Thank you: akinos, karupin sama, ravensterling123, toshirokun13, SillyWQ, ZoeyExtreme for your reviews. ^^

Here's a link to a picture crunchy_salad did for my fic as part of the submission this was used for: http : / i56. tinypic. com / zmfpf6. jpg

Here's an early update. Merry Christmas! ^^


Skating on Thin Ice – Ni (Learning)

Two weeks later, Ichigo was nowhere near reaching a conclusion on his feelings towards the white haired junior and worse, he was stuck in a room with him for three days.

He had continued with his research the next morning after his conversation with Rukia and had observed an interesting point. 'Toushirou never gives interviews. That makes the articles potentially subjective. Then again, how likely is he to tell me his point of view?'

The only thing he knew was that he was interested in Toushirou. Why exactly he could not explain – it was more than just a combination of wanting to know the real Toushirou behind that cold expression he wore, and the feeling of wanting to protect him, to comfort him given all that he went through. There were other things, including hoping to see the white haired teenager smile some day and his unique looks.

Despite all these, the orange haired sophomore was not sure if he really liked Toushirou enough to dare term it 'love'. There was something else that weighed on his considerations as well – he did not know if Toushirou liked guys. It was futile to fall in love with a straight guy. Ichigo's first crush had been on one, and throughout the whole process, he had been the only one to bear the burden of unrequited puppy love.

He had learnt his lesson after that.

"Kurosaki, it's time to head to the rink." Toushirou's crisp voice jolted him out of his thoughts. "Oh, give me a minute." Grabbing his brown messenger bag from the floor, Ichigo checked to see if the book he had brought on the nervous system, his iPod and headphones, and his writing pad and stationary were in it, before slinging it over his shoulder and standing.

He grabbed the pair of skates standing at the doorway and headed out into the corridor, the white haired skater following behind him. "Give me my skates," growled Toushirou as they walked to the lift.

"Byakuya said to carry them for you to and from the rink," Ichigo responded, meeting the stern gaze with a stubborn one of his own. He watched as the shorter skater crossed his arms as they entered the lift and grinned, knowing what was to come.

As he expected, Toushirou refused to look at him or speak to him as they walked two blocks down to the rink for the practice skate. It had not taken him long to pick up on the habits of the white haired teenager. They had arrived in Michigan the previous night, together with Rukia and had been more than surprised when he was told at the counter he was rooming with the skater.

While he had shared rooms for the occasional out of state event he had to report on, he had never actually roomed with one of the athletes. It thus came as a surprise that a twin room had been booked for Toushirou and him. Neither of them had complained though and they had settled in for the night after managing to come to an understanding.

Entering the rink, Ichigo followed behind Toushirou as he headed to report to the officials, before finally handing the black skates discreetly branded with the logo of Kuchiki Sportswear to the skater at a glare. Stretching, the orange haired student reporter looked around the rink for a suitable place to watch the practice from. Spotting someone waving from the corner of his eye, he turned and saw Rukia, with Rangiku following behind her.

Toushirou turned towards his minder after nodding in acknowledgement to the officials. "I'm starting in 15 minutes and will be done in an hour. Official practice is at 7 tomorrow and 10 on Sunday. The short programme's at 2 on Saturday and the free skate's at 4 on Sunday."

"Okay, I've got that." He noted the orange haired sophomore's reply with a nod, then turned back to the rink. Somewhat distracted by his plans for practice, the white haired skater failed to notice the familiar voice that rang out. "Sempai!"

Turning too late to avoid the warm embrace from the strawberry blonde, Toushirou struggled slightly as the voluptuous junior crushed herself against him. "Matsumoto!" At that command, the blonde junior released him before grinning at him.

"Matsumoto, what are you doing here?" He queried, arching his eyebrow slightly.

"Oh sempai, it's your first competition in three years. Of course I had to come to support you!" Despite her cheerful reply, their eyes met and he caught the unspoken seriousness in her gaze. His gaze darkened slightly for an instant as the events from three years ago passed through his mind, before returning to its normal cool one.

"I have to get ready." Turning away, he sat down and began taking off his shoes while listening to the conversation behind him.

"Hi Ichigo! Anyway, I'm rooming with Rukia. Kuchiki-san sponsored my trip and I'll be Rukia's minder and Coach Ukitake is flying in later tonight. What else was I supposed to tell you?" Matsumoto's familiar voice was loud enough for any passer-bys to hear.

