Disclaimer: The truth is we don't own Sailor Moon. Would you rather we lied?
10 Reasons Why I Love You
Chapter 2: The Truth Shall Set You Free
By: Princesses of Mercury and Venus
Serena's 10 Things to do Before I Die
10) Clean my room...seriously, it's a complete mess. I could not be so cruel as to die with a messy room.
9) Teach Amy how to ride a bike...poor kid doesn't know how.
8) Learn how to cook...I bet Lita could teach me. And while I'm at it, get her to teach me how to ice skate, as in teach me how to skate on ice on my feet, not my butt.
7) Discover which came first: the chicken or the egg...I mean without the egg there would be no chicken, but without the chicken there is no egg...
6) Go bungee jumping!
5) Discover Tuxedo Mask's secret identity.
4) Buy a fantastic piece of clothing and go out with Lita, Amy, Mina and Raye in it and just have fun!
3) Try every yummy flavor of ice cream that is out there.
2) Save the world...enough said.
1) Tell Darien how I feel...yeah right, like that's ever going to happen.
"Serena," Miss Haruna's voice cut through Serena's list making, "What is the answer?"
"Er--can you, please, repeat the question, Miss Haruna?" Serena asked timidly, after looking wildly at Amy, who had tried to mouth something Serena didn't understand and then turning to Lita who just shrugged in response.
It was a month since Serena had left the hospital and she was now able to walk under her own power. Her parents had finally stopped fussing over her and had agreed to allow her to walk home from school and even have go to Raye's sleepover. It was a beautiful day outside; the birds were chirping, the sun was shining, but Serena was not smiling. It had been a month since Serena had truly smiled. It had been a month since she had seen Darien Shields.
"Serena! Day dreaming again!" Miss Haruna cried agitatedly. Serena sighed. Amy sighed. Lita let out a small giggle.
"Oh well," the teacher continued crisply, "the question is up on the chalkboard, Serena." She smacked at it with her meter stick causing Serena to jump at the loud noise. "Please tell us, what is the value for x?"
Serena scrunched up her forehead in concentration. The numbers on the board seemed to dance and refused to stay still long enough for her to see them clearly, until,suddenly, they snapped into place.
"Three," Serena whispered then repeated in a louder more confident voice, "The answer is three."
"That's--" Miss Haruna paused double checking the equation, "That's right. Very good Serena!"
Lita fell out of her chair. Amy, uncharacteristically, gave a loud whoop, and people all around the world began to exclaim, "The sky is falling!" as bubble-gum rained down from space. Serena had actually gotten a question correct, a math question. The teacher was so shocked that she forgot to assign homework that night.
To celebrate the girls decided to take Serena out to the Arcade where they swore to pay for whatever treats her heart desired before they headed over to Raye's for their weekly sleepover. Serena's heart raced at the thought, not because of the promised food, but for who she wished would be there, Darien. Unnoticed the corners of Serena's lips twitched upwards into a hopeful smile.
They were immediately immersed in cheerful chatter as they entered the arcade. Serena eagerly scanned the room and her heart fell when she discovered a certain raven-headed man was not present. Trying to keep her voice from sounding too disapointed she ordered a large banana split and a triple fudge milkshake. Smiling Andrew took her order and, with a conspiratorial wink, added some extra whipped cream to her split.
"Welcome back, Serena," he said, setting the food in front of her.
Serena returned his grin with a weak smile and buried her face in the food. She ignored her friends, participating in the conversation only when asked something directly. Every time the jingling of bells over the Arcade's entrance announced a new customer Serena would look up eagerly, but after the twelfth disapointment she stopped caring altogether. Even her now half-melted shake didn't look appetizing anymore.
She was staring avidly at the swirls the remaining chocolate sauce and ice cream were making in her bowl when Andrew's enthusiastic voice caught her attention.
"Afternoon Darien, the usual?"
"Yeah, thanks."
Serena looked up and there he was, only a few feet away. After all this time everything she had thought about saying flew completely out of her head. He didn't look as if he had seen her yet so Serena took the opportunity to study him. He looked almost identical to what she remembered, though she didn't recall his shoulders being so slumped, as if he were holding up an enormous weight. He must have felt her gaze because at that moment he looked up from his coffee cup and directly into her eyes.
