I am back from the dead! Or at least, finals. I had a hard time writing this chapter for several reasons. One, I had finals. Two, I have waaaaaaaay too many stories going on to properly focus. Three, this chapter was boring for me to write. But, it had to be done, so I did it, and here it is.
Word count: 3494
"Useless."
Bright eyes glanced up into unmoving ones, and the girl smiled softly. "It isn't."
Ulquiorra glanced down at the small sketchpad in the woman's lap. When she had requested it, he had almost ignored it, and not brought it to Aizen's attention. After some deliberation, and remembering that Aizen had asked that Ulquiorra make their 'guest' comfortable, he brought the idea before the Lord of Los Noches.
Now the woman had a sketchpad in hand, and was drawing inane and very strange things.
Ulquiorra frowned at the picture that showed what looked like a primitive looking robot with long orange hair gunning down another robot that had Aizen's hair and glasses with what appeared to be beets.
"I fail to see the usefulness of this...exercise."
The woman's smile turned into a strange smirk, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly, exposing some teeth. "It makes me feel better."
The fourth Espada stared at her.
"You see, I get frustrated sometimes," she continued, now starting to work on a background for her picture. "I've always had Kurosaki-kun to help me, or I've been set aside since I can't fight like the others. With this...I can pretend, just for a little while, that I can help them more than I actually can."
Ulquiorra let out a huff of air. "It is useless pretending that something is when it isn't. You lose yourself in your dream world, woman, and you will never make it in life."
The smile was still on her face as she glanced back up at him. "You sound as if you have experienced that yourself."
He blinked down at her, surprised.
She ducked her head back down, drawing broccoli shaped trees and box buildings around the two combatants on her page.
"If this is your idea of a battle plan," Ulquiorra stated as he watched her for a while longer, "Your skills are lacking. Lord Aizen would never use something so simple and base as human weaponry to fight anyone."
The woman shrugged. "You never know."
She didn't continue, and Ulquiorra felt his curiosity curl in his mind, hissing and demanding relief.
"You...do not fear me. You are not angry at me, even though I took you from your home, your friends. Why?"
Those bright gray eyes turned back up to look at him, and the happiness in them was smothered by...something almost like...pity? Ulquiorra felt confused by the display. Why did she pity him?
"You followed orders. Just like Kuchiki-dono followed orders when he arrested Kuchiki-san. I cannot hate you, or fear you, because you obeyed someone's command. Your heart wasn't in it."
Ulquiorra briefly wondered, again, what this heart was she kept referring to.
"You know," she continued, her voice taking on a vicious edge, "for a small little fucker, you sure are a lot of trouble. Damn it, quit using me for a pillow!"
For the second time in his life, Ulquiorra awakened with someone's fist punching him in the face.
He opened his eyes, and glared up at the blue-headed man that leered down at him, face upside down. The lighting was very bright, and Ulquiorra closed his eyes for a moment to let them adjust.
"Grimmjow," he intoned, hand reaching up to drift over his cheek where the other man had struck him. Unlike Abarai's wake-up punch, this one would leave a mark.
"You were usin' me as a pillow you clingy bastard," the man growled, scooting back a little.
Ulquiorra sat up, ignored the protest from his exhausted and spent muscles, and glanced around at his new surroundings.
He felt a twang of annoyance in his gut when he realized where he was.
"We're in the Twelfth Division Research Center," he sighed. "And we seem to be in a cage."
"No shit," Grimmjow droned in a near perfect imitation of Ulquiorra's voice.
The cage they were in was large enough for both of them to sit on opposite ends, but still have their feet touch. The bars were made of energy, though they did not hurt to lean against, which both Espada did. The cage was set up in the middle of a very bright room, and various machines and computers lined the walls around them, while a steel table with straps sat next to their cage, straps dangling off the sides.
"How long have we been here?" Ulquiorra asked, gingerly rubbing his neck; the collar was still there, and the skin beneath it seemed drier than the rest.
"Dunno," the blue-haired man yawned, stretching his arms over his head. "Bitch ninja knocked me out about two seconds after you became dead to the world."
"I see," Ulquiorra murmured, running his fingers idly over the bars of the cage. He frowned. "We can't use Cero on these."
"Nope," Grimmjow sighed. "It'll make it bounce around like crazy."
Ulquiorra eyed the other man for a moment. "You tried it, didn't you?"
