Onna

Chapter 9

Ow.

Ow.

OW.

Moaning slightly, the red headed teen tried to roll over in her sleep.

And was stabbed again.

Reluctantly, Orihime opened her eyes and sat up, rubbing her wounded cheek. 'What possible could have poked my…' The girl spotted the offending object.

Ulquiorra's horn.

She hadn't realized that she'd been so near the child. His chipped arrancar helmet had been poking into her cheek because of their closeness. Orihime blushed a bit. Even if he was a little kid, he was still Ulquiorra. She never would have gotten that close to the Espada… and yet she'd willingly shared a bed with his younger doppelganger.

Sighing, the girl decided that she might as well get ready for the day. As she got out of bed and stretched, a small giggle escaped her as she watched Ulquiorra. The boy'd frowned in his sleep at her sudden absence, and rolled over to smother his face in the sheets that still held her warmth. 'I'll let him sleep a little bit longer…' Orihime thought, returning the covers to their place over him.

After going through her morning rituals, and putting her nightgown on top of the dresser, the bright haired girl went over to the figure still sleeping.

"Ulquiorra, it's morning time."

He mumbled something incoherent before sitting up. Looking at her through bleary emerald eyes, he stated simply, "You cannot have morning, Onna, if there is no sun." The arrancar-child jumped slightly when Orihime laughed loudly. "S-sorry!" She gasped. For some reason she found his simply statement hilarious. "I was no trying to be 'funny'." The young women nodded, finally getting control of herself. "I'm sorry! It's just that I guess your very right, you can't have morning without a sun."

"I am going to get myself ready." He said, dropping the conversation. "Okay then!" Orihime replied cheerfully. Ulquiorra silently got up and went to the bathroom. It wasn't a few minutes later that the shower was turned on.

With nothing better to do, Orihime sat down on the bed and fell back onto the mattress.

After about fifteen minutes, the lavatory door opened again to reveal a half dressed Ulquiorra. The boy set his jacket and socks down on the couch as he went to retrieve his sandals. He paused, shoes in hand, to look at the onna. She was sitting rigidly, staring at him with a worried look.

"What is the matter?"

"What… happened to you, Ulquiorra?"

The raven haired child glanced down at himself, and finding nothing out of the ordinary, he looked back up and cocked his head to the side slightly in confusion. Nothing was wrong with him.

"How did you get all of those… scars?" Orihime asked, pointing at his chest. Most of his torso was covered in scars ranging from small cuts to deep, diagonal slashes. Even a perfect ringlet of raised tissue circled the upper part of his right arm.

This wasn't the first time someone had questioned the origin of his healed wounds. When he'd first been brought down from the dome several different soul reapers working under Squad Four had also asked about them. He had given them the same answer he was to give her:

"I do not know."

The onna frowned deeper. Though, it was not one of anger, but worry, "What do you mean you don't know? It's your own body and you don't remember hurting it?" Ulquiorra shook his head and continued getting dressed, ignoring her questioning stare.

What he'd said was not a lie. The child couldn't remember ever not having the scars marring his body. They had existed when he'd first awoken to this world.

'Fibber…' Orihime thought, crossing her arms. How could he not remember getting all of those wounds?

"Why did you not go to the meeting room already?" The little boy asked, finally breaking the heavy silence. "I was waiting for you." The bright headed girl replied, as if it were the most obvious thing. "I understand that, but why did you feel the need to do so?" She shrugged, "I don't know, it just seemed kinda rude to leave without you." Her child companion stood and zipped his shirt, "We should go now then, before we are late."

When the pair entered the meeting room, three things were very apparent:

One, there were more chairs.

Two, more people were seated at the table in said chairs.

And three, the new comers held very familiar faces.

A very young girl baring a cracked arrancar mask was perched on Ichigo's lap, babbling away as if she hadn't even noticed Ulquiorra and Orihime's entrance. Two other lesser arrancars were sitting (The two were moving and flailing so much it was a wonder they hadn't fallen off of their seats) in the chairs on either sides of the ginger haired teen. From the looks of things, everyone already there seemed to be on their last nerve because of the trio.

"Morning…" Renji grumbled as the pair took their seats. "Good morning!" Orihime greeted, "When did Nel and them get here?" Pinching the bridge of his nose, Uryu answered her, "Earlier this morning." She nodded and looked at the rest of the people seated to see that everyone was sharing the same expression of annoyance. Grimmjow looked as if he were two second away from hoping over the table and wringing the necks of the green headed girl's friends. And poor Ichigo was stuck with them herding around him, and because he didn't want to hurt the child's feeling, the teen was trying his best to be nice.

But even that was becoming hard to do.

