[Open] Valentine's Day~

[perfectcosmos]

Ino had taken extreme care to tailor her gifts and had spent the last couple weeks getting everything she needed for today sorted out. Now it was just getting everything to everyone.

She'd already sent the poor flustered Godaime Itachi home with his bag of sweets and the basket with sours and tomatoes for Sasuke. There was also a pack of carefully stashed sharpened hairpins stashed for Tenten in the pile that she was sure the boys probably wouldn't notice right off.

She'd hunted down the two stray younger Neji's and left baskets of teas in their apartments, so they were taken care of. Sakura had gotten a nice batch of her favorite dessert tucked into her freezer while she was in her clinic too. Kakashi had a copy of one of Jiraiya's books left just inside his windowsill. It wasn't new, but it's what she had available and it wasn't the one he'd been carrying around.

There was a detour to drop off chocolates and a couple scrolls where she knew the rather put out Sannin and his newest housemate would find it near his cave. She just hoped the chocolate was well received by the teen.

And then there was Mikoto's house. Putting on her resolve face, she sealed pretty much everything into an assortment of ribbons and headed over. The youngest Sasuke had gotten half his Valentine's present already but that was fine, she still had his sour candies to give over, and she knew they'd likely be taken well.

The elder Itachi was getting a bag with at least two dozen sweets of non-repeated types. The littlest one was getting more. He was adorable. The middle boy Sasuke was getting the same as the youngest. The girl Sasukes were getting bittersweet chocolates.

Banking on the fact that most people seemed to like the same things as their male counterparts, Sakumo was getting some of the same fancy dessert as Sakura got. Lee got flowers. She'd actually found the guy lotuses so that's what he was getting. Neji elder was getting a tea mix she'd put together just for him. Hinata was getting cinnamon rolls.

All the Narutos were getting red bean candies. She hadn't missed how fond of the flavor the guy was when they were in academy together. Mikoto was harder, so she defaulted to straight chocolates and sours for the woman in case she didn't actually like sweets.

The little Tenten was getting chocolates herself, and Kabuto was getting some tiny vials of poison she was experimenting with.

All of this she checked over carefully to make complete sure she wasn't forgetting anything. Which reminded her of Fugaku having moved in... More sours into the ribbon seals for him, yes, and chocolates for Karin... Just to be on the safe side, more chocolate was stashed to cover any new people she hadn't spotted yet, and that was that.

Once that was settled, she headed out to make sure everyone got their Valentine's gifts.

Comments

[one_without_wings]

The youngest Sasuke was out, practicing his daily fire jutsu routine. After all, the only ways to increase his chakra pool was practice and... time. Really, he wasn't going to wait on the whole 'time/growing up' option, so he would do what he can by practicing.

He also finally had, by now, his own bottle of ointment and patches of gauze he could also practice applying on his own burns. He was about to try again, when he spotted one of the few familiar females he had seen here.
"Ino-neesan!" he could actually most likely be heard throughout a twenty-feet radius as he joyfully cried out her name and hurried over to her.

[perfectcosmos]

She blinked, then crouched down as the boy came barreling toward her. "Hey there Sas-kun. Been keeping busy?"

[one_without_wings]

"Yea! My other me's showed me somethin really awesome, so I've been practicing whenever I can! M'gonna go over to the central place later and see if anyone's wantin to see me do some shinobi tricks!" after all, he had been tasked with finding as many prospective students as he could for classes! "Whatcha doin today, Ino-neesan?" he asked, rubbing one of the gauze patches.

[perfectcosmos]

"Me? I came to hand out Valentine presents!" She pulled out a ribbon and released the storage seal, catching the pack of sour candies that popped out. "For you."

[one_without_wings]

The youth watched with wide eyes as something materialized from thin air. one day, he would be able to do that too!
"For me?" Immediately, he bounded to hug her with his tiny arms. "Thanks neesan!" That made it official! "You're the best neesan ever!"

[copynin]

He looked out his window early and saw the first volume of the Icha Icha series—one that had been sitting on the shelves of his apartment back in Konoha—Kakashi smiled. Opening the cover, he saw a note from Ino, wishing him a Happy Valentine's Day.

While he'd never put any thought into the holiday back in Konoha—it didn't mean anything since he wasn't seeing anyone and he only got chocolates from Kurenai and Anko (both of whom he was leery of telling that he hated chocolates)—Ino's gift was actually well-thought out.

He saw the blonde's long ponytail traveling down the street and he decided to call out to her before she got too far. "Ino-chan, thank you for the book!"

