A/N: Sorry for not updating! I went overseas for 3 weeks and just returned! I'm toying with the idea of writing a second chapter for Fairytale (alternate ending) but it was one of my starter stories so it kinda sucked. Should I rewrite it or leave it as it is?

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Chapter 2: How Women Are Actually Rabid Animals In Disguise

The next day

Ichigo shielded his eyes from the blinding sun.

Rukia had only returned from wherever she had been—he guessed that it had been Urahara's shop—only after he fell asleep. And she had left early the next morning even before he had woken up.

He scowled. He owed her an apology. It was the least he could do.

But he still couldn't fathom why the fuck did he protect her—and why she stirred up so many emotions in him that he couldn't for the life of him explain away.

For now, he was making do with staring morosely at the ground while walking to school.

'KYAAAA!!!!!!' The sounds of so many screeching females assailed his ear drums as he moved to cover his ears from the earsplitting shrieks.

Were that yelps of ecstacy or pain? The difference was never quite clear to him. After all, they all sounded the same.

He glanced up, as he saw the gaggle of aggravating females swarming into the shop. What the hell—were they fighting for that stupid thing?

He resumed his walk. Che, stupid females. Imagine fighting over a Chappy rabbit plushie. Even Rukia wouldn't resort to such tactics…

Wait, if he wanted to apologize, why not get it for her? It would lessen her anger and he wouldn't have to apologize to her directly and get laughed at for his pains. But to trudge his way into a shop filled with hysterical females...he refused. Even he had limits.

Unless you want to suffer through apologizing to her face to face…

Ichigo dumped his bag unceremoniously on the ground and made a frantic beeline to the shop.

'Kurosaki-kun!' Kumiko stared uncertaintly at the orange-haired boy as he struggled through the crowd, scratches lining one cheek.

Really, women could be lethal when they chose to be, Ichigo grumbled to himself. They were bad enough by themselves, but when a whole lot of them came after him for stealing the last plushie on the shelves…

He shuddered at the very memory, before hearing his name being called.

Ichigo took off at a sprint. His reputation had just gone down the drain the previous day, did he really have to be caught with a Chappy plushie in his hand? He scooped up his bag with one hand before fleeing down the streets.

Damnit, Rukia better forgive him considering the amount of trouble he went through to get the fucking rabbit.

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Rukia stalked back down to class, still fuming over what happened the previous day. To add insult to injury, certain posters featuring Rukia and Mizuiro in compromising positions had been pasted all over the school walls.

She felt herself get more livid with every step she took. That damn Aiko was going to die when she got her hands on her.

Whispers and the buzz of gossip mongers could be heard behind her back everywhere she walked. No matter, she was used to it when she had been adopted into the Kuchiki estate.

Murmurs about her inadequecy were rampant—all said in hushed tones behind her back, careful not to be overheard. Some were even spread by elders from inside the compound, envy coating their very tones.

Byakuya had merely ignored them, choosing to sweep the matter under the proverbial carpet, expecting it to blow over sooner or later, but it was an arduous uphill task. Even when she rose to a position just beneath Kaien, the whispers followed her, clinging to her skin, eating her from the inside out. No matter how hard she tried to live her life following the rigid rules of the Kuchiki clan, it had never been enough.

For now, she had to live with insinuations and slights about her chastity.

She sighed. No matter which world it was, the people still revelled in senseless gossip.

Rukia tugged open the door of the classroom, expecting that her very presence would ignite another round of hushed whispers.

But why was a group of girls huddled around her table?

She paused in her footsteps. And why were they eyeing her with such envy? She expected taunts, insults—anything but slight jealousy?

'Kuchiki-san!' A joyful high-pitched squeal was heard as two arms descended around her neck.

She stumbled backwards. 'Orihime!' Even with her centuries of training, Orihime sometimes approached her so quickly that it was impossible to sense her reiatsu.

'Quick! Come to the toilet!'She dragged a slightly stunned Rukia to the nearest girls' toilet.

Oh my god. Rukia was flabbergasted. Why the hell was Tatsuki, Chizuru and it looked like half the female population in school—waiting for her in the female toilet?! She knew Mizuiro was a Casanova, but she never knew that he was that popular with the ladies. And since when did Tatsuki go out with Mizuiro?

'I'm serious—nothing's going on between Mizuiro and me,' She directed a quizzical smile at them.

'Mizuiro?' Orihime stared puzzled at her. 'Who's talking about Mizuiro? What we are interested in is how on earth did you get Ichigo to fall in love with you?'

Cue screaming from the vast majority of the girls in the toilet.

