Okay everybody. This is just a little story about Serena and Darien. I thought that at some point, somebody was going to need to write a more realistic story about the two. Guess what, that someone is me. So, here?s what?s going on. This story has absolutely nothing to do with Beryl and the Negaverse, although it does take place during that time period. The events that occur from this story don?t coincide with the real series, so just enjoy and don?t try to figure out how everything is possible. Everything in the original Sailor Moon plot and story belong to Takeuchi Naoko, Kodansha, Toei Animations, and TV Asahi. Plus throw in DiC somewhere in there. So PLEASE don?t sue. Okay, that covers that. If you like, hate, or whatever, email me. alliezorn@yahoo.com I LOVE EMAIL!!! By the way, this could be rated PG-13 for language and violence. And a little note, I have no idea what the police code for hold up is, so I just guessed at 401. Bang! 'Just a normal day,' Serena thought as she walked toward the arcade. 'Fail a test, play video games, fight a Negaverse monster... Just a normal day.' Okay, so she hadn't fought any monsters today, but one was bound to show up. They always do. Entering the arcade, she avoided the counter at all costs. Darien was there. Which, secretly known only to her, was a perfect reason to run up there and stay all day. 'But hey,' she thought, 'that's just me and my childish fantasies.' So, back to Sailor V. "What I don't quite understand, Serena, is how you enjoy playing games about the Sailor Scouts." Serena turned to find Ami, Rei, and Lita behind her. (Mina hadn't come onto the show yet.) "Really, I thought you would be sick of it, having to do it for real everyday and everything." Serena was just about to open her mouth when Rei jumped in. "Yeah. Maybe you should spend a little more time practicing or trying to pass the ninth grade." Once again, Serena tried to get a word in on her behalf. "For once, I agree with them, Serena," Lita began. "Not really about the schoolwork..." Rei and Amy glared at her, "but the extra practice could help you out a lot. It would make fighting so much easier." And Serena opened her mouth to speak. "What exactly do you guys fight?" came a strange voice from behind them. Ami, Rei and Lita whirled around to find Darien standing behind them. Serena smiled a triumphant grin. "I was just going to tell you guys, this is Darien. Darien, you know Ami and Rei. Lita, this is Darien." Serena smiled sweetly as the three girls flared up red. "So, who is it that you guys fight?" Darien asked again. "My little brother Sammy. Now come on," Serena said, pushing her friends out of the arcade, "we have work to do." "Then why aren't you out here with us?" Rei asked. Serena looked surprised for a moment, then said from her place in the arcade, "I have to talk to Andrew about something. I'll meet you at the temple." With a final push, she sent them on their way. "What, don't like your friends hanging around?" Darien asked. Serena gave him an exasperated look. "Not when they?re telling me 'Do this, do that.?" Darien looked down for a minute, kinda embarrassed. 'How am I supposed to do this?' he thought to himself. "What are you going to ask me?" Serena popped up. Darien looked up in surprise. "What makes you think I'm going to ask you something?" "Ask it." "I don't know what you're talking about." "You have yet to call me Meatball Head, you're blushing, so ask it." Darien stared into her sea blue eyes, then said, "Okay." "Well?" "I have to make a few casseroles for a dinner party for my professors...and...I don't know how to cook anything," he said, eyes glued to the floor, rushing the last sentence. "I was wondering if you could help." Serena looked truly flattered. "Well, okay. But, I don't know that I'm the right one to ask. I'm not that great myself, but I can get some really good recipes. When is the party?" "Tomorrow!" Darien piped, a little too enthusiastically. Andrew raised his eyebrow from where he was watching. Darien had already asked him, but he had refused and told him to ask Serena. "Thanks. Meet me here at noon tomorrow, and bring those recipes. We can shop for things we need then. See ya, Meatball Head!" Darien called as he walked out the door. Serena sauntered over to the counter where Andrew had been watching. "How do you like that. I agree to help him, and all he can do is call me that horrible name." "Hey, don't worry about it. He'll find some way to pay you back," Andrew insisted. "Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of." Next day, noon: Back at the arcade, Darien sat waiting for Serena. 