"For Argument's Sake."
By: Isis  @}->--
isis@moonkingdom.com
Rating: G
Disclaimers: Don't sue and don't copy!
AN.  All right, skip ahead three years.  And believe me, 
three years can make a lot of difference.


Chapter 1
*@}->--*


"Hey Darien!"

"Well if it isn't the graduate to be.  I thought you finally found a 
way to fall off the face of the planet somehow, Meatball Head.  
What happened to the total arcade junky I knew?  You haven't 
been there in forever."  One week and counting until his 
graduation, two weeks till hers and they were still fighting like a 
couple of junior highers.

Serena giggled, "Well, I guess us graduates have a lot to get done.  
But since you mentioned it, is Andrew working today?" she said 
with an evil little glint in her eye.

Darien couldn't help but laugh.  "He's been engaged for over a 
year now and you still haven't gotten over him have you?"

She gave a hurt little pout and turned away from him.  "I didn't say 
anything about anything like that.  Besides, I never had the 
slightest thing for him.  I don't know where you get this stuff."

"Oh, I don't know.  I guess eyesight has its ups and downs.  I could 
have just sworn that you swooned every time you saw him."  With 
an innocent shrug he continued walking.  "I guess I could have 
been mistaken after all."

"I did not SWOON!  I just felt a little light headed sometimes," she 
added quietly.

Darien busted out laughing.

"What?!"

He leaned over a nearby bench unable to catch his breath.  Serena 
just stood there looking angrier by the minute.  Finally he managed 
to stop himself enough to talk.  "I'm sorry, Serena…(He He)…It's 
just that…(Ha)… well, you know…" he broke off again into 
laughter again until his eyes threatened to start watering.

By this time Serena had had quite enough of his sense of humor.  
"Well, you can just laugh all you want.  Maybe I was in a fantasy 
world when I liked Andrew, but you don't have to always bring it 
up!"  Darien had stopped laughing, noticing immediately that he'd 
crossed the line again.  And he'd been doing so good lately.

"Hold on, Meat—"

"And I suppose you never did the same thing when you were 
younger.  Oh, of course not!  The great and powerful Darien Chiba 
never had a problem like that!"  She was nearly at the brink of 
tears now.  "Well, you know what?  I don't care what you think!  
Why should I?  You're egotistical, and conceited, and a jerk!"

Now, Darien was really not laughing.  Even at his usual teasing 
and torment, she never blew up like this.  He walked toward her 
trying to reach out to her and stop this before it was too late.  But 
she back away from him and continued yelling.

"You know, you'd probably have a little more sympathy if you'd 
ever gone through something like that.  But you haven't!"  The 
first of her tears were rolling down over her checks now.  "And the 
reason you haven't is because no girl in her right mind would ever 
date a jerk like you!!"

That hit home.  Darien paused in his pursuit of her unable to 
believe what he had just heard.

"Never in the five years I've known you have you ever been 
serious about a girl.  And I know why!  No one would put up with 
you!!"  He stood there unable to move or think as she stepped up 
close to him and looked him right in the eye.  "So don't expect ME 
to put up with you either!!"

With a flip of her hair she ran off down the street still crying.


"Serena?"

"Hi, Andrew!  The new Sailor V video game in yet?"  she asked as 
her and four friends entered the arcade.

"No, it's not.  Next week I think," Andrew answered taking a 
quick look over the group.  The usual:  Mina, bouncy as Serena 
and a dead ringer for a beauty queen; Lita, tall strong and the best 
cook he'd ever known; Ami, the brains of the group but a little on 
the shy side; and Rei, always the firery take charge type.  There 
probably wasn't a common thread running through any of them, 
but somehow they were still friends.

"Bummer.  Well, guess we'll have to take on the old ones!  Watch 
out villains, here I come!!"

Andrew just shook his head and continued on with his duties.  He 
was surprised to find Serena tapping his shoulder a few minutes 
later.  "I thought you were out killing off all the evil in the world," 
he joked.

She didn't seem to find it all that funny.  "I need to talk to you, 
Andrew.  Do you have a minute?"

OK, now something was wrong.  Serena didn't blow off a video 
game for anything, least of all to just talk to someone.  This was 
serious and he knew it.  "I've got time.  What's the mater?"

She sat down on a stool in front of one of the games and didn't 
raise her eyes to meet his when she started.  "Have you talked to 
Darien lately?"

"No, I haven't seen him in a couple days.  But he has finals to get 
through this week, he's probably just busy."  This wasn't good.  
Why would she be this upset and then ask about Darien?  Unless…  
"Why do you ask?  Did something happen?"

