Hello, Manga here! Welcome to chapter 02. I'm really hyped to do this chap. ^^

I've read all the updates on Bleach and I know that Ichigo lost his reiatsu and that, but it's too late to work it in now. Plus I don't care all that much about him! He basically just vreks (your favourite word BosBaBe) everyone that he considers bad! Poor Espada… ^^ On to what you're all here for.

Well, enjoy chapter 02:

New Beginning

Ulquiorra woke hours before any of the others in the household did. This gave him time to think over the past day's events. It was some time after dawn that he heard the others start moving about the place. When the door slid open he expected to see the onna but instead was greeted by a small black-haired girl. She carried in a tray with a cup of hot tea, sugar and milk. She padded her way slowly towards the ex-Espada and put the tray down next to him. She took the tray that Orihime had brought last night and went back out again.

The ex-Espada knew what was in the cup but he did not want to touch it. However, his body told him otherwise and that he needed that hot herbal liquid. He remembered the tea parties/mission briefs that Aizen held back in Las Noches; back then he was forced to partake and drink the tea. The Arrancar grabbed the small cup of milk and added a small amount to the tea and stirred it with the teaspoon. He never added any sugar; he couldn't stand the sweet substance.

He lifted the porcelain cup to his parted lips and sipped at the hot tea. Ulquiorra took his time in drinking it, but he was done with it before anyone else came into the room. He sat there with a straight back, looking straight ahead of him. Only when the door slid open again did he avert his attention.

"Ah, I see you drank your tea," Urahara said in a pleased tone. "Well, how about we try and get you up and going, ne?" he smiled at the stoic ex-Espada, walking closer to him.

"I shall assist myself," Ulquiorra said to the exiled Shinigami when he had extended his hand. Urahara shrugged and stepped back, not willing to force the man into allowing him to help.

Ulquiorra moved his legs right up against his chest and slowly put his weight onto them until felt he could get up. Carefully he stood up, but not without a stagger or two. He noticed the white cotton pants he was wearing. Urahara was close by and was impressed by the Espada's determination to do matters himself when others would beg for help. From the readings he got from the machines last night, he should not have been even able to sit up, let alone stand.

"Well, I'll show you to the bathroom so that you can clean up. Then we shall give you your gigai." he lead Ulquiorra out of the room for the first time since he was there and told him that he would be free to use what be pleased.

After the exiled Shinigami left Ulquiorra opened the knob to let the water run from the shower head. He looked about the place. It was a small bathroom with white tiled walls, a mirror, a basin, counter, and with both a bath and shower. He noticed a folded towel resting on the edge of the bath and underneath some clothes for him to wear. Ulquiorra discarded the bandages and threw them in a bin by the door. He felt the temperature of the running water before he discarded the pants and boxers he had on as well. He folded both items neatly and placed them on the counter and climbed into the shower and slid the glass door closed behind him.

XxxxX

Orihime was looking at herself in a small mirror, everything was fine. Her pink top was not too tight and her three-quarter jean was comfortable. She looked at her face and then noticed the wild state of her hair. She dug through her bag, trying to find her hair brush but it just seemed to be missing. Orihime was pouncing about everywhere looking for her missing brush. I guess I forgot it at camp, but Rangiku will give it back to me, she told herself. She strode her way into the kitchen.

"Morning everyone!" she exclaimed happily. Yoruichi and Urahara replied with a kind morning as well, while Ururu and Jinta remained silent. "Um, Yoruichi, can I maybe borrow a hair brush? I seemed to have forgotten mine."

Yoruichi smiled. "Sure thing, just head into the bathroom and you'll find it in the counter by the sink," she told the auburn haired teenager.

Orihime skipped past where Ulquiorra was sleeping, thinking that he was still asleep and went straight for the bathroom.

Urahara eyed the purple-haired woman sitting next to him. "You know that Ulquiorra is taking a shower in the bathroom, right?" he asked with a glint in his eyes. "WHAT? Why didn't you stop her or tell me?" Yoruichi shouted at him, flaying her arms about. "I only just remembered, sorry," he replied calmly and apologetically, holding his palms up in defense.

XxxxX

Orihime opened the door and walked in. A wall of white steam slithered about, but she didn't pay attention, thinking that Yoruichi was the last one to use the bathroom. She bent down and searched, but she couldn't find the brush anywhere.

"Onna, what are you doing?" Ulquiorra asked from behind her.

