Oh, dear. I was not expecting this to take so long at all! A million and one things kind of compiled together and made this chapter almost impossible to finish. First of all, I found that my muse for Bleach/Ichiruki stories has lost me as I've kind of shifted fandoms (as those who follow me either on tumblr or on here would already know) but I was feeling particularly inspired lately which is why I got around to finishing this chapter. I don't want to abandon this story at all but I will have to figure a lot of stuff out as I go along so updates will naturally take a little longer. Also, my computer crashing and losing what I had already written for this chapter didn't help matters either :P To all who stuck around throughout my extremely sporadic updating, THANK YOU. The support and feedback I have received from you guys has been amazing and I am so thankful for that. This one is for you guys!
Rukia awoke the next morning feeling like a construction worker was drilling into her head. The light coming through the blinds in her bedroom certainly wasn't helping matters either. She squinted at the brightness and attempted to sit up, her head screaming in protest.
God, what the hell happened to me last night?
It was all a blur, but she did remember agreeing to go clubbing with Ichigo and Uryuu and having a good amount of alcohol while she was there.
Her eyes snapped open when she thought about what could've happened while she was inebriated, praying to any cosmic force that would listen that Ichigo was enough of a gentleman to keep his hands off of her. She looked around and realized, with a sigh of relief, that at least he wasn't in bed with her and she was wearing all her clothes.
So far, so good.
The pounding in her head didn't subside as she slowly got out of bed, her whole body aching with soreness. She tiptoed out of her bedroom and into the living room of her apartment, unsure of what she would find. She was relieved to see only her roommate in the kitchen making breakfast.
"Oh, good morning, sleepy head. Glad to see you're alive after last night," Orihime said knowingly as she stirred some crazy concoction in a pan.
Rukia only grunted incoherently in response and went to find where they kept their medicine. She downed a few pain pills without water and slumped onto one of the bar stools by the kitchen counter.
"Ugh, what happened last night?" Rukia asked groggily as she grabbed her head to hopefully make some of the pain go away.
"Well, I wasn't with you most of the night, but from what I saw, you got pretty drunk."
"Yeah, I figured as much," Rukia said as she indicated her probably horrific appearance.
"Uryuu and I danced and talked for awhile and when we got back you were pretty far gone. I thought you told me once you don't ever get drunk," Orihime said with a reprimanding tone that Rukia knew she probably deserved.
"Typically I don't. I guess I had a pretty good reason to last night."
Orihime's suddenly looked down guiltily. "I guess this is probably my fault. I shouldn't have left you alone with Ichigo for that long. I know how flustered you get around him."
"Flustered? I do not get flustered around him," Rukia exclaimed in protest, which caused her head to lash back at her for the strain. She grabbed it quickly, wanting in that moment to curl up in a ball and die.
"Rukia, you have to admit that you act different around him. I wouldn't be surprised if you were just so freaked out about the idea of being alone with him for so long that you drank yourself silly to loosen up."
Rukia didn't argue with her friend this time. She wasn't exactly sure what had happened the night before, but she knew that Orihime was probably right.
Orihime finished cooking whatever it was in the pan, spooned a bit of it onto a plate, and handed it to her suffering roommate. "Here," she said. "My famous eggs and chocolate recipe will be sure to cheer anyone up."
Rukia eyed the chocolate covered scrambled eggs with uncertainty, but she was well accustomed to Orihime's strange cooking and knew she would absolutely devastate her roommate if she didn't eat it.
"Um, thanks Orihime," she said half-heartily as she cautiously took a bite of the food. She had to use extreme restraint to keep from spitting it out.
"You're welcome! My cooking is perfect for people who aren't feeling well."
You're cooking is the reason people don't feel well.
"Yeah, I bet. Listen, I'm going to eat this in my room since it's too bright out here," she said before she grabbed the plate of nastiness and quickly escaped into her room.
Lame excuse, Rukia.
