Chapter Nine; Gesshoku
Ulquiorra stood outside of Orihime's room as she ran around throwing random outfits on the bed. "You usually do not care for your outfit, what makes you so excited?"
Orihime looked over, "Well… it's because Kuro-" she stopped, looking into his small lush green eyes. "...Errr it's a party, and a lunar eclipse" she quickly corrected herself, then continued to look through her outfit choices.
He looked out the window once she disappeared into the bathroom, and he looked at the sunset. He waltzed into the room and climbed up on her bed, then onto the windowsill.
The sky was painted orange and pink, and contrasted into a dark blue with beautiful stars. He watched the very few stray clouds from earlier, as they were now almost glowing pink. Suddenly, the door flew open, and a very frazzled looking Orihime came bolting out.
She wore a pink shirt and jean shorts. 'So much for formality.' he thought as he watched her dip around the door out of the room.
She came running upstairs and seemed to be putting the chinese food she had ordered earlier for them in a picnic basket. She practically snatched Ulquiorra and stuffed him under her arm and ran out of the door. "What are you doing, woman?!" he snipped at her as he tried to struggle out of her arms.
"We're going to be late!" she screeched as they ran out of the door.
Ulquiorra eventually just gave up and hung like a throw pillow between her arm and the side of her body. "You are very infuriating." he grumbled as they ran down the street towards Kurosaki's.
"I've got it!" Yuzu yelled as she ran over to the door. The house was already crowded with a ton of people chatting. Some even from the Soul Society had come to enjoy the little party, but Ichigo let Yuzu do the guest list, since he was far too lazy.
He looked up from his spot on the couch as Yuzu answered the door, but from this place he couldn't see who it was. "Oh! Nice to see you two!" Yuzu said as she smiled. She looked down to someone at her height. That wasn't what Ichigo had expected, it was supposed to be limited kids.
"Yeah, I've heard about him. I heard from a friend." she said as she stepped to the side. Then walked in Orihime, and Ichigo smiled. "Wassup, Orihime!" he yelled as he stood up. Orihime smiled and waved, "Hi Ichigo!"
He froze in his tracks as he saw the little shit standing next to her. "W- What? I didn't know you invited… him…" he said behind growled teeth as he looked at Yuzu.
"Well, it's best to give him a good time while he's around." she said as Orihime walked in. Ulquiorra and Ichigo stared sparks at each other for a moment, before Ulquiorra followed behind Orihime.
Ulquiorra already disliked this, even more than he thought he would. It was crowded with people, but more importantly, two soul reapers. Rangiku Matsumoto and Shūhei Hisagi. Both were off to the side chatting, and appeared to be in gigais.
He continued behind Orihime, until he realized who she was heading towards.
It was that same purple haired girl, Tatsuki. She was wearing a tuxedo and at the time was talking to a red haired girl with a school outfit on. He silently walked more behind Orihime, but the red haired girl practically tackled Orihime.
"Oh my gosh Orihime! You look adorable in that outfit!" Chizuru squealed as Ulquiorra jumped back from the scene.
Quickly, Tatsuki punched Chizuru and she glared at her. "I told you not to tackle Orihime when she gets here!" she barked as Chizuru rubbed her cheek. Suddenly, the red haired girl turned her gaze over to Ulquiorra, who was leaning against the leg of the punch table nearby.
"Who's this?" she asked as she stood up. Orihime and Tatsuki turned over to Ulquiorra, and Tatsuki frowned. "Oh. It's Orihime's… 'cousin'..." she grumbled, as Ulquiorra gave her an emotionless stare.
Orihime smiled. "Oh! His name is Ulquiorra! He was invited here with me."
Chizuru walked over to Ulquiorra, and glared at him. "Listen here, you better not hurt my little Hime, or else you'll regret it…" she growled quietly to Ulquiorra. He just stared at her for a moment, before turning and looking ahead.
"Trash." Chizuru gasped "You—" but before she could finish Tatsuki snatched her to the side.
Ulquiorra scanned the room with his stoic gaze, until he locked eyes with a girl in the room.
Karin Kurosaki, Ichigo's little sister.
The two locked intense gazes for a moment, before she scoffed and walked over. "Hey, pal. This ain't a halloween party, what's up with the outfit?"
