Beauty and the Bat

Step 7: Craving

A/N: I realized while writing this that even seemingly-filler chapters are important to the main plot. So even if you get bored, know that it all ties together (at least I think it will; I haven't written that far ahead .). Thanks so much for the reading! Hope you enjoy ^_^

Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach. I also do not own the lyrics posted in each chapter. I've decided to tell you who does…so please listen to the songs!


*~UlquixHime~*

~I have made you an enemy. I have been my own enemy…I am asking for you to forgive me for everything. If you don't, you're worthy of compassion, If you do, you're a better man than I am. If you don't know, you're my family…Enemy, I'm sorry…~ Enemy by Flyleaf


Ulquiorra slept in late. And he would have slept longer if the warmth engulfing him through the night hadn't suddenly disappeared. With a small shiver, Ulquiorra slowly opened his eyes. After a second, they widened fully.

'Where am I?'

Emeralds took in their surroundings as Ulquiorra sat up. He was on something soft: a pillow. Oh. Orihime's pillow. On Orihime's bed. In Orihime's room. 'How did I get here?' he briefly wondered, but a more important question arose. 'Where is Orihime?'

Ulquiorra didn't have much time to ponder this before something else caught his attention. Something warm and sweet smelling. Setting him on a sort of high, the scent tapped on Ulquiorra's tiny nose saying, 'smell me, I'm delicious…' Ulquiorra sighed. He found his mouth full of more saliva than usual and swallowed. What was this appetizing aroma? He had to know.

Humming brightly, Orihime spread the last of the frosting onto the cake. "Done…" then she set to squeezing frosting flowers around the rim and situated a large sliced strawberry in the middle. "…aaand done."

The smell of the fresh baked chocolate wafted throughout the flat. Sunlight streamed in through the windows, illuminating each room. Another classical CD played in the main room. The heat was on to ward off any autumn chill. Orihime usually didn't turn on the heat until the dead of winter—if even then—seeing as she didn't have a job yet to pay so many bills. But as compensation for making her stay indoors, Kisuke Urahara insisted on making Orihime's home as comfy as possible.

So here she was, on a Sunday afternoon, in the comfort of her warm, sweet-smelling abode.

"What is that?"

Orihime, who'd just covered the cake and was planning to put it in the fridge, now paused to look over her shoulder. She laughed lightly. "Well good afternoon, 'Bed-head'-san."

Ulquiorra hummed in response and self consciously smoothed his hair around his horns. Then, with his nose still guiding him forward, he flew over and perched himself on the counter near the cake. "Is this the source?" he asked in a daze.

"Um…of the smell? Yeah. It's chocolate." Orihime said, proud of the Human World product. "Do you like chocolate?"

"I…don't know." Ulquiorra answered. He wasn't sure why he felt so…drawn to this so-called 'chocolate'. I mean, emotions were new to him, not the five senses. But…well maybe it was because for once, he has the taste for something other than souls. Maybe it was because, now that he had a 'heart', he wanted things he'd never wanted before. Whatever the reason, Ulquiorra knew he had to have some chocolate.

"Well, here." Orihime reached into a drawer and fished out a spoon. She uncovered the cake and took a generous scoop of it, offering it to the Espada. "It's really good. You'll like it, I promise."

"…It's your friend's cake." Ulquiorra stated.

"Ah, Tatsuki won't care. I always taste test the cake first to make sure it's okay. I mean, I think it would be better with some soy sauce, but Tatsuki likes to stick to the recipe and she's my best friend so I can't refuse, you know?"

"…" Ulquiorra gripped the ladle of the spoon and licked a bit of the chocolate frosting. His eyes widened. He took another lick. And another. And another.

Because, as all chocoholics know, you can't stop once you start.


*~UlquixHime~*


"Um…Ulquiorra-san? I don't think you can have chocolate anymore."

"What? Why not?"

"Well…I think it makes you…hyper."

"I am nothing of the sort."

"Oh really? Well what do you call that?" Orihime asked knowingly, pointing at him.

Ulquiorra was standing on the coffee table. His arms were folded and his face was stoic, but his tail but switching back and forth again, like a snake weaving through water only in jerkier motions. And every minute or so, Ulquiorra would subconsciously spread his shivering wings for a few moments…just to fold them back in. It was like he was having muscle spasms or something.

"I don't know what you're referring to." Ulquiorra said calmly. But his wings spread and shook again, contradicting his denial.

"See? Right there; you're doing it again."

"What do you mean?" his wings folded back in.

Orihime sighed. "Never mind."

For a few minutes, the two just sat there: Ulquiorra twitching every now and then on the table; Orihime was watching him from the couch.

