Not-so-long-author-note: Hey! This is the 2nd chapter of It Takes Two to Make a Heart! I'll say more in the author note below, so please read the author note below.

This is rated T.

Warning: Possible spoilers

Buttons Pop… Proposals?

"And? What is the meaning of this, Kurosaki Ichigo-san, Kuchiki Rukia-san? It'd better be good. There is an assembly in 10 minutes, files to be graded, people to be called, more files, and I really do not have the time to deal with such misconduct, and on the first day of school already!"

The stern school secretary Ise Nanao appeared flushed for a moment at her outburst, but composed herself so quickly that Rukia dismissed it as a trick on her eyes. Like she hoped the male sitting next to her was. She glared at Ichigo who was neither sitting up straight nor slouching in the comfy chair, looking utterly indifferent to the whole matter.

The office they were in was spacious and airy, due to the tall glass windows on the walls in front and to the left of them. Pristine white birds flew by and the breeze ruffled the tree branches like an older brother ruffling his younger brother's hair. A quick glance at the interior of the office bespoke of money, from the clearly top-notch mahogany wood desk, guest sofas, and various famous paintings dotting the cream-colored walls. It was a nice place to be sure, and without much clutter, but Rukia wished she could leave already. It was all the orange-haired idiot's fault, she fumed.

"I'm not going easy just because you're a small gu-! Wait. What?"

He looked on in shock as Rukia picked herself and her messenger bag up from the ground, dusting her clothes and looking at him with equal shock.

"What the, you're a girl. No, besides that, did you call me? How do you know me?" He squinted at her with a doubtful expression. "You're not a fangirl by any chance, are you?"

Rukia flushed, before she replied in a flustered manner "N-no! Who would want to be your fangirl anyways?"

Ichigo stomped closer until he was right in front of her, peering down at her small stature. Rukia did not back down however, and glared up at him defiantly. And suddenly kicked him in the shins.

"Ow! Why, you-!" He opened his mouth to yell more, but was interrupted with a smack upside his head by a rolled up newspaper. He whirled around, snarling, only to stiffen and bow to the clearly angry secretary. And that's how their current predicament came to be…

She turned to Secretary Nanao and raised her hand in a timid manner with an equally timid expression. Ichigo, who had been watching her out of the corner of his eye, started in surprise. What the, what is she doing? She's definitely not that shy, he thought. Not if his bruised and aching shins were anything to go by. She packed one heck of a kick, that was for sure. He guessed big things came in small packages after all.

"M-miss Ise-san?"

His jaw dropped open, and now stared at her openly in incredulity. What was up with that fake, sugary sweet voice? Her acting skills were also a few meters short of the stick, he concluded.

"Yes?" answered the secretary briskly, happy that one of them had finally spoken up. "What is it?" "Truth is," continued Rukia, helping herself to a tissue in front of her and dabbing at the nonexistent tears on her eyes, "I came to this school by accident. I did not know this wasn't my school." Nanao blinked in surprise. "Are you sure? I thought it was a uniform mix-up that was the issue," she remarked. "What school should you be at, where do you live, and who is your guardian?" she continued.

Ichigo meanwhile was pondering over the words he had just heard. She was still using that fake voice of hers, but it looked to him as if she was telling the truth. In that case, how bad was his or her school system to botch her first day this badly? And while he had hardly seen his school secretary, he was inclined to believe she would never have allowed a slip-up of this measure.

Rukia suddenly grew cautious, and answered after a brief pause. "Karakura Institute for Ladies. I expected to live in the dorms of my school and my guardian is… Kuchiki Byakuya." Both Ichigo and Nanao jolted in shock.

Kuchiki? The Kuchiki? According to what little Ichigo had read about him, he was among a group of wealthy, influential PhD professors of different areas called the Gotei 13, or the 13 Court Divisions, but weren't just limited to that. These "Captains" were highly capable in athletics, the arts and many other talents. Each had their own company that were mostly independent of each other, but were a solid, unified community. It was the dream of every aspiring student to work directly under them.

Kuchiki Byakuya was one of the most aloof and famous of them, and said to be very demanding. So this little girl was related to such a mogul? Impossible. What was with her composure then? It was almost an antithesis to Byakuya!

Nanao cleared her throat. "There is no Karakura Institute for Ladies, but there is one for boys. We have yet to make plans for a ladies institute. Perhaps you or Byakuya-san wrote the name of the school down wrong?"

"Impossible," denied Rukia. He had even driven her to her temporary hotel room to prepare for school for 5 days, which was barely 5 blocks from the closest school, this one. There was no way he could have screwed up. Or was the workload and stress at his Division finally getting to him? Hisana had taken a toll on him as we- No. She wouldn't continue down there. Returning her focus back to the matter at hand, she asked if she may see any records of registration.

