Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Four Months ❯ One-Shot

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Four Months

Question 12: What's your biggest pet peeve? I chewed on the end of my pen. Pet peeve? Listening to Raye and Serena argue. That is enough to drive any sane person over the edge. And then Serena has to waste her time filling out this pointless questionaire for her friends. I sighed, quickly going through the questions and answering as fast as possible.

I stood and shook my long blonde hair, rubbing my neck and shoulder. I was tense. But it wasn't surprising. It'd been a rough week. For all of us. Well, all except for Serena and Darien. They had very little to worry about. Darien had opened a veritable Pandora's box of trouble for the Inner Senshi.

Four months ago, Darien called forth his generals, only to find out that they'd been reincarnated. Well, it didn't take long for him to find out where they were located. Aparently they were like us and all in one general area in Metro Tokyo. They had normal names, adapted from their old names, and were all living normal lives. But there was one problem. They had been searching out Darien and the rest of us as well.

"The Generals," as we had become to call them, had more than uniting with Darien and serving him on their minds. All their memories from the Silver Millenium had remained. They still loved us. So, with Darien inviting them to be a part of the group, the Pandora's box was opened.

It's not that we didn't love the chance to widen our circle of friends and it wasn't like Lita and I didn't jump at the chance to brighten up the dark hole that was our lives. It was just really hard to forget about the past. We'd been betrayed by them - twice. And then there was Raye and Ami to worry about. Both were getting pretty serious in their relationships with Chad and Greg. Having these guys show up only proved to be hazardous with their existing relationships.

Lita, Raye, Ami and I discussed the issue at great lengths, probably thinking that the more we talked about it, the easier a positive outcome would arrive. Ami didn't have much to say on the subject, just stating that she was very much in love with Greg and how much she hoped it would all be resolved as soon as possible. Raye agreed, telling us that she'd just told Chad she loved him only days before Jadite showed up and that nothing would stand in the way of having a happy life with Chad. I only sighed after hearing that. If Raye could find love, so could I - excluding the one relationship that felt to be written in the stars. Lita took the offensive approach. "Girls," she announced, "I'm finished with sighing over exboyfriends and going gaga over every good looking guy that walks past me. From now on," she hit her fist on the table to emphasize her point, "if any man wants me, he'll have to come looking for me."

Serena got wind of our feelings. After all, it was hard not to notice when we were all together. Us girls talked to ourselves and occasionally Darien but didn't say much to "The Generals." It was easier for us to go about things like normal and not have to acknowledge their presence than to break down our feelings and act as if nothing had ever happened. Serena came to us and asked us to be civil to them. We refused, even Ami who'd never turned Serena down since she met her. She begged. We still refused. Serena stated we would treat them with kindness. Our resolve was still strong. She demanded and when we still refused, ordered us. It would have been easy to go against our friend's wishes. Very easy considering it was just Serena. But when you have the future Queen of the world ordering you to do something, it's hard not to think of the revenge she could take in the future.

And so we were civil. It left a bad taste in our mouths to ignore our feelings. But civil we were. And I was glad for my previous acting experience. The others acted quite well themselves. For whenever they would leave our presense we were back to feeling the same way before. We didn't purposely mislead them, just accepted Serena's order without question and carried it through flawlessly, even though the generals had no idea.

Malachite caught me on my way to Cherry Hill, it seems something is always going on there, running up from behind me as he called my name. For a moment it was akward. I knew he wanted to talk but an uncomfortable silence settled as people walked by us on the sidewalk. His grey blue eyes settled on mine as he tried to say what he'd practised and rehearsed a thousand times in his head.

"I ran trying to catch up with you. You walk amazingly fast." He blurted out the words.

I turned and walked away. What a waste of my time that was! I was running late. Malachite grabbed my wrist to stop me. It worked but with repercutions; I was now late and very annoyed.

"What," I asked impatiently. "I'm late meeting everyone at Cherry Hill. What is so important that you have to waste my time with ridiculous talk?"

Malachite frowned then grinned. "You know, I don't remember."

I started walking away and Malachite joined me at my side. I walked saying nothing. Then the words came: "You know we're only putting up with you for Serena and Darien."

"I know. We all do."

This surprised me and I stopped walking and faced Malachite. "What?"

Malachite's face was serious. "We know it's an act. Ah come on, don't act so surprised. You girls made it perfectly clear how you felt and then all of a sudden you start tolerating us. We may be men, Mina, but we aren't blind, deaf or stupid."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "If you know, why do you still try so hard?"

"Because we care about you girls. And even though we might not ever get together, the end will be worth it because we showed you how we felt from the beginning."

"Tell Zoicite and Jadite to stay away from Ami and Raye."

"They won't listen."

"Make them."

"I can't make them do anything. They're grown men."

"Ami and Raye have made it perfectly clear that - "

"Ah yes, the name dropping. They've got the message."

"--that they are both very much in love."

"I'm telling you, Greg and Chad are in for a fight."

