Another Valentine's Day by ImoutoCommissions

It was Valentine's Day, a very special day for couples everywhere, but 
Taruto and Pudding couldn't help but see it as an even more special day 
for them. After all, that had been the day that they had gone on their 
first date, and had been together and nearly inseparable ever since.

It was their ninth Valentine's Day together, and he had special plans 
for her that day. She knew where they were going and some of the things 
that they were doing, but as for the full extent of the day, there were 
going to be some surprises. In fact, he had one surprise planned that 
was so huge he was sure she wouldn't be able to guess it.

Before they left, she presented her chocolate to him, which, of course, 
he sampled before they left, and it was just as good as, if not better 
than, he always remembered. Lots of girls made homemade chocolate, but 
he doubted anyone's tasted as good as Pudding's did. Once they were on 
their way, she talked to him happily, completely unsuspecting of what 
awaited her at their destination.

Taruto thought it was only fitting that they go to the amusement park 
that they had been to on their first date. They both still loved such 
things, of course, and it was the perfect location for what he had in 
mind. It was nostalgic, it was sentimental, and it was fun; there was no 
place better, at least not that he could think of.

When they arrived, she practically ran to one of her favorite rides and 
he followed her, neither of them able to contain their excitement. They 
would likely always be children at heart, yet another one of the things 
that drew them together. It was never hard for anyone to figure out just 
how perfect they were for each other, and on this day, he was sure that 
anyone who saw them together would be able to see that they were madly 
in love. Of course, that was the nature of the holiday.

Hand in hand, they ran from one ride to the next, and when they had to 
wait in long lines, she could barely stop talking and kept him 
entertained during the entire wait. He couldn't blame her for her 
enthusiasm, but he was showing his own differently. If he allowed 
himself to let his excitement show too much, he might not be able to 
contain himself, and then he would end up spoiling everything.

Finally, after they had ridden several of her favorite rides, he 
suggested that they go on the Ferris wheel. There had been a time when 
she had hated riding it, claiming that it went too slow and was much too 
boring for her, but at some point over the years, they had both realized 
just how romantic it was, and would always make a point to ride it 
before they left the amusement park. Today, it took no convincing to get 
her to go for a ride.

When they got there, he stepped aside, talking quietly with the man 
running the ride. Pudding tried to eavesdrop but he shooed her away, 
insisting that she would like the surprise a lot more if it was a 
surprise. In the end, it only took him a thousand yen to convince the 
man to do what he needed done, and he and Pudding were ushered into a 
cart and began to make their ascent.

"I'm having so much fun today!" she cried, as they rose up over the 
park. "It's been one of the best Valentine's Days ever!"

"Really?" he asked. "I'm glad, I always try to do better every year. I 
thought it would be hard to top some of them though."

"It's just hard to pick a favorite," she replied, "because I'm always 
with you and that makes them perfect."

Rather than reply to her, he pulled her in for a long kiss, one that 
lasted until they reached the very top of the circle, slowing to a stop. 
This was not uncommon, as the ride gave everyone a good view, and they 
pulled apart to look at the amusement park below them. Pudding pointed 
things she recognized out excitedly, just as she did every time, even 
though nothing had really changed since the first time they had ridden 
the Ferris Wheel.

After a long time of this, though, she said, "Hey, haven't we been up 
here longer than usual? I think we have been. Do you think the ride is 
broken or something?" She didn't sound completely worried; mostly she 
sounded curious.

She had been looking around the window, facing away from him while she 
asked this and he approached her, hugging her from behind. "Actually, 
this is what I was talking to the man about," he replied. "I arranged 
for us to have some extra time up here, so that the two of us could have 
a little bit of privacy."

She turned around within his embrace to face him, grinning. "You naughty 
alien!" she said with a giggle. "You'd really plan to take advantage of 
a young maiden in such a public place like this? I'm surprised at you!"

"Oh, I'm sure my naughty little monkey would like that," he replied 
teasingly. "But that's going to have to wait until later, I think. I 
actually had other reasons for wanting to get you alone up here."

"Huh? What do you mean?" she asked, cocking her head. He smiled gently, 
releasing her from his embrace and stepping back, hands resting on her 
shoulders.

"I have something that I want to ask you," he said. He then dropped his 
hands from her shoulders and dropped to one knee, removing a velvet box 
from his pocket. She gasped and he would have thought it was theatrical 
from how it sounded, but he knew from the look on her face that she was 
genuinely surprised by what was happening.

