Passion's Rhythm

By

Angel of Mercy and Priscilla

Disclaimer: We don't own Sailor Moon or Gundam Wing though we do have our eyes on the cute bishies that are in the story. Well, we would if we didn't think that Rei would kick our butts with her high heels for looking at her man.

A/N: # Priscilla #: This is completely AU and mainly A-chan's brainchild. I'm honored to be lending a helping hand when needed. ^_^

*~A-chan~*-  My thanks is mostly to Cilla-chan for this prologue.  This whole page was written by her pure talent and all the credit should go to her…  *looks around at impatient readers*…so on with the fic!  *.*()

Dedication: A-chan for having such a wonderfully fertile and vivid mind that just keeps coming up with all of these wonderful fic ideas!

@@@@@@@@

"We are now approaching Valencia International Airport. (A/N: I have no idea of what Spain's airport is called.) Please fasten your seatbelts and return your tray and seats to the upright position. The No Smoking sign is on," came the cheery feminine voice over the airplane speaker system.

Rei Hino sighed softly, her breath stirring the wispy bangs lying across her forehead. She leaned her forehead against the window and let her violet gaze wander over the city lights, unmindful of the beautiful sight before her. Her mind wandered back to the circumstances that had her leaving her beloved native country of Japan and flying halfway around the world to a country that she had no interest in nor anyone familiar to her. Her eyes slowly shut as she recalled the events of the last week.

FLASHBACK

She knelt in front of a blazing fire; her feet tucked neatly under her and her eyes closed in deep concentration. She could feel the flames come close to licking at her long hair, which was whipping wildly around her in the breeze that came through the thin rice paper doors, but she felt no fear. The fire was her friend. It always had been and it always would be. It sang to her in tones no one else could hear, a song meant only for her. The flame's song flowed through her veins, energizing her yet soothing her as well. She felt it go through her, filling her, lifting her, and then abruptly, leaving her as she heard the distant echo of her ojii-san's voice break through the veil of her concentration. She opened her eyes slowly, blinking slightly at the light that shone brightly from behind the opened doors of the Fire Room. Her eyes slowly focused on the shadowy form standing in front of the doors and her gaze softened as she noticed her wizened ojii-san standing before her, a look of concern etched across his normally beaming, wrinkled face.

"Ojii-san, what's wrong? You have such a serious look on your face. It doesn't become you at all," Rei gently teased, hoping to lift the unusually gloomy look from his face. She frowned as he continued to study her face intently and then suddenly, his shoulders slumped in resignation, his temple robes looking too large for his slight frame.

"Rei-chan, it's not easy for me to tell you this, but I think you'll take it better coming from me rather than your otou-san," the wrinkled man said, an uneasy look crossing his face and making him seem older than he was.

"What does my otou-san have to do with anything," Rei asked, her brows knitting together in the faint stirrings of anger. She couldn't help but feel angry at the mention of the man who had abandoned her, seeing her only when it suited him. "I don't have to go live with him, do I?" Panic began to tinge her normally mellow voice as she thought of the possibility of leaving the only family who had ever really cared for her.

"Iie, iie. It's not about living with him," he sighed softly. He slowly walked over to her and knelt across from her, his hands settling against his knees. He seemed deep in thought for a moment, gathering his thoughts before he spoke again. "Before you were born, when your otou-san was nothing more than a minor presence in the government, still climbing the ladder of politics within the Diet, your parents were friends with some diplomats from Spain, the de la Garzas. Your mother became especially good friends with the diplomat's wife, Kyoko, a Japanese native who married while abroad, and they did everything together, eventually becoming best friends and confidantes. This was a good time in your parents' life. They were both very happy and young and in love. The diplomats had a young son, named Mamoru who was around 5 years old, and your mother doted on him. When she discovered that she was pregnant with you, she and Kyoko thought it would be a wonderful idea if the two of you married when you became older, joining the two families in friendship and blood. Unfortunately, your mother died shortly after your birth and the de la Garzas were assigned back to Spain not too long after that. I don't think any of us thought too much about the wishful thinking of two young women so long ago. We didn't until recently, that is," Grandpa Hino said softly. He looked up at his beloved granddaughter and inwardly winced when he saw her dazed expression.

"What happened recently and how does this affect me," Rei murmured, her mind reeling with the shock and wonder of hearing her ojii-san mention her okaa-san after so many years. She knew that her ojii-san was her otou-san's father, but he had loved his daughter-in-law very much, as much as if she had been of his own flesh and blood. He hadn't spoken of her okaa-san often, only remarking occasionally on how much Rei resembled her. She had a burning curiosity when it came to her okaa-san and she hoarded the precious bits of information she gleaned from her ojii-san whenever he did mention her.

"Kyoko de la Garza died recently and in her will she stated that she wanted the agreement between her and your mother to be honored by the both of you, Mamoru and yourself. Basically, she wants the two of you to be married," her ojii-san stated flatly, his small dark eyes unhappy as he witnessed the shock dawning on his granddaughter's face as his words slowly sank in.

