Title: Of Pink Moon Bunny Love, Sweet Chocolate Covered Kisses, and Silly Little Red Roses from Singing Silver Lockets… Name: Sakura Girl E-mail: alicefan@misystems.cnchost.com Type: Alternate Reality Romance Rating: PG Disclaimer: Sakura Girl owns BKRL, Naoko Takeuchi owns Sailor Moon, Yoko Kamio owns Hana Yori Dango (though I'm not using any of the wonderful HYD characters, I'm kind of, sort of…borrowing the idea of HYD…), and the wonderful creator of Revolutionary Girl Utena owns the term "Ohtori Academy". If you don't understand the second half of this little disclaimer…well, um… *Sakura scratches top of head in befuddlement* I'll get back to you on that, but for now… I'll just tell you that the second part is NOT Sakura's mindless rambling (at least, not all of it anyway), but actually a required action to prevent anything of the unfortunate nature. Such as: Sakura wishes to continue the lawsuit-free lifestyle she is currently accustomed to… *cough* Of Pink Moon Bunny Love, Sweet Chocolate Covered Kisses, and Silly Little Red Roses from Singing Silver Lockets… Part One By Sakura Girl Author's Notes: Hello everyone! Not much to say this time (though I do, however, have lots and lots I'd love to ramble on and on about… (*wiggles eyebrows*)) except a long overdue, well-deserved, major, major thank you to the wonderful, wonderful Meredith-chan… The almighty, very, very courageous and brave one who dared to pre-read all of my crazy stories! (one HAS to be somewhat of a daredevil to attempt to get through my scary works fiction, ne?) Therefore, I've decided to dedicate this crazy li'l story to the remarkably, phenomenal… (*drumroll please*) Ms. Meredith Bronwen Mallory! And now, let our tale of terror begin… "Serena, dear! First day of school, remember? Time for Ohtori! Up, up, up, lazy girl!" Mrs. Tsukino sang out all too cheerfully as she attempted to liven up the sleeping lump upon the small pink bed. A low groan could be heard from beneath all the flurry of pink-colored sheets and blankets as she continued to gently shake the unmoving form. This little charade went on for another five minutes or so… Finally, Mrs. Tsukino sighed as she decided that there was only one thing left to do… "Sammy dear? Come here, please… And bring that water blaster gun thing we bought you for your birthday…" Mrs. Tsukino instructed her youngest son before stepping out of Serena's room into the kitchen to begin preparing breakfast. Two minutes later… "Aii-yeee! Sammy? Get back here you litt-" Three minutes later… Serena brushed her long, *wet*, golden tresses with her favorite pink bunny brush, and swiftly split the waterfall of sunshine into two parts… After a few seconds of fast fingers and complex twisting of blonde hair, Serena had her hair in her signature style. Two perfectly aligned odangoes, with two ribbons of silvery gold trailing behind them. She grinned fondly at the familiarity of this hairstyle, before delicately adding on two foreign ribbons of red around each odango. For where she would be going today, was most certainly not a place of customary habit. She smiled, fully satisfied with the reflection her mirror cast back at her. "Watch Ohtori! A weed shall soon be growing amongst your garden of roses…" She slowly approached the entrance to the large, iron gates of Ohtori Academy. The pretty, odangoed blonde marveled at the detailed artwork that was artistically placed upon strategic places of the coal-colored gates. Serena stared across the fancy campus grounds at the massive display of bustling uniformed students, chauffeurs and their limousines, and finally…the enormous building of education which was to be her daily sanctuary for the coming school year. Now, back at Crossroads, Serena had always been very, very bubbly and outgoing, an all around well liked student with many friends. However, as she approached a trio of her fellow students, Serena saw how the tall girl with chestnut colored hair had purposely shifted herself and her two friends to another area of the large schoolyard, in obvious attempt to make her feel inferior to them. Serena frowned at this hostile tactic, but didn't say anything. However, she did begin wondering to herself as she was snubbed by, yet, another group of "high society" girls on passing the school's public drinking fountain. How does one detect the fact the she, Serena Tsukino of the Juuban district, didn't belong in such a place as Ohtori Academy? Was she wearing some sort of silly label that read: "Hey look at me! I'm poor! Pick on me!" She nervously glanced down at her very new, very crisply ironed, and very, very costly school uniform. (It consisted of a simple white cotton blouse with a slender, navy blue silk ribbon-bow, tied at the neckline, a nice cream colored long-sleeved jacket worn on the outside of the blouse and a practical gray pleated skirt that came to mid thigh finished off the outfit. Though the ensemble was not of any fashionable designs, it was obvious that the quality of the cloth was certainly of a great, great value…) Nope, nothing wrong with her physical image! Truth be told, she looked quite the part of any everyday ordinary (if one could call an Ohtori Academy student "ordinary") student at Ohtori High. In the midst of her pondering, Serena stumbled across, yet, yet another rude snubbing by a fellow colleague as she struggled to make her way up the concrete stairway to her first hour class. This time, the bold, young male who dared to probe her had gone so far as to actually walk up to exchange several, several unkind words of malice to Serena's unprepared ears. "Look Jubie…You and I both know that you don't belong here, so why don't you