A/N: The chapter was getting longer than the last one. Hope you guys like it. Sorry for any mistake! Don't forget to leave a review ^^
Follow thy heart
Orihime felt like crying again. This day had to be one of the worst days of her life. As the cold water from the shower was drizzling down her skin, she stood there unmoving; taking a moment to review her day so far. First, she woke up on none other than Ulquiorra's bed. And now, her bracelet was missing which she had never lost before.
She was going to find it no matter what. That single piece of accessory which was probably worth not more than 20 dollars, meant very important to her. It was worth millions of dollars to her. If only she knew that her brother would leave her so soon, she would have cherished his presence in her life for every moment.
That bracelet was the last thing that her brother gave her. Ever since his death, Orihime liked to believe that her brother was with her all the time as she held on to the bracelet wherever she went. Losing it would mean, losing her sanity. Thus, she became determined to get it back.
The first thing she did after coming out of the shower, was to go through her purse. She threw out all the contents of her purse on a table and searched through them but didn't find what she was looking for.
She sat back on her couch by the table and covered her face with the palm of her hands in worry.
"Orihime! Where the hell were you last night?" Tatsuki interrupted her negative thoughts, coming out of nowhere.
"Tatsuki..." Orihime muttered.
"With that expression of yours... don't tell me you-"
"No!" Orihime cut her off in the middle before she could jump to a wrong conclusion.
"Alright, alright. I believe you." Saying that Tatsuki sat beside Orihime. "Why do you look worried though?" Tatsuki asked her.
"I lost my bracelet." Orihime looked her at her with tears in her eyes.
"The one that your brother gave you?"
"What else would it be!" Orihime spoke a little loud.
"You probably left it at Ulquiorra's place." Tatsuki seemed confident.
"But what if I lost it at the party?" Orihime covered her face again, with her hands.
"Oh my god. Don't be such a crybaby. Ask Ulquiorra or something."
She had to return his art book too, she thought.
"Thanks Tatsuki. I think I'm gonna have to head out for class now." Orihime stood up saying that.
It was not just any class. It was art class, which meant meeting up with Ulquiorra again.
"You're weird." Tatsuki rolled her eyes as she spoke.
Orihime paid no heed to her words as she placed Ulquiorra's art book inside her bag and quickly got ready for the class.
Orihime was kind of late for the class. She had initially wanted to approach Ulquiorra before the class started for returning his book and also for asking about her bracelet. But now, she would have to wait till the class ended.
Orihime entered the classroom muttering a few words of apology to the teacher who was eyeing her as if she was some sort of criminal. Unfortunately, the teacher was on time today. This was officially a bad day for Orihime, she thought. On the top of that, she had to sit quite far away from Ulquiorra.
It was becoming harder for Orihime to concentrate on following Mr. Kisuke, the teacher, as time was passing by. Her anticipation was growing stronger by the minute. She started doodling randomly on her notebook to calm herself down.
"Ms. Inoue, are you here with us?" Urahara Kisuke tried to bring back her attention to the class.
Orihime immediately looked up and nodded positively. In truth, she was searching for a scope to pass a message to Ulquiorra. Orihime expertly wrote down a name of a place and time on a torn page without looking down and folded it neatly. As soon as Mr. Kisuke turned his back to write down the exam dates on the board, Orihime threw the note at Ulquiorra unsuccessfully as her notebook fell on the floor accidentally with a loud thud.
Mr. Kisuke probably understood what she was trying to do and mocked her little.
"Am I sensing young love here, Ms. Inoue?" He smiled wickedly.
Orihime felt really embarrassed in front of her peers but said nothing to defend herself. She saw Ulquiorra smirking devilishly without looking at her. He probably thought that she was an idiot or something. Orihime sighed and decided to leave her problem for later.
Right after the class ended, Orihime went up to Ulquiorra. He looked at her as she approached him. She looked tensed and he knew exactly why.
