Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and all its characters belong to Naoko Takeuchi. I am making no money for writing this.

Author's Notes: I have nothing against Usagi/Mamoru stories. I've just never been overly interested in them so when I saw the famous General/Senshi pic (anyone who has visited the Generals Love website knows about it) I became curious about the different possibilities of the inner senshi pairings. One night I was mulling all of this over and decided to try my hand at writing a fic about Rei and Jadeite. Thus Past Flame is born! dramatic music plays in the background A crash is heard and music stops with a sound that is reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard Sorry about that. I guess I got a little carried away. Anyway please read my fic and take a few moments of your time to leave a review. Constructive Criticism is accepted and flames are welcome. Flames amuse me.

Past Flame

By: Raidne the Silent Siren

Rei stumbled into the Shinto shrine in the utter darkness praying silently that she wouldn't run into anything and alert her grandfather to the fact that she was up. She didn't want to have to try and come up with an excuse for the various bruises and cuts decorating her body. Another day, another battle with whatever alien being had marked the earth for conquest that week.

She had held on to her Sailor Mars transformation long enough to get home out of fear that if she dropped it that she would begin to feel the energy she had lost in the battle and pass out. She did not want to spend the night wherever she happened to fall. This was just one of those nights.

Making her way awkwardly to her room, she did her very best not to bump into anything. Her best wasn't good enough. She had to choke back a scream as a sprained ankle collided with a table leg. Trying to balance herself with a hand on the table's surface she caught herself before she could do a Usagi style collision with the floor. Definitely one of those nights.

As her journey neared its end with her making her way through her bedroom door she cursed Usagi. She probably wouldn't have been so injured right now if their leader hadn't of panicked during the battle and run in her direction, doing what Rei had termed her 'fleeing in terror escape'. It wasn't like the blonde had had any reason to actually be afraid since Tuxedo Mask had rescued her in the nick of time, as always. Of course he was to busy saving his princess to even notice the fact that the blast that had been heading for Sailor Moon was now bearing down on the scout of Mars. Rei renewed her silent cursing of her leader adding choice comments for the blonde's protector as well.

The dark haired girl made uneasy progress to her bed and crawled under the sheets still wearing her school uniform. Slowly her dark violet eyes drifted shut and she was asleep and no longer bothered by her injuries.

Princess Rei stood on the balcony to her private quarters looking out to the man made lake that was reflecting the stars and light cast by the blue planet in the distance. She had been sent to the moon for her training to be one of the Princess's guards months before. Almost every night she would come out to her balcony and gaze at the lake or try and search out the light that was cast by her own home planet, Mars.

She was homesick, but didn't want to tell the others. The other girls had proved themselves to be friends but they were all still feeling out their places in the group. She hadn't really spoken to the moon princess enough yet to go running to her with whatever problems she was having. 'Besides,' she told herself firmly, 'you are here to represent your planet and your people as one of the Princess's protectors. You knew it was going to be hard when you accepted your duty and you will not be sent home by something so trivial as homesickness.'

Hearing the faint click of a door Rei turned to search out the sound and spotted Sailor Venus walking out onto her own balcony. Seeing the expression on the blonde's face she decided to leave her in peace and walked back into her own rooms again.

Sailor Mars stood in the middle of the training grounds readying an attack in her hands. Sailor Jupiter stood across from her in a defensive crouch. They had been training for several hours now and both were showing signs of fatigue.

"Mars fire," Sailor Mars spoke the command and didn't notice the two men who wandered into the training grounds, "ignite!"

Sailor Jupiter did a swift dodge to the left and the attack went by her. A cry that was a mixture of surprise and pain could be heard even though Jupiter was unscathed.

The two sailor scouts turned quickly and saw two blonde men they recognized as two of the visiting generals from earth. They had accompanied the prince for his meeting with Queen Serenity. One of the men was standing and looking down at his injured companion. The injured man lay sprawled out on the ground and a small snaking wisp of smoke could be seen making its way up from his chest.

"Really Jadeite you should watch where you're going," the longhaired, still standing, man said mockingly to his fallen companion. A groan was his only answer.

The two girls ran over to them quickly feeling guilty for not noticing their entrance and almost killing and possibly maiming one.

"Is he going to be ok?" the tall brunette asked.

"Oh just fine," the long haired man said dismissively, "this isn't the first time he's been flat on his back and I'm beginning to think he does it just to get attention."

Another groan was heard from Jadeite, "Remind me to hurt you when I'm feeling up to it Zoisite."

Rei leaned over her accidental victim as she heard Zoisite comment, "I'll be sure to do that."

"Sorry for blasting you," she said bluntly. It was a good thing that she hadn't been up to full strength because the blast hadn't been as effective as it would normally be. He looked like he was only slightly burned and had had the air knocked out of him. "You going to be ok?"