do us both a favor and go back to where you came from?" Serena's large blue eyes widened to an even greater size as she let the hurtful words sink in. Suddenly, her peaceful ocean of sparkling lapis narrowed into a wrathful sea of angry, angry gray. However, right as she was about to retort with an equally venom-packed response, the ill- mannered boy deliberately shoved his way passed her and ran away with his little posse of male students. This sudden act of boorishness caught Serena totally off guard, she wobbled dangerously laterally upon the edge of a concrete step. Though she was a very, very bright young lady when it came to most academic subjects, Serena was not very good at applying the laws of gravity to her everyday life… Or in other words, to be a bit blunt, she was quite a little klutz. But an adorable one, nonetheless! (AN: I repeat, for the sake of this story, bear with me! I'm mutating poor, little Serena's not-so-school-worthy mind into something that of a little Einstein!) Serena faltered slightly as she attempted to regain her balance as she teetered upon an unpromising step on the hard, concrete stairway that led to the upper story of Ohtori High… This little mishap resulted into quite an unfortunate happening for our little blonde. "AAIIIYEeee…" she wailed as she chaotically tumbled down a few steps of the unmerciful stairway. The students who were wandering up and down the long line of steps simply paid no heed to poor Serena when she finally managed to find her way out of the blur of Tweety birds and twinkling stars that encircled her dizzy head she sat back up. Upon the bottom last step of the concrete stairway, Serena rubbed painfully at her skinned knees. Before her arrival at Ohtori, she had most certainly prepared herself to be treated differently by the other students, but this…this was inhuman! How could anyone just walk on passed a hurt fellow student as if he or she didn't even exist? Did all these unfeeling snobs act this way towards those whom they felt possessed a lower standing in society than they did themselves? Serena's frown deepened, as she was about to mutter an earful of a few choice words for the public's hearing pleasure… A soft, unfamiliar voice interrupted her thinking, "…er, are you…are you alright?" Serena stared up into the face of a gentle-looking girl with mild blue eyes and soft, blue hair. The concern that was found so openly within the stranger's depths of azure was so apparent that Serena forgot all about her tantrums, and smiled back lightly, "Uh- yeah, I'm just fine! Just got a little scratched up…had a little accident over there…I-I tripped over something…I think." (AN: AAIIIYEeee! What has Sakura done to our little Serena? What ever happened to that patented-oh-so-famous-Usagi-cry-of-pain? Ack!) Seeing that all was well, the girl held out a friendly hand and helped Serena to her feet. "My…my name is Amy. What's your name?" she asked timidly. "Ah…well, my name's Serena! Nice to meet you, Amy! I'm new here, Ohtori sure is a big place, isn't it?" Serena replied cheerfully, as is she didn't have a care in the world, her previous trauma already long dismissed from her mind. She was very happy to meet this Amy girl. Perhaps she would be able to make a friend or two in this crazy school. "So what's your first period? I have Ms. Haruna… Could you please tell me where room B-14 is? I'm…I'm a little lost…" "Oh really? You have Ms. Haruna? So do I! We can walk to class together if you want…" Amy giggled softly. So the two girls set off together, becoming fast friends, for according to the saying: "opposites attract". Serena, being the refreshing little ray of sunshine she was, chattered aimlessly as Amy, a sweet, yet shy little drop of mild morning dew, listened eagerly to all the animated blonde had to say. However, as the two giggly friends approached the classroom of B-14, Amy suddenly stopped her giggling and immediately tensed up. Serena had also miraculously ceased her rambling and glanced over quizzically at her friend's suddenly rigid attitude. "Wh-what's a matter, Ames? Are you okay?" Serena furrowed her golden brows in confusion. What had caused such a change in attitude within her blue-headed buddy? She glanced wonderingly around the silent classroom. Many fellow classmates stood around the edges of the large room, whispering critically and pointing unkindly at a lone figure that stood in the center of attention. It was a boy, he was packing up several books and binders into a cardboard box. His dirty blonde hair looked as if it hadn't been brushed for months, dark circles occupied the space around his tired gray eyes, and his cheeks sunk in…just like a person who hadn't eaten a single thing in days. Serena's eyes widened in surprise, she had never seen anyone of such youth look so…troubled and humbled. All of a sudden, a pile of the boy's many books were accidentally knocked down by his own carelessness… There was a moment when all the students' whisperings stopped as they turned to star him down with even colder eyes, but the silence was quickly replaced by a steady wave of light snickering and sarcastic glares. Serena glared angrily at the cruelty of the others before glancing worriedly at the poor, unfortunate boy. She sucked in a deep breath and boldly took a step forth to help him gather up his things. That was when Amy suddenly stepped out and roughly grabbed onto one of Serena's slender arms, she briskly dragged her into an unoccupied corner of the classroom. "Serena! You mustn't…ever, EVER do something like that. I know you mean well, and perhaps your ignorance comes from being new and all… But you must know that those who are