Halibel's legs gave way from exhaustion. Her bloodied drawn sword was in her hand, and sweat dripped down her forehead.
How can there be so many this strong? She thought in alarm. They looked like arrancar made from lower hollows. Not even a Vasto Lordes has the power to stand up to me.
She propped herself up and stood to her feet. The perimeter of at least the third palace of Las Noches was safe. Her and the arrancar loyal to her had been pushed back by a resistance army, all with loyalty to Aizen.
As if I would ever return to that traitorous man, Halibel cursed Aizen and slammed her fist into the wall. Damn! Why are these creatures blinded to the truth?
Grimmjow and Nel had been a huge help clearing the third palace of rebel arrancar. There had been smaller attacks that Halibel had been able to take care of, but this last one was more difficult than the rest. These hollows seemed different somehow; stronger and with a strange reiatsu.
"If you don't join us, we'll have to do something about it."
"I hate to ask the Soul Reapers for help," Halibel sighed. "But this situation has gotten far worse than I feared."
"Well I'm glad the Soul Society could spare officer level Soul Reapers to assist me, but I never imagined they'd send a captain."
Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya was standing in the middle of Urahara's shop. He and his lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto had been assigned to the World of the Living to assist Rukia, Renji, and Kisuke with the arrancar threat.
"Arrancar with poison that corrodes the soul is definitely a captain-level threat," Toshiro replied to Urahara. He exhaled. The Soul Society had barely begun to mend itself after Aizen's defeat. Why now, of all times, must they be interrupted by an annoyance? Toshiro was not personally keen on this project of Urahara's, but he did have some understanding of where he was coming from. When crossing blades with the espada Halibel, he had realized that the arrancar were able to feel as much as they were. He had witnessed Aizen cut his own people down, and knew that these arrancar had been used and thrown away.
"I know it must irk you to have to defend former espada," Urahara said, as if reading Toshiro's mind. "But they really were just victims in all this. They're pretty powerful allies, as you can imagine."
"I assume their power levels are controlled?" Toshiro said. "A low number espada's sword release could destroy the entire town! Don't you have numbers three and four under you?"
"Nel's the former third, but yes," Urahara said. "But don't worry. Both of their reiatsu is currently unstable, and neither can use their resurreccion at this time. Grimmjow's the only one still capable, but his personality is such where he wouldn't waste it on such low level enemies."
"You have too much faith in these hollows," Toshiro exhaled.
"Well the Soul Society seems to have faith in just letting me be here unchecked don't they?" Urahara pointed out.
Toshiro had no comeback for that.
"You seem to have a full house here," Rangiku pouted as she looked over all the items on the store shelves. "Where are me and the captain going to stay?"
"We will find a-" Toshiro was interrupted.
"Oh I know! Orihime! She's such a sweet girl she totally will let us stay with her again!"
Toshiro sighed. "You certainly have no sense of-"
"Well…there is somebody you're going to have to ask about that…" Urahara said cryptically. He grinned mischievously. "But never you mind I'm sure it'll be fine."
"Jeez Orihime are you okay?" Ichigo asked when she had arrived at school. They were early, and were gathered outside the front of it. She smiled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her neck.
"I-I'm fine!" She insisted. Ichigo was making her heart beat faster than it usually did, now that she was nervous and awkward about her budding unwanted attraction to Ulquiorra. "I was just…uhm…"
"A bike ran into her," Ulquiorra explained. "It was on her walk home from school the other day."
"Yeah! That." Gosh he remembers my made up stories better than me! Was that what I said at the bakery this morning?
Tatsuki crossed her arms. "Orihime, you gotta be more careful! You're always doing this crazy dangerous stuff! And here you are hurt like that!" She suddenly grabbed Ulquiorra by the collar. "I can't believe you let her get hurt by something so stupid! Aren't you always walking her home?!"
"Yeah! That's right!" Ichigo chimed in. He glared at Ulquiorra. "You're bein' a pretty crappy boyfriend lettin' her get hurt like that."
"N-now hold on-" Orihime started to say.
Ulquiorra grabbed Tatsuki's wrist. Orihime wasn't sure how strong he was in the Komori gigai, but based on Tatsuki's pained and shocked expression, she gathered he had a good amount of physical strength. "Attempt to harm me and I'll-"
Ulquiorra stopped mid sentence and appeared to rethink harming Tatsuki. Orihime was about to scold him, but she waited for him to finish.
