Well, here we are at chapter twenty. And I finished it on Valentine's Day! :D There isn't a lot of time before midnight, so I'm going to make the opening note short. So, let's do the replies real quick...

ultimashadow: Thanks again. :) Oh, those two? The one with silver hair is Furioso, and the one with gold hair is Vermillion. I'll do my best; I hope you like this one as much as the others.

Prince of Tennis' Shaman: You don't have to, but I like it when you do. :) Aw, thanks! :D I know; isn't he just the most annoying thing? For some reason, he reminds of this kid who threw sand in my face when I was three... I honestly can't tell which of them is worse. I think he might think of trying to get a different gift after these two bad experiences. ;) Yeah, Marumaro's a relief to have around sometimes. Since his character is so perverted in the anime, I find him the hardest of all to write. But what can you do? Still looking forward to the translation. :) But you don't have to rush.

WindGoddess Rune: Yeah; it's nice how that worked out for Shu. :D Yeah, not including the omake, twenty is the end. The other stories will be up ASAP. :)

Edward-Elric-in-red: Thanks. :) Well, it probably isn't in canon, but I don't really know; it's just another one of my theories, like the SCI. Oh, I'm sorry - I should've been more clear. The rectangle is the box; the shape on the necklace is a triangle. Glad you're liking it. :D

Okay, there are the replies. I'm still short on time, so after the disclaimer, read on. ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Blue Dragon. Not enough time to write anything else.

Today was March 7th. Today was White Day.

All over the world, girls were giving chocolate to boys, a small way of thanking them for the chocolate they'd received on Valentine's Day.

But in a small village in the mountains, two visiting girls held a not-quite-traditional competition...

Kluke leaned on her elbows, looking out the window; there wasn't much snow falling now, and most of what was on the ground had melted in the morning.

This day was one of the few holidays that Sweet Delights didn't give vacations for, but Helen had made an exception for Kluke, since today was the last day of the competition and all. Though part of the agreement was that she would kiss Jiro today or tomorrow, something which Helen hadn't added until Kluke had already agreed, so she couldn't get out of it.

Kluke was pretty sure what she was going to try to make, but was still a little afraid; nothing she'd made had ever really been edible, and she'd only had two weeks to learn how. But that wasn't going to stop her from trying.

It was afternoon now. Bouquet had already started making her chocolate; they'd flipped a coin to decide who would go first. It hadn't really been that long since she started, but the wait was putting Kluke on edge.

Another thing she was impatient about was what Jiro had said to her earlier.

"It's just..." he made a sound of annoyance in the back of his throat, seemingly upset that he wasn't able to say what he wanted. "Look, we'll talk later, okay? After the competition. It's important."

Afterwards, it had seemed like he was purposely avoiding her - when she went into a room, he seemed like he would try to get out of it as quickly as possible. And Marumaro had been whispering things to him, and to Shu.

Speaking of Shu, he was actually doing much better; Kluke didn't want to admit it, but whatever Bouquet had done was working. He'd hadn't been feeling well enough to actually get out of the bed yet, but he sat up without any help, and was able swing his legs over the side of the bed (doing so just for the sake of saying he wasn't sick).

"You should be getting ready, shouldn't you?" Zola's voice interrupted her musings.

Kluke turned to face her, folding her hands in front of her. "Probably. But I'm thinking things over, so maybe that's a way of getting ready, too."

Zola nodded. "That's true," she walked over to stand next to Kluke. "That's one of my preferred ways of preparing for something."

Kluke looked out the window again. "Zola... Do you think I have any chance of winning?"

She smiled knowingly. "I think you and Bouquet have both already won."

"Hm?" she looked at her confusedly.

Zola turned to her. "The point of Valentine's Day and White Day is to have someone special to spend it with. And the two of you have that now. Maybe one of you can make better chocolate. But the person who doesn't make it as well will still win."

"Zola..." Kluke smiled. "Thank you."

"What?!" Shu nearly choked on the water he was drinking.

