Title: A Shopping Trip
Rating: PG
Characters: RAFO
Word Count: 734
Summary: Kimono are very pretty.
Author's Notes: A quick Japanese cultural note – a furisode is a long-sleeved kimono traditionally worn by young, unmarried women.

The store was small, confining. It consisted of one aisle, about four meters in length. On both sides of the aisle, tall stacks of cloth bundles stood arrayed, showing just enough of each to make the patterns discernable.

He traced his fingers over one of the stacks. No. No. No. He shook his head in irritation. Glancing around, he pinned the shop owner with his gaze. "Hey!"

The owner was an older woman, perhaps in her fifties. She had long black hair, streaked with gray, tied off in a tail. She eyed him askance, but hurried to him down the aisle, from the back room where she had been waiting. "Yes, sir. Can I help you find something?"

He turned his attention back to the stacks in front of him, not bothering to look at the owner. "I'm looking for one in purple and pink. With a shibori pattern, if you have it." He returned to scanning the piles and waited for a response.

The owner thought a moment. He was rude, but she liked her merchandise very much, and the question presented a quick puzzle for her memory. After a few seconds, she slapped her fist into her palm and smiled. "Yes, sir. I think we have just the thing. I take it this is for your gir-"

"Just show it to me," he replied, perfunctorily but without any real hint of anger. He swept his eyes to the owner again and stared so directly that she began to feel uncomfortable.

"Yes, yes, of course. It's over here." The owner led him down the aisle about a meter and a half, and turned toward the stacks opposite the ones he had been searching. She reached in, slipping a hand between two of the bundles and tugging something out. A flash of pink, purple, and crimson unfurled downward, resolving itself into a beautiful furisode. The pink and purple crossfaded into one another, running down the length of the kimono. Tiny shibori knobs across the back and shoulders, the crimson he had seen a moment before, resolved into a stylized rendition of birds in flight.

A small smile played across his lips. "That will do. Now, do you have an obi? Something in... red, I think."

The woman paused a moment again. Choosing an obi was no easy task, finding the right combination of colors and patterns to compliment the kimono it would be worn with. After a few seconds, she nodded and reached into a neighboring stack of cloth. The belt she drew out was thick, with outlines in thread-of-silver that seemed to depict many-petaled flowers. Shades of red, from nearly pink to deep burgundy, filled those silver lines to create a beautiful bouquet.

He nodded decisively, but the owner had a strangely apprehensive look on her face. "These are both very high-quality pieces," she warned. "They aren't cheap."

That same small smile rose to his face, unbidden. "Price is not a problem."

Naruto sulked down the hallway of the apartment building. The old lady, Tsunade, had found him that morning and told him to get ready for a new mission. Naruto was supposed to round up his teammates and bring them to the Hokage's office at noon sharp. He was an errand boy! Again! Why had he ever helped that Pervert Hermit find her in the first place?

Naruto came to Sasuke's door and pushed it open, already yelling out his message. "Yo, Sasuke! The old lady's got a mission for us. Hurry up, we're supposed to meet her at..."

As the door swung open, Naruto got a look inside. He stopped, his jaw hanging open, for about five seconds, as words fought, and failed, to make it past his lips.

Finally, he just burst out into a high, braying laugh. "AH! HAH! Crap, Sasuke, what the frick are you WEARING?" Naruto felt like his eyes might come out of his head. "Oh, DAAAANG. Sakura HAS to hear about this!" Spinning on his heel, Naruto dashed back down the hallway as fast as his legs would move. This was classic!

Still in his room, Sasuke was caught in a tangle of fabric, trying to tie the damned obi and failing, for the twelfth time that day. He was trapped, impotent. An animal scream clawed out of his throat and echoed down the hall after the retreating form. "NARUTO! I'm going to KILL YOU!"