A/N: Mature Content

It had started out innocently. Orihime hugged him, admiring the bracelet he had given her. She was enjoying this feeling of closeness between them; one she had denied for too long now, she was realizing.

Ulquiorra's arms had come around her waist and returned the embrace. It was a sweet and comforting gesture, but soon it became a little uncomfortable for him, twisting as he was, seated on the sofa and turning his upper body toward her. To alleviate the strain on his spine, he pulled her onto his lap.

This was uncomfortable for her. Now her seat was on his legs and hers went off to the side, her spine twisted to maintain the hug. And she really liked the hug. She didn't want to break it. There was only one solution: she would have to straddle his legs. She twisted her hips and stepped down onto the floor before lifting her knees to rest on either side of Ulquiorra's thighs, then settled her seat back onto his legs. There, that was better. Much more comfortable.

Also much more contact. Her breasts were squished into his shoulders. She thought this would surely make him uncomfortable. She pulled back, just enough to see his face. Big mistake. She saw how the green of his irises shrank under heavy lids. He looked hungry.

He saw how her cheeks were just beginning to turn pink and how her lips parted, the glistening inner surface visible in the low light. She exhaled as he inhaled her warm, sweet breath. He didn't plan for his left hand to trail up her spine and grasp the base of her head, but it did.

He pulled her head down so their lips met. He was not prepared for her reaction. He had tasted her only hours earlier at her party, but he suddenly felt ravenous as she opened her mouth and his tongue found hers of its own volition. He wanted to taste every part of her mouth. As his tongue explored, his hands grasped her hips, desperate to still the motion she had started while he was distracted by their kiss.

Orihime's brain had shut down in response to his kiss. The connection between them inside their mouths was insufficient and her hips had begun a slow roll up his thighs to his hips on their own, and when she reached her destination, she returned to the point of origin just as slowly, only to do it again. It felt good. She felt his body start to react to hers and her spiritual energy began to seep out of her, encouraging him to let go of his mental restraints and go with the flow.

He didn't know if it was intentional on her part, but it was quickly having an effect on the state of his now semi-erect cock. This did not come as a huge surprise to Ulquiorra. He had been researching relationship stuff; love and sexual relationships. He knew what the potential outcome of their current circumstances could be. He was very much interested in following that path. Her reiatsu was beckoning his. It made the line between them blur; their feelings were clearly on display, and so far, she was most certainly willing.

It was all the encouragement he needed. His hands slipped under her shirt. Her skin was so incredibly soft. He moaned as his fingers glided over her ribs and outlined the curve of her breasts.

Orihime pulled her shirt off over her head without any fanfare.

Ulquiorra's lips trailed kisses along her neck and chest, not stopping as he reached the top of her breasts.

Finally Orihime reacted with a gasp. Until now she had just been on auto-pilot, but his wet lips on her body summoned her wits back to her. She was not terribly surprised when she realized that she definitely wanted this, Looking into his eyes, she rocked her hips over his erection with purpose.

Holy shit. Ulquiorra's wide eyes found hers and saw her determination and need. Her motion caused a friction he had not yet experienced. He felt the change in her reiatsu, a sudden charge as if it had been ignited. The former Espada grabbed her hips, his fingertips sinking into the soft surface, and pushed himself up into her. A tiny half smile played on his lips as she whined softly in response.

Everything was perfect. She was perfect.

He pulled down the straps of her bra as he continued to roll his hips into hers. He smoothed his hands over the curve of her shoulders and continued to pull her bra down to her waist. He wasted no time, filling his hands with her breasts and groaning in satisfaction. If he thought her body was soft before, it was nothing compared to her taut, heavy, silken tits that he now fondled; the pads of his fingers detected the even softer still nipples as they explored the rise and curve of them. It was not until his second pass, when he felt a hardening if that coin-sized area, that he stopped nibbling at her throat and pushed her back to sit on his knees, taking the opportunity to drink in the sight of Orihime topless.

