WARNING: MATURE CONTENT

Chapter 31

"And remember, we're closing early today, so make sure you have everything finished before six, alright?" Orihime reminded Ai, Satomi, and good old Endo-san after the breakfast rush had finished on Monday, which was also Eriko's birthday.

"Is there a reason why we're closing early? Some of us might need the hours," Ai said. She looked kind of worried.

"No worries, I can pay you for the two hours you'll miss. That goes for all three of you," Orihime said with a smile. "We're closing for Eriko's birthday party. Our customers are accustomed to the shop closing for private events from time to time. Are there any other questions?" she asked sweetly. There was not a single sweet thought in her mind, though.

The woman who asked the question shook her head. There went her plans for cleaning out the cash register. Although it wasn't a good idea, Monday was a busy day. "No; thank you for clearing that up for me."

"Certainly. Let's have a good afternoon. I'll be in the office dealing with the books for a few hours but if you need anything, please feel free to knock," Orihime replied, dismissing them. She went into the office and wiggled the mouse on the computer, and after entering her password, she brought up her bookkeeping program. She was glad that the sales representative at the electronics store had talked her into buying a wide monitor, though, because she was able to enter data and at the same time, in another window on her monitor, she was reviewing the security camera footage for the times she was not there.

Since her nightmares had begun the following week, Ulquiorra had been quite insistent that he take over for Orihime and sent her home with the children early every night. She had been able to keep an eye on Ai while she was working, more or less, but when she wasn't, she wanted to be sure nothing unusual was going on. She knew that Ulquiorra was capable of running the business, but he was not as experienced as she was, and he sometimes had to focus on one task while allowing the staff to work on their own tasks unsupervised. That would have been fine if the staff were all trustworthy.

Unfortunately, Orihime still had strong doubts about Ai Yamada.

After about an hour of entering income and expenses, she saw something on the feed that gave her confirmation that her misgivings were warranted. She stared at the black and white footage as she watched her employee run her hands over her partner's shoulders as she passed him behind the bakery counter. It almost looked like the woman was just being careful, letting him know she was there so he would not back up into her, but it was just so out of place. She rewound and rewatched it four times. There was no mistaking it. There were no customers around at the time. She could have just said "excuse me". No. She was feeling him up. That was not the only instance of inappropriate contact, either.

The worst part was, he didn't seem to mind at all.

By the time it was time to close the shop, Orihime was seething. She refrained from bringing up Ai's behavior to the woman herself, though, wanting to talk to Ulquiorra about it first.

He walked into the shop, followed by the two children who were giggling about something. Ulquiorra paid them no mind as he navigated his way through the cafe to put his bag behind the counter. He then found his girlfriend. "Hello, Orihime," he said, kissing her cheek.

"Hi," she said, tight and uncomfortable. "I need to talk to you in the office."

"Is something wrong?" He asked as he followed the redhead.

"Yes," she said, waiting by the door and closing it after him. "Have a seat."

A feeling of resentment flashed through him and he shook his head to clear it from his thoughts. Orihime sounded like she was going to scold him. She sounded like him when he was reprimanding a child. "Okay," he said before taking a seat. "What is it?"

Orihime had compiled the few offensive clips that she had seen and put them together. The entire thing ran about forty-five seconds. She clicked on her mouse a few times, causing the black screen to come out of its slumber, then clicked a blue play button. "Watch," is all she said.

Ulquiorra watched every frame, seeing Ai touch him in some way. A hand on his shoulder or arm; coming unnecessarily close to him; leaning close to ask him a question. It all ended with Yamada's hands on his shoulders. "What is this?" he inquired as the video ended.

"That is what I'd like to know," came the careful answer.

"Are you implying that I'm acting inappropriately towards Yamada?"

"I'm not implying anything. I see what you see and I do not understand what is going on. I do not like what is going on. I do not like that you did not mention what was going on." Orihime's voice began to tremble slightly as she said the last bit.

Ulquiorra stood up and walked over to Orihime. He hadn't said anything because he didn't want to cause her stress with this information, especially since Ai was a hard worker. He tilted her face up to him. "Woman, I usually give her a hard stare and it usually doesn't happen again immediately. I did not tell you about it because I can take care of it. I have no interest in your employees."

