In the Flower Shop [Fox]

Flowers. Shunsuu personally never liked them that much but the old man had asked him to buy some anyway. Apparently it was good for improving the relations between the Nara Clan and the Yamanaka, although all it really seemed like was that by buying flowers, he was filling the pockets and coffers of the Yamanaka. He walked into the shop slowly and with discretion, casually looking round, there were roses and violets and even mundane flowers such as daisies. It was sort've a new experience, maybe it wouldn't have been if he had taken more of an interest in girls and the smell in the room was both pungent and powerful. He took a slow breath in, turned towards one of the displays that held roses and he focused his attention.

The roses were light pink and they had touches of red, and the smell filled him up from the inside with an intense warmth, similar to the way drinking alcohol made him feel warm. They were garden roses and the sort that could be seen in gardens as well. The old man would like them but would he like the pink? Maybe red roses would be better. Shunsuu shook his head, berrating himself, why was he thinking about the colours so much anyway? All he had to do was buy them and get on with the whole thing so that'd he be able to go home and spend time more wisely. Yet, he felt he couldn't make a rash decision, it wouldn't do justice to the flowers, which were like living paintings that expressed its own beauty. He really needed a second opinion on this.

Though Yukiko felt more at home in the greenhouses of Sunagakure no Sato, she was far from home right now, having travelled to Konohagakure no Sato to participate in the Chuunin exams being held there. The three-day journey had been long and boring, her first battle had been tiring and now, it was the young kunoichi's day off. She had passed the first round and was allowed some time to rest and recover before her next fight. She decided to forget her favoured greenhouses for now, choosing an optimistic approach as she pushed open the door to the flower shop.

There were two things she was looking for here. The first - a scent. Her ability to mimic and alter the chemical compounds in flora and fauna had been thus far used for battle, but she now wanted something less purposeful, more extravagant. Now that she was developing socially, she wanted to be able to produce a perfume naturally, for such social occasions. The second item on her purchase list - a natural pheromone. Admittedly, it would be unlikely to find such a thing here, but she reasoned that there was no harm in trying. This, most certainly, was to be used in battle.

As she gazed around, taking in the sights and near-intrusive smells of the Yamanaka flower shop, she noticed another young person perusing the flowers. In particular, he seemed to be focused on the roses. It was unusual for men to be interested in anything botanical, but Yuki was not going to adhere to stereotypical assumptions. Maybe he was a romantic, buying flowers for another girl. Stifling a small smile, Yuki went over to offer a hand, feeling a little sorry for the boy. She bent down to take in the scent of the roses he was investigating and breathed deeply. "Hmm. Well, they're certainly strong enough. Who's the girl?" She asked, managing to come across both teasing and helpful at the same time.

It was almost like his thoughts were granted...almost. The sheer coincidence that someone had come up to him and started talking when he needed a second opinion on the flowers were quite staggering, but as the girl spoke, he went a little red. What she said came as a bit of a surprise but he was nevertheless calm. "Haha, You're mistaken, the flowers aren't for a girl, it's more to do with improving relations between the clans," said Shunsuu as he turned round to face her and see who he was talking to, "I'm not really that interested in the opposite gender anyway."

The first thing he noticed, was obviously her facial features. She was pretty but what was distinctive was the clothes she was wearing. They were obviously not Konoha-style clothing and when his eyes casually moved over to her arms, he saw the Suna symbol on her armband. "I see, you're from Sunagakure. I guess you're here for the Chuunin Exams?" It would be interesting to ask someone not from Konoha about the CEs, just to hear the opinions from outsider-nin. Of course, he wouldn't need any information, if he had actually participated but he had missed out on the opportunity and not only once but twice now.

For some reason, today Yukiko was in a slightly playful mood. And the boy had just presented her with a gem of an opportunity. "I'm so sorry!" She whispered in reply. "Let me try again. So who's the lucky guy?" She asked, keeping her face plain and without hint of a joke. The boy seemed a little distracted, so the young kunoichi decided to drop the topic, reasoning that it was far from the best of jokes anyway. Besides, he had just asked her a question.