Ulquiorra continued to stare at her unblinkingly, "That is none of your concern, trash."
Karin frowned, "Rude, arentcha?"
The two had an intense stare-off, until Ichigo came in between them. "Hey now, you two…" he looked down at Ulquiorra. "...little ones…" he whispered tauntingly, with his arms crossed.
Ulquiorra glared at him.
"The eclipse is about to happen, Karin, could you get the blankets set up outside?" Karin nodded and finally ripped her gaze from Ulquiorra.
Ulquiorra watched the raven haired girl disappear, and Ichigo turned to Ulquiorra. "Listen here, I know Yuzu invited you, and Orihime wants to give you a chance, so for now I'll… tolerate you. But one wrong move and you're face to face with the Sōkyoku, got it?"
Ulquiorra's expression didn't waver, "Because you have chosen to tolerate me, does not mean I will do the same." he said nonchalantly.
Ichigo's eye twitched and he gained a rough smile. "Listen here, you brat. Just keep your mouth shut." he hissed
Ulquiorra looked up at him, "I was doing so until your sister and yourself came over."
Ichigo's eye twitched again, and he stood up straight. "You're lucky Orihimes here…" he grumbled and walked off.
Finally, some peace and quiet.
"Ulquiorra!"
Annndd there it goes, disintegrating in front of his face.
He turned his gaze up to Orihime, who just got Chizuru punched off of her by Tatsuki. "We're about to go outside for the eclipse! Come on!" she said excitedly.
Ulquiorra closed his eyes, and continued to lean against the table. "I will remain inside."
Orihime waved at Tatsuki as she ran out the door with the others flooding out, then turned to Ulquiorra. "Nope, you're coming with me."
"Pardon?"
Suddenly, Orihime snatched Ulquiorra under her arm much like earlier, and he tried to thrash out. "Woman! I am not a child!" he yelled as he tried to struggle out of her arms.
She smirked, "You're acting like one right now! Do you want to be disciplined like a child in front of Ichigo too?"
He gave her a venomous glare, then slumped down in defeat.
The cold night air blew his hair out of his face as he looked up. The stars scattered the sky, as the moon stood boldly full. He just stared at the moon for a second, before dropping his head back down as Orihime carried him. "I don't see the appeal of this… 'eclipse.'"
"Oh you silly! It hasn't started yet!" she beamed happily, as she began to skip, causing Ulquiorra to almost gag from being tossed around between her arm and her body. Eventually she put him down and he wobbled a bit, before recomposing himself.
"Bit queasy there, Ulquiorra?"
Ulquiorra turned his gaze and glared at the orange haired boy.
Orihime sat down quickly on one of the blankets, and grabbed the picnic basket from earlier. She grabbed Ulquiorra from behind and sat him in front of her, as he struggled from her hands. "You're so squirmy, Ulquiorra!"
Ulquiorra frowned. " I am not… Do not refer to me as that." he grumbled, as he sat down in front of her, and adjusted his kimono collar.
Orihime smiled, then looked up, supporting herself with her hands as she looked up. She pointed towards a constellation, "It's the Big Dipper!" A few people around them looked up and smiled, as the quiet mumbling continued. Orihime and Ulquiorra had their own little blanket on the grass, which Orihime wouldn't let Ulquiorra leave, much to his dismay.
"How long until the eclipse starts?" Keigo asked, looking over at Ichigo. Ichigo looked at his watch, "Ten minutes." Keigo let out a groan and fell back.
Ulquiorra tried to block out all the noise around him from people chatting, and just observed the sky. It wasn't often he got to have such a full view like this, since he'd only seen it a few times while he was here.
The chatter began to quiet down as the moon began to slowly take on a shade of deep orange, and some people began to stand up and snap pictures and take videos. He had never seen this before, not in Hueco Mundo either.
It was quite interesting.
He stood up and walked beside Orihime, and slid his hands into his pockets. He looked over at her, and she was completely engulfed in the sight, her eyes wide, and mouth slightly open, as she leaned back and watched it.
Suddenly, as much as he tried, he found himself unable to rip his gaze away from her, and focus on the moon again. Her auburn hair was so nicely settled over her shoulders leading down her body, and her stormy grey eyes absorbed by her enlarged pupils as she watched the moon.
