Chapter Twenty Two; Another Universe
"Orihime?" Tatsuki called through the door. What was taking her friend so long? She was supposed to help with getting the bags in, and by now Ulquiorra should've been out of the house.
She knocked again, a bit harder this time. "Orihime! Don't make me run this door down!" she yelled through the door, then stepped back a bit.
She heard a shuffle, a few footsteps, then the rattle of the door handle. "Orihime, Ulquiorra's out of the house, ri-" she stopped mid sentence upon seeing her friend.
Her eyes were red and puffy, she had tears streaming down her cheeks, her pants had a wet spot from tears. She looked like she'd been crying for hours! "Orihime?! What happened?!" she said as she dropped her bags.
She grabbed her friend's shoulders. "Orihime, talk to me!" she yelled, a bit shaken up herself.
"H- He's gone!" she finally bellowed out, falling onto Tatsuki, causing the tomboy to almost lose her balance.
After the initial shock, she began to pat her friends back awkwardly. "But Orihime… wasn't that the whole point? To get him out of the house…?" she said slowly, the confusion audible in her voice.
Orihime pulled away from her death grip on her best friend and shook her head quickly. "N- No, not like that. We need to call Ishida-kun and Chad! He broke out of his gigai on purpose!" she wailed, as Tatsuki narrowed her eyes.
"What?" she hissed as Orihime continued to cry on her shoulder. Tatsuki dialed Uryu quickly as she patted the sobbing red-head that was clinging onto her for dear life.
"Hello?" Uryu's voice rang over the phone.
"No time for greetings! Ulquiorra's loose!" she yelled over the phone, and Orihime began to cry harder at the mention of his name.
"Tatsuki what? You're not making any sense." He grumbled, then yelled a hush to someone making weird noises in the background.
"Ulquiorra broke out of his gigai! According to Orihime, it was on purpose. She's currently wailing her vocal cords raw" a wail interrupted her from the redhead. "- On my shoulder…"
The other line fell silent, until she heard someone yell. "The fuck you mean he broke out?! He isn't that idiotic! The fuck?!" A rough voice bellowed out from the other line.
Tatsuki was about to ask, before she remembered. "Right. Grimmjow's with you. Could you please get your ass over here and help me out with Orihime?" A pause, "Call Chad and Ichigo, I need to get a better look in the situation we're going to be dealing with. Later." She hung up the phone.
Tatsuki carefully pulled the tear-streaming redhead off her shoulder and held her by the shoulder. "Alright Orihime, could you tell me exactly what happened?" she asked slowly, as the auburn haired girl nodded slowly, sniffing.
.x.x.x.
"What?!" Ichigo's voice yelled over the phone, causing Uryu to flinch the phone away and grimace.
"Stop blowing my ear drums off! I've told you three times, get your ass to Orihime's place!" he snapped at the phone, as Grimmjow licked his finger and turned the page on the book he was reading.
"But why did you call me? You know I can't do anything for shit like this!" he complained over the phone slightly begrudgingly.
"Don't ask me, ask Tatsuki. You need to be there for Orihime and stop her from mentally exhausting herself! Now get over to her house!" he hissed, then hung up the phone.
He let out an exasperated sigh and turned to look at Grimmjow. "You, say here."
Grimmjow adjusted the reading glasses he was wearing. "Actually, I was going to stay here and read this totally interesting book on the quincies' history," he said in a mature tone.
Uryu raised his eyebrow at the weird actions, then shook it off. "Whatever, don't blow up the library." he hissed, then pulled out his phone again.
He dialed a number.
"Hello Ishida!" A cheery voice rang over the phone.
"Kisuke, we have a problem."
.x.x.x.
Ichigo stood in front of Orihime's door much like a child would in front of their parents' door when they said they needed to 'have a chat'.
After Uryu hung up the call, he bolted as fast as he could to the house, but now hesitated to go in. Ulquiorra could be in there and he wouldn't even be able to see him! He probably was ready to get his revenge on him for killing him.
He let out a sigh that inflated his cheeks, causing a puff of warm air to come out. It had started snowing about 10 minutes ago, but it did nothing to calm his nerves.
He was probably going to die in that house.
"Ichigo!" a low voice rang from down the street, causing Ichigo to look over. He saw Chad running down towards him. "Chad?"
He slowed down in front of the sun-strucken haired boy, and nodded in greeting. "Uryu called me and told me to come over here, just in case Ulquiorra came back."
"So you know?" Chad nodded. Ichigo let out another puff of air, then looked towards the house again.
The two took slow steps towards the door, causing slight crunches in each step. The snow had only just begun to coat the icy grass blades, so it just had a slight crunch to it. Ichigo looked over at Chad, "Ready for hell?"
"Always have been." Chad responded, then they opened the door and walked in.
.x.
"She's in the hallway in front of the bathroom. Chad, I need to talk to you." Tatsuki said at the door, and Chad gave a slow nod.
Ichigo let out what felt like the millionth sigh that day, then walked in as the two fighters left for a different room. 'Why such a specific place, Orihime?' he thought.
He turned the corner and stopped mid leg lift, and his mouth turned into an 'O' as he looked at Orihime on her knees, facing away. "Orihime?"
A sniffle.
"Hey, Orihime, are you alright?" he asked a bit more urgently, sitting down next to her with his legs crossed.
"N- No.." she mumbled, clenching her stomach. "My stomach hurts."
Ichigo slightly moved his jaw to the side. He hated seeing Orihime crying. "Do you need some water? Maybe some eggs and wasabi..?" he asked slowly, slightly awkwardly.
"He's really gone." she whispered, then slowly wiped a tear away. Ichigo maneuvered his mouth to the side slowly, and tapped his legs with his fingers awkwardly.
He let out a sigh. "You really love him, don't you?"
Orihime finally looked over at Ichigo, starry watery grey meeting genuine curious brown. She felt a rush of guilt spring through her body, and she lunged at Ichigo with a hug. "I'm so sorry, Kurosaki-kun!" she wailed.
He barely caught himself from falling over as she sobbed into his chest. He reached one hand up and began to pat her head. "It's alright, Orihime. We can't control love, it just sorta happens."
She nodded, pulling away from the death grip of a hug. "I still feel like I betrayed you…"
He smiled a smile that Orihime missed so much. "Hey, don't sweat it. You didn't. If you really do love him, then I'm happy for you." he said genuinely.
Orihime let a small smile bless her face, then wiped a tear away and let out a small laugh. "Heh, I guess I do. Thank you, Kurosaki-kun." she said as she gave him another quick hug.
He turned to her again after she pulled away, the smile becoming a bit more said. "I have to ask you a question though, Orihime."
"Yes?"
"Do you think.. In another time, or universe I guess. Do… Do you think we could've been happy together?"
Orihime slowly smiled a genuine smile. "Absolutely…"
.x.x.x.