Oh my Good God. Chapter 29. I never thought I'd EVER write such a long and complicated fanfic. And to think this started as just a silly story I came up with in High school. And now I'm graduated, did some college, I'm married.. and here I am still writing this damn thing. Where has all the time gone? lol Hopefully, eventually, there will be an end in sight.
So here's some good old fashioned Ulquihime romance.
Title: "I am the King of Excuses, I Got One for Every Selfish Thing I Do." -DC Talk
Orihime had to re-evaluate EVERYTHING. When the bat-like arrancar vanished as quickly as he'd appeared, she just stood there in the empty building. The first to come were tears. Loud gasping ugly sobs. As if small springs formed behind her eyes, she had rivers of tears pouring uncontrollably. For a full half of an hour she sobbed, and gasped his name between ragged breaths. She was angry, and happy, and scared, and frustrated.
Finally though, she stopped crying. Mustering her strength and resolve, Orihime rose to her feet and prepared to wait for him to come back. But slightly crazy and far from patient, she eventually got distracted by something else. And that's what Grimmjow found her up to about an hour later. The girl was smeared with chalk, in the middle of the street, all caught up in a chalk work contest.
"I'm glad I found you, Princess." greeted the arrancar. He was dressed in his usual baggy clothes and hoodie. "Of course, judging by all your scribbles, you've already received the good news." Grimmjow eyed all her terrible-ass drawings marring the surface of the street. In comparison with all the other artists she was definitely the lowest of quality. There were nearly a dozen horribly rendered little chalk versions of Ulquiorra. Everything from his original arrancar look to the creepy little demon form that he was stuck in now. And mixed into all the Ulquiorras were a few Grimmjows, a Szayel, an upside down Aizen, and what looked like Starrk, but in a batman costume.
"Why is Starrk, Batman?" Grimmjow couldn't help but asking.
"Who's Starrk?" Orihime fixed him with a quizzical look.
"Nevermind." Grimmjow glanced up at the sky, it was starting to get dark. Which was a strange contrast to the horribly bright street. Lights had been strategically set up along this portion of the street to keep it illuminated for the chalk artists to work. There was a competition going on, but he already knew Orihime wasn't going to win. Her artistic ability was about as existent as Rukia's.
As if to cue the two as to the time, Fireworks started screaming through the sky and bursting in a bright display of colors over head.
"Oh Shoot!" Exclaimed Orihime. She stood up and brushed chalk from her clothes. "I promised I'd meet Rukia in the park for Fireworks! I'm late!" She dropped the chalk and began running in the completely wrong direction through the crowd. It was so sudden that when Grimmjow tore his eyes away from the fire works she was already disappearing into the mass of people. It was everything he could do to try and keep her in view as he followed after.
She ran down one street and up the next. Never getting any closer to the park where the Fireworks show was happening. She eventually came out in a side street, and the crowds there were almost non-existent. Orihime took a moment to stare at the sky and attempt to get her barrings straight. This caused her to bump rather awkwardly and hard into a stranger and fall on her rear.
"Pathetic little human mouse." Hissed the man whom she collided with. He brushed invisible dirt from his gentlemanly clothing and adjusted his pin-stripe fedora.
"I'm so sorry!" Apologized Orihime. She looked up at him, and was surprised by his startling gold glowing eyes, and teal colored hair. "I was trying to find the park." She chirped at him happily.
"You must be directionally challenged." He muttered.
At that moment Grimmjow caught up and saw the man whom Orihime was conversing. Anger and aggression suddenly boiled through his veins as he recognized that face and spiritual energy. No matter how well checked he kept his powers, Grimmjow recognized it. Like a feral cat the arrancar charged the other man, tackling him to the ground.
"So you rear your ugly little face again, Arturo Pussydildo!" Grimmjow socked the man in the face.
After taking the first blow to the face, Arturo retaliated. He shoved Grimmjow very hard in the chest, and sent the arrancar flying into a trash can. When he got to his feet he glanced around for his fedora, but was unable to locate where it rolled off to.
"You are very rude." Stated Arturo in a flat tone. "And I can't say I remember you so vividly as you seem to remember me. Are you one of those jaded arrancars who swore vengence against me for killing your beloved reaper king?" Arturo spared Grimmjow a bored look.
"As if." Snarled the cat-arrancar. He pulled himself off the ground and kicked the trash can away. "You interrupted my battle with Ichigo, and dumped a half dead shinigami in our laps. If anything I'm pissed that the glory of Aizen's downfall goes to you." He spat on the ground and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I got stuck playing fucking nurse with Ichigo and company."
