Disclaimer: I'm really not Tite Kubo. Not even slightly.

Listening to: Josh Pyke – 'Variations'.

Chapter Six

When Yoruichi next found Soi Fon, it was Monday morning in the company gym, as the younger woman took out what could only be described as considerable frustration upon a punching bag.

Deciding to approach the matter delicately, Yoruichi cleared her throat and alerted Soi Fon to her presence, since alarming an already irate woman was ranked fairly highly on her list of bad ideas. When her protégé only acknowledged her with a nod and continued to rain blows down on the equipment, she knew this wasn't going to be a fun conversation.

"Sooooo…" Yoruichi trailed off, trying to work out where to start. "You sort of disappeared on Renji and I a couple of nights ago."

"I did", came the terse reply.

It wasn't much to go on, but the older woman was determined to do her best with the material she was given. "You wanna talk about it?"

"No", Soi Fon got out through gritted teeth as she continued her onslaught.

Was it just Yoruichi's imagination, or where the hits to the punching bag now sounding a lot harder? As tentatively as she could, she made one last attempt.

"Are you sure?"

Soi Fon stopped, running a hand through hair pulled back into a messy bun, and attempting to articulate how she felt. "It's – I – He's just an unmitigated bastard! He's an immature jerk who apparently has nothing better to do than amuse himself with making my life hell, which he can do simply by being his usual complete and total asshat self, because apparently that's what being Grimmjow Jeagerjacques is all about, and I HATE HIM!"

She broke off, breathing deeply in an attempt to restore her typical calm, as Yoruichi just stood there and stared, before blinking and muttering dryly, "And we've returned to this. Don't hold back, sweetie, just be honest. Seriously, Bee, I thought you'd started to get along. What'd he do now?"

Remembering, Soi Fon unleashed another powerful kick at the punching bag with a growl, before walking over and sitting on the edge of the gym mat. "He hit on me."

Yoruichi raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't he sort of do that on a daily basis. Hell, screw daily – hourly. You say something scathing or throw something, I tell you both you're stuck together another day, and that's the end of it. What's different now?"

Taking a swig from her water bottle, Soi Fon stared at the floor for a long pause, before looking up at her best friend. "This time he meant it."

"Huh." Yoruichi sat down next to Soi Fon. "How'd that go?"

"I threw a drink in his face."

Yoruichi snorted. "Oh Bee, you never disappoint. Still, I can't say I'm surprised on his end. I mean, let's be realistic – even if Grimmjow did have some sort of issue with you, he wouldn't keep provoking you into breaking our little agreement. He'd want to be out of that office. The fact that you're still stuck together does kind of say something." She paused, and considered her words. "Of course, the same could be argued for you too. As aggravating as he is, I would have thought you'd be able to stick it out for five days. And yet you keep retaliating…"

She trailed off, raising an eyebrow at Soi Fon, who stared back at her, horror-struck. "Are you telling me that I'm subconsciously keeping him around? Why in the hell would I want to do that?"

The eyebrow stayed raised as Yoruichi's meaning became clear.

"HELL NO!"

"Just consider it, Bee", Yoruichi broke in hurriedly. "Why wouldn't you like the guy? You call him an asshat all the time, but what has he actually done lately that legitimately makes him one? Can you honestly tell me he doesn't have one single redeeming characteristic?"

"He has one", Soi Fon pointed out sharply. "Decent taste in music, and he balances that out with an unfortunate tendency to try and sing when he can't hit more than one note, let alone stay in tune."

"He's not malicious", Yoruichi murmured. "When he was taunting you, it was more like the kid in the playground who knocks over the sand castle of the girl he likes to get her attention. He never did anything to permanently cause you any sort of harm. He just likes to tease you."

Soi Fon couldn't really argue against that. She also couldn't shake the knowledge that Grimmjow had rather more good qualities than she would like to admit. "All right", she began slowly, "he's capable of being nice. He cleans up after his pranks. And at some point he learnt what I like from someone and now he gets me coffee."

"He makes you laugh", Yoruichi added. "Sometimes against your will, but it still happens."

"You like him for me, don't you?" Soi Fon's accusation was clear.

Yoruichi shrugged. "I wouldn't go that far. But I'm all for someone who can make you laugh – you don't do that anywhere near enough as far as I'm concerned. And I think he genuinely likes you. I know your past relationships have sucked, but that doesn't mean you should swear off them altogether."

