O
II
The truth was, she missed him.
She missed Ichigo.
Before they had been spouses, they had been friends of a sort, and she'd loved him. It had been bad towards the end, but living with him had been welcome at first. She'd hated living by herself. The long nights and the binge-eating in front of the television, watching crime shows that made her feel icky on the inside. She'd hated it. So living with Ichigo had been so wonderful at first. Eating dinner together. Watching rented movies some nights. He'd never let her stay up too late, calling her to come sleep before it grew late enough to give her bags beneath her eyes.
Maybe he had not ever been in love with her, but he had loved her in his far-off way. He'd been an older brother to her. Admittedly, that had complicated things when they began their back and forth pity-comfort sex, but she'd… she'd loved him.
Orihime stared up at the window of their old apartment. She'd stopped walking there on autopilot a few months ago. For once she had meant to come there, and she looked up at the empty building with sad eyes. They would finish construction within the year. She wanted nothing more than to go inside and sit on the couch, open a bag of chips, and watch a stupid comedy with Ichigo.
But that would never happen again.
As things were, she would say that she was the least tightly knit into the group. While the other three of the karakura gang grew closer together, she felt further and further from them. She could not connect to them as she had been able to in the past, knowing now that they were only boys, and she a grown woman in a child's body. They laughed and shoved at each other during lunch, played jokes and made faces and talked about games and she sat there, remembering the nights she'd healed them all from the brink of death.
There was a distant rumble of thunder.
She remembered very well the day that she would be taken. They would come for her in the morning, and she would be alone all over again. The thought of returning to Hueco Mundo would have been unbearable were it not for the fact that she felt as though she were finally doing what needed to be done. The war had been a long time coming, and she was a hundred years too late to stop it completely.
Without the second hogyoku, she had worried she would have to intervene with the creation of the arrancar. Aizen seemed certain that he would have Kisuke's creation, one way or another. She wondered if maybe Aizen was going to kidnap her for ransom, or if he had gotten wise to the fact that Kisuke no longer possessed the hogyoku and perhaps now thought that she had it. There were a thousand reasons Aizen might come for her, but she that whatever the cause, he certainly would come. Some things, she found, stayed the same in the timeline, even if she did not think they would. Some things changed. But the course of time could not be swayed over everything.
A water droplet fell on Orihime's shoulder. She looked up into the dark night sky and squinted at the clouds gathered there. It was beginning to sprinkle. She frowned and turned away from the building she'd been standing at for hours.
It would be reasonable, she thought, to go home before I catch a cold.
The rain, though, was dear to her, and she likened herself to it in all ways. She walked slowly, and did not take the train. She let herself become soaked and cold, until she was shivering nearly violently as she moved through the streets and back to her childhood apartment.
It was stupid, and childlike. And yet, it felt good. It felt good to just be dumb on a whim! She laughed at the thought. Wouldn't it be such a way to catch her death? Dying of a cold after everything she'd been through? Rain sliding down her face, she let out a small chuckle, and then beamed, and began to truly guffaw. She laughed and laughed, splashing her feet in puddles as she began to run. Who cared! She was alive, and the rain felt good, damn it!
She burst through the door to her apartment, still laughing, and shut the door behind her. It was dark, but the room was lit by brief flashes of lightning. She loved the light, the electricity of it all. She shucked her shoes and peeled off her wet socks while giggling, and she shimmied out of her trousers, and her shirt. She locked the door behind her with another laugh and sprinted to her room, nearly skipping.
She opened the door. A flash of lightning illuminated the bedroom.
There was someone sitting on her bed.
Orihime stopped cold, throat caught suddenly in her heart. She stumbled back a step, eyes wide, mouth shut tight as she stared in surprise.
"Shun shun-"
"Stop."
She knew that voice. Cold metal settled gently on her collarbone. She followed the gleam of a sword to its handle, and to the hand who held it; near-white and sporting black nails. She followed the hand to the arm, clad in a white uniform with black trim, and followed that arm up to the shoulder, to the throat, to the face-
"Don't scream." He demanded.
For some reason, an insane idea occurred to her. For the briefest moment she thought that he, too, had come back in time, and was finally revealing himself to her now that the plot demanded it.
"Ulquiorra," she whispered.
He revealed himself from the shadows. He may have been surprised. He may not have been. It did not show, either way. "Orihime Inoue," he said. He kept his sword perched with its edge quite close to her throat.
He was not from the future. He had… changed. Or, rather, been born differently. He was still Ulquiorra, undeniably so, but there were differences in him. He had a pointy ear poking out from the hair on the side of his head not covered by a helmet. When he spoke her name, she saw the flash of slightly longer canines. His coat had a diamond-shaped window in the chest, displaying his hollow hole.
They were back at the very beginning. There was no understanding in those viridian eyes. This was a Ulquiorra who had made no strives for the human heart. This was a man who did not yet know that such a thing existed.
It sent a chill through her; her skin prickled with goosebumps.
"It's pretty rude," she said, slowly, "To surprise someone in their underwear."
"You are sufficiently covered," he said. "You will comply. I have been instructed to bring you to Hueco Mundo."
She lifted her brows. "Aren't you going to threaten me first?"
He blinked at her, for a moment. "Do you require it?"
