"This walk gets longer every year," Karin muttered, swiping away some of the sweat on her forehead.

"I regret everything," Ichigo muttered in agreement as he awkwardly walked up, beside just getting a Sunday dress, he also got a pair of black slip-on shoes with a small heel, which lead to uneasy steps up the hill.

"Tch, though it's incredibly cute to see you this way, you and goat-face are the only ones who dressed up," Karin said, wearing her usual casual wear, same with Yuzu making Ichigo stand out…if it weren't for:

"C'mon girls! You can do it!" Isshin yelled, clapping his hands together as he ran up to them.

"Get outta here!" Karin yelled kicking Isshin in the face and making him tumble all the way to the base of the hill.

"You think this will deter me!? I will be back up there before you know it!" Isshin yelled as his limp body hit the concrete path.

"We better hurry, he'll be back in a few minutes," Karin mumbled as speed walked up the hill which Yuzu soon followed though she looked briefly towards where her father went.

Trying his best Ichigo soon followed only to stop as his eyes landed on the person at the top of the hill.

"Ichigooo" Rukia in a much more colorful sundress and large hat waved towards him with what was most likely a smile.

"Ichigo…do you know her?" Karin asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Y-Yeah, she's someone from school, I'll go talk to her, you guys run up and see mom," Ichigo said with a thin smile he then turned over towards her and awkwardly ran up.

Dragging Rukia away from where his family can see her, in a hushed but angry voice Ichigo asked her;

"What the hell are you doing here!?"

"In case of a hollow attack you need someone to get you out of that meat sack, and you didn't bring Kon," Rukia answered with a huff.

"I told you I am taking today off, so why don't you go back and help Uryu or something,"

"Are you kidding? He only slightly tolerates me because of you, if I stayed with him while you were gone, I would "accidentally" die to a hollow attack," Rukia said, forming air quotes as she talked.

"Still it serves you no right to come here!" Ichigo yelled, grinding his forehead against the smaller Shinigami.

"I have every reason to come with you! First off you haven't even told me what this whole trip is for!" Rukia yelled in kind.

"Because you don't need to know so get out of here!"

"Not until you tell me what this whole thing is about!"

"Grrr…If you want to know so damn bad I'll tell you, and then you better fucking leave!" Ichigo huffed out moving away from the vertically impaired Shinigami.

"It's…my mother…she…died-no was killed today,"

"How?" Rukia muttered rubbing her chin.

"I killed her," Ichigo said his voice low and could be barely heard over the buzzing of the summer cicadas,

"What?" Rukia tilted her head but instead of receiving an answer Ichigo quickly ran off.

'I was the one who killed her, that spirit screamed please consume-I couldn't ignore it! No! That's just an excuse, I should've known better than just run after random spurts, and because of me she died, I killed her, I killed her!, I am the reason Yuzu is forced to cook for all of us, I am the reason that Karin no longer cries even when she breaks her leg, it's all me, I am the one who caused this family so much pain..and yet I…still…want…to…hurt…them…their souls scream in my mind crying to be released and to be consumed…why won't it ever cease why why!? WHY!?'

Ichigo unconsciously put a finger in his mouth and gnawed so much that it started to bleed, staining his pale face with blood, such a nasty little habit he had to try and stop the hunger.

"Shh, Mama's here," A warmth enveloped Ichigo as he collapsed onto the ground.

Blearily Ichigo looked up towards the source of the warmth…"Mom?" His voice quibbled as he stared at the specter in front of him.

"That's right Ichigo, I am here, everything will be fine now," She muttered as she patted his head.

"Mom?" He repeated still not believing what his eyes were telling him.

"Yes, I am here, let's sit here together, okay?" Masaki said, moving his head onto her lap as she combed through his hair.

TRICK TRICK TRICK

Through the peaceful scene, something in Ichigo's mind was yelling at him- the same one realized that he felt no hunger when looking at his own mother.

Though Ichigo tried to bury this far deeper than anything in his life, he knew for a fact, that his mother smelt delicious, like a holiday feast at the ready, constantly nagging at his mind to try and eat her, but at the same time, she struck fear into his being, one like an animal understanding it's not the apex predator anymore.

He felt none of it, this thing cuddling with him, was hollow, in fact, it smelt like the opposite, like a pile of rotting flesh just barely given enough life to be a puppet, though this decided morid connection he felt insulted.

"I don't know who the hell you are, but you smell disgusting!" Ichigo yelled quickly, standing up, rearing back his fist, and letting it launch into the imposter's face only for her to jump back.

