Chapter Eleven: Confrontation and Comforting Get Messy

*It was nearly twelve thirty. Two of three men paced around a living room, ruining the carpet and running a ditch into the floor beneath it.

“Where is she? She went out three hours ago.  She promised she’d come back.”

“Do you think something’s happened to her? Maybe one of the gangs got her, or a car maybe. Maybe she…”

“She’s fine.” Said the only rational voice in the house at the moment. Hiiro was watching Serena’s father and brother pace around the room. He himself was seated on the floor, leaning against the wall. He had his laptop open and was trying to figure out if emailing his friends was possible. So far, no luck. He wasn’t overly worried about Serena; he knew she could take care of herself just fine. What he did worry about was her family worrying about her. ‘It’s not safe to be that gray at such a young age.’ He thought to himself about Serena’s father. The door opened and his thoughts went to pieces as Serena (in Sai’s form) stepped in from the chilly night air.

            “Sorry I’m late. I just missed the city so much that I guess I just lost track of time.”

            “Serena, it’s twelve thirty! What’s there to see in the dark in this God forsaken city?” Cried her father.

            “I was in the park. There was this little bench that I remembered from when I was younger, and I wanted to see it, but I couldn’t wait until tomorrow. Well, when I got there, I saw the roses…”

            “You stopped for a bench and some roses? Do you have any idea what happens to little girls in those parks at night? They get raped! They get mugged, some times beaten or killed! You could have been next on the front of the newspaper!”

            “It wasn’t just any bench, and they weren’t just some roses! And besides. I can take care of myself. I’d like to see someone try to mess with Sai.” Hiiro could practically see her light lavender eyes become royal purple.

            “Sai? You think that just because your appearance has changed that they aren’t going to try something?”

            “They won’t if they know what’s good for them.”

            “Serena!” This time both her father and brother screamed at her.

            “Serry. You worried them. And me. You could have called.” Hiiro said, finally joining the conversation. Even he had to admit that with each minute that had gone by, he had gotten a nagging feeling that she was in trouble.

            “Hii-kun, you too? Selene! I know what I’m doing! Hiiro Yui! You above all people should know that by now!” Serena had only stopped to look at the moon and send a prayer to her mother on it for help. When she had woken from her meditative state, she had realized she was late getting home, so she had come straight home. But now, everyone was yelling at her for no reason. She couldn’t understand why all three of them had been so worried. Her dad, ok, she could see that. Her brother, well, that was starting to cross the fine line between believable and non-believable. As for Hiiro, she couldn’t even comprehend that the last sentence had left his mouth! He of all people should know how much she can and can’t handle.

            “Serena Usagi!” Don’t take that tone of voice with me young lady! I’ll ground you for a month!” Her father cried.

            “Ground me? You’ll ground me? How? You couldn’t stop me from leaving the first time! Why would now be any different? Ground me! I’m not a little girl anymore, pops! You can’t lock me in my room without dinner. I’m out of here!” With that, she left the house, neglecting to take her coat and slamming the door behind her.

            Hiiro watched Serena’s father sink down to sit on the couch behind him. “What have I done? My little girl’s gone and left me! Oh, God! Please help me! What have I done?”

            “It wasn’t your fault dad.” Said Sammy from across the room. He crossed over to sit beside his father. “She’s changed too much. She’s not our happy-go-lucky Hurricane Serena. She doesn’t trip down the stairs every morning only to be late to class and forget her lunch. She doesn’t fail her tests and then whine anymore, and she certainly never complains about being hungry. She’s changed. We thought we could just pick up from where we left off, but we were wrong.”

            “I know, but I shouldn’t have made such a big deal about her being out so late. It’s not like I’m not used to her sneaking out every night, oh no. She used to do it every night when she was younger. Some times, she’d leave, then come back, sleep a few hours, and then leave again. And I knew every time, but couldn’t stop her. Every time I tried to, I saw how worn out she was and didn’t bother asking where she’d been or why.”

             “I’m going to look for her.” With that, Hiiro grabbed his coat and speed in her direction on his cycle.

            “See dad? Hiiro will find her and everything will be alright.”

            “I hope so Sammy, I hope so. I don’t want to lose her after only just now finding her again.”

