Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. Kubo Tite does.

Second edition (Nov2011)

Himitsu

By

Marie Darkholme

Chapter Three: Ulquiorra's New Subordinate

Las Noches. Not the best place to be but hey, it could actually be worse. A charming man on his own way, Aizen sat on his throne-like chair, which stood a few meters above de floor. With the exception of his usual look of superiority and that hint of sadism on his lips, his face remained for the most part without expression. The simply dimly illuminated room was the meeting room for the Espada. That day, however, it was empty. Both the Espada and Aizen's allies, Gin and Tousen were absent.

Footsteps echoed through the halls well before anyone could be seen in the room. Aizen however had already detected the presence of one of his beloved Espada. Ulquiorra walked into the room, his hands in his pockets and his face an empty mask as always. The Quarto Espada had always been like that, even when before he had evolved into an arrancar.

The Espada bent down and rested one of his knees on the ground. His head faced down. The room was silent.

"Aizen-sama, the woman is ready."

The expression on the former shinigami didn't change. "Tell her to come in."

Ulquiorra stood up and exited the room. Just then Aizen allowed a smirk to play on his lips. He was satisfied. The experiment had gone better than he had anticipated. From the beginning he knew he had bet on the right lab rat. But in the end, even if it didn't work, he had nothing to loose.

After about five minutes, steps were heard from the corridor leading to the room once more. Then two people entered. Both of them knelt down. One of them was Ulquiorra and the other was a girl in arrancar uniform.

"You sent for me?" the girl asked, perhaps a little too briskly. A sudden pressure made the space around her suddenly heavy. "Aizen…sama…"

Ulquiorra stood from his kneeling position and took two steps backwards, preparing to leave.

"Ulquiorra, wait." Aizen's voice made the arrancar stop almost instantly. "This issue concerns you."

The Espada stuck his hands in his pockets as he waited; his face remained unchanged. The girl followed the arrancar example and stood from her kneeling position, her hands behind her back, her face staring forward to some undefined point between Aizen's chair and the floor.

"Arisawa Tatsuki." The shinigami said her name in a rather eerie way that sent chills down her spine. She wasn't sure if it was because of the adrenalin of standing before Aizen for the first time in six months or if it was his sole presence that aroused such a feeling in her. Either way, it was like something she had never felt. She had never been afraid of anyone or anything but at that moment, she felt completely overwhelmed. Overwhelmed and yet, she wasn't scared, she wasn't allowed to. She knew, however. Aizen wouldn't even have to lift a finger for her to be dead. It was a strange sensation. But, somehow, she liked it. It made her feel alert and eager to improve.

She could feel his eyes on her, carefully studying her. He was checking how far she had progressed, how powerful she had become, where her weaknesses lied. She felt exposed; like her soul had been stripped naked, all her hopes and dreams, all her weaknesses, all her secrets.

"You've finished your advanced training." He stated, his cheek resting on the knuckles of his hand. "Now, it is time for you to become part of the Espada."

Tatsuki's lips trembled with her Aizen's words. Part of the Espada. Did he mean as an Espada's fracción? It was simply crazy. She was the weakest arrancar in Las Noches and he was just throwing her to the hungry wolves. She was conscious of her limits. Ichimaru Gin and Ulquiorra Schiffer had throughout made sure she knew her place and that place ranked very low. "Ah, don't worry. I'm sure the Espada will welcome you." The shinigami seemed amused with her reaction. Tatsuki on the other hand could find nothing funny in the entire situation. "You'll become part of the Espada as a fracción under the Quarto Espada, Ulquiorra Schiffer."."

She was speechless. After everything that had happened she knew that she was bound to join the Espada. Still, not this soon, and of all the damned arrancar in Las Noches, Aizen had to pick the one she most hated to be her direct superior.

"Aizen-sama, are you sure that's…She quickly fell on her knees. But this time it wasn't Aizen who did it. It was Ulquiorra.

"Don't forget your place, woman. You are here to serve Aizen-sama." The Quarto Espada said in his cold voice. His expression remained emotionless and even his voice had been even. But she already knew him enough to know he was angry.