I narrowed my eyes. "What about you?"

"I'll fight for you if necessary."

"Fight for instead of against? That will prove a nice challenge for you."

Malachite winced at my words. Score! Instant victory for the Love Goddess!

"Why must you bring that up," he asked quietly. "Why can't you move on?"

I replied with a strangely cold emotion. "Easily, Malachite. Very easy. When Beryl attacked you drove your sword into my heart with great ease. And then a thousand years later, you fought against me with no remorse no kindness."

Malachite grabbed my shoulders. "I was brainwashed!"

"You betrayed me, Malachite." I spoke softly. "And the wounds are still there. The heartbreak of a millenium are still there. How can you expect me to move on and look at you without knowing how you betrayed me? How can you expect that of any of us?"

"I'm a monster to you. It is so easy to forget the good in me that brought you so much happiness and to remember only the bad. I'm a monster and that's all you'll ever be able to see in me."

I said nothing to disagree with him and Malachite removed his hands from my shoulders and began our walk to Cherry Hill, now thirty minutes late, in silence.

I don't know why what Malachite said bothered me. But it did. So much that the words repeated themselves in my head constantly, and at the worst times possible. It distracted me during class, during the meetings at the temple and caused me so much worry that I gave up hope for much sleep. "I'm a monster and that's all you'll ever see in me." He was right. All I could see in Malachite was his past, what it was he no longer is. A monster. Yes, he was a monster to me. So why did it bother me so much to know the truth?

Sometimes in the middle of the night I wake up and just lay in bed and wonder about what happened. My brow furrows unconsciously and I suddenly feel bad. It's nothing done on purpose but it happens nonetheless. It's only been four months and I can't remember what life was like before Jadite, Nephlyte, Zoicite and Malachite came.

The more civil we were to them, the more we saw them in a different light and it became harder for us not to like them. They're good guys and I have to give credit where credit is due. They are not the men we thought they were; they aren't determined to make chaos in our lives but merely be a part of things. I kept my distance from Malachite because of our conversation. But I watched him, I studied Malachite. I could eventually tell, one month into their arrival, when he was concerned, when he was angry or annoyed but was hiding it and when he was happy. I liked watching him laugh the best. The amusement would brighten his eyes to a solid blue and that's where it would stay for a second. Then he would smile and before he could do anything, the laughter would flow. Most of the time, Malachite was a generally serious man. But when he laughed, all the weight he bore during the day would disappear.

I'm not saying that I fell in love with him while watching him like I did. Lita had fallen quite easily for Nephlyte, who went to her on his own, but for once in my life I was determined not to fall for the man that made the most sense. Oh yes, it made perfect sense that Malachite and I end up together. After all, we'd been in love during the Silver Millenium and I had never before me anyone more perfectly suited for me.

After two weeks of feeling that way, I decided to do something. I looked for Malachite for three days, working up the courage to talk to him, to apologize for what had happened. I kept missing him. He was always one step ahead of me. If I looked for him at the library, he'd just left five minutes before. I was becoming frustrated and ready to give up. That's when I saw him at the pier. It had rained earlier but the sun was out. He was leaning on the railing, his arms out in front of him. I saw his profile against the setting sun. He looked troubled and I worried whether or not if this was a good time to talk. I approached him slowly and put my hand on his upper arm. He turned and smiled. I couldn't help but grin.

"Hey," I said softly.

"Hello, Mina. What can I do for you?"

"Am I bothering you?"

Malachite looked confused for a moment and laughed softly at himself. "No. I was just thinking, that's all."

I leaned against the rail. "What about?"

"I.." He hesitated. "You."

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. It's okay."

I frowned and looked up at him. "It's not. It's not okay. Malachite, I.."
I suddenly couldn't speak. I had rehearsed this in my head and now it was happening all wrong. "I love you."

"I love you." The words came out easier than I expected.

Malachite turned to me, his face confused. "Mina?"

My heart was beating fast and while I could easily say those words the first time, the second time was harder. I swallowed and looked at him. "I...love you." The words started to flow, a release. "I love you, Malachite.

Malachite put his hand on my face and the other stroked my hair. He grinned akwardly. "I don't know what to say."

"Then don't speak. Let me speak instead. I don't know where or when this happened. I can't explain it. All I know is, you aren't a monster. And I was wrong to make you feel that way. I love you so much!"

That's right. Somewhere between my protesting that Malachite go away and my watching him, I fell in love. I don't know where it happened and I don't really care. All I know was what I feel when I am around him, how he makes me feel like I'm the only one in the world without even saying a word. All I know is how much I want to see him every second of every day and to make him happy. Sometimes I try to forget that we ever agrued, that that conversation and everything before didn't happen. Ever reliable, Malachite does not forget. I don't think he will. But then, he never forgot about me in the first place. And while it was a big nuisance in the beginning, it's become the most romantic thing that has ever happened to me. Four months and Malachite changed my life by simply being a part of it.

~The End~