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What are the masked boy's intentions? Read on and you might find out!

Enjoy!

"Little girl, little girl
Why are you crying?

Inside your restless soul,
Your heart is dying"

"Dance with me."

"H-huh?" she sputtered.

"Judging by your behavior earlier, you gave me the impression that you desired to dance."

He was actually referring to the moment she had come running out of the restroom, but Orihime thought he was merely assuming it was the reason she was crying. Fortunately, the latter made Ulquiorra seem less like a stalker.

"Umm," it was true though.

The light duet of the glockenspiel and vibraphone caressed her ears, coaxing her feet to take feathery steps and entice her to dance with the somewhat cheerful, but sad music.

As they neared the stairs, the masked boy suddenly paused in his step, causing Orihime to nearly imprint her face into his back.

"Hold onto me, onna," he continued to demand.

At first, she blushed faintly due to his bluntness, but after processing his tone, Orihime puffed her cheeks up at him in irritation. If he was going to be rude to her like this, she saw no reason to hang out with him any longer.

"Quickly," he insisted.

What a pushy person! She sighed aloud, deciding to swallow her pride and comply to his wishes. It's not like she was going to be able to dance with Ichigo at this rate. Her heart still felt broken after seeing him dancing with Rukia. Though, in exchange…

"Tell me your name first," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly.

She saw green orbs swivel to the side to look at her, "You will never see me again. It is meaningless to reveal my identity to you at a masquerade ball."

He did have a point.

Well if that were the case, Orihime supposed it would be acceptable to dance with a stranger just once. She felt a strange, dark forbidden exhilaration in the idea. Something about dancing with a handsome, masked, sophisticated youth intrigued her.

Reluctantly, she placed a gloved hand daintily on his elbow and then slipped it through the crook of his arm while his hands rested unmoving in his pocket. She felt heat rise to her face as she pulled herself closer to him.

He's warm.

Slowly, they placed one foot in front of the other in synch as they stepped down the stairs. As they neared the last flight of stairs, myriads of masked people ceased their idle conversations to crane their necks at the couple who descended down the stairs. People began to hush gossip and speculate them, causing more people to pause in their laughter and chatting to see what the commotion was.

"Isn't that Ulquiorra Cifer?"

"Yes, that's his signature hairstyle!"

"Ahh, his coat tails too!"

"I heard he wears the same mask at every event. Are those green tear streaks? And a horn! How mysterious."

"Who is the girl beside him? Wasn't she the one that fell flat on her face earlier?"

Orihime felt blood rush to her face and settle in her ears. She lowered her head in shame upon hearing the crowd around her murmur and jeer at her antics. As they brushed past gorgeously-dressed women and well-mannered men, the crowd separated to give them way, whispering amongst themselves about the sudden appearance of the famous Ulquiorra Cifer.

'Wait, his name is Ul..quiorra… Cifer?' she took a few moments to mentally practice saying his name over and over again before addressing him.

"Keep your head up, onna. You will soil my reputation," he breathed lowly so that their audience wouldn't hear.

Orihime snapped her head up and gazed confidently in front of her, the images of strangers blurring into her peripheral vision. 'That's right! I came here to have fun and I will have it with or without Kurosaki-kun!'

Puffing her cheeks up once more, she stuck her chin up higher, hoping she was giving off the same atmosphere Rukia emitted earlier. Though to Orihime's disappointment, due to the achingly slow pace they were going to make a greater impression on the people around her, the song she wanted to dance to ended.

"Is it true that Cifer-san has never been seen without his mask?" a certain rumor piqued Orihime's interest as she passed an unfamiliar guest.

"Oh yeah! I bet he's really handsome… No one has seen him anywhere else other than…," the responder's voice faded away into the background as a new song overlapped her sentence. Orihime kept walking, her arm in the subject of everyone's eyes.

"Ul…quiorra…?" she tested mumbling his name, rolling the r's with her little tongue. It was a strange taste having his name on her tongue. One barrier had been broken between them. She finally got to know his name and it definitely made him seem more elegant and refined. She wondered what country he was from…

He shifted his eyes down to look at her silently in response as they walked to the center of the room.