The imposter's face disappeared and in its place was the girl he tried to save so many years ago.

'I need to find Rukia- wait, Karin! Yuzu!' Ichigo thought, his eyes widening as he reached out his sensing, instantly feeling the wavering spirit energy of his sister, with Rukia close by.

'Is this a tag team? No, I have yet to see two hollows work together,' Ichigo thought before letting out a huff and running past the imposter and towards Rukia, and his sisters.

As soon as Ichigo got onto the scene, Rukia dashed towards him, pulling out Kon along the way, and pushing him out of his body. Ichigo instantly prepped his bow and fired at the giant hamster-like hollow, which the hollow quickly dodged out of the way.

"I don't think I've seen this at all, a hollow and a Shinigami working together, you're a disgrace to all hollows!"

"Good! Because I despise hollows!" Ichigo yelled quickly, launching a few more arrows.

The large hollow's bright red hand slapped away the arrows with ease as his eyes narrowed on him.

"You really talk too much, for a full-course meal!" The hollow let out a boisterous laugh.

"It's Grand Fisher, Ichigo be cautious around him!" Rukia yelled as she and Kon grabbed a sister and began running off.

"I don't really care about your damned name, your scent is enough reason to slaughter you, I am not sure I'd even want to risk my tongue on your stench!" Ichigo yelled this time dashing in close, pulling out his lance, and lunging.

Grand Fisher grabbed his arm and slashed his upper body tearing his Shihakushō to ribbons, and a bright red seeped out of the shallow cuts before he let go and let out a little laugh.

"It's fun to see women fight so desperately, slowly ruining their beauty as they put their heart and soul into it," Fisher said as he rocked his head back and forth, a large smile plastered on his mask.

"Huff I don't think I need to ask since your stench is so damn familiar, but you're the one that was trying to act like my mother?" Ichigo let out another huff as more blood was washed away by the rain pelting him.

"Hehehe, that trick never seems to work on hollows that well, well at least when it tries to impersonate someone they know, the stupid ones still go after the high spiritual pressure of the bait," He said while the little girl- or the bait appeared before him as they spoke out of both mouths, before a long red tube connected each other.

Grand Fisher then grabbed the bait and clasped his hand around it, but still, everyone has a weakness, even if you know it's fake, heheheh," He said, unclasping his hand revealing…Masaki's face.

"Ichigo, come here, I want to tell you something important," Masaki grew closer to Ichigo, his senses were going off telling him it was a trap but yet her voice was right in front of him.

Slowly he got closer… he could Rukia yell behind him…but..it soon…stopped…"Mom…"

"Yes, Ichigo, It's me," She was right next to him, and he had to bend down to see her face in this form.

"You're a monster now, a terrible creature that will always hunger for souls, you'll kill them sooner or later you know that right? Karin, Yuzu, Your Father, Rukia, and all of your friends they all be your fuel, then you'll sooner or later become a much more powerful being than you ever imagined, but you will no longer be you, you're a monster who kills me," each word she uttered was like another arrow into his chest…she was right…wasn't she?…"ARGK" Ichigo's mouth became a waterfall of blood as suddenly the red arm of Grand Fisher went right through his human stomach.

"It's so easy to kill you fools, either trick you with sweet honey words or tell you the words you wanted to hear all this time," Grand Fisher said with a snicker before trying to remove his arm.

"N-No you…don't'" Ichigo huffed out, splaying blood all over the hollow's mask as he grabbed the arm.

"I am going to fucking kill you!" Ichigo yelled, grabbing onto his lance and shoving right into the hollow's shoulder going right through him.

"ARGH You fucking whore!" Grand Fisher yelled as he pulled out the lance, and finally ripped his arm out of Ichigo's torso which created a large opening in his stomach.

"I'll fucking get you for this!" He yelled, jumping away in a small tear in the sky.

"ARGK! Come- Come Back here!" Ichigo yelled, shambling onto his four legs as a hole larger than his head leaked out blood.

"Not again! Ichigo you can find him later! Just lay down, don't fall asleep! Stay awake!" Rukia yelled as she ran up to Ichigo quickly, letting a green glow cover her hands as she planted her hands on Ichigo's large injury.

"R-Rukia…I…don't worry...I refuse to…die…before I kill that fucking bastard…" Ichigo huffed out as his eyes fluttered before closing.

"No! No! Not another! Your damn pride!" Rukia yelled, pumping more of her meager spiritual energy into the wound.

