Orihime was glad for Uryu's company, but he almost felt too suffocating. Any time Orihime walked off the school grounds, Uryu was there to walk her home. It was a sweet gesture, but he even went with her to run errands after school. She knew he was concerned about her, but ever since her capture her friends had been treating her like she was made of glass.

Komori is not him…she told herself while she was picking up vegetables for her dinner. Uryu was reading the labels on some kind of canned coffee in another isle over.

She finished her shopping, Uryu insisting he carry the bags, and they made their way to her apartment. Unlike the other nights that week, Uryu requested to go inside, which confused Orihime but she obliged.

Once the door was shut, Uryu looked out the front blinds. Orihime went into the kitchen to put away the food, and when she emerged she asked Uryu what was wrong.

"It's Komori," Uryu said. "He's been stalking you all week. He leaves once you get home, but I don't know where he goes."

Orihime's heart began to pound. "What…what does he want from me?" She managed to say, her voice trembling. She looked at the floor. It can't be…it can't…the war is over

No. You know it's him. Somehow…and for some reason…he's come for you…Orihime told herself.

I need to…

After gathering her resolve, she clenched her fists and looked up. "We can't rule out the possibility this is connected to Aizen. We should ask Urahara."

"That's…actually a good idea," Uryu agreed.

The pair, after Orihime changed out of her uniform into a tshirt and long skirt, made the walk to Urahara's shop. To keep herself from getting too nervous about the whole situation, she began talking about random gossip at school to Uryu. Uryu didn't seem to really understand much of what she was saying, but he nodded his head anyways.

They eventually came to the familiar spot. Orihime hadn't visited Urahara since the end of the war, but Uryu was a regular there, due to him taking over for Ichigo regarding Hollow extermination.

"Oh I wonder how everyone is doing!" Orihime said. "I haven't seen them in…hasn't it been several months Uryu?"

"They're fine," Uryu said, rapping on the door. "I haven't seen Urahara in a few weeks due to him working on some 'super secret' project, but anyways I-"

Ururu answered the door, a smile beaming across her usually mopey looking face. "Orihime! I'll go tell the others right away you're here!" With that she immediately ran off.

Uryu stepped inside, but immediately froze in place afterwards.

"Uryu? What's wron-"

Orihime gasped. There, standing in front of her, barely ten feet away…

Was Ulquiorra Cifer.

Orihime took a tiny step backwards, her hand firmly planted on her chest to help ail her beating heart. Ulquiorra's eyes were locked on hers. Her breath stopped when he spoke.

"Orihime," Ulquiorra said quietly, taking a step forwards and reaching for her.

"U-ulquiorra…" Orihime said.

Uryu stepped protectively in front of Orihime. "Mind telling us what the hell you're doing alive?! And what the hell are you doing in Urahara's-"

Urahara himself had arrived in the room, having been brought there by Ururu. When he saw the mess he had just walked in on, he threw up his hands. "Oh. Great. Hi. Uh. Listen. I can explain…" He stepped next to Ulquiorra and put and arm around the arrancar's shoulder. "Say hello to my little project aha…"

"What the hell Urahara!" Uryu shouted. "Why the hell would you bring this guy back from the dead?!"

"He did no such thing," Ulquiorra said, removing Kisuke's arm from his shoulder. "He found me. We currently do not know how I was revived. And before you attack me or do something else foolish," Ulquiorra glanced at Orihime, who looked away from him the moment he laid eyes on her. He then returned his gaze to Uryu. "I am no longer in service to Aizen. So unless you get in my way, I am no threat to you."

"Depends on what your goal is," Uryu said, his voice poisonous.

Urahara grinned. "He wants to learn about humans."

A sound escaped Ulquiorra's throat, and he looked in another direction. Orihime could have sword the normal white color of his skin had turned slightly pink. Did he just…blush?

Orihime gently pushed Uryu out of the way so that she could speak to Ulquiorra properly. "So I was right! You ARE Komori!"

Ulquiorra focused on Orihime again. "Yes. You recognized me, despite that dreadful gigai."

Orihime reached out a hand to touch his face, but hesitated and pulled back. What…are you doing? "I'm sorry for slapping you!" She apologized, hanging her head.

"Orihime! What are you-" Uryu interjected, but a hand wave from Urahara shut him up quickly.

Orihime felt cold fingers cup her cheek and gently pull her head back up. Ulquiorra now had her face in his right hand, his thumb slightly brushing against her cheek. "No. You do not bow to me Orihime Inoue. I am the only one who should." He released her face and took a few steps backwards, then knelt on the floor before her. "I am sorry for what I have done to you…and…your friends…" He added on quickly at the end.

"What about the stalking?" Uryu demanded.

Ulquiorra got up and looked puzzled. "Stalking?"

"Following her around every day!" Uryu said.

