How many days did he have left now? Not even two, not even one and a half. No, he had a full twenty-four hours until it was that special day, full of pink hearts and kisses and roses and chocolate. And he didn't have one gift, not one idea for a gift, absolutely nothing. Lenalee had hinted that she didn't want those cliché presents of a dozen roses, those heart shaped boxes filled with unnamed candy, and no frilly little cards in the mail.

That just about crossed out everything on Allen's mental list of things to get his high school sweetheart. And with twenty-three hours left, he was running out of time. But what to get her? No way he was asking Lavi for help, that man was more hopeless with women than he was with the cars he so loved. Not Kanda either. As far as anyone was concerned, that man could only hate and mock. Even if that were true, he'd never had a girlfriend. While he did know Lena—

No, Allen refused to go to Bakanda for any help whatsoever. Not even about a girl he'd known since forever began, assuming either of them was that old. But the thought made Allen's stomach churn. One year was enough; he didn't need her to have millions of years on him.

Speaking of the girl, just the thought of her made Allen's stomach churn. As did the thought that they'd actually i been together /i for a while now. She was a beautiful young lady, disregarding her perfect proportions even. Her dark emerald locks flowed from the two decorative holders perched on her head. They had been a gift—or so Allen was told.

In contrast, she had eyes as purple as the fabric once envied by all and so expensive, only the royal's royals could afford to be adorned by it. And unlike a lot of the girls at the turn of the century, she wasn't obsessed with models and celebrities. In other words, she wasn't a stick, not to say she was overwei—now he was just rambling on about her. But there was nothing Allen could do but continue on in his thoughts of her, her pale skin like those of a porcelain doll one kept high up on a shelf so it wouldn't break. Even her name was a pretty roll of the tongue.

Lenalee Lee.

And Allen Walker, the different kid, the one who always got made fun of for his stupid appearance, was the one who got to date the long sought after girl of everyone's dreams. Only Allen was content to have normal dreams, walks by the beach, picnics in the park. Anything beyond that made his stomach churn.

And now, he was wandering store after store, mall after mall, someplace after someplace, trying to find something that would possibly suffice as a gift for such a girl, such a beautiful young lady as she. Nothing seemed to do, nothing caught his eye like she did. And now, he was reduced to just a regular store to wander. But nothing was working.

With twenty hours left now, there was no way he was going to make it in time. Even if he did, it wouldn't be the exciting thing that Lenalee had to be expecting from him. i He /i was expecting great things from him, but it wasn't happening. If he was going to disappoint Lenalee as much as he was disappointing himself, what would be the point of anything anymore?

"Well…." Allen sighed to himself, looking for something to at least make up for the fact he couldn't find a gift. That was when he turned down the card isle. He'd avoided it, since Lenalee didn't want some frilly little thing in her hands on this special day. But this was just what he needed.

Allen's silver orbs lit up and he smiled when he saw it. Simple as it was, it was beautiful. The card, he observed as he lifted it from the shelving unit, was a light shade of teal decorated with perfectly ivory doves flying on the front. The cover told of the old myth that people destined to meet, be together, and are soul mates, are tied together by an invisible red string.

The inside was even more perfect. A simple white background, nothing less, and the words, "Just like us" was all that was written in the middle of the right side. The rest was blank and writable surface.

"It's perfect!" He cheered to himself, trying not to be too loud. He'd gotten enough stares already, he didn't need anymore. Quickly snatching up one of the envelopes provided, Allen moved from the isle and to the check-out line. Nineteen hours to come up with something to write in it. Nineteen hours ahead of him of endless thinking.

Allen nodded to himself before climbing back into his car. He could do it; he'd just have to work hard. It wasn't much, but if he could write something truly amazing in it, it would be worth it, right? With a smile, he thought so, he put the old car into reverse.

Things went downhill again. The peak had been reached, and it was not to be seen again. Only god knew how many hours Allen sat at the table with a pen in his hand, racking his brain for i something, anything /i to write down. Anything for this special day called "Valentine's Day."

When he looked at the clock, his stomach churned.

"Six…" he muttered, closing his eyes and letting his head collapse to the table. Home alone, it didn't matter how loud he groaned. Six hours until midnight, until Valentine's Day. He'd need the card ready by 7:05. Lenalee arrived at her locker, conviently placed beside his, at the same time very day. Precisely 7:05 a.m. Thirteen hours and five minutes was all he had left. And without a hair of success to show for the work he'd put into planning. A whole week gone to waste.

"Dammit…" he muttered, moving from the table. After a stop in the fridge to grab an apple, Allen abandoned the bottom floor all together and trudged up the stairs. It was decided he would rest for a couple minutes before returning to his work.

"THAT'S IT!" Allen shouted, sitting up from his dead sleep. "That's what I'll write. God, it's so simple, but I hope she'll like it," he quietly prayed as he jumped from his bed and dashed down the stairs of the still empty house. Back to the table he ran before jumping back into the chair, his face plastered with a gigantic grin, one of happiness and excitement, one of success. He'd finally done it after all this time. Finally done it just in time. It was ten o'clock now.

