"Definitely get her the flowers with her dad. You've already won her heart, and getting the flowers will help you keep it. Now, you need to get her family in your pocket. Once her dad's all about you, you just need to keep her happy to keep him happy, and you're set. He already knows you love his daughter. He already knows you love his career. Show him you love his art."

Senka's words echo in Daisuke's head as he steps into the Yamanaka flower shop. He counts on Ino not being there at this time since Team ten is taking extra time to prepare for their newest mission.

Looking up from pruning a vase of white roses, Inoichi brushes some of his hair from his face before offering the young chunin a smile. "Well, hey there. Here for something for your mother? Or maybe you have a special someone in mind?"

"Yeah… actually…" He smiles alittle, blushing slightly and rubbing the back of his head. "I'm not gonna see her for a while, so I wanted to give her something nice before she left."

Seeming thoughtful as he watches the young man, the blonde then squints his eyes with a grin. "OooOOoohh…I see… One of the young woman on the Akatsuki finding team, eh..?"

"Yes…" He nods slowly while almost biting back a tell-tale grin. "I even… took the time to plan the exact bouquet."

"Ah… A young woman that appreciates Ikebana perhaps..?" He asks, raising a brow with a smile.

Yeah, that didn't take long. "Yes." Suddenly unable to keep from giving off a soft blush, he chews the inside of his lip.

"Well… I wonder who that could be.." He grins still, standing straight before crossing his arms. "Well, tell me what you're thinking of, and I'll help where I can."

Nodding slowly, Daisuke then reaches into his pocket to produce a folded sheet of paper. Opening it, he then explains. "I have a good idea of what I want, but I thought it'd be better to trust your judgment as the artist when it came to arranging them."

Taking the paper and looking it over, the blue-grey eyed man raises a brow before grinning. "This isn't bad. Most boys just come in here asking for alstoremeria and baby's breath, without a clue of what they mean. I'm impressed."

"Thanks." Daisuke offers with a more relieved grin.

Nodding slightly, the older man offers simply. "You've got a good idea going there. Do you want to gather the flowers yourself, or would you prefer me to?"

Nodding a bit, the younger shinobi then assures. "Yes, I can do that part." Before turning to look around the storefront behind him for a moment and then walk through the selections thoughtfully. Let's see. The gardenias and white roses looked a lot alike, except that whereas the roses grew clockwise, the gardenia grew counterclockwise. I'm glad I took down the prices the other day so I knew I'd be able to afford this, too. Picking out white Gardenia, roses, yellow jonquil, blue violets and purple irises, he brings them up to the blonde who looks them over, then shakes his head a bit.

"I need more roses and gardenia. Put these jonquil and violets back." He says, offering out all but one violet and three jonquil.

Blinking, Daisuke then nods. Okay, it's gonna be alittle more than I thought. Well… "While I'm at it, is there anything else I should put into this?"

Seeming thoughtful, the grey-blue eyes man offers quizzically. "..Do you love her?" As he pulls out a medium sized piece of Ikebana foam from the underside of his front counter, pulling up a large, ornate glass dish to set the dripping green foam upon.

Stopping suddenly as a nervous blush crosses his cheeks before he swallows and then nods slowly. "Y-yes, I'm sure of it…"

Nodding once a bit seriously, the older man offers. "Then hand me one of those lily buds. The pink ones."

Picking up one of the offered blooms as well, he collects the rest and walks back to the counter quietly, prompting Inoichi to begin his work.

It takes the man a little under half an hour before he sighs and nods, offering the arrangement for Daisuke to look over. One blue violet in the middle, two irises surrounding it, a line of three jonquil in front of them encompassed by ten gardenia; filled out with five white roses. The jonquil sit higher than all the rest, whereas the irises and roses sit lowly, and the other two types of flowers sit even. The single pink lily bud sits at the front at the lowest seat of all. "Well…what do you think?"

"It's amazing!" He nods with a smile. "A lot better than I pictured it at first."

"It means 'I will be forever faithful if you can return my love. I'm hopeful we can unify my desire with your affection, and that this is the start of a long lasting love.'" The Yamanaka clarifies with a satisfied smile before he begins totaling the bill on the register. He then seems thoughtful, looking at the yen amount of four-thousand one-hundred sixty-eight yen before smiling and turning away from it. "Three thousand yen ought to do it."

Raising his brows, Daisuke blinks. That's a pretty big discount! Nodding again he reaches into his pockets again and pulls out his wallet, as well as four cards. First counting up the yen, he offers it to the older man and once he totals it away, Daisuke offers him the cards with a small grin. "I may not own my own business, but I still do more than ninja missions. I'd like it if next time, you and your friends could give me your patronage."

"Hmm? Ah! The old Ino-Shika-Cho does love Ichiraku ramen! But why is there-" He starts to ask, frowning gently over the four tickets before his brows raise and he laughs heartily. "Nevermind! Ha! You've got Chozu pegged!"

Chuckling softly Daisuke just grins before bowing slightly. "Thank you again, Yamanaka-san."

"Hey… What's your name, kid?" Inoichi asks with a grin, offering out a hand to him with a friendly smile.

"Shimizu Daisuke." the younger shinobi responds easily, accepting the blonde's handshake.

"Daisuke-kun, I certainly hope your girlfriend likes her flowers." He nods with a knowing grin. "I'm sure she'll appreciate the time and effort it took for you to come down here and pick them out so painstakingly."

"I was hopeful…" He agrees nodding understandingly.

