Title: Five Hearts

Summary: Five different relationships, one all-too-similar trait. "Please explain why you think McDonald's is a suitable place for a date." "Those Happy Meals with the finger toys are pretty cool." They come with extra fries, too. For V-Day.

Inspiration song: Ultraviolet - The Stiff Dylans

And?: Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Enjoy your lubbers ;DD Lol.

"She will kill you, all jokes aside."

Ruka cringed and blushed for the third time at the mocking voice in his ear. "Shut up, Natsume!" he said, and turned away from his amused stare.

Koko turned his head to the side a bit. "You should have her dress up as a smokin' hot nurse. That would be way appealing," he said. Natsume looked at him with distaste.

"Then she really will kill him, and we don't have time to be cleaning up Ruka's blood, now, do we?" Ruka turned around again, mouth open in the start of a protest, and then turned back around. What was the point?

Koko threw his arms in the air. "She's already gonna kill him because he's broken into her house!"

"Hey! First of all, it's not breaking into her house because I have the key," Ruka snapped, spinning around and holding up the small key before depositing it back into his pocket. "And second of all, it's for a good reason." He smacked Koko's hand away, which was reaching for the note that he had just propped up against Hotaru's pillow, and hissed at Natsume, "Get off of her bed!"

Natsume scowled at him and muttered something under his breath that sounded like, "Fucking girl—" before he stood up and leaned against the wall lazily.

Ruka looked at him pointedly. "Shouldn't you be somewhere sucking face with Sakura?" Then he looked at Koko and said, "Shouldn't you be helping Sumire tend to her demon cat?"

Natsume simply smirked and Koko said, "I already have."

Ruka glared at them both. "Well, I didn't ask you two to tag along anyways."

"But you needed us to, because if we hadn't then you probably would have had a nervous breakdown and wouldn't have done this at all," Koko said.

He glared harder. "Just get out."

Hotaru opened her bedroom door, only to feel a sense of intrusion.

There was obvious evidence that someone had been in there. The bed had a mussed spot on it, as if someone had been carelessly sitting there. Her photographs, random jewelry and other trinkets on her dresser looked as if someone had been playing around with them. Obviously whoever came in had some sort of cologne on, and a lot of it, from how when she breathed in she felt like she was going to choke (she didn't even have to think twice about who that person was). And her closet door was wide open.

Someone—or multiple someones—were seriously going to pay.

When she came closer, she saw a piece of paper propped up on her pillow. She picked it up and read four simple lines:

Anywhere you want today.
Call when you've decided.
Happy Valentine's Day.

Ruka

"You really are too corny sometimes, Ruka," she murmured, then picked up her cellphone and sent a single text message:

Next time you and your idiot friends break into my house, try not to make it obvious you were there.

Almost instantly after she sent the message her phone rang, and she picked it up.

"What," she said tonelessly.

"It...it wasn't breaking in!" she heard Ruka protest. She chuckled.

"If you went into my house without me knowing and messed my things up, then I think that's breaking in," she replied.

"You gave me the key—plus, that was because Natsume and Koko came too—"

"So now you're letting random people into my house? Will I have to take that key back, now?" Hotaru was amused.

"N-no!"

"I hope not. And I've decided."

"Decided what?"

"Where I want to go, stupid." She rolled her eyes even though she knew he couldn't see. "How can you propose something and then not know what I'm talking about?"

"Oh. Well, where do you want to go?"

"Come over and I'll tell you."

The minute she opened her door, she said, "McDonald's."

Ruka's brow furrowed in confusion. "McDonald's?"

"Yes. Hurry up, they might be crowded." She grabbed his arm and dragged him towards his car.

"But...why there? It's so unromantic..."

"I know, I just want some fast food right now—and a lot of it." Then she thought about the last part of his statement and smirked. "And since when have you cared about how romantic we are? I thought you only cared about managing to keep your head on your shoulders around me."

A blush shot up his neck and covered his face. "I—I do not!" he exclaimed, looking away.

"Don't try to convince me." Hotaru let go of his arm and took his hand, and when he looked at her in surprise, gave him a small smile and shrugged. "It's Valentine's Day. I might as well for once be nice."

Ruka stared at her for a few minutes before he smiled back.

"Polka, wake up."

The voice roused her from the depths of a dream, and she shook her head sleepily. "Still sleepy," she mumbled, and snuggled up against—well, whatever she was leaning on.

A nudge. "Polka, wake up and stop drooling on me."

