lifted an eyebrow and looked at him. Motoki grinned goofily at her. She shook her head, ginning despite herself, and handed a napkin to Asanuma.
Numa gagged as he wiped his face dry. "You guys are disgusting…would you stop making googoo eyes?"
"You never complain when Darien and Serena do it," said Motoki, still grinning dreamily at a sheepishly blushing Lita.
"That's because they don't KNOW they're doing it," said Asanuma, turning his back on them. "Geeze – SERENA-CHAN!" He leapt forward and launched himself at Serena, who was skipping towards them. "I MISSED YOOOOOUUUU!"
"But you saw me in PE," said Serena, blinking in befuzzlement, voice muffled by Asanuma's shoulder. "Like…an hour ago."
"Every hour apart from dear Serena-chan is like a year!" proclaimed Asanuma passionately. "But hark! Where is your lover, Serena-chan? Wherefore art thou, Dare-Bear – ack!"
"Dare-Bear is feeling beary grumpy," growled Darien, his arm locked around Asanuma's neck from behind. "So don't. Push. His. Buttons. Comprende?"
"Ooh," croaked Asanuma. "You're speaking Spanish! That's sexy, Dare-Bear – "
"ARGH! Get away from me!" shouted Darien in a panic, quickly jumping away from Asanuma.
Asanuma smiled brightly and rubbed his neck. "The 's' word always does the trick."
"I think you should try to get some more sleep," Serena told Darien seriously, in a low voice that the other could not hear.
Darien nodded in agreement, rubbing his eyes. "You'll wake me up?"
"Uh-huh." Serena nodded, then a mischievous glint entered her eyes. "Would you like to be awoken by a scream or by a kiss, sir?"
"Ha ha." Darien glowered. "You better eat a breath mint before you even think about kissing me."
"You better go to sleep before I just decide it's easier to knock you out," retorted Serena.
"Which would be easy for her to do." Asanuma stated suddenly, thrusting his head between the two teenagers, who shouted in surprise. "Because Serena is a knockout, you know, Dare-Bear."
"On Jupiter, maybe." Darien rolled his eyes.
"Are you hungry, Shields?" asked Serena sweetly, shoving her balled-up hand in his face. "Because you're going to be eating my fist in about two seconds – "
"That won't fill me up much," retorted Darien. "Skin, bones, and empty threats, that's all you are, Odango – "
"OOOH!" huffed Serena. "I'll tell you what you are, you big fat grumpy jerkwad – "
After the initial sweatdropping, Motoki smiled, relieved that Darien seemed to have come alive from the walking zombie he had been the past couple of days. Lita shook her head and unwrapped her bento, and Asanuma rubbed his hands together gleefully as Serena and Darien continued to bait each other.
"Did you get the grade on your history test back today?" Lita asked Motoki, unwrapping her bento.
"Yup!" Motoki beamed. "A ninety two!"
"Great!" Lita slugged him in the arm. "I was about to go beat up that teacher if you didn't get an A, you spent so much darned time studying for it."
"Yeah, that would do wonders for my male pride." Motoki elbowed her and pulled a cola out of his backpack, handing it to her. She popped it open and took a sip, green eyes focused fondly on him above the rim. "What about you? Anything interesting happen today?"
"Someone's sweet potato exploded in Home Ec, but that wasn't as interesting as this." Lita tilted her head towards their three friends, her lips curving.
Motoki turned to look. Asanuma was slapping Serena a high five for some particularly stinging insult that she must have just slapped Darien with, for Darien was looking particularly disgruntled. He said disdainfully, "At least I don't still sleep with a teddy bear."
Serena's face went red, not in embarrassment but in indignation. Lita and Motoki snatched the opportunity: Lita stuffed a squid into Serena's mouth before she could explode at Darien, and Motoki slapped a hand over Darien's mouth and stuffed a Mountain Dew into his hands.
Asanuma applauded enthusiastically. "Executed like a married couple stuffing pacifiers into their children's mouths!"
He received dirty looks from all four of them, and Serena quickly swallowed the scrumptious squid.
"It's not a teddy bear, it's a bunny rabbit!" she said indignantly.
Eyebrows flew up. Darien peeled Motoki's hand from his face and smirked. "Whatever. It's a stuffed animal, and you still sleep with it."
"Wait a second, Dare-Bear," interrupted Asanuma, eyes twinkling with that devilish light they all knew to fear. "How do you know what Serena sleeps with, anyway?"
Serena frowned, thinking hard. "Yeah, how DO you know?"
Darien opened and closed his mouth like a fish. "I – hmm – well – it's not what you think – I – I just figured you would sleep with a teddy bear! Since you're such a baby, Odango!"
"Ooooh," Asanuma sang. "Dare-Bear called Serena-chan babyyyy…" Asanuma gave the word a much more intimate inflection than Darien had.
"Speaking of immaturity," muttered Lita. "Serena, you need to get a move on, girl, the bell's gonna ring soon."
Serena, grateful for an excuse to escape the awkward silence that had fallen on them while Darien was throttling Asanuma, hurriedly dug into the squid. "This is super-yummy, Lita-chan! You're the best cook EVER!"
"Hey! What am I, diced garlic?" Motoki made a pouty face.
