Both of them didn't say anything, Ulquiorra just gazed with his mouth slightly open and she just smiled at him. His mind was racing, what had happened? Finally he began to look around at his surroundings and noticed he was covered in a blanket. Her doing no doubt, but how long have he been there? He sat up resting his weight on his elbows as he looked toward the water. He observed define marks in the sand, about 50 meters, where his body was dragged to safety. Ulquiorra wasn't a huge man by any means but his was well built from hours spent at the gym trying to forget everything. He looked over to the girl sitting next to him. 'How could this girl possibly have dragged me all the way up here?' he thought to himself as he glared at her. She was rather tiny, less then half his size and not to mention extremely thin. She couldn't be a day over 13….

"I am stronger then I look!" she announced with a laugh.

"Excuse me?"

"Well your face was definitely looking at me like how can this little girly possibly carry me up from the water all by herself! But I did, and I only struggled a little bit!" she proceed to chuckle while flexing her arms to prove her point.

Ulquiorra was still confused and didn't know what to think of the situation at hand. He felt very exposed and self-conscious. This is not how he had envisioned things going. There was something wrong and Ulquiorra couldn't help the dark thoughts that started gathering in his mind. His feelings where once again interrupted by this girl voice and the noise of a plastic bag.

"Here! Take this. Filling your stomach will make you feel better!"

She held in her had a loaf of French bread, bottled water, and a small pack of Advil. He eyed the food in her hand then looked back at her face with a questioning look. Had she been watching him since he got into the water? His dark thoughts grew even larger as he continued to listen to the girl.

"I saw the empty bottle on the shoreline, you know you should try to swim while drunk. School taught me that, and well, I guess its common sense too. I am not saying you have no common sense! Anyway, this should all help! Whenever my brother wakes up from a night of drinking this what I give him and his is good to go afterwards! Although my brother doesn't often drink being so busy and all, but…."

"Why did you do it?" he cut her off with a raised voice. What was she blabbing on about? Ulquiorra didn't like this. He had no control and was now being feed a hangover remedy by a little girl. What kind of little girl would even be wondering the streets so early in the morning nonetheless save a drowning man? She was either stupid or smart but she must have had an alternative motive or something. Kids today where very cheeky and cared only about material possessions. He thought of many different conclusions as to why she saved him or even to have stuck around on the beach after hours have passed. Only one reason anyone would do anything nice for him; his father.

Her eyes went wide at his statement. And paused before she managed she squeak out her response.

"Wha.."

Ulquiorra couldn't wait for her to contuine. The darkness had full control over him now. He proceeded to interrogate her more with narrowed eyes and a harsh low voice.

"Was it because of who my father is? Do you want some kind of reward? Is that why you are hovering over me or saved me for that matter?"

"Father? Reward? I don't get it," her large gray eyes stared at him in utter misunderstanding. Normally Ulquiorra was rational and would see that this girl honestly had no idea what he was trying to say, but he had snapped. His usual observations where blinded by his irritation.

"Are you honestly telling me you have no idea who the mayor of this town is?"

"No idea…"

"How do you not know? How old are you?"

"I am 11…. Does it really matter who your dad is? I saved you because you where going to die. Do I need any other reason then that?"

Getting ready to argue back, Ulquiorra's mind hung on the last statement this girl told him. His rational mind came back just as quickly as it was lost and he became speechless. His chest tightened and he felt out of breath. This sensation was new to him and didn't know what to think of it. There was something about her that made him believe what she had said. Ulquiorra felt odd believing her after just one simple phrase. Was his mind so warped to think that everyone's actions toward him had some other meaning? Or the fact he assumed that everyone's thoughts revolved around his father? He returned down on his back and covered his face with his hands and signed deeply. He hasn't even been in the presence of this little girl for 10 minutes and yet he has already shown her a part of his ugly personality. Before he was thinking of a thousand ways to yell at this auburn haired girl and now he couldn't think of one way to apologize.

Suddenly Ulquiorra felt a weight on his chest. His eyes flew open and he moved his head to realize that the girl had latched herself onto him in a tight hug. Her eyes where clamped shut but tears still managed to fall down her face. This girl made absolutely no sense to Ulquiorra. Wasn't he just yelling at her? And now she is crying and hugging him? After a few minutes he realized that she wasn't going to move anytime soon, so he relaxed his body.

'So this is what a real hug felt like' Ulquiorra couldn't help but think it felt good. Never in his life had anyone hugged him with such passion or urgency. Even though this girl was 11 and to an outside eye, it looked totally wrong, but the hug was warm and Ulquiorra couldn't help but relish the moment. Maybe it was his suicide attempt that made him so emotional, but he felt almost happy she saved him. As much as he was enjoying his first true hug he had to put a stop to their closeness. He gently peeled her off him until he sat up on her own. She knelt close to his body her eye red from crying and her cheeks flushed red.

