I can't believe I haven't updated this story since February. OMG, I'm really sorry for that. It never was supposed to be a long fic, but I wanted to see what was going to happen in the manga before writing the rest of the story. The fact is that I seriously didn't like the whole fullbring arc Kubo had created. Really, I was expecting something better than that. Anyway, I think it's time to finally finish this fanfic. Thank you for reading this story and I'm sorry for making you wait for so much time.

Chapter 3: Saved

Ulquiorra had followed Inoue until her apartment, because she had given up on going to Sado's place all by herself. There were some stuffed animals around the place, which should show that a happy person lived there. However, that woman wasn't happy at all. She sat on the sofa in her living room and stared at the roof, without turning any lamp on and with the curtains closed.

Life should be better now. Everything is so normal. Kurosaki-kun doesn't have to fight any of those dangerous battles anymore. It's like before he had met Kuchiki-san… It's just like it.

Ulquiorra approached the woman in order to look closely at her face. Tears had begun to fall from those big eyes of hers, as she embraced her knees, without caring about putting her feet on the sofa.

Was he so sad back then? With such a lack of vitality, as if he didn't know what to do for life? I never really thought about it. Maybe I never really realized it. It's as if he can't live without her. She's the source of his happiness, his own ray of light. Meanwhile, what am I? I'm just Inoue… I'm just the girl he considers a friend. There's no other way for him to see me. I've known him for so many years… I had all the chances… but I must just accept the truth that his love belongs only to Kuchiki-san.

Ulquiorra saw more of the thick shadow appearing and engulfing Inoue. It was becoming clear to him what that thing was.

Resentment… Sadness… Frustration

These feelings are the ones I felt when I died. They were so strong and frightening… I was consumed by them. Is it my heart's darkness that is reacting to her own? Even if she has my heart, why is she in such a deep connection to it? Whenever she thinks about Kurosaki Ichigo, she feels so much pain.

Inoue stretched her arm in front of her, as if she was trying to touch something in her front. Ulquiorra could have thought it was him, if he wasn't already sitting next to her on the sofa.

I always said I loved Kurosaki-kun, but I never really got to know him, have I? I used to think he had a funny face… then I noticed that he was that type of person who protects everyone. I had been alone for so long. I had to endure solitude in those dark nights after my brother had died… without anyone to take care of me. But I couldn't cry. If I cried every time I felt lonely, my brother would be worried over me and wouldn't be able to rest in peace. I had to become stronger and smile… for his sake I had to be tough. But everything was… so difficult. It all became easier when I met Tatsuki-chan. She was so strong and happy… and she taught me karate and how to defend myself. She was the first person in a long time that wanted to protect me. It's so shameful… I liked to be protected by someone else. It was like living my childhood days again, when my brother was still alive and I didn't have t endure the dark nights alone. My smiles weren't so forced anymore. I wanted to be protected.

Ulquiorra felt a discomfort in his inside. To see that woman like that, drowning in the darkness and crying disturbed him. He tried to touch her face, but it was hard do so. The shadow was acting like a barrier, stopping him from getting close to her.

Am I doing this because I want my heart? I want to take it from her, but is it still because of me? I feel so hurt when I see her like this… she was supposed to be the bright and warm sun, but now… It's not that I never noticed something about her. Her dependency toward Kurosaki Ichigo wasn't something I liked to see, even though I had no idea why. Maybe, somehow, I could tell that Kurosaki Ichigo was a bad thing for her. But I shouldn't have had that type of concern. I shouldn't have any emotion at all. Could it be that since she had my heart I was being influenced by it? What this woman made to me… what she changed me into… it makes me feel uneasy.

Inoue was trembling a bit now, as if she was feeling cold, unaware of Ulquiorra's efforts to get closer to her.

I'm really the worst. I wanted to be protected so badly that I began to depend on Kurosaki-kun to do it… and I thought it was because I loved him. If that was love, I shouldn't have asked him to save me that time, when he was almost dead. I didn't really think I was in danger… Ishida-kun was, but I asked Kurosaki-kun to save me and I turned him in that horrible monster. I made him kill Ulqiorra.

