Disclaimer: I don't own Nintendo or associated characters…sadly.

Note: I wrote this story ages ago, but when my account got wiped, this story went with it. So, seeing as the story is long gone, I'm re-writing it, and I've drastically changed it so it's even more enjoyable. ^_^ Please don't hesitate to review!

Matchmaker

Princess Peach nervously paced across her pink carpeted bedroom floor. She wore her normal long flowing pink dress, with white engraved ribbon gloves, and pink high-heeled shoes. Valentine's day was dawning on her, and she needed to do something special for everyone.

"You could always hold a big party in honour or Mario's latest rescue," Toad referred to Mario's recent water-filled sunshine adventure, "and in honour of Valentine's day."

Peach gasped and a smile grew on her face. "That's perfect, Toad! We can have a huge party, I can invite everyone, and it will be really fun!" Peach exclaimed in her high pitched voice, clasping her two, silky gloved hands together.

Peach delicately moved to her fluffy pink bed, and sat down on it. She melted into the pink covers. Her right hand moved gently towards her phone on her night table that was laced with light pink material. She picked up the pink phone delicately, and dialled Mario and Luigi's number.

"Hello?" Mario's thick Italian voice asked from the other end. Peach smiled warmly at hearing Mario's voice.

"Hi Mario," she said sweetly, "I was just phoning you and Luigi to say that tomorrow, in honour of Valentine's Day, and your recent victory, I'm holding a huge party. You two are invited!" she exclaimed happily.

"Mamma mia! That's-a perfect! What-a time will it-a be at?" Mario asked excitedly.

Peach smiled. "At five o'clock. There will be go kart races, lots of food and appetizers, and a dance," she informed warmly.

"Okay!" Mario said happily from the other end. "We'll-a see you then Princess," he ended the conversation and the line sounded monotonously.

Peach smiled. "Okay, good. Now to write everyone letters informing them of the upcoming party," she told herself, as she gently whisped an unnecessary shiny golden lock of hair out of her face, and gently walking over to her table where she kept her stationary and pens.

The stationary was embodied with hearts and laces, and she picked up her pink pen. She began to write hundreds and hundreds of letters…

Peach slowly licked the last stamp on the letter, and fell over on her soft pink bed. "Writing all of those letters was exhausting!" she said to no one in particular.

"I better call Parakarry," she announced, once again picking up her pink telephone. She dialed M-A-I-L C-A-L-L, and a few rings echoed through the phone.

"Hello?" a male voice finally said.

"Hi," Peach said warmly. "Could I please have Parakarry come to the castle, and deliver a few hundred letters?"

The man on the other end nodded. "Sure," he paused and called Parakarry, as he held the talking part of the phone so Peach wouldn't hear him yelling. "Parakarry will be over in five minutes," he said finally.

Peach smiled. "Okay, great. Thanks a lot!" she hung up the phone and sighed. "Now for the decorations," she said simply, walking out of her room and down the long red carpeted hallway. Pictures of her, Mario, many Toads, and guests hung everywhere.

She paused when she came to a picture of Mario and her posing. Her butler had taken the picture during the sunshine adventure.

Peach had her arm around Mario lovingly with a smile, and Mario was doing a peace sign victoriously, with a big grin. Peach was wearing her vacation dress; it had a dark pink frilly collar, the dress itself was a very, very light pink shade, it was sleeveless, it had a dark pink sash around the waste, and dark pink trimming at the bottom. It was around ground length. Mario sported his usual outfit, except for his red shirt was short-sleeved, and he wore his water backpack on his back. Their surroundings were shades of dark reds and purples, as when the picture had been taken it was the evening and the sun was setting. You could barely make out a part of the sun in the darkened pastel sky.

Peach smiled at the remembrance of the whole adventure, and continued to look softly at the beautiful picture. It was one of her favourite pictures. The vibrant pastel colours added to the mood of happiness.

"Uh, Princess Peach?" Toad approached her, and she didn't take her eyes off of the picture. "Yes?" she answered dreamily.

"Parakarry is here to see you," Toad informed politely.

Peach blinked and yanked her head away from the beautiful picture. "Right! Send him in," she said, dusting off her dress and fixing her hair to make sure she looked good for her guest; Parakarry the mail carrier. Toad obeyed, and walked off to send Parakarry in.

"Hello Princess Peach," Parakarry bowed. Princess Peach smiled warmly.

"Hello Parakarry," she said sweetly, handing the 100+ letters to Parakarry. "Thank you so much for doing this. They're all stamped and addressed, so all you have to do is deliver," she smiled.

