Author's Note:

I'm not gonna lie, this fic came out of no where. I am writing this on December 24th 2011 in my aunt and uncle's house in my little Italian village in the mountains. I was working on the first chapter of a mega crossover fic which should be coming out soon, when I got the idea of writing this fic. I wrote most of it on the fly and got a few ideas for it while ignoring the priest during my faithful village's two hour Christmas mass (1 of the 7 that are held during two days). Some idiots lit a powerful fire cracker that broke the stained glass XD Rock n' Roll dudes!

Anyways, as you can tell this is an IchiHime fic; my very first. And I'm not gonna lie my dear readers; it was a blast to write. I hope you enjoy it, and Merry Christmas!

P.S. This was a bitch to write on a European keyboard

The Greatest Gift of All

An IchiHime Christmas One-Shot

Christmas has always been the time to relax and spend time with love ones. Obviously this is what the students of Karakura were excited for; along with the fact of having two weeks off. However for the more spiritually aware students, this time around, the holidays seemed a bit…awkward. For Ichigo and his friends who had just returned from Hecto Mundo and fighting to save the town and possible the world from oblivion, adapting to normal life was proving to be a bit difficult. For Tatsuki, Mizuiro, Keigo and Chizuru who had just learned their friends had supernatural abilities and had been fighting monsters for the past year, were still trying to take it all in. Ichigo and the others had been worried that this would jeopardized their friendship and trust; along with their secrets. But to their luck their friends had taken it well. Ichigo had expected Tatsuki to punch him again but was surprised to have her hug him and say she was glad they were all back. Mizuiro was calm as usual while Keigo was freaking out bursting with questions. Chizuru was just glad her precious Orihime was alright but all that got her was a roundhouse to the face; courtesy of Tatsuki.

As expected by Ichigo, Chado, Orihime and Ishida, they were scolded by their sensei for leaving without notice as they had missed their exams. They had no choice but to spend the first 3 days of their break doing make up exams; which they all luckily passed. Now free to themselves they began spending their holidays with their families.

Not quite.

Chado and Orihime had no living family members and Ishida hated his father, which left them spending the holidays with Ichigo's family. This wasn't as bad as Ichigo had expected. Chado and Orihime were getting along well with his little sisters and Ishida was actually having a series of conversations with Isshin. A perfect Christmas no doubt.

Once again not likely. Ichigo, though happy everyone was having a good time, was having trouble dealing with his inner turmoil. At first it had been about the fight with Aizen and him loosing his powers. He had wanted a normal life for so long, but he quickly realized that he longed for his old ghost filled life even more. Was it the thrill? The excitement? The danger? The power? No it was something else. He felt that he had lost a part of him, a very large part of him. But right before he lost that part something filled its place, something he had never expected.

His Hollow side and Zangetsu told him that the day Orihime had left she visited him while he slept and confessed to him as a way of saying good bye. They vanished before he could ask any questions which now left him confused. She loved him? Inoue Orihime loved him? How was that possible? How could anyone other than his family love him? It just didn't seem possible. What was it about himself that she loved? He frowned a lot, he was lazy for the most part and all he was good at was killing Hollows. How was any of that crush material?

But it wasn't a simple crush it was love. His now gone companions had shown him what they saw and he had heard her speech. She truly did love him. How was he supposed to deal with this? He couldn't simply walk up to her and say that he knew she loved him. And even if he did where would he go from there? It wasn't as if he could return her feelings; both literally and proverbially. Their entire friendship was now at risk. What was he going to do?

All these thoughts were coursing through his mind as he watched the gorgeous young woman sitting on his living room couch. He would not lie, she was attractive. No, more than that. She was cute and beautiful. No, more. She was intelligent and strong willed. No, more. She had the body of his dreams and it rocked him to the core. He immediately shook his head.

'Enough!' he told himself. What was he thinking? And in the presence of his family no less. If he started having thoughts like these now he would never be able to look her in the face. But that was just it. He couldn't look her in the eye after the Winter War had ended. How could he after knowing her feelings?

Even with that self warning he starred anyway, not really wanting to stop in the first place. Due to this distraction, he didn't notice his father sneaking up behind him.

