DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN BLEACH!

I apologize for any spellings or grammatical errors

It was a hot, agonizing, sunny Sunday for anyone who found themselves outside with sun striking them with the summer temperature.

Rukia was wiping beads of sweats trailing over her face, finding herself impatient to finally get some rest in a shelter one would call dormitory. She had imagined herself getting comfortable before getting settled down, letting her suitcase somewhere be as she gets some naps to repay herself from the obvious sleep she lacked.

But here she was, gaping in disbelief as she gripped her suitcase tightly on one hand, another slapping the counter in bewilderment as she looked at the woman in front of her who's giving an apologetic look.

Rukia took a second to see her name tag. A capitalized MATSUMOTO RANGIKU was titled with a portrait of long, orange hair with the exact same face as the girl who was assisting her right in the moment. Okay, so she's a real staff and all of these are not just fluke.

"What do you mean there are no more rooms available? I've called the dormitory two months ago and they've said they got it covered!" She asked, trying to let the news sink in.

She had nowhere else to go, considering she has sold her last residence in such cheap price because she was so determined to get herself a new, better room facility here in dormitory with much more reasonable price. She couldn't afford to rent, let alone buy another vacant room anywhere else.

"Oh my, have you not received the e-mail I've sent you?" The counterwoman questioned, "I've explained the whole situation there."

Rukia raised an eyebrow, "What e-mail? I haven't seen any."

"Well," Rangiku replied, smiling sweetly, "that is a shame, but you don't have to worry. The school has decided to give you a special offer, seeing as this is our mistake for incorrectly calculating the quantity of vacant rooms."

"So the university will take responsibility for it?" A surge of relief flooded inside Rukia, although she was still very concerned. Will the dormitory give another place for me as affordable as here? In walking distance towards the University? She frowned. Although so, Rukia would still need to travel there. It has been a long journey from her apartment to here, considering the traffics and how hot the temperature was outdoor; she wasn't very appealed with the idea of going outside again.

Rangiku gave a light smile, "Of course! It is fully our responsibility. However, it was up to you to decide whether it is agreeable or not." She clears her throat, "With our current conditions, there are no more vacant rooms available. Or to be exact, no more vacant rooms left in the female dormitory." She explains, "Hence, the dormitory decided we can make some more… Special adjustments for you, Kuchiki-san, to get a vacant room inside the male dormitory."

Rukia's eyes widened in realization, "You mean…"

"Yes, you will be sharing a room with a male."

Rukia bit her nails in consideration. Bearing in mind the situation, she didn't have much choice. It was either living with a guy or living in a street. With her narrowing some of her part time a month ago to focus on her studies and scholarships, she didn't have much to move in a better place in such short notice. Also considering the cheap price of the dormitory along with the short distance that doesn't need any transportations, she concludes it wasn't any big of deal at the end. There's not much difference between living with a woman or man in terms of conditions anyway.

Rukia sighs, "I guess I don't have any choice. I agree with the change of room."

"Excellent!" Rangiku beams, "Let's just get you to sign these papers and I'll give you the keys right after."

"Room 302, room 302…" Rukia was chanting the numbers as if it was some sort of mantra. If I get inside the wrong guy's room, it'll get very awkward and weird after all…

After looking around the halls, she finally found her room. Rukia inhaled deeply, preparing her courtesy before inserting the key and pushing the doorknob. She opened in half through the whole door, peeking her head inside first to see if the other person was inside.

She was greeted with silence and a dark room. Rukia turned on the lights to check the place and surely, her roommate was nowhere to be seen. There were no shoes nearby, so Rukia concludes that the person must be outside at the moment.

For a very cheap price, the dorm was spacious and very well-equipped. The living room was supplied with a couch, an air conditioner, and a television. Along the left corner was the kitchen and the right corner was the bathroom, with two closed doors across the living room.

The two closed doors must be the bedrooms, Rukia muses. She almost jumped in joy at the facility the dorm has given them. At least she gets some privacy for her sleep.