"Well it seems a little bit suspect for me to just ferry off into the night with you all on my own, doesn't it?" She crossed her arms, hoping to cover up her cleavage and to appear a little more intimidating. If she did scare him, he didn't show it, and he certainly didn't glance at her breasts.
"I did not take you to be as childish as your years. Do I need to explain to you what is at stake? You have no bargaining tools, woman. If you know of the hogyoku, you know what it can create. Considering you knew my name, I would take it you understand the power of the arrancar. Lord Aizen suspected our surveillance did not go one way."
Yeah, well, any spying done on their part was all Kisuke, so she had no idea what was waiting for her, really. She decided to ignore the last comment. "So what then? You'll kill me if I don't come with you?"
"In our observations, we have found your friends to be your weakness, foolish as it may be. You hold the rope to the guillotine that hangs above their necks."
It was all very familiar. She found herself smiling, of all things, snorting on a laugh. "Do I?"
He tilted his head and regarded her in consideration, like a dog considering an animal it had never encountered before. "I will confront Kurosaki Ichigo in the morning, then. You may or may not warn him, it matters not. There will be time enough to demonstrate the power we hold. And when we have defeated the boy, I will return for you, and you will come without struggle. Do you understand?"
"I hear you," she said. She reached up and took the tip of his blade between her thumb and index finger, gingerly removing it from her throat. "Next time, knock on the door. I'd like to be dressed if I'm going to Los Noches."
"...In fact, I will expect you to be dressed," he said. He turned and pushed the door to her room back open, flicking on the light. The white dress was laid out over the covers. "This, however, you will keep secret. Or I will will kill one of your friends the moment I arrive."
"Harsh conditions. Don't I even get to try it on and see if I like it first?"
"None of us get to try it on," he said. "We are born this way."
She knew what he was saying. In fact, it hurt her heart, to think about. Still, he was the opposition, and she wasn't about to start letting him get to her before she'd even been kidnapped. So: "You're all born wearing dresses? Well that must make it hard to tell one person apart from another."
He narrowed his eyes at her. "I will come for you tomorrow evening, woman. Be ready."
A garganta opened up behind Ulquiorra, and he stepped easily back into it. Reality sewed its mouth around him, and he was gone.
Outside, the storm raged on.
"Shit." Orihime took one shaky step forward before she found herself sitting on the ground, head in her hands. She'd forgotten how intense he could be. And for that matter… "I forgot how hot he is."
After collecting herself, Orihime angrily stuffed the dress into the closet. After drying off and changing into presentable pajamas in case she had any other unexpected nighttime visitors, she fell into bed and was asleep within the hour.
~(o0o)~
The dress was different than the one she'd been wearing the first time around. The sleeves had been removed, and there was a black belt hanging at her waist. The skirt portion opened up in two slits over her legs, revealing hakama beneath. Moreover, they had equipped her with white shoulder armor, a cape, and long white gloves.
"Looks like Aizen's taking me a bit more serious," She muttered as she twisted in the mirror. "That, or Ulquiorra. I never did find out who made my dress." The mental image of Ulquiorra at a sewing machine, pins hanging from his mouth while he furrowed his brows in concentration made her laugh.
It was eerie, though, that they'd known her exact measurements. She went ahead and sewed pockets into the dress, for her own convenience and largely just to spite them, but otherwise she could not find any reason to alter the dress. She thought about sewing a knife or something into it secretly, but cast the idea aside. It would only come back to bite her in the end.
Wouldn't it be funny, though, if I showed up at Los Noches with like. A gun? Just. Hi Aizen! Eat lead! Boom, war over. Yeah, sure, good luck finding a gun Orihime. This isn't America, you can't just get one out of a vending machine.
She packed a bag, hoping Ulquiorra would permit it. Underwear, toiletries, the basics. But mostly a lot of books. She'd been bored out of her mind in Los Noches most days, so she was most concerned about entertainment. She packed some drawings things, embroidery material, and a jump rope. She wanted to have something fun to do to stay fit, and if worse came to worst, she could always hang herself with it.
Ah, there's the Orihime I thought left in the future. Guess she's still here after all.
With her bags packed, she set out to the park, where the espada were sure to show up. She made sure to wear her gym clothes, knowing she'd likely get them grass-stained in the fight; if anyone asked, she'd been out for a jog.
She wasn't afraid. Not really. Just ready. Aizen had been a thorn in her side for as long as she could remember, and she was perfectly happy to sacrifice a few months to ending him. What she didn't know was what she was going to do . Everything depended on the timing—she had to be able to get to the hogyoku, and Gin had to be able to get to Aizen. She'd have said that Gin should have just taken Aizen out the moment they'd left to Hueco Mundo, but Aizen was sure to keep himself well protected by his loyal arrancar. Gin would be killed in an instant. They had to wait until the moment was ripe.
Which was going to suck.
She was worried, most of all, about her friends. Already Ulquiorras had proven that the timeline was just the slightest bit off—not just because of his physical appearance, but because of his choice to approach her before the battle. She wasn't entirely certain the battles against the arrancar would go down in the same order or outcome. It was going to be tough to sneak out of her cell in order to play puppeteer for everything.
Manipulating was so exhausting. How the hell did Kisuke do it?
