A/N: Well, here it is! The second half of Snow Days! Took me long enough...especially since I meant to put it up on my birthday, which was two weeks ago 0. Hooray! I'm...well, people still think I'm 12. You'd think they'd realize I'm a little older, I work. But enough about me.
Some of the reviewers asked for more Gin and Toshiro interaction. There's a little bit in here, but not much. I have a couple of pages of a story with Gin in it, all I have to do is type and finish it. Stay posted!
For the holidays! I love the holidays! I know that a lot of authors here do this and since this is my first holiday season writing on this site, I'm going to join in:
The first ten people who review/leave a comment/suggest an idea get a chapter dedicated to them using the keyword(s) of their choice. I will not guarantee that what I write is what you have in mind! And if you aren't within the first ten but I find your idea really interesting/cool/funny...who knows, I may run with it. And yes, to all those lovely people who like flaming everyone who asks for input, I am doing this. Don't like it, don't read it. Oh, and, I'm fairly sure that real authors ask for suggestions from people. I know Mercedes Lackey has TONS of compilations written by other authors, and she's been writing since the eighties.
Phew! Now that all of that is out of the way...Read and Enjoy!
Toshiro panicked slightly when he woke up and found himself in an unfamiliar room. It took a few seconds before he remembered the blizzard the night before and his subsequent stay at the Kurosakis. Sitting up on his knees, he looked out the window to see that the world outside was still white. There was no way he would get back to Seireitei today, maybe not even tonight.
"Looks like I'm stuck here for the day," he whispered softly.
"Well, duh, there's no way you can get to Urahara." Toshiro turned so fast his neck cracked. He hadn't realized the orange-haired shinigami was awake. "What, didn't realize I was awake? I don't sleep that late."
"I never said that you did. I simply did not realize that you were awake. It -"
"Toshiro!" came Karin's voice. He sighed.
"Do any of you sleep late?"
Ichigo shrugged and rolled out of bed, narrowly missing Toshiro's head. "Not really. My sisters have school, so -"
"School's been canceled!" Yuzu sang out. She whirled into the room, grabbing Ichigo's hands. "Karin and I can stay home today! You can too!"
"You go to school?"
"Yeah, my father feels that I should still go even though I'm a shinigami." Pulling his hands out of Yuzu's hands, Ichigo started out of the room. "Come on. I'll help you with breakfast, Yuzu."
Toshiro looked up as Karin entered the room. "Good morning."
"Morning. I'm sorry you're stuck here." She sat on the high riser beside him, her hand beside his. "Are you upset?"
"Not really. I don't have anything important to take care of. I've already completed paperwork for this month." Pulling a knee to his chest, he looked down. "I apologize for having to stay here for so long."
Karin rolled her eyes and playfully swatted the back of his head. "You are such an idiot sometimes! Trust me, if you weren't here, Ichigo and I probably would have murdered each other by now." She grabbed his hand, pulling him to his feet. "Let's go downstairs for breakfast before Ichigo ruins Yuzu's cooking."
U_U
Ichigo watched the white haired captain slowly eat the pancakes, his attention focused solely on his food. It was odd, having him here, as if the two worlds had collided. Toshiro had never stayed overnight before. This -
"Why are you staring at me, Kurosaki?"
"I'm not." Ichigo pulled the bottle of milk towards himself and poured a glass. "You're just being sensitive."
"No I'm - "
"So what are we doing today?" Yuzu cut in.
Karin grinned at her twin. "You guess."
"No no no no no no no."
Toshiro looked around at the siblings. "What are you protesting?"
"Karin, Yuzu, and my dad have giant snowball fights. I figured that that wouldn't happened since we were an odd number, but since you're here..." Ichigo glared at his sisters. "I guess you'll be Karin's partner on this."
"Yes!" Looking at the two boys, Karin shrugged. "He's got snow powers. Why wouldn't I be excited?"
"What is this snowball fight? Is it dangerous?"
"No, it isn't. You make balls of snow and throw them at each other. It's a lot of fun." Yuzu set the refilled plate of pancakes on the table and sat down to eat. "But I was thinking of something different. The lake is probably frozen over, right? And Toshiro, you can make sure that it's thick enough so that we won't fall in?"
