Thank you for all your reviews! They brought such a large smile to my face. I am also very thankful to those who put this story in their favorites and alerts.
Congratulations to all those who got the answer correct to the question on Chapter 18! Give yourself a pat on the back, and I hope you enjoyed the preview to Chapter 19.
Please continue reading my story! I truly appreciate it.
-O-
Chapter 19:
Jaded Hearts
The pained expression on the girl's face could not be missed. She was constantly tossing and turning, her hair forming a dark halo around her head. Beads of sweat could be seen streaming down her neck.
"What is wrong with her?" came a baritone voice, worry barely audible in his tone.
"I don't really know," a soft female voice answered, "Her body and soul are both...injured. It's something I've never dealt, especially since she is just a typical human with no powers to speak of."
"Those bastards! Why didn't they take her to the Soul Society in her spirit form rather than in her human one?" a gruff and irritated male inquired.
In simple confidence, the Espada commented, "I deduce that it was because they were unsure as to what she is. They probably hypothesized that she may not be human, and so turning her into her spirit form may have caused an unwanted hazard."
"But she is human," the orange haired teen huffed, "The only reason they thought she was possibly inhuman was because of your spiritual residue that attached to her spiritual energy like glue!"
"Ichigo please," the woman interrupted, "We should just focus on getting her better."
The hollow did not reply. It was not like he could deny the accusations. Since the incident, some sort of annoying unnamed thing kept gnawing at his mind. Perhaps it was guilt, but that of course would be blasphemy. After centuries of feasting on souls, why would he feel it for endangering some woman he hardly knew?
No, wait. She is no stranger. He has not known her for long, but it seems as though he knows her. The Cuatro was aware that through his short time with her, he had memorized her face, her actions, and her personality: the emotive depths of her eyes, the movement of her hair in the wind, the subtle tones in her voice, the sudden changes in her expression...
He had come to know this woman. She was no stranger to him.
Green jewels fixated their gaze on the flower's uneasy form - memorizing all the signs of pain that she portrayed as she laid there in a restless and tormented unconsciousness.
This was his fault.
At least he had managed to sneak her out of that prison where she was essentially condemned to die. It was lucky that they had arrived at the portal location during the changing of its guards. Ichigo and himself where able to easily enter the portal without being seen. The Soul Reapers are bound to come after Ichigo during their search for her. They will be ready.
She is, as of right now, safe, but because of him, her body had been subjected to the stress of being in the Soul Society. Her soul has also paid a price.
Humanity, it seems, is a pain in the ass.
-O-
She was surrounded in an endless white world. It was filled with so much light that her own shadow could not exist.
This place was too blinding. Her eyes did not like it. It hurt.
"Ulquiorra," she whispered, but the white world was so incredibly silent that his name resounded in the emptiness.
"Help me..."
She turned around in a circle, her eyes squinting in pain as she scanned for any sort of darkness that would mark the end of the bright space.
She looked for any signs of the darkness that symbolized him.
Prior to meeting him, the night had terrified her because it felt as though she was being suffocated by the lack of sight. The night to her had been this thick blanket of black. However, now she realized that the darkness was like a comforting hug. You could not see anything, but you could feel it around you.
The darkness was an embrace. His embrace. His presence.
This light, on the other hand...This light set her eyes on fire. It hurt to even look around.
Thus, she sat there, her face hidden in her hands as if to protect them from the overbearingly bright world.
She sat there helpless.
All she could do was wait for her night to come.
-O-
"How..." she heard soft words flutter in the air. "...been so..."
However, they were chopped up in parts. The words were consciously spoken just above a whisper. They were so hard to hear, but it was to this silent conversation that pierced through to Sayuri's slumber.
Feebly, her oceanic eyes welcomed the world. Her body felt so incredibly sore as though she had ran a marathon just minutes before.
