Orihime Inoue stood on the sidewalk in front of the huge old Victorian, looking up at its worn facade with a fluttery feeling in her stomach. She checked again the piece of paper clutched in her hand -yep, this was the right address- and tried to ignore the growing lump in her throat as she dropped her gaze to the cracked concrete under her feet.
C'mon, Hime. You can do this. Just one foot in front of the other! She glanced around, feeling silly for just standing in the middle of the sidewalk staring at a house. Surely there was at least one nosey curtain twitcher glowering at her from one of the neighboring houses? But aside from a couple kids playing a bit further down the street, she was very much alone. There was a chirp from her jacket pocket, and she sighed, recognizing her phone's reminder tone. It was now five minutes before her appointment to meet with the homeowner, and all she very much wanted to do was just leave and hide her face.
Her phone chirped again -she always needed an extra reminder- and Orihime finally swallowed down the lump and attempted to straighten herself upright. She wanted this. She NEEDED this. Now was the time to prove to herself that she could survive on her own, face the challenges that were looming before her, and conquer them! She was Orihime Inoue, up and coming star of the university nursing program! Newly single, and ready to get on with her life!
If only her shoes suddenly didn't feel so heavy.
Each step up the skinny front walk felt like she was wading through ankle deep molasses. The backpack and dufflebag containing everything she owned felt like lead weights pulling her arm and shoulders down. She could have left them behind, but the bus ride back would have taken the rest of her change, and she would be fooling herself if she said wasn't hopeful that this would work out. Her palms felt greasy, and her breathing shallowed as her heart tried to jump out of her chest. When she reached the steps up onto the wide front porch she paused to fix her breathing and push her anxiety down. It was a simple meeting about a possible room to rent. Nothing else. It was going to be a quick sit down, probably at a table or in a living room, some questions back and forth, and then she would hopefully have somewhere to live. Quick, easy, and as uncomplicated as it could possibly go. That's it. That's all she wrote.
Orihime gave herself a nod, squared her shoulders as much as her backpack would allow, and walked up the steps across the deep, covered porch to the front door. She gave it a cursory glance, looking for a doorbell and, not seeing one, she grasped the handle of the tarnished brass door knocker and gave it a few firm, loud taps. Then, she waited for a moment.
And a moment longer.
And then another moment.
Suddenly nervous that she had gotten the address wrong after all, she looked at the paper again and then the number over the mailbox next to the front door. No, it was definitely the right place. It was the right time, too. Three o'clock sharp. Pushing down a wave of panic, her tongue trying to find any moisture at all in her suddenly very dry mouth, she knocked again, harder but not too hard. Maybe the owner was hard of hearing? This time however, her knock garnered a reaction.
Regrettably, it wasn't much of a positive one.
Orihime gasped as the door was almost flung open, revealing a tall, muscular man with vivid blue eyes and equally blue hair wearing a black tank and a pair of black and white shorts. He gave her an up and down look with an arched eyebrow, noting her dufflebag and backpack. Orihime was too intimidated to even squeak, and he snorted at her response to his appearance. He crossed his arms and leaned against the door jam, openly displaying his claim to the territory.
"What can I do you for, princess?" he drawled, smirking when she seemed to finally find her voice.
"Oh! I-I'm sorry! I'm Orihime Inoue. I was supposed to meet with Mr. Cifer about a room he was renting out? Am I at the right place?"
Something about that seemed to amuse him. He laughed and pushed off the door frame, turning and gesturing to her over his shoulder with a grin. "'Mr. Cifer' is in his 'office'. Follow me."
"O-okay." She followed him inside and closed the door behind her. They were in what apparently used to be a formal foyer. There was an archway leading to what looked to be a sort of dining room off to their immediate right, another archway to a living area to their left. A staircase that must have been spectacular in its prime dominated the space, and a short hallway next to it seemed to stretch all the way to the other side of the house. It was this hallway that the blue haired man started down. He stopped halfway down in front of a closed door and turned to give Orihime a wicked grin before raising a fist.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
"HEY, MR. CIFER! YOUR THREE O'CLOCK'S HERE!"
Orhime winced at the way his voice carried, and he chuckled at the face she made. When the door opened, his grin broadened, and he stepped out of the way with a flourishing bow as the room's occupant emerged, looking rather perturbed.
"Must you be so loud, Grimmjow?"
The blue haired man straightened from his bow, his grin never leaving his face.
