Actually, the male shinobi should have already been giving minor gifts to the female shinobi during the course of the previous chapters.
However, this chapter refers to specific gifts. Personal gifts.
But before getting into that, one should remember a small list of not-so-personal gifts.
-Flowers
-Confectionary (chocolates/candy/etc) 1.
-Favourite foods 1.
-Small time simple weapons (Kunai, Senbon needles, etc)
(1. for everything sacred between ninja, find out what they're allergic to and make sure to avoid it!)
Then the personal gifts.
-Expensive jewelry (hair-pieces, etc)
-Larger weapons (including short/long swords, large shurikens, etc)
-Ornate weapons (embroidered, etc)
Once up to the personal gifts, the male shinobi should always engrave something in these to remind their recipients of them.
This can either be the male shinobi's name, but something better is usually something to associate with the name. Maybe the clan symbol or perhaps an image reflecting the ninja's name.
Simple poetry is also a big plus at this stage...
Naruto stopped there, as the rest of the chapter detailed the types of poetry to use, existing poetry to use as a base and even visual instructions how to wrap certain kinds of gifts.
It would be some minutes later when he somehow tied up his own hands, the blond ninja would convince himself to skip practising wrapping presents and move on to poetry.
It wouldn't be long before he'd finish it and run over to present it to Sakura...
DISCLAIMER: In Soviet Russia, you own Naruto. Over here, Naruto owns you.
Single Ninja on the Town
By Arkhe
Chapter 4 : Gifts
Subtitle - On The Winds of Temari
Naruto ambled along, kicking away various pebbles that dare crossed his path. Had Akamaru got in his way, he would have even given the canine a good punting. If he was thinking little more clearly, he would have used a shadow replication to kick his own head in.
Yes, he was that disgruntled.
"Damn it!" Naruto snapped at how poorly his meeting went.
It started off well enough when he found Sakura. He professed that he'd made a poem for her and despite her initial soft-spoken refusal, she eventually caved in and decided on 'humoring him by listening to it' quote unquote. It should be noted that she was smiling the entire duration of their exchange.
And so, he stood straight, cleared his throat a few times and went on to recite his Haiku; a poem that had 3 syllables in the first line, then 5 in the second and then 3 again in the last.
Sakura
is a cute girl, from
Naruto
Needless to say, at its finish they both stood there looking blankly at each other for quite a while.
The situation suffered an epileptic fit of ambiguous Win and Failings. (But mostly failings.)
Watching Naruto's expectant face, Sakura realised that she's supposed to say something and she begins with a grateful smile. It is clear that it's certainly forced AND fractured. She blushed from both flattery AND embarrassment -for the both of them! The pink-haired genin also felt the urge to laugh, cry AND get angry -all at the same time!
She barely managed to suppress all (negative) impulses and instead, settles on giving him a pat on the back and a pity 'thank you' to save face. At that point, it was more for her benefit than his.
So here Naruto was, now wandering through the shopping district.
He'd met adversity and its name was poetry!
Thus he turned to something that he was doing quite well in so far...
Presents!
...Just not actually wrapping it himself, of course.
---
After raising false hopes on several different occasions in looking for that perfect gift for his Sakura-chan, Naruto would finally stumble across something.
It's only too bad that it would count as a misadventure, as it's very much the wrong thing to give her.
"Hey, I can't help but see your crest-fallen look, kid!" An elder man commented at Naruto's slumped posture.
"Who? Me?" The blond genin glanced up alarmed, looking side to side to make sure it was he that was being addressed.
The geriatric nodded and his cane spun in a flourish that indicated a possible showboat or ninja background... Possibly the worst of both.
"I bet it's woman troubles, isn't it?"
"How did you know?" Naruto gasped.
An alligator grinned.
"Boy, do I have a deal for you!"
---
"Are you sure about this?"
"Sure! Girls just love this shit!"
---
Before long, Naruto found himself fleeced a large amount of money and earning a fancily gift-wrapped, velvet choker for his efforts.
"The heck...?" He turned the box over and over in his hand, still trying to come to grips with how he purchased it.
