Unbr0ken: :D

Alexia: That's a creepy way to greet the readers…

Grimmjow: -.- He's planning something, I can feel it.

Unbr0ken: Hey Grimmjow, what's two plus two?

Grimmjow: Um…four?

Unbr0ken: No ^_^ it's twenty-two, dummy.

Alexia: T_T Are you kidding me?

Unbr0ken: How about one plus one?

Grimmjow: ._. Eleven.

Unbr0ken: Woooow (smirk) Are you okay? It's obvious the answer's two, Grimm.

Grimmjow: (Takes paper) Hey, is this your math homework?

Unbr0ken: Yeah, wh—NO DON'T RIP IT!

Grimmjow: (grins angrily) I know how to add, alright?

Unbr0ken: T-T I don't like it when you're mean to me…

Alexia: Woah, you're doing calculus?

Unbr0ken: Yeah ._. it's a long, long, long, long, long—

Alexia: T_T We get it.

Unbr0ken: —long, long process…I'm actually having some trouble with it.

Grimmjow: Want me to help you with it?

Unbr0ken: YES THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Alexia: Yeah, you need help in more ways than one -.-'

SEPTEMBER ELEVENTH, PART TWO

Three words.

Best. Birthday. Ever.

So far.

Okay, so that technically made it five (doesn't really matter, does it?). Things had gone more smoothly than I'd expected. The trip to Tokyo was a bit shorter than I had wanted it to be, but I didn't want to keep Ulquiorra there too long, especially with he expression he was wearing. He might've thought he was hiding it, but I could see how impatient he was getting of being in a large crowd and bustling along.

Personally, I loved cities more than rural areas—but that might've been because of all the horror movies I'd seen that involved corn fields, abandoned houses and people who couldn't get help on time. Just thinking of some of them sent chills up my spine and images from those movies.

Ulquiorra brought me back to the present when he laid a hand on my shoulder. "What are you thinking of?"

"Ah." I thought about it for a second. "My weaknesses. They're not major, more like all the small things."

"Do you remember the way back?" he asked. I didn't get why he was so intent on keeping our path. It wasn't like we were going to actually get lost. Like I'd said some minutes ago, we'd just go back to Hueco Mundo if we couldn't find our way back.

"I remember."

"How, exactly? By putting these ribbons around the trees?" he indicated the white ribbons I'd been tying around every ten or fifteen trees we passed. The woods around here were more dense than I'd imagined. Not paying attention to where I was walking, I tripped over the roots of a tree. "You seem so distracted by one of your faults that you are creating other ones."

"Yeah, yeah," I rubbed my head which had bumped into the tree's trunk. "How do you like the scenery?"

Ulquiorra looked up at the trees. They weren't that tall, maybe ten or fifteen feet, but their height didn't overshadow the varying colors of the fall leaves. Orange, red, brown, yellow, they all seemed to substitute the sky like the sunset.

"Well?" I asked again.

"It is fine," he answered, completely unenthusiastic.

"You can't just say that it's 'fine.'"

"I have just done so."

"I know, but…ok, what exactly do you find 'fine' about this place?"

He remained silent, probably contemplating over what he could say. I was glad to see that he was acting a bit loose today, which I was suspecting he could because of the marioneta; it must have been masking the other person's presence so that Ulquiorra could have complete control.

Ulquiorra suddenly neared me and put a hand on the tree I was leaning on, trapping me. My eyes widened as his intent eyes focused on me. What's going on!? He used his other hand to put a finger to his lips, signaling for me to be quiet. What the hell!?

"U-ulquiorra…what are…"

"Did I not tell you to be quiet?"

What!?

"Don't move," he whispered. "When I advise you to, move slowly."

I waited while he stopped staring at me and instead focused on something next to me.

"There is some sort of insect near your head."

WHAT!?

He immediately saw my tension and moved in closer to try and make me still. As if; that only made me want to run away and hide under a hole. "G-get it away from me!" I whispered, screwing my eyes shut.

I could hear his hand moving next to my head. Is he grabbing it with his bare hand? "It's gone."

Sighing in relief, I slowly looked up at him. Already he'd gotten away from me and all traces of that intense stare he'd given me were gone. In a way I almost felt a longing for that look. It almost seemed as if he'd needed me by his side. Very funny.

I remembered the way I'd hid my face as much as I possibly could when we'd gone to the Tokyo tower and I'd laced his hand with mine. The only way I could motivate myself to do it was thinking/telling myself that he wouldn't know what it meant and he'd probably dismiss my reason in a second. It was a pathetic thing to do, really, when you saw the logic behind it.

"Woman?"

I snapped out of my thoughts. "It's Alexia, remember?"

"…," He held out his fisted hand and my first reaction was to jump away (if my assumption that he'd grabbed the insect was true). Then his fist slowly unfolded to reveal…a butterfly?

