Chapter 3
No Matter Where I go
People experience growth spurts at various points in their life… usually due to hormones or something. People who are dead don't grow. Or so I thought.
After the 'earthquake' Ulquiorra had confined me to my room. One of the other… people here had brought me dinner that night, and I ate it. I wasn't really complaining. I was able to enjoy a warm bath and some privacy, but I couldn't help but feel that… that something was wrong.
Well, anyway, when I woke up I found that the night clothes I had been wearing had shrunk overnight. Where the dress had previously come to below the knee—well, now it came barely to cover a few inches of my thighs and in addition my breasts had expanded, my hair had grown and there was something more… mature about my face that I couldn't put my finger on. I must have grown half a foot, because everything I wore barely fit. In the end I had to settle for a pair of skin tight, white trousers which barely sat on my hips, and a white top which ended up exposing my stomach. I covered it with a jacket, but that only just covered the rest of the skin. I felt exposed and very uncomfortable.
I wasn't even sure what to do with my unruly red hair. There was just too much for one hair tie and the stupid thing had broken when trying to bundle it all in.
What disturbed me more was that Ulquiorra wasn't sat in the chair in the corner of the room. It was nice—it meant he didn't have to see me panic about everything, and it meant that now I actually had something to show, I didn't have to get embarrassed about him seeing it.
However lunch time came and went and no one appeared. I was restless. I couldn't explain it but I felt like I had to be on the move, and I had to go somewhere and do something.
So that was what I did.
My room was unlocked and I went for a walk.
Las Noches as this place was called was huge, and white. I'd barely seen any of it while following Ulquiorra. To begin with I retraced the same steps so that I would know how to get back, but then I took the time to go elsewhere. Noone else was around and it almost seemed as though I had the entire… 'Palace' to myself.
That was until I walked into something—or someone cold and hard. Of course clumsy I would choose to walk into Grimmjow at that moment. Grimmjow, who was still angry at my comments and seemed to be in an extremely foul mood.
I should have felt scared. I should have run away the moment I walked into him. I should have looked where I was going, and should have seen him coming and avoided him. I should have stayed in my room. Instead I just stood there, smirking at him while he glowered at me.
So my growth spurt had an advantage; I was now eye level with him.
"What's the matter, kitten? Someone spit in your milk?"
"Watch your mouth!" he was right, of course. "I could kill you with my little finger." I still couldn't get over the killing someone who is already dead thing but… I had sort of seen it happen. These people could bleed, and they got hungry… it was like they were alive but just didn't have to breathe… they seemed to do it out of habit though.
"Why don't you then?"
"You're not worth the hassle of cleaning up," he snarled, hand going right to his 'zanpakuto'.
I should have tensed up and shut up.
"I think you're just scared, that or you're just too weak to be able to do anything to me."
Grimmjow had no words to respond with, instead he sent one of those laser beams—also known as a cero—through a wall and then grabbed me against the wall so his zanpakuto was pressed against my neck. So he was pretty fast too.
"I should kill you… Slowly and painfully… you're just a woman after all. A human woman, with no powers."
"Grimmjow… was there any need to destroy the wall?"
I felt him tense up at the voice—and I couldn't help but smirk a bit more. So he was scared of Ulquiorra?
"Well she deserved it. Maybe you should lock her up tighter and teach her some manners."
He let go. Possibly because of Ulquiorra's cold stare or possibly because he was just bored—or maybe, most likely, because he really couldn't be bothered with the hassle of torturing me like he wanted to, because Ulquiorra was now involved.
Grimmjow left Ulquiorra and I in the hallway. Neither of us moved nor made a sound. Actually, if I was honest, I felt a little scared of Ulquiorra right then. Though he remained impassive as he stared at me, I could almost feel anger and disappointment coming from him. I couldn't look him in the eye, and somehow my new found confidence just floated out of my feet and ran like mice that'd just seen a cat.
