Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Hana to Ai ❯ One. ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Title: Hana to Ai
Part: One.
Series: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon R
Pairing: Ail x Fiore, (Mamoru x Ail, Fiore + Mamoru)
Rating: PG-13
Warning: AU, combination of movie and series, OOC, mild angst

Note: This takes place after both the SMR movie and series, I am using the premise that both took place, and neither was AU. It has some links with events in both - but the majority of it has been changed.

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon doesn't belong to me - if it did, the Americans would NEVER have been allowed to make Zoisite into a girl! He's a bishonen, SHONEN NOT SHOUJO, otoko O..TO..KO, boy...a B..O..Y!!

HANA TO AI.

Space was dark and cold, he had little to no energy left, and he knew that before long he would perish.

He would liked to have thought he had done it for a good cause that it had been entirely unselfish - but he hated lying to himself. He had given his power to Mamoru, not because he wanted to save Sailor Moon's life; but because he couldn't bear to see the other man unhappy.

In the span of his life, searching for Mamoru's gift had not taken that long. He had not realised that Mamoru had grown so much older and forgotten about him. It broke his heart to see no recognition in the eyes of the man he loved. But worse than that, he had seen love shining in Mamoru's eyes for the blonde bimbo that hung off his arm and glared at him.

Under the control of the Kisenian Flower, he had injured his beloved and caused him pain - it was something that he had sworn not to do; and he realised now, that by breaking his vow, he was not worthy to be with the dark-haired man.

The loss of his power had made his body revert to its childlike size, and curling further into himself, he allowed himself to weep for all that he had lost.

* * * * *
Ail was bored. The sapling of the tree had once more grown into its beautiful state, and Anne was busy tending and nurturing the new shoots.

Since their sojourn on Earth, he and Anne had discovered that they were not really in love with each other, and since then they had treated each other like affectionate siblings - close but not romantic.

He missed the intimate contact of being with another person, but he realised that Anne really wasn't the person that he wanted to be with.

On Earth, first he had been drawn to Tsukino Usagi because of the powerful aura that surrounded her - it turned out that the plain-faced glutton child was actually the beautiful protector of love and justice - Sailor Moon.

His attention had not been held long though. His eyes had almost immediately turned to the object of Anne's fascination - one tall, dark and handsome Chiba Mamoru.

All his life, he had only ever known Anne and the female form. The human male form - so similar to his own, fascinated him; but to keep Anne from suspecting anything, he had continued to flirt with Usagi.

Mamoru had been quite receptive to his advances; shyly flirting back to start - and then getting progressively braver. He had revealed his true form to the other boy, not realising at the time he was with Tuxedo Kamen. Mamoru had then revealed his other identity, and they had decided that their relationship would remain separate from the lives of their alter-egos, neither one even considering giving it up and telling their allies.

Mamoru had admitted to him, that he reminded him of someone he once knew; and it only bothered him a little when in the throes of passion, the dark-eyed beauty would call out the name 'Fiore'.

When the tree took the force of Sailor Moon's blast, he had stolen one last kiss in the blinding light that had followed. He felt a little sad, that Mamoru's memories had recovered themselves, and along with them, his love for Usagi - but he felt better knowing that Mamoru wouldn't be alone when they left.

Pulling the flute free of his pocket, he raised it to his lips and started to play.

* * * * *
Looking up at the stars from his balcony, Mamoru sighed. He was supposed to be studying for his upcoming exams, but he couldn't get the thoughts in his head to remain quiet. He had loved, and was in love with three people; and one of them was probably dying because of him.

When Fiore had offered the white flower to him, he had taken it and revived Sailor Moon, his relief too great to notice what he had done. It wasn't until he had turned to thank his friend that he realised Fiore was already leaving, and the flower had been made from the alien's own life energy.

It nearly broke his heart to see Fiore reduced down to a helpless child again, head tucked down by his knees, obviously too weak to move. He had wanted to go to him, but the small sphere containing the child had started to drift off, and he couldn't have moved because Usagi had been lying in his lap.

Looking up at the stars, he prayed with all his might that Fiore was safe. He hoped that he would drift and find Ail - a member of his own species.

Ail, was the second love that bothered him - he had forgotten all about Usagi at the time, and found that he enjoyed being pursued by an attractive man. The similarities between him and his vague memories of Fiore had drawn him in further and in the end he had given in; he knew a few times he had called out the wrong name - but Ail had never bought it up and he was glad - he loved Ail because he was Ail - not just because he reminded him of happy memories.

