A/N: Aizen's up to no good (like always).

The silver-haired man took a moment to think before he moved his white knight piece over the other man's pawn. "Now that cha met her in person, what do ya think?"

"She's as capable as the rumors say. I was right about her being essential for my plan," Aizen replied firmly.

Slants of blue met his gaze. "What are ya going to do now? She looked pretty cozy with Urahara at my wedding."

"That's all a ruse— Tōsen looked into it. He had a reservation with someone else that day at L'été, not Yoruichi."

"Interesting, but ya s'ppose they might be for real now?"

"Doesn't matter. When she finds out the truth, she'll leave him like everyone else in his life," Aizen said with a smug smile, moving his black queen to overtake Gin's king.

"Checkmate."

Gin's lips curled into a characteristic grin. "Maan, you're scary. Looks like I lost again…"

Yoruichi sneezed for the fourth time in a row. "Bwah, what the heck?"

"Someone must be talking about ya... maybe yer lover boy?" Kuukaku chimed in.

Yoruichi simply shot her a look and crossed her arms.

"Okay, that was weird. You didn't try to snap my head off. You two finally sleeping together?"

"No!" Yoruichi scowled and Kuukaku snorted.

"Then why do you keep checking your phone when you think I'm not looking?"

Yoruichi sighed. "He hasn't texted me for days and before that, we were talking pretty much everyday."

"Stop acting like a fucking teenage girl," Kuukaku growled. "Just text him already."

Yoruichi never texted anyone first if she didn't have to. She was a prideful woman. Yet, this time, she did.

Yoruichi: hey

She mentally facepalming after she sent it because why couldn't she think of anything else to say? She nearly dropped her phone when he replied a minute later.

Kisuke: hey, how's work?

She grimaced. She didn't want to talk about work.

Yoruichi: same old. wat u up to?

Kisuke: writing paper. lab meeting soon

Yoruichi: oh u busy?

Kisuke: nono I can talk for a bit

Kisuke: about the gala... is it ok if I'm a little late?

A small gasp escaped her lips and a smile slowly plastered on her face, earning a snicker from Kuukaku.

Yoruichi: yea that's fine

Kisuke: oh I think I can make it then

Yoruichi: I'll lyk the address and time

Yoruichi arrived at the gala clad in an orange evening dress that complemented her dark complexion. She was immediately bombarded with several donors and politicians that wanted to speak to her.

All the small talk made her tired. It was all fake— all a charade. Events like these were always like that, which is why she wasn't too fond of attending. Twenty minutes of that passed by, in which she wanted nothing more than to be at home taking a nap instead.

"Hey princess, hope I'm not too late~" came a familiar, cheery voice behind her.

Princess? She scowled at the nickname and turned around, ready to knock some sense into him, but when she turned around, her scowl was replaced with a bewildered expression.

Kisuke's blonde hair was slicked back uncharacteristically with a few stray strands framing his face. He was dressed in a dark green tuxedo and there was a faint hint of stubble on his chin that she thought added to his look.

She could see his eyes more clearly— the ones that she found herself staring into more often these days and her mouth felt dry.

"That bad?" He almost pouted.

"What, no," she said, biting her lip. "You look great." Really great, actually.

"You don't look so bad yourself," he teased, earning a playful slap on the arm from her. He caught her hand and placed a soft kiss on it, brushing his thumb over her knuckles afterwards. "Our colours complement each other," he remarked, "orange and green."

Yoruichi felt her stomach tighten and breathing suddenly became a chore. "Yeah," she finally managed, "I guess they do." She quickly composed herself and linked her arm with his. "Come on, we have a lot of introductions to go through," she said with a smile, whisking him into the crowd.

Kisuke watched as Yoruichi made everyone at the gala fall in love with her as she conversed with them effortlessly. She introduced him and made sure that he wasn't left out in conversations. It was evident that she had a strong presence and a knack for getting people to like her.

While he was almost jealous that it was all so easy for her, he realized she was raised to do this from a young age and any feelings of jealousy disappeared. At least he was able to have some kind of childhood.

At one point, someone made a backhanded comment about him and she verbally tore them to shreds in the most elegant manner possible; her face cool and collected the entire time. She definitely lived up to her reputation in many ways.

His eyes were focused on her most of the time— it was hard not to be when she looked like that and the fact that whenever she looked back at him, her eyes were filled with adoration. Anyone would think that they were in love. She was really good at the whole fake dating thing.

He brushed his thumb against her palm. "Did we meet that business partner you were talking about yet? The one who invited you to this thing."