Always organized, Nanao pulled out her file alphabetically in a few seconds and opened it on the desk. The two females leaned toward the information to read, and Ichigo couldn't help but lean in as well. The three read through personal information such as date of birth until they reached a point in the data that made them all blink and in Ichigo's case, rub his eyes and look again as if he couldn't believe it. Rukia held a queer expression of horror on her face. Oh yeah, Byakuya had definitely lost his marbles.

"WHAT THE-!"

She had forgotten to maintain her "acting-lady" voice. But that wasn't the issue now. She was most definitely, 100% sure…

"Hey you, you didn't tell me that…" stated Ichigo with a mocking grin.

…that in the time between Byakuya's departure after dropping her off and her first day at school…

"…you were a…"

…she had not turned overnight into a…

"…guy."

Rukia fidgeted in her seat, despising the fact that she was at the front where clearly no one wanted to sit, and next to Ichigo no less. The extremely large stage in front of her had the common wooden and curtain design of most theaters at commonplace schools, but was obviously well-kept. It shined without wax, had no scratch or dirty streaks, and seemed to be made of solid wood. The curtains were neither too heavy and oppressively refined, nor mundane. The lights were rather glaring, but she assumed when their focus shifted to the stage, it would be better.

All around her were seats worthy of the comfort of a sofa, arranged in a Coliseum-like manner or opera theater-manner. And surrounding her in sound… the voices of three thousand males. She turned to peer behind her, amazed at the sheer size of the students and the lack of any females. Ichigo, who found himself watching her from the corner of his eye again, thought back to the events that had taken place before their arrival in the auditorium.

Since the announcement assembly was beginning, Nanao shooed the two of them to the auditorium while she tried calling Byakuya and the school system.

"Even if you are not an official student here," she addressed Rukia, "there is no reason to miss out on a perfectly good performance. Kurosaki-san will guide you there."

"Wha-!"

"No more from you Kurosaki-san. I'm letting you off the hook this time to deal with this matter."

Ichigo had scowled at that, before pushing himself out of his chair and calling to Rukia without looking back, "Hurry up, you heard what she said. Performances aren't something you should miss."

A huff and a soft rustle of lubricated chair legs against the forest-green carpet later, he felt her presence next to him, and without a word, he began walking down the vast hallway. Rukia turned back one last time as the office door swung closed, and caught a glimpse of Secretary Nanao lifting a traditional spin-dial phone to her ear before the door shut. She hoped that Byakuya could be reached. She had many questions for him after all.

"Seeing that you attend this rich school, you must be rich yourself," she remarked as they passed under an arch. He gave a noncommittal grunt, and said "Eh, I guess," before falling silent. She noticed he navigated the twisting hallways with ease and concluded that he either had taken a tour beforehand or was used to this school.

"What grade are you? And what were those paintings of back there?" she questioned, trying to fill the silence. She didn't mind silence, but she was curious. He furrowed his brows even more than he usually did and pondered her question. Finally he answered, "I'm a Stitch, and those were-"

"Stitch?" she interrupted, a confused expression taking over her face. "What's that?"

He scowled. He didn't like people interrupting him, but seeing the predicament she was in, he would let it slide this once. "Right, I forgot that this is your first time here. 'Stitches' are what 'sophomores' are to you. 'Pins' are the freshmen, 'Buttons' are the juniors and 'Zippers' are the seniors."

"Why is it like that for you guys?" He shrugged. "I dunno, that's just how it's been. You get used to it and forget that it was even weird in the first place." She nodded and prompted, "And the paintings?" He stopped for a moment to stare at her. She continued walking several paces before she realized he had stopped.

"What?" She asked, perplexed. He asked bluntly, "Look, is your relative really Kuchiki Byakuya? I'll admit that 'Kuchiki' isn't a common surname, but it's hard to believe that any of the captains have relatives." Her eyes widened in understanding and she frowned.

"Actually, I'm not his sister," she confessed, "by blood anyways. I'm the sister of my older sister, Hisana, who I'm sure you've heard about." Her expression saddened as she said the last sentence. He nodded.

Hisana Kuchiki became a source of much scandal when cold, aloof Byakuya married her, sparking a frenzy of media attention and causing tabloids to go haywire. It was said that she was sick and in poor health, which led to her eventual death 5 years later. Then Byakuya had adopted Rukia, and the media frenzy had started again. It was hard for them not to. She was the spitting image of Hisana, yet no one had seen her until she was officially adopted. A replacement for his lost wife, some suggested. A twin or sister of Hisana, thought others. The latter was more correct, and within weeks, she had become the sister of Captain Kuchiki Byakuya.

