Chapter 13

La Princesa Sabe ("The Princess Knows")

"Can you walk faster? We're going to be late!" Orihime pushed Ulquiorra up the street, trying to get him to go a little faster than a snail. She gritted her teeth as she continued to push him forcefully. Of all days to walk slowly, this had to be one of them! No matter how much she pushed and shoved, Ulquiorra's pace remained the same agonizingly slow pace. "If we get to school late, we'll get a yellow card! Then we'll have to come to school earlier than this time tomorrow morning and clean the school. Or, if we're lucky, we might just have to clean the hallways after school. You don't want to do that, do you?"

Orihime knew she was rambling, but it didn't matter. Anything to get the former Espada to move faster! And why was he so strong? He was human, after all!

"I am not in a hurry," Ulquiorra stated blandly, continuing his snail's pace.

"Ulquiorra!" Orihime couldn't help but whine. She was getting frustrated already. "If we're late, I'll probably get lectured by the principal. He'll tell me how irresponsible I am, especially when it comes down to an exchange student. Maybe he'll question us a lot, too. You hate so many useless questions, right?" Although Orihime was a bad liar, she found she was good at playing at Ulquiorra's interests and disinterests. He did not like to be questioned—she discovered this the hard way—and he did not like when someone was mean to her.

Well, the latter part she simply guessed, but she hadn't been proven wrong yet.

To her relief, Ulquiorra caught the last part. "Yes, I despise useless questions," he announced coolly, finally picking up his feet and walking a lot faster. Orihime stood still for a moment, catching her breath. Getting Ulquiorra to do anything was tiring. Getting him up in the morning took a tremendous effort, especially since he only slept two hours. Orihime was jealous that he didn't have bags underneath his eyes, and his skin was still porcelain-perfect. Getting him to eat breakfast was another feat that caused them to fall behind by ten minutes. Orihime envied Ulquiorra's taste in seaweed rice balls, especially since he took the last one in the refrigerator for breakfast that morning. She had never felt so exhausted in her life.

"Trouble in paradise?"

Orihime nearly jumped into a lamp post at the sudden sound of Tatsuki's voice. "You scared me!"

Tatsuki smiled at her friend before narrowing her eyes at Ulquiorra's back. "Do you want me to hit him for you? You know, my karate chop has become more effective!" The joy in Tatsuki's threatening eyes always made Orihime nervous. She waved her hands as if to wave away her friend's dangerous aura.

"No! It's ok! We're fine!" Orihime grinned at her friend nervously. "It's just that Ulquiorra moves really slowly."

"You mean, like a prince?"

"Since when was Ulquiorra Schiffer a prince?" Orihime and Tatsuki turned to see Kurosaki and Sado approaching them. Kurosaki's characteristic smirk and Sado's dull guise greeted them. Orihime's smile became wider. "He's more demon than prince, if you ask me."

"Kurosaki! Sado! How are you? How was your—" Before Orihime could finish her sentence, Tatsuki grabbed Orihime's arm and pushed her in the direction of school.

"Let's get to school already!"

"Oh, right!" Orihime began to walk alongside Tatsuki, but her steps became slower as she noticed Ulquiorra walking by himself ahead of them. Was he always like this? Was he always alone? She remembered the first time he came to the Living World, he was with Yammy, but even she could feel the distance between the two Espada. Was he always walking along a path by himself?

Orihime heard something drop to the ground in front of her, and before she could look down, her feet caught on something. Without warning, pain registered in her right foot and she stumbled over the fallen object. Just when she thought she would fall, Tatsuki managed to catch her. Orihime gave Tatsuki a weak smile. "Thanks."

"Thanks nothing, you klutz," Tatsuki returned, irritation and worry laced between her words.

"Inoue, are you ok?" Kurosaki asked, coming up to her side and looking at her with concern.

"I'm ok." Orihime glanced at the fallen object. The straps of her bag were broken, causing it to fall to the ground. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't notice it right away. Orihime took a tentative step forward, and nearly tumbled over from the pain.

"Inoue, what's wrong?" Kurosaki called out, dropping to her side.

"I think I sprained my ankle," Orihime admitted, holding her hand over her right ankle. It hurt to put weight on her right side. "I'm sorry. I'm not sure if I can walk."

Orange hair appeared in front of her sight, and Orihime looked up with startled eyes. Kurosaki, crouching down with his back to her, pointed to his back. "Get on," he demanded, his brown eyes strong and decisive. There was no fighting his command. Carefully, Orihime wrapped her arms around Kurosaki's strong shoulders and angled her body flush against his back. "Ok, let's go."

Standing with little effort, Kurosaki began to walk briskly towards school with Orihime on his back. Tatsuki and Sado flanked their side as they continued on, Tatsuki affectionately lecturing Orihime about her clumsiness and Sado nodding in silent agreement. Though Orihime wanted to scream with joy at Kurosaki's good deed, she felt guilty. She didn't know why that emotion bubbled inside of her. It was just noticeable at how much she had changed in such a short time.

Up ahead, Orihime's eyes were trained on Ulquiorra's back. For a moment, she saw him look back at them, the sun tanning his porcelain-white skin, his emerald eyes showing something that made Orihime watch him for a little longer.

Was she really the same person?

