A challenge set by Victoria Levi to keep me distracted/entertained/busy:

'Hanabi tries to make Kiba a Christmas present, but messes up. She gives him the garbled mess with some lame excuse.'

I needed a bit of a diversion from my ongoing KibaXHanabi story, and this was a nice alternative, since it's a one-shot. Anyway, let me know what you all think!

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hanabi eyed her work critically. It had the look of a Kindergartener's craft project, coupled with the acrid odour of industrial glue. A loose twig slowly made its decent from the top of the disaster to the giant puddle of paint and glue that had collected on the sheets of newspaper strewn over the table for protection. She glared at the mess, willing it to magically turn into something similar to the picture on the box she was clenching in her hands. It didn't work. She closed her eyes; this time wishing with all her heart the item would be fixed. She opened an eye carefully into a squint. Hmm, when she squinted it looked OK. Both eyes opened. No change. The girl looked at the box again. Then at what she had made. Back at the box.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!" she screamed, frustrated.

"They're not the same at all! What am I going to do? We're supposed to exchange presents tonight... I can't buy anything cause the shops are already closed."

A dark cloud hanging over her head, she flopped down on a cushion that had been tossed to the floor in an earlier fit of frustration. She buried her face in it, torn between sobbing and screaming.

Lying here feeling sorry for herself wasn't going to help. She would just have to fix it somehow.

Hanabi looked over at the table, where her supposed work of art sat mocking her with its presence.

"Maybe if I give it to him in the dark...and then pretend to trip something and fall on top of it..."

Unfortunately, that seemed to be her only option at the moment. She scanned her room for inspiration. Nothing she could re-gift. Nothing she could pass off as something she had made, either. Curse Kiba and his stupid ideas. 'Giving each other something we'd made with our hands and our hearts is more romantic,' he'd said. Ha! Any other girl probably would have swooned and run home to bake him some chocolate cookies just for the very idea of such a romantic notion. Hanabi wasn't any other girl though; an excellent ninja, yes. A cook, no. A craftsperson, well, as that...thing on the table would suggest, definitely not. She would bet anything on Kiba only suggesting this ridiculous idea because he was broke again. Anytime that stupid fox-assed friend of his was in town they'd spend all their time drinking together, and next thing you know, it would be up to her to foot the bill on their dates.

The young kunoichi sat up and shuffled on her knees over to the table. It was taking almost everything she had not to smash it right there and then. She looked at the box again. It was supposed to be a wolf standing on a cliff edge, howling at the moon. What it looked like was a pile of brown excrement with two eyes sloppily attached sitting on top of a rock with two twigs hanging off. Correction, one twig hanging off and the other lying in the glue/paint puddle. She'd been wrong, of course. A Kindergartener's project would look much better than this. Her mood darkened.

There was a knock on the door, before it softly slid open. Hanabi didn't turn around, knowing it would be her older sister.

"Is anything wrong, Hanabi? I thought I heard you yell a little while ago."

Hinata approached her, full of concern. She sat down on the floor next to her younger sister, arm around her shoulders.

"Ahh!? What's that!?" she screamed as she pointed at the lump on the table. "Did something come in and do its business on your table?? Is it a threat!? Hanabi, tell me! What's wrong, what is this thing!?"

Hanabi turned to look at her sister who was obviously genuinely distressed. Eyes like dark clouds, she muttered, "That's Kiba's Christmas present."

Hinata's eyes widened as she looked back at the object. "Oh, you dropped it? Oh, that's such a shame – I guess it's too late to buy a new one?"

The younger sister's eyes narrowed as she hissed "I made it."

Hinata blinked in disbelief. She looked at the oozing grotesque work on the table, then back at her sister. Hanabi handed the box with the perfect image on it to her sister. The older girl bit her lip, trying not to smile. "Go ahead, laugh."

Hanabi glowered at her sister who was having a hard time holding the giggling back. She couldn't really blame her, the thing looked terrible... but what was she going to do?

"Hang on...what time is it?" Hanabi asked.

"Just past six, why?"

Hanabi cursed under her breath. They'd planned to meet at half past six and she'd have to leave in fifteen minutes to make it on time. She'd forget about the present for now and quickly get ready. She wasn't dressed yet, nor had she done anything with her hair, never mind putting any make up on. It would be better to appear with just one mess, not two. She shooed her red faced sister out of the room and got to work rummaging through her clothes. She decided to ignore the suppressed laughs she could hear from the other side of the door.

