Sailor Saiyan007 is a star. 4 chapters beta read in two days, how brilliant is that?
Anyways enjoy the shiny version of this chapter and for those of you actually reading these I'm working on chapter 18 as I write this, It will be out by the weekend: D
I own Sailor Moon the complete first season…. On dvd lol
Raye was feeling particularly triumphant the morning of Darien's birthday. She had found him the perfect present. It was not as pretty or, as she suspected, sentimental as the watch Serena had gotten him, but perfect nonetheless. The box was a deep purple that matched her own eyes, and the black filigree patterns surrounding it matched her raven hair. Inside the box was a pen that she had his name monogrammed on. It was perfect. Darien would use it every day and wouldn't be able to stop thinking of her when he did. A feline smile graced her lips as she got ready for school.
"Bye gramps! I'll be home late today," she called softly as she walked down the steps and towards Darien's school.
She stood at the gate, keeping an eager eye out for him, hoping to be the first to wish him a happy birthday and give him a meaningful gift. She didn't notice that she was standing next to a small group of girls who were hoping exactly the same thing.
She did notice, however, when Andrew and a tall brunette walked up to them with an almost smile. "Better get to classes ladies. Darien is spending the day with his GIRLFRIEND like he does every year, and you won't be seeing him today at all," Andrew said, taking the hand of the brunette before wandering off without a backwards glance at the crowd, who grumbled and slowly dispersed.
Raye frowned, glad that Andrew had not noticed her in the crowd. Checking her watch, she grimaced when she realized the time and how late she was going to be if she didn't run to her own school.
She made it to her seat just before the bell and blushed a deep red when she found she had attracted the attention of the entire class. Her school was a lot smaller then Serena's, Amy's and Lita's. The class she was in now was pretty much half the school and they were all staring at her and whispering to each other. She sank down in her seat to try and divert their attention and breathed a sigh of relief when the teacher walked in.
She spent the rest of her morning classes doing her best to become invisible again. By the time lunch came about, she had almost managed to become the girl no one saw; it was much easier when it came to school.
She had started to turn the corner, which would lead her to the garden of the school. A cherry blossom tree right at the back would shield her from the staring eyes and whispers while she ate in peace.
She turned back when she saw what her school deemed the 'popular crowd' leaning against the wall. She breathed heavily before realizing they were talking about her.
"That Raye chick is kinda hot." That was Jessie, the player of the group. Raye had not seen him with the same girl on his arm two days running. He really must have been getting desperate for some new skirt, she thought scowling.
"Hot, I agree, but way too weird man." Was that Justin that answered?
"Yeah, she like, worships the devil and puts voodoo curses on people," a girls voice giggled. No one ever accused Cindy of being smart but Raye rolled her eyes every time the girl popped her never ending supply of pink bubble-gum.
"I feel sorry for the girl. She may be hot but who would ever want her? She is seriously messed up; even her parents didn't want her. The only person who puts up with her is that grandfather of hers and we all know he's crazy," Samantha said.
The whole group laughed agreeing.
Raye winced. She tried not to take it to heart, but when she really thought about it, she knew it was true. With a sob, she fled to the girl's bathroom, no longer interested in her lunch. The girls were only friends with her because she was Sailor Mars; they needed to get along. Darien was probably only friends with her out of pity, and because Serena was his girlfriend.
When she was all cried out, she wiped her eyes then went to the office, feigning sickness, and was promptly sent home. Even the office staff thought she was acting strange.
While she was walking, she thought of her father. She hadn't seen him in almost 6 years, but he called regularly. Her grandfather had explained one day that Raye looked so much like her mother it broke his son's heart to look at her. She didn't understand how any child could not have unconditional love from a parent, unless the parent didn't love them at all.
It hurt to think about it, even though she knew it was true. She loved her grandfather for trying to soften the blow, but her father had told her himself he couldn't stand the sight of her. She was so wrapped up in her depressing thoughts she didn't notice she had stopped or that Darien was standing in front of her until he spoke.
