Chapter 36: Truth be Told (Part 1)
Ichigo sat cross-legged in the sand, eyes closed, palms relaxed on top of his knees. Despite his earlier preparations and peaceful façade, he was terrified about what would greet him when he entered his inner world. He took a deep, steadying breath, and watched behind closed eyelids as the darkness deepened and listened as the sound of not-quite-water filled his ears. He opened his eyes and found himself seated in his underwater inner world, face to face with Zangetsu, previously known to him as his hollow.
"Wassup, Buttercup?" the spectre drawled at him, leaning heavily on Ichigo's zanpakuto.
"I'm ready. Shall we?" Ichigo asked as he got to his feet, anxious about getting to action.
"Shall we what? Dance around and tell each other bedtime stories?" Zangetsu asked sarcastically.
Ichigo winced a bit, "No, I mean let's not waste more time. What do I have to do to get that back?" he asked, pointing at his zanpakuto.
"Ah, so you do have a goal in mind. Not quite the one I'd hoped for but it'll do for now," Zangetsu said before he stood and waved his free hand, and suddenly Ichigo's inner world began to transform. The water drained from the sky and the sideways buildings crumbled away to reveal the white sand desert of Hueco Mundo, its crescent moon hanging stationary in the starless sky. "Your quest begins here. All you have to do is answer my questions honestly." Zangetsu paused as what appeared to be a million zanpakutos raining down from the pitch black heavens, each impaling the sand below with a clang. Ichigo cowered and covered his ears, the deafening sound feeling like it would tear through his skull. A moment later Ichigo's ears reverberated loudly as he observed the moonlight glint off the multitude of swords before him. Zangetsu waited for the ringing to subside before adding, "The more truth you reveal to me, the more truth will be revealed to you. We'll start with an easy one. What's your name?"
Ichigo furrowed his brows in frustration. "Really? We're going to play games at a time like this?" He was silenced when he heard a whirling from behind him and ducked just in time to avoid having his head severed from his neck; a sword from somewhere behind him seemed to have taken offense to Ichigo not taking this activity seriously.
"This is not a game, partner. Each of these represents a zanpakuto who has become lost to its master. They take this activity very seriously. Now, what is your name?" Zangetsu ground out, his usual mania bridled by a harness of focused intensity.
"My name is Ichigo Kurosaki."
In response, a path of swords several yards deep evaporated before him, creating a path wide enough for Ichigo to walk through easily.
"Very good! That wasn't so hard, was it? Now we just continue this way until we get to the truth. Only then do you get your zanpakuto back," Zangetsu advised.
Ichigo blew a breath out his nostrils, ready to get on with it. "Alright, Zangetsu. Next question!"
"What is your favorite color?"
Ichigo couldn't help it. He glanced sideways at Zangetsu and raised an eyebrow in disbelief. This time he barely jumped backward in time to avoid being castrated by a sword that sprung up from underfoot.
"Ah, um, blue?" Ichigo pleaded internally that he was correct, as he stood poised for another attack that didn't come. However, no further path opened to him.
"Seems like it's only a partial answer, partner. Better be more specific." Zangetsu scolded patronizingly.
"Uh, midnight blue." Ichigo said hopefully. A moment later, another path, this time leading slightly to the right, revealed itself.
"Well done, partner! Let's keep going!"
They continued this way, Zangetsu asking a string of inane questions, including, "what do you like to eat on a rainy Tuesday?" (curry) and "which English word is the hardest for you to pronounce?" (squirrel). As the day wore on and Ichigo began to lose patience there were more and more close calls with zanpakutos that did not take kindly to Ichigo's lack of sincerity.
Zangetsu finally told Ichigo that he was done for the day after a close brush with death that had come from his inability to admit which sister he loved more; finally confessing that it was Yuzu by a hairswidth.
"We start again tomorrow, and bear in mind that this will be quicker if you stop lying to yourself," Zangetsu said, his voice fading out as Ichigo was sucked back into consciousness.
"So, how was it?" Urahara asked, looking up to Ichigo from his paperwork. He had brought a portable desk down to the training ground after Ichigo's training started becoming more of a babysitting gig.
