Disclaimer: I don't own bleach

A/N: Sorry for the late update! Goodness I just started and I'm already behind well I'm going to update this (hopefully) every day (well today two updates) thus the name 12 days of Christmas if you don't celebrate this holiday read it anyway!

Ichigo stared out the window at the frosty landscape that surrounded his school. The words "winter wonder land' came to mind as he looked out to the white washed town. It did look quite beautiful, to be honest. Everything looked perfect. Overnight a blanket of snow had covered Kurakara town, bringing with it the felling of anticipation for the winter break. Today would be their last day at school before their last day before three solid weeks of vacation.

Ichigo kept staring out the window as his teacher transitioned from math to langue arts. And he still was thinking about the snowy weather as something hit his head.

What the hell? he thought.

Ichigo looked around to see who cast the paper that landed on his desk. Behind him he caught the eye of Rukia, who he suspected threw the paper at him. She made an odd jerking movement towards the front of the class.

Ichigo furrowed his eye brows in confusion. "What?" he mouthed.

Rukia rolled her eyes.

"Kurosaki! Despite how pretty she is, I need you to stop starring at Kuchiki-san, and start paying attention!" his teacher scolded him. "Now answer my question."

"Anooo…" h e paused, "what was the question?" Ichigo asked guiltily, slightly blushing from her pervious comment.

Covering her eyes with her hand, she muttered more to herself then to him, "Why do I even bother…Alright how did you do on your last essay?"

"Uhhhh... the one where we had to describe our summer?" Ichigo had done very poorly on that particular assignment. He had to make it all up since "I achieved Bankia in three days to save Rukia from execution" wouldn't make much sense. "Not to good, I guess…"

"Exactly! And not only Kurosaki, but the whole class did poorly. Except for Ishida, of course who got a perfect score," she smiled warming at Uryuu, who in acknowledgement pushed his glass higher up the bridge of his nose.

"So I'm going to assign you a winter assignment" the whole class groaned "I know, I know, l suck. I am going to have you all write a three page" -another groan- "Essay writing about your past winter seasons-I mean like your Christmas, or new year's traditions- and compare them to your experiences and what you expect from your holidays this year." The school bell rang signaling their leave. The class stood up already grabbing their bags and making for the exit."SIT DOWN!" the class sat, "Before you guys go off for your break let me finish, it's due the day you come back. And you can draw a picture to accompany your essay for extra credit." She paused looking at the class."You guys can go on the condition you come back in one piece." She looked pointedly at Ichigo. And he wondered how observant his teacher really was "Go!" she yelled as the class made their escape.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Ichigo paused as Inoue came up to him "Do you want me and Tatsuki-chan to bring anything for the Christmas party?"

"Uhh..I think Yuzu has it under control thanks though." He really wouldn't have minded if Orihime brought something just, her cooking was so... bad.

"Oh no thank you for inviting us!" she replied her face going pink- probably from the cold. With a curt bow of her head she turned and left to catch up with Tatsuki.

'Damn it's so cold' Ichigo thought as he waited for Rukia so they could go home. Where was she? He hated waiting for her but he did anyways and didn't know why.

"Oi! Ishida! Have you seen Rukia" he asked stopping the raven haired boy.

"She's putting something in her locker." He replied solemnly.

"Are you going to come to the party? I kinda need to know." Ichigo asked.

"Well I have nothing better to do, so I'll be there." Ichigo glared at him. Ingrate.

"Whatever, I'll see you later then." He replied shortly with that the Quincy left the school leaving Ichigo to wait for Rukia.

XxXxXxXxXxX

On the way home Rukia had been acting weird. She seemed in deep thought, and slightly depressed. Ichigo could tell though that she wasn't thinking something bad was going to happen or she was in danger. She was just sad.

Because she was feeling oppressed, so was he. Her moods always seemed to affect him. He found it impossible to find peace unless she did first. He figure if he left her alone for a bit she'd get over her mood. So he let her have her space, while also not leaving her side. He was making a list of his past holiday events as she stared out his window while laying on his bed. Her mood was only worsening; he figured leaving her to let it pass wasn't working.

"What's wrong?" Ichigo asked Rukia, who was staring blankly out the window much like Ichigo had been doing earlier in class.

"Huh? Oh nothing." her voice sounded distant.

"Your lying is worse than your drawing. Tell me why you're acting so weird." he said the first bit trying to get her out of her melancholy mood.

She ignored his comment and looked at him as if determing whether or not she should share the reason behind her sadness. "Whatever it is you know that you can tell me." Ichigo reminded her. There were hardly any walls in their relationship he found it strange for her to be hesitant.

"It's the essay we have to write. You know the about our pasted holidays?" she said this all in rush, as if wanting to get it all out before she regretted it. Ichigo listened patiently as she continued. "In the Rukongai when I was younger, I never really celebrated the holidays since the winters were so harsh we mainly spent out winters trying to keep warm and keep from starving. Staying alive in general. But I was always with my friends. When Nii-sama adopted me into the Kuchiki clan, I had everything my past winters never did, an abundance of food, warmth, shelter, gifts, and a family. But I was always alone. Nii-sama had captain duties that couldn't be left unattended. He was never there, so I was lonely. So that's the thing; I don't really have any past holiday times or any expectations for any future holidays."

Ichigo put his hand over Rukia's in comfort. He took it as a good sign that she didn't pull away."I don't want you to pity me." She said this somewhat sharply.

"I'm not," he paused looking into her eyes, "As for the essay, write it as it happened. But for you meaning of the holidays that's gonna change, this Christmas will be different. I promise."

An Idea formed in Ichigo's head as he looked down at his past Christmas events list.


A/N: So this is the start of a 12 chapter... thingy that I'm gonna do. i was supposed to have a head start on this but finals and holiday shopping have been drowning me...

So i start this going day by day... not a good thing. So bare with me for this first week, as i finish my finals and all the bum-load of home work my teachers (for some odd reason) think I can do... I think I will be able to get ahead starting on Fri, If all goes well...

Oh, and sorry for the somewhat deppressing mood of this chapter... It will get funnier I promise!

Bleachy Holidays!

-Gady

P.S. I'm sooooo happy my friend got me a Kon wrist band! YAY! Just a random thought you might wanna know. So I wanna dedicate this chaptrer to Chris-chan!