Overcoming Obstacles
by Sailor Em

Part 6
rated pg-pg13

AN: hey you guys! thank you ALL for emailing me! it's been a big improvement,
but it could be better. =) Please email me! My mailbox has been quite empty 
for a while now. woo woo. well, i hope you like this part! i've got to speed 
up things...this is getting way too long for a short story.
a guy i know just gave me two really cool sailor moon cd's! i don't know what
the names are (since they're in japanese) but you guys, buy every japanese
cd you can! there is a really cute song on this called 
"Koibito ni wa Narenaikedo". i have NO idea what they're saying, but the 
song is so totally sweet and cute. the melody rocks! ^_^ get it!
one more thing: does anyone know where i can find an avi clip of rei walking 
in on mamo-chan when he's taking a bath? i know, it sounds hentai, but i found
a wav. of it, and it is so hilarious that i have to see it. does anyone know?
one LAST thing! (hey, my notes are never this long) are there any particular
manga books of sailor moon that have more mamo-chan and usako in it? i already
have the last three (when they get married and stuff) and the first four,
but are there any other ones that have a lot of them? i found this really 
cool store where i live that sells manga a lot more inexpensively than other 
places. 
NOTICE: someone emailed me saying that they wanted me to send them parts of
a story, and i somehow lost their email. if it's you, please email me again!
i'd gladly send them to you! i'm just so sorry that i lost your message!
well, that's it for now! enjoy!

~Emily ^_^


fighting homework by daylight!
sleeping soundly by midnight <not really>
Emily doesn't have time to fight <say 'time to fight' quickly>
all those scary rich lawyers!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
chapter/part 6

