The Silver Crystal's Prerogative

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Chapter 1

Darien's heart skipped a beat as his Odango popped up out of nowhere. His face flushed with heat as Serena approached him with Rei on her arm. As if in slow motion, Serena's long blonde streamers bounced through the air, magically held in place by the twin buns on her head, but untamed masses tangling on her face regardless, framing the shockingly large, blue eyes that made her a definite stand-out. He was still frozen as they passed him without even a sideways glance, entering the arcade behind him with twisty secrets that teenage girls tend to always gossip about.

"Back so soon?" Andrew asked, somewhat concerned that his friend, who'd been in such a rush to get out of there to study, was suddenly back, and pretty much white as a ghost.

Darien mumbled something to Andrew, then asked for a[nother] sandwich as he perched himself where he could look like he was studying and eating while he spent a few moments indulging in the proximity of the girl who didn't remember him.

It had just been a few weeks since she'd taken the brunt of Beryl's assault on him. The images still haunted him daily, and for that he'd been happy that her memories had only been partially restored. Luna had surmised that Serena and the Senshi remembered everything except Serena's worst pain — regaining Endymion, only to see him brainwashed by the Dark Kingdom and turned to kill her. Luna insisted to him that at 14, Serena was far too young to deal with Senshi training AND a lover who had been brainwashed to kill her.

So Serena and the Senshi remembered defeating Beryl, and apparently even Tuxedo Mask being in the Negaverse fighting alongside them. But none of them remembered that Tuxedo Mask was Darien, much less that he had been Serenity's lover in the past, and most especially that he'd been one of Beryl's minions who'd come close to killing Sailor Moon.

As far as Luna was concerned, Darien should respect Serena's young age and, particularly, remember how Serena had risked herself, her friends, and the whole planet over her 'dangerous obsession' with Endymion.

More than once.

Darien had argued vehemently against Luna, knowing Serena wouldn't want to be left in the dark. But Luna countered that the Silver Crystal must have had a good reason for repressing the girls' memories of Darien's role in the Beryl matter, and his identity as Tuxedo Mask. She said Darien should just wait until Serena got old enough to handle matters of the heart better, and see if her memories didn't return on their own.

Darien readily admitted that he'd inadvertently put her through a lot —for any aged girl, but especially for a 14-yr old. And as long as he could try to form a friendship with her as his civilian self, he'd wait for Serena to get older before helping her remember him as Endymion.

The problem was, he'd forgotten how little Serena had thought of him before Zoicite's attack, if she'd thought of him at all. Of course, in retrospect he couldn't blame her; he'd been relentless in his teasing, and she'd seemed to make sport of plaguing him with insults. Unfortunately, now he'd found himself unable to launch any verbal attacks at the girl who'd thrown herself in front of Beryl's attack to save him.

In fact, he'd found he couldn't speak to her at all.

Andrew set a giant sticky milkshake on the counter, and Darien glanced sideways as Serena sauntered up to the counter to grab it. As usual, she didn't acknowledge him. When Lita hollered some rude epithet her way, Serena spun around wildly and screamed something back at her. Heart pounding, Darien stared at his book where clumps of Serena's untamed streams of hair had fallen inches before his face. He ached inside as the hair disappeared; Serena had gone back to her table loudly slurping on her milkshake.

"You alright man?" Andrew asked, clearly startling Darien. Andrew leaned close and whispered, "The hell's going on with you; you look like you're going to be sick!"

The blood was painfully rushing through Darien's arms; he was sick of torturing himself, and decided he had to get out of there. He looked up at Andrew and said, "I'm good."

"You're sweating! Maybe you're sick," Andrew offered.

Darien swooped his book off the counter and took off before Andrew tried to take his temperature; he tried to completely ignore the cackling girls as he rushed for the door.

The cool air helped clear his head, and he walked swiftly away from the arcade so he wouldn't be tempted to go back in. Every day he saw Serena; every day she passed by him without ever noticing him. Of course, she was a flighty 14 year old with any and everything else on her mind besides the older college boys who would hang out at the arcade years after it was socially acceptable.

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"Well LUNA says you have to deal with her," Rei snapped, even though deep down the freaky pink-haired brat who'd POISONED them all at the shrine and burned her manga had been more than a slight pain in her ass. That night was going to be one of the few she would have had alone with Chad, and while she outwardly ignored the young man's attentions, inwardly she couldn't wait for those few hours a week where she could be uniformly adored by a really hot guy without guilt. The pink-haired brat had taken that from her.

