Tell me a story, chapter 3.
I was wondering, can anyone make me an UlquiHime Banner or Icon, just for me? Yes? No? Nope. Damn.
"Tell me…a story."
"A story of which to recall?"
"Of how, everything came to be." A pause, a heart beat against none, she froze, was she so deaf and devoid of feeling pain beside her own, was the grief consuming her to such great heights that she couldn't feel another's heart?
No, that wasn't it…for when she looked at him, his eyes boring into her own, him being the one truly devoid of emotion, she knew then. He held no beating heart.
"Of how, you and I…"
She's taken back to a time she dares not remember except for those brief moments of bliss as his words ring out, their story, slowly, within excerpts, retold.
"Inoue, Orihime…"
She sits there idly; she doesn't acknowledge him with words but merely by moving slightly across the bed, making room for him. He sighs. The small tickling, prickling feeling at the corners of his mouth threatens to surface, causing the twitch of his lips to frown upward, something that is so opposite of the movements his lips usually take it's hard to fathom the idea as being even remotely possible.
"You must eat." It's her turn to sigh but still, she does not yield. Instead, she pats the bed space beside her, a small smile forming on her lips as she eyes him tiredly. Aizen has been making her take tests, straining her power to the limit, forcing her to spew out all the spiritual energy she possesses until the very last drop, that last drop left only to use during the darken walk back to her isolated chambers, Ulquiorra's arm outstretched to hold her up if she were to stumble.
"No, now eat." She looks at him blankly before fixing her eyes on the bare floor. His moves are deft and swift, he is beside her in an instant and only the quick, short sway of her locks, even her eye lashes due to the immense speed give cause for her to look up. Yet, even before she makes a move his hand is already below her, holding on to her chin, urging her to look at him.
"You must stop this silly game, woman." The flicker of hurt transpires across her wide eyes and he instantly feels regret. "This isn't anything more than as you should perceive it to be. I am to hold watch over you, as Aizen deems fit. You, you are to eat, as Aizen wishes you to. What ever Lord Aizen wishes to be, shall be. No questions, no protests, no objections."
She gulps as the strength within his grip upon her chin increases slightly, his body drawing near subconsciously.
"Do you understand?" She nods as does he, and then she closes her eyes and throws herself at him, he catches, with no qualms, you can say he knew it was coming, knew she was prone to spontaneous bursts of affection towards him as she confided in him. Him being the only one she is able to confine in.
He sometimes detests that fact, what if there were others to turn to, would she in turn, never look twice at him? As he holds her, not really reaching out to her or showing her a requited adoration, but the feeling deep down, hiding, waiting for the opportune moment, he breathes in the essence of her and he holds her, because, holding her is all he can do.
"Where's Orihime?" the confused and slightly heightened voice shows concern. Perplexed the Quincy looks at the ex-replacement Soul Reaper in question. "Hasn't she arrived yet?"
When the orange haired male shakes his head 'no' Ishida panics inwardly yet remains calm on the outside. "Well, a few of us should go look, with the reports going around about…"
He trails off as the others nod, they know it might be dangerous for her, knew they shouldn't have left her, and if something were to have happened to her, they knew, it would have been their faults.
Tatsuki is the first to break the tension. "Alright, I'll go search at her apartment, Ishida, check by the place we last saw her, Ichigo, Rukia, see if you can contact you're um…Soul Reaper? Yeah, that, those friends, see if they have word, Chad, you keep the others here calm and come up with some excuse as to why we are leaving."
Everyone agrees to the plans drawn up and they set out to find their friend.
"Where do you think she could be?" Rukia, quiet for a moment sighs, once again their minds link and her thoughts are relayed to him as if they are his own. Running, their legs blurry, their movements slowed, they are side beside, looking for someone, or more so feeling for her presence, their eyes looking ahead.
'You needn't ask, you already know where she probably is, that…Espada, that hallow, she and him share a bond…the reports show that he is somewhere in this vicinity, Ichigo…she's probably-'
'I don't want to hear it!'
'Ichigo…'
'The bastard has no right to come back here! He took her away from us in the first place; he put her life in danger! He-'
'He also risked his life to bring her back to us…'
'I don't care!! The minute I see him I'll put my Zanpaktou right through his heart!'
'Hallows don't have-'
'SHUT UP!'
"Listen," she breaks out of the trance as they round a corner, the sound on her phone alerting her to a hallow going off. "Just great…" she mutters. She looks at Ichigo and he nods to her, she speaks "You find her, I'll take care of this, just don't do anything brash-Ichigo!" She stops to watch as, in a blink of an eye, he is gone, leaving her behind.
"I should call in Renji and the others, things look like they are about to go from bad to worst…"
"Shoot, she's not here…Orihime, girl, where can you be?" Kicking a pebble and punching her fists into a nearby wall, Tatsuki frowns deeply, willing herself to hold back a few tears. She doesn't know a lot about Soul Reapers and the other world, all she does know is that Orihime had been in a lot of trouble, and the fact that she was powerless to help killed her inside with each day she was gone.
Now that she was back, she swore with every fiber of her being that she would protect her, just like she did back before all this soul business came around, it would seem she was falling back on her words, for now she couldn't find the person she swore to protect.
