DISCLAIMER - see chapter 1
"So, you two are finally up." Yoruichi said in a teasing manner as Ulquiorra and Orihime appeared together at the bottom of the stairs. Ulquiorra looked largely indifferent to this comment as he stretched and headed to the round table, where Ururu already had a hot cup of tea waiting for him, and was currently pouring one for Orihime. The redhead on the other hand looked quite embarrassed at the catlike woman's comment, a light blush colouring her cheeks as Yoruichi smirked at her.
"It's a shame you weren't up earlier, there was more snow around then." Urahara added as he came in from the shop, where he had been drinking his tea overlooking the yard, which was covered with half melted snow. He was still waiting for the group of Shinigami to arrive so that they could return to Seireitei. Not that they couldn't use their own Senkai Gates he supposed.
"I believe it will begin to snow again soon." Ulquiorra replied offhandedly as he raised his cup slowly to his lips and took a small sip. Apparently the liquid was still too hot as he placed the cup back on the table, so as Orihime sat beside him she decided not to drink hers yet either. Looking across at him Orihime smiled innocently as she rested her hands in her lap,
"Why do you think that?" She asked curiously, seeing no reason why it should snow again. Beside her Ulquiorra shifted his warm green eyes to her and smiled softly before looking into his cup at the light brown liquid, resting his hands around the hot cup to warm them a little.
"There has been a slight increase in temperature, and the atmosphere feels heavier than it did a few minutes ago. It will snow again very soon." He replied confidently, Ururu hurrying into the kitchen to wait by the window to see if he was right. As he raised his cup to his lips, his eyes closed in contentment, Ururu hurried back looking excited,
"A-ano, Onii-chan was right." She said in her usual shy voice as she turned back to the kitchen, where Yoruichi could see the gentle flurry of snowflakes from her place against the wall. Orihime got to her feet and padded over for a better look, her grey eyes turning back to Ulquiorra with a look of astonishment,
"Of course. It was a simple matter to deduce." He replied almost smugly as he took another sip of tea. Urahara chuckled lightly as he handed his cup to Ururu and took the cushion beside Yoruichi, who leaned just a little closer to him. She could feel the warmth of his body through the sleeve of her orange jumper, and her amber eyes strayed to him just a little to find that his had also strayed to her.
"Well, you shouldn't waste this opportunity; snow is very rare around these parts." Urahara said as he lowered his hat over his eyes, gratefully accepting the fresh cup of tea that Ururu handed to him. At his words Ururu's dark eyes seemed to light up a little, and she stole a few glances at Orihime and Ulquiorra, her cheeks slightly red as she fiddled with her round tray.
"Would you like to play outside Ururu-chan?" Orihime asked brightly, noticed her nervous energy and restless feet. With a slight blush the girl nodded and Orihime's eyes shifted to Ulquiorra, who paused with his cup part way to his mouth. He knew what she was trying to encourage, and under the excited gaze he found himself defeated before he could even think to defend.
"I hardly think it wise to go out in such weather." He began as he raised his cup, both Orihime and Ururu looking slightly put out by his comment, "However if you insist on going out I shall accompany you." He concluded, watching Orihime smile brightly, her hand reaching across to brush hair gently as she passed,
"Then we should get dressed for the weather! Come on Ururu-chan!" She said excitedly as she hurried to the bottom of the stairs. Ururu looked across to Urahara, who smiled and shooed her away with his fan, before running after Orihime. Once their footsteps had gone Ulquiorra sighed and got to his feet, leaving his tea unfinished on the table as he too went to get dressed.
He was already wearing a long sleeved top and jeans, so he quickly grabbed a jacket and returned to wait for the girls downstairs. They didn't take long either since Orihime just needed to exchange her long skirt for trousers and Ururu pulled on some leggings beneath her long sleeved dress.
"Is that all you're wearing?" Orihime asked in surprise as she pulled her coat on downstairs, looking at Ulquiorra, whose jacket was really quite thin for the weather. Orihime's white coat was thick and padded, and she also had gloves, a hat and a scarf, all made of wool. Ururu was similarly dressed as she pulled on her shoes.
"Hai." Was Ulquiorra's simple reply as he got to his feet, having finished his tea, and joined Orihime at the entrance to the shop, where he slipped into his trainers and watched Orihime do the same with her boots. Upon stepping outside Ulquiorra found himself squinting slightly at the glare from the snow, which was settling nicely in the yard.