The intensity of his spiritual pressure softened. "You are so beautiful," he said, his eyes full of adoration and his voice scarcely more than a whisper.

The electric, frenzied drive in Orihime's reiatsu dampened at his words, and her molten gaze softened to one of heart wrenching affection. She brought a hand to cup the side of his face and rubbed his cheekbone with her thumb, then leaned down to place a slow, soft kiss on his lips. She pulled up the front of his t-shirt and pressed her bare skin into his, breaking the kiss and burying her face into the crook of his neck, breathing him in.

Orihime's turbulent reiatsu had died down to a gentle hum as it filled the area around them. Ulquiorra's meandered through hers freely and without desperation. The mood had changed.

Ulquiorra's hands released her hips, one laying there lightly, the other slowly rubbing her back, content to just feel her body close against his. "Would you… Can we lie down?" he offered.

She nodded into his neck, and the hand on her hip moved to brace them both as he reclined onto the sofa, bringing her with.

After his back hit the sofa, he tilted her chin up and brought their lips together in a slow, lazy kiss. For several minutes, all he did was peck at her lips as his hands trailed up and down her back. Every few pecks or so, he'd increase the intensity and need in his kiss, his tongue meeting hers briefly or sucking one of her lips into his mouth, but always backing off after a moment when she didn't reciprocate. She didn't pull away though, so he didn't give up until about ten minutes later.

"Woman, is there a problem?"

"What do you mean?"

"Twenty minutes ago, you seemed intent on escalating the level of intimacy between us, but now you seem, er, disinterested."

"I'm sorry… I am not disinterested. It's just that I don't want to do this to spite Kurosaki and Ishida; you deserve better than that. When we do, I want it to be because we are just thinking about each other, not because a couple of… of… of frenemies pushed us together."

Ulquiorra raised one eyebrow and asked, "When we do?" That was the most interesting part of what she said, as far as he was concerned.

Orihime blushed and smiled, biting her lip. "I know I've kept you at arm's length, Ulquiorra. I'm sorry. I was afraid of repeating the mistakes I made in my last relationship. But things are different with you. I can tell that you care about me for me, instead of what I can do for you. You've shown me that again and again," she paused and sighed. "I'm sorry I've put these artificial restrictions on our relationship, and I… I'm ready to take them off."

"So you mean we can train together at Urahara's again without a chaperone?" he asked, a curious look on his face.

"Yes."

"And the next time I walk you home, I can come inside?" he asked, this time a small smile playing at the corners of his lips.

"Yes…" she replied, her own mood following his and her voice sounding a bit more playful.

He saw her eyes twinkle, and it reignited some of the fire he had felt earlier. His hands grabbed her hips again and trailed up the sides of her spine, spreading at her shoulders and pulling back down her sides to cup the sides of her breasts. He pushed her up and off of him a bit to watch his hands as her soft flesh pillowed around his fingers, then lifted his head to capture her lips. After a moment he broke the kiss and looked into her eyes, asking in a low, silken voice, "And you won't run away if I do this?"

Her cheeks flushed further and she shook her head no before dipping back down to bring her lips to his, her tongue coming out to taste him again. If she had thought that the fire between them earlier had been extinguished, she was very much mistaken. She could see that he wanted her. She knew she wanted him. Whether or not to pull the trigger...

"Ulquiorra," she began to ask between kisses, "I know you are new to this life still," she stopped speaking and suckled on a point near the angle of his jaw.

His neck tensed, the rippling of nerves her action caused throwing him off for a second. "Yes, I am. What does that matter?" he asked after her was able to think past that reaction.

She sat up on his hips then and looked down at him, seeming to be deep in thought. She took in the sight of his body beneath hers as she contemplated how she wanted to word her question. Her hands found his and she threaded her fingers through his, and despite the distraction her mind was providing her at the moment, her hips still moved over his in small, slow circles.

"It matters because I don't know if you will be able to answer my question. You might not understand it."