'I never thought him to be a light-weight.' Orihime was musing. 'I didn't even know he liked chocolate. Hmm…maybe it's his new body. Well, no because it's his same body, just smaller. Maybe he's always liked chocolate..? But I can't see Ulquiorra as the type with a sweet tooth. Hmm…'

Ulquiorra sighed and ran his tongue over his teeth. He wanted more chocolate, but he didn't know why. He'd never wanted anything more intensely.

…well, besides Orihime. But that wasn't the point here.

Soon there was a knock on the door. "Coming," Orihime called automatically. She stood and quickly crossed the room to the stereo, where music was still playing. She exchanged the slow classical for a much more upbeat disc. Ulquiorra wondered why, but couldn't ask before Orihime swept her way to the front door.

She unlocked it and swung it open to reveal a brown eyed girl with short, slightly spiky black hair. She was wearing a white jacket over a dark blue t-shirt with jeans. Orihime's best friend: Tatsuki Arisawa. She stood with a large cardboard box in her arms.

"Tatsuki!"

"Hey, Orihime!" her friend greeted equally as brightly, sporting a grin. "What's up?"

"Not much." Orihime lied. Tatsuki didn't know about Ulquiorra; Orihime had left him out of her whole explanation when questioned upon her return from Hueco Mundo. So she hoped that now, she'd be able to pass Ulquiorra off as a pet if Tatsuki was curious. "Come on in."

"Thanks." Tatsuki slid off her shoes inside the door and carried the box into the apartment. "My grandma was cleaning out her attic again and she found some stuff she thought you might like. I figured I'd go through it with you. You know, make sure the crazy old lady didn't 'accidentally' pack you any bats." She chuckled at the thought of her grandmother: a dark haired woman who looked much younger than she actually was thanks to years of exercise (she'd been a black-belt just like Tatsuki). Orihime's tendency to be…out there reminded Tatsuki greatly of her mother's mother.

Orihime laughed lightly, but stopped when she saw Tatsuki putting the bow down. "Wait, don't—!"

But it was too late. The large box was on the coffee table. Right where the mini Ulquiorra had been sitting a minute ago. Something that big could easily crush, say, a six-inch tall bat-creature. 'Oh no!' Orihime rushed over to the table and lifted the box—which thankfully wasn't as heavy as she expected.

"What's wrong Orihime?" Tatsuki asked in confusion. Her walnut-haired friend had suddenly seemed very upset.

As Orihime inspected the table beneath the box though, her frantic expression melted into relief. Ulquiorra wasn't there. Nor were any remnants of his presumably squashed form. So then…where was he?

"Orihime?"

Said teen looked up with a blank expression. But there was obvious surprise in her voice when she muttered, "He's not there." She set the box back down. Then she dropped to her knees to look under the table.

"He's not there."

Orihime's hair slid over her shoulder while she crawled around the floor of the main room. The orange curtain hid her growing-anxious expression from view, but Tatsuki could hear the increasing panic in her tone each time she said

"He's not there."

Over and over she mumbled this. She looked under the couch, beneath the cushions, and under it again. She dug around in the cracks just in case he might have gotten stuck. He wasn't there. Orihime checked under the chairs. He wasn't there. She crawled over to the TV and checked the cabinet beneath in where she kept her DVDs and old video tapes (yes, she'd kept them from her childhood). She checked the narrow bookshelf to the right of that where she kept her CDs and stereo on top. He wasn't there either. Nor was he in or near Sora-nii's shrine. She checked behind the curtains of her window. Nope.

There wasn't any other place in the room to hide.

Tatsuki hadn't moved from her spot. Confusion rooted her feet to the carpet as she watched her best friend crawl around, muttering to herself. A few times she called "Ulquiorra?" but Tatsuki had absolutely no idea what that was. Had the girl gone mad?

Tatsuki wouldn't have been so surprised if that was the case. Ever since Orihime returned from that dreadful place she told Tatsuki about—Hueco Mundo—her friend hadn't been the same. Sure, she was still her bubbly self at school; still dragging on her nonsense monologues to which nobody understood but were amused by anyway. Still making ridiculous meals. Still ever the altruist. But Tatsuki saw. She noticed how her friend's laughter sometimes didn't reach her eyes. She noticed how Orihime drifted off to day dreaming more often than normal. She noticed how she sighed to herself when she thought no one was looking. But Tatsuki was watching. She watched how Orihime expertly hid her depression from everybody. And even if Orihime thought she could, she couldn't hide it from Tatsuki.

