Nope, I didn't forget about this thread XD Sorry for the horribly long wait on your requests. I'm getting to them slowly but surely!

I can't remember who requested this...I think actually more than one did. But here ya go whoever you are! (I know copper requested one with the prompt "cupcake", but I'll get to that one later. I had this idea for UlquiHime and had to get it out first xD)

Pairing: UlquiHime
Rating: a very light T
Relevant AN: Orihime's has given her heart speech and Ulquiorra took her back to her cell, so I'm messing with canon a bit for my purposes and delaying Ichigo's arrival.

How big is a woman's heart

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Ulquiorra stared at the two pale fingers that had pressed against the girl's chest. He could still feel the steady beat of her heart pulsing against the pads of his fingertips. His dark lips pressed together tightly and he shoved his hand back into his pocket, a foreign feeling of frustration bubbling up within him because once again he found himself preoccupied with the ridiculous human and her prattle about hearts.

Nonsense.

But as he strolled through the halls of Las Noches, awaiting Kurosaki's arrival, his thoughts persisted in straying to the prisoner with the long, caramel hair. His hand slipped out of his pocket for further scrutiny. Curiously, he brought them to his chest, raising them to the same spot where he had touched her when he had tried to intimidate her. Inexplicably, that plan had backfired when he ended up holding a longer conversation with her than he'd intended and now he found himself practically bewitched by her.

The fingers that had lifted to press to his chest didn't meet with the warm beat of a heart. They slipped into a hole of cold emptiness.

Nothing.

Ulquiorra felt…annoyed, he decided was what the feeling was. He was annoyed at the absence of the curious thump-thump in his chest. He was annoyed that he desired to feel such a useless thing. But most of all he was annoyed at this mere girl causing such disrupt in his world.

Cold nothingness was all he needed. It was all he had ever known. There was nothing that such a weak creatures as a human had that he needed.

Nothing.

Ulquiorra raised his vibrant eyes to find that his feet had somehow led him to the prisoner's door. He glared at the white stone. And right then he decided she was a threat and therefore must be destroyed. She was distracting him and he would not be able to concentrate on protecting Hueco Mundo in Aizen's absence.

With resolve and purpose set in his empty chest, he calmly swung the door open.

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Several minutes had passed with Orihime standing in the middle of her ascetic room, her hand pressed to her heart, willing it to slow down as her mind whirled with confused thoughts and feelings. This was not what was supposed to happen. This was not what was supposed to happen at all.

Her plan had been to gain the espadas' trust, or at least their apathy, and then betray them, helping her friends and Soul Society to defeat Aizen and his new army. Maybe even use her powers to reject the cause of this whole mess.

But she hadn't planned on her friends coming after her. Stupid girl, she chided. Of course they would come after her.

More than that though, she hadn't planned on Ulquiorra.

Her heart sped up faster as she relived the feeling of his green eyes boring into her, probing her, challenging her. The fabric covering her chest bunched up in her clenching fist. Why was she feeling all of this? Why now? Why him? He was the enemy.

But he didn't feel like the enemy. He felt…curious…lost… And he didn't even know it. Or wouldn't know it. There was so much more she wanted to tell him. So many things she wanted to show him. He was missing so much, and he had no idea. It broke her heart.

And then…there was the attraction. She was unbelievably, inexplicably, deeply attracted to him. It was insane. It was ridiculous. It was undeniable.

Her soft brown eyes slid shut. How could this be? They were polar opposites! But then, she supposed, so were magnets…

That wasn't all though…

Ichigo.

Wasn't it just hours ago that she had made him her last and only goodbye? Hadn't she just confessed her heart to her sleeping friend? Was all that stuff she had said about falling in love with the same person even if there were five of her only the delusions of a silly schoolgirl?

His scowling face floated through her mind.

No. She loved him deeply. Still did and always will. She'd never been surer of anything in her whole life.

But…

She jumped and whirled around when the door swung open and she felt his presence fill the room. Her eyes widened as he walked towards her with calculating steps, those eyes and that gaze sending her heart racing. He stopped before her, their chests only inches apart. Her lungs felt crushed, his closeness robbing her of all breath, his eyes not allowing her to look anywhere else.

A gasp escaped her parted lips when she felt his fingers against her chest, once again. Only this time was much different than the moment that occurred only a few minutes ago. This time it was more… She bit her lip, embarrassed at where her thoughts were headed.

"Woman." Her chest warmed at his low voice. "Why is this heart of yours faster than the time before?"

Her cheeks heated at his curious question. "I-I…" She couldn't explain something like that to him!

His eyes had glued to the middle of her chest where his fingers lay, and now he began to drag them up her chest, over her collarbone until he found the pulse point at her neck and he pressed his fingers, feeling her erratic heartbeat. Orihime could only stand still and stare at him with wide eyes as his exploring fingers traveled up her neck, following her jawline.

"Ulquiorra," she whispered.

A slight frown appeared on his stony face, but he didn't respond to her, his pale fingers not stopping until they'd run over her lips. Orihime gasped lightly, his chilly fingers leaving her lips feeling heated and tingly. She should pull away. She should stop this. But she couldn't find the will to do anything except lower her gaze to his dark lips.

His fingers stroked her mouth once more, the frown deepening slightly as the tip of one finger slipped between her lips, exploring the wet warmth. Orihime closed her mouth around the tip, powerless to stop her tongue from gently stroking it.

Ulquiorra snatched his hand away from her mouth, and before Orihime could worry that she had gone too far, cold lips pressed against her mouth. Her eyes stayed open, unable to close them from the shock, and found that his were wide open, watching her. His hands clamped around her arms as he experimentally moved his mouth against hers.

As stunned as she was, she didn't hesitate long before responding, pressing against his mouth in return, her hands tentatively rising to rest against his chest. She couldn't resist him, and she knew she'd never be able to resist this mysterious, heartbreaking, beautiful man.

She gasped and jerked back when she suddenly felt it; Ichigo's reiatsu bursting into Las Noches. And she hadn't even felt or noticed him coming because…because…

She raised her hand to her burning lips and stared at the floor, a thousand and one thoughts and feelings racing through her.

Ulquiorra dropped his hands and stepped back, turning his back on her. "Your hero has come for you." A short pause felt like an explosion between them. "Come with me and watch him die."

Silently, she followed his stiff back out of the room towards where they could feel him racing through the halls.

They were such opposites. Where Ichigo was warm, Ulquiorra was cold. He was bright and orange and alive, but he was dark and stoic. His expression was of angry tenderness, but his was a mournful stoniness. He was an open book, but he was a mystery. He was the hero, but he was the villain.

A villain who had been her first kiss.

But as different as they were, both men stirred feelings that felt so similar and yet so different.

It was crazy, it was impossible. How could she…love a man she'd only met hours before? But she did. She couldn't deny it. She loved two men, one a shinigami and one a hollow. Two enemies.

Who could she cheer for? Who could she protect? Who could she fight?

This fight…

A tear rolled down her cheek.

There would be no winners in this fight.