Sorry this update has been so late in coming. *sigh* Reasons I give will just sound like excuses. But just allow me to give some friendly advice. Stay away from suspicious websites. They tend to be well...drowning in trojan viruses.

Please don't burn me at the stake if you feel this chapter was not up to my usual standards. I'm going to publish the chapter again, because there are a few things at the very end that I feel I did not do much justice to. But I'm too eager to let you guys what happens next. {-D

Anyway, please enjoy When Winter Casts A Spell, Chapter 11

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11

December 24th

The darkness settled around him, engulfing him, suffocating him...

"Ichigo?" the voice called.

Blood. The strong, overpowering, stench....on walls...on grey walls...

"Ichigo." the voice called again.

Something green...a crab?...shrimp?...hollow...

"Ichigo!"

A kiss. The sliding of something warm and wet down his throat...cutting off his air...cutting off his life...

"ICHIGO!!!!"

Ichigo's eyes burst open.

His retina's burned as blinding light invaded them, making their way up his head, searing his brains.

"Fuck!!" were the first words out of the doctor's mouth. He rolled over and buried his head deeper within his sheets, groaning loudly and miserably. His head was pounding. If Bop The Weasel ever met Lumber Toss, this was it.

"Wake up for crying out loud!" a voice said above him. The voice in the dream. It sounded like Tatsuki. Or maybe, that was just the headache. He squinted. Nope, it was Tatsuki alright.

"Where am I?" Ichigo groaned, self-pity tinging his voice.

Tatsuki looked at him like he had lost his marbles. "Um, in your living room?" she offered sarcastically.

Yeah, Ichigo could see that now. His eyes were slowly adjusting to the light and he could make out the structures that characterized his living room. The room was empty except for the two of them. Shit, he felt so hungover.

"What have you been up to?" Tatsuki asked with her hands on her hips, her voice accusatory.

Ichigo was just about to answer when...the creepy realization dawned on him that...

"Wait a minute..." Ichigo muttered in disbelief. No, seriously?

Tatsuki cocked an eyebrow. "What?"

"I can't remember." Ichigo whispered, his eyes wide with incredulity.

Tatsuki gave him an odd stare. "Uh...huh. You don't remember why you're in your jacket and boots..."

"Jacket and boots?" Ichigo mumbled in mild shock, looking down at his clothes.

"...and you don't remember why you've been sleeping for the past, let me see...fourteen hours?"

Ichigo sat up, squinting and surprised. "Fourteen hours?"

"And that's only counting from midnight." Tatsuki said, sitting next to him. "I don't know when you fell asleep but if you did any earlier than 12, you just might have broken some kind of record."

"What time is it?" Ichigo asked, growing more and more confused by the second.

"Its 2 pm okay. You slept through breakfast, you slept through brunch. You slept through decorations."

"Decorations?" Ichigo began paying proper attention to the room for the first time since he'd awoken.

The living room was beautiful. Tinsel hung from the roof, lights were strewn from corner to corner. Flowers were everywhere, in vases and in standing pottery, adding a soft red-green coloration to the entire room. The Christmas cards were numerous, and he could see tiny red teddies sitting on his shelves and coffee tables. And on his centre table, a large transparent bowl bearing multicoloured marbles sat. They'd done all this in a couple of hours?

"Hey Einstein." Tatsuki taunted. "You can't invite people over for Christmas when your own house looks like it was robbed by the Grinch."

Then Ichigo noticed the Christmas tree! There was a friggin' Christmas tree! And it was spectacular! Were those presents below it?

"You guys wrapped your presents already?" Ichigo asked, feeling a little left out.

"Hey don't give me that hurt tone." Tatsuki grumbled. "We tried waking you up every hour! It was like someone'd knocked you out."

Ichigo was finding it hard to believe that he had slept through all this without so much as a stir. He was not a deep sleeper.

"I'm just glad you're awake." Tatsuki said, standing again. "I was getting worried for a moment there. You're sure you don't remember anything? Do you have sleeping pills? Overdoses can do that sometimes."

"You don't need to tell me that, I'm a doctor." Ichigo grumbled, rubbing at his face because his head was still pounding. "And no I don't think I took any sleeping pills. I don't have trouble sleeping. Or at least, I didn't before I invited you lot over."

Tatsuki began leaving to her room. "Sure, blame it on the guests."

"Where is everybody anyway?" Ichigo asked.

Her voice floated down as she climbed the stairs. "Time didn't come to a halt as you slumbered Doctor Kurosaki. They're all getting ready for today's activity."

Ah, the caroling. Ichigo remembered. But he didn't rise to get changed as well. He couldn't! Maybe Tatsuki thought he was playing games, but he honest to God did not remember a thing that had happened in at least the past...fourteen hours!

He sat and he thought. There was a weird feeling in his stomach. Not the Feeling. Just the kind that drained into your innards when you knew something wasn't right: like butterflies, except the butterflies were puking. It was odd enough he couldn't seem to be able to recall anything from the past number of hours. But it was a little disturbing that he was in jackets and boots...had he gone out last night?

Ichigo thought hard, ignoring the protests of pain his brain delivered. He needed to recall his last memory.

After a moment of careful brain crunching, it finally came to him.

A phone call! He'd had a phone some time during the past number of hours.

But...

"Argh!" Ichigo muttered to himself.

He couldn't even remember who'd called him much less what they'd talked about! After that, it was all a blank.

But he knew he was supposed to know something. Something important. Something...dangerous... He could feel it in his soul...that something was wrong. He just couldn't put a finger on it. His memories were like a mass of wet noodles, slipping and sliding through the prongs of his fork. Damned frustrating!

"Argh!!" Ichigo growled, this time louder.

He couldn't shake this feeling off! And he could tell this was not one of those things that he could afford to let slide. No, he knew this was something dangerous...something fatal...

He didn't know why, but he could tell that if he didn't recall what it was he'd forgotten, it wasn't going to be good.

People would get hurt. People would die.

000

At that very moment, Matt Peterson and his fiancee were about half a minute from Ichigo's door. And neither had said a word since they had stepped into the building. Both were nervous, but for entirely different reasons. Inoue because she felt perhaps she had taken things a little too far with a certain someone earlier that morning. Matt because he felt perhaps he hadn't taken things quite far enough, ironically, with that same certain someone. It made him feel like perhaps he should just have killed Ichigo. But....nah, that was how He thought. Matt was not going to sink so low.

