Chapter four! I'm off to Idaho for the week, I'm going to this awesome writer's camp called Writers Harrimen. It sounds like it's going to be a blast! Anyway, thank you all for the amazing reviews so far, I can't wait to hear from you all again this chapter, even if it is a little OOC.

This chapter has a warning on it because I'm becoming paranoid. Mentions of *whispers* Doing the do.


Ulquiorra was not very helpful when it came to finding an apartment.

He didn't care about the view or the design or the color of paint. He didn't care about the neighborhood or how close by the bus stop was. The only thing he cared about was staying within a reasonable price for rent.

It was up to Orihime.

She found some blue and some tan, some with good neighborhoods and some near bus stops. She even found one that was close to the Kuroaski clinic. And yet, none of them felt like the right one. Ayume loved every last one- that much was clear as she went twirling around the place with arms spread out.

She continued to ask about everything and anything she came across. She seemed to be in love with the vivid coloring of everything, though she did at one point in the day admit it was making her eyes hurt. Orihime didn't blame her- she was feeling the same way.

"And this one," Yoruichi said as they came to another apartment, "Is the one I actually have picked out for you if you want it."

"Um, Yoruichi-san, are you sure you're allowed to be in here?" She asked for the second time that day. She was pretty sure that flash stepping into the room and opening it up from the inside wasn't exactly the way apartment tours went.

"Of course." The woman said, waving away the concern.

Orihime was about to question her further, but stopped. She looked around the apartment.

The walls were a light shade of tan, a couch in the room colored light green against the wall. There was a TV across from the couch, flanked by two tall skinny bookshelves. To the right was a square kitchen with a small table in the middle, and then between the two 'rooms' was a hall so that the open area was shaped like an up-side down T. The room behind the living space was a bedroom much bigger than the other, which shared a space with the kitchen. The walls were a light crème color, the large bed topped with white, black, and light blue blankets and sheets. It didn't have an attached bathroom, but the one at the end of the hall had two sinks and was rather large.

The second, smaller bedroom had light blue walls and a single bed. It was topped with a light pink comforter.

"I was thinking you could use this room for storage or something." Yoruichi was saying. "But it turns out that everything works perfectly." She went on, saying something about how the reason it was so cheep was because the bathroom ceiling leaked water in the winter because the pipes would freeze over.

They could figure that problem out when they came to it…

"I love it." She said with a wide smile. "This is the one."

"Yay!" Ayume ran to the smaller bedroom, laughing, jumping up and down with her arms in the air. "We have a living place!"

Orihime looked back at Ulquiorra, a huge smile in place. "What do you think?"

He looked around a bit, considering. After a moment he nodded. "It is acceptable."

Mimicking his tone Ayume stood up straight and said, "It is wonderful."

Orihime laughed, reaching down and smoothing out the girl's hair with a smile.

"Well that's good," Yoruichi said with a smirk. "Since I already bought it."

"O-oh." While it was nice to know that the woman knew her so well, it was a little disturbing to see that she was still so impulsive. "Thanks?"

"If you already purchased this one," Ulquiorra bit out through clenched teeth, "Then what was the purpose of visiting all the of other homes?"

"So that we'd have enough time to move all your stuff here."

Orihime blinked. "What?"

The door to the porch suddenly flew open, Tessai marching in with two huge trunks under his arms. Jinta came in dragging another one, Ururu easily holding one up over her head as she trooped in behind him.

Urahara entered last, dresses draped over open arms. "Well, glad to see you all made it here in one piece." He said. He walked up to Orihime and offered her the dresses, which she happily accepted into her own arms.

"Well, I'd say that's just about everything."

"You sure had a lot of stuff." Jinta grumbled.

Tessai swiftly picked him up by the back of the shirt, smiling at Inoue. "You'll find everything form your old apartment here." He said from underneath his large mustache.

"Th-thank you." Orihime said, still surprised.

"Now remember, you'll all have to find jobs soon!" Kisuke said as soon as Yoruichi came to stand beside him. They started to back out of the apartment. "We only bought the place, the rest is up to you."

And just like that, they were gone.

Orihime blinked.

"Well…" She turned back to the two left in the room. "Um, I guess we have some unpacking to do?"

She could tell then, watching them nod, that they were going to be very happy there. Even Ulquiorra, who had despised living in the human world, would be happy. They all would be.

And finally, finally, they would be living.