"Wha—?" Mikan sat up sleepily and stretched, yawning loudly. "Oh, is the movie over?" she asked brightly, completely forgetting the comment he had made.

"Yes, the movie's over," Natsume said dryly, staring at her. "You made me sit through two hours of a hell filled with dancing brooms and singing teapots while you slept and drooled on me."

"Beauty and the Beast is not a dancing broom, teapot-singing hell!" she argued. "If you'd actually watched the movie instead of making it seem like a torture session, you'd have seen the heartfelt message in it—"

"Gee, I'm touched."

"—and I was not drooling!"

"You were pretty close to it, then." Natsume pretended to wipe something off of his sleeve and Mikan scowled at him.

"Shut up!" She hit his arm in a feeble attempt to cause him pain and it took all of his willpower to not laugh at her. "I'm starving, by the way," she said, looking around. "Where's the food?"

"You said you wanted to eat out," he said, rolling his eyes. "Idiot," he muttered under his breath.

"Some valentine you are! You're so mean," she pouted, and he stifled a chuckle at her expression.

"Fine. I'm sorry," Natsume said, holding his hands out in mock apology. "I'll take you out wherever you want."

"Really?" Mikan beamed at him, and for an instance he remembered why he put up with her antics. "You're so nice to me," she mused, looking at him.

"Only you." He stood up. "Now I just have to find my keys..." Natsume walked over to his jacket, which was thrown over a chair, and began to dig around.

Five minutes later he still didn't feel them. "The hell?" he muttered. He always put his keys in that pocket just in case he had to throw it on for some reason. Then again, he could have sworn he remembered Youichi coming over earlier, asking for something—

Natsume froze, one hand in the pocket of the jacket.

"Eh? Natsume, what's wrong?"

"That brat stole my car."

"We can just walk to the nearest place. I think there's a McDonald's nearby."

"He still stole my car."

"You hit her!"

Aoi jumped out of the car—which looked quite familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it—and stared at the road. You-chan got out too, but a bit more slowly, and looked at her lazily.

"Hit what?" he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I didn't feel anything."

"Of course you didn't, because you were so focused on going over the speed limit that if I hadn't of said anything you would have kept right on going," Aoi seethed, running around to the front of the car and kneeling out of his view. "See, the poor thing is dead! You killed her!"

"First of all, Aoi, you're allergic to cats and you didn't pack your inhaler today. So get away from it." Aoi scowled at him, but backed away. "Second of all, it was an accident. It was probably a stray anyways."

"You think so?" Aoi sneered. "Why don't you come get a closer look?"

You-chan glared at her but walked around to the front of the car and looked down. The minute he did, an alarm went off inside of him.

"Shit. That's Shouda's cat, isn't it?"

"Her favorite cat." Aoi widened her eyes dramatically. "The one that just had kittens. They're still nursing, by the way."

Double shit. "What do you think we should do?" Aoi snorted.

"You mean what you're going to do? You're going to apologize and buy her a new one." Aoi crossed her arms at You-chan's look of protest.

"How am I supposed to tell her? 'Oh, hey Shouda. Happy Valentine's Day, hope you're having a good day with Koko. As a nice V-Day present I hit your cat, which apparently was still nursing kittens. Best of luck trying to find another one that'll tolerate you as well as she did!' "

"Whatever! It's proper etiquette anyways. Plus if you don't, I'll tell Sumire-san myself and she'll make your life hell."

"You wouldn't." You-chan narrowed his eyes.

"Try me," Aoi challenged.

For once he didn't feel like arguing, so he resorted to out-of-character complaining instead. "But we're gonna be late!" he said, then clamped his mouth shut when he realized what he'd said.

Triple shit.

Aoi turned her head to the side, all traces of anger gone as she looked at him curiously. "Late for what, You-chan?"

He was an idiot.

"Nothing," he said roughly, and in a vain attempt to divert her attention he nudged the poor dead cat with his foot. "Should we just leave it here or what?"

Aoi, however, saw right through him and grabbed his arm, purposely digging her nails into his skin. "Late for what, Youichi?" she persisted, using his real name for emphasis.

"Ugh, fine!" You-chan threw his free arm up in the air and scowled. "I—I got us reservations at that new restaurant you wanted to try out," he mumbled, staring at his feet as a blush slowly crawled its way up his face. Aoi stood still for a minute. Then a huge grin broke out on her face.

