Authors Note: Thank you so much to all the people who read and reviewed. It really made my day and motivated me to post this much earlier than usual! If you did read my story, please do drop me a line. Always good to hear what readers think! A few things first. The italicised parts are Orihime's thoughts. I apologise about the fact that scene breaks in previous chapter didnt come through. I am new to fan fiction so I didnt know what I was doing. The next chapter will be shorter and as I don't post a chapter till the next one is ready (too many experiences of reading stories that were left unfinished I suppose), the next one might come in a few weeks. It might be a bit jargon (not that I know much about urban planning) but I hope you enjoy it! As always RnR
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Tite Kubo. AU and plot are mine though! :D
Chapter 2
Orihime sipped her cup of tea as she looked around her. It was a traditional izakaya, but the food was simple yet extremely tasteful. Of course Byakuya would pick a tasteful yet low-key place like this.
This was their third meeting. And like clockwork Byakuya had contacted her Friday night to check her availability on Saturday night again. It was more to confirm really as till now they had always met on a Saturday night.
Byakuya examined the woman in front of him. By all conventional means, she was an extremely attractive woman. But then as an extremely attractive man, Byakuya was usually not fazed by attractiveness of the opposite sex.
When he had first met her, Byakuya had decided that she was too much of an airhead to continue dating. However somehow her smile had kept playing in his head that whole week and he had taken that as a sign that maybe he had passed judgment on her too soon, and he should meet her but once more.
Now into their third meeting he was a bit amused at his own desire to keep meeting this girl.
For most part she seemed unexciting. And for a woman so young, pretty washed out. She was polite, and there was an inherent kindness in her features. Her smile radiated warmth (when she did smile genuinely) and that was her only distinguishing feature in his eyes.
"Was your week all right?" Byakuya inquired. The girl was quite silent, which was at once both good and bad. Good because the arranged dates were tiresome enough. The last thing he wanted was to be stuck with a chatterbox; yet bad because this meant he had to find topics of conversation. And him being him, he always got to the point.
He realized the girl didn't know much about him. So he decided to take the opportunity to amend that.
"Do you have any questions for me Inoue San?" He enquired again.
Orihime had a déjà vu from when she was interviewing in her last term at Tokyo U. This was her least favorite question of all. Mostly because employers only ever asked it expecting certain specific questions, and judged you if you were unable to guess those.
"Ummm, could you tell me about your wife?" Instantly Orihime regretted her question. Byakuya' face had hardened.
See, this is why I don't like this damn question. Why open up to questions when you weren't willing to answer?!
After what seemed like a while, Byakuya cleared his throat.
"Of course, as a potential marriage candidate you should know..." He said, more to himself than her.
"Her name was Hisana. We met while I was traveling in Senegal for some creative inspiration for my company. She was a doctor with MSF there. We were married about five years till she passed away."
Orihime noticed that Byakuya did not mention anything more than basic facts, facts she already knew having spoken to Rukia.
Of course he didn't want to talk about it. The man had never moved on. He was still in love with his deceased wife and planned to leave that special spot in his heart to her memories. Suddenly the full extent of Byakuya's initial words hit Orihime.
A loveless marriage. That's what he had to offer. That was the best he could offer. For he had already given his heart to a woman. A woman who loved her desire to save lives much more and had sacrificed her own life for the same. But while she had moved to the other world, he had held on to her memories. The marriage was a favor to his family, one that he had let down due to his previous decisions.
And his future wife would simply help him fulfill those duties. Suddenly Orihime understood why a man as handsome and accomplished as Byakuya had chosen to see her more than once. He didn't know it consciously but he must have picked up on it. She was the perfect candidate.
Like Byakuya, she too had given her heart to someone, only to be jilted by him. And now she was stuck. Stuck with no energy to love, or to work. She wasn't a manipulative gold digger who would jump at an offer such as one Byakuya offered. Yet she was jaded enough to not scoff at it and pursue romantic fantasies.
Or was she? She didn't know.
So she simply smiled and continued asking polite questions.
It may seem rather pathetic, but right now, this bleak possibility of an arranged marriage was all the romance in Orihime Inoue's life.
She was so dead! Orihime had been day dreaming again, (something about wasabi eating monster red bean cake), missed her stop and was now late for work. Again!