(~)

Unpacking was not supposed to be fun. It was a long, tedious task riddled with dust bunnies and the confusion of where things were supposed to go. Not to mention all the time spent just trying to figure things out.

But it was still tons of fun for Orihime.

Orihime watched Ayume squeeze the woman's pink bear to her chest, promising to take care of it since Sora had given it to Orihime when she was young. Orihime was delighted to find that some of the clothes Sora had put into storage bins fit her younger daughter, as they only had one outfit for her before they had opened up the trunks of Orihime's stuff.

They didn't have very much to move in. Sora's old clothing fit Ulquiorra, and so they would use that, and most of Orihime's old clothing fit her... besides the shirts, which rode up to show of her stomach. She just had to rely on dresses for the time being. Besides the clothing they moved in dishes, photographs, stuffed animals, books, a couple of movies, and then other little things that Orihime had possessed.

When they were done it was getting close to dinner time, and Orihime realized that despite all Kisuke and Yoruichi had done they really were at a rough place to start. They had no food to eat, and while they were used to that and were usually able to absorb the spiritual pressure in the air by sleeping for days on end or finding spiritual canisters full of the mixture that Espada ate in the place of souls the same thing wouldn't work for gigais and human bodies.

Orihime was just standing up in a dress that fit her, out of her old school uniform, and putting away a tote when there was a knock at the door.

At first she had thought that maybe it was the neighbors coming to say hello and welcome, but opening the door she felt her eyes go wide.

Hands on her hips, scowl tugged to the side. Navy blue-black hair choppily cut at her mid-back, dark green pants and a dark red top…

She looked pretty pissed.

"Tatsuki?!"

"YOU DIDN'T CALL ME FIRST THING YOU GOT BACK!?" She roared, leaning forward.

Orihime floundered, pushing her index fingers together nervously. "Well, you see, I-" She was cut off by Tatsuki grabbing her and pulling her in for a hug- something that tomboy rarely did. She felt herself smile happily and return the hug with as much- possibly more- vigor than her fiend. "I missed you!"

"You better have," Tatsuki said as she drew back. "Four years? Yeesh, way to give me the heads up."

Orihime laughed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Yeah, sorry about that…"

"Man, last time I saw you, you were disappearing into a hole in space outside your own body." She said with a laugh, but then suddenly stopped. "But really, I had to hear about you coming back from Renji?! I mean, give me a break!"

Orihime laughed again, smiling wide. "I'm sorry! We haven't really had a chance to settle down yet."

"We?" Tatsuki cocked her head to the side. "Is Cifer still with you?"

Blushing lightly, Orihime stepped back. "Um, why don't you come inside?"

"Okay, sure, but if he's here I'm going to give him one hell of a-" The karate master stopped short, frozen, staring. Her eyes wide as dinner plates, her mouth just barely fell open.

Ayume stared up at her, little head titled to the side, her eyes full of wonder. Slowly a smile spread up over the girls face as she linked and unlinked her hands behind her back. "You're aunty Tatsuki."

Tatsuki was still. Then, slowly, she seemed to melt. "Is… Is she…?"

Orihime nervously laughed. "Well, um, yep!"

Tatsuki crouched down, still completely shocked. "Wow." Was all she said.

Ayume licked her lips, awaiting a reaction, lightly rocking back and forth on her feet.

Tatsuki offered out a hand. "Hey kid." She said happily, but softly. "What's your name?"

Ayume looked down at the hand, confused. "Ayume."

Behind Tatsuki, Orihime mouthed, 'Shake it.'

Taking the cue from her mother, the girl reached out and lightly took a hold of Tatsuki's hand, giving it a small shake. "I am Ayume." She said again, not really sure what to do.

"And I'm Tatsuki." The woman replied with a big grin. She suddenly turned to Orihime, still squatted down to Ayume's level, and said, "You better make me the godmother."

Orihime burst out laughing, nodding her head frantically. "Check! One Tatsuki Arisawa as godmother!"

"You have pretty eyes." Ayume said conversationally.

"So do you."

"Also you don't look like trash." She nodded. "Which is good."

Tatsuki grinned. "Glad to hear it."

The little girl then looked back and forth before leaning in to whisper in Tatsuki's ear. "Did you really punch Daddy?" She asked excitedly.

"Ha! Sure did!"

The girl smiled mischievously. "You're brave."