Of course, neither had mentioned their respective past events for the same reason: they didn't dare. And anyway, they hadn't spoken very kindly to each other that morning.

Matt and Inoue had had a fight. Inoue had woken up to find her fiance's arms around her, fast asleep and she hadn't been very warm about the gesture. She had said nothing remotely concerning his absence earlier that morning but her silence through breakfast had irritated Matt to no end. Gradually, it had developed into said fight. It hadn't been a very big one and it had not concerned anything of significant importance. But there had been enough damage to render the two silent towards each other for the rest of the day. Now the two headed for Ichigo's apartment, dreading confrontation with their host.

Of the two, Matt was especially nervous. Whereas Inoue's secret only possessed the potential to sabotage their relationship, his had the potential to do that and a heck of a lot more damage...his death being somewhere within that perimeter.

Earlier that morning had been difficult. First he had had to wander around a dead section of the city for hours, starving so badly it had been hard controlling himself around any of the humans he had come across.

Then He had gotten edgy and made a made a mess of their kill. Matt had wanted a slow kill, something low profile, something that wouldn't have reiatsu roaring through Karkaura like he was bloody siren! He had ignored Matt, botching the kill like He was working in fucking abattoir.

And then there had been Ichigo. Bad timing. Bad, bad timing.

And then calling out a hollow at Matt's expense! Just to save His own ass! It was just like Him! Matt gritted his teeth just thinking about it. Of course, Matt had been left to clean up the mess: the mess being Ichigo.

So Matt had wiped a bit of his memory and returned him to his apartment. Not too much of his memory. Just a few hours to be safe. He had to admit though that Ichigo had tasted like heaven. His life force had been so filling, hitting the spot those other two hoodlums could never fill. No wonder He always wanted innocent people. They just tasted so much better.`But Matt would be damned if he took the lives of innocent people.

He might be a killer. He refused to be a beast.

Now they were at Ichigo's door and Inoue was knocking.

Matt's heart beat faster and he bit his bottom lip. Here was the tricky bit. Here was where he saw whether or not he had drained the perfect amount of memory. Too much and Ichigo would be suspicious. Too little, and the untaken memories would set a chain reaction of recollections that would inevitably lead to the alley, the blood, the kiss.

And Matt had every right to be afraid.

The door opened and Ichigo stood at the door.

Because you see, Matt knew this man was a Shinigami.

And if he ever recovered his memories...Matt was a dead man.

000

Inoue, for no discernable reason, was immensely disappointed when Ichigo opened the door. Because immediately, he avoided her eyes.

"Good morning, Ichigo." she said blandly.

"Good morning." he returned the greeting, almost muttering it. He did not meet her eyes. He seemed to be staring at something behind her. Odd because Matt was the only one behind her.

"Can we come in?" Inoue finally asked softly.

"Wha-?" Ichigo just noticed he was blocking their way in. "Um, yeah of course. Sorry."

Inoue wondered if last night had really been so awkward for him to act this way. She mentally slapped herself for being so stupid. What kind of fiancee was she?? Confessing to her ex in her partner's absence. You always saw this sort of rubbish in soap operas and you always thought only an insensitive idiot would stoop so low. You never considered it was possible in any way, shape or form that you would ever find yourself doing the same. Guess who the insensitive idiot was now.

"Um...did you just wake up." Inoue asked, trying to make conversation.

"Hm? Um, yeah." Ichigo mumbled, his attention completely elsewhere. "Last night was a little weird for me."

Inoue felt her heart tear a seam. So she really had crossed boundaries last night? Made sense. He didn't say he loved her back anyway.

Inoue tried very hard to smile. "Do you want some coffee or something?"

Ichigo finally let his eyes rest on Inoue's. "Um, what? No, no, I should be doing that for you not the other way round..."

"Oh..." Inoue said as brightly as she could, beaming. "...don't be silly."

A sniff. "Are you still there?"

"Of course." Ichigo whispered.

"I'm sorry for being such a burden."

Ichigo hesitated. "...don't be silly."

She...she couldn't take it anymore. She had to talk to him. At the very least, to clear the air.

"Matt, honey, would you please make Ichigo some coffee." Inoue asked sweetly, praying desperately her fiance would play along. To her surprise, he didn't even hesitate.

"Of course." Matt said quickly. "Excuse me." He left briskly to the kitchen.

When Inoue was sure Matt was out of earshot, she dropped her smile, and Ichigo watched in surpise as a pained look took over her face.

"Ichigo..." Inoue said softly. "We need to talk...."

The doctor stared, clueless.

"...about last night." Inoue added.

000

Swear words so diverse they surprised Matt himself, swam about in his head as he plugged in a kettle. So far, it had not been good. Ichigo's eyes had been fixed on him since his arrival like they were a fat kid and he was chocolate covered licorice.

Was Ichigo on to him? Or was he simply imagining it?

Matt sighed as the water in the kettle boiled. It didn't matter which, he was still hyperventilating like nobody's business.

He searched the cupboards, opening and closing rapidly, till he found a jar of instant coffee. A spoon and a mug later and Matt had an order of coffee on a saucer.

He took a deep breath, ready to make his way back into the living room. But then he stopped. And he set the saucer back on a counter and leaned against the kitchen table.

His heart was doing that thing it did again. And his sight was blurring. Matt suddenly felt weak and for a moment he thought he was going to collapse to the floor. But he didn't. And anyway, it was nothing out of the ordinary.

He just needed to wait for a bit. It would pass. It always did.

000

Ichigo was more than a little surprised at how willing Matt had been to get him coffee. Since they had arrived, the blue haired American had been acting really weird.

Ichigo had opened the door to them and immediately noticed how flustered the man was. He was biting on his bottom lip, twitching repeatedly and God...what was with the staring??

"Ichigo."

Ichigo snapped out of his musings and realized he was alone with Inoue at the moment.

"Ichigo I need to talk to you." Inoue said, and Ichigo noticed she was nervous.

What was up with this couple today? They were both acting like he was going to snap and maul them any minute! Or...did this have to do with his memory loss? Did he say something to these two last night?

"I'm listening." Ichigo said.

Inoue hesitated, closed her eyes and sighed. She looked up again, fiddling with her fingers. "Abou...about this morning..."

