She was here. The knowledge filled his entire being only a vague unease flicker of unease remained. It shouldn't be there, he shouldn't care that she was willingly standing in a hall of her most hated foe. I am selfish, he thought suddenly, finding the new sensation quite perplexing concerning the Shinigami. Rukia, courageous, unyielding, was stronger than her frail form let on.

Gradually, he let his viridian gaze wander from her to gauge the responses of the rest of the Espada to Aizen-sama's declaration. Most were apathetic, uncaring. The Sexta felt she was worth a second look of slight, feral appraisal. This was only her due as his pride in her abilities had increased since her killing of Ichimaru.

The Octava smiled absently, humming a tune from the human world, but occasionally favored Rukia a glance she was unaware of, with naked interest. Stark...ah, Stark, the Primera whose interest was in nothing outside himself...,

Brief darkness blotted his vision, he had encountered it before, the Hollow side of him. Dark, malevolent it fed off the worst of a Hollow's instincts. Ulquiorra suppressed it consciously deep down, refusing to let Rukia glimpse it for even a moment. If she guessed at its existence...would she have chosen another path? He allowed himself to contemplate the place he had delivered her to...away, away from him, into the light.

He failed, it was true, to notice the Noventa Espada. The mask of the creature hadn't moved in the slightest from her direction. Its eyes were fixated greedily on the slim form of the little Kuchiki clad in the pure white and black of the dissenter's army. Never had she appeared more beautiful, never had she appeared more...delicious.

Rukia felt again the slightest hints of apprehension standing beside the Lord of Hueco Mundo. By all rights, she should've been torn to shreds at his command...,

"The situation in the living world is such that it bears further surveillance. My loyal Cuatro shall serve this purpose and as for recruitment," their Lord said almost lazily; sharp emerald eyes snapped to him. "The Primera and Kuchiki-san will advance posthaste to the Forest of the Menos."

Whatever fleeting thoughts of apprehension that had lain dormant in her mind resurfaced now with vehemence. "Menos Forest! Gillian Hollows dwell there!"

"Precisely. An objection, perhaps?"

An image passed between their mental link; Rukia recoiled. "N-No, sir." Her mouth tightened, reflexively, she drew her shoulders in. "There's none."

"Good, meeting adjourned."

She kept her feelings to herself, walking swiftly ahead. Her short legs struggled to keep up with the angered momentum of her body, the expression she wore was of cold indifference. Inwardly, Rukia fumed at the injustice of it. Her Shinigami instincts warred with commonsense, fear at least had a slight part in her thoughts as she'd never seen a Menos Grande except in textbooks. Most Shinigami never had...never would in their lifetimes.

Well, she thought bitterly, missing her turn in the corridor. Aizen would ensure they would all see one before the end. Humorless though her thoughts remained, some part of her heart remained light. She would spend time with Stark...in Ulquiorra's place, he would keep her safe. Not that a warrior needed anyone to be worrying about them, she corrected herself immediately.

Stark would...watch her back.

Rukia backtracked several hallways, her chagrin growing. She was nearly out of breath by the time, she rounded the corner into a familiar stretch of towering white pillars. A slim form of white and black had paused at the door at the end of the hall.

"I thought you would come after me," Rukia began, quickening her pace. "This place...I was lost...I...," she reached him, falling back against the wall. "I don't know what to feel anymore."

"Feelings are important to the worthless creatures who inhabit the earth. Haven't you learned that emotions are meaningless?"

She straightened, her spine stiffening. "Certainly, you must feel something? Pain, anger, fear?" Anything else dwelt too closely to where her previous thoughts had lain. Time spent enough in his company had led her to believe their understanding had been something tangible, something real; not made up in her mind as a need for companionship. Yet here again, he was constantly surprising her.

For her own peace...she realized, trembling slightly. She had to believe he was capable of feeling.

"Or do you only know admiration for Aizen Sosuke, Ulquiorra?" Rukia's violet eyes challenged him. Unable to hold her gaze, his eyes slid from hers. The door revolved sideways into the wall revealing a slice of one of the rooms she'd seen before. Spartan, the edge of the bed neatly made, a bedroom. Had her own been care? Or simply one of Aizen's twisted whims to make her feel at home?

"I must prepare for my mission. I suggest you do the same."

She stared after his back, wanting to run after him - and do what exactly?

Bite her tongue and swallow her scathing feelings?

Admit she'd committed murder?

Neither seemed possible.

She couldn't pretend to feel admiration for the dissenter of Soul Society nor could her pride allow her to admit she regretted walking these halls. If I did that, she thought wonderingly, then am I questioning everything that's happened up until now?

Lilinette plopped down on the pile of sea green pillows, bouncing slightly before turning a serious face upon her older half. "How was the Shinigami world? Did you miss me? Can I come along with you and Shinigami-san?"

Stark reclined back, his hands threaded behind his head. He'd thought he wouldn't miss the lightweight black robes of Soul Society, but he had been mistaken. "No, and no again to the third." His eyes closed lazily feeling Lilinette's bony fist sink into his side along with her indignant huff. In same circles, his mind drifted to the meeting...what was Aizen thinking n sending them together to Menos Forest? And that orange-haired kid in the human world? What was so special about him that he required surveillance by a high-ranking Espada? Stark half-smiled, willing to bet the Cuatro wasn't too pleased by this latest turn of events.

The pillows bounced; he definitely didn't miss his naps being interrupted by a certain other half.

"You didn't answer my first question!"

Make that...a whiny, annoying kid-like other half.

"It was...different." Somehow he found it hard to articulate the exact sensation in his chest. I shouldn't feel anything there, but...,

"What'cha thinking, Stark?"

He buried whatever it was, that indefinable thing deep inside where Lilinette would never find it. She could never know it, that traitorous thought, straying from the norm for it was a wish that could never be. "Nothing," and he reached out to stroke the partial bone clasping her small head. "It's nothing." Idly, he cast his senses outward, recognizing the taint of ice spreading through his palace. It was pleasant, light as the kiss of snowflakes but with the hardness of pure winter. It could only belong to one being, Rukia.

The reiatsu had entered through a side door, striding room to hallway searching. So soon?

His hand dropped; Lilinette sighed, tucking her skinny limbs under her body.

Silently, he rose, taking long strides to the door.

"Staaaaark?"

"What is it?"

From the banging of each door farther down, Kuchiki-san wasn't in a good mood.

"Do you trust Shingami-san with your life?"

"Of course," he said without hesitation.

-TBC

AN: Dedicated to my readers.

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