Title: Love is Blind
Chapter 1
Virginia Rose
Snortimer5@hotmail.com
Summary:  Serena is blinded by an enemy attack and must try to continue her 
life normally without letting anyone know she's blind.

	Hey Ya'll!  My name is Virginia, and I'm a mush fan, so be prepared, 
although this chapter isn't extremely romantic, it IS coming.  I would like 
to thank my friends laurel and T. for their intput, and thanks to Alicia 
Blade for the encouragement!  I hope that everyone enjoy this fic, and 
flames, praise, anything is welcome.  I love mail! (Snortimer5@hotmail.com) 
Okay, I'm trying to keep my authors notes to a minimum, so....


"Sailormoon, watch out!"
I dodged just in time to miss the spray of venom aimed for my head.  This 
was a particularly nasty creature from the negaverse, and for some reason, 
it simply refused to die.  The whole situation was very aggravating.
	Sailormars hit the creature with her fire, and it's only response was to 
loose more venom at her.  Then it turned its ugly head toward me.  I was, as 
I always seem to get when I have an attack hurled at me, frozen in place.  I 
felt my knees start to knock as the stream of venom drew closer to my head.  
At the last possible moment, strong arms grasped me tightly and drew me away 
from the danger.  Yet, my rescuer had not been fast enough to prevent the 
lightest venomous mist from invading my eyes.  Tears trying to dislodge the 
stinging particles had already begun to well up in my eyes as I look up at 
Tuxedo Mask, here to save me as always.  I managed a wobbly smile and a 
feeble  "Thank You, Tuxedo Mask."
	Tuxedo Mask gently prodded me to finish the creature, which I did, and he 
(as usual) disappeared.   (I hate fights, which is why I'm not going to be 
any more explicit on this one than necessary.)
	Well, as I stumbled home, I noticed that my vision was a bit blurred.  I 
dismissed it as merely being sleepy or that my eyes were still watery, even 
though the stinging sensation had stopped a few minutes ago.
	When I got home, I mumbled a good night to Luna, and rolled back into bed.

