Chapter 16
La Realidad de los Reales ("The Reality of the Royal Ones")
"Inoue!" Orihime turned to the sound of her name, and to her surprise, Ishida ran up to her. She smiled cheerfully at him. Of all the people whom she held a special friendship with, Ishida and her shared a greater repertoire thanks to their time together in the handicrafts club and the last battle between Ulquiorra and Kurosaki. Remembering the fight, Orihime felt a little bit of sorrow enter her heart, but the pang of sadness wasn't so strong as it used to be. She used to fear recalling the memory, even seeing Ishida sometimes, because it was all too vivid and heartbreaking. But somewhere in the last few weeks, the weight that was once too heavy to carry lightened, making way for her to smile brightly.
His usual frown was on his face, but behind his glasses, Orihime could see the unease in his violet eyes. "I heard you were injured, but I didn't think this much," he told her, regarding her crutches and wrapped ankle. "Will you be fine to go home like that?"
Orihime nodded, beaming at him. His concern for her never faltered despite coming off as cold to other people. "I'm fine," she answered optimistically, steadying herself on her crutches. The sunlight streamed through the hallway windows, warming Orihime's skin. She noticed how the light struck Ishida's pale skin, making him appear closer to a sunny stoic figure than her bespectacled friend.
"Oh, you were looking for me earlier," Ishida stated, curiosity replacing concern. "What is it?"
Orihime's eyes widened. "Oh, I forgot my bag!" she exclaimed, suddenly flustered in her own absentmindedness. She put her weight on the crutches and turned to go back to their classroom, her face reddening with embarrassment. "I left it in the classroom! Can you wait, Ishida?"
Ishida's gaze lifted as she answered, something else catching his attention behind her. "No need," he replied, indicating past her. Following his gaze, Orihime peered down the hallway to see Ulquiorra—surrounded by his fan girls. Though Orihime knew Ulquiorra wasn't interested in any of them, a pang of jealous ran through her body. She gripped the crutch handles tighter. As Ulquiorra made his way down the hallway, the pack of girls following him, he ignored them in the beautiful way he disregarded everyone else. When his eyes settled on Orihime, he slowly approached her, something Orihime could barely make out softening his features.
Before he reached Ishida and Orihime, Ulquiorra spoke in his deep voice, "Disappear."
The girls stopped in their tracks, uncertain if they heard correctly. Again, Ulquiorra repeated himself, this time, more annoyance laced between each syllable. "Disappear." After a few tense moments, the fan girls retreated from him, looking at him with disappointed faces. They finally disappeared from the hallway, leaving Ulquiorra to meet Ishida and Orihime where they stood.
Orihime smiled at Ulquiorra, relaxing slightly. For some reason, she was just glad that the girls were gone. Otherwise, it would have ruined the moment. What moment Orihime thought about, she wasn't sure about. She just felt relieved.
"Woman." Orihime blanched. Unfortunate for her, Ulquiorra still had the habit of calling her "woman", especially when she did something he disliked. Immediately, Orihime knew she was in trouble. What did she do this time? Preparing for whatever lecture that was sure to follow, Orihime took a step back.
She felt hands on her shoulders, causing her eyes to widen in surprise. "Inoue," Ishida said from behind her, his voice calm but annoyed. "Be careful."
Orihime watched as unconcealed anger flash through Ulquiorra's emerald eyes. She didn't like the look in his eyes. "Remove your hands," he commanded, irritation in his voice. The tension in the air picked up, swirling around like bad energy between them.
It was Ulquiorra who finally broke the taut atmosphere. Before Orihime had time to react, Ulquiorra tossed something to Ishida, causing his hands to leave Orihime's shoulders. Immediately, Ulquiorra's hands went into his pockets, assuming a stance of indifference as his face hardened into apathy.
"Fix that," was all that Ulquiorra ordered, all anger and emotion stripped from his words.
Orihime turned to look at Ishida, spotting her broken bag in his hands. Instantly, she brightened up. "My bag!" Facing Ishida, who calmly regarded the bag, Orihime felt elation bubble up in her chest. It wasn't the simple fact that Ishida could fix her bag—he could fix anything—but Orihime was warmed by Ulquiorra's kind deed. He had retrieved her bag when she had forgotten it. If only he did more nice things…
Ishida's composed demeanor suddenly changed as he examined her bag. "It looks like these straps were cut," he announced, holding up a severed end for Orihime to see. "And there's a spiritual energy attached to it." Now that Ishida mentioned it, Orihime could feel a faint spiritual energy coming from the straps. Her eyes widened as the truth dawned on her. "Someone cut these straps."
