Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Odalisque ❯ Chapter 37 ( Chapter 37 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any Bleach affiliates.

 

 

 

 

Odalisque

 

Chapter 37

 

Rukia could not remember a time when she had been this happy.

 

As she slowly awoke beside her lover—his hands clasped possessively around her waist—she tried to rack her brain to remember such a time… but couldn't. She smiled to herself happily and wiggled into him. She heard him groan sleepily behind her and her grin expanded even more. In one deft move she twisted in his arms and pressed her flat, warm, hands against his flat, muscled, chest.

 

Okay, so the dating rule hadn't really worked out the way she had planned. Although, after their little foray in front of the fireplace—which had lasted all night and a bit into the morning—Ichigo had been considerate enough to decide to take her out to eat. Although she had insisted that she needed to return to her house to change and Ichigo begrudgingly acquiesced, putting on a casual suit himself. Ichigo had waited patiently in her living room while she had changed into a fire-engine red, slinky, dress, heels, and matching lipstick. It was only when she actually came out of the room that there had been a problem.

 

One look into each other's eyes and the two immediately knew that they were not leaving her apartment that night. In the end, Ichigo had cooked for her while she lounged—naked—on the couch, covered in only a light blanket. They ate while watching some random television show and had immediately resumed making exquisitely passionate love until they had fallen to sleep in the early hours of the morning.

 

All in all, it hadn't been what she was expecting but it wasn't like she hadn't enjoyed herself either. She reminded herself of this as she stared down at her sleeping lover… her sleeping boyfriend.

 

“Morning,” she whispered, a smile still on her face, as she stroked her lips over his fluttering eyes, his twitching nose, and his tingling mouth.

 

He sighed and pulled her tighter to his body. His hand was beginning to stroke her backside and she shivered as she felt his second hand come down and grip her bottom.

 

“Good…” he began, the hand on her ass pulling her forward a bit and pressing her smooth bundle of curls against his own. “Morning,” he ended, running his fingers over her skin. Rukia let a little moan escape her mouth and she pressed it against his.

 

His kiss was sleepy but hungry. He eagerly pried open her lips and set about exploring her mouth with his tongue. She giggled lightly in her throat and teased her own against his. It only took her a few more seconds for her to realize that Ichigo wanted something… more this particular morning. If his kiss was any indication, that is.

 

Not two seconds later, he swiftly rolled on top of her and pressed his mouth to hers even harder. Her lips were tugged apart even more until Ichigo was no longer just kissing her. He was ravaging her mouth. She moaned as his drowsy morning attitude floated away, leaving behind the raw voracity of need.

 

He ripped his mouth away from hers and quickly glanced over at the clock. Rukia—even through the haze of passion she was currently in—managed to turn her liquefied neck in that direction as well. The blinking numbers showcased that it was nearly quarter of six.

 

Ichigo grinned and turned back to Rukia, his mouth attacking hers once again. She groaned and tried to wake up enough so that she could duel with him as well.

 

“We have,” he panted, pressed his already-hard erection against her already-wet bundle of curls. “Enough time… for a quickie in bed and… another one… in the shower.”

 

“Excellent,” Rukia whispered, even though she was quite sure that it came out more like an unintelligible gargle than anything else, seeing as how Ichigo's thick finger were now probing her sex.

 

“Hope you don't mind,” he whispered into her breasts. Rukia was jolted slightly and tried to remember when he had gotten there. He hungrily sucked on one of her peaked nipples and she moaned, her fingers going directly to tightly grip his hair. She tried to pull her mind back to what he was saying but found that it was extremely difficult when he was touching her like this. “I don't really… feel like… foreplay…”

 

His face came from her breasts and hovered above hers, Rukia arched her back as she felt him move to kneel on the bed. She frowned and tried to drag him back down to where she was wet and waiting for him when she felt his hands come to the backs of her knees. She gasped when, in one smooth motion, he pulled her knees up so they hooked around his shoulders, and impaled her on his large shaft.

 

“Ichigo!” She shouted, her throat closing at the inexplicable feelings now coursing through her entire body. Her hands grappled wildly for the sheets and she clung onto them desperately.

 

His would-be-chuckle turned into a drawn-out groan that reached her ears and spanned through her entire body.

 

“So… tight…” he wheezed, pulling out of her and thrusting wildly back in.

 

Rukia saw white as she felt him jerking into her with such power. He really wasn't kidding about forgoing foreplay. She whimpered and wished that she could reach up and touch him, but in this lewd angle, she couldn't even keep her ass on the bedding. It wasn't particularly comfortable though. Her back was twisted at an odd angle and half of her body wasn't even touching the mattress… but considering that Ichigo was more than making up for it with his lustful strokes, gripping hands, and heavy pants she couldn't really find it in her to care.

