Ulterior

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Bleach.

Episode 6

【Previously】

"Crash course is over! I know you are dying to leave. But before that, I would like to remind you that school starts tomorrow and Aizen wants to see you for a short briefing at 7.30am after breakfast. Be dressed in your school uniform. The chauffeur will drive you to Karakura High. Good luck!" Gin smirked and left the auditorium. Ulquiorra stared at the notes he scribbled. Will this work? He thought. He'll just have to find that out on his own. It was his mission and he would not fail.

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Ulquiorra looked down at the photograph he held in his right hand. The photograph held an image of a young girl about his age, with long orange-brown hair, a pair of beautiful, large purple-tinted grey eyes, and a warm smile upon her face.

Flashback

"Aizen-sama, you requested to see me," greeted Ulquiorra. "Hai. I trust that you are prepared to leave on your mission. I know you will not fail me, Ulquiorra," said Aizen as he leaned back against his armchair. "Hai, Aizen-sama," came Ulquiorra's reply. With that, he was dismissed.

End of Flashback

Ulquiorra took a final glance at the photograph of the girl before closing the folder. He knew very well that this was unlike any of his other missions. Nevertheless, nothing but his best efforts was still expected of him and incompetence wasn't even an option.

"Ulquiorra-sama," the chauffeur spoke, "we have arrived at Karakura High." The fifteen-year-old gave a slight nod and stepped out of the car. The bustling sounds accompanying the sight of students rushing here and there and hanging out in groups was Ulquoirra's first observation. His thin lips frowned. Trash, he thought.

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It was yet another Monday morning in school and as usual, students were hanging out in groups, talking and sharing about what they did over the weekend, while waiting for the first bell to ring. Orihime was scribbling and doodling in her notebook, occasionally looking out of the classroom window to admire the bright blue sky and thinking about how fortunate she was to have a window seat.

"What's this?" Tatsuki sneaked up from behind her best friend and snatched her notebook away. Orihime gasped in surprise and turned her head just in time to see Tatsuki holding her notebook and looking at it. "Ichigo (Strawberry)?" came Tatsuki's comment and immediately, Orihime covered her mouth with her hand and blushed. Apparently, Orihime had drawn many, many strawberries in her notebook, but it wasn't strawberries she was thinking of. Tatsuki realized the connection when she saw that Orihime's face was flushed with embarrassment. Just then, the first bell rang and everyone scampered back into their seats. Ichigo, who arrived just as the bell was ringing, strolled to his seat casually and took it. Orihime quickly retrieved her notebook from Tatsuki and closed it before anyone noticed her doodles.

"Ohayou gozaimasu! Today, we have a new student! Everyone please welcome Ulquiorra Schiffer-san!" Mizuno-sensei chirped. Ulquiorra strode into the classroom and took a bow. Amidst a mixture of gushing and gasping noises which he detected, Ulquiorra did a quick scan of the classroom. He noted that it was a class for 30 students with plenty of desks and chairs, a chalk board, noticeboards and lockers. "Schiffer-san, kindly take that seat over there," Mizuno-sensei said and she motioned for him to sit at the empty desk that was two seats behind Ichigo, which was also the second-last seat in that column.

"Now, before we begin today's lesson, I shall return to you your scripts from last Friday's spring test!" said Mizuno-sensei as she picked up a stack of papers to be given out. Some groans from the students were emitted. "Only two of you did exceptionally well for this test, while the rest of you didn't come close. I expect to see some improvements in the next test! Ishida-san and Inoue-san, please take your scripts. Well done for the both of you," Mizuno-sensei stated as she passed out the scripts.

It's her, Ulquiorra thought, she's Inoue Orihime. Indeed, the girl that Ulquiorra took a mental note of was truly the girl that he was ordered to gain information about. She looked exactly like in the photograph, except more attractive in person. Orihime went back to her seat after receiving her script and smiled gently at the sight of her marks. It really is her, Ulquiorra thought as he noted the exact same way she smiled.

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A few periods went by. The first was English, taught by Mizuno-sensei, who was also their Homeroom teacher, followed by Math, Biology and Japanese. The school bell rang, signaling every student's favourite period – Lunch. As the bell rang on and the classroom started to be filled with the joyous chatter of students, Ulquiorra wondered what the whole fuss was about. He took out his school schedule from his black leather school bag and noted that it was Lunch period. He wasn't told where students ate during lunch or where do they get their food from. This caused him to frown slightly at this lack of information provided by Gin, his supposed guardian.

"Orihime! Let's go!" Tatsuki grabbed her friend's arm while dragging her out of the classroom. Ulquiorra's eyes followed her as she left. In a matter of seconds, no one except himself was left in the classroom. He had one hour to kill.

Tatsuki and Orihime were walking down the hallway, trying to catch up with the rest of their lunch buddies. "Oh no!" Orihime exclaimed. "Nani?" Tatsuki asked. "I left something in class! Tatsuki, you can catch up with the rest first. I'll see you all later, okay?" Orihime said and Tatsuki nodded in agreement. Orihime quickly spun around and headed back to the classroom. She pushed open the sliding door of her classroom upon arriving, but did not expect any of her classmates to be in it, since everyone usually disappeared for lunch. However, just as she stepped in, she saw a lone figure sitting at a desk. Her eyes grew wider upon seeing that it was the new student.

