AN: Third chapter and here is the Spirit of Christmas Present. Please review.
Disclaimer: I own neither Bleach or the Christmas Carol
Byakuya did not sleep after the first visit. He sat on his bed, trying to block out the memories he's been forced to relive. When the bell did again toll one, his head shot up, and he looked wildly around the room for the second spirit, but there was nothing.
He was just going to crawl into bed and try and get some sleep, when light once again flooded the room, so bright that it was impossible to see. When it cleared, the once dreary room was now properly decorated for Christmas. Holly and mistletoe hung from the walls and ceiling, fruit and nuts were laden in bowls scattered across the room, the smell of roast goose filled the air. In the middle of a room, a man with short white hair, and a fox-like grin stood. He was dressed in a rather garish shade of green and held a large horn, filled with something that glittered in the light.
"Byakuya!" the Spirit exclaimed cheerfully. "Come, Byakuya, and no me better, man!"
Warily, Byakuya approached, wondering if madness was in the job requirement for a Spirit.
"I am the Spirit of Christmas Present? Have you ever seen the like of me before?"
Byakuya was quite sure, that if he had, he'd definitely have remembered, the Spirit was something you'd forget quickly. Deciding it would be best to get this over with, he sighed wearily. "Conduct me where you will."
"Right," the Spirit's grin continued as he grabbed Byakuya and transported them in front of a small house in one of the poorer parts of town.
"Why do you take me to a place such as this?" Byakuya asked, narrowly avoiding landing in a heap of garbage. He wrinkled his nose in distaste and tried to keep the edge of his dressing gown from touching the ground.
The Spirit shook his, grin still intact. "It's Christmas here too you know," and he took a handful of glitter from his horn and threw it over the house. "This is your clerk's house, Kurosaki Ichigo and his family reside here."
"Here?" Byakuya asked incredulously. He'd never bothered to ask where his clerk lived, and up until now he'd never cared.
"Come and give me a hand dear," a friendly voice called from inside. The Spirit grabbed Byakuya and pulled him through the wall as though it were an open door. Inside the dwelling he saw a woman with orange-brown hair, setting the table. Around her five children ran about, trying to help there mother.
The house itself didn't seem large enough all of them, and there was lot of tripping as they fell over each other in there haste to help. All were poorly dressed, but had made an effort to brighten their outfits up with ribbons and holly.
"Where on earth is your father?" Mrs Kurosaki asked the children. "And your sister, Little Nel."
"Father's coming, now!" a child by the window yelled, and there was big rush to get the goose on the table, along with the potatoes, gravy and vegetables. They'd just set down the last plate when Kurosaki Ichigo came strolling through the door, with a little light green haired girl on his shoulder. His characteristic frown had vanished, and a heart warming smile was in its place, as he deposited his daughter in a chair, and gave his wife a kiss on the cheek in welcome.
Byakuya felt his heart clench painfully when he noticed that Little Nel had a crutch and that her left leg appeared to be suspended in an iron cast. It seemed to sadden Mrs Kurosaki too, for she quickly wiped a tear onto her apron and ordered her two youngest to take Little Nel to the washhouse so she could see the pudding cooking.
With them out the way she turned again to her husband. "How did Little Nel behave today?"
Ichigo chuckled and pulled his wife into a hug. "As good as gold Orihime, most likely because it's Christmas. All the old woman in the church were fussing over her and giving her sweets. I think…" He paused, as though reluctant to tempt fate. "I think she is getting stronger Orhime."
Both stood together in silence for a minute, until Mrs Kurosaki pulled herself together and ordered everyone to the table.
"Lord bless this glorious feast," Ichigo said, taking his seat at the head of the table and beginning to carve the goose.
The Spirit beside Byakuya snorted. "Hardly a suitable comment for a meal such as this, the bird's tiny!" Byakuya had noticed this too, and frowned as the Kurosaki's shrieked over it as though it were the largest and rarest bird in the country.
"It's not very big," Orihime told the family, "but there'll be enough for all of us if we smother it with bean paste and mashed potatoes."
As the meal was devoured and the pudding brought out and eaten up, Byakuya observed the happiness on each Kurosaki's face, despite the size of the meal. When all the plates had been cleared away, Ichigo raised his glass. "A toast. I give you a merry Christmas to us all, God bless us all!"
"God bwess us," Little Nel joined in, "everyone wan."
Byakuya found himself unable to look away from the little girl, sat happily in between her mother and father. "Tell me Spirit, will Little Nel live."
