Amnesiac

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Premise:Serena is hit against her head during a youma attack...However, she receives amnesia about who she is and starts acting like the moon princess, Serenity.

= Hair lengthens = get the ginzuishou

Problems when she runs into Darien

AN: Well, here I am...again, bent on tormenting you guys with *another* story. Perhaps I’ll actually finish the damn thing before I turn forty.

YAY!! A first season fic, taking place before Serena and Darien know they are Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion respectively (heehee, now wouldn’t it be funny if Darien was Princess Serenity and Serena was Prince Endymion...um sorry, sidetracked...) anyways, so they’ve also met Mina and Artemis. Why? ‘Cuz I need the cat. Story takes place in Tokyo, and Serena’s 14, while Darien’s 18 (she was born in ’78, he was born in ’74 according to either the manga or the anime or something like that...so it all works out). And God help me, I’m getting out of clichés. No park scenes (hopefully), no midnight confessions, no sirree!

And I’m using NA names with the original shows wording: Like Moon Tiara Action, instead of Magic...etc. And a *little* bit of manga. Just a bit. I swear, not that much!

OOH! And this starts like P4S, but I swear, it isn’t that hideous story!!

A few things: ~ There really is a building in Tokyo that is 70 stories high, complete with the fastest elevator in the world (going up those more than 700 ft. in less than 9 seconds...talk about your ears popping.)

© August 2000.

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Serena walked aimlessly down the street. It really was a beautiful day outside and she was going to enjoy it. She’d already seen the park and the rose garden, silently pondering to herself if Tuxedo Mask had ever been there to see its splendor. She felt like twirling around under the sun’s loving rays, to let her sundress billow out around her like some Victorian lady. But people were already giving her funny looks at her skipping. True, she was a fourteen year old girl, approaching womanhood. But did that mean that she couldn’t still have fun? Be a kid again? She shook her head no. Of course not. Besides, she was Sailor Moon. Too much responsibility right there. She needed a break, else she’d throw Luna out the window.

She sat down on a bench in the middle of downtown Tokyo, admiring the busy people around her hurriedly going to their jobs. Thankfully, school had let out for a four day weekend, so she had nowhere she had to be. No senshi meetings, no youma nearby, and by the gods, if she heard anyone scream demon she was going to lecture the youma to death about the foulness of disturbing her calm.

It was amazing what she saw: a young man trying to train his puppy to play dead as the animal dumbly sat there, wagging its tail. Serena smiled to herself; she really was a cat person after all. Then she spotted an older woman holding her husband’s hand. She eyed them wistfully, hoping that someday, she and her love would be like that. But that later sent her thoughts spiralling to him and she wasn’t letting anything spoil her mood. She was out of Juuban, and there was no way he’d be all the way down here and see her, right? Right.

This was what she truly loved: people in their element, unaware of her observing. At times she felt envious of their bliss and ignorance to the evils around them, but more often than not, she was glad for it. She preserved this peace for them.

She sighed in accomplishment. Who ever said that Sailor Moon couldn’t pat herself on the back sometimes?

All of Tokyo walked by her that day. Businessmen, parents, children, the young and the old, some rushing, some sauntering, few noticing the girl in the white sundress decorated with chrysanthemums.

Dusk encroached upon downtown Tokyo and yet Serena sat there, serene expression masking her face’s usually excited air. And as the moon dawned in the sky, her tranquility was shattered by a bone-chilling scream.

Exasperatedly, she threw her hands up in the air, pulled out her communicator and pressed the Mercury button. “Amy, hi, it’s Serena. I just heard a suspicious scream near the Sony building. I don’t know if it’s a demon or not, but if I don’t call you back in two minutes, it’s a senshi alert, alright? Bye.” This youma was going to get a piece of her mind for destroying her good day.

Carefully, making sure it wasn’t some mugger or human bad guy that she couldn’t do away with via her tiara, she crept into the alley from where she heard the scream. Ooh, this place just oozed Dark Kingdom vibes.

“Moon Prism Power, Make-up!” she whispered loudly enough for her transformation to take effect. Gently, she pressed the all-call button as she made her way towards the wounded man, who lain on his back, moaning incoherently due to energy drain. She frowned; why couldn’t the Dark Kingdom pick on people who weren’t innocent to all the vile ways of the world? Perhaps drain the prisons...hell, she wouldn’t stop them there.

She checked his pulse, just to be sure he was alright, despite his movements. She wanted to make sure he wouldn’t need a hospital visit. She wouldn’t have much time to ponder on the situation though, for the youma that had done this to him hovered dangerously above her. She allowed her eyes to take one thorough look at the monster before jumping backwards in fear. Its skin was tinted green and it possessed a body with bulging muscles that looked like they could snap her in two with its bare hands. The green skin had carbuncles and whelks, oozing slime from every pore.

**Don’t let it touch me,** she thought to herself. The last thing she wanted was to be slimed. **What’s taking them so long?!** That’s when it grinned at her with its rotting teeth. It lunged forward, trying to grab her and steal her energy, but she jumped clumsily away,

not having enough room to do it gracefully, Sailor Moon thought, though at heart really knew it was her incapability to be graceful. And just when she thought she wouldn’t be able to keep jumping away from the slimy demon, she heard a welcome “Shabon Spray!” and a thick fog settled over them. She tried to find her way nearer the senshi, but was lost in the dense bubbles, hoping that she was heading towards the entrance of the alley and not the demon. A muffled “Fire Soul” swept heatedly past her, and she had to bite her tongue not to keep herself from yelling at the Martian senshi. She followed their voices, not really registering that they could all be moving around and now the demon could be at the entrance of the alley. And still, she had to think about the victim lying a few inches away from her feet. She reached down beneath the fog to where he lay and wrapped his arm around her neck, thankful that he was no more than a teenager and weighed fairly little. Though, when she thought of his age, it enraged her. **How could they do this to teenagers?! How could they do this to me?! I’d give almost anything to be normal and be rid of this Sailor costume...**She stumbled with him past a trash can, but his knees gave out and knocked over a lid, causing it to collide loudly with the ground. As if by fate, the fog lifted, revealing the demon, staring straight at her. There was no time for the senshi to power up their attacks and their leader was left helpless. Usually, at this moment a red rose would come streaking by, saving the day for the millionth time. But it never came. The youma’s greasy hand locked tightly around Sailor Moon’s neck as a slight whimper escaped her throat, then he lifted her off the ground so that her feet dangled in the air. Her mind screamed for the senshi to help, but as they all powered up, the demon hurled a ball of dark energy towards them, knocking them all out. Then she screamed for Tuxedo Mask, praying fervently that he wouldn’t abandon her. Then she just screamed. The youma seemed delighted in torturing her, but decided against prolonging the effort. Who knew when those other senshi would wake up? Deciding to finish her off for good, he slammed her into the dingy brick wall behind her, her skull crashing into the wall with a sickening thud. He stole what little energy she had left, hoping that she would die from both the impact and loss of her ability to heal herself. Searing pain ripped through her, overloading all of her nerves to the point where she didn’t even feel the blood trickling down her neck. The pain, as surely and as suddenly as it came, halted suddenly and her body slipped down the building’s wall. Scenes of her life did not flash before her eyes as she thought they would just before death; instead, all the things she never got to do fluttered quickly through her quickly hazing mind. Kiss Darien.Marry Darien.Have Darien’s children.For a sarcastic instant, she realized she had one of those cases of unrequited, unadmitted love. Sadly, she reflected, she would never get the chance to remedy that. The darkness began to close out everything else, even Venus’s call to her. She didn’t have the strength or willpower to breathe. The darkness wanted her. And all she could do was relent to it.

Tuxedo Mask came, though frightfully later than he ever had. He had

been asleep in his apartment, on the other side of the city, after a long day filled with two two hour long finals. When he felt the familiar pull on the link he shared with Sailor Moon, even the adrenaline that usually pumped into him as he transformed didn’t help ease his exhaustion. **The price you pay, Darien old boy, when you stay up for three days straight.** He could just kick that snide little voice in his head. Well, if that didn’t mean kicking himself, of course. Then there had been that annoying pool party on top of one of the buildings he was using to jump to Sailor Moon’s rescue......when did teenage girls GET that strong?

Finally, about ten minutes after her transformation, the pull just stopped. It wasn’t as if he wasn’t need anymore. No. It felt like the link was severed. As if she was... He swallowed hard and moved faster. And that’s when he heard Venus’s tortured pleas and Mars’s chanting before throwing her anti-evil scrolls.

He threw a barrage of roses at the demon, pinning it to the ground, careful that he didn’t hit the senshi or the two fallen victims of the demon. He peered through his mask, trying to make out their outlines. A tall young man, his skin taut and pale, obviously the energy draining victim. The other was being cradled by Venus, her long blonde hair stained with her own blood. She looked strangely like Venus, just utterly calm and sleeping, though her face was ashen. But why was she wearing that short school uniform?

His moment of disbelief cleared when he realized that it was Sailor Moon lying there. He tugged at their link.

Nothing.Nothing at all.He jumped down from his post atop the building and made his way

over to where Venus was. Fearfully, he crept over to the girls, Venus sobbing hysterically while the other three near her seemed in shock. Mercury absent-mindedly punched the keys on her computer, trying to find a way to kill the demon. But even she was not paying attention to her findings; her eyes were locked on the body of her leader. She refused to check her pulse.

She was terrified of not finding one.In a maddened yell, the demon leapt up, much to everyone’s

surprise but Tuxedo Mask, who didn’t even regard it. He knelt down beside Venus, touching the endless golden strands of hair strewn around her.

