When Love Comes to Town by Athena nikita@sgi.net Hi! Hi! I know, I know, I haven't finished Ice Princess or Secrets Revealed yet, but I swear that I will. I just needed to get away from the two of them for a little bit. I have major writers block on both, but I promise that I will get back to them soon. This new story is just something that I started at work one day when I didn't have anything to do, so I hope that you like this. I promise, this one I will finish. I'm just about done with it now. Many thanks to all the people who have been sending me mail on everything that I have done. You guys keep me writing. Please keep the mail coming. As always, a huge thanks to Alicia Blade. Not only does she read everything and send me all of her ideas, she's a wonderful friend! Please, read her pieces. If you like mine, you'll love hers. Well that's about all for now. The usual disclaimers apply. Sailor Moon and its characters are not mine. Enjoy! Athena ************************************************************************** Darien sat at the coffee counter and looked at his watch for the fourth time in the last 10 minutes. It was getting kind of late for her to make an appearance today. He had been sitting at the counter here for almost an hour now waiting for 'her' to come. She did every day. But usually she's here by now, already engrossed in the latest Sailor V video game. It had taken him weeks to get his nerve up and ask his best friend, Andrew, who worked here, to introduce him to 'her.' When he had, Andrew had just smiled at him knowingly and had told him "No Problem." Darien could have died of embarrassment then, but if he wanted to meet her, then he had to ask someone to introduce him. Darien wasn't very social with people other than Andrew. He always had chose to surround himself in mystery and never get too close to anyone. He always felt that it was safer this way. That way, no one could hurt him. But when he had first saw her here at the arcade two months ago, he decided that he would take the chance to get to know her. He'd dedicated himself to finding out as much about her as he possibly could the last few months and passed his interest off as mild curiosity in the boisterous blonde. She was new here in town. Only been here for about two months now. She was an American and from what Andrew had told him, her dad was an engineer and had been transferred here by his firm. And that she was in the 11th grade at Juban High School. O.k., so that was a bit young for him considering he was 21 and in his junior year in college. But that didn't mean that he couldn't get to know her, right? Her name was Serena, Serena Thompson. He also knew that she had already made friends with a group of unusual girls. Actually, from what he was able to put together, the girls that she had befriended were actually the misfits at school. Somehow, that made him like her all the more. To him, it showed that she wasn't shallow and only interested in being popular. Andrew had assured him that Serena was by far the nicest and most caring people that he has ever met. He even went as far to say that she would really like Darien because he was such a loner and that she would take him under her wing and make sure that he wasn't alone anymore. Somehow, he really liked that idea. So now, here he was, waiting to meet her. Today was the day that Andrew had said that he would bring her over and introduce her. But she was late. Maybe she wasn't coming. He began to panic over that. He knew that he would never get his nerve up again to meet her. Even though it was all being orchestrated through Andrew, he would still call it off if it didn't happen today. The sound of the arcade's doors sliding open and a group of excited girl voices caught his attention. He turned and looked and there she was! His heart started to pounding in his chest as he watched the little elf walk in with her group of friends. He watched her as she walked over into the arcade area and then the sound of her laughter washed over him like a warm wave. He smiled at the sound. It reminded him of twinkling bells. He continued to watch her unnoticed as she settled her stuff at a game and called a hello to Andrew, who was standing across the arcade with some other people. She looked absolutely glorious today. Her cheeks were rosy from the cold outside and her aquamarine eyes sparkled brightly, clearly showing her happiness. Her hair, which was in the most unusual style of two ponytail that streamed down from two balls on either side of her head, was covered in snow. He watched as she shook out each long ponytail and then fluffed her bangs. Unconsciously he smiled at the vision before him, not even noticing how he was already warmed by just the sight of her. He watched as Andrew walked over to her and started talking. He was actually jealous of Andrew and the friendship that he had with this girl, of the way that she looked up at him when he talked to her. Then before he knew it they were heading over to him. His heart again began to race as he watched her get closer and closer. Be calm, Darien, be calm! "Hey there Darien!" Andrew said. "Hi Andrew!" Darien replied, praying that his voice sounded normal. "Darien, this is my friend Serena. Serena, this is my best friend, Darien." The little elf gave Darien her full attention and turned that smile of hers on and he lost all rational thought. "Hi Darien. It's nice to meet you." His brain screamed. "Uh, hi! Nice to meet you too." He awkwardly replied and an awkward silence followed as blue met blue as we looked into each other's eyes. Then suddenly before he could stop himself, Darien found himself saying, "You know, you have the strangest hair. Looks like a pair of meatballs!" Andrew groaned. So did Darien. But her laughter surprised me as she said, "It's o.k. Everyone says that. They even use to call me 'Meatball Head'." Darien blushed to the roots of his black hair. Finally she cleared her throat and said, "Well