Took a while to update, sorry.
Title: Emotional Involvement
Pairing: Kurosaki Karin x Ishida Uryuu
Warnings: kissing, fluff, lame plot
Comments: Ok, so this is a little overused as a plot device, but it'll do.
"You act like a girl," she told him, staring in disgust at the embroidery project spread across his lap. It was neither pink nor frilly, just for the record, and Ishida felt rather slighted.
"Well, you act like a boy," he shot back at Ichigo's little sister. "Not to mention looking like one."
"Lashing out is a sign of insecurity, you know."
"Same goes for you!"
"No, mine was just an observation. Yours was a comeback."
"How amazingl illogical."
She snorted, dark eyes scanning him with a bored expression as she leaned against the door of Ichigo's bedroom. "So, are you dating my brother?"
"What the—? No! Are you crazy?"
"Ah, true," she smirked. "Ichi-nii is too macho to want a wimp like you. He probably just needs help with homework or something."
"Correct. Wait... no! I mean..."
Karin laughed. "Gotcha! But seriously, are you gay?"
"No, I'm not," Ishida replied shortly. He could feel his cheeks turning pink. Not a good sign. Why did he let this absurd little girl get the better of him?
"I bet you are," she teased. "And I bet you're a real masochist too. You just let anybody beat up on you, don't you, Uryuu-chaaaaan?"
"I do not! And anyway, why are you so concerned? You're something of a tomboy yourself. I would have thought you'd have no interest in guys."
"That's disgusting," she said, and this time it was her turn to blush. Just a little bit. Ishida smiled softly, leaning over his work.
"You know, Karin-chan," he continued, "I think your real problem is that you've never had a boyfriend. You're one of those elementary schoolgirls who never outgrew the notion that boys have cooties."
"Hey! Not true! And since when are you a shrink, anyway?"
"Prove it's not true, then," he said, baiting her.
"Believe me, you don't want me to," she replied darkly.
"Oh? Why is that?"
"Because I'm not a scaredy-cat."
Ishida made a dainty but scathing noise of disbelief. "And what is that supposed to mean?"
"It's supposed to mean this," she said angrily, and the next moment the Quincy found himself pressed back onto Ichigo's bed, a pair of small, strong hands on his shoulders and a bubble-gum flavored tongue in his mouth. He jerked in surprise, so Karin took a handful of dark hair in her fist to keep him from moving. This was one girl who always played hardball, and she was not letting go of the archer until she was damn well finished.
"Not bad," Ishida commented after she had pushed him away, and sat glaring at him from her seat on his knees. He licked him lips. "Lacked emotional involvement, though."
"I didn't see much coming from you, either, you idiot."
"I came here to tutor Ichigo in math, not to kiss arrogant little girls." He drew his feet out from under her and swung them over the side of the bed, looking sadly at the mess on the floor. "You have completely destroyed my work."
"Then do it again, pretty boy."
Ishida chuckled at the unintentional invitation. "Oh, I will," he assured her.
Title: Trash
Pairing: Ulquiorra x Kuchiki Rukia
Warnings: spoilers for Arrancar arc
Comments: This is one of those moments when I really wish I did own Bleach, just so I could own Ulquiorra.
Humans are nothing.
Far below the seat of Aizen in Hueco Mundo, far below the purity of the world Ulquiorra knows, lies a great heap of trash that they call the human race. Their cities are sloppy mountains of misplaced parts, and the majority of their people no more interesting than the bloody meat that forms their bodies. The most engaging remain nothing but garbage-dwelling insects, to be examined, and then crushed beneath the feet of the Arrancar.
Ulquirra took pride in his ability to sort through this mess, finding the useful components buried amongst the rest.
The girl, the one with the strange powers: not trash. She might be of use to Aizen.
The boy, the one with the orange hair and the reiatsu that never stood still: not trash. He might be of use to Aizen.
The woman, short and slender and loyal, a human who passed away but was never allowed to take on the pure form of an Arrancar: not trash. Because... well, actually, for absolutely no reason at all.
Ulquiorra didn't know exactly what had drawn him to her, for she was just one among many that he watched from his perch in Hueco Mundo. She was a simple and foolhardy thing, yet inexplicably attractive in a way that made Ulquiorra doubt everything he had learned over the years. The way that her large, dark eyes flashed in the heat of battle, her small form dancing its way around larger opponents, the age apparent in her young face. He might be over a hundred years her junior, but Ulquiorra could see the ebb and flow of tragedy in her as easily as he could analyze her movements.
When Grimmjow had led his ill-advised attack on the human world, Ulquiorra had watched. Better to let the idiot get himself in deep before exposing him to higher authority. But the Arrancar had never expected the jolt he had received when he watched Grimmjow's arm slam through the petite shinigami's body and out the other side, twisting her face in pain.
Ulquiorra never made a sound, but his own muscles twisted ever so slightly in empathy. It was then that he called for Tousen to destroy the grinning madman, Ulquiorra's hands shaking so that he his them in his sleeves when he spoke to his superior officer.
Arrancar were not supposed to think this way.
So Ulquiorra did not think, but analyzed, scrutinizing her every move in the human world. He sought to find what strange ingredient made her different from the others, what elevated her beyond the status of trash and into a realm of Ulquiorra's mind that he had not known existed.
And what he found was nothing but his own madness, the fault in his own reasoning. Ulquiorra turned away and stared at the vast, cold hall of the fortress in Hueco Mundo.
Humans are trash. They are nothing, no more interesting than the bloody meat that forms their bodies. Ulquiorra understands this. And he also understands his own weakness for them. The day he meets her in battle will be the day he destroys himself, because unfortunately, even Arrancar were once just human trash.
Happy New Year!