As she clumsily sat up on the futon she laid on, Sayuri discovered that she was in a bare and traditional Japanese room. Her futon was the only furniture that graced the space, and a bowl of water laid beside her. She noticed that she still donned the white robe that the Soul Society had issued her to wear. Well at least no one changed her clothes in her sleep, but that did not abate the unease she felt.
'Where am I?' came her terrified thought.
She searched her memory for anything that mimicked the room before her.
Nothing. She has never been in this room before.
The young teen began to rise, only to find her legs trembling under her own weight until her knees buckled, unable to hold her up much longer. The futon fortunately softened her fall to an almost inaudible thud.
She sat there, her mind attempting to formulate some sort of escape strategy in case the need arose.
It was during this cognitive moment that the fragmented whispers, that had initially woken her up, made their way to her ears.
"...so glad that..."
Sayuri took a sharp inhale at the soft noise, believing that it was her captors. However, she realized upon closer inspection of the voice that there was no malignant intent in the words it spoke.
"...revive..."
She could only hear fragments that did not join to form a coherent sentence in her head. Curious, she crawled towards the paper door that separated her from the voices.
Placing her slender fingers on the door's frame, she quietly pried the door open just a sliver so that that her eyes could view the room on the other side.
Her blue orbs widened at the sight that met her.
'Ulquiorra...' she named, 'But...who is she?'
The ashen man was sitting before a very beautiful and voluptuous female with exotic ginger hair; she noted that the girl was practically as curvaceous as Rangiku. From her youthful face, Sayuri knew that the stranger was around her age.
She felt an emotion that equated to a hot iron burning her chest. Her heartbeat became rapid.
'She's so beautiful,' she concluded, the ugly head of inferiority revealing its infectious presence.
As Sayuri absorbed the scene before her, she heard the maiden speak in a serene voice. "I brought you back because I saw that you were truly a good person. You deserved a second chance to cultivate that goodness and experience something better than just killing."
"How are you so sure that I will not kill you now?" came the familiar melodic voice.
The young woman smiled, and to Sayuri, she became all the more attractive. "You would have killed me already if you wanted to."
The Espada did not reply.
When the silence lasted for a few more seconds, the orange haired female continued, "So why is it that you haven't killed a human yet?"
Rising to his feet as she spoke the last words of her question, Ulquiorra answered, "Because I am trying to learn what the heart is."
The lily girl could only watch in surprise at the deep exchange between her savior and the beautiful woman. It was apparent that they were well acquainted and comfortable with each other's presence. Ulquiorra's normally tense muscles and expression were more at ease.
It is as though he felt secure enough to let his guard drop with this woman.
When the Espada had turned to face the direction of her room, Sayuri was about to run back to her futon and feign sleep, but the sight of the woman rushing to hug Ulquiorra from behind kept her in place.
Her body refused to move. In that brief moment, she was a statue. Heavy. Cold.
She watched as slender and pale arms wrapped themselves across the torso of the ashen man, the young woman's face buried in his back.
"I'm so glad to see that you are alright," Sayuri heard her whisper.
Anguished sapphire jewels became fixated on the arms that protectively and lovingly embraced Ulquiorra.
Time felt as though it had stopped.
Then, when she felt herself return to her body, the lily girl forced herself to tear her gaze from the embrace and look at the Espada's face for his reaction.
Intimidating mystic jade jewels stared back at her.
Sayuri's breadth caught in her throat. Fully realizing that he had been aware of her presence, she quickly slid the wooden door close and scrambled to her futon.
She covered her whole body - from her toes to her head - with the blanket, as if to shield her from the embarrassment and heartache she felt.
When she heard the door slide open and close, her body stiffened as she felt her breadth stop in anticipation.
"Do not overexert yourself woman," came Ulquiorra's voice, "It would be troublesome for you to get ill from eavesdropping."
Sayuri heard him open a door on a different wall. She could not detect his footsteps, but from the closing of the alternate door, she knew he was gone.
Under the blankets, she placed her face inside her hands to try and calm her emotions.
