Romancing the Enemy By Scutter None of these characters are mine. They belong to whatever company/ companies own or made Sailor Moon. This is rated PG I'm not going to give you a briefing on what the story is about. If you want to know, read it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Prologue Serena stepped out her front door and sighed in contentment. The air was cool with the first touches of autumn, but the sky was clear, and the sun warm. Perfect weather. Smiling to herself, Serena set out for the arcade. She was meeting Lita there - they were going shopping for Ami's birthday - and with any luck, they could see Andrew before they went. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Darien stared blankly at the wall of the arcade. The tree outside the window blew gently in the breeze and dappled light reflected off the wall. But, despite how intently he was staring, it wasn't the wall he was seeing. He was seeing *her*. The mysterious woman from his dreams, that plagued him every night. Was "plagued" the right word for a dream he looked forward to with such longing? Though he always woke confused, and sometimes a little scared, he had to admit he enjoyed the dreams. It was comforting, and the woman's voice always left him calm. But who was she? If only he could see her face. Suddenly, his silent contemplation was broken. "Ow!" Darien leapt off his stool, turning in surprise to see Andrew, who had just poked him hard in the ribs. "What was that for?" Andrew grinned. "I've been trying to get your attention for a full five minutes. Where on Earth were you?" Darien frowned. "Huh? Nowhere." Andrew raised an eyebrow. "You wouldn't be thinking about a girl, would you?" "Who me? As if!" "Well, from that dopey expression you had, it sure looked like it to me." Darien gave his friend a fed up look, but before he could come up with a decent come-back, a motion in the doorway caught his eye. Serena? Wasn't it a little early for her to be up? He sidled up to her, devious teasing already forming in his mind, but before he could open his mouth, Serena turned to him and held up her hand. "Not today, Darien. I'm just not interested." "Eah! Someone got up on the wrong side of bed!" Serena turned to him with a dazzling smile. "I'm in a perfectly good mood, and I don't need you ruining it for me. So I don't want to talk to you, that's all." Darien held up his hands defensively. "Fine. Whatever," he muttered to himself, as she walked away. Andrew appeared beside Darien again. "What's gotten into her today?" Darien shrugged. "Maybe she finally learnt to stand up for herself." Andrew didn't get any further than a reproachful "Hey!" before Darien interrupted with "I'm just joking. Don't spaz out on me, okay?" "Yeah, yeah. Hey, listen," he said, as he saw Lita come in the doors. "I'm gonna go talk to the two "love scouts". Catch ya later, Dare." "See ya," he replied, then added "Have fun!" Darien laughed to himself as he watched Serena and Lita's eyes light up at Andrew, then he looked at his watch. he thought, and grabbed his jacket on his way out the door. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Serena glanced at the clock over Andrew's shoulder. "Hey, Lita. Let's get going. The mall opens soon." As much as she loved spending time with Andrew, shopping came a close second, and Serena getting impatient. Lita grinned. "Okay, let's go! 'Mission Shop-til-ya-Drop' is now in operation!" Andrew couldn't hide his laughter as the two girls raced for the door. He liked them a lot, but they were still just kids underneath. Still, they were a lot of fun. He kept smiling as he went back to work. Out on the street, Serena started chattering non-stop. "What can we get for Ami? She keeps saying she wants a new calculator, you know, with the programmable memory, but I think we should get her something a little more fun, like, I don't know, maybe a Cd? She said she liked that new group, what were they called, the Blue Knights? The Blue Rockets? I can't remember. Anyway, if we can't do that, maybe a new clock for her bedroom, remember she said the old one was getting old. Hey," She stopped suddenly. "What's that? Sirens? Come on, Lita! Let's go see!" she cried, racing for the corner. Skidding to a halt, the two girls looked up the street. They couldn't see anything at first, but then, in the distance, a screech of burning rubber highlighted the blue Saab, careening wildly down the road, with a police car close behind. From the speed it was travelling, it was clear it had no intention of stopping, even when the traffic lights turned from green to amber, then to red. "Wow, what a chase," Serena breathed softly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Glancing at the traffic lights again, Darien saw them turn from red to green, and released the brake on his motorbike, speeding up towards the intersection. Through the padding on his helmet, he didn't hear the sirens until they were quite close, and, instinctively, he slowed a little. But the police car was still a way up the street. Thinking he had time, he let the brakes off, and entered the intersection. Then, he saw the saab. Instinct took over as Darien slammed on the brakes. The wheels screeched, locked and skidded. He wrenched the bike to the side - anything to keep it out of the car's path. But the inertia of the bike worked resolutely against him. The saab slammed into the front wheel, going at least 80 miles an hour, spinning the bike like a toy. Darien hit the side of the car like a paper doll. The saab was still moving, and was out of the way then, but the bike also kept going, and Darien went down with it. He never knew when he hit the ground. The world was already black. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Serena stared in horror as the rider of the motorcycle flew off, onto the road. He wasn't the only thing to be hit - several other cars were damaged before the saab sped off again, but Serena had eyes only for the bike. Then, as she recognised the number plate on the vehicle, her world collapsed. "Darien! No! DARIEN!" When asked later, Serena would never remember rushing onto the street, heedless of the cars and chaos around her. She couldn't have even said *why* she was running. Knowing she was doing the wrong thing, knowing she could hurt him even more, Serena undid the strap on his helmet and pulled it off as gently as she could. She recalled with sudden clarity the CRP lessons she'd had at school, and immediately checked for a pulse. It took her a good 15 seconds to find one, but when she did, her heart skipped a beat. Leaning her cheek close to his mouth, Serena couldn't feel anything. Automatically, she tilted his head back, hoping he didn't have neck injuries, and opened his mouth, beginning to breath into his lungs for him. She knew she was probably breathing too fast, but her own pulse was racing, and she couldn't even consider slowing down. Dimly, she was aware of someone else hovering over him, of the coppery smell of blood, and faint words in the back of her mind. "He's bleeding . . . too much . . . ambulance coming . . .". The first thing she heard with clarity though, was the wail of a siren. She didn't pay it any heed, though. Two words echoed through her mind as she continued to breath life into someone else's lungs. Then, suddenly, she couldn't breath any more. His throat locked, and Darien tried to struggle against her. She lifted her mouth, and, keeping his head back, listened with elation as he took a shuddering, cracking breath. Serena found herself being brushed aside then, as two paramedics came and took over from her. She felt a hand on her arm, and another paramedic - or perhaps she was a policewoman - it didn't really matter to Serena - came and led her to the side. "Well done, miss. Well done. Were you here from the beginning?" Serena nodded distractedly, craning her neck to try and see Darien. "Did you see how it happened?" "What? Yeah. Is he gonna be okay?" The woman didn't reply. That clinched it. For the first time in the whole incident, Serena's nerve cracked, and she began to sob incoherently. The woman gathered Serena into her arms, holding her tightly until the girl pulled roughly away, turning back to see Darien. the woman thought, pity for the girl filling her. Serena watched mutely as Darien was lifted onto a stretcher, and loaded into the ambulance. The doors shut behind him with a deathly thud of finality. "You knew him, did you?" It was an innocent question, but it filled Serena with a cold rage. She glared at the woman, looking straight at her for the first time. "I *know* him," she said defiantly, through her tears, which were still streaming down her cheeks though she failed to notice. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That's it for the prologue. Let me know what you think. You can reach me at d-boy@intercoast.com.au