Will you be my Valentine? (Ken/Mari)
Today was his chance. He would give her the flower and ask her out. He just knew that it had to work.
Ken cleared his throat and looked straight ahead.
"Will you be my Valentine?"
A moment of silent passed. Finally Ken shook his head with frustration.
'Bah! I can't do this!'
Ken slapped his now burning face and looked back at the mirror.
'No. I have to use this opportunity. I can't think of another chance... Or maybe I may not be thinking straight at the moment. Maybe there is another chance... But wait, chances aren't supposed to come that easily. I can't wait until next time. Who knows when next time even is?'
Ken straightened up, cleared his throat once more, and tried a confident smile on his mirror.
"I can do this."
Ken walked through the hallway with a rose in his hand. As he walked he repeated the lines that he has practiced at home on the way.
"Will you be my Valentine. Will you be my Valentine? Will you-"
And then, suddenly a bright aura shone at the end of the hallway... It was her. The cutest kindest most awesome girl in the entire school... She's the girl who saved him on the last mission. She's the one who stole his heart and-
"Hello. You're Ken, right?"
Ken blinked a few times. Then he realized that she was talking to him!
"Uh-huh, um... Uh..." Ken silently scolded himself for making a fool out of himself. But then he noticed that she knew his name. He cleared his throat and tried to look at her.
"Um, You seem to know my name. But I don't know yours yet. So, uh, what's your name?" Ken felt like that was a bit uncool.
But she smiled. "I'm Mari. Nice to meet you." She stretched her hand out to shake. Ken shook her hand nervously. His hand was pretty sweaty which might have been quite gross for Mari. However she didn't seem to mind.
Mari looked at his other hand and saw the rose.
"Are you giving that to someone?"
Ken remembered that he was supposed to give her the rose.
He straightened himself and tried to calm his racing heart.
"Mari, will you, um, be my-"
"Hey, Mari!"
A guy ran up to them. He had a huge boutique in his hands. He casually handed it to Mari.
"Will you be my Valentine?"
Ken stood there, shocked. His chance. Gone. Just like that. Gone.
Mari smiled a little and accepted the boutique.
"Thank you. And, yes, I'll be your Valentine. But just for today."
The guy grinned happily. "Sure thing! A day with the cutest girl is more than enough for me. So, you wanna go out or something? I know this great restaurant nearby."
Mari nodded. "That sounds nice."
"Then let's go. Come on." The guy gestured for her to follow.
Mari glanced at Ken and smiled.
"Well, I guess I'll see you later, Ken. I hope you get to give that rose to the person you intend to give."
And with that she went off with the guy.
Ken just stood there. Shocked. His heart was broken to pieces. And away went the girl he wanted to ask out.
-Before that day-
Sirens rang and citizens ran in panic. A monster has flown in and started attacking the city. Buildings were burnt and many of the citizens got injured. The warriors were doing their best to fight the monster but it was just too strong. Ken was one of the warriors. He got his side injured pretty badly. While Ken hid behind a building to get some air, he realized that the monster was heading for the Plasma Spark Tower. He had to stop it before it destroyed the life source of the Land of Light!
After he sent an Ultra Sign to inform the others, he ran toward the tower, trying very hard to ignore the pain in his side. The tower was about two blocks away from him now. Then he saw a girl about his age running out from one of the buildings nearby the tower. In fact, she was running toward the tower itself!
Ken ran faster and caught up to her.
"Hey, you! It's not safe here. The monster is coming this way!"
The girl glanced at him as they ran side by side.
"You can say the same for yourself. What are you doing here?"
"I'm trying to stop the monster. Now, it's getting very dangerous around here so you should- Argh!"
Ken winced and fell down on his knees, one hand clutching his injured side while the other hand pushed the floor for support.
The girl stopped running and knelt down beside him. She briefly examined his side and shook her head in disbelief.
"You're hurt! And you still ran that much?! Your injuries would only get worse."
"I don't have any choice. If I go back to the infirmary I won't be able to stop that monster in time." He answered rather weakly and painfully. "I have to at least stall it until the backup team arrives."
