Rukia stumbled against the inner wall of the cavern, grazing her knees on the glistening stone. Her sight, blurry fell over the field of Luna de Tristeza; the soft four petals luminescence calmed her mind taking the bitter wounded edge from her thoughts.

He was gone she was sure of it.

She took a few tottering steps forward, collapsing at the edge of the flowers, tears coursed down her cheeks. Angrily she wiped them away; he didn't deserve tears shed over him. Her grimy hand curved around the fragile stems shooting up from the barren rock, fingers clenching closed suddenly with a spasm of anger.

"Why did you have to leave me? Ulquiorra!"

~*~

Days and hours were of no consequence in Hueco Mundo. He came and went as he pleased in rare intervals of hunts to satisfy his hunger. Sometimes she'd awake and find him gone. The first time it happened and despite her refusal to worry for him, Rukia had found herself pacing restlessly, unable to sit still until the very moment when she sighted his winged figure landing outside the cave's mouth.

He had been covered in blood though none of it his own. Her suspicion that he'd raided a group of Shinigami growing. When she had asked finally, unable to take the suspense, irritatingly he hadn't answered. Only walked away. Her annoyance grew.

"Why won't you answer me?"

Ulquiorra halted, speaking so quietly that she had to strain her hearing just to hear his softly spoken words, "it doesn't concern you, Shinigami." She huffed furiously, crossing her arms and speeding up her pace to block his way. "Doesn't concern me, eh? Well then would you mind telling me just whose blood it is that you're covered in?"

"Move."

They had both come to a standstill, several yards from the cave. In the white world, against his pale skin and white mask, any color above that seemed a travesty in the jet-black of his hair and fiery green eyes.

"No. Not until you tell me where you're going."

"You don't need to know."

"And what if I want to go with you?"

"You can't come with me."

"Why not?"

"Stop asking questions, it gets bothersome after a while."

Rukia's eyebrows rose, "who asked your opinion if it bothered you or not? Besides that, you aren't the boss of me, Hollow." It was unwilling but it was there, a tiny quirk of amusement at her superior tone. "If I take you, do you promise to never question me again?"

She frowned, "well I wouldn't say never…but…okay," grudgingly she muttered. Ulquiorra looked away then sighed slightly, "That's enough." He bent a little, allowing her to clamber onto his back much as the distaste of touching his blood-spattered body didn't appeal to her; she had no choice. It had been her stubbornness that had brought her to that point.

~*~

Their flight was brief, unlike the careful measured pace of before; his tread of the air currents was uneven, agitated. Rukia clung on tightly, her tenuous grip faltering when they began spiraling toward the earth; her senses picked up on four medium to low-level spirit pressures just beyond the rocky outcropping he landed behind.

"Ulquiorra?" her gaze passed over his stiff, tension filled body. His hand touched her shoulder awkwardly in a semblance of reassurance. "Whatever you hear beyond this point, do not come out. Do not show yourself do not speak until I come back. Understand?" He was looking at her, not looking to the side, but staring straight into her eyes, waiting for her ascent.

Was he planning on fighting those other Hollows? What was so mysterious about that? It happened all the time. Rukia thought with a hesitant tiny smile of chagrin recalling other previous incidents. Slowly she nodded and he stepped away, glancing back once as if making sure she kept her promise.

The moment he was out of sight, she crept forward.

Like hell if he was going to tell her what she could or could not do.

Carefully she placed her palm along the edge of the white rock, peering around it to see the circle of Hollows ringing Ulquiorra. She felt her heart clench in fear for him.

"What say you make it easy on yourself and come with us? A smart fellow such as you should know a good offer when he sees one. Hmm, boy?" The one whom spoke resembled a great centipede standing on two legs, the long feelers were bone and twitched faintly at the plaintive response he gave, "no."

"You see, boy. That reply was not in our repertoire. Either you come with us willingly or unwillingly. There is no middle—"

Ulquiorra's Cero split the centipede's body in half.

"Capture him! Don't let him—" another erupted from the beam of green light. Rukia flinched, biting down on her lip to keep from exclaiming a warning as spikes from the back of a shorter Adjucha shot out from behind. He managed to dodge most only the graze of one in his thigh slowed his Sonido.

I won't interfere.

I can't.

What is pride when it is life at stake?

He was being pushed back against the face of the rock wall, the remaining Hollows attacking with a fierceness that belied their desire to win at any cost.

This is ridiculous…pride is meaningless. I won't—I will not lose anyone again!

Rukia wrapped her hands around the hilt of her Zanpaku-to drawing it out in one swift motion, her wrist twisted it in a clockwise circle, "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!" Her reiatsu flared, still minuscule in size to those on the other side, white like the night that surrounded her, bled along the tang and spread up the guard and hilt. The long ribbon attached the end flowed gracefully forming the circle of the white moon's dance beneath her targets feet.

Kaien…I'm sorry. Now I have something I want to protect even if I don't deserve my life.

The Hollows felt the chill spreading upward along their clawed feet, in unison they leapt apart to either side, abandoning Ulquiorra for the time being and focusing their attention on her. "Well, well a little Shinigami. Color me impressed could it be the boy has a little pet?"

"How about color you frozen? Will that shut your mouth?" she asked, smirking at their rage.

"You'll re—"

"Dance number two, Hakuren."

A wave of frigid air flowed around them solidifying them into perfect statues. Ulquiorra wouldn't look at her.

"Well aren't you going to thank me?"

His slight headshake aggravated her. "Hmph! And there I was all worried that you were doing something stupid and dangerous and all you were—"

"Would it please you if I did?"

She sniffed haughtily, sheathing her sword neatly, "of course not! I can't force you to do something that you don't want to do. It's okay, even a little gratitude is fine." But is gratitude too much to ask of a Hollow? She thought she heard a soft snort as he brushed past her onto the plateau.