"Are you ok?" he asked, concerned.
Usually when she was around Darien, she had a hard timekeeping her focus off him. She seemed to single him out at most places.
"Darien? Yeah, I'm okay. I'm feeling a little unwell so I left school early. Where's Serena?" Raye tried her best to smile for him.
"She's at school, I'm picking her up after. Let me walk you home, you don't look so great," Darien said.
Raye sighed and nodded gratefully. "Darien, can I ask you something?" she said so softly Darien almost didn't hear her.
"Sure," he quipped.
"Are we friends?" she asked, completely serious.
Darien seemed to think before answering. "Yes. I don't offer to walk any girl home, ya know," he grinned.
"And it's not just because you feel sorry for me or that you think you have to be my friend because of Serena?" she asked, her voice still soft and unsure.
Darien frowned. Raye was usually sure of herself, confidant and stubborn. It wasn't like her to be so down. "I met you before Serena, remember? I consider you a friend just for who you are Raye, not for anyone else," he said with a small smile.
"Thank you. I really needed to hear that. Oh, I almost forgot," she said before digging in her bag she pulled out his present. "Happy birthday! Serena said you're not big on celebrating, but as your friend I thought you would at least like a gift," she said, blushing.
Darien smiled and took the box with a grateful nod. After telling her that he thought of her as a friend, he couldn't refuse a birthday gift from her. "Thank you," he said opening it. He saw the pen and smiled, not really looking at the box. He tried to keep a straight face as he saw she had the pen monogrammed.
"Do you like it?" she asked, looking up at him hopefully.
Darien smiled as if dealing with a small child and stepped back a smidgen. Raye had gotten a little too close. "It just what I needed, thank you," he said as honestly as he could.
He didn't have the heart to tell her she had spelt his name wrong, or that it would go in his drawer full of pens with his name on from previous years.
"Well, we're here. I have to get going. I hope you feel better soon Raye," he said before turning and allowing her to start walking up the shrine steps with a new sense of hope.
She would show every one of them; not only was she not weird, she was wanted, by Darien. They will all be so jealous of me! I'll make them eat their words once he's mine. She smiled happily at the thought.
Darien had just got back to his apartment. He stretched his tense muscles as he walked towards his car ready to meet Serena. Thinking of her, he almost couldn't wait until her school let out for the day.
Serena watched him from his car. School had finished on an early dismissal, and she didn't know why. Amy thought it was because of some exams somewhere. She had come to Darien's apartment to surprise him. Using her key, she noted that he wasn't in before turning and heading the parking lot to check if his car was there. She giggled silently when she saw him walking towards his car and her she noticed he clicked his keys to unlock it. As he was in his own little world, he didn't notice her climb into the passenger's seat.
He also didn't notice when he bumped into someone.
"Oh, damn it, not again," Mina said as she met the pavement for the 4th time since entering the parking lot.
"Sorry about that, it's been a long day, wasn't paying attention," Darien said, offering his hand to help, who he recognized as Mina, up.
Mina looked up at him, shocked, then she blushed as she took his hand. She felt how warm his hand was and sighed, instantly in love with the handsome stranger. She smiled, thinking how normal it was seeing a cute guy that was nice to her and falling in love. She felt like a normal teenage girl for a moment.
Darien let go of her hand as soon as she was steady, as she stood staring at him with an adoring smile. He grimaced and shook his head, which seemed to snap her out of her thoughts.
"Are you ok?" he asked, wondering what she was doing in the underground parking lot. She didn't look old enough to drive.
Mina's head snapped up to look at him. Then she shook her head. "My cat ran in here. I thought he might be hiding under one of the cars, but I don't see him anywhere," she explained, still blushing.
Darien laughed which served to confuse her.
"I wouldn't worry. My girlfriend's cat does that all time; she usually shows up later though," Darien said with a smile.