"Ulquiorra! Here's your book." She took a moment to bring it out before she handed it back to him. Ulquiorra took it and nodded.
"Ulquiorra..." Orihime trailed off while trying to say something.
"What is it, Orihime?" The way Ulquiorra spoke all the time sounded so serious, it almost intimidated Orihime.
"Um, well, did you see my bracelet?" Orihime asked with a worried tone and partly embarrassed expression because of last night's event which she didn't even remember.
"I didn't." Ulquiorra gave a direct answer.
"But you were with me last night!" Orihime was getting slightly impatient.
"What makes you think that I might have seen it?"
"I just feel like you know where it is." Orihime hoped.
"I don't." With saying that Ulquiorra left the place.
Orihime couldn't understand why Ulquiorra was being so uncooperative or maybe he was never cooperative to begin with. Even if he didn't have it, he should have at least helped her searching for it but then again he sort of did help her last night.
The entire day felt really long to her. Finishing all her classes that were scheduled for the day, she walked to the cafeteria thinking of all the possibilities of where her bracelet could be. She got herself a cup of coffee and was about to take a sip when she noticed Ulquiorra passing by. She put down the cup on a nearby table. The coffee was forgotten as she decided to follow him without a second thought.
Orihime didn't plan to follow him quietly and make her seem like a creepy fangirl. However, there were little crowds of students here and there, so, it wasn't hard for Orihime to hide herself as she followed Ulquiorra. She wasn't sure if she should stop him and bother him again. What if he really didn't know about what she was looking for?
When Orihime realized that Ulquiorra was walking towards his dormitory, she knew it'd be very stupid to follow him any further. She was still unable to come up with any excuses to approach him. Sighing in defeat, she decided to go back and buy another coffee. What she didn't notice was Ulquiorra turning around and watching her turning her back and leave.
"Orihime." Ulquiorra called out to her.
Orihime stopped in her tracks. She closed her eyes and bit her lips slightly before cursing herself for being so stupid. Ulquiorra probably thought that she was a major idiot by then, Orihime thought.
"Hey! Ulquiorra." She faced him, trying to make the awkward situation as normal as possible.
"Didn't take you for a stalker, woman." Ulquiorra chuckled a bit.
"I was not stalking you!"
"What were you doing then?" Ulquiorra asked as he walked closer to her.
"I was just walking..." Orihime looked away from embarrassment.
"Nonsense." He said calmly.
"I just want my bracelet back." Orihime said seriously.
"I don't keep such useless things."
"Useless? It's not useless, okay? If you think that's useless, give it back." Orihime was getting impatient.
Ulquiorra said no more and turned to leave with a bored expression, but Orihime caught his arm before he could.
"Ulquiorra, you are a major asshole!"
"Didn't know you could swear." Ulquiorra smirked at her reaction. He found her interesting from the very beginning and she wasn't letting him down either.
"Do you have it or not?" Orihime asked as calmly as possible ignoring his last comment.
"Who knows, maybe I do." Ulquiorra wanted to play more but decided to leave the girl confused.
Before Orihime could say anything stupid out of frustration, her cellphone rang. After the third ring, she brought it out of her bag. It was Tatsuki. She picked up the call lowering her head down a bit, her bangs falling around her face. She didn't like people watching her talking on phone, that was when her long hair helped her hiding her face.
"Hey, Orihime. Are you lost again? We were supposed to have lunch together." Tatsuki spoke.
"Oh my god. I completely forgot. Wait a bit." Saying that, she lifted her head to speak to Ulquiorra again but he was long gone. He started to walk away the moment she got busy with picking up the call.
What a jerk, Orihime thought.
"Tatsuki, I'll be around." Saying that Orihime hung up.
Orihime turned around to go back to the cafeteria again, but, then she saw a particular electric blue haired boy crossing her by the side without noticing her. She thought something for a moment.
A very, very bad idea came to her mind. Without any further await, she called Tatsuki again and asked her for a favor.
"Tatsuki, can you do something for me?"