Chapter Six; Tender
Ulquiorra woke up to the pleasantry of; not the pestering alarm, but dark grey clouds blocking the sunlight. He had slept in.
At least this time he hadn't fallen from the window sill.
Ulquiorra stared up at the dark clouds through the window, then turned his gaze down. He took in the gloom and dark look that had now casted over Karakura.
After a few moments of gazing out the window at the subdued Karakura, he noticed the woman's absence. She must've gotten up, as she did not need to go to school today.
He stepped off the window sill onto her bed, then carefully dropped onto the ground. He adjusted the collar of his kimono after that undignifying scene as if someone were watching, slid his hands in his pockets and strutted out of the room.
The second he walked into the kitchen, he almost lost his balance from the terrible smell that assaulted his senses, and his eyes went watery from the serranos being cut.
He hesitantly looked over at the woman, as she slid the sloppily cut serranos into a pan that contained some beef, and some cabbage.
Was she actually making edible food?
Right as he had that thought, she popped a bottle of honey and ketchup open and poured it in.
He retracted his previous thought.
What was that terrible smell that had almost killed him earlier? He got his answer as she opened the smoking rice cooker, and pulled out some rice-sprinkle-oat-syrup concoction, and put it in a separate bowl and began to shuffle it.
"What are you manifesting, woman?"
She let out a squeak and spun around, as Ulquiorra ducked and barely dodged the rice spoon that she had accidentally thrown at him from spinning around.
"O- Oh! You scared me Ulquiorra!"
"So it would appear…" he mumbled as he picked up the spoon and handed it back to her.
She gave him a pouty lip, "Sorry! And 'manifesting' is a strong word. It's as if I were like an evil witch forming a special potion to poison my unsuspecting victim!" she said with a giggle. She smiled and turned back to the so-called 'rice'. "I'm making fried rice!"
Ulquiorra rolled his eyes at her little fantasy, then looked at the rice and the things that the pan contained.
"I believe you… slightly got the recipe wrong."
Orihime looked at him with a confused and shocked look.
"Was that sarcasm?"
He simply ignored her.
"Are you hungry?" she asked, as she poured the rice into the pan, causing smoke to flood the room.
Ulquiorra sat there unmoving as Orihime hacked her lungs out, then looked back at him waving her hand around, and smiled innocently.
"...I'll pass…"
"Suit yourself!" she beamed and coughed again, and turned around with a smile.
Ulquiorra leaned against a wall for some support. He felt as if his stomach were caving in, and he was beginning to feel light headed. Was this hunger? Whatever it was, he needed to cure it, otherwise he'll be left vulnerable.
..Even more than he already was..
He let out a small frustrated sigh, and looked over at Orihime, who was happily fixing a plate of the concoction that she had formed. "What type of edible food is best for curing hunger?"
She looked down at him as she swallowed the first bite of her food, and she placed the plate down. "Well, all foods are edible! Unless you have an allergy of course, you have to be careful then."
He doubted all foods were edible after getting a sight of her 'meal'.
"Let me rephrase that for you, what foods will satisfy my body's needs, and remains without much taste and is quick to consume and prepare?"
She frowned, "Oh come on, why not try some flavorful stuff?"
"Flavor has no meaning. It is irrelevant."
She bit her lip and turned towards a cabinet. "I guess I could give you some peanut butter toast. It has good protein and should 'satisfy your body's needs'." she said that last part in a deep low voice, attempting to imitate him.
He frowned slightly, "Are you mocking me?"
She giggled, as she popped two pieces of bread in the toaster. "Maybe~"
Ulquiorra just rolled his eyes, and watched her pull out a butter knife and the food known as 'peanut butter.'
After a moment, the toaster shot the two pieces of bread. She grabbed them and flinched her hand back and yelped. She quickly grabbed the two pieces of toast stubbornly and threw them on the plate and blew her hands, then looked at Ulquiorra and smiled nervously.
He watched her as her hair whipped around, she grabbed the peanut butter and knife and opened it, and began to spread it on the bread.
"I do not believe you should be wielding a knife, woman." he said suddenly and blatantly.
"Why?" she asked, spinning around with the bread in hand and the knife in hand.
Remaining his stoic expression, "You will hurt yourself or someone."
Orihime smiled, ignoring the last part. "Are you worried about me?"
He frowned at the accusation, "I am simply making sure my houser does not get themselves killed until I can get the more capable gigai." That cued her face to drop sadly, as she slowly turned around. "Right." she mumbled.
Ulquiorra felt this weird thing hit his chest as the woman's expression dropped, and he looked down, slowly putting his hand up to his chest. 'What was that?' he thought, as he slowly zipped his kimono down slightly, and circled the area his hollow hole was previously.
It felt unusual to have soft skin covering his symbol of heartlessness. Though it was still there, he still felt the emptiness that remained there.
He zoned out for a moment staring ahead of him into space, as he felt the skin under his fingers, feeling the emptiness.
"-quiorra? Ulquiorra are you ok?"
