Author's Note: Sorry it's taken almost three years to get this story back. I attempted to do this story. And I'm happy to say… I'M GONNA FINISH THIS PUPPY FOR ALL THOSE OUT THERE, WHO LOVE THIS STORY!

SULLIEMIKE23, THIS ONE'S ALWAYS FOR YOU!

Sailor Moon: FOTM: The Two Worlds

Chapter 4: Haunted House Barrage; a Fleeting Kiss pt.2

Back in the House

Elsewhere

At the moment, nobody knew where they were, or where the others were. The only ones that could even travel in this darkness, were the two young preteens. Domon and Sarah were walking down the hallway, with Sarah holding the candle, though Domon was leading the way otherwise. Following behind them, were Phumika and Mina, who were supposed to have gone separate directions. Though with the incident from Mina's failed 'Ami Romance Plan', instead, it had sprouted something in between the two up front. In truth, she had actually liked Sarah… as a friend to her brother. But this… it just wasn't kosher for the girl now.

"It's really dark in here, even with the candle," Sarah commented as she tried to look around. She then took notice of Domon's form; he never flinched one bit, and he didn't even stumble. Letting her curiosity come online, she asked aloud and bluntly, "Can't you see anything, Domon?"

There was a small unstable quiet moment among them, until Domon knocked on the wall. In his blind eyes, the room lit up for a while, as the visible blue lines of sound waves brushed off everything. This enabled him to be shown the way, and much more.

He smirked as he turned his head to face Sarah sideways; his sunglasses covering his blind eyes. "Don't worry… I maybe visually challenged," he replied with a smile, as he turned back to the front, "But I can still see everything."

As they continued onward, they failed to notice the odd shapes following them. Odd shapes, with yellow eyes, and the insignia of the Heartless. Indeed these were Heartless, and they were hunting the four down, even with their skulking.

Mina, at this very moment, was slightly on the verge of freaking out. Phumika looked behind her, and saw the girl freakin' out as well, and just sighed, "Why'd you come up with this stupid plan anyway? I mean, if you're so scared?"

"Oh, well… you know, to get Aaron and Ami together, ya know," Mina blabbed out, her fear overriding her logic at this moment.

Phumika seemed to give the girl the stink eye on this as she asked, "You really think pushing them like this is gonna make things better?"

"Well, kinda," Mina answered truthfully, though seeming a bit dumbfounded. She looked to Phumika, who seemed to be a bit unimpressed of that answer, "Not good enough, eh?"

"I'd say so," Phumika pointed out, and then tutored, "Love isn't something that you can just push on or switch on like you would a light. It's something that has to be discovered; once a person finds that special someone, they'll find a way to tell them. They just have to be true with how they feel about one another, and be true to themselves. If they aren't, they'll lose that precious someone forever."

Mina looked at the tomboyish twin sister, and was immediately smitten by the girl's knowledge. Her eyes all starry, cheeks blushing, Mina was in immediate fandom at this moment. "Phumika… that was so deep and inspiring," she praised with admiration soothing out of her words, "I never thought of you to be both the sentiment and romantic type."

At that last statement, unseen by the others, Phumika's face nearly went red with embarrassment. Before anyone caught on, her tough guy expression came back, as she threatened, "You spout this crap to anyone, and I'll smash your face in, and splatter your guts! Got it?"

"Uh, yeah. Got it," Mina nervously replied, as she turned to the side and sweat dropped, 'I take it all back; she's as romantic as a RockWeiller.' but she stopped, as did the female twin, when they both saw Domon stop. "Hey! What' the hold up?"

"We have company," was all that the blind twin brother stated.

"Huh? Where?" Sarah asked as she looked around "I don't see anybody. Where are they, Domon?"

"Right in front of us."

Then, as he uttered that response, the three girls looked in front of them… and confirmed they weren't alone.

