A/N: If you are still reading this story until now, thank you for your support. It seems to be a long time since I last updated, so I apologize for that. The thing is while I know what I want to write, I can't write it out in the way that I want it to be; so most of the time was spent rewriting the chapter. It's still not how I want it to be, but I have to post it anyway or I'm gonna rage quit this whole series. I hope you'd still enjoy reading, though. As always comments and criticisms are welcome.

9: Snow, Smile and Recognition

"Come on, Ichigo. At least tell us what type of girl you like."

Ichigo sighed softly as he knew there was no way he could avoid the subject when all of his friends' eyes were on him.

Up until a week ago, no one was interested in the subject of Ichigo's love life, as it was very clear to them that he didn't have nor did he plan to start one. Ichigo had always been too caught up with other things in his life that he did not have the time to be crazy about girls like most boys of his age were. However, things became different when one day Ichigo received a letter, requesting him to meet the sender at the back of the school after class. Since he never thought the letter would be from a love sick girl who wanted to confess the crush she supposedly had on him, Ichigo was convinced that the letter was a challenge to a fight. Therefore, he had to be surprised when he got to the place and found a pretty girl from a freshman year there instead of some ugly ruffians.

Ichigo wasn't sure if he had done a good thing or a bad thing by flatly turning her down, since after that incident, his friend, namely Asano Keigo, never ceased to bug him for his reasons to reject the girl when she was cute and quite popular and Ichigo himself was not in a relationship with anyone. Because Keigo kept asking Ichigo about it every time they met, the rest of his friends became aware of the subject and got more or less interested in it as well, so in the end they decided to question him when they all had lunch together in an abnormally large group that consisted of Asano Keigo, Kojima Mizuiro, Sado "Chad" Yasutora, Ishida Uryū, Arisawa Tatsuki, Honshō Chizuru and Inoue Orihime. In order to make them drop the subject, Ichigo decided to tell his friends that the girl was not his type, which led to the question that Keigo had asked him earlier.

"My type?" Ichigo repeated. "Why do you even want to know that?"

"Well, you told us you rejected Akira-chan because she wasn't your type, so I wonder what type of girls you actually like," Keigo replied. "I mean, you never showed any interest in any girls before, so I'm curious."

Ichigo rolled his eyes upward as he tried to find an answer that would satisfy all of his friends. After all, he never thought about which type of girl he would be attracted to, and so far all the girls who had entered his life had remained strictly as his friends.

"Someone like my mom, I guess," Ichigo finally replied.

"Ah, so you like older woman?" The question came from Chizuru even though she claimed she had no interest in Ichigo's love life just as long as Ichigo did not have the same target as she did. "No wonder you rejected Akira-chan when she's such a hottie."

"You think every woman with huge boobs is hot," Ichigo retorted, rolling his eyes. "And no, I didn't mean that the person had to be older - though I guess I wouldn't mind dating an older person either."

"So what are you talking about then, Ichigo? Is it about appearance?" It was Tatsuki's turn to ask. She took a moment to recall what Ichigo's mother looked like. "Are you saying that you'd be attracted to a woman who has long wavy brown hair, kind eyes and a radiant smile?"

Ichigo narrowed his eyes slightly as he didn't expect that Tatsuki, of all people, would join that conversation. After all, she wasn't a type that liked to gossip, so he had thought that she would act like she couldn't care less about it, like Ishida and Chad apparently did; however, it seemed he was wrong.

"I'm not that particular," Ichigo said. The truth was he didn't even know if he really had a type. He simply said so just so Keigo would drop the subject. "I'm just thinking that it would be nice to date someone who is kind but still strong enough to protect herself like my mom was."

Ichigo face fell slightly after he finished his line, as it brought back the memory of how his mother had died in order to protect him from the Grand Fisher, and Ichigo had failed to avenge her. However, his expression returned to normal a second afterward.

"Eh? Does that mean you actually like Kuchiki-san, Kurosaki-kun?" That time it was Inoue Orihime who cut in.

Ichigo furrowed his eyebrows and almost asked Inoue how the girl could come up with the idea when Byakuya was a man, and while that man was older and was strong enough to take care of himself and protect just about anyone he wished to, he definitely didn't have long wavy brown hair, kind eyes or radiant smiles - though Ichigo wasn't sure about the latter, since Byakuya rarely if ever smiled.

