Chapter 11: Let's go ice-skating!
As you all know, I do not own the bleach manga, anime or characters, I do, however own my amazing OCs. Thanks for reading. Note: This chapter will be a lot longer than usual, enjoy! (By the way, I have mentioned Soul Caliber IV in this story, which is a real X-Box game which I also do not own.)
It was a beautiful morning; the sky was white and looked as if it was about to snow. "Thanks, Mister Mailman!" Kikyo smiled brightly as the mailman shoved some letters into the mail box. He gave a slight nod before rushing off. Kikyo peered into the mailbox, tilting her head sideways to see in, her hair falling onto her face. There were multiple letters in there. She reached her hand in and retrieved them, shuffling through them. "Bills, bills…A letter from auntie!" she squealed in excitement, holding the pink envelope with the words: To my lovely Kikyo, from Auntie scribbled on like it was an extremely valuable treasure. She knew that she wasn't really her blood relative now, but she still loved her like a real aunt as she had raised her. She rushed inside, shutting the door behind her before quickly rushing out again, closing the mail box, and then running back again. "What's all the commotion?" Toshiro asked, looking up from the book he was reading. The way he sat there doing nothing while Kikyo played video games and stuff annoyed her, so she made him read to keep him occupied. "I got a letter from auntie!" Kikyo said eagerly, sitting down next to the young captain on the sofa and ripping the envelope to get to the letter. "It's just a letter." Toshiro sighed before returning to his book. Kikyo ignored him, pulling out a folded piece of paper. She unfolded it and read it aloud. Her smile faded when she read what was written on it.
Dearest Kikyo, I have a short vacation and so have decided to visit you! It's been ages since we've seen each other, aren't you excited? I am! I'll be there on the third of November! See you soon, sweetheart!
Kikyo gasped, "The third of November…That's tomorrow! What'll we do? You're still recovering, so I can't kick you out! Not that I would anyway, but what'll I tell her?" Kikyo panicked, putting the letter down on the coffee table and looking at Toshiro desperately, he usually came up with ideas. Toshiro put the book down after marking his page with a bookmark and then sighed, "It depends on what your aunt's personality is like. I can leave if you want." He offered, crossing his legs. "No! Like I said, you're injured still! And I couldn't make you leave! Where would you go?" Kikyo asked, receiving a small shrug from Toshiro. "I'll have to think up an excuse! Uhhh, let's see…Her vacation is short so I could say…You're parent's needed to go somewhere for a while but you couldn't go and you needed somewhere to stay!" she suggested, rubbing her chin. "I'M NOT A KID! And anyway, you can stay home alone form long periods of time, why can't I?" Toshiro yelled before sighing and closing his eyes, a vein popping. "Ah…Good point…I know! You have very strict and paranoid parents!" Kikyo said excitedly, jumping up and then sitting down again after receiving a glare from Toshiro. "I don't know…My auntie is a bit hard to convince." She said quietly, deep in thought. A thought came into her head that she thought might work…No she couldn't do that…a noticeable blush appeared on her cheeks and she shook the idea out of her head. My aunt…Is always nagging me about getting a boyfriend…she says she loves young love and can't wait to see me bring a boy home. Maybe if I told her…
"Never mind that! Toshiro, are you hungry or thirsty?" Kikyo asked, changing the subject, "A little bit thirsty." Toshiro replied, picking up the book again now that that was over. He wasn't too keen on sleeping on a bench in the park defenceless while he was still recovering, but he didn't want to cause trouble with Kikyo and her family…he would feel as if he was intruding In their time together as they only see each other every once in a while. "What would you like? There's water, juice and milk! Oh, and if you eat milk you'll grow up faster!" Kikyo told him, getting up and heading for the kitchen. A vein popped in Toshiro's forehead, "I'M NOT A KID!" he shouted, but nonetheless went quiet and asked for a glass of milk anyway. Maybe you did grow up fast if you drank milk, something that he was eager to do. Kikyo appeared with a glass of milk and placed it on the coffee table. "There!" she said brightly with a smile, "Are you sure you don't want anything to eat, I'm making breakfast now!" Kikyo offered, closing her eyes into an anime smile. Toshiro shook his head, "Don't be like that! You need to eat to recover quicker! I'll make some toast for you in case you change your mind, Okay?" Kikyo sighed before walking into the kitchen.
Toshiro could hear the clattering of plates and cutlery from the kitchen. He had never really been in there as he had no need to go in there. He had seen it from the living room though, the tiles were blue and white and there were counters and worktops against the walls. It was kept quite neatly. Toshiro wondered how she kept it like that remembering the time that he and Matsumoto had to keep Inoue's house tidy as she had been taken prisoner by Aizen, there was rubbish all over the floor and Matsumoto hadn't helped at all, she just made more rubbish as Toshiro attempted to clean up. He scowled as he remembered Aizen and all he had done to Hinamori. He wondered how she was doing back in Soul Society. She was the kind of girl that seemed helpless and was always in danger or targeted, and it was Toshiro's job to protect her. He blushed slightly as he realised she wasn't the only one he wanted to protect. Someone else had appeared in his life and taken over his will to protect and pushed Hinamori aside and he couldn't do anything about it, that person being Kikyo.