Lita laughed at him. "Your breath sure smells like it!"
"Does it, really?" Motoki said worriedly, huffing into his hand and sniffing. "It does NOT! You were pulling my leg!" He glared at her.
"What an I say? You're cute when you're worried."
"Am I?" Motoki leaned toward her, and Serena quickly turned around before she could see what he did next. That was a private moment, she figured. Plus, there was an equally entertaining show on the other side – she had turned just in time to see Asanuma make a flying tackle on Darien.
"GERONIMOOOO!" Asanuma howled, plowing Darien into the ground. They tussled in the grass for a minute.
"EW! That is so GROSS!" exclaimed a freshman girl who happened to be walking past with her friends. "Get a ROOM!"
Asanuma and Darien stopped wrestling and looked up. Asanuma was on top of Darien, his knees digging into the dark-haired youth's chest, one hand clenching a handful of Darien's hair and the other yanking his school tie. A blue-faced Darien had Asanuma by the collar – it rather looked as though he were pulling him down for a nice slobbery smooch.
Asanuma flashed a dazzling smile at the freshman. "Only if you come with us!"
"EEEEEEEWWWWWW!" The girls shrieked and ran.
Asanuma sighed and hung his head. "Even the FRESHIES are repulsed by me!"
"They're creeped out by you," corrected Darien sourly, shoving Asanuma off of him. "And I don't blame them." He sat up and began to brush himself off, then looked down as something moist and slimy came off on his hand. "What the hell!" His blazer was spattered with little pink chunks.
"What IS this stuff?" Asanuma exclaimed, jumping up as he saw the stuff covering his uniform, too.
They heard breathless laughter and turned to see Serena curled up in a ball on the grass, clutching her sides. A tray of squid – PINK squid – sat docilely beside her.
"Odango, tell me you didn't spray shrimp all over us," said Darien in a long-suffering voice.
Serena paused laughing long enough to gasp, "I…didn't…spray shrimp…on you!"
"How many times do I have to tell you that you suck at lying?"
"You…told me…to do it!" gasped Serena. She inhaled deeply, trying to calm down. "Oh…wow. WOW!" She took another deep breath, still grinning broadly. "That was funny."
"So's your face," returned Darien sourly. "Now I have to walk around without my coat!"
"So?" said Serena, watching him shrug off his blazer. "It's hot, anyways, you must have been sweltering in that thing…oh."
"Whoah." Asanuma blinked. He squid he had been chewing on fell out of his mouth. This was the first time he had seen Darien in the school regulation white uniform shirt without his jacket on. He whistled. "Dare-Bear, my man, the ladies are going to be all OVER you!"
Serena nodded in wide-eyed agreement. She had thought Darien looked sharp in his school uniform with the blazer, but without it…he cut quite the dashing figure. Slim and wiry-muscled.
Darien groaned. "Exactly! There's enough of them asking me to go to Spring Fling with them as it is!"
"ARE you going to Spring Fling?" asked Asanuma curiously.
Darien shot him a rather uncertain look. He had expected Asanuma to clam up at the mention of the prom, but he certainly wasn't going to complain that he hadn't. "Of course not. Are you?" he asked meaningfully.
"Yeah. I have to play DJ," said Asanuma unhappily. "I told Mr. Ongaku I'd do it months ago. What about you, Serena-chan, are you going?"
"Huh? Me? Nope."
"You're NOT?" Surprise was clearly written on both boys' faces. "Why?"
Serena shrugged airily. "I just don't feel like it."
"It's…not because of last year, is it?" asked Darien, guilt slightly coloring his voice.
"Oh, no!" Serena shook her head vigorously. "I just don't see any reason to go, you know? It's not like I'd do anything there. I might as well stay home and watch Lifetime or something. That'll satisfy my thirst for romance more than the dance would."
"You're right about that," agreed Asanuma wistfully. "Wish I could join you."
"We'll have a Lifetime marathon some time, Numa," promised Serena. "Just you and me."
"It's a date!" Asanuma hooked his arm through Serena and winked at Darien. "Watch out, Dare-Bear, you've got competition!"
"Ooh, I'm worried." Darien rolled his eyes.
The bell rang shrilly. Asanuma grumbled under his breath and moved away from Serena to pick up his things.
Darien handed Serena her things, and they headed towards Study Hall after bidding the others good-bye. Darien walked slightly behind Serena, and Serena did not fail to notice.
'If you're trying to hide behind me, I don't think it's working," she muttered at him. "I've seen about ten girls drool already."
"This is all your fault, you know," griped Darien. "If you hadn't gotten shrimp all over my blazer…"
"If you and Asanuma hasn't been rolling around in the grass, you mean," retorted Serena.
They entered the classroom.
"Miss Tsukino," called the teacher from his desk, not looking up from the papers he was grading. "I have your graded math test from yesterday. You'll need to take it home to be signed by your parents."
"Oh, goody," sighed Serena, taking the paper (which wore a big fat red F on its front) from him. "Thank you, Mr. Kumitate."
"Wha'd you get?" Darien looked down at her from where he stood next to his desk, folding his jacket.
"What else? An F." Serena dumped her stuff down next to Darien's and plopped down.
