Gomen, it took forever to update this didn't? Oh well, this goes out to Eijimi for creating amazing icons of UlquiHime which can be linked to through my profile, for me.

Love ya you sexy person!

XD

I can't seem to write more than what is within this chapter but I will really try to include more within the next, really sorry. I hope you all like this chapter and keep UlquiHime alive!

-

"You haven't touched your food."

"I'm not hungry..." she hears a shuffle but doesn't turn around, she knows he's going to force feed her, and at one time she would have struggled, knowing he did as such to please his lord, but now...now she knows he has another reason.

"You'll starve if you don't eat." and the somewhat yet not quite softness within his voice causes her to relent on her silent protest against her situation. "Come." He beckons her softly and she makes move to turn her head acutely to where he stands, tray of food in hand.

"Ulquiorra...I want to be freed."

He stays silent, for there is no use in answering her cries more than once a day. She wonders if he has ever thought about rescuing her, but then she laughs at herself once the hole in his throat reminds her ever so clearly that he is an Arrancar, an Espada, to save a human he had the liberty of capturing himself was out of the question.

"Eat."

"Do you think...do you think that they hate me?"

"Whom do you speak of?"

"My Nakama..." The name she uses for them is all too ironic when thought about later on.

He casts a shadowed glance at her for the sorrow in her voice is almost too much to bear. He makes a grunting noise as if to say 'I don't know nor do I care" and he wants to say "as should you" and she wants to laugh because she feels he has already said as such and what's worst, she agrees.

So, she smiles at him, which falters ever so slightly under his perceptive gaze and she waves her hand in dismissal. "Never mind, don't worry, I'll eat."

"I do not worry." and the complacent picture of his face causes her eyes to find the bare floor the most interesting thing in the world at the moment. He takes leave at that moment, only to return later, news that the very same people she had been worrying about whether or not they hated her had infiltrated Hueco Mundo in hopes of retrieving her. He sees the hope and the slightly hidden love adorn her eyes, a look about her just like when he watched her before stealing her from her beloved world, and he finds….

He stops himself from delving too deep.

-

She awakes in a darken room, only the moonlight within the crack of a wall shines through, highlighting a miscellaneous item. As she sits up she brings her hand to her head and tries to dim the pain that consumes her.

You were too late.

She scans the room in panic and before she can stop herself she calls out his name.

"Ulquiorra!"

He is beside her instantly and she reaches out to him in a desperate flurry of necessity. He does not protest when she clutches the front fabric of his attire and sobs into it mercilessly. Instead, he extends his arms around her and holds her to him, his knee supporting his slumped position as she is still leaning hunched over in her seated position upon the laid out futon.

She quiets after some time and breaks away loosely; regrettably, she dares not meet his unnatural shade of green eyes for fear of what they will hold when he looks right back at her.

"Kurosaki-kun…" the name pangs at her heart, she knows not why, but she thinks it best not to remember. "He-you…."

"There is no need to think on the matter, you need rest. Your mind has been under tremendous stress, Inoue."

She nods stiffly and lays back down, urging her eyes to close and to drift off to sleep, but her breathing doesn't even out and even throughout the darkness he can tell that she is nowhere close to sleeping.

"Are you hungry?"

"Will you force feed me if I say no?" She gasps lightly after that, questioning herself as to why she had replied with such quick wittedness with this man, this being, which was so foreign yet so familiar.

When there is no response she feels him smirking and wishes more than anything that at this moment the room would consume her so there was nothing left of her and her humiliation.

"Maybe." and the playfulness in his voice she feels would be so unexpected if she knew any better.

"Who are you, really?" Tentative, she pushes back what little covers are about her form and she grips around for something sturdy to raise herself properly with. "Where do I know you from…?"

The small sounds of her footsteps are the only thing that meets her questions and she breathes in a shallow breath before continuing.

"Why…are you the only one…" she bumps into pure solid and she stumbles backwards only to be caught instantly and held in place. The grip on her arms is strong yet tender and she relishes in the comfort that it provides her.

"Orihime." That funny thing with her hearts starts up again at the sound of her name on his cool breath and she squints into the darkness, yearning to see him. "You must rest."

"I will." she bites back and she berates herself for how she is treating this man whom has been treating her with such care. "Once, you tell me what I want to know."

She hears something rumble deep within him as she leans against his chest and she ventures to guess that it is some form of a chuckle. "As you wish." she beams up at him with relief and even though she knows she wouldn't be able to see it herself, that he does.

As they make their way to sit, her not knowing really which direction to take but being lead by his guiding form, she freezes when he strays away from her. Soon a single light illuminates the small, what would seem to be previously barren room and as if knowing her apparent need to be in his company as close as possible, he joins her once again to relax her.

As they sit she searches for his hand and although not giving it outright he relaxes it upon his lap in clear invitation and she grips it affectionately. "Now, how did we…meet Ulquiorra?"

He closes his eyes as if to sigh and she quirks her head to the side in question.

"I kidnapped you."

She laughs.

He stays silent.

"Oh…you're serious."

A silence befalls them and she debates whether or not to release her hold on his hand. The moonlight has made its way across the room some bit, the time passing by being the cause, it seems to be creeping its way upon them, she notes.

"There are…some things I keep straining to remember, I remember my brother, his death…" she falls silent briefly. "Kurosaki-kun, he fought my brother, and I-I almost died that night." Her heads falls into an even more so shadowed stance and he lifts his other hand to grip her chin in order for her to look at him.

"What else?"

"Fighting, I remember so much fighting. That's something I don't want to remember!" Her grip tightens and he breaks the contact and rises.

"More, Orihime, you have to remember more."

She closes her eyes tightly and nods in anguish. "Tatsuki, Chad, Uryuu…Kuro-Kurosaki-kun and Rukia. I remember them, vaguely, but I remember them…and, my hairpins…" her hands glide across them stealthily before falling back upon her lap.

"Yes." he acknowledges. "Your powers."

"My powers…"

"The reason why Aizen wanted you."

Las Noches

Aizen

Hōgyoku

Destruction.

The scream she emits causes Ulquiorra to rush to her side, beckoning her to lie back down. She does not respond but continues to tremble as words and images continue to attack and intrude her mind. Forcibly, he pushes her down into the futon and her frantic movements make a grab at him in order to pull him down on top of her.

Her fear stops instantly and she is left in a motionless realm of feeling. His nose is beside her cheek and his breath upon her shoulder, his hand is hard pressed into the space beside her head and the length of him is up against her own.

"Ulqui-"

Her voice dies as his form moves slightly and now his lips are hovering over her own and his breath is quicker than usual and now her eyes are darting back and forth, and the way he feels against her feels oh so right and she wonders why just by being near him like this causes her to forget yet want to remember so badly.

She starts to speak into the darkness but he is removing himself painstakingly slow and she realizes in that moment when he is making a move to get up that she wants to kiss him. And the moonlight has finally crept up to them to shine upon them fully and now she is holding him to her in silent need and he looks down at her with silent inquiry, and both silent selfishness only fades when she leans up to press her lips gently to his own.

And as her hairpins glow, time stops.