Floating in front of the two, nearly five feet of them, a ghost like apparition was in front, just floating. This creature was well-designed with a creepy atmosphere. Pale-skinned and bearing a classic footless ghost shape of Japanese folklore; it was clad in a purple tunic bearing a familiar Heart ensemble that Phumika and Mina were well acquainted before. The sleeves of the tunic ended in white cuffs with gold cuff links, but the tunic was ruined a bit by the torn hemline and a rip on the left side that exposed the ghost's ribcage. It also had white cuff gloves but with an empty gap in between the hands and sleeves. It also bore the traditional Heartless jagged jaw line and yellow eyes. However, its wide yellow eyes had black angled spirals on them. In addition, the right eye had been pulled out of the socket, and was only held to the head by a length of silver chain.

The four were a bit wary, in which Domon could sense the dark presence of this creature, with this thing just hovering around in front of them. For about thirty seconds, no one did anything, and neither did the ghost in front of them. However, Sarah, being the oblivious of the three, walked over to it with a know-it-all smile on her face.

Seeing this, Mina called out, "Um, Sarah? You really shouldn't go near that thing."

"Yeah, she's right," Phumika added in. "It's a severely bad idea."

"Yeah right, guys," Sarah pointed out, turning to them as she showed she wasn't buying it. "It's pretty obvious you're trying to scare me. I mean, you guys went through a whole lot of trouble to make this look believable." she then turned her attention to the Ghost Heartless, and then did the unthinkable: she reached up and yanked its face, trying to pull its supposed mask off. "It's just a rubber mask; nothing to worry about."

"Um, Sarah…" Domon cautioned quietly as he reached out, hoping to reason with her, "I don't think that's animatronics… nor makeup."

Sarah turned to look at him, while still pulling on the wailing Heartless's face, "Huh? What are you talking about?" then finally, she heard a yanking sound as she smirked. "See? What'd I tell you," and turned to claim her victory, "It's all…" but then paled as she saw she held in her hands… the still twitching head of the Ghost Heartless.

After she saw its body still afloat and the head still moving, she shrieked, "EEEEEEEEEE!" and threw the head right back at the creature.

The Heartless grabbed its head, and reattached it with ease with a few twists. When its head was finally stuck on, it looked back at the four, unfazed by what had happened. Until, it let out a high pitched scream, that nearly vibrated the room. The four closed their ears, especially Domon, who was nearly on the verge of passing out from such a high sound. His hearing had become super human due to his blindness, and for this, it was also his greatest weakness.

He dropped onto his knees, as Sarah saw this, "Domon!" she immediately ran to his side as she tried to help him up.

However, the screaming stopped, long enough for Domon's blind eyes to open with much fear and surprise. He shot up, startling Sarah in the process, as he turned to his sister and Mina, and shouted, "EVERBODY, LOOK OUT!"

The girls didn't know what he was talking about, until it was too late. For out of the ground, several green and dark thorn covered vines shot out of the walls, encompassing nearly everything in a web of thorns.

Elsewhere in the House

The same thing happened everywhere, with the remaining teams dodging them. The only remaining team was Ami and Aaron as the whole house inside became encased with a web constructed of thorny vines. The two teams, in different locations, dodged the thorns the best they could, with the exception of more of the Ghost Heartless popping up. With the vines nearly bringing the whole area around them, the Ghost Heartless were now poised to lure the remaining teams to wherever they took the others, unknown to the remaining teenagers.

Ami and Aaron did their best to dodge the vines as they shot all over the place. However, one vine shot in a whip like manner towards Aaron, knocking him with the force of a bat hitting a baseball. And it did, as he yelled out, crashing right through the window.

"AARON!" Ami shouted, looking at his disappearing and falling form. The vines snaked right at her, almost like snakes about to snatch a helpless and plump mouse for dinner. However, she quickly pulled out her Sailor Transformation pen and shouted, "MERCURY CRYSTAL POWER!" and immediately, in light blue energy and a ripple to end it, Ami had transformed into Sailor Mercury.

With a drop of water crashing into the floor, Mercury twirled with a sphere of water forming in her hands. "SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!" and shot a stream of water right at a cluster of the vines.

Once the water struck the vines, they immediately froze up, nearly shattering. Another bushel of vines spotted her, as they dashed right at her, but she was prepared again. In her hands, her Aqua Harp formed as she strung a few lines on it, "MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!" and out of the harp, several shots of water at the vines, freezing them in place as they shattered.

She turned her attention now to the broken window, looking scared as she shouted, "Aaron!"