“Why didn’t she use her tiara on him?” Venus asked quietly, wondering everything that happened before they got there, and even how Sailor Moon had been caught unaware, trying to save that boy.

Tuxedo Mask was confused; her body was still warm, yet he couldn’t find a pulse or even a gentle breath. He rocked her gently, crying silently, whispering “I’m sorry,” over and over again as if she could hear him.

The darkness had trapped Serena and she struggled with all of her might to get out. Yet, in this strange place she had been thrust, she could still feel, hear, sense everything around her. She could hear Tuxedo Mask’s apologies, noting that they sounded almost like Darien’s. She prayed, fervently prayed, that some part of her would still be alive. She prayed, not to a higher being, but a heavenly body, the moon, to help her live. She remembered the man whose life she tried to save. There were still billions more like him. She *had* to live. There was no way that she couldn’t. Besides, it was the moon’s fault she was there in the first place. If only it had chosen someone else as its champion...

...as if the moon goddess herself was a trickster, her wish was granted, though strangely...

Sailor Moon’s back suddenly arched as she took in a sharp breath, the first bit of oxygen to pour back into her deprived body, which still remained in pain. Yet something didn’t feel right...where was she again?

A man’s arms held her gently, she noted, but she saw the demon advancing towards him. Quickly, and deftly, as she had been trained, she moved him out of the way, using strength she didn’t feel like she had at the moment.

With a surety borne completely of expertise, she rolled sideways and pulled her tiara from her forehead in the same movement, then hurled it at the demon, killing it instantly. **Good,** she thought. **It’s just a drone. I can’t believe I didn’t wait to see if there was a human in there.**

She stood shakily, the full pain in the back of her head slamming into her at full force, but she held her ground. This place...it wasn’t familiar. She looked up, hoping the earthlight would provide her with some semblance of the time, as she didn’t know if the darkness was caused by her own pain or nature. And to her great surprise, the moon hung in the sky, full and bright, almost laughing at her.

Turning hesitantly to her friends, she wondered why they had an awed look on their faces. So, she’d killed a demon. They all had. No biggie. Ok, so her head hurt. It REALLY hurt. But she could deal with it. Not to mention that she didn’t want to hear Princess Raye’s nagging at her for being a wimp.

“Is something wrong?” she asked them. Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, and Tuxedo Mask looked at her in

reverence, then Mercury mentioned something htat was trapped on the back of all of their minds.

“Your voice...it’s different, Sailor Moon.”Sailor Moon raised her eyebrow curiously. “What are you talking

about Sailor Mercury. I’ve always sounded like this. But, tell me, I pray you, why are we on Earth and not the Moon?”

Tuxedo Mask eyed her curiously. Something was quite amiss. Why would they ever be on the moon?

“Sailor Moon, what it the last thing you remember?” he asked gently, knowing that perhaps that bump on her head was playing tricks on her mind.

“Planning tonight’s ball with Mother, of course. She said that tonight, I could actually tell the caterers which foods to prepare, invite the dignitaries, and do everything that a real lady is supposed to do. She said she had deprived me if this priviledge for far too long. Though I must admit that it is tiring. How did we get into battle in the first place? And when did Earth start looking like this? Oh goodness, I have a doozy of a headache. Could we please resume this some other time?”

Sailor Moon placed her hand to the back of her head, feeling the small wound, as well as the dampness in her hair that smelled strangely like blood. She sat down on the dirty ground, not wishing to complain about the yickness of it all, but not really caring. The pain was nearly blinding.

Tuxedo Mask, relieved that she was alright, but still concerened with her apparent condition, jumped away into the night.

“Who was he?”Sailor Mars gasped when she looked into Serena’s eyes, realizing

that something was wrong. “That’s not our Serena...”Sailor Mercury didn’t respond, merely aided in helping Sailor Moon home. They were met half way by Luna, who took over with her charge. They walked in silence, after Serena said that her head hurt when there was great noise. As they reached Serena’s house, a woman with blue hair stopped Serena, but reflexively, she said,

“Mom, I’m really sorry, but I have a headche. Can I skip dinner tonight?”

Not really waiting for an answer, she walked upstairs to the room with pink walls and a crescent moon border. All she wanted to do was lay down and not worry about the pain that throbbed in her head. Somehow, she knew something was wrong. The last thing she remembered, actually, wasn’t her mother showing her how to plan a ball. Instead, she remembered Endymion standing before her, shielding her from Beryl’s attack. Then, with her cries from him to rejuvenate, to wake up and hold her in his arms, she took the sword that was supposed to protect her own life, and thrust it into her chest. With her dying breaths, she fervently wished that hopefully, someday, she would be reunited with her family, her love, and her friends.

**Why was I chosen to suffer through so much heartache?** she had asked the moon before the darkness overtook her. **Why not someone else?**

But she was not allowed the time to sleep. Luna, however, walked regally over to her, jumped onto the bed, and began to question her.

“Serena, what’s wrong? Were you hurt in the battle?”“Please, Luna, let me sleep. Shouldn’t you be tending to Mother?

And why are you in your cat form?” her weary ward said, massaging her temples as if that would ease the pain.

“Not on your life, Serena. You might have a concussion. I cannot allow you to sleep. Besides, you have an English test on Tuesday. Can you even greet me in English?” Luna asked, quite annoyed with Serena’s antics. She didn’t even want to know why Serena’s voice sounded more mature, and almost accented.

“I’ll do it in the morning, Luna. But why are we on Earth? The senshi would not tell me. And why was I in the middle of the fight? Mother always tells me that I am the last resort, if the senshi cannot defeat the demon themselves. What happened? How was I hurt?”

Luna stepped back, slightly astonished. Who was Serena talking about when she referred to her mother? Her mother had no idea of her nightly activities and neither of them had any intention of telling Mrs. Tsukino about them, either. Maybe Serena had been hit a little too hard? **Or maybe she klutzed up one too many times...**

“Serena, who is your mother?”“Luna, you know who my mother is. And why do you keep calling me

Serena?”“Just tell me again...and your own name. I just want to make sure

that when you hit your head you didn’t get a case of amnesia,” Luna felt her own headache approaching, as well as a rush of anticipation that usually came before a major revelation.

‘Serena’ rolled her eyes. “I am the Princess of the Moon, Serenity, daughter of her Royal Majesty, Queen Serenity of the Silver Millennium, wielder of the Silver Crystal, guardian of the planet Earth.”

“Oh...my...God.”Luna promptly fainted where she stood.Seeing as how Luna was one of her nearest and dearest friends, she

did not think it proper to leave her like that, so instead of giving

into her body’s wish to sleep, she tried to revive Luna. Goodness, if a small knock on her own head could do all of this to Luna...

When Luna finally decided to return to the conscious world, she was greeted with Serena’s concerned face. “Oh Serena, it’s you. I had the strangest dream that you were the moon princess...how silly is that?”

Serena was not amused. “I *am* the Moon Princess and if you dare faint on me again, I’ll

pull your whiskers out!”**So Serena’s gone crazy. I can deal with this. Just ask her to

produce the Silver Crystal, and when she can’t, all will be well again.**

“Fine then, where’s the Silver Crystal?”“Luna, why must I prove myself to you?”“Because the Moon Kingdom was destroyed a thousand years ago, and

I don’t believe I’ve had the Moon Princess sitting right under my nose for the past few months and not know it. You suffered a very painful blow on your head, and I think that somehow, you’re deluding yourself into believing that you’re the moon princess.”

“Destroyed? But where is Mother? Oh gods...no...”Serena closed her eyes, feeling the last moments of the moon’s

glorious kingdom and heyday. She remembered her Mother begging her to live as her life fluttered away, then the feel of the Silver Crystal’s energy bathing over the entire moon and washing into her body. The Silver Crystal’s power had been passed down to her because its other user had died using its power.

Tears slipped unhindered down her cheeks as she remembered her mother’s warnings.

“Serenity, dearest, if there ever comes a time when I have to use the Silver Crystal to preserve the moon, then it will split into seven crystals so that it will not be in the hands of the enemy. But you will have the power to summon the crystal, no matter where it lies or in however many pieces. Just concentrate and it will appear before you.”

She closed her eyes, feeling a surge of power surface, one that had lain dormant in her for an untold amount of time, and the familiar birthmark appeared on her brow as she felt for the seven pieces of the crystal, bidding them to become one and come to her.

Luna watched it all in utter amazement. A gentle silver light kissed Serena’s form, and in a bright, blinding flash, a bright crystal appeared before them. She wanted to shout out in glee that not only had the princess been found, but they’d also recovered two of the rainbow crystals from Tuxedo Mask as well as five crystals from the Dark Kingdom. And they had the Silver Crystal. Soon, the Dark Kingdom would be no more than a bad memory.

Serena, or rather, Serenity, rose from her bed as the Silver Crystal materialized in her hands, staring up at the moon, her dead home.

“Is it really gone, Luna?” she asked, her sundress shifting to that of the gown she wore on the day of her Coming of Age.

Luna merely nodded, completely in awe of her princess, who was trapped within Serena’s body. She smiled to herself. She had found her. From what she remembered from the Silver Millennium, she did remember Queen Serenity begging her to find her daughter, to give her a normal life.

**Let her live as the other planet princesses do,** Queen Serenity had said. And with that, she sealed off Luna and Artemis’ memories of their princess.

That memory saddened Luna. For now she had a princess and yet, where did Serena’s memories go?