Orihime jumped, she didn't expect him to be there. "Ulquiorra, don't scare me like th-" she cut herself off in the middle of her sentence when she saw the ex-Espada.

Ulquiorra stood in the shower and with only a fluffy white towel around his waist. His water logged hair stuck to the sides of his face while small droplets dripped off of the ends and pooled at the nape of his neck. He stepped out of the shower and directly in front of the blushing onna. "Is there something you wanted, onna?" he looked down at her with his viridian green eyes.

Orihime looked at his wet, bare chest right in front of her. He was well built, but his muscle was not overdone, and it was in perfect proportion to his lean frame. Orihime felt her breath hitch as her eyes slowly spanned downwards and across his abdomen. The blush splayed across her cheeks deepened. Her grey orbs traveled their gaze back up to his pale face.

"I – uh… I was l-looking for a hair brush?" she could hardly remember why she even went up to the bathroom to get anyway. She averted her eyes and turned on her heel to leave, but in her haste her foot twisted the bath rug and tripped on her next step. In the next moment she expected to hit the hard tiled floor but instead felt a soft grip at her waist and warm, wet barricade on her back. She opened her eyes and saw two pale hands gently encircled about her waist, careful not to hurt her. She looked up, the side of her face coming into contact with Ulquiorra's chest; her tanned skin hot against his.

Ulquiorra let got of her pinched waist and stepped back. Orihime was disappointed at the loss of skin contact. She lowered her head and stepped out of the bathroom, leaving the Espada to change.

Orihime skipped her way to the kitchen and made herself a big bowl filled to the brim with cereal and milk. She set the bowl down at the table. Everyone else besides Yoruichi widened their eyes at the mountain of cereal in the bowl.

"Orihime, you're not gonna eat all that are you?" Urahara asked.

The auburn-haired girl smiled at him. "Well, of coarse I am! Who else is gonna eat it?" she asked back sarcastically. Everyone watched as she delved her way through the bowl until there was nothing left. "That was yummy!" Orihime exclaimed, taking her bowl to the sink.

Orihime stood around, talking to Yoruichi. She was in the middle of her sentence when Yoruichi smiled and pointed in the direction of the door. Ulquiorra was standing in the doorway fully dressed in black, baggy tracksuit pants and a white t-shirt that was properly two sizes too big. Orihime giggled and skipped over to the ex-Espada.

"I see that the gigai is in order." the shopkeeper stated, impressed with his own handiwork.

Ulquiorra rotated his shoulders and closed his eyes. "I feel much heavier, in turn slowing my speed and reaction a great deal."

"Don't worry about it, it's perfectly normal." Urahara waved his hand as if to shoo the Arrancar's problems away.

"Come on, lets get you some shoes and then we can head off," she said, pulling him by his arm.

Once Ulquiorra had a pair of running shoes on, Orihime said her good-byes and left with Ulquiorra carrying half of her stuff, while Orihime only carried her vanity case slung over her shoulder. He didn't complain the bags where feather-light to him in fact. They walked down the street with Orihime leading and Ulquiorra following a safe distance behind.

The auburn-haired teenager abruptly stopped. "Walk next to me," she said, waiting for him to get closer. "Otherwise I won't know if you're following or not!" she smiled warmly at him as he got closer. Ulquiorra stopped a meter or two away from her. "No silly! I meant right next to me." she slid her hand around his arm and pulled him along, letting go as soon as he was shoulder to shoulder with her.

Ulquiorra found the onna's actions strange. She wanted him next to her, not following her, but she wanted him to be an equal? The ex-Espada was astounded by the onna's willingness to try and forget his manner towards her when he held her captive. He led while he expected her to oblige and follow quietly.

They walked through the busier parts of Karakura in order to get to Orihime's apartment quicker. Ulquiorra swept his viridian eyes across every street, looking out for a possible threat. Ulquiorra was busy looking at the other end of the street when Orihime suddenly stopped, making him bump into her. She was bent down slightly, happily smelling at a bright yellow flower.

"Onna, what are you doing?" he asked curiously, wondering what was so intriguing about the coloured plant. The onna picked the flower up from out of the water bucket and held it for him to smell.

"Go on. Smell it," she instructed her grey eyes catching the rays of sunlight sharply. "It won't bite."

