Improbable Attachment: Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not use big words and I do not own Bleach. Also, I do not have beta reader.

---

Grimmjow blinks the light away. His head feels heavy. He does not need to look in a mirror to be aware of how grotesque his face must be with all the bruises. He can barely open his left eye because of the swelling. He is sure his wild bed cobalt hair does nothing to improve his appearances.

He looks around to take in his surrounding. He knows he is in someone else’s apartment but it is not a typical house. Grimmjow is not even sure if he can call this place a home for someone. The only furniture in the apartment is a single bed with white bed sheet and one pillow, also white. It is where he is lying at the moment. There is no chair or table, much less a television. There is not even a room. This place simply lacks soul.

“You are awake,” says a female voice from where Grimmjow assumes is the kitchen since a refrigerator is located at the corner. There are no other kitchen’s appliances around either. Grimmjow strains his neck to see who his savior is. It was the girl from yesterday.

Was it yesterday? He is not sure how long has he been unconscious.

The kitchen by the way is situated right at the front door. The girl is taking off her shoes. She must have just comes back from somewhere.

The girl walks from the kitchen and into the living room where the bed is placed. She stands beside the bed, her eyes wandering to his pitiful figure. Grimmjow props up on his elbow. He winces at the pain that shot through his abdomen which forces him back on his back.

“You were screwed pretty badly by those dickheads. It would be best for you not to move around so much,” says the girl as she takes off her leather jacket before she proceeds to sit at the edge of the bed.

Grimmjow could not argue with her logic. He puts his hand over his face, covering his eyes from the light.

“How long have I been unconscious?”

“You have been sleeping all night. It is already noon now,” says the girl as she checks her wrist watch.

They stay quiet for a grand deal of time until Grimmjow could not take the silence any longer.

“Thank you,” murmurs Grimmjow, almost inaudible. He knows that he would have been dead if this girl did not show up last night. He owes her his life.

The girl does not say anything which makes him wonder if she heard him. He lifts his hand up a bit to peek at the girl. He immediately regrets doing so as the girl is staring at him with a knowing smile playing on her lips.

“Tch,” grumbles Grimmjow as he puts down his hand over his eyes again. He growls when he hears chuckles escaping from the girl’s mouth. Then he feels the springs of the bed creak, indicating that the girl has leave his side. Grimmjow puts his hand down. He does not know why and would not admit it to himself, but he misses her warmth.

“Where are you going?” Grimmjow asks before he can stop himself.

The girl stops walking and looks at him quizzically. Grimmjow hates that look she gives him.

“I am not obliges to answer your question, boy,” is the reply he gets. Boy?! That really pisses him off.

Grimmjow snickers. The girl tilts her head.

“What was so funny?”

“You are not older and definitely smaller than I am and yet you called me boy? That was some screwed up concept you have there.”

The girl smirks. “You do not know anything, boy. The truth will make you piss in your diapers.”

One of the things that Grimmjow cannot tolerate in his life is when he is being made fun of. He would not take this lying down (literally) so he struggles to sit up. The girl with her hands crossed in front of her chest just looks at him groaning and cursing from the soreness. She does not offer him any help. Grimmjow is panting by the time he leans his back on the bedstead and is shooting daggers at the girl. “Why don’t you try telling me the truth?”

“I told you I don’t owe you any explanation.”

“Indulge me, why don’t you?”

The girl looks at Grimmjow, clearly contemplating whether or not take up on his offer. Grimmjow does not back down as he keeps on glaring at the girl. After several minutes, the girl sighs in defeat.

Grimmjow sneers triumphantly.

“I am a least a hundred years older than you are,” the girl begins.

The sneer is replaced with an astound expression. Grimmjow blinks once, twice and for the third time before he snorts and starts to laugh out loud, holding his ribs to ease the pain. The girl just stares at him without moving a muscle. She has expected this kind of reaction. Nothing ever surprises her anymore.

“You are mental,” says Grimmjow. He has tears in his eyes. “Next thing I know, you are going to tell me that you brought me to this apartment all by your tiny self.”

The girl raises an eyebrow and tilts her head. “I did.”

Grimmjow could not hold back his laughter. He hoots. “Yeah, sure you did…”

The girl is clearly not amused by his sudden outburst if her pouting lips are any indicator but she remains silence, allowing Grimmjow to guffaw to his heart content.

“Are you done laughing?”

Grimmjow snorts a couple more times before he nods.

“I told you that you will be pissing in your diapers when you know the truth,” says the girl smugly.

“Jeebus, you are one delusional kid, don’t you know that?”

“I guess you were delusional as well when you imagined you saw me taking care of the three morons yesterday. You must be delusional if you thought I saved you from your premature death,” says the girl. There is no mistaking the sarcasm.

That shuts Grimmjow up. He recalls the event that took place last night. He did not imagining anything. He most definitely saw this girl single-handedly made a pulp out of those assholes.

He looks closely at the girl and studies her face. He can see now that she is not joking around. He searches the girl’s violet eyes and all of a sudden he feels fear creeping down his spine.

