Just thought I'd do a little note for dearly departed Serrena. She may be gone, but her writing and dreams live on. We love you!
Anyway, at request of darling Giana Sparrow, I present this chapter.
.
Orihime looked around the room in wonder. It… it was magnificent. She had seen places like it- underneath Urrahara's shop, underneath the visor's hideout, and she had heard Ichigo talk about a similar place in Soul Soceity.
Again. She had seen places like it.
But this…
"It's winter wonderland." She sighed out, opening her arms in front of her as she spun around with a giggle.
No color. All white. Black rocks poked up from the white powder, the sky unseen through a veil of gray. Cold, bitter temperature. It disappointed her to not even be able to see the golden hues of the dessert, but… she had always liked the snow.
She instantly scrambled forward, not caring that she was already starting to shiver through the thin layers of her dress. Ulquiorra was behind her, his body angled to a part of the wall that didn't fit with the rest- pure black metal.
Orihime fell to her knees, laughing, gathering up snow in her hands and beginning to push it into a round ball on the ground. She heard a noise behind her, almost like the sound of someone opening a soda can, but a little cleaner.
Her hands were already hurting, but she didn't care. She breathed hot air onto them, and then got back to work. Up onto the first mound of snow she pushed a second, shaping it as the head to her tiny figure. She poke her finger into the head, making two eyes, and then traced a C on it's side below the eyes to make a smile. With that she shaped to little ears, having no leaves like usual.
And there is was. Her little snow bunny.
Fwump.
Warmth suddenly surrounded her, a heavy cloak falling around her shoulders. Orihime looked up in surprise to find Ulquiorra had a long cape around himself, fastened securely at his neck; the thing made of white warmth and lined with black fur, just like the one he had set over herself.
He knelt down in a dignified fashion, looking at the snow bunny she had made in curiosity. "What are you doing, woman?"
"Making snow bunnies." She watched as her breath floated away in a puff of condensation, a small cloud that dissipated in the atmosphere. She started shaping another one next to her own, the scene familiar to her.
Snow lightly fell around them, adding to the ground.
"Here," Orihime grabbed Ulquiorra's hands, pulling them down into the snow with her own. She pulled them along, helping him to shape the bunny she was making to be him. "Like this."
"What is the point to this?" He asked softly, watching aptly as she helped him to make a cranium for his own specimen.
She shrugged lightly, still beaming. She took his hands and brought them up in front of her face, noticing they were turning red like her own. She let out a breath of hot air, blushing lightly as she puffed warmth out onto his ash-colored hands.
She let them go, watching from the corner of her eye as he pulled his hands back into the confines of his cape, out of her sight.
She put ears on the bunny, and then a smile, two eyes. She thought for a split second before skimming her pinky down each cheek of the snow bunny, making tear streaks on it.
It looked ridiculous with tears and a happy smile, the little bunny so different from the tears it shed. But she loved it very much.
"Onna."
She looked over to see he was standing again, studying her with piercing viridian eyes. "Yes?" She asked quietly.
"Explain this to me."
She smiled lightly, hopping up and brushing off her knees. "Snow bunnies." She slipped her hand into his, lenaing into his side, and pointed at each one. "Orihime bunny and Ulquiorra bunny."
He didn't seem amused.
She frowned. "Didn't you ever make snow bunnies when you were little… oh… never mind." Her heart suddenly fell, as she realized that he had been a hollow his whole life. His 'childhood' was back when he had been a Vasto Lordes- lonely, without purpose, and spiraling into despair. He had no happy childhood to look back at fondly.
He remained silent, watching her.
She turned, wrapping her arms around his neck, smiling wider and finding the tears she had been fighting leave her as he wrapped her own arms around her waist.
"I love you." She happily whispered, hot breath making little beads of water on the slop of his neck.
He held her a little tighter. "I know."
She giggled. "You're supposed to say, 'I love you too', Ulquiorra."
"I love you too." He muttered, the sentence coming out sort of robotic.
She laughed a little louder this time, drawing back to look at him. "We might have to work on that a little."
His arms released her, hands going up to quickly secure her cloak around her neck. He stepped back from her, suddenly all business.
