Chapter 2: Dreams and Panic
He could feel her shaking hand in his. There was little warmth left in them, and his small hands grasped hers tightly. "My… son…" she said weakly. He looked in horror as he saw trickles of blood running down from her forehead. He squeezed her hand tighter, hoping that this would somehow prevent the cold chill sweeping slowly through her body. Her eyes grew clouded. "Mommy…"
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A bottle crashed on the floor, scattering broken pieces in every direction. The smell of liquor filled the room. His father's yelling voice crashed all around him. "Don't you understand!? It was your fault she died!! Your fault!!" He was knocked to the ground.
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Just as he had squeezed his mother's hand before, trembling, he held tightly onto the girl's hand that he hardly knew. "Don't worry… it'll be alright…" she said in a small and hopeful voice. He saw the chain attached to him start to eat away at itself, and the hole in his chest grow bigger and deeper, until-
His green eyes flickered open. For a second he was lost in his dreams, unsure of what anything was. Then reality snapped back into his mind.
He, for some odd reason, had fallen asleep on his post. The espada cursed to himself silently. What would happen if this continued? What if he let something happen to the woman and failed to keep Aizen-sama's order? And just as troubling to him was the content of his dream. He thought he had forgotten those memories when he had become an arrancar. But why had those images of pain come back to him when Aizen-sama had promised they wouldn't suffer?
Regardless, he had to check in on the prisoner, just to make sure anything hadn't happened when he was unconscious.
Hands in pockets, he walked down the halls at a brisker pace then he found necessary. Then he remembered a conversation he had earlier with Nnoteria, and how the widely grinning espada had commented that taking care of Inoue Orihime was a "tasty" job.
His pace increased.
When he got to her door, he heard sounds of heavy breathing and crying. He felt his body go numb. Ulquiorra pushed open the door with more force then necessary, and found her lying on the floor shaking. He quickly rushed over to her, and bent down beside her. Her breathing was harsh and irregular, and she was grasping her hands so tightly he feared she would damage herself just from that. "What's wrong?" He asked, trying to sound unconcerned, "Did something happen?"
She did not answer the question, but instead bowed her head down and shook violently. Her bright hair fell down around her and hid her face.
He couldn't waste time asking questions. She was probably too shaken to answer. He had seen that the door hadn't been open recently, so the other espada couldn't have done this, so why was she…? Then he felt it. Kurosaki Ichigo's spiritual pressure. He could tell that he was in battle, and severely injured. Maybe she was having a nervous breakdown. But her shuddering increased, and he realized he couldn't just go to whatever arrancar the shinigami was fighting with and tell them to stop. So, slowly and unsurely, he put his arms around her shaking body. This seemed to panic her even more, and he recognized that his grip was too strong. He softened his embrace, and pulled her closer to him.
"Calm down, breathe slowly." he said in the most soothing voice he could manage. She began to hyperventilate. He wanted to yell out in frustration. What else was he supposed to do? Tell her that Kurosaki Ichigo would certainly win and whisk her away?
… Maybe the only option was to lie. He gritted his teeth. Why had Aizen-sama given him this job? Then quite unexpectedly, he leaned in towards her, and whispered into her hair; "Believe in him."
The woman's breathing stopped for a few moments, and her wide tear-filled eyes looked in the direction of the espada. Her breathing began to slow, and her grip on her own hands relaxed a little bit.
Ulquiorra felt himself become less tense as well. But he didn't let go of her. They just sat together there, two completely different beings, together under the never-ending moonlight.