So I realized that the last few chapters that I have written haven been insanely sad. So I am going to try to lighten this chapter up so it isn't as heart wrenching and depressing.
So as ever enjoy
XOXOXO
Rukia ran out of the coffee shop almost as fast as she could. Her heat was practically beating out of her chest she couldn't believe it was him again! Leaning against her car to catch her breath she shook her head and laughed sadly he was still as beautiful if not more than the night before.
"You're a fool Rukia."
What could he possibly want with her , she snorted darkly what did every man like that want from her , sex, once he got it he would throw her away.
As her heart started to descend to a more normal speed she looked down at her jacket , it might not be ruined, but it was soaked with coffee. She set down her purse and back pack and wrung out the sleeve that got doused , her dry cleaner was going to love this she thought as she watched brown liquid splatter onto the pavement.
Sighing deeply she looked down at the rest of her jacket. Though not as bad as the badly stained sleeve it had still gotten pretty splattered with coffee.
"Great." She muttered as she picked up her purse that she had set down as she tried to catch her breath . "Now I'm going to smell like stale coffee when I get to lunch."
Rummaging around her purse she could not find her car keys for the life of her and really they weren't that hard to miss. Nanao has specifically gotten her a small hot pink Chappy plush so she couldn't lose them because she had a horrible time leaving them in random places.
Getting more and more agitated as she was not able to locate her keys she started to shift things more violently around in her purse. Taking out her sun glass's she placed them on top of her head so she would have one less things obstructing her view to the bottomless abyss that was known as her purse. Normally she would just shift her cell phone around a bit and she would find them, but right now she wasn't even seeing that , and it was pretty hard to miss too considering in had a pink crystal casing. Letting out an exasperated huff she removed her wallet ,and stuffed it under her arm and started to furiously scouring all the small , but many things that resided on the bottom of her purse.
"Looking for these?" a deep male voice came from right in front of her causing her to jump at least three feet in the air and drop her wallet in the process.
Looking up she saw the person she least wanted to see .Standing right in front of her holding her keys in one hand and her cell phone in the other was Byakuya Kuchiki.
Slowly looking up into his eyes she felt like a deer trapped in the head lights of an oncoming semi truck, in the full light of day his eyes were even more amazing than they had been in the club. Instead of being the flat slate grey that she had originally thought they were. It now looked like he had little silver metallic flecks in them causing them to almost sparkle with the ghost of the smile that was playing on his lips.
"Ummm."
Was that the only intelligent thing she could say? It was certainly the only intelligent thing she could think of as his mere presence seemed to captivate her.
Tearing her eyes way from his she looked down to his chin trying not to physically shake off the effect he was starting to have on her.
"Shit!" her mind screamed at her "This can't be happening." She couldn't let him recognize her . Pushing her thick tortes shell glass up her nose she bowed her head letting the normally unruly piece of hair she tried so hard to control fall through her sunglass's and over her face .
"Yes," She said softly not looking up . "Those are mine."
Mentally palming her forehead she berated herself. How could she have been such a klutz and drop her cell phone and her keys at the same time!
"I'm truly sorry for following to your car, but I thought you might need these if you wanted to get very far." He said with a hint of mirth to his voice.
She mentally cringed again feeling very much like the sixteen year old dork she was when she met this man for the first time so many years ago.
Biting the side of her lip she looked back up at him hopeing her hair did a good enough job covering her face .
Releasing her lip from her teeth looking back up at him slowly she felt a slow hot blush creep over her cheeks as she double checked the items in his hands hoping it was possible they may not be hers , but unfortunately they were.
"Thank you." She said as she reached out for the item's.
Great she thought to herself her voice even sounded pitiful to herself. Where was the strong woman that she had tried so hard to build up these last few years? Why was she turning into a simpering pile of goo? This was not the man to be doing this with, this was a man she should be cold to and run as far and as fast away from as she originally intended to do.
She watched him look down at her intently trying to get a good look at her face as he equally as slowly handed her back the items one at a time.
Why couldn't life be kind to her and make this a fast transaction?
"Rukia?" His words came out as a question not a statement as she watched him stair down at her through the mess of glass's and hair.
Life hated her.
"Rukia Yamamoto?" He said this time with more conviction. " Is that you?"
Who else could it be moron she thought silently to herself there weren't many people that actually had violet eyes, unfortunately she wasn't really all that hard to miss if you got a good look at her.