"Are you kidding me? A butterfly?"

"Is that what they are called?" Ulquiorra responded, the yellow-winged creature flying out of his hands and back into the trees. "It seemed harmless, I do not understand why you were afraid of it."

"I thought it was something else," I mumbled and felt my ears heat up from embarrassment. "I hate insects, but butterflies are one of the very few that I'm okay with."

"I see." Ulquiorra stared at his hand and I got curious. Holding his palm up on top of mine, I saw the small scales from the butterfly's wings in his palm.

"How did it feel to grab a butterfly?" I asked.

"I did not feel anything in particular, why should I?"

Could've guessed. "I don't know, don't you ever think about how something affects you?"

"It does not affect me, which is the reason for my not thinking of it."

"…Ah."

"Have you done this before?" asked Ulquiorra. "Grabbing an insect."

"Only butterflies," I laughed nervously, remembering the time when I'd gone with the rest of my family to hunt them. I wouldn't have called it a hunt since it wasn't like the butterflies were difficult to catch. "When I was a lot younger, maybe seven or eight, I went with my family to this forest reserve close to our house. It was strange: I don't remember all of it, but there were tons of them—butterflies, I mean. I couldn't catch any; right until the end, I only caught one."

"What did you do with it?" Ulquiorra's curiosity got the best of him.

"I got it and held it close to me," I said, symbolizing it by pressing my hands over my chest. "When I held my hands out to look at the butterfly I'd caught, I saw that it wasn't trying to fly away. At first I was happy, but it was a matter of time until I realized that I'd crushed its wings when I'd grabbed it," a small, sad smile came to my face. "I took it home with me, tried to find a way to fix its wings so it could fly again, but I couldn't. It died a while later."

"You killed it, then?"

"You're making it seem worse than it actually is," I scoffed. "But technically, I did. I guess it just goes to say that if I hold onto something dear and keep it too close I'll just end up hurting it." My explanation almost had a double meaning, as if I was making a subconscious connection to my bonds with other people, especially with what had happened a week ago.

"Alexia."

I snapped out of my thoughts. "Well, it's all in the past," I said while nearing a tree, latching onto one of the lower branches and hoisting myself up. My foot slipped and I almost fell when I glanced at Ulquiorra; he had his hands in his pockets and was staring at something in the distance. Regaining my foot on the tree, I continued to climb until I felt I was high enough into the branches. Then I changed course and scooted onto a large branch to my left. It had been a long time since I'd done something like this; I was officially nineteen, after all.

Huffing out a small laugh, I sat on the branch and pulled another one in front of me to conceal my form. It had enough leaves to cover me from view; a good thing because of the darker colors I was wearing.

"Alexia?" he called out. I couldn't see him, which was probably the case for him as well.

"Here," I answered hastily in a hushed voice. I heard his feet crunching over the fallen leaves, coming closer.

"Why are you hiding?"

"It's fun."

"Not if I have already found you."

It didn't take long for me to get the message. "Well, I guess not." Hanging my legs over the top of the branch, I zippered up my hoodie and let myself hang, the world now upside down.

"What are you doing?"

"Seeing the world from a different perspective," I replied, my voice slightly different.

"Does it actually affect how you perceive the world?"

"No," I started to laugh. "All it does is make all the blood in your body rush to your head."

"You tend to do that without having to hang yourself upside down."

My knees went weak for a fraction of a second and I felt myself falling, my heart skipping a beat (from almost falling, not what he'd said…)

"Are you alright?" Ulquiorra asked.

"…I think so…"

"What is concerning you?"

"It's just…how am I supposed to get down from here?"

"…"

"Fuck," I groaned, trying to swing back up but nearly falling again. "Can you…help me?"

He suddenly appeared at eye level with me. "How?"

"Uh…," I tried to stay calm. "Well, you can, uh…catch me?"

Without warning, Ulquiorra poked at my ribs, making me give out a small laugh—before realizing I was falling.

Fucking shit!

He grabbed me by my torso as I fell and I instinctively wrapped my arms around his. We ended up falling to the floor together in complete silence.

"…"

"Ulquiorra?"

"Get off of me, woman," he said coldly, nearly pushing me off of him. "Your antics are wasting your time."

"Well, geez, don't get so worked up about it. If I waste my time it'll be my loss. Don't worry about it."

"I am not worried."

An awkward silence followed. Fiddling with the dead leaves around me, I laid down and stared at the tree's branches. Although many leaves were on the ground, there were still plenty in the trees. They filtered the amount of sunlight shining through and made a mosaic of light and color as a substitute for the sky.

"Let us go, woman," Ulquiorra said, already standing and waiting for me to get up.

"Go where?"

"Wherever deems interesting to you, woman."

"Didn't I tell you to call me Alexia?" I reminded him. "And I don't really know where to go from here."

