Alright, Chapter 4 time! ^^

Blood

Chapter Four

Morning came in Las Noches; its fake sun rising from the eastern half of the city and providing warmer air. The large windows of the Cuatro's living room provided blinding, which alerted the boy that it was morning. Jacián Cifer, the mysterious son of Ulquiorra Cifer, had been awake for a good few hours, so the morning just made the room too bright for the boy's liking.

Sighing, Jacián made his way upstairs to where the bathroom was. The closest thing to bathing he had gotten in about a week's worth of traveling and fighting was when Szayel cleaned his injuries so that they could be treated. Naturally, the teen didn't feel anywhere close to clean because of this, so he entered the large room; taking a look around before grabbing what he needed.

Like most of the house, the walls of the room was stark white and its tiled floors shined black (as expected from Ulquiorra). The bath mats were a simple green, and the shower curtain had a calligraphy design on it; a dark storm with raindrops that were painted in green. The bathtub was black just as well, not to mention excessively, and its nozzles and shower head were an illustrious silver. There was a shelf that held all of the hair products, and there was a soap dish not too far beneath

Turning his head, Jacián noticed the black bathroom counter that stood next to the toilet. The sink that it was attached to was also silver, and it had an oval-shaped mirror with green-painted metal on the rim hanging on the wall just above it. There was a hairdryer on the counter, surprisingly enough; most likely because Ulquiorra didn't like having wet hair when he left; and then there was the plain brush, as well as a green toothbrush that was in the dispenser. The child wagered that the floss, toothpaste and mouth was stored somewhere in the room so it didn't leave a mess on the counter (as if the hair dryer and brush there didn't).

Turning his head again, the younger Cifer noticed a towel rack near the tub that was vacant, and that at the corner closest to the door was a tall, white cabinet and a laundry basket sitting up against it. Opening the storage unit, Jacián found the towels, toothpaste, mouth wash, and numerous amounts of floss and toothbrushes. "Clearly, he doesn't risk his hygiene." The boy thought dully.

Jacián looked down on the floor of the compartment and saw pairs hakama pants neatly folded and sashes not too far away from them. "Why does he keep pants in here?" The boy questioned as he reached for what he needed: towel, toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, mouthwash, and a new pair of pants and a sash. Hopefully Ulquiorra would drag him to get his measurements done today, because Jacián was quite a few sizes away from reaching his father's size (or the smallest size male clothing, for that matter).

After arranging the objects in a neat fashion for when he got out, Jacián removed the borrowed clothes that had doubled as his pajamas and dropped them into the laundry bin. He then went about removing the bandages Szayel had firmly wrapped him in the day before and threw them out. He had healed overnight because of his abilities, so he no longer required the gauze.

He then turned, deciding to take a hot shower. The time was pushing five in the morning, and Ulquiorra made it clear that he woke up exactly at that time, simply because he wasn't going to let Jacián sleep in. Said teen rolled his eyes at the memory; like that's ever going to happen. The younger Cifer grew up with an early wake up call, and the morning alarm clock was practically drilled into his brain. Even if it weren't, Jacián hadn't been able to sleep past one or two in the morning for awhile now, so it didn't really matter.

As the young teenager stepped into the hot shower and pulled the shower curtain forward, he almost questioned why he didn't inform Ulquiorra about his sleep issues. The thing stopping him was because of the Cuatro himself; he obviously wanted nothing to do with Jacián, and he treated everyone as if they were ants to be squashed on-dogs that had to be disciplined. And that didn't sit right with the teen; it proved to him that the Cuatro was cruel and didn't care for much of anyone's existence. This, no doubt, included himself.

The boy shook his head, trying to get his mind out of the gutter; remembering why he wanted to come here. He had left behind a life that was never really his to begin with, and what he wanted from Ulquiorra was the key in order to finally restart. The ebony man was just one he had to be extremely patient with; no matter how much Jacián wanted to just give up on it.

But he couldn't. If he did that, then that meant ending his own existence, and where that might actually be a relief in some sense of the word, he wanted to do so much; so many things he had only dreamed of doing when he was a child but things that Nakamaru would never allow and things his mother couldn't provide...

Ulquiorra really was his last hope in this; with time, Jacián was hoping to achieve his many desires from the one thing he needed from the male. As selfish as it sounded, the teenage boy just wanted to have meaning back- "Hold on!" His mind intervened, "What meaning? There wasn't any in my life to begin with. And what little I found disappeared to quickly for me to have any form of meaning, let alone anything at all. That past was a lie from start to finish!" He reminded himself. That's why he was testing Ulquiorra; to make sure he had the real thing in his grasp.

So Jacián continued cleaning himself; trying to look ahead on what his new life was going to be like.

