2 days later...
"So Ichigo...are you ready for the final part of your training?" Kisuke taunted. Uryu stood by his side in support.
"I thought you said it was over! Is that why you brought me all the way out here?" All the way was an overstatement. We were in the main town, we could have flash stepped with little to no effort. But, in truth, I was pissed. "You said, back there, that was it!"
"Did I?" He poked his chin. "Oh well, my mistake! I take full responsibility and should sincerely apologise to my youngers for my despicable influence on such an easily influenced age group in an impoverished world-"
"Oh, shut up!" Ikkaku shouted from atop a very tall building near by, keeping watch. Yumichika was on the other end, sniggering. Uryu met my eyes from behind his gleaming glasses. "Remember this, Ichigo?" He rolled the little circular, pill like object within his fingers.
"Hollow bait, right?"
"Yeah. Last part of your training. Urahara forgot our agreement. This is a team building exercise. We've all been concentrating on individual development, but our team work skills need re-establishing."
"Everyone gets involved, Ichigo. Rukia, Ukitake, Kyoraku, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Hitsugaya, Kuchiki, Renji, Yoruichi, Kenpachi, Urahara, and myself."
As he listed the names, I realised those i'd not had chance to speak with yet. Byakuya, Renji, Kenpachi...maybe they too needed some self development.
"OK then, contenders! Team work, not a competition! The aim of the game is to extinguish every hollow that comes your way! Three..."
"Two..."
"One!"
The bait was crushed, and all went silent. A huge roar split the sky in two.
...
"Wow...did you hear that!"
Of course he did, dummy, he's right next to you! I look to my side shyly. "I mean...that was really loud." Ulquiorra just nodded, looking increasingly uncomfortable in his progressively tattered clothing. I look down at my own, dotted with random brown marks and dust and stinking to high heavens. The walk through the town signals to me that there must be clothes stores near by, but whether they'd be stocked or not is another question. I wonder suddenly why I dismissed the roar, and my skin goes cold. "I wonder what it was."
Another roar fills the sky, too deep and alive to be thunder. I feel a hand on my clammy one. He's looking up at the sky. "R-run."
I nod, and we run. We round a corner, and come face to face with a zombie. Recognition plucks in my brain, but I don't know why. He is tall, thin, with long black hair. His left eye is missing from its socket. His tattered clothing is white...strangly similar to...
Ulquiorra coaxes me behind him as he stares down the creature, towering over us. His empty eyes assess us hungrily. "He's...strong."
"Then come on!" I whisper sharply, keeping my eyes on the man as I tug on Ulquiorra's hand. He wont budge. "Please!"
"He'll chase us... and then he'll catch you. If we ...run, you'll be tired, and he'll...catch you."
"And if we stay here, he's already caught us!"
He squeezed my hand, and I feel breathless and dizzy. "Trust me...Im...stronger."
"How do you know?!"
He looks to the side, I presume he's seeing me in his peripheral vision. "I have...you to protect."
I feel the ridiculous need to grin like an idiot. No time for that. He then continues to stare the tall man down. Roars are becoming more noticeable...closer. What are they?
Voices...I hear voices. "One there!" I glance up, and a blue arrow crosses the sky. "Nice!"
Objects, or people, fly across the buildings above, simple as hopping over stepping logs, but impossible distances. I watch in awe. "Ulqui-orra?"
A commotion is near by, gathering closer. I instantly look right. People are running towards us. Several people.
"Watch out!" One shouts, and they each fly and shoot over us. We follow them with our eyes, and to our left I recoil at the absolutely huge creature. Its a deep green, boxy in appearance. Its face is a white mask, similar to skull. "Ulquiorra!" I tug him out of the creatures path, and we run behind the tall man as he is crushed beneath its giant paw. Once we are a safe distance, we turn and look back. It has frozen, a long slice down its face. It shatters, and the entire creature shimmers out of sight. The figures drop to the floor.
"What are you doing?! You could have gotten yourselves killed!" an aggressive female voice cries in anger. The group nears us. 4 of them in total, how they managed to take down that huge monster is beyond me. They must be good. I turn to see Ulquiorra, and i'm suddenly terrified. What if they try and kill him?
The figure at the front is a boy, tall, in a black kimono. Orange hair... I think of the picture. Ichigo!"
I cant speak. I found him so easily, its scary!
"Hey, can we help? Are you hurt?"
As he gets closer, his eyes become wider... and wider...until his eye lashes are disappearing into his long bangs. "...Ori...hime?"