"Oh, and we've decided that you're going to go shopping with me tomorrow, while Rukia and sempai have their practice." "What?" That was Kurosaki, his voice lower than the two girls.

Missing the conspiratorial wink between the two girls as he laced up his skates, Toushirou then heard a question directed at him. "Sem-pai, it's okay if you don't have Ichigo around for practice tomorrow right?"

Standing, he turned and caught sight of the 'Please, no' look in Kurosaki's eyes. Ignoring it, the skater replied, "Well, if Kuchiki doesn't mind not having you, I don't need Kurosaki around too."

"I don't. In fact, I think it'll be good for Ichigo to spend some time with Rangiku." A smirking Kuchiki Rukia replied, looking at Kurosaki. Watching as Matsumoto clapped her hands together and replied, "That's settled then," Toushirou turned back to the rink and noted that the ice surfacing was almost done.

Once it was done, he headed onto the ice surface, making several rounds on it, getting acquainted with it and warming up. It was familiar as always and after deciding that he was sufficiently warmed up, he began on his routine. As he had done while preparing for his previous competitions, he only practiced the more complicated parts of his programmes, not wanting to reveal the whole programme.

Time flew by as he skated and before he knew it, his hour was up. Slightly hungry after the practice, Toushirou headed off the ice a tad reluctantly. He sat down and began unlacing his skates.

Halfway through, he heard the familiar voices of his companions and grunted in response when Matsumoto sat down next to him and asked how his practice had gone. When he was finally done, the trio had already decided on where they would be having dinner, and he grudgingly handed his skates over to his orange haired minder before following them as they headed for dinner.


"Rangiku, tell me again, why is it that I need to go shopping with you?"

"Well… I need someone to help me carry my shopping." The strawberry blonde junior grinned back at Ichigo, who was already holding four separate bags of clothes after coming out from one mall. "There's still so much more to look at."

Sighing, Ichigo noted that she was not going to be offering any information about Toushirou without him asking and began to plan how he could ask her about the white haired junior. She was, probably the closest person to him, from what he had seen since knowing Toushirou.

As they walked down the street along a row of shops, he had ordered his thoughts sufficiently and decided that it was appropriate to begin the questioning as Rangiku hemmed and hawed while she browsed the window displays. "Rangiku, mind if I ask you some stuff about Toushirou?"

"Hmm..? What do you want to know?" Rangiku replied in her typical absent-minded manner, seeming more interested in the window displays.

"Well, how long have you known him?"

Holding up a hand, the blonde began muttering to herself as she counted off the years on her fingers. "That's three years of college, then three years of senior high. Hmm… it's three years right? When did I see him..? Tenth grade, so three years." Turning to the orange haired teenager, she replied, "That makes about six years. Sempai and his sister transferred to my school and he was in my tenth grade classes. His sister was, I think, in her senior year when they transferred."

Catching sight of another interesting clothes display, Rangiku then dragged Ichigo into yet another store. As she bustled around the racks, looking at the dresses, Ichigo wondered, 'Six years, which means she's known him even before the suicide and she might know his sister as well.'

Finding nothing that caught her eye, Rangiku then proceeded out of the store, making her way down the street, with Ichigo following behind her. "Why do you keep calling him sempai anyway?"

"Sempai doesn't like people calling him by his name. Since he started helping me with homework and assignments in high school, I've been calling him sempai, even though he's actually younger than me." Rangiku laughed, then looked down at her watch. "It's time for lunch. Any preferences?"

"Erm… nope. Anything's fine."

"Okay then. I think I saw this Italian place in the mall ahead yesterday. My treat." Rangiku smiled.

Ten minutes later, they were seated in the restaurant. After placing their orders with the waiter, Ichigo took a sip of water before resuming with his questions. "So, did you know for very long that he was returning to skating?"

"Nope. Rukia only told me a few days ago and I immediately decided to come when she asked if I wanted to come along with her. I get to see sempai skate and get to shop in somewhere new into the bargain. After what happened three years ago, it did come as a surprise to hear that he agreed to skate again." Rangiku replied, expression turning slightly serious.

"You mean he said he wouldn't skate ever again after that situation three years ago?" Ichigo asked, surprise obvious in his tone.

"I guess it isn't hard to find out about her suicide huh?" Shrugging her shoulders, Rangiku continued, "Yep, he did. Sempai swore he'd never skate again after Momo died 'cos of Aizen. It's good that Rukia managed to convince him to come back; he's always loved to skate ever since I've known him."

Ichigo nodded before deciding to take the chance to ask more about the white haired skater. "What else does he like besides skating?"

