Christmas Nightmare (Bleach Fanfic)

Holly No Jolly

"To..."

A mouthful of snow greeted Ichigo's open mouth. His eyes narrowed as he looked upon the epicenter of the storm emanating from the top of the building in front of them. His arms reached up, blocking the onslaught of the sudden surge within the storm with his sleeves, his eyes shutting slightly. A curse escaped his lips.

"Why?"

"Why indeed?" Isshin responded, coming up beside him.

"Why do I feel that something bad has happened to Matsumoto?" Hisagi said, resulting in Ichigo's eyes going wide, the horror of the idea—

"How?"

"How? I don't know," Hisagi said, letting out a stern huff as he looked upon the epicenter ahead of them. "But I do know something happening to her would be enough for Hitsugaya Taicho to lose it like this."

"Not to mention he's not well," Kira said, frowning from where he stood. "And how exactly are we supposed to get past this, with the wind blowing us back like..."

"Well, Rukia seems quite fine," Ichigo muttered, watching her push through the storm as if the cold didn't bother her, though the wind, compared to her relatively small size, did push her back.

Isshin took a deep breath, placing a hand on his blade. "I was the previous captain of his division."

"And?" Ichigo said as Rukia turned her head to look at him, frowning as she did so.

"I mean, Toshiro wasn't assigned to my division back in the day for no reason, right?" Isshin said, letting out a laugh, yet looking into his father's eyes—

Ichigo frowned. "He's putting on a serious face, that face he gets when he's not going to let someone touch his girls, but the look in his eyes—he's still worried, regardless of whatever trump card he has."

...

A feeling of dread—there was no other way to describe how Karin currently felt regarding the matter. Her head tilted as she headed back towards the family home, her mouth pressed into a thin line, the confusion growing as well as the urge to be able to do something. "Anything, really, as Toshiro is my friend. My best friend, honestly, because he gets me better than even my twin."

A cold wind blew at her cheeks, her eyes closing while she swallowed back the sudden frustration welling in her head. She then looked back at the sky, a headache pounding in her head as she did so.

"Not fair," Karin muttered under her breath. "Not being able to do anything to help him." With a deep sigh, she headed into the family home, hiding the signed soccer ball under her bed, the misgivings growing before heading back down the stairs where her sister cooked food for the Christmas party.

Yuzu turned her head, frowning at the growing storm. "Where's Ichigo and Dad? Are they going to be back soon? I mean, you finished what you were doing already, right?"

"Yeah," Karin said. "They left?"

"Sometime while I was up in our room," Yuzu said, shivering, still looking out at the storm. "Why do I have a dreadful feeling?"

"Because," Karin started to say, then, "Never mind. I think I'll go and check in on the clinic while you continue cooking, Yuzu."

"Sure, sure," Yuzu said. "Still hope they get back soon."

"They're both gone?" Karin glanced at the window. "I guess now dad's free to act like anything but the bumbling idiot, now that his secret is out, but maybe..." Taking a deep breath, she headed through the door leading into the clinic, straight for the room where she could hear Momo chattering away at the patient, who, upon looking in, looked quite annoyed with the other girl. "You."