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Serena ran up the stairs without saying hello to her parents who had long since returned home and had been wondering where she’d disappeared to without calling. She’d run most of the way home and out of breath she now threw herself down on her bed and cried her eyes out. Life was definitely set against her.

She wanted to hate him so much and yet she couldn’t. It had seemed so easy to do just a few weeks ago. Now all she felt was anger, as much towards him as towards herself. She was naïve to have believed that he was different from any of the other men in the world, who for centuries had used and abused women. 

Even her own father used women for his own pleasure and then walked away as if nothing he did held any consequences. How else did the man have three daughters with three different women; at least those were the ones they were aware of. She wondered if she had any other siblings out there. 

How could she have been so stupid? She sneered at the thought of how she’d gotten all dressed up and gone over there like a little hussy. She’d let him use her and toss her aside like she was some kind of slut. ‘Maybe I am’ she said to herself.

“Sweetheart?” Ikuko called outside Serena’s bedroom door.

“What’s the matter? Can I come in?”

“Just leave me alone!” Serena yelled. “I don’t want to talk to you or anyone else!” 

She knew it was unfair to take her anger out on her mother, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. Her mother, having been a teenage girl once, understood however, and was prepared to let her be. 

“Do you want me to bring up dinner?”

“No! I’m not hungry.” It was a lie. She was starving. She just didn’t want to have to talk to anyone. She cried herself to sleep.

Hours later in the middle of the night, she woke up to find her hunger had not abated and was at the point where it was almost overwhelming. She got out of bed, making an effort not to wake Luna, who had at some point had come through the window and curled up at her feet.She made her way down the stairs to the kitchen where she spent a good hour indulging in cookies and ice cream and a good fifteen minutes later feeling nauseous. 

She spent the rest of the night awake, unable to go back to sleep, having cried herself into exhaustion earlier. She sat down in front of the TV watching the images without really seeing. Her eyes finally closed as the sun rose. Her mother found her asleep on the couch that morning, took pity on her and let her sleep until late morning; missing one day of school wouldn’t kill her.

Lita and Amy were worried when Serena didn’t show up for school. When they got together at Raye’s temple she still did not show up. They called her house but got no answer. 

Secretly Mina wondered if she had spent the entire night with Darien and had been too tired to go to school. She was very sorry she’d promised to keep their secret. She desperately wanted to let the cat out of the bag.

Serena was happy her mother had allowed her to stay home. She wasn’t really in the mood for schoolwork anyway, not that she ever was. When she’d woken up, her mother had insisted they go shopping an obvious but winning attempt to cheer her up. At some point she knew her mother would have to ask ‘the question’. She just hadn’t expected the question to be: “So, who’s the guy?”

Serena had just about choked on the ice cream she’d been eating as they walked through the mall. She had been expecting the question since they’d stopped by the ice cream shop to satisfy her craving but that was not the question she had expected. She had been anticipating the usual ‘what’s wrong?’ or ‘what’s been bothering you lately’. She could at least pass half of that off to PMS and teen angst.

“What makes you think there’s a guy?” Serena asked uneasily. Her mother couldn’t possibly know!”

“Oh come on Serena! I’m your mother. I think I know when there’s a guy involved.”

“Does motherhood endow you with some kind of psychic power?” Serena asked half joking. 

“I can’t tell you that!” Serena’s mother gasped, pretending to be shocked at the suggestion. “The secret motherhood society would have my head if I ever told you such a thing! That’s something you will have to discover when you have a child of your own.”

Serena found herself giggling at her mother’s antics. She always knew how to make her feel better. 

“So who’s the lucky young man?” Her mother asked.

“I’d rather not talk about him Mom. I won’t be seeing him again anyway.” Serena said. She wished she could get off this topic. She didn’t want to talk about Darien or think about him.

“He hurt you really badly didn’t he?” Serena merely nodded.

“First loves are always the worst. But don’t worry sweetheart,” Ikuko said pulling her only daughter close to her, “you’ll get over it and look back on this one day with fondness.”

“Was daddy your first love?” Serena asked, grasping at the opportunity to steer the conversation away from her.

“Which one?” Ikuko asked playfully?

