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Ulquiorra stood there looking into the distance, almost stupefied. The rain came unexpectedly. It was now making small leaden pools along the sidewalks.
Tsuyu.
It's when heavy rainfalls would roar down like unstoppable steel rods before it would completely fade into the first blaze of summer.
He almost forgot, he had to take his umbrella with him which of course he didn't like to do. He preferred wearing his hoodies on days like this but the steady fall of rainwater and in large quantities proved that it would not suffice.
Yet he stood there, admiring the rain. He admired the rain. He found comfort in rain that fell like daggers from the sky.
He ran a few errands today and preferred strolling just to finally breathe real air as he watched the vastness of the sky turn blue to grey in reckless abandon. He had been slightly worried he'd turn into one of the salarymen (like his coworkers) but he knew he wasn't like that.
Although he couldn't say no at times, there were times when his coworkers would rope him into the nearest izakaya. He disliked it. Really, really disliked it. Nnoitra and Grimmjow— the biggest perpetrators. All because they were all in the Engineering and Technical Department and it was likely for him to see them on the daily.
Nnoitra and Grimmjow were in the same tier 1 support team while Ulquiorra was tier 2 support, so it was not impossible for them to talk especially if issues escalated to tier 2 support— where he was needed the most. Ugh, just IT people things.
But he was too polite to say no sometimes. Other times, he wasn't. And his co-workers knew damn well to back away when he was in a mood. Or when he was simply blunt.
When was it? Two days ago? Ulquiorra couldn't recall much, but the hangover lingered for a day and well into the night he was almost tempted to call in sick the next day but stopped himself. He'd rather scratch a fresh bruise than go out with Nnoitra and Grimmjow again.
Just when he straightened to make his way into the rain, shuffling footsteps suddenly cleaved the air.
A ginger-haired woman found shelter on the farthest side. Her frame was delicate, and she moved lightly and swiftly like a mouse as she found shelter under the canopy. As she was now closing her umbrella, her eyes flitted in Ulquiorra's direction, her lips parting in surprise.
Ulquiorra stared back, sulky and brooding— his usual stare. He was wearing his white zip-up hoodie sweatshirt that almost mimicked the paleness of his skin.
Her eyes shone brightly. They were like grey mist that arose after the rain. Beautiful, vibrant.
As soon as their eyes met, a blush crept up on her cheeks. The deepness of his stare seemed to burn a hole in her soul, and she looked away quickly.
Ulquiorra shrugged, noticing how she was suddenly aware of his presence as he was of hers despite their distance.
He never expected someone would be here at the same time as him. This was the quiet corner of Karakura, less crowded. And the passersby were few and far between. He preferred it this way and he was passing along the sidewalk when the rain came, and he had to stay at this bus stop. He had no intention of riding the bus today. No.
In all honesty, he was far too detached to even care what was happening around him. The sky could be falling today, and he wouldn't even bat an eye. As he should. Except today. The ginger-haired woman had taken more of his attention than he cared to admit. She looked vaguely familiar, it seemed like he saw her somewhere, but he couldn't remember. And there was something about her that something in him shifted into overdrive. He didn't like it. Now he's violently wrestling with his thoughts.
The ginger-haired woman stood motionlessly and watched the rain fall like pellets, her breathing heavy. Her eyes darted sideways quickly. She was indeed aware of him.
Ulquiorra wasn't the talkative type, so he was not one to start a conversation.
"The rain doesn't seem to stop, does it?" The woman finally broke her silence. To Ulquiorra's dismay.
"Unfortunately," he said and wished it ended there.
She edged a little closer as her delicate face broke into a shy smile, her voice slightly faltering, "I have an umbrella here in case you want to go somewhere. Who knows, we might be going the same route."
Ulquiorra only stared at her, his expression as stolid as that of a statue, and the stars in her eyes that were there a minute ago dimmed.
There was some innocence about her that could make men flock to her in murders and groves. She seemed too soft and dainty, like a china doll that could easily break once dropped.
Ulquiorra stood motionless, slightly taken aback but he did not want to show it. Why was this woman forcing herself to be friendly to a stranger like him even if it sounded way too forced?
"No, that won't be necessary," he said curtly, cold even, and the ginger-haired woman blushed.
Her lips pressed tight as if regretting saying something stupid. Up close, her eyes were distinctly clear. And soft.
Ulquiorra wasn't the chummy type and he made sure everyone knew it, and it seemed like his disposition almost made the woman draw back in fear.
That's right. Be scared, woman.
Don't talk.
Don't say hi to me.
Ignore me.
Forget me.
Hate me then leave me the fuck alone.
