Chapter 11: Violent Words
A/N: Hello out there in the dark corners of cyberspace ^^ This chapter came a little later than I expected, but my inspiration suddenly disappeared and simply refused to get back no matter what I did .
So, if my updates end up being late, don't worry! I haven't forgotten about this fic - I'm most likely just waiting for my inspiration to return x)
However, I'm reeeaaally bored as I'm writing this – vacation can be kind of overrated once in a while xD
So now I'm actually looking forward to getting back at my gymnasium and study again… isn't that just horrible? .
Enjoy the new chapter ^^
Only in the painstaking silence do we understand the importance of sound
Ulquiorra barely closed his eyes that night. Normally, he wasn't interested in such a simple thing as sleep, but the stress had slowly devoured him from the inside… and he, despite his nature as an Arrancar, really needed a breather in one way or another.
However, a very subtle sound from Orihime's cell had kept him awake the whole time.
Whenever his mind had drifted away too much, the sound had pulled him back. It was a very subtle almost non existing sound – very alike a small whisper.
However, Orihime was not whispering and no matter how unimportant the sound seemed in the start, he was able to determine that it wasn't the occasional mumbling he had listened to whenever she slept in the human world.
It was sounds of discomfort – small whimpers of pain that reached his sensitive ears like the merciless hit from a hammer.
How he wanted to make those sounds go away… But he knew that there was nothing he could do about it.
The door was dividing them…
Too many things were dividing them.
Ulquiorra had not been in any mood for negotiations when 2 low ranking Arrancars came to open Orihime's cell. In fact, he had only wanted to squeeze whatever life he could out of those 2 pieces of trash…
Not because it was solely their fault; Ulquiorra was fully aware of the fact that they were simply puppets in Aizen's endless marionette show…. But his growing hatred didn't falter from that knowledge. When he would have seen his hatred as unneeded, he embraced it with all his might as his powerful fist was brought to the first Arrancar's throat – the other petrified by his superior's sudden action.
"U-Ulquiorra-sama?"
Ulquiorra enforced his grip around the young Arrancar's throat while using the opportunity to force the defenseless Arrancar onto the nearest wall. He couldn't help but feel pleased by how any following words were converted into incoherent pleads for him to stop.
That sound must have somehow woken up Orihime, because soon after, Ulquiorra heard the rushing sound of feet in the cell behind him.
"Where is the key?" His words were dripping with hatred while his deep green eyes got colder with every second.
"Don't hurt them! They're just following orders!"
Every second the Arrancar did not react, Ulquiorra enforced his grip and even though Orihime's pleading rang in the back of his head, he kept going until the Arrancar finally motioned for him to stop. With a shaky hand the Arrancar reached for the depth of his pocket – soon enough, holding a key between his fingers.
Grapping the key from the low ranking Arrancar's fingers, Ulquiorra turned to Orihime's cell. He couldn't care less about the fact that the two Arrancar's were already running down the long hallway in fear of their lives.
If they wanted to tell their superior about the scene he had created, Aizen-sama, they were free to do so. He had no intention of hiding or to come up with an excuse for his actions… He was far too frustrated and angry to think of such things.
He opened the huge door with a soft click from the key.
Even before the door was fully opened a small figure rushed outside of the room. A figure that had changed drastically since he last saw her though the soft curves at her face, her soft auburn hair, and the hauntingly deep brown eyes where the same. She still sparked some kind of longing in the depth of his being.
Even before she managed to throw her arms around his neck, he made her feel welcome – his arms outstretched towards her while his piercing green eyes tried to drink her being in.
It felt like forever since he had last held her.
"Ulquiorra…" She muttered – her voice soft and much a like a whisper. "I'm so glad to see you…"
She placed her hands eagerly at the back of his head while her soft delicate fingers carefully touched his black hair to make herself calm down.
At first his posture was kind of stiff; even though he had invited her 'inside' with his open body language, his arms came to rest at each side of his body rather than around her in the embrace she so desperately needed.
It made her confused at first… That was, until she felt the tip of his fingers brush along the uniform that covered her stomach. She suddenly understood why he was kind of reluctant.