"Why didn't you study? I thought you understood how to do the area formulas, I showed them to you yesterday."
"I did," said Serena frustratedly. "It was just…I didn't get a lot of sleep that night, so I was really tired and I couldn't remember anything…"
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why didn't you sleep?"
Serena looked up at his question. "I…I don't know. Is there ever a reason you can't get to sleep? Or an, for that matter?" She put a hand to her mouth and giggled.
"Serena. You. Can't. Lie."
Serena's shoulders slumped. She lay her head on her desktop, staring mournfully up at him. "That's not faaaaaaiiiir, Darien! Can't you just let me get away with it for once?"
"I did, and you ended up with Malachite's sword at your throat."
"That was just one time!"
"One time was enough for me." Darien placed an elbow on the desktop and leaned his cheek on his hand to watch her. "I'm rather hurt that you lie to me so often, Odango. Don't you trust me?"
Serena rolled her eyes. "Duh. Of COURSE I do. You're just fishing for compliments."
Darien tried valiantly to hide his grin, but failed. His eyes danced. "You know me too well."
"I'll say." Serena made a face at him and yanked out her geometry book. "Hey, Darien, help me with this?"
"Of course, Odango," drawled Darien, scooting his desk over to hers and leaning towards her so that his chin brushed her hair. "On one condition."
Serena gave him a suspicious look and poked him with her pencil, making him back off. "What's that?"
Darien parried her pencil with one of his own, smirking. "You have to tell me why you couldn't sleep. Truthfully."
Serena's eyes fell. Now, instead of looking at him, she was staring at her shoes.
After a moment, she shrugged. "Bad dreams."
"About what?" he prompted gently, staring at her bangs with bated breath. Was it possible that they were having the same dreams? "Her? The princess? Is she telling you to find the crystal?"
Serena was nodding vigorously in affirmation, though she still was not looking up. "Yes. Yes. He wants me to find the crystal for her."
"HE?"
Serena's nods continued. "Yeah. It's a guy's voice, and it's all foggy, I can't see who it belongs to, but he tells me I have to find the crystal." He says other things, too, but I'm not telling you them…
"What else happens?" Darien breathed. What could this mean? Why was a man's voice telling Serena to find the crystal?
Serena, meanwhile, was panicking. Dare she tell him that she could feel herself dying in the dreams? That something salty and warm flowed out of her mouth while she screamed to the man?
No. No, he couldn't know, he was already worried enough about her as it was, she didn't want to burden him further.
Besides, it was just a dream.
Just a dream. That's all it was, Serena. Stop making such a big deal out of it.
I'm NOT! He's the one who brought it up!
You're the one who's practically hyperventilating!
"Serena, what else happens?"
"Nothing! Nothing else!" Serena squeaked. "Um – who do you think the voice belongs to, Darien? Do you think the princess is a man now?"
This question threw Daren for a a curve. "A MAN?" he repeated incredulously. "Uh…no, I don't think so. It must be someone else, maybe a male Senshi."
"Or someone else like you," murmured Serena thoughtfully.
"Like me?" Darien's brows knit. "Someone else who wears a tuxedo and throws flowers around?"
"Yeah. Think about it, we don't know why you can transform and everything. Maybe you're, like, a male Senshi, or some other sort of guardian. Like…you can feel ever time I transform, right? Maybe there's someone like that for the princess! And he's there to protect her and stuff, so he wants me to find the crystal so that she won't be in so much danger!" Serena was gesticulating, becoming more and more impassioned by her idea.
One of her waving hands hit him in the nose. He grabbed it.
"Odango, you're crazy."
Serena's other hand fell back into her lap and she gave him a smile, the memories of her nightmare safely pushed to the back of her mind. "You just don't want anyone stealing your job as the only tuxedo-wearing superhero in Tokyo."
The bell rang for dismissal. Darien's trig teacher asked him to stay a little later so that he could speak with him. Darien had an idea what was coming, and he was not mistaken. Mr. Hamtaro (yes, that's right, Hamtaro) wanted to discuss his grades.
More specifically, why his grades were dipping.
Darien tapped his foot impatiently as the short, bald man gave him the "we're concerned about your welfare and also what this laxness could do to your college opportunities" lecture. Well, h was concerned about Serena's welfare right now, and if he did not keep a close eye on her, no one would ever have to worry about college, seeing as how the Dark Kingdom would rule everything…
"Look, I appreciate your concern, Mr. Hamtaro, but I've really got to go. I'll work on bringng my grade back up, I promise."
With that, Darien ran out of the classroom, heading to their usual meeting spot at the front of the school. When he reached it, however, only Motoki was there.
"Where is everyone?" Darien questioned, eyes darting around.
Motoki shook him by the shoulder. "Calm DOWN, Dare. Don't have a cardiac arrest on me."
"Where is everyone?" Darien demanded again, shrugging off Motoki's hand.
"Numa's got detention, remember?" Motoki set off down the sidewalk. "And Leets already went to the arcade – "
And where Lita goes, Serena goes. Darien cursed mentally and seized Motoki by the backpack strap. "Come on, then!" He broke into a sprint, dragging Motoki after him.
