Me: Heller =.=

Gin: Hey there ^_^

Me: You do know that it's two in the morning right now?

Gin: I could be askin' ya da same thin'

Me: T_T Touché, Gin, touché. Anyways, it's about time we got to the third chapter, don't you think?

Gin: Let's get to it!

Me: Wow, usually I'd be having an argument with Alexia right now, but it seems I don't have to worry about that with you. We should do this more.

Gin: Sure thing!

Me: Alright, enough of our blabbering!

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"What are you doing?"

It was quite a scene; a once-white room covered with green, blue, and black splotches of paint, Grimmjow and I also bearing our own personal paint marks. Grimmjow more than I, of course. Both of us were sporting wild grins, as if this was the adventure of a lifetime.

So far, it was.

"Well, what does it look like we're doing?" Grimmjow asked Ulquiorra. "She decided the place looked too plain and we both started making this place more colorful. It's a damn good look, too," he commented. "Very rarely you see color on the walls of this goddamn place, and when you do, you find out that it was someone's blood that's being cleaned up as we speak."

Ulquiorra stared at me. I stared back. It was a silent exchange where there were no words involved. If he had asked me something I probably wouldn't know what to answer, anyway.

"Why are you doing this?" Ulquiorra asked.

Well, isn't this just great. Remember what I said about never getting my way?

I didn't want to answer. No, I wouldn't answer. He couldn't make me…could he? This must be karma, now he was the one asking questions, and I didn't want to give answers. Well, if it was, I wasn't going to make it end up like last time; I would give straight answers. Of course, just thinking it won't do anything, now would it?

"It's as Grimmjow said," I answered. "There's not a lot of color in Las Noches, and if I'm going to stay here I might as well make myself comfortable." I knew that I was rushing it, Grimmjow was looking at me as if something was wrong with me. There was, of course.

"Sexta," Ulquiorra started, "Lord Aizen requests your presence in the meeting room." Either he'd completely ignored me, or he was accepting my answer and moving on; I had no idea which it was. Both ticked me off, he could've shown some kind of reaction.

"Tch, fine. It's not like I was enjoying this anyway," Grimmjow muttered. Oh, how badly I wanted to kill him right then. He dropped the paintbrushes on the floor and slammed the door on his way out, making me flinch a bit. Gulping, I realized that now the only ones in the room were Ulquiorra and I.

"You and Grimmjow did this?" Ulquiorra asked, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"No, it was the little fairies dancing inside my head and giving me advice on life," I said sarcastically.

"Is that not that your brain?"

Why, you little…

"No," I argued, a bitter smile on my face. "I was being sarcastic, Ulquiorra Schiffer."

"I am not one to take things as a joke."

"I noticed." I looked at the doorway and saw two open paint cans, but all the paint was still inside the cans, or so it seemed. It occurred to me that these were just recently bought in. But then, that meant…no. No way would Ulquiorra actually help me with this. Maybe the paint was white and he was going to tell me to repaint the entire room. Yeah, that was probably it.

I was in shock as Ulquiorra grabbed a paintbrush, dipped it in a paint can, and started painting the wall. "If you are planning to paint your room," he advised, "you should paint it correctly." The color of the paint was blue-violet. I watched in awe as Ulquiorra's hand gently stroked lines of paint on the wall, the hand that I'd imagined so many times caressing my face…crap.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked skeptically. I hesitated before grabbing a neglected paintbrush that had yet to be tainted with paint and dipped it in the other can Ulquiorra hadn't used; the color turned out to be maroon. In a less crazy way than before, I started randomly writing quotes on the wall, waiting for Ulquiorra's answer. The brush was fairly small, so it was easy to write with.

"It was an order from Lord Aizen," Ulquiorra explained. "If you did not know this already, all espadas below the rank of 5 are allowed to paint and add wallpapers, along with decorations, to their room. When I reported to Aizen today, I mentioned that you were acting out of sorts. Like you were exhausted, in a way. He suggested many things for you to do, and painting your chambers was one of them."

"Exhausted?" I asked while continuing to scribble on the wall.

"Almost as if you were tired of the same routines and environment every day."

"Who wouldn't?"

"I am not."

"Yeah, well," I started, "you've always lived here, haven't you? You're used to the white walls and everything."