Parakarry smiled. "Okay great. I'll be done in about two hours. See you then!" he smiled. He was just flying out the door when Peach remembered something.

"Oh, Parakarry," she said quickly, "I almost forget to tell you…these letters are informing everyone about my Valentine's Day party tomorrow," Parakarry smiled warmly as Peach continued, "and you're invited too! It starts at five o'clock, here at the castle."

Parakarry nodded. "Thanks a lot, Princess! It would be an honour to attend. See ya," he called over his shoulder as he flew out the window with the letters.

Peach smiled triumphantly. "So far, so good," she said to herself, heading for the front door. "Now I need to go buy some decorations…"

**

Meanwhile, at the Mario resident, Mario and Luigi were trying on some outfits for the party.

Mario was wearing a dark navy blue tuxedo, with white cuffed wrists and a soft bright red tie. His dark brown shoes shined in the sunlight.

"So, what-a do you think?" Mario asked.

"Without the-a hat…" Luigi sad, grabbing Mario's trademark red cap that had an 'M' on it, and slicking back his chocolate brown hair. "…You-a look like you're going to-a wedding," he said bluntly.

Mario blinked. "That's-a good, right?" he said, looking doubtfully at his reflection in the mirror. Luigi cocked an eyebrow.

"Not-a really," he said in disapproval. Mario rolled his eyes, and walked to the washroom to change.

Luigi stood in the mirror, wearing his normal attire; a green cap that had an 'L' on it, a green long sleeved shirt, blue denim overalls, and brown shiny shoes. He smiled at his reflection.

"I think this-a will do just-a fine," he commented to himself, as Mario came out of the washroom dressed in his normal red clothing.

Mario and Luigi exchanged happy glances. "Our-a clothing search stops here," Mario smiled, liking his normal attire, and thinking it would be perfect. Luigi nodded with a grin.

Meanwhile, at Peach's Castle…

Pink and red ribbons were strung around the hall, and the red carpeting was laced with shiny yellow lights that shone brightly. Peach had her hair in its normal down fashion, as she walked down the red carpeting.

"Everything will be perfect," she said with a smile, walking to the kitchen to make the cake.

Peach opened the kitchen door, and looked around. Where was the cook? Nowhere in sight…

"I guess I'll have to bake the cake this year," Peach said to no one in particular, moving towards a rather large silver bowl that had hearts engraved around the edge.

"How do you bake a cake?" Peach asked herself, frantically searching for the cookbook.

"Ah, there it is," Peach spotted the book, and picked it up delicately. She scanned the index until she came across 'How to bake a Cake…page 56'. She smiled, and flipped to page 56, and started to bake.

**

Meanwhile, at Bowser's Fortress…

Bowser paced across his cold, dark metal floor while he cooked up a devious plan to steal Peach.

"How should we kidnap her, this time?" he asked, turning to his dungeon prisoners for answers.

"I don't know," a Toad replied angrily. "Just give it up. Kidnapping her is so last millennium," he voiced grumpily.

"I thought you were over and done with her and Mario, after Mario's latest adventure involving you," a stray Koopa referred to Mario's previous sunshine adventure. "That whole thing where Baby Bowser thought Peach was his mother…"

"…So last century," Toad finished.

"Or the time when you were turned invincible, and Mario still kicked your butt," Koopa observed, while he sat on the cold metal dungeon bed in his dungeon stall.

"Watch your tongue," Bowser growled. "Who asked you, anyway?" he asked gruffly.

"Uh, you," Koopa pointed out. Bowser glared at the Koopa, and he shrunk back.

"Kidnapping is what I do every time," Bowser backtracked over the years in his mind. "They'll be expecting that."

"Actually, your evilness," Koopa got off of his bed and bowed quickly in honour of Bowser before continuing, "they won't be expecting anything. They think you're over and done with…remember?"

Bowser growled angrily. "Let's not get into technicalities here-" he stopped himself, "they won't be expecting anything…" he echoed. "They won't be expecting me!" he cried happily.

"Uh…yeah," Koopa nodded, "good you got that through your thick head. Now lets continue thinking of plans to –"

"Don't you get it?" Bowser boomed. Koopa cocked an eyebrow, as Bowser continued, "they won't be expecting me. I can kidnap Peach right under their noses!"

"But I need to think of a plan…" Bowser started pacing again. Koopa walked up to the front of his stall and tightly held two bars that were keeping him from escaping.

"Where the heck is Cupia?" Bowser asked impatiently. "We don't have all day!"