Ichigo blinked. Then he laughed sheepishly. "Um, Inoue, I don't know how to tell you this...but I really don't remember anything that's happened in the past few hours."

The beautiful woman opened her mouth to say something, stopped herself, and then looked surprised. Then her features softened with understanding. Then the hurt set in. She looked at Ichigo silently for a moment. Then she said, "I understand. I guess acting like it never happened is much easier, isn't it?"

Ichigo was confused. Then he figured out what was going on. Had something happened between them last night?! "No, no, no, Inoue..." Ichigo said quickly. "It's not that I'm playing dumb. I really don't re-"

"Don't worry Ichigo." Inoue interrupted just as quickly, faking a smile. "I...I guess I should be saying thank you, shouldn't I? You're just trying to save my marriage."

"Inoue..." Ichigo began again, but just then they heard Matt coming from behind them.

"Excuse me. I'm going to find Tatsuki." Inoue said and before waiting for any consent, she walked away.

Ichigo stared after her as she left. Never before had he been so lost. What had happened in the past number of hours? Had so many things transpired in such a short amount of time? Ichigo frowned. He was going to have to find Inoue later and explain himself to her. And then possibly, learn what exactly had happened in those lost hours. All this was becoming a bit irritating. But in the mean time...for now...

"Here's your coffee." Matt said cheerfully. Ichigo noticed the strain in his voice.

Ichigo turned around to pick up his drink and immediately his eyes locked unto Matt's.

For now...Ichigo was going to have to keep an extra careful eye on this man. Because Ichigo didn't know when...but he could feel it within himself. He was going to share a dark history with this man.

Funny, because, at that exact moment, as Matt smiled that fake wide smile, not breaking eye contact with this man...he was thinking the exact same thing.

000

Inoue swallowed hard as she climbed the stairs, blinking back tears. She would not cry....she would not cry...she would not cry.... What Ichigo had done made perfect sense. He was saving her from herself. Things could end in utter disaster if Matt ever found out she had told her ex boyfriend that she was still in love with him. Her move had been ridiculous! Ridiculous! Honestly, who did that? Who at all did that??

And who was this weak little girl tearing apart?, Inoue thought, reprimanding herself fiercely. This was not Inoue Orihime! Or at least...this was not the Inoue Orihime she had built up.

The red-head stopped in front of a wall mirror right next to Tatsuki's door and inspected her face, wiping away tears and trying not to ruin the little make up she had put on. She sniffed and tried to look as non-challant as she could possibly appeared. She smiled at herself in the mirror.

Then she knocked on Tatsuki's door. She waited but there was no answer. So she knocked again. Still no answer.

Inoue heard some voices in the next room and she made out Tatsuki's voice amongst them, so she moved towards that room.

Knock, knock. "Tatsuki-san." Inoue called. "Are you in there?"

"Inoue?" Tatsuki's voice came from behind the door. "Do you still knock in this house?? Come in!"

Inoue opened the door cautiously, and the arguing met her head on. Renji and Rukia were at it, and Tatsuki was sitting on their bed watching them.

"I'm just saying you should rest a bit." Renji was saying angrily, his face tattoos arching with his brows in a full frown.

Rukia would not be out yelled. "And I'm saying I'm perfectly fine. Urahara said so. And the baby isn't due for another week. What is your problem Renji?"

Renji folded his arms and leaned into his wife's face. "Who gives a shit what that sandal-hat freak says?! You're not going caroling with us! I'm putting my foot down!!"

Rukia scoffed. "You don't own me!"

"Wha... What the fuck??" Renji nearly popped a vein. "You tryin' me, midget?!"

The kick caught Renji squarely in the shins and Inoue winced at Renji's cry.

The scarlet-haired shinigami bent over, making barely audible pity noises. Rukia bent over as well (as well as she could, anyway) and put a hand to her ear. "Huh? Were you saying something? " She stood straight, folding her arms defiantly. "I didn't think so."

Renji stood up too, glaring. "Whatever! You're outta your freakin' mind." He began to limp out of the room. "I hope you get eaten by a snowman." were his last bitter words before he slammed the door behind himself.

"What was that about?" Inoue finally asked after the awkward silence had passed.

Rukia sunk into her bed. "He's just being a worrywart. And a jerk! You heard him! He called me a midget!"

Inoue wasn't about to point out that everyone called her a midget. As a joke. Again, it was probably just the hormones. "It sounded more like he was looking out for you." Inoue tried cautiously.

"I''m tired of everyone looking out for me and being careful with me and giving me weird stares whenever I do or say or think anything the least bit dramatic!!!" Rukia complained all in one breath, unaware that, in fact, she was doing exactly that, right there and then. "It's friggin' Christmas for pete's sake!! I want to have some fun!!!!!!!"

Tastuki laughed at the raven-haired woman. "You're knocked up, Rukia! Your Christmas doesn't get any better than great miso soup and chocolate cake. How much more fun could you possibly have in that condition?"

Rukia folded her arms stubbornly. "At least Renji could have let me play ice lacrosse too."

The thought of Rukia, swollen and skating awkwardly with a lacrosse stick immediately made Inoue quite pale with dread. Tatsuki's laughter could be heard downstairs.

"Laugh all you want Tatsuki." Rukia said rising, her voice suddenly filled with the tremor of resolve. "But today I'm going to have the best damned caroling that anyone has ever had in the history of caroling! And I'll prove everyone wrong that women with child are not incompetent and weak!!

"Women with child??" Tatsuki repeated incredulously and even Inoue had to stiffle a giggle.

Rukia ignored them. "At least not this shinigami with child!!"

Tatsuki was curious. "Um...and how exactly are we going to prove this."

There and then, Rukia loved her friend for using 'we'. She smiled slyly. "I have just the plan."

000

Ichigo's fingers traveled to his jacket zip, promptly yanking it up all the way.

It was 4 pm. The gang was standing outside in front of Ichigo's apartment building, and the air was a little more frigid than Ichigo had expected. Earmuffs and winter hats were more visible all round, and it was obvious that regardless, everyone was freezing. Fine time to go caroling.

"Is it supposed to be cold?" Mizuiro asked, his question directed to no one in particular. "Did anyone listen to the weather report?"

No one answered. Ergo, no one had.

