Author's Note: Chapter 3! I hope you enjoy. So this chapter is about revelations. Yes, and there's a surprise for all of you. Especially Ichi-Ruki fans...kinda sucks though. Anyway, I'm sure to fix that next chapter. Thanks to every single one who had reviewed this story. I am so thankful to all of you my wonderful readers and I hope you all bear with me until the end. Thank you again. and don't forget to review.

Disclaimer: I really wish I was Tite Kubo and have Orihime die a horrible death.

Sweet Pretenses

Chapter 3

"Master Ichigo…" Yui's eyes widen in disbelief seeing the estate's master so early. Usually, he'd come home during midnight or not come home at all, but due to the circumstances that had occur a few hours ago Yui concluded that Ichigo's early arrival had something to do with their mistress' disappearance with her older brother. She suddenly wondered how that news came to Ichigo so fast.

"You are home early master" Mao said bowing with respect. "Do you want us to prepare a meal sir?"

"Did Toshirou Kuchiki stepped foot in my mansion?!" He bellowed causing both Yui and Mao to shrink to where they were standing, both felt as if the whole mansion had shook because of his thunderous voice. No one dared answer Ichigo's query, it was unemployment or pain for Rukia…both chose the former. Ichigo glared at both his employees, and walked up the vast ivory staircase that led to the master bedroom.

"Where's my wife?!" He yelled once more, but still no answer. He walked inside the room and caught sight of the piece of paper in his wife's vanity, the golden band that signified their marriage atop of it. He grabbed both pieces and read the note.

You're free now. Be happy Ichi-kun.

It was clearly written by Rukia; he crumpled the paper in frustration and threw it to the floor. His eyes travelled to the silver object lying lifelessly on the sapphire colored carpet, he grabbed the menacing object and fear suddenly washed over him. He knew Rukia, he knew her well enough to know that suicide was something she'd never do, and if she really did want to end her life she should've done it the minute he took home another woman.

He produced his cell phone from the pocket of his suit, dialed an all too familiar number.

"Find Rukia Kurosaki…NOW!" He heard the person from the other line curse but he could really care less. This was his wife there talking about, and he still had legal rights on her.

--

"What do you mean? Uncle?" Toshirou asked wide-eyed, first malnourishment, anemia, infection, a heart problem and now this…a niece or nephew? From Ichigo Kurosaki, Toshirou secretly wondered what the child would turn out to be…

'A sick masochistic bastard like his father, more likely' He thought, disgusted by the fact that the despicable man had touch his baby sister.

"Yes Kuchiki-sama. It seems to me that your Rukia-san is two months pregnant" Unohana said, a smile on her serene features.

"That cannot be" He whispered that the doctor barely caught what he had said. "Repeat the damn test! My sister can't be pregnant!" He yelled at the doctor. His sister pregnant was beyond impossible, it was like saying their older brother had finally accepted Ichigo into their family and that he was going to sell all his company shares to him. After all the news he had heard from Byakuya , Toshirou could barely swallow the credibility of his sister being pregnant.

'That is…if Ichigo's the father'

Toshirou quickly dispersed of that thought, if Ichigo wasn't the father…no…he knew for a fact that Rukia could never cheat on her husband—that or she suddenly becomes the modern Virgin Mary. It was then he felt something tighten around his arm. He looked towards the source and saw his baby sister wide awake.

"Leave us" Toshirou said, dismissing the clearly frightened doctor. As soon as the doctor left Toshirou immediately went back to his cool and composed self.

"How are you feeling?" Toshirou asked, brushing his hands lightly on his sister's arm.

"Where am I?" She said, completely ignoring her brother's query.

"You're in Unohana-sensei's hospital" He replied, stroking her hair lovingly.

"I need to go home. Ichigo…he might look for me" Rukia argued, trying her best to stand up from the bed.

"No." Toshirou snapped. "I'm doing what is best for you. I've called nii-sama, he just left Italy an hour ago. He'd be arriving soon"

"You told nii-sama?" Rukia asked suddenly worried. "That's not fair Shirou-nii! I'm Mrs. Kurosaki and my husband might come looking for me!"

