Reign Over Me

Chapter 11: Like This

Soi Fon was alone in the gym. She had finally earned "roaming" privileges when Halibel realized that she was not going to try and murder them all in their sleep. Soi Fon could tell that the woman was still very wary of her, though. It came with being the "Alpha female." Both Soi Fon and Halibel had that type of personality and neither seemed to want to give in to the other.

But now, Soi Fon was in the middle of her workout. She had gotten quite slothful while being in Grimmjow's room the past few weeks. She could hear them talking about their newest mission: taking down another tower. They would never say which one, though. Soi Fon did not know if this was a function of them not wanting to talk around her or them just not knowing until the 11th hour which tower was their target.

I'd say the latter. That's how I'd want it, she thought as she pictured Grimmjow's smirking face on the punching bag.

What confused Soi Fon the most was Orihime's attachment to the pasty one named Ulquiorra. He did not seem all that enamored with her, but few emotions ever flashed in his face in the first place. He did seem somewhat protective of her, whether it was intentional or not. Soi Fon could not tell if the girl loved him or not, but she did know that she cared for him enough to save his life.

Who does that? Who saves the life of someone who's holding you hostage? Soi Fon paused for a moment and looked around. If you call this holding someone hostage. This is more like a free vacation.

She could not say that she had been mistreated... except by Grimmjow. He always managed to ruin her day just by breathing the same air as her. But for some reason, Soi Fon would not get her own room. Halibel kept offering and Soi Fon kept looking at Grimmjow and saying:

"No. I think I like where I'm at."

And that was that. Grimmjow could do nothing because technically she was HIS responsibility.

Gotta admit though, she thought as she kicked the bag, making his life hell is a joy.

Soi Fon cut her eyes to the right. She immediately whirled, swinging her right arm around. It made contact with a very firm hand. She looked up and realized that Grimmjow was smirking down at her, holding her fist in his own. She frowned and tried to retract her hand. As usual, he refused to release her.

"Having fun, bee?" he asked. Soi Fon frowned. She hated when he snuck up on her. He was so quiet and... cat-like.

"Anywhere without you brings me amusement, kitty-cat," she said. Grimmjow's smile widened. He squeezed her fist and pulled her towards him. She knocked into him and let out a gasp. Grimmjow held her in place with his free hand.

"If that were true, you wouldn't spend oh-so-much time in my bed," he whispered down to her. Soi Fon squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to glance up into his eyes.

Do not look in his eyes, Soi. Do not do it. Do not do it. She looked up into his eyes. Damnit, Shaolin!

Soi Fon had grown a particular weakness for Grimmjow. Although he was brash, lazy, over-confident, foul-mouthed, and generally everything you would never bring home in a guy, that's probably what she liked about him. It made sleeping next to him that much harder.

"Just remember to stay on your side, Jeagerjaques," she said.

"Me? You're always the one who ends up rubbing up against my back, scratching me and everything." He pulled her closer. "You must be a fucking predator during sex," he whispered. Soi Fon's eyes widened.

"How would you even gather that from my sleep habits, idiot?"

"You like to beat shit up all the time; even while sleeping. You must like to do it even while fucking." Grimmjow winked at her. "Care to demonstrate, little bee?"

Up until then, Soi Fon had been "letting" Grimmjow hold her. Now she elbowed him in the temple to get him to release her. He let her go, laughing and reeling in pain at the same time. She watched him for a moment and rolled her eyes. After kicking him in the shin for good measure, she left the gym.

Pervert, she thought.

"So he really has locked you in here?" Toshiro asked Rangiku. The strawberry blonde nodded.

"Yep. He won't let me leave for anything. It's getting really boring. I can't believe I'm saying this but I actually miss work," Rangiku said. Toshiro looked at his subordinate.

"You? Miss work? Ran, you never worked in the first place. You were just... there," he said.

"Oh, Toshiro, I did to work. I gathered all your papers up. I made sure everyone had lunch because I chose who would go get it. I always reminded Chizuru to smile. I..."