Her shoulders slumped noticeably.  "Darien and I kinda… had a 
fight," she said flatly.

"You and Darien always have fights.  What's different about this 
one?"

She looked up at him and he could tell that this wasn't something 
he was just going to smooth over.  There was real regret in her 
eyes and something else he couldn't quiet place.

"This was different," she said softly, looking back down at her 
hands again.  "I really said something to him that I shouldn't 
have…  I think I really hurt him," she barely managed to make 
herself heard.

Andrew pulled up a stool next to her and sat down.  "The two of 
you have said a lot of things to each other over the years.  But 
neither of you ever seemed to really take it to heart, Serena.  That's 
what's kept you guys from killing each other.  You always knew 
the other wasn't serious.  Especially Darien.  I'm sure he knows 
that you didn't mean it."  Somehow Andrew didn't think his words 
were working.  "What did you say anyway?"

She turned her face away from him even farther.  "Something 
totally stupid and completely untrue."  She swallowed hard.  "I 
didn't mean to hurt him.  We were just having one of those little 
fights of ours and, well…"  Her voice broke as she tried to fight 
back the tears again.  "I totally blew up for no reason!  I mean I 
should have just laughed along like always, but for some reason I 
just didn't.  Maybe all this stress is getting to me.  I don't know 
what I was thinking.  I just got mad at him for being so insensitive.  
But, I mean this is Darien, I should have expected that.  And I had 
to go off and say…" she paused, "I didn't mean it," she whispered.

"Serena," he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and tried to 
calm her down.  "I'm sure it's not that bad.  You two have argued 
about everything from ice cream to the weather.  And I know that 
it's going to take something a lot more than this to keep you away 
from each other's throats."  He lifted her face up to look at him.  
"Now, if you're still worried about this why don't you just go talk 
to him?  I'm sure he'll tell you all of this himself.  Then you won't 
have anything to worry about, OK?"  Deep inside Andrew really 
hoped it would be that easy.

A little smile crept onto her face.  "Yeah, I'll just go apologize.  
Gee, why didn't I think of that?"  She knocked herself on the head 
lightly and giggled.  "Thanks Andrew, you're a lifesaver," she 
hopped up from the stool and headed for the door.  "And a cherry 
one, too!!"


The hallway outside of Darien's apartment was dark.  Of course it 
didn't help that it was dark outside by now.  Eight blocks.  It had 
taken her an hour to walk the eight blocks to his building.  Not to 
mention the fifteen minutes of pacing in front of the elevator trying 
to work up the nerve to even get in and go up to his floor.

This is silly she told herself.  Serena had been in his apartment 
hundreds of times.  Usually when he'd volunteered to help her out 
with some school work.  She laughed thinking about the summer 
she'd had to make up all of those psychology projects.  Darien and 
Andrew had really helped her out.  Without them she would never 
have passed that course.

It seemed like every time she had a problem they were always 
there.  Especially Darien.  Sure they fought constantly, but they 
were also friends.  Although neither one would ever admit it.  He 
always seemed to be there, no mater what.  He was the only one 
who gave her any usable advice when she started dating… (what 
was his name?)…  "Just relax and be yourself," he'd said.  "After 
all, he's going to find out you're a flake sooner or later.  It might as 
well be up front."

*Wait a minute, what kind of advice is that?!  Why did I remember 
that of all things?*

But aside from the comics he really had always been there when 
she needed him.  Like when both of her steady boyfriends had 
dumped her.  Darien had been the first one to comfort her both 
times.  Or what about the car accident that she and Ami had been 
in.  A bump on her forehead had landed her in the hospital two 
days for observation.  Darien had come by five times to make sure 
she was OK.  And even out of her family and friends, he was the 
only one who seemed to really know how she was feeling.

Even when she tried to hide her emotions from everyone, he'd 
always known.  Just like this thing with Andrew.  She never told 
anyone… well, she told her friends later, but Darien had always 
known.  He'd seen it the first time he saw the two of them together, 
he'd told her once.

Somehow, he just knew her, inside and out.  Understood her.

*So why am I pacing in front of his door like a criminal with a 
death sentence?!*

But she knew exactly why she was out here.  She was scared.  
Scared that what she'd said to him had hurt him as much as she 
thought it had.  She'd looked into his eyes with that last comment 
and she'd seen it.  Pain.  Something that she'd never seen in his 
eyes before.  She was scared that she wouldn't be able to make this 
up to him.  She was scared that he wouldn't forgive her.  She was 
scared that he'd hate her.

