Revised 1/9/2019

Ichigo stormed out into the kitchen, anger once again flaring.

"What did I just say! Don't-" He cut off mid sentence as he stood in the doorway to the kitchen in slight shock. The shock only lasted a few seconds though as the image of Grimmjow sitting on the floor covered in flour and pouting was just too funny. He soon dissolved into a fit of giggles (which he will forever deny happening). "Looks like we have a ghost, do I need to call a priest?" The giggle had receded and now a smirk lay upon his face. Grimmjow's pout turned into more of a glare.

"Haha, sooo funny. Help me up will you, don't just sit there like a log." Ichigo put a finger to his chin, seemingly considering his choices.

"Hmmm...Nah, I don't think I will. You're a big boy, you can stand up on your own. Plus, I gotta go get ready for my interview, can't have me ill prepared and then not get the job now can we?" He turned to leave and was almost past the edge of the entryway when he stopped and backed up a few steps putting a hand on his hip and looking much like a scolding spouse. "Oh, and Grimmy dear, do remember to clean it all up, or I won't be returning your precious cat to you." He didn't wait for the smart-ass response, simply left and locked himself up in his computer room. He hadn't been lying, he did need to prepare for his interview. Not so much the skills part of it (though he could use some refreshing) but acting as Kaien. He needed to create a whole personality similar to the one he had used with Rangiku and practice how this new personality would react to different situations. Luckily, Kaien was a personality similar to his own. It was why Kisuke had asked him to use this specific cover for this mission. It was fine for short term missions to use a cover with a completely different personality than your own, but on long term missions under such scrutiny, it was deadly. Not only would his reaction time slow dramatically if he was focused solely on keeping up a facade, but the tiniest slip in character could mean his death. No, Kaien was definitely the right personality to use, even if he was just as moody and head strong as Ichigo was, it was safer for all involved this way.

Ichigo had been locked away in his computer room for about an hour, and was just now emerging from his cave, happy with his preparation for his interview. Having some time to spare, he wandered to the kitchen, cat once again sleeping draped across his shoulder like a scarf, to see if Grimmjow had indeed cleaned up the mess he had made earlier. Stepping fully into the room he was glad to see the mess had indeed been cleaned up, but there was a lack of blue haired bastards, which was curious.

'Hmm...I wonder where he got off to...' Too lazy to spend much time looking for the pain in the ass, he just called out for him. "Yo! Grimmjow, where'd you go?! You can have your cat back, I gotta leave soon." There was some rustling from down the hall he had just come from and a few curses could be heard after Grimmjow seemingly bumped into something.

"Finally!" Grimmjow was now walking down the hall towards Ichigo. "Took you long enough, I fell asleep waiting for you to finish whatever the hell you were doing in there." Grimmjow reached for his cat but Ichigo glared at him and pulled back.

"Careful, Cracker Jacks, you're in my house now and you will show me some respect." Grimmjow's eyebrow twitched.

"The fuck did you just call me?!... Nevermind, just give me my cat back and go do your damn interview." Ichigo smirked, happy to have won that mini battle, and handed the other his cat.

"Just don't burn down the house while I'm gone." And with that he bypassed Grimmjow and headed to his room to get changed, he needed to look nice for his interview after all.

Ichigo arrived at the building about 30 minutes early, he figured it'd take a few minutes, maybe more, to get past Rangiku if it was still her shift. Walking in the impressive building, he was only slightly surprised to see she was indeed still manning the desk. He placed the flirtatious smirk back on his face as he sauntered up to her desk.

"Giku-chan! What are you still doing here, long shift today?" She looked startled at his appearance and quickly glanced at the clock before smiling up at him.

"I guess you could say that. Our other receptionist, Momo, called in sick and I had to cover her shift today." Ichigo gave her a sympathetic look.

"I'm sorry to hear that, I hope she gets well soon." There was a bit of an awkward pause after that, neither really knowing what to say. Rangiku was the one to finally break the silence.

"I believe you're here for that interview, no? You'll be in conference room 3, it's up the stairwell over to the right and at the end of that hallway you'll turn left and enter through the third door. There's a little waiting area before the actual conference room… Would you like a map?" Ichigo seemed to mull it over for a moment. It would be beneficial for his mission to have a map but this one is not likely to have all of the information he needs. He could also print off a more detailed one later with the excuse that he had lost his previous one. Making his decision he turned back to Rangiku from where he had been looking toward the stairwell she had pointed out.

"It's okay, I think I can manage. If I get lost I'll just ask someone for directions."

As luck would have it Ichigo didn't actually get lost, but he pretended to, he had at least 20 minutes before he actually had to show up for his interview but being new and looking for a room was a perfect excuse to wander the building to start mapping it out. This would be good intelligence for when it came time to steal the blasted cube of destruction. Ichigo was mumbling to himself about stupid jobs and blue haired bastards when he bumped into someone and promptly fell on his ass. He winced a bit and looked up as he was rubbing his back seeing an amused looking brunet staring down at him.

'Good job at not drawing attention to yourself, real good job.'

Aizen Sosuke was not having what you'd call 'a good day'. He was late getting up this morning because his alarm clock's batteries had died during the night, then as he rushed to get ready an assistant had spilled coffee down the front of his very expensive suit so of course he had to go back and change. Needless to say that assistant was promptly fired. After he was redressed he went downstairs only to find out none of his cars were in the garage, apparently it was repair day and some of his men had gone and taken them to the repair shop he owned. With the world seemingly against him today, he was half tempted to call in and tell whoever was working the desk that he'd be taking the day off, problem was he had just gotten back from vacation yesterday, he really couldn't afford to leave his business in Gin's hands another day, Kami only knows what the man's done while he's been away. He let out a sigh and ran his hand through his already slicked back hair, one piece falling back into his face as he put his hand down. He huffed at the hair, the air moving it slightly, no matter what he did he could never get that one strand to stay back, he was almost desperate enough to use a bobby pin or something to get rid of the nuisance, almost.

