Title: The Rain that Binds
Pairings: UlquiHime with some one-sided IchiHime and IshiHime. Other pairings may be hinted at later.
Rating: T
Spoilers: Up to chapter 282 of the manga
Word count: 3,439

Ulquiorra stared at the book he had just finished reading through, four times, and still didn't understand. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He should have known that any book that she recommended would be nonsense. He had been sitting at the table, waiting for Orihime to finish getting ready for the last hour and a half.

' Honestly, how long can it possibly take her to put on clothes?' he wondered.

He finally heard the door to her bedroom open and turned his head to look at her. She was wearing a long brown skirt with boots underneath and a pink turtleneck sweater with a heart patch stitched on at the bottom. A small bag was hanging from her shoulder. He stared at her for a minute or two before he snapped himself out of his trance. He eyed the scarves in her hands, a red one and a dark green one.

" Here," she said, offering him the green one. " You put it around your neck so you don't get cold."

Ulquiorra stared at it, thinking: ' How is one supposed to wear this thing?'

He watched as she wrapped it around her neck in an intricate fashion and saw her turn towards him. He then proceeded to follow her movements exactly and put his scarf on, although he was fairly certain that he wouldn't need it; temperature did not affect Arrancar. However, it was easier to just put the scarf on than to try and explain this to her and see her look of disappointment when she found out.

" Alright then. Keys. Purse. Coat," she marked off, reaching for her coat.

Orihime shut off all the lights in the apartment and made her way to the door. He followed her until they were in the foyer. After putting on their shoes, she linked her arm into his and he felt a warm feeling spread where her arm was touching his. Ulquiorra's face became unusually warm.

' It must be the scarf,' he decided, putting the issue to rest.

Lightly pulling him over the threshold, they exited the apartment. She unhooked her arm from his for a moment to lock the door and then linked arms with him again. He saw a person a couple of doors down wave to her and she waved back at them enthusiastically.

" Ah! Orihime-chan! How have you been?" the older woman asked. " It's been so long since I've seen you! A little over two weeks, right? Are you alright?"

Orihime scratched the back of her head nervously. " Yes, I'm alright. Thank you for asking, Honda-san!"

The older woman stared directly at Ulquiorra and cupped her hand to her mouth, leaning in toward Orihime.

"Orihime-chan? Who is that good looking fellow you are linking arms with? Your boyfriend? Also," she said, taking in Ulquiorra's mask, " what is that thing on his head and why is he wearing such strange makeup?"

His eyes widened. ' Boyfriend? I may be male but I most definitely not her friend,' he thought bitterly, glaring at the woman. ' More importantly, how is it that this woman is able to see me? I can sense that she does not have much reiatsu, so she should not be able to do so…unless...' He looked down to where the button was under his shirt.

" Goodbye, Honda-san!" Orihime exclaimed, pulling him along. When they were far enough away from the apartment, she turned towards him questioningly.

" Ulquiorra, what was that about? How was Honda-san able to see you?"

He waited a second before responding. " I think it has to do with the device that Urahara Kisuke gave those two shinigami." Seeing that she was still confused, he explained further. "When he handed them the remote control device to give to you, he also gave them something that would seal my reiatsu. Apparently, it also allows humans, regardless of how much reiastu they have, the ability to see me."

" But, I don't understand. Why would that be a good thing?" she asked, turning her eyes up to help her think of an answer.

" I am not certain," he replied. ' All I know is that there is going to be one less shinigami in the world very soon.'

Somewhere in the back of Urahara's store, a sneeze was heard.

" What did you tell her?"

" Ah! I just explained that you are a family friend from Germany who is visiting with me while you are on vacation." He nodded. " I also explained to her that your mask was a hat. I couldn't really give her a good explanation for your tear marks, though."

Ulquiorra shook his head slightly, " That is fine."

The walk to the shopping district was relatively peaceful, except for the one girl who tried to latch herself onto Ulquiorra and take him home with her. Needless to say, it took a bit of persuasion on Orihime's part to keep him from killing the girl immediately.

