Chapter 31

Orihime had a short wait for a cab to show up and then went home to clean up and get ready for the day. When she got home, she decided to first take a short nap. After waking and refreshing herself, she went to her meeting, and texted Ulquiorra when she was done.

- Done! Meeting went well. I'll tell you about it when I see you. I'm going shopping but I'm free otherwise.

She felt a bit overeager and cringed as she reread her text. Oh well.

A few minutes later, a reply was sent back.

- I'm at work until 2pm. I have to go shopping too.

She smiled as she got into her car, then read the message and decided to stop over to get a cup of coffee before going on her errands.

- I'm going to stop over for some hot chocolate first.

She got out of her car, relocked the door, and went across the street. She opened the door and the first person she saw was Ethan. She shook her head and smirked at him a bit as she blushed and got into line.

"Yo, Ulquiorra! Your woman is here," Ethan called out.

A few moments went by before the green-eyed man emerged from the work room. He was wiping his hands on a towel. Ulquiorra nodded at Orihime before he slipped from behind the counter and walked over to her. "Hey," he said.

"Hi," she greeted him with a smile. "I decided to get a drink to go before I braved the world of commerce. And… You know… You're here, so…"

He smiled at her. It was a nice thought. "Well, you know, I'm always here," Ulquiorra said. "Did you want regular hot chocolate or mint hot chocolate?"

Her nostrils flared. "Regular, please. If Susan was around I would ask you for a Minter special, but she's out on a call." She looked to the side for a moment to think. "Maybe I can meet up with you while you're shopping later?"

"What? No basic bitch behaviors today? I'm joking," he said. "I'm going to the mall later, so if you want we can meet up."

She nodded at him. "Okay, sounds good. Give me a call when you're out?"

Ulquiorra gave her a nod. "I will do that, come over to the pick up counter and I'll have your hot chocolate."

She did. She picked up her hot chocolate and waved goodbye to everyone, giving Ulquiorra a special smile just for him, before leaving and getting back into her car. She sat there for a minute going over what she needed to pick up and what she wanted to get done for the rest of the week while taking tiny sips out of the piping hot cup.

She knew she wanted to draw something for him for Christmas. Yeah, she had written her book for him, but she wanted to do something special and private for him. She was still brainstorming, though.

She also wanted to pick up a new dress for her graduation. She wanted something a bit conservative and higher quality than the stuff she used to buy and still cluttered her closet. She had made a decent little windfall from her book, but it wasn't big bucks. It was enough to let her feel comfortable spending a little money on a new outfit, though.

She sat there a bit longer, thinking about Ulquiorra's idea about saving himself for Christmas. She chuckled and shook her head. He was so funny about some things. She thought it was weird, but cute. She laughed at that. She thought she was weird, and had been called cute frequently. Maybe they were just two cute little weirdos that had been waiting for the right timing to come together.

Well, Christmas morning sex called for new Christmas Eve jammies. Somewhat fancy jammies at that. She started her car and drove to the mall.

The time for him came to clock out, so Ulquiorra did that and bid his workers to have a good shift. The only thing he did to change was remove the vest and tie before he grabbed a spare coat that was kept in the office, and then he was in his car and driving to the mall. He had a couple of stops to make. He had gotten Orihime a nice bracelet for graduation and decided to pick up a couple of basic Christmas presents for her; a scarf, a notebook and anything else that caught his eye.

It was close to ninety minutes later, when he had two handfuls of various bags, that he texted Orihime.

- In the food court area, are you still wanting to meet?

She was trying on a dress when she got his text.

- Yeah, I'm in the department store, half-dressed and trying to figure out what is "graduation ceremony appropriate." I think I'll take a break and come meet you, this one is NO GOOD.

She sent a selfie that pictured her butt squeezed into a sheath dress with the zipper undone to a dangerously low point of her back.

Ulquiorra's eyes about popped out of their sockets, but he quickly recovered. She looked good in that dress.

- That one is very good. I like it.

Orihime shook her head and laughed.

- I might have to buy it, if I have to rip myself out of it. It may come to that

She managed to get the thing off, but it took some effort. She did make a mental note that he enjoyed her in tight things as she redressed and put the too-tight dress on a rack to be put back, then hustled over to the food court.

