Seeing Stars
By Jason Ulloa
Original story by Moonsong
Continued with her permission.


Chapter 35

"Seiya," she snarled as considered splashing him with her drink. No, she paid for it and it 
would be a waste if she threw it at him. Maybe if she had some water....

No, she wouldn't throw water at him. She was against water pollution. Maybe if she had some 
lighter fluid....

"How nice of you to drop by - uninvited - and sit down with me - without permission - and act 
as though I'll accept it all with just a vacuous, airheaded, dumb-blonde grin," she continued 
venomously. "Excuse me while I take this gum out of my mouth so I can concentrate on something 
that requires higher thought processing."

"Okay, I can see you're not all that happy to see me...," Seiya began.

"What? Me, not happy to see you?" she cut in sarcastically. "The man who kicked me to the curb 
for some red-headed piece of ass? The man who cut out my heart and fed it through a paper 
shredder? The man who-"

"I get the point."

"No, I don't think you do," she said as she stood up and stepped over to him. "I loved you, 
Seiya. I loved you with all my heart. I gave you my heart, my soul-" she leaned in closer to 
his face, "-even my virginity. Everything. And in the end, it meant nothing to you."

He dropped his eyes and stared down into his lap. "I know what I did was unforgivably stupid, 
but-"

"But?" she snapped. "What, 'but?' As far as I'm concerned, there is no 'but' except the one I 
should kick, right here and right now. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't strangle you to 
death."

"Serena, I came here to apologize for being such an assh-" Seiya was cut off as Serena executed 
a perfect right cross across his jaw.

"Apology NOT accepted," she spat as she turned and signaled to Vince, who was already heading 
toward Serena's table. "Sorry about this, Vince."

Vince glanced down at Seiya, who was wincing and rubbing his jaw as he slowly began to get up, 
and whistled. "Remind me to never piss you off," he remarked appreciatively.

"Damn straight," she replied. It wasn't as satisfying as she hoped it would be, but it was 
better than nothing. Maybe she should've kicked him a couple of times after knocking him out 
of his chair, but that would've been uncivilized and unladylike. It would've made her feel a 
hell of a lot better, but it would've been uncivilized and unladylike, nonetheless. She was 
better than that. Most of the time.

Still, she really should've snuck in that kick to the nuts. Perfect opportunity wasted. Oh, 
well.

"Vince, can you please ring me up for a bottle of that wine instead of the glass?" she asked 
as she reached for her wineglass and downed the contents in one gulp. She knew that wasn't the 
way to enjoy her wine, but she had already paid for it. Besides, she needed something to wash 
out the taste of all the venom she spat out at that bastard.

"Serena," Seiya called out to her, but she ignored him.

"Come on," she said as she took Vince's arm and started dragging him behind her. "I'm going to 
the register, so can you please have someone get me that bottle?"

"Uh... c-certainly, Miss M... err, Serena," Vince stammered as he let himself be dragged along. 
"Boy.... This's certainly been one of my more interesting nights...."

"Serena, wait!" Seiya shouted as he started after her. This time, Serena did react by turning 
a cold glare at him, cold enough to rival any Antarctic blizzard thrice over. The stare was 
cold enough to freeze him in his tracks for as long as she continued to stare at him.

"Why should I wait, Seiya?" she asked, her voice icy. "Give me one good reason - one VERY good 
reason - for me to wait and listen to what you have to say, and I'll consider possibly 
listening to what you have to say to me." She turned to completely face him. "You have five 
seconds."

"Serena, I know what I did was unexcusable and unforgivable," he said quickly. "I just wanted 
to say that I'm sorry for putting you through what I did. I am honestly and truly sorry. I had 
no idea of what I truly had, of what I had given up for something so superficial. What we had 
was something special and I'd give anything I have to have it back again."

"You want us to get back together again, is that it?" Serena asked as she strode over to him, 
her expression completely neutral. "Is that what you want? Is that what you hoped to accomplish 
by seeing me and begging for my forgiveness? Is that it?"

Seiya took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes, Serena."

"Very well, then. I'll forgive you and get back with you again. All you have to do is give me 
something."

He smiled gratefully. "Anything, Serena. Anything for you. What is it? Whatever it is, I'll see 
to it that it's yours."

Serena leaned forward until her face was only six inches away from his and smiled coolly. "I 
want my virginity back." Her smile deepened as she watched his disappear. "No? Very well, then." 
With that, she turned around and started to leave again.

"Serena, you know that's impossible!" Seiya shouted at her retreating back.

"An impossible task for an impossible task," she replied without turning back. "Seems fair to 
me." She left Seiya standing there, staring at her with a determined expression on his face.

