Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo.

Bleach: The Shoujo Side

written by Kurosu

Episode Ten: Hail the Espada Kings! Grimmjow's Unexpected Love?!

"Good morning, ojii-sama!"

Rukia greeted her beloved grandfather at the table for breakfast, and joining them was Yoruichi in her arms. The cat had recently become a new member of the Kuchiki household, and the girl was thrilled because she never had a pet before, not to mention a talking cat, which no one else needed to know about.

Even the household help were used to the small animal around, to the point that her very own meal plate of grilled fish was prepared for her, and Yoruichi began to live a life of feline luxury - better than living with Kisuke who only served her burnt chicken.

Ginrei was sipping his usual morning tea and Rukia took a bite of the grilled salmon with rice just as Byakuya entered the room and greeted them. Even though it was the weekend, he didn't allow himself any extra sleep because he was just that strict and... overbearing when he sat down and reached over to Rukia with a napkin to wipe a speck of rice from the side of her mouth. She blushed with embarrassment, still being taken care of by her brother at that age.

"What is that?" Byakuya's stern voice rang over the tranquil atmosphere.

Rukia looked up and followed his line of vision straight to her left side where Yoruichi sat, nibbling on her fish. Ginrei chuckled behind the teacup as the perplexed girl explained the obvious, "A cat, nii-sama."

At the mention of her existence, Yoruichi looked up and did her best cute cat impression with her friendly mew, but Byakuya wasn't about to be fooled by appearance. Just a single glance at the fur ball, he sensed something ominous and didn't want it around his family. So with some patience, he used a different approach for a more elaborate explanation, "What is a cat doing in the house?"

"Um, Yoruichi-san's my friend," she petted the feline's head, "She keeps me company... when you're not around, nii-sama." She hated lying to her brother, but at least it wasn't a complete lie since Yoruichi had been keeping her company, whether to mentor her or be on guard for hollows nearby.

Byakuya, nearly distracted by the fact that his sister had admitted to being lonely without him and deeply moved by her feelings, wasn't about to be swayed into keeping the animal.

"You can't keep it," he said with finality, and referring to the animal as an object kept emotional detachment to it, which he had learn to do quite well growing up.

"But nii-sama, why?!"

"I'm allergic to cats."

Ginrei's eyebrows rose straight up to his hairline, "That's the first I've heard of it."

After the reveal of that falsehood, it was foolish of him to attempt to deceive his sister, and as cute as the pout she was giving him, he had to be honest, "No pets."

"Nii-sama, you have a koi pond."

"..."

She got him there, but his carp babies didn't have some strange, demon-like aura around them, and all they do was swim around in the damn pond. They were pretty to look at too.

"I don't like cats," he tried something else.

"But you don't hate them?" Rukia's voice sounded curious.

"I hate them," he revised his statement, as the maid placed his breakfast before and then was dismissed. Rukia wanted to object, but when he started eating, it ended the conversation and left Yoruichi glaring at the Kuchiki head.

Byakuya, 1. Yoruichi, 0.

One nice afternoon, Rukia in her shinigami form had just smashed the white hilt of Sode no Shirayuki into the hollow's broken mask. A crack appeared, followed by a flash of blinding light, and eventually the hollow returned to its human form. The figure of a man laid on the grass as Ichigo walked over and made a disgusted face, hesitant to pick up the green pill that fell from the man's mouth.

"Just take it, Ichigo!"

"But it's so gross!"

"Stop being such a girl!" she sighed, sheathing her zanpakuto away.

"Shut up!" With a deep breath, he picked up the offensive object with his thumb and index finger and dropped it into a small, plastic bag. Then he glared at Rukia, wondering why she had been snapping at him at the drop of a hat, "And what's wrong with you? PMS'ing?"

She threw her own glare at him, "No."

It looked serious, so he apologized and softened his tone, "You can tell me, you know. We're friends."

She thought about his words and then sat down on the nearby bench, with him joining the spot next to her. She started to speak about the situation with her brother, "Nii-sama won't let me keep Yoruichi-san."

