With Valentine's Day here, I thought it would be a perfect story for a one shot. It's about Goten falling in love with a tomboy, and how he tries to impress her. But what happens when he fails? Read on to find out!

February, the month of love. Love between friends and family, and the perfect time for young love to blossom. And this was no exception for a little hybrid boy named Goten. It was Valentine's Day, and he was on a little mission. But this mission had nothing to do with fighting a huge monster or finding the dragon balls to make a wish. It had nothing to do with fighting, it had to with LOVE.

That's right...Goten was in love.

He had fallen in love with a girl, but not the most prettiest or smartest kind of girls. He had a crush on a tomboy named Matoru. She was a few inches taller than him, her skin was almost a peach color, had long red curly hair that was always in a ponytail, dark brown eyes, several freckles on both of her cheeks, always wore checkered shirts and jeans, and would always ride a skateboard to school every day Goten went to school. Matoru was athletic, she would out run all of the boys and girls at school (with Trunks and Goten both as exceptions) and wasn't wearing anything girly like a skirt or dress.

Goten himself couldn't explain the feeling he was having. Every time he saw her smile, he always felt his heart beating faster. Everyday he went to school seeing her two rows away from his desk and would sometimes stare at the lovely locks of hair. Goten knew he wanted a girlfriend, and Matoru was the one for him. Most of the boys in his school would see blondes or brunettes as a lovely hair color for girls, especially if they were the prettiest in school. Not Goten through, he saw red heads as the most attractive...well only in his eyes.

He wanted to get her attention, he also knew that it was not going to be easy. Matoru knew Goten was in her 5th grade class, but she didn't know him personally. So with that in mind, Goten needed to surprise her with something BIG. Nothing too expensive, as he had a small allowance and he didn't know what girls liked, he never got any advice from his dad or mom (and considering Goku didn't know the difference between a boy and a girl until his early teens) Goten didn't know what to do.

However, Trunks gave him an idea. Last week at Capsule Corp. while the boys were playing, Trunks told Goten to write her a love poem, to tell her how he felt about her. He added to give her the poem as a gift on Valentine's Day to make it EXTRA special.

"Do you think Matoru will like it?" Goten asked.

"Of course she will," Trunks replied, "girls love gifts from guys on Valentine's Day. You can make a card and put in a love poem inside of it."

When Goten got home, he went to his room and pulled out construction paper with the colors red, white, and baby pink. He folded a piece of baby pink paper in half (like a hamburger), and he pulled out a pair of scissors. He then took a piece of red construction paper and started to cut it into a shape of a heart, and did the same thing with a piece of white paper, only a little bigger. After he was done cutting, he took a gluestick and glued the white heart on the folded piece of paper, and repeated that step for the red heart.

Goten made a card, it was almost complete. He got out a black pen and on the front of the card he wrote "To you my love", he thought of writing "Happy Valentine's Day Matoru" was a bit cheesy for a card that was going to be special. After that, he wrote a poem for Matoru and when he finished, he felt confident and hoped Matoru will love the card and be his true love. The card was now complete, so Goten put the card in a white envelope and sealed it with a heart sticker. He wrote Matoru's name on the envelope and decorated it with more heart stickers. Now all Goten had to do was wait for the day to surprise her.

A week has passed, today was the day. At the beginning of school, when every student went class, Goten walked to Matoru's locker and put the envelope with the card inside, and reached to the top of her locker to put the envelope through the vents. Afterwards, he rushed off to his class. When class was over, Goten put his stuff he needed to take home and stuffed them into his backpack. He zipped it up and closed his locker. Luckily, his locker was only a few lockers away from Matoru's, so he could see her react to the card she was given.

Matoru was at her locker, she wore a red checkered shirt with red jeans and had her hair in a ponytail. She opened her locker, and saw the envelope at the bottom of the locker. She picked it up, and several students (a lot of them were her friends) were surrounding her, wondering what was inside. Goten was watching her, he was a few feet away from her, seeing if she would love what he done.

"Here we go!" he thought to himself with excitement.

Matoru opened the envelope, and took out the card. 'To you my love' she read out loud. The card (with the poem) read:

The love I send

Is only to you

You are my darling

My sweet Matoru

You outrun most of the boys

Even all the girls

One of the things I love

Is your sweet redhead curls

Valentine's Day is here

I see you everyday

This poem shows I care

But that's not all I have to say

I want you to be my girlfriend

You're a perfect ten

I love you Matoru

Love, Goten

After Matoru read the last line of the poem, all of the students (except for Trunks) burst with laughter. Goten got angry, how dare those students laugh at the stuff he done for his crush. He ran up to the students, he needed to stand up for himself.