"I suppose you could say that," Ulquiorra replied. He looked at what I had written and I looked as well; I hadn't really been paying attention to what I was writing.

"To be or not to be; that is the question–Shakespeare," Ulquiorra read aloud. "Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it–Andre Gide."

Ulquiorra would make one sexy-ass Hamlet. I shook my head, clearing that thought.

"They're quotes said by famous people of the world. Some of them are dead; actually, a lot of them are, but there's a fair amount who are still alive," I explained.

"For fools rush in where angels fear to tread–Alexander Pope," he continued. "An eye for an eye only ends up making the world blind–Mahatma Ghandi. What doesn't kill us…makes us stronger. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche." I noticed he had hesitated in the middle of the sentence before continuing. My eyes narrowed, pondering over the reason he would do that. The next quote surprised me; I definitely didn't remember writing this one, and if Ulquiorra read it, I wasn't sure how he'd react. "A thing of beauty is a joy forever; its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness–John Keats." I saw his eyebrows come together a bit in confusion. His aspect of death is nihility, I thought to myself. Of course he'd disagree with that one.

"I don't really know why I started writing all that down," I told him. "Especially…the last one."

"The last quote makes absolutely no sense whatsoever," Ulquiorra remarked matter-of-factly. Then he surprised me (once again) by painting over the quote with the blue-violet paint he was using. I snickered. Two can play at that game, I thought. I painted a heart on top of the section where Ulquiorra had painted (the area was about 3 feet square), then wrote the words 'Ulquiorra's Heart' in the middle with the paintbrush in my left hand, its color black.

"There," I said. "Now…g-give me your hand," I stuttered. I wasn't sure if Ulquiorra was going to let me do what I wanted to, I just hope he didn't ask why I needed his hand…

"Why do you need my hand?"

Fuck.

"Just do it, Ulqui-cielago," I said. Reluctantly, he held his left hand towards me, palm up. I took it and gently covered his palm in black paint, then each of his fingers. I expected him to immediately take his hand back, but surprisingly, he didn't.

After covering his hand in paint, I grabbed his wrist and pressed his hand to the wall, just below where I wrote "Ulquiorra's heart." Knowing what I was doing now, he kept his hand there when I let go of his wrist.

"Why are you doing this?" Ulquiorra asked me. I thought about it for a second; why was I doing this? There wasn't really a reason to put his handprint on the wall...

"Because I wanted to." He stared at me. "What? I'm answering honestly, I really don't know why I did this." I took his hand off the wall. His handprint was there, everything was perfect, even his fingerprints were visible; but they weren't like anything I'd ever seen. Instead, they looked like they formed a picture and not a pattern. His fingerprints looked like…little bats. I didn't know if I should be amazed or start laughing.

"Is there something you find amusing?" Ulquiorra asked. Great, I thought. I probably have an idiotic grin plastered on my face right now. He leaned in closer to the wall to look at his handprint, also coming closer to my face. I prayed to all the gods I knew that I wouldn't blush. I took a few deep breaths, calming myself, although I still felt nervous.

"Y-your fingerprints," I stumbled. "They look like b-bats." I fought the urge to smack myself for being so fidgety. Clearing my throat, I said, "Fingerprints have three basic patterns: the loop, arch, and whorl. But your fingerprints seem to form a picture…a bat, to be exact."

"Why would my fingerprints be important?"

"You're just full of questions today, aren't you?" I commented.

"I did not notice before," he replied. "I will ask you one more question."

"What now?" I ask. Not being able to stand the close range anymore, I stepped away a bit from him. I felt a little less claustrophobic now.

"What happened to you?"

"…What are you talking about?" I asked nervously.

"I was not here in time to see what was going on, but you seem more restless than you have been this past week. I want to know what has happened to you," he explained. I gulped. Am I really that easy to read? I thought. I'm getting soft.

"Well…I…"

"Was it Grimmjow?"

"What?" I asked.

"Did Grimmjow do something to you?" he repeated more clearly. I suddenly felt a bit mad.

"Of course not! It was Nnoitora, he…er…"

"What did he do?" Ulquiorra said. I could sense a bit of urgency in his voice, although it was hard to notice.

