"I haven't been this scared in a long time.

And I'm so unprepared, so here's your valentine.

Bouquet of clumsy words, a simple melody.

This world's an ugly place, but you're so beautiful to me."

Going Away to College by Blink-182

XX

To be honest, Kisara had no idea what to expect as she walked into work Monday morning on February 14th. It wasn't that she was trying to be shy or cute by not having expectations, it was just that she honestly couldn't have any. Her relationship with Seto was less than two months old… she didn't even know what their relationship was or meant so how could she know what the "love" holiday was supposed to mean to her? Truthfully, Kisara might've even preferred to be single on this particular holiday because at least she wouldn't feel like she had to have expectations at all.

Going to school had made the holiday all the more awkward. The girls in her classes had found ways to dress themselves up, despite having to wear uniforms, more so than usual. Their hair looked like it was professionally done, they had painted their nails a bright red fully knowing they would have to take it off the next day because of uniform regulations, and everything any girl said was talking about the boys.

"Did you hear what Naomi got from her boyfriend?"

"I wonder what Masato is getting for his girlfriend."

"I can't wait to see where Kyo takes me for dinner!" Kisara wanted to sew her ears shut. Just hearing everyone's anticipation gave her anxiety. There was so much build-up about Valentine's Day, a holiday she had only celebrated once in the past and… it wasn't a time she wanted to think about. She was with someone else now and yet how did he always manage to slip back into her head?

Kisara could almost say she was relieved to go to work because at least then she wouldn't be around the girls at her school. Although the bouquets of roses on the women's desks seemed to stare at her the entire walk it took to get to Seto's office, for the most part, she felt her heart could be at ease. That was until she actually walked into Seto's office… where she found nothing and no one to be found. All of the build-up, all of the anxiety, all of her emotions that had been swelled up inside her to the point where she was at the verge of tears and to return to an empty office made her break down.

Kisara slammed the door shut before falling to her knees, sobbing. Suddenly it wasn't about Valentine's Day anymore. She was consumed by emotions entirely unrelated to Valentine's Day. She had never felt so alone in her life and the emptiness she felt in her heart being away from her family couldn't be shut away in denial any longer. The truth was that she had loved seeing her family for her birthday for two weeks but the visit had only made the wound of being apart from them deeper. She had realized, in spending time with them, how much she missed being with them and how empty her life was without them. The relationship with Seto had, to some extent, distracted her from her pain but it was then that it was all truly coming out. She really missed her family.

Kisara cried for a good hour, by herself, sitting on the floor of an empty office. The emptiness of the office, which had originally deepened her pain, eventually brought a sort of peace and calm to her mind. The solitude of the office and the echoing of her sobs helped her to slowly come to a point of relaxation and put things in perspective. Yes, she was alone, but she wanted to be in Japan more than anything. She was on her way to achieving her dream. She had proven to herself that she could be independent despite the odds. She had met the man of her…

Kisara looked up. That was when she realized she hadn't seen or spoken to Seto all day. He hadn't gone to school that day nor, did he appear, to plan on coming to work. Not only that, but it was Valentine's Day so what was Seto doing? Kisara, feeling a lot better after a good cry, decided to get up from the ground and go to her desk. At that point, it didn't matter to her where or what Seto was doing on this horrid, nerve-wrecking holiday. She had come to work with the intention of working and that's exactly what she planned to do, whether Seto was there or not, whether it was Valentine's Day or not. There was work to be done and thus, she pressed on.

It was four o'clock when Mokuba arrived at home and he was bursting with excitement. Isono had picked him up from school which Mokuba could only assume meant that Seto was out and about with Kisara, being romantic and having a grand old time. He couldn't wait for his brother to return home so that Mokuba could hear all the mushy gushy details of his and Kisara's Valentine's Day date. For the most part, romance usually made the thirteen year old gag but he really liked Seto with Kisara. The two of them were a good match for each other and anyone who knew Seto the way Mokuba did could tell.

Too excited to think about anything else, Mokuba decided to wander into his brother's room. He figured it would be a while before Seto would return home that night and he wished to entertain himself by seeing if there were any clues in Seto's home office that could indicate where Seto would be taking Kisara that day. When Mokuba burst into his brother's room, however, he was surprised to find his brother sitting in his office chair, his body limp and his head positioned in front of a blank computer screen. For a moment, Mokuba could've sworn he was dead.

"Nii-sama!?" Seto's body jerked forward and twisted around.

