This is a fic for the gift exchange over at Bleach Asylum. I wasn't going to do one...I'm horrible at writing these two, but I need the practice and it'd be good to see if I can get them in character.
Have nothing else to add, so enjoy the story, and pray I kept them in character lol.
Disclaimer: Bleach does not belong to me.
An IchiRuki Christmas fic
"Damn cold..." Ichigo mumbled angrily to himself as he wrapped himself in his comforter tighter.
"Ichigo, what is this strange white machine releasing hot air into your room?" Rukia asked, her curious blue-violet eyes staring at the heater releasing warm air into Ichigo's bedroom.
Ichigo grumbled and stuck his feet back into the old comforter of his bed. As he turned to face his desk he answered the short shinigami. "It's called a heater Rukia." Rukia raised an eyebrow at the chattering of Ichigo's teeth, "The stupid thing is supposed to help heat up my room since my cheap old man won't fix the household heater."
Rukia nodded slowly, and stared at Ichigo as he continued to shiver on his bed. She eyed the heater as he called it, then back at him. Her brows furrowed in confusion and she voiced out her concern.
"If that's the case Ichigo, then how come you're still shivering like you're in the middle of a blizzard?" The woman didn't fail to notice the young man's glare directed at her and the heating machine as she asked her question.
"Cause the thing's broken or something!"
Rukia looked at the heater again and asked another question, "Well, if it's broken then why don't you get another one? You've been going to the store this past week."
Ichigo growled and turned over to stare at his frosted window, "That shopping was for something else okay? Besides, I didn't think my heater would fuck up on me, and I don't have anymore money."
Rukia rolled her eyes and placed a hand at the small vents releasing the warm air, "Geez, sorry for asking. I was just wondering is all." She smirked mischievously and poked Ichigo's side, "Here I thought, the great Ichigo can handle a little bit of cold."
She tried to hold in her laughter as she saw Ichigo stiffen before he stuffed himself deeper into the comforter and begrudgingly retorted, "You can kiss my leg midget! I'm a tall individual so my blood doesn't circulate as quickly so I get colder easier than you." She could feel his smirk through the old comforter, "Unlike you, whose height is barely off the ground, so you don't have to worry about heat loss as much."
He expected the shoe that hit him on the head, and the huff of indignation that followed. Still he was too damn cold to fight back at Rukia's physical attack, so he sighed and kept talking, though it was quickly becoming a mumble.
"At least you're wearing that huge purple sweater Yuzu gave you as an early Christmas present, so you'll be much warmer in this igloo I call a room."
Rukia's narrowed eyes trail over the long length of Ichigo's body and finally notices how old the comforter for his bed really is. Her expression softens as she stares at the many tears and small holes covering the blue thing. She scowls at it and thinks.
'No wonder Ichigo can't get warm, that thing's older than me!'
"-i... Oi!" She blinks up at the scowling face of the orange-haired boy and waits for him to continue talking.
"What?"
"You spaced out on me for a sec, so I just wanted to make sure you weren't off imagining in your stupid Chappy crap." His covered hands patted the bump on his head that Rukia gave him after she whacked him for the comment.
"Shut up." She mumbled and got up from the carpeted floor. Ichigo stares at her angrily as she makes her way to his bedroom door.
He pouts and childishly remarks, "I was just telling ya the truth, didn't need to hit me midget."
She doesn't turn back to look at him, but opens the door to leave. "You deserved it, you annoying carrot top." She smiles softly as she hears him snort in response. "Well, I'll leave you in your igloo, good night, and don't forget Christmas is a week away."
As she shuts the door behind her, she can hear Ichigo snort again and his angry reply as he turns over to the other side of his bed, "Yea goodnight, surprised you'd remember something you just learned about a month ago."
--
The next morning finds Rukia staring at a magazine Ishida had accidently left behind when he and Inoue had come over for a visit about three days ago. Her blue-violet eyes look over a certain section of the magazine that sells materials for blankets. She frowns and smiles at the various designs some of the blankets have.
She's startled as she feels a hand land on her shoulder; she's met with Yuzu's happy smile. The little girl giggles and sits next to her, her apron still tied to her body.
"Good morning Rukia-chan! Why are you up so early?" Her curious brown eyes look down at the page Rukia was looking over.
