Disclaimer- Do not own Bleach.

Warnings- Language, Byakuya is slightly ooc in the beginning

.:.~O3O~.:.

~.:. Workin' Hard And Hardly Workin.:.~

Chapter 1- Hard Day's Night

"Easy now, easy!"

The chains pulled taught as the cement pipes were raised off the ground, the yells of caution being mostly drowned out by the beeps and whirs of construction. The engines hummed and the drills buzzed; people were scurrying by left and right.

Ichigo sighed as he straightened out his back, wiping seat from his brow with the back of his hand. He leaned against the shovel he was digging with, relaxing his fatigued muscles. He looked about at all the hectic scene around him; the workers running here and there, the streets loud with traffic, and the sidewalks congested with busy people yammering away on their cell phones.

"Hey, Ichichi!"

Ichigo sighed louder and turned around to glare at his approaching friend and co-worker. The red head smirked as he approached, filled with glee at Ichigo's obvious annoyance.

"What do you want, Renji?" Ichigo drawled in a bored tone.

Renji frowned, "Such a nice way ta greet yer best friend."

"Best friend my ass. More like a friend of convenience… On second thought, more like an annoying hindrance that I can't seem to get rid of." Ichigo continued to drawl as he leaned further onto the shovel, his back aching from being bent all day. Renji snorted loudly as he started shoveling the loose gravel out of the hole.

"Oh yeah, I love you too Ichigo. So glad we finally got that out of the bag… Now we can have babies and start a life together. Oh! Paint our house pink with little blue flowers and have cute lil' gnomes all over our front yard. Aw! It'll be so cute!"

Ichigo turned his head menacingly slow to glare at Renji, "Yer an ass."

"Says the even bigger ass," Renji huffed. By then, both men were facing each other ready to start flinging fists.

"Ahem."

Both of them stopped, and glared at the new voice. Abruptly, they stood up straight (well mainly Renji, Ichigo stood up straight too fast and had to clench his hand against his back and hunch back over, groaning) and looked everywhere but at the person.

"Can I ask as to why you two are going at it again? No, on second thought, don't tell me; just drop whatever issue is between you right now before I force you to." The man rubbed his temples as he tapped his foot. He had patience, but with these two, it only went so far.

Renji scuffed his foot against the ground, scowling at it too. "Aw damn, we weren't doin' nothin', Byakuya…"

Byakuya narrowed his eyes and glared at them. "Don't call me that. It's Mr. Kuchiki, what with me being your boss and all. Plus, look who's here today." Byakuya turned to the side and motioned to the far left with his hand. There sat a black limousine with a bunch of business men in suits standing around it.

"You see that man there, with the blue hair?" Byakuya drawled and pointed towards a tall muscular man, his suit hugged his arms and legs in the perfect areas. He had his gorgeous locks slicked back and white sunglasses on to match his white and purple pinstriped suit. He had a cigarette hanging from his lips and a hand running through his tousled locks.

Ichigo scowled deeply, rubbing his still hunched back. "You mean that asshole, Grimmjow Jeagerjaques?"

Byakuya turned his impassive face towards Ichigo and said bluntly, "Yes, Mr. Jeagerjaques who also happens to be my boss and in turn yours. You do something stupid and it makes me look bad. You make me look bad and he'll make my life hell and I in turn will for certain make sure yours will be too." He stared off towards Grimmjow, disdain and loathing swimming around wildly in his eyes.

Renji and Ichigo looked at each other and then back at their boss. Something was definitely going on for their boss to look this cautious… Or to be this irritated too. The normally stoic man looked as if he was a second away from killing the closest thing to him… Which wouldn't be so bad except they were the closest things to him.

Renji, feeling like a smartass, stood up straight and wrapped his arm around Byakuya's neck. Byakuya turned his eyes to watch Renji, confused.

"Ya know, boss? Ya needa relax more." Renji moved behind him and started rubbing his shoulders. Byakuya turned a cold glare at the imbecile behind him but Renji just smirked more.

"Ya know what ya need?" Renji paused long enough to pique everyone's interest. "Ta git laid!"

