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Bleach Mini Stories And Snippets	By : Strailo Category: Bleach > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 27548 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach and Batman, or Weiss Kruez. Please See full disclaimer within.

Chapter List
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Title: A Tradition For Us
Fandom: Bleach
Chapter: 1 of 2
Characters: Ichigo, Ulquiorra, Aizen, Gin, Nnoitra, Grimmjow, Nel
Word Count: 2741
For: All of my Readers. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Warnings: nothing really
AN: This story was started with a simple thought, “Family traditions”. And then it turned into this. Right around the end of this chapter I figured that unless I split it into two parts it would be a monster in size.

So that's what I did. I wrote part 1, went to bed, got up, wrote part 2.

I do hope you enjoy though!

To note: This is kind of a sneak peek into a larger world that I am working on that is a 3-way crossover into Yu Yu Hakusho and Inuyasha. But that story is a long time in coming so for now, enjoy.

*~*~*~*

Some of his first memories were of his mother singing soft carols while baking gingerbread cookies. The scent of ginger and cinnamon mixed with the scent of the pine tree, a tradition that his mother had brought with her from her time in America for schooling. They were just before she had started to show her pregnancy with the twins, age three about to turn four, and it was something that he loved to remember.

Especially since his family had kept up the traditions even after she had died due to Grand Fisher.

But it had been his father, his biological father, who had shown them the recipes, coming for a single day every year to teach him and the twins how to cook.

Ichigo had learned to never let Isshin near a baked good and that Aizen could make the cookies taste just like their mother’s cookies had been. He had also learned that while Isshin wasn’t his biological father, that didn’t mean that the man didn’t love him any less.

So when he had left the living world to hide with Aizen while his family had disappeared to hide away from Seireitei, he had wondered just what he was going to do for Christmas that year. They were in the middle of war, despite the fact that for the most part, the two sides were just watching each other and making plans.

The morning of Christmas Eve came and Ichigo woke up, knowing just what he wanted to do. Smiling to himself, he slid out of bed and headed for the shower, hearing the door to his small apartment like rooms open and close. He could just faintly feel Gin and Ulquiorra’s power signatures, his guardian’s for the day, on the edges of his senses as he started the shower to get ready for the day.

Once he had showered and dried his long hair, pulling it back into a bun that was held by a hair comb with holly berries and leaves, he found his Christmas kimono. It was something of a tradition, another one started by his mother, and every year since, he checked to see if he needed a new one but always wore it.

It was a dark green that had holly branches along the bottom and was warm enough when he had to venture out of the house, but light enough to wear in an oven warmed kitchen. The obi though was bright Christmas red.

Dressed and ready with thick, warm tabi on his feet and holding a pair of winter geta in hand, he smiled at his two guardians, getting raised eyebrows. “Get your gigais. I need to head out to Tokyo for a few things,” he chirped, Gin tilting his head.

“And wha’ do ya need so badly to head to tha Livin’ World?” he asked, Ulquiorra staring at him with a curious look.

“Baking ingredients. There’s a few stops we need to make before hitting the big store but there should be a car waiting for us if I know Sosuke any,” Ichigo chirped, dragging the two out of their seats. With a stop to Sazyal’s labs to grab their gigai’s, Ulquiorra looking not quite white, instead just straight up pale without his mask and markings, they headed for the gate room.

Aizen was waiting for them, looking highly amused as he held out a wallet with credit cards in Ichigo’s new identity, car keys, and a bracelet for his child to wear that would change his spiritual signature. “I take it you’re continuing the tradition?” he asked, spotting Ichigo’s rather long list.

Ichigo just blushed and tucked the wallet, keys, and list away, allowing Gin to put the bracelet on for him. “It’s something that needs to be kept up. I know Yuzu is doing the baking this year since I can’t do it,” he hummed. “I figured that I’d do it here though.”

“I got you a rather large truck so you can easily carry it all. The garage that you are going to is connected to this room and there will be large flat dollies to help you carry everything. I know you well enough to know that you will be buying the biggest bags of everything that you can find,” Aizen snorted, Ichigo smiling and checking the time.

“Okay, we’ll grab breakfast on the way to the first stop. Thanks, Sousuke,” Ichigo chirped, pressing a kiss to Aizen’s cheek before leading his guardians through the portal. The came out into an enclosed space where indeed a rather large truck for Japan sat and waited for them. He found that getting into the truck meant that he had to be lifted by Ulquiorra since he couldn’t climb properly in the kimono.

