Standard disclaimers apply.  I don't own Sailor Moon or anything else possibly mentioned, but I own this story, and certain parts of it are real.  In honor of the first of Spring...

CHAPTER TWELVE

Something In Common?

Rei rushed over and grabbed her brother's arm.  "Darien!  You can't go in there!  She'll kill you!"

"Oh, c'mon, Rei.  It's not that bad."

"You forget that I was just watching you two and only recently prevented Rena from throwing you through the wall!"

"I promise you, she won't even notice I'm there."  He gently eased his arm from her grip, "I'll be too busy watching the movie to do anything to her."  He continued walking out of the kitchen.

Rei shook her head and raised her hands in surrender.  "I don't really believe that, but I'm staying out of it.  And if anything happens, don't say I didn't warn you."

"Point taken."

********

"By Grabthar's Hammer--you shall be avenged!" Serena repeated the lines with the movie.  She was stretched out over her queen-sized bed, watching what she considered one of the funniest movies ever made. 

*knock knock*  A soft tap told her Rei was outside.

"Come in!"  She didn't turn away from the screen to see her come in.  "Did you want to watch the movie too?  Hop in, there's plenty of room."  Not taking her eyes off the movie, she scooted over to make room for her guest and felt the bed depress from the added weight.  Had Rei gotten heavier?  She felt herself sliding more towards where her roommate laid getting comfortable.

"Good.  I'm not too late," a deep voice commented.

Serena looked immediately looked at her bedfellow.  "Oh my God!" She jumped so quickly that she almost slipped off the bed.

He looked at her and grinned.  "Just Darien will do."

"You're in my room!" 

"As you see," he commented.

"And on my bed?!" she screamed as she pushed herself back further away from him.

"You're very observant."

"Get OUT!"

"Now is that any way to treat a guest?"

"That's the way to treat an interloper!"  She stood up and pointed to the door.  "Get.  Out!"

He took another bite of his pizza and even fluffed one of her pillows more to his liking.  "I like this pillow, Serena.  It's so soft.  What is it, cotton?"

"Feathers," she answered automatically.  "Nevermind that!  What are you doing in here?  And will you please leave?"

He intently studied her form and features, then looked her directly in the eyes.  "I can't leave," he said huskily.

She blinked.  "Wh--Why not?" she stuttered as she eased herself back down on the bed.  What was that look he gave?  She felt as if he could see into her soul and could understand it, even the things she couldn't.  His gaze traveled to her mouth, which unconsciously parted under his scrutiny.  He leaned towards her slightly as if he meant to kiss her.  Serena remained stock still, partly in shock and partly in curiosity.  This happened before.  Would her kiss her this time?  Would she like it?  Should she allow it?  Of course she should!  Who would turn down a kiss from someone as gorgeous as the person laying right next to her?  'I would!' her thoughts raged.  'Remember you hate this guy!'

Before she came back to the reality facing her, she heard his indrawn breath and he leaned back and shifted his gaze back to the television.  Another missed chance.  The moment was over.  Why was he toying with her like this?

"I'm here to watch the movie," he answered.  "Galaxy Quest is one of my favorite movies."

Serena sighed.  Whether in relief or dismay, she didn't want to consider.  "It is?  We've got something in common then, cause it's one of mine too."

"Rei told me."

"And you couldn't watch it somewhere else?" she belatedly remembered where she was and the fact that her nemesis was in here with her.  In her room!  On her bed!!

"What would be the point of that when it's already on here?  I wouldn't want to waste electricity, would you?"  She just continued to look at him, frowning.  "Can I stay?  Please?  Besides, the more we argue about this, the more we miss of the movie."

**...We need your help.**  The movie was the only sound made in the room as the two sized each other up.

"Well," Serena answered as she lounged again, "you can stay, but only because I'm a generous person and I've been waiting for this movie to come on all week.  I don't intend to miss any more.  And if you say anything--anything at all that I don't like, you're outta here.  Got it?"

"Got it.  I don't want to upset my hostess any more than need be."

"I'm already upset.  And don't get any pizza grease on my bed!"

