Here's chapter one of the two chapter fic that I wrote for Yuna and Togo's birthdays. Bit late, but still. Hope you enjoy it. I wanted it to feel something like reading the VN so I hope I succeeded in that. Chapter two will be out sometime in the next week, I want to get it all published before the next chapter of Nogi Wakaba is a Hero comes out (just in case Takashima turns out to be someone we know).

Togo leaned back in her chair and sighed. It was only two weeks until Yuna's birthday and she still hadn't managed to think of a suitable present for her. At first she'd thought to give her another keepsake of the two of them like she had with the picture frame last year, particularly since they were a couple now, but she didn't want to do the same thing every year (besides, grand gestures like that lost their impact if you repeated them too often). So this year she had to come up with something that Yuna didn't already own, that was romantic, but not overly sentimental. Every time she'd thought that she'd come up with something it had either turned out that Yuna already owned something similar or that it was 'unsuitable' (according to Sonoko at least). She was at the end of her rope.

She sighed again and leaned forwards, drumming her fingers on the desk. Surely there was something special she could do for Yuna on her birthday, especially after all that the other girl had done for her…

As her eyes passed over the clothes folded up on her bed, a snippet of a conversation with her grandmother floated up from her childhood memories.

"Everyone appreciates a present with a personal touch Mimo-chan."

What was she talking about when she said that? Togo frowned. It was…that was it. It was her mother's birthday and her grandmother had helped her to knit a pair of mittens for her. She couldn't say that they were the best mittens ever, but her mother had been touched by the effort at least. Yes, that was it. She'd make Yuna something herself so that she'd know how important she was to her!

What to make though? She didn't wear gloves often, a scarf was cliché…maybe a sweater? She had mentioned that one of her sweaters ending up permanently stained the other week now that she thought about it. Yes, a sweater was perfect. Now what design should she choose? A flower perhaps? Yuna did love flowers, but maybe that was too obvious. Perhaps small flowers in a pattern and something else for the main part? Her eyes drifted to the 3 foot wide Japanese flag hanging above her bed, and a bolt of inspiration struck her at the patriotic sight. Yes, Yuna would surely love a reminder of the glory of their country along with a reminder of their love!

Now, what flower should she choose? Japan didn't have an official national flower, but the cherry blossom was as close as there was to being one and Yuna did like cherry blossoms more than any other flower. There was also the chrysanthemum, the flower in the old Imperial Seal of Japan, very patriotic. Maybe she should combine the two…yes, that was a great idea. A hinomaru across the front and the two flowers in a pattern across the rest of the jumper. Perfect. She just had to get the right colours of wool and she could start. Her knitting skills were a little rusty, but as long as she gave it her full attention she should be able to finish it before Yuna's birthday with a little time to spare. Quickly writing down her ideas lest she forget something while she was there, she headed to the shops with determination in her stride.

A week later she stood by the window of her room, holding the finished sweater up in the light and squinting at her work intently. It had come out fairly well, she thought. Maybe the hinomaru was slightly off kilter? …No, she was just imagining things. It looked quite good if she said so herself, especially given how long it had been since she'd last knitted. Her grandmother had always said that she had a talent for knitting. She folded it carefully and placed it in a box, then wrapped it as elegantly as she could (with pink wrapping paper of course), tying it with silver ribbons for good measure. She couldn't wait to see Yuna's face when she opened it. Her girlfriend had the most beautiful smile that Togo had ever seen, so making Yuna happy always made her happy as well. Now all that was left to do was make some botamochi for the birthday party.

She decided to send Yuna a quick text.

"Are you looking forward to Thursday Yuna-chan? I'm making your favourite snacks. I hope you leave room for them and don't eat too much in the afternoon like you did last year."

Yuna replied back in less than a minute.

"I always have room for Togo-san's snacks! …Except for that one time. You'll never let me live that down right? Meanie. I'm really looking forward to it! Let's make it even more fun than last year!"

"I'm glad you're excited. I've made you a special present this year, I hope you like it. It was surprisingly hard to think of something to get you this time."

"Aww, you shouldn't worry about things like that Togo-san! If it's from you then even if you gave me a lump of coal I'd love it!"

"You really are a charmer Yuna-chan."

