Softly Snowing
~ Drop Out ~

Hana's walks to school with her brother Shirezu happened to seem calmer, nicer for some reason after her brother Nashini started working. However, her eldest brother also became more distant when it came to people and she wanted to hide from him sometimes. His mood became dark and he complained about the family worth.

Part of the reason she liked going to school more then staying at home came from the fact that she could find time to spend with her friends and forget about Nashini. She found herself a little sad to find out that Hinamori left. When she and Shirezu told the eldest Kamoku sibling, he for some reason became elated at this, though Hana never found out why.

Of course, the small female child found the fact that Hinamori went off to the academy to be sad, however, she couldn't help but also feel happy for Momo as she understood it was something big. However, she couldn't help but notice that things were changing around her, that which she thought familiar would no longer be that way.

However, a few days after the older female stopped coming, so did Hitsugaya Toshiro. A few months passed with him not showing up and time simply passed. Hana tried asking her brother Shirezu and Hita why this was, but they brushed it off. Nashini however smirked big time, looking elated that the white haired child didn't attend school anymore.

Finally, Hana walked up to the teacher and asked what happened to Hitsugaya Toshio. A few of the other students eyed her as if it was an odd question to ask. However, the teacher choose to answer. "He decided to stop coming once Hinamori left. I visit him every so often, but he just isn't going to be coming back.

At that news, Hana decided to try and ask him why he dropped out of the class. She headed down the path and came to his house, something she had figured out the location of over time. She didn't see him anywhere and glanced around looking for the boy who looked to be around her age. She remained there, glancing around, almost afraid.

However, she suddenly heard a loud thump over by the house and saw that Toshiro had dropped down from the rood. "What are you doing here?"

"I... uhh... I..." Hana blinked a couple of times. "I want to be friends. I can't say that out loud for some reason. I want him to come back to school, but I can' say that out loud either."

"You're here to gawk just like the other kids. Honestly, leave my granny alone." The boy stated rather coldly. Hana found that she couldn't say anything. Two teal eyes narrowed. "I know you. You're the daughter of the Kamoku family. You shouldn't be here. Your older brother... you can't stand up to him and he doesn't like you coming."

"Nashini?" Hana asked, her eyes blinking a couple of times, her entire voice timid when it came to this one person.

"Do you have something to say to me?" Hitsugaya watched as she nodded to him. There was a moment of silence and then he spoke up again. "Look, to be honest, you aren't a very strong person. If you want to say something, no matter how negative or cruel it is, come back when you've more courage to stand up for yourself. Start with that brother of yours." At that, he turned and walked into the house leaving her outside.

Hana turned and began to walk home, bumping into Shirezu on her way. "Hana! Where the hell have you been?"

"I went to go see Toshiro." The overly truthful words simply spilled out of her mouth.

"What, why?" Her brother quickly pushed her towards the house.

"I wanted to ask him to be my friend and come back to school." Hana glanced at the ground as she was pushed along.

"You did what?" Her older brother sounded rather disenchanted with her words.

"He doesn't seem that bad." The small female sighed.

"Don't you dare ever tell Nashini that. Please tell me that you didn't convince him of both." Shirezu sighed.

"I wasn't able to do either."

Author's note – Well... next chapter is going to be the last chapter to Softly Snowing. That's how I have it planned out. I may eventually go back and add chapters in between, but otherwise when I post the next chapter, this one is done.