"Would I do that?" he questioned.

Serena only took a second to glance away from the t.v. to look at him with doubt.  No answer was needed.

The movie was watched in silence for the next fifteen minutes.  Not even laughter from the comedy came out.  The tension in the air was thick.  Both were uncomfortable and not wanting to draw attention to themselves, neither moved an inch.

"This has to stop!" Darien announced as he sat up.  Serena sat up too.  "Look, we're obviously not getting much out of the movie.  If I make you so uncomfortable, I'll leave."  He started to get out of the bed.

"No, you don't have to leave."  She was confused by her thoughts.  Part of her wanted him to take a long walk off of a short pier, but the other part of her wanted him to stay.  She decided to be polite and make the effort to be nice to him.  "We just have to relax.  Please stay."

"Are you sure?"

She swallowed and hesitated only a second.  "Positive."

The atmosphere relaxed and the rest of the time spent was pleasant.  They laughed at the same humor, and threw comments at the television's characters and each other, both enjoying the movie as if it were the first time seeing it.  They glanced at each other and smiled.  Perhaps it was.

Soon, the credits were rolling, but Darien was too comfortable where he was and didn't want to leave.  He buried his head in her pillow and breathed deeply.

"Uh...why are you sniffing my pillow?"

Yes, he was mesmerized by his surroundings, but how could he have forgotten she was there, right next to him?  And now she caught him!  He looked everywhere but her, trying to think of an answer.  "Nice room you've got here, Serena.  Its western style is very unique."

"Thanks.  I wanted to recreate my room in Louisiana as best I could."

"I thought you were from L.A.?"

"No.  I had only recently moved there.  I'm originally from Louisiana."

"That's in the south, right?"

"You know your geography.  My family is there, and most of my closest friends."

'This is new,' Darien thought, 'Maybe I can get to know her a little more while I have the chance.'  "You must really miss them."

"Yeah, I really do.  A family in L.A. had adopted me as one of their own, so that made me feel more at home.  And I had several close friends there too.  We seemed like one big, happy family.  I never expected to come here."

"To a totally different culture and without knowing a soul."

"Well, I didn't know anyone in L.A. either, but I made friends, so that part didn't bother me.  I was just afraid that in coming here, something would happen, and I wouldn't know how to react."

"Like what?"

"Like if I got lost somewhere, and I forgot all my Japanese lessons.  I might end up insulting someone or running into a bad crowd or something.  At least in L.A., someone spoke the same language somewhere."

Darien nodded.  "I was nervous when I first went to the States," he said.  "I've known English since before I could remember, but I knew no one except the dean who accepted me into college."

Serena knew the he went to college in the States, but he didn't know she knew.  "You went to college in the States?  What state?"

"Massachusetts."

'Massachusetts?' she thought.  She turned a wide-eyed look at him.  "Harvard?" she mouthed.

He chuckled and nodded.  "Harvard," he confirmed.

"Whoa!  You must be a genius or something.  No wonder you think you're smarter than everyone else."

"Because it's true," he said arrogantly, although obviously joking.

"Right.  Keep telling yourself that.  What was it like?"

"The college or Massachusetts?"

"Both."

"To tell you the truth, I played the tourist at first.  I had seen episodes of that American t.v. show, Cheers, so the first thing I wanted to see was the bar?"

A glow appeared in her eyes at her excitement.  "You saw the Cheers bar?  Awesome!  What was it like?  How'd you get there?"

He laughed.  "Well, since I didn't know my way around, I signed up for one of those tours.  You buy tickets at the Museum of Science right there in Boston, and the tour is called a Duck Tour?"

"A Duck Tour?  Why Duck Tour?"

"They take you all around the city in..." he paused in thought, "it's not a bus exactly.  It looks like a boat on wheels.  The driver gives the tour and tells jokes on the way.  It was part of the tour that whenever he or she gives you the signal, you say 'quack quack'."

"Are you serious?" she laughed.

"Very.  Imagine us, stopping randomly to look at something, but then suddenly we all have to start quacking.  People who didn't know what was happening were looking at us funny."