The sound of rushing water stirred the Cuatro Espada from his light, rather restless sleep. Ulquiorra was naturally a light sleeper, but the night before left so many questions buzzing through his head, it took a few hours longer in oreder to get to sleep. Regardless, the ebony knew that it was before his standard wake up call; five in the morning was when the bells rang in order to keep the hollows in the underground caverns under control and not try to break through the main level of the city (as they had done several times before then). The bells sounded once every twelve hours, and they were the alarms that told Ulquiorra when he woke up and when to head to the meeting hall so he could eat at the Espada table (he had to skip last night because he had to show Jacián around).

It didn't take much for Ulquiorra to know that his "son" was awake, and was cleansing himself after not having bathed in about a week. He would have had a problem with the child taking the shower first if not for the fact the boy smelled, and he would have been thrown into the shower if the Cuatro actually had beaten him to it; regardless of the water temperature, or even if the boy was still dressed.

Getting out of the bed of his extremely dark room, Ulquiorra went and grabbed the hanger on his closet door and got changed; he'll live without one shower for the day, as he finished this week's tasks early. Besides, he had to get started on his "assignment," if he could call it that. He had to spend time with a boy he didn't want anything to do with, and he knew that this was going to last an excruciatingly long time; it didn't take much to know that Jacián saw through deception with ease- he had commented on it once they were both alone.

"Your lord only sees me as he does you," he had said, "Something vital in order to obtain what he aims for; and he thinks that I'll actually go along with it if you pull through this assignment."

"What makes you say that?" The Cuatro asked in his monotone; deciding to see what the latter would say for informational sake and the ability to inform his lord in case the boy was averting from his goals.

Jacián gave him a blunt look. "The only reason he offered anything to me is because he knows I'm strong, and believes I'm stronger because he knows I'm related to you. So, he put you up to this so that he could gain my power once I develop a sense of loyalty towards you; if I do that, anyways." He stated. "You clearly don't want to do this, but Aizen ordered you when you both stepped out into the hallway. And now he's just waiting for me to be grateful towards him for letting me stay here, letting me bond with you, and all other forms of nonsense. I'm not going to hand off my power so easily." He stated.

Ulquiorra narrowed his gaze as he looked down on the boy. "You mean to say, you've no plans to follow him."

The latter shrugged. "Where I can allow it; I can't say no to the guy who owns the place, but that doesn't mean I'm going to follow every order I receive."

That was their longest conversation. Not that Ulquiorra had an issue with it; he had expected the child to be reluctant with their lord, almost like Grimmjow was. The only difference was that he could make it less obvious than the Sexta. The boy was honest but knew how to keep his secrets, so it wasn't much of an issue if he listened to both their lord and the Cuatro, himself.

Now that he thought about it, why was the boy up earlier than he was; the child was so exhausted, he could barely stand for the tour of the household. So after Ulquiorra pulled out the teen's sleeping arrangements, he had left to make dinner for them only to find the child huddled under the comforter provided and sleeping sound. If not for the bags under his eyes, Ulquiorra would have shook Jacián until he woke. That being said, Ulquiorra didn't expect the boy to be awake until he decided to shake him awake at seven, like he planned the day before. However, that appeared to be unnecessary.

Shrugging off the feeling, Ulquiorra went downstairs in order to make breakfast. Arrancar were all taught how to cook so that they could feed themselves; depending on your rank would depend on what you were expected to make. Naturally, the higher you were in rank, the better the food got, so being an Espada allowed for many options. Jacián was a different story, though. He didn't have a rank of any kind, which classified him as the average arrancar. And they had a simple diet that fed them with ease.

So, Ulquiorra began cooking. He made himself an omelet while he made Jacián the standard arrancar nutrition meal; a package of gray powder that mixed with water in order to make an oatmeal-like, gray substance that had a strange smell, but not one Ulquiorra cared for. He placed the breakfast down in their serving dishes (he had a white plate, Jacián a white bowl), and set them on the table. He placed a spoon in Jacián's bowl before grabbing a fork, sitting down and eating his breakfast.

Said boy came down the stairs and made his way into the dining room; a towel around his neck, and a pair of Ulquiorra's hakama on. They looked at each other as a greeting, before Ulquiorra went back to his meal. It didn't take much for Jacián to notice that Ulquiorra had made them two different meals, but upon looking at the gray substance in the bowl, he was forced to ask: "What is that, exactly?"

"Nutritional meal," Ulquiorra responded tersely, remembering the title Szayel put on the packet. "All average arrancar are meant to eat it, and since you have no classification, it's your meal as well." If the elder Cifer had been looking at his son, he would have realized that the boy's eyes were wide, and he seemed insulted by the reply as well as the inconsideration; Nakamaru knew better than to make two different meals for people at the same table. It was proper etiquette, not to mention a waste making two separate meals.

One of her few lessons that Jacián still stood with.