'He knew I was there from the beginning!' she concluded.
When the image of the young woman embracing him flashed in her mind, she felt her heart shake. Sayuri gripped her chest.
'Stop it Sai...' she scolded herself, 'He isn't yours. Besides, from the looks of things, it seems that he has a past with that gorgeous woman.'
Then, as though fate was playing a cruel prank on her, she heard that same tranquil voice speaking to her.
"Are you awake?"
Sayuri mentally slapped herself. She had been too caught up in her emotions that she did not even hear the door open.
Mustering enough courage and pushing her heartache aside, the blue eyed teen tugged the blanket off and faced the stranger.
"U-um," she stuttered, "Y-yes, I am."
The same genuine smile that made the already attractive female all the more alluring met Sayuri's sights.
Cheerfully, the woman said, "Thank goodness! I am so relieved to see you're alright!"
Her body became pressed against the strange woman's well-developed chest in an unexpected hug.
Sayuri could not reply. She was awed by both the stranger's beauty and kindness.
The woman seemed so surreal. Angelic. Ethereal.
Noticing the other female's lack of response, the beauty gave an embarrassing laugh as she scratch the back of her head. "Sorry, how rude of me. I haven't introduced myself. My name is Orihime."
"Oh um, my name is Sayuri," she began, "It's very nice to meet you Orihime."
"It's great to meet you too!"
"So how exactly did I get here? I thought I was still a prisoner of the Soul Society?"
Orihime's face turned silently more serious. "Ichigo and Ulquiorra rescued you it would seem. You were slowly dying there because the Soul Reapers did not bother to convert your physical form into reishi, the material that souls and hollows are made of. The fact that you were also exposed to the strong spiritual pressures of the captains did not help your condition."
Then, laughing to lighten the tense mood, she added, "Well, that's all we were able to deduce anyway. You are safe now here at Mister Urahara's shop."
Sayuri tilted her head in confusion, her loose black locks mimicking her movement like a mirror. "How is it that I feel fine then?"
Orihime turned so that a blue floral hairpin came into view. "I used my powers to reject your illness. It took me a while to heal you because I had to mend both your physical and spiritual injuries."
"Well, thank you very much for saving me," the lily female bowed in appreciation and gratitude.
The ginger-haired teen waved her hands in front of her chest and shook her head. "No! You don't have to do that. I would feel awful if anything happened to you because then it would make Ulquiorra and Ichigo sad. If you want to thank someone, you should thank them. They were the ones who risked their lives trying to break you out from the Soul Socie-."
"Wait," Sayuri interrupted her, "Wouldn't the Soul Society react violently to all this? From my short time there, I highly doubt that they would allow such transgressions pass so easily. What would happen to Ichigo and Ulquiorra?"
Orihime gave an almost nostalgic and sad smile. "They would protect you. We all would. We take care of each other here."
Sayuri started to get up in protest. "I don't want them to get hurt because of me! I would rather stay in the Soul Society rather than have my friends face danger to protect me!"
"Don't stand yet," the other maiden attempted to calm her while gently guiding the petite rising body back to the softness of the futon. "You aren't well enough to support yourself. We have faced this type of danger innumerable times. Besides, Ichigo and Ulquiorra would never consent to sending you back to the Soul Society to die. They would be in... pain if that happened... So if you want to help them, just get better. That would make them both very happy."
"...I just don't want them to get hurt for my sake..." Sayuri whispered quietly.
Orihime's light giggle erased the morbid atmosphere. "Those two are very powerful. You should be more worried about their opponents. I promise you that things will be alright."
The lily girl graced her healer with a small smile.
"Now let's get you changed! That robe must not be very warm especially since it's winter now," the princess exclaimed, "Sorry I didn't get a chance to change you. Healing you had been my main priority."
Standing up and making her way to the door that led to the room where Sayuri had seen her talking to Ulquiorra, she left with a simple, "I'll be right back. Just take your robe off, and wash yourself with that water by your futon."
