Title: Just another day on the calendar

Author: autumnsoliloquy

Rating: PG-13, mild swearing

Prompt: ichiruki first Christmas, ichirukiFC at BF

Characters: Ichi/Ruki, special appearances by Santa & Kurosaki family

Summary: Uh.. Ichigo and Rukia spend their first Christmas eve together. Set in the possible future.

Note: I did my research, and Christmas in Japan is celebrated differently from most Western Christian countries. Also, I've never experienced winter before, so pardon me if there's any inaccuracies! I tried to make the two of them IC, but the prompt itself has a tendency to be mushy! Meri Kurisumasu, minna-san!

Dedicated to jm, who hates anything anime but listens to me fangirl anyway. Thanks Ate Riya for beta-reading! Please give concrit after reading!

It was snowing. Ichigo adjusted the scarf around his neck securely and shoved his hands into the pockets of his school pants. His boots made squelching sounds as they sank into ankle-deep snow with each step. The familiar streets he walked every evening on his way home were completely deserted tonight except for himself; almost everyone was seeking warmth at their respective houses or workplaces. The roofs of the houses that lined the streets were overhung with snow, and snowflakes were falling at a rate that doesn't show that it might be letting up soon.

Usually Ichigo hated anything that fell from the sky, such as the rain, but he found that he doesn't mind the snow at all. In fact, he liked the snow. He can't understand why, but somehow he felt at peace amidst this wintry scenery.

Ichigo thought he was either losing his sanity or turning too soft for his own taste.

The sky was turning dark. He might be late for dinner after all. Ichigo decided to increase his pace or he would never hear the end of it from Yuzu.

It was then that he saw the silhouette of someone standing a distance ahead through the winter fog. As he closed in on the distance, the familiar figure became more apparent to him.

Ichigo stopped in his tracks.

The reiatsu was unmistakeable.

"Yo, Ichigo."

Ichigo stared at her blankly. There was that unmistakeable smirk on her unmistakeably familiar face. Ichigo lowered his head.

For a moment there was nothing but the deathlike silence of the snow falling, and the distance between the two lone figures on the empty street.

He looked up, but not at her. Slowly, he started to resume walking down the path home, and past her, as though she was merely another ghost he had not seen.

But Rukia caught up beside him after a while, seemingly contented to have not gotten a response from the tall orange-haired teenager beside her, or at least an acknowledgement.

"Just came from school?" she asked happily, her face wearing an outrageously cheerful expression as bright azure eyes scanned the surroundings. Oh, how she missed this neighbourhood.

Still no response from him. Idiot.

"So how's school?" Rukia asked in an even cheerier tone, if that was possible. "I heard yesterday was a holiday!"+

"Just what exactly are you here for, Rukia?" Ichigo asked gruffily. It irked him that here he was pissed off with her, and yet she was still in her upbeat mood and ready to annoy him further.

"I was sent to make sure you're doing a good job with the Hollows and staying out of trouble," she replied, sounding not at all affected by his cold treatment towards her.

"Oh, so now they don't trust I can handle things here by myself?"

So that's what he'd been angry about.

"Ichigo, they sent you back here so you can continue with your life. Soul Society would like you to have some sense of normalcy in your life again. We've brought Inoue back and…"

"And so now I'm not allowed to help out anymore because they don't trust me." It wasn't a question but a statement. It was spoken not laced with anger, but rather with an emotion that Rukia couldn't place whether it was sadness or resignation.

How can Ichigo lead a normal life when he knew any time Aizen could decide to blow the whole Karakura town up?

For now, that was the end of conversation. They walked side by side, but Rukia felt as though the distance between them was gaping. She suddenly found the squelching sounds their boots made very interesting, and he decided on sulking. But after a while, Ichigo found that he was quite happy to see her again. It had been a long time since they last saw each other after all. But of course, he would never tell it to her face. He might give in to the temptation to wipe off that smirk that he knows she would have on her face if he did tell her.

So they kept walking in silence for the rest of the walk. Rukia did not seem to care for idle chatter anyway. Neither did he. They were just fine enjoying each other's company.

He didn't know why the hell she was so cheerful for. Stealing a glance at her from the corner of his eye, Ichigo noted that Rukia looked strangely like an innocent little girl beside him, especially with her cerulean blue eyes sparkling with childish mirth, and the layers of winterwear that dwarfed her petite figure.

Innocent? Rukia? Ichigo snorted. Yeah, right.

He must have had snorted loudly because Rukia asked him what the hell his problem was. He was about to make a nice comeback retort when suddenly, she squealed. Ichigo decided he wouldn't like a lolita Rukia after all.

"What?" Ichigo asked, alarmed, but Rukia was already gesturing wildly at "the pretty stars!" Ichigo looked up and realised that "the pretty stars" she was referring to were the small multicolored lightbulbs adorning the façade of the house of one of his neighbours.

"They're called 'Christmas lights', idiot, " Ichigo informed her. Sometimes he really wondered why everything in his world seemed to fascinate the female shinigami.

