A/N: Just a sneak-peak into what might have happened had Usagi chosen Seiya, Chibi-Chibi had actually been their daughter (the interaction between these three were so cute in the anime!), and Crystal Tokyo still happened... Kind of AU. Please enjoy!

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"How long will I love you?
As long as stars are above you..."
—"How Long Will I Love You" by Ellie Goulding

The night is quiet. The screaming has finally ended.

I creep down the stairs from the loft, careful not to tread on any of the steps that I know will creak. When I make it to the bottom without a whisper of sound, I hold my breath, listening. All is quiet.

The tiny terror slumbers.

As though I'm retreating from a monstrous, shifting, man-beast, I pad lightly across the kitchen. My feet remember every floorboard from my time spent here over the years. Sneaking out for swims—trying to escape the watch of her ever-dutiful Guardians—under the stars with my now wife has paid off in unexpected ways.

Speaking of unexpected...

I am caught off-guard every time I see her, struck down by all that she is. My odango. My love. My Neo-Queen Serenity. She looks radiant in the moonlight; her long hair is the color of starlight. She sits in a loose robe of liquid silk, tied lazily enough around her waist that the long strip of skin laid bare on her chest stirs me to the point of letting out a low growl.

"I take it that noise means her highness is asleep?" Serenity whispers, tossing me a coquettish grin like a coin to a starving pauper. She knows what she does to me. Worse? She likes it. Worse still, I love her all the more because of it.

"You mean the nightmare given flesh? Yes, she's sleeping."

Serenity lets out a soft blurt of laughter, trying to catch it with her hand, giggles escape around her fingers. "'Nightmare given flesh.' Seiya, that's your daughter."

"Are you sure? I never cried that much." I step behind her, resting my hands on her shoulders as I pass by purely for the sake of touching her, and assumed my post in the chair at her side. We overlooked the backyard, a table before us, mugs of tea—Jupiter's own blend of chamomile, lavender, passion fruit, and camellia sinensis—cooling in the night.

It's a quiet, and very welcome, contrast to our first two years of ruling together. Those initial months were filled with awkward meetings and dancing around expectations. Serenity—then, Usagi—learned the hard-edge leadership requires as queen, a trait that she can now don like armor when needed. Political officiates were reluctant to accept her, the people less so. But all hesitation washed away when they learned the depth that she loved this planet and saw her capacity to govern with the fair and earnest heart that I love so well.

"I'm not sure you're a reliable authority on how you were as a baby."

"I'm the reliable authority in all the land," I proclaim. She lets out another soft giggle. Our daughter has inherited that laugh and I'm hopelessly addicted to both. I would do anything for their smiles.

"Of course you are," Serenity placates and takes a sip of her tea, letting out a contented sigh. "Thank you for agreeing to this little excursion. These past years have been busy."

"Stopping at the queen's cottage on our way to the outer provinces is a bit of a tradition now, don't you think?"

A flush lights up her cheeks—a pretty pink color—at my words. These grounds, these walls, are sacred to us now. Here is where I first felt her flesh, where our first child was conceived just over a year ago, where—if the gods will it—that our family will retreat to when the trials of royalty becomes too much.

My eyes sweep over the gardens. "I can already see her running through these gardens, eager to help you with every shrub and plant."

"And you will hold her back from the ones that will try to kill her."

"I think you can hold back plants well enough on your own."

Serenity huffs softly and shakes her head, staring out at the gardens as well. I wonder what she sees. Does she see a child with pink hair that is tied into two heart-shaped odangos and my blue eyes, fingers and mouth stained from eating the wild strawberries that grow alongside the walkways? Does she see Chibi-Chibi as a young woman, studying whatever abilities she inherits from both of us? Does she see—hope for a sibling alongside their sister as I do?

"A child of two worlds…" I murmur softly.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." I shake my head and give her a reassuring smile. There is suspicion in her sapphire eyes, but she lets it go. This is a conversation we've had many times now—had before Chibi-Chibi was even born. "You know, when I was a boy on Kinmoku, I'd sneak out of the palace at night for a swim from time-to-time." I readily change the topic.