Ulquiorra lowered his face a fraction and sniffed at the yellow flower. The sent was sweet and tickled his nose, but it wasn't entirely unpleasant. The floral sent smelt faintly like the onna standing beside him smelling all the different flowers.

Orihime made him smell every one of them. She looked at him and laughed. "Ulquiorra, you've some pollen on your face." she giggled softly at the mustard yellow substance on his nose. She gently rubbed it off with her thumb, and was surprised at how smooth his skin was, it was something she didn't notice before.

She blushed faintly and turned her face away from him so that he wouldn't notice. An elderly lady stepped out of the flower shop and smiled kindly at Orihime.

"See something you like deary?"

Orihime nodded keenly. "But they are all so pretty; I can't decide which one though."

The old lady walked closer and looked over at the flowers, analyzing each one of them. She turned her attention to Ulquiorra who was standing a little distance from Orihime. "Maybe your boyfriend can help you decide, eh deary?" she looked expectantly at the annoyed Arrancar.

"Oh, he's not my-" Orihime cut herself off when Ulquiorra stepped past her and looked over the flowers. The auburn-haired teenager could not believe her eyes. He was actually going to buy her a flower?

He did not even know why the old woman was referring to him as her boyfriend, he did not even know what it meant, but he took the hint and scanned over the flowers. Ulquiorra noticed a small bunch of soft blue flowers in the bottom corner that the onna had not noticed. They looked strangely familiar to him, as if he had seen them somewhere before. But there were no flowers in Hueco Mundo; there was no life there at all. It was the only place he had known. He gently took the flower by its stem and turned to Orihime. Carefully he placed the flower by her ear, brushing away stray strands of hair that he tucked in behind her ear as well.

Orihime felt her cheeks heat up in a blush. She then recalled earlier in the bathroom when she had her cheeks pressed up against his chest and his hands around her waist. The memory caused her blush to deepen and spread across her cheeks.

"Aren't you two the cutest things," the old woman cooed from the flower stand. Orihime suddenly became aware that they where in a public place, in front of other people, but luckily for her the only person that took notice was the old lady. "Don't worry about the flower, it's on the house."

"Th-thank you," Orihime said. Smiling warmly at the old lady then pulled Ulquiorra along. She was uncharacteristically quiet for the rest of the walk to her place. As they climbed the stairs, the landlord bumped into them.

"Morning, Inoue-san," the bald, slightly obese man greeted.

"Morning, Honda-san, was there something you needed?" Orihime asked, but she wanted to get to her apartment as soon as possible before he started asking questions about Ulquiorra standing behind her.

"Oh nothing, I was just looking for poor Bojangles. He slipped out of the door this morning while I got the newspaper, but that old blighter will be home for supper; spoilt cat." he said, clearing his throat when he finally noticed the ex-Espada. "Who might this be?"

Orihime sighed. "Oh… um… T-this is Ulquiorra Schiffer. He is an exchange student from Spain, and he'll be staying for a while. You don't mind, do you?" she sincerely hoped he didn't have a problem with it otherwise where would the ex-Espada go?

The landlord was scratching his stomach while he narrowed his eyes at the dark-haired, pale skinned youth behind his tenant. "There's no problem, as long as he can pay you half the rent every month."

He started talking to the onna about something to do with fixing some pipe when Ulquiorra felt something press itself against his left leg. He looked down and saw a four-legged, fur coated creature circling around his leg. The creature started to purr and sat on his foot, wanting to be picked up. The small creature was annoying him a great deal.

"Oh, Bojangles!" the landlord shouted and scooped the cat up from Ulquiorra's leg. "Naughty-naughty cat!" he scolded. "Well, good day you two," he called after them as he started walking back down the stairs.

Ulquiorra stared after the man until he was out of sight and turned around to the onna. She had a large smile on her face.

"What is it, onna?" he asked frankly.

Orihime's smile grew. "He liked you!"

"Who, onna?" he asked walking up the stairs.

"The cat, Bojangles." she sulked, jealousy apparent in her voice. She dug around in her tote bag for her keys. "He never did anything like that to me since I lived here for three years… Lucky…" she was genuinely jealous that a cat gave Ulquiorra attention upon first sight when she had lived there for so long and had not even glanced in her direction. Finding the key, Orihime slipped it into the slot and turned. She pushed the door open and jumped inside. "I'm home!" she shouted to no one in particular. "Well, come on in, Ulquiorra," she waved for him to come in and watched with amusement as he took his usual slow, precise steps.

