Of Faux and Friends
Chapter Four
A/N: Does anyone want to be my beta? I hate finding my mistakes in my stories. If you are, send a personal message by clicking on my pen name. Thanks.
A/N: Some of my readers make comments that I would like to respond to so here it goes:
VcChick: Yea she did cave early, but she's in love…things are going to get worse before they get better though.
mojacko1984: Who said he was faithful to Serena for seven years? Not to sound sexist or anything…but boys will be boys.
venusgoddess: applying to grad school is a bitch…but thanks for the advice
Buni Of The Moon: thanks. I prefer stories that don't have the girls as senshi. That fighting part of the series always bored me. And I do prefer stories where they are older because to me, someone who is 18 (or older depending on the manga or anime) should not be with 14 year old.
Venus-the-Senshi-Of-Love: Serena and the girls are about 25 and Darien, Andrew and Seiya are about 28/29. Another character that will be introduced shortly is around 26.
cosmoscrystal96: of course there will be a lemon… I love reading lemons (I'm not a pervert) and writing them is pretty fun too.
If I didn't comment about your comment, I promise I'm reading all of them and I really appreciate every single review I get.
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon
Rating: M (for language and some sexuality)
I
I
Serena giggled happily as she shoved another portion of chocolate cake into her mouth. Darien had taken her to Wonderland, a brand new restaurant on the upscale side of town. She enjoyed several of the menus dishes, including lobster, shrimp, a martini and a decadent slice of cake.
Darien smiled at her, relishing in the happiness that was shining behind her eyes. He would love to see her this giddy forever; the only thing he wanted to do was make her happy for the rest of her life. He watched as she devoured the last piece of cake before setting her fork down and looking up to her dinner partner.
"What?" she asked, her head cocking to the side as she looked up at him quizzically.
He grinned. "Nothing," he said. "You look eighteen again, that's all."
Serena frowned. At the age of eighteen he had left her... "Did I say something wrong?" he asked, noticing the sad expression on her face.
"No," she lied, looking away from him. She felt tears stinging at the edges of her eyes and immediately covered her face with her hands.
"Serena?" he asked concerned. "What wrong?"
"Why?" she asked, her voice dry. She moved her hand and he saw the clear liquid pooling her in eyes. Things tonight had been going so well between them. What on earth had he done to make her so upset?
"Why what?" he asked reaching out to touch her hand when she immediately recoiled away from him.
"Why what?" she asked, taking the cloth from her lap and throwing it onto the table. "Everything was perfect between us, at least I thought it was. I loved you, Darien, and I thought you loved me too."
"I did love you, Serena, more than anything in the world-"
"People who love each other don't just up and leave the continent without as much as a goodbye. You never, ever gave me a reason for leaving Darien. What did I do to you?"
He frowned. "Serena you didn't do anything-"
"I had to have done something to push you away."
"It wasn't you Serena, it was me, I swear."
"Wow Darien, that was original," she yelled, warm tears falling down her face. At her outburst several people in the restaurant turned around to see where the commotion was coming from. "I knew this was a bad idea." She immediately grabbed her purse before rising from the table and turning to leave.
"Don't walk away from me please," he said, his voice earnest as he jumped up behind her.
"You'd know what it feels like if I did," she said, as she stormed off in the direction of the exit.
Darien immediately pulled out his wallet and left two huge notes on the table before rushing to her. "Serena, please," he begged, catching up to her and grabbing her hand.
"What was so wrong Darien?" she asked her eyes full of wrath. "Was I not good?"
"Excuse me?" he said, taken aback from her proclamation.
"You heard me," she said, walking onto the curb and trying to hail a taxi. "Was the sex not good enough Darien?"
His eyes widened. "Why would you ask me that?"
"Oh, I don't know," she said, her voice escalating. "Because you told me you loved me and then you deflowered me and a week after that you leave."
"Serena I-"
"Come to think of it, maybe you told me you loved me just to get me in the sack. Is that all I was Darien, a roll in the hay for you? Some stupid teenage girl that you fucked and then afterwards just left the country because you were done with me?"
"That's not true Serena and you know it!" he yelled, anger consuming him. How could she think that she meant nothing to him?
