That Yoruichi had some brains; once I woke up, I noticed the sun shining strongly through the windows from my futon. The sheets were softer, my head foggy with sleep and yet clear with a sense of normality. I had a good feeling about the day ahead of me, and I couldn't figure out why. Perhaps it was the knowledge that it was no longer raining.

But where was he?

After I stretched and dressed, I walked out to find my new roommate, Rukia, who'd explained to me the purpose of the soul society in its most basic form. I didn't ask how Ulquiorra knew what they were, and she didn't tell me. I appreciated her for that.

"Morning Rukia!"

She laughed in surprise as she sipped at the mug of coffee, despite the small scowl of dislike. "Hey Orihime, you seem better today."

I smiled kindly, but I noticed an itch in my brain. I couldn't quite settle yet.

"Rukia, I want to talk to you about somethi-"

"Finding Ulquiorra. Yes, I know."

I stumbled in my speech, and then gave a questioning look. She smiled. "If you feel so strongly about it that you say it in your sleep, we're going to take it seriously."

I blushed like a mad woman, and sat when she motioned to the table. I passed on the coffee.

"Look, Orihime, we are going to find him. You might not realise this, but we're capable. Especially if Ichigo is with them."

"What do you mean, 'especially with Ichigo'?" I heard the faint dislike in my voice for the boy, the orange head who seemed a little too arrogant. He treated Ulquiorra like trash. For that, I couldn't believe he would do this out of the kindness in his heart.

As much as I began to trust Rukia, I couldn't share that with her. She seemed to put a lot of faith in him, and who was I to dispute it?

"Will he find him?"

Rukia looked over her mug, and nodded quietly. "Come with me."

I followed her from the meeting/dining room to the main shop area, and from there to the front yard. "Do you hear that?"

I pushed my ears hard, but I couldn't pick up on a thing. I wondered whether soul reapers had extra sense or something. "No, what is it?"

She edged out a little more, a tiny smile on her lips as she closed her eyes. "Unprecedented silence. No bickering, no small talk, no sarcastic insults, no fighting. Quite a rarity these days, both down here and up there. The captains that came with me, my brother, Renji, Uryu, Yoruichi, and Ichigo, are out there right now, looking for him. It takes a lot to get those guys so focused."

I stared out at the buildings, only picking up on the soft swishing of the breeze, and swallowed. "Why?"

"Because you need him here right now. I think, in the long run, we all do."

"Why?" I asked again, feeling my eyes begin to pool.

She glanced to her side at me, meeting my eyes from behind her bangs. She seemed to be choosing her answer from whatever emotion was in my eyes. Finally she looked away again. "He was very powerful, last I knew him."

"Ulquiorra?! Powerful?!" I couldn't believe how she said it. She nodded, her eyes lost in a bad memory.

"A few months ago, there was a war. Between the soul society and the hollows I was telling you about. They come in different forms, different stages. The one kind, the arrancar, are the most powerful, and the smartest. They are hollows with shinigami powers." As she spoke, her voice became colder and a little more distant. "Ulquiorra, along with 9 others, were part of the Espada's, a group of the most powerful arrancar. Ulquiorra was the 4th."

"The...4th...most powerful?" I asked, stunned to a whisper. I dreaded hearing the rest of the truth, but I found I couldn't stop her. "Ulquiorra?"

She nodded. She wasn't getting much fun out of this, but this was obviously what I needed to know. "Yes. You must understand, Orihime, that, while he is different now, you do not know the full story. Ichigo may be a hot head, an arrogant imbecile at the best of times, but he has his reasons...some of them to do with Ulquiorra."

My voice comes out a lot weaker than I intend it to. "How?"

The short girl took a sharp intake, and folded her arms over her chest. "Orihime..."

"Rukia, please. No matter what you tell me, I know it's in the past. Did he...kill anyone?"

Rukia edged her sight to me. I just stared at her. Suddenly, I had the memory of the first conversation upon reuniting with Ichigo. He mentioned Ulquiorra...taking me again?

"Did he kidnap me?"

This time she sighed, and began again. "Aizen, the ruler of the hollows, ordered Ulquiorra to persuade you to come to Heuco Mundo. Ichigo, myself, Uryu, and some of the others from the soul society, went to rescue you. A few battles happened, we won...but Ichigo had it the worst, I would say."

"He killed Ulquiorra, didn't he?"

"No. Once Ichigo found you, he fought Ulquiorra, who was just too powerful. He overpowered him, and Ichigo...became something else. He overpowered him, and...he died."

"Ulquiorra...died."

She nodded. "He begged Ichigo to kill him to make him a clean winner."

"But he didn't," I concluded. "He let him drift in the wind. That was in my dream."

She turned to find my eyes, giving me full on eye contact for the first time in a while. "You remember it."

"Just the last part. As he died, he decayed, slowly and yet too quickly. He held out his hand to me, and when I grabbed, he just...went."

The silence was broken temporarily by someone shouting, but I couldn't quite make out what or who.

"Rukia, why was I taken? What did...Aizen...want with me?"

A clicking sound broke, and we both looked to find Urahara peering at us from beneath his hat. "You have a power, Miss Inoue, that Aizen was very interested in."

I switched glances between the pair, Rukia staring at the man in surprise and the man himself watching behind his fan, guarding his expression. "And I believe, given the nature of your power, that you are potentially...curing them."

My pulse seemed to stop and sink then, disappearing like it never existed. Then it returned, strong and fast and stunned, rushing the blood to my head until it ached. I had no idea what expression I had, but apparently I was shocked. "I'm sorry to surprise you like that, Orihime, but if we're going to get it back its best you know." He nodded curtly, and turned on his step to slowly retreat back into the shop. I followed a little later, to sit on the porch. I rested my head against the post, and I noticed that Rukia had also left me alone.

Once again, I was sat with my arms around me, a sorry expression and a tear forming, wishing I didn't feel so alone and helpless around these people. Powers? Battles? Espada? Ulquiorra once an evil enemy? He kidnapped me? I couldn't take it all in, and I felt sick at the effort. How is it that the one who'd wronged me so much was the one I needed?

I shook my head from the thought, knowing it to be illogical. I found myself wishing i'd never woken up from that hospital bed, never left. Just stayed hiding in a cupboard somewhere, somewhere Ulquiorra wouldn't have found me and taken me out of my daze. Because then I wouldn't have become so dependent on him, and ended up with a strange group of people while he left in the rain, somewhere desolate. I found myself wishing that he was still the enemy, so I could hate him.

But I couldn't. Despite what I now knew was true, I couldn't find it in me to imagine to hate him. I felt dizzy at the memory of him leaving, and I felt the twitch of the tears at the dream of him dying. I imagined him appearing over the hill, tattered and soaked and lost and fully revived, but still completely Ulquiorra, and I felt the smile tense at the heart strings. The tears fell, and a weep escaped with little effort to supress it.