Title: The Rain that Binds
Pairings: UlquiHime with a bit of IchiRuki and some one-sided IchiHime and IshiHime. Other pairings may be added later.
Rating: T
Spoilers: Up to chapter 282 of the manga
Word count: 3,595
Warnings: Noitora's potty mouth

A/N: Hello everyone! I just wanted to say thanks for the reviews that I have received so far! They have really motivated me to get these chapters out as fast as I can. I noticed that a lot of people of who watch/favorite this story have not left reviews. Although the favorites/watches are flattering as well, I would really like your input! So please, if you can, review! With that said, here is chapter 3!


Humming, Orihime stirred the umemoshi into the curry. She was glad to be back home, cooking her own food. The aroma was spreading into every corner of the apartment. In the next room, she could hear Hitsugaya gag loudly, although she had no idea what from. Shrugging it off, she added a generous helping of ketchup and some red beans as a special treat.

It was also good to be back in school after having been gone for about two weeks, or at least, that is how long her classmates had told her she had been gone. Chiyo had started wailing, telling Orihime that she missed her while Tatsuki pried the girl off. Tatsuki expressed her relief at her being back as well. She was relieved that the teacher did not make a big deal of her absence, writing it off as an illness before Orihime could even give an explanation. Of her nakama, she was the only who had gone to school, not that it surprised her much. They had all been injured badly, so they could not be expected to go.

' Kurosaki-kun…I wonder how he is doing, ' she thought.

He had been on her mind for most of the day. She kept thinking back to his fight with Grimmjow and how she had been frightened by his appearance when he had begun to fight with that strange Hollow-like mask. She was reminded of the question that she had asked herself at that time but had not been able to answer.

' How can I fear someone that I love?'

' I've thought about it for a while now. The only conclusion that I can reach is that, perhaps, I don't really lo…'

Orihime stopped herself before she could finish that thought. Instead, she decided to focus on the food in front of her, which looked like it was about ready to serve. She heard a noise to her left and saw Ulquiorra coming towards her with the bag in his hand.

" Woman. Is there some place where I can change clothes?" he asked her monotonously.

She blinked, looked over him once and replied, " Mm. In the back of the apartment there is a bathroom. The door is to the right. If you want, you can take a bath."

'Although,' she wondered, 'do Arrancar need to bathe?'

He nodded slightly and made his way to the bathroom, locking the door behind him. She stared at where he had been standing for a couple of seconds before returning her attention to the food on the stove. She stirred it two more times before deciding that it was finished. She called to Hitsugaya and Matsumoto, telling them that dinner was ready. Matsumoto rushed into the kitchen to help Orihime set the table.

"Eh? Where's Hitsugaya-kun?"

" Oh. Taichou decided that he wasn't too hungry at the moment. He'll just get something later if he needs it," Matsumoto explained.

Satisfied, Orihime and Matsumoto started to eat, talking about random things that didn't have any real significance. She couldn't help but feel a bit guilty that they had not waited for Ulquiorra before they started eating, even if she knew that Arrancar didn't need to eat. They stayed this way for a few hours, just laughing and talking and eating. When they were done, they put the dishes away, and Matsumoto started to return to the other room until Orihime stopped her.

"Um…Rangiku-san? What is it that you and Hitsugaya-kun are doing in that room?" she asked. She had been wondering this ever since she had gotten home and had seen the two hunched over something out of her view, whispering to each other.

"Ah! Don't worry about that, Orihime-chan! Just some shinigami business involving a certain green eyed Arrancar," Matsumoro answered, winking. And with that, she returned to the other room.

Orihime then walked over to the table where her school bag was sitting and took out the huge stack of makeup work that had accumulated while she had been gone. An enormous sweatdrop formed. Although she was thankful that the teacher had given her the opportunity to make up the work that she had missed, she wondered if it was humanly possible to get it done in the time that it was due.

' How on earth am I supposed to get all this done in four days, along with the work I received today, ' she wondered wearily.

