Bearing gifts we traverse afar

"Kurosaki-san! Kuchiki-san! I didn't know you were doing a Christmas play here! Why didn't you ask me, I'd loved to participate!" the cheery voice of Orihime Inoue took both of them by surprise.

Oh participate you will. Ichigo thought. You just don't know it yet… He looked at his classmate and friend mounting the steps. She was wearing a long red fur jacket with reindeer motif and a matching wool pompom cap, and had two stuffed plastic bags in both hands. Puffs of vapor came from her mouth in the cold night air.

She looked back over her shoulder. "Come on, it's Ichigo-san and Kuchiki-san – and Urahara-san as well!"

It turned out that Orhihime had more bounciness in tow. Rangiku Matsumoto in traditional Shinigami outfit, and Yoruichi Shihouin, wearing her usual orange-on-black, came up behind her. On Matsumoto's shoulder, a smaller pink-haired visitor was perched. Yachiru waved cheerily at Ichigo "Ya-ho, Icchi!"

Ichigo waved back. "Hey guys," Ichigo said, facing the three beauties that just entered, wondering how their transformation would look. Wait, there's three of them, not counting Yachiru, but they can't be…

Poof

"Wuh-?"

At first, the change looked quite underwhelming. Orihime's cap was now crested with a little gold-colored crown that fit neatly over it. But that was all that changed.

Oh yeah, she was Christmas-themed already… Ichigo thought.

"The hell?!" Yoruichi and Rangiku exclaimed in unison, marveling at their makeover. Both of them now sported little crowns. Their outfits had turned to long-sleeved robes of some shiny, expensive-looking fabric. However, both still revealed ample cleavage as before...

"What the hell just happened, Kurosaki?" Yoruichi wanted to know. Then she noticed Urahara sitting quietly by the fire. "So there you are! I've been looking all over for you, you dirty rotten inventor! I bet this is all your doing somehow!" she stomped over towards him. Urahara looked up to her, grinning and holding up a steaming cup. "Want some? There's milk in it."

Leaving Uruhara and Yoruichi to their bickering, Ichigo turned to the other two females. Yachiru had disappeared somewhere, perhaps playing with the sheep outside. Rukia joined them, greeting her friend and her fellow Shinigami.

"So let me guess, you were drawn here by the sign, right?" Ichigo inquired.

"Not at first," Orihime replied, putting her bags down. "Actually, I went to look for Sado, since he'd agreed to come over for Christmas. But he hasn't shown yet, and he didn't answer his phone so I got a little worried… Then on my way to his house, I ran into Rangiku-san and Yoruichi-san."

"As for me, I went for some girls only world-of-the-living shopping together with Yachiru and Yoruichi-san," Rangiku picked up. "We'd agreed to go over to Uruhara's afterwards, but we found his shop empty. On our way back we bumped into Orihime here. So we trailed along, because she'd also planned to visit a certain substitute Shinigami. Imagine our surprise when we crossed the park, saw this weird sign and found you guys here in this weird getup…"

"So what is going on here, Kurosaki-san?" Orihime wanted to know, touching her crown. "Why are you cosplaying, and why did we turn into the Three Wise Men from the East?"

"Three wise what?" Rangiku exclaimed.

"Believe me, you could be off a lot worse," Ichigo scoffed, remembering that the small Christmas stable they used to put up at home when he was little had featured a camel to accompany the three wise men…

Rukia and Ichigo related the weird events that had happened so far. Meanwhile, the discussion between Yoruichi and Urahara had quieted down, and the two were speaking in a low voice, with lots of interjected sniggers. Yoruichi was already downing her second cup of eggnog.

"So you've got a real baby in here?" Orihime exclaimed. As in response, the baby let out some happy squeals, roughly poking the muzzle of the ox that was standing next to its crib.

"Cuuuute!" Inoue piped up, and ran over to the still aureoled kid to pick it up from its crib. It let out an excited whoop, happy with the attention. "Hey, Chad," she said, patting the ox while passing, "glad I found you."

"So, you have any idea how long this effect will last?" Rangiku asked Rukia, rubbing the fabric of her robe between her thumb and index finger.

Rukia shrugged. "We're not even sure how it's caused… Could be that by tomorrow-"

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!'"

A little pink-haired winged shape flew in from the outside and pirouetted in the air below the roof.

"Yachiru, you're not decent!" Rangiku called out.