"Stop laughing!" he shouted, "I put a lot of work for Matoru and I love her! How would you feel if someone teased you for loving somebody?"

Trunks walked to Goten, he had something to say.

"It's not funny." he said, "Stop it already."

The kids ignored them both, and teased Goten for loving Matoru.

"Goten's gotta a girlfriend!" they teased, "Goten's gotta a girlfriend! Ooooh!"

Matoru looked at Goten with disgust, then a few seconds she started laughing with her classmates over how funny this was. She dropped the card and Goten picked it up. Goten's face turned red, he was so embarrassed and hurt from all of this. He turned away from the students and ran out the school. Trunks tried to follow him, but he then decided to let him go, to have Goten be alone.

Goten arrived home and entered his house. His mom was washing dishes and his dad was helping her. Chi-Chi saw Goten enter, and she spoke to him.

"Hi son," she said with a smile, "How was school?"

"Fine," he muttered, "I...got homework to do."

Goten had his head down, he went straight to his room and entered it. He closed the door, and he sat on his twin bed. He never felt so hurt and embarrassed in his whole life. Anger then went through his head, and he couldn't take it anymore. He ripped the card in the half, and he grabbed his pillow. He lied down on his bed and he started to cry. Tears went through his eyes like a river, and were rolling down to his cheeks.

Chi-Chi felt something was wrong. Her motherly instincts were tingling. It was her sixth sense, only for her parenting, not fighting crime. She wanted Goku to talk to him, considering Goten was getting older and would most likely turn to his dad for male-related dilemmas.

"Goku," she said, "I think something is bothering Goten."

Goku noticed Goten when he came home. He thought something was wrong, but he wasn't really sure. He wanted to get to the bottom of this.

"Maybe there is." he said, "Should I go talk to him?"

She nodded, "I'll do the rest of the dishes." she said.

Goku left the kitchen and went to Goten's room. He knocked on the door, but Goten didn't answer. He was still crying with his face in his pillow. Goku opened the door, and he saw his son crying on his bed, and two pieces of torn paper of the floor. Goku felt concerned, he walked to Goten's bed, and sat down. Goten got his face away from the pillow and saw his dad, his face had tear tracks from his eyes, and his eyes were filled with tears.

"Goten what's wrong?" Goku asked, "Why are you crying?"

Goten sat up from his bed, he didn't want to talk about his feelings. But he knew he couldn't hide them forever. So he wiped his tears with his sleeves and told his dad everything that happened, from his crush, the poem, and how his crush and the rest of his class laughed at him, leaving him in embarrassment. Goku listened at everything his son said, and when Goten stopped talking, he burst into more tears and Goku hugged him. He rubbed his son's head, it was something Goten really liked from his dad and it was a way of saying everything would okay. Goku let go of his son, and he started to talk to him seriously.

"Goten, he said in his serious tone of voice, "I'm really sorry about what happened. I know there's a lot of kids that are cruel and want to hurt you. But you can't give up on yourself. By the looks of it, you worked really hard for Matoru to like you, and that's amazing. And I know the feeling of something you love or worked hard for can blow up in your face at any time you're not expecting it. But it's alright, son."

Goten looked at his dad, and he was a bit confused.

"How is it alright for my heart to broken, Dad?" he asked.

"Well," said Goku, "mistakes were made from this experience. No one is perfect son, everyone makes mistakes. Including me. But if you can fix what you broke, you can prevent another mistake from happening again."

Goten smiled, he wiped the tears from his eyes with his left sleeve. But he had a question to ask.

"Dad?"

"Yes son?" Goku asked.

"Do you think I'll find a different girl to like?" Goten asked, "You know, since Matoru doesn't want to be my girlfriend."

Goku thought about it, and he replied with a little chuckle and smile.

"I'm sure you'll find someone who likes you." he said, "But maybe you shouldn't worry about that now. I think you should take a break from girls for a while."

Goten smiled, "Okay Dad." he said.

The father and son left the room to go into the kitchen, and celebrate the rest of Valentine's Day. It wasn't between Goten and Matoru, but it was celebrated with the love of his family. Goten realized Valentine's Day wasn't between couples, but also with family and friends.

THE END

I hope you had a great Valentine's Day! This one-shot was inspired by a situation I went through in the 5th grade, and I learned from this experience. The next one-shot will be coming soon!