" I know that it wasn't right for her to try and latch onto you like that, but that does not give you an excuse to kill her," she said, trying to reprimand him and failing, " Anyway, she was a foreigner. She probably didn't know any better. Although, I wonder which anime character she thought you were…"

He hmphed quietly. He tried to relax himself but being around this many people at one time was starting to wear on what little nerves he had and fast. He could see them all scurrying about, a couple of them taking notice of him and the strange mask that he had on his head. Suddenly, he felt her pull his arm lightly, pointing to a shop with her free hand. He noticed that it was a clothing shop.

" Let's go in here, Ulquiorra!" Orihime chirped. " We should get you clothes first, anyway. We wouldn't want any food to get bad."

" You are going to pay for the clothing again. I do not want to be indebted to you."

She smiled. " It's nothing! Anyway, I'm not technically the one buying the clothes this time. Rangiku-san and Hitsugaya-kun gave me an allowance, from Soul Society, for me to use for this purpose. Apparently, they knew that I would have to buy more clothes for you."

Before he could object, she pulled him into the store and he heard the light ringing of a bell that was on the door. There were many different kinds of clothes here. Some of the clothing was more traditional, and he saw a pair of hakama lying in a corner of the store. Most of the clothing, though, was similar to the ones he was currently wearing.

" Welcome! What may I help you with today?" a young woman, a little older than Orihime, asked him. He could see her eyes move up and down his frame in a way he figured she thought was an inconspicuous manner.

" Yes, please. We need to buy some more clothes for him to wear." Orihime replied, unlinking her arm from his and gently pushing him in the direction of the clerk.

" I see. Sir," she said, turning to Ulquiorra, " could you please remove your hat?"

Ulquiorra stared at the woman blankly.

"Errr…" he heard Orihime say, " He…can't. Because, you know…he has…bed head!"

" I see. Well, let me see what I can do for you."

When the woman turned around, he shot Orihime a glance that clearly asked her what the hell she thought she was doing. She shrugged. She leaned closer to him and cupped her hand around her mouth.

" Well, I didn't see you trying to come up with an excuse," she whispered. He saw the clerk return with a large bundle of clothes in her hands that threatened to overwhelm her.

" Here sir. Let's see if any of these will work for you," she replied with a smile. Ulquiorra ignored it, following her to the back of the store where the dressing rooms were. She handed him about half of the clothes in her arms and put the rest in a chair next to the dressing room door. She then returned to where Orihime was.

" Do you not wish to see how your boyfriend looks while he is trying on clothes?"

Orihime blushed and looked away from the clerk. " He's not my boyfriend. He's just a friend. I guess I'll go and see how the clothes look, in any case."

The two women walked back to where Ulquiorra was and waited for him to come out. After a few moments, they looked toward each other, confused.

" Ulquiorra? Are you not going to come out and let us see how the clothes look on you?" she called to him.

"…No."

" Please?"

They heard him sigh and saw the door open, revealing himself to them. He was wearing dark, tight jeans, and a white button down shirt with a blue button down sweater over it. He did not look happy about the situation. He did not mind the top so much, but the bottoms…No. Ulquiora saw both women's faces turn a bright red, although Orihime's was much redder than the clerk's standing next to her.

' Is she becoming ill again? I understood humans were frail, but…'

" So, how do you like this outfit, sir?" the clerk asked, her face still a little flushed.

" The shirt and the sweater are acceptable," he replied in as short and quick a manner as possible.

" And the pants?"

" No."

" Why not, Ulquiorra?" Orihime asked.

He closed his eyes and replied, deadpanned, " There is a higher probability of Aizen wearing a tutu than me ever wearing these pants again."

She burst out laughing, clutching her sides as tears trailed down her cheeks. When her laughter had died down, Orihime looked back at him. " Ulquiorra, how do you know about tutus?"

"You remember Luppi, correct?" She nodded, surprising him. He had not expected her to remember the former sexta Espada, considering the only time that she had ever seen him was when Grimmjow had gutted him. " Well, let's just say that he had some very…interesting…hobbies…"

A wide grin spread across her face, " I see."