            “Me either.”

~~~In a bad neighborhood of Tokyo~~~

            Hiiro had traced Serena’s cycle all the way to one of the worst parts of town. There were few streetlights, and those there were didn’t do much to stop the darkness from extending into the street. He saw fire barrels with homeless people trying to warm themselves around them. He saw gangs facing off at one another. He saw thieves dividing their night’s haul, and even worse, he saw Serena’s motorcycle parked out of the way in the parking lot of a bar. He capsulized it to keep it from being ripped off and shoved it into his pocket.

            When Hiiro stepped into the bar, he was appalled. People passed out over the tables and one man sat in a pool of blood with a knife in the back of his neck. He spotted Serena at the bar counter, draining a shot glass of whiskey in one gulp. He made his way over to her and pulled the glass from her hands. When she resisted, he ended up having to hold her hands together with one of his while he got the shot glass and bottle of whiskey out of her reach with the other.

            “Hiiro. Just let me have the bottle.” He could smell the liquor on her breath.

            “No.”

            “Just let me have it.”

            “No.” She pulled her hand from his and pointed it at him, as if to blast him with a ki blast.

            “Give it to me or I shoot you.”

            “No. Serry. You’re drunk.”

            “No I’m not. I’m not even remotely tipsy.”

            “Let’s go.” He paid the cashier and then had to hold her at gunpoint to get her out of the bar and onto his cycle. As he drove, he thought of something. Turning towards the Cherry Hill Temple, he found the entrance to the park. He hauled her off the bike, capsulized it, and pulled her until he reached the edge of the lake. She was starting to squirm too much and getting the upper hand, so he casually threw her into the lake.

            Serena felt the cold water wake her from her daze the alcohol had put her in. Now that she was numb all over, what was the use of alcohol? She just let herself sit in the shallow water of the lake until a familiar voice came from behind her.

            “What the hell were you thinking?  Running away? Getting drunk? Serry. Listen to me! Look at me!” She felt him turn her to face him and shake her shoulders hard with his hands. “ What the hell were you thinking? That the drinks would solve the problem? Serena! Look at me!” When he used her full name, she looked at him with cold dark purple eyes. He noticed she was shivering and mentally cursed himself for thinking throwing her into the lake would be a good idea. He picked her up and sat on the ground, her back up against his chest, his arms wrapped around her so she couldn’t escape him.

            Suddenly, Serena felt incredibly warm all over. She felt as if half of the weight lifted from her shoulders and just dissipated into nothing, like it had never been there in the first place. She leaned into her best friend’s arms and relaxed enough to begin to sob.

            “Hii-chan, I’m so sorry! I don’t know what I was thinking. I was just hoping that maybe the drinks would get rid of the argument, the problems, the monsters, and just, oh, everything.”

            Hiiro understood. He had tried it too. Of course, it had taken three of the pilots, Duo, Trowa, and Quatre, to get him out of the bar and cooled down enough to talk.

            “Serry, it’s alright.” He held her closer, wanting to help her, wising he could take her pain and make it his own. What he felt for her now, at this very moment was not friendship. Somewhere along the way, their innocent friendship had lost its taste. He wanted more now, and he knew at this moment what it was that he wanted. He wanted her love…

            Serena stopped crying and looked at her friend behind her. She saw his glazed over eyes and knew he was thinking of something serious. She reached up, tracing her fingers down his cheek and then around his chin. She tried to stop her fingers as they brushed over his lips, but couldn’t. She didn’t know why, but he had a strange gleam in his eye as his focus became her again. He grabbed her hand and brought it up to his lips. Kissing it softly, he looked up. Prussian eyes met azure ones as they locked in an intense stare. Leaning in closer, both lost their senses in trying to capture each other’s lips wit their own. Just as they lightly brushed against each other, the Earth trembled and a loud scream was heard in the distance.

            Hiiro pulled away roughly. He had been so close. So close to both losing the best friend he had ever had if he had completed the movement inwards, and the little piece of heaven he would have gained if he had.

            Serena felt him push away from her as the loud noise and sharp moving Earth startled them back into reality. She felt slightly rejected at first, but soon after realized that there had been a good reason for the harshness of his manner. She had been so close to him. She didn’t even know what she was thinking. He was her friend, her best friend for crying out loud! There was no way he could feel the same way about her… how did she feel about him anyway? Oh, it was all too confusing to her! She liked him well enough so that she trusted him with her life, and let him become her best friend. She loved him enough to want him to kiss her and hold her and say things only lovers told each other…lovers? Her and Hiiro? Hii-chan? ‘When did it become Hii-chan, not Hii-kun? I’m losing it! I can’t possibly love him, he’s my best friend!’  Another loud boom and scream brought her out of her reverie.

            Suddenly, a body flew through the air and landed roughly against the tree right next to them. Hiiro and Serena turned to inspect the body. Sailor Venus was the victim. Three more scouts jumped into the clearing and then the night took on a whole new meaning.

            “Serena?” whispered Mina. She saw her ex -friend, the one she had pretended to hate for so long in front of her, watching her as if she were the enemy. “Serena, please help them fight the youma. We can’t do it without your help.”

            “She’s right koneko-chan. Help us fight Thereon’s youma.” Pleaded Sailor Uranus.