Trapped within the darker reaches of her mind, Serena pounded furiously on the emptiness, entreating whatever had trapped her here to be released. Instead, all she heard was a familiar, distinctive silvery laughter.

“When I get my hands on you, I’m gonna kill you!” she yelled up at it.

“Whatever you say, Small Lady.”“Will you at least tell me what’s going on?”“Just listen to the world around you.”As if by magic, which she supposed got her stuck like this in the

first place, she could see everything that her eyes saw, hear everything that her ears heard, and all of her other senses appeared to be working, though completely detached from herself. It was an odd sensation, not unpleasant, but not something she wanted to suffer through often.

Herself, or at least someone who sounded similar to herself, (though not quite, she amended, when she heard the slight accent), was speaking to Luna. She had the Silver Crystal! But how? Then she heard the girl speak of the Moon...her kingdom? *MY* kingdom? The Moon Princess had been hidden in her all along. What did that spell for her??

“Sit back and relax, Small Lady. You never know what’s going to happen now.”

When Serena found that voice, she was going to strangle her.

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Serenity had managed to cast a spell over her ‘parents’ and ‘younger brother’, Sammy, for fear they would recognize the changes that swept through their daughter. She tried valiantly to understand the changes that had racked her life, but was still confused. She was best friends with a girl named Molly, she was a poor student (now this distressed her beyond compare...she always felt that her mind was on par with that of Princess Amy), she hung out at the mall and arcade endlessly, and she loved to eat.

Well, some things never changed.

But she was also a klutz? Impossible! She was the picture of elegance and grace. Ballads had been written about her regal bearing and beauty. Only the other senshi and her mother had ever been as beautiful and refined as she was.

Oh, and she wasn’t the *best* Sailor Moon she could be. These things were impossible to comprehend as Luna told her. She

nearly threw the poor cat out of the room for treason. Then again, she felt that that would be blatantly going against her silver rule, inspired by Princess Raye of Mars and her callous treatment of others during arguments: Never kill the messenger.

Yet, for her own safety, as well as the safety of the senshi until they could devise a plan of how to destroy the Dark Kingdom, she would not reveal that she was the Moon Princess. At least, she would try to keep it to herself. But Serenity honestly didn’t know how to play the part of this ‘Serena’ person. She almost didn’t want to learn how.

So as her vacation from school ended, the Supreme Princess of the Silver Millennium was faced with one of her greatest challenges yet: How to be a ditz.

Serena heard that thought and was NOT amused.

She donned the girl’s familiar school uniform, admitting that it wasn’t *so* bad. Though she did miss the folds of her elegant gowns, at least during the Tokyo warmth she wouldn’t be stifled.

Serenity looked into the mirror at herself. Something wasn’t quite right.. oh goodness, her hair! Well, Serena’s hair. Before the switch, as she termed it, Serena’s hair had only been knee-length while kept in the Royal hairstyle. Now, however, a mere four days later, it touched the floor. She cursed the moon, knowing that even a pair of scissors wouldn’t save her from this fate. Couldn’t she just have NORMAL hair?

Luna heard the slight whimper and was tempted to go to school with Serenity, just to make sure that everything went fine. But she had to figure out *how* and *why* Serenity was here and where Serena was.

One part of her was absolutely thrilled that she had her memories of the princess as well as her Imperial Highness, but the other part longed for the teenage girl who hated her responsibilities.

“Serenity, what’s wrong?” she asked, bowing slightly to the princess. Serenity giggled. It was still weird for her to see her long-time friend as a cat all of the time and bowing no less! But amusement turned to annoyance when she remembered just how many times over the weekend that she had told Luna not to bow to her. It had taken a near miracle to get her to stop calling her “Your Highness,” “Your Excellency,” “Your Serene and Imperial Highness,” etc., etc.

She raised an eyebrow at Luna, then vowed to tell her to stop doing that later on. Meanwhile, she began to complain. Luna did, however, miss Serena’s patented wails. She didn’t like to hear her ward so calm, even though she was still frustrated.

“Luna, my hair grew back to its normal length! What are the people in school going to think? And I know, from experience, that it’s going to stay this long. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you how many times I’ve cut it and it just grew back right before my eyes in seconds.”

“Yes, I would, princess. I’ve seen you cut your hair,” Luna chuckled, which merited a scowl from Serenity. **Nope, not the same. This time, it’s not the same person behind those blue eyes flashing angrily at you. No waterworks, no wails, no crybaby routines.**

“You miss her, don’t you?” Serenity asked perceptively. She knew precious little of this world she’d been propelled into and she didn’t want to be here, even if she did know that elsewhere was death and overwhelming darkness. Someone else belonged here, and once she figured out where the Serena they knew was, she was bringing her back instantaneously.

Serena’s hope sprang anew and she liked this girl. Even though Serenity had pointedly called her a ditz, klutz, and a few other sarcastic expressions, her hope sprang alive again with the princess’s thoughts.

But first, they had to get through the first day.

Serenity walked slowly to school, being about a half an hour early to make sure she got there on time. Luna walked with her, just to show her where the school was. She kept exploring a bit ahead, trying to make sure that there were no shady people or demons lurking ahead, which justified a look of exasperation from Serenity.

“I can take care of myself, Luna,” she said, but her words went unheeded as Luna continued. In all actuality, though, Luna was just trying to make sure Serenity didn’t run into a certain dark-haired college freshman. The last thing she needed was for Serenity to blast Darien to Pluto when he insulted her. Although the look on his face WOULD be priceless...

Thankfully, no dark-haired men were waiting to bump into Serenity and Luna was glad for it. Sadly, though, she wouldn’t be able to protect her from him at the end of the day. **Hopefully, Serenity won’t be insulted by the teachers in school or any of the people...oh goodness, can’t I come with her? I need to protect her from this world!**

As if sensing Luna’s thoughts, Serenity smiled at Luna and would do her best not to embarrass this Serena or Luna. Though she did wonder how she was going to keep this from the senshi.

“Alright, Serenity, you have English first, then Mathematics, Home Economics, Biology, Lunch, History, and then Literature at the end of the day. How are you at those subjects?”

Serenity merely cocked her eyebrow at Luna. She’d finished the moon’s equivalent to Calculus long before Newton even invented it. History would be a bit difficult, especially since she’d missed the past thousand years of it...but she could always pick it up quickly. Literature would also be a problem for the same reasons. English, Math, Biology, and Home Economics should be no problem. Granted, she wasn’t nearly as good as Princess Lita, but she wouldn’t burn down the kitchen as Princess Mina certainly would.

But she did share one major characteristic with the Serena from this time: Lunch was *still* her favorite subject.

Most of her classes went quite uneventfully, save Ms. Haruna fainting when Serena not only got there on time, but also handed in her flawless homework. Serenity grinned to herself. Even though she’d hated her mother at the time for it, learning all of Earth’s major languages *had* been beneficial. And she adored that Math test. Geometry? How infantile! But sadly, because of the test, she could only wave at Amy before the test and ask her to meet her for lunch later on. Everyone loved her cookies during Home Ec. and she’d even managed to help Molly salvage her own. Bio had been a bit gross, though, when she had to dissect a fetal pig. She saw Lita and made a face as they both poked at the pig with their scalpels. One profession she knew she wasn’t going into was medicine...well, at least not surgery.

Lunch was a huge welcome as she sat down at a booth with Molly, a nerdy, goofy young man named Melvin, Amy, and Lita. Molly and Melvin left a bit early, and Serenity smiled at the budding couple.

“L’amour. Ah, c’est la vie, oui?” she giggled. Lita stared openly in confusion as Amy whispered what Serena had just said in French.

“Serena, when did you start speaking French?”Serenity shrugged her shoulders. “I just picked it up from a

movie,” she said convincingly, though Amy was still curious as to why her accent had been nearly perfect. Also, as she recalled English class, the same thing had occurred to her. Before the Serena she knew could barely make the “th” sound in a lot of the words, but now, she even said words more accurately than Ms. Haruna.

In a hushed whisper, Amy leaned over to Serenity and asked,“What happened to you on Friday?”A mature smile appeared on Serenity’s lips and she was tempted to

say “Wouldn’t you like to know, little water sprite” but decided against it.

“Luna and I will tell you guys later.” Serenity patted herself on the back. She was starting to get a

hang of the language a bit better, as well as the slang. Though she didn’t particularly like calling her friends ‘guys’ when they most certainly were girls.

After lunch, she didn’t have anymore classes with Amy or Lita, though she would have loved to have either of them to explain exactly what an America or a Shakespeare was.

Luckily, though, she hadn’t been called on, although she did get her math test back, with 105 written boldly across the front in red ink. **Awwh,** she thought to herself. **Mr. Yamamoto was depressed when someone actually answered and proved that its possible to have an infinite area and yet a finite surface area.** Perhaps only Amy and Melvin were the ones to get that bonus question right.

She was surprised to find that neither did, and poor Amy nearly beat her head against the wall when Serenity reminded her of Gabriel’s Horn. She decided to cheer Amy up by taking her to the arcade, whatever that would be. On the way, though, she felt that she should tell her friend, who was ashamed at her 100%.

“Amy, something *did* happen on Friday. This is a bit shocking but I have amnesia. I can’t remember anything about my life here on Earth. But I do remember about my life on the Moon and my dearest friends, the Sailor Senshi...my protectors. Each of you were princesses of your own planets, but you were also the protectors of the Princess of the Silver Millennium, guardians to the Princess Serenity...me. Somehow, when I was thrown against the wall, the part of me that is Serena was jarred away from consciousness and now *I’m* here. And Amy, that’s not all: we have the Silver Crystal too. Amy?”