"Your forgiveness, impossible?" he murmured as he watched her leave the club with her bottle of 
wine. "Getting back together, impossible? Serena, you, of all people, should know that nothing 
is impossible."

Seiya sat down at the table that Serena had previously vacated and lifted the wineglass that 
Serena had been using. He lifted the glass to his nose and sniffed. Ah, a Merlot. He signaled 
to a passing waiter and asked for a bottle of the same wine. The waiter nodded and wrote down 
the order, then reached over to take the used wineglass.

"Wait," Seiya said, stopping him. "Leave the glass, please."

"It would be better if you used a clean glass, sir."

"Yes, I know. But, can you please leave the glass anyway?"

The waiter gave him a perplexed look, then shrugged. "As you wish, sir."

"Thank you."

After the waiter returned with his wine - and a clean glass, in case he changed his mind - 
Seiya nodded his thanks and indicated that he'd pour his wine himself. The waiter nodded and 
left, shrugging to himself.

He poured himself a glass of wine using Serena's discarded wineglass and sat back, listening 
to the band play a slow dance. There were some people out on the floor dancing, swaying back 
and forth to the music. He lifted the glass in a silent toast and took a sip.

To the day when Serena would be his once again. He would not make the mistake he did when he 
left her. This time, there would be no others. Just her. He swore it.

            **********************************************

"Damn him...," Serena slurred as she took another pull at the bottle. Of course, wine was 
never meant to be drank like this, but seeing as she was lacking in any other sources of 
alcohol, it was either get sloshed on too much wine, or remain sober.

After her encounter with Seiya earlier, remaining sober just wasn't an option anymore.

Her car parked and her keys out of the ignition and in her purse, she was safe to get as fall-
down, stinking drunk as she could on just one bottle of wine. Of course, it wasn't nearly 
enough, but she took what she could get.

Now, where was she, again?

Serena tossed the empty bottle onto the passenger seat, where it promptly bounced onto the 
floor, and slowly got out of the car. She was about to close the door when she remembered her 
purse was still in the car. She stumbled back into the car, retrieved her purse, then climbed 
back out of the car again, locking the doors before she closed them.

While she slowly and deliberately made her way forward, she glanced around at her surroundings. 
The area wasn't all that familiar, however, the apartment complex she was walking toward did 
seem a little familiar....

Oh, yeah. This was Darien's apartment complex. Now she remembered.

Well, he wouldn't mind if she paid him a little surprise visit, right? She had even brought a 
bottle of wine with her.

Oh, wait. She just drank it all. Never mind.

Well, he had some drinks in his fridge. She was sure he wouldn't mind if she had a few with 
him.

'Now, where was his apartment again?' she thought as she continued on her way. 'Oh, yeah. 
Building D. That was... the one on the corner, right? No, that's building B. Building A was 
next to the parking lot.... Ah! There it is! Now, he lives on the third floor. Okay, so 
where's the elevator?'

She stumbled her way around building D, searching for the elevator, until she finally 
remembered something important. 'Oh, that's right. His complex doesn't have an elevator. That 
sucks....'

A long and labored twenty-minute climb later, Serena finally reached the third floor, almost 
falling down the stairs three times in the process.

'Dammit, Darien.... Why'd you have to go and live on the third floor, anyway? Now then, what 
was his apartment number? 331? 323? 312? Something like that. I think it was the one on the 
very corner.... Ah! Here it is! 321!'

"Darien!" she shouted as she pounded loudly on his apartment door. "Hey, Darien! You in 
there? Hey, you in there? Darien, you in th- Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry, Darien! Are you all 
right?"

Darien had opened the door just in time to have Serena pound on his nose instead of the 
wooden apartment door.

"Ow...," he replied as he gingerly rubbed his nose. "Well, I've had worse, so I think I'll 
live. You didn't break it, if that's what you're worried about."

"Oh, that's good," she said, breathing a sigh of relief. That's when she finally noticed that 
Darien had come to the door without a shirt on. She was now staring openly at his chest with 
a goofy grin on her face. "Why, Darien, what a wonderful way to greet your girlfriend at the 
door!"

Darien blinked at the sudden change of subject, then moved aside. "Um, would you like to come 
in, Serena?" No sooner than he said that, Serena had rushed inside, closed the door behind 
her, and wrapped her arms around him, kissing him almost desperately. Caught off guard, Darien 
stumbled backward and fell to the floor, taking Serena with him. Fortunately, the floor was 
carpeted, so the tumble only drove the wind from his lungs. During the fall, they had both 
turned their heads so that they wouldn't smash their noses together when they hit the floor. 
The result was that she only hit her head against his cheek where his jaw met the rest of his 
skull.

