AN: Hello! This is my first Bleach fanfic! Pleae read on and tell me what you think about it. Rating is M for slightly mature contents.

The most embarrassing day of my life

It was Love at First Sight. As corny as it sounds, and as unbelievable as it is, I, Kuchiki Rukia, fell in love with my boss the very first time I laid my beautiful (if I may say so) violet eyes on him. It was my first day at work, and I was so nervous and excited as a newly recruited, waiting to be escorted to my own department where I'll be spending most of my waking hours. And then, he appeared, stepping up to the podium in front of the small meeting room. The orange-haired Greek god in all his Armani-suit glory! I stopped breathing for a full 3 seconds; it felt like the longest 3 seconds in my entire life! Then my heart started hammering loudly in my ears. I could feel my face slowly warming up to a blush. At that moment, I knew he was the One.

He opened his mouth to say something, but I couldn't hear anything, nor did really I care. I focused on his lips working their ways to form the words in slow motion and I had to swallow hard. Oh, those lips! I was practically beginning to pant. My eyes roamed over his body on their own volition. He was tall and lean, just how I liked my man to be. He was wearing the standard – and boring – black suit with a white shirt and navy blue tie, but I'd never seen anything so stylish or becoming on a man of business. Well, it was Armani after all, but that's beside the point. He had long, long legs that seemed to go on forever and the way he stood on his left leg with his hand shoved in his pocket just screamed the bad boy sexiness! He waved his other hand in the air as he was trying to make a point to the other recruits – that included me too, of course, but as I said, I was not listening. Strong-looking hand with long fingers… That thought alone sent a stirring shiver down my spine. OK, I gotta calm down and think straight! I reprimanded myself. But my gaze returned to his face, and I nearly began to drool. He had a beautiful jaw line, as if it was chiselled ever so carefully by a master sculptor. It was set hard, which could have indicated his stubbornness, but I liked my man to have some backbone. And his lips! It was a wonder that I'd not melted at that spot and turned into a puddle of soft creamy custard. There was something so… sensual about the way he moved his lips to speak. The way only a corner of his lips would lift sometimes to give him a cocky impression.

And his eyes! They were the intense amber that I've never seen on other people before. They looked so serious, accompanied by his frown. Huh, his frown? He was frowning? No, it looked more like a scowl. But he didn't look angry or annoyed. The scowl seemed to be his usual facial expression. I was just beginning to daydream what his face contorted in ecstasy would look like, when I felt those strong eyes looking straight in my direction. Maybe I was imagining things, but his scowl deepened. Eh? Eh, eh, eh? Whoa, was he really looking at me? My mind screamed. A little flustered, I turned my head sideways to make sure he was looking at me, and found out that actually, everyone was looking at me. Eh?

"Are you listening?" he spoke in a low husky voice. Oh, my days! That's the voice I've been tuning out until now? I groaned inwardly. He lowered his eyes to my chest and I nearly blushed. But I knew he was just looking at my name tag because the next thing he said was the sexiest thing I've ever heard in my short life.

"Kuchiki."

On a normal day, I'd have wished the ground to open up and swallow me then and there – no, on a normal day, I'd rather die, quartered and left for wild animals to feed on than be caught gawking at my boss; but instead, when I heard him say my name like that, I just wanted to purr and wrap my tail around his leg. That is, if I had a tail.

"Yes, sir," a weird squeaky sound came out of my mouth and I had to clear my throat. "I am listening, sir. Please, continue."

Unfortunately, he continued to scowl at me and some of the other girls giggled. I laughed drily myself and tried to look demure. I had made an impression on him – whether good or bad, I'll worry about that later – and now he knew my name! I squealed in my heart like a hyperactive teenage girl high on an extra chocolate bar. I knew I was going to love working at this company with him.

Boy, was I ever so naïve.

"Okay people," he continued, with a distinct sigh of resignation. "Now, I'll take you to the office and allocate a desk for each of you, though for the first few months you guys won't be sitting at those desks most of the time. Instead, you'll be staying close to your assigned mentors, which I'll hand out the list in a moment, in order to learn what's going on. The mentors are either senior analysts or associates, in other words, your direct superiors and you will be taking your daily instructions from them. Any questions so far?"