"I've made you some toast, Hitsugaya, what would you like on it?" Kikyo called from the kitchen, snapping Toshiro out of his thoughts. "I don't mind." He replied, before opening up his book again and looking at the words and flipping the pages. He was looking at the words but wasn't taking in anything they said; to him they were just a bunch of scribbles on paper, so in the end he gave up and put the book down. Kikyo placed a plate in front of Toshiro on the coffee table, containing some toast and butter as she didn't really know what he liked and disliked. She hoped he liked butter. To his relief he gave a quick "Thanks." Before picking up the toast and taking a biet out of it, picking up the book again for another attempt at reading it. Kikyo nibbled at her own toast and switched on the living room television, channel surfing. There was nothing good on so she sighed and retreated to her room where the X-Box awaited her. Toshiro wondered what was so amusing about video games. He had never really tried playing one and suddenly curiosity took over him.
He once again put the book down and walked down the hall leading to Kikyo's room. He had never seen it before. He knocked on the door reluctantly, receiving a "come in!" from Kikyo. He pushed the door open and peered in, the lights were off but the T.V screen's light illuminated the room. Her room suited Kikyo surprisingly well. Everywhere you looked there was pink, pink and more pink. I guess it's her favourite colour…Toshiro thought to himself. Kikyo paused the game she was playing and turned her head to face Toshiro. "Hm? Toshiro? What do you want? Are you alright?" She asked, looking concerned, Toshiro nodded, "I was just curious about this…'X-Box'" he replied, looking at the screen and then at the game box lying on the floor. It had the words 'Soul Caliber IV' on the cover. It was most definitely a fighting game, which surprised him. "I didn't think you'd be the one to like fighting games…" Toshiro said with a hint of surprise, raising his eyebrows. "Hehe, really? My auntie says that. I can get ideas for new fighting moves from the attacks I see on here, though!" Kikyo replied with a smile. "I thought you didn't like fighting." Toshiro sighed, more pointing out than questioning. "I used to be like that…And I still dislike fighting, but…There are some people I want to protect now…And I will put my life and everything else at risk to keep them safe." Kikyo explained softly, opening her eyes and gazing at Toshiro deeply. He looked away with his arms crossed. "I see…so what are the moves on that game like, then?" Toshiro asked, trying to get rid of the awkward atmosphere. Kikyo immediately lightened up, the serious gaze fading away. "Why don't you play, too? Here!" She suggested, offering him a controller and motioning for him to sit next to her.
He reluctantly took the controller and froze before slowly sitting down next to her. "I'll just finish this fight!" She smiled before un-pausing the game. A screen with two armed characters appeared, standing on either side of the screen. One was called Kikyo and the other was called Setsuka. Kikyo, who he obviously guessed was a custom character made by her, had pale pink hair and a cute, round face. She was wearing some strange sort of detailed matching armour. Setsuka, the foe, was wearing a blue, frilled Victorian styled outfit with a small plumed hat and her weapon seemed to be a parasol. The words 'Final Battle' appeared on the screen and then 'Start!' Kikyo immediately started professionally bashing the buttons, and the two characters sprang into action. Kikyo's weapon was a long staff. Toshiro finally understood how the parasol was a weapon when Setsuka whipped a sword out of it. In the end, Kikyo won. Her characters victory speech made him laugh in his head (of course not physical laughter,it's Toshiro after all), as If somebody would say, "Even with the same moves, it all depends on the user' doing some weird sort of pose after winning a fight. It was also unrealistic in the way they could get stabbed in fatal ways and would still be alive because there was still some HP left in the bar. "Since you don't have a character on here, you'll have to use a game character." Kikyo told him as a select-a-character screen popped up. Toshiro shook his head, having second thoughts. "Actually, I'm going to go for a walk." He said as an excuse to get out of playing the game. Kikyo switched off the game console. "Oh. I'll come too then." She sighed, standing up.
Toshiro didn't protest as she followed him out of the door and onto the streets.
The still battered up walls and holes in the road reminded her of the fights with the two arrancar and she bit her lip.
"We still haven't seen Harribel lately. Maybe she's preparing for the next battle." She wondered aloud. Toshiro stopped walking. "She probably has more subordinates." He replied before continuing to walk. Kikyo gave a nod before jogging to catch up with him, she sighed, it seemed so slow after being a shinigami. "Where are we going anyway? Kikyo questioned, trying to keep up with the young captain. Toshiro just shrugged and looked at the sky, squinting in the slight sunlight. He wasn't all too keen on the sunlight, but luckily there wasn't much of it today. "When auntie comes, we won't be able to go for shopping trips and walks as often, so today we should do something special!" Kikyo said excitedly as the idea popped into her head. Toshiro knew that protesting when she was determined like this was useless, so he just sighed in reply. "I know! Let's go ice-skating!" she suggested, considering Toshiro's zanpakuto. "Do you even know how to ice skate?" he asked her coldly, closing his eyes with a sigh. "Nope! Not a clue! But you should, right? You can teach me! There's an ice rink nearby!" Kikyo explained, Toshiro argued but Kikyo had her mind set on going ice skating and in the end managed to drag the irritated captain to the ice rink.
