Rei ground her teeth in frustration. The indecision was eating her alive, not knowing what to say or do about the betrayal of her friend. She swallowed another burning hot gulp of her tea, grimacing at the charred skin of her tongue and glaring at Serena over her cup. She knew what she had seen, couldn't forget it in fact but was still not sure what to do about it. Her immediate anger had cooled down to a sullen flame, and in her calmer moments she had to admit to herself, if to no one else, that she and Darien had never really had even what could properly be called a date. Serena couldn't be called a boyfriend-stealer because Darien had never really been her boyfriend. But that item of knowledge was only in her calmer state - and they had been pretty rare in the last couple of weeks.

Right now Serena was gaily chattering with Ami, her bright eyes and hair glowing in the afternoon sun as she babbled about something inconsequential. A soft pink sweater and a grey skirt went well with her blonde hair, and Rei felt a simmering anger rising in her eyes. It wasn't fair at all, that Serena, the clumsiest, the dumbest, the ... the most hare-brained girl around should be involved in a steamy affair with the most handsome man any of them knew. Better than anyone, Rei knew just how far the two of them had gone and her brain was still numb from that little shock. That Serena had lost her precious virginity to a boy she had previously claimed to despise - that was rich. And now she acted to all around her exactly the same - still flighty, never serious for one moment, never even once letting on to her best friends that something drastic had changed.

Only Rei knew the truth, brutal as it had been to gain that knowledge, and she was stuck in a jealous quandry of what to do with it. Expose Serena's secret to the others? Rei wasn't sure she wanted them to know. Tell Serena herself that Rei knew about it? She wasn't sure she wanted to confront her friend like that, to have to admit that she had been spying. Desperately, Rei wanted Serena to break down, to confess everything without Rei having to make any decision at all. Before now, Rei would have bet anything you cared to name that Serena couldn't have kept anything secret for more than a couple of hours from her best friends. She just wasn't a secret-keeping kind of girl at all, more apt to blurt out embarrassing truths without thinking of any consequences of thoughtlessness. And now for over two weeks, Serena had kept this to herself, never seeming to show by word or sign that anything was different about her.

Rei had watched, she had watched like a hawk waiting for some sign that Serena would break, a wedge that Rei could have pounced on in all seeming innocence and so exposed her friend and exorcise the jealous rage in her heart. But Serena wasn't cooperating at all and Rei's heart was a seething mass of confusion and jealousy. She had never expected to feel this way about Serena, and she knew she was becoming even more shrewish and cruel to her friend than ever. Already Lita had given her some quizzical looks at some of the comments Rei had made, and Ami had jumped to Serena's defense even more than was her usual wont.

Only Serena didn't seem to notice a change in Rei's attitude - but then again, Serena didn't seem to be noticing much of anything these days. Broodingly, she wondered how often Serena snuck off to his apartment, and ground her teeth again, dark eyes flashing angrily over her tea. Belatedly, she lowered them behind masking eyelashes as she took another gulp her too hot liquid, lambasting herself for all kinds of a fool but totally unable to control the anger in her heart.

Serena knew something was eating Rei but truthfully didn't care much about it. If something she had done had annoyed her friend, she really didn't care. Today she figured she was going to see Darien again, because he had mentioned that he might drop around the arcade to see Andrew sometime. Although he had said it when she had been with all the girls yesterday walking home from school, she knew that he had said it just so that she would hear it.

It was so much more difficult than she had thought it would be, trying to arrange time together. The youma seemed to have gone into a frenzy of activity - three times this week she had had to fight them as Sailor Moon, each time cutting into the precious moments that she might have been able to sneak away to see him. So far all they had been able to do was exchange stilted words on the street in front of others. She knew that he was making the effort to bump into her again and again, but it was torture to have to see his lean form, his smoky eyes burning into hers and to pretend nothing was between them. Each time she just wanted to abandon the pretence and to wrap her arms around his lean waist and breathe deeply of the wonderful scent of his body. She shivered deliciously in the sunlight and was lost in a sudden daydream.

"Serena ... Serena! Earth to Serena, hello?!" an amused voice cut into her dream state. With a start she realized she had been pulled into a compelling little dreamlet where she and Darien had been back in his bedroom, and that a silly smile had spread all over her face.

"Sorry, Ami, I was a million miles away," she exclaimed unrepentantly, giggling suddenly with the thought of what Ami might say if she told her what she had been dreaming about. "What were you saying?"

Ami eyed her friend with exasperation and Rei made a sudden sharp motion, ratting her teacup aggresively as she banged it onto the table. Ami gave her a curious look before turning back to the still grinning Serena. "I was saying that I think something strange is going on with Queen Beryl and the Negaverse, there has been so much youma activity in the last couple of weeks. If the current trend continues, we can expect daily youma attacks in less than a month's time."

"That sounds like an opportunity to really kick butt then, doesn't it?" exclaimed Lita sardonically. The tall girl leaned against a wall pillar, her auburn hair gleaming in contrast to her sharp eyes. "These youma are like badly baked cakes, all crust on the outside, mushy on the inside," she said calmly. "We'll clean them up, no problem."

