A/N: Aww you guys are awesome. You make me want to keep writing and upload new chapters. Hope you all enjoy the new chapter.
DISCLAIMER: Sadly I do not own Bleach. I really wish I did though, or maybe just Ulquiorra and Orihime so I could really make them do what I want. Hehe.
She woke up and could still remember her dream last night. This one was different than all the others. Ulquiorra didn't fade away and he actually held her and even kissed her. Such a nice dream, she didn't know how she finally got such a good night's sleep when her pillow was rock hard, and had a heartbeat. Slowly she decided to open her eyes and freaked out once she did, "Gah, oh my god it wasn't a dream, he's still here!" "Oh I hope I didn't wake him up." She couldn't believe it, he was still here, she could still touch him, could still feel his heartbeat beneath her fingertips.
He looked so peaceful in his sleep. His eyes were still closed and his face looked so relaxed. He wasn't frowning for once, but he wasn't smiling either. The way the little bit of sunlight came through the window and landed on his face gave his skin an ethereal quality. She had always wanted to touch the teal lines running down his face, she had been curious about them from the first time she saw him. She moved her hand to his face and traced the line on the right side of his face all the way down. She tried to be as gentle as she could she didn't want to wake him up. She did the same thing to the other side of his face. It was so strange, his skin was so soft and his tear tracks seemed colder than the rest of his face. Almost as if he had cried until all the color left his eyes and his tears froze there. That couldn't be though; his eyes still had plenty of color that was for sure. She brought her index finger down to his mouth now; running it over his lips, the same lips that last night had kissed her so passionately.
He awoke the second she screamed this morning, but luckily he was able to keep his body from betraying him. The truth is he was curious as to what she would say and do if she thought he was still asleep. It was ridiculous really, but he couldn't help his curiosity about a number of things whenever he was around the onna. Never before had he felt such an interest in everything another being said and did, only with her. She always made him wonder.
He almost gave himself away when she started touching him. What was the onna thinking? Her hands were so gentle as they traced the lines of his face and his lips. Never before had he been touched like this, he let the onna get away with whatever she wanted. Until last night he had never touched nor been touched with any kind of tenderness. Every other time someone had touched him it had been in battle and usually was meant to inflict some kind of pain. Not that he minded her touch, not at all, he actually enjoyed it. He probably enjoyed it too much though; he should stop the onna before this situation had a chance to become embarrassing for the both of them. He could already feel other parts of his body that she wasn't even touching responding to her. He needed to stop her before it got any worse.
"What are you doing onna?"
"Eek, when did you wake up?"
He startled her and she jerked her hand back, her cheeks turning red again. She had gotten lost in a daydream about him and he had apparently woken up. She didn't know when exactly he had woken up though. How would he feel if he knew that she was fondling him in his sleep? Oh this was so embarrassing.
He noticed the blush on her cheeks immediately. He was glad he could make the onna blush like that. She seemed extremely uncomfortable at the moment trying to figure out how much of what she did he knew about. He could either tell her he just woke up or he could play with her a bit and tease her about it. He decided on the latter and keeping all amusement out of his voice he asked her, "I believe I asked you a question first onna, what exactly were you doing?"
"Oh nothing you know, just stretching, you know I stretch every morning when I wake up ha ha" she was hoping that he bought her cheesy excuse for touching him. She knew it was lame but it was the best her frazzled brain could come up with at the moment. She couldn't look at him; she was scared to see his face at the moment. She was pretty sure that he didn't buy it, who would. Way to go Orihime now he won't ever sleep next to you again out of fear that you're going to molest him or something.
As entertaining as the onna's antics were he could tell she was extremely uncomfortable having been caught. He toyed with the idea of teasing her some more but chose not to. "I see, in that case later today I shall teach you a much more effective way of stretching after we see Kisuke Urahara." He didn't want to make the onna uncomfortable even if she did bring it on herself. Even so it was very difficult to say that without smirking. For some reason he almost always wanted to smile around the onna.
"Eh, uhm okay yeah that'd be great." Finally able to look up at his face again she couldn't believe that he actually bought it. Whew, close one Orihime. She made a mental note to not get busted again or come up with some better excuses for next time. If Ulquiorra was really going to teach her some stretches though she definitely couldn't use that lame excuse again. She decided she would also have to come up with some excuses to kiss him again. Just thinking about it she got lost in a daydream about him kissing her.