"The skies are clear." Yuzu said loudly, so everyone could hear her. She added cheerfully. "And once we get a move on, I'm sure we'll get warmer." Her audience grunted hopefully.

Renji handed the young event organizer a thick file.

"Ok, here's how this is going to work." Yuzu explained with a warm smile. "I'm going to hand over sheets with lyrcis. Ishida-san will give you each a small torchlight so as it gets dark you can still see."

Ichigo received the tiny device and marveled. When had his sister organized all this?

"We're not going very far." Yuzu explained further. "We'll sing through this section into Kasazaki, then turn into Sakurabashi." As she laid out their route, she made directional gestures with her hands. "Then we'll pass through Tsubakidai Park and wind up back here. Everyone get it?"

The entire gang just stared empty eyed at her.

Yuzu sighed good naturedly. "I'm going to take you round a few blocks." she simplified.

The gang's response was an understanding chorus of "Oh"s.

Yuzu grinned. "You guys have been away too long. Now let me explain how often we'll stop at a house...''

Yuzu had lost Ichigo by now. At that point, Ichigo was watching Matt at the corner of his eye. The foreigner was all the way towards the fringe of their crowd, looking just a little lost. He was no where near Inoue who was on Ichigo's other side. For the briefest moment, Ichigo forgot his suspicions and wondered whether the couple was fighting. If they were, 'poor Matt'. Caroling felt nothing more than meaningless singing if it wasn't done with someone by your side.

Come to think of it, Ichigo thought, suddenly coming to the realization. I'm pretty much alone too.

On any other day...perhaps in some odd twisted alternate universe....if he was feeling exceptionally kind....Ichigo just might have gone over to Matt. It wouldn't have killed. And more importantly, it would have made keeping an eye on him that night much much easier. But Ichigo had decided to do something very important that evening.

His recent memory loss had made him think (ironic, isn't it?). He had come to the conclusion that he had taken the Feeling for granted for too long. It was always possible his memory loss was related in no way to the evil reiatsu. But regardless, Ichigo had finally decided it would be better (and safer) to get to the bottom of things.

And that was why now, though Matt was at one corner of his eye, someone else very important was at the other: Captain Toushiro Hitsugaya.

"Hey Uryuu." Ichigo whispered as the bespectacled man passed by for the second time, handing out the last of the torchlights. "Do me a favour will you? Get Renji, then you two come over. There's something we need to talk about."

Ishida nodded solemnly.

Yuzu, by now, was telling the gang something about a tune. Ichigo began listening again just in time to hear her call Chad upfront. To everyone's surprise and amusement, the model showed up with an acoustic guitar in hand.

"Chad is going to be playing for us this evening." Yuzu announced proudly and laughed when her friends began to clap and cheer.

Chad nodded politely and began plucking a few strings in a beautiful rendition of a tune they could all make out to be 'Joy to the World'. The cheers grew louder and so did the laughter.

Anybody could see Yuzu was positively thrilled that they were having fun already.

"Okay okay okay." she said excitedly, clapping her mittened hands together. "Let's see if we can keep a tune, shall we? Chad, D-chord please."

At this point, Yuzu lost Ichigo again. As the gang practised singing in key, Renji and Uryuu moved from their standing places to join Ichigo.

"What do you want?" Renji muttered rudely to Ichigo.

A vein popped visible on Ichigo's head. "Wha-? Jackass! I'm trying to save us! What I'm about to talk about is very important!"

"Then spill it and quit gripin'!" Renji retorted, his frown deepening. "I'm supposed to be keepin' an eye on Rukia for fuck's sake."

Ichigo spotted said petite shinigami upfront. She was with Tatsuki and Inoue. Ichigo raised cocked an eyebrow when he noticed what was dangling from Rukia's hand.

"Is that an umbrella in her hand??" Ichigo asked incredulously, squinting at the large black collapsible canopy.

"Don't know. Don't give a fuck." Renji muttered sourly, folding his arms in a way that immediately tattled to his colleagues that there had been a fight of some sort.

Ichigo smiled wickedly. "I thought you just said you had to keep an eye on her?"

It was Renji's turn to pop a vein. "What are you tryin' to imply Strawberry!!" he hissed as quietly as he could over the singing practice, shaking a fist under the ex-shinigami's nose.

Ichigo couldn't help raising his voice a little louder in anger. "What did you call me??"

"That is your name, idiot!"

"Not when you say it like that it's not! You think I'm stupid?! I know you're making fun of me, idiot!!"

"You're the idiot, Idiot!"

"No you're the idiot, Idiotic-Idiot!!"

Uryuu smacked both men up their heads. "You're both idiots! And you're wasting my time!!"

Suddenly both Renji and Ichigo's faces were inches from Uryuu's, their faces contorted with anger and disbelief at being hit. "Don't call us idiots, Idiot!!" they chorused into his face.

Uryuu backed away a little shocked at first. Then he regained his composure and his frustration. "Didn't you two grow up at all these past ten years! Ichigo! You wanted to tell us something? Well then tell us dammit!"
"Yeah, tell us." Renji ordered, suddenly acting like he had played no part in the immaturity. "Idiot." he muttered under his breath with an evil grin, knowing he had just had the last word.

Ichigo ignored him, choosing instead to clear his throat (and his murderous thoughts). He stuffed his hands into his pockets. "We have a problem guys."

The singing stopped abruptly and Yuzu beamed at all of them. "Thank you. You guys are great." She laughed. "We're no Keble Choir but we won't shatter any windows."

Everyone laughed.

"First song on your sheets, people." Yuzu instructed.

Chad began to play a soft mellow intro and after a few secconds, the gang joined in with their voices to White Christmas. Then they began to walk the streets.

As they walked, Ichigo explained what he had been feeling recently. Leaving out his recent memory loss, he told them about his suspicions and concerns. He received a snort from Renji in reply.

"It took you this long to notice it?" Renji scoffed over the music that surrounded them. "You're really numb to reiatsu aren't you?"

Ichigo's eyebrows arched in confusion. "Wait you two already know about this? About....that weird feeling?"

"Everybody knows Kurosaki Ichigo." Uryuu muttered, pushing up his glasses. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you were the last to notice it. And you've been in Karakura longer this season than any of us have."

Ichigo frowned. "Sheesh, you don't have to rub it in." But the shock had still not worn off. "So you're telling me, this...whatever it is, has been in Karakura for much longer? How much longer? A year? Two years?"