The Spirit's grin lessened very slightly. "I see a vacant seat in the corner. I see a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the future, none of my brothers will find him here. What then? If he is likely to die, then he'd better do it and decrease the surplus population."
Byakuya winced, slightly ashamed to have his own words quoted back to him, but turned around quickly when he heard his own name mentioned.
"Mr Kuchiki! Raise your glasses everybody. I give you Mr Kuchiki, the founder of the feast."
Mrs Kurosaki's usually warm eyes hardened. "The founder of the feast indeed! I wish I had him here. I'd give him a piece of my mind to feast upon, and hope he'd have a good appetite for it."
"It's Christmas Day," Ichigo reminded her.
At the shocked glances of her children she lowered her voice slightly. "It should be Christmas Day indeed, a day on which you want us to drink the health of such an odious, hard, unfeeling man as Mr Kuchiki. You know he is Ichigo, no one knows it better than you." She sighed at her husband's plaintive look, eyes warming again. "I'll drink his health for your sake. Not for his. Long life to him. A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. He'll be very merry and happy, I'll be bound."
Byakuya winced at her tone and words. "It seems my name has cast a shadow over the celebration." He turned to the Spirit. "Where now?"
"We have one last place to visit." The Spirit grabbed Byakuya's arm, and in a flash of light they left the Kurosaki's to appear…at his adopted sister's. There she stood with her husband next to her and guests surrounding both of them.
"He said that Christmas was 'a humbug'. Can you believe it? A humbug."
Her husband, who had let his red hair down for the occasion, chortled as he poured everyone drinks, slinging an arm around Rukia's shoulders. "More shame on him, never had any patience with him."
"Isn't he very rich," a very drunk Rangiku asked, ignoring the way Shūhei Hisagi was staring at her chest.
Rukia shrugged. "So? His wealth is no good to him. He doesn't make himself comfortable by it."
There was a chorus of agreement, before Hisagi demanded a game of blind man's bluff, and volunteered to be the blind man. Byakuya gave a small smile as Hisagi immediately headed towards Rangiku after the cloth was tightened and he was spun round. The man was cheating!
"He can see!" Rukia laughed as Rangiku was backed into a corner.
"Now, let me guess who this is?" Hisagi grinned as everyone laughed, including Rangiku, who ripped his blindfold off and kissed him, much to the amusement of the rest of the party guests. Even Byakuya chuckled, and the Spirit was laughing so hard, he almost dropped his horn of glitter.
"One more game before dinner," Renji announced, and Rukia agreed, suggesting to him that they should play 'Yes and No', and that she would go first.
"Is it in the house?" Renji asked, as the Spirit beckoned they should go.
"Let's just watch this game," Byakuya asked, he hadn't had this much fun in a while. The Spirit shrugged, muttering something that sounded like, "you won't like the outcome."
"No," Rukia grinned as her husband swore.
"Is it an animal?" Byakuya and Hisagi asked at the same time, and Byakuya glared at the man, forgetting that he was invisible.
"Yes."
"A disagreeable animal?" Rangiku hiccupped.
"Yes."
The game continued for quite some time. Snake, rat, cockroach, ant and spider were all discarded, and the guests and Byakuya were just about to give up when Renji let out a yell of triumph. "A disagreeable animal, in London, and human. It's Kuckiki Byakuya!"
"YES!" Rukia grinned hugging her husband as laughter filled the room. In the corner Byakuya sulked.
"Knew you wouldn't like the outcome!" the Spirit grinned and transported them outside. His voice became more serious. "She was your fiancée's sister. You should have accepted her invitation for Hisana's sake, not for your own."
Byakuya looked at his feet, and when he did look back up noticed that the Spirit seemed older, wrinkles covered his face, and he walked with a slight stoop.
"You've grown old Spirit."
"My life upon this world is very short, it ends tonight."
"Tonight!" Byakuya looked horrified, and then he noticed something clawing under the Spirit's robe. "What is that? Is it a claw?"
The Spirit pulled back the robe to reveal two small children. "It might be a claw for all the flesh it has upon it." He gestured to the boy with red hair. "This child is Ignorance." He then gestured to the black haired girl with bangs falling over her face. "And this child is Want. Beware them both, but beware most of all the boy, for from him come all others of their kind."
Byakuya looked horrified. "Have they no refuge?"
"Have they no prisons? Are there no workhouses?" the Spirit asked and vanished. Behind Byakuya he felt a presence.
Turning round he come face to face with the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come.