2.

Ichigo walked to school alone, Rukia's absence painfully apparent to him. Rukia always walked with him. It was almost a tradition they had been doing it for so long. Now without the little raven-haired shinigami by his side he felt totally isolated.

Still, now wasn't the time to be feeling all mopey. There was a more pressing matter ahead now. For the last few minutes Ichigo had been dwelling on the reasons for Rukia's disappearance. At first it just seemed like an innocent mistake but now that he thought about it...This time of year had been a terrible omen last year...Maybe Rukia went through a depressive cycle every Christmas?

Ichigo dwelled on that until he reached the front gates. Tatsuki was standing beside them, gazing up the road as if waiting for something. Ichigo stepped out in front of her and waved, startling her. She tried to jump back but hit the gate and ricocheted off of it only to knock heads with Ichigo.

The two fell into the snow and both cursed rather loudly, causing mobs of students to crowd around them, anticipating some early morning action.

Tatsuki glared at them. "It was an accident you stupid vultures! Get out of here!"

The kids seemed to not hear so she repeated herself, this time, her eyes blazing. A wall of flames appeared behind the crazed young girl and the students ran for their lives.

The two helped each other up and walked to class, albeit slowly, tenderly rubbing their wounded foreheads.

"Sorry about that?" Tatsuki murmured.

"No, it was my fault. Anyway, who were you waiting for?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I was waiting for Orihime to get back from the hospital."

"What?" Ichigo stopped in his tracks. "What happened to her?"

"No, no, no. Inoue is perfectly fine! No, she was taking someone else to the hospital!" Tatsuki corrected, waving her hands about hyperactively.

"So who was it?" Ichigo asked uncertainly.

"You really don't know?" Ichigo shook his head causing Tatsuki to let out a deep sigh. "It was Rukia."

All the colour drained from Ichigo's face. Tatsuki failed to notice and went on obliviously.

"Yeah, we found her lying in the snow. Apparently she fell out the window or something. Knocked the wind out of her so Orihime took her to the hospital." She glanced over at her friend. "Do you have any idea how it happened?"

Ichigo tried to reply but his voice became a ridiculous high pitched squeal. "Nope. No idea."

Tatsuki took note of the oddity but decided to put it down to puberty rather than nerves. She rolled her eyes and pretended not to notice the obvious inflection in his voice.

After a deep breath and a loud, spasmodic cough Ichigo's usual tone returned and he continued the conversation. "So, if you were there why didn't you go with her?"

Tatsuki almost laughed but stopped herself. She gazed seriously at Ichigo, her eyes boring deep into his own. "I've made a habit of not getting involved in these sorts of hijinks around Christmas-time. Remember last Christmas?"

Ichigo groaned. "Don't remind me...But this time it will be different, I promise."

Tatsuki frowned. "Are you sure? I mean, Rukia jumped out a two storey window while no-one was looking. As far as I know, Christmas is a time when she becomes deeply depressed. Connect the dots Ichigo."

After a brief pause it finally sank in and Ichigo stepped back, his face going red. "What? How can you even say that? Rukia isn't suicidal!"

"Well she's not retarded either. So how do you suggest she fell out the window, a strong breeze?" She asked snidely.

Ichigo looked around nervously. "Well...I...I might have...Pushed her?"

"Might have? How can- Wait! You pushed her? What the fuck were you thinking? You could have killed her!" Tatsuki grabbed Ichigo by the collar as she scolded him, once again arousing a mob of fight-starved students. Once again Tatsuki's vicious glare scared them off like deer.

"I wasn't thinking alright! I'm sorry!"

"Damn right you weren't thinking! Use your freaking head next time!"

"Alright, alright! Just let me go!" Ichigo roared.

Tatsuki did so and took some calming breaths while she waited for him to dust himself off. In the meantime a skinny figure approached them cautiously. It was Uryu.

"What's going on? I heard shouting coming from over here?"

Ichigo's head jerked instantly upon hearing his voice and he spun himself around to face the bespectacled boy. "You!" He snarled.

Ishida frowned. "Excuse me?"

Ichigo tackled him to the ground and started shaking him. "I don't want a fucking Santa Suit!"

Tatsuki backed away from the odd argument and slipped inside the room without either of them knowing. Meanwhile, their pitiful, irate roars could be heard by the students inside who sat in their chairs, leaning to the side, eavesdropping.

"Well excuse me for having a sense of style!"

"Shut up! I'll kill you!"

