Chapter 18: Beginning

Humans were unnecessarily loud. Obnoxious. They ran about like clueless livestock, unknowing, undeserving.

Completely, simply, utterly trash.

Ulquiorra had enough of them from the moment he stepped into the school lot. The whole time the Onna had chattered on about him meeting her friends, and how nice the weather was, and other things that he cared very little about. But, because it was the woman, he listened and nodded and occasionally commented. Why, he wasn't sure. But she was not trash. Therefore, she deserved his attention when she chattered on about trivial thing that he didn't much care for. Though he still wasn't above toning her out. She could tell when he did, he knew, but it didn't bother her much. It made her realize that he wanted to walk in silence, and she seemed to try and respect that.

'Tried' being the key word.

It seemed that spending all her time locked up in a white tower with no one to talk to but him – and he had talked to her so very little – had built up conversation after conversation inside of her until she was just bursting with every conversation she could have ever thought of. Now that she was in the world of the living, she was unable to stop speaking for more than five minutes.

She had taken him through the school, straight to class, saying that they should be a little early since it was his first day. He didn't see why he should arrive before the time he was meant to just because it was his first day there.

He let her know that.

"Onna, I do not see the purpose in arriving before necessary."

"Well, you see," she put on her philosophical face, holding a finger in the air, "since you're new here, Ochi-sensei will want to meet you. And she probably has some things for you to fill out, and stuff like that. You'll like Ochi-sensei. She's really laid back, but she's a good teacher. And one time she had egg rolls covered in chocolate with me! It was so yummy. Maybe someday we can get you some egg rolls covered in chocolate, Ulquiorra. They taste so good! Well, anything dipped in chocolate tastes good, especially tuna, but egg rolls are really good!"

He said nothing. Frankly, everything she was saying was just a little too bizarre to logically reply to.

Orihime continued to avidly talk about the many things chocolate could go on and mix with, soon leading up to a couple other food combinations he thought sounded nothing short of repulsing as they walked down the hall. He sort of paid attention, catching her words as he listened to the others around them talk.

Did he mention how noisy humans were?

"Wow, look at that guy."

"Look how pale he is!"

"Check out those tattoos."

"Think he's in a gang?"

"What's Orihime Inoue doing with that guy?"

"He looks scary…"

"I think he's hot."

"More like icy."

"Look how stiff he's walking."

"Talk about scary."

"Think he's a foreigner?"

"He sure looks weird."

"What's up with the tear streaks?"

"Is that Orihime with him?"

"He looks dangerous…"

And so on and so forth.

He turned his attention fully back to Orihime, who was now ending a speech. "…And because of that I've never eaten a pickle covered in cheese."

He just went along with it and nodded.

"We're here!" The woman flung open a door, marching inside with a breath taking smile. She ran over to a seat on the far side of the room, looking back at him with a stare that told him to follow. He did, watching as she put her bag on the hook that was connected to the side of the desk. He shifted his own bag to his other arm, slightly unsure as to where he should put it.

"Oh, Orihime. You're here early!" Ochi spun around in her chair, jumping up and placing her hands on the desk. She smirked when she spotted Ulquiorra. "Hey, you know the new transfer student? I never thought you'd be one to hang out with a gang banger like him, but that's okay!"

Orihime nervously smiled, waving her hands in the air. "Oh, no, Ulquiorra isn't in a gang."

"Then what's up with the crazy face tattoos?"

"Uh… it's, uh, from the time he went to a crazy party! You see, there were these-"

Before she could finish her story, which would undoubtedly be incredible as well as unbelievable, Ulquiorra butted in. "It is from my previous occupation."

"What kind of job requires tattoos?"

"That is none of your concern."

She held up her hands. "Okay, okay, I was just asking. Don't take it personally."

"Sorry, Ochi-sensei," Orihime apologized. "He's not very used to people."

"No, it's cool! Anyway, you're gonna have to introduce yourself to the class, kid. Just say your name and a couple things about you. Like where you came from and stuff. I might let them ask a couple of questions."

