A simple mistake was all it took to fall in love…
Summary: According to the love department up in Heavens, Syaoran Li is destined to a lead a tragic love life with his all his girlfriends either leaving him or falling in love with another guy. However, one day Sakura, an apprentice of Cupid, accidentally shoots Cupid's famous love arrows at Syaoran and a girl named Karumi, thus, creating the perfect love for Syaoran. Cupid then panicked since Syaoran isn't destined for love and Sakura is left with the responsibility of removing the arrows herself. However, there's a catch: the arrows are irremovable unless Syaoran falls out of love with Karumi…and Sakura has to descend to the mortal world to undo her mistake.
The Mistake of an Arrow Romance
Chapter 1: His Cursed Life
By Sugar Pink
The corridors are empty and all was silent, except for the blurred and muffle voices coming from various closed-door classrooms. Suddenly, a loud chime echoes through the entire building, and almost simultaneously, a horde of teenagers ranging from thirteen to eighteen years old burst through the old wooden painted doors of their classrooms.
Among the overly excited pile of teenagers rushing off to their after school plans, a particular boy at the age of eighteen with midnight blue hair and thin-framed glasses is lugging his best friend along the corridors like a sack of potatoes with much trouble.
"Syaoran, I'm telling you! I saw her!" the boy said angrily. "Why won't you believe me? She's at the boys' locker room right now! Go see for yourself!"
The boy dragged another boy, who is also 18, with chestnut brown hair and amber eyes across the corridors of their high schools, catching the attention of their fellow schoolmates.
"What are they doing?" the amber-eyed boy heard someone whispered on the sidelines.
"Eriol, let me go!" the amber-eyed boy wrenched his arm away from his friend. "I don't want to go!"
"Syaoran, she's cheating on you! Aren't you going to catch her in the act?" Eriol asked, his azure eyes filled with rage.
"No! I don't want to!" Syaoran said stubbornly, storming back to his old grey locker. He spun the dial on his lock rapidly before tugging the metal contraption with his hand.
"Stupid locker!" Syaoran growled when the lock didn't open for him.
"Are you going to keep seeing her then?" Eriol ask, leaning casually against one of the lockers.
Syaoran hesitated, but not for long. "Yes."
"What?! Why?? Syaoran, are you insane?!" Eriol gaped at his friend. To say he is completely, totally, a hundred percent, overwhelmed with shock is just an understatement.
"Eriol," Syaoran turned to face his friend. "I'm not you okay? You're lucky to have Tomoyo-chan at your side since we were fifteen. I don't have that sort of luck to have a decent relationship with a girl. Amiee-chan is the one girl I've manage to have the longest relationship with, and I'm not going to ruin that!" Syaoran snapped.
"That's not true! You've had great relationships with girls!" Eriol argued.
"Oh yeah?!"
"Yeah!!"
"Name one!"
"What about Hikaru?"
"She moved to Tokyo after our two months relationship."
"Minako?"
"She was using me to make her real boyfriend jealous!"
"April?"
"Her jealous ex-boyfriend threatened to slaughter me!"
"Shiniki?"
"She dumped me after she realized that my family wasn't rich as she though we were."
Eriol paused. "Okay…maybe you're right…"
"See?!?! I can't let Amiee go! I'll never find another girl who will stay that long in a relationship with me!"
"Syaoran, you're only eighteen! You'll find someone better! Stop feeling so damn insecure!"
"It's not only that! I—I love her." Syaoran said in a broken voice. He walked pass Eriol and out the grand front doors of Seijuu High.
What a guy… Eriol sighed.
"Sakura!!" a voice bellowed, echoing through the cerulean skies and fleecy blanket of clouds. "Sakura, where are you?!"
"I'm here!" a muffled feminine voice coughed from a corner of the big and spacious room.
"What are you doing over there?!" a young man with wings and a crossbow sling across his back asked, obviously crossed.
