The walls of the room were pure white, like snow; but she swore, sometimes, when she looked at it from a certain direction, it was a pale gray, barely stained.
"Girl." A sharp voice awoke her from her bizarre thoughts, and she turned to face him. His emerald eyes gazed piercingly at her, an eternal frown plastered beneath.
"Eat your food." It was the third time he had said it, and she was expecting the familiar phrase. The food sat on its place, barely touched, though she did not want to eat it, freezing cold as it was.
"Hey, Ulquiorra-san," she asked, voice inquisitive.
"What?" he questioned exasperatedly.
"Why are there tear marks running down your face?"
Indeed, black streaks fell down his face, perfectly contrasted against his pale skin, looking like black tears or perhaps black ink.
In that case, wouldn't his skin be a book... not leatherbound, a really nice one, one of the new ones with creamy pages and the gold lining...
"...it doesn't matter."
"Of course it does." Her tone was absolute, her eyes thoughtful.
His eyes narrowed at this, quite annoyed at the fact that he was confused. He didn't like being confused.
"What do you mean?"
"Did you cry as a human?"
He was bewildered, but mustering up all his skills at being numb, he masked his emotions and kept his expression blank.
"Were you... sad?"
He stared at her, just barely keeping his mask in place. Her eyes looked at him sorrowfully... pitifully.
"Do you remember it?"
Again, he stayed silent. He would not tell her. He would not tell anyone, not even Aizen-sama. Not his most precious secret.
His only secret.
"...just eat your food, woman."
And with that, he left.
---
She wondered if he really did remember his life.
She wondered if it really was sad, if he really did cry.
And then, with a start, she realized she didn't wonder.
She knew.
And she wondered if that was what made him an arrancar. The sorrow in his life. She wondered if that was what made any arrancar – being knocked down and kicked in the dirt by the terrible thing called life. The pain you just couldn't overcome.
Not alone, she thought, not alone.
Not alone...
And after her spur of the moment decision, she started to concentrate her powers.
---
He walked through the walls an hour later, hoping fervently she had finished her meal. He did not like force feeding her. It was annoying.
The door opened silently, and he stood still.
She sat on the bed, holding a pair of glimmering silver scissors, and he was quite perplexed as to where she had gotten them from. Most shocking of all, however, was her hair.
Formerly ending at halfway down her back, it now barely touched her shoulders, and she held the discarded hair in her scissor free hand, looking at it listlessly. It sat without luster, strands slowly falling to the floor. Her eyes slowly closed, and she turned to him and opened them.
"Hello, Ulquiorra-san. I've eaten my dinner."
And to his even greater surprise, she wasn't lying. But that couldn't distract him. If she could conjure scissors out of thin air, there was no saying she couldn't conjure a knife and injure herself with it.
"Woman, where did you get the scissors?"
She smiled softly at him, and the evening light began to filter through the windows.
"I made them," she stated calmly. Her eyes were now not listless, but warm and calming.
"Do you know why I cut my hair, Ulquiorra-san?" He didn't care; right now he didn't quite understand how she had created the scissors, and sought to know, for this might have been a new power to report to Aizen-sama.
However, he realized, she was likely not to answer him until after he played along with her little game.
"No." She stood up and, smiling, walked near to the small window far above her.
"To go back." Clothed in white, her hair glistening behind her, she was quite a sight to behold, but he could not be bothered by such trivial emotions.
"Go back?" She let out a small breath of happiness, and then whipped around, her hair whizzing around her, and her eyes shining, a smile on her face.
"To go back in time!" she said, grinning.
"And," she added, "you can come with me." She paused a moment, then held out her hand, as though he was supposed to take it despite being across the room from her.
"Will you travel back in time with me, Ulquiorra-san?" He did not know what he was supposed to say or do.
So he simply said, "Fine."
Chapter 1 Fin
Dunno how long this is gonna go – probably not more than 3 chapters, though.