Road to Redemption

Chapter 4: Paradigm

Hello everyone! Here's the new chapter! Sorry last one was a bit less exciting. Had to let those cuties settle down before I could continue. I'm glad you're liking the story so far. I'll try to post a bit more often once I'm done with my college finals. As always I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading!

© Bleach and it's characters don't belong to me. They belong to Tite Kubo and Shonen Jump. Jeanne Dae, Shizuka Fujiwara, and Hydra are the only characters I own.

Chapter 4: Paradigm

The bright rays of the morning sun awoke Orihime. For some reason she thought her bed was harder than usual. When she heard a calm breathing beside her she realized this wasn't her bed.

"Oh no..."

She had fallen asleep cuddling Ulquiorra and hugging Kukkapuro. The two of them were still asleep so she made sure to get up as quietly as possible.

Orihime decided not to wake them, at least not until she finished making breakfast. She went back to her room to check her phone. It was full of texts.

The first 10 were from Michiru then 10 more from each of the other girls and finally one from Tatsuki.

No doubt her friends wanted to gossip. As soon as she opened the first message her face drained of color. It was a picture of her and Ulquiorra at the restaurant. She was laughing at a comment he had made about Aizen's obsession with tea. Ulquiorra still had his same indifferent expression, but looked more human thanks to the clothes.

Under the photo Michiru posted a message:

Who's the cutie? ❤ Did you get over Ichigo? Tell ussssss!

Orihime was horrified when she saw the rest of the messages. All of them asking about Ulquiorra and his relationship with her. The last message was from Tatsuki, asking if she could meet them by the park to 'explain' everything to the other girls.

'Oh boy. I should've seen this coming.'

Seeing how they would probably show up at her doorstep if she didn't go Orihime took a bath and got ready to meet them. When she got out of her room breakfast was ready.

As she served the table she noticed Ulquiorra stretching in the couch.

"Good Morning!"

"Good Morning woman."

"I hope you slept well. I'm really sorry about yesterday. I didn't noticed I cuddled up to you in my sleep. You were probably uncomfortable."

"Not at all. I slept well."

"Then I'm glad. Breakfast is ready in case you want to eat. I have to leave right now, if you like you can read or I can show you how to use the DVD of you'd like to watch movies."

"I'll just read if you don't mind."

"Ok. I'll be back soon! See you!"

The second Orihime ran out the door Ulquiorra woke up the puppy.

"Kukkapuro. I need your assistance."

The pup sat up and wiggled his tail in anticipation.

"After we eat, I need to look over past records of Hueco Mundo. We might not find anything there, but we can't risk going back to Las Noches without the woman."

Kukkapuro barked in approval. The two headed for the table to eat. The woman had prepared them a meal with rice and fish soup.

Kukkapuro devoured his food with glee. Ulquiorra took a bite and immediately could tell the difference between this and what he ate at Hueco Mundo. The woman had a strange sense of taste, but her food tasted better. 'She's a girl of many talents'