"Lies"

2 Weeks Later

"Now this," Ichigo looked around, "is what I'm talking about!" Ichigo beamed. He could see the neighborhood park from the clean window, the walls had not a single hole in them, the floor was so shiny that he could see his reflection, and best of all... there were no roaches! Now he didn't have to spend nights playing DDR in the kitchen to step on them. "Thank you for finally allowing us to move to a new place," Ichigo sighed, collapsing onto the leather couch.

"Yeah yeah," Rukia set the lamp on the table. The living room was much brighter than the one from the last apartment. The electricity was working fine and the water was running. "I had to use the last amount of money I had just to pay for this month's rent," Rukia said, sitting beside Ichigo. Kon was set free from his cage; he ran around the place, exploring his new surroundings, though he didn't like the wooden floor too much. "And since we're both unemployed... we're going to need to find jobs, fast."

Ichigo rested his head on Rukia's lap, looking up at her. "We'll worry about that later." Truthfully, he did not want to talk about a job right now. A while back, Grimmjow had claimed that his boss had a job for Ichigo. Ichigo was quick to reject the offer, as it seemed a little shady. He didn't even know what the job would be. Ever since that, he never met that pugnacious guy again. However, he did give his contact information to Ichigo in case Ichigo changed his mind.

"Good, because I didn't want to think about it either," Rukia admitted. Rukia was still hiding the fact that she too was offered a job from Ukitake, her brother's co-worker. Getting a job at the Gotei 13 was everyone's dream job, even if the job was being a janitor! However, Rukia couldn't see herself working there, not with her brother around at least. He was always so anal about everything that everyone was terrified of him, even Rukia. Plus, if Byakuya were to find out about Rukia's situation and her relationship with Ichigo... they'd be separated.

"Is it dusty in here? You've got a bit of a tear in your eye," Ichigo noted, completely oblivious to the reason why she was upset. He reached up, wiping away a teardrop.

A smile tugged at Rukia's lips, "Hey, your father is a doctor, right?" she asked. Ichigo nodded. "Why don't you follow his footsteps?"

"Rukia. These hands," he lifted up his rough and battered hands, "are not meant for doing surgeries. People wouldn't be coming to my hospital to be saved; they'd be coming to die."

Rukia ran her finger through Ichigo's hair, tugging at it. Ichigo purred, nuzzling against her. "What are you, a cat?" she asked.

Ichigo grabbed Rukia's petite hands, pressing them against his warm cheek. He adored everything about her. Her gentle gaze, her thin lips, her soft skin, her short hair... he loved it all. Thinking about it now, he didn't understand why he had her undergo a makeover to get Renji to like her back then. She was perfect the way she was. "Rukia..?" He sat up, crawling towards her. The way he said her name with lust made the hair on Rukia's neck stand up.

Slowly, he pushed Rukia onto her back so that she lay on the couch. Usually at this point, Rukia would be searching for the nearest exit, but today, she was surprisingly obeying him. Rukia held her breath, trying to not make any strange noises while his hands roamed her body. "Ichigo," she warned, grabbing his hands and stopping him.

Ichigo began to unbutton her blouse, "I said you had to trust me, didn't I?" Rukia threw her head back, feeling him nip at her neck and to her collarbone, planting gentle trails of kisses.

"This is... embarrassing," Rukia bit her tongue, letting out small whimpers as she felt ticklish from his touches. "It's early in the morning; we shouldn't do-...!" Rukia instinctively arched her back, feeling Ichigo run his fingertips along her sides and to her hips. He skillfully took off her blouse with ease; all that was left was her bra and her shorts.

"Laced undergarments?" Ichigo smirked against her neck. He leaned over, whispering into her ear, "Were you expecting this? Is that why you got dressed for me?" He flicked his tongue across her earlobe, causing her to nearly faint.

Rukia brought her hands to her face, biting her finger while trying to muffle a moan. The last thing she wanted to do was increase his ego. "Ichigo... I..."

Suddenly, she felt a sudden shake. "... ia... Ruk... Rukia!"

Rukia jolted awake, seeing her new surroundings. She was sprawled on the ground beside Kon in their new apartment, but she wasn't half naked. "A dream?" she asked herself. Ichigo stood above her, eyeballing her strangely.

"You kept saying my name," Ichigo grew flustered, "looked like you were having a nice dream."