"That's fine! You'll probably feel better if you lie down for a bit anyway," Orihime said sweetly as her friend smiled the fakest smile she could muster and retreated back into her room. She dumped the disgusting eggs into her bathroom trashcan, planning on throwing it out when her roommate wasn't around.
Rukia laid out on her bed and heaved a big sigh. She tried to remember what had happened at the club but her mind was blank.
You're overreacting, Rukia. If something that serious had happened, Orihime would know about it.
That thought reassured her a little bit but she still had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She hoped that she wouldn't see Ichigo when she went back to work the next day, but, knowing him, that was probably a long shot.
Rukia slept off the worse of her hangover for the majority of the day, only coming out of her room to eat (thankfully Orihime hadn't attempted to make anything else for Rukia to force down so she was able to eat real food).
Orihime had spent the entire day glued to her phone texting someone. She wouldn't say who but Rukia knew it had to be that damn Uryuu Ishida just by the way her best friend giggled like a school girl every time her phone buzzed.
Rukia hadn't been paying enough attention last night to realize that something was brewing between the two but she realized it now. And though she wanted her friend to be happy, she didn't like the idea of the two dating. She would have to keep an eye on that developing relationship.
Despite how much Rukia didn't want to, she dragged herself out of bed Monday morning and got ready to go to her new job at Kurosaki Corporations.
As she worked that day, she couldn't help but constantly look around her desk, almost expecting Kurosaki to come jumping out at her. She knew she was being ridiculous, but if her suspicions were correct, seeing him again would be very awkward. As if being with Ichigo wasn't unpleasant enough. She jumped every time her desk phone rang, expecting it to be her ultimate boss on the other end asking her to lunch.
Thankfully, no call from him came and she was able to go to a small cafe nearby, grab some food, and come back to eat her lunch at her desk. As she was eating, her direct boss, Mr. Ukitake, peaked his head out of his office and called for her to come talk to him.
Oh, no. This doesn't sound good.
She set down the sushi she was eating, quickly swallowed, and stepped into Ukitake's office.
"You called for me, sir?"
"Yes, I just wanted you to schedule a lunch meeting for tomorrow."
"Oh, of course. Who are you meeting with?"
"Gin Ichimaru."
At the mention of the name, Rukia froze and a shiver ran down her spine.
"Oh. Of course, I'll contact Mr. Ichimaru immediately," she told her boss with an obviously strained tone. The anger and shock that was flowing through her was dangerous. She had been told that Ukitake had been having a lot of meetings lately with the man who helped take down her brother's company, but seeing evidence of it first hand made her blood boil.
"Is something wrong, Ms. Kuchiki?" Ukitake asked her once he noticed her tense nature.
"N-nothing, sir. I'm fine. Where would you like to have the meeting?" Rukia asked, again trying to make it seem like she was unaffected but she knew her boss could see right through her.
"Do you have something against Mr. Ichimaru?" Ukitake asked, seemingly innocently. Rukia's eyes grew wide at the question and she found herself incapable of answering.
"O-of course not, sir."
"Really?" Ukitake asked her with a knowing smirk. He got up from his chair, walked past her, and closed the door to his office. "Because as I recall, Gin Ichimaru is the man directly responsible for the demise of your brother's company."
Rukia's mouth gaped open. The pretense that she had been trying so hard to maintain faltered. "You know about that?" she asked incredulously.
"Of course. Ms. Kuchiki, contrary to what Mr. Kurosaki thinks, I am fully aware of the actions of Mr. Ichimaru and the person he answers to."
Well this was news to all of them, especially Rukia. "Wait, then why would you-?"
"I'm trying to gather as much as information as I can. That's why I've been meeting with Ichimaru. As far as everyone in this company knows, I'm simply meeting with a business associate to discuss a new model for our companies. But I'm really doing some undercover work. Gin knows that as well. He's trying to get information from me in the same way."
"Oh, wow. I had no idea."
"As you shouldn't have. I felt as if I should tell you this though, now that I know what your position in this whole scheme is."
"Scheme?"
