If anyone is wondering when the romance will happen just wait a little more. We need some flirty buildup! But I promise it will be worth the wait~~~ hehe

Hope you enjoy! And thanks again to everyone! Reading reviews make me so happy!

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Chapter 5

Orihime shifted through her bag of donuts. After calming down she was regretting her actions. Touching someone randomly is creepy and she had no clue why she did it. She also didn't understand why her heart decided to race almost every time they made eye contact. She admitted he was very attractive to her. But she sees lots of attractive guys and this never happens.

Do I like him?

Orihime groan at this idea. There was no way. If anything she might be curious by him but liking him was going too far. Maybe it was friendship she wanted from him? Or maybe it was to use him to get to his cat.

Why would a college student want to be friends or be loved by a loner high school student? Besides you don't need friends remember…

Orihime sighed. Wanting to change her though processed she picked out a random donut. It had a light green icing and seemed to be a cream filled one.

Lime flavor perhaps?

She took a big bite and took in its flavor. The taste was rich and nostalgic. It was melon. Anything that was melon flavored was her brother Sora's favorite. He bought so much melon-flavored things; it soon became her favorite too. She hadn't had this taste in over a year. She took another bite as tears welled in her eyes. She missed him so much. He was the only one that cared for her. Life was so much better when he was alive.

Sora was 10 years older then her. Since the time he was 18 they had lived alone together. Before then they had lived with a distant relative. Orihime didn't remember her parents but according to Sora, it was better that she didn't. It didn't really matter to her anyway because she had her brother. Everyday was full of laughter. It wasn't until Orihime was about to start her last year in middle school when something started to change. Sora became weak. He was sick more often and came home later from work. She never forgot that day he sat her down and told her what was wrong. It was cancer.

Orihime put her half eaten donut down and wiped away her tears. A simple thing like a melon donut could bring out all these emotions she was trying to suppress. It had been a long day.

Making her face dry, she finished her pastry. She wanted to get an early start tomorrow. Only a few boxes remained to be unpacked and she wanted to go out and explore some more. She got ready to turn in for the night.

As she lay in bed she wondered what colors she would paint her walls. She wanted it to be colorful. Maybe her room should be rainbow? She already knew what she wanted the living room to be, Mint. She wanted to have the same color living room as she did when she lived with Sora. They had painted it together. She remembered they almost had just as much paint on themselves as they did on the walls.

Orihime smiled at this and slowly drifted off to sleep.

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Orihime was in an intense thought. She had two choices. It wasn't going to be easy. In her hands were two colors. Yellow or coral. She had been standing in front of the paint selections for a good 20 minutes. Both colors would match her things in her room. Both colors she liked. She was having a battle in her head.

Yellow! No…coral! NO NO… YELLOW…. CORAL

"….hime?"

YELLOW….CORAL….

"…Orihime…?"

Hearing her name she paused from her silent battle.

You got to be kidding me…

Ulquiorra stood before her. He looked a little different then usual. Instead oh his standard nice teaching clothes, he was wearing dark worn skinny jeans with a white belt. He wore a slim fitting green flannel button up as well as a red slouchy beanie. It made him look more like a college student then his work clothes did. She could tell that they shared the same taste in fashion.

My god why does he have to be so handsome…

Orihime couldn't help but drop her jaw in shock (and a little in awe). The memory of her touching his skin for longer then natural came into her mind. Her cheeks flushed in humiliation. Ulquiorra remained unchanged.

"Going to paint something?"

It took a few minutes for Orihime to register his words. She looked and him oddly before looking down at the paint strips in her hands.

Answer now before you seem like a crazy person

"Yes….I want to paint my apartment. I already know what color I want the living room but I am unsure for my bedroom. It is between yellow or coral"

Good job. Full sentences. So proud

Ulquiorra looked at her paint strips in her hands. He raised his hand to his chin as he thought.

Stop that… that is a dangerously sexy pose….

" I'd say yellow. When the light comes in through the window, it will really brighten the room,"

"Thank you…I think you a right. Yellow it is!"

"Will this color be for your living room?"

He pointed at the test strip that had the mint color Orihime wanted.

"Yes! I really this color,"

"Good choice…what about your bathroom? Will you paint that?"

Bathroom? She hadn't even thought of that. The more she thought about it the more she realized it was overdue with a paint job. Orihime got excited. She actually really enjoyed doing home projects like this.

"Never even thought of that! Oh man…now I need to decided a color again!"