Kisuke had sent Yoruichi over several times to try and dissuade her from getting in the way. He knew very little about her powers, but had decided she was not strong enough for the coming conflict, and had warned her against trying to influence events as she had during the intrusion into Soul Society. She had paid Yoruichi generously in bowls of milk and canned tuna, politely but firmly asking the messenger to tell Kisuke to fuck off.
She was pretty sure that Yoruichi was misinterpreting the 'fuck off' to 'fuck me,' because she seemed more eager for the response every time she showed up. While Orihime hated to be improving Kisuke's sex life, there was Yoruichi to consider, so she said nothing.
Mental middle finger in Kisuke's face, Orihime started out to the park. She wasn't certain when exactly it had been that Yammy and Ulquiorras had shown up, but she'd decided to just go ahead and skip school regardless. She'd gotten so far ahead in all her classes she was pretty sure the little disappearing act she was about to pull wouldn't totally fail her out.
She waited. And waited. And waited.
Eventually she did actually go for a jog, and then another. She was pretty sure it had been before school had gotten out. She threw herself down on a beech and, ignoring her grumbling stomach, stared at the soon-to-be-cratered grass.
"What the heck?" She grumbled. She looked up at the sky, checking for garganta. Discovering none, she narrowed her eyes, looking for any UFOs that could had snatched up Ulquiorra and Yammy while she was busy staring at the ground.
Nothing.
Bored, she finally decided to check her phone. To her horror, she found she had one text from Ichigo. While this usually would not have been so horrific—even if he did send her barely legible text messages regularly—this one struck her with the force of an oncoming semi.
From: Strawberry Head
Hye Inoue just fyi your cousin s here he said he ll wait for you tho
Orihime Inoue, as a matter of fact, had two cousins, both of whom were women, and both of whom would never drop in out of the blue. The text had been sent to her phone half an hour ago.
Fucking Ulquiorra.
Orihime threw her senses wide open, cursing herself once again for letting her guard down. Sure enough—there was a very subtle presence at the Kurosaki household which she recognized immediately. Ulquiorra wanted to show her how easily he could take someone out of her life.
Oh, she'd forgotten how much of a bastard he could be!
Orihime ran. She'd been going to dojo with Tatsuki regularly, both out of friendship and to keep herself in shape, but running all the way across town quickly began to wind her. She had no idea what people would see of her if they couldn't see anything spiritual, but she didn't care—once she was out of breath, she made her shields into a hover-board of sorts and began to coast across town.
Damn that Ulquiorra!
Furious, she tied her hair up into a sloppy ponytail as she sailed. Forget waiting until he insulted her friends to slap him across the face. This time, fate had a bitch slap in store for him early. She was going to drag him out of the clinic by his goddamn ear.
She made it to the clinic. Without pausing to knock, she threw the door open and stumbled inside, a sweat-covered, panting mess. The Kurosakis and guest looked up from where they were having tea in the living room, the family in surprised concern, Ulquiorra in what she could only describe as smug threatening.
"You!" She pointed Ulquiorras down. "Are not my cousin!"
Ichigo looked between Orihime and Ulquiorra—once, then twice. Clever boy, he immediately added a very helpful, "Huh?"
Ulquiorra placed his teacup down gently on the coffee table, and then stood.
"Oh no you don't!"
Orihime wouldn't have him traumatizing Yuzu and Karin. She ran at him, leaping over the coffee table, and slammed into his gigai with all the force of a speeding train. His eyes went wide as they both tipped backwards over the back of the couch. His arms reached out in an aborted motion to steady them as they fell, a tangle of limbs and sharp elbows. Orihime clocked her face on the tip of Ulquiorra's chin, and she was sure she kneed him in the groan as they fell to the floor. She sat up atop of him as soon as they made impact, furious.
"You and I are going to have a talk!"
He narrowed his eyes and moved to pull something from his pocket. She noticed, for a second, that he was wearing dark jeans and a crisp gray v-neck t-shirt. He looked rather nice, actually. But that was besides the point—she grabbed his wrist and yanked it away from his pocket, where he surely had the device to launch him from his fake body.
"Out. Side!" She dragged him bodily to his feet. He resisted, but his fake body held all the strength a lengthy string-bean of a man should have had. She was a stocky five feet two inches of heavy fat and muscle, and she easily kept a firm hold on his wrist, glaring at him all the while. He thought he could take her, human-on-human? Oh boy did he have another thing coming!
"Inoue, what the hell?" Ichigo said.
"Ichigo, I love you, but stay out of this." She dragged Ulquiorra past them.
"Thank you for stopping by!" Yuzu said.
Orihime quickly shelved her anger away and stopped at the door, offering a sincere smile and a quick bow. "It was his pleasure, thank you for having him. See you later!" With that, she threw Ulquiorra outside.
For a moment, she just panted, staring at him, waiting for her face to stop feeling so hot. He stared back cooly, moving his hand down to his pocket. She didn't care if he released his true form outside—she'd shield the house from him.
"You see, then," Ulquiorras said.
"I see what? That you're rude? I already knew that when you barged into my apartment." She glared at him. "So you can get into your enemy's house. I get it. You want to show me that you can kill any one of my friends without me ever having time to come help them."
He nodded.
