Notes: A three-part story for Ankoku-Sensei in a trade for a holiday art. Notable pairings are Senna and Ichigo. Rukia and Renji. Yoruichi and Urahara. Orihime and Ulquiorra. Uryuu and Nemu. Grimmjow and Soifon. Karin and Toshiro. Nanao and Shunsui. Momo and Izuru. Rangiku and Gin. Was supposed to all be done by Christmas Day but that won't be happening. Will work on getting it finished as soon as possible.
Christmas Gathering
Part 1
"What are we going to do this year? We are a week before Christmas."
There in the room of the Women's Soul Reapers Association, the women were discussing in what they should do for the Christmas holidays. There was only one week before Christmas and the Women's Association hadn't made any major plans. They needed to decide what to do and fast.
Rangiku looked at Nanao. "Why not have a Christmas party? We have one everyone year."
"We don't have time to get one ready," countered Nanao. "Not in seven days we can't."
"Why not?" Rangiku inquired. "I'm sure with our influence we could come up with something. Why not have it in the World of the Living?"
"Are you serious?" Nanao blinked.
Captain Unohana stood. "I think a Christmas party in the World of the Living would be a great idea," she agreed, speaking up. "What better way to bring in the holidays than to go some place where it's already decorated up?"
"Go there?!" It looked as though Nanao, Lieutenant of Squad 8, was about to have a heart attack at the idea. "That's completely insane."
"No really," Retsu argued, using her gentle influence like she often done. "We could just rent out one of the hotels and have it there."
"That's nuts! How are we going to pull off something like that?" Nanao was holding a drink and from her excitement, nearly was spilling it.
"Because I already did it," Retsu smiled, eyes closed.
"You…" Nanao's jaw dropped, dropping her drink.
"What!" blurted everyone else in the room.
"I did it earlier this year on the full intentions of planning a Christmas party there. I was planning it to be a surprise for everyone."
"Who's all invited?" asked Rangiku. "I mean the Women's Association has always planned the party for everyone in the Seireitei who is able to come."
"It will be the same as before," Retsu explained. "Except this time we'll have Christmas morning in the World of the Living."
"Wait…wait…wait…" Nanao lifted her hands, lowering her head. "Are you meaning to tell us, we'll have the party 'and' Christmas morning in the World of the Living?"
Rangiku grinned. "That sounds like a really good idea. We could stay at the hotel and everything!"
Nanao sighed in defeat, knowing she immeditely lost the protest against the idea. Whenever Captain Unohana came up with an idea, it was always a unanimous voting. "We'll have to send word out to everyone where this year's party will be held."
Rukia looked up at the mention of telling everyone. "Will Ichigo and his wife be invited?"
"Well of course!" Rangiku piped up. "It can't be a party without them."
"We shall invite the Substitute Soul Reaper and his immediate friends," Retsu nodded. "I have already done up the invitations."
"You're really on the ball on this," Nanao said.
Retsu looked to the Squad 8 Lieutenant. "I am Executive Chairwoman."
"Of course ma'am," the woman nodded. "So we have a lot to do til then."
"We can assign one woman from each squad to be responsible in making sure the rest of that squad is informed of this year's party. Between myself and Isane Squad 4 will be covered."
"Kiyone and I can be sure Squad 13 is informed," Rukia offered.
Kiyone grinned. "That we can do. Captain Ukitake will just love it."
"And I'll do my Squad," Rangiku grinned.
Nanao sighed. "Well might as well count me in, in making sure my Squad is informed." This was something she wasn't looking forward to. Her Captain, Shunsui, was often always interrupting her in what she wanted to say, even now with them being a couple.
Soifon sighed in annoyance. She often didn't like coming to these meetings and she knew the Christmas celebration was coming up. "Squad 2 is covered. And you can be sure Jaegerjaquezwill be coming as well."
Retsu looked around the room to some of the others and soon enough all Squads were covered in who would inform their Squads.
"With that out of the way, here are the invitations." She then handed around the stack of invitations that would be given to each Squad. The invitation was designed in various Christmas colors and artwork with a wonderful picture of a Christmas tree in the center.
Rangiku jumped up, breasts bouncing as she did so. "We should also have a secret Santa this year. But who should be it?"