"Nice to meet you. My name is Ulquiorra Schiffer. Please treat me kindly." Ulquiorra bowed lowly, his hair falling over his eyes before he straightened his body again. The class was filled with bright-eyed, bumpy-faced humans, some of whom held an excited, awe-struck expression on their faces while others emitted a dangerous aura. Ulquiorra quickly noted that the starry-eyed humans were female and the threatened humans were male.

"Do your best*!" the teacher told him with a smile, pointing at an empty chair closer to the dangerous males. Reluctantly, Ulquiorra made his way to his seat and sat down, avoiding all of the stares that went in his direction.

"That's all for home room today**," announced the teacher before everyone stood to their feet. "Stand up!" Everyone in the class climbed to their feet and stood at attention behind their desks. Ulquiorra followed suit, even bowing with the students as they said in unison, "Thank you!" Ulquiorra, on the other hand, had no reason to thank the woman. She certainly hadn't done anything except say, "There's a new exchange student here."

Immediately, the teacher disappeared and the students began to do various things. Many of the boys rushed out of the room, pushing each other in what seemed like a playful manner. Most of the girls approached him with their delusional eyes, some of them fighting to get closer to him.

"Where are you from?"

"Your eyes are so pretty!"

"Your skin is so white!"

"Do you speak English?"

"Do you know Japanese?"

The constant flow of questions irritated Ulquiorra to no end, but he didn't allow his face to show how he felt. Instead, he fought back the urge to summon his lance and simply answered their mindless questions.

"I am from Spain."

"Thank you."

"Thank you."

"No, I do not speak English."

"Yes, I know Japanese."

But even after their questions were answered, more were flung in his direction. The memory of the couple competition from the day before flashed through his mind, deepening the frown on his face. He suddenly wished for a distraction to save him from the pestering girls.

Fortunately, the distraction came in the form of Orihime making her way down the hallway. She hobbled on two metal sticks while many of the boys stopped to gawk at her. She smiled at them, saying a few words to the boys brave enough to talk to her, but she seemed to be going somewhere…very slowly.

Ulquiorra walked away from the other students, ignoring their other useless questions. He heard them say his name, but he didn't care. He exited the classroom and approached Orihime as she struggled to make another step. "Woman," Ulquiorra said, causing her to look up at him.

When she noticed him, her eyes lit up and her smile grew wider. "Ulquiorra!" Ulquiorra felt slightly superior to the other gawking boys. She didn't give them the same smile, he noted. Then again, she didn't talk their ears off either. "How was home room? Did you get along with your new classmates? How was the teacher? Did she give you a hard time? Did everyone ask you a lot of questions?" Realizing her own mistake, Orihime gasped and blushed, a slender hand going to her mouth. "Oh, am I asking too many questions, too?"

Ulquiorra nodded. She was getting better at gauging his likes and dislikes, though, her timing was always aloof. Still, there was something warm behind her ranting and sputtering, so Ulquiorra didn't feel as annoyed as with the other humans.

Her face reddened even more, but she smiled through it. "I'm sorry." Though she was being apologetic, Ulquiorra wondered how her smile was a little bit contagious. His deep frown from earlier nearly vanished, but he adopted an indifferent expression on his face.

"Inoue!"

Orihime looked past Ulquiorra, focusing on whoever called her name, before she waved at that person with joy. "I'll be right there!" she yelled back. Orihime returned her attention to Ulquiorra, smiling apologetically. "Now it's time for first period. You'll have all of your classes in this room, except science, home economics, and P.E. class. If you don't know what to do, just ask one of your classmates. I'm sure they'll take care of you." One glance at the threatening males and the starry-eyed females made Ulquiorra's frown return. He'd rather just keep to himself. "I'll see you after fourth period. That's lunchtime."

The bell rang throughout the school and many students—mostly boys—raced to their classes, someone suddenly clipping Orihime's crutch. She stumbled, but Ulquiorra was fast enough to grab her arm and steady her. As students ran by, some throwing glances back at Ulquiorra and Orihime, the orange-haired girl composed herself. She beamed at Ulquiorra.

"Thanks! These crutches are a bit difficult to handle."

Ulquiorra watched as she steadied herself and hobbled down the hallway slowly, taking care with each step she took. When she stopped, Ulquiorra caught the sight of another orange-haired boy; Kurosaki was talking to Orihime, and she listened intently, her eyes shining. She laughed at something he said, and his expression seemed to relax with Orihime's laughter. The sight of Orihime and Kurosaki together did something to Ulquiorra. His frown deepened and his mood immediately changed. The indifference he held earlier disappeared, and a new emotion welled up inside of him.

"Ulquiorra! Class will start soon!" A girl with short, brown hair waved at him from his classroom. Begrudgingly, Ulquiorra re-entered the classroom, leaving the foreign emotion in the hallway.

Next chapter: El Espejo Royal

Orihime gets grilled by her friends while Ulquiorra learns about Orihime and her friends.

*Although "good luck" is a better English expression for ganbaru in the Western world, the literal meaning of the word is "work hard" or "do one's best".

**Every school in Japan has a home room. The home room is the class that the students will have most of their classes for the whole academic year. Normally, home room is only five or ten minutes long, and they are used only to make announcements.

A/N: Sorry this is such a short chapter! This chapter was easier to write from Ulquiorra's perspective because he was in school finally. I used my own experiences at working in a Japanese high school to depict this chapter.

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