Chapter 15

La Princesa Valiente ("The Valiant Princess")

The hallway had many students milling around, either sitting on the floor and eating their lunches or playing childishly with their peers. Ulquiorra looked at them with disinterest, turning his attention to Kurosaki and his group of friends as they climbed the stairs to the rooftop. When they reached the roof, the orange-haired boy looked at him with his determined eyes. "Ulquiorra, Inoue never packed lunch for you, right? Are you ok to eat anything?"

"Is Orihime keeping him at her house?" the brown-haired boy asked, looking at Kurosaki. He slapped Kurosaki on the back affectionately, grinning. "I bet you're jealous, right, man?"

"Jealous?" The word slipped out of Ulquiorra's mouth before he could stop it. He set a firm, disinterested expression on his face, calming his curiosity. Being around humans with only a few hours of sleep affected his detached persona.

The brown-haired boy grinned at Ulquiorra while hanging on to Kurosaki's shoulder. "Yeah, this guy and Orihime Inoue are pretty close, if you know what I mean."

"Elaborate," Ulquiorra stated almost in a growl, earning a startled expression from him.

Kurosaki shook his friend's arm off his shoulder. "Don't mind Keigo. He's a pervert who doesn't know when to be quiet."

"That's true!" the dark-haired friend chimed in to Keigo's horror, his face growing red.

"I'm not a pervert!" Keigo fired back.

The dark-haired boy suddenly pointed at the roof's entrance dramatically. "There's Matsumoto!"

Like a fool, Keigo whirled around to follow his friend's pointing finger, a dreamy guise plastered on his face. "Oh, my lovely big-breasted woman!" When he found that it was a mindless trick, Keigo's face fell with disappointment. His friends paid him no mind as Kurosaki and his other friend sat down close to the fences lining the roof's edge.

"I'm Mizuiro Kojima," the dark-haired boy introduced when Ulquiorra joined them. Though he didn't approve of sitting down on the dirty rooftop, his human legs didn't like to stand for too long. As soon as he sat down, Kurosaki pushed a rectangle object into his hands.

Keigo peered at Kurosaki with confusion. "Yo, Ichigo, did you bring that lunch box just for the new guy?" Kurosaki nodded, and Keigo's face fell in disappointment again. "Aw, I wanted a lunch box from Ichigo." He fell silent as he poked his straw into a small box with pictures of grapes.

"I just asked my sister to make another lunch box," Kurosaki said, unwrapping the cloth around his lunch box and taking off the lid. "I figured since Inoue is kind of absentminded, she'd forget about lunch today."

Ulquiorra stared at the lunch box in his hands. This was a lunch box. It didn't look like the packs of rice balls from Family Mart or the concoctions that Orihime called food. He removed the cloth and took off the lid just like Kurosaki had done. Inside the box, a small portion of rice and other foods were neatly packed in the small space.

"Do you need a fork?" Mizuiro suddenly offered, his unchanging smile reminding Ulquiorra of a certain rogue Soul Reaper.

"No." Ulquiorra picked up the chopsticks attached to the lid and began to eat slowly. He felt eyes on him as he ate deliberately. He found that Keigo was regarding him with wide eyes.

"Wow, you're good at using chopsticks*," Keigo remarked in awe.

Ulquiorra was at a blank as to why he would say something so obvious to him. Was he a fool? Did Kurosaki and Orihime purposely make friends with these fools just to irritate him? He didn't believe Orihime would set him up in this way, but Kurosaki? Ulquiorra had his suspicions.

"You're probably wondering if Keigo is an idiot, right?" Mizuiro inquired as he began to eat his lunch box. Ulquiorra's green eyes only watched him with little interest.

"Mizuiro! How can you be so cold-hearted? Seriously, I'm going crazy here!" Keigo's face fell again. He was as hapless and emotional as Orihime sometimes, Ulquiorra noted, chewing on his meat in the lunch box. It was quite good, though Ulquiorra wouldn't say aloud. Keigo's annoying face suddenly filled his vision, his eyes piercing Ulquiorra with intensity. "So, are you really staying at Orihime's place?"