'Yeah,' chimed in another girl—Chiyo, wasn't it? 'I've been chasing him for more than two years, and he still hasn't acknowledged my presence yet!'

'Ichigo?' choked out Rukia incredulously. 'Since when were we together?'

Orihime waggled her finger. 'Since he saved you from another of Mizuiro's rabid girlfriends, and since he dove into a crowd of frenzied females for you!'

'Frenzied females?' Rukia repeated cautiously. 'What frenzied females?'

'You don't know?' Shizuko answered, scandalized. 'He struggled through a crowd of frantic women to get you your precious Chappy bunny 'cos he knows that you liked them; and you have no idea of it?!'

'Yeah,' affirmed Kumiko. 'I saw him do it in the morning! He sustained so many scratches from the women that even I was touched by the depths of his boundless love!'

Rukia backed away hurriedly. She had no idea what was going on but it seemed that they were getting even more excited by the looks of it, if that was even possible.

'That's a statement of ardent love, even compared to Mizuiro's standards! I wish my boyfriend was that nice,' declared Tamako wistfully.

'And since when did Ichigo become this popular? He's just another moody, sullen prick!' scoffed Rukia disbelievingly.

'Ever since he rescued you from the clutches of a demonic Aiko yesterday!' burst out Orihime. 'He became the epitome of what all women want from their men! Yes, right now, he is even comparable to my Ishida-kun!'

Just then, the bell rang and Rukia beat a hasty retreat back to the classroom. Even lessons were preferable to the hordes of highly emotional girls that had flocked to the toilet when they heard that Rukia was there.

It was as if all her supposed sins of copulating with Mizuiro had vanished in her feat of winning over the most highly desired boy in Karakura High School.

She never knew Ichigo had that many female admirers. Apparently his scowl had the opposite effect with the female gender as his untouchable aura had attracted so many girls that they had banded together to form a Ichigo fanclub. Ew… just the thought of that made her cringe.

Although his gleaming pectorals that had developed through ardous hours of training with Urahara had helped, as well as the fact that his height ensured that he had towered above them…

Rukia strove to hide a derisive laugh. He was merely a surly dour shinigami substitute at heart though.

Even though you know that below his brooding façade lies a caring heart? A little voice mocked from the back of her head.

And therein lay her problem. Attractive shinigami men, she could deal with, even handle. But it was his heart that changed everything. He had been so generous, so recklessly generous with his love, no matter whether it was to his friends or his sisters—or even her. He gave so much of himself but didn't even recognize it.

He thought that he was distant and remote. And she knew that he was and had been after his mother's death.

But where it really counted, he gave freely and so lavishly that the fact that he tried so hard to hide it below his truculent, often churlish behaviour, and the fact that he didn't even recognize it in himself simply made him all the more attractive.

And it merely made her want to stand on her two feet more. Kuchiki Rukia did not depend on anyone else for her own safety. She would show him that she was more than ready to defend herself. No matter whether it was irritating ex-girlfriends or hollows that had to be exterminated.

She sighed, as she strode towards her desk, parting the crowd that had gathered there—before barely suppressing a shocked hiss of breath that escaped from between her teeth.

A Chappy bunny with its fur slightly mussed and its left ear dangling from a thread sat innocently on her desk. She stopped in her tracks, too stunned to react.

Since when did he…?

A tiny smile tugged at the corners of her lips as a warm feeling rose inside of her

'Baka,' she chastised herself. 'It's just an apology gift.'

And she tried her best to ignore the warm feeling that rose inside her and blossomed outwards so forcefully that it was all she could do to keep the smile off her face.

I'll thank him when he comes back. Where did that idiot go anyway?

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Said idiot sneezed and wondered what the hell he was doing again in a classroom packed with a bunch of hyperactive girls who were all intent on getting close enough to him and touch his hair.

'Eeee!!!! It's so soft!!!' giggled one of them, running her fingers through his hair.

He scowled dourly and batted away her interfering fingers. Was it not enough that he had to run straight into a crowd of them early in the morning and here was another pack?! As if his day was not ruined enough already. Someone in Soul Society was responsible for this. He could just imagine Renji grinning at his misfortune. And was that girl squeezing his ears?!

'I do not kill girls,' he chanted beneath his breath, willing himself not to scream like a sissy. 'Do not kill girls.' Even if said girls were not in fact female and seemed to be rabid animals intent on tearing his clothes off.

And he thought mixed schools were bad enough. All girls schools, he realized now, were ten times the torture. It must be all that bottled up passion and raging hormones that made them attack unknown strangers a.k.a a certain shiningami substitute.

