"Your friends, do they make you happy?" he said looking into her eyes, he could tell if she was lying just by eye contact.

"Yes" she said looking into his own emerald eyes.

"Do you believe they will save you?" he said with frost, he was mad enough that they had already arrived.

"Yes" She replied, not even knowing the information Ulquiorra knew.

"What makes you think that you hold such a high place in their hearts that they would come all the way to Hueco Mundo to save you" He asked, in complete bafflement, what made this woman have so much hope.

"Because they are my friends" Orihime answer honestly closing her eyes with a sweet smile

"I don't understand" Ulquiorra answer honestly himself, her smile was so sweet that if he hadn't already thrown away his frozen heart her smile would have melted it.

"I wouldn't expect you too" Orihime answer twirling her hair, she smiled at the though of Ulquiorra trying to understand it, it was progress.

He shifted his eye contact from her to the wall, not wishing to know if she was telling the truth with his next question.

"If they came, would you stay by my side or would you leave with them" He said with his voice hinting at a small emotion he didn't even know he had.

She opened her mouth and then closed it. She had been wondering this question too herself many times over the past few days.

"…" She whispered, he of course heard her loud and clear.

Whether it was an honest answer or not, neither of them knew.


Right after school Ichigo Kurosaki decided to take the first train down to Gunma town by himself. Since he had lost his powers he felt so useless, so at least one thing he could do what do some investigating of his own.

While on the train he decided to think over some things that were bothering him.

The first was Karin. His litter sister seemed to be getting even gloomier everyday that went by. He had seen her by old man Urahara's shop, requesting items, and dealing with her own problems by herself. That made Ichigo upset, since he was her older brother. Even if he had lost his powers, she should know that he would protect her no matter what.

But that wasn't the problem. The problem was Toshiro Histsugaya, the young tenth division caption, and he's sisters love interest. Or so he believed. Every time Ichigo mentioned him, Karin would go bright red and sometimes run to her room. He had found out from her twin that Toshiro had tended to come town to earth, and would play soccer with her!

Damn Toshiro, trying to take his sister away from him! Like he would ever let that happen.

His next problem was Rukia. He had to be honest; he had no idea what his feelings were for her. Yoruichi had joked a bit about him liking her, and when Rukia's over protective brother found out, he used all his power to keep Rukia from coming down here.

Since she's been gone, he had been getting closer and closer to Inoue. He didn't really notice how cute she was intill recently. He didn't know how far his feelings went, but he knew he felt protective over Inoue and maybe just maybe he wanted to be with her.

But when he was with Rukia, he felt like the piece of himself that was missing his entire life since his mother died, was filled when she was around. They had spent some much time together, and they lived in the same room during the entire time she was trapped on earth. He found himself blushing at his own thoughts, its not like they ever did anything. Rukia was… well she was different from other girls; she was kind of like a guy. She didn't even have a chest… compared to Inoue.

Another issue that was bugging him was about Gin. He remembered Gin getting injured by Aizen, he had thought Aizen had killed him, but clearly he was mistaken as Inoue said he was very much alive, and active.

Gin had tried to stop Aizen, no one knew why but he had tried and was unsuccessful. So why then was he know trying to do what he had tried to stop, Ichigo wondered. It was clearly the biggest mystery on his mind, and he wanted it to be solved quickly.

The train finally settled to Gunma Town and Ichigo got off and went to investigate.


Orihime was watching kitten videos on youtube when a knock at her door suddenly startled her. She paused the video when the kitty sneezed and went to open the door. On the other side was Kurosaki-kun, he was still in his uniform and he had dark circles under his eyes, his hair was also messy.

"Eh! Kurosaki-kun what are you doing here this late?" Orihime asked.

"I…" Ichigo tried to find words to describe what happened, but he really didn't know what the hell had happened.

Orihime noticing Ichigo's uncomfortable stance decided to invite him in. "Just make yourself at home, I'll make us both some tea"

Watching Ichigo sit down at her table, she made the lemon and chilly pepper tea and put the cup in front of him.

She sat down across from him and simply watched him, waiting for an explanation. Since it didn't look like he was going to give one anytime soon she decided to simply bombard him with questions.

"Where did you go after school?" she asked the first question.

"I…" Ichigo's eyebrows pulled together in a frustrated expression. "I… That's right! I went to Gunma town!" he said happily.

"Why did you go to Gunma town?" Orihime asked already knowing the answer. It was too obvious.

"To investigate!" Ichigo replied quickly, "But… I arrived… and I can't remember what happened, I guess the next thing I can recall was standing at your door. Weird huh?"

"Very"

The two simply stared at each other for a while. Ichigo picked up his cup of tea and sipped a little remembering all to late about Orihime's weird cooking style, and spit the tea out of his mouth and onto Orihime's face. By accident of course.

"SHIT! I'm so sorry!" Ichigo said attempting to grab a towel and dry her face.

