A/N: Thanks for the reviews and stuff guys. I take them all to heart.

Chapter 3

The strong smell of chicken spread throughout the air of the house.

Grimmjow sniffed the smell, and his stomach roared at him impatiently. He scowled and ignored it, then lounged back on Rukia's couch, flipping through the many channels of her TV. He stopped for a moment on the local news channel but quickly went to change it again when he remembered it might show something he didn't want Rukia to see.

She poked her head out of the kitchen, stirring something around in the hissing skillet. "Leave it on that channel. I want to see the weather." She went back in the kitchen.

Grimmjow grit his teeth together. Of course she does. Dammit.

He was quite sure she already didn't have such a great impression on him, seeing as he had been watching her bathe when they first met. He really hadn't meant to do that... but the opportunity was too great to pass up. He was surprised that she even bothered with him after that little incident.

On the other hand, if the news were to show what he'd done she would surely think of him as pure trash and kick him out. He didn't particularly have any desire for that to happen yet.

He tried to take his mind off of it and took a look around her house. There were beauty magazines strewn randomly among the coffee table, and a few other large books. The living room looked homely and comfortable. It felt strange to be in a place like this so suddenly, considering the fact that he had been sleeping on the cold ground for weeks.

Rukia called to him, and he got up to go see what she wanted. The food was ready.

"Looks great," He told her when he reached the kitchen.

It did. Though he knew that any kind of food would look great in his hungry eyes.

Rukia gave him a small smile and dished some of the chicken on his plate. Their eyes lingered in eachother's for a few seconds, although it seemed longer than that. Rukia cleared her throat and looked away. "Salad's over there." She pointed to a bowl on the counter with her spatula.

She made her own plate and walked out into the living room. She had no dinner table, because she didn't see the point in buying one when she liked to eat in the living room anyway. She plopped down on the couch and stared up at the TV as she ate. The reporter was talking about recent crimes in the area, and she was about to change it since the weather wasn't on yet, but stopped herself when she heard the name Aizen.

Grimmjow coughed loudly from the kitchen.

"As most of you viewers may know, Aizen Sosuke is a very rich and powerful man that sponsors many of our large charities in Karakura city," The reporter said. "Two days ago, he was robbed by a group of thieves while he was out. They beat one of his guards to death, and the other one is in critical care. An alarm system installed in his house notified the police but unfortunately they didn't get there in time to catch all of the thieves. There was one man left in the house, however, but he escaped from the building and was chased into the woods. They did not catch him and gave up the chase yesterday."

Rukia furrowed her eyebrows, mouth full with food. Woods? Grimmjow had been in the woods...

Aizen was very well known in the city because of his charitable acts and how rich he was. Rukia recalled him being a rival to Byakuya when he was in town. "Why would anyone dare steal from someone like him?" She wondered aloud after she'd swallowed.

Grimmjow still hadn't come from the kitchen. She was beginning to worry about that.

Rukia set her plate down and went over to him. He was tossing the salad around with a fork, his back turned to her. He looked strange just standing there like that. Rukia approached him cautiously, tapping him on the shoulder when she got there. He jumped and looked at her over his shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He shook her off and went out into the living room.

Grimmjow didn't speak to her for the rest of the night, and eventually fell asleep on the couch. Soon he began to snore. Rukia only sighed and covered him up with a blanket. Rukia knew she hadn't done anything wrong, but there was definitely something wrong. And she wouldn't mind knowing just what, exactly, that something was.

Rukia lay in bed that night, thinking about Grimmjow and trying to piece things together. He was a acting a bit mysterious and didn't seem to want to talk about anything personal. He was hiding something, she knew that much. But she didn't push it. She suspected that he'd had something to do with the robbery of Aizen...

There was a shuffling noise coming from outside the window. Rukia froze.

Men could be heard talking quietly outside, and it sounded like there was a dog whimpering. Why hadn't she heard them before? Rukia cursed herself and sat up in her bed. She got up and crept over to the window as quietly as possible. Her heart was pounding, but she forced herself to peek through the curtain and see who it was. It was too dark to see that much, but she did see two silhouettes and a large dog.

It was sniffing around the edges of the house, pawing and whimpering. She strained her eyes to try and get a glimpse of the men's faces, but to no avail. The only thing she could really see was that one was very tall, and the other was petite and had white skin that stood out even in the dark. They seemed to be discussing something important.

The dog stopped it's fidgeting and looked up at her, ears cocked. It jumped up and sniffed at the window.

Rukia gasped and fell on the floor. It saw her!

She clutched her chest and leaned against the wall. They were searching for something, she'd gathered that much. But what? She didn't have anything important other than money. She hadn't even been aware that someone knew where she lived. Her home was far back into the woods.

She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, listening to the men and their dog. After about an hour of this, the sounds stopped and it seemed that they were gone. Only then did Rukia get back into bed. She didn't fall asleep though. Not by a long shot.