They continued on in that vein for several minutes, until Togo noticed the time and insisted that they should both concentrate on their homework. Yuna reluctantly agreed and said goodnight…then sent a text proclaiming her boredom half an hour later. After a light scolding she got back to work, after declaring Togo to be an absolutely irredeemable meanie. Togo shook her head and tutted. It was a good thing that she was here to keep Yuna focused or she'd be falling behind with her work all the time. (Of course if Togo wasn't around then Yuna wouldn't be so easily distracted from her work in the first place, but that thought didn't occur to her.)

Thursday night rolled around at last, and after school the Hero Club members headed to the local park, where Honorary Hero Club Member Fuu was already waiting for them. Yuna had enjoyed their outdoor picnic on her last birthday, so she'd suggested keeping it simple again this year. The group headed over to one of the more sheltered cherry trees (by a stroke of luck it hadn't rained as much as usual this year and temperatures were warm, but the wind was still a bit chilly so they didn't really want to be in the open) and Yuna and Karin set up the blankets while the others unpacked the food and presents. After some jostling over the comfiest spot by Fuu and Karin, which was abruptly settled by Itsuki walking past them and taking the place herself, everyone settled down and got ready to hand over their presents to the birthday girl. Togo's present was first in line. She was reasonably sure that Yuna would like it, but still…now that it was the moment of truth she couldn't help but feel tense.

"Here you go Yuna-chan. I hope you like it," she said nervously.

"Ooh, what pretty wrapping paper! You even tied it up! It looks so cute I kind of don't want to open it!" Yuna said with a smile.

"As expected of Togo. You really don't do half measures huh?" Fuu remarked.

"Washii always goes all out. That's a type of charm too~"

"Waa, I guess I'd better open it, even if it seems kind of a shame…"

Yuna untied the ribbons then delicately pulled off the wrapping paper, taking care to leave it as intact as possible. After she finally reached the actual box, she took off the lid and looked at the present within. An unusual expression flickered across her face as she looked in the box, but it passed by so quickly that only the always perceptive Itsuki and Sonoko noticed it, and even Sonoko couldn't identify it. Yuna's usual cheerful smile quickly took its place, leaving no trace of any other emotion behind.

"Wow, you knitted me a jumper! I've been meaning to buy a new jumper for ages, now I don't have to! Thank you so much Togo-san!" she exclaimed.

"You're welcome Yuna-chan. I'm glad you like it. Why don't you make sure it fits though? I'm pretty sure that I got the measurements right, but…"

"Hm, right now? I don't want to get it dirty…" Yuna trailed off at the sight of Togo's puppy dog eyes. Her girlfriend didn't break them out very often, but when she did there was no way for Yuna to resist. She gave up her futile attempts at resistance and pulled the jumper out of the box.

The other members of the Hero Club stared at the creation emerging from the box in a mixture of wonderment and horror. Even Sonoko had never seen Togo's craft skills first hand, but she had always assumed that they would be impressive given the girl's personality and interests. Clearly she'd made a massive error of assumption.

The abomination held in Yuna's hands looked more like a Vertex than an item of human clothing. It was a sickly off white colour, of the kind which made one think of a hospital, and it was covered in…pink and yellow?…blotches all over. The overall effect was that of a particularly anaemic child with a bad case of chicken pox. And then there was the front. A bright red blob, presumably supposed to be circular but failing miserably, covered the front like a bloodstain. Fuu was sure that the pattern was the same as the infamous bloodstain from 'The Butchering 2'.

Yuna pulled the jumper on, with some difficulty as the neck hole was too small for her head to fit through properly, and adjusted it as well as she could. Now that she was wearing it the others, excluding Togo who looked quite pleased with her work, could see that the left arm was clearly two inches shorter than the right arm and the jumper was disproportionately wide compared to long, making it hang awkwardly off of her frame. On top of all of that the pattern was noticeably sparser in some places than others, giving the thing a moth eaten look just to add insult to injury. Togo's grandmother hadn't been lying to her to spare her feelings, as far as the old woman was concerned Togo really did have a talent for knitting. Unfortunately she'd had severe astigmatism, so her assessment of the quality of her granddaughters creations was somewhat lacking in accuracy.

Fuu was the first to react. She closed her mouth, which had dropped open in shock, and let out a snort of laughter.