“Well that just answers my question right there.” Serena replied cynically.

“Actually my first love was a guy named, Marco de la Cruz.”

“Spanish?”

“Portuguese.”

“He was a year older than me and his family had just moved to California. Naturally my father hated him. Eventually he moved away and we broke up.”

“Has there ever been a guy you liked that grandpa liked?”

Ikuko pretended to think for a moment before answering. 

“No. He had two daughters and he swore he would protect them from the male scourge. I thought he would have a heart attack when I told him I was getting married. He’s a lot like Kenji. I bet if you ever brought a guy home he’d start shining those swords hanging on the living room wall.”

“Well he doesn’t have to worry now. I think I’ll be staying away from guys for a while!”

“I’m sure your father would be happy to hear that.” 

“Darien, if you don’t tell me what the hell’s wrong with you, I swear I’m going to beat it out of you,” Andrew growled. For the second day in a row Darien was behaving very strangely. Since he’d come in, he hadn’t said a word. He’d not done anything but stare at the mocha cappuccino Andrew had placed before him.

“I’m a selfish bastard and a pervert!”

“Pervert?”

“Amazing how you just skip the selfish bastard part and just jump right to pervert!” Darien commented, smiling wryly.

“Well the first part I knew, but this pervert thing is a new one for me,” Andrew responded, grinning one of his brilliant white-toothed smiles.

“I love having friends! It certainly saves me the trouble of making enemies.”

“Well as your best friend, I demand you tell me what’s going on!”

Darien sighed and gave in to Andrew’s demands. 

“Have you ever done something that you knew was so wrong but felt so very right?”

“Well I once had two beers, thee vodka martinis and a half bottle of root beer schnapps and it felt very right until I woke up the next morning.” Looking at Darien’s raised eyebrows Andrew decided to amend that. “I doubt that’s the kind of indulgence you’re referring to.”

“Actually I was referring to something a bit more controversial, more specifically, one very, very sexy, absolutely beautiful and much to young teenage girl.”

“What! Darien what are you talking about?”

“Have you ever been attracted to someone much younger than you?”

“Yeah. I had a thing for Serena for a while but I decided that that wouldn’t be a good idea.” Darien’s eyes opened wide in shock! He wasn’t even aware that his mouth was hanging open.

Andrew seeing Darien’s shocked expression rolled his eyes and decided to explain. 

“You know Darien, just because you don’t like her doesn’t mean no one else does. I mean you’d have to be blind not to see that she is absolutely gorgeous!”

Darien could hardly believe his ears. 

“Do you regret not asking her out?” Darien asked, curious as to whether Andrew still had feelings for her.

“Well I still find her attractive, but it was just a crush, one that has been over for a while. ”

“So who’s this teenage dreamboat of yours?”

“You won’t believe me.” Darien stated simply.

“Try me.”

“Ok, but you won’t believe me.”

“Just tell me damn it!”

“It’s Serena.” Andrew stared at Darien blankly for a good long while.

“I know you’re kidding. You can’t possibly expect me to believe that you asked Serena out!”

“I didn’t ask her out, Andrew.” Darien said quietly.

“Then what do you mean? I’m not sure I understand.”

“We kind of skipped the whole date scenario and jumped to the honeymoon.”

Andrew was speechless. It would have been rather difficult to speak anyway with his jaws hanging that widely. 

“And therein lies my dilemma.”

“Holy shit!”

“Calm down drama queen!” Darien snapped. “They’re kids around.”

“Let me get this straight: you and Serena in bed together; no yelling no insults, no one screaming bloody murder? The world is ending isn’t it? This is a goddamn miracle!”

Darien rolled his eyes. 

“There may have been screaming but it wasn’t bloody murder!” Darien said, smiling wryly. “Well now I think I made a huge mistake and told her I couldn’t see her anymore and I didn’t even get a chance to tell her why. Now, she hates me and we’re both miserable. We’re back to where we started except this time she really means it. 

I can’t apologize to her because every time I see her…well I can’t seem to keep my hands off her. It don’t think it’s a particularly good idea to try apologizing anyway, she’s only sixteen and I’m way too old for her and I think I am so far guilty of two counts of statutory rape. I rejected her in order to save my own ass.”

