Love's Battle

Author: Minako-chan4

Disclaimer: All characters are the property of Naoko Takeuchi.

Venus had her duties cut out for her; she had to be a goddess, a planetary princess, and a Sailor Senshi. She had her regular duties, review the guard, training programs, palace security, Senshi training, learning about her own country and its law so she may be fit to rule some day and learning all about love.

Well her life was at least interesting… and even more so since Serenity had sneaked off to Earth. Her life was anything but boring; today would be a memorable day.

Truth was: love was love anywhere in the galaxy you went. The signs were all there, the discrete loving glances, the tender holding of hands (or at least an attempt at physical contact), the jealousy, the sexual tension hanging on the air, it was all there!

The goddess of love and beauty meddled when necessary to give love a chance. It was part of her duty after all! Today she had an incredibly good feeling that her plans would work.

And the day began with such promise too… She gave each respective Shitennou and Senshi a letter from "their significant other" (of course written by her) as an invitation for a private meeting with the other. The only one not to receive a letter was Kunzite; she truly was too busy to try to fit in some flirtation in her incredibly busy day.

Anyways back to her mission; the denial of feelings mostly by part of the Senshi had gone far enough; she just had to do something! Her Senshi and the Shitennou were being stubborn.

So she employed the only available cohort who might help her: Jadeite. When it came to conquering a woman Jadeite never gave up. And she assured him his "spitfire" had wanted to resolve the matter between them. It was then he had agreed to help her; the poor guy didn't have to know Rei kept acting like she hated him when in actuality she was crazy about him.

Today was special really, on Venus it was a national holiday and it was named "Aphrodite's Feast". Wonderful balls, banquets, plays, concerts and many more events occurred to honour love.

However in no other planet from the Silver Alliance was this celebration a national holiday. It was her opinion that everyone in the universe should at least celebrate love at its fullest one whole day once a year!

Which was why she was completely amazed when Jadeite had told her about Valentine's Day. Ok so it was an optional holiday, but they actually HAD a holiday to celebrate love! Go figure! Couples gave presents to each other and their friends.

Now, she was sure the other Senshi hadn't heard of it (I mean if she hadn't, how could they know! Right?) So she was taking advantage of this little fact. The plan was to have each couple meet up in a place where it would be easiest to fall in love; it wasn't so hard really.

Jupiter loved cooking, Nephrite loved eating. So Jupiter got a letter inviting her to the Royal kitchens of Elysion palace to take cooking classes on "Terran" food. Nephrite received a letter from Jupiter inviting him to a tasting for a formal banquet that would take place in a week's time (after all Jupiter WAS always in charge of the meal planning AND the banquet would really take place; her letter was totally believable.)

Mercury had been wanting to learn some more about Earth for quite some time, and Zoicite about the technological advances on Mercury. They were the easiest really! The invitations were sent for a meeting in the Library of Alexandria (from what she'd heard that place held volumes and volumes of knowledge). She had arranged with Jadeite a meal afterwards in a quiet and beautiful balcony overlooking the Nile - a perfect setting for love in her opinion.

Mars… Ah Mars! That one had been tricky… Her only viable idea: She had asked Serenity if she wanted to go to Earth "They have a special day for love" she had told her princess. Of course she knew the obvious response and so she had sent Mars after her. The excuse: The princess of Venus could not possibly miss the festivities in her planet; it just wasn't done.

So Mars had had to go; Jadeite would chaperone Endymion and Mars Serenity. And even though Mars was incredibly stubborn and Jadeite was incredibly shameless in his flirting, she knew they would behave with each other if they were in the presence of Endymion and Serenity. Jadeite would be his usual charming self but toned down, and Mars would be much more calm and therefore susceptible to love because of the atmosphere in the city.

Yes, it had to work. She could just relax and play her part in the festivities. Hours passed as water in a river; she went and participated in folk dances; she sat in on every concert; she attended every play; she gave the traditional blessings to lovers (which of course the priests presided); and finally when the day was almost over she went to the banquet in the Royal dining hall.

It was all glorious; the fireworks outside in the gardens were the culmination of the day. Couples sat lovingly everywhere and they shared those intimate moments of the night in sweet whispers and tender caresses. She just wondered how her reluctant lovers were doing…

A servant neared her and offered a drink and a bouche amusseé; the drink tasted sweet and although the bouche was odd looking it was interesting. Oh yes it was the perfect ending to a wondrous evening.

"Hey there beautiful." Was that Jadeite's voice behind her? When she turned she did see it was him; she inspected him and saw that he was singed nowhere. He had a curious smile on his face. It must have gone good…

She smiled and stood from the bench she sat. "Hello, how did the day fair? I trust well."

"Oh, it hasn't ended yet." He offered her his arm and she took it with happiness. It must have gone really really well. "But now I have a surprise for you."

The Princess of Venus felt giddy. "Really? For me? What is it?"

"You will see."

* * *** * * **** ** * * ** An hour later *** ** **** * ** **** *** *** ***** *** *

Four couples of Senshi and Shitennou were now in the gardens of Venus, the festivities had not yet ended. Mirth and love was in the air, but specifically the sounds three of the couples heard from behind bushes had them smiling from cheek to cheek.

"Do you think she has had enough?" The green-eyed brown-haired lady sitting next to her general chuckled.

Nephrite smiled at Jupiter… at least one good thing had come out of this day. He had finally agreed on something with this woman. "Nahh. I think he's just warming up. What do you say Zoi?"

"I think he could go on for several more hours."

"I never thought I'd say this... but I feel sorry for her." Mercury was looking over the bush as well and saw her friend fidgeting in her place.

"I think she got exactly what she deserved." Mars smiled cheekily as she stared on at the show.

Jadeite did feel some sort of pity, after all those years of knowing Kunzite his fellow Shitennou would still rather go hunt a fierce predator than endure this.

The show of lights were actually quite calming and the music was beautiful… well at least some of the music… If the blond-haired general had something to say … well it was that Kunzite's bag-piping abilities still hadn't improved and Venus was in for a full concerto her lover had exclusively planned for her.

Who said all Valentine's Day presents were good?

THE END

Author's notes: Reviews anyone ^^? I'll appreciate it! Now, why bag-piping? Well it just came to mind, after reading some Highlander fics XD. I can't imagine something more horrible than someone playing a bagpipe horribly. Can you? I chose to write this little short because I did enjoy the one I wrote about Jadeite and Rei and I just thought it'd be nice to write one for the other couples.

Of course when it comes down to it I know Kunzite barely participated in this but well this chapter is all about love and I thought that it'd be selfish of Minako (the self-proclaimed goddess of love and beauty) to think about only her relationship on Valentine's Day. I hope you like it :) cya around!