To the Future

Rating: K+/T

Genre: General/Romance (a bit)

Characters: Ulquiorra Schiffer, Inoue Orihime, Aizen Sosuke

Pairings: UlquiOri, IchiHime, hints of IchiRuki

Summary: "Ne, Ulquiorra, what do you see yourself doing in the future?" It started out with a simple question. Why can't the woman ever keep her curiosity at bay? Why can't she control her emotions?

AN: DX No, I haven't fixed my laptop yet (if you're wondering, check my profile), so I'm typing on my cruddy computer. So, good luck to me and cheers to you all...

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. I mean, come on, if I were Kubo-teme, I would've brought Ulquiorra back already!

The sounds of his feet coming down the hallway; oh how she knew them well. After all, they belonged to the only person who ever visited her. The door slowly creaked open and Orihime sat up straighter on the couch in expectation. He was late; very unusual for one like him who always timely.

She slid off the white couch when the door fully opened and he walked in, a servant arrancar trailing behind him, wheeling the usual cart with her food on it. "Ulquiorra," she murmured, looking at him expectantly. "You're late." She frowned when he didn't quirk an eyebrow like she hoped he would and distantly wondered if he really was as emotionless as he seemed.

Ulquiorra waved a hand, signaling for the servant to leave and shoved—no, placed—his hand back into his pocket. He was too graceful and gentlemanly to do such an atrocious act as stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Why does that concern you?" he replied, giving her a piercing look. "You know that I will always come to check up on you, in one way or another."

'Wow, that's the most I've ever heard him say,' Orihime thought to herself, a small, fleeting smile gracing her lips. "I was just wondering where you were," she murmured in response, taking her seat on the couch once again. "I just thought it was strange for you to be late. After all, you're always on time, no matter what. What made you late today?"

Ulquiorra fought off the urge to sigh and shut his eyes, leaving Orihime to wonder what he was thinking of and whether he would answer her question or not. "I was at an Espada meeting," he finally answered after a minute of debating with himself about whether it was appropriate for that woman to control him like that.

"Oh, I see," came the soft reply.

Wheeling the cart to the table, Ulquiorra uncovered the dish of soup, a pitcher of tea, several cups, and teriyaki and rice. "Eat, woman," he said, giving her a sharp look that promised force feeding if she didn't comply.

Orihime sighed and took a seat at the table. She had learned the hard way that she shouldn't disobey the Espada's orders—especially if she didn't want to suffer another minute with the sadistic Szayel Aporro Grantz and perverted Noitora. Picking up the spoon, she began to sip her soup, stealing small glances in the direction of her company from time to time until he gave her a sharp glance that left her cheeks burning and her feeling like a child that just got scolded.

"If you have something to say, woman, then say it already."

Orihime looked at him in shock. How in the world did he know that she had a question that she had been meaning to ask him? Fighting down another blush, she began fiddling with her spoon and swirling the soup. "U-um, ano, I was just wondering, Ulquiorra," she stuttered, earning herself a look that said, "hurry up, woman" from her stoic guard. "A-ah, well, I was just w-wondering if you could..."

"Stop mumbling, woman. I can't hear you."

Glaring for all that she was worth ('Which isn't much,' Ulquiorra thought to himself), she snapped, "I would appreciate it if you would stop calling me woman and start calling me by my name, Ulquiorra."

Needless to say, Ulquiorra was a bit shocked, though not as shocked as when she had slapped him. He was still muddling on about why he hadn't stopped her or punished her for that action. He gave what seemed to be a small, slight smirk and narrowed his vibrant green eyes a bit. "And why would you want me to call you by your given name, Orihime?" he shot back at her.

Orihime's cheeks were burning once more and swore that he was giving her a haughty look. 'Well, he would, if he would just show some expression,' she thought angrily. 'And he's right. Why do I even care? And why does my stomach just do flips when he called me by my name?' She tried glaring at him again, but it was a faltering one that couldn't even scare away a young child. "I care because it would make me seem less like a prisoner!" she yelled, coming up with an excuse from the top of her head. 'And it's a pretty convincing one too!' she thought cheerfully to herself, patting herself on the back.