My anger level rocketed. "Nnoitora tried to take advantage of me, ok!? And he would have if Grimmjow hadn't intervened at the last minute! And the only reason Nnoitora was able to do what he did to me was because, apparently, you had better things to do and were too stupid to notice!" I realized too late what I had said. I clamped a hand over my mouth, already knowing I wouldn't be able to take back what I'd said. Tears were at the corners of my eyes, threatening to come out. It was then that I realized that that incident had effected me, more than I thought. Screwing my eyes shut, I tried to calm down, taking shaky breaths. I made my way over to the couch, threw off the plastic tablecloth and plopped myself down on it. Grabbing a pillow, I clutched it to my chest.

"I believe that was your fault, not mine."

That was the. Last. Fucking. Straw.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, IT WAS 'MY FAULT'!?" I screamed at him. Before I knew what I was doing, I hurled the pillow I was holding at his face. As if he was expecting it all along (maybe he was) he caught it with ease just before it could make contact with his face. His head peeked out and stared at me.

"Do you truly not notice?" he asked.

"If you're talking about you being an asshole, of course I noticed!"

"Woman, whenever I leave your room you lock the door," he explained. "I did not need to worry about someone coming in if you lock your door."

"I…do?" I asked. My anger was replaced with confusion. Wait… "How do you know that?"

"I can hear you locking the door right after I have left. You seem eager to lock me out."

Crap, that didn't mean he was paying attention to me.

"Yeah, well, you can't always depend on me, you know," I remarked. "And…um…I don't really feel eager…about locking you out. Especially since you're the only one who visits me…" I felt a bit guilty for screaming at him now, he was only assuming that I'd lock the door like all the other times I had. I looked away as the usual blush came onto my face.

"I suppose so. If you feel that you need company Lord Aizen can arrange something for you," Ulquiorra suggested, putting the pillow back on the couch.

"Nah," I replied, dismissively waving my hand. I was surprising myself; I was talking to him so calmly (well, I was now) despite the incident from last week. I was even getting used to being close around him, Blushing Alexia was appearing less now. "You're good company, even if you don't say anything. Sometimes it's better that way."

"Am I?"

"Yep," I replied. "I'd prefer you over Nnoitora any day."

"…What about Grimmjow?"

"Huh?" What was this? Was he asking if I preferred Grimmjow over him? "What do you mean?"

He took a step towards me. "You seem comfortable around Grimmjow. Is he good company as well?"

"I-i guess so…" I was getting nervous, but I didn't know why. The atmosphere seemed tense.

Then he changed. His emerald green eyes changed to crimson. If possible, his skin turned even paler than before, and his lips turned into an extremely light shade of pink, almost white as well. Taking his hands out of his pockets, I saw that his nails were also crimson. His hair turned white, growing up to his hips. He grew a few inches right before my eyes, now almost as tall as Grimmjow. Strangely enough, my first thought was, he looks like a god. "Heh," a voice that was a few tones higher than Ulquiorra's said. His voice, if possible, sounded like silk. Ulquiorra's voice sounded like that as well, but this person's voice sounded like it held more emotion, making his voice seem inviting. "Looks like he's let his guard down. Which means—" the other person started, walking up to me and putting his index finger on my right temple, "—You're something special."

"W-what…do you mean?" I asked, not daring to move as his finger trailed from my temple to my chin, then up to my right temple, the middle of my forehead, and stopped between my eyes. I just barely controlled my breathing, resisting the urge to slap this—this thing's— hand away. Nothing about this thing's presence felt like Ulquiorra; it seemed more sinister and less tolerant, as if there was a sign above his head that flashed, 'don't get on my nerves or I'll fucking kill you.'

"It's pretty simple, princess." He grabbed my chin, forcing me to look up at him. "I'll tell you everything you need to know, but first…" he turned my head to the side, exposing my neck. From the corner of my eye, I could see a smirk; there were two canines that seemed way too sharp for my liking.

"Please stop," I murmured.

"Trust me," the other thing said. "You don't want me to—shit!" He hissed and let go of my neck abruptly, staggering back. Confused, I stared as he fell to his knees, cradling his head to the point where it seemed he wanted it to break off. "No!" he screeched. "You can't—"

"Get out!" My eyes widened as I heard Ulquiorra's voice. The other person's image seemed to waver, his hair getting shorter and darker. Looking into his eyes, I almost thought I saw flames furiously burning in them; then they started to change back into Ulquiorra's eyes. His lips returned to black. His crimson nails turned pure black; the few inches he had gained in height were now lost. "You cannot…have me yet," Ulquiorra's voice croaked. I didn't know what to do; this shit never happened in Bleach, why the hell was it happening now? "Or…her." As Ulquiorra finally emerged again, he fell to the floor, panting heavily, his eyes screwed shut.