'What if she doesn't come?' he asked himself. 'Could she just have been joking? I hope not. I would do anything to see her again.' The realization popped into his head, as it had so many times before. 'I wish she would get here soon.' And sure enough, there was his Serena on the other side of the street, her arms full of papers, talking to someone. A guy. A tall, handsome guy. The hair on Darien's neck stood on end as jealousy flashed through him. Then three more guys approached her. Serena shook her head at one, and began to walk across the street. One of the guys grabbed her arm and pulled her back, causing her to drop all her papers as she jumped out of the way of a passing car. 'Something's wrong,' Darien thought to himself. 'Four guys, and they won't let her leave' If they hurt my Serena, I'll kick their asses.' He stood and walked quickly out of the arcade. Andrew came out just in time to see him leave, and looked to see where he was going. Noticing the situation, he jumped the counter and hurried up to Darien. Reaching the side of the street opposite Serena, her friend, Lita, Darien thought, joined them. Darien looked at her, worried she would get hurt, but with the look on her face, the doubts quickly left his mind. The trio crossed the street, and the goons stepped in front of Darien, who led his gang. "Ya want somethin', BOY?" He turned and looked at Serena. "Her? Too bad, she's all mine." Darien, his eyes never straying from the creep's, punched the hell out of him. He fell to the ground, blood pouring out of his nose. Everyone looked to him in surprise. Everything paused for a moment, then the fight broke out. Andrew took on one guy, Lita another, and Darien the first, who had stood from his disgraced place on the ground. The fourth grabbed Serena, who turned around and kick him in the leg. Her guy just smiled, for he was huge, close to seven feet tall, and very wide. The kick didn't hurt him in the least. Andrew was doing pretty well. He had landed a few punches, not very powerful but they got the job done. Of course, while he was thinking about this, the guy threw one straight for him, knocking him in the jaw. Lita was having no trouble. Her guy was big, true, but stupid. And not a very good fighter. She just decided the best way to go was to punch and kick until he went down. Took a while, but it worked. Once he lay on the ground unmoving, she moved over and helped Andrew. Darien felt like he was in one of those Batman shows, and knew that all he needed was little signs that said, POW! BANG! BAM! PUNCH! He almost pitied the creep he was pounding on, until he remembered why he was pounding on him. This guy was not going to get away with hurting his Serena. Serena was having no such luck. Even with her extra strength from being Sailor Moon, this guy was just too much. No matter how hard she hit him, it just didn't bother him. Then her foot found it's destination. He doubled over, one hand flying to his crotch. The other, though, never let Serena go. In fact, he held her tighter. 'Uh oh,' she thought. 'This was not supposed to happen.' Thinking about the rage he was going to be in once recovered, she began clawing her way out of his grasp. Didn't work. He stood straight up, then threw her into the brick wall behind her. She crumpled into a heap, unmoving. Lita, Andrew, and Darien all looked up, stunned. Lita, without thinking, unleashed her unnatural strength and punched her guy once, knocking him out. Darien left the pulp his had turned into, and walked timidly toward Serena. Her chest was rising and falling frightingly slowly. The big guy stepped in front of him. "Going somewhere?" Just as Darien was ready to tackle him, Lita rushed in. They went rolling as Lita beat the shit out of him. But Darien wasn't watching. He ran to Serena's side, kneeling beside her. "Serena?" he whispered tentatively. She moved her head a little to look up at him, disoriented, her eyes glassy. He pulled her into a huge hug as Lita, Andrew, and the creep went rolling by them. "Are you okay?" he asked, breaking away. She smiled, then began to stand up. He let her on her own, to see if she was capable. She was. They heard the guy scream "Ouch!" as Lita punched him in the gut. "Come on," Darien said worriedly. "Let's get you to the arcade." He put an arm around her waist to support her, and she leaned against his strong side. "I always wanted to get this close to her," Darien thought, "but not this way." Her head rested against his shoulder, her hips ground against his. Stepping down onto the street, her leg gave out on her and she began to collapse. He immediately caught her and swept her into his strong arms. He