Our Unexpected Feelings

Chapter One: Cherry Blossoms

It was a peaceful and quiet summer morning in Tokyo, Japan. A few birds chirped actively as the sun rose, emitting an orangish, pink sky which filled the vast space above with color and a new day broke out on the gorgeous city. Many cherry blossom trees swayed rhythmically against the soft breeze that passed by and two morning crows could be heard 'cawing' and rustling among the branches they were perched on, watching a young woman at the age of twenty doing her morning chores.

She wore a traditional Shinto priestess outfit which was composed of a white sleeved, but loose top and a red hakama on the bottom. Her dark, thick purple hair was let down and pooled over her shoulders, the morning rays slightly reflecting off of them. Her dark, violet eyes brightened as she watched the sun rise and a small, gentle smile appeared on her face. She had matured and grown into a beautiful young woman. Her facial features and bone structure were much sharper and the baby fat from her face had gone away over the few years. Her body also took a toll on maturing as well; more slender, long and filled. Youth still burned in her eyes, but a more mature look was taking over. Her daily routine was the same; she specifically woke up at six in the morning to start her day off with shrine chores and spend the rest of her days daydreaming and wondering about her future; who she would become, if her dreams would come true, what her kids would be like and most importantly, who she would marry.

Peaceful days finally arrived at Earth. She couldn't remember the last time she had to transform and fight evil. It had been about four years since the Starlights and Kakyuu left as well as the battle with Chaos. She wasn't even sure anymore if she had the capability to fight as her heroic title, "Sailor Mars"; perhaps the little 'Guardian Mars' fell in a dormant sleep inside of her. Although she did miss saving the world from evil, it was a relief for her because she was finally leading a normal life despite nothing exciting was going on, she liked spending the time with her grandfather and seeing the girls time to time. However, her grandfather was going to retire soon, she could see him already fading away from her life, but she never said a word about it. Her heart clenched in pain from the loneliness time to time from knowing that she would lose her only blood family and all she would have at the Hikawa Shrine were Phobos and Deimos. They were still perched up in the tree cawing at each other and flapping their wings probably in a sibling spat.

She looked up at them and smiled with her arms reaching out, speaking with her melodic voice, "Come here Phobos and Deimos." The two birds flew down gently and glided around her, earning small pets here and there on their heads. They were truly wonderful and meaningful to her. Even before she was Sailor Mars they were always there for her, being the friends she always yearned for.

Sighing, she picked up the broom she had laid down earlier to watch the sunrise and brushed away on the dusty shrine grounds. For just two people the shrine was large and they didn't have any helpers since Yuuichirou left and she hadn't seen the girls very much since they were all busy with their own lives; especially Usagi and Mamoru. They got married about two years ago and since then, they have been busy trying to build their lives together. Mamoru was taking summer courses for his medical degree and working part time at the hospital whereas Usagi was at home learning to be a good wife and making their home a "baby safe" environment. Makoto was an apprentice for being a chef and she would travel every so often to learn more of the world's different cuisines, Minako was taking acting lessons and Ami as usual was studying like Mamoru to become a doctor. What was she doing? Rei Hino was being the average, normal girl who worked at the shrine ever since she was fourteen years old. Of course she had higher duties now, but her life never took an interesting turn. She gave up on love a while ago when she realized that she wasn't getting anywhere with it.

Rei continued on with her duties and took care of the shrine for most of the day. A few people came by to give their prayers and blessings and left, leaving her in silence again. Her pondering thoughts never ended and then she asked herself, 'What am I doing? I need to go for a walk…' she needed to clear her muddled head and distract herself.

She slipped on a red and black floral top with a pair of white shorts and black flats. A few hours had passed since she did her shrine chores so by the time she left; it was already 9 o' clock. She stretched a bit as she walked down the busy streets of Juban and sighed, looking through the windows of cute clothing stores. She had money, that wasn't the issue, it's just everything she wanted was overpriced. "This actually makes me more depressed than happy…" she muttered to herself as she looked around for a bench to sit on. She saw a few girls shopping with their group of friends, giggling about how cute or hot boys were and where they were going to eat for lunch.

'I miss being a teenager and spending time with everyone,' she thought and plopped her hands behind her head, leaning back and enjoying the fresh breeze that passed by.

All of a sudden she heard a huge crowd of girls screaming over something. Their shrill, pitched squeals made her cringe and groan. 'What can it be now? They're so annoying with their screaming and jumping around everywhere.'

Rei got up and then stood on the bench to see what the huge commotion was about. It was hard to tell through so many people in that crowded area of who it was they were fangirling over. She squinted her eyes and got on her tip-toes to see, after all being five foot three inches didn't help her any. Her eyes widened immediately after she got a good look through the crowd and inwardly gasped. There he was; standing with his long black hair in the same pony tail she had seen him leave with, sharp dark blue eyes, a confident smile placed on his face, wearing a dark red shirt with dark jeans on. He looked like he was trying to get through the crowd of girls yelling out, "SEIYA! SEIYA! OH MY GOD, HE'S BACK!" indeed, he was back after four years.

A smile tugged on the priestess' mouth as she remembered how she and Minako always tried hunting down the Three Lights to get dates with them. However, their plans never worked out because other fangirls got in the way or the celebrities were always busy. That was all in the past though. They discovered as a sailor soldier he was actually a she and that he would always be in love with Usagi. Rei gave up on Seiya a long time ago after Yuuichirou left and all she could do was idolize him from afar as she watched him go to Usagi's aid.

