I've been doing a lot of Christmas gifts this year! This was for the tumblr HitsuKarin tag exchange, and this gift is for tumblr user kcrinhina! I hope you enjoy this, whomever reads this. It's been a very long time since I've written for one of my favorite Bleach pairings, although I've been wanting to for a while. I just hadn't found the inspiration yet, but this year I had good motivation.

Toushirou rang the doorbell, standing quite calmly in front of the Kurosaki clinic. He had made a proper show of wearing winter clothing, although he didn't need it; it was more to stop listening to everyone's insistence that he wear proper clothes and also, he felt the need to fit in and not bring suspicious attention to himself from the living.

The door opened and a rush of warm air greeted him along with a familiar face. "Hello there!" Yuzu Kurosaki said, throwing the door open as wide as her smile. "It's so good to see you again! Come on in, please!" She ushered him inside before he could ask after her sister, giving him a pair of slippers to wear. "I'll get you some tea!"

He felt rather blindsided, but he came further into the house. Ichigo sat at the couch in the living room, and it appeared that all his friends were with him, but not the other sister. "Kurosaki," Toushirou greeted politely, nodding.

"Hey Toushirou," said Ichigo, lifting a hand. His greeting was repeated by his friends, although much more formally with variations of "Hitsugaya," which soothed the irritation Toushirou always felt when speaking to the oldest Kurosaki child. "If you're looking for Karin, she's upstairs."

"Your friend Hinamori is with her!" piped up Inoue.

"Yes, she arrived shortly before you did, Hitsugaya-taichou," added Rukia Kuchiki.

Feeling a little awkward and not knowing what else to do, Toushirou simply said, "I'll go up and say hello then." With that he headed up the stairs, and when he got up about halfway, he heard a voice singing.

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose—"

The song was in English, a language he was not fluent in, and neither was the person singing along with the smooth, recorded voice. It was coming from the twins' room, so with a small smile he knocked.

The live singing stopped, although the recorded one did not. "Come in!" a very familiar voice called, and he couldn't help it; his smile widened and he pushed open the door. "Toushirou!" Karin sat on her bed, Hinamori beside her. It appeared that his childhood friend was braiding his girlfriend's hair.

"I heard you singing," he said, coming closer.

She laughed. "Sorry you had to hear that. My English isn't very good."

"I thought you sang quite well," Hinamori protested, wiggling the half-finished braid in admonishment. "The pronunciation was very careful, and your tone was quite good too."

"Who's Jack Frost?" Toushirou cut in. "Or why is Jack frost?"

Karin laughed again, nearly pulling her hair out of Hinamori's hands. "No, silly! Jack isn't frost. He's Jack Frost. He's a European winter spirit, or at least I think so. He makes the frost in the windows during winter."

"Stay still!"

"Oops, sorry Hinamori. But anyway, Toushirou, that song is one of my favorite Christmas songs."

Toushirou had heard of Christmas. A few years ago, Matsumoto had brought up something about a holiday that had a great big tree set up, and something about songs and presents—he'd ignored it because there was a lot of work to do, to rebuild from the Quincy war. There was no time to go frolicking about in the land of the living, especially not for a holiday that wasn't one he'd ever heard of before. "You like Christmas then?"

"Love it," Karin answered without a beat. "Yuzu loves it too, so she insists on getting a tree to decorate and baking cookies. We also get the KFC special to have along with whatever she cooks on Christmas." She breathed deeply, as if she were already smelling the chicken alongside Yuzu's delicious cooking. "I also love the carols. I don't understand most of them, but the songs are so beautiful and happy."

She pressed a button on the player on her desk, and another song started playing. "O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant," the previous smooth voice sang out, and Toushirou began to understand what she meant. The song was hopeful and joyful, proud and triumphant—as if the listeners were supposed to feel a sense of victory.

"That one suits how we are now, don't you think Shirou-chan?"

Toushirou jerked out of his contemplation and huffed at Hinamori. "You know I don't like that." She just giggled, and he shook his head good-naturedly. "Yes, yes it suits us."

"Soul Society recovering well?" Karin guessed. She patted his hand, pulling him onto her bed as well, so the three of them were quite cozy together. "What about you? Are you recovering well?"

"As you can see." He gestured to himself.

She looked at him critically. "Something's missing…"

Toushirou looked about ready to panic when she kissed him.

"There! Now you are definitely fully-recovered."

"Karin-chan! How scandalous!" The two young women laughed and Hinamori set her hands down. "All finished, Karin-chan. I'll go downstairs, but you two should hurry down quickly."

"Thanks, Momo." Karin nodded to her friend appreciatively, knowing this might be the only alone time she would get with her boyfriend that night. Once Hinamori had shut the door behind her, she looked back to Toushirou, a soft smile on her face.

It was then that Toushirou noticed her hair had been braided into a crown that met in the back of her head, trailing down to her shoulders. "You look beautiful," he told her, reaching over to trace the braid from her temple.

"Thank you." She leaned against him with a sigh. "You know, Jack Frost reminds me of you. When I listen to that song, I imagine you nipping my nose instead of some imaginary winter spirit."

"Are you sure that's what the song says?" he asked dubiously.

"Mmhmm." Karin laughed and tapped his nose. "Not literally biting my nose, silly. It's just an English saying, for when the cold wind bites."

"Right. And you imagine me instead?"

"It makes me feel like you're right next to me, instead of far away where I can't see or feel you," she admitted quietly. "I see everyone around me get to be with their boyfriends and girlfriends, and yet I can't be with you."

He felt a warm feeling in his chest upon hearing her say that. "I'm sorry we can't be together more. But you have that pass and I do my best to come see you when I can." Toushirou pressed a kiss to her cheek, embracing her. "We make do."

She nodded. "We do. I love you, so I can be patient."

"I love you too." He didn't say it often, mostly because it was difficult for him to express his feelings. When he did, he meant it, and he knew Karin knew that.

The pair sat in companionable silence for another couple Christmas songs, when Karin gave a sad sigh and disentangled herself from him. "Come on, let's go downstairs before my father and sister get it into their heads to eavesdrop."

Toushirou felt his heart skip a beat at that, but he heard her go on, "Besides, Christmas is a time for family, and our family is downstairs."

He nodded and got up, and the pair went down holding hands.

There it is! I hope you liked it! I haven't been around during Christmastime, but I imagine that Japan likes to play the same songs as much as we do, so it shouldn't be surprising that Karin would like Christmas songs. I picked the versions sung by Nat King Cole for the "smooth voice" singing "O Come All Ye Faithful" and "The Christmas Song," but really, you could probably imagine anyone singing those songs that you want.

Toushirou hearing of Christmas from Matsumoto is actually true, according to the novelization of the DiamondDust Rebellion. I translated the first chapter myself for a project the spring semester of 2016. The part about there being a big tree is definitely true; the part about the singing and presents may not have come from that translation. This is me acknowledging the hard work I did last year, that novelization, but not necessarily the movie. Instead, you can either imagine that I am saying that the movie's events are true to this story, or you can imagine that Matsumoto told Toushirou about Christmas another time.

The focus here is obviously on Karin and Toushirou, with some Hinamori fun thrown in for kcrinhina (I noticed that you love her very much!). If you're an ichihime fan like I am, Karin's comment about "everyone gets to see their boyfriends and girlfriends" needs no explanation. If you're an ichiruki fan, it just means that I imagine Rukia getting to come to the land of the living more often than Toushirou, even though she is probably running the Thirteenth Division (although not yet captain, as no one is married in this scenario) just as he is running the Tenth. Whatever floats your boat!