The girl smirks. She steps forward and like a flash she smacks Grimmjow’s forehead. Grimmjow yelps in pain. He can feel the pulsing from his swollen eyes.

“That is for laughing at me,” says the girl and then with one swift move, she fishes out an army knife from under her yukata. Grimmjow eyes widen in alarm.

“I forgot to mention one tiny little detail though,” the girl smirk has turn to a wide psychotic grin. “I have to kill you if I tell you the truth.”

Grimmjow alarm is turning into a full blown terror by now. He tries to run away but his body does not respond to his will. It is like his body is pinned down on the bed with some unknown forces. He does not know he is dealing with a psycho otherwise he would have kept his mouth shut!

“You could have told me that before you told me the truth!” shrieks Grimmjow.

The girl waves the knife and shakes her head. “But you would have thought that I am joking around and continue to laugh at me.”

The girl pouts sarcastically.

“But damn it, you could have chosen not to tell me anything!”

“Oh poo stop complaining. I just did what you tell me to. I am indulging you,” the grins on the girl’s lips get even more sinister. Before Grimmjow could retaliate, the girl leaps onto his lap and the knife is pointed under his chin, already drawing droplets of blood from the contact.

However despite the circumstances, he could not help but admire her unconventional beauty. She is even prettier up close. Her porcelain-like skin just makes her appears so vulnerable. He likes the bang that almost covers part of her face. It gives her an air of mystery. His eyes travel down to her legs. When she sits on his lap, her yukata is yanked up to her thighs, revealing her slender legs that are clamping both sides of his hips. He could not take his eyes off of them.

Grimmjow gulps. Fuck, he can feel himself getting a hard on so he tries to push the girl away. However the girl has such amazing strength, she does not even budge. Grimmjow questions her human-ness but that thought quickly fleeting from his mind as her eyes wander down on Grimmjow’s cobalt orbs. He is immediately mesmerized by the wisdom that sparkles in her violet eyes. Grimmjow wonders if she is probably telling him the truth. There is no way a teenage girl like her could have eyes like these. Eyes that is full of experience, which reflects the wretchedness of the world and the dismal veracity of human existence.

How exquisitely beautiful they are.

The girl snicker suspends Grimmjow delicious thoughts and he can guess why. She is sitting on his raging hard on. He could not stop the blushes that creep up on his cheeks. He forces his eyes to look away.

But the girl is not done tormenting him. She leans down on him; one of her hand travels up his chest. “What else do you want to know, boy? Allow me to further indulge you, just as you wish,” whispers the girl huskily to Grimmjow’s ear as she applies more pressure to the blade and slightly grinds herself on top of Grimmjow’s own predicament inside his suddenly tight jeans.

Grimmjow knows he is in a deep shit now. He shudders and closes his eyes. This is not how he pictured his dying moment would be like. But oddly enough he thinks it is not a bad way to die if it is by her hands.

That is when he hears her laughter. The cold blade is no longer against his neck and the grinding stops. He almost moans at the lost of contact. He opens his eyes slowly. The girl is having a blast laughing her ass off, which consequently rocking his whole aching body. Once again he feels like he could not tear his eyes away from looking up to her laughing face. He swallows hard knowing fully well that his erection has yet to subside. If anything it just gets even bigger.

Then without warning the girl leans down and gives him a chaste kiss on his lips.

“You are one funny kid, boy. I have not had such laugh for the longest time.” The girl wipes her tears away with the back of her hand that is still holding the army knife. The blade still has traces of his blood. “You should have looked at your face!”

Grimmjow is irate but all he could do is grunt his protest. He does not dare to say a single word as long as she still has that knife in her hand. Grimmjow draws his hand up his neck where the blade almost punctures a hole in it. He can feel the traces of clotted blood. He wipes it away with his hand as the girl watches his every move.

“It is good to know that something never changed. Boys these days are still as horny as they were back a hundred years ago,” teases the girl as she move away from Grimmjow’s lap and corrects her yukata. Grimmjow can feel the heat coming up to his cheeks once again.

“You were being serious about the whole thing, were you not?” inquires Grimmjow as to distract the girl’s focus from his flushing cheeks and the bulge in front of his pants.

The girl just nods. She allows the truth to sink in Grimmjow’s mind for real this time. However, the smirk stays on her lips, adorning her face which gives her an ominous look only she can pulls off. Conversely Grimmjow is having a hard time grasping the truth of her words. How could he when she looks exactly around his age if not younger? This just cannot be.

“How the fuck can that be? I mean how the fuck was that even possible?! Damn it, I… I need proof. Show me something that proves whatever you just said was not cock and bull,” demands Grimmjow. “How can I be sure that you are not pulling another one of your damn psychotic jokes on me?”

The girl slants her eyes towards Grimmjow menacingly. “Did you just call me crazy?”

Grimmjow gulps and shakes his head vigorously in negative.

The girl cackles at Grimmjow’s alarm face.