It didn’t take them long to leave the enclosed garage and drive to the first stop, which was a small spice store in the heart of older Tokyo. While there, he bought whole nutmegs, cloves, ground allspice, real cinnamon powder, and dozens of other spices, all of them sealed into baggies and placed into a large bag.

After that, they stopped by one of Ichigo’s favorite candy stores. It was run by a family who had moved to Japan nearly five years ago from American and specializes in homemade candies from around the world. Gum drops, various gummy type candies, blocks of cooking chocolate that one could only get from the store, along with chips and chunks, and other candies were all bought. Ichigo also brought rather large containers of their hot chocolate mix and cider mix with a happy sound.

The sheer amount of what Ichigo was buying was amazing to the two men as they helped to haul the large bags of candy to the truck.

They soon found themselves at a store that mostly catered to the restaurants, but also to those who wanted to buy in bulk. Ichigo instructed them to grab carts and headed into the store to start shopping. Butter, brown and white sugar, flour, molasses, ginger, milk and cream was all gathered. Meats of various kinds and types were put into one cart while various types of breads were chosen and put into the other along with all new pots, pans, cookie sheets, bread pans, and cake pans.

It took them an hour to gather everything at the store and by that time, Gin and Ulquiorra was wondering just what Ichigo was planning on doing with the six large spiral cut hams. And the fifteen pounds of sweet apples next to them. Ichigo just smiled and promised that they would see the next day.

With the shopping done, Ichigo treated them to a rather nice lunch to take on the go and headed back to the garage. He took a few minutes to eat the fries that he had gotten while they opened the portal and gathered a few Fraccion to help haul everything into the kitchen, smiling softly to himself.

He had a plan and that plan was to build a feast for his friends and family that he had found in Los Noches.

Sliding out of the truck, he locked it and the garage up before following after his guards, beaming happily at Aizen and handing the amused man the wallet and receipts. “Are you sure you can handle the amount that I spent?” he asked.

Aizen just chuckled and tweaked one ear, finding the hidden earring that was nestled in the curve. “I have had many years to build up a good fortune, Ichigo, just for such reasons,” he teased. Ichigo smiled once more and headed for the kitchen, digging into the bag to find his still hot sliced turkey sandwich.

It wasn’t often he had such things after all.

Stepping into the kitchen, he directed the Fracción where he wanted things, the new cookware being put by the sink for a quick wash and rinse so they could be used. The meat for the next day was put into the large walk in fridges along with the various vegetables. The rest of the items were carefully lined up on one of the long tables along one wall so that he could get to it all if he needed, a large, moving island set up next to it and plugs.

Once he had everything set up to his liking, Gin and Ulquiorra slicing celery into chunks and bread into cubes for various dishes, Ichigo made a thoughtful noise when he realized that he was missing something. “Damn, forgot my music player and speakers,” he muttered, moving to go get that and coming face to face with Grimmjow holding said items in hand.

“Aizen figured that you’d forget these. Why do ya need ‘em?” Grimmjow asked as he followed after Ichigo into the kitchen, eyes wide at the amount of ingredients lined up.

“I’m baking,” Ichigo chirped, Grimmjow shaking his head with a smile before looking towards Gin and Ulquiorra. “I’m making bread pudding and stuffing,” he said as he plugged in his docking station before opening the Christmas folder on his music player.

With the crooning voice of Bing Crosby singing about how he wished them a Merry Christmas, Ichigo smiled and started to wash and rinse the dishes. Grimmjow poked around through the remade recipe book that held all of his mother’s recipes, plus some from Aizen’s mother from when she had joined the life stream.

Watching the Arrancar read one, Ichigo smiled and finished with the mixing bowls that he was going to use and walked over with them piled in his hands. “Do you know how to bake?” he asked.

Grimmjow’s eyes flicked up before looking down. “I was a teen when I died but my mutter always made sure that Christmas was filled with good foods that we could work into other foods for the rest of the year,” he admitted, shrugging as his fingers stroked over the gingerbread cookie recipe. “She used to make these for me and my father. It’s one of the few memories that I have of them. Outside of a sister who cried when I died.” He huffed. “I wasn’t a good guy even then, but they still loved me. It wasn’t exactly easy living in Nazi Germany.”

Ichigo gave him a pained smile, recalling his history and patted his arm before tilting his head. “You remember what the family name was?” he asked, something tickling at his thoughts as he carried the bowls over to the table. Grimmjow raised an eyebrow at him. Nodding to the recipe, he smiled. “My mom’s line was descended from a German family line. Thus our coloring. They left Germany once they could during the last year of the war and headed to Japan. The recipes are some of the few things outside of the family bible that we have left.”

