Author's Note: I've been writing this story on and off, for years (literally)...and I forgot I had finished it a few months ago. This was one of my favorite series when I was in college, and this is one of my favorite pairings. I can't believe I haven't written more for them. Alas, life gets in my way.

Reviews are welcome; flames are not. I roast marshmallows over flames with glee.

Pairing: Lantis x Hikaru

Warnings & Disblaimers: LEMON - that means sex. Raging teenage hormones and all that sort of thing. However, there are plenty of R rated movies showing more than I'm writing, and even some PG13 movies getting away with sex (like Twilight: Breaking Dawn)...

Birthday Wishes

On her fifteenth birthday, there were no candles to blow out and wish upon, because Satoru and Kakeru had decided in a moment of insanity that they would bake a birthday cake and surprise her with it, which resulted in a certified disaster. Even as the charred black blob smoked ominously upon the counter while Hikaru stared at it in utter disbelief, Masaru had calmly insisted they chunk it before it caught fire.

Again.

And so, after airing out the kitchen, they had dragged her to a nearby bakery and bought her a huge slice of strawberry cheesecake as an apology for ruining her birthday, and she'd only laughed at them and told them that they were the most wonderful and most thoughtful of brothers.

Besides, once the house ceased to smell of burnt cake, it made a rather good story to tell whenever one of Satoru or Kakeru's girlfriends showed up.

They sort of deserved that, she thought; after they'd been so bloody overprotective of her for fifteen years.

oOo

Her sixteenth birthday, on the other hand, was entirely different than the previous.

For one thing, her brothers insisted on a huge party rather than just family, and for another, they paid Umi to put her culinary skills to work and bake the cake for them.

Which was why the cake looked so incredibly amazing. Umi really was fantastic.

Surrounded by her brothers, her two best friends, and a good many other friends from school, she had eagerly watched as the tiny flames danced and flickered upon sixteen rainbow-colored, glittery candles.

"Make a wish!"

"Blow out the candles, Hikaru!"

"Happy birthday, Hikaru!"

"Don't tell anyone what the wish is!"

"Yeah, or it won't come true!"

"Go on, Hikaru!"

"Make a wish, Hikaru!"

Everyone was grinning at her, talking over each other and laughing, but for a split second, Hikaru's own grin faltered.

A wish?

Her heart skipped, her thoughts jammed.

So many things popped to the surface of her mind: To visit Cephiro again, to see Lantis again. For Lantis to be her real boyfriend instead of memory that anyone but Umi or Fuu would insist wasn't real, and likely question her sanity if she even mentioned him. To be able to don her armor and be infused with magic again. To see Rayearth once more. To kiss Lantis. To be with Lantis.

Lantis.

To just see Lantis again.

It was only a second. No one noticed the change in Hikaru's eyes; only Umi and Fuu may have noticed the way her fingers briefly touched the pendant hidden beneath her blouse. Everyone else was laughing and joking and having such a good time, and she wouldn't have wanted to concern them over her own aching depression.

She took a deep breath and blew out the candles, not putting nearly as much thought into the wish as she should have if she had really had more time to analyze the decision. The little flames bent and flickered and died, almost as if she controlled fire by magic again.

Almost.

oOo

The sunlight was bright and warm, the breeze cool and light. The sky arced above: a dome of pale cerulean. Across the lawn, a fountain played, scattering diamond-like drops of light through the air. The grass was soft beneath her bare feet as she turned on the spot, shielding her eyes to try and see what was around her.

And then she realized that he was lying mere feet away from her, stretched out in the grass with his hands under his head, his eyes closed against the warmth of the sun.

He wore clothing she had never seen on him before – a pale, cream-colored tunic of some soft, flimsy material that billowed and yet molded to his body, enabling her to see the contours of the rippling muscles in his abdomen and chest, even the dark circles of his nipples through the fabric. The top was meant to be laced, but he had left it undone, revealing a long V of smooth, tanned skin. His pants were black, fitted and snug, tucked into black boots, and for a brief second Hikaru's heart stopped before resuming at breakneck speed against her ribs.

God, he was gorgeous. She had almost forgotten just how gorgeous... She had never seen him so informally attired...

She stepped closer to him, eager to stare and stare and memorize everything she hadn't memorized before. Had it really been two years since she had last seen him? She absent-mindedly fingered the pendant mirror he'd given her, gripping the cool metal between her fingers, and wondered how on earth a man this sexy could find her attractive. Or…did he still? Her brow puckered slightly at the thought that perhaps he had found someone else, and her heart contracted painfully.

