CHAPTER 21: Tattletale
He had numerous Hollows report to him. They all said the same damn thing.
"Sir, Kurosaki has returned!"
"My king, the shinigami is back."
"Hey asshole! You're just gonna let Kurosaki walk in here."
Mouthy. Fucking. Fraccion.
Grimmjow sat on his throne in the ruins of Los Noches where he ruled with the other two living Espada. Well if you could call what those two did living. Tier lived in solitude in her palace. Nel ran around with those two idiots. He wasn't surprised as the human/shinigami/hollow/quincy thing walked into the throne room.
"What the fuck do you want, loser?" Grimmjow snarled. "Come to fight me?"
"Tch. Fuck off Grimmjow. I came to deliver a package from Urahara," Ichigo said, giving the blue-haired Arrancar a sneer. "And to deliver a message."
Grimmjow raised an eyebrow but didn't budge from his place on that stone chair. He put his chin in the palm of his hand, much like Aizen used to do. But while that traitor sat there with a smug expression, Grimmjow's was grumpy. He didn't get to fight much now that peace had come to Hueco Mundo. "Give whatever package to one of the servants. What's the message?"
The envelope flew at him and Grimmjow caught it with a hand, ripping it open with one fingernail. The images that spilled out, over his lap and floor were confusing. "What is this Kurosaki?"
"What do you think it is? That prick is alive," Ichigo said with a small smirk. "Thought you might be interested to know. There's something else, too."
Plucking one of the photographs up, Grimmjow peered at it. Someone one had scribbled lines down the man's face. "Is this-Is that fucking Ulquiorra Cifer? That fucker is alive? What the fuck else is there to know Kurosaki? I'm getting my revenge on him. How has the Soul Society not eliminated him yet?"
Ichigo smiled. This was playing out exactly how he had hoped it would. "Because he has absolutely no spiritual pressure. He is human. No power whatsoever. His little girlfriend has more juice in her little finger than he has in his entire body," the shinigami gloated.
A sadistic grin spread over Grimmjow's face. "Get out of here before I decide to pick a fight with you, Shinigami."
Ulquiorra kept having a weird feeling come over him. He would be walking from a cafe or his apartment when the sensation slid down his spine. He'd be at the grocery store or the art supply place. He always shook it off. It was like a heavy, oppressing blanket had been put over him just for a moment. He thought he was just being paranoid because of what Urahara had said to him.
He'd done something that was practically impossible. Ulquiorra had possessed a dying body. It made no rational sense. His mood must have been apparent because he was laying in Orihime's bed one night, looking up at the ceiling when she came in to the room.
"What's going on with you, Love? You've been acting like something's been bothering you since we came back from Karakura."
"I don't know, Woman. I feel a sense of dread. Have you felt anything weird in the days since we came back from Urahara's?" Ulquiorra asked, turning his head towards her.
She laid on her side next to him. "I have not. I have sort of conditioned myself to ignore that kind of thing, or I would be feeling it all the time… I don't know if I ever told you, but my ability to detect spiritual pressure is rather sensitive."
This was the first time Ulquiorra had ever heard Orihime talk about this. "You can detect massive spikes of spiritual pressure, right? I keep feeling this weighty sensation at times. I'll be walking along and all of a sudden I can't breathe and I can't move."
Orihime's face told him everything he needed to know, even though she tried to temper her reaction, her eyes widened and lips parted in fear. She saw him recognize her feeling. "That feeling you describe… it is how it felt to be in your presence as an Arrancar. It's how it felt to be near Aizen."
"What is going on now?" He sat up on the bed and looked at her. "Wouldn't there be shinigami in Tokyo to take care of them?"
Orihime sat up and knelt beside him. "When was the last time this happened?"
Ulquiorra sighed. "Today. I was walking back from my apartment. I went there to drop off supplies I had bought. I've got a show coming up in a couple of months."
Orihime nodded and sighed. "Can I do something? It won't hurt," she asked.
