'Her Choice' Part 2, by Annie-chan (rated PG) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey! Sorry I haven't written in a while, but not knowing *what* you're going to write or where you're going with a story can be a problem. Oh well, here you go, I hope it's as good (or better) than the other parts. This story is rated PG. These characters aren't mine, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi blah blah blah. Her Choice was written by me, Annie. You can e-mail me at awoud@navix.net if you have any comments or suggestions. It was fall in Tokyo. The chill from the night had not left the air that morning, and the thick blanket of grey clouds prevented the suns reassuring rays to touch the ground with their warmth. Tree branches hung lazily as they dropped the last of their colorful leaves for the year. A white haze covered the grass from the frost the night before, and made the ground look like it had been kissed by the winter still to come. Even with the bite in the air, it was still a rather pleasant day to be walking out and around the city, and most people were doing just that. The Tokyo Women's Medical University grounds were open and well kept, paths leading the way through the grass and leaves from one brick building to another. Students walked briskly from one class to the next, trying not to let the chill get to them. A squirrel loudly scolded anyone who dared to walk under his tree, mad at their opportunity to take his winter hoard. Serena had been going through the motions of living for the entire day, the cloudy sky only mirroring her cloudy mind. She trudged from class to class, eyes hazy and grey, head bend forward, with dark circles under her eyes. Attempting to speed walk to her last class of the day, Mina caught sight of her friend from across the school's yard and called to her. She easily caught up to Serena, who hadn't even noticed her presence yet. "Girl, what's the matter? You look just terrible!" Serena looked at Mina, who saw the most forlorn face she had ever seen. "What is it? Do you want to talk about it?" Serena just looked down at her untied shoes. "No thanks Mina," she said without looking up. "Um, why don't we talk about it on the way to class, eh? It's never good to have something on your mind you know." Serena stood silently. Mina sighed. She had already been having a bad day, ?and now I have to cheer up Serena and try to understand what the heck is going on in that *stupid* Chemistry class!' she thought to herself. Her eyes wandered from the zombie Serena to the paths around her looking for a familiar face to help her with her latest deed, (cheering up Serena,) and, spotting her target she waved her arms frantically and called to her. "Ami! Uh, could you come here. . .PLEASE?" The blue-haired genius, as she had been lately called, jogged over to them. "Hey you two, what's up?" She smiled at Mina, who gave her a ?get-a-load-of-this' look and nodded her head towards Serena. "Oh. . .hey Serena." Her voiced waved uneasily. She gave a look of uselessness back to Mina, and they stared at their friend. The possessive squirrel began to chatter at them for pausing to long under his tree. Ignoring him, Mina whispered to Ami, "Has she ever acted like this before?" "Yes, about once a month. She's like this for a couple of days, and then she snaps out of it, refusing to talk to anyone about it. Once I talked to her for an entire hour, just trying to get it out of her, but the only thing I got was that it has to do with a dream she keeps having. I've talked to James about it, and he got the same thing out of her." "Sounds awful, the poor kid. You don't suppose it's because of. . .*that*, do ya?" Mina looked at Serena with pity, missing Ami's icy glare. Serena was just standing there, completely unaware that they were even talking about her. "No, I don't Mina," Ami answered with a biting edge. Than added nicely, "We'd better get her to class Mina, it starts in five minutes." Ami and Mina each took one of Serena's arms and carefully dragged her to dreaded Chemistry 110. "I'm telling you Ami, it's the perfect plan. If I can convince her to come live with me, I can snap her out of this. I *would* like a roommate, after all, and who better than her? I mean, she is my best friend here in Tokyo, uh, I mean, besides you of course." Mina waited for the voice on the other end of the phone to respond, wrapping the already twisted phone cord around her finger. She leaned against the living-room wall and sighed. "All right Mina, I agree with you, it would probably be best for her if one of us was around her all the time, she really needs someone there to back her up, you know?" "Uh-huh, yeah, I know. Oh, wait, I think she's here, I hear someone at the door." "Ok, talk to you later, Mina." "Bye!" She hung up the phone and went to the door, and, flinging it open, looked straight at a dazed Serena and . . . Darien? "Did you loose something, Mina?" he asked her. Serena looked like a zombie -- circles deeper than ever. It looked like the only thing that was keeping her from falling over was the fact that Darien had Serena's waist encircled by his left arm. Darien didn't look like he was having a hard time holding her up, but he was getting a little uncomfortable standing in the middle of his apartment building holding a practically unconscious girl and being gawked at by another. "Oh, yeah, uh, thanks Darien," Mina said snapping out of her trance. "Uh, why don't you bring her in here. What