"Yes, I can. What do you want to do?"
"We should go ice skating. I haven't gone in forever."
"What?"
The three siblings turned to Toshiro. "You've...never gone ice skating before? And your powers are cold-based?" Karin raised an eyebrow. "What kind of an idiot are you?"
"I have simply never seen it before." Setting his fork on his empty plate, Toshiro looked around. "What is this sport?"
"It isn't a sport, it's - I'll show you." The blonde Kurosaki twin went into the living room, a curious shinigami captain following along behind her. Turning on the TV, she flipped through the channels until she found one with ice dancing. "Here. It's kind of like this. This is ice dancing, dancing on ice skates."
"Aren't those blades dangerous?"
"Yeah. But who cares? Show him hockey." After grabbing the remote from her sister, Karin switched the channel to a hockey game. "There. That's ice skating."
Toshiro's eyes widened. "That looks dangerous. Very, very dangerous."
"It is. That's what makes it so cool!"
"We're not going to do that. We're going to start slow. I'm sure Ichi-nii has an extra pair of skates, right?" Yuzu looked up at Ichigo, her eyes wide, and he nodded. "Great! Then let's all go get dressed, get our stuff, and we'll go!"
Toshiro later reflected that the most powerful Kurosaki was probably Yuzu, who could actually control her siblings.
U_U
"This. Is. Not. Working." Toshiro said from his seat on the ice. They had been here for forty-five minutes by his guestimate and he wasn't any closer to figuring out how to skate without falling on his bottom every time he so much as stood up.
"Relax, it's just taking some time. Probably something unusual for you." Karin pulled him to his feet and brushed him off. "That was a hard fall though. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Sick and tired of this and cold, but fine." As soon as she let go, he went sliding. "Karin?"
"There you go! You didn't fall!"
"I didn't fall, but...How do I stop?!" He glared at her. "Come on!"
Karin couldn't stop laughing for long enough to tell him how and the white-haired teen went careening into a snowbank. It took a couple of minutes before his head popped up and even then she wasn't sure if it was him. Her laugh was swallowed up by a scream when a ball of snow his her on the face.
"I suppose that that is a snowball?" Toshiro called with a smirk.
"That's so unfair! You can't use your powers to throw snowballs without using your hands!"
"But it is fair for you to allow me to go right into a giant pile of snow?"
"That's different!" She lobbed a snowball at his face but it missed, hitting Yuzu instead, who shrieked. "Sorry!"
"I am so getting you back for that Karin!" Naturally, Yuzu's snowball hit Ichigo, who skated by absentmindedly while attempting to pretend that he had no idea who these crazy people were.
An all-out snowball fight had begun, with no one on anyone's side but their own.
Toshiro found himself laughing a few minutes in and caught himself. Him, laughing? That simply did. Not. Happen. Even Rangiku couldn't surprise a laugh out of him. The only one who could was Karin and she only got him to laugh for a few seconds. This...this was unexpected. His train of thought was interrupted by Ichigo shoving snow down the back of his borrowed coat.
"Kurosaki!"
"Which one?" Yuzu called, laughing. And the battle continued.
U_U
An hour later found the group on their way back to the Kurosaki home, shivering. Karin watched Toshiro sneeze and rub his nose. "Are you getting sick again?"
"Doh, I'b dot. I'b fide."
She laughed and reached over to pull his hat over his ears. "You should take a hot bath when we get back. We all will, probably. Once you get warm your cold should go away."
"I dode hab a code."
"No, I don't think you have a code," Ichigo replied. "Come on, it's only a couple more blocks. You'll survive that long."
Once they got back into the house, Yuzu gave Toshiro a change of clothes and showed him to the bath. "Take as long as you want. I think you're the only one who got soaking."
"Dags."
"You're welcome."
U_U
Toshiro came into the living room toweling off his hair. "Hey. Think your cold is gone?" Karin asked from the couch. Her response was a glare and a sneeze. "Yuzu made hot cocoa. With marshmallows, too, so it'll really be good."
"Sounds good."
"You sound much better!" Pressing a large yellow mug in his hands, Yuzu grinned. She passed another mug, purple this time, to Karin and kept a pink one for herself. "Ichi-nii went up to shower, but he said you should call your parents just in case."
