Dedicated to Kavyle, Bokmal14. Mizuki's Star and hitokiri angel for reviewing. to SavannahNicole for alerting and to Persha and emROARS for favoriting.

Reflection

-Now, you've stalled enough up here. Get going already!

Ulquiorra turned to see the strange semi-omnipotent woman called S but, instead of her, he found a white door, which he knew painfully well.

He stood in the outside hallway he had walked by so many times he could even distinguish it from the rest of the hallways of Las Noches even though they're supposed to look all the same.

If Ulquiorra were not Ulquiorra, he would've had a vein highlighted in his forehead. He hated to just be transported in a 'poof' by S; she always forced him into things brusquely and without any previous notice. Then again, he was her prisoner in that aspect. While he didn't like it, he was more bemused as to what to think of Aizen. He couldn't even add the 'Sama' suffix to his name anymore. All this time, I have been like a prisoner…Why hadn't I noticed before? I…I no longer know what to think of anyone. I no longer know what to think of myself or what to do… (…) Just how am I Orihime Inoue's prisoner? It makes no sense.

Only one thing was clear, thanks to S. He was to understand Orihime Inoue. That was the only purpose of this whole 'trial', as S denominated it.

At last, he knocked three times.

On the other side of the door, Orihime stood under the barred window while staring at the moon divided in 5 parts, like always. Then she heard a knock and turned her head with wide open eyes. She knew it could only be one person. She gulped, remained quiet and turned her eyes again to the moon, a body she looked up to as if it were her praying image.

Her thoughts all nights were partially filled with her friends, how she regretted not being strong as the others, how she had to destroy the Hogyoku, for that was her only chance to feel useful to the others. Sometimes she'd cry and sometimes she'd grin sadly as she looked forward to being useful.

But there was another subject her thoughts just couldn't avoid, no matter how hard she tried: Her captor. What am I supposed to think of him? Why does he come by so often for no other reason than observing me? Does Aizen really order him to check on me so often? Whenever he comes, he acts as if he didn't really know what to say or do; it's so strange. He does not deny Kurosaki - Kun will come. His exact words were: 'Even if they reach far and even if it looks for an instant as if they will win, they will not stand a chance the moment they're before Aizen.' Was he, though hypothetically, saying it was possible for himself to be defeated? At first he told me it was foolish to hope but he no longer does… It's like I've talked to a different person each time he's come.

When she was tired, she'd sit in her couch a few minutes and then stand up again in the same spot. She didn't eat or sleep. She was tired but she refused to rest. She wasn't feeling well physically but she paid little mind to it.

Whenever her Espada capturer occupied her thoughts, she felt confused, hurt and weird simultaneously. What she couldn't figure out was the reason she felt weird with him around. There was a persistent sensation in her that continued saying she had been under his capture for longer than she thought and that he was different from the Arrancar that originally imprisoned her soul. She also felt fear. Not of him but of herself.

She thought of herself as a respectful person, always addressing people formally, and also shy, at times. But when it came to the Cuarta Espada, she was defiant, willful, firm…Different. She could not recognize herself. For a while, she had constantly wondered why Ulquiorra seemed to act different, almost as if he were not himself. (She had no idea how she could know that, though.) But she herself was also not being herself when he was in the same room as her. Moreover, she could even express her opinion to him bluntly. Whatever they held in that dark room was, if not a conversation, then something akin to one.

'Then, why can't you pronounce my name, Ulquiorra Schiffer?' Those had been her exact words. She had, without any trouble, said his name. No honorifics and no stuttering, not to mention the uncharacteristic noncompliant tone in them. Why, of all people, did it have to be Ulquiorra Schiffer, her enemy, the one whose name she could say out loud? Why couldn't she do the same for 'Kurosaki - Kun'? Or even 'Kuchiki - San'?

I don't want to think anymore. – She cried inwardly in so much befuddlement. – I don't want to speak again… I must not speak to him again. I cannot let him sway my thoughts like this… Is this perhaps part of the control he's trying to establish on me? I…I don't want to feel like this anymore. I'm tired… I must not speak to him…

-I'm coming in. – Ulquiorra announced, not aware that this was the first time he didn't just knock the door, but also announced his visit.