She backpedaled, glowing a shade of pink. He had his point across and now she wanted to leave him alone. Her eyes cast downwards in disappointment. She muttered a soft "sorry" and avoided his gaze. Despite the heavy belabor of rain, her hushful melodic voice still came through.
Her voice matched her face. Ulquiorra noticed. There was a daintiness to her.
Ulquiorra noticed that her hair delicately parted at the center. She was wearing a six-petal metal clip on either side of her hair, and it made her look cute. Shit, not cute. Damn. What was he even thinking? He wanted to kick himself.
He would never dare think of such things. How horrendous.
The sound of an incoming bus pulled him out of his musings. Almost reluctantly. His curiosity almost peaked, but they were both saved by the bus.
The woman was itching to get away and not even daring to cast a glance in his direction again. The cold wind swept through, and he saw that she was slightly shaking like a leaf.
Or was it him that caused her to tremble in fear?
Ulquiorra let out a regretful breath as he swiftly unzipped his shirt, almost mindlessly. He was probably too harsh.
He quickly doffed off his shirt and handed it to the woman who was so stricken no words escaped from her lips, except a shaky gasp of surprise.
"Here, woman. This will keep you warm," he muttered and before he knew it, he was already helping her wear his jacket.
"W-what about you?" She asked hastily, eyes glistening in surprise. She still couldn't fully grasp what had just happened.
Ulquiorra couldn't either.
"I'll be fine. Go," he said swiftly as he motioned to the bus.
"T-thank you," she fumbled, still couldn't believe what suddenly transpired between them. He was a total asshole one minute then courteous and gallant the next.
"Okay."
"Keep safe," she said softly and left, not sparing him a glance.
The bus swooshed away and Ulquiorra was alone again.
"Orihime!"
The exuberant voice rang across the office.
Orihime arrived seven minutes before her shift started. She almost ran late, and it was such a relief. She thought she was going to catch a cold yesterday but when she woke up today, it went away. Much to her delight.
"Orihime! Quick!"
The voice belonged to Rangiku, the assistant manager of the Finance Department. Her hand shot into the air, and she was motioning for her to come to her.
"Rangiku-san, ohayo!"
Orihime was one of the finance clerks, the newest member of the team and she had been assisting Rangiku deal with a plethora of financial tasks.
She was now standing behind Rangiku, a feisty red-haired woman who, if one would ask, seemed to have all Orihime's attributes. Except that she's tall. She's full-bosomed and pretty. Orihime is a little shorter compared to her. Rangiku was known as the sake queen of the company. How could she not when she outdrank almost all the people from all departments combined during bonenkai.
She regarded her fully then shot her a knowing smile. "So, I heard you were dating one of the IT guys? Is that true?"
IT guy?
The whole department sometimes liked to talk about those engineers. Maybe they're interesting? They never seemed to like showing themselves, though.
"Is that true, Orihime-chan?" Rangiku repeated.
She gasped and almost dropped her bag. "What?!"
Did she mean the guy she got stuck at the bus station with. What was his name again? Ulquiorra?
Rangiku covered her mouth and spoke in a reassuring tone, "Don't worry, it'll be our little secret. No one knows about it except the people in the Finance Department." It was followed by a menacing giggle. Rangiku was such a tease.
"What do you mean the people in the Finance Department?" She croaked, panic surging through her chest. Suddenly she felt dizzy. So, everyone here already knew? Wait— nothing happened!
But why was she so affected that much?
It was a misunderstanding. That engineer was far from being friendly.
"Yes, everyone who works here knows so…"
"What?!" She gasped. The thought brought down the redness of her face into a hot flush.
That was so fast.
Orihime feared it would reach the Technical and Engineering Department.
"Who told you?"
She covered her mouth as she leaned in and whispered "Hitsugaya" then clapped a hand over her lips, eager to see her reaction. "Don't tell anyone, though!" She added and followed it with a secretive wink.
"Where was he?"
"I don't know, he was probably loitering around the place."
"But we're not dating!"
"Not dating?" Rangiku reiterated as disappointment showed on her face.
"No, we're not. It was just a misunderstanding of some sort."
It was true and she wanted this rumor to fade into oblivion instantly.
"Ohh… I thought that was odd when I first heard it. Ulquiorra has always been that brooding, standoffish engineer who doesn't seem to enjoy leaving his desk. At least that's what I heard. Besides, engineers are the quietest sort. They work really hard in the company, but they are the quietest bunch, and their work requires a lot of moving parts, so I don't think that makes them less chatty and sociable."
It's partly true. It was so unlikely for her to see engineers in the building unless they decided to leave their posts. But they're always the less communicative sort. Always the ones who preferred to work first, fix issues and update people. That's where the communication gap happened which was something that the Sales Department had been complaining about.