"According to Captain Hitsugaya, only about a month or so." Uryuu said.

Ichigo thought about this. Did that rule Matt out? Ichigo glanced at the American, who was trying hard to get used to the songs in Japanese. Surely it did. He'd not even been in Japan for a full week yet.

"Good thing you mentioned Toushiro." Ichigo finally said. "I have a few questions for him. I'm curious as to why Soul Society hasn't done a damn thing about it yet."

They moved over to Toushiro, who was sharing a music sheet with Karin. Apparently, the music sheets had not been enough.

"Karin, you wouldn't mind giving us a second with Toushiro would you?" Ichigo whispered.

Karin stopped singing and nodded. She moved away to be closer to Matsumoto and Yuzu.

Hitsugaya regarded the stubbled doctor with a look of faint annoyance. "Do you I have to drive my name into your head with my blade, Kurosaki? It's Captain Hitsugaya to you."

"Yeah yeah whatever." Ichigo mumbled, anxious to get to the point of his coming. "Look, I need to ask you something. I take it you already know about the...reiatsu problem?"

Hitsugaya's voice was dry. "If you're referring to the unidentified spiritual signature, then: Yes."

"Can you tell me something about it?"

Hitsugaya hesitated. "What would you like to know?"

"Do you guys have any idea what it is yet?"

"If we did, it wouldn't be unidentified now, would it?" the ice captain responded coldly.

"Wait a minute." Uryuu suddenly interrupted. "If I remember correctly, you knew what the reiatsu was yesterday...in front of the sporting goods store?" He added for clarity.

Hitsugaya's glare was icy. "You mean the time I was never allowed to finish my sentence?"

Uryuu smiled apologetically. "Sorry. It just occured to me that you had, in fact, known at that moment. If it wouldn't be a bother, would you tell us what that reiatsu is? We're all ears now."

Captain Hitsugaya was silent, and he let them suffer through a short period of unresponsiveness, allowing instead the surrounding sounds of merry singing to lend a disturbingly dark contrast to the mood of their discussion. It was an ironic juxtaposition.

"We're not sure anymore." Hitsugaya finally said.

Singing filled in the lull.

"What do you mean you're not sure any more?" Ichigo asked, already beginning to panic. Even Soul Society didn't know what this Feeling was? Were they kidding him?

"Yesterday I almost told you..." Hitsugaya said, pausing for emphasis. "...that the reiatsu belonged to an arrancar. A Gillian Class Arrancar."

"Gillian class??" Renji looked almost startled by the news. "You've gotta be yankin' us. I've felt that thing, Captain Hitsugaya. It's no figgin' Gillian class."

Hitsugaya gave him a cold stare, retorting crisply. "Then what would you say it was, Vice-Captain?"

The other three watched Renji frown in embarrassment and object. "I'm not saying the research bureau is wrong. I'm just saying it doesn't feel anything like a Gillian Arrancar. Those are the weakest scum. I mean, you guys have felt it right? I don't know what it is, but Gillian Class sounds a bit ridiculous!"

"The reiatsu is heavily amplified and honestly..." Hitsugaya said. "...quite deadly. It could match the reiatsu of an Adjuchas at the very least. But determining the class of an arrancar doesn't rely on magnitude alone." Somehow he managed to stare all three of them in the eye at once. "It secondarily relies on frequency and pattern."

Ichigo asked, "And the frequency and pattern match those of a Gillian?"

"It's magnified to almost unrecognizable proportions but it matches quite sufficiently." Hitsugaya said as the group turned into a parking lot to sing to the residents in the apartment building. "Or at least, we thought it did until this morning."

Ichigo felt like his heart was beating in slow motion by now. Was he going to learn about what had happened this morning? "Why?" Ichigo asked cautiously. "What happened this morning?"

Hitsugaya sighed and stared at him. "Are you so numb you didn't feel it this morning?"

Ichigo's eyes widened. "The Feeling?"

"It hit the air at about midnight, extremely faint as first, but increasing in intensity till it peaked at about 4 00 hours." Hitsugaya said.

Four am, Ichigo thought, wanting so badly for the stated time to ring a bell. It didn't.

"It's the longest it's ever lasted, spanning a total of 4 hours." Hitsugaya said solemnly. "It was also the most pronounced transmission yet. His location had never been more obvious."

Ichigo couldn't believe what he was hearing. "So why didn't anyone find it and deal with it??"

Hitsugaya looked the man in the eye. "Soul Society forbade it."

Soul Society?! Ichigo's mouth dropped slightly in a gape. "Huh?"

"The Scientific Research Bureau took advantage of the period to properly analyze the reiatsu. It was their conclusion that the matter would have to be solved a bit more delicately."

Ichigo was incredulous. "Are you kidding me?"

Renji continued here. "It was a friggin' order so don't go all righteous on us." He folded his arms and ignored a few disapproving stares from some of the singing party crashers, who of course didn't know Renji well enough to realize he could decide not to sing when he damn well felt like it. The scarlet-haired man continued. "Apparently the case is going to be taken up by the 2nd squad."

"The Onmitsukidō? Captain Soi Fong?" Ichigo said, quite baffled by all this. Honestly, what ever happened to good old fashioned 'search and destroy'?

"Dunno why." Renji said with a shrug. "Maybe that's what Captain Hitsugaya is about to tell us."

Hitsugaya looked up from a moment of deep thinking. He frowned. "I'm not supposed to. It's classified."

Ichigo bent over so that his face was inches from the captain's. "Look. I wasn't going to tell you this." Ichigo said softly. "But this morning I woke up and I couldn't remember a thing that had happened in the past number of hours. I knew I hadn't just fallen asleep because my head was pounding and I was dressed."

"Sake has similar effects." Hitsugaya breathed back sarcastically.

"There were no empty bottles." Ichigo retorted gently. "Now I know as Captain it's your job and all to keep information classified, but I really really need you to make an exception now. There might be something I experienced last night that could lead us to the bottom of this."

Hitsugaya stared into the man's pleading brown eyes.

"Fine." he finally uttered coldly.

Ichigo straightened. "Thank you."

The gang were done with two songs and were waving at the residents who had gratefully come to their windows to listen. When they were back on the streets, they struck up Deck The Halls and the sounds of their merriness floated all around them, dipelling the cold air.

