A/N: Hello out there! Once again this is M.S. greeting you… I'd like to thank everyone for reading, it really makes my day to read all of your reviews! I won't keep you waiting any longer, as there is not any particularly exciting news to tell here, so here it is, the tenth chapter!

Falling

Orihime blinked at Ulquiorra, shocked. Even though she had confessed, his answer was not something that she had expected. Overwhelming joy bloomed in her heart and her silvered eyes sparkled in the dull light of cloudy afternoon.

Ulquiorra watched her face, fascinated as a million emotions and more danced across her visage in the span of a second. He was not capable of doing that, he thought; humans were strange… but the woman was fascinating. He wanted her. He wanted her, and he hated it, in a way. The emptiness that had filled him for so long was disappearing, the void within him filling with sullied, human emotion. It was true that this feeling gave him pleasure when she was there by his side, but surely he would outlive her, and then that pain would come flooding back, and his peace would become utter chaos. Perhaps he would lose his mind.

And the woman called this dangerous feeling 'love'. This 'love' made he, who had been cold for so long, feel something akin to warmth in his chest.

And yet…. And yet…. He could not make her happy, he knew. He was a demon, and she was a human. She would be ridiculed, scorned, mocked, hated; she would be as he was, an outcast from all but his own kind. Beyond that she would have no place to belong but by his side.

Ulquiorra surprised himself as a jealous part of him decided that he liked that. If she had nowhere to be but with him, then he would like that. No one else would have her.

He was at a loss as the two parts of his mind, one the cold, calculating bit he had been brought to life with him and the other the warmer part that the woman had brought to him pulled in opposite directions.

The woman caught his attention, distracting from the horrible feeling of indecision as her fingers quested forward, searching for a touch. Ulquiorra raised his hand to hers, and splayed his fingers against her own. His hand was larger than hers, but she was infinitely warmer. Before now that heat had repelled him; he had always seen humans as sick creatures, burning with whim-like passions that passed in an instant… but now the heat drew him in and for a moment he longed to be warm like she.

Ulquiorra leaned toward Orihime until she could feel his breath tickling her ear and throat.

"What you're doing…" he murmured almost sadly to her, "is like throwing yourself over a waterfall without knowing how deep the pool is below. There may be stones waiting to dash your body to pieces, or you may drown. You'll be hurt, or worse."

"Ah," Orihime whispered to him, "But what a glorious flight between the top and the bottom."

She surprised him by closing the distance between them and placing her lips against his in a gentle yet heated kiss. His body confused him further as he felt himself respond, placing his free hand on her shoulder to pull her closer to him even as her hand locked itself in his hair. He was far out of his realm of experience; he thought that his eyes had witnessed everything in existence, and here, a human woman proved him wrong.

Their minds went blissfully blank as they enjoyed the moment, living for nothing but the present.

At last Ulquiorra pulled away, watching as Orihime gasped for breath, her chest heaving and cheeks flushed. Something was amiss. He could have sworn he had heard a low curse, a muttered sound of agonized fury…

His green eyes turned to slits as he caught sight of a single brown eye gazing through a hole in the wall. He watched the pupil shrink in terror, heard a horrified gasp, but the eye did not move. It seemed that the owner was paralyzed. A strand of deep roan hair fell across the gap for a second, giving away the owner of the livid stare. It was the one that the woman called Chizuru.

How dare that human watch something that private? Nothing physical had happened that would be considered out of the ordinary, but for a common, filthy, swine of a human to see him exposing his heart to the woman…

Knowing that the spy was watching his every move, Ulquiorra widened his eyes to a piercing glare of fury as anger welled up within him and mouthed a single word.

'Leave.'

Chizuru needed no other dismissal. She ran for mortal fear.

"U-Ulquiorra?" the woman's hand was reaching for him again as she regained her breath, "where did you go?"

"There was a rat," he replied calmly despite the furious trembling in his chest, for her sake. Who knew what would happen if that wench, that Chizuru, opened her mouth about this to the village? "But beside that… it grows late, woman. Your friends will worry if you do not return, is this correct?"

"Oh…" Orihime looked a bit disappointed, but she knew he was right, "That is true… I should be going, I guess," she stood up, "Goodbye, Ulquiorra,"

"I'll be returning to your home with you," he told her as he gained his feet as well.

"R-really?" the woman cried happily.

"Is it that shocking?" he asked as he extended a hand to her to guide her to the door. He watched as she slipped her feet into her sandals. She had very small feet.

"No, it's just…" the flush that had been fading from her cheeks seemed to glow in the half light as it returned with a vengeance, "You don't…. don't do this often."

"I see," he replied as she linked an arm through his. He noticed, not for the first time how nice she smelled. In the autumn she had carried the scent of wildflowers; now she had a clean smell, like virgin snow.

The pair of them drifted through the frozen wood as darkness began to descend, and by the time they reached the edge of the forest it the full moon was drifting behind a veil of clouds, visible despite the fact that the sun had not completely gone down.

Ulquiorra stopped at the edge of the woods, dragging Orihime to a halt with him. His hooded gaze burned as he caught sight of a familiar figure.

"What's the matter?" the woman asked. She stepped forward into the middle of the path, and he allowed himself to be brought along.

"There is…" Ulquiorra was interrupted by a shout.

"Orihime!"

"Kurosaki-kun?" she wondered, sounding startled as she turned her face in the direction of the red headed sword smith.

"Get away from her, Ulquiorra," the young man demanded lowly from the far end of the path in the direction of Tatsuki's house. Orihime opened her mouth to say something, but she merely squeaked as she heard a rustle of fabric and felt Ulquiorra shift to stand in front of her.

