"I will give her the perfect birthday gift!"

"I'm sure she'll be fine with anything."

"I don't want her to be 'fine'; I want her to be twirling in joy and delight when she opens the wrapping and sees the incredibly thoughtful present I picked out with her in mind!"

Kimihiro twirled around once himself, imagining the adorable look on Himawari's face when she opens the gift. "Oh Himawari-chan! With her precious smile and her cute giggle and her bobbing pigtails! I can almost hear the beautiful words she'll say with her perfect voice!"

"Oh? What did you get her?"

Watanuki opened his eyes again and pointed dramatically at the obtrusive idiot. "That's not the voice I wanted to hear!"

"You haven't bought anything."

"Not yet!" Kimihiro yelled, but pulled his fist to his chest and looked out to the horizon, determined. "But I'll find something! Today!"

"Need help?"

"No!"

"Hey, what do you think of this?" Kimihiro asked, pointing at some earrings.

"Does Kunogi have pierced ears?"

"Well of course she does!" Kimihiro said, but thought back on it and couldn't recall whether he'd ever seen her in earrings. "B- but maybe I'll get something else."

"Why don't you just bake her a cake?"

"You just want a piece of it! Well, too bad, because you're not getting any. The cake will be for Himawari-chan only! No more cake of mine will pass through a Doumeki's lips! No no, I'm making small cakes," Kimihiro explained, demonstrating the size of the cakes with his hands. "So, I'll make just enough for the people I like and not the people I don't like." He paused though, suddenly realizing that, "you'll eat mine though if I don't bring one for you…"

Doumeki looked at him, and though his expression didn't change, Kimihiro just knew he was smug and probably imagining the beauty and might of Kimihiro's baking, unable to contain his gluttony for the three days in between now and Himawari's birthday.

"You're just lucky her birthday is on a weekday, you walking void! While I am openly gifting my food to Himawari, I will expect you to bow three times and thank me, the great Watanuki-sama, properly for once!"

"Chocolate cake," was all Doumeki said.

"Are you even listening; this is for Himawari-chan and she likes strawberry!" Kimihiro yelled, lightly strangling the dumbass standing next to him. "Maybe on your birthday you can make a request, but you have no say in what Himawari-chan gets on her birthday!"

"For my birthday you should make… fugu sashimi."

Kimihiro couldn't even form words at that, letting go of Doumeki to throw his arms in the air to demonstrate his frustration and yelling for a good few seconds before giving Doumeki a piece of his mind.

"Can you even hear yourself? You think I have a license for that? If you're going to make a demand, at least make it reasonable!"

"Then get a license."

"I don't have time for that! Besides, this is Himawari-chan's birthday we're talking about, not yours!" Kimihiro reminded him, just about choking him again.

"Shut up," Doumeki said, putting a finger in his ear.

"Himawari-chan! Why couldn't I be shopping with her and not you!"

"Then her gift wouldn't be a surprise, dumbass."

Kimihiro put a fist in his palm. "That's right! A surprise! The best surprise! The perfect gift!"

They kept walking around the store, stopping for a moment to stare down the bracelets but ultimately deciding against anything in the store.

"This is a disaster!" Kimihiro wailed as they left the store. "Nothing is good enough for Himawari-chan!"

Doumeki stopped walking then, and spoke. "You know…" he began.

Kimihiro stopped as well, waiting for whatever the jerk had to say. Maybe for once he had a good idea?

"If you keep crying like this, everyone is going to call you an idiot."

Kimihiro fell flat on his face with the force of the insult, but recovered quickly. "See if I make another chocolate cake for you as long as I live!" he yelled, shaking a fist.

He had been considering making multiple flavors of the small cakes for the sake of variety but no, now they would all be strawberry! For a brief moment, Kimihiro wished Doumeki had some sort of food allergy so Kimihiro could exclusively cook foods that had that ingredient.

As he plotted this hypothetical vengeance, he kept an eye out for anything in the store displays, but nothing seemed right! Nothing was perfect! Nothing but Himawari herself! How was he supposed to find something worthy of her magnificence! Her radiance! Her-

"How will I ever see the look on her face when she opens the perfect present if I can't find the perfect present!" he lamented.

"Kunogi will like anything you give her," Doumeki said again, "especially food."

"Stop using Himawari-chan's birthday as an excuse for me to feed you!"

Doumeki stared him straight in the eyes and gave his reasoning. "Your food is enough for both of us."

Kimihiro blinked at him. Somehow, through the bored monotone and blank face, some form of emotion seemed to get through and hit Kimihiro full-force in the chest. He put it aside to acknowledge later, but figured now was a moment for actually talking, so he also put aside his anger for as long as he could manage.

"Well it's not like I'm about to stop cooking or anything. I cook all the time. I cook for everyone and I love to do that. I love when people eat my food, but… I want to do something special for her. I like to see her smile."

Doumeki was quiet and blank-faced while Kimihiro was quiet and smiling and they wandered into a secondhand shop where Kimihiro did, in fact, find the perfect gift.

"Happy birthday, Himawari-chan!" Kimihiro all but sang as he tried to stay still as he handed her the gift he'd so meticulously wrapped. "This is for you!"

"Oh, Watanuki-kun, you didn't have to get me anything! You already baked such a delicious cake and made such a beautiful lunch!"

It was true; the bentos were absolutely superb—almost as magnificent as Himawari herself!

"It was no trouble to cook—really!" He would cook for days straight just to see Himawari smile like she was right then. She was always happy and smiling, but sometimes it felt like so much more—like right then.

"Thank you, Watanuki-kun!" she said brightly. "Can I open it?"

"Yes please!"

Kimihiro tried not to tap his foot in anticipation but he just couldn't help it.

Carefully, she unwrapped the small box and revealed the gift he had so painstakingly chosen for her: a gold necklace with a pendant in the odd shape of a constellation.

"It's beautiful, Watanuki-kun," she said, and he fell backwards at the force of her adoration and appreciation. His imagination had not done justice to how adorable this moment was and he would certainly remember this forever.

"Is this what I think it is?" she asked, putting it on.

Kimihiro sat right back up and nodded emphatically. "Sagittarius! Like you!" he said.

"I love it," she said sweetly, touching the small pendant softly. "Thank you very much for the necklace—and for the cake! I can't believe you spent the time to make both strawberry and chocolate!"

Kimihiro waved a hand in front of his face, blush in full force and not going anywhere anytime soon. "Like I said, it was no trouble!"

She giggled and he swooned and he remembered the cake in front of him, but when he finally looked down, it was already gone. Snatched!

"Give it back!" Kimihiro demanded, shaking the moron on the other side of him, but Doumeki just swayed along and chewed even louder. "Just because you see food and want it doesn't mean you have to take it every time!"

"You were taking so long," was Doumeki's defense—as if that means anything! Kimihiro could take as long as he damn well pleased!"

"Doumeki-kun and Watanuki-kun are such good friends!" Himawari said as if this was some sort of fact or something—which it wasn't!

Kimihiro flopped over, on the brink of tears over her gross miscalculation, but she continued before he could defend himself.

"I'm so glad to have both of you with me today. It's perfect."

Kimihiro looked up at her to see she had one of those soft smiles on her face as she looked at the nearly cloudless sky. She really was adorable.

"Tea."

And Doumeki was not.

But Himawari was right; this day was as close to perfect as it could possibly be. As it very well should be, as it was, of course, the anniversary of the day the world welcomed in the perfect person into existence.


A/N: Is it actually the perfect gift? I have no idea! I'm actually really bad at giving gifts! Either way, a very happy birthday to our dear, sweet Himawari-chan! You deserve every compliment Watanuki throws your way.