The Arrancar stood in the middle of the lounge area looking around with disinterest. It was small but it was neat, not that be did not expect anything else from the onna. With the bags still slung over his shoulders, he wandered around while the onna was drifting in and out of the kitchen. He stopped by her desk and swept his gaze over it, everything was straight in its place. A black book with notes peeking out it lay under a small pile of other books. Curious, Ulquiorra quietly and neatly placed the others book to one side and drew the black, hardcover book closer.

He flipped the book open and was confused by what he saw behind the black cover. A whole series of rough sketches were scattered over the page. The lines were rough and dark, and contradicted how the onna really was; she was gentle, she was light. There was a sketch or two of Hueco Mundo's crescent moon, but the majority of the sketches were of Ulquiorra.

Flipping to the next page, the ex-Espada felt something hit him when he saw the next drawing. It was a full page spread and was the darkest black he had ever seen on a page. It depicted the time when Ulquiorra in his Resurrección Segunda Etapa. The Espada was holding Kurosaki Ichigo off of the ground, strangling the substitute Shinigami with his lithe tail.

Ulquiorra remembered the screaming plea that the onna had shrieked at him as clear as day. The ex-Espada had ignored her. He had orders to fulfill and the substitute Shinigami was making a sheer nuisance of himself.

He heard the onna pounce around somewhere behind him. Ulquiorra took the book in hand –the page still open on the same place– and turned to her.

"Onna, what is the meaning of this?" he looked directly at her, but her back was turned.

Orihime was reaching up to get washing powder in the top shelf of a wall cupboard.

"Meaning of what, Ulquiorra?" she thought he had a problem with something in her apartment. He probably isn't used to all the colour in here, she told herself. Settling back flat onto her feet she swirled around and met the Arrancar with a smile. Her smile faded when her grey doe eyes fell upon her open sketchbook in his hand.

"Oh… that," she said almost too inaudibly. "It–it's my sketchbook."

"I already have that information, onna," he said stoically, his viridian green eyes not faltering from her blushing face. "What I want to know is why you drew this," he continued, raising the book to let her see what page he was on. "You begged for me not to go through with the attack and when it was executed you shattered, rushing over to him, even though he was beyond healing." he paused, looking at the onna who had lowered her head and was looking solely at her bare feet.

Orihime was twisting the hem of her shirt around her fingers until the material could not stretch any further. Biting her lips she slowly looked up at the ex-Espada. He had closed the book but still held it firm in hand.

"I…" her sentence trailed off into mumbles that the Arrancar could not make out into words.

"I suggest you speak up, onna," he said tonelessly. The bags slid off his shoulders and onto the wooden floor with a dull thud that made the onna jump in her place. He took a step or two closer to her to convey his message a little more clearly.

"I… I…" Orihime could not bring herself to get past the first word. Her cheeks were burning and she knew that her cheeks would be a bright red by now. "I – well… I…" her face snapped up as she saw him now directly in front of her, his body an inch away from hers. She stepped backwards until her back was straight against the wall cupboard.

Ulquiorra followed her actions and stepped forward, determined to get an answer from her. "I am awaiting an answer from you, onna."

Orihime felt her heart thrash against her chest. Why did he want an answer so badly? Was he offended? Orihime couldn't find any reason why he would be offended, but it was all within the realm of possibilities.

"I…" she took a deep breath, "I guess I just didn't want to forget…" she gathered enough courage to look up at him in the eye.

"Forget?" when he thought he had found a human's limit –more specifically the onna's- they just went and set the bar even higher. What did she not want to forget? The pain? The loneliness? The despair when every last one of her friends was falling down around her? The human psyche was its own labyrinth.

Orihime stood a little straighter, and lifted her chin a fraction. Though the blush had yet to leave her face. "I didn't want to forget what you taught me."

The frown on Ulquiorra's face deepened as he heard the words leave her lips. She did not want to forget what he had taught her? The last time Ulquiorra checked, she was the prisoner and he the captor - not a teacher.

Orihime fiddled with her fingers, casting her eyes down again. The door bell rang, sending the poor girl's heart into a rampage. Ulquiorra slid his free hand into his pocket while the other held onto the sketch book that seemed to distress the ex-Espada somewhat. Orihime tried her best not to brush against Ulquiorra as she walked past to get the door.

