Chapter 6

"So, Orihime. Spill." This was the first thing that Amy said to me the next day when we went to the beach again. Roxanne was with AJ, and Amy sitting with me under a tree. Well, actually, I was sitting under the tree while Amy was tanning outside the tree's shade.

"Spill what?" I asked her. Was she talking about Ulquiorra? Did Roxanne tell her about him?

Amy grinned wickedly. "Oh you know..." she said coyly. "Mysterious 'snake-boy'?"

I pretended not to understand her even though I knew very well she was talking about Ulquiorra. Roxanne must have told her about his lip piercings. Geez, Roxanne! DOUSHITE? "What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Puh-lease..." she drawled. "Rox already told me about that guy you met at the library. So spill. Tell me all about him."

"Why don't you just ask Roxanne?" I said flatly.

Amy pouted. "I did, but she couldn't tell me much. She says you were being very secretive about him. Like you had a crush on him or something."

At the mention of the word 'crush', I didn't know what to say. I still hadn't had all my thoughts sorted out yet, and right now Amy wasn't being very helpful. I really looked forward to tomorrow when Tatsuki would be back from her hiking trip.

Amy took my silence as confirmation. "So you have a crush on him?" She asked, her eyes wide with curiosity.

"No," I said as firmly as I could. "Definitely not."

"I'm not buying it," she said, shaking her head. "You're bad at lying, Orihime. So you may as well just tell me everything." She crossed he arms across her chest and gave a fake, stern look.

I sighed. "Fine. I'll talk about him," I said, wishing I didn't have to. "I assume Rox already told you about his weird piercings?"

She nodded. "Yeah, way freaky."

"Then, what else do you want to know about him?"

"What's his name?" She asked curiously.

"Um, he didn't exactly tell me his name, but I heard his friends talking to him, and one of them said his name."

"So what's his name?" Amy asked, getting impatient.

"Ulquiorra."

"Ulquiorra? Ulquiorra who?'

"I don't know."

"Hmm..." she replied as she pondered on what to ask next. "How did you two meet?"

"I uh... I ran into him outside the library," I said.

"And then?"

"Well, I dropped my stuff onto the floor and he helped pick them up."

"Ohmygod! That's is like, so cliche!" she squealed. I had expected her to go all excited like that. "But still very cute and romantic," she continued. "Go on."

"Then after that, he walked off," I said with a shrug.

"That's it?" Amy said with a grimaced. "Didn't you ever see him again for the whole week?"

I chewed my bottom lip. "I actually saw him many times after that. I saw him at the library everyday for the rest of the week."

"Alone?"

"Yeah."

She pursed her lips. I could tell that practically all her interest in him had just gone down the drain. "Eww, sounds like a stalker. Stay away from him, Ulquiorra," she said seriously. "He's no good for you."

Even though I had no plans to do as she asked, I simply nodded. "Sure," I said.

That night, I went back to the cluster of rocks and sat myself on the same rock as the one I sat on the day before. I propped my chin on my fist and watched the waves out in the distance.

"Hi," a voice suddenly said. I jumped and turned to see that Ulquiorra was directly behind me. He stared neutrally at my reaction. Gosh, this guy is so pH7!

"Not funny," I growled.

He chuckled to himself. "I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself yesterday," he said, holding out his hand. "My name's Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra Schiffer."

"Sure, don't worry about it," I told him, and shook his hand, which was rather cold. "I'm Inoue Orihime."

"That's a pretty name," he noted, taking is seat opposite me. "How long have you been in the States?"

"Since I was six."

"Oh, I see," he asked softly.

He leaned forward and rested his chin on his hand. "So, did you bring your artwork?"

I nodded. "Yes. Brought my poems too if you want to read them. Here." I handed him my file of poems and sketches.

He opened the file and carefully took out all the papers inside. Then he looked up at me.

"I assume the poem you were writing yesterday isn't here?" he said, his voice all monotonous.

I blinked. He actually remembered? I couldn't think of anything to say, so I instead, dumbly said "Uh...".

I was shocked he remembered about that poem. I didn't particularly mind showing him my poems, only that poem I had written yesterday was about my past and I didn't want a stranger reading it.

He nodded and returned his attention to my stuff. He seemed to want to start with my drawings first because he was skipping my poems. He stared at my manga sketches as though trying to memorize them and whenever he saw a poem, he didn't read and kept going to the next piece of paper until he reached another manga sketch.

When he had finally seen all my sketches, he looked up. "I really like your manga sketches," he said. "This one's my favourite." He held up a drawing of a girl in Japanese high school uniform, seated with her legs to her chest but her back facing the viewer. She was looking at the sun set. It took a long time to shade in the drawing. So it helped pass the time.

