Kana cocked her head slightly and placed her index finger to her lips as she gazed through the glass display case containing a variety of watches. Would he like that one? No, it was much too extravagant for someone like him. Kana always imagined him as being a minimalistic sort of person, what with the lack of personal affects in his office.

"Hey, Kana, have you found the perfect gift yet? I won't blame you if you haven't; men are always hard to shop for," said her friend, bounding up behind her and peering over her shoulder.

Hatori's birthday was only a few days away, and Kana was having one heck of a time finding the aloof doctor a gift.

"Nope, I haven't found anything yet. Hatori-sensei is harder to shop for than I thought… Oh! Do you have any ideas, Yuri? You've been with your boyfriend for about two years now, right?"

"Well, yeah…" Yuri replied thoughtfully. "Noboru isn't at all like Hatori-san, though. He's a lot more energetic, and friendly. Hatori-san is, well… You like the strong and silent types don't you, Kana?"

Kana shrugged. "Maybe so."

Yuri heaved a dramatic sigh and drug her friend out of the department store they'd been browsing through and towards a store that sold practical things, such as wallets and pens and the like. Kana had to admit that it did seem like the type of store you'd see Hatori in. In fact, it was probably the only store she could imagine the doctor walking into… Well, that and a medical supplies store, obviously.

After searching through the store's mundane merchandise, Hatori's birthday present still hadn't been bought. The two friends tried a chocolate shop (Kana did not know if Hatori even liked chocolate) and a book store (he might already have the book they chose) before finally calling it a day.

"Thanks for your help today, Yuri," Kana said, bowing politely.

"You're welcome, but it's a shame you still weren't able to find a present for Hatori-san."

"Ah, well. I'm sure I'll find something eventually. Maybe we could try again tomorrow?"

Yuri shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I've got some paperwork to sort through before Monday, and I'll need to start today if I want to have any free time tomorrow. I really wish I could help you more…"

"No, no; it's fine. I'll figure out something."

"Okay then. Call me and tell me how it turns out!" Yuri called over her shoulder as she walked away.

Kana waved as she walked away before sighing and slumping her shoulders a little. Would she really be able to figure something out? She should have tried to get Hatori to tell her about the things he liked so she would have at least had an idea of what to get him. Actually, Kana had thought he would have started dropping hints or something as her friends tended to do when their birthdays neared.

The sun was beginning to set, and though the orange glow it cast over the city was particularly beautiful this evening, Kana was too lost in though to appreciate it. All this thinking about Hatori's birthday had reminded her of her own and what the handsome doctor had given her. It had been a set of pastel hair clips with a simple red ribbon tied around them. She guessed he had noticed the ones she wore to work every day to keep the hair out of her eyes. It had been such a Hatori-like gift, almost entirely practical with very little attention paid to aesthetics.

She smiled to herself as she remembered Hatori's reaction to her amused laughter after receiving the hair clips.

"Why are you laughing? You.. don't like it?"

"No, no. I love them, Hatori-sensei!"

"Then why…?"

"It just seemed like exactly the thing I'd expect you to get me!"

He had blinked at her in confusion for a moment afterwards, but seemed content with the fact that at least Kana liked her gift.

With her mood considerably brighter, Kana decided to head home before it became completely dark. Suddenly, a fantastic idea hit her like a slap in the face, as did the flier blowing across the street.

The idea had been to get Hatori something that only she would think to give him… Something very Kana-like. Even though Kana had not really needed more hair clips, she treasured the ones from Hatori because they reminded her of him. Besides, Hatori could certainly use more personal items around his office. It almost seemed like no one worked there at all.

The flier had been advertising some adorable teddy bears from a shop down the street. Kana grinned. She loved teddy bears; never mind that her friends thought it was a little childish.

Considering the fact that both the idea and the flier had hit her at the same time, what to get for Hatori seemed obvious.

Kana headed to the teddy bear store with a spring in her step. She gasped in surprise when she got to the stores entrance, marveling at the incredible selection. She had never seen so many teddy bears in one place in her whole life, and it seemed that no two were the same.

Kana gulped. This was going to be harder than she had thought.

She wandered cautiously into the store, trying to get a good look at the bears that lined shelves that neared the ceiling and covered displays around the store. The bears seemed to come in every color and size imaginable, and many of them even had various accessories.

As she wandered further into the store, she saw a large shelf that housed many bears dressed clothes. Upon venturing closer, she noticed a sign at the top of the shelf that said "THEMED BEARS." There was a samurai bear, an angel bear, a policeman bear, a nurse bear…

"A nurse bear… That must mean there's a doctor bear!" Kana exclaimed.

However, after searching the whole shelf for several minutes, she found no doctor bears. Slightly disappointed, she sought out an employee and asked if they had any. The employee gave her a sympathetic smile and said that they had sold their only one the day before.

Sighing, Kana went back to aimlessly browsing the store. She saw several bears that she liked, but she somehow did not think that Hatori would appreciate a bear dressed as her favorite pop idol.

