(A/N): Sorry for the long wait, guys. ^^ I've been really busy, and haven't had must time to work on my story. IMPORTANT: Changes have been made to the previous chapters, not many changes, but it would be best if you went back and looked at them just in case. ^^
Rating: NC-17/R
Pairing: Ulquiorra/Orihime
Genre: Romance/Angst/Drama/Comedy
Description: I had never been good when it came to consoling others, but seeing her there... like that... I did not understand. I did not understand this sudden feeling that I had to touch her, wrap my arms her, and hold her. It irked me to my core to know that she was affecting me. What had she done? What had she done to me?
Leave Out All the Rest
Chapter Four: Important
A lot of things can happen in one month, for instance, me finding employment. "I absolutely refuse."
She placed her hands on her hips and took on the act of a scolding mother. "If you want the job, Ulquiorra, you have to wear the uniform. It's time for you to take on the responsibilities of a human again."
"I can only sacrifice so much of my pride. Therefore, I will have to find another job."
Orihime's face saddened. "You don't want to work with me, do you?"
My eyebrow rose just the slightest bit. "You are missing the point. Have you seen your uniform?" The uniform consisted of black dress pants and a white t-shirt with the stores name on the front, but the pants and the shirt were the least of my problems. What troubled me was the black hat that had an oversized plastic sushi on top of it. You could not miss it even if you wished to. Much like Grimmjow's hair as I have mentioned before.
Speaking of Grimmjow…
"You know, chicks dig a guy in uniform. Maybe you can get laid and won't be so damn emo all the fucking time," his aggravating voice rang in my ears.
I decided to ignore that.
"How's about you do us all a favor and go off to die somewhere," Tatsuki snapped at Grimmjow.
We were standing inside of the towns' theater, set on going to see the newly released movie. When Orihime had suggested it I had not minded, but then when she mentioned that our other halves would be tagging along, I regretted ever agreeing to attend.
Grimmjow glared at her and leaned down closer to her. "How's about you suck my…"
Orihime surprised me when she grabbed my hand and dragged me into the theater, disabling me from hearing the rest of Grimmjow's sentence. Looking back at me once we were inside with uncertain eyes, she whispered, "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea?"
I removed my hand from hers and walked ahead of her. "Perhaps, however, I have a feeling that in the end they will end up leveling each other out." My hands buried in my pockets, I walked up the stairs in the theater to the very back and sat down.
She followed and sat down next to me. "What are you talking about? How are they even remotely close to leveling each other out?" Her finger pointed at the two arguing as they entered.
"… and who the hell dyes their hair blue," Tatsuki complained.
"The color of my hair is natural," Grimmjow argued back.
"Damn blueberry."
He smirked. "If I recall correctly, blueberries are pretty damn good. Guess that means you think I'm tasty."
I watched and suppressed a smirk when Tatsuki dry heaved. "I think I'm gonna be sick…"
Grimmjow glared at her. "Bitch."
Releasing a deep breath, I replied, "My point is, is that now he has finally found someone that is willing to play his game, and is an equally good opponent as well."
"You always manage to get him to be quiet some kind of way too though."
"Grimmjow is callow." One of my eyebrows raised as Grimmjow tripped her while they were walking up the stairs. "As is Tatsuki at times even though she tends to be sensible. To put it simply, I try to refrain from playing with children."
"You know, Tatsuki's my best friend. I guess that makes me callow too. Are you going to stop playing with me now?"
I turned my head to look at her, my eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and a red tint plastered on my cheeks. It pleased me that it was too dark for her to notice. "…"
She gasped, and I saw her hand move up to cover her mouth. "T-that didn't come out right. I didn't mean it like that."
"Orihime," I began after I had regained my composure. "Out of all the people I have known I enjoy your company the most." You're the most important person to me in this world. Never, had I ever said such a thing to another person, and I never thought that I ever would.
… but …
As she leaned on me slightly and hesitantly traced her fingers over the back of my hand, it made me relieved to know that there was finally someone in this retched world that I could say those words to, and not feel any remorse afterwards. I turned my hand over and linked my fingers with hers slowly, savoring her warmth.
