Disclaimer: the only bleach I own is the one I use to clean laundry with 8D

"Have you heard, Inoue? I heard from Mizuiro, who heard from Keigo, who heard from his sister that Aizen's Human Biology class is brutal."

Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!

The haunting words of Ichigo Kurosaki, her spiky, orange-haired best friend, echoed in nineteen-year-old Orihime Inoue's mind as she dashed madly across Karakura College's beautiful, wide-spread campus towards her first college class, also known as Human Biology with the infamous Professor Sosuke Aizen.

As much as she longed to, she couldn't stop to marvel the breathtaking fall scenery that had spread across the campus like magic, covering the landscape with leaves tinted in orange, red, and gold hues.

The reason why she didn't have time to stop was because she was running very late to the first class of her very strict teacher.

She pulled out her smartphone from her adorable, rabbit-resembling pink plush purse, and double-checked the time as she ran. The screen, lighting up with a photo of her, Ichigo and their mutual friend Tatsuki Arisawa - a tomboyish girl skilled in karate - flashed with the bright numbers 8:03 AM. Her class, which just so happened to be a painful eight o'clock class, had started three minutes ago. There was no way she was going to make it now, not when she still had to cross the entire campus just to reach the biology department! Just how huge was this freaking college anyway?

Too lost in her own thoughts, she didn't even notice until she barreled straight into someone's hard chest. She squeaked in surprise at the unexpected contact, dancing back immediately as though she had been stung. She looked up at the victim guiltily, opening her mouth to apologize, but her breath caught as she studied the person she had unceremoniously crashed into.

The boy standing in front of her had short, messy raven-colored hair. She couldn't help but note how beautiful he looked, with his defined jawline and lanky build. He wore a simple, white button up shirt and a dark grey blazer with matching black dress pants. He also appeared to be a few years older than her - he didn't seem like he was a student, but at the same time, he didn't seem quite like a professor, either.

There was one thing she did know for certain, though, which was that she had never met someone with such distinct features before, and she briefly wondered whether he was a student from somewhere overseas. Karakura College had quite a few exchange students, which President Genryusai Yamamoto, a wise, older man with a long white beard, had so kindly boasted during his welcome speech to the incoming Freshman class.

There was a rather terrifying air about him as he gazed at her through narrowed emerald eyes, and her cheeks blushed a brilliant shade of scarlet when she realized that he had caught her staring.

"I-I'm so sorry!" Orihime stammered at once, quickly breaking out of her reverie and bowing low in apology. "I didn't mean to run into you! I-I'm late to Professor Aizen's class and I – "

"Don't apologize, woman," the boy interrupted in a smooth, cool tone. Judging from his choice of words and his tone of voice, Orihime guessed that he definitely wasn't the friendly type. As he spoke, his voice carried the faintest hint of an accent, making him sound incredibly sexy. In the back of her mind, she absentmindedly wondered what country he was from. His accent sounded European, perhaps French? No, not quite...Spanish?

As she listed European countries in her mind and wished that she had paid more attention in her high school geography class, he spoke again. "If you're running late, rather than wasting your breath talking to me, a perfect stranger, you should be hurrying along to your class."

That was an odd thing to say, Orihime thought, wincing inwardly at how unfriendly, no, uncaring his words were. But just because he was acting this way towards her didn't mean that she should be rude to him, too. Making up her mind, she opened her mouth to speak. "I'm….I'm sorry again," she couldn't stop herself from mumbling. "And even if I were late, there's no way I wouldn't apologize, especially if it was my fault!" she insisted, lifting her chin to look boldly at him.

She felt his gaze on her, his eyes searching hers almost curiously. Then he gave the slightest shake of his head, whipped around and stalked away without so much as another glance at her.

For a moment, she stood in a daze as she watched him leave, wondering just who on earth he was and why he was so prickly and unapproachable, before quickly getting back to her senses. Dammit, now she was going to be even later to her class! She didn't have the time to be thinking about cold strangers, especially considering that she would probably never meet him again anyway.

She quickened her pace as she maneuvered her way through the maze-like campus towards her classroom. The biology department…the biology department…why did all the buildings have to look the same, with identical mud-colored bricks and matching architectural designs? She complained to no one in particular as she accidentally found herself inside the wrong building and backtracked to the spacious courtyard again.

Finally! After successfully locating the right building this time, she quickly walked into it and located the correct classroom. She took a deep breath to brace herself before she yanked the heavy, wooden door open and silently slipped into the room. She desperately prayed (to all the gods she could think of) that the class had already started, which hopefully meant that no one one would be paying any attention to her when she entered the room. She would just have to sneak into the back of the auditorium-style lecture hall and sit down before anyone noticed -

But boy was she wrong.

