That was the first time I had ever seen someone such as Grimmjow – a heartless, cruel man – have terror written plainly in his green eyes. Just seconds ago he was engaged furiously in a fight with Ulquiorra, but as soon as this brown-haired, somewhat intimidating man came in suddenly, silence enveloped the room. Since I didn't have any attention on myself, I watched on, the scene seeming to get darker and darker.
Who is this man? I wondered to myself, a cold bead of sweat breaking out on my temple. Could this be… could this person be… Aizen…? Great! Just who I needed!
"What do you have to say for yourself, Grimmjow?" The brown-haired man asked belittlingly. The blue haired man lowered his head, not the shame as I could see that his teeth were clenched tightly as if he wanted to say something, but knew that if he did, he would be punished harshly, "Do I need to remove your arm again, because you seemed to behave a great deal better if it's gone. Tell me, Grimmjow – do I need to do that to you?"
Begrudgingly, Grimmjow spat back, "No… Lord Aizen…," If I was scared before, I was now by one hundred times. Tough old Grimmjow was on his knees, being told that if he didn't 'behave' he would – casually, might I add – have his arm removed. It was as if he was talking about a tooth, Aizen's demeanor was that calm… which was frightening even though it didn't feel as though I would be, which kind of doesn't make sense really, but in a weird way, it does.
"Lord Aizen." Ulquiorra spoke up suddenly. The big man half-turned toward him as if to suggest he wasn't finished with Grimmjow yet, but would listen to Ulquiorra nonetheless, "You don't come to the World of the Living often, even if conflicts arise such as this. Is there a special occasion going on?"
"Nothing special. I just came to confirm something." Aizen replied, but it was at that moment when he turned to look at me with those narrow eyes of his. I felt a definite chill go down my spine as he slightly smirked in my direction, as if he knew something that I didn't. Whatever it was, though, I really did not want to know, "So this is the girl you were referring to the other day, Grimmjow. Keiko, was it? I do deeply apologize for this… incident, as it were."
I was shocked. Despite his intimidating exterior, he was actually quite… polite? I couldn't really put my finger on the word, but it was… in between irksome and relieving, "N-no… well, um… it is… how do I put this? It was all so… sudden, is all. And adding getting sliced up in to the mix is not all too pleasant, either." When I said that, I noticed that Grimmjow, still on his knees, turned my way fiercely. I tried not to make eye contact with anyone, least of all Grimmjow, because I was severely starting to feel uncomfortable. Being bound with these guys in the room, I'd like to think anyone would be.
"I assume it wouldn't." Aizen walked toward me, but seemed to lose his menacing demeanor and exchanged it with a softer look. I flinched when he made it over to me, nonetheless, and he knelt before me; when he didn't make a move, I began to slowly inch back. When I did, Aizen began to untie the rope around my wrists without saying a word. While he did that, I studied his face meticulously to get a sense of what he may be thinking. There was… nothing; well, nothing written on his face that would be threatening to me anyway. Right now, all his actions toward me had been gently and soothing – not at all what I thought he would do when I stayed up worried about him coming for me all night. Wow, what a waste of sleeping time when Aizen wasn't even that kind of guy! Geez!
As soon as I was free, I rubbed my chaffed wrists gingerly and soon afterward got to my feet along with Aizen. Right then I had no idea of what I should do now that I was freed because I firstly had no clue of where I was or how to get back home and secondly, I did not know what was going to happen right in front of me.
Aizen answered this unspoken question when all of a suddenly a hole in the air appeared from out of nowhere and he said, "Grimmjow we're returning to Hueco Mundo. Now." The blue haired man reluctantly got to his feet, shoved his hands in his pockets and went over to where Aizen was. Ulquiorra, on the other hand, stayed where he was. As Grimmjow got in the hole of darkness, Aizen turned to Ulquiorra, "I need you to stay here and continue doing what you're doing. Keep observing and keep me updated on your health, Ulquiorra." With that, he stepped into the hole and behind him, it closed as though it ate the both of them.
That certainly was a… normal exit. It's like every day you just see another person jumping into a random hole in the air – not. I was so shocked and confused that I didn't even see Ulquiorra come up beside me, "Mistress Fukui, do you wish to return to the apartment now?"
