A/N: Just in time for Valentine's Day. :) Involves a couple of OCs and one of my favorite characters, ever, from Bleach. Ishida Uryū does not belong to me in any way. I own nothing except for Ikeda Natsumi and Harumi. I have never published a work featuring my OCs before, so this is new to me. Enjoy, I guess! Happy Valentine's Day!
"Did you see that! Kojima-chan just confessed to me!"
"Oh, man, you should see her. Ridiculously tiny, and oh-so-adorable!"
"If I kiss her, do you think she'll ask me out?"
"Idiot! That's not how it works. Grow a pair and ask her out yourself!"
"I'm so nervous, what do I do..."
"You'll be fine. He doesn't bite, he said so himself."
Natsumi smiled to herself as she swapped her own shoes out for the school-specified ones. The locker room was noisier than usual today, mostly because it was a very special day, for couples and for those willing to have a relationship.
The little, blue-eyed girl immediately thought of her boyfriend. He had always said Valentine's Day was too tedious and pointless. He always warned the girls at this school that he would never accept anything from them. It was a waste of his time. He would much rather spend his time fighting Hollows. He had mentioned this to her when they first met, when she first came to this school.
Here was the problem, though. Natsumi had made chocolate last night. A giant heart-shaped one, milk chocolate and filled with pockets of caramel. She had put it in a little box that fit it, and she hid it in her bag. She knew he didn't like Valentine's Day, so why did she make the stupid chocolate?
Natsumi repressed the urge to groan aloud. Harumi, her sister, is always a main root of her problems. That girl managed to get Natsumi herself to make the chocolate, to wrap it up all nice, and to bring up some kind of motivation to present it to Uryū. Actually, Natsumi found no reason to annoy her boyfriend like this, but Harumi did.
"If you don't give him chocolate on Valentine's Day, he might just break up with you!" Her younger twin sister blurted out with a smirk.
"What are you talking about, Harumi? He doesn't care about stuff like this, he wouldn't notice anything if I ignored Valentine's Day..." Natsumi wadded up the empty aluminum foil that had carried a chocolate bar earlier and tossed it into the wastebasket.
Harumi tutted impatiently. "Are you kidding me, Natsumi-chan? That's the last thing he wants, you not caring about Valentine's Day."
"Yeah, right."
"I'm serious! I'm a pro when it comes to this kind of stuff!"
"You say that every time you find a new boy to hang out with. And then it turns out that the relationship failed."
"I know I have bad flaws, it's okay!"
"It really isn't."
"Natsumi-chan, all I'm trying to say is, maybe Ishida-san wants you to care about Valentine's Day. Maybe he also cares about Valentine's Day this year. 'Cause he has you."
Natsumi paused in her actions after she placed the dirty dishes into the sink. She contemplated this thought, her hands against the sink as she leaned against it.
At first, she doubted Harumi's theory. There was just no way. Ishida-kun was not the type to celebrate Valentine's Day. He had said so himself, a few weeks after they met, when they finally got to know each other. All throughout the months after, he always expressed some dislike for the international holiday. Useless, pointless, ridiculous ,and others, were just a few examples of the words he used to describe Valentine's Day. There was just no way.
Then again, Natsumi hasn't heard him say anything bad about Valentine's Day in the last few months. For a long time, they were completely in love with each other. She had him, and he had her. That was all they needed, particularly because of the events that had taken place earlier in the year. Christmas was amazing, and during the fireworks, signalling the real new year, he told her he loved her, whispering the words to her when they pulled back from a kiss. She remembered that moment all too clearly. Her heart had skipped a beat and a faint smile had shown itself on his lips before he kissed her again.
And, besides, Valentine's Day was also a special day for the girls. They were the ones who worked up the courage to ask their crush out. Natsumi was gonna have to be the one to find a way to say 'I love you' back to Uryū. And to do that, the chocolate would have to help her. She wanted to say those words to him, too. He was just as special to her as she knew she was to him. Valentine's Day was the perfect day to do this.
It didn't matter if he didn't like Valentine's Day. She liked Valentine's Day, and he was just gonna have to suck it up and face it. His chocolate was coming.
But, when? When is she going to give him the chocolate?
Natsumi had been mulling this over all last night before she went to bed, and all this morning even after she had closed her front door. Should she give him the treat in their classroom? Should she wait until after school? What was she going to do?
Natsumi then shook her head slowly as she walked down the hallways teeming with students.
She couldn't give it to him in their classroom. They had kept their relationship a secret for this long. They wanted to keep it that way. Maybe it would be better to wait after school. But, when exactly should she give it to him? When they walk home together? Or, maybe, as soon as they leave the school premises?
Wait, that's perfect. She'll give it to him when they walk home. That's easy enough. They'll be alone, they'll just have each other to pay attention to. She will most definitely give it to him when they walk home.
She didn't give it to him when they walked home.
She was way too scared, which was way too ridiculous.
As soon as she got to her room, she closed the door and launched herself into her bed, leaving herself spread-eagled and relaxed. She smelled the chocolate coming from her bag, expertly hidden away, deep within her books.
They had talked of many things while they walked home. The events of the day at school, the numerous chocolates guys had been receiving from practically all of the girls of the school. Uryū had joked about it, commenting on how mirculously, how frequently these students got their chocolates. He had said it was quite interesing.
However, Natsumi did not find the chance to broach the subject of conversation she wanted to bring up. Whenever there was a lull in conversation, she would immediately think of how to bring up the chocolate inside her bag, but then Uryū would find something else to say, something new to discuss, and they would continue. Natsumi didn't realize she never delivered the chocolate until she had walked into her home. By then, Uryū was long gone.