"Oh, the artificial intelligence one? I saw him before you came but I should introduce you, come on."

As they went to look for the business partner in question, he heard Yoruichi swear under her breath, "Shit."

"What?"

"Don't look, but that guy standing next to the punch bowl works for my father. He's probably spying for him to see if we're actually together."

"Ah. What's the plan?"

He felt her pause for a second. "I need you to kiss me. Now." It sounded like an order.

Logically, fake dating her, he was going to have to kiss her at one point, and on more than one occasion, but the thought hadn't really occurred to him until now. It's not like he hasn't already— but she didn't take that one too well. Understandably.

Before he could muster the courage, she let out a huff of impatience and pulled him down to her, her fingers bunched up in the fabric of his vest. Her lips pressed against his briefly, but longer than their first kiss, leaving him momentarily stunned before he managed to kiss her back.

"Sorry," she whispered after she pulled away, "but you kind of signed up for that," she said with a smirk.

"It's fine," he murmured, wrapping an arm around her waist and placing a quick kiss on her head.

Not real, he reminded himself. Not real.

She led him to where she saw her business partner earlier. The man was turned away, busy talking with a group of VIPs. Yoruichi waved and called out his name, "Sōsuke."

He froze. What did she say?

Aizen excused himself and went to greet them. "Yoruichi, thank you for coming. You look absolutely stunning." He turned to Kisuke and a smirk formed on his face. "This is a surprise. Hello, Kisuke."

All the colour suddenly drained from his face and he felt like he could puke. He didn't expect to bump into him here out of all places. Did that mean she was here too?

"...Aizen." His voice was cold.

Yoruichi looked back and forth between the both of them in surprise. "You two know each other?"

"Worked together at one point," Aizen said.

"Really?" Yoruichi gave him a questioning look but he was still looking at Aizen with a blank expression on his face.

Aizen nodded. "I believe it's been a few years." His eyes flickered towards the stage and back at them. "Sorry, but I need to check on some of the preparations. It was nice seeing you again, Kisuke. See you both later." He smiled at them and left.

"Okay, what just happened?" Her voice was demanding. "You're paler than a ghost and you're already one of the palest people I know."

Kisuke swallowed, feeling sick to his stomach. "Sorry, I need to step out for a moment." He let go of her hand and promptly left the banquet hall.

The event had gone through all the proceedings and now it was time to celebrate and dance but Kisuke was still nowhere to be seen.

"Where is he?" Yoruichi grumbled to herself, looking around the room.

"Looking for someone?" asked a deep voice from behind her. It was Aizen— tall and handsome but not the man she was looking for.

"I'm looking for Kisuke. Did you see him around?"

Something in his eyes flickered for a second at the mention of Kisuke's name. "I'm afraid I haven't."

She got up to go look for him but felt a hand on her arm, stopping her. "Yoruichi," he said, offering his hand to her, "care to dance with me?"

Yoruichi hesitated. She wanted to dance with Kisuke (and maybe he wouldn't step on her toes this time), but she did have a business deal to solidify.

"Okay," she said finally, taking his hand.

He smiled and led her out to the dance floor where he proceeded to place one hand on the small of her back and the other on her waist, leading her into a ballroom dance. He was an excellent dance partner. Not once did he step on her toes like Kisuke did (how many times, she lost count).

Yet he wasn't him.

Her eyes wandered the room as they danced, still looking for Kisuke. They stopped when she saw a tuft of light blonde hair that belonged to the very man she was looking for.

But what was he doing? There was a dark green-haired woman next to him and they looked… intimate? She couldn't tell exactly but they were standing very close to each other.

Aizen interrupted her thoughts, "What are you looking at?" he whispered, his voice low. His eyes followed in the direction she was looking in and an amused look appeared on his face. "Are you worried? We're as close as they are right now."

He had a point, but those two weren't dancing, they were standing in a corner. She couldn't help but look back towards them. This time, she saw the woman holding onto Kisuke tightly. She frowned and looked away, and when she looked again a few moments later, they were gone. She felt her heart sink.

At that moment, Aizen decided to twirl her around but her mind was elsewhere and she lost her footing, her ankle twisting in an awkward way. She let out an undignified gasp as she felt herself falling but Aizen caught her before she could fall.

"Are you okay?" His eyebrows furrowed.

Yoruichi groaned and her face twisted in a grimace. Her ankle felt like it was on fire. "I think I sprained my ankle."

"Can you walk?" he asked, and she nodded, balancing her weight on one foot as he helped her to a chair.

