Strong Destiny, Weak Heart

Chapter 5

The Search

Disclaimer: I wish I could take credit for Sailor Moon! Alas, not my creation, only this story is.

Previously on Strong Destiny, Weak Heart:

"Okay, okay, it's fine. You've helped me enough. Thank you Andrew. I'll be fine, you can go back to work now." She said, and entered the game store. Andrew just stood there, staring at her back.

'What did I do? I hope I didn't do something that I'll regret already.' Andrew thought to himself as he saw her interact with the man in the store. 'Darien, I hope you know what you're doing...' He said as he walked back to work.

And now the continuation...

Chapter 5

As soon as Serena walked into the store, she walked straight up to Reagan. "Hi, I'm back to make another payment." She said happily.

"Already replaced your boyfriend?" Reagan said, nodding at Andrew outside.

"Andrew? No, no. He's just a long time friend. He's actually engaged, he's been my friend for a few years." She explained.

"Oh, I see." Reagan said, as he continued to stack some games from boxes. "Let me just finish this stack and I'll ring you up. Although, you can wait in line and Minoru would be happy to help you." She sighed at the thought, but didn't want to be obvious.

"Okay, sure." She continued to the line and waited. She noticed there were three people working in the store, instead of two, like there were yesterday. Regan finished quickly and came to the register.

"Next!" He called as he opened the register at the other side of the counter. Serena was confused, she was the next person in line, but if he was going to help her, she could have waited next to him...

"Hey, I got you anyway." She giggled.

"Yeah, I guess you did. So all you want to do is make a payment today?"

"Well, yeah, I don't get much money from my allowance as it is." She blushed at the confession.

"Okay, not a problem, just wanted to be sure. Would you like to sign up for a card for our store? When you buy nine games, you get the tenth one free."

"Really? Sure, as long as it doesn't expire. I don't know how long it will take me to buy nine games."

"It does, " he leaned in close to Serena and whispered, "but I'll make an exception for you if it does, I am manager after all." and he winked at her. She blushed.

"Okay, thanks. Where do I sign up?" She asked, searching around for a form for the program. He reached behind the counter and handed her the form. She noticed it asked for her name, phone number and address. 'I wonder if he can use this information for personal use...' She suddenly had an idea. She filled out all the information, but wrote some gibberish for her e-mail. "Oops, I wrote my old e-mail, can I have another form please?"

"Sure, no problem." Reagan said, and handed her another form.

"Thanks, you can have this one...to throw away I mean." But the way she said it, she obviously wanted him to keep it.

"Okay." He said, as he placed the form under the desk. She couldn't be sure if he threw it away or not. She decided to head to Rei's temple before she made a fool of herself.

"Here you go, all finished. That's everything I had to fill out right?" She said, noticing he put his hand over hers when taking the form from her hand.

"Um, yeah, that's about it." He said, checking her work.

"Well, see you tomorrow Reagan." She waived as she walked out the door.

"Bye Serena." She stopped in her tracks and she began to blush. He knew her name! He had to of read it from the card, but she didn't care. He found out her name on his own, he did care, to some extent! Then she ran off toward the bus stop. When she got there she saw Darien driving up to the curb.

"Hey Serena, want a lift to the temple? I was just heading there, I'm surprised you're here already, you usually have detention."

"Um, sure. I was early today so I didn't get detention." She said as she got into the car.

"Really? Wow." He said as they drove off toward the temple.

"Don't sound so impressed!" She said, feeling insulted that Darien was so shocked.

"I'm sorry, I just can't picture you getting up early, especially for school."

"Well, Ami was helping me with my homework all last night, every night, since I've been grounded, so I figured I might as well get some use out of what I've learned." She said, realizing how easy it was when she was really paying attention, and trying.

"Everyone wants to help you, including me. Even if we're not together right now Serena, that doesn't mean we can't be friends." He said, glancing at her direction.

"I'd like that very much." She said, as she twirled her hair in her fingers and began to blush.

"That's great. You can come over any time, or we can hang out, whatever you want, when you want."

"But Darien, doesn't that just make it like we're together? What's the point of even being on this break?"

"You're right. Maybe I regret forcing you into it..." He didn't look away from the road, he didn't want to see her reaction. "Maybe I'm realizing I made a mistake." He heard her gasp softly.

"Darien, I thought you were making a mistake too. But then I realized something that I'd thought about since we got back together before Rini popped into our lives, I haven't been fair to you. I don't deserve you."

"That's not true! It's me who made the mistake, not you."

"Darien, I know why you wanted the break, I realize what I've been doing now, and you were right. I do need time. Time to think about what I really want, and yes, time to grow up. I need to give you the attention you deserve, and if I can't, maybe you should find someone who can..." She trailed off, Darien was in shock, he didn't know what to say. Finally he found the words.