"Who ever the secret Santa is will be someone no one will know of and it too has already been covered." Retsu never flinched with Rangiku's outburst. The Squad 10 Lieutenant could sometimes get a little too excited at times but it was often ignored other than by her own Captain.
"Captain, you've really taken a handle on the event," replied Rukia. "And you've been planning this for sometime."
Retsu smiled. "I have. As I've said. I wanted this to be a surprise. With most of this year being chaotic from various Hollow attacks, many of us didn't have time to plan much of anything so I took the liberty of putting plans together." She looked over to the young Kuchiki woman. "Would it be too much for you to also inform the Substitute Soul Reaper and his friends of the party?"
Rukia shook her head. "No. In a couple hours Renji and I were going to go there for a visit. So we can give them an invitation then."
Retsu nodded.
Yachiru grinned. "And don't forget the candy canes!" she squealed.
Retsu smiled at the young Squad 11 Lieutenant. "Of course not. Nemu, has the Department of Research and Development finished the request I asked for?"
Nemu nodded. "As per requested, yes."
"What request?" asked Isane, looking to her Captain.
Retsu looked to her Lieutenant, giving her closed eye grin. "That shall be a surprise for the party."
As Soifon listened, her thoughts began to drift to Grimmjow on how much he had adapted to his new life in the Seireitei. Life surely changed for him since the day the two met. As her thoughts were on the former Espada, she no longer was listening to the others talk about the Christmas party or any of the other discussions. Most of the discussions, she rarely got involved in. They were not her thing.
When the meeting ended, Soifon was quick to make her leave, heading back to her squad to see how things were fairing. She couldn't even trust her own Lieutenant to take charge for any length of time. Meanwhile Rukia left to find Renji in Squad 6 to head down to the World of the Living to tell Ichigo and the others the good news.
Rukia wasn't at Squad 6 five minutes before she came upon her brother.
"Brother," she called.
Byakuya looked up at the sound. "Rukia." His voice was sharp as ever, not showing any emotion. But it showed in his eyes he was a bit surprised by her visit.
"Have you seen Renji?" she asked. Normally she would have to refer Lieutenants by their rank but in the case with Renji, the formality wasn't necessary considering Renji and her were now dating. Of course she never used formality around him before anyway as the two had been friends since they were children in the Rukon District.
"I believe he's out back near the old training grounds for Squad 6," he answered. "I suppose you are here to see him so the two of you could visit the World of the Living together?"
Rukia nodded. "We are. Thank you brother." She gave him a quick respectful bow before turning and heading towards the back courtyard of Squad 6.
It didn't take her long to long locate Renji when she asked a few more members of Squad 6 where their Lieutenant was. "Hey Renji!" she yelled.
Renji, getting ready to train a new Squad 6 member, grinned as his eyes snapped around to fall upon one of the shortest female Soul Reapers in the Soul Society. "Hey Rukia, what's up?" He looked to the guy beside him. "Guess we'll have to train later."
"Yes, sir. I should get back to my duties anyway. Good day Lieutenant." He sheathed his Zanpakuto and left for inside the barracks.
"You fool!" she grinned, being sarcastic, hands on her hips. "Did you forget we're going to go and visit Ichigo and Senna?"
"No, of course not," he replied, seeing her teasing tactics. "But I knew you had your meeting today and didn't know how long it would take. Seeing you here must mean it's over."
"Not only is it over, but I have a message to deliver to Ichigo and the rest of our human friends. The Women's Soul Reaper Association has finally decided on this year's Christmas party."
"That's great!" he grinned as he sheathed his own Zanpakuto and walked up to his girlfriend. "So where is this year's party?"
She grinned at him. "Instead of me having to tell it too often, why don't you hear about it at the same time as when I tell Ichigo. He and Senna, as well as Orihime, Chad and Uryu are invited as well."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get going."
Retsu and Nanao, donned in Gigais, left the Soul Society for the World of the Living. Though Retsu was the chief executive, Nanao was the usually the head organizer for functions such as for the Christmas party. Nanao needed to see where Retsu planned for her surprise and for the Squad 8 Lieutenant to meet the manager of the hotel the Women's Association was going to be renting for the festive season.