"We must train. Time is not something we have at our fingertips as of now, onna." He drew his swords carefully, lightly, as if afraid that unsheathing it too quickly would hurt her. "Fight me."
She frowned. "I don't want to fight-"
"Then defend yourself."
"Eeep!"
Orihime jumped back, eyes wide, the gleam of Ulquiorra's sword catching her eyes.
"Santen Kesshun!" Up over her went a shield, glowing bright yellow in the dim. Orihime smiled a little, watching as Ulquiorra neared for another attack. He was aiming off to the side of her. Even if she hadn't of moved, he would have passed right by her.
THUNK!
His sword hit her shield and to their enormous surprise, it glowed bright yellow for a second before it gave a bright spark. In the blink of an eye, he was flying across the room, his eyes open wide.
Orihime gasped, hands flying up to slap over her own mouth as she watched with wide eyes.
He hit the side of the training center, flipping with plenty of time to have his feet his the wall, angling his body so that he could launching himself right back at her.
"Wait, wait!" She yelld, not wanting him to get hurt.
He flew right past her, landing behind her shield and then spinning her around, grabbing both of her hands and holding them up over her head.
"Dead." He intoned. "If I were your opponent, I would have just ended you."
She narrowed her eyes. "I wasn't ready. Did you see what just happened?" He let go of her hands. "You flew across the room. My shields don't usually do that…"
He didn't miss a beat. "Your powers have increased in power. This was expectable."
"You thought that would happen?" She hysterically cried. "I don't want to hurt you, what if-"
"Woman." He stopped her rant in a second. "You will not hurt me. You insult me by saying that simple sparing could result in my injury. Do not continue to treat me as trash. Fight."
"What? I wasn't-"
"Prepare yourself."
"Ulquiorra!"
His sword hit a hastily thrown up shield once again. Again, his aim was off to the side of her. It was clear he was being extremely careful with her, not wanting to chance harming a single inch of her skin.
This time he was prepared for her shield and easily flipped back, landing just a yard or so away from her. He came running at her, eyes narrowed in concentration.
It's just like sparring with Rukia-san. Orihime convinced herself. It's for fun. Hmm… fun…
With a bright smile Orihime launched an attack, suddenly determined not to be 'killed' again. It was a game, she realized. It was odd, in a way, but she was sort of playing with Ulquiorra. And she had no qualms about that.
She let her powers know that she didn't actually want to hurt him, to be light in their attacks, but still there. They instantly understood, easily bending to their wielder's will.
"Tsubaki!"
Ulquiorra saw the attack coming, instantly planting himself in the ground and titling his body to the side, her power flying right by him.
Just as planned. Orihime thought with a small smirk.
Ulquiorra was but a step or two away from her shield when Tsubaki caught up with him, Orihime having commanded him to turn and follow right behind the espada and then lightly tap him on the base of the neck, not harming him at all.
Ulquiorra saw it coming. He jumped up, not stopping to use his sword on her shield like she had thought he would. He instead jumped up ontop of her sheild, using the force of it's rejection to propel himself up into the air, turning in air to stop above the ground, right before leaning forward and soaring back down towards her.
Tsubaki lightly hit her shield, not rejected, and that was when the idea hit Orihime.
She collapsed her shield right before Ulquiorra struck, again making sure her powers understood that she didn't want to hurt the espada, and then threw up a new shield with Tsubaki at the middle.
"Shiten Kōshen!" She cried.
He hit the shield with his sword, the force of it absorbed through the whole golden plane, all of the energy shooting to the middle, where her fourth fairy was. Tsubaki came rocketing out of the center of the shield, the rest collapsing around Orihime.
Ulquiorra had a moment to look surprised before throwing his head back, his body following, bending back as he avoided the explosive power.
Orihime flung her hands up as soon as Tsubaki rocked past Ulquiorra, a trial of gold following the fairy's feat, intent to put the offensive shield back up.
"Shiten Kōshen!" She said again. Except, she had miscalculated. Tsubaki was still flying overhead. So the outline of the shield formed, golden threads ready and awaiting the fourth fairy.