"Yeah, I can just imagine what would happen if they didn't know where you were."
"They do know where I am." Toshiro took a deep sip of the hot chocolate and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, making Yuzu giggle. "You keep doing that. What am I doing that is so funny?!"
"It's just...you're this big deal captain, genius, and all that, and you act all mature. But then you do something like that, where you wiped your mouth like a little kid, and you're just adorable!"
Karin and Toshiro exchanged an eye roll. "He isn't adorable, Yuzu. He's a guy."
"That's not what you - " Yuzu started. Her twin jumped on her and pressed a hand to her mouth. "Mmph!"
"We do not talk about private things in front of guests. Go call Rangiku or Gin. I have a little something to take care of with my sister."
Toshiro looked at the two of them and shrugged. Girls.
Going into the kitchen, he pulled out his Soul Phone. This felt way too similar to the day before, except this time, Rangiku picked up on the first ring. "Hey Shiro. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. I don't know if I will be able to get back today."
Rangiku fell silent for a minute. "Gin already went to go get you. He said he doesn't want to leave you there for much longer."
"What?! I'm not being a pest!"
"It's not that. He's worried about you. He won't be there for awhile, he said he'd give you time."
"Fine. I'll go get my stuff together," Toshiro replied.
"Great. I'll see you later, then. And make sure that Gin either gets you a coat or keeps you warm with a kido or something. I don't want you to get sick." She paused again and continued. "I don't want anything to happen to you."
"I-" He thought of protesting, and changed his mind. Staying with the Kurosaki family overnight (as crazy as they were) definitely gave him a different view on family. "I'll be careful."
"Thank you."
"Bye."
Karin looked up as he came back into the room. "Everything okay?"
"Ichimaru decided to come pick me up. He and Rangiku were worried." He sat down beside her and picked up his mug, ignoring her incredulous looks. Finally, the dark haired girl couldn't hold it in any longer.
"And you aren't yelling about it?!" She burst out.
"No. Being here...I guess I don't hate them attempting to take care of me as much."
"Well, that's good."
U_U
Gin stopped in front of the Kurosaki house and looked up, letting out a slow breath. He wasn't sure how well Toshiro would take his coming to get him. Finally, he decided that he shouldn't be scared of his son and went up to the door.
"Karin, there's this white haired man outside who looks a bit like Toshiro! Is that that Ichimaru you two always talk about?" he heard someone call.
"Let him in before he breaks the door down. If it isn't him, Ichi-nii and Toshiro can save us."
"Okay!"
Gin followed the blonde who answered the door to the living room where he found his son, Ichigo, and Karin sitting around a Monopoly board. "Yo, Ichimaru," the orange haired teen called.
"Same to you, Kurosaki." He folded himself down beside his son and looked at the board. "You're losing, chibi-taicho."
"He hasn't learned that you can't bid against Karin over properties. Plus it's his first time playing." Yuzu patted Toshiro's hand. "You really aren't so bad. You're winning Ichigo, and he's pretty good."
"You don't have to make me feel better." Toshiro stood up and stretched. "But I think I have to go now."
"That would probably be a good idea. Thank you for taking care of him." Gin turned to his son. "Do you have anything to take with you?"
"I already packed it. Rangiku told me you were coming to get me."
"Great. Then let's go."
Karin smoothly stood up and handed Toshiro his bag. "Thanks for staying with us."
"Thank you for having me." He took his bag from her. They stood there awkwardly for a minute until Gin decided to break the uncomfortable silence.
"Come on, Shiro-chan."
"Coming."
U_U
Rangiku looked up as Gin came into her room. "Hey. Why are you here so late?"
"How close are Toshiro and the Kurosaki girl?" He asked, settling onto the bed beside her.
"Very close. He goes to her for everything. What did you see today that made you ask that question?"
"He was very...comfortable with her. It was only once I got there that he got a touch uncomfortable."
"They're excellent together. He keeps her grounded and she makes him behave like a child." Rangiku pressed her hand on his, her thumb rubbing against the back of it. "I can't believe he didn't throw a tantrum about us worrying about him."
"She must have influenced him somehow." Rolling over, Gin grinned. "Now, shall we celebrate our dear son finally growing up?"
