Charliechick Note: Hey ^.^ Wow, I'm really catching up with my posting to what I'm writing…not good :P I'm writing three chapters at once at the moment though. But I've been busy lately, but I'll try to write lots over the next few days. My sis needs to stop distracting me with the subbed, lol. It's just so addictive :P
Chapter Ten: Gifts of all Assortments
December 16th
Ichigo felt his hands shaking and his heart sink as he read and reread through the letter from Kon. He hardly noticed as Ukitake entered the office.
Upon seeing the anxious expression on his little helper's face, Ukitake chose to inquire.
"Are you alright, Ichigo?" he asked. "You look as though you've just seen a ghost," he added with a laugh.
Ichigo didn't laugh in response. Possibly because he wasn't sure how to react to the Captain's later statement. Or because he wasn't in an amusing mood.
"Its Yuzu…" he said. "She was attacked…"
Ukitake suddenly turned serious. "Is she alright?" he asked, concerned.
"Yeah," said Ichigo. "Renji was there."
"…Would you like to go home, Ichigo?" Ukitake asked him. "There's just over a week of service left…I'm sure I could do it all if I tried."
Ichigo shook his head. "No. As much as I want to go back to check on Yuzu, I need to stay here. I'm not the type of person who just walks out leaving the job half-done. Neither am I the type who leaves all the work on someone else. I started this stupid job, and I'm going to finish it."
Ukitake smiled. "That's the spirit, Ichigo," he said as he placed a hand on Ichigo's shoulder, which was shaken off out of habit.
"Come on now," he said, placing his Santa hat on. "You've got a big day ahead of you. I'm sure Captain Byakuya wouldn't want you to be late in sorting his tea collection."
Ichigo grumbled and stomped over to the 6th.
"So…" assessed Aizen. "What's new in the World of the Living?"
"Coffee shops," replied Starrk, holding up an empty polystyrene takeout coffee cup. "Lilynette and I took this back from a café in the world of the living. It's for you, Aizen-Sama."
"Why thankyou Starrk," said Aizen as he took the worthless cup and examined it. " 'Starbucks' hey? I like how they've stylized their cup. Therefore their coffee must be good. I shall go there for tea every half hour when I next visit the World of the Living."
He then went to his bedroom and placed the cup gently in his special cupboard of junk from the world of the living. When he came back out into the hall, Tousen was there.
"Aizen-Sama," addressed Tousen, extending an arm with his hand was clamped tightly around what appeared to be some rather dead looking weeds. "I picked you some flowers while in the world of the living."
"That's very thoughtful of you, Kaname," said Aizen as he hesitantly took the dead weeds from Tousen. "May I ask what type they are?"
"They're daffodils, Aizen-Sama."
"Oh, really?" Aizen sniffed the scent of the weeds. These aren't daffodils…he thought. These are cannabis…
It was a thoughtful action anyway, and Aizen proceeded to take the weed back to his room and place it in a vase filled with water. Well, he would have put it in a vase, but he had none, so he just used the Starbucks cup.
When he appeared in the hall once again, Ulquiorra and Grimmjow had joined the small group.
"Good morning, Aizen-Sama," said Ulquiorra. "I have a report of life in the world of the living."
"Great!" said Aizen. "Lay it on me."
"There are a lot of good shops in the world of the living. There are shops that sell books and clothes and food and other things as well. I also went into something they call a newsagency where the humans buy all their news from. I got you this, Aizen-Sama," he handed a magazine over to Aizen entitled 'Celebrity Weekly'.
Aizen examined the magazine closely and read through the contents. "Hmmm…This thoroughly interests me. Thankyou Ulquiorra, I shall read this cover to cover."
"I'm glad you like it, Aizen-sama," said Ulquiorra. "But I went to investigate into this New Moon thing and it is part of a book series called Twilight. I know you like ordering books, Aizen-Sama, but don't order these ones. They are trash, trash, trash!"