"Did he say why?"

"Well, he says he hates cats, but I think he's afraid Yoruichi-san might eat his koi."

"Do you think she would?" he pondered over that, imagining the evil cat sneaking to the pond to eat the fish.

Rukia felt offended, "This is Yoruichi-san, Ichigo! A highly intelligent, talking cat!"

"Yeah, but she's still a cat, you know. And all animals have basic instincts."

"Ugh, you're taking nii-sama's side!"

"Eew, no way!"

Byakuya, 2. Yoruichi, 0.

So during lunch at school, instead of having the meal with her brother, Rukia had been avoiding him because of her feelings on the pet situation. After her discussion with Ichigo, she decided to eat with Orihime and the girls instead, outside beneath a tree. The girls were talking about something she couldn't remember, because she was still wrapped up on her problem. Orihime noticed and asked her about it.

"I want to keep Yoruichi-san, but I don't want nii-sama to be upset either."

"Keep her secretly!" Chizuru suggested, thinking that Yoruichi was a cute girl, "Forbidden stuff is always hot! Oh, why don't you let me keep her then! Heheh."

Tatsuki smacked the back of her head, "Who's Yoruichi?"

"My cat."

Chizuru seemed disappointed at the information, but Tatsuki seemed thoughtful, "Hm, can't you just keep her in your room? My cousin's cat is always in her room. I think it's afraid to go outside or something."

Rukia couldn't see that happening, confining Yoruichi to one room was like trying to keep a tsunami in a fish bowl, and she looked over to Orihime to seek her opinion, but the girl just shook her head, "Sorry, Kuchiki-san, I like cats, but I'm allergic to them."

Byakuya, 4. Yoruichi, 1.5.

Rukia and Ichigo hurried down the street with great urgency, since they left school immediately as the bell rang even though Ichigo had clean up duty. He just couldn't let Rukia face this herself, whatever the emergency - obviously it wasn't a hollow problem - was that called them straight to the ramen shop. She threw the door aside, and the two teenagers were breathing hard in the doorway.

"What's the emergency?!" they both yelled.

Kisuke, behind the counter, looked up from his sudoku puzzle, "Hm? Something wrong?"

The two kids fell over.

Ichigo then yelled at him, "You called us here about something urgent!"

"Oh, right. Have you guys seen Yoruichi?"

Rukia sat on the stool and told him, "Three days ago, at my house. After nii-sama said I couldn't keep her, she left angrily. I haven't seen her since." She paused and frowned at Kisuke, "I thought she came back here."

The shop owner seemed worried, "No, I haven't seen her either. She normally doesn't stay away for so long, without telling me."

"She got eaten by a hollow?" Ichigo wondered.

"We would know about a hollow appearance," Rukia sighed.

"She got catnapped?"

"What?"

"You know, like kidnapped, but she's a cat," he mused.

"..."

After the quick meeting of what to do with a missing Yoruichi, Rukia wandered a nearby neighborhood searching for her feline friend. They had decided it was best to look for her in case something serious did happen, so she took the west side while Ichigo went east, looking through the neighborhoods the cat had been known to be seen in. To aid her in the quest, Rukia created a sketch of the cat and showed it to the people of the neighborhood.

So far, no information turned up, but she wasn't about to give in yet. She went into a different street, turning the corner, and in the distance, she could see someone hunched in between some shrubs. She walked over to the young man, "Excuse me."

His back seemed familiar, and when he turned around, it struck her, "Jeagerjaques-san!"

From his stunned expression, he did not expect to run into someone he recognized or recognized him. He was apprehensive about something, looking about and making sure she was at least alone, and pulled her towards him, within the shrubbery.

"What are you..." she started to question, but glancing behind him told her everything. She smiled at the sight of three kittens slurping up milk from a bowl. "Oh, they're so cute!" she stroke one of them. "Are they yours?" she asked him.