A sudden blush covers Rukia's cheeks and she quickly covers up the pages with the sewing kits for hand-made blankets. She laughs as Yuzu stares at her strangely.
"I-I was just reading some things is all! I think Ishida-kun might have gotten me interested in sewing."
Yuzu's eyes light up and she nods eagerly at the short woman. "I see! It's good to have more sewing lovers like Onii-chan's friends and me!" the little girl embraces Rukia and giggles happily. "I'm so glad! Now we can sew things together and make all sorts of neat things!"
Rukia just laughs nervously at the girl's rapid chattering and wonders if she can find a way out of sewing with Yuzu. As she's about to reply to Yuzu with an apology the little girl catches her attention.
"If you want, after breakfast you and I can go over to this little sewing shop I know about and buy material and then I can teach you how to sew simple things!"
Rukia's gaze falls back to the magazine, and her thoughts wander back to a certain carrot top's lack of a good comforter. Her eyes fill with numerous emotions and her grip on the magazine tightens. She grabs Yuzu's arm and squeezes it gently.
The little girl stops talking and stares worriedly at Rukia. "Ne, what is it Rukia-chan? Have you changed your mind about sewing?"
Rukia smiles at the girl's obvious tone of disappointment. She shakes her head and stares at the girl's soft brown eyes. "No, I was just wondering..." a dusty blush covers Rukia's face again as she thinks about the young man with a no-good-comforter and softly asks, "Do you think...you can teach me how to sew a huge quilt Yuzu-chan?"
--
Shortly after breakfast, the two leave the Kurosaki residence and head towards the sewing shop Yuzu had mentioned earlier. The little girl happily holds Rukia's hand and begins to talk about the sorts of items Rukia would need to begin sewing a large quilt.
Rukia nods politely, but her own mind wanders to what exactly she wanted to put on the quilt. Her brows furrow with concentration as she thinks about what the boy likes, his favorite color, symbols that fit his character. She bits her lower lip in thought; she was confused and didn't know exactly what the quilt would have.
She's interrupted when she feels a tug on her red corduroy sweater and stares down at the smiling Yuzu.
The girl points to a quaint little store feet away from them. "That's the store Rukia-chan! Let's go inside and start buying your materials okay?"
Rukia nods, and lets Yuzu lead her towards the store. A determined look goes across Rukia's face as she sees the display window hanging wonderfully made quilts of different sizes. She'll make one just as wonderful, she thinks.
Rukia stares at the short aisles, and picks up the abundant baskets full of soft, long, thick, thin, and rough yarn. Yuzu is at the other end of the shop, a confused look on her face as she's determining which sewing kit would be easier on a beginner like Rukia.
Rukia turns a corner and finds herself among a long aisle full of rolls upon rolls of fleece of different colors. Her blue-violet eyes twinkle with joy as she spots several designs with the cutest rabbits she's ever seen. As her hand reaches out to grab some of the bunny-covered material she stops herself and pouts.
He wouldn't like bunnies, and though she was still trying to get him to see the adorableness of bunnies it'd be a safer road for her if she bought something else. Giving the bunny fleece one last longing look, she continues down the aisle in hopes of finding what she wanted.
It doesn't take her long before she finds herself standing over two particular rolls with the prettiest colors her eyes have laid eyes on. A light amber color that strangely resembles his eyes, and dark royal blue that just seemed to fit him perfectly.
Her hands run over the soft fabric and she bits her lower lip, trying to decide which color she wanted to buy. She turns her head to stare at Yuzu had called out her name. She smiles and waves as the little girl runs toward her, a large sewing kit in her arms.
"It took me awhile Rukia-chan, but I found the right one for you to start that quilt you want to make!" The girl puts down the kit and stares at the two rolls Rukia was previously touching. "Ne, this one looks like Onii-chan's eyes don't they?"
Rukia nods while smiling and softly replies. "Yes...it does."
"You know Rukia-chan...the man in the front desk has this really cool machine that can blend two fabrics together to make it one single sheet..." Yuzu's smile widens as she sees a light flicker in Rukia's eyes. "If you like these two we can ask him to use it."
Rukia grabs the two fleeces in her hands and grins at the little girl. "Yea, I'd like that Yuzu-chan."