After another half hour of fruitless searching, Kana felt a tap on her back. One of the employees had come to notify her of the fact that the store was closing in ten minutes. Kana blushed and said that she was almost done.

Of course, she really had no idea which teddy bear to choose. She thought about going home and trying again tomorrow, but darn it, she was not going to go home empty-handed after all this!

In the end, she chose a plain, average-sized brown bear with fairly long, fluffy fur. Though Kana did not really like how nondescript it was, she supposed it was better than nothing. Still, she felt like she had failed somehow…

Those feelings of failure haunted her stubbornly as she finally headed home.

BEEP!

BEEP!

"Mmph…"

BEEP!

"Rrgh!"

Kana backhanded her alarm clock and sent it sailing across the room to crash land on her desk, not only knocking most of the items on its surface to the floor but also causing quite the racket. That really woke her up.

She stumbled over to the desk, grumbling the whole way. Despite her bubbly personality every morning at work, Kana was not at all a morning person. Well, not until she had her daily intake of caffeine, anyway.

As she haphazardly tossed pictures and notepads back onto her desk, she came across the teddy bear she had bought Hatori a few days ago. She picked up the bear and set it down carefully on the desk. She stared at it for a moment before giving a resigned sigh and walking to her apartment's bathroom.

The steady stream of warm water from her shower usually got her brain working, and she began to think back to the past couple of days. Though she had searched and searched, Kana had failed to find a better present for Hatori. Now it was his birthday, and she would have no choice but to give him the boring teddy bear. She wondered if he would even give it a second glance after today.

After Kana had showered and dressed, she went back to her desk to pick out the hair clip she would use that day. She settled on the pink one she had worn the day when she first met Hatori.

Kana held the hair clip in front of her as the memories of their exchange about snow came flooding back to her. She smiled softly. It was amazing how such a small object could hold such wonderful memories. Kana wondered if Hatori still remembered that day, too.

Suddenly, Kana was struck with a brilliant idea. A wide grin spread across her face as she began to imagine Hatori's face when she gave him his birthday present.

To her slight disappointment (but not surprise) Hatori acted as if today was any other day. When he gave her his usual near-emotionless greeting and started going through the work they had that day, Kana cleared her throat politely.

Hatori looked up at her with a questioning look on his face, but did not say anything.

"Hatori-sensei, what day is it today?" Kana asked with a playful hint to her voice.

Hatori blinked at her. "It's Thurs-"

"No, silly! It's your birthday!"

Hatori turned and glanced at the calendar on the wall. "…So it is."

Kana made an exasperated noise, while the dragon juunishi continued to stare confusedly at her. She reached into her bag, took out something Hatori could not see, and hid it behind her back.

"I got you a birthday present. I'll understand if you don't like it much," Kana said, suddenly hesitant.

Hatori's eyes widened a little in surprise. "Thank you, Kana, but you really didn't have to…"

Kana shook her head furiously. "Of course I did! You got me a birthday present, after all. Well, here you go!" she said, shoving what she had been hiding behind her back at Hatori.

Hatori was struck speechless for a moment. Out of all the gifts he could have imagined Kana giving him, he had not thought of anything like this. Kana was holding out a teddy bear which was a shade of brown startlingly similar to her hair color with rather long, silky fur. It was cute, but what really caught his attention was the pink hair clip on its head. He recognized it as the clip she had worn the day they had met, the day she had told him what became of snow.

He smiled, one of the rare and beautiful smiles that few other than Kana ever got to see, and gingerly lifted the bear from Kana's hands.

"Thank you," Hatori said, sounding genuinely moved.

Kana grinned back as she watched Hatori play with the bear's hair clip, a look somewhere between amused and happy on his face.

Hatori walked over to his desk and set the bear down in one of the corners, right next to a picture of Kana. He turned around and faced her again.

"Thank you," he repeated. "I think… I think this is the best gift anyone has ever given me."

Kana had heard people say that before, but Hatori looked as if he truly meant it. It made her a little sad for a moment because his tone of voice made her feel that he probably did not receive many gifts, but the feeling quickly faded when she saw the smile on Hatori's face when he looked at her again.

Kana smiled back and said, "So... I need to re-organize those files in the cabinet over there and…"

"And then there really isn't anything terribly urgent to take care of, so maybe we could go out and get some lunch. It is a very nice day, after all," Hatori said, suddenly finding something outside the window very interesting.

This time, it was Kana's turn to blink stupidly. Was he asking her out? On a date?

Hatori shifted uncomfortably, and Kana realized this was one of those now-or-never moments.

"That would be great! I know a really good place to go, if you don't mind."

Hatori looked relieved. "I don't mind at all."

There was a slightly awkward silence that followed, both unsure of what exactly they should do next (though Hatori was perhaps still reveling in the fact that Kana had accepted his invitation for lunch). Finally, Kana broke the silence.

"So, those files…"

"Yes! Actually, I think I'll help you…"

Kana smiled to herself. For all her worrying things had gone much better than she had anticipated. And to think, it had only cost her one hair clip to get Hatori to finally ask her out.