I had to fight the urge to shoot my hand up and ask him if he had a girlfriend already. I know, it sounds so juvenile and corny but that's how he made me feel!

He moved towards the lift and we followed him in. The list of mentors was being handed out.

"Don't worry too much about the first few days, because honestly, there's nothing much you can do right now. But we will train you. We will teach you to be efficient and creative; we'll improve your problem-solving skills, analysing skills, even interpersonal and presentation skills. Soon you'll be contributing one hundred and two percents of your potential to the Seireitei and making a real impact to the lives of the people around us. You are handpicked by us, the best among the bests, so be proud, brag and boast or whatever but most of all, be competent and professional!"

Everyone was touched and rather overwhelmed by his speech. I wondered if he was the head of HR or something. But he looked too young to be a head of anything.

The lift made a 'ding' sound and the door opened.

"Welcome to the Seireitei Corporate."

My eyes met with the typical image of a busy office, buzzing with people talking, discussing, typing furiously at the keyboards, shouting on the phones, running about with piles of paper, dropping everything they were carrying, throwing calculators at each other (huh?) and swearing when the said calculator hit the head of receiver.

"It's kinda chaotic right now cuz of the system break down at Rukongai just last night," my Prince Charming added apologetically. "So that's it from me, people. Now scram."

I gazed fondly at his retreating back and sighed contentedly. Bye for now, my darling, I thought to myself. I vowed that as long as we were in the same company, he'd hear about me soon.

We the new recruits found desks with our names on and began to settle down. I sat on the comfy looking wheeled chairs that can turn round and round, and swept my hands on the light beige desk. So this was me. My place. My little territory where I can work as hard as I usually do, enjoy interacting with many different people, and get recognition as the best junior analyst by my Prince so that he'd be awed by my brilliance and kneel in front of me to confess his eternal love for me. (OK, I'm sounding corny again…) Ah, that was the time when I could still dream. I was still so young and inexperienced, which I'd realised just a day later.

"So who's your mentor?" the girl on my right-hand side asked. She looked like a pleasant enough girl but rather dull. Not too bad for my first office friend.

"It says here 'Kurosaki Ichigo'. I wonder who it is…" I said.

"What?" the girl bent down and gripped the arms of my chair hard. "Your mentor is Kurosaki Ichigo? And you don't know who he is?" she nearly screamed in my face.

"Well, seeing as this is our first day at work…." I replied, accentuating 'our' for her benefit.

"He's the guy who just showed us around! You know, the orange-haired hunk! Didn't you hear him when he introduced himself?"

Well, obviously, no. I was too busy drooling over him. So she thought he was a hunk too. I wondered if I'd have a lot of competition. Hold on, if my Prince was Kurosaki Ichigo, that meant…!

"He's my mentor?" I shot up from my chair and stared into her eyes.

"You are very lucky, Miss Kuchiki," the girl said. "Not only is he the hottest guy around here, but he's also the youngest person to have been promoted to a junior partnership ever in Seireitei, and I heard a rumour that his income has finally hit that dreamy six-figure number recently. All that accomplishment and only twenty-eight. He's one of the biggest catches in business world!"

I narrowed my eyes and glared at her.

"How do you know so much about him?" I asked.

"Office gossip, my dear," said the other girl on my left-hand side. Unlike the pleasant looking girl, she was very striking and… Well, very voluptuous. Her cream coloured shirt looked like it was about to lose a few buttons around the chest area and pop open. I felt myself pouting, looking at her well endowed erm, assets, which didn't need to be encased in an expensive push-up bra to create any semblance to a cleavage. Like some people. Like me. Grrrrrrrr.

"But we just arrived," I replied. "When did you have time to gossip?"