"What's with ya Ichigo!" he shouted launching a powerful roundhouse kick at his son's head. To his surprise it actually connected, sending his son crashing into the opposite wall. His father was stunned for a moment not expecting to hit him, but quickly recovered to claim his victory.

"Yosha! After losing to my son continuously for the past year or so, I have regained my honor!" he shouted with pride.

"BAKA!" shouted Karin landed a strong kick of her own on the back of her father's head. "You can't give it a rest during the holidays or when we have guests over!"

"But Karin daddy had no choice. How could he turn down such an opper-"

"Urusai!" shouted his daughter, interrupting him with another kick right in the face. "And here I was expecting you to mature and learn your lesson."

"What were you expecting Karin?" said Ichigo picking himself up, "He isn't going to change anytime soon." He then noticed some broken glass at his feet. "Mataku, I broke that old ornament." He picked up the fragments of glass and carried them to the kitchen. Chado then leaned to his left.

"Is it always like this?" he asked Yuzu.

"Pretty much yes" she replied, not fazed in the slightest.

In the kitchen Ichigo was gently dropping the shards into the garbage bin in order not to cut his fingers. If he had not been so focused on Orihime he would have noticed his father's attack. He wouldn't let it happen again, or at least not have anyone else sneak up on him.

"Daijoubu Kurosaki-kun?" a voice said. Ichigo clenched his hand by reflex and turned around to see Orihime standing behind him with her sweet smile.

"H-Hai. Why do you ask?" he replied shakily.

"Well your father did kick you after all."

"Ya I guess, but I'm used to that so it's no big deal" he said dropping the last few chards into the garbage bin.

"Ah! You're bleeding Kruosaki-kun!" gasped Orihime. The ex-Shinigami looked down to see that his hand was in fact bleeding. He guessed it must have happened when he closed his hand as the shards where still in it. He quickly began to rinse it off in the sink and told her it was nothing but she wasn't going to let this go.

"Give me your hand" she ordered clasping her hands firmly around his injured one. He immediately blushed at their sudden contact and was actually surprised to see how small her hands were compared to his. And they were rather soft and smooth…

"There. All done" she said suddenly. Ichigo looked up confused then back down to his hand. To his amazement it was completely healed.

"How did you do that Inoue?"

She blushed slightly, "I've been learning how to control my healing abilities even more. I'm starting to learn how to use them without bringing out Ayame and the others. I'm only able to heal small cuts and bruises but it's a start ne?"

'Small cuts and bruises' echoed Ichigo in his mind. The same small cuts and bruises that were on his right hand the day she ran away. She had healed them subconsciously when she held it, while was leaning over to kiss…

"Are you sure you're alright Kurosaki-kun? Your face is rather red."

Ichigo returned to reality and looked at the concerned young woman in front of him. His face was red? Was he blushing? Kurosaki Ichigo did not blush! As much as he denied it, it was there and even more so when she placed one of her smooth warm hands on his forehead.

"Hmmmm. You don't have a fever" she said raising an eyebrow, "It must be nothing!" She smiled warmly and turned around, walking back to the living room. Ichigo was then left to himself, watching her leave as he leaned against the sink. He could actually hear and feel his heart pounding in his ears. He swallowed hard trying his best to calm himself. She was driving him mad. He couldn't keep this up for much longer. What was he going to do?

xXx

The night continued to roll on in high spirits to the delight of the party goers. However all good things must come to end, and with it being 2 in the morning now seemed like a good a time as any. Ishida and Chado said their goodbyes and thank yous as well as their season greetings. Orihime on the other hand offered to stay in order to help with the clean up, despite the Kurosaki family's pleads that it was unnecessary. After the clean up was complete she said goodbye and wished them a Merry Christmas. But right as she was leaving she was stopped.

"Matte Inoue" said Ichigo, "I'll walk you home."

"It's alright Kurosaki-kun. You don't have to."

"Don't ridiculous" he said grabbing his coat, "There's going to be a lot of drunks celebrating in the streets. It's not safe for you to go out on your own."

Orihime blushed slightly at his chivalry and nodded a thank you.

"Yare yare. Who knew my son was such a gentleman?" said Isshin

Ichigo shot his dad a warning glare as he closed the door behind him and Orihime.

