Ahhhh, big thanks to everyone for keeping me going on this story! I've really enjoyed all of your reviews, and the follows and faves don't go unnoticed either. :) I hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as you enjoyed the last couple. As requested- More Ulquiorra interacting with people who are not Orihime. Tatsuki MAY be a little OOC.

Chapter Rating: T

[Chapter 10]

Since further searching the subject, I have found three things to be true.

One- I am sexually interested in Orihime Inoue

Two- I am romantically attracted to Orihime Inoue

Three- I, Ulquiorra Cifer, may be in love with Orihime Inoue

There are not things that I am completely comfortable with, but regardless, they remain fact. Since this realization I have received the following pieces of advice from her friends, who invited Orihime and I over for a movie night. They put on one of her old favorites and invited us out rather later, so it only took twenty minutes for her to fall fast asleep. The lot of them are diabolical. It is no wonder Aizen met his end at their hands.

Orihime managed to stay awake just long enough for us to make it through one song, which she sang slightly off-key beside me- still coming off as adorable, somehow- before her head fell on my shoulder and her eyes slid shut.

Then they all turned on me.

"So you've got a heart, huh?"

I glare at the women before me- Kuchiki, Arisawa, and for some reason the Lieutenant of the Tenth Division- Rangiku Matsumoto. Kurosaki was the one who said the previous remark, and despite our uncomfortable talk of my dreams just days before, I am not so eager to speak of feelings with anyone; least of all him. "Why is he here?"

"Come on, Ulquiorra, you've got to have a little advice from a man, too."

"Kurosaki," The Captain of the Tenth- Toshiro Hitsugya, beings, "You are blind to your own feelings and have no romantic life to speak of. How your input could benefit Cifer is far beyond me." I do not understand why he is here, either, but there is something aloof about his presence that causes me not to mind his company so much.

"Hey! What, you saying you know this stuff, Toshiro? You have just as much experience as I do!"

"On the contrary." He smoothly replies. "Soul Society's Women Association posted poll results revealing myself to be third most desirable in the seritie."

"What?!"

"It's true!" Matsumoto chimes. "Though I voted for ol' Kuchiki myself."

"All your weird death-god crap aside," Tatsuki interrupts. "Let's move to the kitchen, okay? Trust me, Orihime's a freaky sleeper, as far as we know she's hearing everything we say."

As all eyes turn to the woman, she lets out a loud snore.

"Right…" Ichigo says.

Rukia elbows him in the side hard enough to make him cough, and he quickly says, "Yeah, um, let's move to the kitchen!"

I don't want Orihime to catch wind of anything going on about her, so I carefully alide my hand between her head and my shoulder before lowering her down to lay on the couch. With that settled we all get up and make the move to Kurosaki's dining table, filling around it while the Kuchiki girl raids the refrigerator for snacks. It is there that they ambush me.

"You love her." The lieutenant says, her eyes knowing as though she has some sort of clue. "Don't you?"

"Forgive me," I tersely managed, "But shouldn't shinigami of your caliber actually be doing something of use on trips to this world?"

She grins. "Avoiding the subject, I see."

I turn my head away from the group of fools.

"I think she likes you." The woman continues, and it is only then that they have my attention. I turn my head back to stare the group of miscreants down.

"Tell me what you know."

Arisawa: "Orihime's type is strong, smart-"

Kuchiki: "Someone who cares about her!"

The lieutenant: "A person that can fulfill her needs."

The small captain: "Matsamoto-"

Kurosaki: "She cried for you."

"She cries for anyone who is her friend," I say, beginning to feel annoyed. "Do not chalk up her regular self to being in love with me. She is not such a creature to feel for I as I do her-"

"She's comfortable with nudity!" The lieutenant unhelpfully shouts.

I sigh.

"Okay, all these loonies aside," Arisawa- somewhat reasonable and almost trustworthy- takes the floor. "I know Orihime best out of everyone here, okay? So listen up. She likes you. Got it? Before she brought you back she told me all about you, and if there was a way to make your warped mental torture sound okay she found it, because she had me convinced you were a nice guy before you showed up. Let me be clear- I still think you're an asshole, but she likes you and I know you won't hurt her, because you like her, so I'm rooting for you. Get it?"

"... You believe she likes me?"

"Cifer, I've been to your place on movie nights more than once. She doesn't accidentally climb into my lap, does she?"

She has a point.

"And she stopped dropping pies off at the door here for Ichigo." Kuchiki says. "But every time I walk into your apartment it smells like pumpkin and nutmeg."

"Yeah, come to think of it, why did Inoue bake pies for me?" Kurosaki scratches the back of his head, oblivious to the various glares and looks of complete and total disappointment he is receiving. When he sees Kuchiki's blank face he has the gal to look offended. "What?!"

I just sigh and look away from the bunch. It's sad to think that this is the man the woman once entrusted her heart to. He had not even realized he had possession of it, despite the obvious clues?

"Ah, ah, ah!" The big-breasted shinigami woman suddenly says, launching to her feet as she wags her finger in the air. "I know what you're thinking- that it's just plain sad Ichigo couldn't see Orihime liked him despite the obvious clues-"

"What, she liked me?!"

"-but you realize you're doing the same thing right now, don't you?"

