The Cupid Alliance Series 1: The Trouble With Love
Cupid Number 557 Omicron, also known as Urakaze, sat on his cloud and
sharpened his arrows, sighing every so often. The Omicron Group was
currently in charge of Japan, a collection of about 4000 scattered
islands off the east coast of Asia, filled with power and the reborn
princesses of the Silver Millennium. The Omicron Group was entrusted
with the lives and loves of the most powerful women on the planet, and
he had finally been given an assignment concerning the last princesses
of the Silver Millennium. And it wasn't the job he had anticipated.
His best friend and former mentor, Cupid Number 374, Asakaze, joined him
in a flurry of silky white feathers, her own quiver full. "What's
wrong, Ura-kun?"
"Asa-chan, what would you say if I told you that I got an impossible
assignment today?"
"Who is it, Ura-kun?"
Urakaze pulled out two pictures, one of a tall blonde man with powerful
emerald eyes and a distant expression, and the other of a smaller woman
with wavy aqua hair and sea-colored sapphire-teal eyes. Their ancient
souls were evident even in the pictures, and Asakaze smiled as she
realized that the Senshi were being assigned at last. "These two."
She was willing to play dumb for her former trainee, so she racked her
brain for other information on the two. "Oh! I know the woman! She's
that famous violinist, Kaiou Michiru. And the man here looks like that
famous Junior F-1 racer, Ten'ou Haruka. But aren't they a little young
to be falling in love?"
"Haruka's a woman, and no. Look." Urakaze waved his hand, and the two
woman changed to Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, two of the Senshi
reborn from ancient times and destined to protect the Earth. "See? I'm
told that my predecessor, Cupid Number 169 Alpha, got them together in
the Silver Millennium, but it took So long and she had to break so many
rules. Remember that whole recombination of power lecture we had a few
years ago? It was because of what these two did back then. She almost
didn't make it before the Moon Kingdom fell. And now I must do it
again. 169 went into retirement after that feat, and no one's seen her
since Rome fell."
"She's your mother, right? Can't you go find her?"
"She won't talk to anyone about these two, and I fear that I may not be
able to handle this assignment."
"They don't look so tough; I've had harder couples to bring together."
Asakaze switched into lecture mode, her tone of voice so familiar to
Urakaze that he looked up and listened carefully. His absent-minded
nature often got him in trouble, but 374 had discovered when she was
training the boy that certain tones of voice would keep his attention.
"The first thing to do is get them to meet. I know that they've been
dreaming about each other because of their past, and maybe you can use
that to your advantage."
Urakaze sighed as he stood, filled his quiver, lifted his bow, and
straightened the absolutely ridiculous white loincloth and pale blue
sash that constituted his uniform. "Then I will try. Oh, when are you
getting your next assignment?"
"Not for a while. I requested the Moon Princess and Earth Prince, and
that pair isn't being handed out for a while, at least until Luna is
awakened. So, I wait patiently and I'm sending them dreams about their
past. Until their assigned, I can do everything possible to get them
together short of shooting them with arrows, and I think I might try
making them run into each other on a daily basis. That way they won't
be able to ignore each other, and when the princess and prince awaken,
they'll be that much more open to true love. When they are given out,
the Council will see what lengths I've gone to in order to make them
meet, and I will get the job."
"How long have you been planning this?"
Asakaze grinned. "Only since Tsukino Usagi was born. Good luck,
Ura-kun."
"Same to you, Asa-chan."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Urakaze sat on the top of Haruka's car, invisible to mortal eyes,
watching as Michiru walked forward, dressed in her light blue school
uniform, a sketchpad held before her. One of his most important lessons
from his trainee days was that the first meeting was The Most Important
one, with capitals and everything. Urakaze waited until Elza Gray
stepped aside and Haruka had a clear view of her destiny. One
well-placed arrow, and . . . Haruka swung her bag over her shoulder and
walked away, telling Michiru that she had no desire to be painted.
