vvielding ;   "Y'know," He began, thoughtlessly gripping the poorly bundled present against his stomach. "I'm not sure if you've got some like these already, but I've never seen anything like 'em!" An assortment of pastel colored pencils were packaged haphazardly, and the wielder quickly extended his arm to hand them over. "Merry Christmas, Naminé. Thanks.. Again."

         _{Eyes widening at the brunet as a present was pushed towards her, Naminé’s mouth gaped open a little bit. Perhaps she should have been expecting such a thing but she absolutely had not actually thought that Sora would actually get her something for the holiday that was upon them. She had tried her best to discourage him from getting her anything, but evidently that had not worked, and her eyes flickered downwards towards the gift in his hand.}

         _{It was badly wrapped, messy and rather lopsided, and the sight of it made something tighten in her chest, made it hard to breathe. There was clearly some care in the way that he had put it together, and the fact that he had actually gotten her something—it was mind boggling, and she couldn’t resist the flush that was crawling up her cheeks.}

                                             _{This was the first present that she had ever been given.}

                                                                        _{How could she accept it…?}

         _{”Oh…” she let out, trying to struggle and grasp at words that were flying around her head, making it impossible to form a coherent thought, let alone a coherent sentence. ”Sora, I—“ she couldn’t deny the present, could she? It was the holiday season, a time for giving and making others happy, and if she were to say no then that would come off badly, would it not? Her denial may even make Sora… sad.}

                                    _{She could not bear it.}

         _{So she pulled a small smile onto her face and accepted the present slowly from his hands, holding it in her own like it was something absolutely precious. For a moment she was concerned that she would drop it, but gripped it firmly and pulled it inwards to her chest and held it close for a few moments. ”You really didn’t have to do this…” she began before trailing off, and glancing down at the package she could see in between the haphazard packaging that he had gotten her colored pencils… in colors that she did not have, and immediately her fingers itched to use them.}

                  _{But first…}

         _{There was only a moment of hesitation before she reached down into the bag that she had thrown over her shoulder for convenience’s sake, and pulled out a small box that had a white ribbon tied around it. ”I got you a little something, too,” Naminé stated softly, holding it out for him to take, head ducking down as her bangs fell in front of her eyes, hiding them from sight. The blonde could feel the tips of her ears turn bright red, heat emanating from them. Originally she had hoped to avoid confrontation and leave him his gift with a note and then flee from sight, but she knew well enough that Sora didn’t quite have a permanent residence for the time being, so it would have been hard to do that to begin with.}

         _{”It’s not much but…” it really was just something that she had found. Without an open supply of munny to herself there was little she could do in the way of presents, but she had managed well enough for the few people that mattered enough for her to think to get them presents. Or perhaps not that well, considering how long she had spent thinking over things that she could possibly get. But all the same, she looked up at the brunet once more and determinedly looked him in the eyes, ignoring the redness that was staining her face.}

                                    _{All that she could hope was that Sora liked the small pendant of a tiny bottle full of sand and sea shells and a small silver star that she had found for him.}

                                                               _{It wasn’t a smile, but.}

                                                                                 _{It was something.}