OnigiriKami: READ AND REVIEW! PLEASE XDD Sorry if this chapter was toooo quick, I felt like I had to update! :] Well now we're back on story plot, and we gots a few new characters :]]]]

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN BLEACH!

Rukia sat in the classroom, she saw Hanatarou going over his homework like the diligently timid person he was. Rukia was waiting for Tatsuki to come. Yesterday was supposed to be fun but before Rukia had arrived to the theater, something had put her in a bad mood:

As she was walking to the theater, Rukia heard a song being played in the town center. It was a peaceful song that was being played on a guitar, filling the streets. The song was so good that it was caught in her head. Then curiosity got to her and she looked around her to find the source of the guitarist. Her ears and feet lead her to the way of the music, and she stopped in front of a vagabond.

He was gently stroking the strings and tapping his foot along the beat. His face was covered up with his hat and a hood over it. He wore dirty baggy clothing and his chin was covered with dirt. Rukia only stared at him in awe, not the least of her respect for him went away. She was like him, and Kaien was like him also.. living on the streets and making money off of whatever was available.

Five minutes passed by and he stopped playing the song, he glanced up at her. Rukia couldn't see his eyes, only his mouth slowly parting. Rukia could feel her shoulders tense and she started to blush as to being caught staring at him. She gave him a steady bow and put her hand in her bag to find the extra change she had. "This is all I have... if I had more, I would like to give you more... That song was very beautiful..." Rukia said quietly, looking at the ground. She placed the money into the guitar case, the man staring at her, but Rukia could still not see his full face. She began to walk away, but before she could even take three steps, she heard the tune again. She turned around to see that he was strumming the guitar again, and a big smile plastered on his face, his whole body dancing to the rhythm.

She stayed a little longer.

She was smiling.

Then the song ended again, and Rukia saw that the vagabond had slowly yanked her to the floor. Rukia yelped at the sudden action, "What...?" Before she could see his face, he gave her a kiss on the cheek. Rukia's eyes widened and she froze in shock. The man's smile stretched more, and he went to his guitar case, picked up the change and gave it back to Rukia, then put the guitar in it. He locked the secure hinges, walked away and said, "Thanks."

Rukia crouched in place, not moving for a second.

"W-What?"

Rukia's face turned red. Just thinking about that made her feel so embarrassed. It was so frustrating that she let her guard down and let a stranger kiss her on the cheek. Well, Ichigo had kissed her on the cheek too, but she was long over it now.

"Yo, Rukia!" Tatsuki called out to Rukia who was deep in her thoughts.

"Oh hey Arisawa..."

"What's up?"

"Hey, you remember yesterday, when we went to the movies... sorry that I came pissed..." Rukia said, truly feeling sorry that she had made the atmosphere awkward.

"Oh yeah, what happened?"

Rukia's face turned into a tomato, she ducked her head down, not meeting Tatsuki's eyes and said, "Something really weird happened..."

"Hmmm.. what?" Tatsuki asked carefully.

"Well... yesterday, while I was walking to the theater, I was kissed by this stranger..." Rukia said awkwardly.

"WHAT? Where? Cheek, or lip! If lip, a normal or French?" Tatsuki asked, not in real worry, but amused curiosity.

"Cheek."

"Oh.. Eh, boring." Her energy now going away.

Rukia spaced out again. She heard Tatsuki keep talking, but she didn't process what she was saying in her head. 'Maybe... I should go back there and see if he's there... I should confront him.'

"Ahhh, I feel left out... wish I could get a guy." Tatsuki complained.

"Mmhmm." Rukia said, not listening.

"Someone tall."

"Mmhmm."

"Someone with weird eyebrows."

"Mmhmm."

"Someone with long red hair that's tied up."

"Mmhmm."

"I'm talking about Abarai." Tatsuki deadpanned, tired of acting.

"Mmhmm... WHAT?" Rukia yelled, this had finally caught her attention, "YOU LIKE RENJI? THAT LAME PINEAPPLE HEAD?"