 

Rukia didn't really know why, but her pussy felt so incredibly tender right now. Each thrust that Ichigo pushed inside of her felt ten times more incredible than normal. Maybe it was because she had just woken up but she was certain that Ichigo could sense it too. He bit his bottom lip as he wildly propelled himself inside of her and Rukia keened. Her throat felt raw from moaning and giving off little shrieks of pleasure every few seconds.

 

She gasped and felt her body shuddering violently as Ichigo found a way to swivel his hips in delicious circles as he pushed inside of her. Rukia felt her fingers tearing at the silken sheets beneath her. Her lungs were heaving hard at the overwhelming sensation of Ichigo.

 

He turned his head and lightly bit the tender skin above her kneecap while one of his hands came to their intimate joining and began to rub her deliciously dripping pearl.

 

Rukia screamed and clutched the sheets even harder as his nimble touch hurled her into an orgasm. She clenched her eyes shut and fought not to pass out again, although the stars now appearing behind her lids were not a welcome premonition.

 

“Ichigo!” She moaned. He was panting and sweating above her, his body launching into hers with the strength of a bull. She wished he would stop this mindless and pleasuring torture but Christ… it just felt so good.

 

Ichigo wasn't finished. His fingers found her raw clit once again and he began to rub it furiously. Her legs clenched around his neck as her body jerked on the bed. She moaned and wheezed as he brought her body into another extraordinary orgasm. Her walls tightened around him with a force that made her already-tender flesh become enflamed. Ichigo groaned above her writhing body and gasped as he felt his release urging him to thrust into her even harder. He acquiesced to his body's demands and, not a moment later, finally spilled himself inside of her hot, waiting, center.

 

The next thing Rukia knew, she was lying on her back, Ichigo on top of her, her legs sprawled to either side.

 

Their panting was hard and lasted longer than the two of them had thought was possible. Rukia swallowed with difficulty and made sure to turn her face away from the clock. At this point in her life she didn't care if she was a minute or two late for work.

 

Or… one hundred and twenty minutes for that matter.

 

“You're right,” Ichigo wheezed, his breath tickling her shoulder as she fought to breathe.

 

“Huh?” She gasped, her brain half startled by both the statement and the fact that he could actually talk right now.

 

“About…” he rasped, “The touching… it feels like… the first time… all the time.”

 

Rukia grinned and twined her arms around his back. The feel of his heart thudding against hers was sending her mind into shockwaves of contentment. Delicately, she pressed her warm nose into the crook of his neck and divinely wished that she could just stay there forever.

 

He groaned and flipped them over so she was no longer being crushed by his body weight. “If we don't get up now we'll never have time for that quickie in the shower.”

 

“Hmm,” Rukia murmured, running her fingers along the defined lines of his pectorals. She threw her leg over both of his and smiled. She felt so content right now. It was as if nothing could bring her down from this moment.

 

“So what do you say,” he muttered, his hands also tracing patterns on her skin, only his were running along her back. “Quickie in the shower or one on the desks?”

 

“Tough choice,” Rukia teased, not bothering to lift her head from its place on his clavicle. “Although… since the merger is technically going to be complete in a few days I'd say that we'd have to have a little farewell party for our favorite sex desk.”

 

“Agreed,” Ichigo answered smoothly. “After all, the desk has been through so much these past few months. It really does deserve a proper goodbye.”

 

Rukia only smiled, “Kind of makes you wish the day would move a bit faster, doesn't it?”

 

*~*~*

 

She was almost ready to push open the doors to Suigetsu Incorporated when her cell phone buzzed in her pocket. Sending an apologetic grimace towards Ichigo, Rukia reached into her jacket and tugged out her buzzing cell. She quickly looked at the caller identification and instantly raised an eyebrow.

 

“It's Mr. Ukitake,” she said with a frown, “I wonder why he's calling me…”

 

“You'd better answer it,” Ichigo noted with some degree of exasperation in his voice. “I mean, if he wants you to be his replacement that badly.”

 

“Oh shove it,” Rukia muttered, her fingers digging themselves into the grooves of her phone and preparing to flip it open. “Maybe it's just some last minute touches I need to go over.”

 

“Without me?” He demanded dubiously.

 

“You never know,” she said, finally flipping open her phone and saying, “Good morning Mr. Ukitake,” into the speaker.

 

There was silence on the other end of the line. Rukia frowned softly and she lightly pulled her cell away for a moment, making sure the line had connected, before placing it back on her ear.

 

“Sir?”

 

“Yes… ah, yes, Ms. Kuchiki, this is Mr. Ukitake.”

 

Her frowning increased slightly and she nodded, “I know sir… I said good morning.” She sent Ichigo and strange look and he blatantly looked impatiently at the doors.

