Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Decided Bride ❯ Words like a Sword ( Chapter 23 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

He was staring down into her eyes. She looked like she wanted to break down.

"Usagi…." He didn't manage to say anything else as she ran past him. He stared after her, dumbfounded. Why did she run? Why did she look ready to cry when she had seen him? Not until she rounded a corner and was out of his sight did it occur to him that he should follow her.

He started to sprint after her. She soon came into view and he saw she was running for the stables. Since he was a fast runner, he was catching up to her quite quickly, and had reached her as she slipped inside the barn. He caught her arm, and swung her around to face him, and saw right away that there were tears streaming down her face.

He brought her to him into a crushing hug. She gripped the front of his shirt and sobbed into his chest. An odd ache formed in his heart and refused to leave as he held her close, allowing her to spill her grief. "Usagi, what's wrong?" he asked her gently once she started to calm down.

She pressed herself further into his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her tighter. She turned her head a little to the side so that she could speak. "I saw you," she whimpered.

He wasn't sure what that meant, but he looked down at her. "Yes…?" He encouraged her to go on.

She felt silly that she had though the man meant to be her husband was Darien. "I saw you and I realized how much I would miss you," she lied. Well, it was partially a lie.

He pulled back a bit so that he was still holding her but was now looking down into her in her eyes. He wiped away the streaks her tears had left behind. "Usagi, I…." she cut him off.

"No, don't say anything. I will be going to Earth, you will remain here on the moon. There is nothing else that can happen between us," she said as calmly as she could, although the fact that she was trembling didn't help her case much.

"I'm not staying on the moon," he told her.

She looked up at him with confusion. "Why not?" she asked, a little afraid of his answer. Please don't say you're returning to earth, she thought to herself. He looked like there was something on his mind that he needed to get out.

"Usagi…I told you when we first met that I came here looking for a wife," he stated to say. "That purpose is done now. You're returning with Endymion to the earth, and I will be returning with my wife." He hated the look in her eyes.

"Y-you're already m-married!?" The words came out more as a whisper than anything, and she took a step away from him.

He shook his head. "No not yet," he said. I have to tell her…. "Usagi, I-" He was cut off by a third voice.

"Usagi, what are you doing here?" Both Serenity and Darien turned to see the Masters of Sword and Master of Horse coming toward them. As they approached, Serenity finally managed to find her voice.

"I-Mina is standing in for me," she said, her voice betraying absolutely no emotion. Both men smiled and nodded.

Go away! thought Darien.

Both men noticed the heavy air surrounding the couple. "You look like you could blow off some steam Usagi," Master of Sword commented.

No, no she doesn’t, she needs to hear me out, Darien's thoughts raged.

"Yeah…yeah I do," she replied.

Damn! was all he thought.

She wouldn't bring her gaze to look at him as she fell into step with Master of the Sword, leaving Darien to walk with the Master of Horse. He started babbling about Jasmine and how pleased he was with the way her training turned out. Darien didn't hear much more then that since his attention was focused solely on the woman walking in front of him.

They arrived at the training building and entered. Serenity and Master of the Sword walked over to the arrangement of swords hanging on the wall right away and chose their weapons. They headed to one of the rings, leaving Darien and the still babbling Master of Horse on the sidelines. Darien watched with awe as the two danced in the ring, their smooth motions matching each other stroke for stroke. There were a few other people in the building doing some personal training as well, but they did not pay any attention to the sparring duo.

Master of the Horse fell silent as he joined Darien in the viewing of the battle. Darien could see sweat on both of their faces within about five minutes, and the battle still progressed. He watched Sword Masters agile strikes and blocks, and Serenity's equally determined movements and footwork. Had he not been watching so closely, or had he blinked, he would have missed how beautifully Sword Master slipped the tip of his sword down Serenity's blade, twisting it and wrenching the blade free from her hand.

Both stood there breathing heavily for a few moments.

"I haven't seen you fight like that, save for the time you were angry with Shingo," Master said in-between breaths.

Serenity leaned over and picked up her fallen blade. She and the Master walked over to the benches and sat down, Darien noticing that she was still avoiding his eyes.

"What do you say Darien, do you know how to use a blade?" Darien had not even noticed that Master of Horse was talking to him again. He quickly looked over to the man and realized he was being invited to a duel.

"Yes, I know how to use a sword," he replied.

"Good. Choose your weapon then. I'm not as good as that old man there," he said with a smile, gesturing toward Sword Master who shook his fist at him mockingly, "but I can handle myself with a blade well enough with a youngling."

Despite his present foul mood, Darien smiled to himself, knowing the Master was in for a surprise. They went to the wall where the swords were hanging and each chose his weapon. They entered the ring and faced each other.

The fight began…. And ended. No one was really sure how, but Master's sword was in Darien's hand, both blades pointed at the Masters heart. Serenity and Master of the Sword stared in amazement, while Master of Horse seemed to still be in shock from his opponents quick victory. He finally looked Darien in the eyes, a smile tugging at his mouth.

"Again," he said.

