I am an emotionless block of ice. I do not care about you or what you think. I will demonstrate my capacities and Seretei will be begging me to take the job.
Rukia opened her eyes after repeating that sentence for what was probably the tenth time that morning. She took a steady breath, not feeling nervous at all.
Why would she be nervous? She had no reason to be nervous; non whatsoever.
At least that's what she kept reminding herself.
She took a look at her wristwatch and saw it was already 8:27am. There was no more time for stalling, so she stepped into the revolving doors of Seretei and took up a confident stride into the building in what she hoped would be the first of many, many more times.
Today was her first day working at the Seretei Daily.
Okay, so that was speaking on loose terms. She didn't have a job, technically speaking; she had an internship. Which was like a pre-job, really. If you looked at it a certain way, it was like an introduction to work; the beginning of a long journey that would end in retirement. So really, not much difference from there to an actual job…
Which is the excuse she told herself when Byakuya had called last night, asking about her interview, and she'd informed him that she would be starting work the next day.
It wasn't a lie. It was completely true: she would be working from today on. She merely chose not to tell Byakuya that her work didn't include pay, or a guarantee for any given time, or a dental plan…
He didn't ask.
And so, Rukia excused herself for the slightly tweaked information she gave her brother. Yet, the anxious feeling in her gut remained.
Was it fear that Byakuya would discover the truth and be disappointed in her forever? Or was it a lack of confidence in herself and her ability to obtain the job? Perhaps it was merely the butterflies one felt whenever starting school or work; combined with the knowledge that she would be pushed hard to prove herself.
Yes, all of these made sense as an explanation to the awful nerves. But deep down, try to deny it as she might, she knew the main reason for her anxiousness. And that reason had a name.
Ichigo Kurosaki.
That was the name of the man she had met only three nights ago, hiding in a closet, and she had thought that would remain one of the best nights in her life in her memory. However, after chancing upon him again, at the Seretei of all places! The way he'd acted…Pretending not to know her first, then glaring at her and looking like he wouldn't mind if a piano landed on her head…
Plus the knowledge that she would have to work with him -under him- for the following who-knows-how-many-months…
Okay, so the reason for her nervousness wasn't as big of a mystery as she liked to make it out to be.
Whatever. She didn't care about him. If he wanted to pretend they didn't know each other and nothing had ever happened between them, then she would gladly comply. As far as she was concerned, the night of Halloween had been spent all by herself in the comfort of her own home; no orange-haired masked strangers involved at all.
"What floor, miss?"
A man asked in a friendly manner as she stepped into one of the elevators in the building.
"Four." she answered, mentally verifying that she was indeed supposed to go to said floor once again.
The man pressed the correct button for her and the number six as well. He smiled at her as she settled beside him and the doors began to close, leaving them as the only two inside. The man was rather tall, by any standards (which means; he would seem tall even if she wasn't a measly five feet tall). He had wavy brown hair that was slightly unkempt, and eyes of the same color that were rimmed by square black glasses. The pleasant smile never left his face as he began to softly hum to the elevator music.
Okay…Weird.
The man's demeanor was a friendly one, but Rukia still felt a little relieved when the elevator dinged and the doors opened up to her floor.
"Have a nice day." the man told her nicely as she made to get off. Rukia nodded and attempted a smile, more or less successfully, before hurrying off.
She looked over her shoulder and caught one last glimpse of the smiling man before the heavy steel doors hid him completely. His smile never vanished.
Rukia shivered a little before turning back to look before her. Only to be amazed by the chaos greeting her, the meeting with the man quickly fading into the back of her mind.
As Rukia began to walk forward hesitantly, she avoided rushing people frantically moving around the maze of desks and offices. Everywhere she looked people were picking up phones that seemed to never stop ringing, carrying folders that all looked exactly the same, typing up at lighting speed into several computers, and drinking cups of coffee by the truckload.
It was a noisy, unorganized mess. She actually had to duck as someone carrying two steaming cups of coffee -one in each hand- pushed past her without even noticing her, carrying one of the cups over the place where her head just been.
From the folder she'd picked up the day before with all the paperwork and information she would need, she remembered -after having spent a good deal of the night memorizing every detail- that she needed to look for Ichigo Kurosaki's office. So she went by every door and desk checking the name plaques, with no success until she reached the near end of the floor.
A closed door, with a less than professional looking permanent-marker-inscribed 'KUROSAKI' on it. She reached to open it, but found that it was locked. So she knocked.