He let go of Tatsuki's wrist as he stepped back from her. "If you are so concerned about her safety, then why are you not there for her? And you, Kurosaki-do you know anything about her at all?"
Ulquiorra stood defensively in front of Orihime.
"You shut up," Ichigo snarled. "Who the hell do you think you are? You just met her and haven't gone through half the crap we have with her!"
Ulquiorra's expression did not change. "You undervalue her worth and dote on her like she's an idiot. You underestimate her strength and believe she is easy to predict or manipulate. Has it ever occurred to you that she spends time with me because she chooses to?"
Orihime didn't know what to do. Ulquiorra was right, but Tatsuki and Ichigo were acting out of concern. She really hated that Ulquiorra and her friends couldn't just get along, but based on their history that…probably was wishful thinking.
"Orihime's just too nice to tell you she's scared of you!" Ichigo replied. "I can tell she's totally uncomfortable!"
Ulquiorra froze, as if he had been cut by an invisible knife.
Orihime knew exactly why. Ulquiorra's feelings had been hurt! Other people wouldn't understand, but she knew he could be extremely sensitive to some opinions of others. She jumped forwards and put her good arm out in front of Ulquiorra, as if to shield him from her friends. "Guys that…that wasn't nice at all!" She swallowed her nervousness in confronting two of her best friends. "I…I'm not scared of him. He's not scary at all." She looked back at Ulquiorra and gave him the warmest smile she could manage.
Ichigo and Tatsuki took a couple of steps back. Orihime felt tears forming in her eyes. She didn't want to cry in front of them, but this whole situation felt horrible. She wished so much she could tell Ichigo and Tatsuki who Komori really was, but she knew that it would make them worry even more. Ichigo probably would have tried to kill him! Or worse…would Ulquiorra hurt Ichigo? He wouldn't do that, right? Not if she asked him to…right?
"Just…stop," Orihime continued, the tears spilling over. "All he wants are friends." Her voice got very small.
"Oh…gosh Orihime I'm sorry," Tatsuki apologized. She rubbed the back of her neck and looked at Ulquiorra with a small blush on her cheeks. "I'm sorry too I just get a bit overprotective when Orihime's hurt."
Ichigo was still glaring at Ulquiorra, so Tatsuki kicked him in the shin. "Apologize you idiot! Can't you see we hurt Orihime's feelings!?"
Ichigo sighed. "Yeah okay. Fine. Whatever. I'm sorry I guess," he muttered as he walked inside the school.
"You know what I'm glad you have a boyfriend who isn't that idiot," Tatsuki remarked.
Orihime wiped her tears away with her good hand. "He's not my boyfriend Tatsuki…" she corrected her as they walked inside for class.
"Apparently not," Ulquiorra added. He shoved his hands in his pockets. "I am…sorry about your wrist." He apologized quietly to Tatsuki.
Tatsuki looked a little startled, but she smiled. "Nah it's okay! I was the one who was gonna punch ya anyways."
Ulquiorra's expression showed a decent amount of surprise.
Orihime could barely focus on school that day. The conflict she endured between her friends sat at the pit of her stomach. She kept glancing over at Uryu, who was the only other person who was in on her secret for telepathic support, but he was focused on studying as per usual. When lunch time finally came, she suggested to Ulquiorra that they sit with her girl friends, which he complied but did not appear enthused.
The other girls looked shocked when the legendary Komori sat down with them on the school's rooftop. He stayed a distance away, sitting closest to only Orihime, where he quietly ate his own lunch.
Several of the girls were blushing and giggling, staring at Komori. One of them said to Orihime, "so is it true you two are dating?"
How many people are going to ask this? Orihime thought, exasperated. "We're just friends!" She insisted.
The girls looked at each other, but then blushed in excitement. "So...so Komori…you're single?"
Ulquiorra swallowed the bite he was eating. "I have no interest in dating girls," he said.
The girls looked shocked, talked amongst themselves, then one of them spoke. "So like…you're…you're into boys?! That makes so much sense! Oh! You both must crush on Ichigo! That's why you hang out all the time."
Orihime had never seen such an odd, uncomfortable expression cross Ulquiorra's face before.
"N-no you got it all wrong," Orihime said, waving her hand nervously. "Ul-uhm, Komori just isn't ready for dating. He uhm…just had a nasty breakup. A real terrible betrayal. You know the kind that makes you rethink your life and who your friends are."