"You know, Ulquiorra, you can be a real jerk sometimes." She finally felt like she had her breath back. "Come on. Let's start walking to my apartment."
He fell into stop with her.
For a moment, it was quiet.
"Where did you get the gigai?" She finally asked.
"Lord Aizen."
"Oh." She supposed that made sense. "Is Yammy going to come challenge my friends?"
"Yes," Ulquiorras said. "He and I will do so tomorrow, to asses the threat that Kurosaki Ichigo presents."
"If you hurt any of my friends I'll rebel against you."
He nodded in understanding. "For this confrontation, no one shall be mortally wounded. You do know, though, that a war is to come. They will fight, eventually. And so too they will die."
"Sure, pal." Orihime caught sight of herself in a window and sighed. She had a huge V of sweat down the front of her shirt, and two large circles beneath her arms. Tatsuki had chastised her about her lack of stamina.
"I am not your pal," Ulquiorra said.
"Boy, don't I know it."
"I am not a boy," he added. "I am an espada."
"Espada, don't I know it."
Silence.
She could see her apartment in the distance. "I have some bags I want you to take back," she said. "I assume you'll come for me in the evening?"
"What is stopping us from leaving this moment?"
She blinked at him. "You said before that..." She shook her head. "Don't I get to say goodbye before we go?"
He paused, for a moment, thinking. "Yes," he finally said. He pulled a silver watch from his pocket. "You may, if you use this."
"What is it?" She asked, already knowing.
"It will conceal you from the living," he said. "You may say goodbye to one person."
"How am I supposed to say goodbye if they can't even see me?"
"If you do not wish to, then you may simply leave with me now."
"Fine," she grumbled. "Meanie."
He just looked at her.
They reached her apartment. "I don't suppose you'd like to let yourself in again," she muttered, fumbling for her keys. "Sure, sure, when I'm in my underwear and sopping wet you can get in just fine, but when I feel like I'm about to drop dead you have to wait for me to get the door. This deadbolt is a pain, too, it always sticks. I have to use two hands to open it and my landlord won't do anything about it."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"You're kidnapping me, you have to listen to me complain." The lock finally came open. "There we go." To her surprise, Ulquiorra was not the only undead person who had decided to let himself in unannounced in the last twenty-four hours. Rangiku and Toshiro were in the process of making a huge mess by setting up a communications relay in the middle of her living room.
"Sakura!" Despite her best attempts to kick the nickname, Rangiku still liked to teasingly use it.
"Ran?" That was right. Crap. They'd totally been staying with her when she'd been kidnapped last time. It had slipped her mind.
Rangiku hugged her hard, and then just as quickly pulled back. "Oh! You're sweaty!"
"And you're in my house," she said.
Rangiku batted her eyelashes. "Aw, I'm sorry we couldn't call ahead. You don't mind, do you?"
"Not at all," Orihime said. "There's some watermelon in the fridge if you want some."
"You're the best." Rangiku darted forward and kissed her on the cheek. She seemed to notice Orihime's shadow, then. "And who's this ?" She wrangled her eyebrows at Orihime.
"This is." Orihime stopped. Blinked. "Ulquiorra. My… Lover."
"Oh!" Rangiku gasped. "You're together?"
"We're just having sex," Orihime said. Mentally, she was beating herself over the head with a baseball bat. What the heck is wrong with me!? Why did I say that? I'm going to throw myself over the railing and die!
"Wonderful!" Rangiku decided. She looked to Ulquiorra, then. "Congrats on that, by the way."
Ulquiorra just stared at the woman.
"He's shy," Orihime decided.
"Oh, I get it. Well, we won't be in your bedroom, so you can get right to it."
"I just came to pick up my stuff," Orihime said. "We're going to his place for the night."
"Aw, guess that means you won't be around to cook dinner?" Rangiku stuck out her bottom lip. "And you always make the best food, too. I haven't been able to stop thinking about your banana bean bread. With the, uh, the sauce on top. What did you call it?"
"Oh, it's just ketchup and brown sugar heated down to a simple sauce," she said. "You could honestly just make it yourself, I have all the ingredients." And no time to write down the recipe. "Or you could call for takeout. I have my favorite places on a list on the fridge."
"Yeah, I'm not much of a cook," Ran laughed. "We'll order out."
"Rangiku," Toshiro snapped. "You are supposed to be working." He paused. "Hello, Orihime. Thank you for allowing us to use your home."
"Hi Toshiro."
"I'm talking!" Rangiku huffed. "Give me a break!"
Orihime laughed. "I'll just grab my stuff and get out of your way," she said. She turned to Ulquiorra. "Lover boy, you stay here."
He narrowed his eyes at her.
She grinned. "Good boy." She turned to enter the apartment.
He grabbed her by the wrist and forcibly stopped her. Turning her, he whispered in her ear. "If you think you can use these shinigami to orchestrate an escape, you are wrong. The moment you say anything I will slaughter them both and drag you kicking and screaming to Hueco Mundo. You are entirely too flippant for the grave situation you find yourself in."
She yanked her arm out of her grasp. "And you're entirely too flippant about grabbing me. Do it again and we're going to have problems."
His eyes narrowed further.
