Like anyone would be,
I am flattered by your fascination with me,
Like any hot-blooded woman,
I have simply wanted an object to crave.

Like any uncharted territory,
I must seem greatly intriguing,
You speak of my love like
You have experienced love like mine before
But this is not allowed,
You're uninvited,
An unfortunate slight

But you, you're not allowed,
You're uninvited,
An unfortunate sligh.t

I don't think you unworthy
I need a moment to deliberate.

'Uninvited' by Alanis Morrisette.


'I am not the only monster lurking in these halls.'

How true his words were. Her dreams for the last few nights had been plagued by ten menacing faces snarling at her whilst she lay paralysed in the middle of the long, marble table in the Espada meeting room. The figures would circle the table in a frenzied dance, their dark shadows slithering up the walls as they laughed feverishly. They would all close in, baring their vicious claws and licking their lips before suddenly pouncing, mouths open with blood dripping from their fangs, ready to rip into her flesh with their teeth. That was the terrifying moment Orihime usually woke up. Alone. And very scared.

It was a few days after the Espada meeting when Ulquiorra made his next appearance. The door to her cell opened and as usual, the small servant Arrancar entered with her food but this time, he was closely followed by Ulquiorra. Orihime gave a dark look in his direction as she dutifully sat down at the table and thanked the servant Arrancar who had placed her meal in front of her.

"Shall we play guess the meal?" She said to herself. There was a sacastic edge in her voice. "Ok, I will go first. Now this is tricky, but I really think it might be…vegetables and rice!"

She lifted the metal cover off her meal and gasped in exaggerated mock surprise to discover that indeed, it was soggy vegetables and clumpy, hard rice. Again. She wasn't the least bit interested by Ulquiorra's lack of response to her inane ramblings, but she was surprised to see him skulking about her room and inspecting her meagre possessions with an odd look. She picked up her fork and began stabbing violently at the vegetables, imaging it was Ulquiorra's head.

"Do you intend to eat your food, or massacre it?" Ulquoirra asked without looking in her direction. The lack of inflection implied his comment was definitely not a question.

Orihime jutted out her chin in defiance and scooped up a large dollop of vegetables and looked at it with a tiny smile before she took aim and tried to flick it at Ulquiorra, hoping the attack might stop him invading her personal space even more. She missed dismally but giggled as the food splattered onto the wall on the opposite side of the room to her intended target. Her soft tinkling laughter was so unfamiliar in the cold world of Hueco Mundo, it immediately caught Ulquiorra's attention and his head whipped around to look at her, his strange eyes narrowing a fraction in scrutiny. Shocked by his peculiar response, Orihime quickly shoved a spoonful of the offending food in her mouth, hoping the guilty look on her face didn't give too much away.

BANG!

A loud explosion suddenly boomed in the distance causing the floor of the cell to rumble. Orihime looked up at Ulquiorra whose eyes had flicked towards the window. Orihime instantly shot out of her chair and ran to the window and gasped with her hand over her mouth at what she saw in the distance. The sky was ablaze with a murderous fire which consumed the entire landscape and could have only meant one thing, the battle between her friends and the Espada had started.

"Ichigo!" Orihime cried desperately, her hands clutching the bars of her window whilst she prayed for her friends safety.

"Pathetic," she heard from behind her. She ignored him, wishing he would just leave her alone.

"I don't understand why you care so much." He spoke again.

Orihime flew around to face him. Ulquiorra was stood in the centre of the room with his usual bored expression plastered on his face.

"I care because they are my friends!" she snapped. The angry beast inside her was beginning to wake up.

"You think they are here because they care about you. Foolish woman." He took a step towards her. Orihme tried to take a step back but was blocked by the wall. "If they truly cared, you would not be here in the first place. They were so consumed with themselves that they never realised you might have been the actual target of our invasion." He continued walking towards her until he was an arm's length away .Orihime sucked in her breathe and flexed her fingers; Ulquiorra had lit a match to her temper and now it was close to exploding.

"Weak trash, they are only here because of pride," Ulquiorra continued "and they will die because of it."

She had heard enough. Nostrils flaring, Orihime raised her hand and hurled it towards Ulquiorra's face as hard as she could. It was a foolish move as out of nowhere, Ulquiorra seized her wrist with his cold, icy fingers.

Orihime gasped in surprise and then slowly raised her chin to look at his face, her pupils widening as he stared blankly down at her. His eyes. So unnervingly empty yet burning with an eerie power she had not noticed before. She tried to squirm away but her body was overcome by a terrible hollowness from the intensity of his eyes burning into hers and all she could do was stare helplessly back. Orihime was paralysed, frozen by Ulquiorra's scrutiny and the coldness of his hand grasping her wrist which splintered through her body like she had been touched by death itself.

What is he doing? Why won't he let me go?

Ulquiorra tilted his head a small fraction to the side. She thought she was going to be sick.

Is he studying me?

It was unnerving but she did not have the power to pull away. After a moment, he tugged her wrist closer to his chest which propelled her entire body towards him. Orihime tried to use her free arm as a barrier but the force of the motion caused her hand to become uselessly crushed between her and Ulquiorra's solid chest. She looked up.

Ulquiorra's expression remained emotionless as he bent his head down closer, bringing his face level with hers. His grotesque eyes unblinking as he examined her meticulously. She was completely powerless in his grip; he was a monster who could instantly break her wrist if he wanted, yet all he did was curiously study her whilst she stared feebly back.

She couldn't breathe and was aware of her heart thudding against her ribcage. She was pressed so closely to Ulquiorra that he must have felt the force of her heartbeat too. His black lips were parted slightly and she could hear the rattling of his breathing which felt strangely warm against her cheek.

The hand which was not holding her wrist began to move towards her, his long skeletal fingers stretching out as they slowly reached towards her cheek. Overcome with fear, Orihime clamped her eyes shut and flinched away from his hand.

"Don't hurt me!" she pleaded.

His hand stopped in mid-air. Orihime used his hesitation to try and snatch her wrist away from his iron grasp. A few moments of struggling and he silently released his grip causing her to stumble backwards, her fall only being prevented by the wall. Once free, she quickly flew to the other side of the room as far away from him as the small space would allow. She turned her back to him and hugged her arms around herself for comfort. Confused by what had just happened, it took her a few moments to gain enough control over her emotions to speak.

"I…I think you should leave." She stammered, her body was shaking violently.

The silence was excruciating but Ulquiorra did not move. After an agonising minute of nothing, he took a step in her direction but paused. As if changing his mind, he quickly turned around and stalked out of the room.

"I will be back to monitor you again in two days," were the only words he said as the door slid closed behind him.

Orihime held her breathe as she listened to his footsteps disappearing down the corridor. When eventually they died away, she relaxed her entire body. Finally she could breathe again.


A/N: Happy new year folks!

Firstly, this chapter took a lot longer than expected as Father Christmas kindly brought me a kindle for christmas and I have been a little distracted (please therefore blame Santa, not me).

Thank you Albinos for pointing out my rather embarrasing whooper of a whoopsie! Hopefully all is now corrected and nobody needs to know shhhhhhhh