The Recluse

Chapter 2

Ulquiorra awoke to the sound of rain softly pattering against his window. He turned toward his clock and noticed the time to be 5:59 am. The dark clouds outside created the somber and gray ambiance within his bedroom. He briefly remembered the remnants of his dream; someone with red hair, brown eyes and a hand reaching out to him? Yet it was slowly slipping away from him as he adjusted his eyesight toward the ceiling. He always had trouble recalling his dreams and this one he could barely make sense of as it slowly disintegrated from his mind.

Ulquiorra's attention shifted as his alarm screamed that it was 6 am. It was time to get up. He removed the covers off his body and headed toward the bathroom to freshen up. Once downstairs, his regular routine continued. The methodical man waited five minutes then grabbed the stainless steel tea kettle and poured water into his tea cup, which already had a pool of honey waiting to be dissolved by water's heat. Ulquiorra noticed movement from the corner of his eye and turned his head toward the window that faced his neighbor's house. A white silhouette stood on the balcony of his neighbor's apartment and it made him pause. The figure had long red hair and was wearing what appeared to be a long white nightgown. She was leaning forward over the balcony rail and had her hand reaching out as if she was trying to grab something.

He turned his body sideways and leaned against the counter, giving him a better view of her. He was curious as to what she was doing exactly. He heard her yell something but he could not make out her words. He stepped closer to the window as she quickly turned and headed down the stairs. His eyes followed her until he could no longer see her. The closed white wooden shutters which covered the bottom half of his window prevented him from seeing more. Placing his hand on the shutter's knob, he suddenly realized what he was doing. He was spying on the woman. The sudden realization made his hand release the knob almost as if had scorched his skin. Turning away from the windows, he grabbed his tea cup and headed upstairs to continue work on his current project.

XXX

Orihime couldn't believe that she was almost late for work because of that damned cat that had been scratching at her door. She had called out to it but she failed to interest it further and it had eventually run away. Feeling relief for arriving at the office five minutes before her scheduled time, she went inside. After getting all the introduction formalities and orientation out of the way, she had been shown her new office by her colleague Mizuiro Kojima. He was much shorter in stature, had long black hair that rested below his ears and had a kind face. He quickly stacked files on her desk. "Sorry, Ms. Inoue, but we all have to do this for the moment. The secretary that handles these things decided not to show up for work today. "

"It's okay, Mr. Kojima; I need to familiarize myself with how things work around here, anyway. It will give me time to review some of these cases." She kindly replied and took the heavy stack he handed to her.

"Please, call me Mizuiro. There's no need for such formalities, if you need any assistance, I will be right next door." He advised her with a sincere smile and he left her so she could begin her work.

Several hours had passed when she heard a knock on her door. Mizuiro opened the door and making sure it was okay with his co-worker, he walked in. "Inoue, I wanted to speak with you about your first case." He said politely.

"Sure, take a seat." She happily replied.

"I had spoken with the board of directors last week, concerning how to handle this special case. Now, generally we would have you take smaller cases to begin with. But they felt that you would be able to handle this one without having to worry about others for the moment," he explained.

"Oh, okay." Orihime was intrigued.

Mizuiro continued. "You see, this case involves a seventeen year old boy, Yuki Nagame. He's been sent from foster home to foster home since he was six years old. His parents are deceased or so it has been concluded," he leaned forward as he continued explaining, "You see, Yuki and his family went on a family camping trip here at the local camping grounds. Needless to say that, days later, Yuki was found wandering the forest alone without any memory of what happened to his parents. They were never seen or heard from again." Mizuiro said uncomfortably.

"Oh, my goodness!" Orihime's heartstrings pulled at the thought of a young boy losing his family. She had not met the boy but already she had something in common with him…the loss of a loved one. "So, let me guess? He has trouble building relationships because he is afraid of losing those ties, right?" She mostly wondered out loud.

"You could say that." He paused," But most of his caregivers don't feel very comfortable being around him. Oddly enough they find him creepy or a bit on the shy side. Overall, he's a good kid but he just doesn't connect with people very well." Mizuiro stood up and walked to the door. "Anyways, I want to introduce him to you, Inoue." He stood and opened the door and signaled to someone to come in. Orihime watched as Mizuiro stepped aside and let in a tall young man with a lean but fit build. He had shoulder length black hair, brown eyes and his clothes appeared neat and clean. It was difficult to believe that he was seventeen but the look in his eyes indicated that he was much wiser beyond his years.

Orihime stood and outstretched her hand and the boy accepted her welcome. "Nice to meet you, Yuki, I will be your new counselor. You may call me Ms. Inoue."

"Nice to you meet you, Ms. Inoue. " She let go of his hand and directed him to take a seat. Mizuiro led the conversation for the remainder of the time. Occasionally, Orihime would glance at Yuki, yet each time, she found him staring at her. He's just curious, she thought to herself.

"So, now that we have an understanding of what we each expect from each other, we will proceed with the scheduled appointments, Yuki will you follow me out?" Yuki quickly stood and smiled at Mizuiro, "Certainly, Mr. Kojima," he turned and smiled at Orihime but added before stepping out, "Ms. Inoue, it was really nice to meet you. I look forward to our next meeting."

"I am looking forward to it, as well, Yuki," she replied thoughtfully.

XXX

Ulquiorra was in deep thought when he heard the sound of a trash can being knocked over. He immediately headed to determine the cause of the disruption. Once he was downstairs he headed toward the kitchen and opened the wooden shutters that he had almost opened that morning. He looked down to find a white cat sitting on top of one of the lids. Ugh, how I hate felines! He thought to himself. He opened the French doors that lead outside and headed to make sure it had not made a mess of his well-organized trash. As he stepped outside he noticed his neighbor's car pull into her drive way, he paused but then continued to head toward the animal covered in white fur, surprisingly enough it had only knocked down a lid which he quickly replaced.