"Oh how awful. You poor thing." Arturo sounded condescending. He turned away from Orihime and Grimmjow, ready to ignore them and leave. But Grmmjow asked a question that compelled him to pause.
"Why did you save her?"
Arturo paused and clenched his fists. yes, why? "I didn't save her." He replied flatly.
"You could have just left Rukia to die in Hueco Mundo. Everyone knows she hunted you down to kill you." Grimmjow explained. "Why would you spare her and bother to bring her to us?"
Arturo just turned and fixed Grimmjow with a wild sneer. He planted his hands on his hips and let out a snide laugh. "You think I spared her! We never crossed swords you foolish maggot!" Arturo's grinned faded, as if he just got over some little inside joke. "Besides, I've no interest in you or your little mouse. I'm here to tie up loose ends with the little kuchiki. I need to finish what I started."
"NO!" Screamed Orihime. She threw herself at Arturo and began beating on his chest with closed fists. "You stay away from her! Rukia has suffered enough, just leave her alone!"
The rogue arrancar eyed the girl distastefully. With his inhuman strength he snatched her wrists and threw her into Grimmjow, causing the other arrancar to stagger. "Now that I think about it," He mused. "I haven't eaten anyone in over a month. I'm rather starved." He eyed Grimmjow and Orihime with the same appreciation an alcoholic eyes an aged bottle of whiskey. He flexed his fingers and took a step towards the two of them.
Grimmjow pushed Orihime behind him, and stepped forward, flexing his own fingers in preparation for battle. "You. Eat me?!" Grimmjow snorted. "I'd like to see you try."
Arturo's only response was a sadistic grin.
However before the brawl could even start, another figure joined the fray, flanking Arturo. The newcomer was dressed in a white suit and fedora, and he sported huge chiroptera wings from his back. He spoke no words, but simply flexed his wings and bared sharp teeth.
Arturo reevaluated the circumstances, and vaguely remembered the newcomer. He knew he wasn't in top form, due to his starvation diet. A brawl in his current condition probably wouldn't be the best choice of action. After all he was here for Rukia, not jaded Espada. He let out a chuckle. "It seems I'm a bit out numbered. Some other time then." He tried to push past the arrancar dressed in white. But a clawed black hand caught his shoulder and stopped him.
There was a moment of silence, and then all hell broke loose.
There were a few traded blows between Arturo and the bat-arrancar, and then Grimmjow joined the fray. And as if a dog fight had suddenly sprung up in the alley, the three arrancar began fighting, ripping into each other
Orihime could only watch in horror as the men took their fight deeper into the alleys. She was surprised to see Ulquiorra again, but under the circumstances she wasn't very happy. And slightly worried she might lose him again.
"Ulquiorra!" She screamed after him, she ran towards their fight but tripped and fell on some wooden boxes, subsequently smashing one and injuring herself.
Her scream reached the bat-arrancar's ears, and he pulled himself from the fight, biting back the urge to rend Arturo's flesh. He shot a glance back at Orihime, hesitated, shooting his gaze back to the other two. Finally he backed off and let Grimmjow take over.
The fight didn't last long after that. A few more blows were exchanged but now that he wasn't flanked, Arturo socked Grimmjow particularly hard in the stomach of his gigai. The cat-arrancar winced and doubled over, giving Arturo ample time to make a break and get away. Grimmjow gave chase, but it was a fruitless effort, the rogue was already gone.
"Clumsy and helpless as always." Stated Ulquiorra coldly. He stared down at Orihime
"I'm not helpless!" she hurled a plank of wood at him, but he caught it effortlessly. Orihime eventually untangled herself from the broken box and was able to climb to her feet. Her arm was a bit bloody, and there were a couple of snags in her clothes, but other than that she was okay.
Ulquiorra discarded the piece of wood from his hand and onto the ground. Not quite sure what to do, he straightened his clothing and folded his bat-wings neatly against his back. But just as he suspected, he needn't say anything, instead Orihime bombarded him with a myriad of questions.
"Where have you been? How did you survive? Why didn't you come after me? Why do you look like that?" She just kept spitting out questions and not giving him a moment to answer. "I thought you died. I.. I ... thought I lost you." She wrapped her arms around herself feeling rather vulnerable under his unfeeling gaze.
"We may have shared a bed, but that's no reason to pine after me, woman." Cold as ever, he turned away from her. "I don't remember things in the right order, my mind is still recovering. Szayel gave me a drug, that caused me to regenerate, but it also robbed me of my sanity for awhile."
