Wow I'm really getting into this story, I've already got the end worked out haha! Just so you know, this is a little dark, I don't think it's overly, just the smallest bit, but I feel it's my duty to put that it. :)
Ulquiorra walked up the winding driveway to the dark, imposing mansion at the top of Karakura Hill, which was really more of a cliff hanging over the ocean. He pressed his finger into a button at the side of the columned door, and waited while the set of chimes rang eerily through the house. The door was soon opened and he was allowed in, nodding quickly to the dark-skinned man in a white suit who closed the door behind him, shutting off most of the light until he reached over and switched the lights on.
"You're later than usual," stated the man.
"So what of it Tosen?" asked Ulquiorra, taking some books from his bag.
"What were you doing?"
"I can't see how that's any of your concern," he replied, tossing the schoolbag to the taller man who caught it easily.
"It's my concern if you have been with those boys again," he said coolly.
"I go to school, Tosen, I can't stop seeing them."
"And what about your spare time?"
"If you must know, I was studying, now if you'll excuse me, it's not your place and I have work to do," he began to walk off, deliberately turning his back on his father's associate.
Tosen stared after him silently, until he reached the base of the grand staircase, "I saw you sneak out the other night, I have made sure to notify your father."
Ulquiorra stopped for a moment, his hand tightening on the wrought-iron rail, then continued walking as calmly as possible, "I don't know what you mean."
As soon as he was out of Tosen's line of vision, he rushed to his room and tossed his bags on the four-poster bed. He looked around for something, anything to kick or take his rage out on that would not give him away, unfortunately for him, he was strong enough that anything he attacked usually ended up broken which caused Tosen to tattle on him, yet again, and his father to punish him, yet again. He clenched his fists and stood perfectly still trying to control his fury, he stared at a poster on his wall Grimmjow had given him for his birthday, the light behind the singers was a bright blue, he concentrated on their silhouetted forms trying to concentrate on quelling his anger. Suddenly, an orange-headed figure appeared before his eyes, smiling in awe as she saw him play piano, those blue pins on the side of her head matching that of the poster. Subconsciously his fists unclenched and his expression softened slightly, she had been such a breath of fresh air, he had never played for anyone before, to play for someone else, with more of a purpose than just taking his feelings out on the keys, had been…nice almost.
The door creaked open and he whipped around, determined to break Tosen's neck if it was him, but he relaxed as he saw Gertrude, their maid, and the only other person in the world who knew about his affinity with the piano, she had introduced him to it, she was the only person he ever admired.
"I thought I heard you come in," she said with a smile, wiping her hands on her apron. "Not that hard when you've got Mr Tosen stalking around trying to find out what you're doing."
He nodded absently; Tosen's main aim in life was to destroy Ulquiorra's sanity, or at least his freedom.
She sighed, "I'm sorry about him Ulquiorra," she looked at him carefully. "Ms Cerucci and Miss Loly are out shopping, and your father won't be back until dinner-time, Tosen has just left to sort out some business and Ichimaru is, well, who knows where he is, so you have some time, the room is open."
He looked up at her, "Mother and Loly won't be back until dinner as well?"
She nodded, smiling at his slightly hopeful gaze.
"I would like that very much," he said.
Gertrude led him out of the room, down the staircase and through many marbled hallways, eventually coming to a room in the far left wing of the house, and unlocked the door.
"I'll call you when they come back," she said and left with a smile.
He nodded appreciatively and walked into the huge, double-storey ballroom. The floors were shining, tiled marble with jade-green silk-draped walls. The entire west wall was made up of glass, hung with curtains that matched the walls, they had been pulled open to reveal the spectacular portrait of the ocean, the stormy sky rolling above the tumbling, steel-grey waves. In the centre of the room was a massive, black grand piano, next to which was a stand, housing many books and manuscripts of piano pieces.
He walked over to it and ran his hand over the shining surface, pulling the lid up to gaze at the intricate detail of the inside. He sat down in the chair and caressed the ivory keys with his fingers. Closing his eyes for a moment, he let the anger and frustration at Tosen, his father, his sister, Loly, his ignorant friends, that woman with the sunset hair for being so naïve, and most of all, at his mother, Cerucci. Without opening his eyes, he slammed his fingers down and played one of his favourite pieces, a loud, fast, rumbling piece that let him release his anger, he needed no music, nor his eyes to play it, he had released his anger through it so many times he knew it completely off by heart, like many of the other pieces he played. The best thing about this room was that he could play as loud and fast as he liked and no one would know: the ballroom was only used for parties his father sometimes held for his ever-growing business, and not too often. Very few people came down this section, and the walls were sound-proof too, which ensured no one actually knew about his connection to the beautiful instrument.
