Softly Snowing
~ Going to School ~

No matter how much time passed, Hana couldn't get that memory of the boy with white hair out of her mind, not to mention how her eldest brother Nashini had treated the boy. She knew that Hitsugaya Toshiro had done nothing wrong, but for Nashini to have turned it around and said that her injuries were caused by the boy was not something she could understand.

Of course, she had always thought of her brothers as kind people, but once Nashini had shown that rough side of her, some things around the house changed, or more of, she noticed them. When Shirezu wasn't around, she began to see Nashini treat Hita with disdain, as if he didn't like the fact he had to watch the boy everyday. Hita would also never say anything.

While Nashini would never physically abuse Hana and Hita, possibly because these kinds of actions would show through, he did in fact go and use what verbal abuse that he could, as he knew that neither had the confidence to tell anyone what he said. He would come down on Hita for being as sickly as he was and costing the family money, while he told Hana the only thing that she was good for was marring off.

When Hana finally reached the age that she could go to school, Nashini was not at all happy with the situation, and voiced his negativities for once to Shirezu. "A female should not be going to school. What do they think that she can get out of learning to read and write?"

"What do they think we can get out of learning to read and write?" Shirezu responded, emotionless. "Most of the jobs here don't require much reading or writing. I think it is just to get us to feel like we have something, when we really do not."

"Even more so for a female not to learn," the boy muttered.

"Except even here, learning reading and writing makes Hana more inclined for a good marriage. That is the only reason mama and papa are letting her go," the boy stood up, the subject obviously closed.

"Is that all Hana is good for? For marriage," Nashini spat on the ground.

Shirezu turned to him, his eyes rather cold. "Nashini… Hana is the light of mother and father's eyes. Don't belittle that. Also, females are for the males in the family to protect."

Hana had the feeling that neither of the boys had known that she had overheard their conversation, but suddenly something that she had been looking forward too became something that she wasn't as excited about, and her nervousness began to grow. She began to dread her first day.

M

On the first day of school, Nashini had a hold on her arm that was tight, and his hand was sure to leave bruising on her arm. She had the few supplies that she needed, a wax tablet for writing letters in and a stick, the beginning supplies for a student at the school. They were rather large under her arm.

When she arrived there, she found that there were short desks that could easily be moved around, close to the floor for learning to write. A few other females were in the classroom and she found herself, moving behind her two brothers. Hita didn't get to come to school because of his illness, which made her somewhat sad.

The teacher then had the students introduce themselves, and Hita took a bow to the class. "My name is Hana. It is nice to meet you."

"Hana… you are supposed to say your last name with your first," the teacher suddenly stated.

"Oh… sorry. My name is Hana Kamoku. Nice to meet you," the young girl bowed again.

"From now on, last name before first. No need to repeat," the woman smiled. She slowly had the children introduce themselves. There were two children by the names of Tatsukichi and Ayumi. After everything had gone through their names, the teacher turned to them. "Have either of you seen Hinamori Momo? I've never known her to miss school or to be late?"

The two glanced at each other, as if they knew why Hinamori was late that day, however for some reason they didn't wish to talk about the reason, almost as if it was taboo. However, the question for why the girl was running late soon became answered, by the fact that they heard a child's voice come from the school yard. "I don't want to go!"

"Come on Shiro-chan… it isn't as bad as you think! You'll have fun, I promise!" came an older girl's voice. A few seconds later, the girl came in, dragging in a small boy with white hair and teal eyes. "I am sorry that I am late. My name is Hinamori Momo. It is nice to meet all of you new students."

However, a bunch of eyes had turned towards Toshiro, and were staring at him. The small boy leaned into the girls legs, as if he wanted to get away from there. The only smile for him came from the teacher, who went over and places a hand on his head. "Hinamori's told me quite a bit about you. Would you please share your name with the class."

"Hai sensei," the boy responded, however, before he could give his name, some of the younger students spoke up.

"Why does he have white hair," one of the boys commented. "He looks like he is an old man, not a kid like us."

This kid found himself elbowed by another, whispering carefully. "Not in front of Hinamori-san."

"My name is Hitsugaya Toshiro. It isn't a pleasure to meet you as I would rather not be here," the boy suddenly blurted out, staring at the ground, his teal eyes trying not to look anyone in the face.

"Shiro-chan! That wasn't very nice!" the girl frowned, then gave him a warm smile. "I am going to sit with Tennchin and A-chan. You be good and try to make some friends, ne? Don't act so cold!"