"W-W-What the hell is that supposed to be!?" she choked out, keeping her voice low enough that Togo wouldn't hear her. "I-I-I-It looks like a woman threw flower petals on her bed to get ready for sexy times, only the flowers had already been dead for a week and the sheets hadn't been washed for three months, but then she got a real heavy period all of a sudden…! Pff hahahaha!"

"Onee-chan!" Itsuki hissed, shooting her a disgusted look…but silently agreeing with her assessment.

"Fuu, that's disgusting," Karin frowned in distaste. "What's wrong with you?"

"Fuh huh, there's nothing wrong with me, it's that hide…ous…" Fuu trailed off as she looked up. Yuna was hugging Togo, which was nothing unusual, but she was looking over Togo's shoulder at Fuu with a furious glare. Fuu flinched in shock and cowered behind Itsuki.

"S-Scary…"

"What?" Karin asked in confusion.

"Yuna's going to murder me…did you all see the way she was looking at me? I never knew she had that kind of terrifying side to her…" the blonde shuddered. Itsuki and Karin glanced over at the pair, to see Yuna looking perfectly happy and paying no attention to Fuu whatsoever.

"I think you're just imagining things Onee-chan," Itsuki replied.

"No way, she's gunning for me! You saw it right Sonoko!?"

"Mmm? What did you say?" Sonoko replied drowsily. "I'm starting to get tired, I wasn't really looking…"

"I'm telling you, she's really pissed off…I'd better not walk home alone this week…"

"She looks perfectly happy to me…somehow," Itsuki said. How she could pretend to like the thing she was wearing so easily was beyond her…unless she wasn't pretending. It was hard to tell with Yuna sometimes.

"Chill out Fuu," Karin said, taking a swig of soda. "She's probably itchy from the wool or something. Besides, it's Yuna. I don't think you have to be worried about getting kneecapped. Maybe if it was Togo…"

"If you say so…" Fuu said doubtfully. She was sure she'd seen something sinister…but then again, Yuna wasn't the scary type at all. Maybe she really had imagined it…yeah, that must be it. She relaxed with that thought in mind. Somewhat.

Now that her girlfriends present had been received the rest of them started to hand their presents over.

"Here Yuna, I thought you'd like this when I saw it," Fuu said, handing over a medium sized parcel.

"Thanks Fuu-senpai! Ooh, it's kind of heavy, I wonder what it is~?"

'Guess I was imagining it. Yeah…yeah, I'm sure I was,' Fuu reiterated to herself.

The redhead tore off the wrapping paper and turned over the box.

"A doggy bank! How cute, thank you!"

"Don't sweat it. Save up your change and buy something flashy okay!?"

"Okay!"

Yuna put the doggy bank back in the box and placed it carefully on the blanket.

Karin grunted and handed her overly sellotaped parcel to Yuna in a forced casual manner.

"Here, I figured you could do with them for your therapy and all," she said, avoiding eye contact.

"Thanks Karin-chan! I wonder what it…is…" she said, struggling to pull the wrapping paper away from the vast amounts of sellotape. With some effort she finally got it off and reached the box within. "Hand grips! That's so thoughtful Karin-chan, thank you!"

"Yeah, sure," Karin mumbled.

Fuu opened her mouth to make a snarky comment, then thought better of it.

Itsuki handed over a large bag. "This isn't really the kind of thing that can be wrapped properly, sorry," she said with a sheepish smile.

"Not the kind of thing that can be wrapped? Sounds exciting! …Ooh, a teddy bear! It's so cute and fluffy, thank you!"

Finally, Sonoko gave Yuna her last present. "Here Yu-Yu~, I thought and thought about what to get you and this is what I came up with. Hope you like it~"

"Thank you! Heehee, is this a book? It feels like a book!"

She pulled off the paper and took a look.

"A Complete Guide to the Language of Flowers…? Wow, this is the first edition! Thank you Sonnochi!"

"You're welcome~"

Yuna giggled and carefully placed it on top of the present pile. "Thanks so much for the presents everyone, they're all so cool! I'm so glad I have great friends like you guys!"

"Yu-Yu's getting sentimental ~"

"You're really soft Yuna. I bet you'd have been happy even with just the boxes, huh?" Karin said wryly.

"Ehe, probably."