"Yup. Hurt like a bitch, but it's nice to know I still got it," Grimmjow grinned.
They fell silent as the door across from their cage opened, and two familiar forms walked in followed by a third unfamiliar form.
Two were Shinigami that Ulquiorra would, at this point, be willing to either maim or kill if given the chance to fight them. Kurosuchi Mayuri and Kurosuchi Nemu had caused him enough discomfort to last a lifetime, and that was from his last visit. He did not wish to dwell on what they might do to him now that they might have free rein, as he had technically 'betrayed' Soul Society.
The other person made him pause.
Such a young child to have such power...
"But Ken-chan wants to play with Cry-Baby!"
"I don't care what that oaf wants, these Espada are now under my care," Kurosuchi Taichou snapped. "I will keep them here away from that nefarious barbarian and anything he might do to harm them and impede my research. And if he even tries to free them, I'll see to it that *you* will be on the table next! It's not everyday you get one, let alone two, prime healthy Espada! Nemu! Start the preparations for cerebral extraction at once! And stay away from my specimens, you little brat!"
"Aw, what a shame, ya hear that Ulqui?" Grimmjow drawled. "He doesn't think the other kiddies will play nice with us."
"Do not call me Ulqui," the other replied.
"Hey, Cry-Baby!" the child chirped. She poked her pink head up through the bars and then smiling up at the two Espada. "Ken-chan wants to play with you. Will you let him?"
"I do not 'play', girl," Ulquiorra said. "Even if I did, I would not. I broke the rules that were placed on me, and will accept my punishment, however tedious, without complaint."
The girl laughed at him, and Grimmjow smirked. "Aw, c'mon Ulquiorra. Stop being such a pompous ass."
He accentuated this statement with a wink, and shoved the smaller Espada- hard.
Ulquiorra banged against the bars of their cage, face impassive despite the slight twinge of pain in his back. "Watch your step, Sexta Espada," he warned softly.
The grin on the other's face widened, and Ulquiorra recognized the fiery glint that had appeared in Grimmjow's eyes. "Fuckin' make me!"
Ulquiorra gracefully slid to the side as the larger man pounced at him, hands that were held out to grab the fourth Espada's head instead grasping the bars of the cage.
"Stop, stop! Behave in there! I won't have my two prime specimens killing each other! You're comrades! Now act like it!"
The two Espada ignored Kurosuchi.
Ulquiorra knew that the odds were not in his favor. While he was smaller and quicker than Grimmjow, they were confined in this small cage, and if he blasted off a cero, it was just as likely to hit him as the crazed sixth Espada.
It was only a matter of time before-
Shit!
Grimmjow snarled, snatching Ulquiorra by the throat and holding him aloft, ignoring the angry yelling from Kurosutchi.
He beamed up at the wide-eyed fourth Espada. "Looks like I was right; I *am* more powerful than you, and you were afraid to admit it!" He shifted, freed his hand from Ulquiorra's throat and instead nabbed his hands, holding both above his head so he could not fire a cero.
Grimmjow drew back his free fist, and winked up at Ulquiorra, leering. "Nighty night, Ulquiorra!"
Even though the first punch was obviously meant to knock him unconscious, Ulquiorra held on for another two minutes, even though after approximately twenty-three seconds he could no longer see clearly, and at forty-five seconds his nose broke and began gushing blood.
It was worth it just to spite Grimmjow, and to see the other's surprise when, twenty punches later, Ulquiorra was still conscious.
Ulquiorra finally fell into darkness when Grimmjow threw him to the floor, raised his foot, and stomped.
Ulquiorra awoke abruptly, eyes snapping open and form trying to lift against his restraints.
He paused when his restraints tightened, but did not break, and then relaxed back into what he realized was a bed.
"Please, Ulquiorra-kun, stay still for a few moments longer. I have some questions," a soft, firm voice intoned from the doorway.
He looked towards the voice, recognizing her as one of the Captains who wished he be spared. She offered him a serene smile, which was lost amidst the aura of power she was exuding.
The woman had long dark hair, tied in a braid and flowing down the front of her robes. Her eyes were a dark blue, and were gentle- though they seemed to be taking in every aspect of him and his movements, and dissecting them.
She was not one to be taken lightly.
Ulquiorra slowly nodded, then closed his eyes. "As you wish, Taichou."
"Unohana," the woman said lightly.
