Part V

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Renji drops by at her office unexpectedly the next morning with coffee.

Rukia eyes it warily, sniffs at it and almost immediately wrinkles her nose. She is mildly irritated. He always does this- keeps getting her a latte when he should know by now that she takes hers black- no sugar and definitely no milk.

For the sake of not appearing rude, she accepts it with a mutter of thanks but her guard is up. It is suspicious to say the least. Renji only ever swoops in with a cup of coffee when he wants something from her.

What could it be this time?

"Did something happen to you over the weekend?"

She narrows her eyes, "What do you mean, Renji?"

Her best friend since childhood shrugs, leaning against the table. Rukia frowns, craning her neck to meet his gaze. It is jarring sometimes to think that the short, unruly redhead she used to make fun of in grade school would one day grow up to tower over her.

Size is an intimidation tactic that all male alphas utilize to a certain extent, be it consciously or subconsciously. Rukia refuses to play into his hand. She is no pushover. If anything, the display annoys her, motivating her instead to sit up a little straighter, square her shoulders and stare him down.

"There's something different about you," says Renji at length, finally breaking the prolonged eye contact and heavy silence.

Rukia snorts, feigning her nonchalance as she leans back against her chair, arms folded.

"You're going to have to be more specific than that."

The redhead scratches the back of his head, avoiding her gaze.

"I can't explain it but you're like more relaxed or something. It's been like that since you came back from that sick leave you took after the weekend you went over to drop off some files at Ichigo's."

Rukia resists the urge to stiffen but Renji is relentless in his line of question.

"Did something happen between you and Ichigo?"

There are certain downsides to knowing someone too well. Renji reads her like a book and is perceptive enough to surprise her sometimes. She needs to shake him off.

"Isn't it obvious, Renji? I caught the stupid bug from him and had to take time off because of it."

She can't have Renji thinking that she's hiding something. She doesn't want anyone else to find out, not because she is ashamed of what happened between her and Ichigo but because Ichigo doesn't want anyone to find out about his secret. An alpha protects what is hers and Ichigo is very much hers- even if he is in denial and taking his time playing hard to get right now.

The expression on Renji's face doesn't change so she kicks it up a notch.

"You owe me big time for this," she huffs, "do you have any idea how much flack that asshole Kurotsuchi gave me because of it?"

That isn't exactly a lie. Kurotscuhi- her colleague and fellow Associate in charge of the European and African investments is a classic misogynist who has it out for her. He certainly didn't think twice about shading her and the sick leave she took, tutting at her about her obviously delicate health and the monthly female woes. Rukia is this close to reporting him to Human Resources— if she doesn't already knows from experience that it wouldn't have made an iota of difference.

Renji remains sceptical. She sees it in his careless shrug and the quirk of his eyebrows.

"If you say so."

Rukia glares.

"What's that supposed to mean? Were you expecting to hear something outrageous instead like me and Ichigo hooking up in secret? Yes, Renji- you're right! We definitely decided to skip work in favour of screwing each other's brains out like a pair of animals in heat."

Renji's face scrunches up like he sucked on a lemon. "What the fuck, Rukia? I don't need the mental image!"

Rukia deadpans. Her tone is unassuming and the expression on her face placid, seemingly unruffled if it weren't for the slight tremor in her fingers that she hides.

"I was being sarcastic. You wouldn't believe me when I told you the truth."

"I never said I didn't believe you! Just ew! Why would you even go there? Give a guy a fair warning before you decide to traumatise him and single-handedly ruin his morning! You're like a sister to me and Ichigo is like my best bro. I just can't— Ew! Ew! Ew! I need some eye bleach."

She rolls her eyes in response.

"You did this to yourself, Renji. It's not my fault you have a dirty mind and also," her lips curve to form a smirk, "I don't recall ever being related to stupid."

"Hey! Take that back! I can't believe I even got you coffee!"

At the cry of outrage from Renji, Rukia releases the breath she has been holding and slowly unclenches her fingers.

Crisis averted.

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—For now.

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But the encounter with Renji surprises and upsets her more than she would like to admit. Her mind refuses to settle after that, her thoughts straying even when she is supposed to be focused on work.

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Ichigo—

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She is worried about him.

It is not hard to guess why Ichigo lied about being an alpha. In this world, it doesn't matter how impressive your credentials are or how hard you worked your way to the top, connections matter and certain stereotypes prevail.

The stereotype surrounding male omegas tend to paint them as girlish and needy, fickle and lacking in willpower, physically shorter and weaker, lesser in many ways; almost fetishized to an extent. It would have been hard for him to be taken seriously, especially when the nature of his work is expected to be precise and exact.

Yet knowing it is not the same as hearing it from him.

The alpha in her wants to protect him, to shield him from everything unpleasant in this world. But how can she when she seems to be fighting both the society at large and Ichigo at the same time?

The part of her that knows Ichigo doesn't completely trust her yet is annoyed. Perhaps it is in an omega's nature to be coy, something about the thrill of the chase and the romance of being wooed, but Rukia doesn't need the drama, not for something she already knows as surely as the fact she can't breathe in outer space.

