Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto.

The third-to-last in this series...I enjoyed this one. Not writing yaoi is so very nice. Enjoy! :)


Ibiki couldn't help watching her when she walked by the coffee shop he frequented. She was beautiful, the image of perfection in his eyes. Well, not perfection, because many of her ninja skills were lacking, but he certainly wasn't perfect. He watched her because she was better than he in every way, better morally, better inside, better in the ways that mattered. She was tiny and fragile and timid, and he was huge and intimidating and scarred. But inside...inside was different. He knew things were reversed inside. Inside, she was the brave one and he was the coward. He was the coward because he'd never spoken to her, not really, nothing outside of the occasional hello and work-related business. He was the village's image to avoid, and she was the most popular girl he ever saw.

She was beautiful. He was not.

Valentine's Day. A day he ignored simply because it was of no importance to him. Who would give him a valentine? He was sitting at his coffee shop, enjoying himself to the extent that he could, when she walked up, stuttering and wobbling and doing everything a ninja shouldn't.

"For you." she said.

He didn't understand. Why him? Why would she notice him?

"Because...I like you."

Why would she like him? He was old, scarred, ruined...

"I-I watch you sometimes. You're so strong, but you're still so kind, a-and I like you. P-please take my chocolate."

He took it, the package small in his large clumsy hands. If he had been a more beautiful person he would have cried.


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