I know it's a few months late, but I've been having trouble with the latest chapter of Shadowborne, and I wanted to post something AkiMitsu.
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

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Akihiko never cared for February. Every year around this time, the entire school reeked of burnt chocolate. Nearly every girl in Gekkoukan High went apeshit for Valentine's Day, trying to snag an unsuspecting guy. As a third-year and captain of the boxing team, Akihiko was #1 on the Most Wanted List – and he hated it. He hated chocolate. He hated the cheap perfume they doused their little love notes in (though it at least masked the smell of his shoes, he supposed). Most of all, he hated the fact that each and every year, Valentine's Day put those weird thoughts into his head.

He didn't need a girlfriend. He didn't have time! Between boxing and going to Tartarus every Dark Hour, his free time was extremely limited. His funds were also extremely limited, too. Girls expected you to pay for everything. You had to buy them flowers, stuffed animals – oh, and then there was White Day. Heaven help you if you didn't give back at least double what you got last month. This kind of grouchy attitude usually lasted until he got to Hagakure and saw all the couples cuddling, and vainly wondered what it was like.

Keeping himself occupied 24/7 did nothing to change the fact that Akihiko was still a man with hormones. Whenever he had a match, he'd fantasize about looking over the downed body of his opponent into the audience and meeting the eyes of his best girl cheering for him. Then he'd hop over the ropes and run down to scoop her into his arms triumphantly. She wouldn't really care that he was all sweaty. She was more concerned with his injuries – they were fewer these days, but they were still there. He was fine, but it would make her happy to nurse him back to health. She'd gently stroke his face...

Horrible screeching noises got Akihiko's attention and made him realize he was zoning out on the monorail. His fans had already begun converging around the car he was in. Why did girls have to be so annoying? Thank God Valentine's Day was a Sunday, and he didn't have to face them at school.

It was only the 11th, but a few enterprising first years had started early, leaving him stinky notes and stuff that even Koromaru wouldn't eat. Once upon a time, he used to read them. It was encouraging to think that the poor scraggly orphan wasn't the laughingstock of the entire school like he'd feared he would be. The glamour faded faster than the perfume, however, when he realized these girls only showed interest in him because he was cute and he was winning. The first time he lost a fight, the notes tapered off until his shoe locker was absolutely empty. Was he not cute anymore with a second place trophy? These days, he tossed them away without a second thought. None of these girls even cared to get to know him. They just wanted to be the envy of the school for snagging Sanada-senpai! EEEEEEEEKKKK!

How was he supposed to get a girl if they all damaged his eardrums? What he needed was someone who let him talk for a change, about things like training and protein. Miki and Shinji. He needed a girl who wasn't giggly or whiny when it came to physical exercise. Someone as tough as a guy while still being a girl. Someone like-

UGH!

There were those feelings again! Shinji would be pissing himself with laughter if he'd caught him actually considering Mitsuru a girl. Mitsuru was...Mitsuru. The idea of her leaping into Akihiko's arms made him laugh, too. Mitsuru didn't leap into anything except action. It didn't stop him from wondering if she, too, had these feelings from time to time.

Mitsuru had left so early this morning that even Akihiko hadn't been awake. Something was up with her, but she wasn't talking about it, and he was afraid to approach her. She was back to more-or-less-normal after her father's death – whatever Yukari did in Kyoto seemed to have done the trick – but she was more private now, even with him.

He'd expected Mitsuru to already be at school when he got there, but she came into the room shortly before class started with her head hanging down. That wasn't like her! There wasn't time to ask her about it now – he'd just have to catch her during lunch.

Well, that didn't work. The moment class ended, Akihiko was swarmed by girls hungry for something other than crab bread. Mitsuru had fled to the Student Council room. A year ago, she probably wouldn't have minded if he went and interrupted her, but now? Guess he'd just have to catch her at the dorm.

After unearthing his shoes from a mountain of love notes, Akihiko made a fruitless search of the school before heading home to wait. None of the juniors had seen Mitsuru come in, but she had to come back eventually...right?

He woke up several hours later realizing that he'd fallen asleep on the couch and just missed her. No one else would have covered him with a blanket. At least now he knew she wasn't angry at him. But what the hell was she doing that was so secret?

The rest of the week went the same way. Fashionable flies kept him from getting close to Mitsuru, and she had her own agenda she wasn't telling anyone about. A entire tree poured out of his locker each afternoon. Some of the chocolate had melted, and he scrambled to clean it out before it attracted ants. He was so frustrated that after school ended on Saturday, he dumped his stuff back at the dorm, went on an ill-advised run, and when he finally got back, crashed.

