I won't say anything…sigh, I'm rather disappointed with the newest chapters of Bleach nowadays…they dampened my mood rapidly to wait for another chapter to be uploaded every week.

Pardon the grammars and mistakes…I'm really a stubborn one, no?

On to the story…

#38: Finalé – Part 3 – The Battle

"Shit!"

"Renji, don't cuss! Shit."

"…Oy, ya did it, too, Rukia."

"Shut up. I have special privilege, you know."

"Special privilege, my ass! Ya just wanna to say it out loud without other people interfering ya, right?"

"Renji, just shut up."

The two of them halted on their way and looked around their surrounding. Las Noches was really one hell of huge fortress. Getting lost was definitely easy for them now.

"So," the red haired man drawled, Zabimaru slung over his right shoulder. He glanced at his partner. "Which way now, Rukia?"

The petite raven haired girl glared at him. "How should I know, dammit? For as far as I know; Ichigo is the one who picked the right path, anyway."

"How so?"

"…He dashed straight to this particular yet familiar reiatsu. Didn't you recognize it, Renji?"

Renji was silent for a moment, trying to focus his sense to discern any reiatsu aside from their comrades'. Not an easy task to do, what with his poor sense of reiatsu-discerning. He frowned as he dimly recognized the specific pattern of reiatsu, so faint and well-covered it may have passed as lesser, common hollow's one.

"…That… Ulquiorra Schiffer's…"

"…Yeah."

"…Hope that carrot top can come out of their battle unscathed and well. And with him, too…"

"He will, Renji." Rukia's voice was slow and soft, almost unheard. Renji gave her a sympathetic glance.

"He will. He is Ichigo, after all."

Screeching sound of solid blade against blade was resonating through the vast, empty hallway, creating ringing of eerie echoes. It was painful to hear; Kanzaki and the others had to put their palms over their ears. Or their fingers, for Koheita and Yajirou's cases.

An exceptionally loud explosion emerged seconds later; almost immediately, it was followed by deafening silence amidst faint sound of rumbling stones and low groan. One of the pillars was smashed, broken into countless pieces. Cloud of dust and debris made appearance as it covered mostly the group's view, making them unable to see through. What happened behind that cloudy, dusty screen?

Slow, measured and almost toneless steps made their way through the silence; approaching their place. The group found their heartbeats accelerating as they listened to the closing steps. Wary and tense, they waited.

And then the steps stopped altogether; as another sound interfered.

"…Heh, do you think that kind of blow could defeat me, Ulquiorra?"

That was Ichigo's voice.

Kanzaki found his mouth had screamed the man's name before his mind could even think about the act. "Kurosaki-sama!"

The dust cloud eventually faded, revealing the broken pillar—and the person who defiantly stood before it, with his enormous cleaver-like blade tightly gripped within his right palm. His shihakusho was disheveled, with slight tearing here and there. Nonetheless, his appearance was still intact.

Across him, not too far away, another form with an entire white uniform—still neat and unblemished—stood silently; his blade, unusually, drawn. The pale green metal reflected the light and shined with gleaming, cold sheen. Its owner's brilliant green eyes were trained on his adversary, cold and calculating; his ever present frown deepened. When he eventually spoke, his voice was devoid of any emotion, except slight annoyance.

"…I didn't think it would work to you, either."

Ichigo chuckled humorlessly. "Tch, I've said so."

Kanzaki, Koheita, and the others held their breaths as they watched the scene unfolded before their very own eyes. Ichigo and Uriya—no, Ulquiorra—faced each other, wordlessly preparing to exchange another lethal blow.

"Ne, Ulquiorra…"

The Quatro Espada bored his gaze on the man, indifferent as ever.

Ichigo's face softened from his usual scowl as he let out a wistful almost-smile. Ulquiorra was—for the lack of term—stunned. Slightly, but the expression was there albeit faintly.

"Let out your Resurección—nah, skip that…let out your Segunda Etapa Resurección now."

How…? How does he know?

"…What?"

"Your Segunda Etapa. Let it out, now." Ichigo smirked. "And I will let out my bankai, complete with other attributes as well."

"…How do you know about—?"

"I know. I've seen it before. I've seen it almost every week we trained together in that training field."

Ulquiorra was at loss, speechless to be true. He couldn't fathom just how the man knew about his ultimate secret—a secret that he himself didn't reveal even to Aizen-sama. Except…what if he was just bluffing? But, it was too much if he were just bluffing. The knowledge of arrancar's second stage of Resurección wasn't even common amongst Espada. It was impossible for mere shinigami like him to know about it to such extent. Not to mention, as far as he knew, only he himself was capable of said stage.

