Title: The Rain that Binds
Pairings: UlquiHime with some one-sided IchiHime and IshiHime. Other pairings may be hinted at later.
Rating: T
Spoilers: Up to chapter 282 of the manga
Word count: 3,941
While she daydreamt for about fifteen minutes, Ulquiorra took in his surroundings. The first thing that stood out to him in the room was the enormous transmitter that covered one wall completely. It consisted of a screen with weird tentacle like things framing it.
' Why am I reminded of the former sexta espada?' he wondered. 'The one Grimmjow had killed…'
It took a second for him to realize that Grimmjow would technically be considered a former sexta Espada as well. Not that he really cared about such things. It was just another fallen Espada, which meant that another would come and take Grimmjow's place, like Luppi had. Just like someone else would do for his position. For some reason, the thought didn't bother him as much as it should have.
' No point in dwelling over it. What is done is done,' he decided.
After he finished with those thoughts and saw that Orihime's eyes still had that glazed over look, he looked around the rest of her apartment. It was small; smaller than the room that she had been given in Las Noches, he noted. Nonetheless, it was mostly tidy, except for the light sheen of dust that had accumulated on the table and a few of the knickknacks due to her absence. He noted there was a hallway that lead to the back of the apartment.
' Probably a bedroom and bathroom, seeing as how I cannot see any from where I am sitting.'
When he was done with his survey of the apartment, he heard her call his name and offer him food and something else, but he cut her off before she could finish. Arrancar didn't eat, not the kind of food she was offering, anyway, and he seriously doubted that she would offer him her soul to eat. She then noted that it was late and offered something for him to sleep on. He refused her again, making it a point to let her know that Arrancar do not require sleep.
"Also, stop trying to treat me as if I were your guest. You and I both know that this is not the case," he told her, a bit too coldly, he realized.
She then got up from her seat and left to the back of the apartment, but not before he got a good look at her face. There was a hurt look in her eyes and the beginnings of tears were formed in them. He felt a slight twinge right above the 4 tattoo that marked him as the fourth most powerful Espada, not that it mattered anymore. His frown deepened. He knew what this twinge was and did not revel in it. It was guilt. He tried to push the feeling away but to no avail. Ulquiorra sighed. He felt an increase in reiatsu in the room and turned to find Hitsugaya and Matsumoto glaring at him suspiciously and, in Matsumoto's case, irritably.
" What did you say to Orihime-chan, Espada?" she said coolly, raising her eyebrow. He could hear the threat in her question that said that if he had said anything too upsetting to Orihime, there would be hell to pay. He ignored it.
" I was just informing her of the situation that we are in and that it is not necessary for her to treat me like a house guest," he replied. ' Like the two of you are.'
Matsumoto continued to glare at the Espada for a couple of seconds, as if she didn't trust what he had said, but then turned to face her taichou. Hitsugaya was still staring at him intently. It seemed, however, that he accepted Ulquiorra's answer because he had nodded and returned to the room they had come from, leaving a bewildered Matsumoto. Realizing that her taichou had left her, she quickly followed him. Ulquiorra sighed again.
' This is the most that I have sighed in a day,' he noted wearily.
He glanced over at the clock that hung on the wall and saw that it was 3:34 in the morning. There would be at least a few more hours before Orihime woke up or Renji came over to talk with the other two shinigami about what they should do about him. His frown deepened.
' No wonder it was so easy for Aizen to fool them. If they were smart, they would have killed me the first time that they laid eyes on me. Instead, they believe that they can extract information from me that will lead to his downfall. They are nothing but trash,' he decided. ' Just because I was the most trusted Espada does not mean that I was trusted much, if at all.'
With that last thought, Ulquiorra looked out the window in front of him for the rest of the night until he saw the sun begin to rise.
" Oh no! Is it this time already? I'm going to be late!" she cried out, tossing her school uniform on quickly. Orhime had been so tired from the night before that she had forgotten to set her alarm. Now she was running fifteen minutes late. Running out of her room, she sped to her kitchen to get some food to eat on the way to school but tripped over something before she could make it. She stood up and turned to the offending object that had dared to trip her only to find that said object was none other than Ulquiorra. He shot her a glance.
" Oh!" she exclaimed, blushing in embarrassment. " I'm sorry. I was in a hurry and I didn't see you there."
"…Obviously."