Grimmjow’s eyes widened. “I was known as Grimja. Grimja Weiss. Why?” he asked, Ichigo thinking about it as he sat down the bowls onto the counter and moved to grab his brand new heavy duty wooden spoons.

“I think we might be family,” he said, picking up the book and propping it up slightly on the table, finding the recipe for the chocolate chip cookies. He found the caramel, peanut butter, sweet chocolate, white chocolate chips, and chocolate chunks, laying them out to start with the easy to do recipe. “We have a few journals from that time but they’re kind of damaged. They were donated to a history museum by my grandparents, but the pages have been digitized. They’re from the one child who lived through World War 2.”

“My little angel...she made it through okay?” Grimmjow breathed, grabbing a stool and sitting down with wide eyes. Gin and Ulquiorra shared a look between them but kept silent, doing the slicing and cutting that Ichigo had set them to do. They would let the two talk, especially since Ichigo was so family oriented.

“From what we can tell from the records and such? Yeah. She had issues, but that was rather normal from the war, but she was happy. Sad about her lost brother. I think your ashes were placed with her body when she passed actually,” Ichigo hummed as he started to place butter into a microwaveable dish to melt slightly. “Can you put this into the microwave for about ten seconds? And get it somewhat melted?”

Grimmjow nodded and took the dish, thinking as he watched the dish turned in the appliance. He hadn’t remembered a thing after his death, waking up in Germany and wandering the city until he had turned into a hollow. After that, he hadn’t cared about his family or his history and gone to Hueco Mundo, growing stronger and stronger.

But after Aizen had found him and helped him break past that last wall that stopped him from getting as powerful as he could, he had started to get memories. They came in flashes, his death happening first. But in the last two years since the start of the war, he had remembered more and more of his mother and father and baby sister.

To learn that his sister though had lived and found love, had children? It made something deep in his hidden heart warm.

When the microwave beeped, he pulled out the bowl and turned, walking over to the island where Ichigo was carefully measuring out the ingredients with a small smile. Putting the bowl down, he stared at the young man, smiling at the fact that he could see his sister in his looks. The cheekbones and hair color were definitely what he could remember was his mother’s and sisters, but softened by time and genetics.

“You can bake right?” Ichigo asked, Grimmjow nodding his head. “Wonderful. You can make the gingerbread men and women. I have the shapes and the ingredients. I’m sure you remember how to follow a recipe right?” he asked teasingly.

Grimmjow chuckled and took the recipe, moving to start the gingerbread people on another counter. Gin and Ulquiorra finished what they had to do before leaving Ichigo in the other Arrancar’s capable hands. They had to run back to the living world for a few things as it was, and with the fact that the Sexta was watching over his sisters descendant.

The two baked well into the night. Ichigo made various types of cookies, everything from the chip cookies to richly scented pies of various kinds, enough to give everyone at least two pieces. Bread and rolls were baked and put away to be warmed before dinner. Sides were built to be cooked the next day while candies cooled and set. The hams were placed into pans to be coated in a mix of brown sugar and pineapple juice with pineapples the next day.

After they were done, Nel conked out on the breakfast bar and snoring softly from being used as a kind of tester for some of the sugar free candies, they cleaned up, easily moving around each other. With the kitchen cleaned and the food ready for the next day, Ichigo gathered up Nel with a smile.

He blinked at running into Nnoitra, Grimmjow stopping just up ahead, the lanky Arrancar shifting as Tesra smiled in amusement behind the other man. “Nnoitra?” Ichigo asked softly, shifting Nel in his arms.

“Ahh, I noticed that ya had brought a bunch of apples and shit. I was wonderin’ if you still have any of them left,” Nnoitra drawled. “I...don’t do this often but I wanted ta make something. A kind of a memory thing from my life. The only thing I can remember.”

Ichigo blinked a few times, looking to Tesra, who he knew had more memories of his living life, and noted that the man was smiling softly, understanding shining in his one eye. Looking back up to Nnoitra, he nodded. “That’s fine. Just leave the items on the far counter near the sinks alone. I need those for tomorrow,” he said.

Nnoitra nodded and slipped in with his Fraccion following after him.

Sighing, he shifted Nel once more and headed to her room that was a part of his apartment like set up. Getting her into bed, he headed to his bedroom and changed into a thick nightgown, slipping into bed with a smile. So far Christmas was looking good.
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Bleach Mini Stories And Snippets