The Chuunin exams. Of course, the boy would not be seeing Suna Genin about the village if it weren't for the events taking place in the arena nearby. "Yes. I'm enjoying a day's break from the finals." She replied. "Tomorrow I am to face my last opponent and hopefully beat them." Her voice belied her apparent doubts - she was clearly feeling quite confident about it all. The was a slight pause, which Yuki decided to interrupt. "Yukiko Amaya." She stated, inclining her head in greeting.

Finals? A tinge of jealously and disappointment temporarily zapped his brain as his concentration wavered for a brief moment. He wished he was the one participating and fighting fellow genin but it was too late now. He quickly focused his attention back - it was stupid to dwell on such thoughts whilst talking to another person. So the girl was called Yukiko? Was that the Yuki for snow or was it the Yuki for happiness? Not that it mattered that much, but the meaning behind names were interesting. Annoyingly, his own parents decided on a peculiar name with little meaning and he's been stuck with it ever since he was born.

"Ahh..I'm Shunsuu, Shunsuu Nara," he replied with courtesy before referencing the previous joke, "Oh and I'm straight by all means. Very straight." He paused for a while and then picked up a bundle of the pink roses he had taken a liking to. "By the way, what do you think of these roses? Should I buy them? It's the first time I've been to a flower shop, and a girl seems better experienced and knowledgeable about this sort of thing," he continued, "Although, since you come from Suna, maybe the flowers there are a lot different to the flowers here in Konoha."

Thought the boy seemed to falter for a moment, he quickly regained his composure and Yuki decided to think nothing of it. He seemed to pass over it himself, anyway. The young male Genin went on to introduce himself as Shunsuu Nara. The Nara clan was well-known in shinobi circles the world over, and Yukiko had indeed heard of them and their secret techniques. She was intrigued, but it was hardly the time or place to bring up such a topic.

Shunsuu was clearly uncertain about flowers in general, and somewhat to Yuki's relief he asked her opinion. Decorative things weren't exactly her specialty - poisonous plants and anti-toxic herbs were more her area of expertise - but she knew a little more than most her age. "Well, it has little to do with me being a girl, but I'm certain I can provide a little advice. We have few flowers like these in Sunagakure, but I work closely with all types of flora and fauna, some imported from other countries." She explained. Yuki wasn't often very sociable, but decided to make an extra effort now that she was visiting another country.

She turned to face Shunsuu before speaking again. "Are the flowers for decoration, or are they for a more 'personal' touch?" She asked, and before the boy could answer, she went straight to another question. "And where will they be kept - in a house, an office or somewhere larger and more open?" Oddly enough, the answers to these questions would dictate what kind of flower the young kunoichi would suggest the boy purchase.

Shunsuu thought to himself very quickly. He had never considered where the flowers would be kept, those thoughts simply never crossed his mind, although he wondered where the old man would keep them. As for whether they were for decoration or if they were more personal, he was pretty sure, that they would be for decoration. "They will be for decoration, and I'm pretty sure they'll be kept in the house," he replied, although he wasn't exactly sure they'd be kept in the house, "Well I haven't talked with girls all that much to be honest, I've always thought that they would be good with these kind of things, as stupid as that sounds."

He knew that sounded slightly stupid but it was true. He wasn't exactly unsociable but he had never spent as much time talking with girls as he had with boys. He looked at Yukiko again, making sure not to catch her gaze. She was pretty but that probably also meant she was troublesome. The girls he did talk to were all like that. The slightest things could make you get on the wrong side of them. He didn't even want to think about his mother. She was the epitome of troublesome. Then again, his dad was hardly better.

Shunsuu's answers seemed pretty assured, so it wasn't hard for Yuki to think of the right flowers for the occasion. "So, for the recipient's house and for decoration..." She repeated, mulling the context over before eventually coming to a decision. "Well, roses are very nice but tend to be for a more 'personal' touch." She explained, taking Shunsuu gently by the sleeve and turning him so that he followed her over to another part of the shop. "These -" She said, picking up a neatly arranged bouquet of white, pale pink and blue-mauve flowers. "- Are what you need." She suggested, handing them to Shunsuu.

The boy looked unsure as she passed him the bouquet, so she decided to give a little more detail. "They're freesias. Not to bold or intrusive a colour - just right to sit on a mantlepiece or somesuch in a house. Plus, if you breathe in, they smell wonderfully floral, fresh and pleasant." She gave the boy a half-smile and looked a little quizzically at him, wondering whether this was what he had had in mind.

