So, normally, I don't like doing these kind of fics (you know, use the characters but in another world situation), but for some reason this popped into my head and I can't get it out. I mean, Ichigo as a rock star? Yes, please. Well, hopefully you'll forgive the change and give it a go! Enjoy.

I stood in front of the mirror fixing my hair. "Hajimemashite, Kuchiki Rukia desu." A frown graced my features. For a Japanese girl I sure sounded and looked stupid speaking my own language. Living in the US for 15 years didn't help, and I'm sure my pronunciation was going to be like nails on a chalk board to these guys. Or girls? Weren't there two girls, too? I flipped through the files I had absently put on the sink and nodded to myself. Two girls, two guys. Kurosaki Ichigo, Hitsugaya Toshiro, Hinamori Momo, and Arisawa Tatsuki.

My phone started beeping from my bedroom and I dashed for it. "Kuchiki."

"Yo." It was obvious from his voice Shuhei shared my current state of exhaustion. "I hope you're up and dressed."

I looked at my Chappy pajamas and sighed.

"Because they just arrived at the airport."

"They WHAT?" I could hear Shuhei groan at the pitch and force of my voice. "They weren't supposed to get in until tonight!"

"Well, you're right, the rest of the band will be here tonight, but the lead singer… Ichiro is here."

"Ichigo," I corrected. I rushed across the room to my laptop and pulled up the train schedule. "Fuck, Shuhei, I'll never make it anywhere near on time, you're going to have to deal with him."

"Like I said, I hope you're up and dressed."

"What?"

"I'm outside," he sighed and a car horn honked in the background.

I groaned and hung up the phone. So much for Shuhei meeting Ichigo by himself, magically remembering Japanese, and taking this horrible project away from me. I wanted to go back to mixing sound for overrated divas that only last a week in the business before going back to being cocktail waitresses. I didn't want this US-yellow-fever breakout band from Japan which promised to be nothing but massive sleep loss, long hours, and no thanks whatsoever. And all because I'm the only one in the office who could still speak Japanese fluently.

I threw on whatever I could grab from the closet, matching and style sacrificed for time. I gathered what I thought I could need and threw it in my bag before sprinting out of my apartment and down to Shuhei's car. He had lit and cigarette and was leaning back in the driver's seat.

"Those will kill you," I grumbled as climbed into the passenger's seat.

"Not before they kill you, Rukia, and that's all that matters to me."

I scowled, making him erupt into laughter. With our regular morning banter dispensed, Shuhei and I spent the rest of the ride into the city silent. Driving or train, we weren't going to make it there in time to actually meet Ichigo, causing me to dig my hands into the seat with my nerves. But Shuhei, as always, was calm and unaffected. He lit another cigarette and turned up the radio, singing idly to the music.

We pulled into the parking deck, me leaping from the car as soon as it came to a stop. I could hear Shuhei chuckle (since I knew he would simply take his time, our job be damned) as I jetted into the building. Knowing the elevator would take forever I opted for the stairs. Since the stairs were not my usual choice, by the time I got the office I was so out of breath I thought I might puke.

I took a few deep breaths and walked into Shuhei's office, sending a weak wave to his secretary.

"Morning, Rukia."

"Hey, Tori," I gulped, still trying to slow my heart down. "Did he get here, yet?"

"Yup, been sitting in the office for the past half hour." Just like Shuhei, Tori was the epitome of calm. When she noticed my distressed reaction she laughed. "Go on in, I'll bring you some tea in a second."

I nodded. Ugh, why was everyone so calm? Our biggest client had been sitting in our office for a half an hour and no one was worried? All these rock stars were drama queens! Ugh, I was fucked. I finally, and agonizingly, opened the door and walked in, almost running right into a tall, orange-haired man.

"Ah, ohayo gozaimasu. Hajimemashite, Kuchiki Rukia desu." I bowed slightly.

He laughed softly. "Hey. Name's Ichigo, nice to meet you."

I shot up straight and pointed at him. "You can speak English?"

He nodded, a smirk on his face. "And you can speak pretty good Japanese."

"Thanks…" I tilted my head in confusion. Why was I here if he could speak perfect English?

"Don't sound so disappointed," Ichigo smirked. "The rest of the band can hardly speak a word of English, so you'll still get to use it, especially with that cute little American accent."

Cute? Was he flirting with me? I was sure I was blushing. "I'll have you know I was born in Japan, thank you." I tried to sound indignant but there was probably a stutter or two in there. My aggravation started to rise, that smug look on his face, thinking he was being so smooth. I opened my mouth, ready to assault him, when Shuhei and Tori walked in. Lucky for him. Hmph.

Shuhei extended a hand to Ichigo and he took it, shaking. "Glad to finally meet you."

"Pleasure's all mine." There was that smirk again! Ugh, it was so irritating! Smug bastard.

As if reading my mind, Shuhei shot me a look. He took my tea from Tori and shoved it at me, very nearly given me a boiling bath. "I see you've met Rukia, she'll be your main sound technician."

