Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, I never have, and I never will. It has been, and continues to be intellectual property of Tite Kubo. First time attempting Fanfiction, so bear with me. Comments appreciated.

Chapter 1 – Battered, Bruised, but Never Broken

Orihime waited in her chamber, looking out through her lone, barred window. It seemed that was where she spent most of her time. She couldn't dare bring herself to wander, despite the fact it had been made clear to her that she was not a prisoner. It took every ounce of will she had just to choke down the food that was brought to her a few times daily, and then she did it not through any biological imperative, but simply because he had told her to. The more she sat in silence, in isolation, the more his words weighed on her.

"You humans are always talking about hearts. It's as if you have them in your hand. But my eye sees everything. Nothing can escape it. What it doesn't see doesn't exist. That's how I've always fought. That's how I've always lived. What is a heart? If I rip open your chest, will I find it there? If I crack open your skull, will I find it there?"

Her heart was what had led her here… Her heart had told her there was no choice when Ulquiorra had first come to her, proposing to leave her friends alone in exchange for her coming to Las Noches. It may have been the only way she could protect them anymore. She wasn't as tough as Sado. She wasn't as quick, or tactical as Uryū. And she certainly wasn't anywhere near as strong as any of the Shinigami. This had been the only way, the best way for her to help her friends.

Even those thoughts sounded empty to her, the excuses someone would make up to hide from the real truth. She barely noticed the tears brimming in her eyes, or the soft sobs that slipped from her. So engrossed was she in her own private world she didn't even realize Nnoitra, had slipped into her chamber. But the heavy crash of his extravagant Zanpakuto against the floor roused her. She turned in shock, but the lithe brute was already upon her.

"Hello pet!" He growled at her intensely, his hand clutched around her throat, choking off her shocked cry, the other hand beginning to rip and tear and the white dress she wore. For the briefest moment she thought it was over, she thought one of the Espada had finally decided to take her life, but that moment was fleeting. It quickly became clear to her who was behind this assault, and as soon as it did she realized: This was going to be far worse.

Nnoitra laughed cruelly as his strength easily tore open her dress, revealing a tantalizing show of her chest in only a bra. The lecherous gaze in his cruel eye sends a chilling sensation all the way through her body.

"My, my, they ARE quite large aren't they! I think you may be even more well-endowed than that bitch Harribel!" His laughter echoed again, even as her voice was choked and incoherent. He leans down, with his long tongue probing at her ear he speaks again.

"To think that Aizen would raise a female to Tres Espada is insulting enough, but to bring you in here… a lowly human female, and act as if you're on par with us?" He hissed the words, full of venom into her ear. His tone, more than the words making her tremble in terror as she realized his hate for her was something beyond simply humans and hollows. Even as her mind whirled, his hand had already dropped lower and was beginning to reach for the hem of her dress when Orihime's eyes caught the barest of movement behind Nnoitra.

Those cold green eyes of the newcomer regarded her with what could only be described as contempt. Whenever he spoke, the words were gentle and soft, sharply contrasting the underlying disdain that seemed ever present. Despite that, despite the frigid empty glare that now washed over her, and her attacker, she felt a grim joy. He had been ordered to protect her, and of all of the Espada she had seen, he seemed by far the most competent.

"What have you gone and gotten yourself into?" Ulquiorra spoke, though at the time it wasn't clear if he was speaking to Nnoitra or Orihime. And for a second, she was given the satisfaction of watching Nnoitra's eye go wide. What happened next seemed to make time stand still. Nnoitra turns, eyes wide to regard Ulquiorra, only to find the Cuatro Espada's index finger already leveled at his head. A swirl of green, the same shade as his eyes coalescing into small sphere of energy, before with the signature sound of a Cero, it bursts in a bright beam. Nnoitra has no time to dodge, and barely time for the shock to register on his features before the blast catches him full in the face at point blank range. It's angle of attack so that it completely misses Orihime, singeing her lightly even as it devastates Nnoitra. The cero launches the Quinto Espada, blowing a hole in the wall of her chambers and sending him tumbling into the perpetual night of Hueco Mundo.

