Strong Destiny, Weak Heart

Dating Life

Chapter 7

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

Previously on Strong Destiny, Weak Heart:

"Why am I even here?" She said to herself out loud, as she pulled out her schoolbooks once more. When she looked up, she noticed Darien wasn't fighting his hardest against Rei, he was going easy on her. It didn't make any sense to her, since he was now able to heal any wounds. Now that she was paying attention, she noticed they were both going easy on each other, they were more dancing then training. She was getting annoyed and yet she had no idea why. They were merely training in an odd way, but to Serena, something just didn't feel right. She hoped the others would get there soon.

And now the continuation...

Chapter 7

"Hey Serena, wow you're here early!" Lita said, with Mina and Ami on either side of her, walking up the temple steps.

"I'm glad you guys are here, Rei and Darien are sparring right now." Serena said, looking toward the temple grounds.

"If we'd have known you were coming straight here, we could have come with you, you know? You just always go to the arcade first, usually anyway." Ami said, wondering why she took off on her own without waiting for them.

"You're right, I guess I just didn't think of it." Serena said, blushing at the realization.

"Serena, were you working on homework while waiting here?" Mina said, looking at her open books on top of the steps, in shock.

"Well gee Mina, you don't have to look so surprised! I've been doing well in school lately! Just ask Ami!"

"It's true, she's been really concentrating on her studies as of late. Since she's able to have a fresh start, she doesn't want anyone she dates to think she's a ditz anymore." Ami said, trying to explain. They heard Rei land a hit on Darien when Ami finished her sentence.

"Darien, what's wrong?" Rei said, upset he was losing focus.

"Nothing, c'mon, again. Don't hold back." He said to her, wanting to block out the conversation he was overhearing. The last thing he wanted to hear was how he didn't believe in her mental abilities. He felt like such a jerk, knowing he never thought much of her as an intellectual.

"Ami's right, there's more to me than I ever gave myself credit for. Since I haven't been distracted lately, I've been doing so well in school. It really is a good feeling to not be last on the board." Serena said, looking toward the sky, wondering why she ever side-tracked her education in the first place. At the time, she never could realize why she'd lose focus on her studies, they just seemed difficult. Now, her focus steered by Ami's tutelage, school was easier than it had ever been.

"Hey Ami, could I get some help over here?" Rei called. Now that Darien wanted to focus on training more, he was more than she could handle. "I think he's ready for us to take him on in pairs." She said to Ami as she transformed. Darien just smiled, he was definitely up for the challenge. He was very happy that he was improving enough to take on two of them at once, and hoped that one day he could take them all on the way Serena did.

"Well, guess it's you and me Mina." Lita said, getting ready to transform.

"Hey, what about me?" Serena called, upset she was being ignored again, even though all the girls were here now. Lita and Mina just looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

"Mina, why don't you just take my place for a while with Rei? I'm going to get Serena's tutoring out of the way so she has the night free."

"Really? Thanks Ami!"

"What does she need the night free for?" Lita asked, since now she had no one to spar with.

"I have a date tonight." Serena said, blushing at the thought.

"With who this time?" Mina said, suddenly excited, yet keeping in mind Darien was there.

"Reagan." Serena said, starry eyed once more.

"Well that's cool." Mina said, reigning in her excitement, but not too well since her fists were shaking in anticipation of wanting to interrogate her on how he asked her.

"Yeah, so let's start studying!" Serena said, anxious to start.

"Lita, why don't you help Mina fight Darien, while Rei takes a break, she looks a little winded." Ami said, noticing Rei waiting for help, and breathing heavily while not wanting to quit because of her stubbornness.

"No, I can still fight! I mean...train..." Rei said, upset that Ami was implying she couldn't keep up with Darien's pace.

"It's fine Rei, here, let me heal you. Then you can tell me what I'm doing wrong. You have a knack at noticing flaws, after all. You are a perfectionist." Darien said to her, while approaching her to heal her. Rei blushed, she took it as a complement, and she was flattered. She just nodded in agreement.