No wonder Mizuiro never had any lack of girlfriends if he knew of this place. They fairly threw themselves on anyone who was male.

And where the fuck was that Aiko anyway? It was her fault that the photos were scattered all over the place and he had to straighten it out.

His frown deepened, setting off more squeals at his apparent show of 'manliness', before they dog-piled on him simultaneously.

Ichigo gasped in shock (and suffocation) as he collapsed beneath the combined weight of fifteen girls at a time—before shrieking like a girl and taking to his heels with all of them hot in pursuit.

Man, he was never going to live this down.

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'Girls, girls. Pipe down.' Aiko clapped her hands as they formed two lines in front of her and bowed.

Ichigo clamped together the torn edges of his shirt and simply glared. Damn Mizuiro, he simply had to choose someone like that, didn't he?

Ichigo stared daggers at the woman currently strolling down the lines, smiling graciously to them. He had heard researched on the Kawanaes, her mother was the famous actress and her father was the infamous heartless business mogul of the 21st century whose intellect and quick practicality distinguished him amongst his peers.

No wonder she was so warped in the head. And where the hell did the red carpet come from anyway? He didn't see them have time to lay it out before she arrived.

'They are well-trained, my dear Ichigo,' she gestured at the straight lines of bowed heads. 'Now did you wait long? It wasn't as painful as you look, is it?' Ichigo cursed under his breath, he needed to stop being so transparent that everyone could see his emotions on his face.

He glared daggers at her infuriating look of nonchalence. Easy for her to say, she didn't have to spend ten agonizing minutes running around the school screaming bloody murder because a certain brat chose to take her time to appear.

'Now, now,' she reprimanded with a shake of her finger. 'It's not good manners to glare at someone like that. So what did you come here today for?'

Ichigo felt anger bubble to the surface and he controlled the part of him that craved for her blood dyeing the pristine white floor. Now, as he rummaged in his bag and drew out a photograph, resisting the urge to send it flinging it into her face, he clenched his fists tightly.

She clicked her fingers and another one of her servants took it from him and showed it to her. She handled the paper gingerly between her forefingers and his frown deepened as he watched her painted lips curve up in a smile.

'And what do you want me to do about it?' She shrugged. 'That's what happens when you take what I want away from me. I warned him already. It was his choice, so now they have to pay.'

As he watched her mouth move, he made do with systematically analyzing her—looking for a way to resolve this should she resort to violence.

Black hair swished back casually with tendrils that framed her face, he noted. Long white fingers that tapped an erratic rhythm on the mahogany table.

If the look on her face was anything to go by, she was irritated by the boy who had the gall to interrupt her afternoon but was thought of him as a welcome diversion.

He would make sure that she had plenty of fun today.

'Did you come to gawk at me or are you going to say something?' Her blood-red nails drew meaningless patterns on the table top. 'Is it about that troublesome girl again? You and I know that she deserved it.'

He stiffened. 'Rukia didn't have anything to do with it. It wasn't her fault! So why the hell are you making her suffer for something she didn't do?'

'Ah.' She waggled a finger at him as she gazed at him idly through the caked layers of her makeup. 'But she did do something. It was because she appeared in that school that Mizuiro—but let's not go into the sordid details, shall we? You know it as well as I do.'

'I'm not letting you make you and your pathetic little friends punish her for something that's not her fault!' he spat out. 'Let's face it, Kawanae, there's nothing in it for you!'

'And what is in for you, Ichigo?' She purred as she swivelled her chair lazily. 'You have no reason to miss a day of school simply to search me out and give me a tongue-lashing. Do you love her? Is this some kind of twisted love triangle gone wrong? Geometry can be so cruel sometimes.'

'I owe it to her.' He snarled in barely controlled rage. 'And this isn't about me. It's about you and Mizuiro's relationship. Just understand that it's over and get over it. I promise you that you'll live to regret it if you don't stop your weak attempts to torture Rukia.'

'I'll live to regret it? Do tell me how you're going to achieve that miraculous feat.' She countered, mirth evident in her tone. She pushed back her chair and stood up to leave. 'What can hurt me? I am Aiko Kawanae.'

'Stop now, or I'll do something that both of us will regret.' He looked at her with pity in her glance.

'I'll stop on one condition.' A small smile quirked her lips as she shifted in her chair into what he assumed was her bargaining pose.

'I'm all ears,' he bit out sarcastically.

'If you become my boyfriend. 'She bent her head forward, tongue skimming the lobe of his ear as he tensed beneath her touch. 'This way, I get my revenge—and I'll stop my, let's call it, decorating of the school compound. Wasn't that your initial aim?'

