Back in the tavern in town, the whole place is empty. All except Aizen and Gin who is having a secret meeting with a figure. This figure has dark skin and dark purple braids. He has pupil-less eyes that are a pale lavender and has been blind since birth; his eyes are covered with clear goggles. His name is Kaname Tosen.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice, Kaname." said Aizen with a smirk.
"You'd better have a good reason for making me leave the asylum in the middle of the night." said Kaname. Then glancing at Gin, he added, "Gin told me you have something worth my time if I listened."
"Here's part of it." said Aizen handing over a bag of gold.
Kaname smirked evilly. He takes the gold as he said, "I'm listening."
"Let me get this straight: I wanted so much to marry Akina but she needs to be a little...convinced."
"Yeah. She turned him down flat." Gin joked.
As a result, Aizen hits him with a mug. Aizen continued, "Her brother Kaien was in here a while ago making wild claims about a beast in a castle. His wild claims are a cause for concern."
"Although I rarely care, Kaien doesn't seem like the type to cause harm." said Kaname in dismissal.
"Let me get to the point: Akina loves her brother Kaien so much that she will do anything to keep him from being locked up." added Aizen.
"Yeah. Including marrying him." remarked Gin. He noticed Aizen is glaring at him annoyed. When Aizen puts his hand up, Gin held a mug up to defend himself.
Aizen turns his attention to Kaname and said, "And that is where you come in, Kaname."
Kaname thought about this. He then said, "So let me get this straight. You want me to threaten to lock her brother in the asylum unless she agrees to marry you?" The two nodded. Kaname sighs seemingly in disgust at first. "Oh, that is despicable." Then he gave a scary cruel look and laughed evilly saying, "I love it!"
Aizen, Gin, and Kaname laughed evilly at once beginning their evil plan.
Back at Akina's home, frustrated no one would listen to him, Kaien decided to take matters in his own hands as he packs up what he needs for an important mission.
"Well, if no one would help me. I'd do this alone!" said Kaien angrily. "I promise you Akina, I will find the castle again and get you all out of there!" Once he finished packing, he then leaves the house, closing the door on the way out.
The door opened later as Aizen, Gin, and Kaname arrived, planning in seizing Kaien. But to their surprise, neither he nor Akina is around.
"Akina? Kaien?" Aizen yelled while inside the house. But he got no response.
"Well, we failed. Let's go home." said Gin with a shrug as he turns to leave. But Aizen grabs him and takes him outside.
"No! I am not giving up like that! They have to come home sooner or later! We'd be ready for them by the time they do!" yelled Aizen furiously. He refuses to let this chance of marrying Akina slip through his fingers. Seeing a pile of snow nearby the porch, he slams Gin right into it and exclaimed, "You are not to move from there until Akina and Kaien comes home!"
"But...hold on..." Unfortunately, both Aizen and Kaname leave, leaving a cold Gin behind. He groans as he said, "Darn it!" He kicked a tree nearby. This resulted in a bunch of snow falling right on him.
Back at the castle, the next day, things were turning out better. In the balcony, Ichigo, Shuhei, and Izuru watched Akina in winter clothes having fun with Philippe and the footstool dog. Ichigo has a cloth wrapped around his right arm. His wounds were not shown since Akina healed them for him. As he, Shuhei, and Izuru watches, the footstool doog runs up happily and is hugged by Akina.
Ichigo smiles warmly as he said, "Man, I've never felt this way about anyone." He pauses then said, "She was nice to me. Perhaps I should do something nice for her." He tries to think, then frowns and turns to Izuru and Shuhei, "I'm open to ideas, guys?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe flowers, chocolates, promises you don't bother to do." remarked Izuru rolling his eyes.
"Izuru, don't be like that. Ichigo, if you want to give her something, it should be something she likes. Something that gives her joy," Shuhei then goes to thinking then smiles. "I got it!"
Later, Ichigo takes Akina to a set of doors to a room somewhere in the castle. As they arrived, Ichigo said, "I got something to show you, Akina."
He almost opened a door then closed it as he turned to Akina, "Oh, but close your eyes." Akina looked puzzled. Ichigo added with a smile, "It's a surprise."
Smiling back, Akina closes her eyes. After waving a hand in front of her, Ichigo opens the doors and led her in.
"Can I open my eyes now?" asked Akina anxiously.
"Not yet." said Ichigo smiling. He stops her and said, "Wait here."
He goes over to a set of curtains nearby as Akina waited. As he opens them, Akina can sense the light coming in and smiles as each curtain opens up.
"Now?" asked Akina more anxiously.
