Chapter Twenty-Three; Flurries
"Alright, are we going to do this thing or not?" Ichigo asked as he walked out of the hallway with Orihime straying behind him.
Uryu raised his eyebrows in slight surprise. "Wow, when were you a therapy dog?"
"Actually, I used to comfort my sisters- HEY!" He snapped at Uryu, who was smirking and pushing his glasses up.
"Hey wait a second, when did you get here anyways?!" he snapped at the quincy accusingly, as he pushed up his glasses more and was about to speak, before a new cheery voice broke in.
"Actually! We just got here!" Kisuke beamed, walking in holding his cane and what looked like a TV remote. Orihime looked over at the remote.
"Why do you have a TV remote?" she asked curiously, as Kisuke smiled brightly. "Great observation, Inoue-san! This is actually a tracker!" He turned it around to show the screen. So it wasn't a TV remote.
"What's it do?" Tatsuki asked, narrowing her eyes at it suspiciously. Kisuke's smile widened. "So when I put Ulquiorra into the newer gigai meant to seal his Natural Segunda Etapa, I took the chance to insert a tracker into it, so once he formed with the gigai, the tracker would stick to his soul! Just in case something like this happened again."
Ichigo narrowed his eyes. "You were tracking him this entire time?"
Kisuke waved his hands. "No no! It only activates once he exits his gigai. I noticed it going ballistic this morning, and that's when Uryu showed up."
"I don't even know why I'm surprised. Where is he right now?" Ichigo asked, as they all crowded around Kisuke, only to sweatdrop.
The white dot that was supposed to be Ulquiorra was darting all around Karakura at speeds even Yoruichi wouldn't be able to keep up with. "What the-" Ichigo started.
Kisuke furrowed his eyebrows, before hitting the screen. "Work you little piece of-" He was cut off by a long "Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….."
Silence.
All eyes turned to Kisuke, who was intent on keeping his eyes on the screen. Slowly he reached his hand behind his neck and rubbed it. "I think I forgot to charge it…"
"You WHAT?!" Both Tatsuki and Ichigo bellowed out, as Chad, Orihime and Uryu all sweatdropped.
The next moment, Kisuke had Ichigo's fist to his face causing him to topple over, then Tatsuki's foot to his balls the next. "Agh! Hey man! I didn't get my coffee this morning!" He wailed as he held one hand to his face and the other to his crotch.
"How could you forget that?!" Ichigo yelled, as Kisuke slowly stood up and rubbed his nose. "I didn't really expect him to get that impatient that fast." he mumbled.
"Alright then, I guess we'll have to go back to the original plan. Split up into groups!" Tatsuki started, then turned to Kisuke, Orihime and Ichigo.
"Bright hairs, you guys go search around Kisuke's shop. I'll go with Chad and Uryu to go search around the highschool." she started, before Orihime waved her hands.
"I- Uh, I actually think I'm going to sit this one out…" Orihime mumbled, getting quieter as she ended the sentence, seeing all the eyes on her. She began to fidget. "Unless you guys need me of course!"
Tatsuki smiled. "Don't worry, Orihime. You just went through a lot and were there first hand when he broke out of his gigai. Just stay safe, alright?" She said, walking over and hugging her friend.
Orihime smiled. "Don't worry, Tatsuki-chan! I'll be fine. I can protect myself now, remember?" Tatsuki nodded and hugged her friend again.
She turned to the others. "Alright, let's go find this demon-bat-vampire-whatever-the-hell he is!"
.x.
After they departed Orihime's house, they stopped at the end of the driveway. "Kisuke, I have a question before we start this." Tatsuki began, as all eyes turned to her.
Kisuke looked at her, "Yes, Arisawa-san?"
"How is Ulquiorra not in that demon form anyways? Didn't you say his soul was stuck in it until he 'got over his demons' or whatever?"
"He's not?!" Ichigo practically squeaked, slightly afraid of the idea. Tatsuki nodded. "Orihime said he was in his base form apparently, just without the hollow hole."
Kisuke paused. "Excellent question!" he paused. "Actually, it's pretty simple. He somehow managed to overcome it within the time he was in that gigai." he explained, surprising a few that he didn't go into an in depth explanation.
"But when?" Tatsuki asked, causing Uryu's face to darken. Kisuke caught a glance at Uryu's facial expression, and grinned a bit devilishly, "I guess we'll have to ask Inoue-san about that. I'm sure she'd know…"
Ichigo and Chad were watching the exchange from the sidelines, and Chad was struggling to comprehend what they meant.
"Well, now that that's cleared up. Shall we start the grand Search-and-contain-Arrancar mission?" Kisuke beamed, and all heads nodded in agreement.
.x.x.x.
Two hours. The sun was setting and the snow was piling up, and Orihime sat at her window slowly beginning to regret her decision to stay behind. She was worried sick about her friends, and what would happen when they did find Ulquiorra.
Ulquiorra. Her previous captor who she took care of for the past month and a half. The one she'd watched the lunar eclipse with, the one she taught a lot of basics for humans, her previous classmate.
The one she fell in love with.
Orihime burrowed her head into her knees. 'I won't cry, I won't cry.' she told herself, feeling a tear ripple down her cheek.
She slowly looked up, watching the snow slowly fall down. There was no moon light out, but it was still so peaceful. She closed her eyes tightly.
No, she wasn't useless anymore. She needed to get up, get out there, and help find the Arrancar she brought back. She needed to take responsibility for her actions.
With that in mind, she tore away from her bedroom window and ripped open her closet, grabbing out her snow gear, and took off her nightgown.
