"Ichigo!" Yuzu yelled excitedly as she ran into her brother's arms the moment he opened the door to his penthouse apartment.
Ichigo laughed as his little sister squeezed the life out of him before he managed to untangle her from his arms. "Wow, Yuzu. That was quite a hug. It's good to see you," he said with a smile.
Karin looked at the display of affection between her two siblings and scoffed in disgust. She wasn't exactly the touchy-feely type.
"Hey, Karin. You look absolutely thrilled to be here," Ichigo said sarcastically causing his other baby sister to roll her eyes.
"Yuzu dragged me along. Don't expect me to be happy that I'm here," she said with her arms crossed and a scowl that could give Ichigo a run for his money.
"Yeah, whatever. Just give me a hug, you pain in the ass," he said before wrapping the reluctant Karin in his arms.
"Oh, it's so good to be back in the city! We only stay on campus when we're at the university so it feels great to get out a little," Yuzu said as she carried her bags into her brother's massive living room before plopping on the couch. Karin and Ichigo soon followed.
"How is school going for the two of you? Anything to report?" Ichigo asked.
"Well, there is one new thing," Yuzu said suggestively as she looked toward her sister. Karin's eyes grew wide and she shook her head, praying her sister would keep her mouth shut.
"What? What is it?" Ichigo asked in confusion as he looked between the twins.
"It's nothing," Karin said quickly.
"Oh, it's something alright," Yuzu said with a smile.
"Tell me," Ichigo persuaded.
"Karin has a boyfriend," Yuzu said before her sister could stop her.
"Yuzu!"
"What? He was going to find out eventually. Might as well tell him in person."
"You have a boyfriend!? I am not okay with this. Who is this guy? I have to meet him," Ichigo said, getting angrier and angrier the more he thought about his baby sister in a relationship with a man.
"You are not allowed to meet him," Karin said with a death glare.
"What? Why not?"
"Because you'd probably murder him in his sleep. That is if he was brave enough to stick around after meeting you."
"I still don't like it."
"You don't have to like it, Ichigo, but that's the way it is. You're not my dad and you can't tell me who I can and cannot date," Karin said angrily.
"He better be treating you right."
"Of course he is! I'm not an idiot, Ichigo. I wouldn't be with a guy who didn't treat me well."
Before Ichigo could interrogate his sister any further, a very disturbing thought occurred to him. "Wait…so have you and this guy…you know…yet," Ichigo struggled to get out, not even wanting to know the answer.
"You mean have we had sex?" Karin asked bluntly causing both her twin sister and her big brother to cringe.
"Well…yeah," Ichigo answered.
"Not that it's any of your business but, yeah, we have."
Ichigo's grew wide and he sat back on the couch. "Are you serious? You mean you're not a virgin anymore?" Ichigo was absolutely horrified at the thought, ironically enough.
"Of course I'm not. I'm twenty-one years old," she said as if it was obvious.
"I need a drink," Ichigo said, absolutely defeated. Yuzu and Karin were not supposed to grow up. They had always been his innocent baby sisters and now they had become women.
Ichigo didn't like it at all.
"Would you calm down, brother? It's not that big of a deal," Karin said.
"Of course it's a big deal. Sex is a big deal for girls."
"Oh, but it's not for guys?"
"That's not what I meant."
"You know, Ichigo, you're the last person on earth I would expect to give me a lecture on this. You have sex all the time. Don't act like you don't. I told you, I'm not an idiot."
She had him there. He wasn't exactly a saint when it came to sex, but he still hated the thought of his baby sisters doing it.
And then another thought occurred to him.
He quickly turned to his other baby sister who had been quiet during the entire conversation. "Wait, you're still a virgin, right Yuzu?" he asked worriedly. If Yuzu wasn't, then all hope was lost for him.
She turned red and looked away from her big brother.
Karin rolled her eyes and answered for her, "Yes, brother, Yuzu is still a virgin. I can't believe you would think differently."
"I'm waiting until marriage…unlike the both of you," Yuzu said with a small voice, obviously embarrassed by the conversation.
"Good. Don't let any man pressure you into doing something you don't want to. And if they do, let me know and I'll blow their head off," Ichigo told his sister.
"Ugh, can we please talk about something else? I didn't come all the way to Tokyo to discuss my sex life with my brother and sister," Karin said.
"Yes, let's please talk about something else," Yuzu said quickly, her cheeks blazing red.
"Fine," Ichigo said with his arms crossed, still not very happy.
"So, Ichigo. How's work been?" Yuzu asked trying to divert the conversation as quick as possible.
