Orihime sighed and scratched her head as she analysed the homework Mr Kyoraku has just given her, she swore the man's main aim in life was to torture his students. Two compositions by the end of the month and one to be performed for the Christmas Concert! Not to mention he had given them a theory essay to write on the properties of romanticism and classical music and what set them apart. He really was an absolute nutcase.

Shaking her head ruefully, she put the assessment sheet in her bag, turned the corner to her locker, and smacked straight into a muscular body, causing her to stumble into the corner of the wall which poked painfully into her back.

"Why don't you look where you're going?" snapped a husky voice. She looked up and felt her stomach drop; she had bumped into none other than Grimmjow Jaeggerjacques, the extremely good-looking juvenile delinquent who, frankly, scared the crap out of her.

"I am so sorry, please forgive me!" she stammered.

"Yeah well next time be more careful bitch," he snarled, starting to walk around her.

"Can't you spend one minute without getting yourself into some sort of trouble?" asked a lower voice as a hand came around Grimmjow's blue-dyed head and rapped in smartly.

Orihime's eyes widened as she saw the stocky form of Ulquiorra Cifer, one of the smartest and richest people in the grade. He was well known for his father's billion dollar enterprise as well as his emotionless face and emerald eyes, which were at this moment, gazing upon the other man with undisguised scorn.

"What the hell was that for?" snarled Grimmjow, pushing the pale hand away from his head.

"For being unnecessarily vulgar, even for you," stated Ulquiorra coolly. "My apologies woman, he is an idiot and must be disciplined as such."

"Why you-" Grimmjow raised his fist but Ulquiorra kicked his legs casually, causing him to fall to the floor on his backside.

"Eh, thank you Ulquiorra," whispered Orihime, a little unsettled by his use of calling her "woman", her eyes flicking between Grimmjow and Ulquiorra.

"You have nothing to thank me for, I was merely putting this trash in his place," he leaned down and grasped the furious teen's shirt collar and pulled him through the hallway without another word, much to his companion's loud cursing.

Orihime looked after them curiously, pushing her vibrant orange hair back from her face. She had always wondered about Ulquiorra, he was such a strange man; shorter than his friends, neater, less crude, and yet he always seemed to hold a ranking of seniority compared to them. He was always so calm, his face so blank. Only his eyes had a hint of emotion in them, and they were always cold and calculating. With a small sigh, she turned around and walked to her locker, the dismal prospect of a long evening of composing ahead of her.

Orihime slammed the door to her locker and picked up her bag.

"Do you wanna get some ice-cream Orihime?" asked her best friend Tatsuki, walking up to her and dragging her bag. "Chizuru, Mizuiro and Keigo are going?"

Orihime shook her head sorrowfully, "Sorry Tatsuki. I have to start composing for the project Mr Kyoraku gave us today; I don't know how I'm going to finish in time."

"Alright then, I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she said, ruffling Orihime's hair. "Don't stay here too late; the school's not all that safe at night."

"Don't worry about me Tatsuki!" exclaimed Orihime, striking a pose. "I've got all those fighting moves you taught me!"

"Good luck," she laughed, waving at her and walking down the hallway.

Orihime looked after her, she would have loved to join them for ice-cream, the manager of Candy Cream Co ("for all the sweet and sugary delicacies guaranteed to make your teeth fall out") Kisuke Urahara, always had a range of assorted toppings, and she had been hoping to try out red-bean paste and chopped eggplant pieces on top of chocolate, pistachio and honeycomb ice-cream.

"Oi Orihime!" called a voice. She turned around to see her long-time crush, Ichigo Kurosaki, walking towards her with a bored look on his face. "You're not going with Tatsuki and the others?"

"Oh Ichigo!" she cried, smiling at him and feeling her fingers and toes tingle. "No I'm not; I've got too much work to do."

"Keigo asked me to join them, but to be honest; I'm not one for hanging with him and Chizuru at a candy store. Well see you later, mind your brother doesn't keep you up too late," he said with a nod, and walked off in the opposite direction with a call of "Hey Uryu, wanna help me study for maths, Mr Kuchiki is gonna kill me if I stuff up this test?"

She turned around and walked down to the music department, feeling a lot more depressed than she had before. No one knew that her brother was dead, not even Tatsuki. If she told Ichigo he would freak out and get too protective. But she could not tell anyone, what if the authorities found out and send her off to an orphanage or a foster family? Besides, she was alright where she was, sure she had to work hard, but she would rather that than be sent away from everything she had ever known. And it was not like she needed anymore parents in her life.