"So you think it's SAFE," Serena hissed quietly, "to let this little impostor 'cousin' of mine brainwash my family to get my —" Serena blushed furiously, not even wanting to say it out loud, but they all knew what Rini was after. And now they knew that Rini had enemies of her own trying to chase her down. Flustered, she grumbled under her breath, "Some 'protectors' YOU are..."

Lita shrugged and said, "You could always come stay with me, Sere." As long as she didn't bring Luna, Lita chuckled to herself.

Serena smiled slightly at Lita, but Ami voiced what Serena was thinking: "Rini will follow you wherever you go. She seems to have a single-minded purpose to find your ..um, property."

Mina added, "Or worse, she'll put your parents in danger, Sere. At least if you're around, we can keep an eye out for whoever is trying to get her." Mina blinked away the business conversation and turned a wide smile on her friends: "ANY way..." she bent over and whispered loudly, "SQUEEEE! I've got five count-em-FIVE guys meeting us at the ice cream parlor TOMORROW after school! YAY!"

Lita screamed for joy and jumped up to hug Mina across the table, but Rei, Serena, and Ami grimaced awkwardly. Rei furiously thought about a way out of this — should she be into meeting guys, especially guys MINA found hunky, when her heart secretly yearned for a certain someone who worked at her shrine?

Serena, the youngest of the bunch, smiled awkwardly as Mina described these 'high school boys' — turns out they were all jocks from the football team, and at least 16 or 17 years old. WAY too old. And experienced. Serena asked, "How'd you get FIVE GUYS to agree to meet up with us, Mina?"

Ami nodded shyly, worrying that Mina had probably bounced around the football field in a bikini and made lewd suggestions about herself and her friends. "Um, Mina, this doesn't even sound SAFE." She glanced over at the princess she was sworn to protect and saw an out: "And we're supposed to keep HER safe. I don't think this is a good idea."

"Too late; you HAVE to come or you'll make a fool out of me!" Mina smiled widely, knowing her friends NEEDED this. "You don't have to DO anything, Ames! Let's just say, I'm introducing some new blood to our group. For a DAY. A mere DISTRACTION from our usually hectic and completely man-free lives."

"EYE CANDY!" Lita smiled, completely knowing that Mina's type was her own type, and the rest had better play along or face the wrath of Sailor Jupiter! She quickly added, "We've been babysitting that little munchkin, fighting youmas and now droids, studying... we're DUE for a little ac/TION!"

Rei giggled nervously, looking at the table. Actually PRAYING that Serena would throw an immature tantrum again, maybe about staying true to Tuxedo Mask, and she could agree with the Princess, and the question would be settled.

But neither Ami nor Serena were forthcoming with an argument against Lita, who was positively SEETHING with joy and excitement about meeting some new boys.

And so it was settled, even though over half of the girls weren't thrilled about it at all.

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The following night, Tuxedo Mask had met Sailor Moon at a battle where all the Senshi were struggling against an ice-blowing droid at an ice cream parlor. He snickered quietly when he noticed that Luna was frozen; would it be completely evil to 'accidentally' chuck a rose at the cat while she was frozen?

During his reverie, Sailor Mercury used a much more powerful attack than he'd ever seen from her — he'd have to ask the icy black cat about that when she melted — and he hardly had to do more than to remind a chilly Sailor Moon to use her Halation attack. Sailor Moon had really come a long way in the last few weeks; all the girls had, in fact, and he wondered somberly if they even needed his presence with these new powers of theirs.

He hung back in the shadows, waiting for Sailor Moon to come looking for 'her hero'. And yet when he finally saw the girls emerge, they weren't Senshi anymore —and they were with a bunch of guys. He knew he should leave; he surely couldn't approach Serena as Tuxedo Mask. But something made him stay, and watch, from the shadowed rooftops.

Mina and Lita were HANGING onto these steroid-ridden jocks, giggling —and, if he weren't mistaken, practically giving those boys credit for being brave during the droid attack! His eyes fell onto Serena, who much to his relief was walking with Rei and Ami, decidedly behind the other three guys who were acting goofy and oh so Obviously! trying to impress the girls. He pulled a rose to the ready when one of the show-off boys lifted a bench over his head for no apparent reason—

"What are you doing?"