"Ulquiorra?" I asked, panicking. He didn't acknowledge the fact that I was there, worried out of my mind. "Ulquiorra!?" I was afraid to get closer to him; what if he transformed again?

All those thoughts went through the door as a blood-curdling scream came from his lips.

"ULQUIORRA!" I ran over to him and knelt on the floor, trying to think of what to do. Looking at his face, I could only understand that he was going through immense pain. I suddenly felt like someone had stabbed my heart; I grabbed Ulquiorra by his shoulders and hugged him to my body, tears flowing down my face as he gripped my arms. "Ulquiorra, please, say something!" I ran my fingers through his raven hair. So many times I had imagined myself doing that, but I never thought it would be like this. I realized that the death grip Ulquiorra had on my arms was slowly decreasing. "Ulq-q-uior-rra," I stuttered between sobs.

"Ulquiorra, you bastard, there's nobody—what the hell happened!?" Grimmjow appeared at the doorway. He ran over and knelt next to me. "Crap."

"What happened to him!?" I begged, grabbing the front of Grimmjow's jacket with one hand and holding Ulquiorra with the other. "Why is he like this!?"

"Hey, calm down!" Grimmjow said. "I'm going to have to do a lot of explaining, though…"

"F-fine," I said, letting go of his jacket and standing up, propping Ulquiorra onto my shoulders. He was heavier than I thought; Grimmjow helped me. "You can explain later. What should we do with him?"

"Well, for now, put him in his room. Szayel should know what to do from there. I know the way to his room, I'll go to Szayel and you'll stay with Ulquiorra, alright?"

"O-ok." A few steps out the door, I almost tripped. "S-sorry," I murmured. It seemed like a whole century passed before we reached his room. Kicking the door open, Grimmjow lead the way to his bed and I set Ulquiorra on the bed as gently as I could, then hoisted his feet onto it and made sure he wasn't in an uncomfortable position. Getting a full view of him, I saw him go into a fetal position, his breathing still ragged and eyes screwed shut. Seeing him like that, I felt like crying my heart out again, but held back only out of sheer willpower to not be a sobbing mess in front of Grimmjow. I didn't hold back, though, from sitting on the floor near the edge of the bad and taking one of Ulquiorra's hands. It was…deathly cold. I pressed his hand to my forehead, a single tear escaping my eyes.

"I'm gonna get Szayel," Grimmjow said. "Just stay there, ok?" I nodded subconsciously and heard the door click shut. I took a shuddering breath and cried.

It felt horrible. I'd never cried this badly before, even when I heard of a family member's death. Even when I found out that my parents had been planning to disown me because I apparently 'wasn't doing anything with my life', which I suppose was true. Even when I witnessed my friend committing suicide because her sister had gotten into a heated argument and called her a whore after she caught her kissing another girl. It felt like the world was closing in on me, and no matter how hard I tried to fight it, I knew that whatever I did wouldn't change things in the slightest.

I jumped when I felt a hand on my shoulder; looking up, I saw a worried Szayelapporo holding his hand out for me to take. Quickly, I wiped my eyes and stood up, letting go of Ulquiorra's hand. "Did you see what happened to him?" he asked me.

"Yes," I murmured.

"If you can, please explain what you saw," Szayel prodded.

"He…," I started, "He changed. His eyes…turned crimson. His nails, too. His hair was…white, and long. He grew taller. He had…fangs." It brought anger and pain to remember the other person who was, from what I'd heard Ulquiorra say, trying to take over Ulquiorra's body and soul. I saw Szayel and Grimmjow exchange a knowing glance.

"I will take care of Ulquiorra," Szayel assured me. "For now, please go with Grimmjow, back to your room."

"Please," I said, "I feel like this is my fault. If there's something I can do…"

"I'm afraid, for now, the best thing to do is to stay away from him awhile. Grimmjow will explain, so please make your way back to your room, Alexia," Szayel told me.