If she thought her mind was blank before now it had left completely. She didn't even feel like she was in her body anymore. Contradictory emotions flashed through his eyes too fast to be distinguished, like happiness and sadness, relief and worry, and so many more. There were dark circles under his eyes as if he had been having trouble sleeping, and a faint three o'clock shadow darkened his face. He looked as if he'd just been through the worst month of his life. He looked gorgeous.
Just as abruptly as their eyes had met he broke the contact, downed his coffee in one gulp, threw down some money onto the counter and with a wave of farewell to Andrew left at record speed. Serena watched him go and released a shaky breath she had not realized she had been holding. She felt like crying.
"Hey Serena, are you coming?" Lita asked.
Her friends all stood smiling expectantly at her and she gave her best fake, happy smile back.
"Yeah, I'm all set. Let's get this party started."
Darien scrubbed his burning tongue with the back of his hand, ignoring the strange looks from the other pedestrians on the street. He shouldn't have tried to drink that coffee so fast, but when he had seen Serena all logic had gone completely out of the window.
She had looked great, better than great. There had been a small dribble of chocolate in the corner of her mouth, her hair was shining and in place and her eyes, her eyes had bore into his own as if looking at his soul. He could still feel her eyes on him. He couldn't help but check over his shoulder but the street was Meatball Head free. He let out a sigh that was half relief, half disapointment.
He mentally kicked himself. After all that time he had spent with her in the hospital he had not said good-bye and he hadn't checked up on her to see if she was okay. A few times he had started to dial her number but he had never gotten past the fourth digit. He was a coward.
For the first time in a month he had seen her, it was almost as if she had appeared just for him, and what did he do? He ran away. Again. Why couldn't he face her? How come every time he thought of her his chest would get tight and breathing became difficult? What was wrong with him?
Darien looked around in confusion, somehow his feet had led him right back to the Arcade. He gathered all of his resolve and with a shaky hand pushed open the door. The door chimes' ringing echoed in his head and he quickly scanned the room.
She wasn't there.
Dejectedly, he made his way back to his regular seat at the counter. Andrew soon joined him his amused grin fading when he saw his friend's expression.
"You look like hell," he stated simply.
"I feel like hell," Darien groaned covering his face with his hands.
Andrew pulled out a fresh pot of coffee and filled a grateful Darien's cup.
"Why don't you tell Dr. Andrew all about it?
Darien sighed, though his lips twitched slightly upwards at his friend's light attitude. "I don't really understand it myself," he confessed.
There was a jingling of bells and Darien's head jerked up in response. Upon seeing a young couple in the entrance his head drooped back to its original resting place, a mournful scowl on his lips. An understanding smile slowly spread across Andrew's face.
"What's her name?" He asked, a boyish twinkle in his eyes, "Do I know her?"
Darien flinched at his friend's correct conclusion and suddenly became very interested in a burn mark in the counter. The silence stretched as both men refused to be the one to concede, finally, face burning, Darien broke down.
"Fine! There is a girl, but it's not what you think. I don't like her or anything it's just that...that..."
"You can't stop thinking about her?" Andrew inserted helpfully.
"Yes!"
"And everything reminds you of her?"
"Yes!"
"And whenever you see her you stop thinking and there's a funny feeling in your stomach?"
"Yes! Yes! What is wrong with me, Andrew?" Darien demanded frantically gripping his friend by the shoulders.
Andrew calmly removed Darien's hands and looked straight in his friend's maddened eyes.
"Sorry dude, but it looks like you are in love."
Then, with a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, Andrew went of to serve his other customers leaving a stupefied Darien behind.
"Damn." Darien swore to himself.
He proceeded to bang his head on the counter until he was unconscious. At least, that was what he wanted to do, but he only managed to make his forehead red and sore since Andrew stopped him before he could kill any more brain cells.
"Darien, chill," Andrew soothed, "It's okay! Being in love is not a bad thing, it means you're human. Remember? Human? Emotions? It's part of the package buddy." Andrew light words caused Darien to crack a weary smile. "There we go," Andrew encouraged happily. "So," he continued with a wink, "Who's the lucky gal?"
"Serena," Darien muttered in a low voice, hoping his friend wouldn't be able to hear him.
He did.
