~Chapter 8~

I opened my eyes to find myself in Summer's bedroom. Soon a horrible throbbing pain in my head caused me to close my eyes again. Ugh... That's right, I was in a drinking contest last night... No wonder this hangover was worse than usual. I sighed, knowing there was no real cure for a hangover. I would take some Aspirin and wait it out. That was probably my best option right now. Oooohhh, but it was so painful it was making me sick at my stomach... Well, if I couldn't move around just yet, I would have to wait until I could. Then I could take some medicine and get this thing over with. Maybe going back to sleep was a good idea, but it wasn't possible with this kind of headache. Well actually, it was more like a freaking migraine! Oh, it hurt so bad! How much did I drink? Oh...my hangover was too painful. I couldn't remember how much I drank, or even what I drank.

I decided it was best to wait, trying my best to daydream about complete nonsense. It felt like my brain wanted to shut down until the headache was gone. But eventually I couldn't take it anymore. I needed to get that medicine in my system and let it do its job. I didn't care how bad I was feeling, it wasn't worth this! But still, I didn't want to throw up. Sometimes my hangovers got like this, especially when I got through with a contest... And I'd thrown up before, which had only made it worse. Why couldn't I just pass out from the pain? At least then I would be able to wake up to either less pain or no pain at all. Sounded nice right about now...

I groaned as I realized I had nothing else to do but wait out my hangover.

And apparently, once the pain had gone down a little, I'd fallen back asleep. I was surprised; I wasn't the type to fall asleep once I woke up. But I'd probably stayed up late. There was no doubt I'd gotten pretty drunk last night after all that vodka. Oh the joys of being drunk! You had no idea what you were doing or why you were doing it! It was so much fun! And everything you did was so unpredictable! Hilarity ensues when you're drunk. At least that was my experience... Maybe it didn't apply to some people. Hm. Oh well, I didn't really care. It applied to me, that's all I knew.

I sat up and stretched, relieved that I hadn't had to suffer from a terrible hangover like the last several contests. In fact, my head wasn't hurting anymore!

"Hey, Summer!" I shouted. I was still groggy, though, and wanted her to come in rather than me go out. "I slept through a hangover! Is there anything good to eat?"

I heard heard her footsteps. Was she bringing me breakfast in bed? Did this mean I'd won the contest? Or was it consolation for almost winning? Oh, that couldn't possibly be true! I was, after all, the unbeatable Serena. No one, and I mean no one, could or would ever beat me in my contest. I chased off anyone who trespassed on Serena's arena. I shot down those who dared to challenge me. I would never understand for the life of me why people kept trying. But, hey, let them try. they'll just end up humiliating themselves. Besides, those who challenge the unbeatable Serena keep the contests going, which gives me a chance to earn thousands of dollars. Oh, the fools. But those fools were helpful, so I would always prefer to shoot down my competition instead of chasing them off. Think of it as hitting two birds with one stone: I get to humiliate my opponents and live up to my reputation, and I get to win a very healthy amount of dough. So yes, they could trespass every now and then and by doing so, they would help me out. Let them try, let them try as many times as they wanted. I not only liked getting drunk, I could handle a ton of alcohol. So try as they might, they would never win.

Hm... Poor things. I would feel bad for them if they didn't help me out so darn much. And again, because of those idiots out there, I kept my reputation as the unbeatable Serena, I got to get drunk and have an excuse to do so, and I could win money from beating them. So I should really thank them one of these days. It was the least I could do for the ten grand they'd given me.

I heard the door slowly open. So it was breakfast in bed! How sweet of her! And she was such a great cook, too. Oh, I was so looking forward to tasting one of her homemade meals! So delicious and savory! And it always smelled so appetizing!

...Wait... I didn't smell any food. Summer's food always had a great smell. What was going on? Oh man! Did she have bad news to tell me? Did Kent get in a car wreck? That was bad news!

"Summer...?" I asked timidly.

"You're up," a male voice said.

Kent.

"Dammit, Kent! What in the hell am I doing at your place? Because so help me, if you got drunk and slept with me again, I'm going to-" I wiped my eyes and tried to focus as I was talking. And right in time to see not Kent, but some other guy enter the room.

"Uh...who are you?" I asked.

The man frowned and said, "You slept with someone?"

I got out of bed and stretched again. "Um, yeah. I do that when I get super drunk..." I trailed off as what I said hit me like I ton of bricks. "Oh! Okay, I understand why I'm here now. But listen, just because I slept with you this time doesn't mean I'm your girlfriend or anything. So unless I get that drunk again, you're not getting some today."