"Do I?" she cried as another taxi passed her by. "God damn it! I'll just walk then."
"Serena come back here! I won't let you walk home."
"Get away from me!" she screamed. "I would rather be anywhere right now than be here with you."
"Please let me just explain," he yelled, walking up to her. She laughed in spite of the anger she was feeling.
"Fine," she said, stopping and turning to face him. "Go ahead Darien, tell me why you left me a few days after we made love. I'd sure like an explanation."
He opened his mouth before shutting it tightly. He hadn't actually expected her to hear him. Admittedly, he was a bit caught off guard. "What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" she asked, livid.
"I loved you."
"I know Darien," she said wryly, "but I wish you'd stop telling me that. What's your reason?"
"That is my reason," he said somberly, his eyes down cast.
Serena chuckled dryly before looking up to him. "You fled the country because you loved me," she said slowly. "That's brilliant Darien."
She turned to walk away when she felt long fingers wrap themselves around her delicate flesh. "I loved you…too much."
Again Serena smirked. "This is starting to sound like a Lifetime movie," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. She blinked as a cold droplet of water landed on her nose. Looking up to the sky they both realized that soon it was about to pour down. His first instinct was to find shelter, but he had waited so long to be with her, to tell her how he really felt.
"My parents died when I was six years old," he said grimly, staring at the cloudy sky. "When I woke up, I was alone, in a hospital bed with absolutely no memory of what happened to me or my family."
Serena watched him speak quietly as she slowly backed up into a brick wall and leaned on it for support. She had never heard Darien speak of his family. "A few weeks after that, I was shipped to some orphanage in Tokyo. I still didn't remember my family. The doctor said that the event was so traumatic that I repressed it and that I might never get my memories back. About a month later, one of uncles found me and took me to live with him in a city just outside of Kyoto. He was always kind to me, treated me like I was his own son.
"I was at school one day, and I got called into the principal's office. I remember being so scared that I had done something wrong," he said, frowning slightly. "But the minute I walked in there, I knew something bad had happened." He paused and look to Serena who watched him quietly before continuing. "There was a fire at my uncle's house. The only other relatives that I thought I had left, died. So for another couple of months I lived in an orphanage in Edo until a distant cousin of mine found me and claimed me as his own. He was more interested in being the caretaker of my money than actually taking care of me. We moved to the Azabu district when I was ten years old. He was never really around much; he liked to spend my money on booze and women, but he was the only family that I had left. And even though he would drink too much and didn't really care about what I did, I loved him." He paused again and seemed to be collecting his thoughts before he walked over to Serena and looked into her eyes. "He died from a drug overdose when I was sixteen."
Serena grimaced as she watched the expressions on his face change. She wanted to open her mouth to comfort him, she wanted to press her lips against his face and kiss away the sadness, but she did nothing and waited for him to continue speaking. "Well after that, I emancipated myself and was able to get a hold on a bit of my family's money. I was content with the life I lived. Andrew was my best friend, but for the most part, I was alone, and I was okay with that." He grinned fondly before looking at Serena, a small smile forming across his lips. "And then some clumsy meatball headed girl threw her abysmal test at me and for the first time in my life, I felt alive. You would walk into the Crown Arcade cheerful and I would insult you or make fun of you just to watch you get angry. To see your eyes light up with fury and your cheeks to turn red. You looked so adorable. A few months after I met you, I realized how special you were to me and how much I cared about you, and when you told me you felt the same, well, I couldn't have been happier. It felt like things in my life were finally starting to turn out right.
"And I fell in love with you," said Darien, reaching out and touching her cheek with his fingertips. "I hadn't meant for it to happen and probably would have preferred for it to not, but it did. A few months before we made love, I started to get flashbacks, memories of the car accident my parents died in. I remembered that it was my birthday and we were going to spend the week on a yacht in the bay because my parents knew that I loved the beach. My dad was driving and wearing his signature sunglasses. My mom was sitting in the front seat, her hand resting protectively over her stomach. I remember smelling the salt in the wind and feeling the cool beach air against my face from the open window. But then my mom screamed and my father swore and before I could remember, we were diving off the cliff into the sea beneath us. My mother looked back at me and tried to grab my hand but we hit the water so hard that everything went black. A couple of days later, I woke up alone.
