A/n: ….Interesting… I haven't written a fic in years… lol and I know my writing sucks… we'll see how this goes…Forgive me if the characters are OOC-ed… I'm not an expert in the area of Bleach yet .
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach in any way.
Pairing: Ichigo/ Tatsuki (friendship fic)
Summary: It's Ichigo's first Christmas without his mom... it doesn't feel right! Will Tatsuki help make Christmas seem more merry? (FRIENDSHIP FIC)
Christmas Nostalgia in a Cookie
Deck the halls with boughs of holly
Falalalala lalalalala
Tis the season to be jolly
Falalalala lalalalala
If Christmas was the time to be jolly, then why wasn't Kurosaki Ichigo happy? It wasn't because he hated Christmas (what kid doesn't love Christmas?) but… this year something was missing. It's not the tree that was missing, since his dad and sisters were putting it up in the living room. It wasn't the lack of presents... since his dad's closet suspiciously won't close properly. It wasn't for the lack of snow since there was two feet of the fluffy good stuff covering the ground. So what was wrong?
"DUMMY! THAT'S THE 5TH BOX YOU DROPPED! WE WON'T HAVE A PROPER CHRISTMAS TREE IF YOU KEEP BREAKING THE DECORATIONS!" cried Karin in frustration. Decorating the Christmas tree this year was especially stressful since the mistress of the house wasn't around any more.
"But you see, Daddy's just trying to separate the weak decorations from the strong decorations! This year, we'll have a very strong tree, won't we Yuzu?" Kurosaki Isshin laughed, trying desperately to keep the peace.
"Ano... Daddy, can you... sit down for a while? We're big girls now! We know how to decorate the tree properly!"
"DAARLING" Isshin wailed to the poster of his wife. "Our daughters don't love me any more! What do I do, honey? What do I do? Only Ichigo will agree with me…. Won't you, Ichigo?" He crawled on his knees to his only son with pleading eyes.
"…Don't look at me like that. It's very creepy…" Came the deadpanned reply.
"WAAHHH my children don't love me!"
So maybe the question shouldn't be "what" was missing this year, but rather, "who".
This Christmas would be the first Christmas without the mistress of the Kurosaki household. To say that the family was coping just fine would be a lie. They all were painfully wary of the empty space in the room, but chose to deal with it on their own. However, to Ichigo, this felt so incredibly wrong. It should be mom that is putting the decorations up with Karin and Yuzu. It should be mom that plays Christmas carols on the piano. It should be mom in the kitchen…. baking cookies.
Yes, what Ichigo sorely misses the most are those freshly baked sugar cookies his mom used to make. They were so delicious –so full of love – it would make you tingle with warmth with every bite. It was that warm feeling that Ichigo missed so dearly. Ever since his mom passed away he always felt…cold.
"Alright kiddies! I deem this tree the strongest tree in all of Kurakura town. Hohohoho!" announced Isshin Kurosaki as he topped the tree with the glass star. Surprisingly… it did not tip over and join the other obliterated decorations on the floor.
The three siblings couldn't help but feel a little proud of their mismatched tree.
The next day was the last day of school. Learning was minimal that day since everyone was too wrapped up in the holiday spirit (teachers included). Tatsuki rolled her eyes when she saw teachers giggling over some mistletoe hanging in the teacher's staff room.
"Are teachers even allowed to act like this? Maa, I'll never understand grown ups."
Then she noted that down the hall, some boys had mistletoes too… wait a minute…WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? It looked like they were trying to STAPLE it on some poor boy's head.
"…I'll never understand boys either…"
She walked up to the group of boy bullies to pick a fight with them. She might be tough, but it didn't make her heartless. Someone has to save the poor kid… wait, is that orange hair?
"Hey, hey! Keep him still! I almost got it that time!" snickered the boy with the stapler.
"If you don't get off me right now, I'll KILL-"
Punch
Kick
Uppercut
Tatsuki cleared the three other guys to find Kurosaki Ichigo staring back at her with bloodthirsty eyes.
"Sigh, you still can't look after yourself, Ichigo?"
"I can too! You just beat me to it." Ichigo huffed, before standing up straight. Tatsuki and him weren't close or anything... but they weren't enemies either... Well, whatever it was, it didn't really matter. They were still young, and things like that didn't seem important to them.
"Pssh, Ichigo needed a girl to save his ass!" Snickered the bully who had the stapler. This was a rather bad thing to say… for two reasons.
Number one.
"What's wrong with being saved by a girl?" Tatsuki challenged with burning eyes.
Number two.
"I can beat your ass any day, you ugly tub of fat." Ichigo defended himself heatedly.
The four bullies trembled by the fighting spirit emitting from the two.
