Title: A Match Made In Heaven Part: 6 (yay yay yay yay!) Rating: PG Author: Angel Erika E-mail: Erika515@aol.com AN: I'll try harder to make the chapters longer. Keyword there: TRY. *g* Thanks for the ten, by the way, Wyvern and Stormy! You guys put the funniest comments! Thanks to Sarah, too, for the awesome email! And to everybody who reads this fic, I'm glad you're enjoying it! Much thankies to Roni-chan for the great ideas! :) Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon.....HAPPY?! Gosh, Naoko...make all of us feel bad why don't you! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Serena walked into her home with a bright smile on her face. She leaned on her front door and her grin grew even wider..."YYYYYYYAAAAYY!" she screamed out and started jumping up and down in excitement. "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!! YYYYYIIPPPPEEEEE!!!!" "Serena! Lower your voice! You're giving me a headache!" her mom came out of the kitchen and gave her a scolding look. "MOM!" "SHHHHH!" "Ok, sorry." Serena said a little more quietly. "B-b-but...HE'S TAKING ME TO DINNER!!!!!!!!!" too bad she couldn't hold it in... "Serena, I said be-he's taking you to dinner?! Oooh! My little girl's going out on her first dinner date!!" she hugged her daughter and asked, "So what time is he picking you up?" "5:00...OHMYGOSH!! I'VE ONLY GOT AN HOUR LEFT!!" she ran up the stairs just when her father came in from work. "An hour left for what?" he asked as he closed the door. "Oh, she's going out to dinner-" "DINNER?! With that DARREL guy?! The SENIOR?!" "Yes. Do you have a problem with that?" Ilene cocked up an eyebrow and looked at her husband peculiarly. "Uh...*ahem*...No, no, of course not! I was just...making sure who it was, that's all." ~*~ *I'm fine...I'm calm...and I -hopefully- look great...* Serena thought to herself as she looked in the mirror; she was trembling just a little. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She smoothed out her skirt and looked at the little clock beside her dresser. "4:50, just ten more minutes..." ........*silence*........ "UGH! He is driving me insane!!" Serena paced her bedroom, ready to pull her hair out, but she remembered how much time she spent on getting her "meatballs" perfect. "Sit down, Serena! You'll wear a hole in the carpet." Luna told her. "Oh please, Luna, that's not possible." but she sat down anyway. "What are you so nervous about anyway?" "He's taking me to dinner tonight, too. I wonder where to..." she giggled lightly. "You better be careful, Serena. You don't know if he's part of the Negaverse or something!" "Jeez, Luna! You always have a way of turning good things bad!" "I'm just telling you to be careful. Watch out for yourself." "Oh my gosh! Three more minutes...UGH! Why does he have to be so promt?! Even with Tuxedo Mask, I don't get this fidgety!" she stood up again and continued to pace the space of her bedroom. (haha, pace the space...) ~*~ ::Ding-dong:: "He's here!" she screamed at no one in particular, though I can assure you that she must have been heard several blocks away. She ran out of her bedroom and nearly flew down the stairs to the front door. Before she actually opened it, she straightened her shoulders and put her best smile on her face. "Hi Darien!" she said cheerily to the young man in a tuxedo. "Hey, Serena...wow...you look great!" he complimented and looked her up and down, from her little pink-painted toes, to her flower-adorned "meatballs." "Save it for later, let's go before my dad comes out!" she hissed through her teeth and rushed Darien out of the doorway. "Go, go, go!" "Hold it, Serena!" she heard her father's voice, and froze at their home's gate. She let out a little whimper and turned herself and Darien around. "Oh great..." she mumbled. "Why, what's wrong?" Darien asked her quietly. "You'll see..." "Serena, you didn't give me a chance to meet your...the person who's taking you to dinner." her father couldn't bring himself to say say the word "date." He turned to look at the boy, who had a slightly puzzled look on his face, "And you must be Darrel. Hello, I'm Serena's father, Ken, but you may call me Mr. Tsukino." (lol) he offered his hand to him, which Darien took politely. "Good evening, Mr. Tsukino. And it's Darien." "Darien, Darrel, whatever. You're still the one who's going taking my daughter." he replied flatly. "Dddddddaaaaaadddddd....." Serena whined. "Serena, don't worry about it, I'm just going to ask a few questions..." "Oh no you won't." Ilene came into the scene, holding a spatula, obviously coming from the middle of cooking. "Darien, nice to meet you. You may call me Ilene, I'm Serena's mother." "Good evening." "You two can go now." she said. "Thanks, Mom. I'll see you around 10 or so, 'kay?" "Have fun, dear!" ~*~ "Gosh, that was close. He was about to give you the third degree!" Serena said as Darien helped her into his car. "That would have been fine with me, even though he was just a little..." "Paranoid? Over-protective?" He chuckled lightly and said, "Exactly." ~*~ They drove a while, Darien catching glimpses of Serena every now and then, and Serena doing the same for him, though their eyes never met. "So...where are we going for dinner, Darien?" "Somewhere special." "Well, doesn't that give me a great idea..." Serena said in sarcasm. "Just wait, you'll see soon enough." And she did. After a couple more minutes, they approached the park's gates. Serena watched Darien walk around to her side of the car and open her door. "Thanks, but you really don't have to do that." she told him with a blush on her cheeks. "A lady needs to be treated like a lady, Serena. Wait here for a moment." she watched on curiously as he opened the back and pulled out a picnic basket. Her eyes lit up at the sight of it. *Oh! How romantic!