So. Almost 380 reviews. You guys continue to thoroughly blow my mind. Here this is, sorry that it's sort of short. You all earned this. No doubt about it. Thank you all again! I hope you enjoy!

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And then, of course, the moment had to be ruined.

BAM!

The door to the living room flew in, the sound loud even in the bedroom. Orihime jumped, her head flying up to look at the door dividing the bedroom from the other room the only thing left between them and the intruder.

BAM!

And then it was gone, too, and Ichigo was standing there looking pissed as hell with Rukia yelling for him to wait as she ran to him from the hallway.

"ICHIGO! You fool, what are you DOING?!"

Orihime's eyes went wide, as she suddenly realized the position she was in- the reason Ulquiorra had told her to get up and get dressed before they came suddenly blaringly obvious.

There she was, in her skimpy nightgown, snuggled up in bed with the shirtless espada who had at one time been the enemy. Even still, he wasn't strictly safe to the rest of the word. He was a hollow; one way or another, he was the bad guy.

For a second, upon seeing them, Ichgio seemed to deflate. All his anger steamed up form his mouth as it hung open, his eyes wide. He looked like he had just learned that Head Captain Yammamoto was a female. He wasn't, yeah, but Orihime could think it up. Ichigo would be shocked at hearing that, too.

For a second all he could do was hopelessly flounder, not even seeming to hear Rukia as she cursed him for breaking down the door to the living room she had just entered.

Orihime froze, like a dear caught in the headlights, her whole face going red from embarrassment.

Ulquiorra wasn't effected, he just sat up against the wall behind him, dragging Orihime up with him so that she was sort of sitting up. His arm around her, she curled against him, and probably looking nothing better, maybe even worse, than they had before. Of course, the 4th espada didn't really mind all that much.

Ichigo still couldn't say anything. "G… G…. G…."

"Ichigo!" Rukia came bounding into the room, spinning in with a nice kick to the stomach that had him doubling over. She stood before him when the breath whooshed from his lungs, her posture screaming that she wasn't in a good mood. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

Voice back, "Rukia, I-"

Wham!

She brought up her knee in another quick movement, slamming it into his forehead and forcing him to stand up strait. "Fool!" She turned around with an apology to Orihime on the tip of her tongue. "I'm really sorry about this, Orih-" And then froze, expression shocked, though she managed to keep her mouth closed and stayed mostly collected.

"Uh, hi?" Orihime finally found her own face, taking her hand off of Ulquiorra's chest to offer up a timid wave. "It's, um, good to see you Rukia-san."

Rukia didn't stay shocked for long. "Uh, yes, you too Orihime-san." She understood that the position they were in was probably not all that it looked like, after all, even if it was a little… intimate. And okay, they were sharing the same bed, but that wasn't cause for jumping to conclusions… Okay, so maybe it was.

Awkward silence reined down heavily over the room.

Ichigo was just staring, eyes wide, face contorted in a twist of horror, disgust, and confusion. "I-Inoue…"

Ulquiorra decided he had enough of them gawking at Orihime, it was making the girl uncomfortable and embarrassed. "You will both leave now." He bit out, his gaze sharp. "And you will do so quietly and quickly."

Rukia could take a hint. "Uh, yes! Yes, yes, we were just going." She grabbed Ichigo's sleeve, and then started tugging him out of the room. "Right, Ichigo?"

"No."

She looked back at him, eyes narrowed, only to have them widen. He was blazing with anger, now, looking ready to kill.

"What have you done to Inoue?"

Orihime flinched. "Kuraski-kun…"

"What business of it is yours, trash?" The espada asked, his face portraying only the slightest bit of annoyance. "You are not her keeper, are you?"

Ichigo reached back and grabbed the sword off of his back. "You-"

"NO!" Orihime leapt from the bed, bounding over the chunks of door strewn about the floor to grab his wrist and hold it there, refusing to let him get out his sword. "Don't!"