"What's wrong?!" Seto turned to see Mokuba staring at him, holding a mixed expression of horror and surprise on his face. "Oh, it's you, Mokuba. What are you doing home? Shouldn't you be at school?" Seto yawned, stretching his arms above his head when he did. Mokuba inched towards his brother, completely dumbfounded by the fact that his brother was already home.

"It's four o'clock, Nii-sama. School is over. I'm more concerned with what you're doing here. Did you not go to school today?" Mokuba looked over his brother's shoulder to see what Seto had been working on. The only words on the page were, 'Dear Kisara.' Mokuba's eyes widened. "Oh no… you haven't spent the entire day working on something to say to Kisara, have you?! Please tell me that's not what you've been doing." Seto glared at Mokuba before turning back around to his computer.

"So what if I have?" Mokuba grabbed the office chair and spun it again so his brother was facing him.

"Why would you wait until today to do this?! Kisara probably thinks you want to break up with her for ditching her on Valentine's Day! You realize she's at work alone right now, don't you?"

"Of course I do! But it wasn't my fault for being late… I didn't realize it was Valentine's Day until I got up early this morning and turned on my computer. It was the only thing that the internet was talking about and I panicked when it dawned on me that I actually had to care about this holiday." Mokuba grabbed Seto's arm and tried to pull his brother out of the chair he was sitting in. Seto promptly refused, pulling his arm out of Mokuba's grasp, "Mokuba, quit it! What's wrong with you?" Mokuba looked offended to hear Seto's response.

"What's wrong with me?! Nii-sama, your girlfriend is at the office ALONE and you haven't seen her all day... on the most important day of the year, too! I bet you haven't even tried to call her, have you?" Seto looked even more offended than Mokuba did.

"Yeah, well… what am I supposed to do?! I understand this is the most important day of the year and that's why I spent all day at home. I didn't want to see or call Kisara until I had thought of something noteworthy to say to her," Seto looked away briefly, embarrassed by his own incompetence in the field of romance, "Unfortunately that was when I realized I didn't know what to say to her." Mokuba shook his head.

"Ugh! Nii-sama, why on earth would you think to spend all your time telling her how you feel? You have a hard enough time telling yourself how you feel. No, what you're supposed to give a girl is chocolate, or flowers, or some stuffed animal or something. Don't try to tell her nice things, you barely know how to compliment people!" Seto's eyes widened at the sound of Mokuba's brilliance. What HAD he been thinking trying to think of something to say to Kisara? How could he have been so stupid?

Seto rose from his chair, as if with newfound inspiration, but his face went blank once more when he realized the other problem with his plan. "Okay, so I won't tell her anything… but now I don't know what to get her."

"Didn't I just tell you what to get her? Chocolate, flowers, stuffed animals, a meal at a nice restaurant… or something like that! It's the kind of stuff they do in the movies."

"Yes, I heard you suggest those things the first time but then that brings the question of what kind of chocolate does she like. I mean, is she allergic to any? Is she allergic to chocolate in general? Or flowers… maybe getting her roses would seem too cliché, or perhaps she only likes flowers that are yellow. And as for a nice restaurant… well, I suppose that would be the easy part." Mokuba interrupted his brother's thought process to drag him out of his chair and over to the bathroom.

"Look, those are all things to think about, but you can figure this all out while you're getting ready. You need to take a shower, fix your hair, shave your face, and do whatever else you need to do. I'll find you a nice suit to wear while you get ready…" Mokuba wandered over to Seto's closet. His wardrobe didn't contain a large variety of styles but Mokuba was willing to accept the challenge of finding something unique for this Valentine's Day date.

"I don't think I need you picking out what clothes I'm going to wear. I'm not five years old, I'm a grown man," Seto said over the rushing water from the shower he started. He waited a few moments for the water to heat up before de-clothing himself.

Just as Seto was about to start the process by taking off his shirt, he noticed his brother's presence and turned around. Mokuba was standing in the doorway with the widest grin on his face. "Oh Nii-sama, no matter how tall or handsome you are, I'll always see you as my little Nii-sama!" Mokuba ran over and leapt into his brother's arms. Though surprised, Seto caught him with ease and laughed. He knew Mokuba was saying this in order to poke fun at the fact that Seto always saw Mokuba as his baby brother. Even holding him now and with the steam of the hot water rising in the air, Seto's mind faded back to a simpler time when Mokuba was just a baby and Seto would bathe him. It almost scared Seto to hold his younger brother, not realizing until now how much his younger brother had grown since the last time he held him. He pulled his brother into a closer hug just at the realization of how fast time was slipping by.

