This takes place after Bloodlust- More cute Ulquihime! Some quick notes before I get started: this story isn't like a day-to-day progressing, there are chapters in chronological order that just center on certain points in time. Additionally, I'm not putting in a chapter that sets up the circumstances. so if you want to know how everything came to be here's the quick explanation. If not, just skip to the little chapter starter.
Explanation: Due to Inoue's help in the war they're letting her 'keep' Ulquiorra, so to speak. They're like "basically you don't mess anything up or kill any humans and we're cool, just stay outa the way." For those who were curious as to why Ichigo was so chill with Ulquiorra's revival; he never really wanted to kill the guy, so seeing him alive, well, and happy is a huge relief to him. Last couple of things. Orihime has agreed to let Ulquiorra stay with her, and he sleeps on the spare futon out in the living room. (he rolls it up every day so it's not in the way, despite Orihime saying it's no trouble.) When Ulquiorra refers to his studies or schooling he's talking about working on his own, reading out of high-level text books form the library like the huge dork he is.

Basically, that's it, but if you have any more questions shoot me 'em in your review and I'll try to answer as well as I can!

Now, without further ado, Nothing Simple.

|Chapter 1|

|The Movie|

"Rin."

I repress a long inward breath, what I know now to be a yawn due to an explanation from Orihime. The girl in the movie stutters out a long greeting, never meeting the eyes of the man before her as she curls in on herself.

"You are hiding." The man says. "Why?"

She explains to him what the human villagers have done to her. She has been accused as a witch because of his presence and frequent gifts, and as such, she was tied and 'exorcised.' She's still dripping wet due to the holy water, and her cheek is starting to swell.

I lean over to Orihime. "Why are we watching this?"

"Shh!" She leans into me- unmindful of our close physical proximity. For some reason this pleases me, which is odd since I usually do not like to be touched. I will think more on this later. "It's almost my favorite part!"

Clearly the demon man and the young girl are infatuated, and it is obvious this will be the turning point in their relationship. What is so interesting about this is hard to see, and even harder to understand since she has seen this before.

My stomach churns in discomfort as she settles into my side, biting into her lip as she focuses completely on the movie before her. I wonder if she realizes that her bare legs are touching my arm, as she has them drawn up to her chest. They're smooth today.

"Where has the hair on your legs gone?" I ask, without thinking. It's odd to me that the last time I saw her in shorts like this she had hair, and now it is gone. Is she aging? Is she sick?

She blushes and stutters out a quick, "I sh-shaved" before she's drawn back into the movie. The girl is confessing her love to what she believes to be thin-air as she changes, unknowing of the fact the demon sits with his back to her just beyond her sight. He hears everything she says.

I am still curious about the hair. "You shaved the hair off? Correct me if I am wrong, but I had thought that only men shaved- and it is for their facial hair, not their legs."

"Um, girls don't like to have hair." She's turning red again.

"But in this world your females usually have much more hair than-"

"On our head. That's the only place we like hair."

I pause to consider this. "… The only place?" Not even their arms?

She seems to think of something else- something 'dirty' as she puts it- and goes bright red. She turns to me with wide eyes and says, "U-Um! Isn't that a little personal?"

I'm not sure what she's talking about, but I do not wish to overstep my boundaries. "Forgive me, I had not intended to pry." A second passes before she looks back to the movie. The girl is crying into the demon's chest as he holds her there. Odd.

I still can't seem to stop thinking about the hair. "In this world do your men shave their legs? Should I-"

"It doesn't matter." She rushes out. "You haven't grown any facial hair, and that's all you need to worry about."

Well, if she says it doesn't matter, than I suppose it doesn't.

She leans heavier into my side as the movie progresses. The girl- Rin- is kidnapped, and so the demon embarks on a quest to save her. The closer to the end the movie gets, the closer Orihime moves to me, until her head is resting on my shoulder and her hand is settled on my thigh.

The odd twist in my stomach returns every time she moves, and I wonder why it is that in this form I only become hungry when she's touching me. I ate not long ago, as the woman supplied a wonderful fish soup for dinner, and usually I do not grow hungry again after I have eaten.

The demon finally reaches the village where the girl has been hidden. Orihime sits up for a second in surprise when there's a loud clang of pots and pans on the stone floor inside the movie. Then, she slowly eases back into me, but this time she is in a different position. She lays back, and slowly she begins to almost slide down my form, head trailing over my chest until her head is in my lap.

I am frozen, completely unable to move.

She shifts.

The hunger returns in full-force.

"Sorry, Ulquiorra." She says, sleepy as she rises. I'm not sure what's going on in the movie, as her head blocks it and I had not been paying attention before now. "I need to move, my arm's going dead."

Her arm is dying? "Of course." I'm relieved for a moment, thinking she'll sit back up, but no. She stretches out across my lap so that her head rests on the side of the couch and turns so that her back presses into my front. Her legs curl up on her mostly empty cushion, and she gives a long sigh. Her breasts move against my leg with the action.

The demon must have rescued the girl, because he's traveling with her, and it's night. She wakes up when he stops to make camp and smiles at him.

"You found me." She whispers when she sees him.

They exchange some heavily romantic dialog, and then very suddenly he has his mouth pressed to her own. Now, this is a surprise, because I did not think the movie would end in her death- certainly not at his own hands, and never would it have crossed my mind she was to be devoured. So this demon was a hollow after all.