I remembered what Ulquiorra had told me a week ago. 'I don't want to hurt you. Stay away from me.' Even though it had been a week since he'd said it already, I still felt a bit of anger and pain, although now I knew why he'd said that for. You were trying to warn me, I thought. And me being the stupid person I was, I didn't listen to you.

"Ok." I walked over to Grimmjow, not making contact of any kind with him. "Are we going?" I stopped at the door, putting my hand on the knob. Sparing a last look at Ulquiorra, I saw that he seemed to be asleep now, his figure more relaxed, although his facial expression was still one of mild pain.

"Let's go," Grimmjow said, opening the door and going out with me in tow. "Let her know what happens, Szayel."

"Of course," Szayel replied with a melancholy smile.

There are people who say that silence is golden.

If I had to describe the silence on the way to my room, I would say that it was shitty as hell.

Grimmjow opened the door to my room and I walked in. Expecting him to follow, I pulled out both chairs at the table and sat down in one of them, but was surprised to find that Grimmjow was nowhere in sight. I ran back out the door and saw a flash of blue hair turning around the corner; instinctively, I ran after him. He was using sonido which made it more complicated to catch up to him.

"H-hey!" I gasped. He stopped sonidoing abruptly, his back still turned. I slowed to a stop. "Why don't you come in? You shouldn't just leave me like that."

"I didn't know you wanted me there," he replied.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because you hate me?"

"Woah. When did I say that I hated you?" I asked.

"Isn't it always like that? I argue with you, you argue with me, you always win, we hate each other more after that."

"I never thought about it that way," I replied. "I consider it to be more like rivalry than hardcore hate. Besides…I need someone with me right now, and I'm not inviting Nnoitora anytime soon." Grimmjow looked over his shoulder at me, his expression portraying shock.

"Well, I thought we were enemies of some sort…"

"Well," I mimicked, "for the time being, we're not, ok?"

"I…guess," he said, a small blush on his face. He fully turned around and walked back to my room. When we were both seated at the table, an uncomfortable silence grew. I started tapping my fingers on the table, deep in thought about Ulquiorra. Jesus Christ, Alexia, I thought. Stop thinking about him 24/7, you're just making the situation worse than it already is.

"Hey, Szayel said that you were going to explain something to me; is it about what happened to Ulquiorra?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied, scratching the back of his neck. "It pretty much happened to all the espadas and arrancars. It's going to take some time to explain, though—"

"I have plenty of time," I reminded him.

"Just don't interrupt or I'll lose tracks of my thoughts."

"I'm all ears," I told him.

"Alright," he said, clearing his throat. I didn't bother to tease him on how smart he was trying to act. "I'm guessing you already know the process of how we went from hollows to adjuchas, right?"

"Yes," I replied. "I think they remove their masks, and with the hogyoku…well, I'm still a bit confused about how the hogyoku turned you into arrancars."

"Yeah, well, you got the main point. So, after that, when we're going through the process of transforming into arrancars, there's a certain test you have to pass. It doesn't matter what your strength is, you have to do it or you won't become an arrancar. The test…well, you have to battle someone. You don't know who it is or why they were chosen to be your opponent, but all you know is that you had to defeat them.

"My opponent was pretty strong, but I noticed that she was my complete opposite. It was like a game of tag, fighting her. If I was angry, she was glad. If I was in despair, she was telling me her hopes and dreams. I realized that she was my 'other self', the person I'd never want to be. So, technically, I had to defeat the person I didn't want to become. Once I figured that out, it was pretty easy to kill her.

"I've heard rumors about Ulquiorra, though. One of them was that he never fully defeated his other self, and when his emotions aren't in check, that other person takes control. Another one I heard was that the Ulquiorra we know is actually the person the original Ulquiorra fought; meaning that the real Ulquiorra lost and the other Ulquiorra took over."

"…" I pondered, letting all the information sink in. The latter rumor didn't seem as probable. "I think the first one isn't a rumor. From what I saw, it seemed that the person Ulquiorra transformed into was the person he didn't want to become. When he was changing back he said, 'You can't have me yet'." I left out the 'or her' part. I didn't exactly know if I'd imagined it, even though the rest seemed crystal clear.

"Yeah, I guess the second option wouldn't make much sense," he agreed.

Sighing, I got up from the table, trudged over to the bed, ripped the tablecloth off and flopped down on it, my head resting on my arms. When his emotions aren't in check… "I can't help but feel that this is my fault," I commented. I closed my eyes, remembering how Ulquiorra was acting before he changed.

