A/N: A one-shot Chiaki/Kotoha story.

I wanted to write a winter related story and this is what I came up with. Ended up rewriting this like three times and for those of you that read my note after chapter 9 of Fated, will understand why this isn't particually great, but I needed to keep myself busy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Samurai Sentai Shinkenger. It belongs to Toei.

Snowy Wish

Chiaki walked out onto the garden veranda in the Shiba Mansion. He shivered with cold and wrapped his jacket around him tighter in an attempt to keep warm. He looked out at the frost-covered garden and was surprised to see someone sat at the other end of the veranda.

"Hey." He walked over to them.

Kotoha jumped with surprise. "Hi," she replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you cold?"

She shook her head. "No." She sighed and looked back at the garden. "It's really pretty, isn't it?"

"Uh, yeah." Chiaki walked over and sat down next to her. Instead of her usual shorts, she was wearing long jeans, with her boots and was wrapped in a thick coat. He looked back at the garden with its blue-white colours.

"This is going to be my first winter away from my sister, I hope she'll be alright," Kotoha said quietly.

"If she's anything like you, she'll be perfectly fine." Chiaki smiled. Kotoha looked up at him and gave him a small smile.

"You're right," she replied, "but I miss her."

Chiaki sighed. He didn't like to see down like this. He jumped up and held his hand out to her. "Let's do something fun."

She looked up at him, curious, before taking his hand so that he could help her up. "Okay."

"But, you have to wait here for a minute, alright?" His smile increased. "It's a surprise." Kotoha tilted her head to one side, her curiosity increasing. "I'll be right back," he said, running back into the mansion.

Kotoha stood alone on the veranda and shivered slightly. She thought about going to get her scarf and gloves but decided against it, worried that if Chiaki came back and saw that she was gone that he might think that she had chickened out. The excitement she was beginning to feel kept her from feeling the cold too much. The longer she waited, the more curious she became. She really wanted to know what this surprise was that would cheer her up and because it was Chiaki, she knew that it would be something exciting, though she was hoping that it wouldn't be a trip to the arcade, something she knew he found 'fun'.

She felt another shiver run through her and was beginning to regret not going for her scarf and gloves when a voice behind her said, "Here." She jumped again and turned to see Chiaki standing there with her scarf and gloves. He was also wrapped up and had a sports bag slung over his shoulder.

"Thank you. What's in the bag?" she asked, wrapping her scarf around her neck before putting on her gloves.

"It's part of the surprise," Chiaki replied, smiling again. "You ready?"

"Yep."

She followed him out onto the frosty street. She stayed close to him in case she slipped due to the ice that covered the pavement, at least then she would have something to hold on to. Like the garden everything was covered in blue-white frost and she couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of it. She had seen scenes like this back home in Kyoto, but she still found it all too stunning to imagine. The streets were deserted, no one around due to the ice, Kotoha thought. A couple of times she asked where they were going, but each time Chiaki told her that it was a surprise.

"We're here," Chiaki eventually said as they stopped at the edge of a lake that was covered in thick ice.

"What are we doing here?" Kotoha asked.

Chiaki put the bag on the frozen grass and opened it. He rummaged in it before taking out a pair of ice skates. He handed them to her. "Here."

She took them, curiosity covering her face. "What are these for?"

"I'm going to teach you to ice skate," Chiaki replied, sitting on the grass and taking off his trainers, replacing them with his own pair of skates.

Kotoha suddenly felt incredibly nervous. "I've never ice skated before."

Chiaki sighed. "I'm going to teach you," he repeated. He looked up at her, "Come on, it'll fun, I promise."

Kotoha looked unsure for a moment before sitting on the bag and taking off her boots. "At least it's not the arcade," she said.

Chiaki couldn't help but laugh. He stood up and stepped onto the ice. Kotoha watched him and was surprised at how steady and graceful he was as he skated. He spun around a couple of times before coming to a stop in front of her. He laughed again at her surprise.

"I can't do that!" she gasped.

"I'll help you." He held out his hand and helped her up. He moved his feet carefully so that he was standing next to her. "Just take it one step at a time."

She nodded in response, looking down at her feet. She took a step onto the ice and straight away she felt herself slip backwards. Chiaki held onto her.

"Don't worry," he told her. "I won't let go."

She nodded again, but he noticed that her grip on his hand tightened. Hesitantly she placed her other foot on the ice. She looked up at him. "What now?"

"Now you move your feet one at a time, as though you're walking," he said, keeping hold of her hand as he skated round so that he was in front of her. He took her other hand. "Ready?"

She gripped his hands tightly and lifted her foot too high so that she lost her balance and fell forward onto the Chiaki, making both of them fall down.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Chiaki replied, slightly breathless as he lay on his back.