"Heheh, finally got your attention." Tatsuki said, then sticked out her tongue to tease Rukia.

"Wait... you were joking, right?"

"Hmmm, maybe~" Tatsuki said in a playful tone.

"What are you doing with Rukia-chwan, you gorilla?" Chizuru came into the group and asked defensively, then hugged Rukia's head. Tatsuki ignored Chizuru and continued talking with Rukia.

"By the way, Rukia, do you know what's taking Orihime?" Tatsuki asked.

"Not really.. I saw her being called out by a guy named Ishida Uryuu." Rukia answered.

"Ah, she came back." Tatsuki said, looking at Orihime entering the classroom with her face red. Ishida walked in afterwards and sat on his seat, blushing. "Hey, what happened, Orihime?"

"... Ishida-kun confessed to me..." Orihime whispered, her eyes were in a daze as if what had happened was a dream.

"WHAT?" Everyone screamed, all their eyes in shock, even Hanatarou was looking in their direction. They saw Orihime covering her face with her hand, and shaking her head side to side.

"Ahhhh... I don't know what to do." Orihime wailed.

"... Don't you like him?" Rukia asked bluntly.

"..."

"You don't?"

"... I... umm... sorta... do..." Orihime said, her face and ears started getting red.

"Then shouldn't you say yes? If you guys have a mutual love, then go for it!" Rukia encouraged. She thought it was stupid how Orihime didn't pursue Ishida although she liked him.

"Well... I want to be his girlfriend.. but I'm scared of what to do next..."

"Ehh, just go with the flow." Tatsuki added in.

"Alright... I'll tell him... soon." Orihime said, lagging the answer to another time. She was somehow not ready to answer.

"Everyone, class has started." Ochi-sensei said on time, she came running in the door right as the bell rang. All the students turned to her and returned to their desks. Before she could take out her clip board that she always started out the day with, the door opened, revealing the carrot-top delinquent. He had his bag on one side of his shoulder and his hands were in his pocket. "Kurosaki, late again."

"Yeah." Ichigo answered, then went to the back to his seat. While on the way, he passed by Rukia, their eyes locked together. They held the stare for a long time before he reached his seat and sat down. He then moved his eyes to the window again.

Rukia's eyes were still on him.

"So, you're sixteen?" said a man with a long forest green haori* on, he wore a hat and his blonde hair sticked out in tufts. He was looking at a piece of paper on the table. Rukia and him were in a restaurant that was on break currently.

"Ah yes, my name is Kuchiki Rukia and I'm sixteen. I attended Karakura High School..." Rukia said tensely. She was nervous on her interview. She really wanted to get this job.

"Why do you want to get this job?"

"Renji preferred it to me... besides that, if you hire me, I promise I'll work hard, be on time and won't slack off on my work. I'll make customer service boost up with my skills!"

"Hmmm..." The man gave her a serious look, then it loosened and he put on a smile. He patted her shoulder and said, "You can work starting from today! The name's Urahara Kisuke!"

"HAH? What? That's it?"

"Yep."

"W-what? Really? You just needed that long to think about it, Urahara-san?" Rukia stuttered, it was so disbelieving that the owner of the famous Dancing Moon was hiring her just like that! This was absurd, he should have thought more about it... but Rukia didn't say anything more. This was perfect. "So, are you going to give me my uniform right now?" Rukia asked curiously, she had looked around and saw that there was no girl employee... They all wore uniforms. It had a white collared shirt with a black tie, grey vest and black slacks and a huge black apron going from waist and all the way down. It was a unisex uniform, everyone had the same thing on.

"Ah, let me get it for you." Kisuke said, then left Rukia in the room waiting. Before he left, Rukia could hear him mumble: "Maybe now there'll be a little more male customers..." Rukia let the comment slide, right now she was too occupied in this fancy restaurant.