I heard a rustle of leaves in the distance and my heart started to beat faster. Stupid, weak heart. "You heard that as well?"

"Y-yeah…," I got up hesitantly and went to Ulquiorra's side. Another rustle, closer this time. "Who's there?"

"Woman."

My mind was intent on trying to block the sound of the footsteps I heard.

"Alexia."

The sound was right behind me now.

"Alexia. Open your eyes."

They're closed? Slowly opening them, I was greeted by the emerald of Ulquiorra's eyes. They still couldn't stop me from hearing another step and I flinched. "S-stop…hiding…"

This time, instead of footsteps, I heard a soft sniffle and a hiccup. This only frightened me further. "Alexia, it—"

"Don't come any closer!"

"Hic!" it was a high-pitched cross between a sob and a hiccup.

"Alexia, it is only a child."

Wait. What?

"A kid?" I said incredulously. Sure enough, a small girl (about six or seven) was sobbing quietly, her back to us as if she was trying to hide herself.

I am not a very good children-sociable person. Just keep this in mind.

"Hey, what are you doing out here?" I asked the girl, crouching down next to her and putting a hand on her shoulder; she immediately tensed up and her head snapped towards me.

"No, I didn't do it!" she murmured as if in a trance. "It was an accident!"

This girl was freaking me out, but I had to do something. "Come on, are you lost? We'll help you get back to your guardians. Right, Ulquiorra?"

"…"

"Ulquiorra?"

"…We will assist you," he finally said, hesitant. "Where do you belong?"

"Ulquiorra, that doesn't necessarily help her much."

"W-who…are you?" the girl asked, her hazel eyes shimmering with tears.

"Your friends," I said happily, but I was starting to get impatient. There was no progress being made so far, unless you counted making contact with a somewhat psychopathic seven-year-old. "Please tell us what happened, we can help you."

If my aunt hadn't taught me how to read people I'd probably be in a loss right now. She'd studied forensic psychology, and consulted people every day. Sometimes she'd tell me about the look in their eyes, the way they stared at the air as if they were expecting something to appear—something to help them.

"Listen, Alexia," she said one day. It was mid-February; we were drinking hot chocolate and watching a Korean drama—a typical Thursday night. "When you meet someone, don't look at anything but their eyes."

"Why are you saying this all of a sudden?" I asked.

"People are one of two things; independent or dependent. Manipulative or submissive. Sort of like science. You have to look at people and analyze their character before they can do the same to you. Like right now, you're thinking that this is a pointless lecture."

"…It sort of is…"

"But you should keep it in mind either way," she replied. "So, what am I thinking right now?"

I faced her and looked her in the eyes for a while. For me, it didn't exactly feel like we were going anywhere. "Uh…"

"Concentrate!" she scolded, turning off the television.

"Hey, Bae was about to tell Feung that—"

"Con-cen-trate," she repeated in syllables. Sighing, I tried again.

"You're worried."

"And?"

"You…think that I'm not concentrating enough," I deadpanned. "And now you're going to hit me over the head with that marshmallow in your hand…"

She laughed out loud. "Well, I was going to if you got it wrong; it seems you're getting the hang of it, though." We spent the rest of the day learning facial expressions and their meanings, and I continued to study it on my own afterwards.

Although this girl seemed on the brink of a mental breakdown, her eyes displayed something completely contrary to her character—hope. 'Independent or dependent. Manipulative or submissive.' She was definitely dependent, relying on others to lead her. It wasn't as if I could just leave her here, either.

"Alright," I started firmly and made her stand. She had shiny auburn hair put in a sloppy ponytail. "If you want to stay out here and never get out then you can remain silent and not tell us what's going on; but if you want us to help you get back to your family you need to start talking."

She stared at me, then looked away and rubbed her red eyes. Sparing a glance at Ulquiorra, she hesitated before answering. "I…got lost and…no one is here…"

"We are here," Ulquiorra suddenly took her hand and led her away before I could object. I stayed in place, on shock of what he'd just done.

"Ulquio…"

The scene was almost impossible to imagine, yet it was undoubtedly happening before my eyes. The little girl had hugged Ulquiorra's left leg, bawling into it and hanging on to him like he was the only one in the world left. His eyes were wide for a few moments (instead of half a second, like he usually did), then they unexpectedly softened and he put a hand on her head, comforting her.

"Th…thank you…," she whimpered.

"You are welcome," he answered curtly. As quickly as he'd let his emotions show, he masked them once again by stepping away from the girl and walking off. What she didn't know that she was supposed to follow him; instead she saw the whole thing as him abandoning her. She started to cry again.

"Hey, you're making it seem like you're leaving her by herself," I warned.

"She knows that you are there. You monitor her, woman. I shall lead the way."