 

“If only that were true.” He said softly. Rukia stopped glaring at Ichigo and instantly frowned at the ground. There was something in the way Mr. Ukitake had said that… she wasn't sure she liked it. His voice seemed like it was filled with… with anger and sadness. She didn't think she'd ever heard him like this before.

 

“Sir?” She said, taking a few steps away from the fidgeting Ichigo. “Is something wrong?”

 

“Ms. Kuchiki,” he said, his voice chillingly cold, “I need you to come over to my office at Gotei Corporation immediately.”

 

Rukia felt a protest bubbling on the tip of her tongue but she shoved it back down and nodded slowly, “Of course, I'll come over right away.” Beside her, she heard Ichigo groan a bit but she ignored him. “I'll be there in ten minutes.”

 

“See that you are.”

 

The phone clicked and the line went dead. Rukia pulled it away from her ear and frowned lightly, “That was weird,” she muttered, slowly closing her own phone.

 

Only a few feet away, Ichigo demanded, “Where are you going?”

 

Rukia slid her phone back into her pocket and raised an eyebrow at him, “Oh… Mr. Ukitake needs to see me over at Gotei Corp. right away.”

 

He made a face and narrowed his eyes, “Fine… but come back as quickly as you can. You don't want to get caught in the rain…”

 

They both looked up at the black and dubious sky above them. The clouds seemed practically pregnant with rain that was just begging to fall. Distantly, thunder rumbled and the wind picked up slightly.

 

Ichigo and Rukia both frowned at the sky but shifted their heads to look back at each other. He smirked and said. “You and I only have a few more days in that same office and I want to make sure they're as memorable as possible.”

 

“Alright,” Rukia murmured, simply dying to move up and press her lips to his. She restrained herself and slowly moved away from him.

 

She took a few paces backwards and allowed his eyes to lock onto hers as she walked. After a dozen simple steps she turned and began walking across the courtyard, towards Gotei Corp. With a smirking grin crawling its way onto her face she gave her hips more of a swing as she walked. She knew that Ichigo would enjoy it and she kept it up until she was sure that she was no longer visible. She pushed through the revolving door at Gotei Corp. and turned around to see if he was still watching her. Surely enough, she could still see his orange poof of hair from all the way across the courtyard.

 

She smiled to herself and kept walking up towards the main desk. She passed the secretary with a smile—which the woman readily returned—and continued on to the elevators. She and a few other of her old business colleagues rode up to the upper floors but as time went on more and more people got off while she stayed on.

 

Finally, Rukia exited on the very top floor. The elevator music teased her from behind as she strode quickly towards the largest office in the entire area. Nothing could make her feel any better than she was right now.

 

Smiling, she announced her name to the secretary outside of the office. He took one look at her, pushed a button on the intercom on his phone, muttered, “She's here,” and waited, not bothering to look up at her again.

 

The voice that came on the other end of the line was not the kindly, fatherly, voice of Mr. Ukitake that Rukia had been expecting. After all, it had been Mr. Ukitake who had summoned her to the office. She had expected that he be the one who…

 

Doesn't matter, she thought absentmindedly, all that matters is that I need to get this over with. Ichigo's waiting.

 

She frowned softly and racked her brain trying to remember where she had heard that voice before. The man behind it sounded… important. She closed her eyes and thought of when she had first come to Gotei Corp. She had been taken to see Mr. Ukitake for the first time and the person who had been in the room to greet her as well had been…

 

Mr. Yamamoto. The head of the Gotei Corporation.

 

“They'll see you now,” the secretary said in a stony voice, still not looking at her. Rukia nodded once and quickly strode towards the main office. She opened the door and slid it back silently. The hinges didn't even squeak as they tended to do on her and Ichigo's office door. She stepped inside and shut the entrance behind her.

 

Her small frown became larger as she viewed what was going on in the room. A long table was set up in the very center. It had several plush seats around the edges which made her think that it was mostly used for conferences. At the very end, near one of the large window-decked walls, sat two people.

 

Mr. Yamamoto, the head of Gotei Incorporated and Mr. Ukitake, the head of the legal department. Rukia nodded her head at each man respectively and came forward until the table was directly against her pelvis. She placed her hand on the glossy surface, her dry fingers slid against the polished top as though they were skaters on top of ice.

 

“Hello Mr. Yamamoto, Mr. Ukitake,” she said, making sure to address her boss's boss first. “You wanted to see me?”

 

“Sit down Ms. Kuchiki,” Mr. Ukitake said in a voice as stiff as a block of wood.

 

It was then that Rukia actually started to look closely at the two men in front of her. Her easy countenance slowly began to dissipate as she stared them in the eyes. Mr. Ukitake was sitting stoically in his seat, his hands clenched in his lap, his face hard and unresponsive. Normally, she would have seen something similar to a little quirk of a smile on his lips or a small bit of warmth in his eyes. Now there was nothing but cold in his gaze and nothing but stone in his face.

