Title: Friends For Life
Author: Grace
Parts: 4/?
Email: GraceSpradlin@hotmail.com


True Feelings...

Serena woke up to someone shaking her lightly. She opened her eyes and saw 
a pair of midnight blue ones looking back at her. "Sere? Your going to be 
late for the ball. I am too, if you dont get up." Serena looked at him 
quizically. Instantly she figured out it was Darien. "Why are *you* going to 
be late? You don't have to wait for me." She looked around and noticed it 
was late out. "Well, I need you to help me with this." He pointed to his 
bow. "Ok." She fiddled with it for a while until she got it right. "I 
brought something for you too." He got up and grabbed something. Before she 
could see anything, he put it behind his back and walked up to the bed. 
"What is it?" She tried to see behind him but he kept on moving. "Promise me 
you will take it." Darien knew how she would react if she saw it. "I don't 
know, this could be a trick." She looked up at his eyes, which were full of 
amusement. "Just promise me." He gave her his innocent puppy dog look. She 
melted right there. "Oh, fine! You win." He pulled out a dress from behind 
his back. Instantly she got a look of horror on her face. "Ahh! You tricked 
me! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!" She backed up against the headboard of 
the bed. "Shh. You promised. It isn't that bad." He let her look at it more 
closely. It was a long white spegetti-strapped dress that had a slit up to 
mid-thigh on both sides. (AN: I know they probably didn't have all these 
designer clothes back then, but who cares. This is *my* story. hehe.) She 
sighed then yanked it from his grasp. "You will pay *dearly* for this." She 
walked into the bathroom and slipped it on after taking off her regular 
clothes. It was easy to put this one on, although she needed help with the 
zipper in the back. (The zipper only goes to mid back) "Hey Dare?" "Yeah 
Sere?" He knocked on the door. "Um, how do I zip it up?" She didn't want to 
call a maid in the room at the time. "Are you descent?" "Yeah, why?" She 
didn't know why he would ask a stupid quesion. It wasn't like he was going 
to-- But before she could finish her thoughts, Darien walked in. "Here, let 
me help you." He went to stand behind her. Once he touched her back, she 
froze. He pulled the zipper up and buttoned the button at the top. She was 
standing in front of the mirror at the time. He placed his hands on her 
shoulders and layed his chin on her head. They looked in the mirror 
together. "See? You don't look half as bad as you thought you would." He 
didn't know what else to say. To him, she looked like the most beautiful 
person he had ever seen. "Oh, come on Dare." Serena hardly believed she 
looked ok. "I mean it." He put his head on her shoulder, next to her ear and 
whispered, "You look beautiful." His breath tickled her ear, which made her 
shiver. She turned to look at him directly. She had never noticed how 
handsom he looked. They stood there for a good ten minutes, just looking in 
each others eyes. Darien jolted up. "Damn it. We're late. Mother's probably 
pissed." He grabbed Serena's hand and they ran to the ballroom.

When they reached the ballroom, Serena let out the breath she didn't know 
she was holding. Before they stepped in, Darien extended his arm to her 
which she took it gladly. They opened the door and walked in. She was 
oblivious to stares she got from all the females, as was he from all the 
males. When they reached Gia, she had on the most shocked expression they 
had ever seen. "What? I knew I looked stupid." She lowered her head, 
embarassed. "No no no, my child. You are far from stupid. Actually, you look 
wonderful. I was shocked that Darien actually got you to wear a dress, 
that's all." Gia tried to reasure the girl. "What?" Serena looked up to see 
the Queen looking at her sweetly. She looked at Darien, who only nodded. 
"Ok, let's get back to the ball." And with that, Gia left them to talk with 
themselves. "Do you really think I don't look ugly in this...*thing*?" 
Serena looked away. He took his thumb and raised her chin up so he could see 
her eyes. They were brimming with tears. "Sere, don't put yourself down like 
that. Of course, I don't think you look ugly. You are far from ugly. You are 
the most beautiful woman I have ever layed eyes on." She looked him straight 
in the eyes and could tell he was dead serious. 'He thinks I'm beautiful.' 
"You really mean that? I mean, look at all those women out there." She 
gestured to the women dancing and talking throughout the ballroom. "Do you 
really think that I, Serena, and more beautiful than any other woman out 
there." He seemed to be thinking for a while. "Now that you mention it, I 
was--" She elbowed him in the side. "Darien. I'm serious." "And I was too, 
when I said you were the most beautiful woman I have ever layed eyes on." 
She looked at him for a while than glanced around the room. He grabbed her 
shoulders again. "Come on Sere. Have a good time. You won't die." Darien let 
go of her shoulders and headed for his generals who were talking amongst 
themselves in a corner. To him, they looked liked they were stealing glances 
at the Princess's of the inner planets, who were talking amongst themselves 
also, in another corner.