Ulquiorra passed right through it, looking like he had expected the shield as much as she had. At the last second he seemed to amend his attack, holding his sword way out to the side so that it wouldn't have a chance to brush her.
"Ah!"
Ulquiorra's body hit Orihime's; tackling her to the ground. His free hand grabbed both of her in a millisecond, trapping them above her head, his feet hooking over her knees to let his toes touch the ground between her legs, his knees resting on the outsides of her thighs. He sheathed his sword with a gleam in his eyes, the look taunting her, telling her he had won again.
"He leaned in until his raven hair fell around her face, lightly tickling her. His face cast a shadow over her own, as his lips barely moved to form a word. "Dead."
She swallowed, her stomach erupting in butterflies. "O-oops."
"I've won twice now." He mused, almost seeming to gloat. "Though your attempts were admirable."
Her heart was speeding in her breast, eyes locked on the lips that seemed to be nearing her own. Just a second ago the snow she was laying in seemed to make her cold. When had the snow become sparks? She was going up in flames!
"How about best three out of five?" She whispered, not sure why she was lowering her voice.
"I believe, Onaa," He almost looked like he wanted to smirk. "That you are in no position to be asking favors." And with that he let his lips lay over her own.
Orihime wondered if there would ever be a time when he would kiss her and she wouldn't get goose bumps and butterflies. She wondered if maybe over time she would get used to his passion-full kisses.
When he lightly bit her lower lip, she knew the answer was no.
And then, suddenly, just as just as suddenly as he had kissed her, she was on her feet and he was standing a few yards away from her.
"Best three out of five, as you wish." He said. And if she didn't know any better, she might have said that there was teasing in his voice.
"Meany." She muttered, just before taking up a stance. Suddenly, training didn't seem like a childish game.
It was so on.
~)o0o(~
Grimmjow came upon the shinigami. It wasn't Ichigo, to his immense disappointment. He had been training with Halibel and Nel- he resented the fact that they were women, but each had good moves, he had to admit. And he was ready for a second crack at the orange haired shinigami.
His first thought was that it was Ichigo's woman, the little black haired one he had shoved his hand through. Her stomach was like paper, in his opinion. He wondered what Ichigo saw in her.
But then he realized that she was wearing different robes. A white robe. And she had little braid things on the sides of her head. Really, if he thought really hard about it, he supposed that the two really looked nothing alike. This chick had a better face. More determined and killer-like. Damn, she looked like she was just out looking for someone to stumble upon so that she could kick their ass.
She stopped right as soon as he had gotten a good look at her.
"Show yourself!" She demanded, coming to a halt in the middle of her run. She had no sword, to his disappointment. She looked like she would have been a good fight. Instead she was just holding out her hand like it could kill. Sure, her middle finger had some weird cone on it, but she was clearly an idiot. Bare hands in Hueco Mundo? At least she had the honor of getting killed by him.
But oh, yeah. Halibel said to bring the intruder back alive…
He would just beat the shit out of her first and then bring her back, alive. Or, at least, mostly alive.
Grimmjow jumped down off of the red tower he had been standing on top of, grinning wildly. "Hey, bitch. Who the hell do you think you are, making orders like that?"
She spun around, white braids whipping behind her. "Did you just call me a 'bitch'?" She seethed. "I am not some common Soul Reaper, arrancar scum. Did you know who I was you would bow before me and tremble in fear!"
Well, she had confidence, he would give her that. And damn, did she know how to work her little powerful attitude.
But he was the king, and no peasant would talk down to him.
He drew his sword, fangs gleaming with a feral light. "I'll tear you apart!"
"And I will sting you to death!"
It was then that Grimmjow found out that the thing on her finger was as strong as a sword. Because she was using it like one, and she was good. Not even Halibel moved with the lethal grace that she did. She almost managed to land a scratch on him, ripping open the front of his shirt. It opened up around him.
Shit was about to get serous.
"I'll crush you!" They both declared at the same time. Realizing they had both said it made the two scowl, but they said no more.
It was time to up it a level.
