This is a shortish chapter, but a very important one. Hime does something unexpected, but something that needs a lot of guts. I sincerely thank you all for the love and support you all have shown me all this while.

I don't have much to say for this chapter, I'll let the high emotions do the talking.

I am on a creative high and have started on another Ulquihime fanfic "I see you." Little horror, supernatural and of course romance. I take the opportunity to ask you all to take a peek at that one too. Link .net/s/7184863/1/I_see_you

Please read and review both. Thanks in advance.

Chapter 20- Three Espadas

Almost as soon as the two entered Las Noches, Haruki came running to them with Nnoitra tagging along.

"Olihime!" the child screamed happily, "Ballagan is back."

"Is he?" Orihime said happily "That's wonderful news. Let's go meet him."

The four of them walked over to the Espada quarters where Barragan was currently housed. Every Espada with the exception of Starrk, Harribel and Grimmjow were currently with Barragan, welcoming him back.

Orihime waited for his comrades to finish their warm welcomes before she spoke.

"Welcome back Barragan." she said with a warm smile. "Haruki, won't you welcome him as well?"

"Welcome bak Ballagan." Haruki said with an uncharacteristic shyness.

"What happened to you?" Nnoitra asked perplexed.

"There are too many people around." Orihime said laughing. "She'll relax soon enough."

Sure enough, Haruki relaxed after a while and was busy chatting with Barragan who was trying to answer as many of her questions as he could, without exerting himself. After a little while, Szayel decided to softly interrupt Haruki.

"Miss Souske," He said gently, "I know you have a lot of things to ask Barragan, but you see, he is not well and needs to sleep. So can we let him go to sleep now? You can ask a few more questions tomorrow."

Haruki didn't look too pleased with it, but agreed nevertheless. As they were walking out of the Espada quarters, Grimmjow was walking in. Ulquiorra indicated that all of them walk on as he called out.

"Sexta."

"Emo King. What's up?"

"I need to talk to you about something very important. Come to the room after dinner."

Grimmjow frowned and nodded.

Orihime was pacing nervously in her room. Her heart was thudding so loudly, she thought everyone in Las Noches could hear it. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, a knock sounded on her door. She stopped, her face patted her back, telling her to calm down and opened the door. Orihime settled on the bed, clutching the pillow, scared of what was about to happen.

"What's so urgent Emo King?"

"You might want to sit down for this."

"I really don't like your tone. Nor do I like how the chick is looking. What's the matter?"

"Sit down, really."

"Fine. Sitting down but you really are giving me the creeps. What's up?"

Once Grimmjow sat, Ulquiorra weighed his words carefully.

"Grimmjow, where do you draw a line?"

"On a paper?" Grimmjow said, clueless.

"No, no. That's not what I mean. I meant morally. What would be morally unacceptable to you?"

"Jeez, that's a tough one. I am absolutely against slavery, human trafficking, racism, honor killings to name a few. Why?"

"How about pedophilia?"

"What? That's disgusting. It goes without saying I am absolutely against child abuse of any kind. But seriously, why are we having this conversation?"

Orihime clutched her pillow tightly, bracing herself for Ulquiorra's next statement.

"Then how will you react if I tell you Aizen Souske is a pedophile?"

His statement was met with stunned silence on Grimmjow's part. The response came from a totally unexpected place. The door to the room flew open and Nnoitra stormed in, his face livid.

"Ulquiorra Schiffer!" Nnoitra screamed, "That's a fucking serious allegation."

"Have you ever known Ulquiorra to make tall claims Nnoitra? And what are you doing here anyway?"

"I overheard this piece of shit telling you to meet him after dinner. I was curious as hell."

"So you eavesdropped." Grimmjow stated.

"Good thing I did too. How else would I have known this man was building up such a big cock and bull story?"

"HE ISN'T LYING!" Orihime screamed. "You want proof Nnoitra Jiruga, I'll give it to you. All I have to do is strip. You'll find his bite marks all over me. Places where he's cut me. Places where he has hurt me so that I feed to his fantasies."

The three Espadas stood staring at her as she started to unbutton her shirt. Ulquiorra was the first to react.

"Stop!" Ulquiorra said and held her hands. "I believe you."

