Yeah, yeah...I know you all are pissed that I take so long to come out with the next parts of this fic........Oh well..... :) I love hearing from you all about what you think~!!! Anyways, Sailor Moon isn't mine and stuff. Oh, and a BIG thankyou to: (as always) Jade, Lisa Roy, ShadowPantherX, Sailor Spectra (down with Seiya~!!!), ANGELW1245, and MarbleNito..... Thankz~!!! Also, I'd just like to take this opportunity to say how much I *love* Razzz and her stories~!!! They're so great~!!! First Loves! First Loves! First Loves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, now that I've babbled on..... here is what you've all been waiting for....PART 3~!!! dun-Dun-DUN~!!!!!!!!! "Game of Love"-part 3 By Sailor Tampa SailorTMPA@aol.com "..........and on the eighth day........God created Darien........."<3<3<3 "Serena! Serena!" Darien called softly into her ear, shaking her shoulders gently. "C'mon.....I was just playing! Snap out of it!" he said a little worriedly. he thought bewildered. Even after a few more of Darien's encouragements, Serena didn't arise from her daydream-like state. He sighed, leaning back against the edge of the brick-red picnic table, and letting go of Serena completely..... .which was a completely *bad* idea. She let out a contented breath and fell backwards;her head now resting in Darien's lap. His blue eyes widened in both embarassment and surprise as she laid there for a few seconds longer before coming out of it. Slowly, her eyelashes fluttered open, exposing her eyes to a clear blue sky. she thought in sudden alarm that she might've very well passed out somewhere, although she didn't know how. One minute she was with Darien and the next.........Serena sucked in a short breath and then lifted her arm behind her and started to feel around.......on Darien's chest. "Hey!" he cried out in surprise. And that moment she knew *exactly* who it was. Serena let out a squeal of embarrasment and quickly shot up from his lap and jumped off the bench, laughing nervously. Darien gave her a queer look and then slowly got up himself. "Uh, are you okay, Meatball Head? You were kinda out of it for a while there...." he asked while jutting his hands in his pockets uncomfortably. "Yeah...." she started softly, ceasing her nervous giggles. "Yeah! "she assured him again, with a bright smile, although a blush was still visble on her cheeks. A moment of uncomfortable silence passed between them, neither knowing what to say. Serena bit her lip and searched the grass as if she had lost something, trying to figure out what to say. she thought. Meanwhile, Darien was concentrating on a small hole in the picnic table... as if *that* would give him something to say. he thought also. After another brief pause, they both took in a breath and started to speak. "I'm sorry!" they both blurted out at the same time. "No!" they said again in exact unison. "You first!" Serena and Darien finished together, pointing at each other. Serena became frustrated and sighed in annoyance at their sychronized outbursts. "Look, Darien....I'm sorry I got all mad and weird on you okay?" she apologized while biting her pinky fingernail. Darien smiled slightly and then nodded his head. "And I'm sorry too.....for being all.... well, you know....." he finished motioning to her with his hands. She looked up and grinned happily. "I accept your apology Darien.....And hey, maybe we should try to get along for the rest of the afternoon, huh? I *really* want to win that prize money!" she added jokingly. "Sure." he agreed softly, gazing into her eyes. She smiled again and then suddenly froze, like a deer caught in a car's headlights, except Serena was caught by a pair of gorgeous midnight blue eyes. For a long while, they stood there, unmoving, and transfixed by each other....until the loud voice of the announcer once again thundered through the park. "Okay all you "lovebirds"....-wink,wink-.....the next game is about to commense! Line up at the picnic tables people!Hurry!Hurry!Hurry!" he yelled into his loudspeaker, causing it to emit high pitched squeals. Darien shuddered a bit and then shook his head. "Huh? Wha?" he said in confusion while looking around and eyeing a crowd of contestants heading towards the tables by which Serena and him were standing. He cocked an eyebrow and then looked down. "Pies?" he asked himself. "PIES!!!!" Serena screeched in delight and plopped down on the bench in front of a fairly large cherry pie. She licked her lips hungrily and then realized what the next game *had* to be.....none other than a pie eating contest. Darien, still recovering from post-Serena shock, walked over behind her and placed his large hands on her