Everyone with even a shred of spiritual power felt the burst of energy. It was hard to miss; nothing like it had ever entered Karakura town in over two hundred. Humans everywhere looked up as a chill went down their spines. The soul reapers stationed there reported back for backup. Urahara closed his shop to investigate. Orihime and Ichigo both made excuses to the teacher and practically fled the school. They, at least, recognized the energy. That arrancar from before… Ichigo thought as he and Orihime raced toward the epicenter of the power surge. This is his energy… but it's so much stronger than last time! What does it mean?
Finally, he and Orihime arrived at the park where the source of the strange power was coming from. To Ichigo's surprise, Urahara was there too! "What are you doing here, Urahara-san?" Orihime asked politely. Urahara looked up, startled, then quickly regained his usual cheerful expression and replied, "Ah, Inoue-san! And Kurosaki-san as well! It is a pleasure to meet you on such a fine day !"
Next instant, Ichigo was in Urahara's face with a very threatening look in his eye. "Just answer the question, Urahara!" he growled, glaring at the sweat-dropping shop owner.
"Ah… yes. I am here, naturally, for the same reasons as you and Inoue-san, Ichigo." Seeing slightly confused expressions on the teenagers, Urahara sighed and elaborated. "The energy. You must have sensed it, or you would not be out here, am I right? That is why you're both here: to investigate." When both nodded, Urahara smiled and turned back to his investigation of the area.
As they followed the energy, and later, the scent of blood, Ichigo Kurosaki was the first to notice. At the edge of a clearing, three boys had surrounded something and were kicking it or prodding it with long sticks. Through a gap in the human wall, Orihime caught a glimpse of black feathers and white… cloth? No, that can't be right… Birds don't use cloth… unless maybe it got caught by these boys? she thought, perplexed.
A menacing aura came to the attention of the boys. Slowly, frightened, they turned around, only to be greeted by none other than the infamous Ichigo Kurosaki. Ichigo glared at them. "If you've got nothing better to do than torture that thing, I suggest you leave before this gets personal," he growled at them. The boys were too happy to comply, scrambling and tripping over each other in their haste to escape the infamous "wrath of Ichigo".
After the boys left, the small group was able to see, for the first time, what the children had been tormenting. Orihime was the first to speak. "It's a fallen angel…" she murmured. And indeed, it (or should I say he?) appeared to be. The being's form was entirely human, clad in white, except for the large black bird wings that had confused Orihime and fascinated the boys. It was clear that one wing was broken, and bloodstains were common along the creature's entire body, though they were concentrated along the torso. The creature was facedown, so they couldn't see its face.
While they watched, the wings shimmered and vanished into spirit particles, which melded together in the thing's hand, forming a sword. Urahara knelt down and rolled it onto its back, revealing its face and identity. This time, Ichigo broke the silence first. Voice muted by shock, he said, "That's no angel, Orihime…"
Orihime sat in the secret back room of Urahara Shouten, watching the still form next to her. She still didn't understand why they needed to guard him; he looked so harmless in this condition.
The girl sighed. This was going nowhere. Closing her eyes, Orihime allowed her mind to wander back to yesterday at the park, where they had found him…
"That's no angel, Orihime," Ichigo said. "That's one of the arrancar from the incident a week ago. This is the stronger one, or was at least, 'cause I don't think he's alive anymore." At that moment, said arrancar proved Ichigo wrong by shifting slightly and murmuring something. Orihime, who had been standing next to him, squeaked like a frightened mouse, jumped almost a foot in the air, and scrambled away from the injured arrancar to hide behind Urahara. "I believe you are wrong with that assumption, Kurosaki-san." Urahara smiled a bit and gently nudged the pale arrancar with his foot, evoking another reaction, this one in the form of the arrancar shifting again (away from Urahara's foot) and opening his startlingly green eyes. Orihime squeaked again and shrank further back behind Urahara.
Ulquiorra watched the frightened Orihime with something resembling amusement. He coughed and said, "You needn't be… so frightened… I cannot… do much… in this state… Even if… I could move… I wouldn't be able… to harm you… before your soul reaper friends… would kill me…"
Ichigo was somewhat shocked. He hadn't though that the arrancar was alive, let alone able to speak. "You're one of the arrancar from last week," he said, more to Orihime and Urahara than to Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra coughed up some blood and smirked slightly. "And you… are the idiot soul reaper… who Yammy-baka… almost killed…" he murmured, so quietly that the other three almost couldn't hear him.
