Strong Destiny, Weak Heart

Approval and Disapproval

Chapter 9

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

Previously on Strong Destiny, Weak Heart:

"There's a reason why I'm asking you now. I'm going to have to find a woman who is willing." Darien said, determination in his eyes.

"And you're planning on asking all of the scouts?" Rei asked, feeling like just someone on a list.

"No, just you. If it's not you, it will be a stranger, to you guys at least."

"I see."

"I can't say how far we'd have to take it, that just really depends on Serena believing that I'd move on I guess. Just keep that in mind. Do you have an answer, or do you need more time? I could come back later, we could talk about this next week if you'd be more comfortable after thinking it over."

"I'll do it."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, who better to play a prank on Serena than both her ex-arch enemies, right?"

"I guess that's one way to look at it."

And now the continuation...

Chapter 9

After Serena got home from her date, she was on cloud 9. She was so happy, and impressed with his sweetness, and understanding of her eating habits. He made no comment about them at all, which was a nice relief compared with all of her other dates. Her good mood didn't escape her family, her mother confronted her almost as soon as she came into the door.

"Serena, what was that?" Ikuko asked coming out of the kitchen to greet her daughter.

"Hmmmm?" Serena just looked at her mother, still swooning over her date.

"Well you didn't even let me meet the boy properly! He could have at least had some tea with us before you rushed him out the door!"

"Oh mama, you would have just swooned over him like you'd do with any guy I'd bring over."

"That's not true! I just like to meet the friends of my daughter, especially if they make you happy, as this boy obviously does!" Ikuko said, a big smile on her face for her daughter. Serena just blushed and looked toward her mother.

"I don't know what it is about him mama, but he just makes me feel like I have butterflies in my stomach. "

"That's how you're supposed to feel after a first date, my dear." Ikuko said, happy Serena seemed to be having a real teenage experience, instead of planning her wedding with Darien Shields. Ikuko found it so odd that such an older man was interested in her daughter, 19 to her precious 14 was too big of a gap to ever make her mother feel at ease. Since Darien put the condition on their relationship, she felt more fond of the man, yet she still hoped that she found someone her own age.

"Mama, I'm going to bed now." Serena said, walking dreamily to her room.

"Did you finish your homework when you went to Rei's?" her mother asked, concerned that love would make her grades falter.

"Yes mama." She could hear her mother sigh with relief, and it made her smile. For once everything just seemed to be going her way.

"I would say, 'sweet dreams' but I don't think you need the encouragement." Ikuko smiled to herself at the thought.

"Night mama." She heard her daughter holler down the stairs.

"Goodnight." Ikuko called back.

The next day, Serena was more than happy to keep up her 'winning streak' with school. She was proud of herself and decided the neglecting of her studies was wrong of her to do. She couldn't believe that she had harbored such hatred for her studies before. The feeling of wanting to be smarter was overwhelming now, and she didn't want to give it up. She was actually quite smart when she put her mind to it, she realized playing her video games had helped her see patterns and memorize formulas the way she did with codes and passwords with her games. Ami had helped her realize the link, and it made learning that much fun and easier. During lunch, she caught up with the girls at their usual lunch hangout spot outside by a huge cherry tree and asked them what their thoughts were of Reagan.

"Serena, we haven't met him remember?" Mina asked, surprised that Serena hadn't realized it on her own. They all sat around Serena, with Serena herself, having her back to the giant tree.

"Really? Wow, you guys have to tell me what you think! We should all go to the game store after school."

"Don't you think that'd be a little obvious? Besides, you never asked us to check out any of the other guys you've been dating." Ami said, a little concerned about what it meant that Serena wanted all of them to meet him.

"Well, Reagan's different! He's really cute, and sweet, and really interested in me, and not just my eating habits!" Serena said, really offended when she remembered how other men had reacted.

"Oh Serena, just because a guy is a gentlemen on the first date, doesn't mean he won't turn out to be a dog later! He may just be a wolf in sheep's clothing!" Mina said, remembering the men she thought had potential, just disappointed her later.

"But he's different! C'mon guys, don't you think I'm a good judge of character?" The girls had to agree that she did have a knack for people, but she also had the habit of seeing the good in people, no matter how bad someone seemed to be. Which had gotten her in pickles before.