"You're so sweet, You-chan!" she giggled, pinching his cheek and getting a moan of protest as a reply. "Is that why you were speeding? You should have told me!" She giggled again and smiled at him happily, which only succeeded in making him blush more.

"It was supposed to be a surprise," he muttered, turning away from her. Aoi shrugged.

"It's fine. It's the thought that counts." Aoi walked back around to her side of the car and called, "C'mon, get back in! You don't want to miss the reservation, do you?"

You-chan raised an eyebrow at this. "But what about Shouda's cat?" he questioned as he got back in and started the car, finally aware of all of the people who were honking their horns and driving around them.

"It's all right," she said idly. "We can just take her to Subaru-san and he'll revive her or something." You-chan stifled a laugh.

"Subaru-san's a doctor. And that cat is dead."

Aoi paused.

"Just shut up and drive."

"Shutting."

Ten minutes later they ended up missing the reservation anyways.

"Wanna go to McDonald's instead?"

"But that's so...unromantic."

Smirk. "But it's the thought that counts."

"...Those Happy Meals with the finger toys are pretty cool."

"You're weird."

But that was just fine with him.

"I sincerely hope that you're shitting me."

"I'd love to be, but I'm not," came the sigh from the other line. "Some bastard ran over Snow, and the kittens are still in their nursing stage. Unfortunately this means that I have to bottle-feed all four of them."

"Then why don't you give them away to someone else? I thought Aoi-chan wanted one." Koko stretched out on his bed and scratched his head.

"Uh, hello? Aoi's allergic to cats, you nimrod! Natsume-kun would kill me if I even walked down the street with one in my hands if she were nearby." Koko was sure that if he and Sumire had been in the same room together at that moment, she would have hit him on the head.

"Plus," she said, sounding more and more pissed off by the second, "I can't give them away until they're ready to be away from their mother. But, since their mother is now a corpse that's overflowing guts onto the street..." Koko winced at the ugly visual that came to his mind. "...I have to do all the work till they're old enough to go. And right now I could really use a burger and fries—" "That sounded so fat." "—but I can't even let them out of my sights for a second."

"But it's Valentine's Day!" Koko objected. "Can't your mom cut you some slack?"

"My mom thinks it's my fault that Snow got hit," Sumire said absently. "And she says the kittens are my responsibility since I wanted a cat, but if she hadn't kept letting Snow out to get fucked by the neighbor's cat, this event wouldn't be happening."

"Your mom is a bitch."

"Touché."

"You really have to stay with them all day?" Koko pouted, changing the subject. "Why can't you just feed them and go?"

"They need my full attention," Sumire said slowly. "Even though they're messing up my Valentine's Day, I can't just leave them here."

Koko sighed, disappointed. His only day to really be with Sumire...

All of a sudden he got an idea. "What if someone could take care of them for you?" Koko asked slowly.

"Someone who knows how to take care of kittens?" she said disdainfully.

"Yes."

"Then I guess I could leave. What are you planning?" Sumire asked suspiciously.

Koko didn't answer. "I'll be over in five," he said, and hung up.

"Dude! I've got places to be. I don't have time to take care of the Demon Lady's monster cat's kittens!"

"You don't have a girlfriend anyways," Koko said amusedly. "That cat probably had gotten more girls than you."

"But that cat was a girl—" Mochu paused. "Oh. Oh. I see how this is. You wanna make jokes now, huh?"

"Please. Plus," Koko said slyly, "one of Sumire's good friends is coming over to help. And she's hot, man."

There was another pause.

"What time do you need me over?"

"Are you seriously asking me to take care of that monster cat's kittens?"

Koko simply said, "Kitsu, I'll pay you fifty bucks."

There was a pause.

"Just holler when you need me."

"Well? Where are they? I don't see them!" Sumire crossed her arms and looked expectantly at Koko, who was peering out the window.

"Hold on, here they come." He opened the door and Kitsuneme and Mochiage were standing there, looking eager.

"Where's the hot girl?" Mochu asked, scanning the living room.

"Where's my fifty bucks?" Kitsuneme said, looking at Koko's coat pocket.

Sumire's mouth dropped open.

"Oh gee! Look at the time. All you have to do is watch the kittens for a bit, all right? 'Kaythanksbye!" Koko grabbed Sumire and rushed out the door, pushing Kitsuneme and Mochu inside and slamming it shut behind them.

There was a moment of silence. Mochu looked around.

"Does this mean there's no hot girl?"