"It's okay." She tried to keep calm while running her fingers tenderly through his hair. The locks were soft to her touch… It was a very familiar feeling that left her whole body content and relaxed. "Everything will solve itself…"
She felt his piercing green eyes at her face in the next instance while his fingers kept caressing the area at her stomach as if they had a life of their own.
His words were calm, quick and consequent;
"No – It won't." His eyes narrowed. "I can't do anything for you right now."
Orihime gazed at him while confusion quickly overtook her whole being.
"Wha-what do you mean?" His words worried her.
"What I just said, Orihime - that I can't do anything about your current situation." His words seemed frustrated – the tone of his voice rather harsh. "Is that so hard to understand?"
She shook her head lightly against his chest. "No, no…" She insisted. "But… you don't have to do anything."
She instantly felt how his nails dug lightly into the soft fabric at her stomach – his nails scrapping against the area as if the fabric annoyed him.
His green eyes were unusually distant… a thing she rarely experienced when she was alone with him.
"I could show mercy and put the child out of the misery to come…" Ulquiorra clenched his teeth in frustration the moment Orihime stepped back in shock – away from the fingers that suddenly held a far darker message than just light caressing. "But that won't be a possibility until he or she is born…"
'Disgust' - that was the best word to describe Orihime's opinion of Ulquiorra's suggestion. No matter what kind of world the child would be brought into, she could not bring herself to even think about! such a horrible thing.
"Life is not something to take for granted." She quickly exclaimed. "The child has the right to live…"
She inhaled sharply. "It would be inhuman to take her or his life before it even started properly…"
Orihime tried to force a good amount of oxygen into her lungs, to calm herself down, but felt a harsh and cold hand at her shoulder before she even managed to do so.
The hand was firm and the grip rather powerful.
She gazed at Ulquiorra with confusion the moment she felt his body against her own – the way too familiar contours of his chest pressing against her own body until she was forced against the wall next to her cell.
She blushed madly, while turning her face to the side to avoid his eyes… the eyes that, most of all, seemed like a predators; cold, merciless and hungry.
"I'm not human, Orihime." She felt his hand at her cheek. "So to be inhuman would not be a bother."
Orihime couldn't help but think back at 'that night'… though she desperately was trying to hide it from him. After all, sometimes it felt like those piercing green eyes could read her like an open book.
"That's not what I meant…" She muttered softly – trying to ignore the feeling of his cold hand at her cheek. Somehow, he had grown a lot more affectionate. "But…"
She inhaled sharply, when she felt his hands roam at her body – the rather invading and yet pleasurable feeling of his fingertips as they dug onto her hips.
She automatically tilted her head, when his lips were introduced to her jaw – the cold yet soft feeling, filling every inch of her being as he sucked greedily at her neck.
He did absolutely nothing! To make her stay focused; but she had to keep on track… No matter how entrancing his mere presence felt.
With a firm hand at his shoulder, she pushed him a few centimeters away before she managed to talk again; "I would never be able to forgive you, if you hurt our child." Her usually soft brown eyes narrowed, while the feeling of his hands and presence weakened by every passing second. "I would never look you in the eyes again… and it doesn't matter if you felt it was the best thing to do or not."
She gazed right back at the mighty predator that was hovering over her smaller frame; piercing green against soft brown – her words never faltering.
She was kind of proud of herself; to stand up to a man like Ulquiorra….
However, she wouldn't compromise with her beliefs, and she wouldn't watch in silence if Ulquiorra's twisted mind told him to kill an unborn child to save it from the cruel fate to come.
"I believe that it'll just be stronger from the hardships…" Her voice became rather soft again as her deep brown eyes lowered to the floor – the feeling of his hands had completely left her body. "I don't want our child to suffer… But I don't want it to lose the opportunity for life either…"
She tried to look him in the eyes, while she carefully reached for his hand. Even though he didn't respond at first, she intertwined their fingers and breathed softly to show that she meant no harm. "Try to understand my way of thinking… Please."'
How could he understand that way of thinking? It was a lot to ask of him.