"Relax," she commanded him. "I'm just getting my bags. You already made your big scary point. I'm shaken to the very core, really. Just. Wait out here and don't make a scene."
"You are not the one in control here."
"I mean. It's my house."
His mouth stayed shut, but his eyes absolutely screamed what!?
"In and out. Promise." Impulsive and entirely too bold now that she had him out of her friend's way, she reached out with her index finger and touched his nose. "Boop!" With that, she flounced around and hurried into the apartment to grab her things.
Bags in hand, she took one last look around her room. She was pretty sure she'd be back—she had no plans to die while she was away. Still, there was a note of finality in the glance she cast around the place.
She wrote out her note for Toshiro and Rangiku, and left them her keys and a check for the next three months of rent and instructions to deal with her landlord. She asked them to look into getting the stupid dead bolt replaced. She hoped that they could intimated the man into actually doing it. While you're at it, she wrote, the light above my door needs to be fixed too. It's been out for like a month now and I can't see the stupid broken deadlock to get it open.
It was nice to think someone else would take care of such things, this once.
Done, and with her dress ready in the bag next to her, she quietly said a few words of casual goodbye to Rangiku and Toshiro. Hugging them both—Rangiku, very happily, and Toshiro with his usual huffing 'don't touch me's—she rejoined Ulquiorra. He looked her up and down, almost as though sizing her up.
She smiled at him.
"I guess it's time, then."
"Get changed," he ordered her. "I will return for you in two hours. Do not bother fleeing; I will find you." He reached out to where she'd put the watch on, and pushed the pin on the side in. The watch began ticking, and tightened around her wrist. She had a feeling she wasn't going to be able to take it off. "Two hours," he reminded her.
"Of course, Ulquiorra-san. Here." She handed him her bags, excluding the one with her dress in it.
He took them with as much dignity as he could muster, staring suspiciously at the cartoon characters on the sides of each bag. He seemed particularly worried about hammataro.
Without another word, he stalked off, presumably to head off to some secret location and open a gargantuan in secret. Orihime looked down at the watch, a thin gleaming thing, and sighed.
"Goodbye, halcyon days," she muttered. She took off into the evening, feeling a little more like her true self. "Let's get this over with."
~(o0o)~
She did not say goodbye to Ichigo.
It was not that she took back her wish to fall in love with him in five lifetimes. She had enjoyed being in love with him, truly, and it had given her imagination plenty of material to fawn over. She was a little bit in love with him even now, with his dorky scowl and punk bracelets. She knew who he wanted to be, and she loved him for it. But he could never love her the way she wanted, and so even under the threat of dying PTSD-ridden and alone, she would not return to him this lifetime.
In fact, he was not even her best friend. Amongst the Karakura gang, she would say she was closest first to Chad, even. Ichigo and Ishida were tied for second, sometimes one-upping each other, depending on the day. Her wedding day, for example, Ishida was defiantly her second favorite, while Ichigo came in at a very far away dead last.
Ahem.
Her best friend in the entire world was still Tatsuki. No matter how weird Orihime was, no matter how changed, Tatsuki was always there for her. She loved the girl, with every corner of her soul, and she was sure that if she hadn't ventured into the spirit world she would have ended up with Tatsuki. As it was in the last timeline, they'd grown very far apart after the winter war, and as Orihime was unable to tell Tatsuki anything, their friendship eventually broke under the strain of secret keeping and things left unsaid. Last she'd heart, Tatsuki had moved to Chiwa and married some sweet blond lady from oversees. Orihime had received a wedding invitation picturing the two of them and their black cat. She had been unable to attend due to being in the hospital at the time.
She didn't like to look back on those days.
Romantically together or not, she was determined to be by Tatsuki's side this time. They would always be friends in one form or another. A princess and her dragon, though they switched their roles so often; together until the end. This time, she'd move to Chiwa with Tatsuki, and she'd rent an apartment ten minutes away and she'd keep the black cat whenever Tatsuki and her wife went on vacation, and they'd have game nights and dinners together, and Tatsuki would call her up to come over and play dumb video games whenever her wife had long hours at work.
Yeah.
Orihime looked like the ghost of a silk princess. She peered at her reflection in the gas station bathroom, brows pinched together. She had a pimple under her chin and she tucked her head down towards he neck to hide it, trying to gauge how she felt about her dress, rather than herself.
Damn, but it did look good.
Carefully, Orihime secured her pins to the sheer neckline of the dress, which settled comfortably high on her throat. She pulled the gloves on, which were attached to her sheer cape, and move about in the shitty gas station LEDs. It would do. She certainly looked more woman than girl, and despite her body's years. She felt more at home that way.
She liked the new high boots, too. They clicked pleasantly against the cracked tile floor, while her dress and hakama swished about her legs. She did a couple of experimental kicks near the door, nodding to herself when she found the range of movement to be rather pleasing.
"Hya!" Another kick. "Ha!" She threw a punch. "Hi-yah!" She struck a woman through the stomach as she entered the bathroom.
Orihime scrambled back with a shriek. She'd forgotten about that—passing through people was such a terrible sensation. She collected herself and quickly left, unwilling to be a spy to the woman who had entered the toilets.
