Miracle – XIV

"Sssshhh, Daddy, you'll wake up Ichi-nii!"

"Who cares? He has to get up anyway!"

It was early, waaaay too early for anyone to be up and moving around. So why were there people bustling around outside of Ichigo's room? And why was one of them not bothering to keep his damn voice down?!

Ichigo grabbed his pillow and held it down tightly over his head, trying to block out the sound. No go though.

"Daddy you have to let Ichi-nii sleep!"

"He can't spend the rest of his life sleeping ya know!"

Ichigo growled under his breath and, losing his patience at last, threw the blankets and pillows away, jumped out of bed, stormed over to his door, yanked it open, and punched Kurosaki Isshin as hard as he could in the face. Yuzu blinked, obviously shocked. "Ichi-nii! I'm sorry, we didn't meant to wake you up-"

"Sure we did!" Isshin crowed, recovering from his son's attack, "Come on Ichigo, it's Christmas, up and at 'em!"

"It is..." Ichigo threw his alarm clock a half-hearted glare, "five in the freakin' morning, why the hell would I want to be up this freaking early?!"

"Well, as long as you're up..." it was obvious Yuzu, despite the fact she had been trying to keep her father quiet, was delighted her eldest brother was up and moving, "Let's go down and do Christmas presents now!"

Karin gave Ichigo a pitying look as the family made their way downstairs. "Okay!" Yuzu flopped down in front of the Christmas tree, "Let's get started," she grabbed a present, "This one's for...Karin, it's from Daddy, here-" she handed the present to her raven-haired sister, "This one's for Daddy, oh wait, it's from me – oh, here's one for you Ichi-nii–"

"Yuzu, grab one foryourself already," Ichigo said with a slight smile as he took his own present. It was from Karin. Yuzu smiled as she grabbed a present of her own. And for a minute no one spoke, as they were too busy unwrapping. Yuzu was the first to squeal in delight.

"Oh thank you Ichi-nii!" she cried, hugging the small stuffed lion tightly, "Thank you so much!"

Ichigo had honestly found the lion to be rather ugly. But something in his gut told him Yuzu would love it. And he liked seeing his sisters happy – even if he himself wasn't happy most of the time. His sisters deserved to be. "No problem, Yuzu. Glad you like it"

Isshin turned a fancy-looking razor set over in his hands. "How in the world did you get the money for this Yuzu?"

"I've been saving for awhile," Yuzu grinned. Ichigo couldn't help but smile just a little.

It took them about an hour to get through all their presents. Yuzu, of course, loved all of hers, and Ichigo could have sworn he saw a small smile spread across Karin's face once or twice. It didn't go all that badly. At least Isshin hadn't bought his son a package of condoms (again).

It was long after noon when Ichigo finally got a chance to escape up to his room. He snagged a small box out from his desk drawer, slipped it into his pants pocket, and walked back downstairs, grabbing his coat and calling, "I'm going out!"

"Now?" Yuzu yelled back, "Dinner will be ready soon!"

"Don't worry, I'll be back," Ichigo assured his sister. As he began to leave, Isshin called,

"Say hi to Rukia-chan for us! Try and get her under the mistletoe!"

Ichigo doubled back to hit his father before leaving for real.

Rukia grinned. She couldn't help it. "Aaaaaw, thanks a lot Mom!"

Hisana smiled lightly as she watched her daughter hug the small, stuffed rabbit she'd just unwrapped. "I'm glad you like it"

The older woman looked over at her husband to exchange happy looks, like they would have at another time, but today Byakuya was staring stonily ahead, not paying attention to anything or anyone. He had barely acknowledged his daughter when she had thanked him for his gift. Hisana was a little worried. Byakuya could be distant, but he was usually pretty in tune with his family.

Rukia, however, barely noticed. She was just too excited about being home again. The thought of spending Christmas in the hospital hadn't been a happy one. Even Hinamori wasn't going to be around; her parents were taking her out for dinner. So when Rukia found out she was going home the night before Christmas, she'd been thrilled, to say the least.

Not that her parents were actually letting her do anything, of course. They wouldn't even let her go up to her room. She had crashed on the couch the night before. But home and not being allowed to do anything was better than the hospital. Anything was better than the damn hospital.

Ding-Dong

Hisana jumped and stood up, looking surprised. "I'll get it. But who would come to call on Christmas day..."