“Chill down, boy. I am not going to kill you. That would have waste my effort of saving your ass yesterday.”

But Grimmjow is not convinced. How can he be relaxed when the girl once again draws forth the army knife with her right hand?

Grimmjow looks at her with wide eyes as she straightens her left arm towards him with her wrist facing upwards. With one expeditious movement, she slits her own wrist and blood starts dripping to the floor.

“What the fuck were you doing?!” cries Grimmjow. He completely forgets about his pain as he bolts from the bed towards the girl. Without much thought and ignoring the pain that shot through his abdomen, he takes off his shirt and uses it to stop the bleeding. “Shit! How fucking crazy are you? We need to get you to a doctor!”

During Grimmjow panic attack, the girl just stands there without a care in the world as she watches him applies pressure to her slit wrist. His gestures and emotions amuse her to no end. She lets the knife falls to the floor with a clang. The droplets of blood have started to blacken and coagulate.

Grimmjow is still frantically trying to stop the bleeding when he notices that it has stopped. He quickly unwrap her wrist from his now bloody shirt to look at the wound.

“No fucking way…” gapes Grimmjow.

There is no sign of a slit wrist. No traces of the blade. No wound is visible. Except for the smear blood stains, the skin is as perfect as it was before.

Grimmjow dares himself to look up and stares into the girl’s violet orbs. “Just what the fuck are you?”

---

I apologize if Grimmjow is a bit OOC but I consider in his situation, he does not have a choice but to be submissive to Rukia.

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A Smile and a Blush: Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don’t use big word and I don’t own Bleach

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It has been almost a month since Kurosaki Ichigo transferred to this school. He quickly gained popularity although in all honesty he does not do anything that warrants it. People are mistaking his aloofness and his constant scowling as being cool. Go figure.

The fact that his family recently funded quite an amount of money (i.e. a lot) for the library and activity rooms has also led people to believe that he is currently the wealthiest kid attending this school. It is not far from the truth though. The Kurosaki family is actually head to head with the Schiffer family in term of being the wealthiest.

The girls and some of the boys are head over heels in love with him while most of the guys look up to him. Even though Ichigo tries to avoid unnecessary conversation, he still is on friendly term with almost everyone. After all, the reason he has asked for the transfer is to uncover what he needs to discover.

The teacher is at the moment explaining something about the Calculus Manipulative.

Instead of paying attention to what the teacher is teaching Ichigo finds himself once again staring at the small back of the raven haired girl who is sitting in front of him. She is concentrating on the lesson and is taking her note vigorously.

She is the only girl in this school that has not tries to make a pass at him. Hell, she does not even bother to look at him. When their eyes met, it was usually accidental i.e. he has been secretly observing her, like what he is doing now.

Ichigo smiles ruefully. He likes looking at her. When she is not aware she is being observed, she makes all sorts if weird and sometimes funny faces. Like at this moment for example, whenever she is concentrating, her index finger of her left hand always manages to find her lower lip and play naughtily with it. Or when she got questioned by the teachers she always tucked in her hair behind her left ear before answering. Ichigo recognizes it as the sign of her being nervous. She also has the habit of tapping her foot when she gets annoyed. But his most favorite expression of her is probably when she looks out the window gazing at the scenery outside that promise sovereignty. She just looks so out of place in this world full of shallow and pretentious people.

Even though he has been sitting behind her for a month, he has yet to get formally acquainted with her. She would smile whenever their eyes met and he would blush every time she did that. But that was about as far as their friendliness goes. Not a single word has been uttered between them. To be honest, Ichigo is slightly pisses off that she does not seem to remember him at all.

It is not like he never tried to talk to her but she always vanish during lunch break and quickly disappear when the bells ring indicating the end of the school days. He had seen her couple of time under that tree during lunch break but he does not think he has enough reason to disturb her serendipity. He tried to look for her before she stepped out the school ground, but for someone short, she sure is fast. He even checked the club to try his luck but to no avail.

He later found out that she has joined the Kendo club which has practice every other day. Ichigo could not resist a chuckle. He should have known. It is the perfect club for her. Kendo is the least popular club in this school because no one wants to get their clothes smelling like piss from the gears. It also signifies that she does not totally forget about her past. It gives Ichigo some hope. So last week he decided to join the club too. He has brought all his gears with him today so he can’t wait for the school to be over. He so badly wants to talk to her.

While they have yet to strike a conversation, Ichigo has learned a lot about her from all the rumors he has heard. For someone who is so low profile, she sure is popular among the students and even among the teachers. The opinions are divided though. Most of the girls only have nasty things to say about her however the boys only have praises for her. The teachers too commend on her diligent and hard-working attitude.

Despite what the rumors said about her, she is not an anti-social. Ichigo has seen her talking to the boys although the boys are usually the one who initiate the conversation. She does not even seem ill at ease with everyone. She is more often than not seen hanging out with Renji and after Ichigo has done some inquiry; Renji is probably the closest friends to Rukia in this school. People had seen them together since the first day Rukia set foot in this school.