She looked through the peeper hole and banged her head against the door. Just what she needed: an over-protective Quincy breathing down her neck too. Orihime slid down the door in despair.

The teenager heard someone else on the other side of the door kick their feet against the tiled floor. "You sure she's home, Uryu?" Orihime sank down further, practically lying on the floor. Tatsuki too? How did she even find out? Wait, scratch that question. She probably beat it out of the poor Quincy. Orihime literally shook herself back to her current problem. What has she going to do with Ulquiorra when she let them in or rather what were they going to do to him?

The auburn-haired teenager lightly clenched her hands and hit her head from both sides. She thought Uryu was going to stop by later and her later was after dinner, forgetting that Uryu's later was 10 o'clock in the morning. She forgot she was sitting against the door and thrush her head backwards.

"Inoue-san, are you in there?" Uryu called from outside. He knocked a few times on the door before putting his keen ear to the door. Someone was in there from all the mumbling he heard.

Orihime had to force herself to get up. She took a moment to glance around and then saw Ulquiorra standing in the middle of her apartment, blankly staring at her.

"Um… feel free to sit down," she waved towards the couch. She was hoping he would but the ex-Espada remained rooted in his place. "Or stand, whatever floats your boat." she forced down the nervous feeling in her stomach. Orihime placed her hand on the door knob and suddenly swung the door wide open, causing the curious Quincy to nearly land flat on his face. "Hi!"

Tatsuki caught Uryu's arm and pulled him up before he did smash into the floor. The Quincy pushed his glasses back into place, with a slight pink blush on his face.

"Okay, spill it!" Tatsuki demanded from her friend.

Orihime raised an eyebrow. So Uryu didn't tell, but then why was she even here? Unless, she completely missed something at camp and the two dark-haired teenagers were dating. Orihime thought they would make a good couple and their children would be just as adorable.

"What do you mean exactly?" the auburn-haired teenager really had no idea what Tatsuki wanted from her. Truth be told she was still shocked a bit by Ulquiorra's demanding behavior a moment earlier.

Tatsuki pouted slightly before she got an angry glint in her eyes. "I mean what the hell is up with you just getting up in the middle of our camp retreat and bribing Uryu here to tell a lie for you to everyone else!"

"She didn't bribe me!" the Quincy stated as if it was the umpteenth time he had told her that. Tatsuki simply shrugged her shoulders. "Mm-hmm, whatever," she replied flatly. The dark-haired teenager crossed her arms over her chest in a manner that seemed very threatening, especially considering that she was a black belt. Tatsuki flashed her eyes at Orihime and in that moment noticed the figure standing in her apartment.

"Who the fuck is that?" she pointed to Ulquiorra who was still standing in the same place and quietly observing the whole ordeal.

Uryu sigh. "Tatsuki-san, please, you langue," he said in a scolding manner. He did not like it when his friends used such foul words outside of the battlefield. What made it worse was the fact that women used them just as readily.

Tatsuki blinked at the Quincy for a moment. "What did you want me to say? Did you expect a 'oh my gosh', 'who on earth is he' or 'holy crackers'?" she asked teasingly, almost forgetting about the young man in Orihime's apartment. She turned her attention back to her beloved auburn-haired friend.

"That's just Ulquiorra," Orihime answered as if they were casually talking about school tasks or kittens. "What?" Tatsuki blew her top. "As in the bastard that kidnapped you; that Ulquiorra?" Orihime did not know how to respond to the question and just smiled weakly.

Being in a current state of rage, Tatsuki pushed Orihime out of the way and stomped over to Ulquiorra, raising her tightly clenched fist. The ex-Espada had anticipated the move when the human had made her way over to him and simply sidestepped her punch. The gigai was too slow for his liking, but he told himself that he would just have to adjust.

Tatsuki came again, this time striking her fists quicker but the ex-Espada had foreseen all this and simply dodged them. Ulquiorra tired of the human the moment she threw her first punch. He found many openings and if it were a real fight, the human would have been on the floor the moment she set a foot in his direction.

"Your efforts are futile, human," Ulquiorra remarked as he ducked under another horizontal swing of Tatsuki's arm.

"Tatsuki-chan stop!" Orihime squealed from the door. "Uryu, aren't you going to do something?" she asked the Quincy who stoop next to her. He seemed surprised at her question. The Quincy shook his head. He had no desire to get punched in the gut or get his arm fractured in multiple places again.