Tuxedo Mask jumped at Luna's harsh voice and turned on the cat. "You still have icicles, Luna," he said, tucking the rose back into his jacket. "Maybe you should go warm up," [in the fires of hell].

Luna shrugged. "What are you doing, Tuxedo Mask?" she asked again, just as patiently.

The angry man detransformed and sat on the rooftop, barely catching the group of partiers as they turned the corner and disappeared from sight. Coldly, he said, "I thought you said she was too young to date." It wasn't a question.

Luna jumped onto Darien's lap and let him pet her. "I said nothing of the sort. I said that MAYBE the Silver Crystal didn't restore her memories of YOU because she's too young to deal with ..let's call it 'an epic romance', if you will." Beat. "Anyway, Mina sort of strong-armed the girls into this, Darien. Most of the girls weren't interested in going at all." She started to purr as Darien scratched her ears.

"And even if she were," Luna continued, "we're talking about a high school boy and some ice cream. Mina figured they could use some time off from this new threat, and really, it wasn't a bad idea. They've been very stressed lately." Luna made a point of not telling the over-protective Endymion-slash-Darien a word about the new pink-haired intruder in the Tsukino home who was after the Silver Crystal.

Darien damned-near growled, "Then there's nothing stopping her from enjoying some time with Darien Chiba." He glared at the cat. "RIGHT?"

Luna smiled. "I suppose if it were forbidden, you wouldn't be here at all." She moved away from his more aggressive handling of her throat, letting her tail whack back and forth angrily to give the lout a clue that he best not take out his anger on HER. "But keep in mind, ENDYMION," she stressed his name, "She's 14, and even her FRIENDS think she's a naive 14."

"Some would call it 'pure', Luna," Darien growled. "And I'm probably the only one out there than can truly appreciate and respect how pure she is."

"Then by all means, go for it," Luna drawled. "Of course, there's nothing keeping you from 'going for' someone closer to your own age who might satisfy some of your ..'frustrations'. Until Serena is a bit more ..mature."

Darien picked the cat up by the scruff of her neck and dropped her to the rooftop, then stood. "My ONLY frustration is in not being able to spend even a little bit of time with her." Changing the subject quickly before he gave into his desire to kick the cat off the roof, he asked, "Did Ami get any read on that ice cream parlor? —why the enemy is attacking these random spots like the makeup boutique and an ice cream parlor?"

"Good question, Mr. Chiba," Luna said. "We'll address it at the next scout meeting, and I'll let you know what we find, as usual."

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After clambering down from the rooftop, he surveyed the ice cream parlor again, but primarily considered the fact that the Silver Crystal didn't want Serena dating him, but apparently was fine with her dating anybody BUT him.

But then something happened — not even fifteen minutes had passed since the attack when he felt Serena's transformation again; knowing his transformation was coming, he jumped into an alley in case a passerby got a peek at his undoing.

When he emerged, Sailor Moon was standing before him, red-faced and breathing hard. She said, "You're still here!"

His heart melted, and he found himself speechless. She'd DUMPED her friends and their boys to come find him! Smiling through his damnable blush, he said, "Just surveying the area. Did Sailor Mercury find anything?"

Sailor Moon had moved considerably closer to him with a smile on her face, but stopped as he asked his question, which even he couldn't even recall now. He didn't hesitate to hold her arms and pull her somewhat closer, ostensibly so they could discuss the enemy without spying ears picking up on the conversation.

She smiled at him again, primarily because she'd worried that he'd noticed 5 girls leave with 5 boys the very moment the battle was over. Not only had she felt guilty for that, but she'd worried that the boys, the public, and even Tuxedo Mask would make some very obvious connections. Unfortunately, Mina was the 'leader', and she'd detransformed and chased down the boys before anyone else could argue, so they all had to follow suit. As calmly as she could muster, especially after he'd brought her closer, she managed to say, "Portals."

"Portals?" Tuxedo Mask asked, merely repeating what she'd said with those delicious lips.

Sailor Moon blushed, then turned slightly to the ice cream parlor without letting go of his touch. "Maybe gateways. Mercury said they were trying to get negative energy from ..couples, I guess to open some door to ..somewhere..." She was grinning so widely at her beautiful tuxedo-clad Adonis that she couldn't remember what Ami had said, but she didn't want to come off as a ditz. She wished she could just ask him out as easily as Mina had asked FIVE GUYS out.

