A contest entry to the IchiRuki-Club's Christmas contest. (Though I would have written this anyway, I've been dying to write a Christmas special like this for so long!).

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

A Christmas Never to be Forgotten

"I-Ichigo?!"

Uh-oh.

He lifted a mitten-covered hand and felt along the jawline of his face, and to his horror, he realized that his fake beard was gone.

"R-Rukia, I can explain..." he started and held his hands up as if he were defending himself. But as he watched her wide, surprise-stricken violet eyes, he realized that nothing he said would get through to her.

As he slowly backed away, he unknowingly bumped into the small table that was placed next to the tree, and knocked over the play full of cookies she had worked so hard on.

This was not good.

How did he get stuck in such a situation like this?

Oh yeah, it all started with the fact that her lovely older brother decided to spend Christmas with his little sister who happened to be spending Christmas in the living world with the Kurosaki household.

But low and behold, there he was. Soul Society's most stuck up captain just so happened to be standing in his living room.

"I trust that Rukia is nearby?" The older man's dark gaze narrowed in on Ichigo, who returned the man's harsh gaze with a scowl.

"Rukia! Why is your brother in my house?!" One would have thought the said woman was being chased by a pack of wild animals with the way she charged in from the kitchen and into the living room. Her tiny footsteps could be heard anywhere despite how light she was.

"Nii-Sama?" she called with mild surprise as she held a wooden spoon caked with cookie dough in one hand.

"Rukia," the noble greeted, his eyes traveled to the spoon she held to her lips before continuing, "I thought I'd join you in celebrating this interesting holiday."

Rukia's eyes immediately lit up and Ichigo thought he saw the beginnings of a smile twitch at the corners of her lips.

"O-Of course, Nii-Sama! Make yourself at home! Ichigo, will you show him to a room?" And at such a request, Ichigo suddenly wanted to groan. This was going to be the most awkward holiday celebration he ever had.

"Byakuya!" Oh no. This was certainly going to make it ten times worse.

In less than a millisecond, Byakuya was enveloped within one of his father's "manly" hugs. To say the least, Ichigo found the shocked expression on Byakuya's face to be extremely amusing.

"Come join us! We are preparing cookies!"

"...Cookies?"

"Christmas cookies of course! And we have to leave some for Santa!"

"Santa?"

To see the great Byakuya Kuchiki's face contort into that of shock and confuzzlement was, to Ichigo, beyond amusing.

And as if on cue at the mention of Santa Claus, Rukia's face poked around the corner of the kitchen.

"You mean you never heard of him, Nii-Sama?"

"..." There was a pregnant and uncomfortable pause that took place, and all eyes had drifted to Byakuya.

"...No."

A tiny gasp caught the attention of all occupants in the room. All of which turned their heads to come across the sight of a pouting Yuzu.

She stood with one hand on her hip and with the other holding out her wooden spoon as if to lecture them when she pursed her lips.

"How could you not know about Santa?! He's a jolly old man with a happily round belly who lives at the north pole with his hardworking elves and brings presents and Christmas joy to children across the world! How have you never heard of him?!" Yuzu exclaimed, exasperated as she ended her little speech with a click of her tongue that sounded very much like a 'tsk.'

On the other hand, beside Ichigo's little twin sister, Rukia blinked her wide eyes.

"Well, Yuzu...we don't really celebrate Christmas..." she trailed off, shifting her gaze to Ichigo with a small frown and eyes that pleaded him to help.

He lifted a hand to rub the nape of his neck with a loud sigh. That's right, Yuzu doesn't know about Soul Society and shinigami.

"But whether you celebrate it or not everyone knows about Santa!"

"Yuzu," he cut in, drawing the attention of his younger sister," not everyone knows about Santa...or believes."

"But Onii-chan, he's real!" At this, Ichigo noticed Rukia's violet eyes grow wide and childlike.

Uh-oh. This can't be good either.

"Really? Yuzu, how does this Santa thing work?" Rukia turned to the younger girl who immediately brightened up.

"Well, Rukia-nee, all you have to do is have a Christmas tree, stockings, and of course cookies and milk! You just have to be asleep or he won't come."

"You mean...we can't stay up?" Rukia furrowed her brows at this and lifted a hand to her chin, indicating that she was contemplating the new information.

Yuzu shook her head, "He likes to keep his arrival a secret."

"...I see." Rukia commented.

"Come on Rukia-nee, let's finish making these cookies for Santa! Onii-chan, you should join us!"

Ichigo groaned, "Be right there." Great, the last thing he needed was for Rukia to believe that Santa Claus was actually real. Damn her curious and over observant mind.

