The first three chapters of this fic are for UlquiHime Week 2019, Day Two: First Glance/Desire
Yuko seemed like a human version of Sung-Sun Cyan, one of Hallibel's Fraccion. She was a plain person. She seemed to be about emotionless as him. She didn't seem to like people. The best part was that she did not remind him of Orihime Inoue. Ulquiorra didn't know why that human would cross his mind, but every so often she would run through his memories, demanding his attention.
It would be those days when he wanted to take the train to Karakura and demand answers from Urahara, Inoue, and Kurosaki. He didn't, though. Urahara had provided him with a gigai, a set of documents and credentials, and sent him away without any answers when he first came to the World of the Living after reawakening in his crystal tree in Hueco Mundo. There was no reason to suspect that the shopkeeper would be any more forthcoming on a repeat journey. It would be those days that he would cling to Yuko and demand that she stay with him in the tiny apartment he had acquired.
How he hated to leave her; every time it was harder. He had to go sometimes. His schedule dictated it, yet, there he would be, standing in the hall kissing her.
Ulquiorra had no clue what Yuko did all day. He just knew she would be there when he arrived home from work.
Yuko was loyal, so he thought. Yuko was faithful, so he thought. On the night of his twenty-third birthday, he came home to an empty apartment. There was no note. No message. No phone call.
Had she finally had enough of his moodiness over the years? Had he been too controlling, dictating where she could go and what she could wear? Had his need to dominate her been in excess? Perhaps. Yet he never touched her sexually. As an Espada, he had been used to people doing his bidding and following his orders. Yuko had to be coaxed and trained to abide by his wishes.
When she came back several days later, something had changed.
She was kind to him. There was emotion in her eyes. Ulquiorra scowled at this behavior, but appreciated it as she rubbed his back for him that night. He never expected his body to react to Yuko. It hadn't in the past as they lay together night after night. She slipped something-a little pill- into his mouth, and an hour later, it felt like he was flying.
Ulquiorra was shocked that he felt this way as she kissed him, and he froze for half a second before his hand came up and cupped the back of her head, threading in her dark hair. He growled softly, and parted her lips so his tongue could plunge into their depths. These were different from the chaste kisses from before.
The action was apparently well-received, because Yuko returned the gesture as her hands slid down his body to his erection, which was just begging for attention. The sound coming from his throat as her hand wrapped around the shaft had her wet, and she mewled against the kiss. Breaking it, he pulled back, panting as his brain shut down.
What had Yuko given him to make him feel like this? What was this emotion or sensation running through his body? Was she like Orihime, unlocking another piece of him? He shook his head slightly to remove any thoughts of that woman from his brain.
He sat up and loomed over the tiny Japanese woman with a serious expression on his face, brows drawn together. She looked as sweet as could be, smiling at him, a hint of a smirk on her face. Ulquiorra bit the corner of his lip as he leaned down, lips trailing her neck, sucking gently, tasting her sweet flesh for the first time.
Why had they never done anything like this before?
Her hand set a slow rhythm on his length as she let his mouth explore her skin. When he nibbled on her shoulder she giggled. Her thighs parted to allow room for his hips. When Ulquiorra was naked, Yuko seemed to know what to do.
Still, she gasped as he entered her fully with one smooth stroke. Yuko was crying out as if she was some feral animal. The sounds allowed a dark part of his brain to come to the surface and enjoy how she cried out under him; how her nails felt raking down his back; how her body arched to meet his.
"Yuko, your body is so hot. You're so wet. It feels so good-"
The woman who was getting fucked quickly shut him up by kissing him for long moments. He was struggling with control, so Ulquiorra decided to treat this as if she were delicate.
"Cifer-san," she whined, saying his name that way to annoy him. "Please."
"Please what?"
"Fuck me, Cifer."
Every word he spoke to her after she said his last name was punctuated with a thrust. "Do. Not. Call. Me. Cifer." Of course, Yuko squealed with pleasure as he went deeper and harder. As soon as her body was done convulsing, Ulquiorra pulled out of her.
"Did you-you know?"