Tilting her head to the side letting her hair fall with her over one of her eyes she looked at him as if she were trying to place him as she nodded her head slowly.
"Yes" She said trying to put at least some coolness back into her voice and failing.
Using all of her acting skills she looked him one last time pretending to let it just dawn on her who he was.
"Kuchiki, Byakuya." Her voice filling with fake surprise
She watched him arch his eyebrow slowly as if he were gauging her reaction.
"It has been a long time since we have seen each other." His words came out as cool as he looked.
She nodded demurely. "Indeed, I don't think I have seen you since you dumped Rangiku." She laid it all out there bluntly so they wouldn't have to have any more awkward moments.
He snorted "Yes she was a lapse in judgment."
She tried ,but she couldn't hide the surprise that she felt .No one had ever called her half sister a lapse in judgment . A bitch , yes , a whore , but never a lapse in judgment . If they didn't call her something nasty most people usually raved about how amazing the woman was.
He chuckled cordially. " I never really did like the way she treated people."
He looked to want to go on and say more, but she really didn't want to hear the merits or demerits of her half sister this was an odd enough encounter as was.
"It's good to see your doing well for yourself." He looked over the car then back at her.
She simply nodded with a smirk now getting back on to territory she was familiar with. " I haven't done to badly." And this was as far as she wanted the conversation to go . "You don't look like you have done to badly either." Quickly turning the topic back to him .
Feeling the need to run she looked down at her watch coolly and faked another surprised look as she looked back up at him apologetically. " I'm sorry to cut this short , but I really have to be going I have another business meeting that I'm running late for." Bending down to get the wallet she had clumsily dropped . She realized like a gentleman he had already picked it for her and was handing it to her. Biting her lip again she searched through it and pulled out a business card without thinking. Quickly scanning it to make sure it said Yamamoto and not Shizuka and she handed it to him.
"Call me some time and we can get together for lunch or something." She said trying to be polite as she could as she unlocked her door quickly and started to step into it.
"Will do." She thought she heard him say as she shut the door and turned on the engine. Pulling out she felt like beating her head into her steering wheel . What the hell had just happened ? She had acted like a moron and she had given him her business card. This wasn't supposed to happen she wanted him out of her life not to invite him into it! Starting to fret she felt her nails drum themselves on the steering wheel. Well , on the bright side all she did was give him her number she didn't have to take his call's.
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Byakuya walked back into the posh little coffee shop feeling a lot less smart than when he followed Rukia out with her key's and cell phone. He had never follow a woman ever and yet he was following her desperate to find out who she was. Well now he knew he thought to himself as he looked down at her business card. However this cards header was for Shinhoin International , a very predominate real estate company . It wasn't the only thing the Shinhoins had their hands in . Once Yoruichi took over the company from her grandfather she expanded her empire and had become a leader in importing and exporting goods , and owned a fleet of freight boats and had huge investments in everything that was carried on each of the ships.
He had watched this woman carefully over the years as his firm had various clients that tried to fight her for whatever reason .Everything she touched she dominated and took over and no one really wanted to be in her line of sight.
Much to his confusion this was not a card for Luxx Gentleman's club that Rukia's official legal records said she worked at ,this was a major corporation was not mentioned at all. The card stated that she was head of research and development it gave her phone number , e-mail , fax , and mailing address. He had to smirk all of her information was printed in metallic purple. But the name was her own Yamamoto , Rukia it certainly made sense now as to how she was able to afford the Lamborghini . Narrowing his eyes this card only lead to more questions, who was that girl that had given him the lap dance if she wasn't Rukia Yamamoto?
Automatically making his way back inside to his friend's table he absently took a seat without getting a cup a coffee.
"Earth to Byakuya"
Miyako snapped him out of trans and back to the reality of the here and now.
She tilted her head to the side looking genuinely concerned. "Are you okay Hun?" She said hesitantly.
Smiling apologetically he nodded his head and took on last look at the card. "Yes, I am alright. The woman I followed out was just queer."
Miyako shrugged moving the baby in her arms as she made the motion causing it to let out an odd burping noise.
"Well you did just ruin her six thousand dollar suit." She said laughing. " I'm surprised she didn't bitch slap you for being such a klutz."
Byakuya's eye widened at his normally proper friends lack of propriety.