   As they looked for a parking space at the beach, Darien and Andrew began
to fight. Darien voted for a spot where there would be no parking fees but
would be sunnier, and Andrew wanted a place that was shadier and had a fee
to pay. Serena sided with Darien, because, as she pointed out, they would
be outside the whole time. Andrew expected Mina to agree with him, but to his
disappointment, she agreed with Serena and Darien.
   "ANDREW! We're going to be on the sand! What's the point of keeping the 
car nice? It doesn't matter!"
   Andrew looked hurt. "Well, Mina, this IS my car and I don't want it to
get burned."
   Darien rolled his eyes. "Dude, when are you planning to marry your dumb
car? It's only a car! Why do you want to spend extra money? By the time we
leave, it'll be dark and the car will be nice and cool."
   "Dare, I wouldn't be talking! YOU wash your car every day! Does Serena
know how much you love that car?" Andrew turned to Serena. "Every night, he
goes to his garage and talks to it. 'Oh, I love you, my beautiful car.'" he
mimicked. "When you marry him, don't be jealous if goes to sleep with the
car instead of you."
   Darien turned bright red. "I do NOT talk OR sleep with my car! Humph. And
who said I'm marrying Serena?" 
   Serena laughed at him. "It's okay, Dare. It's cute."
   He turned to grin at her. "THANK you, SERENA. At least SOMEONE doesn't make
fun of me. Too bad I can't say the same for a certain person whose name starts
with the letter *A*."
   "At least I have girls who like me!" Andrew shot back.
   "Yeah, well...who?" Darien asked slyly. " A little blonde by the name of,
um, perhaps, MINA?"
   Mina perked up her ears. Serena laughed. 
   "No! You don't know her. At least someone likes ME. Nobody likes you. It's
too bad, since you are so gone over a girl that doesn't like you." Andrew
yelled.
   "How do you know? She might!" Darien yelled, furious. Serena got curious.
   "Oh, so Dare, you DO like someone, huh? I never thought I'd see you fall
in love."
   Andrew grinned. "Yeah, he's really into her. I think he likes her so much, 
that he'd even give up his precious red car for you...I mean..her." He 
grinned wickedly. Darien turned his head to the window and ignored him.
   They finally parked at a semi-shady area where they didn't pay any money.
Darien began to gloat, vindicated. Andrew had basically done what he wanted.
He had parked at a relatively sunny place where they could save money.
   "Well, ANDREW, at least I don't work at the arcade to flirt with younger
girls!" Darien said, getting out of the car. The girls began to take off their
t-shirts to reveal their swimsuits.
   "At least I don't come to the arcade to insult girls!"
   "I don't insult anyone!"
   "Oh, really? Then how about Serena?"
   "THAT'S DIFFERENT!!!!" 
   Serena finally spoke up. "How is it different, DARIEN?" she said ominously.
   Darien finally turned to look at Serena. His mouth popped wide open. She was 
wearing a pale pink spaghetti-strap bikini with yellow bows on it (think the 
swimsuit that she wore to that photo shoot episode, but bikini style) that 
accented her graceful curves and her <cough> cleavage.The straps tied into
a light bow at the back. She had let her hair down, and it fell, cascading 
down her back in a golden waterfall. All in all, she looked breathtaking, and 
she definitely took Darien's breath away for a couple minutes.
   'Wow! Serena looks so beautiful! Is this gorgeous girl really the
Meatball Head that I know?'
   "DARIEN? Wake up!" She began to wave her hand in front of his face.
   Andrew snickered. "He's just TOO lovestruck, Rena!"
   Darien shot a look at Andrew. "NO. I'm not. Well, to answer your question,
Meatball Head, uh--um...it just is. it's different when I tease you."
   Her eyes began to fill up. "So I guess that you just like to embarrass me, 
huh? You just bother me because you feel like it. I thought you treated 
everyone like that. What did I ever do to you? I never meant to hit your head.
It was an accident. I told you already. What do you have against me? I thought
you had finally changed at the hospital. But I guess not." she began to sob.
   "Aw..Serena.." he groaned. How could he get mad at such a beautiful 
creature?
   Andrew, at this time, was looking more subtly at Mina. Mina wore a yellow
tankini that had orange plaid printed all over it. On her neck lay a delicate
gold string with a gold heart and a little diamond embedded in the center. He
thought it became her very well, and tried to cover it up. 
   "So, Darien, you got any intimate time with Rena at the hospital when she 
FED you?"
   Mina's mouth dropped open. "Rena, you FED Darien? How sweet!"
   "NO! I was forced to! The head nurse made me!" 
   "Sure. The nurse made you. I bet Darien asked her to ask you."
   That was it for Darien. He had gone through enough embarrassment for one
day. 
   "SHUT UP!" He bellowed. "I DO NOT TALK TO MY CAR AND I DO NOT LIKE
SERENA IN THAT WAY! AND I DID NOT ASK THE NURSE TO ASK SERENA TO FEED ME!!!
HEAR ME OUT, ANDREW CROWN! I WOULD NEVER NEVER GIVE AWAY MY CAR FOR A GIRL. 
LOVE ISN'T WORTH IT. AND IT NEVER WILL!!!!"
   Silence.
   The whole beach had gone quiet, staring at the little group in the street.
   "Thanks a lot Darien." Mina hissed.
   "you're welcome." he said petuantly.
   "I was being sarcastic. I thought a senior with your intelligence could
detect that without difficulty."
   "I guess I proved you wrong, huh?"
   "I guess so. You're just a dork. I don't even know why Serena likes you!"
   Darien opened his mouth to shoot back a reply, when he stopped. Serena
liked him? A stupidly goofy grin began to spread across his face. Serena 
caught his look.
   "Nuh-uh Darien." said Serena. "I don't like you, so don't tease me."
   "Oh darn. I missed a chance to insult you, Meatball Head!"
   "Darien! Leave her alone! I lied about her liking you!" Mina cried, 
defending her cousin. 
   "Thanks Mina." Serena smiled at her cousin trying to patch up her blunder.
   "Darien, you're an embarrassment to all of us. Why don't you just GO HOME!"
cried Andrew.
   "Shut up Andrew!" Serena yelled. Everyone stared at her, surprised that
happy-go-lucky Serena was so angry. She hardly was ever angry, but she was
fed up with all this nonsense. "Just leave Dare alone. What happened
to you? I thought you were a nice guy. You always seemed nice. But suddenly
you just turned mean. Just because of that car. Let's get out of here, Darien.
Hey Mina, you wanna join us? I don't think you would want to hang around with
a Mr. Crown."
   Mina blushed. "Actually...I feel..bad for him. I'll just try to smack him
into his senses, like Lita does to Ken."
   Serena raised an eyebrow, catching the drift. "Ookie! We'll meet at the
lifeguard's stand at, say, 5:30? Bye!" She began walking with Darien to the 
pier. After a couple minutes of silence, Darien spoke up. 
   "Thanks for saving me from Andrew, Rena."
   "Oh, no problemo. When he saw Mina in that tankini, his brain screwed up.
I made sure that Mina wore a bathing suit that would make her more attractive.
A girl's touch."
   "You don't look so bad yourself, ya know."
   Serena blushed. She could feel his eyes sweeping over her body, and she
felt naked under his gaze. "You don't have to say that."
   "But I'm serious." Serena finally got her first look of Darien. He wore
a pair of cargo shorts (ya know, those long shorts with those pockets)
and a really tight white shirt. 
   'What a nice body! Uh...I shouldn't think about that stuff. I meant what
an atrocity. whoops. Darien couldn't be hot. He's a jerk, remember Serena?' 
she thought to herself. 
   "Hey. You don't look too bad either." she grinned. He looked down and
grinned back at her.
   "So, what do you want to do?" he asked.
   "Let's go down and make a sand castle!"
   Darien raised his eyebrow as far as it could. "Rena, I don't think it would
be wise."
   "Oh, what are you afraid of, scaredy-cat?" she taunted.
   "Well, when you put it THAT way.......race you there!" he began to run
down the pier. 
   "Hey! No fair!" she called. But she secretly grinned. 'He doesn't know the
daily marathons I run every day!' she took a deep breath, and began
sprinting after him. She caught up to him easily, and turned to look at him.
   "Hey Dare! How ya doing?" she laughed.
   She ran faster and was now arm's length away from him.
   "hey you..come back here!" he cried. (AN: what a long pier! ^_^ ) 
   Darien was getting tired. He took a running leap with his last bit of
energy, and tried to grab her, to stop her. Unfortunately, he was a football
player, not an acrobat, so he misjudged the distance and, being the clumsy
boy he was, pulled the strap that was holding her top together. Her top was 
still intact at the top, which was lucky for her, but the bottom was dangling,
floating in the air.
   Serena stopped. "Darien! Look what you did!" She turned around, pointing
at his..er..blunder.
   He blushed harder. "Uh...whoops? I am so sorry Serena. I didn't mean it.
I am so sorry. Sorry. Please forgive me. Please. I am SO sorry. Please." 
He went behind her. "I'll just tie it back for you, okay? I am so sorry." He
reached for the strings, meaning to tie them back together.
   Suddenly a loud boisterous voice was heard. "Oh DARIEN CHIBA! You goin for
the little girls, huh? Didn't know the football captain needed a girlfriend.
Is Christina free now? I sure hope she is, cuz I really want some action 
TO-night!" 
   Darien groaned and turned around. "Hey, CHUCK." he said casually. 
"I have a girlfriend. Christina is still mine. This little girl here is just
my toy, ya know, to play with. Christina is at the beauty parlor. So I thought
I might as well get one of those little innocents to have fun."
   "Oh, yeah man. I guess you're smarter than I thought, huh? I should get 
myself one of those little chicks myself. See ya around." Chuck walked away,
never knowing how much havoc he had caused in the shocked and silent Serena.
   Serena began to cry. "I can't believe you, Dare!  You are so mean! How 
could you embarrass me like this? I am never going to speak to you ever again!
You are such a freak!" She ran to the women's restroom, wanting to go to a stall
and just cry. Darien blindly followed her, repentant.
   "Serena, wait, I can explain. Just wait!"
   "Go away you jerk!"
   She ran into the women's restroom, with Darien hot on her trail. She 
slammed the door in his face, and ran to a stall sobbing.

