Okay, folks, after a bit of a hiatus from this series, here is the next entry to my Black Crescent series. It's the Ichigo/Bambietta one I promised (sorry it took so long). Once I'm done with this one, I'll be compiling all of these one-shots into a collection appropriately titled 'The Black Crescent' with a bonus story focusing on Nel and Hallibel. Of course, you know full well who they'll be sharing with the other girls.
Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach.
"Talking"
'Thinking'
"Name of Place"
Quincy's Christmas
It was winter in Karakura Town. There were Christmas decorations up on the houses, even the Kurosaki Clinic, the Urahara Shoten, and the Black Crescent. Of all of the people in the town, there was only one person who wasn't feeling any form of Christmas spirit, unless, of course, you count the Grinch. Bambietta Basterbine was still pissed about the end result of the 1000-Year Blood War, but she couldn't do anything about it. She really didn't feel like spending Christmas with anyone, especially Uryu Ishida, the one she saw as a traitor of the Wandenreich, and Ichigo Kurosaki. Bambietta was about to get an unwelcome surprise…
Right now, Bambietta was walking down the street complaining about the cheer that's going on right now. She was also getting sick of being pummeled with snowballs from little kids. "Alright, you little brats! You like throwing snowballs?! Fine! I'll throw some at you!" she exclaimed as she gathered up some snow. Sadly, she missed her intended targets and hit someone else. "Uh-oh."
The Quincy walked over to the person she hit and saw that it was a blond teenage girl whose hair was in pigtails. "H-Hey, are you alright?" she asked. "I'm so sorry about that. I didn't mean to hit you." The girl looked at her and saw that she was worried. Unbeknownst to her, this wasn't Bambietta's usual personality. She was usually more sadistic.
"I'm fine, thank you. My name's Yuzu. Yuzu Kurosaki," Yuzu said, introducing herself. This baffled Bambietta, as from what she had seen of Ichigo, he had the personality of a volcano hidden behind a scowl. Yet here before her was sweet, innocent little Yuzu. She hoped to the high heavens that this little girl wasn't related to the Soul Reaper/Hollow/Quincy Hybrid.
"Are you…are you related to an…Ichigo Kurosaki?" she asked. Yuzu blinked, confused as to how Bambietta knew him.
"Well yeah. Everyone in town knows that my twin sister Karin and I are Ichigo's little sisters."
'Damn, there's more of them,' Bambietta thought. "Well that's just great, Yuzu. I'll see you around," the Quincy said before walking off. 'Yuzu and Karin Kurosaki…I wonder if they're Soul Reaper/Quincy Hybrids like their brother. If they are, I could at least have them learn Blut.'
Bambietta kept walking until she saw a sign on a garage building that said Black Crescent. The door also had a wreath on it. "Hmm. I don't see any hours on the door. If this is a bar, I could go for a good drink," she said to herself. She checked the door to find out that it was locked. "Oh, are you kidding me?!" she whined. The door suddenly opened and a girl was standing in the doorway. This girl was Tatsuki Arisawa.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
"Do you guys serve sake?"
"Only to our friends in the nighttime. You're free to some eggnog if you want it."
"That'll do, thank you." Tatsuki let Bambietta into the building just as Yoruichi came out with the eggnog. She recognized Bambietta because she sensed her Spiritual Pressure during the war, but she didn't get mad at Tatsuki for letting the sadistic Quincy in. Yoruichi, unlike her former apprentice Soifon, was never one to carry a grudge.
A bedroom door opened. Ichigo came in to see what was going on. He saw their guest and, like Yoruichi, immediately recognized her. Bambietta saw him as well, and saying she was shocked was an understatement. "IT'S YOU!" the Quincy exclaimed.
"Nice to see you too, Bambietta," Ichigo said with a hint of sarcasm.
"Ichigo, do you know her?" asked Tatsuki.
"Yeah, Tatsuki, I do. Orihime told you about the war that went on, right?"
"Yeah, she did. At first I thought it was her wild imagination at work, but then I remembered that Kyoraku visited me, Keigo, and Mizurio as well." Tatsuki then looked at Bambietta. "So you're one of the Quincy that survived that war, am I right?"
Bambietta knew she was backed into a corner when Tatsuki looked at her. "Okay, you got me. My name's Bambietta Basterbine and I was one of Master Yhwach's Stern Ritter. To be honest, Kurosaki, I really wasn't looking forward to running into you anytime soon," she said. "You'll probably hate me for this, but earlier today, I accidentally hit your sister Yuzu with a snowball in an attempt to get rid of some kids who were pelting me with them."
That wiped the grin off of Yoruichi's face, as she knew how protective Ichigo and Tatsuki were to the former's sisters. Ichigo, on the other hand, deepened his scowl, scaring the Quincy in front of him. "Oh come on, Kurosaki! I said it was an accident!"
"Was this before or after Yuzu introduced herself, Bambietta?" Ichigo asked.
"I-It was before. E-E-Even though she's your sister, I-I still felt bad for her," Bambietta answered, scared out of her wits. She has never met a person in her entire existence that was so intimidating, Yhwach would cower under his glare.
