SanaTams piece. Incomplete.
Slightly AU-ish, I'm still deciding if I want to include this.



Outside, it was snowing.

He mused quietly at how the weather had been terribly gloomy as of late despite the onset of the holiday season, and his eyes noted how the crowd of people crossing the street had armed themselves dutifully with umbrellas and waterproof jackets, hooded sweaters or occasional hats. The streets were a mix of white and grey, dirt mixing in with the ice that settled all around, and glancing briefly over his shoulder to the back row, the stream of chatter continued in hushed tones accompanied by half-hidden smiles. He could hear fingers typing rapidly over the keyboards and the clicks of links and urls, people sneaking in their favorite webpages, personal blogs and networking sites as the instructor rambled on and on upfront.

"Ne, Tam-chan?" Someone hissed softly. "What are the boxes for?" He pegged the voice as Ayame-chan's, and true enough, when he sent a sideways glance to his right, Mitsuda Ayame was peering nosily at the clear plastic bag holding three gold-colored boxes, all of which were wrapped neatly with a finely-patterned Christmas ribbon. The girl to whom these boxes belonged sat to her left, eyes turned forward as she typed down something into one open document or another.

"Shhh," Tamara Madrigal murmured softly, her lips barely moving as she spoke to her friend. She looked perfectly disciplined, if one were to view her through the eyes of their instructor: attention focused on the lesson, dutifully taking down the topic of discussion; an image of a model student, so unlike the rest of those preoccupied with the internet capability that they freely abused.

"It's for my friends. I promised them home-made cupcakes." Her fingers typed out a stream of letters, pausing only briefly, he imagined, between ideas. She was a literature major -- one of the few in this particular computer class, and he had heard, notorious for writing her fiction pieces in the middle of class.

"Aaaahhh... sugoi~!" Ayame cooed, covering her mouth when she realized that she had spoken just a little too loudly. The rest of her sentence was lost to him, but he couldn't help but smile, few heads had turned to see what the commotion was about, but their professor continued as if he had heard nothing.

Opening a webpage of his own, he signed onto the messenger service that allowed him access to a slew of online chat accounts and typed in a brief message meant to chide the two:

theartofwar0521: Keep it down you two. I know that Kaneshi-sensei
is incredibly dense when it comes to realizing that his students find him
boring, but really... You should be a little bit more discreet.

He paused a moment, rereading his words to clear out any inconsistencies in his grammar. Too formal, a voice laughed at him at the back of his head, and rolling his eyes to himself he added one more sentence to make it at least a little bit more casual.

theartofwar0521: Btw, I didn't know you baked.

He smiled and sent the message off, his attention turning back to the hand-written notes that he'd been studying on the sly. He had a quiz to prepare for and since his theory class was immediately after this one, if he were to wait until after the class to study, he would no doubt be more frazzled than he wanted to be.

He enjoyed university but really, a breather would have been nice.

A small icon blinked at the lower left of his screen and without missing a beat, his mind half-processing the information being fed to him upfront, he brought the message up for him to see.

tamad_ako: I don't ^^;

A rare smile crossed his features and he typed in a few words, but another reply came through making him pause.

tamad_ako: It was a series of trial and error. Do you want one? I have
about ten extra and I'm giving Aya one anyway... My host-mother
helped me with them, so don't worry, they're edible. o(-.-)o

Sanada Genichirou bit back a laugh and turned his head around to hopefully meet her gaze. When their eyes met, Tams offered him a bright and toothy smile, before ducking her head down just as Kaneshi-sensei turned around to face his inattentive audience.

theartofwar0521: I didn't say that they weren't edible. A bit defensive,
aren't we?

tamad_ako: I'm just saying that you've got nothing to worry about. So,
do you want one? Or are you one of those people who don't like chocolate?

He drummed his fingers over the keypad, considering her offer. He wasn't particularly fond of chocolate -- his tastes, afterall, ran to other sorts of food -- but her knew someone who was...

He glanced outside once more, noting that the color of the sky was dimmer than several minutes ago. The clock on his laptop read 5:33; he had a date to catch at eight o'clock later that night, and since he expected his "quiz" to last roughly an hour and a half, any chance for him to run off to a confectionery was completely out of the question if he was to get to the meeting point earlier than his expected.

theartofwar0521: I don't eat so much of it, if that's what you mean. But
I'd love to have two, if you can spare one more.

He sent off the message and waited for the reply, schooling his features to appear as though he was involved with the lesson, his steno pad hidden behind the facade of his computer. He reviewed his notes discreetly, committing to memory important names and keywords.

tamad_ako: Sure. I'll give them to you after class.

He smiled and closed the window, assuming that their conversation was over, ready enough to push all other thoughts away in favor of studying.

tamad_ako: You're talking again, right? That's great, btw. Will two be enough
though? I can spare a few more if you want. I saw the College of Arts students
selling these pretty boxes down by the canteen, you could buy one to make it
look as though you had them ordered.

An invisible fist curled it's fingers around the center of his chest as he read her words, both touched and embarrassed by the worry that laced her message. Looking over his shoulder, he caught sight of the sobriety of her features as she continued to type, apparently unaware that his sights were trained on her.

theartofwar0521: Tamara-chan sounds worried. And thank you, if it's alright
that I get about... maybe five? I would appreciate it. Thank you. I will get
a box.

5:57pm. Near the blackboard, Kaneshi-sensei wrapped up the lesson, his voice feeble as the cough that seemed to come back every three weeks cut into what might have been a perfectly executed holiday greeting. Christmas was just three days away, and the weekend had already begun for some.

"Sanada-kun," he looked up to see her standing right beside his table, a small plastic container filled with five chocolate cupcakes held out towards him. "You can give the container back when school starts again." Her lips smiled, but her eyes didn't -- at least not as much as they normally did.

He nodded, albeit a bit stiffly, his hands still resting on the keyboard of his laptop. He noted how she gently set it down on his table, and watched quietly as she stepped back, turning around with a seemingly cheery tone to her voice as she called out to Ayame to wait for her.

His theory classmates started filing in, familiar voices intruding on the moment that was quickly fading away. "Oi, Genichirou-kun, what have you studied?" One of them asked, peering over his shoulder to read his notes. "Aaaahhh! He's quizzing us on that?!?"

"Hai." He murmured, rising from his seat in one fluid and controlled motion. "I'll be back in a bit. I need to use the washroom." He paused briefly at the door and looked over his shoulder. "Don't touch the cupcakes. They're not for any of you."

And as he walked out into the hall, his eyes scanning the crowd, he wondered about a particular kind of sweetness: one that made him laugh at himself and his slightly embarrassing quirks, one that allowed him the freedom to be spontaneous in a way that he had never been except in the company of older friends and more comfortable arenas.

* * *

theartofwar0521: Tamara-chan, may I ask something?
tamad_ako: Sure, what's up?
theartofwar0521: I heard Miko-kun laugh at your chat screenname. Why is that?
tamad_ako: o(^^)o Because it's something of a joke. A play of words on my name.
theartofwar0521: How so?
mad_ako: It can mean a combination of my first and last name.
theartofwar0521: I know that. Ta = Tamara, Mad = Madrigal. Ako, if I remember it right is "I" in Filipino, ne?
tamad_ako: Yup.
tamad_ako: But 'tamad' also means 'lazy'. o(^^)o
theartofwar0521: ...