In Kurenai Yuhi's ruby-like eyes, the faint smile was like a candle flame blown by a cold wind, quickly dimming.
The small hand clutching a gift, hidden behind her back, went limp and dropped.
A mist quickly gathered in her eyes.
She bit her lip hard, her right hand holding the gift suddenly lifting as if she wanted to smash it onto the ground.
In the next moment, Aokawa's smiling voice came through: "These are for you! Do you like them?"
Kurenai Yuhi's high-raised arm froze in mid-air.
Her entire body stiffened.
Through her tear-filled vision, she saw the handsome youth in the sunlight, walking toward her with a beaming smile while holding a pile of flowers and gifts.
Aokawa walked up to her, adjusted the items in his arms with a slight bounce, and smiled somewhat helplessly:
"I originally wanted to give you a surprise, but I didn't expect you to already be waiting for me at my Barracks' entrance."
"..."
Kurenai Yuhi's mind buzzed, going completely blank.
A surprise?
All of these... are for me?
She looked at the sincere smile on Aokawa's face and the gifts in his arms that she had found so eyesore just moments ago.
The anger and grievance that had rushed to her head deflated instantly like a punctured balloon.
Replacing them was a massive wave of shock and joy that almost made her dizzy.
The mist swirling in her eyes finally couldn't be held back.
Patter.
A teardrop slid down her cheek, hit the ground, and shattered into several pieces.
But this time, it wasn't because of grievance.
"Why are you crying?"
Aokawa was a bit flustered. He wanted to reach out to wipe them away, but both his hands were occupied.
"Hey, hey, you don't like them? Then I'll just throw them all away."
As he spoke, he made a move as if to toss the things aside.
"Don't!"
Kurenai Yuhi finally reacted and quickly grabbed his arm.
She looked up, her face still streaked with tears, but she was already smiling through them.
Her cheeks were as red as ripe apples, and even the tips of her ears were pink.
She lowered her head shyly, revealing the object she had been clutching in her hand.
A small, square box carefully wrapped in colored paper.
The packaging wasn't very exquisite—it was even a bit clumsy—but it was clear the person who wrapped it had put their heart into it.
"I... I also prepared a gift for you," she said, her voice as faint as a mosquito's hum.
Aokawa smiled.
He gestured with his chin toward his arms, which were filled with gifts: "Look, I don't have a hand free to take it."
Kurenai Yuhi's face flushed. After a moment's hesitation, she took a step forward on her own initiative.
Standing on her tiptoes, she carefully tucked the small box into a gap at the very top of the pile of gifts.
She then helped Aokawa by taking three bouquets, cradling them in her arms. Her happy smile carried a hint of mock reproach: "Who gives three bouquets of flowers at once, and so many different kinds of gifts?"
"I went out for a stroll and everything I saw seemed to suit you. Before I knew it, I'd picked up all this," Aokawa said in a very gentle tone. "These three bouquets were all so beautiful that I had a hard time choosing for a moment..."
"As long as it's from you, I'll like it." The blush on Kurenai Yuhi's face had already spread to her neck, and she was completely immersed in immense happiness.
She lowered her head, trying to breathe in the fragrance of the bouquets in her arms, her face full of a happy smile.
Suddenly.
She noticed a pink envelope inside one of the bouquets.
She held the three bouquets with one arm and reached out with her other hand to pull out the envelope.
In the next moment.
A hand with distinct knuckles pulled the envelope away faster than she could.
"I haven't quite decided what to say to you yet. I'll write it to you once I've thought it through."
Aokawa said with a grin. He quietly activated his Fire Release Chakra, a flash of red light passing by as the letter in his hand was secretly turned to ash.
At this moment, Kurenai Yuhi's heart was racing, her mind blank and unable to think clearly.
Thus, she didn't feel anything was amiss and simply nodded with a red face.
"Come in and sit for a while."
Aokawa stepped aside, opening the way into the Barracks.
"Mm..."
Kurenai Yuhi's voice was barely audible, like a startled kitten.
Holding those three bouquets of vastly different styles, she kept her head down, the blush on her face
almost deep enough to bleed, she followed closely behind Aokawa into the Barracks.
The sight inside the Barracks gave her a slight start.
Unlike the clutter of other Ninja tents, everything here was in perfect order.
The bedding was folded as neatly as blocks of tofu, and weapons and Ninja Tools were sorted and hung
on the wall, wiped spotlessly clean.
A faint scent of ink lingered in the air.
Her gaze was soon drawn to the large Campaign Desk.
The table was covered with scrolls and draft papers of various sizes, with countless complex symbols and patterns drawn in cinnabar
and ink that she couldn't understand at all.
Those lines intertwined with each other, forming intricate and precise designs that looked like some kind of advanced Sealing Techniques.
"Have you been staying inside all these days just to study these?"
Kurenai Yuhi walked to the desk and curiously reached out a finger, yet she didn't dare touch the draft papers for fear of disrupting his train of thought.
Aokawa placed the mountain of gifts on a nearby empty bed and nodded upon hearing her, a trace of helplessness on his face.
"Yeah, but I've been studying them for so long and still don't have much of a lead."
He sighed and continued, "I originally wanted to go to the Logistics Department to exchange for some materials on Genjutsu to see if I could gain some inspiration through analogy, but the results were disappointing."
What could be exchanged for at the Logistics Department were only the most basic, standard Genjutsu.
As for the advanced knowledge of how Yin Release Chakra affects the spiritual level, there was none at all.
This was normal; such core knowledge was mostly held by Hidden Clans as secret techniques and rarely circulated in the market.
"Disappointing?" Kurenai Yuhi repeated his words, her heart skipping a beat.
She looked down at the beautifully wrapped bouquets in her arms.
On the Front Lines, exchanging for any non-military supplies required spending precious military merits.
These things either had to have been brought by the recent Reinforcements, or they could only be exchanged for using military merits.
Aokawa had been on the Front Lines for so long; even with Chakra, these flowers wouldn't have stayed fresh for this long.
Today was the first time he had gone out in over half a month.
Then these flowers and gifts... A thought clearly surfaced in her mind.
Her heart skipped a beat.
"These things... did you exchange your military merits for them?"
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