in the world was she doing?" He took Serena into the spacious and well furnished living room, and set her on the couch. She immediately curled up on the white-leather down couch cushion and went to sleep. "She was doing *that* in the lobby," he said, pointing at her. "Wow, I knew it was bad, but I didn't know it was *that* bad." "What's wrong with her, Mina?" Darien asked concerned. "That's what I'm trying to find out," she sighed. Mina looked at her friend, and tried as hard as she could not to let the tears welling up in her eyes fall. "So what do you say, girl?" Serena stared into Mina's eyes. They always looked so happy, so caring. Serena loved this girls eyes, and hated to say no to them. "What about rent? I don't have a job, and collage doesn't exactly pay for itself, you know," she said, trying to find a loophole. "Rent?" Mina sat back in her couch startled, and began to laugh loudly. Serena looked at her suspiciously, finding nothing funny about the question of money. "Oh Serena," she said, wiping a tear from her eye, "you don't have to worry about the rent. Seriously, have you ever taken a look around this apartment? You don't think *I* paid for all this stuff, do you?" Serena had, in fact, taken a look around the apartment before. It was filled with all the latest in electronics, and interior decor. The kitchen was filled with brand new appliances and expensive dishes, and she wondered why she never thought to ask Mina how she could afford all the stuff before, not to mention the fact that she had a three bedroom apartment with two baths and a balcony and shared it with no one. "Well, how *do* you pay for all this?" she asked insulted by being laughed at. "My parents, silly! We are *loaded*. You'll never have to worry about money. Hey, I'll even treat you and Ami to winter break! Where do you want to go? Paris, Rome, London? You know, I've always wanted to go to London-" "Ok, ok, I'll do it, just shut-up already. When do you want me to move in?" "Well dear, this is the last box," James said lugging a huge brown box into Mina's apartment, not even bothering to shut the door, and set it in the living room, which was filled with the boxes that contained Serena's meager life possessions. "Thank-you my sweet." She gave him a grateful kiss, which quickly turned into something more, which brought on a chorus of: "You guys, get a room!" from Mina, Lita, and Ami. "This *is* a room!" Serena quickly retorted. She gave his a quick peck on the cheek to show that it would be resumed at a later time. "Well, I'd better go, you guys," Ami said, "I have a lot of studying to do if I want to keep being first in the class." "Ami, you're crazy! Just stay and hang, I know we'll have a great time." "No thanks Serena, I'd sleep better knowing I've gotten all of my homework done for the weekend." She picked up her things, and with a quick good-bye walked out the still open door, closing it as she left. "Geez, what a party-pooper she turned out to be," said Lita. "She's worried about all of her weekend homework, and it's only Friday!" Mina and Serena only shrugged. "Hey Mina," Serena started, "Sorry it took so long for me to get moved in." "It really didn't take *that* long, Serena. Only a couple of hours, you know." "No, no. I mean, I was supposed to move in after the winter ession got over, and here we are in *April* moving me in! But when my brother hit that lamp-post with the car it set us back, and then my dad *freaked* *out* when my mom told him I was going to be leaving. . ." "Oh man, I remember that," James said. "I don't think *anyone* could have taken it worse than your father. I mean, he freaks out over *everything*! I remember the first time you introduced me to him - then again, how could I forget?- He practically killed me with that rake he was holding! Thank god your mom was there to stop him, I don't even want to think about what would have happened to me." Lita and Mina were trying unsuccessfully not to laugh, and Serena wrapped her arms around him reassuringly. "Oh, poor baby," she said pouting her lips.The phone rang, and Mina got up off her warm spot on the floor to answer it. "Hello? Oh, yeah, hold on a minute." She held the receiver covered in her hands and said, "James, it's for you." He took the phone from her, and gave her a thankful smile. "Hello? Oh, hi dad, what's up? Really? That's terrible! Yeah, sure I'll do it. I'll be home in 15 minutes. Bye." He hung up the phone, and rubbed his cheek with his hand. "James, what is it?" Serena asked concerned, slowly making her way through the boxes to him. "My uncle Pete just died, and they want me to be a pall-bearer." "That's awful! When's the funeral?" "Next Friday." "Hey sweetie, doesn't your family live in. . ." "America," he said shaking his head. "We leave tonight." He leaned over Serena and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "I'll be gone for a week, maybe two if we do family stuff. Don't worry, I'll call you. Feed my fish?" She laughed uneasily. "Sure darling -- I'll feed your fish." She gave him a strong hug, and took in a deep breath. He always smelled so good, and she wondered how he still managed it after he had carried all of the heavy boxes into her apartment. "Uh, Serena, if I'm going to make my flight, you're going to have to let me go. . ." She held on, lost her own world. He wiggled out of her grasp, and, after giving her a last kiss, picked up his sweat-shirt off the end of the couch, opened the door, and giving her a