Author's Note: You may gain a severe case of anticipation, suspense and excitement from this fanfiction, please ask your docter first if this fanfiction is right for you!

On a more serious note, this chapter I had a breeze with! I loved it so much. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did

She bolted down the streets, ignoring the weird looks she was getting from the people around her. School was letting out for summer soon, so the sun was still setting, even at 9pm. She quickly bolted towards Kisuke's, and hoped that he'd be awake.

Who was she kidding, of course he'd still be awake.

The guy knows every time someone needs him!

She slid across the street and turned into the alleyway that led to Kisuke's candy shop. She bolted through and eventually made it to the doors, and opened them. "Oh, Hello, Orihime." Tessai said, as he leaned the broom against the wall.

"Where's Kisuke?"

"He's downstairs in the training grounds with Yoruichi." he said, gesturing towards the area leading down to the training grounds.

She gulped.

Last thing she wanted to see was those two in an intense battle.

She swallowed her fears and put on a brave face, and went down. She expected to hear explosions, kidos being yelled, and clashing of swords. Instead she was met by Yoruichi and Kisuke playing chess. "Oh, Hello Orihime." Kisuke said, tilting his hat. Yoruichi stood up (in her human form) and gave a small wave of acknowledgement. Orihime smiled.

"Thank god, I thought you guys were doing some kind of intense training!" she said nervously.

Yoruichi smiled competitively towards Kisuke. "We are."

Orihime sweat-dropped.

"Anyways, what brings you here this late on a school night, Orihime? And what's up with the hollow-mask get-up?" Yoruichi asked, as she walked towards them.

"Actually… I was hoping you guys could do me a favor." she mumbled walking over.

Kisuke put his fan in front of his face as Yoruichi gestured for her to go on.

"Well… the get-up was just an easier way to get the hollow mask over." she said slowly

"Anyways, I wanted to ask you… if you could bring me back to Hueco Mundo? Just for a bit." she asked hopefully.

Kisuke sighed and closed his fan. "I was expecting that."

Orihime gulped. "Y- You were?" she asked nervously.

"Don't worry, I'm not telling Uryu or someone else this time. Grieving is a very delicate subject for emotions, and it's important that you get the time you need with his resting place, otherwise it'll never heal."

Orihime smiled.

"...but with that said, I am going to send Yoruichi with you, just in case you need help. You've proven that you're capable against hollows, but getting through the garganta is going to prove difficult without a reishi platform. She can go with you just in case you get overwhelmed by hollows or run into a Vasto Lorde or possible living Arrancar." Kisuke continued.

Orihime nodded in understanding.

Kisuke grew a wide smile, as Yoruichi did too. "Besides, I believe Yoruichi needs some… fun." he said smiling. She cracked her knuckles, "Hell yeah!"

"I already prepared a garganta just in case you did request to go back, I'll activate it once you're ready." Kisuke said from behind his fan.

Orihime nodded quickly, her hands in fists and a determined look on her face. "I'm ready!" she beamed.

"That's the spirit!" Yoruichi said, as she quickly poofed into her cat form. Her clothes fell to the floor as she tried to scramble out of her shirt. Orihime giggled and lifted the shirt collar up, letting the cat out. "Thank you."

Orihime let Yoruichi climb up to her shoulder, as they walked towards the garganta that had just zipped open. "Yoruichi, Orihime, take care of each other, alright?"

"Do not worry, Kisuke." Yoruichi said in her now masculine voice. He put his fan in front of his face and tilted his hat down.

"Good luck."

With that, Yoruichi jumped off Orihime's shoulder, and the two went through the garganta.

Orihime watched as she made a perfect reishi walk, and she put her hands up to her chest. "Wow, you make your reishi platforms even nicer to Ishida-kun!" she beamed, as the cat confidently walked in front of her.

"Indeed. I've had a lot of training and experience with these." the cat said, as they made their way through the garganta.

"Tell me, why are you returning?" she asked, turning her little head to look over at Orihime.

She laughed nervously and poked her fingers together.

"I guess I really can't get myself out of this one, can I?" Orihime asked

"Nope."

She let out a sigh, and looked down. "I was.. Hoping to find more signs of Ulquiorra. This mask clearly means something." she mumbled as she took off the mask and rubbed her finger over it.

Yoruichi sighed. "I hope you find what you're looking for. But I have to ask, what will you do if you do find more signs of him?" she asked.

"That's… a good question. I guess I'm just doing this for self-assurance."

Yoruichi smiled, "That's good to be thinking about yourself every once and while Orihime."

Orihime blushed and waved her hands frantically, "Oh! It's no big deal! I'm just hoping for some assurance… that maybe there's a chance."

