Rejoice, Busted readers! The prequel has finally arrived! I'd like to thank all those who reviewed, favorited, and story-alerted my first fanfic! You all know who you are my lovelies! XD And since several of you insisted on publishing the prequel, I decided to skip my nap-time (yes, I frequently take one when there's no school ;)) and made the very first chapter to my first multi-chapter Operation Keep Ichigo Away! I might not become a regular updater, but I'll try my best to update at least once a week!

Be warned. This chapter's mostly IchiRuki than HitsuKarin, the latter pairing will not make a personal appearance here. But don't worry, they might be more focused on the next chapters.

Ideas and Suggestions are welcome! ;)

Enjoy watching Ichigo's misery! XD

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. If I did, Hitsugaya and Karin would've already met in the manga! ;)

Distraction Week #1: Rukia

It's been a week since Karin told Rukia about her secret romance with Toshiro Hitsugaya. Well, it's actually not much of a secret anymore. Not since a certain gossip and overexcited Lieutenant decided to spread the word around Gotei 13 about helping Rukia keep Karin and Toshiro's relationship a secret from Ichigo.

Of course, everyone decided to play along for the fun of it. A few elder Captains were quite doubtful at first, but shrugged it off afterwards seeing that it wasn't much of their business anyway. Some, if not all, were just plain curious as to see how Ichigo would react if they're found out. Most especially his favorite red pineapple of a rival. Yuzu, Isshin, and the rest of the human Nakama were also informed, and they agreed to keep things secret for now until the right time comes.

Now that Ichigo's back from an educational trip from Hong Kong, it was time to take action! And who would help keep the strawberry's attention away from his sister first if not for his own fiancé?

Yes. It's time for Rukia to make her move.

Distraction Plan #1: Revealing the Wedding Planner

"Tadaima!"

"Welcome back, bakamono! How was your trip?"

Rukia asked as she skips happily to the door to greet her fiancé, giving him a short peck on the cheek before skipping back to the kitchen, much to Ichigo's curiosity.

"A bit boring, but manageable. You look as if someone's given you a free ticket to Chappy Wonderland. Heck, you don't seem to miss me at all…" Ichigo said sarcastically as he threw his giant duffel bag on the living room couch.

"Oh? Whatever do you mean, my beloved strawberry fiancé?" Rukia chirped while mixing a nice hot pumpkin soup, something she recently learned from Yuzu. She was happily humming to herself, moving her hips from side to side as if she was following a certain beat.

Ichigo's eye gave a twitch. Something was definitely up.

"Um, did anything happen while I was gone?"

Rukia paused slightly, reminding herself that she had to tone it down a bit. After all, she can't let Ichigo know about her future sister-in-law's romance. Ah, it reminded her of the beautiful but sad love story of one of the books she found in Ichigo's room, a play from a guy named Shakespeare called "Romeo and Juliet". She just hoped that Karin and Hitsugaya's love story wouldn't end up in tragedy like the story's. And if possible, Ichigo wouldn't be the one to cause it.

"Rukia?"

Rukia blinked, snapping out of her thoughts, and then plastered a soft smile on her face.

"Nothing. Just thinking about how much I missed you…" she said, looking away while trying to hide the blush on her flawless cheeks. It wasn't exactly a lie, she thought to herself. She did miss him a lot. After all, he is going to become her future husband. The thought made her smile inwardly, not entirely believing that she was about to marry the man whom she gave her powers to 7 years ago.

They have gone through a lot, ever since he agreed to become a substitute shinigami in her place. When she was taken back to Soul Society to be executed, he and the rest of the human Nakama braved the mighty Gotei 13 just to save her. Then there was the Winter War, and Ichigo losing his powers. It was painful for both of them to be separated for 17 months. But ever since that fullbring incident when she helped restore Ichigo's shinigami powers, she and Ichigo tried to spend as much time as possible with each other. That is, if she wasn't busy with her Lieutenant duties and Ichigo finishing medical school. But now that Ichigo's finally graduating and Rukia's given the whole weekends off, they've continued to keep their relationship intact.

And look where they are now. It wasn't easy for the both of them to realize that what they had wasn't just some sort of special friendship.

Ichigo's expression softened, a tiny smile tugging on his lips.

"Heh, missed you too, midget," Ichigo said, leaning towards Rukia to give her a short lingering kiss on the lips. Rukia gave a soft smile to her lover before focusing on her cooking again, a slight pink tinge flushing her cheeks.

