Chapter 7: Subtle Hints

This was not good, this was really not good. In fact, to Rukia, this might be one of the worst things that could have happened. After her talk earlier with Momo, she is beginning to find herself becoming more and more aware of her own burgeoning feelings for one particular taxi driver. Painfully aware, in fact, as if putting these emotions into words made them more real for her than before, when they were just an abstract notion inside her mind. And certainly she was not a fan of this new development.

Rukia liked to live by the philosophy of "slow and steady," whether that be in reference to projects at work, chores at home, or, in this case, relationships. For that very reason, she now found herself to be...at odds with her state of being and her usual way of going about things.

While she had no particular issues with having a crush on Ichigo Kurosaki — yes, she at least had the self awareness and boldness to admit that to herself — the pace of its occurrence and growth has no doubt caught her off guard.

Slow and steady crushes are predictable and controllable for her, usually occurring over the course of several months: typically, she first becomes friends with this hypothetical person, which lays the ground for more serious affections to grow; throughout that period of time, before she seriously commits herself to liking someone, she would also be able to better gauge that person's personality, values, and character to decide whether or not it was even worth it to attempt a relationship. A very logical and reasonable way to go about it, to her.

For the life of her, however, she cannot understand why she has grown to be so fond of Ichigo, someone she has met in person few enough times to be able to count with the fingers on one hand, in such a short span of time. Since the ride he gave her this morning, she has not been able to stop thinking about him, which was the really annoying part, for it interfered greatly with her productivity thus far at work. Clearly, this also symbolized that she was not as much of a professional as she had thought, bringing her personal life into the company and letting it plague her so.

Even now, as she pondered the issue to herself in her office, she was further exacerbating the issue by continuing to think about him.

"Gaaaah," she groaned in frustration, burying her head in her arms.

"Problem, Miss Kuchiki?"

Rukia's head snapped up as she attempted to regain her composure. Toshiro stood at the door to her office with a frown, clutching a clipboard and documents. This was the third time today that he has dropped by. She suspects that he has noticed that she wasn't performing at her usual standards, but, because he was her junior, he was reluctant to bluntly speak out against her about her behavior. As a result, these periodic check-ups were either meant to subtly hint to her that she needs to pull her act together or his way of showing concern. She had to give him credit, for he turned out to be keener and more perceptive than she originally thought.

"No, no, I'm fine, Toshiro. Just tired."

"If you say so," he replied easily. "I was just wondering how far along you were with the quarterly report. The senior Mr. Kuchiki has requested it—"

"—to be delivered at five o'clock today, I know," she intercepted. "I'll have it finished, don't you worry."

"I wasn't worried, I was just curious about your progress."

Ah, liar, he definitely was worried, though she supposes that she couldn't fault him for his conscientiousness. "I still have a few sections left to write, but I'll definitely be able to have it done in time, Toshiro."

Nodding in acknowledgement, Toshiro marched forward, set his clipboard and pages down on her desk within an arm's reach, and said, "These are my sections that I just finished. It would be good if you could turn review them and turn them in with the final copy."

"Thank you," Rukia gave a polite smile and turned her gaze towards her computer screen. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get back to work."

Realizing that was his cue to leave, Toshiro began to head towards the door. At the last minute, he seemed to have changed his mind about something and stopped in place, turning back to look at her before saying, "If you're really tired, I could bring you a cup of coffee."

Rukia looked back at him in surprise, never expecting such an offer to come from him, who had appeared to be so impartial to her before as a coworker. After some rationalizations inside her head, and ultimately attributing this kindness to the fact that he probably was just using the coffee as an insurance that she would finish the report on time (and therefore avoiding having his own reputation become collateral damage), she said, "Sure, that would sound great, thanks."

Even though she was not actually tired, it was probably better that he felt like he was contributing at least a little to her productivity.

Toshiro returned promptly from the break room with a steaming cup of coffee, and after offering her thanks, Rukia turned her attention to the report. Though she found concentrating difficult, the looming deadline and the thought of her brother's disapproval should it be finished late kept her motivated.

At ten minutes to five, she cracked her knuckles, finally satisfied with herself. Within the past three hours, she had managed to successfully blockade out — most of — her intrusive thoughts of Ichigo, finish her sections, and proofread both her part and Toshiro's as well. After sending the report to Byakuya, she began gathering her belongings and preparing to head home for the day, which was when an idea struck her.

It was audacious, bold, shameless even, but once it came into existence, she just couldn't seem to suppress it.

As for the question of whether or not she had enough guts to carry out what she had in mind, that was more dubious. Rukia clenched her fists, debating fiercely with herself inside her head. On one hand, would this give the wrong impression? Would she come off as bizarre? How much of a hint could he take from this? Does she even want to give the hint?

Finally, some part of her capitulated, and she pulled out her phone to search for a number online.

"Hello, this is Karakura Taxi Service, how may I be of help to you?"

"I would like to order a cab."

"Of course, ma'am. Now—"

"—Excuse me," Rukia interrupted softly, "but am I also able to request a specific driver with your service?"

"Of course, ma'am. Is there someone you have in mind?"

"...Yes."

A/N: (1/12/19) Thus concludes my editing for all the previous chapters I had written so long ago. Stay tuned for new content ! :)