He looked at her, his expression alarmed. "What?" he asked. Ulquiorra's tone was cautious.
"Just trust me," she said, kissing his cheek and then kneeling up behind him so she was taller than him. She put her hands on his shoulders and closed her eyes, becoming very quiet. She stayed that way for a long time.
After a minute he could hear her whisper, "Shut the fuck up, Quin…" then grow quiet again.
After another minute, he began to feel warm. She remained silent with her hands on his shoulders for another three minutes, then gasped, pulling her hands away.
When he turned around to face her, she had a hand over her mouth and a pinched expression, shaking her head no.
"What did you do?" Ulquiorra asked. "Orihime, what did you do to me?"
"I should not have done anything to you. I was reading the residual spiritual pressure that clings to you. Everyone has it, whether it's from the recently deceased or hollows or shinigami, or people like me or Quin. He is a nosy bastard, by the way, and he is much stronger at detecting things than I am. Anyway, there is always spiritual energy floating around and it follows people who pass through it."
Ulquiorra waited for her to finish but when she didn't, he studied her expression. "Who is it? What is it?"
"It has to be a mistake," she said with a small smile, but her eyes were growing increasingly anxious. "I thought detected an Arrancar."
"Shouldn't we tell someone about this? Can't you call the Quincy or Kurosaki or Urahara? Someone? I'm a human, Orihime. I can't protect myself," Ulquiorra said, his tone growing frantic.
Orihime gathered him into her arms and smoothed his hair, trying to comfort him. "Shhhh, shhh, it's okay. I will stay near you until this blows over, okay? Powers to defy a god, remember?" She took his face in her hands and made him look at her. "I won't let anything happen to you," she swore to him. "I'll call Uryu right away, but I don't know if we can trust Kurosaki or Urahara."
Ulquiorra stared at her, with concerned eyes. "Woman you might have powers to defy the gods but you don't have the powers to defeat an Arrancar. Unless you have a trick up your sleeve?"
"No, well, yes, but nothing on that level; nothing that could defeat an Arrancar. I think I could protect you though."
He wanted to believe her. Ulquiorra really, really did want to believe his girlfriend would and could defeat an Arrancar but he had been one in a former life. Being a former Arrancar and Espada, he knew how they operate and how powerful they could be.
She could tell he didn't have faith in her. "We could always run? Go somewhere they wouldn't look to find us? You have no spiritual presence. There's no way they could track you," she offered.
And start over, he thought. There was no way. Ulquiorra did not want to go anywhere. They had lives here. He had a reputation as an asshole artist. Why would he give that up just because some hollow wanted to stalk him?
Orihime could tell he was not receptive to her idea. "Would you trust Uryu to handle this? He's much more powerful than he once was, despite appearances."
"Can the Quincy get it done? I don't want to keep looking over my shoulder waiting for whatever to strike. You can't protect me all the time Orihime." Ulquiorra huffed. "You have to go to school. I need to paint stuff. What are you going to do? Drag me along everywhere? I wouldn't mind it but I think you might get annoyed with me."
"I think he could but I'm not sure," she was starting to get stressed. "I don't mind you being with me 24-7 but… You're right, we need back up." She sighed heavily. "Do you want me to call Kurosaki? We know he can do it…" She was not happy to admit it.
The green-eyed man shook his head. If Kurosaki was the cause of this then what was the point? The orange-headed bastard would know that he had gotten to them. "I don't trust Kurosaki. He seemed petulant when Urahara dismissed him."
"I know, that's why I am worried… Maybe if I could, ugh, appeal to his ego or something he would stand down?"
"The thing is, we don't even know if it is him. It could just be a wild Hollow. It wouldn't look good on us if we just threw baseless accusations around," Ulquiorra stated.
"It wasn't just any hollow I sensed, Ulquiorra. It's one I know, well," she warned as well as admitted. "It doesn't really matter if Kurosaki has anything to do with it or not, if he's willing to stop it, it would be beneficial. I would do almost anything to keep you safe, even if it is begging him to help," she said as if the thought sickened her.