"You're good company, even if you don't say anything. Sometimes it's better that way."

"Am I?"

Curiosity.

"Yep. I'd prefer you over Nnoitora any day."

"…What about Grimmjow?"

Skepticism.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You seem comfortable around Grimmjow. Is he good company as well?"

…Jealousy?

"I-i guess so…"

"Do you think…" I started, "I caused Ulquiorra's feelings to go out of check?"

"Hey—" Grimmjow tried to stop my thoughts.

"Something I did ticked him off or something. The only reason he changed into that other thing was because of me." I sat up and brought my knees to my chest, my arms wrapped around my legs and my face in between them.

"Alexi—"

"If I hadn't been there, he wouldn't be in pain right now," I croaked out, tears starting to form again. "If only I wasn't so irritating, he would've kept his emotions in check and—"

"ENOUGH!" Grimmjow yelled at me, making me flinch. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him coming towards me and I backed away, afraid he was going to hit me. I felt his weight on the bed and scooted further back, almost hitting my head on the front board of the bed. His arm reached out and I screwed my eyes shut, awaiting the blow.

I certainly wasn't expecting him to hug me.

"Wha…" I gasped, Grimmjow's arms wrapped around me, squeezing me to him.

"You dumbass," he scolded. "None of this is your fault. Don't go blaming yourself without thinking about how it affects other people." I was as still as a statue while he embraced me. Then I realized that he was trying to comfort me, not trying to hit me.

"Grimm…" I murmured. I let my tears flow freely as I hugged him back, hanging on to his jacket and burying my head in the side of his neck, taking shuddering breaths. "Do you think…Ulquiorra will be alright?"

There was a moment of silence. "Yeah," he answered. "And if he doesn't, I'll kick his ass for making you cry." I noticed that he was being way too soft for his usual character; I mean, since when would he kick someone's ass because they made someone else cry? I felt so comfortable in his embrace; I felt a drowsy feeling coming over me.

"Grimmjow…"

"Yeah?"

"You smell like a cat."

"N-no, I don't," he argued, letting me go. It was a bit awkward, one moment he was hugging me and the next I was making comments on how he smelled. "At least, I don't think I do." He sniffed his hand while I tried to hold back my laughter.

"If I had a camera with me…" I said.

"Hm?" Grimmjow said, looking at me with confusion. "What's a camera?"

Don't facepalm yourself, don't facepalm yourself, don't facepalm yourself…

I facepalmed myself. "Aizen really doesn't have any computers or videotaping devices that are actually worth using, does he?"

"Is whatever you're talking about as good as you're making it seem?"

"You wouldn't believe," I started. "You're missing out on a lot. Then again…er, maybe it's better that way." I remembered the yaoi fanfictions all over the Internet and immediately thought, I don't think Grimmjow would ever look at Ichigo the same way again if he read a GrimmIchi fanfic.

"Why would it be better if I didn't know?"

"It's…a long story." I tried to avoid the subject, which made me think of something I should've done a long time ago. "Grimmjow, thank you."

"Huh? What for?" he asked.

"Where do I start?" I said. "Well, for one, you prevented me from getting raped. I did some really fun things today, and the fact that I did those things with you made it all the more fun. And when I was being an emotionally unstable bitch, you decided to comfort me instead of getting mad."

"I-it was nothing," Grimmjow assured, blushing. I snickered, earning a glare from him. "What?"

"You know, you blush a lot when you're around me. If I didn't know better, I'd say that you were in love with me," I remarked, smirking as his blush grew darker; but somewhere in the back of my head, I felt worried. What if it was true? "Hey, can I touch your hair?" I asked.

"Why would you want to do that?" he said. I didn't answer and crawled up behind him, running my fingers through his blue locks. They were surprisingly soft and silky; I wasn't sure what I'd expected his hair to feel like, but 'soft' and 'silky' definitely weren't on my list. I hesitated before leaning in closer and smelling his hair. It had a fresh scent to it and, just like before, smelled a bit like a cat. Or a panther, I thought. "You're one weird chick, ya know that?"

I ignored his comment. I got an idea, since he was off guard…I used my index finger to poke him under his left arm, making him jump. I did the same with his right side. I heard a stifled laugh I smiled. I attacked him, ticking his sides while he tried twisting out of my grasp, laughing and gasping for air.

