AN: Hi to any and all who read this! I'm Acain Keyrose and this is my third story online- my second Bleach one. I'm a fan of the series and always feel sorry for poor Ulquiorra, so I decided that I had to have a story about him- even if it's a very short one. So, read and review!
Black And White Lily
Inspired By Tite Kubo's Bleach
I shivered and drew my knees up to my chest, my eyes still wet from crying. I swallowed and let one of my hands trace the blank white comforter while the other held my knees in place. I looked from my white clad lap to the just as white wall across from me. Everything here is so… colorless. I long to go back home, but I can't. I've lost that chance.
My face fell lap once more and I felt tears begin to well in my gray eyes again, my auburn hair curtaining my face. I want to go home! I don't want to be a prisoner! I… I want Ichigo! A quiet sob wracked my form at the last thought, making my hand clench the comforter tightly.
The sound of the door closing made me jump and look up at my sudden visitor. His slightly shaggy black hair hung motionlessly and his intense jade green eyes bore into me as I tried to wipe away my tears with my hands. I swallowed thickly and forced myself to smile widely at him.
"Hello, Ulquiorra. Am I needed for something?"
The arrancar remained still as he spoke in a monotonous voice, "You are not currently needed by Lord Aizen."
"Then what are you doing here, Ulquiorra?" I asked.
"Lord Aizen ordered me to make sure you get rest, even if I have to force you to."
I gasped, "Why?"
"Lord Aizen wants you healthy and well-rested for his purposes," he replied.
I looked down at my lap again, my eyes damp, before saying, "I'm afraid I can't sleep right now."
"Why not?"
His simple question made me bite my lip and resist the urge to cry again, "I can't. This place is so quiet and colorless and lonely and emotionless! I… I miss my friends too much to go to sleep…"
My voice broke off with a hiccup and I tried to cover up the tears now spilling down my face when his cold voice broke through my silent sobbing, "You knew that they wouldn't be here when you agreed to come, and you knew that you will never see them again, so why did you agree to come?"
"Because I care about them so much!" I cried, my hands covering my face, "I'd prefer never seeing them again to letting them get hurt!"
Ulquiorra was silent for a moment before saying, "I've never understood how the living could care so much for each other. Perhaps you could enlighten me."
His words sounded more like a command than a suggestion, but it made me look up and smile at him all the same, "Of course I will." I patted the spot on the bed next to me, offering him a seat, but he remained where he stood and instead waited for me to begin, "The living care for each other because we know that we only have so much time alive and that we should enjoy it to our fullest, having people around us enjoy it, too. We believe that everyone deserves to be happy."
"It sounds pointless." Ulquiorra stated tonelessly, "There is no way that everybody could be happy, no matter how hard you try. You are striving towards a pointless goal."
I looked sadly down at my lap again, "I guess that's how it would seem to others, but to me it's important. I want everyone I care about to be as happy as possible and feel the best they can!" I sighed, "But I guess you don't have to understand how I feel."
Ulquiorra remained standing in the same spot, but decided to speak, "You must rest now for lord Aizen."
"But I can't… I can't sleep now…"
"What will it take to make you rest?" Ulquiorra inquired.
"I don't know… I just want something nice to happen." I looked at my hands.
Ulquiorra sighed like he was about to perform a task he dislike, "I must take my leave, but I will be back soon. Wait for my return."
Without waiting for me to answer he disappeared, leaving me to study my blank white room again. No matter how many times I look around, it never seems to get any more interesting, instead becoming bleaker. I looked up to the barred window that was above my bed, showing a pale crescent in the otherwise dark sky. I wonder if this is the only small taste of freedom I will ever have now.
"Orihime Inoue." I jumped at the sudden voice of Ulquiorra and turned on the bed to face him.
As usual he stood in his black and white outfit, posture stiff and jade eyes intense, but this time there was something else with him. In a pale hand he held a flower, its long, leafless, dark green stem blooming into a beautiful black and white lily, its petals curving elegantly. I gasped and my hands went to my mouth.
"What kind of flower is that? I've never seen it before!"
Ulquiorra replied readily, "It is a kind of lily that only grows in the Hueco Mundo desert. It is yet to have a name."
I smiled, "It's beautiful!"
"It's yours." He held it out a little more towards me, "Now go to sleep."
"Mine?" I gasped, carefully standing and walking towards him before gently taking the flower from his grasp, "Thank you!"
Tears of happiness welled in my eyes and I wrapped my arms around Ulquiorra in a tight hug, making him go rigid (Well, more rigid) in my grasp. After several seconds he slowly wrapped his own slender arms around me awkwardly in an attempt to return the hug. I smiled as I hugged him before pulling away abruptly.
I looked up to his blank green eyes and stood on my tippy toes, leaning towards him and giving him a soft peck on the cheek. His eyes widened and the first emotion I've seen in them appeared; shock. My face now dusted with a blush I took a step away from him and smiled.
"I think I can sleep now."
He nodded wordlessly and left my room, leaving me holding the beautiful flower and grinning at a wall. After several minutes I turned and walked back to my bed easing myself under the covers. I lay there comfortably, my hand still holding the lily lying out from under the covers, right in front of my face. My suddenly drooping eyes closed with one image still in my mind as I drifted off to sleep; the image of the black and white lily.
AN: Feel like I should say this- Ulquiorra's only goal was to make Orihime go to sleep. He kind of has a one track mind when it comes to this…