Well, I figured I'd give in and do a quick Hallmark-holiday one shot. Y'know, at least give it a try!
"And why not start with a familiar face!" Hotaru grinned, leaning against the Narrator's back. "It's so great to finally be back!"
Yup yup! So let's get this party started!
"Valentines day? What's that?"
Staring up incredulously at the busty red head, Rukia shook her head. "You don't know about Valentines day?! But you've been here in the real world for almost a year now! How could you not know, Taru-chan?!"
Hotaru laughed nervously, scratching at the back of her head. Apparently there was some sort of strange human holiday going on that involved the giving of chocolate, and the poor former third seat was confused as could be. "I'm still adjusting to all these strange human traditions!" She placed a hand to her chin in a thoughtful manner, going back to all the things she'd experienced so far. "Is it anything like Christmas? I got a box covered in pretty paper with bright red bow! And inside it had the prettiest dress I'd ever seen!"
"No, no..." Rukia sighed, brushing her hair back a bit. "...it's a special holiday when human girls give chocolate candies to boys that they like."
"Oh! So, I should go out and by chocolate for Kisuke-kun, and Kurosaki-kun, and Abarai-kun...And maybe I could even get something for Akon-kun too!" She brought a hand to her mouth as she giggled lightly.
"Not like that either!" She pulled up small, (craptastic), drawings of a girl bunny, who looked surprisingly similar to the buxom shinigami, and a green and white striped hat wearing boy bunny that the girl bunny was giving a heart shaped box of chocolate to. "You get chocolate to give to the person you love," the boy bunny took the chocolate from the girl, "and then on white day the one who got a gift gives another gift to the one who gave him the gift." The boy bunny gave the girl a gift of heart shaped chocolate too, then they kissed and little hearts fluttered around them.
Blinking her wide, purple eyes stupidly for a moment, she sighed. "I think I understand...So I'm supposed to get a heart shaped box of chocolates and give it Kisuke-kun?"
The adopted royal nodded. "Basically, that's pretty much--" Just then her cell phone began ringing, signaling that a hallow had appeared in the area. "Oh, sorry, Taru-chan, I've gotta go!"
She nodded simply, smiling at her friend as she ran off to destroy the annoyance that had appeared. "Thanks for all your help! I'm gonna go try to find something nice to give to Kisuke-kun!"
I still say it's the biggest Hallmark-holiday in existence...
Hotaru smiled slyly, poking the Narrator's side. "I bet your just sour 'cause you don't have anyone to give chocolate to!"
No! I just think you don't need a holiday to give your friends things or tell them that you love them! It's just far too cliche...
"And you still don't have anyone to give anything to!" She teased.
Buying chocolate for your boyfriend should be a simple task, right? Well apparently that didn't apply the night before Valentines day. Hotaru sighed frustratedly as she stormed out of the sixth store she'd been in. "Since when did everything become this hard!?"
"Akimori-san?" A young voice called.
The bosomy woman turned around to come face to chest with another buxom young girl. "Orihime-chan! What are you doing here?" She grinned, despite her frustrations from her futile efforts to buy a box of chocolate.
The teen flushed a bit, holding her bag close to her chest. "I was just buying a gift for someone special..."
Smiling knowingly, the red head grinned wider. "Ah, that's great! I, myself, am out trying to find some chocolate for Kisuke-kun!"
"You are? Why haven't you gotten any yet?" She asked innocently.
"Well..." Hotaru sighed, shaking her head a bit. "It seems that all the stores I've been to are out of chocolate. I never knew that Valentines day would be so complicated! And I don't know what I should do if I can't bring any chocolate for Kisuke-kun..."
Orihime shifted nervously, loosening her grip on her bag of chocolates. "You really love Urahara-san...don't you?"
"Of course!" The buxom shinigami sighed happily. "I love him more than the world!"
Biting her lip nervously, the human girl held out her bag. "If you like, I can give you these for Urahara-san."
"But...what about the one you were going to give the chocolates to?" She questioned the taller girl.
"I really don't mind!" She pressed. "It's not that important anyway!"
"...No, those are yours, Orihime-chan..." The shinigami smiled softly, staring up at the younger girl. "I know Kisuke-kun will understand. And I have a feeling that giving those chocolates to Kurosaki-kun will mean a lot to him..."
The blush spread further across her features as she stared down at the older woman. "Wha-wha-what do you mean--"
Hotaru grinned sweetly. "There's no need to hide it from me, Orihime-chan, I understand." Looking down at the watch on her wrist, she groaned. "Ah, crap, I've gotta get going though! Good luck with your gift!"