"Our employee," she corrected in a small voice. "You could have fired her. You have the authority." She sighed. That was the least of it. "You don't understand, do you?"

"We need someone like her to help you. I do not want to go through firing her and finding someone else. What if the next person is worse?" Ulquiorra sighed. "She's more your employee than mine, because you spend more time with her than I do."

Orihime's heart was threatening to pound through her chest. Her eyes pinched and she looked to the side, removing her chin from his hand. "You have no idea what seeing that does to me."

He sighed again and drew her closer to him. "Orihime, I love you. You're right, I have no clue what you're experiencing by seeing that. All I can tell you is that I distance myself from Ai and have no interest in her. You are the only woman who occupies my mind."

Orihime's breath hitched as her shoulders relaxed somewhat. "I may be a very flawed person, but I can't help feeling jealous. It makes me want to slap her. It makes me want to march out there and call her out in front of everyone. I know I can't do that, but I don't want anyone close to you like I am," she admitted, her breath harsh and chin wobbling.

Tipping her chin up again, Ulquiorra kissed her several times. "Woman, listen to me, please. I love you. I would never look at another woman. You have had my heart since the first day I met you. I would do nothing to jeopardize the bond I have with you. The next time Yamada does something like this and makes you uncomfortable, I will dismiss her, consequences be damned."

She nodded as a couple of tears slipped past her lashes and she pressed her face into his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist. Her throat was much too tight to say anything.

"Come on," he murmured to her. "We have plans this evening. Eriko's party and another love making session on the roof. The pizza should be here soon. We can talk about this when it's not so fresh."

She nodded again but didn't let go for a full minute. She needed her body to calm down and having his arms around her made her feel safe. After she was able to breathe freely, she released him. "I still have to write a message on the gift tag, so you go out first and I'll be there in a minute. Please make sure Satomi and Yamada are gone."

When Ulquiorra went back into the cafe, Ai was standing at the counter, near the register. She was counting money and writing it down. "You need to leave, Yamada," Ulquiorra stated in a cold voice. "We have a private party that will begin soon."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Cifer-san. I was just-" Ai reached out to put her hand on his arm.

Of course Ulquiorra evaded the contact, moving quickly. "You need to leave now. I do not care what you were doing. We will see you tomorrow, unless you'd like to quit."

"Are you threatening me, Cifer?"

His eyebrows shot up and he glared at the woman. "No, but I can contact the agency that referred you to us and terminate your employment. Do as I say and go." Ulquiorra was becoming fed up with this woman and it started making his spiritual pressure rise despite the fail safes on his gigai.

"Fine," she said and grabbed her purse, stuffing whatever was on the counter into the bag. Ai smirked at him before leaving. "Have a good night."

A breath left him and Ulquiorra waited until the door shut before he went over to the register. Orihime would need to look over things and make sure that bitch hadn't done anything like steal from them. "Orihime?"

"Yes?" she asked as she appeared in the doorway to the office.

"Can you check the register real quick? I saw Yamada counting some bills. I want to make sure our numbers match."

Orihime's brow knotted as she approached the machine. She pressed a series of buttons and a series of numbers printed off the receipt tape dispenser. The woman scanned the paper and then looked in the drawer. "Why wasn't this drawer cleaned out?" she muttered to herself. She took the the long slip of paper and the register drawer back to the office, saying, "I'll be back in a couple minutes."

If that woman ruined his daughter's birthday, there would be hell to pay. Ulquiorra really hoped that Ai was just being stupid and trying to rile him up. He had to calm down. He walked over to the door of the apartment and called up the stairs to the kids to come down. After he did that there was a knock on the cafe door. Ulquiorra paid the delivery driver for the pizza and then went to fetch plates and napkins when he put the box down.

"Yum!" Eriko said with a smile on her face. "Pizza!"

"Did somebody say pizza?" Orihime's voice sang through the shop as she walked out of the office with a smile on her face and a gift bag in hand. Her eyes found Ulquiorra's and she nodded to him once and gave him a thumbs-up. All the cash had been accounted for.

He smiled at the woman and then turned to his daughter who was also smiling. "Yes, pizza. The kind your Grandpa Isshin feeds you. However, there is no soda, because we have cake and ice cream to eat afterwards."