"What?" Orihime stammered, dread entering the pit of her stomach. "Why would someone do that?"
Ishida met her gaze, his eyes showing concern. "I don't know. You'll just have to be careful from now on."
His eyes returned to the bag while Orihime's shoulders slackened with disappointment. Why would someone be after her? What did she do? It was enough to deal with the Hollow that came and went in a moment's notice, but to deal with some ill-intentioned person struck a worrisome chord within her.
"Inoue," Ishida called out, peering at her with concern. She gasped, suddenly realizing that she had gone into her own thoughts in the middle of the conversation. Blushing, Orihime gave him a strained smile. Ishida relaxed slightly, though his worry didn't completely disappear as Orihime hoped. "I'll take this to Urahara and he can analyze the spiritual energy."
"Ok!" Orihime agreed, nodding forcefully. Her actions caused her weight to change on the crutches, making her suddenly teeter to the side. Just as she moved to steady herself, one of her crutches slipped on the sleek hallway floor, making her lose her balance. She flew to the side towards the windows, nothing standing between the oncoming crash.
But the crash never came. Her body stopped moving. Instead, her body was held still by a pair of hands on her shoulders. Immediately, Orihime's face grew hot as she peered up into Ulquiorra's green eyes. Despite being upside in Orihime's perspective, she could still read a stern, irritated expression on his handsome guise. Being so close to him, Orihime could feel his breath on her skin, causing her to blush even more. "The crutches are difficult for you, woman," Ulquiorra declared smoothly, though the irritation was still apparent. "Refrain from using them any longer."
Without another word, Ulquiorra took her crutches from her hands, leaving her to lean uncomfortably against the window. It seemed he wasn't giving her a choice in the matter. "Ulquiorra!" Orihime cried out, her confusion melting into apprehension as she grasped the window sill to steady herself. "I need those!"
Ulquiorra didn't listen. Instead, she watched him hold out the crutches to Ishida, who calmly took them, before he leaned down in front of Orihime. As she opened her mouth to protest, he pushed his back against the front of her body and pulled her arms around his shoulders. Before she knew it, Orihime was on Ulquiorra's back, her bewildered eyes looking down at the back of his raven-haired head. She could only stammer out a few words, but she knew it was useless.
"I will drop you if you complain," Ulquiorra threatened from below her.
"Inoue!" Ishida appeared in Orihime's vision, his face stricken with worry. He held her crutches in one hand and her bag in the other. "Will you be all right?"
Although Orihime felt overly embarrassed at her current situation—and the fact that her skirt would ride up—she managed to send him a feeble smile. "I think I'll be ok."
"The woman will be fine," Ulquiorra added coldly, his head turning in Ishida's direction. Orihime could imagine him glaring at Ishida with his emerald eyes. Even when he was doing something kind, Ulquiorra knew how to ruin the moment.
They began to move steadily down the hallway, Orihime clinging to Ulquiorra's shoulders for dear life. Though the man beneath her wasn't Kurosaki, a cozy feeling settled in Orihime's chest. Ulquiorra's body was lean, but he was strong and surprisingly warm. She could feel his muscles contract and flex underneath his uniform as he carefully descended the stairs. His raven hair tickled her nose now and then, and the smell of cherry blossoms would fill her nose.
Orihime never imagined that she would prefer Ulquiorra's back rides to Kurosaki's.
"No, you're doing it wrong!" Ulquiorra gritted his teeth. Never in his new human life did he imagine himself in his current situation. Balancing Orihime on his back wasn't difficult. Balancing Orihime on his back while unlocking the door to Orihime's home and holding a bag of groceries in his other hand was a different issue. He didn't feel sorry for himself, either. He merely realized that Orihime had a way of persuading him to do the most ridiculous acts.
When they left the school, many eyes on them, Orihime began to ramble on about food and other useless things that he didn't care for. As they were passing Family Mart, to his dismay, Orihime "suggested" that they go in to get some snacks. She nearly toppled off his back when he refused vehemently to enter the store. When Orihime finally burst into tears—because a trashy junior high school student groped her and she didn't tell him until after the trash ran away—Ulquiorra felt responsible for calming her down, and turned into Family Mart.
After a few failed attempts, Ulquiorra heard the door unlock, earning a zealous squeal from Orihime. "All right! Good job, Ulquiorra!" To his surprise, her arms tightened around his shoulders, and he felt Orihime's breath close to his ear. Her hair fell across his cheek, the smell of her sweet-smelling shampoo meeting his nose. Immediately, Ulquiorra's usually pale skin grew warmer, and he fought down the tingling sensation rising in the lower half of his body.