This led to another discovery of how she often gets bullied by the girls. He has yet to witness it with his own eyes but he has heard some pretty good story about how bold and defiant she often is. The sort of things she did has become quite legendary tales in this school. It was among the first story he heard when he first arrived here. Ichigo almost feels sorry for the girls who are stupid enough to play with fire.

Ichigo smiles again. She has not changed at all except for those sad amethyst eyes. Even though Ichigo has seen her laughing, that sad eyes of her cannot fool him even for a second.

The bell for lunch break rings through every corner in the school. The teacher is reminding the students of tomorrow quiz but half of them are already out of the classroom heading for the café.

Ichigo eyes still follow every move that Rukia makes. Unlike any other day, today she still bends over her desk finishing her notes.

“Rukia, time to fill in that stomach of yours,” calls Renji as he walks towards Rukia. Sneers can clearly be heard by some of the girls that have yet to head out for lunch break.

Ichigo feels a tug in his heart as he watches Renji casually put his palm on Rukia’s head. Rukia looks up.

“Go on ahead. I’m not hungry –“

“Like hell you aren’t –“

“I need to finish this,” says Rukia with tone clipped with finality. Renji knows whatever he said now will not change this girl’s mind. He admits defeat with a shrugs as Rukia picks her pen again to continue with her homework.

Renji looks exasperatedly at Rukia. That is when he sees Ichigo. He grins.

“Let’s go. The others are waiting.” It was not an invitation, but more like an order. Renji does not want Rukia to be disturbed.

And true enough the classroom is by now empty except for the three of them. Ichigo eyes averts back to Rukia. He does not feel like eating today but Renji is already on his heel and dragging Ichigo away.

“But she –“

“Do not bother,” Renji interrupts Ichigo protest with definiteness. Ichigo would have lashes back if it was not for the grim tone that he heard laced through his words. Instead Ichigo looks at Renji inquisitively.

Renji sighs. “She needs to work over time today and probably won’t be done until later at night. That is why she needs to finish up her homework whenever she could.”

“Even if it means she has to skip lunch?”

Renji nods dourly in affirmative. “Anyway it is none of our concern,” says Renji as he steps into the café.

Ichigo stops on his track. He could not believe what he just heard. Renji who realize Ichigo is no longer besides him turn around to find the scowling on Ichigo’s face deepens. Renji chuckles and walk back towards Ichigo. He pats Ichigo’s back. “You are better off not knowing, my friend. Trust me. She is not one of us.”

Ichigo would have rearrange Renji’s face if someone did not bump into him.

“Ouch,” yelps a female voice from behind.

Ichigo turns around and found a girl that he recognizes from his class rubbing her head.

“You okay there, Orihime?” asks Renji mockingly as Ichigo mumbles an apology.

If look could kill, Renji would have been seven feet underground by now. Inoue glares at Renji who is dragging Ichigo away towards Keigo who is waving frantically beckoning them to sit with him and the others. Already sitting at the table are Mizuro, Keigo, Ishida and Sado.

“Ichigoooo –“

“Be quiet Keigo.”

“I was just being friendly –“

“I said shut up,” warns Ishida for the second time. Keigo pouts nevertheless shut his mouth.

Ichigo avoids Ishida’s glaring eyes as he takes a seat besides Mizuro.

“Chill out, Four Eyes. I just found out Kurosaki is gay,” says Renji as he pats Ishida’s back before he takes a seat next to him. Mizuro and Keigo cackle as they heard this. Sado is as expressionless as ever, Ichigo does not find it amusing while Ishida does not buy the blatant lie.

“If that’s the case then Ichigo has to worry about Ishida wanting his hole,” says Sado with a straight face and the usual monotonous tone of his.

The boys at the table fall silence for couple of second as each of them look at each other.

“Oh my freaking mother of sex! Sado just cracked a joke!” exclaims Keigo and now all six of them burst into laughter which invites several curious glance from their neighbors.

There are several inter-groups in the café. Ichigo does not belong to any of them but he tends to find himself getting drag to this particular group where none of them has anything in common personality wise. There are Ishida who is the quite type but can be very annoying when he got something righteous to say, Mizuro is the mama lover i.e. he is popular among the older girls, Keigo who can be considered the clown of this group. He is obsessed with girls but ironically girls find him aggravating. There is also Sado, the expressionless gentle giant who says very little and Renji who is always over the top kind of person. There are other two students that have not showed up yet; Ikkaku who is very brash and Yumichika who is obsessed with beautiful things. Thank god that he himself can be considered as a thing of beauty otherwise Ichigo might have puke blood. Men are not supposed to be obsessed with that kind of thing. It went against the nature. These two boys are rarely seen without the other.