He stood there, in shock, hand over his shoulder and grasping the hilt of his zompakto. "Inoue…"

Her eyes were quickly filling with tears. "Please, stop! Don't fight!"

Rukia stepped forward, and reached up while standing on the door to lightly remove Ichigo's hand from the sword. He looked back at her, confused, and smiled lightly. "Ichigo, leave them alone."

"But Rukia!"

She pulled his hand down, smiling at Orihime when she let go of his wrist and stepped back into the bed, welcoming herself into Ulquiorra's arms again.

"Nothing is wrong here, Ichigo." Rukia went on. "It's fine. This is Orihime's choice, not yours. Her life, Ichigo. Let her chose what she wants in it. If she wants him… let her have him."

He slowly seemed to relax, the idea of fighting fleeing from his mind.

"You don't want to take away her happiness, do you?"

He blinked. "No… I guess not…"

"Then let them be."

He sighed, suddenly old and tired and weary. "… Fine."

Ulquiorra took this time to remind them that he had 'asked' them to leave. "You may await us in the meeting hall. I will assume that at least she," He looked over at Rukia, "will be able to find the way there."

Rukia grabbed Ichigo's hand before he could protest, and then started to drag him to the door. "Okay then. See you there, Orihime!" She smiled big, waving with the hand that wasn't dragging Ichigo along.

Orihime weakly waved back. "See you, Rukia-san."

Ulquiorra looked over at her just as soon as they were gone. "Get dressed. We have much to do. The war will resume shortly."

She nodded, hurriedly, running to the tray that brought them clothes. She ran to the bathroom, glad that Ichigo had at least not destroyed that door.

"Onna?"

She turned. "Yes?"

"If he ever harasses you in such a way again…" Ulquiorra rose from the bed, still expressionless. "Then I will have no choice but to end his pitiful life."

Orihime paled. "Uh, actually, it's okay. Kurosaki-kun just gets carried away sometimes…"

Ulquiorra just grabbed his own clothes from the tray, coming to sit back down on the bed. "He won't again if he values his life."

She knew he wasn't joking. She still loved Ichigo, though, somewhere in her heart. It wasn't the same- he was practically her brother now, it seemed. She didn't want to see him hurt. "You'll warn him?" She asked,

Ulquiorra leaned back, looking sort of at ease. "You will."

In other words, she thought, he'll make sure that Ichigo knows that he's offended me… and will stop before he goes to far. If Ulquiorra warned him, then he wouldn't really care.

"Okay!" With a happy smile she closed the bathroom door, ready to start the day.

Ulquiorra sighed, shaking his head. "How that piece of trash ever held her heart is far beyond me." Then he looked up to the ceiling. "Though I am glad he was too stupid to realize he had it."

He heard the water to the shower turn on, and sunk himself deeper into the bed. "It is much to early for any of this." He decided. And then he frowned to himself, because pieces of certain things he had been thinking on had fallen into place when the small shinigami woman had spoken of himself being the onna's choice… her happiness.

She will chose me. He realized, suddenly not so sure if that was a good thing. When they ask her to go home. She will stay here… because she is happy with me, though I cannot fathom why. She does not even like it here. I will surely bring about her melancholy because I am too selfish to return to her loathsome world.

Somewhere in the back of him mind, a voice he recognized as his own whispered, She won't be happy here. You'll ruin her.

All he could do was listen to her voice as she sung to herself in the shower, and try to push the voice back.

No. I will make her happy. He thought again of her world, ad how he hated it. And after a moment, he nodded firmly to himself. No matter what it takes.

After all, a flower cannot bloom in the cold hard sands of the deadened desert. No. She required sunlight.

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Next update is Saturday- remember that the 400th reviewer gets a prize. Just sayin'. (Somewhere in the distance, someone shouts, "She's just trying to get more reviews! Don't do it people, she's a horrible person!" Me: "Well, the prize thing is mostly because I want people to be able to request things and because I like a break from regular writing every now and then..." Stranger: "... She's still a horrible review hording addict!" Me: *nods* "True, true.")