It had been weeks since Orihime told Ulquiorra to stay away from her. Now, as he watched her from across the courtyard, he felt the sting of her words all over again. He yearned for her attention, making it hard to stay in his seat. He had never felt so much longing for someone. Every part of him was screaming for him to go to her, but he couldn't. Ichigo was with her, as he often was these days. They were basically inseparable. It was rare for Orihime to be without him and even when they were apart all she did was talk about him. Seeing how happy they were, Ulquiorra felt a rush of anger. That was meant to be his, she was meant to be his. He had no one to blame but himself, he knew that. It was hard not to blame Ichigo though. If he had just stayed indifferent to Orihime, this would have never happened. Why did he have to develop feelings for her? But Ulquiorra couldn't be angry at him because of that, after all he had also fallen in love with her. Orihime had an amazing amount of charm, she just didn't know it. Now Ichigo was the only one to experience her charms.

As he watched them, he knew that he should look away. For some reason, though, he just couldn't. Why couldn't he just move on? It would be so much easier. It would definitely hurt less if he moved on. Then he wouldn't care if she was with someone else. He could just go on with his life and never have to worry about her again. He could go back to having no feelings. He watched as Ichigo planted a kiss on her cheek, and knew that he could never move on. The pain he felt at seeing them together was a reminder that he could never go back to who he was before her. He could never forget the love and longing he felt for her, no matter how much he wished he could.

Tired of watching the scene in front of him, Ulquiorra rose from his seat. He needed to go to class. As he walked across the campus all he heard was talk about the "star couple". He sighed, no matter where he went he couldn't get away from their happiness. People were always talking about them. All the jealousy the school had felt has now transformed into happiness. He seemed to be the only person who was bitter about their relationship. The girls were the worst, they loved to gossip about what was going on in Orihime's relationship. They went on about it through their whole class. Ulquiorra couldn't even study without hearing about them. They were everywhere. Was this supposed to be divine punishment for all the bad things he had done in his life? Was he destined to watch the girl he loved be in love with someone else? He probably deserved it, but it still wasn't pleasant.

Listening to his professor drone on, he thought about how he got here. He looked back on his memories, playing them in his mind. He had woken up in a hospital four years ago, not even knowing who he was at first. The doctor's all said that he was found on the street, barely alive. Apparently he had been in a coma for about six months. His memory loss didn't seem to be a surprise to them, they said it was common in people who had been in a coma. His memories would probably come back on their own. They were only slightly correct. After about a week in the hospital, the only thing he remembered was his name. Nothing else came back to him in the months that he was in the hospital. None of his memories returned in the years after he left the hospital either. At first he was frustrated with it, there were so many things that he didn't understand. Who was he? Why did his appearance look so different from everyone else? The green stripes on his face, the skull-looking thing that covered his head, and the hole that was in his chest. These were all things that he didn't understand, but he adapted to them over time. At first he was always stuck with that weird looking skull-hat thing, but now he was able to make it go away. If he wanted it to show, he could make it visible. But most of the time, he kept it hidden. It would freak people out. It took him a long time to be able to get rid of it, but he availed. He did the same thing with the stripes on his face. At first they were a bright green and everyone would stare at them. But, now he was able to tone the color down to the point that people hardly even saw them. The hole in his chest was the only thing that he couldn't fix. No matter what he had tried, the hole would not close. He was careful to not wear anything that would show his chest. Over the course of the past four years, he had adapted to the world around him. He had gotten a job, saved money, and even enrolled in college. He had thought that he would never get his memories. It had been four years, the doctors said that getting his memory back would probably never happen if it hadn't yet. Unless something he saw or heard jogged his memory, he would probably never remember. Seeing Orihime brought back his memories. Now that he remembered everything, he understood who he was. He was an Espada. The hole in his chest was because he was hollow on the inside. But if he really was completely hollow on the inside, why did he feel the way he did? Why did he have such strong feelings for Orihime? He was so confused. He shouldn't really care about her, yet he did and he had no idea why.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when his class was dismissed. He never paid attention to his classes, but somehow he was still here. How he hadn't failed yet was a mystery to him. He looked out the window and saw that it looked like it was going to rain. He hated the rain. It didn't appeal to him at all. It was cold, wet, and he absolutely hated it. For that reason, he always kept an umbrella with him. People thought he was silly for doing so, but on days like these they wished that they had the foresight to do the same thing. As if the sky agreed with him, rain started pelting the windows. It was really coming down now. He had never been so grateful for umbrellas. The storm was only getting worse now. Lightning flashed outside the window and thunder boomed over Ulquiorra's head. Deciding that now would be a good time to head home, he opened his umbrella and went into the storm.

It was a mess outside. Trying to get out of the rain, people were running everywhere. Ulquiorra laughed at them. If they had been as smart as he was, they wouldn't be freaking out right now. It was then that he saw her, her bright orange hair standing out in the dim light. Orihime was running through the rain, by herself. Ichigo was nowhere to be seen. Ulquiorra couldn't control himself anymore, he had to go to her, this may be his only chance to do so. Running to her, her put the umbrella over her head. When she didn't feel the rain anymore she looked up, and her expression changed to panic. Ulquiorra didn't understand re reaction. Orihime shoved away from him, running into the rain. Ulquiorra chased after her. He closed his umbrella, running with it open was not easy, he would be faster this way. He finally caught up with her and grabbed her sleeve. "You're going to get soaked, Orihime! Come on, let's go inside." She wouldn't look at him, she just tried to shake him off again. Was she really this upset with him? When she found that she couldn't shake him off, she tried to yell at him. "Get off of me, Ulquiorra! Please, just let me go. I can't go through that again." Ulquiorra was confused, what didn't she want to go through? Her voice was filled with panic. She was begging him to let her go. He didn't know what she didn't want to experience again, but, whatever it was, she was terrified of it. He couldn't just leave her alone like this. He tried to turn her towards him. She struggled, but it was no use. In the end, she had to turn towards him. Her eyes stared back into his own, pleading with him. They were both getting soaked. The umbrella was pointless now. Orihime's hair was weighed down by the rain and falling into her face. She went to move her hair, brushing her cheek in the process. Ulquiorra looked at the spot she had brushed, it looked smudged. He reached for her face and brushed the spot with his thumb. Orihime froze. Ulquiorra looked at his thumb, it was covered with make-up. Looking at Orihime, he saw why. Where his thumb had just brushed was a giant purple spot. He examined her face closely now, seeing that the rain had washed away the majority of her make-up. The the majority of her face was covered in bruises. He reached out to wipe the rest of her make-up away, but Orihime caught his hand. "Please don't. Just act like you didn't see this. Please." Tears were falling from her eyes now, helping the rain wash away the remainder of her make-up, revealing more of the marks. Ulquiorra was furious. Who had done this? How could they do this to Orihime? "Who did this to you, Orihime? How could Ichigo not have noticed?" At the mention of his name, Orihime looked away. That son of a bitch. It was Ichigo who did this. Ulquiorra couldn't believe that he didn't notice this before. If he thought back on her behavior, it made sense. She was always careful around him, always apologizing for things that didn't require it. She had stopped talking to any boys. How could nobody have noticed? Looking at her bruised face, he felt both anger and sadness. "Orihime, how long has he been doing this? Is this why you sent me away?" She looked past him, and froze, her terror showing on her face. She ripped her arm out of his grasp, turn and ran. Ulquiorra moved to go after her, but saw Ichigo run past him. Ichigo had seen it all. He saw Ulquiorra chase after her, he saw them touch, he saw that Ulquiorra knew what was going on. His expression was one of pure rage. Orihime was in danger. Ulquiorra raced after them.