He grabbed her wrist, pulling her hand back, and glared down at her, "You. You better not tell anyone about this."

She looked at him curiously, "Are you threatening me?"

"Look, I don't beat up on girls, but I can make an exception."

"Now that sounds like a challenge," she snorted. "But I don't see what's wrong with this? So you like cats?"

"Are you stupid?!" he said incredulously.

"Oh since you like cats," ignoring his insult, she pulled out her drawing of Yoruichi from her pocket, "have you seen this one?"

Grimmjow examined the image carefully, frowning, opened his mouth to say something but decided to shut up and resumed looking at it some more. He opened his mouth again, paused for a second, then said, "Yeah, I've seen this cat before, but not lately. Why?"

"She's missing," she said sadly, blaming herself for Yoruichi leaving even though it was really Byakuya's fault.

From the sorrow in her eyes, he knew the cat meant very much to her and felt a tad terrible for threatening her earlier, so to make it up to her, he said, "I'll help you find her, if you keep this," he waved his hand over to the litter of kittens still sipping the milk, "between us."

It wasn't like she was going to spread what she had seen to others - wasn't her business - but she could use all the help she could get, so she agreed to his assistance.

After two hours of nothing, Ichigo returned to the ramen shop at the agreed time and was appalled to see Rukia walking up to him with Grimmjow next to her. "What is he doing here?!" he pointed.

Grimmjow slapped the offensive finger from his face as Rukia explained, "Grimmjow is helping out."

"Yeah, stupid berry, Rukia invited me," he grinned.

"Grimmjow? Rukia? When were you two on first name basis?!"

"Ichigo, why are you nitpicking at that? Yoruichi-san is more important!"

Still eyeing the blue-haired Arrancar student, Ichigo told her he didn't find anything on the cat and asked how she did on her side. Looking at the drawing of Yoruichi sadly, she shook her head. He grimaced at the image, "Geez, no wonder. With that crappy drawing, someone would think you were looking for a demon wolf."

"What?!" Rukia kicked his shin.

Grimmjow smacked his head, "You need your eyes checked. I recognized the cat just fine." Ignoring Ichigo's glare in his direction, he asked Rukia, "You got anything belonging to the cat?"

"One moment." She excused herself into the shop, leaving the two boys in a glaring contest.

"What do you plan to do? Sniff out her trail?" Ichigo inquired.

"None of your business."

Before a fight could break out between badass guys, Rukia returned with a small, rubbery mouse in her hand, "Kisuke said this is hers." Grimmjow turned red, trying to restrain himself from grabbing the toy and biting it, as he nervously accept it. He took a quick sniff of the scent, while Ichigo snickered at the correct assumption. She asked him, "You can find her that way?"

"Just leave it to me," he seemed to impress Rukia, and Ichigo did not like that.

So in the end, Ichigo was forced to follow the two, winding through the streets of Karakura until they finally reach Arrancar High. The three were puzzled as to why they ended up there, and further investigation led them onto the campus to solve this mystery. Grimmjow stopped them, "Wait, you guys need different clothes."

He took them to an empty room and made them wait there while he disappeared. The two Karakura students looked at each other and then waited till Grimmjow returned. He came back with two Arrancar uniforms and told them to change into them. Ichigo wanted to protest, but Grimmjow had no patience for crap, "Look, no one outside of Arrancar is welcomed here. If they find out you're not a student, they'll beat the shit out of you. Not like I care or anything, but I'm doing this for the chick."

Ichigo turned to the girl, "What the hell did you promise this guy?!"

"Promise? I didn't promise anything... Oh wait, you mean that-!"

"A date! Okay, a fuckin' date!" Grimmjow quickly cut in, so she wouldn't reveal his softer side, not that this imaginary date made him look any tougher. Ichigo opened his mouth to say the date was unacceptable, but Rukia just smacked him and Grimmjow.

"Both of you turn around, so I can change."

