Sun Rising, Moon Setting
Her slender life filled fingers were wrapped around his pale death filled hand. His emerald green eyes traced back up her arm to her face. It was turned away from him at the moment since she was guiding him somewhere. Her orange dulled hair swayed from side to side with each step she took. He was entranced by the way the strands danced in front of him.
Ulquiorra felt as though he was falling a bit behind, but the girl's words urged him on.
"C'mon Ulquiorra don't fall behind." She called back to him in a pleasant tone. Her voice sent a waft of warmth into his ears that went down to the rest of his body. He truly loved hearing her speak to him directly, saying his name. It made him feel alive. She was truly interesting to him, nowhere near trash.
Orihime looked ahead of her with joy shining in her eyes. Her hand still gripped Ulquiorra's. She loved how he was there with her in a different atmosphere than the one of captor and prisoner. There were no white walls around them. No uniform on them to restrict who they were as individuals with free choices. They could feel happiness and not the strains of war.
To show her world to Ulquiorra made her smile and she continued on gripping his hand even tighter. His eyes were softer and his demeanor tranquil, there was no hostility in him. His zanpaktou wasn't present on his hip. The arrancar mask was gone leaving only his raven hair. The tear marks of sadness had melted away. Orihime saw him in a new light.
They stopped suddenly coming to their destination. Ulquiorra looked around questioningly. Orihime smiled satisfied. She had taken him to the place near the river she had stood with Tatsuki and alone before leaving for Hueco Mundo. Now, she was with him.
"We're here." She let out as a soft breeze hit them and their hair swayed to the left, his reaching out to her. He looked at her finally being able to see her sweet face.
"Why are we here?" The girl looked up at him, a smile still splayed on her lips.
"The sun is going to rise soon." Ulquiorra still couldn't quite understand why this was so important. "I want you to see it, since you've never seen it. It was always night in Hueco Mundo." She was right he had never seen the sun, only the moon. Even the stars he had not seen and as he looked at them up above he had to admit they looked very majestic and gave the darkened sky life. It made him feel quite small, but also instilled a sense of peace within him.
He had never imagined that he, a former Espada, would ever be standing next to the human girl under her world's sky.
"Look you can see some of it rising already!" The teenage girl announced excitedly, gripping her companion's hand tightly. He knew that they hands were still linked, but did not separate them. Maybe it was because it soothed him, feeling the life she had seep into him.
An unnoticed light blush swept over his cheeks as he looked up at the orange color that was being painted over the dark starry sky on the horizon.
The sight was even more beautiful than the stars. It brought him further warmth and life within his body and heart. He heard the girl sigh with bliss.
His heart. He thought back to how he had questioned her about the heart, its location. Ulquiorra had been so mystified about human nature, the soul. The girl was the essence of what he was not yet she always held so much strength within her that he could not locate. All along it was in her heart. How strange that he even thought that he could have a heart again, come close to being human, but really with the girl, Orihime, it wasn't that strange at all.
Orihime stared at the sun rise above the horizon of Karakura town. No matter how many times she saw this scene it always took her breath away even more now that she had come to appreciate all that she had lost for those moments she was a captive. She looked up at Ulquiorra's face to see that it was so much softer than it had first been. His emerald eyes were warm and filled with wonder at the view before him. The color of the sun made his skin look tender.
The young arrancar realized that he was being watched and looked down at the girl, meeting her gaze. He was met with friendliness. Most of all with love, something no one had shown him or gave him.
His fingers moved in between hers and he gripped her hand.
"Thank-you woman." He said in an almost kind-hearted tone. She giggled softly and blushed which was noticed unlike his.
"Your welcome Ulquiorra." Her eyes glanced down at the tinted grass.
I suppose he still needs more time before he actually calls me by name.
When she looked back up she was caught by surprise by her companion's fingers moving up to her face gracefully.
He held her chin between his pale forefinger and thumb, contemplating whether to place his lips against hers or not. The feeling had surged up through his chest to his head and out his limbs. Something new he tried to understand while looking at her.
His eyes observed how relaxed her lips were drawing in and out the air in quiet breaths. His gaze slowly traced up the side of her face to where her eyes were.
The girl was in complete dismay and her cheeks were powdered in a flush of pink because of embarrassment, which grew much redder now that his eyes where looking into hers.
Ulquiorra liked how her blush complimented her complexion and made her look prettier. Calmly, he closed his eyes and reopened them to give her a small smile. Instead of using his lips to touch hers, in a kiss, he opted to caress her chin with his thumb which made her relax a bit.
"U-Ulquiorra…" She paused and he waited still looking into her eyes. "…what are you doing?"
He kept his gaze on her pondering his answer for a moment.
"I am observing you." He said plainly as his fingers moved up the side of her face to her eyes, tracing the line his eyes had paved. With his thumb he traced over her eyelashes making her blink and giggle. A blush was still present on her face.
"W-well, you have a weird way of observing then, Ulquiorra." She said. The ex-arrancar only gave a pause to his movements at her statement.
"Woman," His voice had a grave undertone to it making Orihime become more serious herself. "Are you happy with me here?" At this she frowned somewhat.
"Of course I am." She produced a wide smile for him that was not at all fake. "Why do you ask?" He sighed and let his hand glide down her arm to rest on her hand.
"Your happiness is of much concern to me."
All Orihime could do was press her lips in a thin line stifling a smile of embarrassment, which was leaking out despite her effort. This only made his eyes smile because he knew how much she disliked that others show too much concern for her.
Orihime looked back up at his green eyes that once again held a softened overtone to them. Despite her dislike for his concern she had to admit that when looking at him it really didn't bother her. It was close to natural feeling his concern towards her. In her own way she showed her share of worry for him.
With the hand that was free from Ulquiorra's grasp she placed it on his chest, right where his heart was. Because she knew that after so much, she had shown him his heart, her way of worrying for him.
"Your's is too." She said. His green eyes grew a bit wider.
Slowly, he brought his free hand to rest on hers that lay at his chest. This made her heart skip a beat.
"I have seen." Ulquiorra knew that this creature would never cease to bore him.