So you have all probably noticed I am a complete and utter failure at edditing, but I promise eventually I'll go back over these little chapters and fix them up. Anyway, I just had this suddenly flood my brain, it's about 30000000% out of character, but oh well. Please enjoy, and as usual thank you so much for the reviews!

[Chapter Four]

"Your friends are battling arancar forces." Ulquiorra informed her over lunch- an egg sandwich and vanilla pudding.

"In the world of the living, right?"

He nodded.

Orihime isn't a bitter creature, but two years can do a lot. She shrugged a shoulder and bit down deep into her sandwich, savoring the flavor. She chewed, swallowed, and then spoke. "Well, they'll handle it."

"Do you resent them?"

"No. I made it look like I came here willingly, so why would they follow?"

"If they knew you at all they would not think you had betrayed them."

She paused in her eating to think for a moment before she picked up her chewing again. "So, what you're saying is… you think I'm incapable of betrayal?"

"On the contrary. I think you intend to betray us."

She shrugged again. "Aizen knows what I want to do. If there was any chance for me he'd tighten up my security, huh?"

"You'll bide your time then."

"Yeah. Who knows, maybe we'll never go to war. Maybe things will just stay like this forever."

"..." He chose to indulge her. "Maybe."

She smiled, grateful to have him drop the subject. Still, there was another thought bothering her. "Ulquiorra, do you think I'm crazy?"

"Yes."

She giggled. "Don't be so quick to answer."

"Should I elaborate?"

"Please do."

"Anyone else in your situation would have become consumed by depression at this point. Anyone else would be bitter and vengeful. Another girl may have even become suicidal. But you… you've adapted. You've learned to become aloof about everything."

"Or maybe I just haven't hit breaking point." She laughed again. "Say, Ulquiorra, if I ever do snap and decide I want to die, will you kill me?"

"… I cannot say."

"What if I asked you to kill me? Would you do it?"

"It is against Aizen's orders."

That's not a no. "I see." She looked down at her plate, almost empty. "Say, Ulquiorra… do you think that my friends ever like me at all?"

"They would have been fools not to."

"I thought they would have come for me."

He turned his head away from her.

"I mean…" Suddenly sad, she slumped back in her chair. "I'm in love with Kurosaki-kun, and I go missing and he… doesn't even look for me. I'm not mad. But when Rukia-san got taken from him he went through everything to get her back. He even cried for her. And yet to him it's like I wasn't even there. Funny, huh?"

"I fail to see the humor."

"Yeah… sorry, it's a figure of speech. I guess I don't make so much sense when I get lonely like this." She sighed. "It just… I'm so happy to have had time with them, but I really do wish that for once… just once… someone would like me as much as I like them. That if I asked for something, they wouldn't say it's not like me, or call me naïve, or… you know. Just someone who I can talk to." Someone who would love me, too.

"You are talking to me, are you not?"

Her eyes widened. "S-say… Ulquiorra… do you like me?"

"I would not be sitting here if I detested you."

"And you… you listen to me."

"Yes. Though I won't stop calling you naïve."

"But if I asked for something, you'd listen, huh?"

"Within reason."

She paused, her gut erupting into butterflies. Shyly she peeked up at Ulquiorra from under her eyelashes. He wasn't bad looking, really. He was actually quite handsome. She felt her face flush. "That's right, huh?"

"Indeed." He answered, thinking she was still on her previous track of thought.

She swallowed. "Say, Ulquiorra." She licked her lips. "I-if I asked you to kiss me, w-would you?"

He considered her question for a moment. "Yes."

Her heart began to beat fast within her chest. "Say… Ulquiorra?"

"Hn?"

"Will you kiss me?"

Eyes turning warm, he swiftly stood, neatly tucking in his chair. "If that is what you want." He walked over to her side, where he carefully placed a hand on her shoulder. "Then that is what I will do."