Ulquiorra walked into the woman's house, as she hung her jacket up. "You live alone." he noted aloud, as she walked in and sat on the couch.
"Yep."
Ulquiorra walked over and walked over to the bookshelf.
Then quickly sighed.
Orihime noticed this, as he tried to use one of the bins at the bottom as a stand to grab the lowest book. She giggled to herself.
"Careful, don't fall." she said softly, as she walked over and grabbed a book and handed it to him.
'Iverestie; The Final Breath.'
"What book is this?" he asked her, as she bent down and looked at it. He held it out with his tiny little arms, and inwardly scoffed at how small they were.
"Oh… I think that's about a dragon-human hybrid who got casted out, and ended up living amongst humans." she explained, as she grabbed the book and flipped through it.
"Yeah, this is the first book." she said, and handed it back to him.
Interesting concept.
Ulquiorra stepped off the bin he was using as a stool and leaned against the wall next to the TV, and flipped the book open.
After only about 30 minutes, Orihime couldn't contain herself anymore. She'd thought about so many scenarios that they could be doing right now, that her head might explode!
She eventually finally snapped, as she grabbed a pillow on the couch.
"Ulquiorra?"
He looked up from his book at the woman in acknowledgement, his stare as bored as usual.
But cute too, as he had a much more innocent cute look to him now in that gigai.
"Can… Arrancar's hollow masks come off? Like helmets?" she asked as she hugged a pillow.
Ulquiorra had expected many things, but not that.
It was a good question.
"No, they cannot. It is similar to removing a turtle's shell, they're attached to us. Removing it would be severely painful, and possibly cause the Arrancar to sustain permanent or in some cases, fatal injuries." he explained emotionlessly, as he turned his attention back down to the book, expecting the conversation to end there.
"But… Why did I get your hollow mask from the sands in Hueco Mundo as I was leaving earlier today?"
So that is why the pressure on the left side of my head subsided suddenly in the Death Void.
"Perhaps it was detached from my body."
"But… how? And why wasn't it broken or anything?" she pried him, as he looked at her with an emotionless expression.
"It is 4am, woman. You need sleep for school in the morning." he said, as Orihime frowned at the avoidance of the subject.
Suddenly, the words sank in.
4am?!
She sprang up and bolted her gaze to the clock, and sure enough, it was 4:08am.
Dang.
"I- I guess I lost track of time… Well come on."
Ulquiorra looked up at her with questioning eyes.
"Kisuke said I gotta supervise you, and you have to sleep in my room. Don't make me burrito you!" She said in a fake threatening tone.
Ulquiorra looked at her, confused. Of course not on his face, but you could tell he was.
"...Burrito…. Me…?" he asked slowly, as she smiled evilly.
"I grab a blanket, and wrap you up like a burrito and carry you like a sack of potatoes upstairs!" she beamed at him.
Weird woman indeed.
He shut his book and slid his hands in his pockets.
"Very well." he said as he closed his eyes and walked past Orihime, up the stairs.
Once the two made it upstairs, Orihime opened her closet and pulled out two blankets, both black. One was large and fluffy, and the other was tinier and smooth. She walked over and grabbed a small black pillow from her bed as well.
"What are you doing?" he asked, as she dug around in her closet.
She eventually pulled out a large low walled basket, and carried it over and put it next to her bed. "Making you a little bed." she said as she fluffed up the big blanket and began to stuff the basket with it.
Ulquiorra frowned.
"First off woman, my comfort is of none of your concern. I am perfectly capable of sleeping on the floor. Second, do not treat me as your kid, nor your pet." he growled the last part a little, as she stopped and looked at him.
"No no! It's not like that! I just want to make sure you're comfortable…" she trailed off, looking at the displeasure in his face grow a bit.
A bit for Ulquiorra that is.
"Fine, it'll help me supervise you then." she grumbled, not liking to have to put it that way.
