The sun's bright rays greeted me when I woke up the next morning – causing me to pull the blankets over my head with a groan. They were quickly torn off of me, forcing me to roll over on my back, stretching and yawning. Rubbing my eyes, I looked up to see that Ulquiorra had a tray full of food in his hands, the sun burning bright in my eyes behind him.
"It's time to get up now; otherwise you'll be late for work." Ulquiorra told me, setting the tray onto my lap, "I've made your breakfast, made the coffee and have prepared you lunch for your break today as well."
I laughed, taking a bite of egg on toast, "Jeez, Ulquiorra – after all you've done for me, you really don't have to continue being my man servant anymore." He seemed to ponder that for a moment until he leaned down to kiss the top of my head.
"I want to." Ulquiorra declared, "I want to do this for you." From those words, I couldn't contain my smile from slipping onto my face. He had risked his life for me – all just to help me get back home from the one who created him and yet he still opted to serving me like this? No matter how nice it was, I couldn't help but feel guilty for doing this to him. Still, I have him a choice and that what was what he chose to do so I couldn't fault myself for his ill-decision making skills.
After I had finished my breakfast, I hastily chose my apparel for today and came out to see Grimmjow sitting on the couch as usual with a bag of chips under the crook of his arm. When he saw me come in, he gave me a half wave of acknowledgement. After we had detained Aizen five months ago, he always crashed here at the apartment every so often. During that time, we had formed one of those awkward 'friend-of-a-fried' relationships – even though Ulquiorra and Grimmjow weren't exactly 'friends'. I respected his space since he didn't respect mine so I think that's where we got along; that, and due to Grimmjow's newfound interest in TV shows, which I admit I can be quite fond of from time to time as well.
"Hey, just in time – I'm lookin' for a new show to watch, what do you think I'd like?" Grimmjow asked, tossing the remote right at me.
"Definitely Sons of Anarchy." I replied without a second thought, firing up Netflix for him and started up the show. From the sound of the title, Grimmjow showed obvious interest as I started up the first episode. As I began to watch it with him, I suddenly had the urge to check the clock. When I did, my stomach sank: 9:23am?! I started in less than an hour – why didn't Ulquiorra wake me up sooner?! As I ran around in a panic, Ulquiorra handed me my lunch as well as my coffee in a travel mug and helped me out the door and out into the hallway, calm as anything. I bet he was anticipating my reaction and prepared thusly for it. Typical Ulquiorra.
While we were out in the hallway, just the two of us, and as I lowered down the panic level, we stood in front of each other. Now that I had calmed down and now that it was only Ulquiorra in the quiet hallway, I suddenly became aware of how he was staring at me: With that exact same passionate look as he gave me when I told him to do what he felt was necessary. I blushed, memories of yesterday night flooding into my head and the recollection of how he made me feel came back to life as if we were re-enacting it right then and there.
As if reading my thoughts, Ulquiorra took a step closer to me and put his warm hands on either one of my arms – his eyes never leaving mine. I couldn't stop myself, I forced my lips onto his without even thinking about it. I just had to taste those lips again before I departed with him until after my shift was over. I put my hands on his cheeks, my thumbs tracing those green tear-like marks that were coming down from his beautiful eyes. He threw his arms around my middle, drawing me so close to him that we were stomach to stomach. My heart raced, wanting this moment to last forever.
Yet, as soon as that feeling came, we both knew we had to break apart some time. When we did, I placed my forehead against his and sighed with happiness, "Have a good day, Ulquiorra."
"All the same to you as well, Keiko." Ulquiorra told me back which caused my heart to swell with gladness.
That is, until I heard Grimmjow shout from inside my apartment room, "God, just go already! I can hear you guys over the show, you disgusting lovebirds!" This caused us to take a step back from one another. I noticed Ulquiorra turn to the apartment door with a glare and suddenly I feared for Grimmjow.
"He's right. I'll see you around." I finished quickly before rushing down the stairs to get to my car. It was sad how pathetic I was at showing my affections for Ulquiorra – I know that in my heart I just wanted to kiss Ulquiorra and make love to him until I passed out, but I would always chicken out at opportunities to show him properly how much he actually meant to me.
Ah, if only he knew.
Once again, it was another boring shift. It was three hours into my shift and I was bored out of my skull. When that happens, I tend to order the books in alphabetical order until a customer arrived. And that was what I was doing: Standing in the romance section taking all the books out and putting them in correct order with the sides facing outwards.
I picked up a book where on the front cover was a man and a woman standing starry-eyed at each other, holding hands. Before I met Ulquiorra, I would have scoffed at it and probably, if I owned the book, would draw mustaches on the two of them. When I lived alone, I envied people who had a special someone or at least friends around their own age. They made me feel so… depressed, watching them. It was as if, to me, everyone had somebody but me. Yet, when Ulquiorra came into the picture of my life all of that changed: My circumstances and my mentality, both. All of a sudden, I didn't feel singled out anymore. I just had to wait for him – 'the one' for me was coming; he just had to wait for the opportune moment to come literally bursting through my window.
I sighed happily as I put the book on the shelf.
"You seem really happy, Keiko-chan. I never heard you sound so content at work before!" My boss's, Bunkichi's, voice sounded from around the corner of the bookshelf. I saw the walking stick before I saw him. I looked up to see the blind old man wearing a thing smile across his face. His assistant, Ayumu Wakahisa, also appeared behind him. Ayumu was a tall man with short black hair and not-so-friendly brown eyes. He always wore a navy blue business suit and a formal black tie. Rarely did he talk, only when he had to direct Bunkichi places or had to pass you something and explained what it was. I bet that if you forced Ayumu and Ulquiorra into having a conversation together, they would be completely silent, waiting for the other to begin. Sometimes I enjoyed teasing him, but other days I liked to keep my distance. Where one day he'd take a joke lightly other days I think that if he had the right materials in hand, he'd maim you without question. He was slightly worse than a PMSing female.
