Finally, Orihime woke. Her cheeks flushed as she realized she had fallen asleep in Ulquiorra's chair, and she slowly stood up and got her books. Balancing the stack carefully, she walked back out of the hallway and into the great entrance. Looking around, she tried to remember where her room was. "Right! Opposite of the entrance." She spoke out loud as she remembered, and turned into the hallway. Still a little asleep, she caught her toe in one of the tiny cracks in the ground and fell, her books flying out around her. "Crap!" She exclaimed, and began picking them up.
Ulquiorra heard the woman fall, and sighing, used sonido and appeared next to her. She had several books around her, and he quickly picked up the remaining ones. "Here... You should try to be more careful when you walk, Inoue-san." She blushed, and replied with embarrassment on her face, "S-sorry Ulquiorra!" Quickly taking the books, she began to walk to her room as he headed back to the training room. He shook his head slightly at her clumsiness. Perhaps he would ask her if she wanted to train with him later. He could tell that she hated her relative powerlessness compared to the Arrancar, and thought he might be able to train her to a level where she could at least compete with the NĂºmeros.
With practiced motions, he set up the training dummy again. It wasn't really a dummy, not in the traditional sense. When the mod-souls had been created, Aizen had seen their potential and stolen several of the strongest. Ulquiorra inserted them into combat-gigais to practice on. The gigais had all been made to be extremely durable and fast. Ulquiorra typically trained with several of them at once. It provided a light workout.
He put the mod-souls into 5 different gigais, making sure that each mod-soul had a different enhancement. He didn't use Murcielago for training, instead opting for a wooden kendo sword so as to preserve the gigais. Szayel got annoyed when he had to waste time on gigai making, and Ulquiorra disliked dealing with the Octava Espada, even when he was in a good mood. Perhaps especially when he was in a good mood, as he tended to get irritatingly flirty and provocative when he was happy.
The mod-souls rushed him all at once, and he easily flipped above their heads, evading one's jump and another's thrown sword. He only wore a loose pair of white pants for training, and his muscles flexed as he leapt around the room. Normally, for the first hour of the fight he tried to avoid all blows, not allowing himself to block or parry attacks, while for the last hour he did not use sonido or evasive maneuvers at all. In this way, he was able to make the practices mildly interesting, rather than simple slaughters.
The feeling of leaping and flipping off of the rafters and poles set up in the room reminded him of flight, and he caught himself going into an almost meditative trance on a few occasions. The mod-souls fought to their highest abilities, but they were of little threat to the Cuatro Espada. It was as he was leaping off of the wall that he felt the woman's reiatsu approaching. His foot nearly slipped, allowing a mod-soul to graze the very edge of his pants, creating a small tear. Ulquiorra gave his gigais real katanas, to add to the challenge (though it was still not much of a challenge). Irritated, he took to the ground for a few steps, then flipped upwards as a sword swung towards him. Back off of a pole, then running across the ceiling. Easily, he used sonido, twisting and flying through the air.
Orihime watched in awe as Ulquiorra's body flashed across the room. He was never in one place for long enough to focus on, just a white blur as the people fighting him attacked. She could see some sort of weapon in his hands, and wondered why he refused to use it. It couldn't have been concern for the welfare of his training mates. As she watched, her eyes slowly grew used to his movements enough to distinguish that he held only a wooden kendo sword, while his opponents had steel katanas. Still, they couldn't seem to touch him. As he turned through the air, she could see how artistic and complex his movements were, and realized he was specifically training his dodging. Impressed, she saw the muscles on his back bunching as he paused for a moment before springing off of a rafter. Straining her eyes, she tried to focus on him long enough to find his tattoo, as she still didn't know what his rank was, but he never stayed still for long enough.
Finally he leapt into the centre of the room and used his sword for the first time, easily blocking the attacks of his opponents and hittin them back. Orihime could sense that he was holding his strength in check, but over time his attacks grew progressively stronger, until he finally struck one person in the head, the force pushing them across the floor until they struck a column with a sickening crack. Another, he dispatched by slashing across their neck, and the opponent stepped backwards, out of the battle. Then, he threw the sword away and attacked the last three with only his hands. His hierro-hardened skin easily deflected the steel katanas, and he struck each opponent in the base of the throat, hands plunging through the skin easily. Strangely, no blood welled up in the wounds, which healed almost instantly as each opponent stepped backwards. Ulquiorra's back was still to her as he walked away and put on his customary white jacket, the sound of its zipper loud in the sudden silence. He turned to her, face as blank as alway, and her face burned as she realized she had been watching him fight for over an hour.
He motioned for her to enter, and she watched as he walked to a small room in the corner and grabbed one of the Shinigami's gloves, and he struck each of his opponents in the head, forcing small, green pills to fly out of each of them. "You were fighting... Mod-souls?" She asked.
"Yes, Aizen rescued several from soul society many years ago. They serve as my training companions as I have no Fraccione. The gigais are highly durable and possess advanced regeneration."
"Ahh. How do you get gigais out here?" She asked.
Ulquiorra's frown deepened slightly as he replied, "Szayel." His dislike of the Espada was evident.
Orihime laughed nervously, replying, "Yeah, he's really...unique."
To her surprise, Ulquiorra's frown softened somewhat, and he nodded in agreement. "Inoue-San, would you like to use the training room? If you wish I would be willing to help improve your abilities.", he stated.
His face, as usual, revealed nothing. "I would...like that." Orihime replied. "Good. I must attend a meeting now, but perhaps when I return we might begin." Orihime nodded, trying to conceal her excitement as Ulquiorra strode out of the room. "Inoue-San, there should be food in the kitchens if you want to make yourself a meal. Don't hesitate to use it as it was placed there for you, not me." He said over his shoulder.
"Thank you, Ulquiorra!" She replied, as he shoved his hands in his pockets and left.