When they burst into the arcade and found Lita walking Buji through his long division homework, but no Serena, Darien almost burst a capillary. He pivoted to dash back to school and track her down, but then there was a deafening shattering sound as a body crashed through one of the arcade windows. The lights flickered and died, screams rang out, and Darien was thrown backward by an invisible force.
And that was when it all hit the fan.
"Rei?" Ami's voice held surprise as she looked up from her psychology book to see the black-haired priestess standing on the sidewalk in front of her. "What are you doing here?"
Hope was slowly but surely joining the surprise in Ami's voice. Had Rei come to walk home from school with her, like she and Serena used to do? Maybe Rei wanted to go shopping or get a snack –
But the hope vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Ami's eyes caught the way Rei was glancing surreptitiously around, fiddling with her silky black hair and smoothing her skirt.
Ami sighed. "Rei?"
Rei's eyes snapped back to her. "Oh! Well, I happened to be in the neighborhood, and I thought, hey, why don't I pick Ami up from school since we're both going to meet Luna at the temple anyways…" Her voice trailed off as she spotted something. Her lips parted, then compressed, and she grabbed Ami by the sleeve. Her demeanor was suddenly angry. "Never mind. Come on, we're going to be late."
"But...I…Rei, I don't mind if you want to stay and look for Asanuma – actually, he would probably be at the arcade with – with – well, you know who – at this time of day."
"I don't care about him!" Rei spat out. "God, Ami, I told you, I just came to get you!"
Ami visibly shrank. "Of course, I'm sorry, Rei…"
They walked in silence for about ten minutes, then –
"Girls!"
Both dark heads jerked up. A small black cat perched on the wall beside them.
"There's a youma at the park," hissed Luna tensely. "You have to go kill it – "
Her command was cut off by the sound of a scream. They wheeled about, and Ami's keen eyes quickly discerned that its origin had been the supermarket across the street – a woman had just been thrown through the sliding glass doors.
Ami gasped in horror. Rei cursed fluently.
"I'll get the park!" the miko decided swiftly, grabbing Ami and shoving her towards the supermarket. "You keep this one busy – I'll come back as soon as I can!"
Luna watched her two protégés run off. Then her tail suddenly shot up, her hackles rising. She hissed and bounded down the street, towards the infamous Crown Arcade.
Something big was about to happen.
Serena had once considered the detention hall to be her third home (the first being her house and the second being the arcade, of course). Now, re-entering it again for the first time in days, was like arriving in a foreign country. Sure, the faces were all familiar, and the greetings they threw her way were welcoming enough ("Yo, Serena, whassup?" "Hey, gal, where you been? We missed you!"). But it seemed like a thousand years ago that she had spent her afternoons in here reading manga and wondering idly when the next time she might fight a youma would be.
Serena sat down in a desk near the window and propped her elbows on the desktop, blowing out her lips. She had finished her manga this morning already. She had homework, but she wasn't in the mood to wrestle with 1/3bh whatever it was. Maybe if Darien were here to help her, but she couldn't tackle it on her own.
"I wish Darien were here," Serena mumbled to herself. I wouldn't be so bored…
"Could you say that again so I could get that on tape?"
Serena blanched, looking up. Her features relaxed as Asanuma settled himself on her desktop, legs crossed Indian-style. She sighed in relief. "You scared me, Numa!"
"What, did you think I was the big, grumpy Dare-Bear?"
"Yeeeeeees…."
"Don't worry, I won't tell him what you said. Teeheehee." Asanuma uncrossed his legs and swung them back and forth, leaning back on his arms. "Hey, I didn't know you had detention today, Serena-chan. Wha'd you do?"
"The same thing I always do. Slept right though my alarm." Serena smiled at him curiously. "What about you, Numa? I've never seen you in detention before.
"Aw, I just got in a little disagreement." Asanuma shrugged, still smiling blandly. (Think Yamazaki from Cardcaptor Sakura.)
"Over what?" Serena frowned; who could possibly have fought with Asanuma? He was so agreeable – well, except when he was coming on to you, but still –
"Stuff." Asanuma continued to swing his legs, staring into space.
"Like?" prompted Serena.
"Nothing important."
"Okay." Serena subsided. If Asanuma did not want to tell her she would not force him.
"Well, well, well, what have we got here? Tsukino and Shields' best friend in detention together? Hmmm…."
Serena and Asanuma turned around curiously to come nose-to-nose with Coach Etoukou.
"AHHHH!" Serena flailed around and fell out of her seat to the floor. No way! Why can't I ever get detention on the days NORMAL teachers are on duty! "Coach!"
"Does Shields know about this?" demanded Coach, planting his fists on his hips.
"Not if you don't tell him," said Asanuma slyly.
Coach Etoukou's eyes bulged so far out that his sunglasses were pushed off his nose. "I KNEW IT!"
"Asanuma! Stop lying!" Serena scrambled to her feet. "Coach, it's not what it looks like – wait." She paused, frowning. Why am I trying to convince Coach that I'm not cheating on Darien when I don't even like him like that?
"What Serena-chan means is that Darien had other things to attend to today, so he wanted me to watch over his Dumpling Head over him," said Asanuma, straight-faced. "That's all, Coach. He knew he could trust me with Serena because I don't swing that way."
