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Part One: Going to Earth! Awaken the Love Angel Cherry!
"Eh he hee hee," The young girl tiptoed slowly down the clouded stairs, trying to be as silent as possible. With clouds being the ground you walked on in the Angel World, it was rather easy.
But still, Momoko appeared with a very unhappy frown.
"ZAKURA!"
"Ep!" The girl dived for cover. With light brown hair cascading down her back and ice blue eyes, she looked normal enough. But truth be told, she was the daughter of Momoko and Yosuke.
Which of course made her human, angel, and demon all in one. Still, she was very happy to be who she was.
"What do you think you´re doing? Leaving the realm were you?" Momoko didn´t give the girl a chance to even open her mouth. "Wait until your father hears about this! You know better than to leave! Especially WITHOUT permission or even protection!"
"Mama!" Zakura wailed. "I´m bored!"
"Bored!? That´s your excuse!" Momoko grabbed the girl´s poor ear, dragging her back up the stairs to the elaborate castle. "Go to your room and think about all the consequences that you could create!"
Zakura stomped off angrily. All she wanted was to experience life as a normal human, not some Angel like her mother obviously wanted to. She wondered momentarily if her father would let her but sighed. Never in a thousand years...
"She what?" Yosuke choked on his drink. He had come back from traveling the world with Yanagiba. "Not this again."
"Yes again!"
"We can´t keep her cooped up in here," Yosuke began reasonably.
"NO! In no way in Heaven or Hell will she leave! She´s not old enough!"
"She´s fifteen, love."
"She´s still a child!"
"Not anymore.."
"Yes and she still must learn so much!"
"If she had grown up in the human world," Yosuke sighed. They all knew why that was.
After the birth of their daughter, a strange entity appeared, full of a dark aura that was demonic yet angelic. With it came the sudden loss of three of sacred Somethings. No one could even sense them, let alone find them. All that was left was Momoko´s ring.
Which sadly, she left unprotected in her room.
"I´ll just take this," Zakura beamed happily, placing it upon her ring finger. She admired it, twinkling in the light just so. "It´s got a rainbow in it!"
"Hey! Hey! Pi!" She called out to a strange jade green fuzz ball. It looked just like Jama but he was much more younger and cuter, with a twisted fluffy tail and deep green eyes.
"You shouldn´t have put that on," Pi said mildly.
Zakura happily pounced around.
"In fact, you shouldn´t have taken it," Pi knew that Zakura wasn´t listening but she talked anyways, hoping for some reaction.
"Your parents are going to blow a gasket," Pi reminded the very happy girl.
Zakura was too engrossed her thoughts as her happy energy built. She could just imagine wearing this for HER wedding. Full of flowers and daisies and roses with lots of ribbons and frilly things that made you look so pretty. She imagined then, the faceless guy she´d find down on Earth. She´d save him, they´d look into each other´s eyes and fall instantly in love.
It was this exact thought that awoke the Sacred Ring. It began to glow so brightly, it was impossible to keep your eyes opened.
"I told you not to put it on!" Pi was heard yelling as the two both disappeared from the Angel World.
"Aya!" Hinagiku´s head jerked up from her desk. "Whose energy was that?" Takuro was on the bed, snoring softly.
"Hey! Hey!" Hinagiku scoffed. "Why do I keep doing that! He can´t sense anything!"
"HINAGIKU!" Came Momoko´s panicked thoughts. "Zakura is gone!"
"AYA!" Daisy stood up hurriedly, the chair slamming into the floor with such a bang that poor Takuro awoke as he fell off the bed. "What the hell happened?!"
"Don´t worry!" Came Yuri´s voice. "She´s old enough. She´ll just come back..."
There was a momentary pause.
"Ah, right? Momoko?" Hinagiku couldn´t help asking.
"I DON´T KNOW! We just have to find her!" Momoko´s connection broke off. Takuro peered over the bed, still groggy and rubbing his head where the mantelpiece hit him as he fell off.
"What happened?"
Zakura was happily snoozing, quite loudly in fact. She kept hearing some guy´s voice, and hands on her.. Hands on her?
"PERVERT!" Zakura snapped up, glaring at a stunned man. He said something and it took her a while to understand.