When they were well into that song, Hitsugaya finally spoke again. "Renji, Uryuu...do you remember when I told you that the reiatsu was actually two reiatsu, not one?"

Of course, this was Ichigo's first time hearing this, but the other two nodded.

"It turns out that the bureau wasn't wrong afterall." Hitsugaya lectured. "Judging by how almost simultaneously the reiatsu flare up, we're guessing that there are actually two culprits here, contributing to the evil reiatsu we keep experiencing."

"Meaning..." Ichigo said.

"There are two killers out there." Hitsugaya finished.

The other three men let this sink in for a moment.

"But..." Ichigo finally said, noticing Hitsugaya was leaving something out. "....you said the reiatsu belonged to an Arrancar."

"The dominant reiatsu." Hitsugaya nodded. "Yes."

"Then..." Ichigo stalled, afraid to know the answer to his own question. "Who owns the second one?"

This was where Hitsugaya finally stopped talking, contemplating whether or not it would be wise to let these three know the strange truth. Finally he looked like he had made up his mind. The information would make little difference anyway.

"At first it had seemed impossible." Hitsugaya said. "The reiatsu type was an old one, but a familiar one. One with a bad history in Soul Society. That would probably explain why the matter is suddenly being handled so delicately..."

"Just tell us what it is, dammit." Ichigo finally cracked, unable to handle the suspense.

Hitsugaya looked at them. "The second reiastu..." he said slowly. "...belongs to a Bounto."

000

After about an hour of caroling, the gang was invited in for hot drinks by a certain O'Connor Masami. She was a widow and a dear aging one at that. A glance at her would have one guessing that she was, most likely, pushing on seventy.

Her house was furnished with tables and chairs and a grandfather clock that had accumulated almost as many years as she. It was unusual to see an old japanese woman's house with so much western influence but it did make sense after she had told you a bit about herself. Her husband had been irish.

When the gang had gathered outside of her house, and seranaded a slow heart warming Silent Night for her, she had found it impossible not to invite them in for something. And when she was informed she was the first that night to do so, she amused everyone by how surprised she was.

"Where is the spirit of Christmas?" she fussed, as she helped as many of them as possible with their coats. "You all look freezing. I'm ashamed of my neighbourhood I tell you, ashamed!"

Yuzu and Matusmoto followed the old woman into her kitchen whilst everyone else gathered round the fireplace, chattering excitedly as they waited for their tea and coffee.

"I'm sorry I have no television." Masami apologised as she brought round the first five cups of steaming beverage. "I only have a very old, very small one up in my room. There's a radio here though; an ancient little thing. But it's reliable. I hope you don't mind."

There was a polite chorus of 'of course not's.

The widow walked up to the mantlepiece and began to tweak an old, almost unrecognizable device. Only a few seconds of white noise and static, and a clear song poured from its speakers into the room. It was an old christmas pop song, and though it was in japanese, it carried a tune that vaguely resembled Last Christmas.

There was a muttering of approval, and soon everyone was back chattering away again.

Everyone, that is, except Ichigo.

Ichigo stood close to the fireplace, staring into the depths of the embers, his mind processing the news he had received from Hitsugaya.

Bounto, he thought glumly. It was not one of his favourite memories. For some reason, every time Ichigo was reminded of that ordeal, he felt an overwhelming fatigue wash over him. Those villains had been such a bother. And as far as Ichigo knew, only one Bounto had survived. The memory of the thick dark man with a headset came to him. Ichigo highly doubted he had anything to do with recent events.

"Are you okay, my dear?"

Ichigo was startled by the question and had to look down to find the source of the voice. The old widow was smiling up at him, concern tinging her expression.

Ichigo smiled sheepishly down at her. "Sorry obaa-san. I just have a lot to think about."

The woman nodded solemnly. "This time of the year is the best for reflection. But try not to let your worries ruin your holiday, okay dear?" She smiled at him and trudged off.

Ichigo smiled after her, then looked up.

Matt was staring at him.

Quickly, the American looked away, feigning casual general observation.

Ichigo stared coldly at Matt, though by now he had even turned around, trying to spark up conversation with the nearest person to him; that person being Keigo.

Ichigo shook his head. What was it with this blue haired man that made his skin crawl? Was it just because he was Inoue's fiance? Or was there something he was missing?

The music from the radio came to a crackle and a stop, and was instead replaced with impressive sounding music, the kind that boldly proclaimed 'listen up, listen up, we've got something important to say'. It was a news intro.

"Newsbreak during Christmas. Just like the war." Ichigo heard Masami complain from somewhere in the room. "The station should be ashamed of itself."

The voice that blared from the radio was male, and it did not sound in the least bit remorseful (if anything, it sounded a bit proud), when it announced: "Police have finally discovered the bodies of missing persons, that until this morning, was a confirmed count of 9."

A deathly silence descended upon the room's occupants.

"The Chief of Police refused to comment on the state of the recovered bodies, but sources say 7 of the bodies had no injuries whatsoever whereas the remaining 2 had been horribly mutilated. Police authorities are unsure as to whether to assume all murders had the same culprit due to the difference in their natures. However, there does seem to be a continuing pattern in the killings, in the nature of victims. Chief of Police Nagakura Keisuke had this say."

A deeper voice came from the radio: "Our records office has come to the conclusion that this murderer seems to be targeting criminals; hard, wanted criminals. We don't know why or how he gets his information concerning these criminals, but our department will not condone any form of vigilante activism, especially one that makes use of homicidal methods. If he is listening to my voice this very moment, let me remind him that he is now as guilty of crime as those criminals. We will find him. And we will stop him. That's all."

A ripple of discomfort went through the room.

The newsreader was back: "Any family of the deceased have been notified by the police. The families are as follows..."

Time felt significantly sluggish as the announcer read. Slowly, Ichigo turned to look at Matt, and was not at all surprised to find the man locking eyes with him at exactly the same time. The names hit the air...one after the other...and neither men looked away....neither batted an eyelid. The last name was read, and the time spell was finally broken.

The music returned, and the tension in the room slowly lifted. Merry chatter returned. And finally both men looked away.

That was when Ichigo knew. He knew somehow Matt was connected to his memory loss. The sight of him triggered something in his head that sent shivers through him. The problem was that Ichigo could not take hold of this fleeting memory. He had no idea what exactly Matt reminded him of. He only knew, some way, some how, Matt was aware of that he had lost his memory.