"Why did you come back?" Tuxedo Mask asked with feigned concern. He KNEW why she'd come back, and it wasn't an errant droid they'd happened upon; she'd escaped the group date because she hadn't seen HIM after the battle, which was their usual course of action. He was fully intending to move even closer to her when she suddenly disappeared amongst a fury of red and blue fukus.

Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury had grabbed their Princess and pulled her forcefully away from Tuxedo Mask. With a few well-placed snipes, Sailor Mars stood before Serena and asked, "And what are you doing here anyway? The rainbow crystals are Sailor Moon's! Are you trying to get the Silver Crystal now, too?"

Mask was strangely relieved that someone had finally brought up his role in the Princess' life now that he wasn't chasing rainbow crystals anymore. But he was positively offended that Sailor Mars might believe he was trying to KILL Sailor Moon to steal her crystal. "I would NEVER take Sailor Moon's crystal, Sailor Mars," he said harshly. "I still find a need to protect her."

"Much like we do," Sailor Mercury said thoughtfully, trying to play the Good Cop to Sailor Mars' Bad Cop.

"It's not like he's Senshi," Sailor Mars spat. And was about to spit out how popular the Silver Crystal had become recently, but they were all under strict orders to NOT mention Rini to anyone outside the Senshi circle.

"I'm here to help," Mask said, looking back at his Princess. "We have no idea who this new enemy is—"

"Thank you," his Serenity said, gliding gracefully past Sailor Mercury before knocking forcefully into Sailor Mars with a mere "oops". She tried to assume her former position near Tuxedo Mask, but Sailor Mars had her firmly in hand and a series of mild struggles ensued between Moon and Mars. A look of extreme irritation passed Serenity's face, but she calmly agreed with her handsome hero, "We really need to know who we're dealing with."

"Friend or foe," Sailor Mars demanded of Tuxedo Mask, allowing Sailor Moon no more room to move into Tuxedo Mask's personal space.

"Friend," he said sternly, then quickly bent forward and kissed his Princess on the cheek before dashing off. He could stay for an eternity with Serena, but he couldn't bear her overprotective friends.

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Wit's End
Rini sat at home fuming, feeling completely useless for about the hundredth time since she'd blasted to the past. She had realized the moment she freaked out, right after Serena had spanked her, that the evil people picked up on her outbursts somehow and that's how they had tracked her to Rei's shrine, so she'd been careful to keep her temper in check.

But it was Soooooo HARD!

Rini had searched Serena's place, even Ikuko's room, and that crystal was NOT in that house. Nor was it at the shrine, or at Ami's. It wasn't at Serena's school, or her usual hangouts, either.

But the bad people were attacking more now, even without looking for her, and Rini was getting no closer to the crystal than when she landed on Day 1 in Serena Tsukino's lap amidst her friends in the park.

Even though Serena should have been all these wonderful things to be the actual holder of the crystal, the ONLY positive thing Rini could see was an oddball 'beauty', if you could stretch it that far. And a decent name. The other things were negative: no boyfriend, constantly late and irresponsible, clumsy, ungraceful. MEAN! And her friends weren't that much better.

No, something was wrong, and even though she'd started growing attached to these strange teenagers, she wasn't getting any closer to the crystal she so needed. There HAD to be another Serena Tsukino somewhere in the world! It COULDN'T be this 14 year old twit that had access to the Silver Crystal!

She had tried sneaking out to the park late at night, hoping for some of the monster attacks that drew the Sailor Senshi, hoping maybe they could help her, but Ikuko Tsukino was adamant that Rini stay in bed after 9pm. **sigh** That really left her very little hope in finding Sailor Moon on her own unless she killed 'Aunt Ikuko'.

No, she was back to square one, and once again, she would approach Serena. And this time, she'd ask her directly what she knew about EVERYTHING she'd heard about the 20th century. The Silver Crystal, Sailor Moon, —maybe how she could find Sailor Moon. Maybe, if she got on Serena's good side, Serena could help her slip by Ikuko and get to the Senshi! Rini knew she was missing something huge, and Serena just HAD to be the key!

Maybe the fact that Serena was so late getting home from her 'group date' tonight, strangely at the ice cream parlor that was featured on the news tonight, was the answer.

If only she could get an HONEST response from Serena.

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Coming to some kind of understanding with the Senshi had been nice, but touching Serena — Sailor Moon, rather — had been exquisite. The pretty sailor suited soldier had COME BACK looking for HIM! Even with Luna's disapproval, he'd decided his best bet of spending time with Sailor Moon was, literally, spending time with Sailor Moon!