There was no answer.
She knocked again, adding a couple more knocks this time.
She thought she heard a muffled sound, but couldn't make out anything coherent.
Her brow began to furrow and she knocked again, faster and harder than necessary this time.
"I said I'm coming damn it!"
The door flew open inwards, revealing a shock of orange spikes and a scowl.
"Oh, it's you."
Rukia did not appreciate the way he said 'Oh, it's you'; like he was saying, 'Oh, it's the bread crust that I don't want on my sandwich. Hurray'.
She also did not appreciate the way he then simply turned his back to her, without so much as a 'Good morning', and went back into the room. Since he didn't close the door, Rukia assumed she was met to follow him inside.
"You're late." was the greeting he gave her.
Okay, so this is going about as well as I thought it would.
Rukia looked down at her wristwatch and then folded her arms over her chest, glaring at his back. "I was supposed to be here at 8:30." she said as evenly as she could, making sure to keep her temper in check.
"Exactly." Ichigo said before turning to look down at her. "And what time is it now?" he asked slowly, as if speaking to a child who couldn't comprehend.
Rukia's small fists tightened but she made sure to stay cool. Don't let him ruin this for you. "Eight thirty-two."
"Well then, correct me if I'm wrong," he started, looking away as if he was actually making the calculations in his head. "But that means…You're late." he looked at her again with a deadpan expression. "I'll have to include that in my evaluation. Being late on the first day sends a really bad impression; didn't anyone teach you that, shortcakes?"
A blood vessel was dangerously close to popping on Rukia's forehead at the word 'shortcakes'. She bit back every possible colorful and original retort that passed through her mind in that split second, and settled for saying in as civilized a manner as she could muster, "Two minutes does not count as being 'late'."
"It does in my book." He said, and that's when Rukia saw him produce a small notepad and pen from inside a drawer on his desk, which was pressed against the wall to her left, and he scribbled something down.
He took no care when he set the notepad down on top of the desk, clearly to her view, allowing her to read it.
Rukia Kuchiki evaluation chart:
Punctuality: -1.
She gaped at what she read. Below the 'punctuality' row, she saw other aspects such as 'responsibility', 'obedience', 'intelligence', amongst others.
"What is that?" she asked through gritted teeth, reminding herself that if she blew up she'd be giving him the satisfaction of loosing her shot at a permanent job.
"It's your evaluation chart. I thought that would be obvious. Guess that scores you a minus one in intelligence…" he trailed off after picking up the notepad and scribbling down what she guessed was her 'grade'.
Who the hell did he think he was? What kind of idiot graded someone that way on a job -err, internship-? Why would such an irritating specimen even be allowed to work over her or over anyone?
Your temper, Rukia. She forced herself to inhale and closed her eyes, silently counting to ten.
Conjuring a sugary smile and a sickeningly sweet voice, she asked:
"What will my first assignment be, Mr. Kurosaki?" she added a couple of spoonfuls of syrupy sweetness to the 'Mr. Kurosaki', and watched with a certain amount of enjoyment as he squirmed all of a sudden.
That's right. I can play your game too.
"…Right…" he watched her with sudden caution. Afraid, maybe, that if he turned around she'd attack him with lollipops and candy canes. "Well, first of all, you need to know some of the basics." he stated. "Follow me."
With that, Ichigo went past her and exited the office, not even bothering to look to see that Rukia was following, though she was. They didn't go further than a few steps to the cubicles that were just outside the office.
Ichigo stopped at one of the cubicles, where the desk and walls were conspicuously bare. The cubicle was set so the right side wall faced the door to Ichigo's office, which was only a few feet away.
"This," he said, turning to face her and motioning to the general area of the cubicle. "will be your cubicle from now on. You will come straight here every morning at 8:30 sharp, and I will come to you or send someone to tell you what you have to do. Meaning, you are not to bother me in my office at any time under any circumstances. Is that clear?"
Yes; it's perfectly clear that you are utterly dismayed to be obligated to be within a five mile radius of me, let alone a few feet.
"Cristal." Rukia muttered without looking at him.
"Excellent. Now sit down and get to work." he ordered, then started to return to his office just like that.
"Wait a minute," Rukia's voice stopped him. "How am I supposed to get to work? You haven't even told me what I'm supposed to do!" she pointed out.
If he was going to be such a dick about it, the least he could do was do his job right.