Ichigo rubbed his neck and started to walk again, Rukia keeping pace with him. "Those paintings are of the current Captains. We actually have a lot of them at our school this year."

"You're kidding me."

"I'm not," he said wearily, as if it were a much-repeated phrase. "We have Captains 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 11, 12, and 13," he stated blandly. "Captains Yamamoto Genryusai, Sui-Feng, Unohana Retsu, Komamura Sajin, Kyoraku Shunsui, Zaraki Kenpachi, Kurotsuchi Mayuri, and Ukitake Jushiro." She nodded, recognizing some names. "What about the other Captains?" "Captains 3, 5, and 9 apparently left for a different school. And 10… is going to be elected at this school. That's what the presentation today is about."

Now in the auditorium, Rukia wondered why a school, prestigious and rich as it was, would be the origin of a new Captain. Was one of the teachers who weren't Captains being considered worthy for the position? She didn't know. Another thing she didn't know was why she had told Ichigo about her status as an adopted sister and had mentioned Hisana. He and she weren't close at all to begin with.

She was jarred from her thoughts when the talking subsided and lights dimmed. She looked up at the stage and saw the spotlights had focused on the center. A Captain stepped forward from behind the left curtain. She recognized the old, hunched man as Yamamoto Genryusai, who had founded the Gotei 13 and was the oldest Captain to date, but still highly capable. His long gray eyebrows and beard hung from a rough face, scarred from who-knows-what. His head was tall and bald and his eyes, she knew, were perpetually closed except in certain circumstances.

It was silent now, and his cane thudded as he walked up to a microphone stand that she hadn't noticed before. He cleared his throat, his large white… – blanket? – coat draped over his shoulders rustling against his plain black traditional Japanese robes.

"Welcome youngsters. Welcome to Karukara Institute for Boys!" He paused as a good majority of the crowd cheered before he resumed speaking. "I'll step back for now and let the Buttons take the stage." As he said this, he tapped his way down stairs on the sides of the stage. Scattered applause rang throughout the auditorium, and Rukia realized, after some confusion, that the juniors were next on stage.

The curtains parted more, silently and smoothly, to reveal a trio of boys, who she supposed could be called good-looking. She noticed that all had navy blue jackets with gold buttons, true to their name.

Suddenly self-conscious, she looked at Ichigo's jacket. Though she couldn't see any stitches, she saw that the middle of his jacket was closed with rectangular lumps at regular intervals. She checked her own jacket, then looked at his. They matched. Well, they were in the same grade then, and if that meant that their jackets matched, his jacket was also closed with Velcro, like hers was. Remembering the performance, she turned back to the stage.

The first had long, vibrant red hair tied in a tight ponytail. His eyes were narrow and bright and above them were some weird black marks in place of his eyebrows. She assumed that those were tattoos. He sported ripped jeans and loafers as well as his jacket, and waved to the crowd. The crowd roared back enthusiastically.

The second raised his hand as well. He had blue-black hair that framed both sides of his face and glasses resting upon a sharp nose. His eyes were sharp too, intelligent and calculating. He wore white pants with blue stripes under his jacket and white dress shoes. The response to him was a little less enthusiastic, but loud nonetheless.

The third junior had khaki shorts that showcased his muscular legs with feet in Reeboks. He appeared to have a bandage and the tattoo "69" on his face with 3 scars running vertically down one eye. His hair seemed purple in the light at certain angles and his eyes were almost as narrow as the red-haired. The crowd roared louder and he waved back in response.

After the cheering died down, Rukia, Ichigo, and the others watched the third Button walk up to the microphone stand and address them all.

"Hey guys," his deep voice began, "thanks for being here today. I'm this year's vice-captain of Class 3, Hisagi Shuuhei. The guy with red hair is your events coordinator, Abarai Renji. The last guy is Ishida Uryu, and he's your secretary and treasurer this year. Wish us luck!" The crowd broke into applause again, and Rukia winced slightly as the males' volume rose higher. Ichigo seemed unfazed by it all. Perhaps he was used to this. Shuuhei was not done talking yet though.

"We've had a rough year last year, and I want to leave that all behind. I want to start our year with a good start and news!" More applause. "First off, I'll tell you some bad news. We're going to have masquerade dances this year." A collective groan. He continued unperturbed. "Yeah, I know, kinda sucks, but the good news is that we may have girls coming in this year!"