"B-Bring it on twerps! An orphaned punk and an ugly She-He couldn't take us down, even if they tried!"
…
Let's just say things got ugly very fast.
Detention wasn't so bad. It could have been worse, like phoning parents or having them write essays. Thankfully the teachers were forgiving and gave them an easy task to do: cleaning. The other boys were suspended from the school, which was stupid in Tatsuki's opinion. Why should they get a longer holiday?
"Maa… this is so not fair. If I knew being suspended was just missing school, I'd try to get in trouble as much as I can. This sucks…don't you think so Ichigo? … Ichigo?" She looked in his direction and saw him staring out the window. 'What's he looking at?'
Tatsuki made her way to the window, and saw nothing but parents taking their kids home. It was the same scene that happens every day after school – nothing special. But... Tatsuki saw the sad look in Ichigo's eyes. '…so sad…'
"You okay, Ichigo?" the question snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Wha?"
"Are you okay?" She repeated in an irritated tone. Tatsuki hated to repeat herself.
"It's nothing."
Tatsuki raised an eyebrow but didn't push the matter. "Well in that case, stop standing there and help me move the desks."
They worked in silence after that. This gave Tatsuki a lot of time to ponder over Ichigo. He wasn't… a friend. That's what she knew for sure. They didn't hang out or anything... and he was a boy, so definitely not friends. He was just a neighbour, a fellow classmate, and he went to the same dojo and she did. And…they helped each other in fights…. Actually, when Tatsuki thought about it, they helped each other out a bit. Doesn't that make them... more than "not friends"?
Okay… so then if they weren't "not friends" then what were they? There's a word for this! Tatsuki furrowed her eyebrows… what's that word? They were…aqua-something… that big word that means sort of friends but not really.
If they were that aqua-something, then… that would mean Tatsuki should know a bit more about Ichigo. Not just what they have in common… So then, what else did she know about Ichigo?
He... had a mother, but she died in some accident. He used to smile so much back then, and it really irritated her. Tatsuki couldn't figure out why his smile irritated her so much. Maybe it was because he was he looked so darn happy that it bothered her. Were people allowed to be that happy? Ichigo used to smile that goofy smile whenever his mom came to pick him up from the dojo… Were moms supposed to make you do that?
Tatsuki gripped her mop a bit harder. Her mom never made her feel that way… Her mom was always upset that she wasn't girly enough for her age. Tatsuki thought back to all those times her mom muttered insults behind her back. He mom always said something along the lines of turning into a lesian?…lespecan?… les-something. If only Tatsuki knew how to spell that word… then she could look it up in a dictionary to see what her mom was talking about. It bothered Tatsuki since obviously her mom didn't like her…and yet Ichigo's mom was so wonderful.
Tatsuki shook her head... none of that matters anymore since Ichigo doesn't smile like that anymore. In fact... he's not like anything he used to be anymore. He's so quiet now, and he's not as friendly as he used to be. Tatsuki wasn't sure if she liked this new Ichigo to the old one. This new one... irritated Tatsuki too. It's hard to explain… but the old Ichigo made Tatsuki's stomach clench and do funny things. This new one... made her insides fell heavier. It was weird… it was almost like the old Ichigo made her feel angry, but this one made her feel sad. All in all… Tatsuki came to two conclusions:
One: Boys were confusing and it hurt to think about them.
Two: She desperately needed to work on her vocabulary.
"-Tatsuki?"
"Huh?" she was brought out of her deep thinking.
"I said, aren't you finished cleaning the floor? It's starting to shine." Ichigo repeated annoyed.
"Oh…" Tatsuki blushed. 'How stupid of me…'
Another bout of silence was quickly settling over them, but this time Tatsuki felt a little uncomfortable with it.
"So what are you doing for Christmas?" She asked.
"Nothing…" This short reply annoyed Tatsuki very much. 'Geez, boys really are stupid. They can't even hold a conversation.'
"Really? But it's a holiday! You gotta do SOMETHING."
"Sheesh, does going to the dojo count?"
"Well…. I…suppose…but we do that every Saturday! It's not special. Holidays are for special things."
"Well… I guess I'm doing nothing then." Ichigo replied exasperatingly. 'Really, what part of nothing do girls not understand?'
"Yeah, but you can go out and make snowmen with your family, and stuff…" she muttered/grumbled. She was kind of upset that her conversation skills were just as bad as her vocabulary. It fizzles and dies.
"…We used to do that."
"Huh?"
"Our family used to make snowmen. But this year will be different I think." Ichigo said with that faraway look.
"Oh…" Now words wouldn't come to her…. and another cloud of silence threatened. "But... then…even if she's not there you can...uh... never mind…erm, so then… What's you're favourite part of Christmas?"
For a brief second a ghost of a smile enlightened Ichigo's face.