The night was chilly but not unbearably cold. This made the walk to Orihime's apartment rather enjoyable. To a certain degree. Ichigo was having a quiet panic attack, wondering why on earth he offered to walk her home. He nearly had a heart attack in the kitchen a few hours earlier, and now he was walking with her completely alone on Christmas.

"Arigatou, Kurosaki-kun" said Orihime. The ginger looked at the young woman curiously.

"Why?" he asked. Orihime smiled.

"For waking me home. And, for inviting me to your family's Christmas party. I hope I wasn't intruding."

"What are you say saying?" said Ichigo mildly, "If I invited you then you're obviously not intruding right? Anyways, my family really likes you."

"Really?" asked Orihime in delight.

"Of course. You must have had either my dad or Yuzu mention how much you look like my mom."

Orihime then looked away. "No they didn't" she said softly.

Ichigo then stopped dead in his tracks. He had just crossed a line and revealed something very, VERY personal. There was a pause of dead silence as neither one of them knew what to say next. To Ichigo's surprise it was Orihime that spoke first.

"Do I…really look like her?" she asked.

The teenage boy swallowed knowing he would have to choose his words carefully. "Well ya a little. A lot actually" he confessed, "Especially now with your hair growing a bit longer. It looks nice by the way."

Orihime blushed softly. "Thank you. You've grown your hair as well. It suits you."

"Thanks" he replied, blushing a bit himself.

They continued to walk towards the lovely young woman's apartment but an awkward silence had descended upon them. Ichigo knew it was up to him to lift it. But what could he say? He was completely tongue tied every time he looked at her. And how could he not be? She wore a baby blue scarf around her neck that brought out her red cheeks, rosy from the cold, and her silky orange hair. How could she be so cute and gorgeous at the same time? And to make things even more appealing to the eyes, the large snowflakes in her hair made her sparkle in the moonlight. Wait, snowflakes?

Ichigo looked up to see that it was now snowing gently covering the small town with a new blanket of snow. Was there a higher force at work here?

Orihime didn't mind, rather, she took it extremely well. "Look Kurosaki-kun it's snowing!" she called. She walked briskly to a clearing where she jumped with her arms outstretched giggling with glee. She was almost embarrassed to admit she felt like a little girl again. She stuck out her tongue to catch the fresh falling snow and gave a small shiver when she tasted it.

Ichigo couldn't help staring at her now. She was so adorable yet so womanly; it boggled his mind. His heart was jumping just as much as she was and was just as happy. Why hadn't he noticed her before? He knew that every guy in school wanted her and was popular even in other schools, so why wasn't he then? Was it because he was busy with school and his part time Shinigami job for him to notice? No he had plenty of time before then to notice her. So why know? It wasn't as if he just met her, he probably knew her better than Tatsuki did. Probably.

If he did then he would have known she loved him.

He shook his head in dismay. What was going on? What were these feelings? He couldn't possible be falling in love with her. That was impossible. He didn't know or understand love anyways. For him, the closest thing to love he knew was what he felt for his friends. But he saved Rukia because of their friendship not because he loved her. But then what about Orihime? He saved her also, and clearly risked far more to do so. He betrayed the Soul Society, his friends, he lost his humanity at some point and ultimately lost his powers for her. Would he go that far for a friend? Part of him said yes while another part said no. Was it even alright to have thoughts such as these for just a friend? Keigo might say so but Ichigo didn't think that way. He even had a few dreams about her, and not all of them were family friendly.

Ichigo groaned and rubbed his temples. Things were simply tumbling out of control.

"Ah! Come here Kurosaki-kun!" his angel called. Ichigo snapped from his thoughts and looked at the girl of his dreams. He walked towards her and traced to where her outstretched finger was pointing to. He actually was amazed. They were standing on a small look out with a view of the entire town of Karakura. The lights shawn brightly and bounced off the fresh snow creating its own firework display. Ichigo then looked back at Orihime and saw an even better view. Her face bore a large sweet smile, her eyes and skin were reflecting the city lights giving the impression that it was Orihime herself that was glowing.

"So…beautiful" he said.

"I know! I can't believe we didn't notice it all before!"

"Yes."