Kurosaki's hand landed on Keigo's shoulder with a heavy thud before Keigo cried out as the orange-haired boy pulled him back violently. "Give him some room. He doesn't like people asking useless questions."

At least Kurosaki had an ounce of tact, Ulquiorra thought, resuming his meal. Keigo, on the other hand, was a complete moron, and Mizuiro seemed to be very direct, which Ulquiorra preferred when it came down to speaking. Still, Mizuiro's empty smiles irked him.

"How are things at Orihime's?" Kurosaki asked, peering at Ulquiorra with his strong brown eyes. "She's struggling a bit, isn't she?"

Ulquiorra thought over Kurosaki's words. He never thought of Orihime suffering over him. It was absurd to think someone could suffer when he never laid a hand on them or imprisoned them against their will. How was he making Orihime struggle?

"It doesn't take much," Kurosaki suddenly replied, finishing off his lunch and taking a sip from his tiny juice box. "Orihime is a little absentminded sometimes. It's just a part of her personality. She's not used to taking care of someone, so be careful. She can easily get hurt, you know."

"Yeah, she's too sweet of a girl to be with this guy!" Keigo added, indicating towards Ulquiorra with pieces of rice falling out of his mouth. His face fell again as fake tears appeared in his eyes, his arms lifting in the fashion of prayerful defeat. "You could ruin her, and then what would happen? She'd turn into a lesbian, that's what! And our lives as men will go spiraling into hell—"

The fool named Keigo continued to ramble about Orihime's eventual transition from wholesome woman to men-hating lesbian. Ulquiorra took the opportunity to drown out his irritating voice as his thoughts mulled over Orihime. Were they indirectly blaming him for Orihime's stress? Was he really the cause of it? And even if he was the source of her suffering, she willing accepted it. Was he to blame for Orihime's failure to rid herself of him? The more that Ulquiorra thought about it, the more he began to resent Kurosaki and his idiotic friends. It seemed that joining them for lunch was just a trap after all, and they all played their hands rather neatly to lull him into doubting his existence in Orihime's world.

What really disturbed Ulquiorra wasn't just their indirect way of complaining to him. They underestimated Orihime's inner strength, the strength that led Ulquiorra to believe in interesting things, like a human's heart. When times were dark, being trapped in Las Noches, Orihime had held a light for them, never doubting their abilities. And here were these humans, doubting her ability to house him comfortably.

Re-wrapping the lunch box in cloth, Ulquiorra held it out to Kurosaki, who looked at him, startled. "Take this, Ichigo Kurosaki," he commanded, a quality in his voice that remained from his former Espada days. Holding his gaze, Ulquiorra stood up. "Whether Orihime suffers or not is not your responsibility. It simply lies in her innate strength to handle the situation, something that you clearly cannot surmise."

Turning, Ulquiorra ignored Keigo's angry outburst and his friend's surprised stares, leaving the roof by the stairs. He despised their indirect method of pushing the blame on him. It wasn't his responsibility. He simply existed, and yet, those fools treated him like a commoner without any pride. No wonder Soul Reapers and Hollows alike looked down on humans.

Before he could reach the end of the stairwell, he spotted Orihime standing at the bottom of the stairs. Their eyes met, and an uncomfortable tension passed between them.

"Ulquiorra," Orihime called out to him. She seemed to sense his change in mood, and quickly, her smile dissolved into apprehension. "Did something happen?"

"No," Ulquiorra answered icily, joining her at the bottom of the stairs.

"Was it something that Keigo said?"

"No." Seeing her worrisome guise made him feel a pang of emotion. He couldn't decipher the emotion, but he knew it had to do with her. What was griping his being so intensely, he reacted to it against his will? He just didn't know.