The man looked confused. Geez, don't tell me he didn't remember! Well, it would actually make sense if he didn't. He could've been a participant in the contest last night, which would easily explain why he didn't remember and why I was here with him, in his bedroom.

"Okay first of all, you didn't sleep with me. Second of all, I don't want to have sex with you," he said. "But... You mean you really don't recognize me?"

I looked him over thoroughly. He had jet black hair, which actually made him look handsome. He had rich blue eyes. His face was virtually symmetrical. His clothes consisted of a pea-green suit. He also seemed to have a strong build. He had square shoulders... But that was about it. Hm. I didn't think I would mind if I'd slept with him. He was pretty cute, and pretty hot. But no matter, I didn't sleep with guys unless I was so drunk that I couldn't tell male from female. And it was better than waking up naked next to Kent. Although, for the record, we'd only slept together once because we both got so smashed that we had no idea what we were doing.

"Eh...no. I don't think I've ever met you before. Maybe you just have me confused," I replied.

"I don't think so. You're Serena Tsukino, right?" he said.

"Yeah, that's me. And you know this because...?" I gestured for him to finish my sentence.

He sighed and shook his, like he was disappointed at me. "Serena, it's me. Darien Shields, remember? The girls wanted me to come down here, said I should expect the worst. They didn't tell me it was this bad, though."

"Bad?" I narrowed my eyes, trying to figure this guy out. Obviously the girls he spoke of were no doubt Mina, Lita, Amy, and that pesky Rei girl.

"Yeah, Serena. Bad. Very bad. So bad I couldn't believe it was you. You have no idea what it was like for me to find the girls crying because of how hard it was to see you that way, that drunk and asking this stranger to give you a piggyback ride. And then singing a random song. You just don't know what it was like pulling up to a bar and going in to find chaos."

"So then how did you know it was me?" I asked cautiously.

"Well, at first I asked the the girls where you ran off to, because I didn't see anyone that looked like you in the bar. But then they pointed you out. At first I thought they were joking, but when they explained everything, I had second thoughts," he answered.

I groaned. So yet another person had been looking for me. Sometimes I just wished Serena Tsukino would disappear. I should've just told this Darien person that I was someone else, someone that wasn't the girl he was looking for. And curse those crackpots for telling him where I was and who I was! Oh, how I wish Summer was here... She would know what to do. She would defend me against these weirdos.

I walked over to my purse and took out a cigarette and a lighter. I quickly lighted the cigarette and put it in my mouth. I heard the man sigh behind me.

"God, Serena... Smoking, too? When did things start to get so bad? When did everything take a turn for the worst?" he ranted.

"Don't start bitching to me about anything. I really hate that," I told him. He could only blink, but at least it shut him up.

After a long while of silence, I finally noticed that the poor guy seemed to be heartbroken. But why me? How had I hurt him? He was the one hunting me down, remember! I had nothing to do with his life, and I didn't want him to have anything to do with mine. But just like Mina, Rei, Amy, and Lita, he also looked familiar. But unlike them, he'd never appeared in any of my dreams. Oh, whatever. It wasn't like it was my fault he didn't like what he saw. For all I knew, he could be some creep out to get me. Maybe I'd slept with him before in one of my turbo-drunk spells. It sure would explain why he looked familiar.

"Serena, do you remember the Sailor Scouts? What they stood for?" he asked. "What about Tuxedo Mask? Rini? Do you remember Sailor Mercury, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mars, Sailor Venus...and Sailor Moon?"

Hm...now that I think about it, yes. "Yeah, they stood for love and justice."

"Okay, and who were they?"

"How should I know? They always show up to fight, and then vanish," I replied.

"Serena, do you at least remember the identity of Sailor Moon?" he asked.

Hm... Sailor Moon I knew of, but to figure out her identity? Who did he think I was, some kind of fortune teller? "Uh, nobody knows who Sailor Moon really is. I'm no different." Still, Sailor Moon...something about her...felt like I knew her somehow. Could it be that this man knew something about some kind of weird connection I might have had with a famous Sailor Scout? ...No. I was just being paranoid, that's all. I'd probably slept with this guy and now he was trying everything he could to get me to stay.

"You literally remember nothing..." he whispered to himself.

I exhaled a puffy cloud of smoke that decided to linger in the stale air, having no wind to help push it away. This guy was so weird. But then again, he was also with those equally weird girls. Man, how did I ever get myself into this mess! If I had ever known them, and I really didn't remember them, then they should just give up and go away. I just wanted to be left alone, to get back to my normal life. They didn't seem to understand that I wanted to get drunk every day. They didn't seem to understand that I liked my life.

He randomly decided to hug me. Uh, okay... So I'd slept with a psycho this time. Great. My lucky day...