 

Mr. Yamamoto was another story. Each time that Rukia had met him he'd seemed to simply exude power and authority, which made everyone around him quiver—herself included. However right now there was something else that was making her begin to shiver. His body seemed just as tense, if not tenser, than Mr. Ukitake's. His countenance was now radiating not only power and authority but something along the lines of anger and hatred.

 

“Sit. Down.” Mr. Yamamoto said in a voice as old as time itself. The air in the room around her crackled as though it were charged with electricity.

 

Rukia simply nodded and took her place about fifteen feet away from the two of them, at the other end of the table. She didn't know why, but down at this end she felt incredibly small and insignificant.

 

She sat silently in her seat, hands folded in her lap, quietly willing someone to say something. She felt like a child who had been sent to the principal for misbehaving. She swallowed noiselessly and blinked. The only real question was… why had she been sent here in the first place?

 

“I assume you must be proud of yourself.” Mr. Yamamoto said, his powerful voice booming out into the silence of the room.

 

Rukia frowned and glanced over at Mr. Ukitake. He sat stoically in his seat and was staring at the door. His gaze seemed fixed on the knob, as if willing someone to come through and deliver him from this situation.

 

“I have no idea what's going on,” is what Rukia wanted to say. However, she knew that if she was here for the reason she'd originally thought of—aka, a promotion—she'd have to assume that they were talking about the merger.

 

“I believe so, Mr. Yamamoto,” she began, her voice growing in confidence with each word she spoke, “The merger has gone well and now that we're finished the companies can go to work as planned.”

 

The stares she got from the men in the room were enough to convince her that something was not right with her answer.

 

“Has… something gone wrong?” She asked, her voice—which had been so authoritative a moment ago—was now tinged with not only doubt, but a bit of wariness as well.

 

“You must think you're very funny,” Mr. Yamamoto croaked angrily. Rukia shivered at the rawness of his tone and tried not to show it.

 

“I—I don't believe so, sir.” She said quickly, cursing herself for stuttering.

 

His eyes narrowed into slits and he turned to Mr. Ukitake. Rukia's gaze went to him as well and she silently willed him to explain what was going on.

 

“Rukia,” Mr. Ukitake said, turning towards her and speaking in that same cold tone, “We understand that Mr. Aizen must have made it worth your while. We just want to know why.”

 

Her frown increased to the point where even Ichigo would have been proud of her. Her brain was whirling at a mile a minute. She didn't understand what they were saying. “Sirs, what are you talking about?”

 

“Please,” Mr. Yamamoto cut in venomously; Rukia watched as he reached into his briefcase and pulled out a large manila folder. His ancient fingers opened the creaking edges and he glanced down into the contents. Mr. Ukitake turned his head away and Rukia craned her neck forward in hopes to be able to see what it was. Mr. Yamamoto scoffed and viciously tossed the folder across the entire table until Rukia's fingers lightly caught it. “Don't insult us.”

 

Rukia's face was a mixture of confusion and intrigue as she set the folder in her lap and flipped open the front cover.

 

Her eyes widened as the confusion in her face dissipated. That, however, was not the only thing that escaped from the regions of her face. Blood, for one, flowed downward and left everything from her nose to her lips an ashen gray. Her throat closed on her and her breathing became much harder to manage. Her fingers began trembling and her body began shaking.

 

“Where…” she croaked, hardly believing that the voice belonged to her, “Where… did you get… what…? I don't under…s-st-stand…”

 

She stared at the photographs in her lap, hardly daring to believe that they were true. But they were, she knew they were because she remembered when each of these incidents had occurred.

 

“Oh… my… God…”

 

The first photograph was of her and Ichigo in the elevator directly after the merger announcement. She was pushed completely against the wall while he was shoved against her. His pelvis was grinding against hers and his mouth was ravishing her neck. Her hands were locked around his neck and his were on her bottom and her breast.

 

The second photograph was of Ichigo kissing her as she sat on top of her desk with her skirt hiked up. She saw his hand holding the back of her neck and his fingers gripping her thigh. She saw her head tilted back and her mouth open in need.

 

The third photograph showed her on top of him, riding him as he sat in his office chair. His shirt was open and his body was laid back in the plush leather of his seat. Pleasure was written over both of their faces as he grasped her breasts and touched her center.

 

The fourth photograph was of them sitting in his Benz, kissing the life out of each other while their hands fought to touch any piece of one another's bodies.

 

But it was the fifth and sixth photos that hit her the hardest.

 

In the fifth photo she saw Ichigo Kurosaki kissing Orihime Inoue outside of what looked like her apartment.