"You…you're…interesting," Ulquiorra muttered.
Orihime exhaled.
"Well that's good! I was worried my poor little Orihime was dating some nasty guy!" Chizuru said, clutching her chest dramatically.
The rest of the girls looked relieved that Komori was still single.
Orihime quietly sat and ate her lunch. She usually had no problem getting along with her friends at school, but "Komori" had driven a serious wedge between her and the other girls. She normally could ignore it, but it was getting harder and harder to do so. She knew the other girls were jealous of her being with Komori all of the time, she just chose to ignore it and smile.
This time, ignoring it isn't helping… she thought during class again. They had a quiz that day that she surely flunked, which dampered her spirits even more than the usual. When the day was finally done, she wished she could just crawl under a blanket forever and never come out. That actually sounded pretty nice. Maybe with a cup of tea and a movie, too.
"Are you all right?" Ulquiorra asked her.
I wish I could be as cold as him sometimes, she thought. Then I wouldn't have to feel so sad…
"Don't reply then," Ulquiorra said, his hands stuck in his pockets and his eyes turned towards the clouds in the sky.
Orihime blushed. "I'm sorry. I'm fine."
"All right, but don't strain yourself," Ulquiorra scolded. "The poison still is in your bloodstream and could cause you damage."
"Right," Orihime replied. They walked for a bit, until she asked, "Ulquiorra? Why are you taking care of me?"
"Because I want to," Ulquiorra replied.
"Yes but…you give me so much attention and do everything I ask," Orihime said. "It's way more than just keeping me safe from arrancar."
Ulquiorra was quiet, as if pondering is he should say his next words. She realized why after he spoke them. "If I serve you, then I perhaps may be permitted to stay in your presence."
Orihime tried to process his words. Permitted to stay with her? Oh… She realized the only semblance of a relationship Ulquiorra had ever had was his servitude to Aizen. He was loyal to a fault, so surely Aizen's defeat must have crushed him. "Ulquiorra, I'm not Aizen. You don't have to be my servant in order for me to want to spend time with you. We're friends! Friends are different. We do things for each other because we care about each other! You can rely on me to help you too."
Ulquiorra's cheeks turned red, his green eyes gazing dreamily at her. He was so adorable, and appeared so human in Komori's gigai. His soft, messy black hair framed his face nearly perfectly. He looked so sad and helpless, like a lost puppy. Orihime felt her cheeks warm. No, no, no! Orihime you can't!
She broke the moment and looked away. She felt him grab her hand, to which she couldn't help but smile.
They returned home, Orihime still in a sad mood over the day's events. She announced she was going to make tea, but got distracted by the thought of making cookies, which surely would do the trick in cheering her up.
"What is that?" Ulquiorra asked, looking curiously into the kitchen.
"Oh, I'm baking cookies!" Orihime replied. "They're chocolate chip! It was kinda hard with one arm but I did it! They're baking right now!"
The kitchen was an absolute disaster.
Ulquiorra gave her an incredulous look and grabbed a broom, sweeping the dustings of flour and sugar off the floor. Orihime blushed and tried to stop him.
"Honestly," Ulquiorra scolded her, gently pushing her aside.
"You cant clean up this mess by yourself," Orihime insisted. "You were at school all day and did your homework you must be exhausted."
"Are humans that fragile that they become exhausted from sitting in a desk all day?" Ulquiorra asked in genuine wonder. "I barely exerted any spiritual energy at all today. You," he gently guided Orihime to the living room by holding her shoulders. "Will stay out here and rest."
Orihime felt restless letting Ulquiorra clean the mess she made. She pulled one of her favorite blankets, a fluffy warm one with donut print on it, over her head and curled up in a little ball. She heard the time go off in the kitchen, and she rushed back in to remove the cookies. Upon entering she saw that Ulquiorra had somehow cleaned the kitchen in under ten minutes.
"How did you do that?" Orihime gasped.
"I am incredibly efficient," Ulquiorra replied.
Orihime removed the cookies, which were perfectly done. "Yay! Now to wait for them to cool!"
Ulquiorra was eyeing the cookies expectantly.
"You cant have one yet," Orihime said, this time being the one pushing him from the kitchen. "I'm going to make tea for reals now, and then we can watch a movie!"
"I've never seen one," Ulquiorra commented when he helped Orihime bring out mugs of tea and a plate of cookies.