"…I guess you're right." Ichigo surprised her by agreeing with her. He scratched his chin and looked thoughtful for a moment. "I suppose I better give you something to stay busy…Oh, I know," Ichigo started, looking like he figured it out. "I've got your first job. I need you to run over to the café across the street right now."
Rukia stared at him blankly.
"I need you to get me an espresso."
"…" She looked at him. "You can't be serious."
"You don't see me laughing." he said seriously.
"You can't honestly expect me to act as your personal assistant-"
"I'm sorry? As far as I know, I'm the actual reporter here. I'm your boss; I'm in charge. You're just an intern." he looked down at her in all senses of the expression. "What I say goes, if you want to keep that internship, that is."
Bastard.
Damn ass hole. She couldn't believe it! He was flat out threatening her! How dare he!
Of course, he was right. He was the one with an actual job, and she was just a freshly graduated wannabe columnist with a sliver of a hope at one day working at Seretei. And if she had to listen to the stupid orders of a douche of a boss to keep that hope…Then she had no other choice but to do so.
Unless, of course, she quit her internship and went looking for a job on one of the many other newspapers or magazines in Karakura…
And be written out of her brother's will in the process. Not an option then.
Rukia's fists clenched and unclenched at her sides once as she grit her teeth.
"Would you like cream on that?"
She kept her gaze firmly locked on the blue carpeted floor, refusing to look at the smug look that she knew would be on his face.
"You better not forget it."
-x-
Splash
Clear water droplets ran down Rukia's face. She looked into her purplish blue eyes in the mirror, supporting half of her weight on her arms, each holding on to the sides of the white sink.
She stared into her own eyes for a long moment, testing the intensity and determination in them. Was it enough?
It was now past four in the afternoon, and Rukia was utterly wiped out. She had been running around all day. Her feet throbbed in her shoes, and she was tempted to slip them off, but one look at the wet tiles of the restroom stopped that train of thought in its tracks.
From the café across the street, up and down nearly every floor of the building, a store more than three blocks away, and a drug store down the street, to a dry cleaner's two streets away; she felt like she'd run a full marathon -in high heels-.
Why had she basically crossed all over the town in the past hours?
Well, she had her bitter, scowling, loud, orange-haired amnesiac 'boss' to thank for that.
It seemed that Ichigo was more irritated by getting stuck with her than she'd originally thought, and he'd decided that the best approach to the situation was to make every minute she was at Seretei a living hell for her.
He'd spent all day sending her on these stupid errands; personal tasks that she had no business doing for him, and she had no option but to follow instructions. It was inhuman, in her opinion. It was also unprofessional. But most of all, it was not nice.
A glance at her watch told her that she'd already spent almost fifteen minutes in the restroom, and that a certain undesirable someone would begin to wonder where his new lackey was.
Gathering all her willpower, she dried her face and dragged herself out of the restroom and back to her newly assigned cubicle, hoping to get at least five minutes of peace by herself.
But she should have known that some greater force was out to keep her miserable. The moment her cubicle came into view, so did a mess of bright colored hair.
For a weak moment, she tried retracing her steps back to the restroom for a quick escape, but it seemed that Ichigo wore a rearview mirror somewhere because the moment she appeared he turned and saw her.
"There you are, where the hell have you been? You've wasted almost twenty minutes-"
He rambled for a little longer and Rukia tuned him out this time, in order to maintain some sanity at least.
"-be there and back in no more than ten minutes."
"…"
"Hey! Did you hear what I said?" she felt his glare on her, but chose to look away and ignore it.
"Hm? Oh, yeah." she answered purposely looking distracted.
She felt his already-narrowed eyes scold her further. "I told you, and I will not repeat myself, that you have to go up to the eight floor and-"
Again, she opted to play elevator music in her mind. She even started to bob her head a little as she watched his lips moving soundlessly.
For a brief instance, her mind betrayed her and, as her eyes focused on his lips, her brain suddenly flashed her a memory sharp and clear as day of those same lips pressed tightly against hers, and sending fiery licks through her entire nervous system. She remembered vividly as those lips parted against her mouth, allowing the organ inside his mouth to slid through and enter her mouth, then-
STOP THAT RIGHT THERE!
The alarm bells went off in her head. She quickly shook herself out of that memory and traveled back to the present, where that man she'd remembered was overshadowed by the grizzly and cruel imitation before her.
"Are you listening to me?" his sharp question came with vividly glaring amber orbs.