"I don't like him", Soi Fon uttered mutinously, "he's a jerk."

A good-looking jerk who's kinda fun to trade insults with and who's actually occasionally quite sweet…

And who has been displaying a complete lack of any real jerky behaviour of late…

"I don't want to like him", she groaned, more to herself than Yoruichi, before turning her gaze to her best friend once more. "Look, even if you have a point about me and relationships - "

"Which I do."

"Whatever. Even so, Grimmjow's not my type." That much, Soi Fon was very sure of.

Mostly.

"Anything you say, Bee", Yoruichi replied. "Say… when did he become Grimmjow?"

Soi Fon froze, mentally running over their conversation before settling on the inevitable conclusion. "I hate you sometimes."

"No you don't", Yoruichi responded with a grin.

"I really do", Soi Fon shot back. "And on that note, I'm going to the office."

"To bask in Grimmjow's presence, no doubt", her friend claimed, nodding sagely.

Shaking her head, Soi Fon walked out, the expressive gesture she was making with her left hand do the talking for her.

xXx

As Yoruichi watched her best friend leave, she bit her lip.

Oh well, it's no big deal.

I'll just tell her about Kisuke some time when she's not freaking out.

Hopefully Grimmjow makes that happen soon.

xXx

Having the office to herself was soothing, Soi Fon decided.

At least, it was supposed to be. And yet, she couldn't help but feel that it wasn't quite the same without a soundtrack of the scribbling of Grimmjow's pencil, the butchering of classic rock songs and the bickering that had slowly become almost good-natured.

Until he'd decided to go and remind her that, not only did she find him attractive, but he seemed to find her so as well.

Seemed, of course, was the operative word. Men who looked as good as Grimm – no, dammit, he was Jeagerjacques and staying that way – men who looked like that didn't pick girls who looked like her. Soi Fon was used to being passed by in favour of Yoruichi, it was a pitfall that went with having a good-looking best friend. Why Jeagerjacques couldn't have just followed the usual trail of events and just left her alone was beyond Soi Fon.

With a groan, she sat back in her chair.

I don't like him, I'm just aware that he's not always a complete jackass.

As much as I hate to admit it.

Of course, this train of thought just brought up the real issue at hand – how Soi Fon was going to deal with her first meeting with Grimmjow after that fateful night, the night where he had not only almost kissed her, but she had almost let him…

Sort of. I mean, surely I'm sensible enough to get how much of a bad idea that is, even if I do find him far too attractive.

I'll just tell him I don't do relationships – Kami only knows, that's true enough. If he calls me on finding him attractive…

Well, I have two options. I can deny it all, or just say that I'm determined to rise above my hormones… which he'll probably take as a challenge. Denial it is, then. So then all I need to do is maintain a courteous and professional demeanour around him in the office.

Yeah – because that's worked brilliantly so far.

"Coffee for your thoughts?" And there he was, obnoxious as ever. Except, he wasn't. He'd brought her coffee and, even if there was a wry twist to his grin, he wasn't leering or smirking. Hell, he even looked vaguely presentable, except for those appalling shoes.

Soi Fon swallowed her nervousness. "You're proposing a trade?"

His grin widened. "Nah, Bee. You get the coffee anyway. I was just curious."

Grimmjow handed her the cup, which she took gladly, trying not to notice how warm his hand was as her fingers brushed it.

Courteous and professional. I remember how to do that.

"Well, it's none of your business, so go be curious about something else", Soi Fon muttered.

Grimmjow raised an eyebrow. He'd expected Bee to verbally attack him when he entered the room and had armed himself with coffee as a precaution – it'd improve her mood, and she was probably less likely to physically attack him if there were boiling hot liquids in play.

Probably.

Well, she was crabby, that much was clear, but she wasn't mentioning their little interlude a few nights ago, which no doubt meant she wanted to pretend it never happened.

Grimmjow wasn't about to let that work. He'd caught a glimpse – hell, more than just a glimpse – of mutual attraction that night, and he was damned if he didn't get her to admit it. Bee had been haunting his thoughts far too often, usually dolled up the way she had been when she'd thrown the drink at him, and it made one thing very clear.

Somewhere along the line, evil secretary of doom had become Bee and, while the other resurfaced every once in a while, Grimmjow liked Bee.