Actually, he didn't know anyone who wears this sort of neck-bind. Well, there was the exception of Haku, but he was a dude.
"I think Sakura's going to be upset with me for this..." Naruto winced, and decided on not giving the odd gift to her.
For once, he made the right decision consciously.
---
At the same moment just further down the street, a certain duo were also taking a stroll to be out of hearing range from their sister.
"We've got to ditch her! Today's the last day for the book-signing!" Kankuro frantically wailed. "We'll never hear the end of it from her if she finds out!"
Gaara of the Desert looked over to his brother with a neutral stare.
"Don't give me that!" Kankuro exclaimed, his face heating up at his brother's silence. "You read Come Come Violence like your life depended on it!" The older boy accused.
Gaara looked away. The older boy started fretting again, but paused when his brother spoke aloud.
"We will need a diversion." The younger sand-sibling stated concisely.
"Yeah, but how wil--" The puppet-using ninja started, before Gaara's open palm halted him in mid-question.
The puppet-user followed the sand-user's gaze until it rested on a certain blond Uzumaki -who just happened to be strolling towards them down the opposite side of the block.
"Him."
Kankuro tugged at the collar of his costume. "Err... Don't get hasty now Gaara..." He nervously said, whilst thinking back to his younger brother's battle with that specific ninja.
"He is our distraction." Gaara gave Kankuro a pointed look, as if daring his older brother to disagree.
Wisely, Kankuro did not.
---
Depending on your point of view, Naruto's day was about to either get better or worse.
"Hey! It's Naruto!" A voice excitedly greeted the leaf ninja.
The aforementioned male found himself on the receiving end of a pat on the back from a sand ninja in a black full-body cat-suit.
"Wha?" He mumbled being caught off guard, immediately wondering where this show of friendliness suddenly came from.
"Naruto."
Looking over to his other side, the blond ninja found himself caught in Gaara's glare -effectively shutting up the poor leaf ninja.
"Look, we're in a bit of a bind here..." Kankuro pulled Naruto closer with his arm around Naruto's shoulder in a friendly act of camaraderie. "See... Me and the bro want to go... drinking and stuff." Kankuro pointed a thumb over his shoulder at Gaara, then imitated downing a bottle with his other hand.
The younger boy nodded slowly when Naruto briefly looked his way.
"And we don't want the sister hanging around, you know?" Naruto gave the make-up-wearing ninja a confused look. A confused, but certainly a 'not stupid' look.
"A guy thing." Gaara inserted when he noted that Naruto was not falling for their plan.
A light bulb went off in Naruto's head. Not that it actually shone on anything, mind you. He'd just heard 'guy thing' and being a guy, he felt the need to co-operate, despite the obvious discrepancies -like the brothers not being of legal drinking age for one.
"Yeah!" The puppet-using genin snidely took to it Gaara's suggestion. "Just.. I dunno, take our sister around the places you'd go. Show her around, let her buy that crap whatever girls buy..."
Before Naruto could protest them dumping their sister off on him, Kankuro desperately shoved several bills into the leaf genin's hand. With Naruto's penchant luck with money, he earned back all he spent on the collar and much more.
"Basically, we just want you to distract her for a bit and keep her away from a certain place." Kankuro summed up the proposition.
"Can I get ramen?" Naruto asked permission for his first love, slowly becoming infatuated with the idea of being paid to do some of the things he wanted to do.
"Hell yeah, go nuts."
And that sealed the deal.
With the agreement made, Gaara and Kankuro bid their farewell as they went off to their own devices, leaving Naruto to stand at the entrance of a store waiting for a specific female citizen of the Hidden Sand to exit.
---
"Hey Kankuro, Gaara! You should see this..." Temari started whilst exiting the store carrying a shopping bag. However, instead of finding her brothers, Temari had come across a certain genin of the Hidden Leaf.
"Ummm... Hi?" She greeted nervously, frantically searching for a sign of one of her siblings.
