Beside You In Time Ch. 14

Chapter 14
Walkin' On Sunshine Pt. 1

It seemed like every time that Ulquiorra was close to dozing off, Orihime would awe or giggled at something else that was happening in the movie like a three year old.
Finally, well after midnight, Orihime fell asleep. Ulquiorra watched his Onna sleep for a while, a content feeling filling up his chest, before he placed an arm around her shoulders and fell asleep as well…


Orihime's eyes slowly blinked open. The first thing she noticed was that she wasn't in her bed, and that she had her head rested against someone's shoulder. A few seconds later, the previous night slowly came back to her. Blushing slightly, she remembered all the details of the kiss she had shared with Ulquiorra.
Sighing contently, she felt the arm draped around her rubbing gentle circles against her shoulder.
"So you have awoken, Onna," the Cuatro Espada spoke. Orihime smiled sweetly at the slight change in his monotonous voice. Turning her head to look at him, she could have sworn she saw an unknown light dancing through his eyes.
"Good morning, Ulquiorra-san," Orihime yawned. She was content, she would treasure this moment forever. The girl blushed, realizing how it would sound like to her friends if she told them Monday in school about how she woke up with a man's arm wrapped around her shoulders Saturday morning.  
Orihime's smile grew a little bigger as she saw the disheveled black hair on Ulquiorra's head. Unconsciously, she reached one of her hands up and tried straightening the mess of hair.

Ulquiorra tried not to show his surprise and slight discomfort with the current situation. He had never been used to gentle, caressing touches. All he had known less than a month ago were the sharp, painful sensations of blades and punches colliding with his skin. His aversion to any type of physical contact was the instinctual reactions born from those painful sensations.
Trying to ignore the distasteful feeling crawling on his skin, he concentrated on the warm sensation of his Onna fixing his hair and leaning against his shoulder. If someone had told him a month ago that he would be sitting on a human's couch, with the said human lying on him, he wouldn't have believed a single word of it.
He knew it would be extremely difficult for him to become used to his Onna's touch and comfort with physical contact. The Cuatro Espada also knew it was unavoidable to have some form of physical contact with his Onna, since he knew that she felt something towards him as he did towards her.

After deciding that her Espada's hair was a lost cause without a good hairbrush or shower, she started stretching, feeling the kinks in her neck and back from sleeping on the couch.
"What do you want to do today, Ulquiorra-san?" Orihime asked, another yawn muffling the Espada's name.
The Espada looked at his Onna, slightly confused.
"I do not know, Onna," he simple replied. What did his Onna want for him to say? He hadn't thought that the two of them would be doing anything out of the ordinary. But what exactly was "out of the ordinary" for his Onna? Knowing her joyous personality made him slightly doubt he would enjoy whatever plans she would conjure up for the day.
"Hmm…" Orihime thought about what she had to do this weekend. "Well, I need to go grocery shopping... and you'll need some more clothes since you're going to stay…"
Ulquiorra Cifer was already not looking forward to the day. He had no clue what actions grocery shopping of clothes shopping included, but guessing from the knowledge he had, it sounded like something he would come to despise.
With a sudden burst of energy, Orihime Inoue leaped off the couch. After doing several thorough stretches, she jogged into the kitchen to eat some breakfast.
"Do you want some cereal, Ulquiorra-san?" she half-sang, half-called from the kitchen.
"Yes, Onna," Ulquiorra had no clue what cereal tasted like, but kept himself open-minded enough to not discriminate foods he had never tasted.
Taking out two bowls from the cupboard above the counter and setting them on the counter, Orihime opened the refrigerator and took out a carton of milk.
Opening another cupboard, this one filled with food, she placed a finger on her lips an pondered what brand of cereal she wanted.
"Ulquiorra-san, what kind of cereal do you want?" Ulquiorra Sonidoed into the kitchen to figure out what his Onna was talking about.
"I do not care," was his simple reply when he saw the huge cupboard filled with boxes with various labels, such as "Cookie Crisps" and "Reese's Puffs".
Orihime grabbed the box of Reese's Puffs and poured some in the two bowls on the counter. Reaching for the milk, she accidently knocked it off the counter. Luckily, with his cat-like reflexes, Ulquiorra grabbed the carton before it hit the floor.
"Thanks, Ulquiorra-san!" Orihime chimed, smiling at the Cuatro Espada, who simply nodded.