The bright haired girl smiled apologetically, "That bad?" Everyone both looked at the toddler then back at her. "Yes."

Looking around the table once more, Orihime realized that some people were missing, "Where's Rukia and Chad?" She asked. "Rukia's still getting ready." Renji nodded. "And Chad worked pretty hard yesterday, lifting and moving rubble and all, so Captain Unohana said it would be good for him to sleep in a bit today." Just as he finished, Rukia entered.

Stopped at the doorway.

Then continued quickly to her seat.

"Nel." All of them stated to answer her silent confusion.

"Onna,"

Orihime turned in her seat to face Ulquiorra, "Yeah?"

"I assume then that she is 'Nel'?" He pointed slightly a crossed the table. The young women nodded, "Mmhm, Nel is-" She was interrupted by a loud gasp.

"You don't know who Nel is?" Nel hollered at him from Ichigo's lap. She clamored up from the teen and onto the table. The substitute soul reaper went to pull her off but she dodged his hand and ran down the porcelain top to stand in front of Ulquiorra. "Hi!" She beamed, "Nel is Neliel Tu, but u can call Nel 'Nel'!" The child stated, putting a hand on her chest. Ulquiorra nodded slowly, looking at her oddly. She was even more rambunctious then the onna.

'If I am correct, this child was once an Espada. Neliel tu Oderschvank, formerly third ranked.'

'…'

'I am telling you this because she still ranks above me… you. I was only fourth. Even if she is a child I suggest you do not show disrespect.'

'I do not understand? How does a child become an Espada?'

'Neliel is the same as I, forced to become a child due to injury.'

'I see…'

"So who're you?" Nel asked Ulquiorra.

"My name is Ulquiorra Cifer."

She nodded, "U-Ul… Lio..qulor… ri…" The child frowned as she struggled to say his name, "Ul…l..liorr…-" Grimmjow rolled his eyes, "Ulquiorra." Nel stamped her bare foot on the table, "Shat up, Gimm-joe, Nel will say it herself!" Just then Ichigo snatched her up off of the table top and headed back to his seat. "Put Nel down, Itsigo! Nel is still talkin' to… to... to Loui-orra!" Grimmjow was rolling in his seat with laughter. "She butchered your name also, Gimm-joe." The little boy retorted. The Ex-Espada looked as if he were about to say something back just as the two captains entered.

"Good morning, Sirs." Renji grunted. The officers nodded their greetings as they sat down.

The Captains would go on to explain that each group would be doing virtually the same as the day before.

Mayuri still needed help clearing the rest of the debris, and Captain Unohana'd had several piles of books shipped over from the arrancar side to the library that need to be shelved.

With that explained, only one thing was left to figure out.

Which group were Nel and her friends going to go with?

"Er… Hey Nel, why don't you, Dondochakka and Pesche go help Ichigo and the others? I'm positive they'd love your assistance!" Uryu quickly said. "Okay! Nel and her brothers will help Itsigo!" She exclaimed. Renji glared at the Quincy. Suddenly, a large smirk grew a crossed Jeagerjaques' face, "But Nel, I'm sure little Loui-orra would just love some company around his age." Nel gasped dramatically, "Yo wight! Nel doesn't want Loui to be sad…er." Ulquiorra glared daggers at his guardian whom mockingly made faces at him behind the toddler's back. "Okay, but the guys need all the help they can get, so why don't Dondochakka and Pesche help them then." Rukia suggested. The green haired girl nodded, "Yesh, Dondochakka and Pesche will help Itsigo while Nel goes with Loui-orra."

Nel happily took the lead as they parted ways. Rukia turned around, pulled down the cheek of her left eye, squinted the other, and stuck out her tongue. Everyone accompanying Kurotsuchi silently cursed.

If the paper pushers got Nel, then the construction workers got her "brothers".

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Enter Nel and company!

Whoo~

And some horn humor.

Seriously, it's just stickin' out there; I gotta poke fun at it. (plus I've always wondered how he slept with that darned helmet. I mean, wouldn't he rip holes in his pillows with that thing?)

*shot*
==

Also, Chayoo was awesome enough to write me a nice review on the last chapter telling me about my spelling/Spanish error. I was spelling LOS Noches, instead of LAS Noches... ^^;

but I'm too lazy to go through all the previous chapters and fix it, so I'll simply spell it correctly from here on.

Thanks for the helpful critique though Chayoo-san! :)

(If you see anything in this fic {or my others for that matter} that needs correcting/edited, don't hesitate to review and/or pm me about it. I'd rather get harsh critique then look like an illiterate fool because of an error in my writing.)

To be continued (I've had people ask me if I was going to continue this, and I'm just like "DUUUH~", but I'll put this anyways.)

Reviews are greatly appreciated :D