* Darien noticed the small smile on her face and thought, *So I can pull it off, afterall. Might as well keep on going at it!* He came up to her, and offered his arm, while holding the basket with his other hand. He led her through park, knowing exactly where to go. As soon as Serena noticed the path he was leading her on, she thought, *Oh, how coincidental. We're having a picnic at my cherry tree....our tree.* she smiled at the thought of it being "their tree" as she leaned on his shoulder. Other couples who passed them by admired them. Knowing that other people have found their true loves gave them a sort of joy, a kind of happiness for them. Finally, they got to the beautiful setting. The sun was just about to set, causing everything around them to twinkle like gold. Serena attempted to help Darien set out the things, but he just shooed her away and told her it was his job. He took out the tablecloth, and with a snap of his wrist, the white sheet spread out evenly. Next, he took two foil-covered plates out of the basket, and placed them side by side instead of the usual "sit-across-from-your-date" setting. *Perfect.* he thought and smiled over at Serena and motioned for her to sit. "So what's for dinner?" she asked, anxious to see what he fixed to eat. *Mmmmm....it sure smells good!* He lifted the foil off, and Serena let out a mouthful of laughter and playfully punched Darien on the shoulder. "Spaghetti and -meatballs-...how ironic!" she rolled her eyes. "What?" he innocently shrugged. "I thought it would be perfect for the occasion!" then he laughed along with her and said, "Sorry, I couldn't help it." "Perfectly fine with me! I like spaghetti!" "I figured you would. Afterall, you wear meatballs in your hair." he poked one of her buns (the buns in her HAIR ^^;;). "Hey! I resent that comment." "Alright, I'm sorry, Serena. Now would you like to join me and eat?" he put a fork up to her face, which she took gratefully. ~*~ A while later, they finally got through the whole dinner; of course, they were laughing and joking around at the same time, and trust me, it isn't too easy to laugh and eat at the same time. I speak from experience. :) It was still to early to leave for the dance, though. "Would you like to take a walk, Serena? We've still got some time to kill before the dance." he asked as he packed up their things. "Sure, why not?" Darien returned the basket back to the car and led Serena towards a path. "So...." "So...." "You know, it's really nice of you to do all these things for me, Darien. I mean, taking me to the dance and all." "Ah, it's nothing. We're both getting something out of it." he took her hand in his and gave her a reassuring smile. "Why? Why did you ask me? I thought you hated me." she said as she looked down at her feet. "Hate you? I don't hate you at all, Serena. I just like to tease you. Do you know how cute you are when you're mad?" he produced a giggle out of her and gripped her hand tighter. "C'mon, I'll show you where all the roses are." he led her to a path hidden by foliage. "Wow! It's absolutely -gorgeous-!" she exclaimed. She looked at the path that extended in front of them, lined by millions of roses. "It's beautiful! I never saw this part of the park before!" "I just kind of stumbled into it while I was jogging." he said as he picked out one of the roses. "Here," he handed the flower to her. "Oh, it's so pretty, Darien!" she allowed for the sweet fragrance to tickle her nose and gingerly caressed the petals of the pale, pink rose. "Just like you." he gazed down on her, his midnight-blue eyes clashing with hers of crystal. He had a half smile on his face, but there was an unmistakable seriousness in his eyes. His hand cupped her face gently and his fingers lightly stroked her silken skin. *He's gonna kiss me...he's gonna kiss me...* the words flew into her head and out again. *Oh my gosh, he's gonna kiss me...* The space between them shrunk unconsciously...their eyelids slowly began to fall...::hooooonnnnnnkkkkkkkk:: One of the car horns blared loudly and killed the atmosphere. Both Serena and Darien hung their heads and sighed in exasperation. "I guess we should be going." Darien said and looked up at the sky, which was shades of purple and lavender sprinkled with early stars. "Yeah..." Serena said, but perked up suddenly, "Let's go!" she had a big smile on her face. "Shall we?" Darien asked as he held out his arm. "We shall." she linked her arm in his and walked towards the car. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Finally done! o_O;; Eh...I took a long break, didn't I? ^_^;; 1/12/00 <~ yea! Well, my efforts to make my science project and skip writing for a while paid off. I'm in the expo....YAY!! :) *big grin* Answers to last question: Lots of you girls wanted to be Serena. Yup! But most of you said only 'coz you'll have Darien! ^_^ Heck, me too! Other responses were to be Luna and Lita. But other than that, all the responses were Serena's. This part's question: If you could alter Sailor Moon in any way, how would you do it? This applies to both DiC's dub and the original Japanese. ^_^ And for those purists, please don't flame me! Please make you answers reasonable, too! :) Luv ya! Erika