But then… no, they both seem to enjoy this act, and he does not consume her, he just… touches her.

Ah, yes. I recall now that this action is referred to as a 'kiss.' A gesture of affection between two individuals.

I look down at Orihime and find her dreamily smiling as she watches the two onscreen. She has not kissed any of her friends before, and she is very physical with her affection, so I suspect that this is a romantic gesture. It would go with the theme and dialog of the movie, so that would make sense.

What doesn't make sense is the fleeting idea of leaning down to kiss her, and the intense wave of that odd hunger that it brings. Orihime is a friend to me, and I have no wish to exchange long stretched of speech with her where I compare her to the moon or the stars.

And yet the idea of kissing her is not repulsive.

I think back to all I have read on the subject of a kiss, and recall that it is sometimes a gesture between friends and family. Family members will kiss their loved ones on the forehead of cheek to show affection, and this can also transpire between close friends. It is similar to a hug, which is something I do have experience with, as I have been on the receiving end of many from the woman herself.

A kiss. A symbol of affection between friends and family, that is all that it is.

The movie ends and Orihime lets out a loud groan, which for some reason makes me feel like perhaps I should have covered my ears before she stretched. She turns so that she is laying on her back, still on me, and gives a sleepy smile.

"I should get to bed." She says.

I do not know what to do. "Perhaps."

"I don't have school tomorrow…" She trails off, and then eyes the TV. "Do you want to watch another movie?"

"You will fall asleep half way through."

She shrugs.

"I do not wish to watch another."

"Want to play a game?"

"Will you fall asleep?"

She smiles sheepishly. "Maybe."

"Then no."

She puts. "Aw, but Ulquiooooooooora!"

"You are whining." I recognize. "You are not a small child, are you?"

"No. But come on, I don't want to go to bed yet."

"Why not? You are tired enough."

"Because." She pinks and shrugs a shoulder. "I… want to hang out with you."

She desires my company? That is a proclaimed measure of affection. Not so far from a kiss. "I will be here in the morning, will I not? We may do as you wish then."

"Promise?"

"I swear it."

"Hm…" She rolls off of the couch- literally- and then gives a loud huff on the floor. "I can't make it. I'm too tired to stand."

Though I know how to recognize a joke by now, I cannot help but stand and peer down at her. "Are your legs broken, woman?"

"Ughhhh."

"Are you dying?"

She rolls over one more time to glare at me.

"Have a good night on the floor." I turn to leave her there, but she yells.

"Wait!"

I turn.

"You'd just leave me here on the ground? The cold, unforgiving ground? I'm so fragile, Ulquiorra, I would barely be able to walk tomorrow!" She gives a loud huff and throws a hand onto her forehead, dramatically fluttering her eyes.

Now I realize she's stalling for time.

With a shake of my head I walk back to her side before bending at the waist to retrieve her. She lets out a startled yelp when I put one hand under her knees and another behind her back, and then laughs a little as I lift her and stand.

"Ulquiorra, I was just joking around, you don't have to carry me!" She laughs again, squirming in my hold. I tighten my grip and walk side-ways through her door, careful not to drop her.

"It is too late now."

Carefully I let her down on her bed, where she promptly worms under the covers. She continues to smile up at me when she's settled, pink blankets wrapped around her in a large cocoon.

"Thank you." She whispers.

"It is no trouble." I say, careful not to look to closely at her eyes. Recently I have noticed that one glance from those gray irises can utterly subdue me. Regardless of my careful aversion, I catch a glance, and suddenly I want to tell her that I enjoy her company, too. She just looks so small in her bed; with her hands bundled up in the covers that I can't help the affections I had contemplated during the movie returning to my mind.

Her lips- no, no I cannot kiss her lips. It is too far.

But her forehead…

After a brief calculation of the risks and the potential gain- she will surely smile twice as much if she knows she means as much to me as I apparently do to her- I decide to go ahead with the action.

I reach down to her and push her hair away from her forehead, which makes her give a gentle sigh and smile. Paying no mind to how red she goes the closer I come to her, I bend down to her, and without giving it to much thought, press my lips to her forehead.

She goes completely still.

This, of course, gives me the impression that I have overstepped the boundaries of our friendship, and so I quickly straighten. She is not angry, though. In fact, she's watching me with a face so red I can barely believe she's not feverish, mouth slightly agape.

Still… "Was that inappropriate?" I ask quietly.

She numbly shakes her head. "N-no…"

"Hm." Stomach twisting more now than even before, I swiftly turn on my heal and make way for the door. "Goodnight, woman." I click the light off before she can reply, and then shut the door on the way out.

I hear her just barely as she says, "G-Goodnight… Ulquiorra."

I ignore my bed that night, and sprint straight to the kitchen. Oddly enough, the leftover soup hardly helps my stomach at all, and all night I lay on the spare futon thinking that maybe that demon was eating the girl after all. He looked just as oddly hungry as I felt, after all.

I decide that perhaps this is not hunger than I am feeling after all.

Damn it.

I do not sleep.

|ooo|

|Author's Note|

For those who are wondering, the movie isn't real. I seriously thought up a Sesshomaru x Rin fanfiction and decided to make it a movie for Orihime. Thanks!