	"Serena, GET UP!  You are going to be late to school.  AGAIN!"
Luna, my faithful guardian, can be quite a grouch in the morning.  My eyes 
flew open.  Only to discover that it was still dark.
"Whaaa...?  Hey, Luna, Why'd you have to wake up?  It's still dark for 
goodness sake!  Is it another attack?"
Had the room not been pitch black, I would have seen Luna staring at me 
oddly.  "Serena, it's not dark, it's almost eight o'clock...." Her voice 
trailed off.
"Of course it's still dark."  I felt on my bedside table for my digital 
clock, and when I found it picked it up and held it in front of my face.  I 
couldn't make out the luminescent digits.
"Stupid clock must be broken."  I muttered.
Determined to prove to Luna that it was still dark and no one in their right 
mind would be getting ready for school, I felt my way along the wall until I 
reached my open window.  Sticking my head out the window I felt a warm 
breeze.  I looked around, expecting to see to dazzling moon and stars 
spattered across the sky.  Instead I was met with darkness.  Total darkness. 
  No light splotches, fuzzy lines, gray areas.  Nothing.  I heard children 
chatting happily as they went to school.  Birds were singing cheerfully.  I 
felt warm sunshine shining on my cheek.  It was obviously your typical Tokyo 
morning.  Except that I couldn't see any of it.
	The realization of my situation hit me like a ton of bricks.  Terror gnawed 
at my throat as I withdrew into my room.  I am often known to wail when in 
distress, but this was beyond distress, for I had just grasped that I was 
totally and completely blind.  I was trapped in total darkness, with no way 
out.  I was more scared than I had ever been in a fight.  This was darkness. 
  Darkness, where my greatest fears and secrets lurked.  Awful, horrible, 
terrifying darkness.  And there was no way out.
	I slid down the wall, feeling faint.  I felt Luna nudge my hand gently.
"Serena, are you alright?  What's wrong?"
I felt her intense gaze burning into me.
Whimpering and trying to suppress tears, I replied  "I'm b-blind."  
Sniffling loudly, I buried my head and resigned myself to the hot tears that 
had congregated in my eyes and began to cry shamelessly.  Luna was still 
trying to process what I had said.  "You're blind?  Oh, Serena, how did this 
happen?!  When did this happen?  Are your eyes bothering you?  What are we 
going to tell your parents?  Wha-"
	I tearfully interrupted Luna's frightened outburst to tell her about the 
venom mist that had gotten into my eyes from last night's fight.  Together 
we resolved that I couldn't just tell my parents that I mysteriously went 
blind overnight.  I was to act normal, and, as soon as possible, get Ami to 
look at my eyes to see if she could fix them.  Until then I had to act as if 
nothing was wrong and pretend that I could actually see.
	"Everything will be perfectly fine, Serena, don't worry.  I'm sure Ami will 
be able to fix this with no problem at all.  All you have to do is hold out 
most of today.  It's alright, Serena."  Luna soothed, as I began to compose 
myself.  'Ami can fix my eyes.'  I told myself.  I was just trying to defend 
myself from the feelings utter despair entering the corners of my mind.
"Right now, you do need to get ready for school."
Well, that was certainly an uphill battle.
With Luna's help, I eventually located and donned my school uniform, 
although it took a few tries to keep me from putting everything on 
backwards.   My hair, however, was another matter.
"Serena, it looks like someone torpedoed your head!" Luna informed me.
"But this is exactly how I do it when I can see what I'm doing!"  I whined.
	Well, after several more unsuccessful tries I finally gave up and went down 
the stairs (Actually, I kinda half fell, half walked.)
	"Sweetie, school is starting any second now, you're going to be late!"
	"I know, mom."  I said dejectedly.  I had already resigned myself to the 
fact that I was going to be horribly late.  Well, detention is no worse than 
being blind, I suppose.
	"Serena, are you alright?  You look like you've been crying.  Your eyes are 
bloodshot."  Mother asked, as I plopped down on the nearest chair I felt.
I wanted to tell her that, no, I was not alright.  In fact I was blind, and 
more scared than I had ever been in my life.  I wanted to throw myself in my 
mother's arms, and have her comfort me and tell me that everything was going 
to be fine, that she could fix everything, just as she had in my childhood.
	I knew my mother could not fix all of my problems now, but my heart ached 
to tell her the truth, everything, the battles, the fear, the dreams, and 
everything that had fallen upon my shoulders over the past few months.  But 
I knew I couldn't, so I instead filled my voice with false enthusiasm and 
said "I'm fine, mom.  I just had something in my eye." Mom, do you mind 
doing my hair?" I added meekly, not wanting to venture to school looking as 
if my head exploded.
Now, I couldn't see, but I could almost feel the huge smile radiating from 
her face.
"Serena?  You want ~me~ to do your hair.  Oh sweetie, it's been years since 
you've let me do your hair!"  She said joyfully.
I made a mental note to ask my mother to do my hair again.  I sat down and 
let her work, while Luna sat at my feet impatiently. After a few minutes, my 
mother finally announced, "Done!"
"Thanks Mom!  Gotta run!"  I said as I felt my way around the counter and 
over to the door.
"Serena, wait, your lunch!"
Mom tossed my lunch to me, and, needless to say, I didn't even see it 
coming.  It hit me in the head and fell to the floor.  I picked it up and 
stumbled outside.  Luna hopped one my shoulder and began to direct me on how 
to get to school.
	"Left!"
	"No, no!  Your other left!"
	"Watch out for the curb!"
	"Pothole!  Watch out for the Pothole!
	"Right!"
	"There's a person coming.  Get to the right.  Smile and wave!"
	"Serena, you just smiled and waved at the wall."
	"Lookout for that mud puddle!"

	"Huh?  What mud pu-"
	SPLASH!
	"Oh, that mud puddle."