tagged by the F4 aren't to be associated with at all! If you do…the consequences will be frightful!" Amy cautioned seriously, subtly glancing at the two little ribbons that adorned her blonde friend's head. The threatening tone in the supposedly mild-mannered Amy speech was quite a disturbing surprise. Serena stared back blankly at her friend as she swallowed in this totally unexpected, new side to her quiet friend. Then, there was a moment of silence…but soon after, Serena raised a sardonic brow and mimicked sarcastically, "The consequences will be frightful!" She sighed and shook her head tiredly, "What are you talking about? I just wanted to help him out, sheesh! What's wrong with helping out your classmates when they need help?" "…Nothing! Absolutely nothing, go earn a title as the next Mother Teresa! Helping is a wonderful thing…" Amy reassured hurriedly, but then became serious once more as she continued, "But…Ju-just…just don't touch that boy over there… After all, he's tagged." "Mother Teresa…good one Amy! But, um…what's wrong with getting tagged?" the blonde asked casually. Amy paused before twitching slightly, "Serena? How 'new' are you anyway? Don't you even know who the 'F4' are?" "Eh? F4?" Serena cocked her head slightly. "Goodness, Serena! How could you have possibly gotten here without hearing of the infamous members of F4?" Amy exclaimed, a shocked expression upon her gentle face. "They are only perhaps THE richest and best-looking, and some even say the THE smartest bunch of guys ever to hit Ohtori! Mamoru Chiba's family probably owns half of this little town!" Serena raised an eyebrow and stared. Amy groaned. "Alright, let's…try a different approach! There are FOUR boys in this little group, all right, Serena? Mamoru Chiba…he's basically the head of this whole shenanigan, Demando Kanotoshi…I believe he's Mamoru's cousin, Malachite Watashio, in my opinion…the best-looking out of the arrogant bunch, and then Motoki Furuhata, Mamoru's best friend." Serena paused slightly, then began to slowly nod her head as she let this strange information sink in. And when it finally did, she exclaimed a tad bit too enthusiastically, almost as if she were mocking the infamous members of the well-known, well-received F4, "…Oh I get it! So basically everything in this school revolves around this Mamoru fellow! Jeez… Serena wrinkled her nose in distaste, she was already developing a strong prejudice for this supposedly notorious Mamoru Chiba. Though she knew she was being unfair, one couldn't blame Serena for feeling somewhat bitter against the one whom had headed everything bad that had happened to her so far at Ohtori. But then she remembered the bit Amy had mentioned about avoiding the boy, dismissed all the Mamoru spite within her mind, and asked quietly, "Well, enough about F4! All this is really boring me to sleep! What's with this tagging business that seems oh-so-frightful to you?" "Well, Serena… You know the boy you were going to help? Well, not too long ago, during Ohtori's summer Opening Ceremony, he dared to stand up to the F4. The poor boy was actually dense enough to challenge them to a fight! Of course…later on, he found a red ribbon tied to his book bag, and that's when the…the hazing began…" Amy trailed off softly, as if the memory of the whole ordeal was so terrible that one would go through great lengths to avoid speaking of it. "H-hazing? Red ribbons? What does that have to do with getting tagged?" Serena questioned carefully. "You still don't get it? Well…you see, when someone does something that…offends the F4, or makes them the least bit unhappy… The offender will be 'tagged', not literally, of course…tagging is actually just school slang for saying someone's been outcasted. Anyway… Usually one finds a red ribbon tied to ones locker the morning after the are 'tagged'. It's like a warning, you know? Kind of a way of telling the tagged offender, 'Hey, you've offended us! Now prepare to face the consequences!' And well, after that…like I said before…the ha-hazing begins." Amy breathed heavily as she finished off her lengthy explanation. Serena's eyes glistened dazedly as she replied quietly, "You high society people sure do take this pride and dignity stuff seriously, don't you?" Amy smiled gently, "I guess you could say that… But don't worry about it, just stay out of everyone's way like me, and you'll manage to survive all this craziness just fine." Serena had to laugh at her friend's light-hearted remark, for this conveniently broke the rigid tenseness of their previous conversation. The girls then quickly took their seats and gathered up their things to prepare for class to start. Amy gave Serena a reassuring smile right as their teacher, Ms. Haruna, stepped in the door right when the last bell chimed. Serena returned her smile right before she turned her attentions to the pretty, auburn-headed teacher that now stood speaking in front of the entire class. Out of the corner of her eye, Serena stole a glance at the recently tagged boy's seat. The piles of book were gone, most likely already neatly packed away in his large cardboard box…and the boy himself, Serena noted, was also no where in sight. All that remained upon the abandoned desk set, was sitting peacefully in all its blood red glory and splendor…the menacing warning ribbon of the infamous F4. Serena gasped lightly as she unconsciously lifted a hand to finger the two little ribbons of red she had tied oh-so-carefully onto her two little, golden odangoes that very morning. Ah, so that was why her fellow classmates had treated her with such ill-natured misdeeds. 'Yep,' Serena nodded to herself, 'It's all clear to me now…'