"Thank you," Rangiku muttered to the waiter who brought their food. "Well, sempai enjoys cold weather and watermelons. He can't stand the summer, so he used to hang out in air conditioned places back when we were in Cali. He probably enjoys the winter now; I find it a hassle wrapping up though." Munching on a piece of pizza, the blonde junior thought for a moment, "Oh, he also loves his grandmother's amanattou. It's a kind of Japanese sweet made of azuki beans and covered with sugar. It's not easy to find here though."

'I wonder if I should ask about his sister. It seems like I'm prying too much…' As Ichigo filed the white haired junior's likes and dislikes away in his mind, he wondered if it would be good to ask more. It seemed to him that Rangiku did not know much about his skating. If he were to ask any further, it'd be more like an invasion of his privacy.

Rangiku however, interrupted his thoughts with a question that caught him off guard. "So Ichigo, what do you like?"

Watching the blonde grin at him, Ichigo flushed slightly and wondered how it came to be his turn to answer questions. "Erm… well, just the normal stuff I guess. I like rock music, ice hockey, ice cream, and hanging out with Renji and the rest of the guys." Putting another fork of spaghetti into his mouth, he chewed on it and waited to see if Rangiku would continue to ask weird questions.

"So… do you like guys or rather, Hitsugaya-sempai?"

"Shhh!" Blushing furiously this time as he tried to hush the blonde who had been speaking in her usual loud tones, Ichigo scowled at her. "What the hell did you just ask?" Despite whispering this time, the irritation in his tone was unmistakeable.

"I think you heard correctly the first time," Rangiku replied with a smirk.

'Think, idiot and calm down.' "I, er…, like guys," 'Wait, what did I just say?' "I don't know if I actually like Toushirou though." Voice fading down to an even softer whisper, Ichigo sat in his chair, still blushing but trying to see what Rangiku would make of the whole situation.

"Oh, don't worry. Rukia's told me already. I'm just here to see if you actually like him." Grinning like a Cheshire cat, the blonde replied. "You are really cute when you blush, you know."

"Rukia told you?" Ichigo raised his voice in disbelief, before realising that he was attracting attention again and shut his mouth immediately. Forcing himself to take a mouthful of the spaghetti, he chewed on it for a moment before another thought came into his mind. "Toushirou knows?" 'Oh fuck!'

"Nope, he doesn't. I'm not going to be spilling secrets to him. For you though, I think there are some things you should know." Sounding more mature than her usual self, Rangiku continued, "I won't blame you if you decide to drop everything after this. If you do hurt him, I don't think you want to know what I can do though."

"From what I do know, sempai's parents died in some car accident when he was really young. He was sent to live with his grandmother in Cali, with Momo, who's actually his distant cousin, though they treated each other like siblings. They clicked right from the start, since her parents had passed away too, and went to the same school."

"Some time later, after she picked up ice skating, he decided to take it up as well so he could keep a look out for her. She was good and on course to win something, then came what you know." Rangiku looked at Ichigo for some acknowledgement, but seeing the slight confusion, she continued.

"Well you know, the suicide." There was a tinge of sadness in her voice as she continued. "After that, sempai was intent on proving that Aizen played a part in causing it. He's been so focused on trying to find evidence; between that and his studies, he didn't seem to be doing anything else. I've never seen him smile again since; he used to joke with Momo, even though he was generally cool around most people. It seems as though he's closed himself off from everyone."

Ichigo sat in silence, taking another sip of water as he digested the information. There was something that bugged him still; Rangiku had not mentioned any boyfriends or any sort of relationship. "Do you know if Toushirou's gay?"

"Nope," Rangiku replied in her normal tone. "That shouldn't be a problem since he hasn't been in any relationships at all."

"You mean you want me to try to get that ice block to go out with me, without even knowing whether there's a chance he will like me. You must be joking. Hell, there's no chance I'm going to fall for that." Ichigo hissed, scowl returning in full force as he recalled his first crush.

"It wouldn't hurt for you to try?"

"Damn right it won't." Ichigo rebutted, raising his voice slightly. "How much do you know about unrequited love?" He snarled.

Surprisingly, Rangiku seemed unnaturally subdued when she replied, her cheery disposition deflated. "I do. Trust me. Some times, there's nothing more you can do, but believe in that person."

Ichigo had no reply to that. It was only several moments later that he managed to reply grudgingly after some thought, "I guess…I'll… give it a shot then."

"Now that it's settled, it's time for more shopping." Smiling as normal, Rangiku waved her hand vigorously in the air for a waiter to settle the bill.