"Cookies of course!"
"Really?" Tatsuki was surprised. Normally boys would say snowball fights or stuff like that. Really… boys were confusing.
"Yeah, my mom used to make the best cookies. Yuzu tried to make cookies like hers, but the cookies bubbling in the oven... and they came out all…weird."
"I like cookies too! I can make them on my own." Tatsuki admitted with a small giggle.
"You can cook them? But…that's just... too weird..." Ichigo looked slightly disturbed. He always thought of Tatsuki as a fellow guy since she didn't do girly stuff. But now… It felt like one of the unspoken laws of life was suddenly broken.
Tatsuki huffed "Yeah, so I can cook. I gotta since my mom won't cook for me if I'm late for dinner, and I'm always late since I stay at the Dojo so much."
"Your mom…won't cook for you?" This was news to Ichigo. He always thought moms were as loving as his own, but now he realized how special his really mom was.
"No…I don't think she likes me very much... she calls me bad things…I think."
"You think? What, you don't know insults when you're hit with one?" Ichigo snickered. Maybe Tatsuki wasn't as big and tough as she seems.
Tatsuki glared her chilling warning glare. "So? She uses big words that I don't know. She's smart and cheats like that! This way, she can insult me all she wants, and I can't say anything back at her."
"Ah, whatever, maybe she's not smart… maybe you're just too stupid." Ichigo teased. It was weird… He was teasing his neighbour… and it made him feel happier. She might be a girl – a really weird girl – but it was nice. …. or maybe not.
"YOU WANNA REPEAT THAT?"
"uhh…no?" Ichigo felt scared now. Who knew girls could be so scary when they're supposed to be pretty? But then again… Tatsuki isn't a normal girl.
"Do you want to be buried or crem-watchamacallit?" Tatsuki threatened with her death glare. She puffed out like a miniature demon…
"Uh oh…."
And they wrestled each other until the teacher came back to check up on them.
"Ow! Don't poke me!" cried Ichigo as a finger poked a nice bruise on his cheek.
"Did you learn your lesson yet?" was the sneering reply.
"What lesson? There was a lesson to all of that?" Wrong answer "OW!"
And so this was how Tatsuki and Ichigo's walk home started out. Tatsuki was still nursing her sore pride while Ichigo was nursing his sore body.
"You're still such a baby," grumbled Tatsuki.
"Whatd'ya mean? I didn't cry this time."
"But you still don't act like a boy."
"Huh? I act like a boy. Geez get glasses! I AM a boy if you haven't noticed."
"Yeah but…oh, never mind. I don't get you boys."
"Yeah, well you don't act like a girl either."
"I do too! It's just a different type of girly-ness."
"Do not! You talk and act like a boy! You look like one too"
"Do you want me to hit you again?"
"…" As fun as it was, Ichigo decided that he had enough bruises for one day.
They walked in silence for a while… but this time it was a comfortable silence. During this time Tatsuki decided one thing for sure. Kurosaki Ichigo was definitely not an aqua-whatchamacallit, but a friend. Of course, him being a boy, and she being a girl, they couldn't be friends at school. It was another unwritten law: boys and girls can't be friends until they get into middle school. Therefore, Tatsuki decided that he would be her friend, but he wouldn't know. She'll protect him like a friend without telling… Tatsuki blushed slightly since it was almost like admitting to herself that she "liked" Ichigo. 'Eww, that's so gross!'
"Kay, see ya, Tatsuki." Ichigo said when his house came into view.
"Yeah, Merry Christmas Ichigo."
Something crossed Ichigo's face, and suddenly his whole demeanour seemed tense. Tatsuki didn't like it one bit…
"Yeah… uh… Merry Christmas…" With that, he walked into his house leaving Tatsuki silently perplexed.
"SURPRISE MORNING KICK!" Isshin yelled, giving Ichigo a split second warning to roll out of bed.
"WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM, OLD MAN? ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?"
"It's training! We have to train you so that you don't get beat up all the time!"
Ichigo groaned… he didn't need this! He was a growing boy and need SLEEP, not a foot in his face. Wait… what day was it today?
"Ni-san, it's CHRISTMAS!" Yuzu cried in delight as she bounced onto his bed.
"Yeah, hurry up and get out of bed! We gotta see what Santa gave us this year!"
Ichigo groaned... he slept in on Christmas! He should be punished for eternity for such a crime. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID!'
"LAST ONE TO THE TREE IS A ROTTEN EGG!" cried Isshin while dashing out the door.
"No fair… ol' Beardo got a head start!" muttered Karin
Christmas wasn't so bad… but there was still this unwanted void on the couch. It seemed like it was waiting for Mrs. Kurosaki to sit down and enjoy herself, as her children would happily rip apart presents. The family members would deny such a hole existed in the mist of the celebration… but loud laughter, and big smiles can only hide so much. Ichigo couldn't help but feel colder now then ever...