The clerk looked at the two with confusion but said nothing. In the end, Ulquiorra had enough sets of clothes to last him a week, which included the hakama and kimono, the only thing that he had shown any interest in buying. When they were done purchasing the clothes, Ulquiorra grabbed the bag and the two exited the store only to run into a familiar face.

" Ishida-kun!" she exclaimed, running up to him, a bright smile on her face.

He pointed a finger to something over her shoulder, which turned out to be Ulquiorra. "I-Inoue-san! What is he doing here with you? Did he threaten you in any way?"

He looked her over, looking for any signs of injuries that the former cuatra Espada might have inflicted on her while Ulquiorra walked over to Orihime's side. Finding nothing, Ishida returned his gaze to her, waiting for her answer.

" We're just shopping for some extra clothes for Ulquiorra. I only bought him one set the first time and he can't be wearing the same clothes every day, you know," she explained.

Ishida's mouth dropped. "Buy..ing…Wait a minute! Inoue-san! You know he's still our enemy, rig…"

" I'm sorry, Ishida-kun. We don't rally have a lot of time to talk right now. We need to get to the grocery store before it closes for the day or else I will have to go out again during the week!" the orange haired girl interrupted. " I'll see you tomorrow at school, ok?"

With that, Orihime took off, leaving the two males to stare at where she had once been standing. The two turned to each other and glared.

" If you hurt her, Arrancar, I swear…"

" Why did you not tell her about your feelings for her?" Ulquiorra demanded, his eyes getting colder by the second.

" What are you talking about?" Ishida asked suspiciously.

" Hmph. Human, it is obvious that you harbor feelings for her."

" Even if I do, what business is that of yours?" he shot back.

Ulquiorra started to walk towards the direction that Orihime had ran towards and turned to face the young Quincy.

" I want to know how much of a threat that you, as a potential rival, pose." He looked the boy over once. " Not much," he finished, starting to walk once again towards the direction Orihime was headed.

" Hey! What's that supposed to…WAIT! RIVAL!?!"

After catching up with Orihime, which didn't take him long considering he could sense her reiastu easily, they made their way to the supermarket. Once inside, he noticed that she was putting a hodgepodge of items in her basket, none of which seemed to go together. To Ulquiorra, anyway.

" Inoue." She turned to him from the slice of fish that she had been looking at. " What do you intend to make with the food that you have?"

She smiled sadly. " Ah. Well, you see, when you live on a budget, you really don't have the option of being picky with what food you get to buy."

Looking at the items she had, he noticed that they were all less than 700 yen. His frown deepened.

' So, she has learned to adjust her sense of taste to accommodate her budget,' he thought.

After purchasing the food for the week, they exited the store and began to return to her apartment. They could hear yelling a few feet in front of them and were surprised to see that the ruckus was coming from Ichigo and Rukia. The two were walking close to each other and they were having an argument of some kind. Ulquiorra turned to look at Orihime but saw that she was focusing on the pair in front of them.

' Kurosaki-kun. He looks so…happy,' she decided.

Even though they looked like they were having a heated argument, she knew that both of them were enjoying it, particularly Ichigo. His eyes were bright and she knew that the smile on his face was a genuine one. She heard his laughter and closed her eyes to revel in it.

' Kurosaki-kun…' she thought sadly, feeling tears begin to form in her eyes.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to find Ulquiorra looking at her with an odd look on his face.

" Come. We need to return."

Nodding, the two began to make their way to her apartment, hoping not to catch the eyes of the two shinigami in front of them. They had no such luck.

" AH! YOU!" Ichigo screamed, pointing towards Ulquiorra and gaining the attention of everyone around them.

" Kuro…" she started before Ulquiorra cut her off.

" Inoue is not feeling well. She needs to return home," Ulquiorra said, pushing her away from the orange haired boy and closer to the apartment building.

" Hey! Wait a minute! Where the heck do you think you're going, you bastard?" Ichigo shouted, running after them before Rukia stopped him.