He wasn't surprised to see her under the scarce light that could pass through the small window.

He momentarily glanced at the food plates on her table. They were untouched and cold by then. He sighed. She had refused to eat before, it was no wonder she was doing the same this second time.

-You should eat. – He told her.

She replied with silence, ignoring him, not even sparing him a glance.

-The food is not poisoned. – He insisted.

And she also insisted in ignoring him.

Ulquiorra frowned. He felt insulted.

-Woman, it is my duty to make sure you're healthy.

He approached her slowly. The sound of his every footfall echoed with a solemn rhythm that was in sync with Orihime's heartbeats.

Both of his hands were in the pockets of his white hakama while he stood facing her right profile. She could see him with her peripheral vision but refused to turn her head to him.

-Is there any particular reason why you insist in ignoring me, woman?

Orihime had her lips sealed but she could not mask the anxiety in her face. Ulquiorra knew she was deliberately trying to ignore him. For some reason, he just didn't like that. Suddenly, a sensation he could not identify was present in him. Also, he couldn't execute the plan S suggested if she ignored him.

Why? – She thought. – Why do I feel this way? He's my enemy. Why did it have to be him the one that could see through me like this? It hurts… Why do I suddenly feel as my whole body aches?

Without giving much thought to it, much unlike him, he took her chin and turned it such that her face was parallel to his.

Orihime's eyes reacted. She had the idea his hands would be cold as ice. She was right, they were very cold. Still, she found that pleasant and almost grinned at the strange and sudden relief the contact had given her.

-How nice… - She whispered feebly with a husky voice.

Ulquiorra's scowl deepened.

-Woman… - Ulquiorra mused out loud.

This does not look good. – He thought.

Ulquiorra got his other hand out of his pocket and placed it over Orihime's forehead. He narrowed his eyes, trying to understand what his hand told him.

-Approximately 38.9° Celsius. – He diagnosed.

The average healthy bodily temperature for human beings is 37 degrees. – He thought while calling forth the information he had read about humans when he was given the assignment of looking after this girl.

-You have a fever. – He concluded with a frown.

Orihime's eyes were not showing focus on him. She wasn't paying any attention to what he was saying.

Before anything else happened, her legs ceased to support her weight as they ran out of strength.

Orihime was falling. Ulquiorra's face, for the first time, showed surprise freely, without any attempt to mask his contracted irises or both of his lifted eyebrows.

With his superior speed, he caught her from her waist and upper back and held her closer to him, deliberately shortening his personal space, something he had so far only done with her. He embraced her close to his body and all of her weight lied on him. He had no idea what was happening. His body was moving on its own as if possessed. He had not spared one second to think; he stopped thinking and just acted relying in nature rather than reason. That was a first. And he was not even aware of it; all that he looked at was at her face, which looked neither conscious nor unconscious.

-Orihime, what's wrong? – He asked.

His voice came out as something more than shocked, something that made a certain woman with magical and semi-omnipotent powers grin widely.

Orihime Inoue merely groaned and then she was out.

Ulquiorra was dumbfounded for a whole minute. He was paralyzed with her body touching his. Contact was foreign and awkward for him. He had never been so close to anyone before, it was a whole new sensation to which he was utterly clueless as to how to manage. The warmth of a human body was numbing to his stone cold skin. How could humans live in such a hot body? No wonder they don't tolerate cold weather well and need to put coats on themselves.

He took a deep breath and regained composure. The human girl under his care was sick and it was his responsibility to look after her. He stared at her. Her face had gone paler with the absence of sunrays around her but her cheeks were flushed and her brow was sweaty.

He listed what he had to do in his head. First of all, he had to get her off him. He had to place her in the bed.

He proceeded to maneuver her in a way that he could lift and carry her with both of his arms under her knees and back. Of course, he was not aware that was known as 'bridal style'. She was actually light, he discovered.