Then, suddenly, his eyes fluttered open lazily. Hikaru gasped and jumped back as he blinked and slowly sat up, glancing around him in apparent confusion. He looked right through her twice, his gaze sliding over her as though he couldn't see her.

"Lantis? Is something wrong?"

Clef's voice floated across the shimmering, rippling grass, and when Hikaru looked about properly, she realized that the Master Mage was sitting at a table with Presea and Ascot, pouring over a large tome in a gilded cover.

Lantis was silent for a moment, before he murmured, "I thought I felt… Hikaru."

Hikaru gasped for air; she had to touch him, had to let him know she was here. But as she reached out, her fingers stretching forward, the world around her became a mesh of color and then turned black.

She cried out in desperation.

She awoke with a jolt, finding that she was alone in her dark bedroom.

Without thought, she burst into silent tears, because it hadn't been real. At least, not real in the sense that she was actually there, actually able to touch Lantis or talk to him. She had only seen him in a dream – she knew Cephiro really did exist, but it had only been a dream. A real dream, because she had been able to visit Cephiro and see that he was still alive and still cared about her, but a dream nonetheless.

Some birthday wish, she thought ruefully.

Next year, she would make certain to be much more specific.

oOo

But her seventeenth birthday turned out much different than she had planned.

True, it was just her and Umi and Fuu this time around, hanging out at Umi's house while Umi's parents were away in Italy on vacation. But just the day before, several of the girls at school had been bragging about their recent exploits with their boyfriends, and Hikaru, who really had no idea what much of it meant, had been a vibrant shade of bright pink for the entire conversation.

The only good thing was, she was popular and well liked, and so the girls who were more experienced took pity on her. Rather than teasing her for her lack of knowledge, they took the time to explain it and educate her. Then they made certain to tell her about every guy in school they knew of who possibly had a crush on her, and wanted to know if she was interested in any of them. They could always set her up, after all. Almost all the guys thought Hikaru was just so adorably cute!

Embarrassed, Hikaru had rejected the offers but thanked them anyways, and spent the rest of the day and most of the night before her birthday thinking of what it would feel like for Lantis to do some of the racy things the other girls had mentioned. What would it feel like, she wondered, if Lantis sucked her nipples into his mouth? She touched them as she gazed at herself in the mirror in her bedroom, but nothing seemed to happen like the girls had explained. What if he put his larger, stronger hand between her legs and teased her in places she hadn't really thought about until just now? She tried to imagine that as well, but couldn't, and so she was quiet and thoughtful for her birthday celebration.

To make matters worse, when Umi brought out a chocolate cake with seventeen candles and insisted she make a wish, Hikaru acted on impulse instead of wishing for what she'd been intent to wish upon for an entire year. Like she hadn't learned the first darned thing about wishing, even though she had once been a Pillar...!

I wish I knew if Lantis still loved me. If he'd do all those things the girls were talking about...to me.

It was only after the candles were blown out and Fuu was cutting the cake into slices that Hikaru realized her mistake.

She'd meant to wish herself back to Cephiro – not set herself up for another dream.

oOo

She tensed against the bed sheets, feeling intensely nervous as he leaned over her, a smirk tugging one corner of his mouth up in a way she'd never seen before.

"I won't hurt you, Hikaru."

"I... I know! But...I've never..."

"I know."

He bent and kissed her, slow and teasing at first, drawing her lips to his before kissing her a second time, a little deeper…and then a third time, suckling her lower lip into his before releasing it and tracing her tongue with his.

She couldn't think. She could only react, could only feel Lantis's lips coaxing hers, his tongue sliding luxuriously along her tongue.

A combination of leather and books, musk, wine, and burnt wood touched her nostrils. She fisted her small hands into his black hair, marveling at how strong he was. How he hadn't changed. How his breath was so heady, so damp, so intoxicating. Her body felt hot as fire, and damp all at the same time. How could she feel so damp?

His hands were slowly, maddeningly unfastening the buttons down her blouse, pushing it away and skimming his fingers along her ribs. She jerked, finding the sensation ticklish, and he chuckled before kissing her again to take her mind away from his roaming hands, which had now unhooked the front of her bra.