"A movie?" She asked. "Oh. Yeah. They probably don't have those in Hueco Mundo, huh?" She looked over the collection of movies she owned, trying to decide which one she wanted to watch. She settled on a soft, cute animation featuring magical creatures who live in a forest. Obviously a movie for children, but this type of thing is what she needed at the moment.
Ulquiorra was curious about her movie collection. He knelt down in front of her shelf full of movies and took some of them out to look at them. "Why are some of them shaped like boxes and the others are…" He opened a case and spun the disc inside with a finger.
"Oh that's a VHS and that's a DVD!" Orihime explained. "They're uhm…different methods of holding the movie. You gotta put them in the right movie player though. Here, like this," she said, taking out the DVD she wanted to watch and placing it in her DVD player.
Ulquiorra stared at the tv screen which lit up.
"Don't sit too close," she said, patting next to her. Ulquiorra obeyed and took a seat next to her, his eyes still glued on the glowing screen.
Orihime snuggled up in her blanket and nibbled on a cookie. Ulquiorra was sitting rigidly, as if he was incredibly focused on what he was observing. After a while, he spoke. "Humans create imagery to fool the eyes into believing false things," Ulquiorra said."Interesting."
"Well that's…one way to put it," Orihime said with an unsure grin.
"I had an incorrect assumption about seeing before," he said. "That I only believed in things that I saw with my own eyes. Yet, here on this movie I am seeing things that are not real and I do not believe in. There are things that exist even without my eyes seeing them."
Orihime didn't have the heart to tell Ulquiorra that it's not appropriate to talk during a movie. Instead she decided to teach him that human custom later (she had seen this movie at least twenty times) and simply turned down the volume. "What sort of things?"
"The heart, for one matter," Ulquiorra replied, hovering his hand over Orihime's chest. Unlike the time he was holding her hostage in Hueco Mundo, this time it was more of a gesture of understanding. There was no confusion in his eyes. His fingers brushed against her collarbone and trailed a few inches down her chest.
Orihime shuddered, but she did nothing to stop him. She trusted him, as odd as that sounded. Her eyes trailed down from where they were locked on his eyes to the hole in the middle of his chest. She had become accustomed to seeing him outside of the gigai the moment they returned home, and his monster-esque appearance felt almost comforting. His hand was resting on hers where his hollow hole was. He would tear people's hearts out in an attempt to try to make them understand him, to somehow make companions. But now he understood what it really took to find a companion. She found herself touching the edge of his hollow hole with gentle fingers, as if to mirror his current gesture against her pink tshirt.
A sound escaped the back of Ulquiorra's throat. He was surprised at Orihime's touch, but he did not seem to reject it. "I wish I could do something about it," Orihime whispered, not really to Ulquiorra but to herself.
Ulquiorra brought his other hand up to caress the side of her cheek, rubbing it softly with his thumb. "You have done everything," he whispered, his face slowing inching closer to hers.
Orihime closed her eyes. She let the kiss happen, overwhelmed by her feelings inside her. He had gently pressed his lips on hers, awkward and unsure of how to proceed with the gesture. She couldn't help but to kiss him back in the heat of the moment. She leaned her body closer to his, not willing to let her rational mind overtake her.
Knock knock knock!
A loud knocking on the front door made Orihime jump to her sense and pull away from Ulquiorra. Both she and Ulquiorra had a look of surprise at each other, and their cheeks were flushed pink.
"I guess she's not home," came a familiar voice. "That's worrysome…"
Ulquiorra flew open the door before Orihime could react. She couldn't see who it was, but she could sense the tension in the air.
"What did you do with Orihime?" Came a male voice.
Orihime rushed over and peeked out from behind Ulquiorra's shoulder. She saw Toshiro and Rangiku in gigai standing at her door. Her heart jumped in excitement. "Oh! Hello!" She smiled.
Toshiro and Rangiku glanced at each other, then back at Orihime.
"Come in!" Orihime insisted, pushing Ulquiorra aside. The arrancar complied, but his sharp eyes watched the two Soul Reapers enter with an air of mistrust.
"What can I help you with?" Orihime asked.
"We were just wondering if we could stay with you," Rangiku explained. "You know, because we were assigned here to protect Karakura Town from the arrancar invasions."
"Yes, and you as well," Toshiro added, quickly glancing at Ulquiorra.
"Orihime already has someone to protect her," Ulquiorra said coldly.
"Does she?" Toshiro snapped.