But before she could run towards the window to see if he was still alive, a rustling was heard right behind her. She whipped around, only to see several Ghost Heartless coming right at her, claws lashing everywhere. But before they even reached her, someone shouted, "SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!" and a discus of cracking electricity shot towards them, stunning the beasts in their tracks.

As soon as the dust cleared, Sailor Mercury spotted a figure running from out of the dust. It was none other than Sailor Jupiter, as she stepped on one of the recovering Heartless. "Sailor Mercury," she called out as she stopped to help her friend, "You alright? I didn't hit you."

"No, I'm alright," Mercury reassured her friend, but her worried face remained. "But Aaron… he was…"

She stopped as fear relit her face again, as Jupiter turned around, and saw the Ghost Heartless. They had recovered enough, and were now floating back in the air, ready to attack the girls again. The two Sailor Scouts were about to attack them, but an unseen force had beaten them to it.

"PHOENIX FLAME TALONS!"

Immediately, flaming blades shot out towards the Heartless, hitting them, and blazing them until they were dust. The two Sailor Scouts turned around, to be greeted by a familiar sight. Halway through the window, Phoenix Blade had attacked the Heartless. He got out of the window and back inside, rubbing the back of his neck, 'Note to self: change faster when in the air.'

"Phoenix Blade!" Sailor Mercury called out as she and Jupiter ran up to him. "Phoenix, something's wrong."

"I know," Phoenix replied, looking around at the place. "The Heartless are at work again."

"Looks like a Leechgrave's work," Ceros answered as he popped up on Phoenix's right shoulder.

"Leechgrave?" Jupiter asked.

"Yeah, it's a parasite type Heartless," Ceros started to explain as he floated, with a Thinker pose on him, "The vines we're all looking at are its Tentaclaws. Weaving around the area, they'll seek out any living creature, and suck the life right out of them. Very slowly, that is." this caused the three humans to nearly cringe, but allowed him to go on, "However, it's not picky with who it eats. It grabs everyone, whether human, Heartless, Nobody, Good or indifferent, and drains them of their energy." Then it was Ceros's turn to cringe as he finished, ""

It was then, that they heard it: footsteps running down the stairwell to their floor. The trio got ready for the assault, with Mercury and Jupiter charging both elements for an attack, and taking precautions, Phoenix Blade pulled out his sword at the ready. However, the trio, plus guardian beast, was only to have their attacks lowered when the Persian Prince jumped out in front of them, armored up and blades drawn out and at the ready.

"Phoenix? Mercury? Jupiter?", Persian asked, both confused but relieved to see some friendly faces.

"Hey, hey, hey! Persian Prince", Ceros beamed, finally able to see an ally, "Glad to see it ain't just the three of us!" but Ceros looked serious as he frowned, "How come you didn't say my name, eh?"

"Ceros, that's not important," Phoenix stated as he looked to his comrade, "Persian, was there anyone else? Were any more able to get out of here?"

Persian looked away, almost ashamed to give them the answer. But finally, he sucked it up and turned towards them as he truthfully replied, "I'm sorry, but…"

Before he could answer though, several slash sounds were heard above them. When they looked up, the roof above them collapsed into several pieces. Luckily, they dodged it as the debris flew down, and two figures landed in a crouched stance. As the dust cleared out, the trio and Ceros saw it was the Gemini Rangers, battle ready and weapons drawn out.

"Gemini!" Phoenix and Persian cried out, "You guys are alright!"

But looking around, as the two walked up to them, Phoenix leaned into the two and whispered, "But ah… where's my sister and Mina?"

"In the closet," Goddess replied. "We threw them in there and locked the door. Just to make sure they didn't see us morph."

"That's a relief," Phoenix asked, but then looked around, seeing the roots. He scratched his armored chin as he thought aloud, "If we could follow where these roots came from, we'll probably find the others… as well as the Leechgrave." He looked to Mercury as he asked, "Think you can pinpoint it?"

"Hold on a moment," Mercury advised as she whipped out her mini-computer, and her holo-viser appeared. She began to type on it, trying to get a fix on it. But the oddest thing was, the screen was going on static, almost as if something was interfering with the circuitry. "That's odd," she said, with a look of concern on her face, "I can't seem to pick up anything. The energy that this Leechgrave is giving out is interfering with the scanner."