 

“Good,” he grumbled, “Because I need you in this car soon. You need to wash away the Inoue aftertaste.”

 

The sixth photo was of Orihime Inoue, tugging on both of his sleeves, with him leaning forward as if he was going inside of her apartment. Inoue had a coy and hungry look on her face. Rukia couldn't see Ichigo but something… something inside of her…

 

Rukia had never really believed in idioms or sayings before. Things like “hot as hell” just didn't fly with her. How could someone know how hot hell was? Or if it was even hot? Or if there even was a hell? So many unanswered questions like that filled her head whenever she thought of phrases like that.

 

But right now, Rukia Kuchiki could say, with absolute certainty, that she knew what the phrase, `world come crashing down around you' meant.

 

She also knew what it felt like.

 

Nothing moved around her, of course. The world did not suddenly implode in a blaze of fierce Armageddon nor did a massive earthquake engulf everything around her. Yet her entire body felt light. It felt cold. It felt like, piece by piece, she was wasting away into nothingness. She was dissipating into an abyss of darkness from which she doubted she could ever return. Her world was most definitely crashing down around her.

 

That wasn't even the worst part.

 

“Ms. Kuchiki,” Mr. Yamamoto said, his voice trying to reach her through her haze of darkness. “When I first heard of your betrayal to this company I was astounded. I believed that you could never do such a dishonorable and disgusting thing. But now, with these pictures as my evidence, I see that you are just as corrupt as the man who bought you.”

 

Rukia was numb. Her eyes were staring at the fifth and sixth photos. She couldn't be sure, but she thought she was crying.

 

“Honestly, leading us on for nearly an entire year,” Mr. Ukitake interjected, shaking his head and sighing heavily. He pressed a hand to his forehead and looked sadly down at the ground, “I can't believe it.” He jerked his creased face up and stared at her stunned and watering eyes, “Why? Rukia… I was ready to hand legal over to you. You would have been the youngest woman ever promoted to this position. Why would you do something like this?”

 

Rukia's shuddering breath was able to expel a few, gasping, words. “I… I don't…”

 

Another folder was passed over to her. It ran off the table and hit her body before she was able to catch it with her limp hands. She couldn't even feel her appendages as she flipped open the cover.

 

It was a mass of papers, maybe fifteen in all. The print was tiny, the format was thick, and the heading was familiar.

 

He reached into the backseat and pull out his briefcase. He brought it into his lap and clicked it open.

 

“Here,” he muttered, tugging out a manila folder and shoving it into her hands. “Aizen needed it,” he muttered, hurriedly finding a pen and unscrewing the cap for her. He shoved it into her hands and motioned to the paper. “It's an order form for new desks, chairs, staplers… shit like that. I just need you to sign it. I told him I'd get it to him by today.”

 

“Oh,” Rukia said as she began to flip through the pages.

 

Ichigo groaned beside her and instantly leaned over, nipping on the sensitive cords of her neck, “Just sign it, it's nothing important.”

 

“Oh my God…” she gasped, her breathing now coming in quick hyperventilations. Through the darkness and wetness of her vision she managed to read some of the print on the page.

 

Through the legal actions of Rukia Kuchiki and Ichigo Kurosaki, Suigetsu Incorporated is to assume all of the benefits and management of the Gotei Corporation. Their board of directors will be instantly liquidated and replaced with members of the Suigetsu Incorporated board of directors and hereby, all profits from the stocks, trusts, bonds, products, and anything else shall be directed towards…

 

Her frozen fingers flipped through the pages and she shook as she saw her own signature down at the bottom, right next to Ichigo's.

 

A hostile takeover.

 

“We've been taken over, liquidated, decimated…” Mr. Ukitake shook his head and looked away from her as if he could not stand the sight. “What did he promise you, Rukia? What could he have possibly given you that would have given you incentive to commit such a horrible act?”

 

“I—I…”

 

“It was Kurosaki,” Mr. Yamamoto cut in, his gravelly voice running over her skin like razor blades. “Such a common trick it is… the young man seduces the young woman in order to get what he wants.” He gave her a glare as cold as ice, “Or… in this case, what they both want.”

 

He folded his hands on the top of the table, rustling his beard a bit in the process. “You, Ms. Kuchiki, are disgusting. To betray your own company in the favor of sexual exploits is revolting. Women like you shouldn't exist. You're a disgrace to this company, an embarrassment to your family, and a shame to your sex. You have accepted bribes, consorted with criminals, and enabled one of the most profitable companies in the entire hemisphere to be taken over from behind by a cunning and despicable man interested only in the thrill of the kill.”

 

He narrowed his eyes and gave her the cruelest stare she had ever received in her life. “Because of you and your hormonal stupidity millions of people will lose their jobs, their retirement funds, and their only means of survival. You disgust me.”