After the couple had eaten their breakfast, Orihime ran into her room, dragging Ulquiorra behind her. Opening her huge walk-in closet (which was only half full), she continued to drag the slightly dismayed Espada behind her until they reached the very back of the closet. Standing on her tip toes to pull the light string to turn it on, she sighed in frustration. She was never able to reach it. As Orihime tried to jump for it, she was surprised to feel two hands suddenly on her hips, helping her reach the light.
"Thanks," Orihime blushed. As was normal, Ulquiorra just nodded.
Dropping to the floor, Orihime pulled out a box from below the bottom shelf. The box was filled with various articles of clothing, varying from pajamas to dress clothes. Digging through the box, Orihime smiled joyfully when she found what she was looking for.
Ulquiorra watched his Onna as she pulled out a pair of dark blue jeans and a green t-shirt. Shoving them in his hands, she beamed and dragged him out of the closet. (Ulquiorra was slowly but surely getting annoyed with his Onna dragging him everywhere. Little did he know that that would be exactly what she would be doing the entire day…)

Having changed into the clothes Orihime had given him, Ulquiorra now sat on the couch in the living room waiting for his Onna to finish changing out of her pajamas herself. As he sat there, he pondered some things that had interested him in some form or fashion since coming to live with Orihime from Hueco Mundo.
Why did she blush whenever he touched her? She never blushed when she was pulling him along behind her… so why had she turned tomato-red when he had kissed her?
He slightly chided himself for sinking to the level of a measly human and showing his affection for a human woman? But then again, he couldn't compare his actions to that of anyone else, since no other Espada had obtained a heart as he had. Ulquiorra also couldn't compare his actions to the way he had previously acted, only a month or so ago. Then he had been a cold, stoic, unfeeling Espada; now he felt new things every day.
It was common sense that he would react differently now that he had a heart.
During his quest to solve the mystery of the heart, the Cuatro Espada had noticed several things. For one, he knew a heart changed people's reactions and instinctual thoughts. Also, even though a heart changed said things, it did not change one's basic ways. Another important point he had discovered in his search, was that no two hearts reacted alike, making it impossible for two hearts to understand one another perfectly (or so it seemed to him).
Ulquiorra's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his Onna skipping down the hall towards him.
"Okay, we can go!" Orihime beamed as she came around the corner into sight.
Ulquiorra knew that it was extremely human and probably immature for him to do so, but he couldn't help but think that she looked absolutely stunning.
Part of his Onna's orange hair was pulled back while the rest of it was free to cascade down her shoulders and back, reflecting the light. She was wearing a yellow sundress that came to her knees and had a wide, loose bottom. The dress was pretty modestly cut, revealing only her collarbones, shoulders, and arms. It hugged her curves in just the right way, the bright color slightly reducing the size of her bust; the flowing skirt hiding her extra-curvy hips.
"Your appearance is one of beauty, Onna," Ulquiorra couldn't believe his own words. Yes, he had really sunken to the levels of a human. The Espada decided it must be the gigai's fault, and set his mind on going to see Urahara Kisuke sometime (extremely soon) to try and fix this.
Orihime blushed ten shades of rouge. Had he really just called her pretty? Yes… it had been in his own way, but he had said it.
Skipping the last couple of yards towards her Espada, she leaned up on her tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the door, careful not to forget her purse in the process.
The Cuatro Espada sighed. It was going to be a long day.

