A/N: Wrote this for a contest but didn't win. D| It was still fun! Mari and Shinji are a hilarious couple, in my opinion. XDDD

Asahina Marise is © to =angel808 (on deviantART); Hirako Shinji is © to Kubo Tite's BLEACH; Story is © to moi~

Part 1

"The greatest gift you can give another is the purity of your attention." - Unknown

Squinted blue eyes stared intently and the owner of said blue eyes upturned her full, pink lips in a pout. Asahina Marise grumbled as she tapped her foot impatiently. She was having a difficult time in choosing.

"Are you...all right, Ma'am?" A store clerk stood behind Marise, a thin eyebrow raised because of her odd behavior. "Can I help you with something, perhaps?"

Marise blinked, noticing the other shoppers also staring at her. They whispered amongst themselves and she began to feel slightly self-conscious. She straightened herself up, a light blush across her peach-hued cheeks, and then glared at the various customers.

"Well? What are you all looking at? There's nothing to stare at!"

They immediately went back to their own shopping at seeing the fierceness in her eyes. The store clerk put on a phony smile and repeated her question. "Is there anything I can-"

"I'm looking for a present for someone," Marise put it bluntly, crossing her arms. "Do you have anything in this store that would look good?"

Hearing this made the clerk smile genuinely. "Ah! You're looking for a present, huh? Please follow me. We have some really cool items in this section, ranging from shirts to hats! I'm sure you'll love what we have."

The blonde girl squealed and clapped her hands. Then she skipped behind the woman, itching to see what the store had in their section.

Marise was starting to feel relieved because, as much as she didn't want to admit it out loud, she had been on this search for almost an entire day. A search for the perfect Valentine's Day present for her boyfriend... There was no way she was screwing up this year!

"Here we are..."

Ushering the girl to one section of the store, the lady was pushing clothes aside as she searched. "What kind of outfits does your friend wear?"

She thought for a bit, pressing a finger to her chin. "Well, he wears ties and slacks all the time," she mumbled. "Would that count as a preppy style?" The woman was quiet for a while and Marise thought she had said something wrong. "What...?"

"'He', you said? Ma'am. This is a women's clothing store."

"Wha...?" Marise's eyes shifted around the store. There were only females in the building buying clothes for females. The blush returned to her cheeks as she hurried out, embarrassed, running away as far away from the store as possible. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

How could she not have realized something so obvious?

The girl sulked and dragged herself to the nearest park, plopping down on the nearest bench. She buried her head in her hands for a minute before pulling out a pink sheet of paper out of her pocket. What was on it was a list of possible Valentine's Day presents with the majority of choices crossed out.

Staring at her list, Marise thought over the various present ideas. Sewing him something? No. She couldn't sew at all. Make a recording of her singing? Nah, he'd only laugh at her for it. Buy him something? Nah. Anything he would want would be too X-rated for her to even think of.

And buying him clothing was now out of the question. Now that she thought of it, she didn't have much of an idea of what he liked to wear. He wasn't one who preferred a specific brand.

Marise looked at the last thing on her list, which was making chocolates. She thought about it and then remembered her school friends greatly recommending giving chocolates but Marise wasn't feeling too confident about it. She had never cooked for him before.

What if he doesn't like them? she thought, worried. He hasn't tasted anything I've made before.

She groaned and roughly ran her hands through her curly, blonde hair. Because of her inexperience in culinary-related presents, she had no idea how to even make chocolates. But...she decided not to let that stop her.

Then Marise stood up from the bench, finally making her decision, and she clenched her fist with a determined fire in her eye. "I won't give up!" she exclaimed to herself. "I'll be sure to make him something fabulous!"

~ ღ ~

Part 2

"Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own." - Robert Heinlein

Marise hurried back home as soon as she could, groceries and a cookbook in hand. She tied her pink apron around her waist as well as her hair back in a ponytail. Opening the cookbook, she quickly scrolled through the table of contents to look for an easy and quick recipe. Her eyes fell upon one interesting recipe.

"Chocolate hearts... This looks too easy! I can totally do this!"

She ran around the kitchen, mixing ingredients, heating up and cooling on the stove, and making sure the treats were shaped into cute, little hearts. Once they were finished cooling on the baking tray, Marise giggled as she picked one up to taste it.

The chocolate melted between her lips...but the taste was horrible. Like a mixture of human feet, ketchup, and rotten eggs. Marise almost vomited after taking a single bite, immediately spit it out of her mouth as she made a face. "Eww! These taste awful!"

Angrily, she threw the remaining chocolates into the trash and grabbed more chocolates from her shopping bag. She stirred and beat the chocolate batter rapidly, adding the various ingredients into the bowl.

The problem was that she wasn't paying attention to what ingredients she was including. The first bad ingredient she had put was some leftover fish from last night's dinner and the next ingredients were even more ridiculous than the previous. And the outcome remained the same.

Exhausted, Marise slumped into one of the dining room chairs, pouting. "How am I supposed to make these chocolates when they keep turning out nasty?" she muttered, feeling the tears run down her cheeks. She could imagine her boyfriend's face distort on Valentine's Day when she came empty-handed.

