(Plot bunnies strike again, I suppose. This is an AU. In it, Ignis isn't around for...whatever reason, and Terra and Damon died in an accident of some sort. Sorry. Point is, Karin is raising Monica, with help from people like Samantha. Everyone is eight years younger here. So Karin is 18, and Monica, Adell, Tomoya, etc. are 10.)
She wouldn't think about it. It wasn't of any importance. It was just another day on another month on another year that she had lived. The day came and went just like every other holiday.
Of course, it wasn't as large as Christmas since all families got together and shared gifts. Although, it was a bit more...enjoyed then the somewhat 'sacrilegious' day of Halloween.
Having helped teach the holidays to the children, she was slightly unnerved by the thought of demons coming from Hell in search of sacrifices and other such things. Of course the children were never taught that though; they only knew it as asking neighbours for candy, dressed up in costumes. She remembered sewing a cat outfit for her godsister, Monica, a few years ago - she had insisted on it. Naturally, after that she had been bothered to create one for Monica's friend Adell as well...though making a 'kung-fu' outfit was much easier then she thought.
But, to her...annoyance, she would not be making any cat, kung-fu, or any other such outfit this day.
That didn't mean she had to think about the day though.
How many years had it been? The last time someone of her age spoke those loving words to her? She vaguely remembered the one man she had strong feelings for. He was a wonderful man... Caring, handsome, strong, smart...
Yet cruel the moment he realized she wasn't going to 'put out' easily.
The woman shook her head. Ugh, just thinking of the man made her sick. She needn't think of such things at that moment. She needed something to distract her from the voices and energy around her. Most of the children were giggling and some were so flabbergasted all they could do was stutter. Small cards made of red or pink paper, that she helped to cut out, were passed around. Hearts of different sizes and colours decorated the room from ceiling to floor; each wall wasn't the comforting wood-brown she had gotten accustomed to but the colour of the paper hearts.
The energy in the air was light, but smothering to her. All she could feel was the happiness and loving emotions throughout the building; even Monica! She watched her with a hand over her eyes as a boy, one Monica had been talking to a great deal as of late, with his short, dark hair, gave her a paper heart. The boy's face grew red, as did Monica's.
Karin smiled as she watched her 'little sister' try and give the boy the present she made for him in return. It was another simple paper heart, but with a distinctly more 'girlish' flair to it.
The boy's face light up in happiness, as did Monica's. The boy, Tomoya, blushed as Monica giggled in happiness as she took the heart from him, holding it close to her chest with one hand and taking his hand in her other.
Normally, Karin would have gone and stopped this from happening to her sister-in-everything-but-blood. She didn't want Monica to become broken because of a boy.
It was just a wonderful thing that Tomoya was Monica's best friend and a very sweet kid.
Wanting to not ponder over Monica's possible future with the boy, Karin went back to marking the test she had given the class that day. In spite of herself, it was a small history test about the holidays over the years. When they started, why they started, how they were celebrated, who was involved in the making of each holiday. Evidently, in a test about holidays she had to include today's holiday. She wasn't exactly pleased about it, but the children did need to know about today's history...
She never particularly liked this holiday. All the love going around town made her...uneasy. Like a too sweet candy; it tastes good for a moment but then makes you ill with all the excess sugar. Ever since she had come to care for Monica, she would wake extra early to avoid the couples waking hand-in-hand around the sometimes snow covered town on this holiday. This year was one of those years were it had snowed. It was much too cold for the children to play outside so they had all stayed in at lunch, sitting by the fire place, wrapped up in their jackets and drinking cocoa one of the mother's brought in for the cold day.
Karin looked over at the clock. It was almost three. She felt as though the energy was suffocating her while teaching the children; all the emotions in the air was causing a shift in the energy. Out of character, she let them out early, a whole fifteen minutes to be exact. Needless to say the students were surprised. A few had stayed behind, saying it was warmer in the school then at home. Karin didn't mind, she loved being around her students. In total, there were fifteen students still left in her class. Monica and her newly proclaimed love were sitting together on the counter - a very rare thing Karin would let them do - taking to each other. Krista was in the back, trying to pin up even MORE hearts with the help of a blonde haired boy, Kieth, whom had given her a special heart with wings. Other students were still decorating hearts around the walls and making last minute ones.