wink shut the door. "I'm going to miss him," she sighed still staring at the closed apartment door. "Yeah, but you have us to keep you company now!" Lita said enthusiastically. "True, very true," Serena said wistfully. She walked out onto the balcony, followed by an interested Mina and Lita. Serena sighed as she watched a tiny James emerge from the buildings main doors nine floors down. She crossed her arms and put them on the balcony's hollow steel railing, and rested her chin on them. Looking up at the dusk sky, she noticed that the sliver of a waning moon was out, even though the sun was still hanging low in the sky. The stars were like points of light cutting through the dark blanket of night to the left, while the sun shone reassuringly on the right. ?The new moon is tomorrow, and James is leaving tonight,' Serena thought to herself. "Well, we should get to unpacking, Serena," Mina said as she wrapped her arms reassuringly around her, giving her a quick hug. "Lita, do you want to stay and help?" she asked looking up at her tall friend. "Sure, Mina. Hey Serena, come on!" Lita said, slapping her on the back. "You have to tell us where to put all your stuff." Serena picked up her head and looked at them with weary eyes. "Sure, I'll be there in a little bit," she said. ?Tonight will be fine, but tomorrow night. . .,' she began to shiver not just because it was starting to get cold out, but also at the thought of the next night to come. Long ago she had discovered that there was always a new moon out when her dream came. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The balcony air was fresh and smelled like cement and metal. She stayed like that for a while, head still cradled in her warm arms, listening to the cars on the street below come and go. A cool breeze played gently with her hair, causing her to open her eyes. A beautiful city was layed before her, and she wondered why she had never noticed Tokyo as being this pretty before. The gentle hues of pink, orange and blue were reflected off the windows of the buildings in the city while the moon and visible stars looked down upon Tokyo with knowing. Serena sighed as she walked back into the living room from the cool balcony. Looking into the box that Mina and Lita had opened she got on her knees and unpacked the familiar black-cat clock her mother had bought for her when she was still in junior high. She reached into the box again, and pulled out something wrapped in newspaper she didn't remember packing. Slowly she began to pull off the paper, but the doorbell interrupted her. "Could you get that, Serena?" asked Mina. She nodded her head, got up, and walked through the living room over to the door. Looking through the peep-hole, she saw James. ?He must have forgotten something,' she thought happily to herself. She threw open the door and flew into his arms, and, giving him a good squeeze said, "Did you forget something darling?" "Um, yeah. I forgot you were my girlfriend." Serena realized her mistake and quickly retracted her arms from around Darien. "Oh, so sorry Darien, I thought you were-" "Yeah, I know, it's all right," he said cheerily while looking at her eyes forgivingly. "So," he said, coming into the apartment, "What are you girls doing?" "Just helping Serena unpack," Lita said as she pulled a desk lamp out of a box. "Why, what are you here for?" "Well, I just came to see if one of you girls would be my date to this dinner that's being hosted by my dad's corporation tomorrow night. I know it's short notice, but my dad just called me yesterday to tell me about it and said that all the big shots in Japan will be there, and that I have to represent him. He also told me not to show up without a pretty date." The girls laughed until they realized he was serious. "I would be *very* grateful. . ." "Gee, I'd love to Darien," started Lita, "But I'm going to be catering a wedding tomorrow night." "Yeah," said Mina, "I'd love to go too, but I'll be at this computer class I'm taking until about 9:00, and that's only if it gets out on time." "That only leaves you, Serena," he said. Darien saw the depression in her eyes. He took her hand in his, and looked into her eyes. "Please?" "Darien, I-" "Please Serena? It would mean a lot to me." "Dar-" "Serena, you don't want to know what I would do to get you to come with me. Do you want me to beg? I'll beg if you want me to." "No, don't do that," she said looking down with a sigh. "I'll do it." "I guarantee you won't regret it," he said giving her hand a kiss. He put her hand down and glanced at the wall behind her head where a beautiful clock was mounted. His eyes widened at the time, and he quickly took a look at his watch to confer the time. "Sorry Serena, but I've got to go. Why don't I take you out to lunch tomorrow, would that be ok?" She nodded her head in agreement and managed a weak smile before he was out the door. Lita and Mina both looked at her strangely. Lita said, "Well, don't make it sound like a chore, you'll have a great time!" Serena shot her a look and said "That's *just* what I'm afraid of!" Stay tuned (if that's possible. . .) for part 3! If you have a comment, just e-mail me, Annie at awoud@navix.net. Special thanks to Rachel, Lauri, and especially to Lianne, who has unknowingly been entertaining me with her *great* fanfics for the past couple of weeks. If you have any free time, I would go check her out. She writes the *best* action scenes!! Thanks again for reading my story! ; ) Annie