"What is it, Woman? Whatever you ask I assure you I will answer," he replied, a bit of anguish in his voice as she passed over him again. He was getting impatient.

She took a deep breath. Okay, he asked for it. Here goes nothing.

"Do you love me?"

Silence.

She paused, her motion stilling and her fingers relaxing their hold on his as time slowed down, each second that ticked by lasting a lifetime, his hesitation registering to her as rejection.

He had not been prepared for this. In his quest for knowledge about relationships and sex, he often overlooked or passed by mentions of love. He had a hard enough time dealing with and identifying the simpler emotions, much less the four-lettered big bad boy. He wasn't sure he knew what it was. He couldn't describe it. He couldn't contain it to a simple idea. It seemed to him to be an all-encompassing sort of emotion one felt for another person. A person to whom one was wholly devoted.

He cleared his throat and his eyes found hers. They looked worried. The answer came to him in a small, gentle realization; a raindrop falling onto his face.

"Yes."

He sat up and cupped her face. "Yes," he said again, more focused, his green eyes searching hers, looking for acceptance. He found only wonder. He brought his lips to hers again and kissed her slowly, drawing her bottom lip into his mouth and holding it for a bit before pulling it with him as he pulled his face back. Apparently she needed a bit more convincing.

"I love you, Woman. I did not understand this feeling, but I have felt it for you as long as I can remember in this life, and part of my last. I-"

His words were cut off by a crushing kiss as Orihime's mind finally processed what he was saying to her. Her hands pressed his body to hers behind his back as she whined into his mouth, her tongue lapping along the seam of his lips.

He let her into his mouth and she hummed in satisfaction, tilting her head to deepen the kiss as her hips started moving again. After a couple of minutes of this, she was certain. She knew exactly what she wanted.

She stood up off his lap and off of the sofa and held out a hand to him. "Come with me," she said. It was not a request and there was no room for debate.

Ulquiorra complied, taking her hand and allowing himself to be led into her bedroom.

Ichigo sat in Uryuu's apartment, watching the Quincy pace back and forth through the kitchen. "What are we going to do? We can't just let them be together. He's a hollow! An arrancar! He was Aizen's right hand! He killed you! He took my arm off! We can't let him touch her! Kurosaki, how can you just sit there?!"

"What the hell do you want me to do about it, Ishida? You saw what happened tonight. I mean, yeah, usually the guy seems about as dangerous as a sack of potatoes, but it looked like he was about to incinerate his gigai. And I'm sure Urahara would not be pleased if that were to happen. Besides, Orihime's reiatsu was all over him. I'm willing to bet if I went after him she would defend him," the orange-haired soul-reaper countered.

"Big deal, she'd get over it eventually-"

"No, Ishida, you don't understand. There's more to it than that. If she gets too involved with anything while I'm fighting, I don't know what will happen. My hollow wants to do bad things to her. If my hollow takes over… I can't let that happen in any case. As long as Inoue and Cifer are connected like that, I don't trust myself."

"You think he's more powerful than you now. You're afraid."

Ichigo threw his head back and laughed. "Yeah right. Not in a million years."

"It's okay. Don't be afraid," Orihime said softly as she looked into his troubled eyes and took his hand. She stood before him, her back to her bed, completely bare.

Ulquiorra stood before her in just his underwear. His gaze traveled to their joined hands and he sighed. "I'm not afraid, Woman. I just… My research has informed me that this is a rite of passage and matter of great importance. The significance feels heavy."

She smiled at him. "It should. It is a big deal."

"Are you sure you wish to share this experience with me?" Ulquiorra's face colored as he asked the question, his eyes pinched as he expected his love to be rejected still.

Orihime closed the distance between them and hugged him, pressing her body into his. "I am absolutely certain. I love you, Ulquiorra. I'm ready."

With that she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him again. His lips parted slightly and she slipped her tongue into his mouth, slowly lapping at his and making small, relaxed vocalizations through her nose. There was less urgency than before. She wanted him to know that she meant her words.