There is also a group that consist the most rebellious looking student in the school and with Ichigo’s hair color, it would be more fitting for him to hang around with them. There are guys with blue and pink colored hair and girls with striking yellow and green hair in the mix. There is also a lanky looking guy that licks his lips lustfully every time a girl walked by. Just by looking at him, Ichigo knows that he is bad news. Ichigo has been fascinated with this group ever since he saw Rukia talked to the most quite person in that group with jet black hair and a green tattoo that resembles tear flowing down from his eyes at both of his cheeks. Who in their right mind would have tattoos like that?

Perhaps one of these days, he should stop by their table and say hi. Just for the heck of it.

At the far end of the café, there is another group that consists of a guy with baby doll hair, a bratty looking girl with two ponytails who always seems to be yelling at the baby doll haired guy. There is also a very fat and quite guy, a girl who always seen with a porno magazine in her hands, a very girly looking girl with green hair, a well build guy with silver hair and another guy who always has his shade on regardless of the time and weather.

Positioned at the entrance of the café is another group which consists of the most glamorous looking girls in this school. The girl that bumped into him earlier is one of the girls that are sitting there making sure their make up are always perfect, or their shoe and accessories always match their clothes. In other words this is a group of spoiled brats. This is also the group that is mostly responsible of making sure that Rukia’s life in this school is a living hell.

Ichigo can see why Rukia is never been seen in this café. Instead of a cafeteria, this school is providing it student with the most luxurious looking café you can imagine. Even the menus are in foreign language and complicated to pronounce for most common people. Let’s not even mention about the price of the foods.

“Are you not eating that, Kurosaki?” asks Ikkaku who finally shows up with Yumichika at his heels. Ichigo has been playing with his food without showing any interest on the conversation.

“You can have it if you want,” says Ichigo pushing away his plate.

Ikkaku grins with glee.

“See you later, guys,” says Ichigo as he stands up and ready to take leave.

All seven pair of eyes is on him and the conversation comes to a halt.

“Where are you going?” asks Mizuro.

“I’ve got a green stomach,” Ichigo lied. He could not keep Rukia out of his mind.

“Oh… okay later,” says the occupant on that table in unison. For once Ichigo are glad that men are so simple minded most of the time.

When he is outside the café, Ichigo finds a secluded area and dial a number from his cell phone. He waits for the receiver to answer the call.

“Hello?”

“Kisuke?”

“What can I do for you, Ichigo?”

“You can start investigate now,” with that Ichigo ends the call.

--

Uruhara Kisuke smile knowingly as he listened to Ichigo’s order.

“Time to get to work,” he said to himself. He goes to his file cabinet and pulls out a file that has Kuchiki Rukia’s name on it.

--

Rukia gazes out of the window. Her homework is long forgotten as she looks at a figure that is taking her spot under that tree. He is lying there watching the clouds with both hands behind his head.

Even under the shade provided by the tree, his orange hair can still be seen.

“Kurosaki Ichigo…” she whispers.

As if he heard her calling his name, Ichigo looks at her and their eyes meet. It is Rukia’s turn to blush seeing that Ichigo is smiling at her from under that tree.

---

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And Then, There's You: Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not use big words and I do not own Bleach. Also, I do not have beta reader.

---

"What the hell, Kurosaki!" Ishida yells from behind his desk when he sees Ichigo's face. The swelling has gone thanks to the meat in the freezer but the bruise is still very noticeable. Ichigo rolls his eyes. Just as he had expected, Ishida is flipping out. His manager is so predictable.

"I know. I am sorry. Can we cancel the photo shoot? I don't think they'll be too eager when they see my purple face," Ichigo said as he sits down on one of the two seats in front of Ishida's desk.

"But what happened?" asks Ishida, his concerns for Ichigo is obvious. He too sits again before adjusting his glass. A habit of his. "You got robbed or something?"

Ichigo shakes his head. "Was trying to be a hero"

Ishida tilts his head curiously. "Saving who?"

"A girl. She was cornered by three guys. Ended up she beats the crap out of them"

Ishida's eyebrow raises a little. "I thought you were the one saving her?"

"Like I said, I tried," Ichigo scowls at Ishida. Remembering the fact that he actually wasn't of any help is pissing him off. Ishida knew Ichigo enough to see that this girl is bothering his friend.

"Is the girl OK?"

"I think so. She left after she beat them to pulp."

"You just let her walk away?"

Ichigo scowls again remembering how rude the girl was. "She's a bitch."

"Whoa… where is that comes from?" Ishida ask, adjusting his glass at the same time.

So Ichigo recalls the whole story again for Ishida's sake omitting the fact that he thinks she's pretty and all that.

"That girl got spunk," comments Ishida after Ichigo finished his story.

"That girl got something up her ass. That's what she got," grumbles Ichigo.

Ishida smiled. It is not everyday you can see the calm and collected Ichigo got worked up by something as trivial as this. Ishida and Ichigo had known each other for more than five years now and he considered himself not only as his manager, but as his friend too. Ichigo, being well known as he is, never really has a close friend. His grumpy personality definitely does not fit too well with other people. The fact that he is always scowling doesn't help the matter either.