"Okay, I'll go see him." Lita was the first to volunteer, not feeling strongly either way.

"If we are going to do this, don't you think we should be less conspicuous?" Ami said, worried about how it would look if they all went into the game store at the same time, just to stare at one of the workers.

"What'd you have in mind Ami?" Mina asked.

"Well, maybe we could meet at the arcade and go one at a time to the game store. It probably will be just as obvious, but at least it would be less obvious then if we all went at once."

"Very true, and that way we can each go without Serena so we can see how he acts when he's not around her!" Mina said, suddenly excided at the idea. "Plus, I've been meaning to pick up the new Sailor V game anyway, so I have every reason to go anyway. You guys are going to look funny, just walking in and looking around before you just leave again!"

"Or, if you really are going to buy the game, we could leave Serena at the arcade and just go with you to pick up your game." Ami said, taking the new information into consideration. "That way we all have a reason to go, and it won't be suspicious since you're buying the game anyway."

"Fine, fine." Mina said reluctantly.

"Yay, you guys have to tell me everything! I'm not going to go in today, cause I don't want to look like a stalker or something." Serena commented.

"That didn't seem to bother you when you were stalking Darien." Lita whispered under her breath.

"What was that?" Serena said.

"Nothing, I just don't remember you ever caring about looking like a stalker before." Lita clarified.

"Oh, well, first impressions are everything!" Serena happily replied. Just then the bell rang, and they all headed back to class. After school they stuck to their plan and only Serena headed to the arcade. She found Andrew and took a seat.

"Hey Serena, what brings you here today?"

"Oh, the girls are going to tell me what they think of Reagan."

"They're doing what?" a voice from behind her said, walking up to her.

"Reagan! What are you doing here?"

"I figured you might be here since you always came here after school, before you started coming to the game store."

"You remembered that?" Serena said, embarrassed she'd been caught.

"Yeah, so I took my break, right when you usually came into the store."

"Well, it's not how it sounds, I wanted my friends to meet you." She said, suddenly afraid she had come off as a stalker.

"Well then why didn't you just introduce us next time we went out? We could have done a group thing, that would have been fine with me." Reagan said surprised that Serena was having her friends spy on him.

"Because I didn't want them to horn in on our date!" Reagan chuckled at her response, he couldn't be mad at her. "What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be in school, or work?" Serena said, trying to find a reason why she wasn't to blame for the girls not finding him at the game store.

"No, I'm home schooled, and I took my break hoping to catch you here."

"Oh, that's interesting. I didn't know you were home schooled."

"You never asked, I guess it just never came up." He sat next to her on the stool Darien used to sit in. She felt odd, seeing him sitting in it, but she wasn't sure why. "What's wrong?" He knew the look on her face was a look of being displeased.

"Nothing, how long do you have on your break?"

"Fifteen minutes, why?"

"Because I'm guessing the girls will be back any time now. Would you mind meeting them?"

"Not at all, if it's for you." He said smiling. She blushed. "I love it when you do that." He said to her, as he picked up her face with his hand and looked into her eyes. "By the way, my next day off is in three days. If things go well, I could see us going out three times a week."

"Wow, really thinking ahead aren't you?" She was surprised by his candor.

"Always, I know what I want when I see it. I may not always get what I want, but I damn sure make every effort, so I can't say I didn't try!" He said, sitting tall, proud of his motto. Just then the girls walked in and didn't notice him at first.

"Serena, I bought the game and everything, and all we saw was a kid that looked no older than 14 that fit your description! He couldn't possibly be the guy you- Oh...hehehe...hello. You must be Reagan?" Mina said, after she had walked up to Serena and realized the man sitting next to her was the exact man Serena had described.

"Why yes I am, and you are?" Reagan extended his hand in greeting to the other beautiful blonde.

"I'm Mina, this is Ami, and Lita, we're Serena's best friends." Mina said, pointing to each girl in turn. "It may have been a girlish thing to do, but we just wanted to see who was trying to sweep Serena off her feet this time." Mina explained while the other two just looked embarrassed.

"It's fine. I understand, after all, my father and brother already know what Serena looks like, or else I probably would have had them do the same thing." He gave them a comforting smile. They looked relieved. "Well, I better head back to work, better early than late!" He gave Serena a wink nodded at the girls, and walked toward the door. "Bye Serena, see you in three days, I'll be by at around 7."