"Stop lying, Orihime."

Her stomach did flips once again. "H-how—I'm not lying!" she said defiantly, trying to stop her unsettled stomach, and after a few moments later, "I-it's part of the truth..."

Ulquiorra closed his eyes in exasperation. This woman was confusing him. "What else do you have on your mind, Orihime?"

'Well, why does my stomach flip or gets filled with butterflies whenever you call me by my name is one,' she thought darkly to herself. "Another would be why I care so much for you to call me by my given name would be another," she muttered.

"Excuse me?"

"E-eh, nothing!" she replied shakily. Then, gathering up her courage, she asked, "Ne, Ulquiorra, what do you see yourself doing in the future?"

The question caught him off guard. That was rare. Nay, it was extremely, really, very rare and any other combination along that line. In other words, that was one of the very, extremely few questions or actions that had ever caught him off guard. And they always centered around her, Inoue Orihime. Why?

"U-Ulquiorra?" She waved a hand in front of his face and giggled. "Hehe. I've never seen Ulquiorra in a daze like that."

"I'm not in a daze, woman," he snapped. Well, it would seem like a snap, coming from him. Otherwise, it would just seem like another monotone statement.

Orihime frowned and looked away unhappily. Her brows furrowed when he called her woman. "You called me that again," she mumbled. "And you still haven't answered my question."

"Hn." Orihime gazed expectantly at him. "I'll be doing whatever Aizen-sama tells me to do," he replied.

Sticking out her bottom lip in a pout, she crossed her arms. "No, no, that's not how it goes!" she snapped. "You're supposed to tell what you want to do, not what Aizen-san wants you to do!"

Ulquiorra stayed silent, pondering over her statement. What did he want to do? A thought came to mind, but he quickly erased that one, deeming it as trash. There was no way that would ever happen, whether he wanted it to happen or not.

Orihime suddenly clapped her hands excitedly, snapping him out of his trance. "Oh, I know!" she exclaimed. "I'll demonstrate! It goes like this: Um...in the future...I see myself as a French chef! Well, or a chef in general...oh! And I'm going to get married, of course..."

Orihime smiled and closed her eyes. "Yes, it would be nice to marry Kurosaki-kun," she murmured. "But he wouldn't notice me..." A picture of Ichigo and Rukia together flashed through her mind, but strangely enough, her heart didn't ache like she had thought it would. She glanced up at her melancholic guard. "It's your turn...what do you dream of for the future?"

"Nothing," came the simple reply and Orihime's face became contorted with confusion.

"Nothing?" she repeated. "But surely you have something that you want to do!"

"We arrancars do not need to dream of our future," he answered. "We do not need to trouble ourselves with such trivial matters."

Orihime lowered her head and pouted. "Is it all arrancars or just you?" she muttered under her breath. Ulquiorra gave no signs of hearing what she said, but she knew better. Even if he didn't respond, he always heard her soft mutters for he had far superior hearing than hers. And she cursed it for she was sure he heard the comment from earlier, even if he pretended not to.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room and Orihime busily occupied herself by finishing the soup. 'But the silence isn't so bad,' she mused. 'It's almost comfortable...so safe...' And a blush that didn't go unnoticed by the latter of the two alighted her cheeks.

And without a second thought, which was very unusual for one like him who liked to think things out, he asked, "You are thinking of that ryoka, the substitute shinigami, are you not?", much to the surprise of them both.

Orihime's eyes widened and quickly shook her head. "E-eh? No, I wasn't!" she denied. "I was thinking of how safe I feel being around you!" She turned a deep shade of red and quickly clamped her hands over her mouth. "I-I mean...er...ano...please ignore that?"

