TRUST ME
   by Aeris -> aeris03@hotmail.com

   Yo, people. This is my first fanfic, blah blah blah, and it's about
Serena and Darien. Yes, it's romantic, so if you happen to like lemon
fics, you better hit the back button, and NOW. I do NOT create such
immoral pieces of literature. Anyway....
   Hi, by the way, to Joanne Alexandra whom I'd be calling JA the next
time, and Ibuki, and Silver Storm, and Ani-chan too, and to my
non-author friends: Kathryn, Marivic, Danielle, Michelle, Angela,
Karren, Mayen, and May.
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ONE:
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   She looked up at the sky. It was a very clear evening, with no
clouds to hide the full moon shining faintly in the night heavens.
   She shivered as a sudden gust of wind shuddered her very soul. She
felt so cold, so alone... How she wished Darien was there to comfort
her, wrap her arms around her, and tell her how much he lov---
   Stop it, she scolded herself, shaking her head. They are nothing
now, but figments of the past. A past she'd rather forget. Just
memories... Too painful memories...
   But that's history, when she was still plain 16-year old Serena
Tsukino, the foolish, silly, lazy, lovesick klutz she once was.
   Serena was no more.
   Now she looked around her with new eyes unfolding the truth: that
nobody had been truthful to her, cared for her, and even loved her. Not
even Luna, nor her friends. At least those people I thought were my
friends, she thought bitterly. And not even Darien.
   And that's what hurt the most, the fact that the person she loved
with all her heart was not at all loyal to her. But it was the truth,
and nobody could do anything to change it. She could never trust them
anymore, ever.
   Yet, it doesn't matter now. She's a whole new person, with a whole
new identity. She's a star, much more than anyone could have ever
thought. A famed singer, the lead actress in a new soap opera "Trust
Me," she now bears the name Bunny Thompson.

   They were in Juuban Park.
   Everyone was silent. Not one of them would tell anything. Nobody
wanted to. Everyone was greatly affected by what happened just three
months ago.
   Especially Darien.
   It was his mistake, and everybody knew that. A mistake. A big
mistake. Perhaps, it was the biggest mistake he ever made in his whole
life. And now, he's paying dearly for it.
   Reenie was the first to speak up. Her voice was filled with
antipathy and repulsion building up in her heart. Yet, it was not
raging, nor explosive. It was a silent accusation, filled with
tranquility. That has been the way she talked ever since that event...
She has grown up.
   "It was all your fault." She pointed a denouncing finger at her
future father.
   Darien's jaw hung open.
   "Yeah," Lita agreed. "It's all your fault."
   "And Anna Lynn, of all people!" Mina yelled.
   "Hey!" Darien exclaimed, taken aback with all the charges attacking
him.
   "Hey, try to set yourselves in his place," Amy said in an effort to
prevent a building tongue-snapping war. "He's not in any less
desolation!"
   "If he cared, he shouldn't have told Serena of a stupid study
session," Mina retorted.
   Raye remained silent in one bench with the two cats at her either
side. For once in her life, she wondered if she went over the line with
her treatment of Serena. She liked making fun of her, but Serena's
departure is not exactly what she thought would be her reaction. It's
way... not Serena.
   "Well, that's the only thing I could think of then," Darien said.
"And it WAS partly true."
   "You told her a lie!" Mina hissed.
   "Did you expect me to tell her the truth?" Darien said in defense.
"Then to heck with the 'surprise'!"
   "You should have told her that it was a secret. Then it was NOT a
lie."
   "You think that would have satisfied her? I thought you knew her!"
   "Well you should know her too! You should have known that a study
session with a girl chasing after you is not at all believable for me,
for her, for all of the people in the whole damn galaxy."
   "Stop it!" Amy yelled.
   "Enough of that, Mina," Luna scolded her. "Your voice is heard ALL
the way to LA!"
   "How could you have know?" Mina snapped. "You can't be at two places
at the same time. I bet you haven't even SEEN a picture of LA!"
   "Hey," Lita chuckled. "She knows that!"
   "Luna is right, Mina," Reenie spoke up in that quiet voice of hers
again. "You are going WAY over the edge."
   "Ha!" Mina said haughtily. "And who are you to say that? And to me?"
   "You're forgetting things fast," Reenie replied in the same calm
voice. "Serena may be away and you're leader next to her but you'll
never end up as queen of anything but a cheap country beauty pageant."
   "Why you---" Mina raged but found no tongue-slapping comeback. She
blurted out, "Am I the only one who cares that Serena's gone?"
   "Mina, calm down," Artemis exclaimed. "We're all upset of Serena's
departure. Who isn't? You don't have to go ballastic over it."
   "You... You know---" Mina stammered. "I don't understand you. I---"
   "Mina, calm down," Artemis said.
   "---Y-You act as if nothing happened, and, and, ---"
   "Mina, would you stop it?" Luna bellowed.
   "---When, when I try to express my---"
   "SHUT UP!!!"
   For a while, Mina stared at the black cat, her mouth hanging open.
When she gained recovery, she shouted, "Well, if no one here
appreciates my concern for OUR friend Serena, then FINE, I WON'T
CARE!!!"
   And she stomped her way out of the park.