Freesias? Yup, he certainly had a lack of knowledge in the floral department of things. Apart from roses and violets, he really didn't know the names of other prominent flowers and he felt both slightly bemused and confused as he grabbed onto the bouquet of flowers that Yukiko passed onto him. They looked fairly nice and he leaned his face into the flowers to smell the various scents. She was right about the flowers smelling fresh and pleasant, it certainly had a different olfactory texture to the roses. "Freesias?" he said to himself more than to Yukiko, "I see...I'll take them I guess. Hang on a minute, I'll just go and buy them."

Shunsuu begun to walk over to the counter with the bouquet of freesias when he caught sight of the pink roses again. Yukiko had said that roses tended to be for a more personal touch. He lulled those words in his mind and then made his decision, grabbing a bouquet of roses to go along with his bouquet of Freesias before quickly going to the counter. He exchanged words with the Yamanaka shopkeeper quickly as he bought the bouquets, handing the necessary money with no change to spare before returning to talk to Yuki.

"Here...these are for you," said Shunsuu softly, making sure to keep his composure normal as he handed her the bouquet of pink roses, "It's for helping me out. Consider it a special way of saying thank you."

Shunsuu appeared to be happy to take Yukiko's advice on the flowers, though the whole experience seemed to be a little lost on him - he paused briefly as her took the freesias and again as he walked up to the counter to pay for them. Yuki took this opportunity to look around at the flowers the shop sold. Freesias, lillies, orchids, roses...nothing yet that would work as a natural pheromone. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she spied what looked like a jasmine flower. Yuki's mind ran back to the numerous lessons she had received from her herbalist mother. Jasmine...jasmine...I'm sure she said once... And then it clicked in the young Genin's mind. "Natural aphrodisiac!" She exclaimed rather loudly, having forgotten for a brief moment where she was.

As the few people mulling around the shop all turned to stare at Yuki, the young kunoichi ignored them and went to pick up a couple of stems of the jasmine. As she walked toward the counter, Shunsuu stopped before her and presented her with a beautiful bouquet of the pink roses he had been investigating earlier. Yuki took them, not sure how to respond. It was a genuinely touching gesture, that he'd thought so carefully and given her such a present for a little advice. And then another, sudden thought struck the girl - the natural scent she had been looking for. The roses were perfect, she could take one to work with and the rest would provide an attractive decoration and a thoroughly pleasing smell. She wasn't sure what to say, but managed a quiet, "Thank you, Shunsuu. You really didn't have to..." With that, she leaned forward and kissed him quickly on the cheek.

Backing up for a moment, she coughed slightly to interrupt what would otherwise have been an awkward pause. "Hm, ahem. These are wonderful, thank you Shunsuu. I'll just go and pay for this little sprig of jasmine and I'll be back in second." She saw the boy looking quizzically at the jasmine sprig. "Oh, they're for training, believe it or not." She smiled briefly and turned to head over to the counter. Placing the jasmine in front of the shopkeeper, she inclined her head ever so slightly to sniff the roses again. They were almost intoxicatingly sweet and pleasant. Yuki had a 60-second chat with the shopkeep as she paid, the two of them gesturing toward the roses during the conversation.

He could feel his heart beating faster than normal, and the blood rushing into his cheeks as he felt Yuki's delicate and soft lips. Was he blushing? He couldn't really tell himself, atleast not without a mirror but he could hazard a guess that he was going slightly red. Looking quizzically at the jasmine sprig, he heard her say that they were for training and he raised an eyebrown bemusedly. He had no idea what sort of ninja she was, but to use flowers in training? He had heard of ninjas who used flower jutsu or perhaps she was the type of ninja who used the scent of flowers for genjutsu, either way, he didn't really know much about her.

Shunsuu thought to himself quietly while Yukiko talked to the shopkeeper. Yuki, was currently staying at Konoha because of the Chuunin Exams, which meant that she wouldn't be here for long. It was a pity really, as he would've liked to have gotten to know her better. She wasn't as troublesome as she seemed on the exterior but then again, he hadn't actually fought her. His dad always said that a girl's true personality came out during a fight. It would be truly interesting to spar against her, perhaps there would be an opportunity later on.

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OOC: Running out of ideas in my posts lol.