"Ulquiorra looks handsome, but he seems to look like the unfriendliest one," Rangiku commented. "Well, I'm glad you were able to meet him by chance."
It was raining and she had nowhere to go. She recognized him but he didn't seem to recognize her. She was in her second month working for the company and she barely knew everyone, but everyone had seemed to be raving about that one department that seemed to be crawling with less chatty and sociable engineers.
She gasped as an unwanted memory crept its way into her brain. She still had his jacket and she forgot to bring it today. But given the circumstances, it would have made the situation worse. She had to give it back to him secretly, but she did not know where to look for him— of course she knew but marching toward the Technical and Engineering Department would only fuel more rumors about them which was something that she did not want to happen.
"What is it?"
"Nothing. I almost forgot the time," she half-lied. "I have a deadline to meet," and walked silently to her desk.
When she was at her desk, she stopped abruptly when she saw a blue box sitting on her desk.
Her heart almost leapt out of her chest when she saw a note beneath the box. Carefully, she lifted it up and read the note.
It read "just in case".
And that's it.
Also, there's a tiny box full of chocolate next to it.
She let out an inaudible sigh, careful not to arouse Rangiku's attention. But she probably already saw it before she did.
And she couldn't believe she mentally read it in Ulquiorra's deep voice.
"You what?!"
Grimmjow smirked, his electric blue eyes glinting with malice, and he followed it by a turgid shrug.
"You asked. I delivered," he drawled and swiftly swiveled in his chair and was now facing his monitors.
Ulquiorra's face deadpanned.
He's already well-known for carrying a deadpan, stoic face so this did not seem to greatly affect Grimmjow much.
In fact, Grimmjow did not give a fuck. He took delight in Ulquiorra's discomfort, and he was so bad at hiding it.
He knew better. But he knew better to trust Grimmjow more than Nnoitra.
Nnoitra was worse. He's rude, brutish and would stoop so low that he'd never think twice about disgracing females. Particularly, Nel who's currently on vacation.
"So, are we done?" He asked impatiently when Ulquiorra was still standing behind him, seething silently.
Grimmjow was aware of it. Getting under Ulquiorra's skin was one of his favorite things. A tiny narrative shift would throw Ulquiorra off and it's mainly for his entertainment. Sometimes Ulquiorra wondered how the hell did he ever allow himself to associate with Grimmjow.
"It was just a simple request, Grimmjow. Just a simple request."
"I know, it wouldn't hurt to add a little more."
"I didn't ask you to add chocolate," Ulquiorra said flatly, eyes laser-focused on Grimmjow. He was standing just a few inches where Grimmjow was sitting. He lazily swiveled his chair and was now facing Ulquiorra again.
"I know, but since I was there, why not buy both in one go," he insisted and smirked. His light blue eyes darkened. "She'll thank you."
A large monitor was hiding Nnoitra's face, but he was sitting across from them and Ulquiorra was aware that he was within earshot and had heard everything that was being talked about. He was silent now because mainly a client needed his help regarding backup issues, so he wasn't particularly in the mood to talk. Besides, he had to keep people from the Sales Team on his radar which apparently annoyed the hell out of him.
Ulquiorra stared intensely at Grimmjow, eyes unblinking. Not letting it go.
"You should be thanking me," Grimmjow ventured and grinned mischievously.
"I'll talk to you later," Ulquiorra said curtly and had to cut it short. There was one client who was asking for a remote session, and he had to deal with another engineer regarding their onboarding schedule.
He silently returned to his workstation.
Why did he make the mistake of asking Grimmjow to buy meds at the nearest drugstore in his area today when he could have done it himself. Well, he could. If the nearest drugstore chain didn't take ten minutes on foot while he was running late and he was distressfully greeted by rain outside when he left his apartment. So, he left hastily to head off to a station that took almost six minutes on foot.
And Grimmjow's place was the closest to their workplace and he had to ask for a favor which he normally didn't. He was not being himself today. What was on his mind when he asked him that?
Now he had to face consequences which were not what he had expected. He had asked Grimmjow about Orihime. He had been here for quite a long time, so he knew everyone in the company. Orihime was a newbie, and he had no idea except that she looked familiar. It did seem like she recognized him from somewhere, but Ulquiorra was quick to shove that aside.
It was past four and the rain hammered like there was no tomorrow.
Ulquiorra was inside his office. Everyone left. Grimmjow chatted with him shortly before leaving the office. Ulquiorra was alone and working overtime. Everyone did. Not just him, but today he had so many backlogs he had to work on. He worked on it from late afternoon and well into the night.
He had no time to prepare dinner, so he had to go to a convenience store on his way home. What would be the best food to munch on? Onigiri? It seemed to be the easiest food to eat.