She shuffled to the door, and a second later she said in a surprised voice, "Kurosaki-kun! Merry Christmas, what can I do for you?"

Byakuya bristled angrily as Kurosaki Ichigo stepped into the living room behind Hisana. But Rukia barely noticed. She brightened and pushed herself up into a better sitting position. "Hi Ichigo! What's up?"

Ichigo smiled. "Hey. Merry Christmas"

Hisana picked up the clue at once. "Byakuya, will you do me a favor and help me in the kitchen with something?"

"No, I'll stay right here thank you," Byakuya said, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms. A second later though, he was protesting as Hisana grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away. "Hisana – stop – let go!"

Rukia and Ichigo watched the older Kuchikis walk (or in Byakuya's case, be dragged) into the kitchen; both teens were wide-eyed and had their mouths agape. "Well...that's a side of your parents you don't see everyday, huh Rukia?" Ichigo said finally, trying to break the awkward silence. And Rukia smiled despite herself.

"I guess that just means they're human too"

"I'm not completely sure about your father, actually-"

"Ichigo!"

Ichigo and Rukia didn't normally laugh. Especially not in the company of each other. But the Christmas spirit was getting the better of everyone. And they both dissolved into small snickers.

From the kitchen door, Byakuya watched his daughter and her friend in a disapproving way. "I don't like him"

"Byakuya!" Hisana hissed from the sink, trying – and failing – to make herself seem busy so she wouldn't follow her husband's lead and begin spying as well, "Stop watching them, it's not nice, give them some privacy-"

"So don't you have a family?" Rukia asked interestedly when they had recovered from their laughing fit, "Seems like a weird day to pop in, being Christmas and all-"

"I did the family scene," Ichigo said, rolling his shoulders in a casual way, "Same shit different year with those people. I need a change of pace. And you told me last night you'd be home today, so I figured why not stop in?"

"Well, I feel special," Rukia smirked, "So I'm guessing Christmas day is the same as supper at your house?"

"No, it's worse. Presents really set my sister off-"

From the kitchen, Hisana sent Byakuya an evil, disapproving glare. "Stop it Byakuya. Rukia wouldn't like you spying on her – and I'm pretty sure Kurosaki-kun isn't too fond of being watched either, you should-"

"I don't give a damn what Kurosaki thinks"

"And what about Rukia?"

Byakuya didn't say anything, but he didn't move from his spot by the door either. And finally, curiosity won over moral, and Hisana moved to the door next to her husband. It was wrong, watching the two. But she really wanted to know what was going on...

"Seriously Ichigo, why are you here?" Rukia finally asked.

"What, you don't want me around?" Ichigo pretended to be hurt, "Well then, guess I'll just leave, see you in school next week-"

"Oh shut up," Rukia scoffed, "I just wanted to know why you're here. It's obviously not just to get out of the house"

"Well, you're right about that," Ichigo admitted, "I just...I was just..."

He shifted, suddenly looking uncomfortable. From the kitchen door, Hisana whispered, "I bet he got her a Christmas present"

Byakuya just continued to watch, his dark eyes hard and void of any emotion. And in the living room, Ichigo slipped a small box out of the pocket of his jeans. "Well, I'm a psychic aren't I?" Hisana said triumphantly.

Rukia cocked her head, curious. "Hey, what's that?"

Ichigo grinned sheepishly. "Well uh... you know, it's Christmas. Took me awhile to decide what to get, but you know..."

Ichigo blushed slightly. Rukia blinked and looked between the box and Ichigo a couple of times before saying, "Oh...oh...Ichigo, you didn't have to-"

"No, I didn't," he handed the box down to her, "Well...Merry Christmas"

Rukia stared at the box for a minute, trying to figure out whether or not it was a joke. After a few Ichigo said, "Well it's not going to start tap-dancing. Take the freaking box already"

Rukia slapped him playfully before taking the box, treating it as if it were a delicate piece of china. She unwrapped the silk ribbon and took the cover off. And she nearly dropped it. "Ichigo...thank you...it's...it's...it's beautiful"

It was a sliver chained necklace with an angel pendant. The chain hung on either side of the angel wings, so it didn't exactly dangle. But it was wonderful. "Ichigo...you didn't have to...you really shouldn't have-"

"Are you always such an elegant speaker?" he asked, laughing softly as he sat down on the couch next to her. "Want me to put it on?"