I scoffed. "It's Alexia." Not waiting for him to correct himself, I lifted the girl (who was now back to square one, hiding and sobbing) onto my shoulders and ran off. I passed Ulquiorra and came to the first white ribbon, then untied it and kept going. Now he has to run, I inwardly smirked.

The girl's small giggle did not go unnoticed by me. "Having fun?" I asked.

"…mm."

"Don't pretend that I didn't hear you laugh," I let out a chuckle of my own and slowed my pace to readjust her on my shoulders. Her heart was beating frantically, causing me to wonder what was making her so excited. Or afraid.

"That weird guy's gone," she suddenly chimed.

"You mean Ulquiorra?" I said, somewhat annoyed at her reference to him.

"Yes, him."

"I'm sure he's…right behind us…"

He wasn't.

"Well isn't that just great," I said to myself. Taking a deep breath, I called out to him but got no reply. Soon the girl joined me; her attempts were in vain as well.

"Ulquioraaaa!" she screeched, making me sigh. It was bad enough that she was screaming, let alone right next to my ear.

"Hey, you can quiet down now," I said calmly. She didn't listen and continued to yell at the top of her lungs. "Hey, I said its okay."

"ULQUIORRA!"

"Would you please—"

"UL-QUI-ORRAA!"

"Calm down already!" I yelled back (not as loud, of course), then muttered an apology. "Just—please calm yourself."

She didn't answer. For a few seconds I dreaded at the thought that I'd made her recoil back into her shell.

"Helloo?"

"I think I see him," she murmured. "Over there."

The direction she pointed to was opposite of where the white ribbons I'd tied were going. Don't tell me he actually went that way…On cue, the cellphone in my hoodie's pocket vibrated and I immediately unlocked it, seeing the main screen.

New Text From:

Ulquiorra Schiffer

I pressed read and the message came up.

'I am waiting. What is prolonging your arrival, woman?'

Scoffing, I texted back, telling the girl to hang on to my shoulders as I did so. I lost sight of you.

'I am already out. Make haste, woman.'

It's Alexia, I finished before setting off again, untying the ribbons and even letting the girl undo some. Before long we were clear of the area; the pebbled sidewalk now our path.

"Where is he?" I said. "He said that he was alrea—" I nearly jumped out of my skin (or marioneta, I guess that was the technical term). "Jesus, don't just pop up out of nowhere like that!"

He didn't even glance at me as he lifted the girl off of my shoulders, a knowing look on his face. I asked him if he'd seen anything on his way out. "I asked a few other humans in the area if they'd noticed a small girl missing. Apparently she is the daughter of a family that owns something called a restaurant."

"Your family owns a restaurant?" I asked the girl. She nodded meekly. "What's your name?"

"Makoto," she whispered.

"Okay: how did you get in the forest in the first place, Makoto?"

"Well…," she blinked a few times and took a deep breath, a sign that she wanted to cry. Sitting on the ground and crossing my legs, I let her sit in my lap. It was the least I could do. "I got a little puppy for my birthday. It was so small and…I lost it and I don't know where it went…then I went out here to find it and a car came at the same time the puppy was c-crossing the s-street…"

"Oh."

"Mommy said that things are dead when they don't breathe," she sobbed. "The puppy wasn't moving…daddy sometimes goes to where the dead people are put, in the ground. They dig up a hole and put them in. So…I took the puppy and I put it in the ground—next to my favorite tree."

Her maturity was surprising to me. She couldn't have been older than seven, yet she understood the concept of death more easily than other children at her age usually would. But now wasn't the time to have thought of that. She needed to get back to her parents regardless of what happened. Hugging her, I told her that nothing that had happened was her fault.

"A woman I contacted is the mother of this girl," Ulquiorra informed. "She will arrive in due time."

"Her mother? You found her?" I asked. "What was she like?"

"Similar in appearance to this girl, and she was in hysterics when I told her of her daughter's whereabouts."

"M-mommy's coming here?" Makoto pushed herself out of my embrace and stared wide-eyed at Ulquiorra. We all turned toward the sound of a car's engine, coming towards us. It came to an abrupt stop in front of us and a woman who looked no older than thirty nearly jumped out of the car. Makoto gasped and ran towards her.

"Makoto!" the mother cried, crushing her to her body. They were both crying. They love each other so much…I wonder if mom was ever like this with me…

"Alexia," Ulquiorra whispered. "The woman is speaking to you."

"E-excuse me," said person sniffled a bit and smiled, then bowed to us. "Thank you so much, how did you find her?"

"Well, she was in the forest, or woods, and we just sort of saw her," I said timidly. I didn't do well with people thanking me, especially with me not exactly having the choice of leaving the poor girl there (which would be inhumane, mind you).

"She told me that she was going with her dog and she didn't come back; it's been a day since that happened." The mother composed herself as Makoto continued to cry, hanging onto the hem of her mother's skirt. "I can't tell you how happy I am right now."