"Why where you crying?" Ulquiorra said softly almost at a whisper.

Whipping the tears from her eyes she spoke just as softly "You looked so sad. I could tell you where hurting, and…so…. I got sad too…."

"Thank you"

"uh?...For what?"

"Well for saving my life and for crying for my sake"

Her face became bright again with embarrassment and her smile beamed at him. Any trace of sadness was gone from her.

"What is your name girl?"

"Hehe Orihime! What is yours?"

"Ulquiorra"

"Ulquiorra's a strange name"

"Like Orihime is completely normal?"

She began to laugh and Ulquiorra couldn't help but smile just a little

The sun was setting and Ulquiorra and Orihime had not moved an inch, only different now was that Ulquiorra was sitting up completely. They had spent the whole day talking to each other. Orihime mostly talked about her brother Sora and how he raised her on his own. Ulquiorra could tell that he meant everything to her by how her eye seemed to sparkle when talking about the fun they had together. He was amazed himself about how he opened up about his problems. He never did this, but it felt completely natural when talking to Orihime. She was 11 but seemed mature and childish at the same time. Maybe it was her over emotional friendliness that Ulquiorra almost found calming. He had never experienced this before. Orihime looked at her watch and hesitantly started to stand up. Just when Ulquiorra was about to question her actions she spoke up.

"Sora is going to be home from work soon, I better go and make him dinner! It's going to be watermelon stew!"

"That hardly sounds edible"

"You haven't even tried it yet and your poking fun at my stew! Trust me it's a reaaalllll winner! The watermelon goes really well with the pickles and peas!"

"Just when I thought it couldn't sound more repulsive…"

Orihime stuck out her tongue at Ulquiorra and started to run away only to stop 30 feet away. She started to turn around shyly to face him again. They just stared at each other once again without anyone saying anything. He could tell she wanted to say something.

"Yes?"

"Ummm, well…ummm I was wondering…."

"Wondering what?"

"I was wondering if maybe….you would….want…to….talk again, like meet up…."

"Meet up?"

"Ahhhhh it's a stupid idea! Forget I said it! Your 21! Why would you want to talk with a stupid little…"

Ulquiorra knew that she was trying her best. He would feel awkward meeting again only for the reason of their age differences. It wasn't exactly normal for a 21 year old to hang out with a 11 year old under the circumstances, but he couldn't turn her down and he did feel a certain sense of debit to her"

"Sure. Lets meet again"

"You will!? You're not embarrassed to be seen with me? What if someone thinks your uncool?"

"Uncool?"

"Well you know your followers might think your lame hanging out with me. From what you said about them they seem rude. Why do you even hang out with them again? I think you need some new friends….maybe they just need to….."

"Just be here next Sunday okay?"

"OKAY!" she could barely contain her excitement and started to jump up and down. Throughout the day Ulquiorra noticed that her emotions changed inhumanly fast. For someone with very little emotions this aspect of her interested him, Like when she was talking about her late hamster Pako and his tragic demise with the vacuum, she had started to cry only to be laughing her head off five minutes later about another topic.

"What time Ulqui!?"

"10am and never call me Ulqui again"

"Aww but why not?"

"Never again girl"

"Well your no fun! hehe anyway 10am next Sunday! Wouldn't miss it for the world!...you better come!'

"I'll be here, just get going"

With that she ran away only to look back over her shoulders a few times. He remained in his spot playing back the whole day in his head. Ulquiorra came to this beach to die. He was so sure that was what he wanted. With one phrase and one tender hug he started to feel different. With the hours they spent talking it changed him completely. All of his old problems still remained but just the thought of another person seeing him for him and acting out at pure emotions made him take a new outlook on his problems. He almost felt ridiculous how such a small little girl could change him. But she did and he was grateful for it. Ulquiorra began to stand still looking at the setting sun. The sky was vibrant hues of orange and red. He felt as if he had strayed into a dream and the whole day seemed like an illusion. As he started to walk back to his apartment Ulquiorra noticed something about himself…

The emptiness was gone.

Sorry for my late update!

This chapter was so hard to write! I am not 100% okay with it but it got most if what I wanted to say in it. So yeaa….time to move on I really want it to 7 years already!

Thank you for the reviews they made me smile :D :D :D

I am very glad that no one thought 21 yr old Ulquiorra falls in love with 11 yr old Orihime…that's wrong and trust me there is plenty of that 7 years down the road

Hope you like it! Enjoy! Always love to hear your opinions !