“Wow!” Andrew was all Andrew could say. He was still shocked at the idea of the two mortal enemies in bed together not to mention the guilt trip Darien was giving himself over his situation.

“I don’t know what to say, Darien. You have gotten yourself into one hell of a situation. Just a random question, have you ever met Serena’s dad?” 

Darien glared at Andrew who was grinning at him mockingly.

“That’s not funny Drew!” Darien growled.

“Tsukino has those three katana swords in his living room so you better watch out! I bet Chandler has one or two weapons of his own.” 

“Serena where were you today?” Raye asked over the phone. “Lita and Amy said you didn’t show up for school are you sick or something?”

“Something like that. I had some ice cream last night and got sick and my mom let me sleep late,” Serena half-lied

“You got sick from ice cream! You east the stuff almost every day!” 

“Yeah, and I could eat some more right now!”

“Pig!”

“Oh lay off! I went shopping with my mother today though. We had fun.”

“So what did you buy?”

“Nothing really. We mostly window-shopped.”

“Am I understanding that your mother let you stay out of school because you got a little sick after eating too much ice cream and then took you shopping?”

“Yup!”

“Why can’t I be that lucky?” Raye groaned.

Serena knew she didn’t want to see him but she knew she’d have to get used to it. If she had any luck maybe he would avoid her instead. It certainly seemed that way. He hadn’t been there for the past three days so she had managed to keep up her act with her friends.

She’d had detention today for not paying attention in class so she was on her way to the arcade on her own. As she walked down the street she remembered something she’d told Mina only two days ago when the other girl had asked her about her relationship with Darien. She’d still been upset and bitter and had said the words without meaning them at all.

Mina had come over to her house and they’d sat together in her room. Mina had playfully asked how the two ‘lovebirds’ were and Serena had answered harshly.

“We’re not love birds, Mina!”

“Darien and I don’t have a relationship! We had sex. That’s all there is to it and quite frankly that’s all there’ll ever be to it!”

Mina had stared at her open-mouthed with shock. Looking back she realized she’d belittled the experience making herself sound like, in her mind, a slut. She hadn’t meant it. It had definitely ended any conversation concerning Darien.

She didn’t want Mina think less of her. She was supposed to be this graceful, sweet, honest, and perfect princess and over the last few years she had improved in many regards. She didn’t want Mina thinking that Her Royal Highness Princess Serenity just randomly slept around as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

Except for her random emotional lows, Serena had to admit she was handling this rather well. None of her friends had any inkling of what had happened to her and that’s how she intended to keep it. She’d seen Darien from a distance yesterday getting into his car. She’d felt a slight chill of anger at him but had managed to keep herself in check as she and her friends walked together.

When she walked into the arcade she was surprised and unnerved to find Darien sitting on the edge of a seat by the booth with her friends. She built up a wall around her emotions and walked over. 

“Hi guys!” She greeted, smiling much too brilliantly. She didn’t dare glance at Darien at all. They returned her greeting as she stood there. She managed to squeeze in next to Mina and Lita. She could feel a slightly building tension between her and Darien of which no one but Mina seemed aware.

Darien suddenly got up; he couldn’t help glancing at her. She wasn’t looking at him. In fact, it was plainly obvious she was making it a point not to. He wished he could tell her but knew that if he did the guilt he was feeling would be overwhelming. It was much easier to know she was angry than if she were obviously depressed or forgiving. He couldn’t stand it if she forgave him. Nothing would feel worse.

Serena could feel his eyes on her. She knew he wasn’t really staring but she could feel his presence down to her very bones and it was very unnerving. She was suddenly feeling very queasy and wished he’s just go away instead of standing there bullshitting up a reason to get away from her.

“I have to go now,” he said hurriedly inventing a good reason. “I have to go talk to my father about something. That Brandi is really beginning to get on my nerves you know.”

“Oh yes,” the ‘evil step mother’ huh? Raye commented.

“Not exactly. The ‘gold digging tramp’ is closer to the truth. Well I’ll see you guys later.” With that he walked out the door.

