pDisclaimer: Unless Santa gives me the ownership of Bleach this Christmas, Bleach still belongs to Kubo-sensei. Koyoi, Tsuki ga Miezu Tomo is a song by Porno Graffitti.
Authoress' Note: This serves as a Christmas gift from me to all of you! I hope you like it even though it's not really a Christmassy, happy story. Any typo, grammar mistake, OOC-ness, cliché-ness and any other flaw belongs to me, so flames goes this –point to self– way, not anywhere else. Deal? Also, this is my first attempt after a long, long time to write in present tense instead of past tense so if you spot any mistake please notify me. Thank you in advance and have a joyful Christmas, everyone!
Tonight, Even if You Can't See the Moon
It's always been pretty much the same every year.
Ichigo sits on his bed snugly, ignoring the snowstorm which is raging outside his window. He heaves a sigh, trying to focus on the manga he is reading, but Kon renders it totally impossible as he's currently bawling his eyes and heart out.
The reason? Simple. No other thing or creature in the whole universe is capable of making the lion plushie cry that hard apart from his beloved Nee-san.
"Ichigo!" he cries as he rolls around on the floor hysterically. "I want my Nee-san!!"
"Shut up, Kon." Ichigo takes a glance at the lion plushie which starts thrashing his fluffy limbs manically as if he's in agony. Maybe he is. Just like Kon himself once said, sometimes it's not the physical injury which hurts someone, rather, it's the heart.
And everyone knows how much Kon adores Rukia, almost to the point that he worships her.
She may not be buxom or sexy, but Kon and Ichigo have agreed unanimously that she's beautiful. At a glance, Rukia may not seem to be like it, but if you scrutinise the delicate details of the petite woman, you will see that she's marvelous on both the outside and inside. She's beautiful. Close to perfect.
"Ichigo! You idiot!"
Great, now he's taking blame of the midget's absence.
"You should have prevented Nee-san from going!!"
A virtual brick drops on Ichigo's chest when Kon screams that out loud. Truth be told, he knows that he made one of the worst decisions in his life when he let her go. Instead of releasing her without much resistance like he did, he probably should have gone to Soul Society and burnt Byakuya's house down for he was the reason why Rukia is not with him at this very moment.
"Look, what could I do?" Ichigo snaps back, although he just found out the answer a second ago.
"You could have burnt that stupid mansion of Nee-san's stupid brother down!"
People say great minds think alike, but Ichigo now starts to doubt it after he heard Kon's opinion which exactly mirrors his. Ichigo chooses not to fret about it, though. Maybe he's successfully rubbed off some of his intelligence to this bunkmate of his.
"This is festive season…I should have been sitting by the fireplace with Nee-san, not locking myself here with you and feeling like total crap!"
"Kon." Ichigo grits his teeth. "Just. Shut. Up."
"Onii-chan?" Yuzu knocks on his door gently and steps in. "The Christmas cake is ready."
"Okay, Yuzu. I will be down in a minute."
He climbs out of his bed and puts his manga on his study table. Kon is still sniffling on the floor, endlessly mourning over his tragic fate. Not only his Nee-san is not around, to further add to his despair he has to spend his Christmas with Ichigo in his room, just the two of them.
Ichigo feels a little sorry for him, so he offers, "I can bring a piece of the cake for you if you want."
"I want my Nee-san…" he weeps miserably. Ichigo can only sigh and shrug. That's none of his business if Kon goes on a hunger strike because of Rukia.
After Ichigo closes the door, Kon crawls towards Ichigo's drawer, the one where the Substitute Shinigami has been secretly keeping all of Rukia's letters in. The petite Shinigami obviously has no idea about this, but Kon knows anyway.
Maybe it's because he, just like Ichigo, treasures his Nee-san more than anything else in this world.
The letters are sorted based on the dates they were written on. Kon climbs into the drawer carefully and peels the uppermost piece of paper from the stack. Carefully he settles himself at a tiny corner just beside Ichigo's bed and cries himself to sleep while hugging the letter from his beloved Nee-san.
Ichigo groans when he sees the cake.
His father straight away protests, "My son! Will you at least stop scowling during this festive, jovial holiday season?!"
"Leave him alone, Dad," Karin interjects, knowing perfectly what causes her brother to groan. "And Yuzu, I told you not to bake a bunny-shaped cake."
Ichigo has all the right reasons to groan at the cake. Not only the cake is bunny-shaped, but it's also adorned with snow white icing. Two pieces of violet confectionery serve as the eyes of the bunny. To top it all, the cake is not based on any random bunny, rather, it suspiciously resembles the stupid bunny Rukia is so obsessed about, Chappy.
"But Karin-chan, this cake represents Rukia-chan," Yuzu explains to her twin sister. "Daddy said, since Rukia-chan can't be around, he wants a cake which will remind him of her."
That has worked exceedingly well. Ichigo mentally thanks his old man.
Karin smirks, "He obviously forgot Ichi-nii's feelings when he suggested that idea."
"What?!" Like a cat spotting its prey, Isshin immediately catches the hint inside Karin's statement. "Ichigo! You never tell me that you're actually involved with Rukia-chan!"
"I'm not, you stupid old man!" His cheeks say the total opposite, though, as they suddenly morph from the usual soft tan shade into a rosy peach colour.
"Ichigo! Papa is so proud of you!" Isshin gives his eldest a sharp smack on his back making Ichigo flinch, and continues to prattle away, "Is she in love with you as well? Which base have you reached? Also, you did remember to use protection, didn't you? If not, I—"
The Kurosaki father is cut short by Ichigo's fist slamming into his face.
"Forget it, I'm going to bed," Ichigo mutters grumpily. Yuzu tries to stop him, but Karin thwarts her abruptly. She knows that her Ichi-nii is in no condition to be reminded of Rukia-nee.
"He needs his time," she tells her sister, who stares back at her blankly. Isshin, who is nursing his bleeding nose, stops his whining and moaning and turns to face his daughter. His eyes have a knowing look in them.
"Come on, let's just eat the cake!" he says, picking himself from the floor and starts cutting the cake. If only Ichigo has stayed a little longer to see the inside of it.
Yuzu has put strawberries between the two layers of frosty white cake, something Isshin describes as 'no matter what, Ichigo will stay in Rukia-chan's heart and vice versa'.
Whether it's only a coincidence or a scheme devised by his evil father, Ichigo has no idea.
It's not that he doesn't want to eat the cake. It's the feeling inside his heart the moment he saw the cake.
It brought up Rukia's features too vividly into his mind that he couldn't think of anything else.
He steps into his room and finds that Kon is already fast asleep. At closer look, he sees the letter Kon is hugging in his slumber.
Smiling to himself, he decides that tonight, he will be lenient towards the lion plushie and let him have the 'lovely letter Nee-san wrote to me'.
He looks out of his window, watching tiny jewels of snow dancing in the air against the night background. They look as if they're glowing, like fireflies. Inevitably, the image of Sode no Shirayuki invades his mind.
Staring blankly at the frozen confetti outside, he subconsciously scans the night sky, searching for the moon. Alas, the moon decides to go into hiding tonight, just like his white moon which has been gone for one full week by now.
He feels a yearning feeling towards a certain petite woman, even though a tiny fraction of his heart knows full well that she will come back in a week to celebrate the New Year together with him and his family. Until then, he just has to buck up and wait patiently.
She stays in his mind, even if tonight he can't see the moon.
Tonight, where does the moon shine on from the sky covered by thick clouds?
Tonight, who are you embraced by?
Or are you going to cry alone in the rain…?
FIN