When he lifted the pressure caused by his enormous reiatsu, Tatsuki struggled with her breath for a second, and then she cursed him. When she was finally sure her voice wouldn't tremble, she replied in an almost inaudible voice: "My apologies, Aizen-sama. I will do as you command me to."

Both arrancar bowed and left the room, leaving their leader sitting on his chair. Once outside, Tatsuki felt her arm being gripped tightly to the point of fracture. Her blue eyes met Ulquiorra's empty green ones as he pushed her against the wall. But for the first time since she had met the arrancar she could see something shining in his eyes, his expressionless face faltering just a bit with anger.

"I do not like the perspective of having such a weakling as my Fracción, woman. However, I'll respect Aizen-sama's decision." He pushed her further against the wall, if possible. If she could still feel anything close to fear, that would be it. His eyes were cold and if he could she knew he would kill her right in that instant. However, she had denied to herself the right to be afraid ever again. "Nevertheless, if you don't want to be killed in a nearby future, I suggest you train very hard or I'll kill you whether Aizen-sama's allows it or not."

And with a last jerk of his wrist, he left her there, calmly disappearing in the darkened halls as if nothing had ever happened. The girl smiled. She had made him angry even without trying. Oh well, he had been her enemy ever since the entire ordeal had started. She touched her bandaged chest. The wound was completely healed; however it still felt like it was there. She straightened her clothes and threw her head back, her hair falling back in its place on her back. She had thought about cutting it short again but decided against it. The hairstyle change might come handy one day. She then walked away from the meeting room towards the Quarto Espada's domain. She would have to settle herself in there from now on. Not that she had anything to move to her new room, anyway.

She had made it through half the way when she was intercepted by someone who put a hand over her mouth. Her body reacted before she could think which was a dangerous thing to do when there were so many dangerous and blood-hungered arrancar around. Her hand moved to the wrist of the hand over her mouth and bent it back distancing it from her. That's when another hand grabbed her throat and she was pulled against her opponent who stood behind her. Her other hand moved to the other wrist of the person but she wasn't neither quick or strong enough to grab it and in the meantime, her opponent managed to break his other hand free and twisted her arm behind her back.

"Tch…still behaving like a wild kitten." He whispered in her ear. She smiled recognizing both his voice and his reiatsu. She should have noticed him before. "Heard you got promoted to Ulquiorra's herd."

"You call that being promoted? I would say I was demoted. Anyways, you can't call that a herd. It's just me in there."

"You got that right, bitch."

"Would you stop calling me names, dumbass!" she replied trying to break free from his grip. The remains of his hollow mask on his jaw hit against the top of her head and mask. "And while you're at it, could you get your hands off me."

The Espada laughed loudly as he allowed her to rub her sore wrist. It had been three months since he had last seen her. He could tell she had changed in such short time. Did he care? Not much. But he was, nevertheless, curious. They had something between them. He wasn't quite sure what to call it but it felt somehow similar to what he had had with his previous Fracción. Then again, that might have been something entirely different from what was happening there. He was…

"Hey…bitch, that hurt." His thoughts were interrupted by the girl's fist on his chest, strong enough to trouble his breathing and for him to feel the need to rub it.

"It's called revenge, deal with it."

"I see you got yourself a new uniform." He walked around her, checking her out. "Nice!"

"Jealous, Grimmjow?" her hand moved to her hair in a cocky manner and threw it behind her back again.

A partial cranium of a dragon adorned the top of her head with two pairs of horn pointing backwards in such a way that if she pushed the remains of her hollow mask down, it would end up just above her eyes, like a helmet of some sort. From under her eyes, a bunch of particles that looked like scales send out white and blue reflexes. Her arrancar uniform was close to standard. She wore white hakama and sandals with black socks. Her chest was covered with ligatures only seen between her sleeveless hooded keigoki. The outfit was completed by white ribbons made of white tissue that enveloped her forearms leaving a pair of them falling down in the place where they tied up under the elbow. The only thing missing was her zanpakutou, which was tied up to her waist falling alongside her left leg.

The two arrancar started walking again, but this time in a different direction. Tatsuki knew there was no way Grimmjow would walk into Ulquiorra's domain.

"So it's true, then?" The Sexta Espada looked at her.

