Chapter Twelve; Demon

They wasted no time getting from the school to her house. They stopped at her door as Chad laid the ex-Espada against the wall of the house, "I have to get back to school. Good luck." he said simply, then waved. Orihime carefully picked Ulquiorra up as much as she could and stumbled into her house.

She brought Ulquiorra up to her room, and sprawled him out on her bed. She called forth her fairies again and began to heal. She took the moment to really take in his new features; the newly exposed raven hair neatly resting on the bed, lush green eyes being hidden by a slim layer of ashen skin, the single top black lip that she sometimes found herself staring at, and thick lashes that any girl would kill to have.

She let out a sigh and continued to heal him. He'd better not die on her, not now, not ever.

Suddenly, he began to shuffle, and she shot out of her daze. "Ulquiorra…?" she slowly asked, leaning towards him.

Suddenly, with no warning, a black teal outlined glow shot out of his body, his soul. Orihime fell back onto her backside and stared up, wide eyed, as the teal glow began to dissipate.

She knew this feeling.

It was… despair filled. Hopeless, dragging, heavy.

Like an ocean was above her.

She hesitantly opened her eyes as the heaviness began to fade, and her eyes widened to see a very much unconscious Segunda Etapa Ulquiorra fall to the ground. She was torn between running over to him and running from him for a moment, before she settled on running over to him. "Ulquiorra!" she screamed as his wings settled on the ground.

He was unmoving and cold, but breathing. What mostly shocked her was the hole in his chest that she'd seen before on this form, gone. Not a trace, yet it still had the black markings coming down from that area, covering where the hole previously was.

She didn't know what to do, if she was safe, if she should call the others, or call Kisuke.

Her panic was interrupted by a knock on her door. Thank the lord, her prayers were answered.

She rushed downstairs and slammed open the door, expecting to see Ishida or Ichigo, instead she was met with her purple haired friend. "Woah, Orihime! Are you O.K?" she asked as Orihime relaxed slightly, but instantly stiffened back up. "Uh-! Yeah I'm totally O.K!" she squeaked as she shuffled uncontrollably.

"Orihime, you don't need to lie to me, what did that bastard do? Is he awake?"

"Nope! Absolutely not! Speaking of it, he's probably uh… dying! I'd better get back to healing!" she said nervously, as Tatsuki raised her eyebrow. "Alright, I'm coming in, what did that bastard do?!" she said as she shoved past Orihime.

Orihime bolted upstairs like a rocket, and slammed her door shut. She knew she wouldn't be able to stop her friend, so she had to go to plan B.

The plan B she just thought of. She grabbed Ulquiorra and opened the dresser, and propped him up in there. She was trying to fit the doors shut on him, and quickly realized it was stuck on his wing.

Suddenly, Tatsuki opened the door and she scrambled in front of the wing. "Are you alright, Orihime? What is going on? Where is he?" she asked as she walked in and looked suspiciously at Orihime.

"U- Uh he's using the bathroom!" she lied as she struggled to keep the closet doors shut. Tatsuki turned around and the second she did, she quickly turned around, shoved the wing in, and clicked the dresser shut. She let out a sigh of relief and turned over and walked over to her friend. "H- He's not doing too well so I put him in the bathroom. Just in case he uh, pukes."

Tatsuki glanced over at the closed bathroom door and shrugged, "Alright, but listen, I really want to know, are you O.K? You've been acting like you just saw a ghost since I got here."

'Heh'

"-Not to mention the rushing upstairs and you being practically stuck to that dresser like a monster magnet. Did he do something?" she asked concerningly, and grabbed her friend's shoulders. "Uh, no, he didn't do anything. He's just resting."

Tatsuki opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly, the closet doors slightly opened, the lock beginning to come undone. Orihime shot her head around, as Tatsuki looked over at the closet. "Orihime, what's in your clos-"

Before the purple haired girl could finish, Ulquiorra came tumbling out, still unconscious, with a generous amount of t-shirts on him. Orihime let out a horrified squeak and Tatsuki let out a horror scream, and grabbed the nearest chair as a weapon. "WHAT THE HELL?!"

Orihime rushed over to Ulquiorra and tried to put a shirt over his head that was face down, but the horns held it up. "U- Uh Tatsuki it isn't what you think it is!" she reassured her as she tried to stand in front of Ulquiorra.

"Ok, Orihime, can you tell me, IS THAT A FUCKING DEMON OR A HOLLOW?!" She shrieked as she held up the chair defensively.

Orihime bit her lip and looked down at Ulquiorra, and bent down. "Actually, I don't know. He's not a hollow anymore, but maybe he's a demon. I'm not sure." she said casually as she took the t-shirts off of him, causing another horrified yell from Tatsuki, as she uncovered his full body.