He made no reply.

"Icy, isn't he?" Ochi asked Orihime with a grin. She turned back to Ulquiorra, still smiling. "Since you're new here, and you seem to know Orihime pretty well, I guess you'll just have to sit next to her. She's the only one that's in the back row anyway; she could use the company!"

"I see."

He slipped his bag off and hung it on the small hook beside his desk, imitating Orihime.

"Class will begin soon. You came in at an awkward time, but luckily I don't follow a schedule like all the other teachers! Today we're starting a new section of pretty much everything. Lucky for you. So just go along with it, okay?"

He did not answer, again.

"Oooo-kaaay," she drawled. "What was your name again?"

"Ulquiorra Cifer."

"And you have a weird name! But that's okay. Where'd you transfer from?"

"Hueco Mundo."

Orihime laughed nervously.

"Sounds Spanish. But whatever! Class is about to begin."

Orihime smiled at him, grabbing his hand and pulling him into the seat beside her. "Isn't this exciting?"

"…No."

"I think it is!" She went on, bubbly as ever, not caring about the dark cloud that seemed to be brewing over the Arrancar's head. "You get to do so many new things! And the teacher seems to like you. Plus you get to make new friends! And-"

"I do not wish to make any of these friends you speak of."

"Well that's okay. You have me, right?"

He, for once, seemed to not know how to answer that. After a long internal debate, he finally allowed an "I suppose" as his answer.

"And I think someone famous once said you only need one friend in your life to be happy. I can't remember who…"

"Woman, if you have not forgotten, I do not feel trivial emotions."

"Well, that's what you think. But I think that eventually you're going to be very emotional. Anyone with a heart has emotions. And you have a heart." She smiled brightly again as her gaze shifted to his right hand.

He sighed, watching Orihime's eyes glaze over and stare far away, her whole body relaxing as she slipped into some fantasy of hers. "Woman, do not go daydreaming again. I recognize that expression."

Ulquiorra seemed to have caught her right before she could become completely absorbed in the daydream. She quickly shook her head, beaming again, and then looked at him. "Sorry!"

"It is of no consequence."

"You might also wanna learn to loosen up." She said with a slight grin. "No more of this monotone voice. Of course, it's a nice monotone and all, but I think you would sound nice with a little bit more voice. Not so scary and all. Maybe you'll start to have fun, too, and smile!" She looked dreamy again. "I think you would look nice with a smile."

"…"

The bell rang then, and students poured into the class room, making the volume level rise considerably as they found their seats and chatted. Ulquiorra watched without any trace of annoyance on his face, but in his mind he was wondering what it would take for them all to shut up at once. Maybe a cero blast to the door…

"Okay everyone! Good morning class!"

The students rose from their desks and bowed. Ulquiorra stiffly followed their example. "Good morning. Thank you for coming, sensei."

"Great, now sit down! Let's take attendance."

Ulquiorra sat and looked out the window, idly noticing a hollow's reiatsu appear somewhere in the vicinity. He wondered what the two soul reapers in the class would do, them having just walked into the room.

He watched as the small one, the female, suddenly stopped, turned and said in an extremely unconvincing voice, "Oh no! I just remembered! I forgot my book outside! Ichigo, come with me to find it, okay?"

"What do you-" he stopped, evidently noticing the hollow as well. "Oh. Okay."

The two of them slipped out of class without the teacher noticing.

"Okay, Ginta Suzimoya and Hakaku Okami aren't here today, but they're juvenile delinquents, so we won't worry about them," the teacher went off, smiling as usual.

By this point in time, no one questioned her.

"And Ichigo and Rukia aren't here, but they'll show up after awhile, so we'll just excuse the two love birds. After all, it's Ichigo and Rukia we're talking about. They're not doing anything bad."

"What! No fair!"

"Oh, come on, sensei!"

She smiled brightly. "And anyone who wants to be marked absent can disagree with me!"

The students fell silent.