Yachiru, now in possession of a set of small feathered wings and sans clothes, did not seem to care, and made happy circles around the domed space.

Facepalming, the voluptuous Shinigami muttered something about what would happen if Captain Zaraki were here.

Orihime came back with the baby held against her chest. "She's a real cutie," she beamed.

Ichigo blinked. "'She'? How did you- ?"

"I took a little peak just now," the girl grinned mischievously. "Come on, did none of you figure that out yet?" Ichigo and Rukia looked at the floor sheepishly.

"Look, I have a proposal, Ichigo," Orihime went on. "I have no idea what's going on here either. But you have to admit, it looks pretty nice here, and everybody I wanted to meet on Christmas, is here right now, so…oh, wait I almost forgot."

She turned around and rummaged in the plastic bags she had just put down. She took out a couple of shoebox-sized food storage containers, which she popped open. Inside were neat stacks of red-, green-, and white-frosted cookies, in every conceivable Christmas-related shape.

"I spent most of today baking these," she said proudly. "I had a box for you Ichigo, for Rukia, for Chad and for Ishida. Of course, I didn't know I would run into you the others from Sould Society," she went on, looking at Rangiku, "but I think there should be plenty for everyone."

"But", Ichigo said hesitantly "Urahara was going to have the baby examined, and-"

"CHRISTMAS PICKNICK!" Yoruichi and Urahara yelled enthusiastically, having overheard the conversation, in unison. With at least three more cups of eggnog behind the belt, Urahara didn't look in any shape to examine anything at this point, and Yoruichi was catching up fast.

"Excellent idea, Orihime-san. Let me pool in something too," Yoruichi purred. The dark-skinned woman produced a leather drawstring bag, from which she conjured up a luxurious-looking XL-sized chocolate box with a large pink ribbon tied around it. "Oooh, I know those," Orihime let out, "they're the best! From my favorite candystore!"

Yoruichi grinned,"I visited Karakura to buy some Christmas choccies for Soi Fon. Good thing I got extra's, right?" She opened the box and put it next to the containers of cookies.

"Since we're sharing anyway-" Rangiku picked up. She put down a paper bag, from which a sweet smell wafted up. "Amanattō!" Orihime exclaimed. Rangiku nodded. "It' almost impossible to find it in Rukongai. Toshiro loves the stuff, so I came to stock up for him…"

Orihime took Ichigo's hand, noticing his doubtful face. "It's Christmas, Ichigo, and everyone just happens to be here – even if they don't look as they normally do. This stable really looks great, so can't we just…run with it for a while? Perhaps it's the spirit of Christmas causing all this!"

Ichigo wanted to say how ridiculous that sounded, but somehow couldn't find the words. He looked around. The holly and tinsel filled pavilion looked nicer than any Christmas stable he'd ever seen. The fire was still burning brightly. Yoruichi, Rangiku and Urahara had already started on the cookies, and were tossing some up for Yachiru to snatch up in mid-air. Even the animals looked happy. Ishida had come wandering in and was leaning against a post, letting out enthusiastic bleats. Chad was nuzzling against Rangiku's shoulder, seemingly eager to have a taste of the cookies himself. Outside, the mod sheep and their two shepherds were still playing happily.

He felt Rukia's hand on his shoulder. "You know, I actually like him better this way. Much more quiet," she grinned, pointing at the red-tufted donkey who'd fallen asleep next to the crib, snoring softly. "But I agree with Orihime. Let's just enoy this. I have a feeling that things will be back to normal before long…"

"Allright then," Ichigo shrugged. "I won't make it to Christmas dinner at home anyway…I guess we better say 'Merry Christmas' then, right?"

"Merry Christmas!" the girls yelled.

It didn't take long before the Eggnoginator was working overtime. They exchanged best wishes, candies and drinks, and took their time feeding their friends-turned-to-livestock, who seemed to enjoy the cookies in addition to grass and hay. Rangiku, Urahara and Yoruichi played drinking games. Orihime took it upon herself to teach the Soul Society inhabitants a few Christmas carols, and soon their singing could be heard all across the park, even though singing in tone was few and far between at this point for most of them.

They'd just broke into a chorus of 'Santa Claus is coming to town', when a grim-looking Rukia pointed out that the Hollows from before had returned, their roars quickly approaching their shelter.

Next time: Another famous Christmas icon comes to visit. And not all of Santa's elves are jolly.