He could tell her brain had run away with her again. Whenever she got lost in thought or was daydreaming about some ridiculousness her eyes would glaze over and she looked like she was far away. He'd first noticed this unusual habit of hers while he was watching over her in Hueco Mundo. It always amazed him how the onna could be in the middle of a conversation with someone and either she or they would say something that caused the onna's brain to run away with her on some daydream. He wondered what was said this morning that caused it, or maybe it was something that the onna had been thinking but wouldn't say. The only way to know really would be to ask her.
Raising himself up on his forearm her leaned over to her ear and whispered "What are you daydreaming about onna?" His proximity and his voice broke through her daydream and she nearly jumped away from him. Luckily he still had his other arm around her waist so she couldn't go too far. She turned a nice shade of scarlet when she realized she had been busted again. She didn't even get to come up with any good excuses yet, damn. "Oh nothing," she replied hoping he wouldn't press the issue.
He watched her face intently for some clue as to what she had been thinking about. The onna it seemed wasn't very good at hiding her thoughts because as she told him she wasn't thinking about anything she was staring at his mouth and she licked her lips. It was then that he figured out what she had been thinking and it made his heart beat faster. So the onna was daydreaming about kissing him again was she? Very well he would give her what she wanted but not without letting her know that she had been busted. "Really, you weren't daydreaming about anything at all just now? Do not lie to me onna."
Damn, he knew she had been thinking of something. What should she say? Luckily she didn't have to say anything he pushed her so she was flat on her back on the bed and he was leaning over her trapping her between his arms. Her eyes went wide with shock, "What are you doing Ulquiorra?" He leaned in so that his lips were barely touching hers their faces centimeters apart, not a kiss, not yet anyway. He kept his eyes focused on hers and said "If you want me to kiss you again onna, just say so." He watched her shocked face but she didn't pull away she couldn't even if she tried he had left her nowhere to go.
Damn him so he knew what she had been thinking all along. That is so unfair. At least now she didn't have to come up with an excuse. She leaned up so that she could finally kiss him but he pulled away maintaining the distance he had set and kept looking straight into her eyes. He was going to make her say that she wanted him to kiss her, she tried again to capture his lips but he moved again. How embarrassing, she would have to ask to get what she wanted.
"Ulquiorra?"
"Hmm"
"Kiss me."
"As you wish onna."
Finally closing the distance between them, he kissed her. His lips were gentle yet firm as he locked lips with her. He gently sucked on her bottom lip before parting her lips with his own, to slide his tongue into her mouth. Her mouth felt like silk and caused a fire to stir in him the likes of which he had never felt before. She brought her arms up around his neck and ran her fingers through his hair pulling him closer as she did. His left arm moved down to her waist and he pulled her closer so that her body was flush against his. So much for stopping before his predicament got any worse.
As their tongues danced with each other everything else in the world faded away until it was just them and this moment. He took the opportunity to slip his hand just barely under her shirt in order to feel her skin against his. She gasped breaking away from his kiss to breathe and opening her eyes to meet his emerald green ones. Neither of them moved away from the other. She closed her eyes and leaned in to kiss him again. It wasn't enough, she wanted more. He lit a fire in her soul that threatened to consume her if she didn't keep kissing and touching him.
It was then that a deep voice made a loud coughing noise from the door to her bedroom and they broke apart quickly. Ulquiorra had turned towards where the sound came from charging a cero, ready to blast whoever had disturbed them into the next dimension. Orihime grabbed his arm and stopped him before he could fire it. There was a small black cat sitting in the doorway to her bedroom. "If you two are finished Kisuke would like to see both of you at the store, now." From the tone in her voice Orihime could tell that Yoruichi wasn't making a request.
Orihime was extremely embarrassed at having been caught making out with Ulquiorra on her bed and had turned beet red. "Yes Yoruichi, we were actually on our way there anyway this morning." Ulquiorra for his part didn't say anything but he gave the cat a glare that could freeze your bones. Yoruichi then turned and said that she would be waiting for them in the living room and that they had better hurry up she didn't want to have to come back in here to get them again.