Outside, the last strains of dusk spread long shadows over the road. All about her, people went about their days, heading home to their loved ones and pets. She could have been one of them, if she'd kept to herself. But how could she have? She would never turn her back on anyone in need, no matter the cost to herself. Even with how jaded she had become in her late twenties, she still couldn't let it go. She would never let anyone suffer like she had, if she had the power to stop it.
"Right then."
Tatsuki wasn't asleep yet. She was watching a horror movie in her room, hugging a pillow lazily to her chest, legs sprawled out around her. She was wearing short-shorts and a loose muscle top; no bra. She'd shaved the back of her head again.
Orihime sat on the bed next to Tatsuki and ran her fingers through her friend's hair. She could almost feel it, even though she wasn't really touching Tatsuki. She watched the movie for a bit, smiling when Tatsuki chuckled at the lame special effects. She'd have loved to lounge there with her for the rest of the evening.
"I wish you could hear me," she said. "I don't want you to worry about where I'm going. I know you'll never believe Ichigo when he comes up with something. He's the worst liar. If I had the chance, I'd tell you. I really would." She leaned against Tatsuki, feeling the phantom of the girl's warm shoulder. She leaned over and kissed her friends jaw. Despite herself, she felt tears welling up in her eyes. "You would try to follow me. I know you would, and I don't… I can't even make myself think about it. I would still tell you if I could. I'd protect you if you came to save me. I'll protect you no matter where you go." She laughed a little. Tatsuki was still staring at the screen, totally oblivious. "I love you, you know. You've been my family for years. The only family I have. And I don't want that to go away. So when I come back, you and I, we… we'll go on vacation. To the beach, or something, just the two of us. I don't care if I don't have the money. I'll make it happen. I promise." She kissed Tatsuki's jaw, and then her temple, and her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around her friend and felt herself truly begin to weep when she couldn't truly hug Tatsuki without passing through her.
Tatsuki paused and turned off the TV. She looked around the room. Her eyes passed over Orihime, but she squinted. "Hello?" she whispered.
Orihime knew she could barely sense spiritual pressure, but she put out a quick burst of it, filling it with as much love and hope as she could. Tatsuki blinked in surprise before smiling, turning back to the TV and switching it on. "Smells like Orihime," she whispered, and hugged the pillow more closely to her chest.
"I'll be back soon," Orihime told her. With that, she left the way she'd come. She traveled back out the park where she had started, unsurprised to see Ulquiorra waiting there for her on the bench she'd been sitting on all day.
"Ready to go," she told him.
He stood. "You have been crying," he decided. "Foolish to shed tears for something you cannot change."
"It would be more foolish to deny what I was feeling," she told him. "But you don't know that yet. You don't even know what it's like to have a feeling."
"I am espada," he told her. "I have no feelings."
"You certainly feel irritation. Superiority. Satisfaction. I'm sure you've got loads of other feelings, just waiting to catch you unaware. You'd do well to cry a little, Ulquiorra." She stepped up to him, reaching up to tap the end of one of his tear streaks. "Your body knows what it needs. When you finally realize, too, there's going to be a lot pent up. I'd say between the two of us, I'm the wiser one."
He caught her wrist and pulled it away from his face. "You would do well not to press your boundaries," he told her.
"Or what?" She challenged him. "You'll put me in time-out?"
He dropped her hand. "The watch, woman."
"My name is Orihime Inoue," she told him. She unclasped the watch and dropped it into her waiting palm. The garganta opened besides them. She started into it without his lead. "You would do to remember that , espada."
He followed after her, quiet and contemplative. She watched the sunlight disappear from sight, like a great mouth closing around her, swallow her alive. She did not fear the dark. She knew good things were born of it; one of which walked by her side.
"You are prepared, then, to be received by Lord Aizen?" Ulquiorra asked her.
"The real question, Ulquiorra, is whether he's prepared to receive me ." Glad to have avoided fights and killings and all of that nonsense, Orihime reached the end of the garganta, stepping out into the overwhelming process of Aizen's throne room.
The Espada were stood about like decorations, lining the path to Aizen's throne. Aizen himself sat flanked by Gin and Tousen, looking regal and threatening all at once. Orihime kept her chin raised and stared Aizen down. Carefully, she stepped down onto the marble floor and started towards the throne.
Her steps clicked, echoing in the grand chamber. The espada and their fracion leered and watched as she made her march. Orihime did not spare them her eyes, though she took in their subtle changes in the corner of her eyes. She especially appreciated that Tier's coat came down to rest just over her belly button.
Aizen stared down at her with a smirk pulling the corner of his mouth up, smug as could be. She stared him down and hoped that he could read that there wasn't an ounce of fear in her. She had faced him down before.
What was the worst thing he could do to her, anyway?
"Orihime Inoue." He leered down at her as she reached the end of the throne.
"Aizen Sousuke," she replied. She turned to the other ex-captains, nodding to each. "Kaname Tousen. Ichimaru Gin."
Kaname nodded at her. Gin smiled.
"Welcome," Aizen said, "To Los Noches. I trust Ulquiorra was an adequate guide?"
She just looked at him, waiting for him to get to the point.
"Scared speechless?" He nodded. "It's not uncommon. I'm sure after Ulquiorra's demonstration you understand the power we have over you. Worry not, though. You're one of us now."
"Am I?"