Wordlessly, he deepened his frown and charged. For a moment, Ulquiorra vanished from the group's sight, only to reappear behind Ichigo as he suspended airborne to swing his zanpakuto. But his adversary was nowhere to find—Ichigo had moved elsewhere just as Ulquiorra made his first attack.

Emerald eyes widening for a fraction in a moment of shock, Ulquiorra swiftly moved his zanpakuto towards his back, vertically blocking Ichigo's Zangetsu—which came in rapid movement. The stoic Espada let out a faint grunt as he felt the pressure of the other man's reiatsu. He almost immediately countered it with his own reiatsu, creating some chaotic turbulence from the collision. He pushed backward, forcing Ichigo to stagger back and eventually release their connection. Almost immediately, Ulquiorra spun around and gave the other man's full-force assault, leaving Ichigo with the only option available: to parry it with his entire strength.

Up until this moment, Ulquiorra didn't bother to retrieve his left hand from his hakama pocket. But now, as he lashed an assault against the orange headed man, heading on, blade against blade; he couldn't help but use his left hand to hold on his zanpakuto. He saw Ichigo did the same thing, a smirk latched on his ever-scowling face. Somehow, he was bewildered. Why was this man…smirking?

"…Tch." A disgruntled grunt was uncharacteristically emitted from his lips. Ulquiorra braced his stance as he pointed his left index finger towards the other's temple. Ichigo's smirk faltered as he eventually realized the Espada's intention. Ulquiorra felt like smirking himself—though he couldn't fathom from where the urge came from. He was hollow; and hollows didn't normally feel.

"…Cero."

Bright green colored cero was fired from the Ulquiorra's fingertip, charging straight to Ichigo's head. The orange headed man cursed—but soon, his voice was muffled by the deafening explosion coming from the cero and the wall.

Another thick screen of dust and debris was formed, hindering the group's eyesight. Coughing, Kanzaki and the others tried to make their way to their orange headed proclaimed idol—only to find Ulquiorra standing on their way.

Ulquiorra stood silently, observing for any movement coming from behind the thick dust screen, from his opponent. The man's reiatsu was slightly dampened, but the Espada knew that it took more effort to bring this man down to his knees. Efforts that he himself wasn't truly sure he could make. Not in long time, he bemused. Whether he liked or not, this man's fighting prowess and reiatsu were beyond his own…

"…You've improved."

"Of course I am! I'm a quick learner, you know."

"…Still, you lack control over your reiatsu. That's kind of embarrassing."

"Shut up!"

"…"

"…Hey."

"…?"

"How does it feel?"

"What feel?"

"Being freed from that stupid helmet of yours."

"…"

"Ah, well…it's not like that the helmet was, well, ugly or something. It was just…kind of asymmetric and odd every time I saw it on your head back then."

"…The point?"

"I didn't like the helmet. I like the way you look like right now."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…H-hey, speak something, will you? Don't you just stare at me like that! Damn, this is embarrassing. Just—just forget it, okay?"

"…Me, too."

"Huh?"

"…Me, too. I like it this way, too."

"…Oh…oh." Grin. "Good."

Ulquiorra froze.

Slowly, as if he weren't too sure, he touched his forehead. His fingers found the edge of his bony helmet and unthinkingly, he rimmed the outline. This helmet…was kind of…heavy. Odd-feeling. Somehow, he found himself suddenly disliking the feeling of heaviness, courtesy of the helmet, on his head.

The thought horrified him—as horrified as he could be, as the stoic and proud Ulquiorra. Since when did he feel like resenting this very proof of his existence as arrancar? Didn't he always have this helmet on? It wasn't like he could pull it off from his head or something…

"Getsuga Tenshou!"

Uncharacteristically startled, Ulquiorra swung his zanpakuto to block the sudden wave of powerful raw energy coming from Ichigo as the said man dashed at him with unbelievable speed. He swerved the blow, causing it to hit another pillar instead, barely missing Kanzaki and the others who stood not too far away behind him. Squeaking and screaming fearfully, they scrambled towards the farthest pillar and hid behind it, occasionally peeking from time to time. Serve them right for foolishly stepping into the battle, somewhere, in the back of his mind, Ulquiorra mused.