Rukia blinked, suddenly gasping. She was having a wet dream... for the third time this week!? This is it... it was the end of the world. How could she, the one who had been rejecting Ichigo's advances, be dreaming about him violating her? Did she secretly want it? She touched her neck, still able to feel the faint kisses from Ichigo, even though it was a dream. She felt hot all over. She threw her arm over her chest, trying to hide every single spot of skin that was available for Ichigo to see. She was so disgusted with herself. It was a sin to think of such things!

"Are you... okay? You're acting strange," Ichigo reached out, feeling her forehead. Rukia couldn't stop the blush that was creeping up on her. She dazed, tracing her eyes over his face and body. Something about him was different today. His hair was a tad longer and his eyes looked a bit more mature. His neck was long and beautifully smooth; she wondered how he looked beneath his shirt. She felt his chest a few times in the past; it was hard as rock. There was one thing for sure - Ichigo probably had a six pack and a toned chest that was ready and waiting for her to kiss all over it.

No, there was nothing different about Ichigo. This was how he was all along. The only thing that changed was Rukia's perspective of him. From the beginning, she only saw him as a boy who fooled around with women. Now... he was a man. To describe Ichigo in one precise word... Rukia would say that he was sexy. Rukia panicked. That feeling was in her chest again - the feeling she got after she gave Ichigo that handjob a while back.

"Huh, you're sweating," Ichigo pushed his face closer to hers, closing the distance between them. "Could you be sick again-"

"I gotta go run to the store," Rukia stood up, wobbling as her legs felt like noodles. Only Ichigo could make her feel so helpless.

Next Day

"Rukia... we're hungry," Ichigo moaned, dying on the floor beside Kon, who was also twitching from hunger. "If only that idiot Grimmjow hadn't showed up at my workplace, we wouldn't be in this situation!" he uttered low enough so that Rukia couldn't hear. Kon squeaked, nibbling on Ichigo's shirt. "You dare eat me?" Ichigo sneered. "I'll have you for dinner, you rat!"

Meanwhile, Rukia was rummaging through their empty fridge. "The only edible thing we have is celery-... Ichigo," Rukia furrowed her brows at the sight of Ichigo who just about to bite into Kon. Kon trembled, wide-eyed and terrified. Ichigo laughed, tossing Kon to the side who then bounced out of sight.

"Would you rather I go fetch dinner in the trash can?" Ichigo asked. Rukia didn't hesitate to nod. Ichigo looked out the window, watching the clouds roll by. "Spring is coming soon..." Rukia couldn't help but think that the image of Ichigo looking up at the sky was almost like a portrait. It was a peaceful scene; she could look at it all day without getting bored. "Who's calling you?" Ichigo asked, hearing Rukia's ringtone in the air.

Rukia reached into her pocket, seeing a familiar phone number. It was Ukitake. "I'll be outside," she told before stepping out of their home. "Yes?" she answered.

"You called me earlier?" Ukitake asked, sounding concerned. He never really expected a call from Rukia at all. She was always the independent person who didn't like to rely on others, very much like her brother Byakuya.

Rukia paused, unsure if it was wise to say what she wanted to. Ukitake did say she could confide in him, but sometimes people just say that out of generosity when they don't really mean it. Well, that didn't really apply to Ukitake; he wasn't like other people. What made Rukia really respect him was because he was always putting others before himself. Rukia looked at the window, seeing Ichigo pressing his nose against it. "Silly..." she laughed.

"Who, me?" Ukitake asked.

"Sorry, not you. But about that job offer..."

Ukitake suddenly sounded excited, "Are you taking it into consideration?"

Well, Rukia did miss going to work. She missed the sound of the printer, the sound of typing on a keyboard, the smell of coffee in the air... Yes, she was a workaholic. Besides, it would be a good idea to start working again, seeing as Ichigo almost ate Kon out of starvation. Plus, with her perverted thoughts about Ichigo lately... Rukia needed a job to take her mind off of it. "I..." Byakuya's cold eyes flashed in her mind. Being around him definitely took courage, which was something Rukia was lacking lately. "When do I work?" she asked.

Ukitake laughed; surely he was smiling on the other side of the phone. "I'll see you in my office tomorrow morning. You haven't forgotten where our business is?"

Ha, how could Rukia forget? She looked towards the city, seeing a building that stood higher than any other building around it. One glance at it and anyone could tell it was a business that was not to be messed with. "I haven't forgotten."