"You expect me to thank you for disobeying me?"

"Hey, cut me some slack! I saved you." Rukia gestured angrily at his back. He half-turned his face toward her so that she glimpsed the side of his profile, "I suppose I owe you again?"

Owe me? Like before…?

"N-N-No! I didn't mean it like that!" She trotted after him, swinging up onto his back easily, her arms sliding around his neck. "Then what do you mean?" his voice was soft, deep, rumbling sensually from his throat. Rukia felt her mouth go dry suddenly, "n-n-nothing of the sort!"

"That doesn't make sense. Could you please clarify?"

"Just drop it!"

He chuckled, "as you wish."

~*~

High above watching them from a distance were two others.

"That him?" asked the first.

"Yeah. What a pain that idiot is causing us," whined the second, running his fingers through raffish dark brown hair, "it'd be easier on everybody for him to have come along quietly when we first approached him. But oh no, he just had to put up a fight-get away-go running back to check on that little…is that a Shinigami on his back?"

"Of course, you fool," said the blond woman tiredly, "can't you tell?"

"Hey, watch your manners, Tercera." Renewed interest crept into the tall Arrancar's tone, "well now…we might just be able to use her to our advantage. Since it seems that little Kyorra-kun may have developed a certain fondness for her."

"Fondness? What are you planning, Stark?"

"Go on back to Las Noches, Hali…I can take care of things here."

The woman glared but acquiesced, wondering all the while what La Primera had planned.

~*~

"My…your senses are excellent."

Ulquiorra withdrew his palm from the Arrancar male's face, "what are you doing here?" The Arrancar had appeared right in the entrance to the cave, his spirit pressure almost completely suppressed. In the next room, Rukia slept.

"I just came for a little chat. Figured you might welcome the company of someone the same as you—the Shinigami aren't much good conversationalists unfortunately. By the way—"gray eyes alight, he peered teasingly over Ulquiorra's shoulder, "—where is the little dear anyhow? I so longed to meet her—"

"You will not take one step closer to her."

"Oh…that sounded almost threatening, Kyorra-kun. Almost like you were protecting her or something."

Green eyes narrowed into hard slits, "I don't know what you're implying, Stark." The Arrancar shrugged, "what can I say? It's odd enough that one of our kind is keeping a Shinigami—let alone you—and hasn't eaten it yet."

"Whatever I do is my business. It doesn't concern you in the slightest."

"Oh but it does. You see…" Stark leaned in conspiratorially, "…my Lord wants me to bring you to meet him. He won't leave me alone unless I do it—so be a good boy and come with me. Please?"

"No."

A lazy smile and a wink flashed Ulquiorra's way, "now really, Ulquiorra. Must we bandy words about like this? Just come."

"My answer is no…and will always be such."

"Is it possibly…'cause of her?"

It was almost imperceptible but his jaw tightened.

Stark nodded, "thought as much. Do you think as you are the Shinigami can accept you? I know what it is that you want—it's as plain as day—"

"You can't possibly know. What she is to me is nothing—she means nothing."

"Hmm…if she doesn't mean anything to you then I suppose I can do…this!" A black wave of energy formed at his fingertips, rounding into a ball of ambient reishii. Stark rolled it along his palm, pulling his arm back to toss it casually at the wall: a Balas blast. Ulquiorra hesitated; in his mind only one choice presented itself.

"Wait," he caught Stark's wrist, the slow lazy smile spread over his face, sensing surrender imminent.

"Leave her be. Take me Las Noches."

"Hah. Good boy. Knew you'd see the light."

~*~

It was strange staring down at her sleeping form, her face serene, untroubled from the nightmares that had haunted her previously. Knowing as he knew it would be so, they would never see one another again.

I'm sorry, were the words that came to mind, however as he felt Stark's curious eyes boring into his back from the outer room, Ulquiorra turned away. Goodbyes were for humans to soothe their weak hearts. He had no such use for that.

~*~

It was different waking up in the white cave. Alone was the thought that came to her mind, lonely. Almost as if someone or some thing was missing, gone, left. The wall she touched contained a faint trace of an unfamiliar reiatsu mingled in with his like a tantalizing trail to the cave's mouth and out into the desert.

He had left again.

Idiot…didn't he know how much she worried about him?

Wait. Not worry—I am not worried about him!

Fuming and determined to give him a piece of her mind, Rukia set off, following the remnants of their spirit pressures for a long while. Not thinking, refusing to give in to the inevitable that her thoughts surmised. Dead. Gone. Dying. No. I have to find him. But…no I don't care…I can't really…no…I…it was a litany she repeated to herself, cresting finally the last dune of grainy sand, a slender footpath meandering into the rocky cavern buried deep within the earth.

It was familiar.

"Ulquiorra!"

Again. "Ulquiorra! Answer me, damn you!"

She clenched her fists, hesitating before approaching the entrance. Nothing. The trail ended a stone's throw to the left, vanishing near the bare rock wall. Rukia walked to the slick stone, glistening with watery crystals, bending slightly, her fingers pinched up something black from the ground; a feather.

How quaint.

It crumbled in her palm.

He was gone. Really and truly…gone.

~* Refer to the top paragraph for the ending to this chapter *~

9-14-09

AN: poor Rukia. .-) Next chapter she meets Ichigo. Though Ulqui wasn't really all to blame…he left to protect her that's why he purposely left the trail to the Valle de Siete Azahares. There, he figured she'd be safe…it also made her think of him more. As the story progresses, she'll remember that night in CH. 6 with fondness or bitterness? Either or possibly both… ;) Thanks for reading and reviews are always appreciated.

9-16-09

Last update for a while. I am so damn mad right now… o