Ulquiorra realized he couldn't argue against that, and she finished putting the pillow in. She carefully handed him the small blanket, and he walked over to the basket-bed.
It… looked like it was going to suffocate him. The large blanket stuffed it over the edge, but pushing his hand down on it, it looked like it was going to consume him whole.
"Is this bed… a livable circumstance if I were to put my full weight on it?" he asked skeptically, as she pulled out her nightgown.
"It's safe Ulquiorra, don't worry!" she beamed happily, smiling.
That only made Ulquiorra more skeptical.
Orihime rolled her eyes, before suddenly picking him up from behind, causing a tiny gasp from his lips.
He felt ashamed for letting such a noise escape his mouth.
She slowly lowered him into the bed, and handed him the blanket. He felt a sense of his dignity getting thrown out the window like Ichigo's dad when he tries to tackle him.
He sat up, trying to retain some of his dignity. He would not allow himself to be tucked in like a child.
Orihime decided not to argue, and turned around and went into the bathroom to change.
As soon as that pestering woman was out of view, he got out of the annoying basket, and climbed up on top of her bed towards the window.
He climbed on top of the window sill, propping his knees up to his chest.
Oh what Grimmjow would do if he saw him like this.
He glanced over at the clock; 4:10am. The woman would have 2 hours and 50 minutes to sleep before she had to leave for school.
He leaned against the edge of the window behind him and slumped slightly, looking at the stars.
At least the view was pretty.
Eventually, he felt himself begin to drift off. Despite his efforts, he eventually fell into the depths of sleep.
Orihime opened the door and walked back in five minutes later, and then saw Ulquiorra on the window sill.
Before she could ask him, she noticed his slumped position and closed eyes.
She murmured a little 'awh..' to herself, and carefully laid down on her bed.
She didn't want to risk waking him up.
Orihime covered herself up with her covers, and wrapped herself up in them, eventually too, drifting off into a peaceful sleep.
Water.
That's what she felt.
Wetness, coldness, the water seeping into her clothes and hair.
She snapped her eyes open to find she was laying in a shallow lake, the warm sun beaming down on her, as the blessing rays bounced off of her skin, illuminating her form and auburn hair.
She sat up, and took in her surroundings. The lake was large… like a huge mirror. She suddenly noticed the presence next to her.
She had to stifle a gasp, as she noticed Ulquiorra laying down in the water, eyes closed…
With a smile.
It looked… soft and warm on his face. His skin was a normal tone, tear marks gone, hollow mask gone. Just human.
An adult human.
She slowly bent over to look at him, when his eyes shot open to look at her. "What's wrong, Orihime?" he asked softly, as Orihime tried to hide her shock from his question.
Had… Ulquiorra just asked… about her well-being?
In a non demandable way.
"U- Uh yeah, I- I'm fine-" she managed to murmur out, as he sat up. His wet black locks slid over his wet black shirt, as he leaned in to look at her.
"Are you sure?"
She felt her face rush with heat, as the two made a locking eye contact.
Ulquiorra slowly began to lean in closer, as he put his hand on her cheek, as if rubbing away an invisible tear that had strayed away.
As he got so close, she closed her eyes, waiting for that feeling of his lips meeting hers. He was so close that she could feel his warm breath hitting her mouth.
Suddenly, he pulled away, as a faint beeping noise cut through the air.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Ulquiorra fell off the window sill from the jump, landing on the woman's legs as she sprang up from the impact of the little Ulquiorra hitting her legs.
She slammed the alarm, and somehow forgot Ulquiorra was trying to get off her, as she sprung out of bed.
With a thump, poor Ulquiorra face planted onto the floor as she sprang out of bed. She noticed the poor Espada instantly as the thump reached her ears.
Oops.
"Oh- Sorry Ulquiorra, I forgot!" she said, rubbing the back of her head. He sat up, and looked up at her with his usual emotionless expression.
"As it would appear so."
