Ulquiorra softly closed the door to Orihime's room behind him, his heart feeling lighter than it had ever felt before. He started down the darkened hall to his own rooms when he was suddenly stopped by a whisper from the shadows.
"Pssst...hey Ulquiorra...how are things going with Aizen's pet?"
Ulquiorra stopped, dread and annoyance already knotting his stomach painfully. "What do you want, Noitora?" he hissed back.
"Nothing..." came the reply as a huge shape broke away from the shadows. "I just want to know just how much fun it is to take care of such a tasty girl." Noitora said licking his lips in a distasteful way.
"You're digusting." Ulquiorra muttered and tried to walk away from the tall Espada, but Noitora quickly stepped in front of him blocking his path.
"Aw...come on! I bet you get to teach her all kinds of things that no boy had the courage to teach her back home, huh?" Noitora tittered looming over Ulquiorra's small frame.
"You really have no composure, did you know that?" Ulquiorra said looking up at the arrancar.
"Hey?! I'm just making sure you are doing you job is all." Noitora shrugged. "Aizen did tell you to make sure she is loyal to the bone, did he not?"
"I have already discussed my methods with Aizen-sama and he approves." Ulquiorra calmly said.
"So you ain't gonna share with me, huh?" Noitora sulked looking longingly at Orihime's door. "What an awesome job though." he sighed wistfully.
"Don't forget, Noitora, I am the girl's guard. If you do anything that would endanger her health or mental well-being you will have me to answer to."
"Pah...whatever, Ulquiorra. Besides you have nothing to fear from me...I won't touch your precious pet. I bet human girls are terribly boring anyway." Noitora said as he sulked off down the hall.
Ulquiorra breathed a small sigh of relief at his disappearance, but it still greatly disturbed him that Noitora was skulking around her room. He would have to think of a solution to that problem.
The next morning when Ulquiorra entered the girl's room with the breakfast tray being wheeled behind him, he was greeted with the first real smile he had seen from her since bringing her to the palace.
"I'm so glad you are here, Ulquiorra! Today we get to start on our lessons!" she said excitedly as she skipped up to him.
"What lessons are you talking about, woman? I have brought your breakfast here for you to eat just like always."
"Oh breakfast can wait! Besides I DO promise to eat it later...it's just that I am too excited to eat just yet! Here come sit on the couch with me!" she smiled at him and motioned him to follow her to the white couch in the center of the room.
Ulquiorra, quite at a loss with how to deal with such an excited human, just followed her and then sat down on the couch. "What lessons are you talking about, woman?" he asked her again.
"Well you know how you told me that you had forgotten what so many emotions felt like? Well I am going to try to help you remember!" she told him out of breath.
"And how are you going to do that?" he asked her skeptically.
"Like this! OK! I was trying to think of the least difficult emotion to show you, but thinking about it...I think they are all going to be equally difficult for you." she said intently studying his emotionless face. "I know! Why don't we start with humor. OK...now concentrate on me because I am going to try to make you laugh."
"Ok..." he answered doubtfully studying her face back. And then he noticed that her cheeks were rosy again and the circles under her eyes were a lot fainter. When did that happen? he wondered. And why did it happen? Then he saw that she was contorting her face trying to make it look monstrous, though he wasn't quite sure why she was doing it. "What are you doing, Orihime?" he asked her seriously.
"Well...I'm TRYING to make you laugh." she told him a little crestfallen. "It doesn't seem to be working so far though."
"Ok..." he said tonelessly again, not sure what exactly she wanted from him. He watched her as she chewed on her lip, deep in thought as what to do next. And then suddenly her eyes lit up again.
"I know! Have you ever been hugged before, Ulquiorra?" she asked him excitedly.
"I don't believe so, though I don't remember much of my human life except the hatred." he told her honestly.
"OK...well first we need to stand up." she informed him as she stood up herself. He stood up too all the sudden very aware of how close they were standing together. He tried to step back and she grabbed his jacket sleeves and said, "No. You have to be close to hug."
"Ok..." he said very uncomfortable. And then she did something that made him feel like he was both dying and coming alive for the first time inside. She placed her slender arms about his shoulders and then pressed her warm body against his.
"So cold..." she whispered to herself. Then louder she said, "Um...to make this a real hug you have to put your arms around me too."
"Ok..." he was barely able to whisper. He then put his arms around her warmth and drew her close to his body. He couldn't resist trembling a little in her embrace.
"Are you feeling anything yet?" she asked him with her face pressed against his chest.
"Y...yes..." he stammered.
"Well what does it feel like?" she asked him, still not letting him go.
"Warm." he answered her. She didn't say anything else, but she didn't release him yet either. Then he noticed how close her beautiful hair was to his hand. He longed to stroke it like he had longed to do ever since he first saw her in the park with her hair shining in the sun. He hoped it wouldn't make her mad if he touched it, but the desire was so great... He reached up and gently ran his hands through a few strands and wondered at their silkiness. He ran his hand through more of that softness and he could feel Orihime gently tremble in his arms. At that little shudder against his body, he felt something else that he hadn't felt since becoming a hollow, he began to get aroused. Ulquiorra thought that such a sensation was really pointless because he had no need to sexually reproduce anymore and in fact was pretty sure he couldn't. Still he tried to shift his hips away from hers so that she wouldn't feel. Yet when he tried to, she just pressed her body right up against his again so he figured it couldn't be bothering her too much so he went back to running his long fingers through her firey hair and idly thinking how weird human interaction was.