"Oh… I, uh…," I stammered suddenly running out of words to say. Was it OK to tell him about Ulquiorra? Or should I make up something on the spot?
Bunkichi chortled, "Don't fret, my dear; you're not in trouble for being happy at work – it's just an observation from an old blind man. You must have found yourself a man, eh?" I stiffened – how did he know that?! Sometimes I was surprised at how much Bunkichi could pick up on when we couldn't see. I suppose if he had been living with blindness for a while, he'd have to adjust by focusing on his other senses – but still!
"H-how did you—?" Before I could finish, Bunkichi was already explaining my not-quite yet voiced question.
"It's obvious from the way you talk and the sudden optimistic vibe you've been displaying." The old man smiled heartily, "And if I had to venture a guess, you're in the romance section, aren't you?"
"…yes." I admitted, my head hanging. I expected the old man to start laughing, but instead surprised to hear nothing. When I looked up, I noticed that Ayumu was whispering to Bunkichi, both of their faces serious. I didn't catch what they were talking about, but I heard Bunkichi say 'all right' before turning back to me.
"Keiko-chan." The old man started very solemnly, causing me to listen intently, "I have received word some time ago, but I couldn't address it without further details so I will tell you this now: I have received word that you're hanging around the wrong type of crowd."
My eyebrows furrowed, "What do you mean?"
"Arrancars." Bunkichi replied which surprised me. How did Bunkichi know about that? Why? Could he see spirits like I can? But wait, he's blind… Did he have some sort of weird power like I did? I stopped all these flooding questions and lessened them to only one.
"…how do you know that?" I asked warily.
"Stay away from them." Bunkichi ignored me, "Or you're going to make yourself an enemy of them. They will come for you."
My heart pounded, "An enemy? Who's coming for me?"
"If you do not heed our words, you will soon find out." Ayumu spoke up for the first time, silencing me. Before I could ask any more questions, a woman came up and asked for some assistance. I glanced at my boss and his assistant before going off with the woman to help her find the book she was looking for with questions buzzing through my head. A part of me wanted to stay and demand answers from them, but how could I? Bunkichi was my boss and he could fire me if I decided to question him (because, despite his friendly exterior he can actually prove to be quite formidable) and Ayumu wasn't exactly approachable about any subject – even just when it involved work or getting into contact with Bunkichi. But still… who was it they were referring to? Did Arrancars such as Ulquoirra and Grimmjow have another enemy I should worry about? From the sound of Bunkichi's words of warning, there was at least more than one – which added to my fright.
Deciding to distract myself, I turned to the woman, "So you're looking for something on cooking?" The woman frowned at me.
"No, I said I wanted a book on crafts." She corrected me and I took it with a nod – right, she did say that… but I was so distracted by what Bunkichi and Ayumu said that it didn't quite register. Come on Keiko, get your head in the game – maybe it's nothing: Maybe I was just hearing them wrong. Maybe instead of 'Arrancars' he said 'Aransas' or something along those lines. Maybe it was a local gang or something and he thought I was getting mixed up in that crowd and the 'they' he was referring to was just the police. Whatever it was that happened, I should try not to let it bother me.
"Right, sorry. The books on crafts are just down here." I told her taking her to the next few bookshelves over. I scanned the books for a minute until I found one that particularly sounded promising, "Here's one that looks like it'd be reliable. It's—!"
Just as I was about to tell her about the book and its properties, I felt something eerily familiar. It was strong and oppressing – and, scariest of all, sudden. It threatened to push me to the floor, but I fought against it as much as I could. A cold bead of sweat ran down my temple as I recognized this feeling: It was a spiritual pressure. And just from the feeling of it, it was a powerful one. But, it must not have been too close to me because it was as if a strong wind was blowing right at me. The woman tried to gain my attention, but I was too focused on the spiritual pressure to hear her words.
What did this mean? Who was it that was emitting this pressure? Suddenly, I felt another semblance of a spiritual pressure – albeit a little less powerful than the one before it. My heart sank into my stomach as I thought of a terrifying possibility:
Aizen had come back.
"Excuse me. Are you all right?" The woman asked me. Just like that the two spiritual pressures were gone again and the world seemed to come back. I stared at the now impatient-looking woman and realized that I was just standing there with the book I was about to hand her in my hands. I tried not to panic, even as memories of last night when I experienced that odd feeling came into my head for some reason.
"Y-yes. I apologize." I coughed into my fist to regain myself, "As I was saying, the author of this book is quite well-known. She wrote many reliable books on a number of topics so you wouldn't go wrong with this book."
She took it from my hands and quickly flipped through it, "I suppose this was what I was looking for. Thank you." Turning on her heel, obviously displeased with my performance, she walked away. When she did I reflected on the possibility of Aizen returning. How would he have gotten back his powers? I thought I was keeping his powers in check daily. With a shock, I realized I didn't concentrate on his powers this morning like I normally did. Or the day before that – or even the day before that. With my heart pounding, I gathered that it was entirely possible that I unconsciously gave Aizen his powers back slowly by forgetting about doing those simple concentration exercises. Not just me, but Ulquoirra had also forgotten to remind me – how come we were so distracted?
Could it be from just those mistakes we made that everything we've worked so hard to gain: Our lifestyles, our relationships, our familial closeness with my parents – everything; everything could be destroyed. Could it be that was who Bunkichi and Ayumu were referring to, assuming they knew everything about what had happened to me? Was Aizen the source of their warning or was it something else equally as terrible?