"Are...are you...Ichigo?"
His eyes tighten, and relax. He nods as he smiles sadly. "You don't remember me."
His eyes switch to my companion, and in a flash he unsheathes a humongous blade. "Step away from him, Orihime."
Just what I thought. I feel sick at the hatred in his eyes. I remember the dream, and it becomes clear. "No! He's with me! You kill him, you kill me, got it? He's not your enemy anymore! Whatever he was when you nearly killed him, he came back, and he has no memory of it! He's a good person, so if you dare lay a finger on him I swear I will-"
"You will...what?" Ichigo taunts. His eyes are filled with shock and anger that im reacting this way, and I don't care. I'm not that ignorant child grinning in the picture anymore. Innocent, sunshine and rainbows Orihime, no! That ends. That ends because someone is about to hurt the man who brought me back.
"I will make you pay for hurting him."
...
She must have been brainwashed, because she was so defiant. Her eyes were different, her stance was stronger. She was convincing. But I knew her too much to know she would do anything to protect her friends, even if it meant that bastard Ulquiorra would be able to kidnap her again. It was him, right? His hair was slightly dishevelled, but that made no change. He was grey in colour, but again...man it was hard to tell the difference. The only real recognisable changes were that he stood slightly limper, his eyes were only slightly duller, and his clothes were very tattered. It was him alright, and even though he couldn't possibly remember me, I had the feeling he knew to hate me. He didn't charge at me, but he never did unless under extreme provocation. He stood by his captive, like a guard doing his duty.
But he was a zombie. Ulquiorra, 4th Espada, was simply a vessel of contorted and contaminated riestsu. He had the strength, the power to turn all those around him into something weaker, but just as lifeless. It was so pitiful, I couldn't even laugh at the irony of it. "Orihime, please..."
"Ichigo, no. Not if you hurt him."
"But he's the enemy! Whatever he's done to you, its wrong!"
Her eyes widened, and she adjusted herself so she was standing a little further away from him. I realised it was she who was guarding him, and that they were holding hands. Gripping until her knuckles paled.
"I've done...nothing to her...soul reaper."
My stare snapped to his, and I couldn't believe it. He was able to speak, too! Somehow, that made me angrier than ever. Orihime looked stunned, also, as she turned her face to see his. His gaze was stapled to my face.
"Ulquiorra? How do you know...soul what?"
"Soul reaper," I finished for her. That clarified it. He was speaking, he had memories. It became obvious as this reunion mapped out that these two only had each other. Why else would they be so attached, if not for the reason I still partly suspected? He was always so straight forward, and never had to lie. Begrudgingly, I had to believe his assurance that he'd done nothing to influence her. But how far did those memories go, and how detailed were they?
"You know what I am."
He continued to stare, and said, "I am aware...of the term...Images...coming back to m-me."
"You mean, dreams?"
He looked to Orihime, and she nodded. "I didn't think you slept."
"I didn't know...either." Impossibly, a ghost of a smile found its way in his voice. Id never heard any emotion in that droning ghostly voice before. Orihime smiled sadly. "You should have said."
"When you...mentioned the dream...just now, I would've passed them...off...as imagin...ation."
"A corpse with imagination, whatever next!" Ikkaku shouted from above, listening to the entire conversation without our knowledge. "Come on Ichigo, finish him before I get a chance!"
I hesitated to make a decision, which had only happened twice with this particular hollow. I took in the situation. Orihime protecting him, Orihime holding his hand, Orihime being so much stronger than when I knew her before. I looked at Ulquiorra, looking almost identical to the one i'd killed, even with a jagged hole where his hollow hole should be, standing a little less straight, with a little more emotion. A corpse with emotion and...and imagination. He dreamt, he thought, he spoke...he held her hand. But he knew me. He knew who I was and he hated me. It was Ulquiorra alright.
I struggled so much with it that I forgot the others behind me, watching as I made the decision to kill the enemy.
"Please Ichigo, help us. You didn't kill him, last time...when he was the enemy."
I didn't, because...because it wouldn't have been right. To kill something when it was dying and defenceless anyway. He was a sorry creature, ash in the wind. Ash in the wind that rearranged into whatever he was now. What if he remembered more...and of what he was?
Orihime's crying face as he died before her...outstretched fingers.
Who was I to say that he deserved to die?
"Fine...I'll leave this to Kisuke."
The roaring continued, but I didn't care for them. I had one now, stronger than them all, and I was saving him.