A/N: Well, well. Lookey here. I've got a new story! And its an AU this time. Never tried it before so please, spare me the agony of reading mean reviews ;) So, umm... enjoy?

Disclaimer: Don't own Bleach for nuts.

I stared at the mirror, daydreaming. Again. There were a million things running through my mind, but there were two in particular that were the most prominent to me right now.

The most important performance of my life would begin in approximately one and a half hours -not to mention the fact that the most sought after instructors, principals and teachers of the famous Arts schools around the whole world were here at the famous Royal Victoria Hall in England to watch. They were looking out for young, talented, and promising dancers to offer a place in their academy.

I've had my eye on the Shirayuki Ballet School for a long time. It was, after all, my dream to be a part of their team; to be able to do what I love and enjoy every minute of it. If I managed to clinch a position, the Kuchiki elders would probably stop pestering me to further my studies in Business. I had absolutely no passion for that; there was no need to think twice about the answer I gave them when they handed me the chance to get out of the Kuchiki business and pursue a career in Ballet.

The other thing on my mind was actually giving me more of a headache than my performance, which was surprising seeing as I had basically been waiting my whole life for this opportunity. The thought made me tremble slightly, as a wave of flashbacks and memories of him -with him- overcame me.

The way his gorgeous amber eyes would brighten when he came home from school and see me waiting at the door for him, or the way he loves -but refuses to admit it- carrying me around our apartment on his back when we're alone. Or even the way we would just smile and stare at each other, everything around us fading into oblivion.

The onslaught of emotions held my mind prisoner to the outside world right now, barely registering the alarmed voice calling out my name. I was shaken out of my trance when I felt something collide with my head, causing me to stumble a few steps forward.

"What the-?"

Very confused and slightly shocked, I looked down to see a pair of pleading baby-blue eyes staring up at me. The arms around my waist tightened when I tried to pry the young girl's fingers off of me. I sighed in defeat when I realized this wasn't going anywhere. When I looked down again, I couldn't help but let a muffled laugh escape my lips. How did I miss this before?

"Rukia? Could you help me with my makeup? I suck at it. And I think I just made my eye look like someone punched it," Rose whined, and then gave a little squeal when I poked her cheek.

"It's not that bad. I barely noticed it," I shrugged after seeing the damage on her pretty little face. But the horror engraved on her face was enough to send me into a fit of giggles.

After a few seconds, my heavy chuckles faded out, finishing in a breathless wheeze. She huffed and turned away, embarrassed at being laughed at.

"Oh, Rose," I murmured out disapprovingly, still slightly out of breath, "What the hell did you do?"

I had seriously thought she was exaggerating, but apparently not. She had mixed pink and blue eye shadow together making it look like someone really had punched her in the eye. Plus, it had smudged a little making it look like a quarter of her face was bruised.

Rose was a fellow dancer, and a great one at that. I was actually secretly envious of her. She was one of the most beautiful girls I had ever set my eyes upon. Her long blonde hair was soft and smooth looking, ending in gentle waves at the small of her back. For the performance, though, her hair was tied up into a high ballerina bun with strands of hair framing the sides of her face. Her high cheekbones, bright blue eyes with long eyelashes and slim, long legs completed the whole perfect look. To sum it all up, she looked like a freaking supermodel. But she was such a nice girl, a kind of person that proved the saying, 'never judge a book by its cover', true. She was one of my best friends since I had moved to England with him. Him. Why does it always have to go back to him?!

I sighed and looked up at my blonde-haired friend..

"I know, I know. I look horrible," she groaned. "Can you fix me, Rukia? Is there enough time?" she asked glancing nervously at the big clock that hung at the back of the dressing room.

One hour till show-time.

"Yeah," I sighed once again. "Could you try removing the make-up first, sweetie? I'll get back to you in a sec."

I ran over to my backpack and plucked out my phone. No missed calls, or messages. I sighed heavily.

Kurosaki Ichigo, my bestest best friend, had gone to New York for a course on the 'Newest Discoveries in Medicine' for the last month. I would've gone too, if not for this important performance. A surge of sudden anger swelled up inside of me. Couldn't he call to wish me good luck? I knew he wasn't coming for the concert, but couldn't he at least text me? Ugh. Some best friend- well that's probably all I'll ever be to him. Who the hell cares anyway?! I sure don't! No wa-

Who am I kidding? I wanted to be more than friends. To make my already down mood worse, I missed him. A lot.

"Rukiaaa!" Rose squeaked, waving a hand in the air. I trudged over to her, feeling almost forgotten and abandoned.

"Hey, are you okay?" Jared asked; I hadn't noticed him watching me.

"Yup. Sure I am. Why?" I asked, shrugging nonchalantly. I shouldn't be this affected by Ichigo. It wasn't healthy.

"Has he called?" he asked calmly, a knowing look in his eyes.

"No," I pouted childishly.

He snorted, a smirk starting to form on his face. "Guess that explains the ugly face."

"What are you talking about? And who the fuck are you calling ugly?!" I was starting to get irritated.