Make no mistake, Temari was very wary of the blond standing in front of her. Yes, this was the very same kid who'd beaten the absolute shit out of her DEMON-POSSESSED brother. And not only did he beat Gaara, but he'd somehow also beat something INTO Gaara's head. Her brother was now alot more humble, patient and less prone to solve problems with his tried and tested method -squishing things with sand.
So, anyone who could turn her brother into a martyr certainly was someone to be reckoned with.
"Heya!" Came Naruto's enthusiastic salutation.
"Umm... Do you know where my brothers are?" Temari's eyes flicked around, this time looking for traces of a scuffle; mainly in the terms of torn down buildings and debris... Or maybe blood smears.
"They're around somewhere." He shrugged.
That grin was really starting to creep her out.
"Hey, want to get ramen with me?" He cut in before she could excuse herself.
"Huh?" Then she did a double-take. "You want to take me out!-?"
"Yeah!" The implication had gone right over his head. "You know, ramen? Well, let's get some!"
Temari had to quickly conclude that her brothers were either being held ransom or that they were already dead. Either way, it looked to be an offer she couldn't refuse.
"Okay." She accepted out of fear.
---
At first, Temari thought that Naruto was a clever little bastard to act so clueless, stupid and being downright loud, as was his attitude was consistent from the first time she met him and until now.
However, soon after arriving at Ichiraku, Naruto was in the middle of ranting about his exploits to be, the idiocy of perverts and his goal for Hokage whilst tearing through his 8th bowl, that had something dawn on the fan-using kunoichi.
The blond boy IS a clueless, stupid and a downright loud, little bastard!
And how he beat Gaara, looking to be as harmless as she realised he was, she would probably never know! It truly was an impossible paradox that the moron could defeat her genius, possessed brother.
However, despite those failings, he was also determined, enthusiastic and ambitious. Very ambitious. Aiming for the village's highest title ambitious. It was at least admirable.
So, when he offered to take her out shopping, she accepted. Of course, it's not like she could turn it down when he had offered to pay for her things! And the fact that she'd finally figured her brothers bailing out on her helped in making her acceptance that much sweeter.
---
It would be thanks to the first store that would set the mood for the afternoon. Having realised that she had a male -though a fashion impaired one- but a male nonetheless accompany her, Temari eventually got around to asking Naruto for his opinion on her choices.
Considering how Jiraiya's manual had instructed never to argue with a woman, Naruto would always agree amiably. However, it should be pointed out that had the book not said so, the blond Leaf ninja would have done so anyway -what with Temari's very agreeable curves as it is.
To her pleasant surprise, the eldest sand-sibling would find that despite her younger consort's boisterous and 'anti-pervert' views, he was also easily cowed by, ironically enough, her 'innocently' posing for him with the many and varied choices of clothing available. And boy, Naruto could attest to the clothing being many and varied.
This in turn had led the sand ninja to be quite tickled pink by Naruto's dramatic mood changes, thus the blond kunoichi would continue to purposely tease him by picking even racier clothing. This became quite the hobby as with every store they visited, had them walk out with even more purchases up to the point where Naruto employed shadow replications and even then, Temari used those as a judging guide to her purchases.
The ratio of reactions:purchase Temari interpreted and termed were as follows:
-A handful of raised eyebrows and open mouths would have the clothing to be 'under consideration'.
-Open gaping and/or dropping bags would constitute as 'pretty endearing'.
-A shadow clone (or a handful) dispelling themselves out of sheer disbelief was 'plausibly special'.
and finally; (though she'd yet to do so)
-A royal flush; otherwise a clean out of all the doppelgangers and felling the original was 'definitely a keeper'.
---
It was now after several hours since their lunch at the Ichiraku, the female sand-sibling had just entered another store on her spree and Naruto was left with handling all of her purchases and was forcibly waiting outside -it just wasn't the type of clothing store for young men to be in, especially not younger, younger men.
Taking this time-out for a breather, the original Naruto tiredly leaned against a nearby wall, allowing himself to ease up on his strained arms. The chakra consorts took this time to whine to each other and make small talk, getting odd looks from passer-bys.
"I think I'm in over my head..." Naruto complained before he turned a little angry and threw an evil eye in the general direction of the two males who'd put him up to this. "Those sand-guys owe me big time!"