When he first met Ichigo, it was on the street. The orange haired boy was making deliveries, trying to make ends meet and he was on the other side of the street. One look at him Ishida knows that this guy has potential and his instinct has never failed him. He had chased Ichigo and he was mistaken as a pervert at first. Miraculously Ishida managed to convince Ichigo to take up modeling as a career and since then Ishida has turned Ichigo into a house hold name. He's the face of Hugo, his face is plastered everywhere in ads and billboards and he is booked for all the fashion campaigns that mattered. Yes, Ichigo has gone a long way from being a delivery boy.

Ishida never really asked about Ichigo's personal matters. He knows very little about Ichigo's family having met them only twice in five years. Ishida suspects that something bad must have happened in his family but he is not going to ask him about it. Ishida respects Ichigo’s privacy and knows Ichigo likes it that way.

"So... the photo shoot is cancelled eh?" Ichigo's question brought Ishida back from his reverie.

"Hold on," Ishida grabs the phone and punches in some numbers. After a few seconds he hears an answer from the other end. "Hai Eileen, Uryuu Ishida here. About the photo shoot, Kurosaki can't make it today... Yeah he got his face pummeled yesterday... He's OK. He'll live... OK I'll make sure to tell him that... Yes I understand. Sorry again... OK... I'll have Grimmjow over... Yes... OK. Appreciate the help Eileen. I owe you one." Ishida looks at Ichigo who has raised an eyebrow, questioning him.

"Grimmjow?"

"Yeah Grimmjow. Who else is there that is good enough to replace you?" Ishida adjust his glass again.

"Fuck Ishida. You know I don't like him to-"

"I know but in this matter, it's not up to you to decide." Ichigo scowls even more after hearing this. Grimmjow is a senior model at the agency and Ichigo does not like him ever since he laid his eye on the blue haired guy. The feeling, (un?)fortunately, is mutual. Grimmjow naturally will hate the guy who was immediately put on a golden throne at the agency, the throne that was previously belongs to him.

"Whatever."

"Yeah whatever"

Awkward silence.

"Listen, Kurosaki. Eileen says they want you to go to the clinic and have your face checkup."

"What?!"

"I know it is stupid but she wants evidence to say that you were really beaten up yesterday. The people from the ads demanded it. You're lucky that they are not picky or I could have been in serious trouble," Ishida explained. Before Ichigo could response, his phone rings.

"Yeah, what do you want?" answered Ichigo in his annoyed tone because on the other end of the line is his father. Ichigo listens for a few second. "Again? Geez Karin... Alright... I'll go," he hangs up the phone. Ishida looks at him curiously.

“Karin broke her leg again while playing football," explains Ichigo. Karin and Yuzu are his twin sisters and Karin, who is the tougher one between the two, always got herself injured one way or the other. If it's not football, then it's fighting. Ichigo sighs. "I guess I'll go for the checkup after all."

Ishida stands up when Ichigo decides to leave his office. Ichigo raises an eyebrow questioningly.

"I'll go too," Ishida said and grabs his coat from the back of his chair. Ichigo shrugs and walks out of the office with both his hands in his pockets. Ishida follows closely behind.

"By the way Kurosaki, did you get that girl's name?"

"Yeah"

"What is it?"

"Bitch"

--

Rukia is sitting on a chair looking out the windows. The only bed in the ward is occupied by a man with jet black hair.

She had called the police right after she managed to get away last night. She had waited by the corner for the police to arrived knowing the orange haired guy was looking over his shoulders when she walked away from the scene. She wasn't comfortable with him showing concerns for her.

She yawns. Her body still hurts from the fight she had yesterday and she needs sleep. "Damn those bastards," Rukia swore under her breath.

She looks at the man who has been lying there in a coma for the past three years.

"One of them grabbed me from behind. Curse me for not noticing his footsteps," she said, still not able to put the blame on anyone else but herself for being too careless. "Then the other guy came out from behind the building and knocked my head with something hard. Of course I passed out then. I woke up just before they... you know... rip my clothes off..." she shudders when she remember the scene where her attackers were upon her. One of them already got her shirt off. Her hand automatically traces the bump on her head.

"I do the next logical thing of course," she smiles satisfactorily when she remembers the feeling of her knee connecting to the groin of her attacker which sent the bastard kneeling on the floor beside her. But of course she then received a punch on the face from the second jackass who had replaced the first bastard and was now on top of her. For a second she can see stars but only for a second. She took the opening that was given to her to do the Jodan Shotei Uchi. Tucking her thumb in and the wrist area tight, she thrust the palm towards the bastard. This sent the bastard backwards and off of her.

"This is where the good part started," she is recalling yesterday's incident to the man. The smile of satisfaction is now spreading across her face. "When he was off of me, I stood up and swore that these sons of bitches will pay for the torn shirt. But a torn shirt is better than walking around with only your bra in the middle of the night, right? So I grabbed the torn shirt from the bastard and buttoned it up. During all this, the third bastard just stood there, looking aghast. Can you believe it? I bet he wet his pant yesterday."