Yuzu giggles and runs over to the man in the front desk. The man nods and walks over towards the two rolls, a pair of scissors in his hand.
"How big do you plan to make this quilt little lady?" Rukia stares up the man's friendly expression and smiles knowingly.
"I quilt big enough to cover a really tall guy."
--
As the owner of the shop works on the machine to blend the two fabrics, Rukia and Yuzu go over to the other aisles to find the rest of what Rukia needed. Yuzu chose a large bag of stuffing for the quilt, knowing that whoever Rukia wanted to give this to would want to use it to keep warm. Rukia spent her time looking over designs she could sew on or sew herself onto the quilt.
Two bags of ultra-soft stuffing, two huge rolls of blue and amber thread, a large sewing kit, a bag full of designs Rukia refused to let Yuzu see and two extremely large sized multi-colored fleece double-layered sheets later, and the two girls were ready to head back home.
As the owner waves good-bye to the two young ladies that gave him some good business, Rukia holds the two bags of bought material close to her chest and a proud smile covers her face.
Yuzu stares up at the young woman and smiles. She had a feeling that whoever was getting this was someone very special to Rukia-chan.
"This person is going to have a very good Christmas once you're finished with this quilt Rukia-chan!" Yuzu exclaims as they enter the Kurosaki house.
Rukia is about to reply, but spots a spiky set of orange hair going down the stairs. She makes a strange 'eep' noise and runs past Yuzu and a confused Ichigo as she locks herself in the girls' room.
Ichigo scratches the back of his head as he makes it downstairs and into the kitchen where a giggling Yuzu is already taking out items for dinner.
"What the hell's wrong with her?"
Yuzu giggles again and gives her older brother a shrug. "I don't know Onii-chan, but since you're here mind helping me with dinner?"
Ichigo sighs and lets the matter go, Rukia was a strange woman, and he'd rather not get a headache over something he already knew.
--
The next morning, Rukia is inside the girl's room, all her sewing materials out on the floor. She looks over each item as if it were a life-or-death situation if she lost any of them. Her blue-violet eyes wander over to the calendar where she could see that she only had five days left before Christmas would arrive and she would have to have her quilt done by then.
She gulps as the materials in front of her seem to grow endlessly across the floor. Her shoulders slump forward as she takes out the paper instructions found in her sewing kit. Her eyes read over the small-sized letters spread across a 30-page booklet. Her head makes contact with her pillow as she falls back onto her bed.
She groans. "I never thought a quilt would be so troublesome to make, that damn idiot better be grateful I'm making this for him."
She sits bolt upright as the bedroom door is knocked on roughly. 'Speak of the devil.' She thinks anxiously as all the materials stare at her mockingly.
"Taking out all my quilt crap when he's still in the house...not my best idea." Rukia whispers to herself as the knocking on the door grows louder and harder.
She runs to the door, opens it, pushes the young man away and closes the door behind her. She chooses to ignore the raised eyebrow of the orange-haired boy as she gasps out loudly.
"What is it?" She asks calmly once her nerves settled down a bit.
Ichigo's expression remains the same but he replies, "Right...damn weirdo." He mumbles, "Anyways, since you're so animated this early in the day why don't you tag along with Kon and me down to the grocery store? Yuzu needs some more vegetables for this soup she's making today."
As he talks, the stuffed lion he mentioned perches himself on the young man's shoulder and talks dreamily towards the short woman. "Good morning Nee-san!"
She nods and stares at the two in front of her. "Why are you taking Kon?" She asks, her fingers itching towards the door of the bedroom.
"Damn furball wants to see if he can steal some food since he doesn't wanna eat the soup Yuzu's making today." Ichigo grabs the stuffed animal by the head and yells at it, "Though he should be damn grateful I give him food instead of stuffing him in the attic where he belongs!"
Kon huffs out indignantly and jumps onto Rukia's shoulder. "This is why you and I can't go alone to the store! I need my lovely nee-san to protect me from your cruelty towards all things cute and adorable like me! Right nee-san?"
Rukia tries to ease her stiff posture as she watches Ichigo eye her suspiciously.
"The store sells your dumb manga, you'd be dragging me and Kon out the door by now..." his suspicions grow as Rukia makes the same 'eep' sound as before and backs away from him, "What's your deal Rukia?"