Both Coach and Serena stared at Asanuma. Then Coach shook his head and walked away, muttering something about needing to see the psychology teacher.
"Man, I am GOOD!" Asanuma preened. "Aren't you going to thank me for getting him off our backs, Serena-chan?"
"Um…thank you, Asanuma-kun." Serena settled back into her seat and stared out the window as Asanuma began to hum to himself and swing his legs again.
A flash of blue caught her eye. She caught her breath and leaned forward. There, just outside the school gate, was Ami! And Rei was with her!
As the humming beside her suddenly silenced, Serena knew that Asanuma had seen the same thing she had. She peeked up at him. "This window has such a nice view, doesn't it, Numa?"
Asanuma looked down at her, cheeks pink under his tan. His jaw was set. "I – don't know what you're babbling about, Serena-chan." He forced a laugh and ruffled her hair, then stood and walked over to an empty desk and sat down.
Serena, heart heavy, turned back to the window. Rei's violet eyes, now directed upwards, locked with hers. They told Serena that she was mad enough to kill, and Serena was suddenly grateful that she was on the third floor.
Then Rei tore her glare from Serena and grabbed Ami by the arm. They headed quickly down the sidewalk and out of sight.
Serena turned away from the window. Coach was hidden behind a Weight Lifters Weekly magazine at the desk, and Asanuma was sitting in his desk and glaring at –
At Seiko!
Serena sat up straight in her seat, narrowing her eyes. Yes, that was Seiko, and he had a swollen lip and bruised cheek that suggested he had been a fight. But with who? Not Asanuma?
Serena's incredulity was cut off by a sudden flare of shock and fear. She froze in her seat as the emotions crashed over her – they were not hers. Rather, they tasted fierce and exasperated, a flavor that she immediately associated with Darien – or Tuxedo Mask.
She remembered a conversation they had had on Sunday.
"How did you even know where I was?" Serena wanted to know. "I didn't tell anyone that I was going to the temple!"
"Airhead. Didn't I tell you that I can feel every time you transform?"
Serna's mouth closed, her sky-colored eyes darkening stormily. "I wish you didn't – "
"Stop, Odango," said Darien tiredly. "I told you it's not your fault, it's better this way, so I can keep an eye on you because God knows you never spare a thought for yourself."
Serena silenced instantly, ashamed.
Darien noticed and rubbed his forehead. "God, Odango, you know I didn't mean it like that!" he cried exasperatedly. "That's a god thing, really, just – you know, it makes me mad sometimes that you can't ever put yourself first, even just once…"
"What does it feel like?" Serena changed the subject, and Darien was grateful. He never was good at reassuring her. Or so he believed, anyways.
"What does what feel like?"
"Me transforming."
Darien had not expected this question. He grimaced thoughtfully. "It's…well, I guess it's not so much that I can feel you actually transforming, it's more that I can feel emotions. At first I didn't know that they were your emotions, but I knew that they weren't mine. After the first couple of times I watched you in battles, though, I knew they had to be yours. They tasted like you."
Darien had grinned then, and quickly added, "Not like that, of course, but like…it's like the feelings have a flavor or something, so I know they're not mine. Yours always taste frightened."
Serena smiled shamefacedly. "That's definitely me."
"Maybe, but there's other stuff, too. Like – there's always concern. You're worried about the people who might get hut by the youma, and – and this is what makes me mad – you always taste guilty."
This, then, had to mean that Darien was transforming into Tuxedo Mask, and Serena was feeling it the way he had always felt her.
Which meant that there was a battle starting.
Which meant that she had to go.
Now.
Serena scrambled over her desk to the front of the room, snatching her bag as she went. "Coach, Coach, Coach!" she chanted frantically, skidding to a stop in front of his desk. "I've really got to go right now, there's an emergency – "
"Sit your rear end down, Tsukino, no one's going anywhere until detention's over." Coach Etoukou lazily turned the page in his magazine from Bun-Steelers to Pec-Pumpers.
Serena jumped up and down. The adrenaline she cold feel pumping through Darien's body was making her jittery. "But Coach!"
"Butt is right. BUTT IN THE DESK, TSUKINO!"
"But COOOOOOAAACH!" wailed Serena desperately. "Please, I really need to leave, I'll do ANYTHING – "
"Anything?"
"ANYTHING!"
"Can I get your signature on that?" Coach eyed her suspiciously and held out a pen and a sheet of paper.
Serena snatched the pen and hastily scrawled out her signature (forgoing the cute bunny ears she usually drew above it) without even reading the words on the paper. "There! Can I go?"
"Be my guest, Tsukino!"
Serena zoomed on out of there like Herbie the Love Bug on speed. Coach Etoukou chuckled evilly and tucked the signed paper into his fannypack.
Serena did her best to follow the tugging, thread-like sensation in her chest. It was extremely difficult to do because she had no idea whether an increase in the tautness of the invisible thread meant that she was getting closer or that she was getting farther. Her mind went back to the conversation.
"So you felt me transforming. Did you just guess that I was at the temple?"