"I don't know about that Lita," Ami contradicted softly. Her fast fingers flew over her little computer and she tapped the figures on the screen thoughtfully. "Each youma is a little bit stronger each time, as if Beryl is giving more and more energy to our enemies. By the end of the month, they will be nearly unstoppable, and we'll be fighting every day. I wish I knew what she was gearing up for," Ami said softly. A puzzled frown was on her features, giving her an air of studied concentration.

"Lighten up Ami," Serena said, knowing that this kind of comment was expected of her. It was really hard to try and act like she always did, always checking everything she said before it left her lips. "If the youma are getting stronger, that must mean Beryl is getting weaker right? She can't just keep giving them energy out of nowhere, maybe she's just trying to scare us."

Ami looked at her perceptively. "That's an interesting thought Serena, but we've never been able to determine where Beryl is getting her energy from. It might be unlimited, or of so alien a form that we would never be able to tell how she is using it. It's an intersting idea though," she concluded musingly and began to tap more power expenditure figures into her computer.

Serena cursed herself mildly, but tried to put a really vapid expression her face to try and make it seem like she had pulled that idea out of thin air. Ever since she and Darien had been together, it was almost like she was growing up a little, and some things weren't so difficult for her anymore. She surprised herself by realizing that she was almost annoyed that Ami thought that she could think of something like that by herself. It wasn't like she was stupid or something, although everyone treated her like she was.

Serena glanced oh-so-casually at her watch and her heart leaped at the time. "Hey guys, we've about talked this thing to death, let's go waste some time at the arcade before I have to go home to dinner ok?" Not waiting for any agreement, Serena began to scramble for her books, blonde pigtails bouncing with energy. Ami looked like she was about to object to the sudden change of subject but Lita stood up and casually hauled Ami to her feet by one arm.

"You study too much, little pard'ner," she drawled in badly mangled Western accent. "Your eyes will get crosseyed staring at that all day long." Ami blinked at her tall friend, astonished. Lita gave a big grin before she released the confused Ami and got her own books from the casual pile on the floor. "Let's go get cross eyed doing something fun for a change!" she announced gaily.

Serena privately blessed her strong friend because Ami didn't say a word of objection. She looked curiously at Rei and was surprised to see a flash of some terrible emotion in her eyes. Then it was gone, shuttered away and Rei stared back at her calmly. Serena faltered with her haphazard books in the clutch of her arms, wondering what she had just seen. Then Rei got smoothly to her feet and the moment was gone. The gaggle of girls trooped out of the small room and Serena tried not to run, a warm glow in her heart at the thought of seeing a tall man in her near future. She began to skip across the courtyard and she laughed with Ami, bright sunlight glossing her hair.

Rei, a dark shadow behind the others, followed a little more slowly and with less gaiety in her heart than any of the others around her could possibly realize.

Serena burst through the doors of the Crown Arcade and involuntarily started scanning the room for him. Lita pushed her firmly away from the swinging doors and Serena giggled a little, automatically. He wasn't here yet, was he? She didn't see him anywhere, the lit screens of the flashing consoles showing rapt faces but nowhere his particular shocky black hair. She saw Andrew at the other side of the room, sandy hair a smudge at this distance. Determinedly she began to walk to that side of the arcade, knowing that if she stayed near Andrew, then Darien would have to interact with her when he showed up. Surpressing excitement, she congratulated herself for that little bit of reasoning. Everyone knew that she had had a crush on Andrew for ages, it wouldn't be unusual for her to hang out with him. Even Andrew had grown to expect it and it gave her the perfect excuse to talk with Darien when he showed up. A shiver went down her spine unexpectedly and Serena felt her color heighten in her cheeks.

Andrew was in one of the corners of the room, with his hand down the back of a machine and looking a little frustrated. A bevy of groupies were hanging out waiting for him to do whatever magic he was trying to do and Serena slipped unobtrusively into their midst. With a grunt, Andrew straightened up and began rocking the machine a little farther away from the wall, each motion moving the heavy metal box a few inches on the thin carpet. Andrew reached down again, and this time was able to grab whatever he was reaching for, and a triumphant grin spread across his face. A moment later and the machine began to hum with life again, and the starter screen for the game began to play on the console. Andrew straightened again and with a sigh began to maneuver the heavy thing back against the wall.

Serena watched his blonde head as he heaved at the machine and wondered to herself what had ever appealed to her about him. He was cute and everything, but he had as much interest for her as tapioca pudding .. less, because at least you could eat the pudding. She was startled out of her musings by a voice on her left, one that she had unconsiously been waiting to hear.

"Need some help, Andy?"

Andrew cast a quizzical glance down the corridor and a grin brightened his dusty face. "Sure could use a hand for a second, this mother is heavy," he said.

Darien strode up without even a glance at Serena and took the other side of the machine. Serena watched in a sudden excited confusion as the two men struggled the machine back to its resting place. Only when they both stood up again did she realize that her heart was pounding so madly that she couldn't have said a casual word to either of them, even if her life was depending on it. It had been three miserable days since she had even since him last, and now he was less than six steps away. She shrank back a little into the small cluster of onlookers and took the opportunity to watch Darien greedily.