After having played it four times, he played something else, another loud and fast one. After playing that twice, he took out one of the piano books and rifled through it, trying to find something to play, he liked to try something quieter after his loud outbursts to calm himself down before his father came home. The piano was the only way he could release his emotions, he could never show them to anyone else. Nnoitra called him a Power Pack: he seemed to have expendable energy but you never saw any of it being released. Which, really made no sense to him, but Nnoitra was not what you would call a sensible man, he and Grimmjow combined resulted in the utmost absurdity which often made him wonder why he was friends with them. Then he remembered that they actually accepted him, unlike anyone else. Suddenly that face flickered back into his mind, the one with the sunset hair, the grey eyes, and those blue hairpins. She accepted that he played piano, he had expected her to laugh at him or be completely shocked, and instead, she had smiled at him and asked him for more. It had not been the reaction he had been predicting when someone finally discovered his passion.
He sighed and put the book back in the case, he could not find anything he wanted to play. He placed his hands on the keys, and almost involuntarily, began to play Moonlight Sonata, the notes flowing through his fingertips and filling the room. It gave him a peace of mind, the way the soothing melody washed over him like cooling water, the same shade of blue as those pins she wore; it cleansed him.
The last note pierced the air around him, and all of a sudden, he felt exhausted, he lay his head down on the piano, the loud noise it made reverberating against his head.
"Ah excuse me Ulquiorra?"
He jerked his head upwards to see Gertrude standing at the doorway, "You're mother and sister are back, as is Tosen."
He jumped up and closed the lid; turning to draw the curtains Gertrude shook her head.
"I'll do those, you go."
He nodded and rushed out of the ballroom, through a hallway, up a back staircase, down another hallway and into his room, where he grabbed his books, ruffled his hair a bit, and slumped down on the bed with a history text book open, giving the impression he had been in there studying for a while.
None too soon either, for Loly walked into his room a moment later, holding multiple large, pastel bags with fancy writing on them. He glared up at her, "Don't you ever knock?"
She ignored him and held up the bags, "Mum and I went shopping, do you wanna see what we bought?"
He sighed, "Honestly Loly, I couldn't care less what you and Cerucci spent your cash on, you know it's all from him anyway."
"Why do you insist calling our mother by her first name? And don't be so disrespectful to our father; he's gotten us out of a lot of trouble!"
He rolled his eyes, "We've been through this Loly, I refuse to call our mother by any maternal name, and you know very well why I don't like our stepfather," he turned his emerald eyes up to her, dark and piercing. "And if I hear you tattle to him or Tosen about me being with Grimmjow and the others then I'll tell him about Luppi."
She gasped, "You wouldn't!"
"Try me."
She sighed, "Besides, he's not my boyfriend; I think he likes Menoly instead of me."
He frowned at her, "I don't care what's going on between the two of you, but I'll tell him you're involved."
She glared at him, "You're…you're…A BAT ULQUIORRA!" she cursed.
He rolled his eyes again, is that really the best she could come up with? Honestly, he could think of worse.
Two hours later Tosen walked into his bedroom, without knocking of course.
"Your father is back, and he wants to talk to you."
Ulquiorra glared and got up from the bed, slamming his book shut a little louder than necessary, "What about?"
"I don't think I need to tell you, justice shall be served," he said calmly.
Ulquiorra put his hands in his pockets and walked out of the room without waiting for Tosen. One of the things that got the man really annoyed was when Ulquiorra did not show him the proper "respect" or treated him beneath him, which Ulquiorra did as often as he could.
After passing through the main hallway he came to a large oak door with brass handles which Tosen opened for him. The younger man walked in without a word and glanced around. It was the domain of his father's business; the walls were panelled with wood and decked with a parquet floor. There was a large window which directed out to the sea, but the crimson curtains were drawn over it, only a small section in the centre barely parted to reveal the rising moon. A medium-sized oak table stood by a wall surrounded with matching chairs. A red velvet couch sat against the wall, occupied by his mother, Cerucci.
She was a pretty young woman with black hair in elaborate curls around her face, tied with strings of pearls that hung from her head, wearing a short white dress with a hooped skirt and puffed sleeves, and purple gartered stockings. She had her hands clasped in her lap; her head bowed, but looked up and smiled at him tentatively when he entered. He made sure not to acknowledge her, ignoring the hurt on her face. Loly sat on a lone chair in the corner, in a white skirt and low-cut shirt, black pigtails neatly brushed. It always sickened him how they instantly conformed to his step-father's rules, and tried to look as presentable for him as possible; always trying to show off their womanly charms. He knew Loly adored the man, without good reason, considering what he had done to her. But Ulquiorra knew, she really just needed someone to protect her, it was the same with Cerucci. They were both weak, they were both trash.
He turned to look at the window, in front of it was a large desk with many, organized papers on it. Sitting behind it, in a comfortable, red velvet chair, sat his father.
His step-father was a man of many talents, one of them was charm and the ability to make others sincerely attached to him, Cerucci had fallen to this and given up her entire fortune to him, as had Loly, much to their downfall, while they got every material item they desired, their happiness was not one of them. Another of his talents happened to be the capability to look calm even when he was furious inside. He wore a red silk shirt and black pants with his wavy brown hair pushed from his head with one strand in front. His face showed that of a kind father, happy to see his step-son, his eyes showed otherwise.