"This Santa Claus is coming, right Kurosaki?" Ichigo turned and found himself bristling at the cold glare Byakuya filled him with. But before he could even open his mouth to answer, two hands grasped his shoulders from behind and gave him a harsh squeeze.

"Gah! What the hell Dad—?!"

"Of course there is, Byakuya! Don't worry, Santa will make sure your little sister gets everything she wishes!" Isshin reassured the stoic man with a thumbs up while not so discretely sneaking a wink in Ichigo's direction.

"Ichigo, you coming or not?!" Rukia yelled from the kitchen, causing Ichigo to groan before dragging himself into the said room.

Of course, the kitchen was a disaster. Cookie dough, eggs, flour, cookie cutters, and all the ingredients under the sun were tossed about every nook and cranny of the kitchen.

"Come Onii-chan, can you mix this for me?" Without a word, he grabbed onto the handle of the spoon and proceeded to mix the bowl of...

"Yuzu, what is this?"

"Brownie mix! What else?" It looks like...never-mind, Ichigo preferred not to finish that thought.

"Yuzu, do you think Santa likes chocolate chip cookies?" The younger girl's eyes lit up as she bounced over to Rukia.

"Of course! It's his favorite!" A wide, genuine smile spread along Rukia's visage before she stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth in concentration.

Her smile was nearly contagious as he couldn't help but give a smile of his own. Normally, she'd stop in whatever she was doing to poke fun at his "goofy grin," but at the moment, it seemed as though she were too occupied to even look at him.

"Ichigo, can you pass me the eggs?" That is, if she wanted something.

"Yeah, yeah, here you go." With a slight roll of his eyes, he grabbed a carton of untouched eggs and placed it next to her.

"There's your eggs, don't mess up or Santa won't leave you anything." Rukia paused an lifted her head to glare at him before she turned back to her 'project' (as she liked to call it).

"I'm making cookies for him because how else can I thank him for all of his hard work?!" She shot back as she proceeded to crack each egg and drop them into the mixing bowl.

A loud sigh came from behind them and Ichigo gave a slight turn of his head to find Karin leaning against the kitchen doorway with her hands laced behind her head.

"You still think Santa exists? Come on, Yuzu grow up. Santa is for little kids, now you have Rukia-nee believing in your childish fantasies?" Yuzu spun on her heels and pursed her lips with angrily furrowed brows.

"Stop that, Karin! Santa exists and you know it!"

"It's just dad who places them under the tree, come on."

"K-Karin—!" Ichigo turned out his sisters and grabbed some flour, dumping it into Rukia's bowl.

She gripped her spoon so hard that he swore he saw her knuckles turn white.

"Ichigo," she growled through gritted teeth, "I didn't need flour! I had enough already!" A tiny smirk pulled at his lips.

"Ah, sorry, I thought you would need some more. After all, Santa loves his cookies."

"Why you—!"

"Pucker up love-birds!" Ichigo blinked, catching his father sinfully smirked at the corner of his eyes before lifting his gaze to find green leaves of a—

M-Mistletoe?!

Without a second thought, he ripped the contraption out of his father's hands and threw it in his face.

"D-Dad! Get out! What the hell?!"

"Ichigo, that is no way to treat your father on Christmas eve!" Rukia yelled.

"Like hell it isn't—!"

And, of course, more bickering ensued while Isshin bounced off, dragging Karin with him and shot a thumbs up to a very quiet and annoyed Byakuya.

Christmas eve dinner was in fact very lively, and at times awkward and annoying; especially when his father kept winking suggestively and when Bykauya seemed to keep his cold, stoic gaze on him throughout the entire meal.

After much Christmas chatter, excitement and eating, the family (including Byakuya in his own way) excitedly bunched up in blankets on the couch and watched Christmas cartoons for the rest of the night.

It was only until everyone started heading to bed that Ichigo grew frustrated with Rukia.

Why?

She refused to leave the living room, insisting that she should sleep on the couch and watch over the tree.

"But then Santa won't come, Rukia." Rukia fixed him with a determined glare, then pulled a heavy red blanket over herself.

"Goodnight Ichigo," she muttered sternly, indicating that nothing he did would make her move from her comfy position.

With one last glare at her tiny, curled figure, he stormed his way up the stairs, grumbling about how he didn't want to wake up to find a give pound grumpy midget ready to kill.

"Pssst." He hardly caught the sound but decided to ignore it.

"PSSSSSST." Ichigo halted before his bedroom door and frowned. Just when he was about to turn and look for the source of the noise, a large, hairy arm gripped him by the collar and dragged him into his bedroom.

"Gah! Dad? What the hell!"

"SHHH!" Isshin immediately placed a hand over a furious Ichigo's mouth. "Put this on," his whisper was deep and rushed as the man threw a large bundle of red fabric over his son's clothes.