Ulquiorra continued to promptly dodge all Tatsuki's swirling advances. Orihime was anxious that either of them would get hurt and with her powers gone she could do nothing to ease any pain.

Orihime held her breath and rushed in-between the two. With her arms spread out as to completely block Tatsuki's way to Ulquiorra.

"Enough please, Tatsuki-chan," she pleaded to her childhood friend. Tatsuki flashed her eyes from the Arrancar to her auburn-haired friend.

"You're defending him?" Tatsuki bellowed with rage seeping into every fiber of her being. "Even after everything he did? Holding you captive and threatening to kill us if you set a foot wrong? You should be trying to kill the bastard!"

Orihime bowed her head so that her stray strands of hear flooded over her face. "Enough." her whisper was too soft to be heard with human ears, but one stoic ex-Espada caught onto the words.

Tatsuki was oblivious to the auburn-haired girl's request and continued.

"When you came back you had lost almost half your body mass while you were there! Remember when I stayed here? Well, I pretended to play dumb, but I knew you had nightmares – no you still have them. You kept on saying 'Ulquiorra' and then you would cry in your sleep. So, don't you dare try and defend him after everything he did to you." Tatsuki was slightly out of breath by the time she had finished.

"Enough." Orihime said slightly louder. "Enough, Tatsuki-chan, Ulquiorra never hurt me. He… He was the one that protected me from the other Hollows inside Las Noches. He looked after me, going so far as to have to resort to force feeding me when I rejected any food that found its way into my body." Orihime lifted her head, a gap in the curtain of auburn hair in her face showed those slate-grey eyes that often over flowed with tears. Those slate-grey eyes now held a shadowy glint of protectiveness over the Arrancar.

Tatsuki backed down, not wanting to hurt her friend. Orihime gave a sigh of relief. "Okay, why don't we sit down, have something to drink and talk this over?"

XxxxX

Uryu went inside Orihime's apartment and closed the door behind him. He looked over at Tatsuki as he passed her and saw a large amount of hatred in her dark eyes. The Quincy sat down on the couch, not looking forward to the approaching conversation. She soon followed the Quincy and sat down next to him.

Orihime gave a small smile and then motioned Ulquiorra to one of the armchairs across from the couch. Once Ulquiorra was seated, she went to the kitchen and took four glasses from the cupboard and filled them with ice and litchi flavoured water. She carefully balanced the full tray and made her way to the living room again. Tatsuki and Uryu accepted the refreshment, but neither drank and Orihime knew better than to offer to the ex-Espada who would just decline the drink.

Orihime set the tray on the coffee table in between the two armchairs and then sat down herself. Folding her hands in her lap, she shifted herself around in the chair until she felt a little more comfortable. Orihime glanced to the side at Ulquiorra and saw that he was looking at Tatsuki straight in the eye.

Uryu sighed. "Well, Inoue-san, why don't you explain from the very beginning and then we will see where the conversation takes us," the Quincy said, eager to get the whole ordeal over with.

Orihime gave a slight nod of her head and thought back for a while to were it all started. "Well, it started when we were all walking back to camp from the beach after the volleyball competition, Urahara-san called by cell phone. He said that something I did a while back worked and that I needed to get back to Karakura Town right away." Orihime paused to take a sip of water and then continued. "Of course, at the time I had no idea what he was talking about, but he sounded serious, almost anxious."

Tatsuki sat there, not looking very convinced. The Quincy gave another sigh and filled in his part in getting Orihime back to Karakura Town.

"Right and when I got there, I met with Yoruichi-san who took me to see Urahara-san and then I finally saw, Ulquiorra, lying there with an IV in his arm and dressed with bandages up to his neck." she held her own diminutive hand up to her neck to emphasize her point.

Ulquiorra stayed quiet during the whole ordeal, thinking that he had no need or desire to explain himself to humans. He noticed the dark-haired, fierce-eyed human girl that the onna referred to 'Tatsuki' glared at him for the duration of Orihime's explanation. The Arrancar ignored her and kept his viridian eyes locked in the same position for what seemed like a length of time.

"Please, don't be angry at, Ulquiorra, he did nothing wrong," Orihime started, raising her head a little higher. "If anything, you need to be angry at me. I was the one that tried to bring him back before I left Hueco Mundo. I am the reason he is sitting here in front of you."

