A/N: And now, since Orihime's memory needs jogging, a companion chapter to If I Were the Rain.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any other copyrighted material

Tell Yourself

By: Princess Kitty1

Because of the Heart

It was raining. The sky overhead was a tribute to every shade of gray, each color containing a little more or a little less moisture than the next. Added to the usual sounds of the day were the splashes of car tires kicking up small waves, children leaping in puddles, a symphony of percussion as the droplets landed on every sort of surface with no end in sight. It hadn't rained that hard in a while. She wanted to take full advantage of it.

She donned a pair of rubber boots that came up to her knees and set out into the gloom, stepping from puddle to puddle, making a game of it. She pretended that she was a water spirit, unable to travel on dry ground. The clouds had freed her from their prisons at last, but they had dumped her too far from the ocean, and she had to find her way back on her own. Do water spirits wear bunny hoodies? she questioned herself with a giggle.

It was a nice distraction from exams, work, her own thoughts. She'd tried wrapping herself up in them to avoid admitting that things had been rather unexciting lately. There was the usual classmate gossip: Ryo had won a race at another school, Ishida-kun had been voted student council president, Kurosaki-kun and Kuchiki-san had started dating…

She laughed at that. Exactly what she found so funny was beyond her, or rather, it was beyond what she wanted to own up to. Jealousy was an ugly feeling – surprise, an unexpected one. Perhaps she'd thought that things would stay the same forever. She couldn't even claim naivety. It was self-deception at its finest, and she felt like a fool.

To further prove her own childishness, her feet had carried her right into a small playground, which contained a slide, a swing-set, a field, and a sandbox that she'd absentmindedly trodden through. There were no kids to be seen; just her, in her bunny jacket, with mud caked to the bottom of her boots. She wiped rainwater off one of the plastic swings and sat down, rocking herself back and forth.

It was amazing, her ability to go from a good mood to a melancholy one in a matter of seconds. She'd tried breaking the habit several times, because she didn't want to be sad. No one wanted to be sad. But that wasn't fair to sorrow, which was itself a human emotion, and had a right to be felt. Plus, there were benefits to being sad. When one was sad, they sought the comfort of the people they cared about, thus forging stronger bonds with them. Crying relieved stress, and made sleeping easier. How long had it been since she'd let herself cry?

Suddenly a gust of wind blew back her hood and sent a spray of rain into her face and hair. She gasped, surprised, and let go of the swing's chain to recapture the hood, but the motion sent her off balance. She was falling.

Then two hands landed on her shoulders and steadied her.

Her heart skipped a beat. She took hold of the chains again, her hood forgotten. She lifted her head to thank the kind stranger who had surely gone out of their way to help her, and came face to face with Ulquiorra Cifer, a vision so startling that she briefly wondered if she'd woken up that morning.

"U-Ulquiorra…"

He stood behind her, staring down into her eyes with his own piercing green. At the mention of his name, however, his strength failed him. His eyes closed, his legs gave out. He collapsed in a heap on the wet ground, and the world, which had for that moment spun around Orihime in a deafening roar of rain, was quiet again.

She sat on the swing, half-twisted in his direction, too stunned to move. Was he dead? He'd certainly seemed to have died the last time she saw him, a memory that had brought her pain whenever it surfaced. Slowly, she stood from the plastic seat and lowered herself to the ground beside his unmoving body. He'd fallen on his side, which brought to her attention the alarming fact that the bone helm on the left of his skull was gone. She reached out and touched his face. The skin was flushed, hot beneath her fingertips. He had a fever.

With extreme care, she turned him onto his back, noting that the white Espada uniform he wore was soaked, as if he'd been walking in the rain all day. Why would he be wandering around in such bad weather? Why was he even there? She'd seen him die, she'd tried to grab his hand and…

The hollow hole was gone. Orihime saw it plain as day beneath his collar, and laid her palm on the place where the hole had been. She felt a pulse.

Her dreamlike trance was broken instantly. She seized Ulquiorra's wrists, turned around, and pulled him up to lay against her back. Her legs trembled as she stood up with him, but steadied once she'd gotten her feet planted. She had to get him out of the rain. She needed to take him to someone who could come up with a better theory for his sudden reappearance in her life.