The Study. They're in the Study…

Ami immediately bolted from her laptop and looked around. She knew then and there, it was the same voice that spoke up from before. "Mercury?" Jupiter asked, getting her attention, "Something wrong?"

"N-No… not really," she replied, but then answered, "But I think I have an idea as to where they are."

Down in the Study

The two princesses and quartette of warriors approached the hallway that led them to the study. At first, they knew it as the end of the game for the night; just reach the room, and that was it. But now… now, it was the room that held the monstrous Heartless that had to be stopped, as well as their friends that had to be rescued. But as they made their way to the doors, Jupiter's mind was buzzing with a question.

She turned to Mercury as she asked, "Um… by the way. Sailor Mercury… how'd you know where the Heartless would be at? I mean, you said so yourself that your mini-computer couldn't detect them due to the Leechgrave's energy interfering with the scans."

"I'm not really sure," Mercury confessed, "Ever since we've entered this house, I've heard this strange voice. It's almost as if it's guiding us to where the Heartless."

"You think it could be one of the Heartless?" Orion's Archer asked.

"No, I thought at first," Mercury stated. "But this voice… it sounds… lonely, frightened, and innocent." she looked to the others as she hypothesized, "I think… but it's slightly impossible. But I suspect it might be…"

"Oh, come on," Persian shouted, sounding rather exasperated on the subject as he slapped himself in the face, and brought his hand down. He then groaned outwardly as he replied, "Everyone knows that ghosts don't exist. Ami and Aaron said so themselves."

"Hey, how'd you know that?" Lita asked, sounding rather suspicious.

The four knights suddenly paled at this, for letting Persian slip the beans out. "Nice going, idiot," was all that Goddess whispered out to him in a scolding tone.

"Ah!" Mercury gasped aloud, catching everyone's attention. A look of fright and worry was all shown on her face as she blabbed, "Aaron! I completely forgot! He fell out of the window, and…!"

"It's alright," Phoenix Blade reassured her, as he explained, "I caught him before he fell to the ground. He's a little banged up from getting thrown out the window, but he's still alive." Mercury let out a sigh of relief, which caught on to Phoenix. After a little nervousness, much to him blushing underneath his mask helmet, he asked, "So, um… you care about him? This, uh… Aaron?"

That question caused Mercury's face to nearly go as red as a beet. She turned away sharply as she stuttered out an answer, "Well, I, uh, that is to say…" After she realized that she was stuttering, she shook her head as she truthfully answered, "Yes, actually. I care about him deeply."

That response caused Phoenix to blush to his ears at that answer. But thankfully for his helmet, no one could see it. Finally, he cleared his throat as he asked, "But you only met him just once. How could…"

"Can you all stop with the chitchat!" Goddess finally shouted. She pushed everyone aside as she got in front of them, and drew out the Blades of Chaos, "YOU'RE WASTIN' VALUABLE SLAUGHTER TIME!" the symbols on the blades glowed when she shot them in the air. "DARKNESS RAGE!" and then she brought them down by yanking hard on the chains, slashing the door and ground with the blades, creating a dark blast wave that blew the door away, and she ran on in there.

The others ran in after her, but they all stopped once they got a glimpse as to what the scouts and knights now saw.

The room, that was once the prestige study, was now a green house of evil. The vines, or tentaclaws, were all growing and encompassing everything in their path. But then, they saw all those who went missing from their groups. All the teens were on the walls, wrapped in thorny vines that began to glow vein like structures. It was evident that the thorny vines wrapped around the others were slowly draining the energy out of their unconscious forms. And where the vines led to, was the target they needed to defeat.

The Leechgrave.