The next morning, the first day of the competition, Ichigo woke up even before the alarm went off. Sitting up, he looked over at the sleeping figure of the white haired skater. Innocent in sleep, the only thing that marred it was the slight frown across his lips. 'I sure hope you're worth the trouble.' He sat in silence in the few minutes before the alarm went off.

"Mornin' Tosh'." The orange haired student reporter stretched as he got out of bed and greeted the skater. White haired messily tousled, the skater sat up in bed, seeming not fully awake and grunted in reply.

After they both washed up and dressed, they headed down to the restaurant in the hotel lobby for the breakfast buffet. Shortly after they started picking out their food, they were joined by Rukia and Rangiku. Breakfast passed mostly in silence until Rukia asked, "Hitsugaya-sempai, we're headed to the rink after breakfast. Do you mind coming early or do you want to wait until it's time for your warm up?"

Taking a sip of his orange juice, the white haired skater seemed to ponder for a moment before he replied. "It's fine. I'll go early. I just need my iPod since I'll be listening to the pieces whether I'm here or there."

"Okay then. We'll meet back at the lobby in fifteen minutes then." Wrapping up their breakfast soon after, they headed back to their respective rooms to pack for the day. Back in their room, Ichigo checked his bag to ensure that he had everything he needed and grabbed the skates. This time, the action elicited no protest from the skater, who was carrying a backpack.

Reaching the lobby early, they waited five minutes for the two girls before they headed to the rink. "So sempai, how are you feeling? It's been so long since you skated." Rangiku's cheery voice called out as they walked.

"Hn. I have been skating since the beginning of the year if you didn't know," came the stoic reply.

"So Rukia, what do you think of the level of competition?" Ichigo asked, having missed the practice session yesterday. Even though his article would be focused on Rukia and Toushirou, he still needed some information about the other competitors.

The black haired skater considered briefly before replying. "There are only two other skaters here who placed within the top ten at this year's nationals, Lenalee Lee and Aria Link. I'm expecting somewhat tough competition. For the guys, well, the defending champion is Aaroniero Arruruerie, a senior from Las Noches, who also placed within the top ten at this year's nationals. There are only four guys here though, so it's probably between the both of them." She glanced at the white haired skater, then back to the orange haired teenager.

Ichigo nodded his head, glancing at Toushirou, who looked his usual self. "Good luck then." Reaching the rink, the four of them headed for the reporting officials before they headed for the seats sans Rukia, who had to get ready for her official short programme practice.

This time, Toushirou led the trio up the stairs to seats higher up in the rink. Seating himself, he pulled out his iPod and earphones before speaking. "Don't bother me until lunch when Rukia's done." Ichigo nodded and watched as he glared at Rangiku, seeming to reinforce his words before pulling out a book from his backpack.

"So Ichigo, tell me more about the competition." The blonde said, sitting down, and pulling the orange haired student down to seat between herself and Toushirou.

"You mean you don't know and you're here? How many competitions have you been to?" Ichigo replied in disbelief.

"This is my second. The first was the national competition thingy that sempai won." Rangiku said with a smile.

"Here's a quick run through then. There's two parts to the competition, the short programme and the free skate. During the former, the skater has to perform certain specified moves, called elements, within the time given, with music. For the latter, they have a longer time to express themselves and the elements are slightly less restricted.

There are four types of elements – jumps, spins, the step sequence and spiral sequence. The spiral sequence is only for ladies, while both men and ladies do the other three. Within each group of elements, there are different variations. For spins, there are three general types, sitting, camel and upright."

"Camel? What's camel?" asked the blonde.

"That's when the skater has one leg on ice and the body and the free leg form a 'T-shape'. There's someone on the rink practicing now – that girl in orange." Ichigo pointed out and watched Rangiku nod in acknowledgement before he continued.

"For the jumps, there are six types. From easiest to hardest, they are called the toe loop, Salchow, loop, flip, Lutz and Axel. It's not easy to differentiate them because they classified by how the skater launches himself into air, and how the skater lands back on the ice.

For all these elements, there are marks allocated. There's also another part like the choreography and how the skater performs that has marks. The marks given by all the judges are then averaged to give the final marks for both parts. The winner is the one with the most marks." Looking over at Rangiku, Ichigo wonders if she understood his introduction.

"Okay then, I'll ask later if I have any questions." Catching sight of a familiar figure on the ice, Rangiku suddenly exclaimed, "That's Rukia."