"Unohana Taichou," Ulquiorra said.
"You were brought here a few hours ago by Kuchiki Taichou-"
"You must be mistaken," Ulquiorra interrupted softly. "I was under the tender ministrations of Kurosutchi Taichou and his lieutenant."
"I am not mistaken, Ulquiorra-kun. Kuchiki Taichou brought you here, with the request that you be healed, and that you stay here until he returns for you."
Ah, that made more sense to the confused Espada. He still wasn't sure why Kuchiki Taichou brought him here, but it sounded like the noble to order him to stay and wait to be retrieved.
"I wish to know how you got your injuries."
Ulquiorra cracked one eye open to glance at the Captain. While her smile was soft and encouraging, she gave off the air of infinite patience and will.
She would not be leaving until she had retrieved what she wanted from him.
"Kurosutchi had a former comrade in the same cage with me. My comrade got…stir crazy I suppose, and we fought. We could not use Ceros, and there was not much room to move."
"So even though he was a lower rank than you, you were still beaten?"
Ulquiorra slowly turned his full gaze on the woman, silent.
She returned it with equal force, still smiling.
"The odds," he said slowly. "Were not in my favor."
"I can see that, Ulquiorra-kun," the woman beamed.
Ulquiorra fought the urge to sigh.
"However, I was under the impression that Espada had tougher hierro than that."
"I am just as lost as you are, Unohana Taichou." Ulquiorra shifted in the bed, frowning at the straps as they seemed to tighten over his wrists.
"I'll let you go in a moment, Ulquiorra-kun. Have you noticed any other strange happenings with your body since you came here to Soul Society?"
That made the Espada's frown even deeper.
The hunger for food, his softened hierro, the off smell from both him and Grimmjow…and the dreams, along with the surfacing of odd emotions here and there, were rather strange to him.
The woman seemed to mistake his silence for hesitancy, and offered an encouraging smile. "As a healer, I can promise you that everything you tell me will be confidential. No one, save for myself, will know what has been said here."
"Even if I happen to mention a facet of Aizen's overall plan that I did not mention before?" Ulquiorra asked, eyes narrowing.
"I would have to alert the Commander," the captain informed him gently. "But unless that plan involves your health or well-being, it is none of my business."
Ulquiorra turned towards the window, taking in the encroaching darkness of night coming and the resulting sunset.
"I hunger for food, my hierro is softening, and my companion and I have both noticed that we smell different."
"Anything else, Ulquiorra-kun?" the woman prompted gently.
She knew he was with-holding information.
What a troublesome, if shrewd, woman.
"I have been…feeling…more than I normally would."
"And what is wrong with feelings?"
Ulquiorra continued to stare out the window, watching as a small shinigami male ran across the courtyard, being chased by a group of large, brutish looking shinigami with ugly grins on their faces.
"Emotions get in the way of the order of things," Ulquiorra said quietly. "I was one of the few ever an Espada to be stripped of such useless things when I was born. Perhaps it has to do with my belief that what you cannot see does not exist. Emotions are simply irrational parts of humans that lead them to their own destruction, as time has proved again and again. Even when Espada's let a few rogue emotions rule them, it can prove to be their undoing. Nnoitra reveled in the fear that he could squeeze from those lower than him. Halibel cared for her Fraccion as if they were friends. Grimmjow never could think through his haze of blood lust, and Stark cared too much for his young charge. And the woman in my charge…"
"Yes?" Unohana prompted, ever so gently.
Ulquiorra glanced back at her, eyes hooded. "She believed that one day, I would find my heart."
"Was she right?"
Ulquiorra turned back to the window, now watching as the previous group of Shinigami thugs were running back from where they came, being chased by apparently very vengeful and protective Hell Butterflies.
"I do not know," he frowned. "I do not claim to be completely myself anymore, but neither am I human or Shinigami. I am…in limbo."
"What would you be, if you could be it without consequences?"
The Espada's brow furrowed at her query. "I…do not understand."
"Human, Espada, Hollow, Vizard, Shinigami. What would you chose, if you had the choice, to be if it was within your grasp?"
Ulquiorra considered this new puzzle thoughtfully, eyes glancing at the woman before him, measuring and calculated.
He honestly did not see the point to answering her question, other than satisfying her curiosity.
"Even though it is pointless, I'll indulge you," he intoned, shifting in his bed. Unohana picked up on this very slight movement, and strode over and began to undo his restraints.