"Hold on, Ulquiorra," she said, though she wasn't sure he could hear her.

The walk to the store was a tiring one, filled with inquiring stares from passerby and whispers made unintelligible by the rain. She had to stop once or twice to catch her breath, shoulder the unconscious Ulquiorra into a better position, or wait for traffic to clear enough for her to make her sluggish way across the street. But she made it all the same, and let go of Ulquiorra's arm to pound her fist against the door. "Urahara-san!"

A light came on at the back of the store. Rainy days made Urahara lazy; he had a bad habit of sending everyone home and closing shop in the middle of the afternoon. She saw him step out into the hall, glance in her direction, and then stick his head into the room he'd left before hurrying to unlock the door. Yoruichi emerged seconds later, and hovered next to Urahara as Orihime brought Ulquiorra inside.

"What happened, Inoue-san?"

"Come over here. There's a spare room. This way."

"Were you attacked?"

"But Kisuke, that's…"

"I know." Urahara flipped the light on in the spare room, where Yoruichi was already rolling out a futon. Once it was ready, Orihime stepped onto it and crouched down enough to set Ulquiorra down without hurting him. He let out a quiet groan, but otherwise, remained unconscious. Orihime turned to Urahara.

"Do you have any dry clothes he can borrow?"For some reason, the question drew nothing but bewildered stares from the shopkeepers. "He has a fever," she said, hoping that would prompt some action.

Urahara let out an amused chuckle. "I'll see what I can find. Come with me, Yoruichi-san."

They disappeared for a while, leaving Orihime alone with Ulquiorra, who breathed deeply and didn't stir. She grappled with the top half of his Espada uniform and managed to get it off, her eyes once again drawn to the place where the hollow hole had been. The rank number was gone as well. His reiatsu was different from before: not quite like an arrancar, but not much like hers either. With the soaked jacket still in her grasp, she bent over and pressed her ear to his chest.

Thmp. Thmp. Thmp.

She pulled away from him. How had this happened? She closed her eyes and found herself back on the dome of Las Noches, watching him turn to ash, grasping futilely for a hand that was no longer there. She hadn't done anything then. She hadn't…

Urahara and Yoruichi walked back in. "Oh, Inoue-san! Don't worry about that. Allow me," the former said, and took over the changing process. Orihime turned her face away, but remained where she was. She wondered what they were thinking. Yoruichi was staring at her with a slight frown, though it appeared that her mind was elsewhere. "It's strange, isn't it," Urahara mused, "that he should come to Karakura Town seeking you out, Inoue-san. And in such a state! You can turn around now."

He'd found a plain robe for Ulquiorra – a size too big, but it worked for the time being. "Urahara-san, what happened to him?" Orihime asked, handing Kisuke the jacket as well.

"Your guess is as good as mine. I'd like to keep him overnight to do a full analysis of this interesting reiatsu, but I'm not sure how he'd feel about that." Urahara tapped his chin. "Ah, and I summoned Kurosaki-san. Hope you don't mind."

It took ten more minutes for Ichigo to arrive, and he wasn't happy. "Your bloody horror movie message broke my window!" he yelled. Behind him, Rukia was equally sour-faced, and covered in red paint.

Urahara tittered behind his fan. "Oh my, Kurosaki-san! But for Kuchiki-san to have been hit by so much paint, she would have had to be on your bed."

"Shut up! How do you know what my bedroom looks like, you pervert?" Ichigo cried, his face flaming. Then he saw who was on the futon, and his eyes went wide, his mouth falling open. Orihime looked up at him. "Inoue, what...?"

"Yes, why don't you tell us all what happened, from the beginning?" Urahara asked. Orihime explained it to them falteringly. They were looking for answers, but so was she. Nothing about this made sense to her. When she was finished, Urahara tapped his chin with his fan. "He didn't say anything?" She shook her head. "Well, there you have it, Kurosaki-san. It seems that our friend the Espada has returned from the dead in more ways than one."