"I see what you mean, Ran. Your presence is missed."

"I even clean up when YOU decide to throw one of your icicle temper tantrums." Rangiku eyed him. Toshiro glared at her. "Yeah. You think I didn't know about those, huh? Abuse of power..."

"I work with a bunch of hormonal women. Sue me."

"And we work with a hormonal teenager."

Silence.

"Touché," Toshiro said, raising an eyebrow. "Did he say why he's barricaded you up here?" he asked. Rangiku shook her head, taking a sip of tea.

"Gin likes to leave out a lot of details when it comes to stuff concerning work. He does not tell me exactly what it is he does anyway, so it isn't like I can just ask. All I know is that he is like Aizen's personal assistant. But, apparently something spooked him so badly that he doesn't even think I'm safe working in the same building as him anymore. He won't tell me what happened. He just says to do as he says and stay put," she said with a sigh.

"Seeing how Ichimaru is the third most powerful man in terms of status, I guess you should listen." Toshiro had his eyes closed. Rangiku raised an eyebrow.

"You actually agree with Gin in keeping me locked up here like some sort of damsel in distress?"

"Ichimaru is a clever man and he cares about you very much. He wouldn't do this for no reason, Ran. You're just going to have to trust him," Toshiro said. Rangiku smiled.

"I believe you just gave my silver fox a compliment, Toshiro."

"I never said I could not respect a fellow genius," Toshiro said. "You'd be surprised just how smart your 'silver fox' is. I doubt even Aizen knows."

Orihime stared at the handle to Ulquiorra's apartment door. It was an old, rustic handle on a big black door. To the outsider, this door probably screamed at you to turn and run as far and as fast as possible away from it. Orihime just stood staring at the handle and door. In the two and a half months that she had resided at Las Noches, she had never been in Ulquiorra's apartment. Ever. He spent all kinds of time in hers, but she had never spent a minute in his.

Why is that? she asked herself. Ulquiorra had never invited her nor had he ever just taken her there on a whim. They had always done what she wanted to do. But now she found herself standing outside his door on his darkened hallway alone. It was one of the few times where Orihime had actually been awake before Ulquiorra. Normally, she would just wait in her room for him. Today, she decided to go to him. Nothing like a surprise, she thought, placing her hand on the handle.

Orihime tried the door, finding it unlocked. She found this curious. Considering Ulquiorra was, well, Ulquiorra, one would think that he would always lock his door, whether he was in the room or not. Apparently he was comfortable enough with his housemates that he did not feel the need to do so when he was in his room. Orihime pushed the door open further and slowly entered.

The apartment smelled like him. It smelled of...

Mint chocolate ice cream, Orihime concluded. That's the only thing she could think to describe Ulquiorra's refreshing smell. He smelled cool, yet sweet. Like mint chocolate ice cream. I love mint chocolate ice cream.

Orihime closed the door softly and leaned against it, observing her surroundings. Ulquiorra obviously liked to keep everything down to the bare minimum. She had seen almost everyone else's rooms. Where they had every necessity plus nearly every luxury they wanted in their respective apartments, Ulquiorra's apartment lacked any kind of personalization. Or perhaps that was HIS personalization: nothing. He had a white couch, a black TV, a white coffee table, a black bookshelf filled with books, and couple of black chairs. That was it in the sitting area. Nothing adorned the walls. Nothing stood out, except for how clean it was. There was not a spec of dust in sight.

Wow... Orihime mouthed. She hesitantly took a step forward. She walked around, looking over everything. She stopped at the bookshelf. She cocked her head to the side to read the names of the books. They all seemed to be poetry books. Ulquiorra likes poetry? How ironic for someone who shows so little emo...

"Woman," Ulquiorra's voice came from behind her. Orihime whirled around, knocking into the bookcase. She winced at the feeling in her elbow and closed her eyes. Then she looked up at Ulquiorra...

... and nearly choked.