Silence, then wild cheering and hoots. Rukia glanced back quickly. Were these guys really rich students from prestigious upbringings? They acted like monkeys. But it was interesting that there might be girls. It looks like this school was undergoing some changes. She turned back to catch the rest of the vice-captain's, or, she realized, vice-president's speech. It seemed many things were based on the captains.

"I'd like to start talking about events. We're planning a camping trip and-" Here he cut off, the strangest of expressions flitting across his face. His gaze was downwards and Rukia, who couldn't really see him due to the lights, wondered who or what he was looking at. He suddenly jumped off the 1 foot stage to land right in front of her.

"Wha-?" began Ichigo and Rukia, when Hisagi knelt down to grasp her hands in his.

"Can you come up with me?" he asked her, jerking his head to the stage, where his perplexed companions waited. "Uh, actually, I-" she began, intending to tell him how she might not be even attending this school, but he dragged her up anyways by the left set of stairs and to the stage.

More silence, before the audience exploded into conversations, ranging from the fact that a female was standing before them, and the possible reasons for why she was here. Rukia squinted and made some awkward noises as he let go of her hand on stage and she swayed, trying to regain her balance. She spotted Ichigo looking at the stage, flabbergasted. She didn't have time to dwell on it though.

The vice-captain suddenly knelt down on one knee before her, and, with that same strange expression on his face, he said to her, "Dear lady, will you marry me?"

Super-long-author-note: Hey guys, thanks so much for all the visitors and hits to my stories! While I'd love to hear from you guys by review or messaging, your interest in my fic has made me quite happy! For some of you, I've been updating my other fic, When It's Rukia a lot, and boy has it grown! In total, I already have two reviews, several alerts, one favorite and a bunch of hits and visitors! Mwah~ and much love and thanks! I'm updating this one and When It's Rukia today because of something very special. Caution: Spoilers ahead, read at your own risk. If you wish to avoid spoilers, skip this paragraph. Those of you who follow Bleach manga well probably know it released a new chapter today after two weeks. And guess who returned? Shinji! Yay, I'm super happy and excited, though I wish he'd grow out his hair again. Ah well, we don't get everything in life….

So this is a special occasion for me, hence the chapter update! But sad news, I probably won't update for some days. It's getting hectic on my end, and I ask for your patience. Thanks!

I mentioned this on When It's Rukia, and I'll mention it here. It's important to read my author notes because I usually have important info. For anonymous reviewers (please sign in if you have an account or make one; usually doesn't take long, and you don't have to write stories), I might put a short reply in an author note. I also give update statuses and news. So I'll try an experiment. For the first person who reviews with (Hirako Shinji - ijnihS okariH) will get a short oneshot (one chapter) from me about the Bleach universe, preferably a pairing. I'll post the winner in the next chapter, and message that person. Please be patient, as I have little time in my hands.

This chapter is a whole lot longer than the first, and will introduce part of Rukia's "harem". This is still Ichiruki, but I always felt jealousy in a romance plot brings out a lot of deep emotions at times. It makes for good drama at other times, but I ask my readers to please try not to feel too jealous too much in real life! I am leaving out some characters, and not everyone will act exactly the way they do in canon because of the circumstances. But I'm a firm-believer in being in-character, so I'll try to keep everyone's personalities as accurate as I can. Not all of them will have the same role either. When It's Rukia is a lot deeper, and while I enjoy writing, it can get exhausting, so I'll switch on focusing between the two fics.

Another thing that you guys may know if you've read my profile page is that I don't like Inoue Orihime. Please see why on my profile page. I'm not going to bash her or portray her in a way that isn't her in this fic. I've seen some fics that portray her as this "bimbo" or something, but she isn't like that in canon. The moment an author portrays her like that, it's as if Orihime ceases to exist in the fic and becomes a generic character.

Don't expect any new chapters tomorrow. Even authors need their breaks, hehe.

Some other things I'll mention here. I'm a big supporter of correct mechanics (spelling, punctuation, capitalization). If you see any mistakes in mechanics or grammar in my works, feel free to notify me. I won't get mad, in fact, I'd be glad if someone would help. I want to learn from my mistakes, and it's better if someone else points it out for you.

I'm not review-hungry, so I won't nag you guys for any. But I'd like to voice the opinions I think most authors on this site have: We don't always want reviews saying "Update, please!" or "That was sexy!", etc. Most of us want to know how we did, where we can improve on, and what elements to keep and expand upon. A lot of the authors' goals on this site are to have fun sharing and reading stories. So please, the next time you are moved or impressed enough to write a review, write a little bit more, no matter how short, like: "You have good humor!" It makes a lot of positive difference. :)

Before this review gets any longer, I'll end it. Please check my profile for more info. I might set up a poll in the near future.