Happy laughter and the patter of little feet filled the home of Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Rukia. An orange-haired girl of three ran through the halls and wound her way between chairs, leading her father in chase about the house. Rukia sat, smiling, with a baby of no more than two months held gently in her arms. Although young, the baby boy had a shock of thick, spiky black hair.
"Careful, Ichigo. Don't knock down the Christmas tree after I took so much time to decorate it," Rukia cautioned half seriously. Ichigo, paying no heed, wended his way through the rooms in pursuit of his speedy three-year-old daughter. Finally catching up to her, he swept her up in his arms and planted a kiss on her cheek. The girl giggled and squirmed in his arms.
"Daddy, don't do that!" She said between giggles.
Without any warning, the front door burst open and none other than Kurosaki Isshin stomped through, arms wide and smile set. In his left hand he held a bouquet of slightly wilted flowers. Following behind him was Kurosaki Masaki, her radiant smile outshining everything in the room.
"Where's my newest addition to the family?" Isshin boomed in his deep, cheerful voice. Ichigo rolled his eyes and let his daughter down. She ran to Isshin and yelled, "Granddaddy!" Masaki laughed happily and hugged both Ichigo and Rukia, greeting them warmly.
"Haruka! How wonderful to see you." Isshin beamed down at his eldest grandchild and began to walk, Haruka still latched to his leg, toward Rukia and the baby in her arms. Rukia smiled and held the baby out to Isshin as he dropped the flowers on the table.
"Careful, Isshin—Makoto isn't two months old yet. Don't drop him." All four laughed, and Isshin carefully took the baby in his arms, gazing down at his face lovingly. Masaki picked Haruka up from the floor and conversed with her. The moment was shattered when the door opened again.
In came the rest of the Kurosakis—Yuzu and Karin—along with a few other people. An old colleague of Ichigo's, Hitsugaya Toshiro, entered arm-in-arm with Karin. Behind Yuzu and the other two were Ichigo's and Rukia's closest friends: Renji, Rangiku, Kira, Orihime, Tatsuki, Chad, and Uryu.
Soon the place was alive with chatter; festive music played through the speakers, and the smell of divine food wafted throughout the house. Rukia and Masaki collaborated in the kitchen, chopping vegetables, stirring pots of stew, checking on the meat in the oven, and chatting cheerfully the entire time.
In the living room of the quaint house, everyone was reminiscing in their youths over their drinks.
"Remember our band?" Rukia said from the kitchen doorway. "We had some really good songs. It's too bad we decided to stop playing. I'd say that we still have a few years left in us to play." Everyone laughed at this; Renji, Rangiku, and Kira nodded somewhat wistfully.
"And the bar," Ichigo interjected. "Kisuke's bar. We all worked there for a good ten years. And you guys played there regularly for about that much time, too. I really miss the place." There were murmurs of agreement.
"But we still have each other," Rangiku said happily. "In a way, it's just like back then. We have our sake and we have our friends and family, so what's there to be sad about? To us!" The group clinked glasses and laughed merrily. More conversation passed between the group of friends as the night wore away. And, of course, there was plenty of sake to go around.