However, Ichigo caught himself before he actually allowed those words to come out of his mouth, and he was glad he did, because he just recalled that the "Kuchiki-san" Inoue was referring to was supposed to be Rukia, not Byakuya. Therefore, if he brought Byakuya's name up, it would raise yet another question why he believed Inoue was referring to that man when they were supposed to be talking about his love life, and Ichigo wouldn't be able to get himself out of that one.

"Aww, man, I should have known! You've really got a thing for Kuchiki-san," Keigo yelled victoriously. "Anyway, you could've just told me that so I wouldn't have to bug you why you didn't agree to go out with Akira-chan."

All of his friends nodded their heads in agreement, and Ichigo didn't feel like mentioning that he was thinking about a different Kuchiki entirely.

Ichigo wasn't sure if he should count himself lucky that everyone just assumed that his late response was because he couldn't deny having a feeling for Rukia when in fact, the reason he didn't deny right away was because he was busy wondering why Byakuya's name popped up in his head in the first place.

"I don't really think of Rukia in that way," he eventually objected.

"You don't need to deny it, Kurosaki," Ishida said between his bite. "Everyone here knows that you and Kuchiki-san share a strong bond and that it was because of her that you became a Substitute Shinigami in the first place."

Ichigo groaned, but he decided it would be best not to try to correct his friends. After all, they would only try to squeeze more information about his love life out of him even though he didn't really have anything to share in that regard.

"Yeah, right, whatever," Ichigo said, resigned. He briefly wondered if that was how Rukia felt when everyone in Soul Society simply assumed she was in a relationship with him or at least that he went over to Seireitei to woo her.

"In this case, I guess I can cancel the plan to invite you to an onsen trip with me, my girlfriend and her friends this coming winter break," Mizuiro, who had been listening to the conversation quietly from the start, decided it was a good time to join in.

Ichigo nodded in affirmation. "Yeah, I think I'd rather head to Soul Society."

"See? And you tried to deny that you don't have special feelings for Kuchiki-san," Keigo said teasingly. Then he frowned and turned to look at Mizuiro. "Wait a minute! How come you thought about inviting Ichigo but said nothing to me about that trip? You're so cruel to me, Mizuiro!"

Mizuiro feigned an innocent look before he remarked, "Oh? But I didn't know you like older women, Asano-san."

Keigo continued to whine about the way Mizuiro called him, and the group laughed in earnest. Meanwhile, Ichigo sighed softly as all attentions had finally been shifted away from him. He then began to have his meal quietly while his friends went on to discuss other random subjects during their lunch time.

As it turned out, Ichigo actually headed to Seireitei when the short winter break arrived. It was the first winter he had to go through as a Substitute Shinigami, since the previous time he lost his power before winter began; and Ichigo learned the hard way that he was still affected by the cold even though he was in his spirit form.

He shivered slightly when he got past the Senkaimon and saw how Soul Society's ground was paved with thick snow. Since it wouldn't do him any good to stay out there in the cold, Ichigo quickly scanned Seireitei for known spiritual presences and then headed straight to the location of the Kuchiki Manor.

Just like every other time he visited the place, he was soon greeted by the old butler who always popped out of nowhere to welcome him right after Ichigo went to the Kuchiki Manor through the front gate.

"Greetings, Kurosaki-dono," said the butler. "I'm afraid Rukia-sama is on a ski trip with other lieutenants and will not return home for a couple of days."

Ichigo nodded as he had already known that Rukia was away from Seireitei when he scanned the place for all known presences earlier.

"Actually, I'm here to see Byakuya," Ichigo said. "I don't have any appointment with him, though, so can you go and ask him whether he's free to see me?"

"Oh, in that case, I must apologize for jumping into the wrong conclusion," the butler said as he bowed at Ichigo to express his apology. He then made a gesture to invite Ichigo in. "Please come in, Kurosaki-dono. I shall inform Byakuya-sama of your visit."

Although Ichigo had already known the path to the living room by heart from the number of times he had visited the place, the butler still found it necessary to show Ichigo to the room before he went off to wherever Byakuya was.

If there was anything Ichigo liked about that living room, it was that the room was always warm despite the fact that it was big and had no other pieces of furniture aside from that one zabuton cushion that the butler had laid out for him. Ichigo had yet to sit down long enough to warm his seat when the butler returned to the room.

"Byakuya-sama is at the back garden and will receive you there," the butler stated. "Please follow me, Kurosaki-dono."

If it wasn't for the fact that Byakuya couldn't have known that Ichigo didn't exactly have a winter wear in his Substitute Shinigami form, Ichigo would have thought Byakuya was trying to torture him by saying that he would see him at the backyard, where it would definitely be cold, instead of coming in to greet him in the warmth of the living room. However, if he were to look at it on a bright side, he was glad that Byakuya had dropped all formalities and decided to let Ichigo to other part of his house aside from the living room where every guest was received.