To distract himself from the feeling of fornication—he discovered the word in one of the discreet magazines Orihime embarrassedly bought for him—Ulquiorra entered Orihime's home and promptly deposited her onto the kitchen floor. A startled squeak came from her mouth before she bent her legs to take off her shoes. "That hurts," she complained lightheartedly, finally clutching one of her shoes and pulling it off.
As she bent over to remove her other shoe, Ulquiorra's eyes traveled up her legs until they rested on the pink fabric over her…private area. She was oblivious to her shortened skirt and his shameless staring. Her pink underwear wasn't as lacy or erotic as the girls from the porn magazine, Ulquiorra noted to himself, but she still sent sensations to his…private area.
"Let's make dinner! I'm starving!" Orihime suddenly replied, climbing to her feet and steadying herself on the kitchen counter. She peered at him expectantly.
Regaining his composure and pushing the dirty thoughts out of his head, Ulquiorra carefully removed his shoes and joined Orihime in the kitchen with the bags. As he placed the bags on the counter, Orihime suddenly placed a slender hand onto his shoulder, using his shoulder for a balance. Slowly, Ulquiorra turned to look at her, his eyes slightly wider than usual. Her grey eyes revealed surprise as their eyes met. Though his skin remained as pale as paper, a fire blazed through his veins. It raged from a place inside his mind and abdomen, gradually spreading throughout his body until it settled deep in his stomach.
He didn't understand this feeling, but it wasn't a bad one, only strange. As he continued to stare at her, the surprised façade melted into something akin to embarrassment, a pink tint painting her cheeks. The enthusiasm she held before abruptly wavered and she averted his gaze, instantly ending the moment and leaving Ulquiorra feeling emptier than before.
"Um, let's get dinner started, ok?" Orihime suggested, a stammer in her voice. Slowly, she detached her hand from his shoulder and placed it on the counter. An uncomfortable silence engulfed them as Orihime began to wash some rice in a strainer.
Ulquiorra watched her, observing her steady and sure movements in cleaning the rice before she emptied it into a black bowl and placed it into the rice cooker. In spite of her injured ankle, Orihime spun around and faced him, her energy returning. "I know! You can help me prepare dinner!" she declared with a grin. When Ulquiorra gave her with a blank stare, her smile grew wider. "With your help, dinner will be ready in no time."
Without much thought, Ulquiorra replied, "Fine." Instead of reading books, he could keep his hands occupied.
His response earned him a shocked look from Orihime. "Oh, you really want to help me?" she questioned in disbelief. The astonishment disappeared a moment later, and Ulquiorra suddenly felt her cold hand on his forehead. He remained still, accepting the touch with a reservation that surprised him. Her amused eyes told him she wasn't worried but teasing him slightly. "Are you really not sick?"
Gently, Ulquiorra took her hand in his, feeling her smooth fingers move between his. For Ulquiorra, it was strange to be touched in such a manner. From the days of fighting, there was never one moment where a loving touch, except that of Orihime's soft light, could reach him. Only in a fleeting moment, when his interest was piqued and his light began to fade, did he want to touch something real, something that wasn't fabricated for the will of survival. His desire came true when his being materialized in the Living World.
As he recalled the strangely-surreal memory of his death, Ulquiorra felt an ache begin to vibrate from the recesses of his mind. It worked from the back of his brain to the front, bringing with it a slow, agonizing pain. Like a hum, the pain intensified until all Ulquiorra could make out was a beam of white light appearing before his green eyes. The white light washed away Orihime, as her dazed guise swiftly faded. From the depths of his mind, he heard a voice call out to him. It was soft, almost inaudible against the painful light, but Ulquiorra could hear the voice.
"Ulquiorra…" The voice was one he knew, one he heard every day, yet it wasn't. There was something warped, narrow, about her voice.
He knew he was drifting into something that held no paths for returning to the present. Perplexed, Ulquiorra tried to grasp something solid to anchor him to reality, only to remember that Orihime's hand was still in his hand. It was cool and alive, real and tangible. He didn't need anything else for as long as he held her hand. Slowly, he brought her slender hand to his cheek.
"Ulquiorra Schiffer, I reject."
Next chapter: El Principe Durmiente
Orihime tries to help Ulquiorra as he journeys into the land of Nod.
A/N: It's so hard maneuvering on crutches! Sometimes, they're reliable, and sometimes, they're not. I remember when I've fallen or slipped being on crutches. Painful! And yes, I had to put in fan girls. They're pretty annoying and clingy, but they do exist. As weird as it may sound, even I have small fan club that randomly hands me chocolates and letters between classes. They aren't so extreme, but they do follow me around sometimes... (-_-;)