"I don't know…It looks…slippery…" Kikyo said uncertainly, putting one ice skate on the ice and then taking it off again. "It was your idea to come here." Toshiro sighed, effortlessly and elegantly skidding across the ice in perfect control. Kikyo finally found the courage to but both skates on the ice. It was quite quiet with only one or two others on the rink and so they had a lot of space to themselves. Kikyo screamed and slipped before she was more than ten seconds onto the ice, Toshiro skated over to her and held a hand out to help her get up. "Are you okay?" he asked nervously, helping her up. Kikyo rubbed her head and gave a little "Ouch." Before smiling again and going, "Yes, I'm fine! Thank you for helping me up! I think I'd better stick to the rails." She laughed before proceeding to try and skate over to the rails but falling over again. Toshiro grabbed her arm to stop her falling and helped her get back in balance. "Thanks again." She replied with a small blush. He sighed. "I'll take you over to the rails before you injure yourself." He said In a stressed voice, keeping hold of her arm. "N-No I'm fine." Kikyo panicked, pulling her arm out of his going twenty different shades of red but just falling over again. This time he broke her fall and helped her stand upright. "I don't think so." He sighed before leading her over to the rails where she could hopefully skate safely. I knew he had a kind and caring side to him. Kikyo smiled as he skated towards the rails, her sliding along beside him. She wondered if he'd skated before or it was just because he was experienced with ice, either way, his skating was over professional standards and she was quite impressed by it. One she reached the safety of the rails, she was trusted to skate without assistance and so Toshiro let go of her. "I'm fine now; you can go off and skate properly." Kikyo smiled, holding onto the rails and edging around the edges carefully, getting used to it as she went along with Toshiro skating backwards besides her. "I'm fine." He replied, spinning around to face forwards. Kikyo didn't want to stop him from having fun as it seemed something he rarely did, so she bravely let go of the edges and started wobbly making her way to the middle of the rink.
"What're you doing, idiot?" Toshiro demanded loudly, following her, "it's fine. I'm getting the hang of it now." She assured him, straightening up and spreading out her arms to keep balance. She liked the way she just slid across the ice effortlessly, like she was flying. She sighed, that's what she'd be like if she was still a human, but she knew that shinigami's could basically fly anyway. Still, she still liked the way it felt to skid across the ice. She felt something light on her hair, she and Toshiro both looked up, and snow was fluttering down from the white sky beautifully and elegantly, landing on the rink and their hair. "It's beautiful." Kikyo whispered, smiling. "Yeah." Toshiro agreed. Kikyo spread her fingers out, her palm facing the sky as snow landed on it, cold on her skin. "I should have worn gloves." She sighed, rubbing the snow of on her coat. "Let's go back." Toshiro told her. Kikyo nodded, "I had a great time today! Didn't you?" she asked, smiling, Toshiro gave a quick nod before catching her again as she slipped. "You need a bit more practise." He sighed, helping her stand up straight; she blushed and nodded before they started making their way off the rink.
Toshiro lay in bed, staring out of the window; the snow was beginning to lay as the night went on, a sheet of it covering the paving and roofs of houses. He sighed, Kikyo would most definitely be wanting a snow ball fight or a snow man building contest in the morning before her aunt arrived. He suddenly heard something from her room. A mumbling noise. He threw off the covers and made his way to her room, he peered in the open door. She was fast asleep, it must be my imagination. He thought to himself before she talked again. "Toshiro…" she mumbled, before turning over. Toshiro stared at her for a second before smiling. She talks in her sleep. He closed the door slightly and then stood there for a second, listening out carefully. Matsumoto talked in her sleep sometimes but, er, about some very different subjects. He remembered finding her talking in her sleep in his office before. "Ahahaha…Oh, how naughty." She had been mumbling. Toshiro knew he wouldn't be able to sleep with her talking in her sleep, so he sat down outside her door, leaning against the wall with his knees up. He wanted to see what else she said; because he was sure he'd heard his name in there somewhere. "You're…Chibi…" she mumbled from her bedroom, causing a vein in his head to pop. Chibi!
Kikyo's eyes opened slowly and she groaned. She hated waking up in the middle of the night. She got out of bed slowly and headed for the kitchen to the drink. She gasped when she opened her door to find Toshiro sitting there, fast asleep, his head resting on his shoulder. She stared for second, eyes wide, before smiling and going into her aunt's room. She appeared with a blanket and a pillow after a couple of seconds, placing the pillow behind his head and covering him with the blanket. He'll get pneumonia if he does this she sighed. She looked at him for a second before smiling again and exiting for the kitchen. What a strange person.
Omake:
Kikyo: (sleep talking while Toshiro sits outside of her room) Ah…Toshiro you…pervert….you watch me sleep…you're like Edward from Twilight…
Toshiro: Ack!
Author's notes:
Review on what you think of this chapter! I can't wait to write about Kikyo's aunt.
Me: Toshiro, you really are a perv. Decided to do things Edward style, eh?
Toshiro: Shut up!