Her mouth opened to his unconsciously and she groaned softly as he cupped her one of her breasts, rubbing his thumb across her suddenly sensitive nipple. It wasn't anything like the one time she had tried to touch herself! She broke away from his lips with a sob and he bent his head, tracing his mouth down the line of her throat, across her collarbones, before coming to lap at one pert mound, all around it and over it and under it, sucking the nipple and tugging at it with his teeth... and then he switched to the other one until she was limp and writhing and thrusting upwards and panting and crying his name in soft, begging whimpers. It really did feel just as the girls at school had described...

He moved down further, sliding her skirt up over her hips so it rumpled at her waist, and he pulled her panties off only to toss them to the side. She tried to protest and he placed a kiss on her belly, breathing her name in that husky, low voice of his that made her toes curl. His chin brushed the spot between her legs, and he slipped her right knee over his shoulder to open her to him, despite her squeak of surprise. He turned to gaze up at her, smiling through the darkness. She trembled and jerked slightly, unable to remain still.

"Relax, Hikaru."

But she couldn't relax and she certainly wasn't quite ready for his tongue flicking out to taste her. Her eyes shot open and her hips bucked, his name coming a little louder from her throat. He delved again, sucking and nipping and drinking her, until Hikaru simply couldn't stay still. Her hips began to move in tight, undulating, twitching circles and Lantis continued his ministrations, his tongue teasing into her, before inserting one finger and opening her, then a second, and then a third – until she was stretched wetly around those fingers and his tongue kept touching that one spot that seemed to tighten and beg for more of its own accord, even without her panting cries.

Her spine arched and she felt sweat building on her skin; he thrust his fingers deeper.

"Are you going to come for me, Hikaru?" he whispered, his voice a low, husky purr.

God, he was so cocky and confident. It wasn't fair!

She moaned and pushed against his fingers, against his mouth, and before she quite realized it, the building sensation that had been gradually taking place between her legs peaked and exploded, and she cried out as she came hard against his hand. She vaguely heard him chuckle before he placed a wet, lazy kiss on her trembling mound and slid up her body to smile down at her.

She could only stare up at him, gasping for breath because it seemed as though her lungs were void of air.

"I will never stop wanting to do that to you," he murmured, skimming long sticky fingers over her breasts before licking her skin clean. A dark thrill shot through her at the possessiveness in his tone. "I dream of you all the time, Hikaru..."

His hips pressed against hers and she felt something hard and hot; he thrust against her even as his lips latched onto her neck. He moaned her name in a way that made her flush – a low, gravely sound that was almost feral... He was so close to pushing himself inside of her...

Hikaru awoke with a small gasp, her body actually lifting from the bed as her back bowed up from the mattress. When she found herself staring at the ceiling, she crashed down with a thump and realized her legs were twitching between the sheets, and her panties were absolutely soaked.

Struggling out of her clothes (for she was far too hot), she ripped her panties lose and desperately thrust her own fingers into her body, needing to feel that same euphoric release that she had felt in her dream wish.

And, as she came a second time, biting her lips to keep from making any noise and waking her brothers, she wondered vaguely if Lantis had dreamed the same thing she had.

oOo

Her eighteenth birthday was going to go exactly as she'd planned – of this, she was certain. Coercing Umi and Fuu to join her at Tokyo Tower, she ignored their exchanged expressions of knowing as they followed her into the elevator with a crowd of other people. She bounced on the balls of her feet as they rose upwards, her heart beating wildly in her chest. Any moment now…

"Calm down, Hikaru!" Umi hissed, glancing at the ignorant, bemused people about them.

Hikaru only laughed.

When they finally reached the observation deck, she rushed to the windows and gazed out across Tokyo. Umi and Fuu caught up with her, shaking their heads at her antics.

"Come now, Miss Hikaru," Fuu said indulgently. "Do you really think we'll be able to go back today?"

Umi leaned against the railing. "Yeah, much as I'd love to see Cephiro again, I just don't know if we'll ever be able to! It's been three years, already!"

"Of course we will!" Hikaru turned and smiled brilliantly at them. "I know we will!"

"But how?"

"Just because it's your birthday?"

"No, not because it's my birthday. Because I'm going to wish it!"

And she reached forward, grasped their hands in hers, and closed her eyes before they could argue.

I want to go back to Cephiro with Umi and Fuu. I want to go back and see everyone...see all of our friends again. I want to see the new Cephiro! ...I want to go back to Lantis!