They did as they were told, grumbling, and Ichigo quickly changed too, into the black gakuran. When she was done, the three left the room and continued to follow Yoruichi's faint trail. They exited one building and entered another, and along they way, Rukia noticed a lot of posters of Grimmjow, Ulquiorra, Starrk and a fourth unfamiliar face. She guessed they were popular students, but she didn't understand the appeal beneath appearances.

Ulquiorra, gothic lolita pervert.

Starrk, lazy, sleepy pervert.

Grimmjow, some cat fetish... pervert status, unknown.

Arrancar students were definitely weird.

Rukia, lost in her thoughts, didn't sense the danger until Grimmjow pulled her back, just as the dagger flew into the wall, an inch from where she had been. She looked up and was met with the most terrifying face she had seen in her life. A tall man, with a white eye patch over his left eye, was grinning from ear to ear, holding another dagger between his teeth. He stepped up to the trio, still keeping his one eye obsessively on Rukia.

"Well well, what do we have here?" he plucked the dagger from his teeth and licked his lip, revealing a slithery tongue. "I haven't seen you two before," he gestured towards Rukia and Ichigo, completely ignoring an irritated Grimmjow.

"Back off, Nnoitora!" Grimmjow spat out, "They're part of my fraccion!"

"Gyahaha, that's hilarious, Grimmjow" he laughed, "Didn't you say being an Espada King was a waste of time? And yet, you have such a deliciously cute kitten in your fraccion."

"Hands off!" he repeated, standing protectively in front of Rukia, "She's mine!"

"Like hell!" came Ichigo's innate response, towards both men, when it came to her well being.

Rukia hit both of their heads and stepped up to Nnoitora, who found her boldness quite interesting, and she showed him the picture of Yoruichi, "Have you seen this cat?"

"Hm?" he rubbed his chin, leaning down close to the paper, periodically glancing at her serious face, "Maybe."

"Where is she?" her face brightened at some good news, "I've been looking for her!"

"And what will I get in return for the information?"

"Don't listen to him!" Grimmjow ordered, "I can still track her down."

"Then hurry up!" Ichigo added, pulling Rukia away from Nnoitora, "Let's get away from that freak!"

Nnoitora angrily attacked them, throwing his hand towards Ichigo's head; his dagger sliced through the tips of Ichigo's hair, barely missing the side of his face. Rukia pulled her hand back from Ichigo's grasped and swung it towards Nnoitora's abdomen, but he quickly retreated from her at the last second and smiled arrogantly at the failed attempt to make contact to his person.

"I wouldn't be smiling," she warned him.

He looked down at himself and found a long tear across his white gakuran that Rukia managed to make from her attack. He frowned and snarled at her, "Bitch, you'll pay for that! You dare cross an Espada King!"

"I don't know what an Espada King is, but if you don't let us through, then don't regret it."

He cackled like the insane man that he was, "Grimmjow! You allow outsiders into our territory! This is great! Too great!" After much crazy laughter that no one was enjoying, Nnoitora fell into a fighting stance, hunched forward with knees bent low and each hand gripping a dagger, "I'll enjoy ripping you apart, bitch. No one has left this place alive."

"You're exaggerating," Ichigo laughed nervously, "This is a comedy, not a dark crime drama."

"Well, it's not true," Grimmjow started thoughtfully, "but we've never had outsiders on campus before, so he isn't lying either."

"Who cares!" Nnoitora shouted and charged forward.

"And it's not bitch!" Rukia screamed and dashed towards him, "It's Kuchiki Rukia!"

She blocked his one arm, but his other one slashed towards her legs. She lifted her knee up and smashed it hard into his wrist, forcing him to pull it away. She followed that with a kick of her foot to his shin, causing his leg to fumble, his left knee dropping to the floor. Her hands wrestled the dagger out of his right hand, but with his other hand recovered, he attacked her from the huge opening.

Rukia shoved him back as the dagger ripped across her chest, creating a long tear that matched his gakuran's. She stumbled backwards into Grimmjow's arms while Nnoitora found himself on one knee, creepily licking off the tint of red on the blade. Ichigo looked down at the tear in the top of her seifuku uniform, noting the line of blood on her skin, and quickly looked away, flushing pink at seeing a bit of her skin.