Urazake sighed and watched the racer leave, knowing that the sparkle in
Michiru's sapphire eyes was the love he had implanted weeks ago while
the aqua-haired beauty had been watching Haruka race. It had worked on
Michiru, but Haruka seemed immune to the love arrow—nearly impossible,
but not unheard-of. So Urakaze opened his wings and soared after the
retreating blonde. This was going to work. He was old enough to know
that there were many difficult cases but he was young enough to believe
that everything would work out in the end.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Haruka had no idea why she was on the cruise, but when she saw that
Michiru was going to be playing on the ship, she felt an irresistible
urge to hear her. She listened to the violin song and the people
talking around her, wondering why Michiru had no friends. She suddenly
saw a very different scene, one where she sat at a crystal piano in an
exquisite suit and Michiru sat on the top, her long dress whispering
every time she moved, her violin in her hands and a look of true
tranquility on her delicate features. She wondered if they really had
ever played duet, and she looked up at Michiru, wondering why she had no
friends, no partner in music, no partner in love. But, deep in her
heart, she already knew. Michiru was the senshi from her dreams, Sailor
Neptune, and that kind of destiny didn't leave any time for a social
life. Suddenly annoyed, Haruka left the dining room.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Michiru opened her eyes, looking up just in time to see Haruka leave. A
voice in the back of her mind—or maybe right next to her ear—whispered,
"go after her," and she obeyed.
She found Haruka looking at her painting of the end of the world, and
she smiled, wondering if she should tell Haruka that she was falling for
her. But the conversation didn't lead there, it lead to Michiru telling
Haruka that they had responsibilities as Senshi, the responsibility to
stop the Silence. She wanted Haruka to understand that they were
partners, that they were the only ones who could stop the end of the
world, but the blonde was too determined to lead a normal life to
listen.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I'm losing her," Urakaze growled. Pulling out his bow, he grabbed two
arrows and let them fly, right into Haruka's back. She flinched, just
noticeably, and the fire in her green eyes flared to fury. She stalked
away, leaving Michiru alone on the stairs, and Cupid Number 557 sighed.
He settled onto the landing beside Michiru and let his warmth flow over
her, soothing shattered nerves. "It's okay," he whispered, letting the
mortal hear him. "Everything will be alright."
Michiru laid her head on her arms and cried.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Haruka zipped up her riding jacket, grabbing her bag and heading back
into the building. She paused when she heard someone crying for help,
and she stopped inside the room as a boy morphed into a red monster
covered in tentacles. She backed away, afraid for the first time in her
life, and a blue glowing stick appeared in front of her, just before the
monster attacked her. She reached out to take it, a siren song of a
better life and a planet far, far away filling her mind, but a voice
from the door stopped her.
"If you take that, you will never again live a normal life." Michiru
stood in the light from the door, a stick held in her own hand. Her
voice, when she cried out her henshin phrase, was filled with pain and
resignation and maybe tears. "Neptune Planet Power Make Up!" And
Sailor Neptune from Haruka's dreams stood there, ready to battle.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Urakaze watched as Neptune saved Haruka, throwing herself between the
blonde and the monster to save the racer's life. She finished off the
monster, laying in Haruka's arms, blood welling up from the deep gashes
on her arms and back. Haruka listened as Michiru admitted that she had
been watching the racer, wanting to ride in her car along the beach, and
Haruka looked at her henshin stick. That would make her Sailor Uranus,
Neptune's partner for as long as they lived, and she hesitated.
Growling his annoyance, Urakaze let three arrows fly into the reluctant
blonde, and Haruka finally responded to the urge. She took the stick,
determined to stay by Michiru's side, and Urakaze realized why these two
were so difficult to get together. They were afraid to ruin their
mission with love.
Cupid Number 557 sat on thin air just under the ceiling, thinking. 374
appeared beside him, watching Haruka pick Michiru up as the drained
senshi detransformed and lost consciousness. "So, Ura-kun, are you
going to tell me this big plan or am I supposed to guess? Because right
now your idea seems to be backfiring."
Urakaze grinned. "This could take some time, Asa-chan. Ten'ou Haruka
is a tough target. The Cupid arrows have already worked wonders on
Kaiou Michiru, but both of them are afraid of letting their love ruin
their mission. They have to stop the Silence, and they won't let their
emotions interfere. They don't know that they are two of the three
owners of the Talismans, and they won't relax until they find out. They
do love each other, but I won't be able to make them say anything until
they are ready."
Cupid Number 169 Alpha appeared, no longer carrying a bow and quiver,
wearing a gold dress and sandals instead of the white the Cupid job
required. "Well, you finally figured it out, Urakaze."
"I was wondering if you would come, Mother."
169, also known as Yuriko, smiled as she leaned back and watched her
favorite couple leave. "They'll fall in love, I promise. All you have
to do now is nudge them in the right direction. And Haruka is not
immune to our arrows, just excessively resistant. This is not an
impossible mission. Besides, you, my young son, did finally learn the
most important lesson of being a Cupid."
"Yep. The problem with love is not that the arrows don't work; the
problem with love is the lovers."
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