Seven minutes later, he headed off to the elevator and sprinted toward the hallway on the way to the exit and saw a red-haired woman standing at the glass doors. She too couldn't get out.
Ulquiorra's lips pressed.
At full speed, he took the foldable transparent umbrella from his bag and sped up, taking on his usual casual stance.
The woman hesitatingly turned to look who was walking toward her and her cheeks turned a ruby hue when she recognized him instantly.
When he was near her, she stiffened slightly but did not turn to face him.
"Did you forget to bring your umbrella, woman?"
She turned her crimson face toward him and nodded, her foggy grey eyes all wide and alert. Like he caused her a sudden emotional upheaval.
"Yes… I was in a hurry," she replied shyly and averted her gaze, her face turning crimson, remembering something.
Ulquiorra inhaled. A simple thing like that could slip past anyone's mind.
"Great, we can wait it out," Ulquiorra said flatly and almost stopped. He didn't like how his brain turned aside sharply from the main course. Didn't know where it was planning to go, to say the least. What was he thinking?
So, they could talk more? Was that why he said it?
"Sounds nice, thanks. But I'll pass," she said then looked back into the rain. The trepidation of having been caught up in a similar rainy scene.
The rain pummeled harder, menacing in its faithful rendering. Like it was meant to grind them to a halt.
Ulquiorra refused to cast a sideways glance at the rain only to look at Orihime's face imploringly.
"I haven't returned your jacket yet," Orihime muttered softly, aware of her own sensibility— aware of him being near her. Aware that her breathing had started to become more audible as time ticked by.
He ignored it and stared squarely at the ginger-haired woman.
"Come."
His voice was calm and deep and almost with a drawl except that the domineering air lancing through it made her face scrunch up.
"I have an umbrella," he muttered. "We can go."
Before Orihime could spout a clipped noise of protest, a pale hand shot out and pulled her toward him.
He carefully stretched the translucent canopy of his umbrella and together they walked into the rain, not letting the weight of a million tiny raindrops stop them from departing like two lovers escaping from their dreadful fate.
Orihime's hand was now comfortably around his arm as Ulquiorra watched the tear-shaped raindrops fall into the ground and form hundreds of vanishing rings around the spot where they touched.
The cold wind swept through, but the warmth of her hand made the cold less tolerable.
Shivers convulsed through her body, and she walked faster to fend off the chill.
Ulquiorra stopped. Aware that she was chilled to the bone. They're on the sidewalk. Just near the convenience store. No one was walking except them. They were standing near a row of vending machines. The subway station wasn't that far. They would make it there in five minutes on foot.
"Ulquiorra-kun..." she muttered and stared into his vivid green eyes.
Ulquiorra paused, staring back. "Don't call me that."
She's really pretty.
"Sorry."
"Don't sweat it," he said and dismissed it quickly, but his voice turned deep and mellow that made her focus her attention back to him.
"Okay," she said as she nodded then let out a shaky breath, "Thank you for the chocolate... I-I didn't think it was necessary and as well as the medicine... but thank you," she said quietly, the soft dulcet trill of her voice told him she was nervous. "I still have your jacket, I need to give it back to you tomorrow, but I made sure to wash it first, so you won't worry about washing it yourself."
Her voice was dripping with concern as she gazed up at him. Her big doe eyes shimmered, like she was waiting for him to say something.
Something in Ulquiorra stirred and he didn't realize his fingers slid into the ginger strands of her hair like he had been meaning to do it a long time ago.
A smile played about her lips, eyes wide with curiosity. "Thank you for keeping me safe."
Ulquiorra deadpanned, but there was something about her that piqued his curiosity. Now that she was right in front of him, it was so hard to pull his attention away.
Like there was something he wanted to try...
"Can I kiss you?"
Orihime stood there gazing at him, her face turning fire-engine red. What he said brought a lump to her throat. "S-sorry?"
Driblets of rain touched her cheek.
"You heard me right."
In public?
Ulquiorra didn't know where it came from but fuck it, he had to soldier on and see.
She nodded shyly as she consciously tucked her hair behind her ear.
The sky was pitch dark. The rain wasn't going to stop and now was his chance.
The rain slowed a bit by the time Ulquiorra inclined his face toward hers her eyes were already half closed when he pressed his lips to hers.
Her lips were as sweet as they looked. The gentle brushing of their lips left her somewhat breathless and was followed by a lingering gaze.
"Where to?" He asked, pulling her out of her reverie.
"Park? Who knows? I love the rain," she chirped and smiled warmly at him. Her smile was brighter than the sky.
"Okay," Ulquiorra ceded.
He would enjoy a spontaneous adventure with her. After all, they're both safe under an umbrella.
He would keep her safe.