Title: The Rain that Binds: The Side Stories
Chapter title: Twisted Emotions
Characters: Ulquiorra, Orihime
Rating: K+
Spoilers: Up to chapter 282 of the manga
Word count: 1,523
A/N: Wow, I wasn't really planning on putting up the side stories until I had finished with the main story, but…this was begging to be written, so here it is. This is set…er…sometime after Ulquiorra starts calling Orihime by her name.
Before anyone points out, I know there is a tense change. It was done for effect.
Orihime stared out the window, watching the rain trail down the windowpane, and yawned loudly. It was really boring being stuck in her apartment for the whole day with absolutely nothing to do. She had already finished up all her homework for the weekend, and she couldn't go out because it was pouring outside, on top of the fact that she didn't have any money. Twirling a strand of hair around her finger, she spared a glance at the green eyed Arrancar who was currently sitting on the other side of the room, reading one of the books from her bookshelf for the fifth time since he had started living with her. Not that she had been counting or anything. She let a loud, drawn out sigh, hoping to gain the attention of her companion. It didn't.
" Hey, Ulquiorra? Doesn't it get boring reading the same book over and over and over again? I mean, how can reading that math book still be interesting after reading it that many times?" she questioned, her eyes growing wider with each syllable.
He closed his eyes and let out a soft sigh, not bothering to look up.
" I am not reading this book for the sake of enjoyment. I am reading to learn from it. Learning is not supposed to be…interesting," he said a bit distastefully.
" I'm bored."
Orihime stared at him, hoping that he would get the drift that she wanted him to relieve some of her boredom. She continued to stare at him for a few more minutes before it became obvious to her that he either didn't hear or he was ignoring her. The latter seemed more likely. Clearing her throat, she decided to try again.
" I said, I'm bored," she repeated, a little louder this time.
This time, Ulquiorra spared her a glance before he went back to reading the textbook.
" It sounds as though you desire me to do something to…alleviate this boredom," Ulquiorra stated before he closed the book and put it down on the table in front of him.
She nodded her head enthusiastically while he closed his eyes.
' What am I doing? Am I actually considering doing something for her amusement? Being trapped in here for so long has obviously driven me to some degree of madness,' he decided, his frown deepening.
" Is there anything in particular that you wish to do, Inoue?" asked Ulquiorra, as though he were signing his own death warrant.
Letting out a small squeal of happiness, she skipped to the side of the room that he was currently sitting, while he rubbed his temples. She looked through a different bookshelf, this one loaded with boxes of different shapes, sizes and colors. He glanced at them and read some of the titles in his head, becoming more and more confused.
' Monopoly? Life? Scrabble? Trouble?? When did these humans learn to contain trouble into a small box? Humans are nothing but trouble,' he thought wearily, noticing that Orihime had taken a box from the shelf and was currently pushing it into his hands.
" Here! Let's play this game! It's a lot of fun! Oh, but we have to move the table first. We wouldn't want to fall into it or anything," she said, pushing the table to a far corner of the room and laying out the mat onto the floor.
Still holding the box in his hands, he could only say one thing in response:
" Twister?"
She let out a giggle, holding the spinner in her hands. She waved her hands in a way to indicate that he should stand up. After Ulquiorra did so, he looked at her, hoping that she would answer his question.
" Yeah! It's fun, I promise. Here's what you do. See this spinner?" she asked, seeing him nod slightly. " Ok. Well, you flick the spinner like so and wait for it to stop to see where it lands. Here! I'll show you!"
Orihime flicked the needle lightly, watching it spin a few times before it stopped.
" See? It landed on right foot red, which means I have to put my right foot on red," she said, placing her foot on the appropriate dot. " Here. Now you try it!"
Ulquiorra took the spinner her from her hands and looked at it wearily before flicking it, although much harder than she had. It had spun around at least seven times before it finally stopped.
" So, now what you have to do is put your left foot on a green dot!"
" Why? Because some inanimate object demands that I put my left foot on green, I have to do so?" he asked, staring at the mat and the spinner with disdain.
" Because that's part of the game! Come on! Let's at least get through a few more spins before you decide you don't like it. Please?" Orihime pleaded, a hopeful smile on her face.
Closing his eyes and letting out a long sigh, Ulquiorra begrudgingly put his left foot on a green dot as far away as possible from her and slid the spinner over to her. She flicked it. This time, she got right hand green. Stretching over to reach the other side of the mat, she handed the spinner over to him. He flicked the needle and the spinner landed on right foot yellow. A toss. A flick. Left foot yellow. A slide of the spinner and another flick. Right hand red. Flick. Left hand blue.
After she placed her hand on a blue dot, the one that was diagonally in front of his left foot, it was his turn again. He flicked the needle awkwardly, trying not to fall.
'What kind of sadistic human would invent something like this and then have the nerve to call it a game?' he thought irritably, his right arm starting to feel a bit numb.
The spinner slowed and stopped on left hand blue. He looked in front of him and saw a blue dot that would allow him to keep a fairly good center of balance. He started to move his hand but stopped. Ulquiorra felt himself become warm when he saw that, if he decided to put his hand on that spot, his arm would be rubbing right up against Orihime's chest. His eyes widened while he tried to think of a solution. He looked at the other blue dots on the mat and found that any of the others had the same issue; the only blue dot that didn't would have him in a very trying position, something he refused to do. That left him with two choices:
' Over or under?' he thought, figuring out which would yield the least amount of body contact.
Ulquiorra ran this through his mind again and again until he decided that over would be a much better option than under. He moved his left hand and placed it awkwardly on the dot, attempting to keep his chest off her back as much as possible… and failing. He could feel her warmth through his clothes and felt her reach for the spinner. Suddenly, she began talking.
" You know, it's a good thing your mask is on the other side of your head. You could poke an eye out with that! Maybe we should put something over it, you know…just in case?" she suggested. " Left hand green."
Orihime started to move her hand to a green spot while Ulquiorra tried to glare at her. Due to his current position, he was unable to and found himself glaring at her legs instead. He could feel even more warmth, this time in his face, as he began, " Inoue, what are you going on abou- "
He was cut off as he felt himself lose his balance, collapsing to the ground. Both of them were resting on the other's back. They felt their eyes widen and, in Orihime's case, she could feel herself turn a bright red. The two stayed that way for a few moments, blinking; it took a few seconds for their brains to process that they were essentially lying on top of one another. When it finally clicked, they pulled apart from each other as fast as they possibly could, avoiding the other's gaze. Orihime rubbed her arm in discomfort, looking down at the floor, while Ulquiorra looked out the window.
" It is no longer raining," he stated, glancing at her out of the corner of his eyes.
" Oh? Well, you've stayed cooped up in this apartment and I really need to get some food anyways," she said quickly, making her way to her bedroom, " Just let me get my coat."
Ignoring the fact that she had just bought food the day before, Ulquiorra grabbed the mat and the spinner and stuffed them into the game box, pushing it under the sofa until he heard the box hit the wall with a light thunk. Taking a seat, he let out a soft sigh.
' I doubt she will miss this game very much anyway…'