Title: Awestruck
Pairing: GenHaya
Sentence: The blade winked in the moonlight, the softly reflected light flashing in his eyes and making him feel as if that soft reflection was a spotlight, showing the entire world just what it was he hid deep in his heart as he watched the other man practice, almost dancing in the moonlight.
Characters: Genma & Hayate
Mood: awestruck
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I don't make money writing fanfics for it either.
Dedicated to: SammiWolf who came up with the sentence prompt for my 'Inspire Me 2' challenge.
Genma shifted his weight on the branch that he was perched on and slid the porcelain mask to the top of his head. His mission was over, he was almost home, and yet he found himself virtually glued to the spot. Light sifted down through the leaves along the edge of the clearing, but he was still safely obscured in the shadows where he knelt, watching.
The blade winked in the moonlight, the softly reflected light flashing in his eyes and making him feel as if that soft reflection was a spotlight, showing the entire world just what it was he hid deep in his heart as he watched the other man practice, almost dancing in the moonlight.
It didn't matter how many hours or days or years he practiced, he knew he would never be able to wield a sword with the kind of grace the man in front of him had. The pale skin, slick with sweat shimmered in the moonlight with every flex of his muscles. He seemed unrestrained by the tight black ANBU uniform or the weight of the achromatic armor.
Genma knew who he was watching even without seeing the red and green painted design on the man's mask. Rabbit. Hayate.
He remembered hearing a song when he was a kid about rabbits dancing in moonlight and it took him a moment to remember the words. i"People say the rabbits dance in the night time, people say the rabbits dance in the glade. In the daytime they play in the bramble's shade, but in the night time they are not afraid. I would like to see them dancing in the forest. What a pretty thing! Rabbits in the moonlight, dancing in a ring."/i It seemed oddly apt at that moment and given the man. Most saw him as sweet and timid, but Genma saw this side of him; this grace, this power, this complete lack of fear and he was awed by it.
When Hayate finally stopped to catch his breath, Genma slipped away. Someday, ihe/i would be half as brave as a rabbit and maybe then he'd say something.