Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

A/N: Hi-hi! I'm back with another HitsuxRin (ToxRin) fic! This one is inspired by the many chick flicks I've watched in the past.

I'd like to give a shout-out to Kurt Kieser and dedicate this story to him. He's an awesome friend, a great writer and is also the whole reason why I posted this story earlier than anticipated.

Happy reading!

Favour For The Devil

The woman was as good as dead. She knew it the moment her boss, Kagayami Ren, personally called her to his office. Though many could argue that it meant nothing, his employees knew better. Ren was somewhat of a sadist, so when he personally called an employee to his office it meant that he was going to fire that person's sorry ass.

Karin gulped nervously as she made her way to his office. During the eight months she had been working there, she knew she had done nothing wrong. And yet in spite of that, she was still being called to his office.

'Maybe it's nothing serious,' she silently argued. 'Maybe the guy's just calling you because you're his secretary.'

In spite of what she thought, she couldn't convince herself to stay positive. And the chatter between her co-workers weren't helping either.

"Poor thing," said a voice. "She never had a chance."

"It really is a shame," said another.

"A shame? Ha! I'm glad she's leaving!" replied an annoying voice.

"Well I'll be!" said a rough one, sounding more impressed than sorry. "Kagayami-san usually fires his employees after two years. The girl hasn't even made it through her first year, let alone her second one."

Karin could not believe that she was going to get fired. To think that she held her tongue every time he shot her one of his snooty comments –though her mind was filled with profanity– and didn't even glare daggers at him –at least not until his back was facing her. She was the modeled employee.

'Whatever,' she thought bitterly. 'When he says it, I swear I'll wring his neck!'

When she entered his office, a sickly sweet voice greeted her. "Welcome, Kurosaki! Please sit."

She nodded suspiciously, not liking the tone in his voice one bit, and sat in the chair provided for her.

"So how's everything? I hope I'm not working you too hard."

Karin couldn't believe her ears. Was he seriously asking her this? And what the hell was with that fake expression?

"Everything's fine, Kagayami-san," she answered slowly. "How about you?"

"Oh please, just call me Ren."

"Uh, sure thing… Ren…"

"Oh, you know how it is. It's all work and no play," he laughed. "What about the position? Do you like being my secretary?"

"Of course," she lied, faking a smile. "I love working with you, Ren."

"You're being way too nice, Kurosaki. I know I've been a pain lately and I'm sorry for that. It's just been really hectic here."

That raised a red flag in Karin's mind. Not only was his sweet voice literally suffocating her, but Kagayami never apologized to anybody in his life. Something was definitely up.

"Cut the crap, Ren, and tell me what's really on your mind," she rudely replied. Hey, if she was going to get fired anyway she might as well go out with a bang.

Hearing her tone, the man's smile disappeared. "So you finally decide to show your true self. It's about time! I was beginning to wonder if I hired an idiot!"

Karin was seething inside. If only looks could kill.

"I hate it when my employees lie to me, you know?"

"Have you looked in the mirror lately?" she retorted, her tone getting even uglier. "'Cause I sure as hell know that I wasn't the only one acting."

He smirked. "My, my. I really like this attitude of yours. Nice and feisty."

Karin rolled her eyes. If the man was going to fire her, he better do it before she decided to do it herself. Anything was better than hearing this crap. "Look, if you're going to do it; just say it already. I don't have time for this."

"Fine, Kurosaki," he replied, a little annoyed by her attitude. "I need you to do me a favour."

"A favour?" she asked, arching an eyebrow. There was no way her boss was asking her for a simple favour. With him, there was always a catch.

He grinned evilly. "Yes, and I know certain someone who has been begging me for a promotion. What was it again? Oh yeah, the junior editor slot."

Karin knew who he was referring to and swore to God that if it wasn't illegal she would have killed him by now.

"As you may already be aware of, Gotei Thirteen Publishing has always come on top somehow always selling more books than any other publishing company. And unfortunately, Rukongai Publishers has always followed suit. Because of this outbreak, we have been getting less and less authors; some have even left our company for theirs."

"And what do you expect me to do?"

"I'm getting there," he hissed through his teeth. "The reason for their success is due to their star editor, Hitsugaya Tōshirō. Not only does he have superb skills in editing, but the man works so fast that even if his client's manuscript is late, he still manages to finish the final editing before he sends it off to be copy-edited. Weeks later, after the novel has been published, the author's book somehow becomes a bestseller, just like that.