Then the realization struck her. She had no idea which one was her bedroom. She looked around the tables to see if there were any signs, but her roommate must've forgotten to give her a memo. Rangiku has warned her that she has the same key as her roommate, so shall she forgotten hers, she could borrow her roommate's. Would that also apply on the bedroom keys?

It would be very impolite if she settled down in the wrong bedroom, so she decided she should just take a bath first, considering she was rather sweaty from the hot weather outside. She wouldn't like being smelly while greeting her flatmate for the first time.

Opening her suitcase, she only brought the necessity she needed before storming off for a good shower. Her fatigue was healed in an instant when rinsing, and Rukia felt all her bad moods and exhaustions disappear along with the filth and sweats. When finishing her shower, one thing occurred to her that she has just remembered.

Out of habit, I forgot to bring my clothes inside the bathroom.

Rukia sighed, warning herself that this should be the last time she does that. Knowing she shares the place with a guy, walking around in a towel would be very disturbing. She quickly wrapped a towel around her petite body and settled to get dressed in the living room before her flatmate decided to walk in.

Before she reaches her suitcase though, she felt herself growing thirsty. It must be out of dehydration after sweating so much when travelling here. She hoped her roommate wouldn't mind her drinking one of his drinks, should he have one inside the fridge.

Checking the fridge, Rukia found few cans of beers, a carton of milk, and few bottles of waters. She decided to take one bottle of mineral water and went back towards the living room. The raven haired sat on the couch and hastily opened the bottle, chucking a big gulp each time and finally satisfied when more than halves of if were empty. Feeling her thirst fading, she rested her back on the couch, feeling herself drifting away from consciousness.

The first thing she sensed was a distinct smell of food.

It was what awoken her from slumber, eyelids opened unwittingly, sitting down from her laying position.

Wait, lying?

She looked around and realized she has blanket draped over her body. Last thing she remembered, she was still sitting and waiting for her roommate to tell her which one was her room. So she took a bath, drank water out of thirst, change her clothes…

She gasped, checking underneath her blanket. Oh God, she forgot to put some clothes on…

"Good, you're finally awake."

She looked towards the source of voice, seeing a flash of orange caught her pupils. Panic flooded her mind as she comprehended her flatmate must've covered her up out of politeness, this is simply not the first impression she was planning to give. She looked towards the man who talked to her, forgetting to answer as she saw his facial features.

And boy was he handsome.

She had to admit, her roommate was unknowingly, somehow, by bless of God, was physically attractive. He was taller than her, obviously, with his hair spiked up messily. She blinked a few times to recognize the figure in front of her.

"Are you going to just stand there all day and checking me out?"

Rukia gaped at the unswerving manner the orange haired man was giving her, but decided to regain her composure. At least she needed to mend her inconsiderate act of falling asleep with only a towel draped over her body. She clears her throat, "Sorry, I wasn't checking you out- Or rather, I'm kind of surprised. I fell asleep by accident and-"

"Just drop the explanation, as long as you don't get in my way and won't repeat this again, I don't really care." He emphasized the word while looking at her, snorting at him before busying himself again to prepare his meal. "And I'm serious, I don't know what you're planning but don't think I'll be as polite as giving you a blanket to warm you up like today."

Rukia widened her eyes in surprise before the sentence drawled into her. Her expression turned into a scowl, "Do you mean, I planned to fell asleep with only a towel to greet my new dorm roommate for the whole semester?!" She asked to clarify, each word coated with incredulity of the accusation the man was giving her. The nerve of this person!

"Clearly, you weren't planning to fall asleep. But why would you sit on the sofa with wearing only a-" His words were cut off with a smack on his head. "Ow! What the hell, you violent midget?!"

"I am not a seductress." Rukia snapped, "And do not call me a midget, you are simply a giant!"

"Everybody must be a giant from your point of view." The man retorted, "Must be hard to reach the top shelves with your own two feet, isn't it?" He said with a mock pity, and Rukia only glowered more at the indictment.

"To be fair, I simply forgot to bring my clothes inside the bathroom and when I was about to change clothes, I completely forgot and fell asleep out of exhaustion." She clarified, trying hard not to drop the venom and be civil.