Ulquiorra sat stiffly at his desk and as he sat, he heard the classroom door slid open and a familiar face peeked into it. "Sumimasen. I'm here to get something. Sorry to interrupt," Orihime started. Ulquiorra simply nodded. Orihime walked to her desk and took out a paper lunch bag with a bottle of milk tea, a red bean bun and a chicken ham and cheese sandwich in it. Grabbing on to her lunch bag, she turned around to see what the new student was doing. Curiously, she began to ask, "U-U-ki-o-ra…" She made an attempt to remember his name but knew she didn't get it right. "Ulquiorra Schiffer," he corrected. "Hai. Schiffer-san, aren't you going to have lunch?" Orihime asked politely. "Iie. I do not know how lunch works in this school," he answered honestly. "So desu. Well, there is no cafeteria in Japanese high schools, so all of us pack lunch to school, usually in bento boxes. Did you bring any food, Schiffer-san?" said Orihime.

Ulquiorra glanced at Orihime's lunch bag as though it was presumably evidence that what this girl said was true. Orihime saw that Ulquiorra took a momentary glance at her lunch bag before his deep green eyes met her grey ones again. "Iie," he responded, almost whispering. Orihime felt a sudden wave of sadness for this new student, as though not having brought lunch would cause him to die, and then no one will ever see him again in school if she didn't do anything. Ulquiorra saw that the girl in front of him took on a sudden worried expression but it changed to another expression just as quickly. "Schiffer-san, please accept my food then." Orihime said as she held up her lunch bag with both hands to Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra was slightly puzzled. "You will have no lunch if you offer me yours," he pointed out. Orihime gave him a big smile, "Don't worry! Tatsuki's mother always packs an extra bento box for me every Monday. I'll have something to eat today. Please take this." Orihime didn't wait for Ulquiorra to take the lunch bag from her. Instead she took one of his hands and placed the lunch bag on it. "I need to go now. Hope you'll like the food. See you later, Schiffer-san!" Orihime said in a rush and she exited the classroom quickly.

Ulquiorra did not have a chance to thank her and she left. He looked down at the lunch bag on his left palm and decided to see what was in there. A bottle of milk tea, a red bean bun (written on the sealed package) and a sandwich… Ulquiorra never had a red bean bun before. He tore open the plastic and took a bite at it gracefully. It was sweet, warm and went well with the freshly-baked bun, and Ulquiorra liked it.

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It didn't take long for Ulquiorra to finish the simple yet satisfying lunch which was given to him. He stood up and decided to walk along the hallways to make more observations about this school. He slid open the classroom door and exited. Once out in the hallway, he noted that some students were starting to return to their classrooms, others were just having their small gatherings along the hallway and chatting. As he walked along, he was aware of some stares and gossiping around him, but he conveniently ignored them. He passed by a male and a female student being seemingly intimate at a corner, and went into the washroom at the far end of the hallway.

Ulquiorra looked at his reflection in the mirror. Seeing himself in a school uniform was rather strange. I prefer home-schooling, he thought, don't have to look at all these trash. Sub-consciously, his thoughts travelled to Inoue Orihime. Is she considered trash? His inner-self asked. Ulquiorra looked away from the mirror. He did not recognize this uncertainty he was feeling. For him to even feel something other than contempt, disgust and pride was something near impossible. Ulquiorra shoved the question to the back of his mind and decided to make his way back to class. Then, mentally, another question surfaced in his mind, one that would be one of the things he needed to find out about her. Why is it that her friend's mother makes food for her instead of her own mother?

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The school bell rang again, signaling the end of Lunch period. Ulquiorra watched as his classroom began to fill up with students. Orihime and her friends came into the classroom, and he watched her as she neared her desk. Orihime wondered whether the new student enjoyed her lunch, and when she saw Ulquiorra looking at her direction, she smiled and waved at him.

"Orihime, why are you waving at the new student?" Tatsuki asked when she noticed her friend waving at someone seated at the back of the classroom. Orihime placed her hand back down, a little disappointed that she did not receive a wave back. "I gave a part of my lunch to him just now because he didn't know he must bring lunch to school," she turned and told Tatsuki. "So desu ne. That's nice of you, Orihime-chan!" Tatsuki said and patted her friend on her head, earning a giggle from Orihime. Orihime reached her desk and turned to look at Ulquiorra once again, giving him a faint smile. Ulquiorra returned a light nod before looking away. Somewhere in his consciousness, he knows what he was uncertain about. He was uncertain about how he should react to the girl. I must not fail, he whispered a thought in his mind.

The last two periods were Social Studies and Home Economics. For Home Economics, the boys took Technical Home Economics, rather than regular Home Economics which the girls took. Hence, they went to different rooms.

After the last academic period, all students went back to their classroom for Class Meeting with Mizuno-sensei, their Homeroom teacher. Mizuno-sensei made a few announcements and after so, all students did 15 minutes of classroom cleaning, though there wasn't much to clean. Ulquiorra took note of the school practices, which were all very new to him. He saw that Orihime was wiping the chalkboard, but she had to tip-toe to reach the higher parts. Ulquiorra swiftly stood up from his seat and went over to the front of the classroom. He took the duster out of Orihime's right hand and wiped off the words at the top of the board. Orihime stared wide-eyed at his sudden helpfulness. "Arigatou gozaimashita," they both said at the same time, to Orihime's surprise again. She smiled and said, "Don't forget to bring lunch tomorrow. Sayonara." Orihime took her school bag and left.

【To be continued…】

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【Author's Note】

I was on such a long hiatus! Oh dear… *feeling guilty*… Anyway, hope you enjoyed this new chapter! Stay tuned!