Then he noticed it out of the corner of his eye. Though several other articles of cloth covered the most of it, there was something about it that called to him.
Leaving his share of bags with the entourage, he entered the shop and had a closer look at what caught his eye. And it caused Naruto to smile.
He found Sakura's perfect gift.
---
The duo finally arrived at Temari's current place of stay. Her brothers hadn't arrived before them, so then she'd started putting away her many purchases, whilst leaving Naruto to seat himself on the steps outside. Eventually, he began to ponder over his original gift to Sakura.
"What to do, what to do?" He mumbled as he pulled the present from out of his holster and proceeded to turn the box containing the choker over and over. "I mean, there's no way I'm giving it to Sakura-chan, no way I can return it and no way I'm wearing it!"
It's easily justifiable why he wouldn't give it to Sakura or why he wouldn't wear it himself, but returning the collar was definitely out of the question. He'd managed to spot the stall during Temari's spree and as soon as he tried to approach it, the older man cackled and in a flurry of leaves disappeared; stall and all! Crazy, stingy old man!
Unfortunately Naruto had been so caught up in his musings that he'd failed to see Temari approach, who luckily did not catch the tail-end of his thinking out loud.
"What's that you got there?" The girl of the sand asked, having finished her activity of putting away her purchases.
"Erk..." The whiskered boy panicked at being caught off guard. He scrambled for an answer and was quick to turn to a certain book for guidance -or to be specific, the same chapter he was currently up to.
"I g-got this earlier t-today and it err... reminded umm... me of... you...?" He finished uncertainly, holding out the gift-wrapped present against his better judgement.
Blinking, Temari accepted and started unwrapping her gift with mild excitement. Naruto's clones that he'd forgotten to negate, realised the situation before he did and they all inwardly groaned with a clone or two slapping their heads in resignation.
Seeing the clones' reactions, Naruto realised he'd just handed a gift he'd never give to Sakura-chan to another girl. He mentally kicked himself over and over again, figuring he was going to be in for it.
When Temari took out the choker, she gave pause and blinked several times over, simply staring at the cloth.
When her gaze switched to Naruto, the boy closed his eyes, tucked his hands behind his head helplessly, grinned and then followed it with a shrug. He earnestly hoped that his sweating profusely wasn't too obvious.
Her gaze swept over to the other Naruto clones (who tried to look inconspicuous), before settling back on the one that had handed it to her.
However, Temari had no intention of hitting him.
"I think it's kind of kinky." An odd smile had spread over her face, as she proceeded to slip the collar on.
Naruto felt his jaw drop and, for some reason, all the clones instantly dispelled themselves (causing Temari's grin to wryly widen though she pretended she didn't notice).
"There's still a bit of light outside." Temari stated once the cloth was securely hugging her neck, effectively bringing Naruto out of his gaping. "Any place interesting around here to finish up the day with?"
"It's nearly sunset..." The younger man noted when he glanced over to the direction of the sunlight streaming in from one of the windows.
Suddenly, he grabbed Temari's hand.
"I want to show you my favourite place!"
The sand ninja's brows furrowed, but she nodded her consent and they sped away.
---
Temari would soon find herself, looking over the entire city on top of the Hokage monument. She'd taken a few steps away from her tour guide and allowed her breath to be taken away by the sheer undeniably astounding view of the whole Hidden Leaf that bathed in summer shades of the setting star.
"Someday, my face will be up here! I guarantee it!" Naruto exclaimed watching the other blond with an apt interest and waiting for her to reply.
Temari turned around and chuckled. "You? Hokage? No offense Uzumaki, but you aren't exactly the sharpest kunai in the pack."
Naruto ignored the quip and calmly walked past her.
"I may not be smart or be really strong or I'm popular for the wrong reasons..." The blond boy admitted.
He'd reached the tip of a strand of the Fourth's stone hair and she trailed after him at a more sedate pace.
"But I know I'll keep learning, keep growing and everyone will have to eventually like me if I keep saving them!" He clenched a fist and held it at arms length.
Then he turned to Temari and opened his hand, holding it out for her take.