Tatsuki opened her mouth to back-chat her, but the words seemed to die in her mouth. Tatsuki felt like her head was like a railway network with all the questions that streamed through her mind. She wanted to ask why she bothered to bring back a killer, heartless being, her captor… a Hollow.

"Why?" Tatsuki finally found a voice to her thoughts. She shifted her gaze to Orihime, studying her intensely. The auburn-haired girl had drawn her legs up to her chest, her toes curling over the end of her seat, arms wrapped about her knees and head buried in her lap. She seemed so helpless to Tatsuki at that moment.

Uryu sighed heavily through his nose, pushing his glasses up. The Quincy too had a prying feeling to know her true reasons for trying to revive the Espada.

"Because… I'm in his debt for countless reasons."

"What?" Tatsuki felt her anger bubble to the surface again. "What the hell could he have done that you now owe him for? Huh?"

"He saved my life," Uryu replied for Orihime. "Kurosaki had lost control and was about to cut me down then Ulquiorra broke his mask, in turn saving me."

All eyes shifted to the stiff ex-Espada. His face was blank, as if he did not care about what or who they were talking about. After a moment he closed his eyes.

"Don't misinterpret my actions, human," he opened his eyes again, "I did not do it to save your life. I merely seized the only opportunity I had to break his mask. And as for you, onna, I merely followed my orders to take care for you and insure your well-being."

Uryu sighed once more and took a sip of his water. Tatsuki found herself looking firmly at the ceiling with her arms tensely wrapped over her chest. Orihime had turned her entire body to be facing the ex-Espada, smiling at him warmly. Ulquiorra noticed the onna's actions and looked at her in turn, his dark brow furrowed slightly at how she was smiling at him when he had just told her that he was merely following orders to feed and protect her.

The Quincy glanced at the watch around his wrist and set his glass down on the coffee table next to him.

"Well, I need to get going," he announced. "Father wants me to stop by the hospital in a few minutes, but we will discuss this further at a later time." He stood up and looked down at Tatsuki. "Are you staying or shall I escort you home?"

Tatsuki huffed out some air before she stood up along side Uryu as well.

"Tch, I can walk myself home, you know!" she snapped at the well-mannered teen. It was obvious that she was still angry, but seemed to have calmed down somewhat.

Orihime was on her feet as well and walked them to the door. Ulquiorra remained seated; he saw no need to say farewells. Orihime had a wide smile on her face as she held the door open. Uryu motioned for Tatsuki to exit first, still keeping to the rule of 'ladies first'.

"I swear, Uryu, just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I need to leave, or enter, or even sit before you! It's so infuriating." she hissed out her displeasure when he stood his ground.

"If you think I am being sexist, you are wrong," he said with a small smile. "I am merely being a gentleman, as what is expected of me."

Tatsuki gave up and stepped out of Orihime's apartment. Before she even knew it, Orihime gave her a large hug from behind. It wasn't a big bear hug, but more like one of understanding and thankfulness. When she finally let Tatsuki go, she gave the Quincy a hug as well.

"I'll see you two later," Orihime said with affection overflowing in her smile.

"Enjoy your day, Inoue-san." Uryu said back and led Tatsuki down the stairs.

Orihime stood there until she saw them round the street corner below and went back inside, thinking to herself that a new beginning had been set in motion.

I know this chapter is shorter than the previous two chapters, but I'm exhausted. It's 23:46 and it's freaking 31°C here. I'll update when I can, but it might take a while. I have a compulsory First Aid course to go to for school. Wheeeeeee… *Throws coloured confetti*

Plus my training for my school's great Karoo Challenge at the end of the year and that is also chewing up my time. *Throws more coloured confetti, accompanied by loud crying* I'm learning to ride a bicycle… NO smartass comments now. I sorta developed a phobia towards bikes and horses when I fell off of one and seriously injured my back. Two of my teachers are teaching me, and for that I'm very grateful. *sends hugs and flowers to said teachers* I'm making progress: I can sit on the bike… but then I moer right back to the ground after a few seconds of riding.

I hope I didn't make anyone too OOC, but I just don't like it when the whole gang just accepts one of the Espada in just like that. There is gonna be a little surprise in the next chapter. ¬_¬

A big THANK-YOU to everyone that's reading, reviewing, faving and putting alerts on this story.

The line "Smell it" is dedicated to, Flossi, naturally.

Well, have an awesome day. See ya next time…