Nanao was completely amazed of the hotel Captain Unohana chose for the party. Her eyes were darting back and forth completely baffled by what she saw. She never saw such an exquisite structure before. The place was completely lit up in elegant style of holiday decorations.
"Lieutenant," Retsu said. "You don't want to get too overwhelmed."
Nanao blinked. "Oh, Sorry Captain. I'm just in awe about this place."
"That's understandable," Retsu gently smiled. "But we need to speak with the manager about our ideas and finalize plans. It's a good thing this hotel isn't often booked up for the holidays."
The two continued to the lobby, going straight up to a desk clerk. Nanao, knowing she couldn't really say anything nor could she over step the Captain's word, stood back, allowing the good Captain to speak.
"Excuse me," Retsu said. "I was wondering if you could get your manager. This is Retsu Unohana."
The female desk clerk looked up, giving a friendly smile. "Of course. You were in here just yesterday, weren't you?"
Retsu nodded. "I was."
The clerk gave a nod to the good Captain before picking up the phone and calling for the manager. When she was done, she looked at Retsu once again. "If you would like to take a seat over there, the manager will be with you shortly."
"Thank you," Retsu replied, before turning away, taking a seat on a comfortable sofa to wait.
The women didn't have to wait too long before the manager, who was lean built, grey moustache and short grey hair, stepped off the elevator, walking straight over to Retsu. Retsu stood just as he approached her holding out his hand for her to take. "Thank you for coming Ms. Unohana," he greeted formally.
"This is Nanao, who is often the head organizer for our get togethers," Retsu began. "I thought it best to show her what we've planned out for Christmas Eve."
"Yes, of course," answered the manager. He looked at Nanao. "I'm Akira, the manager of the hotel." He held out his hand for Nanao to take.
"Nanao," she replied back. "Ca…Ms. Unohana was telling me earlier she had been planning this surprise for everyone for awhile."
"Yes, she booked the reservations about three months ago. Would you like to see the banquet hall?" he asked.
With a firm nod, Akira escorted the two women up to the second floor to the reception floor, where there were a variety of banquet rooms and some were able to combine into one big room, which one was the one the Soul Reapers were going to use. As suspected the room was completely styled up in elegant Christmas decorations with a few Christmas trees. With the rooms being normally separate, each room had their own Christmas tree, which would give more than one tree for the Soul Reaper Christmas party.
"This is exquisite," Nanao said in awe. "I think this place will do quite nicely."
"I'm glad you approve," the manager said. "We have booked the entire third and fourth floor for your guests to the party. Each hotel room can accommodate two to three people. Now am I under the impression you will also be requiring to use the banquet halls for Christmas morning as well?"
"Yes," Retsu said, causing Nanao to drop her jaw. This was not expected. "We will be having Christmas morning here as well where we'll unwrap our presents."
"So you're renting for the twenty-fourth to the twenty-sixth then?" he inquired.
"If that isn't too much of an inconvenience for you." Retsu gave him her sweet smile, which often scared the crap out every member of Squad 11.
Seeing her smile, he just knew he couldn't refuse her request. "No. No trouble at all. As I said to you before, we are rather slow here around the holidays, so this will be a welcome change. But who shall I be putting the bill to?"
"Bill it to the Women's Association," Retsu answered, handing the manager a business card.
Akira smiled, taking the card. "I will be sure to do that. And I wish you both a very Merry Christmas and I will see you when?"
"The hotel rooms will be booked on Christmas Eve, but I require the booking of these banquet rooms, a day early so we can have time to prepare and get everything set up to what extra things we need," Nanao said, finally finding her voice once again.
"Of course, anything you need. Will you wish for a catering service as well?" he asked.
"Well if it's not too much trouble, we have our own caters," Retsu responded. "Which is why I wanted these rooms. It has a built on kitchen in the back do you not?"
"Yes, we do. It's not often used but we do keep it well cleaned, reserving it for banquets requiring outside service. It even has its own dishes. Would you like to see the facility?"
"Yes, if you don't mind," Nanao said.
The manager showed the women the second kitchen attached to the four banquet rooms that were being used for the party. Once Nanao was satisfied with what she saw, the manager then left, letting the women to return back to the Soul Society to begin the preparations of what they will need for the World of the Living.