"I can't believe you let those idiots inside my house!" Sumire fumed. "They couldn't take care of a kitten to save their lives! All four of them will be dead by the time we get back!"

"Relax, Sumire," Koko said, shrugging. "Remember this: at least we get to spend the day together." Sumire sighed.

"Fine. But, I just have one request."

"And that is?"

Sumire smiled evilly. "Let's go to McDonald's."

"Please explain why you think McDonald's is a suitable place for a date."

Tsubasa jumped slightly and turned towards Misaki's disapproving gaze, sweating a bit. "W-w-well, you said that you didn't want to go anywhere fancy, you j-j-just wanted to relax someplace..."

"But that doesn't mean that I wanted to go here!" she yelled, attracting the stares of some bystanders. "Do you know how unromantic and pitiful that is? You really know how to piss people off, Tsubasa!"

"Then we can just go somewhere else..." Tsubasa gestured all around them, earning a yank on his hat from the said pissed off girl.

"It doesn't matter now! Besides, I'm in the mood for a burger and fries now, so let's go before someone takes that good seat by the window." Misaki walked ahead of him, head held high, and let the door close with a slam in his face. Tsubasa sighed, adjusted his hat, and followed her inside.

Misaki was already sitting down in her desired seat and chatting with a waitress by the time Tsubasa found her. "Yeah, and I'd like a double cheeseburger, no onions, vanilla shake—oh, there you are!" she snapped, grabbing his arm. "Sit down and order already!"

Tsubasa wanted to argue, but instead he sighed and said wearily to the waitress, "I'll just have the same thing, thanks."

The waitress nodded, but Misaki scoffed, "Idiot Tsubasa, you hate vanilla," and reached across the table and yanked his hat down over his face. The waitress stifled a giggle. "He'll just have a chocolate shake, thanks," she said to the waitress.

"Will that be all?" the waitress asked, and when Misaki nodded, she scuttled away with a hand covering the grin on her mouth.

As Tsubasa adjusted his hat again he snapped, "What's your problem, Misaki?"

Misaki, who was playing with a clip in her hair, looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean, what's my problem?"

"You're being more...cruel, for lack of a better word, than usual," he bit out. "For Pete's sake, it's Valentine's Day!"

"And you took me to McDonald's," Misaki said bluntly. "You took me to freaking McDonald's, when there are a thousand other different places you could have taken me."

"Like where? You weren't specific. You just said you wanted to go somewhere and relax!" By now they'd, once again, attracted the attention of other folks sitting around eating. Tsubasa could have sworn one of the old folks watching them mouthed lover's quarrel.

"That's something that a girl shouldn't have to say to a guy." Misaki looked like she wanted to reach out and yank his hat over his face again, but her hand stayed at her side. The waitress came by with two trays, and Misaki thanked her and watched as she walked away. Then, grabbing a straw, she said quietly, "It's because I love you."

Tsubasa, who was already sipping his shake, nearly spit it out. "What?" he said, stunned.

"It's because I love you," Misaki said impatiently. "If I didn't then do you think I'd be doing all of this? If I didn't love you I would be idle, just tell you that everything's all right, and pretend to have fun in here even though I really think this is an unfitting place to be on Valentine's Day, of all days." She stabbed the straw through the hole in the top of the cup, but didn't take a sip. Instead she began to unwrap her burger. "So you wanted to know why I'm being cruel; it's because I love you and would rather show you my distaste than pretend I'm all right." She took a big bite of the burger and looked away from him.

"Misaki..."

"What?" Misaki was looking everywhere but at him, a light blush on her cheeks. Tsubasa guessed that that was what made him lean over and kiss her.

"Excuse me..."

They broke the kiss and looked up to see the waitress standing there, looking annoyed—probably because she'd been calling them for five minutes.

"Would you like some fries with that?" she asked sarcastically.

"What the—! Misaki-chan, what're you doing here?"

"Aoi? What're you doing here?"

"I want to know what you two are doing here!"

"Same here, Baldy."

"Hey—!"

"Look, there's Ruka!"

"W-what the hell!"

"You people are..."

Click. Click.

"The hell? Shadow?"

"HOTARUUUU!"

"Oh, God..."

"You, kids! Keep it down over there!"

Happy Valentine's Day, guys.

Okay so I didn't get to complete this on time because I had to get off :( It took me all day to write it anyways, which all on its own was a little stupid. Sigh.

Anyways, happy belated Valentine's day to you all :)

Review?

~Ariisha-chan