In love...with...her? His mind ever logical digested this slowly. It was impossible, the separation between Shinigami and Hollow decreed it as so. And yet...

Why did he care so much for her? Why did she consume his thoughts every waking minute? Why did he think of her even now...wondering where she was, if she was safe? Ulquiorra could revisit in his mind's eye, the moment they first met. On the dunes of Hueco Mundo, miles from the Menos Forest. A ragged Shinigami, weak with exhaustion. He even remembered his thoughts. His denial of feeling.

He saw her raising her sword.

Cutting, swiping. The slight sting slicing into his flesh.

He remembered thinking she was easy prey. Another soul to fill the emptiness inside. How wrong he had been. From the moment she had fallen, collapsing beside her sword to the next when he had stared down at the creases of her eyelids, the pained set of her mouth.

He hadn't been able to do it. Kill her. Eat her soul. Ulquiorra couldn't explain what had possessed him to carry her and tend to her. She never knew how he had watched over her that night, hovered over her unconscious body, something inside twisted into a knot when she didn't awaken right away. He had seen her shiver in sleep and cursed her frail self. Hollows couldn't feel the cold of the sunless desert...

He tried to start a fire to warm her.

But, had failed. His claws weren't meant for delicate things, they were meant to shred and rip into flesh. Her soft groan had halted his attempts. She was awake! He remembered the unraveling of the knot in his chest. Her wide eyes taking in her surroundings, her shock at seeing him. Her question...

"Why didn't you kill me?"

No fear. No repulsion. Only curiosity.

One that even he had no answer for. So, he chose the easiest answer. One she wouldn't think to question. "You weren't worthy of me." As if he was selective over his prey, as if he had from the start not had the mindset of devouring her. Ulquiorra felt it was weak at best, this explanation. Hollows weren't discerning when it came to Shinigami.

Shinigami was a rare delicacy that few would-if not none would ever pass up.

But even with that knowledge, sensing her approach.

Her lighting the fire.

Her smile.

He couldn't.

With surprising clarity, Ulquiorra saw his simple action of allowing her to live as the trigger that had been the cause of all his actions hence. The overwhelming desire to protect her... he remembered the tight rage he had felt when the other Hollows had come after her. Anger at her foolishness for setting off by herself and fear. What if...what if he hadn't made it in time. What if he didn't make it there the next time and something...

Happened to her.

Ulquiorra recognized this as a feeling.

An emotion.

All for her.

It was inexplicable, unexplained. There was no rhyme or reason to it.

He hadn't realized the depth of his blindness until that moment.

"You didn't know?" Stark's voice brought him to the present. Also the irritation at the Primera's smug, all-knowing tone. "How could you not realize? You must be-"

"There was no reason to suppose my attachment bordered on anything but-"

"But?" The dark-haired Arrancar made a small motion with his head, then spread his gloved hands apart, "what?" Then when he couldn't answer, Stark went on more sympathetically. "You must have suspected something was off with you if you were over there being all hostile and stuff whenever she was threatened! Kami-sama! Even I noticed it the hard way with a Cero forming in my face." The Primera sounded a little irked at the strength of his devotion, but Ulquiorra couldn't bring himself to care.

"You threatened her. You deserved what you got." For a moment his eyes narrowed, hardening into venomous green slits on the other's stretched out form and Stark's thick brows drew together sensing dangerous waters. "...sheesh! Give a guy a break here! I didn't know she was your squeeze-well," he backtracked, "I suspected as much, but I didn't know for sure and with Lord Aizen pressing me to recruit you..." Stark trailed off.

The silence grew between them.

Both burned with questions they dared not ask of the other.

Stark wanted to know what it felt like to be in love-if it was the way the humans said.

Ulquiorra felt lost. Cast adrift from all he knew and all he had built up around himself.

In love with...Rukia.

Somehow the knowledge though as lacking reason as it was meaningless without her giving in return...

It didn't feel wrong...no it was the opposite.

It felt rational. Right.

~*) Kuchiki manor (*~

The bath water was heated. Servants had brought it with bows and murmurs deemed appropriate for her homecoming. Rukia was sure they hadn't thought of her in years. But, strangely that didn't bother her as much as before.