 

Rukia was quite sure that she flinched but at the moment she couldn't be sure. She could not feel any part of her body.

 

“You are henceforth dismissed from… what is now Suigetsu Incorporated.” Mr. Ukitake said, his voice softer compared to the frigidity of Mr. Yamamoto's. “You are not to set foot on the premises again. Please realize that we would take legal action if you were still a part of the Gotei Corporation. However, since you are not and neither are we,” a look of bitterness crossed his face and he swallowed hard, “It is not within our power to do so.”

 

His head turned and he looked her straight in the eyes. “Goodbye, Ms. Kuchiki… I'm so disappointed in you.”

 

Rukia could do no more than get up on wobbling legs and exit the room, the pictures clutched in her hands.

 

Her world had indeed come crashing down around her.

 

*~*~*

 

He lied to me.

 

Her feet led her across the courtyard.

 

He made me fall in love with him.

 

She was in front of the doors.

 

He was just trying to get promoted.

 

She pushed through the revolving glass.

 

He tricked me into signing the papers.

 

Her heels clicked on the floor as she stumbled to the elevators.

 

He was doing all the takeover work behind my back.

 

She stepped inside and stared vacantly as she rode upwards.

 

He made me love him so I wouldn't doubt him.

 

People got off and people got on.

 

He didn't ever care about me.

 

The music played in the background.

 

He was just using me.

 

Floor after floor.

 

He never wanted me for anything.

 

Some people gave her funny looks as she waited for her floor.

 

He was just doing his job.

 

She just kept going up and up.

 

I was his job.

 

The elevator dinged once.

 

He was sleeping with Inoue on the side too.

 

The doors slid open.

 

Did he make her wait for him so that he could seduce me?

 

It was her floor.

 

They were kissing.

 

She was the only one left in the elevator.

 

He was going into her apartment.

 

She stepped out.

 

He was two hours late.

 

Her footsteps carried her across the padded floor.

 

He was seeing her all along.

 

“I always wondered why he was constantly around you.”

 

Rukia's head moved to the side and she blinked blearily at the woman now speaking to her. Orange hair, large chest, and a pretty smile that, right now, looked wicked and pleased.

 

“What?” She croaked, her voice creaking and flat.

 

Orihime Inoue was sitting in her office chair and leaning against her desk, one elbow propped on the table, and the other listlessly tracing a pattern on her short skirt. A terrible smirk graced her expression and she raised an eyebrow. “Mr. Kurosaki,” she said, her voice as chipper and as happy as ever, only this time, there was self-satisfied malice lacing her tone. She leaned back in her chair and smirked, “I always wondered why he was with you all the time. I mean… honestly, you're not really very pretty.” She cocked her head to the side, as if considering it, and shrugged, “But I guess you must be good in the sack. But really Rukia, in his desk? An elevator? The parking lot? Please… you're more like a big hoe than a big-shot corporate lawyer.”

 

A horrible pounding was beginning in her temples, her eyes were hot and itching, and her chest was imploding.

 

Her jaw trembled as she stuttered, “H—How… did…”

 

Inoue smiled and then let out a harsh giggle. “Oh please… pictures that delicious? Someone just had to put them on the internet.” She tossed her hair behind her shoulder and snorted, “I bet the whole building knows by now.” She cocked her head to the side, “Waiting for Ichi to do all this was a lot of hard work, you know. I understood though. I waited. But now that you're through, I'll have him all to myself again.”

 

Rukia began backing up, her breathing was erratic and her heartbeat was panicked. Her bloodshot eyes lingered on Inoue as she walked. That cold, evil, smirk was taunting her, mocking her, belittling her. She turned around and ran. Her body pelted forward to her office door and she grappled wildly with the doorknob, her lungs were heaving and her throat was closing and her eyes were burning and her body was shaking.

 

She flung the door open and propelled herself inside. The door slammed shut and she pressed her entire body against it. She was shaking so hard. Her body… it felt like it was collapsing. Her legs gave out from underneath her and she stumbled wildly against the ground.

 

“Rukia!”

 

Oh God… please no… please, please, please no…

 

She heard his chair propel backwards and hit the glass window. His shoes made sounds on the carpet as he strode forward.

 

“Rukia! What's wrong? Why are you…? What happened…?” He knelt down next to her and started to wrap his arms around her body.

 

She twisted as quickly as she could and pushed him backwards. He grunted and fell onto the carpet of their office. She gasped as she rose from her crouched position and rushed over to her desk. Her bag swung on her hip as she moved and blindly, she pulled everything off of her desk that she could find.

 

Why did I come here?

