Red and White – Shinken Chartreuse Version

So there was a little bit of angst in the last chapter; it's still nothing compared to what I've put poor Shouta through in my Dogoon V fics.

Here is Chiaki's gift to Kotoha for White Day. As is befitting him, he has thought somewhat outside the box on this, or at least I'd like to think he did.

Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, all characters, and references therein are the property of the Toei Corporation and TV Asahi. No infringement is intended or implied.

Chapter 2: White Lace and Promises

Two weeks after Valentine's Day, Kotoha returned home from school to find Mitsuba motioning towards a large box on the coffee table. "This just came for you today. I think it's from Chiaki," said Mitsuba.

Kotoha looked at the return address on the box. "That's Chiaki's address, all right. I wonder what this is?" She carefully unwrapped the parcel, revealing a plain white box. She lifted the lid from the box. There was something wrapped in tissue paper inside, with an envelope marked "read me first!" on top. Kotoha picked up the envelope, opened it, and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. When she unfolded the paper, something went fluttering out onto the floor. Mitsuba went to pick up the item as Kotoha began to read the letter aloud, "Kotoha, I wanted to do something special for you for White Day. I sent this early so that everything would go like I hope it will. I want to see you then, so I got you a train ticket for you to come to Tokyo and I also got you a dress to wear when you come." Kotoha paused to unfurl the tissue paper from around the garment in the box and gasped when she found a white sleeveless dress with white lace trim, a flared knee-length skirt, and a yellow sash accented with a bow on one hip. "Oh, it's beautiful!" She held it up to herself. "What do you think, Onee-chan?"

Mitsuba's eyes were wide. "My goodness, that's a nice dress! Chiaki sure has nice taste."

Kotoha was about to lay the dress back into the box when she spied another box inside. This one was wrapped in white paper, with a note on it that read "Do not open!" She laid the dress back into the larger box, on top of the smaller one, and continued to read Chiaki's letter. "Please call me as soon as you get this so that we can make sure that we'll be able to do this with no problem. And that box under the dress, don't open it. Bring it with you when you come to Tokyo and I'll let you know what it is then.

"Remember, I'm always holding you. I know you're always holding me. I can't wait to see you again. I love you. Chiaki." Kotoha held the letter to her heart and looked at the object in Mitsuba's hands. "Is that the train ticket?"

Mitsuba nodded. She handed the ticket to Kotoha. "You should probably call Chiaki right now," she said.

Kotoha nodded. She continued to wonder what was in the mystery box as she took out her Shodophone to call Chiaki.

o-o-o-o-o

Kotoha stepped off the train, pulling her pale yellow wrap around her shoulders with one hand and tightening her grip on her duffel bag with the other. Mitsuba had lent her the bag because it clashed less with her new dress than her backpack did. Kotoha kept aware of her surroundings, her heart racing at both her nervousness at being alone at the train station for the moment and her excitement at getting to see Chiaki again. She heard someone calling her name and she looked around excitedly. When she saw Chiaki striding towards her, her breath caught in her throat and she nearly dropped the duffel bag.

Chiaki held a single red rose in his right hand. His bleached hair was still in its usual flipped style and his wallet chain still looped from his left front belt loop to his left back pocket, but instead of his usual vintage American surfer attire, he wore black dress pants, a matching sport jacket, black dress shoes, a white dress shirt, and a hunter green tie. It wasn't the first time Kotoha had ever seen Chiaki dressed up, but he had never looked more handsome to her than he did right then. Even though she was wearing high heeled shoes and carrying the duffel bag, Kotoha began to sprint towards him.

Chiaki had quickly picked Kotoha out of the travelers coming off the train, and he was so captivated by the sight of her in the white dress he had bought for her that he had to pinch himself to make sure he was actually seeing her. He began to run towards her almost as quickly as his heart was beating.

Kotoha dropped her bag and threw her arms around Chiaki as soon as he was within her reach. She closed her eyes and breathed in, savoring the scent of his body spray as she felt his arms pull her to him. "Chiaki," she sighed. She pulled back slightly to take in the sight of him in his suit. "Oh, you look so handsome!"

"You like it? I thought that since I wanted you to dress up for me, I should get dressed up for you, too. And you," said Chiaki, his voice husky as he looked her up and down, "look fantastic. You're so beautiful." He leaned forward and kissed her softly, ignoring the scandalized looks that some passersby were giving them. "Oh, here," he added, withdrawing his hand from behind her to present her with the rose he had brought. "Happy White Day."

"Oh wow," Kotoha breathed. Her eyes shone with love as she looked up at Chiaki. "Thank you."

Chiaki picked up Kotoha's duffel bag and held his free hand out to her. "Let's go to my place first," he said. "I want you to meet my roommate and then we'll get our day started."

Kotoha took Chiaki's hand, and together, they exited the train station to head for the bus stop.

o-o-o-o-o

"I'm home," called Chiaki as he unlocked the door of the apartment.

Kouta looked up from his books on the dining table. "Welcome back." He smiled at Kotoha as he stood up and bowed to her. "And you must be Kotoha. I'm Kouta. I've heard a lot about you from Chiaki."

Kotoha bowed to Kouta. "Nice to meet you, Kouta."

"So what do you two have planned for White Day?"

"We'll definitely be stopping by Kame-chan for dinner tonight," answered Chiaki, "but we're going to be just going around town until then, go see a few friends, go shopping. I just thought I'd bring her by here to meet you and see the apartment first."

"Gotcha. By the way, I'll be staying at my cousin's tonight, so the apartment's all yours."