Ulquiorra finally gave into that long awaited sigh and closed his eyes. 'This woman—no, Orihime—she's confusing.' he thought darkly to himself. "You should not feel anything," he said. "You are one of us now."

Orihime's bright eyes once turned downcast like all of the other times he had come into contact with her here in Las Noches. 'Hm. This is the only time I have ever seen her so happy,' he mused, but then quickly erased that thought.

"Yes, I know," he heard her whisper softly and dejectedly. But then she perked up again. "Ne, ne, Ulquiorra, do you think you can take me to the kitchen some time? I want to cook a whole bunch of—" He interrupted her with a curt no. "E-eh? But why not?" she complained. "All I want to do is cook! I want to cook a whole bunch of dishes—all just for you to try out! And others for all the others to try too!...of course I want to eat too...but I'm sure you'd all like my miso, pork, wasabi, grape jelly, corn, chili peppers, and curry ramen!"

In a very rare event, Ulquiorra's stoic face turned into one of surprised, tinged with a but of disgust. Wasabi and grape jelly in ramen? What has the human world gotten to? But Orihime was grinning like there was no tomorrow. "Uwah! You finally showed some emotion, Ulquiorra!" she chirped happily, grasping his arm and cutting off the (nonexistent) circulation in it. "Yay! So, can we go?"

Pulling his arm out of her grasp, he replied with another curt no. Orihime pouted. "Oh, but why?" she whined.

"Aizen-sama has forbid it," he replied.

She continued to sulk. And then a thought came to mind. "Do you think Aizen-san would let me if you asked?"

A thoughtful looked almost crossed his face, but needless to say, he did think about it. "I am doubtful that he would let you," he replied. "But..." She looked at him hopefully with her large doe eyes and he sighed, letting her influence wash over him. "I will see."

She squealed and hugged him tightly. "Oh, thank you, Ulquiorra!" she cried. "Hontou arigatou! And I promise if Aizen-san lets me, I'll make you a special meal! Oh! I know! I'll make you curry, wasabi, bean paste, ketchup, and mustard flavored fried rice!"

Ulquiorra almost blanc, but he knew better and pried himself from the girl's bone crushing death hug. "I have not promised you anything," he replied, stalking over to the door. "I just said that I will see. Keep your emotions in check, Orihime." And with a flick of his fingers, he opened the door and left, seemingly gliding down the deserted hallways.

-----------------

Aizen rested his cheek on his knuckles and chuckled silently to himself. There was something of a relationship between his creation and that woman, that he was sure of. "Interesting," he murmured to himself. "Very interesting." And then the images of a bunch of hollow-human hybrid children ran through his mind and his smile widened.

Ulquiorra watched his creator carefully, noting the strange smile and chuckle. Something was up and Ulquiorra had a feeling that it involved him and Orihime. He did not like it one bit, especially if it was something Aizen thought of. Plus, it involved him and the prisoner, so in the end, it would never be good.

"You have my permission to bring the woman to the kitchen whenever she wants to," Aizen declared. "You may leave now, Ulquiorra."

Ulquiorra made a small bow. There still was a small voice inside his head that Aizen was planning something, but he just shoved it to the side. There will be time to deal with that later. "Hai, Aizen-sama," he replied, albeit a bit stiffly and left. Once outside in the white corridors, he let out a small sigh. 'I just know that letting her into the kitchen will be a bad idea,'

-----------------

Orihime sighed and sat down. Then she got up and walked over to the table, a small smile gracing her lips. "Ulquiorra forgot to make me finish my food," she murmured to herself, pouring some tea into a cup. Then she sat down and proceeded to finish her meal, her thoughts straying to her silent guard every now and then. "Oh well," she said happily, holding the cup of tea to her lips. "Cheers. To the future and whatever it may hold."

And she tilted the cup and drank its entire contents.

Hmm...yeah, I realize that this can be counted as a sort of prequel to It's Not an Obsession. Meh. Well, I can leave you to interpret whatever you think will happen with the phrase, "To the future and whatever it may hold."