"Well! First day of school! As… uh… you as my technical cousin I have to babysit!" she beamed, as Ulquiorra stood up from his place on the ground.
"I am not your cousin, woman." he corrected her.
Orihime looked over at him and smiled. "I know! It's kind of like a roleplay thing if you think about it, y'know! Like I'm your babysitter, and you were sent here because your parents had some kind of relationship issue, and I've gotta now take care of you. We can even pretend that you're so far ahead in your studies, that you already know everything in the school! We'll have to say that you prefer to wear a kimono over normal clothes. We could also introduce you to-"
She was cut off by Ulquiorra. "We do not have time for your useless fantasies, woman. You will be late for school." he said strictly, as he un-twisted his mini kimono's tails.
Orihime gave him a pouty lip, but instantly grabbed her school clothes out of her closet and bolted into the bathroom in an excited haste.
Such an interesting individual.
Orihime and Ulquiorra departed from the house after she packed her… questionable food. Ulquiorra could feel the weird looks he was getting, most likely for his hollow mask.
He simply did not care though. Such human opinions meant nothing to him, even if he's now living amongst them.
He scoffed at that acceptance he had thought of. Living amongst humans, such a degradation from the Cuatro Espada he was known as.
Truly pitiful.
His deep thoughts were interrupted by a purple haired tom-boy running up to Orihime.
"Orihime!" she yelled as the two women hugged. Ulquiorra simply looked away, uninterested in such gestures.
"Hi, Tatsuki!" she beamed happily as the two departed from the hug. The purple haired female turned her attention down to the little Ulquiorra.
"Who's this?" she asked, as she bent down to the little Ulquiorra, who had his hands in his pockets, and was looking to the side.
"That's Ulquiorra. He's my cousin, I have to babysit him this week! He'll be coming to school with me!"
Tatsuki looked up at Orihime, confused. "You never told me you had a cousin."
Orihime nervously laughed and looked at her friend. "Well, it's complicated. He's got some family issues going on right now… and uh… that side of the family isn't exactly on the best terms… with anybody." she said, as her thoughts trailed to the other Espada.
Tatsuki raised her eyebrow at Orihime, before turning her attention to Ulquiorra.
"So your name's Ulquiorra, nice to meet ya', I'm Tatsuki."
Ulquiorra looked at her, and her outstretched hand. He made eye contact with the tomboy, "I do not associate myself with such trash or inferior beings."
Orihime flinched as Tatsuki stared at him, completely baffled.
Orihime quickly shoved Ulquiorra to the side with her leg, as he barely stumbled to keep his balance. "Sorry, he's a bit anti-social. Hasn't talked to anyone outside of his family most of his childhood!" she laughed nervously, as Tatsuki stood up.
"Are you sure you can live with this, Orihime?" she grumbled to her, looking at Ulquiorra, who leaned against a nearby fence.
Orihime bit her lip, as if silently saying I honestly don't know.
With that, she walked over and grabbed Ulquiorra's hand, and began to drag him towards the school, as Tatsuki watched.
"Do not touch me, woman." he hissed at her, and tried to rip his hand away. He looked up at her, but she looked down at him with a threatening look.
"Don't do that again, Ulquiorra." she said to him, a small tint of annoyance in her voice.
He was caught off guard.
He hadn't seen the woman this mad since he was brought back, so he simply chose the logical choice.
Shut it, and keep walking.
Eventually Orihime softened her grip, and eventually let go. He slid his hand back in his pocket as he struggled to keep up with the frantically moving Orihime.
"Woman, I cannot keep up as well as I used to be able to. Why are you in such a frantic state?" he asked her, as she turned a corner in the school.
"Because I'm already late for class!" she said, suddenly stopping, causing Ulquiorra to bump into her.
He peeked around her legs into the classroom, with a displeased looking female teacher.
"Miss Inoue, I believe you have a good excuse why you were 10 minutes late?" Mrs. Tashel asked in a tone that could shatter one's braveness.