He snorted, "Sure you were, and that's also why you got a bottle of my drink on the table half empty. You were in the middle of taking out your clothes."

"That was-"

The orange haired man raised his arms in surrender, "You know what, I don't care. Let's just overlook it this one time and get inside both of our rooms because I'm hungry and tired."

"Well for your information, I've been trying to get inside my room and get settled in, but someone is being an asshole and forgot to tell which one is my share of the domicile."

"Your room is the left one. And it's Kurosaki Ichigo, not asshole." He said as he stormed off to his own room after, bringing his meal along with him.

He was such an ass.

Rukia fidgeted nervously, and let me tell you that Kuchiki Rukia did not fidget. She took a deep breath to regain her self-control, calming down her nerves before finally knocking the door in front of her.

Calm down Rukia, at least you have to work this one out. She told herself over and over again before the sounds of footsteps were growing closer and the door was finally opened, showing an orange haired man with furrowed eyebrows, looking at her while glaring. "What now?"

After a whole evening and night reflecting on it, Rukia decided that both her and the so-called Kurosaki Ichigo needed a time out. They will live together for the whole semester so the least they can do is being civil to each other. And since Rukia has concluded that the man as an egoistic, boorish, prideful creature, she decided to just take the first step before it all goes down to drain.

"Look," She began, "I know both of our first impressions are bad, but we need to sort out our share payment of the rent, and for my biggest concern- the time usage of the bathroom."

"Fair enough," Ichigo says, "You can use the public bath and I get to use the dorm's bathroom."

"I'm being serious here."

"So am I."

Rukia gaped at him, the man was crazy.

She sighed before pinching the bridge of her nose, "Okay, I know we're not off that good at the start, but can you at least play along with this one? I have class in twenty minutes so I don't have much time for our spat encounter right now."

Ichigo shrugged, "I gave you my part of idea, you're the one that didn't listen." He mutters, loud enough for Rukia to hear. "What do you want to do, then?"

She decided to ignore the first part and answers the latter, "Just- give me your class schedule and I'll give the time usage. If you're not satisfied with the hour, we can discuss it after I finish my class for the day."

"No way in hell I'm giving you my schedule."

Rukia arched an eyebrow, "And why not?"

"Look here, midget." She flinches at the comment, "There is this one little thing I'd love to call discretion. Sometimes we don't give many information to people we don't trust. You might sell it to the girls for all I know."

"Excuse you, Kurosaki." Rukia spat at his name, "I don't know what the hell is wrong with you and being civil, but the least you can do is make this living-together shit works out and right now, it's not progressing at all because you are being some narcissist brat that acts like such a hotshot." She fumes up, getting irritated for each second. She tried being very patient and polite, yet here he is spitting at every of her good intentions and throwing it back at her ten times worse.

"This living-together shit you'd like to call, is never going to work." Ichigo justifies, "And I've tried to complain to Rangiku to just give me a boy roommate and trade you to someone else, but she just wouldn't listen."

"Oh, so you're just going to throw it all out on me?" Rukia counters, "It's not my fault you don't like a girl to be inside your private, exclusive room. Nor that Rangiku insisted me to be here in the first place." She says before sighing, "You know what? Whatever. I won't disturb you anymore after this, so let's just talk like actual human being and we'll stop talking."

Ichigo folded his arms, "Fine. I'm tolerating you so let's talk this out once and for all."

Rukia glanced at the clock, widened her eyes at recognition she was late for her class. "Are you free on twelve?"

"I'm free."

"Good, we'll talk in the cafeteria at that break time then." Rukia decided, "I'm late for class, so let's talk this out later."

Ichigo sighed in exasperation, "Fine."

"So what's this I heard around the university? Everyone's been talking about you and Kurosaki Ichigo having lunch together at the cafeteria yesterday!"

Rukia snapped out of her daze when she felt a smack on her shoulder, turning her head to see the person who's done that. She blinked, "Momo? I thought you said you were sick for the day." She half-whispered, not wanting to disturb the professor in front of the class.

