Ulquiorra and Orihime continued their little game soon after Halibel had left the room. Ulquiorra had to admit it was interesting to see the espada woman lose her words so suddenly, and to make a hasty retreat, but decided to kept a better look out from that point on.
After all, it could have been Grimmjow that walked in. And that would have been a problem.
They went back to their game of war, Orihime mostly loosing. But that was okay, simply because she was learning with each move. She had figured out several things that were new with her powers, all easy to accomplish. She recalled days of training in the world of the living- sweating, panting, and struggling to get anything to work. Now, new things came to her very easily. Her extra power as an arrancar helped her in all sorts of ways, boosting her confidence as well as her abilities.
She sort of thought that maybe they weren't going about training the right way, though. Dying was just a little too pleasant. Every time she lost, she had a kiss 'stolen' from her as punishment. The problem was, it was more of a willing reward for loosing than anything. Not that she would say it was or try to change it anytime soon.
She was testing her time abilities currently. She had been using her powers to reverse time in the opposite order than usual, making two small fields of lights in the room. Tsbuki would pass through one point in time, and then come rocketing out of the other. She was just starting to get the hang of it when…
Well, it was sort of hard to explain. See, Orihime had always been a hopeless romantic. She saw people walking along and silently crowned them a couple in her mind, thinking of how well they were together. Manhana had called it 'shipping'- she didn't know where the term came from. And even though it usually applied to fictional characters, she had started using it to describe what she was doing in her mind with real people, too.
Thus, at that moment, Orihime's ship sailed through the door. A whirlwind of dust, snow, and shouts. Two people stopped in the training room, screaming about which of them was the victor in a race it seemed, even though Orihime could have sworn they came in at the exact same moment.
Soi Fon- captain of the second division. Grimmjow- espada number six.
And she shipped them.
It was in that moment that it hit her, the sudden thought. She realized how odd it was that she was thinking about those things in Los Noches, as if it were the norm, and not at home. It was odd to her that it had been so long since she had shipped two people together. It seemed odd to her that her last memorable ship was before she had bee kidnapped, back when Renji Arrabi had come to her school and she had decided she was finally going to ship her best friend Tatsuki with someone. She realized that she really was beginning to miss her hometown. Sure, Hueco Mundo wasn't so bad once you got used to it and all, but…
She really was tired of the fighting. And there was only so much black and white one could take. She had to wonder just when she was going home.
Then she winced, though, because that was being traitorous to Ulquiorra. She shouldn't want to leave his world when she was in love with him. He really didn't like her world; it just wasn't for him. Too much going on, too much noise, too many smells… at least she wasn't overwhelmed by too much and instead saddened by there not being enough.
"You cheated!" While she was thinking, the two to have just entered the room where still fighting. "You fucking cheated and you still lost!"
"I used a simple method to help attain my victory. I did not cheat, as you say, but rather got creative. Besides," Soi Fon rebuked. "you did the same thing!"
"You slapped my ass! How is that not cheating!?" He roared, picking up a clump of snow and fisting it in his hand before chucking it at her.
"And you got even!" She yelled right back, ducking as the snow ball sailed over her head, picking up her own and throwing it with lightning fast reflexes.
Grimmjow growled as the snow ball sailed right through his hollow hole, at first smirking before realizing it was her intent as it hit the back of his coat and then splattered all over his skin in cold piercing droplets of condensation.
"You still cheated!" He scooped up another snowball and threw it.
She dodged again, retaliating by kicking snow up in the air in an attempt to reach him, spinning around and landing in a crouch above ground with precision. "You're just upset because I won."
"You lost by a mile! Do we have to do this again or are you going to accept it!?" He jumped up in the air, balancing on the invisible as well.
"I would like to see you try." She snapped.
"We'll settle this a different way!" He growled, flipping up his collar to ward of the cold. "Fight me."
"Try to keep up!"
Orihime and Ulquiorra just watched in amazement as the two went at each other, kicking and swinging punches, perfectly in sync with each other. It was almost like some sort of predator's dance- deadly, frightening, and feral. Swords were drawn, shikia and blade against one another, and all the two below could do was watch.
Finally, after some time, Ulquiorra spoke. "It seems we have found someone capable of keeping Grimmjow out of the way."
Orihime could only nod numbly.
Everyone froze when the spiritual pressure in the room suddenly sky-rocketed.
"An attack." Ulquiorra said, reaching out for Orihime's hand.
She took it, looking around her in slight fret.
"Every damn weakling in the world thinks they can just march into Los Noches." Grimmjow scoffed, having stopped fighting with the shinigami woman, and looked over at her. "Wanna take on some weak-asses?"
She hesitated.
He rolled his eyes. "Oh, I see. You've got to follow orders."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "I am loyal to Soul Society."
"Great. You can help protect your targets then. If you don't wan' um dead, I mean." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, pointing at Ulquiorra in Orihime. A feral smirk spread over his lips, killing gleam in his eyes. "Unless you're scared.
Soi Fon stood a little taller. "I fear nothing."
And just like that, the two were gone.
Orihime worried her lip, looking up at Ulquiorra. "Who is it?"
"Low level arrancar." He muttered. He squeezed her hand in reassurance, pulling her to his side. He looked at her in question, and noticed she was nervous. With a frustrated sigh, he added, "It is nothing you need to worry about." Seeing she was still upset, he lightly placed a kiss on the crown of her head, smoothing out her battle-mused hair to reassure her, even if he didn't know what he was doing. "You are being foolish."