She would find him.
She bolted into the bathroom, changing into the fluffy coat and long cream scarf, then ran downstairs. She slid on some knee socks and then her snow boots, before opening the door.
And she would bring him home.
She tore out into the night, the loud crunching sounds of the snow beneath her boots kind of soothing. She looked up, letting the snow pelt her face as she ran down the streets.
She was going where she guessed they had gone, as the snow around her had piled up to about 7 inches by now. The snowflakes were slowly beginning to stop.
This was it, wasn't it? She doubted this would end well either way around. She would either not find him, and forever be left without closure, unsure of his motives, missing him much like she had before. Or she would find him, and he'd played them, and cero her to oblivion.
When she thought about it, she kind of did get her closure. He was alive, he was brought back. She figured out her feelings for him, she got her closure with Kurosaki-kun. She now had happy memories with Ulquiorra, rather than all negative ones.
A small warm smile spread across her face at that, as she closed her eyes.
She didn't know what time it was, nor how fast the time was going. All she knew is that she had a long walk ahead of her.
.x.
Four. Hours.
When she had said long trek, she didn't think four hours. It was 11:39pm by now, and she had been stuck in her thoughts, wandering Karakura. She had run into Tatsuki, then told her that she was helping with the search now.
Despite her friends insisting, she was going to search alone. She could defend herself if he truly did attack her, and if she did end up getting killed by him.
She paused, then smiled a sad smile. It would be a suitable death for her.
Although the worry was beginning to well up inside of her, there were plenty of places she hadn't searched yet. Orihime let out a yawn as she squinted, trying to see through the darkness that threatened to put her to sleep.
She almost smacked right into a tree, before shaking her head and squinting, only for the area to be illuminated by the moonlight that now shone through the clouds that were breaking apart.
The snow had finally dissipated, leaving about a foot. She looked around… she was at the park. Of course she was.
Orihime adjusted her scarf and began to walk into the snow covered area, looking at all the rocks, benches and other things bathed in a blanket of snow.
She observed them all, until stopping at one. That… wasn't a rock at all.
There he stood, right in front of the treeline, back turned. A light dusting of snow dusted his raven black hair, the other side covered by his hollow mask. The white outfit blended him in well.
Orihime felt her heart drop to her feet.
She couldn't breathe, but she wasn't scared. No, she wasn't afraid at all. She couldn't get through this without him. No, correction, she couldn't live without him. Her life had only become real once he had entered it, telling her to come with him, and that it was an order. She wasn't scared even then, no. She wouldn't be scared then, and she wouldn't be scared now.
She took a deep breath in, then finally said under her breath. "Ulquiorra…" If she was going to die, she was going to do it, letting the world know she wasn't weak. She wasn't afraid.
She wouldn't ever back down, not even to the most soulless beings on the planet.
Slowly, the figure turned around, dazzling grey eyes meeting lush green ones. He slowly turned his full body to look at her. "Woman," he began, the voice causing a lump to form in her throat.
She slowly began to walk over to him, her cold pale hand to her chest, the other to her side. She felt a tear ripple down her cheek as she stopped about two feet away from him.
He said nothing as he stared at her, the stare as cold as the snow that blanketed the area around them.
She tried to resist a sob, as more tears began to fall, before she slowly lifted her hand up. He didn't flinch back or anything, as she slowly put her hand to the side of his face, caressing his cheek. After a moment of silence, she spoke in a soft tone.
"Why?"
Ulquiorra made no move to respond, frozen in place. She let out a breath, causing a puff of cold air to flood out in the moonlight, as she slowly retracted her hand.
She looked down, slowly grabbing one of his cold pale hands in her two slightly rosey ones. Slowly she lifted his hand up to between them, as he averted his gaze down to them. She let a small smile come to her face, almost sadly.
"So this is what it would've felt like?" The sudden statement caught Orihime off guard, as she quickly looked up to him. He was closer now, his usually cold eyes tinted with a small bit of comforted closure. "This is what I was seconds away from."
That was Orihime's snapping point. She didn't care if he impaled her right then and there. She wrapped her arms around him and began to cry on his shoulder. Ulquiorra, although hesitantly, returned the gesture, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer, letting out a puff of warm air from his mouth.
.x.
"The device! It's finally charged!" Tessai yelled from the other room, causing Kisuke to bolt into the room. "Give it to me!"
Tessai tossed Kisuke the device and he switched it on, instantly seeing his whereabouts. Ichigo and he had gone back to the shop after hours of searching, and decided to charge the device. "Ichigo! The device is charged!"
Ichigo tore into the room, snatching the device from the shopkeeper's hands. "He's at the park-!" he paused, furrowing his eyebrows, then his eyes widened. "Orihime is there!" he yelled, causing Kisuke's eyes to darken.
The two began to run out of the shop, down towards the park. Luckily the park wasn't far from Kisuke's shop, so it didn't take them long.
Although they expected, but didn't expect at the same time, what they were met with. They stood on the edge of the park, watching the unlikely couple embrace each other.
Once the couple pulled away, then began to lean in, Ichigo grabbed Kisuke's kimono cape and pulled him away. "I think it's sorted out…" Ichigo muttered as he dragged Kisuke away to give the two some privacy.
Kisuke frowned. "I guess I'll need to find that gigai after all."
Author's Note:The next chapter will be the epilogue, and after that... WE'RE FINALLY DONE!
WOO HOO!
I'll give all my thanks on the epilogue and last author's note 3
Cya guys there 3