My second Ulquiorra x Orihime fic. AU during the Arrancar Arc...What if Ulquiorra had set Orihime free? What if he had never fought Ichigo? What would his life be like? This was my answer to all of those 'what if's' and my attempt to get into Ulquiorra's head. Let me know what you think :)
...
"Why?" Orihime asked Ulquiorra, her eyes wide with shock.
He did not answer, and instead his green eyes surveyed the land before him. She looked up at him, but try as she might, she could not follow his thoughts. He was not human, after all. But even if he had been human—and no doubt he had been in his past life—she still figured that she would not be able to understand him.
How could emptiness be understood?
He began to walk away from her. She impulsively reached forward and grabbed his uniform—the uniform marking him as one of the Espada. He turned sharply to look back at her.
"I have no further use for you, so you may do as you please," Ulquiorra said in a monotone voice. She withdrew her hand. She needed his help to find her way back to safety at least.
"Bring me back to Las Noches," Orihime half-asked, half-ordered. He raised an eyebrow.
"You are free now. Is that not what you wished for?" he asked her. Even with her faint ability to sense auras, she was able to sense the presence of the gathering hollows in the barren desert around them. Left here, she might have her freedom, but she would not be able survive for long.
As if able to sense her thoughts, he said, "Aizen-sama no longer deems you useful. If you return, your chance of survival is less than it is here."
Try as she might, she could not keep the fear from appearing in her eyes. He studied her for a moment, wondering why he had bothered to bring her here in the first place. Was it because she was worthless, and therefore easily thrown away? If that was the case, he could have killed her in Las Noches itself. Why did he do something so pointless?
Sighing, he ran his fingernail through space, ripping a portal to the human realm. She turned to him, her eyes suddenly suspicious.
"Why?" she echoed once again.
'Why indeed?' he wondered.
A moment later, he was shocked by the sensation of her arms around him. He stiffened, expecting an attack, and drew his sword.
But before he could do anything more, she whispered, "Thank you."
And then she was gone, racing back to her world, her friends, back to the life that she belonged and treasured. And for reasons he did not understand, he followed her.
...
He remained in the shadows, watching her daily routine day after day in the human world. Her race to school in the ridiculous outfit she had come to Hueco Mundo in, the endless hours spent seated listening to an older human, scratching away on a piece of parchment. He did not understand. Was this what she wanted to return to? It seemed without substance or purpose.
Masking his aura, he observed her as she interacted with the others. With those friends of hers that had come to rescue her. His eyes narrowed as she did a curious thing. Her eyes were sparkling as she opened her mouth, emitting a strange sound. It made him feel uneasy for some reason.
He returned to Las Noches by the evening, gazing around at the empty building that was half in ruins. And oddly, he felt no different than when it was inhabited by the other Espada. Although he had been aware of the weakness of the other Espada, he had not expected that Aizen would fall—to the power of the Shinigami boy. Perhaps he should consider himself lucky that he never crossed swords again with that boy.
But ever since he had let the girl go, he had been plagued with the same question over and over. Why?
He did not remember his life prior to that of a Vasto Lorde. In his memories, there was nothing before the present him. And with Aizen's fall, there was no future, either. It had not bothered him before, to continue in the same manner, day after day. But Aizen had changed that. There was something different, something new. Unwittingly, he had looked forward to each new mission, and somewhere deep down, had appreciated Orihime's presence. She represented a new mode of thinking, a different life and a different world.
And she had left something behind in his empty existence. Something that he began to crave more of.
He spun quickly and blasted his emerald-colored cero at the horde of hollows that approached him. It was that single blast that served as warning enough to the greedy hollows. Even if the Espada were gone, Ulquiorra was as powerful as ever. Powerful enough that nothing or no one could touch him.
He made his way over to the throne and gazed upon it, expressionless, as if hoping for Aizen to return to reclaim it. Turning away, he stepped outside, gazing at the moon in the perpetual night sky of Hueco Mundo.
And embraced the emptiness once again for the night.