"Thankyou Ulquiorra," said Aizen. "I will trust your judgement. What about you, Grimmjow do you have anything for me?"
"I'm sharing with Ulquiorra," said Grimmjow.
"No you're not," said Ulquiorra. "It's not my fault you forgot to get Aizen-Sama anything."
"No!" said Grimmjow. "Wait, wait I have something, it's just in here…" he reached deep within his pockets and searched for something. After a few minutes, he pulled out a piece of paper.
"Train ticket," he said smiling. "It allows one to board a train. A train looks sort of like a long snake Arrancar, but you can sit down inside it and it takes you places."
"I know what a train is, Grimmjow," said Aizen, smiling as he took the ticket. He then returned to his room to find his new junk homes. He stuffed the ticket inside the magazine as a bookmark and laid the magazine on his bed for later reading. He then made his way back to the hall, where more were awaiting him…
When Aizen returned to the hall, four more had joined the group. Aaroniero had surgically attached himself to Grimmjow who was wildly crying out to Ulquiorra for help. Ulquiorra stood and surveyed the undignifying situation indifferently. Barrigan, Nnoitra and Zomari had also joined the group.
"Aizen-Sama," said Zomari. "While I was sitting at the park bench yesterday, I gave a kid some money and possessed him to buy pencils and paper. I have now drawn you a picture of a duck."
He held up a picture of a rather crude looking entity, which resembled a wonky hand more than anything.
"Wow Zomari!" said Aizen, impressed. "When did you get so good?"
"Well I've been practicing with a book," he showed Aizen a book entitled 'How to Draw with Rukia-sensei'.
"Good work," said Aizen, taking the drawing.
"I have you something as well, Aizen-Sama," said Nnoitra. He began rummaging within a small bag, before pulling out a small white thing without even looking at it.
There was a long, awkward silence.
"…Nnoitra…" said Aizen. "Is that…a tampon?"
Nnoitra slowly turned his head to examine what he had really taken out of the bag, before swearing a short obscenity, quickly stuffing the small white contraption away and taking out a coupon.
"This is a coupon, Aizen-Sama. When you buy two slurpies from any 7/11 in Asia, you can get the third for half price."
"Why thankyou, Nnoitra," said Aizen, obtaining the coupon. "This will come in handy next time I go over to the World of the Living."
Aaroniero was next. He quickly mumbled something incoherent, before handing Aizen a photo of Grimmjow giving him an enforced piggyback.
"WHO TOOK THAT?!" shouted Grimmjow, enraged.
"Hmmm…" said Aizen, inspecting the photo. "It seems you two get along quite well. Maybe I should partner you up more often…"
"YAAAAY!" said both Aaroniero voices.
"NOOOOOOO!" cried the single Grimmjow voice.
Finally, Barrigan handed Aizen a piece of paper with numbers scrawled on it.
"What's this?" asked Aizen.
"Phone numbers," replied Barrigan. "Of high school girls."
Aizen smiled and lent in. "You are a wonderfully sick man, Barrigan…"
Aizen deposited of his new junk into his room, which was strongly starting to resemble the Soutaicho's. When he came back, Gin had joined the group.
"I have some interesting information for you, Aizen-Sama," he said. "It may make you laugh."
"What is it?" asked Aizen.
Gin grinned and continued. "It concerns substitute Shinigami, Ichigo Kurosaki."
"What about him?" asked Aizen. "Does he wish to join us? Maybe we should invite his Hollow part along to the Christmas party…"
"That's a horrible idea," said Ulquiorra. "He's tear the place apart. Think about how much this place would cost to refurbish, Aizen-sama!"
"Hmmm…" said Aizen. "You're absolutely right, Ulquiorra. I can't have that brute ransacking and obliterating the place again, it would cost too much money. Continue, Gin."
Gin laughed. "Ichigo has been assigned this year's 'Santa's little helper' for Ukitake's Delivery Service."
There was a pause.
"Are you serious, Gin?" questioned Aizen.
Gin nodded and Aizen laughed.