"Lady Bu-Ling Huang," he said, addressing her with her true family name, 
"Years and years ago I had the chance to meet you in a way that can't be 
anything but fate. Anyone could have been sent on my mission to earth 
and any human could have been the one to fight me, but it was you, and 
despite being on different sides, you always treated me like you wanted 
to be friends."

"It's no surprise that I fell in love with you, and I've had some of the 
best years of my life being with you. I never want those days to end, 
and I never want to be with anyone else. Will you marry me?" He opened 
the box then, revealing a beautiful engagement ring that had several 
small diamonds encircling a yellow topaz. From the moment he saw it, he 
knew that it was the perfect ring for her.

Tears welled up in Pudding's eyes as she stared down at the ring, and 
though she looked happy for a moment, she soon looked conflicted. "But 
what about my other engagement?" she asked. "What about Yuebin?"

"You think I didn't consider that?" he asked with an easy smile. "I've 
already spoken with both of them and I have their blessing to marry you. 
There's nothing standing in our way anymore."

~X~

He hated lying to Pudding, but he knew that if he told her where he was 
really going, she would insist on coming along or even suggest he not do 
this. Not to mention the fact that, if he failed, he didn't want her to 
know and, either way, he wanted his proposal to be a surprise. He didn't 
want to wait any longer; he wanted to know that Pudding would be his and 
was not willing to let anyone stand between them anymore.

And so he told Pudding he needed to go away to help Pai take care of 
something on their old planet, and made a trip to China, searching for 
her father. She vaguely knew where he was, and Taruto, relying on his 
memories of their conversations about that and questions he asked the 
locals, began his search for her father. It took him a lot of time and 
searching, but one day he happened upon the man and Yuebin training in 
the mountains.

They were, naturally, surprised to see him there and asked if everything 
was okay at home, if there was an emergency with Pudding that had caused 
him to come out. They were growing more concerned every day with how 
close the couple was, and he was sure that they knew he had no intention 
of leaving her to marry another man. Now, he had come to make that fact 
known.

He kneeled before the man respectfully, wanting to make it clear that he 
was not trying to be assertive. "Taren Huang," he said, "I've come to 
ask for your daughter's hand in marriage. I love Pudd- ah, Bu-ling with 
all my heart and want to spend the rest of my life with her and I'd like 
your blessing to marry her."

"I don't know why you would bother coming to me with such a ridiculous 
question," replied the older man. "You know good and well that my 
daughter is already betrothed to Yuebin. I allowed you to date her only 
because I wanted her to have fun while she was young, but I never 
thought it would go this far. I see my mistake now, and you need to stop 
courting my daughter."

"But, sir-"

"I'm not going to change my mind," he replied stubbornly. "This 
arrangement existed long before you came into my daughter's life and I 
won't allow some outsider to stick their nose where it doesn't belong."

"Sir, I want you to listen to me, and I won't be interrupted this time." 
Though her father looked ready to say something, he held his tongue, 
watching Taruto with amusement, waiting for whatever it was he had to 
say. "You know about how my people wanted to attack earth and take it 
for our own. Even out here, you must have heard about how bad the 
situation got. I was central to the mission."

"When I met Pudding, we were meant to fight each other. But she treated 
me as a friend and wanted to show me that it was possible to coexist. 
She showed me that my race and her race didn't have to fight each other, 
and it was then that I began to fall in love with her. I could tell we 
had something special even back then, and when she and I got together, I 
knew that I was right and that I would never want to be with anyone else 
but her."

"Together, everything's been better for me. When she introduced me to 
her siblings, I was afraid that they wouldn't accept me, but then I got 
the chance to get to know them and they were all so nice to me. It was 
like my family was growing, and that's how everything felt with her. All 
of her brothers warmed up to me immediately and they feel just like 
having my own brothers."

"Heicha took more work, she was really shy, but even she came around 
eventually and I adore her, like the little sister I've never had. I 
love her and I love her brothers and I love your daughter, and I 
consider them to be a part of my family and I know they feel the same 
way about me. I know that her siblings would gladly accept me as part of 
the family, and what's more, I know that Pudding would choose love over 
filial piety. I know that she would choose me over Yuebin or what you 
planned for her without asking."

"I don't want to have to hurt anyone, but I'll fight for Pudding if I 
have to!" he said at last. He had not realized just how passionate his 
speech had become, but he had gotten so into it that a battle aura had 
formed around him, his energy crackling almost dangerously. It had not 
been his intention to start a fight, but he loved her so much that he 
would do that if he needed to.

