"Brushstrokes"
Disclaimers: Prince of Tennis is not mine.
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He watched, with sheer entrancement, as his companion's skilled hands worked their magic. Guided by those light, calloused fingers, the brush glided smoothly across the paper, leaving a clean trail of black ink that seeped into the insides of the seemingly thin writing material. With a flick of his wrist, the brush changed direction, creating another stroke as elegant and as beautiful as the first.
He wondered, as his soft teal eyes gazed upon the concentrated figure beside him, how his fingers could move so fluidly, so gracefully, when they had also curled around the handle of a sword and directed sharp, aggressive blows towards makeshift haystack enemies. He wondered how he could hold a brush with such a light grip, when he clutched a racket with such force and power. He wondered how he could produce such beautiful, picturesque scripts, when his techniques were nothing short of destructive and devastating.
It was fascinating, really, how Sanada Genichirou could engage into an art such as calligraphy, when it was a complete contrast to his personality.
"It's done."
Sanada's deep voice broke the trail of thoughts whirling in his head. He glanced at the paper neatly laid out in the small table in front of them. There was his name, written with the skill and precision of an expert. Every stroke clearly made its mark on paper; lines were impeccably straight, curves arched perfectly. He had never seen his name written so artistically before – the kanji for "Yukimura Seiichi" seemed to leap out of the paper and burst into life before his eyes.
"It's beautiful," Yukimura mumbled with a smile as he gave his companion a sideway glance. Sanada's lips curved upward as he shifted his position slightly to the left, so that Yukimura could sit directly in front of the table.
Yukimura gazed at each kanji character with profound fascination. It really was beautiful. He marveled at how each line and curve connected harmoniously, how each stroke seemed to flow easily to the next… He was amazed at how Sanada could wield a brush like that of a master calligrapher.
He turned to Sanada, teal eyes staring directly into his brown ones. Sanada's brow furrowed questioningly, as Yukimura held up the brush with his pale fingers.
"Can you teach me how?"
"Of course," Sanada said obligingly as he laid down another clean sheet of paper on the table. He stood up and positioned himself behind his 'student' as Yukimura gingerly held the brush in between his fingers.
Sanada's calloused palms wrapped around Yukimura's hand, as he dipped the brush into the bowl of ink beside the paper. He gently guided his friend's hand as a stroke of black ink stained the white surface before them.
Yukimura let himself be guided by Sanada's experienced hand as the kanji character for 'forest' began to take shape. His eyes shone with childlike exhilaration, while Sanada gazed at him in amusement.
When they finished, Yukimura clasped his hands together with a very content smile at what he had accomplished.
Sanada stared at the characters on the paper, and then at Yukimura's pleasant expression. "It's nicely done."
Yukimura eyed him warily. "Are you kidding me?"
"No, I'm not," Sanada shot back defensively. "You don't think it's good?"
"It's not as good as yours," Yukimura muttered as he thoughtfully rubbed his chin while studying his work. "And you helped me with this."
"Well, do another one without my help then," Sanada suggested as he took out another roll of paper and laid it in front of the blue-haired boy.
Yukimura's fingers hovered over the ink bowl as he peered at the boy in front of him. "You know, we should do this more often."
Sanada gave Yukimura one of his rare, genuine smiles, as his head nodded slightly in agreement.
"I think so too."
Owari
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Author's notes: Another one of those 'spur of the moment' ideas that I decided to experiment with because I'm itching to write and I wanted to do a SanaYu fic. I hope I didn't mess up their characters in this story. If anyone has any suggestions or comments on how I can improve their characterization, I'd really love to hear from you. And if there are mistakes that I might have missed out, please do inform me so I could make appropriate corrections.
Another note I forgot to add: Calligraphy is one of Sanada's hobbies, as stated in fanbook 20.5... Yes, I know, it's kinda hard to imagine Sanada spending hours in writing random kanji characters since all we see him do is tennis and kendo, but well, the boy's very traditional. He even plays shougi!
Feedback is not required, but is greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!