By the frozen koi pond (ByaRen, Byakuya<3Renji)

Nightly thoughts

It was rare to see snow the Soul Society. But as November came to an end and the final seconds of midnight were forgotten, small snowflakes slowly started to fall. The scenery was dark, there was nobody in the whole of Soul Society awake at this hour, the strain of winter was setting on everyone (believe it or not, even Shinigami had Christmas). Well, everyone accept one person. He sat with his back pressing against a wall, the door to his room slightly ajar just so he could see the wonder outside. He felt melancholy, holding a single candle in his hand, the beautiful flame of oranges and yellows flickered giving his tan skin a beautiful glow.

His eyes, those swirls of cinnamon, brown and red matched the flame that was flickering angrily at the wick. Crimson locks let loose, they hang like a wild mane around his shoulders and cascaded down his back. The ridiculous white and pink yukata -that he seemed to love ever so much- was covering his well built body. It was slightly open, the obi wasn't done up tightly enough for it to stay completely closed. Showing his tattoos, and they continued up his neck in intricate patterns , and on his forehead.

Finally he stood up, slowly closing the door he blew out the small dying flame he walked to his futon and laid down, pulling the covers over his cold body from the breeze outside. He closed his eyes and gave a small smile, unable to do much else. It's not like he cared at this point, he just wished he could sleep, sleep without thinking about his taichou. He hated the man, hated him with so much passion, but he hated him because deep down, he knew his heart loved him so much, with every ounce of passion, power that his heart had. He loved the stoic Kuchiki.

The redhead exhaled as sleep finally took over him, his eyes closed, and his breathing was slow, regular, it was so silent. It was unusual really, around this time everyone was going home from the local bar. But not tonight, tonight it was one of those nights, when the snow started fall for the first time in almost a century that every one slept soundly in their beds. The silence dawned on the fiery male, he could hear the soft thump-thump of his heart. It was...calming to say the least. Sleep came soon after that -but not soon enough- and Renji was taken into a void of his own, where the snow fell a little harder, the man truly did love snow, it was wondrous.