The question was: How?

As Ichigo pondered this, he, like everyone else in the room, was too engaged to notice three women leave the room. The women had quietly thanked their hostess, explained their reasons for leaving so early amidst much giggling, then moved through the crowd, opened the door and slipped into the falling darkness.

They headed for the park.

000

After half an hour of talking and laughing and drinking (tea and coffee, not sake), Yuzu finally decided that they had to move. They were having a splendid time, but...come on, they were going to have to keep moving sooner or later, and Yuzu was opting for the former. Besides, it was getting dark outside.

The gang could not emphasize how grateful they were to Masami, and she brushed off their gratitude, arguing that anybody would have done the same. Which obviously, was simply not true.

After their goodbyes, Yuzu lead the group down the street and into Tsubakidai Park. The park was smaller in size than Karakura Community Park which was about two districts away, and though it was up to standards, it was small enough to be used as a shortcut. Or at least, that was what Yuzu thought. She knew a stone path led straight through the park, exiting into a street that was only about a block away from Ichigo's apartment building. But suddenly, the park looked much larger than she had remembered.

And the stone path was gone, replaced with multiple walkways.

"Oh come'on." Yuzu complained. "Don't tell me they removed the stone path."

Ichigo looked around. "I think I heard something about development and renovation."

"Oh dear." Yuzu said with a sigh. "I loved that stone path."

"Don't worry." Ichigo reassured his sister. "I've taken walks here a thousand and one times. You guys'll just have to follow my lead." He came upfront to help her lead. "I'll get us out of here in no...oomph!!"

Slushy ice met the side of his face with a loud smack.

Every head in the group turned simultaneously.

"I'm disappointed in you, Ichigo." a strong feminine voice declared. "You didn't honestly think we would let you pass through that easily did you!"

Ichigo's eyes widened as he stood up straight. Wait a minute! He knew that voice!

"Rukia??" Ichigo stared in disbelief at the three women that stood at attention a few metres away. Every one else had already gawked in incredulity at them. Now all that they felt was amusement and a slight anticipation. Oh this was going to be good.

Flanking the raven haired woman, a red head and another raven haired woman stood poised, mounds of crafted snow in their hands.

"Inoue? Tatsuki?" Ichigo had still not snapped out of his shock. "Wha- what the fuck is going on??"

Rukia let pulled out something black from her jacket. An umbrella.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Ichigo mouthed as the pregnant shinigami whirled the device, stabbing it down into the snow with a powerful determination.

"Ichigo..." Rukia's voice was convincingly dark. "...we meet again."

"Meet again?" Ichigo thought the woman had gone bonkers. And shit! the ice was melting into his clothes! It was freezing!

Yuzu nudged her brother and winked at him. "Play along." she whispered with a giggle.

Then suddenly, Yuzu's smile was gone, replaced with a frown. "So we meet again...um..."

"Ice Brigade." Tatsuki provided.

"...Ice Brigade." Yuzu quickly added.

Ice Brigade?? Ichigo thought confused. Then he saw what was going on. Oh, come'on, you had to be shitting him.

That was when Ichigo noticed the small wall of snowballs behind them.

Oh, crap.

But Ichigo suddenly felt two bodies take his side. Uryuu and Mizuiro stood by him, holding up freshly made slush balls.

Rukia glared icily. "Prepare to die."

Yuzu grinned. "You'll never take us alive."

In a flash, Uryuu and Mizuiro's balls were flying, heading straight for the girls!

"Don't make me laugh!" Rukia yelled. In one swift movement, her hand darted for her umbrella, whipping it into the air. Catching it with one hand, Rukia exploded the umbrella open.

The slush balls bounced harmlessly off the open device.

Then the umbrella came down.

"Finish them." Rukia ordered her sidekicks.

Inoue and Tatsuki let their balls fly.

These girls are crazy! Ichigo thought as he dived, dodging the barrage of ice. Do they really intend to take on all of us??

But preparation proved very effective during that activity. Because whilst Ichigo and his fellow victims had to keep bending over to gather snow, Rukia and her cronies just stayed in one place, and let the readied sculptured ice fly! Most of the balls directed at the Ice Brigade got promptly blocked off with the umbrella.

Ichigo and the rest of the gang got sufficiently soaked before they succeeded in dealing any icy damage to the women.

Soon it was far from a fight between two sides. It developed into a frenzied snow flinging free-for-all, and the sounds of squealing and laughter filled the park.

Rukia, of course, could not run around like everybody else but she allowed her partners in crime to run off, choosing instead to launch her attacks from a stationary point. She laughed as a ball from Yourichi hit her squarely in the chest, then shielded herself from the succeeding balls. She brought down the umbrella when she was sure the coast was clear, and the first thing she saw made her heart sink.

Renji was standing a way off from the fight, sternly staring off into the distance with his arms folded.

Rukia sighed. She knew he would disapprove of her being a snowball fight. But it was already happening! Couldn't he see that?! She was having fun. Did he really have to ruin this for her?

The pregnant shinigami frowned. Fine! Let him be that way! She sure wasn't going to ruin her break on his account!

She laughed even louder than before as another random ball caming whizzing by her head. She hoped he could hear her!

"Okay guys, we've got to wrap this up." Yuzu finally said, clapping as loudly as she could, which wasn't much because of her woolen mittens. "It's getting later and later. The park lamps are on for crying out loud."

Rukia panicked. It couldn't end this quickly.

"Wait." Rukia called out loudly. "What...what if we played hide and seek?" The shinigami had heard and read often about the game, but was yet to actually try it out. It sounded like fun!

Yuzu looked doubtful. "Are you sure? We really should be getting to the apartment."

"Just one little game." Rukia pleaded. Then she used her secret weapon: pussycat eyes.

Everyone else seemed to be up for the game. It was almost dark, but what the heck. They were having so much fun anyway, why stop now?

Yuzu sighed. "Fine. One game!" She grinned, excited inspite of herself. "Who wants to be It?"

Surprisingly a few hands went up, and Yuzu ended up employing a small three-man team of 'It's: Mizuiro, Matsumoto and Matt (their names all began with an 'm' too, but that was probably just a coincidence).

"Okay..." Yuzu announced. "They're counting to a hundred! Run everybody!!!"