   Darien had stepped inside the women's bathroom, completely unaware of where
he was. 
   "Rena?" he whispered. "Are you in here?"
   There was a noise of tweaking hinges coming from a stall, and he assumed
it was Serena. He walked toward it, thinking she was coming out.
   "Serena?" he called out. 
   From the shadows, stepped out Sue. <AN: remember, Sue is the head nurse!>
   She peered at Darien. "Hello," she said pleasantly. "I remember you from
somewhere."
   Darien played innocent. "Hmm..I don't think so, ma'am."
   "Yes, I remember! You were in that motorcycle accident a couple of weeks
ago. You doing better? So, anyway,what are you doing in the WOMEN'S restroom,
young man?"
   Darien blushed hard. "I..uh..was looking for my dog."
   She raised an eyeybrow inquisitively. "Oh REALLY. A dog named Serena?"
   Darien blushed even harder. "Yeah."
   "Well, good luck, Darien, I think it was? Yes Darien. I remember you well
now. That gingko biloba really helps me a lot. You were that young man that
hurt his hand in the accident, and especially wanted a SERENA TSUKINO to feed
you."
   Serena, who had been sobbing quietly and listening to this interesting 
conversation, let out a gasp. "WHAT?!" she cried.
   "WHOOPS. SORRY!" Sue said, not meaning a word of it. Sue, being a wise 
old lady of many years, knew that they were both attracted each other. And
being the kind of lady that was attracted to love and romance, but still had
a sense of humor, she gave them a little grief. She turned to Darien.
   "How are your manners? I remember that Serena was dreading to see you. And 
I remember hearing you singing to her, trying to make her stay next to you.
How are you guys doing? Are you going out now?"
   Serena groaned loudly. "SUE!!!"
   "Oh, do I hear a voice? I'm SO sorry, Darien. I'm getting old. I must be
hearing a high-pitched voice in my imagination. Sorry, love to chat, but I
gotta go. Ta-ta!" and with a wink, she laughed and left the restroom.
   