To say that Ulquiorra was pissed at the interruption would be an understatement, but seeing as how it wasn't the woman's fault he decided not to make a big deal about it. The mood had already been ruined and whatever spell the two of them had been under had broken. He turned back to the onna who was hiding her face in her hands and muttering some nonsense about black cats being bad luck. He pulled her hands from her face and looked down at her capturing her eyes with his own and leaned down to her ear and whispered, "We shall continue this later onna." He then pulled away and placed a chaste and quick kiss on her lips before getting out of the bed and zipping up his jacket and going in the living room to let the onna finish getting ready.
Once Orihime was ready the three of them left her apartment and headed toward Urahara's shop. Thankfully the shop wasn't far from where she lived because an awkward silence hung in the air as they walked. Orihime was so embarrassed at having been caught she could barely look at either one of them. Yoruichi hadn't said a word to either of them since going to the living room to wait for them but she was walking to where she could keep an eye on the former espada. Ulquiorra however, was his usual stoic and stone faced self, not seeming bothered by anything. Sometimes Orihime wished she could be like that, she always wore her emotions to where the whole world could see them, but in situations like this she envied Ulquiorra's poker face.
Finally arriving at the shop Yoruichi told them to have a seat in the living room and Urahara would be out soon to talk to them. They sat there in awkward silence waiting for Urahara to come in until Orihime couldn't take it anymore she had to say something. "I'm sorry." Ulquiorra glanced at her and replied, "For what onna, you have nothing to be sorry for." She gave him a small smile, glad that he wasn't mad at her for this morning. He leaned over to her and gave her a small kiss on the cheek to reassure her that he was not angry at her for the interruption this morning. The fact was he was actually glad that the cat had interrupted them, because he wasn't sure he would've been able to stop if it were up to him and he didn't want to pressure the onna into something she wasn't ready for.
It was then that Urahara decided to come out and join them popping open his trademark fan. "Well well, what do we have here I do believe you are an espada aren't you?" Ulquiorra studied the man carefully before answering; he knew who Kisuke Urahara was he had met him already twice when he was working under Lord Aizen. "Former espada number four, Ulquiorra Cifer." Urahara was quick to realize that Ulquiorra's mask was gone. "There's something different about you than the last time we met isn't there, our encounter was brief but something seems like its missing. Your mask perhaps, what happened to it?" Ulquiorra sighed and calmly responded to him, "The onna and I were on our way to see you this morning to ask if you could tell us what happened to it."
Orihime saw this as an opportunity to jump in since it didn't look like Ulquiorra was going to share any more information with Urahara then he had to, "His hollow hole is missing too and…" She hesitated not sure if she should mention his heart or not, she glanced at Ulquiorra hoping he would give her some sign to continue. He met her eyes and nodded for her to continue. "He also has a heart now, I felt his heartbeat." She looked down blushing a little from the last part." Kisuke eyed the both of them for a moment quickly hiding his shock at all this. "Oh my, well that is unheard of, how is it that I can help you?" Ulquiorra noticed the excitement in his voice and eyed him suspiciously not sure if he really wanted this scientist poking and prodding him to figure out what happened to him.
Orihime was quick to answer for him though, "We were hoping that you could make him a gigai so he can stay here in the world of the living, and maybe you could tell us how this happened." The shopkeeper's eyes lit up as he replied "Oh I'd be delighted to assist you in figuring out this mystery thank you for asking. As for the gigai I'm sure that can be arranged. Come on down to my workshop and let's have a look at you shall we?" With that he stood and motioned for Ulquiorra to follow him. They both started to follow him when Urahara said that he'd need to take some measurements for the gigai and suggested that it would be better for her to remain here until he was done. Frowning she reluctantly agreed and turned to sit back down just as Yoruichi now in her human form returned to the room to keep her company.
Ulquiorra followed Kisuke Urahara to the underground training room which had a room off to the side of it that looked like a medical laboratory. Urahara examined him and took samples of everything from his blood to his hair and skin, and took measurements of everything before he told Ulquiorra he could go back upstairs and wait with Orihime and he would be up in a little while after he modified a gigai for him. Ulquiorra was fine with that seeing as how he was tired of getting poked and prodded by the mad scientist anyway.
