[Expected

UlquiHime for Emily. 3

Look, see, you haven't managed to convert me, I'll always be a UlquiGrimm shipper. But maybe you've shaken me enough to actually make an account on FF net and write stuff for you. XD

Don't disown me, ILU:3

I would think this is what they call a drabble, but, sorry, I'm so unfamiliar with all these fanfiction terms. D':

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Darkness. But more than that, annoyance, and maybe a tad hint of impatience.

There he was, Ulquiorra Schiffer, the one dubbed Aizen's dog by none other than that bastard that caused his current dilemma. Was he laughing now, that Grimmjow? Was he amused that the 'dog' was here, in some castaway dimension while the worthless Shinigami tried to rescue that woman?

Ah, that woman. It was not at all unexpected that his thoughts would touch upon that subject. She had been entrusted into his care by Aizen-sama, it was only natural she would have come across his mind sooner or later.

If that fool's antics would have caused Aizen-sama to lose that 'godly power,' Ulquiorra would not be pleased. Oh no, he would not be. He might even be angry. That's how important that woman is.

How much damage would that do?

Quite a lot, even for the 4th Espada. They call him nonchalant, but the truth was that he was human after all. Human? Oh no, that's not what he meant. He still had feelings, but not those of a human. No, not ever again.

Enough of that digression. He needed to think about what to do about that woman.

It was not as if he had never seen the way she looked at the Hogyoku. Her reaction was interesting enough, though. Whereas that orange-haired shinigami, Kurosaki Ichigo, would have thrown caution to the winds and foolishly tried to destroyed it, the woman seemed to have been contemplating something. Had she decided to live for Aizen-sama, or was she already formulating plans to destroy it? Surely it was not the latter, he thought her to have much more sense than that.

As much as he hated to admit it, though, that woman was probably as unfathomable as a human can be. In his eyes, anyway.

But truly, he believed or maybe even wished that the woman was their comrade now.

He did not doubt her, though his instincts told him otherwise. She never listened to anything he said, rarely smiled, and he had to threaten her on many occasions just to force food down her throat.

This woman was no fool, and Ulquiorra knew the depth of her loyalty to her "friends." He remembered when he brought her to Hueco Mundo, and remembered that only by threatening her with lives of worthless trash did he manage to convince her to come.

Had she immediately become all smiles and cheerily obeyed every order and ate all her food, Ulquiorra would have killed her on the spot. A woman overjoyed at the leave from her friends was either lying or fickle, and was trash either way, and would be of no use to Aizen-sama. Put that kind of woman in chains, and sooner or later she will bring about your demise.

That woman, that Orihime Inoue, was she changing, becoming theirs, or was this all just a facade?

And then came the slap. The infamous slap. The first time anyone had done something that inconsiderate and stupid. But all it did was to convince him that she was real. None of the other Arrancar, except maybe that fool Grimmjow, but he was another story, had the guts to lay a finger on Ulquiorra without a good reason, and, in no way, was the the shock from some worthless human's death a good reason.

But that woman had no second thought about it. Even now, Ulquiorra could not understand where that woman could muster that courage.

Interesting woman that is.

Then came the sudden realization that the corners of his mouth had uplifted from their usual downcast position.

Now that, that was unexpected.