   Darien sighed. What was with that lady? She was acting really strange. 
He remembered his mission and knocked at Serena's stall gingerly. "Rena, I--"
   "Don't call me that!"
   He sighed. All the progress he had made was gone. "Serena, just listen.
I'm sorry."
   "Sorry for what? For being yourself? You shouldn't be sorry. I should be
the one that's sorry. Sorry for trusting myself with you!" she screamed.
   On the outside of the stall, Darien had fallen to his knees and leaned his
head on the door. "I didn't mean anything I said. I just didn't want Chuck
to know."
   "To know what?! That you were at the beach with a little baby to set up
your friend? Is that so bad? To tell the truth?"
   "You wouldn't understand! It's not so simple!"
   "Then PLEASE enlighten me then, oh Great Master Chiba." she said in a 
chilling voice.
   "If I told them I was with you at the beach as a guy and a girl, like 
normal, they would tell Christina. When Christina would find out, her dad
would have conniptions and do something to me! I can't risk it! I don't want
to go to jail! I want to have a normal life, not as a popular hick kid, a girl
magnet, head of the football team! I'd rather be Melvin! At least I would have
a beautiful, sweet girl as my protector. I would do anything to change my
life, to get away from all the stupid little petty fights that those dumb
girls have...to spend one moment of my life the way I want it, without some
obnoxious popular freak hounding me. Please Serena, just forgive me. I'm
sorry."
   Silence.
   "Serena?" he ventured. "Please..just open up."
   Suddenly the bathroom door flung open and Darien almost fell to the floor.
Serena caught him in a big bear hug and began to sob in his shoulder.
   "Oh Dare--snort--I am so sorry! I understand now! I am so sorry! I didn't
mean to do that to you! I didn't understand what you were going through! I
am so sorry!"
   Darien smiled softly and patted her hair caressingly. "It's okay, Rena.
I'm sorry about what I said, too. Friends?"
   Serena lifted her tear-stained face, and smiled. "Friends."
   "Well," Darien began in a lighter voice, "Why don't we start over again?
No thrown shoes or bad test scores. We just met and have decided to be great 
friends."
   Serena giggled. "Okay!"
   Darien started. "Ahem! Hello! I am Darien Chiba and I would like to know
you better, Meatball Head."
   Serena snorted. "Nice beginning! Don't you dare call me Meatball Head!"
   He shot her a look, and she coughed. "Hey, Darien! I'm Serena Tsukino!
Pleased to meet your acquaintance. Please don't call me Meatball Head."
   "Hey, you want to go out with me?" he chirped.
   "Where do you want to go?" Serena questioned, sending him a confused look.
   "Let's go get some lemonade and hot dogs! Then we can get to know each
other more."
   "Sure, Darien!"
   "Call me Dare." he laughed.
   "If you'll call me Rena."
   "Okay! Rena it is!" 
   Darien put an arm across her shoulder hesitantly, making sure her dignity
wasn't being bruised. She stiffened for a moment, thoughts running wild.
   'What is Dare doing? I can't be falling for him! I just can't! Serena,
what is happening to you? Going for better guys huh? Forget it! Okay. Calm 
down. He's just flirting. Ignore it. Or flirt back.'
   She snuggled in deeper, which was his surefire signal that he could hold 
her tighter. They walked out of the bathroom and made their way to the 
pierside stand.