She was amazed Urahara hadn't fired her for how many times she was coming in late.
She got off her stopped and started jogging towards her office building, breaking into a sprint as she realized she as going to be so late it would be considered almost inappropriate!
BAM!
Orihime hit her head on something and fell on the ground. From above her she heard a restrained groan.
"A..Aaaii..I ..I am so sorry!" She got up, bowed and apologized profusely.
"Do not make a fuss woman. My head is already ringing as it is." Intoned a deep baritone. Orihime looked up to stare into a sea of emerald. They were examining her warily.
"Sorry! I do have a rather strong head..ehehe"
"You don't say.." He drawled, slightly annoyed.
Orihime took at the strange man standing in front of her. He had huge shocking green eyes, features that looked chiseled into a rock and paper pale skin. He wasn't very much taller than her and quite possibly lighter than her. Yet there was something magnetic about his person. If Orihime could describe him in a few words, she would probably call him weirdly hot.
He wasn't her type, far from it actually (since her type was overly macho tall orange haired men called Ichigo). Yet she found it hard to look away from his face, or how his body moved with restrained grace. He was like a walking work of art.
"If you are done admiring my clavicles would you mind answering my question?" He drawled
"Huh, clavi.. What?! I was NOT admiring your…"
"Either ways, could you tell me where Aizen Corp's office is? I haven't been back in Japan in a few years and this street has changed dramatically."
Orihime pouted at his dismissive tone. Strangely hot or not, the guy was a jerk. And his hotness did not make up for his sour attitude.
"Right. It's two blocks down from here actually. I am walking there. You can follow me." She said stiffly, and without waiting for his response, started walking ahead.
Ulquiorra's eyes widened slightly. That was a bit unexpected. With a tiny smirk on his face he followed the orange haired woman. Now that he had a chance to, he took her appearance in.
'Pretty face, in shape, but not very fit. Probably doesn't go to the gym. More likely the type that eats a lot but by the looks of it, it just goes to her chest. The stuttering and squeaking together with her appearance only meant one thing. She was an airhead.'
Yet, her current stride told another story. It was defiant and purposeful. Unlike the time she had crashed into him all flustered.
Ulquiorra smirked to himself. "What an interesting woman."
A few minutes later they both stepped into the lobby. Orihime was about to make it for the elevator without saying goodbye when she heard her bosses high pitched nasally voice. A tone that could only spell doom as far as Urahara was concerned.
" Orihime chaaaan!"
"Urahara San! Sorry I..."
"I see you have already met Cifer san! Good good. That saves some time".
"Cifer.." Orihime looked at where Urahara was staring. Then looked back at him, and then at Ulquiorra again.
"Err.." She didn't understand
" Urahara Kisuke" the green-eyed demon nodded at Urahara stiffly, putting out a hand.
"Ulquiorra Cifer. I believe your move here was without incidence?" Nodded Urahara, taking the extended hand.
As they shook hands Orihime regained some of her composure.
"Ano..." She trailed, unsure what to say.
"Ah! Orihime chan! This is Cifer San, the New York head of research and development at Aizen corp. He is here for the Sakura park project. We are having some talent issues in the New York office so I thought he might as well work with the office here. Oh, and starting today he will be your new boss." Urahara finished with a wide smile.
"My new what?! But Urahara san I..."
" I see New York isn't the only office having talent issues. If we could go somewhere more private I can brief you both more about the project and what I need" Ulquiorra interrupted.
Urahara watched the exchange quietly. Then motioned towards the elevator.
"Sure Cifer San! To my office?"
The trio made their way to the upper levels of the building.
An hour later, Orihime walked out of her boss's office with a bad mood and an impending headache. The weirdly hot jerk she had head bumped this morning was apparently some prodigy mentored personally by Aizen who had graduated from Keio in two years and left Japan to join Aizen corp. So impressed was Aizen by his indifferent ass that he had mentored Ulquiorra personally, even funding his studies in urban planning at Columbia in NYC.
Ulquiorra had come back to Aizen Corp and risen to the position of RnD head very quickly. He was now in Japan for a project called project Sakura Park. The city of New York and city of Tokyo wanted to plan an urban installation that symbolized the peaceful and harmonious relations between the two countries. Aizen had pitched the idea of a Sakura plantation. The client (US Japan Foundation or USJF) wanted to hear more and Ulquiorra was in charge of creating a detailed project plan for this symbol of harmony between Japan and US.