Kazui was already seated and drooling, wiping the corner of his mouth with the heel of his hand. "Can we start, or do we have to listen to a speech?" Isshin typically made long orations about the person of honor or told a story about the history of the meal about to be consumed before he gave the cue to eat. The boy was internally praying that his mother's boyfriend would not feel the need to engage in such practices.

"A small speech," Ulquiorra said, turning to his child. "Eriko, I did not plan for your existence, but I am glad that you came along. I've spent each of these twelve years protecting you and I hope to continue that job even as you grow older. Happy birthday, my little princess."

Eriko felt her cheeks get hot as her father spoke, but it was more out of love than embarrassment. She didn't mean what she said to him this morning. "Thank you, Dad."

Orihime's heart swelled and she put her hand over Kazui's, giving it a squeeze and smiling at him until she caught his eyes. She felt blessed to share in Ulquiorra and Eriko's moment.

Kazui just felt hungry.

He was going to be disappointed for another minute or so, though, as Orihime stood. "I would like to say that Kazui and I have been grateful for every day that we have known you, Eriko. You have changed our lives for the better in ways we never even imagined were possible. We love you, and we hope that this is the first of many birthdays we get to share with you." Orihime ended the speech with a smile to her father before sitting down.

Now she felt embarrassed. She thanked both Orihime and Kazui for the kind thoughts. "Do we want to eat first and then do gifts?" Eriko asked as she sat down beside Kazui.

"I think we should. Kazui looks as if he's about to devour the box," Ulquiorra replied.

"Please?" The boy whimpered to his best friend.

So they did. After Kazui had finished off the last slice, he reached down to the floor and handed a brightly wrapped package to Eriko. "Here you go," he said inelegantly.

The girl rolled her eyes and took the gift. Before she had to spend almost every waking hour around Kazui, she would have blushed and giggled, but now that she knew the boy rather well, she was over her crush on him. "Thanks Kaz. What is it? A manga that you want to read?"

The boy scoffed. "No, but that would have been a good idea," he muttered.

Ulquiorra had to give his spawnling a look to remind her to be kind. She nodded and then ripped off the paper. Inside was a box, which she opened. All of this seemed super fancy for the ginger-haired boy. Inside was a bracelet made from different shades of blue beads. They had to be made of glass with the way they sparkled from the lighting in the cafe. It even had a silver beads with the letters of her name etched in the front.

Eriko had to put a hand against her stomach to try and stop the butterflies she was feeling, but she couldn't help but blush. "Thank you Kazui. This is a sweet gesture and I like it. I will wear it every day."

The boy smiled. "I'm glad you do. Grandpa helped me buy it. He says happy birthday too."

Again, her face got hotter. "Thank you."

Ulquiorra looked at Orihime and smiled at their children's exchange. It was sometimes sweet to see how they interacted. "Eriko, this is my gift to you," he said, placing a gift bag on the table.

She raised an eyebrow and then opened the bag to see two video games sitting inside. One was a game that he said was too mature for her for a couple years ago. The other had been released two years ago. "Wow! You said I couldn't play Rachet and Clank!"

"Well, you'll be a teenager soon, and you're already sassy," Ulquiorra teased. "I didn't see the harm in it."

Eriko jumped up and hugged her dad by flinging her arms around his neck. She was surprised when he hugged her back just as tightly. "Thank you!"

Orihime's cheeks were warm with affection, but now she was a bit nervous. She set a gift bag in front of where Eriko had been sitting and waited quietly until she and Ulquiorra had finished their moment. When the girl returned to her seat, Orihime said to her, "It's not much, Eriko, but I hope you'll enjoy it. I did when I was a little older than you are now."

When the girl saw the mangas she had a chuckle. Then she saw the card explaining that Orihime intended to take her bra shopping. Eriko's eyes scanned the characters written on the cardstock. So the woman had noticed. The girl had been trying to hide her chest whenever she could, but sometimes it was impossible. "Thank you Orihime, this is the best present ever."

Orihime chuckled. "You say that now, you might want to wait until you, uh, read it," she said with a knowing squint to her smile.

"Well, still, thank you. May Kazui and I go upstairs and play the games now? Do we need to help you clean up? I mean, it is my birthday."

