"We're here," Ichigo announced, stopping to take a breath. "Looks like they got a lot of snow here."
"Why are we standing here blabbing about the weather?" the Hollow sniffed. Unexpectedly, he dashed to the door and pounded nonstop for several minutes. "It's time to go inside, where the lovely lady is."
"You're impossible."
"You two would make such a nice comedy team," Orihime laughed, traipsing through the Hollow's footprints toward the door.
Ichigo raised an eyebrow at this. "Huh? He's nothing like me."
"Uh, and what brings you here?" demanded an irritated Seinousuke, looking the Hollow in the eye.
"Oh...it's you," the Hollow muttered, looking around furtively. "Where's the lovely lady?"
"Good morning, Yamada-san," Orihime interjected apologetically. "We're on winter break, so we thought we'd come to say, 'hello,' to you and Lady Yume."
"Ah, all right then. Come on in." He guided the group through the temple to the living quarters. "You need breakfast?"
"Thanks, Yamada, but we're fine," Ichigo answered. Only his growling stomach gave him away. "Actually...breakfast sounds good." Soon they were at the kitchen, where the aroma of soup and coffee lingered.
"It smells wonderful, Yamada-san," Orihime enthused. "I didn't know you could cook."
Seinousuke chuckled nervously. "I can't. Mrs. Yasuda gave us some jars of soup and stuff, so all I have to do is warm up what we need. I'm taking cooking classes, though," he admitted.
Impatiently, the Hollow sauntered toward the table, where a woman in a yukata sat. As he raised his arms to put them around her, he soon felt a slight shock around his wrists. "Hey!" he snapped. "What's this?"
"Behave," Seinousuke warned, his eyebrows raised and his voice soft. "Or I won't be taking this off next time." With a slight smirk, he released the Crawling Rope technique.
"Everything's finally coming together!" Yuiko gushed, admiring the decorations in the new event center. "Everyone's going to be so surprised!"
Katsuhiko came in with a large cardboard box. "Here are the paper goods from the post office." Rustling through the day's mail, he found an unfamiliar envelope. "The Soul King's seal?" Cautiously he opened the envelope. "Money?"
"Hey, what's the letter say?" Yuiko wanted to know. "Master Aizen has such elegant handwriting."
"He's paying for the tea and placing an order for honey." He skimmed the letter for more details. "And...he wants a copy of the program."
"I guess he still hasn't forgotten about us here in Rukongai #15."
A tap at the door interrupted their conversation. "Anyone here? Yuiko-kun?"
"Hikifune-san!" Yuiko enthused, showing her guest inside and introducing her to Katsuhiko. "We were just finishing up with the decorations. What's in the bag?"
"It's looking good," Hikifune remarked. "Sousuke-kun would be delighted." She opened the bag. "Even I don't really know what's in here. Sousuke-kun just told me to bring it here and show it to you."
Together the three examined the contents of the bag. Katsuhiko's eyes widened. "We can definitely use this."
"We haven't done up the programs yet," Yuiko added thoughtfully. "We probably want to update them and get them to the printer."
"The celebration's on Saturday, right?" Hikifune asked. "Sousuke-kun...the Soul King...told me to help out. Why don't you show me what you have?"
"Thanks," Katsuhiko replied. "We could use your help planning out the program and getting things to the printer."
With that, the group got back to work, eagerly anticipating a positive response.
The Hollow's eyes narrowed as he studied the woman sitting at the table. Her back was to him, and the refrigerator door was open. "Uh, who's that? That's not the lovely lady," he hissed, glaring at Seinousuke.
The others shook their heads at the two rivals. "You're impossible," Ichigo repeated.
"Where's the lovely lady?" the Hollow demanded. Soon, he felt something tickling his feet. Looking down past the Crawling Rope technique, he noticed a cat sniffing him and giving him a confused look. "What's your problem, cat?"
A soft, familiar voice came from behind the refrigerator door. "That...white Ichigo? Why...yell at Ringo?" Yume stood up and closed the door, bringing a bottle of milk with her. "Ringo...want milk?" she invited, pouring some into a bowl. The cat trotted away from the Hollow toward her milk, never taking her eyes off him.
"Did you say, 'Ichigo'?" the woman at the table asked. Slowly, she turned around to face the group of visitors. "You..." she gasped. "Are you...?"
"Whew! Finally done!" Hikifune huffed, sitting down to catch a breath.
"It looks really nice," Katsuhiko agreed. "Master Aizen sent a lot of good stuff."
"Mind if I come in?" Mrs. Yasuda cut in, studying the meeting hall for herself. "The blue and white look so elegant."
"Sousuke-kun sent some things," Hikifune explained. "You know how he loves blue."
Mrs. Yasuda knitted her brows in thought. "I have an idea," she continued, heading for the door.
"Aunt Sachiko?" Yuiko asked quizzically. "When'd you get here?" But her aunt seemed to be lost in her thoughts as she left the meeting hall. "Oh well," Yuiko sighed. "The printer said the programs would be ready before Saturday."
The others nodded approvingly. "Guess we should sweep up here," Katsuhiko remarked, reaching for the broom. "I think we should be good for Saturday."
"What about you, Hikifune-san?" Yuiko wanted to know. "You've been a big help."
"Well...Sousuke-kun told me to stay and enjoy the celebration," Hikifune replied. "But I'd just as soon get back to the Royal Realm. Maybe I'll be back Saturday."
