8 Not so normal
The sunlight burned through the window and the light drapes that hung on the curtain rod. Orihime rolled over in her bed to face the warm sunlight. She was still elated every time she woke to the sun coming into her room. She opened her eyes slowly, afraid that it was a dream. The ceiling was white; she turned her head to the window to see some color. 'I will have to paint the ceiling.' she thought. The idea of anything white revolted her now. Although she had to wear a white shirt to school, she persisted in wearing the assigned sweater over top so she didn't have too much white.
Getting out of bed was getting harder and harder for her. Lately, she didn't have the same vigor as she had before. Things seemed boring and unnecessary to her for some reason. School was the only thing that she spent any time with, and even that was getting annoying. The last few weeks had been dragging for her. It felt like time was going at a snails pace.
Hot water steamed the bathroom as she stood in the water zoned out staring at the ceiling again.
"Are you O'kay?" Rangiku's voice came through the door.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just spaced out is all." and she quickly finished her shower and jumped out.
Orihime went to her room to dress for school when Rangiku barged in without notice. Orihime had only gotten into her bra and underwear by this time and was shocked when the voluptuous woman came in unannounced. This was a habit that Orihime thought she would never get use to; although the last week she found that she didn't care, and stopped jumping when the woman barged in now.
"Is this about Ichigo again?" Rangiku barked in her normal way of dealing with matters of the heart.
"No, I am not upset about Ichigo. Things are fine with him." she said softly.
"Oh, come on Orihime, you can tell me." she whinned.
"Things are settled with Ichigo. I know that I am not right for him."
"WHAT?!" Rangiku yelped in surprise.
Orihime simply nodded and turned to continue dressing for school.
"But....I thought you were head over heals for Ichigo?" she said, pouting her lip and putting her finger on the lower lip that now stuck out.
"That's over with." Orihime said flatly with out looking at the other woman, "I have to leave for school." and she left the room with out anything else said.
The days at school seemed to drag for her these days. Her thoughts wandered back and forth from her time before being taken and to her time in Los Noches. These thoughts primarily rested on Ulquiorra. She wondered where he had gone, what he was doing and if he was O'kay. He never left her thoughts these days and the thoughts became more intense with each passing day. She was starting to think that she really cared for him.
Over a short time Orihime had isolated herself from her friends. Ichigo would try to talk to her and she would listen for a while before letting her own thoughts take over. The only one she spent any time with was Uryu and those visits were becoming fleeting as well. Uryu was the only one that didn't hound her with questions, and she appreciated this. All she wanted was quiet and solitude.
Rukia and the others tried to talk with her but it was the same lake luster conversation each time. They would express their concern for her well being, and she assured them that she just needed some time to herself. They would give her her space, however none of them where convinced that it was something that time would solve.
That night Orihime went to bed early while Rangiku and Toshiro stayed up to watch a movie. They had tried asking her questions again and she was annoyed. Instead of snapping at them she decided bed was a better idea. Even though she was sleeping a lot lately she was still tired and fell asleep quickly.
Things seemed fuzzy and she tried to focus. When things did come into focus she was standing in a nondescript room. Ulquiorra stood in front of her. He was wearing human clothes. Dark jeans, a tee shirt and a denim jacket. He looked handsome with the shirt being snug to his lean muscled chest. His face was soft and tender with those beautiful green eyes of his. He smiled at her and her heart melted. She stepped toward him, he waved to her and turned to walk away. Panic rang through her head. Where was he going? He had just come back; he couldn't leave yet. No, she tried to tell him. But no words came out. She was in full panic now and trying so hard to yell at him to stop and come back. Then he faded and was gone.
"NO!" she yelled, sitting up in bed.
She pulled the blankets around her bare body and was panting heavily. From out of nowhere Rangiku and Toshiro burst through the door. Both where looking around the room for an intruder or something to that effect but came up empty handed.
"I'm sorry." she panted, "A bad dream is all."
"Another one." Toshiro whispered to his female companion.
"I'll get you some tea." he said, giving the blond woman a look indicating that she stay with the girl.
Rangiku sat on the bed next to Orihime and stroked her back. Orihime got up and pulled on a long shirt and panties. She sat on the bed again and leaned forward to try to catch her breath.