carried her across the street, glancing back once to see the two still beating up the guy. The arcade doors slid open and Darien placed Serena in a back booth. She seemed to be sleeping. "She looks so peaceful. Maybe I should take her home, let her get some rest." He tore himself away from her and walked to the counter, where he picked up a sheet of paper and a pen. He sat down across from her, and began to write his letter. "Andrew," he said as he wrote, "left to take Serena home. I'll come back later to see if everything's alright. I hope you didn't kill that guy. Or, I kinda hope that you did. Darien." He placed the note back on the counter and once again returned to Serena. He scooped her up in his arms and carried her out to his car. "Darien?" came a weak voice. He looked down to see her eyelids flutter open drowsily. When he placed her in the passenger side she seemed to perk up a little. "Where are we going? What happened?" He looked over at her, worried. "I'm going to take you home. You need some rest. I took you back to the arcade. Remember?" She seemed to be searching her brain for a second before answering. "No. The last thing I remember was falling. I was walking, then I was falling." She finally seemed to get a grip on reality. Darien saw she was coming out of it and started up the car. "Don't worry, I don't need to go home. I'll be fine. I think we have some shopping to do, right?" she asked, forcing a smile. Darien looked over at her as if she were crazy. "Of course you need to go home. You just got slammed into a brick wall! I couldn't take you out if you're hurt!" She laughed a little. "Trust me, I've gotten hurt a lot worse then this and had to do crazy things. I'll be fine," she insisted. 'Well,' Darien thought, 'I've never been able to resist her before.' "Well...okay. But if you start looking weak, I'm taking you home. Got it?" "Okay!" she said, smiling happily. 'Could it be? She's happy to go somewhere with me?' "Well, let's get going!" Darien switched gears and the two drove off. "So, you think we're done with him?" Lita asked Andrew, staring down at the man cowering beneath her. Andrew looked from her, to him, and back to her again. "No." And he sent the punch that knocked the guy out cold. The two strode arm in arm back across the street and into the arcade. "So, where exactly are we going?" Serena asked him, noticing that they had passed the supermarket. "I need to check and see what all I have at home, then we'll go." "Okay," Serena replied, sounding relieved. Darien looked over and smiled at her, glad that she was on her guard if she was in the car with someone she didn't know very well. He liked the idea of his Serena being able to take care of herself. Of course, he also liked the idea of him taking care of her. They pulled up to his apartment complex, and he helped her up to his apartment. While he took the few recipes she had left and checked his fridge, Serena laid down on his couch. "You've got a pretty nice place here, you know that? It's...clean," she commented, noticing the perfectness of the place. "Big difference to my room." Darien laughed and emerged from the kitchen. Seeing her lying, he got a worried look on his face. "Are you sure you're okay?" Serena smiled again and said, "Of course. I'll be fine. Don't worry so much." She stood on her own and asked, "Do you have anything?" "Yeah, a few things. We'll still need to go." "Okay!" With her usual perkiness, she took his arm and strode out of the apartment, pulling him with her. 'Thank God she's okay,' Darien thought to himself. 'I don't know what I would have done if she were hurt.' They got into the car and drove to the store. He helped her out again, even though she insisted she was fine. On the outside, she showed all the signs of a healthy girl who had never been in a fight. At least, never been thrown into a brick wall. They walked into the supermarket and began walking down the aisles. "So, what's first on the list?" "Butter, parmason cheese, mozzarella cheese, and another kind of cheese that I don't have a clue how to say. I think it's Mar-nee-say-olee-cani-sto." Serena raised her eyebrow at him. "Sorry, never heard of it." Then she smiled her smile, one that could warm the coldest heart. Like Darien's. "Let?s go!" And once again, he was drug across the store. The leader looked to everyone in his crew. "So, is everyone ready?" he asked. They all nodded in agreement. "Let's rumble!" All four of them picked up two automatics each. "Lock 'n load!" And the robbers headed into the supermarket. "Green beans! We could make a green bean casserole!? Serena exclaimed. "Do you know how to?" Darien asked skeptically. "Of course. It's the easiest one. All I need is cream of mushroom soup, green beans, and these little crusty thing...there they are!" She pulled out a can of onion ring type things, and threw them into the shopping cart. "All right, that's just about it. All we need now is the milk." The couple made their way over to the refrigerated section when they heard a scream. 