Almost. Urahara had to hold Ichigo back from further incapacitating the half-dead arrancar. "Now, now, Kurosaki-san, we can't have you killing him until after we find out what happened. Now… what is your name?"
"I am called… Ulquiorra… Cuatro Espada…"
"Thank you. Now, Ulquiorra-san, what do you mean by Espada…? Ah, never mind…" Urahara trailed off, as Ulquiorra had just lost consciousness again. "Well, this complicates matters," he said. "Ah, well, I suppose it can't be helped… Pick him up, Kurosaki-san, and come along."
Ichigo blinked. "'Pick him up'? What do you mean, Urahara?" Urahara sighed. The boy could be such a boneheaded moron at times. "Well, we can't have him dying here, can we? He must know something about Aizen's plans, and if he dies he won't be able to tell us. Now, pick him up, Kurosaki-san. We're leaving." Grumbling, Ichigo complied, roughly hoisting Ulquiorra off the ground by the collar. "Not so roughly, Ichigo! Do you want him to die? …Never mind, don't answer that. Just be gentle, and carry him a bit less painfully." With a sigh, Ichigo shifted Ulquiorra a bit so that the pale ex-Espada could breathe. "Oh, for… Don't carry him by his collar! Just… ah, I'll do it…"
Orihime jumped in to the conversation and said, "Kurosaki-kun, please set him down again. Thanks, now…"she whispered a quick phrase and a glowing, triangular shield formed under Ulquiorra's body and slowly, so as not to jolt it's passenger, rose into the air, carrying him with it.
"Creative and intelligent! Well done, Inoue-san! See, Kurosaki-san, there is a smart solution to this problem!" One second later, Urahara had a bloody nose and an angry Ichigo glaring at him. "Just shut it and move, Urahara. This was your idea, so you gotta figure out where to keep him," growled Ichigo. "Moth thertain'y, fo'ow be…" Urahara said, his cheerful attitude somewhat dampened but not gone entirely, and he walked off through the woods, Ichigo and Orihime following, the glowing "stretcher" with Ulquiorra floating behind.
Orihime sighed. This was the most boring job ever: watching an unconscious, half-dead arrancar in case he woke up and went crazy or something.
At the moment, said arrancar was looking more dead than alive. Urahara, Ururu, and Jinta had been hard at work, though, taking care of the bandaging. Ulquiorra's upper body was almost completely bandaged up, giving him an appearance resembling a mummy. Orihime sighed again. At least they had left his face alone so the ex-Espada could breathe… Come to think of it, did arrancar even need to breathe?
Focus, Orihime, she reminded herself. Orihime turned her attention back to their "guest" and stared blankly for a minute before boredom overtook her and she drifted off into sleep.
Ulquiorra was dreaming, that much he knew, but it was so unlike the normal, philosophical/bloodthirsty dreams he usually experienced that he couldn't believe it wasn't actually real. He was in Aizen's "throne room" deep within Las Noches, standing in the air above the platform on which the throne itself sat. He stood behind the throne, watching the room from above. It was an unusual experience; he'd never been allowed up in this particular location before.
Aizen himself was sitting in the throne. It seemed he had not yet noticed Ulquiorra's presence. Ulquiorra smirked sarcastically (by his standards). It wasn't exactly hard to see why Aizen hadn't noticed him, he was barely visible. Of course, that was quite believable as Ulquiorra was quite certain he'd died several hours previously, shortly after that strange vision in the human world's small forest…
Aizen's voice snapped Ulquiorra's mind back to the present. "I see. Thank you, Nnoitra, Halibel. Lead me to the remains of the others. Perhaps… we can revive them if their spiritual pressure is still there." Aizen stood. Ulquiorra, intrigued, looked out below the platform. Standing on the ground, far below the platform, were Halibel and Nnoitra, looking, surprisingly, to be in good health. Ulquiorra had seen what happened to those who failed Aizen. Halibel and Nnoitra did not fit those memories. No doubt they lied and said that they vaporized me, he thought. It wasn't exactly surprising; he'd considered lying to Aizen several times before, after his few failed missions when he'd just been created and was still a weakling compared to his current… previous… power.
Ulquiorra's subconscious registered a slight tugging that became more insistent very quickly. Looking up, he noticed that Aizen was leaving the room, and that the further away his former master got, the stronger the pull. Intriguing… So, I am spiritually bound to Aizen in this soul-form… he concluded. Soon the tugging became so strong a pull that even Ulquiorra could not resist. He took the most obvious course of action: he followed.