"Trippy," Ichigo answered as he rubbed his temples, more confused than ever.
xXxXxXx
Orihime was uncharacteristically quiet during their walk toward Urahara Shoten, and Ulquiorra found himself increasingly bothered by it. As they stood at an intersection waiting for a walk light, he pulled out his phone to check the time; it was about quarter after six. He slipped his phone back into his pocket and the walk light illuminated. He began to cross, only to glance to his side and find Orihime not there. He quickly returned to the curb, where he found Orihime looking down the street perpendicular to their path, her mind a million miles away.
"Woman?"
No response.
"Orihime?"
"Huh?" she asked distractedly, still not looking toward him.
Carefully, Ulquiorra took her chin between two fingers and pulled her face toward him. He released it and asked, "What are you thinking about? You have been distracted since we left the hair salon."
Orihime shook her head, "Sorry, Ulquiorra, I don't mean to be, it's just something Hikaru-chan said as we were leaving."
"And what was that?" Ulquiorra asked, worried that Hikaru may have warned Orihime against him based on her reaction to his 'security officer' job.
"She told me if you were still single in a month you were hers."
"Come again?"
"She said, and I quote, 'If he is still single in a month, he's mine.'," Orihime repeated, using her most growly voice at the end.
Ulquiorra straightened up and looked to the side briefly before looking back to Orihime with a raised brow. "Are you sure?"
Orihime nodded seriously. Then, in her silence, she allowed her stomach to change the subject as it growled angrily.
Ulquiorra grew a teeth-baring grin, and despite his best efforts to control himself, he began to laugh at her. Before long the laughter became uncontrollable, and as if taking a page out of Orihime's book, he grasped his belly with one hand and the traffic pole with the other as he began wheezing a breath here and there between snickering fits. "Me… that imposter octava… and your face… and growwwwl…" he eked out the words as he tried to catch his breath. When he finally got control of himself, he stood back and faced Orihime, who looked in equal parts amused, offended, and shocked by his behavior.
Ulquiorra pursed his lips together, surprised at himself. He cleared his throat, and in a much more dignified manner, said, "My apologies, woman. The hair stylist is delusional."
"Hey, you could do a lot worse than Hikaru-chan, Ulquiorra!" Orihime retorted, turning her chin up at him.
"I am sure you are correct. However, my affections are not so easily won," he said with warm, kind eyes, in an effort to soothe her. It had a different effect on Orihime though; her knees buckled slightly as she blushed and swooned internally at his gentle expression.
"Eh, heh heh, um, Ulquiorra?" she asked awkwardly.
"Yes, woman?" he replied slowly in honeyed tones, still giving her the warm fuzzies at the soft set of his eyes.
Orihime's stomach growled in response. "Do you mind if we put off training for today and get some food? There's a place right down this road…" she trailed off as she looked back to where she had been staring before the conversation started.
Ulquiorra grinned brightly and nodded once. "Lead the way."
xXxXxXx
A week later (February 12th)
Orihime and Ulquiorra's impromptu dinner date was pleasant but unremarkable. Orihime had been ravenous and Ulquiorra was amused by her appetite, and insisted on paying for both of them in return for Orihime's assistance at the hair salon.
Their training session the following Saturday morning had been productive; Ulquiorra had moved on from just tactics and started her working on manipulating her current techniques to use in different applications. Her shields could protect, as she knew, but Ulquiorra suspected that they could also be used to pick up and move items, including people. He hadn't told Orihime this though, having had her only try to conjure a shield above and below her and then moving it up and down. By the end of the training session, she had exhausted a great deal of reiatsu and needed a nap before she went home. Ururu had been home, and had been kind enough to set out a futon in the common tatami room for her to rest on.
Orihime had EIKEN English testing at school the following week and was too busy to speak much with Ulquiorra. However, she sent him a smattering of text messages throughout the week which kept him from tearing down the walls. Testing was finished today, however, and Ulquiorra left rather early, anxious to meet up with Orihime at the school and walk her back to the shoten for training. Handicrafts club had also been suspended for the week due to testing, so they planned to meet right after school got out at 3:00.