There was a big chandelier in the middle of the restaurant. A bar stand was in there and wine glasses hung upside down, shining brightly. The room was lit barely, giving it this mystifying feeling, there was a cash register right next to the entrance... and their was a second floor. "Wow..."

"Ahh, I see you like the interior of this restaurant.." Kisuke said, then smiled at her. He handed her her uniform. Rukia received it with both hands and bowed in thanks.

"Yes, it's really elegant." Rukia said, still peering at everything. It looked so fascinating to a person who rarely saw these things. Then she asked, "Oh! I've noticed you have a bar... isn't it illegal for a sixteen year old to handle alcohol?"

"That, we can go around that law. When someone orders alcohol, please tell someone who is legal to handle alcohol beverages. Do not open it, or touch it." Kisuke said.

"I see..."

"Well, get it started! Go dress in the restroom and start working by shining the tables!" Kisuke ordered, then gave her a huge grin than before.

"Yes Boss!" Rukia said cheerfully. This felt very refreshing. Her first job.

'No matter what, I won't let anything mess this up!'

Rukia was just about finished with wiping the tables. She wiped a sweat off of her forehead and gave a long stretch at her shoulders. It felt good to work.

"Kuchiki-san! It's opening time." Kisuke said. Rukia turned around to see that Kisuke was opening up the doors. The cold wind blew into the restaurant giving it a refreshing feeling. Rukia saw Renji running into the restaurant, panting. He had his tie loose and ran up to Rukia.

"Oi, am I late?" Renji shouted in front of her face, making bits of spit flying on her face.

"NO, AND STOP SHOUTING!" Rukia shouted back, wiped the spit off of her and then kicked his shin. "Come on, let's get working." she ordered, then walked away without checking if he was alright or not.

"That little..." Renji grumbled, he was holding his leg in pain. Although Rukia was short, she was a very powerful kicker. "Oi! Wait up!" Renji called out, then chased her. They went inside the staff room. Rukia saw that boys were lined up and were facing the front door. No girl in sight. Maybe the job was too tough?

"Oi oi, we have to hurry, we have an inspection." Renji said, then he lined up.

Rukia lined next to him and asked, "Inspection?"

"Yeah, we have it everyday, this restaurant is known for it's 'fanciness', The head waiter checks us." Renji whispered, "If you piss him off, he gets really scary." Just when he said that, the door came open and a bald man was standing in front of them. He gave a scowl at everyone. His eyes searched at them then his eyes rested on Rukia.

"Hmmm... fresh meat." He said then gave a grin.

"One thing you have to watch out..." Renji whispered, then went to the most softest voice he could put, "Never call him bald."

"BASTARD! I HEARD THAT!" The head waiter said, surprising Rukia and Renji. "Don't think I can't hear! I'm older than you, but me, Madarame Ikkaku, have pro ears!" Ikkaku said, pointing at Renji furiously.

"I-I'm sorry, Ikkaku-san..." Renji said, shrugging his head.

"HMPHF! SAY IT ONE MORE TIME AND I'LL KILL YOU!" Ikkaku shouted then flipped Renji off. "And fix that tie!" As if on cue, Renji quickly tightened his neck tie and gulped.

'He is really short tempered...' Rukia thought disbelievingly.

"NOW, Report your name!" Ikkaku ordered Rukia and pointed at her with glaring eyes.

"KUCHIKI RUKIA SIR!" Rukia yelled tensely. She did not want to get Ikkaku mad.

"WELL KUCHIKI, JUST BECAUSE YOUR NEW HERE, I'M NOT GONNA GO EASY ON YOU! IF SOMETHING HAPPENS, IT'S YOUR OWN PROBLEM!"

"YES SIR!"

"Good.. now-"

"Araaaa~ We have another worker joining us~" Kisuke interrupted, barging into the staff room. He opened the door slightly and Rukia and the rest of the staff could hear feet dragging the pavement.

'Wow... another employee all of the sudden...'

