literature

Christmas clouds

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"Did you know that when there's a full moon on Christmas Eve and when the snow is gently falling, if you make a wish it'll come true?"

"I've never heard of that before. I think you're lying," and she gave him a kick in the ankle, causing her friend to jump from shock.

"Ow! Rukia, that's not how you're going to get your Christmas present!"

Her eyes sparkled mischievously. "Oh, Ichigo, I would get it out of you one way or another," she winked and his cheeks heated a rosy color. Rukia jumped on a wooden bench and looked at the sky, cloud-covered and no moon in sight. The park they were walking through was alive with families and their children enjoying the cold weather. Many were ice skating on the rink down a ways from where they were walking, others wandering around making angels or snowmen for company.

Ichigo grumbled. "I may not have gotten you anything." He walked by her, receiving a hard ball of snow against his back. He turned slightly, the girl juggling another weapon between her hands.

"You know snow is my element, fool. You can't win against me." And she tossed the snowball at a tree—a direct bull's eye—exploding on impact.  

Ichigo took up the challenge and openly fired at her without warning. She wasn't ready
for it, and snow hit her in the knee. Rukia nearly slid on the ice-slickened bench and cursed, making Ichigo partially laugh a ways away. "Don't lose your composure, Kuchiki!" he chided from a hiding spot that she could not see.

Rukia snorted. She balled up more snow and stared at the frosted lump sitting in her leathered palm. These were the kinds of games Renji and her other friends used to play in the Rukongai, not necessarily with snow since the seasons never changed, but the idea of having fun like a child again made her smile. And made her want to kick Ichigo's ass.

"Don't worry your little head, Kurosaki-kun, I've dealt with much worse than slipping before."

At that moment a branch piled with the white fluff plummeted down completely on top of the Soul Reaper, a heavy avalanche showering on her small form. The sliding whoosh of snow had surprised her and Rukia was buried before she could react. Again. That was twice within five minutes.

She heard him call out her name, but ignored the substitute.

She began to undress herself from the winter blunderland, it was then her friend emerged from behind a bank of snow.  "Are you alright? I didn't mean to completely bury you when I—"

Whatever snow remained on Rukia was doused on Ichigo when she launched herself at him like a lion seeking the flesh of a gazelle. He caught her in reprisal to smothering her with ice, but lost his balance and they both tumbled into a cloud of white on the ground.
Snow was released from every direction on contact.

And they were laughing. Snuggled close together, their laughter reverberated on the air and traveled far enough that the children making more friends out of snow noticed  . . . for a moment, then went back to their playmaking.

After all their time together, months and years, it was still a rare thing to hear each other laugh. Together especially. Their joyful music lasted for a while longer, then silence. The couple heard the chill of the wind breathe through the cherry trees, the excited laughter of children skating and playing in the snow. Lying next to each other, they stared at the sky through the white-capped branches, the hollow silence that only winter could obtain, comforting.

Until Rukia broke it.

"Where did you hear that from?" He looked at her, mystified. "The story about making a wish on Christmas Eve when it snows. Where did you hear it from?"

Ichigo chuckled, looking back at the cloud-filled night above. "I made it up."

"I knew it." She watched him until their eyes met again. Hers darkened from something deep in her heart. "Can you make my wish come true anyway?"

~ ~ ~

The sky had barely changed and grey covered the night without charm. The shrine they'd walked to had been brushed away of snow, and a candle was lit within its hearth. Rukia said a quiet prayer for her friends as Ichigo stood at a distance, letting her some peace. Ichigo looked onward around, getting his bearings. His mother's grave was not far off, and would probably a good idea to pay his respects. The slide of warmth against his leather glove jolted him from his thought. A smile on his lips. "You all set?"

She nodded, solemn. "Yes, thank you." She looked at the candle glowing in the distance, detached somehow from the real world and her own. "No matter how many years go by, it still hurts. Sometimes."

Ichigo nodded and put his arm around her, for warmth. "Yeah." They walked on, but it left Ichigo confused. "What was your wish? Well, I mean, I don't know how I can make it come true."

The air around them got colder. December 24th was fast approaching, and whatever she wanted for Christmas meant that what he got her might have been a mistake.

She smiled, leaning her cheek against his arm. The warm woolen coat tickled her cheek. What her wish was was something different. Since being a part of the World of the Living, Rukia indulged in the humanity around her.  She wanted to give what it gave her. She wanted to be able to hold her best friend's hand and kiss him without being reprimanded, but she also wanted to be with the man she walked with now.

"What my wish—and what I want for Christmas— is love." She thought of her brother for a moment, then his lieutenant, looking at her with warm eyes, and the grace of his superior giving off a cold chill from the twist of wind from behind the scarves he always adorned.  And her dearest friend followed after her brother, becoming a part of the wind tunnel that always left her behind. "But love is something I can't necessarily obtain. It may be selfish, or it may not be, but it's something I feel like I need. I want to finally do something for the world around me. And I want love . . . so I can really cherish it." Rukia's eyes lifted to Ichigo's, the man lost in thought as he stared forward.

Sparkles floated down from above. Lazy ice fairies twirling around them and whispering the calm of the silent night that was now upon them.

Ichigo was silent the entire time as he listened. But he smiled, and it grew into a large grin. And grew until he sputtered a hiccup of laughter, and then finally laughed out loud crazily, Rukia blushing vividly from his cacophony. She released his hand and folded her arms.

"There's no need to laugh, jerk.

"I-I'm not laughing at you!" Ichigo puffed in between breaths. "I'm laughing because you're so oblivious!"

"What?!" she shouted," ready to wail him with another barrage of snowballs at a moment's notice.

Ichigo had to lean himself against a nearby tree to keep from toppling over. Once his laughter had completely left his system, his brown eyes melted into hers. "Damn it Rukia, you already have all that! And even more. You don't think we don't care about you? Or love you for that matter?" He strode towards her, towering over Rukia like the shadows of the setting sun, but he refused to let that happen as long as she was always near him. Ichigo put a finger under her chin to tilt her face up to look at him. Her indigo blue eyes had darkened while she remained upset with him, but her pain was nothing he couldn't fix. "Cause we do." His hand went to her cheek and brushed his thumb over the rose-colored skin. "I do."

She was speechless. Either it being from embarrassment or actually not being able to speak—he didn't care. Rukia was . . . something. Something wild and undomesticated in such a way that it made the edginess rub off her carefully.

"So, I think you got your wish?" Ichigo offered gently, smiling as he bent down to match her level.

Rukia huffed, but smiled as well. "But there's no full moon, even if it is snowing, Ichigo."

"Well, wherever it is, Merry Christmas, Rukia." Her lover pulled out a small red box from inside his coat, wrapped in a small green and gold, candy cane swirled ribbon, a bow on top wanting to come undone.
Rukia looked at the box, then her friend, and without crying from joy, somewhere deep inside her, she felt the love that had strangely been so neglected well up and she pulled at the ribbon.  

On that night, the clouds chimed loudly with the fall of snowflakes. Behind those grey clouds was a moon, full and bright, watching over the earth tenderly below, wishing the lovers happiness. Always.
Soooooooooooo late, but wanted to get it up before the "End of the World." Thanks for understanding, :icondark-skater-girl: School really kicked my arse.


For the :iconichiruki-club:'s Christmas/winter 2012 calendar.
© 2012 - 2024 Bun800
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Ahrifox's avatar
aaaa, so cute ^^