Serena focused on her work with Ami and finished quickly, while Lita and Mina sparred with Darien, and Rei supervised the workout. Calling out on the girls, since Darien was getting the better of them both.

Once Serena finished her work, she just waved and quickly left. Leaving everyone to their training. After she was gone, Lita and Mina decided it was time for them to take a break, before sparring with each other. Ami and Rei decided it best for them all to take a break, since Ami didn't have the skill to spar with Darien, or help Rei to. They began to talk amongst themselves.

"So Darien, you seem like you could go a few more rounds and be fine. You don't seem like you need a break at all." Rei said, noticing he had small beads of sweat, but he didn't have trouble breathing, or any signs of fatigue.

"Yeah, Ami, do you think it could be from my healing?" He asked the blue haired scout to his left.

"Hmmmm, possibly. Do you feel drained at all? Like you've used your power? Actually, now that I think about it, you've never report feeling drained when you use your power. Do you?" Ami asked, realizing she'd just assumed it drained him, but he never showed proof of it.

"Not really. I feel fine right now, I wasn't really ready to stop. Is that a problem?" Darien said, noticing that probably wasn't normal.

"I'm going to have to run some more tests, but for now, let's not worry about it." Ami said, making a mental note to monitor his energy when healing.

"So Darien, since we're all on this break...can I ask you something?" Mina asked, changing the subject.

"Um, sure. I guess so." Darien said, afraid of what Mina might ask.

"Why is it when guys say their gonna call they almost never do?" Mina said, almost accusingly.

"Well, I don't think I can speak for all guys, since I've never done that, but maybe it's because they don't want to hurt a girls feelings by saying they never want to see them again." Mina pondered his reply then gave one of her own.

"Can't they just realize it hurts us more waiting for their call that never comes?" She said, sounding like it had happened to her recently. Darien didn't know what to say, but he knew that was the first of many similar questions, now that he was spending a lot more time with the girls.

Serena was happy to be home and prepare for her date. She had plenty of time, so she decided to get some gaming in before the date. She was halfway through the whole game before she realized the time, "Oh my gosh! I have an hour before he gets here!" she said, as she put the controller down, and hurried into the shower. After she brushed her hair, she hurried to her closet to pick out an outfit. She decided on a short silver skirt, with black leggings, and a matching silver shirt with a v-neck, and a black undershirt, with sparkling silver heals. 'I hope it's not to over the top, since I don't know where he's taking me.' she thought to herself. Just when she was finally ready, the doorbell rung. She rushed down to answer it before anyone else did, and tripped on her way down the stairs, tumbling the rest of the way down, falling flat on her face. Her mother stepped over her and opened the door. Serena shot straight back up, a few hairs out of place because of the fall, and greeted him.

"Hi, Reagan. Mom, this is my date tonight, Reagan, Reagan, my mom." She said, grabbing her black purse off of the hall table and rushing out the door. "Bye mom, I won't be late!" She said, as she grabbed Reagan's arm and rushed out before he could say anything to her mom, or her to him.

"What was that about?" He asked her once they were in his car.

"Believe me, I just saved you. She would have gushed over you and said, 'Serena, introduce me to your friend, he's so cute!' or something equally embarrassing. But she wouldn't be lying by saying you're cute." She said blushing, and looking down at her hands.

"I see," he said, noticing her insecurity of how to act at the moment. "Well in that case, thank you."

"No problem." She said, happy he didn't seem upset that she dragged him out. "Nice car by the way." She was looking at the interior and noticed it looked like a newer model of car.

"Yeah, I'm making payments on it. It's a car at least, you don't have to lie though, I know it's a piece of crap." He said, embarrassed by the car he drove.

"Really? This isn't a newer car? It looks nice." She said, sliding her hand on the fuzz of the car door.

"Hah, well, I'm glad you like it. It's really nothing compared to the car your ex drives." He said, then immediately stopped speaking.

