Chapter 3 - Interruption of the Scarlet Sea

(Orihimes POV)

When Ulquiorra left me in that corridor, I really don't know what to do. Everything happened too soon and I barely felt his reiatsu when he came. Why did he even tried to attend school? Shouldn't he be hiding from Soul Society? Argh. This is too much and now, he left me in the vast of nowhere, not knowing how to act when he told me he wanted to start a new life.

So, days passed and I can't help but to just stare at him indifferently like the way I look at my other classmates but something inside me tells me that I shouldn't let myself continue to act like he is one of us. He's an arrancar wearing a gigai, hiding his true self. When Uryu and the others question me about Ulquiorra, I simply smile at them and tell them that they're mistaken for telling that the new guy is still the fourth espada. The reason I defend against them is that he possess no powerful spiritual pressure unlike the Ulquiorra in Las Noches. Tell them it's different now Orihime.

Tell them.

Most of the time, I see Ulquiorra all by himself, either reading a book or twirking his newfound device, the celphone. I'd giggle to myself internally when my imagination assumes what he was doing with his black mobile phone. During class, he eagerly writes on his notebook, but I'm sure it's nothing connected to the lessons. He knows those lessons already. During class exams, he'd get the highest grade and the girls would start asking for his phone number but as always, he'd stay cold towards them.

It seems that Ulquiorra lived an utterly normal life for the past 2 months in his stay in Karakura High and to take note, we never talked. Soul Society knew of this and they decided to let him stay this way, it's for the better and I have to agree. Kurosaki-kun and the others stopped spying on him and decided that he's no threat so we managed to live normally.

One day, a girl named Kamillah Hische came rolling at school. She was the newest student in Karakura High. She's fairly odd though, possessing a very scarlet red hair and violet eyes, she already caught every boy's attention. To my dismay, she also caught Kurosaki-kun and Ishida-kun's attention but that was not what disturbed me though, it was the unusual spiritual pressure she possessed. Even Kuchiki-san and Kurosaki-kun could not determine how strong it was or how weak it was, if it belonged to hollow or a shinigami. Kamillah was cheerful and outgoing and it surprised me when Ulquiorra-san found himself a companion. They'd sit together during lunch, Kamillah telling Ulquiorra some stories and Ulquiorra never spoke yet it was obvious he gave her his full attention.

Ichigo, Rukia, Chad, Orihime and Uryu sat in a quiet place behind the school building. Ichigo flipped his mobile phone and dialled Urahara-san's number.

"Urahara-san. It's me, Ichigo." Ichigo was holding his phone, calling Urahara in a loud speaker mode.

"Ah- Ichigo, how pleasant to receive a call from you. So what business do you have?"

"Its this, Urahara-san, we seemed to be feeling one weird spiritual pressure around here in Karakura High."

"I'll be right there." Urahara hung up.

"What?!" before Ichigo could utter another word, Urahara was already standing infront of them.
"Don't do that! What if someone saw you!" Ichigo ranted. Everyone agreed.

"The spiritual pressure is tickilish, don't you agree?" Urahara noted.

"What do you mean?" Rukia answered back.

"A Menos." Urahara told them. "An arrancar is here."

"Wait, do you mean Ulquiorra?" Orihime told him.

"No, I sealed off Ulquiorra's spiritual pressure, he is incapable of releasing any reiatsu actually."

"So you mean, there is a hollow at loose?" Uryu asked.

"I believe so, Ishida-san. And from where I am feeling it, it's comming from over..." Urahara turned around to pick up the strong waves of reiatsu from the area. Everyone was eager to know whre it came from and then a particular scarlet blaze of locks came rushing infront of them, twenty meters away.

"There!" Urahara loudly pointed to the new girl's direction.

"K-Kamillah-chan?!" Orihime and Rukia gasped.

"I'm afraid so, ladies." Urahara answered and looked back at them. "My job's done here, it's time to do yours." and with that. Urahara left instantly the way he appeared infront of them.

Kamillah looked at the group's direction and waved at them with a sweet smile of her own. Orihime just waved back to ensure they dont get caught off guard by this newfound arrancar in Karakura High.

"Maybe that's the reason why she seemed to be close to Ulquiorra?" Chad told them.

Ichigo nodded. "Maybe I'll give our hunch a try." he stood up and headed over to the scarled-haired girl.

"Hi Kamillah-chan." Ichigo smiled at her.

"Ne, good noon Ichigo-kun!" Kamillah's odd highpitched voice was full of glee.

"So, where are you headed off to?"