The blue haired girl had long since passed out, ever since Serena had declared herself the moon princess.

**Why does this always happen to me?**

After Amy had woken up, Serenity told her again, telling Amy that if she fainted once more, she was going to send her to Mercury. But, her audience was attentive as she relayed her story. Though she feared Amy’s disapproval at who the princess really was, her friend was far more enthusiastic about it than she even dared to hope.

“I’m so happy that Serena’s the princess. Now I know why I always want to protect her!” Amy exclaimed happily. She decided that she wouldn’t be able to go with Serenity after all because now she had to tell the other senshi. Amy decided that it would be best if she broke the news, especially since everyone fainting when Serenity told them was trying her patience.

“Alright. Well, I’m off to figure out what a video game is. Is there anything I should beware? Luna had all these warnings for me earlier.”

Amy thought about it for a moment, then her eyes widened in fear. “Yes, don’t, I repeat, *do not* get angry at anyone named Darien Chiba. For some reason, he usually had a tendency to set you, well, Serena off, and with your powers, you might accidentally...” Amy trailed off, drawing her finger across her neck in a motion that insinuated that Serenity might kill Darien. Accidentally, of course.

“Amy, honestly, what do you take me for a fool?”Amy looked at her curiously as Serena fumed within Serenity’s

mind.“Wait don’t answer that. But I have been taught how to control my

powers. Besides, it was just like that with my Endy,” she sighed as a tear fell down her face. “Amore es bellisimo,” she swooned.

For once, Amy’s face was slightly confused. “Love is beautiful, Amy. Italian.”“You are good, princess.”

“LOVE?!” Serena screamed loudly, beating harder than ever on the reaches of the emptiness, causing Serenity to have a slight headache. She shook it off calmly as Serena stopped pounding. “Oh yeah, I forgot, I do love that oaf.”

Serenity walked with unconscious grace to the arcade, never once side-stepping out of someone’s way or tripping on any cracks. She looked upwards curiously when she saw the “Crown Arcade.” Serenity would be eternally grateful to Amy for giving her such excellent directions to all the places she was supposed to be familiar with.

**Avoid the crane game, the one with all the stuffed dolls,** Amy had said. The ‘Darien’ person would be there. But as she entered, it was right next to the sliding doors, so how could she avoid it? Besides, no one was there...it couldn’t hurt to see if she could get some of those dolls. Especially that Tuxedo Mask one sitting at the top.

She dug into her skirt pocket and pulled out a few quarters that her mother had given her earlier that morning. She found the corresponding slot and placed her money inside, wondering how she could get that doll. On her first try, nothing.

Second try, she got it, and it fell back down.The thing was rigged, she was positive of it. Oh well, if they

can cheat, so could she.On the third try, the claw picked it up, and using a bit of

childish magic she had been taught as a babe, the claw miraculously held the Tuxedo Mask doll, the only one in the game, as someone stared in awe. She felt eyes on her back, and smiled to herself. The doll was dropped into the bin and she bent down to pick it up.

“How did you—Meatball Head, how could *you* get that doll? I’ve been trying for weeks! I’ve paid for that doll three times over,” a sarcastic voice drawled in shock.

It was deep, rich, and velvety, soothing every sensation in her body with its sultry sound. And it would have soothed her into nothing more than a puddle had he not called her “Meatball Head.”

**Breathe, Serenity...**

Serena laughed. At last Her Imperial Highness, Little Miss Perfect, had met her match. Her mind formed some popcorn and a recliner as she sat back to watch and listen to the show. It wasn’t everyday she got surround sound THIS good.

She whirled around, her blue eyes narrowing calmly on the brazen young man. If she hadn’t been angry, perhaps she would have noticed the mysterious dark blue eyes focused only on her, the wild strands of midnight hair hanging dangerously close to his eyes, tousled carelessly giving him a rakishly sexy appeal. Her eyes assessed him more thorougly, and noticed the build of a greek god, though his clothing taste made him seem more like Pan than Apollo.

She schooled her fair skin back to its slightly golden pallor

instead of bright red and lowered her voice from the shrill scream she wished to let out. How had this man gotten this power over her? Now she knew why Amy wanted her to steer clear of Darien Chiba. For who else could this be?

**Damn you, Amy, you could have at least warned me that he was gorgeous.**

Her anger muddled eyes unclouded to a serene blue calm as she spoke,

“What did you call me?”Darien usually was prepared for *anything* Serena hurled at him,

including test papers, shoes, and doughnuts. But this icy voice and utter serenity actually scared him. **Don’t worry about it, Darien. She probably just learned how to keep the decibels lowered for a moment. Just keep pushing her.** Besides, he was still miffed (well, pissed was more accurate) that somehow his two rainbow crystals had just up and flown out the window on Friday night. He needed to vent his anger on something.

Enter Serena.“I called you Meatball Head. You act like you’ve never heard your

own name before.”“I’ll have you know, you insolent, pig-headed, arrogant man, that

my name is Serena, and I wish for you to call me it or don’t speak to me at all.” Her voice was still utterly serene and he felt as if he were drowning in her calm blue eyes that glittered, waiting for him to make the next move. When had she learned these new tactics with which to ruffle him, he wondered?

“Big words. What do you have toilet paper with words of the day, or have you actually been studying?”

She sighed loudly, then rubbed her temples. Why was he so mean to Serena? If she was apart of Serenity, then she had to be a nice person. Why did he torture her so? What had she done to deserve it?

“Darien, please tell me why you can’t, for once, be nice to me. What did I ever do to provoke such actions of hatred from you towards me?” she asked quietly. The entire arcade shifted their heads, waiting for Darien to answer, as they did with every fight that usually happened between the two, which was generally at least three times a week. Half the people in the arcade only came because they wanted to see the legendary fights. And this one seemed MUCH better than most. Serena, the boisterous blonde, had for once ruffled the stoic, brooding Darien. Even Andrew was straining his ears awaiting an answer.

Darien looked as if he’d been physically struck. He never thought, or even dared to think, that his arguments with Serena were anything more than innocent teasing. Hatred? Far from it. Well, maybe not *far* from it. After all, Love was Hate’s twin. Didn’t she see that? If he truly didn’t like her, his attentions would have sunken into Indifference, the opposite of both Love and Hate.

Serenity took his silence as a confession that he really did hate her, which made Serena inside of her wail at an inexplicable volume, causing another headache. She could not hear Serena, but knew the girl was causing some sort of raucous and she fervently hoped that the girl would stop sometime soon. She couldn’t concentrate like this, and when she couldn’t concentrate, she might accidentally get angry and say, blow Darien up.

That quieted her.Serenity smiled to herself. So *that* was it. Serena liked

Darien.

“Oh god. No, she’s me and she *knows*! This is SOOOOOOO bad!” she would have started wailing again, but that would mean that Serenity would get a bully of a headache, and she didn’t want Darien to be little bits of human matter. Well, not always, though he did make her want to kill him sometimes.

But what would Serenity do with this knowledge was what scared Serena silly.

**Time to play.**

“So you *do* hate me,” she stated, though was inwardly smiling. Ahh, this brought back moments of her and Endymion when they first met. The sparks flew and so did pigs, hell froze over, and love was in the air! Come to think of it, he sort of looked like Endymion—

**Awwh, Sere, stop that wishful thinking. Just get these two together.**

She could have sworn she heard Serena say stop butting in her life, but she didn’t really care at that point. Besides, he was REALLY cute. Might as well have *some* fun while she was here. And if her hunch was right, she wouldn’t even be cheating on her beloved fiancèe. Darien saw that wicked smile playing on her lips and it took all of the self control he could muster not to kiss that evil grin away. The trickster, she was playing with him. Well, two could play at that game.

He grabbed her wrists and drew her closer to him, almost an embrace as the arcade took in a collective breath of air. Yet she seemed unfazed. Time to fix that, he thought smugly.

“No, quite the contrary, in fact.” He brought his face down to hers slowly as every person in the arcade leaned forward as his face advanced towards hers.

**I don’t think so, Darien. If I could resist my Endy, I can resist you too,** she thought, though the Serena in her screamed to let her stay still.

She giggled like a schoolgirl, raised an eyebrow seductively with a small smile dancing on her lips, and quickly slid out of Darien’s grasp.

She moved about five feet away from him and finally remembered the Tuxedo Mask doll in her hand. She kissed it, then tossed it to him, before charmingly leaving the arcade, but not before she tossed one long ponytail over her shoulder and said loudly,

“Oh, and Darien, the opposite of hate is indifference. You didn’t seem *that* indifferent to me a minute ago,” and then she was gone.

In all the years that Andrew had known Darien, he’d never seen him blush.

And that color was just unhealthy.

Serena: 1Darien: 0

Andrew merely whistled, curiously wondering when Serena had become such a flirt. Taking another look over at his stunned friend, he realized he liked this facet of Serena more. If she could give him just a *little* more dirt on Darien, he’d be set for life with teasing material.

Serena, meanwhile, wanted to both hug and beat the daylights out of Serenity. How could she...oh goodness, her reputation was being

dragged through the mud. From innocent girl next door to flirt in one toss of her hair. Then again, she *loved* Darien’s touch, so gentle and yet so fierce. It was like a caramel milkshake, just better.

**Oh come now, Serena. You *know* you liked it. I certainly did.** she felt that wave of indignation and then defeat wash over her. It was getting easier for her to tell how Serena was feeling. Whether that meant her time was shortening or if she was just able to communicate better was a mystery to her.