When he saw her recognize him, her face lighting up and her pace increasing to a jog toward him, his heart swelled with gratification. She seemed anxious to see him, so much so that she rocked on the balls of her feet to keep herself from falling into him when she stopped. He half-expected her to launch herself into his arms, and was slightly disappointed, although unsurprised, when she didn't. He couldn't stop himself from reaching out his hands to help steady her, however, and let them linger on her upper arms longer than necessary before releasing her and suggesting that they go.
Orihime blushed and beamed at him. She had missed him more than she expected since Saturday, and as they walked she kept catching herself closing the distance between them, allowing their arms or the backs of their hands to brush before taking a step back toward her half of the sidewalk. She cheerfully told him about her testing and how all her friends were doing until they walked through a row of shops. There, she began to get a bit agitated, her brows arching together in apparent despair, and a quiet, "Oh no," escaping her lips.
"What is the matter?" Ulquiorra asked, worried that it was something serious.
"I was focusing so much on my test that I forgot Valentine's Day," Orihime whined dejectedly.
"Valentine's Day?" he asked in response, the word sounding vaguely familiar from a television talk show.
"Yes. It's not until the 14th, but that's a Saturday so I'm sure all the girls will be bringing chocolate to school tomorrow. Would you mind if we stopped somewhere for me to get something?"
"I don't mind, but would you mind explaining this custom to me?"
Orihime smiled and nodded, and launched into an explanation about how girls give chocolate to boys on Valentine's Day and how boys return the favor a month later on White Day. She went on to explain the difference between obligation chocolate and sincere chocolate, and how lots of girls use the day to confess their feelings. She explained how today she was only buying obligation chocolate for the boys in her class, but that she wanted to choose something a bit nicer for Uryuu and Chad because they were such good friends.
Ulquiorra nodded as he listened to her, noticing the red and pink hearts decorating each of the shops. Some shops also displayed images of winged, fat, naked babies. An odd custom, Ulquiorra thought, although it did seem that it played well into the concept of the heart as a bond between comrades that Orihime had tried to explain to him at Las Noches, naked babies notwithstanding. He just never expected for the physical representation of such bond to be made of chocolate.
He had let his mind wander while Orihime looked intently into shop windows, so he was startled when she jumped and squeaked. In her excitement, she grabbed him by the elbow and pulled him into a shop. "Can you believe it? I can't believe it! They have Don Kanonji chocolates here!" she squealed as she squeezed Ulquiorra's arm and bounced up and down.
Ulquiorra's face flushed a bright shade of magenta as Orihime continued to squish his arm deeper between her breasts as she pointed at the items in question, waiting for him to respond. When he didn't make any other response besides his blushing after several more seconds, Orihime furrowed her brows and leaned even further into him, asking seriously, "Do you not know who Don Kanonji is?"
Ulquiorra was unable to speak, but shook his head.
Orihime released his arm and crossed hers in front of herself so that each of her palms faced opposite shoulders, and recited, "The spirits are always with you! Bo-ha-ha-ha!"
Ulquiorra was baffled by her words and disappointed at the loss of contact. His confusion won out in the end though, and he simply raised a perplexed brow at her and shook his head again.
"You need to come over and watch some shows with me sometime, Ulquiorra. I'll show you what's good on TV!" she lectured.
"Tell me the date and time and I will be there. I'll even bring cake," he replied, eager to take her up on the offer.
Orihime responded with a coy smile. "So willing? Most people fear my choice in entertainment. You, my good sir, are indeed brave," she teased, elbowing him in the ribs softly for emphasis. Before he realized it, Ulquiorra opened his fingers and allowed them to trail down the inside of Orihime's forearm toward her hand as she took her elbow out of his side. Her eyes widened in surprise, and then fell in disappointment as he pulled his hand away at the last moment, right as he made contact with the skin of her wrist, leaving her wondering if it was on purpose or not.
She was sure of one thing, though: she wanted him to hold her hand. That he might not want to do it left her feeling very troubled. She looked down, brought her hand to the back of her neck and scratched it as her cheeks dusted pink and she pouted slightly as she thought about the possibility.