Senna and Ichigo were relaxing in their living room with Orihime, Chad and Uryu. Once a week the five would get together for an evening to just hang out. They knew the Women's Association were soon going to hold their Christmas party and soon they should get word on where it's being held this year.
"We should be expecting Rukia soon," Ichigo announced.
"Oh, why for that?" asked his wife, Senna.
"Rukia messaged this morning saying she was going to her meeting with the rest of the female Soul Reapers and they were going to discuss where this year's party was going to be. She said she'd come down and inform us of when and where it will be."
"Wasn't last year held in Squad 1 barracks?" Uryu asked.
"And the year before that it was held in the field outside of the Rukon District main civilization," Senna added.
"Yeah, it was," Ichigo agreed. "Each year it's in a different spot, makes me wonder where it will be this year."
"Guess we'll just have to wait for when Rukia shows up and tell us," Orihime said.
The five continued to visit until the doorbell rang and Senna went to answer it. Not to her surprise, it was Rukia but with her was Renji, which she had not expected. She let the two in, showing them to the living room.
"Hey Ichigo," Renji called out.
Ichigo looked up. "R…Renji? What are you doing here?"
"Rukia asked me to come along," answered the red head. "So here I am though I am curious to know what she has to say."
Rukia smiled, seeing all her human friends. "Well since everyone is here, I don't have to wait any longer. Captain Unohana has taken the liberty of planning the party this year and it's something she organized quite some time. Her and Lieutenant Ise have come here to the World of the Living to finalize the matters."
"Why would a Squad Captain plus a Lieutenant come here?" asked Uryu. "That doesn't make sense."
"At first I was a bit surprised by this, but with it being so close to Christmas and no plans have been made as of yet, there's hardly any time to prepare. Captain Unohana has rented a hotel and the party will be held there."
"Are you serious!?" blinked Ichigo. "Rent a hotel!?"
"Can we actually do that?" blinked Renji, surprised by this as well. No wonder Rukia wanted to wait.
"Amazing. A party at a hotel," Orihime smiled. "Ulquiorra has never been in a hotel before."
"Well Captain Unohana was told by the manager the hotel is usually pretty slow at this time of year so it was easy to book up two floors for the guests who will be going be at the party the entire time. And Christmas morning we shall wake up and open our gifts at the hotel as well."
Senna shrugged. "It makes sense. Especially with the problem that recently happened in the Soul Society, most of the Soul Reapers probably haven't had much time to do much of anything and now that the dust has cleared, Christmas is now here."
"That is exactly why Captain Unohana thought of the hotel," Rukia agreed. "This way here we don't have to worry about decorating. She even already had the invitations done up as well and set aside invites for you all as well." She handed each human the invitation.
Orihime scanned it over. "It says here it's to be a semi-formal event." She then grinned wildly. "Maybe I can bring something."
Rukia inwardly cringed, knowing Orihime was big on making strange foods. "Orihime the only thing we need from you is your presence. You are a friend to the Soul Society and therefore are welcomed to come."
"Thank you Rukia," Orihime smiled.
Ichigo looked at his wife as Rukia leaned into Renji who was scanning over the invite.
"So Senna, guess you got your answer you were looking for on the when and where," Ichigo said.
"You bet. Rukia, you can be sure Ichigo and I will be there."
"I probably will go as well with Nemu," Uryu replied.
"Can you be sure to give an invitation to Kisuke and Yoruichi?" Rukia asked. "They were as much as saviours to the Soul Society as you all were when Aizen tried to conquer it."
Ichigo nodded. "I'll be sure to let Mr. Hat and Clogs know."
"Rukia, would you two like to stay for dinner?" asked Senna. "I am going to be making enough for everyone."
"We would love to," Renji spoke for Rukia. "I do like your cooking."
Rukia lightly laughed, also accepting. This Christmas party was going to be a pretty interesting one. Having many people from the Seireitei in the World of the Living for a party. Many will remain in the Soul Society, protecting it. Mostly the ones who didn't celebrate Christmas, but a good portion would be at the party in a human structure. And among the guests besides there being humans, there was also going to be two former Espadas from Aizen's army who flipped over a new leaf. One being Grimmjow, who was dating Soifon and the other, was Ulquiorra who was dating Orihime and living with her.