"No! You are going to stay here, and Ichigo…don't worry I'll take care of that bastard"

Rukia sighed in defeat. He was her older brother and when Toshiruo decided on something not even Rukia's puppy dog eyes could stop it. "What is wrong with me then, why am I here?" She asked exasperatedly.

"When I got you to the car, you were shaking uncontrollably, and you were warm. That's why I decided to get you here. Unohana-sensei said your severely malnourished, has an infection, your also anemic and you have a heart problem called cardiomegaly." The white haired man recited.

"What else?" Rukia inquired looking at her brother's troubled expression. She knew there was more, she knew how her older brother was trying hard to hide something from her, but he clearly wasn't doing a very great job at it.

"And she says you're…pregnant." Toshirou said his eyes downcast, he bravely glanced at Rukia her head was down but he could clearly see her blank expression.

It was then she looked up to meet her brother's eyes, she smiled up at him.

"I love Ichigo, nii-san. I love him more than anyone could." Rukia started, crystal tears already flooding her eyes. "Ever since we were little, only I discovered it when we got separated in college. I missed everything about him that's why I asked nii-sama about him. After that I e-mailed him, told him that I miss him and that I miss everything we did."

Toshirou walked over to her, sat down on her bed and started caressing his sister's arm.

"He said he missed me as well, so somehow I was blinded that maybe he felt the same way. We even promised one another to spend a day in the carnival." She chuckled, remembering the memories. "But when I arrived at home, he was there with his mother and father along with otou-sama and nii-sama. I knew that wasn't a good sign, Ichigo was frowning and didn't look happy at all. When they had announced the marriage, we grew apart but we still talked to one another. One night, he came to me drunk and told me about Orihime Inoue, the only person he had ever loved. But I still had hope, the arranged marriage so even though I knew he loved Orihime I still had a trump card and I kept silent. I knew it was very selfish of me but I couldn't help it. It was until he introduced her to me, she was an undeniably beautiful and nice woman. There was nothing about her that was not perfect; I could see why Ichigo loved her so. I decided to let the marriage be cancelled, and otou-sama was surprised but didn't argue, I was more than willing to give up my happiness for his, until Ichigo came to our home and begged me to marry him. I thought he had a change of heart but no…I discovered the family business of Inoue had been bankrupt; it was the doing of otou-sama and Isshin-sama. The day of our marriage seemed like the saddest day in Ichigo's life. The moment I became his wife, the moment I became Mrs. Kurosaki…everything just fell apart. I was so desperate to be with him that I was fine with him still loving Orihime. We moved in together, and though I had him, I never had his love. During our supposed honeymoon he took off and went to the States, father never knew about this, I covered up for him. But when Isshin-sama found out about it he was outraged, he made sure the Inoue family would never feel the comforts of a good life again. He drove them to poverty. I was sorry for Orihime, she had nothing to do with it but still she suffered the consequences of being loved by Ichigo. Everything then took a turn for the worst. He started bringing home women, and he'd made sure the house staff and I saw that. He would rarely come home, and if he did a woman was always with him. I know it's adultery but our marriage…it was never consummated. I thought about leaving him, but all I plan are just empty arrangements. I can't bring myself to leave him. Sometimes, I wonder why he can't just love me. Why can't I be Orihime Inoue? Am I not good enough for him Shirou-nii? " Rukia asked her older brother.

"You are more than what you think you are Ru-chan, and I know for a fact that you are something greater than that Orihime. I think you're forgetting something, you are our little hime-chan" He said, kissing her forehead. Rukia suddenly flinched though she tried to act natural, but Toshirou noticed this.

"What's wrong?" He asked concerned. Rukia's expression was unsure, and she wouldn't look Toshirou in the eyes though she knew it was useless to keep things from her older brother anymore. She brought down the sleeve of her hospital gown and showed her older brother the purplish bruise Yui asked about a few weeks ago. "What happened?!" Toshirou asked alarmed. "Is Ichigo hitting you?!"

"No…no…" She said quickly afraid that her older brother would have another reason to hate him. As if sharing the CEO position with Ichigo was not enough.

"Then what happened?" Toshirou urged, stroking her thin hand comfortingly.

Rukia breathed in air, she knew she shouldn't lie but if she told her brother the truth there was a huge possibility that Ichigo would never see light again.

