Love.

Some people consider this feeling to be a gift. Having someone to love and who loves you back in return.. The joy it brings to one's heart isn't measurable.

But..what if love can also bring destruction ? What if loving someone means sacrificing your life ? The people around you ? Your entire world and future, as well as all the possible hardships you went through ?

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~Years before the fated day~

Amidst a field of flowers, a little girl is enjoying the fresh summer air. Her white kimono is tainted green by the nearby plants, and her tiny naked feet are covered in mud and soil. Her pale-blue hair is floating in the cool wind, reflecting the sun's warmth.

The girl's name is Konoe Oyama. She's the only daughter of a wealthy family, which also means the only possible heir. As such, her parents are very strict and cold, and prioritize education over any sort of affection. They hire maids and different people with knowledge to teach her good manners and politics, in the hope that as their daughter grow up, she takes her father's succession and maintain the family's high reputation for another 50 years or so.

But the "adults's world" doesn't matter too much for the little Konoe. She prefers being outside, enjoying nature's gift. Socializing with people is not her favorite activity anyway. For a reason she can't quite understand, she's more obsessed by the Sun than anything else. Something about the way it shines high in the sky, and the way it's so close -yet so far away- makes her all the more attracted to it.

"Konoe, you better get back here soon young girl !" her mother shouts angrily in the distance, trying hard to spot her in the mass of flowers.

"Well Sunny, I'll see you tomorrow then !" Konoe smiles wholeheartedly to the Sun, before running back.

She never meets anyone else her age, because her parents think it to be futile.

Obviously they know what she needs, and right now, she needs education.

******

A few hours later, in the evening...

Konoe manages to slip outside of her room. She throws away her shoes, a habit she has taken to prevent them from getting dirty, before going yet again into the huge field.

She looks over the sky, and as expected, the Sun is now replaced by the bright light of the Moon. The small girl sighs, reflecting on today's events. As she's used to do, she whispers to herself what troubles her, what she wishes she was. She secretly prays everynight for her life to change, for something new to happen.

...

........

The next day was the start of her new life.

Today, her parents are gone for business purposes, to see the Emperor. The girl concludes that they won't be back before a few hours.

Knowing that, she happily returnes to her favorite activity: escaping from the adults. She runs away from the back door towards the field in the fastest run she can pull.

Right as she's about to turn to look towards her house, her foot gets stuck under some plant root. Of course, she forgot to take off her shoes, and now she's bracing herself for the impact !

....

.......

..........

But nothing happens.

Slowly opening her eyes, a boy, visibly the same age as her, is holding her right above the ground.

He puts her down on her feet and sighs. "Man, it was a close one, I thought I was never going to be catch you in time !"

Konoe simply stays stunned. First by the fact that it's the first time she meets another kid her age, and second, because of his appearance. The first thing she notices is the boy's eyes, shaped like a girl's. With his long dark shiny hair and soft rounded face, he could easily be mistaken for a cute girl, but something about his face makes her certain that he's a boy. The second shocking detail is his dark brown skin.

She slightly licks her thumb and rubs the boy's cheek, by which he responds with a jump of surprise. "W-What are you doing !!" he asks.

"You have dirt all over you, I'm just trying to clean you as a payback.." she answers shyly, her cheeks blushing in embarrassement. The boy chuckles, explaining to her that he was born this way. Her face flushes hard.

"I'MSOSORRYIDIDN'TKNOWI--"

"It's okay, don't worry about it." he simply says, patting her head. "I'm Amos, your name's Konoe right ?" Weird, Konoe doesn't remember ever telling him her name.. yet it feels like they know each other since a long time ago.

"Yeah ! You live near here ? We never had neighboors before !!!" she says, excited.

"Um..yeah, let's say I'm just that.." he replies, scratching the back of his neck.

"So how about we go and pick up some flowers !!"

"Oh !! That's my favorite activity, let's do that !!"

The two new friends start telling each other stories on their way.

Since then, Konoe became more and more impatient to go in the fields as each day would pass. The place that once was only a shelter for the girl, soon became one where she met her friend day and night.

During her entire childhood, she would always try to tell her maids about Amos, but since no one ever actually saw him, they assumed it was just an imaginary friend, created by the poor lonely creative girl. She didn't care of course. She was certain that he existed, because everytime she saw him, she felt some kind of string pulling her heart, begging her to approach him.

Soon enough their relationship switched from simple friends, to best friends, to finally lovers. Konoe was thrilled just by telling herself she was dating Amos ! The young boy turned into a fine man over the years, his face became sharper, more defined, his shoulders larger, his whole body screamed of manliness !