"Agh! Don't touch it, Orihime!" she shrieked horrified as Orihime stood up and looked over at her friend. "Oh don't worry, he's harmless. At least, right now he is. Last time I saw him in his form, he was a ruthless monster, but only under direct orders."

"Direct orders?! From who, Satan himself?! He has fucking wings Orihime, WINGS!" she yelled as she held the chair closer, glaring horrified at the demon on the floor. "Do you mean you know this thing?! What do you mean by 'him'. Did you name it as well!?"

She slowly poked his face with the chair leg, and Orihime pushed it away, "Don't poke him! And… ehm… funny story… This is Ulquiorra. The new kid in class." Tatsuki looked at Orihime with a horrified look, and put the chair down.

"Great, you've officially lost it. There is no way in HELL that thing is Ulquiorra!" she screamed, as Orihime held her hands out. "Well it really actually is a funny story! When I was kidnapped a bit ago, he was my captor. After Kurosaki-kun came and saved me, Ulquiorra died! Well a little over a week ago, I revived him with my special Shun Shun Rikka, and he came back. We put him in a gigai so he wouldn't cause trouble, but he's been nothing but a sweetheart! For the most part, that is. Although Ichigo and the others don't like him, eventually I'm sure they'll come to love him! Not to mention-"

"Woah, slow down so you're telling me, that this is the guy that kidnapped you? The one Ichigo told me about? This is that damn hollow?" Orihime nodded, and looked back at him.

"WHY THE HELL IS HE STILL ALIVE?!" she shrieked again, holding the chair like she was ready to bash poor Ulquiorra to a bloody pulp. Orihime gained a soft smile.

"...Because I gave him a second chance. I don't think Kurosaki-kun gave you the part where he reached out to me, moments before he died. I could see emotion in his eyes, regret, sorrow, sadness, and acceptance." she said quietly, as she carefully turned his head to the side, brushing the black locks of hair out of his black tear marked face.

"Then why the heck is he a fucking demon now?!" she said a bit calmer, but still horrified. Orihime bit her lip, "I don't know, his soul bursted out of his gigai and he fell unconscious in this form." she said pointing over at the gigai on the bed, and Tatsuki jumped up and let out a horrified squeak at the body on the bed.

Orihime stood up and turned her back on Ulquiorra and smiled at Tatsuki, "I guess this is a good time to introduce him, this is Ulquiorra Cifer, the former cuatro Espada of the army that kidnapped me over a year ago. Now he's slowly being reformed and living a normal life as a human!" she beamed clasping her hands together. Tatsuki opened her mouth to speak, but instantly shut it as two black wings sprung out from behind Orihime, and two horns came out from behind Orihime.

Orihime slowly turned around and let out a squeak and almost fell back, "Oh, you're awake!" she beamed as Ulquiorra stumbled slightly and put his hand on his head. He quickly realized, claws. He looked down at himself, seeing the fur around his waist, the pale skin, the black markings trailing down his stomach, and his clawed feet. "Woman, what is going on here?" he asked a bit louder than he anticipated.

Orihime put her hand up to her chin, "I was hoping you could tell us why you're in this form thingy. You bursted out of your gigai and fell unconscious in this form. Oh I was also hoping you'd know why your hollow hole was gone?" she asked as Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed. He looked down and put his claw over the hole area.

It was gone.

He circled the area with one claw for a moment, eyes wide. Orihime eventually spoke up again, "Oh, and also, where's your spiritual pressure?" When did the woman suddenly make so many good points? He didn't feel that spiritual power he usually had surging through him while he was in his Segunda Etapa, only physical strength. "W- what the hell?!" Tatsuki asked as she backed away.

Ulquiorra turned his eyes over to the purple haired girl and began to slowly walk towards her, and observed her. He quickly whipped his tail around, and snatched the chair she was holding, and threw it to the side. "Such a defense would prove useless, girl." he said coldly, as Tatsuki glared weakly at him, "I'll fight you with my fists if I have to, you fucking demon!"

"Demon?" he asked slowly, as he looked over at Orihime. She shrugged, "To be fair, you do look like a demon. You aren't a hollow anymore."

His eyes widened, not a hollow?

He held his claw back up to the hollow hole area again, the emptiness he felt while in this form was gone. The despair remained, yet the emptiness… was gone. He felt whole, in a sense. He slowly felt the area for a moment, staring off into space.

He was snapped back to reality by the heavy breathing of the purple haired tomboy standing next to Orihime, and Orihime whimpering. "Ulquiorra, are you alright?"