He did not resist, or entertain flights of fancy. After all, he had no reason to run, and nowhere to go.
"Being an Espada again would not be beneficial to me," Ulquiorra said, sitting up properly once he had been freed. He frowned down at his frame, noticing for the first time that, oddly enough, he was barefoot.
For some reason, it was disconcerting to see his bare feet like this, and so unexpectedly.
"Because of your defection?" Unohana asked, drawing his attention again.
"That, and even if Aizen were to have been defeated when I did return, I would undoubtedly have Soul Society coming after me to clean up any loose ends," Ulquiorra nodded.
"I see," the captain smiled. "Hollow or Vizard?"
"I think it would be impossible for me to become a Vizard, as I was Hollow before and not Shinigami," Ulquiorra frowned. "As for returning to being a Hollow…I'm surprised you, a Shinigami, would even ask me that. Not only would I be a menace to you, Soul Society, and the World in general, it would mean for me to de-evolve back into a hungry, instinct driven animal. I have no desire to go through all of that again."
"Shinigami?"
He fought the sneer that was on the edge of his mouth. "I do not feel any sympathy for my fellow Espada or the lower Hollows, but I do not think I would make a very good Shinigami."
"Why?"
Ulquiorra closed his eyes briefly at that damnable question. Everywhere he went, no matter who talked to him, always asked him that same simple question.
"Prior history," he replied. "And I would refuse. It is…not meant for me."
"I was asking a hypothetical question, Ulquiorra-kun," the woman said, chiding him gently.
"Even so, I would refuse."
She sighed, and leaned closer to him.
He did not flinch away from her, but his sudden stillness seemed to alert her to the fact that he was not used to such face-to-face contact.
"Forgive me," she said, looking over his face with piercing, knowing eyes. She nodded, and wrote something on her clipboard. "You seem to be healing well. But you didn't answer my entire question. Would you be tempted to be Human?"
Ulquiorra felt his gut twist at that. The mental ghost of that Woman in his charge surfaced, eyes glistening with emotions, and hair sweeping back as the wind blew sand between them.
Whenever he thought of what a Human should be termed as, he thought of her.
"I would be…tempted," he admitted, noticing the look of surprise on the captain's face. "I have seen, and heard much, about Humans. I suppose that one of my few flaws is my curiosity, especially in regards to emotions, and the reasoning in the human mind. To experience something from the human perspective, to live the life of a human, to know the emotions and turmoil and mental anguish, mixed with whatever is construed as happiness…would go a long way in satisfying my curiosity."
The woman, for some odd reason, was smiling, and it seemed to be a true smile. "Very well, Ulquiorra-kun. I shall leave you to your rest."
As she turned to leave, she paused at the door, and turned to give him a glance.
"Oh, and I would respectfully request that you stay put until Kuchiki Taichou comes to retrieve you."
He nodded once, and turned his attention back to the window.
He blinked in surprise to see violet eyes blinking back at him.
"Kuchiki Rukia," he intoned emotionlessly as the woman paled, gulped, and then nodded, hopping into the room and standing before the Espada.
"Ulquiorra Cifer," she intoned gravely. "I have come to thank you for saving my life."
He looked on, disinterested as she knelt, and bowed her forehead to the floor.
"Rise, Kuchiki Rukia. There is no need to thank me. I was merely staying in the good graces of your adopted brother, and that of Soul Society. It would not have served me in good stead if you had died by the hand of a former comrade that seemed determined to find me."
The woman glanced up at him in surprise, then looked away. "Ichigo was right," she murmured.
Ulquiorra gave her a measured look, eyes sharpening. "What does Kurosaki Ichigo have to do with this?"
"He told me once," she mumbled in a quiet rush. "He told me looking at your face was like looking into the face of a dead or dying soul, and that trying to reach your heart was similar to trying to find your way in an unfamiliar, dark room." She glanced up at him, and he was surprised to see a small flicker of defiance. "I see that he understated quite a bit."
"Whatever the case, there is no need for you to be here," Ulquiorra said, turning away from her and looking out the window once more. The sun had vanished, and the stars were starting to come out.
"I am to wait here with you until Nii-sama comes by to escort us both home."
"Then I suggest you do so quietly."
Blessed silence fell, and Ulquiorra found some semblance of peace by ignoring the small soul in the room with him, instead focusing on the stars outside his window.