Ulquiorra was sitting there sipping on a smoothie when he saw Orihime. He put down the cup and stood up so that she could see him. "Woman!"

Her head snapped in his direction, and she chuckled to herself, thinking it odd that she was responding to his peculiar pet name for her. As she got into earshot, she said, "You know, you saying that here is like calling "Dog!" in the middle of a dog park. You're lucky you didn't have half of Evanston running up to you." She paused to take a breath when she reached him, then put a hand on his chest. "You look handsome," she murmured.

He leaned down and gave her a quick peck at the corner of her mouth. "I took off the tie and vest. Nothing fancy to that or handsome. What could I call you? Pumpkin? Peanut? Princess is out of the question. I'll stick to calling you Woman."

"I guess that at this point, it's pretty much the only thing I'm going to respond to, so…" she teased. "You do look handsome, so shut up."

"I'm not handsome, Orihime. I'm just a guy." Ulquiorra ran a hand through her hair and then sat down, gesturing for her to take a seat. "Did you get your shopping done?"

"Mostly," she said. "I need to pick out a dress to wear under my gown for graduation. You're still coming to that, right?" she asked. He could deny he was handsome all day long. She would still disagree.

"I am going to be there. I'll have flowers for you," he said with a smile. "You looked great in that dress you showed me."

"I did not. I couldn't even zip it up. You just like my butt, don't you?" she teased.

His face turned pink. "I've not had the pleasure of seeing it properly - or feeling it - but from what I viewed, it's a nice feature on you," Ulquiorra said before he picked up his cup.

Oh my. Was he being bashful? This was too frickin' cute. "A nice feature, huh? Like countertops or a sunroof?" She grinned at him wickedly for a moment. "Well, I rather liked your features from what I could see this morning, too," she said and took a seat at the table, acting innocent.

Ulquiorra snorted then rolled his eyes. "It's just a butt."

Orihime smiled and bit on her lips for a moment as her face colored slightly. "Well, it was a nice butt and that's not all I saw," she admitted in an embarrassed voice after a moment.

This made his eyes open wide. "Oh. I didn't mean to flash that much at you," he said after the shock wore off. It was true. He had only meant to show Orihime his backside. "And? What did you think?"

"I'm reserving judgment for now," she said with a little smirk. "I was not disappointed with the sneak preview, though."

"Tch," he scoffed in a quiet way. Ulquiorra had a smirk on his face as he shook his head back and forth slowly. He decided to tease her. "Want to get a hotel room somewhere?"

An auburn brow arched. "What's this? And ruin your plans? Never," she said in a faux-scandalized voice. "Besides, I think I still have some shopping to do," she said, but took a seat in the chair across from his smoothie.

The grin on his face widened marginally. "Yeah? Looks like I might have some more shopping to do too," Ulquiorra replied.

"Oh yeah? Anything you want to tell me about? Or is it classified?" she teased, letting the side of her shoe slide against his under the table.

"Classified. Santa doesn't give his secrets away," Ulquiorra replied. He didn't mention the fact that she was playing footsie with him. It was a cute gesture. "We could always find a changing booth in a store."

Her eyes narrowed at him. "Oh? Are you going to help me play dress up?" she asked.

Ulquiorra gave her a one-shouldered shrug. "Or get you undressed.."

"Well, I could have used your help with that last dress. If you're offering your services, I wouldn't say no," she said while looking at the table top and tracing a little heart with her finger on its surface. After she finished speaking she looked back up at him with an impossibly innocent expression. She was being obtuse on purpose.

His green eyes narrowed this time and Ulquiorra shifted in his seat. This little conversation was making him aroused. "Orihime, if I were an exhibitionist I'd fuck you in Coffee & Sadness first while Rangiku was working."

Orihime snort-laughed before she could censor herself. "Oh my god," she said through chuckles. "It might eventually come down to that, you know. She still doesn't seem to accept this," she added, gesturing between them.

