Title: Magic Tricks
Part: 7
Mako-chan
Breeze13@hotmail.com
------
AN: Back again. ^^' gomen, Minna-chan, I know I should've written this 
part
 earlier, but after the Sere and Dare ep, I needed a break! ^_- But as 
soon as I
 saw that AMK was up by Alicia (a very fab writer!), I knew that I had 
to add 
another chapter to keep my end of the bargain with her. ^^' I told her 
two of
 these chapters for one AMK, so.... here it is!  O_o' Thanks to Sailor 
Starlite/
Clio (we're working on yet another co-fic about Sailor Starlite and her 
court,
 the Pleaides, cross your fingers! And although I normally don't like 
new senshi
 fanfiction *seems to mess up the SM plot... the original...*, we've 
really
 thought out the characters and created pictures and stuff to help us 
out. ^^)
 Well, usual disclaimers apply!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh yeah, kids are great! You can teach them to hate what you hate, and 
what
 with the internet nowadays they practically raise themselves!"
             --Homer Simpson 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I rolled my eyes as Andrew suited up in his top hat and cape behind the
 counter. Similarilly, Serena groaned and said, "ANDREW!"
"Shhh... I have to FEEL the magic to BE Magical!"
I almost protested that it didn't help him LAST time, but I figured 
that spending
 another day (heck, weeks even!) with Serena wouldn't be too bad. Then 
again,
 I hadn't showered since yesterday, either...
"Andrew..." I pleaded, "can we PLEASE just cut this with a hacksaw? 
PLEASE!"
 I threw my hands out at him, and Serena flew forward with the impact 
of the
 handcuff links on her wrist.
Serena was caught gracefully by Andrew, however, and she turned to me, 
her
 face turning ashen, "Darien... a blade.. here?" she pointed with her 
petite
 slender fingers to the chain, and she didn't know HOW hard it was for 
me to
 resist grabbing those beautiful fingers and kissing them in front of 
Andrew. 
Yet I was yet to give him the satisfaction of seeing this mistake to be 
a blessing
 in disguise.
I groaned, "Serena, we have to! I still haven't taken a shower or 
anything, and
 neither have you, and we BOTH have to go to the bathroom, I'm sure..."
Her cheeks tinted pink, "On second thought, maybe we SHOUILD cut this!" 
she
 looked pleadingly at Andrew.
Andrew sighed, shaking his head, "Sorry guys, I just can't! I have to 
have a
 pair for Lizzie's party tomorrow, and since that guy's out of town, I 
need this
 one!" he sighed, "on the bright side, I DID get you these." He handed 
me a
 couple of blindfolds, the type that have the elastic bands on them so 
you can
 just put them on and not tie them. This was a slight relief, though.
Serena rolled her eyes, "Andrew, what use are they if you can't figure 
them
 out?"
He shrugged, "I'll get it right... I think... maybe... look, after 
tommorow, you
 can definately take them off. I promise!" he held up his right arm "I 
swear on
 this bible!"
I sweatdropped, "Andrew, that's a vacation pamphlet."
He glanced around a bit, "um... then I swear on the all mighty..." he 
checked
 the brochure, "hawaiiness of this guide book!"
	Shaking my head, I towed Serena back to my apartment to make use
 of the blindfolds.
----------
The first thing we did was the "icky" stuff. We went to the bathroom, 
took a 
shower, and basically felt all around better. There were no problems 
with the
 first, but taking a shower was hard business as we were.
First off, we had to take off our clothes. To do that, we had to cut 
off one
 sleeve of our shirt, the one that was on our right and left arms. I 
had to 
promise Serena I'd sew hers back on.
Then, we had to roll up the person's sleeve who WASN'T taking a shower, 
and 
let he or she give the other complete control to wash his or her hair, 
without
 complaining about how hot or cold the water was.
After wards, we had to get into fresh clothes (Serena put herself into 
one of my
 dress shirts halfway and my green coat, telling me that we'd have to 
get her 
some clothes from somewhere, or else clean and sew her other pair...). 