Rather too much for his peace of mind.

He wasn't about to let her know that, though. Bee was clearly skittish about relationships, an attitude Grimmjow could understand perfectly, since he hadn't ever seriously contemplated one before. Still, a reply was clearly in order…

"You're in a mood Bee. Frustration getting to you? I mean, I know I sure as hell went home frustrated - "

It worked like a charm. Her eyes snapped up to meet his, all molten fire, and Grimmjow briefly wondered if it would ever be a good idea to tell Soi Fon just how hot she looked when she was pissed.

And Kami, she was pissed.

In tones that could have frozen an active volcano, Soi Fon shot back, "We are not getting into this - "

"Why not?" Grimmjow casually strolled around the desk and closed the distance between them. "We're young, single, mentally stable and attracted to each other – where's the harm?"

"There are two things wrong with that statement", Soi Fon replied quickly, her mind in a whirl. When had he gotten so close? He was behind her now and she could smell him, a crisp and slightly wild smell that made her think of winter. It didn't help that she liked it. "The first is the idea of you possessing mental stability and the second is the idea that I'm attracted to you. I know that in your profession you need a lot of imagination, Jeagerjacques, but really - "

Too fast for her to react, he'd spun her chair around to face him and planted his hands on her desk on either side, effectively trapping her as he stared her down, something unreadable in his face. "So, you're not attracted to me?"

Deep breaths. Really, really deep breaths. Kami, I probably should have realised he would make a challenge out of anything.

"Nope", Soi Fon returned, trying not to wince as her attempted nonchalance just left her sounding very much unlike herself.

It was too much to hope that he wouldn't notice. Instead, he took another step forward, making him so close that there was barely a breath of air between their bodies. "Really, Bee? Because the woman I held on Friday night, until her brain kicked into gear, just seemed to melt against me – not that I'm complaining – and you don't strike me as the type to do that for just anyone."

It was definitely too hot in here. She was going to have to check the air conditioning system. It was also getting considerably harder to think as she looked up at him. "I'm not that type. And there was no melting."

"You sure about that?" He leaned in closer.

"Very." Soi Fon didn't sound half as certain as she would have liked to. In her head she knew she ought to give him a swift kick in the balls. The only problem was, she'd have to look down and align her foot first, and it was starting to feel like an impossible task to simply tear her eyes away from his. They seemed to burn brighter as they stared at her, and she had the feeling that she wasn't exactly at her most convincing right now. Still, there was one protest she could make.

"Let me go."

"I'm not touching you", came the reply, the unspoken 'yet' clear to both parties.

Soi Fon swallowed hard. "You know what I mean, Jeagerjacques."

"Can't say that I do." She was driving him insane. The grey business shirt she wore was open just enough for him to see delicately formed collarbones that he desperately wanted to trail fingertips over or, failing that, his tongue. She was breathing like a frightened animal, but there wasn't any trace of fear in her eyes. Nervousness, perhaps, but mostly what he saw was anticipation. Her body was taut with it, he could tell that much without touching her, and the way her lips were parted, just ready to be kissed, was a temptation he could barely stand to resist. On the other hand, he had a point to make.

Carefully leaning in so that his mouth was next to her ear, he simply stated, "And I think you'll find that my name is Grimmjow." He settled back to stare at her once more, registering the myriad of emotions flickering across her face.

It was all too much to deal with. Before she could stop herself, Soi Fon breathed, "Grimmjow."

His reaction was small, but instantaneous. If she'd thought his eyes were burning before, she'd clearly had no idea. He looked as though he was about to eat her alive and, as Soi Fon dizzily concluded, that probably wouldn't be too far from the truth.

What the hell am I doing? I need to think, and there's no way I can do that here. I'm getting out.

She didn't stop to think. She ducked under his arm, grabbed her laptop off the desk, mumbled something about a meeting and proceeded to get out of that room as fast as she could while still maintaining some dignity.

Grimmjow, meanwhile, was left to contemplate the space where she'd been, blinking as he attempted to reassemble his thoughts.

Well…

Fuck.

xXx

Six hours later, Bee had yet to return and it was almost time to go home. Grimmjow, not being one to give up, had decided to pack it in early and go on a Bee hunt.

It took him a while, but eventually he found her, on the roof of all places. She groaned when she'd spotted him, and started to get up, packing her things, but he ignored that in favour of giving her a hand.