shoulders. "Were sure to win this contest now, Meatball Head!" he said enthusiastically. She twisted her head back to look at him, nodding vigorously. Darien couldn't help but smile at her. "Okay contestants, by now you've probably already figured out what this little shin-dig is...right?" he asked eagerly. When no one answered, the announcer cleared his throat embarrassedly and then decided to answer his own dumb question. "A pie eating contest math majors!" he said, trying to crack a joke. Everyone in the mass of people, including Serena and Darien gave him blank stares. A small cough emitted over the cricket chirping, and the announcer fiddled with his tie nervously. "Uh, well, uh anyways, you'll all have exactly 60 seconds to eat as much of the pie as humanly possible. Whoever consumes the most pie, according to our judges, wins! And remember folks, there's only one more game after this...so you'd better make it count! On your marks, get set......GO!!!!" he finished, shooting off a small flare gun. Everyone started digging into their pie, especially Serena, attacking hers like a madwoman. Darien looked around at the other competition. All stuck up prisses who were taking small nibbles at their pies, and getting yelled at by their male counterparts. He laughed slightly and then glanced back at Serena. "This is in the *bag*!" he said confident they would win. "And 5, 4, 3, 2,1....stop!" the announcer yelled holding out his hand. The judges slowly scurtinized every pie, comparing to see which was the winner. Lita, who had been sitting next to Serena, had consumed quite a bit, but not *nearly* as much as Serena.....the whole pie was almost gone! "We have a winner!" they said and scribbled something down on a small clipboard. "Yippe!!!" Serena squeeked triumphantely and picked up the last piece of the pie, shoving it into her mouth. Darien groaned good-naturedly, recieving a glare from Serena. He chuckled softly as she turned to grab a towel to wipe her cherry-covered face. "You know Darien, " she started as she tossed her towel asside. "You could at least congradulate me instead of laughing! We won! And what about our agreement, hmm?" she finshed, eyeballing him and crossing her arms while rising from the table. Darien smiled widely. "Serena, you have a little bit of cherry juice right...." he said as he cupped her face in his hand and rubbed her cheek, trying to rid it of the smudge, but only succeeding in caressing her smooth face. "...there." he whispered almost inaudibly as they locked gazes again. Serena swallowed the rising lump in her throat as Darien continued to penitrate her with his deep sapphire eyes. He brought his left hand up to touch her other soft cheek almost immmediately. Darien's mind clouded over....all other surroundings seemed to fade to a greenish haze around him, and the only thing left to look at was Serena. Her staring orbs grew wide and excited....even a little frightened as Darien seemed to be moving closer to her at an agonizingly slow pace. A thought flashed through Serena's mind to pull away;stop this before something starts....but she was completely and udderly paralyzed as her heart skipped a beat when his lips were not even a half an inch away from her own. She could feel his mouth barely grazing hers, but not yet kissing it. Darien had no idea what was possesing him to do this.....I mean, kissing Meatball Brain?! No way...... he had thought just before he had come to be this close to her....but he was powerless to stop it. And in a way, some way, some *thing* in the back of his mind, or rather his heart, told him that this was right. That if not taking a chance with this girl was right, then let him be persecuted and proven wrong one thousand times over. For once in his life, Darien listened to his heart, and was acting on his feelings. Until this moment, frozen in time, when ultimate, beautiful and undying love would come forth.....that is, if the announcer hadn't interupted them. "Hey you two! I thought I said no hanky panky!" the man with the scraggly gray beard, who had earned the title "announcer" belted out obnoxiously as he grabbed both Serena and Darien by the collar and yanked them apart abruptly, just when even the slightest movement would have found them kissing sweetly. Darien and Serena looked around dazidly before realizing where they were, and what they were *about* to do. Surprisingly, neither of them flushed in embarassment, or looked away. Instead each avoided the other's eyes with a hint of understanding emitting from both...that *something* was going down, but neither knew exactly what it was. Besides, it was only one instant of overwhemling emotions that neither of them