A beep came from her bag, disturbing her thoughts. She pulled it out and saw Raye’s angry face.

“Meatballs for Brains, get down here!” Obviously, Amy hadn’t gotten around to telling Raye yet.Then again, maybe she had. One never knew with Raye.“On it, brat. Moon Prism Power, Make-up!” she transformed in a

dark alley and quickly high-tailed it to the parking lot where the other senshi were fighting. Mercury glanced at her, as well as Venus and Jupiter, who made a slight bow, acknowledging that they knew. Raye, or rather, Sailor Mars, did not and thus she didn’t like that Serena wasn’t there instanteously.

“Sailor Moon, c’mon you’re late!! Stop standing there gawking at the youma! Kill it!”

She held up a hesitant hand. This demon was a human that was transformed into a demon by the Negaverse. Zoicite’s laughter rang in her head, as if he were nearby, but not on the scene of the crime.

Luna stood by the outskirts of the battle, glanced at Serenity, and she knew that sooner or later the Negaverse was going to have to find out. Besides, surprise attacks really weren’t their thing anyway. She pulled out her wand, complete with the Silver Moon Crystal, startling Mars and Zoicite. Plus, Luna had *sort of* devised a plan.

“Moon Healing—"She was cut off by a body slamming into hers, protecting her from

an explosion of where she once stood. She barely had time to thank Tuxedo Mask when both the demon and Zoicite began attacking them.

“Moon Healing, Escalation!” she yelled as the crystal’s energy pooled around them, shielding them from the fire and dark energy being hurled at them.

Though the senshi *knew* that Serena was the Moon Princess, it wasn’t confirmed in their minds until her attack suddenly became offensive. The crystal, reacting to its mistress’s desire for more power, shifted her clothing, from that of Sailor Moon to one of Princess Serenity’s white gowns of the Silver Millennium. Their moment of awe heightened when suddenly Zoicite’s barrier was broken and he was incinerated by the Crystal’s holy light.

All dropped onto one knee in respect, bowing to their princess, save one.

Tuxedo Mask was downright confused. First Serena had befuddled him earlier in the arcade (not to mention humiliated him...but he supposed all was fair in love and war) and now Sailor Moon was the Moon Princess with the Silver Crystal. He wavered for a moment until the Moon Princess’s voice snapped him out of almost passing out.

“Oh no, Cape Boy, you pass out and I will moon dust you where you stand. That would make you the third person to faint—" She looked at Mercury, who held up her fingers and stood near an unconscious Sailor Mars... “Ok, sixth person to faint on me since I told. Now why do you want this crystal?” she asked, reading his mind point-blank, not caring if she wasn’t really supposed to do that to people. At least she didn’t peek into his mind and inner thoughts like that snoop Endymion would be

libel to do. Ah, the thought of her love made her swoon.“Princess, are you alright?” Venus asked gently in response to

Serenity’s own wavering.“Yes, yes, Venus, I’m fine. Don’t worry about it. But Tuxedo

Mask, why do you want my crystal?”Surprisingly, he knelt before her, seeing the true face of the

princess that haunted his dreams. With hands that trembled with the effort of it, he took off his hat, bowing his head in humility.

“You—You have haunted my very dreams, asking me to bring you that crystal. I once asked you, in my imaginings, what the Crystal could do. You said, perhaps, it would restore my memory. I lost my parents in a terrible car crash. I have no recollection of my life before my sixth birthday.”

His heartfelt story wrenched her heart, twisting it in ways she didn’t think it could. Her grip on the Crescent Moon Wand tightened as she felt sadness for his story. No one should ever have to go through that type of pain, least of all a helpless little boy. Serenity sank to her own knees, tenderly lifting his chin so that they would be eye level. She saw not the hardened man who’d spent most of his life alone, but the ever free spirit of a young boy who’d been shown down the wrong path. She even managed to see past the mask, to the unmistakeably blue eyes shining at her with awe and trust, the dubious poker face falling away.

“And you wish for the memories of this life time to return to you?”

He merely nodded.“Then so be it,” she said as a gentle light poured around them,

dipping them in its purity. Her kind blue eyes stared into his own as memories of his past crept into him, overwhelming him that people had once loved him, cherished him as the most important person in their life. Tears traced a path down his face as he finally saw them for more than faces in a picture, finally remembering their touch, their love, their dreams for him. The sadness at their death swept over him anew, fresh that now he understood what he had truly lost.

With every last detail of his old life now deeply etched into his mind, Serenity collapsed, her energy spent.

Meanwhile, Serena watched in complete awe. She, too, saw the scenes of his life unfolding before him like a finely woven cloth, and she wondered why the little boy looked so familiar. Actually, something nagged at her, but she chose to ignore that little something until she was back in control of her body. But for now, let Serenity bear the stress of her life.

She thought she heard that taunting voice let out a disgusted sigh, but she merely stuck out her tongue at it.

“You locked me in here, you shut up.”

Tuxedo Mask wasn’t sure what to do with this angel of mercy that had seemingly fallen from the sky and right into his arms. He could just kiss her, if she wasn’t unconscious, that is.

He gently hugged her still form, hoping that she wasn’t overly tired from her exertion, hoping that he could pour his own energy into her as she had done for him when she gave him his memory back.

This left a disturbing thought sitting at the forefront of his mind. His long search for the crystal, the princess, and his memories was now over. What was there to do now? Of course, he would protect this princess with his life, but then what? In his dreams, she begged

him so zealously that he had never doubted that, within his dreams, she loved him. But now that she was a living, breathing human being, what did that spell for them? True, she was Sailor Moon, who he knew had a crush on him, but as the princess, she seemed different. Actually, she seemed different ever since she hit her head—

**Oh goodness,** he thought sadly. **Here I am, *finally* getting my memories back after having amnesia and now she goes and falls prey to it. You’d think we were in contention with who could out do the other.**

Mercury was the first to approach after her princess’s fainting spell. Perhaps now Serena would come back?

That idea was shot to hell when she saw the mature blue eyes open hazily. Somehow, now they could tell the difference just by looking in her eyes. Shakily, Tuxedo Mask and Mercury helped her to her feet, afraid as to how to truly address and acknowledge her. Sensing their thoughts, she told them that she didn’t need to be treated like a princess. First and foremost, she was still their friend.

When she was finally capable of standing on her own, she turned to leave with her senshi when Tuxedo Mask quickly pulled her into an almost bone-crushing hug, saying “thank you” as if it were a chant, tears spilling down his face, soaking her silken dress. In something borne of spontaneity and gratitude, he brought his lips down to her own and kissed her passionately, tying her hands around his neck.

**Weeeelllll, Endy, he kissed me first, he man-handled me, he mauled me, and what can I say, I was forced to surrender!! I mean, come on, he looked SOOOOOOO much like you and I’m just a sweet little girl...good Serenity. Now your excuse is all planned out. Just keep kissing him.**

Serena giggled hysterically. Oh this was *perfect.* She’d forgotten just how well he kissed. Screw the damn caramel milkshake. She was like puddin’ now. Serenity could live now without fear of her life.

Serenity responded to his kisses like a woman who had been kissed many times by her true love, winding her fingers through his soft black hair, pressing her body closer to him, nearly molding herself to fit against him like a puzzle piece found. However, she made sure that his mask didn’t fall off during their fiery kisses. She didn’t want to spoil Serena’s surprise when she found out Darien was actually Tuxedo Mask.

As always, it seemed to her at least, she felt her knees waver for a moment, his arm around her waist supporting her slight weight almost completely. They continued kissing, until both had to ‘come up for air’ as Venus would later say. As she caught her breath, he continuously placed small butterflied kisses on her slightly swollen lips, not wanting to let the tempting lips to go unforgotten.

And how on Earth did that girl learn how to kiss like that?She pressed her lips tenderly to his again, almost wishing to stay

like that when she realized they were out in the middle of the open, with Sailor Jupiter catcalling, Venus swooning, Mercury blushing furiously in embarrassment, and Mars...well, Mars had fainted again. Luna didn’t even bother.

His cheeks were flushed, as she was sure her own cheeks were. She turned smiling demurely, quite the opposite of the seductress she was during their kiss and ran off with the other senshi, reverting back to Sailor Moon so that she could take those impossibly high leaps to the

top of the nearest low-rise building.“Wow...”

For the meantime though, Serena was cheering loudly within the crevices of her mind *SOOOOOO* proud of Serenity. She would do more than just spare the princess’s life. She would hug her, pledge her eternal gratitude, allegiance, and anything else the princess wanted if she would teach her how to floor a grown man like that. For once, her self-confidence surged and abounded greatly in her pride of this intricate facet of herself once thought dead.

Serena: 2Darien: 0

(not that *he* knew that)

And in the Dark Kingdom...Beryl felt the surging energy of the Silver Crystal as it flared

to life in the hands of a powerful opponent. “The princess...”Kunzite shimmered into appearance at his Queen’s summoning,

wondering why Zoicite had yet to return. It was true that Zoicite had not been in good graces with the Queen when five of the rainbow crystals just disappeared.

Had she destroyed him?Beryl’s face had drained of all expressions and took on a deathly

color, even for her demonic face, when she realized two things.The senshi had the Silver Crystal.The senshi had their princess, who was none other than Sailor

Moon.She could have smacked herself for not realizing it before. It

was all so obvious, only a fool wouldn’t see it. There had never been a senshi of the moon and she knew that the other senshi were in fact the princesses of the other planets. She amended that fool statement though, there *must* have been glamour magic working there. Moreover, she felt something else, like sorcery, involved since the demon had almost done away with the moon senshi.

