Hey there peoples! I just had a major brainstorm
for a story and I just HAD to write it! I finished it in
nearly an hour and a half! Normally it takes me two or
three to get everything I want down for the first version
and then check it over and stuff, but this one went pretty
fast!
Alright! Alright! I'll stop blabbering now and
tell you what's going on here.
This is a story that is just between the episodes
"Tuxedo Melvin" and "Sailor V Makes the Scene." If
you're not familiar with those ones then lets just say
they're the episode where Melvin dresses like Tuxedo Mask
(but with funny glasses instead of a mask), and the episode
where the scouts first meet Sailor Venus.
This is definitely a romance story. A sappy one at
that. But I hope you'll still like this. It's a Darien
and Serena fanfic of course and remember, they don't know
who each other are yet. This is quite short and I'm
warning you of that right now, so don't flame me about it
if you e-mail me.
And, as everyone should know, I don't own anything
from Sailor Moon and the characters most definitely aren't
mine. Sailor Moon was created by a few big companies and
stuff like that and I would never be able to do anything
like that so I congratulate them for the show!
Well, that takes care of that!
Read on!
Feelings Concealed, Feelings Revealed
By: Jade
Darien stared out at the park lake in silence, his
forearms leaning against the cold metal railing. The
springtime birds chirped above him cheerily, flying in
formations in the distance, as happy as could be, and that
only furthered to darken his already gloomy mood.
The water in front of him rippled lightly, and the
cool breeze in the air russled both the leaves on the
trees and his dark ebony black hair. Like the birds, this
peaceful atmosphere only served to strengthen his dismal
countenance. Although it was still early in the evening the
sun in the distance was setting and it cast a beautiful pink
and gold glow over the whole area.
Darien barely reacted at all to this breathtaking
sight. He was far to deep in thought and depression to
care.
Today was May the 10th. Mothers Day. One of the
few days of the year Darien felt completely out of touch
with. The others were Valentines Day and Fathers Day and
pretty much every other famous holiday like that. Holidays
were always something that involved things Darien had never
seen, felt, or experienced after the accident which had
taken both his memory and his parents from him. Love and
family.
Love was something Darien was sure he had
experienced at least once before in his life, but that had
also been before the accident. Family was something that
Darien would most likely never have again. He doubted he
would ever marry and have a family of his own, mostly
because of who he was, and all the family he'd ever known
existed had died in the car crash. Only he, Darien, had
survived.
He'd always resented that.
What had been so different about him, what had made
him so special that he had been the one to survive? He
hadn't known he was Tuxedo Mask yet, so what could it have
been? He would much rather have prefered that both, or at
least one of his parents had survived rather than him. He
would die in their place if it would only bring them back.
He would face a thousand deaths if only they could live
again.
But even if he did face a thousand deaths, even if
he died a thousand times, they would never come back.
Death was something that could not be reversed. Not even
the great Tuxedo Mask could do that. He doubted if even
Sailor Moon could do that.
He sighed and looked down into the clear crystal
water, his dark bangs falling in front of his eyes.
When he had first found out about who he was he had
scoffed at Sailor Moon's fighting techniques, whining,
crying, and other bad habits. But she had proven herself
in battle that night, at the construction site, two weeks
ago when she had saved him from Zoisite's deadly ice
crystal. And he had seen that her newest attack, was really
not an attack at all. Her 'attack' healed rather than
hurting the Youma or person she was using it on. Like a
healing touch that she projected and used to change the
crystal carriers back to their normal selves.
But he didn't think that her Crescent Moon Wand
could heal physical wounds. And especially not at the
amount of energy that doing that would take. He could tell
that using her wand was tiring for her. Although others
may not see it, his sharp eyes could always see the lines
of exhaustion after she used that wand of hers. As if he
knew her better than the others, her scouts. But he
didn't. He didn't even know her name outside of her super
hero identity let alone what she was like or how she felt
inside.
But he had a strange feeling that he 'should' know
that. That he should be able to tell how she felt on the
inside. That he should know every emotion she felt like
his own. But that was just silly. Know one could know
another that well. Not even parents to children or husband
to wife. Right?
But how should he know about 'that'? He didn't have
either of those things, and he probably never would.
