Title: Speechless

Author: Tani

Pairing: TakaFuji

Rating: G

Summary: It's the first snow of the season and Fuji has a pink, fuzzy scarf.

Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis doesn't belong to me in any way, shape, or form.

Notes: Yes, it's a winter fic in the midst of summer. I was trying to get some sort of a handle on writing Kawamura's character the other night, and this is what came of it. Not really sure that I succeeded, but hope you enjoy anyway! This is being posted here because a certain someone (who knows who she is) was complaining about people who only post things on Livejournal. So this is for you. :)

Speechless

by Tani

Snowflakes drifted from the sky to settle gently in his hair. His breath was visible in the crisp cold air. It was the first snow of the season.

Kawamura hunched his shoulders and wished that he had worn a warmer jacket. He'd been running late this morning, so he hadn't bothered to check the weather. He hoped he didn't catch something. He really didn't have time to get sick now, with high school so much harder than he'd expected, and exams coming up. Not to mention that things were picking up at the restaurant. Now was definitely not the ideal time for getting sick.

Kawamura jumped as something fell around his shoulders. Part of him tensed, ready for a fight. The rest of him caught sight of Fuji Shuusuke's smiling face and relaxed. "Fuji, you startled me!"

"I'm sorry, Taka-san," Fuji apologized.

Kawamura smiled at his friend to let him know that he was forgiven, then turned his attention to the pink and fuzzy thing that was now adorning his neck. "What is this?" he asked, reaching a cautious hand up to tug at it a little.

Fuji batted the hand away with a little laugh. "It's a scarf."

Kawamura craned his neck to get a better view of the thing, and silently decided that a scarf it was indeed. That didn't explain why it was pink and fuzzy of course, but more pertinently... "And why did you feel the need to attack me with it?"

"You looked cold." Fuji reached up to tuck the scarf a little more securely around his neck, then tilted his head to regard the fruits of his labor. Apparently satisfied, he turned his face up to the cloudy sky. The snowflakes were falling more rapidly now, and Kawamura wondered how much snow they were supposed to get. He hoped he wouldn't have to end up shoveling the stuff. Fuji seemed unconcerned by the snow however, merely tilting his head back a bit farther to let the snowflakes land more easily on his face.

Kawamura watched, fascinated, as a snowflake got caught in Fuji's eyelashes, then disappeared with a blink. Fuji looked even more beautiful than usual, with snowflakes in his hair and roses in his cheeks. Kawamura wanted to kiss the snowflakes away and then put roses in his cheeks for a reason entirely separate from the cold air. Since he couldn't do so, he returned his attention to the monstrosity that was currently adorning his neck.

Checking to ensure that Fuji's attention was elsewhere, he reached up to remove the thing. The next thing he knew, his steps were stuttering to a stop as Fuji's hands closed over his and Fuji's blue blue eyes bored into him. They stood there for a moment, statues frozen in the snow. Finally, Kawamura's vocal cords loosened up enough to allow one word. "Fuji?"

For a moment, it seemed that Fuji wasn't going to reply. Then, "Leave it. It looks cute on you."

Kawamura's brain jolted to a stop. Cute? Unless he was hearing things, Fuji had just called him cute. The sudden rush of blood to his cheeks that thought brought was almost painful. And somehow in his distraction, Fuji managed to hook an arm through his and get the two of them walking again.

A few minutes later, Kawamura still couldn't think of anything to say, but strolling through the snow with Fuji on his arm, he found that he didn't really mind being speechless, just as long as it was always Fuji who took his words away.