Ulquiorra broke the silence first by walking towards me. I expected the grab of my wrist and the silence as he dragged me back to my room… I didn't expect it when he slapped me.
All I could do was obediently follow after him. I could feel blood running down my cheek, and it hurt a lot—but I refused to acknowledge any of the pain… before I would have cried, but somehow I really didn't want to seem weak in front of him.
"If you provoke Grimmjow you will die," he said coldly as he pushed me into my room. He locked the door and sat in the chair in the corner. Brilliant… Confinement in my room, with him.
"Well I wish someone would tell me why I'm here…" I didn't even feel angry at him, and I stopped holding my bleeding cheek to sit on the edge of my bed and stare at him.
I thought he wouldn't reply but instead he sighed. Usually he was so impassive, but he actually showed a lot of emotion. Maybe I just wasn't looking for it before—or maybe I couldn't see it.
"You don't need to know why you're here… but to put it basically; you have potential for a power unlike the rest of us. Aizen-sama is interested in it."
"A power… unlike the rest of you?"
Ulquiorra sighed again. "That Earthquake yesterday was caused by you. You have a vast amount of untapped, and unstable reiatsu." Apparently, reiatsu was 'spiritual energy' or… something. "Humans don't usually have that amount. Even after death. In the rare cases they do… they either become Shinigami or hollows… devour them."
It still didn't explain anything.
"Hollows seem to be repulsed by your reishi which they should find… appetising." He paused with his words lingering on the last word. I should have been freaked out by his words… and indeed I was. I couldn't suppress the shudder and it seemed to be the right reaction for him. "Aizen-sama and Ichimaru-sama both say your reiatsu is different to the types that become Shinigami too."
"So… I'm a freak?"
He gave me a dry look and stood up.
I thought he would slap me again, so I shied away from him and clenched my eyes. He put his hand on my cheek… and I was actually surprised to feel him wiping away the dried blood. For unemotional and impassive Ulquiorra… it almost seemed like an action of affection from him. His hand was actually warmer than I'd ever felt, and softer than I had felt from him in the past.
But it was over quickly and he stood up straight without blinking.
"Simply put you could be a weapon Aizen-sama could have a use for."
Ulquiorra sat back down. I felt strange at his words—weapon? Was that really all I was to anyone here? I had to admit… it hurt. I didn't know any of these people so why should I want to be anything to any of them? Still… I guess anyone who is human hopes to belong. Isn't that all we ever search for, a place we call home, with people we love?
And who even asked me if I wanted to be a weapon? A weapon for what exactly! It isn't in my nature to hurt people—sure, I admit, recently I had been feistier than anything but… something had happened to me to cause it… and now I felt more like myself than I had in a long time. I don't know if it was Ulquiorra slapping me, or his random bout of showing affection. But I suddenly missed home too…
I wondered though. Did anyone there miss me? My mother was gone… my father was gone. My brother—off around the world with his wife. Rangiku… Ichigo—they probably put me out of their mind now. I'd probably never see them again… Rangiku was probably happy to be away from someone who could 'see ghosts'.
Maybe it was good someone had a use for me in death. I was useless in life but… but still… a weapon? All my life… trying to find people who care and a place I belong and all I had to show for it was death, being confined to a room and….
"Onna… if you are going to cry-"
"I'm not crying, Ulquiorra!" I hissed, rubbing at my eyes quickly. "Why on earth would I cry?"
He stayed silent though he kept staring at me. I didn't get it—if I was this.. all powerful weapon, why weren't they doing anything to.. use it or train me to use it? Maybe they figured I'd use it against them and try to escape. It was an idea—but really… where else could I go? Right now… the power to read minds would be handy…. Or maybe they wanted me to fight back. But if that was the case Ulquiorra wouldn't have stopped Grimmjow earlier.
It was almost like everything had stopped going forward and I had to do something to make the game start again; the issue was… I didn't know if I wanted to keep playing or not.