"Ulquiorra, come on!" Orihime called from the centre of the yard, where she and Ururu were starting to gather a pile of snow with unnatural enthusiasm. Crunching over to them Ulquiorra raised a sceptical eyebrow as he watched Orihime trying to pat the pile of snow into a rough sphere,
"What are you doing?" Ulquiorra asked as he crouched down beside her, watching her gloved hands pat the heap of snow. In the mean time Ururu had hurried off to some more undisturbed snow to make another sphere,
"We're making a snowman! It's something humans like to do when it's like this. We don't get snow that often." Orihime replied with a bright smile, the cold turning her cheeks a deeper shade of red. Ulquiorra shifted his gaze to the heap of snow with a sigh, I'll never understand the strange ways of Humans. He decided inwardly as he took some snow from the heap and started rolling it, "What are you doing?" Orihime asked, looking at her disturbed heap of snow somewhat shocked.
"It will be faster and easier to make a spherical shape this way." Ulquiorra replied simply, the once small ball of snow already twice the size it had been. Seeing he was right Orihime went off to look for some stones and sticks that they could use for decoration while Ururu was making the head.
"Yare-yare, seems we're not the only ones running late." Yumichika sighed as he stepped into the yard, just as Ulquiorra was helping Ururu to place the head on the snowman. Hearing his friend's chuckle Ikkaku glanced over his shoulder at the pair, smirking slightly himself at the sight, the mighty Fourth Espada making strange snow statues…now I've seen everything. He thought as he returned his impatient gaze to the street,
"Matte! Yachiru-chan!" A familiar voice cried, accompanied by a high pitched giggle. Turning away from the yard, where Orihime was just putting sticks into the snowman for the arms, Yumichika could just see the pink of Yachiru's hair and clothes being chased by a figure in black, whom he could tell was Hanataro from the voice.
"Hurry Hana-Hana!" Yachiru replied, not slowing down in the slightest as she saw her two fellow squad members waiting. "Yumi-chan!" She cried enthusiastically as she jumped up at Yumichika, who managed to catch her and lower her to the ground without falling over himself. He patted her head with a sigh of relief,
"Hanataro-kun, you didn't pass Hisagi or Hinamori on the way did you?" The beautiful man asked as the young medic reached him, bending over and gasping for breath. A shake of his head was all the boy could manage for the moment as he caught his breath, falling to his knees as a ball of snow hit him in the back. For a moment Yumichika thought of stepping forward to offer his hand to the boy, but upon seeing the rage in the deep brown orbs he thought better of it, stepping a little closer to Ikkaku as Hanataro got to his feet and glared at him, "I think Hanataro snapped." He half whispered to Ikkaku, who nodded his agreement as they watched Hanataro turn round to Yachiru, who seemed oblivious to the change.
"Come on Hana-Hana!" She called cheerfully as she launched another snowball at him, hitting him square in the face. With an impatient grunt Hanataro wiped the snow from his sensitive skin with his clenched fist,
"That's it!" He shouted in frustration as he grabbed a handful of snow and hurled it at the small pink clad girl, who dodged with little to no effort. Yumichika watched in amusement as his two young friends ran into the yard, the three residents looking at them quite bewildered until Orihime took on an impish look and picked up some snow herself.
Ulquiorra's eyes widened as he felt the impact on his head where his mask used to be, the sensation sending shivers up and down his spine. Orihime had never seen him looking so adorable as he looked around bewildered for the source of the impact, his hand touching the offended area lightly as a slight blush coloured his pale cheeks. Once he had turned around she threw another, Ururu hurrying to his other side, where she too threw a snowball. The double impact seemed to perplex him more than the first, until he heard Orihime's bright laughter.
"Orihime, I fail to see the point of this exercise." He said as he brushed the snow from the shoulder of his jacket. At his statement he felt yet another impact, looking up to see Orihime already patting another ball into shape.
"It's fun!" She replied simply as she threw the ball, watching as Ulquiorra's hand raised and elegantly blocked it from hitting his face. With a slight blush she watched as he walked towards her with an unreadable expression until he was barely an inch away from her. Before she could get away she found his arms around her and felt something cold slip over the collar of her coat,
"Is this also fun?" He asked in an almost purring voice, a gentle smirk upon his lips as he looked down at her flushed face. Orihime shuddered against him as she felt the cold lump slide slowly down her back, her eyes widening slightly as she realised how closely she was pressed into Ulquiorra, one of his knees resting snugly between her legs as her breasts pressed into his ribs.