The argument went on for quite a while until Miss Oichi walked past them. She stepped over the grappling fools and opened the door. Before she entered she gazed down at them and grinned. "And a merry Christmas to you too!"

The two combatants stopped suddenly and looked up, noticing the inquisitive faces of their entire class and also their teacher. They jumped up to their feet and ran to their desks, only to start whistling non-chalantly.

The two of them hurled the word: "Bitch!" at each other across the room for the first ten minutes of the lesson like a bunch of immature 12 year old girls.

Tatsuki took as much of it as she could stand and then rose form her seat screaming. "Will you both shut the fuck up! People are trying to learn!"

There was silence in the room until one of the students chimed in. "No we're not."

Tatsuki turned on him and roared, "Don't encourage them!" She sat down and looked to the head of the classroom.

Someone at the back giggled before cutting a nerve. "Someone's having their time of the month."

A sizeable vein popped up on her forehead and her body began to shake violently. The flames of wrath once again surrounded her as she leapt up onto her table. "Who said that?"

Miss Oichi laughed innocently. That was a grave mistake. Tatsuki looked over her shoulder. "Did you...Just laugh?" She rasped.

Miss Oichi looked around for help but none offered. She then looked down at her feet. "Oh crap."

"RRRAAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!" Tatsuki lunged, clearing four tables in one mighty leap and landing on the teacher's desk she then catapulted into the teacher and began to throttle her.

The student's watched on for a moment before realising that in the chaos they could do whatever they want. A full-scale riot occurred in the class as everyone did as they damn well pleased whether it be talking, tagging the desks, fighting, making out or any other such mayhem.

In seconds a fire was blazing in the back corner of the room, girls were texting hypnotically I their seats or having cat-fights. One entire wall now had a life-size caricature of Miss Oichi and around it were rather cruel messages and a few tags. A circle of boys surrounded those who decided to settle their differences in fights. Papers were flying everywhere and the unholy racket was truly deafening, like a jet engine if it had a vocabulary of curse words.

Ichigo tried to remain in his seat, desperately fighting temptation but when a blue arrow of spirit energy struck through his desk he lost the plot and went into Soul Reaper mode. "Come here Ishida! I'll give you a red suit!" He charged, swinging his massive sword wildly.

All the while, Orihime peered through the slightly opened door at the crazed going-on inside. She slowly backed away and closed the door.

Rukia hovered behind her, a bandage around the top of her head. "So what's going on?"

"Um..." Orihime giggled nervously. "Well...No-one's there!" She lied blatantly, somehow getting away with it. "Why don't we just leave? You can spend the day at my house!"

Rukia shrugged. "Sure."

Together they walked off, leaving behind the indescribable chaos in the classroom.

"So..." Orihime sighed, dragging the 'O' vowel for a while to make the word stretch on. "Are you stoked for Christmas?" Orihime almost bit her tongue, remembering what happened last year, but when Rukia smiled her fears were put to rest...At least for a while.

"Actually, I'm really looking forward to it." Rukia said with a sweet smile. "Last year, Ichigo showed me the happy side of Christmas. I'll never forget what he did for me. Now I can be happy with everyone else...But..." She trailed off, looking to one side and losing her smile.

"What's wrong?" Orihime asked fearfully.

"Oh, it's nothing...It's just..." She trailed off again. She let out a deep sigh and stopped to sit down in the gutter. "I feel bad about making Ichigo work so hard...He put his heart and soul into making me happy last Christmas. He spent everything he had to pay for the party; he even ducked into his savings. He put so much work into it that he barely got any sleep and worst of all, my own selfishness caused everyone around me to feel just as bad...Especially Ichigo."

"But Ichigo's the kind of guy who would do that for anyone. That's why he's such a good friend. He goes out of his way for others because it makes him feel better. There is nothing to feel guilty about." Orihime tried to steer Rukia away from depression.

"Even so...I just can't let it go. I have to make it up to him somehow..." Rukia gazed down at her feet. "That's the problem though...I can't think of any way to possibly repay him for his kindness..."

"Well," Orihime mused, placing a finger on her chin. "Why don't you throw a party for him this time? It worked for you, I'm sure if Ichigo had a party in his honour it would really make his day!"

Rukia grinned. "Yeah, you're right. I'll put on a party so great he will forget all his troubles and this time he won't even have to lift a finger! I'll organise it all!" She jumped up and hugged Orihime. "Thanks! You're a real life saver!"

Orihime giggled innocently before adding. "But Rukia, I didn't rescue you...I just gave you an idea."

