“Do you think everything is going to be okay?” Kiki asked when she and Hyourinmaru had finished decorating. It had gotten late without them noticing. Kiki had started a fire in the hearth, and by now it was about four in the afternoon, already getting quite dark out. Captain Hitsugaya sipped a mug of eggnog.

“Knowing Mocha, which I do,” he sighed, settling comfortably into an armchair, “she’ll find some way for this all to work out the way she wants it to.”

Kiki nodded in agreement. She then turned to the Captain. “Is that the eggnog with or without rum in it?”

“There’s rum in one of them?” Toshiro asked suspiciously. He peered into the half-filled glass, which had been full when he’d started. He then held out the mug. “Dosh i’shmell like ish go’ rum innit to you?”

Kiki snatched the mug away. “You’re such a lightweight!” The captain laughed and fell over in the armchair.

“Sleepy,” he muttered, and promptly lost consciousness. Kiki shook her head at him and covered him with a blanket, then curled up on the couch. She knew Mocha’s parents would kick the two out if need be.