"Is that… true? You never take your mask off in public?" She looked up at him quizzically, silver swimming with curiosity in her eyes.

His green eyes swiveled forward to his destination, "Never. Not even in private."

Suddenly, a vision of the notorious Ulquiorra Cifer shopping with a fancy, blank mask at the local grocery store popped into her imagination and she barely stifled a laugh. Her face contorted strangely as she attempted to hinder the ongoing visions of him going through every day activities with a mask on.

"How do you find that amusing?" he inquired plainly without looking at her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she covered her mouth delicately to help muffle her giggle. She knew she should be behaving, but she always thought this Ulquiorra guy was a bit too serious, "I just imagined how you do your daily things with a mask on... Like pooping!"

Ulquiorra's eye twitched as she added the last part, "I have subordinates to take care of my errands."

"I see!" she chirped, the edges of her eyes crinkling as she smiled. She decided to not press on the subject knowing he must have some reason to hide his identity. 'Must be a celebrity thing,' she mused.

Ulquiorra glanced at her and felt his cold heart pulse once throughout his body almost painfully. He visibly shuddered, wondering what had just happened.

He felt he needed to satisfy his craving. And soon.

Upon reaching the center, the crowd had dispersed to form a circle around them. People swayed in their spot in an attempt to find a better view of Ulquiorra and Orihime as they made their grand entrance. This included a particular strawberry-head and short-haired girl.

Ulquiorra removed his hand from his pocket and motioned Orihime to stay where she was as he stepped a few steps back, his expression blank behind his mask.

"Ah! Wait, Ulquiorra!" Orihime's face underneath her midnight mask heated up in nervousness. Her heart beat rapidly and loudly in her chest, "I don't know how to dance…" she admitted.

Ulquiorra continued to stare at her. The girl appeared to be excited to dance not long ago and now she was hesitating. He watched as she fidgeted anxiously in front of him having to bear the weight of hundreds of pairs of eyes scrutinizing her. He sighed internally.

"Just follow my lead, onna."

She nodded marginally and took a deep breath, avoiding the stares of her observers. Orihime just wanted to dance. She didn't expect the whole room to be watching her!

A twinkling of bells started to play a mellow melody along with the grand piano and a small choir of angelic voices. ''Ice' by Yuki Kajiura', Orihime thought to herself. Her heart squeezed with the rush of adrenaline. It was the perfect song.

Her green-eyed companion held out his gloved hand to her, his eyes dull without emotion. Orihime took it without hesitation, her silver eyes never leaving the emeralds behind his mask. Politely, she held her dress in one hand and bowed as he did in return, his arm tucked under his chest as he bent over. He pulled her body close to his, their lips only a few inches apart, and wrapped an arm around her waist to place his hand at the small of her back. His breath tickled her lips as her caramel-brown hair swayed behind her from the sudden movement.

Orihime's eyes widened under her mask and her heart started to beat at an unnatural rate. She feared for a moment that she would faint.

Raising the hand that held hers up to her shoulder, his gaze softened as he sighed between parted black lips as she continued to look into his eyes in pure awe. Tenderly, he took the first step forward and the girl complied with his silent initiation. As he stepped forward, she stepped back. When the gloved hand left her back, she twirled gracefully in response only to return to the arms of the stranger who caught her with care and kindness. Hand in hand, they continued to dance and spin, their image reflected in the enchanted eyes of the party's participants.

Orihime's eyes never left his; feeling trapped within those cold, viridian eyes. Once again, his hand left her back and she twirled outwards, her other hand still in his, and spun inwards to lean against his chest. With her back against his chest, she tilted her head up, relishing in the feeling of his warm, hard chest that harbored his beating heart. Looking into his eyes, a blanket of sorrow and loneliness covered her, choking her and yet intensifying the moment. Her consort continued to step to the rhythm of the music with her in his arms, his ebony hair occasionally brushing against locks of gold and scarlet and tickling her ears.

