Author's Note- Hello, Everyone! This is my first one-shot and I hope you like it. It's an AU set in modern time where Byakuya is a prince. He has to have an arranged marriage because he didn't find a wife in the time his grandfather gave him. This tells the story of how he and Kiko Kimura met. I hope you enjoy and don't forget to review! Also, the second story in this series is up and is called Life After Love. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Bleach characters. I only own my OC and the plot of my story.

Life Before Love

"I have to do what?" Kiko yelled. She glared at her mother and the royal messenger.

"You are to be married to Prince Byakuya Kuchiki. You are the one chosen by King Ginrei and the royal council," the messenger explained again. He looked like he wanted to hit the angry girl.

"Kiko, this is an amazing opportunity for you. You'll be married to a prince!" her mother said.

"You mean that this good for you. I don't want to get married yet for one. Two, I don't want to marry that ice-cold jerk!" Kiko exclaimed.

"Miss Kimura, please don't speak that way about the prince!" the messenger said. Kiko just glared at him.

"Why was I 'chosen' for this anyway?" she asked.

"After the prince's parents died when he was young, King Ginrei had to retake the crown. Now, the king is getting too old and he needs to pass the crown on to the prince. He can't do that until Prince Byakuya has been married for one year. Prince Byakuya didn't find a wife in the time he was given. So the king and royal council looked through all the eligible girls in the country. They decided that you would be the right one for the prince," he explained.

"Well, it's royalty so I can't refuse. Just let me pack a few things and you can take me to the palace," Kiko sighed.

When they got the palace, Kiko wouldn't get out of the car. The messenger had to beg to get her out. Eventually, they walked into the throne room. Kiko put down her bag and bowed to the king.

"Hello, child," the king said. She looked up.

"It is an honor to be here, Your Highness. I am honored that you chose me to marry your grandson," she said. The king could tell she wasn't happy about it at all. He sent one of the palace guards to get Byakuya. He walked into the room and stood next to his grandfather.

"Kiko Kimura, this is my grandson, Byakuya. Byakuya, this is Kiko Kimura. She is the one we have chosen to be your bride," the king said. Byakuya nodded and Kiko bowed.

"I'm honored to be engaged to you, Prince Byakuya," Kiko said to him. He looked her up and down.

"Don't lie," he said in a cold voice. "You resent me, my grandfather, and the council. You're angry with us," he said. Her eyes widened with surprise.

"H-how did you know?" she asked. He looked away.

"I can tell. Your body language and your eyes show your true emotions. You should learn to control that," he replied. She glared.

"How dare you, you…you…"

"Well, are you going to finish?"

"You pompous, arrogant jerk!" she yelled. She ran off down one of the hallways. A couple guards ran after her.

"Take her things to her room," the king told one of the servants. Then, he turned to Byakuya. "Byakuya, you shouldn't upset her on purpose like that. She's going to be your queen." The servant took her things and Byakuya just stood there. "The two of you are going to need to spend some time together. Maybe then you will be able to tolerate each other enough to rule a country."

Kiko had managed to run to a garden. She sat down on a bench next to a large fountain. She started to mumble to herself.

"Stupid, stuck-up jerk. I'm supposed to marry that guy? Ugh! Arranged marriages are completely stupid! I can't believe I actually agreed to this."

"Miss Kimura! Miss Kimura!" She looked up when she heard a voice call her name. The head of the guard and his second in command appeared, breathing heavily. The red-haired guard spoke.

"Miss Kimura, I am Renji Abarai, the head of the palace guard. This is Ichigo Kurosaki, my second in command." The orange-haired man nodded.

"Please excuse the prince. That's just the way he is," Ichigo said. Kiko scoffed.

"Yeah and I'm supposed to marry that," she replied. The guard frowned.

"Also, we are supposed to show you to your room. I will be leaving so I can rejoin the prince. I'm the prince's personal guard. Ichi here is yours," Renji said. Ichigo frowned again.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?" he yelled. Renji laughed.

"I'm your superior officer and I'm telling you to shut up. Please come with us, Miss Kimura," he said. She got up and followed them to her room.

Kiko's room was huge! There was a large bed and a huge closet filled with clothes that fit her perfectly. She was completely amazed. Soon, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," she said. Ichigo stepped into the room.

"Please put on something nice. You are going to have dinner with the king and the prince," he told her.