She could feel her face turn redder and was about to apologize to the Espada again when she saw the time. She was now running twenty-five minutes late. Muttering one last apology, she made her way to the kitchen and pulled whatever she could from the refrigerator, only to find that everything had gotten bad during her absence. Growling in frustration, Orihime decided that she would go shopping and clean it out as soon as she got home. With that, she said a quick goodbye to Hitsugaya and Matsumoto before slamming the door shut, leaving an amused Ulquiorra.
' Did she just growl?' he thought in disbelief.
This was not a side of her that he had known while she was a guest at Las Noches. She had been calmer, quieter and more…dispirited. This Orihime was none of those things; actually, she was quite the opposite. But, he decided, he preferred her better this way. A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts and Matsumoto opened the door to reveal Renji, who looked much better than he did last night thanks to some much needed rest and healing. The three made their way over to Ulquiorra and sat down at the same table that he was currently sitting at. He glared at them.
" Well, Espada. What you say we try this again, huh?" Renji started.
" One night is not going to make me change my mind," Ulquiorra stated firmly. " As I said before, it is no business of yours to know why I helped the woman and her nakama." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Matsumoto glare at him for referring to Orihime as 'woman'.
" Fine then," Hitsugaya said. " There are other things we wish to know as well. First, what is Aizen planning?"
Ulquiorra moved his gaze to the white-haired taichou. " Just because I am no longer loyal to Aizen does not mean that I am going to help his enemies. Only trash does that."
The three glanced at each other. Turning back to the Espada, now apparently the former Espada, Hitsugaya asked him what was on all of their minds.
" What do you mean you are no longer to loyal to Aizen?"
" It does not concern you why I am…" he repeated before he felt himself being lifted by the front of his tattered coat by none other than Renji.
" The hell it doesn't! Now, you either tell us everything we need to know, or else…"
Renji was unable to finish his sentence as a hand started to squeeze his, hard enough to crush the bones of his gigai. Ulquiorra tightened his grip and stared at him, a dangerous look in his eyes.
" If you wish to keep this hand, you will let go now. You and I both know that I can kill all three of you with minimal effort, if I desired to do so."
Reluctantly, he released the former Espada, muttering about how if any of his bones were broken, someone was going to find himself with Zabimaru sticking out of his chest. Matsumoto and Hitsugaya just shook their heads and sighed.
" Look, " said Matsumoto, clearly at the end of her patience, " what can you tell us?"
" Oh? Someone was holding a party and didn't invite me? I'm hurt. Honestly, Abarai-kun, how could you not tell me, especially when you are freeloading at my place once again?"
The four turned to face the voice and found none other than Urahara and Yoruichi standing in the foyer of the apartement, the front door wide open. Closing the door and removing their shoes, the two walked over to the three shinigami and Ulquiorra. The taichou and the two fukutaichous moved closer together to allow the two newcomers room on either side of the former Espada. He glared at the two but said nothing.
" You three are really careless, leaving the door wide open like that. He," Yoruichi said, pointing to her right at Ulquiorra, " could have escaped all too easily."
Matsumoto blushed, embarrassed, and mumbled a quick apology.
Yoruichi replied, " No need to worry about it now. Anyway, as he said, he could have killed you all with little to no effort if he had wanted to."
" You've been standing in the doorway for that long?" Renji asked and then turned red with anger. " Wait! You've been here that long and you didn't stop him from crushing my hand?!"
Urahara laughed from behind his fan, angering the red headed fukutaichou even more. Just when it looked like he was about to jump across the table to get his hands on a certain storeowner, Urahara began to speak.
" So. I see that we have an Espada sitting with us. Ulquiorra, wasn't it? To what do we owe this momentous occasion?" All eyes turned to Ulquiorra, who had been sitting patiently, watching the madness that ensued before him.
' If these people are supposedly the most powerful shinigami in Soul Society and Karakura, they do not stand a chance against Aizen,' he thought.
" It seems that he helped Ichigo, Renji, Rukia, Sado Yasutora, Ishida Uryuu, and Orihime-chan escape from Hueco Mundo," stated Matsumoto.
" Is that so? Well, that is very odd indeed, " Urahara replied, leaning in to get a closer look at the former Espada to his left. Ulquiorra looked at him, slightly annoyed that he was even closer than he had been to the shop owner than he had been just a minute ago. " So, did he tell you his reasons for helping Kurosaki-san's group?"
" He refused to answer any of our questions, " the white haired taichou explained. " The only thing that he told us is that he is no longer loyal to Aizen but will not help Soul Society."
Yoruichi and Urahara shared a similar glance that the others had shared not too long ago, both looking as confused as the other three were. An Espada that had lost his loyalty to Aizen? This was definitely an unusual turn of events.