"Would you?" She arches her eyebrows.

"You look shocked, Odango."

"I'm shocked every time I learn you danced around the rules as a Sailor Guardian. You had me fooled with your perfect façade when we first met, you know."

I chuckle. I know all too well. I still remember the way she would look at me then. But the wounds her glares inflicted have long been healed by her sweet kisses. "I would wait until all of the palace was quiet and the princess was fast asleep. Then, I would creep outside, strip naked, and swim under the stars."

She gasps. "You swam naked? With Princess Kakyuu so close?"

"If I had any suspicion she'd see, I'd transform into my guardian form in an instant." In reality, I would keep my underwear on. Even a small lie to Serenity brings me guilt. But telling the truth wouldn't behoove me in this moment. I'll confess the truth later, long after her shudders of rapture have subsided and she is ready to forgive me. "I'm surprised you're so shocked. We swam naked the very first time we came to the cottage."

Serenity bites her lip to try and hide a grin. And fails. "I remember."

Her thoughts are right where I'd like them to be. I stand and face her, locking eyes as my hands slowly peel my tunic off my shoulders. The rise and fall of her chest increases, breasts threatening to break free from their silken prison as she sees my hands moving to unfasten my trousers.

"What're you doing, Seiya?" Her voice is velvet.

"Going for a swim, Odango. Our conversation reminds me that it's been far too long." Naked, I step out into the moonlight, keenly aware of her eyes on my flesh. I twitch and shiver. Just her attention on my body heightens my every sense. Her chair scrapes against the ground and that's how I know we will both be breathless and satisfied come morning.

I look over my shoulder, just in time to see her robe silently hit the ground.

She's still learning her new body following the birth of our daughter. She's told me of her new uncertainties—her doubts. But…

I hold my hand outstretched. "Come here." Her fingers curl around mine and I pull her to me, the glorious expanse of her skin flush against mine. I lean forward to whisper in her ear, "You are utter perfection."

Her eyes shine in the moonlight and a knowing smile curls her lips. I kiss her to say silently, "I will tell you a thousand times." She is my odango, as alive and changing as the earth under our feet. I do not resent the fall because I love the spring. I relish in every phase and change of our lives. I want her summers as desperately as I need her winters.

"Give it all to me," I want to say. "Everything you are, everything you continue to be, you astounding woman. Don't ever think for one moment that you are not enough." But I am silent. The time for words, as imperfect as they always are, has ended.

I lead her into the water. It's bracing and her breath hitches. I catch her gasp with my mouth, pulling her to me. Warm… She's always so warm.

I touch her gently, slowly. Intimacy is still fairly new to us after Chibi-Chibi and I want to take things at her pace—not at the speed my throbbing need demands. Time is on our side. She is mine, and I am hers, forevermore.

Serenity allows me to settle her on the low shelf that outlines the pool. She leans back as I crawl atop her, kissing me with purpose. The way the water laps softly between us makes it feel as if she's generating her own current that I'm pulled helplessly along. I kiss down her neck, biting at her collarbone, trailing the lines the water makes over her breasts with my tongue. She lets out a soft moan.

"We must be quiet, or risk waking our sleeping princess." I flash her a grin.

"Your tongue is the antithesis of silence."

"So my advisers and lords tell me," I whisper. Serenity laughs softly, she knows it's true now. She's been in every meeting with my advisers. I tangle my hands in her hair. "What would you like this evening, my queen?"

"Everything, my king."

"So it shall be."

Our kisses gain new purpose. She shifts beneath me, parting her legs, allowing me to assume the position I know so very well. Exercising every ounce of control I possess, I move delicately, scanning her eyes for pain or hesitation. When I find none, I join with her in body once more.

One being of flesh, moving, sighing, desiring to scream the song of our pleasure.

A physical ritual to honor the one soul that soars for us both.