"I did not realize this had negative associations. I was merely curious to what she did after school," Ulquiorra replied.

Orihime could barely believe what she was hearing, or just saw. Ulquiorra…apologized to her? But…why? Did he…actually feel bad about what he did? She placed her hand on her cheek where Ulquiorra had touched her. His hands were cold, but she felt warm regardless.

"I had approached her the first day but she seemed unresponsive," Ulquiorra continued to explain. "So I decided to watch her, if I was unable to converse with her."

Orihime, who had many unsorted emotions at the moment, was doing her best to pay attention. "It's okay. I'm not mad or anything."

"Orihime…" Uryu sighed.

She smiled at Ulquiorra and held out her hand in front of her. "If you wanna know more about humans, I can help you."

Ulquiorra slid his fingers in between hers. He didn't give a verbal reply, but Orihime didn't need one.


"You always sit by yourself during lunch," Orihime said, approaching Ulquiorra while they were at school. They were outside this time, because the weather was nice and sunny. Ulquiorra had taken shade under a tree, mostly likely because of his pale skin. His arm was still in a sling, making him appear more vulnerable.

Orihime had given Ulquiorra's apology a lot of thought the night she went home from Urahara's. Urahara had explained everything to Uryu and Orihime, asking the pair to keep quiet about it, especially from Ichigo. Orihime felt bad that she couldn't tell Ichigo, but she knew it was for the best. If he knew Ulquiorra was still alive, he would probably do something incredibly irrational, especially since he didn't have his powers anymore. Orihime wished she had some kind of magic wand that could fix everything. Her Shun Shun Rikka could only fix so much, and only physical ailments. She saw so much sincerity in Ulquiorra's apology that she was completely convinced he was ready to change, but she was concerned that the others wouldn't agree.

"I have no interest in interacting with the other students here," Ulquiorra replied bluntly.

Orihime's brow furrowed. She was used to him being closed off in their conversations in the month she was captured. He had begun to warm up, at least so she thought, when he began sitting in her room for hours listening to her talk. One time he even fell asleep on the couch in her room, his peaceful face almost making him appear human. "You…have to interact with people to learn more about them, Ulq-uhm, Komori."

Ulquiorra clasped his non injured hand over where his hollow hole was located when not in his more humanlike gigai. "I am only interested in you and this heart you gave me," he said, a little too loudly for Orihime's comfort.

"Shh!" Orihime cried, waving her hands. "Not so loud! D-don't talk like that in front of my classmates! What if someone hears you?"

Ulquiorra looked confused. "But you spoke of this heart quite boldly during our last encount-"

"A guy and a girl can't say that to each other by themselves or…people will think they're dating!" Orihime said, her voice low.

"Dating? Another term I do not understand," Ulquiorra frowned a tiny bit. "You humans are so complicat-" A sound growled from his stomach, and he looked rather annoyed.

"Oh! You're hungry!" Orihime said, sitting down on the grass across from him.

"Is that what that means?" Ulquiorra said lazily. "I dislike this ritual of eating, but I make sure to eat once a day to replenish my energy."

Orihime's eyes widened. "No wonder you look so tired and your reiatsu is so small! You have to eat three meals a day and snacks!"

"Three?" Ulquiorra's voice sounded exasperated.

"Did you pack a lunch?" Orihime asked. "I almost never see you eat."

Ulquiorra produced the convenience store lunch Urahara had given him.

Orihime gasped. "Oh no wonder you don't like eating! That food isn't any good at all. It's so boring! Here!" She reached into her bag and pulled out a few containers. "Here's wasabi, garlic butter, and red bean paste! I always carry it with my lunch because sometimes my lunch is so boring!"

Ulquiorra took the containers and looked at them from all sides before opening them. Orihime leaned forwards in suspense. Would he like it? She thought. People always think my food ideas are weird…

Ulquiorra put all three condiments on top of his food. Orihime gulped as he took his first bite. She really didn't want his experiences with her to be bad, especially since this was the first time they had had any kind of conversation since the night previous.

Ulquiorra's expression immediately changed, and he began shoveling his food down quickly. He was eating one-handed, his tray balanced on his lap, and a spoon in his good hand.

"Slow down! You'll choke!" Orihime cried.

Ulquiorra looked up. He had a piece of rice stuck to his face. "I did not realize food had an actually interesting flavor to it," he said. "I now know why humans tolerate eating three meals a day." He resumed eating his lunch, and looked disappointed when he had finished.

Orihime offered him some of her lunch. She always packed too much, but nobody ever wanted to eat her cooking, so often it went to waste. Ulquiorra gladly took the food offered him and ate that as well. Orihime giggled as she watched him eat. It was a change from his normal rigid and put together behavior. She also pitied him a bit, the fact that he had been so hungry for so long and nobody was giving him food that he liked. She vowed to bring extra food for him from now on.