"I'm sure she knows by now. Ethan was a gossip hound today," he replied before taking another sip of his drink. He found the cup to be almost empty. "I liked waking up with you today. I want to make it somewhat of a regular thing, when you have time."

She bit her lip and blushed, nodding and making brief eye contact. There were a lot of feelings she was having, and she was enjoying all of them. "Yeah, for sure. I would like that. I'm pretty free if you want to work out a schedule or something?" she offered and then looked down. She was such a dork. She didn't know what a healthy relationship was supposed to look like, though, so she felt compelled to give him options.

His face was confused for a moment. "Schedule things? I am OCD enough in my life. I want to see you as much as I can inside my apartment, when we're not out doing domesticated stuff together."

Her shoulders shook slightly and she looked back up at him. "Okay, good, I was just, uh, giving you a chance to…" she grinned and looked at the ceiling, trying not to die at how badly she was embarrassing herself. "To, uh, tell me not to get too excited. I mean, I could pack a bag…"

"How about after graduation?" Ulquiorra asked.

"After graduation what? You want me to camp out for a couple of days?"

He nodded. "Why not? Just until after Christmas."

She pursed her lips for a minute and took a slow breath. "Maybe… I'm afraid that I might have my heart broken after Christmas then, though."

His brow furrowed deeper. Why would she be afraid about that? Why would she even worry about it? Suddenly Ulquiorra wanted to punch Grimmjow in his face for contorting Orihime's world when it came to relationships. "I'm not in the business of collecting hearts. There's a reason why I have lust tattooed on me," he stated.

Her mouth relaxed at that. "What's the reason, if you don't mind sharing?"

"Every time I've followed my dick, it's led me down a path of trouble. I want what my parents had before they died."

Her head tilted slightly. "So, it's a warning?"

Ulquiorra shook his head. "No, it's more of a reminder of what lust can do to a person; to me. Before you came into my life, I was a monster of sorts."

Now her brow furrowed. "I don't believe that," she said cautiously. "Why would you call yourself a monster?"

A sigh left him. "I've never been in love, not really. I've never felt like I feel with you. I don't know if I'm doing things right," he said.

She thought about what he was saying and her expression gentled gradually. After a couple of minutes she reached across the table and took one of his hands gave it a squeeze. "This is new to both of us, then. So far so good, I'd say," she said softly and made eye contact with him. She felt a kind of heavy warmth in her heart that she didn't know how to define, but it didn't scare her.

He gave her a small smile back. "Well, Miss Inoue, that's good to hear. How about we finish our shopping and meet back here when we're done? Or you can text me in a cramped dressing room and I can find you?"

She gave his hand one more squeeze and let go. "Good plan. If you can't figure out which door it is, I'll just start shouting Marco, and you can call back Polo, and we'll figure it out," she suggested, suppressing a giggle.

Ulquiorra texted Orihime about an hour later. He had enough of people and their before-Christmas shopping. The rudeness and rushed energy of the mall had him feeling stressed. So as he sat at the food court again with another smoothie, he texted Orihime.

- I'm done for today and the rest of the year. Want to ride home with me?

She got his message as was deciding between two pair of pajamas; having picked out her dress already.

- I am almost done, but I drove here, too. If you want, you can pick me up or I can meet you at your place after I stop at home.

His eyes scanned her message and he breathed a sigh of relief. Ulquiorra didn't relish the idea of having to wait around for his girlfriend to get done shopping. The one time he went with Rangiku when she went shopping, he spent 8 hours at the mall.

- I will meet you at your place. Pack a change of clothes. Maybe panties. Definitely pjs.

She smiled and decided to just get both pair of pajamas that she was considering.

An hour later, Orihime stood in her lobby with a backpack and refreshed makeup. Ulquiorra was on the way over.

While she shopped, drove home, and got ready, she thought over what Ulquiorra had talked about earlier. He had already proven that he wasn't thinking with his dick with her. They had been at this relationship in honesty since the beginning of September. It was now the middle of December. With her other two boyfriends, it had been fuck first, figure out the relationship later.

