Author's Notes: I got it in my head that I wanted to do something for Valentine's Day, and spent a few hours writing this yesterday; a challenge for precisely this story idea was posted over at shrinemaiden, so I figured on entering it, and I also figure there's no good reason why I shouldn't go ahead and post it here. I know it's a day late, now, but better to be a day late than to never be posted at all. I hope everyone who stumbles onto it enjoys it!

Disclaimer: Touhou Project is owned by Team Shanghai Alice, the sole member of which is ZUN. I only own the concept, story, and words.

Gensokyo, the land where the extraordinary is merely ordinary; magic is everywhere, creatures thought to only be myths and legends abound, even the occasional UFO is sighted. Things that have phased into the forgotten have popped up throughout the land, but on occasion something filters through which is definite fact; people and objects, places and ideas… One such idea was now being presented to a certain "Ordinary Witch" this very morning in mid-late winter.

At the moment, Marisa Kirisame looked a little confused. "You wanna run that one by me again?"

Her conversation partner, Reimu Hakurei, sighed. "It's a holiday in the outside world; people use it as an excuse to do something romantic for the one they love."

Marisa continued to stare at the Shrine Maiden. "And you're saying that day is today?" She nodded in response. "That's all well and good, but why are you telling me?"

Reimu smiled. "So you're telling me there's no one like that for you?"

Marisa's eyes bulged at the accusation; she held her broom out in front of her in self defense. "Wh-what makes you think that?"

Reimu began chuckling at this. "Oh stop acting out of character, Marisa. Just look at the clothes you're wearing; still in the blue witch costume wearing that shawl that she made for you. Admit it, you love her."

Marisa opened and closed her mouth a few times without making a sound; a few moments later she dropped her arms and drooped her shoulders a little in defeat. She walked forward and sat next to her friend. "So what are you saying; that I should go do or get something for her? I wouldn't even know where to begin…" She sighed and slumped forward a little. "Where did you hear about this holiday, anyways?"

"Yukari." Marisa planted her palm to her forehead; she sounded like she was muttering something along the lines of 'of course.' Reimu reached behind her and produced what looked like a box in the shape of a deep red heart. "Where do you think I got this from?" She opened it and proceeded to pick a piece of dark chocolate out, popping it in her mouth. Several long moments later she said, "She definitely knows the way to my heart; if only she was doing it for reasons other than to get me to do stuff."

Marisa stared at the package. "Boxed chocolate, huh? Does she even like chocolate? Where would I find something like that?"

Reimu shook her head. "It's not necessarily the type of gift, nor is it how expensive it is; the key, Marisa, is that it comes from the heart."

Marisa looked up into the Shrine Maiden's eyes and nodded very slowly. She jumped up and hopped onto her broom, saying, "All right, I'm going to go look into this; thanks ze!"

As she sped off, Reimu turned towards the open door of the shrine and said, "She's gone; shall we prepare?"

A voice from the inside said, "Are you sure you're okay with using your shrine for this?"

Smiling as she stood, she said, "I'm fine with it so long as you don't make a mess."

Despite the fact that Marisa seemed to know precisely what she wanted to do when she left, Marisa in fact had no clue on what her plan was; this was why her first stop was the Scarlet Devil Mansion, not to raid it for once, but for advice and information.

The usual method was to blast the gate guard from a distance, bust through the part of the mansion where the magical stress allowing it to be bigger on the inside was the highest, stash some books, and get out before they knew what hit them; this time, more tact might just be the way to go. As such, Marisa walked up to the gate and greeted Hong Meiling.

"Hiya, Dragon." Marisa had more respect for the girl, at least in hand-to-hand combat; that incident involving the weird weather and something called a 'robot' taught her that Meiling can hit like a truck, thus earning her the title bestowed upon her by the Chinese character on her hat.

