A/N: I'm pleasantly surprised to see how many people are enjoying this story! I have five or so already written and pretty much to whole thing outlined, so updates should come quickly.
"You are never to pull a stunt like that again. If I were not under command of Aizen-sama, I would have killed you on the spot. Do you understand me?"
Those were the last words Ulquiorra spoke to Orihime. Ever since her forbidden wanderings, Ulquiorra's thrice daily visits were as terse as they had ever been. He would never let it show, but Orihime was certain that she had pissed him off more than a little.
Orihime was lounging around on her bed. She rolled over onto her stomach and glanced around the dark room. The solitude of her cell in Hueco Mundo was irking Orihime the most it ever had. She ran her hands through her long, smooth locks of hair and sighed loudly. That was the most she had verbally expressed herself in days.
Just then, Orihime felt a rush of Yasutora's reiatsu, but it waned quickly until there was almost none left. His reiatsu, along with those of Renji, Uryuu, Ichigo, and Rukia, had been fluctuating a few hours ago, but she had never felt a spiritual pressure so faintly.
"Sado-kun!" she gasped. Orihime hopped off her bed and rushed to the window, gazing hopelessly out into the sea of white sand that stretched towards the horizon. She had no way of knowing what was happening out there.
Orihime began to chew on her thumb nail. Sado-kun must have been wounded in battle. But if her friends were all together, then surely one of them help him soon.
The cell door creaked open, snapping Orihime out of her paranoid daze. Ulquiorra entered the room with her meal, a typical caustic and cold expression on his facial features.
He walked briskly to the center of the room with a long, graceful gait that fluttered the tails of his jacket and made Orihime tense. Ulquiorra placed a plate of teriyaki with brown rice on the table.
"What's happening, Ulquiorra-san?!" whispered Orihime, moving to his side. "Sado-kun's reiatsu, it's so low that I can barely sense it!"
Ulquiorra glanced into her eyes, which were wide with concern and fear. Providing consolation, especially to a woman like her, was not his strong suit.
"This is war, woman. There will be losses," he said solemnly.
Ulquiorra placed a hand gently on her shoulder, staring directly into her eyes for a moment before turning towards the door. Orihime reached out to grab his forearm.
"Ulqui-chan, please stay here for a while. I'm Lonely," Orihime blurted out before she even knew what she was saying. She wrapped her arms around Ulquiorra's torso, holding tight and burying her head in his chest. He was so strong and toned, and surprisingly warm. Orihime squeezed harder because she knew he wasn't going to crumble.
Ulquiorra's upper lip twitched, and his abdomen grew pleasantly warm. He gently stroked Orihime's lower back for a moment before easing her out of the embrace.
"My name is Ulquiorra, you either address me by that name or by sir," he said tonelessly. "And it is of no concern of mine that you are unable to entertain yourself."
Orihime watched him walk out the door, taking care to lock up. She sank down onto her knees and started breathing heavily. Face in hands, tears slid from the corners of her eyes and rolled down her flushed cheeks.
Sighing deeply, Orihime picked herself up and glanced over at her meal. She slowly chewed a piece of chicken and frowned. There was no wasabi in the teriyaki sauce like she preferred. But nothing she ever ate in Hueco Mundo satisfied her appetite.
Yasutora's reiatsu had faded away completely. Still crying silently, Orihime bowed her head and began to pray. She prayed for the well being of the others, thinking especially of Chad and Ichigo. The redhead was stubborn and maybe smelled reminiscent of strawberries, but her passion for him was undeniable. She knew he was the front man of the Hueco Mundo rescue mission.
Orihime prayed that she could stay strong in her psychological and physical imprisonment, and perhaps come to terms with her fate.
She also prayed for Ulquiorra. He seemed to have no excitement in his everyday life besides watching over her, which was proving to be tedious and a nuisance for him. Orihime thought of his pale face with perfectly defined features, his shocking green eyes and tear marks similar to the ones staining her cheeks at that moment.
Orihime envisioned Ulquiorra in his tightly fitted arrancar robes, the white fabric clinging to his muscles. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to stem the flow of warm thoughts about him.