Ichigo threw his head back and groaned loudly. Byakuya sighed quietly and closed his eyes in annoyance as Renji pulled away laughing and started thrusting his hips in the air and fist pumping. Byakuya felt his blood pressure rising and the need to twitch.

"Just get back to work before I decide to fire you for your incompetence." He said blandly. He turned and hurriedly walked away.

Renji kept smirking as he watched his boss briskly walk away. He looked back towards Ichigo for approval but was met with a scowling face. His smile faded as Ichigo slowly tried to work his way to standing up straight.

"What?" Renji snapped at Ichigo's disappointed face.

"You shouldn't do that, Renji. Yer gonna git yerself in too deep and ya ain't gonna be able tag it yerself out… Or, yer gonna hurt him beyond repair. Ya know I've told ya the guy likes you. Why won't you listen to me?" Ichigo watched Byakuya in the distance with sympathy. Renji scoffed and snorted, hands thrown onto his hips.

"Oh yeah? Well, if he likes me so much, whyhasn't he said anything to me, ne? What about that? And besides, he's a tough cookie. I'm certain Byakua can take care of himself." Renji glared at Ichigo.

Ichigo turned and returned the glare. "Oh don't bullshit me, Renji. Ya know better than me how much of a stick Byakuya is. What do you expect him to do; fall to his knees and confess his undying love for you? No way in hell!"

Ichigo arched his back quickly, causing his spine to crack. He sighed with relief and hunched back over. "Besides, he's not stupid enough to tell you the truth cuz he knows yer an ass and you'd blow him off. Ya ever think of that, Copernicus?"

Renji frowned more. Now the little asshole was insulting his intelligence. Heh… What a prick.

"Well, I still think it's bullshit. And if he really likes me that damn much, he'll tell me when he's ready. If not, well then, I ain't holdin' ma breath." Renji snapped, beginning to shovel again.

Ichigo rolled his eyes and started shoveling again too. "You really are an insensitive ass, Renji."

Renji just snorted and they both continued on working.

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"Gah, fuck me…" Grimmjow muttered as he looked about at the construction site. Fuckin' dust, flying around getting stuck in god knows where in his clothes: his $1000 suit. Bah! This was retarded. Why did he have to come to shit hole anyway? Certainly he oversaw this shit but damn, why did he actually have to be there? Hello! That's what subordinates were for; doing shit you didn't want to do yourself.

"Mr. Jeagerjaques, that is quite a dashing suit. You have exquisite tastes."

Grimmjow felt his temper rising already. Fucking sucking up already; bunch a brown nosing, ass kissing, cock suckers. He turned his head towards the man. "Yeah, well yer a bitch and yer still not gonna git a promotion. Sucks how we don't all git what we want, but hey, that's life."

The man's face turned red with rage. "Why you asshole! You come here and and INSULT ME! I ought to have you know that I was NOT looking for some promotion, Mr. Jeagerjaques!"

Grimmjow tilted his face towards the ground so he could stare the man down from over the rim of his sunglasses. "Uh huh."

He pulled the cigarette from his mouth and flicked it to the ground. "And yer a liar too."

Grimmjow took a menacing step towards the man. "Ya know we don't tolerate liars in this company. Liars are crushed."

To emphasize his point, he stomped on the cigarette and ground it into the dirt. The man gulped and took a step away from Grimmjow.

Grimmjow turned towards his secretary, "Have this man removed from his positon and have someone more qualified take his place. We can't have any weak links anywhere."

The woman nodded and pulled out her cell phone to make the call. The blood drained from the man's face.

"You-you can't fire me! You BASTARD! YOU CAN'T FIRE ME!" He lunged for Grimmjow but before he could touch the infernal man, the security gaurds hefted him off his feet and began dragging him away, screaming.

"YOU BASTARD! I WILL GET YOU FOR THIS!"

Grimmjow just watched with twisted humor. A sick grin split his face and his chuckles turned into barking laughter. GOD he LOVED this job! At any rate, it was hells better than the nobodies around digging holes. Grimmjow sneered with public disgust as he looked about at them.

He paused when he saw a red head glaring right back at him. Grimmjow's sneer turned cruel. Who the fuck did that little punk think he was? Feeling challenged, he was about to head over and give that little dipshit a piece of his mind when his phone rang; cursing, he picked it up.

