CHAPTER 6 - The Warmth I Longed For

Orihime woke up to a familiar room, very familiar even for her. It was whitewashed with the walls obnoxiously high. Her previous couch that served as her bed during captivity was now an elegant four-posted canopy bed that had thin linens run down from the mahogany posts. She closed her eyes for a brief moment before launching herself to sit up and take a deep breath. She patted the sheets beside her, looking for her son's form under the blankets but no Saki was lying beside her. Her worry for Saki lessened when she saw that his side of the bed was neat, meaning he had already gone up earlier than her and remembering Szayel's contraption that connects Ulquiorra to Saki, she was confident that the arrancar will take care of his son as he had promised.

The auburn-haired girl stood up and changed into a new set of clothing, similar to the ones she had worn before, and somehow it made her smile. She knew that what she was doing with the ex-Espadas was wrong and she could endanger herself into being a traitor once more but what was important for her was to give Saki his long dream of meeting his father. She paced through the empty ruined halls of Las Noches, though some pillars have survived the war, most were rubbles and boulders that blocked many paths. She remembered the meeting that took place yesterday at the conference room where she was instructed to reject the damage to the palace that once stood proud at the center of Hueco Mundo. She clearly remembered how the ex-Espadas promised that no war will take place and their only goal is to control the chaos in Hueco Mundo and restore hierarchy among the enraged souls and stray hollows that ran through the vast desert fields. If it really is their plan, then she doesn't want to stop it since it was for the good of the world that witnessed a bloody war. Orihime sighed and stopped infront of a sliced-up broken boulder and then took her hairpins out of her pocket.

"Well then, it's good to see you again, are you guys ready?" she softly whispered. The hairpins glowed brightly in return. Orihime neatly placed the hairpins unto her hair just like how she have used them to fix her hair when she was younger. She stopped placing them in her hair as soon as the Winter War had ended and only kept them in a jewelry box in her room.

"Sotten Kisshun... I reject." she stated with her arms concentrating over the rubbles. Slowly, the pillar's pieces came together just like a puzzle and in a matter of a minute, the pillar was good as new. Orihime smiled to her achievement and skipped joyfully to the next pillar and to the other, reviving the palace pillars one by one and seeing the halls return to their former state. After an hour, Orihime looked back at the corridors she just restored, wiping her sweat away and then hearing her stomach grumble. "All these excitement and I actually forgot about breakfast." she chuckled. "Now where is the kitchen again?"

Karakura Town, 9:00 AM, Sunday

It was a sunny Sunday and Rukia, the raven-haired Shinigami, was busy drying the clothes on a line. Her friends, Ichigo and Renji sat lazily on the foldable chairs at the porch, watching the petite girl do all the work by herself.

"So, Renji, when will you propose?" Ichigo asked. "It's really been too long and Rukia... well, she's an impatient one."

"We'll get there. Oh, speaking of proposals," Renji asked back; "I've heard Ishida-san's planning to ask Orihime to marry him. All true?"

"Yeah, he did mention it once over a couple of drinks. He's been really stable on his businesses and never forgets to check on Orihime everyday, heck, even becoming a good father-figure to Saki."

"Saki huh?" Renji smirked. "No one's ever asked Orihime about that kid, but having those green eyes... how come no one's brought it up yet?"

A large smack fell unto Renji's head, Rukia looking annoyed as ever. Her one hand holding a stiff clothes hanger and the other carrying a basket full of drapes. "No one's asked and no one should ask." Rukia replied in a very stern voice. "She's happy having Saki. Whatever had happened years before, she has the decision whether to tell us or not, and besides, we are all here to support her."

Ichigo and Renji fell silent, the silence only to be broken by a doorbell.

"I'll get it." Rukia said, "Who could it be on a Sunday?"

As soon as Rukia opened the door, two familiar faces greeted her, it was no other than the ice-captain Toshirou and the strawberry blonde busty lieutenant, Rangiku who immediately gave Rukia an embrace. "It's been a while!" Rangiku greeted. "Indeed." Rukia replied with a soft smile on her face. "What brings you back here in Karakura? We were planning to visit Soul Society the next weekend anyway."

"Hitsugaya-san, Matsumoto-san!" Ichigo and Renji followed Rukia as soon as they heard their voices. The five seated themselves at the dining room, the three puzzled by the unannounced visit.

"I've already called Ishida-san, and he's on his way. As for Inoue-san, I can't seem to get her. Her phone's ringing but no one is picking up." Rukia stated. "What's going on?"

"Well," Rangiku replied. "There's something peculiar about the other night. A sudden surge of unknown reiatsu shot up in Hueco Mundo and then disappeared. A few minutes after that, the same mysterious presence was traced here in Karakura, but then disappeared swiftly too. We just wanted to know whether you've seen something or felt something."