Deciding that staring at the homework would not help her get it done any faster, Orihime whipped out her pencil and eraser and got to work. She had just finished her fifth assignment, a math worksheet, when she heard a noise from the back of the apartment. Turning her head, she found a wet haired Ulquiorra, wearing the clothes that she had bought for him. Her eyes widened in surprise. She had never seen him in anything other than his black and white Arrancar uniform, so to see him something else, something with color, was surprising. Everything fit him perfectly, like it was made just for him. The green of the shirt made his eyes stand out, even more so than they already did, and the black slacks hugged his form and showed more of his figure than the hakama had. She could feel herself flush ever so slightly.

' The clothes looked decent on the rack, but when they are on him, he makes them look…elegant,' she thought.

He noticed her staring at him and said, " …what?'

Shaking herself out of her daze and turning her head to try and hide the blush that was forming, this time from embarrassment, she replied, " N…nothing, Ulquiorra. How did your bath go? Did you find everything ok?"

He nodded in response and went to sit down at the table where she had been doing her homework. Orihime decided to follow him, sat back down in the seat she had been in just a minute ago, and tried to get back to the assignment she had been working on. Tried being the operative word; it was very hard to work on something when you could feel a pair of eyes on you at all times, scrutinizing everything that you do.

' Well, ok. Maybe that last part is a bit of an exaggeration, but still,' she thought, desperately trying to ignore his piercing gaze, 'it's really hard to concentrate with him staring at me like that. I feel like he is going to pounce over the table and strangle me or something.'

Eventually, the weight of his stare became too much for her and she lifted her head to look at him.

" Is something wrong?"

"…No."

" Then why do you keep staring at me?" Orihime demanded.

" It's not as though I have much else to do, correct?" he replied.

She could feel herself blush for the second time in ten minutes at his response. The palm of her hand met her forehead with a light slap. It had never even crossed her mind that she should at least offer him something to occupy himself with. She knew better than anyone what it was like to be left alone with nothing to do for hours on end but to stare at something, anything, to keep you from going insane. In her case, it had been the moon outside the solitary window of her room. For him, it was to stare at her. Orihime was about to answer him when he started talking to her again.

" What is that?" he replied, his eyes glancing at the piece of homework that she had been working on.

" Oh this?" she asked, picking up the paper and looking it over. " It's just some make up work for school that I need to get done."

" Hm," he said, nodding slightly. " What exactly is this 'make up work'?"

' He sure is inquisitive. Much more than usual. I guess having nothing to do for the whole day can get on a per…being's nerves, even an Arrancar,' she decided.

" Well," Orihime started, placing a finger to her lips while trying to figure out a way to explain it to him that he would understand, " makeup work is kinda like…a mission …or maybe...more like writing a mission report. But because I have been gone for so long, I have a lot to do."

" How much time have you been given to finish?"

" Four days," she replied, frowning.

Ulquiorra stared at her and then at the stack of paper on the table and then back to her again. He continued to stare at her for a few seconds before he finally responded.

" That is not humanly possible."

And with that, he got up from the table and walked over to stare out the window, leaving her with her huge stack of homework. She sighed.

' Well, at least that's something that both of us can agree on.'


All the Espada, minus the two that had been killed and the one that had defected, stood in Aizen's chambers, waiting for him to arrive. They knew that he would be furious, even if he didn't show it. Actually, it was more unnerving that he didn't; instead, he would look down at them with that fake fatherly smile and calmly ask them what had gone wrong. It wasn't long before they could hear the clicking of three sets of heels approaching them. Three figures stepped into the brightness of the room, revealing three shinigami: Ichimaru Gin, Tousen Kaname, and, last of all, Aizen Sosuke. Aizen took his seat, high above the ground where the Espada were standing, while Ichimaru and Tousen stood to either side of him.

" Well, now. Someone has got some explaining to do," Ichimaru replied, a twisted smile on his face.

" My dear Espada," Aizen started, his eyes glancing over them, " it would seem that we have lost three from our ranks…"

" Well, fuck. We can see that for ourselves," Noitora muttered to the Arrancar next to him, who happened to be Halibel. She said nothing in response.

"…Aaroniero Arleri, novena Espada, and Grimmjow Jeagerjacques, sexta Espada, who were both defeated by the ryoka …"

There was some muttering among the Espada. It had not been a surprise that Aaroniero had been defeated; he was a Gillian after all. What surprised them was Grimmjow's defeat. While he was not the highest ranked Espada, he had had a fighting spirit like none of the others did, although others had called him bloodthirsty.

