Pink Ribbon

Written for Day Three of the 28 Days of Love challenge on the DFC. Also accompanies my poem, 12 Months.

Tomorrow would not be Mimi's first Valentine's Day confession. That honor belongs to one Yagami Taichi, back when she was in the fourth grade. He had rejected her that year, but he also hadn't realized that his best friend was a girl, either. Or that he actually liked boys. Mimi had bought her chocolate that year, so she figured it didn't matter anyway.

Tonight wouldn't be the first time Mimi made her own chocolate. That would have been last year, when she gave her friends homemade brownies (which were devoured) and gave her then-boyfriend her very first batch of love-chocolate (which he didn't accept because he was supposedly allergic, unfortunately).

This will be the first time Mimi sent through such careful and painstaking lengths to construct the perfect presentation. This will be the first time Mimi made the chocolate, alone, without adult supervision or assistance. Koushirou will (hopefully) be the first boy to actually eat the chocolate she worked so hard to make. And if he says "no," Koushirou will be the first boy to make her cry for it.

+o+o+

Koushirou wasn't sure what to make of the ribboned box being thrust at him. He blinked, glancing up at the girl who held it with bandage fingers, eyes shining with what looked like unshed tears. Koushirou couldn't understand why she would be so close to crying, it wasn't like it was her - completely her fault anyway - that he landed in the infirmary again.

"What's this?" He asked, tentatively accepting the package.

"It's chocolate," she answered simply. Her voice was as cheerful as it ever was, not betraying any of the emotion he could see in her eyes. Usually it was easy to tell, but right now, Koushirou was finding it strangely difficult. Whether that was because Mimi was behaving abnormally or because of the slight fuzziness in his head, Koushirou wasn't for sure.

"What for?" He undid the pale pink ribbon and opened the shiny, bold red box to reveal the heart-shaped treat within. Koushirou gasped, looking briefly at his friend in amazement before further examining his chocolate gift. Mimi had definitely decorated it, the sheer amount of pink left no doubt about it. But if the band-aids adorning most of her fingers, and a fair bit of her palms, was any indication, then she hasn't just decorated the chocolate, but carved and cooked it as well. Koushirou had to smile. No one had ever gone through such lengths for him.

"It's beautiful," Koushirou told her honestly. "You did an excellent job."

"Of course, I made it for you," Mimi admitted master-of-factly. "I like you." There was a few moments' delay between the words and Koushirou's comprehension. That could have been the fuzziness in his head, but was probably the shock. He took a while to find his voice again.

"Y-you do?" He questioned, still wrapping his mind around the concept. It shouldn't have been that hard, the signs were definitely there. Takuya had just teased him about it last week. Koushirou had just been positive that Mimi wouldn't, that she couldn't ever like him...

"Well, I wouldn't go all out for just anyone, you know,"

Now that he was looking for it, Koushirou could see beyond the faint wetness to the panic and fear at the bottom of her eyes. Mini was nervous, in spite of all of her confidence. She was afraid that he didn't like her back.

"I do," Koushirou agreed, feigning nonchalance when his heart was liable to beat right out of its cavity. "It's a relief too. I was concerned that the feeling wasn't mutual."