But then I noticed that I was still completely dressed. I hadn't dressed myself this morning, which meant that either he had dressed me or he was telling the truth and we hadn't slept together. Geez, I should've just snuck out while I still had the chance... Why oh why...

I let out an irritated sigh. "Got an ash tray around here?"

He let go of me and answered, "No. I don't smoke." He smiled, more of a sad smile than a happy one, but it still had a hint of joy in it. "I thought I would never see you again... I thought you were dead..."

I chuckled awkwardly. "Yeah...well...as you can see, I'm...kind of not dead."

"Serena, I'm so sorry I broke up with you... I only did it because of Rini and I never meant for this to hap-"

"Okay, hold up! First you say you know me even though I have no clue who you are, then you say you broke up with me, and now you're talking about some Rini person? You know, there's a happy hotel in this part of town. I could take you there and get you some serious help...which apparently, you need very badly," I said.

"I'm not crazy, Serena, I don't need to be taken to a psych ward! Rini exists and..." His eyes widened. "And you don't remember even her..."

After a little while of complete silence, he added, "You have amnesia."

Oh, yeah, amnesia... Okay, well, that would explain just about nothing. Especially considering the fact that I could remember everything I needed to. But hey, you know, wackos are chasing you down, what are you going to do? Not really much you could do actually.

I backed away, smiled sweetly, and put my hands up. "You know, I should probably get going now. Summer's probably worried about me-"

He lifted one hand up and smiled brightly, as if something in his brain overloaded and formed some random idea. Somehow I had a feeling this was going to involve me. "Stay right there, I have something I want to show you." He took off.

Oh boy... What was it? Oh crap, was it a gun? I didn't feel like being shot today! Granted, he didn't look like the harmful type, but what if he was bipolar or something? That would be so horrible for me. Or what if he was just some crazy psychopath? Maybe I really was just being paranoid. There was always the phrase "better safe than sorry", but for some reason, I had already placed a small amount of trust in him. But could I trust that trust? I didn't know this guy. Was it safe to trust him? Was I being stupid by being wary or was I being wise by being cautious? Was it me? Was this all in my head?

I pinched myself. Not in my head. Not a dream. Man, this was going to require years of intense therapy. It was bad enough that those girls had to walk into my life and start tearing it apart, but now this guy had to barge in too? I'd already had enough of this! What in the world did I ever do to deserve this crap? I couldn't take it anymore! I just wanted everyone to get out. I just wanted everything to return to normal, the way things should be. They could go back to whatever they did and wherever they came from, and I could go back to living with Summer and getting drunk all the time. Hopefully Betch could hide me in her place for awhile until these morons went away. I should've just said I wasn't Serena. This was my fault, I brought this on myself. I wasn't who they were looking for! I didn't know any of them! Why couldn't they realize that? I should never have told them my name, I should never have let them see me, and most importantly, I should never have let Summer drag out those old drawings of me! I might as well have just asked the universe to give me its best shot! Were they the morons, or was I the moron?

The man, Darien I think his name was, came back. He hands were behind his back, like he was hiding something back there. Intentionally not permitting me to see what it was. Making me wonder what could possibly be that important as to not allow me to see it.

"Okay, Serena, before I let you see this, you have to promise not to freak out and run away. You already put us through that mess and it might as well have traumatized us."

Traumatized them? Them? Of all people! Surely he wasn't serious! I wasn't the one who suddenly claimed to know them when they clearly didn't know me! I wasn't the one who started acting weird and saying messed up things! How the heck had I traumatized anybody? If anything, I was the one who should be traumatized! They should just shut their traps and leave me alone! I didn't care how familiar anyone looked! they needed to go home and get a life!

Somehow managing to keep myself from blowing up, I watched quietly as the Darien person hesitated to pull out from behind him a picture frame. He looked at it first, smiling nostalgically. And then he showed it to me.

Inside the picture frame, behind the glass covering, was a picture of myself sitting down on a patch of grass, leaning on what looked like a younger version of this guy. I was smiling happily, cheerfully. He was holding me lovingly, one arm wrapped protectively around me, as if to mark me, as if to announce to all other males, "She's mine, back off!" And I wasn't objecting, I wasn't looking at him like, "What are you doing?" No, I was enjoying it. I was liking his company. I was liking spending time with him. He looked equally happy to be with me. With what was no doubt my past self, about four years ago.

"This was back before I broke up with you. Before you ran away... Do you remember anything now?" he asked.

A/N

Well? How was it? Good enough for you? Heh heh. Cliffies, gotta hate 'em. And people, PLEASE review! Your reviews give me motivation! I really need them and I would love to see what you think about the story!