He shook his head. Just because he had never participated in sexual activities before didn't mean he was ignorant to what sex was. He sighed as Yuko lay there smiling, enjoying the aftershocks of bliss, and he eventually elected to pick up a pillow and stop in the hallway for a blanket from one of the many closets scattered within his apartment.
The moment they just shared seemed impersonal, like there was something missing. What happened to that feeling of flying and the euphoria that had erupted all over his body? He flopped into the armchair, putting the pillow behind his head and covering himself with the blanket.
Ulquiorra's sharp hearing could pick up Yuko's quiet footsteps as she came closer to him. Soon the chilly temperature of the apartment assaulted his skin as she whipped the blanket off his body.
"What the-?" His voice was loud. The last time he raised his voice like that was at Kurosaki when he refused to die. She said nothing as she straddled his lap, engulfing his cock with her body.
She rode him, rocking her hips while kissing him everywhere she could reach. Their breathing sounded harsh in his ears as their bodies met over and over. Ulquiorra held onto the arms of that chair for dear life as his orgasm became his goal. He pressed Yuko to his chest with one hand while still gripping the fabric of the chair in the other. His eyes closed as he gave a hard thrust into her one final time, coming undone and spilling inside of the woman. He didn't realize that his nails had dug so far into the chair that it had ripped.
They sat on that chair for several moments before Ulquiorra found himself getting drowsy. He felt her kiss his forehead.
When he woke up the next morning, the sun was shining. He could already tell that Yuko was gone and she was gone for good this time. There would be no way she'd come back after what happened. She never smiled at him. She had never initiated any sexual activities beyond kissing with him. He knew that her actions last night were her goodbye to him.
No note, no card, not so much as a fucking souvenir that she had been there, except for the torn fabric on his arm chair. She hadn't even stomped out of the apartment, instead leaving like some thief.
He sat in that armchair, naked with that blanket wrapped around him, head propped on his pillow, and swore that no one else would penetrate his defenses. He wanted to get angry that Yuko left like that. He wanted to tear the apartment apart, flip things, break stuff, destroy something, but he found that he couldn't. It wasn't until after he went to a liquor store that the emotions flooded him.
Ulquiorra curled up on his torn apart bed, the sheets stripped and balled into a corner of the room. He had stupidly fallen for another woman who had ended up dissolving his heart.
There was no way Ulquiorra Cifer would fall for it again.
Everyone knew that Orihime Inoue and Ichigo Kurosaki would end up together. It was always just a matter of time. And after the Quincy War, they both thought that they had all the time in the world.
After graduation, Tatsuki and Chad were still around, and Uryu came back to town most weekends, so the big merry group still got together regularly. This continued, more or less, until Renji and Rukia's wedding. Ichigo had gone to Soul Society with Orihime, Chad, and Uryu a day before the ceremony. While they were there, he was summoned to the First Division's barracks for an audience with Captain Commander Kyoraku.
It turned out that Ichigo's special set of circumstances lent themselves to a rather gray interpretation of Soul Society laws, especially concerning his eventual, natural death. His hollow and quincy powers were slowly returning to him after having been depleted by Yhwach. No human had ever had those powers in addition to being a shinigami tangled up into one soul before. It left Soul Society in a quandary. The fear was that when his human body died, the other parts of his soul would battle for dominance. No one wanted a repeat of what had happened on the dome of Las Noches.
After much deliberation, it was decided that the only safe way to handle Kurosaki's death as a human would be to perform a konso, ensuring that his soul would return to Soul Society cleansed and renewed. It was unlikely that he would retain any memories or powers from his current life, but the risk of allowing his spirit chain to break, and have his soul hollowfy with the terrible powers he possessed, was too great. By the time Ichigo left the meeting, he had agreed. Part of him was actually relieved that at least in death, he would be just like everybody else.
The next day, Renji and Rukia got married, and afterward Renji gave Ichigo a little nudge toward thinking about the next phase of his own life. He was about to graduate from University. Orihime had been out of school for a year already, having earned an associate's degree in general studies. There had always been a mutual attraction between them, although it took him longer to realize than her.
So Ichigo pulled the trigger. He asked her out. As soon he got a full-time job, they got engaged. It seemed to be their destiny, and they were both pleased when Orihime found out on her twenty-third birthday that they were going to be parents. No one had to know that it happened a month before their wedding, they joked to each other.