"Looks like everyone else is here! Wow, I'm impressed. Now, I'm sure you've all noticed we have a new transfer student. I mean, he's a little hard to miss. I'll just let Cifer-kun introduce himself."

"What do I do, Onna?" Said man quickly asked Orihime.

"Stand up and say your name," she whispered back.

He stood, as she told him to, and then looked out at the staring students with a hard glare. "I am Ulquiorra Cifer."

"Tell us about yourself." The teacher prompted.

"… I am from Hueco Mundo. There is nothing you need to know about me other than my name."

"Favorite color?" The teacher prompted.

"I have no preference to color."

"Oh, come on," Ochi said, leaning forward. "Any color that you like!"

"..." He looked over at Orihime, and then back out to the room. "Cinnamon."

He noticed out of the corner of his eye that she blushed a little, a small smile climbing onto her face.

"Animal?"

"I do not-"

"Any animal that you don't like, then?" She sighed.

That one was easy enough. "Panthers."

"What? How can you not like panthers?"

He noticed Orihime holding back her laughter, obviously knowing why. "They are idiotic creatures."

"Well, okay. Uh… how about your favorite song or band?"

"I do not listen to music."

She blinked. "That's… horrible. Um, okay, getting over the shock of that. How about your favorite food?"

He doubted anyone would want to hear that he consumed souls, and that he did not prefer any type of human dish. Instead, he simply said, "It does not matter to me what I eat."

"You are so weird!" Ochi declared, throwing up her hands. "Is there anything you like?"

"… I suppose that I do not hate the Onna," he replied, looking over at Orihime.

She smiled, blushing again, and tried not to make eye contact with any of the students staring at her. Everyone ignored the distressed calls of Keigo and Chizuru.

"Okay, so you have a friend. That's cool. Now, anyone have a question for Cifer-kun?"

A hand shot up.

"Yes?" The teacher asked.

"Uh, yeah," the kid said, staring at Ulquiorra. "What's up with the tattoos?"

He looked at the teacher, not wanting to explain himself twice.

"He says they're from his last job," she responded, shrugging. "I'm with you all – they totally make him look like he's in a gang."

Some random kid off to the side asked if she was allowed to say that. Ochi ignored her.

Another hand shot up.

"Yes?" Ochi asked.

"Do you have any relatives transferring here?"

He was silent for a moment, wondering if he really had to answer that question. Finally, he allowed a little breath of annoyance to puff past his lips. "I have no relatives."

"So you're an orphan?" A kid asked across the room.

"That's generally the definition," the teacher answered.

"What happened to them? Were they killed?"

If he had any relatives, that was probably the answer. If he was dead, then they probably were too. "That is the most likely assumption."

"Whoa. Did lots of people get killed where you grew up?"

He looked at Orihime, silently asking if he had to answer that. She offered no help besides a little shrug. He turned back to the kid, irritated. "Yes, there was murder on a daily basis."

"Did you ever kill someone?"

"Yes."

Everyone was whispering by then, wild stories brewing like magma bubbling up inside of a volcano.

"Okay!" Ochi called, oddly not disturbed by his answer. "One last question and then we get back to class."

The last hand waved frantically in the air.

"Yes?"

"Why are you here?"

He thought about it. Why was he here? He didn't really want to be here. In all honesty, he would have rather gone back to the world he knew, to Los Noches, were things made sense and no one questioned him. Slowly, he let his gaze fall to the woman beside him, who also looked like she wanted to know.

"Orihime Inoue is here," he finally said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The same kid asked, breaking the one more question rule.

He did not answer, only having been required to reply to one last question. Instead he sat down, noticing that Orihime was smiling at him brightly.

"See?" She whispered, unnoticed by the buzz of hushed voices in the room. "I told you that you have emotion."

"How so?"

She bit her lip, trying not to smile wider. "You were really irritated up there."

"…"

"So I was right."

"Maybe this time, Onna. But do not grow too used to it."

Her only reply was a smile, as it was always the case.