He placed her in the bed gingerly, unnerved since he had an idea of how fragile a human soul is. The best thing to do for the moment was to let her rest.

He proceeded to get a bowl with cool water. Then, he tore off a piece of his jacket to use as a cloth and submerged it in the crystal bowl with water. He put it in her forehead. After that, he merely stood beside her bed, watching her.

He observed her for almost an hour. What was initially an alert for any reaction that would show her health was either improving or worsening turned eventually into appreciation as he took in her every detail, as if she were a living piece of art.

Despite her condition, she looked calm as she slept. He finally paid attention to her long eyelashes and her full lips. The hair in the middle of her forehead didn't look suiting in her, though. Funnily, he realized her hair style resembled a lot the one of that female shinigami that had come to Las Noches. If his memory didn't fail, her name was Kuchiki Rukia.

Once again, he witnessed his body overpowering his mind and aloof nature by brushing the hair to her brow's side. He himself was taken aback.

As if scared, he took a step back, then another one. Finally, he turned curtly and left the room at a pace that was slightly faster than his usual unrushed and calm appearance, which was in contrast with his excelling Sonido.

He laid his back against the other side of her door in the hallway. He looked baffled, unrecognizable.

Why did I do that? There was absolutely no purpose to doing what I did… It was as if my body did not listen to my brain. That is ridiculous and impossible…

-You say it's ridiculous, and, actually, it is. But how can you say it's impossible when you just witnessed it with your own eyes, Ulquiorra? I thought you were the 'See to believe' kind.

Ulquiorra turned to face S. Had he not been having an inner chaos of shock and confusion, he would've fought the urge to stare at her blankly.

S, for what Ulquiorra could see, was a cosplay lover. Over her white turtleneck, she wore her necklace. Her white dress had a straight line of buttons at her left side. She wore simple white flat shoes and a white hat with a red cross on top of her head with her hair loose. Now, she was wearing a nurse outfit with her trademark grin.

She walked closer to him. From behind herself she pulled out an oval-shaped mirror with a bronze frame. Its size was incoherently larger than her back. It was inconceivable to think she could just hide that behind her. She had probably 'convened' it.

She held it in front of Ulquiorra, who, caught off guard, let out a subtle gasp as he saw the same face S was seeing. He looked so…Human. Anxiousness was all over his face, his eyes didn't look the same as usual and his lips were thinly apart, gaping.

S's hands let go of the mirror's frame, but it didn't fall. Instead, it levitated in the air. Perhaps even Ulquiorra would've found it creepy but his reflection was enough to make his irises tremble unstably.

His eyes widened when he felt a couple of hands over his shoulders. He glanced at S standing next to him with the corner of his right eye.

-Like we have talked about earlier, if you can have emotions, then you have no reason to believe you cannot let them out as feelings. – S said while looking at their reflection in the mirror.

Ulquiorra turned to the mirror too. There he could see an exact replica of S's piercing blue eyes, which were staring at the reflection of his baffled green ones.

-Do you know what the expression you have is called? – She asked him straightforwardly.

-I do not. – He replied; his voice sounded hypnotized, void of a humane tone.

S smiled lightly and leaned towards his ear while her eyes were still on the mirror.

-It is called 'worry'. – She whispered.

Ulquiorra's eyes expanded as if a sudden chill had paralyzed him.

-Worry? – His voice turned hoarse.

-And that one is called 'surprise'. – S informed while pointing to his face in the mirror, amused.

There was a silent pause for several seconds. Ulquiorra was reacting to the information and S was studying his reactions thoroughly.

-It can't be… - Ulquiorra tried to frown.

-Are you still skeptical even though you're seeing it in the mirror? The mirror is no trick of mine, Ulquiorra. It's reflecting what is truly before it.

Ulquiorra looked shut his eyes a bit too forcedly and abruptly turned his head to his left.

S's hands let Ulquiorra's shoulders be while leaning away.

-I can tell you do not want to accept your own reflection, Ulquiorra. – She said gravely. – That would be, yet again, denying reality.