“Is it just me, or have you guys actually been getting along lately?” Amy asked Serena.

“Yeah, I know” Lita added. “I wouldn’t call it getting along but you guys aren’t arguing with each other! I miss the arguments! Those were so much more amusing than this silent treatment. What happened?”

“Nothing happened,” Serena lied. She seemed to be doing that a lot of that lately. “I just decided he wasn’t worth arguing with and I guess he agreed,” she said nonchalantly.

“So you guys just agreed to ignore each other’s presence?” Raye asked incredulously. She hadn’t believed it was possible for the two to agree on anything.

“Well at least they’re agreeing on something.” Amy pointed out.

All through their little conversation Mina said nothing, amazed at the display Serena was putting on for her friends. She could hardly believe this was the same girl she’d known for so long. Serena was lying and doing a good job of it. She wondered how long she’d been carrying this on.

She was both worried about and annoyed with Serena. Her outburst two nights ago had shocked her to the core. Everything she thought she’d known about Serena had come into question. 

She’d always assumed that Serena shared her romantic notions about love and sex. She’d even assumed that Serena would wait until she’d married or at least been in a serious, loving relationship. She’d been shocked when she’d caught Serena and Darien together in bed but she’d naturally assumed that they had some secret romance. 

The last thing in the world she’d expected to hear from Serena’s lips was the declaration that whatever had occurred between her and Darien had been nothing but sex. That was something you heard on a soap opera not from the lips of your best friend. Serena had obviously changed and Mina wasn’t sure she liked this new Serena.

Serena noticed that Mina hadn’t said anything. She had an idea what she was thinking. For what seemed like the hundredth time, she had been lying again and Mina knew it. 

Serena felt very ashamed of herself. She desperately needed to explain to Mina the mess she’d made of her life. She just needed to get her alone. 

Serena knocked on the front door of Mina’s condo. The large building had only four luxury apartments, very similar to Darien’s, but a bit larger. Mina’s gorgeous, older brother Mark answered door and let her in. 

“Hello,” Serena greeted. “I didn’t realize you were home!” 

“Just visiting for a little while, he replied. Mina’s upstairs, why don’t you head up.” 

“Thanks.” Serena said. Mark was almost ten years older than Mina and lived and worked in Osaka as an architect. He had the same blonde hair and blue eyes as his sister and the build of a professional athlete. He occasionally came to visit the place he still called home. He must have missed having his mother asking him when he and his girlfriend Allie were going to tie the knot. 

Serena headed up to mina’s room. She had gone home before heading over here to avoid any questions the other girls might have had.

She loved Mina’s place, although it was definitely not the greatest place for teenagers to hang out. Mina’s mother, an interior decorator, had decorated it with impeccable style and subtle wealth. Serena and Mina’s fathers worked together at TIC together but chose completely different modes of living. Kenji enjoyed a low profiled family life whereas Jonathon Aino preferred a high profile fast paced lifestyle. Both he and his wife were almost always busy which left Mina to do almost anything she wanted.

Serena rapped gently on Mina’s door. 

“Come in.”

She pushed open the door and went in. At Mina’s behest her mother had painted her room a warm golden yellow. Everything in the room including the pile of clothing in the middle of the floor that matched up with the one Serena had in her own, seemed to be touched by sunlight.

Surprisingly Mina was doing her homework on her bed with her TV on. 

“Hi, Mina.”

“Hi, What are you doing here?” She had been expecting her brother not Serena. 

“I just think you deserve an explanation after what happened on Tuesday.”Mina said nothing, waiting for her to continue.

“What happened between Darien and me is…” That wasn’t a good start; she paused.“What I’m trying to say is, I lied. It wasn’t just sex.”

“Well you seem to be doing a lot of that lately,” Mina said, instantly regretting it.

“That’s not fair, Mina.” Serena said quietly. “Why don’t I start from the beginning?”

“I’m sorry Serena, I didn’t mean that.”

“We both seem to be saying things we don’t mean,” Serena said giving a tiny smile.

Serena began her long story and by the time she finished, she was in tears. She hadn’t meant to cry, she just couldn’t help herself. 