"Aizen," murmured Ulquiorra, nodding to him.
"Come now Ulquiorra," said Aizen, getting out of the chair and walking towards him. "I am your step-father, while I understand it may be difficult to fully accept me as your father, surely you could call me Sosuke."
"I feel it would be disrespectful of me to call you something so informal," he replied quietly.
Aizen nodded thoughtfully and leaned on the edge of the desk, smiling at him, or rather, smirking.
"So I received some rather interesting information from Tosen, apparently he caught you sneaking out two nights ago, he saw you running across the grounds and through the trees. He kept watch there and saw you come back, five hours later."
It was not a question, it was a statement. Ulquiorra had snuck out that night, he climbed out his window, across the branches of an Oak tree that graced his window ledge, down the tree and out the back way of the estate, disabled the alarm, and through the gate to the road, where he had caught a ride with Grimmjow to go to his place for a night of violent video games, which he, naturally, squashed everyone else at.
Ulquiorra kept his face completely blank, like Aizen, he was a master at the art of different outward and inward appearances.
"I am afraid I don't know what you mean."
"Do you deny that you were out that night?"
"Yes I do. How could I have gotten out of the house without anyone seeing me? The doors are deadlocked every night, and the gate is impossible to get past."
"Unless you disable the lock," snapped Tosen, which I found evidence of. "And I know what I saw! Where is your sense of justice now?"
"You and your justice," sighed Ulquiorra.
"Ulquiorra, are you sure that you deny this?" asked Aizen, his voice dangerously quiet.
"I deny it," said Ulquiorra, his voice steady.
"Let's look at this now shall we?" Aizen raised his hand which now held a remote control and pointed it to a large Television screen on the back wall.
All eyes turned towards it as the screen flashed to life. Ulquiorra sucked in his breath as he saw a video of a figure wearing a glowing white shirt and jeans, running across the grounds. The video then changed to another where it showed him disabling the alarm system and slipping through the gate to the silhouette of a beaten-up Volkswagen, where a blue-haired man could clearly be seen at the driver's seat. It was undoubtedly him, the slender, yet stocky stature; he was even wearing the same shirt and jeans. How could he have been so stupid as to forget to disable the cameras?
The screen switched off and he heard the remote being put down, the room was completely silent as all eyes turned to look at him, only one of them pitying: Cerucci's. Loly was just glad she hadn't been caught yet. Ulquiorra turned to look at Aizen, keeping his face neutral. Aizen stood up and walked up to him.
"Do you still deny you left?" he whispered.
Suddenly Aizen's hand whipped out and smacked into his face, causing him to fall to the ground. He saw him raise the metal bat Aizen often used and felt it smash into the side of his face. Then an arm grabbed his neck and lifted him into the air, he found himself staring into the dark brown eyes of his step-father, his face was still the picture of calm, but his eyes were furious.
"Never lie to me again," he said quietly, throwing Ulquiorra into the wall, picking up a nearby vase and throwing it at him. He stalked over to him and kicked him hard in the ribs resulting in an ominous cracking noise; his shoes were toed with steel just for this purpose.
"And if I hear you have been with them again," he picked him up by the neck again and tossed him into a marble statue like a ragdoll, then walked over and slammed his foot into Ulquiorra's face, "Next time, you won't be so lucky."
He lifted the pressure and turned around, smirking. "I believe it's time for dinner now, don't worry Ulquiorra, I'll send someone to get you in an hour or so."
At that he swept out of the room with Tosen following obediently. After a moment, Loly and Cerucci followed, the latter a little reluctantly as she looked down at her son.
"Ulquiorra, I'm so…sorry," she whispered, and hurried out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
Those words were so meaningless to him. To think, that only a few hours ago he had actually felt a glimmer of happiness, the smallest ray to shine in his darkened world. He could barely move: everything hurt so badly, it burned furiously, so much so that he could not think properly. He curled up on the floor, and waited, as the smallest sliver of moonlight fell on his twisted form, lighting his face for a moment, before the clouds covered it up again.
The light from the moon swept over the sleeping form of Orihime, curled up in bed, clutching her pillow. The smallest whisper graced her lips as she turned towards the window, the pale glow caressing her face.
"Ulquiorra…"
How was that? If you're wondering, one of the pieces is called "The Black Star", just type it into Youtube, it should be the first one, the guy who composed it is amazing! Now for a people's choice question: Would you guys be OK with a bit of magicy kinda stuff to do with Orihime? I sort of need it for the way this is going to work. If you really want to keep it very realistic I'm fine with that too, it will be harder to manage but I can do it. So please Review and tell me what you think! They make all the difference, trust me! And this is the fastest I've ever gotten another chapter out thanks to all the amazing reviews from my first one :)