"Uh, I was on my way to give this bento to Ulqui-san."

"A bento?"

"Hm... yup! He told me he loves something oriental in taste so I made him some of these specialty rice balls."

"Ulquiorra asked you to make him a bento?"

"Not directly though, but I guess we can put it that way."

"Well, goodluck Kamillah-chan. I hope you enjoy your lunch with Ulquiorra."

"Haha. Thanks Ichigo-kun!" Kamillah bowed her head to Ichigo and merrily skipped away with the long sea of scarlet hair billowing behind her.

"Ulquiorra... asked for a bento? Now that's weird." Ichigo whispered to himself as he walked back to the group to relay what he just found out.

(Ulquiorra's POV)

After telling that woman that I wanted to start a new life, she seemed to have her distance away from me. The place where my hollow hole once resided felt utterly weird. It felt painful in a way but it never bled. It throbs everytime I see her happy without me by her side. That woman has cursed me to feel longing, to feel sadness and despair, that woman has cursed me to feel every emotion that Aizen-sama disregarded from me. There is this feeling of lust and selfishness that overwhelms me whenever I catch that woman looking my direction. I wanted to tear her smiles from her face and replace them blankly or impale her innocent eyes to make sure she never takes another sight of me.

Anyhow, I am satisfied about my life with Urahara, that odd man. He recently gave me a device which humans referred to as a 'celphone'. He told me things that I can do with that device. It actually looked like the remote of Aizen-sama which he uses to change the security camera in Las Noches. I have found out that this celphone could actually store captured images, which is similar to the function of my left eye and send various messages to other humans who possess the device as well. My stay in Urahara had been most efficient, by the way. Yoruichi, who was living with Urahara, was abruptly too noisy and she actually reminded me of the scarlet haired arrancar who I have known long before I was tasked to take the woman to Las Noches.

2 years ago...

Ulquiorra had so far endured and survived another worthless meeting with Aizen and the other espadas in which they only talked about enhancing their physical structures. Since when and why would the espadas need to be conscious about their looks anyway? Grimmjow was far too inclined with the topic that he suggested certain lower arrancars should be trained to specialize in enhancing hairstyles for espadas. How pathetic it was for Ulquiorra to even stay in that conference hall just to hear the other espadas, especially Yammy, complain to Aizen about their body structure. Three hours of mental torture until Aizen finally found a cue to dismiss the espadas. What a relief it was for the fourth espada who hurriedly sonido-ed to his room, but his mind was in a complete clatter that he suddenly entered the wrong room when he made a wrong turn to the espada's quarters. Opening the door, he found himself in a well-lit room, surely it wasnt his.

"Kyaaah! Schiffer-sama! Sumimasen, but what're you doing here?!" a red-haired female arrancar yelled on top of her lungs. Suddenly, Ulquiorra sonido-ed himself to cover the mouth of the female arrancar who was gasping for air.

"Such rude actions to deliver infront a superior, hollow."

"Ne- don't call me hollow! I'm a numero atleast, numero segunda-septima; Kamillah Hische, sire."

"Segunda septima? Who is your superior, fraccion?"

"I don't have one yet, but I'm actually ineterested being a fraccion for Szayelapporo-sama!" Kamillah smiled. She had the same arrancar remains with Ulquiorra but hers did not cover her head half all the way through.

"I shall take you as my fraccion from now on. However, I shall only call your service when utterly needed."

Kamillah's eyes grew wide. "Really Schiffer-sama?"

"Yes."

"Yey! Can I call you nii-san, Schiffer-sama?"

"I can allow that only if there are no other arrancars around."

"So what'd I do for you now?"

"Make an arrancar uniform, for a human girl in particular."

That arrancar girl called me nii-san most of the time and she was also the arrancar behind the woman's meals. The arrancar would be the one telling me the human girl's 'feminine' needs and that scarled-haired arrancar would usually wash the woman's clothes. Kamillah. She has been too loyal to her superior and later, I learned how her death turned out to be. Her family was brutally murdered by a gang of her father's company rivals and she was raped and tied up with chains with a huge block of metal hanging from the chains. A long rope was tied around her neck and her body was pushed down to a cliff, strangling her. But before she was tortured and killed, her brother had promised to return from where he was working in a foreign place.

Kamillah had once told me that I reminded her of her brother, Sokona, so I allowed her to call me nii-san for some unknown reasons.

I remember when she reported to me that the human girl was having nightmares. Nightmares? I supposed that the woman had been tossing and turning in her sleep. I got up from where I was seated to proceed to her room but Kamillah told me not to wake the human up and just comfort her with a soft caress. That arrancar is ridiculous. But I still felt the urge to try what she had told me.

