AN: Well kids I hope you like the third chapter of "Tears Like the Rain" It's a bit longer than the last two. Originally chapter 2 and this one were all one chapter but I decided to end chapter two where I did for the suspense. I hope it worked and kept you all in suspense like I planned. On with the show!

DISCLAIMER: You all know that I don't own Bleach. If I did Ulquiorra would've never left and/or already returned by now.

He lightly let his fingers brush against hers as he interlaced his fingers with hers. It was enough to send a flash of heat straight to his core. She gasped out his name. "Ulquiorra?" She felt it too it seems judging from the way she instantly jerked her hand back from him. He almost wanted to smile at her reaction; she sat stunned into silence, holding her hand as if his touch had burned her. Maybe it had, hers had certainly felt like it burned him in a very pleasant kind of way.

The next thing he knew the woman had scrambled from beneath the covers and leapt into his arms and was sobbing his name. She had moved so fast that if he didn't know better he would've sworn that she used sonido to get there. He wasn't quite sure what to do now. She had just recoiled at the slightest brush of his fingers, yet now she was clinging to him as if her life depended on it. Weighing his options, his arms slowly circled around her waist, his hands coming to rest on her lower back. He wasn't really used to comforting people but this seemed like something he'd witnessed humans do to comfort one another. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do next though, he was still holding her but she was still crying desperately into his neck. Perhaps he should say something to her to get her to stop.

He never intended for his presence to upset her like it had. "Onna, if my presence here upsets you this much, perhaps I should not have come and I will leave now if that is what you wish." What occurred next left him even more confused. Orihime seemed to finally register what he had just said and her tears finally started to slow. She pulled away from him slowly but not entirely. He waited for her to say something, but instead of speaking he felt as his head twisted to the right and his cheek actually stung from the force of the slap she gave him. Talk about déjà vu. Now he was starting to get annoyed, he had even more questions and less answers than he did a moment ago.

Had the onna completely lost her mind? He started to speak as though trying to calm himself as he turned to face her again. "Onna, have you lost" the rest of what he was about to say was cut off by Orihime's lips crashing into his. His eyes widened in shock as he looked at her not daring to move. She had her arms around his neck and her left hand was entangled in his hair and her eyes were closed. Just as he closed his eyes and was about to lose himself and respond to her kiss she pulled away. This was getting ridiculous. He was usually good at reading people, granted he had never been able to understand the onna, but this was insanity. Her moods were shifting from one thing to the next so quickly he was starting to get dizzy.

"How can you say something like that? I just got you back! I don't know if this is a dream or not anymore but if it is I never want to wake up. I'm sorry for slapping you…again and for kissing you like that." As she was yelling at him she could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks from embarrassment, finally realizing what she had just done. She started getting nervous and began trying to explain what she had just done. For his benefit or hers she wasn't sure yet, she just knew that her brain had finally caught up the situation and she had to do something. "I know you don't like stuff like that, I don't know what came over me. I guess I've just thought about and dreamt about what it would be like to kiss you so much that I figured this might be my only chance so I took it." She laughed nervously she was rambling and she knew it was because she was embarrassed for having kissed him and then admitting that she dreamt of kissing him. She was so red she would have made a tomato jealous.

He found her antics amusing but at the same time she had awakened a fire in him. He knew of no better way to stop her rambling then to kiss her again so he did. As his lips crashed into hers it was her turn to be shocked. She couldn't believe it; it had to be a dream. A very vivid and lifelike dream but a dream nonetheless. Ulquiorra had come back from ashes and he was kissing her. Fortunately for her, her body responded before her brain caught up. She closed her eyes and leaned into his kiss bringing her arms up to wrap around his neck. She felt his tongue slide across her lower lip asking her for entrance. Which she immediately gave parting her lips so that his tongue could dance inside.

Her first, well technically her second kiss was so much better than anything she'd ever dreamed of. Though he was gentle it was also very passionate. He tasted like temptation and danger, his kiss so much more than anything she'd ever experienced in her life. She moaned with the sweetness of his kiss as he pulled her closer to himself. She'd never felt this needy, this close to falling over the edge of something from only touch and taste. He broke apart from her leaving her panting for air and trying to catch her breath, and relaxed his hold on her a bit.

She stared at him with wonder in her eyes. She really was beautiful in the moonlight. "Are you done rambling now onna?" She was totally speechless so he figured that was a yes so he continued with what he had to say. "First, I would not have even mentioned leaving had it not been for the "mixed signals" as you humans call it, you were giving me. You recoiled from me as if I'd burned you, then you are clinging to me as if you're life depended on it, then you slapped me, again, and then you kissed me. What exactly am I supposed to think you wanted me to do?" He was surprised at the amount of control he had over his own voice at that moment, but it still sounded harsh to his ears compared to his usual monotone.