Chiaki nodded. "Thanks," he said, noticing that Kotoha had turned fairly pink at knowing that Kouta had made plans that allowed her and Chiaki to be alone in the apartment. "Come on," he said to her, leading her further into the apartment. "You saw the kitchen and the living area. There's the bathroom, Kouta's room, and this," he said, opening a door on the right side of the hall, "is my room." Chiaki led Kotoha inside and shut the door behind them. He set down the duffel bag, took the rose from her, and laid it gently onto the bag. He slid his hands to the small of her back, drawing her up against him. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you, too," said Kotoha. Her hands clasped together behind Chiaki's neck.

Chiaki leaned forward and kissed Kotoha, tenderly at first, then more ardently, as the sensation of his lips meeting hers after several weeks apart, coupled with how lovely he found her in her new dress, soon lit a fire within him that gave a hint as to how much he had missed her. It took all his resolve to keep from walking the both of them over to his bed to lay them down onto it.

Kotoha pressed herself as close as she could to Chiaki. Oh, how I missed this… how I missed you… Her hands pushed into Chiaki's hair, further tousling it. Her body trembled as she felt his tongue prod gently at her lower lip. She parted her lips slightly to let her tongue meet his. Mmm, minty. After what felt like hours of slow, sweet, yet sensual, kisses, they pulled away from each other, completely breathless. Kotoha hugged Chiaki tightly and sighed. "I'm so happy to be here with you."

Chiaki held fast to Kotoha as he panted. "I know, right? I'm so freakin' amped that you're here. So did you bring that box that I sent you?"

"I did," answered Kotoha. She broke from Chiaki's arms to carefully lay her rose onto his desk before bending down to open the duffel bag. She took out the box, which laid on top of everything else she had brought. "Here it is."

Chiaki led Kotoha over to his bed and motioned for her to sit. Sitting next to her, he declared, "Okay, now you can open it."

Kotoha carefully removed the paper from the mystery parcel and was surprised to see a familiar box in her lap. "This is the box of chocolates that I made you for Valentine's Day," she said, thoroughly confused.

"I know," said Chiaki. "You said that you wished you could've gotten to give it to me yourself, so I saved most of them so that you could do that." He spread his hands out wide.

Kotoha giggled. "Chiaki, you're so smart." She held the box out to him. "Happy Valentine's Day, kind of," she announced.

"Thank you." Chiaki leaned forward and pecked Kotoha on the lips. He opened the box, grinning. His heartbeat sped up because he knew exactly what was inside. "Oh, these are nice! Especially this one." He pointed at a small paper cup, just above the large chocolate heart in the middle of the box, that appeared different from all the others.

"Eh?" Kotoha took a closer look at the paper cup and her eyes widened in shock. Instead of a piece of chocolate, the paper cup contained a cotton ball. Two rings were nestled in the center of the cotton ball; one a medium-width silver band inset with a trillion cut yellow topaz, and the other a slender silver band with prongs bearing a princess cut, brilliant green tsavorite garnet.

His fingers trembling slightly, Chiaki picked the rings out of the cotton ball. He got up to set the box of chocolates on his desk before he sat next to Kotoha again, holding the rings in his right hand and taking her hand in his left. "Kotoha, when we started out as comrades under Takeru, I couldn't possibly have imagined the adventure that being Shinkengers would bring us." He looked down and bit his lip shyly before he continued, "I mean, Dad told me about all the samurai stuff, but he never mentioned anything about falling in love.

"I guess it didn't happen to him, but it sure as hell happened to me. I mean, I'm just totally in love with you, and I wouldn't have it any other way." Chiaki held up the ring with the tsavorite garnet. He chuckled nervously. "Kotoha… I'd, um, I'd be so stoked and really honored if you'd wear my promise ring."

Kotoha pressed her free hand to her mouth, and tears rolled freely down her face. Her heart felt like it had taken flight. "Oh, it's beautiful!" she managed to say. "Yes! Yes, Chiaki, I will." She watched as Chiaki took her right hand and slid the ring onto her ring finger.

Chiaki held up the ring with the topaz. "And I'm going to wear this ring. It's my promise to you that I'll always love you." He handed Kotoha the ring and held his right hand out to her so that she could put the ring onto his ring finger. Once the ring was in place, Chiaki gathered Kotoha into his arms and brushed the tears away from her face. "I love you." He closed in to kiss her deeply once more.

Kotoha felt like she and Chiaki were sitting together on a cloud as she reciprocated his kisses. Just getting to see him and be with him was more than enough of a White Day present for her, so everything that he had done for her had been much more than she would have ever thought to ask of him. When they parted once again, she smiled and looked at her right hand to admire her new ring. "It's perfect. Thank you," she breathed.

"I'm glad you like it."

"I love it. Not quite as much as I love you, but I love it." Kotoha's fingers toyed with the ends of Chiaki's hair.

Chiaki stood up, holding his hands out to Kotoha. "Come on; we've got places to go, people to see, and things to do."

Kotoha took Chiaki's hands and let him draw her up. "Where are we going?" she asked, adjusting her wrap.

Chiaki opened his bedroom door. "First stop, the Shiba house. I told Takeru you'd be in town. He says that Ryunosuke's coming, too, and they'll both have White Day presents for you."

"Oh, it'll be good to see Tono-sama and Ryu-san again." Kotoha giggled. "I wonder what they'd say about this?" she wondered, holding up her hand with Chiaki's promise ring on it. And I wonder what Onee-chan would say? Not that I would need her approval, but this is absolutely thrilling; I feel like I could burst!

"Only one way to find out." Chiaki smiled as he let Kotoha past him into the hall. He took her hand in his. Best. White Day. Ever. And it's just beginning...

All together now... awww... and Happy White Day to those of you who celebrate it!