She gasped in horror as she looked at the fluid movements and delicate beauty, features that haunted her dreams, knowing somehow that damn moon queen had managed to preserve her daughter when she *saw* the young woman kill herself. Damn that Serenity to hell.

The air seemed to taunt her, whispering to her that she would be the one to go to the burning depths of hell, torturing her with reminders of her long dead soul, chiding her for being weak and sinking into jealousy for someone who did not return her feelings of infatuation. Infatuation, for that’s all it was. She had not truly *loved* the prince of Earth. Instead, she loved his position, his looks, and the accomplishment that would come when she stole him off the market as the most desired man in the universe.

“You destroyed an entire galaxy because you could not rule it. And though some kind soul let you survive, you still refuse to change your ways of evil. Tsk tsk. And now, now the fair Princess Serenity’s going to send you to hell. How sad.” The voice’s silvery laughter mocked her, and Beryl had to wonder what sort of trickster would be so hard up for laughter as to mock the tortured queen.

Beryl sent Kunzite away, telling him to simply destroy the Moon Princess, not really giving him any plans with which to accomplish that

near impossible feat. Especially since she knew it was the well-trained princess she was up against.

She tried to ignore the prophecies that blatantly stated that Princess Serenity’s power far and away surpassed her mother’s, rivalling a goddess’.

That she was indestructible.The snide voice continued to laugh at her as if her plight were

the funniest thing it had ever seen before. Beryl wanted to formulate a plan, but knew it would be futile. She’d go and talk to Queen Metallia later on today.

But how had her Imperial Highness defeated Zoicite so easily?The voice’s laughter continued.

___________

Darien was in a daze when he returned to his apartment. He felt almost every emotion coursing through his heart.

Elation.Completion.Joy.Guilt.Love.Jealousy.Awe.And just about anything else he could possibly imagine.

He was elated and overjoyed that he finally remembered his parents. His mother’s gentle blue eyes and his father’s dark hair, the familiar chuckle his father made while amused, which sounded suspiciously like his own, his mother’s adoration over every little thing her son did.

He was awed by the overwhelming power that Sailor Moon, or rather, the Moon Princess displayed as she wielded the Moon Crystal, destroying her enemies as if they were no more than a speck of dust.

Love for the Moon Princess...rivalled only by his love for Serena. Guilty for both of them, seeing as how he hadn’t wanted to betray either, but dammit, he loved them both. He banged his head against the wall twice, before he realized he was doing that far too hard.

Jealous because Sailor Moon should *not* have known how to kiss like that. Well, the Moon Princess at least. Who taught her how?!!

And Completion when he remembered the feel of the kiss, her warm lips caressing his own, velvety tongue memorizing the crevices of his mouth, soft fingers teasing his hair out of place...

Darien shuddered slighyly, then headed straight for the bathroom. He needed a shower.

A very *cold* shower.

______________

“You go girl!” Jupiter said as she de-transformed, the lithe form of Lita Kino grinning devilishly at Serenity as she de-transformed. Serenity had the grace to blush a beautiful pink before Mars cleared her throat, still in full senshi garb. Serenity raised her eyebrows. She wondered what Raye was going to do. That girl had only been predictable in her unpredictability...

...she knelt, followed in suit by all of the other senshi. Serenity looked irked, but smiled when she saw that her friends were

trying to pledge their loyalty to her once again. So she too knelt.“I’m not your princess, Sailor Senshi. I’m your friend. You guys

watch my back and I’ll watch yours, ok?” she said smilingly, as they all hugged each other.

“O...k... now that that’s out of the way...how was the kiss?” Mina asked slyly, her eyes half-lidded, her face alight with a look Serenity wasn’t all that sure she liked.

“Um...awesome?”“That’s all you have to say about it?” Lita continued prying, her

face transformed by the same meddlesome look that had encompassed Mina. Serenity backed away slowly, contemplating perhaps that she should have kept them in fear of her...maybe then they wouldn’t pry like this.

She held up the moon wand threateningly as Raye de-transformed and started in on her.

“If you guys don’t stop, I’m gonna moon dust you all,” she said menacingly, not that anything short of hell’s fires would have stopped their meddling.

“Lita, pin her,” Mina announced in a voice that was strangely commanding, taking her rightful place as leader of the Senshi, even if it was for something this frivolous.

“What?” Serenity squeaked, barely dodging Lita as she tried to trap her. It was time to turn tail and run as far away from those mad women as soon as possible.

All that was left behind her was a trail of dust.“Oh you *will* tell us Serenity. Senshi, Attack!” Mina yelled in

a war cry, all of them took off after her.“They certainly have lost their minds,” Artemis said, finally

being the last informed of the princess’s discovery. “Well, duh,” came Luna’s curt remark. She’d been trying to tell

him that those girls were crazy for weeks. Even Amy had gone after them.

Breathing heavily, Serenity spotted a movie theatre, ducked in after paying an absurd ticket price for the new Tom Cruise movie, and changed her clothes to something more comfortable she had slipped in her bag. When she looked at the poster of him, she had to admit the man was absolutely gorgeous. From what she saw of most handsome men, their features were similar:

Blondes and auburn men had blue or green eyesBrunettes had brown eyes However, her Endymion, Darien, Tuxedo Mask, and this Tom fellow

all had dark hair and blue eyes. Quite the contradiction from the norm. Come to think of it, their smiles were all breathtaking when they deemed to show it, their eyes had a wicked fire burning within, and when they were in needs of haircuts, they looked the cutest.

She took a seat and watched the action movie, completely engrossed, though nearly scandalized when she saw the steamy love scenes. Ok, she’d like to take that girl’s place and momentarily thought of using her powers to do so...

...but that was wrong, wasn’t it?She could just *hear* the Serena inside of her saying “NO! GO FOR

IT!”**Chica, you need a boyfriend!** “Damn right,” came the exasperated reply.

Darien, too, had decided that after his torrid encounter with the moon princess, he needed to wind down, away from women. So what better than to see than an action movie where he was certain to not see any meatball-headed blondes, for if they were even here, they would be piled into the romance flick down the hall.

Of course, he forgot this was a Tom Cruise movie and that the theatre was piled with teenage girls. The fact that he even remotely resembled the heartthrob sent them running towards him almost at first glance, until he sat in the back, still not noticing the blonde four rows ahead and to his right.

She got hungry about halfway through, and decided on this new wonder called ‘popcorn.’ It didn’t beat her food at home, but it certainly was good.

“Mmm...yummy,” she said, tasting the popped corn kernels, overdrenched in butter.

“And fattening,” A masculine voice added.**Ding ding ding. Round three.**Without turning, she smirked, then recalled his soul-searing kiss.

If she didn’t have her own fiancee from her own time...well, even though Serena was herself, the girl would have some serious competition in the form of one long dead Moon Princess.

“Hello, Darien. And here I thought I only ran into you at the arcade.”

Did he detect amusement in that voice? Did she *really* know how much power she held over him? From that tone, he’d definitely have to say that was an affirmative. But he had a girlfriend...sorta. Well, he had a true love in the form of one Moon Princess, a/k/a Sailor Moon. Come to think of it, all the women in his life had those same dual buns atop their heads. So he had a thing for child-like hairdos.

**Some go for blondes, some go for legs, I go for meatballs. Great. Now I’m a cradle robber.**

Serenity could barely contain her laughter at his silly thoughts. Besides, if he knew the age difference between herself and Endymion, he might actually choke on his soda. The idea was enough to put mischief into her mind.

“Down Sere! Down girl!” Serena yelled.**Ok, ok, I get the point. Plus, I don’t think he needs to know

that I was about 200 years older than Endymion.**Serena’s eyes went wide and then said, “Wonder what *his* daddy

thought of that one.”**It was a forbidden relationship. The moon and earth were

destroyed because of it.**“I guess not too happy then, huh?”**Nope. Well, there was more to it, but that’s part of the reason

we died.**“You’ll have to tell me all about it later. Meanwhile, kiss him

too!”**Your wish is my command, Princess Serena.**

Turning around slowly, she licked her fingers free of the butter, delighting immensely in his sudden in-take of breath. She stopped after four fingers, holding up her pinky and said in a low voice,

“Want some?”Serena thought she peed in her pants right there. Lucky for her,

though, that someone else was in control of her body, otherwise that would be highly embarrassing.

And much to her delight, Darien took the proffered pinky into his mouth, teasing her finger with his tongue as well as sucking off the last of the butter.

“You know, that’s actually kinda gross...well, if it wasn’t happening to me, at least it would be. I mean, if someone told me about it—"

**Shut up, Serena, you’re gonna talk right through the good part!**

**And there I was, Endy, minding my own business, and he just tried to bite my pinky off!...excuse number 2, done.**

She looked at him with wide, innocent eyes, wondering exactly when he was going to confess to Serena that he loved her, that way he wouldn’t feel so guilty about cheating on her with her alter egos.

“What is it that you want, Darien?” she cooed softly, lightly grasping his chin to make him gaze at her. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think he was being seduced.

And he didn’t know any better.“What do you do to me?”“Wouldn’t *you* like to know?” she asked, licking her lips.

**...And I’d like to thank you *so* much, Endymion, for playing the flirting game with me, else I would have never been able to pull this off...**

Frustrated and bewitched by her, he grabbed her wrist for the second time that day, and then led her outside.

“Darien...um, Darien! I wanna see my Tommy!” she protested lightly. “I haven’t seen this movie before!”