When the others looked at it, it was kinda silly, but also pretty scary. The Leechgrave's main body was a decrepit, black coffin with pale gold lining. The coffin was surrounded by a large, silver chain, that had two large, silver nails driven partway into it. Sort of a reference to the phrase "a nail in one's coffin", and had a small hole near its top where a single, glowing yellow eye peered out. Two large, pale green, clawed hands were slowly forcing their way out of the coffin, though no other part of the coffin's contents were visible. The Heartless emblem was on the lower half of the coffin, and there were other red patterns decorating it. The coffin hung from a pink and red-violet bud with angular, pale yellow spirals for eyes. The bud sprouted four large lone, dark green, thorny roots that kept the Leechgrave anchored to the ground. The roots were obviously the source of the Tentaclaws, the Leechgrave's appendages. The Tentaclaws were black creatures that were connected to the Leechgrave and lined by thorns. Their tips were red and three black mandibles, each with three curved spikes resembling scythe blades were growing out of them. Its cannibalistic nature was shown to the Sailor Scouts and Constellation Knights, as one of the Search Ghosts appeared. When it flew past it, unexecptingly, one of the Tentaclaws grabbed it. The Search Ghost was encompassed inside it, as the Heartless was completely covered, disappearing from their sight. A few wails were heard and struggling was shown, until a huge wet crunch sound was heard, and all noise and movement stopped. Then, a large lump was shown, going from the hand to the coffin.

When everyone saw this, they paled as they all let out groans and blechs of disgust. "Nasty," was all that the Persian Prince pointed out.

The Leechgrave didn't seem to mind them at all, almost focusing on feeding on the victims it already had ensnared. This gave Mercury the chance to scan the plant, with her now fully functional laptop, as her visor scanned the plant. When she was done, she looked to the others as she explained, "Everyone, listen! We need to attack the coffin; that's where the Dark Heart Crystal is being protected."

"Alright," Phoenix stated, and looked to the others, "But first we've got to immobilize it." He pointed to the vines holding it up, as he strategized, "Jupiter, Gemini Rangers: you two are in charge of cutting the vines down." He then looked to Mercury and Persian as he finished, "We'll be on defensive to make sure none of the Tentaclaws even touch them."

"Right!" they all called out, and prepared to ready their attack.

However, the Leechgrave now took notice of them, as it began to launch its attack on them all. The first thing it did, was launch out several vines to catch them. However, the teens were much faster than the vines were, as they easily dodged them. More vines were going after the twins, as they tried to grab the two. However, it didn't count on them having extraordinary Kung Fu skills; their flexibility and agility had been enhanced beyond anyone's knowledge, and when applied into combat, was unstoppable.

"PHOENIX FLAME TALONS!" Phoenix Blade shot out several flaming talon blades at all the oncoming vines, incinerating them on sight.

Domon landed on the side, as he drew out his Orion's Bow, and pulled back the string. "LIGHT OF JUDGMENT!" He cried out, as a barrage of white energy arrows were shot, striking at the first root, obliterating it completely.

The other root was about to go for the other Gemini Ranger, but it was stopped as soon as Jupiter readied her attack. "JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!" and a barrage of green electrical leaves shot forth, severing the other root up.

But a couple of vines were about to attack her, until Persian popped up, and pulled out his blades. "SAND BLADES!" And he spun around like a top at blinding speed. When the vines touched him, they were turned into mulch and lettuce.

The next one was easily destroyed by Phoenix Blade, as he swiped it with his sword. Now, all that was left was the Goddess of War to slice up the last vine. As before, another batch of vines were about to strike at her, until Mercury readied her attack, "MERCURY BUBBLE BLAST!" and with that, a fog of icy bubbles shot right at the vines, freezing them in place. She looked to the young Knight and shot out, "Now, Gemini! Finish the final vine!"

"You don't have to remind me," Goddess shot out as she readied her blades, "Alright! DARKNESS…"

But she was halted, as she turned and saw Search Ghosts charging right at her. She immedialtey launched her blades at the ghosts, shredding them down effectively. Unfortunately, this gave the Leechgrave enough time to launch another attack, upon her. But before she could counterattack against it, someone had shouted out,

"VENUS CRESENT V SMASH!"

And out of nowhere, a brilliant ray of yellow light shot forward, shredding both the vines, as well as the main anchor vine. The others turned to where the light had come from, and spotted Sailor Venus. "Sailor Venus," they all cried out in relief.

Venus looked to Phoenix and replied, "Phoenix! Now's your chance; take it down!"