"I think he is still flustered about last night." Kaien smirked
Miyako smirked and let out a little chuckle shaking her head. " I still can't believe you two went to that club." She looked over at Byakuya with concern again. " It's really unlike you."
Kaien chuckled again before he could explain his lapse in judgment. "It was an eventful evening thought."
Miyako merely raised an eyebrow.
"Our dear Byakuya got his own personal lap dance."
The woman's eyes widened as she choked on her sip of coffee spewing it all over the table. "You got a lap dance." She said in blatant disbelieve.
Byakuya glared at his best friend.
"By none other than the infamous Rukia Shizuka."
This time the woman's eyes practically bugged out of her head. " I didn't think she did that anymore."
Both men looked at her curiously because of her familiarity with the young woman.
"How would you know what she does any more?" Kaien said suspiciously. "How would you even know her." He sounded slightly disconcerted if not a little jealous.
Byakuya was curious as well. How did she know the other woman, but unlike her husband he remained quiet.
"I did happen to have a job before we decided to spawn." she said dryly.
"You were an events coordinator." Kaien said as if stating an obvious.
"And the woman is a performer." She said looking about ready to slap her husband stupid. "I don't know how you could forget about me bitching about having to plan those stupid parties all those young socialites threw for their pre Madonna friends." She shrugged. "As a matter of fact a whole bunch of different clients wanted her to attend their events." She looked over to Byakuya again. "She is actually a really sweet woman."
He really didn't know what to say to her statement he had his doubts about the woman's sweetness with his brief encounter with her she came off jaded and cold . Though she did seem to have a split personality with the little simile face she put on her little note, which just fed his curiosity about her.
Miyako took another sip of her coffee calmly , but looked rather confused. " You know I'm really surprised she gave you an actual lap dance ." She said tapping her nails on the table. "About three years ago she left all of that behind and actually stopped life for about six months." She shrugged again . " I don't know." She said off handedly. "She must be doing Rui a favor." She said more to herself than anyone else . It looked like an idea suddenly popped into the woman's head as her entire face light up with mischief. "Would you two actually be interested in meeting her." She wiggled her eyebrow with an impish grin.
"No" Byakuya said flatly.
"Yes." Kaien said at the same time with a more than enthusiastic smile.
Byakuya really didn't like where this was going. After his more than awkward talk with Rukia Yamamoto an hour ago he wasn't quite sure he wanted anything to do with women yet along the gorgeous woman that had given him a lap dance the night before .It wasn't that Rukia Yamamoto was repulsive or undesirable because even when he had been seeing Matsumoto he had always found something incredibly sweet about the girl, once or twice he had even caught himself wondering what she would be like when she grew up . But that was one of thing that disconcerted him now was she was grown up and he could actually have a chance to get to know the shy girl that he had once met.
Other that he honestly didn't think he could handle seeing someone who looked so much like Hisanna more than once in a twenty four hour period. Taking a deep mental breath all he wanted to do was go home. He did not want to chase ghosts any more once was enough for him because in his heart he really didn't know if he had the capability to get emotionally attached or ever love someone again because he knew somewhere deep inside that this woman was different . He just didn't know if his heart could take it one more time.
"Come on Byakuya" she said with her best manipulative persuasive smile. "It would be good to get you out of yourself imposed exile.
Despite all of his feelings about getting manipulated he couldn't hate Miyako for trying ,she had always had a way to wheedle away into his heart and melt the block of ice that everyone said replaced it.
"You know that smile doesn't work on me Miyako." He said rather unconvincingly.
"Please." She smiled sweetly again. "Beside it would be good for me to get out and actually have adult interaction. I have been spending so much time with the baby's" She smiled lovingly down at her little one though as she said that. "If anything I just want a night out with my two favorite men."
Sighing deeply he knew there was a lot of truth to what she was saying . She actually did need some time out from taking care of her two little ones, and he and Kaien did go out last night to a gentleman's club no less without her.
"All right." He said dryly though he couldn't help but smile as he saw the smile light up her face.
Without hesitation both men watched as she whipped out her cell phone a quickly pressed a button.