"No, there's this feeling in my ribcage…" Darien tapped his chest thoughtfully. "It's kind of like a rope tied to my organs or something, and it pulls on me to get me to go where you are." He frowned. "But it's really hard to find you like that. I finally figured out that I could grab the rope and hold it and follow it, kind of like a game of tug-of-war. You get what I mean?"
"Does that mean the rope's really there?" asked Serena eagerly.
"I don't know. When I want it to be, it is, I guess."
Serena passed her hands slowly through the air in front of her, looking for the thread. She could have sworn she felt something feathery brush her hands once, but then there was nothing. She "uuuuuurgh!" ed and squeezed her eyes shut tight. Maybe if she was not looking for the string, it would be there.
This method worked better. Serena's seeking fingers closed around something very thin and silken. She ran a fingertip experimentally across it once or twice, and the emotions she was picking up from Darien intensified. Tamped-down panic, fury, sweat trickling down his forehead.
She began to follow the thread, hand over hand over hand over hand. It was slow work, and she bashed into several light poles before the sounds of a youma battle finally reached her ears. She opened her eyes. The thread fell from her fingers.
She stood across the street from the Crown Arcade. One of its window as completely shattered, and several people were trying to scramble their way out of it, while others lay unconscious and bloody outside it. As Serena watched, several roses sailed out of the window and plunged into the sidewalk, having clearly missed their intended target.
Serena let out a cry as she recognized one of the motionless humans on the sidewalk.
"Buji!" She rushed to his side.
"Onee...chan?" Buji's eyes struggled to open, but his pupils and irises moved sluggishly. Blood trickled from a cut beneath his shock of dark hair. "Onee-chan…"
"Shhh. You'll be okay." Serena bit her lip and smoothed the sweaty hair back from his face.
A cry attracted Serena's attention. She twisted as she stood, and ran to help the little girl who was attempting to climb over the jagged window to get out of the arcade. Her older sister was trying valiantly to lift her over, but she bled from a deep cut on her arm, and it trembled too violently to get the little girl safely outside. Serena lifted her carefully and set her on the sidewalk, then reached for the girl's sister.
Before she could even grab her hand, however, light flashed from inside the dark interior of the arcade. A tentacle lashed out of nowhere, wrapped around the girl, and yanked her into the darkness.
Serena shouted and scrambled in after her, disregarding the glass. She blinked frantically as her pupils struggled to adjust to the dimness from the bright sun of outside.
Dim shapes huddled all around, crouched beneath overturned table and chairs. Whimpers and whispers could be heard, and shushing noises. And also the whistle of roses slicing through the air, and the grunts of combat.
Serena headed toward those, only stopping to grab the flashlight she knew Motoki kept near Table Four.
Lita could not believe what was happening. She went to the arcade to do a good deed – help a sweet little third-grader with his homework – and a youma and two weirdly-dressed "Generals" decide to crash in and hurl her ototo-chan out the window?
That had made her angry. She had gone Bruce Banner on them.
And now she was using jujitsu on four of the youma thing's tentacles while the other four grabbed people, sucked their energy, and threw them carelessly out the window like piece of trash. She could hear the sounds of battle between the generals and the fruity masked guy, who had materialized seemingly from nowhere a while ago, after Motoki had been knocked out.
As Lita thought of this, fury flooded her veins afresh. Instead of just kicking the youma's tentacle this time, she seized it and sank her teeth into it, crushing and grinding with her molars as hard as she could. Goo squirted out and coated the inside of her mouth, but she just champed down harder.
The youma let out a watery howl, and Lita suddenly found all eight of its slimy appendages lashing at her. She clawed and bit and scratched and kicked and punched and chopped ferociously.
Then, suddenly, the youma froze. Lita snatched the opportunity and got a better grip on the tentacle she held, twisting it around and around until she heard it crack. It flopped limp in her hand, and she turned her attention to the light that had suddenly lit to the right, near the counter. From the corner of her eye, she saw the light glinting off the blades that the masked man and one of the generals held.
Her jaw dropped open. The light was coming from a flashlight that was being held by a ragged Serena.
Lita dropped the youma tentacle and ran for Serena's life.
The youma, adjusting from its shock at the light, recovered itself, and its tentacles sped after her.
"GET HER!" screamed Zoicite to Malachite, who had been reluctantly sorting through the crumpled, unconscious bodies at the front of the arcade in order to find Sailor Moon (she supposedly frequented this establishment). "THERE SHE IS! GET HER!"
The general's words were nearly drowned out by the sudden clash of metal as Tuxedo Mask's cane-blade slashed down on her crystalline sword. It splintered with a tinkle of glass, spraying across Tuxedo Mask's face. He lifted an am to protect his face; Malachite, following an inexplicable urge that suddenly swept over him, threw up a shield in front of the masked superhero.
The shield lasted only a fraction of a second, for then pain shot into Malachite. Beryl clawed her way into his brain, screaming, "Betray me, and she dies!" He yanked the shield back out of existence.
But that fraction of a second was enough for Tuxedo Mask. He used it to smash his head into Zoicite's face. There was a crunching sound, and blood spurted outwards. Zoicite stumbled back, clutching it, only to be punched in the side of the face by Lita's sailing fist.
But bad things comes in threes, and quickly following Lita was one of the youma's lethal tentacles. It now slapped into Zoicite's face with the force of a leather belt. More blood, black blood, sprayed outwards.
