Author's Note: Okay, it's summer time, and I'm DEVOTED to ending this story! ON WITH IT!
Assassinated Love-
"You disobeyed orders!" His loud voice echoed across the large room, even for an old man, his voice screamed authority.
"You act like I care." Rukia snapped as she faced Yamamoto with a stern look, the other board members and Renji present as they sat down or hung on the wall quietly.
"Do you know how much money we have to pay back Kariya?" Rukia narrowed her eyes and slammed her hands on the table.
"Take it out of my bank account, I really don't care that I didn't do my assignment." Rukia snarled back as she let her hands slip off of the table.
"You were our best Rukia, and to disobey orders is out of the question," Yamamoto laced his fingers together and stared at Rukia, "You're going to pay back Kariya all of the money, and you're suspended for a week, you're dismissed." Rukia turned on her heel and walked out of the room, Renji and Ichigo immediately followed her into her office.
"Are you going to be okay?" Ichigo asked as Renji and him leaned against her office door as she looked at a picture of her and Hitsugaya and immediately put it face down. She looked under her desk and pulled out a suitcase filled with Kariya's money.
"Yeah, I'm going to be just great. I hate everything." Rukia rubbed her eyes in irritation as she slumped over her desk.
"You'll be fine Rukia, just take the suspension as a break." Renji offered to make his best friend somewhat feel better. Rukia looked up at Renji and he saw the sorrow in her eyes.
"A break? I'm already on a break Renji, I gave up my happiness." Rukia quietly said as she looked at the large window, and hoped everything would fade away soon.
`Meanwhile:
Fingering the photo frame of the two of them together, smiling, laughing, and kissing made him even sadder. He heard his door quietly open and he gently placed the photo back into his drawer and closed it shut. He saw Matsumoto standing there. Her wavy blonde hair tied into a low pony tail, a navy blue blouse with large white polka dots tucked into a pencil skirt as she held some files for him.
He noticed the look in her eyes as he began busying himself with some papers on his desk.
"What is it Rangiku?" Hitsugaya began signing some papers and Matsumoto looked at him.
"What really happened a week ago?" Hitsugaya looked up at her as his hand still let his pen glide over the papers to sign them.
"I don't want to talk about it." Matsumoto put a hand on her slim hip, her lips going out into a pout and then going back to normal as she sucked on her teeth, looked away, and looked back at him.
"You haven't talked to anybody except for me for the past week, and something seems so different after you guys, you know br-." She was stopped when Hitsugaya slammed his hand on his desk and looked up at her, his jade green eyes staring at her angrily.
"You don't need to know about my love life. Please go Rangiku." Matsumoto furrowed her eyebrows and slammed the files in her hands onto the desk.
"I'm concerned about you, would you just please tell me what happened to you two?" Hitsugaya slammed his hands on his desk, making Matsumoto jump back a bit as he whirled out of his chair and stared at her.
"You want to know what happened? I proposed to her, she said no, she said, no. And you want to know why?" He had to make some excuse, he couldn't tell Rukia's friend that the real reason they were separated was because she tried to kill him.
"Why?" Her voice came quietly; she was ready to listen to him. He ran a hand through his hair before he turned around to look out of his grand window.
"Because, she wasn't ready for long term commitment, she said she wasn't ready." He stuffed his hands into his pockets and Matsumoto looked at her boss, her friend.
"You know Rangiku, I'm tired, I'm tired of trying to find the right girl, because god damn it, it seems like romance is not in my league with all of my attempts at love." He quietly admitted and Matsumoto felt her heart breaking, he was so sad.
"I'm sorry I asked. I think I'll leave you alone now." Matsumoto bowed her head and turned around to leave, she opened the door and stopped, looked back and turned her head away as she closed the door and walked out.
Hitsugaya gazed out of the window and looked sadly at the happy civilians going on with their everyday life. He felt his phone vibrate and the loud ringtone filled the room, digging his phone out of his pocket, he checked the LCD screen and smiled bitterly.
"God damn it."
Calling: Girlfriend
Meanwhile:
Rukia hesitated over the touch screen button to call him. She knew she had to get his stuff out of her apartment, and she needed her stuff back. She didn't want to see his belongings in her apartment and cry at the sight of them.
Her thumb scrolled over her contacts and pressed on the contact card.
Contact: Boyfriend
She sighed deeply as she pressed the call button. Bringing the phone up to her ear, her heart began pounding. The ring pressed on and on for what seemed like an eternity before she heard a click. Her heart stopped pounding – he had rejected her call, she slowly dragged the phone away from her ear. But then she heard,
"Hello?" Her heart leaped up, but then she realized, it wasn't a friendly call.
"Hi, I know it's been a week since everything." She took a deep breath and she heard him sigh deeply too.
"Yeah, so, what do you want?" She could hear the sadness imbedded in his voice, she felt like crying.
"We need to meet each other."
"For what? So you can try to stab me again?" She felt tears well up in her eyes as she clenched her fist tightly.
"I guess I deserve that one." She laughed bitterly as a tear fell down on her face and she wiped it away.