   The girl buried her head on the man's shoulder. "They're liars, all
of them!" she cried, tears running down her cheeks. "I can never trust
them anymore. I can never trust them again!"
   "Hush now," the man sympathized. "I won't let this happen to you
again."
   She looked up at the man before him with her big dazzling blue eyes.
"Really?"
   The man smiled at her. "Trust me."
   "CUT!" another man sitting on a chair marked 'Director' called out.
"Bunny, man, you were BEAUTIFUL! Gary, try to work more on those
sympathetic looks."
   The girl, previously overflowing with tears, now walked gracefully
towards her dressing room. Behind her were barely a hundred fans,
chasing her long blond pigtails, begging for an autograph. The session
lasted for more than an hour. When she got to her Ferrari, she could
still hear her admirers screaming at their experience.
   Bunny Thompson, previously known as plain old Serena Tsukino, sipped
on her juice and sighed. It has been a very tiring month. She barely
had time to sleep with her hectic schedule: shootings, rehearsals,
concerts... Everything. But in spite of it all, she was satisfied with
her new life. It is a life with headaches, yet less of heartbreak.
   Ever since she left Juuban, many things have changed. Once, she was
an ordinary student, always punished for being tardy. Now, she is a
superstar, admired by everybody. Nobody could punish her, scold her,
shout at her. And above all, no one could break her heart.
   Seeing her apartment in view, she slowed down and veered her car
into the driveway. Surprisingly, her lights were on.
   I wonder who that could be, she pondered.
   Once inside her apartment, she looked around. Magazines were
everywhere, the fridge was open, and she could hear the stereo blaring
from her room.
   "Oh damn," Bunny smacked her palm on her forehead. "How can I
forget?"
   No sooner than that did someone shriek.
   "BABY BUNS!!!"
   There was absolutely no need to turn around to know that it was
Bunny's cousin Teresa, who was the only one who called her by that
nickname. Still, she did turn to give her a huge bear's hug. "Tori!"
   After a moment, Teresa Tsukino-Watson freed herself from her
cousin's arms wrapped tightly around her neck. "Hey," she chuckled
with chokes in between. "You almost killed me on that one."
   "That's pure exaggeration!" Bunny replied. "You're totally
unbelievable." She laughed. She was totally joyful of her second
meeting with Tori for the past months. And to think that it was she who
led Bunny to her present stature in life. To fame. To riches. To
stardom.

