A/N: Holy crap guys. This story hit over 100 likes? I never even thought anyone would read this! I love you people! Thanks so much! X)
Anyways, here is chapter nine… The story will only total 13 chapters, so we are already about three quarters of the way through…. Enjoy!
Realization (A Second Confession)
Ichigo left the house soon after this, under the pretext of going to get Chizuru, but Orihime could tell that he was upset by her confession. Honestly, hearing the words come out of her own mouth had shocked her, as she had yet to come to terms with it herself. Now that it was out in the open, she realized how much she wanted him… Ulquiorra. The name tasted strangely bitter-sweet on her tongue. Before she had hidden what she wanted, even gone so far as to bury it within her own heart, but now…
There was a thud, presumably Tatsuki sitting down nearby.
"Orihime, did you really mean that, or did you say it just to spite Ichigo?" Tatsuki asked her. The red head turned her blank silver gaze onto her friend with an incredulous look spreading across her face.
"Of course I meant it, I wouldn't have said it otherwise," she answered, sounding a hurt.
"I thought you loved Ichigo."
"I did, before. But he has Rukia-chan, and he's happy. I wouldn't come between them, and I could never take him from her," she said a bit sadly, "So I let him go. I still care for him, but I can't say that I love him anymore. Only just now did I decide to be honest with myself…"
"It would have been better if you had been cruel and broken those two apart… at least then you wouldn't be chasing after something like him," Tatsuki murmured, worry evident in her tone.
"It's not like he'll eat me, Tatsuki," Orihime said with a soft laugh that sounded more like a sigh.
"Perhaps not, but it seems like that man has already taken your heart for himself," Tatsuki whispered, tears in her voice as she rose from the floor, "Be safe, Hime. Don't follow him somewhere you can't come back from."
The last part was meant only for herself, but she thought that perhaps Orihime had heard it anyway.
That girl had always had exceptional hearing.
…..
Chizuru rushed through the streets, dashing pell-mell to her home. Orihime with a demon? That was madness! (A/N: Spartaaaaaa….) Surely no one would be foolish enough… but Orihime was. She had an exceptionally big heart, Chizuru thought. She accepted anyone the way they were, whether they be human, animal, or… demon.
But it was dangerous, being with a demon, even if you were companions. She had heard terrible stories from travelers of demons going berserk in the blink of an eye and tearing people, even humans said to be their friends, to shreds with little or no provocation. Orihime was going to die.
She let that thought sink in.
If she didn't do something, Orihime would die.
Chizuru stopped in the middle of a walkway, an idea coming to her head. If she told the village head… but first she'd have to get approval from the council. It would be alright, she thought, getting through, because two of the four great house heads were her acquaintances: Byakuya Kuchiki and Yourichi Shihoin. If she could get their favor, she could go to Yamamoto Genryusai and get the demon exterminated.
Orihime would be safe.
But she needed an eyewitness account, not just hearsay if she was to be believed… also, an additional witness other than herself; she could use Kobayshi for that, he often spoke of the demon coming to his shop, but the foolish man had never used the name.
Ulquiorra.
Chizuru turned on heel and ran back the way she had come.
She would save her princess from the demon, even if it was in a rather roundabout way, even if she received no glory or thanks, even if she got no blood to stain her own hands in.
….
A knock came at Tatsuki's door at sometime between mid to late morning the next day, and the dark haired girl yawned as she answered the call.
"Oh, it's you Ichigo," she greeted, stepping sideways to allow him entrance to her home.
"Good to see you too," he grunted a bit irritably as he removed his sandals.
"Let me guess," the brunette said, mockingly thoughtful, "You're here to talk about Orihime."
"Well… yeah," he replied lowly, "We need to decide what to do about her problem."
"What is there to decide?" Tatsuki shot back, "If she's happy…. Then I'm not going to do anything. I'll only take action if he hurts her in any way. Then I'll kill him, demon or no. I'll kill him."
She had come to the conclusion the night before; this issue was far to convoluted. Things weren't always cast in black and white, and this was one of those gray areas that decisions were difficult to make for.
"But once Ulquiorra hurts her, won't it be too late?" Ichigo growled, "He-"
"Are you sure you aren't jealous?" she asked sharply. He made a point, but she wasn't going to change her mind that easily. It was Orihime's decision to make; Tatsuki would not force her friend's hand for anything.
"Jealous?" Ichigo repeated in surprise, "Why would I be?"
"Even if you didn't consciously notice, Orihime's followed you for years," the girl walked to the doorway before turning back, "She's not going to chase you anymore, Ichigo. I suggest you accept that just as you have Rukia, Orihime has someone else too."
With that Tatsuki disappeared into the house, dismissing the conversation.
…
Orihime shut the door to her tiny house quietly behind her and swept the hair that tickled her face out of her eyes. She blinked in the warmth of the sun and listened intently to the twittering birds. It had been a few days since she had visited Ulquiorra, mostly because Ichigo came to talk to her early in the morning and put her off the task of trekking through the woods to his home.
The weather had warmed a bit, but snow still stuck to the ground, thinner now than it had been before. The air smelled crisp and clear, diluted wood smoke scenting the wind. She missed the lavish scent of flowers that usually covered the small town, but she enjoyed the soft squeak-squeak of her footsteps in the dry snow and the gentle crunching sensation as the ice crystals compacted. She had to tread lightly, however, as she could not see to avoid patches of slick ice.