What felt like a hundred pairs of eyes turned towards her, and she immediately shrunk back, pressing her back against the door as though it was her anchor. A young man, perhaps in his mid-thirties (and whom she guessed was Professor Aizen), was standing in the front of the classroom. He was wearing a pair of thick-rimmed glasses and acting as nonchalant as ever as he turned towards her.

"I-I'm so sorry," she apologized nervously, ducking her head in embarrassment as she felt eyes land on her from every direction. She wanted to bury herself in a hole and hide in it forever and ever. "I got lost and – "

Professor Aizen smiled at her knowingly, his action sending a cold shiver down her spine. Orihime suddenly had the odd feeling that he was staring straight into her soul. He was no doubt a frightening man. If looks could kill, she would probably be dead right now... "No need to apologize, Ms. - ?"

"Inoue. Orihime Inoue," she responded, so softly that her voice was barely audible in the giant lecture hall.

"Inoue-san. I'm willing to be a little more lenient today since it's the first day of class. But if you're late again…I'm afraid I will have to deduct a letter grade next time. That reminds me...I don't think it's on the syllabus, but Ulquiorra-kun will kill me if he has to reprint a hundred copies of the syllabus again. So do try to remember, because I won't be saying it again. That goes for the rest of you too, got that?" He gestured to the rest of the students, who all seemed to be glaring at Orihime as though she was the root of the problem.

She gulped at his threat, nodding to show that she understood. She briefly wondered who Ulquiorra was - was he the professor's TA? But then again, he had a non-Japanese name...She'd been encountering a lot of foreigners lately, she mused to herself before she shook her head. That was something she could worry about that later. She was currently in a bigger predicament, also known as being lectured by the professor in front of the entire class!

"I'm sorry again," Orihime repeated before she slinked dejectedly towards the back of the hall. She definitely felt as though she had been apologizing a lot today, and she hadn't even gotten through her first class! College was far, far scarier than she had ever thought it to be.

Her eyes scanned the room, trying to locate an empty seat. But unfortunately, it looked as though every chair had been occupied. This wasn't surprising, as Human Biology was a required class for all biology majors and filled up pretty quickly when she was registering for classes. But still, she should be able to have a seat...

Thankfully, her eyes fell on Ichigo's conspicuous, bright orange hair, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that he had saved her a seat. She carefully edged her way past the already seated students, and plopped down next to him.

Ichigo gave her a small nod in greeting. "You alright, Inoue?" he hissed to her out of the corner of his mouth.

"Y-Yes! I got lost, but I'm okay. Everything's good," she whispered back, her eyes trained on the professor lecturing in the front of the class. She had to pay attention and work hard to show that she was a diligent student, especially after she was late on her first day! She decided then that she would go and see Professor Aizen during office hours to make up anything she had missed.

Soon, she found herself enthralled by his lesson, and completely forgot about everything else that was dancing on her mind - including the mysterious black-haired, green-eyed boy who refused to get out of her head...

As soon as the class ended, students began to pile out of the class in waves, chattering excitedly amongst themselves as they did so. Orihime stood up from her seat and began gathering the materials that she had hastily thrown out across the desk, stuffing her laptop and notebook into her heavy, textbook-laden backpack. Why did colleges have to require such thick books as part of the class materials? she grumbled to herself. It was as if they wanted students to suffer as much as possible...

She kept one eye on the wooden podium as she packed. The strict professor was speaking to some of the students who had lingered behind, no doubt wishing to introduce themselves and leave a good first impression.

"It's alright, Kurosaki-kun. You go on without me," Orihime said to Ichigo as he stood beside her, waiting for her to finish. "I'd like to properly apologize to Professor Aizen and see if there was anything I missed."

"You didn't miss much, don't worry," Ichigo returned, but then a frown spread across his face as he tipped his head to one side thoughtfully. "He did warn us to expect a pop quiz in every class though. I'm not looking forward to that!"

Orihime shuddered. "That's the worst..." she trailed off, her eyes widening when she saw that Aizen was now conversing with a rather familiar dark-haired boy. She had been so preoccupied that she hadn't even notice him come into the classroom, but as she squinted closer, she realized that he was definitely the same boy that she had bumped into earlier. To think that she had expected to never see him again! "Wait a minute, that's him!" she gasped.

"Who's him?" Ichigo asked, furrowing his brows in confusion as he followed her gaze. "Do you know the kid Aizen's speaking to?"

"Er, I kind of crashed into him earlier because I was running late," she explained, unable to tear her eyes away from the boy who was talking to Aizen in hushed tones. There was something about him that mesmerized her. Despite his unwelcoming personality, she couldn't help but get the feeling that she wanted to get to know him more. Without waiting for Ichigo, she practically flew down the steps and skidded to a halt in front of him.