He wasn't sure just how long he stood there in
silent bitterness, but eventually he became aware of another
presence beside him. He turned slightly to see who it was,
and to say he was shocked would be an understatement when he
saw that it was Serena.
Serena. Just her name was enough to brighten his
mood. Serena was one of the few girls he had ever known that
could do that. No actually, she was the only one.
His feelings towards her confused him. He teased
her, taunted her, infuriated, and annoyed her. Yet, even
her mere presense was enough to cheer him up instantly.
Always they exchanged insults, always fighting, arguing, and
both trying to show up the other. And still he was always
happy when she was about, even when she was mad at him.
That was always the way things were between them. When she
was laughing he was frowning. When she was sulking 'he' was
laughing. When she was angry he was smiling. She mocked
everything. And he always took everything seriously. They
were total opposits. And yet, he felt that without Serena,
without his little Meatball Head, then he would truly be
missing something in his life. Missing the only thing in
his life that was golden and shining in contrast to his dark
and lonely life before she had come along.
"Meatball Head?" He asked, surprise clearly
showing on his face. Serena frowned but said nothing and
continued to look out at the beautiful lake in front of
them. Darien stared at her profile for a second.
Sunsets really suited her. Her face was both
shadowed and illuminated by the lowering sun, making her
pale, nearly white skin look golden. Her hair reminded
Darien of silk and gold. Smooth and bright. Actually, to
him it seemed that her hair was even darker than gold, and
the suns rays shining through it only darkened it further.
Her hair was naturally in its normal style and curled
slightly near the ends. Dark blue bows were tied around
the golden spheres.
Her eyes were light and glittering in their sockets,
whether it was from the sun or not Darien couldn't tell.
She wore the palest ice blue dress that was probably made of
silk and clung tightly to her until it reached her hips
where it flared out slightly and reached to just above her
ankles. The low cut neck and translucent material that
covered her shoulders made her look even more ethereal than
she normally did. She also wore blue sapphire colored
earings that went well with her sky blue eyes. Darien had
taken a good long look at her that day when they'd gone
together to Peggy's house to pose for the painting and he'd
only then noticed how pretty she was. Now Darien confirmed
and corrected himself. Serena was very pretty indeed, but
not only that. She was absolutely beautiful.
Darien snapped out of his stuper and only then
realized that he hadn't said a thing for at least five
minutes, and that Serena had been silent the whole time.
"Uh..." he began, trying to get a conversation started.
"Hi Serena. What.. are you doing here?" Serena was silent
a moment her head tilting to the side ever so slightly one
hand coming up and twirling a strand of her long golden
hair while the other stayed at her side, holding something
that Darien didn't see or notice.
"Nothing." She answered at last. Darien frowned.
"Well, you must have come here for something. Why are you
here?" There was a long pause. And then her soft voice
answered. "I came to see you."
For a moment Darien was stunned into silence.
She'd come to see.. him? Had he heard right? Why
in the world would she want to see him? For a moment or two
he just stared at her, as if he expected her to add
something more, and her beauty caught him again. She really
was breathtaking in that dress. Like a princess. Albeit a
very clumsy one. He smiled at that, his mouth quirking in
that familiar grin, his eyes lighting as he looked at her.
He couldn't believe how he'd never noticed before how pretty
she was. Even the sunset couldn't compare to her.
Darien shook himself again, scolding himself for
even thinking of Serena like that. She may be pretty, but
that had nothing to do with him.
"Pardon?" He asked her, wondering again if he had
heard right.
Serena glanced over at him and said with emphases,
"I came to see 'you'." Then she looked out at the lake
again.
Darien opened his mouth to speak, to ask something,
but found no words emerged from his dry throat. He
couldn't think of anything to say to that. What 'could' he
say to that? He closed his mouth silently, wondering what
was wrong with him. Why was he so tongue tied all of a
sudden? After waiting a few moments in the quiet, the
chirping of the birds the only sound disturbing it, Darien
asked, "Why?"
For a moment Serena seemed to hesitate and Darien
saw something akin to fear flicker in her eyes. What
could she be afraid of? But then she seemed to shrug off
the feeling and that odd serene expression returned as she
answered, her voice quiet, and light as a feather. "To
help you."