"Hectic. I'm so stressed out right now and I have a million things to do. As you can see, I was working right before you guys got here," he said indicating the piles of papers scattered across the glass coffee table.
"Why are you working so hard? I thought the CEO only did press conferences and blonde prostitutes," Karin said.
Ichigo glared at his younger sister angrily. "Shut up, Karin. I have an insanely important job. A multi-billion dollar company rests completely on my shoulders. And we've had a lot of unpleasant competition lately."
"What do you mean?" Yuzu asked.
"There's a business man named Sosuke Aizen who's been sending his cronies into big companies and bringing them down from the inside. We have to be extra careful about everything we do and it's affecting everyone."
"Wait, Sosuke Aizen? Wasn't that the guy who took over the Kuchiki company?" Karin asked curiously.
"Kuchiki company? You mean Byakuya Kuchiki's company? How do you know about that?"
"We talked about it in one of my economics classes. Byakuya Kuchiki lost his entire company and Aizen took it over."
"Yeah, he's a cunning business man. He somehow got the great Byakuya Kuchiki to sign a bunch of phony deals that took down a massive company. I'm trying to prevent that from happening to me."
"You'll be fine, brother. You're the best business man there is!" Yuzu said with a cute smile.
Ichigo wanted to believe her. He really did. But he couldn't deny just how nervous Sosuke Aizen made him. He wasn't able to trust anyone at his own company because of him. Every document he signed could be the piece of paper that could bring him down and it terrified him. His father had worked too hard to get this company off the ground and he was not going to watch it go under.
"Can we please go somewhere? As big as this place is, I'd rather not spend my weekend cooped up in here," Karin suggested.
Eventually, Ichigo took his sisters walking around his neighborhood. He showed them the Kurosaki Corporation headquarters building and Yuzu got a kick out of seeing her last name on the top of a skyscraper.
Everywhere the three siblings walked, Ichigo couldn't help but notice the women ogling him. Women ogled him everywhere he went. But now that he was walking with his baby sisters, it was like he was even more attractive. For the first time in awhile, he deliberately ignored them.
They walked for a while, talking like old friends. It was nice and Ichigo he wished he could be with his sisters like this more often.
All of a sudden, he stopped in his tracks.
He hadn't realized he was taking his sisters this direction and he couldn't even remember how he had ended up here.
But here he was. And there was no turning away now.
Just stay cool. Keep walking. Don't even think about looking inside.
"Ichigo? Are you alright?" Yuzu asked with concern.
Apparently his nervousness had been pretty obvious because both his sisters stopped and looked at him.
"Oh, um, I-I'm fine. Let's just keep going," he said quickly, trying to get his baby sisters anywhere but here.
"Are you sure? You seem really fidgety," Karin asked, skeptical of her brother's excuse.
"I'm fine. Let's just get away from here," he said as he pushed his sisters forward, even though they didn't budge.
"Why? What's wrong with this place? It's just a coffee shop," Yuzu said.
"It's just…um…I don't really like…this place," Ichigo said nervously, rubbing his neck.
"Why not? It's a coffee shop. I thought you liked coffee," Yuzu asked.
"I do. It's not that I don't like coffee, it's just…that I…well…," Ichigo struggled to get his words out. God, this was awkward. When did he become so crappy at excuses?
"Hm, I think our big brother is hiding something, Yuzu. Something that he doesn't want us to see."
"And whatever it is, it's in this coffee shop," Yuzu said as her and her sister smiled mischievously.
"Yeah. Hey, Yuzu, are you just dying for coffee right now?"
"You know what? I am! Let's get some."
"No! Don't go in there!" Ichigo shouted as he desperately tried to stop his sisters from entering the shop. But it was no use. They were determined.
Ichigo entered after Yuzu and Karin and stood in line behind them. His eyes roamed over the employees working behind the counter before he saw a familiar head of raven black hair.
Dammit. She would be working right now.
He tried to hide himself from her, but he knew it was no use. Everyone in that damn coffee shop still stopped what they were doing to gawk when he walked in the door. It bugged the hell out of him. For once.
Eventually the inevitable happened and her eyes met Ichigo's. Her reaction surprised him though. Usually her countenance immediately fell and she would give him a deathly glare. But this time, Rukia stood still and averted his gaze before continuing with whatever she was doing.
It had been a few days since he had last come to the coffee shop and he wasn't planning on going today. He wanted to back off for a bit and let Rukia calm down before he tried anything else on her.
But his sisters had gotten in the way of that.
"Hi, Mr. Kurosaki. Good to see you again. What would you like today?" one of the cashiers told him as he walked up to the counter with his Yuzu and Karin. He had only gone there for a week and already the employees knew his name.