"She looks a little young. You sure she can handle it?" Ichigo laughed and I thought about giving him a boiling bath, but that would be a waste of tea.

Shuhei chuckled. "She'll be fine." He leaned in to Ichigo, acting as if that was going to stop me from overhearing anything he had to say. "Though, watch it, girl's got a temper."

Oh, he was asking for it.

Ichigo sent a smile my way and, damnit, I melted a little. NO! This was no happening. I took a gulp of my tea, trying to find something to draw my attention to so I could excuse myself from the conversation. Possibly get out of here and to a place that lacked both of these imbeciles.

"Well," Shuhei checked his watch. "I doubt your friends will get here with any time for us to record today. Do you know where you're staying?"

"Oh, I have the address!" Tori took a notebook out of her back pocket and shuffled through some pages, finally finding the right one. "They rented you a three bedroom, just like you asked, Mr. Kurosaki."

Three bedrooms? Last time I checked there was one of him.

Tori pulled out the page and handed it to Shuhei who instantly went to pass it off to me. "I think Rukia can take you there, can't you?"

I eyed Shuhei wearily. "Since when am I an escort?" I hissed lowly at him.

Shuhei shoved the piece of paper in my face. "You can take Ichigo, can't you, Rukia?"

I snatched the paper from his hand and growled, shoving my tea at him in return. "Of course," I answered with thick, syrupy sweetness. I held out my hand, "But I'll need your keys, sir."

Oh, the how the look of terror on his face brought warmth to my heart. One thing about Shuhei: his car is his shrine. He stared in horror at my hand for a moment and then turned to Tori. "Get Rukia the keys to the company car, won't you, Tori?"

Tori checked a few more pockets until pulling out a set of keys, handing them to me. I marveled at her ability to hide things on her person for a moment before turning to Ichigo. "Ready?"

"Lead the way."

I shot one last look at Tori and Shuhei (maybe Tori didn't deserve it, but I had long ago melded the two of them into one person) and then trudged out the door, Ichigo on my heels. I stared at the address intently, trying to use my subpar knowledge of New York to figure out where the hell this place was.

Ichigo had tried to instigate conversation a few times while in the car, but I was still in a tiff. That didn't stop me from stealing glances at him, secretly categorizing him. He didn't seem to be the usual rock star mold. He hadn't really been arrogant, but playful and easy going. No, ok, too many positive adjectives in that sentence. He was, after all, incredibly smug.

I snapped my head back to the road, finding that he caught me looking. He laughed, not in a way to make me feel uncomfortable, but it felt as if he was encouraging me. Or that was just my imagination. I sighed.

"Have you lived in America long?"

"Since I was 5."

"And that would be how long ago?"

"15 years."

"You are young."

I scowled. "Oh, and you're so old! You're only 26."

"Been following me, huh?"

Now I knew I was blushing. "No," I stammered. "I had to read your file. I was made responsible for knowing everything about all of you."

"Everything?" His voice almost seemed… scared.

"No," I made myself smile and he relaxed. "The files reminded me of those stupid Tiger Beat interviews, you know, what's your favorite color, what's your sign, that idiotic stuff."

"So what is my favorite color?"

Surprisingly, a genuine laugh snuck out of my mouth. I almost couldn't believe it. I stole a glance at him and I found him already staring at me, his eyes soft and happy. This blush would now never go away. Luckily, I only had a few more moments trapped in the car with him before I found the parking deck for his building. I pulled into a spot and stopped the car, hopping out.

"You're coming in with me?" He hesitated.

"Um… yeah, I guess, is that alright?"

There was a pause and he seemed to consider it a lot more than I thought he would.

"If it's not… I can just go. You know, I'll just go." I went to climb back into the car.

"No," he cleared his throat, his voice gaining back its strength. "No, it's ok, come on."

"Ok…" I locked the car and we walked into the building together. It wasn't exactly your normal rock star abode, but I had a feeling that Ichigo wouldn't have asked for marble floors and Jacuzzis. But it was nice looking, clean, and didn't have bars on the windows. "Wait, we don't have the keys!"

"Ah, no, but I'm sure someone will already be there to let us in." Ichigo smiled, but it was nervous.

Ok, this was turning weird. I had an eerie feeling, like this was some start to a horror movie, and I was going to be the first one to die. But, me being me, I shrugged and went with it. We got in the elevator and went all the way up to the top floor, and then all the way down the hall, to the last apartment.

Ichigo knocked on the door and, surprisingly, I heard footsteps. The door opened a crack and I saw a dark brown eye staring at us. It widened with happiness and the door flew open. "Ichi!"

"Hey, Yuzu!" He picked up the smaller girl and squeezed her.

My face started to get hot. So he had a girlfriend. What am I saying? Like I care! I shook it off (or at least tried to) and smiled at the young lady that was now looking at me.

"Hi, I'm Yuzu!" She started to move her hand to shake but laughed bubbly and threw her arms around me, hugging me tightly.

"Yuzu!" Ichigo sounded scolding and loving at the same time.