"Hello Rukia." She said with an over exited voice "I'm doing great and you?" a soft friendly smile crossed her face. "Good to hear." They could vaguely hear the small voice on the other end of the line. "Unfortunately no this isn't a social call , Well it is ." she paused and wrinkled her nose. " But it isn't." They watched her face relax a bit. " I was wondering if you would be willing to help me out." There was a long pause. "Renji Abari is having a party tonight and I was wondering if you would be willing to come along with me." There was an even longer pause . "I know you can barely stand him he isn't my favorite person in the world either." The men distinctly heard laugher on the other end of the line. "But that wasn't the only favor I needed, I desperately need to get out of the house the two children and my husband are driving me nuts." There was more laughter on the other end of line. "And I was kind of hopeing you would help me try to jump start my career again." They watched Miyako drum her nails on the table " It would only be for tonight and you would go as my guest and who knows it might be fun." There was another long pregnant pause. "You will do it." She said excitedly . "Excellent." They watched her look to think for a moment . " It is going to be a formal dress code." They watched Miyako's smile widen ."Great I will see you at the Four Seasons at about eight." Her smile grew wider. " Awesome you are such a life saver." They heard a chuckle on the other end of the line. " You have great day too ." and with that she hung up the phone and turned and looked at both men with a huge grin. "Done." She said cheerfully."
"You really are horrible." Kaien said with a snort.
Byakuya couldn't agree more .
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Rukia click her phone shut with a silent grumble she couldn't believe she had just agreed to go to a party that Renji Abari was hosting. Renji, the man who made crude and rather nasty stripper jokes at her expense .The man was always trying to make her look like a clueless air head around his clients . He made comments that it was a fact they were better than she was and she was just entertainment . When she had first started dancing she would accept his offers to go to his parties no matter how bad he treated her because she needed the exposure. Some nights she remembered his comments would cut deep her skin had not thickened yet and being called a cheap stripper, or listening to him say women like her would do anything to earn a buck made her want to shrink into herself and disappear because she was not cheap , she wasn't a whore. However in the back of her mind she would ask herself if that is all people really thought of her. Leaning back into her seat as she shifted gears ,and let out a slow breath to keep the tears from coming because to this day she wondered if he was right.
She snorted, but for all of his comments he too sold himself out like a whore and that was saying something , but then again he wasn't the top sports agent in the country for nothing. She just hoped she didn't have to go through any degrading jokes or mean quips from him, but then again tonight she could walk away.
Leaning back in her car seat she slumped down a little bit to add insult to injury he was another one of Matsumoto's X's only he wasn't as nice to her as Byakuya had been. For some reason he still had the same rich boy attitude he did in university. If it weren't for the fact the she knew that Miyako really did need a night to herself she wouldn't have agreed to doing this , and all things considered this would be a formal event far from the raunchy chaotic mess's that the man usually threw trying to impress his would be or soon to be young clients. She could breathe easy tonight.
Glumly her mind wandered back to her encounter with Byakuya. After she stepped into her car she felt like crying. What could a man like that ever want with a girl like her , he was so dashing and smooth and hell who was she kidding he was even more beautiful than he had been in university. Keeping her eyes on the road she snorted softly she knew what would a man like that wanted with an X stripper. She knew men like him where out of her league they wanted good girls. Something that she has ceased to be years ago . She knew who she was and she knew what she was and she knew her place in the world and all the pretending in the world would not make her worthy of him . . . . It didn't make her worthy of Shuuhei.
The sad thing was because even if he knew her on just a professional level as a part of Shinhoin International, just a regular woman, he would never even look twice at her he would be just as cool and indifferent as he had always been because she was just that forgettable. She knew she was invisible and just blended into the scenery just like she had when she was younger. She knew in comparison with the other woman that she worked with she was nowhere near as beautiful as they were. She was just a geeky little girl with glass's .A silent tear now slipped down her cheek because she was angry after all of these years and everything she had accomplished how could she still feel so helpless.
She couldn't believe the way she had acted like that with him . She more than likely acted like a complete moron probably sounding like she had the brain of a peanut and the personality of a turnip . To many of things from her passed where coming back to haunt her and it felt like her very well constructed world was going to cave in if she weren't extremely careful.
"I can't lose this." She said to herself softly as she parked her car in front of Pacific Whey. " I have worked so hard to get out from his shadow." Pulling down her visor she took a good long look at herself in the mirror , if all of this came crashing down would she have the strength to put it all back together again? She Shook her head almost violently as if she were trying to shake the very thought out of her head . She didn't want to think about it she just wanted her life to go back to normal , or well as normal as it could ever be.
Walking into the small café she noticed a few people staring at her and it hit her , she forgot to take off her coffee soaked jacket. Rad she thought sarcastically .
