Mistletoe Moments
Merry Christmas Dragon-Mad1992! I don't know what you were expecting, but I hope this is good enough.
Disclaimer: Even if you don't recognise it, I don't have enough money to copyright it so it is therefore not mine. Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, and he probably wouldn't approve of this fic if he read it. Good thing it isn't for him, ne?
It was their first Christmas together, or at least, Rukia's first Christmas. As such a certain substitute shinigami found himself called upon to explain everything from Santa Claus, to Christianity, to the origin of the Christmas tree in the hall. Yuzu had been more than willing to help, until it came to the topic of Mistletoe.
Ichigo thought it was just his luck that the topic didn't come up until Isshin had desecrated the entire house with the weed. And that, while he was carefully avoiding every single one in case his father had booby trapped them again (the glitter had never really come out of the carpet), Yuzu was giving Rukia a far too romantic account of the properties of said weed.
It was Isshin's fault for giving her that Chick Flick box set last year. How many movies had ended with the heroine kissing the hero under the mistletoe? Ichigo actually didn't know, he'd never watched any of them all the way through, always managing to escape before the movie was half over. Karin had sworn vengeance, but had never actually followed through.
So when pictures of his first kiss, under the booby trapped mistletoe with a certain petite Shinigami, both of them wide eyed and blushing are posted in the Kurosaki Clinic, Kakakura High School and the Urahara Shoten, all he can do is shrug at Karin's patience when it comes to revenge, and laugh at Yuzu's eternal optimism and sense of romance.
And take comfort in the fact the glitter was silver as opposed to pink this year.
Their first Christmas as a couple was three years later. The Winter War had kept them from celebrating the last three Christmas's, and had left scars not even Orihime could heal. Rukia was no longer a member of the noble Kuchiki house, but a young woman trying to find her way in a world where the ground kept changing beneath her feet.
She had wept on Christmas Eve, over four years of fighting and hoping and grieving catching up with her. On Christmas day, he woke up and found her side of the bed empty. He followed her reisatu to the living room, where she sat limp on the window sill, staring at the white snow falling from the skies.
"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!"
Ichigo knew she missed her zanpakuto. She hadn't realised that Shirayuki had never left, only her physical manifestation had vanished. But it wasn't something he could tell her; Rukia had to work that out for herself. She would think it was just meaningless platitudes coming from anyone else.
He knows this, so sits down next to the windowsill. It takes her a while to notice him, but then she smiles and slips easily into his lap. It takes him seconds to realize that she's holding a sprig of mistletoe above his head.
"Merry Christmas Ichigo." She says, almost shyly.
He smiles, and kisses her languidly, so different from the first tentative brush of lips so long ago. "Merry Christmas Rukia."
It's been five years since their first Christmas together, and two years since the Winter War had finally ended and they'd celebrated their first human Christmas together. They're twenty one years old, and living in a house with six other people. Between their studies and their jobs, life has been hectic, but fun. As they decorate the living room with their housemates, Tatsuki, Orihime, Chad, Uryu, Mizuiro and Keigo, they acknowledge they're glad to be alive, and more than that, happy to be. They have recovered to the point it isn't painful to remember, which is more than they had hoped for, once upon a time.
When Keigo and Mizuiro decide it's high time to test Ichigo's patience, Mizuiro steps on a wheeled set of steps, and Keigo pushes him so the mistletoe Mizuiro is holding is always just above Ichigo's head, despite his attempts to escape it.
They're as obnoxious as always, but this time, Ichigo has an idea. He bolts over to Rukia's side of the room and picks her up in a cliché, yet mind blowing kiss. When they part, it's to find Keigo wailing about the unfairness of life in that Ichigo ("of all people, Ichigo!")has a girlfriend where he doesn't, Ichigo's family has arrived, and Yuzu and Isshin are cooing about young love while Karin rolls her eyes, and worst of all....
The 'nice folks from the Urahara Shoten' have arrived, complete with Shinigami entourage. While some are catcalling, others are in shock. Unfortunately, Byakuya appears to be recovering from his surprise, and his hands are hovering above where Senbonzakura should be.
The happy couple look at each other and shrug. They weren't expecting an idyllic Christmas anyway. This will be more memorable, at any rate.
They have been married for nearly ten years, yet thirty two year old Rukia Kurosaki still blushes when her husband kisses her. After he's snuck the Santa sacks into their children's rooms, he finds her waiting outside their own bedroom door. Before he can ask if anything's wrong, she giggles and holds a finger to her lips. She reaches into her pocket, and pulls out yet another sprig of Mistletoe. Smiling exasperatedly and not a little fondly, he takes the plant (weed) from her hand and tosses it to one side as he leans down to kiss his wife.
Absently, he notes the familiar blush across her cheeks.