Ulquiorra probably had no idea how good looking he really was.
But the truth was that Ulquiorra wanted nothing to do with Orihime and he was forced to be at her side three times a day. He wouldn't even extend the slightest of comfort when her psyche was tearing at the seams.
Orihime hated him for the way he treated her like a rag doll, talked down to her, and felt no consequence for her feelings. Orihime stirred up as much hatred for the espada as she could, casting a shadow over her innermost desires.
Ulquiorra strode down the hallway at an even pace, looking straight again. After an hour or so of wandering the outermost halls of the castle, he was headed to the library for some reading, studying, anything to take his mind off of Orihime. It quite frustrated him how she managed to wedge her way in there in the first place.
The vision of Orihime's desperate and frightened yet lovely face had burned itself into Ulquiorra's mind. He may have tried to console her for the sake of Aizen-sama's assignment, but the woman appeared to be completely beside herself with grief.
"Hey Ulquiorra, have you heard the news yet?"
The raven haired espada spun around to see Grimmjow looming in the corridor behind him. "No, Grimmjow. Did we get fluffier towels in the bathrooms or something?" he mocked tonelessly.
"No, asshole. Although that wouldn't be so terrible," replied Grimmjow. He rubbed his chin, grinning. "Nniotra killed one of the woman's friends."
Ulquiorra took a step closer to Grimmjow. "How can that be? Aizen-sama ordered all of us to let the privaron keep those shinigami at bay."
"Well, Nniotra took it upon himself to take care of the problem!" Grimmjow laughed loudly. "Che, That little punk had it coming. He had the weakest reiatsu I've ever sensed. I would have gone with him, but Ichigo isn't even close to here yet. He's the only one I want to kill."
Ulquiorra frowned. A select few of the espada had blatant disregard for Aizen-sama's orders. It was no wonder that he was one of the most trusted.
Just then, Halibel exited from a pair of white double doors. She looked up and nodded at Ulquiorra and Grimmjow, setting off down the corridor towards the marble staircase that led to the espada's bedrooms.
"Halibel, have you heard about the human that Nniotra came across?" asked Ulquiorra.
She stopped walking and turned to face them. "Pronounced dead by Szayel three hours ago," the blonde espada replied. Her voice was muffled by the jacket covering the lower half of her face and, ironically, only the top half of her breasts.
"Told ya so!" yelled Grimmjow, pointing a finger at Ulquiorra. "You bastard, you don't know everything."
"Put your finger down or I'm going to cut it off," threatened Ulquiorra. He turned his head back towards Halibel. "Where is Nniotra now?"
"I wouldn't know. He ran off after the battle."
Ulquiorra nodded. He had a few more pertinent issues to deal with rather than exert his energy in matters of discipline that Aizen would be much obliged to deal with himself.
Grimmjow glanced back at Halibel, giving her a once-over. "I see you're heading to bed, Halibel, why don't you take me with you?" he growled in a low voice.
"You'll need to talk to Cirucci for that," she replied curtly. Halibel made her way up the stairs. Grimmjow watched her fine butt as she climbed the staircase.
He grinned and looked over at Ulquiorra. "She's got a point, ya know? Cirucci's a whore."
"Because that's such a change from all of the other trash that walks around here," replied Ulquiorra. He thought first of Loly and Menoly, Aizen's personal arrancar sluts.
"Isn't it convenient?" the teal haired espada grinned. "So when are you taking that woman back upstairs for another bath?"
Ulquiorra brushed by Grimmjow and made his way swiftly down an adjacent corridor. "No need to be such a fuckin' jerk, Ulquiorra!" Grimmjow called out to his back.
The fourth espada made his way towards the kitchen to retrieve Orihime's dinner. He was particularly disinterested in feeding her meals lately, considering what am emotional train wreck she was.
A/N: As per usual, reviews and concrit are always greatly appreciated.
And just so you know, there's a whole lot more UlquiHime lovin' coming up in the next chapter!
By the way: Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate it.