"Rukia, may I take over?" The soft voice asked, turning around her eyes widened

"Let, my assistant, handle this, I can't let one of my loyal customers die, now can I?" Kisuke's grave voice asked as he tipped his hat further down.

"Why…Why didn't you help?" Rukia asked, her breath hitched as tears mixed with the rain.

"Hmm? I am just a humble shopkeep, besides, I couldn't hurt a customer's pride, now could I?" He asked with a thin smile.

A Bleach Christmas…part one?

"This is so confusing…you're celebrating a random dude's birth who was born across the world?" Rukia asked, her eyes raised.

"Uh…it's more complicated than that, that's the origins, but most people don't care for the origins, but more for the modern message, " Ichigo said rubbing the back of his green hair, as he awkwardly shuffled on the floor, once again pulling the makeup kit that he bought a few months back, this time letting Rukia do the whole mess.

"But still why worship some baby?" Rukia asked, making a delicate stroke and painting his nails a light green color.

"I am not going to go into the whole Christian Tales, if you want to learn more I bet you could find a bible if you go to another nation, or maybe Uryu, he seems the type of person to own one somewhere in his family archives," Ichigo said rubbing his eyes only for Rukia to lightly slap him

"Stop moving! Still, I am not fully understanding this whole thing, how does a baby lead to a huge feast with neighbors and family- wait! Did they eat the fucking baby!?" Rukia yelled her eyes wide, leading Ichigo to laugh.

"You're laughing at baby eating! They did! didn't they!" She shouted.

"No! Again, I don't know the full details, it's probably because in the winter you just got all of your crops harvested, so they feasted because they had an abundance of food."

"...Did they eat the baby?"

"No!"

"How can you be sure," Rukia asked.

"Because I know they crucified him, and he came back, and he should come back again or something," Ichigo huffed as he switched hands.

"They crucified a baby!?" She yelled out again.

"No! He was like twenty or something I don't fucking know!"

"Sounds suspicious, are you sure they're not trying to hide that they ate a baby, hung its leftovers on a cross, and it supposedly came back again?" Rukia asked, finishing his hands now moving to his face, where she started to put on more makeup.

"Again Rukia, I don't know the story, but that's definitely not what happened, okay, can you drop it?" Ichigo asked with a huff.

"Okay baby eater, hmm," Rukia hummed under her breath as she stroked her chin before continuing.

"How does this fat stalker come into play then…did he eat the baby?"

"Uh…that a really long story and even I don't know much about his origins, though I know he was based off a real-life dude…I remember hearing something about how he punched a dude for saying some shit about Jesus or God," Ichigo said as he tried to remember the weird tale he heard from Mizuiro, which he heard from one of his older girlfriends.

"I bet the dude said something about how he ate a fucking baby," Rukia muttered.

Ichigo's eyes twitched at that comment before he took a deep breath, "Anyway sooner or later he was transformed into a character that he delivered presents to every kid in the world,"

"That's impossible, Captain Soi-Fon, or Head Captain Yamamoto couldn't be that fast,"

"I am not going to question who those are, but that's true because he's

fake, he's a tool for parents to make their children behave," Ichigo said as finally Rukia was finished.

"You remember the plan?" Ichigo muttered as he grabbed the rather embarrassing outfit his father was forcing him to wear.

"Yeah, I'll meet up with the others at your door, see you in a bit,"

Quickly undressing after Rukia left, Ichigo stared at the outfit his dad made him wear.

"C'mon Mother would love to see you wear this! You deny it every year"

Ichigo let out another sigh as he looked at the outfit.

It was a short red fuzzy dress, with white cotton balls at the, short it was a female Santa outfit that left nothing to the imagination, Ichigo was also unsure if he wanted to be thankful or murder his father for the black skin-tight stocking he was forced to wear.

After a bit of wrestling with the outfit, he finally got it on, and the blush only grew, the dress just barely covered his massive ass, and he knew one wrong move he'd be in the shit creek, the leggings were also a mistake they perfectly highlighted his massive thighs.

Ichigo started to carefully go downstairs, meeting his father's eyes who was wearing the full Santa outfit, including the white beard which Ichigo had no clue what he was going to do with while he ate, Yuzu and Karin were polar opposites, with Yuzu, joining him in the Santa outfit though hers was a lot more PG, while Karin was wearing her casual clothes, leading to Isshin and Karin fighting as Ichigo walked towards the door.

As soon as he reached a knock range of the clinic, opening the door revealed all of Ichigo's friends…and a few he didn't recognize, keenly behind Uryu was a white-haired older man with glasses, around his father's age 'Uryu's dad?'