"Don't worry about it, er…," I started.

"Most people call me Fujika-san, but you can just refer to me as Aka-san," she replied. "After all, you two have done a favor we never could have expected from anyone."

"It's alright, really," I answered. "It isn't like I wasn't going to help her." All this flattery is starting to get to me, and not in a good way, I thought with dread.

"Is there a way we can thank you, at all?"

"Oh no, it's alright. You don't have to—"

"Tell you what," she smiled brightly. "I own a restaurant that's close by. I'd be glad to have you dine with us. It'll be on the house; there aren't many people who go there and you two seem to like laid back places, am I right?"

Although I preferred more populated places…how could I say no to free Japanese cuisine?

My stomach agreed, giving a low growl that made me blush. "Well…there's your answer." She laughed and led me to her car, where a man I assumed was her husband was waiting. It was a wonder that he hadn't ran to his daughter as well, he had a grin that somewhat reminded me of Grimmjow's maniac-mode one.

"You're not from here, are you?" Aka asked as we drove off.

"We live in…uh…," I tried to come up with an answer that wouldn't arise other questions. "We're from—"

"Hueco Mundo."

We all turned towards the speaker: Ulquiorra. Trying to disguise my horror, he still saw through my mask and sent a questioning look.

"Where exactly is that?" Aka asked him.

"In—"

"Spain!" I shouted, startling almost everyone. "We're from an extremely small town in Spain! If you looked us up in the web you probably wouldn't find us! Ahahahahaha!"

"You guys know how to speak Spanish, then?" her husband inquired as he made a left turn. "I think Spanish is a very romantic language."

"Yeah." Now this I could do. As soon as they both turned away I snapped my head towards Ulquiorra again, speaking in a hushed whisper. "They don't know anything about that place!"

"What do they know of their future after death?" he replied, not having to whisper because of his smooth, low tone of voice. Makoto giggled, sitting in the middle of us.

"It's a long story that I'm not going to tell you about right now," I gave him a look. He seemed comfortable with being in a car (a.k.a. he wasn't getting sick), looking out the window lazily. We saw the snow-capped mountain rising over the trees. "Did I ever tell you what that landmark is?" I asked.

"You did not tell me, but it is simple to determine what it is."

Oh? "So you know what that is?"

"Yes. A mountain."

I facepalmed. "Clearly. What I meant was if you knew what this mountain's specific name was?"

"No."

"It's called Mount Fuji," I explained. "It's actually a volcano, but it hasn't really had any major eruptions lately."

"I see," he said boredly. I guess it wasn't that interesting to him, seeing as how he had his white sands, dark sky and reversed crescent moon.

"Alright, here we are!" Aka said cheerfully, hopping out of the car and opening the doors for us. "I put the security locks because this little one loves to open doors too much. And I hope you like our food, I know it doesn't look like much on the outside but if anything about this place is worthy of you two it's the food, you know?" She laughed nervously as she noticed the way she was rambling.

The layout of the place was a cross between Urahara's stop and Byakuya's house; a small pond was to the left of the entrance, several lily pads with cherry blossom flowers floating on them.

"We should put the candles out soon," Aka told her husband. I finally got a good look at him.

His hair looked silky and long, put into a lazy ponytail at his neck; the color of his hair was white, so much that I assumed he'd bleached it too many times to count. He had electrifying blue eyes, more so than Grimmjow. His skin was slightly tanned and he smiled warmly at me, dimples appearing.

"Nice to meet you, too," he chuckled and came up to me, holding out his hand. I recovered after a few moments and smiled as well, shaking his hand firmly to not give away the fact that I almost felt intimidated by him. Looking into his eyes, I analyzed what I could. Straightforward, a bit reckless, mischievous…he's hiding something… "You can call me Naoro."

"Let's go inside, shall we?" Aka interrupted my thoughts and I nodded before following, taking Ulquiorra's hand again. I tried to ignore the beating of my heart, slightly quicker than before. Makoto and the man followed after us. "We have a private room here, how about all of us eat together?"

"Yeah, all of us!" Makoto ran between us and jumped up and down excitedly. I couldn't help but laugh at her eagerness.

"Let's. I'll start up with the rest of the cooks." Naoro's tone of voice turned sarcastic. "I'm sure they're busy, but we can get some extra work out of them."

"Come on," I pulled Ulquiorra along and we went to a low, round table. We sat in a seiza position, small cushions keeping us comfortable. The whole room felt cozy, as if we were just gathering at a friends house. I guess it would be alright to consider us friends, but we hadn't even gotten to know each other that well, not to mention the fact that we'd met each other about ten minutes ago.

"How long have you two been here?" Aka asked as she set out the eating utensils: chopsticks. I glanced at Ulquiorra, who was glaring at his as if they were his long-lost nemesis. "Ah, do you want forks or knives instead?"