Ulquiorra looks down at her with a frigid gaze that crushes her very soul. His reiatsu, though only partially released, feels like a giant weight on her and for several moments she can't even move under the strength of that glare.

"Get up woman." That emotionless voice cuts through her and a shiver races along her body, but still she can't move. His eyes narrow only the slightest but she recoils from it, fully aware of just how dangerous he could be if she wasn't obedient. He turns, casually grasping Santa Teresa by its long handle, the chain that had been connecting it to Nnoitra severed by the Cero. The cumbersome blade hefted effortlessly before he throws it out the same hole its master had been blasted through only moments before. Once again standing over Orihime he doesn't bother commanding her again, rather grasping her wrist tightly enough to bruise her flesh. He yanks her wordlessly to her feet and with a seemingly annoyed expression he drags her out of the room.

Orihime weeps openly, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks as she's led by that painful hold on her wrist.

"Please!" she implores him quickly, stumbling after him as it feels like he's breaking the bones in her slender wrist. When it falls on deaf ears, again she pleads.

"U-Ulquiorra please, y-you're breaking my wrist!" she can't pull away, and she doesn't even try. Her vision is so blurred by her tears, that she can't even see where they are going anymore. Then suddenly he stops, and uses his hold to propel her, stumbling into a new room as he stands at the door.

"You're pathetic, that I have to save you from that wretched filth. Keeping you out of danger may be half the reason that piece of trash Kurosaki has gotten as powerful as he has." Ulquiorra mused softly. There was no humor in his voice. No amusement. Only scorn coming to her from his lips.

"You deserve at least that pain for inconveniencing me like this. Feel lucky that Lord Aizen left you with one as forgiving as me." His words should have sounded arrogant, perhaps even condescending. But they didn't, as usual… they lacked all but the lightest of inflections, his voice always carrying the sound of a man that had completely given in to despair, and yet despite that Orihime knew that this man, this Espada, was one of the most powerful beings she had ever encountered. She stood, desperately trying to control her tears, and as he turned without another word, something happened in Orihime. Perhaps it was her nerves at, what would have undoubtedly been a brutal rape. Maybe it was the sudden realization that in all of Hueco Mundo, he was the closest thing she had to a friend. Frightening as it was, this emotionless monster was the most compassionate person to her now, even if it was only out of duty.

"Ulquiorra!" The name rolled off her tongue and she had to struggle to regain some of her composure. Her nature was emotional one; she was kind, forgiving, thoughtful, and selfless. In almost every way he was her polar opposite, but she realized that she would have to convince him, she would have to make him understand.

Kurosaki had always protected her, even when she would have preferred that he stop fighting. Stop putting himself in danger to protect her. But she would likely never see him, any of them again. Now, she finds herself here amongst the Espada, beings capable of confronting Shinigami captain on equal footing, and she had only her Shun-Shun Rikka on her side. Only Tsubaki was capable of attack, and her Santen Kesshun would only keep an Espada at bay for a moment at best… If she was to live, she needed an ally here.

Ulquiorra slowed when he heard her call his name. What was it with this woman? Her powers were something of a novelty, but surely she couldn't be worth all the trouble Aizen had gone through to get her. But it was arrogance to presume he could understand something that Aizen could not and with the barest sigh he glanced back slightly, not even looking at her as he spoke.

"What is it woman, haven't you have wasted enough of my time today?"

She hesitated before she took a nervous step towards him, her hand extending as if she could hold him there by her will alone.

"Y-You asked me what the heart was, I will show you!" her mind was racing, perhaps she could reach him, if she could show him something that he'd been unable to understand.

Ulquiorra turned, and for the first time since she had met him, the corners of his lips curled into the slightest of smiles.

"Are you saying you're going to let me crack you open, and search it out with my eyes?" His amusement piqued suddenly, for the first time in a long time he actually felt something beyond the cool gray that permeated his existence. She was reaching for him, a curious motion to be reaching for despair incarnate, but still she did it. Even more curious was the fact that she extended the hand that he'd already bruised, as if offering it to him again.