The girl stared at the determined warrior. She never met anyone so willing to protect before. She looked up to see that the monster was still about a few blocks away from them. She looked around for somewhere safe. Then she nodded like she just decided something. She turned to the injured warrior.
"Can you stand?" She asked firmly.
Ken nodded, and with the help of the girl, he unsteadily stood up. The girl put an arm around him to support him while they walked. Then Ken noticed that they were heading toward the Plasma Spark Tower.
"What are you-" He winced. "Trying to do?"
The girl looked straight ahead at the tower. "Going to the only place around here that is safe." She smiled lightly. "Did you know that there is a secret passage in the tower that leads to the Silver Cross' emergency infirmary?"
Ken shook his head. The Silver Cross was the Land of Light's medic team. He knew well where the medic team's HQ was, but a secret infirmary inside the Plasma Spark Tower was new info to him.
"Why do you have an infirmary there?" Ken asked. "No one usually goes into the tower."
"Well, mainly for emergencies like now, which was why I was heading toward the tower, and sometimes for shelter when there's war like an army of monsters attacking the Planet."
They arrived at the entrance of the tower. As they went in, Ken looked around the place. The tower was huge and very high. All the walls were seemed to be made of green and blue crystal. He looked up and saw the Plasma Spark glowing high above them.
"Here it is." The girl touched the wall and part of it, about the size of a door, shrank behind and slid sideways. Inside was an infirmary room that could probably contain about twenty people.
"If you're wondering why the room is too small to be a shelter, it's because the main shelter room is downstairs which can contain about five hundred people."
The girl made Ken sit down on one of the beds. She took out some bandages and put them on the bed next to Ken. Then she stood in front of him and struck out her hand. A soft light shot out from her hand and it hit Ken's side. His pain subsided and his injured side started to heal.
"My power isn't that strong yet, so your side will probably have to take some more time to heal completely. In the meantime, this bandage will help make the healing process faster." The girl neatly wrapped the bandage around his side and examined other parts of his body for any more injuries.
"Other than your side, you seem to be fine. So, you can go now."
Ken stood up and tried moving a little. Sure enough, his side was a lot better and his body got some rest so he was ready to go out to stall that monster until the backup team comes. Ken turned to face the girl.
"Thank you, for helping me."
She smiled. "That's kind of my job."
Ken nodded and headed out to meet the monster…
Ken sighed. He sat at the bench of his favorite park that's near the school. He glanced up at the sun set sky and wondered how Mari was doing. Probably having a great time with that guy. Ken looked down at his now withered rose. He laughed out miserably.
"I'm just not the right guy for her. What was I thinking, that an awesome girl like her would want to go out with a guy like me."
"What girl?" A voice said from behind.
Ken turned and saw Mari standing behind his bench.
"Oh, hey." Ken said nervously. "Um, weren't you going to go out with that guy?"
Mari shrugged. "He had something urgent to do, so we kind of canceled the date."
She looked over Ken's shoulder and saw the rose in his hand.
"So, you haven't given that to anyone?"
Ken turned back to his rose. "Yeah. She kind of went with someone else and I was a little too late."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Mari said.
"No, it's fine." Ken said.
'But wait. Mari is right here. Maybe I can still try...' Ken thought. Then he gathered his courage and stood up to face Mari.
"Mari, I know that it's a bit late and all but," Ken took a deep breath and handed out the rose. "Will you be my Valentine?"
Mari stared silently at the withered rose. Ken's heart was now racing like crazy. After a few heart beats, she smiled lightly and nodded.
"I would love to." She accepted the rose.
Ken felt like he was floating. Mari has accepted his flower despite how bad it looked. This means, she has also accepted his feelings, too. It was a Dream Come True!
Ken jumped over the bench and hugged her tightly.
"Thank you." He whispered.
For a second, Mari froze from the sudden hug. But then she relaxed and laughed lightly at how sweet and sensitive this mighty warrior really was.
All in all, it was a very happy day for the both of them.