One of her other favorite students - for his personality, not work ethics - the one she knew would stay at school longer then any of them to avoid the cold walk home, was sitting at his desk. Adell had turned his chair around so that he was facing the back wall instead of her desk. His small, growing body was hunched over something, working quickly on whatever it was he was doing. Karin had tried to find out what it was he was doing, but was stopped by a look from Monica - making her sigh, shake her head and return to her desk. If Adell was doing something bad, Monica would've let her know. She wasn't too concerned about the strange actions of the young boy.
Not as much as one should worry when Adell Kronos is the one in question, anyways. He wasn't a troublemaker, not at all, but he just had a habit of finding trouble anyway. Or more precisely, trouble found him. Generally in the form of his friends Kieth and Tomoya. She'd need to watch and make sure they didn't pull Monica and Krista into their stunts...
Not wanting to fret over Adell's stranger actions, the crimson haired young teacher went back to marking the tests. Most of the answers students gave were correct. Students generally wrote the history of today, how it got it's name from a martyr named Saint Valentine, how it was a 'romance' day...
One answer stood out to her though. It wasn't anything that she had taught them, and normally she would have thought it had been a random answer he had put down just so the question wasn't blank. Re-reading the messy printing, Karin thought over the thoughts Adell had running through his mind as he wrote his answer.
'The guy who made Valintyne's Day',' she chuckled a bit at his inability to spell that word, 'was a great guy. He made a day where people can show eachother how they feel. They can show someone that they love them easily, and I think that's great, cause love is the best thing ever.'
Although it was difficult to read the ten year old's writing, she had had more then enough practice over the years to understand every word with just one read. His response made her smile softly. He almost never focused in school, though she knew he could be very, very focused when interested, such as with the martial arts training his mother, Samantha, gave him.
The woman went back to marking the tests, blinking when she found Adell's still in her hand. She glanced over his response again and smiled. He was such an accepting boy. He really didn't care about who you were; as long as you were a good person, he'd stay by your side forever.
...Maybe coming into work on this particular holiday wasn't the best idea for Karin's psychological well-being. She was always thinking about more trivial concepts then she was used to - and all to forget the fact she was basically a mother...a single mother. No, Karin was not the type of woman who would go around town looking for a man to wed just so she wouldn't be alone. She had more common sense, decency, and respect for herself, as well as Monica. She wouldn't want to embarrass her by becoming the town's nympho either. Besides, she was much too young as well as the fact she couldn't really say much around any attractive man.
The eighteen year old teacher, technically assistant teacher but the actual teacher was a drunk that never came in, scanned the class room again to find it almost empty save for her favorite students and two of their Valentine's. How long had she let her mind wander? To not even notice the other children leave made her feel a bit bad for not seeing them out...
The remaining children were at the class room door, fastening their jackets and snow boots tighter. She stood from her desk and stretched for a moment. This time she would say farewell to her students. It, of course, had nothing to do with the fact that these were her favorites, no of course not.
Karin went with her students to the front door of the school house with a smile on her face. Monica told her how they were all going to roam around, maybe make a snowman or two. They were also planning on having a little party and were going to get supplies from the store. Karin - all though reluctant to allow so since she was tired of all the love in the air - told the children they could hold the party at her and Monica's hom, as long as there weren't too many people.
With their boots tied up tightly and jackets buttoned up properly they went off with an even happier then before air around them, they went for the door together, looking forward to the party. Before running off together for the store, Karin held Monica back a moment, letting her know she would be late coming home since she had to finish marking the tests. She was so glad she could trust her Monica in having people over without her home.
The young girl nodded, telling her she knew what to do and what not to. Besides, there wasn't much a child could do to get into trouble around this part of town in the first place.
Her last statement threw Karin for a moment before she realized she was only teasing. She let her off, watching her run to her three classmates that were wai-
Karin frowned. Wait a moment...there were only the four of them; Monica, Tomoya, Keith, and Krista...