" I see. And I suppose you were wondering how else you can get the information out of him, correct?" the hat wearing shop keeper asked.
" Yes. Too bad there isn't a device that can remove information from a being," the blonde fukutaichou said.
" It's a pity indeed," agreed Yoruichi. " But, from what I remember, can't Yamamoto-taichou essentially do the same thing?"
" Yes, but we can't risk bringing him to Soul Soci…"
" Who said anything about taking him to Soul Society? Why not have Yamamoto-taichou come here instead?" suggested Urahara.
The three stared at him as if he had grown another head. Ulquiorra continued to sit, listening to their conversation. He had decided that the people around him talked too much for their own good.
" That's not possible, Urahara-san. The soutaichou is getting the numerous preparations together for the winter war. There is no way that he would come down here," Hitsugaya explained.
" What's the harm in trying? It's better than waiting for him, " Yoruichi pointed at Ulquiorra again, this time for emphasis, " to open up and start talking."
Renji, Matsumoto, and Hitsugaya looked at each other and sighed. They knew that they had no other choice. They decided that Renji would go back to Soul Society to explain the situation to Yamamoto because they did not want to leave Orihime alone with the former Espada. Once that was decided, Renji, Urahara and Yoruichi made their way to the door. Before they were completely out, though, Urahara turned back to the two 10th squad members and handed them something the size of a button and a small remote control-like device.
" I almost forgot! A little gift for Orihime-san. It will allow her to protect herself against the former Espada in the event that the two of you aren't around. The button seals some of his reiatsu and the remote, well…I'll let you see for yourselves what it does," he added with a wink.
And with that, the trio closed the door and returned to the shop, leaving Matsumoto and Hitsugaya alone with Ulquiorra. They found him staring at the two of them with a look that dared them to even try and put that button on him. Not in the mood to deal with the stubborn former Espada, Matsumoto walked over to him, hands on her hips, and grinned evilly.
" Well, think of it this way. At least it will make it harder for Aizen to find you, right?"
' …I hate women,' Ulquiorra decided, placing the button in an inconspicuous place beneath one of his torn sleeves.
It had been three hours and fifty-four minutes since Urahara's trio returned to the store, and it had been three hours and fourteen minutes since Ulquiorra had last seen the 10th squad taichou and fukutaichou, although he knew that they were still in the apartment because he could still feel their reiatsu. He had never been this bored in his entire existence. When he had been serving under Aizen, he had been given more than enough missions to keep him occupied, so this idleness was starting to wear on his nerves…what little he had, anyway. He could feel his mask of indifference slip just a little bit and be replaced with annoyance. What annoyed him the most, though, was that his thoughts were going to a certain orange-haired female.
She had always fascinated Ulquiorra, ever since the first time that he had seen her. Her and that strange power of hers. The power that Aizen had lusted after so that he could use them for his own goals. The power that had given the orders to take her away from all that she held dear. Ulquiorra closed his eyes at the memory. Although it had been a while ago, he could still see the way she glared at him, as if he were some kind of monster.
' Although, she is probably right.'
He didn't think anything much of his fascination with her. He had assumed that she interested him because of her unusual powers. It wasn't until that day. That fateful day when he saw her in that dress that Aizen created, when, for one moment, he felt his mask of indifference fall completely and he said what was exactly on his mind.
"Surprisingly, it suits you."
It was because of that incident, combined with the unexpected meeting with Noitora outside her room, saying things that made him burn with the unfamiliar sensation of rage, that Ulquiorra realized that it was not just a simple fascination; it was attraction. He was disgusted with himself for this. It was beneath him. At that moment, he had decided to distance himself from her as much as possible, which, of course, was not that much, considering that he had been assigned as her guard. As a result, the only way that he could distance himself was emotionally. Whenever he talked to her, he remained as cold as possible.
And for a short time, it worked. Until he let her slap him. Ulquiorra had felt that it was not worth the effort to stop her. After all, what was the worst that she could do to him, the cuatra Espada? But the moment her palm touched his hand he knew that it had been a mistake. The warmth from her hand had spread through him and he knew that she had changed something in him. When Orihime glanced up at him, a light sheen of sweat on her face, him looking down at her. In that moment, he could have…
' Best not to think about that,' Ulquiorra thought, shaking his head ever so slightly.