"It sounds like fun."

"It was.  Well, the driver brought along this one street and said that we were going to come up against the Cheers bar.  So naturally I was on the watch.  It's all I really wanted to see anyway.  We turned a corner, drove on a little bit, and there it was.  There was so much traffic that we couldn't stop.  I tried to get a picture to send Rei, she loved that show too, but it came out too blurry.  Someone asked if it was the same inside, but a Bostonian said that it wasn't.  It just looked like the bar from the outside.  I was disappointed, but I still wanted to see for myself.  I went back later on, and the lady was right.  It's only the same on the outside.  It still draws people in though."

"I'm sure.  They want to be able to say that they went to Cheers.  What else did you see on the tour?"

"We passed a lot of historical buildings.  A graveyard where John Hancock, Paul Revere and a few other people were buried.  You could actually see their names on the gravestone.  We went by quite a few parks, stores, and the usual constructions sites.  Boston was really a pretty place."

"I've heard that it was," she answered.

"Near the end of the tour, the driver said that the Duck Tour was a little different from other tours in Boston because they take you in the Charles River."

"You were taken to board a boat?"

"No.  The bus was the boat."

"What?" 

"Keep in mind that I said that the bus was shaped like a boat.  The driver veered off the main road at one point and drove down a dirt road and paused a little bit in the water.  I thought there would be a boat there too, but after a few buttons were pushed, the wheels disappeared and suddenly we were floating.  And off we went, a tour in the Charles River."

"That's cool!"

"Yeah."

"How far did you go?"

"Oh we went quite a ways.  We rounded a restaurant, went through a canal, and then we were in the open area of the river.  A few landmarks were pointed out.  I saw the Harvard campus from a distance. Sometimes we were passing a returning duck boat, so of course we had to quack, and received answering quacks."

Serena laughed.  It sounded like a nice trip.  "It's called a duck tour, did you even see any ducks?"

"Oh yeah, there were a few on the river.  They were diving down into the water for food.  We passed underneath a bridge, and the driver said that once they heard more quacking from the ducks than usual.  Everyone turned to see what was going on, and saw this huge duck torpedoing itself towards them, quacking and honking up a storm.  Apparently, the duck was a female and they got a little to close to her nest that day.  Either she had just laid her eggs or the little ones were newly hatched."

"Aww, how sweet.  She was protecting them."

"I guess so.  Well, they didn't want to disturb her anymore, so the tour quickly moved on and the driver warned the other tour leaders about the nest.  I don't think they had any more commotion after that.  Well, after she pointed that landmark out, we sailed on.  She called up any little kids up to the front of the boat and let them drive."

"Wow, that was nice.  That's something I would like my children to do if I ever had any."

Darien pictured her being a mother.  She'd be a good one.  But who would be the father of the child?  Instantly he saw little vision of two small children around the same age.  Twins?  One, a little girl, with hair as soft and golden as Serena's, and a little boy with hair as black as night.  Both had blazing blue eyes.  He shook his head to clear the vision.  "They had a blast," he answered.  "I know I would've if I got to drive a boat.  Soon we reached the point to return, so we turned around and headed back to shore.  The four wheel drive was engaged, and we were back in the bus, heading back to the museum."

"That seemed like a nice way to take a tour.  I wonder if they have one like that in Salem.  I've always wanted go there, just to see if it's anything like the movies say it is.  Ever seen Hocus Pocus?"

"No, but I've been there too.  It's historical, just like Boston."

"Any witches?"

"Oh yeah," he grinned.  "You can't avoid them."

Serena's eyes twinkled.  "Are you serious?"

"Yeah.  If you ever travel to Salem and see a black building, that's likely where to find them."

"Wow."

"It's really busy during October for some reason.  Why is that?"

"Why October?" she asked.  Darien nodded.  "Probably because of Halloween.  Ever heard of it?"

"Oh yeah.  I forgot about that." 

"Man!  And I thought New Orleans was something.  There are all kinds of sights there, but I guess I'm used so to it that I ignore it."

"We tend to do that when everything around us is the same old things.  It becomes the norm, no matter how odd."

