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Gura struggled with gift-giving. Sure, she could meme and joke with gifts, like it was with a box full of fake lemons, and still, make it look special. But besides that, she always had a rough time. Even when she knew the preferences of the person she was planning to make a gift to, Gura could take days to decide. And each time it frustrated her a lot.
Especially when the special one was Fauna, her secret (not so secret) crush.
“Just give her something made by your hands, doofus.” Amelia rolled her eyes, sitting near a frowning Gura, with the noise of the game in the background.
“Wha-?”
Ame let out a sigh, standing from her seat and going to the mini-fridge for drinks. “Need some?”
“Sure?”
After that, Gura was hit lightly in the stomach with a thrown can of soda, which made her let out a silent ‘oof’.
“If you think you are good enough at hiding your feelings, you are damn wrong, Gura.” Ame threw herself back at her seat, closing her eyes.
Gura pouted. “Like you know even anything about gifts and such.”
Ame turned with a smug smile, showing her white and orange feather earring.
“Okay, touche, you MIGHT know something,” Gura mumbled and groaned out of frustration. “But what on earth can I make for a Keeper of Nature?!”
“Dunno.” Ame shrugged. “Anything, I guess. Just show that you care.” The detective hummed, looking up to the ceiling, and after a second, turning her gaze back to Gura with a spark of realization. “Terrarium!”
“What?”
“You heard me, idiot.” Ame chuckled. “A Terrarium. Just get some medium tank for it, and I will get you some moss and plants to decorate.”
Gura scoffed. “What ‘bout other decorations? I don’t think she will be impressed by green stuff.”
“Well~” Ame grinned. “I’ll give you with some polymer clay.”
“Why not just buy it?”
“You want to gift something that you made by yourself or just to buy a gift?”
Gura fell silent, admitting her defeat in the banter.
The shark took some time thinking about it, and not long after some gears in her brain turned, she nodded.
“Okay, I will try.”
“That’s the spirit.” Ame giggled. “Don’t worry about messing up or something. Just an effort will be enough.”
Gura only smiled back. “Okay, chief.”
***
The baking process wasn’t hard. Gura never struggled with an oven and controlling the temperature in it. She would be done when the baking part will be passed, and she knew it.
The most annoying process was constructing the sculpture itself.
She never had enough patience to make something small and fragile. Her first time was miserable. Any wrong move with a scalpel made a fracture in a clay base. And of course, she chose the hardest figure to make.
She wanted to make Fauna’s kirin form.
And as pretty as the idea sounded in her head, the struggles still were biting her tail.
Gura constantly had to take breaks from carving, just to make sure she would not burn out. But she knew she needed to do her best to make the gift.
And yet again one try was given and she didn't know how to feel about it.
The statue looked… okay, to say the least. It was medium size, not too big to take up all of the space in the tank but not too small. Gura could say and recognize different parts of the body, and she was even proud of herself for making such a nice pattern for the fur. But what bothered her was the rough spots. Scratches here and there, sometimes it felt like the pose was wrong, or even wrong deep cuts just because her hand trembled for a second. They burnt her eyes like a black mark for the pirates, making her feel completely distressed. She groaned out loud, not even noticing the soft footsteps behind her and the quiet thump on the table.
“Rough time.”
Gura turned her head and was faced with Ina’s grey-blue eyes. She scoffed, taking the mug Ina set down. “I hope it wasn’t a pun.”
Ina only giggled. “Totally not.” She looked at the sculpture. “But honestly, what problems do you have with it? Looks okay to me.”
“That’s the problem!” Gura threw her free hand in the air. “I want it to be perfect! But it’s not! With each attempt, I keep messing up.”
Ina hummed. “Didn’t Ame tell you that it's okay if it's not perfect?”
Gura froze for a bit. “But… I want to-”
“For what reason?”
“I-” Gura looked down frowning. “-don’t know.”
Ina’s corners of the lips twitched into a smile. “Well, then it’s not necessary to be perfect. Fauna would love just attention and hard work, she doesnt need something to be perfect. It just needs to be from you.”
Ina let out a sigh and looked at the time. “I actually need to go. I hope you like tea and wish you good luck on the work, lovebird.”
With a chuckle, Ina left the room, leaving Gura, blushing, on her own.
Gura looked again at the sculpture. Let some minutes pass, to think about it, observe. And with a relieved sigh, she bumped her fist into her palm.
“Good enough.”
***
The day has come, but Gura’s anxiety only grew.