"Quiet, maro! She'll hear you, maro!"

"B-but... Marumaro, I've never kissed anyone before!"

Marumaro groaned, slapping his hand against his face. It hadn't seemed likely that Jiro and Kluke would kiss, so he'd wanted a backup view in the form of Shu and Bouquet - it would work out, because if everything went right, he'd get to watch two kisses anyway. But, with Shu's shyness about it, he was starting to wonder if it was worth it. "It's not that big of a deal, maro."

Shu crossed his arms over his chest. "Have you ever kissed anyone before?"

No, maro. But I will if I don't do something about that stupid fiancée of mine, maro. " 'C-course I have, maro!"

"Weren't you nervous? Before you did it, I mean."

Why did he lie to someone like Shu? "M-maybe a little, maro," Marumaro shook his head. "But, I got over it, maro! And so should you, maro!"

Shu swung his foot a little, trying to get the feeling back into it; the bed was cutting off his circulation at the knee. He was pretty sure now that he liked Bouquet, but doing something like that to express it so openly... Frankly, the thought of it made him want to climb up the wall. But, at first, the thought of returning Bouquet's feelings had done the same thing. Looking at it like that... "Okay."

Marumaro turned around from where he was holding his head and panicking about his failed plan. "Say what, maro?"

"I'll do it. But only after the competition is over!"

"Good, maro." Marumaro turned around, then making sure that Shu couldn't see, pumped the air with his fist. Score, maro!

Bouquet held up the small disc of the necklace so she could look at it better; she'd been wearing it since Shu had given it to her, and she didn't plan on taking it off anytime soon.

She closed her hand around it, her eyes closed, smiling. Obachan... I think I understand the dream now. The dream had been a warning, that Shu would be in danger. She had to fight through the illness to find him again, and she'd done so. And now everything seemed right.

Well, everything would be right once she beat Kluke. With that in mind, she turned her attention to the last minute ingredient she had to add...

As soon as Kluke had filled the mold with chocolate, she promptly turned around and screamed with delight. She'd done it.

It had taken a lot of hard work, a lot of trial and error, and a lot of ingredients, but she'd finally made something.

She didn't know if it tasted okay, since she hadn't she tried it yet; she was too afraid that it would be awful, just like everything else she'd made. But she was too happy to worry about it.

"I did it! I really did it!" she spun around the room.

Kluke's eyes were closed, so she couldn't see the ajar door, where Jiro was smiling at her. "Good job, Kluke..."

It was sunset when the chocolate was finished setting. It was placed on a table where the three boys were sitting (though Shu had needed some help).

They were both in the shapes of hearts. Kluke's was milk chocolate frosted with pink icing, and Bouquet's was white chocolate frosted with blue icing; the colored icing was mostly to show which one was made by which girl.

When it was time, Zola came over and cut off three pieces from each chocolate heart. Once she had finished, all three of them took a piece of Kluke's chocolate and tried it.

"Good, maro."

"Good."

"Good."

"Yes!" Kluke jumped up. "In your face!" she pointed at Bouquet.

Bouquet scowled at her. "They haven't even tried mine yet."

At that moment, they each tried Bouquet's.

"Good, maro."

"Good."

"Good."

"WHAT?!!" Both girls gaped at them.

Marumaro shrugged. "What else was I supposed to say, maro?"

"Hmph." Jiro closed his eyes.

"I couldn't decide..." Shu said apologetically.

"W-we have to have a tiebreaker!" Bouquet cried. "Something! Anything!"

Kluke shook her head. "How do you break a tie in something like this?"

"Zola, do something!" Bouquet pleaded.

"Why don't we just leave it as a tie? It's perfectly reasonable for two people to have equal cooking skill."

"You're comparing my cooking to hers?!"

"My cooking is much better than it was!" Kluke argued.

"A tie might even be more respectable than you two winning. The two of you have proved that you're both worthy of being each other's rivals."