She pushed the past memories away and decided that she couldn't do anything to help him out. She bent down just about to get off the bench when she heard, "REI!" his deep voice sounded out. Surprised at seeing him sprinting towards her, she closed her eyes tightly and opened them back up again to see him panting and looking at her.

"Wow, it's been a while! In Earth time, I'd say about four years?" he asked as he tried to regain his breath, taking in deep breaths of air. He shifted his eyes back to the crowd of girls that were making their way to him and said, "Sorry to have been keeping you waiting."

She raised an eyebrow in questioning as to what he was saying. What did he mean keep her waiting? She wasn't waiting for him – in fact she didn't even know he was around. Oh, he wanted her to play along with him. "Oh yeah, don't worry about it. I left the house early anyways to do some uhm…shopping."

He linked his strong arm with hers and placed a kiss on her cheek, winking at her. 'W- what's he doing? Why did he just kiss my cheek?' she gawked at him with a small blush on her cheeks. She could feel her heart beating faster under his gaze and looked away, flustered.

"Who is she?" a fangirl glared at her as if she were trying to burn holes into Rei's back with all that jealousy.

"Yeah! Why did he kiss her? Are they going out?" another girl asked with a hint of anger in her voice.

'Great…now I'm going to die because of his actions. It's not like I asked him to kiss me on the cheek did I?' Rei groaned in frustration. She brushed back a strand of her hair and then looked at Seiya again with a slightly annoyed look in her eyes.

Seiya didn't say anything except drag her away in a different direction to get away from the crowd of girls. They stopped in front of a memorable place; the Fruits Parlor Crown where they would come to enjoy food and sundaes when they were students. He stopped and opened the door for her, showing a sign of courtesy. Sighing and realizing that she didn't have much of a choice, Rei entered the building and made her way upstairs and waved at Unazuki who was serving a few customers. She took a seat by the window and stared out at the busy life of Tokyo, Japan. Hearing the seat move in front of her, she faced the recognizably handsome man who probably made her life hectic now. She crossed her arms over her chest and asked, "So why did you kiss me on the cheek? You do realize how vicious your fangirls are right?"

Seiya stretched and relaxed in his seat, a smug smirk crossing his face and replied, "Well I had to get out of there somehow. I didn't realize I was being tailed until they started chasing me. It was by luck you were there, so thank you." He then looked out the window and a silence took over between the two. His eyes looked sullen and saddened as if all the excitement went void. She recognized that look well enough. She saw it on Star Fighter's face often during battles and Seiya's whenever he saw Usagi and felt rejected.

'He's thinking of her again…' she thought. 'Does he know Usagi's married? Does he know that Chibi-Usa will be making her way into this world within seven months?'

"So…what brings you back to Earth?"

He snapped out of his train of thought and sighed. He brought his elbows up on the table and rested the side of his cheek on the palm of his hand, thinking. "Honestly I'm not sure. It had been a while since I saw everyone so I thought it would be a good idea to bring Yaten and Taiki on a little vacation."

Rei leaned forward and looked into his eyes. "Are you sure there's no danger?"

Laughing a little, he threw his head back and said, "No. If there was, we wouldn't be here. Princess Kakyuu even urged me to go on vacation because there was nothing to do there. Peace has finally arrived at Kinmoku so there's nothing to fear anymore, especially since…" he trailed off, "especially since Sailor Moon killed off Chaos." His thoughts seemed distance once more. Whenever it came to Usagi it seemed like nothing else mattered in the world to him. The unrequited love was truly burnt within him, as if it would never come off.

'He'll never notice another girl. Heck, he never noticed me and I always knew that. I'm sure I was just Sailor Mars to him, not Rei Hino.' That was the plain truth that she faced in the slap of the quiet rejection. She knew how it felt because he did to her what Usagi did to him.

"How about Earth?" he finally asked, over his thoughts. "Any trouble?"

"Not since Chaos died. The entire galaxy is in peace again. I positive there's nothing to worry about anymore. Anyways, is there something you want to eat or drink?" she asked, raising her hand for Unazuki to come take their order.

"Chocolate parfait."

"Alright. Unazuki-san, could we have a chocolate parfait please. Here," she handed her the money as she ordered. The brunette looked at Seiya and gasped in surprise. "Rei-chan, you know Seiya?"

"Wait, I'll pay for my own –

"Think of it as a welcome back treat," she cut in before responding to her friend. "Yeah, we go back a few years."

"That's so cool! Could I have your autograph?" Unazuki asked in an excited manner.

Seiya flashed his famous idol smile at her as he signed a white napkin and put a heart beside her name. He sure did have a way with women and acting so suave and charming. She felt her heart crunch up in pain as she recalled past memories, but said nothing and watched him enjoy his dessert. He ate like a sad puppy that couldn't get over the pain in his heart which made her feel a little bad for him. As he finished the last bit in his cup, she stood up and placed her hand on his shoulder, saying, "Things will be okay," with that she returned the kiss on his cheek and smiled, spotting the slight blush that appeared on his cheeks.

She turned around to leave, before his voice cut in, asking, "Tomorrow meet me at the karaoke bar beside Juban shopping mall. It's to return the favour of the parfait."

Rei's face expressed utter confusion. "Wait, what? That parfait didn't cost too much so it's okay."

His eyes looked serious when he said, "I'm bored Rei. Come on, have some fun."

She playfully rolled her eyes at him and replied, "Fine. It was good to see you again Seiya. Take care," then she turned around and left with just her back leaving an image in his head.