"Damn it!"
"Tatsuki!" Spinning her head in the direction to which her name was being called from, Tatsuki spotted Ishida's flailing form. "Tatsuki, Ichigo has found her, there were traces of the Espada's reiatsu at the far corner-here too. There are traces of his reiatsu as well…he must have been here recently…"
He ignores the confused look she holds, words like 'Espada' and 'reiatsu' not forming any recollection within her mind but the mention that Orihime had been found snapped her out of her musings. "Did you see any means of force entry or…Tatsuki?"
"What are you talking about, everything was just as we left when we came by earlier, nothing was forced, and if she's been found, what the hell are we doing waiting around here for??! Come on, lead me to her!" She takes off but stops when she doesn't hear footsteps behind her. "Ishida, come on damnit!"
"You don't understand, the place where he found her, is somewhere you can't go."
"What?! Don't give me that bull, come on man!" She frowns when he merely fixes his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose, the skies really are dark now and the street lamps shine off the frame, if only it was a little bit brighter, it could be enough to blind her.
Instead, she stares, intently hoping that he will give in and take her to Orihime, if not, she will continue to search on her own.
"Ishida…"
"There's nothing we can do, not at the moment. I'm sorry. Go back to the river bank; everything will be fine, I promise."
"Oh really?! Just like how she's fine right now, not remembering half of her life?!!"
She's crying now and Ishida's eyes open wide, he doesn't know how to react, doesn't know if he should take this seemingly unbreakable female into his arms and comfort her, or give her the cold shoulder and tell her to mind her own business. He doesn't know if he should lie to her, ultimately, because he doesn't know the end result of this parade of events.
So what he does do is sigh. Run a hand through his hair and watches her silently before speaking softly. "Go back to the river bank, I'll tell Orihime you're waiting."
And then he is gone the moment her knees buckle and give way to the floor below.
She is holding on to his white sleeve fiercely, the moment she realized someone was coming to her apartment door, up the building, up those steps, she was out the window, upon the roof and then within his arms, jumping from rooftop to rooftop until he settled her within a vortex of his own, isolated from Karakura town essentially.
"My friends…they will be worried, I must-" he stops her as his grip tightens and she winces yet surprisingly is unaffected. "Ulq…" she stops because within that moment the spiritual pressure that was coming at them seemed so familiar and she spins her head within the direction she knows it is coming from.
It is not soon after that he appears, lines creasing his forehead in consternation and exhaustion. She wonders. Has he been looking long? Is he mad, furious-worried? Why would he be worried…what is she to him? Her head hurts and the being holding her doesn't stop her feeble attempt to dull the pain as she fruitlessly places her hands upon her temples, rubbing the aching spot with much vigor.
"Orihime!" the way her name rolls of his tongue sounds so familiar to her that she stops her wasted efforts and looks up to stare at him. 'Hime' means princess, and the way he calls out her name makes her feel as if she was a princess trapped within castle walls, or maybe a dungeon, a cave, with a dragon to be slain in order to fulfill his attempt to rescue her.
"Ichi…go…" his shoulders relax when she produces his name in acknowledgement, but just as quickly he turns to glare at the silent captor. Orihime turns too, to see where his eyes land and she breathes in, unbeknownst to her as she watches the one holding on to her for any flicker within his emerald, dull orbs.
"You are…her nakama." He looks intently at Ichigo. "You are, a fool." He looks down at the woman within his arms, piercing her gray, wide eyes with an indescribable emotion. "You allowed her to be hurt, to loose her memories; you are not properly fit to take care of her, to protect her."
A pause. He directs his gaze away from the female whom is on the brink of tears now and settles them on the one he is ridiculing.
"Too many times have you allowed her to fall into enemy hands; too many times you have allowed her to be hurt physically. Your own power uncontrollable and unpredictable…you are no better than a hallow, controlled by your own thirst for fighting and blood."
His sword is by his side now, he had, at the moment of arriving, been ready to attack the bastard, but now as his arms grow limp and that tightening feeling in his chest, on the left side, where he would think his heart lies, the swirling motion of his stomach and the ringing in his ears take effect he believes himself incapable of doing anything beyond just standing there, watching as this empty being tears out everything from within him.
"You have also trampled her emotions…" Here is where she protests, she doesn't remember- I don't want to remember, nothing, anything, stop! Stop! - But something tells her, what is about to be said shouldn't be said.
"Please, don't…" His eyes widen as the Espada pays no heed to the girl, what could Orihime be trying to stop, what was this guy going on about?
"She loved you and you were too blind to see it."
There it is. Where your heart drops and breaks into a million pieces, stabbing your insides with its shattered remnants. When your mind retreats within itself into a faded black of nothingness and your body shakes as if wishing to spontaneously combust in order to not feel anything that this terrible trembling is about to erupt within side you.
He stares, at a lost for words.
"You were too late."
And then he stares at nothing.
I honestly wanted to add more but I'm going to keep to it within the next chapter, as to be expected, now Ulquiorra and Orihime will be alone, at least for the mean time, giving moments to relive memories and plans to be created as to how to deal with this certain dilemma.
Please review, they make me happy. And I'll try and post the next chapter ASAP:hugs and kisses: UlquiHime will become Canon!