Tatsuki couldn't understand. Why was her friend so depressed? Sure, being kept prisoner for so long would damper anyone's good mood. But a lot of times, Orihime looked so miserable you'd think someone had died. (Didn't matter who, Tatsuki was sure her friend would mourn anyone's death…even one of those filthy arrancar she'd been told about. Little did Tatsuki know how correct her guess was.)

Now, Tatsuki watched as Orihime slumped by the window. She was about to break into hysterics with worry: her breathing shallow, her eyes wide, and her mind spinning. She didn't feel the need to check the rest of the apartment: there was no way the little Ulquiorra could have moved that fast in the few seconds it took for her to open the door. So she concluded. Ulquiorra had disappeared.

"Orihime, you've got to tell be what's wrong." Tatsuki said firmly, instantly by her friend's side. She shook Orihime's shoulder, for her friend couldn't be reached by the sound of her voice alone. Orihime turned her head toward the dark haired girl slowly. Tatsuki. She wanted to speak. Her throat was dry.

Seeing the girl's mouth open in close as if having a hard time making a sound, Tatsuki got up. "I'll get you some water," she said, sprinting around the furniture and out of the room.

Orihime looked down at her hands in her lap. The same hands that had held mini Ulquiorra. That had reached out to Ulquiorra while he was his normal size before he disappeared into ash and she thought she'd never see him again. She couldn't let him disappear again.

She stood up, fully intending to check the whole apartment despite her doubts, when she heard the commotion from the kitchen. The shattering of a glass on the hard kitchen floor. The surprised shout of Tatsuki.

"What the hell is that?"

Orihime jumped. Her worrying was pushed back a bit in her head while alertness took over the space. She rushed across the room and into the kitchen. "Tatsuki what…?" Her jaw dropped.

It was a Kodak moment. The short haired Tatsuki was gaping with her eyebrows furrowed and a hand up, pointing straight ahead; right at the small thing hovering in the air before her. Its tiny green eyes were as wide and its body as frozen as a doe caught in headlights. Something small and white was sticking out of its mouth; in its arms was a broken tan ring of some sort. The only thing moving in the kitchen was the creature's wings, which subconsciously kept the thing aloft. Quiet.

Orihime finally broke the silence, bounding forward to the creature in the air.

"Ulquiorra there you are!"

His attention torn between the dark-haired girl pointing at him, the candy in his hand, and the call of his angel, Ulquiorra slowly turned his head toward the girl's voice. He wasn't sure exactly what happened until he found himself being suffocated by a large, soft, inescapable pillow. Orihime's chest.

"Oh Ulquiorra-san I told you not to do that! Do you know how worried I've been? I thought you were squashed and then I thought you were lost and then I thought you were eaten by a cat until I remembered I don't have a cat but still one could have snuck in and took you to feed you to its kittens! What would I have told Kurotsuchi-san? What would I have done? You can't ever disappear like that okay? Okay?"

She finally realized Ulquiorra wasn't moving in her death hug. Oh. She'd forgotten how small he was.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!"

The little Ulquiorra gasped as he was allowed to breathe once again. He hadn't minded being hugged; strangely, he'd actually quite enjoyed the fact she'd being concerned about his well being. But that's kind of ironic considering she was almost killing him with her sudden action. Mixed in with the emotions of shock and something warm, Ulquiorra was disappointed to find the remainders of his Caramel Cream on the floor. Darn it…

"Um…'Hime?"

Orihime and Ulquiorra stiffened, remembering the other person in the room. Tatsuki.

"Y-yes Tatsuki-chan?"

"Would you mind explaining what…that is?"


*~UlquixHime~*


"I see." Tatsuki said, leaning in even closer. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her eyes held a strange emotion Ulquiorra couldn't place. A silver spoon stuck out from the corner of her mouth. The dark crumbs and smear of chocolate frosting on the small white plate in front of Ulquiorra was the only evidence of there having ever been a large slice of devil's chocolate cake sitting there.

"So you're saying her pet bat died and turned into this thing." Tatsuki summarized. Orihime had just told her that the little bat-thing (Ulquiorra) used to be the pet bat of her landlord's daughter. This didn't surprise Tatsuki because she already knew about humans turning into Hollows, so she figured animals and the like could do the same. "Okay. But she wanted you to have it because…?"

"Um…because I was the only person she knew who could see him." Orihime answered coolly. She laughed her usual 'you-know-me' giggle. "She could only feel his presence. (You know how children are more exposed to the supernatural and whatnot.) And her evil step mother was going to put her in a mental home because she thought she was 'mentally unstable' and she didn't want a 'lunatic' for a step daughter. So I figured I could take care of him since she couldn't let her step mom see her talking to her dead bat or else she'd be sent away. And what kind of person would I be to let that happen you know?"

