DISCLAIMERS:
This is a Christmas story (as if the title did not give that away…) For those familiar with Japanese culture, you may frown a few times at the way Yuletide is celebrated in Karakura town. I AM aware of the fact that Christmas is not celebrated in Japan in the same way as it is in the West, and I did take the liberty to transpose 'our' gaijin Christmas customs to Ichigo's hometown. Strictly speaking, it's not in 'our' Japan anyway… So please bear with me, it was done in the interest of the story
I'm not a native English speaker, so please forgive strange expressions or out of place vocabulary…
So much for the groveling.
Oh, I intend to time this in weekly installments, actually ending around Christmas…
Silent Night
From above, Karakura Town looked like a sugar-frosted delicacy, its rooftops covered by a thick layer of snow – and more adding by the minute – hoarfrosted power lines connecting buildings reminding of sugar-candy crystals, and the many-colored outdoor Christmas lights and tinsel littering houses and gardens, covered in a white layer resembling candy melts of many flavours…
From her high vantage point on a water tower at the edge of town, the black cat took in the view, decided it was not worth the intense cold up here (not to mention she didn't like candy), and carefully made her way down to the ground again.
The streets were deserted – this night more than any other– brightly-lit window panes and curtains letting through jolly glimpses and noises of festivity. Carefully tiptoeing, picking out her route through the less snow-covered patches, the cat found her way through the city's back alleys, looking here and there for abandoned scraps of food. Pickings had been particularly good tonight, and she knew she would not go to sleep on an empty belly.
Eventually, the narrow streets opened up to a wide open space, and the feline noticed she had ended up in the Mashiba-chou part of town, more particularly the Karakura Community Park – close to the now-abandoned high school. It was quieter here, no houses being anywhere close, the Christmas noises faded into the background.
Since her stomach was full, she decided to find a comfortable place to sleep in one of the park's many trees. She jumped onto the park's snow-frosted grass, twitching a bit as the cold grassy blades' brushed past her belly.
About to make her way over one of the snow-covered walking lanes of the park, she suddenly froze and perked up her ears to a weird noise emanating from above. Looking up, she saw part of the starlit sky high above the park being distorted by a weird crack opening up in thin air! The noise this event seemingly caused, was like nothing she ever heard before (although for a human observer, it might have reminded of a gigantic zipper being opened). On edge, the cat tensed its entire body, ready to leap away at the sight of the merest danger.
For moments, the rip in the sky just floated there, as if it had always been part of the park's scenery. The jagged hole opened up to nothing but blackness, which wouldn't have even been visible on the backdrop had the night been darker. Then suddenly, a piercing scream resounded from the hole, steadily growing in volume. A small object could be seen appearing in the crack, hurtling towards the park grounds.
The cat had seen enough. It hadn't survived the streets for this long by being overly curious or laid back. In a split second it had turned tail and vanished into one of the shrubberies lining the park edges, and out of this story.
The screaming continued, as did the downward trajectory of the object that had just appeared from the Garganta. It struck one of the grass-covered areas of the park full speed with a muffled crash, sending sprays of snow and patches of dirt and grass in all directions. After a moment of silence, the noise returned, this time a more steady, sad bawling that permeated the abandoned park and eerily blended with the snow-covered landscape.
Christmas evening in Karakura Town had only just started.