Rukia throws Kon right into Ichigo's face and goes back into the room locking herself in, but not before yelling out as innocently as she could., "I'd be more than happy to accompany you Ichigo, but I'm afraid of have other things that need my attention! Have fun with Kon!"
Ichigo stares at the shut door in front of him, and scratches the back of his head annoyingly. "Damn that odd woman!" he sighs as he places a crying Kon back on his shoulder, "Fine, I'm trying to be nice to her and she slams a door on my face, that's great whatever."
He ignores Kon's sobs of bewilderment of Rukia denying his company and goes down the stairs and out the front door.
Rukia watches him leave towards the store through the window and sighs as she looks back at the pile of materials still lying on the floor.
"That fool should definitely be grateful I'm doing this for him."
--
The next few days make Ichigo feel a bad combination of suspicion, disturbed, annoyed, abandoned, and though he's still denying it to himself, hurt.
As the rest of his family sat around the living room watching corny Christmas specials on T.V. he noticed that Rukia, who'd on other occasions be thrilled to learn more about the strange viewing box as she calls it, was again locked up in his sisters' room doing god knows what.
When Yuzu baked Christmas cookies and made him and Karin help with the icing, he was strangely disappointed to see that Rukia didn't join them since she loved eating the frosting when no one was looking. She was up in the room again.
Or when Kon had accidently made a remark about her not-as-great-as-she-thinks drawings and she simply ignored the comment, passing by the both of them in deep thought as she made her way back to girls' room.
He and Rukia...well more like Rukia forced him to agree...had also planned on going to the ice rink so that she could, as Rukia dubbed it, "Cream him with her amazing skating skills." The day he had planned to take her, Christmas eve, she had not once come out of the bedroom, and when he went to knock on her door angrily he was...well not hurt....okay hurt to hear...
"I can't go, I have things to do. Why don't you take Yuzu, I heard she's been itching to go for a few days now."
He had growled out in deep agitation and retorted, "You annoyed me from night to day for an entire week to take you to that damn ice rink and now when I'm actually willing to take you, you change your mind cause you 'got other things to do'?"
"You know how annoying this is? Damn it Rukia, if you're gonna keep changing your mind on these sorts of things than maybe I should just stop doing you favors?!"
It stayed quiet on the other side of the door for a good long minute. So long, Ichigo had started to feel guilty, that was until he heard her yell back.
"Fine, do whatever the hell you want Ichigo, I don't care. So just leave and stop annoying me."
The way she had said it had left him with no insult to throw back at her. He had stared at the door for a full five minutes and then finally left to his room, where he stayed for the rest of the day.
He didn't care, and he wasn't hurt. If the damn midget didn't want his company then that was fine with him. She annoyed him anyways and constantly made life a living hell. He should be grateful that she suddenly decided to lock herself in his sisters' room and not show her face for five days.
That's what he kept repeating to himself for the rest of that day, yet he still had this deep feeling in the pit of his stomach. A feeling that told him he didn't like when Rukia was mad at him, no matter how much his pride continued to deny it.
--
On Christmas morning, Ichigo woke up to the sounds of Karin yelling at their dad for waking her up so damn early. He groaned as he sat up in bed, and tried to rub away the Goosebumps on his skin from the previous cold night.
"I really need a new heater." He mumbled to himself and rubbed his neck as he exited his room and went downstairs towards the living room.
As he entered, his sister Yuzu smiled up at him and hugged him tightly. "Merry Christmas Onii-chan! I made sure daddy didn't touch your gifts so you can open them now."
He grunted and patted her head affectionately before heading towards the pile of gifts. Ichigo ducks down as Karin hits their father with one of her unopened presents.
His tired amber eyes quickly spot Rukia, who sits on the edge of the couch, trying to avoid the flying debris from Karin's attack towards Isshin.
Yuzu jumps on the couch and sits next to Rukia, who smiles back as she hands Yuzu the present she got for her. For a moment, Ichigo forgets that Rukia had yelled at him yesterday and that he 'wasn't' hurt by her tone of voice.
Then a present smacks him in the head and he growls out at his father, who doesn't even try to hide the fact that he had thrown the box at his son.