"Not as brave as your mom."

"No one's braver than Mommy!"

Tatsuki's grin stretched wider. "Not even Ichigo?"

"Kurosaki-kun?" She shook her head. "No, he just blushes a lot."

Tatsuki fell back laughing, nodding her head. "I love your kid!" She cried, looking back up at Orihime. "And hey…" She looked back at Ayume. "She looks an awful lot like Cifer…" Standing, she brushed herself off, looking down at Ayume with a smile. "Why don't you go find your dad? Me and your mom-" She gave Orihime a look, "Have a lot to talk about."

"Okay." Without hesitation the girl ran back to the master bedroom, quietly closing the door behind her.

Tatsuki turned to Orihime as soon as the door closed, an evil gleam in her eyes. "So…?" She trailed off, then looked over her shoulder at the bedroom. "He's here, huh?"

Orihime nodded nervously, a small bead of sweat rolling down her neck.

"And you… and him…" Orihime felt herself grow more apprehensive with every word Tatsuki let spill from her lips. "You two-"

Orihime launched forward, clamping her hand over her friend's mouth. "Sshhh!" She said, turning bright red. "They'll hear us!" Quickly she ran to the front door, tugging Tatsuki along with her, and then out onto the porch where she felt they could talk without anyone hearing.

She hoped, anyway.

Tatsuki, free once more, laughed again, sagging back against the door. "Oh wow. It's been so long! It's hard to imagine you two having sex."

Orihime, upon hearing the word, went even redder. "Ahh!" She shook her head and covered her face. "Don't say that!"

"Why?" Her friend went on in a teasing voice. "You did!"

"It's embarrassing to talk about." Orihime mumbled through her hands.

After a tiny silence, Tatsuki scooted over to sit with her friend against the railing of the porch. "So." She said. "How was it?"

Still red with humiliation, Orihime peaked up from between her fingers. She looked left and right, leaning around Tatsuki, and when she saw the coast was clear leaned back against the railing. Quickly she muttered, "Amazing."

Tatsuki smirked. "Oh…?"

Orihime stiffly nodded, looking at her friend form the corner of her eye.

"No need to be so embarrassed about it, Orihime! We're big girls now." Tatsuki laughed. "Hey, just last night Renji and I-"

Orihime's eyes went wide. "You and RENJI!?"

Tatsuki blinked. "Oh… Yeah. I guess it has been a while." She held up her wrist, which had a tattoo of a black dragon on it. "I've got my own powers now." She said. "I mean, all I can do is destroy stuff, kinda like Chad. But the people in Soul Society that know me call me the 'Black Dragon.' I kind of like it, you know?"

Orihime nodded, looking at the tattoo. "Oh. And you and Renji…?"

Tatsuki leaned back against the railing. "He's a bit awkward on dates and stuff, and also kind of stupid sometimes, but I guess I love the big guy. It was really weird at first since he was in love with Rukia, but we got together a couple of months after Ichigo and her got engaged."

Orihime found her eyes wide again. "Engaged?!"

"Yeah. They have been for almost three years now."

"What? Why haven't they gotten married yet then?"

"It's always something. Rukia wants a winter wedding but he wants a summer wedding. She wants this many people to be invited and he wants two to be invited. She wants strawberry cake and he wants peach-"

"Do they really fight that bad now?" Orihime asked worriedly.

"Huh?" Tatsuki blinked. "Oh, no! They don't get into huge fights about it! They can just never decide and they're both so stubborn. So figuring one thing out takes them months. And then just as they move on they come to another problem. Honestly, it will be a miracle if they ever actually get married."

Orihime giggled. "Sounds like them all right…"

"Yeah. If you ask me what they need is a wedding planner. But every time someone suggests that, they both say the same thing." She changed her voice to crappy high-pitched imitations of the two. "No! We'll do it ourselves! We don't need a wedding planner!"

Orihime full-out laughed, throwing her head back.

"And I mean, it's the one thing they can agree on, you know?" Tatsuki shook her head, still smiling. "Maybe now that you're back they'll finally get on it. I sort of feel like they were almost stalling and waiting for you to get back."

"You think so?"

"I don't know. With those two you can never really tell."

Orihime breathed out through her mouth in amusement. "Yeah."

"Anyway," Tatsuki turned to Orihime again. "You have a kid!"

"Yep."

"How old is she?"

"Three."

"Wow… she acts so old."