Perhaps Isshin, being not totally invalid as a human, felt Ichigo's unhappiness… or maybe not. But in any case, Ichigo's father was trying extra, EXTRA hard to make Ichigo smile for the camera.
"Come on Ichigo! Your ugly mug will ruin the picture!"
"What? Look in the mirror, Old Man!"
"Daaarling" Isshin wailed to the poster of his wife, "what am I to do? Ichigo won't smile for the camera! And he called me ugly! I'm not ugly! I'm the most handsomest, strongest, MANLY-EST guy in all the world!"
"Look what you created," muttered Karin to Ichigo.
"I didn't create anything, he's just weird like that." Ichigo hissed back.
Just then the doorbell rang, ruining Isshin's melodramatic episode. Ichigo silently thanked whoever was behind the door for saving his ears from more wailing.
"Ohohoho! Ichigo, it's your friend!" Isshin beamed, then took Ichigo to the side for a pep talk. "Quite the ladies man already, eh? You take after me son! Remember, always tell them how pretty they look, and you'll be able to score in no time. Now, go get 'em tiger!"
Let this be known that at this very moment Ichigo landed his first punch to his dad's face.
Ichigo went to the door to find Tatsuki there looking… well… like herself except for a slight blush to her cheeks. He didn't know if it was from the cold, or if she truly was blushing.
"Uh… hi?" He said uncertainly. Tatsuki seemed…very tense…almost nervous... but Ichigo misinterpret the signals to her being cold. Tsk, tsk tsk, boys couldn't read signals to save their life. In a bout of great courage, Tatsuki thrust the parcel she was holding into Ichigo (which almost knocked him onto his rear).
"Merry Christmas." She gritted out. Gosh, this was so embarrassing.
"Wha… what is this?" asked Ichigo. This was… way too weird.
"It's a Christmas present, stupid." Tatsuki stated while rolling her eyes. Seriously, it's so obvious.
"Yeah, but…. What's inside?" This comment made Tatsuki want to smack him for being such a… boy.
"Duh, open it and find out."
So he did…very carefully mind you. He had no clue if it were something dangerous, just waiting to bite his nose off…or something like that.
"I…hope you like it." Tatsuki muttered… She wanted to run back to her house and die. She was going against all girl protocol… There was no associating with guys at this age! What the heck was she doing, giving her neighbour, and secret friend, a gift?
"Wow…" Ichigo breathed. COOKIES! They looked like cookies, smelled like cookies… did they taste like cookies? "Where did you get these from?"
"I made em!" She stated proudly.
"You…made these? But they look like… they look like…" Ichigo had that far away look in his eyes again… "They look like mom's…"
"…I hope…they taste like your mom's…" She said softly.
"I hope so too…"
"Well try them then! You can't eat them by just staring at it!"
"Er…okay." Ichigo grabbed one… It was shaped like a Christmas tree. Vaguely, he remembered the day his family decorated the mismatched Christmas tree. He remembered missing his mom's cookies so much then… but now. It felt like he had one in his hand…
The perfect cookie.
It was still warm, which meant that Tatsuki made them sometime this morning… just for him. It smelled heavenly, sending a happy shiver through his body. It was decorated with green icing, which made Ichigo remember the good old days when he decorated his own cookies… the only difference was that Tatsuki added Smarties. He took a bite and….
"Wow." He said with his mouth full of cookie. It was good! It sent that warm tingly feeling through his body. It was that feeling he's been searching for. This cookie was it! It was made with the same unspeakable ingredient that his mom made cookies with.
"It's good! How did you…that warm tingly feeling, what…is it?" Ichigo couldn't string a sentence properly… but Tatsuki got the gist of it... or... what she thought is the gist of it.
"I'm glad you like it! And the secret ingredient that makes it so warm and tingly is…. A SECRET!" Tatsuki laughed.
Ichigo couldn't help himself… he had to smile…and laugh…and be happy. And for that, Tatsuki was immensely happy and satisfied. Heck, even the three pairs of eyes that were spying on them were happy that the irritable smile was back on Kurosaki Ichigo's face.
Finally…
For a moment, Ichigo felt warm again.
A/n: The secret ingredient is love (for those who didn't get it). Tatsuki feels a budding friendship towards Ichigo, and friendship is a type of caring. Love is also a type of caring. So you can say, friendship is a type of love ; So what I'm trying to say is… if you make food with a lot of TLC, it'll always TASTE GOOD!
And… I know this fic sucks. My grammar and basically everything is really bad… so er… be kind and help me out, kay? Thanks so much for reading!
Merry Christmas!