"Serena," Andrew repeated, nodding and not seeming surprised in the least, "Well, it took you long enough to admit it."
Darien flushed, then paled in quick succession.
"What do you mean?"
Oh lord, Darien thought, was it that obvious.
"Come on, it's obvious you have a thing for her, has been for awhile now. She likes you too."
Oh no, it has been that obvious! I'm so embarrassed. Serena's probably laughing at me behind my back. She's--wait did he say she' liked me too?
"She does?" Darien asked hopefully, mind whirling, "Did she tell you that?"
"Well, no," Andrew conceded reluctantly, "But it's so obvious..."
"Maybe you're just seeing what you want to see," Darien said, doubtfully.
"Maybe you're ignoring the obvious because you're scared of what it could mean," Andrew countered.
"Maybe you have no idea what you're talking about."
"Maybe I know exactly what I'm talking about."
"Maybe your pink apron is wrapped around your waist too tight!"
"Hey," Andrew growled, his eyes narrowing, "That's a hit below the belt. My Mother gave me this apron."
"A hit below the pink apron sash you mean," Darien snorted.
Andrew sighed. "Fine Darien, you win. Maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about. Maybe I am seeing things, but what if I'm not? Are you willing to let her get away?"
And with that final statement, Andrew made his exit. Darien stared after him for a moment.
"Damn," he swore again, "I hate it when Andrew makes sense."
"Truth or dare?" Amy asked Raye timidly.
"Er--truth." Raye said after a moment of thought.
Amy pondered her question for a little while, they had been playing for quite some time already and she was running low on 'truths'.
"Have you ever cheated a exam or test?" Amy finally asked, not really expecting an interesting answer.
Raye lowered her eyes and blushed. Mina attempted to stifle a giggle while Lita snorted and Amy gasped.
"You cheated on a test!" she repeated, shocked.
Amy shook her head sadly at Raye's slow, affirmative nod. Cheating on a test was practically a sin to Amy who worked so hard studying for her tests. She could not understand why someone would want to cheat, but Raye was one of her best friends and she didn't want to make her feel bad.
"Oh dear..." she muttered to herself, as her train of thought did loops. It was a catch 22.
"Come on! Your turn Raye!" Lita said, bouncing half from excitement, half from a sugar overdose.
"Right. Umm... Serena, truth or dare?" Raye asked.
Serena wasn't paying attention, and hadn't been for practically the entire night. She had managed to eat only two bowls of ice cream before falling silent and gazing out the window, at the bright, full moon.
"Serena?" Raye repeated but Serena still didn't hear her.
"Fine then. Ignore me, stupid Meat-" Raye muttered, until Lita's frown cut her off.
"Serena? You there, Hun?" Mina cooed tugging on Serena's pink, flannel pajama sleeve.
"Serena?" Lita said, getting up and waving a hand in front of her friend's face. "Serena!"
Serena jerked back to life with a small twitch.
"Hmm?" She asked, still partially dreaming, her eyes darting curiously between her friends worried faces. "Sorry, I was daydreaming. What did you say?" She asked, blushing slightly.
"Truth or dare?" Raye grumbled impatiently.
"Truth," Serena replied, automatically. Her eyes widened as she realized what she'd said. "I change my mind," Serena stated hurriedly, "I pick dare."
"Nuh-uh," Raye wagged a finger in her friend's face, "You can't change your choice after you've picked."
Serena resisted the urge to use one of the more colorful words in her vocabulary. She had been avoiding 'Truth' all night, because she knew exactly what her friends would ask, and she knew what she would have to answer.
"Who do you like?" Raye asked, raising an interested eyebrow.
Serena blushed, considering lying to her friends, but instantly discarded the idea, but if she stayed silent she didn't have to lie, and she didn't have to tell the truth. Maybe after awhile her friends would get bored with the idea and just move on.
No such luck.
"Come on. You have to tell," Lita said crossly, "I told you guys all about my crush on Andrew."
Mina rolled her eyes, "We've known about that for ages."
"Then why'd you make a big deal about it!"
"It was fun," Mina teased, with a wink, "But this isn't about Lita, this is about Serena..."
They all turned expectantly to the anxious looking girl.
"Oh fine," Serena grumbled, "I like a guy."