"Are you all right?" he asked carefully in English.
"He doesn´t know Japanese? But I´m not all that good in English," Zakura fretted.
"Are you all right?" The man repeated.
"I heard you the first time..." Zakura looked around, trying to gauge the trouble she was in.
"Pi pi!" Pi appeared frantically. "Run, run!"
The man had jumped back, seeing some green colored stuffed animal flying and talking rapidly with a lot of Pi´s thrown in.
"What the hell?" He looked up to see a shadow hovering. "Ah ....nuts."
"Ah, if it isn´t a Love Angel!" The figure jumped down, cloaked in a red cape with white hearts. The figure pulled back the hood, revealing very pink curly yet short hair with heart shaped bangs. Her eyes were a yellow and catlike pupils. "I am Valentino!"
"Don´t you mean Valentine?" Zakura asked confused.
"No, it´s Valentino! With an O at the end instead of a E. Now, Love Angel! I will defeat you!" She stood poised to attack.
Zakura scratched her ear distractedly. "Um... I´m not a Love Angel."
"What?" Valentino frowned. "Trying to trick me, eh? Ha! Can´t fool me!" She pulled a crystal heart from her chest. "Valentine Heartbreak!"
"Hey! I said I wasn´t a Love Angel!" Zakura managed to dodge and watch it zip by the man who looked like either he was in a coma or just frozen. "Run you idiot!" She shouted at him. He looked at her with such confusion she flinched. "Right, you don´t understand Japanese!"
"Ahem...ran....way now!" She tried her English, thinking she failed. He nodded slowly and began to back away slowly.
"Hey! You understood me!" She cheered in Japanese.
"Valentine Heartbreak!" Zakura whimpered as it began to approach. She had been too distracted to care and now she knew she was going to pay for it.
"Aughh!" She felt her self thrown to the side and saw the man on top of her, heaving heavily.
"Oh...you... you saved me?" She murmured. Her fingers slowly moved up to trace his strong features. His violet eyes blinked at the gentle touch.
"Augh! Sick love waves! Both of you will die now! Valentine Heartbreak!"
"NO!" She heaved up and turned around so that her back faced the attack. It hit full force and she screamed in pain.
"Zakura!" Pi shouted, her paws wagging in the air wildly. "Oh, Pi! Aphrodite! Pi! Help!"
Zakura fell forward, feeling very tired. She looked up to the violet eyes and tried to talk. "Run...run way now..."
He shook his head violently, his hands cupping her face. She felt the soft kiss and she was filled with a strange energy.
‘Is this what Love is?´ She thought dreamily. Here she was savoring her first kiss with a perfect stranger. But yet, it felt so right.
"AUGH! Enough of the love already! And pay attention to me!" Valentino added after a thought. "Valentine Heartbreak!"
"No!" Zakura stood up defiantly. "Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me twice, shame on me!" She felt something leave her as a mirror compact appeared.
"PI! Aphrodite heard us! Transform pi, with the phrase, WEDDING BEAUTIFUL FLOWER!"
"Right!" She raised the compact over her. "Wedding Beautiful Flower!" She felt the energy dance through her as a elegant wedding dress formed. It was magenta and wrapped around her shoulders with a frill. Her sleeves had gold bands at the armpits and then just off the wrist. The sleeves held tightly till the hand fabric that was loose and covered the hand almost all the way. Her hair had two gold bows with a set of three white gems in its center and from the bows was the transparent white veil that circled the back of her head. She had a golden waist band in the shape of a V with a white round gem in its center. The dress also ended in a frill and had two more layers, the middle one violet and the other white. Around her neck she wore a violet strap of fabric with a golden heart outlined in white. It held together a set of beads like a fancy choker, a white teardrop diamond hanging from the V of the beaded choker.
"I forgot about this," She fingered her outfit nervously. "Can I really fight in this?"
"AHA! You are a Love Angel! And now you´ll perish!" Valentino laughed boisterously.
"As if! I am the Love Angel....ah.." She looked toward Pi.
"Cherry," She whispered.
"Right! I am the Love Angel Angel Cherry! You tried to ruin my day and I´m extremely displeased!"