Before Darien could take in that rather confusing
sentence, Serena continued. "You're always so sad,
Darien. You hide it well, but I've grown up all my life
figuring out how people feel and trying to help in any
way I can. I see how you're always so miserable and
distant on holidays. You can't fool me."
Again, Darien was stunned into silence. This was
most certainly not the Serena Darien was used to. The
laughing, crying, smirking, ditzy crybaby that Serena was
had dissapeared without a trace. This was someone new,
someone Darien didn't know or had ever seen.
Before he could even get his vocal cords working
Serena was speaking again, with that same soft, caring,
lovely voice.
"I know you don't want to talk about it. I can see
that much. But it does help to have someone around to help
you, even if you don't want to tell them about it. You
don't have to say a word, just know that I'm always here to
listen."
Darien was beyond shocked now and he barely kept his
mouth from dropping open with the way Serena was speaking.
She sounded... mature, graceful.. and wise. All of which
the Serena he knew was not.
She was looking at him now. Imploring him to
believe her. And Darien found, by looking into her crystal
blue eyes, that he could believe anything.
Darien swallowed thickly and turned his eyes away
from her, looking again out to the lake. Should he tell
her? Could he? He had never told anyone before, of his
past. No one but Andrew knew. Could he tell someone now?
Of his life. His parents death. His memory loss. His
life as it had been in the orphanage, and then growing up
in an apartment by himself, without any family at all.
It would be so good to get that weight off his
shoulders....
Darien struggled with himslelf.
No, he couldn't. Not here. Not now. Because he
felt if he said a single word he would start crying.
Something he hadn't done since his parents death.
Something he had sworn he wouldn't do ever again. To cry
showed weakness. Didn't it? But Sailor Moon always cried,
and yet she was strong. Not as strong as you might expect
a warrior to be, but strong.
Getting as much control over himself as possible
Darien straightened up. "I appreciate the offer Serena, I
really do." He told her, trying to keep his voice even and
controlled. Why was that so hard? He found it a lot more
difficult than he'd thought it would be. "But you're
right. I really don't want to talk about it, or anything
right now for that matter. So why don't you just go home
and do your homework or something?" He had managed to
level his voice off sufficiently at these last words.
Perhaps teasing would help him to hide his feelings. It
had always worked in the past. And Darien knew Serena had
probably never done a single sheet of homework in her life
so he waited for the enevitable comeback.
But to his surprise there was no comeback at all,
just as there had been none when he'd called her Meatball
Head. He stole a glance at her and when his eyes met
hers Darien was forced to return her penetrating gaze.
Her eyes burned into his, the fathomless blue
irises around the pupils of her beautiful eyes seemed to
spark and electrify as he watched. Her eyes were boring
into him, reaching deep inside him, searching for, and
finding, the deepest, most carefully hidden secrets of
his soul. The things Darien had never told anyone.
He wrenched his locked gaze away from her as he
realized what she'd nearly seen. What she'd nearly found
out about him. He heard her voice again, that gentle,
insistent voice that right now seemed to be tinged with a
touch of... was it sorrow? "Yes, I know you don't wish
to talk of whatever it is that's bothering you. But as I
said before, you don't 'have' to tell me a thing. All
you need to know is that I am always here to listen."
He turned his face and eyes even further away
from her, trying to hide the building tears in his eyes.
He felt himself trembling slightly and tried to
still it but found he couldn't, so he sat down on the bench
behind him. He felt Serena do the same.
Darien swallowed again trying to find words to speak
past the lump in his throat. He hadn't relived his memories
like this in a long, long time. And doing it now, in front
of Serena, who had just told him he could share them with
her, but did not 'expect' him to as all the therapists and
doctors he'd ever been to had, was breaking down the walls
that he had built around him over the hard years of growing
up.
He felt warm, soft arms encircle him and looked to
the right and up to see Serena staring down at him,
compassion and care in her eyes. Darien tried to pull away,
tried to stand, but Serena held him back and whispered in
his ear softly. "It's alright to cry, Darien. Crying can't
hurt anyone, least of all yourself. It will hurt you more
to keep it locked up inside." And as Darien realized the
truth of her words he felt the tears begin to burn paths
down his cheeks and tried to keep himself from shaking.