If it is anything that the rooftop incident yesterday showed them it was that there is an underlying bond of attraction between them. They orbit around each other and the push and pull nature of their interaction feels like something they have always had— lifetimes before and eons after, as familiar she knows the warmth of the sun on her face. The spark in her is only skin deep and it flares to life every time he's in her vicinity.

Some bonds are unshakeable and unbreakable. It might have started off as a serendipitous mistake but they have come thus far and Rukia will be damned if anyone tries to convince her that Ichigo and her are not meant to be.

Not when she's already spent a heat with him and yearns for nothing more than a slice of life's perfect mundanity with him. She can make him happy, just as happily as he makes her— from being needed and loved.

She needs Ichigo to trust her. She needs him to believe in her and believe in them. She respected him enough to leave him unmarked throughout the heat, to trust that he will eventually come to the same realization as she had: that they are meant to be; and come to her of his own volition. Now she needs him to do the same before time runs out for both of them.

A lie like Ichigo's is not sustainable— not on his own. With no one to fall back on, to support him and back him up, it's a miracle that the charade even lasted this long. Sooner or later someone else will start asking questions and find out the truth, that Ichigo has been passing himself off as an alpha, what comes next Rukia can only imagine but she can't see it being good for him. She can't help him if he's too busy pushing her away and playing coy by denying this thing of inevitability between them.

Rukia has the patience, knows how to play the waiting game well but where Ichigo is involved, she is emotionally compromised. Ichigo's passivity, her inability to entice him further to seek her out, the need for moderation to avoid appearing overzealous and frightening him off— all of it frustrates her almost to the point of suffocation.

Enough is enough, she decides that she owes it to herself to get something caffeinated from the vending machine and give herself a break before she takes her aggression out on her laptop.

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She smells him before she actually sees him.

Rukia doesn't exactly know why but ever since they spent the heat together, the scent blockers on him don't affect her. She wasn't completely sure then when there was only the two of them on the rooftop. But now with so many people- work colleagues, people who know them, milling around and none of them doing a double-take or reacting to the scent, Rukia knows it was not a one-off.

She is the only one immune to the blockers on him. And when she watches Ichigo's eyes snap to hers, searing liquid honey into her, their eyes meeting somehow despite the crowd and the noise; it's an affirmation to what she already knows.

Come what may, Ichigo and her—they exist as the exception to the rule for each other.

Her lips curve unbidden, watching his approach. The presentation yesterday must have gone well for him. He seems better, livelier today; bright- from the shock of his colourful hair to the almost-smile on his face. She can't look away, doesn't want to for that matter.

"Rukia."

She is a sucker for the way he says her name— reverent and infinitely more intimate somehow than it needs to be. She holds his stare, resisting the urge to reach out and brush her fingers gently over his knuckles. She doesn't mind the prolonged eye contact when it's with him.

"Did the presentation go well yesterday?"

Her prodding earns her a pretty blush as he pointedly looks away, rubbing at the back of his neck somewhat absent-mindedly as he chews on his bottom lip as he grudgingly admits, "Ah, it did."

A hint of mischief creeps into her as her voice dips low.

"So my stress relief exercise worked out better than expected then?"

The blush on his face darkens and Rukia tries hard to hide her glee. She has a bad habit she thinks; of being unable to resist teasing him, even when they are out in public. He is just a little too easy to rile up. She may be biased but that shade of blush looks lovely and adorable on him.

"Y-Yeah—" his Adam's apple bobs— "Maybe it did."

She chuckles as she takes another step closer, letting his scent wash over her.

"Then I think some show of gratitude is due, don't you?" she lets the suggestiveness of her tone linger.

Ichigo stiffens, his pink tongue darting to lick at his lips, "W-What do you mean?"

Her lips twitch as she says, "Coffee."

As much as she wanted to suggest having sex, she doesn't want Ichigo to think that is the only reason why she is into him. Rukia is thinking this one through. She means what she said earlier and she fully intends to make good on her promise. She is going to take things slow (well as slow as she can anyways) and woo him.

A coffee date is as good as any start to make, right?

Ichigo's eyes light up, darts to the warm cup of coffee she's still holding and understanding dawns. Rukia lets a sliver of hope hang, dangling her heart in suspense.

"O-Ok."

"Great!"

He gets it! She doesn't even try to hide her smile and almost burns her tongue on the coffee in her daze. She can hardly wait.

"How—"

"Surprise me!"

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Next morning, she is naturally suspicious when she sees the cup of coffee waiting for her when she enters the office. It's steaming hot and black- just how she likes to take it. The lack of milk suggests that her coffee was not something left behind by Renji. She frowns, wondering just who it was who left it there for her.

She sees it a second later. At the bottom of the cup there is a post-it note, written in a handwriting that she has never seen before. It simply reads: now we're even.

Rukia crumples up the note, resisting the urge to scream, unsure on whether to laugh or to cry. This is not the surprise she had in mind when she suggested that he should surprise her. Is he just naturally dense or is he being deliberately obtuse and unnecessarily cruel with her?

Either way she is not about to let things go his way.

Not by a long shot, Ichigo.

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Author's note:

This was supposed to be posted on Valentine's Day but you can see why I didn't. xD I know! You want to strangle Ichigo. Or maybe me. Boys can be really dumb…