Orihime would be working under him for the duration of this project. Urahara then mentioned that he couldn't spare anyone else, much to Ulquiorra's chagrin. But the green-eyed man had just shrugged, saying that actually he could have managed the whole thing on his own, but Aizen had insisted on him working with a team.
Orihime opened her e-mails, for some reason feeling the bad mood worsening. Orihime wasn't one for bad moods typically. She could usually eat through a depression (there is nothing that cannot be made better with a bit of bean paste). However the arrival of her "new boss" was making her slowly mad.
Maybe it was the fact that he was the same age as her and yet much above her, or the fact that he was aware of this and his eyes hinted that he judged Orihime for being such a massive failure. Or maybe, it was the fact that he never let her finish her sentences and most of the times looked uninterested when she spoke. But Orihime already hated being under her new boss.
"Oh, so you are here finally." Came a high-pitched voice. Loly.
Orihime looked at Loly and the smaller woman immediately knew that something was wrong. The woman she was used to tormenting never had such an angry look in her eyes.
"What is it Loly?" Orihime almost snapped.
"Don't take that tone with me. I wonder if you managed to submit the report to Urahara san, given how you barely told us.."
"Barely told you what? Something that should have been plenty obvious?! If you are here to nag me about something that happened due to your unsurprising yet utter incompetence then I suggest that you scram before I submit a scathing supervisor evaluation!"
Loly blanched. In all of the 8 months that she had been at Aizen corps and working under Orihime, the older woman had never once raised her voice, or used a threat. Scared that this was one of those cases of quiet tolerant people that one day snap and shoot at random people, she backed off immediately, saying something about catching Orihime when she was feeling better.
Orihime raised an eyebrow. Typical bully. The moment you snap back at them, they cower like scared children.
Orihime's bad mood continued into the night, as she met her friends at a neighborhood pub. Ulquiorra had unloaded a ton of work on her without realizing that it would rob her of her weekends. Being very efficient and a workaholic (and she was sure he had no personal life anyways), he didn't have a sense of what a normal workload meant. What was worse, Orihime realized that the indifferent, snarky Ulquiorra was not a reaction to her knocking him in the head? Oh no no. That WAS the real Ulquiorra. Yup! Cold, indifferent, expressionless with only subtle expressions of snark and mirth. That was going to be her life till she finished the damn project. Because by the looks of it, Ulquiorra would ensure that she didn't have a life till she finished the project.
Her friends immediately noticed that something was off with Orihime. Firstly, she went straight to the hard liquor, downing three shots and midway through her vodka with orange juice (more vodka, less juice please) by the time Ichigo had arrived (minus Senna this time). Secondly, she seemed oddly switching between pensive and feisty. Thirdly, she seemed to be actively ignoring Ichigo.
It was no secret for her friends that Orihime had developed a fair amount of resentment towards Ichigo in the past few years; mostly due to his insensitivity. However, never once had their kind friend let it show on her face. Except once two years ago when she was rejected for a job with a childrens book company. But Ichigo was in throes of a new romance and too distracted to notice then.
Today, all by himself, however; he could tell. And in typical Ichigo fashion, he didn't understand why.
"Hiiiiimmmmmeeeeee! My gorgeous princesssss!" a red head waitress made a beeline for Orihime, and sensing that the grey-eyed woman was drunk, tried to cop in a feel.
Only to be swatted away by Orihime, much to the shock of her friends. Typically when Chizuru hit on Orihime, one of her friends had to intervene, as Orihime was too polite to refuse the lesbian.
"Back off Chizuru, I am NOT in the mood." Orihime looked at Chizuru defiantly. More stunned expressions. Renji shifted uncomfortably, while Chizuru's mouth hung open. Both Ishida and Rukia observed their friend carefully, trying to understand what had made her snap, while Nemu remained unaffected, stirring her drink. Ichigo had a stunned expression too, but quickly recovered.
"Thanks for stopping by Chizuru, but I think now might not be the best time." Rukia said finally. Unlike her other friends, Rukia knew that Orihime was perfectly capable of holding on her own when pushed into the situation. That she was acting this way only meant that something was testing her patience. Rukia didn't want to add to that by coddling her further. When ready, Orihime would tell her all about it, herself.