Mina was instantly heartbroken, and then she smiled again thinking of the normalcy of that, too. Of course the guy had a girlfriend; she was probably gorgeous and smart and everything. She sighed wistfully, trying to picture the mature girl that would be lucky enough to land a guy like this one.
And then she saw her, a girl slightly taller than her with dark brown waist length hair and a tight almost summer dress with a large bow around her waist came running up to the car. Mina frowned. The girl was so pretty and her dress certainly showed off her mature curves well. She was so busy checking the girl out she failed to notice Darien tense and back towards the car more.
"Hey, Darien," the brunette said as she reached them, pushing Mina out of the way.
"Lana, you really shouldn't still be here," Darien growled threateningly.
Mina jumped, slightly afraid of guy's -who was apparently named Darien- new dark tone. Surely he wouldn't treat his girlfriend that way.
"Oh, Andrew said you weren't going to be in today, so I thought I would deliver your present personally. I have an idea: why don't you ditch the little girl and come upstairs with me? I'll let you unwrap me, for your birthday," Lana purred, trying to get closer to Darien.
"No, Lana," Darien started to say, but Lana had already turned to face Mina.
"Listen, Sarah, whatever your name is, you can't keep clinging on to Darien like this. He needs to be with someone his own age who can make him happy," Lana said to Mina, who was very confused.
Darien looked at Lana like she had grown a second head, then realized she had mistaken Mina for Serena, who was calmly walking up to the group with a small smile on her face.
Lana was still explaining to Mina why she was better in all ways for Darien when Serena stood to the side of them.
"Sorry Laden, didn't realize you needed another nose job?" Serena said loudly, breaking the brunette out of her rant at Mina.
"Hey, where did you come from? And my name is Lana you idiot!" she screamed at Serena, allowing Mina to back away slightly.
"Your name really doesn't matter to me. Hmm, let me put this in a way you will understand; Darien and I are about to go celebrate his birthday. We have been together for almost 11 years. HE IS NEVER GOING TO BE INTRESTED! Seriously, give it up; you're way past pathetic," she said, keeping the small smile on her face the whole time.
Mina stood watching her brow creased in confusion. So this girl was Darien's girlfriend. She could see why the Lana girls got confused; the other girl had blonde hair and blue eyes just like hers, and she seemed to be about the same age as Mina was.
Darien walked behind Serena, wrapping his arms around her shoulders allowing her to lean back into him. "How?" Darien asked, expecting Serena to still be in school and hoping she hadn't ditched for him.
"Early dismissal, surprise! Happy birthday," she explained as he leaned down for a sweet kiss.
Lana looked at the couple and with a shriek of rage stormed off. Serena turned to face Mina then with a smile.
"I'm sorry, I'm not usually like that. I've just lost all patience when it comes to Lana. She practically stalks Darien and is not exactly the nicest person in the land. I'm Serena," she said, introducing herself
"Mina, I just moved here. I can see how she mistook us though," Mina said, bouncing happy to see the girl wasn't as mean as she had just witnessed.
"We do have similar eyes and hair colour," Serena giggled.
Darien shook his head with a smile. "I don't see it," he said, causing both girls to look at him in confusion.
"What do you mean? Apart from the different sense of style, we could be twins," Mina said.
"Your hair is purely golden, whereas Serena has a silvery gold sheen, not to mention the fact its way longer. Your eyes are also different shades of blue; yours are like the sky while Serena's eyes remind me of stars reflecting the blue from the night's sky, fathomless and endless. Then there's the fact you have sharp, pointed features, and Serena has soft, light, gorgeous features. You're a couple of inches taller too," Darien explained.
"Wow, you're very observant," Mina blinked, now seeing the differences in the other girl.
It was obvious from the way Darien looked at and spoke about Serena he was very much tied to her. She smiled, seeing their strong ties more closely as they looked into each other's eyes.
Serena smiled softly at Darien. It wasn't only the physical differences he saw where most people wouldn't, it was also the things he didn't say. He spoke with such a deep conviction, she knew without a doubt everything he said was just another thing he loved about her.
