On the first day of Christmas,

Hearii gave to me

Shinigami tangled in a tree

A/N: That's right – I'm not going to go Scrooge on you all. I'm going base the next 12 chapter in Christmas spirit, giving you all one each day. They will take place when Ichigo is 16 to 20 years old because it will go like this:

16 years old: Christmas Eve

16 years old: Christmas

16 years old: The day after Christmas

17 years old: Christmas Eve

17 years old: Christmas

17 years old: The day after Christmas

etc.

etc.

By the way, for anyone who cares, I completed my AMV. Again, it's on Youtube under the user Hearii (creative user name, no?)


You'd have to give it to foreign exchange students – they did have their moments. Through the language barriers and odd foods they brought to school they sure had some fun stories. Karakura High School, taking in its fair share of people on exchange programs, was given a student by the name of Eve, a brown-haired girl from Australia who had lots of personality. When she came to the school she decided it would be fun to let everyone in on some of her culture, if they were willing. And, knowing Ochi-sensei, the class was more than eager to celebrate holidays in the classroom. Sure everyone had heard of Christmas but not everyone celebrated it. After just a small taste of the fun, though, students became attached to the spirit and joy of Christmas. Especially a certain shinigami...

This, folks, is where my twelve holiday festivities begin...

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Eleventh Collected:

Tangled

(SPECIAL: The First Christmas Eve)

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Rukia sighed contently as she sprawled herself out on the Kurosaki household's couch, stretching her arms above her head and her legs far away from her body. A shiver was automatically sent down her spine, flushing her already-cold cheeks even more and pricking her numb toes. Rolling her head lazily to the side, she was greeted by the comfortable fabric of the couch's back and snuggled into it.

"Boy," she said to Ichigo, who was still in the opening hallway. "That was harder than I thought!" When she heard an irked growl she smirked into the couch and withheld an evil giggle rising in her throat.

"You stupid midget!" Ichigo grunted. "Get back in here and help me!" Rukia rose into a sitting position from the couch. She looked in the hallway only to see a full evergreen tree waddling towards her slowly, when in reality, it was just the orange-haired boy who couldn't seem to get a good grip on the trunk and was just trying to push the tree in awkwardly. She could see the bright yellow plastic bags he held as well, bulging with ornament bulbs and colourful tinsel. He did seem to have a lot of trouble juggling it all... but then again she was pretty tired.

"Nah," she waved off, laying back down. "You can handle it. Plus, I was the one who did the most work."

Ichigo could be heard sputtering from the hall as he slowly grew closer to the living room of the house. "You did the most work?!" He asked, disbelievingly. "I was the one who carried everything!"

" Yes, but," Rukia yawned. "Do you know how tiresome it is to find specific decorations that will match with everything I already picked out and the house? Searching for the perfect tree? It's not as easy as it looks."

She could hear Ichigo shifting tree-branches out of the way, the pine-needles brushing against each other and the wall. "If you don't get in here and help right now," Ichigo threatened darkly. "I'm going to shatter those stupid Chappy bulbs you got." He smirked when that got her attention.

"You wouldn't dare..." Rukia drawled, eyes narrowing. Ichigo loosened a finger on the yellow bag with said decorations and panic entered the shinigami's sapphire eyes. "You idiot! Don't drop them! I'll help, I'll help!" She screeched.

Ichigo smirked as she bolted up and took the bags from him, which he willingly handed over from behind the tree. "See? That wasn't so hard."

She gave him a death glare and started to stalk away. As she did so, the tip of her foot accidentally caught on the trunk of the evergreen tree and she found herself falling. From there, everything fell into place. Literally.

Every action has a reaction! Every action has a reaction! Ichigo cursed in his head, panicking, as he found himself falling backwards after the tree was suddenly jerked by Rukia's foot. As if to try and re-balance it, he pushed his body forward and brought the tree with it. It would have worked... if he didn't push the tree too hard, like he did. So now, he found himself falling towards the ground, face first, exactly where Rukia lay after her face-plant.

Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap,ohcrap,OHCRAP! THINK FAST!

Ichigo, eyes wide, spun around at the last second, his back to Rukia, tree above him. A millisecond later he fell to the ground in a big heap, a sickening crunch sounding underneath him.

He narrowly missed Rukia.

The Chappy Bulbs, on the other hand, were now just shards in his back.

Seconds ticked by. Rukia shifted from underneath the light branches of the tree to look at the expression on Ichigo's face nervously. She noticed how his right eye, actually the only eye she could see, twitched but other than that his expression remained blank. Oh boy, this is bad... She thought as she saw him take in a large breath.

The loud curse that came from Ichigo's mouth that day seemed to resound in everyone in the neighborhood's head when they heard it; for at least a week.


Word Count: 846


A/N: The very last part, with Ichigo's loud curse, was inspired by The Simpsons, when Mr. Burns couldn't remember Homer's name. Ah, you gotta love that show...

Not much IchiRuki in this chapter...but he cared enough not to let her get crushed by himself and the tree! Nothing says you care like 'I don't want you to be pancaked'!