"After I visited home, I wanted to clear my head so I asked the driver to go on ahead to the Kurosaki estate. I walked in the city park contemplating about everything. When suddenly, three women and a man dragged me into a van. They put a blindfold on me and a tape over my mouth. When the van stopped, they threw me to the ground and removed the blindfold. We were in a sort of warehouse, I couldn't see their faces, and they had masks on. Then they started beating me, I couldn't scream and call for help and then…the reason why I'm…pregnant. The man with them…he…he…"

Toshirou couldn't take it anymore. He knew what had happened and he knew why Rukia wanted the baby out of her. She didn't want it because she was raped by some maniac. Toshirou eyes flared with fury, and the people who did this to her sister were still walking freely. They would pay, they would surely pay. If he had to hunt them down and unearth all of Japan just to find them he would.

"After that, one of the women grabbed a sort of metal object from the fire. It was for branding animals…" She opened the midsection of her hospital gown and showed her brother the embossed 'I'm a whore' in her stomach. "I was about to lose consciousness but one of the women spoke up she said, 'He said to let you know that you're a whore that knew nothing, a stupid dumb whore and that you deserve it for separating him from her'. When I woke up Mao and Yui were taking me to my bed"

Toshirou looked murderous but still kept his composed self. "But after everything that has happened. I still love Ichigo. I'm really dumb, aren't I Shirou-nii?"

Rukia broke down in her brother's arm crying and Toshirou couldn't help but tear up as well. How he pitied his baby sister. All the pain a single man could cause Rukia, the white haired young man winced. Now Toshirou has more than one reason to make Ichigo's life a living hell.

--

Ichigo sat on his office chair, mulling over what was unfolding. Rukia's disappearance would surely be the catalyst of his downfall. But as he thought it over, her disappearance was inevitable, only he was to be blamed for his own demise.

He ran a hand through his uniquely colored hair and sighed. He opened one of the side drawers and took out the blue velvet box that held his wedding ring. He only wore it once, during the actual ceremony of their marriage and after that he kept it stored. He opened the box and brought out the golden band.

He sighed, guilt suddenly washing over his system. He felt terrible about everything and somewhat sorry for Rukia. He knew she didn't deserve to be treated like that. He knew that she cancelled the marriage for his sake, but he was the persistent one who wanted the money, who wanted to be the CEO. He played with the ring in his hand, and remembered that he pocketed Rukia's ring. He took it out as well and stared at both bands.

It was the symbol for marriage, and yet he saw it as the symbol for pain and struggles; Rukia's pain and his struggles.

"I'm sorry Ru-chan" He said softly, calling her by her nickname. He sighed once more and slid his band on his left ring finger. He opened the velvet box and placed Rukia's ring inside and place the box in one of his coat pockets.

'I'll bring you back to me.' He said, concluding his resolve.

"Why are you even looking for her? This is what you wanted right?" Grimmjow suddenly pulled Ichigo out of his reverie, he yawned obnoxiously and went to the recliner in the orange-haired man's office. Ichigo stood up from his seat and walked towards his employee.

"Yes Grimmjow, this is what I wanted…to see the Kurosaki-Kuchiki Empire fall" He replied sarcastically.

The blue-haired man let out a hearty laugh. "That was a good one" He said. "So what if she's missing, as long as you still are CEO of the corporation there's no problem" Grimmjow was taken aback by Ichigo's sudden movement. One minute the blue haired man was relaxing in the recliner when suddenly he was hoisted up from his seat and slammed to the wall.

"Rukia is missing…that's the problem" The orange -haired man said murderously, a death glare in his eyes causing Grimmjow to shut up. "And if you don't find her soon I'll make sure you go back to the street rat you were before."

"Kurosaki-sama" Ichigo dropped Grimmjow, walked back to his seat and sat down, pinching his bridge nose; a migraine already in.

"What is it Rangiku?" Ichigo asked his overworked secretary, not even sparing her a glance.

"Someone is here to see you" She replied with a bow.

"Tell them to make an appointment…" He replied annoyance creeping over him.

"I think you should meet her Ichigo" Grimmjow said, his eyes to the person behind Rangiku. "Good to see you again Orihime" Grimmjow greeted, catching the surprised looked on Ichigo's face as he turned to cast his eyes to the smiling face he had only loved.

"Orihime…"