I don't own Hanazuki: Full of Treasures.

This story might get a bit confusing in later chapters, as those will take place inside of Hanazuki's mind. This is only the prologue, so it is pretty short, I apologize.

The night the Big Bad struck... and we sent it away with teamwork... Kiazuki learned how to grow Treasure Trees, Red Hemka recovered from his illness, and all the Hemkas came together to form something so extraordinary to help me... We were all so happy...

That was a while ago. I can't imagine any happier day. Lately, things have been... just...

Different. I can't explain it, but I do remember this feeling... Why is it here, happening to me? Why, again?

Hanazuki's latest treasures, bestowed upon her by Little Dreamer, never changed their colors to anything but black.

Despair?

For reasons she couldn't understand, she was unable to grow any other Treasure Trees than the scowling dark ones. As much as the Hemkas, or Sleepy Unicorn, or Dazzlessence tried to help her stop this, the grove of despairing treasure trees only grew.

Had she lost control of her moods...? How or why it could have occurred, or when it had begun, Hanazuki didn't know, and it only made her feel worse, and that plunged her deeper and deeper into misery. The number of black Treasure Trees rose fast, until she could not remember any other emotion. Even when she felt a different mood, Hanazuki could not activate the treasure with that feeling anymore. It only turned black again and grew into another gloomy tree that bore more bitter, inedible fruit. A vicious cycle.

The root of this situation is still unknown to the residents of the moon. Thankfully, there were more than enough colorful Treasure Trees to keep the Big Bad at bay, but their Moonflower was unable to produce any more, and that proved to be a concern.

Kiazuki and Kiyoshi both had legitimate reasons for despairing in the first place, the former had chosen to hide it as well, but Hanazuki didn't understand where her depression had come from. The origin, the root, she didn't remember. All she wondered was why, and that led her to... kind of losing herself, and her faith in herself.

And as this downward spiral continued, the only thing that her friends could do was watch the damage take its toll on Hanazuki.

Perhaps we should begin with the very first day, when the second black treasure tree Hanazuki had ever created had sprouted...

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The Moonflower awoke to a happy start, her Hemkas all snuggled close around her, Little Dreamer dropping a new treasure into her arms.

She was elated.

But the treasure turned a pitiful black instead of a joyful yellow.

"Huh...?" Hanazuki flinches when the black tree grows immediately where it had been dropped.

The Hemkas look at the tree and back to their Moonflower in concern, all of them equally as confused as she was.

"But that isn't how I feel..." she protests, running one hand across the rough bark of the tree, "What happened?"

Something within her, deep down, caused despair that she couldn't comprehend the meaning of.

The more Treasures she received, the more black trees invaded her moon.

Hanazuki decided to discover why she could only grow black trees, and looked to Mirror Plant for help understanding her true feelings deep down.

"I feel fine. I don't know what's wrong," was the unhelpful reply from the plant.

With no help in discovering the truth, the Moonflower's fall began. The residents of the moon were worried, questioning her, concerned for her well being, and the more they did this, the worse Hanazuki felt. She didn't want to worry them so much, but she was starting to succumb to the negative feeling because of it. The black Treasure Trees soon had a reason to grow as days passed.

Hanazuki eventually only knew despair, just as Kiyoshi had when they had met, but the beginning of Hanazuki's despair was rooted to something she simply didn't know.

And as was already stated, this day sparked her downward spiral, for reasons that were obscure to all of those that she knew.

No one could help her, not even Little Dreamer. It had never happened to another Moonflower before, creating a Treasure Tree of the wrong emotion.

With this, Hanazuki became lost.

Unfortunately, it will take a few chapters before we realize just what happened to poor Hanazuki. This only sets up the conflict for future chapters. Don't worry, we'll get there ;)