Orihime saw her neighbor heading toward the white cat she had seen earlier that morning. She somehow built up the courage to greet him. "Hi, there! Is that your cat?" If it was, she would definitely explain to him in detail the damage it had done to her door.

Ulquiorra looked at her without saying a word as he watched her approach him. He had not noticed it before but there was something very familiar about her yet he could not really pin point to what it was. "He is not mine. I do not own a pet." As he responded to her, his eyebrow shot up in surprise as once again, the woman tripped and fell, landing on her hands and knees. Sheesh, what is it with this woman and her lack of equilibrium? He forgot about the cat and headed over to assist her.

"Ow, ow, ow! My knee! Damn it!" Orihime swore and she tried to soothe her now aching knee. She looked up to see the outstretched hand of a very handsome man. She was not sure as to why she had not noticed before the depth of his bright green eyes and blue black hair but from the angle she was currently in, he seemed incredibly handsome and almost gallant. So much so that it literally took her breath away, as she reached for his hand, she could have sworn that there was some sort of electricity building up in the air surrounding them. The intensity in his eyes made her blush and turn her head away.

"Thank you, uh… "She replied for his chivalrous act but all at once realized that she had yet to know his name, "I'm sorry but I feel awkward not knowing your name?"

Ulquiorra eyed her with the same intensity as before; the sudden chill he had felt had not gone unnoticed when he had touched her. "It's Ulquiorra Cifer and you are..?"

"Orihime Inoue." As she stood there mesmerized by his fascinating eyes, she eventually forced herself to look down only to notice that her hand was still holding on to his. "Oh, I am sorry, I didn't realize, that I…" her voice full of embarrassment trailed away when she heard the sound of a cat meowing. They both glanced down at their feet and found the cat purring and caressing Ulquiorra's leg.

"I think I will call animal control. "Ulquiorra remarked annoyed.

"No! Please don't! I am sure it belongs to someone, I can print some flyers to find its owner." Orihime said to him. She leaned down and picked up the white ball of fur and began to pet it. The animal quickly warmed up to her, "He's so cute! I think I will call him Shiro, don't you think he looks like a Shiro?"

"He's a she." Ulquiorra noted.

"Wha-? Oh." Embarrassed for not noticing before, Orihime could only smile. She could feel the warmth on her cheeks much stronger than before. Yet the thought of having a temporary pet made her happy. She glanced up at her new male friend, "Listen, I want to apologize for what happened the other day. I was in a hurry and I completely misunderstood what Szayel was trying to tell me over the phone."

"I thought I mentioned that we would forget that incident?" Ulquiorra replied. He looked up at the sky as it rumbled in a threating manner. He found himself in a dilemma, he didn't particularly want to go back inside, yet standing in the rain getting soaked was not his idea of a good time either. "To confirm that it has all been forgotten…" he paused. He was quite surprised at himself for what he was about to do. Yet he found that he was trying hard to convince himself that it was to prove to this woman that he was not holding any grudges, "would you like to join me for tea?"

"Tea? Uh, sure." She responded without thinking. "Do you mind if I change my clothes first? I need to get out of these heels that keep sinking into the soft dirt," Orihime began to walk away but it became quite difficult to carry her purse and the cat together, all while trying to keep her balance. Ulquiorra walked up to her then gestured to her to hand over the animal. He grabbed the cat, took her hand and anchored it in his elbow. Orihime felt the heat increase in her face with great intensity as she held on to him for dear life. She felt so silly for having charged up to him without even thinking that her heels would have sunk into the dirt. It was two times now that she made a complete fool of herself in front of this man, but for some reason this time it was even more embarrassing.

XXX

Ulquiorra noted that Orihime's living room was modest but it was suitable for a single tenant. The kitchen, he had noticed, was spacious enough for two people to move around in comfortably. Yet the dining room was small much like the living room. He also realized that there weren't any pictures hanging on the walls yet. "I will be right there!" Orihime yelled from her bedroom. Ulquiorra continued to slowly pace her apartment as he waited. He turned toward the sound of her bedroom door opening and was taken aback as to how well she looked, even in a plain white t-shirt and jeans with her hair pulled up in a ponytail, she looked remarkable.

"I hope it's okay that I wear this? Being in a suit all day can be a bit confining." She said.

"It is only tea, Orihime. Nothing formal," responded her guest. She glanced down and couldn't help grabbing the end of her shirt and twisting to make use of her hands. He had said her name. "Shall we leave then?"

She headed after him and stopped. "Wait, I know this might be a bit of an inconvenience but, do you mind if we head to the store to buy some cat litter real quick? I would hate to comeback and find a stinky surprise by the front door."

The store? Ulquiorra thought. When was the last time he had been to a store? It had been 17 months since he had last stepped into one if he recalled correctly. The thought of the bright lights, hokey music and dull looking people was enough to make him decline.

"Please? I promise that I'll be quick?" pleaded Orihime. To this, Ulquiorra sighed and nodded his head in approval. Orihime smiled at him and grabbed her keys. "We'll be back, Shiro! Don't do anything naughty!" The feline meowed in response.

Ulquiorra was not surprised that she would be the type to talk to a cat.

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Thanks for the review, watches and favs! I am glad that you guys are interested. I did a big chapter previous to this one but I wanted to put this out quickly so I could really begin on their interaction! :) Let me know what you think?

Btw, I have a white cat, whom I like to call Nemu, and she is fluffier that a goose-down pillow!

On a side note, I start school today again, so I hope I don't get delayed or distracted with this story because I have so many ideas! :D