"Do you have any?" Ulquiorra questioned. She sweat dropped before answering.

"…No. I'm sorry."

"I'll teach him how to use them," I reassured her. "He just doesn't like to adapt to new cultures, but the situation isn't hopeless."

Her spirits seemed at least a little lifted.

As she left, I turned to Ulquiorra and sighed. He blinked. Looks like he doesn't get the message.

"Listen, Ulquiorra," I said, my tone of voice turning into one of lecturing, "you can't just bother people with this kind of stuff."

"Why not?" he leaned on one shoulder, staring at me with curiosity.

"These people are trying to make us comfortable and you're just pointing out their flaws. Now: if you'd learned how to use these—" I picked up my chopsticks, "—we wouldn't be having this problem. So now I'm going to teach you before you can cause any more inconveniences."

"…"

"Don't look at me like that," I scolded, then proceeded to take his chopsticks and position them in his right hand. "There. Now, try to move them."

They immediately fell out of his hand. Back to step one.

We were there for about five minutes, just making sure he had a good grip on them. Then we took another ten to get him used to moving them. It had been a bit difficult for me to get the hang of it, too—that is, until I'd seen all the food I could eat with them. Finally, he'd become able enough that he wouldn't drop the chopsticks or food that he picked them up with.

Lucky for us. The food came rushing in, several different dishes with just enough (if not more) food for all five of us. Makoto was the first to rush in, followed by Naoro and Aka.

Barely noticing it now, I saw that there was an inner circle that rotated, easily distributing the food amongst us. I found myself sitting next to Ulquiorra and Aka. Ulquiorra was next to Naoro and Makoto was between her parents.

"Now, let's enjoy this to the fullest!" Aka stated.

"Itakadimasu!" Makoto and Naoro said at the same time. We all looked pretty hungry. Except for Ulquiorra. It seemed he took my words to mind, though, and gave a small nod of agreement.

So much food.

I took small portions of everything, wanting to savor it all. Rice came first; there was more than enough of that. Vegetables and some fruits, fish, sushi. While I nibbled happily, I saw that Ulquiorra only had rice and one small piece of meat. "Ulquiorra, are you alright?"

"Yes."

Scoffing, I took a small bowl and poured in some of the soup. The flavorful smell should've caught his attention but he didn't even glance this way. Sacrifices must be made.

"Here, there's a spoon off to the side here that you can use if you get tired of using the chopsticks. It's only for the soup, though." While I left him to choose what he wanted to do, I got my own bowl and watched him out of the corner of my eyes. He was holding the bowl up cautiously as if something was going to jump out of it.

"So, how long have you two been together?" Naoro suddenly asked.

God, I nearly spurted out the broth. "W-what?"

He smirked. "Ah, so it's not like that."

"We have known each other for approximately one month," Ulquiorra informed them. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason," he flashed a smile that for some reason reminded me of Aizen's. "Akatora and I have been together ever since—"

"Don't tell me you're going to tell them about that!" Aka(tora?) exclaimed, her face turning red. Whatever he was speaking of must have been extremely embarrassing for her.

"But it was really cute when you got so scared over that little spider…"

"Quiet, you!"

"That's right! Mommy's really scared of spiders!" Makoto put in her two cents. "So when Daddy saved her she loved Daddy!"

"That's basically the summary," Aka said hastily, wanting to change the subject. "How much longer are you two going to stay here?"

"We are departing today," Ulquiorra responded.

"Oh? That's too bad."

"Do you intend to leave this late? Night is nearing; I think it would be best to stay the night and leave in the morning so you can be well rested," Naoro suggested. My mind instantly screamed in protest.

Ulquiorra apparently thought the same. "We have already scheduled our parting, although it is considerate of you to offer a room."

We talked for another hour or so—strange considering that I wasn't exactly talented at keeping up conversation. But Akatora and Naoro had plenty to ask. Eventually, though, we somehow got to an ending point and left. Aka pulled me aside before I could actually say a farewell.

"So you two had fun, right?" she asked seriously. It was strange considering that a question like that would usually be said casually, in a happy manner. "Nothing seemed…strange, to you?"

"…No, why?" I answered, intrigued.

"Well…it's just that Naoro is what you would call a natural flirt," she blushed a bit. "Without realizing it, he could say suggestive things to you but just be doing it out of causality."

Oh.

"I wouldn't say that he was flirting, per say…," I struggled to find the right words. Glancing at Ulquiorra, I saw him conversing with Naoro. He looked like a normal human, not an arrancar in a faux body. "But I guess he does make himself noticeable, to put it generally."

"Ah, that's good to hear," she smiled before bowing to me once again. "Maybe you'll come back another time?"

"I'll see what I can do," I agreed. She asked for permission to hug me and I instead gave her an awkward one. Makoto nearly tackled me in a mini-bear hug and Naoro only shook my hand again, nodding at Ulquiorra with a genuine smile.