Sayuri sat up on the futon and the blanket slipped from her upper body to cover only her legs. She untied the white sash and slid the white fabric down her shoulders. With her upper half completely nude, she took the cloth inside the bowl of lukewarm water and squeezed the excess liquid out. The amorphous liquid left a cooling sensation on her hands. It felt refreshing.
The wet piece of fabric was about to touch her shoulders when the sliding of the door echoed in the room.
"Orihime, here's some food in cas-" the orange-haired teen was halted mid sentence by the sight that greeted him.
Before he could process anything, the half nude female pulled her robe haphazardly to cover her chest. His ears were then attack by a sharp noise. He did not know what it was though. His mind had gone blank.
Sayuri stared at the man who stood in shock before her, a food tray in hand. He did not move when she had told him to leave. In fact, his face still stared at her form as though her distressed shout did not even register in his mind.
She gripped the white cloth tighter to her chest. It barely covered her modest breasts, but she cannot correctly wear the blanc garment without re-exposing her upper half. She felt the air caress her bare back and blood continuing to run up her face. Sayuri knew she probably looked like a ripe tomato.
"Ichigo get out!" she shrieked again.
This time, the muscular male seemed to have heard her cries. He blinked repeatedly, signaling his returned awareness. His face became painted in vibrant crimson as he realized what had just happened.
"I-I, uh, I-I-I," he stammered, his cheeks fully flushed now.
"P-Please," Sayuri stuttered as well, proof that she felt equally as embarrassed, "Just g-g-get out."
Ichigo quickly heeded her plea and turn around only to run directly into an imposing figure. He barely managed to keep the materials on the food tray from falling and spilling.
This time, the young woman felt all blood drain from her face.
"Oh god," she choked out in a whisper.
'This was definitely not how I imagined seeing him again. Could this get any worse?' she thought to herself as she found his penetrating eyes gazing in her direction.
The high school student held the fabric closer to her skin in an attempt to will it into a suitable attire. There was nothing else she could do that would calm her nerves.
Ichigo looked at Ulquiorra.
"Sorry, I didn't see you there," he said, dazed.
The Espada turned his attention to the taller man. He eyed the Soul Reaper, a blank expression in place. "Get out Kurosaki."
The male teen heard the light blanket of malice that coated the words. He even felt the barely concealed murderous desire that emanated from his former nemesis. He noticed how the dark aura had leaked out from the hollow's near perfect control and attempts to suppress it. Ichigo had felt this same aura from him during their battle in Las Noches, but this time, it was stronger - deeper. It felt more dangerous.
When Ichigo did not move fast enough to his order, Ulquiorra pulled him out from the room with a strong tug at his shirt.
The Fourth then slammed the door shut. As the wooden board slid to a close, the oceanic eyed teen noted the foreign gleam in the ashen man's mysterious spheres. She could not name what it was. She only knew that it was intense and boundless.
Sayuri barely heard another door open. She turned her attention to the intruder, and was only met with Orihime's questioning face.
"What's wrong?" she asked, noting the other female's pale face and frightened expression.
"N-N-Nothing," Sayuri answered quickly, "Can I j-just change in the bathroom?"
-O-
Just several rooms from where Sayuri and Orihime conversed, Ulquiorra met with a platinum blond male wearing an odd green hat.
"What was that scream about?" the older male questioned with a sly and knowing grin, "I hope you and Ichigo are not harassing our guest."
The anti-social hollow ignored his taunts. He was in no mood for his human idiocy and idiosyncrasies.
"I need you to make me something."
The man gave a larger smile.
"Depends. What would you like to order?"
-O-
I hope reading this chapter was worthwhile!
I would like to warn you that I may take a long time to update because school started again - sadly - so bear with me.
Please let me know what you thought of Orihime and Ulquiorra's interaction in this chapter. Was it too out of character or just right?