'Oh, great, just what I need right now. I have to think of a way to get away from Darien so I can transform,' Serena thought. 'Not good,' Darien thought, glancing over at Serena. He half-expected her to be going ballistic, but instead, she looked calm, even a little mad. 'Tuxedo Mask should be here, although I can't think of a reason why the Negaverse would attack a grocery store. And I don't know how I can get away from Serena.' The next thing they knew, they saw people at the front of the store drop down, and a few shots get fired. 'Oh my God, it's not the Negaverse!' Serena's mind screamed. Then, she smiled inwardly. 'Good, maybe this will be a piece of cake.' Darien also saw what was happening and grabbed her hand, pulling her toward the storage rooms in the back of the store. She let him pull her along, looking for a good place to transform. 'Sailor Moon would be soooo good right now,' she thought. The two of them crouched behind a stack of smelly fish. She wrinkled her nose up at the smell, but Darien absently put a finger to her lips. They waited there for a few more minutes, but it felt like hours to the fighters. 'I guess this is the sorry thing about being Sailor Moon; there will never be another dangerous situation where I can just lay back and let the good guys fight. That sucks.' Suddenly, they both heard more gunshots and more screaming. Serena's eyes grew wide when she thought about what must have happened. Darien hung his head in shame. 'I could have done something about those people,' he thought to himself. Then, they heard footsteps approaching, and the door to the storage rooms open. Darien scrambled back, pulling Serena with him. They made their way to another storage aisle, only one away from the thieves. He started crawling to an exit, with Serena following. 'I have to get her out of here,' he thought, 'then I can come back to save the others. I just don't want anything to happen to Serena.' When he looked back to make sure she was with him, all he saw was her crawling back the way they had come, back toward the storage doors. All he could think of was catching up to her and bringing out of harm's way. Serena was following Darien when she heard more shots. She tensed, her conscience slamming into her about not fighting. She looked at Darien's retreating form, then back toward the door. It was still open, and she could see a little girl sitting there, crying. She could also see others, all down. It became clear that the robbers were not going to just take the money, they were going to kill everyone in the store, even this little girl. She could also hear footsteps approaching the girl. After a quick debate, she turned around and started for the girl, glancing one last time at Darien. 'If I ever make it out of this, I'll be sure to thank him for being so protective over me.' Bravely, yet reluctantly, she turned away, wondering if that would be the last time she ever saw him again. The little girl was still there, crying her eyes out. Serena could hear a man, menacing, yelling at her to shut up. Then she heard the gun cock. Darien felt like everything was in slow motion. One minute Serena was crawling away from her, the next she was up and running. He didn't know what had happened, all he knew was that he had to stop her. He jumped to his feet, not bothering to transform. He sprinted toward her at full speed, but she was already in the store, hugging a little girl. She made a full turn, bringing her back between the girl and a man, completely enclosing her. Seeing the gun in the man's hand, Darien let his reflexes take over and tackled him. BANG! A shot rang out; everyone seemed to fall. Darien and the man went rolling until Darien punched him out. Serena and the girl fell into a heap; and everyone around them ducked. Serena was up and running. The moment she had heard the gun cock, she knew it was time to act. Sailor Moon wasn't needed for this, Serena could do it on her own. She didn't worry about the men one aisle over, all she could think of was getting to this little defenseless girl. She ran through the doors, and grabbed the girl, wrapping her arms around her and hugging her close. She faintly acknowledged Darien smashing into the robber. BANG! The next thing she knew, she was on the ground, not really comprehending what had just taken place. The little girl, Amanda, didn't understand. She was skipping along happily with her mother one second, and the next, everyone was screaming. She was so scared. Her mother had fallen down, and she was breathing real hard. Amanda sat on the floor, and started to cry. Her mother tried to hush her, but she was so scared. Then a real bad man came up to her and started to yell, and that only scared her more. Then he raised a gun, and her mother screamed. The next thing she knew, a strange girl with a funny hairdo was hugging her. 