He snapped back to reality, and blinked, before looking at the woman boredly. "I am fine, woman."
She frowned, "You know, you can call me Orihime." she mumbled as she walked over and grabbed the plate.
"It does not matter what I address you as."
Orihime smiled evilly, and gave him the plate. "So if that's true, I can call you Ulqui?"
He glared at her, "Absolutely not." he snipped.
"...or maybe sad boi, since you've always got such a sad expression on…"
"No…" he growled behind his teeth.
"..Or… Hm…" she put her hand up to her chin, as Ulquiorra looked up at her menacingly and dangerously.
"Eh, I like Ulquiorra anyways." she mumbled, and Ulquiorra looked down at the toast. No addons, just simple peanut butter and toast. Good.
He quickly ate it when the woman turned around, as he didn't like people watching him eat. By the time she turned around, he was walking over to the sink to wash the dish. "Wow, you eat fast!"
Ulquiorra ignored her, and stared up at the sink. Damn his new height, he was already short enough as it was.
Orihime smiled and grabbed a small stool. "Not used to your height, huh? I wouldn't be able to adjust easily either. Wow it must be so weird being half your normal height!" Ulquiorra just glared at her in response and stepped on the stool.
He finished washing his plate as the woman put the disgusting 'fried rice' in leftover containers and mumbled something about saving it for school on monday. He could almost gag thinking about it. Almost.
Eventually the woman disappeared somewhere in the living that he could honestly care less to think about. He simply pulled the diar- hand journal he had claimed last night out of his kimono, and sat down at the table.
After a while of writing, his ears perked up as he heard the woman talking from the living room. As much as he tried to resist the urge, he gave into his curiosity. He peeked around the corner, and saw Orihime on her knees, hands clasped together, in front of a shrine with a picture on it. He couldn't make the picture out from here.
"Sora… I- I know I've already apologized, but I'm sorry again for volunteering. I know you're probably disappointed in me for volunteering to take care of my former kidnapper and jailor but I believe in him! I hope you accept my sincerest apologies, brother."
Ulquiorra listened at first, but then the realization hit him when he heard her use 'brother'. He did not know she had a deceased brother. He decided to ask her…
… Once she was done …
"I… really do believe he deserves a second chance." she said in a softer tone and opened her eyes. A smile graced her lips as she looked at the picture, with that of determination. "I promise I'll try my best to stay safe. I wish you could've been here to meet him… even though he's a bit…" she thought for a moment, "rough around the edges! But I promise after a while, he'll turn right around!"
Ulquiorra listened curiously, but doubted every word of what the woman said. He will not be changing any time soon if at all.
Eventually after a moment of her sitting in silence, looking down at her lap, she looked up and smiled. "I'd best get the day started. Good day, big brother." she smiled, and then blew out the two candles that placed themselves beside the picture.
"What was that, woman?" Orihime merely jumped out of her skin as she noticed Ulquiorra walk into the living room.
"O- oh my gosh Ulquiorra! You need to stop sneaking up on me like that!" she snapped.
Suddenly, she sprawled herself out on the floor, as Ulquiorra stood there, caught off guard by her actions.
She put her hands up to her face, and let out a long exhale. "I was talking to my brother."
Ulquiorra walked over next to her laid down figure. "Your dead brother?" he asked blatantly.
Orihime looked over at him, before she let out a giggle. "You're so blunt, Ulquiorra."
Ulquiorra did not expect her to laugh at his statement. In fact, he expected a negative response.
He decided to ignore her weird behaviors.
"Yeah… he passed a while ago." she mumbled, as she put one of her arms down. She suddenly sprung up with a wide smile. Ulquiorra barely dodged her shoulder as he backed up quickly.
"Anyways! What do you want to do today?" she asked hyperactively, and Ulquiorra just returned her smile with a bored expression. "Nothing."
She gave him a pouty lip. "Oh, come on Ulquiorra! We can do so many things!" she beamed, as she stood up. Then she suddenly let out a gasp as she remembered the thing she had always wanted to do with him.
"Ice cream!" she suddenly barked out, as Ulquiorra looked at her, frazzled by her outburst. Not enough to show on his face, of course.
She looked down at him, "We can go get ice cream! I've always wanted to get ice cream with you!" Ulquiorra looked at her puzzledly.
"You have been desiring to get Ice cream with your former captor?" he asked bluntly once again.
"Well… when you put it like that, I guess it does kind of sound weird…" she mumbled, before smiling and clasping her hands together. "But it doesn't matter! We're getting ice cream!"
"It is cloudy and cold outside, woman."
"It's fine! Ice cream is Ice cream!"
Before he could argue against her illogical argument, she practically snatched his arm as she threw her jacket on, and bolted out of the house with him basically flying behind her.
Author's Note: I know! Short chapter! But I'm going to be going on vacation soon over the weekend, so I might be a bit inactive. I'll try to get as much out before I go for you guys.
Reviews are appreciated! Negative or positive!