Ulquiorra was perceptive enough to recognize that somehow things had become awkward. He cleared his throat and looked resolutely at the display of Don Kanonji chocolate and said, "How many of these must you purchase? They are not inexpensive."
Orihime shook her head out of her funk and concentrated on the display as well. "Hmm, let's see. Well, There's Asano-kun, Kojima-kun, Momohara-kun, and of course Ishida-kun and Sado-kun. Kurosaki-kun is gone so I don't need to get him anything. I want to get Ishida-kun and Sado-kun this slightly bigger box with the picture of Don Kanonji's face. I can get the smaller boxes for the others.
Ulquiorra quickly calculated the cost of the items and frowned. He knew from Urahara that Orihime lived on meager funds, and buying these gifts for her classmates would likely mean she would skip a meal or two this week. Orihime appeared to still be considering her options, and while she was distracted, Ulquiorra quickly picked up the items she had been considering, and without a word, took them to the checkout counter, leaving Orihime behind.
When she finally realized he was gone, she whipped her head from side to side, only to see him walking back toward her from the cashier, carrying a red paper bag with the name of the shop emblazoned on the side. "You bought something, Ulquiorra?" she asked, surprised.
"No. You did. Let's go, it's getting late."
"Oh, sorry, I guess I was being pretty indecisive. So what was that, 5,200 yen? Oh, did the price already include the tax?" She looked into her purse and saw that she only had 4,000 yen and her face dropped.
Ulquiorra saw her downturned face turn red, and he could guess why. Before she had to face him embarrassed, he took action. "Come along, woman," he said matter-of-factly, reaching for her hand and pulling her out of her spot.
"Wait, Ulquiorra, the money –"
"We have training scheduled on Valentine's Day. I am merely ensuring that you will have adequate funds to buy me the most spectacular Don Kanonji obligation chocolate to be found in Karakura. I won't abide the small box, woman," he teased, chancing a glance back to her and their joined hands, before adding gently, "besides, I am in your eternal debt. You taught me about the heart. The least I can do is help you teach others." He was rewarded with a tiny smile and radiantly blushing cheeks as a suddenly shy Orihime looked sideways and nodded.
xXxXx
Saturday, February 14th
Ichigo closed his eyes in frustration; trying to keep his temper in check was proving to be the most challenging part of this exercise. He had been answering Zangetsu's questions every day for up to fifteen hours a day, and the field of swords before him still stretched on past the horizon. The task had grown increasingly difficult as Ichigo was forced to consider every aspect of his life and tried to extract the truth from each angle. Zangetsu had continued to throw in an easy question from time to time, such as what was his biggest regret, to which he easily answered the death of his mother, and who was his favorite author, which was obviously Shakespeare.
However, Zangetsu had warned him that starting today, the questions would get tougher, and he hadn't lied. Ichigo was being forced to face some of his darkest thoughts and was revealing things about himself that he had buried or denied until now; things that were dirty and wrong. Things that made him feel sick to his stomach. Things like admitting that he would have gladly had unprotected sex with Orihime in the cabin last summer if Rukia hadn't interrupted, regardless of how it would affect her. Things like how if he was honest with himself, he still regretted not doing it. Things like admitting that when he was younger, he masturbated to a fantasy of a sparring session with Tatsuki that took a turn for the sexy. Things like if he had to choose between the two, he would kill Mizuiro instead of Keigo.
If Ichigo found encouragement in anything, it was that Zangetsu's line of questioning was beginning to become more focused, and Ichigo felt like there was some kind of pattern he wasn't able to discern; like Zangetsu had some kind of goal in mind. On top of that, the paths carved out by each answer were much wider than their predecessors. Ichigo's motivation to complete the task became evident as both he and Zangetsu renewed their focus.
"Now this one isn't going to be as easy as before, partner, and I want you to think hard before you answer. Why did you go to Hueco Mundo?"
Ichigo was about to answer that it was to save Orihime, of course, but he paused, taking Zangetsu's warning to think first under advisement. Ichigo tipped his chin down, bringing a crooked finger to his mouth as he frowned in thought. He stayed that way for a long time.
After about five minutes, Zangetsu interrupted, "I'll give you a hint: it's not what you are thinking, or what you were thinking."