"Valentine Heartbreak!" Valentino attacked once more and poor Zakura tripped trying to dodge the attack.
"Stupid dress!" She fumed. She stood up and grabbed the compact. "Time to attack!"
There was a lengthy pause.
"Well?" Valentino raised an eyebrow.
"Ah...Help?" She implored to Pi. The green ball shrugged.
"Valentino Heartbreak!"
"Daisy Blizzard!" Angel Daisy and Angel Lily appeared as Daisy attacked. Valentino swore rather loudly and disappeared into no where.
"Zakura!" Lily swooned. "Oh! We were so worried!"
"Up.." Zakura felt Daisy give a great big bear hug. "Can´t breathe..."
The man was now again stunned, seeing three weirdly dressed women. He began to inch away, feeling the shock of the event take hold of him.
He finally snapped and ran down the street screaming like a little girl.
"God, what´s with him?" Daisy thumbed him with a smirk. "Think he never saw someone like us?"
"Come, Zakura," Lily took the girl´s hand. "We must go home."
"Home but I just got here.." Zakura´s whining tone echoed as they all teleported away.
"MAMA!" Zakura was on the floor, trying to be a convincing heartbreaking child.
"Stop that!" Momoko whapped her daughter´s head with a wooden spoon. "You are forbidden, I repeat, FORBIDDEN! To leave the Angel World! You´re just not ready!"
"DAD!" Zakura wailed even louder.
Yosuke sighed. "I think you might be a little harsh on her," He whispered.
THWACK! The spoon hit him right between the eyes. He closed his eyes and tried to count to ten mentally.
"MOMO-P!" He hissed, his demon aura shooting up.
"NO! I stand by what I say! Hanasaki Yamazakura! Go straight to your room till I call you for dinner! And as for you!" She pointed at little Pi. "Do a better job watching her."
‘Meep...´ Pi thought weakly, floating beside Zakura as they left the kitchen to the bedroom.
"It´s not fair!" Zakura glared out her window, already feeling trapped. "I´m fifteen! Fifteen! Do they even know how important this age is!?"
"Now, calm down, Pi.." Pi began.
"I mean, I´m a Love Angel! That should raise my status! I should be treated as their equal not like, not like...."
"Their daughter, pi?"
"Shut up! Go home!"
"Can´t, pi. Promised that I´d watch over you from Dad, Pi..." Pi shook her finger. "Just try to stay out of trouble, pi."
Sadly, that didn´t happen. Pi slept quite soundly but when her mistress removed herself from the bed, this caused it to ripple and Pi cracked an eye open.
"You shouldn´t leave, pi."
"Leave me be," Zakura held the ring in her hand. "Come on! Work!"
"You need love, pi.."
"SHUT UP!" Zakura glared at the little green creature.
"Pi..." Pi hid herself, sniffling. Zakura tried to remain angry.
"Oh, Pi," She sighed heavily. "I´m sorry. But I just feel like I can´t stay. Like I´m being called..."
"Pi? Well, if that´s how you feel, pi, then let´s go."
"Really? You won´t tell on me?" Zakura asked brightly.
"Pi, no. I´ll just get in trouble with you." Pi yawned. "How does the ring work, pi?"
"Love huh?"
The man lay in bed, trying to sleep. He couldn´t get the transforming girl out of his head. And the fact that she kissed him.. or was it him? Hell, it didn´t matter who! It still happened.
"Maybe I´ll wake up and it´ll all be a dream..." He rolled over with a long sigh and fell asleep.
He was Mason James, seventeen years old and about to graduate high school. He was the top of his class but was rarely noticed. The shy guy, everyone called him. He liked that though, it left him alone.
He entered his school, swinging his book. He managed to convince himself that all that happened was just a dream and he still never kissed a girl. He hummed as he opened his locker and pulled out his Psychology book.
He closed it and from behind the now closed door, Zakura beamed at him.
"Oh dear god," he tried to speak but it came out as a strangled giggle.
"Hi! Remember me?"
He tried to not run like a mad dog. He placed his feet firmly on the ground and stared at her with as much anger he could muster.