"You are a rather slow top, aren't you?" the big-breasted girl spoke in her sing-song voice, her eyes half closed in a seductive way, and I glared at her. "As soon as they sent me the Congratulation-You-are-Accepted letter, I searched everywhere on the internet for juicy bits of gossip about Seireitei and its workers. Need to be prepared for what you are about to face, you know."

"As for me, I paid a visit to the secretarial department on an Open Day for some info," the pleasant girl said. "Always the right place to go if you wanna know the behind-the-scene facts."

Both of them giggled. I was left to look like a fool who did not do her homework for the biggest moment of her life, but instead of being indignant, I decided to act indifferent.

"I'm not very interested in gossiping."

"Oh, sweetie!" I scowled at Mrs Cow Breast for her patronising endearment. "But Office Gossip is the only life you'll ever get in an office!"

"That's sad," I said.

"Working is sad," she replied, patting her auburn hair lightly. "I'd rather be pampered to death by a rich husband with streams of diamond necklaces, sapphire earrings, private spa and masseur in your house, limousines, fur coats and…."

She finished her sentence with a loud moan and I cringed. What was up with her?

"You're funny," the mousy girl giggled. I almost snapped and fumed at her. No self-respecting girl would ever find that little charade funny! Women shouldn't degrade themselves as to willing to become a part of men's trophy. We women were equal in strength, intelligence, motivation, stamina and so on, if not better! There was no reason at all to belittle the position of women like that! And… I'm digressing from the main point… All those words squirted up my throat but I patiently forced them down. I knew these girls would just look at me as if I'd just sprouted another head on my shoulder, like my old friends used to do. They told me I was 'weird'. I told them that I was merely standing up for my own sex. Seriously, if we don't protect our own worth, then who's gonna do it?

Anyways, while my office neighbours discussed and giggled about the rich bachelors presiding in Seireitei over my head, the interphone on my desk rang. It was beeping red and the little screen on it showed the caller's number, 1501. All three of us looked at the phone and I felt a sudden rush of gratification and reality filling my belly. I really was a part of the Seireitei Consulting Corporate! It was good to know.

Nervously, I picked up the phone.

"Hello?" I said, cautiously.

"Please come up to my office, Miss Kuchiki," said the voice of a man I've been fantasising about since… half an hour ago. He didn't even bother to identify himself, but I just knew it. Before I could say anything in reply, though, he hung up and all I could hear was the beep beep beep of the after tone. Straight to the point and no beating about the bush. Very good. Very good! I liked him more and more by the minute!

"He's calling me," I told the other girls.

"Who is?" asked the mousy girl.

"Mr Kurosaki."

"That was quick," the sexy one whistled low.

"He must be very eager to start!"

"Now, remember sweetheart," the big woman dragged my chin with her fingers and pulled my face closer to hers. I know I am a female species, as well as her, and I am damn straight, but I still found her pheromone-filled allure irresistible. She blew lightly on my lips and I gulped loudly. "Kurosaki Ichigo does not have a six-figure income for nothing. He was not promoted to a junior partner in just five years for slacking either, you know. Be sure to expect many sleepless nights of unceasing work, and work, and work!"

She pronounced 'work' as if she was saying the s word.

"I – I'm not afraid of working hard," damn, I stuttered.

"Sure, sweetie," she said, releasing my chin. "You definitely look like it."

"I better get going…" I stood up with a notepad and pen in my hands.

"Oh, by the way!" the sweetly mousy girl interrupted me with an exclamation. "I'm Hinamori, Miss Kuchiki. Hinamori Momo."

I knew that from the beginning. We were all wearing friggin' name tags! I just didn't want to acknowledge that I was on the 'name' basis with these gossipy girls. On the other hand, I wasn't such an icy bitch as some people made me out to be.

"Rukia is fine," I told her with a smile.

"Then you must also call me Momo," she returned the smile and asked the girl on my left hand side. "Can I call you Rangiku too?"

"You can call me Ran the Sex Bomb, babe," she said and Momo giggled. Weirdos.

I left them to chatter away and floated away to meet my Boss/Prince Charming/the One. However, I had to stop and turn back to those girls only after a few steps.

"Where is his office?"