"A compulsion…" Ichigo thought out loud, and before he even looked up, a large swath of swords evaporated before him.
"I didn't think you'd get it that fast, partner. I'm impressed," Zangetsu said, bringing Ichigo's attention to the present. "So, you felt a compulsion to go to Hueco Mundo. And you just went with it. And you used Queen as your excuse-"
"Inoue was not just an excuse. I cared about her wellbeing, and I never believed she was a traitor!" Ichigo argued, and another swath of swords evaporated.
"Well, you're getting ahead of me now, partner. I know what your truth is; you don't have to argue about it with me. As I was saying, Queen was your excuse to everyone else to go; you believed in her and they believed in you when you said it. However, something else was calling to you; beckoning you to go into the world of hollows. What was that?"
"My own hollow?" Ichigo stood on alert, worried he would receive punishment if his answer was not technically correct, but nothing happened.
"Close. Not wrong, but not quite right. Guess again," Zangetsu prodded.
"The guy upstairs?" Ichigo asked, not entirely sure that was the right answer but he had a strong hunch that it was, and immediately thousands of swords evaporated, leaving him in a vast, empty space, lined with swords at a great distance.
Zangetsu began to clap. "Bing bing bing bing bing! Tell him what he's won, Johnny! That's right, partner, you get the rest of the day off! You'll meet me over there tomorrow!" Zangetsu's voice began to sound muffled as he pointed to the swords in the distance.
"Wait! Zangetsu! What does that mean?" Ichigo shouted, only to see Urahara hovering over him after he blinked.
"Hello, Kurosaki-san. What does what mean?" the shopkeeper asked with a concerned undertone in his voice, then looked at his pocket watch.
"If I knew, I'd tell you, but apparently I had some kind of breakthrough; Zangetsu gave me the rest of the day off."
"Just as well, Kurosaki-san. I need to get back to the World of the Living and check on some things. It's still before noon; I can get there, do what I need to do and return before tomorrow morning. Yoruichi-san can keep you company until then," Urahara said as he stood and stretched. "In the meantime, it's been awhile since you had a break; I could request some company for you."
"I'm actually not in the mood to see anyone. Yoruichi is fine, but I just need to decompress."
"Suit yourself, Kurosaki-san. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, see you."
xXxXx
As had become their habit on Saturday mornings, Ulquiorra arrived at Orihime's apartment at the precise time she would have left to meet him at the Shoten. For a moment after she heard the knock at her door, she wondered to herself whether they had arranged for him to pick her up or if he had decided to do it on his own, but quickly realized that at this point it didn't need to be explicitly set up anymore; they had an informal arrangement.
The idea that they had a tacit agreement curled the right side of her mouth up into an impish little smile. She opened the door still wearing the expression.
"Is there some kind of conspiracy afoot, woman?" Ulquiorra said with a suspicious half-smile of his own as he came into the genkan and closed the door behind him.
"Maybe, maybe not… that's for me to know and for you-" Orihime abruptly stopped when Ulquiorra brought a thumb to her lips, pressing gently for a lingering moment and then pulling away, leaving her speechless.
"Is this what I think it is? Have you been unable to resist the temptation of Don Kanonji obligation chocolate? Is this the final remnant of what was once destined for my palate?" he teased dramatically, revealing the chocolate now on his thumb. He narrowed his eyes at her and continued in a more resigned voice, "You leave me but one choice, woman," and a warm pink blossomed across Orihime's cheeks as he opened his mouth and slowly dragged the very thumb that had just caressed her lips across his tongue, his eyes never leaving hers.
Orihime's gaze slipped to his mouth and without thinking, she sighed audibly, the primitive part of her brain awoken by his sensual display. Her heart beat harder and her belly grew hot when he closed his eyes momentarily and hummed in approval. It took her much longer than necessary to look away from his mouth, and when she finally did, she spoke in a thick, husky voice she didn't recognize, "Would you come in for a moment, Ulquiorra?"
Ulquiorra simply nodded and started to untie his shoes, hanging his coat on the rack and following Orihime to her sofa. Orihime cleared her throat and asked him to wait a minute, disappearing into the bathroom.