"Sto—ahahahahaha! S-stop tha—Pfft! Hahahaha!" Grimmjow's speech was cut off.

"~Looks like found your weakness~," I teased.

"Hm? Am I interruptin' somethin'?" A voice asked. I looked up and saw Gin's foxlike face staring at us, head tilted to the side in curiosity.

"D-don't get any damn ideas!" Grimmjow exclaimed, scooting away from me. "She was just—"

"I wanted to know what his hair felt like, and along the way I felt like smelling it as well," I explained calmly. "I also wanted to know if arrancars were ticklish."

"Ya let 'er smell yer hair, Grimmy? I didn' know ya were tha' submissive," Gin remarked, smiling.

"Shut up! I just didn't care!" Grimmjow defended. "I never told her she could, anyways."

"Frankly, if you didn't want me to, you would've just pushed me away," I voiced my thoughts.

"I gotta go," Grimmjow mumbled, getting off of the bed and making his way out the door, using sonido to get past Gin, only to have Gin use flash step to catch up to him. "Would ya mind getting out of the way?"

"I don' wanna," Gin whined, following Grimmjow as he tried to sonido away again. And again…and again. For about a minute, I watched as Grimmjow desperately tried to get away from Gin, but to no avail.

"Dammit, just let me go already!" Grimmjow yelled.

"But I need ta tell ya somethin'," Gin said.

"What!?"

"Aizen wants ta talk ta ya. An' don' worry, ya' can find 'im in da main meetin' room," Gin assured.

"Then you should've let me leave earlier!" Grimmjow exclaimed. "I'd be there already if you hadn't blocked my path!"

"An' how would ya know dat Aizen wanted ta talk ta ya if I didn' tell ya?" Gin questioned him. Grimmjow stammered for a few seconds, not able to come up with an answer.

"I'll, uh, see if I have time to…come again," Grimmjow muttered, his eyes glancing at me before turning away and out the door. "Don't be surprised if I don't, though."

"I'll be waiting," I replied, waving my hand, making sure to flex each finger in a semi-seductive way. The door was almost slammed, but for some reason it seemed that Grimmjow was actually considering how much of a bother it would be to other people if he did that, and wasn't as loud. Or it could just be my imagination.

Yeah, it was my stupid imagination.

"Uh, hey, Gin," I said, turning my attention to him. "Did you come here for any reason in particular?"

"Not really. Jus' bored, heard 'bout wha happened ta Ulqui-chan," he said casually. My eyes widened.

"H-how did you—"

"I wen' ta Szayel's lab, saw 'im there and asked 'bout it," he explained, already knowing what I was going to ask. "Ya scared?"

"Well…" I really thought about it. I was scared at the time, but somehow it seemed that Grimmjow had managed to calm me down drastically. I remember how much I'd cried for Ulquiorra…or was it for me? Was I crying out my fear instead of the pain Ulquiorra was going through?

No way, I thought. Just the thought of him being in pain made a clenching feeling go through my chest. All of me wanted that pain to go away. I don't care what I'd have to do, if I could do anything to take away his pain, I would do it.

"Are ya alright? Ya seem sorta sad," Gin commented. I snapped out of my trance.

"I was just thinking. It's not so much that I'm scared…it's more like…it hurt to see Ulquiorrra hurting like that," I tried to explain, hoping he would get it. "And I knew I couldn't do anything to take his pain away." I couldn't fathom why I was telling Gin this, but I felt as if another weight was being lifted off my shoulders.

"Ah, don' worry," Gin comforted me. He walked up to me, got on the bed, and put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close. "This 'appens sometimes, an' every time 'e pulls through. Dis time shouldn' be different," he said. People just really feel like hugging me today, I thought to myself.

I took a deep breath. "This has happened before?" I asked.

"Course it 'as! But, this time 'e seems worse," Gin commented. Well, isn't that comforting, I thought. "Eh, I think 'e is jus' as strong as ya might think, maybe a lil' more. As I said before, don' worry."

"Thank you, Gin," I said, shrugging out of his hold on me. "I'm glad you came to comfort me, and—"

"Oh, I didn' come ta comfort ya," Gin corrected me. I suddenly felt a bit suspicious of him.

"Then why did you come here?"

