Run.
Run. Run. Run.
That's all his brain was screaming at him. He wanted to run. He wanted to leave. He didn't care if it would be rude. Ulquiorra wanted to bolt from that classroom faster than anything. He'd gladly use Sonido to remove himself from her presence.
Her eyes were darting over his face and his body. She looked puzzled. That head of orangey-copper hair tilted to the side slightly.
Someone bumped Ulquiorra, and it broke the spell she had on him. He glanced around, quickly assessing the situation. Maybe she was a student. Maybe she had nothing to do with this class. Maybe—His eyes went to the whiteboard in the front of the room. Three words graced the surface in elegant handwriting.
Professor Orihime Kurosaki.
Well, wasn't this nice. Shit. How would he survive this class period?
He would have to see someone to get his elective changed to something that Orihime Kurosaki didn't teach. For now, he would have to grin and bear this torture. He took a seat in the last row of tables in the back of the classroom, putting his bag into the seat next to him.
It served a purpose; to deter anyone from sitting next to him if his frigid stare didn't get the point across. It worked, most of the college students avoided his stare and vicinity. The only person whose eyes looked in his direction was the woman standing in front of the class.
"Hello, my name is Orihime Ino—Kurosaki. Orihime Kurosaki. I'll be your teacher for this class," the redhead said in a quiet voice. "Your first assignment for me will be an easy one."
Ulquiorra listened to the woman talk, her voice a soothing blanket over his nerves but he knew this was a false sense of security. He could not be here. This would cause a whole slew of conflict that he didn't want to deal with at the moment. Did Urahara know that this woman worked here? Is this why he was so set on Ulquiorra attending classes?
He should kill the former Shinigami for meddling with fate.
Then again... Maybe Urahara was trying to help. Did the man know about the forbidden activities that happened when Grimmjow and Kurosaki sparred?
He had witnessed the woman's husband fornicating with a Hollow. Ulquiorra was sure that this fell under some variety of misconduct or something. He wasn't human and barely remembered his own human life, but he knew that humans were mostly monogamous.
"Your assignment is this," Orihime said with a smile. "Every time you have class I'm going to give you a prompt. Write about it. Write me a story, a narrative. It can be fictional, fantasy, alternate universe, first person, third person; I want to read your words."
There was a murmur through the class.
"I'll collect your notebooks at the end of the week. Three stories a week. I'd like them to be at least one hundred words long," the redhead stated. "Does anyone have any questions about the assignment? Does anyone have any questions for me?"
"How long have you been teaching?" Someone near the front asked.
"This is my first year teaching. I graduated last year, so you don't have to call me professor or anything," the teacher replied. "I'm just like you, human. So if there are no more inquiries, your first writing prompt is—"
She paused, and Ulquiorra looked up to see she was staring straight at him. It made him shift in his seat. What if she thought he was a monster? What if she didn't recognize him?
"Your first prompt is 'What is the heart?'"
Oh, no. She remembered who he was. He sat there as other students brought out notebooks, laptops, and pens. For some extended minutes, all that could be heard was the soft taps of fingers hitting keys and the scratching of writing implements against the paper. Ulquiorra was currently avoiding the woman's dark gaze, his eyes darting where he couldn't see her.
Finally, he saw her out of the corner of his eye. She was standing at the table he was sitting at.
She bent down. Ulquiorra's green eyes shifted to the side, but he said nothing. He would not say anything to her. He didn't plan on interacting with her at all.
"You're not going to write?" she asked, her voice so low it was almost inaudible. He barely shook his head. "Do you have time to stay after class?"
A slight nod, though Ulquiorra didn't know why he agreed to stay. Nothing she had to say would make him stay in this course. He had to see someone about switching classes and do so immediately! He sat like a petulant brat in the back of the class, watching as Orihime moved around the tables, answering questions and laughing with others.
The ninety minutes passed by slowly. He felt every one of those seconds because he was captivated by that redhead.
Those five years he had been gone had done nothing to squash his curiosity and admiration for her. She still radiated beauty. She still glowed from within. She always saw the good in everyone, even himself.
Did he deserve it? Probably not, especially with what he had seen the other day. Ulquiorra planned to use that information to the fullest extent he possibly could but for what reason he did not know.
"Alright, I'll see you guys on Wednesday! I hope you have a good night and remember to write!" Orihime called out as the students began to pack their belongings away.
Ulquiorra remained sitting in the back of the classroom, with his arms folded across his chest. Once the room was empty and Orihime closed the door, she didn't turn around. "It's really you, isn't it?"
At this point, he could have denied everything, but Ulquiorra was pretty sure that his reactions prior to this would be a contradiction. "Yes, Woman."
"Are you—"
"Human? Reborn from a soul?" Ulquiorra scoffed. "Don't fool yourself. I'm a Hollow. I'm still an Espada. I'm still an Arrancar."
"You died."
"I disintegrated. I told Ichigo Kurosaki if he didn't kill me then there wouldn't be a winner; there would be no closure. Your husband didn't kill me." The way he spat out the word husband made her flinch.
Orihime sighed, still facing the door. "So, you know about that."
He almost snorted with contempt. "Of course, I do. I constantly have people rubbing it into my face. Orihime Kurosaki, Ichigo Kurosaki's wife. Orihime had a baby."
He couldn't help the anger that bled into his voice.
She finally turned around to face him, and he had to brace himself. "Why are you here?" she asked. Orihime walked away from the door and back to where he sat at the table. She looked injured or wounded. "What made you come to Karakura? Why are you in my classroom?"
Ulquiorra looked away from her, the corners of his mouth turning down to form a frown. He had no wish to tell her why he was in Karakura because that would be a one-word answer. How could he say that one word to her? "I am in a Gigai," he answered. "I thought that much would be obvious, Woman. My spiritual pressure can kill humans or have you forgotten that?"
"You've avoided the question." Orihime was standing across from him, arms in the same position as his, folded across her chest.
"What do you want me to say?" he asked. His green eyes cut over to her and Ulquiorra stared at her. He knew this had been a mistake. He should have never agreed to stay and talk to her.
"I want you to tell me why you are here! I want to know why you came to Karakura!" the redhead stated. "Why didn't you stay in Hueco Mundo? Where the hell have you been for five years? How did you avoid the Quincy army running all over the place?"
Ulquiorra stood up and grabbed his book bag. He wasn't going to sit there and answer her silly questions. She didn't have any right to know the answer to them. He wasn't under any obligation to give her those answers. He needed to get away from her before he embarrassed himself.
She huffed. "You're going to run?
In a quiet voice, "I was in Hueco Mundo after you kidnapped me. I kept looking around to see if maybe you weren't dead; maybe that you'd come back and look for me. After the defeat of Yhwach, I gave up. I thought maybe I did feel a flicker of you, but Urahara said there wasn't anything there. Then Grimmjow—"
"Grimmjow?"
"Yes, Grimmjow. He helped during that war. He and Nel helped out. Ichigo and Grimmjow are friends and—"
He couldn't help it. The barking laughter rang out through the empty room. "Friends?"
"Yes, they're friends. They don't hang out that much anymore since Kazui was born."
His expression became stone. She must have been talking about her offspring. Why did she have to bring him up? Why did she have even to bring up her husband?
"You got your five lifetimes," Ulquiorra sneered. He hoped her badgering of question would stop, but it didn't.
"Why did you come here?"
He wanted to destroy her at that moment. He wanted to show her what nothing felt like. Ulquiorra said nothing as he left the classroom.
I came here because of you; he thought as he left the university campus and made his way to the train station.