   It all began with a call, with VERY good timing.
   She just got home with REAL tears staining her face. She had just
broken up with Darien. She could not stand the pain of being separated
from him, but she could never accept to lose him, either. She had very
good reason to call it off.
   In the midst of her lamentation, the telephone rang. Thinking it was
Darien, she screamed into the receiver, "LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU LIAR!"
   She was about to slam it down when a familiar humorous voice reached
her ears. "Whoa, ha, ha!" I'm innocent. Please don't..."
   She pressed the phone against her ear. "Tori?"
   "Who else, Baby Buns?" Teresa, on the other line, teased.
   "TORI!" She began tow wipe her tears, and her sobs began to subside.
   "What happened? A fight with your boyfriend? Don't worry, I already
sent a troop of military men to gun him down."
   "Oh, stop it," she groaned, yet had a smile plastered on her face.
"I do NOT have a boyfriend, Tori." At least not a while ago.
   "Anyway, babe," Teresa said. "I already got my secretary, Lynn
O'Brien, on her way to your place. Better start packing up. She'll be
there in an hour or so."
   "Packing up? An hour? What are you talking about?" Serena hissed.
   "You're going to Hollywood, baby."
   She could just see her cousin wink at that.
   She also began to be suspicious about it. "Do either Mom or Dad, or
both of them know anything about this?"
   "Look, we've been planning this for about a month now. Anyway, I got
paged to go at once to the studio. Ciao!"
   "Bye," and she hung up the phone. The next thing she knew, she was
on her way to California. The next minute she WAS in LA with a Jaguar
waiting for her and her cousin's secretary that took them to a 'modest'
abode... Her cousin's house.

   Teresa Tsukino-Watson, at twenty-four, was a success. She graduated
one year early at UCLA, and married Cloud Watson three days later.
Cloud found her a job with the Dreamland Theater, and Teresa directed
the theater's latest production, "The Wizard of Oz." After months of
hardwork, the play turned out to be a great success.
   People of show business saw at once her talent, and took her. She
signed a three-year contract and started right away with her new job.
This time, it was a television show she directed, and a lot of things
have changed. Still, she had made a long-running TV series a top-rated
show.
   After three months, Teresa Tsukino-Watson was in demand.

   Five months later Cloud and Teresa divorced.
   Cloud and Teresa lost communication, since both of them had tight
schedules. Teresa had more and more projects while Cloud was most of
the time away on business meetings. They have drifted apart, though
they barely noticed it. The spark was gone.
   Two weeks after the formal announcement, she was awarded "Best
Director."

   It was exactly a year after Teresa's break into directing. By then,
she has established her own theatrical group. She has built a theater
for it, too, and called it Moonlight Theater. She also has directed
five long-running TV shows, one movie, three musical plays.
   There was no one to celebrate it with. She decided to place a call
to Japan.
   "Madeline," she called her maid. "Get me my phone book."
   When it was handed it to her, she murmured, "Now where's the number
to Juuban?"
   And it was the beginning.

   Teresa had a lot of talent, and she was willing to share it with
Serena. "But before that, you need a screen name." She looked at her
cousin's outfit, down from her shoes and up to her eyes. "Bunny," she
decided. "Bunny Thompson."
   Serena smiled. "Cute."
   "Okay, then," Teresa said. "It's settled. Now, can you sing?"
   "Uh... yeah."
   "Dance?"
   "A little."
   "Act?"
   "Um, not really."
   "Let's go." Teresa stood up from her seat.
   "Where?" Serena asked.
   "Moonlight Theater."
   "Oh." Serena stared at her cousin. "Tori, it's yours, isn't it?"
   "Yeah. Why?"
   "Nothing."
   And the place was silent, except for the slight sound of muffled
footsteps.
   "Take care of that voice," Teresa suddenly said. "You're gonna be
Cinderella."
   "WHAT?"
   "It's my newest production. Don't worry."
   "Are you going to direct it?"
   "No. People might think I have some favoritism. You're going to be
under Mike Lewis."
   "Is he cute?" Serena asked.
   Teresa giggled. "Yeah. But you better not say that around him. He
might just fire you."
   Serena gaped. "What?!? He's like that?"
   Teresa giggled again. "No, no. I was just kidding. But he really
despises flirting. He wants him to pick out a date. He's too..."
   "Conservative?"
   "Uh huh." Teresa looked at her cousin. "But I was told that the lead
actor was a real hotshot too."
   "Really? Who is it?"
   "I really don't know but I guess he must be a singer, and very good-
looking, since we need such a person to promote a play."
   "Then why are you taking me?" Serena asked, quite confused.
   "Are you gonna take the job or what? We need you, and the budget is
really tight. Anyway, it's my birthday gift for you too. Sorry it took
this long," Teresa smiled.
   "It's okay," Serena smiled back. "Thanks."
   By then they had reached Teresa's car, a Ferrari to be specific, and
they got in. They were heading towards the Moonlight Theater. And
during the short ride, she realized that when she left Juuban, it was
only a day before her birthday.

