Hi, it´s Shadow Typhoon. This is my second fanfiction. I´m not finished with my first one yet, so I decided to alternately add a chapter to each of the stories. So every second week, I will add up a chapter do this story and the same for my other fanfiction, Dark Ice. So please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

Oh, I forgot something. Before you start reading this story, please read the following text. In this story, all of the espada are adjuchas. But some of them are very close on evolving into Vasto Lorde´s. Aizen had tried to find some Vasto Lorde´s, but he failed.

Now you can read my story, so enjoy

Dark Angel

Chapter 1: Reflection

by Shadow Typhoon

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Ulquiorra found himself in the negación field after being sent there by Grimmjow. He sighed and got mad at himself, scolding himself for getting in this mess. But it wouldn´t change his situation. He sighed again and clenched his fist, ready to break the barrier. He knew, that it wouldn´t take a long time.

He then proceeded to hit it. But nothing happened. Ulquiorra lifted his eyebrow, surprised that nothing had happened. He hit it again and again, but still nothing happened. He then lifted his arm and pointed at the barrier with his finger and a cero shot out. But the cero dissolved into dust.

Now Ulquiorra was worried. Why didn´t it work? He sighed and closed his eyes. He leaned onto the barrier and slid down, so he sat on the ground. He made his face rest on his knees and let his thoughts wander. He thought of an incident which occurred 3 weeks ago.

He was giving the woman (Orihime) some food and she had asked him a question, a question which he couldn´t answer.

"What is your dream? What is your goal in life, your purpose? "He hadn´t answered at that time, but now he tried to. He thought about it, trying to find the answer. And then it came to him. His dream…

His dream was to fly away, to gain his freedom. Not to follow Aizen´s orders, not to do what he didn´t want to. But to do what he really wanted to do. He wanted to escape from the cage. Everyone thought that Ulquiorra didn´t have any feelings. That he was carved out of stone, because he always was doing as Aizen said. But they were wrong. He had emotions and feelings. It was just only now, that he himself realized that.

This conclusion explained something, he couldn´t explain either. When Aizen gave him the rank of the fourth espada, he had concealed some of his powers. The release of his zanpukatou wasn´t the real one. Actually, he didn´t really know the real release.

And now he could explain that. He wanted to be free of the responsibility of being one of the three strongest espada. If he was stronger, he would be locked inside Las Noches all the time, waiting for being used as a hidden card in Aizen´s sleeve.

He opened his eyes with a new intention. He wanted to break free and fly away. He stood up and began to fire countless ceros' at the barrier. While he did that, he was wondering. How exactly could he break free? He was bound to Aizen for all eternity after all.

Suddenly he realized that there were cracks on the barriers. He intensified his attacks and soon the barrier shattered. He stepped outside and saw Orihime stand nearby. He slowly walked over to her.

"Are you scared?" he asked her. "You are useless to Aizen now. There´s no one left to protect you. It´s over. You´ll die alone here, where no one can touch you."

He stepped closer, but Orihime didn´t answer.

"I asked you if you´re scared." He looked her in her eyes.

" I´m not scared", she answered, "Everyone came to save me, so my heart is already with them"

"Nonsense", he replied. "You are unafraid because your friends came for you? Are you serious?

Orihime got steel in her eyes when she replied with a "yes".

"When I first heard they were coming to rescue me, I was a little happy and a lot sad. I came here to protect everyone, so why did they have to follow me? I wondered why they hadn´t realized. But when I felt Kuchiki fall, and when I saw Kurosaki fighting, none of it mattered anymore.

"I just didn´t want Kurosaki to get hurt. I just wanted everyone to be safe. That´s when I realized, oh, they probably felt the same. If one of them disappeared the way I did, I know I´d do the same thing."

"Hearts? You human always talk about hearts." He pointed his finger at the spot where Orihime´s heart was placed.

"It´s as you have them in your hand. But my eyes sees everything, nothing can escape it. What it doesn´t see, doesn´t exist. That´s how I´ve always fought. What is a heart? If I rip open you chest, will I see it? If I crack open your skull, will find it there?

And then it hit him. Hearts are what human always described as feelings and emotions. But hollows or arrancar don´t have a heart. Then how could he feel emotions? He then came to a conclusion.

He knew that when a hollow was killed, it ended up in hell. And it was the same for arrancar´s. But he knew of a secret way to escape that, so he could be reborn as a normal soul in a human body. Starting life over again. The only way to escape that was… to be stabbed by his own zanpukatou.

He unsheathed his zanpukatou and held it in front of him. Orihime stared paralyzed of fright in front of him, thinking it was meant for her. He tried to say something, but the words were stuck in his throat. He coughed a little and tried again.

"Woman, I want you to do me a favor" He forced the words past his dry lips. He knew of the sacrifice, but he had to do it.

"I want you to stab me and kill me" If he could be reborn, he would be free of everything. He could change the way he lived, the way he was.

Orihime was too shocked for words. She rubbed her eyes and stared at him.

"You´re not joking, are you?"

Ulquiorra shook his head, took her hand and laid his zanpukatou in it.

"Please, will you not?"

Orihime looked him in the eyes, trying to decide what to do. Then she nodded and raised his zanpukatou. And then she stabbed him, right on the spot where his heart would have been.

He coughed and spat put some blood from his mouth. Then they heard a great explosion behind them. Judging Orihime´s reaction and her eyes, he knew that it was the Kurosaki guy. He smiled and said to her:

"Go with him. He will protect you and take care of you. That was what you wanted. So now go, live your own dream out."

Orihime bit her lip, but nodded. Ulquiorra could now hear Ichigo unsheathe Zangestu. Ichigo flash stepped, so he ended up at Orihime´s side. He was surprised to see what state Ulquiorra was in.

"What happened here?" Ichigo asked Orihime.

And then she explained everything for him. Ichigo was again surprised.

"Why? Why do you want to die?" Ichigo asked Ulquiorra.

Ulquiorra shook his head and fell onto the ground. And then he dissolved into spirit particles. The same happened to Ulquiorra´s zanpukatou.

Ichigo and Orihime looked at the spot where Ulquiorra had previously been. Then Ichigo griped Orihime´s shoulder and they looked each other in the eyes. And then they began to run...

I hope you enjoyed my story. I probably left a cliffhanger, but don´t worry, I will update in two weeks again. Next time you´ll see what happened to Ulquiorra, cause he isn´t really dead (as you probably thought)

And please review.

If you like Hitsugaya too, you should read my other fanfiction, Dark Ice.

So, have sweet dreams.

See ya