AN: Enjoy.

Title: Symptoms of a downfall

Pairing: StarkxRukia

He bumped into her on his way to the Law firm. A girl, young, maybe a little older than high-school age, her unrepentant stare made it clear that she expected him to apologize for a minor scrape that happened to be her fault to begin with.

"Are you alright?" Stark being a gentleman, at least in his own opinion, politely questioned. The hand he extended, was rudely rejected as the girl got up unassisted with more than a little of a sneer curling her upper lip. "I'm fine," she replied haughtily, tugging the bottom of her gray uniform down. No thanks to you, her hostile violet eyes seemed to say.

"Er…" he glanced at the face of his watch, mentally tallying up his client list for the day, then decided he had some time to spare. "How about stopping around the corner for a coffee? My treat."

She did not take it the right way.

"Are—are you picking up on me?!"

"N-No!" feeling the stares of the passerby on them, he lowered his tone, "I just—"

"What?"

"Wanted to apologize properly," he found himself saying softly, even though minutes before he had considered it her fault. The girl's face lost some of its hardness, her mouth relaxing to a straight, compressed line. "Oh…no. You don't have to. I—you're a Lawyer, right?" she finally studied him, immediately deducing from the black briefcase and neatly tailored suit her assumption correct.

"Yes. I work…right here," Stark waved to the large building behind them. The girl glanced then turned bright; burning eyes to him, "say…I have a legal question to ask."

"Um…alright. Go ahead."

"Later on today, I have an appointment in one of the offices in there. It's about custody—my brother recently died and—"

"I'm sorry to hear that," he interrupted.

"Thank you." She continued on impatiently, "He was my adopted brother and because I'm still under-age I'm to go to the next of kin. An Uncle, I've never met is to be my guardian. Now my reasoning is, am I allowed to choose—I can take care of myself," the girl assured him with a steely glare, "Or will I have to go along with whatever my brother's will says about my care?"

Stark thought a moment. Though, he didn't say anything, he was reminded of a bothersome appointment of his own later on in the day, involving one of his distant relatives…something pertaining to familial matters too.

"Well…" he began carefully, "you've never met this man. For all you know, you'll meet him and instantly hit it off and then there won't be any problem of care. Otherwise I believe you'd have to honor the stated wishes of your deceased brother, blood-related or not."

The girl nodded slowly, agreeing, "makes sense. Heh, spoken like a true barrister dedicated to the law."

Was that…supposed to be a compliment?

It hadn't really sounded like one.

Stark however, decided not to take the girl too seriously, "thank you for the compliment," he said, mock-bowing which made her laugh. "See you then, mister Lawyer," she sobered, backing away, "maybe we'll see each other later."

"Yeah…maybe." He watched her take off in the opposite direction, school bound obviously. Stark shook his head, then, realized he hadn't asked her name. Oh well. She probably would've thought it another pick-up tactic. Turning to enter the door he had been distracted from opening, he spotted something on the ground. The receipt from a Library with someone's name on it; her name…

Rukia Kuchiki.

Must've fallen out of her bag, he assumed, without thinking stuffing it into his pocket.

But something did bother him for the first few seconds before his secretary; Rangiku bore down on him, with a disgruntled client at her two-inch heels. That name. He'd heard it somewhere before…

Now he remembered.

His elder sister had married a man named Kuchiki.

What a coincidence.

~~~To be continued-? ~~~

A/N: don't own Bleach. Do I smell crack bunnies at work here? Grins :D so how'd you like it, hmm? Please review and let me know!