Soul Butterfly Daycare: Absent
Absent: With Rukia absent, Orihime invites Ichigo to play with her, much to Ulquiorra's chagrin. The two boys quickly learn that they have only one thing in common.
“... it growled really loud! It's a monster - 'Quiorra are you listening to me?” Orihime pouted and poked the five year old sitting next to her at the art table. Ulquiorra was busy, though - battling his Batman with Grimmjow's Ninja Turtle. So far Michelangelo was winning.
“Quiorra!” Orihime shrieked. Startled, Ulquiorra dropped his Batman and turned to glare at Orihime.
“What is it Woman?” He frowned. Orihime squirmed in her seat, intimidated by his stern eyes.
“Did you hear me?” She asked in a squeaky voice.
“It was hard not to,” He complained. Tatsuki who sat on the other side of Orihime huffed in annoyance.
“I heard you, Hime.” She consoled and stuck her tongue out at Ulquiorra.
“It sounds like a Garbage Disposal. They sit at the bottom of sinks in Western homes and shred the table scraps that aren't eatable.”
“Edible,” Ulquiorra corrected under his breath. Tatsuki glared at him.
“Anyway, it's not a monster.”
“Settle down class,” Old man Yamamoto called out.
“It's time to take attendance. Now lets see, Renji Abarai...”
Orihime squinted her eyes suspiciously. Ulquiorra had been acting grumpy ever since he had learned the results of their Placement Tests from the Parent-Teacher Conferences. Orihime wouldn't be in the same academic club as him.
In fact, Ulquiorra had mentioned that his scores had been so high that he was going to skip the club entirely and instead his father was going to send him to spend time with some person named Shrink, whoever that was. No one aside from Orihime and Ichigo - who had both scored below average in Foreign Language - and Nel and Grimmjow had ended up in the same club. Maybe that was why he was so grumpy.
“Hime,” Tatsuki whispered next to her and nudged her in the side.
“Orihime Inoue?” Yamamoto called out and Orihime realized that he had been calling her name for some time.
“Oh. Here!” She screamed. Everyone winced. No one in the class had vocal cords as loud as Orihime's, aside from Nel.
Yamamoto continued.
“Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez?”
“Whatever,” The six year old muttered.
“Rukia Kuchiki?” Silence. Yamamoto waited a moment before calling her name out again.
“Rukia isn't here today,” Ichigo told everyone sadly.
“Odd,” Yamamoto commented before marking her name down. Orihime sent Ichigo a sympathetic look. Rukia never missed school. She and Ichigo were always together. The little orange haired boy looked so lost without her.
“Hey 'Quiora, I think I'm gonna invite Ichigo to play with us today.” She saw Ulquiorra wilt next to her.
“... okay.” He responded dejectedly. Grimjow snickered next to him. Moving away from her seat, Orihime went over to sit in the empty chair next to Ichigo.
“Hi!” She beamed. Ichigo blinked at her. He was effectively startled out of his gloomy mood.
“You can play with me today, if you'd like,” The four year old invited. After a moment, Ichigo smiled and offered her the toy stuffed rabbit that he and Rukia played with.
“His name is Kon Chappy Zangetsu,” He explained. Orihime felt her cheeks redden and turned to wave Ulquiorra over. The dark haired boy dragged his feet as all three of them went off to play together.
Orihime tried to cheer Ichigo up, really she did; but Ulquiorra was acting more grumpy than usual. During arts and crafts, Orihime helped Ichigo paint a picture of an orange building but Ulquiorra spilled green paint on it. During toy time, Ichigo retaliated by breaking Ulquiorra's Batman action figure.
Orihime thought he would cry, but in the end he left his broken toy on the red carpet and stormed off and didn't come back until it was snack time, where the boys broke each others' cookies. Orihime cried over all the chocolate chips lost.
It wasn't until recess that things got really out of hand.
“Why do you play with that freak? Everyone knows he hurt you.” Ichigo said just loud enough for Ulquiorra to hear. Both he and Orihime frowned.
“That's a bad word, Ichigo.” Orihime scolded. The five year old huffed.
“What is? 'Freak?' It's true! Why don't you play with me and Rukia from now on? You'll be much happier.” Ulquiorra bristled at Ichigo's suggestion.
“The Woman is more than capable of making her own decisions.” He inserted but Ichigo ignored his words.
“Quiorra said he was sorry and promised not to bite me again,” Orihime defended. Ichigo did not looked convinced.
“He didn't know any better. I'm not mad at him.” She traced the scar on her arm with her thumb.
“He does his best everyday to make me feel special.”
Ichigo frowned.
“He doesn't deserve a good friend like you. He's evil.” Ulquiorra, who had been having flashbacks as a hollow in a reality that no longer existed had been agreeing with everything Ichigo had said... until the last part. He wasn't evil. Having tired of the five year old's argument, he stepped in.
“Why don't we settled this once and for all in a friendly game of tag.” He suggested. Ulquiorra was a human now, but he was sure that even without Sonido he could beat Ichigo when it came to speed.
“If I win, you will cease your antagonizing and let the Woman play with whom she sees fit.”
Ichigo scoffed.
“And if I win?” He asked challengingly. Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed.
“Then I will go away and won't bother the Woman again.” Orihime gasped at Ulquiorra's vow.
“No! You can't leave!” She cried. Ichigo smirked.
“Fine. I'll play. The rules are: there are no bases, run and tag and whoever gets the most tags in by the end of recess wins.”
Ulquiorra felt a wave of De'javu hit him as he recalled his final battle on top of the Dome in Las Noches - but he was not going to think about that. Nodding his head, the two boys took off and Orihime was left to watch helplessly on the side lines. It was sunny out but wet from the recent rains and so recess had been held outside in the old empty parking lot where it gave the two boys more room to run.
Ulquiorra managed to tag Ichigo four times, but his opponent was a lot faster than he had thought. Already Ichigo had tagged him five times.
As the game progressed, so did the aggression.
“Stop!” Orihime cried as she watched Ulquiorra tear a big hole in Ichigo's shirt. Ichigo retaliated by tagging Ulquiorra's arm with a big, hard slap. At one point Uryu tried to break up the contest only to be knocked down. It continued on and on until Yamamoto called the class to assemble and return inside. The final score was eleven to fourteen, with Ichigo in the lead.
“I win!” Ichigo shouted and pushed an exhausted Ulquiorra face down on the asphalt. Orihime didn't waste a second racing over to Ulquiorra when she saw the cut on his knee. She never wanted this to happen. She was so upset.
“Wait Orihime,” Ichigo called but she was already picking Ulquiorra up and putting him on her back.
“What are you doing? Put me down!” He complained halfheartedly. Orihime ignored him and turned with tears to Ichigo.
“If 'Quiorra leaves, then so do I.” She told him and wiped her eyes.
“I just wanted us to all play together and have fun,” She told them through her hiccups and both boys suddenly felt very foolish, but for entirely different reasons.
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