But with the language barrier, she didn´t quite get it. She flipped over and wrapped her arm around his.
"What are you doing?" His eyes shot back and forth nervously. "Let go." He tried to pull away but she was like glue.
"I´m so happy to find you! I mean, we shared something I think," She began, her eyes going all dreamy.
It hit him like a ton of bricks. It felt good though. ‘Like something washing over me...´ He thought dizzily before fainting.
"Idiot!" Pi whispered, now shrunk to the size of a round earring stud. "Your love wave!"
"Come again?" Zakura frowned. "Was that was it was? I thought I was just hungry."
"ZAKURA!" Pi hissed angrily.
"Come on, let´s get him help.." But the hallways had cleared and she didn´t know where to go. "Ah... where do we get him help?"
She dragged him outside to the sunlight. When the warmth didn´t wake him up, she found a fountain and with cupped hands, captured some water. However, coming back caused it all to splatter and she looked like she was going to start crying.
"Ugh..." He stirred and looked up to see Pi trying to calm Zakura down.
"Pi... blah blah blah, pi!" Was all he understood but he saw the concern the thing had for the girl.
"Hey.." He began weakly. "Are.. are you lost or something?" Mason asked.
"PI!" The thing hid behind the girl.
"Nani?"
"Lost? Lost," he said slowly, waiting.
"No lost. Fine!" She said brightly but he could feel her nervousness.
"Okay..." He said uncertainly. He should be getting to class but he couldn´t just leave her here. And his parents weren´t home at the moment....
"What are we doing here?" Pi asked, her tail twisting as she wrung her paws soulfully.
"It´s nice," Zakura tapped the walls. "Look, wood! Not crystal!" She cheered.
"What am I doing!" Mason was in the other room, pacing angrily. "I can´t believe I brought her in! What was I thinking!" He rubbed his eyes. "It was supposed to be some fantasy dream! The ‘get your desires out´ kind so I wouldn´t be bothered!"
Again, the image of her transforming flashed in his head and he winced. "I´ll be dreaming of THAT forever."
"Hi!" Zakura tired of waiting and decided to come to him. "Atashi wa Zakura!"
"What?"
"Zakura!"
"Sakura?"
"ZAKURA!" she bit out.
"Okay, okay!" He pointed to her. "Zah kuu rah?"
"Hai!"
"I´ll take that as a yes," he pointed to himself. "I am Mason."
"Ma son?"
"Mah sun," he wondered how messed up they both were getting. "Mason!"
"Mason!" She repeated. She clapped her hands and then again wove her arm into his. "Mason!"
"Ah...Zakura," he tried to pull away gently but it became a tug of war. "LET GO!"
"Zakura!" Pi called in her lady´s ear. "Stop that! You´re freaking him out!"
"But I was having fun," she pouted as she let go and he fell backwards with a gasp.
"God," He rubbed his lower back gingerly, trying to count to ten.
"SHE LEFT AGAIN!?" Momoko was not having a good day. "Can´t she stay still for one day?"
Yosuke began to tiptoe away. Hinagiku began to do the same by Yuri, Yanagiba, and Takuro stood with Momoko.
"She has Pi, Jama," Jama appeared, his fur not so yellow and soft anymore. He had aged along with Momoko and had his own family, one being Pi, his youngest daughter. How did he have kids? Who knows.
"I want her home now!"
"Why are you freaking over this?" Hinagiku raged with her. "She´s drawn to the Human world! If I could, I´d go back!"
"But we can´t!" Momoko´s eyes welled up. "I don´t understand! We´re trapped here! How could she leave?"
"She contains great powers," Yanagiba pointed out gently. "Her heart is very loving."
"And violent too," Yosuke shook her head. "Maybe we should´ve told her the truth. Maybe then she wouldn´t have wanted to leave."
"I doubt it," Hinagiku waved her hand dryly.
"I agree. But now that she is on Earth, perhaps she should be recruited?"
"WHAT! Of all rotten ideas! I refuse to have Zakura take the reins all by herself!" Momoko´s whole body shook.
"Then perhaps we should make her an ally?" Celeste said from behind.
"Mama!"
"My lady!"
"Yes, yes, it´s been awhile," Celeste smiled.