"I'm digging out your love arrows for you, Cupid." A girl with fluffy wings behind her back stood up, smiling brightly. Her deep green eyes shine like emeralds as she shows her boss a handful of arrows.
"See!? I've been looking all day for them!"
"Ai, ai, ai," Cupid groaned as he plops his crossbow down on his lovely work desk made with silver and gold. "Sakura, I told you I didn't need those anymore!"
"Oh…you did?" Sakura said. "Well, no matter. You'll need them sometime!" she gently shakes her head, and dust flies in all directions from her honey-brown hair.
"Hey, watch it!" Cupid scolds, coughing from the dust. "Gee, how did I end up with you as an apprentice."
"I'm sorry." Sakura said apologetically. "I'll just put these away then—"
"Just give me those!" Cupid snatched the arrows from Sakura's hands and shoves them into his carrier bag. "Now can you just polish my bow? I have an appointment to have tea with Apollo."
"Yes, Cupid."
"And how many times have I told you not to call me Cupid?! It rhymes with stupid! Call me Eros!"
"Yes, Cu—I mean, Eros." Sakura corrects herself hastily.
"Oh yeah, after you finish polishing the bow, shoot a love arrow at Kaitou Innouchi, will you?" Cupid instructed, packing his bag for his afternoon tea appointment.
"Who's Kaitou Innouchi?"
"Look in the book! Gosh, Sakura, do I have to show you everything?" Cupid tosses an old leather book at Sakura, titled Love Connections—Who Should End Up With Who. Date and Time Edition.
Sakura flipped through the book, looking up the I's for Innouchi.
"Innouchi, Kaitou. A third wheel in the relationship between Shippa, Amiee and Li, Syaoran. Ending: he gets the girl" Sakura reads. She looks up at her boss, her green eyes wide. "You want me to help a third wheel?!"
"Hey, I didn't write the book, I just follow the instructions. Take any further complaints to Aphrodite, though, I suggest you don't." Cupid said. "I've already shot a love arrow into that Shippa girl so she's all smitten with that Innouchi boy. Now just do me a favour and shoot the love arrow into the Innouchi boy so he'll be smitten with the Shippa girl."
"But what about the Li boy? Did you remove the love arrow he has for the Shippa girl?" Sakura asked, confused.
"SAKURA! HAVE YOU BEEN PAYING ATTENTION TO WHAT I SAY?!" Cupid screams angrily at his young apprentice. Sakura winces from the loud voice.
"You can't just remove love arrows! They're irremovable if the two of them are in love with each other!" Cupid grumbles.
"But Shippa isn't even in love with Li anymore!"
"Which is why Li's arrow will eventually fade away with time."
"How long will it take for it to fade?" Sakura asked, closing the book and placing it back on Cupid's worktable.
"How should I know!"
"But you have to know! You're Cupid!!" Sakura wails. Her boss glares at her. "I mean, you're Eros!" she corrects herself again.
"And Eros doesn't make the rules!! The arrow of love in Li will eventually go away. It's what the human race call 'the heartbroken stage.'"
"That sounds so painful! Imagine your heart broken…bleeding…into a million, tiny, shattered—oh my gosh will he die!?" Sakura gasps.
"Sakura!!!! It's not literal and physical! Didn't you pay attention in your Apprenticeship Classes?!" Cupid groans out of annoyance. "Nobody has ever died of a broken heart before."
"Yes, they have! What about suicide?" Sakura quips.
Cupid lets out a loud growl of annoyance and turns his back towards his bashful apprentice, mumbling something under his breath that sounds oddly like "Must. Not. Lose. Temper. Must. Not. Lose. Temper."
"Cupid? Are you okay?" Sakura asked, worried.
"IT'S EROS!!!!!!!!!"
"I'm sorry!!" Sakura wails again, backing away from her boss. Why do I always seem to make him mad?!
"Sakura, just shoot the stupid love arrow at the Innouchi boy so he'll fall in love with the Shippa girl okay?" Cupid grumbled.