"Oh.." murmured Orihime quietly.
"Were you expecting some revelation? Some joyful reunion?" Ulquiorra turned back to her, his questions harsh and demanding.
"I-" She started.
The former fourth Espada cut her off. "I'm not your fairy tale love. I'm not here to sweep you off your feet and make you happily ever after." He growled coldly. His eyes washed over her, and there was a flicker of something. "But if you wish to offer yourself to me, like you did before..." His words trailed off.
For a moment Orihime just stood there shocked. This was not how she imagined their reunion. He was cold and rude, and acting nasty. Nothing like she remembered him. Or maybe he had always been this way; maybe she had romanticized him into something more. Either way, she felt humiliated and hurt.
After a moment, Orihime took a few steps toward him, her face cast down to the ground. Ulquiorra only watched her with cold indifference. Then she slapped him. Right across his left cheek, the same way she had back in Hueco Mundo.
"How dare you play with me like that!" She screamed at him. Tears of anger stinging the edges of her eyes. "I was a fool to fall in love with you!" She stepped away from him. His expression hadn't changed, no surprise, nothing. Orihime reached down and grabbed a chunk of wood. She hurled it at him, and he deflected it with him arm. She continued grabbing things and throwing them at him, cans, a cardboard box, even an iron bar.
Finally Ulquiorra closed the distance between them and caught her wrists. He glared down at her coldly with his demon eyes, and only tightened his grip when she fought him. "Why?" He growled out in a low voice. Orihime tried to bite him but her teeth were having trouble breaking his skin. "Woman, why did you fall in love with me?"
"I don't know!" She continued struggling against his grip. "Why does it matter?! Why don't you just leave and let me live my life. Why did you come back?"
Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes and looked away. "I don't know... I just."
Orihime broke one of her hands free and threw a punch right at his upper chest near his collar bone. She was rather startled when she broke past the buttons on his shirt and punched straight into his hollow hole. Her fist becoming enveloped in the oblivion inside.
Suddenly Ulquiorra's face contorted in shock and hysteria. He let out a rather shrill screeching sound, and Orihime could feel her spirit energy being channeled through her arm and into him. There was a sudden tremor and ripple of energy, in response Ulquiorra's wings unfolded and his tail unraveled itself from his waste and lashed out violently. His eyes became quite feral and he howled loudly, as her spirit energy poured into him. With an enormous amount of effort he dislodged her hand from his chest and shoved her away.
Orihime was shocked and quite frightened. It had been like stuffing her hand in a dark hole, except instead of consuming mass, it swallowed spirit energy. Subsequently she felt very drained and tired, and fell to her knees.
Murcielago reeled back from her, wildly thrashing about. The sudden rush of spirit energy had sent him into a frenzy. It had been a long while since he'd felt spirit energy course through his body like this. It was both refreshing and maddening. Another wave of energy washed over him in response to the first, but this one was different.
As if a light switch had been flicked, the air in the surrounding area became heavy and suffocating. Like a volcano that had been disturbed, Murcielago began pouring out a thick aura of spiritual pressure, his own spiritual pressure. Wave after wave slipped off of his form, and quickly knocked Orihime unconscious. A pillar of eery green light and energy burst forth from Ulquiorra's body and shot straight into the sky like a spire. Then as quickly as everything started pouring out, it imploded. All the energy, either dissipated or slipped back inside the bat-arrancar, and he found himself collapsing on the ground and his demonic form melting away like ash in the wind soon after.
Finally when everything returned to normal, and a quiet stillness settled over everything, he broke it with a few coughing gasps. Ulquiorra took a moment to eye himself hesitantly and realized he'd returned back to his relatively human-looking form. He looked over at the woman on the ground, limp and once again helpless.
"How did you do that?" He rasped.
0000
A half hour later Ulquiorra was at the door to Orihime's hotel room. He had Orihime cradled in his arms, and awkwardly balanced her and opened the door at the same time. He marched into the room and dumped her body onto the bed. Then proceeded to pull her shoes off and make her comfortable. She was still unconscious, and quite limp.
He stared down at her with his usual cold emerald eyes, and watched her sleep for a moment. Memories of their time together in Hueco Mundo washed over him, and he tried to hold off an involuntary shudder. The spot where is hollow hole was, ached and churned. Those cold words he'd spat at her earlier were nothing but show. He was hiding behind his mask, unwilling to admit anything.