These were things that I had missed when I was last human, and now that I know a little about what I had been missing, I never want to let it… her… go.
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The walk home was silent, and slightly discomfited. "Orihime," I said in an attempt to break the silence. "Why did you willingly allow me to reside with you knowing what I once was and not knowing anything about my background?"
"I've been waiting for you to ask me that, and I know that the others are curious too. I just… I…," she stopped walking and looked up at me.
"Carry on."
She was blushing. "N-never mind. We should get home."
I gripped her chin with my forefinger and thumb, and leaned down closer. Close enough to cause her to back herself into the wall behind her. "Tell me." I made it a point to soften my voice so she neither felt threatened or offended. "Orihime." Removing my hand from her chin, I placed my hand flat on the wall beside her head, my other latent in my pocket.
Her response was to raise her hand and place it on my cheek. "It's unbelievable. Your skin used to be so cold, and now you're so warm. Alive. Human. Standing right here in front of me."
"Even after a month that still baffles you." She gave me a single nod as I stared intensely into her eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Ulquiorra… t-this is serious, okay? Earlier, in the theater, what you said made me really happy. I know that you probably don't think it was as important as I do, but it was." She lowered her hand to my neck, and lowered her head, closing her eyes.
"So you did catch the meaning behind my words." My body was reacting to the small touches her fingers were bestowing on the back of my neck.
That, I took note of, had managed to catch her off guard. After staring at me for a minute, she spoke. "Have you ever…," her hand moved from my neck, over my shoulder, and down the arm that blocked her in until it rested on my forearm. It occurred to me that she did not recognize what her fingers were doing to me. "… thought about…"
I moved closer on impulse and rested my forehead against hers. The feeling of her uneven breath against my face was stimulating. "What?" It was my turn now as I removed my hand from my pocket and moved it up to caress her cheek with my fingers.
"… what it would be like… to…"
"Well, isn't this cute?" The sound of laughter was heard from behind me and I moved away from Orihime. As I turned around, I was greeted with the presence of at least eight other men.
"Damn. Now those are some tits," another said as he snickered while staring past me to look Orihime up and down.
"Why don't you run along little boy, and let us play with your lady friend here." This one was at least twice my size. Matching his size up to Grimmjow's would be fitting. By the way the others stood behind him, he was most likely the leader.
My response was to stand there, slip my hands in my pockets, and say nothing.
"Did you hear me? I said run along, little boy."
"Ulquiorra," Orihime whispered.
I held up my hand and glanced at her over my shoulder. "Silence." It was things like this that I missed. People who not only judged another by their appearance and size, but those that also did everything and anything that they pleased. To put it simply, ill-bred stray dogs. Or as I always say, trash. "Lay a hand on her… and I will kill you…," I said forebodingly as I took a step forward.
They visibly flinched at my words, but did not heed them as the leader sent one of his men forward. "Who the hell do you think you're talking to? Let's see you beat my boy Aoki. He's a kick boxer, soon to be famous. No one's ever beat him."
My head tilted to the side slightly as if to say 'try me', and I waited as Aoki stepped forward and got in his fighting position with a smirk plastered on his face.
Silence.
Then a step…
… and another.
He made his first move, and I dodged it by trapping his leg under my arm. We stared at each other for a moment, and I spoke once again, "This is your last opportunity to leave." Once again, my words were not heeded as he pulled himself from my grip and made an attempt to punch me which I dodged as well. "Very well. You had your chance." At his second attempt to punch me, I gripped his fist in my hand, and sent my knee into his stomach.
Gripping his stomach, he coughed and wheezed as he stumbled backwards. "You… you bastard," he yelled as he charged at me.
My leg lifted, sending a swift kick to his stomach where I'd kneed him before. When he bent over, I went into a full body spin, kicking him in the jaw with the heel of my shoe and sending him to the ground. "If you're wise, you will not get back up." My eyes lifted from the saddened sight before me to their so called leader. "I hope that he wasn't your best."
Only a matter of seconds had passed until they all came rushing after me, and none of them had been any better then the first. When I was finished, I noticed that one of them was missing.