"Only a few weeks!" Yuri said.
"Three weeks, five days, and now...eight hours," Momoko said, watching her wristwatch.
"Momo-P.." Yosuke sighed heavily.
"I have made this," Celeste pulled a red rose from her bag. However, it was made of glass. "It will not transform anyone but rather awaken a given special power. Something to protect her with but not to fight with."
"What is this? A crossover from Wedding Peach and Sailor Moon?" Hinagiku burst out laughing.
"Shut up," Momoko said darkly from behind the yellow green haired woman.
"I don´t know what to do," Mason sighed before looking up to see Pi studying him.
"What the HELL are you?"
"He ru?" Pi muttered. She turned to Zakura. "What in the hell is a Heru?"
"Heru?" Zakura scratched her chin thoughtfully.
"Hell! Hell!" Mason waved his hands. "Not Heru! Hell! The place of eternal damnation!"
"Da.... da...." Zakura looked to Pi for help. Pi had a idea hit her and she dove into Zakura´s outfit with a squeal.
"AHAHAHHA! Stop that!" She gasped and giggled as Pi finally emerged holding the compact.
"What can I do with that?" Zakura said crossily.
"Press a button, pi!" She suggested.
"A button?" Sure enough, this compact had several buttons on the sides of the compact. "What does this do?"
She pressed it and waited.
"AUGH! Where did you go?" Mason began to feel faint again. After pressing the button, Zakura had disappeared!
"Press it again!" Pi said weakly. A minute later she reappeared.
"Should I try the other one?" Zakura asked weakly.
"Why not?" Zakura closed her eyes and pressed, waiting for some awful thing to happen.
"Give me that!" She heard Mason say as he took the compact from her.
"HEY! I understood that! I have a grasp on the English language!" Zakura cheered happily.
"Pi! No! The compact gave you that ability! I bet if you pressed it, pi! It´ll stop!"
"Oh..." Zakura stopped reaching for her compact.
"Ah...." Mason raised an eyebrow. "This is interesting."
There was a sound of a door closing from outside.
"OH SHIT!" He bit his lip, looking out at the window with trepidation. It was his father, home early from work. "You need to hide!" Without thinking, he shoved her into the closet and ran down the stairs. He realized he was still holding the compact and pocketed it.
"Mason?" Mr. James frowned. "What are you doing home?"
"I´m.. sick..." Mason forced a cough. His dad raised an eyebrow. "Ahem.." He tried to cough again but ended up choking.
His dad thumped his son´s back, instantly worried. "Go upstairs then and rest, okay?"
"Sure.." Mason wheezed, dragging himself up the stairs. He tripped and fell on his face with groan.
"You... ah.. want help?" He waved his hand as a no to his dad before climbing back up, flushing.
"Aya...." He looked around in his room, feeling something amiss. He opened the closet and found Zakura gone. "Oh great! Now where´d she go?" He felt a wind and saw his window open. "Now why didn´t I notice that?"
"You shouldn´t have left," Pi said crossly.
"So?"
"Pi! You´re in big, big trouble! You weren´t supposed to leave the Angel World in the first place pi!"
"And I should care because?" Zakura asked finally. Pi looked like a Christmas light, her green fur becoming red with anger.
"PI! Do you not understand! Pi! This is dangerous PI! Not a game PI!" Pi floated away from Zakura, muttering to herself with a lot of pis.
"You´re acting funny," Zakura pulled the Jama to her, tugging the creature´s mouth into a smile. "Be happy!"
"PI!"
"How cute!" Valentino grinned from above in a decrepitated oak tree. She pulled back the cape and continued to smile. "Since you´re alone now, I´ll take care of you!"
"Pi! I do that!" Pi wagged her finger at Valentino. "Pi! Go away!"
"Bug off! Valentine Heartbreak!" Pi stood in front of her mistress and her poor small body became cut and shredded.
"PI!" Zakura dug in her pocket. "Wedding... Wedding.. Where is that compact!?"
"PI! Mason still has it!" Pi called out weakly from the ground.
"Unable to transform? Good for me; bad for you!" Valentino laughed happily.