            “Serena? Help us?” Asked Michairu.

            “Come on Sailor Moon!” Added in Hotaru.

            “Why should I help you after all you’ve done to me? After you told me you all hated me, I tried suicide to get away from how guilty I felt! I thought it was all my fault! And now you say it was all just a mistake? I’m not a chess piece to be played with and moved around strategically so you can win. I’m not an expandable commodity for you to use when you need and then throw away once you’re done with me! I have feelings. And a heart. It’s just been sewed back up, tell me, why should I take the chance that it will be shattered again so soon?” Serena raged.

            “Serena,” said Ami “We know that. It’s just that somewhere along the way, we forgot it. We are sorry, and we’ve been sorry ever since the day you were reported missing.” By now the other scouts and Darien had joined them, as well as Luna and Artemis.

            “Serena, I was too hard on you. I’m sorry, I did notice you had gotten better at being on time and kultzing out, but in the heat of the moment, I lost my cool and said terrible things that you didn’t deserve.” Said Luna.

            “Meatball head, give us a second chance, would you already? The monster is going to be here any minute now.” The others glared at Mars, but she shrugged and went on: “ look. I know what we did was wrong. I’m sorry, so let’s just forget it alright?”

            “It is pretty hard to forgive people you die for when they tell you they didn’t care for you anymore.”

            “Serry…” She looked at Hiiro. “stop playing with their minds and help them, would you?”

            “Why, what’s the rush?”

            “Oh, I don’t know. It could have something to do with the three monsters behind you, but that’s just a wild guess.” She slowly turned around to face the three Vamps that Thereon had sent out that day. They were closing in fast.

            “Yeah,  you know Hii-chan, I think you’re right.” He did a double take at what she had just called him. “Back away so you don’t get hurt Hii-chan.” Taking the brooch from her belt, where she always kept it now days, she shouted out her famous henshin words: “Moon Eternal Make-up!”

            Hiiro and the rest of the people around had to shield their eyes from the bright light. As he opened his eyes, Hiiro caught sight of a dazzling light show, and in the middle was the beautiful girl who had changed him so much.

            “Alright trash!” She cried out when she was finished. “I am the exiled leader of the Sailor Soldiers, and it is my pleasure to officially inform you that, your life expectancy just dropped.” With that, the first of the three youma stood to fight her. Though the Sailors wanted to help, Hiiro had stopped them.

            “Let her.” Of course, to follow through with it, he had to keep his gun out and ready at all times.

            Serena had just finished trashing the first youma when the second tried to take her from the back. She did a quick spin in mid air and landed behind it, surprising it with a fast kick, following it with a chop from her sword, and finishing it off with a ki blast that sent it straight back to hell. Ad the last one approached her, she took time to sneak a glance back at Hiiro. He gave her a smile that made her heart fly. She decided that she would not use a ki blast, but instead one of her newer attacks to show her friends how powerful she really had gotten. She saw the youma coming at her at breakneck speed and grabbed her old moon scepter form it’s sub space pocket.

            “Crisis! Cross! Resurrection!” The youma was slowed, so she decided to finish the job fast. “Arch Angel! Kiss! Of Death!” The youma was nothing more than moon dust. “Well, that was easy enough.” She said, smirking a little.

            “So you’re back moon angel! I’ve missed you so!”

            “Put a sock in it Thereon. I’m here to stop you, end of story. Now do you want to do this now, or later?”

            “Oh angel, I don’t want to do it ever. But I suppose I must, if only to humor you. After all, I did send you to train with those bizarre Z Warriors. And I did send you to train with those crazy doctors. And I did bring you home. The least I could do is oblige you in a fight.”

            “So you opened those rifts?”

            “Of course? Who else would have that kind of power? I must say, however, you’ve changed a great deal. You’re so much more grown up angel, so perfect now.”

            “You’re crazy! What do you want with Earth anyway? It’s just another planet.”

            “A planet with life, and intelligent at that. I could have so much fun playing with you Earthlings, oh you have no idea how much fun. My motive is simple: rule the Earth and play with you humans as pawns in a giant chess game. Now just think angel, you could be with me, watching and laughing with me. Join me and we’ll rule the world!”

            “You’re not exactly original in that thinking.”

            “Huh?”

            “Yeah, Prince Dimando had the same thought: love Serenity, want the world. I’m going to tell you right now exactly the same thing I told him: Hell no you bastard! I don’t traded my planet for a crazy son of a bitch like you, much less anyone. Back off, or you’ll fond out how cruel my friends and I really can be.”

            “And who? Your friends? Didn’t they dump you? And you think that human assassin, the Perfect Soldier, can really help you in a fight against magic?”

            “They don’t have to fight. Just believe I can, which they do, most especially that human assassin!”

            “Sailor Moon, you’re dating an assassin?” broke the tension filled air from where the Sailor Scouts were standing. Mina was just waking up from her nap against the tree, and had missed the whole conversation. At that moment, Serena blushed a crimson red and Hiiro pulled his gun on her.

            “Omea wa koruso!” He shot a bullet right above her head.

            “Hii-chan, let up a bit, would you? She didn’t hear the whole conversation!” Hiiro grumbled, but put his gun back.

            “If you’re not dating him then, Sere, is he available?”

            “Mina!”

            “Silence! I hate being ignored! This ends now Sailor Moon!”*