"Right…" Tatsuki said, wondering if she should believe Orihime. But then, she saw no reason why her best friend would lie to her. Her mood lifted at this realization. It all made sense. Orihime was an over-caring person; Tatsuki knew that better than anyone. It would make sense for her friend to worry so much for the bat thing and feel guilty if it were to be put in danger after she vowed to care for it. "Well I think it's cool. So does the little bat have a name?"

"My name is Ulquiorra Schiffer." Ulquiorra said, folding his arms. He didn't object to Orihime's story simply because he did not see any reason to agree or disagree.

Tatsuki's dark eyebrows shot up. The spoon fell from her mouth, clattering as it landed on her plate, and she leaned away from the table. "It can talk?"

"I'd appreciate if you did not refer to me as if I were nothing more than a mere object. I believe I just told you my name." Ulquiorra said crossly. Orihime withheld a giggle, knowing Ulquiorra wouldn't realize he was sort of pouting.

"Riiight." Tatsuki rubbed the back of her head. This was all a bit weird for her to take in at once. She guessed the safest thing to do was just play along. "Well…'Ulquiorra'…My name's Tatsuki. I'm a friend of Orihime's. Nice to meet you."

Ulquiorra blinked slowly, taking in the girl in front of him. She had black, slightly spiky hair and brown eyes. Something about her rung a bell in his mind, but he just couldn't place the familiarity. While he thought, the two teenage girls waited. For what, they didn't know. The song "Best Friend" by Toybox was playing on the stereo, the tempo upbeat and club-like, making you just want to get up and dance.

'There's something weird about him…' Tatsuki thought, her gaze locked with Ulquiorra's tiny green eyes. 'Besides the fact he's a dead talking bat…It feels like I know him…Is that even possible? There's something about him…His eyes…Why do I feel like I know that flat stare?'

Thankfully, Orihime spoke before Tatsuki could make the connection.

"Tatsuki, your grandmother's box..?"

"Hm?" Tatsuki blinked and looked up. Her red-haired friend was looking at her with wide gray eyes. "Oh, the box. Yeah."

Tatsuki stood up and walked over to the wall she'd set the box against while they ate their cake. She carried it back to the coffee table, where Orihime quickly cleared the plates and Ulquiorra got out of the way. He hopped up onto Orihime's shoulder, clinging to a strand of her hair for support. Tatsuki quirked an eyebrow but said nothing. She put the large box down and ripped the sealing tap off, opening the cardboard flaps.

"I knew that only lady was crazy."

"What, why?" Orihime asked, barely containing her excitement. Every time Tatsuki said that, it was because her grandmother had packed something that Tatsuki deemed as worthless. But as they say, one granny's trash is another teenage girl's treasure. Or something like that.

"We're not kids anymore." Tatsuki said, rolling her eyes. "We don't play with dolls."

Orihime gasped as she looked into the box. Inside was a mess load of clothes. Doll-sized clothes. 'Ulquiorra sized clothes.' Orihime instantly realized.

"They're perfect, how did she know?" Orihime beamed, plucking out a pair of mini- black slacks and black and green plaid shirt. She turned her head slightly to glance down at the stoic Ulquiorra. "What do you think Ulquiorra-san? I think this shirt matches your eyes."

Ulquiorra blinked at the him-sized clothes. "I do not believe I require such items."

"But Ulquiorra-san…You don't wear clothes…" Orihime mumbled, blushing lightly. The fact that she was saying this to Ulquiorra, her former captor and enemy, was embarrassing enough. But she also had to remember that, no matter about his species, he was a guy.

"Trivial. It's not as if many people in this realm can see me anyway." Ulquiorra said. He was confused as to why the pink tinged his angel's cheeks. He just knew he liked it. "Besides, it my current state, these items would be unbefitting."

Orihime sighed. No matter how much he changed, Ulquiorra could still be such the nihilist. She wouldn't let that get to her though. Still in her good mood, Orihime sorted through the box, pointing out all the cute-ahem-cool outfits that would suit Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra was silent, secretly admiring the way Orihime's face lit up with enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, Tatsuki had snuck out of the room to get another slice of cake from the kitchen.


A/N: Sorry it took so long to post and if it was crappy. For some reason this chapter was hard to finish, even though it wasn't as long as previous chapters. But fear not, now that I have this chapter out of the way, I can freely get into more drama ^_^ Let the plot begin!

Thanks for reading, reviewing, alerting and favorite-ing. You all rock!

~'Taku ^_^