"Pi!" Zakura scooped up her little friend and took off toward Mason´s house. He meanwhile had climbed down the window, swearing loudly.
"YOU!" He growled at Zakura who literally jumped him. Her hands went everywhere, looking for the compact.
"DON´T GRAB ME THERE!" He sat up gasping as Zakura presented herself with the compact.
"A ha! Wedding Beautiful Flower!"
Nothing happened.
"Oh great! You probably broke it!" She grumped at Mason. "Did you sit on it?"
"Sit on it! I wouldn´t want that thing digging in my ass!"
"Mason?" He heard his father call out.
"Aya!!"
"Valentino Heartbreak!"
The two teenagers dodged as the house shook at the impact. Mason could his dad now yelling in earnest, concern written in every word.
"Get this thing out of here!" He hissed to Zakura.
"Come and catch me!" She shook her buttocks at Valentino before sticking her tongue out. "Nya nya!"
"You little!" Valentino took off after Zakura and Mason sighed.
"Mortal..." A figure appeared, her pink-magenta hair combination flowing freely. "Please take this..."
"Oh no! Give it to someone else!" Mason backed away from the angel.
"Please! Protect my granddaughter!" Celeste begged.
"That person´s related to you? She´s more a demon really," he mused.
"Please!" She continued to implore.
Mason felt guilt ride up. "Fine, fine! What do you want me to do?"
"Take this! You´ll know what to do when the time comes.." Celeste tossed the glass rose and he actually caught it.
"But wait.." He looked up to see the woman gone. "Nobody ever gives a straight answer!"
"Valentine Heartbreak!" Valentino again attacked. Zakura was still running and she was getting angry.
"Why aren´t you getting tired?" She gasped as she doubled over, her side throbbing.
"You haven´t seen anything yet!" She raised her hands up with the heart crystal. "Valentine...."
"Not this time!" A small rock was seen whizzing through the air and it knocked down the crystal in her hands.
"Try to transform... and um, I´ll just look this way!" He shouted.
"Wedding Beautiful Flower!"
He peeked after a second and saw her staring stupidly up at the heavens, still dressed normally.
"Oh come on! You worked before!" She thought of something. "HEY! Maybe it was that kiss! Come here Mason!"
Mason violently shook his head. "NO! It most certainly WASN´T that!"
"Pi, she´s coming over PI!" Pi screamed.
Valentino had her eyes aimed at Mason. "You ruined my skin! Look it!" She pointed widely at it, nothing visibly wrong.
"I think you´re just overreacting," Mason offered.
"VALENTINE HEARTBREAK!"
"Why do you take such offense?" He was heard asking weakly. The attack should have hurt him or even killed him since he was human but the rose lit up and a barrier formed over him, pushing the attack backwards at Valentino.
"AUGH!" She felt the percussions of the attack tear through her and she teleported away in much pain.
"How did you do that?" Zakura asked in amazement.
"With this... Ah, your grandma gave it to me," He finished lamely.
"Grandma!" Zakura looked very worried. "Was she mad?"
"Oh no. Just worried about you," He rubbed his head ruefully. "Guess you´re going home now?" He tried to not sound hopeful.
"What? You.. you want me to leave?" Zakura began to feel a pain in her chest. "But I wanted to get to know you..." She said weakly.
"We´re from two different worlds," He said gently. "I´m a mortal and you, you are a Angel, right? If your grandma is..."
"But...I love you," Mason blinked and blushed.
"No, you don´t. There´s no such thing as love at first sight."
"But we shared a kiss!" Zakura whimpered.
"So?" Mason shrugged. "Go home, okay?" He backed away and took off home, trying to think of a good excuse for his dad about why he was gone when he was ‘sick´.
Zakura stared at him as he left her.
"Zakura pi?" Pi gently ventured.
"Aahh..." She began to sniffle, the sobs breaking occasionally.
"Zakura, it´ll be all right, pi!" Pi tried to cheer her up. She made faces, pulling her lips apart in a wide strained smile with wide eyes. But Zakura fell to her knees, crying harder now.
And the pain in her chest began to multiply tenfold. "WAHH!!" She shouted, sobbing. And in her pain, her body changed.
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