It was not as if she had not been cornered alone by Ulquiorra before. She'd been in many awkward positions with him. From him falling on top of her to them sleeping next to one another, nothing really fazed Orihime anymore between them. After all, they were just... acquaintances. But never before had she been left breathless by a shirtless Ulquiorra that was gazing down on her with tousled hair and droopy eyes. He was muscular, but in a very slim way. She could make out the lines, but they were not jumping out at her. Even if his eyes were droopy, he still managed to glare at her.

He looks like an angel of death, Orihime thought. It was an odd thought to have when she herself had been likened to an angel by so many people before.

"Why are you in my room?" Ulquiorra asked. Orihime blinked, realizing she was holding her mouth open and staring at him like he was some sort of Greek statue. She shook her head slowly, but did not take her eyes off his body.

"Just thought I'd surprise you," she mumbled. Her eyes took notice of the "4" on his chest. She raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know you had a tattoo."

Ulquiorra was fascinated by Orihime's behavior. First, she snuck into his room. He had heard her enter and assumed she would come to his bedroom. Instead, she went for his poetry books of all places. He did not understand poetry all that well; the one type of literature that completely eluded him. That's why the books were not in his library. But the woman was still looking at him with a look he had never seen on her before. And now she seemed intrigued with his rank tattoo.

"It symbolizes my rank. We all have one," he stated calmly. Orihime nodded. She leaned up off of the bookshelf and stepped towards him. Ulquiorra watched as she slowly raised her right index finger to his chest.

Orihime could not explain what made her do it. But for some reason, she felt she had to. She could not resist it. She wanted to see what it felt like; what HE felt like. She began tracing the "4" on his chest slowly. She always expected Ulquiorra to be cold. But he was never cold. He was always so warm. This instance was no different. She found it odd how it was hard to feel his heart beating beneath her finger as she traced. She had not noticed the look on his face yet.

Ulquiorra could not believe what was happening. He was watching Orihime trace his tattoo in a scrupulously long-drawn-out manner and it was somehow... exciting him. He had all but stopped breathing and just held his breath until she finished. Her finger was like fire against his skin. It was causing the normal mask he wore to break. When she got to the last point of the "4," Ulquiorra grabbed her wrist, probably a bit rougher than he meant to. She looked up at him as he stared down at her. They stared at one another for a moment, just listening to one another breathe.

"It's... nice," Orihime whispered. Ulquiorra nodded slowly. He had not yet released her hand and she was not fighting to have it released. For once, she was not avoiding his gaze, either. She noticed the questioning heavy look he was giving her. "What?" she inquired.

Ulquiorra said nothing. Instead, he did what the first electrical impulse in his brain told him to do. He pulled Orihime forward using the hand he was holding and brought her closer to him. He watched her eyes leave his and run down his face. He still could not understand why she was looking at him the way she was. Normally he could read any emotion she conveyed. But at the moment, Orihime was a complete mystery.

Unable to muddle through this mystifying position, Ulquiorra did something quite uncharacteristic for him. He rested his forehead against Orihime's. Her eyes shot up to his, only to find them closed, as if he was thinking. His grip on her wrist relaxed a bit, but he still did not release her.

"Ulquiorra?" Orihime broke the silence.

"Yes, woman?" he answered in a whisper.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked. Ulquiorra's eyes opened. What was he thinking about?

"I can't read you," he stated frankly. Orihime laughed a little. "What is so funny?" he asked. Orihime raised her left hand and placed it on his chest. Ulquiorra looked down at it, but did nothing. Orihime watched his reaction.

"You always need to know what I'm thinking; need to know what I want." She moved her hand to his neck. Ulquiorra lifted his head and their noses touched. "But you don't know what I want right now, do you?"

"No." Ulquiorra took note as to how close they really were. Of course, by his own volition had he pulled Orihime to himself. But then again, she had initiated the original contact by fingering his tattoo. So who was at fault? Was it right for him to engage in such an... intimate action with the captive? After all, was she not Sosuke Aizen's woman?

We haven't done anything... so far. Nothing has happened, Ulquiorra rationalized.