She sighed before facing Mina again. "Anyway, it's a pleasure to meet you, Mina. Did I hear you were looking for a cat?"
"Uh, yeah. You heard that from all the way over there?" Mina asked, looking at the direction Serena had come from.
Darien paled. She had heard through their link and he wasn't quite sure how Serena was going to explain that one.
Serena giggled.
"Actually, I was waiting in the car to surprise Darien. I snuck out when Lana started; I wanted to scare her a bit," she explained.
Darien let the breath he was holding go in relief as Mina smiled, accepting the excuse.
"Your cat doesn't happen to be white, with a crescent moon on his forehead?" Serena asked.
Mina nodded. "You've seen Artemis? Silly cat, we're in a brand new place and he goes trotting off," Mina said.
"He's under the car behind you, and I know the feeling. My cat Luna does the same thing; she eventually comes back though," Serena said.
Mina turned to find Artemis watching their conversation carefully. "Thanks, it would have taken me hours to find him there," she laughed.
"Well, it was nice to meet you, Mina. I'm sure we will see each other soon," Serena said a little cryptically as she and Darien got into his car.
Artemis jumped up from under the car and onto Mina's shoulder as soon as the car was out of sight. "I believe you have just met one of your Sailor Scouts, Mina," he said.
"Really? Their already awakened here?" Mina said excitedly.
"I was suspicious at first until she mentioned Luna. I don't remember there being a Sailor Scout that looked quite so much like you," he replied.
Mina stopped her bubbly expression, becoming serious. "I don't either, but if Luna trusts her?" Mina asked.
Artemis nodded agreeing with her question. "Still, we had better keep an eye on her, and the guy too. The both of them seem different," he concluded.
"Darien? Man, he's hot. Some girls have all the luck in love. Still, she said they had been together a while, must be nice to find your soul mate so early," Mina's personality seemed to switch yet again.
"You sensed that?" Artemis asked
Mina nodded with a wistful smile.
The couple pulled up the a florist and got a new potted blue orchid plant before heading back to the car and driving up towards the cemetery. Together the planted the flower at his parents grave before sitting and telling the headstones about their year.
Serena and Darien were getting ready to leave when they saw Zoisite sneaking around a church.
"She must be after the priest," Serena said as Darien came to a halt.
"Let's deal with this one on our own. You can say you left your communicator at home. We should actually get this crystal too; it might help the scouts have a little for faith in you," Darien said as they both moved silently through the church gardens while transforming.
Sailor Moon nodded as they watched Zoisite retrieve the crystal. Tuxedo Mask jumped down and knocked the crystal out of Zoisite's hand, allowing Sailor Moon to grab it. Zoisite went to chase after her, but Tuxedo Mask blocked her off, letting Sailor Moon deal with the Shadow Daemon.
"So, Beryl really messed up with you. Did you know you're supposed to be a guy?" Tuxedo Mask grinned, unable to keep from laughing, even though he knew Zoisite's clone was a girl from his memories of the last battle.
"How do you know that name?" Zoisite asked, a little too shocked to attack.
"That's for me to know," he started to say, then heard Sailor Moon scream. With a flick of his wrist, he threw three roses at Zoisite, who escaped them by disappearing in her whirlwind of petals.
"What's wrong?" Tuxedo Mask asked, landing next to Sailor Moon, who was dodging punches left, right and centre.
"I need a distraction or I can't heal him! I need to be able to power up the wand," she shouted, sounding slightly winded.
Tuxedo Mask nodded. Jumping behind the monster, he braced himself before throwing a punch, causing the daemon to turn around and start trying to hit him.
Sailor Moon breathed a sigh of relief and caught her breath before powering up the wand and healing the daemon. As soon as he reverted back, a few sisters ran out from the church to make sure he was okay.
"Thank you for saving the old priest from the curse that was cast upon him. Our God has sent His angels to rescue His child," one of the nuns said to Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask. They smiled before waving and jumping away.