"Oh, great."

Kiko and Ichigo walked into the royal dining room. She had on a simple black dress that accentuated her curves, unlike the hoodie and jeans she had on when she'd first arrived. Her brown hair was up in a curled ponytail. Byakuya's eyes widened a millimeter at how beautiful she looked. She took the only empty seat at the table.

"Thank you for dining with us this evening, Kiko," the king said to her. She smiled at him.

"It's my pleasure, Your Highness," she replied. The servants started to bring out the food. That had a nice dinner without much talking. When they were almost done Ginrei spoke.

"Kiko, Byakuya, since you two are to be married, I have made an agenda for the two of you. You will be spending the entire week together. Then, next week we need to start the wedding plans," he said.

"Not to be rude, but I have to spend an entire week with him?" Kiko exclaimed. Byakuya snorted.

"Have you not realized that we are supposed to spend the rest of our lives together? A week will be nothing," Byakuya said. Kiko sneered at him.

"Oh, excuse me for not wanting to think about the fact that I'm being forced to marry to a stuck-up, spoiled jerk!" she yelled. "Please excuse me, King Ginrei." She stormed out of the room, her heels clacking against the floor.

"That girl really speaks her mind. That's a good quality to have, Byakuya. Shows she's not weak you need a strong woman," Ginrei said. Byakuya just shook his head.

Kiko was back in the garden. Ichigo had followed her but he stayed out of sight. She just sat there, staring at the fountain. A few branches on a bush moved and Kiko looked up. Byakuya stood there, looking down at her.

"You look very nice," he said.

"you don't look too bad yourself, Prince Byakuya," she replied.

"Please call me Byakuya." Kiko smiled.

"Okay. Byakuya."

"May I sit?" he asked. She nodded they sat and talked late into the night.

The next morning, they had breakfast together and the king had Byakuya show Kiko around the palace. It was enormous! The next day they walked through all the gardens. Even Byakuya's private sakura garden. Kiko was amazed at the beauty.

"These are amazing! The gardeners must be really good," she said.

"Actually, I take care of this garden myself," Byakuya replied.

"Really? Wow! You've done such a good job!"

"Thank you." Kiko started to walk through the garden and tripped over a tree root. She started to fall, but Byakuya got in front of her to catch her. He started to stumble backwards and ended up falling with Kiko on top of him.

"Oh. Um, I'm sorry." She giggled nervously. They just laid there looking at each other for a few seconds. Then, Byakuya placed a hand on the back of her head and pulled her down to meet lips. His hand tangled into her hair. She started to kiss him back as his hand that wasn't in her hair slid around her waist. He held her to him tightly. She felt his tongue against her lips and she opened her mouth. He eagerly slid his tongue in and explored. Soon they had to pull apart for air. "Wow," she breathed. She looked at his and saw that the only emotion showed was in his eyes. His face was as cold as ever. Kiko stood up quickly. "It's almost dinner time. The king might be angry if we're late," she said as Byakuya stood up.

"You're right. Let's go," he replied.

"Um, but your clothes…" Byakuya looked down to see dirt streaks on his pants.

"I'll go change first." Kiko giggled.

Things went on like that for the rest of the week. Kiko and Byakuya got closer and closer. At dinner on the last day, the king could see how they were looking at each other.

"My plan worked perfectly," he thought. When he finished his dinner, he got up and walked out with a slight grin on his face. Kiko shot Byakuya a confused look. He only shrugged. After they finished, Byakuya walked Kiko to her room.

"Kiko, this week has completely changed my opinion of you. I used to think that you were just a loud-mouthed girl who had no self-control. But I see now that I was very wrong. You are a strong, outspoken woman. I would like to give you this ring. That is, if you still want to go through with this. And, I love you," he said. He pulled a ring out of his pocket. Kiko smiled and put her arms around his neck. She kissed him and whispered against his lips when she pulled away.

"Of course I will. And I love you, too, Byakuya." He kissed her and put the ring on her finger.

"Let's go tell my grandfather."

A/N- Yay! I'm so happy that I wrote this! A plot bunny attacked me in my dreams and gave me this idea. Plus, another plot bunny attacked me for the next one in this one-shot series that I'm doing. The series is the 'Life' series. If you keep reading the next ones you'll know why it's called that. Anyway, thanks for reading and don't for get to click that little review button down there! Thanks!

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