She was at Council’s place with her friends, celebrating Fauna’s birthday. It wasn’t a huge gathering, by Fauna’s own will, just some friends hanging out together. Kiara joined the alliance with Bae to fight against Ame and Irys in the heated game of Mario Party (with some screams of frustration from the said phoenix), while Ina stood with Calli and Sana on the side of the coach, cheering their teams of choice. Gura smiled from the sight, feeling a funny tingle in her brain from seeing her friends enjoying their time together.
But her attention was soon changed to the kitchen table, where Kronii, Mumei and Fauna sat and chatted.
Gura always admired how good Fauna looked. Her long light-green hair, leaking into more of the mix with blue, her soft expression and gentle moves, soothing honey-like voice and, of course, her golden eyes, that felt like she could see everything in the person with them. Fauna was the definition of beauty for Gura and she can’t deny it, but she felt like a young shark again, asking a pretty girl to go out on a date.
Her heart was racing against the light, hands sweaty and her knees were a little shaky. With a few breaths in and out, she came closer to the trio, looking at the giggling Fauna and melting inside because of it.
“Oh, hi, Gura.” Mumei cheered her, bringing the other two attention to the shark. “I thought you were playing with others.”
“Nah, don’t feel like it.” Gura nervously chuckled. “Can I… Ask Fauna something?”
“Ah?” Fauna smiled. “Sure.”
“But…” The shark turned her gaze away, feeling her guts squirming. “Can I ask you privetly?”
Kronii and Mumei knowingly looked at Fauna, grinning ear to ear, making Gura blush more. Fauna chuckled.
“Of course, my little shark.”
She stood up, and made Gura surprised by taking her hand. Gura screamed internally. But she held it and slowly followed the Keeper.
And at the same time, Kronii and Mumei only watched them disappear.
“If Gura confesses, you are making dinner.”
Kronii scoffed. “No shit it’ll happen, but… I will take the bet.”
***
“Please, close your eyes for a moment.”
Gura felt nervous as she led Fauna into the guest room. The Keeper only giggled in response, following what Gura said, waiting.
Soon she heard rustling and a sigh coming from Gura.
“Okay, now you can look.”
The moment after, Fauna gasped in surprise. Before her was a standing terrarium. A medium-size tank, filled with stones and natural growth to make it look like a piece of an actual forest. And in the center, the pearl of composition, her kirin form figure in a sleeping pose, nuzzling into herself, surrounded by fake but colorful flowers.
“I-I didn’t know what to give and…” Gura took a breath to calm herself again. “So I decided to make something. I’m not sure if you will like it, b-but I just wanted to make you happy and-”
“It’s beautiful, Gura.”
Gura’s brain stalled for a moment for a moment. “What?”
Fauna chuckled “I love it. It looks so good. I can see you put so much work and love you put into it, how you tried and...” Fauna’s smile grew only bigger when her attention turned to her sculpture. “And oh my god. You made me look so cute in this form. I love it, Gura.”
“I-I…uhm…” Gura couldn’t focus her gaze on something. She felt like she would fall over. “I-I’m glad you l-liked it…”
Fauna giggled, looking at Gura. “You are so cute when you are trying to look cool when you talk to me.”
“W-what?”
Fauna huffed. “Dear, I’m not blind and I can notice you being so shy around me.” She grinned a little. Fauna took Gura into her embrace, wrapping her arms around the shark’s waist.
“I just…” Gura groaned, burring herself into Fauna’s chest “Loved you always. I was so scared that my gift would be bad or will make you upset. I wanted that to be something really special for you, something that you will cherish, and…” She quietly teared up “I just love you so much.”
Fauna hummed, slowly drawing circles on Gura’s back with her hand. “I feel the same, Gura.”
Gura’s heart stopped at the moment and she looked up at Fauna. “D-does that mean?”
The Keeper giggled. “I love you too, sharkie.”
And after that, soft and sweet lips closed on Gura’s in a tender kiss. Gura could feel her tail wagging at an unimaginable speed. Her heart was covered by a warm tingling feeling, leaking into her body and making her feel hot and happy.
When the kiss was broken, Gura couldn’t make herself look up again, knowing she would probably die otherwise. She nuzzled into Fauna’s chest, gripping onto her dress, not wanting for the moment to be over.
“T-thank you.”
Fauna chuckled, placing another kiss on top of Gura’s head, feeling like she is melting.
“Let’s go back to the company. We still have a lot of the day together.”
Gura could feel happy tears coming from the corners of her eyes. “Y-yeah… Let’s go.”