"Nani? That's archaic! No one has arranged marriages anymore! I've never even met this man! I don't know anything about him except my okaa-san used to think he was cute and spoiled him and that he's five years older than I am! What if I was in love with someone else? Would I be expected to break up with them to marry a complete stranger," Rei yelled, her voice rising higher and higher as anger set in, bringing a flush to her cheeks. Her hands twisted in agitation, the pale fingers clasped together desperately in order to keep from doing something physically violent. Her deep purple eyes roiled with anger, sparks of lighter violet flashing in the dark depths.

"I don't think either one of you would be expected to honor the agreement if one of you was already attached to someone else. However, neither one of you is in a relationship right now nor are you too young to be married. I have worried about you, Rei-chan. I'm not getting any younger and I don't like the thought of you having to manage the temple on your own or giving up on having a life for it. I want you to be happy," Grandfather Hino said, his voice strengthening with his conviction. Rei's stubbornness could be fully traced back to him and currently his chin jutted out in the familiar look of someone who was used to butting heads.

"Demo, how can you expect me to leave you to take care of the temple all by yourself," Rei asked desperately, her fists clenched tightly at her knees and her gaze fixed unswervingly upon the polished wooden floor in front of her. She could hear the tone of command beneath his words and she sought to find some way to convince him that her place was by his side, not several thousand miles away in a foreign and unfamiliar country as the bride of some unknown man.

"I won't be alone. I have decided to retire to the main shrine in Nagoya. I am getting old and my bones need to rest. I need to know you will be settled and looked after. Will it be so hard to be married to a man from a good family? They are rich and I remember them as friendly and well-mannered," the old man cajoled, his heart breaking silently in his old chest. He had not wanted to do this, to lie to his only grandchild. He had been strong-armed by his own son, warned that if he did not cooperate his son would dissolve Rei's inheritance and disown her, leaving her penniless. He knew if Takashi approached Rei with his ultimatum of her either marrying or being disowned, Rei would choose to be disowned on sheer principle. He watched her intently, his dark eyes seeing her internal struggle. He decided to offer one last bit of persuasion to see if he could convince her to accept the situation. "Your okaa-san wanted this union very much, Rei-chan. If she were still alive, she would encourage you to marry Mamoru. In fact, I am so sure of this that I will offer you one possibility of returning."

"What is it," Rei asked, her voice tentative and unsure. She watched the old man struggle with his words and observed him carefully. Her heart clenched as she noticed how small and frail he seemed. 'I'm being selfish. All he wants is for me to be secure and happy and he won't retire until I am. I'm keeping him from his well-deserved rest. Just because I don't want to leave or have things change doesn't mean that he feels the same way. He looks so tired. Maybe I should listen to him. After all, my okaa-san would never have wanted me to marry someone she thought was unsuitable,' Rei thought miserably, feeling guilty for not noticing how old her ojii-san was getting.

"Go to Spain. See this Mamoru and get to know him better. If after 3 months you still cannot bring yourself to marry him or he is absolutely unsuitable, you can return here and neither your otou-san nor I will prevent you from coming home. Instead, we will pay for your ticket back to Japan," he promised brashly, hoping his son would agree to the idea. He did not worry too much for he had a feeling that Rei would meet her soul mate in Spain. He had stayed up for most of the night in front of the Sacred Fire and the omens he had seen were very fortuitous. Hino Masahiro had not gotten to the ripe old age of 70 without knowing when to bet on a sure thing.

END FLASHBACK

            So it came to be that Hino Rei found herself on a plane bound for Spain, to discover if Marco Enrique Raphael Mamoru Chiba y de la Garza would be the man she would marry. She had been listening to Spanish language tapes ever since she had agreed to her ojii-san's offer and had managed to master quite a bit of it, to her unending surprise. She took a deep breath as she felt the plane begin to descend and watched as the runway lights flashed, bringing her one step closer to her possible future. 'I'm just humoring ojii-san. There's no way that I can fall in love with someone that I've never met and be expected to marry him just like that. I'll just treat this whole trip like it's a 3-month vacation. I'll be back in Japan a minute after the last day of the third month,' Rei thought confidently.

@@@@@@@@

            Rei looked around the bustling airport of the metropolitan city, hoping to see someone who looked like they would be waiting to pick her up. She sighed as no one fit the description she had in her head. The wait had been long to get off the plane and even longer as she had gotten her luggage and stood impatiently as she went through customs, her bags being opened and searched under the hawk-like gaze of a portly woman with a stern face. 'This is just great. I've been here for what seems like hours and still no sign of anyone to pick me up. Well, supposed fiancé or not, this is one black mark that is going to be pretty hard to get rid of. I won't have a hard time turning down this loser,' Rei thought gleefully, mentally rubbing her hands and anticipating the look on her otou-san's face when she came back home and threw his wedding dictate in his face. She felt a hand tap her on the shoulder, breaking into her thoughts. She was in the middle of whirling around to face the unseen stranger when she heard a smooth voice say in fluent Japanese, "Hino Rei, I presume?" She looked up at the source of the voice and gasped as she looked into the most handsome face she had ever seen in her life.

@@@@@@@@

A/N: Ohohohohohohohoho! Sorry about that, but I love cliffhangers and I want A-chan to have fun with the next chapter! Who is the mystery man? Hmmmm, you'll have to wait and see. I promise lots of goodness to come. Take it away, A-chan!