 

Ichigo got up swiftly from his position on the floor. He stood and didn't even bother brushing off his clothes. He came towards her as quickly as he could but she moved to the other side of her desk, avoiding him at every possible angle. She did not look at him. She couldn't.

 

Ichigo frowned quickly and she heard the rate of his breathing increase. His voice was deadly serious as he demanded. “Rukia what the hell is going on? Did someone hurt you? What happened? Tell me.”

 

She stared down at her desk. Her vision was blurring with tears. Her stomach was writhing with pain and anger. Her heart—if it even existed anymore—burned in agony.

 

Two tears fell onto the top of her desk.

 

Ichigo sucked in a breath and immediately started to come around the desk.

 

He wants to hold me… to comfort me… make the pain go away…

 

But he started the pain.

 

How long is he going to keep up this farce? This joke? How much longer until he gets the go-ahead to go back to Inoue? How much longer is he being paid to act like he cares?

 

Rukia felt the tears building again. Her body shook as he rounded the corner and reached out his hand.

 

Paid…

 

His hand was inches away from her shirt.

 

To act…

 

She could practically feel his heat permeating her skin.

 

Like he cares…

 

“Don't touch me!” She screamed, her body jerking away from his. She slammed back into the wall and slid as far away from him as possible.

 

She was breathing hard and her body was tingling. Ichigo jerked backwards and thrust his hand up into the air, his eyes were wide and pinned on her and his mouth was parted slightly. Confusion covered his face and he blinked as if to clear it.

 

“Rukia,” he breathed, “Calm down. I'm only trying to help. I—”

 

“Shut up!” She shrieked, she lurched forward and grabbed senseless items from her desk. A stapler, a paper clip dispenser, and post-it notes were shoved roughly into her bag. Ichigo stood beside her, watching with uncertainty as she took more and more things.

 

“W-What was I?” She stuttered, tears and pain lacing her broken voice. “Some job? Did Aizen pay you off? Were you supposed to distract me enough so you could get a better promotion? A bigger office?”

 

He stared at her, slight fear showing in his face. He didn't understand.

 

She couldn't take it.

 

“What was I?” She shrieked.

 

Her hands found her Chappy the Rabbit mug and she grasped it tightly in her fist. In one wild swing she pelted it over her head and at the window. The mug shattered against the paned wall while the glass behind it cracked infinitesimally.

 

“Rukia!” He cried, coming towards her again. This time, he grasped her shoulders tightly and tugged her close to him. She could feel his warmth as his hands clasped down on her struggling shoulders. He was trying to look at her but she wasn't letting him. She was desperate to get away. His scent, his touch, his strength… it was making her want to melt from the inside out. It was making her want to collapse in his arms and cry. It was making her want to tell him everything and beg him to explain it.

 

But she couldn't. She already knew what was going on. She didn't need to hear him lie to her.

 

“Stop it, Rukia,” he said, his voice louder than her gasping attempts to escape, “Tell me what's happened, tell me what's wrong! God damn it Rukia! I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong!”

 

“You've done more than enough!” She shouted, finally looking him in the eyes. Those beautiful, lying, honeyed-amber, deceitful, and smoldering eyes of his. Her mouth trembled as she fought back tears.

 

Rukia felt his body tense and knew, in that second, that he was going to pull her into an embrace. One from which she wouldn't be able to escape. She knew that once she felt his arms around her every bit of her would be lost.

 

So she did the only thing she could think of doing.

 

Rukia's fist connected with his stomach and her knee hit him in his inner thigh, close enough to his privates to do damage. He grunted and fell back immediately, his body curling into a protective ball. Knowing that she only had a few minutes she bolted from behind his body and shot towards the door.

 

Her eyes blurred with tears and her breathing was labored to the point of dizziness. She turned around and fought back a sob, “I hate you, Ichigo Kurosaki. I hate you.”

 

She tugged open the door and bolted out, not even caring that everyone in the hall could see her. She raced forward, desperately seeking the solace of the elevator. Her limp, trembling feet, carried her towards the metallic doors and she pushed the button frantically. She heard the door to their office open and Ichigo come out.

 

She pressed the button again and again and again.

 

Finally, the doors slid open and she passed through the small crack as quickly as she could. She saw him running towards her and she shoved her thumb against the close button. Again and again she pressed it until the doors finally slid shut. He was only three feet away from her.

 

Her body thudded against the wall of the elevator and with several trembling sobs she sank down onto the cheaply patterned carpet.

 

Don't do it Rukia… don't do it… don't cry Rukia… don't cry… she begged herself, rocking her body over and over and desperately trying to claw her way into a standing position. Her nails scraped against the wood of the handle bar and her lungs heaved with the effort it took not to start screaming.