"Do you want to talk about it?" the blond woman asked while continuing to stroke her back.
"No, that's O'kay. It's just a dream. Thank you though. Some tea will do the trick." and she got up again and left for the kitchen.
Toshiro was not very good at making tea, but he was getting better with each bad dream Orihime had. It was the best he could do since he was not very good with the 'girl stuff', as he put it. She took over the tea duty and brought it into the table and they all sat and drank in silence.
"She seems to have a bad dream about three times a week." Toshiro told Ichigo one afternoon when he came to see Orihime, but found her out.
"Does she say what it's about?" the orange haired boy asked.
"No, she wont say anything about it. Not even to Rangiku. She is out following her now." the captain told him with his arms folded across his chest and his gaze at the floor.
Ichigo got up to leave when Toshiro called him back. The young captain always looked very serious. He looked up at the taller boy and breathed in a deep breath.
"I think she needs some time to adjust to coming back to the human world and her life here. She was gone for quite some time and its been hard for her to make the change back to the way things were. She was Aizen's prisoner and was used for her powers. I'm sure she has a lot going through her mind. Give her time."
Ichigo left and thought about what Toshiro had said. Maybe that was the best thing for her. He contemplated this the whole way home. She needs to know that her friends are there for her though; he argued in his thoughts.
After spending the afternoon in the park 'alone' Orihime returned to her apartment, and the two guests that where waiting. Although never giving any idea of it, Orihime knew that Rangiku had followed her and was watching over her the whole time. The blond shinigami had returned home a split second before her charge to make it appear that she was never gone. The girl thought it a little amusing that they went through all this fuse and trouble over her. However unnecessary as this trouble was. Orinhime was sure that no one could help her.
They all sat down for some dinner and then watched some television. After a short time Orihime dismissed herself for bed again, and left the two alone as was now usual. The young girl got ready for bed as she always did and laid down. She looked out the window of her room. The moon was a crescent shape as it was in Hueco Mundo. It reminded her of her imprisonment there, and her caretaker while there. Before long she drifted off and was sleeping soundly.
She found herself sitting on a couch in a white room. Of course she was dreaming about Los Noches after seeing that moon. Then she realized that she was holding something. Looking down she was shocked to see she was holding a little boy. He was the most adorable thing she had ever seen. He was sleeping in her arms and was breathing slowly and evenly. He was perfect in every way she thought to herself. The little boy began to stir a little and turned in her arms, and she looked at his face. It was so serene and peaceful while he slept. And his raven black hair shone in the light of the room. Raven hair! She thought, and snapped her head up. Ulquiorra, she thought and she looked around the room. Suddenly, he was next to her. He smiled down at her and the sleeping boy. He leaned over them, kissed the boy on the cheek and kissed her on the forehead. The realization of what this was hit her and she smiled and felt peace for the first time in weeks.
Ulquiorra straightened up and turned around. He was leaving the room now. She began to panic again. He was leaving her again. What could she do? She didn't want to wake the little boy in her arms. She had to let him go, she thought. No, I can't. Call out to him. She turned her head toward him and told him not to go. He continued to walk out. All of the sudden the room disappeared as well as the boy in her arms. She was on her feet and running. She tried to catch up with him but like most dreams she couldn't catch him.
"No, don't go." she choked out. "Ulquiorra." her panic was now more then she could bare.
"Ulquiorra. Stop. Come back." she pleaded again, reaching to catch him.
"ULQUIORRA!!!" she screamed loudly as she sat up in bed again.
She sat in her bed panting again. This time only Rangiku came in to see her. The shinigami woman sat on the bed as usual, but didn't say anything for a long time. Orihime began to cry. She couldn't bare the pain anymore. She needed to find him, but how. She had been to Urahara's shop and asked him to help, but he couldn't.
"What am I going to do?" she broke her crying momentarily and spoke for once.
"How am I going to find him?" she began to sob even harder now.
Rangiku wrapped her arms around the hysterical girl and didn't say anything. The two sat like that for an hour; the one crying, the other holding on. Finally, Orihime calmed down enough to fall back to sleep.
This time she slept a dreamless sleep.