The shadow became denser and started to grow in all directions, making Ulquiorra be thrown away and hit the wall. Ulquiorra wasn't able to see Inoue inside it anymore. She's worse than before… when she thought about me… why? Ulquiorra wondered as he forced himself inside that darkness and walked towards Inoue Orihime. It was so cold and he felt so much pain, but he wouldn't retreat no matter what.

Ulquiorra didn't protect me. He never treated me like some fragile girl, but the opposite; he always called me "woman" and always talked to me coldly… I never hated him. I don't know what I felt for him, but it wasn't hate, not even after I thought he had killed Kurosaki-kun. For not protecting me, he made me face the cruelty of the world, the solitude… I remembered how it was before I met Tatsuki-chan and Kurosaki-kun. I had to be strong… I felt I was stronger and braver whenever I was around him. In his battle with Kurosaki-kun, I found myself not desiring that any of them got killed… when Ulquiorra died and tried to touch my hand… when he asked me if I was afraid and I replied "no"… It was so hard to hold back the tears. I shouldn't feel that way… Ulquiorra almost killed Kurosaki-kun and Ishida-kun… I shouldn't feel that way toward him. I shouldn't miss him so much.

Ulquiorra struggled as he was getting closer to her. I have to go forward. I must keep going forward.

Inoue was trembling more.

I shouldn't feel this strong emotion… this emotion I never felt for anyone else. Why do I feel this? Why do I feel so incomplete since I returned from Hueco Mundo? I thought it was just jealousy for what Kurosaki-kun feels for Kuchiki-san… what if it's something else? Ulqiorra's absence… hurts so much. If he was here… if he was alive… if Kurosaki-kun hadn't murdered him because of me… if he made me stand up for him… if he called "woman" just once more…

Orihime put both her hand on her head, closing her eyes desperately and letting her face down. She put her feet on the floor again, letting her leap free. I wish I could have saved him… protected him… took care of him. I wish I haven't let him die!

"WOMAN!"

Inoue stopped trembling. That voice close to her, could it be? She felt hands holding hers and taking them away from her head. She opened her eyes slowly, looking down at first, to where her hair loops were shining, stuck on her blouse. At her leap, her hands were being hold by transparent male ones. And those hands were becoming more visible gradually. She was totally stunned and refused to believe what her heart was yelling at her.

"Look at me, woman." That voice said again. One of the mysterious hands let go of her right one and was placed under her chin, making Inoue lift her face in order to look who was right in her front. Even though he wasn't so pale anymore, even though he didn't have those green tear stains or those extra-cranial bones, she recognized him. Without knowing if she should smile or cry, she touched his face with her free hand, murmuring "Is this really you? You're really Ulquiorra?"

Without understanding what was happening to him, feeling multiple and warm things at the moment, Ulquiorra nodded.

"Don't cry over me, you saved me a long time ago. Thank you for protecting my heart for so long, woman."

Moving her hand down, Inoue touched Ulquiorra's chest, "You don't have a hole in the place of your heart anymore, but there isn't a chain either. Why?"

"I had lost my heart a long time ago when I attacked the family that had caused my death in a car accident. My heart entered the body of the little baby girl that family had. Later, it became power to that girl and, for an act of fate, she was taken to Hueco Mundo under Aizen-sama's orders and I was responsible for her. I hand't realized it before, not until the very end. But it's because my heart is with you now… and it's because I'm so close to you know… I became what I am."

"How can I return your heart?" She asked in low voice, kind of fearing the answer.

"You don't have to return it as long as we don't drift apart from each other."

Inoue smiled with her eyes. Ulquiorra felt again that warmth inside him as he saw the darkness vanishing completely. He knew she would be fine now, and that made him feel extremely good.

"We can go to Urahara's shop and get a gigai for you, I'll think in what I'll tell him, and you can live with me. It's not a big place, but we can work it out." Orihime said happily, smiling widely. Ulquiorra slowly made a movement with his lips, which only Inoue could notice it was an attempt to smile.

"I think that's good, Orihime."

The End

I'm sorry if this final isn't good, but I really wanted to give an end to this story, instead of letting it without one.