His steps matched the pace of her heart, but didn't make any sound. I think he heard it too. I normally wouldn't have bothered. It's none of my business until they make it my business. Ulquiorra made it my business.

"I think you should forbid Grimmjow from visiting Inoue Orihime," said the monotone arrancar, starting up, way up, at the throned Aizen Sousuke, unblinking and oh-so-serious.

"Why?" Aizen-sama replied, fingers like spiders legs flattening against his cheek where they held his head.

"They're getting close," Ulquiorra thought that would be enough explanation, but Aizen's wordless reply revealed that it wasn't. "He holds power over Inoue and feeds her ideas which she then relays to you. He's using her to get to you and override the rest of us. I feel it would be a wise decision to place a strict limit on his contact with the girl."

His hands were behind his back like the good little soldier he was.

Suddenly, Aizen's head rolled back and he called out to me, "What is your defense, Grimmjow?"

I came out from around the corner with my head sunken between my shoulders, hands in pockets, taking my time so Ulquiorra could get a good look at the guy he didn't sense who had been following him for some time.

"Aizen-sama," I addressed him, bowing my head. "In my defense, I think Ulquiorra is just jealous I've been doing his job. Been doing it better, too."

"It's not your job, Grimmjow. I gave it to Ulquiorra for a reason." He was talking to me like I was a kid.

And suddenly I was stuck with nothing to counter with.

"She's lonely," I blurted.

Aizen's face broke its cool, complacent demeanor to slowly raise one of those sleek brown eyebrows, "…And you're helping her…?"

"Uh… yeah." I had to struggle to not form that sentence into a question.

"You," Ulquiorra chimed.

"Yeah!" my face twisted into another sneer, followed by the lashing out of my arms. "What's so hard to believe about that?!"

My brother scratched the back of his neck and diverted his eyes away from the scene I was making.

"I don't see any harm in it yet, Ulquiorra…" our lord had made his decision. "She's a good influence on Grimmjow."

And that was all the fuss that was ever made about it. Until Aizen-sama brought it up and changed his mind, Ulquiorra would just have to stare at me and be jealous that I got to have the girl with the beating heart sleeping on my lap.

--------

She greeted me with a big hug, throwing her arms around my neck as if she hadn't seen me in years. She did it in front of everybody too, and if rumors hadn't already started, they'd start now. My eyes shifted to see their gawking faces. I couldn't hug her back because of them. I had to slip away and tell her not to do that, then shove her off back to her room. Her head was down the whole time as if I had publicly scolded her. Why'd she do that? Did she need some kind of confirmation?

"You know how lonely it is here?" she asked me when we got back to her room. Her voice had reason. I couldn't possibly understand, could I? How lonely it is here. How does she think I got all my thorns? 'Cause Daddy beat me?

"Orihime," I whirled around on her and grabbed her shoulders, stopping her before she started, "don't. Just don't. Don't ever talk to me like a teenage girl because I will shut you up, and you won't like it."

She nodded vigorously, "O-Okay. Sorry…"

I didn't decide to take advantage of how we were standing. I just kind of did it without thinking. That's always how these kinds of things go. I'm so much taller than her though, I had to bend my knees as well as lean over.

I didn't kiss her, but rather caught her mouth with mine, dodging that hunk of mask so the whole thing was off center. It felt a little funny at first - don't remember the last time I kissed anyone. You don't have to kiss someone to have sex. It's on a completely different level.

"No," she broke it quickly, a second after it had began, shaking her head and shutting her eyes tight like I was some kind of bad dream. "You-You're… You're…"

"…Evil?" I finished. She was thinking it. I know she was. I got confirmation that she was when her whole body kind of slumped, face to the floor. I closed my eyes half way, looking down on her, and straightened back out, no longer gripping her shoulders but sinking my hands back into my pockets. "Alright. Whatever." If she thought I was evil, I was going to let her think that.

I turned my back to her and started for that wall with the high window. Really, the room was built like a prison cell. A couple of moments of silence drifted around us, only it wasn't exactly silent for me.

Ba-dum……ba-dum….ba-dum.. ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum-ba-dum-ba-dum

A pair of small, dainty arms weaved through the crooks of my arms and wrapped around my stomach just above the gaping hole. Her fingers spread over the muscle, trying to touch as much as possible. I hadn't noticed how dry my mouth was until that exact moment.

"I don't believe in evil," I heard her say. "I know sometimes… there is malicious intent behind things… but I can't truly believe that there is anything in existence that is pure evil."

Her head fell against my back and I could feel how warm she was through the fabric of my shirt.

"A train of thought like that'll get you killed," I replied, mouth twitching into a half-grin. "If you weren't so protected, I bet you'd feel differently."

"Hey, I'm not so defenseless…"

"Right. You have …hairpins," my eyes rolled. She laughed. I made her laugh. Didn't mean to… I was making fun of her.

"You're not so bad," she told me.

Everything was going smoothly until she said that. It's what I'd been dreading. She thought she knew me. She had started depending on my kindness, which wasn't actually kindness but more of a lack of aggression I suppose.

It didn't take but a fraction of a second to get behind her. Her eyes opened wide as the realization sunk into her. I heard her heart skip, pounding on my fingertips.

"Depends on what you see as evil. There are degrees," I sank my foot into the small of her back and shoved her down with it. She fell slowly. Her hair drifted into the air behind her, rays of light against the bland scenery of the room. When she hit the floor, it all fell into her face and messily spilled around her shoulders, tangling. She wore a look of absolute horror.

"Would you like me to prove how bad I am, Orihime-chan?" I was crouched beside her in an instant, tracing her cheek with my index finger.

"W…W-Wha…" she stuttered and crept back.

Ba-dum-ba-dum-ba-dum-ba-dum.

Before she fell out of arm's reach, I dug my hands into her hair and yanked on it. She grabbed my wrists and yelped as I pulled her up to stand and shoved her onto her stomach against the edge of the bed.

"NO!" she gasped, piecing things together bit by bit. "NO, PLEASE!!!"

I took her arm and wrenched it behind her so she couldn't flail around, leaning over her like the big blue-haired monster I am. My mouth reached her cheek, and I whispered against it in a tone so quiet that she had to take control of her whimpering to hear it.

"I'm not gonna rape you. I can't hurt you because you belong to Aizen-sama. But know, Orihime-chan… that I am not your lap dog. I can and will kill you. I can and will do worse things than that." I released her quickly, hands flying away from her, and I stood back up. Her end was bent over, pointed right at me, and I thought of how damned easy it would be to just lift her skirt. "Now tell me how bad I'm not."

It was then that I turned and left her room, grinning at myself for a job I'd call well-done.