If it wasn't for his stupidly drunk bastard of a guardian, Allen wouldn't have missed the bus. If it wasn't for the rain and the slow traffic, the bus wouldn't have been i early /i for heaven's sake. And Allen wouldn't have had to drive to school. Regretfully, he wasn't great at it yet. i Yet. /i And if it wasn't for missing the bus, Allen wouldn't have been late for school, and he most defiantly wouldn't have tripped on the weather stripping of the car. How was that even possible? Oh yes, lack of sleep and a broken bar for annoyance levels.

Normally, he would've gotten right back up and kept going, but it was raining, and the card was settled in his jacket. When he fell, gravity dictated the card fell too. Right. Into. The.i Puddle./i Allen wanted to cry, but he couldn't. As quickly as he reflexes let him, he grabbed up the card. But it was too late to save it from being muddy and wet. With a sigh, he pulled up his hood and ignored the wetness and filth on his front. A head held high, he walked to the door. Well, he i ran /i.

7:15, Lenalee would be leaving her locker, Allen had to hurry if he wanted to get to her in time. As fate would have it, they didn't have any classes together and Allen wanted to get this to her i before /i lunch. Even though it was a mess now…

Good, she was still there.

"Lenalee…" Allen almost squeaked as he came up to the young lady. By now he'd let his head fall, like he couldn't even bare to look at her.

"Yes, Allen?" She smiled, her head slightly titled to show off her pigtails more, as beautiful as they were.

"I um…" he didn't say anything after that except a breathless explanation of why the card he showed her was filthy and why that was all he had and why he was late and why he—

"Allen," Lenalee stopped him, with a smile. She took the card from him, her lithe fingers closing loosely around it. Once it was open, which wasn't hard since the wet paper ripped right away, Lenalee took out the card.

Allen gulped, "Lena—"

"Nope," she said, shushing him, carefully examining the card with a smile. Allen wanted to hide in a corner and possibly shoot himself through both temples as he watched in horror as Lenalee opened the card. She had slightly giggled at the legend told on the front. The white-haired boy had expected Lenalee to go from happy to extremely disappointed. But her smile only grew wider as she read the few lines Allen pulled together after god knows how many hours of thinking.

While the letters were obscured a but by the mud, Lenalee could still read them, causing her to smile more.

"Allen," she started, closing the card and carefully placing it back into the envelope. He was expecting her to give it back to him, but instead, she tucked it beneath her pencil bag, "I'll let it dry so I can keep it longer, ne?" she giggled.

Suddenly, she embraced him, tightly, whispering a thank you before the homeroom bell rang and they both had to hurry off, separate homerooms.

If it hadn't been a Friday, school would've been the longest seven hours of Allen's life. After seeing Lenalee's reaction, he knew he had to do i something /i else for her. Even if it wasn't big, he still knew what Lenalee liked. And with a smile, he finally packed up his bag for the end of the day and left the school.

Lenalee had been convinced to leave Komui behind and go home with Allen. He had a plan now, and first they both had to get changed. So the first step was to stop by Lenalee's house and let her out to get changed. Once that was done, then they would go to Allen's house just long enough for him to sneak up to his room and get changed. Then, Allen would drive them to their destination. Lenalee had agreed to wear a blindfold.

"Alright, we're here," Allen said, putting the car in park. Lenalee giggled silently as she listened to Allen step out of the car. His door was closed softly, but clicked fully shut. Then her door opened, and her hand was lightly grabbed.

"Allen, where are we?" She asked, unable to wipe the grin off her face.

"You'll see, and leave your flip flops in the car, ok?" He requested. She nodded and kicked them off before allowing herself to be pulled from the car. Under her feet, she felt old-fashioned cobble stone. Attempting to click where she i knew /i she was, wasn't exactly working for her. Having too much fun to care, giggling also, Lenalee let herself be pulled until they stopped.

"You ready?" Allen asked.

Lenalee responded with a nod, "Yeah, yeah hurry up!" she giggled.

Allen chuckled, "Hold your horses," he reached behind her, careful not to mess up her pigtails, and pulled the knot out of the cloth, letting the blindfold fall down to coil in his hand.

"I know it's not much, but I know how much you love the sunsets," Allen rubbed the back of his head nervously.

Lenalee smiled, looking out to the horizon of the setting sun, perfectly situated in the middle of the blue ocean, turning the reflections of all colors between red and purple. Before the ocean laid a near empty beach, the sand almost pink with the light of the sky.

"Allen…" she just smiled, knowing he wasn't exactly happy with what he was able to pull off.

Not long from then, the two were walking hand in hand down the beach, talking about things and laughing whenever the opportunity presented itself. And Lenalee smiled the whole time. But not to say that Allen still wasn't a little worried, but when she stopped them, it grew tenfold.

"Hey," she said, looking at him with a smile.

"Yeah?" his hand instinctively tightened around hers.

She giggled, "Today's been great, simple things mean more than anything else. So happy Valentine's Day, Allen. I love you too."

Allen tried to keep in his nervous laughter, just nodded. After all that time, he'd only been able to write three words in that card, as beautiful as it was and as much space as there was to write out some heartfelt letter, all he could put was "I love you."