"Eat, Trash." Ulquiorra ordered; his meal finished and his expectant eyes on Jacián. He went to the trouble of cooking for the boy, he wasn't going to hear any complaints, he already had enough to handle.

Jacián stood where he was for a few moments; his eyes not breaking contact with Ulquiorra. This was not a way to earn anything from the boy, Jacián thought that the Cuatro was smart enough to know that. Clearly though, he didn't; either that or he refused to give the boy any form of respect after yesterday, which was to be expected. He knew that the latter wasn't happy, and questioning him wasn't going to make life easy.

So, deciding to throw his biological father a bone, Jacián sat down in front of his food without any further comment. Content he was understood, Ulquiorra went to wash the dishes. His son then reached for his spoon; lifting it up and noticing that the...food was rather sticky and that it clung so much that when Jacián lifted it, not only did it leave a gooey trail back into the bowl, but said object lifted with it.

How he was supposed to eat this, he didn't know.

All the while, Ulquiorra had gone over what the day was going to be like. He was going to bring Jacián to their seamstress, have his measurements, and then he was going to drop him off with Szayel so he could get things to build the boy's medical profile. Then they were going to train, and Jacián was going to be with him in silence until it was time for the boy to return to the Cuatro's domain when dinner came around (said meal he had was going to be his three courses).

Jacián had heard him through his battle for his spoon, and he had enough already. It was just after five, the Cuatro had been awake for less than an hour and the latter already wanted him to shove it. He took a deep breath before he finally got his spoon and placed his food into his mouth. Instantly, he responded to the vulgar taste in his mouth the way any average boy would have. He spat it out.

The ebony teen spat his breakfast back into the bowl it came from before grabbing a napkin from the table and getting the rest of the goop out of his mouth. Ulquiorra's head had turned at the sound the teen made, and said: "Finish your meal," while placing both hands into his pocket.

The latter looked at him with his own stern gaze as he stood back up. "You're crazy if you think I'm eating this; it's not even edible, whatever it is meant to be."

"It a nutritional substance made for weaker arrancar such as yourself."

Jacián just crossed him arms; the expression not fading. "The substance part I believe, but nutritional? I can't even tell if this is supposed to be a soup, a paste, or some other weird concoction you just feed the others because you don't care for them. And I highly doubt there are much if any nutrients in it." He stated, raising his voice.

"It doesn't matter. You will finish eating, or I'll shove the food down your throat."

Jacián stood his ground; glaring at the Cuatro as he said in the calmest voice he could muster: "Go ahead and try it!" And just like that, all hell broke loose.

Ulquiorra responded to Jacián's words automatically as they came out; forcing the on his back, holding him to the table by the neck and shoving the spoonful of "food" he had just spat out back into his mouth. However, the latter was not as weak as Ulquiorra would have liked to believe, as he easily snapped the man's wrist in getting him to release him.

Spitting the glob onto the table, Jacián quickly grabbed Ulquiorra's shoulder and banged his head on the table; causing it to break from under him. Our Cuatro, with his forehead bleeding, caught the boy as he was about to run; the latter kicking and punching in every way he could, causing Ulquiorra to release him once more.

Having had enough, Ulquiorra kicked the boy to the floor and intended on getting this done, one way or another. However, a few seconds after the boy landed, Ulquiorra had found his face in the child's bowl. Jacián's aim had always been lucky, and in this case, it left Ulquiorra trying to pull the goo away from his eyes so he could see. Taking his chance, Jacián swiftly sonidoed out of the latter's domain before he could see clearly.

And the boy ran; he ran to the deserts outside and stopped at one of the usual training grounds. He put his bare back against the white wall and let himself slide to the floor. Okay...not what he was expecting in the morning. At the very least, Jacián thought that the Cuatro would be a bit smarter and try to be hospitable towards him, but that clearly wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

"Is it so much to ask for a meal that, at the very least, tastes like food?" He questioned, finding the predicament quite ridiculous considering the two were arguing over something as simple as food. A simple necessity that could have easily been provided, but because he wasn't classified as strong, he didn't deserve it? It was so damn stupid, it wasn't funny! If Ulquiorra was expecting any form of respect anytime soon, then he could forget it.

Sighing to himself, Jacián began staring at the ground; he had too little sleep in order to think about this for all too long, and he would have loved to just sleep this problem away. But with his sleep patterns and Ulquiorra's memory, this wasn't going to go without a lecture, and Jacián was likely going to have to deal with the male physically if he was mad like he thought he was.

A shadow hung over him; by who, he didn't know. All he did was look up with a neutral expression as he asked: "May I help you?" And so suddenly, two tan hands held him up on the wall in tight, firm grip settling on both of his arms.

Yes! Another chapter! Well, I hope you guys have enjoyed! Let's hope I can get another in before the end of the month. Reviews would help with that-just saying! ^^

Ciao for now!
~ K. Fang-sama