"You have no right to command me, human," Ulquiorra answered flatly, taking a defiant stance, his posture full of contempt. Ichigo snarled, stepping forward aggressively.

"And you have no right to take a human woman as a companion, demon! You'll destroy her!" The boy's words struck a nerve in Ulquiorra.

"I will do no such thing fool!" he spat. Orihime shied from the venom in his tone, all at once fearful because of the tension in the air and happy that Ulquiorra would take such offence at the suggestion.

"You will!" Ichigo shot back, beginning to advance on the pale man in black, "Even if you do it by accident you will! No matter how hard you try, you are not one of us, and you never will be! I've heard of what you've done in the past! You're a monster!"

Ulquiorra gave a scornful sneer, "You think I want to be human? You call me a monster, and yet you do not see demons fighting wars, and destroying their own species! I am glad I don't belong to your kind, boy. We might kill your kind, but only because of your violent, selfish, tendencies toward us."

"Then stay away from Orihime," Ichigo growled, "If we're violent, selfish monsters like you say, stay away from her. Let her life be lead in a human way." He was quite close by now, probably only a foot away from Ulquiorra. Orihime bit her lip and dug her fingers into the demon's arm. She felt him twist to look at her.

"You've upset the woman, brat. And I will not stay away from her. I love her." Ulquiorra's plain way of speech made this declaration all the more serious. It was Ichigo's turn to laugh.

"If you love her, then you'll leave her alone! If you stay with her, you'll drive away anyone else who might take her!"

"Don't talk as if you understand," Ulquiorra said flatly; the rising moon made his skin appear ultra white as the sun sank further, "But I have already thought about what you've said about scaring everyone else off. If you want to make me leave, you'll have to drive me away. Think of me as a fox among chickens."

"More of a serpent among children," Ichigo bit out.

"Perhaps," Ulquiorra answered calmly, all traces of anger gone but for his eyes, which glowed with green balefire.

It was Ichigo who threw the first punch; Ulquiorra ducked beneath his fist with ease, weaving his way away from the woman to keep her out of the fight. In her sightless state it would be all too easy for her to fall prey to a stray strike.

"Won't you draw your blade, boy?" Ulquiorra asked blackly, eyes sparking as his own pale fingers drifted toward his scabbard.

"I will not," Ichigo retorted in an equally virulent manner, raising his fists to eye level, "we will fight barehanded."

"If that is what you wish," the demon said haughtily, stepping in for a counter attack. His hand became a white streak in the freezing night air as he straightened his fingers and preformed a sharp jab that landed in Ichigo's stomach. The red headed young man's breath wooshed out of him and he stumbled back a bit to regain his breath.

Orihime listened to this and wanted to cry. Her first love and Ulquiorra were exchanging blows… it almost hurt to listen. One of them would get hurt, she was sure of it.

Ichigo came back up swinging, infuriated by the way Ulquiorra stood nonchalantly but was still able to dodge so effortlessly; It was like throwing punches at air. His fist whistled past the pale, emotionless face, whipping through pitch black hair before he was driven back again, Ulquiorra's elbow driving into his chest.

Ichigo choked, but did not back down and instead threw himself at Ulquiorra in a blind rage, tackling him to the ground, turning a fist fight into a wrestling match. The demon grunted in pain as the blacksmith landed on his chest and crushed the air from his lungs.

Orihime heard them fighting and began to shout at them, her voice nearly drowned out by Ichigo's loud swearing.

"Stop it! Stop it! Please stop it!" Orihime screamed. She couldn't bear to have the two of them like that.

"Damn it!" Ichigo roared as Ulquiorra bucked out from under him and regained his feet before the red head had a chance to get up. The flat of Ulquiorra's foot collided with Ichigo's ribs, throwing the young man across the rough ground.

"Shit!" Ichigo yelled, rolling over with what was at least one fractured rib. Ulquiorra advanced slowly, almost uncaringly, on the kneeling figure of his assailant. Ichigo lunged again, and this time Ulquiorra was ready. He kicked the boy in the chest, sending him stumbling away.

"Stop it!" Orihime cried again, but her plea went unheard by the infuriated pair.

Tatsuki, however, was not deaf to the shouting, and she opened her door to see two figures locked in a brawl before her panicked friend. Thinking them to be drunks she ran forward to drag the two apart, but stopped as she recognized them. She watched as a pale fist landed a double hit in Ichigo's face. She was impressed; the colorless man, who had to be Ulquiorra, was no slouch when it came to fighting. Ichigo returned by kicking at his opponent, but the demon stepped unhurriedly out of the way.

Tatsuki decided to step in before the fight got any worse.

"Hey!" she bellowed to get their attention, "This is over, you hear me? You two are done here!"

The demon took a step back, his facial expression remained unchanged, as icy as the moon in its fury. Orihime stepped uncertainly forward and took his hand, lacing her fingers through his as her breath rose like mist on the chill air. Tatsuki noticed that no steam rose from Ulquiorra's breath, but he was certainly breathing. He would have to be terribly, inhumanly cold for that to be possible.

Ichigo, however, would not let Ulqiorra have the last blow, and instead of conceding the end of the match, punched Ulquiorra in the mouth. The pale man did not move, and did not dodge. Instead, he cocked his head, cracking his neck, and spat blood contemptuously in Ichigo's face.

"How very human of you," he said flatly.

"Ulquiorra…" Orihime squeaked as she felt a warm fleck of blood fall on her cheek. He wiped a thin trail of blood from his split lip with his sleeve, smearing the red liquid in an ugly streak across white skin.

He stared at the sanguine on his fingers as it appeared vivid against his flesh. Red on white…. The colors of oblivion he noted for the second time.