…and then there was the scraggly merchant with a black cat on his shoulder, behind him was a large tanned man holding onto the little suit collar of a red-haired kid, and if Ichigo twisted just right he could see the meek form of a little girl in a dress.

"What the hell are you doing here!?" Ichigo yelled, pointing his finger at the merchant.

Pulling out a handkerchief the man started to rub his eyes, "I don't have any family neither does Tessai, and we felt terribly alone, that's when I heard from little miss Rukia that you were having a Christmas party, so please would you allow us to join?" Hat n' Clogs begged. with clearly crocodile tears.

Ichigo let out a huff, "Whatever just don't cause trouble,"

Hat n' Clogs bowed "Thank you so much!"

"Whatever, just everyone hurries up and get in, you can put food on the kitchen counter, Yuzu will set everything right, gifts are on the side table," Ichigo said, letting everyone pass by him, catching briefly what everyone brought.

Mizuiro brought in a few…meat on sticks…Kabobs…I think they're called, probably learned it from one of his older overseas friends…

Keigo brought in…was that a fucking 24-pack of premade Onigiri…fucking cheap skate.

Tatsuki brought in…a large mix of different fish…at least so far it seemed there was a majority of good food.

…Only to be ruined by…what…ever Orihime brought in…it was impossible to try and decipher the fusion of foods she brought…

Uryu…and his Father? Brought in a large chocolate cake,

Finally Kiskue, and his gang brought in…candy…a few baskets of randomly assorted candy, and a large gallon of milk.

"Just a day before expiring, or was that yesterday…ah who cares," Hat n' Clogs muttered as he offered the candy to people before putting it to where Ichigo asked…and finally Rukia.

…Which brought nothing, which Ichigo was expecting, after all, she did live in his closet.

Closing the door, Ichigo turned around to see who everyone mingled with,

Hat n' Clogs, his Dad, and Uryu's dad were together enjoying a drink and letting out a few chuckles…at least Isshin and Hat n' clogs, Uryu's dad looked like he was planning on killing them with his glare alone.

Keigo was bugging Uryu who was standing in a corner away from every one, with Mizuiro trying to pull the energetic boy away from the doomer.

Yuzu and Karin were hanging out with the two children Hat n' Clogs brought in, Ichigo made sure to keep an eye on them, if they hurt either one Hat n' Clogs group would be kicked out.

Turning his gaze up he noticed the black cat drinking out of a large bowl of milk, which Yuzu must have poured for the cat, while it sometimes nibbled on some of the fish Tatsuki brought in, and Yuzu tore it apart.

Finally Orihime and Tatsuki…were… shadowboxing? It was hard to tell what Orihime did at any given moment, and all of these social stimuli probably didn't help.

Soon the festivities ended, people opened their presents and ate their fill, and soon people would left.

"Hey! Before you leave, here! You guys are all almost adults, right? I won't tell no one, and sour puss here, might look scary but I promise he won't tell either," Isshin said with a thin smile as he walked over to the cupboards and way above anything Yuzu could reach even with her step ladder, he pulled out a large glass bottle.

"Isshin, you really think that's a smart idea right?" Uryu's dad said with a raised eyebrow.

"Tch lightens up sour puss, they're all nearly adults, if they want a glass let them have it, though only one right Isshin?" A dark skin girl with vibrant hair asked with a smile…wait…I don't remember letting her in…was she with Hat n' Clogs? She must have been, I just missed her.

"Of course, only one glass, it's the holiday," Isshin nodded as he walked over to the table and put down some small glass cups.

"Now who wants some?" Isshin asked..it took a few seconds for everything to click but as soon as it did, Keigo went up to him and got a glass.

"My sister would totally fucking kill me if she learned what I just did," He muttered after gulping it down, before letting out a huff and leaving.

A few others soon joined but most just left without a word.

"Sure! I wanna try," Orihime said, grabbing a glass and chugging it down.

Compared to others there was an almost instant reaction.

Seeing her now somewhat worrisome movements, Ichigo walked over to her and lifted her shoulder over my neck, Tatsuki left a few minutes prior saying something about the dojo,

"Guess I am toting her home, see you guys later," Ichigo said, leading her out of the clinic.

"Hehe…has…anyone told you're pretty," Orihime asked as suddenly her head went straight to his larger chest.

Ichigo's face instantly bloomed a bright red flower.

"Hehe, I wonder what…it'd be like," Orihime muttered snuggling deeper into his chest.

"Y-You're already pretty," Ichigo muttered trying desperately to fight off the embarrassment.