"Now that you've mentioned it, the air had been really odd the other night." Ichigo said as he looked at Rukia and Renji who agreed to his statement. "All too odd that-" Ichigo was cut off and something immediately popped into his senses. "Shit."

"What is it?" Rangiku replied worriedly. "Ichigo what is it?!" her voice louder. Ichigo stood up and shot through the door, running towards the corner, there he bumped into Ishida who was in a shock to see Ichigo's spiritual energy so distressed. Ichigo continued to run and was followed by the others. He stopped in front of Orihime's pastry shop and peered into the glass 'CLOSED' was the sign. "Shit." he muttered to himself as he ran towards her house a few blocks away. He began to bang on the door as soon as he reached her residence.

"Orihime, hurry up, open the door!" he yelled. "Orihime!"

"Goddamnit Ichigo!" Rangiku sneered. "Running all of a sudden, what is it?!"

"You said it was the other night right? I was sleeping at that time however I felt an all to powerful reiatsu here, it wasn't an individual reiatsu but a garganta. I thought I was just dreaming but then I tried tracing Orihime's reiatsu. I never monitored the presence of reiatsus again since everyone was living normally here in Karakura so..."

"A garganta?" Toshirou repeated. "Then the captain commander's hunches were true."

"The captain commander? He knows about this?" Ishida looked at Toshiro and Rangiku. "Then why weren't we informed?"

"This is supposed to be a quick assessment on Karakura, turns out this isn't just a juvenile hollow on the loose."

Ishida kicked the door open and began to look for clues. "Saki... Saki isn't here!"

"Inoue must've been kidnapped!" Ichigo banged his fists on the wall. "I thought all of this is over..."

"Calm down, let's all go back and report to the Soul Society. If this is a higher hollow's doing, someone who is capable of opening a garganta, then that creature must be staying in Hueco Mundo." Toshirou stated.

"Gather your things, we're going to Soul Society. We'll wait for you at Uruhara-san's shop." Rangiku added, leaving Ichigo, Rukia, Renji and Ishida heavily worried for their missing friend.

Orihime wiped her sweat on her forehead, for the whole day she was restoring the west wing's corridors, and for that whole day, she hasn't seen Saki or Ulquiorra. Orihime was accompanied by Halibel and her fracciones and by Stark and Lilynette during the restoration.

"I guess that's one whole corridor for the west wing now. I can start the next corridor, Halibel-san." Orihime gladly offered.

"Your efforts are greatly appreciated, however, I think you should rest first, you've been working non-stop the whole day." Halibel replied.

"I guess so... thank you very much." Orihime bowed to the arrancars in front of her.

"Follow me to the conference room, Apacci, Sung-sun and Mila Rose will gladly serve dinner."

Orihime quietly followed Halibel and the others through the turns and doors that led to the center of the palace. The center, just like how Ulquiorra described it was in perfect condition and what took Orihime's attention was the staircase going to the apex of Las Noches. She wondered why she never saw it before, let alone saw the center of Las Noches. Orihime was holding all the curiosity but she was really interested in the spiral metal staircase that vanished into the darkness.

"Halibel-san, where does the staircase lead to?" she shyly asked, fidgeting her robes. Orihime was pretty sure Halibel will just ignore her or worse, will tell her it was none of her business because the central area needs no repairing. A few seconds of silence, Orihime grew hopeless for the ex-Espada's answer. "Uhm... it's okay Halibel-san, I-"

"Greenhouse."

"Pardon?" Orihime was surprised that Halibel bothered to answer her.

"Greenhouse. You can go and look. Though the stairs are quite high. It directly leads to the topmost part of the palace. It's a greenhouse kept by..."

Before Halibel could finish, Orihime thanked her and said that she'll go to the conference room after she has visited the greenhouse. Beneath the large clothing that cover's the Tercera Espada's face, she was hiding a small smirk that'll stay for the rest of the day. Starkk yawned and proceeded to the conference room, looking back at Orihime who enthusiastically ran upstairs.

Orihime panted, she clearly did not think it through that the stairs was really high. From the ground floor towards the roof of Las Noches, it went on for a while. She realized that the arrancars won't have any problems about this since they have the ability to sonido and practically be atop the palace in a matter of five seconds. However, her low stamina did not break her will to take one step at a time, Orihime looked up and saw light from afar, 'A hole?' she thought. She continued taking the steps, slower this time, grasping the stair handles on each side. Closer and closer to the light, it wasn't just a regular hole from the ceiling, bit by bit, Orihime saw that the light was able to pass through a gigantic stained glass fresco. The fresco were images of roses, thorns and an angel at the middle; not the kind of angel you'd see at the church but the creature had a human form, kneeling down with his wings spread wide open. Orihime's grey eyes glistened at the marvelous sight, awed and curious, why hasn't anyone talk about this majestic creation? Soon enough, the woman was close to the fresco. She was able to see a clear picture now, it wasn't an angel, better yet, it was the devil. It had horns protruding on its forehead and had a lashing tail that was also in picture, however, despite being a portrait of a devil, Orihime moved closer, she felt the light illuminating from the fresco give some sort of warmth even if it maybe just another artificial feature in Hueco Mundo.

