As per my promise, I am back with a chapter of this fic before the end of this week. Ulquiorra is back. As is Grimmkitty. I loved writing the scene between Ulquiorra and Grimmjow and I hope you all will enjoy it too. A question that Orihime asks Ulquiorra here is a question that was originally asked to me by AkuRokuTurkTrainee. I figured the answer to that question will give a lot of information, so I included it. A lot of you correctly guessed about the dream sequence in the last chapter, to those who didn't, hang on. I will explain.

News on other updates: I am currently working on a AU one-shot. I will publish it when I am done. As for Trust to Hope, I'll try to publish it by end of next week.

Beta: Cerice Belle

Edit: Apologies for the two alerts, I had uploaded the wrong document the first time.

Chapter 9

"Ulquiorra!" She called out, "I know you are there. Please come here. We need to talk."

She was met with absolute silence. She was back in the lawn where she had been attacked by Sora. She briefly wondered if she should try calling him to get Ulquiorra out of hiding but then decided that she wasn't feeling particularly suicidal.

"Ulquiorra? Come on! I have like a million questions that you need to give answers to. So please, come out."

Silence.

Orihime lost it, "Will you stop being a wuss? Come out this very instant!"

She was met with silence yet again. Just as Orihime was about to call out once again, she heard it. It sounded like something was ripping apart behind her. She quickly turned around and the sight she met made her do a double-take. It looked as if the sky itself was tearing apart. From it emerged a gigantic hollow that was covered in what looked like a black bed-sheet with white spikes poking out from its overly long chest. Where it was supposed to have a face, it looked like it was wearing a skull like mask that had an especially long Pinocchio like nose with its Hollow hole near its abdomen. Orihime was too dumbstruck by its bizarre appearance to be afraid of it. She stood rooted at the spot as the Hollow made its way towards her in a strange jerky movement.

The Hollow stopped some way off from Orihime and opened its mouth. She was vaguely aware that she should move away from it, but a strange morbid fascination had rooted her to the spot. A bright red dot had appeared in front of the Hollow's mouth and it was steadily growing bigger. Then the creature hurled the sphere of light towards her. Something told Orihime that as soon as the light made contact with her, she was dead meat but she still could not move. Before the light could reach her, however, a figure with wings and tail landed between her and the Hollow and brushed aside the beam much like one brushes aside a fly. With the other hand he fired a beam of his own and the Hollow was blown to smithereens. That snapped her out of her daze.

"Ulquiorra?" She muttered, feeling strangely disorientated.

He turned his face slightly so that she could only see his sharp profile, "Go to your house woman, I'll meet you there."

Without waiting for a reply from her, he spread his wings and took off into the night.

Ulquiorra landed gracefully on the roof of an apartment that faced Orihime's.

"Why are you back?"

The blue-haired hollow turned around and grinned, "To see some action. It was good wasn't it?"

"You sent that Menos?"

"Indeed I did," Grimmjow said with excessive flair, "I wanted to have some fun."

"Aren't you worried about the Shinigami showing up?" Ulquiorra probed.

Grimmjow waved a hand dismissively, "I've ensured that they are busy."

"So this was why you left the Human plane?"

"Aye," He agreed grinning proudly, "Went to Hueco Mundo to find a few suicidal Menos. I had to get them to stop attacking each other and co-ordinate an attack here. Sounds easier than it is I tell you. Those beasts are fucking morons!"

"Why are you really here?" Ulquiorra had a bad feeling about seeing him twice in such quick succession.

"I wanted to make sure what I was thinking is right and guess what? Being right is fucking awesome!"

"And exactly what are you right about?"

"That you have chosen that human as your mate," Grimmjow grinned widely.

Ulquiorra closed his eyes, "Ridiculous."

Ignoring him Grimmjow continued, "However I wonder, what the fuck the woman sees in you?"

Ulquiorra's tone was icy, "What do you mean?"

"What?" the other Hollow groaned, "Have you met yourself?"

When Ulquiorra didn't reply, he continued, "Apparently not. Here, let me introduce you. Ulquiorra Schiffer, meet Ulquiorra Schiffer. He is dull, boring, and grave and a fucking tree trunk has more expressions than he does."