"Are you saying you want ME to find someone else?"

"Maybe, I don't know." She said, looking out the window.

"So you really are going to date around, aren't you?" She turned back around to face him.

"Wasn't that the point? Wasn't the whole reason for this break to figure out why I wasn't giving you all of me? Why I was always so easily distracted by other men?"

"Yes, I guess it was, I guess I just never thought you'd do it. I really can't picture myself with anyone else but you, I thought you felt the same, I guess I was wrong."

"That's not necessarily true, it's just that..."She didn't know how to word her emotions..."I care too much about you to not give you all of me. I'm sorry Darien, you may have started this journey, but I have to finish it." He couldn't believe what she was saying, he was too late to retract the offer of the agreement. He felt anger and regret boil within him. They said nothing for the rest of the car ride, when they arrived he kept the car running. She opened the door and got out, and realized he was still holding the steering wheel, turning his knuckles white with the tight grip he had on it.

"Darien? Aren't you coming?" She asked before she closed the door.

"Not today, I just remembered something I have to do." He didn't turn to face her, he couldn't.

"Oh, okay. I'll let the scouts know. Bye." She gently shut the door, and he sped off leaving her in a cloud of smoke. She slowly turned back to the temple steps, and walked up to tell the other scouts Darien wouldn't be there today.

Darien drove straight to the arcade, he wanted to talk to someone, and Andrew was the only person he trusted. "Darien, hey, didn't expect to see you. You've been real scarce lately."

"Hey Andrew, yeah, sorry about that. What have you been up to?" Darien's expression gave away his feelings, even though he was trying to hide them. He sat by the counter, on the same stool Serena always sat in when she spoke to Andrew.

"Same old, same old really. Except for...introducing Serena to a few people..." He waited for Darien's reaction, Andrew knew his mood had something to do with Serena.

"I see. Do you know who she's been getting along with?" Andrew knew what he meant immediately.

"Well, she's only met like five people. She hasn't even really met them, but she did cause quite a scene earlier, to get the word out. Darien, what happened?" He finally decided to ask. Darien explained everything that had happened, including the challenge.

"Are you serious? Darien, you know how many guys are attracted to her, why would you make her a challenge like that?" Andrew was stunned at what he had heard.

"I don't know, I guess I was hoping she realized she wasn't really attracted to any other guy, the same way no other woman could make me feel the same way she does."

"But you know how naive she is! You had to see this backfiring!"

"At the time? No, I didn't. It just hurts sometimes, she's my whole world, and I'm just a speck in hers. I don't deserve her anyway Andrew. I really do wish her happiness, I just wish it was with me."

"Man, Darien..."

"Listen, just do me a favor and write down the name of any and all guys you see her talking to, and if they seem to have a hidden agenda, make sure you let me know. I won't let anything happen to her, no matter what."

"If you say so."

"I do. Thanks Andrew, you're a great friend. I'm going home, I have a lot to think about."

"Okay, later Darien." With that, Darien left the Arcade and headed home.

Back at the temple, Serena told all the scouts that Darien wasn't going to show up today. "Why not? Serena, what happened? What did you do?" Rei said, really surprised he didn't show up.

"Well, he said he wanted us to get back together, and I told him he was right for doing what he did, and I wasn't ready for our relationship."

"You actually said that! But Serena, I thought all you wanted the whole time was to go back the way things were?" Mina said, confused about Serena's emotions as ever.

"I did, but I can't be unfair to him Mina. I want to give him all of me, not just a piece. He deserves more than that. But I did tell him he should date too."

"You what?" Lita said, completely shocked.

"I don't want him to just wait around for something that may never happen!"

"What do you mean something that may never happen?" Ami asked, surprised Serena seemed like she thought her decision through.

"I let everyone at the arcade know I'm single now. I've always said I want to be a regular teenager, now there's nothing stopping me from the dating part of that experience."

"But you'd really be okay with Darien dating someone else?" Rei said, imagining how saddened Darien must have felt at the news.

"I guess I'll only find out when he actually does, won't I?" Serena answered, pondering the possibilities of her decision.

"Well, no use wasting any more time. Let's get back to training." Ami said. She worked on her computer, while the scouts trained in pairs. She was studying Darien's information that she had gathered, and trying to see what powers he may really have.

The next day, Serena kept up going to school on time. She was dedicated on turning a new leaf, she didn't want another guy thinking she was a ditz when she had this opportunity to start fresh. After school, she went straight to the arcade again. Sure enough, every few minutes, it seemed like another guy was asking her for her number.