She braced both hands against the sink and looked at her face in the mirror, shocked at what she saw. Her complexion was rosy, her eyes were dark and glassy, and she could not stop her breaths from heaving. Memories from her erotic dream attempted to creep into her thoughts and she fought them down only with the seductive vision of Ulquiorra licking his thumb. Orihime shook her head and slapped her cheeks. Clearly being alone with her thoughts was not helping, so she opened the door and went to the kitchen.
She had not bought Ulquiorra any obligation chocolate for Valentine's Day. Despite not having established a romantic relationship, she felt that their bond definitely fit the criteria that defined a relationship as special: he was her trainer, her friend, her supporter, her protector, and they had known each other across lifetimes. If any relationship deserved sincere chocolate, theirs did, she thought. She had spent the previous evening making him heart-shaped chocolate-covered cake bites, and had just tested one for taste as he had knocked on the door. They were a bit conventional for her tastes, but not too dull; she had remembered that he liked tiramisu and had added a coffee liqueur flavoring to the cake to mimic the espresso and rum flavors of the original.
She quickly took the remaining sweets out of the refrigerator and put them into a cute pink heart-shaped box and tied it with a red ribbon. She quickly made sure there were no chocolate smudges left on her hands or face and turned to the living room, hiding the box behind her back as she took a seat on the sofa next to him.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Ulquiorra!" she announced with a cheesy grin, producing the box from behind her back and thrusting it toward his hands.
Ulquiorra chuckled and took the box. As he looked down, his expression dropped momentarily, then became hopeful as he brought his eyes back to Orihime's. "This is not Don Kanonji chocolate," he said softly.
Orihime smiled and shook her head. "No, it's not. I didn't think obligation chocolate was appropriate. You've done so much for me and we've become, um, very good friends, so I wanted to make you sincere chocolate. Open it and try one!"
His chest swelled with happiness and he smiled at her before he opened the box, and was about to put one of the sweets into his mouth when he paused, asking, "I guess you've already tried it? I ask only because if it is really delicious I have no intention of sharing."
Orihime giggled and replied, "You guess right. Now try it!" She watched with innocent excitement this time as he brought the treat to his lips and put the whole thing in his mouth.
He chewed expressionlessly for a moment and then closed his eyes and the bliss-filled expression he had worn after the scalp massage at the hair salon revisited his features. He slumped back onto the sofa and swallowed, opening his eyes halfway and sliding them toward Orihime before closing them again, smiling as he whispered, "Perfection."
The thing about homemade chocolate is that it has a very low melt-point, and has a tendency to rub off easily on places like mouths and fingers. Ulquiorra was unaware of this, and in his post-cakebite reverie he naively brought his chocolate-coated thumb and index finger down toward his pant leg. Orihime watched and overreacted, lurching forward and stealing his hand away from his leg with both of her hands in order to protect his jeans.
Ulquiorra had managed to resist her pulling enough to not hurt her, but in her haste, she overcompensated and poked herself in the face with his chocolate-covered digits, transferring half of the smudges to her nose and the corner of her mouth. He curled his three clean fingers under her chin to steady them both, and didn't remove his hand from her face as Orihime said, "Oops, went a little overboard, but your jeans are safe!"
"My savior," Ulquiorra said softly, his eyes darkening and his complexion taking on a pinkish hue. He paused for a brief moment, considering all the ways that his statement was true and studying the new chocolate marks on her face, before bringing his eyes to hers and saying, "I hate to waste it..." He gulped before continuing just above a whisper, "Can I? I just want to try something…"
Orihime's blood was racing as he slowly leaned toward her, still cradling her chin. She could barely breathe, and when he asked that vague question, all she could do was muster was a very breathy, "Yes."
He gently wiped the chocolate on his thumb off on the corner of her mouth, immediately bringing his face to the spot and licking it clean. Before retreating, he took a short gasp on her skin, stealing her breath away. He pulled back just inches, wiped the other mark on her nose off with his dirty index finger and transferred the chocolate to her plump lower lip. He took a moment to observe her heated expression and allow her hot, shallow breaths to wash over his face before bringing his lips to hers with impossibly light pressure. When she didn't retreat, they both took the opportunity to memorize the soft warmth of the other's lips, before Ulquiorra's tongue came out again, tracing the surface of her lower lip and guiding it into his mouth gently, before delicately sucking the chocolate off.