   Bunny sat down gleefully on her couch as Teresa slumped on a chair and
flipping through a magazine while humming to the tune of the song being
played on her stereo.
   Bunny stared at Teresa for a moment in disbelief. Disbelief that she
was HER cousin, and that she was the one who brought her to another
world, a world filled with glamour and deceit. Bunny shook her head.
"You're totally unbelievable. And I do mean UN believable."

   It has been seven months. Seven months, and still, recovery was hard
for the whole group. Especially for Darien.
   But still, he was not in danger. His future daughter was.
   Reenie was slowly disintegrating. She was slowly disappearing,
body part by body part. They just faded ever so slowly and end into
nothingness. At three months, her hands were gone. At five, her arms.
And presently, her feet and legs were receding. In a year she would
totally disappear. It was as if she was totally unintentional, supposed
to be non-existent, and was given only a year to get things right. It
was according to Amy's calculations, based on Reenie's gradual
disintegration.
   Clearly, the future has totally changed, and Sailor Pluto, nor any
of the other senshi, could not do anything about it. Things have gone
way out of hand, and no one really knows what might happen.
   There was only one solution to the problem. The senshi have to get
the couple back together again.

   Darien could not sleep. His conscience is totally bugging him.
Perhaps, he is the one referred to in the proverb, "A guilty man is
his own hangman." Only, some people would not let him be a hangman,
much more be his own.
   Even when he does get to sleep, peace is not achieved. His nights,
and days, are filled with dreams - not nightmares - of Serena. And they
say it is the only time for rest. "What rest?" Darien muttered.
   He decided that he should finally get some advice from Andrew,
although he knows that it won't be worth it. But still, he can at least
talk to somebody about it.
   He got on his motorcycle and drove his way, to serenity. Hopefully.
   In a few minutes, he burst through the door of Crown Arcade. Seeing
eyes on him, he slowed down a little bit, and went carefully over to
the bar. There, Molly and Andrew were clearly debating on something on
television.
   "That's not her, Molly. She looks nothing like..."
   "That's HER, can't you see? She looks EXACTLY..."
   "Oh yeah? She doesn't even wear her hair up in..."
   "Well, Andrew. I've known her since she was in diapers..."
   "And what the heck does that prove?"
   "That I've seen her let her... Darien! Now someone can tell us that
she IS his..."
   "Yo, Darien!" Andrew called out to him. "Over here! Come and prove
to this seemingly blinded, desperate, stubborn baby over here that the
breathtaking, heartbreaking woman over there is NOT your g---"
   "Where?" Darien snapped.
   "There!" Molly eagerly pointed at the television.
        >They're liars, all of them! I can never trust them anymore. I
can never trust them again!<
        >Hush now. I won't let this happen to you again.<
        >Really?<
        >Trust me.<
   As the screen flashed a change of scene, Molly prompted, "Now, that
IS Serena, isn't she?"
   And he burst out the door.
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So, was it great, or did it just suck? A lot has changed from my
original idea to what you have just read. Anyway, whether you like it
or not, just tell me. It's aeris03@hotmail.com and any idea would be
just great. Even if you insult me. But then, you have to be careful.
Anyway, that's all and I have got to go. Bye!   -Aeris

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