She allowed her reiatsu to cocoon around him, a warm, soothing mist that shimmered and gave the area a glow similar to that of candlelight. It didn't take long for Ulquiorra's body to begin to relax and for him to return her kiss, his hands sliding from her upper back to her ass, gripping it firmly and pressing her body closer to his. She could feel his length press against her belly through the fabric of his boxer briefs, and a shiver passed through her as heat pooled between her legs.

Ulquiorra's spiritual pressure began to seep into the room; a dark, heavy presence that at once made the space seem smaller and more intimate, and provided a backdrop against which Orihime's warm light shone ever brighter. He took a step toward her bed, causing her to take a step back. Then another, then another until the back of her legs came in contact with it. Her knees buckled and she sat on the soft surface, breaking their kiss, and situating her so that her face was right in front of his pelvis.

A small smile tipped up the corners of her lips as she regarded the shape of his cock through the fabric, and her eyes flickered up to his in a questioning expression.

Ulquiorra's eyes were dark and glistening with need. His usually pallid cheeks were flushed red and his kiss-swollen lips were open, emphasizing the roughness of his breath. He was gorgeous as he looked at her with reverence.

Orihime pressed her teeth into her plush bottom lip as her fingertips found their way to the waistband of his underwear and began to pull them down. Her breath came out of her in a quick huff as the head of Ulquiorra's cock came into view. She had imagined it plenty of times, but seeing it in person; the pale protrusion looked much more like a marble carving, an anatomically perfect specimen that perhaps belonged in an art museum. She kept pulling the boxer briefs down, and then she saw the bit of color, a bit of pink and warmer colors. It twitched in response to the change in temperature, giving the object the appearance of being part of a living body rather than just art.

Once she had pulled the garment down to his knees, Ulquiorra stepped out of it, just watching her regard his body with curiosity. It wasn't until she leaned forward and kissed the side of his length that he closed his eyes and hissed. The image she presented him with was too erotically powerful. "Woman, please…" he whimpered, not sure exactly what he was asking for.

Orihime was surprised with how warm and soft his skin felt under her hand and lips. She wanted to explore his body more thoroughly, but she had heard from other girls at school how things went; how often a man's first time was over before it started. She didn't want that. Her exploration would have to wait for another time. She scooted back on the bed and laid down. "Ulquiorra?"

The former Espada opened his eyes and looked down at his girlfriend. She looked so beautiful. His chest felt full and tight as he drank in her image. "Yes, Orihime?"

"I love you."

"I love you, Woman."

"Come," she beckoned then, and he joined her on the mattress, allowing her to guide him so that his hips nestled between her thighs. He could feel the heat radiating off of her. It made him feel dizzy and alive. He could smell her arousal. But it wasn't until the tip of his cock made contact with her soft, wet curls that he lost the ability to breathe.

"Orihime!" he whispered, suddenly gripped by fear.

The redhead was ready for him. She felt nothing but love and heat and passion and a strong, overwhelming need. "Don't be afraid, Love," she murmured, kissing his hair and running her hands over his arms. "I love you so much, Ulquiorra. I want you," she said as she brought her feet up the backs of his legs, encouraging him to get closer. She did love him. She had been fighting her feelings for so long, trying to protect herself from the kind of hurt she had experienced with Ichigo. Now that she had broken down those walls, there was nothing separating her from Ulquiorra. She wanted this. As he nudged past her folds, she gasped.

"Are you alright?" Ulquiorra asked as he froze in place, searching her face for a sign of pain.

Orihime smiled at him and allowed her spiritual pressure to bloom around him in renewed focus. "I'm better than alright. I'm with you," she murmured, suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. "Please, Ulquiorra. I want you inside of me. I need you."

Ulquiorra took a deep breath and nodded, kissing her lips first and then biting his lower lip as he pressed into her. Once the tip was engulfed in her impossibly wet heat, he stopped, panting, and stared at her face.