She spent the day doing homework, waiting until Harumi and their mother returned from grocery shopping. Natsumi was glad her family had come to visit. Life without Masanori, without her brother, was simply lonely and had affected his own family deeply. It would be years before he could get out of prison.
It wasn't until night when Harumi saw that Natsumi never gave Uryū his deserved chocolate heart. The green-eyed twin had noticed that Natsumi had said nothing about Uryū or what his reaction was when he got the chocolate. "Natsumi-chan!"
"Wh-What!"
"What are you gonna do now! That chocolate's gonna go bad if you decide to give it to him months later! I'll eat it instead!"
"Harumi! Don't yell at me..." Natsumi huffed. "I'm too scared, I don't know what to do."
"Are you kidding me?" Harumi put her hands on her hips. "Gimme your phone."
"Wh-Why? And besides, I'm scared he might not accept it..." Natsumi murmured. "I don't know what he thinks of Valentine's Day now, I don't wanna risk it."
She watched as Harumi dug through her back and pulled out her phone. "You're so silly, Natsumi-chan."
"What are you doing?" Natsumi demanded. "Don't try and break my phone."
"I'm not, I'm not..." Harumi drifted off, scrolling through the contact list before finding Uryū. She tapped the name and pressed furiously at the screen. Then, she handed the phone back to Natsumi. "Here. Now, go meet him."
Natsumi quickly went to the last text the phone had sent.
It said: -Ishida-san, this is Harumi-san. Natsumi-chan is going to meet you at the park entrance. She would like you to wait there. She'll be there shortly.-
"Harumi!" She exclaimed. "I can't go to him!"
"Natsumi-chan-"
"He won't want the chocolate, I'm sure!"
"Natsumi-chan, if he didn't want any chocolate, he would have told you straight up! You know he hates putting you through a lot of trouble, right?"
Natsumi clamped her mouth shut and thought about it. That was true, she did know. She hated the same thing. She never wanted him to go through a lot of trouble for her, either. So, maybe he did want chocolate?
"Whether or not he likes Valentine's Day, you have to go find out for yourself." Harumi said. "Do something about it, instead of just sitting here."
Natsumi stared at her sister for a moment before going to hug her. Always, in cases like these, Harumi was there for her. She was glad she had a sister.
She saw him there, standing next to a park bench, staring up at the bright, crescent-shaped moon. She knew he had already acknowledged her presence, and she hadn't even stepped into the park yet. His senses were acute when it came to her. He had told her this as well.
Ishida Uryū continued to look up at the night sky as Natsumi came up beside him. "I haven't seen a moon as pretty as that in a long time... but that's probably because I haven't looked upwards in a while..." He drifted off, finally looking down at her with his piercing blue eyes. "So, why did your sister call me out here?"
"U-Um..." Natsumi took a moment to stare back at him. His gaze, a mixture of loving and curiosity. It was so alluring. "I-I wanted t-t-to give you something..." And there went her stuttering.
The corners of Uryū's mouth went up slightly as he smirked. "What is it?"
Natsumi, who had on a hoodie, reached into her pocket and pulled out the heart-shaped box that she had hidden in her bag all day. She watched as Uryū eyed it, watched his eyes turn into blue pools reflecting longing. Had he really been waiting for something like this?
He knew what it was, but he asked anyway. "What's that?"
She hesitantly held it up into the moonlight, finally showing off the red ribbon, the pink lines that curled around and decorated the box. His smirk turned into a full-blown smile. His glasses glinted as he bent forward a little to examine the box closer. "I see..." He murmured.
Natsumi swallowed once before saying, "I wanted to give this to you, Ishida-kun..."
He looked over the top of the box to meet her azure eyes again.
She blinked at him. "A-And... I love you, too, Ishida-kun..."
His hand went forward and lowered the box so that he could see her whole face. His other hand brought her closer to his body, his arm wrapping around her.
He leaned down and kissed her. The hand that had touched the box now caressed her cheek. He didn't stop claiming her lips until he couldn't breathe anymore, at which point Natsumi also had to take a breather. Uryū was relentless when it came to kissing.
He quickly pecked her lips before taking the box out of her hand, which had fallen to rest at her side. He pulled off the ribbon and lifted the top cover of the box, a gentle grin now gracing his lips. "It smells good. You made this yourself?"
She only nodded. He liked the gift.
"This is amazing, Mi-chan..." He met her eyes, shining with happiness. "Feed it to me."
The sky blue circles widened a little, then she complied. She reached into the little box, plucked off a piece, and held it up to his mouth. He lapped it up with his tongue.
It was a while before he chuckled. "It tastes good."
"R-Really?" She asked tentatively.
"I love Mi-chan's cooking. It's always delicious. Much better than store-bought chocolate." He broke off another piece for himself before taking a seat on the park bench. When he had licked his fingers of melted chocolate, he pulled Natsumi into his lap and held a piece of chocolate up to her. "Have you eaten this yet?"
"I've tasted Harumi's... but not mine." She said shyly.
"Here..." He held the piece between his teeth and offered it to her.
Natsumi blushed a nice shade of crimson. They weren't exactly in public, but they were still outside the safety of walls. Still, she couldn't keep him waiting.
As soon as she took the piece with her own lips, he rested his head on her shoulder. "Happy Valentine's Day, Natsumi-chan."
She let the chocolate melt down her throat before whispering, "Happy Valentine's Day, Ishida-kun..."