"Gotcha!" Phoenix shouted as he drew out his buster sword, the Wing of the Phoenix. He spun it around vertically at his side, as the blade glowed red, and was ablaze. He then charged forward as he shouted, "PHOENIX INFERNO!" he then swiped at the now defensless coffin, and the flaming firebird engulfed the casket, burning it to sinders, until there was nothing left. However, the Dark Heart Crystal had been freed of its prison, and then shattered, as it faded and disappeared forever.

Phoenix sighed in relief, "Okay…" he then looked to the others, and casually announced, "Monsters are dead now."

And with that realization, the vines that were all around the house, withered and died. The ones holding the others slowly slithered off, withering into dust. Everyone groaned as they fell to the floor, slowly stirring awake from their unseen ordeal. The scouts sighed in relief, but when Mercury turned, she saw that the knights had all but disappeared.

That's when it suddenly hit her, as her eyes went wide and she gasped, "Aaron!" Mercury, or Ami, had remembered that Aaron was still outside, and probably hurt. She immediately bolted out of the room, with Sailor Jupiter and Venus watching her speed out of there.

Jupiter just had to smile at her friend's retreat, "That girl."

Outside

Busting through the door, Ami, back in her usual attire, looked around to see where Aaron had fallen down to. She looked around, fearing the worst had happened. But then, a groan appeared from out of nowhere, catching her attention. The sound had come directly from the bushes, as Aaron shot up, and stumbled a bit. She gasped as she ran toward him to help him back up, "Aaron!" she held him lightly as she steadied him on his feet, "Are you alright?"

"Ugh, yeah," he grumbled a bit, or doing his best to fake it, "Just get me to a massage parlor, and I'll be right as rain again."

Ami smiled at this, seeing him once again alright, "That's good to know."

Unknowns to them, on the rooftop of the house, two ghostly specters watched over them. It was the ghostly apparitions of a young couple. The two just smiled at the young lively teenagers, and suddenly faded away.

Later On

Once the madness was over with, and everyone back awake from their unknown energy drain, the others were heading back to the hotel. Sarah was slightly fuming on how the twins or Mina had to lock her in the closet, but with a quick promise of a sundae on the way back, she forgave them both. However, as they ventured back to the hotel, only two stayed behind. Standing by the shoreline, Aaron and Ami looked out at the sea water. Before they could go, she had asked to have him stay for a while. For a while now, the two had been quiet to one another, unable to speak to the other.

Finally, after a long uneasy silence to one another, Ami finally spoke out, "You must really miss her." she turned to look at Aaron, who had a look of cluelessness, until she finally explained, "Your mother, I mean."

After realizing it, Aaron sighed, not showing a smidge of sadness to Ami, as he looked away, and replied, "It's just… it's been so long, since…"

But he was interrupted as she walked over to him, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Aaron," she said gently, getting his attention. "There's something I've been wanting to tell you. Ever since this vacation… ever since I met you," she stated, as she began to go on, "I've had… these strange dreams… of a far away life, where I'm some kind of princess." Aaron looked at her, like she had lost her mind, and she nodded, "I know it sounds as if I'm crazy, but they're very real. I know them to be." She then sighed, and blushed a little, knowing that this next part would sound crazy, "And that… someone that looks like you… is in them."

After that last part, Aaron was in complete awe and shock of this information. He stuttered a bit as he asked, "R-Really?"

"But it wasn't you, in some way," she continued on, "It was you, but as some knight… a knight with others."

'Ah, man,' Ceros stated, while hiding in his human companion's inner jacket pocket, groaned innerly at this piece of information, 'This is too soon. It's not even a good time for them to know about this. What with the impending dangers, and the Heartless, and Ansem. There's no room for romance in this, man!'

"I didn't understand them, the dreams I had," Ami confessed, but felt rather nervous as she twiddled her hands togheter, looking down at them. Refusing to meet Aaron's gaze, she continued, "But then… I understood them more once as I dreamt on. They weren't dreams… they were acutally memories."

"Memories?" Aaron asked.

"Yes, I know it's crazy, but they're real," she implied, and touched her heart, closing her eyes as a warm smile spread on her face, "And what I felt in the dream was real." And looked up to Aaron in the eye as she smiled, "What I feel about you is real."