	Well, about this time, I was walking along with sopping wet shoes and 
socks, with Luna shouting instructions and commands in my ear, when:
SMACK!
"Oh Owie!"  I had smacked into something hard.
"Luuunaaa," I whined, stretching her name as if it were a rubber band, 
"Why'd you let me run into a telephone pole?!" I whimpered as I drew myself 
up.
"Meow, Meow?"  Luna returned.
Uh-oh.  If Luna wasn't speaking to me that meant someone was listening...
"Hey Meatball Head!  Maybe if you weren't so busy having a conversation with 
your cat you'd have looked where you're going!"
A warm, tenor voice invaded my senses.  Him.  Of all the people in the 
world, I had to run into him.  Oh, not that I don't enjoy running into him.  
He's got the deepest blue eyes I've ever seen, and this handsome chiseled 
face..... And, well, I argue with him because it's expected of me.  I could 
never live it down if my friends discovered my secret crush on him.  
Darien....
I realized that I should shout at him and turn red, or something so I 
squinched up my face, crossed my arms, turned around and:
"Argh!  Darien, why do you always have to be so mean?  And how long is it 
going to take you to learn that my name is SERENA!"
I felt a strong hand on my shoulder.
"Um, Meatball Head, that's a wall.  I'm this way."
He gently turned me around.  Needless to say, I was feeling quite stupid at 
the moment.
"Um, Well.. It's easy to mistake you for a wall!  Running into you felt like 
getting hit by a Mack truck!  That's gonna leave a bruise, ya know!"  I 
replied.
My ears began to turn red as I realized what I had just said.  I decided 
that it was time for me to make a hasty retreat.
"Um, well, I-I," I stuttered. "I've got to get to school now.  Bye, Darien!"
I turned tail and ran blindly (literally) in what I hoped was the right 
direction, leaving a speechless Darien behind me.
	Luna caught up with me as I slowed to a stop and hopped back on my 
shoulder.
"Serena!  That was a catastrophe!  Could you have possibly made it any more 
obvious that you're blind?" Luna fussed.
I sighed and decided to throw a little pity party.  I sniffled and stuck out 
my lower lip.
"I'm sorry Luna.  It's just ~sniff~ so-"  I heaved a sob for emphasis. 
"H-hard.  I've
n-never been blind before.  And- and-"
"It's all right Serena.  I'm sorry I scolded you."
Works every time.
"Well, Serena, your school is just up the street."  Luna continued.
I was given strict instructions to find Ami and Lita as soon as possible and 
tell them that I was as blind as bat.
"Serena, we're at school."  Luna said.  "The door is about ten steps 
straight ahead.  Can you find your room alright?"
"Yup.  Fourth door on the left."
Luna left wished me good luck and abandoned her post on my shoulder.  I 
bravely stepped into the hallway, which was thankfully empty, because I was 
so late.  I walked slowly over to the left wall and placed my hand on it.  I 
walked slowly down the hallway until I felt my hand come into contact with 
the fourth door.  Trying not to attract attention, I sat down in the nearest 
chair I felt.  Only to discover it was occupied.
"Hey!  Get off me!"
"Oops.  Heh, heh, heh. I really sorry, you see I-"
"Hey, she's not even in this class!"
Well, I got out of there as fast as I could, leaving a bunch of AP Biology 
students wondering just what kind of medication I was on.  I crept into my 
classroom, which turned out to be the fifth door, and took a seat in the 
back.  The room was silent.  Was everyone taking a quiz that I had somehow 
forgotten about?
I coughed a little bit to see if Haruna would notice that I had arrived 
late.  I still heard nothing.
"Ms. Haruna?" I asked tentatively.  "Ami?  Lita?"
Still no answer.  I finally deduced that no one was in the room.  I decided 
to strike out on my own and look for my class, who was mysteriously missing.
I stuck my head into the hallway, and, very slowly, hugged the wall as I 
made my way down the hall.  I was halfway to the principal's office when it 
hit me.  Today was Friday.  Friday was the day we were going to the Museum 
of Natural History.  We were supposed to report to the parking lot when 
school started to board the bus.  In my estimate, school started 20 minutes 
ago.  I broke into a run towards the door.  After knocking into a senior, a 
water fountain, and a delivery boy, I felt someone grab my arm.
"Serena!  Where have you been?  The whole class has been waiting!  Now we're 
twenty minutes late!  You can be sure you be making up for this little 
incident in detention!"  Came the harried voice of Ms. Haruna, as she 
forcibly dragged me through the hall and on to a charter bus.
I found myself in the narrow aisle of the bus.  I turned my head around and 
tried to make it look like I was searching for a seat.