"Let me go," Orihime screamed.
I turned around only to find the leader holding a knife to Orihime's throat. I was certain that we both knew that if she used her power he would most likely cut her throat on reflex, and I was not going to risk presuming that the extent of the injury would be minimal. There was one thing that I could try, and if it didn't work, Orihime's life would still be at risk. "How cowardly. Putting a woman's life at risk for your own gain."
He growled. "If you know any better, you'll shut up before I cut your bitch's throat." A smirk appeared on his lips. "Actually, I think I'll have a little fun with her first." With his free hand, he caressed her inner thigh, and slowly worked his way up her skirt.
The muscle in my jaw tightened as my eyebrows furrowed when Orihime gasped and closed her eyes tight. "S-stop." She struggled. "No."
"Nice and shaved. Just the way I like em." He swept his tongue along the side of her neck. "How does it feel? Not being able to do anything?" His fingers continued to move beneath her skirt, causing tears to spill from Orihime's eyes as she continued to struggle.
"How does it feel? Not being able to do anything?" Hearing those words… those words that mirrored my father's before he had taken everything from me… caused something within me to crack. This feeling… was familiar… the situation… familiar… and when I was standing in front of them… the knife held tightly in my hand… I remembered the one time that I could not save those that were important to me…
"H-how."
I pushed Orihime from in between us. "I told you… that if you touched her… I would kill you…" I snatched the knife from his grip and threw it, but as soon as I had, I felt a sharp pain in my side and heard a loud noise. Another? No. It wasn't. I looked down to see a gun pressed against my side right below my kidney, and as my eyes moved up to his, he shot me again.
"Koten Zanshun, I reject," I heard Orihime yell.
I leaned on my side on the wall beside his body, panting. This is what I get for letting my emotions get the better of me. Gripping my side, I walked over to Orihime, and grabbed her hand. "We need to go."
"Wait. I have to heal you first," she pleaded trying to stop me.
"There's no time. We need to leave before the authorities get here." I tried dragging her.
"… but at this rate… you could die...," the despair in her voice halted my advancements.
"I've suffered from worse, Orihime. These wounds are nothing but small cuts to me." I released a shaky, deep breath knowing that that explanation wouldn't satisfy her, so I added, "When we arrive some where safer, you can heal me, agreed?"
"I'll go, but only if you promise that you won't leave me again."
I looked back at her. "Never again. Now. Let's go." I had finally begun to understand what my reason for being here was. It was her. I think that subconsciously I had always known it was her, because she was the only person in a long time that had been able to break down my wall. The wall that had protected me for so long. The wall that kept my heart from harms way.
… and she did not bring sorrow like the many I had known in my lifetimes. Instead, she had given me what I had asked her for. A reason to keep living.
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I had almost forgotten how painful an injury could be when you were human. "I would appreciate it if you could speed up the process…," I said between gritted teeth as I leaned against the counter while she attempted to remove the bullets.
"I have to get the bullets out first. You know that." The slight edge in her voice told me that she was clearly upset. "Maybe next time you won't do something so stupid."
"Damn woman. This is the thanks I get for saving you from a man that was ready to rape you?" My fists clenched against the counter when she dug deeper and pulled out the first one.
Ignoring my question, she dipped under my arm, so that she was between me and the counter. "Thank you," she said softly. "… but…," I felt her searching for the second bullet which was deeper and gasped. "… if you ever make me worry like that again…," she paused, looking me directly in the eyes. "… two bullets will be the least of your worries…"
Body shaking due to the pain, I leaned down closer, eyebrows furrowed. "Is that… a threat…?"
"No." I had never seen this side of Orihime before. It was immensely out of character, but it pleased me to know that the Orihime I had once known… had finally grown up. "It's a warning."
"Hn," was all I could manage as she continued to dig in my side.
"Almost…," she gasped. "Got it!"
I couldn't suppress the low scream that escaped my lips as she pulled the second bullet out. As my eyes blurred due to the amount of blood I had lost, I said, "Orihime."
"On it. Sōten Kisshun, I reject."
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(A/N): Hope you enjoyed. ^^ R&R.