"O—okay. Should I remove the love arrow from Li while I'm at it?"
"YOU CAN'T REMOVE LOVE ARROWS WHEN BOTH PEOPLE ARE IN LOVE!! AND IF IT'S A ONE-SIDED LOVE THEN THE ARROWS WILL FADE AWAY ON THEIR OWN WITH TIME!! WE HAVE TO LET HUMANS GO THROUGH A HEARTBROKEN STAGE!!!" Cupid hollered at the top of his lungs.
"O—okay." Sakura sweatdropped.
"Do. You. Understand?" her boss enunciated each word carefully, obviously trying to count to 100 at the same time inwardly to keep his temper down.
"Y—yes. I—I won't remove the arrow from L—Li because we have to let humans go through a h—heartbroken s—stage." Sakura stuttered out of fear.
"Good." Cupid sighs. "You can't remove the arrows unless you're down in the mortal world anyways. From up here, you can only fire. Now I'm off for my afternoon tea with Apollo." Cupid snags up his bag and flies off.
"Oh, Sakura?"
"Yes, boss?"
"Don't mess up." And with a sigh, Cupid flies off. "Why did I have to get stuck with such a clumsy apprentice?"
"Hmm…according to the book, I'm suppose to shoot the arrow at Innouchi, Kaitou at about five pass moonshine." Sakura reads from the old tattered book. She casts a glance at the scenario of earth down below from her position on the clouds just above the windows of Seijuu High.
"Oh no, I can't see the clock tower from Heavens from here! How will I know what time it is?! Oh no, Cupid is going to scream at me again!" Panicked, Sakura finally catches sight of a mortal clock on the walls of Seijuu High.
"Ooh, it says…it's…4:15PM. But what's that in Heaven time?" Hastily she flips to the back of the old tattered book where a list of all the times between Heaven and earth corresponded. "Ooh, 4:15 PM mortal time means a quarter pass moonshine. Wow, I must get ready! Only another quarter of moonshine left, then I have to fire!"
Sakura snatched an arrow and prepared herself.
"I can't believe I left my math book in my locker." Syaoran groaned to himself as he jogs back to school. He pushes the creaky doors of Seijuu High opens and strolls along the almost empty corridors.
After about five tries, he finally got his locker door open. However, his math book was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh, that's right. I left it in my gym locker." Growling in frustration, the teen speed walks to the boys' locker room.
"Kaitou…I love you. Do you love me?" Amiee asks, looking up at the guy she had been kissing.
"You're with Syaoran Li, Amiee." Kaitou said roughly.
"But I love you!"
Half pass moonshine…time's up!
Sakura aimed the love arrow at Kaitou's back. Please, don't miss, she silently prays. She lets go of the sling, and the arrow zooms through the thin layer of clouds, through an open window in the boys' locker room, and pierces Kaitou in the back.
Yes!!!!! I did it!!!
"I love you too, Amiee." Kaitou said, and kisses her softly on the lips again.
Suddenly, a loud bang echoes through the empty locker room, causing the pair to break apart from their embrace.
"Syaoran!" Amiee gaspes.
"I—I can't believe this. I knew you were cheating on me. Even Eriol said he saw you. But—but I didn't want to catch you in the act; because I didn't want everything between us to end. But now I guess there's no other option left." Syaoran swiftly scoops up his fallen textbook and walks out of the boys' locker room.
"Aww…this is so sad…" Sakura wails tearfully, lying on her piece of cloud as she watches the scene below as if she's in a movie theatre. "I wish I can pluck out that arrow for Li so he won't be in love with that Shippa girl…then it wouldn't hurt…but…Boss said I can't take it off unless I go down to the mortal world…from up here, I can only fire. Awwww…oh well!"
With a happy bounce that her mission is complete, Sakura happily dusts herself off from cloud fleece and flaps her wings joyfully. She lazily flips through the book. Suddenly, a date catches her eye.