His mind traveled to his fight with Ichigo. He had been so close, tantalizingly close, to destroying the existence of the person that he knew she held dear. But when the time came to finish him off, he hesitated. He kept seeing her face in his mind; no matter what he did, it continued to haunt him. As a result, he had let Ichigo live. Then, he returned to her room, only to find two female Arrancar there in her place. Hearing that Grimmjow had taken her, he focused in on his reiatsu and found the pair where he had been a little over an hour ago. There he saw her. At first, Ulquiorra had glared at her, for leaving without his permission, but when he saw her turn away from his gaze, a guilty look on her face, he unwilling let his face soften, just a little bit. And then Grimmjow had sealed him in the negación.
'Damn Grimmjow. At least he got what was coming to him,' he considered bitterly, involuntarily shuddering. ' He had to have known what it would be like in there, the stupid…'
His thoughts were interrupted, however, by the slamming of the front door. Ulquiorra could tell it was Orihime without even looking.
" I'm home!" she yelled out happily, kicking her shoes off and putting on a pair of slippers. He turned and saw that she was carrying many bags probably full of food, considering the events of the morning.
" Welcome back, Orihime-chan!" Matsumoto responded. Hitsugaya grunted in affirmation and Ulquiorra continued to stare at her while the two women started to clean the refrigerator out and put the food away.
"It's been so long since I've been able to cook my own food!" Orihime exclaimed. " I think I am going to make some curry with umeboshi and ketchup!"
Ulquiorra wasn't sure what humans considered normal food, but somehow he got the feeling that her creation was anything but normal. On the other hand, the blonde fukutaichou squealed with glee and hugged the young girl.
"Ah! Orihime-chan! It has been too long since I have eaten a meal cooked by you!"
Orihime laughed lightly at the older woman's antics. It caught him by surprise. He never realized it before, but he had never seen her smile, let alone hear her laugh, the whole time she was in Las Noches. Her laughter was light and melodic, and he decided that he wouldn't mind if he had to hear more of it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her approaching him, holding a bag. This one, however, was slightly different than the ones that had held food. Smiling brightly, she held out it out in front of her, offering the contents to him.
" Woman. I thought I told you that I do not require…" But he was cut off before he could finish.
"Here, Ulquiorra. I know that you don't have any extra clothes to change into and I figured that you would not want to stay in the clothes you are wearing, seeing as how… they are all torn and…here, " she said finally, holding the bag out to him once again.
After a few moments, he took the bag from her hands. Orihime looked at him expectantly, and with that, he realized that she wanted him to look at what she had bought him. Sighing in defeat, he opened the bag and took out what was inside. A green button down shirt, the same color as his eyes.
' Apparently, she took into consideration my mask,' Ulquiorra thought, amused.
She had also bought him a black pair of trousers and some black shoes, as well as some socks. The last thing, a bag of some white material, was something that he was unfamiliar with. Ulquiorra looked at her questioningly.
" What are these?"
Orihime's face turned a deep red while she opened and closed her mouth a few times. After a few more attempts, with no words coming from her mouth, she finally regained the ability to speak, albeit barely.
"Um…. ahem…they're…under...wear."
" …Where exactly am I supposed to wear them?"
She turned even redder, even though he had been quite certain that it was quite impossible for her to do so. She looked utterly mortified. Again, she tried to speak, but this time she was unable to do so. Instead, she resorted to pointing. His eyes traced the path of her finger until they landed down….
"...I see…"
He didn't know what else to say, but he was thankful that the other two shinigami sharing the apartment were in a different room. They stood in an uncomfortable silence until he decided to relieve her suffering.
" How did you know this would fit me? " he asked.
" Oh. Well, I'm in the embroidery club, so I'm used to eyeing the size of things. If it's too small or too large I can always return it," she replied.
" Thank you for the clothing."
" Eh?" Orihime looked up at him, clearly surprised. "What did you say?"
" I said thank you."
It made him uncomfortable, using these human signs of gratitude that were clearly unnecessary. Still, he figured that he should at least show his gratitude, considering that she had paid for these clothes out of her own money. She didn't have to, which bothered him to no end because that meant he was in her debt. However, looking at the confused look on her face, he thought that perhaps he had used the wrong one. He was about to correct himself when he saw her smile again, this time even brighter and wider than before.
" You're welcome, Ulquiorra! I'm glad you like it!"
With that, she went off skipping to the kitchen to prepare dinner for her and her other two guests leaving Ulquiorra holding the bag of clothes, still in awe at the power her smile held.
'No,' he decided, ' I would not be upset at seeing more of her smiles at all.'