"Kurisu…masu?" Rukia didn't like the way the foreign word rolled off her tongue. Ichigo could almost see the question marks forming in her head. Before she annoyed him with more questions, he decided to end the topic quickly. "It's a kind of festival."

Upon hearing "festival", Rukia's face lit up. "Oh, I know!" she suddenly piped. "It's about that fat old man with hair and a beard as white as Ukitake-taichou's, right? The one who wears a red kimono?"

Rukia was wearing an expression that indicated she was very proud of this piece of knowledge. Ichigo would have laughed out loud, but it wasn't everyday that Rukia knew something about the living world.

"Urahara told me. He even showed me a picture of Fat Guy-san."

Well, that explains it, Ichigo thought. "He's called 'Santa Kurosu', you dumbass."

"Santa Kurosu?"

Ichigo started walking again. He was really going to be late for dinner. Yuzu would be mad.

Rukia caught up with him again, and started rambling on about whatever little knowledge she had of this "Kurisumasu". "Though I don't understand why people would want to celebrate Santa-san's birthday. It's not like he's the Emperor or some bigshot. I was even told he steals from other people so he can pass them off as presents to the little kids!"

Santa's birthday? What crap had Urahara been telling Rukia? And he can't believe she actually bought it. "It's not his birthday that's celebrated, idiot. It's…"

Ichigo had read about the story of Christmas before. Or rather, his mother told him and his sisters once the story of the baby born in the manger. He looked at Rukia's eager face and decided that this bitch wouldn't get it. He'd have a hard time explaining to the idiots what Magis and angels were. "… never mind. It's not important."

But that didn't seem to deter Rukia from asking more questions. "Is it true that Santa Kurosu has eyes at the back of his head so he knows what the little kids have been doing?" "Santa-san's real, ne Ichigo?"

Ichigo gave an exasperated sigh. "Look, stop the questions already! Why don't you just see for yourself?"

The words were already out before he could stop them. Ichigo suddenly wished a Hollow would appear and eat him up at that moment.

"Really! Where?!"

Ichigo sighed.

"At the mall. But look, go there yourself, I'm going home." Ichigo considered sprinting to his house. It was only a few meters anyway. He could make it.

"But I don't know how to get there, baka!" Rukia growled. "You have to go with me."

"No, I refuse!"

There was no way Kurosaki Ichigo would go to the mall with Kuchiki Rukia on Christmas Eve.

"Hmm, this place is huge! I can't believe you never actually took me here before, you idiot," Rukia exclaimed as she surveyed the establishment with wide-eyed excitement.

A techno version of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" was blaring through the PA system. Ichigo wondered again what the fuck he was doing here.

The whole place glittered with greens and reds and golds. Shops were offering Christmas sales, and there was a huge white Christmas tree that towered in the middle of the shopping centre. But none of them caught Rukia's interest as much as one thing. Or one person.

"Look!" she suddenly screamed, and Ichigo saw exactly what was making her so excited: the plus-sized figure dressed in red near the tree.

"He IS real! Amazing!"

Ichigo resisted the temptation to tell her that it was probably just a white foreigner taking the opportunity to earn big bucks since idiots like her would buy it. He valued his life too much.

Besides, Rukia was already making a beeline towards the said man, in the process sticking out like a sore thumb amidst all the other thrilled children waiting eagerly for their turns to talk to Santa. Meanwhile, Ichigo preferred to watch her behind the refuge of the Christmas tree. He had a reputation to uphold, and besides rumours would start flying if anyone from his school saw him with Rukia. He also knew better than to stop the bitch when she was cutting the queue towards Santa and making the little kids cry.

"Hohoho, ojou-chan! What do you want this Christmas?" the old man asked in impeccable Japanese, the query directed at the person standing in front of him, a girl who was not little, and who was Rukia.

Rukia looked like she was pondering for a while. She's really an idiot. Ichigo thought. What would she wish for anyway?

Then she leaned over and whispered something to the old man's ear, a joke perhaps, because both of them ended up laughing. Ichigo glanced at his watch: 7:43. He was really late for dinner.

Soon it was the next kid's turn, and Ichigo had to drag Rukia away because the bitch was still scrutinizing Santa's head and digging through his hair in such a disturbing manner that the parents of the kids had started giving them weird stares.

He had to get her out of there before his reputation gets completely ruined.

"So…" Ichigo shoved his hands in his pockets. "What did you wish for?"

The nightmare at the mall was finally over. Ichigo hoped to Jesus-sama, Kami-sama or whichever god was listening, that no one he knew saw them. He and Rukia were now strolling back to his house, with Rukia looking as if she just had the time of her life, and Ichigo looking as if Christmas did not come at all this year.

"It's a secret," Rukia replied wistfully. "Santa-san said it won't come true if I told anybody."

Ichigo scowled. He hated it when she kept things from him. Last time she did that, she got the death penalty and he had to save her.

Once again, they lapsed into silence, save for Rukia's occasional humming an all too familiar tune from just now. Ichigo wondered how much more he could still take before he strangled the bitch.

"Shouldn't you be with your family?" Rukia asked. Ichigo looked up at the sky and saw that it had stopped snowing.