"Hai." She replied with a blush as she looked up at him, noticing the way his green eyes had glazed over slightly as he held her in a loose grip. Seeing her chance she slipped her hand round to her back to catch the snow that was sliding out of her top. "How about this?" She added as she slipped the snow over the waistband of his jeans, watching his eyes widen as he choked out a gasp, his hold on her increasing slightly. As she was pulled against him Orihime's cheeks flushed as she felt something pressing her abdomen through his jeans, "Ulquiorra you…" She trailed off as she looked up at him,
"Gomenasai, excuse me." He replied quickly as he released her and walked hurriedly towards the door, Orihime's grey eyes fixed on his back as he went. The feeling of her eyes staring at him didn't help matters as he closed the shop door and hurried through, not pausing as he hurried up stairs into the bathroom, where he locked the door and leaned against it panting.
His body had never felt this strange before, his heart was pounding, his length was so hard it ached and strained against his constricting jeans and his breaths were coming in short gasps. He didn't even realised his hand had moved until he felt it stroking his length through his jeans, his breath hitching as it did so. What am I doing? He demanded inwardly as he forcefully pulled his hand back, a look of disgust on his face.
As a Hollow he had had none of these inconvenient urges, in fact since he had been 'Human,' for want of a better word, he had never felt this way. He had experienced smaller urges, but had always pushed them back. Now his whole body seemed overcome with the urge to do something, and from what the manual Urahara had given him said, as well as biology and sexual education classes, he knew what he was supposed to do.
Gritting his teeth he stared stubbornly at the wall opposite above the toilet. If I think of something else, anything else, it should go away. He decided, his mind turning against him as images of Orihime's smile filled his mind, damnit! Don't think of that! He snapped as he closed his eyes, but the more he tried to think of something else the more stuck on Orihime he became.
"It would be unwise to remain here longer than necessary." He decided in defeat as he walked over to the toilet and pulled the seat up, bracing one hand on the porcelain top, a look of disgust etched into his features as he unzipped his jeans. I can't believe I'm going to do this…He thought, his cheeks flushing in a mixture of embarrassment and shame, despite the fact he was alone with the door locked.
He didn't even want to look as his own erection was set free, his hand wrapping around the strange rubbery length almost on its own. His eyes widened and he gasped in surprise as he tightened his grip, a shot of pleasure coursing through him, his mind strangely blank as he leaned a little lower over the toilet. He could feel muscles in his stomach contracting that he didn't even know he had as his hand slipped back and forth on his erection, which twitched and jerked occasionally.
His pace was slow, his movements uncertain and constrained at first, but as the pleasurable haze filled his foggy mind, wiping out his disgust and shame, his movements quickened. He choked back a moan as his breath caught, part of him dying to shout out while what little self control he retained forbade him from doing so. His rational mind became quieter and quieter as he continued, unable to stop a few small moans from passing his lips as some sort of build up began.
He could feel something approaching, something he met with a mixture of shock, fear and relief as he came with a choked cry. His hand moved back and forth almost as fast as his pounding heartbeats as a strange white substance spurted into the toilet, seeming to take his strength with it as his knees almost buckled. Ulquiorra leaned down until his head was resting on his braced hand, the other still loosely gripping his now limp length as he gasped to get his breath back.
After a few moments he stood up, cleaning himself up as the feelings of shame and loathing returned. He couldn't believe what he had done, what he had allowed himself to do, or what he had thought of while he was doing it. However he felt towards Orihime it could not be right to think of her while partaking in that disgusting human ritual. The very thought of it made him feel sick as he flushed the toilet and opened the door. I will not do this again!
"Hinamori-san! Daijoubu deskua?" Hanataro asked worriedly as he saw Hisagi carrying the smaller Shinigami on his back, her small hands gripping his shoulders tightly. At the medic's worried look Hinamori smiled brightly over Hisagi's shoulder,
"Hai, I just twisted my ankle a little on the ice." She replied, nodding to her injured foot as Hanataro abandoned his Gigai and walked over to her, Yumichika catching the abandoned body as it fell to the ground. Once at Hinamori's side Hanataro held his hands over her ankle, a gentle green glow enveloping the injured limb as he examined it,
"Hai, just a light sprain." He confirmed as he went on to heal it, Hinamori blushing slightly as she felt a gentle warmth on her ankle. It was a feeling that couldn't quite be described, like a hundred tiny hands caressing the pain away and a mother's gentle kiss soothing the injury. She was almost disappointed as Hanataro pulled back, it was a strangely comforting feeling.
"Arigato!" She exclaimed as Hisagi gently lowered her to her feet, her ankle feeling even better than it had before somehow. Hanataro waved off her thanks and hurried back to his Gigai, where Yumichika was supporting it against his chest. Once inside his body Hanataro found himself in Yumichika's arms and smiled up at him over his shoulder as the older man released him,
"Arigato…Are we ready to leave?" He asked, his brow twitching as Yachiru launched a snowball at the side of his head, the snow sliding through his ebony locks slowly. Yumichika smiled sympathetically as he brushed the snow away, Yachiru now preoccupied with Orihime and Ururu.