Rukia sweat dropped but tried to appear oblivious to the stupid remark.

They resumed the walk to Orihime's house and then spent the day inside as the weather became bitter with blizzard-like weather outside.

Ichigo walked home alone. He was covered in bruises and cuts from his senseless battle with Ishida.

Damn Uryu! If he hadn't invaded my dreams this never would have started. Anyway, all he had to do was beg for forgiveness and then we wouldn't have had to fight.

Soon his mind drifted to more sombre thoughts. Rukia had not shown up at school today and he had already rang the hospital who told him Rukia had been released early in the morning. If they released her so early it meant her injuries weren't severe, so she could have still made it to school...But she never arrived.

That meant she might have been upset and if that were the case-

Images of Rukia's numerous sobbing fits during the last holiday season began to drown out his thoughts and a dark wave of guilt swept over him.

Damn it! I have to find Rukia and make her feel better. She must be mad at me for pushing her out the window. But it wasn't my fault! Well, maybe it was, but I didn't mean to hurt her!

His mobile started ringing and he snatched the little device out of his pocket with military-grade reflexes. It was Orihime calling. He pressed the answer button and placed the phone against his face.

"Hello?"

"Hi Ichigo! It's just me, Inoue calling. In case you were wondering, Rukia is at my house at the moment. She said she wanted to stay the night if that's ok?"

"Sure it is. I'm not her mother. If she want's to stay, then let her." Despite acting positive, Ichigo felt terrible. He felt sick to his stomach, as if he had just been punched right in the gut. Rukia didn't want to come home...That was a bad sign. Ichigo bowed his head. "She can stay. But, just tell her I'm sorry."

"Sorry? For what?" No reply came. "Hello? Ichigo are you still there? Ichigo?"

Orihime set the phone down and frowned. "Well that was weird."

"What happened?" Rukia cried.

"He said he was sorry. Why would he say that?"

Rukia averted her gaze and groaned. "Is he mad at me?"

"Huh? No! He said it was fine for you to stay here! Now come on, I'll make us something delicious!" Orihime's hyperactive excitement wasn't enough to raise Rukia out of her pit of despair.

Also, she was distracted by someone outside yelling.

Together the two girls approached the window and squinted through the blizzard to find Ichigo standing out in the cold holding up a bouquet of flowers. He was yelling something but the closed windows muffled it and made his words indecipherable.

Rukia pushed the window open and shielded her face form the gust of wind and snow that blew into her face. She shielded her face with a hand while focusing her gaze on the desperate boy outside.

"Rukia! I'm sorry if I upset you! I promise it was an accident! I didn't mean to hurt you! I know I can be a jerk sometimes but please remember that I love you! I'll do anything to get you feel the same way again!"

Rukia was unsure whether to blush or cry. She was confused as to what he was worried about, but this display of affection was astounding. It made her heart warm, even against the icy winds and snow that brushed against her.

Ichigo was slowly becoming less visible as the snow thickened its fall.

Orihime frowned, her expression one of concern. "It's not safe for him to be out there in the snow. He'll catch his death!"

Rukia sighed. "And he's doing it all for me." Her cheeks were now glowing a deep red. She was overcome by Ichigo's determined spirit. It was inspiring and also heart-warming. She just wanted to run out there and hug him, to make him feel needed again. She turned to run but before she even made it to the door she heard a deafening 'Bang'.

"Oh, shit!" Orihime cried. "Rukia! Hurry!"

She ran over to the window only to find the spot where Ichigo was once standing was now a crater in the snow. A car was now parked a few metres away.

Rukia slowly pieced it together. "Oh god, not again! Ichigo!" She rushed outside and began searching through the thick snow for the unlucky Romeo. Orihime joined the search but even so it took them ten or twenty minutes to eventually find him in a pile of snow.

His eyes were half open and his head was swaying from one side to the other. "Roses...Roses..." His left hand was twitching as if he had Parkinson's. Clenched in his bruised knuckles was the bouquet of snow-dusted roses he had been carrying.

He dazedly offered them to Rukia who tried to reclaim them but struggled to relinquish them from Ichigo's hands. She grunted with effort as she tried to individually pry his fingers away. "Come on...Give me the flowers Ichigo! Give them to me!" She snarled as she tried to wrench them from his powerful grip but it soon became apparent that they weren't going anywhere.

Rukia sat back in the snow and sighed. "They're frozen into his hand."

Orihime clasped her hands together and tucked them under her chin, her head tilted to one side. "How romantic."