"Don't think of yourself as a prisoner," Aizen said. "You're our guest. I have nothing but good intentions for you, Orihime."
"It's Inoue to you, actually," she said.
His smile fell just slightly. "As the Lord of Hueco Mundo, and Los Noches in particular, I do expect to be treated with certain reverence, Orihime. You may address me as Lord Aizen. You should feel lucky that I chose to address you in such a friendly manner."
"Eat shit and die," she said. "Lord Aizen."
A hush fell over the room.
Aizen's spiritual pressure fell out all at once. Orihime found herself forced to her knees, pressed for breath. It had been a long time since she'd been exposed to such an explosion of pressure, and she decided to stay down so as not to over-show her hand.
"I will never join you," she told him. "Not now, not in a million years."
"Stubborn thing, aren't you? You're supposed to be terrified."
She looked up at him. "You can't hurt me in a way that matters."
He raised a brow. "Well. Stubborn as you are, it doesn't really matter if you think you're one of us or not. What matters is that your precious friends surely think you've joined us. In fact…" he turned his eye to Ulquiorra, who stood dutifully by Orihime's side. Aizen grinned. "Ulquiorra."
"Yes, my lord?" He stepped forward, just passed Orihime.
"While I understand your wish to go without fracion, I think we have a special set of circumstances before us." He pulled his spiritual pressure back in. "Rise, Inoue."
She did, face impassive the whole while.
Aizen waved his hand in a burst of Kiddo. Orihime felt her right shoulder begin to burn and reached up to touch her bicep, staring.
"Ulquiorra, may I introduce you to your new fracion? Do with her as you see fit, just keep her on a tight leash."
Beneath Orihime's hand, black was spreading through her skin. She pulled her hand back, slowly, eyes widening. The pattern of her shun-shun-rika had been tattooed onto her shoulder.
"Yes, Lord Aizen." Ulquiorra sharply bowed.
"That's enough for now," Aizen waved them away. "Be sure she gets settled in, Ulquiorra. I have a feeling she will be a valuable pawn to us in the future."
Shocked at the sudden turn of events, Orihime could only stare at her new tattoo. A cold hand on her other arm broke her from her revere. She looked up at Ulquiorra as he tugged at her, gently, signally for her to follow him.
"Really?!" A familiar screech broke the silence. "That's it?"
Orihime turned around.
Grimmjow parted through the crowd, looking worse for wear. "This human shows up for two seconds, curses you out, and then gets to be a fracion? She's nothing! Not strong enough to even be worth holding prisoner!"
"On the contrary, Grimmjow," Tousen said. "She is quite powerful, for a human."
"I call BS. Anyone else?" Grimmjow looked around the room.
The others shifted, uncomfortable. It was clear they were thinking similar thoughts.
Orihime didn't need to be told what to do. "Grimmjow," she said. She smiled a little at the way he bristled. "Would a demonstration make you feel better?"
He narrowed his eyes at her.
"Well," Gin purred. "You heard the girl. Go and see."
Not one to back down from a dare, Grimmjow marched up to Orihime, tied sleeve swinging loosely at his side. "Well?" He snarled.
"Remove your coat," she said. Silently, she said, sorry Luppi. Fate would go as fate would, though.
"Why?"
"Are you scared?" She challenged.
"No!" He fairly ripped his coat off, tossing it on the floor. He snarled at her, waiting.
Orihime summoned her fairies, which settled both over his shoulder and his back. The tattoo etched itself back into being, and beside it, his arm. Grimmjow's eyes grew wide, and then he began to grin, eyes searching Luppi out. There were gasps all through-out the room as Grimmjow's hand re-formed. Orihime dropped her shields, waiting as Grimmjow flexed his fingers and moved his arm about.
"Now that's what I'm talking about," he growled. He turned to the soon-to-be-ex-sexta. "No hard feelings, yeah, Princessa?" He chuckled.
She turned around, not keen to see the carnage that was to take place, and began walking. Ulquiorra fell into step with her. Behind them, she could hear Grimmjow calling Luppi out and sighed. This was just the way of the beasts, in Hueco Mundo. She had to learn to live with it, for the time being.
"Manipulation of space and time," Ulquiorra said. "You have the power to negate events."
"Yes," she said. "That's why you took me, isn't it?"
He fell silent.
They were fast approaching her room. Orihime slowed her pace, startled when Ulquiorra breezed past it. "But-"
He looked back at her. "Come."
"I." She hurried to catch up with him. "Sorry. I thought…"
He ignored her. "I have never wanted a fracion," he told her. "You are an inconvenience. I shall do what Lord Aizen orders, but do not expect any sort of fondness from me. If you are to join me on missions, you will fend for yourself, or you will die."
She blinked at him, surprised. "Missions? But I thought…"
"You thought wrong. I will have your things delivered to our rooms."
"Our rooms?" She stressed the 'our.'
"It is as Lord Aizen ordered," he said. Clearly, he was not pleased.
Orihime tagged along behind him. Secretly, she was just the slightest bit worried about how the timeline had changed so much already. Her, a fracion? She would never have imagined it. And she was sure that as good as it had felt to mouth off to Aizen, she would pay for it in some way later on. She looked at the flower tattoo on her bicep and winced. Maybe she was already paying for it.