"Woman, you need to tell me who it is."
"You know who it is," she sighed. "Grimmjow."
Paranoia didn't even begin to cover what he was feeling. Everywhere Orihime went, minus the bathroom, Ulquiorra followed her looking like a lost puppy. He was jumpy and twitched at every noise that was loud. He didn't like going out into crowds. People in the woman's classes and other fashion students whispered. He caught some of them but he didn't care.
Being in Orihime's company was better than being in the Quincy's company. The first day Orihime decided to pawn him onto Uryu, the man had yelled at him. Ulquiorra declined to follow the other man around.
Spending so much time with his girlfriend did give Ulquiorra some ideas on his next art show. He saw the sketches and the outfit his woman had put together for her collection. A lot of what he had seen was reminiscent of Hueco Mundo.
They were at the college one day while Orihime was working on something, Ulquiorra studied her. "Can I see your sketches? Do you have a sketchbook? Do you mind? Are there ones that aren't going to be turned into physical pieces?"
She looked up at him in surprise and smiled. This was the first time he had expressed a specific interest in her work. "Yes, I have quite a bit that I've scrapped for one reason or another, just a minute," she said, standing and walking over to a cubby on the wall, rummaging around for a bit, and then returning with a thick sketchbook. "Here's some things that I worked on while we were broken up that I just didn't think were what I wanted to put out into the world…" she trailed off.
He took it and flipped through it. Several of her designs were striking. Some looked like what Markus had tried to pass off as haute couture. A lot of it was good. Ulquiorra looked up at her. "I have an idea on how to promote you."
"Oh? What do you have in mind?" she asked, excitement dancing in her eyes.
"I'm going to paint your sketches. I'm going to bring to life what you scrapped. I'm going to give you half of the profits," Ulquiorra said. "It'll be a collaboration."
Her eyes couldn't get any bigger. "You would want to do that? For me?" she couldn't believe it.
He smiled at her. "Look at what you're doing for me Orihime. You're dragging me around everywhere. People are talking." Ulquiorra tapped the sketchbook. "I would love to collaborate with you on this. You can help me. It's a good way to make money at least."
"Oh, come on, you know I don't care that they talk. If anything it raises my cache," she said as an aside. "Besides, if people know we're together, it nips rumors in the bud. Anyway, thank you for offering to do this, I'm so excited!" She bounced around in a little happy dance.
Ulquiorra's chest filled with warmth, watching her. He liked when she was happy. He loved seeing her face glow. It made him think of things like the future and babies and living with her full time and never having to go to his apartment for anything. Sometimes, he had to restrain himself from voicing these ideas. He reached out with a hand and grabbed her wrist, pulling her to him.
Still smiling, she put her unrestrained hand on his shoulder and kissed his mouth briefly, then pulled back to look at him. "What is it, Mr. Cifer?" She asked, acting goofy in response to the unexpected gesture.
He opened his mouth and he wanted to pour all of his love and devotion out and bare it all for her to see. Instead, Ulquiorra shook his head with a smile on his face. "Thank you for protecting me."
She kissed the tip of his nose. "It's my pleasure. Besides this way I don't have to worry about you getting sick of spending time with me, because you don't have a choice," she laughed. "Most guys would be sick of their girlfriends by now I'm sure."
"Woman, I waited years to even speak to you. I waited years to find you. I will never be sick of you," he said before kissing her slowly. After a moment passed, he broke the kiss. " Never ."
Orihime swooned. She laughed quietly; somewhat idiotically. "Keep it up, Ulquiorra, and we might end up violating some student codes of conduct."
He sighed and sat down on the closest stool that was nearby. "Get back to work, Inoue."
"Oh, I think I am ready to pack it up for today. I think we both need some time off. We need to blow off some steam. Zerge is having a little party at From Dusk tonight. He's going to be revealing the shots he took of me and Quin. We should go. Be a little irresponsible, act our ages, well, our biological ages at least, for once."