Kisuke suddenly came running after hearing that she got hurt. "Yoruichi! Are you okay?"

"Think I sprained my ankle." She didn't meet his eyes. She was still mad at him for leaving abruptly.

"Her ankle looks pretty swollen. I'll get her some ice," Aizen said before leaving them.

Kisuke bent down in front of her. "May I?"

She nodded and he gently held her foot, examining it.

"Where did you go?" she blurted out. There was a slight edge to her voice.

"I wasn't feeling well so I went to get some fresh air."

She was silent. He didn't bring up the woman that she saw him with. Should she bring it up? Technically, it was none of her business. They were just friends. Friends who had impromptu cuddle sessions.

Aizen came back with a bag of ice. "Here you go," he said, handing the bag to Yoruichi.

Kisuke took the bag and applied it to her foot, eliciting a groan from her. "That feels much better," she mumbled and nodded at Aizen. "Thank you."

"No worries. What are you planning to do now?" Aizen asked.

"I think I'll have to leave early, sorry about that," she replied.

"No, don't worry about it. Thank you for coming, Yoruichi. It was nice seeing you today. I'll call you about the deal within a week."

Yoruichi smiled. "Sure, it was nice seeing you too. Thanks for inviting me."

Aizen took her hand and brought it to his lips before he bowed and left them. She could feel Kisuke clench his fist around the ice pack.

"Okay, what is your problem with him?" she asked once Aizen was far away.

"...I'll tell you later, I promise. Let's get you home and your ankle tended to."

She sighed, nowhere near satisfied, but she gave in and put her heels back on.

"You're being silly, take those off," he scolded.

"I'll be fine. You want me to walk barefoot?"

"You can wear my shoes."

She snorted. "I'd have an easier time walking in heels."

"Okay, then you have two choices," he said, holding up two fingers. "Number one, I give you a piggyback ride or number two, I carry you bridal style."

She shot him a look that could kill. "I would rather walk barefoot," she hissed, handing him her heels.

He sighed, holding her heels in one hand and wrapping the other around her waist as he helped her get up and walk to the entrance of the banquet hall.

As soon as they left the hall, she felt his arm move to her back and the other hook under her knees, scooping her up. She yelped and instinctively grabbed onto his neck for support.

"What the hell, Kisuke? Put me down!" she demanded.

"Ground's dirty and I parked pretty far. There's no one around to see you, don't worry."

"If you don't put me down right now, I swear to god—"

"What?"

"I'll shave off all your hair in your sleep."

He laughed. "I don't think having a bald boyfriend is in your best interest."

They bickered on for a bit and eventually, she went silent and clung on to him.

"Giving me the silent treatment now? I gotta carry you to your apartment too y'kno—"

"No," she interrupted him. "Let's go to your house instead. You have bandages and pain meds?"

"Uh... yeah. Yeah I do."

She didn't say another word to him as he drove them to his house.

Kisuke inherited the house from his mother. It was old and worn out and he hadn't had much time to do renovations since he came back to Japan. If Yoruichi noticed she didn't say anything. She simply plopped down on his couch, still giving him the silent treatment.

He returned with some bandages and painkillers and sat down next to her. "Your foot needs to be elevated," he said before taking her foot and gently moving it on top of his knee. It was still very swollen.

He could feel her eyes burning through him as he wrapped the bandage around her ankle tightly.

"Explain," she said finally, her tone commanding. "You're still tense."

Because I just saw the man that I loathe the most and bumped into my ex who left me for him but the only thing I can think of right now is the softness of your lips and the view I have of your legs, which are to die for, by the way.

But he didn't say that of course. "It's a long story," he said quietly.

"I'm listening."

He took a deep breath. "Aizen and I both studied at MIT. We were both prodigies."

"Him more than you?"

"Nah." He grinned. "I got my PhD when I was 21 and he got his at 24. Anyways, we didn't always see eye to eye, but we were good at working together. I was working on a facial recognition technology but at that point, it wasn't entirely accurate in some cases. It wasn't ready but Aizen wanted to pitch it for use to catch criminals."

"What?" Yoruichi gritted her teeth.

"Yeah," he said with a sigh. "I put a hold on the project and decided to stop working with him. I took as much as I could with me but he was eventually able to recreate it and start his own company."

"That bastard," she hissed.

Kisuke nodded and ran a hair through his hair. "The school thought that I plagiarised him for some reason and I had to give up all rights to the project. He's the son of a prominent politician after all. It was either I gave it up or got expelled and paid heavy fines. I had to rethink my whole life, my whole career. Somehow, I ended up as a physics professor."