"See you then!" Serena managed to say before he was out the door and out of earshot. The girls then discussed how embarrassed they were and what they thought of him after he left.

"Not bad Serena, he seems like a real charmer." Lita approved.

"Yes, he has good work ethics it seems." Ami chimed in.

"Wow Serena, how do you find these sweet hunksters!" Mina pouted.

"Just good luck I guess." Serena shrugged. They continued talked for half an hour before they realized they were late to the temple.

"Guys, we have to go now! I can't believe I didn't notice how late we were!" Ami said, shocked at her own unpreparedness. They all left in a hurry toward Rei's temple.

Meanwhile, Darien had arrived, once again before anyone else did. However, Rei appeared shortly after. "Where is everyone?" Rei asked.

"I thought you'd be able to tell me. Probably off on recon for Serena's new guy." Darien thought out loud, not minding if Rei heard since she knew how he felt about the situation.

"Probably." Rei agreed, upset that they didn't include her, and also that they didn't tell Darien training might start a little later. Really, if she did have an evil ulterior motive with Darien, they were making it too easy. "So, want to try some of that self control emotion stuff?" Rei asked.

"What'd you have in mind?" Darien was skeptical of what she had planned.

"Well, a game of sorts. I'll give you scenarios and you tell me how you think or how you feel emotionally about them."

"Sounds like a good training exercise, I'm in." Darien had a lot of respect for her, and the way she was always willing to be on his side lately, just made it that much easier to get along with her.

"Okay, a pretty girl asks you out, she looks to be your age. You just found out Serena wants to wait even longer than when she turns 18 to get back with you. Would you go out with her?"

"I thought this was just emotional questions, not 20 questions." Darien said, clearly un amused by Rei's question.

"Trust me, they'll get better, just focus on how they make you feel. You only have to answer the ones you want to answer. I'll keep them coming, and just start answering when you start to feel something, or you want to say something."

"Okay, fine." Darien wasn't sure if agreeing was a good idea, but he decided it couldn't really hurt. "I don't feel any different, and I don't like that question."

"Okay, next question, you see Ami kiss a guy, and she looks real into it."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"They're just scenarios, stop pausing the game at every question!"

"Well that one had nothing to do with me, and it wasn't even a question!"

"Yeah, but it's Ami! You really wouldn't at least be surprised?"

"Not really, it will happen for her when it happens to her. It's bound to happen sooner or later, right?"

"I guess that's true. Next question, You see Serena kiss another man-"

"I'd rip his heart out of his chest and crush it in front of his face."

"What?"

"Huh? Oh, I feel really hyper, ready to train. Want to spar?"

"No, I mean, what did you say?"

"What?"

"What was your answer to the scenario! Do you really feel that way? I mean, Serena standing right there wouldn't even be a factor?"

"I'm just saying the first thing that comes to mind, I highly doubt I'd actually do it, you know?"

"Um, yeah, I guess. So your energy is way up now?"

"I don't know, I just feel like I need to move! Training would be real perfect right now."

"Well, none of the others are here yet, and I'm not about to take you on myself again when you're this hyped up, you're going to have to learn to control it."

"Well, I guess this is the perfect exercise to help me learn how to do that then." He said, and gave her a soft smile. Rei's ping of jealousy struck her again, about how Serena took him away from her, before they even had a chance to see if they would even have a real relationship.

"Okay, next question, do you think you could fall in love with someone else other than Serena?"

"No."

"Even if she moved on?"

"I'd just try to win her back."

"What if she didn't want to be 'won back'? What if she was happy? You'd be willing to rip away her happiness instead of looking for your own?" Rei just wanted to hear him say he could move on. Even if he had to learn to do it.

"I hope it doesn't come to me finding out." He suddenly felt all his energy leave him all at once. Rei noticed the change immediately.

"Okay, well then what if you suddenly fell in love with someone else?" He gave her a cock eyed grin.

"Do you really think that's possible?"

"Hey, random scenario's remember? Just answer the question or don't , but don't question the questions!"

"Okay, okay, um, I guess it'd have to depend on who the woman was. I mean, I can't see myself falling in love with just anyone."

"What if it was me?" She blurted out before she could stop herself.

To Be Continued...