"If you are done spouting nonsense, I suggest you leave. Your presence here is unwanted," Ulquiorra commanded.

"Oh come on," Grimmjow said, "Lighten up already! Can't you help a bloody bored comrade?"

"Find some other means for your entertainment, trash."

Ulquiorra turned to leave when Grimmjow called out, "Like what? Listen to Szayel prattle endlessly about his 'research' or join the jackass Nnoitra in his mindless killing or maybe I should till a fucking pumpkin patch for Zommari so that he can keep an eye or fifty on them? No fucking thanks! I found an entertaining scenario here, I wanna have some fun."

Ulquiorra did not dignify Grimmjow with a response. Instead he flew away towards Orihime's apartment. Grimmjow smiled in the darkness.

Orihime sat on her couch torn between anxiety, anger and excitement. Anxiety because she was worried that Ulquiorra would give her an earful about not dodging that light, anger at Ulquiorra's cowardice and excitement to be able to finally talk to him. She had really missed him.

Soon enough she heard a clicking noise from her bedroom that signified his arrival. Orihime sprang to her feet and started to run but then slowed down. She didn't want him to know how eager she was to meet him. He had made her wait, so she would let him come and meet her. Slowly the winged, tailed and horned Hollow walked into the living room.

"Where have you been?" Orihime blurted out, unable to keep her mouth shut.

"I sensed Grimmjow's reiatsu. I went to check."

"You were tracing Grimmjow for seven days?" Orihime asked incredulously.

"No. I meant now," He clarified.

"Oh, right. And what about these seven days?" She asked.

"I thought our deal was that we would not interfere in each other's matters?"

Orihime could have slapped her forehead, she'd completely forgotten about that clause of their deal. Since she had been the one who had proposed the deal in the first place, she couldn't ask him anything, no matter how curious she felt. Ulquiorra's move was flawless, she didn't have any words to break it and so she conceded her defeat.

"Fine! You win. You think you can answer some of my other questions?"

He nodded.

Orihime held up a finger, asking him to wait. She went into her room and grabbed a blanket. On her way to the living room, she made a small detour into the kitchen. She dumped the remaining coffee from earlier in the evening down the sink. Grabbed a packet of chips and salsa, along with some caramelized strawberries and crystalized ginger and then made her way to the couch. She found Ulquiorra sitting on the couch in his human form. She imagined his tail would get in the way otherwise. Stifling a giggle at the mental image of him rolling his tail around himself like a dog, she settled down next to him, wrapping the blanket around her.

"Ready?" She asked.

He nodded.

"Now here's what I have been thinking. Remember you said that every time I meet a new spiritual entity my reiatsu rises?"

"Yes," He said stoically, "It has risen yet again."

"What? You mean because of that gigantic Hollow?"

"Yes. It's called a Menos Grande," Ulquiorra explained, "It is the lowest class of the greater hollows."

"Greater hollows meaning like you and Grimmjow?" She asked

"Don't take that trash's name in the same breath as mine. But yes, we are greater hollows. Lowest being a Menos Grande, next comes an Adjucas. Grimmjow is an Adjucas. Last is a Vasto Lorde."

"Like you," She whispered.

He nodded. She gave a low whistle realizing that he was more powerful than she had imagined.

"You were saying?" He prompted.

"Oh, yes! When I was talking to Ichigo the other day, he said that some souls who live close to se- se- some place in Soul Society where all the Shinigamis live, they absorb the reiatsu. So maybe I am doing it too?"

"Seireitei. And no, that is not the case with you," He supplied.

"Why not?"

"Well," he said, "You are a human being. There are a certain set of rules that apply to a Shinigami, a Hollow and a Human. But souls are different. The rules for them are different."

"Different how?" She asked, bringing her knees under her chin.

