Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any other copyrighted material. Also, I apologize if I overdo it on the fluff… wait, isn't that a good thing?

Tell Yourself

By: Princess Kitty1

They Were So Young

"Woman,"

Orihime could not recall a single one of her dreams. She'd had them, she was sure of it, but they had spent the night dancing just out of her reach. Would she ever dream pleasantly again, she wondered? Of course she would. It was only a matter of time. Wait, time?

"Woman,"

Her eyes snapped open. "What time is?" she demanded of the ex-Espada who stood over her. They were supposed to be leaving the shore that day. Had she overslept? Were they going to miss the train because of her? They were! It was written all over Ulquiorra's face! He had on an impatient frown; extremely rare for one who never hurried.

"It is early."

Her brow furrowed. She grabbed her cell phone and checked the time. 6:45am. "Eh?" If it was so early, then why was he waking her up? She'd slept on the couch; maybe he was just worried about her catching a cold. But his expression didn't change. He seemed to be waiting for her to gather more of her wits. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Ulquiorra held out his hand. Confused, Orihime mirrored his action, and he dropped a light object into her palm. The virtual pet. "Look at the screen," he said.

Orihime examined it closely. The screen was blank. She pressed the button that was supposed to take it off of sleep mode, but there was no response, not even a beep. She tried pressing the other buttons. The device flickered back to life momentarily, then immediately shut off again. "Oh no," She tapped it with her finger twice, tried again. Nothing changed. "I think it's dead, Ulquiorra-kun."

"I do not follow."

"Its battery drained. We'd have to go out and buy a new one, but I honestly have no idea where they sell them." They stared at the unresponsive device. "Maybe there's a number to call in the instruction manual. They could send a replacement, at least."

Ulquiorra's expression hardened. "A replacement would not be the same."

Orihime eyed him curiously, fighting hard to keep a smile from surfacing. Had he really gotten so attached to that little thing in the last few months? She decided to test the waters. "How would it not be the same? It'd randomly generate the same creatures, right?"

"There is an entire universe in that device – " He paused halfway through his sentence, as if he had realized what he was about to say, and closed his mouth. Orihime waited for him to continue. Instead, he plucked the device out of her hand and turned around. "I will dispose of it."

"Wait, Ulquiorra-kun!" She threw the blanket off of her body and stumbled after him, taking hold of the hand that held the virtual pet. That stopped him; he gave her a look that had been allowed a tiny measure of reluctance. She grinned. "I've got a better idea."

…

Half an hour later, the sun was peeking over the horizon, making the ocean glitter. Rukia had been awake for some time, her internal alarm clock still operating under shinigami training hours. She was sure that Renji and Rangiku would have been up too, had they not been hung-over. Thus, she was the first to notice Ulquiorra and Orihime leaving their cabin and heading for the sandy beach.

The temptation to sneak closer and find out what they were up to was so powerful that she had to wiggle in place to keep from running off. Her disappearance would undoubtedly get Ichigo riled up, as she was convinced that he was suffering mild post-traumatic stress from their last separation, and it was too early to deal with that. Besides, it wasn't like she couldn't see them from where she sat, but the curiosity was still killing her.

Closer to the water, Orihime stooped over and began digging a hole in the wet sand. The waves were far enough for her not to have to worry about losing progress. "Hey, Tsubaki, I need your help."

"Woman, it is too damn early," grumbled the spirit that had separated from her hairpins and sat on her shoulder. He glared at Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra glared back. "What's that guy doing here?"

"If you are too incompetent to help the woman, I can show you how a real warrior does his job."

"You want to die again, Pinocchio?" Tsubaki barked, then nudged Orihime's cheek with his elbow. "Ha, get it woman? Pinocchio, 'cause he's trying to be a real boy? Hahaha!"

Ulquiorra pointed a finger at Tsubaki. "How about leaving her shoulder to make this a fair fight, trash?"

"What, you can't even shoot me off of her shoulder with your oh-so-powerful eyes?"

"I could. It is the woman who is fond of moving unpredictably and putting herself in danger."

"Stop fighting!" Orihime cried, grabbing Tsubaki off of her shoulder and setting him down in the sand. "Would you please help me? I just need this hole to be deeper."

Tsubaki flew up a short distance. "Yeah, yeah." He shot down into the sand with incredible speed, kicking up enough to make Orihime back away for the sake of keeping her clothes clean. She clapped the dirt off of her hands and joined Ulquiorra, who had lowered his hand, but was staring at the hole with the temptation to bury Tsubaki in it.

"While that's done, let's start the ceremony!"

"I do not think this is necessary."

"We're gathered here this morning to say goodbye to Bento, Tobias Wainwright the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Henrietta, James Madigan, Boris, Napoleon, Sicily, Pinto, Paco, Damien, Basil, Loki… who came after Loki? Ah, Corinth, Tama, Yoshi, Edith, and Garland. They were well-behaved, dedicated soldiers and – "

Ulquiorra interrupted her. "You remembered all of their names."

Orihime nodded, clasping her hands behind her head. "They were important to you, and they had such unique backgrounds that it wasn't hard to do. Though, I will say that some of them were quite horrifying. And the Civil War…"

"It was a revolution."

"So many lives lost." She shook her head sadly.

Tsubaki emerged from the hole in the sand, coughing and sputtering. He was covered in dirt from head to toe. "Deep enough?" he asked as Orihime ventured forward to look. "I could have kept going," he added, with a glare in Ulquiorra's direction. "I just didn't want to strike Earth's core or anything."

"This is perfect! Thank you Tsubaki!" Orihime pushed sand out of his hair with her index finger, and his eyes narrowed in self-satisfaction before he went back to his resting state. She turned to Ulquiorra. "Would you like to say any last words?"

"What would the use of that be?"

She blinked. "I don't know. Isn't there anything you wanted to say to them before they left?" The bland look on Ulquiorra's face told her enough. "Well, alright. Let the burial commence!" She watched him approach the hole. "Though," she said suddenly, causing him to stop, "I liked to think that they taught you something about caring for other creatures. Even if they weren't, you know, real creatures. But you made them real enough with your imagination!"

"Woman," Ulquiorra's voice had gone cold, "I do not want to say anything."

Orihime's eyes widened in surprise. It wasn't her imagination this time. She'd learned in living with him that he often took that tone when he was trying to hide or subdue how he was feeling; reverting to his hollow nature, because emotion still troubled him.

Was it possible that he was sad, then? In a strange way, the virtual pets had become his companions. It would explain his unwillingness to replace them.

Ulquiorra dropped the device into the hole, then turned away from it. "We must prepare for our departure," he said. Orihime had expected him to walk off without waiting for her, but he stayed where he was until she had filled the hole with sand and joined him. She put a comforting hand on his arm. He didn't even blink.

…

On the train ride back, Rukia was showing off the gifts that she'd bought for her division, Rangiku and Renji looked like they had been pushed through a car wash on a skateboard, Keigo and Mizuiro were attempting to arm-wrestle Chad, Ichigo and Uryuu were bickering, and Tatsuki was trying to police the argument. Chizuru was oddly subdued, which eventually frightened everyone enough to ask her what was wrong. Wordlessly, she pointed a little further down the row, and the sight that everyone beheld was enough to subdue and sober them as well.

Both Orihime and Ulquiorra had dozed off in their seats. His arms were crossed and he was frowning, giving off the impression that he wasn't asleep at all; simply awaiting orders. Orihime, on the other hand, had looped her arm through his and had her head against his shoulder, lips parted, her expression at ease.

/TBC/