I'll be going now. I want to get in a game or two before I have to go home. I'll see ya round, kay?" and then she left. He stared after her a moment and then his head drops to his hands and he groaned. He thought. Then, as if he didn't already feel like yesterday's trash, Andrew said, "Way to go Dare! How could you call her 'Meatball Head'???" He groaned again, as Andrew continues, "Well at least she laughed. See ya later!" and he walked away. But as Darien sat there and thought about what Andrew had said, he realized with a little hope that she DID laugh. Maybe his chances aren't ruined after all! *************************************************************************** "Serena? Serena, are you listening to me?" said Luna, Serena's cat. Serena looked over at her in confusion and then try to play it off like she wasn't daydreaming through yet another of Luna's daily lectures. "Oh sure I was Luna! But don't you think that's enough for today? I do. Besides, dinner will be ready soon and I want to go and play the new Sailor V game that Sammy brought home yesterday." "Serena! You haven't been paying one bit of attention to me and you know it!" Serena groaned and rolled her eyes at Luna as she continued, "No, we are not finished. You need to read more of your mother's journals on how to use the magic of the Imperium Silver Crystal." "Come on, Luna!" she said, a little frustrated. " I've practiced enough today. You know that I am doing well with controlling the magic. Even my Sailor Moon routine is going much better now. Even the other Scouts were impressed by me. Besides, isn't that how I got in trouble back home? You had me so stressed out doing this stuff that I was nearly discovered by mom and dad! The kids back home already thought that I was strange because of this weird hairdo and I can do strange things." "First, it's the Royal Hairstyle of the heirs to the throne on the moon. Second, I do admit that things got a little....crazy back home, but you've come along way since then and you can control the crystal and your powers much better now. It was just unfortunate that Leslie Johnson was so jealous of you that she followed you and saw you transform one day. It was her own fault what happened to her." Luna said with her usual stuffiness. "Her fault??!! Luna, I had to try and erase that portion of that girl's memory so that she wouldn't remember what she saw, but because I was so inexperienced with that particular 'spell' if you will, that I almost erased her ENTIRE memory!! Which caused me to have to tell Mom and Dad about what really happened. Now they know that I am Sailor Moon and the Moon Princess. Mom cried for days and I had to convince her that she was my real mom!" Serena yelled at her, now a little mad as well. "Which is precisely why you need more practice." "AAAHHHHH!!!!!" Serena yelled as she threw her hands up in despair and marched out of the room. Serena mumbled as she went down the stairs. "But you're not a normal girl, Serena." Serena spun around to see Luna standing quietly behind her on the bottom step. "STOP FOLLOWING ME!!!!" she screamed and ran out of the house. Serena just ran and ran, vaguely feeling the the hot tears running down her cheeks and the stares of people as she ran by them on the street. But she didn't care. She just had to get away from it all....just for a little while. Finally she stopped because her chest was hurting and it was difficult to breathe. Taking a look around, she realized that she had ran to the local park. Slowly, she started to walk down the path, taking in the sights, smells and feel of the park itself. Even then she could feel it's energy. She stopped and sat under a large oak. She laughed to herself as she thought, She stared out ahead of her, at nothing really, a slight breeze teased her hair as the cold slowly began to cool her warm body. she sighed and her thoughts began to drift to the other problem plaguing her life at the moment, the mysterious Darien. He was absolutely the most perfect guy that she had ever seen. she thought. She hadn't been able to get him out of her mind since she met him a few days ago. Of course she had seen him at the arcade before, talking to Andrew. Andrew had even told her who he was and the he was his best friend. He even told her that Darien was a loner and that he had lost his parents when he was a kid in a car accident and then had to grow up in an orphanage. Her heart had just about broken at that point. From then on she started to watch him whenever she could. She soon discovered that he never smiled, but that he did have the most incredible blue eyes. They reminded her of the pair of sapphire earrings that she had gotten for her 16th birthday. The more she watched him, the more she wanted to meet him and bring love and laughter back into his life. Then she was absolutely estatic the other day when Andrew came over to tell her that Darien had wanted to meet her. Her heart had done flip flops. He actually noticed her! She had hoped that he would and then there was Andrew telling her that Darien was "dying" to meet her. She had thought the introductions had gone well. It was obvious that he was nervous. She had thought that was so cute that HE was nervous about meeting HER. But then he had called her 'Meatball Head." She couldn't believe it that he had said that. She absolutely hated that nickname. The kids back home use to call her that and it always made her see red. But the funny thing was, that she didn't MIND being called that by him. She knew that he hadn't meant anything by it and that he had been nervous at the time. So maybe that's why she didn't care. But still, it had almost sounded like an endearment coming from him. Her thoughts once again began to drift from one thing to another as she spotted some dead leaves lying on the sparsely snow covered ground. On a whim she decided to try some of her powers without the help of Luna or the journal. She began to concentrate and then spoke almost