He grabbed the sleaves of his shirt and pulled it off, learning it was easier to move around weapons without extra clothes, as Halibel had told him.
Apparently, she had been told the same thing.
When her robe came of, her sleeves following, he realized what the white robe was.
It was a little sad it had taken him so long, but when he did realize.
"Well shit! You're a goddamned captain!"
She flew past him, almost managing to hit his side, he moved at the exact same moment.
It was then that she saw his tattoo. "Espada!"
They both stopped for a moment.
They both had orders to leave the other alone.
But damn, it had been forever since Grimmjow had such a good fight. And from the look on her face, the same was true for her.
"Defend yourself!"
He had a feeling that they were going to get into the annoying habit of saying the same thing at the same time.
He was a little confused when landed a hit on his shoulder and a black tattoo bloomed over the skin.
She was a bit confused when he managed to land a slice through her own shoulder.
But when you're having that much fun, confusion doesn't do much to deter you. Grimmjow was elated. He had never faught a woman with tactics so much like his own. Not even Ichigo was so much fun to fight. What was her odd power that allowed her to make a flower tattoo spring up on his skin? Instincts were screaming that it was more dangerous than poison. And he loved it. She had other powers, he could tell. Her eyes were like Ichigo's when he had been debating putting on his hollow mask.
"I will surpass you!"
"I'll rip you to shreds!"
"I am above you!"
"I AM THE KING!"
Two more flowers, three more cuts, a blow to the gut, a kick to the shin. They were par for par. And it was exhilarating.
"Grimmjow-sama!"
The fighters paused. And stepped back.
"Fuck." Grimmjow spat. Just like with Ichigo and Ulquiorra- he was fucking getting interrupted again.
Both the shinigami and the hollow turned, looking as a weaker male aranncar with a boyish hair cut stopped, breathing hard, hands on his knees.
"What the hell do you want?" Grimmjow seethed.
"Halibel-sama has sent me to-" pant "-remind you that you're supposed to-"
"Yeah, yeah." He turned, still pissed as hell, and glared at the woman. "Come on."
"Do not order me around like some common subordinate!" She barked, crossing her arms. "I am an assassin. I take orders from the head commander. That is all."
He liked her. She had spunk. "Well, too bad. You're coming with us!" He was still going to kick her ass.
She shot a look at the boy, as he was part of 'us'. "Oh?"
The boy rapidly shook his head. "I-I'm just a messenger!"
She looked glad to see his fear. Grimmjow wished she had a puny officer with her so that he could even out the score. Maybe next time…
"Now, Grimmjow, was it?" Damn, she talked like some sort of queen. "I am Soi Fon. You will follow me. Take me to Los Noches. I have business there, and you do not seem to be under orders to kill me."
"What makes you think I take orders, little-miss-wind?" He growled, joker grin lifting up the bones over his jaw.
"You're number six." She pointed out with a superior smirk.
"Ha! Like numbers mean shit! Your robe says number two! You telling me you know you ain't number one?"
She turned a little red. "The number is that of my squad, not my rank!"
"And that it, isn't it? Just a number?" He grinned. "Just like me!"
Soi Fon narrowed her eyes at him. "You will still take me to your palace."
"Damn strait." Grimmjow said. "I told you I would be! Now come on."
He turned, and started walking. He narrowed her eyes when she walked right past him, stopping to walk in front of him like she was the one leading. Like hell she was!
He stepped his pace up, walking in front of her.
With a slight huff, she began to speed walk in front of him.
He moved faster, jumping in front of her in the beginnings of a run.
"Uh, hey, wait!" The messenger boy called, struggling to catch up.
Of course, by the time the last sound left his lips, the two were in a race of flash step.
.
First off: LONGEST CHAPTER YET! I hope it was worth the wait. Yep. Oh, and we the new pairing. It has been founded. Please let me know if anyone is OCC! I hope to see reviews, as always. :) And holly cow, you guys review... so amazing. If we reach 300 ... I'm going to faint. You guys are SO cool. OH! And just like with the 200th reviewer, the 300th gets a prize! I'm working on the prize for MiracleAngel500 right now. It will be up soon. :D Have a fan-full day!