"Maybe if your ears worked, I wouldn't have to be. That chick's here about the room." He jabbed a finger in her direction, and the man who came out of the room turned to look at her. Orihime almost gasped, for he had the purest green eyes she had ever seen. He was also young, possibly only a year or two older than herself. Thin, almost elegantly built, with pale skin and raven black hair that just brushed over his shoulders. He wore a simple long sleeve shirt and a pair of black jeans that accentuated his trim frame. She managed a smile and a short wave, and he gave her the same top to down look the other one had.
"My apologies for the idiocy you experienced during your arrival, Ms. Inoue. Please, come in here. I assure you, it's much quieter."
This earned a loud guffaw from the blue haired one as he moved so she could enter. He gave her a wink as Orihime approached the room, and she couldn't stop the slight blush that rose up the back of her neck.
"Tell him he owes me for the secretarial services, eh?" he murmured next to her, just loud enough so the other man could hear, as he headed back down the hallway. Orihime giggled, suddenly feeling much more at ease, and nodded. The shorter one, for he was quite short for a man, not much taller than her, sighed and visibly counted to ten in his head before giving her a polite gesture to enter his office.
"Again, I apologize."
"It's okay, really! I was so nervous coming here that I almost left, but he helped me relax a little."
"Hm. Perhaps he's good for something after all. After you, Ms. Inoue."
The office wasn't large, but it wasn't small, either. When one imagined an old Victorian home's office, it was usually a room papered in a dark pattern of some sort with one side dominated by a massive, heavy desk and lots of books behind it, and a sofa or a pair of leather chairs positioned in front of it with more books on shelves on the other walls. However, if the room had looked like that at some point in its hay day, there was no evidence of it now.
The walls were a simple, plain grey color. There was a desk, but it was an old, scarred thing that was barely big enough to hold the laptop on it. There were several tall, metal filing cabinets behind it, and a bookcase that was filled with a lot of technical sounding titles. There was a single wing back chair upolstered in a threadbare red silk sitting neatly aligned with the center of the desk, and an duct-taped leather swivel chair behind it. There were two windows, one by the desk and the other on the opposite side of the room, where a patched sofa stretched along the far wall behind a polished coffee table, winged by matching narrow bookcases that were also filled with a mishmash of titles. The windows were like the rest of the room -narrow, barely wide enough to lean out of, but clean, and they let in a fair amount of sunlight softened through simple white sheer panels. The floor was much like the floor in the foyer and hallway; dark, wide wooden planks, polished and well taken care of.
Orihime took all this in as she unshouldered her backpack and set it next to the chair by her duffle. The young man took her jacket, and she blushed a little -she had never had a man take her jacket for her- as he hung it on a coat rack just behind the door.
"Please, sit," he said, motioning to the chair. She sat down in the wing back gingerly, but found it quite sound, though very uncomfortable. He circled around to the back of the desk and took a seat in the tape patched swivel. "I am Ulquiorra Cifer, proprietor of the house and the lot it sits on. The loud one is my upstairs resident, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. There is one other, but Tier Hallibel has a late class today, and she won't be back until later. There are a couple more that tend to come and go every so often, but we are the three that actually live here."
Orihime tried to shift around in the chair as he spoke, looking for a more comfortable position while not being impolite, but she brightened at the mention of someone in class. "Oh! Are you all university students too?"
"Tier and I are. Grimmjow, as he puts it, 'holds down the fort'. He's admittidly quite handy, so I suppose he has his uses." There was something begrudging, but still a bit fond, in his voice, and it made Orihime giggle a little remembering the exasperated look he had given the blue haired one.
"I take it he's a good friend?"
"I have had the unfortunate distinction of knowing Grimmjow my entire life. If that makes us good friends by that alone, then I suppose that's a safe assumption." Ulquiorra frowned a little when Orihime giggled again, hiding her mouth behind a hand.
"You sound as though he's a menace."
"Oh, he is. If you decide to stay however, you'll learn to tolerate him as much as Tier and I do."
Still, there were fond undertones in that statement, and Orihime smiled. Clearly, there was no real malice to any of his words, and she found it quite endearing.
The conversation shifted into actual discussion of the room Ulquiorra had open. It was upstairs, the door furthest down on the right. It was connected to a through-and-through bathroom which, due to unfortunate circumstances, meant she would have to share it with Grimmjow, who lived in the room next door. It was somewhat furnished, but it was advised to buy a new mattress as soon as possible, and although Tier did clean it thoroughly, there might still be some remnents from the previous occupant that hadn't been retrieved yet.