"…Don't you have other significant attacks beside that Getsuga Tenshou of yours?"

"…No. Zangetsu didn't tell me other attacks beside this."

"…How boring."

"Sh-shut up! Back then, you didn't have much either. Talk about boring…"

"…At least, I had two significant attacks. Lanza del Relámpago and Cero Oscuras."

"Your Cero Oscuras was just another form of cero, dammit. It didn't count."

"…Whatever."

"…Cero."

The blast missed its target. Though, it wasn't like Ulquiorra had hoped that the attack would at least graze his opponent. No, that would be surprising.

Ichigo appeared behind him and swiftly gave the Espada a hard kick on his left side. It didn't miss, though it didn't hit the previously aimed spot either. Ulquiorra had blocked the kick with his left arm. He almost immediately counterattacked with a high kick towards the head. Ichigo blocked it with his left arm. Stalemate—both of them stared at each other, still locked in their somehow odd position.

"Nostalgic, isn't it? Ne, Ulquiorra."

"…"

"…Missed."

"…Dammit. Let go of my leg, Uriya!"

"…You let go of mine, Ichigo."

"Never."

"…Then, I won't let go of yours either."

"…Damn."

They sprang free, stepping backward for a couple of meters away from each other. Ichigo slightly panted, though he didn't seem too fatigued or exhausted. Ulquiorra exhaled a bit raggedly, a rare thing for him since he never lost his composure however rough and hard the battle he was participating in. Frowning distastefully at the orange head, he commented indifferently. Or as indifferent as he could muster for now, which wasn't almost different as his normal indifference.

"…I don't get your words, Kurosaki Ichigo. There's nothing nostalgic about this."

Ichigo, still panting, grinned. "Really? I saw it—you seem distracted. Something occupying your mind back then, ne, Ulquiorra? Or better, should I call you Uriya now?"

A slight scowl from the Espada was enough answer for Ichigo. He almost smiled widely in glee; he hoped this stalling battle could make Uriya's memory resurface by itself. Seeing by the way the other man was distracted and not fully focusing on their battle, it seemed that the idea worked well.

"…Let's finish this, Uriya. Release your Resurección, Segunda Etapa and all."

"…"

"Oy, Uriya."

"…Why?"

"Huh?"

"…Why do call me by that name? I am not that person. He doesn't exist—"

"He does exist. He is you."

"…Nonsense."

Ulquiorra almost let out a tired sigh. Yes, as strange as it was; somehow, he was tired, not physically, but mentally. He was tired of being called as someone other than his arrancar self. He was the Quatro Espada, Ulquiorra Schiffer. He wasn't Shizu Uriya; he was none other than Aizen's modified arrancar-hollow. The God wannabe's mere puppet…his loyal minion. Nothing more or less… he was just Ulquiorra Schiffer.

"Hey, Uriya…"

Why didn't this man understand it and just die already?

"Uriya…"

Ulquiorra was strangely tired. Uncharacteristically, he grasped his head as he felt a sting of pain within. It hurt and his eyesight was slightly blurred afterward. Inside his head; something was buzzing with realization towards the said name. He knew that name. It was familiar. He couldn't find whose name it was, though dimly he recognized the name as his name, once…was it?

…Nonse—

…Yes…no…no…I don't know…

His next denial was a mere whisper. "…There's no way that I am him…nonsense…"

"You are him, period." Ichigo's voice was firm and disturbingly closer than before. Ulquiorra blinked in surprise as the said man was suddenly standing right before him. He didn't see him move at all.

"…What?"

"…Getsuga Tenshou."

Both Hitsugaya Toushiro and Matsumoto Rangiku froze in slight shock as they registered the disturbingly powerful reiatsu sparked at the faraway as Kurosaki Ichigo's hollow-like one.

The white haired taichou frowned as he snorted lightly. "And there he goes, waltzing into the deepest part of enemy's quarter and practically announcing his sorry ass to the rest of them to notice."

Matsumoto giggled. "You know, Taichou; it doesn't matter any more, ne? With his crazy amount of reiatsu he possesses, I doubt even the weakest and dumbest hollow in this place won't notice him. And not to mention, we wouldn't be able to escape the surveillance anyway." And with more subtle, hushed tone, she added, "…The surveillance was Gin's anyway. He was really good at that…before…"

Hitsugaya heard the words; nonetheless, he decided to keep his mouth shut. Silently, he motioned at his fukutaichou to continue their path and the woman complied wordlessly.