"Ulquiorra has done such a good job!" Orihime said, trying to diffuse the tension.
The two soul reapers looked at her.
"I…normally would say yes but…" Orihime looked at Ulquiorra with a pained expression. "Ulquiorra already is staying here."
"You're letting an espada stay in your house?" Toshiro asked in disbelief.
"I am here to-"
"Why don't you two boys go outside to cool off and finish your discussion?" Rangiku said with a scary voice. Toshiro and Ulquiorra obeyed and rushed out the front door.
Orihime wanted to call out to Ulquiorra not to do anything rash. You have to trust him… she thought.
"The captain won't hurt him," Rangiku assured Orihime. "He won't attack him unless provoked." She sat down and motioned for Orihime to sit next to her. "What's going on? Wasn't he the espada who captured you?"
Orihime wrapped her blanket around her tighter, since she still had it draped over her shoulders. "He's my friend now," she managed to say. "He's…not as bad as people think he is! He deserves a second chance and I really mean it!"
Rangiku looked concerned, but she put a reassuring arm around Orihime anyways. "All right, I trust you. Is he staying here with you? Urahara didn't force this on you did he?"
"Oh! Oh no," Orihime replied. "Ulqui wanted to protect me so I let him. Besides it's been fun having someone here with me." She smiled, but then she suddenly remembered the kiss they had shared only a few minutes ago, and covered her reddening face with her blanket.
Rangiku chuckled. "Well, I'd hate to impose on you but-"
"Oh! You can totally stay here it's okay!" Orihime said. "You can share my room with me and Captain Hitsugaya can stay in the livingroom with Ulqui." She smiled, but then realized that might be a problem. "If…they can get along, that is. Ulqui isn't antagonistic really unless someone provokes him."
"There's probably going to be a lot of tension," Rangiku sighed. "But hopefully there won't be any actual fights breaking out. The captain really isn't too thrilled with this 'program' of Urahara's, you know."
Orihime offered Rangiku cookies because she couldn't think of anything to say about this incredibly weird situation.
"Grimmjow, if you break anything else I'm taking it out of your pay," Kisuke muttered as he ripped open a damaged box of candy the rest of the way and began eating it. "I'm gonna get fat from having to eat all this candy and its not good for Ururu either."
"Shut up," Grimmjow snarled, roughly dropping another box. "The only reason I'm here is because Hueco Mundo's become a shithole and I don't wanna deal with it anymore!"
"Right, okay," Kisuke replied, his mouth full. "I have questions for you about those arrancar that attacked here the other day."
"I'm still pissed about that!" Grimmjow snapped. "If I wasn't out doing your damn grocery shopping I coulda kicked all their asses no problem."
"You would have destroyed half the town doing it," Nel chimed in. "You have absolutely no restraint."
"Shut up," he grumbled.
Nel leaned over the counter and looked at Kisuke. "What is it you wanna ask about? My memory is a bit hazy from my time as an espada, but I might know something he doesn't."
"The arrancar seemed modified somehow," Kisuke explained. "They were strong, like an espada's fracciones, yet they appeared less human-like. And their attacks were laced with an incredibly corrosive poison that attacks the soul itself."
Nel's brow furrowed. "How horrible. That sounds like something Szayelaporro would have created."
"Yes, but Squad 12 basically raided his facility," Kisuke explained. "So these modifications must have happened after Aizen's defeat."
"He could have had a second lab," Nel said. "He was never the type to keep everything in one place."
Kisuke frowned. Why hadn't he thought of that before? Of course that made sense! Why would you hide your most valuable secrets in one place? He sighed.
"Well…the poison wasn't that complicated, so I was able to develop an antidote," Kisuke said. "I am concerned at who would be doing this. I originally thought that the arrancar were just looking for vengeance for Aizen, but this appears to be bigger and more complicated."
"That bastard Aizen can stay in that prison for all eternity for all I care," Grimmjow said.
"I agree," Nel replied. She hopped onto the counter and sat on it. "Has Ulquiorra had any progress with his sword? I haven't yet, but his case is a lot more complicated than mine."
Kisuke thought for a moment. "Not that I know of. That's something else I should look into, actually." He frowned. There was a lot of his plate. He had barely been sleeping, but he had his work cut out for him. There were several pieces that needed to be put into play, but this arrancar situation surely had been a recent, tremendous distraction.
Why can't any of this just be simple and easy to fix?