"Almost, I think Kira might be coming with us." He replied, looking up at Hisagi for the answer, but the tall man shook his head as Hinamori hurried into the yard to join in against Ikkaku and Yachiru.
"No. He is to remain here until we relieve him later in the week." Hisagi replied simply, not really listening as Yumichika concluded that it was time for them to depart. He was too busy watching the carefree battle going on in the yard, where Hanataro had joined Hinamori, who seemed to be overrun by Ikkaku. With a sigh Hisagi gathered a ball of snow and took aim, watching his shot hit its mark on the back of Ikkaku's head.
"Who the? Hisagi!" Ikkaku shouted in response as he tuned upon the Vice Captain, leaving his back open to Hanataro and Hinamori, who took full advantage of the situation. At Yumichika's light chuckle the four stopped in their fight, the beautiful man felled by a hail of snowballs a moment later.
"M-my hair!" He exclaimed as he looked at himself in his pocket sized mirror, his expression one of the utmost despair as he brushed the wet snow from his soft ebony locks and flicked his hair back into place with a look of relief. Disaster, it seemed, had been averted.
"Looks like we're all here now." Ikkaku observed as he cracked his back, his wooden sword hooked over his shoulders comfortably. With various agreements it was decided that they should leave and the group headed into the shop to make use of the Senkai Gate in the basement. Orihime and Ururu followed quickly, the older girl concerned about where Ulquiorra had gone.
"Yoruichi-san, have you seen Ulquiorra?" She asked as she caught sight of the purple haired woman about to follow the group of Shinigami downstairs. The tanned woman looked over her shoulder with an impish glint in her amber eyes as she left,
"Try his bedroom." She replied, leaving Orihime feeling slightly confused. Yoruichi-san seemed odd…Did something happen? She wondered as she slipped out of her boots and hurried upstairs to the closed door of Ulquiorra's room. Upon knocking she heard a small hum and slid it open a little to see the ex-Espada almost hiding under the covers of his futon.
"Ulquiorra? Are you feeling alright?" The redhead asked as she approached the bed, tired green eyes looking up at her hazily in response. Orihime worriedly reached out and touched his forehead, the skin feeling perfectly normal even to her cold hand.
"I am fatigued." Was Ulquiorra's simple reply, his eyes shifting away from her, in fact he seemed to be intent to look anywhere but at her. When she shifted into his line of sight he shifted his eyes or turned his face,
"Ulquiorra…Did I…upset you?" Orihime asked hesitantly, feeling Ulquiorra's surprised green orbs look up at her. "I didn't mean to." She added guiltily as she looked at her hands, which rested lightly in her lap as she knelt beside him.
"You have done nothing. I am merely fatigued." Ulquiorra insisted, a slight flush colouring his cheeks as he looked away from her. Still feeling his behaviour was odd Orihime leaned over him again, smiling as she noticed the blush on his cheeks. He's so cute when he's embarrassed. "I may sleep a while." He added, his blush deepening as Orihime pulled off her wet coat, the top she was wearing beneath stretched tight over her breasts. Ulquiorra hadn't noticed it earlier, and already that constricted feeling was returning to his jeans. I said never again! He scolded inwardly as he turned over and stared at the wall.
"I'm going to go change…Do you mind if I come back?" Orihime asked tentatively, the Espada biting his lip slightly. As much as he feared hurting Orihime he would feel a lot worse if he lost control of himself and did something in front of her; or worse, to her.
"Gomen, I really am tired…Would you mind if I spent some time alone?" He asked, glancing over his shoulder nervously, hoping that she didn't take his words in any way other than how he meant them. He had noticed the habit females had of twisting ones words purposely or accidentally to mean something else,
"Ano…Hai, I'll leave you alone then." Orihime replied quietly, her head hanging slightly as she looked at her feet. Baka…Ulquiorra sighed inwardly as he turned to face her,
"Orihime…Come back later." He instructed with a small smile, watching the redhead brighten at his words with a firm nod before she retreated, leaving Ulquiorra to his growing problem. The more time he spent with Orihime the more often he had these strange 'erections,' and the closer he was to her the worse it felt, unless he was tired or fully preoccupied with something else, and now that he had given in to his urges once he could feel his body willing him to do it again. Disgusting…I am truly disgusting…To lose my self-control like that and even go so far as to…I can't even think it! This will not be allowed to happen again!