"And, no matter what, I'll protect this place 'til the day I die." He vowed.
"Just watch me." In that split second, the sun had set a pinnacle right behind Naruto's head, framing his wild blond hair in a golden halo.
And Temari held her breath.
Where Shikamaru's lazy demeanour contrast with his hidden brilliance, that created a mystery and set Temari's heart on a curious flutter...
...Naruto's inspiration had ignited a spark of something indefinable.
It may have been only a spark now, Temari knew, but if properly cultivated, the person who would tame this sunset storm would never have to glance elsewhere for more devotion, pride and potential that stood before her.
So caught up in her realisation, that Naruto was left hanging and he'd tilted his head at her in confusion. It caused her to finally break out of her trance and she more than willingly took his waiting hand.
But she'd cheekishly pulled him down hard instead.
He'd flailed wildly, falling towards her, but she scooped him up easily and held him in a tight embrace. Hearing her melodious laugh echo in his ear, Naruto allowed himself to relax and take in the moment.
When she'd finally began loosening her grip, her mouth moved in on his ear and whispered.
"If anyone can do it, it'd be you, Uzumaki."
And just as she was pulling away, Naruto's back stiffened lightly. She'd impishly gave his cheek a quick peck.
With her actions giving justified cause to her rather noticably growing blush, Temari unfolded her large fan, jumped on and sailed off the monument, heading towards the direction of where she and her brothers were taking up temporary residence in a deliberate effort to put as much distance between herself and the leaf ninja.
By the time Naruto was ready to say something, Temari was already a fair distance away (-lucky for her, considering Naruto's penchant luck to ruin moments.)
He could only look on silently, as she sailed further away and he rubbed at his cheek, confused.
However when she gave a wave over her back, he returned it.
Course, he also stumbled over when it all sunk in.
"The heck was that!-?"
---
"I-Ino-san? What're you doing at N-Naruto-kun's house?"
"Eep! Hinata!" The platinum blonde-haired halted, flailing for an excuse to give her violet-haired companion.
Luckily, she was saved from answering when someone else appeared.
"Hey... You guys beat me here." Tenten walked up to the duo. "Is Naruto in?"
"No. He hasn't been home all of day!" The blond female folded her arms irritated.
This caused Hinata's eyes to widen and she was about to ask how the Yamanaka knew that when said female gave an odd look to the weapon-using kunoichi and brought up a more interesting question.
"What brings you here anyway?"
"Ah!" The hair-bunned girl recoiled slightly at Ino's accusing tone and it caused her to flounder for an excuse. She wasn't about to tell them that she trailed Hinata from the distance.
"Cause err... I wanted to... train... with him." Her answer didn't sound very convincing.
Her audience of the Yamanaka and Hyuuga heiresses looked Tenten over once and gave the older girl a skeptical look.
"Riiiiight..." Ino drew out the 'i'.
Hinata hadn't said anything, but she did look displeased. Flushing at having her lie caught, Tenten blushed but was quick to turn the tables over.
"So what are the both of you doing here, then?"
This immediately cowed both Ino and Hinata. They both had the grace to blush.
"Wanted to train with him too." The blond girl replied. Hinata nodded in agreement.
They all stood in awkward silence for a bit, each in a deep shade of crimson, until Tenten decided on moving things along as all their motives were brought to light. "So both of you haven't seen him too, huh?"
Ino and Hinata shook their heads.
"I've been to all his haunts." Ino admitted. "I bet Hinata did too."
If the timid girl could blush harder, she would.
"Where could he be then?" Tenten muttered as she tilted her head back.
She caught movement in the corner of her eyes and focusing on it, she discerned that it was Temari -the one genin that denied her chance at becoming chuunin. She fumed at how effortlessly the sand girl flew by overhead on her fan. If she met that girl face to face, it would be too soon!
"Oh! It's Temari-san!"
The sand-female's motion didn't go by unnoticed by Tenten's companions either.
"She probably have saw Naruto from up there!" Ino exclaimed, before taking off after the gliding ninja with Hinata in tow.