'Do I know this girl?' she thought to herself. She caught a glimpse of a man tackle the first, the one that had scared her. Then she heard the gun go BANG! Amanda covered her ears because the sound was so loud, and looked up to find the strange girl wince, then smile painfully down at her. Amanda smiled back, not really knowing what to do. Then, the girl's eyes fluttered closed. At first, the pain never really registered. Serena had withstood extreme pain before, that was part of the job description of Sailor Moon. But nothing like this. First she could just feel a tingle in her side, then the pain shot out through her entire being. 'Now I know how ice feels when it breaks,' her subconscious thought. 'Mmm, ice. Maybe we can go for some ice cream after all this is over.' She didn't even know what she was thinking anymore, not until the next shot of pain showered on her. It was too unbearable to even stand, so she just closed her eyes, happy to rest. She didn't feel the little girl, shake her, try to wake her; she didn't hear Darien call out her name; she didn't tense at his lifting her and rushing her outside; she didn't answer the medics calls and questions fired at her. She just lay; that was all she wanted. The other three scouts didn't get any distress call, they just heard the sirens blaring down the street. They ran to the nearest tv, hoping that whatever happened would be broadcasted. On their way, they passed a parked police car. "Attention all units, there is a 401 at the Jack's Supermarket at the corner of Prince and Glasglow. Hostage situation, all units respond," the police radio said. The four scouts nodded at each other, and hurried into the nearby alley to transform. "Mercury Power!" "Mars Power!" "Jupiter Power!" "Scouts, hurry!" Luna yelled running into the alley. "Serena?s there!" Mercury and Jupiter exchanged worried looks, while Mars just rolled her eyes. "?Let's go!" Sailor Jupiter yelled, and the three scouts took off. When they arrived at the scene, a huge crowd had gathered outside, with tons of ambulances. "Looks like the party's over," Mars commented. The changed back to their normal clothes and pushed their way to the front of the crowd. There, they saw Darien getting his arm bandaged, and not looking very happy. The trio ignored the tape and ran to them. "Darien, what happened?!" Ami exclaimed. "You're hurt! And where's Serena? Why are there all these ambulances?!" "There was a break-in," the nurse said. "Your friend here decided to go for heroics and got a bullet graze on his arm. There are close to ten dead," she finished in a sad tone. Ami, Lita, and Rei all gasped at once. "Ser...Serena?" Rei muttered. Darien hung his head and pointed over to an ambulance. "There." The three slowly walked over to her. Who they saw before them was not the Serena they knew; this one was pale, and silent. Her eyes didn't even open. She had fluids pumping into her, and her side was being stabilized, as well as cleaned from the caked blood soaking her clothes. She already had a heart monitor going, which was showing her heartbeat to be very slow. A policeman suddenly stepped between them, and started pushing them back toward the crowd. Rei, not thinking, pushed him down and started back to Serena. The man let her go, but put Ami and Lita back behind the tape. "Do you know her?" a doctor asked. Rei looked at him, taking a minute to think over what he said. "Yes...yes. Her name is Serena Tsukino. Can I go with her to the hospital?" Rei answered. The doctor looked dubious a minute, then shrugged. "I don't see why not. You're the only person that knows anything about her, I think." Three days later, Serena finally woke up to find Darien asleep in the chair across from her bed. "My BED!" her mind screamed. Only then did she realize she was not in her bed, but a hospital. She tried to sit up, only to find it too painful. So she just laid down and looked around, absorbing everything at once. After about ten minutes of staring at all the white stuff, she couldn't take it