With that, they both hung up. Rukia looked back at Ichigo, who was breathing on the glass of the window, fogging it up. With a finger, he wrote on it, spelling out, 'You+I' with a bunch of hearts surrounding it.

Rukia scoffed at Ichigo. "What an idiot," she uttered. Ichigo couldn't hear her through the glass. "Ichigo, I got a job," she said to him, "but I can't tell you about it, because I'm afraid that if my brother found out about us, only bad things would happen in the future."

Ichigo frowned, wondering what Rukia was saying. The only thing he knew though, was that it looked like there was a thorn in her heart.

1 Week Later

"Going to work again?" Ichigo yawned, startling Rukia who was getting dressed early in the morning. She wore warm casual clothing. Ichigo looked at the clock, seeing that it was five in the morning. He groaned, pushing his face back into the couch cushions. "You leave early and you come home late... what kind of job do you have?" Ichigo was irritated with it all.

"I told you, I'm working at the..." Rukia cringed, hating to lie to him, "Supermarket," she finally said. Since last week, Rukia had been leaving early to the Gotei 13. When she got there, she'd change into her business attire and straighten out for the day there. At night, she'd change back into her normal clothing and come back home so that Ichigo wouldn't suspect her. It was all tiring, indeed.

"You're only getting paid minimum wage for working this hard? What BS," Ichigo moaned, still half-asleep.

Rukia sighed, glad because it seemed he wasn't suspicious of anything. She grabbed his blanket that fell on the ground, draping it over his slender body. "Make sure to feed Kon later," she whispered before heading towards the door.

"Make sure to feed on him later? Yeah, got it," Ichigo murmured into his pillow, completely twisting her words around. Ichigo hated that little bastard Kon. Just thinking about the fat fluffball made his blood boil; Kon was able to snuggle close to Rukia, he was able to sleep beside her, and he was able to feel her fingertips scratching at his scalp... Ichigo squinted his eye with envy. How pathetic was he that he was losing to a rabbit? Ichigo sighed, "I need a job."

The last thing Ichigo wanted was to let Rukia be the one to put dinner on the table. Getting a job was the only way he'd be able to redeem himself and make his value higher than that Kon. Still... Ichigo had been job hunting for the last two weeks with no luck. People were either not hiring or were terrified of Ichigo's constant frowning face.

Ichigo reached beneath his pillow, pulling out the business card that Grimmjow gave him a while back. Did he dare turn to him and his boss for help? Grimmjow was a sadistic man; Ichigo doubted Grimmjow would be unemployed. Someone like him would be fired off the bat. If anything, Ichigo would assume that Grimmjow's boss was a yakuza, or perhaps some sort of mafia. Ichigo hated being entangled in dirty business.

Well... it wouldn't hurt to check it out, right? If Ichigo didn't like it, he'd back out. It's not like he was going to sign his life away by making a phone call. "Quit being such a sissy, Ichigo," he whispered to himself before dialing the number on the card onto his cell phone. Placing the phone to his ear, Ichigo heard two brief rings before someone picked up-

"Hi, thank you for calling to the Hueco Mundo business. How may I help you?" answered a woman.

Ichigo's first reaction was, what the heck? What kind of idiot business was called Hueco Mundo? It didn't sound all too pleasant at all. "Nevermind, I think dialed the wrong phone number-"

From the other side, Ichigo heard a loud crash accompanied by a loud yell, "Ha! That shit-tard called!" Ichigo rubbed the bridge of his nose. There was no doubt who that was. "I knew you'd come begging at our doors like the little bitch you are, Ichigo!"

Little bitch? Ichigo would admit, he had a lot of nicknames in the past, but Grimmjow had some interesting ones that never failed to amuse him. Well, maybe it was because his old nicknames were given to him from his lady clients. "What kind of business is Hueco Mundo anyway?" Ichigo asked bluntly. The last thing he wanted to do was have a whole hour-long conversation with Grimmjow, most of which would just consist of them barking at each other.

"Curious to find out? Come to this address." Grimmjow tipped Ichigo with the information and after that he hung up.

Did Ichigo dare to go look? The phrase 'curiosity killed the cat' was made for a reason. "What the hell," Ichigo grabbed his coat, "if I don't go, he'll just call me a coward." And if it wasn't something he liked, he could just look at it from a distance and walk away like it never happened, he figured. There was no harm to that.

A/N: Can you guess what the mystery job Grimmjow offered to Ichigo is? ;)