This whole situation was ridiculous! Utterly
ridiculous! What in Gods name was wrong with him?! He was
crying! Crying damnit!! Something he hadn't done in
decades. Literally! And now, not only was he sobbing
hysterically, he was doing it in front of Serena. He could
probably expect a years worth of torment and teasing over
this. But he couldn't stop for the life of him. He
couldn't halt the tears and sobs from escaping from his
soul, where they had been buried so deep they'd almost been
forgotten.
And Serena stayed quiet throughout the whole time,
whispering consolations to him and rocking him gently as one
would a child. It was really the only thing she could do.
Serena had never seen Darien so.. so.. well, so open. Open,
and hurting.
He clung to her like she was the only thing in
this world keeping him from going insane. And Serena knew
that she was.
When his sobs began to slow and recede Serena
continued to rock him lightly and after a few moments when
his crying ceased altogether she gently pushed him to an
arms length and looked him in the eyes. There was such
caring and understanding in her eyes that Darien felt tears
begin to surface again. But he pushed them back and gave
her a shaky smile, whiping at his cheeks and blinking
rapidly. Serena smiled back and then, in a move that took
Darien completely by surprise, she leaned forward and
kissed him lightly on the cheek. He froze, his mouth
moving in shock but no sound coming out. His eyes were
wide and disbelieving.
Serena pulled back quickly and looked away,
obviously embarassed and Darien could see her cheeks redden
slightly, making her already beautiful face look even more
beautiful.
Darien moved away from her slowly and got to his
feet, stumbling in the process. Serena followed his
example.
He stared at her again, his eyes questioning and
uncertain. He wasn't sure what was wrong with him, but he
suddenly felt a lot better.
Serena gazed up at him silently, the blush still on
her cheeks. And looking closer Darien saw that sparkle in
her eye that always told of happiness. She had been happy
to help him, and Darien felt a warm feeling spread through
him as he looked at her. Serena was certainly more than
he'd thought her to be. She was not 'just' a young school
girl that got bad grades and pigged out all the time. She
wasn't just the ditzy clutz and crybaby he'd taken her for.
She was a lot more. She was a kind, gentle, caring girl,
and Darien knew that she was also a wise and mature women,
though she didn't show it often. He knew she was all those
things. And more.
And by looking into her deep blue eyes Darien knew
that she wouldn't tell a soul about what had happened here.
That none would ever know. And that she understood what he
was going through, even if she didn't know exactly what it
was. And Darien knew that Serena would keep the promise in
her eyes. He knew that she would hold this secret forever,
and that no one, not even he, would ever hear about it
again.
Nodding to herself Serena stood on tiptoe and spoke
in his ear to make sure no one passing might here, though,
she doubted there way anyone else in the park at all.
"I'll always be around if you need to talk, or want someone
to listen. I'm always here. For you, and anyone who needs
me. Remember that Darien."
Then she placed something cool and soft in his palm,
turned and walked away, the bright sunlight outlining her
figure as she dissapeared around the corner.
And as Darien looked down at his hand he saw what
lay there.
A beautiful, shining, crimson red rose. Perfect in
every way with the thorns cut off, and in full bloom.
And wrapped around the stem, with a small jewel in
the shape of a heart at the center was a beautiful blue
ribbon with the words "I'm always here" embroidered on it
in gold.
Darien looked up and stared at where Serena had been
a moment ago and repeated to the air, "I'm always here."
And then Darien felt the tears begin to burn again.
Because now, after all his years of suffering, of
hopelessness, of misery, pain, and loneliness, Darien had
finally found something worth living for. 'Someone' worth
living for, caring for. Someone he could love and hope to
be loved back by.
Someone with a heart of gold.
Serena.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, what did you think about that? I hope you
liked it. I really enjoyed writing this!
Please don't flame me because of the sappy ending
or anything like that, because I warned you that this would
be sappy, and this was a good way to end one of these
stories.
And also, I know Serena seemed to pick up a couple
years in this story, but I needed it that way to get the
plot line the way I wanted it.
As usual, all comments and questions and other stuff
like that go to tnag@lightspeed.bc.ca
I hope you enjoyed reading this!
E-mail me on it!
- Jade
(
geocities.com/tokyo/bay) (
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