Author Note: This is the first in a series of 'fairytale' based AU fics about each of the Shitennou/Senshi pairings. I've seen this kind of thing done before, and wanted to try my hand in it too, so I hope it goes over well. Of course, Mina and Kunz's is based on the proto-type 'beauty and the beast' myth of Cupid and Psyche, but I've tried to give it an original spin.
If this one is successful, I'll probably write and post the others.
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon. And I do not condone riding or driving motorcycles without wearing helmets, or driving cars while under the influence of alcohol, or allowing minors into bars!
That being said - I hope you enjoy it. : )
Cupid and Psyche
Chapter One:
"Aino Minako."
"Yes, your honor."
Mina, her clothes smelling of alcohol and cigarettes and crumpled from the cell she'd slept in last night, did her best to appear chipper and lovely in spite of these draw backs.
"You have heard the charges against you; that you did, on the night of October 3rd, leave an establishment called the Peacock's Tail and did then proceed to drive at a high rate of speed in a car belonging to one..." he glanced down at the papers in his hands, " Tsukino Usagi, under the influence of alcohol with a minor, the owner's younger bother, Tsukino Shingo. After running a red light the car then made an unauthorized stop inside the Kato Motorcycle and Automobile Factory, destroying the front lobby and causing damage of upwards of one million dollars."
Mina was trying to maintain her smile, but it was becoming very hard.
"How do you plead?"
Mina took a deep breath, closed her eyes and said:
"Guilty."
"Mina," Usagi cried, "I'm so sorry!!!"
"It's alright," Mina sighed.
"No, it's not. I can't believe this happened!" Usagi screamed, then narrowed her eyes.
"It's all that stupid Shingo's fault, I'm going to skin him alive, I'll-!!!"
"Usagi!" Mina snapped, nervously eying the civil servant who was preparing to leave after explaining the community service process to Mina.
"Usagi, it was me driving the car, not Shingo," she spoke deliberately, "remember?"
Usagi shook her head and hit the table, but sat down without another word about her brother.
As the civil servant left, Usagi pushed the bowl of popcorn across the table to Mina.
"It's not fair, Mina, I can't bear you having to do this."
"Don't worry, it's not that long," Mina smiled, looking a lot more cheerful than she felt.
Suddenly her cell phone rang, she dug in her purse to find it and slid the receptor up.
"Hello? This is she."
Suddenly Mina frowned.
"Are you sure? I mean – I've never done that before – I have no experience with...oh, of course. Well, of course it's alright with me...if that's what Kato-san wants...I'll be there tomorrow. Thank you."
She clicked off the phone with a dazed expression on her face.
"Who was it?" Usagi asked through a mouthful of popcorn.
"It was Kato-san's assistant, she said Kato-san has dropped all the charges," Mina answered.
"Woo-hoo! See I told you everything would work out alright-"
"But he wants me to come in to work tomorrow, as part of my community service. He wants me to be his personal secretary..."
Usagi's eyes grew wide and she slowly sat down.
"What?"
I hope I look professional, Mina thought, adjusting her pale off white suit and skirt, the light pink blouse she wore underneath fluttered in the wind as she walked across the street toward the KatoAutomobile Manufacturer office. She tried not to think about the destroyed remains of the front lobby of the offices' twin Manufacturer's building across the street as she went through the side door to the office's reception desk.
She smiled at the receptionist and gave her name. The receptionist didn't seem surprised and handed her a folder, key and a slip of paper with the directions to Kato-san's office.
"He's expecting you," she said.
Mina tried not to gulp.
She followed the directions to the third floor, until she came to the administration section. Entering the front office she smiled bravely at the second receptionist and gave her name again.
"He's -"
"I know," Mina murmured, "expecting me."
"He's out to lunch, actually," the receptionist smiled thinly, "but if you'll wait inside his office, he should be back in about five minutes."
"Oh, great," she answered and sat down in the black chair beside the dark oak desk.
Kato-san's office was spare, neat – almost spartan in its cleanliness and simplicity of design. Behind the desk was a window in place of a fourth wall with a beautiful view of the river below.
I wonder what Kato-san is like? Neat, apparently. I hope he isn't obsessive compulsive.
She imagined a twitchy little balding man in a tweed jacket and slacks which made her giggle.
She set her bags down and examined the pictures on Kato-san's desk. He only had two, one of a younger man with blonde hair who was standing with two men in a cherry tree grove. The other picture she couldn't quite see, so she reached to turn it to face her.
"What do you think of my mother, Aino-san?" a deep voice asked.
Mina was so surprised she dropped the picture with a loud clatter on top of the desk and knocked off the stack of letters that had been placed beside it.
"Oh-oh, I'm so sorry," she mumbled and bent to pick up the letters.