"Uhm, I think we need to give each other our stuff back." He was silent and she waited for his reply.
"Okay, what time do you want to meet?" He asked and Rukia flipped through her calendar, trying to make sure tears wouldn't stain it or blur her vision. She looked on and saw that this whole week she was free.
"Maybe Friday? I think we need time to clean up each other's stuff." Rukia bit her lip and she heard him sigh.
"Sure, I'll have Rangiku put in our meeting around ten in the morning, is that okay?" Rukia brushed the tears leaking out of her eyes.
"Yeah, that'll be fine." Rukia shuddered as tears fell out of her eyes once again and wiped them up.
"I guess Friday it is then. I'll see you Hon- Ms. Kuchiki. Bye." Rukia widened her eyes as she heard him hang up and she took the phone away from her ear and saw the disconnected sign on her phone. Rukia felt the tears flow freely again as she made no effort to wipe them. Rukia packed up everything into her purse and got out of her office. She locked her door and saw some of the office assistants on her floor stare at her red eyes, she gave them a weak smile and went up to Orihime.
"Are you okay Rukia?" Orihime asked and Rukia shook her head while she bitterly smiled.
"No, I'm not. Tell Yamamato I'm going on that suspension now. I'll see you in a week or so. Bye." Rukia began walking away, leaving Orihime speechless, and Orihime saw Rukia's retreating figure as the noise of her high heels became softer and softer. Orihime then turned her attention to the computer to send Yamamoto an e-mail.
Next Day:
Rukia sat on the floor, dressed in a comfortable off the shoulder shirt with some basic cotton shorts that ended at her upper thighs. Slowly pulling out the drawer in her dresser, she saw an assortment of his clothing he kept for when he stayed the nights. The drawer was messy; Rukia pulled out the whole drawer and gently placed it on her carpeted floor. She began folding the clothing neatly and piling it into the box she had with her
Wiping a few tears along the way, she managed to finish folding all of the clothing except for one. She examined the dress shirt and realized half of the buttons were missing; Rukia realized why the buttons were missing and quickly felt embarrassed. She probably shouldn't have been so aggressive when trying to take off his clothes. It was a light sea foam green color; she brought it up to her face and realized it was full of his scent. Rukia hugged it tighter and felt like crying on how much she missed him. She folded it neatly and set it outside of the box.
There was no reason for her to give back a ruined shirt.
After folding all of the clothing, she picked up the box and walked to her bathroom. In there, there was an extra toothbrush which she had bought for him. It was ice blue and simple; she put it in the box as well. She opened up her jewelry drawer and was met with the massive amount of jewelry. She sifted through it before finding his expensive Rolex and she put it in the box as well.
Rukia walked back to the bed area and opened up a drawer in her nightstand and stared at the half full box that was inside her nightstand. She picked it up and examined it; she smiled at how much they had needed the contents in the box. She let her smile drop into a frown; she didn't need the box anymore. She folded up the small box and put it inside the bigger box.
Rukia carried the box and went out of the bedroom in search of anything that would bring back the memory of him.
Meanwhile:
Wiping off the sweat off his of brow, he put in more clothing items into the box. It was hard letting go of all the short skirts, dresses, shirts, pants, shorts, underwear she had piled into his house. He folded them the best he could without getting overwhelmed by her intoxicating scent. With his dress shirt unbuttoned, sleeves rolled up, his hands found the beer he had been drinking; he took a quick sip and stared at the box with longingly eyes. He hated packing up her things.
He walked to the bathroom and sifted through his drawers, finding a bag full of her extra cosmetics she planted into his apartment for when she stayed the night. He grabbed that, also along the way, grabbing her expensive jewelry pieces she had sometimes left behind in a rush. He put them into the box gently. He shifted around his bathroom area before he knocked a bottle over. He cursed slightly; thank god he had a rug he placed in the sink area. He bent down and examined it; it was Rukia's perfume bottle.
He took off the cap of the bottle and put his nose gently to it, taking a whiff of Rukia's scent that reminded him so much of her. He looked up at the ceiling and looked down at the bottle. He screwed on the cap and left it on his sink and walked away.
Friday:
Rukia brushed her hair away from her face as she pocketed her cell phone. Her arms wrapped around the large box that contained his belongings reeked of his scent. She stared at the building and mentally prepped herself. She walked up to the door and pushed on the large glass doors. She walked in and saw an assistant look up at Rukia as she came in.
"I presume you're Ms. Kuchiki?" The woman asked as she snapped her gum and Rukia smiled slightly and nodded.
"Yes, I have an appointment with him in five minutes." Rukia said as the woman checked the schedule book and nodded. She picked up the phone and dialed the number.
"She's here to see him," The assistant was silent as she nodded, "I'll send her up." The woman hung up and looked at Rukia. "You may go up." Rukia nodded and gave a meek thank you as she made her way towards the familiar elevator.
Rukia got inside of the elevator and pressed the button to Hitsugaya's floor. She checked her reflection in the mirror in the elevator. She checked to make sure her make-up was fine. Once she deemed it acceptable, the elevator doors pulled themselves open. Rukia stepped onto the floor, her floral high heels squishing into the comfortable carpet.
