He sensed the Hollow even before he realized her missing. She'd left Getsu-ten behind, the ubiquitous white scarf draped neatly on top of her bag. He was used to the amorphous Zanpaku-to by now. Along with the particular quirks its wielder possessed.
He Sonido-ed across the city, haste drawing his lips into a frown of worry. Kei sat in a rusted swing, her feet dangling above the ground by a good few inches. The sun in its setting light enveloped the Shinigami in a halo of radiance. Her head was down and as his eyes swept past her, a feeble twitch caught his attention. A bloodied mass of shrinking skin and charred mask told him all he needed to know.
She did not need his help.
"Worried about me?"
Her voice cut the silence. Ulquiorra turned; Kei was looking at him, a peculiar smile on her face. "I was not concerned about you in the slightest," he answered in a dull monotone drawing her eyebrow up.
"Really? Then what's my sword doing in your hand?"
Kei was sarcastic to a fault, increasingly so as with her avid questions. His fingers tightened on the transformed Zanpaku-to, no longer pretending to be a harmless scarf. Kei was waiting for his reply, her head cocked at an odd angle. Ulquiorra closed his eyes for a moment then felt a palm slide along his cheekbone. She was standing in front of him, her arms curving upward around his neck.
Surprised, he flinched when she suddenly kissed him. Roughly, demandingly, not hesitating to let him feel her need. Kei ran her fingers through his hair, leaning in, pressing her hips against his suggestively. They collapsed in a heap on the ground, tangled in each other's arms. Getsu-ten was folded beneath her shoulder blade as the silk scarf. Ulquiorra discovered her legs were tight around his waist, securing her hold on him.
This was strange…
He'd never known his Shinigami to be so…lustful.
She'd always evaded intimate contact between them; a touch on the arm or a gentle smile was the extent of her affections. But now…
Her moan was stifled, breaking the contact. Her face was flushed, her violet eyes blinked, the feathery lashes lowering in concealed embarrassment. She was ashamed? Kei breathed in through her mouth, saliva slicking her lips. She slid away from him, wrapping her left arm loosely over her stomach.
He didn't like her quietness.
"Stop pretending."
"What?"
"You heard me."
"Well I don't understand, silly Hollow!"
Kei grinned, her former Joie de vive restored. Ulquiorra wasn't fooled. He knew something was bothering the runaway Shinigami; was it the fact that he was a Hollow?
Did he disgust her?
"You loathe me and cannot bear to touch me because of what I am." he said matter-of-factly.
"That's not true," she murmured.
"Then what is?"
~~~~*~~~~
Kei the Shinigami's p.o.v
I knew better than to start with one of those (it's not you, it's me) speeches. They never end well. The truth is oddly enough exactly that. It is me.
Me and the reluctance I have to show you my scars.
~~~~*~~~~
"It's not you, believe me." Kei looked him in the eye, her thumb stroking his lower lip.
"Someday I'll show them to you. Now isn't the time. We have more…pressing matters to contend with," she indicated with a jerk of her head, the approaching combined reiatsus of three survey Shinigamies, after her no doubt.
~~~Finis.1~~~
A/N: don't own Bleach. Just something random that popped into my head while thinking of Kei-san. :) Note: placement four months after the war had been won and the alt ending of The one you left behind.