"Thank you, Akimori-san!" The busty teen called, watching her small friend run off to where she assumed she'd be looking for more chocolate.
"This is getting frustrating..." Hotaru frowned. "But I'm not going to give up!"
Sometimes stubbornness can be a good thing...
It was already rather late, and the majority of the stores were already closed. But still, Hotaru trudged onward, deep into the night, coming to the final store in the entire city. It was a small twenty-four hour mart that was practically empty.
"Is there anything I can help you with?" The clerk asked, eying the bosomy young woman as she scanned the rows of food for any sort of chocolate.
She growled to herself, smacking her head against one of the racks as she scanned the last row of food. "I have been to fourteen stores to count so far, and this is the last store in the entire city! And not even this shop has any chocolate. I've been trying so hard to get the hang of these new holidays, and somehow I always find some sort of way to mess it up. And now I can't even bring him some chocolate to celebrate our first Valentines day together..." Shaking her head sadly she leaned against the counter that the man was behind. "Can you help me fix that?"
His eyes softened a bit after hearing her story. "I think I've got just the thing..."
Perking up immediately, she smiled at him. "Really?!"
"Yeah, working here does end up having it's perks." He grinned, digging around behind the counter.
"What do you mean?" Hotaru asked curiously, leaning over the counter to see what he was doing.
Smiling kindly up at her he pulled out a small heart shaped box. "Well, you see, sometimes when we get our shipments of products, there are a few that have some sort of flaws; the seal's broken, it's been tagged incorrectly, etc. And when those items are shipped to this store, it's against our policy to sell them. So normally I end up keeping them for myself. But from the sound of it, you could use this much more than I could."
She took the box that he was holding out to her carefully. "You have no idea how much this means to me..."
"It's not a problem." The clerk grinned, scratching the back of his head. "It's perfectly fine, just mislabeled. The product itself shouldn't be bad, from what I've eaten from that brand it's rather tasty too..."
Hugging the clerk from the other side of the counter she cheered. "Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!"
Releasing him from her death hold, she ran out of the store, skipping a bit as she went. She continued running and skipping all the way to Urahara Shoten, not slowing down once. "Akimori-san, welcome back." Tessai greeted. The shop was already closed, and Tessai was busy moving somethings around, preparing for tomorrows work. "Is there anything you need?"
The red head panted a bit, grinning happily nonetheless. "Is Kisuke-kun around?"
"Hmm..." He placed down the box he was carrying and placed his hand to his chin, a glare appeared on his glasses. "I believe he's still in the back room."
"Thank you, Tessai-san!" She giggled, running past the large man and into the back room. "Kisuke-kun~! I'm back!!" Staring wide eyed at the empty room, Hotaru frowned slightly. "Kisuke-kun?"
"He's in the back." The bosomy shinigami turned her attentions to the darker woman. Yoruichi sat by the table, munching on some chocolates from a large heart shaped box.
"Oh, Yoruichi-chan! Where did you get the chocolates?" She asked, feeling a bit insignificant for having such a small box.
The purple haired woman raised her eyes to meet the others. "Soifon brought it for me. What have you got there behind you?"
She held out the small box of chocolate nervously. "Just a little something for Kisuke-kun! It took me forever to find a place that still had any chocolates to sell!"
"Well..." The dark woman smiled, watching the younger shinigami blush nervously. "...he's waiting for you in the back. Good luck tonight."
"Thanks, Yoruichi-chan!" Hotaru grinned, running further into the shop to find her blonde lover. She found him in the back, sipping a cup of sake and staring at the moon. "Kisuke-kun, I'm finally back!"
He set his cup down and looked up just in time to see her jump into his lap, holding out the box of chocolates. "Good, I was wondering when you'd be back. What do you have there?"
"It's chocolates for you! It took me all night to find them, but I got 'em!" She smiled softly up at him, snuggling close to his chest. "Happy Valentines day, Kisuke-kun! I hope you like it."
Kisuke held her close with his free arm, placing the chocolates to the side. "Thank you, Taru-chan. Happy Valentines day." Leaning down he lightly caught her lips in a soft, but quite passionate kiss.
Swiftly placing his other arm under her legs, he picked her up, not breaking their kiss as he made his way into their bedroom for a very personal thank you.
And that's the end. Cute? Yes? No?
"I liked it!" Hotaru grinned, hugging the Narrator from the side. "It was fun!"
Yeah, thanks. I don't care for the holiday, but it was fun to write. So let me know what you think! Do I still fail at one-shots?