The guard was on alert from the moment that she first saw the witch approaching; she was a little confused by the approach, but figured that this was meant to be some kind of trick… this could be a diversion to allow someone else to slip by, perhaps that puppeteer friend of hers. She held her pose right up until Marisa walked up to her and… bowed. Startled, Meiling bowed back and said, "What are you doing here, thief?"

Marisa held her hands in front of her in surrender. "I'm just here to talk to Patchy; think you can let me in?"

Meiling looked a little indecisive for a moment just as Saukya Izayoi phased in beside her, slightly startling the Chinese girl. "I will escort you to the library." Sakuya turned to the guard and added, "Come along, Hong, we may need your power should she try something once she in there."

Nodding, Meiling nudged Marisa forward towards the open gate, and the three filed into the house.

"St. Valentine's Day?" Patchouli looked a little troubled at hearing the witch mention it. "Where did you hear about that?"

Marisa placed her hand behind her head. "From Reimu, who heard about it from Yukari."

Patchouli returned to her book she had been previously reading; Meiling and Sakuya hovered nearby, watching their charge. Also nearby was Koakuma, a bound demon serving as Patchouli's librarian assistant. Without looking up from her book, Patchouli said, "And why is it you needed to ask me about it?"

Marisa recalled some of what Reimu had told her earlier and decided it was best to just come out with it. "You're the smartest person I know, Patchy, and I figured that if anyone could tell me what I should do, it would be you."

The librarian raised an eyebrow at this, but still did not look up. "Ah, this is about her." Marisa made a face at this statement, but said nothing. "Well, I have had the chance to speak with her on occasion; she was able to help with some of my more elaborate spellwork with her experience, and in return I allowed her access to parts of my library. She's studious, but too narrow in her focus; I would say she would be insulted by a gift involving her craft, at least at this juncture of your relationship." While invaluable advice, Marisa was starting to regret asking this person.

"Why not take her someplace exotic that she's never seen before?" Everyone was startled by the sudden voice that cut in to the conversation; they looked up to see a childlike girl with colorful, prismatic wings. "That is, if you know someplace like that?"

Before anyone else could say or do anything, Koakuma walked up to her and said, "Flandre, what are you doing up and about? It's well past when you should normally be asleep."

Flandre smiled up at the succubus. "I heard that Marisa was here, but hadn't heard any explosions; I wanted see what was up." She turned to face the witch. "Well? How about it?"

Shaking the surprise out of her head, Marisa said, "I, um… don't get out that often unless it's to solve something; I don't know anyplace like that…" Flandre began to look a little disappointed at that; Marisa reacted quickly by saying, "It was good advice, ze! I wouldn't have thought of that, for sure." She turned back to the librarian, who didn't seem to be paying attention. "Well, thanks for your help; I guess I'll keep looking around, then."

Marisa started walking towards the door when she heard Koakuma say, "Come on, Flandre, it's time for bed…" She looked back at them walking off, then looked at the others, then back at them… Something about the scene seemed… wrong. Wasn't it normally Sakuya that was needed to get her back into her room?

Shrugging, Marisa turned back and found herself once again being escorted by the maid and the guard. Once they reached the gate again, the witch turned back and said, "See? This wasn't so bad; it's not always a fight every time I come over."

Meiling frowned and said, "Too bad, too; I could have used the excitement." Marisa gave her a funny look. "I have the night off, tonight." She explained.

Sakuya shot her coworker a look and said, "As do I…"

Marisa failed to notice anything strange about this and asked, "Wow, really? That's weird… I wonder what's going on?"

Sakuya suddenly had a look of comprehension. "Ah, that must be it; Patchouli has something special planned for the mistress when she wakes up tonight. I do not believe they will want to be disturbed."

Marisa's raised eyebrow got no answer, so she climbed onto her broom and turned back, waving and saying, "Whatever; I've got some more places to go, so you two have fun tonight!"