Deciding he had spent enough time standing in the garage he turned to go inside and call a cab, there was no way in hell he would ever take a bus to work.

Cab called and its arrival scheduled to be at his apartment building in around 20 minutes he decided he should probably call in and tell someone he would be showing up late before a panic was started, he never showed up late, never. He picked up his personal cell and dialed the front desk, he didn't feel like dealing directly with Gin quite yet, the man was infuriating on his best days. A women, Rangiku, if he remembered correctly, answered.

"Hello, you've reached Las Noches incorporated, how may I help you today?"

"This is Aizen, would you tell Gin I will be late today? Something...came up.". It was best, he decided, she didn't know what had happened this morning. There was a slight pause on the other line and he could hear a slight gasp. He smirked at that.

"Ai-Aizen-sama! Of course, I will inform Ichimaru-sama right away sir!"

"See that you do." And with that he hung up. He was not much for words and though he probably should have thanked the secretary for her troubles, because Gin would be trouble, he was not in the mood to be 'kind'. He groaned as he looked down at his watch, that call had only taken a few minutes, he still had more than 15 before the cab would show up. Looking around the kitchen his eyes landed on the coffee pot and he decided he would make his own coffee today, one that would most certainly not go down his shirt. Plugging the machine in and putting some fresh water and coffee grinds in he pushed the start button waiting for the miracle juice to brew. Only problem was that the machine didn't start. If the machine had been a person they would have soiled their pants in fear with the amount anger in the glare that Aizen sent towards that machine. He pointed a finger at it as he lectured it.

"I am Aizen Sosuke, feared crime boss in the underworld of Japan, head of Las Noches, owner of the most powerful object in existence, creator of the Hollowgram, and leader of the Espada! I have killed people! You will make my coffee!" The machine spurted out some sort of black goop in response and Aizen growled in frustration. "Damn you!" Giving up on making coffee he unplugged the blasted thing and pressed the intercom to call whoever was on shift at the desk downstairs. "Drop whatever you're doing and go buy me whatever coffee machine is on the top of the market, when you get it throw out my current one."

"Yes sir… A cab is here sir, is it for you?" He looked at his watch in shock, he still had at least 10 minutes, that cab was early...and probably going to charge extra for having to wait on him, great.

"Yes, it's mine, I'll be down in a minute." He left the kitchen and grabbed his coat before heading out the door, but not before sending one last glare at the machine.

The cab ride hadn't been too bad, they had gotten stuck in traffic and it had delayed their arrival time by about 10 minutes which that was made up by the fact the cab had picked him up earlier than expected. 'Maybe this day is turning around'.

As soon as he entered his building Rangiku had informed him Gin wanted to speak with him and that he was waiting in Aizen's office. After arriving Gin informed him he had to conduct an interview, apparently everyone else was unavailable, covering for him because of his tardiness. For the second time that day he let out a sigh. 'Or maybe not'. At least the coffee machine here worked.

That was how he got into his current situation, he had been walking down the hall to the interview room, fresh coffee in hand, when a young man had bumped into him. He was amused, despite once again losing his cup of coffee (though none of it got on him this time), because out of all the things that had happened to him today he himself had not yet fallen on his ass. Thank Kami for small miracles.

Ichigo looked up from his position on the floor, mimicking Grimmjow's kitchen situation earlier, though the mystery man didn't know that. "Hey, you gonna help me up or what? Don't just stand there laughing at me." Aizen was surprised that the young man was so informal with him but helped him up anyway. He decided not to scold the young man since this could give him some amusement.

"I wasn't laughing." It was true, he hadn't been laughing, there was just a glint of amusement in his eyes. He was actually surprised the young man caught it.

"That's true...you were amused though." He glared a bit and Aizen raised his hands in mock surrender. He let out a sigh and ruffled his hair a bit. "Sorry, that was rude. The name's Shiba, Kaien Shiba." He held out his hand to shake and Aizen took it, he was about to introduce himself but Kaien interrupted him before he got the chance. "Do you work here? I was looking for the conference center, 3 I think, and it would seem I've got myself a bit lost…" Ichigo looked at the ground for a second and noticing the coffee on the floor and winced, Kami knows he always needed his coffee in the morning. "...sorry about the coffee by the way." He looked up from the ground and suddenly there was a giant grin on his face. "Hey, if you'll show me to the conference room, I'll take you for a coffee after my interview if you're free, how does that sound?" On the outside Aizen looked to be seriously considering the offer, but on the inside he was laughing with mirth. This young man had no idea who he was, had been rude to him, and then invited him to coffee. There was no way he was going to pass up an opportunity like this, he was fairly sure that the man's expression when he reveals who he is will make up for the whole day so far. The only question was when to do it, before or after coffee. He replied to Kaien with an amused smile on his face.

"I just so happen to be holding an interview in conference room 3 today, I would assume that's you. We can head there now and start the interview a little early so that there is time for coffee after. Does that sound acceptable?" Ichigo's eyes widened a bit in shock and he only nodded his head in acceptance. Inside though he was beating himself up, he had already made a bad impression on the man who would be interviewing him, he may have just blown his chance of working here. He peaked at the taller man next to him and noticed he didn't seem angry. 'Maybe there's a chance then'.

Aizen had caught the man looking at him with slight worry and smirked to himself. This day wasn't turning out so bad, soon he'd have another toy to play with, there was no way he could not hire this man with how amusing he was, if he was not skilled he'd just make him the coffee boy or something, Kami knows he needed his coffee.