As if on cue, Cupia, a cupid Bowser had captured and turned into one of his slave minions, flew in.

"Sorry, your evilness," Cupia panted as he dropped to the ground, gasping for air, "it was flying south hour," he said, referring to Geese flying south. "Lottts of traffic," he added.

Bowser rolled his eyes. "I don't care. As long as you're here now," he said angrily.

"I mean, its not even Sunday...and its not noon! You'd expect the Geese to fly south later but nooo," Cupia continued sarcastically. Bowser glared at him, and Cupia gulped back his fear.

"A-anyway…I checked out Peach's castle, and…" Cupia paused, "man! Have you seen the interior on that castle? And the decorations and detail are just amazing. Oh, and the –" Cupia stopped blabbing on about Peach's castle when Bowser shot him a menacing look that had 'I'm going to kill you' written all over it.

Cupia gulped again, and then nodded. "I went to Peach's castle, and checked out her security. There wasn't any security except a couple of helpless Toads," Cupia tried to continue but Toad interrupted.

"Hey! Us Toads are very dependable!" he insisted angrily, trying to break out of his dungeon stall so he could wrestle Cupia. Cupia raised an eyebrow, and flew up to the Toad.

"Oh, yeah, of course," he said sarcastically, "you must have been great, yourself!"

Toad didn't hear the heavy sarcasm in Cupia's voice. "Well thank you-"

"Seeing as you got captured by Bowser," Cupia finished with an evil smile. Toad mumbled angrily under his breath, and Cupia stuck out his tongue and pulled down his eyelid teasingly.

"Anyway, when I was there, I also heard that the Princess was going to be holding a huge Valentines party tomorrow, at five o-clock."

Bowser smiled wickedly. "Five o'clock, huh?"

Cupia grinned evilly. "Yeah."

"Yo!" Koopa called from his dungeon stall. Bowser and Cupia turned towards him. "We need to think of a plan!"

"Put a sock in it, Koopa," Cupia yelled at him angrily.

"Why don't you? Cupia," Koopa said angrily, glaring at him.

"Okay, Poo-pa," Cupia retorted. Koopa growled.

"Cupia," he said, pretending to be in love, "…you're a cupid…and I'm in looovveee," he teased, saying it in a high girlish voice, and clutching his heart affectionately.

Cupia scowled, and opened his mouth to retort as Koopa batted his eyelashes girlishly, when Bowser gasped.

"That's it!" he exclaimed.

"What's it?" Cupia and Koopa asked in unison.

"Yeah…what are you going to do to the Princess, this time?" Toad asked grumpily. "Please don't hurt her," he added quickly.

"Hurt her?" Bowser asked bewildered. "I'd never hurt her. But…" Bowser pointed towards Koopa and Cupia. "You two idiots gave me an idea!" he smiled wickedly.

Cupia and Koopa exchanged angry glances, but then turned to Bowser. "What idea did we give you?" Cupia asked.

"Cupia…you're going to be our lead role," Bowser said with a smile.

Cupia stuck his tongue out at Koopa. "Na Na, Na Na Na!" he sang teasingly, "I'm the lead role – and you're not," he tormented childishly.

Koopa scowled. "What will Cupia have to do?"

"Cupia, will play his role as a Cupid, and instead of capturing Peach, I'll make her fall in love with me!" Bowser exclaimed happily.

Koopa raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh…and how exactly will she fall in love with you? I mean, you're not exactly the best looking guy in the world, and you're a bad guy, too…bad guys and good guys don't mix," Koopa observed.

Cupia nodded. "You have a point…"

Bowser growled at them, and they both shrunk back. "Don't you get it? Cupia…you'll play your role as Cupid! You'll shoot a love arrow at Peach, and then the first person Peach sees, she'll be in love with!"

Koopa snickered. "Cupia? As a matchmaker? This I've got to see!"

"Shut it, Koopa," Cupia warned in a hiss, before focusing on Bowser. "So I shoot a love arrow at Peach…she falls in love with the first person she sees: you…and then what?"

"And then we'll live happily ever after together…and we can both get rid of that pesky plumber for good!" Bowser said with stars in his eyes.

Cupia and Koopa both exchanged cocked eyebrow glances.

"Peach will never fall for you!" Toad exclaimed angrily, in defence.

"Yes she will," Bowser sang, "tomorrow, at five o'clock." He added. "Mwa ha ha ha!" he laughed evilly, as it echoed through the dungeon.

**

The next day…

Princess Peach wore her normal fluffy pink dress, with the large puffy shoulders, very detailed cuffs, and white satin gloves, as she stood in front of everyone at her party.