"I chose you over, Lord Aizen." He spoke softly. "And even feral, I found my way back to you. Even if I won't admit it, You've done something to me woman." He leaned over, reaching out and ran his fingers through her burnt orange hair. "Why do you love me? Even when All I can bring you is suffering?"
"Ulquiorra.." She murmured in her sleep, her face scrunching up in apprehension. "Please don't go.. Don't leave me again... I can't."
He let out a sigh, and blinked slowly. After a moments hesitation he sat down on the bed next to her, his back against the head board. "Only for awhile." He told her as he continued to run his fingers through her hair, almost as if he were petting a cat. He whispered to no one in particular, "So I've become trash? Tell me what's going on inside of me? I despise my own entity."
0000
It was late after Midnight, that Rukia wandered into the hoel room. She was exhausted, but filled with relief at the sight of Orihime curled up in bed. It seemed her friend made it back safely, and her sleeping friend gave her a source of comfort.
Quiet as a cat she crept up to her own bed and flopped onto it. Despite the myriad of thoughts racing through her mind of the evening she'd shared the arrancar, sleep claimed her quickly. And she fell into an equally emotional and sinful dream world.
0000
Ulquiorra felt Rukia's spirit pressure and knew when she returned. Like a silent ghost he hid himself in the closet at the back of the room. Masterfully he masked his lingering spirit energy to hide his presence. There he waited and watched the other girl enter the room, and eventually tip toe to her bed and fall asleep.
Hours slipped by and the first to awaken was Rukia, She looked awfully suspicious and skittish as she tip toed around the room, changing into clean clothes, washing up a little, slipping on some shoes. Without waking Orihime she quietly left the room as if sneaking off.
The murcielago didn't pay her behavior a second thought. For one her affairs were of no concern to him, and for two, he had his own problems to deal with.
As soon as Rukia made her absence, Ulquiorra escaped his hiding place in the closet and rushed to the bathroom. There he quickly snapped on the light and inspected his appearance in the mirror. It was just as he thought, demon gold-green eyes stared back at him. He felt a shudder of spirit energy painfully wrack his body and disappear into his hollow hole. His skin shivered in response and a groan slipped past his mouth.
All the spiritual power he had before crawled through his body and disappeared into the void of his chest. Along with it went his humanity. Starting at his fingers and toes his skin began to turn black, and fur began to quickly grow across his skin. It traveled up his shoulders and legs, and he felt bones stretching and growing in his back. Without his permission his Murcielago form was taking over once more. His teeth becoming sharp, his fingernails becoming claws, and his spine extending into a long beastly tail.
Minutes passed as the transformation manifested over his whole body. And by the time he looked into the mirror again there was a demonic face staring back at him. Sans the large horns he usually sported in this form he was murcielago once more. He reached one of his black hands up and touched the spot where his left horn had been prior to him sawing it off. The stump or ivory was longer than before. It seems his horns were growing back, albeit a bit slowly.
Ulquiorra growled and dug his fingers into the counter top. What's happening to me?The only conclusion he could come up with, is that the consumption of Orihime's powers had caused the side-effects of Szayel's drug to reverse. He'd temporarily regained his "humanity" Or what humanity an arrancar had anyway, for a short period of time. But now all the energy had become consumed by the little black hole in his chest and he reverted back into his demonic Murcielago form.
"It's like I've become reversed." He stated to himself. Cursed to take on Murcielago as his normal form. He was curious to find out if consuming Orihime's power again could temporarily revert the process once more.
He heard noise from the other room, and his sharp ears pricked up. Orihime must be waking up. He hesitated momentarily, but then decided to greet her, demon face or not. She's seen it before, its not like its anything new.
He stepped from the confines of the bathroom and glanced over to the woman on the bed. She wasn't actually awake yet, she'd just rolled around in her sleep and was murmuring to herself. The demon approached her, and settled onto the bed next to her. He smirked to himself when she snuggled up to him in her sleep. Her fingers clinging to his dirty clothes. He never required much sleep, but it had been days since he slept last. Against his better judgment he let himself fall asleep next to Orihime, and decided whatever lies beyond the morning, is a little later on.
And thus we have the conclusion to this chapter. Hmmm I wonder what Rukai is up to? The next chapter should be interesting. Hehehehehe, I have plans.
Anyway, please R&R if you like it. I love logging into my email and having things to read. It not only reminds me I need to write more, but it inspires me to write in my free time.
Until next chapter. Your humble Author, Saij Spellhart.