By the time he woke up, it was well into the next day – meaning he'd probably blown his chance to catch Mitsuru today as well. The dorm seemed deserted, so he headed towards the kitchen to see if there was anything he could scrounge up.

"A-Akihiko!" It was Mitsuru who managed to corner him, appearing out of nowhere to scare the shit out of him. "There you...are!" She was acting really strange...almost as if she was afraid to talk to him.

"Hey, long time no see." That only made her look guiltier. "You all right?"

"I suppose I need to apologize," Mitsuru began. Oh, boy. So it wasn't just his imagination saying Mitsuru was avoiding him. "I'm surprised you slept through it, but there was an...incident with the juniors today." An "incident", huh? "No one was injured, fortunately, but the kitchen suffered quite a few casualties."

"What the hell happened?"

"I'm told Yamagishi wanted to make some chocolates."

"...I don't know if I even need to hear the rest of this."

Mitsuru smirked, but it was a weird, nervous expression. "The thing is...I've had to replace most of the groceries...including your protein powder. Again, I apologize-"

"Aw, you didn't have to do that!" Was she really afraid he'd be angry with her?

"-because I realized once I arrived at the store that I'd completely forgotten which kind of protein you preferred, and so..."

A picture began to emerge, and Akihiko realized why Mitsuru was so anxious around him. "You just kinda swept your arm along the whole shelf and bought everything, didn't you?" he asked.

Mitsuru hung her head. "Yes," she mumbled.

Akihiko couldn't help but laugh. "Leave it to you," he managed to say. "Is that all you were worried about? Look, I'm just glad no one got hurt. And now I've got a lifetime's supply of protein, so it all worked out, huh?"

Mitsuru looked as if she was trying to be both relieved and insulted at the same time, which was unbelievably cute.

UGH!

"I-I suppose I'll leave you to your refreshments then." Mitsuru made to scamper off like a wild doe. "I have a few things I need to take care of now that this is settled." She left as quickly as she appeared. Girl or no girl, Mitsuru was really hard to understand some times.

He found the new protein in the cupboard and after shaking it up, realized it was flavored with something. It was the same kind he'd tried to get the kids on the boxing team to try when they'd turned their noses up at the plain kind of protein. Imagine not seeing the benefits of protein after a match! No wonder they went down easy!

He was so busy reminiscing that he didn't notice Junpei come in. "Hey, you're alive, Senpai! Heh-heh, figured you'd be hiding out until Monday."

"Don't remind me! I'm not looking forward to going back to school." Akihiko took another swig of his protein shake and grimaced. "Man, why'd she have to get the chocolate-flavored one?" Junpei suddenly sputtered and began laughing. "What?"

"Did Mitsuru-senpai buy you that?" he asked.

"Yeah, something about an accident Fuuka caused in the kitchen destroyed all the old stuff."

"That's funny, I don't know anything about a kitchen accident."

She lied to him? Mitsuru lied?

Junpei had an eerie grin on his face. "You know what day it is today, Akihiko-senpai?"

"Well, I slept through most of it, but...Sunday?"

"And what's the date?"

Oh, shit.

Junpei shook his head, laughing as he left the kitchen with the instant noodles he'd came for. "Senpai just gave you chocolate on Valentine's Day, dude."

Shinji would have loved the spit take Akihiko just did.

Maybe...maybe she really WAS a girl?

Mitsuru had hightailed it up the stairs as fast as she could, embarrassment beginning to stain her delicate features. He couldn't have believed her. It was all so far-fetched, and she would just have to kill Yukari...

Yukari was waiting for her on the third floor landing. "Did it work?" she said.

Mitsuru felt herself blushing even more, and struggled to control it. "Possibly." She sunk into a chair. "I really must apologize to Yamagishi."

"Oh, I'm sure Fuuka will understand." Yukari patted her arm. Then she smirked. "You could always name your first kid after her!"

"YUKARI!" Now there was no hiding the redness of her face. Mitsuru thought for certain that she would just melt into a horrified puddle right then and there.

From below them, they heard Iori come up the stairs, laughing. "I betcha it worked," said Yukari.

"Now what do I do?" Mitsuru had never been this nervous before, not even when reciting her speech to the entire student body.

"He's got to come back upstairs sometime, right? When he does, just tell him that you did it on purpose because you like him."

"UGH!" That was all it took to send Mitsuru fleeing to the solitude of her room.

Yukari doubled over with laughter. Whoever said seniors were more mature? Then she had a thought, and went downstairs to the second floor. "Hey, Junpei! You're not going to believe this..."

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February 14, 2010 was a Sunday.