Hello everyone! I kinda sorta stopped all my other stories and started this one on a whim. I can't make any promises, but I want to try and keep this one going. This is a short starter to my hopefully larger story in the making. It's gonna be a little OOC at first until I lead you through the reasonings and such in a deeper chapter. Anyways...hope you like it and please review D:

Bleach and its characters belong to Tite Kubo, not me. I'd have killed Ichigo long ago, and Ulquiorra would be the new main character. *sighs* ...

Here in Our Hands

Blood splattered as Ulquiorra's gigai was cut through like butter with a hot knife. The pain was unrealistically intense for the ex-Espada, but he blamed that on the fact that he was inside a weak human body instead of his harder-than-steel original form. Blood soaked his school uniform and made his entire left side tremble with the aftermath of pain—numbness. As he allowed himself to crumble to the ground, he wondered how in the world he got into the situation in the first place.

Just 2 weeks ago, he was looking at Orihime's face as he faded away into ash. Now, he was foolishly fighting in a gigai against a hollow that attacked him due to the amount of reiatsu he still had trouble suppressing. He regrettably wasn't allowed to leave his gigai form without permission and surveillance by the Soul Society. They didn't trust him fully yet. Every time they allowed his transformation, it had been for research to help the soul society learn more ways to combat against cero's and the like. He was like a lab rat to them. Yet despite of all that, he was here fighting this hollow alone—doing their job—due to the fact that no other soul reapers were in town. It was quite a predicament.

The creature roared and stomped its large clawed hand down towards Ulquiorra, who only barely managed to get out of the way of being crushed. He frowned, not used to such sluggish responses from his body. Not only was it slow, but it was prone to shutting down his 5 senses as soon as it got a paper cut sized wound and bled a small amount.

He supposed all of this trouble started when he was allowed a second chance by that foolish woman.

The blackness and starless sky of Hueco Mundo was almost smoldering, however in contrast to the darkness, Ulquiorra registered an intense light. Warmth coursed through his veins—his regenerated veins. How was he still alive? He was sure that his organs were just previously turning into dust, which would soon bring his outer body with them. But now, he was lying contently in the lap of the woman he had reached for. Her powers lit her form up with a strong orange glow, giving her the appearance of an otherworldly angel.

"W…what are you doing, woman?" his voice felt strange. Right before he disappeared, he had felt his throat collapse and turn to ash. It was strange to be using it to speak again so suddenly.

The girl he had taken captive smiled down at him, adding more angelic features to her form.

"Saving you" as she said these words that pierced right through the hollow, her free hand crept down to take hold of the newly formed hand of Ulquiorra's. Their hands weren't able to touch when he reached out for her earlier. The fact that she remembered his desire and finished the act herself made something tug in his chest.

"You're…such a strange human…" he mumbled, still exhausted from the fight. He could feel that the girl had a ways to go before he was completely healed again, so he closed his eyes and took a deep breath of air.

"What of the shinigami?" He could feel that Ichigo was long gone by now—he wasn't even in Hueco Mundo anymore.

"He's off to stop Aizen from destroying Karakura town." A male voice chimed in. It was the voice of the Quincy that had attacked him after Ulquiorra blew a hole into Ichigo's chest. Ulquiorra took note of his presence, and then made a soft noise in his throat.

"How foolish," he muttered. He had more to say, but that summarized Ichigo's goal up nicely.

Ulquiorra was frustrated. In fact, that was an understatement. He was just revived by his enemy, and now his target and mission was heading towards Aizen at this very moment. He had failed, and was utterly defeated in every way and form. However, he refused to act like a child. He forced himself to swallow this defeat and pity, and used this new chance to sort out the feelings he felt develop just as he faded away. This heart that he discovered—the strange feeling of understanding and comprehension—brought new light to the Espada's life. It also had given a new meaning behind the woman's otherwise useless and foolish words.