Momo went and sat down with the two children, while the boy with teal eyes just stared at everyone, while everyone just stared back. Hana picked up that most of them had some sort of fear of him, while others had a complete disgust. As she stared at him, she felt a sort of enigma about him, something that she found to be scary in some ways, but in others made her fill safe.

Before she could even begin to try to place a finger on it, a girl next to her pulled on her sleeve. "I am Ren-chan. Would you be my friend?"

Hana nodded her head, happy to have found a friend, but turning back to the boy, whom the teacher had to lead to a desk, she could feel that no one wanted to be his friends. Ren shook her head at him, whispering in her ear. "Mama says he's a jinx… he just showed up out of nowhere. His hair color and eye color are completely unnatural. She says children shouldn't have white hair…"

"But is that a reason to shun him?" Hana suddenly asked.

"There is an odd feeling about him, almost as if he was a demon," the girl stated. "Everyone says he is a demon, and if he touches you, you will get hurt. That is why our older siblings say we shouldn't play with him. He's scary… and cold… you saw how he treated the class. That was mean!"

"But didn't we start it, staring at him like that?" Hana asked.

"No… it's been going on for a long time," the girl stated. "Be careful of him."

Before either of the girls could say anything more, the teacher called them to attention, causing them to begin their lessons. She asked the older students to repeat what they already knew. Nashini came up with the lesson that he was supposed to have memorized, some sort of foreign language. The next thing everyone knew, Toshiro was saying nearly the same thing, except different.

"I'm sorry sensei!" Hinamori suddenly apologized. "I've been saying my lessons at home, and Shiro-chan picked up on them, as he helped correct me when I was wrong!"

"He didn't have to correct me!" Nashini turned to glare at the small boy, to which the boy glanced at the ground.

"Hitsugaya… while it is nice that you are very much wanting to learn, wait until it is your turn please," the woman teacher smiled at him. However, quite a few of the other students glared at him.

M

Toshiro made to walk home with Hinamori after school, but a glare from Hana's eldest brother made him stop, and tell the older girl that he would be fine walking home on his own. He then found himself ganged up on by Nashini's friends. The older boy let a punch go, hard and into the face of the small boy. "Why did you have to make me look bad like that?"

Toshiro didn't awnser, except stood there, ready to take another hit. Hana, who had been watching, suddenly went and grabbed her older brother's arm. "Stop it!"

"Hana, stay out of this!" the boy stated, suddenly swinging so that the small girl went flying. She stood back up, only to find that her brother smacked her cheek, and hard. Then came what no one expected. Toshiro suddenly lunged at the older boy, knocking him off his feet and began to pummel him. Anger came from his eyes, however, due to his small size and lack of fighting experience, a few of the older boys pulled him off. "What makes you think you can attack me like that?"

"Granny says one must never hit a girl!" the young boy blurted out. "Least of all your own sister!"

"Ahh… she's told you to never hit Momo-chan," the older boy scoffed. "I've told you before, Hinamori isn't your sister, so stop calling her your sister, idiot!"

Nashini then launched a punch into the small boys gut, just as Shirezu came out of the small classroom. "What are you trying to do Nashini? I don't recall that being a fair fight? And your fighting in front of Hana… don't you have any manners at all? Why does Hana have this brusing on her face?"

"It's the fault of the brat," Nashini glared at the small boy, who glanced at the ground.

Shirezu glanced at Toshiro, "You did this?"

"It is my fault," Toshiro commented, glancing away, referring to the fact that if Hana hadn't stepped in to help him, she wouldn't have gotten hurt.

"Let him go Nashini… it isn't worth getting cursed with bad luck is it?" the younger of the two Kamoku brothers narrowed his eyes. The boys holding onto Toshiro suddenly let go of the boy, allowing him to escape. "I also wonder… he was brought up by the same person who brought up Hinamori-san… would he actually hit a girl? I'll have to speak to his grandmother later, won't I?"

Shirezu then turned and began to walk away. Hana wasn't sure if he had ever gone to speak to Toshiro's grandmother about the matter, however, she did know that Toshiro didn't come to school for a couple of days, so she could help but wonder what had happened.

Author's note – Nashini is basically using Toshiro being around as an excuse to beat up on Hana, as he has a scapegoat to blame it on. Also, Toshiro wouldn't be at school due to the black eye that Nashini gave him. Whether Shirezu spoke with granny or not will be left for later.