Orihime was lonely. As a naturally sweet and friendly person, she had often spent a lot of time with her friends before she had been taken from her home. Now she spent long and lonely hours sitting in her cell with nothing to do or no one to talk to. Her thoughts often returned to the horrifying scene she had seen in Aizen's throne room two weeks earlier. She tried to chase those thoughts away with good thoughts of Ichigo, but she found that his face didn't have quite the permanence in her thoughts that she thought it would. And so it wasn't too surprising when she finally broke down and tried to talk to the only person she ever saw anymore...her guard, Ulquiorra. She didn't like to use his name though. It gave him...personality...and as a hollow personality was something that he neither had nor deserved. She was so lonely though.

Orihime poked the remains of her dinner around on her plate and looked up at the arrancar. She wondered if he ever got impatient standing there while she ate. She didn't think he did. She had a feeling that he would be content to calmly stand in one place for the rest of time if that was what was required of him.

"There is never anything to do here." she sighed poking a half eaten piece of fish. "What do hollows do for fun?" she asked hoping that he would give her an idea to keep her mind and hands occupied during the long hours she spent alone.

The arrancar looked at her with his expressionless green eyes for a moment before tonelessly answering, "I don't think it is something we should discuss. I doubt it would be anything you found enjoyable anyway."

Orihime thought back once again to the brutal murder she had seen take place right in front of her and how the other hollows in the room had cheered. She had a feeling that was what they did for entertainment and she was lucky that she was hidden away from them everyday so she didn't have to see. She looked at her guard again and wondered if he found slaughter enjoyable as well. He just looked back at her impassively and she shuddered and looked down at her plate again. Then he spoke to her and she jumped a little. He had never spoken to her before except to give her the few commands he needed to.

"If you had something to do during the day, would it help keep you healthy?" he asked her.

Orihime looked at him amazed and stammered out, "Y...yes. I think it would help keep my mind healthy anyway. I have been having terrible dreams of late because I dwell on bad thoughts all day long."

"OK."

And that was it. He didn't say anything else the rest of the time he was there and Orihime wasn't sure what to say back to him. When she was done eating he called for the servant to gather her tray and then left her.

She lay down on her bed wondering what he was going to do. Would he bring her something to do or would he try to entertain her himself? The thought of her guard trying to do anything entertaining brought a giggle to lips. It felt really good to laugh she realized. When was the last time she had laughed? Not since being brought here for sure, and so she tried to imagine him doing silly things to amuse her such as singing her a song. Soon she was rolling on her bed trying to suppress the wild laughter that was bubbling over in her. Finally when she had gone through all the things she could think of (ending with the hollow standing on his head with his jacket in his face) her giggles finally subsided and she fell asleep untroubled by nightmares for the first time in days.

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Ulquiorra asked himself for the fiftieth time just what exactly was he doing here. He stared at the girl's apartment before him across the street from where he had entered the living world. Almost instantly hunger started to knaw at his insides. He quickly strode across the street and walked into her apartment. As he looked around trying to find things that humans used for amusement (which was harder than Ulquiorra had expected, because not only had he forgotten a lot of what humans liked to do for fun, objects of entertainment had sure changed a lot from when he was alive) he logically thought through why exactly he was doing this. He had noticed that the last few days he had visited the girl in her cell that she had begun to look different from when he had first brought her to Hueco Mundo. Not only was she paler (which was to expected since she spent all of her time indoors now), but her cheeks were no longer pink and her eyes looked more sunken and were surrounded by dark circles. He was charged with keeping her healthy and she had told him that things to do would help and so he would get her things to do.

He knew books so he went to her bookshelf and looked through the books on there. He didn't see anything that would interest him since most of the covers had pictures of kissing couples and bore names like "Destiny Entwined", but he figured she must like them and grabbed a few. He saw knitting needles (something he did recognize from when he was alive) in a basket of yarn next to her chair, but looking again at their sharp points he decided against bringing them. Though the idea of the girl stabbing him with a knitting needle was laughable, it was better to be safe than sorry. He went into her bedroom and saw a pad of paper and some pens on her desk and decided to bring those. That should be more than enough for one human to entertain herself with, Ulquiorra thought. Besides, being in her room was giving him a weird feeling that he didn't have a name for. It was a uncomfortable feeling though and so after grabbing the paper and pens he quickly left her apartment.

The next morning when it was time to bring her food to her Ulquiorra felt a little nervous. He hoped that he had picked things that she would like so she would use them and get her healthy glow back. Though he supposed if she really hated what he brought he could ask her exactly what it was she wanted him to bring from her house. When he entered her room he saw her at her window looking out like she often did. When he saw her like that, he didn't know what to say to her so he put her books and things on her table without a word and then went and stood next to her door again. She turned around at the sound of the breakfast cart being brought in and then her eyes fell on her table. She went over to it and looked through what he had brought and then looked at him. He just looked back at her and then she did an amazing thing. She laughed and said, "I guess I'll have to wait for the handstand." Then he really looked into her eyes and noticed that she was looking at him for the very first time without hatred and Ulquiorra tried desperately not to feel whatever warm thing it was filling his heart.