Valentine's Day

Disclaimer: Suikoden and its characters are owned by KCE, not me. And if my fics resemble any other author's works, it's purely coincidental, since I'm sure there are millions of Suikoden fics out there, and I haven't read all of them yet.

Author's Note: I was bitten by the love bug, and it inspired me to write this. It's my first fic...Hope you enjoy! ^_^; Oh yeah, I used the default name for Hero2 (Riou), and my castle is called Genkaku Castle (in reverence to the late great State hero.. *sniff*)

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Chapter 2: Harmony of Hearts

"Adesso parlerĂ² fino all'alba del mio

sogno di fuoco che brucia con la mia vita..."

"Well done, Annallee," Pico strummed the last chord on his guitar. They were both practicing, sitting backstage in the castle's music hall. "But we both know it can be improved. Is something on your mind? Do you want to take a break?"

"Sorry..." Annallee replied softly, looking down at her hands clasped on her lap. "Maybe... with Alberto's cello..." she suggested.

Pico smiled. "Yes, speaking of which, where is that guy?" He glanced past the side entrance, but saw only empty chairs in the dim light of the late afternoon sun. "Doesn't he know there's practice today? We have to be ready for the Valentine's Day performance tomorrow afternoon," he sighed. There was a brief silence.

"Pico," Annallee spoke up.

"Yes?" Pico turned to look at her, meeting her eyes.

"You...still wear that necklace," she smiled, lowering her gaze to the shiny pendant on a red string that hung around Pico's neck. The smooth, silver bass-clef pendant on his chest gave off a faint orange glow, reflecting the light of the setting sun.

"Of course. It was from someone very special to me," he replied, chuckling when he saw Annallee's cheeks turn red.

"I remember when you gave this to me," he said, fingering the pendant. "It was a couple of years ago, before our very first performance in Rockaxe..." he gazed out the window with a faraway look in his eyes.

"Alberto's hometown..." Annallee added.

"Yes," he smiled. "It was quite fortunate that Alberto was friends with the owner of that tavern we played in. It was the first time I had the chance to perform the music I wrote for a large audience. Alberto was so excited for us, but he didn't know that deep inside I was a wreck!" Pico laughed.

He looked back at Annallee. "But you could sense my anxiety, and you gave me this necklace. You told me it was a good luck charm from your town in Harmonia, and..."

"...that it promotes the harmony of the mind, heart and soul," Annallee's lips moved in unison with Pico's.

"That performance was very important to me, and your words were very encouraging... At the end, we did a fine job, didn't we?" He leaned closer and looked at Annallee intently. "But I soon realized that my good luck charm wasn't the necklace..."

The petite brunette's eyes widened in surprise.

"You are my good luck charm, Annallee," Pico smiled. "Thank you."

Annallee quickly looked down at the floor, her cheeks blushing an even brighter shade of red.

"Pico! Annallee! Are you in here?" called a voice from the hallway. In a few seconds, Alberto's worried face peeked backstage, and he sighed with relief.

"Good, you're still here. I'm so sorry for being late," he apologized, huffing and puffing as he set his cello case to the side. "I was with Master Tessai, and he was teaching me how to embed runes onto weapons. It was so interesting that I became engrossed in the lesson and forgot about the time." He took a chair from a stack against the wall and sat with them, still trying to catch his breath. "Sorry," he said again, wiping sweat from his forehead.

Pico grinned. "Don't worry about it. Amazingly, this is only the first time you've ever been later than me!" They all chuckled at that.

"Anyway, we haven't quite finished practicing the new song for tomorrow," Pico said, handing Alberto the music sheets.

"Right, right," Alberto nodded. "Let's get started then. We've got a lot of work ahead of us......"

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"There's Lord Riou in front," Pico whispered, peeking through the curtain of the stage, observing the crowd. "Wow, it looks like everyone's here for the Valentine's Day performance!" He turned to Annallee who stood behind him, looking at the ground. "Nervous?" he asked.

"A little..." she admitted. "I hope I practiced enough for the new song..." She looked at Alberto, who was playing some practice notes on his cello, to the side. "I wish I could be as relaxed as Alberto."

Pico laughed and approached her. "Here," he reached into his pocket. "I have something that will take away that nervousness." As he brought his hand out, a glint of silver caught Annallee's eye. He opened his fist to reveal a necklace, silver like his, with a pendant in the shape of a G-clef.

"This," he said, reaching behind Annallee's head to put the necklace on her, "is a very special good luck charm... Pico's good luck charm." He kissed her on the cheek and smiled. "And accompanied by Pico's good luck kiss, you can't go wrong!" He grinned and stepped back to look at the surprised, blushing girl.

"You guys ready?" Alberto came up to them, cello in hand.

"Let's knock `em dead," Pico replied, looking at Annallee, who smiled in return.

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"Whew!" Alberto exhaled as the curtain fell and the applause died down. The three walked backstage, quite drained by their show. "Great job, you two!" he turned and placed a hand on Pico's and Annallee's shoulders. "You gave an excellent performance today!"

Pico and Annallee looked at each other, their eyes gleaming knowingly, and grinned. Alberto grinned along with them, then stopped.

"Hey, why don't I have a necklace?"