Her eyes started to well with tears and she started apologizing, "I'm sorry, I just …I wasn't sure any of this was real." He instantly regretted being so harsh with her. He brought his hand up to wipe the tears from her eyes. "Stop crying onna, please stop crying" Her tears started to slow and she realized that he had just said please to her and was attempting to comfort her. "I'm still not sure this isn't a dream you're not really acting like yourself you know. You just said please to me and you kissed me and you haven't even explained to me how it is you got here. I watched you die Ulquiorra, I watched you turn to ash in front of me. I've had nightmares of that day for the last year. How can you really be here?" He stood there contemplating what she had just said to him.

"I'm not entirely sure how this is possible either onna, I haven't really given it much thought until now. It seems something has brought me back albeit a little different from how I was before." "What do you mean different?" It was then that she took the time to really look at him, as all the air left her lungs, she hadn't even noticed it until now. He looked the same only his helmet was missing. "Your mask, what happened to it?" She absent mindedly ran her fingers through his hair where his mask used to be. He reached up to the zipper on his uniform and began to pull it down. She started blushing furiously and tried to turn away but he caught her chin gently and held her gaze. "Look onna." When she looked down she couldn't believe her eyes.

She must really be dreaming. "Your hole, it's gone!" the surprise evident in her voice. He grabbed her hand and slowly started to bring it up to his chest. She turned a very bright shade of scarlet and tried to pull away but he wouldn't let her. Placing her hand on his chest, just below where his hole used to be, he kept his eyes on her face and his hand over hers so she could not pull away. She was blushing like a mad woman now but Ulquiorra wouldn't let her go, her mind was racing, this was going way too fast. It was then she felt it. Thump-thump, Thump-thump. His heart. Her face went pale and her eyes widened in shock, her mouth gaped like a fish. She had no words to describe what it was that she was thinking and feeling right now.

"Do you feel it onna?"

"Yes, but how is this possible?"

He pulled his jacked aside to show her his tattoo. Only the gothic four that used to be there was replaced with one the shape of her hairpins. Her mind was reeling. "Ulquiorra, what does this mean? How is this possible? I tried to bring you back that day but I couldn't, I failed you. So how? Why now? I don't understand how this could have happened a year later?" Her mind was reeling with the possibilities. She had tried her best to bring him back that day and failed, which is something that caused her great anguish in the last year. Yet, here he was, holding her, kissing her, he even had a heartbeat. Maybe, he really did find his heart that day, but then why wasn't she able to bring him back then?

"I do not know onna, all I know is that my consciousness has been stirring for some time now and when I was finally able to completely regenerate my body, this is the result. After that I came straight here to you." He stated in his usual monotone, staring into her eyes that glistened with unshed tears. Orihime smiled and started blushing again so that she had to look away and turned her face away to hide. She just realized what he said, even he didn't realize how incredibly cheesy and romantic what he said was, she did. He had come straight to her without thinking of anything else. It touched her heart. Heart. She could still feel Ulquiorra's heartbeat where her hand still rested on his chest even though he had removed his hand so that she could pull away now if she wanted to.

She stepped closer to him and moved her arms around his neck once again and rested her ear against his chest so she could listen to his heartbeat. "Why did you come here so quickly to see me Ulquiorra?" She asked him shyly. She didn't want to get her hopes up, even though he'd kissed her that didn't mean that he would be sticking around. She wasn't sure what the kiss had meant, but there was more than one emotion in it that was for sure. She wanted him to stay and not disappear like before, but did he want that?

He put his arms around her waist again and held her close. She didn't miss how his heartbeat kicked up a notch as he did so and she smiled. As far as things went although he still hadn't answered her question yet she took that as a good sign. "Onna I don't know how to answer that. The best way that I can describe it would be to say that as soon as I awoke that that's what my heart told me to do, so I followed it here to you as soon as I was able." He tried to keep his voice level when saying all that but it wavered with newfound emotion some and Orihime picked up on it. He wasn't really sure what any of this meant. He definitely could feel more emotions now than he ever could before and it was a strange but not unpleasant feeling.

"Are you going to fade away again?" She asked him worry starting to crease her brow. She tightened her hold around his neck willing him not to disappear again. She didn't think he was going to answer which in and of itself would be an answer in her mind and her eyes started to tear again. Then he spoke his voice calmly reassuring her as best he could "I do not know onna, but I'd say that at least for now that does not seem likely." She sighed in relief, but then a whole new set of worries entered her mind.

"Did you plan on kidnapping me again and taking me back to Las Noches with you?" She didn't want to leave her friends again but she couldn't bear to be without him again so she would go if that's what it took to keep him by her side.

He wasn't quite sure where she was going with this new line of questioning. Honestly he hadn't thought that far ahead which was unusual for him admittedly. So now that he thought about it, what was his plan? He did not wish to cause the onna pain and she would most likely not enjoy being kidnapped, as she put it, again. Returning to Hueco Mundo alone, now that she was in his arms seemed like an impossible task as well. Very well he would just have to let the onna decide what she wanted him to do. "I had not made any plans before coming here onna. I do not imagine that you would enjoy being 'kidnapped' again so I will do whatever it is that you wish me to do."

He heart nearly stopped, she had almost resigned herself to a life in Hueco Mundo a moment ago and now he just told her that he would do whatever she wanted. "What if I wish for you to stay here with me?" She waited with baited breath for his answer, hoping he would say yes.