Ulquiorra couldn't help shaking his head. "This is what I mean by the sass. Yes, you may go play the games. It's one of the reasons why Kazui's console was left here. Have fun and we will call you back down for cake and ice cream in a bit!"

The boy was halfway across the store already. "Last one up is a rotten egg!"

"I can cheat!" Eriko yelled after him.

When the children were gone, Ulquiorra looked at his woman. "I know you cannot have wine but I did buy a bottle of sparkling juice. Whatever that is," he said.

"Well, I do have a little bottle of wine, and I distinctly recall telling you that I wanted to taste it on your lips, so I think it's a two-bottle night, Mister," Orihime said with a sly grin. "What say we drink and clean?"

"I think we tried that the last party we had for a child. I do remember certain things that happened that night," Ulquiorra replied. He stood up and pulled the redhead to her feet, making sure he had a hand on each side of her hips. "Do you remember? Those texts? The way I touched you the first time? I know I was just helping you down, but I couldn't resist."

Orihime's entire body shivered. "I still think about that moment all the time," she said in a breathy voice. "Now that I'm not some mystery to you anymore, what do you think? Still the same spark?" she asked, trailing a finger from the center button of his shirt up to the hollow of his throat, slowly.

"Spark?" Ulquiorra shook his head. "That flame has ignited and we keep feeding it. It's a raging fire now. Still, it's heaven and hell to me. Heaven because I can touch you and kiss you whenever I want. Hell because I have to leave you at times. I love you, Orihime. I want that to be as clear as possible."

The finger she teased his throat with found his cheek, and traced the invisible line his estigma once traveled, although she did not know that. It just felt right. When she got near his eye, she stopped, and said, "I love you, Ulquiorra. I see how you love me. I see it and sometimes I have a hard time believing it, but it's just like we were always meant for each other."

He gave her a lopsided grin. "You were the first woman in centuries to capture my heart. You've always had it," Ulquiorra said, but paused. He kissed her, desire racing through his body, his hands tracing the curve of her waist. "Sit down and let me clean up this mess. Then we will drink some wine and call the kids down for cake… Or we can just leave this and go to the roof and fuck."

Orihime narrowed her eyes at him seductively. "Always the romantic, you are. Well, to use your words, fuck this mess. And the last one there is a rotten egg," she said, making a move for the stairs.

Orihime lost. Ulquiorra cheated. Besides, he was taller than her.

As soon as the door to the roof closed, he had her pinned against it, his hand wrapped gently around her neck while he kissed her. He felt like a man who never had a drink of water before. "I need you," he said.

She felt boneless. The urgency in his actions and hunger in his voice made her core hot and her inner thighs tremble. She whimpered through her nose as she nodded in response, her hands finding his belt and undoing it, finally whispering, "Yours."

A growl left his throat as her hand wrapped around his cock. How could her touch drive him mad with lust? He pulled back from her, letting his hands wander over her body. Ulquiorra was glad that she was wearing a dress. His fingers began to pull the material up her legs. "This is where it all began… this time."

"No," she breathed, staring deeply into his eyes. "I've loved you for much longer than that. I've wanted you. I've dreamed of you. I've been waiting for you." She had known what was going to happen tonight, and when she was in the office before the pizza came, while she was counting the cash, she had prepared. She kept her eyes on his face as the fabric of her dress came up high enough to reveal her secret of the evening.

Ulquiorra had been expecting Orihime to be wearing panties. He was quite shocked when he saw she didn't have anything on under the dress. "You're not..." A soft moan left his lips before he kissed her again. His mouth didn't stay on hers, traveling down her neck and the exposed cleavage the dress didn't cover. Sinking to his knees and pushing the fabric of the dress up, the man placed more kisses over her pregnant belly before he stopped to look up at her.

A mixture of lust and deep affection was drowning her brain, and she took the fabric from him with one hand, and with the other she caressed the side of his face and raked through his hair using gentle pressure with her fingertips. She loved him. She could think of nothing else. "Ulquiorra," she whispered, smiling at him.

Biting his lip, Ulquiorra leaned forward and pressed his lips against her hip bone and then moved to the other side. "Woman, I want to… return the favor but I don't know exactly what to do."