"Guess we're even now, bitch," Nnoitora laughed, "I'll rip more than just that top."

Grimmjow, surprisingly being a gentleman, took off his gakuran and put it on Rukia. Too bad he was wearing a black tee shirt underneath, but anyone could see he was in such good shape, very fit (and delicious). "That's enough, Nnoitora. She's my faccion, and you're not going to lay a hand on her." He gently shoved Rukia into Ichigo's protection while he dealt with the psychotic king.

"Oho, so you're going to fight because I damaged your li'l kitten? When did you become such a softie, Grimmjow?"

Before he took a step forward, Grimmjow glanced to the side, telling the two, "If you go through the door behind him and keep straight, you'll eventually find her."

A surprised Ichigo was about to thank him for his 'kindness,' but Grimmjow scoffed, "Don't think I'm being nice here, I've been wanting to beat the shit out of this asshole for a while now."

Ichigo refrained from throwing an insult and pulled Rukia along. An angry Nnoitora jumped at the opportunity to cut the two escaping, but Grimmjow threw a direct punch to his face, knocking him to the wall. By the time Nnoitora pulled himself together, Rukia and Ichigo were gone, leaving a grinning Grimmjow cracking his knuckles, ready for a bloody fight.

Nnoitora wasn't about to let his prey escape so easily. He leaned back against the wall and laughed, causing Grimmjow to narrow his eyes at him wondering what the idiot was plotting. He watched the crazy guy lift his fist and smashed it into the small electronic panel next to him. An alarm went off in the building, and that was when Grimmjow realized what he had done.

"Ichigo! We can't just leave Grimmjow alone!"

Rukia, clutching her hands on the edge of the gakuran, was worried for Grimmjow's safety and wanted to turn back to help him, but Ichigo continued to drag her forward to their goal: Yoruichi was waiting for them! They stopped when the sound of the building alarm blared overhead, making them wonder what it was about.

"Let him handle it," Ichigo told her.

"But, that guy. He was a total creep, what if-?!"

"Rukia," he started running ahead again but spared her a quick, serious look, "sometimes, all a man has left to protect... is his pride."

That silenced her as they made their way to the next building, and Grimmjow was right. They stepped right into the library and standing in front of them was Ulquiorra, holding Yoruichi by the neck in one hand, at arm's length as if she was a diseased animal he didn't want. It wasn't like him to be caught off guard, but he was at the sight of Rukia.

She rushed up to him and took Yoruichi in her arms, "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing," he said, because he really did nothing, or was about to do something before they arrived and caught him. He was innocently going about his life, all the while feeling a strange presence lurking about him for the past days, and finally he was able to catch the culprit that turned out to be a mere cat.

The alarm was still ringing in the background, though a lot quieter in the library, and Ulquiorra asked her, "Did you trigger the alarm?"

"I'm not sure."

Ichigo stood next to her, "It doesn't sound good though."

"It's not," Ulquiorra informed them. The two stared at him, waiting for further explanation, but the guy really took his time, "It's a warning of an invasion. All the Espada fraccions are too seek and destroy all intruders."

"You know," Ichigo started, apparently irritated by the second at being at Arrancar High, "You guys are just a high school, not a damn country!

"Rukia, let's go!"

"Wait," he called out to the two. They turned back to him, and he said, "This way. There's a safe passageway."

After exchanging questionable glances, they shrugged and followed Ulquiorra deeper into the library. The place was huge, rows and rows of books shelved, but from Rukia's view, they seemed unused, collecting dust upon the edges. Ever since her first official clash against Arrancar, she discovered the school was infamous for its deliquents and unbeatable record in sports, but a crappy rank in academics - one of the lowest, if not lowest, in all of Japan.

That explained the unused library.