Rukia's eyes widened. She saw who came in, it was the tall familiar orange head. He had his hands in his pocket, and he had the waiter uniform on. He moved his eyes along the waiters and gave no surprise to Renji, but when he rested his eyes on Rukia, she could've sworn that she saw a hint of surprise in his eyes.

He walked along the people and reached to Rukia.

"Ichi..."

He passed by her.

"-go..."

Ichigo walked over to the restaurant called Dancing Moon. It was difficult at first because of Ishida's poorly drawn map of the direction, but the orange head managed. He was at least a bit safe. He strode to the open doors. 'Shit..' It was already opening time. He had to hurry, because he just wanted to get it over with today. He was too lazy to go another day. Today was a day where he felt like doing this.

Ichigo peeked his head in the restaurant. It was very polished and one of those five star restaurants. He walked into the place casually and looked around some more. The scenery was too interesting.

"Like what you see, customer?" Ichigo whipped is head around to see who had sneaked up behind him. He gave a hard stare at a man who was wearing a suspicious hat, a dark green haori, and some casual dark pants.

"Who are you..."

"Haha, I'm the owner of this beautiful place! And you...?" asked Kisuke.

"I'm... looking for a job here."

"Hmmmm a job, I see..." Kisuke gave a good look at Ichigo. He was very shallow. He only hired people for their looks, when it came to business, he knew how it went. It was mostly that business was attracted because of the attractive people! (A/N: SO DAMN TRUE! I went to this Korean BBQ and they didn't have variety, but somehow there were only good looking guy waiters, and all the freaking girls were drooling for them =.=''...)

'...'

Kisuke suddenly gave Ichigo a thumbs up and a wink, "You're hired! Just give me your application!"

'...the hell...'

Ichigo searched in his pocket for the crumbled up paper and handed it over to Kisuke. He grabbed it and looked at the application. "Hmmm... you're pretty young too..." Kisuke mumbled. "Well, let's get your uniform, change in the restrooms." The man in the cloak ran to a room, then came back holding a neatly folded uniform in both hands. Ichigo took it from him and started walking and turned.

"Ah! Other way..." Kisuke peered quickly at the application, "Kurosaki-san!"

He gave a small nod and turned to the other corner. Their were two doors, one women's restroom and the other was the men's restroom. He clasped the handle of the men's and turned it. Inside was polished white tiles, a huge mirror, three sinks, toilet stalls, urinal stalls, and a hand dryer. Ichigo went in one of the toilet stalls and began to unfold the clothes. He held up the uniform in front of him to see it. It was very monochrome, the way he liked things... his life was already a monochromed color. He took off his clothes and quickly dressed into his uniform. The orange head came out of the stalls and stared at himself in the mirror.

Maybe to him, he looked like a mess, but to others, the uniform fit perfectly to his looks. It made his body structure stick out more, to show his toned lean muscles under the fabrics.

Ichigo went out of the restroom and saw that the strange man with the hat was waiting for him, looking eagerly at him, "Well well, looks good. Now follow me. I'll lead you to the staff room!" The man lead him back from where he started, and walked to a door near the kitchen, the odd man turned the knob and said, "Welcome to Dancing Moon, Kurosaki-san, I'm Urahara Kisuke." Behind the door, there was muffles of shouting but Ichigo did not care to listen.

Urahara yanked the door open.

"Good.. now-"

"Araaaa~ We have another worker joining us~" Kisuke interrupted, barging into the staff room. He opened the door slightly and Ichigo didn't peer in. He didn't want to get close with anybody, especially at work. Ichigo stepped forward when he saw Kisuke motioning him to come in. He walked along, slowly making eye contact with everyone, until he stopped on one coworker. She was that familiar black haired, purple eyed midget. The girl who tried to butt into his life, the person who resembled that girl...

Ichigo calmly drawed his irises away from the small figure and walked straight forward. He had to ignore her, ignore her ignore her. 'If I don't pay attention to her, she won't come into my life...' As he passed by her, he could hear it. He could hear her saying his name softly. "Ichigo." He could see her in his peripheral vision, she was turning her head to his direction, stared at him for a moment, then relaxed herself and drooped her eyes down to the floor.

