Darien and Setsuna had been the last to leave Serena's house that night. Setsuna had been unable to leave until Chibiusa had fallen asleep, Chibiusa wouldn't calm down if she knew Setsuna was leaving. Darien had to comfort Serena a bit, and she had gone to sleep with Chibiusa in her bedroom.

Darien and Setsuna both walked out of the house and out into the January night. The weather was unusually comfortable. The two of them did not speak until they reached the car, not because of tension, but because of a mutual but unspoken exhaustion.

Setsuna was hoping she would be too tired to think anymore that night. However, as soon as Darien sat down beside her, she felt all fluttery inside, like a schoolgirl with a crush. No, that wasn't right. This feeling had nothing to do with any small crush of any kind.

She remembered this feeling; it was very familiar to her. Darien made her feel this way. He made her feel that feeling all those years ago and here it was today, not burning as brightly but the embers still glowed faintly inside her. Her gaze fell slowly to his hand, resting on the middle glove compartment between the two seats. So close, yet so far. Setsuna found herself reaching down toward his hand to grasp his, and she snapped it back to her lap immediately.

Luckily, Darien had been so distracted by his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed at all.

Or he pretended not to.

Well, it could be that, too. Setsuna's hand balled into a fist, her sensibly short manicured nails biting into her palm. She bit her soft pink lower lip and shut her eyes tightly. Darien was driving slowly, leisurely, almost as though he wasn't sure where he was going, and it was killing her. The sooner she could get out of this car, the sooner she could get all of this off of her mind. This time, she thought she might use Haruka's remedy. There was still a bottle of Domperignon in the cupboard above the fridge.

"I need to stop at home for a minute," Darien said. "Is that all right with you?"

"Sure," Setsuna said. Her voice was much more agreeable and much more steady than she feared it was going to be, and for that she was thankful.

He parked the car up against the curb and got out. "You coming up?" He asked her.

"Okay."

The two of them walked up to the door and Darien punched in his code. Setsuna took a moment to reflect on how much more high-tech his building was than hers, and then he pushed the door open and she sucked in a breath.

Darien followed her in. As they walked toward the elevator together, he observed her secretly. He'd been doing quite a lot of this lately, behind her back. There was something different in her. Tonight, that something shone brighter than ever, yet he still was unable to place what it was. Her eyes seemed brighter. She walked with more grace than usual, and that was incredible. Setsuna seemed like she was floating. Her voice held a dreamy quality; not disconnected, but simply dreamy. All of these things made her even more beautiful.

Setsuna kind of reminded him of the way he thought he must have been when he had first laid eyes upon Princess Serenity. Her blue eyes glinted, her gold earrings and crescent moon shape on her forehead glittered. She had been so beautiful and mature that night. The night of the ball that started a chain of peace conferences between the earth and the moon.

Darien remembered that night also being his last night of grief from an extremely long period of such. The reason why he'd been grieving had been lost to him, no longer a memory but just a thought. Not even that, it was probably closer now to an idea than anything else.

In fact, he couldn't remember much of anything before Princess Serenity.

Darien loved Serena. He really, truly did. But something stirred in him when the back of Setsuna's hand brushed his, or when she smiled softly at him, or when she would touch him on the shoulder or the arm. Anywhere she would touch him with her bare hand, something deep down inside of him seemed to wake up. This feeling only lasted but a mere second, sometimes a few seconds, but it had been happening often enough lately for him to notice it.

This was more than some mere want for her; he'd had that ever since he met her. The fact was something Serena accepted easily. Setsuna was just that kind of woman. It would be weird not to feel some sort of want for her as a male. However, this was more than just that. This was something deeper than Serena's or his own understanding. A few snatches of an old song

(sometimes when we touch the honesty's too much sometimes I have)

floated through Darien's head for a second, but they were gone as quickly as they had come.

The two of them rode the elevator in silence, this time a sort of tension between them. The two felt it so thick in the air that they almost found it difficult to breathe. Both sensed that it needed only a spark to ignite it into furious passion, yet neither would dare even think those kinds of thoughts. Solid boundaries were put up in both of their minds, but however solid, they still began to crumble.

They walked down the hall to his apartment.

"I'll wait out here," Setsuna said, her voice very thin and sort of high-pitched.

"You can come in," Darien insisted, showing more control than she did.

"It's not a good ide—"

"Don't be so damn stubborn. Just come in. I'll only be a minute."

Setsuna bit her tongue and followed him into the dark apartment. She followed him all the way in to where the small sitting area was, and she sat down on his little grey loveseat with the lime green pillows. Darien went back to the bedroom.

Setsuna sat in the dark, not bothering with the lights, and tried to get some sort of restraint over her raging emotions. She closed her eyes and tried to think of single things to get her mind off of this; a candlelit bath, the sound of soft ocean waves at sunset, the stars, a bouquet of flowers. This calmed her a little, and she was glad for that. Darien came back out of the bedroom. She wondered briefly what it was that he'd had to do, but the thought lasted barely a moment. Setsuna decided she didn't care.

She stood from the couch, and they both just looked at each other.

They both wanted to say so much.

Darien came out with, "Ready?"

Setsuna could only nod. The tension was back. Thicker and stronger than ever.

"We should go then."

"We should."

Neither moved.