Her hands traversed the glass in different colors and hues in front of her until her hand found a glass doorknob that was hidden among the roses in the image. Orihime turned the knob and pushed a latch open, in front of her, a cool breeze welcomed her and her eyes gazed on a large room covered in red roses with their petals dancing about. The room was very different from the Las Noches that she knew. It was a greenhouse where the glasses, instead of plain transparent ones were actual frescos with different creatures, angels, demons, knights, arrancars, shinigamis. It almost looked like a grand cathedral. The auburn haired girl stopped her gazing at the frescos and looked down at the roses on the floor, she kneeled down and touched one, to her surprise it was all too real, too authentic to be another illusion. A smile crept on Orihime's face, she never saw anything as beautiful as the field of roses in front of her. The petals danced from the breeze coming in from the center of the room that was exposed to the winds outside of the palace. Orihime's grand daze was disturbed by a sudden movement of the roses in the center of the room. The rosebeds shuffled and she decided to investigate, her hands ready to raise a shield when danger strikes.

"Woman."

Orihime's eyes grew bigger, seeing Ulquiorra lying down at the roses, his pale features standing out from a sea of scarlet fleurs. His eyes just a fraction open, his hands crossed across his chest, neatly folded. "Woman, what brings you here?"

Orihime stumbled down, laughing nervously to herself.

"I-I'm sorry Ulquiorra-san, I didn't know this was your room."

"It is not, woman. Are you done with your task today?"

"Yes, Halibel-san and Starkk-san have accompanied me."

"I see." Ulquiorra monotonously replied. Orihime bit her lip in embarrassment in seeing Ulquiorra in his alone time but as her eyes gazed on his palid features, she noticed a red spot on his arm that he was actually applying pressure on, hence his crossed arms. She didn't notice it the first time because the red roses hid the blood streaking from his arm.

"Ulquiorra-san, your arm..." Orihime whispered. Reaching for his arm for her to heal.

"I am fine, woman."

"How did you? I mean, I've always thought you can regenerate fast."

"I was fighting off some stray hollows that were incoming to the palace, it seems that the new spiritual pressures lure them in. As for my regeneration, I still haven't recovered a hundred percent of my capabilities when I was in Aizen-sama's care. This is nothing woman, it will heal, but not as fast as I previously can."

"Let me." Orihime disregarded Ulquiorra's statement not to worry for him. Softly, she pulled his arm and her hands glowed. "Sotten Kisshun, I reject." Ulquiorra watched as his wound healed fast and even his clothing was repaired. "Please take care of yourself."

Ulquiorra did not reply but Orihime knew Ulquiorra isn't the type of person who actually responds to her mushy ways.

"Well, uhm... Ulquiorra-san, since it's just the two of us here, I want to tell you something." Orihime timidly pulled strands of her hair back to it's place, her other hand fidgeting on her garment. "Saki. Ever since he was small, he knew you, he knew how you'd look like. I mean, the piece of your soul that you gave me, I don't really understand it, but months after, I found out that I had Saki inside me."

"The soul is an abstract thought indeed." Ulquiorra replied, "Most hollows who fulfill in maturing their souls, they become Vasto Lordes, powerful creatures, some manage to master one kind of skill while you woman, you were able to convert my soul into..."

"Into our child, Ulquiorra-san." Orihime gave the Espada a sweet smile. "You are not alone, Ulquiorra-san, you now have Saki. And Saki is very happy to have finally meet you too." she chuckled. "Saki is really stern you know, for a child so young, he scolds me on my goofy moments."

"You've changed a lot, woman." Ulquiorra stated, Orihime blushed in a deep shade of red.

"I... ah... it's been years, maybe I got used to pretending that I really am a grown, responsible adult that I really am already mature."

Ulquiorra and Orihime found themselves staring hazily at each other, Ulquiorra's head now at Orihime's lap as she was healing his arm. Orihime found herself losing ends at his sight, her heart was pounding so hard, looking at the ex-Espada.

"I thought I wouldn't see you again, woman."

Orihime was unable to hold back tears, she cried and cried, letting out the frustrations and grief she was holding back for several years. She held Ulquiorra's face sobbed, "I am happy you're back, Ulquiorra-san, I really am. I am so happy, I..." In a swift motion, Ulquiorra sat up and pulled Orihime into his arms, his pale hands in contrast to her sea of auburn hair, he embraced her tightly, Orihime shocked with his sudden gesture. Her senses just gave up and held him tightly as well. Tighter by every second, Orihime kept on scolding herself 'What if all of this is just a dream?'.

A/N I'm back, will upload a longer chapter soon. Review please!