When she stood up she found herself face to face with a very tall man in a black, grey and pink pin-striped suit; a pink tie, immaculately tied; white hair that reached to his shoulders, straight and sleek; and sliver rimmed glasses resting on his aquiline nose. Not a hair out of place, not wrinkle in sight.
"H-hello," she stammered.
"I'm so glad you've already started working," he replied, glancing down at the letters in her hands, and his eyes behind the glasses glinted sardonically.
"Since you're obviously so efficient, I can see I won't have to spend valuable time showing you the ropes," he continued, walking to a file cabinet and selecting a file, "If it's alright with you, Aino-san, what say we just jump right in?"
"Sure." Mina smiled, but her heart was pattering insanely. I can't even type fast! She quailed.
"Excellent," he said and his mouth turned up in a suppressed smile, or smirk.
"Just come this way, Aino-san," he called over his shoulder and walked out the door without looking to see if Mina would follow him. She shook herself and, grabbing her pen and notebook, rushed after him.
By the end of the day, Mina's head was reeling with thousands of details on types, makes and models of cars and motorcycles, and she never wanted to see another memo again.
"Good work today, Aino-san," Kato-san said as he watched her massaging her head as she sat across from him.
Mina looked up and caught his gaze on her, but he didn't look away.
"You know, I've been meaning to ask you something, Kato-san," she began hesitantly.
She had the uncomfortable feeling of being a butterfly watched by an interested scientist.
"Why – Why did you want me to come here?"
He frowned and laced his long fingers together.
"I see. You mean why did I make you my secretary when you've obviously had no experience or, excuse my bluntness, any talent for it."
"Yes," she said, her teeth gritted. She was struggling to keep control of her temper which had just started to whisper to her that she ought to wipe that smirk off his face with a well placed kick.
"Ah," he commented mildly, "I don't think that's something you need to know to do your job, is it?"
"Now," he said, ignoring her murderous expression, "I expect you to have the report I asked for and the paper work I assigned you ready by tomorrow morning. That means on my desk at 8:00."
He tapped his desk top.
Mina nodded, clenching her fists.
"Thank you, Aino-san. You may go."
She stood, counted to three, then turned to leave.
"One more thing, Aino-san."
She took a deep breath and turned slowly to face him.
"You seem like a girl of average intelligence and integrity," he said, and his tone suggested this was a compliment, "so just how did you end up on the wrong side of the steering wheel in the middle of my factory lobby?"
Mina stared at him, her anger, humiliation and frustration with the recent weeks' events descending on her en masse until something snapped.
"That..." she said haughtily, "is something you don't need to know to do your job, is it Kato-san?"
She turned on her heel and stormed out the door. She didn't see Kato-san remove his glasses and sit staring at the door she'd slammed shut with a speculative, curious look in his green eyes.
"The man is the king of jerks, Usagi!" Mina yelled into her cell phone as she pounded down the street toward her favorite bar, dressed in jeans and a pretty yellow top that always made her feel better.
"I'm sorry, Mina-chan," Usagi's voice soothed over the phone, "maybe tomorrow won't be so bad."
"Fat chance!" Mina snorted, then halted outside the bar's door.
"So can you come to the bar with me?"
"Oh...I'm sorry, Mina-chan, I promised Mamoru that we'd stay home tonight...and-"
"It's alright," Mina sighed, "I understand. Maybe I'll drop by later."
She entered the bar, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. There weren't many people in the place although it was already very late into the evening. Most of the patrons who were there were older couples, enjoying the music and a late night drink.
She sat down at the bar, ordered an amaretto sour and put her head on the table with a thunk.
"Bad day?" she heard the bar-tender ask. His voice was very deep.
"The worst." Mina answered, muffled by her arms and the table.
"Mind if I buy you a drink then, Aino-san?"
She looked up in surprise.
A young man was sitting facing the opposite wall with his elbows propped on the bar top, watching her with an amused expression.
His pale hair was swept out of his face with a hair band, but long tendrils hung in his face and slightly obscured his intense green eyes. His face was angular but not sharp, and his long legs were encased in jeans and boots. He wore a white undershirt beneath a messily unbuttoned over shirt that matched his eyes; the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and his slender hands were folded at his side.
He's beautiful. She thought dumbly.
"I thought you were the bar tender." she said inanely then cringed. Stupid, stupid, stupid...
He chuckled.
"I'm afraid I'm not," he said. Then, after she had sipped her drink he said:
"I suppose you're surprised to see me here."
Mina almost choked on her drink, and the young man leaned over to pat her on the back with a slightly worried, slightly humorous expression.
"I'm sorry," she said when she could speak again, "do I know you?"
He looked at her in genuine surprise.
"Don't you?" he asked in disbelief.