"Ah, OK. Thanks again for all your help."
"Masaki-san?" Yume asked worriedly. "You...all right?"
"Wait a minute," Ichigo insisted. "Did you just say, 'Masaki'?"
"Ichigo-kun? Do you know her?" Orihime wondered. Studying the seated woman, she added, "You two do kind of look alike."
Yume and Seinousuke gave each other a knowing look. "I thought so," Seinousuke murmured.
"Uh...everyone," Ichigo began. "You mind giving me some time alone with...my mom?"
Yume nodded toward the living room. "You...Masaki...go in there...talk. We...eat in here. Not bother you."
With that, Ichigo followed Masaki to the living room. Soundlessly, Ringo and the butterfly followed them and found their spot on the sofa.
Now seated at the kitchen table, the others began eating breakfast. "I never thought something like this would happen," Orihime remarked, adding cream and sugar to her coffee. "Ichigo-kun hasn't told me much about his mom."
"Masaki-san...not talk...to us much...either," Yume answered. "Not familiar...with our district. But Ringo...like her."
"Man, I was hungry," the Hollow interrupted, helping himself to a second bowl of rice. "Did you make this yourself, lovely lady?" he purred.
"White Ichigo...silly."
"So how long as Masaki-san been here?" Orihime asked.
"She got here last night," Seinousuke told her between sips of hot soup. "We let her spend the night."
"Soup...get cold," Yume reminded everyone. "Eat...first... Then talk."
Her husband put the stock pot back on the stove over low heat. "This is good, love," he remarked, helping himself to seconds.
The rest of the meal was quiet except for sounds of eating. It wasn't long before everyone was satisfied and ready to talk some more.
"That was good, Lady Yume," Orihime smiled shyly. "We even saved some for Ichigo-kun and his mom."
"Good, 'cause we're ready for it," Ichigo answered from behind.
"We had a good talk," Masaki added. To everyone's surprise, Ringo was curled up in her arms. Masaki gently stroked the cat's head and turned to Orihime. "I hear you and Ichigo are getting married soon."
"We're excited," Orihime told her. "We just have a lot of things to do still."
"Yeah, like buy outfits," the Hollow piped up. Once again he turned to Yume and purred, "You design clothes, lovely lady. Mind helping out your old friend white Ichigo?"
"This is the first we've heard of this," Seinousuke replied, raising an eyebrow at the Hollow.
"Of course...we help...find clothes," Yume added, glancing reproachfully at her husband.
"Hikifune!" Aizen exclaimed quizzically as he met his old friend at the door. "You are not staying in Rukongai #15 Northeast?"
"We finished setting up for Saturday's event," she explained. "Yuiko-kun thought it would be better to come back here, since there's not a place for me to stay. I'll go back on Saturday."
"Have weather conditions improved?"
"It's still pretty cold, but most of the snow's melted away. I think the event's going to go well."
"Be sure you bring me a copy of the program," he reminded her, putting on some tea to brew. "Shall we have our tea a bit early today?"
"Tea sounds good. Mrs. Yasuda said to let you know she got your request for honey and more tea." She chuckled. "We can't have you running out, after all. She said her honey supplier is running a bit behind."
"I see. Do you have more updates?"
She nodded as Aizen poured tea for them both. "They're building a bed and breakfast in the town square. District leadership's just looking for some staff."
"That will be a useful addition. Who will be overseeing it?"
"Don't know."
Putting his arm around Yume, Seinousuke finally invited everyone into the living room. Once everyone was seated, Masaki set Ringo back down on the sofa. The cat stretched out before retreating to her cat bed. "She's a good cat. She let me pet her the whole time we were in here talking."
"Ringo...not like strangers...usually," Yume remarked.
"Lady Yume, you said you could help us find clothes?" Orihime wondered.
"Sei-kun...bring catalogs?" She gave a motherly smile to the younger couple as her husband left to find the catalogs. "Sei-kun...I...design...model clothes...for clothier."
"We did this with Hanatarou when he got married," her husband explained, setting the catalogs on the coffee table. "Maybe you'll find something in there."
Masaki merely watched with a mixture of pride and interest as her firstborn browsed through the catalogs with Orihime. "Nostalgic, huh?" the Hollow murmured, sidling up next to her. Unexpectedly, he looked her in the eye. "I want to ask you some stuff later."
"Uh, that's fine," she answered. Returning his gaze, she continued. "What should I call you?"
"Well...real name's Zangetsu, but the lovely lady calls me 'White Ichigo.'"
"Keep helping Ichigo," she answered simply.
"Lady Yume!" Orihime exclaimed excitedly. "Remember that blue kimono we saw at the clothes shop?"
"The one...you say to me...you want?"
"That's the one! Do you think the clothes shop still has one?"
"Not know. Distributor...not come lately...snowed in."
"We could always take a group trip to the shopping area," her husband suggested. He raised an eyebrow at the visitors. "I hope you have warmer clothes than that."
"Sei-kun...bring coats...from donation box."
Once everyone was bundled up, the group made its way to the town square. "All right, everyone," Seinousuke announced. "Get your business taken care of, and we'll meet here in an hour or so." The group dispersed, with Ichigo and friends making their way to the clothing shop.
Finally alone with her husband, Yume led him to the meeting hall. "Sei-kun...want to see...progress? Excited...for program." Arm in arm, the loving couple meandered to the meeting hall, where Yuiko was sweeping the lobby.