While Ulquiorra was busy downstairs Yoruichi decided that it would be a good time to have a little girl talk with Orihime. "So Orihime, how have you been? I haven't seen you much lately." Orihime felt the awkwardness of the situation but couldn't really do anything about what had already happened. She giggled nervously and did her best to answer the question honestly, "Well to be honest I've been having nightmares, and I've been really depressed for a while now."
"Oh really, do you want to talk about it."
"Well not really, but I suppose I should. Ever since I came back from Hueco Mundo I've had nightmares of how Ulquiorra died and I wasn't able to do anything. I tried healing him but it didn't work and he turned to ash right in front of me. After he died I realized that during my time there I grew to have feelings for him. Just before he died he mentioned something about finally finding his heart and I realized that I didn't want to lose him, but it was too late. Ever since then I've had nightmares of that day always wishing I could touch him or save him but in my dreams I was never able to. It felt like I had given him my heart that day and it died with him. I felt so empty and I used to wonder a lot if that was what it felt like to be a hollow. Even my friends noticed, Ichigo and the others tried to ask me about it but I just couldn't tell them all that. I didn't want them to worry about me, so I tried my best to cover up my sadness with fake smiles and laughter, but I guess I didn't do a very good job because they still knew something was wrong."
She had been trying to hold the tears back for some time but at that point they started to fall, "Oh Yoruichi, I don't know what to do. I don't even understand how this is possible but I'm so glad he's back. Last night I was crying over him again watching the rain and somehow he came back and when he did he came to find me. I'm sure that he really did find his heart that day, last night I got to feel it. I feel like the part of me that has been missing since that day has finally returned. I just don't know how Ichigo and the others will react to all of this. I don't want him and Ulquiorra to fight again because I'm scared I'll lose him again. I know they aren't going to like the fact that he's back though. What should I do?"
Yoruichi listened to everything she had to say and regarded her carefully. "Dry your tears Orihime. It doesn't seem like he's here to hurt anyone and he obviously cares for you too at least from what I saw this morning anyway." Yoruichi winked at her and nudged her on the shoulder making Orihime stop crying and laugh. "If you want him to stay here and he's willing to stay here for you and protect you that means he's ok in my book. If Ichigo doesn't like it, who cares what he thinks, he'll see how happy you are now that he's back and he'll eventually learn to deal with it." Orihime was thinking about what Yoruichi had said to her and it really did make her feel better now. She had stopped crying just in time because Ulquiorra came walking back into the room. Yoruichi got up to leave the two of them alone saying something about going to check on Kisuke.
Their time alone however, was short lived as a very familiar spiritual pressure came bursting through the front door making the two of them jump to their feet. Ichigo was already in his bankai when he came in the door, as soon as he spotted who he was looking for he shouted at Ulquiorra, "What the hell are you doing here? Get the hell away from Orihime." Ulquiorra calmly regarded Ichigo before replying "No." If Ichigo wasn't mad a second ago he sure was now. "Get the hell away from her before I make you." Orihime was frantic she tried telling Ichigo to calm down but he wouldn't listen to her. He took a swing with his zanpaktou at Ulquiorra but before it connected it was stopped by a familiar orange shield. "Why the hell are you protecting him Orihime? He kidnapped you and held you prisoner. Give me one good reason I shouldn't just kill this guy?"
Orihime wasn't sure what to say, Ichigo didn't look like he was going to calm down no matter what she said, and besides that Ichigo had never yelled at her like that. She couldn't believe her ears. Luckily Urahara showed up to answer Ichigo's question so that she didn't have to.
"Well Ichigo I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"Oh yeah, why's that?"
"Because you most likely would end up killing Orihime too. It seems our little Orihime, quite literally gave him part of her heart a year ago."
Everybody's attention was now focused on the scientist, and a collective "WHAT?" was heard from everyone in the room.
A/N: Ok another chapter finished. Let me know what you all think please and review. When I get reviews it makes me want that much harder to finish another chapter for you guys. You are my inspiration. Poor Ulqui-chan and Orihime getting interrupted like that how rude! :(