Ulquiorra nodded. "Only if you wear something that requires no panties."
She smirked at him, "That can be arranged."
Orihime and Ulquiorra got some dinner before going back to her place to get cleaned up and ready to go. Orihime had wanted to wear something of Zerge's but she only had a leather cuff bracelet with some military style badge decorations on it, so she wore that with an olive green dress that Uryu had designed and given to her. He was planning on meeting the couple there and going to the club together, and Orihime knew that when he saw her in that dress the first words of out of his mouth would be, "No undies!" That's how she knew she'd chosen the right dress, she thought and laughed.
Ulquiorra laid on her bed and watched Orihime as she dressed. He had on his standard t-shirt and jeans. He wasn't going with her to impress anyone. She looked good but then again, Orihime looked good in anything she wore. "Do we need to go? I mean can't you just stay here and fuck my brains out?" Ulquiorra asked, lifting his head off the bed and grinning at her.
Orihime smiled back as she was fixing her hair, "We could do that, but wouldn't it be even more fun to go out and tease each other first?" she turned back to her mirror before he had a chance to respond.
He scowled at her back. "You tease me too much and I'll have my way with you in a dark corner. We about ready to go?"
"Almost. I wanna get my hair up tonight, Zerge's collection kind of has a military bent, hence the olive green and this bracelet," she said, waving it in the air at Ulquiorra. "I think an updo is a little more "Yes ma'am" than down, don't you think?"
Sitting up, Ulquiorra shrugged. "I have no clue how things are done here about the military or even around the rest of the world. Aizen pretty much gave us free rein on our uniforms, except they had to be white with black trim. Some days I miss that," he said.
"Yeah? Just the color scheme? Or the sameness?"
"I had to impress no one around Las Noches. It was, all the same, every day. I didn't have to choose which t-shirt I was gonna wear or what socks were clean. Sometimes this human stuff is a drag." Ulquiorra had a half-smile on his face. "You look really nice Orihime."
"Thank you, so do you," she said with a smile, approaching the bed and holding a hand out to him to help him out of bed.
He grabbed her hand, tempted to pull her on top of him but she looked too nice and put too much effort into her appearance for him to mess it up. Ulquiorra allowed himself to be pulled off the bed.
She led the way out of her bedroom just to be met by Uryu. "Don't forget, no undies," he muttered in passing. "You look totally fuckable, by the way."
"The only one going to be fucking her is me and trust me, she's bare under that dress, Quincy." Ulquiorra felt like tearing the man's head off and chucking it as far as he could but he knew that he couldn't.
Orihime smiled at her roommate. "Thank you, Quin," she said, before throwing a sly look Ulquiorra's way and looking back to her roommate. "Things still rocky with Markus?"
Uryu was putting on a jacket and looked up at her with kind of a bothered expression. "We broke up, Hime. Three days ago. Didn't I tell you?"
Orihime ran to him. "No, you didn't! Are you okay?" she was very worried. Markus had been his first real boyfriend.
"He's been moping around here for the past three days, how could you not noticed?" Ulquiorra murmured. It was a good thing Uryu was around. Ulquiorra planned to talk to him about something.
Orihime frowned and looked back at her boyfriend and then returned her attention to Uryu. "I'm sorry Quin," she said, standing on her tiptoes to give him a hug. If you need to talk about anything, anytime, I'm here, okay?"
"Yeah, thanks Boo. I'm alright. I was the one who broke it off, so I'll be fine. It kinda sucks being alone again, though."
Ulquiorra felt like he'd been admonished by Orihime. "Sorry that Markus is a dick, Ishida."
"Thanks, Ulq," Uryu said. "It's partially my own fault for not realizing it sooner. You guys ready to go?"
Ulquiorra looked at his lady and nodded. He was ready and Orihime certainly looked ready.