Orihime whimpered, overwhelmed by the sensation of his silky tongue and supple lips against hers and his scent, which was a clean mix of rain-scented shampoo and something deeper and undeniably Ulquiorra. Without thinking, she closed her eyes and pushed into the kiss.
Ulquiorra was completely stunned by her surrender. A low, short moan escaped his nostrils before it caught in his throat, and the hand that had been cupping her chin reached to the back of her neck, its fingers delving into her satin hair.
Orihime opened her mouth in a breathy invitation, and despite his inexperience, Ulquiorra's body knew what to do. He released her lower lip and tilted his head slightly, panting into her mouth three times as he fumbled to set down the box of chocolates still in his hand. After depositing the gift on the table, he brought the hand up to thread into the hair above her ear, and after pulling back once more to look into her heavily-lidded eyes to make sure this was all real, he closed the distance and brought his hungry lips to hers, his tongue gliding into her welcoming mouth to move against her own in a dewy slither. She tasted as he expected. She tasted like home.
Orihime never anticipated the way she felt when his lips first touched hers. Of course there was underlying lust on her part, she was prepared for that after the dream she had. What she hadn't expected was the heart wrenching poignancy. Her arms gathered around his neck and held him close in an effort to soothe both of their souls as their kiss connected them in a steaming, undulating dance of lips and tongue.
Orihime was not alone in feeling overpowered by emotion. Ulquiorra suspected it before, but he was sure of it now: he could not live without this woman.
They finally broke their kiss for the need to breathe, their mouths still connected by a glistening thread, and still close enough to steal each other's breath. Orihime, still feeling the heaviness of the emotion between them, could not bear the separation for long and pressed her lips back to his briefly. Ulquiorra, likewise, placed another desperate, loosely-closed-mouth kiss on hers. They continued to peck at each other's swollen lips gently, he cupping her face in both hands and riding out the powerful feelings that were consuming them both as best as he could, until finally, feeling weakened by it all, he rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, content to just listen to her breathe.
Orihime's arms slowly loosened their grip from his neck and retreated until her palms rested lightly on his shoulders, and after taking a deep breath, pulled her forehead away from Ulquiorra's and looked at him. He slowly returned her gaze, providing her with an expression of pure adoration, his eyelids still heavy and his breathing still unsteady.
Suddenly, reality came crashing back in on her and her eyes widened slightly. She had just kissed Ulquiorra Cifer! They were sitting here together alone in her apartment, she had given him sincere chocolate and then they made out! 'Now what happens!?' She was panicking and awkward as she slowly slid away from him on the sofa, her face beet red. She wanted more, but she was afraid. "Um, Ulquiorra? I think we should get going," she suggested softly.
Ulquiorra stared at her dumbly for a moment, then looked down into his lap, finally bringing his eyes to the box of chocolate still on the table. "Thank you for the gift, woman," he said in a flat voice not much greater than a breath, before picking it up, standing, and making his way toward the door without looking back at her.
Her heart lurched. His body language was off. Then the realization hit her: he was interpreting the abrupt change in atmosphere as her rejecting him. She wasn't sure how she felt, but she knew without a doubt that she didn't regret kissing him. "Ulquiorra, wait!" she cried out, lunging for him as he began to pull the door open.
He stopped and looked at her, and she nearly sobbed. They were not teal, but now there were real tear tracks marring his cheeks.
"No!" was all she managed to say before she launched herself into his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist, planting a firm kiss under his jaw. His rigid posture relaxed, and he brought his empty hand to the small of her back and took a shaky breath. "I don't know what this means, but I don't want you to leave me," she said in a small voice.
Ulquiorra blinked the tears out of his eyes as he looked down at her and kissed the top of her head, replying in a hoarse voice, "Never."
Thanks for reading and sorry for the delay! I really REALLY wanted this chapter to be perfect! Please let me know what you think! Love JK