"Do you guys not usually eat?" Orihime asked. "I thought you at least ate other hollows. And…" She winced. "…humans…"

Ulquiorra stopped shoveling for a moment, chewed the food in his mouth, and swallowed. "Arrancar no, but Menos yes. Grimmjow for an example I imagine remembers eating other Menos for power, at least shortly before his transformation." He closed his eyes. "I…was never able to consume anything since my birth. I never ate a single hollow or human soul…and if I did, it was before I was a Vasto Lordes. So no, I have never eaten anything, especially not for sustenance."

Orihime grinned. "No wonder you are so grumpy all the time! I think I'd just die if I wasn't able to eat all the yummy foods I like."

"Yes you would die, you're a human," Ulquiorra said bluntly.

Orihime began giggling again. "Oh it's just an expression! I wouldn't really die…well maybe I'd die if I didn't eat but uhm…" She stopped when she saw the blank expression on Ulquiorra's face. She blushed with embarrassment, looked down at her own lunch, and began to eat it.


The weight on Ulquiorra's chest lifted the moment he apologized to Orihime. He scolded himself at how stupid it was to follow her around instead of facing the issue. It was so unproductive.

Ulquiorra awkwardly kept his distance from Orihime, and ceased following her around (especially after he received a lecture from Urahara as to why stalking was NOT an accepted human behavior). However, she did make an effort to sit and eat with him every lunchtime. She would make sure he would eat his lunch by offering him some new kind of interesting combination of food. Ulquiorra didn't have much experience regarding flavor preferences, but he actually enjoyed the complex experience he had while eating Orihime's food. So much, in fact, that he requested to bring one of her many varieties of weird sauces home so that he could eat it with whatever dinner Urahara forced upon him.

Ulquiorra saw next to nothing of Nel, who Urahara said was in an induced coma. Grimmjow would sometimes sit in proximity to Urahara's workroom door, or pace restlessly in front of it, but he kept insisting it "had nothing to do with that brat." Ulquiorra had no interest in proving anything to Grimmjow, so he simply ignored his fellow Espada's strange denial of affection for Nel (or others in general).

One afternoon after school, Orihime caught up to Ulquiorra. This was an unusual move for her, as they mostly interacted in a classtime setting.

"What is it, girl?" Ulquiorra asked. A lump formed in his throat and he had to swallow it to maintain his composure. Her cheeks were pink, and her hair was blown out of style. How long had she been running after him without him noticing?

Orihime caught her breath. "Well you see I wanted to-"

Her face… Ulquiorra carefully brushed stray hair from Orihime's face, tucking the strands behind her ears. "There was hair in your mouth," he said quietly.

Orihime turned even pinker than she was before.

"Did that short of a run really wind you that badly?" Ulquiorra asked. "Your body must be out of-"

"Wah? N-no! I mean-" Orihime struggled. She sighed. "I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go to my favorite bakery with me!"

"Bakery?" Ulquiorra blinked. "Is that the place where-"

"Hey Orihime!"

Ulquiorra's entire body went rigid, and his eyes locked onto the owner of the voice. Ichigo Kurosaki had approached the two of them, his right hand occupied by a bookbag he had slung over his shoulder. Fight or flight instinct began welling up inside the arrancar, and not due to Ichigo's reiatsu, which was basically nonexistent. This…feeling was more complicated than reiatsu levels. Ichigo was some kind of unexplainable threat that Ulquiorra wanted to keep away from Orihime.

Ichigo looked at Ulquiorra, and his already furrowed brow creased deeper. "Hey…who's this guy?" he said.

He doesn't recognize me…

"Its our new classmate Komori!" Orihime said with a nervous smile. "Don't you remember, Ichigo?"

"Oh. Yeah that's right," Ichigo said.

Orihime was between the two males, Ichigo more towards the school building, and Ulquiorra nearly to the school grounds exit. Ulquiorra would have used a sonido to get between Orihime and Ichigo, but he was in that pathetic gigai. Instead, he took several steps forwards, closing the gap between him and Orihime, then placing his uninjured hand on the back of her shoulder. He made eye contact with Ichigo while doing this. "What do you need from her?" Ulquiorra asked, his voice dropping subtly, the change minor but just enough to know it was deeply threatening.

"I just wanted to return the manga I borrowed," Ichigo said, appearing a bit bothered by this display. He handed a volume of manga to Orihime, who took it with a warm smile.

"You can borrow the next one if you want," she offered. "I'll bring it next week!"

Ichigo agreed, waved goodbye, and walked down the street towards his home.

"Uhm…Ulquiorra?" Orihime said. "Y-you're still touching me…"

Ulquiorra removed his hand from her shoulder. "I…am unaware as to my motives for that."

Orihime smiled. "That's okay! I don't mind. Now come on! They should be having fresh bread out of the oven right now!" She grabbed Ulquiorra's hand and dragged him down the street.