"Oi, Oi... we have two fresh meat huh?" said the bald man with a twisted scowl on his face, "Urahara, you only got 'em for their looks didn't ya?"

"My, my... I would never! I analyze their skills and how much customers they'll bring me!" Kisuke said defensively, bringing his fan up to his face to lightly fan himself. "Well, I best be going now~ Take care of them for me, Ikkaku~" He then shut the door on Ikkaku.

"That guy..." Ikkaku rolled his fists to tight balls, "One day I'll stuff that guy into a box, make a cow eat that then make that cow shit out his remains, and then he'll be fertilizer for my garden!... WHICH I DON'T HAVE!" Ikkaku cut himself when he caught himself spilling his own secret. Yes, although this man had anger management issues, he found gardening very relaxing.. He cleared his throat to get back on topic: "Ahem... well, let's introduce ourselves... my name is Madarame Ikkaku and..."

Ichigo could care less about the people he was working with. They were all meaningless things in his life... meaningless...

Yes. He grew accustomed to that word: meaningless. The world was nothing, and nothingness was monochrome. As time went by, that monochrome grew darker and darker, until he couldn't see any color in sight. He peered at everything as nothing. Day after day, everything grew into nothing, the things which was supposed to be thrilling... happy, was nothing.

Why was he still alive right now?

He didn't know himself.

Maybe it was to punish himself... to make him live with the guilt...

"Hello everyone, my name is Kuchiki Rukia." The voice said calmly and quietly, interrupting his thoughts. Ichigo blinked a little... he was startled. It was only a flash of it. He couldn't see the genuine thing, it was in his peripheral vision, but it might have not been what he thought it was... but.. was it...

Color?

"Hello! How are you guys doing?"

"Ah, we're fine, we're fine." said a couple of old men. Rukia hadn't really expected it, but Dancing Moon attracted a lot of powerful businessmen.. instead Rukia thought that this place attracted, spoiled, rich couples. Rukia shook her head, and payed attention to her work. She shuffled through her apron, and took out the order receipt. "What would our guests like to order?" Rukia asked politely, with a nice smile on.

"We would like 4 plates of foie gras." said the man who peered to be the leader figure of the group.

"Umm... sir, there seems to be only three of you...?"

"Yes, we are waiting for someone very important." The man said, he gave a very stern face and his shoulders were very tense.

"Ah... yes sir... umm.. would that be all sir?"

"At the moment."

"Yes sir." Rukia gave a small bow and left the table. That place just gave an aura of superiority that Rukia could not fit into, or get used to. If felt better when she was away from there. She ripped the order off of the check book and placed it on the order wheel. As she walked away from it, it kept spinning, showing that the chefs in the kitchen were working busily. "What the heck is a foie gras...?" Rukia mumbled to herself, then she placed herself in front of the door, waiting for another guest to arrive.

"It's goose liver..." Rukia turned her head slightly to see that Renji was standing next to her waiting for a customer too.

"I see..."

"..." Renji glanced at her, then stared straight in front of him. "Where's all that excitement you had earlier?"

"It's gone now."

"Because of him?"

"No!" Rukia answered immediately, shooting a death glare at Renji.

"I was just asking, stupid. No need to freak out on me." Renji said, then stuck out his tongue to tease her. "Anyways, how's it going so far?"

"Hmm... it's alright, all I do is take order for those boring businessmen..."

"Ehh, you get used to it you know? They're stuck up, pineappples in their ass people." Renji said, shrugging it off since it was a mundane thing to him. As if the shrug was a perfect signal, the huge glass doors opened to reveal another customer.

A tall toned man came into the restuarant. He was in a business suit but he quickly loosened the tie on him. He had black hair, gray eyes and a 69 tactoo on one of his cheek.