Rukia walked down and saw Matsumoto talking to an assistant before looking over her shoulder to see Rukia. Matsumoto's face brightened as she gestured Rukia over.
Matsumoto turned her attention back to the assistant.
"Please get these sent down to the fourth floor. Thanks." Matsumoto turned her body and leaned against the counter.
"It's nice seeing you Rukia!" Matsumoto gave Rukia a hug which Rukia did her best to accept.
"It's nice seeing you too Rangiku, but my visit isn't pleasant." Rukia said as she looked down at the box of Hitsugaya's stuff and Rangiku looked at it.
"Is that his stuff?" Matsumoto asked and Rukia nodded slowly.
"Y-y-yeah, we just thought we needed to give each other back our stuff. I'll see you later Rangiku." Rukia turned on her heel and Rangiku watched Rukia head off to Hitsugaya's office.
"He still loves you, and you still love him." Rangiku whispered as she went back to her office.
Rukia stood at Hitsugaya's door and knocked on it softly. Rukia waited and in a matter of seconds, Hitsugaya opened the door quietly. He looked at Rukia sadly and gestured to inside of his office.
"Please come in." Hitsugaya held open his door and let Rukia come in, her scent hitting his nose, and vice versa, making each other slightly sadder than they already were. Rukia set the box down on his desk as he shut the door and walked around to his side of the desk.
"I'm curious as to why you called so soon about giving each other our stuff back." He bent down and got the box from underneath his desk and placed it on top of his desk. Rukia looked at him, and couldn't help but stare into his eyes – eyes that once looked lovingly at her. They were so sad and cold now. Rukia shrugged as she sadly smiled.
"Because it sucks seeing your stuff and then start crying about you." Rukia admitted and Hitsugaya nodded as he looked out of the window.
"Why would you cry about me? You don't care about me if you tried to kill me." Rukia felt a stab in her heart and she gripped the box. She looked at Hitsugaya as he turned back around to face her.
"Look, I know what I say won't matter, but I just need to tell you, I'm sorry." Hitsugaya stared at Rukia with his hands in his pockets and wrapped his attention around her. She licked her lips slightly. "I know what I did was wrong, and I'm really sorry. I knew I shouldn't have done what I did, but I know my apologies don't mean much." Rukia felt a tear drop out of her eye and Hitsugaya yearned to reach out and wipe away her tears.
"I just want to say, before we go our own way, that I'm sorry, and I love you so much still. I know I don't deserve to be in your life anymore, but I just want to let you know that I love you a lot still. And if I wasn't a dumbass, I would've married you. Thank you for everything." Hitsugaya was shocked, but he tried his best to disguise it, Rukia reached out and grabbed the box filled with her belongings and tried her best to give him a smile while crying.
"I guess this is goodbye." Rukia whispered as she turned and began walking away, Hitsugaya watched as she opened the door, he felt his mouth open.
"I love you still too. Goodbye Rukia." He said as he watch Rukia stop, shiver, and he heard her stifled sobs as she closed the door behind her. Hitsugaya slumped down into his seat and closed his eyes.
Both had lost each other, and the feeling of losing each other was more painful than ever.
Next Monday:
"Rukia Kuchiki, are you ready to go back to work?" Yamamoto asked and Rukia sat in her seat, her eyes cold as she stared at Yamamoto.
"Always ready." Her voice was cold, emotionless, and everybody in the room noticed the toll of her break up had taken.
"You don't look healthy." Yamamoto commented and Rukia gently put her palms on the large table and looked up at him.
"Just go on with my damn assignment. Not like anything matters anymore." Everybody in the room was startled; Yamamoto coughed slightly before spinning a folder her way.
"I think you'll enjoy this assignment." Rukia sighed sadly as she took her finger and opened the folder carelessly. Placing a cheek onto her fist, she took one look at the photo before she widened her eyes and looked up.
"How can this be?" Rukia was shocked at her new assignment and looked around the room.
"Who's my customer?" Rukia asked and Yamamoto gestured to Gin and Rukia felt tears welling up in her eyes.
"Why though?" Gin went up and placed a hand on her shoulder and stared at her sympathetically.
"It recently came up in my memory that the idiot owed me a lot of money from a long time ago. He hasn't paid me back, and it was a really large sum of money. He seemed to blow it off though." Rukia placed a hand onto Gin's hand as Gin bent down and got close to her ear.
"You need this. You're welcome." Gin said as he rose back up and Rukia blinked away the tears again. She looked up at Yamamoto who was looking at her.
"Do you accept?" Yamamoto asked and Rukia nodded her head.
"Yes." Yamamoto felt himself smile under his beard.
"Rukia Kuchiki, I expect Kariya Jin to be dead in a week, is that understood?" Rukia smiled as she tapped her long nails against the desk.
"Crystal clear." Rukia smirked.
It was time for payback.
Author's note: I'm back! I'm so sorry for leaving this story behind, but it's almost finished! 2 – 3 more chapters and it's done! Thank you guys for sticking by me!
Read, enjoy, review!