Thanks to all my fifty viewers and three reviewers for such a warm reception of my work. I wasn't expecting to catch that many eyes in a section like bleach that gets fanfics so regularly. Anyway, I tend to have problems pacing my stories when I write them, but I've been planning my Ulqui-hime pairing for quite a while, and I hope to eventually prove that this pairing can actually be done quite light-heartedly! Though it definitely has to be dark initially.
Chapter 2: A conversation
Ulquiorra stood like a statue in the corner of Orihime's quarters, his gaze fixed intently on Orihimes large, almost oblivious smile.
"You've been practicing, right? Let's hear it." She said insistantly. She put her hands on her hips and leaned forward, gazing up at him. He exhaled sharply before complying.
"How wonderful to see you again, Ms. Orihime, I trust that you've taken care to maintain your body's level of health?" He asked in his usual monotonous tone, a very slight strain being the only indication that he had tried to put any feeling into it. She sighed in response. For the past five days she'd been trying to teach him the proper way to greet someone, and from time to time she felt she was making progress (though she hadn't once successfully convinced him to smile.) It was surprisingly entertaining, and his daily visits had eventually grown to be the highlight of her day.
"No! No, no, no! That's not right. Be more friendly, and use smaller words. Try to do as I do, are you ready? " She cleared her throat. "Hiya, Ulquiorra, having a good day? It's great to see you again."
"Hiya, Orihime, having a good day? It's great to see you again." He parroted her exactly, with the sole exception being that his voice carried not even the slightest trace of warmth or emotion. Hearing such casual words spoken in such a serious tone was unbearably hilarious, and she doubled over with mad laughter.
"Ulquiorra, you're priceless!" She choked out between giggles. Her eyes started to tear up from laughter. He stared at her in dispassionate confusion as she slowly recomposed herself and stood up once again. "I guess that's as good as we're going to get at introductions, huh? Let's go ahead and move on to small talk now." Moving behind him, she started pushing his frame toward her dining table, beckoning him to sit. She then ran to the chair across from him and sat herself.
"What is the purpose of speaking unnecessarily?"
"But it's NOT unnecessary." Orihime waved her hands excitedly. "You talk because you want to share you feelings with your friends. It's fun."
"Fun, you say?" Orihime scratched her head, not surprised that he didn't understand, but uncertain how to go about explaining it to him.
"Y'know what I think, Ulqui? You try to be too analytical about things. There's no scientific reason why some things are enjoyable, you know. They just are. Don't you enjoy doing anything?"
"I am a servant, it is not necessary for me to take pleasure in anything that I do."
"You don't enjoy anything? Nothing ever makes you happy?" This was a trait in Ulquiorra that had always confused her. She'd had limited encounters with many different Arrancar during her stay in Hueco Mundo, and all of them-even frightening ones like Grimmjow and Nnoitora- had so many traits that were so human. Why was this man so different?
"That word has no meaning to me." Ulquiorra was growing visibly irritated.
"Just try making conversation, okay? Please? For me?" She winked at him. He grimaced, knowing he couldn't deny her something so reasonable, regardless how little he would enjoy it.
"What would you have me speak of?"
"Ummm…" She touched her finger to her chin in a thoughtful pose. "How's about the weather? Have you been enjoying it?"
"The weather here is as it has always been, woman. It shall remain so for the rest of eternity." Orihime's brow darkened, a look of sorrow crossing her face as welling tears lit her eyes. Why did this sudden sadness of hers stir such discomfort in him?
"Orihime." She said somberly. "I hoped you would keep using my name." Ulquiorra was suddenly overcome with a very strange feeling. He did not lament his lapse in calling her 'woman'. After all, it should make no difference by what title he called her. Yet the knowledge that this mistake had upset her stirred a great, unpleasant feeling inside of him. He couldn't comprehend why he should feel this way, it was completely alien to him.
"Orihime then. If you insist on such a trivial thing then I shall accommodate you." His voice did nothing to betray the feelings he'd felt, but once again his eyes did. Orihime caught a glimpse of it as he spoke this indirect appology, and it instantly healed her sadness at his mistake. Was it possible that he was sorry to have hurt her?