She thought about that.  "Yeah," she agreed.  "So you really got a scholarship to Harvard.  What was your major?"

"I hadn't decided.  I was a freshman, so I had time.  But my main choices were Law, Business, or Medical school.  I was there three months before a family emergency called me back."

Serena avoided going into that history.  From the other night, she could see that it still bothered him.  "So you went to college here?"  He nodded.  "What'd you end up deciding?"

"Well, obviously you can see I'm not a lawyer or a doctor," he snapped.

She got annoyed.  "Of course I can see that, but that doesn't mean you didn't sign up for those courses.  You might've dropped it or something, I don't know!  Which is why I'm asking?"  Serena sighed deeply, got up and walked to the door and opened it.  "You know, if you're going to be so defensive about every little thing, you might as well leave."

He sighed.  "I'm sorry I snapped at you."  He sat up, but didn't get up.  "You seem to bring out the worst in me somehow."

"I've noticed," she commented dryly.

He still didn't want to leave just yet and wanted to know more about her.  "So what about you?"

"What about me?" she asked as she stretched.

"Where did you go to school?"

"I didn't."

"You didn't go to college?  And you're working at Ito-san's studios?"

"You don't necessarily need an education for what comes naturally."  She sat on a little chair near the bed.  "I believe those professors are there to help you to expand your abilities," she shrugged, "I decided to train myself."

"You must've set some kind of educational curriculum."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"I meant it as one.  It must've been hard on you.  Most people want some kind of secondary schooling for their workers.  Even if it's just a few classes."

"It wasn't too hard.  I found out I was kind of known to those who looked into that sorta thing."

"Explain."

"Well, have you ever heard of the VTAP program?"  He shook his head, so she explained what it was.  "I was enrolled in that program for most of my school years, with the same teacher.  She was on the board who oversaw everything too.  She saw me doing great things when I grew up and encouraged me to stay on the track of fine arts.  Well, high school came up and suddenly I was a senior.  I didn't have any plans of what I would do after I graduated, I just knew I didn't want to go to college.  I was sick of teachers, sick of living up to everyone's expectations, even sick of art.  What I didn't know was that my teacher and mentor did was get me a scholarship."

"What kind of scholarship?"

"The John Pine International Fine Arts Scholarship."

"I've heard of that."

"Yeah, well you would.  It's only awarded once a year to the exceptional, exceptional artist in five continents.  I was the first American to win the scholarship in nine years.  Turns out that the local newspaper wasn't the only one who reported my story, but I didn't know that.  My boss in L.A. had it in her profile on me.  If I had known all that, maybe I wouldn't have turned it down."

"Or maybe you would have.  You did what you felt you had to do.  At any time at all, did you have any regrets?"

"I regret disappointing my parents."

"Well that's natural.  But that didn't sway your decision did it?   

"Not really.  But I was sorry if I had hurt them.  And my dad insisted that I needed some kind of education to support myself.  He was right, so one day a brochure showed up in the mail for a community college in the neighborhood.  I signed up for a few courses, but the brochure was misleading."

"How was it misleading?"

"I thought I was getting some kind of computer art courses!  It was a secretarial course.  So add that to my skills.  I wasn't cut out to be a secretary.  You should've seen me trying to answer the phones, or collating copies on the Xerox machine, or sending a fax.  It was a mess."

"It couldn't have been that bad."

"Trust me.  I didn't cause chaos, I became chaos," she smiled.

*knock knock*  Rei knocked on the doorframe and peeked in.

"I know the movie went off, but it was too quiet in here.  Just checking to see if you two were alive and in tact."

"I didn't kill him, Rei.  Your brother is not being his normal baka self."

"Hey!" he replied.  "I resent that.  Besides, it's easier to get along with you when you're not being an annoying pest."

"I'm not an annoying pest!"

"To me you are," he commented.

"And to me you're a self-centered, arrogant, egotisical, stupid baka!"

"'A self-centered, arrogant, and egotisical.  My--I sure do think a lot of myself, don't I?" he mocked.