Ulquiorra turned his head slowly to the mirror again, glanced at both his and S's reflection.

-Why do you insist in being stubborn over something so…Trivial? – S emphasized the last word with a previous pause.

-Trivial? – He asked blankly and hoarsely.

-Yes, trivial. It is nothing extraordinary for a person to be able to express emotions outwardly. The very fact that you have hardships at it is not a good thing. Expression of feelings is elemental for communication.

Ulquiorra's eyes grew open again. He stared in trance at his own eyes, barely paying any attention to the reflection next to his.

-Yes, Ulquiorra. – S grinned wider. – One of the reasons you have still not had a successfully 'normal' talk with Orihime – San is precisely because of that.

She leaned again and whispered to his ear more words.

-Remember all the conversations you two have had…

Her voice faded but it continued echoing inside his mind.

X Flashbacks X

-I don't think it's right to subject others to an obey-or-die situation…! – Orihime said. – Then why keep living if that's all you can expect of life?

-We are not humans. We don't have that kind of feelings. – Ulquiorra replied.

-Then you think you're machines that have no personal desires or goals?

X

-I don't have feelings like humans do. I let go of that long ago. – He stated.

-I cannot believe that. I can only believe you don't realize you do and therefore don't express them. – She responded.

X

-Why do you insist in calling me 'woman'? I feel like an object.

-It is not my obligation to make you feel good, woman.

X End of Flashbacks X

-Has it clicked in you already, Ulquiorra, or do you need more time? – S asked smiling.

While Ulquiorra was lost in his reflection, she had finally walked away and stood next to the mirror, supporting some of her weight in it with her arm over the bronze frame, which was so exquisite it was worthy of bordering even the most valuable artworks at the most prestigious museums in the world.

-Why…? – His husky voice asked in a whisper.

-I can read minds, Ulquiorra, but that doesn't mean I will not ask you to finish phrasing your own questions, you know? – S said serious with her eyes narrowed; she actually knew where he was going.

-Why do I have to do something I've never done before?

-'Something you've never done before'? You're telling me everything else you've done in the last hours is nothing new to you?

-Why…? – Ulquiorra asked again, actually asking himself. – …For that woman…? Why would I change, express feelings, for that woman?

S snapped her fingers and the mirror 'poofed' back in the castle where she had stolen it from. S didn't look happy. She had her inferior lip curled at one side and her long eyelashes stood out from her half-closed eyes as she witnessed Ulquiorra's inner struggle.

He was yet to notice that S stood with her arms crossed while looking at him with heavy graveness and also that the mirror was gone along with his reflection, but it was too late already. His worried and surprised reflections had already been there and that fact would never change.

-Isn't communication with her something we had already agreed necessary for the achievement of your goal, Ulquiorra? – S spoke softly; patience in her was growing thinner with each second she observed his reluctance.

Ulquiorra was reluctant. He couldn't deny he could express feelings, but he didn't want to. Moreover, he wasn't answering to her and that was only shortening her patience's duration at a faster rate.

-Now I am the one at a loss, Ulquiorra. – S stated with one hand on her hip and a severe look over him. – Now it is myturn to ask why.

Ulquiorra turned to her; frustration overflowed from his face, making it seem even more melancholic than it looked per se.

-Why do you insist in disavowing yourself as a being capable of emotions and feelings? What is it about them that disgust you this much?

-They are for humans. – He replied softly.

S dropped her crossed arms to her sides. She walked towards him with steps that echoed more solemnly and more frighteningly than his. Her face was tilted down while her back was perfectly straight. Her image looked straight out of the creepiest of horror movies. Rather than walking, she gave the feeling that she was prowling towards Ulquiorra.

She made a brusque halt when she was right in front of him. Ulquiorra was mute and frozen right in the spot where he stood.

-'They are for humans'? – She asked him with a deadly low tone.