He could, of course, try to shove all the unneeded emotions away; ignore the future child, ignore the feeling of guilt and ignore the lust he so desperately felt towards the fragile woman beneath him.
Oh, how everything would have been a lot easier if he had just kept being the 'caretaker'…
It was a bitter sweet feeling. Because even though he felt frustrated by all the new emotions, he couldn't let go of them either.
They had become a part of him… and his relationship towards the woman known as Inoue Orihime.
"It's a lot to ask." He simply stated – his eyes never straying from hers. "I can't understand your way of thinking."
He had every intention of respecting her choice; after all, he knew that he would be a minimal part of the child's life… but even so, he felt terrible knowing what Aizen-sama would do to it.
Perhaps he wouldn't hurt him or her physically, but in the long run it would mess up the child's fragile and innocent mind…
It was funny how he, a person that formerly wanted to make his opponents feel despair before succumbing, suddenly wanted to save a child's innocence.
And an unborn child by that…
However, there was nothing more he could do. If Orihime wanted to give birth to the child, not caring about the fact that Aizen-sama had made plans with it, he couldn't oppose her.
Inhaling sharply he stepped away from her – leaving her against the wall like a meal the mighty predator desperately was trying to ignore.
He could still feel her heat radiate against his cold skin.
"I won't change your decision if that's what you want…"
He turned around, wanting to leave before he accidentally ended up showing more weakness, and When she didn't meddle with his decision, simply standing motionless against the wall he had left her at, he turned around one last time before leaving;
"Make sure that they don't touch you."
"Why didn't ya get someone else to get Hime-chan out of her cell?" Gin smirked even though the topic seemed very serious. "Ya must have known that the 4th would seek her out – so to make two low ranking Arrancars go get her seems pretty illogical to me."
Aizen shifted lightly in his chair for a couple of seconds – Gin's words not affecting the small smile that always seemed to adorn his lips.
"It doesn't change anything." Aizen simply stated. "He's free to take her as long as we're keeping a close eye on them."
Aizen knew that the 4th would seek Orihime out… That much was expected. But as long as she had been kept in her cell for 24 hours, as planned, everything would most likely play out to their advantage. The child's growth would be so advanced, that there would be nothing for them to do.
Everything was already destined.
Ulquiorra tried to calm himself down, even though every attempt to do so seemed futile.
No matter how confused, frustrated and bewildered he felt on the inside, his outside kept being stoic and seemingly unfazed.
To occupy his mind with something else, he placed the tip of his fingers at his Zanpaktou – the mighty weapon lightly vibrating with anticipation by the mere touch.
There was no turning back anymore…
Orihime stood at the cold wall for a long time – her mind completely blank from the earlier conversation with Ulquiorra.
She was confused… at a loss… and she was beginning to doubt her decision just a bit.
Inhaling softly, she placed her arms protectively around her stomach, while slowly closing her deep brown eyes. She remembered his touch… His scent… His everything…
And something had been wrong - a certain something had been added to his waist…
She was oddly enough disappointed that the Zanpaktou had returned to his side. Not because she saw anything wrong in him carrying a weapon, she understood Arrancar's need to be armed, but she also knew that it was a symbol of his 'treachery' towards Soul Society.
They had believed in his sincerity… that he really wanted to change and start a new…
And that trust had been broken.
She just hoped that he would never need that weapon… that it would forever hang at his waist without ever being drawn…
Oh how she hoped that he would forget about bloodshed.
"Orihime."
She turned immediately when she heard the familiar voice - a voice that she hadn't heard for long, but even so recognized immediately.
The slick, friendly and even so dangerously low voice that seemed like it could corrupt her with no effort what so ever.
She swallowed hard; fixing her eyes at the person just meters from her.
When did he…?
His presence alone was ominous as she managed to speak the necessary words;
"Ai-Aizen-sama?"
The man smiled by the sound of his name – his hand outstretched towards the smaller female that seemed to quiver by every step he took towards her.
"It's time."
A/N: I hope all of you enjoyed reading this. Updates will depend on my creativity and inspiration xD R&R! ^^