The butler led Ichigo through the maze that was the Kuchiki Family compound until they reached to the said back garden, where the ground was covered in snow. Byakuya could be seen at the corner of the garden, rolling a large snowball with his gloved hands. Even from the distance, Ichigo could tell that the noble wasn't wearing his Shinigami uniform. Instead, Byakuya was clad in a dark blue kimono with black obi and gray hakama pants. Although his haori was still white, it was not exactly the captain haori that Ichigo was used to seeing the man in. However, what caught Ichigo's eyes the most was the reappearance of the silver-white windflower silk scarf. He didn't know he actually missed said scarf until he saw it being wrapped around Byakuya's neck once again.

Catching himself staring, Ichigo blinked and looked to his side to see if the butler would announce his presence to Byakuya only to realize that the butler was nowhere to be seen. Therefore, Ichigo rubbed his hands together and then folded his arms around his chest to keep himself warm before he walked across the snow-covered garden to where Byakuya was.

"Hey, Byakuya," he greeted once he was within Byakuya's hearing range. "You're building a snowman?"

Byakuya nodded as a reply before he lifted his eyes from the snowball to look at his guest.

"Yes," he replied. A look of concern flashed behind his gray eyes as Byakuya got a good look at Ichigo and his attires. "However, it is almost done now, so you can wait inside the house if you feel cold."

Ichigo gave Byakuya a shrug.

"Nah, I'll stay here with you. I mean, it's not every day that anyone can get to see the great Kuchiki Byakuya playing with snow," Ichigo commented in good humor.

Byakuya stopped rolling the snowball once he got it right beside the larger snowball that was placed in the middle of the garden. He then bent down to gather more snow from the ground and put it on top of the larger snowball in order to make more solid base to stack up the smaller one.

"If by playing with snow you include making a snow angel, then you would not be completely incorrect," Byakuya said, deadpan.

The mental image made Ichigo laugh in earnest, since the activities seemed far less fit to Byakuya's image than building a snowman. He didn't think he had laughed that hard in ages, and he didn't even think Byakuya was trying to make a joke.

"That's good because if I caught you on the ground making a snow angel, I'd probably laugh myself to death," Ichigo said between his laughter. It took him a moment to regain enough composure to ask, "Do you need help lifting up that thing?"

The question earned a raised eyebrow from Byakuya, and the look made Ichigo realize that he was supposed to feel very cold at that moment so that he shouldn't have offered to help.

"I'd rather not see you get frostbite."

Ichigo gave Byakuya a small smile.

"Your concern already warms me up enough," he said, but before Byakuya could look too deep into the meaning of that line, Ichigo added, "Besides I'd only be touching that snowball for a few seconds."

Byakuya narrowed his eyes as if he was trying to weigh all options, but then he nodded at Ichigo.

"If you say so, then I suppose you could help."

Once again, Ichigo rubbed his hands together then headed toward the snow to help Byakuya lift it up and then stack it on the base snowball. After they were done stacking up the snowball, Ichigo let out an audible sigh.

"Wow! I forgot how heavy a snowball can be," Ichigo said before he rubbed his hands against the fabric of his hakama to make sure his hands were all dry before he rubbed them together to get some more heat.

Byakuya tilted his head up slightly to look at Ichigo while his hands were still packing more snow between the two snowballs to make sure that they would stick together nicely.

"I'm surprised," he pointed. "I thought you would enjoy building snowmen or have snowball fights."

"Snowball fights, yes. Snowman, not really. You see, my dad has this tendency to go over the top with just about everything he does, so he often wanted to make a crazy huge snowman and give it some embarrassing decorations, so my sisters and I usually ignored him and had snowball fights instead."

"I see," Byakuya said before he decided that he already packed enough snow to the snowman and went on to rub some snow off the snowman to shape it into a more desired figure.

"Anyway, what's your story, Byakuya?"

"Does there need to be one?" Lord Kuchiki wondered. "Can I not enjoy the activity without having any reasons behind it?"

Ichigo gave Byakuya a sheepish smile. "Of course, you can. I just thought it doesn't exactly fit your image, that's all."

Since Byakuya didn't bother to tell Ichigo why he enjoyed making a snowman and simply walked across the garden to pick up some twigs from the ground to decorate the snowman, Ichigo decided to drop the subject and walked around to find some other things that could be used as a snowman's decoration.