"Well... that was certainly... one of the most interesting hellos that I've ever received in 
my life," Darien said with a laugh as he sat up. "Sorry about my state of dress, but I was 
working on my stove when you came in. Damn thing won't light and the maintence personnel are 
all busy taking care of other problems. A broken stove is a minor problem in comparison to.... 
But I'm just ranting. So, what brings you here...?" He trailed off as he noticed that her 
eyes were just slightly red from what he could only assume to be tears. Her breath smelled of 
alcohol, so she had to have been drinking not too long ago.

"Serena, what happened?" he asked, deep concern evident in his voice as he embraced her. 
However, this only caused her to start crying.

"Just...," she whispered in between sobs. "Just... hold me."

Darien silently held her as she cried. It didn't matter that they were still on the floor, 
or that he didn't have a shirt on, or any other small detail for that matter. All that did 
matter was that Serena was hurting. And he wanted to make her feel better. He wanted to make 
the hurting stop, but he knew that it wasn't possible to make all hurts stop. Still, that 
didn't stop him from wishing it.

Soon, her crying began to subside. He was about to ask her if she was feeling any better when 
she suddenly covered his mouth with hers, kissing him in the same manner as she did before 
she had started crying. She then went to kissing his neck, then chest, while Darien stared, 
completely perplexed.

"Not that I'm not enjoying this, Serena, but don't you think it'd be better if you weren't... 
you know, drunk?"

"Me? Drunk?" Serena replied as she ran her fingers up and down his chest. "Bah. One bottle of 
wine isn't enough to put me under. I'm perfectly fine. I could have another bottle and I'd 
be all right. So...," she purred as she began to straddle him, "just sit back and don't worry 
about a thing."

"But, Serena, I think you need-"

His sentence was cut off as she placed a silencing finger on his lips. "No, I'm perfectly 
fine. I had a good cry and it's all out of my system now. What I need now," she continued 
as she took off her blouse, then reached down to undo the belt on Darien's pants, "is for 
you to make love to me." She was about to undo the belt when Darien took both of her hands 
in his, stopping her from going any further.

"As much as I would love to do as you want, you're drunk, Serena."

"I am not," she insisted as she tried to pull her hands from his. He refused to release her 
hands.

"Serena, you are drunk," he repeated as he sat up, causing her to lose her balance and tumble 
backward onto his legs. He pulled himself out from underneath Serena and stood up, then 
bent down to pick her up in his arms and set her down on a chair while he pulled out the bed 
portion of his convertible couch/bed and set one of his two pillows down on the bed. With that 
done, he gently picked her up again and set her down on the bed. He then brought out a blanket 
and draped it over her.

"There," he said as he slid a caring hand down her cheek. "Rest for a couple of hours or so. 
After you sober up, if you still want to make love to me, then I'll be more than happy to do 
so for however long you want. But, I won't do it while you're completely drunk. I won't take 
advantage of you like this. Now, get some rest." He turned and went back into the kitchen, 
where he continued to work on fixing his stove.

As Darien continued his repair work, Serena stared over toward the kitchen, her expression 
one of bewildered surprise. His words kept playing over and over in her head. He wouldn't 
take advantage of her while she was drunk. Once again, Darien proved how much of a nice guy 
and a good man he was. There was as much difference between him and Seiya as there was between 
day and night. There was no comparison. She smiled, knowing that this time she had definitely 
chosen wisely.

Well, she was in no condition to be going anywhere for a while. She might as well get some 
rest....

            **********************************************

"Feeling better?" she heard Darien ask as she opened her eyes.

"Mmph...," she moaned as she shut her eyes again. "My head feels a little thick.... I think 
I'm gonna have one hell of a headache in the morning...."

"Well, you certainly sound much better," he said as he reached over toward his table and 
grabbed a couple of asprin and a glass of water. "Here. This will help a little when you go 
back to sleep."

Serena sat up and took the offered asprin and water. "Thanks, Darien. And yeah, I am feeling 
much better."

"So, what happened that made you do this?" he asked, concerned. "You were fine when you left the 
studio."

She handed back the glass of water and laid back down, only this time with her head in Darien's 
lap instead of on the pillow. "I never told you what my last boyfriend's name was, did I?" she 
said quietly as she let him gently stroke her head.

"No, you didn't."

"You might know anyways," she said bitterly. "It was very popular with the entertainment news 
industry."

"I never really bothered to keep up with actors' love lives," he replied indifferently. "I had 
enough trouble with my own love life."

"You're kidding me," she said with genuine surprise. "You mean, you haven't heard about that 
big break-up that I had a year ago?"

"Oh, I heard of it," he replied. "I just didn't care back then. I don't even remember the 
guy's name."

"Oh. Anyway, my ex-boyfriend's name is Kou Seiya. I saw him at The Silver Moon today."