"What do you like about it?" I wanted to know.

He shrugged. "Just the fact that it shows how I feel most of the time."

I waited for him to explain.

Ulquiorra bit his lower lip, staring deeply into the drawing and he quickly changed the topic, "So, you're greatly obsessed with anime and manga?"

I wanted to ask him to explain his feelings but I decided to follow on his topic. I wouldn't want to be so pushy about his personal life. It's best to let him keep it secretive and I shouldn't be too concerned about it. I resumed by talking about my favourite anime genre, my favourite manga and everything related to that infamous Japanese pop culture. Speaking about it made me dread about going back to Japan.

"I used to watch a lot of Sailormoon and Cardcaptor Sakura when I was small. I admire their powers and I thought if I could actually have powers and fight off the nemesis. It's something that I always wished back then but as I grew up, I began adventuring other types of anime and manga," I said.

Ulquiorra nodded, blinked, then said, "Well, I'm more to the shounen side, obviously. However I'm fonder in the games than the anime itself. I prefer reading the manga and online RPG."

He passed the sketches back to me and I shoved them inside my file. He seemed to be a very interesting person so far. I wonder what are his interests apart from anime and manga. I doubt he like sports because he would've been tanned if he indulges in them. I decided to ask about why he was very pale but maybe that might offend him. He could be part albino and I would sound like I'm ridiculing him if I were to ask him.

"Have you heard of the Otaku Lounge?" Ulquiorra asked.

I immediately looked at him.

"It's a mini library stocked with good manga. You could also sell off your old manga to them. They even accept American comics too," he resumed, his emerald eyes eyeing me carefully. "However, it's in Chicago, sadly. I've been there once and I thought it was a great store."

I crisscrossed my fingers on my lap and stared at them. My mind was much crisscrossed just like my fingers. Why was I with him? Why was he so interested to look at my sketches and poems? Were they something worthy? Well, one thing's for sure Ulquiorra seemed to be the second person to at least appreciate my artwork and creativity apart from Tatsuki. Amy and Roxanne thought that I should do serious art instead of doing cartoon, as how they refer to my artwork. Sometimes their remarks really piss me off because: 1. Anime and cartoon are two different types of animation altogether. 2. Creativity and imagination of one's mind are something unique and shouldn't be condemned without properly analysing it. 3. Friends are supposed to help improve one another, not discourage them just because their ideas and thoughts differ from yours.

"Thanks for telling me about that. I should look it up on the internet," I said neutrally. I was almost running out of topics to talk about but I managed to ask, "Do you speak Japanese?"

Ulquiorra gave me a blank, emotionless look and said, "No, sadly."

From the tone of his voice, I could tell that he might be lying.

I shot him an incredulous look. "Really?"

"Yes," he replied.

My mind was beginning to tangle up into never ending series of knots. I was about to yawn but I tried my best to keep my mind awake. I didn't want to give him an impression that I was bored of this conversation. I was actually rather exhausted, just as usual.

"What time do you plan to sleep?"

He casually replied, "I'm staying up late, playing Ragnarok, my old time fave."

"Sorry to burst your bubble Ulquiorra, but I'm sort of sleepy. I really would like to continue but I don't seem to be the type who can stay up late," I said, trying to hold myself back from yawning as I stood up.

He stood up and simultaneously slid his hands in the pocket of his pants. "I'm cool with that."

We walked back to the house. Silence fell on us and the only sound that was lucid to our ears was the sound of the sea waves slowly beating against the sands of the beach.

"That's a nice house," Ulquiorra said quietly, almost like a whisper.

For a moment or so, I could feel the shiver running down my spine. He really had the potential vehemence to scare me just like that.

I turned to look at him. "Thanks, goodnight, Ulquiorra."

Ulquiorra didn't move a single inch. He stood there, glancing at me with his pale, milky white emotionless face. I wonder what made him so solitaire in terms of his expression. He does have friends but still he is rather solitaire, which was a something I always ponder of. But still, he looked like a strong willed person. The way he managed to persuade me to show him my works.

"Goodnight, Orihime," he said. "I'll see you again one of these days."

I waved at him before heading to the lawn to enter the house by the backdoor. He walked away and I watched him until he was out of sight.

I tiptoed on the wooden floorboard, opened the door and silently locked it. I took a deep breath and sighed, leaning my back against the door. What was I thinking I was doing? Why did I show him my house and most of all, why do I even bother to meet him in secrecy like that?