"Hello," he snapped into the contraption.

"Oh heaven's me, what a sour greeting. I certainly hope you don't treat everyone this badly."

Grimmjow mentally cursed as the silky smooth voice assaulted his ears. Of all the assholes to call him, why this one?

"Aizen…. What the hell do you want?"

"Tsk tsk tsk. Is that any way to treat your boss?"

Grimmjow felt a vein begin to throb in his temple. He tried rubbing at it while gritting his teeth, "Ya only call when ya want omething': what is it?"

A charismatic chuckle floated through to Grimmjow's ear. "My my, how presumptuous of you: but you are correct. I need you to stand in my place and solidify a deal with a neighboring company tomorrow. Do you think you can manage that?"

That disgusting voice, Grimmjow narrowed his eyes, did he just insinuate that he was incompetent? Mother fucker…. He grit his teeth harder. "Yeah, I think I can."

"Good. Oh and Grimmjow?" There was a slight pause, "Don't let me down," and then a click, as Aizen hung up.

Grimmjow 's jaw bulged as he ground his teeth together. That royal bastard always had to say something to set him off. Ugh! Grimmjow clenched his fists, feeling the need to wreck something; preferably someone.

He stormed off down the street looking for some good old fist to fist action. And if not that, mind numbing alcohol.

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Ichigo stumbled in through his doorway after having fumbled with the keys for five minutes and into his shabby apartment. God he was tired. After leaving his construction job and then working at that convenience store, he was like a zombie; only difference was he didn't crave human flesh….. Though some meat sounded good right about now.

Slowly, he hobbled his way into his run down kitchen. He opened the fridge and perused the sparse pickings. Ham and cheese sammich it was then. He pulled out everything and began putting it all together.

While making his sandwich, he looked at an old photo hanging on the wall. It was him, his dad, and his two sisters. Ichigo sighed sadly. God he missed them. After putting everything away, he limped into his bedroom while nibbling at his food. Slowly, he sat on the edge of the bed.

He'd been alone ever since the car accident; the only one who'd survived was him. Now here he was, 18 years old, a high school dropout, working three jobs to pay off his family's expenses. Ichigo rubbed at his eyes tiredly and turned around, flopping face first onto the bed. He laid there, soaking in his misery. Turning his head to the side, he stared out the window; tears threatening to push out his eyes.

"Aw god… Yuzu, Karin…. Dad… I miss you guys," Ichigo sighed sadly. He laid there in silence for a few minutes, staring at the stars. Quickly he shook his head. Moping around crying wouldn't bring them back. He had to be strong and work harder to pay off those stupid debts.

Besides, he didn't have the time to be sad. He had to get up in four hours for his next job at the roller rink. Ichigo groaned.

"Sweet jesus, give me the energy and patience I need to deal with all those kids… Cuz I fuckin' know fer a fact that I really fucking don't."

With that, Ichigo rolled over, curled up into a ball, and entered into a very much needed mini coma.

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Grimmjow smirked as the women around him laughed and danced like the sluts they were. He took another long pull from his beer. The pulsing lights and music set his blood on fire. He needed to move, and he needed to move now. Getting up, he quickly pushed into the throng of laughing women and ground up on them.

God THIS was more like it! He cackled as the beat picked up pace, the girls writhing lewdly. He could already feel himself winding down, cooling off after his phone call with Satan himself.

Yeah well, screw Aizen and his 'deal'. He was going to let loose tonight and get fucked up. If the deal fell through; oh well. That asshole had been pulling shit on him like this for years.

Grimmjow cackled louder; after all, pay back's a bitch, ain't it?

.:.~End of Chapter 1.:.~

So this is my new story that has been driving me crazy for the past half a year or so. I decided to just open right up with it and save the author's note for the ending. Yes, I do believe Byakuya is slightly ooc in the beginning, but he is not going to stay that way. I wanted to portray him as stressed out. –shrugs- no idea if that came across though.

Yes, this is a LOT shorter than my usual work but I wanted to put this one in smaller doses… and also see if you guys liked it or not. So please, let me know what you think. I will be updating Love Ya Anyways rather soon as well; expect the next chapter to be up this week or next week.

Love you guys :P

~8DRainbowManVan8D