" …and Ulquiorra Schiffer, cuatra Espada, who willingly betrayed us to help the girl, Inoue Orihime, and the ryoka to escape Hueco Mundo. Pity, he had been my perfect creation," he finished, a light sigh escaping his lips.

All the Espada started chatting at once, filling the once silent chamber.

" Ulquiorra?"

" I saw it with my own…"

"Help the ryoka?"

"…can't believe…"

Aizen held his hand up and the room fell silent again. The Espada returned their attention to him.

" Yes, it was a shock for me to hear that he betrayed us like this. However, we cannot let this loss keep us from moving forward and attaining our goal. It would seem that we would be needing a new novena, sexta, and cuatra Espada, though."

Aizen stood up, effectively ending the meeting, and returned back to his quarters, Tousen and Ichimaru following his lead. Most of the Espada followed suit, returning to their respective quarters, but a few remained behind.

" I can't believe that Aizen is doing nothing about that little bitch's betrayal," Noitora replied harshly. " You know that if any of the rest of us had done less than that, he would have fucking had us killed."

" Ulquiorra is different. He was Aizen's most trusted Espada," Halibel replied.

Noitora snorted. " Yeah, and look where he is now. On Earth, with Pet-sama and her nakama, probably spilling all our secrets to them just to save his ass."

" Your opinion of him is that low, Noitora? How sad," Stark interjected, gaining the attention of the other two. " Ulquiorra would never reveal anything concerning Aizen-sama or us Arrancar even if he has betrayed us. No matter what means the shinigami try to use to get information out of him, none will succeed."

He left Noitora to think on this while Halibel stood next to him silently. Resigned, he turned to his companion and the two walked out of the throne room.


Orihime had finished a good portion of the homework that she had to make up, leaving the pile of work that needed to be completed a third of its original size. Thankfully, most of the work had consisted of worksheets, which did not take too much time to complete. Feeling the tightness in her muscles from being hunched over for such a long period of time, she decided to take a little break and stood up, stretching.

" Aah! That felt good!" she said out loud to herself. " At the rate that I am going, I may actually be able to get this turned in on time."

She turned to see that Ulquiorra had not moved from his position since she had started to do her homework again. He continued to stare out the window, although what he was staring at exactly was anyone's guess. She could see that the moon was hidden by the clouds, and there would be nothing else of interest outside other than a few random buildings that were scattered on the horizon.

' I wonder what he is thinking about. Does he regret saving us?' she wondered.

Before she had the chance to ask him anything, she saw Hitsugaya and Matsumoto walking towards her, a serious look on both their faces. She knew that whatever they had to talk to her about was serious.

" Orihime-chan. Can we talk to you for a minute?"

She nodded lightly and followed the two to the room they had occupied for most of their stay. Indicating that she should take a seat, Orihime sat on the floor, the two joining her soon afterward, and waited for them to start.

" Inoue, you know that Matsumoto, Renji, and myself had a meeting while you were gone, right?" Hitsugaya inquired and seeing her nod, continued, " Well, we were joined by Urahara-san and Yoruichi-san."

" I see. So, what did you decide to do about Ulquiorra?"

"Well, he refused to tell us anything other than that he is no longer loyal to Aizen. Urahara-san has suggested that we ask help from Yamamoto-taichou to extract information from the former Espada," explained Matusmoto.

She nodded again, not knowing what else to add, until what Matsumoto told her finally clicked in her head.

" Wait! No longer loyal to Aizen? What does that mea…" Orihime began before Hitsugaya cut her off.

" We are not sure what he means by that, but to be on the safe side, it is best to think of him as still loyal to Aizen. If not, it might be too tempting to lower your guard around him. But that is not the only reason that we asked you to come here."

He stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out the remote control-like device.

" Before Urahara-san left, he gave this to us, saying that we should pass it on to you," he explained. " He did not tell us what this object is capable of, though. He only said that it would help protect you in the event that Matsumoto and I are not around."

Hitsugaya looked at Matsumoto and she continued where he left off.

" The thing is, Orihime-chan, there is a high possibility that whatever this device does is not something very pleasant. Taichou and I were worried that if this were the case, you would not be willing to use it on the former Espada. We discussed the issue over and considered keeping the device between the two of us; but, it appears that only you can use it."