There was a sudden flash of light, and she heard Umi and Fuu gasp in shock as they vanished from Tokyo Tower.

oOo

When she woke up, she was lying in a soft bed in a semi-dark room. Hikaru blinked, utterly confused. She remembered standing in Tokyo Tower, wishing to return to Cephiro with Umi and Fuu, and she remembered the bright light that had flashed before her eyes...

"You're...awake?"

She gasped and sat up abruptly, her eyes adjusting to the lack of light. "Lantis?" she breathed. "Is it really you?"

He was sitting on the edge of the bed, dressed in black as she remembered, but without his armor, and he was watching her intently. She stared at him for a few moments before he suddenly moved, crawling over her and pinning her to the mattress. She gasped again, and was cut off when his mouth covered hers abruptly.

It was intense. It felt like nothing she had ever experienced before, this feeling of Lantis kissing her breathless until she thought it might be worth it to die from lack of oxygen, his hands cupping her face and body possessively. It was ten times more intense then the dream she'd had last year. It wasn't anything like a light, chaste peck at all. It was deep and heady and senseless; he was pressing her into the mattress with his sheer body weight. She whimpered and twisted her arms about his neck, fisting her fingers into the thick, soft hair. When he groaned against her mouth she felt it all the way to her toes. He shifted against her, pushing his body along hers, his hands suddenly roaming down her sides to her hips and back up. She had to break the kiss; she had to breathe!

He was panting as hard as she was, but instead of kissing her again, he whispered, "What is this day, Hikaru?"

"Huh?"

Heaven help her, she couldn't think straight to save her life. All she could see were those gorgeous eyes… Lantis was literally pressed to her from toes to breast, and he was so strong and powerful and she couldn't move beneath him...

"Today," he repeated, breathing so hard that she felt his chest rising and falling against her own...that she actually felt his heartbeat pounding against hers. "What is so special about this day? I don't understand what this day is."

"Oh...! Today! It's... It's my birthday, actually."

His brow furrowed and he bent his head to nuzzle her throat and neck. "The past two years, on this day, you've broken into my dreams, Hikaru..."

"I... I have?" Her eyes widened.

"Last year... Was so intense..." His voice was hungry and low, and it made something throb inside of her belly. Then his hand closed around her hip, and despite her clothing his fingers dug into her. She moaned unconsciously at the feel, before quite suddenly she remembered what last year's dream had actually been.

Her face instantly flushed with embarrassment and her eyes snapped wide open. "OH! Oh, Lantis...! I'm so sorry, I didn't realize...!"

He pushed to his elbows to meet her eyes. "Why would you be sorry about it?"

"It's just... Well, it's kind of embarrassing if you had the same dream I had last year, that's all." She squirmed uncomfortably, wondering if he was repulsed with her for dreaming such things about him.

"I didn't think it was embarrassing."

"You...didn't?"

"On the contrary. The worst part was waking up... realizing you weren't here," he murmured, brushing his nose against her jaw, his lips just barely tasting her skin, tickling as he spoke. "Realizing I wanted you here so I could finish what I started in that dream and not have to finish it myself. And then I realized that I'd have to wait another year to see what you would dream next..."

She blushed even harder. Oh! "You mean... You want to do that to me?"

He kissed her again, and she felt his body pressing more demandingly into hers. His hands skated up her thighs and under her skirt, quick as lightening to cup her buttocks, and she cried out against his mouth. He responded by groaning her name against her lips, almost a raw stutter that was so... so... un-Lantis-ish. He was pulling her against him and pushing her into the mattress all at the same time, as though he wanted to crawl inside of her and…

Oh, Rayearth... He really did want to do that with her.

She felt one his hands, those long fingers, move beneath her knickers and she arched beneath him. He ripped the fabric away from her body; she heard it tearing at the seams in the darkness and she didn't care, because his mouth was suckling on one of her breasts with her blouse and bra as a barrier between them, and God, she couldn't stand it... She was burning up, from the inside out, and it felt as though nothing could stop the heat...

The hand that had removed her knickers cupped her forcefully and she bucked against him.

"I want to make you mine," he whispered, leaving her breast to whisper in her ear. "Please tell me... is that what you want?"

Y-Yes...

"Oh God, yes," Hikaru gasped, pushing her hips against his hand. When she did, one of those long fingers slid up inside her and she cried out sharply, unable to think.