Her eyes were closed, pressed together, as she lost herself in the sensation of him joining her. When he stopped, her eyes flew open. "Is something wrong?" she asked, worried he would not continue.

"I- I'm inside of you," he whispered, completely in awe, his eyes searching hers for answers to questions he didn't know how to voice.

Orihime smiled at him and wrapped her legs around his hips. "You are," she said, pushing him further with her legs.

It was very tight. Ulquiorra was not sure he could take this. It was too much. Too hot. Too tight. Too powerful. Then, his belly touched hers as he bottomed out.

"We're together now," Orihime whispered, pulling his face to hers and kissing him deeply. They kissed for several long moments before the initial shock wore off Ulquiorra's mind.

Then instinct raised its awareness. Ulquiorra's reiatsu flared, and Orihime's eyes widened as its violent energy flooded the room. She was not afraid.

Ulquiorra pulled his hips back slowly and pushed back into her carefully, testing the motion and her reaction.

Orihime moaned quietly. The feeling of him stretching and filling her was a need she hadn't known she had, but now that it was being fulfilled, she knew she would never be satisfied with anything less again. "Ulquiorra," she murmured as he paused, again fully seated within her.

It was all the encouragement he needed. He pulled back again and then snapped his hips back into hers. She gasped. He grunted. This was it. He knew what to do.

Ulquiorra kissed her as he continued to drive into her, nipping at her jaw and ear before latching onto the side of her neck, sucking the delicate skin into his mouth as he started a driving pace. He released the skin as the need for oxygen overtook him, and he held her by the shoulders, his breath rasping into her ear in rough gasps.

It felt so good. She could feel her entrance swelling and contracting around him. His spiritual pressure was merging with hers. She could see it when she opened her eyes, surrounding them in a cloud of shadow and light, like a million glittering stars in the night sky, except that that sky was alive and full of their essence. Before she realized what she was doing she was raising her hips to meet his thrusts, whimpering in time with them.

Ulquiorra's own voice became louder as he felt a tightness deep in his belly wind tighter. "Orihime, something is happening," he warned in a tight voice, his thrusts growing shallower and faster.

"I know," she paused, her words cut off by an involuntary squeak. "I know, I'm feeling it to, I'm-" Her mouth fell open and her eyes widened as her vision tunneled and the sound of her own pulse deafened her ears. Her body seemed to choke as her passage constricted and released around him. For a moment she was unable to breathe, and as the first wave of her orgasm passed, she hissed, "Ulquiorra, I'm coming!"

He knew. How could he not? One more push was all he needed until his own release washed through him, the first pulse of seed ripping through him almost painfully. "Orihime," he ground out, his voice reflecting the excruciating intensity of the experience.

A few more slower, more randomly-timed thrusts, accompanied by spurts of his come and the spasms of her passage milking him was all it took, and it was over. He collapsed on top of her, struggling to catch his breath. Her arms gripped his shoulders and her legs held him tight to her, unwilling to let go of the intimacy they had just shared.

"I love you so much, Ulquiorra," she murmured into his hair, tears pricking the corners of her eyes.

"Woman," was all Ulquiorra was able to say, as his eyes closed and he tried to regain his breath.

Their spiritual pressure was starting to dissipate and return to normal. Eventually they both fell asleep in each other's arms, content and peaceful.

Across town, there were a couple people feeling less than peaceful.

"You felt that, didn't you?" the quincy asked.

"Yep."

"What do you think that was?"

"What the fuck do you think I think it was, Ishida?" Ichigo growled.

"I feel like we need to be on guard. That was a lot of reiatsu. It didn't feel the same as anything I've felt before. It wasn't exactly human or hollow or shinigami. Did you recognize it?"

"Tch. Yep. It was them."

"And?"

"And the fucking hogyoku."

SO! LONG TIME NO SEE! That was some severe writer's block! Please drop me a line and let me know if I did the delay justice. XOXO +JKRob