“He kills the bad guy in the end, and goes off with the girl.”“Hmph.”Walking together along the well-lit streets in silence, with

Darien finally leading them into a nearly deserted skyscraper (for which he had a key to), grasping her hand as they caught the elevator up the seventy stories and then walking up the last set of steps that led to the roof. Along the way, Darien told her that there was a movie studio inside that he worked in part time during the school year. It seemed that his job working at a prominent computer software company didn’t have flexible hours, but he came back to work for them every summer, actually able to support himself throughout the entire year off of his summer salary.

“Here it is,” he said, stepping out of the dark corridor into a pitch black night. Serenity was not amused.

“Here what is?” she asked, slightly peeved for being dragged out of a perfectly tantalizing Tom Cruise movie, whom she was positive would be the father of her first child, Endymion be damned.

“Still fuming over ‘Tommy,’ Meatball Head?” She was going to slap him...“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six....”“What are you doing?”“Counting down so I don’t slap you because of that absolutely

horrible nickname. I happen to like my hair, Mr. Nasty Green Blazer.”He gasped sharply. **How DARE she insult my favorite, comfortable

blazer.**“Yeah yeah yeah, comfort does *not* mean that you have a good

sense of fashion, my dear.”How had she known what he was going to say? But it certainly did

shut him up. He took her hand and led her out farther onto the roof, then pulled a blanket out of a storage closet.

**Now what’s *HE* thinking of doing up here?**“Now what’s *HE* thinking of doing up here?”

Both Serena and Serenity had the same thought, which obviously became apparent on her moonlit, horror-struck face. Both were absolutely scandalized by his brazen, wanton behavior. Why to think that a young, innocent girl would do something like that and on a public building no less—

He rolled his eyes. “I’m not like that, Serena. Now just lay down on the blanket and look up.”

That sounded vaguely familiar to Serenity...

‘I’m not like that, Serenity. Come on, you’ve known me for almost ever. Now just lay down on the cloak and look up at the sky. I’ve something to show you.’

“Awwh, Endymion had said that to her.” Serena was back with the her popcorn, though this time the flavor of choice was white cheddar.

She looked at him with a bit of incredulity, but still obeyed, laying down on the slightly chilled sleeping bag. Although she had a feeling she knew what he wanted to show her, she let herself be led by his calm voice, one she did allow to alleviate her every emotion now.

He laid down next to her, though not willing to look at her directly, stealing a few sidelong glances out of the corner of his eye.

“Why do you call me Meatball Head?” she asked, breaking the silence first and sitting up.

“Why do you get so angry when I do?”“Someone from my past made fun of my hair—"“Unpleasant memories?” he asked.“Quite the opposite in fact. I suppose circumstances being what

they were, we couldn’t— Nevermind,” Serenity started, only to stop, realizing that he didn’t know she had lived for a *very* long time before him.

Jealousy threatened to rear its ugly head as Darien could have sworn he felt his eyes turn green...but he stopped at the wistful look in her eyes. Would that look ever be for him? Forcing his mind to be clear of the jealousy, he asked in a voice far too even,

“Who was he?” Serenity smiled a secret smile, then shook her head slightly.“It’s not important anymore.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN NOT IMPORTANT!! YOU DIED FOR ENDYMION!!” Serena yelled.

**Would you *shut up*?! I’m trying to get you a boyfriend, now SILENCE!**

“Yes, your Imperial and *Serene* Highness.”**Don’t push me.**

Serenity lay back down, only to feel slightly uncomfortable at laying on the buns in her hair. She sat up again, mumbling something about her mother and stupid hairstyles...or something that Darien couldn’t quite make out.

Serenity unwound the balls atop her head, wondering just how much

of a dirty look her mother would be giving her if she saw her. ‘Serenity, how could you take your hair out of the royal style in

front of a mortal?’‘Honestly, Mother. It’s just hair.’The queen would purse her lips and sigh, saying that once upon a

time she too was a wild young girl who loved laughter—THE QUEEN!**Ooh, mother, if this is your fault, there’ll be hell to pay!**

Darien, meanwhile, stared in surprise. He’d never seen the fair Lady Meatball Head without her trademark balls. What was he to call her now?

As if reading his mind, Serenity looked over at him.“And now you can’t call me Meatball Head. And the reason I wear

my hair like this is all because of my hair’s absurd length,” she said, struggling with the last pin as the wealth of her flowed freely over her shoulders and down her back. She stood up so he could see just how long it was. She wasn’t quite 5 feet tall, but her hair certainly was well over that length, some of it spilling onto the floor.

“Wow, if you wore your hair out of the meatballs, you’d be an even bigger klutz.” Immediately, he regretted his words, feeling guilty that *once again* he’d gone back on his promise to be kind to the woman that held his heart.

“Oh shut up.”She smirked happily when he did. “Now what were you going to show me that is keeping me away from

my Tommy?” He frowned; **Was she still on the Tommy bit? He’s a happily

married man, give it a rest!** “Lay back down and look up.”She complied, almost knowing exactly which order he would go in as

he showed her the heavens. Endymion had always been so predictable...He leaned closer to her, delighting in the soft caress of the fall

of golden hair touching his exposed skin and the slight fruity perfume she wore. He could get used to this, but sadly, he had to show her something rather than just open all of his senses to the beauty next to him.

“Look up there. At the stars...what do you see?”**Hmmm...to ruin it and name all of the constellations or let him

drag me along on this wild goose chase?**“WILD GOOSE CHASE!!” Serena yelled.**Ok, alright already. Besides, I had to sit through it when Endy

did this to me a thousand years ago too. What, did he honestly think that the future queen of the Milky Way Galaxy didn’t know the stars within it?**

“But he was gorgeous, so you let him continue.”**EXACTLY!**

“I see big balls of burning gases...why, what do *you* see?” Serenity smiled happily, gratified in the slightly annoyed, amused look he gave her. “What?”

“Ok, smarty pants. Do you know all of the constellations?”“No...but I can show you where the dipper constellations are.” She

pointed to the North Star, then began to trace her way along the other stars that made the little dipper and then to the big dipper.

“But did you know that they were apart of two larger constellations, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor?” he informed her.

“Ohh!! The story of Kalisto and her child...whose name escapes me at the moment! They were turned into Bears and placed into the heavens when Hera discovered Zeus’ infidelity.” Serena piped up.

**You know about Mythology? They told me you were a bad student!**

“That’s because school isn’t interesting! If they had mythology, I’d be sooo awesome!”

**I knew you were me.**“Uh-huh...and what about those ditz comments?”Silence.“Figured.”

“The bear constellations?”“Do I detect a mythology buff?” Darien asked, quite amazed.“You could say that.”“So you know the story of Zeus’s betrayal of Hera that resulted in

the constellations being placed into the sky?”“Yup,” she said, snuggling a little bit closer to Darien when a

particularly cold breeze blew by. “Are you cold?” he asked, taking off his coat and putting it

around her. “Not anymore...” she said, wrapping it around her even tighter.

“Are you sure you’ll be ok?” Endymion had done something similar with his cape, but alas, he caught a particularly resilient cold after that, even going so far as to deny its origin.

“Nah, I’m fine.”“Famous last words,” she muttered before moving closer to him,

wrapping part of the jacket around him. Not that he *minded* any of this. Being bold, he wrapped his arms around her beneath the large jacket. Surprisingly, she merely leaned her head back against his chest, which had Serena giggling like the teenager that she was. Wow, she was *really* enjoying not being in her body. She could feel everything and yet talk and talk and talk and he’d never hear any of her silly thoughts.

He lowered his voice and began to point out other constellations, which were surprisingly bright due to their height off the ground. Serenity wasn’t really paying that much attention, just enough to say “ooh, that one’s pretty,” ever-so-often when he pointed out a particularly bright one. She was also grateful that she didn’t *really* have a curfew. Ah, the beauty of magic on one’s parents. She was getting sleepy, and he was just so comfortable and warm, and his voice was so relaxing that she dozed lightly.

**But Endy darling, he had me tied up in his arms, just like you would, I couldn’t *help* but to succumb. Excuse number three, ready and waiting.**

“Did you ever cheat on your boyfriend?” Serena asked incredulously. This chick came up with too many excuses to be innocent to that crime.

**Nope. This is the first time I’ve even come close.**“Goodness, you are good, you know.”**Yup.**

“Serena?”“Hmm..?” she asked sleepily, not really registering anything save

the warm alcove of his arms.“Are you still awake?”

“No...” she said, still dozing.“Am I really that boring?”“Do you really want me to answer that?” she asked jokingly,

slurring her words a little. He chuckled. **Hmm...I wonder if she’s a night person or a morning

person...wonder what she’ll say...** he thought suspiciously. Since Serenity was more than half asleep, she wasn’t even bothering to read the conniving man’s mind, which wasn’t really a good thing...

“Serena...why do we fight so much?”“Because you are a pompous--”“I’m not goading you...I’m serious.”“Oh. Because you tease me first.”“That’s it?”“And because I think you suffer from little boy’s syndrome.”“What?”“Little Boy’s Syndrome. You can’t communicate with girls you like

without teasing them. Case in point, moi.” He nearly choked on whatever retort was threatening to come out of his mouth. She just basically confessed that she knew that he liked her. And yet she was still, curiously enough, in his arms.

“Tease...”“Who me?” she asked, waking up a little more, but still feeling

very loose with her words. She moved even closer. Perhaps her loose tongue while sleeping was actually helping her for once.

“Yes, you,” his breath was hot on the side of her face and even though she should have been used to this from Endymion, she wasn’t and she was still easily susceptible to blushing as red as a beet. Damn them both.