Ulquiorra almost scoffed at the woman's question. If he were O.K, why was he in this form? He needed to gather his thoughts up before the woman asked another groundbreaking question. He had no spiritual pressure, why? He thought for a moment, then came to the logical conclusion that it was a simple pre-shock. No, that didn't make sense, the pre-shock would've been over by now. Perhaps he has morphed with his Segunda Etapa temporarily by the shock of unhollowifying? It was a possibility.

He took a moment to take in his existence in this form; flexing his muscles and taking in breaths. It wasn't like the emptiness, power and physical numbness he felt when he usually entered his Segunda Etapa. No… it felt real; whole. Not just the hollow hole, but instead of just a second form, as if he were bound to this form.

That's where he noted; he couldn't simply disable this form.

Hell, it felt like he was tied to it by ropes.

"It appears I have been bound to a more natural form of my Segunda Etapa." he finally said blandly.

Orihime looked at him confused. "Eh?"

"This form… rather than engulfing beings in my proximity with despair and heaviness and bringing a strong sense of emptiness to myself… it fails to do so. My form feels bound to my soul, and refuses my command to return to my normal state."

Both of the teen girls stared at him completely lost and confused.

Ulquiorra tried to stifle a frustrated sigh. "...In other words; this is a more natural version of my true Segunda Etapa. No spiritual pressure, all abilities stripped other than physical strength and flight, and I am unable to return to my sealed form." He paused for a moment, giving a moment for the two to take the simplified information in; as if that would help. "...If this were my true Segunda Etapa, your nakama would have been crushed under the pressure."

Orihime's mouth formed into an 'O' as Tatsuki still looked completely lost yet offended by his assumption. "Bullshit." she muttered begrudgingly.

"Believe what you like, girl. It is the simple truth." he said as Orihime pursed her lips into a thin line. She wasn't exactly sure what to do now.

"Orihime? What are we going to do?" Her purple haired friend asked, for once looking for guidance.

She stood there for a moment, staring off into space. Suddenly she smiled wide and clasped her hands together. "Well! One day away and it seems you're going to live with me again, Ulquiorra!"

Tatsuki looked at her friend concerningly and Ulquiorra raised his eyebrow. "Explain."

"Well, actually I kind of assumed… Can normal people see you?" Again, with the good questions. Ulquiorra suddenly turned towards the window.

"Ulquiorra what are you doing?" she asked as he opened the window.

"Testing that theory." he said as he spread his huge wings to their full length. He carefully stepped down the tiles of the house outside the window, wings spread out confidently, tail swaying.

Sure enough, several people stopped in their tracks, horrified looks on their faces.

"It appears so-" he started but Orihime practically snatched his tail and pulled him back through the window, slumping him onto his backside ungracefully.

"What are you doin-" but before he could finish, Orihime stuck her index finger right in front of his mouth up to his nose. His two yellow-green eyes singled in on that tiny finger in front of his face, crossing his eyes slightly as he looked at the frail finger.

"Bad, Ulquiorra! We do not just openly horrify people like that!" she snipped at him, as he slowly looked up at her.

"I am not your pet, woman." he said dangerously as Orihime crossed her arms in front of her, looking down at him like he was a puppy that just peed on the carpet. "Well you're acting like it!"

Ulquiorra's frown turned into a scowl.

'First as a child, now she's acting like I'm her pet.'

Ulquiorra stood up and glanced over to the window again. "That will prove to be… an issue." he grumbled as he looked at the horrified people frantically talking to each other, pointing at the window.

"I'll just have to get used to having a demon living in my house! How hard can it be?!" she beamed proudly, putting her hands on her hips. Tatsuki looked at Orihime like she was insane, and Ulquiorra just stared at her, eyes slightly wide.

"Do you truly believe that would be the smartest course of action, woman? Perhaps I shall go to Kisuke Urahara first, to figure out what is happening to my body." Orihime's mouth formed into an 'O' then she smiled brightly. "Oops, good idea!"

She stood up as she gestured for Ulquiorra to follow, but Tatsuki quickly cut in. "Ay, I'm coming too. I don't trust this bastard alone with you." she hissed but more so towards Ulquiorra.

"Oh Tatsuki, you don't need too!" she said quickly, shaking her hands. Tatsuki's face softened as she looked at her auburn-haired friend. "I insist."

Orihime smiled warmly. "Thank you…" she said sincerely. Her smile turned into one of excitement a moment later as she sprung her finger into the air.

"To Kisuke's!" she said giggling.

Author's Note: Short chapter, I know. Sorry, just got back from vacation and wanted to get something out as soon as possible. I've had this thought in mind after reading countless Ulquihime fanfictions

Don't worry, I won't be making this some kind of weird pet thing, that was just a scene I wanted to include since I thought it was funny; Orihime asserting over Ulquiorra.

Ulquihime moments coming soon!