It had been a little difficult for Orihime to accept Ulquiorra's hands-off approach, when she was being honest with herself, recent developments notwithstanding. His patience could be read as reluctance, and she was pretty sure that sometimes it had been reluctance. In fact, he had once mentioned reservations about the two of them in light of her prior rejection of him.

She still felt bad about that. She didn't blame herself, but she didn't like knowing how much she had hurt him. She hoped the gifts she'd bought and prepared for him would help negate some of his lingering doubts. Maybe his idea of spending more time together would help, too. She just hoped she could continue to be okay with his boundaries.

She was reminded why this was a challenge a minute and a half later as he pulled up in front of her building and stepped out of his car, pulling the lapels of his black coat up to his throat and scowling at the wind.

Damn. She could pick 'em. He blew her away. He knocked her socks off. He made her swoon. By the time he made it to the door and saw her standing there, she had kind of a dazed, dreamy look on her face.

Ulquiorra was freezing, but that was normal for December in this area. Why did he live somewhere where the air hurt his face? Why did he live in a variable climate? Then he saw Orihime, and a grin lit up his face. He blushed. God, sometimes he acted like an idiot. Why did he feel like this, like some kind of butterflies erupted and flew around in his torso? Was this what love felt like? Was this what his parents had?

When she opened the door, Ulquiorra said, "Hey. You ready?"

"Uh huh," she said, her own face getting warm at the sound of his voice. "Um, maybe I overprepared, but I figure, better to have something and not have to worry about it, right?" she said, holding up her backpack by a strap and waving it around.

He nodded. "Being prepared is efficient. I like that trait in a person," Ulquiorra replied. "It makes my life easier."

"Well, if I could make your life easier, I'd be pleased," she said, approaching him and deciding to get this part of the evening over with, grabbing him by the hand and leading him back to his car. She grinned at him when she stopped at the passenger side and waited for him to walk around to the other side of the car.

Ulquiorra opened her door first, before he moved to the driver's side. He got in the car and started it again while he waited for Orihime to get in. Once she was in the car, he gave her a glance. "So what are you thinking we should do tonight?"

She glanced over at him thoughtfully. "You know, I think we ought to do something a bit more high-stakes than what we usually do. Not too daring, but," she stopped. That was it. He would probably say no, because it was childish and potentially risky, but she had become painfully aware of her own tendency to leave things unsaid if someone didn't directly ask her, and she suspected Ulquiorra was similar in this way. "Now, this is only an idea, but how open are you to playing a game?"

"A game?" He was about to start the car when she said that. Was Orihime saying he was boring? He turned in the driver seat to look at her and raised an eyebrow. "What type of game?"

"A question and answer game? Truth or dare? Something to help us get to know some trivia about each other. Interested?" she asked, moving her brows up and down a couple times and smiling.

He thought about it for a moment before he began to drive the few blocks to where his business and home were. Hmmm. A question and answer game… Ulquiorra's mouth twisted to the side as he contemplated her request. "Okay, that sounds like a fun thing to do," he replied.

She grinned and hummed in excitement. "This will be good. I have to think of some good ones," she said.

Again his brow arched and he gave her a glance. "So, uh, favorite color? Favorite food? Favorite song of all time?"

"For starters," she said, giggling. "I hope you don't ask me anything too scandalous," she added, glancing at him with a glint in her eyes.

He scoffed. "I'm a boring person, Orihime. I'm not going to pry. I ask boring questions," Ulquiorra stated.

"You snooze, you lose," she teased.

Another scoff. Ulquiorra managed a grin before he turned into the alley where he parked his car a few moments later. "How many people have you slept with?"

"You already know the answer to this one. Two. My turn," she said, altogether too excitedly. "Hmm… When did you lose your virginity?"

"Back when I was younger," Ulquiorra said. He shook his head. "I don't really remember. It was back when I first met Sung-Sun, so I could have been seventeen or eighteen. You?"

"Ummm," she tapped on her chin. "It was freshman year, so nineteen." Ulquiorra turned off the car and she got out.

He followed. "I was trying to throw you off your game, you know. You still didn't answer my first questions."

"Which ones?" she asked.

"Your favorite food, color and song?"

"Oh," she replied slowly. "Food… Probably that peaches and gorgonzola thing you had on the menu last year. That was like, oh my god. Transcendent."