Warm water...

She cupped it in her hands, letting it slowly stream through her fingers.

What a luxury.

Rukia thought of the cold greenish pools she had bathed in the past. When he had looked at her... a blush crept onto her cheeks. Stupid Hollow! His words especially brought a fluttering sensation to her stomach. Do not delude yourself into thinking I'm interested in your body. Unless..you want me to. What the hell did that mean?

Irritably she splashed her hands against the surface of the water, sending scattered ripples to crest against her skin. Certainly she was still upset with him for his leaving before; he'd better not think he was off the hook just because he happened to come along and catch her when she was falling! Just because he saved her--again, Rukia hastily added, rolling her eyes at the steam arising in undulating waves. Did not...

Pouting, she reanalyzed her previous thoughts. Admitting she was the slightest bit miffed at his latest disappearing act was as perilously close to implying she had missed him which was most certainly not the case! But...

Rukia skimmed her fingers along the surface of the water, her sigh heavy. Such silly thoughts. Seireitei was her home, not Hueco Mundo. Even if..she became pained at her next thoughts. It's not right that we meet again...can't I wish for it even though it's selfish?

~*) Quarters belonging to the Captain of Fifth Division *~)

Rukia Kuchiki had been retrieved.

Word had spread like wild fire throughout the streets of Seireitei, the long-lost princess from the Noble house had been found safely and in the company of a human boy in the world of the living.

Aizen observed the rumor-mongers tongues at work.

It was supposed to be a secret that she had been found with the boy whose unusually high spiritual pressure had been attracting Hollows to that specific radius known as Karakura Town.

Somehow or other, however, it had slipped out.

All was going according to plan. The players were assembling and...he smiled as Gin entered the room. The pawn was nearly in his grasp. "Dispatch the Grand Fischer to Karakura."

The silver-haired man bowed slightly from the corner of his eye.

"..and no mistakes, Gin. Make sure Ichigo Kurosaki comes across it first."

"As you wish, Captain Aizen."

(*~) Karakura Town (*~*)

What the hell happened back there?

Ichigo felt nothing but confusion and frustration that Rukia hadn't explained anything.

Just walked to the dark-haired man and hadn't looked back...

Not that he had wanted-or-or expected her to even say goodbye! Scowling at the world in general, he ran his fingers through his spiky hair making it stick up even more. Life was better without annoying midgets whom commandeered his room and left...

He stopped beside the bed, staring down at the scattered papers.

Some had been ripped in the spirit-Hollow thing's attack. Ichigo knelt low, gathering them up with half a mind to toss the badly drawn things into the wastebasket by the desk. Stupid midget leaving his room cluttered with what she called art! Grumbling to himself, Ichigo almost forgot one lying halfway under his bed.

When he turned it over, he discovered it to be the one of the flower.

Such a strange thing..his brow creased. What was it she had said about it-?

Ichigo sat at the edge of the bed, the drawings set aside and only the one left in his hand. It was nice, he thought. Pleasant even. Somehow just looking at it, his tension drained away. This one was good, he cast a disparaging eye to the bunny with weird green lines on its round face fighting off another bunny with a menacing expression. Compared to that.

But...he screwed his eyes shut trying to remember the scuffle in the darkness. At one moment the Hollow-humanoid thing had alighted in the street carrying Rukia. Ichigo had caught a glimpse of its face. White skin, cat-like green orbs and...

He settled the bunny pictures beneath an old Spark notes paperback in the desk drawer. Standing up, he walked over to his closet, opening one side to reach in and tape the Luna to the back. Then each morning when he dressed for school, barring his dad's sometimes annoying wake-up call; he'd see it.

Ichigo scowled even harder as he recalled the brief instant when the Hollow's face had been illuminated beneath the street lamp. Green lines flowed beneath each eye. That must've been-!

(*~*) To be continued~

AN: In my profile there's a link to a fanart I did for the story. Check it out ^^

Thanks for reading ^^ Ichi will of course have a bigger role in later chapters. This is IchixRukixUlqui after all.

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated ^^