It was clear that neither one of them had realized that Ichigo was talking about Orihime and not the city before them. It was right then that Ichigo knew what had to be done. He had to tell Orihime everything. He didn't know how she was able to act normal after everything they've gone through but he knew that he could not. It was all too much to bear. He beckoned her to come with him. They walked over to a park bench that was lightly covered in snow. Ichigo quickly wiped it off so that they would be spared having cold and soaked clothing. They sat down, and Orihime waiting for Ichigo to begin speaking. It was obvious that he wanted to talk to her about something.

"Inoue…" he began, still not sure how he was going to start this life changing conversation. "There's something I need to tell you about…it's about me. Well actually it's about us. I'm not sure how to ask you this but…" He was loosing his confidence and fast. He had to say something and quick. "Why, did you leave without telling us anything?"

Orihime was taken aback by the question, not expecting it to be on such a heavy topic. She shifted her legs before speaking. "Well, I just wanted to protect you all. I couldn't live with myself knowing I gotten you all hurt or worst. I just couldn't" she said clenching her fists slightly, grabbing her dress. "I just wanted to protect you."

"Baka!" he said, a little more forcefully than he had planned which caused the orange-haired beauty to look up surprised. "I swore I would protect you and I swear to keep to that promise. And even though I lost my Shinigami powers I'll keep protecting you. And when I'm not there Ishida and Chado will protect you in my place. Do you have such little faith in me? We're friends right?"

Orihime starred at him for a moment and blinked, shocked by his passionate display of friendship. But she then smiled warmly and closed her eyes. "Hai Kurosaki-kun. We are friends, and I do trust you. You, Chado-kun, Ishida-kun, Rukia-san, Renji-san, Toshiro-kun, Matsumoto-san, everyone. Arigatou."

Ichigo, quite glad with her response gave her a genuine smile. He was glad she believed in him. But his happiness faded knowing he still had not completed his true goal. He now had the ammunition to go through with it; for better or for worse. He took a breath to steady himself; it was now or never.

"Inoue" he began getting her attention once more, "I know what happened." She looked at him with both concern and confusion. "I know that the night you left for Hecto Mundo, you visited me to say goodbye, that you healed my hand by holding it, while saying you loved me." He didn't know how he managed to say that while looking her in the eye but he was glad he did. Her eyes widened not ever expecting him to find out about that night, and he could clearly see there was panic in those eyes. He immediately grabbed her shoulders to keep her from running away. He had to get through it and she needed to hear it; for both their sakes.

"I know about what happened because Zangestu-osan and my inner Hollow showed me what happened before they left. Even though I'm not conscious they are. After they told me I haven't been able to get it out of my head. Everyday I look at you and tear myself up wondering how could someone as amazing as you love a person like me. Since the second I knew about your feelings till now you've been driving me insane. And I now know what I have to do. I have to because I can't live with myself if I don't. I have to because I realized something important tonight." His hands tightened their grip on Orihime's shoulders. "I have to because I love you Inoue Orihime!"

There was a moment of silence as the young woman in his arms starred at him in utter shock. Then, her face began to soften, and tears began to flow. Ichigo immediately let got of her, terrified he had just done more bad than good. She began to cry bringing up her hands to her eyes. Ichigo now felt like crying himself. What had he done? Then he heard her speak.

"Th-That's the first time" she said looking up over her fingers, "That you've ever called me by my first name." She smiled at him, eyes still filled with tears, and hugged him tightly. Ichigo didn't really understand what was going on but accept the hug gratefully, wrapping his arms around her. He felt the warmth of her body which he quickly learned was an incredible feeling. But his bliss was cut short as Orihime broke the hug and looked him straight in the eye.

"I love you Kurosaki Ichigo!" she said strongly. Ichigo was shocked but only for a moment. He was so happy that he leaned in for a kiss but stopped himself halfway fearing he was going too fast. But to his pleasant surprise, Orihime leaned in as well and locked her lips with his own. The kiss immediately ignited something within them causing them to wrap their arms around each other, almost afraid they would be separated. If either of them had been cold they were surely warmed up now. The kiss may have been their first but it was most definitely passionate. It was clumsy but was also tender. They had no really idea what they were doing, but the sensations they were feeling were beyond description. Orihime's lips tasted like strawberries and of candy cane, and Ichigo's lips tasted like champagne and chocolate cheese cake. They inhaled and exhaled through their noses trying to keep the kiss going for as long as possible, but they knew they had to come up for air soon. In the last few seconds of the kiss, they each partially stuck their tongues in each other's mouths, giving them a jolt of forbidden and unknown pleasure. When the kiss broke, they gazed into each other's eyes while breathing heavily.

