Valentine's Day

You stared disbelievingly at the red blotch mocking you on your calendar. The bright color burned your sensitive eyes, but you couldn’t stop staring. It was like a horrible car crash – awful, but you couldn’t look away. However, a car crash seemed much better than that neon red date glaring at you.

“No…”

You blinked once. Twice. There had to be some mistake in the dates! It couldn’t be mid-February already! It couldn’t be so close to that dreaded day!

There was no way Valentine’s Day was tomorrow!

“Mother! I demand you ship me off to Siberia for the week—no, for the rest of the month!”

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Your eyes widened in horror as a tall figure passed your hiding place. He seemed to be observing the classroom in annoyance. By the look on his face, you could easily tell that something was bothering him. You chewed on your bottom lip in anxiety. Had he noticed your disappearance?

Atobe's dark eyes scanned the room once more before they lit up in arrogance.

“, get out of that supply closet,” he ordered calmly, throwing the words over his shoulder. The door to the supply closet clicked in response, and you trudged out miserably. Damn it! Why did that asshole have to know every little thing about you? You would claim that he was stalking you if it weren’t for the fact the great Keigo Atobe had better things to do than stalk a girl.

“Atobe,” you whined, latching onto his arm, “couldn’t you at least pretend you didn’t know?”

He pried you off his forearm, dusting the place with the back of his hand as if it were infected. You could only pout cutely at him as he ignored you. Atobe looked as though he was reminding himself mentally that you would only act so childish for a good 48 hours more. Then, you’d revert to your normal self… which was still childish, but nowhere near as clingy and paranoid. You were a quirky little thing, that’s for sure.

“You do realize hiding in the closet will only give that idiot ideas?”

You froze. Oh god! You never thought about that! Knowing Oshitari, he’d think you were finally accepting him by making—you immediately stopped when you felt your face heat up. You didn’t exactly try to stop the images either, as they had made you feel rather… good. Despite the annoying pick-up lines and brazen behavior, Oshitari was a god. It would be a sin to not like the dreams—all right, you drew a line there.

“Ah~h? , what the hell’s gotten into you? You look as if you just saw me lose a tennis match,” Atobe commented, flipping his bangs in his diva-like fashion. You had hoped that high school would knock some selflessness into him, but you were wrong. Oh so very wrong.

“Darling,” your own brazen behavior started projecting itself, “you’ve lost against that Echizen boy, remember?”

“That was two years ago!” Atobe retorted immediately. He crossed his arms and glared at you lightly. Although the boy did show him that he “still had a long way to go”, it was painful to think that he had lost to a twelve-year-old. You would never let him live it down either. Atobe was sure that you would speak of that Day—so important that it needed a capital ‘D’—even at his funeral and laugh at him.

“So, do you know what Yuushi’s got planned for tomorrow?” you asked curiously, knowing that he of all people would know.

Atobe gave a short laugh that caused several girls in the back to swoon. Your eyes narrowed cynically. Oh, it was so obvious that he knew, but it was also obvious that his majesty would never tell you.

“Come on, Atobe! I need to know if I should run away or not!”

“You can’t fool me, ,” he smirked devilishly. Normally, you would have just ignored the smug half-grin, especially since Keigo Atobe had a smirk permanently plastered to his face. However, if he smirked at your seemingly harmless question…

“You’ll enjoy it thoroughly, .”

There went the last bit of your sanity.

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“-chan! -chan!” Jirou chanted happily as he jumped on your back. Unfortunately, this little fluff ball on your back was not exactly a little fluff ball; he was taller than you by a good three inches and nearly knocked you down. 

“Nice to see you too, Jirou,” you mumbled, regaining your balance. You felt the little bundle of energy leave his spot on your back, causing some confusion on your part. Usually, you’d have to beg him to get off, or Oshitari would literally throw him off for “molesting” you. You hadn’t even begun to beg yet, Oshitari was nowhere in sight, and you were sure as hell that Jirou didn’t suddenly decide to become anti-social. 

Of course, your immense loneliness didn’t last too long. Lightly tanned arms wrapped around your small frame, scaring away what little sanity you had left.  You felt your back hit a fit chest as the mystery man’s arms tightened its hold on you. For a moment, you thought some crazed man from the Kansai prefecture was kidnapping you. However, you knew that the chances of that happening were little. Logic threw out the thought and replaced it with another one: you were being tortured by a genius from the Kansai prefecture.

The latter was definitely more plausible.

“Tomorrow is a very, very special day,” his low voice crooned into your ear. You knew that voice. You both loved and feared that voice. But, you were slightly abnormal, so you didn’t melt at his implications. Oh no, you did something far from that.

You made fun of his name.