The group split, with everyone darting in seperate directions.

Rukia trudged off as quickly as she dared. Where did one hide in a park anyway? Her eyes scanned frantically. Behind a tree?

Not in your condition, Rukia's mind taunted.

Shut up, Rukia retorted mentally. She came across a thick oak tree. Was there anyway to hide here?

"Sorry, already taken." Rukia heard above her. She looked up and saw Yourichi and Urahara, hiding very high amongst the branches, camouflaged in white.

"Wait a minute." Rukia complained up at them. "Where did you get camouflage in such a short time???"

Yourichi grinned down at her. "I was commander of the Onmitsukidō, Rukia. I'm always prepared."

Nonetheless, Rukia muttered a laboured "Cheaters." under her breath as she waddled away.

She walked and walked until she came into an open space. There were only a few shrubs sticking out from the snow, yet, Rukia developed an odd spine tingling suspicion that she was being watched.

"Leave this place, or you'll get us caught." a voice said from nowhere.

Or...was it really nowhere?

A glassy wall that had been nearly impossible to make out from their cold surroundings fell before Rukia's very eyes. Standing behind the wall were Hitsugaya, Karin and Byakuya!

"Are..." Rukia asked suspiciously. "...are you using kidou to hide yourselves?!"

"Only our reiatsu." Hitsugaya said calmly. "The wall of glassy ice was Hyorinamaru's doing."

"Reiatsu?! Hyorinamaru?! Is everyone cheating but me??" Rukia asked in disbelief. What the heck was going on? It was just a game, sheesh!

Karin folded her arms smugly. "Hey, it's not cheating if it wasn't stated in the rules." She was obviously quite proud of herself for getting in with the dudes with powers.

Rukia muttered something unpleasant to herself and trudged on.

She knew the counting would be fast approaching a hundred by now. Dammit! She needed to find a place to hide!

That was when she saw it. The giant mound of snow up against the park wall. Except it wasn't just a mound of snow. Rukia spotted a wooden door somewhere in the shadows. It seemed to be a shed! But it seemed heavy piles of snow had dropped from the overhead branches, hiding the most part of it. Without thinking, she moved as fast as she could for the door.

Just as she reached it, she heard Mizuiro's cheerful voice call out: "Ready or not! Here we come!!"

Oh she was ready, alright! She just needed to get....this...stupid door....wide enough not to squeeze against her tummy...just a little more...ungh!! ARGH!!!....that was it! Rukia waddled into the shed and closed the door behind her.

It was dark. And it smelt like....tools.

Rukia panted and sat down on what felt like an upturned wheel barrow. She breathed heavily and grinned to herself in the darkness. Hah! They would never find her here!

She sat in the silence, her thoughts louder than she had ever heard them. It was a little irritating. And a little frightening to be honest.

A couple of minutes passed and she wondered how long she had been waiting. Then she wondered if they'd found anyone yet. Then she wondered what was keeping them so long.

Rukia rested against the shed wall and stared into the inky blackness, listening to the sound of her own tired breathing.

She blinked tiredly. Then she yawned. Wow, Renji hadn't been kidding when he said the caroling would just tire her out. She was beat. Her back ached like hell from all the walking with a bundle growing inside of her. And her ankles were on fire.

She sighed. Would they be coming any time soon?

Rukia sat quietly. The minutes began to drag and soon, Rukia was tired of waiting. There was a point where she felt a strange lapse in the flow of time, and pretty soon she was rather convinced that she had just dozed off for a couple of minutes there!

Okay, this was beginning to take a bit too long! She stood and walked over to the door to leave.

The door wouldn't budge.

Huh? Rukia thought in surprise. Was the door stuck? Rukia shoved it a few more times. Then she kicked at it furiously. It stubbornly refused to budge. Immediately, Rukia thought of the mounds of snow that had fallen off the door as she had forced it open. Was it possible they had somehow built up behind the door? Rukia took another shot at opening the door. No luck.

The shinigami tried not to panic. There was no reason to. If she had shaken snow off the door, then it was obviously more visible now right. Besides, her brother, Hitsugaya and Karin weren't too far off. Surely they would stumble across her hiding place.

Rukia waited and waited. She began to wonder furiously what was taking them all so long. The shed was growing colder with each crawling minute.

Rukia shuddered slightly, and tried not to think negatively.

She tried not to think about how well hidden the shed was (heck, that's why she had chosen it to be her hiding place).

She tried not to think about how dark it was getting and how creepy the still shadows around her were beginning to look.

She tried not to think about how her gigai shielded every shred of her reiatsu, and how therefore though she would be found (of course she would be found; positive thinking), it probably wouldn't be because of her spiritual signature.

Rukia sat back down and closed her eyes, choosing to think positive instead. She remembered stuff she had done in the past nine months...and stuff she intended to do when the baby was born...and what she was going to call her baby...God, she and Renji hadn't even decided what they were going to call the baby. Rukia had wanted to name the baby Byakuya if it was a boy after which Renji had stated his preference to being mutilated with tiny paper cuts.

Rukia smiled at the memory. God, she missed Renji. She would never admit it to him but she always missed him when they argued. And now, she felt like something was missing. Something no snowball fight...no matter how dicey...could replace.

Rukia yawned and shivered again.

All the positive thinking was making her sleepy and for some reason, her legs felt way way colder. Almost like they were wet.

At that moment, all the world came to a halt for Kuchiki Rukia. Her surroundings dripped and swirled into dreary black and white, as she looked down...fear gripping her heart like a vicious beast.

No please please please... Rukia begged with all her tightening heart, her lips moving rapidly with silent prayer.

It couldn't be. It couldn't be. Oh dear God, don't let it be...

But it was.

Even in the darkness, Rukia could make out the flowing fluid that dripped down unto the floor, stretching out lazily over the icy cement.

No please please please...this can't be happening...not now...not here...

The prayer was in vain because it had already happened.

Rukia's water had broken.

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End of chapter!!!

What do you guys think? It's late and I'm too tired to talk much. Please let me know what you thought, including any errors you might have noticed (which may increase with the close of the chapter. I was getting more and more tired by then). Please REVIEW. I'll improve the end of this tomorrow morning and re-publish the chapter.

Thank you all so much for reading and for reviewing previous chapters! I'm really trying my best for you all! Luv y'all.

Thanks. Peace. I'm out.