"I used to build a large snowman with my father when he had enough free time from his Division in winter," Byakuya said after he broke the twig into short sticks and used them to make eyebrows, a nose and a mouth for the snowman. Before Byakuya needed to search for something to use as the snowman's eyes, Ichigo offered him the pebbles he had found, so Byakuya placed one of them on the snowman before he took half a step back and looked at the snowman.

"Are you not gonna put another eye on that thing?" Ichigo asked as he watched Byakuya eyeing at the snowman with a pleased look on his face.

"There were times when I left it with just one eye and promised that I would give it another eye after my wish was answered," Byakuya stated.

Ichigo chuckled softly.

"Wouldn't it be easier just to buy a daruma doll and make a wish on it? I mean, it's true we call a snowman 'yukidaruma' but I don't think a snowman is intended to be used as a wish doll like the daruma doll. I mean, the whole thing might melt before your wish can be answered."

"I know," Byakuya replied, "but it's nice to have people wonder why my snowman only has one eye sometimes."

However, instead of leaving the snowman with only one eye like he said he sometimes would, Byakuya stepped back toward the snowman and placed another pebble down to complete the look.

"There. It's done now," the nobleman announced, proudly.

Byakuya stepped back once again to admire his very own handiwork. A soft smile formed on his face as he looked at the thing, then Byakuya turned toward Ichigo and shared that smile with him also. While it was merely a small smile, its genuineness gladdened Ichigo's heart to the point that not only did the Substitute Shinigami feel like smiling in response, he also felt a strong urge to pull the nobleman close and kiss him.

The thought stunned Ichigo for a moment, as it was not the first time he felt that kind of urge. And since it was not the first time, he could no longer ignore it or pretend that nothing was going on.

He had tried not to look too closely into his feelings at that first time he wished to kiss Byakuya and simply convinced himself it was something that just happened due to a weird alignment of the cosmos and the effect of a shooting star they spotted that night. It had taken him a while, but he managed to pretend that he never felt like kissing Byakuya, since nothing actually happened and he was quite certain that the Shinigami didn't notice that he had wanted to kiss him back then.

However, since it was the second time he had that kind of feeling, he had to look at it more carefully - because it meant the feeling didn't just occur because of some weird accident. After all, there had to be a perfectly rational explanation as to why he would want to kiss a man, especially when that man could easily butcher him for doing so.

It didn't take too long for Ichigo to come to the conclusion that he liked Byakuya. That by itself was not a new fact, since he had to at least like that man or Ichigo wouldn't have bothered to spend so much time with him. However, Ichigo only came to recognize it just then that perhaps the feeling that he had developed for Byakuya hadn't been as platonic as it was supposed to be, and that recognition sent a strange chill down Ichigo's spine.

"This is bad."

Ichigo didn't know he had voiced his thought aloud until Byakuya turned toward him and asked, "You think my snowman doesn't look good."

Ichigo shook his head. There was nothing wrong with the way the snowman looked. However, Ichigo couldn't honestly say the same about himself just then.

"No," Ichigo replied, "but I think I'm not feeling too well, right now."

Byakuya furrowed his brows slightly. A look of concerned flashed behind his slate eyes as he took a better look at Ichigo and saw that the Substitute Shinigami truly didn't look well.

"I really shouldn't have asked you to come out here or let you help with the snowman, after all," said the nobleman. "Anyway, let's get inside the house. I will ask someone to fix you something hot."

As Ichigo was still astounded by the recognition, he didn't move an inch even after Byakuya said that they should get inside. His lack of movement probably worried Byakuya, since the nobleman removed a glove from his right hand before he reached out and touched Ichigo's forehead with the back of his hand as if checking Ichigo's temperature was the most natural response.

The unexpected contact made Ichigo jump in surprise, so Byakuya quickly withdrew his hand lest he offended the Substitute Shinigami in any way.

"My apology," said the nobleman.

"That's okay," Ichigo replied, feeling blood rushing to his face because of a mere contact. Byakuya was close - way too close for Ichigo's heart to take, especially right after he just realized his feeling for Byakuya might have gone beyond a boundary of friendship. "I was just a little surprised."

"Anyhow, let's get inside, Ichigo. It'll be much warmer," Byakuya said once again before he made a gesture with his hand for Ichigo to walk beside him.

Ichigo shook his head. "Actually, I think I should just head back home."

Byakuya raised an eyebrow.

"But you have just arrived," Byakuya commented.