“I’m sorry Serena,” Mina said, hugging her friend. “I guess I was a bit judgmental. I didn’t mean to be, I was worried. I guess I thought...” 

“…I had turned into a slut overnight? Serena finished her sentence for her. “I worried about the same thing too.” Serena said, smiling wryly through her tears.

“So now what are you going to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“You love him don’t you?

“Yeah, but what difference does it make it’s not like he wants me. It’s over Mina. I made a mistake and now I have to move on.”

“I just don’t think Darien is that type of guy Serena. I can’t see him using you like that purposefully. It just doesn’t make any sense. He had to have felt something for you in the first place!”

“Um Mina, you need to cut down on your romance novel intake! Sex and love just aren’t the same thing. Darien didn’t make love to me because he was in love, Mina. He made love to me because sailor suits are transparent when wet!”

Mina turned red. Serena was being very blunt. “Oh!”

“Sorry,” Serena said, realizing she’d embarrassed Mina. She had to admit, it was a relief to finally be able to tell someone what had happened.

“Are they really that transparent?” Mina whispered curiously.

“Mina!” Serena rebuked, before the two fell to giggling.

Serena spent the weekend hanging out with her friends as usual. She felt so much more relaxed now that she had let out her painful secret to someone. The hurt didn’t stop however. Inside she was as miserable as the moment he’d hurt her.

Over the next two or so weeks, she saw him occasionally. They even battled youma together. It was strange how they’d gone from loud, disruptive arguing to this wall of silence. It was as though in the eyes of each other they didn’t exist.

Darien however, was painfully aware of her presence. He’d have preferred arguing to this thick silence. It was hard to be around her and not want to touch her. It seemed every day they were apart she grew more beautiful. She had a glow on her face that he saw in no one else’s. Every thought he had about her, sounded like sentimental drivel. 

He was beginning to regret having let her go. How could have he been so selfish? He had hurt her to save his own pathetic ass from a paranoid fear of what everyone else would think and how much trouble it could cause them.

He had spent much time arguing with himself over the matter and boring Andrew to death with his questions of whether or not he had been right to let her go. He sometimes managed to convince himself that it was the right thing to do; he was much too old for her. It would have been a strange relationship of which no one would approve. Besides, she seemed to be quite happy without him.

Sometimes, especially at night he felt so alone. He thought he could hear someone crying. He even felt tears on his face but there were never any. 

He felt like an ass and he certainly deserved a kick in it.

“Is there anyway we can hurt him?” Beryl asked.

“Unfortunately no; not for now anyway. If we ever get enough energy together we can repossess Artemis and Luna’s body and give him a few scratches. ”

“I can’t believe you thought this loser was a perfect match for Serena!”

“Oh shut up Bea! I didn’t hear you complaining before. Not to mention, this entire thing is your fault!”

“My fault!” Beryl screeched indignantly. “This was your idea!”

“It was not my idea to put them up in a hotel so Prince Darien could make a valiant attempt to ‘rescue’ my daughter!” Serenity yelled shrilly.

“Well I didn’t see you coming up with a better idea! “ Beryl screamed back. “I help you out, and this is the thanks I get! You wanted them together and I got them together! It’s not my fault that they couldn’t keep their pants on and it sure as hell isn’t my fault the prince you chose for your daughter doesn’t know a good thing when he sees it!”

Serenity turned and glared at Beryl. Then she did something she had ever done in life. She growled, a low, menacing sound that made Beryl take a step back. She then raised her hand, snapped her fingers and disappeared to a place where annoying siblings just didn’t exist… a small island in the south pacific.

Serena’s eyes were drooping again. Her head was about to hit the desk at any moment. When her Biology teacher saw the two blonde balls atop her head sinking below the head of the person before her he said her name rather loudly, snapping her out of her dream world. She didn’t even know why she was so tired, not that this boring lecture was helping any.

She hadn’t had a good morning. She had woken up to find that if she didn’t hurry she would be late again, something she’d had a recurrence of lately, having improved over the last year. She had rushed through breakfast and was about to fly out the door when she felt the sudden urge to puke. And she did; she lost everything she’d eaten. That would be the last time she tried to break the speed of light with her eating habits. She’d also had a minor recurrence of Klutziness when she arrived at school and had tripped over a shoelace into the classroom.