"You know" he began conversationally, "Yoruichi said to tell you this doesn't count as a day, since we're both meant to be in the office."

"Charming." Just Soi Fon's luck. They were back to the beginning of their five day count again, and yet it wasn't depressing her as much as it should have.

Her things safely interred into her bag, Grimmjow stood and watched her as she slid her laptop into its case. "Do I really bother you that much?"

Soi Fon's first instinct was to say something scathing. But he actually sounded surprisingly earnest, and for some reason, the last thing she wanted to do was shoot him down.

I can't like this guy. I mean, I just refuse to. It's…

"It's bad timing", she blurted out.

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening."

"Look, when Yoruichi first took over, her entire family told her she was going to fail. The firm hadn't been doing well in years, and they honestly thought she was a moron, though how they reconciled that with the fact that she had degrees in law and business is beyond me - " She was babbling, a cooler part of her mind processed. She should probably stop that. "Well, that's how we met. We were doing the same courses and got along really well. She asked me to come give her a hand and we worked our asses off to turn this place around. And we did. But this is a huge contract and neither of us can afford to be distracted and - "

"And I am a distraction", Grimmjow concluded. "So… that's not a no?"

"I – For some reason I can't even begin to fathom… It's not a no." Soi Fon concluded, surprising herself. "It's not a yes, either though. You still annoy the crap out of me sometimes. Think of it as 'I'll consider it when the Kuchiki contract is over'."

He was smiling and, it belatedly occurred to Soi Fon, that she really liked his smile. "Just so long as you realise that I'm still going to try and convince you."

"Oh joy", Soi Fon replied dryly, refusing to notice the butterflies in her stomach.

"Anyway", Grimmjow continued as though she hadn't spoken, "you can't work up here. It looks like it's about to rain. Do you even have an umbrella?"

True to his words, the first few drops began to fall. Soi Fon swore, fumbling with her laptop case.

Grimmjow, on the other hand, began to search through his bag, while murmuring, "Never fear, Grimmjow is here."

"Why does that not fill me with confidence."

Suddenly, it was his turn to swear.

"What happened to 'never fear'?" Soi Fon couldn't help but chuckle. "Left your umbrella at home too?"

"No, I just - " He gave her a quick look. "Just don't say anything, ok?" With that, he whipped the umbrella out of his bag and put it up, keeping them both dry.

Soi Fon, in the meantime, just stared. "Well… it's a very nice umbrella."

"It's Hello fucking Kitty", Grimmjow growled. "And it's fucking pink."

Soi Fon's lips twitched. "So it is. Want to explain?"

"It's my room mate's girlfriend's. He must have swapped them", Grimmjow muttered darkly. "He's fun like that." He gave her an appraising look. "Hey Bee, could you hold the umbrella?"

Jostling her things, she grabbed it with her free hand. "What? Isn't it manly enough to be on the person of the illustrious Grimmjow Jeagerjacques?"

"Well, no, but that isn't quite it." He grinned. "I just wanted to make sure your hands were full."

Before she could ask what the hell that was supposed to mean, he'd leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.

She would have expected (not that she'd been thinking about it) that if they kissed, it would be a passionate, no-holds barred affair that would probably lead to mind-blowing, furniture-breaking sex (no, she hadn't thought about it at all). This, however, was different.

This kiss promised something more, something lasting. He tasted like the ridiculously black coffee he insisted on drinking, along with something else, something sweet, and the kiss itself was slow, sensual and drew her in completely until, before she was even fully aware of it, she had shifted and was moulding her mouth to meet his, completely heedless of the rain pouring down around them.

And then, just as she was about to completely lose her head, he pulled away, grinning from ear to ear. All she could do was stare at him.

Grimmjow stepped out from under the umbrella, ignoring the rain as he simply told her, "You can keep the umbrella, Bee. See you tomorrow." With a jaunty wave he strolled off until he was safely out of sight.

Soi Fon, meanwhile, was left holding a Hello Kitty umbrella and staring at the space he had occupied, blinking and trying to get some sort of train of thought back on track.

Well…

Fuck.

xXx

Well, that took longer than it should have. However, the next couple of chapters should follow on fairly quickly. I do plan for this to be shorter than my usual stories, so we're past the halfway point and heading for very interesting territory.

There may be dragons.

Anyway, let me know what y'all think – R and R!