Soft whitish blue petals of snow gracefully fell from the sky; kissing the ground once it touched. Saitou stood underneath the flurry; lost in thought as he gazed up at the sky. He sighed as his thoughts once again took a turn for the worse; the scene replaying in his head like a broken record player.
A beautiful woman stood before him. Her long flowing brunette hair was tied up in a typical geisha style with beautiful sapphire adornments; making her brown eyes shine. Her kimono fitted nicely to her small figure; emphasizing the curves he didn't know she possessed. Its colors of blue, green and purple clashed wonderfully with her naturally tan skin. Her face was flushed slightly from threatening the man that grabbed her harshly before his arrival at the scene. It looked endearing on her as well as her lips which were painted red; making them almost too much to handle for him.
"Saitou-San?" A soft voice questioned behind him. He was broken out of his stupor and turned to see the very object of his desire. Now dressed plainly in male clothing he saw nothing of the women last night, but to him she was still as beautiful.
"It's you. You're up pretty early today." he spoke politely; no different from usual and he was thankful for that.
"So are you, Saitou-San. And it's not like I could sleep with that idiot of a sister I have in the room with me..." She replied huffing out loud; a pout graced her features making her lips puff out. He fought the urge to kiss those lips. His lips quirked in a small smile; he had heard from Souji how messy a sleeper her sister was; how he knew he didn't want to know.
"I see. From what I hear about her I'm surprised you get any sleep at all." he spoke softly to her as she placed herself beside him.
"Anyway, why are you out here? I didn't think you liked the cold...Seeing as you wear that scarf all the time." she muttered the last part more to herself then to him, but he caught it as usual; he made himself hear her whenever she was around.
"I was training in the dojo practicing with my sword, when I came out and saw it snowing, I stopped to look. That's all." He replied forcing his eyes to look at the snow covered trees in front of him.
"Well if you say so, but you should wipe your sweat off then. You'll catch a cold and they suck."
"Shouldn't you be back inside warming yourself up by the brazier, too? I remember you saying how much you hate the cold." he glanced back down at her to see her eyes narrowed a bit; obviously not liking the way he spoke to her. He felt warmth in his heart when he saw her look back up at him challenging, but still had that small bit of embarrassment she always seemed to have around him.
She bent down and grabbed a fistful of snow. He watched her pat it into the shape of a ball and he wondered what she was going to do with it. She stepped away from him and shouted "I challenge you to a snowball fight!" and then threw the ball. It didn't reach him falling flat in front of him. It wasn't much of a threat so he didn't move from his position; merely looked at her with blankly, but inside he was laughing. The look on her face was adorable. Her cheeks flushed with the failure of her actions and he could see her recoil back into herself. He didn't want that to happen.
"I do not understand this snowball fight. Heisuke always does it when it snows, but it has never interested me." he hoped she would react and she did. She glanced up from the ground and frowned while whispering "Well I failed..."
She sat down on her knees ignoring the coldness that seeped through her clothes; grabbing another ball of snow. He wondered if she was going to try again. Maybe he should pretend to be hit this time? He moved over to her and waited for her to get up and throw the ball at him again, but she didn't. She stayed in the snow. He knelled down beside her; trying to get a closer look at what she was doing, but when she spotted him trying to peek she turned her body around hiding whatever she was doing from him. He frowned.
"May I ask what you are doing?" His only answer was
"Not yet! Give me a sec." And he left it at that. He looked back up to the sky as he waited for her to finish.
"Done. You can look now, see?" he turned his body back to face her and looked at what was I her raised hands. A rounded ball of snow with two leaves on it and two red berries; he didn't know what it was. She smiled up at him and asked.
"Do you like it? It's cute, right? I figured if I can't snowball fight I might as well do something I know I can do." Her smile was contagious even though he didn't know what it was he found himself smiling. He couldn't ruin her happiness all because he didn't know what the thing was.
"I see." He smiled down at her.
"You don't have a clue what it is, do you Saitou-San?" he was caught.
He glanced to the side trying to hide his reddening cheeks, but she saw it.
"It's a snow bunny. I made it for you, but I guess you don't like this kind of thing..." She said her eyes downcast and her expression had touch of sadness. He raised his hands to cup hers; holding the snow bunny.
"Not really...Your hands have gotten cold. It's better for you to go back inside and warm yourself up." he was good at changing the subject; he just hoped he hadn't hurt her feelings. She nodded and shivered just once; his hand brushed against hers more firmly at the action. He saw her face light up immediately and he wondered if she had gotten sick already.
"What's wrong? Your face has also turned red. Did you get frost bite?"
"Y-Yea, I get sick pretty easily um...I should head back inside." she pulled her hands away from his leaving the snow bunny to rest in his open palms. She nodded at him and walked away; head bent down watching her feet.
"I shall accept this snow rabbit. Thank you." he said loud enough for her to hear. She missed a step and stumbled a bit; she straightened up immediately and all but ran away. He smiled at her disappearing figure. He looked at the rabbit in his hands and the same warmth he felt when he first saw her dressed up came back; stronger this time. He walked over to the berry bushes and gently placed the bunny down.
"It is too bad it will melt instantly once it warms up, but unlike it my feelings will not melt with it."