There was a long train of silence and it seemed like all eyes were on Ulquiorra as he was finally fully healed. The Espada wasted no time and stood, forcing Orihime to let go of his hand and causing Uryu to stiffen. He was still in his second release form, after all. Orihime stood, but only eyed Ulquiorra once before walking towards the Quincy. For a moment, the two males stared at each other. Uryu glared with intense hostility, but had restraint as well. Orihime had after all healed Ulquiorra, so he wasn't about to go and attack the Hollow unless provoked to do so. Ulquiorra looked back with a piercingly cold stare, his green eyes hiding the confusion and frustration that he felt due to being revived. Confusion was formed through the fact that now he had doubts on whether or not to attack, and in that confusion and uncertainty of his duties, Ulquiorra became frustrated. It wasn't until Uryu and Orihime left that the Hollow finally got a grip on his logic.

With a quiet whisper, his release form began to peel away into black specks, revealing his torn but present white uniform. The blackness left his body completely, returning him to normal, and then swirled towards his hands to take on the shape of his unsheathed sword. Sighing, Ulquiorra raised the blade and carefully sheathed it. It was back where it was supposed to be—at his side—with a click of the guard against the scabbard. He let the Quincy and the woman go, but no remorse or hesitation clouded the Espada's judgment anymore. He knew what he had to do now that he allowed not only his prey to escape, but for them to heal him and bring him back to life.

Regrettably, he had to repay them. His pride wouldn't like it, but the new feeling tugging at his chest desired him to act honorably. And the only way to do so was to stop Ichigo from being killed in his suicidal attempt to stop Aizen, and then safe the strange human girls' hometown before it was blown to pieces and forged into the Kings' Key. This would become troublesome, but ever since the hollow-fied Ichigo began to win the fight, Ulquiorra lost the will to continue living. He had failed the last orders given to him by Aizen, and he knew that the last 3 higher ranked Espada that he took with him were already dead. If he were to appear to aid Aizen, he'd follow in suit.

The only thing keeping Ulquiorra from going back to how he felt about living as Ichigo defeated him was the fact that the stupid human girl had revived him. He didn't want to be alive, and yet she showed him mercy and gave him a second chance. He supposed he was lucky. After all, he was beginning to understand the heart Orihime boasted of previously. Without further contemplation, Ulquiorra disappeared with a flourishing Sonido. He didn't have time to waste, and he was well aware of the fact that even with his additional help, Ichigo would not win against Aizen. As Ulquiorra reappeared, he knelt down into the cold white sand. Grimmjow lay there, bloodied and defeated, but at the sound of Ulquiorra's movements, one blue eye cracked open and glared at the smaller Arrancar.

"Fancy seeing you again, stiff-ass…" Grimmjow croaked, frustrated that his rival had to see his condition. Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed. This would be troublesome. He knew that Grimmjow had been defeated, but he didn't know it was to this extent. His stubbornness was an attribute that Ulquiorra hated, but had to admit that it helped him become stronger. If Nnoitra wasn't equally if not more stubborn, Grimmjow would have been ranked 5th in Ulquiorra's book. This was a desirable trait Ulquiorra needed in order to rebel against Aizen. Besides, Grimmjow had mentioned before how he never liked listening to the ex-shinigami's orders.

"Can you stand?" For a moment Grimmjow just continued to glare, something close to a snarl forming on his lips. But Ulquiorra waited until the Espada relented, body lurching as he forced himself up.

"No shit. I was just restin'." Grimmjow hissed through his teeth as he stood. Ulquiorra rose with him, eying his demeanor carefully. The Espada was a little tipsy, but he was not trembling. A little patchwork and Grimmjow would surely be useful once again. Noticing his stare, Grimmjow narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, forcing himself to stand up straighter and remind the younger Arrancar who was taller.

"The hell are you looking at?"

Sighing, Ulquiorra strode off. Grimmjow followed like a lost kitten, curious and confused as to why the 4th Espada was coming back to check on him. According to how well Grimmjow knew the younger, he was supposed to not care about fallen comrades. But apparently something had happened when Ulquiorra's reiatsu flickered off for just a brief minute or two. Something was changing, and that was the only reason Grimmjow didn't blow it all off and go his own path.

Ok, so that was a pretty short little beginner chapter. I've been cooped up, so I started writing again. Yes, this is Ulquihime, by the way. And the god damn title wouldn't align center for the life of me. So I gave up.

I'll be basing this story roughly on the Manga, but since all this stuff is already long in the past, I'm going way off after a certain point. So bear with me. But, more importantly…

Tell me if this is worth continuing D;

-Ulqy-Chan