Rukia chuckles and then she stops, looking intently at the man as if listening to what he's saying. "I know what you think... you think I should have taken the opportunity and run away ..." she shifts her gaze towards the windows once again.

"Yeah, right... Kuchiki never runs away," she sighs.

Rukia had waited for the two bastards to stand up and faced her. She had been readying herself for the first attack, making sure her left leg leading her stand and her left arm at an angle of 45 degrees to her body. When they finally rounded her, she didn't waste any time to attack the first bastard. She jabbed punch her left arm and followed it up with a reverse punch with her stronger right hand. The bastard doubled over and produced a scream between his gritted teeth (This was the first muffled scream Ichigo heard). Without leaving any chance for the other bastards to attacked her, she did the Kizami Zuki to the second bastard as well. This time she shouted as she attacked and the second bastard produced similar sound as his friend (This was the second muffled scream Ichigo heard).

"And then he had to show up and make a fool of himself," she rolls her eyes, allowing herself to think about the guy with that orange hair again.

Yeah I can see his outrageous hair color even in the dark.

If Rukia is being honest with herself, she knows that she wasn't that angry at the orange haired guy. If anything she felt quite pleased that there are still heroes in this modern cruel world. The only reason she felt anger rising up in her last night was because she didn't want anyone else to get injured because of her. She does not need any defending. She can take care of herself. She won't be able to forgive herself should anything happened to him. And God knows she was right. The guy was a pansy-good-for-nothing in such situation and only made matter worst.

The smile has vanished from her face. Again she looks at the man lying there on the bed besides her. In her head, she imagined him giving her a quizzical look. "Don't ask me who the freak of nature was. Must be some moron who thinks he can play hero for a day..."

The pager buzzing in her pocket made her looks at her wrist watch. She has been in here for almost an hour. Time always flies when she's with him.

"Looks like I have to continue my story another time, mister." She gets up, bends and kisses the man's forehead.

"I am sorry..." these three words is her good bye for the man. She must have said it countless time but still it feels like it would never be enough.

Rukia walks to the door. She caught her reflection in the mirror and touches her right cheek lightly and winces. The purple is there not for decoration only.

For any other girl, the experience of nearly getting rape by a bunch of drunkards might be traumatizing but for Rukia, it was all in a day's work. She was shaken a bit when she woke up from the initial blow to the head but then, like always, she begin to take control of the situations. Knowing this, she just dealt with the problems and gets it over with. Her colleagues had been asking about the bruise but she just shrugged it away. Kuchiki Rukia is a tough nut to crack.

--

Karin is lying on the bed with her right leg plastered. Yuzu, being useful as always, is cutting the fruits for Karin. Ichigo is telling the story of the incident yesterday to his family since they had been pestering him about the bruise on his cheek. Right after Ichigo concluded his story, a small woman wearing the doctor's robe comes knocking on the door but the knocks stop short.

Rukia is standing at the door looking at Ichigo.

Ichigo is in the room staring wide eyed at Rukia.

"You!" they both exclaimed.

Ishida, Isshin, Karin and Yuzu look from Ichigo to the small doctor back to Ichigo again.

"What are you doing here?!" they asked each other the same question, at the same time, almost in unison.

"She's my patient," Rukia answered while pointing at Karin.

"She's my sister," Ichigo replied also pointing at Karin.

Silence.

Ichigo couldn't believe his eyes when the small girl from the night before appeared. He instantly recognizes her when he saw the violets. Not to mention the purple cheek on her face. A clear evidence of what had happened yesterday is not a dream. It was as real as she is now, standing at the door glaring at him.

Rukia stopped on her track when she saw the orange haired man from yesterday. The nurse who was following at her heels almost stumbled upon her. Oh yes, Rukia recognizes that hair miles away on any given day. The purple cheek on his face convinced her that she is not jumping into any conclusions either.

"You both know each other?" Isshin asked to break the awkward silence.

"No!" Rukia said.

"Yes!" Ichigo answered.

"So which one is it?" asks Ishida, confused.

"She's the bitch that I was telling you all about."

"What?!" exclaimed all the other persons in that room including Rukia. Then all eyes were on Ichigo demanding further explanation. Rukia could not believe her ears.

Did he just call me bitch?

Smirking, Ichigo looks at Rukia with a smirk on his face. "You heard me.”

"Urgh whatever. It wasn't my fault you are a pansy." Rukia who knows better than to satisfy this asshole decides to ignores him completely. She is not dumb to mix her personal life with work. And right now she has her duty to think about. She is not even sure why on earth this asshole is angry at her when all she did was saving his life yesterday.

Rukia takes a deep breath and musters all the patience that she had in her (which are not much) to try to stay calm and professional. The nurse hands Karin's chart to her timidly and she checks on Karin pretending nothing happened. She even smiles while explaining Karin situation to Isshin. Karin, according to her medical condition, can be discharged tomorrow morning if there are no any other complications occur.