"Might I suggest a somewhat darker color so that water stains won't be as visible,"

Orihime gave an enthusiastic nod in agreement as she turned to look at all the different hues again. Ulquiorra stood as well looking at the selections before him. Orihime wondered what he was doing here. Did he come over just to say hi? Did he need to paint too? No that would have been too much of a coincidence.

"What brings you to the hardware store?

Without looking at her, he answered. He seemed almost deep in thought as he held two color strips in his hands.

" I want to repaint my bedroom and came to see my options,"

I stand corrected. Such coincidences exist.

"What color is it now?"

"White"

Somehow Orihime expected that. She hated white wall in a house. It was so impersonal and not to mention boring. Judging from his choices he had in his hand, off white and light gray, he needed help.

" No no no!"

Orihime took the strips out of his hands and put them back,

"Color! You need color! Don't be boring!"

Ulquiorra's brows furrowed at her comment.

"There is nothing wrong with basic walls. It is just a wall. Who cares what color it is…"

"No PERSONALITY! And if it doesn't matter… then there is no harm in some color!"

Orihime never knew she was so passionate about paint. She half cared about the colors but more so just wanted to see what reactions he would give her. He scowled as he looked back at the test strips in the wall.. Maybe something she said struck a cord with him. After a few minutes he picked up a color and presented it in front of Orihime.

"Here"

It was a dark purple color. Orihime was surprised he would pick such a color for himself.

"I love this color! Your bedroom will look really nice with this!"

"No. Not for my room, for your bathroom,"

Orihime took the paint sample with a blush on her cheek. The purple was actually perfect. She wanted to do that same for him and she knew exactly which one. She reached for a forest green.

"Take this!"

Ulquiorra examined what she had chosen. A look of uncertainly washed all over his face. Maybe a whole green room was too much for him. Then Orihime had an idea.

"Not every wall. Just one or two walls. I think they call it an accent wall or something, that way you can keep your basic white but still have some color. I think it would be great,"

Orihime grinned up at him. She was proud of her compromise. He seemed to be warmed over with the idea and gave a nod of approval. They had picked out their paints. Ulquiorra gave her some tips while they walked throughout the store together getting other supplies. Orihime looked at all the stuff she was about to get. She had taken the bus to get here; hopefully she can carry this all without any problem. Orihime may have looked really thin but she was very strong.

All of her supplies went into two large bags. They were very heavy but nothing that a little effort couldn't solve. She prepared herself for her journey home when Ulquiorra spoke again.

"How did you get here?"

"I took the bus, why?"

"Ridiculous. I cannot have you carrying such heavy thing to and from a bus while I have a perfectly good car you can use. We are going to the same anyway.."

Orihime really couldn't argue with that. She accepted his offer and got in. The car smelled like him. While they were picking out paints she had noticed his scent. It might have been some sort of cologne or soap, but whatever it was; Orihime liked it. They talked some more on the way home. The topics were nothings special mostly along the line of Ulquiorra telling her where to get things in down or their tastes in music. Orihime was surprised at herself about how easy it was to talk to him. Their sense humor somehow matched each others making the flow of their conversations, at times, seamless. She hadn't had a fun meaningless conversation in a year.

The ride was only 15 minutes from the hardware store to their apartments. A part of her was sad it was over. Ulquiorra helped her take her bags to her apartment. Both stood in silence. Their unbroken conversations from the car was now gone. Even though she didn't want their time together to end, she spoke first.

"Thanks again for everything…."

Orihime bit her lip wanting to say more. She just didn't know what. They had no problem at the store or on the car, why now?

"You are welcome…and thank you. I think the green will look good…..I…I will see you on Monday….Don't forget your homework…"

Just as rushed as he spoke, he took off towards the stairs. Without thinking Orihime called out to him. She wanted…no needed to somehow be alone with him again that wasn't school.

"Do you want to paint together? Maybe one weekend my place and one weekend yours?

She couldn't believe her own voice. It acted all on its own.

What are you thinking?! Are you stupid? Ahhhhhhh he is going to think you are strange. Stupid! Stupid! See him again outside of school? Jeez girl wake up! You are lucky he will decline…..

"Okay…"

What?...

Before anything else could be said he had disappeared up the stairs. Orihime opened her door and threw her bags in. She quickly shut the door and sank down to the floor clutching her heart. He had said yes and it brought on an emotion Orihime didn't expect.

Yearning.