~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~~~~

   Mina and Andrew were walking along the beach, laughing. 
   "Oh, that was a blast! They TOTALLY fell for that argument!" Andrew cried,
running out of breath.
   "Did you see Darien's face when you said that Serena liked him? He was
grinning so wide that I thought his face was going to split in half!" Mina
laughed.
   "Rena was so angry when I told Darien to go away! I thought she was going 
to blow a head gasket!"
   "We, Andrew, are the matchmakers extraordinaires! We rule the world in
matchmaking! This plan is so foolproof, that they WILL have to get closer
together." Mina yelled excitedly.
   "I know! I know! I can't believe that she defended Darien like that! I was
totally shocked. I have NEVER seen her that defensive!"
   "And did you see his face? He almost swelled with pride when Serena tried
to save him from your torturous comments, Andy!"
   "Talk about Kodak moments! Boy, we should have brought a camera with us!"
gasped Andrew.
   Mina grinned wickedly. "Actually, I have a secret. Ami Mizuno, one of my 
best friends, gave me this really cool secret camera. It can hook onto 
anything, and it comes with a teeny remote control to take pictures.I clipped
it on my necklace, and took a couple of good pictures of us!"
   Andrew's mouth was a big round O. "WHAT?! Really? That's so great! Now we
can commemorate the event! Where's the camera?"
   Mina pointed at her heart pendant. "That little diamond is it."
   Andrew's mouth once again became a big O. "THAT is a camera?!"
   "Yup. Great, isn't it?" She grinned happily. 
   "Sure is. Just...don't take any pictures of me, okay? I think my nose is
getting sunburned, and I don't want to look like Rudolph the Red-Nosed 
Reindeer."
   Mina giggled. "You want some sunblock? Here ya go! Nurse Mina to the
rescue!" she whipped out a bottle of sunblock and popped off the top. Suddenly,
a thick stream of white cream shot out at Andrew's eye. (AN: remember that
episode when Mina and Rini played nurse for the senshi when they were sick?)
   "Ahhhh!!" Andrew screamed. He fell to the sand, trying desperately to
wipe off any of the sunblock.
   "Oh, Andrew! I'm sorry!" Mina cried. "I'll save you!" She grabbed a package
of wet-naps out of her backpack. "Just lie down, okay?" She pushed Andrew
and he fell on his back, on the sand.  She busily opened a wet-nap and leaned
over Andrew, her necklace dangling over his head. She held one of Andrew's
eyelids open and carefully wiped his eyes. Then she suddenly reached in the 
little pocket of her swimsuit for a minute. "Hmm....where is that thing? Oh, 
there it is. Okay."
   Andrew looked at her. "Mina, what are you doing?"
   Startled, Mina looked up. "Huh? Oh..nothing."
   She leaned over Andrew and began to wipe his other eye. "Are you better,
Andy?"
   "Yeah."
   Mina was worried about his curtness. "What's wrong, Andrew?"
   "Oh, nothing. It's just that this position is sort of embarrassing. I think
if anything else embarrassing happens, my whole face will permanently turn 
red, like my nose."
   Mina got up, preparing to run. "Oh, so I guess you WOULD mind then, perhaps,
if I told you that I had taken some pictures of you just now when you were
clawing that sunblock out of your eyes. And when I was cleaning your eyes, I
sort of stole a couple of pictures, too."
   Andrew jumped up, shrieking. "WHAT?!?!?! MINAKO AINO, GIMME THAT DIAMOND!"
   She began to sprint down the beach. "Not in your lifetime, buster!" she
yelled back.
   "You are NOT going to keep those pictures, Mina. I swear my life on it!!" 
he ran after her. 
   "I guess you're gonna die then!" she yelled back.
   