"Pops has work at the clinic the whole night. Says it's that time of the year when people drink themselves silly and get into accidents," Ichigo explained as they turned the bend towards his street. "My family doesn't celebrate Christmas. We used to, when..."

Ichigo faltered for a split second, then continued his strides. Anyone else would have missed it, but not Rukia.

"… when Okaa-chan was still with us. She liked Christmas. We celebrated because she did."

Rukia said nothing. Truth was, words failed her at that instant. She was happy enough he'd share such things to her. Perhaps it was better that she said none.

They walked past one of the houses where a group of people was gathered at the gate, belting out "Silent Night" in Japanese-accented diction.

"We'd have chicken for dinner. Sometimes 'kaa-chan would bake a Christmas cake, and Pops will dress up as Santa and give us presents," Ichigo continued, and Rukia knew that this was one of those times when people reminisce about happy memories and not sad ones.

"We celebrated because she did."

"That sounds like fun," Rukia said softly, after a while, and both of them were lost in their own thoughts.

Finally, the sign of the Kurosaki Clinic came into view. Ichigo continued walking towards his house, then realised Rukia had already stopped a few steps behind him, her head bowed down and he couldn't see her eyes.

For some inexplicable reason, Ichigo's heart sank.

"You're leaving?" He hadn't meant for it to be a question, but it came out as one anyway.

She looked up, and plastered on her face was that smirk that annoyed him endless. "Why, are you sad that I'm leaving?"

Ichigo looked away, his face feeling hot all of a sudden. Damn the cold.

"N-no," he started, indignant that she would even suggest such a thing. The cold must be really getting to him, Ichigo thought, such that he had even started stuttering. "In fact, good riddance. I'll finally have some peace." He focused his gaze on her again, and he thoroughly considered the pros and cons of wiping that smirk off her face.

"They didn't send me. The higher-ups might start wondering my whereabouts."

So. Ichigo smirked inwardly. She came to see me after all.

Ichigo found that he couldn't stop his feet as they started making their way towards her, until the two of them were merely inches apart. He could feel her warm breath against his cold skin, sending a tingling sensation through his body, and her eyes staring up at his in an unspoken challenge.

Challenge to what? Something in his head asked.

Shut up.

Slowly, Ichigo placed a gloved hand into his undercoat and pulled something out. Before he could do anything stupid, he shoved the thing to her face and looked away once again. "Here, take it."

Annoyed, Rukia snatched the piece of paper away from his grasp. Idiot. Fucking coward.

She stared at the offending item and realised it wasn't just a normal piece of paper. In her hand was a hard glossy piece of paper folded into half, and the cover showed a white round creature which appeared to be made out of snow. "What's this?" she asked in the most stinging voice she could muster. Bakamono.

"Just open it, will ya?"

Rukia gave him a death glare, but did as he told anyway, and opened it. The first thing that caught her eye was a Chappy doppelganger that had a speech bubble saying "Meri Kurisumasu!"

"It's a Christmas card," Ichigo explained, still avoiding her gaze. Rukia smiled at the rabbit, which she decided would be called Chappy.

Well at least she liked the damn usagi.

"Why isn't there anything written on it?" she asked. He looked at the card, and indeed there was nothing else on it.

"I… didn't intend to give it to you, I bought it but had no use for it so if you like it, just take it and stop complaining," Ichigo said quickly, and he wondered why he had to say all that in one breath, really, and looked away again.

She didn't say anything, and for a while that worried him.

He looked down at her, and saw that she was looking at him with that incomprehensible look of hers that always made him wonder if she was angry at something he did or just merely thinking.

Then, she smiled.

"Arigatou, Ichigo."

"Oh."

"I'd better be going," she said, still holding his gaze in a silent conversation beyond words.

"Aa."

And she walked off, again. Just like the way she had barged into his face earlier. Later, Ichigo found that he was still rooted to the same spot well after her fading figure had disappeared into the winter fog.

It has been a long time since he celebrated Christmas.

His family celebrated because his 'kaachan did.

Ichigo closed the door behind him with a click. "Tadaima."

No annoying father waiting to ambush him tonight.

"Okaerinasai, Ichi-nii! Finally!" So, Yuzu wasn't gonna tell him off after all.

At the middle of the kitchen table sat a half-finished Christmas cake. It was a sponge cake with white and red icing, and with strawberries on top.

It has been a long time since he counted the days to a holiday that celebrated an event he does not even believe took place.

"Ichi-nii, you're late," Karin said through mouthfuls of a slice of the cake. "Rukia-nee came earlier, brought the cake, but Pops told her you were still in school…"

Yet now he finds that, for some inexplicable reason…

Ichigo smirked.

"Yeah, I know," and grabbed a slice and gobbled it down.

He is looking forward to the next one.

December 23: current Emperor's birthday; a national holiday

Also, according to most websites, chicken and cake are the most popular dishes in Japan during Christmas. Very few people know the story behind Christmas. Some really think Santa has eyes behind his head. If you ask me, he sure does!

2735 words! My longest one yet. ) I hope it wasn't too cheesy.