Fifteen minutes later, Hanabi was looking in the mirror assessing her ensemble. A light blue lace camisole, with a midnight blue cardigan to cover her shoulders and black pants that looked as if they'd been sewn onto her body. It would do. Though it was winter, it was mild this year and most of the villagers were still wearing what resembled summer clothes. She took another close look at her makeup, making sure there were no smudges from her eyeliner or lumps of mascara on her eyelashes. She added one final layer of lip gloss, and checked herself in the mirror again. Not bad, given her time limit. She took out a decorated paper bag and carefully placed the present inside, before sealing it with candy cane themed tape. At least the wrapping looked nice, she mused and headed for the door.

They'd agreed to meet at the dango place, and though it was usually pretty quiet, Hanabi was regretting planning for the present exchange to be in such a public place. She took a seat by the window and wondered how she was going to orchestrate the fake disaster. There just was no other way out – she couldn't not bring anything; that would look terrible. Buying something had of course been out of the question, even if the shops had still been open. Kiba would have been able to sense it was bought without even seeing it.

"Yo."

Hanabi's thoughts were interrupted by Kiba's entrance. She looked up at the tall dog ninja with the mussed hair and slightly rumpled clothing. He leaned over to give her a quick kiss on the cheek before sitting down across from her. He waved at Akamaru who was sitting outside, staring forlornly at the couple through the window.

"Thanks for getting a window seat, you know how he gets if he can't at least see me."

"No problem."

Hanabi smiled. Choosing a window seat was preferable to the alternative. Last time they'd been out to a restaurant together, the couple had been placed over by the kitchen and thus invisible from the outside. Akamaru had whined and whimpered so loudly, people rushed to the restaurant thinking it was a siren. They'd gathered with buckets of water expecting to find a raging fire. Instead, they found an oversized dog trying to break into the restaurant. The maitre d's efforts to cajole the dog back outside, followed by his attempts to push the beast away went unnoticed by the jealous Akamaru. Once the restaurant owner found out Kiba was the dog's companion, he and Hanabi were briskly escorted out the door and kindly asked never to return.

"It's a shame really, when he was a puppy I could just stuff him inside my sweater and we could go anywhere together, even the onsen. He's just gotten too big, but is still used to doing everything with me, heh."

Hanabi said nothing, but her expression made it clear she was relieved the dog no long accompanied Kiba everywhere. Taking a dog to an onsen, was he serious?

"So I ordered us some tea and cha-dango on the way in. I figured we'd get to the present giving first. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you've made!"

Kiba smiled, eyeing the large paper bag Hanabi had brought with her. She reciprocated the smile nervously, still trying to come up with a way of destroying the evidence. She felt so disappointed she couldn't make something nice for him, even with a kit to help. Those instructions must have been faulty, that was it. What was he going to say when he saw it though? Would he be sensitive enough to try to hold back the laughter, as her sister had done? Or would he burst out laughing, thinking it was a joke gift? Would he be insulted by it? Would he break up with her over it? The questions kept appearing in her mind, filling her with anxiety and doubt. She just wanted to get this over with.

"Here," she said, handing over the bag. Her face was red and she felt hot and clammy. What she really wanted to do was run out the door and never look back. No chance of that now, plus Akamaru would probably think she was play-running, and chase her down.

Her head hung low in shame, but she couldn't help peeking over to see how Kiba would react.

He tore up the tape sealing the bag and stuck his hand inside.

"It's not fragile is it?" he asked as he clumsily tried to grapple it.

Hanabi shook her head, secretly wishing he would break it. Slowly, he pulled the object out and placed it delicately on the table. He looked down at the lump, considering it from all angles. Hand to his chin, he hmmed and looked over it like a breeder assessing a prized racehorse's potential for stud. Hanabi looked away, too ashamed to try to come up with a lame excuse or explain what had happened. The silence between them was finally broken.

"Umm... it's...very nice. I like it!" Kiba said, finally.

Hanabi gave him a look that clearly indicated she didn't believe him. Her accusing glare caused him to blush. He knew he was treading on thin ice here, but what did she want him to do?

"Ahh... uhh... what is it?" he asked, and immediately held his arms up in defence, anticipating an onslaught of tears, fists and curses.

Instead, he heard her sigh. He peered through his defences carefully.