"A chance for what?"

"Him."

Yoruichi stopped and looked back at her, as Orihime looked deep into the mask.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked suspiciously.

Orihime waved her hands frantically, "Oh not like that! I mean… I just hope… he's O.K… maybe a sign that he's happy now. Wherever he is."

Yoruichi smiled again, "You still somehow sneak in being selfless, even if you're doing this for yourself."

Orihime blushed again. "Not really…" she mumbled.

"I just hope he's happy."

The two walked the rest of the way in a peaceful silence, until the exit to Hueco Mundo came into view. "There it is!" she beamed and ran towards it.

"Orihime caref-"

Orihime fell right through the portal.

She faceplanted on the sands of Hueco Mundo, and began to sputter and spit it out of her mouth. "Egh! It doesn't taste good!" she said in disgust.

"I'd expect not…" Yoruichi mumbled as she gracefully landed next to her.

She looked up and saw the same mound of ashes and sands mixed together. Her face faded into a small smile as she stood up.

"Alright! Just go look around for anything relating to Ulquiorra, or any Arrancar. Let me know if you find anything!" she beamed as she ran towards the mound. Yoruichi rolled her eyes and smiled, before walking about.

Orihime bent down next to the mound and smiled sadly. "I just want to be able to know that you're doing fine, Ulquiorra." she mumbled, and slowly put the hollow mask on the mound.

She smiled.

"Thank you, Ulquiorra…" she mumbled.

Why was she thanking him?

She doesn't know.

She just knew it felt right.

She sighed, and slowly put her hands on her hair pins. "Shun'ō, Ayame, what do I do?"

The two fairies came off of her hairpins.

"Orihime, are you sure this is what you want to do?" Shun'ō asked cautiously, as Orihime looked at the two.

"Yes, this is what I want to spend my time doing. I want to know that he's O.K."

The two fairies looked at each other nervously, until Ayame approached Orihime. "You understand that he kidnapped you and us, and was our enemy?" she asked softly.

"Of course she does!" a third voice yelled, as Tsubaki shot out of the hairpin, and glared at Orihime.

"You idiotic woman! Stop crying over a pile of sand!" he barked at her, as she looked down shamefully.

"Quit it! Can't you see she's already been through enough?" Ayame shot back at the angry fairy.

"It's not just a pile of sand, Tsubaki." she mumbled.

"Then heal him!"

Ayame, Shun'ō and Orihime looked at the hotheaded fairy in shock. "What…?" Orihime asked.

"If you miss him so damn much, bring him back! You've already done it twice with that highlighter haired dumbass, so why not him?!" he barked at her.

"Language, Tsubaki." Shun'ō said to the raging fairy.

"Since when did you like healing an enemy, rather than defeating them, Tsubaki?" Ayame asked, as Orihime stared at him in shock.

"Well, the depressed fuck had no purpose, and he had no choice. I doubt he'd have the courage to attack us without a reason. Besides, he doesn't have the balls to go up against the whole Soul Society." he grumbled, as he crossed his arms.

"That's… actually a good point." Orihime mumbled, putting her hand up to her chin.

Her face brightened with realization.

"Tsubaki you genius!" she screeched happily and hugged him.

"L- Let me go woman!" he barked at her, as she let him go and apologetically smiled.

Her face turned serious.

"Shun'ō, Ayame, how much energy does it take out of you guys to bring life back?" she asked the two fairies, as they looked at each other nervously.

"It depends on the circumstances.. If you're referring to Ulquiorra Cifer, we aren't sure if we can do it. His entire form has been disintegrated and he's been gone for a year now… getting his body back won't be too hard, but his personality and memories will be a different case." Shun'ō explained cautiously.

Orihime gained a determined smile.

"We have to try it." she said as she stood up.

'Don't worry Ulquiorra… you'll be O.K…' she thought to herself.

"Santen Kesshun, I reject!" she yelled, as the three other shield fairies formed around the mound area.

"I said heal, not shield!" Tsubaki yelled at Orihime.

"I know, I want to make sure his ashes stay." she said.

Yoruichi's ears perked up as she heard the command and turned around. "Orihime!"

She ran over as fast as her little legs could carry her, but stopped when she saw the scene.

"Orihime. What are you doing?!" Yoruichi yelled

"I'm… I'm giving him his second chance!" she yelled, as Yoruichi's eyes narrowed.

She took a deep breath in, and focused.

"Sōten Kisshun… I reject!" she yelled, as the two fairies formed around the mound of sand in the shield.

Nothing.

"Sōten Kisshun… I REJECT!" she screamed.