"Ooh!" Orihime grabbed what seemed like the thousandth can or bag of food and somehow crammed it into the already overfilled shopping cart. How much more was this Onna going to buy?
Ulquiorra sighed. He had no clue what half of the things in the cart were, and was pretty sure he didn't want to know what most of it was. As Orihime crammed another can of red bean paste into the cart, Ulquiorra noticed several boys his Onna's age watching her intently.
"Onna," Ulquiorra quietly caught his Onna's attention, who had just bent over to pick up a can she dropped, making her dress ride dangerously high on the back of her upper thighs. Blushing, she quickly picked up the can, stood up and straightened the back of her dress, not noticing the four boys snickering.
The Espada sent a strikingly menacing glare at the boys, who only made faces back at him, daring him to do something. Which he did. Leaving the cart and his Onna, he walked over to the group of teenagers. Orihime turned to see what he was doing and tilted her head, wondering why he was talking to the group of boys.
"I advise you to leave this store if you enjoy your eye's ability to see," Ulquiorra monotonously threatened. He would not stand for these immature boys' hormonally driven desires and pleasures.
"Oooh, I'm so scared," one of them mocked. The rest of the group laughed.
"Do not mock me, boy," The Cuatro Espada was becoming more agitated by the second.
"Ulquiorra-san?" Orihime skipped over, not noticing the eyes of the boys greedily taking in her body and the way it moved as she skipped.
"What is it, Onna?" Ulquiorra did not take his eyes off of the boys as he stepped in front of Orihime, blocking their view of her.
"What are you going to do about it?" The tallest in the group sneered.
"Onna, go back to the cart," Orihime quizzically looked from her Espada to the group of boys. Noticing the strange gleam in his eyes, she nodded and skipped back to the cart, half-heartedly this time.
"Onna?" another one of the boys jeered. Without warning, the tall one launched a punch at Ulquiorra. As he caught the boy's fist in his bare hand, he restrained himself from snapping his wrist in two.
"It is a thousand years to soon for you to be fighting me," Ulquiorra half growled.
The group looked at him as if he were insane and laughed at him. In their fits of laughter, Ulquiorra turned on his heal and started striding back to his Onna, who had gone back to loading up the food cart.
"Hey, wait! We're not finished with you!" another one of the boys called, tauntingly. Ulquiorra ignored this and kept walking.
As one of the boy's patience snapped, he charged at the Espada, who easily side-stepped the punch the boy threw.
Surprised, the boy skidded to a halt, tripping and colliding with Orihime.
"Ahh!" she screamed as the boy rammed into her, knocking the two of them to the ground.
"Leave," Ulquiorra growled, visibly perturbed.
"Well, hello there," the boy grinned at Orihime. Orihime shifted, trying to get the boy off of her.
"Umm.. hi. Can you please get off of me?" She asked, trying to get out from underneath him.
"Hmm?" the boy asked as if he had not heard her.
"You heard the Onna. Get off of her." Unspoken threats hung in the air. When the boy didn't move an inch and Orihime become visibly more uncomfortable, Ulquiorra took matters in his own hands. Walking over to the boy, he grabbed him by the collar, pulled him off of his Onna and flung him down the aisle several feet.
"Let us leave, Onna," without another word, Ulquiorra grabbed his Onna's hand (to her surprise) and began pushing the cart down the aisle away from the furious group of boys.
Orihime could sense the anger and protective air radiating off of Ulquiorra. Putting two and two together, she realized exactly what had happened.
Oh… Orihime mentally chided herself for being so oblivious.
"Thanks, Ulquiorra-san," she quietly said, ashamed of her naivety. The Cuatro Espada simply nodded.    
The couple waited in line at the register in silence before Orihime paid for her groceries. Afterwards, they walked home at a comfortable pace, Orihime eager to put up the groceries and go clothes shopping for Ulquiorra, and Ulquiorra being dragged along behind the Onna; both of them carried too many grocery bags. As they walked, Orihime began to hum a happy tune...