"It was supposed to be a lone wolf sitting on top of a cliff edge, howling at the moon. I bought this kit because I thought it would be easier than making something from scratch. And we both already know my cooking skills aren't exactly the best, so that wasn't an option. Here's what it looks like on the box."

She handed him the piece of cardboard. He looked carefully at the image, then back again at the model. His eyes veered over to the box again. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but shut it immediately again. One of the model's eyes loosened and fell to the table, bouncing past his hand before hitting the napkin holder. He didn't flinch. Hanabi was quite impressed by this point, given that he'd not laughed yet and he didn't seem to be popping any blood vessels trying not to. Finally, his eyes turned back to the girl. "I love it. Really, I do."

He smiled and leant over the table to plant a soft kiss on her lips. Startled, she remained silent. The way he'd said it seemed genuine, but surely he must just be putting on a mask for her. Kiba wasn't callous enough to do something like that and then throw the item away, but he might 'lose' it at the back of his closet later. Hanabi watched him carefully place the model back in the bag. He retrieved the errant eye and dropped that in as well, happily mumbling he would glue it back on later. Her eyes never left him, still wondering if he was mocking her, or worse, trying to make her feel better.

"Ok, my turn!"

Hanabi shifted uncomfortably in her seat. The waitress came over with their tea and dango; she'd probably witnessed the pitiful scene, deciding it would be better to wait until that monstrosity was put away.

"Hmm, ok, my turn after the dango then."

Kiba munched away contentedly at the rice dumplings, only stopping to gulp down some tea. A warm, happy feeling spread across Hanabi's chest. She realised he'd not pitied her and had genuinely appreciated her gift, eyesore that it was. Kiba's diet habits were always a good indication of his mood, and if he was content and comfortable nothing would get in the way of his meal. Had he felt bad or awkward he probably would have rushed to give her his present as quickly as possible. The girl stood up and planted a soft kiss on his forehead.

"Ehh, what was that for?" Kiba wondered in between bites.

Hanabi smiled. "Nothing, just because."

Kiba shrugged and continued his massacre of the remaining dango. Sipping at his tea, he looked over at Hanabi's plate which was almost untouched. "Ar-"

"I'm done, go ahead. You can have them."

"Ah, but how did yo-"

The girl grinned, saying "I know you well enough to know that's what you were after. Now go on, finish them."

Kiba didn't need to be told twice and practically inhaled the dumplings, no teeth necessary. He sat back, content.

"You're going to kill yourself one day, eating dango like that..." Hanabi warned.

Kiba waved her concerns off with a simple flick of the wrist. "Ha, only old people die from choking on this stuff, it's all good. Anyway, here's your gift!"

As he said the last word, Kiba began to cough uncontrollably. He began hitting his chest to open up his airways, gasping for air. The offending piece of dango was soon swallowed and the ninja was out of danger, left with a red face both from lack of air and embarrassment. He cleared his throat and coolly handed a medium sized box, about the size of brick, to Hanabi.

"Ahem. As I said, only fogies die," he said and winked.

The young girl shook her head, laughing. She really admired how he took everything in his stride. She drew her attention to the box. It was made from plain, non-lacquered wood and seemed quite heavy.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Open it up, you'll see."

Hanabi carefully undid the metal hasp that kept the box closed, and pulled it open. What she saw, was a mass of newspaper shreds. She began to remove them carefully, curious now to see what was hiding within the strips. Her search continued; she'd reached about halfway into the box, Kiba looking on eagerly.

"A-are you sure there's anything in here?"

Hanabi poked a finger into the remaining pile of strips, testing to see if she touched anything. Nothing. She poked ceaselessly, only hitting paper and the bottom of the box.

"...Kiba...it's empty?"

Her boyfriend blinked and grabbed the box, ripping the remaining paper out of it. His face turned a rather unattractive shade of white.

"I...just remembered. It's still at home."

"At home?"

"Uhh yeah, Akamaru and I got distracted with ripping up the paper and I kind of forgot to put the actual present inside, it seems...heh."

Kiba scratched his head nervously as his face reddened.

"I do have something for you, I swear! I just left it at home..." he mumbled feebly.

Hanabi smiled. She didn't really care. His gracious acceptance of her gift was more than enough for her. She reached for his hand across the table and squeezed it lightly. "Come on then, let's go to your place."

The couple collected their things, paid the bill and left, hand in hand.