After he gave a list of expectations -she would have to do her part to keep the room clean and do her own laundry, as well as make sure her dishes were washed- the amount of rent was discussed and agreed upon. Orihime was surprised that Ulquiorra wasn't charging more, to be honest. It was a big house on a big lot within a quick bus ride to a major university and downtown shopping. However, as he explained, the property was owned outright, and he was really only concerned with keeping up with repair costs and taxes. Oh, and finding the right tenant that would fit into their odd dynamic. That apparently was very important, as the individual schedules of the house's residents made for a complicated schedule overall. Whoever moved in would have to be very fluid in their routine, as things tended to be quite hectic at times, and such a person was apparently hard to find.
Orihime's expectations of a quick sit down and a few questions were dashed when she noticed the time on the clock next to the door. They had been talking for almost an hour now! Ulquiorra followed her eyes to the clock as well, and even he seemed a bit surprised.
"My apologies for keeping you, Ms. Inoue. I didn't realize the time had gotten away from me so quickly."
"Oh, it's fine! I actually really enjoyed talking with you, Mr. Cifer." Orihime shifted a little -her backside had gone a bit numb- and he gave her a faint smile.
"You may call me Ulquiorra. So will the living situation work for you?"
"I think so. I have enough for my deposit and first month's rent, and as soon as my school schedule gets sorted, I'll be able to pick up more hours at the restaurant I work at. I get money from my aunt every month too, just in case I need extra groceries or something."
"And you're a nursing student, correct?"
"Yes! I started out at a smaller college closer to my hometown, but I decided to transfer after..." she trailed off, her chest suddenly tight. Just thinking about the whole situation that lead to her being in this situation in the first place made her want to cry. Ulquiorra must have noticed something was off; he cocked his head to one side, concerned.
"Are you all right, Ms. Inoue?"
She took a deep breath and gathered herself up. Do NOT break down, do NOT break down, do NOT break down!
"I'm fine, it's just...I just went through a really bad break-up. That's why I'm here, actually. I couldn't stand the thought of being so close to him, so I left all my stuff behind and just took what I could fit in my bags and...just left. I found a little motel off the highway near the bus stop I got off at and have been staying there until I could get some cash saved, and make sure all my credits transferred fine. Now that I'm properly enrolled, and working, and my aunt sent an extra check this month, I started looking for a proper apartment. But holy cats, are places expensive here! That's when I saw your ad for a roommate on the enrollment office's bulliton board. I wasn't sure about renting a room; the only other people I had ever lived with were my older brother and then my boyfriend. The idea of living with complete strangers made me nervous, but...I have to start somewhere, right?"
"That's quite the story. Am I correct to assume that there will be no disruptions from errant ex-boyfriends, then?"
"He doesn't know where I am. I made sure to stop at the post office before I left town and had all my mail held until I call and give them my new address. None of my friends know either- they all took his side. Well, except for Tatsuki. She helped me pack and got me to the bus stop, and told me to make sure I called her every day to check in." Orihime felt the telltale pin prick of tears forming in the corners of her eyes, but she brushed them away determinedly. "I'm sorry I'm blabbering on. You must have a lot of homework or something to do."
"It's quite all right." Her host's voice took on a somewhat soft, thoughtful undertone, and before she knew it, he was standing next to the chair, offering her a tissue. Orihime took it with a small, grateful smile, having lost a few tears that spilled down her cheeks. "May I be a bit forward?"
She nodded, curious to what he had to say.
"I think you're very brave, and I also believe you landed where you were meant to. There are many resources available here for helping individuals just like yourself. The university has an extensive network of agencies and businesses willing to help students that are on their own for the first time, all in their own ways. Would you like a list of them?"
"Oh, yes please! Thank you!"
Ulquiorra nodded and went back to his chair, moving the mouse on his desktop a bit to wake his laptop up. Soon, a printer was springing to life from somewhere under the desk and he was handing her a page length list of places with their addresses and some with phone numbers. Orihime felt tears start to brim again looking down at the paper in her hand, and she wiped her eyes with the tissue.
"Thank you so much, Ulquiorra," she murmured, not quite trusting her voice. He gave her a soft chuckle, and steepled his fingers together.
"Normally, I would have to run a new roommate by Grimmjow and Tier first, and have them both meet you so they could get a feel for what kind of person you are. I can already tell you that by his behavior Grimmjow likes you, and I am positive that Tier will as well. If you'd like the room, it's yours, Ms. Inoue."
Orihime's heart leapt.
"Yes, yes I would love that, thank you! I just need to call the motel manager and let her know that I'll drop my room key off tomorrow."
"Excellent. I'll write your deposit reciept up and copy it for you while you're doing that."