   He finally found her, half an hour later. She was sitting on a brick planter,
licking an ice cream. "Hey, Andrew." she said casually.
   "Don't give me that." he growled.
   "Oohhh... Touchy! Geez, what is your problem? Anything I can do to help?"
   He sat down next to her. "Yeah. If you give me your camera!"
   "well, you can look at it." she pulled the necklace off and showed it to
Andrew. 
   "How do you take the film off?" Andrew muttered to himself.
   Mina heard. "Oh, I forgot to tell you? There's no film."
   Andrew breathed a sigh of relief. "So you were joking the whole time? Thank
god!"
   "Actually--no. I'm developing it right now. And it should be done--right
now! Cya, Andrew!" 
   She got up and began to walk away. Andrew bounded to her in two steps, 
grabbing her.
   "Mina, no! I won't let you see those horrible pictures of me, and I'll do
anything to stop you!" Mina opened her mouth to retort, but Andrew's normal
sensibility disappeared when he saw her beautiful lips part to say something.
   'Those gorgeous lips....they look so soft and tempting. Ohhhh..hey! What am
I thinking?! I'm hitting on a girl two years younger than me!'
   He stared a moment longer.
   'Awww..what the hell!'
   He clamped his mouth over hers, none too gently. All his passion rushed out,
overwhelming him. Mina gasped, then understanding filled her. She grinned 
inwardly and began kissing him back. They had just begun to explore each other's
mouths, when Mina pushed back reluctantly.
   "I'm sorry, Andrew. But we gotta get back to Rena and Darien now."
   He sighed. "Okay. Let's go, sweetie." He wrapped an arm around her, and
she held onto him as they walked back to the beach.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

   "Where are they?" Serena groaned. "I'm starving!"
   Darien, leaning against a lifeguard stand's pole, pulled her over to him.
"How can you be hungry? You ate 3 corndogs half an hour ago!"
   She tried to pull away from him. "I just have a high metabolism, that's all."
   Darien grabbed her more firmly and held her tight. "Oh, Serena, you are 
so kawaii and sweet!"
   She stopped struggling and looked up at him. "What does kawaii mean?"
   "it means cute...loveable..sweet...darling..etc, in Japanese."
   "How do you know Japanese?"
   "At the orphanage, my friend, Ikebe, taught me a little Japanese."
   "How cool! Can you say a sentence?"
   "Sure. Konnichi-wa, Usako. Anata wa, Nihon-jin des'ka?" (AN: It means, 
Hello Usagi, are you Japanese?)
   She looked up at him suspiciously. "What did you say? Why did you call me
something that sounds like my middle name?"
   "I said to you, Hi Usako. Are you Japanese?"
   "Of course i'm not! Why did you call me Usako?"
   He laughed. "Because in Japanese, Usagi means--"
   "Rabbit. I know. So...?!" she asked impatiently.
   "Patience, little one." He patted her head teasingly. "So Usako means 
'little rabbit'. and I'd like to think of you as my little rabbit."
   She grinned. "Okay."
   "Now, Serena, can YOU say something?"
   "Hai, Mamo-chan. Hajimemash'te? Watashi Serena Tsukino." (AN: yes, 
Mamo-chan. How do you do? I'm Serena Tsukino.)
   He stared down at her. How did she know any Japanese? "Hey, Serena, how
do you know Japanese?"
   "Well, where do you think I got my middle name from? My parents lived in
Japan for a while, and so they stuck a Japanese middle name for me. Sometimes
they try to teach me stuff. But I haven't learned anything."
   "Cool! Do you want to come over sometime and I can teach you Japanese? Sort
of like our own language! And nobody would get suspicious, because that could
be our tutoring."
   She gazed up at him lovingly, and she began to lift her head simutaneously
as Darien began to lower his head. They got closer...closer...closer....
   "Hey you guys! Sorry we're late!" cried Minako. Halfway to the beach, Andrew
had noticed the time and they had run to the lifeguard's stand, worried about
the time.
   "Shimatta." Darien muttered. (AN: you all know what that means, right? if
you don't, here's your chance to email me!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
hihihi! i just HAD to add a bit of Japanese to this! It wouldn't be the same
without it! So I sort of added a corny excuse to have Japanese. =)
i think there is going to be 1 chapter and 1 wrap-up-epilogue left. then
that's it! finally! it's been quite a while, huh? well, people email me!
please! i'm begging you! you've just gotta! ^_^

~sailor em (sailorgalaxia1@yahoo.com)