A soft caress.

The woman was indeeed tossing her head sideways, she was in absolute abyss of a nightmare. Her hair had grown a bit, an inch perhaps, she has lost a weight because of her defyance to eat yet she was still beautiful. What? Did I just think that she's- No. I did not. But watching her sleep disturbingly gave a chill in my spine to calm her. A soft caress. I lifted my hand from my pocket and touched her back. Her shoulders tensed a bit but that eventually stopped her tossing.

A soft caress. Yes, now I know.

When the other espadas disappeared, their fraccions died as well. However, I did not ask for Kamillah to help me battle Ichigo Kurosaki. She did not know what happened so I assumed she still resides in Las Noches. When I was allowed to take the limiter bracelet off, I immidiately opened a garganta back to Las Noches and brought Kamillah to the human world as well. I needed her for a huge plan to be put to action.

"RRRIIIINNNGGG!"

It was the second bell which signifies the lunch break has ended, soon enough, every hallway in Karakura High was packed with teens chattering the latest gossips and stories. Among those walking students was Inoue Orihime. She really had been thinking about a lot lately. The appearance of the menos, Kamillah, and how she instinctively talked much with Ulquiorra. Are they planning to do something hollow-like? Orihime gave a soft sigh but eventually bumped into the chest of the pale tall arrancar.

"U-Ulquiorra-san." she nervously stated.

Ulquiorra did not reply but he slipped a small note into her hand and walked away. Orihime was stunned. They never talked for two months and now she just bumped into him in the hallway with him leaving her a piece of paper. It was then that she realized that the corridors were empty and the classes will start soon. Giving a soft sigh for the second time, she looked at the note but decided not to open it yet. She slipped it into her pocket and headed to her classroom.

"...the human body is a wonderful factory of different products. The lungs provide air as the brain provides the idea. Our cells... blah blah blah." the teacher has once again created a sea of words that Orihime could not absorb. It was two o'clock in the afternoon and the breeze turns the classroom into a sleepish atmosphere. The auburn-haired girl cannot keep her focus on the lessons, scribbling such spirals and horizontal jagged lines in her notebook. There was a buzzing sound of students chatting and not paying attention to the teacher, but a monotonous voice has surpassed the urge to drift into a sleep in her mind.

"The heart."

Ulquiorra clearly told the teacher. Orihime did not realize it was already recitation time and the teacher might have asked Ulquiorra a certain question. With all the words, why does it have to be the heart?

"The heart is the organ responsible for pumping the blood throughout the human body." Ulquiorra said. Orihime's eyes widened. "It is a muscle in your left chest, about the size of your fist. It has four chambers, the ventricles and the atriums, repectively." she shook her head. He was definetely talking about the heart. "Every human posses a heart, and it is what makes humans defy orders so much as well as reverse the true destiny of one being, may it be a normal human or a supernatural being." Now that really made Orihime flinch internally. The girls started whispering about what Ulquiorra said last.

"Er- Very well said, Mr. Schiffer. But would you mind telling the class what it is about your final statement?" the teacher asked. The whispering of the class became more louder than before.

Ulquiorra looked at the teacher with his evergreen eyes, then looked at Ichigo, Rukia, Uryu and Sado. His gaze turned to Kamillah who was smiling so wide, as if it was Gin Ichimaru's carbon copy smile. And lastly, he looked at Orihime, who was looking back at him with a confused face.

"Dang, what is he up to?" Ichigo whispered to Uryu. The quincy shook his head.

"I would mind actually and I think it is better if we keep it to ourselves." Ulquiorra replied to the teacher who froze in his stance as Ulquiorra sat down. Orihime seemed to be stunned as well.

"Well then, thank you anyway Mr. Schiffer, class who could tell me the function of the..." the teacher proceeded to his lessons. Ulquiorra shot his notebook open and began to write something. Orihime was really really really speechless at the moment. Why did Ulquiorra say that he wanted to keep something to themselves? And what the heck is he really referring to? Her thoughts were disturbed when a sudden heat in her pocket. She remembered that she slipped Ulquiorra's mysterious note in her pocket so she opened the note. Looking at it for a moment, she was again lost in confusion.

"SWINGS. 4PM."

She scratched her cheek as she tied to decipher what that cursived writing of Ulquiorra meant when he said swings. Then she smiled as she remembered the nearby playground. She smiled in triumph. She was finally going to get to talk to him.