Tuxedo Mask grabbed the opportunity now to race for Serena, who stood staring at the carnage.
But Zoicite, in all her seemingly blind stumbling, reached the blonde first. She reached an arm around her neck and dragged her up tight against her body while removing her gloved hand from her face. Revealed was a bit of white skull poking out of bloody flesh, along with a streaming eyeball.
Serena shuddered as something whitish and runny dripped through her hair and dribbled down her cheek. Growls erupted from both Tuxedo Mask and Lita. The flashlight dropped from Serena's hands and clattered to the floor. Zoicite squinted against the glare.
"Let her go!" thundered Lita, lunging forward. Tuxedo Mask snatched her back as Zoicite sent a huge crystal spike shooting at the Amazoness.
"You wanna get her killed?" he snarled, eyes still on Serena. Damn, she couldn't reach her brooch; Zoicite had pinioned her arms behind her. What was WITH that witch and having her arms around Serena's throat every damned time she saw her?
Footsteps pattered; then the flashlight was picked up. Malachite directed the beam away from his ally. "Zoicite, Tentacula has gathered more than the minimum amount o energy Beryl – "
"Queen Beryl," hissed Zoicite.
" – required, we can leave now."
"Leave when I have the moon brat in my clutches?" A smirk curved Zoicite's lips. "I think not. I hope that you are not thinking of reneging on our bargain, General."
Malachite's fists clenched. "No," he gritted out.
Tuxedo Mask, watching this bizarre exchange intently, gradually became aware of a glow that was not coming from the flashlight. For one thing, it was green.
He glanced around and found, to his shock, that the glow was coming from Lita's forehead – more precisely, a symbol glowing on Lita's forehead beneath her bangs. It was the symbol of Jupiter.
Tuxedo Mask said a very bad word. Lita, her fists clenched, spun away from her desperate staring at Serena to look at him. At the same time, Serena suddenly let out a cry – she had just felt something brush past her ankles, furry like a rat.
Two seconds later, Tuxedo Mask felt the same thing, and then Lita let out a string of oaths as claws dug into her shoulder. Something cylindrical and cold dropped into her hand, and static crackled up her arm, carrying awareness to her brain.
Without thought, the holler tore out of her vocal cords, "JUPITER POWER!"
Green light shot outwards like a supernova, blinding everyone within a twenty-meter radius. A deafening thunder clap rocks the arcade's foundations, throwing Tuxedo Mask and the generals to their knees.
Even before the light fades or the thunder dies away, a bolt of pure electricity sizzled past Tuxedo Mask into the youma. It shrieks as its flesh crackles and bubbles.
Tuxedo Mask's cane materialized in his hand to be plunged into the youma, but suddenly a shield – the very same sort that protected him Zoicite's shattered sword – shimmered into being in front of the youma. Tuxedo Mask's blade bounces off.
"DAMN!" bellowed Lita – now Sailor Jupiter, though she did not know it – and hurled another lightning bolt at the youma. It sizzled angrily off the shield.
"Let's GO!" bellowed Malachite. His fingers shook with rage as he sustained the shield in front of the youma. "THEY'LL TAKE HER ENERGY!" Spittle flew from his mouth.
"Not before I take care of her!" insisted Zoicite, equally fierce. She freed Serena's arms – though still keeping a tight hold around her neck – in order to summon a crystal sword in her hand. Serena's hands flew up to her brooch, clasping it tight, but she could not draw enough breath to say her transformation spell.
"Zap her!" hissed a voice at Lita's feet.
Lita looked down, but could not see what was saying it. She settled with hissing back. "Are you off your rocker? Serena'll get fried, too!"
"She's a civilian, Senshi powers won't hurt her!" said the voice impatiently. Lita did not like how eager it sounded, but there was no other choice.
She took a deep breath and clenched her fists again, then opened them so that sparks crackled from fingertip to fingertip. Then she brought the fingers to her forehead, pressing them against her tiara. "Thunder….CRASH!"
Lightning sizzled toward Zoicite. It slammed into her full-force and sent her body into convulsions, crackling. Serena, still gripping her brooch tightly, stumbled away from Zoicite. Tuxedo Mask darted forward and swept her up, retreating back into the shadows with her.
"I have to transform," she croaked to him. "That youma…everyone's energy…"
But there was no time. Malachite's shield around the youma flickered and disappeared, but as the shield disappeared, so did the youma, and the two generals were quick to follow.
Already, sirens could be heard wailing as they tore through the streets. The room had been plunged into darkness once again when Malachite disappeared, dropping the flashlight.
Serena loosened her hold on Tuxedo Mask's vest and tried to climb out of his arms, but Darien wouldn't let her. If his ears and gut were right – and they always were – that voce he had heard talking to Lita had been Luna's. And if Serena thought he was going to let her down anywhere near that cat, she had another think coming.
He shrugged his cape off surreptitiously, straining to see anything in the darkness, and tugged it over Serena. If the material had been able to withstand crystal shards, it should stand up against cat claws pretty well also. Not that he planned on letting Luna get close enough to test that theory out.
Tuxedo Mask began to pick his way through the dim, hulking shadows, but then a hand grabbed his arm roughly.