"Souls are the building block of a being. Be it a human, a Hollow, or a Shinigami they are all essentially a soul that has either come into the mortal world, or lost its identity and sanity or transcended and become an Angel. But a soul that lives in the Rukongai is pure and is free from any such bond. Therefore it is free to absorb reiatsu. A human cannot do that. A Hollow becomes more powerful by internalizing other Hollows. I am basically one soul who has absorbed many other souls and their reiatsu. A Shinigami becomes more powerful by releasing souls of their Earthly bonds. The basic reiatsu of a being like a human stays the same – always."

Orihime frowned, "And that's why you found it strange that mine changes?"

"Yes, I have never seen anything like it," He confessed.

Orihime became thoughtful as she munched on a tortilla chip topped with salsa, caramelized strawberry and crystalized ginger. After she'd finished her 5th chip she realized she hadn't offered him any and so gestured for him to take some. He shook his head in denial. It was his turn to ask a question.

"You said you have seen Hollows before you met me?" when she nodded, he continued, "Care to elaborate?"

Seeing her chance, Orihime grinned evilly and said, "Sure I will, but on one condition, you'll tell me where you have been for seven days?"

Ulquiorra's eyes widened slightly and then the corners of his lips twitched, "I needed some time to myself. I was here, just invisible to humans – including you."

"Why?" she asked immediately.

"I believe you said you'll answer my question when I replied 'where' I had gone. I don't remember you including a 'why' in the condition," He replied with the hint of a smirk.

"You…You drive a mean bargain," Orihime replied scowling.

"You are one to talk," he countered.

She giggled, "True. OK so, why do I say I have seen Hollows and Shinigamis before? Well, I had a dream, only there are reasons for me to believe that it wasn't just some dream, it was a memory. In that I saw a Hollow and a Shinigami. That's what leads me to believe that I have been seeing them before."

Ulquiorra was thoughtful, "But you seemed very surprised when you first saw me. That means …"

"I had forgotten this incident for some reason," Orihime completed his sentence with a frown.

"You said you were three years or so old at the time?"

Orihime nodded.

"As far as I know of humans, it's not uncommon for them to forget events of their early life."

"Indeed," she agreed, "But if I could see Hollows at the age of three, shouldn't it mean I should be able to see them at thirteen or seventeen as well?"

Ulquiorra nodded in agreement.

"Then why don't I remember seeing them? And why am I seeing them suddenly at the age of twenty three?" She was thoroughly puzzled.

"I can't answer that. One doesn't stop seeing supernatural beings and then resume seeing them again for no apparent reason," he paused and then added thoughtfully, "unless …"

When she realized that he had left the sentence unfinished, she probed, "Unless?"

He seemed to weigh his words before saying, "I have a theory but to validate it, I need to ask a few questions to someone who can account for the early years of your life …"

"My parents," Orihime cut in morosely, "I didn't want to have anything to do with them but I believe they have some answering to do."

Although her parents weren't exactly who he had thought of originally but he decided to go with her idea. He reasoned that getting answers out of her human parents would be easier than trying to worm an answer out of the elusive Urahara Kisuke. During the past seven days, he had tried to locate the Shinigami, but he seemed to have disappeared from the mortal plane. Ulquiorra could not detect even a hint of his reiatsu.

"It's decided then," Orihime cut through his reverie, "we are paying a visit to my parents this weekend. Expect a less than warm welcome."

"Your parents' warmth or the lack thereof notwithstanding, we do have one other thing to be worried about."

"And that would be?"

"Grimmjow Jagerjaquez," he watched her eyes grow wide, "He seems to have taken an interest in you."

"When you say interest, you mean …" Orihime asked tentatively.

"When Grimmjow is involved in the equation, I am never quite sure what the result will be. Expect the unexpected," Ulquiorra said with his eyes closed.

"Great, that's just what I wanted," she said exasperated.

"Really?" Ulquiorra raised a quizzical brow.

"Sarcasm Ulquiorra!" she replied wearily.

Although he didn't say anything, Orihime could almost hear him thinking 'humans are strange.'

That night Orihime went to bed with a smile. Despite having had a horrible day, she was happy. His return had taken off all her frustrations. Even the plethora of questions swirling in her head could not blunt the happiness coursing through her. With Ulquiorra's return, she realized that she no longer felt empty.

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