"Serena!"  Someone hissed.
I tried to pinpoint the sound, but couldn't, so I pretended I didn't hear.
My ploy worked because:
"SERENA!"  Someone yelled.  (I assumed Lita)
This time I was able to figure out that the call came from the middle of the 
bus, on the left side.  I made my way to the middle and sat down.
"Hey Serena!"   Said Melvin's high pitched, nasal voice.
Definitely the wrong seat.
I tried one seat back.  Pay dirt.
"Serena!  Good grief girl, are you deaf?  We called you and called you and 
you didn't hear!"  Said Lita's  voice.
"Not deaf, blind."  I muttered.
Ever-alert Ami, who was also in my seat, heard my utterings.
"Blind?  Serena, you're not serious!" she said in her normal lilting tone.
I nodded solemnly.  I told them the whole story in hushed whisper.   I tried 
to keep my composure, but failed miserably and burst into tears.   The girls 
tried their best to comfort meto comfort me and keep me hidden from curious 
eyes.
"Serena, why didn't you tell us you got that stuff in your eyes last night?" 
Lita demanded.
"I didn't think that it was that big of a deal.."  I trailed off, not really 
having a good explanation.
"Serena, let me see your eyes."
  I let Ami look at my eyes, becoming more and more frightened as the 
minutes ticked away without her saying a word.
Finally she gently turned my head towards her and said,  "Serena, I think 
that you have retinal damage, but I can't be sure without a more extensive 
examination.  If there is retinal scarring, there may not be anything I can 
do, or you may need to have surgery.  I think we need to take you to the 
optometrist after school."
I felt like someone had clamped a vise onto my heart when I heard her words. 
  I had been holding on to the thin thread of hope that Ami would be able to 
fix my vision.  Once again despair began to gnaw at me.
I nodded and tried not to cry at the thought of having surgery, or being 
blind forever.  Blind forever.  I was beginning to absorb the full 
ramifications of that statement.  It meant never seeing my family's faces 
again.  Mom, dad, even Sammy.  No more glorious summer sunsets.  No more 
watching the moonrise.  No more seeing my friends.  No more video games.  No 
more Darien.  For some reason that thought struck me harder than the rest.  
My heart seemed to jump into my throat at the awful thought of never seeing 
him again.
I began to sob in anguish.  The girls were at a loss as to what they should 
do to comfort me, but they gave me what I needed most:  A sympathetic 
shoulder to cry on.
"Serena," Lita said gently "we're here."
I lifted my head from Ami's now tear-soaked shoulder and stood up.  Ami 
grabbed one of my elbows and guided me through the aisle and down the steep 
stairs.  We lined up in the parking lot, with me trying not to ram the 
person in front of me.   I succeeded until we entered the building and the 
whole line stopped.  I hit the poor soul in front of me with a resounding 
"Oof!"  That echoed throughout the large atrium.
The effect was something like dominoes, with everyone in front of me falling 
on their faces.  Now I couldn't see at all, I guess it was intuition, but I 
was sure that everyone was giving me angry stares.  I offered a meek and 
very apologetic "Sorry."
Lita and Ami had just helped me up and each of them was grasping one of my 
elbows to prevent further mishap when Lita said,  "Hey Serena, what'd you do 
to your hair?  I like it.  It makes you look a lot older!"
My hair?  There was nothing wrong with my hair.  My hands flew to the back 
of my head, only to find that my hair was no in it's usual style, but 
twisted and coiled into an intricate mass on top of my head.  Sigh.  Mother 
was trying to be cute.
The girls were still exclaiming over my new do when Ms. Haruna started to 
hush us all.
"Class, I expect you all to be on you're best behavior."
"Jeez, it's not as if we're in kindergarten."  Lita muttered.
"Well, I'm going to hand you over to the curator who will be our "designated 
tour guide" today!"
Ms. Haruna sounded like a giggling schoolgirl, which could only mean one 
thing.  Our little tour guide was hot.
Then a very familiar voice, which was music to my ears, cut through the 
chattering.
"As your teacher said, I will be your guide through the Tokyo Museum of 
Natural History, and my name is Mr. Chiba."
I heard some of the girls around me sigh and I could swear that they were 
swooning.  Me?  I guess I thought that it would be great to yelp out 
"Darien?!" and have everyone look at me like I had grown a third nostril.  
(Well, I guess they were staring.  You might be forgetting that I'm blind) I 
could tell that this day already was, and would continue to be, the mother 
of all bad days.



Hope you enjoyed it!

Love to all,
ViGi