It is on the sixth day before his gigai is supposed to be ready that Orihime realizes something with a sickeningly hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach.

If Ulquiorra is going to become real to the world again, won't Soul Society come for him?

She bolts up in bed, turning with wide eyes to the sleeping form of her thoughts, looking at his pale face and dark tears and thinks that she just can't have that happen.

Rukia is one of three people who knows of her secret- the only one still on good terms with the Soul Society. Kisuke won't tell because he's so drowned in his own guilt for what happened to her, and Youruichi won't tell because she probably wants Soul Society itself to go up in smoke for what happened to her and her dearest friend. Rukia can be trusted because she had seen what Soul Society could do to one of their own; she wouldn't turn in a friend who could be convicted of knowing and bringing back the enemy.

So her secret was safe.

Until there was a walking, living, breathing, eating body that she had to hide.

"Woman."

Orihime turns, her wide and panicked eyes locking with Ulquiorra's. He is the sort of person to think everything through, so of course he already knew what it was that troubled her. He might have thought it through himself a couple of times, but never said anything, because he was the sort of person who said nothing out of context. There was no reason to bring the problem up, so he hadn't.

"Ulquiorra, I-"

She finds she can't say anything, because her throat is tight with the tears that she wants to shed. Not because she's sad, but because she's just so frustrated. It's like every time she thinks she's finally figured something out it all falls to pieces, and then she has to start all over again. Problem after problem after problem. For once, couldn't it just be simple?

"I don't want to lose you." She says quietly.

"You won't." He reassures her.

But there is that certain dead weight in the air- like someone's made a bad joke at a funeral. It is a joke, it's all just one bad joke because he's a dead hollow and she's a living human and there's really nothing they can ever do to exist in the same world. There's the added question, the one that's always at the back of her mind- why would be want to exist in the same world in the first place?

She could have him escape to Hueco Mundo as soon as his soul is re-built inside his gigai, but she asked him to stay with her. And he agreed. There was the question, the worry, the wonder. WHY?

Once in class while she had been staring out the window in search of bat wings and green ceros, the topic of stockholm syndrome came up and shook her from her dreams. And she had thought about it, wondering if maybe she herself had experienced it, but if that was true then why didn't she imagine Aizen and all his terrible power? Wasn't he her real captor? But when thinking of him she felt an emotion she rarely felt- hate.

So why?

They were so painfully different, not even the same species, really. The only thing they seemed to have in common was their powers- her the only human with the powers of a goddess, and he the only espada with the power to achieve a second release.

He sat up, titling his head to look into her eyes, and she felt she might have found the answer.

"What is wrong? You look confused."

She looked away sharply, standing from the bed. "Nothing. I'm fine."

"You're lying."

Yes, it was there. And yes, she had always sort of known but never really thought it.

"I know I am."

"Why?"

The question, again. It made her nervous. Did there really have to be a reason for everything?

Of course there did. "Because… I'm… Not sure what I'm thinking."

She was grateful when he didn't say anything, but simply stood to walk over to her side.

I should tell him. She thought. I should tell him now. With our luck it might be now or never-

"Your friend will wake soon. You should go."

As luck would have it. "Oh. Um, yes! Yes! I should!" She turned, rushing for the door as suddenly she felt she was going to implode with embarrassment for, what? She wasn't even really sure, she just knew her face felt hot and her heart was hammering in her chest like a drum. "I-"

"Woman."

"…Yes?"

"You're trembling."

"Am I?"

He sounded a bit frustrated with his answer, to her slight amusement. "Do I have any reason to lie?"

She laughed lightly, head lightly resting on the door. "No… no you don't."

"Then why ask?" He asked, still sounding slightly ticked.

"I'm just a little…"

She found herself being turned around, a very suspicious Ulquiorra holding a hand to her forehead. "You are hot." He said, and her face burned with an even more pronounced blush. "You must have fallen ill. You should return to bed so that-"

The rest of his words were lost to her. She just couldn't seem to stop thinking how very, very close he was. His nose was almost brushing her own, as she stood with her back pressed to the door. His eyes were so stunning when they were so close… his lips were right there…

She turned the handle of the door, laughing loudly and nervously. "Nope, I'm fine, gotta go!" And without a look back she zipped from her bedroom and out to the living room.

And thus was the first time Orihime realized that not only did she not want to lose Ulquiorra, she also wanted him to be her own.

In the girlfriend-boyfriend kind of way.