Darien was in the training sessions every day again after he missed just the one day. He thought seeing her every day was the best he could do for now. He was also anxious to see what abilities he had. Ami had finally had a breakthrough. She started experiments with everything she could think of, every element. Then she realized he was more of the opposite of the scouts in various ways. He more fought with his sword than powers, he threw roses, countering abilities defensively, instead of really attacking. The fact that he was always trying to help, and studying to be a doctor, all factors in Ami's calculations. She decided to test her theory. She asked Rei to allow herself to get hurt by Mina's attack, get wounded physically.

"Why me?" Rei had asked Ami when she had privately asked Rei to do it.

"Because Serena wouldn't be able to handle it, and complain if we hurt her, but we haven't been able to hit her anyway, so it'd be obvious. Plus Darien needs to really have a connection because he's never known his abilities, so to bring it out for the first time, there has to be some type of bond."

"Bond? What bond?"

"You guys used to date, and you care for each other, on some kind of level. He wouldn't want to see you hurt Rei." Rei began to blush, but she trusted Ami's genius.

"Okay." She said reluctantly. She really was hoping Darien did have some kind of power, and not just really good looking. 'Although learning quickly could be his power', she thought. As per Ami's suggestion, she let Mina's love chain cut her arm during training. Everyone rushed over to Rei, Mina apologized franticly.

"I was going full force, I've never been able to hit you before, I thought you'd be able to dodge! I'm so sorry Rei!" She was trying to defend herself.

"Mina, how could you be so mean!" Serena shouted. She was bouncing up and down, unsure how she could help.

"No, it's okay, it just hurts like hell!" Rei said, trying to smile through the pain. She had a big gash on her arm.

"Let's get some bandages out here now!" Darien said, concerned with stopping the bleeding." Lita ran into the temple for the first aid kit.

"Darien, put your hand over her arm, take off your glove. Let the warmth of your hand help her blood to clot the wound." Darien did as Ami instructed, he was surprised at her level headedness even though her friend was hurt and bleeding profusely. "Focus on helping her!" Ami shouted at Darien, hoping he could heal her subconsciously. "He concentrated on her wound, wondering if he should really have his hand on her arm, without cleaning the wound first. He saw his hand covered in blood, but it was drying, he took it as a good sign. By the time Lita got there with the first aid kit, Darien removed his hand to find nothing there. The wound completely healed, the only evidence of its existence, her bloody arm, and his bloody hand.

"What happened?" He asked Ami shocked.

"You healed her." Ami replied calmly. She was very happy she was right. "I think we found your power Darien."

"What? Really?" Darien said, staring at his bloody hand in disbelief.

"Yes. It makes perfect sense, Serena can heal emotional or spiritual damage, while you can heal physical damage. You are a perfect complement to each other. Serena and Darien just looked at each other, then turned away.

"I'm glad you found your power Darien." She said, looking up at him and blushing.

"Yeah, I am too." He said, still shocked at his ability. "So I guess now you can start training me on how to use it, huh Ami?" He asked, turning in her direction.

"Yes, of course." She said, as she typed in the results of her test.

For the next few weeks, Serena went on numerous dates after training, but not many guys got more than one date. They were either too cheap, turned off by her eating habits, or unimpressed by her conservativeness. Serena was happy she was getting rid of so many suitors so fast, she was really learning how special of a guy Darien really was. She was still going to the game store every day, to make a payment, but Reagan never seemed to make a move. Finally the new Sailor V video came out, and Serena had already paid it off. But she was also afraid she wouldn't have an excuse to see Reagan anymore. She pondered what to do, but she couldn't figure out a way to keep seeing him. He probably wasn't interested in her like she thought. After she bought the game, she wasn't sure what to say to him, she didn't want to leave, but she no longer had an excuse to stay.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around Reagan." She waved as she walked out the door.

"Until the next Sailor V game I suppose Serena." He smiled and waved back. She went to Rei's, torn. Happy about the new game, but sad she wouldn't see him again for a while. Darien had been able to learn how to heal at will, but he still wasn't able to heal too serious of wounds, since they didn't want to test his limits by seriously injuring someone. For now, after training, he was able to heal each scout after training so they were no longer fatigued or tired. Knowing injuries would help Darien's abilities, the scouts where training harder than ever, no longer caring to hold back on each other. They were at their peak of skills. After practice, Serena went home and played her Sailor V game. She had an hour until her planned study time with Ami.

"Serena, phone!" Her mother called from downstairs.

"Okay!" She ran down to answer. "Hello?"

"Hello, Serena?"

"Yes."

"Um, it's Reagan. I hope you don't mind, but I used your card to get your number."

"Oh, um, no. I don't mind at all. What's up?"

"Well, I was just wondering...do you want to go out sometime?"

To Be Continued...

Special Thanks/Mention: xx Twilight Princess xx, loveinthebattlefield