Orihime smiled. "You're the second one to tell me that."

"Think she gets it from him?"

"Ulquiorra?" She smiled wider. "No doubt about it!"

The two laughed.

Tatsuki smirked again, heading back to where the conversation had started. "Now that you're not looking like a tomato…" She leaned in and whispered, just like she had used to when they were younger. "On a scale of one to ten- how good is he in bed? Ten being a sex god and one being, well, a one."

Orihime lightly blushed, though not nearly as bad as before. "Mmm…" She mumbled something that Tatsuki couldn't make out.

"Eh? What was that?"

"Um, I think maybe he's a mmm…"

"Couldn't hear you Hime."

She sighed. Then, quietly, "Eleven?"

Tatsuki's smile returned at full blast. "No!"

She bashfully nodded her head.

"Orihime, you lucky woman!"

Still looking like she had severe sunburn, she turned to the martial artist. "W-Well w-what about you?" She managed.

She considered it. "Hmm… I give him a nine."

Orihime blinked. "I thought you said Renji was awkward?"

She chuckled darkly. "Have you ever seen him when he takes his hair down?"

Orihime shook her head.

She laughed again. "Oh… he's a nine all right."

Orihime licked her lips nervously. "Wh-What about his hair…?"

"Well, first of all, he looks incredibly sexy. And second of all, when he stops looking like a pineapple he gets very, very serous." She thought for a second. "I think it comes from fighting. He knows if he's fought hard enough to get his hair falling out, it's time to up it a notch. But hell, I don't care where he gets it so long as he doesn't lose it."

Despite herself, Orihime found herself lightly laughing. "Wow."

Nodding, Tatsuki laughed a little, too. "Yep. What about you, though?"

She felt herself go red again. "Oh. Well, um, it's not like he's ever really not... concentrated… um…"

"No, don't compare. This is just for fun- we're not writing out charts on our love lives. Just say what you like and what he's good at and stuff like that."

She nodded woodenly. "Uh, oh, okay. Well…" She thought, and then smiled to herself. "It's his eyes…" She trailed off.

"Oh?" Now Tatsuki looked really interested.

"Yeah." She said, playing with her hands. "They get so intense. He… just, the way he looks at me." She blushed brighter. "It makes me feel like I could melt right into the floor."

"Go on." Tatsuki prompted.

Finding it easier to talk as she went along, she did. "They just get so dark. He does this thing… normally he likes to give side-glances instead of looking at someone. But… when he's like that… he won't look away from me at all."

Tatsuki smirked. "I see."

"And his voice!" She said, really getting into the conversation. "It's like it gets a whole octave lower. I can practically feel him touching my skin when he just speaks."

Tatsuki slowly nodded. "Oh, yeah. Definitely an eleven." She smirked. "Renji does the bedroom eyes thing, too. But not as well as your man unless your over-romanticizing it."

Orihime shook her head softly, thinking to herself that her description didn't really do him justice. "The way he enters the room, too. I-"

Fwoosh.

Ulquiorra stepped out onto the porch, tall, eyes narrowed. "Onna."

Both Orihime and Tatsuki fell back laughing at the same time- Orihime actually falling down on the ground and gasping for air despite how heavily she blushed.

Ulquiorra blinked in confusion. "… Is there something I have failed to notice?"

Tatsuki waved him off, clutching her sides. "N-no!" She snickered. "No-o-oth-thin-ing!"

He frowned, annoyed. "You are not making any sense."

Sitting up, Orihime wiped the tears from her eyes. "S-Sorry Ulquiorra! Um, what is it you needed?" She stifled another giggle.

He blinked again. "We do not have any food."

Tatsuki sat up, still smiling wide. "No problem. I was just on my way to meet Renji at this restaurant," She looked over at Orhime. "It's not very new, but it's new to you. Do you want to come?"

"Oh, we-"

"My treat!" Tatsuki cut her off.

Orihime thought about it. While she didn't want to take advantage of Tatsuki, she also wanted to have her family fed for the night… She would order water to drink. "Count us in then. Can we walk there?"

"Yep." Hopping to her feet the karate master reached down her hand in offering, pulling Orihime up to her feet. "They have the best Italian food there."

With a nod Orihime walked back into the house. "Let me just get out some shoes… And then we can all go!"


Edited by the wondrous Avid Vampire Hunter. Let it be known she is a saint.