"I love you Ichigo-kun."

"I love you Orihime."

There was a second of silence before they both began to laugh.

"It's going to take a while to get used to calling each other by our first names" admitted Ichigo.

"Hai. But I don't mind having that kind of problem" replied Orihime. The new couple fell back into a tight embrace, so very happy to have finally found each other. It had been rather difficult making it here but they were glad that it didn't end in disaster. Ichigo then looked down at his woman with a question that he needed to be answered.

"Hey Orihime" he said causing her to look up at him. "Why do you love me?"

The young woman blinked at the question as she was not expecting it but answered it happily. "I love you because you're strong, courageous, handsome, your sense of justice, your need to protect what you love with all your strength, and…" she said smiling so much that her eyes closed. "Because of your face!"

"My face?" he said lifting his eyebrows.

"Hai, your face!"

"But all I do is frown!"

"I know! It's funny!"

"My face is funny?" Ichigo stared at his girlfriend completely speechless. Orihime saw this and began to giggle. Ichigo felt her giggle vibrate through his body giving him a warm fuzzy feeling; one he had never felt before. He was then asked the same question.

"Why do you love me?" asked the bombshell.

Ichigo was unsure as he didn't fully understand it himself. But he realized that he had to speak truthfully. And that he did. "You're cute, funny, beautiful, smart, unbelievably kind, strong, captivating and drop dead gorgeous. But the most important reason why I love you is because you loved me first. No one has done that before and because of that, I feel mesmerized and liberated. That's why I love you, my princess."

When the last few words left his mouth, Orihime's face immediately glowed red causing her to bury her face into her boyfriend's chest. "Never" she said, her voice a little muffled, "Never did I expect you to say that. Even in my dreams you've never said something like that. That's so out of character!"

"Think I give a shit about remaining in character?" he asked rhetorically. Orihime looked up at him and smiled.

"That's more like the man I love" she said. She stretched in order to give him a kiss on the cheek and nestled herself back into his chest. Ichigo then got a devious idea. He slipped his arm under his new girlfriend's legs and lifted her onto his lap. She gave out a small eep not expecting him to make such a bold move.

"Kurosaki-kun!" she said returning to her old habit by accident. Ichigo didn't mind. Orihime blinked as she now stared down into her loving man's eyes.

"I love you" he said.

"Say it again."

"I love you."

"Please say it one more time."

Ichigo smiled, his thumb on her chin. "I'll keep saying it till there's not a single breath left in my body."

And with that, the young couple fell once again into a love filled kiss. But this time around they kicked it off into high gear. They immediately began exploring each other's mouths, intrigued by the new tastes and sensations. They ran a hand through each other's hair, massaging it which oddly seemed to add to the experience. They could feel the new amount of heat they were generating and wanted more with every passing second. Unfortunately they had to come up for air even sooner than last time, and were even more out of breath. But they were happy. More happy than they'd ever been. No words existed to express what they could only express through passionate kissing.

"Meri Krisumasu Ichigo-kun" said Orihime.

"Meri Krisumasu Orihime" said Inchigo.

Orihime wiped a tear with her sleeve. "This is the greatest gift I could have received" she said.

"Ah" he replied, "Love is the greatest gift of all."

They smiled at each other and leaned in for another kiss. They were both eager as they knew it was going to go even farther and be even better than the first two. However they were interrupted. More specifically Ichigo was interrupted as something hard, fast and cold struck him on the side of the head. He recovered from the blow and looked around trying to figure out what hit him. He froze when he saw what was responsible.

Abarai Renji was standing a few yards from him in complete winter gear with a cheeky grin on his face.

"Dammit. I leave ya on your own for a little while and look what happens" he said.

"R-Renji! You bastard!" Ichigo growled about to get up and pound the crap out of his friend. But that's when it hit him. Renji was here. He looked to the older Shinigami's right to see Rukia standing there with a smile of her own. "O-oi, how can I see you guys?"