They continued to sway together, savoring the sound of each other's quiet, labored breathing, and relishing in the warmth that radiated from their bodies as they moved in synch. They seemed to be talking without speaking, their bodies understanding each other, predicting the next move flawlessly. It was beautiful and tragic to see two strangers rendezvousing on the dance floor, aware of the inevitable fate that they will never see past the masks that hid their identity.

As Orihime smiled widely at him, the music dwindled quietly to the duet of guitars and vibraphone. Ulquiorra continued to look at her steadily and coolly, but deep in his own soul, he felt the embers of an old fire blaze anew. Despite his stoic face, he was shocked to feel this forbidden sensation and knowing that the girl was the cause of it made him even more bewildered. He had enraptured many women before, but this girl was unlike any other.

The reentrance of the violin spurred up the climax of the song and Ulquiorra took this moment to grab her hand and spin her around once more. A flurry of black coat tails and the lacy hem of cerulean silk skimmed across the marble floors as they moved. The dim light of the room casted a mysterious shadow on their face, yet Orihime's fiery hair glowed like fire under the ambient lighting.

In the crowd, Ichigo and Rukia watched with tense muscles as Ulquiorra put Orihime under his spell.

"Rukia…" Ichigo gritted his teeth and clenched his hand into a fist in his pocket.

Rukia placed a consoling hand on his shoulder, "I know, Ichigo, but we can't do anything yet."

"What if he's going to—"

Rukia immediately moved her finger to the grinning lips of his mask to silence him. He relaxed under her touch and his brown eyes softened as he switched his gaze from Ulquiorra to her. Rukia blushed softly as his gaze suddenly made her feel self-aware. Unexpectedly, she kicked him right in his shin to quell the rapid beating of her heart. Ichigo cursed at her and hissed as he pulled his leg up to rub and soothe the pain.

"We won't let that happen," was all she said, ignoring Ichigo as he fumed. Rukia crossed her arms over her chest, "We just need to be more careful now."

…

"That was so fun!" Orihime skipped over to the edge of the balcony and spread her arms away from her body to feel the cold, wind rush through her. Dancing had made her feel hot and sweaty so she insisted dragging Ulquiorra outside with her.

"Say, Ulquiorra-kun…" she turned on her heel, hid her hands behind her back as she fidgeted, and averted her gaze as she blushed.

"I was wondering…," her face turned to an unnatural shade of red, "if we could be friends?"

Ulquiorra's eyes widened in surprise at her request, but quickly regained his composure. He stared at her with hard, green eyes, "Ridiculous. This is a masquerade, onna. We are never to see each other again," he paused for a moment and then continued, "When you refer to me, refer to me as Ulquiorra. Do not place me amongst your kind."

"Hai, hai, Ulquiorra," Orihime sang, nodding her head in comprehension. She was starting to get used to his harsh deliveries, but she couldn't help but wonder why Ulquiorra seemed to separate himself from humankind. She figured it was due to him being an elite.

The auburn-haired girl lifted her head to look at him. He was leaning against the balcony door, his hands in his pockets as he gazed into the endless landscape that lay in front of him. Before she could question herself why she was doing so, she took a few steps towards him. Ulquiorra fixated his hard stare on her glimmering, steel eyes, her creamy skin coated with an adorable blush.

Orihime untangled her hands from behind her back and reached up to place gentle fingers on his mask. She felt him flinch under her touch, but she didn't remove her hands and Ulquiorra remained unmoving along with his unreadable expression.

"I'm really curious…," she bit her lip as she slowly shifted his mask upward, but Ulquiorra smacked her hands away roughly with an arm.

"Don't touch me, onna," he spat. Ulquiorra shoved his hands back into his pockets and shut his eyes, closing his mind away from her beauty and the awful feeling scratching and bothering the pit of his abdomen.

Orihime rubbed her wrists distractedly even though she wasn't in pain.

'Oh!' her eyes lit up as a light bulb switched on in her brain.

"My name is not woman," she stated, peering at him with wide eyes, "My name is Inoue Orihime."

Ulquiorra opened his eyes again to look at her. He already knew her name. After all, he was the owner of the hotel and he had access to the guest list. Upon setting his eyes on her earlier, he had retrieved it, and with the help of his observational and critical thinking skills, he had eliminated all unlikely participants and found her name.