She stepped off the path once again, feeling with her toes where the slight dip was before forging ahead. It was a small mercy that the undergrowth that usually tripped her feet had died and was buried beneath the snow, so she could walk unobstructed but for the trees. She fingered the withered bark delicately, almost lovingly; the trees were her ever-vigilant companions on the path to Ulquiorra's house. She stepped into their shadows, seemingly swallowed by the darkness, unaware of watchful eyes that followed her retreating back.
….
Chizuru stepped off the path a few moments later, pressing her foot exactly into Orihime's print. Looking around furtively, she went further in, finding that Oihime's footsteps led through what seemed to be the only safe way through the forest. The other sides of the path were marred by fallen trees, dead brambles, sudden dips in the earth and even what she thought to be a frozen marsh. She wondered briefly if God had helped her friend through the woods, but then shook her head violently to rid herself of the thought. No benevolent god would lead a girl safely through the woods… only to deliver her into the hands of a demon.
The roan haired woman made sure to stay a healthy distance from Orihime; the girl had unnaturally keen hearing, and if she found Chizuru, the stalker would have some explaining to do.
After what seemed to the follower to be hours of walking in the cold, (could a man truly be worth all this?), Orihime stopped, coming upon a house made of worn boards. It was a nice enough home, built in a snowy hollow surrounded by peach trees that already had small, frosted buds on the ice coated branches. Chizuru held her breath as a haunting melody played on a shamisen drifted through the trunks, seeming to hover above the snow with a delicate air. A twig snapped beneath Orihime's foot and the thread of music broke with it. A few seconds later, the hiding girl had to bite her lip to keep from gasping as the cloth that covered the door was swept aside by the demon.
Pale as the snow with a demeanor just as cold, snake-like eyes the color of springtime moss, black fingernails in plain view; his black lips were downturned in a slight frown, his visage made melancholy by the twin tear tracks of darkness in his skin.
"Woman," he greeted, stepping out to meet her, his voice smooth and low, deadened and without emotion. He extended a hand and touched hers, the redhead smiling and gripped the edge of his sleeve with one hand, slipping the other under his fingers in an oddly intimate action. Chizuru shook with suppressed fear, anger, and hatred. How dare that demon act so familiar, how dare he touch her and call her with such a general term as 'woman'!
"Good afternoon, Ulquiorra," Orihime smiled happily, "Are there buds on the trees? The sun seems warm today,"
The demon took a moment to consider the farthest reaching twigs on the branches of the trees that surrounded his home. "There are," he replied, "and the sun is warm, but it is still too cold to stand about talking outside." His voice never once fluctuated throughout the sentence; it unnerved Chizuru.
"You're right," Orihime consented, shivering slightly, and stepping forward in unison with the demon as they turned back toward the house, "I'm happy that there will be flowers soon; I like the way they smell."
"Hm."
Chizuru waited a few seconds until the pair was inside and then slunk across the snow filled hollow, sliding in a patch of hidden ice and barely recovering in time to avoid hitting the side of the house. She found herself now beside the wall, where a small chink was placed to fill a hole in a flawed board. The girl picked the chink out carefully and found that a whole sliver of wood was missing, forming a crack in the wall. She placed her eye up to the gap and peered in, shivering in the cold.
"Why did you come today, woman?" the demon, for she refused to think of him in terms of a name, asked Orihime, "Your face tells me that it is for more than to drink tea and discuss weather."
"Well…" the red head began, "You're right. I came to ask you something."
There was a pause.
"If you are going to ask, then ask," Ulquiorra- no- the devil, said in his horrible, stony voice.
"Okay then, here it goes… are you a demon?"
Chizuru could see instantly that this question affected the man in the way that his body stiffened, the way that the snake's eyes widened fractionally, in the way his grip tightened momentarily on his teacup.
"…. I am," he answered after a moment, putting his teacup down. After a moment he asked, more softly than before, "Now that you know this… you will not come anymore."
Orihime nearly spit out her mouthful of tea.
"Why wouldn't I?" she cried, "Of course I'm still coming! You being a demon explains some of your mannerisms, but to me you're still just Ulquiorra, and it has nothing to do with the way I feel about you!"
"The way you feel about me?" he murmured. Chizuru thought he looked relieved at her outburst, but it was difficult to tell, behind the pale visage of death. "And how then, is that, woman?"
"U-um…" Chizuru watched as Orihime grew greatly flustered, her face turning first cherry blossom pink and then rose red as her embarrassment grew. Finally she seemed to give up the struggle within herself. "I… I love you."
Again, a silence broke the conversation as the demon examined Orihime, his surveying eyes traveling over her face as if searching for something.
"Love? I do not understand."
"Love is…" Orihime desperately tried to piece together an explanation, "Love is when a person knows another person better than anyone else, and they accept them for who they are, all of their flaws, their faults, their past mistakes and shortcomings. Love is wanting to be with that one other person more than anything."
"I see…" Ulquiorra's green eyes glinted strangely in the half-light of the shaded house, "If that is the case, then what I feel is love."
That was the name of the pain he felt when she was gone… this poison, this 'love' hurt… but in her presence, not only did the pain stop, it became an almost giddy sense of ecstasy that he had come to associate with the place of his birth; when he was with her, he felt peace.
Chizuru ground her teeth together, willing the inevitable not to happen.
"Then I love you as well, woman."