"Of course you do.  I'm surprised you don't carry a mirror with you wherever you go."

"Why, Serena!  Are you saying that you find me attractive?"  She blushed and Darien grinned.  "Perhaps even attracted to me?"

Her mouth dropped and Rei laughed at their antics, especially Serena's expression.  "Oh!"  Serena said, "I think it's time for you to go."  She gave an exaggerated yawn.  "Wow, it's late.  I'm tired and I have to get up early in the morning.  I know you do too," she looked pointedly at Darien.

He got up and walked over to his sister.  "You see, Rei?  She can't even deny it."  He ran out the room as Serena hurled a pillow at him.  He ducked back in.  "Oh yeah, she wants me."

Rei followed him out.  "So you two actually got along for a little while."

"I told you nothing would happen.  Nothing is ever going to interfere with one of my movies.  Who would've thought Galaxy Quest would be one of her favorites too?"

"There's a lot you don't know about Rena."

"I'm beginning to realize that.  But she was right, it's getting late and I do have to get up early."  He leaned over and kissed Rei on the cheek.  "I'll see you later."  He glanced over to the direction of Serena's room.  "Goodnight Serena, sweetheart!" he called.

"ARGH!  Don't call me that!" she yelled back.

He just laughed and let himself out, whistling.

Rei, shaking her head and smiling, went to her roommate's room.

"I'd thought he'd leave when I told him his movie was on, or at least watch it in the living room or my room, but he just hightailed it in here."

"Yeah, with me none the wiser."

"You survived."

"It wasn't too bad.  At first, I was really upset.  Imagine your worst enemy in your private domain.  Where no man has ever entered."

"Don't be so dramatic.  Besides, the movers were in here," said Rei.

"You know what I mean.  And I don't really count them anyway, it's part of their job.  He was in my room.  On my bed, Rei!  He was getting his baka cooties all over my stuff!"

"Cooties?  What's that?"

"Nevermind."

"What was he doing on your bed?"

"I thought it was you knocking on my door!"

"Why would you think that?"

"Because I have a tendency to block out things that are unpleasant.  Your brother is beyond that, so I forgot he was here.  Besides, I was too into my movie.  Anyway, he knocked and I said come in.  Stupid me, I never looked away from the television so I invited, who I thought was you, to get comfortable."

"You never even noticed?"

"Not even when he stretched out.  I was starting to think you had gained weight because I was sliding more to that side," she laughed.

"What?  How could you?  After I defended you in there!"

"I'm sorry.  But how was I supposed to know?"

"Yeah, yeah." 

"Well he said something, and that's when I saw it was him.  And I wanted him out of here.  I was just short of picking him up and throwing him out."

"Yeah, I heard."

"And you didn't come in here to try and stop me?"

"I told Darien I wouldn't.  If anything had happened, then he would've brought it on himself.  I warned him."

"Like I said, it wasn't too bad later on.  After the shouting was over, I found out it was one of his favorites too.  That chipped the ice a little.  We tried to settle down to watch the movie, but at first, it was too awkward.  For both of us.  He suggested that he'd leave if I was that uncomfortable, but me being the nice person I am, said that he could stay.  So he did."

"And after the movie ended?" Rei asked.

"I swear that guy's got multiple personalities.  We talked a little about his life in Boston, and my life back home.  He didn't know I was originally from Louisiana and just moved to L.A."

"You don't broadcast it."

"There's no need to."

"So you two were getting along?"

"Up until you came in here."

"Sorry if I disturbed the peace," said Rei.

"You didn't.  I doubted if it would've lasted anyway."

"But you were off to such a good start.  You two could turn out to be friends."

"Doubt it.  He's making me seasick with that hot and cold attitude.  Who knows which personality I'll meet tomorrow."

Aww!  Not much, just a simple conversation.  They spent a little time together, gotten to know each other a little bit...Isn't that sweet?  Of course with Darien suffering with a split personality complex, who knows what will happen tomorrow.  Let me know what you think!  If you've been keeping up with the story, you might as well leave a review too, right?  Just click the "Go" button, and there you go.