Ulquiorra parted his dark lips to speak, but was interrupted by the loud growling of Orihime's stomach. Orihime backed up and blushed profusely as she gripped at her noisy belly.

"You're hungry."

"Ahh ahh!" she whined as she flailed her hands around, flustered and embarrassed, "Well I didn't get to eat earlier…"

Ulquiorra leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes again, sighing in irritation. Women were such a handful, but he was sure this one would not disappoint him.

"Szayelaporro Granz," he called without moving or opening his eyes.

Immediately, from the shadows behind the curtains of the balcony door, a pink-haired man stepped out, a sadistic grin stretched from ear to ear. He wore no mask, unless you would count his glasses which seemed to be made out of bones. Half-lidded golden eyes glanced from Ulquiorra to Orihime and he smiled wider, baring his gleaming teeth. He was dressed in a white suit that clung to his skin, covering every inch of his body from his wrists to his neck.

Orihime was startled. She thought they were alone. Did he have people following him everywhere?

"Yes, Ulquiorra?" he inquired, his opal eyes not leaving Orihime's. She shifted her feet uncomfortably on the pavement underneath his sketchy stare.

"Fetch the girl some food and tell Grimmjow to retrieve a table and two seats for us," he ordered.

Szayel bowed politely to him and dismissed himself to execute his demands. Orihime watched as the pink-haired man disappeared inside the building, his suspicious aura following suit.

Before Orihime could speak, a spiky blue-haired man with a strong build carrying a small table on his shoulders and two chairs hanging from his other arm, stepped out of the darkness where Szayel had just disappeared into. To Orihime's surprise, he wasn't dressed formally, but was instead clad in a white tank top and some torn shorts. She assumed Grimmjow wasn't attending the party, but to Orihime's bewilderment, Grimmjow still had some sort of mask on: a gleaming, menacing jaw of a large feline fangs plastered onto a good fourth of his face.

"Oi, Ulquiorra. I brought your shit," he threw the 'shit' down unceremoniously, a loud clang echoed into the night as it hit the polished marble floor. Ulquiorra opened his eyes to glare at him.

Grimmjow turned to Orihime and examined her from head to toe, his head nodding in approval. Peering into her silver eyes, he grinned toothily and gave a hearty laugh.

"Oh man, Ulquiorra. You got a good one this time."

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't say any words that may instigate a misunderstanding, Grimmjow."

"Huh. Why haven't you…," he paused as he reexamined Orihime again through squinted eyes, "Why are you just having tea with her? Shouldn't you…"

"Leave," Ulquiorra bit out, letting anger seep into his tone. Grimmjow was going to ruin everything if he continued to run his mouth.

Grimmjow just shrugged and turned around to saunter back to wherever he had come from. After the surly guy had left, Ulquiorra pushed himself off the wall with his hands still in his pockets and motioned with his chin for Orihime to sit. Still in awe, she obeyed and sat down, placing her hands in her lap.

"Loly. Menoly," he called once more.

'Geez, how many servants did this guy have. He can't possibly be that rich…" Orihime fussed.

Two fraternal twins appeared this time, their black dresses similar to the Lolita style. A fragment of a mask covered one eye on each young face, leaving a fuchsia and azure eye to glare at Orihime. Though they looked to be the same age of Orihime, she felt intimidated by the black-haired girl who stared daggers at her. She shuddered underneath their scowl wondering why all of Ulquiorra's subordinates had some sort of dark vibe.

"Your tea," the blond-haired, blue-eyed one responded. She placed a tea set before Orihime and, to her delight, a tray full of delicacies. Orihime looked up at the black-haired twin questioningly, wondering what she was going to do.

"Why do you want me to serve that human," she sneered at Ulquiorra.

"You're dismissed," he deadpanned.

"Just—!"

Ulquiorra stepped up to her and merely shoved her roughly back inside. The black-haired girl squeaked in surprise, her sister gaping at Ulquiorra with wide, horrified eyes. The blonde stepped inside to help her sister steady her feet, her eyes looking fearfully at Ulquiorra. The pink-eyed girl glowered at Ulquiorra and bared her fangs at him, but Ulquiorra shut the doors on her before she could yell.