"Yeah, but judging from the way I feel now, I don't think it'd be good to stay."

Although Ichigo wasn't talking about the cold but instead he was referring to the messed up state of his mind, he was sure Byakuya would take it that he was talking about the cold.

"At least stay and have some hot chocolate to warm yourself up before you leave," the nobleman suggested. "If you go out while you're still this pale, I doubt you would make it back to your house."

Despite his wish to flee from the place and never came back until he had everything sorted out, Ichigo still knew that he couldn't say no to the offer.

"Okay, I'll do just that. Thanks."

Byakuya accepted Ichigo's word with a nod before he led the boy straight back to one room in the mansion that wasn't exactly the living room, but Ichigo wouldn't complain since it was warm enough. After that, Byakuya disappeared for a short moment, presumably to order the hot chocolate to be made for Ichigo.

All small talks that they had after Byakuya returned to join Ichigo in the room and one of the servants came to serve a large cup of chocolate to Ichigo and a cup of tea to Byakuya didn't exactly register to Ichigo's head as his mind was more concerned about the matter of the feeling he had and how he should deal with it. And Byakuya seemed to notice that Ichigo's mind was not in their conversation as well, but he probably dismissed it for Ichigo feeling sick from the cold.

Soon, Ichigo finally finished the chocolate, and while he felt warmer in his stomach, he still felt rather cold in his heart because the more he thought about it, the less he knew how he should react.

"I think I should really get going," Ichigo remarked after he placed the cup down.

With that, Ichigo rose from his seat, so Byakuya copied his action.

"I'll see you back to the Senkaimon," Byakuya offered in a tone that said he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"It's okay, Byakuya. I'll be fine. I'm not gonna break just because of this."

Somehow Ichigo wasn't sure he was just talking about the cold.

There was still a look of concerned in Byakuya's slate eyes; however, Ichigo had to have sent off some vibes that he truly didn't want the nobleman to see him to the Senkaimon because Byakuya simply nodded.

Byakuya's next action, however, sent Ichigo's heart on another roller-coaster, as the nobleman removed his own scarf from around his neck before he swiftly stepped into Ichigo's personal space and keenly wrapped the scarf around Ichigo's neck before Ichigo even had a chance to protest.

"This should keep you warm on your way home," Byakuya stated before he adjusted the position of the scarf slightly so that both ends were symmetrical. He then removed his hand from the scarf and took half a step backward. "Take care of yourself."

Ichigo absently ran his finger along the smooth fabric of the scarf.

"Thanks, Byakuya. I'll return this the next time I come to Soul Society."

Again, Byakuya nodded, so Ichigo simply sprinted off towards the Senkaimon.

While it felt light against his skin, the windflower silk scarf still kept him warm enough on the way home as Byakuya had promised although Ichigo wasn't entirely certain whether it was his neck or his heart that received more warmth from that scarf.

Isshin was sitting at the living room, having his snacks, when a Senkaimon suddenly appeared right in the middle of room before his son walked out of it with a dazed and troubled look on his face.

"Ah, you've come back home so soon today, Ichigo! I thought you wouldn't be back until dinner," Isshin greeted as soon as he spotted his son. "Oh, did you buy a new scarf from Seireitei? It looks kinda familiar, though."

A scowl on Ichigo's face deepened slightly as he turned to look at his dad. Isshin could clearly see that Ichigo had something in mind and was probably contemplating whether he could or should confide in his own father. For a moment there, Isshin thought his son would just keep whatever he wanted to say to himself and simply ignore him, as Ichigo was at the age which a child would prefer to confide in his friends than to ask for a parental advice. Therefore, he was surprised when Ichigo had yet to return to the privacy of his room and simply stood there by the door way.

"Can I ask you something, oyaji?" Ichigo wondered.

"Sure, Ichigo, you can ask me anything and I'll do my best to answer," Isshin replied, trying his best not to seem too eager or too happy to listen to what his eldest offspring intended to ask lest his enthusiasm made Ichigo back away.

It seemed his effort paid off, since Ichigo sighed and inquired: "You're gonna tell me if I do something that you think is stupid or is wrong, right?"

"Of course," Isshin confirmed. "That's what a good parent does, and I'm a good parent even though you don't think of me as one."

Ichigo simply rolled his eyes at the last sentence.

"So what is it, Ichigo? You haven't done anything bad, have you?" Isshin asked with a teasing tone, although there was a trace of concern in his eyes.

"I don't know, oyaji," Ichigo replied. "Would you say it's a bad thing if I told you I could be falling for a guy?"