Ulquiorra was about to frown. Shock took over his face instead when a hand even his skin found cold grabbed his neck, though not roughly. Despite her hold on him not really displaying violence, to Ulquiorra, it felt like a twinge in the throat. He was paralyzed.

Why can't I move? I should be able to escape from this grasp yet I can't… - Ulquiorra pondered with his heart beating fast.

His face was incapable of disentangle his current expression and mask it with his nondescript callous façade. His bewilderment, however, was not what kept his body immobile. There was something else. Whatever that was, it was more than plausible to conclude it originated from S.

S lifted her face curtly. That face might have looked scary as hell at first sight, but, since Ulquiorra was held in place, he had no choice but to see beyond a first glance. His neck wouldn't turn direction and his eyelids wouldn't blink for his life, whereupon he saw the true expression she wore.

S looked melancholic, strongly infuriated and desperate simultaneously. It was a very intricate mixture of emotions. At least, it could be considered of a level too high for Ulquiorra to unravel.

It's like I am forced to be vulnerable, at the mercy of this woman… This is what it is to be human. How pathetic…

-Shut those thoughts up. – The mind-reader commanded gravely.

Although she barely looked threatening, he somehow knew he didn't stand a chance against her. Her imprisonment was not like Aizen's. It was not obey-or-die. Rather, she had chained his very mind. Like the prisoner he was, even his thoughts temporarily ceased flowing.

Oddly enough, he was not feeling resentful to her. He didn't even know what to think of her expression. For an unknown reason, he felt uneasy as he saw her face like that. Seeing the pain plastered in it, it was plausible to believe she was holding back tears; a superior and stronger reason impeded her from shedding them.

-All this stubbornness of yours to refuse accepting feelings and emotions as part of you due to 'them being for humans'? – While she was asking, her tone did not encourage him as to reply.

She looked at his eyes. The windows to his mind were open due to the shock he had. At the same time, he looked at hers. Due to the proximity, this was the first time Ulquiorra actually focused on her eyes in a way that he could only see them. Not even her cosplay was enough to distract his attention this time.

Shockingly enough, those eyes had no barriers. He could see the whole ambivalence present in her written in them. Those eyes didn't give any feeling close to mysterious. Despite all the times he had mused she was quite an enigmatic being, that moment, such a statement would be found impossible. Like his, they were also open for him to see.

He then understood she was expecting to find an answer in him, so she was blatantly looking at him.

He narrowed his eyes slightly and could see his own face reflected in her vivid blue eyes.

-You insist in being a Hollow then, Ulquiorra? – Her voice came out less deadly this time.

-I am a Hollow, S. – He somehow replied; it was as if she had been imprisoning his voice until the moment she wanted him to answer.

S blinked. Suddenly, her eyes moved. His eyes were no longer the object of her focus. Her hand slid down to below his neck, in his hole, the symbol of him being a Hollow, an Arrancar, a non-human creature.

-This damn hole was never meant to be in you. – She said.

Ulquiorra knew his irises had contracted even though he could no longer see his reflection in her blue orbs.

-What are those words supposed to mean? – He asked hoarsely.

-This void space you have below your neck…Have you even realized it holds meaning to you? – S asked before turning her eyes to him again, expecting a verbal answer.

-Meaning? – He asked back in confusion.

-Meaning as a symbol.

-It symbolizes that I am a Hollow. – He frowned. – Of course it has a meaning. It should tell any shinigami I am their natural enemy.

S's scowl indicated she did not like his answer.

-The meaning this hole has is not only a signal for shinigami. Shinigami can understand that from absolutely any hole in any Hollow. I am talking about this particular hole in you, Ulquiorra. You hold it as a flag, something that tells you where you belong.

-All my hole tells me is what I am.

-Wrong. – She hissed. – It tells you what you think you should be. You think you should be like you are. – Her tone gradually began to ascend. - You think you, as a Hollow, a word that apparently is a synonym of monster to you, must show yourself as not human. You believe it natural in you to say you have washed all your original humanity off you. You think!

Ulquiorra felt attacked with each sentence S formed. Where was she trying to take him with them?