'He's good looking...' Rukia thought. But shook it off. It was only his look, but he was still a customer. "Welcome sir, let me escort you to your table."

The man looked around the tables to spot something familiar. He then peered at her, first he moved his eyes all around her face, giving a surprised expression then he gave a big grin to Rukia. "Sure, please escort me to those three old guys right there." He pointed at the table Rukia had just took her order at. She lead the way and bowed her head once more. She prepared to leave but her hand was suddenly yanked by someone. She turned her head slowly to see that it was the guy with the 69 tactoo...

"Umm... sir?"

"Stay for a while. I feel bored with all these grandpas." He winked at her, not loosening his grip. The "grandpas" glared at the younger man.

"Shuhei-san, please be serious, we are having a business meeting." then the old man's eyes settled down to Rukia, "Please let the waitress go. She is not to listen to our business affairs."

"Come on, Yamamoto-san," he put his feet of the table top, making all the men on the table scoot away and give a disapproving look, "I'm the leader of the most famous Shuhei Corporation, I produced Japan's most finest electronics and we're even expanding towards restaurants. Do we all seriously need to discuss about this?"

"You didn't make this corporation famous, your late father did and that's why we came to discuss about this. We're weary that such a young man like you will be taking over this business." Yamamoto started shouting, he was growing impatient.

"Sir, please let go of my hand..." Rukia said quietly so that she didn't look rude butting in. She had to go back to her work but this guy kept holding on to her hand. Rukia tried to yank it but she knew his grip was very strong when in fact, it looked very loose to others. "Sir.."

"Hey, hey, calm down. Say, you wanna go out after your shift is over? Dance in a night club?" He gave her another wink.

"I'm too young for that." Rukia said straight forwardly. She wasn't going to go out with a guy she barely knew. She gave a last budge; it didn't work. Now she had to yell, because she was getting sick and tired of this. "HEY YOU-" A flash of orange stood in her peripheral vision, and he took the hands and easily pulled them off of each other. He gave that same expressionles face he always did. He stared at everyone at the table, then he made eye contact with Rukia. Amber meeting with violet. She got hot under his gaze, and looked away quickly. He gently let go of her hand, and walked away...

"Who was that?"

Rukia didn't answer looking at where the orange head had disappeared off to and walked away to Ichigo's direction. She didn't want to talk to that play boy.

"By the way, it's Hisagi Shuhei!"

She saw the orange head walking towards the entrance way and Rukia followed. She stood next to him while he didn't react at all. A couple of seconds of silence passed by before Rukia spoke. "Thanks."

"... I did it as a fellow coworker. That's all..." The door opened again, and Ichigo took two ladies to a table. Before he passed by Rukia he said: "Don't think of it as anything."

"Sorry..." Rukia whispered. She felt her heart pounce when he had touched her. The feeling still prickled her hand, she seriously didn't know why she reacted this way whenever she was with him. It was just his aura that was so intimidating. "I did."

OnigiriKami: Ahahaha... hope this chapter was alright... I didn't like how it ended so fast... I think I rushed it! SORRY! And if your confused why I added Shuhei in, it will all be revealed as the story goes by~ Ikkaku and Urahara was added in to be comedy relieves, because this story is wayyy to dark.. well for me. LOL

This chapter was supposed to be WAY longer than this, but I decided the other parts will be cut into the next chapter. Yeah, the next one will be hella dramatic, because I cut off the drama and postponed it to the next chapter... heheheheh xD

*Haori: A japanese robe/coat

How was the chapter? :[

Oh yeah! You guys don't know this if you haven't checked out my profile, BUT I'm Korean... but sadly I'm taking Korean classes at school LOL We have an upcoming Korean music video project coming up and I'm gonna post it up on youtube soon... so... when I'm done with it... would anyone care to watch it? :O

Next Chapter...

"Why can't you mind your own business?"

"Because, I can't seem to leave you alone!"

I SWEAR! IF YOU PRESS THIS BUTTON BELOW: YOU'LL GET A COOKIE!