"What I want you to do is to find a way to stop their editor from doing his job by their next deadline, which will be in about two weeks starting on Monday. Do that and I'll happily grant you your wish."

"That's all you want me to do?" she asked disbelievingly. "Missing a deadline hardly sounds that bad."

"On the contrary, Gotei Thirteen Publishing thrives on being on time. If they mess this up, their morale is sure to fall. And that'll give us enough time to get back on top."

Somehow, Karin knew this was going to end up badly, but to turn away from an opportunity like this was to walk away from gold itself.

"And how the hell do you expect me to do that?" she questioned. "How do you expect me to stop this guy?"

"You're a woman for crying out loud! Don't you know anything about distracting a man?" The room fell silent before an idea popped into his mind. "You're going to date the sucker, make him fall in love with you and dump the poor sap; dump him real hard."

"What? I could never—"

"Okay, let me say this another way. I'm not asking you anymore. I'm demanding it. So you're going to do it whether you like it or not."

"Excuse me? I don't have to do anything, Ren." She spoke his name with such disdain.

"Is that so? Well, my dear secretary, how about I make your life a living hell?"

Knowing where this was going, Karin had had enough. If the man was bringing out the threats, then she was going to quit. "I don't deserve this shit! You think I'm scared of you? Think again!"

Unfazed by her response, he grinned maliciously and said, "Are you sure you want to do that? I know a lot of people in high places who'd make sure you never get another job ever again."

Karin stared into his green eyes fiercely, never giving up her ground until she realized that she couldn't give up on her dreams. For her, becoming an editor was like following in her mother's footsteps. Although she would never admit this out loud, the whole point of her doing this was so that she could get to know her mother even more. She wanted to know why Masaki loved literature as much as she did when she was still alive and why she chose this profession. She could have been a teacher for crying out loud!

She sighed. "You win. I'll…I'll do it."

"Good girl," Ren said, smiling. "Why don't you take the rest of the day off? It'll be the first of many nice gestures provided that you do the job right, of course."

Horrified by how she was easily played, Karin quietly left his office.

"So, Kurosaki," said a man the moment she closed the door. "When will you be leaving?"

"I'm not leaving," she told them. "Kagayami just asked me to do him a favour."

Everyone in the room gasped.

"Are you serious? Please tell us you refused," begged a woman.

"Actually, I agreed."

"You what?"

"What's the big idea?" Karin asked, now a little annoyed by their reaction. "He didn't really leave me any choice."

"Then you should have quit," said another. The voice came from a man in the far back.

"Why?"

"Every time he asks a favour from any of us, it's always something illegal. So we always say no despite the consequences. Since you're always cooped up in that office of yours, you obviously had no idea. Why don't you just quit while you still can?"

"The whole reason I decided to take it was so I could reach my dreams. There's no way in hell that I'm going to quit!" Her co-workers were getting on her nerves and she had no idea why. Were they her friends or were they her enemies?

"So you'd rather go to jail for him?"

"I never said it was something illegal. I just need to date some guy and dump him later. No big deal."

"Hm…" said the man in front of her. "Let me guess… Is the lucky guy, Hitsugaya Tōshirō?"

"How did you know?" she asked, surprised.

"Sweetie, you're better off getting hit by lightning because you're never going to get a date with him. Better good looking women have tried and failed miserably. So why don't you save yourself the tears and embarrassment while you still can?"

"Well excuse me for being me! Now get out of my way!" she yelled and took the elevator down to the lobby. What the hell was that guy thinking, calling her 'sweetie' and telling her off like that? Now more than ever, Karin was determined just so she could show them who was right.

The moment she left, the man sighed. "Looks like she's a lost cause. Five thousand yen says that she'll fail miserably by the first day and come back crying."

"I'll take you on!" replied another man. "Except, it'll be over before it even gets started."

"You guys are idiots! Obviously you don't know her as well as I do. I bet twenty thousand yen that Karin will win the guy's heart, but then she'd have to quit because she'd pick him over her job."

"Are you sure you're willing to bet that much money, Midori?"

"No, I'm just betting that much because I love to spend my money," she answered sarcastically. "What are you, an idiot? Of course I'm betting that much!"

"You're insane."

"No, I believe the correct term is 'daring'."

"Whatever." He rolled his eyes and turned to the others. "So who else is in?"

"I'll join!"

"Me too!"

"Don't forget about me!"

-0-

When Karin got home, she was irritated beyond belief. "Urgh!" she yelled and slammed the door.