Cut to her overly dramatic fantasy of the event - Marise was skipping over to her Hirako Shinji with a big smile on her face. "Happy Valentine's Day, Shinji!"

The Visored stared down at the blonde, scratching his own head. "Well...?"

Marise blinked at him. "Well what?"

"Aren't ya gonna give me a present? It's Valentine's Day, stupid."

She lowered her head, ashamed. "I'm sorry but I don't have a present for you," she mumbled sadly. "I...couldn't think of one."

Dramatic music began to play and the scene quickly changed to a black and white movie setting. Shinji frowned at her, turning his head as he walked off into the sunset, placing his newsboy cap over his eyes.

"Then I guess we'll have ta break up. I'll find someone prettier for me, someone who will shower me with gifts-" Then he turned to her and grinned pervertedly, "-and sex~"

Waves crashed around Marise as she watched him disappear, the tears falling down her face. "No! Shinji, don't leave me!"

The girl snapped out of her daydream and immediately clenched her fist. "No! I won't let that happen! I'll make him the best chocolates he's ever eaten and he'll be begging to stay with me!" Putting back on her apron, she hurried back into the kitchen, feeling even more confident.

When she finally finished, it was early in the morning. She giggled to herself and headed for the Visored headquarters, feeling sleep slowly overtaking her.

"Hey, Goldilocks."

"Mmf... Let me sleep a little, Mom."

Marise felt a finger flick her on the forehead and she winced as she sat up. "Hey! What was that for, Mom?"

She blinked when she saw Shinji kneeling in front of her. "I ain't 'Mom', stupid," he answered with a frown, his upper teeth showing like they usually did. "What're ya doing on the side of the road? You find weird places to sleep."

The girl did notice herself on the concrete in front of the Visored headquarters. Then she remembered...while she had been walking she yawned a couple of times. She had thought about turning back and going home to sleep for a while but dismissed it not too long after.

"Oh..."

"What? 'Oh' is all you can say?"

Marise pouted. "Jeez, can't you be more worried about me like a good boyfriend? And here I was coming to visit." She crossed her arms over chest, her lips pursed.

Shinji rolled his eyes. "Whatever. What'd ya come here for anyway-?" He felt Marise shove a bag into his hands and looked down at it curiously. "What the hell is this?"

"J-Just open it already! I don't have all day!" Marise answered, her cheeks flushing red. Her pout grew bigger as she looked away as if to hide her blush.

The blonde Visored opened the bag and saw the chocolate hearts inside. "Typical girl's present," he muttered, "but thanks anyway." He took one and placed it in his mouth.

Hope overtook Marise's heart and she smiled happily, instantly changing moods. She held her hands together as she watched him eat. "So? How do they taste? Are they good? I added cinnamon to make it super sweet~!"

Cinnamon? Shinji's face turned completely red and he quickly puckered his lips. His mouth was on fire, a deathly hot fire. The Visored screeched as he panicked, running around in search of water like a chicken without its head.

Shinji ran back to Marise, the veins popping around his head. "ARE YA TRYIN' TA KILL ME?" he yelled, panting heavily.

"What's the matter with 'em?" Marise asked, feeling her happy mood die down. "How come you were running around for water-"

"That wasn't cinnamon!" retorted Shinji, waving his hands around his mouth to give it air. "What...What the hell'd ya put in 'em?"

Marise glared at him. "Of course it was cinnamon! I bought it from the store and everything-" She pulled out a small bag from her purse and held it up to Shinji. "See?"

He read the words on the front, his frown growing deeper as he read it out loud. "Purely ground Bhut Jolokia Pepper (also known as the Ghost Pepper) powder..." He could feel the heat coming back to him and he screamed as a literal flame burst from his mouth. "WATER!"

Feeling hurt, Marise slid to her knees and began to cry. "You're terrible, Shinji! I put my heart and soul into those chocolates and now you're complaining about them! I knew you hated me and now you're gonna break up with me!" She sobbed in her hands, now sitting on her butt.

As soon as he found some water, Shinji went back to Marise, seeing her crying in her hands. "C'mon... I don't hate ya, Mari." He knelt down and took hold of one her blonde curls, tugging on it gently. "Now...stop cryin' already. I'll eat 'em..."

She sniffed as she looked up at him. "Will you really...eat them?" she asked innocently. "All of them...?"

His mouth tilted to the side, knowing he would die from eating all of those ghost pepper chocolates at once. But...he did want to make her stop crying. "Yeah... I'll eat 'em all." Taking the bag of candy, he shoved a handful into his mouth.

Marise looked up at him, her eyes bugging out of her head at his now full mouth. "Shinji! Don't be a pig!"

The fire returned to his mouth but he withheld his screams until the bag was completely empty. He hit his chest rapidly with his fist, forcing the chocolates down his throat. Once he ate all the chocolates, he collapsed next to Marise.

"Shinji..." He shuddered, knowing he couldn't get up for water. He was much too weak. Marise's smile came back to her face as she hugged his neck. "You're the best!"

It nothing but hell after that day. Poor Shinji couldn't talk for the next month. His voice was too hoarse. But...at least he did it for Mari~