Kluke looked thoughtful for a moment, before nodding. "I think Zola might be right."

"But... one of us was supposed to win... and it was supposed to be me!"

Kluke directed her gaze at Zola, smiling. "We did win."

"Huh?" Bouquet looked between the two of them, not understanding.

"Come on," Kluke threw her arm over Bouquet's shoulder. "I'll explain it to you."

Bouquet sighed, watching her breath come out like white smoke. Kluke had "explained" the theory to Bouquet, but it still seemed silly to her. She'd wanted to win...

"You said you'd do it, maro!"

"Ow, Marumaro!" Shu barely caught himself on a pillar, turning to glare at Marumaro. "You know I can't walk right yet!"

"Shu," Bouquet stood up. "Are you okay?"

"Hi, Bouquet," he sat down on the steps next to her, blushing as he saw the necklace. "You're still wearing it?"

She smiled warmly, brushing her fingers over it absentmindedly. "Of course. I don't think I'll ever take it off."

"I'm glad." he looked out at the sleeping village.

She brought her knees closer to her chest, just enjoying his presence. She had just turned her head to tell him something, but whatever she was going to say was lost as he kissed her.

There wasn't much too it (though they both thought differently); just a small bit of pressing and some warmth.

He pulled away quickly, his face scarlet. I'm going to kill Marumaro; that wasn't easy at all.

Neither of them said anything for a minute, when Bouquet broke the silence with a cry, saying, "Oh, Shu, I'm so happy!" she launched towards him, preparing to crush him in one of her infamous hugs.

"Ah!! Bouquet, wait!!"

"They seem like they're getting pretty cozy." Kluke commented sourly. She'd seen the whole thing from beginning to end, and she felt sick to her stomach.

"They are betrothed." Jiro startled her as he came out of nowhere.

"It was only an accident," she said after she'd recovered. "It's not like a real engagement or anything."

"It's an accident that we came here," Jiro stepped towards her, each footfall filled with confidence. "Does that mean the two of us aren't really together?"

"Th-that's not what I meant." Kluke blushed, a little surprised he'd actually come out and said it.

"I have something for you." he pulled out a box that she hadn't noticed him hiding.

She looked at it warily, noticing the resemblance to a ring box. "You're not proposing to me, are you?"

"Of course not!!!" He took a few deep breaths to calm himself. "No. We're only ten." he said it much calmer, though he was still upset.

"Sorry. Just wanted to check." she said sheepishly.

"You're not too far off," he opened the box, revealing the ring he'd bought earlier. "I mean, it's a ring, so you're not really far off..."

"Jiro, it's beautiful!" she cried, cutting off his rambling.

"Here." he handed it to her, smiling as he watched her try it on.

She held her hands over her chest. "Jiro... How can I thank you?"

He moved so there was hardly an inch between them, absentmindedly glad that Marumaro wasn't around to mess things up this time. "I think I might know a way..." he closed the remaining distance between them, and just let his heart guide him from there.

Marumaro spun around as he made his way back inside, almost reverting into one of those (outdated, in his opinion) Devee dances. At last, I finally get something out of this trip, maro!

He jumped up on his bed, folding his arms behind his head and relaxing. Maybe one day I'll have a girl like Kluke or Bouquet, maro...

He looked up when he felt something tap his shoulder, (seemingly) opening his eyes just in time to see Zola leave the room, a wrapped chocolate from Sweet Delights on his stomach. His smile grew as he went back to his rest. Maybe not Zola, but maybe one day soon, maro...

Kan

Well, there's the end. I thought about dragging it out some more, but I thought this was as good place as any to end it. "Kan", by the way, means "the end" in Japanese. Before I forget, I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed:

WindGoddess Rune

Prince of Tennis's Shaman

The Flying Frog

motorcycle demon

ultimashadow

Edward-Elric-in-red

pepperdadog

SoujaGirl (Lazy)

Thank you, guys; you've helped me so much! :D The omake will probably be up tomorrow or the day after. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!