Orihime stared at Ulquiorra in shock. She figured he would be a rough person, but he treated his subordinates like… trash. Everything about Ulquiorra was shrouded in mystery and darkness and Orihime couldn't help, but wonder if she were dancing with the devil.

He gracefully pulled a chair out and seated himself, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Eat," he ordered.

Orihime was still stunned to the point where she couldn't comprehend his orders right away. She had immediately lost her appetite.

"I'm not hungry," she said.

Ulquiorra silently cursed himself. He had unintentionally scared the girl and that mistake would cost him.

Reluctantly, he reached across the table and picked up what seemed to him to be a glazed donut and analyzed it at eye level. Looking past the treat, he could see Orihime's dull eyes had suddenly lit up in inquisitiveness, the silver of her eyes matching the clouds that bordered the moon above her.

He absolutely hated sweets, but he decided to endure it for now.

Orihime watched with wide eyes as Ulquiorra plopped the donut into his mouth and felt her mouth water.

"Do you like donuts?" she asked.

"…yes," Ulquiorra's frown deepened. He chewed very slowly and carefully to make sure he wouldn't spit it out on impulse. He was sure it wouldn't matter if he lied to her since he was going to—

"Oooh I love donuts!" and just as Ulquiorra planned, she had grabbed her own and started to nibble on it happily. He wondered if she had completely forgotten what had happened a few minutes ago. The woman was too predictable.

"Especially ones filled with red bean paste and drizzled with chocolate on top… Ah! And a few sprinkles of course, but not too much because I like to dip my donuts in spicy mayonnaise and the sprinkles tend to cover the bittersweet taste of it. Oh, is this a Mille Crèpe? Wow! I've never had one of these before because they can be quite expensive. Wow… This is amazing! I want to compliment the chef!"

She continued to blabber and coo at the arrangement of treats Menoly had placed before her. Ulquiorra picked up his cup of tea and leaned back to drink it quietly while watching the girl stuff her mouth. Ulquiorra paid no mind to her aggravating nonsense. He remained as blank as a slate as ever, yet he couldn't deny that something had felt off.

The raven-haired boy decided to commit the dark deed now rather than continue to immerse himself in confusion every minute he spent with her. Whether the girl was prepared or not, his desire to suppress the scourge darkening his heart was surpassing his self-control.

When Orihime finished she patted her mouth free of crumbs and then rubbed her stomach, sighing contentedly. Noticing Ulquiorra was still watching her, she suddenly blushed in embarrassment, realizing how rude she was being.

"Thank you," she mumbled while shyly peering at him through her bangs.

He pushed his chair back and wandered to the edge of the balcony next to Orihime with his hands in his pockets. Orihime turned in her seat to look at him, admiring how lean and strong his figure looked from behind and the way the wind ran through his ebony hair, his coat tails slightly fluttering above the ground.

She got up from her chair and stood next to Ulquiorra, trying to see in the distance what he had been looking at, but all she saw was nothingness. The landscape that lay ahead of her was dark and unlit, though vast and empty.

Before she knew it, Ulquiorra had gripped her wrists and pulled her closer to him, pressing their bodies together and lowered his head down to graze his lips under her jaw. Underneath the moonlight, two masked silhouettes had merged into one.

Orihime inhaled sharply on feeling his cold lips come in contact with her heated skin. Her hands remained frozen in his grasp and she felt utterly speechless. Bright silver eyes stared past his head of raven-black hair into nothingness as her lips quivered in surprise. She felt his hands loosen their grip and his broad arms wrap around her waist, closing any space between them.

"I won't harm you," he breathed as his lips brushed against her skin with every word.

Guess you won't find out just yet! But if I get lots of reviews, I will post the next chapter very, very soon! So please don't be shy!

Some of the Arrancars have been introduced! But that's not all of them~
I have decided to extend the plot of this story since all of your reviews and encouragement were so inspiring. Thank you!