"W-What—?!

"Your turn this year m'boy!" Before Ichigo even knew what the hell was going on, his lovely father planted a nice warm hat on his head, which effectively hid his bright orange locks and allowed a white, realistic-looking beard to be placed along the sides of his head and over and under his mouth.

"Now all you need to do is gain a hundred pounds!" Ichigo let out a short grunt when Isshin's hand slapped him on the back, "Now make me proud! Put a smile on my third daughter's face!"

Grumbling, finding that he had no choice, Ichigo grabbed the bag of wrapped gifts and made his way down the stairs.

He could have sworn he heard his father tell him to be jolly.

As quietly as he could, he tiptoed into the living room and began to make his way toward the Christmas tree when something stopped him in his tracks.

Though she was fast asleep, her body had curled itself into a tight fetal position. It was at this realization that he noticed that her blanket had fallen off.

His scowl abruptly softened. Placing the bag of toys next to the tree, he stealthily made his way toward her curled form and picked up the blanket and gently laid it along the length of her small body. Rukia immediately gave a sigh of contentment and her expression transformed into that of peace.

Releasing a breath he didn't know he was holding, Ichigo leaned in and slightly brushed away the raven tresses that guarded her face.

He then turned on his heels as if in that moment, he just remembered the task at hand. Slowly, and as quietly as he could, Ichigo began to place the gifts under the tree.

However, he didn't get far when he heard Rukia stir with a tiny groan.

"S-Santa?" Shit. He was caught.

Ichigo stood, frozen for a few moments as he prayed that she was just talking in her sleep. But he was never that lucky.

He took in a deep breath and turned with a wide smile on his face as he deepened his voice and gave a few hohoho's.

"My, what a surprise! I thought for sure you were asleep, Rukia!" The said woman raised a delicate brow as she sat up, watching him joyfully pat his skinny belly.

At the corner of his eye, Ichigo noticed a large plate full of cookies and moved to grab one. Chocolate chip.

He let out a joyful low hum as he took a bite.

Wow. These cookies really were good.

"You certainly made a fantastic batch of cookies!" At this, a wide smile crossed Rukia's face and he found his cheeks beginning to heat up.

"R-Really?" Rukia stood and slowly made her way over to him. Her wide violet eyes observed his form and her expression took on to that of concentration, "I thought you'd be...rounder."

"Hohoho!" All Ichigo could do was give a fake laugh and hope he'd go back to sleep. He took another delicious cookie, then grabbed the glass full of milk as he began to chug it down.

That's when everything went wrong.

His hat fell off, taking his fake beard with it.

"I-Ichigo?!"

Uh-oh.

He lifted a mitten-covered hand and felt along the jawline of his face, and to his horror, he realized that his fake beard was gone.

"R-Rukia, I can explain..." he started and held his hands up as if he were defending himself. But as he watched her wide, surprise-stricken violet eyes, he realized that nothing he said would get through to her.

As he slowly backed away, he unknowingly bumped into the small table that was placed next to the tree, and knocked over the play full of cookies she had worked so hard on.

This was not good.

"Y-You're Santa?"

"N-No! I'm not!"

"Then where is he?!" Ichigo tossed his head from side to side as if he were searching for an escape route. Well, technically he was. But, unfortunately there were none.

She kept advancing.

"He's...he's not real Rukia," he sighed, defeated. He watched as she stood there frozen, her beautiful violet eyes were taking in the scene before her.

That's when he thought she'd hit him.

But, instead, he felt her fingers graze the sides of his face before her warm palms cupped his cheeks. Before he knew it, her lips were on his.

"I-Idiot," she mumbled as she pulled away. Her cheeks took on a rosy color. "You didn't have to do this for me..."

He swore his heart was beating a a million miles a second.

A dark blush burned at his cheeks, and he was sure his face was the color of his suit.

"D-Don't...don't think I did all of this just for you..." he tried to counter, but failed.

His gaze then turned to the fallen play of cookies.

"Those cookies...are delicious." A tiny smile bloomed along the lines of Rukia's face, and when he turned to look at her, he found a cookie being shoved in his mouth.

"Eat up Santa~!"

This was certainly a Christmas he'd never forget.

And as he swallowed the last of the cookie, a crooked smirk accentuated his features before he took her lips within his own for another kiss.

He certainly wouldn't forget it.

Review~?

So how was that? Childish? Weird? Stupid? Out of character? I personally am not as happy with this as I should be, but I really enjoyed writing it. I especially enjoyed writing Ichigo dressed up as Santa! Isshin cracks me up all the time, I love writing him.

Anyway, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas (/happy holiday!) and a Happy New Year!