"Baka yaro! Just because you can't see spirits anymore doesn't mean we can't get into a gigai and visit you" pointed out the lieutenant. "Don't tell me ya forgot everything about being a Shinigami? We were worried about ya."

"Yes but it looks like he would have been totally alright" said Rukia, "Congratulations you two and Happy Holidays."

Ichigo and Orihime were totally embarrassed, their faces painted red. How could this Christmas get any worse?

"I-chi-go" came an inhuman growl. Ichigo looked over to his right and recoiled in terror. Chizuru was standing before him emitting flames of rage. "How dare you violate my precious Orihime!"

Chizuru was only the beginning. Next to her was a stunned Tatsuki and Keigo, neither of them sure what they were seeing was an illusion or reality. Mizuiro was once again calm and even gave them a nod of approval and encouragement. Chado and Ishida, though shocked beyond coherence were more embarrassed than anything else. Yuzu and Karin, were blushed madly never expecting to find their brother doing something like this. Isshin on this other hand was crying tears of joy.

"W-What are you all doing here!" shouted Ichigo.

"Rukia told me you humans have a holiday called 'Krisumasu' so we decided to visit" said Renji.

"Yes…well Sado-kun and I did not feel like returning to our residences so soon so we decided to walk about town" Ishida said clearing his throat showing his discomfort and pushing up his glasses with his index finger.

"A-Ah. We then thought about inviting the others" added Chado.

"W-W-W-W-We saw i-i-it was snowing so we a-asked dad if we could walk through the park a-and" said Yuzu terrible embarrassed.

"ICHIGO!" shouted his father, "You've made me proud son! You've scored yourself a top grade woman! Marry her soon so that she can give me and Masaki lots of grandchildren!"

Ichigo and Orihme had their faces buried in their hands. Never in their lives had they been so embarrassed. Marriage, sex, grandchildren, it was all too much. Any chance of keeping their relationship a secret at least for a while was discarded as everyone who would make a big deal of this was present (minus Matsumoto and Urahara). Both of them wanted run away but they didn't know where to go. Ichigo was now fed up. He picked up his girlfriend bridal style and jumped on the railing of the look out and jumped off of it. This made the others gasp.

"What the hell?" shouted Renji, "What's with that high jumping? Did that bastard get his powers back?"

That was a good question. Ichigo, still high on love, had acted on instinct completely forgetting he had lost his powers. When he descended back to earth he shielded Orihime as best he could. But to his surprise, when his feet hit the ground he felt no pain and his legs didn't buckle. What was going on? He bent his knees and jumped with all his might sending Orihime and himself easily a few hundred feet in the air landing perfectly onto the roof of one of the city buildings. This didn't make any sense.

He jumped again trying to reach the next building. 'What's going on?' he thought.

'Yo King! Way to fuckin' go!'

'Ah. Congratulations Ichigo'

Ichigo's eyes widened. "Masaka, you guys? How-'

'Don't worry I'll make it short and sweet' said the Inner Hollow. 'After you transformed into our final Hollow form, your soul itself transformed'

'Yes. And because of this transformation, the very nature of your power transformed. This means…'

'That we're stuck with ya for life!' shouted the Hollow. 'Our power is yours forever! Whether ya still want to call it Shinigami power go ahead but it's evolved past that. It's never going to be taken away from you as long as you still draw breath. Use it well ya bastard King!'

'Ah. Think of it as a Krisumasu gift' added Zangestu.

Ichigo was stunned. He had never expected this to happen. He had finally gotten together with the girl of his dreams and he reclaimed his lost powers. He landed on top of another roof and held Orihime up tightly.

"Is something wrong Ichigo-kun?" she asked. Her boyfriend looked at her with a wide smiled and shook his head.

"Iie Orihime, everything's fine" he said. He pulled his right arm free and held it over his head and swung it down sharply. Zangestu materialized in his hand knocking up a gust of wind. Ichigo grinned like an idiot as he plunged his sword into the roof of the building and leaned against its side.

"Everything is perfect" he said kissing her.

There it is ladies and gents, my first ever IchiHime love story. Dontcha worry there will be plenty more! Speaking of which…sequel? And a lemon maybe? Giggity!