“O SHIT…ari.”

“…Never make that joke again,” Oshitari grumbled into your neck. Although his singing in your ear did nothing to your hormones, his lips on your neck did.

“Huh? Where’d -chan go?” Jirou voiced innocently, whipping his head left and right.

You were just thankful that you managed to escape without completely humiliating yourself.

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In a very unladylike move, you slumped over the table. A groan of pain escaped you, drawing more attention than you wanted.

“Now what could do this to the great ?” a voice, once again male—why you lacked female friends was beyond you—mocked with the traditional Hyoutei arrogance. You had said bitchiness as well, but the upcoming day filled with hearts and ribbons chased it away completely. All that was left was a paranoid shell.

…Shame, that would have been so poetic if it weren’t sarcasm.

“What do you want, Gakuto?” You groaned, knowing who the boy pestering you was the second he spoke.

The red-haired idiot jumped into the seat across from you and grinned impishly. You tilted your head upwards to face him, staring at him with plain eyes. Gakuto’s presence normally didn’t bother you; the two of you actually got along pretty well. The pair of you would constantly harass Jirou as he slept and perform other actions Atobe wouldn’t approve of.

But, when It came around, Gakuto would immediately switch sides and become Oshitari’s partner in crime. You tried your hardest to forget the past two years’ worth of It, but it was useless. Every time you attempted to suppress the memories, they’d come back in their heart-shaped horrific glory. It was a surprise that you hadn’t been admitted into a hospital for all the questionable things they had done to you.

“Gakuto, if you tell me what Oshitari has planned, I’ll give you candy.”

He seemed to ponder your solution before shaking his head, “Gotta try harder than that, .”

“A bungee jumping kit?”

“I’ve got three at home.”

“A new iPod?”

“Just got the iPhone yesterday.”

Being the stubborn little thing you were, you didn’t stop listing items you could bribe him with. Trampolines, tickets to see the US Open, an autographed volume of Prince of Tennis, the list went on and on. And, it seemed that you had forgotten that fact that all students attending Hyoutei were rich brats that could afford anything and everything—yourself included.

“For the love of… why won’t you just tell me!” The words seemed more of an exclamation rather than a question.

“Well, since you asked so nicely,” Gakuto drawled, actually prepared to reveal Oshitari’s master plan.

But before he could even say another word, he was whisked away by a blue blob.

“Damn it, Mukahi! You’re useless - USELESS I SAY!”

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“, get up. You have a phone call.”

No answer.

“?”

Maybe if you stayed quiet, your mother would think you were dead.

“!”

You forced your eyes shut as your mother continued her yelling. If she had been kinder, she would have actually let you stay at home just this once. Unfortunately, your mother was hell-bent on education, so missing school was near impossible.

That in mind, it was obvious that you were shocked when she left your room. For a moment, you didn’t breathe. Where had your beloved mother gone? Was she letting you go? Was she going to fill a bucket with cold water and throw it on you? Would she make that coyote your cousin had bought from e-bay attack you?¹ Even worse, would she call Oshitari and let him now that you were “sick” so that he would “nurse you back to health”?

“I’m sorry, she’ll have to call you back later, Yuushi.”

You grimaced. That woman didn’t even need to call that ‘friend’ of yours; he was already on the other end of the line!

“I saw that cringe, . Now, get out of bed.”

“But mother,” you whined, pulling the covers just under your eyes, “today’s Valentine’s Day. You know how Yu-Oshitari gets on Valentine’s Day.”

Your mother stared at you wryly, noticing your little slip-up, “Honestly, most girls would pray for the boy they like to do so much for them.”

“Wh-what!”

“Now, if you miss today, I’ll prohibit you from seeing that concert in Korea next week.” At the threat, you immediately stopped your whimpering and reluctantly dressed for school.

You stared at the short uniform skirt—one that you would have normally found cute—accusingly. Having nothing else to blame, you blamed the skirt. After all, Oshitari was very keen on legs; consequently, your skirt was no help at all. If your charming personality wasn’t what made you such a drug to him, it was definitely your legs.

Despite all the supposed indifference to his flirting, you couldn’t help liking the attention—even if his actions on Valentine’s Day were just a bit too much. Underneath that annoyed shell, you couldn’t help loving what he did for you: how he would insist on walking home with you, the way he “protected” you, how he would do any little thing for you. But you knew the second you gave in to his courting, he’d move on to the next girl as if you didn’t exist.

What am I saying? This is so stupid.

Without another thought about the blue-haired genius, you left your house.

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“Ahh! Where did Atobe-sama go?”

“Choutarou-sama isn’t here either!”

“Neither is Shishido-senpai!”

“Or Hiyoshi-kun!”