"Mr. Ishida informed me of the plans he has to use you to fight Aizen's advances. He was one of the only ones to figure out why I was meeting with Gin and decided to include me in the plan."
"Oh. Well I guess this is good news then."
"I sure hope so. Your brother was a close business associate of mine. I want to do everything I can not only to protect this company but to also help your brother get his back."
A thankful smile graced Rukia's face as she was relieved to find out that her kind boss was on her side.
"Now, will you schedule that meeting for me?" Ukitake asked with a wink.
"I'd be happy to," Rukia replied with a smile. She excused herself from her boss's office and walked back to her desk with a content smile. She certainly felt a lot better about the situation now.
"What are you so smiley for?" a familiar voice said from behind her causing Rukia to whirl around and her eyes to widen in surprise and dread.
She knew she wouldn't be able to get through the day without an appearance by that orange-haired freak.
"What are you doing down here?"
"I was coming to see if you were alright. I know we didn't exactly leave on the best terms Saturday night so I wanted to make sure everything was alright."
"And you had to come down here to my floor to do that?"
Ichigo shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I felt like calling you or sending a memo was lame."
"Oh, right. Of course," Rukia replied back sarcastically. She was still trying to calm her racing heart from his sudden appearance.
"Listen," he started in a low voice. "I just want you to know that nothing happened at the club Saturday night. You got fairly drunk but that's about it. There's nothing to worry about."
"I wasn't worried," she countered incredulously.
"Okay, fine. But I just wanted you to know that. I'd hate for anything to come between us, especially now with all this stuff going on. Are we good?"
Rukia couldn't help but scoff at that. "About as good as we were before."
"Fair enough."
"Was that the only reason you came down here?" she asked with a cross of her arms and a guarded expression she felt had become more and more useless the more she got to know this crazy man.
"Well there is another reason. I wanted to give you this," he said as he reached into his suit pocket and pulled out an elegant looking envelope and handed it to her.
"What is it?"
"An invitation. To the annual Kurosaki Corp ball."
"A ball?" she asked skeptically as she opened the envelope and pulled out the invitation.
"Yeah. Every year Kursoaki Corp holds a ball for all the top business executives from this company and other partner companies. It's basically a big celebration of all that the company has accomplished for the past year."
"So why am I invited?"
Ichigo smiled that smug smile she had grown so accustomed to. "Well, I need someone pretty to dance with."
"Very funny," she said with a pointed glare. "Seriously, why am I invited?"
"I need you there. Having all the top business executives gathered in one place could prove very useful. Ishida is planning something and he says you need to be there to make it work."
At the mention of their plan, Rukia eyed the invitation and thought about what Ukitake had told her. It seemed as though Ichigo had no idea what Ukitake's true intentions were. She thought about telling him, but felt as though Ukitake wanted her to keep it to herself for the time being.
"I'll be there," she said with a resigned sigh. It didn't sound like the best way to spend her time, but she knew how important her presence would be. She internally groaned when she thought about having to find a cheap dress to wear to an expensive ball.
"Good. I look forward to our dance," Ichigo said with a smirk.
"And what makes you think I'm going to dance with you?"
"I'll persuade you."
"Sure you will," Rukia said with a roll of her eyes. Ichigo chuckled and said a quick goodbye before he left her floor. She watched him leave as her stomach did a flip flop. Everything was beginning to speed up with their plan with Aizen and it made her nervous. And, on top of that, the more and more she got to know Ichigo and spend time with him, the more she found herself not dreading being in his presence. He could be enjoyable when he wasn't being a complete prick, she was beginning to realize.
She couldn't remember everything that had happened the Saturday before, but she had a feeling that something was speeding up in their relationship as well.
She wasn't sure if she liked it or not.
So yeah this was sort of filler but I plan on heating things up if things go according to my plan (sometimes they don't). I have finals starting Thursday going until Tuesday and then I'm moving back home so I'm going to put off writing until at least next weekend but then it'll be summer which means lots of writing time! Let me know what you guys thought about the chapter :)