Where had Adell gone to?
She could have sworn he was with them, putting his red jacket on. Had he gone back into class when she was talking to Monica?
Curious, and needing to go finish grading tests in the first place, the crimson haired woman hurried back to the class, hoping not to find Adell doing anything to her classroom...likely coaxed into doing it by Tomoya or Kieth.
She stepped back into the classroom to see Adell placing something on her desk. She called to him, asking what he was doing, and he jumped.
The boy quickly put what he was going to put on her desk behind his back and denied he had been doing anything; saying all those papers she was grading were getting to her.
Karin raised an eyebrow at the boy. She walked up to him, glad she was still taller than the boy, who was rather tall for his age, and stared down at him for a while.
The boy fidgeted for a moment, looking around the room. He declared he had to go home and started for the door, turning around so Karin was unable to see behind his back.
But, the teacher was quicker. She rushed to him again, catching him off guard as she blocked his only way out. Using her 'teacher voice', she told him to show her what the item he was about to place on her desk was.
Adell's face flushed. He looked anywhere but at her eyes as he slowly dropped his hands from his back. With a shaking hand, he held up his hand to show her...
It was a red paper heart card. The cut out was messy, and uneven, but surprisingly well done for the slightly artistically challenged boy. On the front of the card was the messy printing he wrote, saying 'To my Valentine'. Karin was stunned for a few moments. At first she was just surprised he had spelt 'Valentine' correctly, and then she realized that he had given the card to her. She...was his Valentine?
Adell spoke in jumbled words, as though he were trying to give an excuse as to why his homework wasn't completed. He told her how pretty and kind she was, and how lucky Monica was to have her as a sister.
Karin was in shock. Her...? Pretty...? And...nice? But...all the kids would complain about how rough she was with them, never giving them a break on their studies...
Adell kept going on; still stuttering to the point Karin almost couldn't understand him. He told her how much of a wonderful teacher she was, always doing her best to make sure he was doing okay. He admired her so much, he wanted to show her what she meant to him...
A shaking finger pointed at the card Karin still held in her hand. He told her to open it, quietly of course. His face was beet red, but she could tell he really wanted her to read what was inside, no matter how silly he thought it was.
With a sad smile, Karin opened the card, surprised even more at the little drawings all around the page. There were wings - Adell was always drawing those - hearts, an angel here and there. In the middle of it all was a note, written in near perfect printing that must have taken the usually messy writer a long period to do.
'If you live to be 100 I hope to live to 100 minus one day, that way I'll never live a day without you.
Happy Valentine's Day,
Miss Karin.
Love, Adell.'
Karin brought a hand to her mouth, as tears started to form at the corners of her eyes.
Adell, taking her actions as bad, started to apologize for what he had done. He told her he thought girls liked that kind of stuff! He kept apologizing, seeming like a clone of Krista.
Karin laughed, wiping a tear away. She told him she wasn't upset; just really happy. She thanked him, holding him in a hug.
The teacher wasn't able to find someone who loved her as much as she wished for one to. The days she saw couples together made her a little lonely. The fact that she was always approached by jerks made her even more worried about ever finding love in her future. She was a young woman, broken by the fact that the only man she had ever shown she loved tore her apart on this holiday...she was horrified of this day.
Although, now she was sure that if Adell was around, it didn't matter if she was a 'jerk-magnet', or almost a single mother, or even his teacher. She felt loved.
"Happy Valentine's day... K-Karin..."
"...Happy Valentine's day, Adell. You're a little too young to be my Valentine, but I appreciate the thought."
"...I'll wait then."
"You're feelings will change, Adell, you know that, right?"
"They won't. I promise." His voice was oddly firm, and Karin tightened the hug. He was such a sweet boy. She knew he'd eventually forget his little crush on her, but at least she knew someone cared.
Eight years later though, to the day, Karin spent the day sitting on the couch with Adell, head resting on his shoulder as he held her close.
He'd kept his promise, and Karin couldn't be happier.
~Fin~