"Unfortunately. It's not that I like to hang around him, as you know, but there's nothing I can do about it." Her hand travelled unconsciously to her chest.

"Don't tell me you haven't healed yet, Arisawa?" Grimmjow laughed as he watched her. She elbowed him in the chin.

"I'm not as slow as you when it comes to healing." She replied as she walked ahead of him. He just shook the comment aside, refraining from answering back. They walked through the long corridors until they reached a large arch frame that led outside. They silently walked through it and found themselves under the night sky of Las Noches. They walked over to their usual spot and sat down. Their usual spot was not that impressive. It basically consisted of a bunch of stones near a dead tree surrounded by a hell lot of sand.

"So…where have you been for the last…three months? Haven't seen you around. As a matter of fact, I haven't even felt your reiatsu." The Sexta Espada lied down on the sand staring at the sky. They were in a desert-like environment under an eternal night. He didn't dislike it. In fact, he preferred the cold environment of the outside of Las Noches' palace to the bright skies created by Aizen inside the Espadas' domains.

The female arrancar was sitting, her knees next to her chest. She stared at the endless desert before her. The silence extended for quite a long time before Tatsuki replied. What was this relationship she had with the Sexta Espada? Could she say they were friends? She trusted him. Even though that sounded a bit unrealistic. Should she trust him? He was an arrancar…but he was at least more trustworthy than all the other arrancar and shinigami she knew. Still…she couldn't tell him the truth. He wouldn't want anything to do with her after that and being completely alone in Las Noches, hell, in the entire Hueco Mundo was too lonely, even for her.

"I was training with Ichimaru."

Grimmjow sat up in surprise which caused Tatsuki to move away. "With the shinigami bastard? Why the fuck were doing that?" he stood up and put his hands in his pockets. He watched her from above. That made her feel uneasy so she stood up and turned her back to him.

"I…I just…"

"Looks at this!" a guttural voice exclaimed. "If it isn't the kitten and Ulquiorra's new punch bag."

"And who the fuck are you?" Tatsuki yelled back at him.

"Don't mess around with me, bitch, or I'll kill you." The gigantic arrancar made a step forward. Grimmjow let out a bored sigh and moved to stand besides Tatsuki.

"Yo, Yammy. What the hell do you want?"

"Nothing much. Just curious to see the new arrancar." He pointed to the only girl there. He arched his brows and took a step closer. Neither of the two arrancar moved. "Now that I get to see you up-close, I get the feeling I've seen ya before?"

Tatsuki's face twitched wrinkling in a disgusted expression. "I think I would remember an ugly face like yours." She replied coolly. Grimmjow couldn't keep himself from smirking. It was about to become interesting. Yammy on the other hand didn't find Tatsuki's comment amusing. He raised his enormous hand and prepared to strike her head.

"You bitch!" his fist came down and slammed against…

…the sand?

The girl had just disappeared from beneath Yammy's hand and was now just beside him. He eyed her surprised and prepared to hit her again, only to fail a second time. Tatsuki had just moved to his front and once again he had failed to see it. And suddenly he couldn't see her in front of him anymore.

"Your aim is really bad." Tatsuki mocked him as she used sonido again to escape yet another attempt of Yammy to hit her. Grimmjow walked over to the entrance to the corridor and sat down.

The black haired arrancar was amazed with herself. Had she just escaped three sequential punches from Yammy, an Espada? Maybe she wasn't as weak as Ichimaru had wanted her to think. But she had no time to think about it at the moment. It looked like she had really upset the Décimo Espada. He was now furiously pursuing her. She still hadn't attacked him and she wasn't just about to start. As long as she kept only escaping from his hits, he would eventually get tired and leave her alone. But if she started to fight back…well, let's just say she didn't want to put those six months of training to nothing.

"You stupid woman, stop evading my attacks." He yelled frustrated. Tatsuki smirked. It wasn't very intelligent of her to keep insulting him, she knew that, still, she couldn't keep herself from doing it.

"It's not my fault that besides being the dumbest arrancar around, you also manage to be the slowest." She scoffed at him. This of course, caused Yammy to get even more furious.

The girl stopped on top of a rock. "Catch me if you can."