“Well, what can I say? I have to fend you off somehow, don’t I?” she said smilingly, turning her head slightly to look into his shining blue eyes, which seemed lighter, tenderer in the moonlight. And to him, her eyes made her look more mature and so much like his princess...he couldn’t but help to close the small gap between them.

“Do you really want to fend me off?” “Not at all,” she said, her breathing shallow as she raised her

arms to wrap themselves around his neck. Their lips inched towards each other, their eyelids closing over their passion-drugged eyes when a loud crash forced their heads away from each other.

Serenity, quite unwillingly, moved her arms from their quite comfortable position around his neck and turned to see what was the matter.

“Don’t let it be the Dark Kingdom. Don’t let it be the Dark Kingdom. Don’t let it be the Dark Kingdom...” Serena chanted.

She glared.It just *had* to be the Dark Kingdom.

“Oh, am I interrupting something?” A cutting voice asked. Serenity’s growled, muttering some of the more *choice* words in the Japanese language. Even Darien had to raise his eyebrows at the seemingly innocent-minded young woman half-sprawled on his chest.

Stepping out of the shadows, a man with shoulder-length white hair and a gray general’s uniform eyed them warily. They certainly looked like innocent enough humans, perhaps high school sweethearts. Why had the dark crystal led him here? As if the Silver Crystal was with that innocent young blonde girl.

Blonde?

He smiled, remarking the length of the blonde hair. His memories of the dead White Moon Kingdom were few, but he did remember that the princess had extremely long blonde hair. The man, too, seemed familiar, but he’d deal with that later on. Right now, all he had was revenge for Zoicite on his mind.

Opening a small portal, from seemingly nowhere five demons stepped out. Serenity couldn’t be sure, be she could have sworn that they called themselves the “Doom and Gloom Girls” or some other sort of gibberish like that. Not surprisingly, at least for Serenity, Darien threw her out of the way, but alas, none too gently.

“Oh, so the little boy has a backbone?”Had it just been Serena, surely she couldn’t have taken the five

creatures by herself. Her training wasn’t that good...But now, sadly for Kunzite, he had to deal with one *very* pissed

off Princess of the Moon. Darien, for his own protection, of course, found himself soon

very unconscious thanks to Serenity and some of her other childhood magic. Kunzite raised his eyebrows. So he was right. This *was* the princess.

“Damn straight I’m the princess. And if you’d like to end up like your little friend, Zoicite, I do suggest that you leave. Now.”

Serena, meanwhile, was going to watch the show with keen interest. Perhaps she could learn something from this girl. *Besides* she was more interesting at this fighting demons thing than Serena was. She had backbone, she had skill, she had finesse...

...where the hell did *that* word come from? “Oh great, she and her French are rubbing off on me.”

Kunzite finally saw what the queen of darkness saw. This was no ordinary Sailor Moon. This was a different woman altogether. He had never witnessed the princess’s true power, for at the time of Earth’s annihilation of the moon kingdom, she had been far too distraught to aide her mother in the moon’s retaliating attack. But rumor had it that the princess was much stronger than her mother. Had he not seen the aura surrounding her, he might have doubted that.

But where the predecessing generals had been foolhardy, cowardly, weak, and stupid, Kunzite pointedly was not. He was the leader of the four generals while they had been human, guarding his best friend, Endymion, Prince of Earth. Jadeite, Nephrite, and Zoicite all had their own skills, but he had been match for all of them. And the same was true when they were in the Dark Kingdom. He would not, and could not fail where they had.

From somewhere, Serenity pulled out the Crescent Moon Wand. She hadn’t even bothered to transform. However, the golden crescent moon appeared on her forehead and glowed dangerously.

Not so far away in Juuban, four girls felt something pull at them, urging their transformations without their phrases or wands. Their princess needed them and they knew *just* where to find her.

It was as if the heavens themselves cried as light burst forth

from the wand and the crystal at its center. Kunzite had already begun his attack, sending the five demons at Serenity, with them surrounding her and Darien, who lay at her feet.

Even from the ground, 700 feet or more below, the Sailor Senshi could see the light show. Figuring they couldn’t jump that high (ok, so

Venus actually tried. Surprisingly, she actually jumped up twenty stories...well, before she fell back down and Mars called her stupid...), they entered the building (broke in...but what’s a few misdemeanors between the senshi?) and took the elevator up most of the building, and begrudingly walked up to the roof.

Meanwhile...

The princess wasn’t *really* having problems. No. Really. The fact that those annoying claws kept coming at her wasn’t *truly* disturbing that perhaps they might accidentally, oh, say *kill* her or something.

Maybe she should have kept Darien awake after all.

“Do *not* tell me you’re gonna die in *MY* body!” Serena screeched.

Serenity gritted her teeth. Concentrating, not on the long scratch she just received across her arm, she felt the crystal’s power wash over her. Her true enemy was not the five weird girls in unusual clothing. Well, they weren’t her *main* enemy. “Cut off the tail of the snake,” as Mina would say. Especially since Beryl wasn’t here, it really *was* the tail. A wind picked up her hair and actually blew two of the girls off the building and they hit the ground with a satisfying splat.

“Ewwh, only *you* would think that was satisfying, Sere,” Serena said disgustedly.

Kunzite saw her eyes narrow on him. In the wave of power surging around him, he watched her hair dancing, playing on the waking man at her feet.

Weakness. He smiled and let loose a gale of energy at her feet. At first, she couldn’t comprehend why he would try to hurt her feet until she saw what *exactly* lay in his path.

“ENDYMION!!” she yelled, her mind replaying the events of her last moments on the moon, her beloved dying before her. She could not let it happen again, for if it did, she would surely die too. Again.

In a flurry of light, the Silver Crystal aided her in protecting him, her jeans and white blouse changing to the last gown she wore as her love died. A beam of pure white light poured forth from her, magnified immeasurably by the crystal and hit Kunzite square in his chest. Surprisingly enough, it hadn’t killed him. But in the midst of their battle, Darien witnessed Serena transforming into the Moon Princess.

Kunzite staggered, then hastily retreated when he saw not a trace of his henchwomen, who were probably the three incinerated piles of ash on the roof’s floor. And just as he vanished, the roof’s door swung open to reveal four senshi, ready for action—

“Damn. Just *HAD* to get to them first, huh, princess?” Jupiter asked, deflated. Serenity merely shrugged and checked to see if Darien was alright.

Actually, he was doing a little *too* well. In fact, he was pointedly glaring at her. The senshi watched their princess visibly shrink as he looked at her in horror.

“Uh-oh...” Venus squeaked. “Popcorn, anyone?” Mars asked.

“I got butter!” Jupiter piped up.“WILL SOMEONE GIVE IT A REST WITH THE POPCORN?!” Darien said

angrily, turning against them.“Um, anyone want some nachos?” Mercury asked quietly as Venus

hesitantly raised her hand.

“You’re the princess?” he asked aghast. That tone of voice did *not* sit well with either Serena or Serenity.

“Why? Do you think I *can’t* possibly be a princess?” she asked ticked, echoing Serena’s words.

“Well, you don’t exactly strike me as the princess type.”Not the *best* thing he could have said...“So what exactly *is* the princess type?!”“Not you...”Serenity sniffed. She was *really* beginning to see why Serena

couldn’t stand this man, even if she *did* love him. As she once said to Endymion ‘I love you, but I will *not* hesitate to kill you.’ The same went true for this...this... infuriating, bothersome, irksome man!

Her mind started playing with an image of her taking her small hands and wrapping them nicely around his egotistical, annoying neck then strangling the life out of him. The thought made her smile in spite of herself.

“How could you not tell me about this?!” Darien yelled at her, outraged that he had already played the guilt trip on himself for kissing her and thinking he wasn’t kissing her, or something like that.

“We aren’t exactly on friendly terms most of the time, Darien.”“AND WHO IS ENDYMION?!”**Here we go.**“None of your business,” Serenity said, motioning for the Sailor

Busy Bodies to get up and stop watching the spectacle. However, he wasn’t quite finished with their argument. He grabbed her wrist, not using the best of his judgment, which had long since flown off the building and was now a quivering mass next to the puddle of bad guy on the cement. Besides, he never had any good judgment when it came to her.

“Not my business? Who do you think you are?” her eyes went wide with shock. If that boy didn’t let her go, she was bound to throw him off the roof. Well, if he wasn’t stronger than she was. But still, it’s the principle of the matter.

She tried to tug her wrist free, but he was still stronger than her, no matter how much she tried to deny it. Now she *could* use her magic, but that would be wrong, wouldn’t it?

Not even Serena and her conscience were going to win this one. “SERENITY DON’T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Luckily, Sailor Jupiter saw what was going to happen, and she gratefully grabbed Serenity before Darien was *too* far off the ground. Granted, he hit the floor with a painful thud, but who knew *what* the twisted princess was going to do to him. Not that he didn’t deserve it...

“Ok, maybe grabbing your wrist was a little extreme,” Darien admitted, still half sprawled on the ground. “But I’m just so...argh! *You’re* so confusing, Serena!”

She rolled her eyes heavenwards. So now he was going to blame this on her? She lunged at him again, but again, Jupiter held her back.

“How am *I* the confusing one, Darien?” Serenity asked, from the safety of Jupiter’s arms.

“Because you’re...you’re....you’re YOU!!!”“Ladies and gentleman, give the man a prize for articulation in

speech....”“And I thought *I* was the sarcastic one,” Darien said, stepping a

little closer to the firebrand.