"They almost seemed too perfect a family," I told Ulquiorra once we were out of sight. We kept walking down a peaceful sidewalk, several small stores lining one side of the street. "What do you think?"

"I do not know."

"Why not?"

"I do not know the experience of having a family, therefore I cannot opinion on their customs."

"I don't see what's wrong with having something to say about a certain topic and not experiencing it yourself," I countered. "After all, you have the logic to analyze what other people are like about that topic."

"…I agree," he said after a few moments. We stopped in front of another store, the last one at the end of the block. I heard him saying something about how that family seemed to be putting up and act (which I couldn't disagree with) but most of my attention was on that store; the windows were covered, not letting me getting a peek of what was inside. Guess that was the point, tempting you to find out what was inside.

Some things were too tempting.

"Another shop, wo—Alexia?" he corrected himself. I could see him getting ready to lean on the wall and wait for me, but I urged him to come with me. Surprisingly, he didn't object.

"It's so nice to see some customers," a elderly man's voice greeted us as the bells above the door rang. "I don't get many these days."

"Woah," I let out a small gasp. You could call the products souvenirs, but I creeping suspicion that there was more of a background to the things this man was selling. "Did you—"

"Make all of this?" he finished my sentence. "You have a good eye."

"Actually, I'm supposed to be wearing glasses…"

He laughed dryly at my humor. "Well, does anything catch your eyes?"

I looked at the shelves. Wooden carvings, dolls, silverware and platters, all handmade…on the top shelves, three boxes sat there, dust gathering on them. "What are those?"

The man got up and slowly made his way next to me, Ulquiorra behind him. Giving Ulquiorra a once-over, he nodded gruffly before climbing a ladder to carry the boxes down (something I wasn't sure and elderly man should've been doing).

"Well, seems I've pretty much forgotten about these," the man recalled, dusting the boxes off. "Took me a long time to make them. Here, take your pick."

I took the the three boxes out of his arms and set them down on what looked like a handcrafted table, making me wonder if he'd made everything by hand. Randomly picking out one of the boxes, I took the item out of it carefully and set it on the table. For once, Ulquiorra seemed a bit intrigued by the mystery objects.

It was a mirror, an octagon framed in mahogany. At first I had thought the frosted glass at the edges was dust, which I tried to clean. Then I saw that the frost made a pattern on the mirror's perimeter, vines creeping to the center and caressing it.

"We have many mirrors," Ulquiorra reminded me, his face reflected in the mirror as well as mine.

"True, but none are like this."

The next one was a music box at least as large as my hand. Winding it up before opening it, I was amazed at the perplexity of the inside, nothing like what I'd imagined. In it was a model of a man playing the piano while three couples danced around him. It was somewhat Western but nevertheless it was impressive. On the inside of the top lid was the word "Overcome." The melody sounded sad and reflective.

The outside was just the right amount of simple and intricate. It seemed to be made out of different stones—black onyx, granite and some emeralds. My breath was nearly taken away from me.

"I can see that that one appeals to you immensely," the man said, spot on.

"How could you make something so detailed and…"

"Years of experience and talent, I guess. Once you do this every day you just get used to it. Comes naturally."

I couldn't wait to see what the third box had in store. It was like Christmas. There was a ton of styrofoam in the last one, leading me to the conclusion that something fragile was being stored. Sure enough, three glass figures were in bubble wrap. The first was an angel holding a harp; the second was a mermaid—the scales of the tail caught off of the light perfectly and made it seem like the underwater shine on a fish. The third figure was that of a warrior, a quiver on its back and a sword being held in both hands. The Roman fighter was a woman, her curly hair hidden by a helmet. "Do you like sculpting women more than men?" I asked the man.

"I tend to do better with their body shape," he explained. "So, which one do you want?"

I gawked at him in disbelief.

"For a fair price, you know."

I felt doubt creep up my throat and I could only shake me head in the negative. "It depends on what the prices are."

"Hm, I'd say this one is two thousand yen," he pointed to the mirror. "The music box is…I'd say 400,000."

My eyes were as wide as saucers. "That's…in U.S. currency, that's…a lot!"

"I will purchase it for you," Ulquiorra offered.

"That's not the point…"

"And these sculptures…I think each one is about six thousand," the man continued, ignoring my surprised outbreak. "So, is there anything that you'd like to buy?"

My eyes kept looking over at the music box. For some reason I felt attracted to it, more than anything else—and it was my birthday. Soon it'd end and I wouldn't have the excuse to buy something so expensive. Add that these credit cards Aizen had given us had the largest amounts of money I'd ever seen. So many zeros…

"No," I said firmly. "You are incredibly talented, but I fear they will…not be taken care of as well as you do. I'm sorry if I've inconvenienced you." For good measure I bowed low to him.