"Um, Nii-sama… you can let go now. I think the water is heated up enough," Mokuba said, subtly nudging Seto to put him down. Seto did as Mokuba suggested and put him down, watching him run out of the bathroom so that Seto could get fully undressed and take a shower. Still… his mind kept on thinking about how much time was slipping by. Mokuba was thirteen, Seto was eighteen, and Kisara was his girlfriend. How strange his life had become since this girl from Egypt came into his life. The times were certainly changing.

It was around eight o'clock at night that Kisara decided to stop working and pack up. Of course, she knew she could've left earlier (or really at any time she wanted), but her break down earlier had inspired her to do a full day of work. After the hour long cry, she felt refreshed and motivated. The obstacles she faced living in Japan alone simply didn't seem as bad as not having a family at all. She loved her family and the distance between them only made her stronger as a person. She was feeling so good about this moment of clarity and self-actualization that Seto barely even crossed her mind at all while she worked.

Kisara shut down her computer and slipped on her jacket, hoping that if she walked quickly enough she would be able to catch the 8:30 bus home. When she looked up, she was surprised to see Seto standing in the doorway, wearing the most strapping suit she had ever seen on him. His luxurious suit, however, didn't conceal the fact that Seto looked worried and upset as he stared at her. Kisara ignored the suit when she saw Seto's face, instantly becoming worried.

"Is everything okay, Seto?" Seto flipped out a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates before Kisara came any closer. She looked from his face to the items in his hands before back up to his face once again. She walked over to him and said nothing. Seto shrugged.

"I'm sorry I messed this whole day up. I forgot what today was until this morning and then I spent the whole day trying to think of something to say to you. When I couldn't think of anything, I got you these," Seto said, his voice filled with utter disappointment in himself, "Oh yeah, and I rented out a restaurant for us to go to as well. I didn't call you because I didn't want to talk to you until I had something to say for myself. When I couldn't come up with anything, I showed up here, hoping that maybe seeing me would change your mind about dumping me." Kisara's eyes looked up.

"Dump you? Who said I would do that?"

"Well, no one did but isn't that typically what women do when they're upset with a guy?" It wasn't Seto's naivety that struck Kisara in that moment, it was how apologetic he was about the whole situation. Working with Seto meant that she had seen him at his harshest, that she would see people getting viciously fired without a second thought. Kisara almost never saw Seto apologize so to see him apologize to her showed just how much she meant to him… to see him scared of losing her only emphasized this fact.

Without another word, Kisara barreled into his arms and dug her face into his chest. Seto immediately dropped everything in his hands to wrap his arms around her, a instinctual reaction he hadn't expected from himself, much less a hug from Kisara! During the whole drive there, he had expected the exact opposite. He graciously hugged her back and for a moment, he felt like the happiest man in the world. Kisara raised her head to look up at him, her arms still wrapped tightly around Seto's waist. She pushed her face up towards Seto and moved in for a kiss. Seto gladly received and reciprocated the kiss and the two stood there silently, letting the pressure of their lips do all the talking they needed.

When the kissing ceased between them, Seto smiled and told her, "Happy Valentine's Day."

To which Kisara replied with, "I've never been so happy on Valentine's Day." Kisara had to keep herself from crying after that because her day of solitude made her realize why she would be okay living apart from her family and friends. Although she would always love her family more than anything in the world, Seto made her feel accepted and loved in a way that made it seem like he was her home away from home. As if she had never left her family, as if home was where the heart was… and her heart was with Seto. Not her whole heart, but in time she could see herself eventually surrendering her whole heart to him. Nevertheless, the idea of surrendering herself completely to these feelings for Seto left her with a tinge of trepidation and the unfathomable fear of 'what if.'

A/N: It's an awesome feeling to finish chapter 20, especially since there are so many more chapters to come before this story is over! Every time I think I'm going to be late posting a chapter, I never am. I love how writing fanfiction has still managed to stay in my schedule despite all the craziness that's been going on in my life, it's delightful! A big thanks should go out to you guys, though, because you all say some of the nicest things in the world and it really puts a smile on my face. It really does! I should take a picture of myself next time I get a review from you guys just to show you. :) Anyhow, so this was my Valentine's Day chapter coming to you a day earlier than expected. My day tomorrow is going to be crazy registering for classes… anyhow. Not sure if the next chapter will come on time or early or late but I guess all of us will soon find out! Thanks for reading and I'll hear from you guys in another month! Cheers!