Ichigo sensed that she was telling the truth. "Okay, as long as it was an accident. Care for some more eggnog?" Bambietta only nodded her head, too confused to say anything. The door opened and they were joined by Soifon, Orihime, Rangiku, Riruka, and Rukia.
"Ichigo, we're home," said Soifon. She and the others then noticed their guest, who then decided to have a little fun.
"Kurosaki, are you in a harem? I just might have to seduce you myself," she said teasingly.
"And what, let you lure me into a web? I heard from Uryu that you were called the 'Black Widow' for a reason," replied Ichigo.
"So that's the 'Bambietta Basterbine' I've been hearing so much about?" asked Soifon. She, of course, had the same scowl that the Harem King/Substitute Soul Reaper had. Rukia, Rangiku, and Orihime all glared at her while Yoruichi and Tatsuki explained the situation to Riruka. Rukia and Rangiku directly participated in the war while Orihime still carried a grudge against the Quincies (the exceptions being Uryu and the Kurosaki siblings). "If I had anything to say about it, you'd be dead, Quincy."
"What's stopping you, Soul Reaper?"
"The Holidays," Ichigo answered. He handed the young girl another glass of eggnog and offered some to the others. Of course, Rangiku enthusiastically said 'yes', so they limited her to 2. Riruka decided to play a little joke on Bambietta, so she had Yoruichi, Rukia, and Orihime come over to her.
"What's up, Riruka?" Rukia asked.
"I've got a good Christmas prank that the Quincy girl is never going to forget," the Fullbringer said. The others were confused until Orihime saw what she was talking about.
"You do know that I have a problem with Quincies, right?" she asked.
"I don't," said Rukia. "Just Yhwach. If anything, Orihime, this will be great. Besides, Ichigo himself is part Quincy, so it's perfect."
"Yeah but-"
"Just relax, Orihime. Really, we don't want her to be alone on Christmas and she damn sure enough hates Uryu. Have you paid attention to the way she and Ichigo were talking? They weren't at each other's throats. They were just being smart-asses," said Yoruichi.
Orihime really hated it when the Holidays were thrown into the situation, so she made a compromise, much to her chagrin. "Fine, but she's the only Quincy we include. Got it?" The other three nodded.
Ichigo decided to let Bambietta nap on the chair she was laying on since she was passed out. He was still cleaning the kitchen area up when he saw Riruka, Orihime, Rukia, and Yoruichi sneaking up to the Quincy's chair with something in their hand. 'What are they up to?' he thought. He soon got his answer when he saw the mistletoe the girls were putting up. He smirked, knowing that the joke was going to involve him as well as their guest.
"You know, Ichigo, I'm amazed Orihime went with this one. They know she hates Quincies except for you, Uryu Ishida, Yuzu, and Karin," said Soifon, who was helping him clean up.
"I was thinking the same thing, Soifon. You know you don't have to help me, right? I mean, you're a Captain for crying out loud." Soifon gave him a genuine smile.
"I know that, but it's Christmastime. You don't need to be doing everything by yourself. We're always here to help you out. Well, except for Rangiku," Soifon said pointing at Rangiku, who was passed out because she included sake in her eggnog. The Substitute and the Captain shook their heads. Ichigo redirected his attention back to Soifon and leaned in to kiss her, something that she readily accepted.
"Oh, your Highness. We've got a present for you," a voice said. It belonged to Yoruichi. Ichigo and Soifon broke their kiss and saw that the joke was definitely set up. Before pulling the prank, the Harem King kissed Yoruichi, Riruka, Rukia, and Orihime each on the lips. He then snuck up on Bambietta and kissed her for a minute. Once he broke from her, she woke up.
The Quincy looked around for a minute feeling a tingling on her lips. She looked up and saw the mistletoe, suddenly realizing that she had been kissed by the only guy in the house. "Oh…my…god. I've been kissed…in my sleep," she said, baffled as she'll never understand Ichigo Kurosaki. "Of all the things you could've done to me while I was sleeping—drawing on my face, groped me, strip my clothes, anything—you chose to kiss me, all because of some stupid Christmas tradition."
"Yeah, well people don't have sex under the mistletoe," said Ichigo in a smart-ass manner. The other five girls present smirked as well.
"To be honest, Kurosaki, you stole my first kiss. And you know what?" she asked rhetorically. "That actually felt nice. Thank you…Ichigo."
"Do you actually want to be part of this harem, Bambietta?" Soifon asked. Bambietta was surprised that a Soul Reaper—a Captain no less—would ask her that.
"You bet!" she said enthusiastically. After her inclusion, Rangiku came to and Ichigo decided to not leave her out. He kissed her on the lips. He did the same with Tatsuki when she re-entered the room.
"Merry Christmas, Girls," Ichigo said.
"Merry Christmas, Ichigo," said the girls.
THE END
Alright, folks, I hope you enjoyed my return to the 'Black Crescent' series. As I've said, I'm going to combine these all into one collection, but with a bonus one-shot focusing on Tier Hallibel and Neliel Tu Odelshwanck. Due to a couple of requests, I'm also going to do one focusing on Nemu Kurotsuchi and another focusing on Isane and Kiyone Kotetsu.
I also noticed something: I didn't write in the whole 'kicking Isshin's ass to New York City and back' running gag. Kind of strange if you ask me.