anymore. "Darien?" At the sound of a voice, Darien woke up immediately. His gaze turned to Serena who was sitting/lying on the hospital bed. In a moment, he was at her side. "Serena? Are you okay? Do you feel alright? Are you in pain? Do I need to get a doctor?" he asked, in a frenzy of excitement. All the questions seemed to over- whelm her, but she just raised an eyebrow. "Hang on, let me sort those out. I'm okay, I think; no I'm not in pain; I don't know if I need a doctor. Is that all?" she asked, laughing a little. Darien smiled a smile of relief. "Well, no one else is here right now, I talked your parents into getting some rest, and your friends. So you're stuck with me for now. Do you remember what happened? You've been out for three days." Serena was taken aback. "Three days? All I remember is grabbing the girl. Not much after that. What happened? Why am I in the hospital?" "When you grabbed the girl, the gun went off and shot you. That's why you're in the hospital. The cops took care of everything else." She noticed a bandage or two poking out from under his t-shirt. "Darien! You?re hurt! How did that happen?!" He smiled sheepishly and pulled the sleeve down over the bandages. "Don't worry, it's nothing." At her amazingly stern look for a half asleep girl, he continued. "When you covered the girl, I went for the gunman. One of his bullets grazed my arm, but didn't hit it." "Omygod, does it hurt?" Serena gasped. "Probably not as much as yours." "And what about the girl," she asked, slightly frightened. Darien smiled knowingly. "The girl is fine. You shielded her from all harm. Her mother had already been shot, though. She just got out of intensive care yesterday. They'll both be fine. In fact, they've been asking to see you," he said. As if on cue, the little girl and her mother, in a wheelchair, stopped at the door. "Can we come in?" the mother asked. Serena smiled and motioned for them to come to her bedside. When the girl reached there, she couldn't quite see Serena; the bed was too tall. Serena had Darien place the girl on the side of her bed, and she gave Serena a big hug. "Thank you for saving me. That bad man was going to hurt me like he did mommy," she said in a slurred three-year-old voice. "Anytime," Serena said back. The four of them talked for a few more minutes, then decided to leave so she could get some rest. A nurse came to check on Serena, and seeing her awake, started yelling and screaming for a doctor to come. Serena looked on with a bemused look across her face, especially when the doctor started poking around at her, asked all sorts of weird questions. Before long, both her family and friends were ready to come see her. Darien quietly slipped out of the room to let them do their thing. 'They are probably who she wants to see right now anyway.' He now had a clear hint that Serena's father, Kenji, didn't like him. The hint came from the fact that Kenji blamed his daughter's getting shot on Darien. 'Well, it's true,' his mind scolded him. 'If you had taken her home after the fight, she would have never gotten hurt.' Kenji had first yelled at him about the fight, never stopping to find out Darien had only helped. He was too hung up on the fact that Darien didn't take her home. Then, he had started on the getting her shot thing. After a defenseless verbal beating, Darien had turned and left the hall, leaving a happily fuming man. He quietly left the hospital, and called a taxi to take him home, the only place he was welcome. Serena was happy to see her family, and happy to see her friends. But who she really wanted to see was Darien. She wanted to thank him for helping her. The doctors came in after x-rays and told everyone that she would be fine, healed up in no time. Then everyone left saying she needed her rest. Once again alone, she found herself longing for his company. She knew he was long gone, though she didn't know why. After all, he had saved her twice in one day. Serena had a feeling her dad had something to do with that, and she'd have a talk with him soon. Until then, she had to stay in this sterile, white room with no one to argue or even talk with. 'I'll find some way to make this up to you, Darien. Somehow, I will repay you.' And Serena made a vow that she would repay not only once, but many times over again. Then she slept, with dreams in her head of the day she would prove to him she was worthy of being saved. THE END Okay! That's it. As I said, no Sailor Moon. Hoped you like it. Anyway, send flames, suggestions, comments, death threats, and tea invitations to alliezorn@yahoo.com. My website is http://www.geocities.com/sailor_soul_99/ Sailor Soul