"Sorry!" Yuzu relinquished her hold on me and giggled. I'm just so excited to be here and-"

A cry erupted in the background.

Without a word, Ichigo snuck past Yuzu and disappeared into the apartment.

"Oh, I woke her," Yuzu whined, disappointedly. "Oh, but, please come in! I'm sorry, what did you say your name is? Brother is so rude, doesn't introduce anyone."

Brother! "My name's Rukia," I answered, trying to match her bubbly personality.

I let Yuzu pull me into the apartment. It was obviously still very sparse, having only been moved in today, but Yuzu had definitely done some work. Also, the place smelled great! She must been cooking something.

"There she is!" Yuzu beamed past me and I turned, seeing Ichigo carrying… a baby!

"She feels a little warm," Ichigo scowled, looking the baby over.

"She just woke up from a nap, Ichi, you know she gets toasty! Especially when Auntie Yuzu wraps her up all cozy!" Yuzu took the baby from Ichigo, twirling her and giggling as the baby smiled.

I looked from the baby to Ichigo, seeing that he had watched my visual progression. The two were identical. And Auntie Yuzu. So that meant… his child.

"So, yeah," Ichigo said softly, his eyes slowly shifting away from me. "This is my sister, Yuzu, and my daughter, Ren."

I read his face for a moment. I am by no means a stupid girl, and it was suddenly become apparent that Ichigo wasn't very good at hiding his emotions, so I couldn't do anything but smile at him. Maybe I being a little overconfident, but there was a good possibility that he might like me (notice all the speculative words I used there!)… and I'm sure that bringing home a girl to meet you daughter hadn't been a positive experience before.

"May I?" I held my arms out to Yuzu and she instantly relinquished the baby to me. Honestly, it had been the first time I'd ever touched a kid, let alone a baby. Thankfully, Ren seemed to think I was adequate and stared at me, cooing. "Hello, Ren," I smiled softly, using my free hand to smooth her soft orange hair.

"Hey, Ichi, are you going to be staying for a bit? I wanted to run out to get a few more things for dinner."

"Hm?" I looked at Ichigo just in time to see him finally shift his sight from me to Yuzu. "Oh, yeah, sure, go on ahead."

"Ok! Be back in a little!" Yuzu kissed Ichigo on the cheek and then Ren on the forehead before skipping out the door.

The door closed and we looked back at each other but stayed silent for a while, the only sound being Ren as she cooed and played with my hair.

Ichigo finally cleared his throat. "Uh, I… I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Ren."

I laughed at him. "One, it wasn't really my business, and two, who could care after meeting her?" I lifted Ren in the air, finding myself unable to hide a wide smile as a shrill giggle erupted from her.

"Why don't you sit, she gets pretty heavy after a while." Ichigo motioned towards the couch and we both sat down. I placed Ren between us and started going back and forth between the two of us, playing with whatever she could get her hands on.

"It's none of my business, but…"

Ichigo shrugged, "Haven't heard from her since Ren got out of the hospital."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." I looked at him and found him staring at Ren, a brilliant smile on his face. "I don't worry about it anymore. She's got so many people, awesome people, that I think she'll make it just fine."

As I watched Ichigo lean in to kiss Ren, watching her grab at his hair, a child so obviously deeply in love with her father, I was overcome with the urge to be a part of it. My sane mind was ridiculing me, shouting about how seriously insane it was to instantly want to attach yourself to a person you barely knew, someone I just met a few hours ago. But there was just something so different about him.

"Rukia?" I noticed his face had turned to worry and realized that I had been spacing-out, lost in the idea of somehow… being with him.

"Sorry, just thinking." I giggled softly and reached out for Ren, placing my hand over his on her head. For once it was not me blushing but him, his skin turning so warm under my touch. Ren crawled into my lap and Ichigo took the opportunity to slide closer to me on the couch.

"Hey, Rukia…" Normally, when people got this close to me I automatically adopted that closed body language but instead I found myself leaning even closer to him, our shoulders almost meeting. "This might sound weird…"

Today had become so strange to begin with that I couldn't expect him to shock me in any other way. As long as he wasn't about to tell me to get the hell out, I was good. "What is it, Ichigo?"

"Let's go out sometime."

I smiled widely and nodded, hugging Ren a little tighter. "I'd like that very much." Ren had pulled herself up, pressing her little body against my chest, her head resting on my shoulder.

"Though, it seems like Ren wants you all to herself." Ichigo laughed and leaned in to pull her away but stopped, inches from my face. "She likes you." But it sounded like that's not what he wanted to say.

"I think she's asleep," I murmured, moving closer to him. There was hardly a distance between us, allowing me to easily slip her back into Ichigo's arms. "Ichigo?"

"Yes?" He hadn't in anyway moved away from me, almost sandwiching Ren between us.

"Kisushite."*

Ichigo did as he was told.

Note(*): For those of you unfamiliar with Japanese, this is "Kiss me!", written キスして. Though, I'm not going to vouch that this is 100% correct, since only a year's worth of Japanese classes at college doesn't make me fluent (sadly)!