"Ah, the delivery service," said Aizen with a smile. "I was unfortunate back in the day when my beloved captain had taken ill over the winter, and it was my duty to fill in as helper for him."
"Did you enjoy yourself, Aizen-sama?"
"Well…all I can say is that I pity the Kurosaki kid…"
December 17th
"Have you got all your stuff?" Orihime asked Rangiku and Hitsugaya as they prepared to leave her house.
"Yes," replied Hitsugaya.
"Probably not," replied Rangiku. "You can sent anything I've forgotten back to me though, can't you Orihime?"
"No problem!"
"You wouldn't have this problem if you didn't leave your stuff lying around everywhere," said Hitsugaya. "Its just like back at the office, you treat it like your bedroom."
"I can't help it," said Rangiku, crossing her arms as they departed the house.
They were close to the Urahara shop when they met up with Ikkaku and Yumichicka.
"I finally escaped that woman," shuddered Ikkaku.
"Aww, but she likes you," said Yumichicka. "And she wants you to come back."
"Oh Ikkaku, you stud, you," said Rangiku.
"Shut up," grumbled Ikkaku.
Upon arriving at the shop, they found Rukia and Renji already packed and ready to go. Ishida and Chad had also come along to say their goodbyes, although Chad had bought a night bag with him.
"What's the bag for?" asked Orihime.
"I'm going to the Rukongai for a few days," replied Chad. "Visiting Yuichi."
Within the hour, the Senkai gate had been summoned and was ready for use. Once everybody had said their goodbyes and the Shinigami group and Chad had departed, Urahara invited Orihime and Ishida to the living room for hot chocolate and eggnog.
They were there for a few hours, talking about the most random subjects. On more than four occasions, Urahara hurriedly left the shop, thinking he had caught sight of Yoruichi.
"Poor Urahara," said Orihime as a dark brown alley cat scuttled away from the oncoming man. "He must really want Yoruichi!"
"If he was using half his brain, then maybe he'd come to the conclusion that not every cat he sees is her," said Ishida.
"Maybe she'll come tomorrow," said Urahara as he came back in.
Orihime looked at the time, "Wow, it's getting late!" she said. It was already dark. "I should get going," said Orihime, gathering her coat and scarf.
"Maybe I should head back too," said Ishida. "Thankyou for having us over, Urahara."
"Oh, don't mention it!" said Urahara flamboyantly. "Come on over anytime you like!"
What an enjoyable night, thought Orihime as she began back to her apartment. Urahara sure knows a lot about fruit…I wonder if he knows how to make fruity shakes…with soy sauce…Mmmm…
So caught up in her thoughts, Orihime paid no attention to where she was walking. It wasn't until she passed by an unfamiliar building, that it crossed her mind. Hmmm…This isn't the way I came…better turn back…
But as she turned, she was faced with a slight dilemma. It seemed that during the night, a low snow cloud had congregated over Karakura town, causing an eerie mist to be visible through much of the town. It had become so thick that Orihime could hardly see a metres in front of her. The fact that it was night didn't help either.
"Uh-oh…" said Orihime smiling. "I was day dreaming again…"
She looked around as best she could in the cold night air and decided that it was quite evident she was lost. That was, until she heard a familiar voice behind her.
"I can't take my eyes off you for a second, can I?"
"Uryu," she said, turning around.
"Come on," said Ishida. "You'll get sick if you stay out in the cold like this."
Orihime obediently followed him.
After only about ten minutes, they arrived back at Orihime's apartment.
"Thankyou for helping me, Uryu!" said Orihime happily, as she did something unexpected and crushed him in a hug.
"Umm…no problem, Orihime any time," said Ishida, slightly embarrassed as they pulled away. "Just try not to get lost again…"
"Right!" said Orihime, smiling as she made her way into her apartment. She then headed straight to the kitchen to make herself a fruity shake with soy sauce, all while thanking God for Ishida's stalker skills.
There you go, next chap should be up soon ;)