"Rukia!"
She heard her mother speak up across the crowded room waving to make herself known to her . She couldn't help but smile she loved this little café and being surrounded by her friends was just what she needed at this moment. However as she reached the table she watched her mother archer eyebrow a little in amusement.
"It looks like. . . " She started
"You look like you ran into a coffee pot!" She heard her best friend laugh out loud behind her she could also hear Momo chuckling .
"You always had a way with words Ise." She said dryly.
"I love you too Rukia." The taller woman enveloped her in a big huge clearly not caring if she got the sticky coffee on her.
"Morning." Momo yawned and gave her a much more delicate hug seeing as she was wearing much nicer cloths that Ise.
Quickly moving away from Rukia she watched as Ise enveloped her mother in a big hug. "Okaa- san." She said happily. " I have missed you." She looked down at the older woman affectionately.
"And I you baby." Her mother's eyes clearly shinning with happiness at seeing the other woman . Turning she looked at Momo with a motherly smile " And you must be Momo." She extended her hands in a friendly gesture .
"it is nice to meet you Shizuka-san." She said shyly.
" Oh nonsense you may call me Okaa-san seeing as you are such a good friend of Rukia's and you are all like my baby girls any way."
Momo smile was still shy but more genuine . "Alight." She then turned to Rukia as she took a seat along with the other woman. " By the way it does look like you had a fight with a coffee maker and lost did you and Yoruichi-sama have a good meeting this morning?"
The other two woman now looked at her curiously as well.
Rukia snorted with a more than happy smile that border lined on sadistic. "You have no idea." She grinned darkly. "We have almost sunk Ichimaru Inc."
Nanao gasped in delight. "You mean you have almost knocked that bitch of a sister and her husband on their ass."
She just nodded. "We own eighty five percent of his company now the last two board members just sold their shares to Shinhoin Industries."
Nanao clapped her hands excitedly. " I can't wait."
Momo swirled the her coffee around in her cup that she had already gotten. "What will happen when she finally takes it over?" she asked curiously though not as excited as Nanao.
"Close it and move the employee's around Shinhoin Industries if they would like so they will not lose their jobs if they don't want too. Yoruichi isn't a bad person she won't make his employee's suffer for this take over."
Her mother merely hmm as she listened.
Rukia watched Nanao leaned back in her chair for a long looking moment.
"What?" she asked curiously
"How did you manage to splattered coffee over a six thousand dollar suit."
Rukia just gowned. "You really don't want to know." She laughed self deprecatingly
"Now I really do." Momo piped up.
"Fine." She said begrudgingly. "I ran into Byakuya Kuchiki." The words came out flat and unhappy.
All three of the woman started to laugh and laugh hard.
" You." Nanao laughed unable to control herself. " You actually physically ran into him."
"Shut up." She said defensively. "It could happen to anyone."
"Not really." Said Momo snickering.
"Did he recognize you ?" Nanao tilted her head to the side curiously.
"How could he. She looks like a nerd." Momo exclaimed.
" I resemble that." She muttered. "To add insult to injury when we collided I dropped my car keys and cell phone and he actually followed me out to my car to return them ." Rukia ran her hands through her hair and frowned. " He recognized me as Rukia Yamamoto." She said dryly. "The little dork the resided with Matsumoto when she was younger."
Both women's eyes bugged out of their heads.
"He started to talk to me but I just couldn't so I gave him my business card for Shinhoin Industries and drove off."
"You ran away from Byakuya Kuchiki." Momo said in wonder.
"I didn't have a choice!"
From out of the blue she heard her mother chuckle a bit. " Remember what I told you baby he is an observant man."
"Hopefully not that observant" She muttered. "Speaking of unobservant ass's I agreed to go one of Renji Abari's party's tonight.
Nanao's coffee cup clattered to the table . " Why?" she said in disbelief.
First I would thank to thank everyone that has review this story it has really encouraged me to keep on with it . So I would like to give lots of hugs to seras3791, RunSakura ,Vicky73, Druon, L, SilverQueen, Byakua's Sakura Petal , and everyone else who has read and reviewed It has meant so very much .
So I tried to convey other feelings in this story other than just depression , I tried to capture a lot of their insecurities and fear's and moments of just being human . So please R&R and tell me how I did and if I could improve on anything. ( other than spelling and grammar because I already know I suck at that.)
XOXOXO again and R&R