She nodded eagerly and Ichigo took the necklace out of the box. She turned so the back of her neck was exposed, and Ichigo raised his hands around her, holding one end of the delicate chain in each of his large hands.

From the kitchen, Byakuya made a small noise of impatience. He didn't like how close Kurosaki was sitting to his daughter. Hisana, however, was practically melting. "Oh that is so adorable...he is such a sweet boy-"

Ichigo pulled away after a minute, and Rukia turned back to face him, her fingers drifting up to play with the angel. "Thanks a lot Ichigo. But why an angel?"

"I know it's stupid-"

"Not really," she said quickly, "No, I don't think it's stupid at all, I love it really I do. I just want to know: why an angel?"

Ichigo shifted on the couch, "Well, you know...angels represent...well, my father told me angels represent hope, and it just seemed to fit, ya know?"

Rukia's smile melted at once. Ichigo saw the action, and said in a voice of concern, "What is it, what's wrong?"

Rukia tried to sound reassuring, "No, no, it's nothing, don't worry"

Her fingers continued to play with the pendant. Hope. How ironic. After the conversations with Hinamori and Ishida-san, it was just too ironic. "Hope," she muttered under her breath, "Hmn. That's funny"

"What is?"

"Never-mind," she smiled softly, "Now I feel really bad I didn't get you anything"

"Don't. I got you that because I wanted to. I didn't expect anything in return," Rukia smiled sadly and looked up, violet eyes meeting amber.

"I know, but...hey!" she brightened suddenly, "I know what I can do. Close your eyes"

Apparently Ichigo found this to be an odd request. "I er...I mean, I um...I mean, you want me to...what?"

"Close your eyes," she folded her arms, pouting, "Go on Ichigo, I'm not going to kill you. If I was gonna do that I'd want your eyes to be open so you could see it"

There was too much truth in that, so he complied. Rukia leaned forward, and, after a moment's hesitation, she kissed him.

And from the kitchen door, Hisana and Byakuya exchanged completely opposite looks. Hisana's look of amazement and pure joy didn't exactly mirror Byakuya's look of horror and disapproval.

And in the living room, Ichigo and Rukia were the only two people that existed in their world.

It was the next day. Ichigo had almost floated out of Rukia's house the day before, about five minutes after recieving the best Christmas present of his life. Her parents had barged in, and Ichigo had a feeling it was time to go, especially after catching the look on Byakuya's face. But Byakuya wouldn't keep the orange-haired teen away. Nothing could keep Ichigo away now.

Well, almost nothing. "Kurosaki," the boy in question looked around, and found himself facing Kuchiki Byakuya. Ichigo's pulse quickened at once. Whatever the older man had to say, it held no interest to the younger one. "We need to talk"

"If you're here to tell me to stay away from Rukia-"

"That has nothing to do with this," Byakuya said coldly, "But it has everything to do with her. I need to know, one thing, Kurosaki. Can you give her what she really deserves?"

"What she deserves?" Ichigo repeated, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like," Byakuya shot back, "I'll be blunt, Kurosaki. Idon't like you. But Hisana does. Rukia obviously does. And I have to live with that. But Rukia deserves more, so much more. And if you can't give it to her, then don't lead her on"

"I would never-"

"Not intentionally, maybe not," Byakuya cut Ichigo off, "But even just by accident. Rukia – despite the front she puts up at school, around her classmates – is a delicate girl. And if you can't give her everything she needs, if you can't guarantee, completely guarantee that she won't get hurt in the offing, then back off now. Stay away from her, keep her from getting hurt later. Understand?"

"I won't hurt her," Ichigo said, his voice as cold as the snow that surrounded the two talking men.

"Can you guarantee that?" Byakuya asked, "You know as well as I do, Kurosaki, she's sick, very sick. Can you guarantee that you'll be able to stay by her side for all of it, for all the hospital visits, for all the days she's so tired she can't move, through it all? Can you guarantee that you won't hurt her, even if you don't mean to?"

Ichigo's amber eyes met Byakuya's cold ones. But even so, the younger male was wavering. Everything Byakuya had said had gotten to Ichigo. He didn't want to hurt Rukia. He could never hurt Rukia. Not on purpose. But...but accidents happened, didn't they?

"Think about it, Kurosaki," and Byakuya walked away, leaving a stunned boy in his wake.

Author's Note - Uh...yeah...just review, I guess. - Sam