"Thanks!" She was instantly chipper again. "I didn't mean to get so upset by it, I know you didn't go out of your way to hurt me Ulquiorra. You're not that kind of guy, I can tell it by your eyes." More merry giggling.
"I have nothing to gain by causing you trauma."
"I know, I know, right? So the weather isn't much of a conversation point. Let's see what else we have." She suddenly remembered one of the first problems she had when she arrived here. "Hey, Ulqui? Can I ask you a favor?
He made no verbal reply, but it was clear he was listening.
"It's just that there's no color here." She said, looking around the room. "Everything is so plain that it's kind of uncomfortable. Haven't you noticed?"
"It's not wo-" He began
"-th considering!" Orihime finished at the same time as him, and started laughing. "You're so guarded Ulquiorra. It's like you don't care about anything. Isn't there anything in the whole wide world that you like?"
"There are only three types of things in this world." Ulquiorra began. "The first are the people and resources that can be of use to Lord Aizen, which must be aquired. The second are those who could stand as an obstacle before Lord Aizen, which must be eliminated. Finally, there are those things which lack any value to Lord Aizen; utter trash that is unworthy of thought or consideration."
"The way you think only of Aizen, it's almost like you're in love with him." Orihime said dreamily.
"Don't be absurd."
"But what about you, Ulquiorra? You're a good person, why don't you try living for yourself?" When he gave her his usual look of incomprehension, she tried to elaborate. "Suppose there was no Aizen? How would you live?"
"To live without Lord Aizen?" Ulquiorra didn't understand this woman. How was she capable of making him question things he'd always held to be absolute. It infuriated and confused him. "I cannot imagine it."
"Didn't you live without him before?"
"Logic indicates that I did, but I have no memory of my life before."
"Try to remember, okay? I want to try and teach you how to see the beaty in things! It's not all trash!" She blushed a little bit as she added. "I'd like to see you smile, Ulquiorra. No living creature is without emotion."
Ulquiorra knew that it would accomplish nothing to explain logic to a breed of creature as illogical as a human teenage girl, so he simply responded with: "If that is what you require, it is what I will attempt."
"Okay then! But I expect a really serious try! Don't forget that you're Aizen's numero cuatro Espada!" Their time together was drawing to an end, and at length Ulquiorra stood to leave. As he reached the doorway he turned to face her one final time.
"I will see to your request of having more color added to your room."
"Thank you so much. It truly means a lot to me. Oh! And thank you for talking to me. You're not as bad at small talk as you think and… and I really feel like I know you a little better now." He said nothing in response simply turned and walked away. She needn't have thanked him for simply doing as he was ordered.
"Oh darn!" Orihime declared to herself after he'd left. "I really should have taught him how to say goodbye properly, too."
Scene change
Ulquiorra couldn't stop thinking as he walked down the long corridors of Aizen's castle, trying to comprehend why that woman cared so deeply about such insignificant things. While he didn't understand it, he could see now that Aizen was correct, these small changes seemed to have increased her vitality. Could it be that there truly was some importance in all of this 'greeting' and 'small talk' nonsense? Perhaps it merited research. A few yards ahead of him, walking in the opposite direction he caught sight of another Arrancar: one with whom there was no love lost. The man walked with his usual arrogant stride, the lower right portion of his face concealed by his hollow's mask. Upon approaching Ulquiorra, this man-Grimmjow Jeagerjaques- flashed an irritated smile.
"Ulquiorra." He said smugly. "Been a good dog as usual?"
"Hiya, Grimmjow, having a good day? It's great to see you again." He repeated Orihime's words a second time, with his usual monotonous voice. The other Espada gave him the most peculiar look he'd ever encountered.
"Ulquiorra, did you… Did you hit your head or something?" As he finished this sentence he doubled over in mad laughter, hooting merrily and grabbing his sides.
"How strange, it seems that Arrancar react to this greeting in the same way as humans." Ulquiorra mused this point silently and walked away. Grimmjow finally calmed down a short time later, and continued on his way.
"Good god." He said, his sides stitched from the excessive laughter. "That made my day."