"I know you do. But I see doubt in Nnoitra's eyes. Grimmjow doesn't know what to believe." She freed her hands from his grasp and turned to face the two. "Do you really think I am fabricating it? I have been forced to be his sex toy for ten years. He took my virginity from me before I even knew what it meant. Believe me, I am not lying."

"What do you want from us?" Grimmjow asked finally.

"As of now, all I ask of you is to believe me." Orihime said.

"I believe you." Grimmjow said.

Nnoitra didn't reply. Wordlessly Orihime lifted up her shirt to show Nnoitra her back. It was covered with many scars in various stages of healing. The tall, lanky Espada walked up to her and pulled her shirt down. Ulquiorra moved to her and hugged her as she cried onto his shoulders.

"What do you want me to do?" Nnoitra said, not meeting her eyes.

"We have reasons to believe that he'll be going for Haruki next." Ulquiorra said.

"What?" both of them chorused.

"Nnoitra, where is Haruki now?" Orihime asked.

"She's with Aaroniero." He replied. "I asked him to take over my duties for about an hour."

"So we have about an hour to formulate a plan to stop him from going to Haruki?" Grimmjow said.

Nnoitra let out a string of abuses in multiple languages.

"Actually, I already have a rudimentary plan in my mind. It'll be all the more good if Nnoitra here is a part of it. We can pull it off flawlessly."

"Nnoitra, you really are in, aren't you?" Grimmjow asked

"Hell yes, Sexta. I'll turn a blind eye to a lot of shit but after having seen Miss Inoue's back here, I can't turn a blind eye to it. Especially if little Miss Souske is in danger of going through that. Fuck! I do not like assholes who hurt kids."

"Thank you Nnoitra, Grimmjow." Orihime said, haltingly.

The three men sat around the table as Ulquiorra filled them in on his plan, with Grimmjow and Nnoitra occasionally giving their inputs.

Orihime sat hunched on her bed, only partially listening to what the three of them were talking about. Her concentration was on what she had just done. For ten years she had kept quiet and borne the physical and sexual abuse from the man. For the first time, she had dared to open her mouth. She had had enough of bearing it with silence, she wanted to break free. She wanted to put a stop to her pain and protect her sister. Ulquiorra had come up with a plan which gave her a glimmer of hope and for that he needed Grimmjow's support. When Nnoitra had barged in, calling Ulquiorra a liar, something in her snapped. She hadn't borne ten years of pain for people to disbelieve her when she finally broke her silence. She didn't even know where she had gotten her strength from, but if Ulquiorra hadn't stopped her, she would have actually stripped, shown them what this man actually did to her. She had finally seen it in Nnoitra's eyes, he believed her. He was going to help.

"Sexta," Nnoitra asked seriously, "how long will it take to finish the wiring?"

"I have two days before he comes back, right? So I'll get it done in one and a half days. You think you can do your part?"

"Fuck yeah!"

The the Espadas nodded and started to leave. Nnoitra had almost reached to the door when he thought something and paused. He looked at Orihime and said,

"You know, I always thought, that when I meet an abuse victim, I'll support them. I won't victimize the victim. But today, I was on the verge of doing exactly that and I am fucking ashamed of myself."

Orihime nodded, knowing that it was his apology. Still unable to meet her eyes, Nnoitra walked away.

Grimmjow stood with his hands in his pockets, staring at the floor. Once Nnoitra left, he asked aloud,

"Can we really trust him?"

"I trust him. He's a hot headed and temperamental, but he's trustworthy." Ulquiorra said.

"Hmmm. Orihime, I..I really don't know what to tell you because nothing I say will really suffice. But trust me, I never doubted you. I just hope I can help Ulquiorra to put an end to your personal hell."

Orihime nodded fighting the tears that were spilling out.

"Take care of her." Grimmjow told Ulquiorra and walked away.

The Fourth Espada waited till the door was closed behind Grimmjow then walked up to her and hugged her tightly.

"Are you alright?" he asked gently.

"Yes. Surprisingly, I am very calm. I am willing to anything now, anything that will ensure a safe and happy future for Haruki and me. I just want this whole nightmare to end once and for all."

"If this plan works, it might just be the end of Aizen Souske."

"Ulquiorra, thank you for being my strength. I couldn't have done what I did if you weren't around."

"I'll be always around, for as long as you want me to be around."

"Forever?" She asked with moist eyes.

"If that's what you want." he replied.