"Where do you think you're going?" demanded Lita – Sailor Jupiter.
"Outside," said Tuxedo Mask evenly.
"Lita? Are you okay?" Serena's voice was muffled beneath the cape.
"What have you done to her?" Lita growled, reaching out blindly and scrabbling to uncover Serena's face. "Serena, was this loser trying to kidnap you?"
There was the sound of knuckles cracking. Tuxedo Mask rolled his eyes.
"No, Lita, he wasn't," answered Serena. Tuxedo Mask felt her sit up and try to make Lita out. He wondered idly if her eyesight in darkness was any better than his. "Bt are you okay? They didn't hurt you, did they?"
"I'm fine. What about you? What were you thinking? Walking right into a youma attack! You could've gotten killed!"
"I concur," said Tuxedo Mask. Serena pinched him, and he winced. "Ow."
"So could you!" retorted Serena to Lita, ignoring the masked man. "Who did you think you were, Jackie Chan?"
"Please." Lita snorted. "Jackie Chan's got nothing on me. Especially with that lightning – what the hell was that, anyways?"
"I – " Serena shifted. Help me here, Darien, she thought, but of course he couldn't hear her. "I think you must be a Senshi, Lita."
"Like Sailor Moon, huh?" Lita appeared to chew on this for a moment. "That's cool, I guess."
"Yeah…" Serena's voice betrayed the sinking in her stomach. What would happen now? She did not want Lita to have to fight the Dark Kingdm and get hurt, but if she did not explain everything to Lita, Luna would, and then Lita would never speak to her again.
She leaned her head against Darien's neck and thought. Hard.
Suddenly, Lita cursed. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed. "Motoki!"
"I think he'll be alright," said Tuxedo Mask who had seen Motoki get slammed into the wall by one of the youma's tentacles. "He might have a concussion, but I didn't see any blood on him."
"Still…I'm going to go check on him. Wait for me."
"We can't wait here…" began Tuxedo Mask, but Lita was already gone.
Tuxedo Mask stalked to the shattered window, still on the lookout for Luna. As he passed, people whispered, "Are they gone?"
Serena said, "Yes, but wait for the EMT's. There's broken glass all over and someone might get hurt if you come out before they get rid of it."
Tuxedo Mask stepped easily over the shattered window with his long legs. Already, emergency personnel were gathering up the unconscious bodies on the sidewalk.
A police officer approached them warily. Before he could ask any questions, Tuxedo Mask said, "It was a youma."
The police officer swore. "Here, too?"
"What do you mean, too?" said Tuxedo Mask sharply. Serena stiffened.
The cop looked at him as if he were daft. "There were two other attacks just now, a couple blocks away at a grocery store and one at the park. Didn't you know?"
Serena let out a cry. Tuxedo Mask's jaw clenched. "Do you know of any casualties?"
"So far, there haven't been any this time. But some people are in critical care, and we haven't gone in there yet, of course." The police officer motioned at the arcade. "It feels weird to say, but I miss the good old days when the city only got attacked by one youma at a time."
"You're not the only one," replied Tuxedo Mask, then took to the rooftops with Serena.
She gripped his arm. "Darien – Buji was down there – "
"You can't do anything for him right now, Serena. They'll be taking him to the hospital, the policy is no visitors but family."
"Lita wanted us to wait for her."
He stopped, crouched on the lip of a roof. "Are you going to tell her the truth?"
Serena sighed. "I don't know." She leaned her forehead against his shoulder again. "Can we just stay up here for a while, please?"
"Can I jump?" asked Tuxedo Mask. He was feeling itchy, jumpy, he wanted to be in motion. Moving targets were harder to catch.
"Whatever floats your boat," Serena mumbled. "Weirdo."
He grinned slightly and pushed off.
A few blocks away, Sailor Mercury dragged herself out of the grocery store with her hand clamped over her left arm. She hugged the building behind her as she walked and finally reached an empty alley. She slid down the wall as she detransformed, all of her energy seeping out of her.
Mars had never shown up, nor had Luna. Ami had been able to find the youma's weak spot with her computer, but her only attack was the "Shabon Spray," and that was useless when it came to actually killing a youma. All it had done when she used it was concealed her from the youma. This did nothing, however, to stop it from groping out people in the fog and sucking their energy.
At one point, the youma had actually found her despite the fog. It managed to sink its teeth into her elbow before she got away from it: hence the blood covering Ami's arm.
Had the youma not gotten all the energy it needed and teleported away, Ami thought she probably would have died.
This thought did not really bother her.
She stood up and began to trudge home.
A/N: Okay, I have to stop here. It's late, and I still have homework, plus I have to edit this a bit before I post it. It won't be a very thorough editing, so I'm sorry for all the mistakes.
Nimbirosa, Wren Truesong, believe me when I say that I am on Cloud Nine whenever I read your reviews. I lurve your inaneness, Nimbirosa-chan, it always makes me laugh, and Wren Truesong, your dry-humor commentaries always have me in stitches, AND they make me think. Love you guys!
Thank you to everyone else too, it's really you guys who make this story go! Hopefully next chapter will have revplies so I can thank everyone personally. Until then – LOTS OF LOVE!