" That's enough, Ichigo. Do you really want to cause a disturbance here, in front of all these people?" she asked, pointing to the people around them staring at them awkwardly.

" But what was he doing out of her apartment?" Ichigo asked, in a more normal voice this time. " I though Urahara-san said that he had put something on Inoue's door to keep him from getting out."

" I don't know. Whatever the reason, I'm sure it's a good one," Rukia replied. " More importantly…"

"What?"

She stared toward the direction the two were heading to. " Since when did he start calling her by her name?"

After they returned to the apartment and put everything away, Orihime ate her dinner in silence. The silence was beginning to unnerve Ulquiorra. It was not that he did not like it; in fact, he relished it. However, when it came to a certain orange haired girl, silence and her mixed as well as oil and water.

'She hasn't been this quiet since she was in Las Noches,' he noted.

" What is wrong?" he said, startling her.

She plastered a grin on her face. " Nothing is wrong, Ulquiorra."

She turned away from him and washed her plate. When she was done, she walked over, sat on the couch and patted the seat next to her, like she had done the night before. He walked over and sat down, sparing her a glance. He could see that she was still wearing that fake smile of hers. He tried to make eye contact with her, but she avoided his gaze.

" Stop it," he demanded.

" Stop what?"

" Stop smiling."

" Why?" she asked, " Why should I stop smiling if I'm happy? You don't make any sen…"

" You're not," he said firmly. Silence. " You were quiet on the way back here. You were quiet when you put everything away. You were quiet when you ate dinner. And more importantly, you refuse to look me in the eyes." He sighed and forced her to look at him.

" Inoue," he said, turning her face up so that she was looking at him. " What is wrong?"

She could feel the tears fill her eyes and broke eye contact with him. She stared at the floor, hoping not to cry. She would cry later in her room. She refused to let herself cry here in front of him.

" It's because of Kurosaki Ichigo, isn't it? The way he and that shinigami were acting around each other, correct?"

Orihime looked up at him, her eyes wide. She bit her lip and swallowed the lump that had been forming there. She nodded slightly. Her body started to shake slightly.

" When I saw them together…when I saw Kurosaki-kun with Kuchiki-san, he looked so happy. I'm glad that he was happy. I'm glad that Kuchiki-san can make him happy…it's just…I wanted to be the one to make him smile like that and make his eyes brighten that way."

Ulquiorra said nothing.

" I guess…. I just wanted Kurosaki-kun to love me," she said, wiping the tears that were now running down her face, " like he does Kuchiki-san."

Orihime placed her head in her hands and started to weep, her shoulders shaking. Ulquiorra stared at her and then, closing his eyes, sighed.

" Foolishness." She looked up with teary eyes and turned towards him. "You should not desire for someone to love you like they would another. You should be loved for who you are," he finished.

She looked at him, her mouth slightly parted in shock. Suddenly, she launched herself towards him and started to cry again. He stiffened at the unfamiliar touch but did not push her away. After a few minutes, she pulled herself away, her face flushed.

" I'm sorry," she said with a sniffle.

" Do not apologize."

She looked at him at him and laughed lightly. " Your shirt," she said, pointing.

Ulquiorra looked down and noticed that her tears had stained his shirt. She opened her mouth to apologize until she saw his hard stare and stopped herself.

" I'm really tired. I think I'm going to go to bed early." She began to make her way to the bedroom. " Goodnight, Ulquiorra."

" Goodnight, Inoue."

She stopped walking and turned around. She stared at him in disbelief.

' That's…. the first time that he's ever returned my "goodnight"…'

Suddenly, she felt a small smile spread on her face. He nodded slightly, satisfied to see that she was not faking her smiles anymore. Orihime continued to walk towards the bedroom and shut the door. Putting on her pajamas, she covered herself with the blankets from her bed and began to think.

' You could have patted my head and told me that everything was going to be fine. You could have held me close and whispered words of comfort until I stopped crying. There is so much you could have said and done to comfort me, but…. in the end, your words are what I needed to hear.'

She looked up at ceiling, imagining the face of the green eyed Arrancar.

' Thank you, Ulquiorra.'