"Just a decaf coffee, Momo. I don't want to be up too late tonight. My sisters would like something as well," he said as he sheepishly indicated the two young women at his side.
"Your sisters, huh? Well that's nice. What you both like?"
Yuzu and Karin both gave the cashier their order and Ichigo paid. Then the three walked over to the pick up counter.
As they walked over to where Rukia was working, Ichigo looked away from her. He hoped that his sisters wouldn't notice, but he knew them better than that.
"Who's that?" Yuzu asked.
"What do you mean?" He tried to play dumb, but he knew exactly whom Yuzu was talking about.
"That girl over there. She's been looking at you since we walked in," Karin observed.
Ichigo finally braved a glance at the small barista who had been occupying a lot of his thoughts recently. When he did, his eyes met hers, until she quickly looked down.
"Ooh, do you like her?" Yuzu asked, giggling like a little schoolgirl.
"What? What makes you say that?" Ichigo asked, embarrassed to have been caught staring.
"Well, you seemed to want to avoid this place like the plague. And you've both been sneaking glances at each other this whole time. I'd say our little Ichigo has a crush that he doesn't want his sisters to know about," Karin said.
How the hell did she figure that out?
Damn, she was good.
"So what if I do? I'm a grown man. I'm allowed to be attracted to women. I would just rather not have my meddling sisters involved in my love life."
Karin and Yuzu looked at each other as if communicating telepathically before turning back to their big brother.
"We'll be nice this time," Yuzu said.
"Yeah, we won't try and talk to her. We'll be waiting over there. You can go ahead and flirt," Karin said. The twins walked over to a table by the window before Ichigo could even say a word.
"Decaf coffee," a familiar voice said from behind the counter. Ichigo whirled around and was met by a pair of unbelievably beautiful violet eyes.
"Thanks," he said, grabbing the cup from where she had placed it on the counter.
"Haven't seen you in a few days. You finally give up?" she said as she got back to mixing coffee drinks. Her voice sounded like it always did. Her confident attitude was back. It was as if she had snapped herself out of whatever trance she had been in before.
"No, I haven't given up. Just giving you some time."
"To make up my mind? I've already told you my answer. It's not going to change."
"I wasn't expecting it to," Ichigo said, his usual cocky air gone.
"So, you bring more friends?" Rukia asked nodding toward his sisters.
"Not really. They dragged me here. My sisters can be pretty persistent."
"Your sisters? Those girls are your sisters?" Rukia asked, genuinely surprised by that bit of information.
"Yeah. Who'd you think they were?"
"I don't know. Your girlfriends."
"Ew, gross. No, Yuzu and Karin are my baby sisters." He was absolutely appalled at anyone mistaking the twins for his girlfriends.
"My mistake," Rukia said simply before taking a frappucino she had just made and capping off the top before placing it on the counter. "Vanilla frappucino."
"That's Yuzu's."
"And which one is Yuzu?" she asked.
"The one with the light brown hair. The black-haired one with the nasty scowl is Karin."
"Just like her brother. Minus the hair, of course," Rukia said with a smirk as she placed another frappucino on the counter. Ichigo grabbed them both, balancing the three drinks in his arms.
"Yeah, I guess she is. I have to go, but it was nice seeing you," he said with a genuine smile before turning and walking toward his two sisters. Rukia was slightly taken aback by his comment. She expected him to give her some flirtatious remark accompanied with that annoying smirk of his. Instead she got a kind smile and a small goodbye.
She watched as he gave his two sisters their drinks and ushered them out the door, despite their insistent pleas to stay.
What was it with him? First he stops coming to the coffee shop consistently and then he shows up with his baby sisters in tow, acting like an actual human being. And why was she so flustered when she first saw him? Rukia hated that she was acting like this. She hated what her brain was telling her despite how much her hurt told her to stay away.
Ichigo Kurosaki was just a womanizing asshole. She should forget about him and move on with her life.
She was shocked at how hard that was for her to do.
Hope you guys liked it! I wonder if any of you more observant readers noticed that Ichigo doesn't actually know Rukia's last name. That would explain why he knew who Byakuya Kuchiki was and didn't connect him with Rukia. As of right now, she's just Rukia the Coffee Shop Girl. That might change in the future ;) I only wanted to mention that because I figured you guys would wonder why Ichigo hadn't made the connection between Byakuya and Rukia. As always, reviews are the most awesome thing ever and they are so much fun to read so keep them coming! Love the support I'm getting for this story. Couldn't do it without y'all!