And perhaps, 'accidentally' giving away his identity — only for Sailor Moon — so perhaps she could mull over the fact that she was in love with the poor sop she ignored in the arcade. Yes, of course, THAT kind of identity-revealing went against the spirit of the rules Luna had laid out, but really, there was no other way to earn her trust and adoration, much less love, as plain old Darien Chiba.

So the day after the ice cream parlor battle, he decided he didn't need to torture himself around her civilian form every single day anymore — maybe just on days when he didn't see Sailor Moon — and he opted to avoid the arcade entirely. Maybe if he didn't torture himself like that, he could learn to be the relaxed guy who merely months ago had teased her mercilessly about her odd hairstyle and clumsy gait. He needed to regroup; and playing the bumbling idiot didn't suit him at all; and it would never get him any quality time with her.

As he walked through the park, he ran across a bunch of kids headed his way and decided to veer off the beaten path and go feed the birds.

"Hey, it's you!"

Darien spun quickly at hearing his Odango's voice. She was staring right at him, just a few feet away, with a screwy grin on her face.

Darien's blood ran cold, but he tried to keep his smile. What luck; the very DAY he'd opted to stay away from her, she found him and actually spoke to him? —He urged himself to pull this off, and said, as casually as he could muster, "Hey, Meatball Head."

Serena's smile disappeared instantly. "And here I'd thought you had FINALLY started acting your age," she huffed.

He tried to hide his relief that she remembered him at all, and attempted to say something further, something that he would have said to her before remembering her as his princess he'd spent a lifetime searching for. His mouth opened, and he finally croaked out, "Sorry, Serena."

Serena's brow wrinkled and she said, "You know my name?"

He blanched, trying to remember if he hadn't called her by her proper name before.

"You sure have been acting strange lately," Serena quipped, then turned away. "SHINGO!" she yelled, waving wildly across the lake. "That stupid kid," she mumbled, then took off running at the group of kids who'd gotten away from her. "SHINGO! Don't let Rini get WET!"

And just that quickly, Serena was out of his life again. He watched her catch up to her brother and his gaggle of friends. Darien turned back to the birds, who'd also fled and left him standing alone with the bread.

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The following week, Darien found himself back in the arcade, listening to Andrew tease him about his complete lack of a social life. Darien couldn't argue the point, but said he had been busy studying for end-of-term exams, plus this week he was invited to a professor's dinner with other students from his class.

"Ooooh, gripping!" Serena smiled. She looked at Andrew and said, "The usual."

"Alright buttercup," Andrew smiled back, then started constructing her monstrosity of a milkshake.

Serena plopped down next to Darien and said, "I thought college guys had all the fun. Parties every night, no parents to worry about..." When Andrew placed her drink on the counter, she propped herself over it and started slurping immediately. "No little brothers and cousins to babysit all the time..." She sighed and slurped some more.

Darien had never felt so shy and awkward in his whole life. The object of his every waking thought was planted next to him, swinging her legs back and forth like a child half her age, probably waiting for her friends to come barging in. He glanced over and caught her staring at him; a devious smile played across her lips.

Then suddenly she had the milkshake in his face, holding the straw to his lips: "You know you want some."

He was startled by her words, but took the proffered sip, unable to do otherwise. And self-conscious that his face must be beet red again. She probably thought he had a raging sunburn since everytime she looked at him his face was red. He'd barely swallowed the first sip before she jerked the straw out of his mouth and said, "A sip, Darien. Geez! Order your own!"

She did know his name! he startled. "I don't even like ice cream," he complained lightly, his voice sounding a little more confident, like it used to, to his great relief.

She screwed her face up and looked at him like he was a slimy alien, then turned back to the front and sucked her milkshake pleasantly.

He couldn't peel his eyes off of her. He'd confessed to Luna how distressing it was that she didn't remember him AT ALL; and right this instant, that distress was overbearing. How couldn't she remember him? How couldn't she feel ANYTHING?

Luna had merely reminded him that she was an average teenage girl who couldn't begin to deal with the emotions rampant in her former Princess Serenity's life, and memories or not, Darien couldn't ravish her the way he probably wanted to regardless, so to just give it some time.

Serena turned on him suddenly and whispered, "Why are you staring at me?" She set her milkshake down and said, "What, do I have something on my face—"

Darien nervously reached up and pulled some errant strands of hair free from her lips, effectively shutting her up. Something akin to fear, or maybe disgust, seemed to flash in her eyes, so he awkwardly removed his hand.