Tenten inwardly screamed, but she followed the other girls' lead.
There were bigger things at stake here!
---
Temari had just touched down at the door of her current residence and was in the middle of retrieving her keys from her pockets when three panting familiar-looking females interrupted her.
"Have you seen Naruto?" The blond one cut to the chase.
Temari lifted an eyebrow at that and scanned her crowd. There was a blond girl, a white-eyed girl (who gave a polite but shy greeting) and a hair-bunned... Ah! They were all the girls who got to the Chuunin exam preliminaries! The last one lost to her!
She grinned favourably at the weapons user, who scowled, folded her arms and looked away.
When the platinum blond started tapping her foot impatiently, Temari got back to the issue at hand.
"Uzumaki Naruto?" Temari asked for clarification to which her audience nodded in reply. "Yeah, he's at the Hokage monument. I was just there and-"
"C'mon!" Someone interrupted her and they all made a hasty beeline for the Leaf's monument.
And just like that, Temari was alone again, unable to continue her explanation for why she AND Naruto were there together.
Giving it a shrug, she entered her abode and greeted her brothers a good evening. Though the evening would not get better for said brothers.
---
Meanwhile, back on the Hokage monument...
"What am I still doing here!-?" Naruto finally found his thoughts.
"I got to find Sakura-chan to give her the present I got for her!" And with that, he dashed off leaving the monument and the deep silence that it was normally privy to.
However, silence didn't mean empty. There was still one person in the vicinity. The Toad Hermit (who had seen the whole torrid affair from a distance) was furiously writing into a notebook and tears were streaming down his face, much alike what you would see on a waterfall.
"I can't believe he got so far on the first date with the exotic sand girl!"
Then he'd paused in realisation.
"And he didn't even read the dating chapter!"
Despite his great physical condition, the old frog sage started to hyperventilate.
"THAT MAGNIFICENT BASTARD!"
He growled several more times and using more expletives, before finally calming down enough to reach for a leather-bound manual and writing at a less speedy pace.
He wasn't too surprised when a group of three females burst into the scene. However, he had to keep switching between note book and manual from the new ideas pouring fourth thanks to this particular running gag.
Single Ninja on the Town - Amendments.
Amended Chapter Four ... Gifts
Also, personal gifts do not have to revolve around the ninja profession. A gift bearing a resemblance or of great sentimentality representing both male and female shinobi would probably be the best gift to give (barring a certain binding ring; which this guide does NOT cover THAT topic).
These gifts should be thought around the premise of a significant event, like that of during the first meeting or periods of fond or humorous memories.
For example, if the first meeting took place nearby a field of flowers, it's probably a good idea to collect the very same flowers for a very special bouquet.
Likewise example, if the kunoichi has a fond memory of an event coinciding with the male shinobi, then perhaps a simple trinket with an engraving (whether one or the other should be relevant of said event) would be advisable.
Remember; the irony makes it all the more endearing.
(For that last one, it's probably for the best that that sort of thing should only be done; if there is absolutely no chance of a separation, lest the male ninja has just signed over a prop for retelling a bitter -and likely more exaggerated and more embarrassing- story)
---
End of Chapter 4 ... Gifts.
Next up!
Chapter 5 ... Dating.
Subtitle: Kunoichi's Just Wanna Have Fun!
Author's Notes:
Yes, yes. Sorry folks, but not only have I been on Writer's Block, but I got less than 2 weeks to enroll in University. Wish me luck! I'll need it. -.-;
You know, I originally had Naruto buy an ivory comb, but I kinda realised that Sakura would probably like that sort of thing. Thus, the odd collar.
You might've noticed that I didn't say anything about the perfect gift or the book signing or how the girls didn't find him when he was on the town... All in good time. There's only 2 chapters left!
Edit: Special thanks to Kuzosama for correcting me on the whole collar/choker thing! I'd kept forgetting the word to change every time I edited this chapter and now, it's out! Thanks again for pointing it out!
Uploaded: December 3rd, 2005.
First Revision: February 7th, 2006.
Second Revision: August 9th, 2006.
Third Revision: January 12th, 2007.