"Oh, c'mon. We're not imbeciles. You're in love with him, and its time you told him, Rukie-baby. Besides, you're gonna have to get some action some time soon," he grinned and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

I felt my cheeks burn, and I had to resist the urge to smack that grin off his face. I simply closed my eyes, lifted my chin up, crossed my arms and turned my head towards the right. "I have no idea what you're talking about. And don't call me Rukie," I snapped.

If there was any other thing that irritated me that was on par with them teasing me, it was that stupid, horrible nickname he invented. It annoyed the hell out of me.

"Ouch. You're in a bad mood. Maybe I'll tell him for you?" Jared asked.

"NO! I mean, no t-thank you," I stammered after my sudden outburst. "Please, don't do anything like that. It would be disastrous to our friendship, and to me." Incase he doesn't like me, I added to myself.

He laughed; I picked up a slight edge of irritation laced in his tone. "If you're afraid he won't like you, you're an idiot. And he's an idiot for not noticing you like him. I mean… its soooo obvious!"

"Shut up, Jared," I mumbled, annoyed that he knew what I was thinking. "I so do not like him."

I tried not to think about why he was irritated; I had overheard him talking to Rose about how much he liked me… really liked me.

"Whatever. We believe you," he said, blinking and smiling innocently.

I glared at him. "I appreciate your effort at being sarcastic," I replied acidly, my voice flowing thick with sarcasm and irritation. I was too annoyed to be polite and nice to him.

And how the fuck did they find out in the first place?

I grabbed Rose by the arm and led her away from the bad influence, as I affectionately called him. We walked to the corner of the dressing room and stopped when I was sure he couldn't overhear anything.

"Uh, Rose? If I asked you something, swear you won't tell anyone…."

"I swear!"

"How did you figure out I… you know." I looked down at the floor nervously. "Loved him?" I whispered the last part just in case.

"OH MY GOD! I knew it! I knew it!" She squealed excitedly and started jumping up and down on the same spot.

My eyes widened and I looked around quickly. "Shut up! Everyone's gonna hear you!" I hissed.

"Whoops, sorry. Okay, okay…" She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, making me go crazy with the suspense. "Every time you talk about him, you get this far-away look in your eyes and start blushing. You look like you're high. Seriously. Though the first time I suspected it was when you showed that picture from your wallet and my cousin said he was hot. You were insanely jealous, I could tell. She could too, apparently." She giggled. "She asked me later if he was your boyfriend, and if that's why you were so pissed."

I let out a low hiss.

Stupid, stupid, stupid Rukia. I made it so obvious. If they knew, he was sure to know! Crap! This was just great.

"Hey Rukie, Rosie! Hurry up, will ya? I wanna do some more stretches and then squeeze in a small rehearsal before the big show. You girls are always so god damn slow!" Jared shouted over to us.

"We will if you stop calling me that, Jaredette. And who put that 10-foot pole up your ass? Jeez." I grumbled, and then rolled my eyes. He was obviously still annoyed, and apparently, so was I.

He snorted, and grumbled something I didn't catch.

I opened my mouth for a counter attack but Rose poked my stomach, trying to get my attention, and pointed to her face and the make-up in my hand.

"Oh, right," I mumbled apologetically.

Rose just gave me a bright smile and skipped off to the seat in front of a mirror. As I moved towards her, I gave one last withering glare to Jared who was smirking, trying to hide it with the water bottle he was drinking from. I huffed and turned away with as much dignity as I had.

Rose was smiling happily and twirling around in her rolling chair when I joined her, but I could detect a certain glint in her eyes that made me cringe inwardly. I knew what was coming, and hopefully, she wouldn't be that harsh with her questions. But as I looked into her blue orbs once more, I saw something that I couldn't place. It seemed like… mischievousness? Or was it like… she knew something was going to happen?

"So, when did you fall in love with him?" Ah, there we go. The interrogation starts.

I sighed and turned her chair away from me and faced it towards the mirror. I opened the blue eye shadow compact, reached around her to apply it to her eyelid when I paused and looked down on my lap.

"I fell in love with him the minute I saw him…"

I looked up and my hand continued its journey towards her face, but as I looked towards the mirror, I froze. My eyes widened to huge proportions and I felt my heart literally stop beating, but at the same time, I felt it beat 100 times per second. How could-? It was not possible-!

"Who have you fallen in love with?" the low, husky -and postively sexy, I added to myself- voicealmost as deadly as the way he looked then.

There he was, in all his glory, standing there with the most ferocious scowl I had ever seen on his face. His hands were at his sides and I could see his fingers tightening into a fist as his palm turned pale, white almost. I breathed out heavily at the sight of his handsome form reflected in the mirror.

"Ichigo…"

A/N: So...? Acceptable? God, I hope so.

And remember to review! My other story, What Flour Bags Can Do To You, still hasn't gotten enough reviews for me to update, too. But it is, afterall, your choice if you want me to update B)

May the Force be with You,

DOTWM