"What is it, Ulquiorra, that have made my actions so unforgivable?" Aizen asked, genuinely surprised at his most loyal espada's decision to turn against him.
"The fact that she had to be hurt is what makes this unforgivable, Aizen," he answered, indicating to the bright haired woman standing behind him.
"So you fell in love with a human?" Aizen laughed. "I'll admit she does have a few, ah, remarkable traits. Her loyalty to her friends could only be rivaled by your loyalty to me, but now it appears that has fallen, so tell me, does that mean she has fallen away from her friends in favor of you?"
Ulquiorra didn't respond, but instead glanced back at Orihime, who was now wide-eyed at Aizen's accusation of love.
"Just as I suspected," Aizen smiled. "She didn't know of your love for her. Isn't that sweet? You've wasted your life for nothing. With me, you could have become one of the most powerful being this universe has ever seen, but, now, you've thrown all of it away for a human that will turn on you the moment her friends arrive."
"It is not my concern what this woman does once her friends come."
"You will die," Aizen promised.
"I am already dead," Ulquiorra retorted without skipping a beat.
"Not yet, but you will be," Aizen said with a smile. "Luckily for you, I have more important people to deal with. So, for now, enjoy your time with your human; because when I return, I'm going to kill you."
Before leaving, Aizen turned to address Orihime, "Good luck, Orihime, and try not to be here when I return, or else, I'll have to kill you, too. It would be a shame to have to kill such a beautiful creature."
With nothing left to say, Aizen was gone, and Ulquiorra wasted no time.
"Follow me, woman," he ordered immediately.
"What?" she asked, still too shocked to speak.
"Woman," Ulquiorra started, "are you telling me you have forgotten how to follow an order, one as simple as to follow me?"
"No, but Aizen said-"
"That is not important," he said cutting her off before she mentioned love.
"But he said you love me," she finished anyways.
"That changes nothing," he stated firmly.
"That changes everything," she disagreed.
"Woman," he started before she cut him off.
"Orihime."
"Woman-"
"Orihime."
"I know your name, woman. I am choosing not to use it. Now come along," he ordered, trying to guide her toward the large doors on the other side of the room.
"Why won't you use it?" she asked, confused as to why someone who is supposedly in love with her, doesn't want to use her name.
"It doesn't matter why. We need to leave before Aizen returns," he said trying to end the subject.
"Fine, espada," she said childishly turning away from him.
"I am no longer an espada, woman," Ulquiorra countered.
"What?" she asked, turning to face him.
"You truly are unobservant," he frowned. "Did you not see Aizen's reaction when he saw I no longer had my number on my chest?" She didn't answer, so he continued. "When an espada is no longer loyal to Aizen, our tattoo vanishes from its place on our body."
"How does it know?" she asked staring intently at the place on his chest previously occupied by the number four.
"One could assume Aizen programmed it that way," he answered, not particularly caring.
After what seemed like hours of silence, Orihime asked the question that had popped in her head as soon as he had explained the tattoo.
"When did yours fade?"
Ulquiorra paused. "It doesn't matter. We need to go."
"Does anything matter?" she frowned, finally looking up form his chest. "That's all you keep saying."
"Woman," Ulquiorra said putting his hands on her shoulders. "If we are not gone before Aizen returns, we will die." There was no uncertainty in his voice. "Even with me on your side, we would not survive. We have to leave now."
"Okay," she whispered, knowing she was defeated.
As he lead her into the hall, her mind was spinning. Was what Aizen said true? When did it happen? And perhaps most importantly, how did it happen?
"It was a month after you were brought here," he answered after the turned onto a new corridor Orihime had never been to. He didn't face her, but they both knew what he was referring to.
More silence was endured before Orihime asked her final question. "What Aizen said was true?"
Though it sounded more like a statement, Ulquiorra answered her anyways. "Yes."