Making
 sure to cut a sleeve out of it, I wore a tee-shirt, because it was 
less noticeable.
I then broke out a new toothbrush for Serena, and we brushed our teeth 
and
 began to feel better slightly. We put the blindfolds in both our 
pockets in case
 we needed them again, because they worked nicely and were not as hard 
to
 put on as a bandana.
Andrew had, surprisingly, Nimrod as he is, had a good idea with them. I 
was 
glad that we were at least a bit more comfortable.
Serena stared at my blue jeans and tee, saying, "YOU wearing something 
BESIDES dress clothes?!"
I laughed, "hey, I've worn other stuff before!"
Serena shook her head, curling up deeper in my jacket, "yeah, this 
thing." She
 pointed to it, making a face, and this time I had the satisfaction of 
grabbing
 her fingers and kissing them one by one.
"I'm a fashion lost-cause..." I said.
"yes," Serena sighs happily.
"I'm YOUR lost-cause, though..."
"yes."
"You look adorable in that jacket..."
"thanks...." she grinned, "it feels wonderful to be out of those 
clothes!"
I laughed, "yeah, I know what you mean! It was starting to get... 
grimey...
 grungey... I'm not sure of the word."
She laughed, "right on both accounts, I'll bet!"
I shook my head, "oh, Sere..."
Softly, she straitened a wrinkle in my tee shirt. "there." She 
whispered, 
"perfect."
I smiled, "Serena, you're too much."
Taking her hand, I decided it would be a good idea to make the most of 
today.
 Glancing up at the trees, I softly inhaled the scent of the trees. The 
birds 
chirped, the grass was green, the flowers just waiting to be smelled. 
Smiling,
 I scooped Serena into my arms. For some reason, I wanted to run around
 shouting something, but I'm not sure what. Maybe just shouting for
 happiness's sake.
I kissed her briefly and smiled. We had a secret romance. She smiled, 
and 
breathed, "my Darien." Cuddling up in a ball in my arms, I gently 
kissed the top
 of her head, deeply inhaling her sweet scent.
I walked outside, to the balcony. Feeling the warm sunshine on us like 
we were
 all that the sun was shining for. We remained there, entangled 
together as if if
 one of us let go, the other would shatter. Maybe we would. But we both 
knew 
that we were in love. Of that there was no question.
I wondered what Andrew would think when I told him. IF I told him. I 
leaned
 down to the blonde, whispering, "Serena, I'm so sorry."
Her wide blue eyes looked up at me innocently, "For what, Darien?" She 
still
 clung to me. 
I sighed, "for telling you that kiss meant nothing. I was wrong. I was 
in love
 with you then, and still am." I somehow felt comfortable confiding in 
her,
 "I've been hiding it for a long time... I never realized it myself, 
but my teasing
 was my way of talking to you. It was the way my heart said I love you 
without
 letting my brain know yet." I hung my head, "I've been so cruel."
She smiled, tenderly stroking my lips with her fingers, "Oh, Darien. 
You
 haven't. I loved it when you teased me. It made me feel special that 
you'd 
pay attention to someone like me." She giggled, "I sort of liked it."
I looked at her deep serene eyes, "oh, Sere! That's what I love about 
you!"
 picking her up again, I kissed her deeply. A full day ahead, I 
thought. What 
wonders were left for us to venture together?
Deep in my heart, I knew I needed to tell her I was her favorite masked 
hero.
 But somehow, I felt that if I told her, I'd be betraying my princess.
----------------
AN: Another day, another non-existent dollar for you bloodsuckers! 
Er... um...
 o_O' hehe... I mean... Hi, Minna-chan! How is everything? Hehe... 
another
 chapter done! ^^ Great ceasars ghost, you may be asking, MAKO-CHAN 
wrote ANOTHER chapter? Gomen, I started this a while ago, but in all 
honesty
 this week was the week from hell. ^^" so here it was, not too long, 
but hey,
 I have ideas for other stories.. but you may not see them for a bit.
-Mako