"Ulquiorra…" Orihime reached out to him. Ulquiorra watched her, watched her move gracefully.

"Ulquiorra!"

The spiritual energy registered in Ulquiorra's mind, and pushing all of the energy he could muster in front of him, he whirled around in time to take a large, white fist. As the punch's momentum pushed Ulquiorra and Orihime backwards, Ulquiorra forced his spiritual energy into his feet and arms, causing the fist to stop its forward onslaught. Although Ulquiorra used his power with the right timing, he could feel the Hollow's strength penetrating his energy. The Hollow retracted its arm, its red eyes glaring at them through the gaping hole in the wall. Its face nearly filled up the hole.

Ulquiorra's right arm hung limply at his side. Somehow, the Hollow was able to use its brute strength to pierce Ulquiorra's energy, cracking something in his arm. Though the Hollow was large and obviously strong, the former Espada knew he could handle the Hollow with one arm.

The only problem was protecting Orihime. She couldn't run, and one of her crutches had gone missing. She would be an easy target for the Hollow.

"Koten Zanshun!" A flash of gold lightning and the Hollow screaming filled Ulquiorra's senses. Orihime's power sliced the Hollow down the middle of his head, splitting the monster in half. Within a moment, the Hollow evaporated, and a fairy-like creature flew past Ulquiorra. He turned to look at Orihime just as a hairpin on her collar transformed into another fairy. An orange light engulfed Ulquiorra as his arm began to heal. Time seemed to stand still, the gravity of the situation striking Ulquiorra suddenly.

Orihime had saved him. Without his knowing, she had grown stronger than he remembered. Kurosaki and his friends weren't the only humans doubting Orihime's abilities. He was a culprit as well, and a new feeling of shame washed over him.

When the orange light disappeared and the fairies returned to their dormant state, Orihime met his gaze and smiled weakly. "Are you ok, Ulquiorra?" He nodded, maintaining eye contact with her as he realized that she only had one crutch. Orihime's smile widened with relief. "Thank goodness."

She hobbled towards him unsteadily. Before she reached him, her crutch hit a piece of the broken wall. Orihime tried to steady herself, but without the other crutch, she fell. Ulquiorra barely had enough time to catch her in his arms. With big eyes, Orihime stared at him, their faces only inches away.

Her breath on his face and their close proximity made Ulquiorra's eyes widen slightly. He wasn't used to touching Orihime, and each time, he was amazed at the feeling. An involuntary jolt always riveted through his veins at even the slightest of contact, and this time was no different.

"Hey, what's going on?" someone suddenly asked, interrupting their ill-placed moment together.

"What happened?" followed another student.

"Where did this hole come from?"

Students came rushing over to them, some of them gazing at the hole in the wall with astonished eyes while others approached Ulquiorra and Orihime. They asked if they were ok, and someone brought Orihime her other crutch. As their surroundings became noisier than what Ulquiorra liked, he held Orihime's gaze a little while longer.

If Orihime had grown stronger, he wondered what else she was capable of. Unlike everyone else, she intrigued him to no end.

Next chapter: La Realidad de los Reales

Ulquiorra does something unexpected for Orihime.

*"You're good at using chopsticks" is a common statement made by Japanese people whenever they see a foreigner using chopsticks the right way. It's not so much a compliment but a conversation starter. If you ever live or visit Japan for a while, you'll hear this statement many, many times.

A/N: I know there seems to be a gap in the story: how did Ulquiorra become human? I'm sorry, but I'm setting this story up differently than most fanfiction stories I've read. I did say that this was an exercise in writing, right? That includes plot development as well. Anyways, please bear with me! I didn't overlook this part of the story, I swear!

For this chapter and the following chapters, I know it's weird that Ulquiorra is becoming more and more human. The reality is, when two people live together, they start to change, adopting pieces of the other person's personality and mannerisms that suit their own.