Aaron paled at this, not sure of what was gonna happen was a good thing, as he asked, shakingly, "Ami… what are you getting at?"

She looked at him, telling herself mentally, 'This is no time to run away. It's time you tell him.' She sighed heavily, and finally answered, "I'm saying I… I love you, Aaron. More than you'll ever know."

Aaron was completely stunned by this knowledge; this girl, the first girl he had ever befriended, had to him she had loved him. His face burned with embarrassment, but secretly with joy at this moment, as his heart skipped a beat. The young teens stared deeply into each other's eyes, and to them there was nothing, not even the sound of waves. Ami then took her hands into his, and unknowingly he squeezed her smooth, small hands, and Aaron felt his heart beat faster in both fear and excitement; to his amazement, Ami reacted the same way…as her feelings for him took over.

But before Aaron could give a response to that, Ami closed her eyes, stood up on her tiptoes, tilted her head face up to his… and kissed him deeply. Aaron looked shocked by this, but returned the kiss without knowing it, while throwing his arms around her. In this kiss, Aaron felt a charge of excitement and paralyzing fear that nearly reduced him to a quivering puddle.

Ceros, who was watching this, paled as he screamed in his head, 'NOOOO! This is not happening! This can't happen now!'

However, realization kicked in, as he pulled away, surprising Ami in the process.

Taking a deep breath, he finally got out in a whisper, "I… I can't."

A bit stunned and hurt by this, Ami asked innocently, "You can't what?"

"I mean, I…" Aaron tried to give a valid answer, unsure of how to explain all of it, "Ami, it… I mean, there's… so much to explain. Or to even answer." But finally, he took a deep breath, as he gave his best answer for it, and looked to Ami, sympathetically and stern at his choice, "Ami, I want you to know… that I will always be there for you, no matter what." He sighed sadly, knowing full well that this would break Ami's heart, but he had to tell her before they were both hurt, "I just want you to know that… I will always be your friend."

After hearing that, Ami's heart felt like it would break in two. Tears slowly started to form in her eyes, as she sighed heavily. Finally she looked to him, her eyes watered and her voice quivered, as she gave him a sad smile, "Only a friend… Aaron Masters?"

Aaron pulled away, as he whispered, but loud enough for her to hear, "That's all I have to give. All that I can be for you."

And with that, he slowly walked away from her, as she tried and reach out to stop him. But it was too late, as he was far enough, he turned around and ran from her. Ami stood there, realizing that perhaps she had ruined her friendship with him. At this realization and much to the rejection of her feelings for him, she fell to her knees, and cried silently, choking on her tears. Her hands were balled up, as she continued to choke up on her tears. For Ami Mizuno, this was the first time she had ever kissed a boy… and perhaps the first she had felt heartbreak.

As Aaron had gained distance from her, he stopped, realizing what he had done. His heavy breathing masked his almost pained cry of what he felt now. And while he couldn't cry out, a single tear dropped from his left eye. In truth, he was now feeling what Ami felt as well: heartbreak due to his cowardice.

Next Chapter: the Long Trip Home; Heartless Hijackers

Now before we go on, I have a few bonus features for ya. For instance: character voice actors. I thought to myself, 'Gee, if this idea came to the animators, and they did create the Fellowship of the Moon… then who'd do their voices?' So, after a lot of anime watching, I found the answer.

And here they are:

Aaron Masters/Phoenix Blade: Johnny Yong Bosch (Vash the Stampede, Ichigo from Bleach, or the Black Ranger from the Lord Zed arch of MMPR.)

Frey Asapin/the Persian Prince: Vic Mignogna (Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist, or Death Scythe from Soul Eater)

Jin Fujita/Pisces Samurai: Derek Stephen Prince (Uryū from Bleach, Shino from Naruto)

Ian Hayner/Taurus Barbarian: Lex Lang (Sanosuke from Rurouni Kenshin)

Domon Fong/ Gemini Ranger, Orion's Archer: Steve Staley (Toshiro from Bleach, Kazuki from Buso Renkin)

Phumika Fong/Gemini Ranger, Goddess of War: Michelle Ruff (Rukia from Bleach)