Orihime considered this. He had a heart – where it came from, she couldn't say – which meant that he wasn't an arrancar anymore. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she wasn't aware that Yoruichi had addressed her until she put her hand on her shoulder. "You can go home if you want to, Orihime. If you stay in those wet clothes, you'll catch a cold."

Orihime looked at Ulquiorra. "But…" But he came to me.

"We'll call you if he wakes up," Yoruichi promised.

She left the shop reluctantly, glad that the rain had let up at least. It was rapidly becoming dark outside, and the clouds continued to pass overhead, threatening another downpour. She walked quickly, no longer interested in puddle-hopping. She was worried about Ulquiorra. Maybe it was crazy of her. Perhaps she was feeling the wrong thing, or acting on impulse with no real reason. But Orihime couldn't help herself. Being home granted her no peace, and she stayed up half the night with her thoughts.

She could guess why Ulquiorra had come to her. In Hueco Mundo, they'd had something of a… "friendship" was not the word. A cordial companionship? He'd been charged with keeping an eye on her, and she'd filled the empty spaces with conversation, which he had returned every once in a while. There was the strain of the situation between them. He probably wouldn't have even bothered talking to her if it hadn't been for that.

At least, that's how things had been in the beginning. Later he had sought her out specifically to ask her questions. Was that why he was there? Did he have more questions about the heart, now that he'd somehow gained one?

The phone did not ring the entire night. Orihime began to worry that he'd already woken up, and that the others had kept her away on purpose. She gave up trying to sleep, got dressed, and was out the door with the first light of the sun, having come to a decision.

When she reached the convenience store, she heard voices. "…must calm down, Espada-san! You still aren't well-"

"Where is the woman?" Orihime froze between two aisles. "Summon her at once."

"It's early morning. She's probably asleep, but – alright, there's no need to point fingers. Your situation is precarious so I would advise you not to make a scene. Rukia Kuchiki was sent back to Soul Society with a full report on – "

"The woman," Ulquiorra said again, and Orihime took a step closer. "Bring her here."

"You're in no position to be making demands, Espada-san."

"It's alright!" Orihime cried, jogging into the back room. "I'm here." She saw Yoruichi with a phone at her ear, which she then flipped closed.

"Ah, Inoue-san! You're as fresh as a mountain spring in the morning!" Kisuke said cheerfully. He had his cane in hand, though, and hadn't looked away from Ulquiorra. "Our friend has just woken up and he's been making an awful racket ever since. Thank goodness you've arrived!"

Orihime approached Ulquiorra, whose index finger was aimed at Kisuke while he surveyed the room. She crouched beside him, and he turned those bright green eyes on her, which were narrowed slightly with what she might have guessed was anxiety. "Good morning, Ulquiorra. Is there something you wanted with me?" she asked him gently. He stared at her, but he didn't say a word. After a few seconds, he lowered his arm. Orihime smiled. "Urahara-san," she said, "I'm going to take him home with me."

"Orihime…" Yoruichi began to protest, but a look from Urahara cut her off. "Soul Society might have a problem with that," she said instead.

"Then they can take it up with me," Orihime replied. "He can't go back to Hueco Mundo if he isn't a hollow anymore. There's room enough in my apartment for him. I don't think he would like staying with Kurosaki-kun or Ishida-kun, and he doesn't know anyone else."

"He isn't a pet, Inoue-san," Urahara threw in.

"Nor is she as incapable as your tones of voice imply that she is," Ulquiorra said suddenly, surprising the three of them. He looked away, and spoke no more.

Orihime blinked. Had he just defended her? Was that his way of consenting to the arrangement? Obviously, he was there because he wanted something from her. What it was, she didn't know, but she could guess that he wasn't going to say anything in front of people that he didn't trust.

Trust. Ulquiorra trusted her, and no one else. The notion struck her hard, and resided in her mind and in her heart while she relayed to Urahara the basics of her decision. It was as wonderful as it was strange. She wasn't sure what she'd done to earn that trust, but she was glad that she had it. As silly and selfish as it was, she felt… special, distinguished.

It made her realize, as they left the store and headed towards her apartment, that she might have connected with someone after all.

/TBC/