Hearing the sound of the door, a beautiful woman sighed as she twirled her long periwinkle hair into a messy bun. It's one of those days, huh; she wondered and greeted her friend.

"Okay, what happened now?" she asked, though it didn't really sound like a question.

"Idiots! All of them!"

"Your seniors attacked you all at once again, didn't they?"

Instead of answering, Karin let out an exasperated sigh, which by the woman's standards meant that she was on the right path.

"Did they show you up again?" she asked.

"No, worst."

"They embarrassed you in front of your boss?"

"Even worst."

"A giant man-eating tree was delivered to your work and ate half of your co-workers," she teasingly answered, waiting for her friend's reaction.

"If only!" she huffed and Fiammetta laughed. "Then I wouldn't have to see their ugly mugs anymore."

"So dish already! I'm dying to know!"

"Ren," she answered, hissing his name through her teeth, "asked me to do him a favour."

"That doesn't sound that bad."

"You didn't hear what the devil wanted."

"Go on."

"He wants me to date some guy just so he can miss a deadline. It's stupid, really."

"So who's the poor sap?"

"The star editor of Gotei Thirteen Publishing. Some guy named Hitsu… Hitsugay Shirō… or something."

"Hitsugaya Tōshirō? As in the Hitsugaya Tōshirō?" she asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah, that's the one. Do you have to sound so shocked?"

Fiammetta shook her head. "It's just… Wow, you really have your work cut out for you. Hitsugaya Tōshirō is not a guy you want to make enemies with. Besides, he's not the type to date. He has such a distant personality. Almost impossible."

"Not helping here! And you call yourself my best friend."

"I am! That's why I'm telling you the truth! There's no point in beating around the bush."

Karin rolled her eyes and sighed. "Easy catch or not. I don't know if I can do it. I'm not that pretty and, let's face it, I'm not much of a lady's man."

The sudden thought of dating again brought forth some self-conscious issues that Karin had trouble with in the past. In spite of it being several years ago, his words literally shattered her heart.

Her best friend saw her discomfort and patted her on the shoulders. "Karin, don't do this to yourself. Those guys were jerks and blind to not see past your pure beauty. You've got a natural look that not many women have. Now stop being a letdown and perk up already."

"You know as much as I do that I'm not going down that road again."

Karin was devastated when her last boyfriend broke up with her a couple years back. He kept telling her how ugly she was and how violent she acted. Heck, he even went as far as to tell her that he'd turn gay because of her. And even though those words really wounded her, the agonizing pain only deepened when the man did it via text –he was far too scared to do it in person since Karin was a fourth degree black belt. He even went as far as to send her a picture of his new girlfriend, claiming that this was what he looking for in a woman.

"I think it's about time you got yourself back on the market. You need someone better to brighten your life and this favour is just what you need."

"No way! Besides, I thought you just said he was unattainable."

"I never said he was unattainable. I said it was going to be hard. He's not the type to socialize with people, let alone random strangers; and from what I've heard, the only women he speaks to are his step-sister, Hinamori Momo, and his cousin, Matsumoto Rangiku. Also, if you get too close there's a possibility that he'll push you away just like the millions of girls he's already rejected."

"Very encouraging. I just love your spiels," Karin replied sarcastically.

Ignoring her reply, she said, "Relax! When I'm done with you, there's no doubt he'll be begging for more."

"Excuse me? Who the hell gave you permission to do anything to me?"

"That's the beauty about being best friends," she answered and smiled. "We don't need to ask for anything. We just know."

Karin thought about it for a minute and said, "Fine, let's say that hypothetically I say yes. How the hell do I ask him to go out with me?"

Fiammetta scoffed. "Karin, Karin, Karin… It's like you don't even know me. Whose uncle owns the most extravagant hotel built everywhere in America, Japan, England, France, and China?"

"Yours."

"And whose hotel always gets booked for fancy parties?"

"Your uncle's."

"And who'll be attending a party tonight that just so happens to be hosted for the Gotei Thirteen Publishing?"

"You," the woman answered, trying to avoid going at all costs.

"Nice try, but we're both going. First, we'll have to go shopping!"

"I don't think so! Me and shopping go just about as well as cats and dogs."

"Oh just shut up and come with me!" Fiammetta retorted, grabbing her best friend with extreme force despite her petite size, and hauled her out of their condo.

Karin sighed and decided it was best not to struggle. Despite how she looked, Fiammetta could be quite persuasive whenever she wanted to be.