“Ms. Tsukino!” Mr. Yamamoto yelled. “Am I boring you?”

“No, no of course not,” Serena replied hurriedly. “There was just something interesting on my desk. I had to take a closer look.”

Her comment set the class giggling and Serena breathed a sigh of relief as he rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the chalkboard.

“Tomorrow we’ll begin the chapter on reproductive biology, so I suggest you read Chapters eleven through fourteen for our next class. We’ll be discussing both human and amphibian fetal developments so don’t forget to read. Class dismissed.”

Serena was happy it was over. This was her last class of the day. A few minutes longer and she might have been drooling all over the desk. She wasn’t looking forward to reading these chapters on reproductive biology. There was nothing interesting about science, absolutely nothing. She’d have time to read the chapters in detention.

Serena flipped through the pages of the biology book not really reading. She just wanted to see the pictures. She came across a diagram of a half section of a pregnant woman.

She began reading the text next to it becoming more nervous as she read. The book was describing the symptoms of pregnancy, the missing period, sensitive breasts, emotional instability, nausea, fatigue and weepiness. All of which she’d been experiencing recently. She considered the idea for a while but fearfully decided she was just being paranoid.

Still, she couldn’t get the thought out of her head. It just wasn’t possible that she could be pregnant. It was ridiculous. She shut the book harshly, unwilling to subject herself to the idea anymore. She was not pregnant, and that’s all there was to it.

She was amazed the thought hadn’t come to her before. She’d had unprotected sex with Darien on two occasions it certainly was a possibility. It wasn’t one she even wanted to consider however.

Still worried, Serena made her way home. She slumped down on her bed with the intention of taking a nap but she still had this vision of herself in her mind with a protruding stomach. She rolled over and laid her hands on her flat stomach. What if she was pregnant? What would she do? Her parents would kill her! What had she gotten herself into now?

She had to know. It would be a relief to prove to herself that there wasn’t a small child growing in her womb at the moment; a child whose father didn’t want her and most likely wouldn’t want any child she carried. Serena found herself running over to Mina’s again. She couldn’t do this alone.

When she got to Mina’s Mina opened the door at Serena’s persistent ringing. Seeing the panicked look on Serena’s face, Mina went into panic mode.

“What’s the matter?” She asked, grabbing Serena’s shoulders.

Serena glanced around to make sure no one else was around. “I think I might be pregnant. I need to take this test” Serena pulled a box out of her bag. When she had gone to the pharmacy, the woman had given her this condescending look that had made Serena feel guilty and even more nervous. 

“You what!” Mina exclaimed loudly. 

“I was reading my biology book and I have all the symptoms and I think I might be pregnant so I bought this test but I didn’t want to take it at home because my mom’s there and you’re the only one who knows so I came here and can you please help me I can’t be pregnant my parents will kill me!” Serena gasped for breath at the end of her panicked statement.

“Slow down Serena! Let’s go to my room.”

“Mina,” Serena began nervously. “What if I’m pregnant?”

“I don’t know Serena. Let’s just take one thing at a time.” She hugged her friend and then removed the test from the box and began reading the directions.

Ten minutes later the two girls were staring at the test. Mina’s eyes went wide and Serena went into a panic.

“It can’t be right, let’s do it again!” Serena said apprehensively. She pulled out a second box.

“Serena! We did the test right. There is a big plus sign right there,” she said pointing to the test. You should skip the next test and go to the doctor.”

“But I can’t be pregnant Mina! I still kiss my parents goodnight!”

“Serena please calm down!” Serena took a deep breath to calm her hysterics.

“Mina,” Serena began calmly. “How am I going to tell my parents, all four of them, that I’m going to have a baby?”

“Serena we’re not sure yet,” Mina said not even believing her own words. “We could have done the test wrong.”

“No we didn’t. Everything points to the fact that I’m pregnant and I suppose I have been pregnant since the first time Darien and I…Oh God! Darien! 

Serena sank her head into her hands and began crying as Mina attempted to calm her. 

“This wouldn’t be so bad if I at least knew that he cared!” She mumbled.