"Ah, I see her." Ichigo replied, glancing around the rink before spotting the white clad figure. After observing her for a short while, he opened his bag and took out the book he brought, together with his iPod and headphones. Pulling them on and opening the book at the bookmark, he settled in for some reading, occasionally glancing up to look at Rangiku who was observing the skaters intently, and sneaking glances at the quiet Toushirou next to him, immersed in his book.

Some time later, Rukia was done and joined them at their seats. She sat there observing the other skaters practice, occasionally pointing out things to the blonde junior. When the practice session was over and the ice was being resurfaced, she tapped on Ichigo's shoulder.

Pulling off his headphones, Ichigo asked, "Lunch?" and received a nod in return. "How long do we have?"

"At least half an hour. Hitsugaya-sempai only starts after the junior ladies, which starts after this. I asked earlier, there're eight competitors for that, and there's resurfacing in between." Rukia replied.

"Let's head somewhere nearby then. Sempai!" Rangiku stood and tapped Toushirou on his shoulder. "It's time for lunch!"

Nodding, Toushirou kept his book, earphones and iPod, before heading out of the rink with the other three. A block down, they found a small café that sold sandwiches and soup, where they tucked in for lunch.

Back at the rink after their lunch, it was Toushirou's turn for his free skate practice. Paying slightly more attention this time, it did not take long for Ichigo to spot the defending champion. The black haired skater was the only other one who was performing relatively complicated moves on the ice confidently. Nodding to himself as music blared in his ears, he then spotted Coach Ukitake out of the corner of his eye and waved. The white haired man smiled at him after making his way down the stairs to where they were seated, near the rink this time.

"Hey Coach." Lifting his headphones, the orange haired student called out.

"Ichigo." Ukitake greeted with his usual smile before turning to Rukia. "Rukia, how was practice earlier?"

As his coach sat down next to the black haired skater and began listening to her, Ichigo tuned out, turning his attention back to the ice where Toushirou was practicing. Soon after, the junior men short skate started. Dividing his attention between the rink and his notepad, where he was already planning for the article, he missed Toushirou returning, only looking up when he heard the soft 'thud' of the skater's backpack landing next to him. "Practice was okay, I guess?"

Nodding in response, the white haired skater walked past them and seated himself next to his coach, waiting for him to finish up with Rukia. A minute later, Rukia took her leave, dragging Rangiku with her, muttering something about makeup, leaving Toushirou deep in discussion with Ukitake. "Good luck!" Ichigo called out as Rukia headed off before turning his attention back to the rink where the last skater had just begun skating.

Not long later came the resurfacing once again, and then it was the start of the senior ladies competition.

Even though it was his first ever skating competition, Ichigo had looked briefly at other figure skating articles on the Internet to know what sort of information he needed. Somewhat meticulously, he jotted down the name of the competitor, her coach, college and the piece she was skating to when the skater was introduced, and the score for the short programme that was announced later.

Shortly after the first skater had finished, Rangiku returned and Coach Ukitake excused himself soon after. Between taking notes on the various jump combinations and pointing out the differences to the strawberry blonde, Ichigo also made sure to take special note of the two other competitors that Rukia had mentioned.

The standard of the field was rather large, ranging from relatively simple routines to the complicated ones of previous participants of the Nationals. Rukia had been spot on with her predictions and after ten competitors, Lenalee Lee and Aria Link were ranked first and second respectively. Ichigo had written down as much of their routines as he could identify, just in the case he needed to use it in the article.

Finally, Rukia's name was announced. "Last but not least, we have number thirteen, Rukia Kuchiki of Shinou College, Massachusetts. Coached by Juushirou Ukitake, she will be skating to Saint-Saens' Le Cygne."

As Rukia waved to the crowd, making several circles around the rink as a brief warm up, Ichigo glanced on amused as Rangiku, holding a video camera, shouted from her seat, "You go girl!" Soon, the music started and in her all white outfit, the black haired skater did indeed look like a swan as she glided and jumped elegantly.

Having seen the routine a couple of times, Ichigo was familiar with it and was glad for her when she skated what seemed a flawless routine to him, her double axel, triple Lutz, and triple flip-triple toe loop combination all landing cleanly. It was no surprise when it was announced while Rukia waited at the kiss and cry area that she was placed first after the short programme. "With a score of 28.60 for the elements and a programme score of 29.53, Rukia Kuchiki leads after the short programme with a total score of 58.13. Lenalee Lee is in second place with 54.97 and…"

As the machine came on the ice for resurfacing, Ichigo decided to pop by the competitor area to wish Toushirou good luck. He had missed the skater leaving earlier, having been paying close attention to Lenalee's routine and hoped to wish him good luck before the competition.