She didn't know what she'd expected from Ulquiorra's rooms. A mirror of her own old jail cell, perhaps, or some dark and mysterious bat cave. What she found instead was admittedly… normal.
Ulquiorra had a small apartment-like set up. A main room, a bathroom, and a bedroom. In the main room he had a glass table with two chairs, a white couch, and a large navy blue rug covering the floor. The bathroom was nondescript and mostly white marble, like the rest of the castle. His room, though, had small touches of an actual personality in it. The large bed took up most of the room, the black sheets and pillows topped by a large white comforter, over which was a dark jade blanket. She could see several of his uniforms hanging in one of the open sliding door closets, and he had shelves sparsely stocked with small mementos. A white vase filled with the crystalline branches from one of the desert trees. A tiny skull from a hollow lizard. A small bowl carved from rock, filled with interesting rocks and crystals. She could just see him, wandering about on patrol, his curiosity sparked when he stumbled upon little artifacts that had been enough to take back home in his pockets. She felt her heart well at the sight of the small decorations. It was proof, somehow, that deep down inside him, there was something human.
"I have no rooms for my fracion," he told her. His voice made her jump. "As I have never intended to have any."
"It's fine," she said. "I'll take your couch."
"You are a guest," he said. "As an arrancar, I do not require sleep. You may take the bedroom for the duration of your stay."
"I may be staying for a long time," she told him.
"I doubt it," he said.
Orihime turned back to the room. "You're sure you won't… I don't know. Won't you miss having your own space? I don't want to kick you out, just because Aizen forced you to have me here. Really. I could even go to another room, I'm sure he wouldn't protest."
"I am doing as ordered," Ulquiorra said.
Orihime wondered, for a moment, if this was a punishment for the both of them. A way to tell Ulquiorra to make sure she behaved in the future. Suddenly, she didn't feel so great about her 'eat shit and die' comment.
"Alright," Orihime said softly. "But if you ever want your room back-even just your bed, for a night, I promise I won't protest. Really, I'm used to bumming it on the couch. It wouldn't be uncomfortable, or hurt my feelings or anything."
"Your feelings are the last thing on my mind," he said.
She made a face at him. Annnnnd there goes my concern.
"Well then. Fine. Who should I see about having my stuff brought up here?" She moved into the room proper, which was slightly dark in the eternal night. She moved to the window and noticed the bars on it. She leaned out as far as she could, regardless, her shoulders catching at the bars and preventing her from leaning all the way out.
"I will see to it," he said. "As a fracion, your actions reflect on me. Remember this. I will not hesitate to reprimand you as any other espada would with their own fracion."
"Except that you're under orders to see that I don't die," she said. "So you won't terminate me."
He narrowed his eyes at her.
"What?" Orihime leaned back into the room. "Just laying out the facts, boss."
"You will address me as Ulquoirra," he said. "Do not refer to me so familiarly as you would another human."
"Got it." She turned her eyes back to the crescent moon. She'd missed it, in a way. "I'll keep your room clean and won't touch any of your things. So don't worry about leaving me alone. I know you probably have things to attend to that you won't want me tagging along for." She pushed her hair back out of her face as a cold wind blew into the room. "I forgot about the breeze," she mumbled to herself.
"Forgot?" He asked. "You have been to Hueco Mundo before?"
Whoops . "Yes. It was a very long time ago, though."
He regarded her openly for a moment before turning around. "I will procure something with which you may tie back your hair, if you are concerned. I shall return with your things within the hour. Do not leave this room, and do not let anyone else in. Am I understood?"
"Crystal clear," she said, rolling her eyes.
"A metaphor, I assume," he said. He turned sharply on his heal, the flaps of his coat fluttering behind him. Without another word of goodbye, he was gone.
For a minute, Orihime continued to look around the room, to see if there was anything she'd missed. Satisfied, she slipped into the main room and tried the door, just to see if it was locked. To her surprise, it swung wide open the second she tried the handle.
As a fracion, your actions reflect on me. Remember this.
She'd put off sneaking out for the moment, then. Better to wait and see what happened. She was sure she was being watched, and she wanted whoever it was that was observing her to think that Ulquiorra had a good hold on her. She'd feel bad if he got in trouble for her rebellion.
Damn it. As much as she hated to admit it, Aizen really was smart. He'd recognized that she was too headstrong to be caged like a bird. It wasn't going to be like last time-now he'd use other things against her to keep her in line.
She sat on the couch to think, door closed.
It wasn't like she and Ulquiorra were friends. So far, all he'd done was insult her and order her around. It wasn't like she should feel bad about making him look incompetent. He was the one who'd kidnapped her to begin with. And she knew he wouldn't hesitate to hurt her or anyone else. So what did she care if he got in trouble?
She looked back towards the bedroom, where those small artifacts were sitting, untouched by dust. She stared at her lap, stomach hurting with the force of her feelings. She remembered Ulquiorra, eyes real and alive and full of soul, full of something, something tender, something good, something human, reaching out to her, dissolving into dust, the way he'd said the word heart like it carried physical weight on his tongue. His fingers, brushing hers, bursting into dust…
She shook her head to dispel the memory. That was last time. That version of him didn't even exist.
… Yet.