-Just what are you telling me, S? – Ulquiorra was at the top of his frustration.

-You heard me, Ulquiorra. – S said loudly. – You stubbornly insist in being that. Why do you want to be that existence?

-I… - Ulquiorra's voice felt as if S's hand were encaging it; he couldn't respond beyond that.

S and he exchanged glances again. She gave a strange sigh, much like a gasp, before letting go of his void at last.

The same hand that temporarily filled his hole proceeded to rub her temples.

S finally backed away a couple of steps. Ulquiorra finally had more personal space. However, he had gotten used to having her eyes so close. Now that she was farther away, she again was mysterious.

At this point, Ulquiorra knew S was not perfect and, although unquestionably powerful, she was not like he thought she was at first. At first, he had the impression she had an impenetrable grin but, he had learned, that grin was fragile at times. S, he understood, was not doing this out of fun. She had a strong reason for doing everything she had done so far and she had been trying her best too. She had mentioned it every time he asked her; it was all for the famous 'favor'.

-S… - Ulquiorra thought out loud.

-Ulquiorra. – S interrupted him. – I had already told you, hadn't I? That hole below your throat is only a mark now, a scar. Now, you know that if you need me to repeat something to you, I will, but there is one thing that I've repeated to you before and has not yet fallen upon you with its whole weight. We are running out of time, Ulquiorra. I will abide many things, but not your stubbornness for refusing to accept yourself, such irrational thing is only slowing down your progress.

Ulquiorra stopped breathing.

Such irrational thing is only slowing down your progress… - Those words continued echoing in his mind.

Irrational… - Ulquiorra repeated in thoughts.

Ulquiorra couldn't believe what was probably the word he disliked the most had just been applied to him. He wished he had misheard her.

-Yes, Ulquiorra, irrational. – S confirmed his thoughts.

Ulquiorra's surprise kept growing, his face revealed. The mirror was no longer there, but Ulquiorra didn't need it. He didn't need to see his face to know his plastered expression was not the one he wished it had. The most frustrating thing was that he couldn't change it. For minutes now, he had lost control of his own face.

-Have you forgotten you were defeated by Ichigo Kurosaki, Ulquiorra? – S was merciless for not giving him a break. – Have you forgotten your existence as Arrancar is, technically, over?

Indeed, Ulquiorra had, for a second, forgotten that… Whatever awaited him next was unknown to him. S had said he would neither go to hell nor to Soul Society. What would become of him? What would happen to the hole below his throat?

-What will be of me?

-I cannot tell you that, Ulquiorra; you know that. – S shook her head. – But I will tell you, your hole will be no longer.

Ulquiorra brought his hand to the space below his throat. While having the continuity of his matter interrupted by that circular hole is unnatural, it had become perfectly normal for him. He could hardly imagine the hole would no longer be there.

-Not only are you aware your existence as the being you think you should be will end soon, you also have understood that your objective requires an established relationship with communication, something you cannot acquire with your current attitude. – S continued. –Shouldn't that be enough to conclude it illogical to insist on keeping the remnants of that nature you have followed so far attached to you?

Ulquiorra could see beyond his reflection in her eyes and she was just not lying. And she was right. He was being irrational.

-I know you agree, Ulquiorra.

S looked at him. She knew he was just awestruck, and, sincerely, she couldn't blame him.

Her face showed a light smile before she walked closer and pushed him back with a hit in the forehead given by just two fingers.

-I'd leave you to think about it but, like I said, we don't have much time at our disposal. More importantly, Orihime – San has a fever. You are her caretaker, so take care of her.

Ulquiorra blinked. He looked dumbfounded a couple of seconds, as if he had just woken up from a strange dream, though, most of the times, he still thought this was all just a strange weird. A woman like S could only be conceivable in a weird. At least, in a world where things made sense… Then again, he had read many times this was a crazy world. Those authors might actually be right.

-Take care of her? – He repeated lost.

-Yes. – S affirmed.

Ulquiorra, after finally getting control of his own facial features, scowled.