[perfectcosmos]

She paused, looking up at the window with a smile. "You haven't switched in a while so I thought you might need a new copy!"

[copynin]

He gave her a chuckle. "I guess it is time that I carried around the first volume again. It might bring back memories to the rest of my team."

[perfectcosmos]

"They are all here you know!" She smiled up at him and shook her head. "Sasuke-kun was a cutie at that age. He's been doing the shopping for his mom, did you know that? I help him when I'm out."

[copynin]

"Yes, I've met with some of them," he replied cautiously. "Some of them have been more receptive than others, of course. Is there anything you need help with?"

Even if the book was a gift, it was still something he'd read many times before, and he was a little bored.

[twinlionfists]

Hinata blinked as Ino-san gave her a basket of cinnamon rolls. "T-thank you," she said. "I didn't know that today was Valentine's day." She frowned as she looked at the thoughtful gift and her thoughts turned towards Naruto... "I would like to get gifts for Neji-nii-san and Naruto-kun. Um, I don't want to give them the same things as you did, Ino-san."

[perfectcosmos]

"Tea and red bean candy respectively." She flashed her a smile. "I'm sure you could do better with your insider knowledge yeah?"

[twinlionfists]

Hinata returned Ino-san's smiles. She'd always found them a little infectious, even if she was too shy to actually talk to her before they'd been thrown together after the chunin exams. "Yes, I suppose so," she said thoughtfully. "I, um, appreciate the cinnamon buns."

And, she had a good idea of what to get the other girl. She'd seen them in the shop next to Ino's flower shop the day she visited.

[perfectcosmos]

She laughed softly and nodded once. "Enjoy then. I have some things to give out yet. Feel free to come by anytime ne?"

[twinlionfists]

"Ah, yes," she replied. "Will you be home later this evening?"

That would give her enough time to make the purchase and wrap them up.

[heroscomeback]

Naruto was... where else but in the kitchen? Because instant ramen was the best at any time of the day. He was currently at the table, glaring at the instant ramen cup, chopsticks on top holding the half-peeled lid closed.

He still hated waiting for the thing to cook and be ready! Seeing someone enter the kitchen, he blinked, and went wide-eyed. "Whoa, Ino? How many people ended up here?"

[perfectcosmos]

"Lots." She fished in her bag and pulled out a bright orange ribbon with an 'ah ha!'. She then grinned at him and unsealed a nice sized pack of candies. "Here you go. Happy Valentine's Day."

[heroscomeback]

"Whoa, nice~ For me?" he gave a big grin. "Ehehe~ thanks! What're tho--oh, wait! No way!" he acually unwrapped took one of the things straight out to confirm because he -had- to.

"Fanks Ino!" he thanked her mid-chew. "Yer'aweshum~"
...note to self -try- not to forget about white day this year...

[perfectcosmos]

She laughed at the reaction and inclined her head. "No problem Naruto. I always noticed you liked that flavor back when we were kids and haven't had the chance since."

[heroscomeback]

"Those're awesome!" he'd gulped the thing meanwhile. "It'd been so long since I had any of those things too! Eheh.. ero-sennin always told me not to spend too much on frivolous things..but look at what he alwyas did, ha!"
Yes, ha. He did carry very very fond memories.
"...but yeah... heh. thanks, Ino!"

[openedthebasket]

Neji was outside, under the tree he had chosen before, seated atop the wooden board he had appropriated so that he could still meditate outside without ending up soaked clean through for his trouble. For hours now, he's been scanning the village, as far outside it as he could see... but she was gone.

By the time Ino came upon him, the edges of his vision had started to go fuzzy, leaving him blinking back the veins as she approached, though he didn't offer a greeting. He didn't trust his voice after sitting silent for so long... he hadn't been able to find that kind of silence since he'd first met Naruto. Instead, he merely inclined his head.

[perfectcosmos]

There was definitely something off here, and she pressed back a little frown that wanted to emerge, instead offering him a smile. "Hey there handsome. I've been trying to find you. I have a present~!"

[openedthebasket]

Damn. It seemed as though he'd be forced to speak. Voice carefully modulated to its normal tone, he inclined his head again and closed his eyes against the ache in the corners. "Your thoughtfulness is appreciated."

[perfectcosmos]

Yep, something was definitely wrong, and she moved over, hesitating for a moment before touching where she'd seen the Byakugan's pathways active as she walked up. "Mind if I see if you strained anything Neji?"

[openedthebasket]

He couldn't restrain the tiny, grunted sound of pain at her touch, and he raised a hand as if he might knock it away. "It is a wearing of the Chakra Network around my eyes due to overuse. Please pay it no mind."