Showing his pass, he headed past the security and kept a lookout for the distinctive white hair of Toushirou and Coach Ukitake. Turning around a bend, he caught a glimpse of white hair beyond a group of skaters and hurried past. The first thing he noticed about Toushirou was how well the costume fitted him. The white top seemed to be moulded to his slim figure and the slight V at the front showed off a tantalising glimpse of a muscular chest.

'He's hot.' Pausing momentarily, Ichigo's eyes roamed over the skater, before he gathered his senses and walked over. "Erm… Toushirou, good luck! We'll be rooting for you out there."

The white haired skater nodded a little absent-mindedly, a picture of cool as usual, before his turquoise eyes met brown ones. Scowl forming, he demanded, "Kurosaki, how many times do I need to tell you to call me Hitsugaya?"

Ignoring it with a grin, the orange haired sophomore then looked down as he felt his cell phone vibrate. "That must be Rangiku. I'm off then. All the best!" He patted the skater on the shoulder before rushing off back to the stands.

Seating himself just in time as the first competitor was announced, Ichigo retrieved his writing pad and jotted down the usual information. Similar to the ladies, the variation in standard was rather wide, though the field was much smaller for the men. Slightly distracted by how Toushirou looked, and also unimpressed by the skater, Ichigo began flipping through the earlier notes he took on the ladies short skate.

Rangiku had picked up on it apparently and leaned over to whisper, "So, how was sempai?"

"The same," Ichigo replied. Feeling a faint blush rising, he immediately changed the topic, thankful for the announcement. "Shh! The points are coming out." Turning away and missing the grin on the blonde's face, he jotted down the points and immediately shifted his attention to the ice when the next competitor was announced.

"Next, we have number two, Aaroniero Arruruerie. Hailing from Las Noches College, California and coached by Sousuke Aizen, he will be skating to Ravel's Bolero." As the black haired skater launched into a triple flip-triple toe loop, the orange haired student reporter knew that this guy would prove to be stiff competition.

Noting down the jumps, a triple Axel and triple Lutz, step sequence and spins, Ichigo could not help but be nervous before the marks were announced. "With 36.92 for the elements and 37.57 for the programme, Aaroniero Arruruerie currently leads the men's field with 74.49 points."

"Next, we have Toushirou Hitsugaya, number three, coached by Juushirou Ukitake and from Shinou College. He will be skating to a Chinese piece, Harvest Festival, composed by Kwan Nai-Chung." Clapping, Ichigo watched as the white haired skater glided around the ice before taking up his starting position at the centre of the rink.

As the music reached its first climax, the orange haired student reporter watched while Toushirou landed his first jump, a triple axel, right on the beat. The white haired skater wore a fierce look of concentration, turning and twisting on the ice as he portrayed the villagers dancing festively around the bonfire.

At the music's cue, he jumped, proceeding into a flying camel spin as the theme reappeared. Following up immediately with his triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination as the music reached another climax, he stepped and twisted on the ice again before ending with an upright spin as all the instruments rose to a crescendo.

The few minutes passed as Toushirou waited at the kiss and cry area. Feeling even more anxious had he had been earlier, Ichigo doodled in his notepad as he waited for the announcement. Next to him, Rangiku looked somewhat worried as well. Although she was new to watching figure skating, she could tell that the guy before her sempai had done very well too.

"And we have the results. With 38.15 for the elements and 35.95 for his programme, Toushirou Hitsugaya stands in second place with 74.10 points after the short skate."

Looking at the earlier score, Ichigo almost heaved a sigh of relief at the small gap between the scores. 'It's only 0.39. So it's all up to the free skate tomorrow.' Turning to Rangiku, who looked a little bewildered at the announcement, he told her, "Don't worry. There's still tomorrow and the score difference isn't huge. It's only 0.39 points. If Toushirou does well tomorrow, he can still win, since more points are awarded to the free skate segment."

Looking slightly more solemn, the blonde nodded. They settled down to watch the last competitor, who eventually only posted a score much lower to settle for third place. After that, they headed back to the competitors' area to wait for the score sheets to be released before they headed back to the hotel for dinner and a good night's rest.


All relevant information on figure skating can be easily found on wikipedia - search figure skating. Apologies for any inaccuracies, I'm not a skater myself.

Please review/comment! Thank you! ^^