"Okay...now." said Ichigo smiling.
Akina opened her eyes and gasped. For the room she and Ichigo are in is the library itself...with so many books on many shelves!
"Oh my gosh. I have never seen so many books in all my life!" exclaimed Akina happily.
"You like it?" asked Ichigo hopefully as he goes next to her.
"I loved it!"
"Then it's yours."
"Oh thank you very much, Ichigo."
Outside the doorway, Shuhei, Izuru, Unohana, and Rangiku watched while Hanatari tries to look in.
"It work! I knew it would!" cheered Shuhei happily.
"What worked?" asked Hanataro puzzled.
"I got to admit. The two looked very happy together." Rangiku said smiling.
"This is incredible." said Izuru excited.
"You got that right." agreed Unohana smiling.
"Isn't this incredible?" asked Rangiku as she, Shuhei, Unohana, and Izuru begins to leave.
"I didn't see anything." exclaimed Hanataro unhappily as he goes up to Unohana.
"Come along, Hanataro." Laughed Unohana, "We got some chores to do in the kitchen."
"What's going on? What are they on about? Come on!" complained Hanataro.
The next day, Akina and Ichigo are having breakfast. Today's meal is oatmeal. Akina takes one spoonful of her meal. She looked up and is startled as Ichigo is eating his meal like an animal. He looked up and sees Akina looking at him, Unohana and Hanataro nearby embarrassed while Akina looks away.
Embarrassed himself, Ichigo cleans his face off while Hanataro pushes him a spoon. Ichigo takes it and tries eating his oatmeal with it. Of course, he has a hard time doing so since he rarely eats with a spoon before. Hanataro snickered at this until he noticed Unohana giving him a frown, making him stop. Akina, smiling, decided to help Ichigo with an easier method. And there, things were smooth sailing.
The next day in the courtyard, Akina were feeding the birds that came to the castle often. Ichigo came up to her and taps her on the shoulder. As she turns, Akina sees that Ichigo is making a gesture. Realizing Ichigo wants to feed the birds as well, Akina gives him some birdfeed. As Ichigo knelt down towards the birds, Akina smiles and as she begins to sing.
Akina: There's something sweet
And almost kind
But he was mean
And he was coarse and unrefined.
But now he's dear
And so unsure,
I wonder why I didn't see it there before.
When Ichigo is clearly having trouble feeding the birds due to him just shoving the birdfeed at them, she takes a handful and gently spreads it out, making a trail. One of the birds lands in his hands making both him and her smiled.
Akina then looks away as she goes over to a tree nearby. As he looks on, Ichigo begins to sing.
Goku: She glanced this way
I thought I saw
And when we touched
She didn't shudder at my hand
Blushing madly, he turned away from Akina.
No it can't be
I'll just ignore
He turned back to Akina with a smile.
But then she's never looked at me that way before.
Behind the tree, Akina takes her hood off looking doubtful once more.
Akina: New, and a bit alarming
Who'd have ever thought that this could be?
She looked back from behind the tree and laughs a bit.
True, that he's no Prince Charming
And for a good reason. She laughed as Ichigo is all covered with birds. Then all flew off.
But there's something in him that I simply didn't see.
When Ichigo wasn't looking, Akina threw a snowball at him. With a smirk, Ichigo begins to pile a bunch of snow.
Inside the castle, Shuhei, Izuru, Unohana, and Hanataro watched happily as their attention is on Ichigo and Akina, with Ichigo dropping a pile of snow on his head by mistake. Ichigo laughs as he chases Akina around a tree. Akina ducks around the others and is now is trying to come up from behind.
Shuhei: Well who'd have thought?
Unohana: Well bless my soul.
Izuru: And who'd have known?
Unohana: Well who indeed?
Shuhei: And who'd have guessed they'd come together on their own?
Unohana: It's so peculiar
All: We'll wait and see
In the parlour, Akina and Ichigo were in there hanging around in front of the fireplace. Akina was reading a story to Ichigo who is listening in interest.
A few days more
There may be something there that wasn't there before
As Akina and Ichigo reads the book, the singers, Hanataro included, were watching outside with smiles. Izuru turned to the others.
Izuru: Yes, perhaps there's something there that wasn't there before.
"What is it?" Hanataro asked puzzled.
Unohana: There may be something there that wasn't there before.
"But what is it, Lady Unohana?" Hanataro asked, confused as ever.
"I'll tell you when you are older." chuckled Unohana with a smile. Wanting to give the new 'couple' privacy, Izuru and Shuhei close the doors and leaves with the others.