Why did I just say no?

"Ah, I'm not good with formalities. Don't worry about it," he smiled genuinely. "How about this fellow? Would you like to purchase something?"

To my surprise, he answered in the affirmative. Telling him that I'd be waiting outside, I left, a guilty feeling coming onto me. I hated when sales persons were always guiding you to buy something but you refused it in the end. It was like laughing at a charity fund.

Horrible, right?

"Alexia," Ulquiorra appeared next to me. In his hand was a small bag. I was curious about it and he noticed it, but I didn't ask. He opened a garganta and asked me if I was ready to leave.

"…Yeah."

Seemed like the fun this week was over.

After arriving in Hueco Mundo, I immediately panicked because I had completely forgotten about the bags of food and other things I'd bought. To my relief, Ulquiorra had sent them through the garganta without my knowing, so they should've been safely deposited in my room.

Now I was on my way back to my room, out of my marioneta (which was safely in Szayel's hands again) and leading myself with the compass. "Hey, Ulqui-cielago," I said to myself, feeling self-conscious. I had never told him about why today was a special day for me. "Today's my birthday." Too straightforward.

"Ulquiorra, do you know what a birthday is? Well, it's the date when a human is born. Well, there are 365 days in a human year, so—no. Dammit.

"Did I ever tell you? September eleventh is my birthday. You know, the day I was born. Every year we celebrate one more year of life; and yesterday was my day."

That seemed better than the rest. I'd been trying to find the right time to tell him throughout the whole day, but there was never a perfect time. Now I'd lost my opportunity. Guess I'll have to tell him tomorrow.

The melody.

I stopped in my tracks. It was the same tune as the music box. Was I only imagining things, or…?

As I neared my room, the sound increased. My walk changed into a near-sprint. Skidding to a stop in front of my room, my eyes widened at what I saw.

The music box was in the middle of my bed, its melody the only sound in the room. As if in a trance. Did he…

"You should have purchased it," his voice was right next to my ear, making me jump. I looked at him with wide eyes. "What are you so surprised about, woman?"

"You actually got it for me?" Despite myself, I felt my eyes start to sting. Damn, when did I get so soft?

"Yes. Why do you ask if the answer is obvious?"

What had I planned to say? Something about my birthday and—everything was lost as was shocked by his actions.

"Szayelapporo informed me of what this day's significance is to you. You are supposed to give a gift to the person, are you not?"

"Thank you," I smiled brightly at him. Forcing back my tears of happiness, I got the music box and held it in my hands. I felt like it belonged with me. "I can't imagine a better gift…"

Suddenly an idea hit me. The thought made me blush; was I really ready to tell him? Could I actually form my thoughts and say all of it, without having to stutter or mumble? Did I really want to do this, on a day that had been perfect so far? I got lost in my thoughts, then made a decision.

"Hey…Ulquiorra…"

"What is it, woman?"

Doubt.

How would he react? 'Nonsense, woman.' 'How foolish.' Everything he could possibly say reverberated in my head, making me want to shrink into my shell of secrecy. But I had to do this.

"Ulquiorra…you might not have known this, probably haven't noticed at all, but…"

"What?" I gulped.

"For a long time, I've always admired you. You were so…I don't know. You always seem calm and mature, level-headed. Your eyes are so mesmerizing, everything about you appeals to me—I…"

Say it.

"I love…"

All of it.

"Ulquiorra, I love you."

The music box's tune ended. Complete silence followed. Refusing to meet his eyes, I focused on my feet and steadied my breathing. God, what do I do now? After what seemed like an eternity, I took a deep breath and looked into his eyes.

I didn't have to do anything. Without so much as a blink, he turned and left.

._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.

Me: So, are you doing any better in math now?

Unbr0ken: Definitely ^_^ I went up from an A- to an A+

Alexia: -_- You know, you weren't that bad in math in the first place…

Me: Come to think of it, how did Grimmjow even know all that stuff?

Grimmjow: Shut it, it's not like I don't know my math because I'm busy kicking people's asses.

Alexia and I: Really?

Unbr0ken: Really, you two don't know anything about him!

Grimmjow: That's a good thing on many levels -.-'

Unbr0ken: Yeah, he only trusts me :D

Me: -.-' Yeah, well…I don't know ._. We shouldn't be trusted either way

Unbr0ken: That reminds me…

Alexia: No!

Unbr0ken and Grimmjow: Why?

Me: Because I need to get started on the next chapter -.-' Until next time, everyone!

Alexia: Good ._. (obviously hiding something)

Grimmjow: That's a really sudden way of ending the rant T_T

Alexia: Well, it's not like we're never going to see the readers again…where's Ulquiorra?

Ulquiorra: Trying to understand calculus…

Alexia and Grimmjow: -.-'

Music box song: Overcome by David Nevue

Song of the week: Volume Up by 4Minute