It had been a little complicated being together, with Anne pursuing him, and them supposed to be enemies. But they had found time to be together, and he missed the delicate looking man now.

When he had faced Fiore, he had found himself wishing that his memories of Usagi had not been back, had he not remembered his obligations to Usagi and the future, he would have been only too happy to be with the bishonen. But he was with Usagi, whom he loved and could not give in and fore fill his childhood dream.

He remembered crying himself to sleep for a week after the boy had left him in the orphanage; he had been lectured by the caretakers for standing out on the roof in the rain, but he had wanted his friend back. Just once, Fiore had touched his lips to his, and he had wanted to do that - but Fiore had left before he could; and this time, Usagi had required his attention.

Staring up at the moon, he wondered if he would ever see his friends again. He prayed that one day he might.

* * * *
"Ail!" Anne's urgent call broke his reverie and placing the flute down, he shifted down from his perch and materialised next to her.

"What's wrong?" she looked a little out of breath and he had to wait a moment before she could speak.

"There's something headed this way, it has a weak power signature - but it is headed straight for us!" since they had landed on the small abandoned planet they now called home, Anne had been monitoring the sky to make sure that no one was coming to remove them - with the tree having taken root, any attack or displacement could be fatal to their power source.

Hovering up into the sky, Ail pulled free a cardian and his flute. Although they no longer fed power and dark to the tree, they had still kept the cardians', but only for self-defence.

He could see now that a small sphere was drifting lazily down on the breeze. Materialising next to it, he couldn't contain his gasp of surprise when he found it contained a small boy who was obviously a member of their own species.

"Anne! Anne!" he yelled down to her, "Help me with this! He's one of us!"

"NANI!" Anne's startled yell reached his ears clearly even though he was high up.

She quickly appeared next to him, and studied the content of the sphere, "How is this possible?" she asked him, "I thought that we were the only ones left."

"That's what I thought - but look at him; he looks like I did when I was young." Ail pointed to the sleeping figure.

Anne couldn't deny Ail's words, the sleeping child didn't just look a bit like Ail - aside from the small gold earrings, he looked exactly like Ail.

Together they got hold of the sphere and bought it gently down to the tree.

"He looks weak; we should give him some tree sap." Anne gently touched the sphere to the ground, surprised when it disappeared, and the boy slumped weakly to the floor.

"I'll leave him to you," Ail wasn't sure what to do, and so he watched as Anne picked up the child. For a moment he felt a wistful pang for their intimacy of the past, had things been different, the child could well have been theirs.

He watched as she sat on one the tree's roots and reached up for a bud. The tree complied and she gently bought it down and poured the sweet energy into the boy's slack mouth.

After a few moments, the tree sent down vines and took the boy from Anne's lap, cradling him gently as if he were in a hammock. The soft yellow light of the tree's power began to infuse the boy and they waited.

Ail winced as the minutes ticked over, Anne had returned to her gardening, asking to be called when the boy finally awoke.

He was glad that the tree was rooted in soil and could take energy from the ground as well as positive emotions, because the little child had been feeding for over half an hour and showed no signs of stopping any time soon.

It seemed that all of a sudden, the light got brighter, so much so that he had to avert his eyes. When he turned back, he was stunned at what he saw. The young child had vanished, and in his place lay a fully grown man - who looked identical to him.

The vines lowered the man to the ground, and Ail watched as he stood on shaky feet. He forgot all about calling for Anne, when clear eyes as blue as his own, looked over and locked with his in an amazed stare.

"Who are you?" the stranger asked. Not only did he look the same, but he sounded the same as well. Ail wondered if this was maybe his brother, a twin that he never knew about.

Gathering his wits about him, he answered the stranger's question, "I am Ail. Who are you?"

"My name is Fiore." the stranger replied.

"Fiore?!" Ail stood back a step and goggled. No, it couldn't be - there was no way...but the resemblance...he saw the man giving him a worried look, and he tried to put his thoughts into words, "Did you...are you...I mean..were you on Earth at one point?"

"Yes," Fiore's face turned slightly suspicious, "How did you know?"

"You are him," Ail felt a small part of his heart chip away and die. He had thought Mamoru liked him for himself. Mamoru had said it was a slight resemblance that drew him, but that obviously was not the case.

"You are not him..who?" Fiore was getting worried by the actions of the man in front of him. It was strange to see someone who looked identical to him, he had no idea what was going on. Lowering his gaze to the ground, he tried to think, however his gaze shot back to the other man when he spoke.

"You are Mamoru's Fiore."