"What do you want right now?" Orihime asked.

Ulquiorra paused. What did he want? He had a very, very beautiful woman standing right in front of him, nuzzling his nose and neck. Something was obviously drawing her to him. But what was it that HE wanted at that moment?

"I don't know," Ulquiorra replied. The words were like a bad taste to him. He did not often say them together in the that order in the same sentence. He moved his head around to meet her gaze. She still had that somewhat incomprehensible expression in her eyes. "Maybe it is... you," he whispered.

Orihime's breath caught. He said it as if he had been telling her he wanted cereal for breakfast; something normal. Did he really grasp the meaning of what he said?

"Really?" she asked hoarsely. Ulquiorra simply stared at her. Whenever she asked that question he never answered it. He told her once that he never said anything he did not mean. "So what will you do about it?" she inquired. Ulquiorra thought a moment.

"What can I do?" he whispered. Then he released her and retreated to his bedroom to find a shirt.

Orihime watched Ulquiorra go, the smell of mint chocolate leaving her. He had left so suddenly that it had left her literally winded. What did he mean? Did he not want to act on his feelings? It seemed obvious he felt something for her.

I think it's pretty obvious I feel something for him, she though, leaning back against the bookshelf. Then she shook her head. But what about Ai... Sosuke? Ah! Life is just too complicated... She stood up straight and stormed out of the room.

Ulquiorra pulled his head through his sweater just as he heard the door to his quarters slam. Orihime had gone. Why? He had not frightened her off, had he? Knowing her and her fussy, enigmatic emotions, she was probably angry or in tears. That was something he understood: how to quell her tears. Talking her down always seemed to work. He looked in the mirror across the room. His hair was still so messy.

But Orihime was starting to induce such foreign feelings in him; especially during their previous encounter. It was pleasant yet unnerving to him. What was happening between them? That's what he would start with.

Ulquiorra went after her.

Urahara and Hiyori waited outside of Aizen's office. Urahara appeared relaxed while Hiyori managed to look bored and irritated at the same time.

"Explain why I had to come along for this, Urahara," Hiyori said. "I don't like being anywhere near that man. Plus, this place smells like death."

"You are my assistant, Hiyori. You have a job to do. Plus, you're the only one other than Kurotsuchi who knew about the Goddess Project. That's why you're here. And this place does not smell like death. The Fifth Tower smells like death," Urahara said. Hiyori rolled her eyes as the door to the office opened.

Momo Hinamori exited. She saw Urahara and smiled at him. Urahara stood up to greet her. Hiyori just rolled her eyes and followed suit. She did not get along too well with people who kissed the ground Aizen walked on. In fact, she hated suck-ups period.

"Miss Hinamori, what a surprise to see you. I'm sure Shinji must be missing you," Urahara said. Momo just giggled.

"Lord Aizen called for me personally, so I had to come. Mr. Hirako had to let me come. I won't keep you from him any longer, Mr. Urahara. Have a nice day." Momo looked at Hiyori and her expression changed drastically. "Miss Sarugaki," she said.

"Miss Hinamori," Hiyori said. Momo walked off. Hiyori watched her go, wishing her head would explode the entire time. Then Urahara pulled her into the office and closed the door behind her.

Aizen was sitting behind his desk, pouring himself a new cup of tea. He put his usual smirk on his face when he noticed the new guests and motioned to them to sit as he took a sip of his tea. Urahara did so, but Hiyori remained standing. Instead, she took to walking around Aizen's office, examining the shelves of odd trinkets and books. Urahara sighed and looked up at Aizen.

"Sorry about my assistant," he said. Aizen shrugged.

"Don't worry about it, Kisuke. She's," Aizen looked at Hiyori, who shot him an evil glare, "adorable. What news do you have to tell me on your research?" he asked.

"Bad news, I'm afraid." Urahara cleared his throat. "While she is definitely the one, her powers had not yet awakened. So, I could not yet replicate them. I needed to wait a little longer until her power had presented itself," he said. Aizen nodded.