Orihime's dazed look brightened as realization hit her, and a smile broke through the cloud of stupor. "You want to… You want to do that?" She squatted enough to kiss his lips for a moment before standing back up. "I want you to do what feels right. I just want you to touch me," she said then, pulling her dress back up for him.

With lust filled eyes, Ulquiorra turned his attention to the body in front of him. His hands came up and stroked Orihime's thighs with gentle movements. This caused her to widen her stance which made it easier for him to access between her legs. In the months of their relationship, he had never studied her body like he was doing now. He paid attention to what made her gasp or whimper as his fingers parted her folds. He made note of what caused her breath to hitch as his mouth traveled towards his goal. "Mmmm," he hummed. "Woman."

"Yes," she breathed. It could be interpreted as a question or as encouragement. Her skin burned with anticipation and she found she couldn't take a deep breath as the anticipation killed her.

"You'll let me know if I'm doing it right?" he asked, his eyes shifting up to look at her face. Her lips were swollen and her eyes were glazed over.

"You're doing it right, right now," the words fell out of her mouth in a tortured cry. "You're teasing me now."

He tried not to smirk as he leaned forward. His thumbs held her nether lips apart as he placed a kiss there. It was so soft. He could feel how wet she was just from the brief contact. He could smell her arousal and it was turning him on even more. When he was in college, he had heard people talk about doing this activity, but he had never had the chance to experience it. Ulquiorra decided to be bold and swiped his tongue upward.

Orihime's gasp ripped through the quiet night and she dropped one side of her dress as that hand clapped over her mouth. She breathed heavily through her nose as she slowly, hesitatingly, brought her eyes down to see what he was doing.

He did that again, liking her reaction to this activity. Each time she breathed like that, he would wiggle his tongue against that nub he found.

When he did that, she cried out through her nose, squeezing her eyes shut tightly and trying to keep her knees from giving out. The heat and intensity were next level.

That was interesting. Ulquiorra's eyes lifted up and he could barely see her face over the baby bump. He pulled away from her and stood. "Get on the loveseat," he commanded.

The lack of contact was not well received, as she removed her hand from her mouth and pouted a bit. She followed his directive and walked over to the loveseat regardless, whimpering softly each time her thighs rubbed together, emphasizing the wetness between them.

Once Orihime was situated on the piece of furniture, Ulquiorra moved the table in front of it to the side and resumed his position on his knees, between her thighs. He mouthed her slit again, letting his tongue flick against her skin. He liked how her thighs tensed.

Her toes curled in her shoes, bracing against the floor of the roof, as her entire upper legs and ass tensed and relaxed in a pattern in response to his actions. Her hands took turns covering or sinking into her mouth, while the free one grasped at the loveseat cushions or flailed against her own body or touched Ulquiorra's head. When she dared to do so, she did so carefully; her body was telling her to grab onto that mop of black hair and push it into her.

As things got more intense, she had a harder and harder time fighting off that impulse, and as she felt her orgasm approach, she allowed her fingers to find purchase in his hair and pull him closer to her for a moment, before releasing and letting her hand fall down to the side of his face as she squeaked, "Ulquiorra, I'm gonna come!"

Wasn't that the point? Although his jaw ached, he continued what he was doing to the woman. He would see this through.

He did not need to endeavor much longer. Orihime lost control and she grabbed onto his head behind both ears, swiveling her hips around in both directions as her belly trembled and she came hard, crying into the night sky just once, a sharp, ecstatic wail, followed by shuddering whimpers until he granted her mercy and sat back on his heels.

"Excuse me!" she said loudly, and coughed hard several times, announcing to any nosy neighbors, "I can't seem to shake these allergies! Achoo!"

He laughed as he watched his girlfriend. "Are you allergic to that activity?"

Her eyes darted back and forth before she cupped a hand over the side of her mouth and whispered, "Just making a case for plausible deniability."

This made Ulquiorra grin wider. "Did I do well? I mean I took cues from your body and voice."

"Did you-" her eyes widened, unable to believe he would have any doubt in his mind. She shook her head and chuckled, then patted him on the head. "You did good, Ulquiorra. Very good."

A/N: Pfew! Is it hot in here, or is it just me? Thanks for reading!