She was scared that she'd lose him.

Whether she ever admitted it or not, he was a friend to her.  More 
than a friend maybe.  He was the one person in the whole world 
that she could say anything to and he would always know what to 
do or say to make it right.  *No, not anything.  I should never have 
said what I did to him.  That was completely inexcusable.  How 
can I blame him if he doesn't forgive me?*

*I can't.  But I have to try to make it right.*

She stopped walking and took a deep breath.  Bravely she reached 
up and knocked on the door.  And even managed to resist the urge 
to take off running.  She heard soft footsteps inside and her heart 
jumped into her throat in fear.  Before she could calm her nerves 
enough to talk the door flew open and she was presented with…

A middle aged woman wearing a red flowered bathrobe and curlers 
in her hair.

"What do you want?" she asked harshly eyeing the teenager 
outside of her door.

Serena stood there dumb struck.  She managed to look from her to 
the number on the door.  In the light coming from inside the 
apartment she could see it more clearly.  925.

"Oops!  Silly me.  Wrong apartment!  Uh—Sorry about that."  She 
didn't take the time to explain any more as she ran for the elevator.  
As she hit the up arrow she heard the woman shutting the door and 
mumbling something about all the teenagers around here being on 
drugs.

Serena let out a breath and began laughing to herself.  She really 
was a meatball head.  How could she have gotten the floor number 
wrong?  Oh, well, just another exciting adventure in the life of a 
schizophrenic.

She hopped into the elevator and pushed the button for the next 
floor.  It seemed like an incredibly show journey for only one floor 
and by the time the elevator had deposited her on the right floor, 
she wasn't sure she wanted to get off.  She stared at the open 
elevator doors as if they were the gates of hell itself, and she 
wasn't moving.  Quietly the doors closed themselves as if giving 
up on her.

"Maybe I'll come back tomorrow," she reasoned to the gray doors.  
"After all, he may be asleep or something."

*Yeah, right.  A college student asleep at eight o'clock!  Just who 
are you trying to kid here?*  

"Myself" she answered out loud.

*Well it's not working so get moving!*

Serena punched the 'door open' button and stepped out into the 
hall.  Apartment 1025, no mistaking it this time.  *What's that 
saying?  Don't open till Doom's Day.*


At eight o'clock on the night before his last final exam Darien was 
certainly not sleeping.  But for that matter he wasn't going over all 
of those notes from his organic chemistry class either.  He couldn't 
concentrate on anything.  Well, anything except Serena.

He had gone too far with his teasing, he knew that.  But the way 
she blew up wasn't like her.  *She has finally gotten sick and tired 
of you and she hates you.  What did you expect from her?  She is 
graduating and moving on with her life and she certainly doesn't 
need you in it!*

What else could he do?  He had seen a real anger in her eyes and 
the way she told him off had really hurt.  Not because of what she 
had said, but because it was coming from her.  Because he knew he 
had brought in on himself.  And because he didn't know how to get 
her back.

The night air was warm with summer coming on and the city lights 
were coming on in full force now.  He had no idea how long he 
had been standing out on the balcony before he heard a knock at 
the door.

His heart caught in his throat.  *It couldn't be…*

He ran back inside and stopped in front of the door.  Could he have 
just imagined the knock?  After all, the balcony's door was in his 
bedroom on the other side of the apartment.

He slowly opened the door… and there was no one there.  "I am 
imagining things," he mumbled, closing the door again.  He leaned 
his back against it and closed his eyes.  *That chemistry test isn't 
going to get easier because you aren't studying.*

He pushed himself from the door and headed to his desk.  Two 
steps into the motion he heard a light tapping on it.  Even the small 
sound was enough to make him jump and spin to the door.  He 
opened it without thinking.

The sight would have been quite comical if he would have felt like 
laughing.  Serena stood there frozen with her hand still raised in a 
fist staring in surprise at the quick response.

"Serena?" was all Darien could manage.

"Oh," she managed to compose herself.  "Uh, hi, Darien."  She 
was talking to the hall's red carpeting as if her words were written 
on it like a cheat sheet.

"I'm sorry, Serena," Darien didn't exactly know what he was sorry 
for, but it was the only thing coming out of his mouth.  "Come in, 
please."  Half of him expected her to throw the invitation back in 
his face and tell him that the only reason that she came by was to 
tell him that she never wanted to see him again.  Crazy as it 
sounds, it would be something Serena would do.