"Szayel wanted me ta tell ya somethin'," Gin started. "An' Aizen told me ta tell ya somethin', too."

"Would you mind telling me the bad news first?" I asked.

"Ulqui-chan can' be yer warden no more." My heart seemed to stop beating. "Aizen's orders."

"T-then how is Ulquiorra? Is he ok? How bad is he?"

"Calm down, A-lex," he said, pronouncing my name with an accent on the 'A' and saying it as in the word 'angry'. "I told ya already, this 'appens an' every time 'e pulls through."

I blinked a few times, calming my breathing. "So…who's going to be checking on me now?"

"Grimmy."

Strangely enough, I felt a bit of relief. Followed by disbelief. "Really?" I asked Gin.

"Mhm," Gin replied. "Tha's why Aizen needed ta talk ta 'im. I imagine Aizen's tellin' 'im right now."

"Oh." I couldn't think of how Grimmjow would react. Anger, surprise, annoyance…joy? After all that'd happened today, I found it hard to know for sure. "Ah, you said that Szayel had told you something to tell me, too, right?"

"Oh, yeah!" Gin said excitedly, making me think he was just putting on a façade to mask the fact that he knew I was going to ask. "He said, 'Ulquiorra will be able to be back to his normal self in about a week. He'll be staying in his quarters. I have discussed with Aizen and we have come to an agreement. Starting tomorrow, you will be Ulquiorra's warden. He can be very stubborn, so make sure he does not get out of his bed no matter what; he needs rest, of all things. Come to my lab tomorrow and I'll give you his medication, along with a few other tips."

Oh my god. He's talking normally, I thought.

"A-lex? Didya hear meh?" Gin asked, his usual accent back.

"Hey, Gin?"

"Yeah?"

"I like you a lot more when you have your accent."

"Hehe, I know, right? Talkin' normally's hard work," he said with a sigh. "Well, I gotta go now. Ya should get some Z's, it's almost midnight in da world of da livin'."

"Sure," I replied, getting off of the bed to pull some of the covers back. It seemed that Gin had pulled a spell on me, or maybe a kido; the moments he told me that I should go to sleep, I felt drowsy. I didn't even notice when Gin shut the door and left while I put on a pajama shirt I saw at Aeropostale. Crawling under the covers and pulling them up to my waist, the cool feel of the bed's sheets lulled me further into sleep, but not before I started pondering.

What if…Grimmjow actually enjoyed being around me? What if Ulquiorra didn't recover from his condition? What if…no, what was I going to do when the plot of the story came to their fights with Ichigo? How would I be able to change any of that, anyways? Thinking too much, I fell into a deep sleep. I suddenly felt someone pulling the covers up to my shoulders; not being able to think clearly, I said, "Goodnight, Gin." It was the first person I'd thought of.

"Night, Alexia," a voice that wasn't Gin's replied.

O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O?

Me: ^_^ I ended that pretty well, didn't I?

Alexia: (Yawns) I just had the—

Me: DX Don't spoil it!

Alexia: =.= You already know what I dreamt of?

Me: (Smirks) Girl, I know your life story

Alexia: O.o

Gin: Yay! I came out in dis one!

Me: Well, I did say I'd work something out, didn't I?

Gin: ^_^ Mhmm

Grimmjow: You're all loud as fuck…

Me: T_T You would know

Grimmjow: O.O N-no, I wouldn't

Alexia: So, when did you decide to get your lazy ass up and talk to us?

Grimmjow: Actually, all of you are so annoying I might just go back to sleep now -.-

Me: I'll make your life miserable if you even think about taking a nap, Jaegerjaques T_T

Grimmjow: Fine, fine, I won't go to sleep

Me: Say the R word T_T

Grimmjow: O.o reta—

Me: O.O no! -.- Ugh, I meant review

Grimmjow: Oh T_T Review, or I will grow wrinkles from sleep deprivation

Me: And no one really wants that ^_^ So yeah, buh-bye

Gin: See ya later!

Alexia: Mhm

Grimmjow =-,= zzz

Me: (whispering) I almost forgot, I'm starting school today *:.。. o(≧▽≦)o .。.:* so there's a chance I might be updating less often, but I'll try to publish as often as possible. For my followers, the next time I update will be the seventh of September, I'm going to start updating on the weekends ^_^ See ya then