Darien gave a mock bow and handed Master of Horse his sword back. They took their stances again, and this time Master came at Darien with more force then before. Only two blows needed to be parried before Masters sword was flying through the air, landing in the waiting hand of Darien. A few of the other trainees had stopped to watch, and they all looked at Darien approvingly.

Master of the Horse laughed. "I underestimated you lad. I suggest you try someone other than me." He let his gaze fall to some of the men who had gathered around when they saw the battles.

One of them, a man Serenity knew to be of about thirty, and having been through about three wars, stepped forward. "I'll give it a go, if the youngster has no objections," he said with a joking smile.

Darien gave another mock bow as the man came into the ring and Master of Horse stepped out. The two opponents faced each other, both waiting for the other to make the first move. They circled one other, surveying their opponent.

Serenity thought about the battles she had with the man. She remembered that he was very good, and delivered hard blows, but wasn't quite fast enough to keep up with her. She had beaten him after about three tries once she had learned that speed was the way to get at him, and since then she beat him about 80% of the time.

Darien finally made the first move. He came at his opponent quickly, not wasting any time with his second move as soon as his first was blocked. He didn't even give an opportunity to be attacked before his sword was pointed at his opponents throat, the opponent having no sword in hand at all. A larger group was starting to gather.

The man smiled. "You're good young one, very good. Unless that was just beginners luck." He picked up his sword, and a new fight began, this time the man attacked first, delivering a hard blow to Darien's sword. Darien grunted but held his ground, pushing against the two blades with all his strength, causing the man to draw back from his attack. He went to swing at Darien again, who ducked and brought his blade to lay across the mans stomach, his hand holding up his opponents sword arm.

The opponent would have been dead by now had this been a real battle. He dropped his sword which fell with a clatter to the ground. Serenity was absolutely mesmerized by Darien's skills. He looked almost good enough to beat Sword Master!

As though he had read her mind, Sword Master stood up. He flexed his hands and picked up his blade. He took one last drink of water and walked to Darien who was talking to the opponent he had just battled.

Neither Darien nor Master of Sword showed fatigue form thier previous battles, so they were evenly matched. "Let me see how well you do this Darien," Master said, a smile on his lips that was inviting Darien to meet the challenge.

Darien bowed his head. "I do not know if I dare go up against such a legend as yourself," he said, not sounding sarcastic at all, but rather speaking with strong sincerity.

Master bowed a little. "You do me great honour, but even Usagi has battled me. Come, let me see what you have. It is my duty to train men, so do not feel yourself unworthy." Both men smiled and took their stance.

They seemed to be toying with each other minds as they walked around the ring, once in a while flicking their blades out to test the other. Then they both lunged at the same time, allowing their swords to meet and clash together.

Master broke free of the stalemate and swung his blade in a small arc at Darien, who blocked the attack and twisted his body in a circle bringing his sword in a wide arc. His move was blocked too, and the battle continued.

Serenity had a hard time keeping up with the two swords, the movements being rapid and smooth. Each move flowed into the next like a swirling mist, no time passing at all as each man moved from a parry to a slash to a thrust, back to a parry. Both men were sweating. Serenity could see perspiration forming on their foreheads. Neither refused to give up any ground though. As time progressed, she could hear them gasping for air, giving yells, grunting with each blow.

A sword flew up into the air and was caught by the victor. He crossed the two blades and one landed on each of the defeated man's shoulders, framing his neck.

He looked down and drew a sharp breath. No one had beaten him with the sword in eight years. He looked back up in to Darien's eyes as the whole room was deathly silent.

"Well done," was all he managed to gasp out in-between breaths.

Darien quickly lowered the two swords and offered Masters sword back to him. He accepted it. That was all he could really do.

Serenity watched, dumbfounded, as the man who had just defeated Sword Master walked over to her. His shirt was sticking to him, his hair was dishevelled, and he was still breathing heavily. He was, as Rei would have put it, gorgeous.

Serenity hadn't even realized that she was holding her breath until he reached her and she tried to speak. Instead of giving words, she only took in a large gulp of air. She stood up quickly. "Well done," she finally said, not able or willing to offer him any more.

He opened his mouth to speak, but was slapped on the shoulder from someone behind him, and nearly lost his balance. He turned to see who it was. Master of Horse and Master of Sword were standing there with a few other men, all grinning, all asking questions and speaking at the same time. He tried to answer them, but found it all a little too much.

He turned to Serenity to tell her to wait for him for a few moments, that he needed to talk to her. She was gone though.

He turned back to the men, a confused look on his face. She had left. Now he would have to talk to her later. He gave a deep sigh, being in no mood to face any form of civil conversation at the moment.


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She sprinted across the gardens to the tree leading to her room. Once within the safety of her room, and sure that he had not followed her, she sank to the floor with her back against the wall. She had no tears left as she stared at the door. None at all. He had found himself a wife.

The tears started to flow.

I do not own the rights to Sailormoon or any of the characters. That honour belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, and I am simply a lowly author who can use her characters for my plots.