Post that the friends mostly maintained a steady stream of conversation, which Orihime mostly ignored.
"Ok, we have to leave. I need to be at office early tomorrow. Nii sama needs me to finish everything for the new plushie tomorrow." Said Rukia, making a move to leave.
"Yeah me too. Hitler wants me to be at office 8 AM sharp, and by sharp he means no useless delays caused by day dreaming." Grumbled Orihime. Rukia guessed that this "Hitler" was the cause of Orihime's bad mood, but knew better than to push for information when her friend was like this. Ichigo, on the other hand, didn't read the atmosphere at all.
"8 AM?! That's too early. Is this why you have been so upset? Is Urahara troubling you?" The orange head asked Orihime. Ishida and Renji collectively slapped their heads. Idiot strawberry.
"Huh? Urahara san? No, what are you…" Orihime seemed confused too.
"Then who is it that's bothering you Inoue? Do you want me to have a chat with them?" Ichigo huffed. Orihime looked at him a bit incredulously. Did he just suggest interfering in her workplace issues?!
"Its fine Kurosaki kun. Anyways I need to get home." She said, wanting to end the conversation immediately. Her friends seemed to think the same way as they all headed out quickly.
"Wait Inoue, you had too much to drink. I don't think it's a good idea to go by yourself in this state. I can drop you… or maybe Ishida and Nemu .."Ichigo didn't get a chance to finish. Orihime looked at him, annoyance clear in her eyes.
"I am perfectly capable of looking after myself; Ku-ro-sa-ki-ku-n." there was a chill in her voice. Without waiting for a stunned Ichigo to recover or respond, Orihime flipped her hair and walked off, waving at her friends as she headed towards the subway.
"wha.. what! Just happened?" But no one bothered enlightening Ichigo about the fact that Orihime Inoue had finally had enough of his over protectiveness.
Ichigo looked at the clock next to his bedside. The neon lights flashed 2 AM. Damn he was going to be so dead in tomorrows pre med classes.
His thoughts inadvertently went back to his auburn haired friend. Ichigo had known Orihime since they were both 12 years old. She lived close by and went to the same school. Yet it was the fateful day that her brother had breathed his last, that Ichigo had first met Orihime. His father's clinic had taken in Orihime's older brother Sora. However his wounds were too severe to be treated in a clinic and before better help could arrive, the man had succumbed to his injuries.
He still remembered that scene well enough. The fragile and helpless looking girl breaking down and screaming for her brother to come back. He would never forget that Orihime no matter how hard he tried. That was the side of Orihime he knew best. The vulnerable, soft Orihime. The lonely Orihime who needed to be protected.
Maybe it was because he had witnessed her trauma, or because he had a deep desire to protect; but somehow Ichigo had always found himself quite protective of Orihime. Her natural airheadedness only added to his protectiveness. He found it at once both exhilarating and tiresome. After all, while one may want to protect those dear to them, protecting them all the time could be a pain.
However this was the first time Ichigo found himself seeing his friend in a whole new light. She had snapped at him. In the 12 years that Ichigo had known Orihime, the auburn haired woman had not snapped at him but once. Yet instead of being upset, he found himself strangely amused. Because the Orihime he had seen tonight was an Orihime he did not know existed.
The way she had downed those drinks, the way she had asked Chizuru to back off, the way she had rolled her eyes when he had enquired about her boss, the way she had declined his help, then flipped her hair and walked off. It was like he was looking at an entirely different person.
For the first time he remembered details of what Orihime had been wearing. It was a modest sweater dress, yet it clung to her body alluringly. Had she always had such a huge chest? Ichigo silently reprimanded himself. What was he doing?! Orihime was a dear friend, almost a sister. He could not think such things about her.
But then why was he thinking about how sexy she looked as she snapped at him at 2 AM on a work day morning?
'Its because I am worried about her. That's all. That and the fact that I haven't had any at all since the last few months.' He grumbled. Senna was more naïve than he had first thought. Yeah that must be it. He was worried about Orihime and sexually frustrated that Senna was not ready yet and he was obviously mixing those two up. At 2:30 AM in the morning, this made a lot of sense to Ichigo, and finally he entered into a short lived and trubled sleeping spell. As his breath became steady, he quietly mumbled…"Ori..hime.."