"...amniotic fluid levels stable."

The voice came from outside the glass sphere.

Sluggishly, her eyelids flickered, desiring to lift. The effort it cost was great.

"Energy output nearly at maximum levels." The clicking of a pen against a clipboard, a smile in the saccharine male voice. "Aizen-sama shall be pleased."

Aizen. She knew the name, accompanied by a wave of such intense loathing, the glass vibrated with a distant hum. Air bubbles streamed. The man she couldn't see, moved. Clicks of buttons echoed distantly, worry strained his tones as he queried others on inducing stabilization fluid.

The sound of air released from a pressurized room came as footsteps sounded across tile.

"I-Ichimaru-san. Ulquiorra-?"

The man- Arrancar- Szayel questioned. Clarity came in short bursts as a new substance was introduced into the watery suspension. Somehow...she felt calmer. Weightless. But, the probing remained.

She could hear.

Feel them.

"Ah, Octava-kun! How is Rukia-chan today?" The slippery, low voice of that man, didn't bring with it the accompanying chill that it had before. Though she couldn't see him; she could feel Gin Ichimaru's reddish slit eyes on her.

The effect was entirely different.

Her heart began a sluggish, staccato beat.

She recognized the sensation yet instinctively knew it wasn't fear anymore.

Another voice, this one quiet with little force, yet powerful in the same instance, vibrated in the still, stale air of the laboratory. "Aizen-sama wishes to see true results from your experimentation on the Shinigami."

It hurt.

Shinigami- spoken in his cool, modulated tones.

She tried not to dwell on it.

He was here- they both were.

"-I know! I know!" Szayel's irritation was evident. "Can't you see how much progress has been made?" Sandals clicked across the floor. "The progression rate of the change between Hollow to Arrancar has been sped up drastically- and -and the level of ability these new hybrids-"

"It is not me you must show progress to, Szayel Aporro." Ulquiorra said with more than a hint of coldness in his tone.

Szayel bristled at the frigidity implied yet didn't back down. "Well, then, tell Aizen-sama that more-"

"I am to see for myself." Ulquiorra interrupted smoothly with barely a break in his monotone inflection. "Whether or not your experiments exceed or fail our Lord's expectations."

The Octava began spluttering indignantly.

She wished she could see their faces.

Instead. She projected them in her mind.

Gin smiling-smirking like he knew something no one else did.

Ulquiorra expressionless, a perfect soldier.

And Szayel furious because he simply had no choice.

She felt some sort of vicious vindication deep in her soul.

After a long moment, Szayel finally spoke cuttingly, "fine! If it comes from Aizen-sama, I have no objection to my work being overseen."

She could tell he did.

Feel it in the subtle fluctuation of the reiatsu against her glass prison.

"Well then!" The sound of clapping penetrated the sphere. "I'd best be going and leaving the brilliant scientist and the Cuatro to work." Gin's slow, deliberate steps crossed the room, "give my best to Rukia-chan, 'Kyorra-kun!"

The door closed with a definite, faint slam.

Silence fell until Szayel's muttering broke it.

"..still can't believe this! I am a scientist-!"

"Szayel Aporro." That was all it took.

The Octava grew silent as if physically slapped.

She could admire the fear Ulquiorra inspired.

"Yes, right..what was I working on previously-?" Szayel wandered off, beginning his muttering again. It was his own special kind of insanity.

She, in the glass sphere suspended above the floor by tubes and living wires; felt eyes.

Cold.

Green like absinthe.

They turned up to her, burning. Piercing.

The intensity of it stole her breath, caused her heart to beat anew.

Wanting to beat in place of his empty, heartless being.

'Ulquiorra.' She thought-whispered.

Two steps and he was closer.

He had heard.

She wanted to see him.

The Hogyoku responded.

Strength surged from the ropey strings of tissue.

Her eyelids fluttered, violet streaked yellow like an aberrant sunburst gazed into the tilted up face of the black-haired, green-eyed Arrancar.

'Ulquiorra..' She thought-whispered again.

Softer.

Her small fingers reached out.

Reaching for him.

Slowly, he withdrew one hand from his pocket, extending almost hesitantly to rest his thin white fingertips against the glass.

"Rukia." He murmured quietly.

...

Her naked form floated in suspension.

Dark tips of hair fluttered softly like a breeze blew through them, her eyes were closed, the mouth respirator providing oxygen to her lungs.

Szayel had written in his report, he thought she was capable of surviving without it by will and the Hogyoku alone.

Ulquiorra had seen the report.

Kuchiki Rukia defied all reasoning.

Flesh ripped from dying Adjuchas, reacted to the pull of Hollow-Shinigami power and fed the rampancy of the orb and its host.

She was powerful-

Szayel's footsteps faded.

Ulquiorra at last turned to gaze fully at the slumbering Shinigami.

She was motionless. Her skin an almost marble-like fineness without light. A creature of darkness, she was steadily becoming.

'Ulquiorra.' His name reverberated in the air, yet was spoken by no lips.

The stasis remained the same.

Against his better judgment, he drew closer, still gazing up at the woman.

The Hogyoku in its pedestal-like stand encased by beams of Kido light, flickered. The rope-like tentacles attached to the glass sphere where she rested, pulsated. Power flowing through to the host. Almost fascinated, he watched as she stirred.

Violet streaked golden revealed, framed by long lashes.

'Ulquiorra..' The whisper came again. Softer. Almost caressing.

Her arm lifted from the clear fluid, searching fingertips pressing against the glass barrier.

His hand moved almost on its own accord, lifting.

The tips of his fingers rested against the cool glass.

They would be touching but for the spherical wall that separated them.

Some undefined, unknown part of him wished it wasn't there.

"Rukia."Her name left his lips, a hint of wistfulness that even he could not fathom its source, tinted it.

She was a beautiful monster.

-TBC

AN: *I'm sorry for the lack of updates. But everything in my life has-is gone, or will be soon. It's just...impossible to explain*

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Thanks for reading.

No flames.

Reviews appreciated.