Now that the gifts were taken care of, the party became no different from their usual get togethers and they spent the next hour making their usual small talk and watching Karin and Fuu rib each other at every opportunity. Yuna also personally finished off almost a third of Togo's botamochi, to everyone's amazement and Togo's delight. "I need to make up for not being able to eat Togo-san's snacks last year," she explained sheepishly. As the sky turned orange and the temperature dropped however, they had to reluctantly pack their things up and prepare to head back.

"Haa, it feels like it's been ages since I've been able to hang out with everyone like this," Fuu lamented. "Soon I might even start forgetting what everyone looks like."

"You hung out with us two days ago. Stop being so melodramatic," Karin said, throwing a blanket at her.

"You wouldn't understand,' Fuu said, catching the blanket and folding it into the bag, "But you will when you graduate to high school. None of you know the loneliness I have endured, day after day…"

"But you had some friends from high school over just yesterday Onee-chan," Itsuki said innocently.

"…Don't ruin my monologues Itsuki."

"We won't end up like you though, there's four of us graduating at once," said Karin. "If anyone's going to be lonely its poor Itsuki, left behind on her own."

"You're right…my poor little baby sister, left to fend for herself…!" Fuu cried, burying her face in her hands.

"I'm sure I'll be fine Onee-chan," Itsuki said, trying to placate her.

"Ahh, my heart aches just thinking about it…"

"Well at any rate, I'm heading back now," Karin said, cutting Fuu off abruptly. "Have fun back at home Yuna. See you tomorrow."

"Ah, wait Karin-chan! I haven't given you a thank you hug yet!"

"A…what, hang on a minute…!"

Yuna lunged at Karin before she had a chance to get away and squeezed her so hard she left the ground, against the shorter girl's squawks of protest. After dropping her she went after Fuu, who had found Karin's distress quite amusing until she found herself in the same position.

"Ugh, not so hard on the ribs Yuna!" she choked out.

"Thanks again Fuu-senpai!"

Itsuki knew better than to try and escape and pre-emptively hugged Yuna before she found herself picked up, to Yuna's happy surprise. Sonoko followed her lead (also being somewhat worried for her ribs) and came in from the side for a three way hug.

"Thanks you two. I'll see you all tomorrow!"

She gave them a wave and headed off with Togo. One of the many advantages of them living next door to each other was that they could almost always walk home together, which made sure that neither of them got lonely on the way.

"Did you have fun today Yuna-chan? You look like you've worn yourself out," Togo asked.

"Hee, you noticed huh? I am pretty tired now. I guess it can't be helped still. At least I'm not cold now that I've got your sweater to wear though."

She pulled at the sweater collar for a moment, then caught herself and lowered her hand (with some effort). The itchiness was driving her mad. The sooner she got home the better.

"I'm glad. Go to bed early tonight though, okay Yuna-chan? I don't want you to wear yourself out and get sick as a result," Togo said, smiling at the other girl's praise of her sweater.

"I will, don't worry. I wouldn't dare to disobey Togo-san's orders." She gave a sharp salute, prompting another smile from the taller girl.

"But Togo-san," she continued, "What do you want for your birthday? I don't really know what to get you this time…I thought about making you some handmade sweets but then I thought it'd be nicer to make something that'll last."

"It doesn't really matter what you get me Yuna-chan. Just spending time with you is enough of a present for me."

Yuna flushed and scratched her cheek in embarrassment.

"Aww, Togo-san…"

They arrived home shortly after that. They would usually spend most of the evening and night together, but Togo practically pushed Yuna into her house on the grounds that she needed to get some rest. Yuna relented, unable to deny her fatigue, but not before getting in one more bone crushing hug. She smiled and waved at Togo's retreating form before shutting the door. As soon as she did she let a sigh of relief and pulled the sweater off right there in the entrance. She was so glad she'd worn a long sleeved shirt today, she wasn't sure if she would have been able to wear the sweater until she got home if her arms had been in contact with it. Just her neck and right wrist was more than bad enough.

'I'm sure it'll stop itching if I wash it with some fabric softener…but what should I do if it doesn't? I can't just not wear Togo-san's heartfelt gift…'

Still, there was no point in worrying about that before she'd even washed it. Stifling another yawn, she pulled some of her other clothes from the wash basket and shoved them into the washing machine along with the sweater, putting in considerably more fabric softener than usual.

With that done she climbed upstairs, leaning heavily on the banister as she did, before entering her room and collapsing onto the bed. She didn't stir until the sound of her alarm the next morning woke her.