"Let's go," Serena said as they got back into the car. Darien smiled and started the car. They headed back to his apartment to get ready to go out for dinner.
Sailors Mars and Jupiter met Mercury a block away from the old church. The blue haired scout was rapidly typing on her minicomputer with a slight scowl on her face.
"Mercury, where's the battle?" Jupiter asked, looking around the quiet street in confusion.
"I'm not sure. My computer picked up on Negaverse activity, but it disappeared suddenly," Mercury answered, not taking her eyes off the computer.
"What does that mean exactly?" Mars asked.
Mercury finally looked up from her computer with a sigh. "I am afraid it means Zoisite probably got away with the crystal and its carrier," she said, worry lines appearing on her forehead.
"Where is Moon? Did you call her?" Mars asked.
"Yes, no response from her communicator. I'm afraid Luna isn't answering either" she replied.
"Luna's probably running around after that ditz. Come on, we'll go to the temple," Mars said.
"That's not very fair Mars. It's Darien's birthday. We knew Moon would be difficult to get a hold of today. I bet Darien's to blame for this; he probably stopped her from answering her communicator," Jupiter said.
"Don't bring Darien into this; he's done nothing wrong," Mars started, but was interrupted by Mercury.
"Guys, this is no place for an argument. Even if Sailor Moon had answered her communicator it wouldn't have made much of a difference," she said before turning a jumping to the nearest building.
"She's right, Moon would just be here with us and we probably wouldn't be arguing," Jupiter said before jumping towards the temple too.
"Hey, it's my temple! I should have gone first," Mars screamed after them before heading back herself.
She landed behind the temple to see Lita and Amy waiting for her. She de-transformed then, with a smug smile, walked past them and into the building, allowing the two girls to follow her.
"Right, I'll call Serena again," Raye said, getting her communicator out.
"No way! You only want to call so you can have a go at her," Lita said, making a grab for Raye's communicator.
Raye danced away from her reach, a self-satisfied smile on her face in the knowledge she had bested the more powerful scout in a small way. She didn't get to call Moon though. As she was about to press her button, Moons face appeared on the screen
"Wow that was fast. The communicator was flashing, is everything okay?" Serena asked.
"No, because of you Zoisite got away with a crystal and it's Shadow Daemon," Raye shouted before anyone else could speak.
"WHHHAAAATTT! What happened?"
"We don't know. Amy lost the signal after Zoisite got away. If we had you and the wand around, maybe we could have found them sooner," Raye answered through gritted teeth.
"I am so sorry. I can't believe the Negaverse managed to track down two crystals on the same day," Serena said worriedly.
"Well they did and guess what, it's ALL YOUR FAULT!" Raye replied, shouting as Amy grabbed the communicator from her hand.
"Serena, did you just say two?" Amy asked the device.
"Yes. Darien and I came across Zoisite and a Shadow Warrior a little while ago. I'm sorry, I accidentally left my communicator here. I was so caught up in surprising Darien I forgot my bag at his place. I was out with Darien but then with the battle happened and we came back. When we got here I noticed my communicator flashing," she explained.
"AND YOU DIDN'T THINK TO TELL US?" Raye shouted from across the room.
"Well I was trying to get a hold of Luna earlier, but she seems to have disappeared. Probably scared off by Sammy's friends. We did manage to get the crystal and heal the Shadow Daemon," Serena explained.
"Serena, if my calculations are correct, that was the battle we missed," Amy said with a smile.
"Oh, that's a huge relief. I have to go, Darien's waiting outside," Serena started to say but Raye had taken the communicator back.
"Serena, can't you think of something else but yourself for a change? You're so selfish sometimes! This is serious. You need to bring the crystal here now!" Raye rattled into the device.
"Huh? Why?" Serena asked confused.
"Because, dumb ass, you will probably lose it! It will be safer with Amy," Raye replied, the smug smile back on her face.
"RAYE! That is enough," Amy said sternly before grabbing the communicator from Raye.