" How do you know that? Unless…" she said, her eyes widening in realization.

They nodded. " Yes," Hitsugaya confirmed. " We tried to use it already. However, considering that nothing happened when either of us tried and considering that Urahara-san mentioned specifically that this was for you, it would seem that you are the only one who can use it."

" I see," she replied blankly, " I will have to thank Urahara-san the next time I see him."

The three stared at the object for a moment before Hitsugaya placed it in Orihime's hand. She shivered when it touched her hand. It was cold and metallic, but worst of all, it held the potential to do who-knows-what to a certain green eyed Arrancar.

' I still don't like this. What if this device does something terrible, like rip him to shreds or something like that?' she thought sadly, ' No matter what he has said or done to me, it doesn't justify something like that. After all, Ulquiorra is the reason that we were able to escape from Hueco Mundo.'

She turned her gaze back to Hitsugaya and Matsumoto. It appeared that they were not quite finished talking to her yet. The way they were staring at her made her stomach tighten. Somehow, she knew what they were going to tell her.

" You want me to try this on him, don't you?" she asked a bit fearfully.

" It's not going to kill him, if you're worried about that," the blonde fukutaichou replied. " I doubt Urahara-san wouldn't have given you something like that."

Orihime nodded, although she did not feel any better about the whole situation. The three then stood up and walked over to the room where Ulquiorra was still standing by the window, except that he was already facing them. Although his face appeared no different than normal, Orihime had the feeling that he was looking at them suspiciously.

" …What?"

" Um, Ulquiorra. Can you come here for a second please?" she asked, even though she could see out the corner of her eyes the look of confusion from the two shinigami on either side of her.

" Why?"

" If you don't come here willingly, we can always use force and drag you over here ourselves, you know," Matsumoto replied.

He stared at her and Hitsugaya coldly before he started to make his way over to the three, stopping a few feet away from them. Orihime could see him staring at her but she avoided his eyes. Instead, she looked at the remote control-like object and, taking a deep breath, pushed the single button in the center, all the while hoping that whatever it did would not be anything too horrible. After a couple of seconds, she then heard a loud THUMP and looked to where Ulquiorra had been standing only a second ago, only to find that he was not there.

" Ha ha ha ha ha! I can't believe we got all worked up over nothing, taichou. It figures that Urahara-san would pull something like this," the fukutaichou said through the bouts of laughter.

Orihime turned to the two, confused. Matsumoto was clutching her stomach while tears rolled down her face. Hitsugaya didn't laugh, but there was a smirk of amusement plastered on his face. The two sensed her confusion and pointed to the floor in front of her. Suddenly their amusement made sense. Lying face down on the floor with his arms and legs held tightly against his body was the green eyed Arrancar. Orihime was torn between the urge to giggle or to go help him into a more comfortable position. In the end, she did both.

"I'm… so…sorry…Ulqui…orra…Here, let…me…help…you," she replied through her giggling.

With help from the two 10th squad members, they were able turn Ulquiorra over so that he was at least lying on his back. After they had finished, the two returned to the adjacent room, although Orihime could still hear Matsumoto's dying laughter. She walked up to him and sat about half a foot away.

" What do you think you are doing, woman?" he demanded, a bit wearily.

" I'm waiting until this…whatever this is wears off," she answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

He closed his eyes. " Foolishness."

She didn't reply; instead, a small smile formed and she let out a giggle, causing him to open his eyes and look at her. They sat in silence, Ulquiorra looking at the ceiling and Orihime watching him to see if he could move yet. She noticed that there were fine gossamer strands of reiatsu tightly binding his arms and legs to his body, all of them converging at a single point right above where his heart would be.

' So that explains why he's stuck like this…'

After about an hour, he moved his arms, breaking the strands, and pushed himself off the ground into a sitting position. He turned to see that she had fallen sleep where she had been sitting. Standing up, he contemplated moving her into a more comfortable position but decided against it. He walked over to the window he had standing next to earlier that evening and continued gazing at nothing in particular, his thoughts drifting to a certain storeowner.

" …I'm going to kill that shinigami." Ulquiorra muttered resolutely.