"And that guy's name would be...?" Raye prodded.
Serena turned an even deeper shade of red. This was it. She had to tell them. Maybe she could pretend to faint? Then they'd be to worried to ask her... But that was mean, and she couldn't put her friends through that. Then she had an idea. A wonderful idea. A wonderfully, sneaky idea.
She grabbed a pillow and placed it in front of her face. "Darien," she answered, her voice muffled by the pillow.
Of course, none of them understood.
"Hey!"' Lita cried, "That's not fair!"
Serena smiled angelically.
"Fine," Raye grinned evilly, "If you want to play rough, so can we."
As one they launched themselves at their young leader and began the most evil for of torture known to man or womankind. Tickling.
"Ha ha, no don't," Serena gasped, trying to fight them off but Amy and Mina had her arms and legs pinned. "I'll...never...tell...Never!"
A couple minutes of torture later Serena was singing a different tune.
"Fine I'll tell! I'll...tell...Darien...it's Darien...stop...please stop the madness!"
"Darien! I knew it!" Raye crowed triumphantly dropping her feather.
Lita nodded and also released her fluffy instrument of torture. Amy smiled, giving Serena's hand a reassuring squeeze as she climbed off of her legs. Mina looked like she had just won the grand prize, her eyes were lighting up, a plan already forming.
"We are going to get you two together," Mina started, but Serena didn't hear her.
She was already thinking of Darien again, and how odd it was that the Scouts hadn't had any battles for the past three months.
"I do not like Serena. I do not like Serena." Darien chanted to himself as he walked home, earning himself some strange looks for the second time that day, plus quite a bit of space on the crowded sidewalk.
But would it be such a horrible thing if I did? A hopeful voice in Darien's mind asked. I mean, aren't I allowed to fall in love?
No! Another voice replied angrily, You'd only end up hurting her, like you did before. Besides, do you really think she loves you back? Get real.
Darien let out a depressed sigh, and entered his apartment. He wished he had never met Serena, she was causing him too much trouble. No, that was a lie, he wished she had never met him. She wasn't safe with him.
No one was.
He was about to have a shower before heading off to bed for the night but the ringing of his phone stopped him. He considered just letting the answering machine pick up but his curiosity won the fight over his fatigue. Who would be calling him so late at night?
"Hello? Darien Shields speaking."
His reply was some muffled shouting, and girlish giggling, he could not understand a word of what they were saying.
"Is this some kind of prank?"
"Er--hi Darien," a young girl's voice replied nervously.
Darien eyebrows shot up in surprise at the voice; it was one of Serena's best friends, Mina.
"We--I mean I was just wondering, ummm, what your favorite color was..."
Darien frowned. "And why would you want to know that?"
"It's for...a survey! Yeah! I'm doing a survey for school."
"At midnight?"
"Sorry, I procrastinated and it's due tomorrow. I just needed to ask one more person. Please."
"Alright. Let me think..." And Darien did think, but all he could see was Serena and her bright, penetrating eyes. "Blue," he replied, almost whispering, "I like blue."
"Okay, thanks!" Mina said cheerily, "Sorry for calling you again so late at night."
She hung up leaving Darien staring at a buzzing phone. He hung up then, headed towards the shower, his mind doing circles as he tried to untangle his feelings for Serena and the reasons for the lack of monster attacks.
The strange phone call was soon forgotten.
Andrew was sleeping. Andrew liked sleeping. The telephone rang. Andrew woke up.
Andrew hated the telephone.
Andrew answered the telephone with some very unkind words prepared for the person on the other end. Those words and all others died away as they began to talk and informed him of the sneaky plan. Andrew loved being sneaky. Andrew loved plans.
Andrew loved the telephone.
Saturday morning: a time to relax, sleep-in, or even (for the truly young at heart) watch some cartoons. Sometimes Serena really wished she was a normal teenager, like when monsters attacked at 8:00 a.m. on a weekend after being dormant for a couple of months.
Did evil beings have no sense of time? Or a calendar for that matter...
Serena's (a.k.a. Sailor Moon, the champion of love and justice) yawn was cut short as an ape-like monster suddenly sent some very sharp looking bananas her way. She dodged them, rolling safely to the side. She was surprised to note that she was still in shape and felt like she had never been in the accident or in a hospital bed. Whatever the reason she was happy her body was in tiptop shape, she was going to need all of her power to defeat this monster.