Orihime smiled up at him tenderly, kissing his neck in answer. "Okay." She almost asked if they could fight too, to make him realize she wasn't scared any more, but… she didn't want to push herself. She wasn't really a fighter. She hated being the reason for other people's pain. Still, she wanted to do something. She was done being helpless.
He seemed to read her mind. "We will go stand guard at the main gates of the palace. They have not been re-built, so that is where forces will try to break through."
Orihime smiled, glad that he thought she was strong enough to do something. With her friends she was told to stay behind or out of the way so that she wouldn't get hurt. With Ulquiorra she felt like she was her own person. "Okay!"
~)o0o(~
"So then I thought to myself, you know what this place needs? Sparkles! And so I tricked Uryuu to go out and get me a soda, and then I made a run for it! And I went into the store and I bought glue and sparkles and came back and waited for Uryuu to come and when he got here I told him that I needed bread, too! So he left and while he was gone I put glue over everything and started to make everything really pretty. Sparkles, sparkles, sparkles! Everywhere there's sparkles! Good ol' sparkles! Just like cows. I wish I had a baby cow! I would cover it in sparkles! Sparkles, sparkles, everywhere, sparkles, sparkles in my hair! Weeeee! Sparkles!"
Ichigo and Rukia had waited. They really had. They had been patent, and nice, and caring. It had been a week. One whole week. Orihime had been gone far too long. It was time for her replacement to shut up.
"On the count of three." Rukia whispered to him from their usual position on the couch. Carefully she put down her glass on the floor, forcing another fake smile and a nod for Talkihime.
"One." Ichigo grinned, lowly growling the number.
Rukia reached into her pocket, pulling out a glove. "Two."
Ichigo slipped his hand into his own pocket, pulling out the bright blue snap-on bracelet that the two had received from Kisuke Urahara, holding it open and ready to snap. "Three."
"And I said-"
SLAP!
Rukia's hand slammed into the back of Talkihime's head, the glove pushing strait through the girl's skull. Rukia allowed a satisfied smile to stretch onto her face, hearing the sudden lack of words coming from the girl.
Ichigo launched forward at the same time, knee going up into Talkihime's stomach. With a gasp the blue pill came flying form the mouth of the body, lightly landing on the floor. He threw Rukia the blue bracelet right as he caught the body, watching as Rukia clipped it over the body's wrist.
Nether felt guilty- this was not Orihime that they had just assaulted.
Clip!
Silence.
"Ha."
"Ha ha."
"Ha-ha, hahahahahaha!"
Ichigo and Rukia both broke down into fits of laughter, gently laying Orihime's body on the ground as they laughed. Once the body was safely on the ground they clutched at their stomachs, letting their laughing rise in volume.
After a second, they started to quiet down, until there was pure silence.
"Quiet." Ichigo breathed, sitting down with a smile.
"Don't get too used to it." Rukia said with a smirk, plopping down to sit next to him on the floor. "Hueco Mundo is going to be pretty loud."
"Hm." He snaked an arm around her waist, pulling her up to sit on his lap as they both revealed in the silence. "I guess I'll enjoy it now."
She nodded against his chest, not protesting.
Nether went over to pick up the green pill on the floor, even as they left. Ichigo moved Orihime's body- systems run and kept alive by a sleeping artificial soul function bracelet that would keep the body alive, but asleep the whole time- to her bed.
On their way out the locked the apartment door, calling Chad to let him know it was his turn. They were kind enough to let him know that the body was asleep and Talkihime was in pill-form on the floor.
"Let's go get Orihime." Ichigo said with a smile, grabbing Rukia's hand as they made their way down the street to Urahara's shop.
"Let's." Rukia agreed, dropping a single nod.
That's all they were doing- popping over to Hueco Mundo and grabbing Orihime, Ulquiorra too if they needed to, and then coming back. Orihime needed to go back to school, after all, and Talkihime certainty couldn't take her place there. They had tried taking her a couple of times, but they hadn't been able to even get her there because the artificial soul would wander off without indication, chattering the whole time. Everyone at school thought she was recovering from her nasty fall.
They slipped into the shop quietly, still completely comfortable in the silence. They were greeted with the sight of Yoruichi inhaling a bowl of rice while sitting in her corset, Kisuke behind her kneading her shoulders with a small smile on his face.
"Oh, welcome." The man said, looking up form his job.
Yoruichi just flashed them a hand wave, not pausing in consuming her food.
"Kisuke." Rukia said, not fazed by the sight. Ichigo was blushing slightly, looking away uncomfortably. She was definitely going to make fun of him for that later.
"Ah, Rukia-chan. Welcome. What can I do for you both?"
"A portal to Hueco Mundo."
He didn't need to ask. "Right this way." He stood, leaving Yoruichi, who shot him a look. He chuckled when he saw it, saying to her, "Don't worry- I'll be right back. I'll bring you some more food, too."
She nodded, going back to shoveling the food down, exhausted after her trip to and from Soul Society- all in one hour. She had gone over to find out why there were so many hollows in Katakuta as of late, seeing how the Seriete didn't tell Rukia much of anything.
In the basement, Urahara easily opened up his own form of garganta, ripping the space in between the worlds into a path.
"Off you got!"
And the plot thickened.