could even begin to dream of holding back. They had entered the inferno, and there was no turning back now. All Serena and Darien could do was try to act like it never happened; as if it took place in a totally different time and place, between two totally different people. With that thought swimming in both of their minds, they focused their attention on the announcer who was explaining the next game. "....So one person from our remianing two high scoring groups, which will be announced in a minute, will each choose a slip of paper from this hat." he explained while holding up a neon yellow cap with several slips of paper peeking over the corner. "Then, the partners will have to act out whatever is on the paper, which will be a scene from a movie, play, or something like that.....So, without further ado, here are our 2 remaining teams!" The announcer set the cap down momentarily on the table next to him before reaching for his clipboard that contained the names of the top two. He cleared his throat before breaking into a huge fake grin. "And the first pair is......Raye Hino and Andrew Furuhata!" he said. Immediatley after he had finshed saying Andrew's last name, Raye had begun celebrating by hugging the life out of her partner, whose face had turned a nice shade of blue. "And our other lucky pair is.........Serena Tsukino and Darien Chiba! Congradulations to both of you!" he finished. Darien smiled happily. He figured it was a sure thing that he would have that money in his pocket by the end of the hour, and he wouldn't end up living a cardboard box across the street from the arcade. Serena was equally contented. She was glad they had made it this far and that they might be winning all that prize money, even though she was doing this just for a kick. "Allright, now Raye and Andrew, ya'll are first." announcer man said as he held the flourescent hat above his head to make sure the picking would be fair. Andrew stretched his hand into it, and pulled out a piece of paper, unfolded it, and then paled noticably, wavering and wobbling as if he would puke, and THEN faint. Raye wrinkled her brow in confusion and then promptly plucked the paper from Andrew's fingers. She glanced over it quickly and then broke out into a big smile. "And what did you two get?" asked the announcer while shoving his microphone into Raye's face. She sighed dreamily and crushed the paper to her chest. "Romeo and Juliet--the balcony scene...." she breathed, fluttering her eyelashes. At that moment, Andrew made a distinct gagging noise and slapped his hand over his mouth shakily. Raye then dropped her sugar-sweet demenor and smacked him in the back of his head. He lurched forward a bit from impact and flashed her a dirty look. "O......k....." Serena mumbled to herself as she watched them take the stage and begin to read their parts. Their skit went pretty much uneventfully. Andrew reamined dry and sarcastic in everything he said and Raye was acting all starry-eyed and happy. "Goodnight, goodnight," Andrew muttered swiftly, trying to get it over with as soon as possible. "...parting is such sweet sorrow." he finished in a grumble and then jumped off the stage mumbling "This bites" and went over to stand next to Darien who was difficultly trying not to burst out laughing. Raye was still standing there, eyes shut, anticipating a kiss. After a few minutes, one of her eyes snapped open and saw she was standing there alone. Her face changed into many different hues of red as she exited the stage. A few scattered applause could be heard as the judges scribbled down on their clipboards. "Ok, next up....uh...Serena and Darien!" the announcer yelled while pointing towards them. They both glanced over at each other awkwardly and then made their way on stage. "Allright you two," he started. "let's see what you come up with!" Darien swallowed hard and then leaned over to choose what scene they'd be doing from the cap. Darien thought as he shuffled his hand around a bit to find a sheet of paper. He finally pulled one out and slowly unfolded it, revealing what exactly they'd be acting out. He choked on his breath when he saw it--and promptly read it outloud. "Snow White: the forest scene...." That's a sucky scene to pick, huh? Well I couldn't think of anything better~! Ok that's it! I tried really hard for all you people to get this out! So there! Hope you liked it...tell me whatcha think~! The next part won't be out for a while probably.............but here's a mini-preview thing: In the next chapter, Serena and Darien will act out the scene.....*kiss* and all.......then it will be announced who is the winner...and who do you think those two'll be?????? ~~>Sailor Tampa