"I want you to stay here," he added softly, his breath warm against her earlobe. "In Cerphiro. And be mine, Hikaru. Will you consider it?"

"Ahh!" She couldn't help it; she pushed down on his finger, needing… God, needing something…

He added a second, teasing her. "Do you want me inside of you, Hikaru?" His voice was slightly bemused, and most unlike what she remembered. Was he like this just for her?

Without thinking, she began to unbutton her blouse, twisting her body to rid herself of the confounded piece of clothing. The fabric fluttered away, leaving her in only a lacy bra with the pendant hanging between her pert breasts.

He blinked and stared at it for a moment, before he removed his hand from between her legs and held her thigh in place instead. His other hand came up and lifted the pendant from her damp chest, and he smiled faintly.

"You still have this," he breathed.

"Of c-course. I never t-take it off…"

He said nothing else about it, but after a long moment he unfastened her bra and tossed it aside, leaving the mirror resting between her breasts as he stared for a moment at the sight of her. Then he curved his back and began to suck her nipples, one at a time, and Hikaru sobbed and whimpered as he continued such torturous ministrations. One of his strong hands slipped beneath her back to keep her in place, arched against his lips, and the other slithered back between her legs to tease her again.

Her hips seemed to move of their own accord, without her realizing that she was actually doing it; they began to rotate tightly, grinding her pelvis against Lantis's hand. After a few moments, he hissed and sat up, and began unfastening his pants.

Hikaru shivered; without his body heat she felt slightly cold. Fortunately it wasn't a long wait – he came back to her quickly and she gasped aloud when she felt his hard length against her inner thigh. He was sliding back up her body, his tongue laving against her skin, his teeth scraping her left nipple and then her collarbone, before their chests came into full contact and she cried out his name in a breathy, high-pitched whine.

He was already pressing inside of her, so she pressed against him to try and take more of him in. She felt him move, felt her body opening to welcome him. But it didn't seem to be enough, so she let her legs fall further apart, lifted her hips and twitched against him as he slipped deeper. She could hear his breathing, heavy and hard against her neck, the soft grunts of desperation as he tried not to move too fast, and she wanted to scream in frustration for him to hurry up.

And then he thrust, as though he couldn't bear it any longer, and his name tore from her lips as his pelvis ground against hers. It was uncomfortable for only a few moments, and then suddenly she felt completely wet and full all at once.

She nearly screamed his name when he drew back to thrust. Her fingernails dug into his shoulders to anchor herself, and he thrust again, slamming into her. Her body arched against him, twitching and full of him, and she squeezed her eyes shut until stars burst in front of her eyelids. Lantis was relentless, teasing her slowly for a moment before driving her into the soft sheets the next, until she was incoherent and desperate for something she didn't understand.

He changed the angle, pulling out of her and sitting back on his heels. She was gasping and breathless and soaking wet, and she cried out for him. He pulled her lower body up his thighs, angled his manhood, and slid deliciously back into her, and she screamed at the new angle.

"I want to watch this." His voice was low and rumbled in his chest; she felt the vibration in his erection. "I want to watch you come around me this first time."

She was gasping and digging her fingers into the sheets, thrusting up to meet him, her body shaking with effort. And then it happened – the moment she remembered from the previous year, when she shattered apart and it felt as though spasms of pleasure were rippling through her body. Her voice was hoarse as she cried out and choked on his name, her center twitching and quivering around him.

He continued driving into her, and she felt overly sensitive, as though she couldn't take much more. He changed the angle again, sliding one of her legs over his shoulder, and she threw her head back and screamed as she stretched in a new way, all wet and hot and tingly. He suddenly froze over her, grunting her name as something exploded with her again and she felt hot liquid spurting through her, coming out of her and sliding down to the sheets, and Lantis collapsed on top of her. He barely caught himself; as it was, his face buried into her neck and his breath was hot and damp against her flushed skin.

She wasn't sure how long they lay there, tangled and sweaty and dripping and sticky, but she had just started to drift into a lull when Lantis shifted and rolled off of her.

"Every year, on this day," he whispered, "I will make sure you remember how much I want you. And every other day of the year too, if you'll let me."

She gazed at him in exhaustion, feeling as though she couldn't move, and smiled blearily. "I'd like that," she murmured.

"Happy birthday, Hikaru." He kissed her neck and wrapped his arm around her, and Hikaru sagged against him.

This, she thought blissfully, was the best birthday she could have hoped for.