Kazui was born the next spring. More than ever before, Ichigo felt that he had something to protect. As soon as Orihime was feeling up to it, they made an appointment with an insurance agent and bought life insurance policies for both of them. It was around the same time that Ichigo explained to Orihime about Soul Society's decision about his death. Tears were shed and arguments were made. Why couldn't she just reject his death? Wouldn't he want to stay with her and baby Kazui? In the end, she understood. She didn't like it, but she understood.
Orihime was beside herself when Kazui's shinigami abilities manifested at a young age. Renji and Rukia's visits only made things worse as her son tried to compete with their older daughter, swordfighting indoors and causing a ruckus flashstepping all over town. Eventually Orihime put her foot down and insisted that all further Abarai/Kurosaki reunions be held at Grandpa Isshin's house, if for no other reason than it would be her bitchy sister-in-law's responsibility to clean up after everyone went home.
Karin Kurosaki continued to live with Isshin after her sister got married and moved to Naruki City. Karin had gone to the same community college as Orihime, and she got a job at an office afterward, quickly moving up in the ranks. She looked down on Orihime for not doing the same; they had the same credentials. Karin could not understand why Orihime would choose to marry her stupid brother, have a kid, and stay home to raise him.
Orihime couldn't understand why Karin had such a big stick up her ass. What business was it of hers what Orihime and Ichigo decided was best for their family? Besides, Orihime had plans. As soon as Kazui was in elementary school, she started taking business courses online. Orihime had no desire to be an office lady, serving tea to the higher-ups and getting fired when, inevitably, Kazui got into more trouble and she would be called away frequently from work to deal with it. No. She would be her own boss.
The Kurosaki family was happy, but Orihime and Ichigo remained scarred by the events of their past. Ichigo carried lots of regret and guilt for things he had done. He had killed. He had become a monster. It wasn't what he had wanted for himself.
The worst part of all for him was that he felt responsible for Orihime's mental trauma. It was worse after Kazui was born. The late night feedings had caused both him and Orihime sleep disturbances. Orihime had nightmares constantly. Almost every night he heard her pleading with him to help her. Pleading with him to stop. Pleading with that damn Espada.
It broke his heart. And despite her brave face and statements to the contrary, Ichigo knew that deep, deep down, his wife was afraid of him. It ate him up that she had reached out to that dying Espada and told him that she wasn't afraid of him. He knew that she had meant it, too. She had been very disturbed by Ulquiorra Cifer's death; almost as disturbed as she had been at Ichigo's transformation into the monster who killed him.
Ichigo might have been able to get over it if the nightmares had stopped once Kazui started sleeping through the night, but they never got better. The next time the Abarai family came to visit, he and Renji sat up on the roof of the Kurosaki Clinic with some beers and Ichigo confessed to the scarlet-haired shinigami about his troubles. He felt stricken. He felt responsible. He was tired. He felt sorry for Hime. In his state of inebriation he also confessed that he was sometimes jealous. He didn't like how much his wife spoke of the dead Espada in her sleep.
Renji didn't consider the possibilities when he flippantly suggested that Ichigo have Orihime's memory altered so she wouldn't suffer and Ichigo could get some goddamned sleep. Ichigo had rolled his eyes at the time.
After another six months of living with Orihime's nightmares, Ichigo wasn't rolling his eyes anymore. He talked to some people. He remembered that Ginjo and Tsukishima had been involved in the Quincy war. He decided a trip to Soul Society was in order and found the Fullbringers, convincing Tsukishima to do him a favor.
A week later, Orihime slept through the night peacefully, as she did every night thereafter. Tsukishima's Book of the End had modified her memories. Now, in her mind, it had been Yammy and Tsukishima in that Karakura park when Tsubaki was injured. It had been Tsukishima who kidnapped her for Aizen. It had been Tsukishima who decided to join forces against Aizen after Ichigo's battle with Grimmjow and helped them escape Hueco Mundo. The fight on the dome of Las Noches, Ichigo's transformation into a Vasto Lorde class hollow, and Ulquiorra Cifer no longer existed in her mind. They never happened.