“Jirou-chan is missing too!”

“Mukahi-kun, where are you?”

“Oshitari’s gone too!?”

Normally, you would have had a good laugh at all the commotion. The females were ready to pull out their hairs at the disappearances of their eye candies while the males were trying desperately to catch the attention of the one they liked. Needless to say, it didn’t work.

“Get any marriage proposals from Oshitari yet, ?” one of the few males that were indifferent to the chaos before them teased lightly. The comment caused a small, nearly invisible shade of pink to flash across your cheeks. You thought no one had seen that stupid boy propose to you last Valentine’s Day!

“Sh-shut it, Gokudera.”

You dropped into your seat, kicked the bag of chocolates your chefs had made last night underneath it, and laid your head on the desk. Maybe if the boys weren’t here, you’d actually get some peace and quiet. You shut your eyes, ignoring the large metal crane that was just outside the window and let the angels of sleep whisk you away—

“WHY ARE THEY OUTSIDE!? AND WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?”

…Damn boys; they caused you grief even when they weren’t there.

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“Hey, !” Gokudera called after the final bell of the day rang, tapping your shoulder with his pencil, “Gakuto’s lookin’ for you.”

No answer.

“?” He only heard silence.

Gokudera brought his arm back and struck the back of your head with his hand. You recoiled in pain. Crocodile tears ran down your face as you held the top of your head in pain. The brunet glared lightly at you, his face clearly reading, “you deserved it.”

“Now why on earth would you want to cause me pain, Go-kun?”

The boy jabbed his thumb behind him, pointing at the door where a certain redhead was. You immediately put your head back down. He was sending you to your doom. Gakuto was obviously conspiring with Him. It would also explain the giant crane from before.

Granted, it didn’t explain the giant carnival outside, but –

“You,” Gakuto grunted, taking you by the arm, “are coming with me.”

Despite the fact he was a few inches shorter than you, the little frog was able to drag you outside the room and into the hallway. At first, you didn’t really care; Gakuto was, in your opinion, much too stupid to ever carry out an ingenious plan on his own—correction, he was too stupid to have an ingenious plan period. But, the moment you saw Jirou and Shishido at the school’s exit…

“Let go of me you damn prick! Help! HELP! I’M BEING RAPED BY A FROG! AHHHH!”

“What did you say?” Gakuto seethed, letting you go by instinct. You took the chance to run away, but the baseball-capped male behind you caught your forearm before you could even take a step.

“It’ll all be over soon, ,” Shishido smirked as he and Jirou helped drag you to the carnival. That said; you struggled even more.

“Keep struggling and I’ll tell Yuushi that you really do like him,” Gakuto grumbled low enough so that only you could hear. You stiffened. He wouldn’t dare, would he? You looked straight at his face, looking for any signs of a bluff.

You found none.

“Good girl.”

“-chan, you’ll have fun with Oshitari, I promise!” Jirou chirped happily, ignoring your gloomy attitude as you neared the genius.

“That long face doesn’t suit you, ,” Oshitari commented smoothly as his henchmen brought you towards him. You fought back a smile as you kept your dark expression. God only knew how hard you were trying to stay immune to his flirting.

“…Let’s just get this stupid thing over with,” you sighed convincingly, walking to him freely. Oshitari raised an eyebrow slightly. That was certainly strange of you. For the past two years, he nearly had to handcuff you to him just so you wouldn’t run off. Perhaps his charm was working after all. Deciding to test out his theory, Oshitari wrapped an almost hesitant arm around your waist. Jirou, Shishido, and Gakuto watched you in anticipation.

The large bump on his head proved that you weren’t too charmed by him.

--------------------

“I have to say, this carnival is much better than last year’s,” you joked. Your casual tone would have surprised you had you actually been paying attention. In fact, ever since the rest of the Regulars had left the two of you alone, the two of you had conversed like civilized human beings. If they had seen Oshitari not acting on his hormones and you not wanting neuter him, they would have never believed it.

“That one was conducted by Atobe, wasn’t it?” the blue-haired male next to you questioned teasingly.

“Who else would take up ten lots worth of space just for one shooting booth?”

Oshitari chuckled softly, “True, true.”

More time passed, and it looked like Oshitari was growing more and more curious. He had noticed your friendlier attitude even before the other had dispersed, but this was too much.

“What?” you queried, crossing your arms. Oshitari surveyed your puzzled form for a minute or two, his own face contorting into that of deep thought. In the fifteen minutes that he had spent with you, you hadn’t once tried to break free from him—something that you had done quite often. As much as he wanted to trust you, this was much too out of character for you.

“…You haven’t run away yet.”