Orihime stood to the side, as the class's attention turned to the little Ulquiorra. Ichigo was practically piercing him with a death stare.
"And who might this be?" Mrs. Tashel asked in a less threatening tone, seeing they were in the presence of a child.
"This is Ulquiorra, I have to babysit him while his parents are away." she put it simply, as the teacher looked at Orihime again.
"Orihime, I don't think I have the patience, or the right amount paid, to deal with a child right now. Could you find someone to watch him during class?"
"I… can't. He's very obedient and quiet, and in fact, he's in this grade, believe it or not." Orihime said, as Ulquiorra looked up at her with a 'what are you doing' look.
Orihime smiled confidently, as the teacher looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Oh really…"
The teacher handed Orihime a piece of paper, "Let's see him solve this real quick, Mrs. Inoue."
Orihime cringed at the question.
""It takes a boat 3 hours to travel down a river from point A to point B, and 5 hours to travel up the river from B to A. How long would it take the same boat to go from A to B in still water?""
She never liked math. She handed it to Ulquiorra, as she also grabbed a pencil from the pencil holder and gave it to him. Ulquiorra walked over to the closest desk, and leaned over it, writing at fast speeds.
Within less than a minute, he handed the paper to Orihime.
""Let: S be the speed of the boat in still water, r be the rate of the water current and d the distance between A and B. d = 3(S + r) : boat traveling down river d = 5(S - r). : boat traveling up river 3(S + r) = 5(S - r). r = S / 4 : solve above equation for r
d = 3(S + S/4) : substitute r by S/4 in equation B
d / S = 3.75 hours = 3 hours and 45 minutes.""
Ulquiorra remained his emotionless expression, as the teacher read over it.
"I'm impressed. You over complicated it, but you did it correctly." the teacher said, baffled.
Ulquiorra simply said nothing, remaining his emotionless expression, before murmuring "Of course, math is such a simple and useless subject. Such a question is unnecessary once you have learnt it at birth." and snatched the paper from the teacher, and threw it in the trash.
The students sweat dropped, as the tiny figure, barely even tall enough to go over the desks, make his way confidently down the aisle, hands in pockets, to an empty seat in the back of the class.
The teacher huffed, and gestured for Orihime to go to her normal seat.
The rest of class was pointless to Ulquiorra, as he already knew everything in the book that they had passed out during class. Such relearning would prove to be time wasting.
At some point during the class, he felt something hit his hair, before turning over to the guy next to him. Ulquiorra pulled out a wad of paper, and dropped it on the floor, giving the guy no reaction.
Childish teens.
Eventually, the class ended, and Orihime walked to the back of class, books in hand and her backpack mostly unzipped. "The next class is history, but I need to go to the washroom first. You'll have to wait outside." she said, as he nodded.
He already disliked this, immensely.
He wandered quietly behind Orihime, as he observed the students passing in the halls. It was simple for him to tell the age range in this teaching environment; 13-18. Full of filthy teens.
Suddenly, a wad of orange hair stuck out to him.
Ichigo Kurosaki.
Without knowing, he slowed down for a moment, and almost lost Orihime. He quickly stumbled behind her, as she walked up to the washroom. She gestured towards the water fountain. "Stay there, I'll only be a minute."
Ulquiorra leaned against the wall as she disappeared into the hell that was known as the Women's Washroom.
"Hey, kid, what's up with the outfit?" a random black haired teen asked, as Ulquiorra looked at the filthy kid.
As if trash couldn't get any trashier.
He scoffed, and ignored the kid.
"Hey?! Did somebody lose their kid or something?! Because I'm about to teach this insolent brat some manners!" he yelled out, as he grinned at Ulquiorra evilly.
Ulquiorra continued to ignore him.
Forgetting his constricted state.
The kid growled, before putting his hand against the wall. "You brat, don't make me repeat myself!" he barked at him, as Ulquiorra stared up at him.