Serena headed for where the Princess's of the inner planets were standing. 
She never had the time to actually meet them. "Hi." They turned around at 
the sound of her voice. The young girl in the blue dress was the first one 
to speak up. "Hi, your Serena right?" At Serena's nod, she continued. "I'm 
Amy, Princess of Mercury." Amy extended her hand for Serena to shake. "I'm 
Mina, Princess of Venus. The planet of love." Mina held up her fingers in 
the shape of a 'v'. "I'm Raye, Princess of Mars." Raye shook Serena's hand 
also. "And I'm Lita, Princess of Jupiter." Lita nodded to Serena. "So, 
what's up with you and Prince Endymion?" Raye voiced what they were all 
thinking. "Darien? Oh, were just friends." Serena didn't know what they were 
implying. "You sound like you guys have known each other for a long time." 
Lita was referring to how Serena had greeted Darien earlier that day during 
training practice. "Yeah, I've known him since I was born." She hated to 
remember all those times with her parents. "You have? Wow. I would die if I 
knew him that long. He's like a major hottie!" Mina turned bright red as 
they stared at her in shock. "Anyways, Mina thinks every guy is hot." Lita 
looked over at her highly embarrassed friend. "I do not!" "Enough of that. 
This is a ball! Let's go find some cute guy to dance with." Raye walked off. 
They looked at her retreating form then shrugged. They kept on chatting, for 
they didn't want to go up to a guy and ask to dance. It just didn't work 
that way.

Darien looked at Nephrite who had just made an embarrassing comment 
directed to Zoicite. They were just too shy to go up to the girls and ask to 
dance. Darien turned around and headed for the corner, where he saw Serena 
talking with some new friends. Before he could reach her, a young woman 
wearing a fiery red dress stepped in front of him. "Hi! I'm Princess Raye of 
Mars. Wanna dance?" Darien looked at her oddly. She looked like one of those 
many girls who would always stare at him because of his looks. He looked 
around nervously. He definatly didn't want to dance with her or any other 
woman who was infatuated with him. He didn't want to make his mother angry 
at him. She had always told him to never turn down a dance with a girl. It 
was rude. "Um...sure." She lead him out onto the dance floor, where they 
started to dance. He tried not to get that close with her. To him, she was a 
disgusting *leech*. He noticed she had a dreamy look in her eyes. He 
groaned. 'It can't get any worse can it?' He looked up and noticed another 
couple dancing. He looked harder and turned away with embarrasment. 'Oops. I 
didn't know that was a woman. That is weird. A woman dancing with another 
woman.' He looked down and noticed Raye just layed her head on his chest. 
'Ewe ewe ewe. Get it off, get it off! I knew it. I jinxed myself. This day 
*can* get worse.' He sighed than looked up at his mother. She seemed to be 
talking with a woman about his age, with black hair and green highlights. 
The song ended and he pulled away. 'Finally!' Darien walked over to where 
Serena stood. Once behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waste, 
startling her. He noticed the shocked expressions he got from the other 
girls. "Can I borrow this beautiful lady for a while?" He looked at Serena 
whose cheeks were turning rosy. Lita elbowed Mina in the side. "Sure. We 
don't mind." He nodded and walked off with Serena.

