The Thickness of Blood
More nonsense to confuse him. He had wondered what it felt to hurt physically. He already knew very well what mental pain was, as he was constantly confused and frustrated, though he never showed it. He knew from witnessing the stubbornness of the captive when her friends died one by one, as pain of the heart. This still confused him to some extent, because he yet had to feel physical pain. He had never been injured in the entire time he had remembered being alive.
He had injured many, and even killed a few, but he had never actually felt physical pain. He knew what blood looked like, and he knew it was red. At least, the blood of humans was red. He had crushed a bug with his hand once, and it's blood was not red.
Shouldn't all mortal being have the same color blood? Why was this confusing him so much? He could only recall being injured once, when the captive had hit him. It still hurt to some extent. Is this what physical pain was?
He had been hit once, but he had never been really hurt. No opponent of his had drawn his blood, so wasn't this a good thing? If he knew what it was to be hurt, wouldn't this ruin his mercilessness? If he knew what it has to hurt, wouldn't he hesitate to kill? If he knew what it felt like to be stabbed in the heart by a blood-tainted steel blade, would he ever wish to fail in order to be certain that no human he fights will ever feel this pain? He wanted to know, and yet he didn't. How thick, exactly, is blood?
--
"Woman, exactly what more do you need to make your stay more comfortable?" The raven-haired Espada said, almost annoyed. Ever since he had said that he would serve the captive, she had asked for about everything under the yellow-white moon of Hueco Mundo. She even went as far as to ask that he call her by name.
"Well, could I have a puppy!" The captive's eyes brightened. Appartantly the captive liked animals, as that seemed to now be the theme of what was supposed to be a barren prison cell.
"A what?" The tear-streaked Espada had never heard of a such thing as a puppy. He figured it was some sort of food, by it's bizarre name.
"It's like a dog, only smaller!!" The captive explained to him, ecstatic that she may actually get one. "Can I have a puppy? Please??"
"Very well, then…" He was getting soft. There was no way that he would let himself fall to such a level. He turned, about to exit the captive's room, before she asked him for anything else, which he would obviously say yes to, despite any effort not to. Not to mention, he was getting a bit uneasy at the look of pleading on the captive's face.
"Make sure that it's a really cute puppy! And really fluffy!" The captive called after the Espada as he exited the room.
"As you wish…"
--
"A puppy, eh?" The over-ruler of Hueco Mundo sat atop his throne, almost chuckling at what he had just heard. "Did I hear correctly? The captive wants a puppy?"
"Yes, sir." the raven-haired Espada bowed slightly. "I can go tell her that it is not possi-"
"I say we get her a puppy!" Aizen said, again almost laughing. " Having a little dog running around Las Noches sure would liven up this place, don't you think so, too, Ulquiorra?"
"W-what…?" He for once, actually looked shocked.
"Go to the real world, and get the women a puppy. Why not?" Aizen seemed to enjoy torturing his number four Espada, and he knew for a fact, that Ulquiorra would do anything his master said, without question. "I'll have Szayel make you a gigai."
--
They have stores in the human world where you can purchase pets? Why not they just sell them at the department stores or supermarkets? He would prefer not to think too deeply about little flaws like this in human society. It was all just trash, anyway, so what did he have to do with it?
"Hey! There's a pale guy that says he's hear to buy a puppy!" The man at the counter yelled to someone in the back of the store.
"Does he look like he could crush a dog with his bare hands?" The person in the back of the store yelled back.
"Yeah, he does!" The man at the counter.
"Don't sell it to him, then!" The person in the back of the store.
"Sorry, sir. We don't sell puppies to people who look like they would eat them or sacrafice them to aliens." The man at the counter somehow said something this impolite in a voice that sounded like it was nothing. "Try someplace else, 'kay?"
--
He had now officially looked everywhere, but no store in the area was willing to sell such a scary looking person a small dog.
"Arf!" He heard something make a noise from behind a trash can, and almost jumped.
"Ugh." The furry little monstrosity now sat in front of him, on the hard sidewalk, looking up at him and barking.
Confused, he crouched down and examined the beast. It was small and furry and had floppy ears, like the things he saw in the pet stores that he had looked in. It was brownish-black and had blue eyes.
"I have a feeling that this is as close to a puppy as I'm going to be able to get here." He checked to see if it had a collar or a microchip. Nothing. This meant it was a stray and that it would be okay if he took it, so he did.
--
"Hmm." Aizen sat atop his throne and examined the small fur covered being that his most loyal Epsada had brought back from the world of the living. "I didn't think you would actually find one. I'll have Szayel wash it up and we'll have it sent to the captive tomarrow morning."
"Yes sir." Ulquiorra bowed and left the throne room.
--
"You really got me a puppy?" The captive's eyes glowed when she saw the fuzzy little monster. "Yay!. It's so cute!"
"That is what you requested, is it not?" The raven-haired Espada was somewhat confused as to whether or not the captive would stop asking for stuff, now that she actually had a living animal in her quarters.
"Thank you, so much." The captive looked up at the Espada, who turned away slightly, feeling uneasy again. Why was he always getting jumpy when the captive looked at him? This confused him more than anything else.
"…….." Had the prisoner just thanked him? Why? She was being held captive. She shouldn't be thanking him, and yet he had this bizarre atomatic reaction. "You are welcome…"
Why did he just say that? What had gone wrong in his mind that made him say something like that?
The captive, meanwhile, began playing with the puppy and petting it. Ulquiorra had just stared at it when he saw it. How could the captive not be confused by something that sounds and looks so different? This, too, confused him. He never did truly understand humans.
--
"Ow." The captive sat down on the floor.
"What?" The raven haired Espada was still standing against the door. The puppy had just fallen asleep, and then suddenly he heard the captive say something.
"I cut my finger on the table. Ow." The captive was sitting on the floor, looking at her hand.
Ulquiorra walked over to her and crouched down next to her. He saw the blood dripping from the cut on the captive's hand. It amazed him to see blood again, and he remembered what he was had wanted to ask here.
"Woman…" He began. The captive ignored him, and started looking for a bandage to put over her cut.
"Woman…" He repeated, noticing that she didn't respond to him, and figured she just didn't here him the first time.
Still no reply.
"Inoue." He really regretted saying that. Calling the prisoner by name. Did she hear that? Oh crap…
"Huh?" The captive automatically turned to look at her captor, a look of surprise hinting in her eyes. Ulquiorra had never called her by her name before…
"Come here for a moment. I have a question for you." He said, almost regretting that the question had surfaced in his mind again, after trying to forget that he had ever thought it in the first place.
The captive had found a pink band-aid and covered the cut on her hand with it, and then quickly came back over to where she had sat before.
"Woman- uh… Inoue." Ulquiorra was almost nervous. Almost. "You got a cut before… and… what exactly does it feel like to be hurt. I have never actually been injured… I was just wondering, that's all…"
"Well… being hurt is… Not fun." The captive smiled.
"I figured as much… but…"
"And there's nothing worse in life than doing something that isn't fun.
"So being hurt is a bad thing, then…?"
"A really bad thing."
"…I think I understand a little more now." Why hadn't he figured this out before. "Then, when you hit me… that hurt."
"Oh…" The prisoner had let her happiness slip. She had hurt someone.
"If this is the way humans apologize…" He stood up and put his hands in his pockets, walking out the door. "Then you are forgiven…"