Kotoha moved off of him and sat on the ice, too nervous to move. Chiaki sat up and rubbed the back of his head.

"I'm sorry," she apologised again.

"Don't worry, it's my fault," he said, smiling at her. "I think I should have just helped you across the ice before I actually taught you anything."

"So you're not mad at me?"

"Mad? Why would I be mad? This is your first time and these things take practice." He stood up and held out his hands to help her up. She took them, sliding across the ice slightly. "Okay, this time I'm just going to pull you across the ice."

She took a deep breath and braced herself. She felt Chiaki begin to pull her gently and slowly across the ice. "Oh!" she cried as she moved. It was a weird sensation, but it felt incredible, as though she were floating. She looked at Chiaki's face and saw that he was still smiling happily, despite the look of concentration visible in his features. She couldn't resist but let out a giggle.

"What?" he asked, surprised that she was laughing.

"It's just, you look funny when you concentrate." She let out another small laugh.

"Oh really." Chiaki's expression turned serious. "If you want I could just leave you here." He moved his head, gesturing to Kotoha that they were now skating in the middle of the lake.

"No! I'm sorry," she cried, seeing that he was serious about what he said.

"Hey," Chiaki laughed, "I'm kidding. Of course I'm not going to leave you." He pulled her faster and she laughed. "You ready to have a go on your own?" he asked, once they had done a couple of laps of the lake.

Kotoha paused and bit her lip nervously. "I don't know. I don't know if I can."

Chiaki squeezed her hands. "I'll be with you the entire time," he reminded her. "I won't let go, promise."

This reassured her and she gave him a slight nod. Chiaki skated backwards again and this time, instead of gliding along, Kotoha slowly lifted her foot and, swaying slightly, managed to place it back on the ice before moving her other foot. She looked up at him and laughed. "I'm doing it!"

Chiaki laughed and let go of one of hands, swinging himself round so that he was skating next to her.

"Wow, this is amazing! I can't believe I'm actually skating!"

"Yeah, you are."

Kotoha laughed again before letting out a scream as she fell backwards. "Owww!" she moaned, rubbing her back.

"Kotoha, are you alright?" Chiaki asked, worried, though he was struggling not to laugh at the same time.

"Oww," she moaned again, "yeah, I'm alright." She looked up and saw that he was laughing. "Hey, it's not funny."

"Yeah, it is. Sorry, but I can't help it. The way you just went down," he laughed again.

Kotoha frowned. "Are you going to help me up?"

Chiaki tried to keep a straight face, "Uh, yeah. Here." He offered her his hand which she took before pulling him down so that he also fell onto the ice. Kotoha laughed this time and Chiaki laughed along with her as they both sat on the frozen lake.

Eventually, Chiaki stood back up, taking her with him. "Do you want to skate some more or have you had enough?"

"Umm, I'd like to do some more skating," she replied, using her free hand to brush the ice off herself.

"Okay." He waited for her to move, letting her lead the way and increase her confidence. After a short while, he carefully let go of her hand and she skated a few paces before realising that he'd let go. She turned her head to look at him, her face angst.

"What are you doing?"

"Just seeing if you can – wait, watch where you're going?" Chiaki yelled a moment too late as she skated off of the lake and landed head first into a pile of snow. He quickly skated over. "Kotoha!" There was no response and he called her name again. This time, she pushed herself out of the snow. She was completely covered and he couldn't help but not laugh at her again.

"Chiaki!"

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to see if you could skate by yourself."

Kotoha responded by throwing a large snowball at him. It hit him directly in his face and she let out a loud laugh.

"Hey!" he moaned, brushing the snow off of his face.

"That's for letting go!"

"I said I was sorry," he replied as another snowball hit his chest. "What was that one for?"

Kotoha giggled. "Because I felt like it." She threw another one at him, but he avoided it. He skated over to the bank a short distance away from her and picked up some snow. He moulded it into a ball before throwing it at her, hitting her face.

"Oww!"

"Sorry, are you alright?"

She responded by throwing another snowball at him. It hit his arm, knocking off balance. He fell into the mound of snow laughing. Kotoha crawled over to him, not wanting to risk skating on the ice again and lay next to him, also laughing.

"Thank you," she said, once she'd calmed down.

"For what?" Chiaki turned his head so that he was facing her.

"For this." She also turned her head and looked at him, a small smile of her face. "It really cheered me up." She reached over and brushed some of the snow out of his hair, blushing as she did so.

"You're welcome." He smiled back at her, before sitting up. She followed his movement and they both looked across the lake.

"We really should do this again," she said, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, we should." Chiaki smiled down at her, before wrapping his arm around her.

A/N: Please review, even though it's not great. Also, as you can tell, I don't know anything about ice-skating. Just used it because it was something nice for them to do.

Song: Snowy Wish

Artist: SNSD/ Girls Generation