"Sailor Mercury!" Sailor Moon called, "Have you pinpointed its weakness yet?"
"Not yet," Sailor Mercury shouted back, frantically typing on her small computer.
"Well hurry it up, won't you," Sailor Mars growled as the bananas came only a couple inches short of giving her a new hair-do, "I don't know how much longer we can hold up!"
Darien currently in his alter-ego form "Tuxedo Mask" yawned from his strategically chosen spot up in a tree. It was way too early to be fighting monsters, he wished that Sailor Mercury would hurry up and find the monster's weakness so she could get out of here and grab a cup of coffee.
His eyes diligently followed the pig-tailed leader of the group, Sailor Moon. He was relieved to see her back in action and was determined to do his duty to keep her safe. She seemed to be holding her own for the moment, although unable to use her powerful tiara attack because every time she wound up to throw it the monster would launch some more...they looked like bananas... at her and she was forced to dive out of the way. The other Scouts weren't much more successful though he thought he saw Sailor Jupiter get in a couple of well-aimed punches.
He was seriously considering interfering when Sailor Mercury let out a whoop of triumph.
"Aim for the middle eye!"
Tuxedo Mask rolled his eyes. The eye, that was so obvious. Why hadn't they just attacked that from the very start? You'd think they'd battled enough monsters to figure out where to hit them...
The monster roared in pain as a fireball seared its eye. Sailor Moon took its sudden blindness as an opportunity to perform her attack.
"Moon Tiara Magic!"
The monster roared, angry at the pain, and easily deflected Sailor Moon's Tiara instead, sending it rocketing back.
Tuxedo Mask let out a sigh of frustration; looked like he was going to have to wait for that cup of coffee. Why were these things never easy?
"Why can these things never be easy," Sailor Moon growled scooping up her tiara as she ran to avoid another attack. "Sailor Mars," she called, "do you think you can hit it in the eye again?"
"Of course," the midnight headed priestess shouted back sarcastically, "hitting a huge moving monster in its tiny eye while it's throwing exploding bananas at you is a cinch!"
"Stop whining," Sailor Jupiter shouted back and proceeded to call her lightning attack straight at the monster's eye.
She winked at Sailor Mars in a way that clearly said "See that wasn't so hard". Sailor Moon ran in for a closer shot, she was not going to screw up this time.
"Moon Tiara M--"
"Sailor Moon, look out!" her four friends shouted as one as the monster swung out its large hairy and heavily muscled arm directly at the young heroine.
Serena brushed out her long golden hair while softly humming a mournful tune. She could not believe how close that monster had come to crushing her. She had felt like she was standing in front of that car all over again, frozen, unable to do anything to save herself. She felt so weak.
Serena's cerulean eyes glazed over as the memories of that morning washed over her.
"Sailor Moon, look out!" her four friends shouted as one as the monster swung out its large hairy and heavily muscled arm directly at the young heroine.
Sailor Moon couldn't move, she could see the arm coming, practically feel it smashing into her, she shut her eyes tightly, preying it would be over quick.
'I'm so sorry, my friends,' she thought, 'I've failed you.'
Then suddenly she was flying and a strong pair of arms was holding her safely. Tuxedo Mask gazed into her eyes a kind smile on his face.
"All right, Sailor Moon?" he asked and she nodded in a reply.
His eyes were so blue, so deep, so...
...Darien.
Serena sighed and set down her hairbrush. Even Tuxedo Mask reminded her of Darien. How was she supposed to live her life when everywhere she turned she saw his face? Exhausted, Serena was about to snuggle into her bed where she would no doubt dream of Darien, when her phone began to ring. With a sigh that turned into a yawn halfway through Serena lifted the receiver.
"Hello?"
"Serena? It's Mina. I have the perfect plan to get you and Darien together!"
Suddenly, Serena wasn't so tired anymore.
Authors' Notes:
Hey all our wonderful reveiwers. Sorry it took us so long to get this next chapter out! Thanks for hanging in there. Means a lot to us. See you next chapter! We'll seeya later, and hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Princesses Mercury and Venus (a.k.a. MegTao and SapphireWaterElfPrincess