"So what you're saying is that you need Orihime Inoue in the flesh in order to run?" Aizen asked.

"That's about the gist of it." Urahara watched as Aizen looked off into space. Then the leader looked back at his scientific subordinate.

"It appears as though we might have to step up our efforts finding Miss Inoue. Looks like I will have to send Yoruichi a new operative," he said.

"A new operative for the Second Authority? Doesn't that take years of training?" Urahara asked. Aizen just sipped his tea. He sat the teacup down.

"Of course. But, there are ways around certain things, Urahara. You're a scientist. Figure it..." he was cut off by the sound of something crashing to the floor. They both looked in Hiyori's direction. The small blonde was standing over a broken orb. Urahara sighed. "Now, now, Miss Sarugaki. We mustn't touch what isn't ours."

"Forgive me, Lord Aizen," she said sarcastically. Aizen just smiled at her.

"It's quite all right. Don't worry about it. I'll get one of the servants to clean it." He turned his glance towards Urahara. "Yoruichi will take care of finding a link to Miss Inoue's whereabouts. You just worry about making it to the captains' meeting on time, Kisuke," Aizen said.

"Sure." Urahara stood and looked at Hiyori. She had her arms crossed. She gave Aizen a scathing glare before following her superior out of the office.

Aizen watched the assistant of Kisuke Urahara leave. He knew Hiyori Sarugaki hated him. There were just some personalities that were harder to control than others. She was pigheaded and set in her ways. And apparently, she could sense something was amiss with him. That was not a good thing. That was never a good thing.

Something had to be done about Miss Sarugaki.

Shit.

Shinji bit his lip. Another one was being sent to his authority soon and needed to be ready ASAP. Shinji could not even remember how he got his job. But, whenever he asked himself that question, he would remember the answer almost immediately.

Oh, yes; Retsu, Shunsui, and Jushiro. I remember now. I'm the "smart one," he thought with a roll of his eyes. It was true. His oldest three friends had suckered him into this prestigious job. If only they knew what he really did. Due to confidentiality, he was not allowed to them. Nothing to do but wait until she gets here now.

Halibel walked in the conference room in Las Noches, ready for the meeting about their next mission. Everyone quieted down and focused on her. Halibel gave the room a once-over and looked down at her papers. Then she glanced back up.

Ulquiorra Schiffer was missing.

"Where is Ulquiorra?" she asked, glaring around at everyone. Naturally, everyone turned towards Grimmjow. He raised his eyebrows and put his hands up defensively.

"Why does everyone always assume I'd be the first one to kill someone in here? That's not even fair!" he yelled and crossed his arms. "I don't know where he is. I saw princess storming from his room. Maybe he chased after her. Is it really that serious?"

"He's part of this mission," Halibel said.

"Can't you brief him later? You wouldn't want to split up two lovers, would you?" Sun-Sun asked. Halibel raised an eyebrow.

"Since when are..."

"Are you blind, Halibel? I don't know about Ulquiorra, but it's evident that Orihime likes Ulqui. She was in tears when he came home about to die," Nel said.

"And the fact that he went after her shows something. He knew there's a meeting. When has Stiff-Neck ever purposely missed a meeting?" Apache asked.

Halibel considered what they were saying. She wondered if it could become a possible hindrance that Ulquiorra and Orihime had grown some kind of "romantic" feelings towards one another. That's IF they had. She had to see this to believe it. Ulquiorra did not strike her as the "romantic" type at all. He'd always seemed so solitary and introverted.

"We'll just get started. I'll brief Ulquiorra separately."

Ulquiorra sneezed into his arm as he stood at Orihime's door.

Hmm. Someone's talking about me, he thought. Then he looked down at Orihime's doorknob. He tried it. It was unlocked. He had actually expected her to lock him out. Instead, it was almost like she was inviting him in. He opened it hesitantly, almost afraid of what he might find behind it.

Orihime was sitting on her sofa with her knees drawn up to her chest. Ulquiorra walked around the sofa to face her. He kneeled next to her and looked at her. Orihime stared straight ahead for a moment before looking down at him. They looked at one another for a few moments before her lips curved into a small smile.