"Did you need anything, Inoue-san?" Professor Aizen asked, turning his warm, brown eyes toward her. She couldn't believe he had already remembered her name. Well, considering how dramatic the entrance she'd made earlier had been, it probably wasn't surprising that he would have remembered...she reminded herself, groaning inwardly.

For a moment, she was at a loss for words, unable to speak under the curious gazes of both Aizen and the other boy. She swallowed and cleared her throat to buy some time. "I...just wanted to apologize again for earlier. I'm truly sorry for interrupting your class."

"Oh, it's you," the pale-skinned boy's piercing green eyes widened slightly in recognition.

"I didn't know you knew each other, Ulquiorra-kun," Aizen remarked bemusedly, watching their exchange with interest.

Her heart skipped a beat as she finally learned the boy's name. It definitely sounded Spanish, which confirmed her earlier theory that he was of Spanish decent. She couldn't help but think that his name suited him. Wait a minute. Ulquiorra...Ulquiorra...where had she heard that name before? That was when she realized with a jolt that Aizen had mentioned his name earlier. Of course! That would explain how they knew each other.

"We don't," Ulquiorra denied at once in a deadpanned voice.

"It's true," she agreed, casting the boy a furtive glance out of the corner of her eye. "I...I ran into him on my way here. It was my fault, because I was late."

"That's interesting," the professor commented. At Orihime's look of confusion, he elaborated with a friendly chuckle, "Normally, one would make an excuse for being late. I would have expected you to say that the reason you were late was because you ran into Ulquiorra-kun. However, you said it was the other way around, that you bumped into him because you were already running late. Does that sound about right?"

"Er...yes...?" Orihime trailed off, feeling more confused than ever - even she had no clue what she had originally said anymore.

Ulquiorra shot Aizen an annoyed look. "You're confusing her, Aizen-sama. She's not following. And don't worry about what he said, woman," he added, turning to address her. "He just likes to confuse people sometimes. Really, you'd think he's more suitable for the philosophy department."

Orihime blinked at Ulquiorra in surprise. This was the most he'd ever said to her, and she didn't expect him to make a scathing comment like that.

"Very funny, Ulquiorra-kun," Aizen said merrily, not bothered by the other boy's comment at all. "I apologize, Inoue-san. I must have lost you back there. Don't take it too personally. I was just talking to myself is all," he dismissed lightheartedly when he noticed her puzzlement. "But anyway, back to my original point. You were apologizing for being late, right? In that case...I have just the task for you to make it up to me."

Orihime nodded, holding her breath as she waited for the professor to continue. What could this task be? Would he give her a test to demonstrate her knowledge on human biology? Not that she was very familiar with the subject yet! Whatever the task was, she hoped it wouldn't be too difficult...

"Don't be scared, Inoue-san. You see, Ulquiorra-kun here is the closest thing I have to a TA, but he's not very fond of doing manual labor tasks like paperwork or printing documents. I was hoping to find an assistant who could help him with some of these tasks. Would you be interested in taking up this position?" Aizen offered unexpectedly.

The girl stared back in shock, not quite believing what she was hearing. Not to mention if such a job was even legal! "M-Me?" she repeated doubtfully, at the same time that Ulquiorra asked, "Her, Aizen-sama?"

"Yes, you're the perfect candidate for this job. And she would be a great help to us," Aizen explained, adding the last part for Ulquiorra's benefit. "If you agree to it, I'll even let it slide that you were late today," he persuaded, his eyes glittering as though telling her that she shouldn't refuse such an offer. If she did refuse, she had no idea what he would do to her...

She bowed in acceptance, unable to say no when he put it that way. She had a feeling that the mysterious professor had an incredible power that enabled him to persuade anyone to do anything. It was definitely a dangerous skill to possess...Realizing that he was still waiting patiently for her answer, she added, "I-I will. I'll be happy to help!"

"Great, then it's settled! You'll be Ulquiorra-kun's assistant starting today. I'll email you the details later," he promised with a conspiring wink. "I'll give you two time to get acquainted with each other, then."

Orihime nodded her head in agreement. She realized that she was looking forward to helping him, but at the same time, a feeling of dread bubbled in her stomach. Just what had she gotten herself into...?

A/N: I got back into Bleach recently and I'm rewatching the anime, and I got so many Ulquihime feels all over again /shot/ I couldn't stop myself from writing an AU with them which will have a happy ending for a change xD

Orihime's purse is a nod to Kurodo, one of the mod souls from the anime filler.

Hope it's interesting enough to continue? Let me know what you think with a review~