Rukia paused for a moment, gauging the many feelings coursing through her. Then she spoke.
"No."
Watching his face go from angry to confused and then mad again was rather entertaining, she noted mentally.
"And before you tell me to go on another one of your absurd requests," she went on before he could start. "I refuse."
She was slightly surprised at how calm and collected she sounded and felt; especially when she should have been freaking out at how she was a few moments away from loosing her chance at a job on Seretei. That's how she knew something within her had definitely snapped.
"I'm tired of you and your stupid attitude." she continued, on a role. "Who do you think you are, the Pope?" her voice began to rise. "Well I have news for ya buddy, you're not." she emphasized her point by poking him non-too-gently on the chest with her pointer finger.
"And another thing," she began again, ignoring how he opened his mouth to speak and cutting him off shamelessly. "I don't know why you've been pretending not to know me all this time, maybe you're embarrassed or ashamed, who knows! But don't think just because you regret what happened Saturday night it gives you the right to treat me-" she had missed the look of alarm that flashed through his eyes when she mentioned Saturday night, and hadn't noticed her voice had been steadily rising, drawing the attention of every worker on the floor, until a large hand clamped down over her mouth and shut her up.
Her muffled protests were ignored as Ichigo's stronger arms came around her and began pulling her, not uncovering her mouth.
"Someone went a little overboard with the coffee today," Ichigo was saying for the benefit of everyone around them, who had dropped their respective tasks and were staring at the two of them with interest. "She just needs a little rest, nothing to see here, people! Get back to work!"
Rukia struggled against his hold with no luck, and helplessly felt herself being dragged into an office.
The door was shut and locked before Rukia even had a chance to process that they were in Ichigo's office.
"OW!" Ichigo wailed and shook his hand in the air. "You bit me!" he accused.
Rukia pretended to wipe her mouth in disgust and glared at him. "What the hell do you think-"
"Lower your voice would you?" Ichigo hissed at her, having closed the distance between them and covering her mouth again, despite the crescent-shaped bitemarks decorating his tan skin.
Rukia mustered up the most heated glare she could come up with and met his head on.
"I'm going to take my hand off now…" he started cautiously, before slowly removing his hand.
"YOU-!" Rukia shouted the moment she was free to do so, enraged beyond belief. She didn't have a chance to go any further before her mouth was covered again.
"Stop screaming, damn it!"
Rukia didn't struggle now and just glared.
"Are you going to stop screaming?" Ichigo asked, eyeing her warily.
Rukia reluctantly nodded, maintaining eye contact.
"Okay…" he kept looking at her nervously as he took off his hand, as if afraid she'd yell again.
"You son of a bitch!" Rukia hissed, controlling her voice but pouring as much venom as she could in it. After an entire day of being exploited by this guy, she had reached her boiling point.
Kuchiki calmness be damned. This ass hole has it coming!
"What the hell is the matter with you?" he looked at her like she was crazy. It heightened the anger she was already feeling.
"What's the matter with me? What's the matter with you?"
"You're the one who started yelling like a madwoman in front of everybody!"
"You're the one who has been making me run around all day like your freaking lackey threatening me to loose my internship if I don't!"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Rukia gaped. Did he seriously ask that…? Her hands clenched at her sides. It took every inch of her willpower not to attack him physically.
"You…" she growled.
Ichigo crossed his arms over his chest and stood erect, looking down at her as if waiting for her insult.
"You know what? Forget it." she said, unclenching her hands. "This isn't worth it. Would you at least answer me one question?" she looked up at him, then went on without waiting for an answer. "Were you that ashamed? Did you regret it that much?"
Her questions, obviously referring to their original meeting, seemed to catch him by surprise, and he stood gaping at her for a moment. Rukia didn't move her gaze away at first, but then just shook her head and started to move past him. "Fine." she muttered.
She was about to reach for the door knob when a hand on her arm stopped her.
She turned around, surprised, and saw Ichigo scowling as he looked away.
"Wait." he said, then let go of her arm. Rukia tried not to show any emotion as she crossed her arms and looked at him expectantly. "What now? You need me to fetch you a latté before I leave?"
"Shut up and let me talk." he said, turning to her with narrowed eyes. Taken aback, Rukia merely blinked and did as he said.
Ichigo averted his eyes and scratched behind his head as he spoke. "Look, about what happened Saturday night…" she could almost see a slight coloring of his cheeks, but she wrote it off as her imagination playing tricks on her.