Ulquiorra accessed the secret passage way in the back of the library, near the history section, because really, what Arrancar student would even venture into the historical subjects, much less the library itself. He then handed them a flashlight to make their way through the darkness.

Ichigo, hesitant, peeking inside, "Are you sure it's safe?"

"We don't have a choice, Ichigo," Rukia sighed and shoved him forward. She looked back at Ulquiorra, "Thank you." When he started to walk towards her, she took a step back, nervously. Ichigo watched carefully and ready himself if the guy was going to make a weird move, but all Ulquiorra did was give her a pat on the head and yanked a strand of her hair.

"Ouch! What's that for?!" she yelled, rubbing her head while her other arm cradled a weary Yoruichi, who had spent days trailing her target with not much sleep.

Ulquiorra turned away with his prized possession of Rukia's hair strand safely in his hands, leaving the girl annoyed and confused about what had happened. Ichigo leaned over to her and whispered, "What was that about?"

"I'm not sure."

The two, with Yoruichi who had fallen asleep in Rukia's arms, started their journey out of Arrancar High, and by the time they reached the exit, they were staring up at the night sky in the backyard of Karakura High's sports fields. And so ended the mystery to Yoruichi's disappearance.

All that time, after leaving the Kuchiki manor, she had been investigating the human-turned hollow phenomenon and wound up tailing a suspect for days to monitor his movements, so who knew that Arrancar High was involved. Students weren't as innocent as people thought they were, not in these times of high school rivalry when anything goes!

"Please, nii-sama!" Rukia resorted to pleading to her brother to let Yoruichi stay. "I won't ever ask for anything for the rest of my life!"

Byakuya was still being a stubborn jerk though, but as he thought long and hard, there had to be a reason that cat kept sticking to Rukia, and if he wanted to find out, he would have to have the cat around to observer her. Then he would have proof and a legitimate reason to cast the animal away.

"All right," he sighed.

Rukia squealed with delight and threw her arms around her favorite and only brother, much to Byakuya's delight. She continued to hug him and his hands weren't sure what to do. It was the first time they embraced each other since his wife's passing and the warm feeling was almost new to him. He carefully and slowly placed his hands on her small back and squeezed her lovingly.

"I love you, nii-sama," she whispered.

And Byakuya's heart melted at her words.

Byakuya 4. Yoruichi, 1.5. Rukia, infinity.

After all that had happened, Rukia thought her life would also return to normal - as normal as it could get with her - but the stress from everything had been piling up, and the addition of the semester exams closing in on her, it topped it all. Too much stress could send her into a frenzy, so she figured a break was necessary and ended up at the Kenpachi Dojo to release that part of her tense life by physically whipping someone's ass.

Luckily, Ichigo - her number one target - and the others decided to join her for a break from their studies too, and of course Kenpachi was overly happy to receive them since Ichigo had been avoiding the place like the plague. While Rukia and Ichigo were beginning their practice, everyone else consisting of Orihime, Uryuu and Chad sat on the sidelines and discussed how long Ichigo would last before he got his ass kicked by Rukia.

"Hey!" the subject of their discussion huffed indignantly, "Some friends you guys are."

"I'm rooting for you, Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime cheered, "And Kuchiki-san!"

"C'mon! Let's see what ya got, kid!" Kenpachi grinned, motioning his student to the center of the room, and stood across from him as the opponent. He initiated the practice match with a step forward and swing from the right, and Ichigo retreated back to avoid the attack and quickly maneuvered to his left, circling his mentor. Kenpachi, still with his trademark grin, spun around counter clockwise to catch Ichigo off guard, but the latter brought his wooden sword up in defense, not a second too late.

Caught in the crossing of swords, Ichigo refused to back down and strengthened his stance instead of forcing it into his upper body in a losing battle of power, because he knew the man was insanely strong. That didn't mean he was willing to admit defeat. He just had to hold his ground and find a weak spot, but his train of thought was interrupted by Kenpachi lowering his sword and walking away.

"Hey! We're not done!" he shouted.

Kenpachi just waves a hand casually, "You lost."