Darien's hands stopped for a moment. "I see," he said as he continued to caress her. "So, that's 
why you were such a wreck earlier."

"I didn't even think that he would come back here after he left with his red-haired whore to go 
to Europe, but there he was. And that rat bastard wanted to get back together with me!"

"Did you tell him that you were already taken?"

Serena stiffened in Darien's hands. "Oh, why didn't I think about telling him that? I was so 
upset that it completely slipped my mind to tell him that. I'm so sorry, Darien...."

"It's fine, Serena. If he tries again, you can always tell him that you already have a loving 
boyfriend who worships you like the goddess that you are, and that he can go crawl in a hole and 
die."

"I'll certainly tell him that," she said with a laugh.

"There's more than that, isn't there?" he asked quietly.

She was quiet for a minute before she answered. "Can I ask you something personal, Darien?"

"You can ask me anything, Serena. You know that."

"Yes, I do know that," she said, nodding. "Darien, before you met me, were you a virgin?"

"Honestly..., no, I wasn't."

"Let me guess. You lost your virginity to Raye, right?"

Darien looked down at Serena. She was looking up at him with a genuinely curious expression on 
her face. This wasn't a question spurned by jealousy, but by interest in him as a person.

"That was before I met you, when I thought that Raye loved me. Before she started to become 
more and more distant, I thought that she might've been the woman that I would marry someday. 
If I had never met Raye, then you would be dating a virgin... or former virgin, rather." He 
smiled down understandingly at her. "Let me guess. It was the same with you, right?"

She nodded. "Well, we certainly know how to pick 'em, huh, Darien?" she said with a bitter 
laugh.

Darien reached down and cupped her cheek in his left hand. "Yes, Serena. We certainly do."

Serena sat up and leaned forward to softly kiss Darien. "I have an idea. How about we both 
pretend that our previous relationships never happened? I don't like the idea that I gave 
my virginity to that dickhead. I would rather that I had given it to you."

"Even though I consider Raye a friend, I would rather that you were the one and not her," he 
told her as he held her. "I like that idea of yours, Serena."

Serena reached over toward the table and picked up a pencil that was lying near the edge of 
the table. "Then, with a wave of my magic wand, history has been erased. We are now virgins 
again."

"In spirit, only," Darien amended.

"Well, I could always say that my hymen was torn due to rigorous physical training," she 
replied. "It has happened before, you know."

"You're not an Olympic athelete," he pointed out.

"Oh, nitpick, nitpick," she said as she playfully swatted his knee. "All right, then. We'll 
just have to say it broke the old-fashioned way. You did it. Or rather, you're going to 
do it."

He smiled again. "Fine with me. How's your head?"

"Much better, but I think I'd better take some more asprin to be sure. I guess it'll just 
have to wait until tomorrow, then."

"Oh, darn," he said, making a show of being disappointed. "Well, it's getting late anyway. 
We should get some sleep."

"Can you help me get out of the rest of my clothes, Darien?" she asked.

"All right. Oh, and I hung up your blouse in my closet so it wouldn't get wrinkled."

"How considerate," she said as she lifted one foot toward Darien so that he could slip off 
her shoe, then the other one. "Can you hang up my skirt with it?"

"Sure," he replied as Serena tossed him her skirt and went into the bathroom. "Do you need to 
take a shower before bed?" he asked as he came out of the bathroom in only his boxers.

"I usually do that in the mornings. It helps me wake up and start the day fresh."

He nodded. "Me, too. When do you usually get up in the morning?"

"Around 6am or 7am. You?"

"Same time."

They both shared a playful grin as Darien set his alarm for 5am and settled in to go to sleep.

"Good night, Darien."

"Good night, Serena."

            **********************************************

                              To Chapter 36

            **********************************************

Author's Note: Surprise! It's a chapter devoted entirely to the Serena and Darien plotline! 
Merry Christmas! Hope you enjoy it. Well, now that we've got Raye going after Darien and 
Seiya going after Serena, do you think that things will be going smoothly for our favorite 
couple? Of course not. What kinda story doesn't have conflict on some level, right? Speaking 
of which, things will be heating up on the movie side of things. Next chapter: Diane warns 
Michiru about her the threat to her Nijizuishou crystal; Christy and Shingo learn of Project: 
Ginzuishou; and Jed goes after the sixth Nijizuishou crystal.

Disclaimer: All original materials belong to their respective 
owners. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and a bunch 
of big companies. No copyright infringement is intended. This 
story belongs to Moonsong and myself, and I would appreciate 
you emailing her or myself for permission before posting it 
anywhere else. Thank you.

Prologue Copyright © January 24, 2000 Moonsong.
Other Chapters Copyright © August 12, 2000 Jason Ulloa. 
All Rights Reserved.