Walking through town in search of Ino, Daisuke carries, not his flower gift, but a simple card before coming upon her nearby the Academy, giggling to a blue-haired female friend. Stopping for a moment, his hazel eyes squint slyly. This is gonna be nice. Then walking up to the two he waves a little. "Hi, Ino."

Turning before she smiles and her face lights up, Ino waves cutely as the girl at her side just giggles again. "Hi, Dai-kun…"

"…he really is kinda cute…he's that guy from the new group that came, right…?" The girl asks softly, and when the blonde nods, the girl grins. "…how mysterious.."

Ha, ha… Mysterious. If they knew about my eyes… Blushing slightly with a boyish grin he rubs the back of his head before offering to the other female. "I'm Shimizu Daisuke. You?"

"..Neko Akane." She answers, offering him a friendly smile before an odd looking cat moves up to the brunette, sniffing his feet oddly in confusion.

Blinking and glancing down, Daisuke's brows then shoot up. "Wh- Iriomote?"

"O-Of course not..!" Akane answers quickly as the cat continues to sniff at his feet, circling around his legs as it does so; it's clawed paws grazing the dusty ground. "She's…just a tiger tabby!"

Hmm… But it's claws are out… Crouching a bit, Daisuke tilts his head and looks at the feline. "Wow, that's interesting…"

After a moment, the cat turns to the cobalt blue eyed girl, mewling a few times almost lazily, making her blink. "What? Are you sure?" To which, the feline seems to all but shrug and walk off towards the wooded area nearby, causing Akane to raise her brows at Daisuke, raising a brow. "Hmm…"

Looking back and forth between the two, Daisuke then turns thoughtful. So, she has a bloodline limit like Kiba's, only with felines instead… Standing straight and then looking to the darker haired Kunoichi he asks. "I didn't upset her did I?"

"Her? Heh. Oh, no. She just…found out something interesting." She answers mysteriously before leaning against a nearby wall with a grin. "Don't mind me."

Still pondering a moment, Daisuke scratches his head as he raises his brows. Maybe it was the flowers… Then turning to Ino he smiles again while starting to blush slightly. "…Well, I …got you something today…"

"Really?" She asks, perking up a bit more before grinning and stating in a feigned modest tone. "You really shouldn't have.." Before she giggles in a near malicious way. "What is it?"

Grinning slyly, he produces the card, offering it to her, his eyes squinting in wait. Once she opens that card… "I really hope you like it…"

Looking to the card in her hand, Ino grins a bit more uncomfortably, her eyes moving to the girl at her side. Oh no… Akane'll tell everyone I have a cheap boyfriend or some- But then, as she opens the card, her eyes grow wide and she gacks a moment as she catches the large plate-vase in her hands, a puff of smoke dissipating to reveal the ikebana arrangement that he and her father made. As Akane screams giddily, the blonde suddenly blushes deeply, only seeming to grow darker and redder as she begins picking apart the language of love the flowers convey.

"KAWAII! SUGOI! That was the coolest thing any guy's ever done! Way cooler than Sasuke-kun!"

Wow, really? Heheh… It was just a transformation jutsu… it cancelled when the card was opened just like I thought. Blushing and grinning he just chuckles nervously. "Uh… thanks… Akane-chan." Then looking back to Ino he still smiles before urging. "So do you… like it…?"

"…I…umm….don't know…what to say…" She murmurs, swallowing harshly as she stares at the flowers, shifting to get a better look at the arrangement.

Chewing his lip softly, Daisuke licks them both discreetly. I didn't overdo it did I? Man, I hope not… "Well, I really wanted to put effort into it; instead of just … getting some random flowers." Especially since I knew she'd read it and not just look at the colors I'd look pretty stupid if I gave her some awesome looking flowers that meant 'You're ugly, and I'm not really serious about this.'

Blushing still, she nods slowly, seeming dumb struck as she turns up to him and utters. "…Are you, umm…sure this…is what you meant to say, I mean…?"

"…Yeah…" He murmurs back after a slight pause, then clearing his throat. "I… looked up all the flowers myself to make sure…"

Her blush stretching down her neck into her chest and further beyond, Ino swallows again, offering a slight smile. "…w-wow…" …that…is probably one of the most…romantic things ever…

Chuckling softly, he just smiles coyly and breathes deeply. "And since you're leaving soon, I wanted to make sure I did something… really nice since it might be a while before I get to see you again…"

"…did…you do this yourself.." She asks, shaking her head a bit. "Or, umm…did my dad help you with this?" She asks, her deep blush starting to return.

"Oh… yeah, he did. He's… a nice guy." Daisuke compliments with a small nod.

"..so…you guys…talked and got along and stuff…and he helped you…put this together..?" She reiterates shyly, and when he nods, she blushes deeply. "…You know, th-this, um… This kind of ikebana is the kind…that men get…for women they're…d-desperately in love with…thinking about…marrying…soon."

Uh… wow, what do I say to that? Raising his brows then he grins shyly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, that'd be a little fast at this point…" He offers in a jovially obvious tone.

"..y-yeah…" She agrees before setting the flowers aside on the ground and biting her bottom lip, moving to wrap her arms around his neck with a grin. "…But maybe it won't be…one day…"

Still smiling as his hands move to rest against the shorter blonde's waist, he nods back gently. "Right…" If we're really going to be serious, though… I don't feel right with her not knowing about my lineage. It does seem like some people avoid Sasuke since he's been back. I don't know how he had it before hand, but… I'll tell her when we get a moment alone; truly alone.