She sighed, closing her eyes and thinking about it for a moment. "Okay, then, color. I think black. I like all the colors, but black is strong. Dependable. Firm. I like that," she said and then followed him as he entered the building. She was taking her time with the last of the favorites, it was a tough decision.

He chuckled as they went to his apartment. She really liked that cheese dish? "So, you really liked that thing I came up with on the fly? Hmmm, I might feed that to you on Christmas Day," Ulquiorra said, as if contemplating this information. "Black is a good color. It's a color to fade into the background with."

She gave him a knowing smile. She wouldn't mind fading into the background with him and staying there for a good long time. She blushed and her eyes went down as she kind of fell into her thoughts for a moment. "Anyway, song?" she finally said. "I'm going to have to go with… With… With…" she could not make up her mind.

"You can't decide, can you?" Ulquiorra gave a laugh before he opened the apartment door and let Orihime inside first. "All those songs you put on those playlists and you don't have a favorite?"

"You're asking me to choose a favorite child, I hope you know that," she said with a little scowl. "Well, among the top favorites are "Just Like Heaven" by The Cure."

Ulquiorra was taking off his things when she said this, and he slowly turned around to stare at Orihime for a moment. "Just like Heaven?" he asked. "I figured your favorite band was The Cure."

She chuckled. "Yeah, The Cure, The Smiths, New Order, et cetera. They are on heavy rotation in my playlists, so it's kind of a giveaway. What about you? Food, color and song?"

He had to think about this and he had to think about it for several long seconds. "I have a guilty pleasure for oatmeal raisin cookies. I like the color teal. I have a lot of favorite songs. I have only a couple of favorite bands. Right now I'm stuck on the Smashing Pumpkins."

"Nice choice," she said with an appreciative nod. "I haven't listened to SP in ages, but I like them a lot. Okay, my turn, unless you want to do a dare," she said with rising inflection.

"A dare? Okay then, I'll take your dare, Miss Inoue." Ulquiorra put his hands on his hips and waited for whatever Orihime had in mind for him.

She grinned. There were so many options. So many things she would like him to do, and so many ways for him to do it. "Hmm, I dare you to kiss me like you wanted to on Halloween last year," she said after a few moments of thinking.

Immediately his eyes became half-lidded and he took a step towards where Orihime stood. "You want me to kiss you like I wanted to on Halloween last year? Woman, it wouldn't have stopped with a kiss."

She narrowed her eyes, an unspoken challenge in them as she took a step towards him. "That was the dare," she said.

His gaze dropped from her eyes to her lips and then down to her neck. Ulquiorra had to stop himself from being a complete pervert and letting his sight travel down her body. He had to think back to that night. He'd been completely drunk. She had been against the wall. The wall nearest to where they were standing was a brick wall. He took another step towards Orihime. "Back against the wall then. You're going to need the support."

She opened her eyes wide, brows raising a bit as she glanced around. She didn't want her back against the brick, so she crossed the room to the other side and stood with her back against it. "Like this?"

There was a low chuckle from him, but Ulquiorra nodded. "What made you decide to challenge me? You know what happens when people challenge me, Orihime." He was chest to chest with her as he reached for her wrists.

"It was something I wanted to know," she said, slightly breathy. "I think about that night a lot."

It was something she wanted to know? Hell. Ulquiorra exhaled. She had to know how much he wanted her back then; how much he wanted her now. His head lowered until his lips were hovering right over Orihime's mouth. "Anything good that you think about?"

He could hear the soft sounds of her lips parting and her tongue moving in her mouth as she considered her answer. "I think about if I didn't have any restraints then; if I could have followed my desires… Succumbed to my weakness…" she breathed over his face. "Would we have burned down Starrk's that night?"

"I would have taken you back to your apartment. I would have made you mine that night," Ulquiorra replied, letting his mouth ghost over hers before he pressed his lips to hers firmly. "I would have had you anywhere."

She shivered despite the heat of her skin. She took two slow breaths before responding. "Yes, you would have. Your turn," she whispered.

A/N: Thanks for reading!