Still nothing.

She felt tears threaten to fall, but she pushed that aside.

No time for self pity or crying…

This was for him.

For Ulquiorra.

She took a deep breath in, and focused…

"Sōten Kisshun… I REJECT!"

A bright orange light engulfed everything, as Yoruichi was practically thrown away from the wind.

Orihime slowly opened her eyes, trying to sit up and instantly a striking headache hit her, and she collapsed. She breathed heavily as the ringing continued through her ears, but her eyes narrowed as she saw all of her fairies except for Tsubaki, lying unconscious. "Oh.. oh my god!" she barely said out, as she sat up.

She quickly gathered all of them up, and sat them on her lap. "You guys… must be tired…" she said sadly.

She retrieved all of them into her pins, except for Tsubaki, who was facing behind Orihime.

"You might want to look behind you… Orihime." he barely muttered out, before falling out of the air and collapsing.

She slowly turned around, to see a black blob in the distance. Poor Yoruichi got flown back.

But she wasn't focused on that, she was focused on…

Ulquiorra.

He laid there, kimono dressed in his base form. His hollow mask on and everything.

As if nothing had ever happened.

She felt a sense of excitement, relief

Then fear.

"What… What have I done?!" she gawked out, and tried to spring up, but lost her balance.

She was excited that he was alive… but she didn't think it through

Was he going to kill her and Yoruichi?

Was he even breathing?

What would her friends say?

Did she betray the Soul Society by bringing him back?

Did she betray her friends?

She crawled over to the limp figure without thinking, and slowly brushed the black lock of hair out of his face. All of those thoughts were silenced as she felt his breathing and saw his face… so peaceful…

He was alive.

She let a warm smile spread across her face, before she stood up. She needed to help Yoruichi. She'll help Ulquiorra later.

Help Ulquiorra?

That felt weird thinking about it.

She'll have to question it later

Right now she needed to help Yoruichi. She ran over to the cat, and bent down and shook her. "Yoruichi? Yoruichi?!" she pleaded, as the cat rolled over onto its back.

"Jesus I'm alive… I'm alive…" she mumbled hoarsely, as Orihime smiled. "Thank god-" Yoruichi suddenly appeared back in her base form.

Naked.

Orihime let out a screech of terror before slinging back and covering her eyes up. "O- Oh my god! Yoruichi! D- Don't d- do that!" she yelled as she covered her eyes.

"Calm down, calm down. It was an accident." the masculine voice said, as Orihime peeked through her fingers. She was back to cat form. "Thank god…" she murmured.

She sat up and looked at Orihime, "What were you doing? What was that bright orange light?" she asked as Yoruichi picked her up

"Well.. you see…"

She turned around to show Yoruichi… Ulquiorra.

A sharp gasp left her mouth, and she quickly hopped out of her arms. "What the fuck?! Did you… bring him back?!" she yelled at her, as Orihime grabbed her arm.

"I didn't think it through."

"That's clear enough!" she barked at her, as she ran over to the limp figure.

"Is he even alive?" Yoruichi asked, batting at his cheek.

"Don't do that! He's alive, just… unconscious." she mumbled as she walked over and bent down over him. She smiled, the black bangs split neatly at his nose, and his lips were slightly parted. She tucked a piece of hair behind his exposed ear.

"Shouldn't you not be touching the enemy like that, Orihime?" Yoruichi asked, as Orihime quickly retracted her hand and laughed nervously.

"Sorry! I just got lost in my mind there for a second." she said, giggling and poking her head.

Yoruichi couldn't help but smile at the auburn haired girl's goofiness, then her face turned serious again. "Let's bring him back to Kisuke's, this place isn't safe. We'll decide what to do with him there." she said, as Orihime looked over at her confused.

"I'm not in trouble?"

"No, you've served the Soul Society and helped us enough for them most likely to let this slide… if it doesn't cause too many issues."

Orihime smiled. "Thanks, Yoruichi."

"Now, don't take my word on that. The Soul Society doesn't often just let a hollow wander about casually. I'm just going off of what I can guess… they'll probably let him wander about with guidance and watchers…" she stopped before continuing.

"If you defend him that is." she murmured.

Orihime nodded determinedly, "Yes! I'm going to defend him with everything I've got!" she beamed.

Yoruichi smiled at that.

"I'll carry him back-" Yoruichi started

"Nono that's ok! I'll… carry him back… you know… clothed…"

"If you insist."

Orihime picked up Ulquiorra bridal style. Unsurprisingly he wasn't too heavy, and pretty easy to carry. She began to walk towards where the garganta had formed.

With that, the two departed.