"I tried to forget those images. I tried to block out how horrible I felt when I went to bed alone every night in that orphanage. I tried to forget how empty I felt when my aunt and uncle died, when my cousin died. But I couldn't and every loss I ever experienced was killing me. And then, that night came and you gave yourself to me and it was the most amazing night of my life, Serena," he said, closing his eyes as they began to sting. "And after that all I could think of was how much it would kill me to lose you. You were the most important thing in my life, you were the reason I got up in the morning, the reason I survived during the day, you were my entire world, and to lose you…I couldn't stand the idea. So I did what any coward would do," he said grimly. "I left you, before you leave me. I booked a flight to America and never mentioned it to anyone. Hell, Andrew didn't even know and he knew everything. I couldn't say goodbye to you, because it would have been too hard for me. I had to leave Japan, because everything I ever loved and lost, was here."
"Not everything," Serena said softly, closing the distance between them and laying her head against his chest. The rain began to fall softly on her head and she could feel the cold chill of the wind against her bones. "You never lost me." She sighed when she felt his arms wrap around her.
"I ran away from you," he said, looking down at her as the drops of water began to coat her forehead.
"I know," she said. "I didn't understand why…how you could…but I do now. Why didn't you just tell me?"
He chuckled dryly. "Because you would think I was a fool for being so frightened. You'd think I was weak."
"I could never think that," she said.
"You hated me," he said.
"Because I loved you and you hurt me. I felt so stupid and used and inadequate. I felt so worthless," she whispered against his chest as he brought his fingers to her damp mane and stroked her head.
"You're none of those things," he whispered into her ear. "I love you so much, Serena. Even more so than before, and I had to come back to tell you that."
She looked up at him and shivered. The evening wind was getting to her and despite the enlightening time she had spent with him, she wanted to get into the warmth of her home.
"Come on," he said, removing his jacket and covering her bare arms with it. "Let me get you home."
I
I
Their car ride home had been silent; a silence that permeated the vehicle but didn't bother either occupant. Darien and Serena were both caught up in a whirlwind of memories, some happy and some sad as they cruised down the winding streets of Tokyo. When they arrived at her apartment, he walked her to her door and said goodbye to her with a gentle kiss on the cheek. Regardless of the emotional boundaries that were broken tonight, neither felt ready to try and regain what they had lost. For them both, tonight was so draining that they each wanted to recover in the solitude of their own homes, readying themselves for whatever trauma and struggles might come as they tried to rekindle their old flames. She closed the door behind her before flipping on the lights and jumping as a familiar face greeted her with a mischievous smile.
"Where have you been?" he asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his wrinkle free Armani pants.
Serena sighed. "How the hell did you get in here?" she asked, removing Darien's coat from her shoulders and laying it on the back of the couch. Seiya grabbed the coat and surveyed the Gucci tag before placing it back on the sofa.
"At least he's got good taste," he said, before looking to Serena. "What'd he do to you? You look like you've been crying."
"No really, Seiya, how did you in here?" she asked, annoyed.
"I own this building Serena, how do you think?" he responded crossing his arms over his chest. "How is good old doctor Darien?"
Serena sighed. "I don't have time for this, I'm tired. Please go home."
"Not until you tell me about what's going on between you and Mr. Wonderful."
"I don't have to answer to you," she said, walking into her closet.
"A couple of days after I leave town and you walk into the arms of another man."
"We were broken up long before you decided to have a hissy fit last time and leave."
"Then why'd you go with me to Darien's little soiree?" he asked as she emerged from the closet with a pink fuzzy robe on.
"Because I was nervous about seeing him and you just showed up, like you always do."
"So tell me, darling, how long have you been in love with him?"
She glared before walking into the kitchen and pulling a bottle of water from the refrigerator. "That's none of your business, now go, Seiya. I mean it."
"Fine, but don't make me do something I'll regret."
"Are you threatening me?" she asked, slamming the bottle onto the granite counter tops.
"I'm doing whatever it is you think I'm doing. Goodnight, sweetheart," he said, opening the door and closing it behind him with a gentle thud.