Softly Snowing
~ Backwards ~

Going to school meant that Hana could walk back and forth from school, getting to feel the fresh free air on her face. It meant that she didn't have to be cooped up inside for long periods of time. It meant that she could feel the sun on her face, and feel the seasons passing day-by-day, year by year, for in soul society, one aged slower, and thus one has to enjoy things more.

However, going to school also meant a whole lot of good things, when she was there. This made her want to run to school each day; however, her older brothers stopped her from doing so. Shirezu finally resorted to carrying her on his shoulders, not that he really minded. However, Nashini would mumble about the whole matter, and say that she was being coddled.

At school, she loved learning her kanji, and she would use a stick to write in the soft wax of her tablet. Every day, the teacher would go and melt the wax, so that the tablets were reusable. She would then let them sit over night, so that they could cool, and the students would bring in their tablets that they had used for practicing at home.

Some of the older students had moved onto using paper. The only one around her age group, who had done so, was Hitsugaya Toshiro. Hana couldn't help but notice that a lot of the older students hated that he was moving through the class so fast, and Hinamori would hover over him, and give him praises for his work, only to have the small boy glare at her.

They also learned traditional songs and stories, while the older children ended up getting to read from actual books, but only those who happened to have mastered all of their basic kanji. Hinamori Momo was one of them, and couldn't put the books down. She would even go so far, as to read the stories to some of the younger ones.

Hana loved this, and would sit on the ground next to the older girl, with other children. She was quite happy about the fact that the older girl was willing to be so nice to them. Of course, all the girls and boys in the class that were younger then Momo, loved to listen to her honey sweet voice when she read the stories.

This also allowed for the older children to go out and play, and for the teacher to give each student individual attention for a short period. Ironically, though, one of the students that the teacher seemed to be giving a lot of attention to, wasn't just the ones that were struggling, but also Hitsugaya. Hana had to wonder about this, because she figured him to be quite smart.

He was so smart, that he was also reading the books too. Hana couldn't wait until she could also get to the big books, and hoped that she would end up with a nice story like Hinamori choose to read to them. She didn't though realize, Toshiro's ability to learn, caused him to stand out even more. She didn't understand, because she thought it was a nice thing.

She had been sitting with the other children, while Momo looked through the books for a good story for the day, when she overheard a couple of the older girls speaking about Hitsugaya-kun. "I can't believe she's letting the little monster learn that fast. She's only feeding the curse that's around him."

"I'm mad because she goes specifically to the library the shingami have, so that she can get him more books!" another of the girls spoke up. "He can't possibly read that fast…"

"Why are they saying those things?" Hana asked her friend Ran-chan, who had taken to sitting next to her.

"Don't you know. That white haired boy… he's read all of the books that the teacher herself owns. He's already passed the other students, who haven't even gotten to some of her harder books," the girl frowned.

"Not even Hinamori sempai?" Hana asked, completely taken by surprise.

"No… she's gotten to some of the harder books, but she loves rereading things," the girl stated.

"I'm surprised he reads faster than his nee-chan," Hana sighed to herself.

Only, she found herself corrected by Ran. "No! She's not his nee-chan! How sempai puts up with him, I never know.

Hinamori came over then to sit, so Hana at first didn't pay any attention to the whole matter. That was until sensai got to Toshiro on the individual study. She briefly over heard the words. "I think we should try something new.

At that, she heard the small boy, mutter some things, about the first six lines from a story. It sounded like a fairly easy story to read, yet he was doing it rather slowly. Nashini had snuck in, as had a few of the older kids, to watch him, and they were chuckling as he struggled with the reading. Finally, they heard his voice yelling. "I can't do this!"

At that, the small boy went running out of the classroom, while a bunch of the older kids started laughing, while the younger ones decided to join in. Hinamori's eyes went wide, and the book she had been reading got set down. The reading time was cut short, as Momo went running after the small boy, rather upset at his suddenly running away like that.

The teacher suddenly snapped. "That is most definitely enough!"

Hana over heard Ran mutter to herself. "Why did he have to be such a baby! Now we lost story time because of this!"

"Class is dismissed. I want all of you to reflect on what you just did!" the woman snapped.

"But sensei… my parents' say he's a demon…" one of the younger boys spoke up.

"I don't care what they say, Hitsugaya Toshiro is your classmate and as human as anyone of you. Yes, he looks a little different, but he is still a person with feelings," the woman stated, quite angry.

At that, the whole class got up and left, rather disgruntled about the whole matter. They could tell their parents all they wanted, but they really could do nothing about changing the teacher, as she happened to be appointed by someone high ranking. The kids just didn't know whom. That was something that they mumbled about.

The next day, a huge shocker was in for the class, as they went and found a bunch of the wax tablets up at the front of the classroom, with weird kanji written on them. The teacher motioned the children to sit down, and try to read the words that were written there. However, the students became frustrated with this.

A shadow fell in the doorway, one that showed that two people of different heights were standing there. The teacher glanced up. "Hitsugaya-san… would you please read what is up here?"

All eyes turned to the small boy, who carefully looked over the kanji, left to right. "It reads 'Don't… laugh… at… what… you… can't… understand."

"It does not say that," Nashini muttered.

That was until Hinamori spoke up. "Oh! I get it! I am surprised you can even read it… as it is written upside down and backwards…"

"What is she talking about?" One of Shirezu's friends spoke up.

"Yesterday, because I've been having a hard time finding something that will challenge Hitsugaya-san's reading level, I went and turned the books upside down on him, and made him read it that way," the woman gave them a smirk. "There was no reason to be laughing at him, because he's most likely the only one in class who can do that."

Hana figured this to be just one of those things that made the other children not like him even more, and wish to sit as far away from him as possible. He had always sat at a desk in the corner, but later on, it ended up moved away from the rest. Sensai moved it back each day, that was, until Toshiro moved the desk himself, indicating it was to stay that way.