She lost any hint of a smile and stared at Darien curiously.

Darien couldn't believe he'd just touched her without saying anything; it was no wonder she was glaring at him and turning away. He had to think of something to say, quick …but instead turned back around and closed his book, papers still inside, and jumped up to leave.

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Serena didn't watch him leave. She supposed he didn't want company after all, but he sure had gotten weird in the last month or so.

Andrew said, "If I'm too old for you, he's DEFINITELY too old for you."

Serena's eyes shot up angrily at her bar keep. "Oh, As IF! I was just trying to be nice to him since he never talks to anyone anymore."

"Guess you're not what the doctor ordered," Andrew teased. But seeing his little customer looked hurt, he added, "Chiba's been acting strange for weeks now. It's just his school work; don't let it get to you."

Serena shrugged. "Whatever." It's not like she was like her boy-crazy friend Lita, or had actually dated anyone like Rei or Mina had. Of course, she wasn't quite the non-interested party like Ami, either. Either way, Darien, or any guy who read that much, SURELY wasn't her type. She was just being nice. And the baka should be pleased about it.

She added, "Anyway, you're not too old for me!" Gleaming, she said, "I'm going to be 15 soon!"

Andrew chuckled, and took her hands in his: "In almost a year, right?"

Serena pushed his hands away, knowing he was playing with her: "A FEW months, Andrew."

Andrew saw her blushing fiercely, and realized he'd just played the baka himself. "Trust me, Sere — if you don't have guys climbing over themselves for a date with you next year, I'll be the first in line." And even then she'd still be too young, but he had to admit he fully enjoyed her adorations of him. And that comment had earned him a smile.

"Six months," she said playfully, bargaining him down.

"Wait for me," he said dreamily at her infectious smile.

He knew she wasn't that serious; she flashed him her pearly whites then turned to go sit with Molly and Melvin.

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Later that night, when Serena got home, she caught the new fake cousin rifling through her things, AGAIN. Serena had no idea what the creepy, brainwashing alien wanted, but it had fully embedded itself into her family, and all her attempts at opening her family's eyes to that fact had proven useless. Only Luna and the girls saw through Rini's bullshit, but they didn't have to suffer with her quite as much as Serena did.

But Serena's heart fell when the pink-haired tyke turned to her with wet eyes.

Luna jumped up on Serena's vanity and whispered, "She's been doing this since she got home. And she won't speak."

Serena went and lay on her bed, exhausted. "Hey Rini? I've got some homework to finish up. Why don't you be a cutie pie and bring it here. Maybe you can help me with it."

Serena closed her eyes as the alien brat barraged her with the usual venom about Serena's intelligence, or lack thereof. But with patience, she felt the books and the brat hit the bed, and sat up to crack open the books.

Rini watched intently as Serena neatly put down answers in her notebook. She liked that; even though Serena HATED learning, and homework, when something just HAD to be done, Serena would cave and do it. She did what had to be done. [With effort.] Rini cleared her throat, "Serena? You got this one wrong."

Serena didn't even review the problem; she erased the whole answer and started again. And got the same answer. She harrumphed and grabbed her cell phone to get the right answer from Ami.

And then Rei called after Rini and Serena had just finished their homework and started to get ready for bed. Rini giggled quietly as she heard Serena tell Rei off about some exercise program they'd be doing tomorrow.

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Fat Camp
Rei, the acting leader of this particular crew, marched the girls through Jaaban park with a military-like gusto. Mina, the actual leader, slumped behind the usurper, followed by Lita and Serena. Ami was bringing up the rear, multi-tasking as usual with her handheld computer scrolling pages of a famous work of literature as she lightly jogged behind them.

"Annnndd... RUN!" Rei barked. She was going to GET these girls into shape the old-fashioned way. As they slogged forward past Rei, the priestess slapped Serena's butt with her transformation rod and said, "You too, Princess! Knees UP! Let's GO!"

Darien watched the laughable debacle from a bench, along with a few of his college mates he'd recently made acquaintance with, and who needed study partners to catch up. It had gotten stuffy in the library, and he didn't feel comfortable enough with them to bring him to his apartment, so the park it had been.

"They're cute!" the red-haired Rubeus said smokily, closing his book and admiring the girls.