"Ooh, what's this? A romance is suppose to start today between an Orymata Karumi girl and a Kamya Daisuke at a quarter to starlight! But…" Sakura glances at the mortal clock that is hanging proudly on the Seijuu High wall. It says 4:30PM.
"In a few minutes, it will be a quarter to starlight. Cupid can't possibly get here in time to shoot." Sakura's mind wanders to what her boss will say.
"Are you stupid? You could have just shot the arrows! That's what apprentices do, Sakura! They help their bosses out when their bosses aren't around!!"
Sakura winces from the imagined loudness of her boss's voice. "Okay, I'll do it, I'll do it!"
Sakura flutters her wings and flutters off to Tomoeda train station, where the book has directed her to go.
Eriol is right…I'm only eighteen…I still have a future full with girl who will love me back! Who needs Amiee!
Syaoran threw a rock across the pond. Behind him, he can hear the roaring of a train, since the railroad is only a short distance away from the clearing he is currently at.
"Ooh! That's her, that's her!!" Sakura grinned excitedly. Double-checking the time, she pulls out an arrow and aligns her bow with an eighteen year old girl with long black hair and pretty clear sky coloured eyes.
"She's pretty and she's going to fall in love with a good looking guy! I just love happy endings!" Sakura giggled as she fires the arrow. "Yay! Bull's eye!" she squealed excitedly as she watch the arrows strike Karumi through the lower back.
"Now…where is that guy Daisuke…" Sakura scans the crowds…suddenly, her eyes catches sight of Syaoran.
"Hey! It's the Li boy! Ooh, his arrow faded already! He's no longer in heartbroken stage! Yay! That was fast. He must have been totally angry with that's Shippa girl kissing some other guy."
Sakura continue to search for a boy that matches the picture of Daisuke in the old and tattered leather book. Suddenly she spots him…next to Li.
"Hey, buddy, you're in my usual spot!" a voice sneers at Syaoran.
Syaoran glances up to find a guy around his age with spiky blond hair and grey eyes. Syaoran ignores him and casts his gaze back towards the river.
"Hey, I'm talking to ya!" the blond boy yells, obviously unhappy that he's ignored. Syaoran gets up and starts to walk away, not wanting to cause trouble.
"Hey, nobody ignores me! Stop moving!" Daisuke grabs Syaoran's school uniform and gives him a hard shove.
Syaoran's amber eyes gleam with anger. "And nobody shoves me!" and with that, he returns Daisuke's favour.
"Gee, I wish they'll stop moving around so much!!" Sakura groans in frustration, moving the bow left and right, trying to take a good aim at Daisuke.
"Besides, fighting is bad. Mortals should know better." She rolled her green eyes. Suddenly, she notices that both Syaoran and Daisuke have pause to catch their breaths.
"Yes!" Sakura aims the bow at Daisuke. And she fires. She watches as the arrow zooms towards earth, plummeting towards the blond haired boy.
"You're such a wimp. No girls will ever want a wimp." Daisuke smirk.
Syaoran clenches his fists at his sides, feeling anger take over him. Then, as if he's out of control, he lunges towards Daisuke, pushing him into the clear lake.
"Who's the wimp now?" Syaoran smirks, standing at Daisuke's original dry spot on the dirty grass.
"NOOOOOOOOO what are you doing?!!? Why did you push him into the water?!?! WHYYY? MOVE OUT OF THE WAY, YOU IDIOT!!" Sakura yells at Syaoran, even though he can't hear her.
Too late.
Sakura watches in despair as the love arrow that was meant for Daisuke pierces Syaoran squarely in the back.
Sugar Pink: Another story! I wanted to write something that has humour in it, after the sad one-shots I've been doing lately. This will sort of be my sideline project I suppose, but I do promise to update more regularly now because school is off for me for a few weeks…so yup!
Please leave a review to let me know what you think! I already sort of have the ending in my mind for this story already, and I'm just itching to write it! So hopefully that will be enough motivation for me to have more frequent updates!
Of course, your words and comments will encourage me too! Hahaha!