As for Pudding's father, the amused look had completely faded from his 
face. Instead, he and Yuebin both stared at Taruto intently, no longer 
as if they were sizing him up and looking for flaws, but now with a new 
found respect.

"I don't know if I'll ever agree with you, and I don't know if Yuebin 
will agree with my decision," said her father at last, "but you're 
genuine and I can tell. You won't back down, and you're strong. I know 
this is a fight I wouldn't win, and I know you can protect my daughter. 
There's nothing I can do to stand in the way of your marriage to her, so 
the best thing I can do now is give in. You have my permission to marry 
Bu-ling."

~X~

Pudding listened to his story, still teary-eyed, and when he was done, 
she softly said, "You were right about me. I would have chosen you over 
my father if I had to, but I'm glad I didn't. I'm glad the two of you 
were able to make peace and that you didn't have to fight anybody."

"I would do anything for you," he said, "but I wouldn't want to do 
anything that would make you unhappy in the process."

"I love you so much," she said. "I'm so happy that you were able to get 
my father to approve and without a real fight. The answer is yes, of 
course I'll marry you!" The tears in her eyes began to fall as he took 
her hand and slid the beautiful engagement ring onto it, and she pulled 
him into a tight hug just as the Ferris Wheel began to move once more.

~X~

The rest of the day at the amusement park was just as fun as it always 
had been, but was different somehow. They both carried the knowledge 
that they were going to be married soon, and that changed everything yet 
truly changed nothing between them; they were still themselves and they 
were still madly in love. But Pudding had a ring on her finger now, and 
that made all the difference even where there wasn't a difference in 
their behavior.

After they left, they both decided that it would be a good idea to go to 
Cafe Mew Mew, both for a snack and to share the good news with her 
friends. Later, they would tell her siblings and then spread the news to 
the other aliens, but first and foremost, Pudding would be telling her 
close friends about her engagement.

The other four were all working that day, but the cafe would close early 
so that they would have the chance to go out on their dates. Ryou hadn't 
wanted to close early, since the cafe was such a popular destination and 
would get a lot of business on Valentine's Day, but between the fit 
Ichigo pitched and Keiichiro's insistence, he caved, and all of the 
girls would be able to have a romantic night out.

She could barely contain her excitement as they made their way there, 
wanting to tell someone right away. It took all she had to keep it in 
and not shout to every person they passed that she was engaged. This was 
the happiest day of her life to date, made even happier by the knowledge 
that better ones were to come, that there would be a wedding day, there 
would be children, there would be an entire life of 'happiest days', 
each one topping the one before.

When they made it to the cafe, she tried to keep calm long enough to be 
seated. She wanted everyone to be there to hear it, and kept her hand 
out of view as Lettuce showed them to their seats. She had one arm 
around Taruto and he had his arm around her, holding each other tight. 
The excitement was palpable in the air, but no one could yet tell what 
the excitement was over.

She requested that Lettuce get everyone around, which took some time 
considering how busy it was, but soon all of the Mews, as well as Ryou 
and Keiichiro, were at their table, waiting for the announcement.

"We're getting married!" she cried, when she couldn't keep it in 
anymore. She flaunted her ring then, and immediately Ichigo, Mint, and 
Lettuce grabbed at her hand, each trying to get the better view and 
ooh-ing and ahh-ing over it. Zakuro did not fuss over her, but she still 
offered a congratulatory smile.

"Well, it's about time," Mint said at last. "You two have only been 
together forever, I mean."

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Lettuce cried, tearing up. "You two are going 
to be so happy, I just know it."

"We have to start planning!" Ichigo declared. "If you two are going to 
do it soon, anyway, and I really think you should do it soon. It's 
almost spring and a spring wedding will be so romantic!"

"I'm always available to make the cake," offered Keiichiro.

"And I can set you up with plenty of venues," added Ryou, "but something 
tells me the two of you already know where you want to have it."

"Are you going to have it here?" asked Ichigo, getting even more 
excited, if that was even possible. She was almost as excited as the 
happy couple.

"I thought that might be the best place," Pudding replied, grinning. 
"And everyone here is going to be in the wedding, too!" They talked more 
about plans for a while, until their snack was done and it grew close to 
time for the cafe to close up. The others were in and out of the 
conversation, as Keiichiro had to return to baking and the girls had to 
return to waitressing, but for once, Ichigo ended up doing less work 
than Mint as she couldn't tear herself away from Pudding and Taruto for 
long.

Soon enough, however, it was time for them to head home. They had a lot 
more romantic plans for the night and they still had quite a few people 
to share the happy news with.