You blinked, almost flustered, “I never thought you would complain about that.”

“Who said I was complaining?” the boy responded smoothly, his arm snaking its way around your shoulders. He gripped your left shoulder possessively and gave it a gentle squeeze, “I’m perfectly fine with this.”

“It’s just a one-time thing.” For the first time since you met him, you let the genius have his way. And when you felt your heart flutter as he held you closer, you found it tempting to always have it his way.

When you realized that he was leading you towards one of those pointless “couple” rides, you stopped walking.

“Just because I said this was a one time thing doesn’t mean you can drag me onto that… that… thing!” You glared lightly as you pointed to the wooden swan floating on the water.

Oshitari looked like he was considering picking you up and plopping you onto the seat carved into the swan, but he didn’t. Good. He probably didn’t want to ruin his chances of winning you over, especially since this was literally the best he had gotten out of you. It was a bit sad, but it was the unfortunate truth.

“The park then?” he suggested coolly, walking away from the ride and towards the nearby greenery. Your eyes lit up at that. The park was a much better alternative to the crowded and noisy carnival. The fact that Oshitari was leading you away from the school and closer to the city was lost. All that mattered was the teenage boy next to you.

Which was precisely why you never noticed a gaggle of idiots following you.

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“Shame the sakura haven’t bloomed,” your partner mused as he sat on the bench, causing you to look up at the trees. The branches were covered in a thin white, leaving only traces of the brown bark.

“The trees look better with snow on them,” you said, sitting down next to him.

Oshitari smirked at your comment, “An ‘Ice Empress’ until the end, aren’t you?”

You stuck out your tongue, evoking a larger smirk from him.

“No need to be childish.”

“I’m 17, darling, I have a right to act like this.”

“‘Darling’? I like the sound of that.”

You bit back a retort, instead snuggling closer to his warmth. For you, snuggling was no form of romance, and therefore completely justified on your part. Nevertheless, you half expected him to mock you, to say that you were finally giving in to him. But, as usual, you were wrong. Oshitari Yuushi was not a very predictable person after all.

“Cold?” he asked softly, wrapping his arms around you. He watched as your head bobbed up and down in a nod. Oshitari smiled a small smile, rubbing a hand up and down the side of your arm comfortingly. He liked this. He liked the way you were so open to him, how you acted normal. Oshitari could tell it was no act. It wasn’t the “indifferent” mask that you wore constantly; it was you.

“…?” he called suddenly, your attention traveling sideways from the setting sun and the nuances of reds and purples in the sky to the teen next to you.

“Hm?”

“Why aren’t you like this normally?”

“Because I wanted you to notice me!” The words flew out of your mouth before you could even stop them. You stiffened and instantly edged away from him. That was a stupid, stupid move on your part. Now he’d go and mock you before moving on to the next girl and—

His lips were on your forehead in an almost loving manner. You couldn’t speak, nor could you move. All you did was sit in tremendous discomfort and bliss, a paradox in itself.

“And here I thought you hated me,” he smirked against your skin, nearly laughing at his ignorance. You brought a trembling hand to his chest and pushed him back a few inches. Oshitari sent you his own look of confusion. Had he done something wrong? He opened his mouth, ready to speak, but shut it as soon as he found a small package in your hands.

“I heard from Atobe that you always received a plain box of chocolate each year without a name,” you spoke off-handedly, a sly grin worming its way onto your lips, “so I decided to keep up the tradition.”

Again he chuckled softly, taking the chocolate and placing it beside him. He always wondered who would be so bold as to give one of the Hyotei boys a normal, undecorated box of chocolate; the genius wasn’t exactly surprised when you confessed, though. You were special in the sense that you could be so normal, at least for an ‘Ice Empress’. After all, normalcy only goes so far in that school of yours.

“But you know,” you started again, bringing Oshitari back from his thoughts, “I could have sworn that I’ve heard of something like this before - the whole carnival and sunset park thing.”

You caught the ends of his lips twitch in an almost smile.

~One Year Later~

“But mother, it’s Valentine’s Day! You know how Yuushi gets on Valentine’s Day!”
 

Your mother glared at you coldly. Defeated, you climbed out of bed and dressed yourself for school. It was the same routine dismay as the past few years, but this particular year, a bright light shone in your eyes.

“Shalalala a lovely kiss…” you trailed off after singing the first line of a very familiar song. No wonder you thought you had heard his plan before!

“HE GOT HIS PLAN FROM A SONG!?”

~Owari~

Ayu

Edited by elenniel

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[1] This joke has a story behind it, I swear. In a nutshell, my friend and I had made two separated fics, but they ended up being so similar we began to poke fun at each other. One thing led to another and…well…coyote from e-bay.