"You make no sense, trash." he said emotionlessly, as the kid's fist tightened on the wall, and his glare tightened.
The kid was about to probably beat the stuffing out of the little Espada, but Orihime came out of the washroom. "O- Orihime!" the kid said frantically, as Orihime grabbed Ulquiorra's hand.
Ulquiorra hissed at her slightly.
The kid quickly blushed as the auburn haired beauty glared at him. "Don't bully Ulquiorra, Trevor."
"Sorry, Orihime!" he said as he ran off.
Ulquiorra glared at the auburn woman slightly. "I did not need 'saving.', woman."
Orihime smiled, "Whatever you say, Ulqui."
"Ulqui?"
"Yeah, it's an adorable nickname!"
Ulquiorra glared at her, then closed his eyes. "You will refer to me as Ulquiorra."
Orihime frowned. "You're such a party pooper."
Ulquiorra ignored the woman's complaints as the two began to walk down the halls again.
As Ulquiorra expected, going with the woman to school was pointless.
No, not because he learnt nothing of the subjects; the fact he learnt nothing of the woman, nor got answers to his questions.
Unfortunately for him, he didn't have a choice.
I am being jailed by the woman, how ironic.
The two walked down the streets from school in silence, as the cars bolted by. Ulquiorra felt a bit tired already, which greatly displeased him.
Such a downgrade.
Orihime began to just get straight up uncomfortable by the silence, so she decided to delve into her thoughts. She wondered once Ulquiorra got his normal gigai, what he'd look like? Would he look the same as his Arrancar form? No, probably not. Maybe similar but probably not as pale, without his tear marks and hollow mask. She remembered how soft and silky his hair felt when he originally was brought back… wow! She still can't believe that he's actually here… and not that dust pile in Hueco Mundo. Maybe she should get him a proper bed rather than the basket, so when he does get bigger again, he can actually fit in the bed. Wait, will he even be staying with her when he gets back to normal size? She'll have to ask him sometime. Maybe it'd be better if he didn't stay with her, because if Tatsuki saw him in her house and such, either she'd pop Ulquiorra's head off, or ask a ton of questions.
Finally, Ulquiorra and Orihime arrived at the house, but Ulquiorra noticed she was zoning out. "Woman, you need to focus and stop straying into your thoughts."
That woke her up.
She looked down at Ulquiorra and smiled, "Oh! Sorry I was just thinking about what size of socks you wear in your adult form."
"...What?..."
"Nevermind! I'll get dinner going."
Again with the ludicrous thoughts.
Ulquiorra slowly wandered in after Orihime, fearing what mutation she was cursing those cooking ware with.
Ulquiorra leaned against the same window sill whom he had found a liking too. After a bit of searching, he had found a small hand journal that he would claim as his own while he stayed here.
The woman had already fallen asleep for the night after she finished watching multiple horror movies. Such time wasting entertainments, and most of them were not even accurate or realistic. Ulquiorra found it hard to figure out why the woman spent hours on end watching them.
Ulquiorra shook his head. He needed to stop thinking about such irrelevant things and focus on the task at hand. Or perhaps, the questions at hand. The woman had been too busy watching her movies for him to be able to ask the questions properly.
He had many questions, most relating to what had happened during his time in his death… but the main question lingered.
Why had she revived him?
He had already asked this question, but the highlighter haired trash had interrupted them to comfort his own concerns about him. He had a few theories, but most relating to that thing she called the heart. Whether that be because she believed he really did deserve a second chance or not, he didn't know.
If that were the case, then why did she believe he deserved a second chance?
He didn't know either.
Perhaps that useless emotion they call 'love' is related to this.
Yes, he will ask her when she awakens. Perhaps that will finally put the pestering questions to rest.
Alas, he was the one who needed rest at the current moment though, as he felt exhausted from the day.
Such a useless gigai.