"You know… that would be wonderful." I said after getting out of my delirium, but then paused, wondering about Aizen's words to Ulquiorra, "Wait. What did that Aizen dude mean about 'keep observing'? Wasn't the reason he sent Grimmjow here was to take you back to this Hueco Mundo place? Why didn't he just ask you to go with him?"
"You ask too many questions." Ulquiorra simply stated, "Aren't you just glad you came out of this with your life?" When he said that, a hurricane of emotions came spilling out of me: Sadness, worry, fright and anxiety; all at once they came out as tears. I threw my arms around the unsuspecting Ulquiorra and pretty much strangled him.
"Yes…! Yes I am glad I am still alive…!" I blubbered embarrassingly. I didn't care if I was making a fool of myself in front of him, I was just so relieved that this was over, "Th-thank you…! If it wasn't for you, I'd… I'd…,"
"Cease your crying." Ulquiorra snapped, "There's no more cause for tears. Let's get out of here so we can treat those injuries of yours." Ulquiorra had to basically peel me off of him in order to get me to start wiping my eyes off. I sniffled as I did so and looked at the expectant Ulquiorra.
"OK… I'm ready, I think." I told him with a jagged smile. Without a single word, Ulquiorra suddenly took my hand and dragged me behind him which surprised me greatly. Despite how he fought Grimmjow: Fiercely and unwaveringly, his hand was very… gentle… soft and even warm. I looked at his back as I followed behind him. Was this really the same man as back then? For some reason or another, there was something… I don't know – different about him. The difference may not be significant but it's definitely there… just days before he probably would not have taken my hand, but here he was, my hand in his, dragging me behind him.
He must have noticed my eyes on his back because once we had left the shade of the warehouse and into the sunny outdoors, he turned around, "Is there any particular reason you're staring at me?" I was caught – I blushed, looking down.
"Well… no… but, um… I just…," I decided not to play coy and just say what I wanted to say to him. I looked him in the eye and said, "I just wanted to formally thank you – I know you hate those words, but I just wanted to thank you for this and for everything else. I don't care if you think humans are annoying and that I irritate you and I don't even care that you did it all out of duty! I'm just so goddamn grateful to you, OK?! I'm… I'm…," Tears began to form in the corners of my eyes again. I tried dabbing at them to halt them, but no matter how many I caught, more fell down. I couldn't believe I was crying again, but I felt so emotional from all the events that just happened that I couldn't help myself. It made me feel guilty for doing this in front of the uncaring Ulquiorra, but… but…
Just as I was standing there, rubbing my eyes with the heel of my hands, I felt something warm wrap around me. Surprised, I looked up, noticing that Ulquiorra had put his arms around me. The tears seemed to stop instantaneously as I blushed and looked down at our feet.
"Wh-what are you…?" I finally mustered the courage to say. I certainly was right to say he changed dramatically these past few days: Day one, he couldn't cook and he couldn't care less about anything I did or said. Now… he was holding my hand and holding me in his arms… what caused him to make such a huge change?
"This is what humans do to comfort one another, is it not?" Ulquiorra asked and I could feel every vibration he made when he spoke. He also smelled really… nice; like he had Axe on or something, "I figured it would be a fast method to make you stop crying so we can move on."
I laughed slightly, "You really know how to charm a woman, don't you? …but, I guess it is a faster method; I am feeling a lot better, Ulquiorra." With that, he suddenly let go of me and put his hands in his pockets again. When he let go, I couldn't help but want back in his arms again. It's crazy but that's what I wanted then.
"If that's the case, then let's head back now." He said, proceeding to go back to the apartment. I had to sprint to catch up to his side. I looked down at his hands, wanting to hold that strong, warm hand again, but decided against it. I probably couldn't get away with that twice.
Instead, I looked up at the sky and saw the clouds rolling lazily across the everlasting azure canopy. A breeze went through my blood-matted hair and I honestly was… happy with my decision of making Ulquiorra my man-servant. Just maybe an hour ago, I was starting to feel the opposite way when Grimmjow was beating me up – but now… even though he broke my window, he nearly destroyed my kitchen, let Grimmjow into my apartment who later became my inquisitor, got me terrified for no reason of a man named Aizen and made for the worst rescuer of my fantasies ever… he made up for it by somehow making me horny for him anyway.