She threw her bag in a corner of the music department, took her music sheets and violin out and walked down to the grand-piano room where she could plonk away to her heart's content. It was the perfect place to practice as the teachers would rush out the moment the bell rang; eager to get home, and very few students hung around this particular area after school. But apparently, someone else had the same thing in mind she did. Through the door left slightly ajar she could hear the melody of a sad, yet beautiful piano piece being played so fluidly she could not tell if it was a recording or not. She peered through the crack in the door and gently pushed it open. What she saw defied all senses of logic in her mind: Ulquiorra Cifer was sitting at the grand piano playing the most beautiful, and saddest piece she had ever heard, and not just that, he played it beautifully. His fingers flew across the keys like they were barely there, and she could the raw emotion coursing through him and the instrument, flowing in the music and into her very soul. It was bitterly harsh and dark, ringed with soft tears of sadness that made her heart ache and her mind remember. She found herself being drawn towards him and walking towards him involuntarily.

All too soon the piece ended.

"That was beautiful," she couldn't help murmuring.

His head snapped up to look at her, his face startled, "Oh I am sorry, I did not know this place was booked," he said quickly getting up.

"Oh no please don't go," she said waving her arms around. "I didn't know you played, you're really amazing!"

"No one else does either, and I would prefer it stayed that way," he said coldly.

She smiled at him, undeterred by his chilly nature.

"What else can you play? I can't play the piano at all, which is a little inconvenient when it comes to music, I have to compose some stupid thing for Mr Kyoraku by the end of the month, well two stupid things, and I've gotta perform one of them. All I can really do is play the violin, but I'm not very good at it, I can sing though, and everyone says I'm pretty good at that, but that's kind of it, which isn't very good when it comes to performing you know?" she ranted.

He did not know, nor did he really care, not to mention he had not been able to follow her train of thought, so all he said was "I see."

"What's that piece called?" she asked.

"Reverie, by Debussey," he replied stoically.

She nodded, "Could you play something else please, I need inspiration for this composition?" she said, smiling at him.

He was about to refuse, but there was something in her eyes, a desperate yearning, that made him sit down and put his hands to the keys.

"What would you like me to play?"

"Ummm," she mused, putting her finger to her chin in a comical fashion. "Do you know of Moonlight Sonata?"

"You want me to play that?" he asked witheringly. Of all the pieces she wanted it was that one? He sighed, "Very well." He turned around to play but looked back at her, "You may want to pull up a chair."

"Oh," she hurried over to the side of the room and heaved out a chair from the stack, dragged it over to him, and sat down with an eager expression, hands in her lap.

Feeling unnerved by her expression, he put his fingers to the keys, and began to play, the melody soaring through the small room and filling Orihime with its pure notes. But what clung to her the most was the way he played, his fingers were so long and graceful, their white pallor combining with that of the ivory keys; and the emotion they evoked. He moved with the piece, it was not flat like so many other people she had heard play it, but filled with meaning. His face was no longer empty and uncaring, but filled with an inner light and wonder, and in those six minutes, she felt she got the barest glimpse at what lay beneath his hidden green eyes.

The last note lingered in the air, as his graceful fingers lifted off the piano. The two of them sat there for a long time, thinking, Orihime did not think she had ever been silent for so long. That piece was her brother's favourite, it had been played at his funeral, but by a half-drunk pianist who had run in half an hour late, played it quickly, then left. He had not done the piece justice, for the composer, nor for her brother. She felt tears run down her eyes and she sniffed, wiping them away with the back of her hand.

Ulquiorra turned around in surprise, emerald eyes gazing at her in shock, "Are you actually crying?" he asked, with a sharp edge to his voice.

She shook her head vehemently and heard the scraping of the chair as it was pushed back, she looked up to see him staring down at her, all emotion gone from his face to be replaced by the emptiness again.

"I should not have played that for you," he said tonelessly. And with that, he turned around and left the room swiftly, leaving the young girl sitting on the chair, tears streaming down her eyes, confusion etched in every part of her face.

Edit: I have edited and re-uploaded this as I personally thought that the original was a terrible display of my work.

I hope you liked that, it was a little short but it will get longer! This is a purely UlquiHime fanfic with some smaller pairings thrown in every now and again, and it does get a lot better, especially now that I am rereading this and realising how bad I used to be as a writer, I promise that the later chapters are of much higher standard.

Thank you for reading.