The rest of that morning had Isshin fighting for his life as Karin and Ichigo tag-teamed against him and kept hitting him with anything they could grab a hold of. Yuzu tried to be the peacemaker in the family, but only caused the fighting to seize after a soccer ball, which Ichigo got for Karin, hit her square in the forehead.
This caused Yuzu to burst into tears as a trail of blood ran down her face. Isshin rushed her to the other room, and blamed Ichigo for letting Yuzu get hurt. This had led to another thirty minute fight between the two males, which Karin and Rukia ignored as they looked over their gifts.
Things quickly settled down, and as the peacefulness finally allowed Ichigo to look over his gifts, he noticed that he didn't receive one from...
"Rukia." He whispered quietly, grimacing as that annoying feeling in the pit of his stomach returned full force.
He snorted aloud as he sat cross-legged on the couch and twirled a gold bracelet Yuzu had given him on his finger.
So he was a little hurt that he didn't get a gift from Rukia, yet he had gotten her that gift-card for the Chappy store in downtown, not to mention the new sketchbook with Chappy as the front cover.
He didn't care; he'd just wouldn't get her anything next year and see how she felt that her kindness wasn't repaid.
"If she was that damn mad at me she could have at least told me so, I wasted all that money for nothing."
He turned over as he heard a soft cough coming from the stairs. His eyes narrowed into a glare as the object of his increasing hate stared down at the floor with a...wrapped gift in her hands?
His eyes turned curious as a blush began to creep on her face. She seemed to be thinking as she fidgeted at the foot of the stairs.
"Are you gonna stand there like a moron or are you gonna tell me what you want?"
She grunted angrily and stuck out her tongue at him as the blush only increased in shade. Ichigo sighed and shrugged as he turned back around.
"If that was all you can leave, I don't want to annoy you after all."
Rukia flinched, she recognized that tone. He was upset at her words yesterday. She looked down at her wrapped gift and quickly made her way to him.
He gave her a bored stare, which only made her blush turn darker. Coughing, she placed the gift in his hands roughly and looked the other way.
"M-Merry Christmas." She mumbled.
Ichigo studied her embarrassed look for a moment, before unwrapping the gift. His amber eyes widened as he took out the most beautiful quilt he had ever seen.
Lions, royal shields, and swords crossing each other covered the blue and amber fleece. He could feel the thickness of the material and how the gold thread shined with the light. It was a large quilt, about the size of his bed.
He stared back up at Rukia and was about to ask her where she bought such a cool quilt, but his eyes caught the sight of her bandaged hands.
Suddenly it all made sense. She had locked herself in that room for the past week to make him the quilt. And he thought she was ignoring him on purpose.
"You made this?"
Rukia plopped herself next to him on the couch and touched the fleece with her bandaged fingers.
"Yea, though I stabbed myself with those annoying little needles, I got it all done this morning."
She poked his side as his continued to admire the quilt. "I hope you're happy by the way. My hands have now been reduced to pin cushions from all that sewing I had to do, and all my missed targets." She complains quietly, rubbing her hands together.
He chuckles at her words and places the quilt on his lap. "Why a quilt?"
She scoffs at him and tries to calm down her blush. "Isn't it obvious? That old comforter of yours couldn't keep anything warm let alone a giant like yourself." She ignored the glare he gave her. "So out of the kindness of my heart I made you this quilt..." She looked the other away and quietly added, "By the way...I'm sorry for yesterday, now you know why I couldn't go."
Ichigo laughs out loud and pats her head roughly, messing up her dark locks. She glares at him and reaches for the quilt.
"If you don't want it you could have just said so, instead of laughing at me!"
His larger hand covers her bandaged one and he shakes his head.
"No, that's not it...just...don't worry about it." He grins at her, happiness glowing in his eyes. "I like your gift...it's my favourite actually. I'll gladly accept this Rukia-original, thank you."
Rukia blinks wide-eyed at him and then blushes all over again as she huffs and crosses her arms.
"W-Well...then you're welcome...though you're still a fool and an idiot."
He intertwines his fingers with her injured ones and smiles at her blushing face. "Yea."
I had a different ending in my head, but I won't make it by the deadline over there if I actually thought out the other ending.
Hope you still liked it though, lol.
End.