I ignore the shinigami boy and his small woman as they begin to bicker about the clarity of Orihime's old feelings. He is adamantly attempting to convince her that Orihime never felt anything more than friendship towards him- the fool- and she is trying to just end the conversation entirely.

I focus instead on my own situation. The evidence doesn't lie, but on the same hand, it would be hard for her not to show me more kindness and affection than others since we live together. She sees me more often, and so it is logical that she would do more for me, just as I do more for her than any other person since we inhabit the same space.

Though, realistically, I would not do much for anyone living with myself were they not she. If I had been housed with Kurosaki I would simply have done my very best to never be around, never make trouble, and become some sort of ghost about their establishment. It is very different with the woman, because she is who she is, so perhaps…

But then, she is kind to everyone. Is she was forced to live with people she did not like she would bake them pie, too, wouldn't she?

"Maybe we're trying to convince the wrong person." The shinigami woman says, folding her arms beneath her large breasts. She does this to make them appear larger, but why, I am unsure. It is clear that no one in the room is interested in her. Perhaps she does it for herself. "What if we just tell Orihime he likes her?"

Kurosaki: "Hey, that's not a bad idea."

The small captain whose name I do not recall: "When you said we had work in the living world, Matsumoto, this is not what I envisioned."

Kuchiki: "It would work, actually!"

Arisawa: "Hime's always had more brains in her heart than her head, I guess. Which is saying something, considering our last test scores…"

I stand swiftly, palms flat upon the table. "No." I order, before they can get out of hand. "I will not have the lot of you informing her of my… affections. You will go about it in the wrong way and make her feel uncomfortable, most likely. It is my heart, and it does not belong to any of you, so it is I and I alone who will reveal it. This is not a negotiation. Do you understand?"

They stare at me.

I narrow my eyes right back at them.

"Ne, ne, Cifer-san," Tatsuki drawls, smirking at me like she has some reason to be smug. I do not understand until she goes on to say, "that was certainly a very passionate speech from someone like you, eh?"

"Nonsense." I sit back down.

"Tell her then!" The violet-eyed one says.

"Perhaps I will. Perhaps I won't. Either way, it is none of your business."

"What?" Arisawa crows, "Too chicken?"

There is no shame in fearing rejection, but the way she says it causes me to bristle nonetheless. "Are you implying I am afraid, girl?"

"Hm… yep. Yeah, pretty much." She nods.

"It is not fear that motivates my actions- simply common sense."

"You've been with her for almost a year now, and you've- what, maybe gotten as far as a friendly hug?" When I say nothing she continues. "She's not going to kick you out for admitting you like her now- even if she didn't return your feelings."

"It will make her uncomf-"

"Bwak! Bock, bock, bock, bock…" She flaps her arms like wings, eyes haughty and mischievous as she imitates a certain fowl. "Ba-cock!"

I glare at her.

"Ch-ch-chicken!"

"I will not be goaded into-"

She begins flapping her arms furiously, moving her head as though she's pecking at the table. The others begin to laugh and snort behind their hands; all watching the display like it's the height of humanity's comedy.

Humans are just so… strange.

Orihime's voice suddenly cuts through Arisawa's antics, then, voice sleepy and confused. "Why is Tatsuki a chicken?" She asks, rubbing her eyes. She stands just a bit away from the table, leaning against the wall.

Arisawa freezes.

Kurosaki bursts into laughter, his woman and the two visitors from soul society not far behind, though the white-haired captain hides his laughter behind one hand, disguised as a series of short coughs.

Orihime turns to me, still rubbing one eye. Fatigued, she does not even attempt to understand the situation before her, instead falling back on me to get her to a place where she can rest. "Ulquiorra-kun, I'm sleepy."

I glance back at the clock stationed on the right wall and find that it's almost past midnight. It is no wonder that she is so tired. She is an early riser who is strict in keeping her nine o' clock bedtime, so for her to be up so late and still be able of speech is an impressive feat. "Should we return home, woman?" I ask quickly, not because I am desperate to escape the lot of fools before me, but because I am honestly concerned for Orihime's well being.

She nods, yawning.

She gives her goodbyes quickly, and then we begin home, hands bumping now and then as we walk side by side. She stumbles once, in her tired state, and barely manages to catch herself with a hand on my arm before having a rather rough introduction between the pavement and her face.

"Sorry." She says, blushing. "This is why I don't stay out late, haha…"

I have become very soft in her presence.

Without a word I stop her with a hand on her shoulder, and before she can realize what's happening I pick her up. It is not the hold over my shoulder from when she had been drugged, but a position she has referred to as princess style in the past once or twice. She does not protest even a little at this, though she does go a very deep shade of red.

"Thank you, Ulquiorra." She leans her head into my shoulder.

"It is no trouble. You are much easier to carry than the couch you had me move."

She laughs a little. "I told you to scoot it over, not pick it up."

"Hm."

"That's not what I meant, though…"

"I do not understand."

She just gives me a sleepy smile. "I'll tell you later, when I'm not tired. I want to see the look in your eyes when I say it."

We do not speak again for the rest of the trip.

I tuck her into bed just as I have done before, though this night I return to the living room to unroll my own futon instead of staying with her as I have other times like this.

It is not possible that she is in love with me.

I fall asleep thinking I do not love her, either. Love is too simple a word for what I feel for her. I feel much, much more than that.