The arrancar smiled and held out his hand at her where a large red ball started to appear. He was going to use a cero against her. She had to get out of its way, still something glued her to the spot and instead of moving, she defiantly stood there. The Décimo Espada released his cero that hit the exact spot where Tatsuki had been earlier. However, she wasn't there anymore. At the last minute, she had used sonido and escaped once again.

This was the last drop for the Espada. Without thinking through, he took out his zanpakutou and prepared to attack her. Tatsuki's hand travelled to the hilt of her zanpakutou. She was no match for him with a katana, she was sure of it. When Yammy charged forward, she raised her zanpakutou and prepared to be cut in half, but to her surprise, her hands descended a bit and then halted. She had actually managed to successfully stop the Espada's attack. But she didn't have the time to be happy about it. Yammy was now more pissed then ever. That…that midget had stopped his attack? She had stopped it.

Before Tatsuki could think properly on what had happened, the Décimo Espada brought down his zanpakutou again in a clear intent to slice her into half. She was one sonido ahead of him. She avoided his third and fourth attack using the same technique.

"Could you please make him stop?" she yelled at Grimmjow who was undisturbed, watching their fight while leaning against the wall.

Tatsuki avoided another one of Yammy's attacks and glared at him when he replied. "Why should I? You're doing so well."

The girl cursed and prepared to meet another of the Décimo Espada's hit. Her zanpakutou was forced down by mere difference in strength and she was forced to use sonido to get away from Yammy's sword. The giant smiled when the blood started trickling down Tatsuki's perfectly clean keigoki and onto the floor. He had managed to inflict a deep cut to her shoulder.

"It looks like your Hierro sucks, girly! You're done for." he laughed out.

Grimmjow's eyes jolted to where Tatsuki was. Was it just him or had her reiatsu made a sudden change? No! There was definitely something different about her spiritual force just now. But Yammy sucked at pesquisa so he probably hadn't noticed.

Tatsuki's eyes glittered in a dark blue shade. She looked down to her shoulder and smiled. Her hierro had never been very strong, the moron was right about that. But it had an explanation. Not that she was giving one to him. As for his second assumption, he couldn't have been farther from the truth. She could feel it. Her reiatsu had just made a jump. But more than that, she could feel the anger boiling in her veins. He had wounded her. Her blood had been shed. No one was allowed to shed her blood.

One second she was there, the next she wasn't. Her sonido was so fast that Grimmjow was having difficulty following her moves. Then…a yelp. Yammy turned around. His back had just been attacked and a shallow cut had crossed him from shoulder to hip. The girl stopped in front of him, mockingly, an evil smirk playing on her lips as she licked them in anticipation of her next movement. The Espada felt a blade hitting his shoulder and coming down. It was just like that other time when the orange haired human had chopped off his arm. Even though there was an obvious difference between him and the girl, she just seemed to be joking around and enjoying the moment.

Yammy was preparing to receive another hit when the cursed blade was stopped in middle air and the girl was sent flying against the nearest wall.

"Ulquiorra!" he exclaimed in his deep harsh voice.

"Baka!" the Quarto Espada punched him in the stomach. "Don't go killing my fracción without my approval."

Grimmjow straightened up, distancing himself from the wall that was about to fall down. Tatsuki had just made a hole in it and ended up in hitting the next wall where she was struggling to get on her feet. "Kill her?" he laughed. "Don't joke around, Ulquiorra." His blue eyes pierced right through Ulquiorra's. The tension between the two was touchable. "He was the one about to be killed!" and with this last comment, the Sexta Espada turned around and entered the darkened hall.

"This uniform was fucking new." Tatsuki mumbled annoyed as she limped towards Ulquiorra. She knew she was going to get scolded for this later. But still, it was worth it, just to see Yammy's face. Revenge accomplished. And sooner than expected too.

Ulquiorra glanced over to where she was. For someone who had just gone through a wall, she was quite well, apart from a cut just above her right brow that was, nevertheless, bleeding abundantly. He sighed. He was hoping he would have done more damages, but he couldn't risk killing her. At least, not for now. "Let's go, woman."

And the two of them also disappeared in the corridor.