"Oh? So you do remember?" she raised an incredulous eyebrow.
"Would it kill you to let me finish?" he was silent as he glared at her, waiting to see if she'd say anything else. She didn't, and he went on. "Yes, I do remember. I thought the reason I pretended otherwise would be obvious."
Rukia only stared, signaling that it obviously wasn't.
"Okay, I see you're a bit on the slow side." before she could speak her retort, he went on. "Clearly it's escaped your notice, but it doesn't exactly make a great impression on your boss when you say you know the new intern because you met her in a closet at a wild party and without knowing her made out with her."
Despite his annoyed scowl, Rukia was sure she could see pink stains on his cheeks now. However, she didn't call him on it as she felt her own cheeks heat up with color.
"Oh." she said stupidly.
"Yeah," Ichigo said with a sarcastic roll of his eyes. "Oh."
"Well you didn't have to be such a dick about it!" she went on, hoping to cover up her moment of stupidity.
"I wasn't being a 'dick' about anything." he defended himself.
Rukia raised her eyebrows incredulously.
"…Okay, so I treated you a little roughly…"
"A little?"
"A lot!" he admitted in annoyance. "So what about it?"
"What do you mean 'what about it'? The least you could do is apologize." Rukia looked at him sternly.
"Wha-? The hell I will! I didn't ask to be stuck with you!" he raised his voice, Rukia noted silently, and took this as permission to rise hers as well.
"I didn't ask to be stuck with you either but that's what I got!"
Somewhere in her mind, she wondered at what she could have possibly seen in this guy before.
"Good, then I guess we're even. Good day to you." he said as he opened the door and motioned for her to leave with a fake polite manner.
Rukia took a step forward and slammed the door shut, not taking her eyes off him. "Look, dandelion," she started, ignoring the look on his face when she called him 'dandelion'. "I want this job more than anything else. I'm not letting you ruin that for me. And I know for a fact that your own job here is at stake."
His eyes narrowed at her, but he didn't call her on her bluff -meaning she'd struck home. "So what do you propose, Einstein?"
"A truce." she said, looking at him evenly. "You help me get a hang of this business and Seretei in general, and give me actual assignments and jobs, which means you will not treat me like a personal assistant. And in return, I'll stay out of your ridiculously colored hair and even put in a good word for you."
Ichigo raised an orange eyebrow. "What makes you think your word will mean anything here?"
"I'm sure that this 'supervising' thing works both ways. Your opinion of me will determine if I get a job as much as mine of you will determine if you keep yours." she said, gaining more confidence as she spoke. A look at his face told her she was on the right path. "And you know that already. So why don't you make this easier for the both of us and agree?"
He seemed to consider her. "So what you're saying is that we treat each other civilly, then tell the bosses how good the other is?"
"Exactly. I get a job, you keep yours, and we can go on disliking each other. Everybody is happy. We don't even have to mention that little 'incident' Saturday night. " she finished.
"I guess that sounds reasonable. Alright," Ichigo trust out a hand before her. "You got yourself a deal, Intern."
She decided to ignore how he used the title 'intern' like a name and took his hand in a firm grasp. "Truce, then?" she looked him in the eye.
"Truce." he confirmed, and they shook hands, sealing the deal.
Rukia allowed herself a small victorious smirk.
She was one step closer to her future; no orange-haired idiot would get in her way now...hopefully.
A/N: This didn't turn out like I'd planned, but what's done is done. I hope it didn't suck too bad...Anyways, this is a transition chapter. NOW the story begins ;) Oh and btw, Yes, that was Aizen in the elevator. And he WILL come up on the story again, before anyone asks. I won't say how, when or why. ;P
Once again, I must say I was overwhelmed with the amount of reviews I received :') thank you so much:
novicestar, 09ice, ali6220, Portrait of a Scribe, shnizlefritz, loveyouso, Black Sun Upon An Icy Sky, Prizz, M.O.N.S.T.E.R. EATS. POCKY., Personal Riot, MeoNg, alyssa, IchiRuki77, Ebbie54, Sofantastic, Aizawa Ayumu Oz Vessalius, and Nivek01
I can't say how absolutely thrilled I was when I read your reviews :D
I hope I didn't disappoint anyone. You guys motivated me to get my butt to work on this xD Now I better go cuz I have tons to read for college this week...hehe.
I hope you enjoyed :) Reviews are love^.^