"Shoutaaaa! C'mon!" Hizashi called as he waited in the walkway, bouncing from one foot to the other. "We're gonna be late!"
Shouta rolled his eyes but picked up his pace, albeit marginally (to Hizashi's slight annoyance).
As he caught up to his friend, Shouta gave a small smile when he was sure Hizashi wasn't looking. The blond launched into a light-hearted rant about this new up-and-coming band that he was currently obsessed with. His musical interests seemed to vary weekly, sometimes even daily, to Shouta's great amusement, but he didn't dare interrupt.
It was always fun to hear about something that Hizashi was passionate about. Even if Shouta wasn't particularly interested in the subject, he found that he could listen to Hizashi talk for ages about the most mundane topics.
They had only walked together for a few seconds, however, before a small shadow moved in his peripheral vision, and Shouta allowed himself to be distracted, slowing his gait.
He distantly heard Hizashi's voice, first exasperated, then confused, but Shouta ignored it for once.
Following where he'd last seen the shadow, Shouta finally stopped at the base of a tree. He crouched down, entranced with the whatever-that-was hiding under the tree.
"Dude, what's going on?"
Carefully reaching out, Shouta pulled a scraggly root out of the way before reaching into a shallow hole so close to the trunk of the tree that it was nearly invisible.
Shouta turned back around, cradling the tiny kitten in his arms. He looked up and met his best friend's gaze, who was at a loss for words.
That caught him off guard. His friend, Hizashi Yamada, the loudest person he'd ever met, struck speechless? He never saw it coming. The blond's eyes flicked between Shouta's face and the kitten pressed against his chest.
Was he... sweating? And he looked a bit red in the face too.
Now that Shouta thought about it, it was a rather warm day. There were almost no clouds in the sky, allowing the sun to beat down mercilessly on its unsuspecting victims.
As someone who often endured the pain of sunburns (curse his pale skin), Shouta didn't really care for this weather.
But, seeing Hizashi get visibly warm right in front of his eyes made him pause. Why? he wondered. I've literally sparred with him to the point where we both work up a sweat. Why does this time feel different?
Shouta pushed his confusion down, instead choosing to assess the small creature in his hands.
The kitten was small, probably less than a month old. She sported fluffy dark gray fur with ginger-colored fur on her legs and the tip of her tail. Her mother was nowhere to be seen. It was likely, Shouta rationalized, that this little one was the runt of the litter, and the mother let go of the weakest offspring so that the others would have a fighting chance.
It was barbaric, Shouta couldn't help but think as he nuzzled the kitten. "I couldn't just leave her here," he answered Hizashi's unspoken question.
The blond visibly shook himself and his face returned to its normal color. Weird, but okay, Shouta thought for a second before his friend was leaning forward so that he could see the kitten up close.
"Hey, little listener," he murmured as he reached out a hand to scratch her behind the ears. "How'd you end up over here?"
Shouta smiled. That was another thing he respected about Hizashi. He could be energetic and bombastic in one moment, and then in the next he'd be quiet and sensitive. He knew how to read a situation at a moment's glance and determine the right amount of energy to deal with it in seconds.
