Frostbitten Mistletoe
A Family for Christmas

The smell of cookies soon filled the kitchen. The trays were pulled out of the oven and the decorating process began. The candies with the peppermint candies were shaped like candy canes and ended up decorated as if they were such. The coco mint cookies ended up being reindeer with edible silver baubles for decoration. Sugar cookies shaped like snowflakes were given a powdered sugar coating. There were cookies that looked like Santa, bells and sleighs.

Toshiro found himself forgetting about the fact this Christmas like every other had so far been a damper as he decorated the cookies. The girls attempted to decorate as well, but they couldn't keep up with Toshiro's steady hand, nor could they be consistent like he was. Yuzu leaned over, her brown eyes wide with admiration. "Toshiro-kun... how are you able to do that?"

The young taicho paused, blinking a couple of times. "How? I don't know. I just do. It's not that amazing."

"Not amazing?" Karin shook her head. A smile suddenly appeared on her face. "How long would it take you to do one of your ice sculptures?"

"Ice sculptures? Really?" Yuzu's smile widened. It quickly fell into a frown. "It must take a lot of time to do."

"I possibly could have something done in two to three hours. The larger the item is, the longer it takes. However... the larger ice sculptures last longer. Unless of course..." Toshiro swallowed as he set down the frosting.

"Did I say something wrong."

"No. I just remember that the head taicho's gone. The old man that is. He could melt ice just with his mere presence." The boy picked up the red frosting again and went back to work on the Santa Claus cookies. The cookies were hidden upon finishing so that Ganju wouldn't eat them until tomorrow. Yuzu tugged on Toshiro's sleeve. The boy's bright teal eyes blinked a couple of times as he followed them into another room.

A Christmas tree was standing in the corner of the room. Yuzu hurried over to pull out a box of ornaments. Karen shook her head. "Yuzu... the lights and tinsel go on first. Then we add the ornaments."

Yuzu looked towards Toshiro with a pout on her face. "Toshiro-kun!"

"I'm going to side with your sister simply because I don't know anything about this Christmas thing."

"Christmas isn't a thing!" The brown haired twin's mouth twisted up even more.

"Sure..."

"Toshiro doesn't mean what you think he does." Karin pulled out the lights and began to wrap the lights around the tree. Toshiro shook his head and took them from her. He carefully unwound what she did and began to rewind them around the tree in a much neater manner. The dark haired twin placed her hands on her hips. "Really?"

"It will drive me nuts if it's not on their in a neat manner." The white haired youth finished and looked at the tree with a frown. He blinked a couple of times as the lights were turned on and a deep breath came out of his his mouth.

Yuzu grabbed his arms lightly causing him to jump from the touch. "Are yu having fun?"

"Not..." His teal eyes blinked a couple more times. "Actually... yes."

Karin handed him the tinsel for him to wrap around the tree. The three then began to put on the ornaments. Every so often he would move on of the ornaments that they placed on the tre causing laughter from the two girls. Each time they laughed the corners of his mouth would crease into a frown. They then moved to decorating the rest of the room. They spread out long strands of greenery that Toshiro didn't know the name of and placed other decorations.

When they almost finished, a smile spread across his face. "I have to admit. This isn't as bad as..."

The young taicho found his words interrupted by the voices of Ichigo and Rukia coming towards the room. The tone of voice both used was raised above their normal level. Yuzu frowned. "Are they arguing again?"

Karin let out a sigh. "Yuzu... they don't have to get along all of the time."

"Mom and dad did." The brown haired twin's cheeks twisted up into a pout.

"Isn't that because your dad would do anything to get back into your mom's good graces?" Toshiro watched as both girls widened in surprise.

Yuzu tilted her head slightly as she continued to frown. "How did you know?"

Rukia and Ichigo slipped into the room then. They stopped speaking about whatever they had been discussing and instead stood watching the three young ones.

"How... I guess it's because I know your father so well. He's always trying to butter people up after he got into trouble."

"That's one of the few things we remember." Karin's eyes narrowed.

Toshiro blinked a couple of times before making a bow to the girls. "I'm sorry. This time I brought up something I shouldn't have."

"Toshiro... you don't need to apologize." Ichigo's voice caused the three to look up and see that the orange haired teen was smiling at them.

"Kurosaki..." The young taicho snapped up before looking away as his cheeks heated up from embarrassment.

"Ichi-nii..." Yuzu's face twisted up with worry as she stepped closer to her brother to grab his sleeve. "Ichi-nii... what were you and Ruki-nee arguing about?"

"Arguing about?" Rukia turned to look at Ichigo as her mouth twisted up into a frown. "We weren't arguing."

"Should we tell them?" One of Ichigo's hands reached up to scratch his head as he looked at her in a nervous manner. A nervous nod from Rukia caused the orange haired teen to let out a sigh. "Our family brought up a marriage arrangement that has yet to be fulfilled between the Kuchiki and Shiba clans."

A sparkle appeared in Yuzu's eyes as her mouth twisted up into a smile. "Does this mean that the two of you are getting married?"

"Of course not!" The two spoke in unison as the brown haired twin stared at them in confusion.

Toshiro folded his arms as he felt his own mouth twist into a frown. "But you two are so much like Kaien-dono and Miyako-dono."

Rukia blinked a couple of times as she looked at him. The brief silence was followed by her clearing her throat. "Thank you for the compliment Hitsugaya Taicho... I assume that was meant as a compliment. Ichigo and I have no plans on marrying any time soon."

"You're not going to marry..." Disappointment quickly came to Yuzu's face.

"We didn't say that." Ichigo looked at Rukia as he frowned. He looked at his sisters with a smile. "Why don't you girls go teach Rukia how to make hot chocolate? Dad wants Toshiro to help us decorate the family shrine."

"He's what?" Toshiro felt his voice tighten. "Why is he doing such a thing?"

"Perhaps you should ask him when we get there."

The small taicho hurried through the door to the nearby shrine. Isshin was sitting in the room with a boxes of Christmas decorations. The man looked up. "Toshiro..."

"Taicho! What do you mean by decorating your family shrine with Chrismtas decorations? How can you be so sacrilegious?"

"Toshiro... dad has no qualms with using memorials as dominoes and seeing how many he can knock over."

Isshin pounded his chest. "It's a proud tradition of the Shiba clan! We see who is first to knock over mother and father's memorial! Then we set it back up!" The smile left the man's face. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Sacrilege..." Toshiro glared at the man.

Ichigo looked away as if he didn't know that man. "Stupidity..."

"Hey! It was Ganju's idea!" Isshin pointed at the decorations. "This is mine. Don't you want Kaien and Miyoko to celebrate your first Christmas with the family with you Toshiro."

The young taicho's breath drew short. He then stepped over as his bright teal eyes widened and a smile spread across his face. "So... not sacrilege?"

"Nope. It is traditional to decorate the shrine with items during festive seasons and to light incense. They are your parents Toshiro. You get the honor of lighting the first stick."

"No... I mean... you're the head of the family. It should be you." The boy's throat tightened.

"And I want you to do it. I want you to feel like you are a part of this family."

The young taicho carefully went and sat in the traditional position next to the man. He carefully placed a few decorations on the shrine as Isshin handed them to him. He then placed the incense sticks and lit the first one. Isshin quickly lit the next before Ichigo proceeded to do the same. There came then a moment of silence before they headed out. Toshiro wasn't sure how to feel about the whole thing as they headed back to the room with the Christmas tree.