Orihime, stunned, did not say anything, but instead started to laugh her silly head off. "Hahaha! Oh my Ichigo, if you didn't want tea you could have said so, hahaha"

Ichigo, staring at her like she was mad, started to laugh along with her. Helping her to the bathroom to help Orihime wash her face he suddenly wanted to know what the fate of her baby was.

"So how's um… the baby?" Ichigo asked after Orihime finished washing her face with soap and washed the soap off with water.

"I… it's taken care of" was all she said as she turned her back to Ichigo in shame.

"I see" Ichigo said, in shock, but accepting the choice she made. He secretly wished she would have accepted his proposal and raised the baby themselves.

"Can I ask just one thing?" He asked, looking at her.

"Just one thing. That's all I will allow, since you have been the greatest friend to me," she said looking him in the eyes.

"The father, who was the father?" he asked ashamed of his curiosity, but he had to know.

When she didn't answer at first, he became scared that she was upset that he asked the question and attempted to take it back, but before he could she told him the truth.

"Ulquiorra Cifer"


Orihime woke up in the morning with a snoring Ichigo beside her. He has slept over the night after their little talk and they both; well Ichigo came to the conclusion that they needed help from the shopkeeper Kisuke Urahara.

Not wanting to wake Ichigo up yet Orihime went and took a quick shower, showering herself in her mango products and braiding her hair to keep it out of the way today, since she felt that it was going to be a stressful day.

When she got out of the bathroom Ichigo came out of her bedroom yawning. Realizing that they both feel asleep on the same bed they both blushed and refused to make eye-content.

She then went to the fridge and heated up the fish and watermelon pie. She asked Ichigo if he wanted any but his face turned green and he shook his head. As Orihime ate her piece of pie, Ichigo straightened up his uniform and when Orihime was done her breakfast she put on a simple light green dress that flowed all the way down her legs.

They both then left and headed towards Urahara's house.


"Excuse me! Anyone home? Urahara-san?" Orihime called out from the front door of the shop Urahara owned.

"A ha! If it isn't Orihime-chan and Kurosaki-kun, what brings you out here today?" The funnily dressed man came out from behind them.

"Hey OLD MAN! Don't scare us like that!" Ichigo yelled at him.

"Sorry, sorry" Urahara said with a big grin on his face.

Orihime didn't know the man well, or know him at all, but he seemed pretty easy going.

"We need to talk to you," she said getting to the point.

"Hmm… I see come in then" Urahara led them into a room behind his shop that had a low table and pillows as seats.

They all sat down and stared at one each other.

"So what is it you have to talk to me about" Urahara said breaking the silence. He sill had his happy-go-lucky smile on but his eyes had turned into serious expression.

Orihime and Ichigo looked at one another, not knowing where to start. And figured they might as well just start from the beginning.

"I was visited by…"


"I see, so you two believe that Aizen's plan is still in affect but this time the sacrifice will be Gunma Town" Urahara spoke his thoughts out loud. His eyebrows were crunched together in clear frustration and seemed to be in deep thought.

"That's correct" Orihime answered.

There was silence in the room as Urahara took all this information in.

"I don't understand, tell me again why both Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez and Ulquiorra Cifer decided to not only visit you, but tell you their plans" Urahara asked looking at Orihime questionably.

"While in Las Noches, I happened to befriend Grimmjow, I know its odd, but it's the truth and as for Ulquiorra, he's not my friend, he was just warning me," She replied.

"Then why is it that Ulquiorra warned you if you are not friends?" Urahara rebutted.

Ichigo, suddenly understanding the flow of the question and why Orihime didn't want to answer tried to butt in, but the old man gave him a pretty scary glare and he backed down. "Sorry Orihime" he whispered.

Orihime nodded her head at him and turned back to Urahara. "I guess he knew that Grimmjow had somewhat told me of there plans, and he didn't want me trying to mess them up, he probably thinks he still has me under his controlling mind game" she reasoned.

Urahara gave her a look, that told her he didn't quite believe her but he decided to let it go and putted on his happy-go-lucky smile back on. "Hmm, well I suppose for the mean time I'll get Yoruichi to investigate on her own a bit and I will also contact the soul society with this information" he then took a sip of his tea and asked, "Does Ishida and Sado know of this already?"

"Yes, I brought them both to the roof top yesterday and told them everything" Orihime said while smiling.

"Why did you wait so long?" Urahara questioned.

"Look old man, quit questioning Orihime, she's not a trader nor is she betraying us, you have my word!" Ichigo cutted in before Orihime could talk.

"A ha, I never said I didn't trust Orihime-chan" he said sipping his tea again. "Well I suppose I will get done with my duty, of contacting the soul society with this information, in the mean time you two stay out of Gunma town, and tell that to Ishida and Sado too, its too dangerous for you guys to be hanging around there"

"Thank you" Orihime and Ichigo said while bowing politely.

As they both left Urahara's shop waving, Ichigo walked Orihime home and then went home himself.


A/N: I have planned to have Ichigo x Rukia in the next chapter, but to be honest, i'm not really a fangirl of this pair... I just feel like putting something smutty in.

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