This act of ignorance of course only makes Ichigo exasperated. He is not prepared to be ignored. He does not really know why the anger he felt yesterday resurface when he saw her.

Just admit it idiot. You were owned by a midget and that pisses you off. And because she just called you a pansy in front of everybody!

"I am not!" Ichigo blurts out.

Isshin who is still discussing with Rukia turns to his son and tilts his head in confusion. Isshida adjusts his glasses. Karin and Yuzu both look at Ichigo as if their brother has finally lost his mind. The nurse cowers behind Rukia.

Rukia raises her eyebrow. "What?"

"Pansy," Ichigo said glaring at Rukia.

"Yes, I believe we all have established the fact that you are one."

"Fuck you. I AM NOT A PANSY!"

Rukia looks at her watch. "Took a while for you to try and convinced yourself that you're not eh?" Rukia mocks him. Ishida and the nurse try hard to conceal their laughter. Isshin and Karin shake their heads in sympathy while Yuzu is as clueless as always.

Rukia's mock turns to chuckles and chuckles turn to cackles. Ishida, the nurse and even his father do not bother to conceal their laughter anymore.

Ichigo looks at the small girl in front of him. He has been humiliated by this midget in front of everyone. He is sure that his father is going to remind him of this forever and Ishida will use this against him someday. But for some unexplainable reason, listening to her laughter makes his anger dissipates just like when he saw her eyes for the first time yesterday. He notices that when she laughs, the sadness in her eyes vanishes. If he thinks those eyes are beautiful before, without the sadness clouding them, they are like a pool of moon's light, absolutely breathtaking. For a moment the scowl on his face disappear but no one in the room notice it. They are too busy laughing at him.

"Well?" Rukia asked Ichigo when the laughter has subsided. She had ordered the nurse to leave first. Rukia still has an unfinished business here.

"Well what?"

"What were you so mad about?"

Ichigo snaps his mouth shut. He does not know how to answer that question. He sure as hell would not want this girl to find out the real reason why he was so pissed off with her. He got his reputation he needs to consider -

"Because he cannot accept the fact that you ended up saving his life yesterday," Ishida answered on Ichigo behalf. His hand adjusts the glasses on his nose. Ichigo shot a look at Ishida and if look could kill, Ishida would have been dead by now.

"The bitch wasn't. I was -"

Rukia smirks and extends her hand which makes Ichigo stops in mid sentence.

Ichigo looks at her hand bewilderedly.

"It's not bitch. It's Rukia" she says. Her hand still extends towards Ichigo.

Isshin comes forward and smacks Ichigo's head. Hard.

"What the hell, old man?" yelps Ichigo holding his head on his hand. He can already feel a bump where his old man's knuckle connected with his skull.

Ishida shakes his head. For someone who is always smooth with the ladies, Ichigo sure does not act like one today and Ishida muses at how this small lady in front of him can have such a big impact on Ichigo. "The lady is introducing herself you moron."

"Oh... well yeah," now Ichigo feels like he wants to smack himself for acting so uncool.

Calms down you idiot.

He catches Rukia’s extended hand and shakes it once. He notices how small her hand is and how it fits perfectly with his own hand. "Ichigo."

Ichigo waits for the jeering to come from the midget's sharp tongue. Almost anyone would make fun of his name when he introduced himself. That is the reason why Ishida had insisted to use Kurosaki as his commercial name instead of Ichigo.

"The one who protects," says Rukia looking at Ichigo. She has to look up to see his face. Her full height is only up to Ichigo's chest.

Ichigo gulps. This midget is so full of surprises. For the first time in his life, someone knows the meaning of his name without the need for him to correct them. But come to think of it, she acts like she does not recognize him at all, which is unlikely. His face after all has been plastered on almost every billboard in this town and on every magazine there is.

"But you probably know me by the name of Kurosaki," Ichigo said try to jog her memory.

"Nope. Doesn't ring a bell." Rukia shakes her head. Ichigo sweat drop. He can hear Ishida and Isshin snickering behind him.

"I love to hang around but I still need to finish my round," Rukia said addressing all the people in the room. "Nice to meet all of you," she bows to excuse herself before she walks out of the room, leaving Ichigo dumbfounded and the rest of the family (including Ishida) in awe.

This has become like a bad habit: meet midget, turn into a moron.

Fuck I forgot what her name is!

Ichigo turns to Ishida. Ishida noticing his friend's panic face smirks before he put his hand around Ichigo's shoulder. Ichigo is always bad with names. "It's Rukia," he pecks Ichigo's cheek with his lips.

"Fuck you Ishida!" Ichigo pushes the laughing Ishida away. Isshin and his sisters do not need invitations to join in the happy hour.

Ichigo scowls as he wipes his cheek with his hand feeling disgusted. "Let's go for the checkup."

Without waiting for Ishida, Ichigo walks out of the room and as if his eyes work on auto mode, they immediately search for the small girl, with raven black hair and eyes to die for.

Rukia... I wonder what's her surname is.

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