His eyes were fathomless as she bent to kiss his lips, fingers skimming up the edge of his arm. Until he whispered when her lips were a centimetre away.

'Your father abuses you.' All the blood drained from her face, turning it a chalky white.

As soon as the words left his mouth, she reared up and slapped him. He barely flinched. 'He does not! Don't talk rubbish! How dare you presume to drag the Kawanae name in such filth?'

He looked at her. 'Don't you think that I would have done my research before coming to you? You underestimate me.'

She drew back. This was no longer the boy who was stunned by her apparent callousness towards a girl. In its place was a quiet victor, springing for the kill, jaws open towards the taut jagular.

Your mother left when you were nine. You are living with your father who is still unmarried. Why would he remain single when he has plenty of chances to wed? Your mother avoids the functions that your father appears in even when it would boost her career.' Now, his eyes were trained intently on her observing her reactions, testing the waters.

'I will kill you.' She whispered, cruel vindictiveness dripping from every syllable. 'Who are you to say such filthy lies? You have no proof. None at all.'

'One last point,' He finished. 'You winced when I grabbed you by the wrist back in my school. Why are you the only one wearing a long-sleeved turtleneck when all your friends wear shirts and it is summer? And why are you wearing makeup on such a hot day? Is it to cover your bruises?'

He swept her hair away before she slapped his intruding fingers away.

Hushed whispers erupted when he stopped talking and Aiko stood motionless, except for the tremors wracking her body.

My mother—everyone left me or were snatched away from me—I need this.'

'Don't try to deny me my right,' She roared at her friends who stared at her with pity evident in their eyes. 'And don't—don't look at me with those eyes! I see that fuckingexpression in everyone's eyes! Poor poor Aiko—lost her mother who ran away with her dad's best friend, her father abuses her and no one does a thing—how pitiful, how sad…'

She noticed Ichigo at the periphery of her vision and looked up before recoiling at his look of cruelty. For a split second, she didn't recognize his face—utterly transformed as he smiled viciously at her.

'I won't even give you a chance to react.' He bent his head and she shivered at the tone of menace layering his voice. 'Now, do you want to tell your servants to remove the incriminating photographs? Or shall I leak this news to the papers?

'I'm sure that they'll pay dearly for gossip like that,' he said silkily as she opened her mouth to retort. 'It would be such a sight to see the Kawanae empire collapse because of this single piece of news.'

'You wouldn't dare.' Aiko's face had turned ashen.

'I told you. You hurt her, I'll destroy you.' His tone was implacable.

'Why are you doing so much for her?' She scrambled for words. 'She's nothing to you! You only knew her for a year and a half!'

'For her, I'll be the devil himself.' He inclined his head, hearing her breath whoosh out in a frantic gasp as she shrunk back. 'Do you really want to test me?'

He took a step towards her and smiled, as she backed away hurriedly. 'No—no—I was merely having a little fun—it wasn't meant to be taken so seriously—I'll do anything you want—'

'Thank you for a nice afternoon,' His tone was mild again. 'I hope I won't have to see you again.'

'Yes—I mean, no—'

He left as she tripped over her words in her evident panic.

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Rukia twisted her pencil in her grasp. Where the hell was Ichigo? It was the last period and he had still yet to appear.

If he skipped school because of his destroyed reputation, she was so going to castrate him slowly and painfully at home!

There was a knock on the door and Rukia ignored it when it gave a disloyal bound in her chest.

The familiar orange hair appeared in the doorway and Ichigo edged himself into the classroom.

Everyone's gaze zeroed in onto the two scratches on his cheek, courtesy of Aiko's heroic efforts to injure him. Orihime gasped while Chad merely looked at him as he attempted to ignore Ochi-sensei's death glare.

It was futile.

'Kurosaki! Where were you for most of the day?!' She boomed.

Ichigo stumbled to his seat and dumped his bag on the ground, waylaying Rukia attempts at kicking his shin and saying a short prayer that God decided to give midgets short legs.

'I had food poisoning.' He scratched his head.

'Humpf,' Ishida scrutinized him and looked away.

'Why, you ass, you want to make something out—'

'Sit down, you baka!'

'None of your business, midget!'

'You—'

Insert sound of shoe hitting shins.

It was just a normal day at school. Except…

Sometimes words that are said are not always heard. While others linger long after they're said.

Why are you doing so much for her? She's nothing to you! You only knew her for a year and a half!

Ichigo's frown deepened as he stared out of the window.

To be continued…

(btw, is Ichigo a bit OOC here?) I kinda liked the idea of him not minding that he has to play the role of the devil for her. Tell me what you think! And merry xmas!

Reviews are always appreciated!