She was crushing hard on her, no doubt !

She thought she didn't change that much in comparison. Her face was only a bit softer, her skin as pale as a doll, and her silky long hair as blue as it was as a child. Of course, her body changed a lot over the course of the years, and it was easy to tell that she was attractive just by the way Amos would take some peeks at her whenever they met..

As amazing as they felt, their relationship had to stay discreet. Sometimes, Konoe would sneakily invite Amos in her house during the night, and they would only lay down together in the covers until dawn, as an attempt to spend even a little bit more time together.

At last, one day, as Konoe finally became an adult, she took her things and told her parents she was leaving the house to live with Amos. Of course it didn't go so well, she had a fight with them, which eventually ended up with her standing head high against her mother:

"If you leave the house, you will suffer the consequences. I won't let you go so easily." she declared in a menacing tone.

"I'm well prepared for that. You can go back to your money now, I won't hold you back anymore." Konoe answered back with a confident tone, one she never dared to use before. 

Thus, she ran away with Amos, traveling from village to village, discovering things she never had the chance to see as a child, until they decided of a place to settle down.

It turned out that life was only going to be harder for them. Amos was rejected by everyone due to his skin color, which pained Konoe a lot, but she stayed strong for his sake, and faked a smile for him whenever things would go wrong, in attempt to cheer him up.

Because of the general hate coming from the villagers, Amos had no work, and the only income was Konoe's. Konoe was treated pretty rudely too, but she managed nontheless to find quick jobs here and there.

One day, late in the night, she noticed Amos's usual night disappearance. When hecame back home, she decided to confront him.

"Why do you leave every night ? Is something wrong ?" she was genuinely curious and scared for him. Maybe it had something to do with the other villagers ?

"I...look, I have something really important to tell you." he declares. She never saw him with such a serious expression. "Remember the first time we met ? Well...it wasn't a coincidence.."

In reality, Amos is a God. The God of Flames to be precise. Once every 200 years, each God dies (with the exception of the High Oracle, equivalent of the God-of-all-things), and a new god with a new identity (name, personality) is reborn to take each God's place.

The point is, Amos was only a child when he met Konoe. He used to watch her from above, to the point where he almost became obsessed with her. But a God dating a human is forbidden. Amos tries his hardest each night to explain to the High Oracle that he should change that rule and that it's not modern to think this way. 

Konoe never really questioned him more his origins, because she just wanted to enjoy her time with him and nothing else !

"I loved everything about you. The way your nose would get bumps whenever you're thinking hard, how you were always optimistic, and..."

He approached her, and delicately held his hand against her rosy cheek. "Your eyes, always shining with ambition and curiosity."

Konoe didn't know what to say at that moment. She tried to move her hand over his, but instead Amos shook his head and stepped further back.

"I can't hide what I am any longer, not to you. All I want is for you to accept me as a whole.."

As he said so, he started levitating above the ground. The upper part of his body is covered by some sort of smoke coming out of nowhere, spreading in the whole house. Konoe covers her face with her arms, coughing as the smell of fire invades her nostrils.

Finally, the smoke is evaporating, leaving an unexpected sight.

A human body with a Skeleton face, long dark-red hair like lava, and a necklace-like crown of fire and smoke surrounding his neck. His torso is decorated by some kind of shining tattoo with swirls. His eye sockets are dark and empty, only illuminated by a pair of red menacing pupils...

One would probably freak out in front of such a sight, but not Konoe.

She looked at him for a minute in silence, then simply smiled at him.

"You're as warm as the Sun."

That night was her most cherished memory.

Time passes, and eventually Konoe notices that she's often feeling sick and that her belly slowly gets bigger each day.

There's only one possibility:

She's..

"YOU'RE...WHAT ??"

"Pregnant !" Konoe says again, excited to announce it. Her heart is pounding fast as she sits on the bed next to Amos. She can't help but wait impatiently for his reply to this new addition to the family.

Amos slaps his face once..then twice....then three times and that's when Konoe grabs his hand to avoid the thourth. He looks at her and tears run down his cheeks.

"I'm going to *SNORTS* BE A DAAAAD !!" he shouts in a mix of happy laughs and cries. 

Konoe sure is surprised by his reaction but eventually hugs him, patting his back. "Hey now, why are you the one crying !"

Finally, at that moment, she felt like their life was getting back on track. All she ever wished for was a happy life, and her dream was going to become true..

At least..before what happened the next morning.

She slowly woke up, her face illuminated by rays of Sun. She smiled, remembering

last night as they held hands, imagining what their child would become in the

future, until she fell asleep.

She turns around, reaching out for Amos's arm, but...

He had left.