"Speaking of missing, where are the others? I know Yuzu's helping out in some voluntary children's camp, and dad's probably gone to the hospital, but I thought that maybe Karin would be lazing around here…"

Rukia's eyes widened slightly, pausing her stirring while trying to think of an excuse. Karin was currently visiting Toshiro in Soul Society (courtesy of Urahara's senkaimon). She's coming back in time for dinner, of course, but Ichigo would flip if he found out where his sister actually went. More so, the reason why she went there in the first place. Not that he didn't know about Karin's substitute shinigami duties. He was against it, of course, but that never stopped Karin from learning how to become one. She did have a strong sense of spiritual awareness, her strength not leveling up to Ichigo's yet, but has as much potential.

She gave an innocent smile, similar to the one she used when she pretended to be some defenseless new transfer student in Karakura High.

Of course, Ichigo knew better than to fall for her acting. He leaned on the couch, crossing his arms on his chest and giving his signature scowl.

"Spit it out, midget. What's going on?"

"W-ell, I was just thinking," Rukia placed the cover on the boiling pot before standing and tiptoeing right in front of him, her face inches away from his face, "It's about our wedding."

"Rukia. If this is about having a Chappy-themed wedding, then I don't want to hear it."

Rukia gave a pout, slowly wrapping her arms around Ichigo's neck, much to his surprise since she wasn't usually very affectionate.

"Aw, Ichigo. Won't it be fun to see a bunch of pink and purple Chappy balloons strewn all around the Kuchiki Manor?"

"Hell no! You know how much I hate that dumb bunny of yours! And, waitasec-" Ichigo paused just as Rukia smacked him on the head for his Chappy remark, "Who says we're getting married in the Kuchiki Manor?"

"Why, Nii-sama, of course! He insisted on having the ceremony held in the Manor. I think it's a great idea, as expected of Nii-sama." Rukia replied gleefully, much to Ichigo's disgust.

"NO! I am NOT getting married in the house of that know-it-all asshole!"

Smack!

"Baka! Stop calling Nii-sama an asshole. If anyone's being an asshole, it's you! Why can't you agree with Nii-sama for once?"

"I already had to experience Hell just to have your hand in marriage, and now he wants me to follow his demands like some disobedient puppy? No way in hell am I getting married under his roof!"

Smack!

"Rukia! I was expecting to at least stay alive in this world before marrying you! Are you trying to kill me before our wedding?"

"If you stop spouting nonsense about Nii-sama, then maybe I won't!" she shouted while smacking him for the last time before pushing herself from Ichigo to check on the pumpkin soup, "Now, about our wedding plans..."

Ichigo slowly staggered to the fridge, taking an ice pack to relieve his poorly-abused head.

"Fine. I'll agree on having the wedding in the Kuchiki Manor, but NO CHAPPY DECORATIONS!"

"If you don't want me to kick you on your manhood, then stop interrupting me. I want to move our wedding to a later date."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at this.

"Eh? Well, I guess it's fine. But what's the reason?" his face slightly gives a hurt expression, "You're doubting your decision to marry me?"

Rukia's eyes widened, quickly waving her hands in front of her face.

"Of course not! Don't get me wrong, Ichigo. It's not you who's the problem. It's just that I decided that maybe a year's not enough to prepare for the wedding."

"The hell? Rukia, that's plenty of time to prepare for our wedding! And it's not like we're going to have a very extravagant wedding . Didn't we agree to keep things simple?"

"Yes, we did. Until Nii-sama decided to make this the greatest wedding of the century." Rukia sighed.

It was true though. A month ago, Byakuya insisted on making Rukia's engagement party as extravagant as possible. Though Rukia managed to convince him to keep things simpler, he agreed on the condition of having her wedding much more special than the engagement party. And now that Rukia needed his help to keep Ichigo from knowing about Karin and Hitsugaya's relationship, Byakuya started creating plans with Rukia and Renji as to how to keep Ichigo distracted for the wedding as much as possible. Rukia could tell that her brother's actually enjoying it despite trying to hide it behind his indifferent expression.

A pause filled the air for what seemed like hours.

"...WHAT?"

"I'm pretty sure I didn't agree to marry a deaf man," Rukia rolled her eyes, "Let me get it in your head, Nii-sama is going to handle everything for our wedding. In short, he's our wedding planner."

"R-Rukia! The hell?"

"Yes. And Nii-sama will be coming here at least once a week for your meetings about the preparations starting today. Speaking of which, he was supposed to come for dinner later on. I'd better hurry with the soup then."

"RUKIA!"

Ding Dong

"Oh great! He's here!"

"Rukia! No!"

And so, Ichigo spent his evening seething quietly while Byakuya calmly discussed nonstop about the one thousand wedding guests that are required to be invited while picking out the expensive decorations from the Kuchiki catalogue of which will be half-paid by Ichigo. He never managed to ask about his sister's whereabouts when Karin arrived home late after her short visit to Soul Society. And so, Distraction #1 was a success.

-end-

Reviews and suggestions are appreciated! ;) Watch out for the second person in the distraction list!

This is OPrincess ShinigamiO signing off!