He thought about that, he didn't belong here in the human world. He was different, hollow, but yet he wasn't anymore. He honestly didn't know what he was now, his helmet and hole were gone now, but he still had his powers so what did that make him? Did that mean he was more like the shinigami Ichigo Kurosaki? No, he was still different than that trash, and he didn't really think he belonged here. Then again, there was nothing for him now in Las Noches or in Hueco Mundo without the onna there. As far as he knew Lord Aizen was gone, and so were the other espada, not that if they were still alive that would make him stay, in fact it was more likely the opposite. Deciding what to do for now, he could tell the onna was trying not to cry waiting for his answer.

"If that is your wish onna, I will stay in the human world for now. There is nothing I need to return to in Hueco Mundo. Though I don't think your friends or the Soul Society for that matter will be very happy about this onna."

Her breath caught in her throat, he just said that he would stay. She almost jumped for joy. "We can worry about that later, we'll go talk to Kisuke Urahara in the morning and see if he will make you a gigai and maybe he can tell us how all this happened and how you've changed." She knew that convincing Urahara would be easy, the scientist in him wouldn't be able to refuse a chance to study what was going on with Ulquiorra. Her friends however might be a different story.

As if he could read her mind at the moment he calmly asked her, "Are you sure you wish for me to stay with you onna? I thought you were in love with Ichigo Kurosaki, he will most definitely not be happy about that." She didn't miss the bitter note his voice took on when he mentioned her feelings for Ichigo. What made him bring up Ichigo like that in the first place? After returning from Hueco Mundo she couldn't look at Ichigo the same way anymore. She knew he didn't care about her like that, she had always known. After she realized too late that she had feelings for Ulquiorra and that Ichigo was in love with Rukia she had moved on. She no longer felt that way about Ichigo; in fact she wasn't sure it was ever more than a high school crush.

"I'm not in love with Ichigo, he's just my friend. I had feelings for him once yes, but I know now that it was never real love so I let it go and I don't care if Ichigo gets mad or not I'll deal with him if I have to because I want you to stay!" She yawned after saying all that, she was so exhausted from so many nights of not getting any sleep and having nightmares from the day Ulquiorra left her.

He could tell she was tired and needed to sleep, so he decided not to argue the matter further. "As you wish onna, we can discuss this again when you've rested some." Despite being tired and almost falling asleep standing up she tried to pretend that she wasn't. "Hmm, I'm not tired." She pouted.

Despite the words coming out of her mouth he could tell she was. She was falling asleep standing there with him. He picked her up suddenly and carried her bridal style back to her bed. "Ahh Ulquiorra put me down, I must be heavy." She shrieked if she wasn't awake before she was now, how embarrassing.

"Nonsense onna"

He set her down on her bed and began tucking her in and turned to leave when she caught his arm and stopped him. "Where are you going, you said you'd stay with me?" Panic started creeping into her voice, what if she went to sleep and when she woke up he was gone.

He could see the panic in her face. "I'll be here when you wake up onna, I'm just going to the chair in the corner." Her eyes started to tear up again, she couldn't let him go. She was terrified of this all still being a dream.

"Come lay here with me Ulquiorra, I'm afraid that you'll disappear if I let you go."

He thought about arguing with the onna but with the way she was looking at him he decided it was best just to let her have her way. He didn't really want to deny her anyway, she could ask him to do anything she wanted and he would comply. He walked back over to the bed and she moved over knowing that she had won. He laid down next to her on his back and as soon as he did she cuddled up next to him with her head on his chest so she could listen to his heartbeat.

"Do you know what itis now Ulquiorra?"

"Do I know what whatis onna?"

"The heart."

He had always known what the organ was. He had ripped it from numerous foes chests before but he didn't think that's what she was really asking him about. She wanted to know if he finally understood the feelings associated with the heart she spoke of so long ago in Las Noches. "Not yet onna, but I believe I understand more now than I did then. However, I still have much to learn about this heart." His answer made her cuddle even closer to him if that was even possible and smile. "I'll teach you, I promise."

He couldn't help but find the onna to be amazing. Not only did she apparently not hate him, which by all accounts she should, but she wanted him to stay with her and to teach him about hearts. Wrapping his arm around her shoulders he pulled her close and placed a kiss on her head. "Sleep now onna, tomorrow we shall go see Kisuke Urahara." She felt so safe and comfortable in his arms. She felt protected from everything.

"Goodnight Ulquiorra."

"Goodnight onna."

And with that Orihime drifted off into a dreamless sleep for once with a smile on her face. Ulquiorra had never needed sleep before but as he lay there holding the onna in a way he never imagined he would, and thought about all the strange series of events that led him here, his eyelids became heavy and he too drifted off to sleep holding the onna in his arms.

AN: Whew done with chapter 3. Hope you all liked it. It's a bit longer than the other ones this time. Let me know what you think please and review.

Next Chapter: They go to visit Urahara and find out what's happened to Ulquiorra….