"God Kisuke…" she breathed. "You could've told me before I went to dance with him." She looked angrier than he had ever seen her; the opposite of the calm and collected woman he usually saw.

She grabbed her phone and started to look through her contacts.

"What are you doing?"

"Cancelling our business deal."

"Listen… I don't see anything unethical with the technology that would be used for your deal, so don't mind me. It's an excellent business deal," he said.

She scooted closer to him, placing a hand on his. "No. I am not going to be involved with someone like that just to be successful. I want to make my own decisions, remember?"

He gave her a lopsided smile. "I know. That's why you're amazing." That's why I— The realization hit him and he felt his cheeks flush.

"Anything else I should know about?" she inquired with a smirk.

"Nothing like that." He chuckled, trying his best to remain cool. "Not like you didn't look into me at one point," he teased.

"I'd be stupid not to considering our arrangement. I did see something about a potential expulsion… but it didn't go through so I didn't look into it too much. I thought maybe you'd tell me in due time."

He let out a dry chuckle. "Sorry, it's a tough subject for me."

"Yeah, I get it. Thanks for telling me."

"Of course." He paused. "Anything I should know about you?"

She tilted her head. "Nothing like that," she teased, "but since you told me something so crazy, I guess I should tell you something on the same length. Anything you want to know?"

What did he want to know? A lot of things. Particularly, if any of this was real for her. But he didn't ask her that because that'd be too risky.

"Have you really not dated anyone since Kaien...?" He wanted to smack himself after he said it. Was that really what he decided on?

If she was surprised, she didn't show it. "Nothing too serious," she said with a shrug. "A few flings here and there."

"Why?"

"It's hard," she said quietly, wincing. "Everyone that really understood me is gone. My mother died and my father became even colder than he already was. Then Kaien died. He was one of the few people who really knew me because he went through everything I've been through. When he died, a part of me also died." Her voice started to crack at the last sentence and she bit back a sob.

He was silent but he squeezed her hand.

"Everyone and everything around me is fake. People don't see me— the real me. They just see a spoiled heiress who if they marry, they'll be set for life."

He pulled her closer to him and kissed her hair.

I see the real you.

"But really, I'm a hypocrite. I've been faking everything myself… so much that I don't know what is real anymore. I miss having something real," she croaked, burying her face into his shirt.

He felt something wet dripping down his shirt. The Yoruichi he saw in public was strong and composed but here she was, crying in his arms. It made his heart ache.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I know I can't replace Kaien… but I'm here for you."

I could be real for you.

"I'm just a mess sometimes," she said hoarsely.

"The most well-put-together mess I've ever seen," he joked, eliciting something between a laugh and a sob from her.

He wound his arms tightly around her and stroked her back. It felt too good to hold her like this. Too real.

Eventually, her sobs ceased and she removed her head from under his chin. "Can I stay the night?" she murmured.

His breath caught and he tried his best to keep his voice even, "Yeah, I'll find something you can change into."

He reluctantly removed himself from her and went to change into some comfy clothes, letting his hair go down to what it normally looked like. He returned with the smallest clothing he could find for her— an old t-shirt and some shorts.

"I liked when your hair was up. I could see your eyes better," she remarked.

"Are you flirting with me?" he teased.

"Shut up and shoo, I need to change," she said with a scowl. "And no peeking or I'll kick your ass," she added, to which he rolled his eyes and left the room.

He could hear her struggling with her dress before she finally called out to him, "I'm decent."

When he saw her, he paused at the sight and realized that he had made a grave mistake. The clothes were oversized on her and her hair had come down from its usual ponytail. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying.

She's beautiful.

"You can take the bed," he said after a few seconds of silence.

She didn't answer.

He walked up to her and wrapped her arm around his shoulder to help her to the bed but she wrapped her other arm around his neck, catching him off guard.

There was a silent exchange between them and he opted to pick her up and carry her to his room instead. His second mistake of the night.

He let her down on the bed and turned to leave but she held onto his shirt.

"Don't leave." She said it so quietly that he wasn't sure if he heard her correctly. "Please."

He didn't mishear.

So he slowly moved under the covers to lie next to her. Third.

She immediately snuggled into him and wrapped her arms around his waist and he had to bite back a whimper.

This fake relationship of theirs… he wasn't sure how much longer he could do it for but he couldn't bear the thought of her in someone else's arms.

Especially someone that didn't love her.

Like he did.

A/N:

And there's the L-word!

Also, I realized I change POVs a lot haha oops. I don't think the transitions are too rough though, though someone let me know otherwise.