"I was, and then I saw the forum and someone took a photo of one of my friend, hanging around with the most popular heartthrob in the entire university!" Momo wailed, "Oh, c'mon Rukia. How come you didn't tell me? I thought we were friends!"

"W-Wait a second, I don't get what you mean at all."

Momo rolls her eyes, "Are you still playing dumb?" She showed her phone screen, revealing the photo of Rukia along with Ichigo having lunch while talking together in the cafeteria. "You have to explain how you get Kurosaki Ichigo to talk to you. All the girls here must've tried at least once to get his attention and still failed to get any recognition!"

"Wait, what? Seriously? That jerk is wanted by girls?"

"Jerk? How dare you accuse him like that! Kurosaki Ichigo is the top medical student here and has a very good manner towards anyone. Loved by the lecturers, outgoing with the guys, jocks targeting him to be in their clubs since he has extraordinary sports skills. Any girls would kill for a guy like that!"

Rukia stifled a laugh, "A very good manner? You must be insane. These past three days I've been living with him-"

"Whoa, hold on. Living with him?" Momo asked in disbelief, "Details! I need details right now!" She shouted as she stood up from her seat.

The professor cleared his throat, snapping her back from her high. Momo gave a sheepish smile before going back to her sitting position, muttering an apology as she did so.

While Rukia ignored the complaints of her friend, few things clicked inside her head. So that's why he's being such a narcissist and won't give any information about himself.

Kurosaki Ichigo was beyond pissed.

For the whole day, the girls were getting far more aggressive. Some asked what his relationship with Kuchiki Rukia was, some asked how did Rukia managed to get his attention, and some even asked if they slept together.

His face scrunched in disgust, their imaginations were way too tremendous.

"So what's up with the whole building talking about you and this Kuchiki chick?"

"Not you too, Tatsuki." Ichigo grumbles, "I've heard her name too many times, more than enough for today."

Tatsuki scoffed, "Oh don't be such a dramatic. I'm just curious, really. You've never agreed on a lunch date with any girl."

Ichigo sighs, "I wasn't on a date, it was merely to sort out our rent payment."

Tatsuki raised an eyebrow, "I thought you're living in the dormitory?"

"I am. Rangiku said there were no more rooms available for the girl and the dormitory decided to take responsibility for accepting her by mistake."

"And she decided to dump the girl to you?" Tatsuki said, piquing her interests at the story. "Man, Rangiku's matchmaking is totally off the charts at this one."

"Tell me about it." Ichigo groaned, "And now I have people circling me about it, I'm going crazy."

"Oh, c'mon. Its Rangiku here we're talking about. Although she might get too far sometimes, she's never become too senseless at her pranks. This Kuchiki person should be a decent person at least."

Yeah, greeting me with sleeping while wearing a towel is one of it. Ichigo thought to himself, deciding not to say it out loud.

After his many attempts trying to be civil with girls have turned into a downhill, Ichigo decided not to let his guard down with fangirls. He merely lent his jacket to a girl when it was pouring outside, then the next day the girl was claiming to be sleeping with him and show his jacket to falsely scandalize him. Many girls used the same trick for the whole week and that was only one of the many examples.

"So anyway, what's the description of the girl anyway? I don't think I've ever heard of her before."

"She's short, definitely." Ichigo answers, dropping the malice since he had the chance to take. "Short, black hair. Her eyes were violets."

"Um… By that, do you mean the one that's being cornered by Grimjow right now on that bench?"

Ichigo turned his head towards the way Tatsuki pointed at.

Out of saltiness and empathy along with pals around too, I finally made an Ichiruki multichapter fics to get this fandom to cheer the hell up. Meh, a sucky ending doesn't mean a sucky journey. What Kubo says about Ichiruki and all the poetry still lives in my heart :')

So please do enjoy my story, an alternate universe because I don't want to spoil the ending. Let's just respect Kubo and his choices, we are still free to love our own ships.

Supports are very welcomed! If you'd like, please review as well :D That will means a lot to me, and hopefully motivates me to update.