He found himself looking over her hair until he stopped. Those two pins.
Those two pins that he had kidnapped her for.
He ripped his gaze away and stuck it to the grass, as if it were going to hurt her. That terrible stomach caving and heart wrenching feeling returned as he remembered when he had originally kidnapped her.
…Why could he not look back on his previous life memories?
…No, not previous life. He was brought back. He is still that same Ulquiorra Cifer…
…But why does it pain him so much to look back on the memories?
He glared at the grass, hoping it would burn a hole right through it. Eventually he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he shot his gaze over to Orihime, who looked at him worryingly. "Are you O.K, Ulquiorra?"
That anger he had previously subsided, and he tried to remain his usual emotionless expression. "I am fine."
Orihime smiled, "Ok, just making sure." Ulquiorra felt himself loosen as he saw the warm smile graced her lips. He felt as if tight knots on his heart were untying and he felt his gigai's heartbeat do a jump. That was a first. She looked back at the moon, as he did the same.
The walk back was quiet, but a good kind of quiet. Mostly Orihime watching the stars with Ulquiorra walking behind. He was still wondering… why had she rejected Ichigo's request?
"Hey, Orihime!" The orange haired trashed yelled as Orihime and Ulquiorra turned around when they were about to depart.
"Could I uh… come over for tonight?" he asked as he leaned against his knees and looked up at her.
Orihime blushed. "Oh! Y- You want to come over… to my place?"
"Yeah…" he mumbled, and stood up properly.
She opened her mouth to what Ulquiorra could guess was to say yes, but she hesitated, then looked down at Ulquiorra.
"Actually, I don't think tonight will be a good night. Ulquiorra and I uh… we've got some plans."
Ichigo looked at her worryingly, as Ulquiorra looked up at her. "We do?"
Orihime looked down at him. "More so… I want to talk to him in private. Is that ok, Ichigo?"
Ichigo smiled, "Yeah, that's cool." he said nonchalantly as Orihime walked away. He shot Ulquiorra the most venomous glare he'd seen from the orange haired boy, then Ulquiorra closed his eyes and turned around to follow Orihime.
Ulquiorra found himself staring at Orihime's hair, waving gracefully as she walked down the street, as he recalled the events. What did she want to talk to him about? He knew well that she would want the orange haired trash over at her house so he was surprised that she had rejected him.
As the two turned into the parking lot, Orihime pulled out her phone from the picnic basket, and she gasped. "Oh my gosh! It's already 11pm!" she squeaked as she rushed into the house, almost slamming the door in Ulquiorras face.
"Good thing I didn't invite Kurosaki-kun over! Otherwise we would fall asleep before we could even play any board games or anything!"
Ulquiorra walked inside as she quickly unpacked the picnic basket, throwing the empty cartons of chinese food in the trash, and putting the picnic basket on a different counter.
"'I'm going to go take a shower before bed. Go ahead and head upstairs." Now that she mentioned it, he was quite tired. He felt his eyes beginning to get lidded once again.
Annoying.
He slowly walked upstairs behind Orihime who was running up the stairs. Once she was in the bathroom, he walked in and looked at the small basket bed.
Still undignifying as always.
He heard the shower begin to run as he climbed onto the woman's bed. He slipped before he could get up to his window sill and fell on his back on the bed.
Damn these short legs.
He sat up and pulled his journal out, as for once he just wanted to note some quick things down.
Well apparently some 'quick things' was enough for the woman to get in and out of the shower, as she walked in and saw Ulquiorra on her bed. "You know, Ulquiorra, you still have your bed." Ulquiorra glanced up at her, as he closed the journal.
"That bed will suffocate me in the middle of the night, and I would prefer to stretch this second chance that you gave me as long as possible."
Orihime frowned as she climbed onto the bed in her nightgown. "It's not gonna kill you! I promise!"
He ignored her and climbed onto his windowsill and leaned against the glass. Orihime laid down and pulled the blanket up over her.
"Goodnight, Ulquiorra." she said smiling, then turned to her side.
She swore she could've heard an extremely quiet "Goodnight, Orihime." but she decided it was all in her head, and slowly, the two drifted off into sleep.