"Serena, ignore her and go have fun with Darien. You did great today getting the crystal; you deserve a bit of a break. We will have a meeting here tomorrow afternoon at 2, bring Darien," she said with a small smile.
Serena smiled and thanked her letting her know Darien was keeping hold of the crystal before saying bye and disappearing from the screen.
"What on Earth did you do that for, Amy? We're supposed to be keeping them apart," Raye screeched. Glaring at the blue haired genius.
"I realized what I just said contradicts the whole plan, but there is something more going on here than just Serena and Darien's relationship," Amy replied calmly, not looking at the fuming priestess.
"You guys are trying to break them up?" Lita asked.
"What do you mean? What's going on?" Raye asked at the same time.
Amy sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, warding off the headache that was slowly forming.
"I hypothesize that both Serena and Darien are hiding things from us. There is no way they could have gotten that crystal by themselves, not even with Darien's power boost. Lita, we decided a long time ago that Serena was too distracted by Darien and Tuxedo Mask to really focus on our mission and it would be better for everyone if he was no longer the main part of her life." Amy answered both questions at the same time.
"Distracted? Controlled is what I call it. I agree, Serena would be better off without Darien. So what's the plan?" Lita replied.
Raye smiled happily. They had some more help in breaking the couple up. It was a good thing, though she had to bite her tongue when Lita had called Darien controlling. How dare she say such stuff about her soul mate?
"We can discuss that later. For now, I want to focus on how Serena and Darien managed to obtain a Rainbow Crystal by themselves. It just isn't logical for just the two of them to be able to take on a general as high as Zoisite and a Shadow Warrior and still have the energy to go on a date."
"You're right Amy. None of you have the power to do that," Luna said, as she seemed to appear magically in the middle of the room.
"Well, Serena and Darien apparently did earlier," Lita said, being the only one not surprised by the cat's appearance.
"It simply isn't possible without us there to weaken the daemon. It would have taken a lot of energy from Sailor Moon to heal the daemon," Amy said factually.
"Maybe Tuxedo Mask weakened it with his power?" Raye asked.
"Still, it doesn't make sense. The last time Darien used that power, Serena said it took a lot of energy from him. For either idea to work one of them would be severely exhausted. Not the mention the fact Darien's power seems to be uncontrolled. I doubt either he or Serena would risk harming the crystal carrier," Amy said, frowning.
"So, you think they have more power then they're letting on?" Lita asked, a little confused.
"I think we need to know exactly what happened in that battle to determine anything," Luna said.
The girls nodded before Amy and Lita got up to leave.
"So, tomorrow around 2, right?" Raye asked as they agreed and left.
Raye sighed in relief as they left. Walking into the bedroom. She pulled her bed out slightly to reveal a large notebook. She opened the cover to revel her notes on Darien.
A few pictures fell out as she looked at the one she had taped to the inside of the cover. Most of her pictures were side views and from behind, but the one she had on the cover was her prize Darien was looking at the camera and smiling at her, his eyes shining with love, even from the picture.
It wasn't one she had taken. Serena had conveniently left her purse at the temple one night and the picture had been in it. Raye had taken great pleasure in telling Serena off for loosing things from her bag. The picture had been her prize. Serena had simply shrugged and said she had more.
She gritted her teeth about how blasé Serena had been about the whole thing. She obviously didn't appreciate Darien, nor did she deserve him.
Her notes contained information she had been learning for the past few weeks. Darien's likes and dislikes, his favourite films, book, and music. Everything she could pretend to like so Darien would like her.
She sighed happily at the thought, stroking her picture of him. Soon, she thought. Soon the others and she would break them up, and slowly she would start showing Darien how much they had in common. He would fall in love with her and wonder how he could have ever been with a ditz that didn't know what her left from right was.
Soon...
I had to end it here really, I needed to explain Raye a bit better are you all still hating her now?
Next chapter the rest of the date the scout meeting might throw another crystal into the mix too.
Don' forget to review just to make me smile: D