Koan, the other new student, rudely cleared her throat and said, "Oh please, they aren't even high school age yet! —Reaching new lows, Rubeus."

Darien replied warmly, "They're ..um, almost out of Junior High. Fifteen..." He cleared his throat. "One is fourteen."

"I feel for the one who's trying to read her computer while keeping up with their exercise." Rubeus really did get that; there was never enough time in the day to soak in everything the worlds had to offer, he lamented.

Ami, Darien thought warmly about the girl Rubeus was referring to. They really were an odd bunch of girls. Knowing now what he didn't before, he was quite amused at the girls' requirement to work together when they were all so different.

When Serena shoved the usurping leader and started screaming because of her calf muscles, Koan said quietly, "Bet I can guess the 14 year old."

Darien winced as Rei grabbed a pound of Serena's hair and jerked her down the path in a forced run, with Serena crying and screaming bloody murder all the way. At least Mina had jumped in the fray to slow Rei's progress, and then the three girls got in a hair-pulling, slap-happy fight. With Lita excitedly cheering them ALL on, apparently looking for a reason to jump in the battle.

Ami, not paying attention, ran straight into the fray and ended up being bounced a few feet back, on her butt. She madly tended her computer to make sure nothing had broken.

Rubeus noticed Darien watching them intently, and asked, "Do you know these young death squad maidens, Chiba?"

Darien was prepared for that: "I do. They hang out at an arcade I frequent."

Koan laughed derisively, "YOU go to an arcade? —Isn't that for *children*?"

Darien sneered at the blue-haired wench as she consulted her own handheld computer like she was looking up the term 'arcade'. Darien snidely said, "An old friend of mine runs the place. It's a great place to get a cup of coffee, especially if you know the proprietor."

As the girls split up, Darien stood up, thinking that with Serena coming back his way, he should say 'hi', if only to prove to her that he indeed had friends and a social life. Which, he really didn't, but Rubeus and Koan would probably look like that to the girls.

Serena and Mina neared them arm-in-arm as Darien stood, and Darien saw his Odango glance past him and Rubeus and stare directly at Koan. He smiled, trying to get her attention, but couldn't help but laugh at Serena's messed up odangos. "Guess it can't be 'Odango,' anymore! Looks more like a wild bush!"

That got a glare from his little sprite, but only momentarily as she angrily untwisted her failed buns and let her hair fly free. Darien stopped breathing as he watched her hair fly down and corona over her head like a star being born. He swallowed hard as her bewitching eyes found his again. His smile dropped as he pondered how a girl her age could be so alluring without trying, and briefly wondered if the Silver Crystal wasn't right about withholding all traces of him from her memory.

As Serena was finger-combing her hair out, she returned her glare to the woman that Darien was hanging out with these days. She felt Darien's eyes on her hair, though, and furious that this wouldn't satisfy his obvious requirement for decent hairstyles, she glanced at him sideways and spat, "Well we were just exercising!" Baka!

Darien had never seen her hair down before, and for a moment, imagined laying in his bed with that halo of yellow spun gold splayed all about him. He could almost feel it grazing his naked belly; he could easily envision her looking down on him with those strange, hypnotic blue orbs of hers, just before she leaned down to kiss him and cover them both in that blanket of gold fleece.

"Darien!" Mina snapped again, irritated that he'd just glared at Serena without acknowledging anything she'd said, much less without introducing them to his college friends. Mina felt like she loved just about everybody, and she'd acknowledged almost immediately that Darien and Serena seemed to have some sort of strange hate-at-first-sight going on, but this was seriously pushing it. The man should mind his damned manners! ESPECIALLY around her Princess.

Darien snapped to attention and said, "Oh, sorry... Yes, we saw your ..'exercising'. —Um, these are my classmates, Rubeus and Koan," he looked awkwardly at them. Then Darien grabbed Serena's hand and said, "This is Serena Tsukino and, um ..her friend." What was her fucking name? "Mina! —This is Mina."

Serena was more than shocked when Chiba grabbed her hand, especially when she had to shake it free so she could take the hands of the people HE'd just introduced her to. Blushing on Darien's awkward behalf, she said, "Hey."

Rubeus focused intently on both Serena and Mina, explaining that he and his friend were new in town and trying to catch up with the class load. "It's most likely that we've kept Mr. Chiba busy lately."