"Thanks."  She looked up at him and there was something in her 
eyes…

She walked in and quickly plunged into her conversation.  "I'm 
sorry to bug you.  I mean I'm sure you have tons of work to do.  
What with finals and all you have to be really busy.  Or, gee, I 
didn't wake or anything did I?  You don't have any lights on, were 
you sleeping?  I'm sorry Darien, I should just come back some 
other time.  You probably don't want to see me here anyway.  I'm 
sorry to bug you."  She made a mad dash for the doorknob before 
Darien could grab her.

"Serena, wait."  She paused with the door halfway open.  "You're 
not bugging me at all.  I was out on the balcony.  It's really nice 
out tonight."  What could he say?  She was way too nervous, and 
he didn't like it one bit.

"Oh, yeah, it is nice isn't it?"  She reluctantly closed the door.

"Yeah, I needed a break from chemistry," he lied.

"Is that your only test tomorrow?"

"Yeah, just that one left."

"That's good."

They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.  The things that really 
wanted to be said just didn't come.  *When was the last time we've 
ever not been able to find something to say to each other?*  Darien 
thought, but he couldn't remember a single time.  They had always 
had something to say.  And if there wasn't they'd be arguing about 
something.  But there was no way he was going to start an 
argument now.  Not after what just happened.  *You were just 
moping that she was never going to speak to you again, and now 
she's here so tell her you're sorry and get it over with!*

"Serena"—"Darien" both of them chimed in at the same time.

"No, Darien, please let me say this before you…" she trailed off 
before she got her nerve and her speed back.  "Darien, I know you 
have to hate me for what I said.  And I can't blame you for it.  And 
if you never want to see me again, I understand perfectly.  But I 
have to say I'm sorry.  I really don't know what happened.  I just 
went off and I—it wasn't your fault.  I don't even have an excuse.  
I mean I just totally snapped and I said…that, and, and I'm sorry, 
Darien.  I never meant it.  Please believe me.  I never meant to hurt 
you.  I don't even know why I said that.  It was so untrue; I don't 
even know how I could say something like that to you.  I'm so, so, 
so sorry, Darien…" she melted off as tears started down her 
checks.

Darien couldn't believe what he was hearing.  She was apologizing 
for what he did.

"Serena, stop, its—"

"I know, I'll go.  I'm sorry but I had to tell you.  I'll just—" she 
moved for the door but he got to it before she did.

"Serena, please, listen to me."  He gently laid his hands on her 
shoulders and talked directly to the top of her head.  "There isn't 
anything for you to be sorry for.  I went too far and you had every 
right to snap at me.  I can't blame you if you've had enough of me 
always being so rude to you.  I know I over do it a lot.  You just 
got fed up with it.  It was my fault, I never should have said 
anything like that to you.  I'm sorry, Serena…  I'm sorry."

He was deadly serious and his voice fell to just a whisper.  He had 
to make her see that this was his fault and he had to get her to 
forgive him.  He just had to.

"No," she snapped her head up to look at him at his last words.  "I 
just overreacted.  It was my fault—"

"Serena, if I hadn't been so mean to you, you never would have 
went off like that—"

"I shouldn't have anyway.  I knew you didn't mean anything by it.  
It was just like always—"

"That's what I mean, I'm always like this to you and—"

"And it's perfectly normal.  That's just the way we are—"

"But you don't deserve—"

"You didn't deserve what I said to you!"  There was a finality in 
her voice that Darien wasn't going to keep arguing with.  Instead, 
he laughed.

"What?"

"You realize we're arguing about our argument, right?" he slipped 
his arms around her waist.

"Huh?  Oh!"

"I think maybe we were both guilty on this one."  Serena was 
about to protest, but she smiled instead.  Somehow it didn't seem 
that important anymore.

"I guess you're right."  She looked up at him again with a light in 
her eyes.  "Does that mean if I forgive you, you have to forgive 
me?"

Darien smiled down at her.  She might be eighteen but she seemed 
a lot like that fourteen-year-old he had met so long ago.  "I guess 
that's how it works."

"Good!"  She wrapped him in huge bear hug that nearly cracked a 
couple ribs.

He leaned down and snuggled his chin between the two 
"meatballs" she still wore on top of her head.  He swore to himself 
that he wouldn't let this happen again.  Even if it was their nature 
to argue constantly.


_____________
@}->-- "Courage faces fear and masters it.  Cowardice 
represses fear and is thereby mastered by it" -Martin Luther King, 
Jr.
@}->-- "Wisdom is the quality that keeps you from getting 
into situations where you need it" -Doug Larson.