His blue eyes opened and they made eye contact. For a moment he lay there with his mouth gaping and she noted absently that he looked kind of cute when he was doing that. "Um, I am now."

She heard an exaggerated sigh and then Zoisite muttered, "Real smooth." Then she heard him make a quick gasp of pain. Makoto must have elbowed him.

"I'll help you get to the medical facilities," she said with a grin, which he returned, and offered him a hand up.

"Princess Rei," she turned at the sound of her name. The Prince and his generals would be returning to earth the next day and the moon was holding a ball in their honor. Rei stood by herself wearing a crimson silk dress watching her friends dance with their loves. She did her best not to think of the fact that the sandy haired man in front of her would be gone the next day. "May I have this dance?" he asked bowing slightly at the waist.

"I'm not sure let me think about it," she said with a grin. Jadeite made a hurt look but she could see that it didn't reach his eyes.

"Look at it this way you can weigh possible options while we're on the dance floor," he offered her his arm and a slight twist of his lips betrayed his amusement.

"Oh why not," the Martian princess said exaggeratedly as she took his arm with a grin. Then she added with a slight smirk, "It's not like I have anything better to do."

"Hey!" the blue-eyed general exclaimed in a pained voice. She laughed at his expression as he led her onto the dance floor.

When they reached their destination Jadeite stopped and wrapped an arm around her waist and took her hand in the other. Rei leaned into his chest blissfully, listening to the sound of his heartbeat through the fabric of his uniform jacket. She wished that this moment could last forever but the music eventually stopped and their motion with it. He didn't pull away though.

"I love you my princess," he whispered in her ear.

"And I you, my love," she whispered back. She didn't turn her face to look at him as she said it because she could already feel the tears of loss making their way to her eyes.

Sailor Mars stood among the wreckage that had once been the beautiful palace of the moon and home to the royal family. 'Gone. It's all gone,' she thought in dismay. Her sadness wasn't long lasting. Fury and betrayal were the dominant emotions.

"Sailor Mars!" She whirled around to face her next foe. Her uniform was tattered and torn and that one small movement allowed several injuries to make themselves known. Seeing the face that greeted her when she turned did not do much for her emotional state either.

Jadeite was looking back at her but his face showed no recognition. A cruel smirk toyed at his lips.

"For the Negaverse!" he yelled before Sailor Mars's body was consumed by the hungry flames.

Rei cried out involuntarily in her sleep. She thrashed among her sheets despite her injuries. The jolts of pain were not enough to bring her back. She was too deep in the recesses of her subconscious and memories past to notice.

Rei stood in a place she did recognize but seemed oddly familiar. She could see no landmark of any kind and the feeling of nothingness all around her was disconcerting.

She didn't know what to expect from this place. This wasn't a memory. She was neither Princess Rei of Mars nor Sailor Mars the soldier destined to fight for life and justice. She was just Rei.

"I'm sorry," a voice said behind her.

She whirled around and gasped in shock. "I remember now," she said gritting her teeth. "I remember how you lied to me and you betrayed me."

"I'm sorry," Jadeite said again. His head lowered so as not to have to look her in the eye. "I never wanted to hurt you in anyway. Beryl had controlled us. Please believe me. I never lied about the way I felt about you."

"Why should I believe you," Rei said with fist clenched at her sides. She refused to acknowledge the tears pricking her eyes. "After what you've done…" it trailed off unsaid.

"I still love you," the sandy blonde said. Rei nearly sobbed. She knew it was true. She knew it in her bones just like she knew that some part of her still loved him.

"And I you," she said shakily. Her head was bowed so she didn't see him as he wrapped his arms around her. She leaned into him, missing the feeling of having him near.

"I can't stay," he said after a long moment.

"I know," she said into his uniform jacket. "This is all a dream isn't it?"

"Kind of," he answered.

Finally she looked up. His eyes were like before. Before the battles they had shared on this planet and on the moon. They were like they were when they had danced at his farewell ball. She could see the love there and knew that she would wait for him again if she had to. When his lips met hers any doubts that Rei still harbored were instantly dispersed.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Automatically Rei's arm flew out from under her blanket and slammed into the snooze button. Opening an eye hesitantly she looked around her room. 'I forgot to turn off the alarm,' she thought, her mind still fogged with sleep. As her mind collected itself and she began to finally wake up she remembered that there was supposed to be a scout meeting today but it was called off after the attack the night before.

She felt better than she had the night before. She was still sore and achy in places and was pretty sure the minute she tried to move she would be hit with stiff muscles, but for a reason she couldn't explain she felt better.

She couldn't remember her dreams from the night before. She would never know why she suddenly felt like a weight, one she had been carrying for so long that she didn't even know that she had it, had been lifted. Rei discarded the feeling as exhaustion and, after turning off her alarm, rolled over to go back to sleep.

The End