Darien's heart was now racing a mile a minute; he needed to pull himself together and not be so odious to the girl he hoped would be *his* Princess one day. He stepped even closer to Serena and reached for her hand again, then privately whispered, "I was just joking. Your hair is -amazing."

Serena watched in something close to horror as the man picked her hand up and air-kissed it. Coming from anyone else, maybe it was a nice apology. Coming from him...? She had no idea. She wondered if he were indeed doing drugs as Lita had suggested the other day.

But then something akin to jealousy struck her when Darien took Mina's hand the same way and air-kissed it, too. She wondered if Mina and Darien would have to get a room if Mina kept squealing like a stuck pig.

Serena caught Mina's eyes and looked away, then Mina said it was nice meeting everyone, catching Serena's hint and saying their goodbyes.

Before they could disappear, Darien put an arm on Serena's lower back and led her a few steps away from the rest of the group. "I really am sorry, Serena. I hope I didn't embarrass you."

Serena looked stupidly at his arm disappearing behind her. She fumed inwardly that Rei had gotten her so off-balance that now she was somehow enjoying having this weird jerk's hand on her. Confused, she swallowed awkwardly and glanced at him: "It's okay."

Her eyes locked on his, then the hair on the back of her neck stood up like she was a damned cat — he seemed to be looking at her like he was trying to tell her something. Her breath caught as she felt his eyes boring into her own, and —she quickly tore her eyes away from his and got pissed at herself for thinking about this baka's eyes!

She quickly departed, gasping silently as she realized she missed his touch. That was it! She was going to KILL Rei for getting her angry enough that she was acting super-ditzy around bakas. Even if they were mildly cute, broody ones.

Darien smiled warmly at her as she bounced off into the setting sunlight, Mina needing to rush to catch up to her. He half-wondered if his touches had had an effect on her after all. He determined to try that again, just to see—

Koan said, "VERY young."

Rubeus commented, "Very RIPE for their ages, though."

Koan sneered, "As if you'd care how old they are!"

Darien's head snapped to Koan — what a catty comment for someone like Koan, an advanced med student ready to move straight into an internship. Acting like her brother's interest in other girls caused her jealousy.

Rubeus glared at Koan as well, but then said to Darien, "You seemed quite fond of the youngest one." Beat. Relishing the name as it left his mouth, "Serena." He smiled to himself; Serena, Serenity. But more importantly, the young girl LOOKED like the Neo-Queen. Which, of course, any of them would know on sight since Prince Diamond was so completely obsessed with the bitch that their veritable leader was never caught without some creepy three-dimensional images of her.

Rubeus was almost ecstatic with his own thoughts! What stroke of luck —no, DESTINY! would lead their clan back to the past and almost immediately into the proximity of an ancestor of the Neo-Queen Serenity!

Who wore her hair the same strange-ass way the Rabbit did!

Rubeus knew he would be visiting the arcade to see a little more of this Serena and her friends. Find out where the Tsukino household was.

"She's a friend," Darien said darkly, suspicious glare leaving Koan and resting on Rubeus. "A GOOD friend."

Koan rolled her eyes, and in a singsong voice, said, "Jailbait..."

.

.

.

Rini watched the scene from behind trees; when Serena and Mina split off from the group, Rini had to choose to follow Lita or Mina, the only two she hadn't fully investigated yet. Seeing as how Mina and Serena were so pissed off, she opted instead to follow Lita. Rini had two coals in the fire: earn Serena's trust, and keep investigating Serena's friends. She was working on #1 now; and Lita would be #2—

Rini let her eyes wander to where the blondes had been stopped by a group of older people. Her blood started pumping through her veins telling her there was danger afoot, but her eyes zeroed in on the very threat she'd been avoiding since returning to the past.

The bad people. Serena and Mina were talking to the bad people, she was sure of it. They looked a little different, but there was no mistaking them. Especially not the crazy red-haired demon guy!

Did that mean the bad people KNEW Serena had the Silver Crystal, or were they just fishing and this meeting was completely accidental? Had they TRACKED Rini, and were now inquiring the blondes about the whereabouts of a pink-haired beautiful little princess? And if so, would Serena give her up?

—no. No, no, no, Rini reminded herself. She was letting her imagination get away with her, and if she weren't careful, she'd signal ALL the bad people exactly where she was. She started stepping backwards, then finally turned and ran. Her plan to follow Lita long forgotten, she ran and ran until she got to the Tsukinos, then she ran in and found Ikuko and burst into tears, holding on to her surrogate mother for dear life.