in a trance the words "Sooth*, Spirt of Winds, come to me." She concentrated harder and spoke the words again. Then suddently the breeze picked up and the leaves began to swirl in circles higher and higher until she could no longer see them. She laughed out loud and thought, Her thoughts drifted back to Darien again and wondered what he would have thought if he had seen her do that. Would he think that she was a freak? What would he say if she told him that she was Sailor Moon? Nevermind being a Princess of a long forgotten kingdom on the moon. More than anything she wanted someone that she could share all of this with and not have him think that she was a candidate for the nut house. And for reasons that she couldn't explain, she wanted Darien to be that person. Then her mind took another path of thought. Although, the thought of him with someone else just made her want to cry. Finally, the cold had sunk in and Serena started to shiver. Deciding that it was time to go, Serena stood up and began to walk back home. But even for as cold as she was, she still kept her pace slow. She was not all that anxious to get back home to Luna and her pre-algebra homework. She hated math. Not to mention that she was absolutely awful at it. She kicked a small pebble for a few feet and then suddenly, an she got an idea. She smiled the whole way home as she fomulated a plan to get Darien's help. ************************************************************************ Two days later, Serena checked her watch for the third time in five minutes. It was three thirty. and he still hadn't shown up yet. She had been waiting since two thirty for him to get there so that she could put her plan to get him to help her with math in motion. Earlier she had casually asked Andrew if Darien would be coming by today and he said that he usually does if he doesn't have to work. She hoped that he didn't have to work today. She began to wonder if she should have gotten Andrew's help with this when the machine in front of her began making a loud beeping noise. She had lost again! Disgusted, she pushed herself away from the game and put her chin in her hands. Another five minutes went by as she sat and watched people come and go through the doors of the arcade. She was just about to give up and go home when a familiar form walked throught the door. Her heart soared as she watched him walk over to the counter and get himself settled as he greeted Andrew. Serena forced herself to wait until Andrew had brought him his usual cup of coffee before she walked over to put her plan into motion. Serena hesitated for a moment as she stood up and grabbed her bag, fear and apprehension fairly overwhemled her and she forced herself to calm down. When she felt like she had control over her emotions again, she plastered a smile to her face and walked on over to the unsuspecting pair. "Hi guys!" she said, as she came up behind Darien, surprising him. "Oh, hey Serena! How are you?" Andrew asked while Darien mumbled a hello. "I'm doing good, I guess." Andrew's smiles changed to a look of concern as he asked. "You guess? What's wrong?" Darien hadn't even spared Serena so much as a glance yet. So she sent a disgruntled look in his direction before she answered Andrew. But the look was not lost on Andrew. He quickly looked at Darien and then back at her and smiled as she said, "Well, see, I failed a math test today. No big surprise there considering that I am lousy at math! Really! I just don't understand why it is so important for me to know 2x+3y=6y or whatever. I mean, when are you ever going to use that in life anyway?" Andrew laughed as I continued, "Sooo if I'm ever going to pass the 11th grade, I need to pass my pre-algebra course. Sooo, I guess that I'm gonna have to find someone to help me." Serena waited for Darien to take the hint, but he never did. She frowned at him again and know Andrew knew that he had to help this situation along. "Well, gee Serena, I wish that I could help you, but I'm pretty lousy at math myself.....Hey, Dare!" Darien sat up straight in his seat and looked as if he was going to be sick, but said nothing as Andrew continued, "You're really good at math, maybe you could help Serena." Darien turned a dark shade of red and Serena beamed. "Well, I don't know, I mean, I've got a lot of work to do." he said hesitantly, staring down in his coffee cup. "Oh please Darien?? I really need some help. I promise that I won't be any trouble, really!" Darien remained silent. Andrew nugged him causing Darien to look up at him. When he did, Andrew gave him an exasperated look and Darien quietly said, "O.k. I'll help." Serena squealled with delight and jumped up and down for a moment and then without any warnign she threw her arms around Darien and kissed his cheek. A look of complete shock covered his face and Andrew laughed. Once Serena had released him, she stepped away from him and said, "Oh thank you!!! You really are a prince, you know that? So when do you want to get together and study?" "Uh tomorrow would be fine. Can you come to my place around 4?" "Sounds great! Here, write down your address and phone number for me." Serena handed him one of her notebooks and waited while he wrote down his address and phone number. When he had finished he handed the book back to her and Serena smiled and said, "Thanks again, Darien! See ya tomorrow! Bye Andrew!" and left. Andrew called out a 'good-bye' and then looked back at Darien. Darien was still red in the face and appeared to be in shock. Andrew laughed, he couldn't help it. He'd never seen Darien look more confused in all the time that he has known him. That girl definately had him rattled! "So, still think that she hates you?" Andrew asked with an amused smile. Darien gave him a blank look for a moment and then, miracles of miracles,smiled. ************************************************************************** *I got this line from a movie. You'll see more of these probably later.