Gifts for Valentine's Day

I just recently found my own Valentine, and I guess I was to diverted to rework this appropriately, but it should serve its purpose. I'll publish the second chapter in the evening, though of course I hope you have other things to do. ;-) Have a wonderful Valentine's Day.

As always, I'd love to hear what you like or dislike about my story, no matter if it concerns either the content or my writing style.

I don't own the characters, places or Pokemon itself, and I have no intentions to earn money with this story in any way!

Chapter 1: The value of a moment

Cheren had explained it so that everybody would get it. The boys would bestow a rose to their Heartthrob, just as it was tradition. It was Valentine's Day. It was the day she feared the most since she arrived at this school. Her only ray of hope was that it would be her only Valentine's Day until she'd graduate. And it was all because of him!
Of course, he'd choose her. He always chose her in every situation, she already couldn't imagine it any different.

Yuuko already got a rose from Leo, who had arrived in the classroom uncommonly early. Hugh, of course, hadn't brought a rose. All the girls waited for Rakutsu to show up. And everyone except for her hoped for him to donate the flower to them.

He entered the room thirty seconds before the school bell rang, holding the rose in his hand perceptibly. He passed the first row, causing the first bunch of girls to sigh. The second followed, and the third, and the fourth. She expected it, preparing to blush deeply and reject it instinctively. The boy presented every girl in the last row a smile, then he considered her with this look she knew too well.

Afterwards, he laid the flower on Yuki's table, turned around and sat down just as the teacher entered the class, so nobody could react to this gesture out loud.

„I mean, isn't it strange that he flirts with me daily and now leaves me behind for another girl?", she asked Mayu for the tenth time.

Her roommate had listened to the girl's complaints for about twenty minutes with a slight smile. She had kept silent all the while, but finally found a good moment to interrupt. „Are you jealous?", she questioned teasing.

Faitsu stopped abruptly and stared at her with wide eyes for a second, before she glanced away and made a disdainful hand movement. „No, why would I? I mean, it's not like I... I have no reason to..." She faked a laugh to make it sound ridiculous, but failed terribly.

„You know, the best way to notice that you're in love with someone is that you get jealous on the person your crush is flirting with", Mayu established, smiling at her attempts to deny it.

„Is that a proven fact?", the girl with the hair-buns asked kind of frightened.

Now her companion couldn't hold back the laughter anymore. „No, I just made that up. But seriously, Faitsu, I don't need facts to notice that you like him."

Faitsu saw no point in denying it anymore, so she figured out another way to get off the hook: accusing somebody else. And whom better than him? „Well, he tried to make me like him all this time. And now that it worked, he just rejected me. That's like... not cool, right?"

Mayu saw that the conversation would only start all over again at this point, so she tried something different. „Then why don't you go and tell him that?", she suggested.

„You know what? I'll do that! I'll search him right now." With that, she left the room dramatically, only to return five seconds later with red cheeks. „I forgot my keys."

After fifteen minutes, the girl found the person she searched for at his locker. She should have checked this place earlier, but her thoughts were completely confused that day. She thought about a good lead-in for a conversation. „Hey, what was that about?" An ingenious idea...

Rakutsu turned towards her with a smile as he closed his cupboard. „Faitsu, I'd recognize your cute voice everywhere. How may I help you?", he just asked, ignoring her curtness.

„I wanted to tell you that you're a horrible person!", she fulminated.

„On which occasion do I deserve this indictment?", he questioned firmly, truly interested.

The girl thought for a moment about how to put that. She had expected him to turn angry and say that she had no idea what she's talking about, like Team Plasma grunts used to react. „It's despicable how you flirt with all the girls at this school simultaneously, and make them hopes just to crush them", she accused him.

He grinned, boding her true intentions. „'Them'?", he repeated doubtfully. She blushed at this, but withheld to say something, so he went on talking. „I have reasons to do that, reasons you can't understand yet and reasons you might consider to be unjustified. But let me assure you that there's just one girl I'm truly interested in."

„Fine, then thanks for playing with me.", the girl howled as she turned to leave.

„What makes you think this girl can't be you?", Rakutsu wanted to know, slightly amused that she actually acted like she cared.

Faitsu turned around again and looked at him like he was the greatest idiot she had ever met. She had often thought of him as the greatest idiot she had ever met, but she never truly believed in that. „You made it pretty obvious this morning." The girl shrugged.

The boy burst out in laughter. She seriously questioned why everyone was laughing about her that day. „You're talking about the Valentine's rose, don't you?", he inquired as he approached her again.

„Yeah, why does that make you laugh?", she asked sulkily.

„Haven't you listened to Cheren?", he said. „The rose boys give away on Valentine's Day is a symbol of friendship, and is given to show how thankful they are towards the chosen girls for their amity." As he explained this again, she wanted to sink in the ground of embarrassment, but he kept smiling kindly.
„Actually, I wanted to bestow you something else." Suddenly, he leaned forward and kissed her on the lips passionately. What was even more surprising was that she didn't resist. As she slowly went out of air, he gently fished her pendant out of her pocket. „You won't need this for a while, will you?"

„What are you doing?", she asked as her face turned even redder than it was before. She noticed she might have trusted the wrong person, which was very embarrassing in this position.

He took out his badge and threw it over to her. „You can take this as a pledge.", he suggested. „Use the evening to think, intensive thinking is good for the mind's advance."

With this advice, the boy left her staring at the service mark. „International Police Superintendent Black Two...", she mumbled. How many girls had fallen for this facade? And why did she have to be one of them? She felt betrayal in her heart, and confusion and remorse. But by questioning her feelings, she couldn't find hate. Faitsu feared this boy, and she was used to liking boys she feared. This one moment destroyed everything she believed in. Looking back to it later, the value of this moment wasn't calculable. Could it be...