The witch had roamed Gensokyo, attempting to find any leads on what she should do for this day, or what she should get her, but mostly all she got was nothing. Nobody in the Human Village had any clues, Eirin was convinced Marisa wanted an aphrodisiac, and Mokou suggested (rather strangely, for that matter) that you always hurt the ones you love. By the time the sun was beginning to set, Marisa was beginning to think her quest was impossible; she was flying high over Gensokyo when suddenly a bouquet of wildflowers dropped directly into her field of vision.

She came to a sudden stop and flailed her arms out to catch them, then turned her head from side to side to try and see where they came from. Marisa typically sat close to the front of her broom in order to have more control when moving at high speeds, so when she leaned back a little she was startled to find someone apparently sitting right behind her with their back facing her. Tensing slightly, Marisa said, "Who are you?"

A voice giggled. "You know, you have the most fascinating subconscious… You should let me hypnotize you at some point; it might be enlightening!"

Marisa recognized that voice… "Why are you on my broom, Koishi?"

Marisa felt her shrug. "I've heard you've been looking for advice, and I've just been looking for someone to give advice to."

At this point Marisa was getting tired of asking so many questions, considering she had done so all that day; unfortunately, this one nagged at her, "What's with the flowers?"

Koishi smiled, despite the witch not being able to see it. "Those are her favorite; they are rare both to Gensokyo and in this time of year; her subconscious is fascinating, too, but she seems to know more about it than most people do…"

Marisa didn't hear anything beyond the words 'her favorite.' She found herself staring at the bouquet and only barely registered that she wasn't alone on the broom; she said, "Thank you Koi-" she turned herself around to look back but found nothing but empty broom. "shi." Shaking her head, she gripped the broom handle with one hand and held tight to the flowers with the other before pointing herself towards the forest and speeding off.

While light was still visible, below the tree line it was quite dark; a thin layer of snow was on the ground, undisturbed by any kind of movement. Marisa was nearly ready to bust the door down of the house she arrived at when she saw the note.

Ripping it off, she read it out loud; "Gone to the shrine. Don't wait up. ~Alice" She made a face after reading it. "Why'd she put a heart next to her name?" Marisa simply chose not to try to comprehend this and hopped back onto the broom; her target had moved and by all the gods of Gensokyo she was going to catch her!

The sun had set completely by the time she finally arrived back to the shrine. It appeared to be completely dark, without any sign of life, not even Suika could be found. Marisa prowled around for a moment before coming to a stop in front of the entrance. It wasn't late enough for Reimu to have gone to bed, so why wasn't there more light and sound? She pondered this for a moment before a voice thoroughly startled her. "Marisa?"

After she calmed down, she turned herself around and had to take in a very deep breath; before her was the object of her desire: dressed rather unusually in a pale pink dress with shoulders bare of any kind of wrap or sheath, the red hairband still a fixture on her person.

Marisa was so spellbound by the vision of Alice Margatroid that she failed to notice the girl walking up to her and taking the bouquet from her hand. "These flowers… I love these! Where did you find them?"

This brought Marisa out of her reverie. "Er, um… I have my ways." She turned to look around and around at their surroundings. "What are you doing here? This place looks deserted…"

Alice smiled. "Reimu left to go to the mountain; she said something about surprising Sanae… or was it getting kidnapped by Yukari? I can't remember."

Marisa looked at the puppeteer in confusion. "Wait, does that mean that-"

"We're alone here?" Alice interrupted. "Come with me." She walked into the shrine proper; Marisa could see a very dim light coming through the door. She walked carefully into the building and was astounded at what she saw; a table had been set with a few candles lit. Two places were set on either side of the table.

Marisa goggled at what she saw; she said, "What's going on h- !"

Before Marisa could continue that thought she found a pair of hands on her cheeks and her mouth otherwise occupied by her companion. Surprise gave way to mindless pleasure as she melted into the kiss.

A few moments later, the liplock ended and Marisa found herself staring into those crystal blue eyes. When Alice spoke, she jumped slightly. "Happy Valentine's Day, my love."

Blushing slightly at being addressed as such, Marisa grinned back and replied, "Right back atcha, ze."