"Hello everyone," she said sweetly, "thank you all very much for coming. This party, as I said in the letters, is in honour of Valentine's day, and Mario's latest sunshine adventure," she beamed happily. "So without further ado, lets celebrate!" she lifted her arms happily as a jazzed up Mario theme boomed through the castle, and people started dancing.

Peach walked gracefully down the palace red-carpeted steps, toward Mario and Luigi who were pigging out at the appetizer table.

Peach smiled as she approached them both. "Having fun, you two?" she asked them sweetly.

"Yeah, a lot-a fun-a," Luigi smiled before Princess Daisy took him by the hand.

"Oh hi-a Daisy, I-a didn't know you were-a here," Luigi smiled warmly. Daisy giggled.

"Come on Luigi, let's dance," she said sweetly before walking Luigi to the dance floor.

Peach giggled lightly at them, and Mario chuckled. Peach covered her mouth politely as she giggled.

"So, Mario," she said warmly. "Enjoying the food?"

Mario stuffed himself full of mini-ham and turkey sandwiches before nodding. Peach giggled, and grabbed a white napkin that had hearts and ribbons embodied on it. She wiped Mario's mouth lovingly, and he smiled.

Peach smiled back lovingly. "Uh, Mario," she said suddenly, taking his hand and gracefully walking to a golden chair that had the words "Princess Peach" engraved in fancy writing, on the top.

"What's-a wrong, princess?" Mario asked, concerned. He could tell when something was wrong with Peach.

"Well," Peach said uncomfortably. "I have to tell you something, Mario…" she started, softly.

"Go ahead princess," Mario said gently.

"It's the way I feel about – " Peach was cut off by a loud crashing sound. All of the guests panicked, and were running around.

"What was that?" Peach asked, alarmed, standing up.

Meanwhile, on the roof…

"Could you be any louder?" Bowser growled from the ground. Cupia got up. He had obviously been flying and then accidenly hit the roof. Hard.

"Sorry, your evilness," Cupia bowed in apology, floating down to the ground.

"Just shoot the love arrow through the window, at Peach," Bowser growled, running to the front door and opening it so he would be the first person Peach saw.

"Okay," Cupia said before grabbing a love arrow, and adjusting it so it would hit Peach at the right angle.

Meanwhile, in the castle…

Bowser stomped in loudly. "Hey Peach! Great party," he said casually, grabbing a glass of apple juice and gulping it down.

Peach frowned. "Bowser!" he gasped. "Y-you weren't invited!" she said with her hands on her hips.

"Oh I know," Bowser said sadly, "but it was such a great party…you couldn't have it without me!"

Mario and Peach frowned.

"Don't-a worry princess," Mario assured, jumping in front of Peach to protect her.

Suddenly Mario got wide-eyed and swivelled a bit, swaying from side to side.

"What have you done to him?" Peach asked, concerned, rushing to Mario's aid, and helping him stand.

Bowser blinked. "Nothing…I sware," he said truthfully.

'What the heck is going on? Ah well…he probably ate one too many sandwiches. Nothing to cry over,' Bowser thought to himself. 'But why isn't Peach in love with me yet? I should've never trusted Cupia to get the job done!'

Suddenly Mario fainted in Peach's arms. A tear escaped Peach's eye.

"What have you done…you…you…" Peach searched for an insult, "…monster?!"

Peach towered over Mario. "Mario, Mario…" she called softly.

Mario slowly blinked back to life. Bowser came in view.

"Mario! You're okay!" Peach said, relieved, but then noticed Mario running towards Bowser.

"Uh, Mario? What are you doing?"

"Come-a here ya big loveable lug!" Mario chased after Bowser with hearts in his eyes. Bowser stood dumbfounded for a second, until he realized why Mario was acting so differently.

"Cupia!" he muttered angrily under his breath. "I knew I couldn't trust that winged idiot!" he cursed under his breath quickly. 'The stupid fool hit Mario, instead of Peach…and now Mario's in love with me! What is this world coming to?' Bowser thought, before running away from the love-crazed plumber.

Luigi cocked an eyebrow. "Hey-a Mario! Why are you-a chasing Bowser?" Luigi asked confused.

Mario stopped. "I-a love him!" he exclaimed happily, resuming his wild Bowser chase.

Luigi gasped at Mario, as Peach got wide-eyed and then fainted.

**

Nice little break from the typical, eh? Out of da blue…if you ask me. Lol! I'm having a lotta fun with this!

Please keep readin', reviewin', and enjoyin'!

~ Satokasu Suki