"What the hell?! The fight wasn't over!"

"You think you can beat me? That's another twenty years, kid," the kendou master turned around and snorted, "But you did better than I expected. Another month or so, you can be on par with Kuchiki."

His comment came across as an insult and a compliment, so Ichigo wasn't sure of what to say, standing agape at his mentor's retreating form from the training room. Rukia silently walked up to him and closed his bottom jaw by pushing it up with the hilt end of her wooden sword.

"Let's spar," was all she said and stood ready in front of him.

Ichigo focused on his female friend and noted something off about her. She seemed cold and indifferent, and for a brief second, he saw a flicker of irritation and wondered what had caused it. Giving into her whims, he fell into opening stance and unconsciously gripped the hilt tightly, with Rukia's odd behavior still lingering in the back of his mind. Just as Rukia made her first move, the feeling of deja vu hit him, and he remembered the first time they fought.

Rukia's flurry of swings forced Ichigo to retreat, like before, but he was able to block and parry a few strikes now. Her intensity appeared to have double since their first unofficial match, and a sudden spike of her spiritual energy alarmed him, and he found himself in a dangerous match. Each swing, now, became hard and lethal, and he noted how similar it was to her fights the hollows.

He stumbled to the side, trying to avoid a thrust of the sword, and Rukia followed his move with the weapon arcing in his direction.

A white object appeared in her line of vision, and she stopped, dropping the sword to the ground, and snatched the item from midair. Ichigo fell to the ground on his bottom and looked up at Rukia, who was cuddling the plush doll of a white rabbit that he recognized as the ever popular 'Chappy the Rabbit.' He had never seen the girl so happy, with her whole face lighting up with pure joy, before with a mere child's toy, but she looked beautiful.

He found himself blushing at the sight of her squeals and smiled.

"You should thank me," came the new voice.

Everyone turned to Ichigo's supposed savior - the brief memory lapse of the danger he was in, being at Rukia's mercy - to see an aloof teenager standing casually in the doorway. He had both hands in the pockets of his dark slacks, poised with confidence and arrogance, but it was the smug grin on his face that bothered Ichigo the most.

The room was in silence as the young man walked towards the participants of the match, still in the middle of the room.

"Ah thanks," Rukia casually threw the words in the visitor's direction, too fascinated with her adorable object to even fully acknowledge him.

With an annoyed frown, he bopped her head with his knuckles, "Is that any way to greet me, Chibiko?"

The blushing girl found great interest on the floor instead, clutching her Chappy plushie tighter in fear that he might take it away from her, and fumbled for words that would appease him.

All the while Ichigo and everyone else watched, appalled, at the scene before them, because none of them had never seen Rukia become so flustered before, and wondered who this boy was that could bring the ever powerful Rukia into a shy girl. What did he do to their Rukia, their precious Rukia?!

Ichigo, annoyed by the overly friendly display, demanded, "Who the hell are you?!"

The young man turned to him with a raised eyebrow, slightly taken aback by being addressed with such hostility, and after a brief observation of the rogue teenager, he gave him the 'who the hell are you to demand anything of the great me' expression.

"You should have more manners to introduce yourself before demanding it from someone," he scolded, and it flustered Ichigo who was then obligated to introduce himself.

"Hitsugaya Toushirou," he smirked - a smirk that Ichigo would soon learn to despise.

Ichigo made a face as if he wasn't impressed at all, and their friends glanced at one another, wondering if they should be familiar or impressed with the name either, but Toushirou wasn't finished with his introduction though, because he wanted to stress the last point to the orange-haired boy.

"Rukia's fiance."

Next episode, Rukia's Harem! A Date Before the Exam?! (working title)

Notes: Impressed, huh? Updated the next day! I wrote this all in one day, my day off, lol. The HitsuRuki got me excited, so I wanted to get to it ASAP. This is just a glimpse of what's to come I guess. Next episode will have more HitsuRuki! *grins* I hope you guys like it so far. -kuro