Saline Smile [A Haikyuu!! Fanfiction]

Red Sweaters

A short warning:

Will contain vulgar language; proceed cautiously.

-

Kenma yawned widely, raising his hand to cover his mouth as he did while the hustle and bustle of the Tokyoite night life swelled around him.

Every which way, there was a street vender, hipster, or night crawler such as the ones around himself, weaving in a chaotically organized zig-zag pattern around each other, each holding their own in the swarm of flesh and clothes.

The cat eyed adolescent held in another yawn as he hastily adjusted his windbreaker before shoving his freezing hands straight into his coat pockets, pushing forward through the crowded streets.

Every so often, something or someone would catch his eye; it was natural, taking into account that Kenma was a rather observant boy, who was very, very aware of his surroundings and the people surrounding him. While something interest would indeed catch his eye here and there, Kenma found nothing worth stopping for until his eyes drifted towards one of the many benches that were bound to be on a Tokyoite sidewalk.

Kenma abruptly halted, his keen stare pointedly focused on a rather lightly tanned girl in a sprit red sweater, standing next to this seemingly ordinary bench, her head tilted up in some sort of detached fascination at the bright street lamps.

For a moment, he was almost convinced he saw a tinge of light green reflect off her clear blue eyes, but Kenma immediately registered it as a trick of the bright lights around him.

The girl reached up, as if she were trying to part through the harsh radiance of the city and find something. Her disinterested face turned into a more wide eyed, closed lipped look as she stared at the dark sky, her blue eyes suddenly reflecting the ebony night sky, turning them into a neutral, dull black. Her arm retracted slight as she started to inspect her palm.

She then slowly drew her two hands together, cupped them over her mouth, and breathed warm air onto them slowly, her misty breath slipping through the spaces of her fingers.

The realization of her being cold slapped Kenma right in the mouth as he watched her attempt-vainly-to warm her hands.

So, in an instantaneous and rather unplanned series of events, Kenma was quietly tapping the shoulder of this red sweatered girl, whom of which spun around, her eyes wide, and her lips parted-producing a very stunned expression on her part.

The pudding haired boy gave her a silence nod as he offered her his black mittens, (no, he definitely wasn't going to offer his scarf or coat; he wasn't too keen on getting sick. Especially for some random stranger on the street. It was would just be illogically stupid to do such a thing.) staring at her blankly as she looked from his to the mittens and then back to the mittens.

Her blue eyes flickered with something akin to gratitude, and for a moment, just a moment though, she looked like she was going to gladly accept his act of kindness; her hand extending in the universal act of acceptance. Her eyes lingered on the mittens, her hand extended, but hesitation clear in the way her eyebrows furrowed, and how she chewed her bottom lip unsurely.

After another beat, she brought her hand back to her side, and with a quick shake of the head, she gave him a thin, awkward smile.

"I can't. Those..." She paused, clearing her throat, and apparently thinking how she should explain her declination, "Well, those are yours. And, well..." And another pause; it seemed to him she had a problem with phrasing her dialogue properly, "Well, frankly, you could be one of those freaky nocturnal people. I mean; sure, you look normal now, but you might be a serial killer for all I know."

Kenma gave her this sort of, 'Are you fucking serious? Do I look like a serial killer to you?' look, but the girl's face remained carefully blank as she rubbed her hands against her thighs; presumably to make them warm.

"What I'm saying is-" She breathed out another short, misty breath of exasperation that Kenma definitely didn't miss as she tilted her head, giving him a blank look that looked a lot like his own in some aspects, "It's seriously fine. Besides it's cold outside-" Cue the, 'Well, no shit, Sherlock,' eyebrow raise given to her via Kenma, "And you need them more than me. So, yeah."

'She's insane.' Kenma thought as he took another step forward, grabbing one of her hands, and shoved his somewhat holey mittens into her small hands rather forcefully.

"You're completely insane," He told her monotonously as she stared at him with the most flabbergasted look he'd seen yet.

"U-Uh," She spluttered, her composure going down the drain, "Thanks?"

"Wasn't a compliment," Kenma quipped sharply as he shoved his bare hands into his cozy coat pockets.

Again, her blue eyes bore into him with a stupefied expression, her head tilted, auburn hair fluttering into her slightly parted mouth.

Kenma, being the composed sixteen year old he was, gave her a look. The sort of look he would give Kuroo when he knew his best friend was being stupid and weird and just plain annoying.

It was the Kenma Look.

The Kenma Look.

The girl quickly spat out the hair in her mouth, and clamped her mouth shut.

Then, she stared.

She just stare.

And stared and stared and stared.

Before cracking him a smile

'Completely insane.' Kenma noted again as her face nearly split from grinning so much, and her eyes crinkled to the point in which you couldn't see them anymore as she did.

The auburn haired girl's hands rubbed the mittens carefully with her right thumb, glancing up at him with a slightly less insane smile as she cleared her throat, "Uh-well... I mean-thanks. Really-really, thank you. I needed this. Thanks."

She raised the mittens up for emphasis.

The cat eyed boy shrugged nonchalantly at her, his eyes darting to the ground.

"Yeah, whatever."

"No, really," She slipped the mittens on, and pressed them to her red, unbearably cold cheeks, "I just realized something-so thanks."

"Like I said earlier-whatever." Kenma replied as he absentmindedly stared at the concrete below his feet (had it always been this interesting?) glancing up every now and then to see the girl in the red sweater tilting her head at him, mittened hands still on her cheeks.

"I'll... I'll give these back to you." She said slowly, "Definitely."

Kenma shook his head abruptly turning on his heels as he began to walk away.

"No. Just keep them. They were old anyway."

And that was that.

Kenma didn't even turn around when she called for him to come back.

Now, to find that video game store...

-

Hey!

Um, this is my first fanfiction, so please go easy on me!

Please excuse any grammatical errors or awkward wording you may find-I'm working on it!

I'd like to disclaim any of the drawings I post-they belong to their respective owners unless otherwise stated.

Haikyuu and its characters belong only to the wonderful and brilliant Furudate-sensei, as many if you know.

I do hope everyone enjoys my story!

Yours Sincerely,

witty-and-wry