Orihime was confused and restless. She nervously paced her cell...around and around. She was happy that Ichigo and her other friends were coming to get her, in fact she didn't realize just how much hope she had lost these past few weeks. When Ulquiorra told her that they were coming though, it was like a crushing burden was lifted from her heart. It was funny the way that had worked...when she had first come here she had felt the crushing weight of despair every day, but at some point she had stopped feeling it. She knew that Ulquiorra was the reason why and that hurt and confused her even more. How could he be so kind to her one day and then so cold the next? Plus though she desperately wanted to leave this place and go back home with her friends, the thought of never seeing Ulquiorra again made her sad. She played around with the idea of asking him to come back to the human world with them, but she knew he'd probably refuse.
She went again to her window and looked out of it. It had been half a day since Ulquiorra had given her the news and she wondered how much closer they had gotten in that time. She had begun to sense their faint reiatsu a little after he had told her that they were in Hueco Mundo. Aizen must have waited to tell the Espada of their arrival until they had reached the palace. She figured they had to be within it's walls for her to even be able to sense their spiritual pressure. She could tell who four of her rescuers were quite easily because she had spent enough time around them to recognize the feel of their reiatsu. The last one she wasn't sure about, but she thought it was Renji. She could focus in on Ichigo's reiatsu really easily...she had spent a lot of her time on earth just reaching out for it so she could feel it, so she could feel close to him. Ah Ichigo...at the thought of him her insides still went fluttery like they always did. She had honestly thought that she would never see him again the night she said goodbye to him and almost given him her first kiss. Maybe it was the thought of the loss of Ichigo from her life that had made it easier to like Ulquiorra. Yet now that he was back and coming to get her...well, just where did that leave Ulquiorra?
"I suppose it leaves him here, right where he belongs in the hollow world and me back where I belong in the human world. Besides, I don't think he liked me much anyway." she sadly said trailing her finger through the stone dust on the window ledge. "I'm not very sure that it is even possible for him to like anyone." She stood looking out the window morosely when suddenly she felt Chad's reiatsu suddenly flare and then die out. She looked around wildly, like a bird trapped in a cage and then screamed, "NO! Please! NO! Please Sado-kun! Just hang on!" Then she sunk down to the floor and sobbed miserably.
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Ulquiorra strode through the halls to Orihime's door with the servant pushing her dinner tray in tow. He thought back to how he had treated her this morning and felt an uncomfortable guilt. It wasn't her fault that her friends were coming to get her. She had been the perfect picture of compliance ever since her first couple of days here. He supposed he would have to work out an apology of some sort to give her. She deserved one, anyway. Besides soon all of her friends would be dead or captured and she would be all his again. He thought of all the long days and nights that he would get to spend with her and his heart felt better.
He had reached her door. "I'm coming in now." he called and then waited for her response. When she didn't answer worry started to prick at him. Any more she usually called out a happy "Come in!" when he announced himself. Maybe he had made her madder than he had thought with his outburst this morning. He unlocked her door and then slowly pushed it opened to find her staring intently out her window. Then she turned to him and his insides dropped, she had been crying and hard.
"I refuse to believe that Sado-kun is dead." she said looking him straight in his eyes.
"I brought your dinner. It is time for you to eat." he said hoping to distract her from thoughts of her friend.
"He isn't dead." she said with more determination this time.
He looked at her closely and noticed that her determination hid a deep pain. He wasn't sure why, but it angered him that she felt so much for one of her friends. Would she feel the same depth of pain if one of them killed him? He doubted it. His anger mixed uncomfortably with his pain at seeing her hurting. "Why do you care anyway? All of your friends are going to be killed by us. He was just the first. You better get used to it."
"Stop it..." she quietly pleaded, but he ignored her wanting to hurt her the way she was hurting him.
"They were stupid to come here and try to take you away from us. You should be angry at them for wasting their lives so. If it was I and..." Suddenly he saw her quickly step up to him and he saw her raise her hand and then she did the unthinkable. She slapped him right across the face. It stung his face just a little and he looked back at her and saw her hatred and fury again. The thought of her hating him again was too much and he quickly spun on his heel and left her room trying to get himself under control, afraid that he might cry and how stupid would that be...to cry over a little human girl. The moment her door closed behind him he could hear her crying uncontrollably.
He walked back to his rooms and laid down on his bed. Slowly, slowly he got himself under control. He was a fool to think that she ever liked him, or thought of him as anything more than the monster he was. She probably acted nice to him because she was lonely and he was the only one she ever saw. Now that her precious friends were coming though...well he could clearly see where her loyalties lay. And why wouldn't they lie with her friends? They were the people that she grew up with and had loved for years. What was he? Just her kidnapper and prison guard... Besides in stories and in real life, the beautiful girl always ended up with the hero, not the monster. The hero...Ichigo. He closed his eyes and felt for the boy's reiatsu. He found it almost instantly, huge and within the palace grounds. She loved him...and he was so close, just ripe for the taking. He thought just once of Aizen's order to wait for the enemy to come to them, but what did that mean exactly? They had already come to them, into their very home. Suddenly Ulquiorra sat up. Maybe if he took the boy out of her life, Orihime would be more inclined to come back him. Besides Ulquiorra would be lying if he didn't admit to the satisfaction it would give him to thrust his hand deep into the boy's chest and watch the life drain from his eyes. With that thought fresh in his mind, Ulquiorra got up and strapped on his zanpaktou. He then left his rooms, determinedly walking to where Ichigo's reiatsu fluttered and flared.