"Well, I wouldn't know. His car is nice too, but this is the only other car I've been in." She admitted.

"Really? I thought you've been on a lot of dates recently." He said, turning to her every few minutes while he drove.

"Well, yeah, I have. But I usually just meet the guys wherever they're 'taking me'. aside from Darien's car, and my parents', this is the only other car I've been in." She said, hoping she didn't sound too naive.

"Oh." Was his only response. "Well, I'm taking you to a new restaurant, I made reservations this morning so we should be good." he said, hoping the conversation could be steered back to themselves.

"Oh nice, I was hoping I wasn't overdressed." She said, looking down at her outfit.

"You're not, don't worry." He was wearing some black slacks, and a dress shirt, without an overcoat. Once they arrived, they were seated at a table for two with flowers and a beautiful lit candle between them, and a red tablecloth over a white one.

"Wow, this place is fancy, I hope it's not too expensive." She decided to eat after dinner too, as to not cost him too much money.

"Don't worry about it, first impressions are everything." He smiled at her, a sweet smile that told her he wanted everything to be perfect for her. She blushed.

"So Reagan. Tell me about yourself. Where are you from, your parents. You know, the works." She said, as she laid her napkin on her lap.

"Well," Reagan began, "My last name is O'Brien, I come from an Irish family, I have a little brother who works with me in the game store. He's 14, and his name is Minoru. He and I were born here, my parents, Brian and Aine, sort of wanted to expand their minds and see what else was in the world, and somehow they ended up here. My mother turned out pregnant when they arrived here, and they just decided to start their family here, instead of moving from place to place. They really wanted us to feel that we have a 'home'. My father owns the game store, but it's franchised by the company so, I guess that's about it."

"Wow." She said in amazement. The waiter arrived and took their order, then left, and they continued their conversation.

"What about you? What's your story?" He said, gazing into her eyes.

"Well, no where nearly as interesting as yours." 'except that maybe I'm a sailor scout and fight villains all over Tokyo and I've been to the future where I'm queen, and most of my friends are the other sailor scouts' she thought feeling bad she couldn't be honest with him.

"Are you okay?" He looked at her concerned.

"Yeah, um, there's nothing really much to me. My last name is Tsukino, I have a little brother named Sammy, my mother's name is Ikuko, my father's name is Kenji, but everyone just calls him Ken. He works as a photographer for a newspaper, and my mother is a housewife. We've lived in Tokyo all our lives." 'in this lifetime anyway, my other lifetime I've lived on the moon.' She hated talking in her head about things she couldn't tell him.

"That's interesting! It's nice to know there are still normal families in the world!" He said, genuinely smiling at her.

'Ha!' she thought to herself. 'I wish I was normal!' She smiled back at him anyway. When their dinner arrived they ate, she only ordered one course, they shared an appetizer, and he ordered desert for her. She happily ate it. He then took her to the movies, and then took her straight home. He opened the door for her, and walked her to her door.

"So, how was that for a first date?" He asked her, with hope in his eyes.

"It was very nice." She replied.

"Good enough to earn me a second one?" He asked.

"Do you really want a second one?" She asked surprised, she thought her eating might have scared him away like some of the others.

"Course I do! Why wouldn't I want to see a beautiful woman again?" He made her blush again, as he used his had to brush away a strand of hair from her face.

"Um, okay. I'd be happy to." She wasn't lying, she just didn't think she spoke enough for him to realize she was interested.

"Great, I'll call you when I find out when my next day off is."

"Okay, I'll be waiting." She said, as she waved him off and entered her door.

He wished her well, and left, not even attempting to kiss her. She felt relieved because all the other dates she went on it seemed like that's all the other guys wanted to do.

To Be Continued...

A/N: Thank you to all reviewers! You guys are awesome!

Special Thanks/Mention: inufan155687, Doc-sama, loveinthebattlefield, and xx Twilight Princess xx.