Do you fear me, woman?
No.
Ah. So you do not.
He saw the woman with strange powers run toward him during his last moments. She was close, so that their noses almost touched. She looked straight into his eyes, tears starting to form as her lips quivered.
What do you see in these eyes, woman? I'm afraid you won't find anything.
I see a man trapped in a steel cage, begging to be released.
A steel cage, huh? And who is that man, woman?
You, Ulquiorra-kun.
My name is Ulquiorra.
He looked into her eyes, and tried to see something that wasn't there. He saw a woman opening a steel cage, letting a lifeless man out of the confines of the metal contraption.
I am nothing more than ash. Why do you bother trying to set me free?
Because you're crying out to me. Your hand reaches towards me, and I want to grasp it and pull you out.
Out of what?
The void inside the steel cage.
A void huh? I didn't know you could see that too. Maybe you were interesting all along.
The man felt a tingling sensation, watching as the woman before him tried to use her powers to heal him.
It's no use, woman. You cannot save me, for I do not wish to be saved.
Your eyes tell me different.
My eyes? Are you referring to the man in the steel cage?
Yes.
We must be two separate people, woman. I am not the man you see trapped in the cage.
It is you. Your eyes are the same. Your words may speak lies, but your eyes tell me the truth.
The woman still focused on her powers, but he could still feel his body withering away.
I told you, it's not use. I was never alive to begin with.
The woman did not stop. She still used her strange healing powers as tears clouded her vision. She was sobbing now, her voice filling his ears.
Stop, woman. Let me go.
I wish I had five lives.
Five lives, you say?
Maybe ten.
Why not immortality?
I wish I had multiple lives, so that maybe…you could have stayed alive in one.
Ten chances to try and save me? Why, woman?
Isn't it obvious? I hope that I could have saved you, and…
And what?
And maybe my love could be reciprocated.
Your love? To whom?
You, Ulquiorra-kun.
Love…is that a human emotion?
When you look at me, what do you see?
I see a strange woman who stirs something unfamiliar in me. I can't tell if it's hatred, disgust, or my own curiosity.
Then let me teach you the meaning of love.
Orihime took the Espada's face between her two warm hands, and pressed her lips against Ulquiorra's cold ones. The woman's chest was pushed up against his own, and he felt her rapid heartbeat. Ulquiorra's eyes widened at the sudden contact. She pulled away slowly, her face tinted red and breath uneven.
What was that? A kiss?
It was my love. Could you feel it?
His body was withering away. His wings were gone; his arms existed no more. He felt his legs disappearing, and he closed his eyes with a small smile.
I guess, in the end, if only for a second, I was able to leave that cage. I thank you, woman.
Silly. My name isn't woman. It's Orihime.
In the last seconds of his short life, he thought to himself he couldn't have died happier. As his eyes started to dissolve, he saw Orihime shouting his name, tears all over her face.
Tears don't suit you, woman.
Death doesn't suit you, Ulquiorra-kun.
As his body faded away with the wind, he pictured what life would be like if he wasn't a hollow. Maybe he could be a human, and have a normal life, without hollows and shinigami. A normal life with the strange woman.
No, that life isn't suited for me. Maybe it would have been nice. If I had five lives, could I have loved you in one?