Chapter 16: Recollect

In the night, people stopped by to check on Orihime. The first guest was Rukia. She had merely knocked on the door, popped her head in and made sure that Orihime was alright. She had been kind – not judgmental in the least. She had dropped a soul page off too, just in case she needed anything. She promised that she and Ichigo would be looking out for her reiatsu from their house.

Ishida had been next. He had looked a little more agitated. He had been carrying a bag in his hand, a sunflower depicted on the side. Inside were a few snacks and a large tube of wasabi. He had simply wished her to be a little more careful, told her to stay safe and given her the sunflower bag.

Tatsuki had come by just after Orihime had put on her pajamas. She had been a little morose. "I… I'm sorry. Okay? I mean, I don't like the guy, but if you trust him… well… I guess I could try to not hate him. But…" She looked up at Orihime, with sad wide eyes. "What happened? With you and him?"

Orihime had smiled kindly, opening her door a little wider. "Why don't you stay over another night? You can have the couch this time if you want!"

The martial artist had smiled, though it wasn't full of happiness as it usually was. "Yeah. Why not, right?"

Orihime had closed her door and locked it behind Tatsuki, deciding that the two of them would lay out in the living room and talk like they used to. If for nothing else, just for old time's sake. All her life she had laid out there with her friend, both of them talking in hushed voices in the night so as not to disturb the old lady with the constantly disappearing cat next door. The two would talk about boys, and the school day's events, and people. They would talk about wild daydreams, and their futures, and anything else that came to mind.

When they were settled, Orihime on the couch despite offering it to Tatsuki, Orihime hesitated a bit before Tatsuki took the initiative and started the conversation.

"How was it? You know. There in Hueco Mundo?"

"How do you know about-"

"Ichigo told me."

"Oh." She smiled faintly, because of course Tatsuki had gotten it out of Ichigo before she had been able to remember. It made her a little sad that Ichigo trusted Tatsuki with the information rather than the one that it mattered to most. But she didn't say anything about that.

"It was black and white." That was the first thing that came to mind. The one fact opened up a floodgate of information, and out poured her tale. "It was all black and white. And it was so cold. And dark. Everything was like winter at night. White and black, cold and dry… and dark. It was never actually day there."

"And… he made you go there?"

"Sort of. He let me make the choice, actually. It was either that or all my friends got killed." She laughed a little, softly, finding it a little bemusing in hindsight. "I should have trusted everyone to take care of themselves. But I went…"

"Orihime," Tatsuki interrupted, albeit timidly. "What if… what if you have Stockholm Syndrome?"

She actually laughed at that. "No, no. Tatsuki, you don't understand. Aizen was my kidnapper. Ulquiorra… he just had to take care of me. For some reason, I think it's different. I've never really seen him as my kidnapper. Really mean of course, and cruel, and I didn't like him at all at first, but… he was never actually my kidnapper. He was just a soldier following orders, I guess."

Tatsuki nodded.

"It wasn't too bad, once I got used to it. At first I thought that the lack of color would drive me crazy… That's when I started to like him. Because he has such colorful eyes… seeing them made me stay sane. Just that little bit of color. He was really mean in the beginning. But I think he kind of got nice. Though, don't tell him I said that, because he thinks he's not nice at all."

"He's not," Tatsuki muttered under her breath.

Orihime pretended she didn't notice, instead opting to just smile. "But he was pretty nice. He even got me good food after a while. Mustard on apples with pepper. And once, onigiri with peppermint and orange slices. Mmm…"

Tatsuki silently gagged at the thought.

"But he was never gentle. He didn't act like I was weak. He told me the truth of what he thought. And… for some reason I really appreciated that. He was… he was my friend, I think. But I don't think either of us really knew it, you know? And he kept me safe."

"Safe?"

"Yeah… there were other Arrancar there…" She shuddered, recalling the vulgar 5th Espada, and his blatant disconcern for her welfare.

That gained him some respect in Tatsuki's book. Anyone who protected Orihime couldn't be that bad, right?

They talked a bit longer, before eventually drifting off to sleep. Still, it had been good to finally get it all out. There was this odd feeling in the air though… like this was the last time they would really have friend time together for a long while.