You better watch out
With everything else going on, Rukia had only noticed them when they were already halfway between the bushes lining the field and the pavilion. As before, they were both waving pitchforks around, black forked tails swishing around menacingly.
"The child! Give us the child!" they repeated menacingly.
They've got a pretty limited repertoire… Moving to the pavilion entrance, Ichigo's head was still clear enough for a thought.
"Rukia, you think they look like that for the same reason we've been transformed? Have they been 'Christmasified' as well?" he wondered.
Rukia shrugged. "If they are, it doesn't make much difference, right? They're still Hollows. And since all of you lost your weapons and I seem to be the most sober one here…get back, Kurosaki."
Rukia jumped off the pavilion, facing the two creatures. They stood, uncertainly waving their weapons up and down, smoke swirling from their nostrils.
Rukia prepared to use a Kidō spell…
A sudden blast of air from up above threw both Rukia and the Hollows off balance. The two creatures were thrown backwards into the snow and remained motionless, for now.
"Look!" Ichigo pointed towards the starlit sky above the park. Most of the people in the pavilion followed his gaze, and most of them gasped in surprise.
Against the dark canvas dotted with pinpricks of light, a wooden contraption came sliding towards them, carrying a single figure dressed in red and white.. It was preceded and pulled by a single magnificent-looking beast, a tall muscular but lanky-looking deer, spiky antlers covered with little bells that made an enchanting sound while it approached.
Orihime leapt down into the snow and started jumping up and down excitedly.
"See? I knew it! It's Santa!"
She proceeded to wave enthusiastically at the oncoming visitor, who seemed to be heading straight for their hideout, circling down into a slow gliding landing trajectory.
Ichigo shook his foggy head to clear it, to little avail. And here I thought it couldn't get any more insane…
The others of the group also came crowding out of the pavilion, hesitatingly but curious.
"Is that the Santa of the song? Is he related to the Messiah?" Rangiku wanted to know. Ichigo waved her off, curious to see what would happen next.
With hardly a bump, the sleigh slide-landed smoothly just outside the pavilion, the little company of Christmas cosplayers and cattle crowding around it.
The tall imposing figure of Santa Claus rose up from the sleigh seat.
"Ho-ho-ho, you hopeless misguided fools," he spoke in a deep voice.
He turned towards them and exited the sleigh. Ichigo only then realized the voice sounded familiar – not only that, but he also noted that the Santa that just arrived didn't exactly look like any run-of-the-mill Saint Nick he'd ever seen. His jolly-colored red-and-white fur-cuffed clothing looked kind of baggy, one sleeve and cuff draped over a lean muscled arm, the other hanging down empty, as if the man had only a single arm. His cap had the same problem, hanging in an awkward angle and covering one of his eyes. His long white beard and mustache did not look short-cropped and fluffy as they were supposed to, but limply hung down, his beard reaching all the way to his way too lean middle. It can't be-
"H-Head Captain Yamamoto?" Rukia gulped.
Then two other figures emerged from the wooden sleigh, moving up behind their boss - two waist-height pointy-eared elves with sour looks on their face, both sporting little green pointed caps and matching green outfits.
Rangiku next to Ichigo couldn't suppress an uncontrolled giggle "Tōshirō-san?"
Unfazed by the icy stare of the spiky-headed elf that was her superior (Ichigo could almost hear him think 'CAPTAIN Hitsugaya!'), Rangiku elbowed Rukia.
"And that other one looks like your brother, right? At least Tōshirō didn't need to be shrunk down…", she chuckled. Rukia just stared, wide eyed, at her transformed brother who, even in his sized-down version, managed to keep up an air of cool superiority.
The Yamamoto-Santa slowly walked over to Ichigo as soon as he spotted him. The others, human or animal, silently made way for him. Meanwhile, he produced an object from his suit that on first sight, looked like a roll of shiny red gift wrapping paper.
"Ichigo Kurosaki," the old Shinigami commander said solemnly. "Your world has the strangest customs…" He examined his Santa outfit, as if he only now noticed he was wearing it.
He then moved past Ichigo, towards the steps of the pavilion, who's only residents at this point were the baby still gurgling happily in its crib and the snoring donkey next to it.
As Yamamoto ascended the stairs, Ichigo moved after him. "Please old man, don't hurt the baby. Even though she's a hollow, we-"
The head captain looked back at him. "She's as much an unwilling victim of this as all of you are. My sole purpose here tonight is to set things right, nothing more."
Ichigo, Rukia, Orihime and the others looked curiously over the pavilion railing, while the old Shinigami moved to the middle of the straw covered floor. Even the baby seemed to watch him with interest, eagerly suckling the pacifier again.
Yamamoto held out the roll of gift wrapping, and unrolled it to a towel-sized sheet. Ichigo could make out the pattern of little golden stars on the paper. Then, giving out an effortful grunt, he slapped the piece of paper onto the floor before him, pressing it down with the flat of his hand.
For a moment, there seemed to be no effect, the red paper just stuck weirdly on top of the layer of straw.
Then suddenly, a weird ripple emanated from it, as if a pebble had been cast into a pond, spreading in all directions. Ichigo felt a brief spell of vertigo come over him, and held on to the railing of the pavilion to keep himself from falling. Nothing else happened right away, but for the piece of gift wrap that turned into what seemed like bleached parchment, covered with incomprehensible characters.
Yamamoto stood up. "The effect will take a while to dissipate, and will be gradual. But you should all be fine now." While he said it, his Santa Claus outfit dissolved into thin air, and was replaced by his usual black uniform, white haori draped over his shoulders.
Bit by bit, the features of the pavilion started to change. The layer of straw was slowly fading into nothingness, tinsel and holly overhead melting away.
Ichigo mounted the steps and faced the Shinigami head captain. "Care to explain what happened here tonight?" he inquired calmly. "I have a feeling that you're the only one who can tell us."
The old man nodded. Raising his voice, he addressed the animals and people surrounding the pavilion.
"I will explain it, since it is largely my own doing and you have a right to know," he spoke. "But before that, first I have to show you something that's part of the explanation."
Slowly, he reached for the scabbard of his Zanpakuto, and drew Ryūjin Jakka. The fearsome blade reflected the flames of the fire still burning in the pavilion (Ichigo noted the fire bowl had been replaced by a more modern-looking iron fire basket).
Gently, he touched the floor of the pavilion – the straw gone now, only dusty boarding left – with the tip of the sword. At the point it touched, the consistency of the wooden planks seemed to change, and to become transparent as glass, revealing what was below. The effect spread out in a circular pattern, until it had formed a large circle around the head captain. It was as if Yamamoto stood upon a circular pane of glass, large enough for all the onlookers to see through.
The space below was still illuminated by the fire that burned above it. The shoulder-height space was surrounded on all sides by the short brick walls that formed the foundation for the pavilion. The bare soil was flat and even, its only remarkable feature a sword, embedded into the ground, about half of its hilt sticking out in the exact middle of the place.
Ichigo could make out the shape of the sword's distinctive cross-guard, shaped like an elongated hexagon. He felt a cold surge rushing through him, and sudden understanding followed. Before he could open his mouth, Rukia beside him gasped. "Kyōka Suigetsu!"
Next time: Explanations are in order. And the Messiah is not what it seems.