Once they were a good distance from the others he turned her around and 
extended his palm to her. "Care to dance, my lady?" She giggled, trying to 
hide her nervousness then placed her hand in his. He pulled her close to 
him. She layed her head on his chest as they swayed to the music. Darien 
glanced up and saw Jediete wink at him from across the room. He noticed that 
Jediete was dancing with Raye. 'They make a *good* couple.' He laughed 
inwardly. Serena looked around and noticed that her friends were finally 
dancing. She could see Amy dancing with Zoicite. He looked sorta like a 
girl, to her. She saw Mina dancing with Kunzite. Once Mina saw that Serena 
was looking at her, she mouthed 'You go girl'. Serena sighed. 'This is 
perfect.' She smiled. She could smell Darien's cologne. It smelt nice to 
her. 'Smell like roses.' She looked up at him and noticed the smile he, 
also, was wearing. 'This day can only get better.' Suddenly, without 
warning, Serena was pushed roughly from behind and fell to the ground. "Oh, 
I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention." That voice was unmistakable. Beryl. 
Serena got up with Darien's help, and looked at Beryl sweetly. Trying 
desperatly to hide her anger. "That's ok. Accidents happen." Beryl laughed 
inwardly. 'This girl is so easy to trick. If she tries to steal my Darien, 
I'll personally kill her myself.' And with that, Beryl walked off. "Bitch." 
"Huh?" Serena turned around and saw Lita pounding her fist into the palm of 
her hand. Lita looked at Serena and tried to smile but her eyes betrayed 
her. "Who was that? That was no accident." Serena looked around and noticed 
that everyone had gotten back to dancing, except for them. "Oh, that was 
Beryl. She can be that way. She is just a stuck-up snob, that's all." "I'll 
tell you what *she* is. She is more than what you say. She's a--" Lita was 
cut off as Amy came up and put her hand over Lita's mouth. "Lita?!?! Don't 
you dare even think that way. I'm sorry your highness, Serena. We'll be 
going now." With her hand still over Lita's mouth, they bowed, then left. 
"Wow." Darien looked at them as they walked away. "What?" "She almost voiced 
my exact thoughts, back there." Serena giggled. "You are so mean. I'm going 
to get some fresh air." She walked out onto the balcony. Darien knew she 
wanted to be alone, so he walked over to the refreshment table.

Serena leaned over the railing and breathed in. She looked at the moon. To 
her, it looked familiar for some reason. Yes, everybody sees the moon every 
night, but this was different, somehow. She closed her eyes and sighed. 
"Nice night, isn't it?" Serena jumped. She looked to her right where the 
voice had come from. A man with shoulder length white hair, stepped out of 
the shadows. "You scared me, and yes, it is." She looked him up and down. 
She had never seen him before. He stuck out his hand, "I'm Diamond. Prince 
Diamond." She shook his hand as a friendly gesture. "Serena." He nodded. She 
looked back out at the moon. "See that?" He pointed to what looked like one 
of the many brilliant shining stars. "I think so." She squinted to see which 
one he was pointing at. "That's my home planet. Nemisis." "I've heard of 
it." She knew that Nemisis was not the most pleasant of places to go. It 
didn't have much wildlife as in animals or even plants. "Wanna dance, Lady 
Serena?" "Sure." She took his hand and he lead her to the dance floor. She 
didn't want to get that close to him. For some reason, she sensed something 
coming from him. She didn't know what it was, and she didn't want to find 
out. He twirled her around a couple times. She felt as if he was drawing her 
to him. Not physically, but mentally. She didn't know how to react. It was 
like he was controlling her, somewhat. She shook her head and kept on 
dancing.


TO BE CONTINUED...

I know. It wasn't the best place to end the chapter, but it was getting 
kinda long.
The next part will be better.
Was that for a little romance?
Well reply and tell me what you think of this part.