His flawless sonido left him holding that wrist, before she had even realized he'd moved. Both of his hands were out of his pockets, his other one hovering over her partially exposed chest, something she seemed to have forgotten about. But even as his sadistic smile shone down on her and the cold un-feeling glare bored through her soul he found his gaze sliding down her form. Her curves had always been visible in that black framed; form-fitting white dress. But with the chest of her dress ripped open he could see more of her than before. And her soft supple skin suddenly seemed so tantalizing.

None of this showed on his face but in that moment Orihime became aware of something. His eyes flickered and swept in the briefest motion down across her body. It sent a terrible shiver up her and she sucked in her breath, struggling for the words she knew she had to say.

"No, you can't see it with your eyes, I will show you how to see it with your heart, I'll teach you to see without your eyes!" she spoke quickly, that bruising grip once again on her wrist and for a sickening moment she almost felt comforted by it.

"Ridiculous, do not spout such nonsense woman. I have no heart." He smirked, still amused by all of this, his grip on her reminding him just how soft that skin was. But she was not soft as it would seem, even that grip on her which he knew caused her great pain didn't cause her to cry out.

"B-but you did! You were all humans once, even if you don't remember what it was, even if you don't even understand it anymore it's still somewhere in you!" she felt herself becoming braver. She knew then, he really didn't remember. He really had forgotten completely. Though, when he was looking at her he saw something that he couldn't explain. And she knew what he saw, was her heart.

"Nonsense, I am a hollow, even if I was once human, I have spent centuries feasting on the souls of humans and hollows alike. Anything that was human perished long before I rose from the Menos Forest." He scoffed at her and turned his eyes away. To her it appeared a sort of dramatic dismissal, but in truth he couldn't look at her anymore. It wasn't from disgust at her almost childish insistence, and it wasn't actually to dismiss her.

No… he had to look away then because he could actually feel her looking into him.

Something in this woman called to him, despite her weakness, and her naiveté, he found something about her fascinating. How was it that she could so freely embrace this heart, and love when it clearly caused only suffering?

"No, you're wrong." she spoke simply; like it was the only thing that needed to be said.

His eyes narrowed and his gaze shot back to her. Such impudence that she could make such a claim, and with such certainty! He regarded her for several long moments, wondering how she could be so sure. He expected her to crumble, to wilt beneath his stare but she remained resolute. Her brown eyes staring with unwavering intensity into his, like she actually knew the words she said were true. His amusement all but gone in that moment, the slight smile disappeared with it. He closes his eyes a moment, before he releases his reiatsu in a wave of energy that practically scalds her. He watches in satisfaction as Orihime shrieks softly and moves her free arm up to shield her eyes from its intensity.

"You have a well-developed sense of reiatsu Orihime Inoue, and you have been exposed to all manner of it. Tell me, do I feel human to you?"

She squinted against the maelstrom that was his bared soul. It was dark, evil, deep black tinged with a vibrant green. It was a wicked writhing thing that sought to suffocate and devour her and she couldn't help but realize… It was very similar to Ichigo's. She could feel her own reiatsu cloaked by it, nearly smothered under its weight. And when he releases her wrist she crumbles to her knees, panting under the strain of it.

"You are just a child Orihime Inoue, you know nothing of the world that truly is. This love you speak of, this heart… It's nonsense. You cannot show me something that does not exist in reality." He slowly reigns in his aura, clamping down on it until Orihime is able to draw a long shuddering breath. He turns then, walking calmly from the chamber; he's just about to leave when he hears her behind him. Her voice is strained, sounding forced.

"It's not nonsense! And I will show you!" It's barely a breath, but he can hear her clearly. And it carries with it such finality that even Cuatro Espada Ulquiorra Cifer is forced to pause. The door slides shut between them and he's left looking for several long moments back at it, before he turns and makes his way down the lifeless halls of Las Noches.

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