I apologize for the long wait. I've been busy with school work and such.

I hope this chapter makes it up to you all.

-O-

Chapter 3:

Nightly Rain

It was raining heavily outside with thunder beating on an angry drum.

Sayuri finally made it home. Her parents were furious –not because she had brought home a boy, no they couldn't even see him when she came tumbling in through the door. Instead, they simply asked her if she had scoliosis due to the strange way she was walking as she carried the "invisible" teen male on her left shoulder.

No, they were not furious because of the bleeding boy being dragged up the stairs to her room without any help.

They were furious simply because she was soaking wet. In fact, as she was stumbling awkwardly up the stairs to her room with the boy acting as a heavy load for her, they were busy scolding her for being out in the rain. In defense, Sayuri reasoned in her mind that she was only acting as a good citizen of Japan by helping an injured boy in need, but she could not say that to her parents because that plan had backfired already with the policeman.

"Parents," she whispered thinly and icily. "Always yelling, and never asking."

When she had reached her room, she lightly slammed her door close, feeling annoyed at her parents and distraught as to what she would do with the boy. No one could see him except her for some reason. No one even tried to help her in the rain; they just stared at her awkward way of walking because they could not see the boy, who was several inches taller and probably several dozen pounds heavier than herself, that she was struggling to carry.

Aside from the scolding and the staring, Sayuri at least got her exercise for the week. She had dragged the boy home, by herself in the pouring rain, for about half a mile, and she was somewhat impressed with herself.

Sayuri placed a spare blanket on the floor while balancing the strange boy on her shoulder, and laid the young man on it. He had fallen unconscious again after she had spoken her name at the park.

She stared at him with a hint of fear in her eyes.

"I have to change his clothes now, don't I?" she sighed. She had never done that before, but then again, she has never been half squished by a falling boy or walked in the rain carrying a boy or tried to save a boy with a hole in his chest before.

She looked down at him again. "I guess it's a day of new experiences for me."

The blue eyed youth walked to her younger brother's, who was quite tall for his age, room and rummaged through his clothes. When he found pajamas and a sweater that could fit her patient, she quickly walked back to her room, locked her door, and looked back and forth between the clothes in her hand and her patron.

She kneeled in front of his sleeping –at least she hoped he was sleeping –form and took off what remained of his tattered shirt. He had a rather toned body but she was too focused on getting him dry to care. The only thing she noted was the "4" tattooed with black ink on the left side of his chest.

'I wonder what that means…'

When she had finally gotten her brother's sweater on the injured lad, she quickly undid his pants and put on the pajamas just as quickly. He was injured, and she knew she should not add insult to injury by gawking at him perversely while trying to get him on some dry clothes.

She put the tattered clothes away where she can wash them just in case her patient would want them back, though she did not know why he would want them; they were pretty much destroyed and ripped.

And then she began to take off her clothes.

"I need to get in some dry clothes. I don't want to be sick again."

Sayuri rummaged through her closet until she found her pajamas. She turned around to get a towel to dry herself with, but instead saw the same striking eyes.

She furrowed her brows and blinked in confusion. Then, she looked down...She was naked.

A small scream erupted from her mouth, but she managed to suppress it quickly with her hand. She did not need her parents asking her unwanted questions.

She ran to her bed and quickly wrapped her blanket around her.

'How embarrassing," she thought, her face flushed with distress.

The young boy only followed her movements quietly, his expression unchanging from the indifferent look he had worn when he had woken up at the park.

"Where am I?"

Still feeling quite distraught, Sayuri saw his lips barely move but failed to come up with an appropriate response.

The boy frowned. "Answer me woman."

His words slapped her embarrassment away, and snapped her back to reality.

"Oh, um, you're in my room."

He did not say anything. It was silent. The only sounds heard were that of the rain pattering against the window and the distant roar of thunder.

Hating the feeling of being exposed, Sayuri excused herself quietly, ran to the bathroom, got changed, and ran back.

She laughed awkwardly, "Sorry about that."

Again, he was silent.

Reluctantly but softly, Sayuri walked over to him, a small towel and a first aid kit she had grabbed in the bathroom were wrapped in her slender finger.

She quietly –albeit strangely –placed herself in a sitting position and began to clean his wounds with a sanitizing towel. His bleeding had slowed for some reason while they were at the park.

"What are you doing?" he asked monotonically.

"Cleaning your wounds," Sayuri replied softly.

"That is unnecessary."

Sayuri stared at his face for any sign of sarcasm. There was none.

"You have a large gash in the front of your body. I don't want it to get infected because I didn't clean it," she reasoned, the same soft tone never leaving her voice.

"It is unnecessary," was the same reply, "the wound has already healed."

Sayuri gazed upon his ashen face disbelievingly. She looked at the area on his chest that she was cleaning. To her shock and amazement, the wound was practically gone and only the dried blood, minor cuts, and the hole in his chest remained.

She gasped, "H-How did that h-happen?"

"As I said, your actions are unnecessary."

Ignoring for the moment the fact that he had not answered her question, Sayuri responded, "Well, I should still clean off the dried blood on your skin."

Taking his silence as permission, Sayuri gently scrubbed his body from the dried blood staining his perfect porcelain skin.

Afterwards, she dried his hair from the rain that glued onto them and cleaned his face from any remaining blood stains.

When his skin shone with its normal ashen luster, she applied ointments to the minor cuts that still remained. She did not bother to put any on the hole in his throat because it did not appear to be bothering him.

'Weird,' she thought.

"I'm going to move you to my bed now where you can sleep more comfortably," Sayuri then told him.

Again silence, and so Sayuri placed her hands on his upper back and slid his left arm around her neck.

He stumbled to his feet even with her help.

'The gash on his chest may have healed, but he is still quite weak,' she noted.

She led him to her bed a few feet away, making sure that he would not fall.

"There you go," she said as she placed him on the tiny bed. With the young man on it, Sayuri realized just how small her bed was; the male's feet were within centimeters from dangling overboard.

"I'm sorry it's not a bigger bed," Sayuri apologized, "but I hope you can sleep and rest better here."

Expecting an answer, Sayuri gazed hopefully at the boy, but she got none.

"What's your name?" she asked, finally giving way to her curiosity.

"…Ulquiorra Cifer."

She smiled, "It's nice to meet you, Ulquiorra."

Without so much as another word, the strange boy closed his eyes and ran off to the realm of sleep.

But the smile has taken root on Sayuri's face and remained.

'Ulquiorra.'

Sayuri took the warmest blanket she could find and tucked him in as best she could.

It was getting late. She needed to do some homework, but it was difficult to focus on such things with the stranger sleeping nearby. She still had numerous questions she wanted answered.

Why does he have that helmet on his head? What's with the hole in his chest? Why does he have those tear marks on his face?

"But for now, he needs to get better."

-O-

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