"Why do you smile?" he asked. Orihime took her right hand and ruffled his hair.

"You look so cute with your hair like this," she said. She sat back on the sofa and her smile disappeared. "What do you want?" she asked. Ulquiorra had something to ask her; she could tell. That's what his eyes were telling her.

"What are you doing to me?" Ulquiorra asked.

That was not the question Orihime had been expecting. Perhaps something along the lines of "How do you feel about me" or "Do you want me too" would have been what she was looking for. Did he think she was bewitching him or something? He could obviously see the confusion she was feeling because he began to explain, tearing his eyes away from hers.

"I'm feeling things I've never felt when I'm around you. At first it was just an order to be with you. Now, I want to be with you; I NEED to be with you. I feel I must protect you. I..." Ulquiorra stopped talking when Orihime put a finger to his lips. He looked up as she slid off the sofa and got on her knees to meet his level.

"I need you, too," she whispered. Ulquiorra watched as she placed a soft kiss on his lips. When she sat back against the sofa, they looked at each other; one like a deer caught in headlights and the other a little unsure of what had just happened.

Her lips are soft. Or did I imagine that? Ulquiorra thought.

Orihime watched as Ulquiorra came to her of his own accord. Just as she had touched his "4" tattoo, he used his index finger to examine her lips. His face was mere inches away from hers. Orihime noticed how intrigued he seemed to be. It was like he had never seen another set of lips in his life. Then, without warning, he placed a gentle kiss of his own on her lips and took her by complete surprise. She smiled when he pulled away a little.

"Well, now that we got the hard part out of the way..." she whispered. She almost thought she saw Ulquiorra smirk before she pulled him down by his sweater to kiss her again.

ALMOST...

Yachiru had one more night left in the hospital. Then she was free to go. Chief Unohana was strict about her patients; especially the ones from the 11th Authority. Luckily, the candy had been in no short supply even though Yachiru was in the hospital. She still ate as much sweets as she liked. She was extremely grumpy and irritable without them.

Plus, hospital food sucks no matter how you slice it, she thought.

At the moment, Yachiru was laying in bed, flexing her newly healed hand. She'd managed to break a few knuckles and they had healed up quite nicely. For some reason, she also felt like in the month she'd been in the hospital, she'd gotten out of shape. That would just not do. Even though she was under orders to "take it easy" for a few weeks, she was going to immediately train against Ikkaku when she got home.

He'll whip me back into shape. There's no better sparring partner than Baldy. Yachiru considered that. Well, except Kenny. But I'm not trying to re-injure myself just yet. She giggled.

Yachiru turned over and closed her eyes while snuggling deeper into the pillow. She never noticed the figure sneaking into her room. By the time she did, she was already experiencing paralysis in her arms and legs. Her eyes caught sight of the men carrying her. Then she noticed another face; one that she was used to seeing a smile on.

Momo? she thought.

Sure enough, Momo Hinamori was standing there, filling a large syringe with blue liquid. Her face was serious. She looked at Yachiru and noticed that the pink-haired teenager was glaring at her. Momo blinked and a smirk appeared on her face.

"My, my, Yachiru. You are different from the others. They weren't able to even move let alone make facial expressions. You look like you want to rip my heart out and eat it. Must come with being raised by a beast like Kenpachi Zaraki." A low growl escaped Yachiru's throat, but she said nothing. Momo appeared shocked. She added more liquid to the syringe. "Yes, Yachiru. You are definitely different. I can see why Lord Aizen wanted you for this." She stepped forward.

Yachiru watched as Momo walked towards her with the long, unfriendly syringe. Yachiru was terrified of syringes. She would run into a fight with someone twice her size headfirst but shy away from a measly needle. Her body was not responding to her wishes. The only thing that would move was her face. She saw Momo raise her arm and stab her in the shoulder. Yachiru felt a sharp pinch and then a dull ache.

Then everything got a little hazy...