 

The effort it took her to actually raise herself from the ground made every muscle in her body scream in pain. Stumbling blindly, the elevator doors opened and she threw herself out of them. Her legs protested angrily as she half-strode, half-jogged, across the lobby and shoved her body through the revolving doors. A few people protested as she hurried them along but she didn't pay them any attention. Her eyes were on fire as she moved.

 

Just get to the metro. She told herself, even the voice in her head was sobbing. Just get to the metro and you'll be fine.

 

She was halfway across the shadowed courtyard when she heard him.

 

“Rukia!”

 

She sobbed at the sound and fought to quicken her place. Her legs wouldn't comply and she stumbled against the stones, crying out roughly as the skin on her hands was scraped away. She hissed and sobbed at the feel of the burning lacerations on her palms. Her knees slid against the rock and blood blossomed underneath of them. The fabric of her skirt ripped up to her mid thigh.

 

Then he was there, pulling her up, tugging her against him, folding her into him and touching her palms with his gentle fingers.

 

Rukia thrust him away but this time he held on as tightly as he could. Her wrists were prisoners to his larger hands. She sobbed as she tried to get away.

 

“Let me go,” she cried, tears now streaming down her face. “Let me go let me go let me go!”

 

“No!” He shouted, shaking her desperately. “Not until you tell me what's happening. Tell me what's wrong!”

 

“You know what's wrong!” She shouted, her voice carrying through the courtyard, causing several people around them to turn and glare at the disturbers of the peace. Her eyes watered to the point where she could see nothing of his face but his remarkably orange hair. Oh how she loved his hair.

 

I can't love it.

 

“Get off of me!” She shouted, jerking her wrists from his hold and stepping back as far as she could. He followed her instantly but she put her bleeding hands up, trying desperately to ward him off. She couldn't… she just couldn't…

 

“How could you?” She demanded in a whisper, her voice now being choked by her own throat. A sob rose up again but she forced it down. “How could you?” She asked again, still backing up, still glaring, still accusing. Ichigo was following her but she didn't want him to…

 

Yes you do. You want him to hold you and kiss you and tell you everything is going to be alright.

 

Rukia shrieked and clapped her hands over her ears, as if that would stop these thoughts from coming to light.

 

“How could you do this to me Ichigo?” She shouted, bending over at the waist and trying to breathe. He came towards her to try and help but she shoved him away.

 

“Rukia… I don't know what…” his voice was quiet, unsure, and afraid. His body language, his tone… everything about him…

 

He was paid to care.

 

“Was I just some toy?” She half-shouted in a voice as raw as a newborns first cry, “Just some plaything that you could have to pass the time before you got your big promotion and your big new office?” She drew in a deep, deep, breath and knew that soon enough she'd start to hyperventilate. She jerked her head over to his and clenched her teeth. “Did I ever mean anything to you?”

 

“Rukia,” Ichigo said, his hand reaching out and grasping for her face. She smacked his hand away and he stumbled slightly from the movement. But he didn't stop. “Please, I don't understand. Tell me what—”

Thunder rumbled above them and a light drizzle began to fall as she surged forward and shoved him hard in the chest. He grunted and stumbled slightly but instantly regained his balance. Rukia brought her hand up and wiped away the tears now streaming from her eyes. It was then that she saw an emotion in Ichigo's eyes she'd never thought she'd see.

 

Fear.

 

He knows that I know, her mind howled in abject agony, he knows and he's afraid that it'll get out!

 

Rukia shook her head and cupped her hands over her mouth, sobbing over and over. “You… made me… love you…” she cried, new tears blossoming in her eyes as she spoke the words she wanted to keep hidden inside of her heart. “You made me fall… in love… and I was nothing but a… but a… toy. I will never forgive you, Ichigo Kurosaki!”

 

It seemed as if the sky was mimicking her in her desolate actions. The moment she pulled her hands away from her mouth and turned from him the clouds opened and rain began to pour, drenching everything and anything underneath of them. Her legs, which had been all but dead a few moments ago, came to life with a power even she wasn't fully aware she had. Rukia ran as far and as fast as she could, sprinting across streets, darting along sidewalks, stepping into and out of newly formed puddles, and finally bolting down into the metro station.

 

The next thing she knew, she was standing in front of her apartment door, soaked and crying, her fuddled brain not even remembering how she had gotten there. It didn't matter though. Nothing mattered anymore.

 

Get inside, a voice in her head cooed, get inside and it'll all be over. You won't have to hide the pain.

 

Her hands numbly worked on the locks and she pushed the door open. It thudded against the wall and came swinging back. She narrowly avoided it as it returned. Her body dragged itself inside of her apartment and she flipped on the lights.

 

She wasn't prepared for who she saw sitting on her couch.

 

 

 

 

(A/N: We had the calm and now we have the storm.

 

Tell me what you think.

 

REVIEW!!!)