"I don't think so..." Mina replied. She racked her brain but it was dead for the night; having been over worked during the day all it wanted to do was sleep.
"Oh," he replied oddly, "but I'm..."
He broke off and Mina saw a strange, almost crafty look come into his eyes.
"I'm Kunz," he said and held out a hand.
She shook it gingerly.
"I'm Mina, but you already know that..."
"Now that you mention it," she said thoughtfully, "You do look kind of familiar."
Something akin to panic crept into his eyes.
"No, no, I don't think -" he began.
"Yeah, I know where I've seen you," she continued, smiling, "You were at the Kato office, right?"
"Uh, yes," he answered, "I work there...as...a motorcycle engineer."
"Oh," Mina smiled, "That sounds like fun."
"It is," he smiled, but he looked more relieved than enthusiastic.
"Do you like working there? At Kato, I mean?" he asked, sipping his beer. He kept sending searching glances her way when he thought she wasn't looking.
"Ah, it hasn't gone so well. Today was my first day," she admitted, "I've never done secretarial work before – in college I studied theatre and film."
"Really?" he asked, interestedly, "Why aren't you an actress, then?"
"Well, it's not that easy," she exclaimed defensively, but saw that he was laughing at her and joined in.
"It's a tough life and things haven't been going so well. After the accident it'll be almost impossible for me to get a decent job."
"That's too bad."
"So, how did you get into that accident in the first place?" he asked carefully, "You don't seem like the wild type."
Mina looked at her drink, her expression suddenly closed off.
"Haven't you heard the story?"
"Bits and pieces, but I like to get the best stories first hand."
"Well," she traced a finger around the rim of the glass, then suddenly she fixed him with her most direct stare.
"If I tell you," she began, "you have to promise you won't tell anyone, especially not at work."
He blinked, but nodded. His smile had something of a smirk in it, she noticed, it reminded her of someone but she couldn't place who it was.
"The truth is, I wasn't really driving the car."
His eyes narrowed.
"Then who-"
"My friend's little brother was driving," she murmured, "I'd had a drink with some friends at a local bar when I happened to see him toward the back of the room with some older boys. I told him to go home or I'd tell the management how old he was, but he only got mad so I forced him to drive home and I went with him to make sure he got there in one piece."
She smiled sourly and took a drink. Kunz continued to listen in silence, a sober expression on his face.
"On the way home, we got into an argument and he ran the red light. The car slipped on the curve, he panicked and we wound up in the lobby of the office building. When the cops got there I told them I was driving."
"You lied in court?"
"I didn't want the kid to have a blotch like that on his permanent record." she retorted, pricked by his disapproving tone.
"So you decided a blotch on your permanent record was just fine?" he countered.
"What does it matter?" she mumbled, "It's done."
They sat in silence and Mina, despite the fact that she was sitting beside the best looking young man she'd seen in at least five months, felt depressed.
"Listen," he said quietly, "it's none of my business, and I still think what you did was stupid...but it was also very brave."
"Thanks," she muttered glumly.
"Tell you what," he said suddenly, "you want to do something fun?"
"Like what?" she asked, "You're not a crazy stalker are you?"
He laughed.
"No, I promise I'm not. But if I am you know where I work and you can always have the police come to arrest me, right?"
"I guess," she nodded, smiling slightly.
"Right, so do you have a jacket? You might get a little cold."
"Where are we going?" Mina retorted, "The North Pole?"
"Come on."
He paid the bar tender for both their drinks, grabbed her hand, and led her out of the bar to a sleek blue motorcycle parked on the curb.
"Wow," Mina said, staring at the bike, "this is the newest model – you must be a millionaire."
"Eh- company privileges," he muttered, then handed her his jacket. She shrugged her arms into the brown leather and smelled a soft, fresh scent.
He smells nice, she thought. It'll be way too sad if he's a stalker.
"Alright, are you ready?"
She looked at him and held her arms up as the sleeves of his jacket dangled quite a number of inches past her hands. He grinned.
"You're a little small, aren't you?"
"No, you're too big," she replied, "now move over."
She climbed on behind him and gingerly put her arms around his waist. He started the bike, and over the noise of the engine she said:
"Where are we going?"
"It's a surprise."
Mina was about to reply but closed her mouth. She considered that her day had been so bad thus far - she might as well make the most of a random encounter with a handsome, apparently somewhat wealthy co-worker, and promptly held on as they pulled out onto the street and sped away.
Mina got home around two-thirty in the morning and still couldn't go to sleep for thinking over everything she and Kunz had talked about. It seemed like they had told each other their life stories over the course of one night.
That's a bit scary. She thought. But there was a smile on her lips as she drifted to sleep.
Of course, she completely forgot to do any of the work Kato-san had asked her to do...