Tatsuki followed the green eyed arrancar. What else could she do? She knew she was about to be punished for her actions. But really, what could she do? There was nowhere for her to run. No matter how big Hueco Mundo was, there was no place where she could hide. And besides that, was also the fact that she didn't want to run away. She had plans; she had things she needed to do and she could only do them while staying in Las Noches at Aizen's orders, under Ulquiorra's command. Still, everything could have been made much easier if she had been made into Grimmjow's fracción.

Once again, she found herself thinking over the reason why she had became closer to the panther. It had happened a month after she had arrived at Las Noches. The Sexta Espada was still recovering from the wounds inflicted to him in his latest battle, one he had lost. That had been the first time she had seen him. The first time she had seen him since she had became her new self.

"What the fuck is this?" the yelling could be heard in the entire palace of Las Noches. Well, maybe she was exaggerating a bit. Still, couldn't the asshole who had been shouting for almost the entire afternoon shut his trap for an hour or two? There were actually people trying to rest in that forsaken place.

Annoyed to no end, the black haired arrancar slowly swung her feet over to the side of the bed. The moment they touched the ground she noticed how the floor was cold and that she was barefooted. Not that she cared. Being barefooted in there was the least of her worries. She stood up, or better yet, she tried to. However, her body wasn't apparently fully recovered yet. She cursed as she sat back and tried once more. This time she managed to stay up.

Slowly and painfully she managed to reach the door of the room where she was being kept. She turned the knob and was surprised to see it wasn't locked. I wonder if they suddenly started to trust me. She smirked. She knew they wouldn't ever fully trust her no matter how hard she tried to convince them she was on their side.

The door was heavier than she had expected or maybe it was just because she felt weak. Either way, it took her best effort to open it. Once outside she was able to see who was making such a ruckus. A blue haired arrancar was trying to evade his caretakers. "I said I don't need to be treated!" he yelled throwing a smaller arrancar against the wall.

"Grimmjow-san, Aizen-sama said it was of vital importance that you made a complete recovery."

"Fuck it! Fuck it all." At this moment, he had already been subdued by five arrancar. One of them administered an anesthesia and the blue haired arrancar called Grimmjow drifted into unconsciousness. "I will kill him. I swear I will kill him. That was just a struck of luck…I…am…the…K…King."

"Don't go starting fights which you cannot win." The cold voice of Ulquiorra brought her back from the limbo of her thoughts. She smirked.

"It looked to me that I was winning it." She replied in I don't give a shit what you think way. The Espada didn't flick, but she knew she had hit him. She was beginning to realize that maybe everything she had been told by him might have been an utter lie. Maybe she wasn't as weak as he had tried to make her believe. After putting her new strengths to the test, she realized she was strong. She was actually strong. And with more training she might just be able to do it; to actually fulfill her plan.

Suddenly, Ulquiorra stopped and Tatsuki almost bumped into him if it wasn't for her newly acquired reflexes.

"As for your punishment…" with a jerk of his wrist he threw something at her. The girl caught it and looked at it only barely before it started to enlarge and engulfed her in darkness. "Caja Negácion with a little twist." The arrancar announced before the girl disappeared into a different dimension.

So, this chapter took a while to be posted because I was out. I hope the next one will be posted soon. Sorry. Oh by the way, if anyone is wondering, well, I didn't want to ruin the surprise but I guess it's kind of given anyway. I'm a TatsuIchi fan, so don't worry because this will not be a GrimmjowTatsuki fic. I just thought it would be fun to make them interact as "friends"

Anyway, I would like to thank the reviewers:

EveryEye: thanks for your constructive criticism. If you could point out my mistakes, I could try to correct them.

fan girl 666: I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

bodmod: glad you liked it.

satar: she didn't actually died. But in a way you could say she's dead.

his name was V: hope this chapter met your expectations.

deathberry47: well, she does have powers as you can see/read. Lol

dragonlayer: sorry to disappoint you. Ichigo's and co reactions will be up in the next chapter along with a little something.

mmmcereal: glad to have surprised you.

Mira: hopefully this will take an interesting path for Tatsuki's fans.

Arshihawk: Ulquiorra might be a little off character here. But I think he is bound to loose his composure someday.

Akatsuki Leader 13: hope you've enjoyed this chapter. I'll be waiting for your reviews. After all, this story was written thanks to your encourgement.