-She shouldn't be sick. The first time she was in that room, she did not get sick.

-At the beginning, I mentioned everyone's minds would be 'reset', not their bodies.

Ulquiorra nodded. Finally, he could understand something that came out of S's mouth without an inner crisis event.

-She most likely is sick because of her refusal to eat. – Ulquiorra expressed.

-That's not the only factor, Ulquiorra. – S said.

-What else could have contributed to this result? – He frowned.

-To highlight the power of emotions, the extent of their influence even reaches our physical health.

-That is absurd. Emotions and feelings should only affect the mind.

-The mind is a very powerful thing, Ulquiorra. – S said seriously. – The mind, if determined, can make a difference. But the mind itself is useless. The actions we can do thanks to it are, however, priceless. The mind gives guidance and the body acts accordingly. It has been proven laughter is good for the health.

-How have her emotions made her sick?

-If you add up the time she has been here, both for the first time and this repetition, you'll see her body has already been exposed to a good deal of worry and loneliness in that cold dull room. While emotions can be very influential, they themselves can easily be influenced via our surroundings. I am not surprised she is sick. But you are, Ulquiorra. Seriously, these things would be obvious to you if you were more familiar with feelings.

Ulquiorra gazed down as he absorbed the information S was providing him.

-Before anything, your priority should be to get her well. – S instructed authoritatively.

Ulquiorra was not reacting to her words. S sighed and placed her right hand on his left shoulder. He turned to her in response.

-As you can see, you have quite a task to do in order to understand her and little time to do so, but, Ulquiorra, look at me. I'm standing right here. In case you have not noticed, I'll spell out for you yet another obvious fact: I am here to help. You are slowly making progress; that is what matters. If you do not know something, I've always been there to help you find the answer that is already within you.

Ulquiorra turned to her honest smile and then turned to the door behind them, beyond which the cause of this all was sleeping with a fever.

-You do not want to go in there; I can see that in your eyes. – S seemed to be amused, judging by her voice.

-S, you seem to know everything concerning these events. Why can't you be the one inside? You wouldn't mess up or be at a loss as to what to do.

-That is painfully stupid of you to ask, Ulquiorra. Then what would the point be of this all?! You are the one who must establish a communication relationship with her, not me. My help is limited to advice, not action. I am the mind and you are the body, Ulquiorra Schiffer.

Ulquiorra stared at the door again. Then he glanced back at S.

-How could I establish a communication relationship while she's asleep?

-Don't be ridiculous, Ulquiorra. – S laughed. – Any time at all can offer you a chance to slowly build that relationship.

Ulquiorra sighed, giving in. It was just impossible for him to deny S had authority over him, like a mastermind.

-The reason you are hesitant is because you are not comfortable with the unknown; I know that. - S said while casually laying her back against the wall next to the door. – And that is perfectly natural. History repetitively shows men have always feared the unknown. You encounter too many things you don't understand and that is enough to make anyone uneasy, even frightened. But it's OK, Ulquiorra. This entire trial, you have been encountering nothing but unknowns, and some of those unknowns are already knowledge. – S smiled. – Remember this is necessary. Soon, you'll harvest results of this.

He stared again at the door before him blankly.

I do not want to enter… I no longer know what I will end up doing. It's like I am different when it comes to that woman…

-'That woman'? – S raised an eyebrow. – Are we back there? I thought you could already articulate her name properly.

Ulquiorra replied nothing. He knew S was indirectly reminding him that he was yet to call her name before her and she had to hear it…

-Though the fact that you could already call her 'Orihime' in that room was progress. – S mused out loud. – 'Orihime, what's wrong?' That was so cute, Ulquiorra. You almost make me squeal. – S laughed.

-For the last time, I am not cute.

-Why, so I have to repeat things to you twenty times but you won't repeat things for me nicely? – S mocked.

Ulquiorra turned his head annoyed and entered the room again.

S crossed her arms, satisfied. Then she smiled.

-To think that a mirror could help him progress this far. Why didn't I think about doing this earlier? – She pondered aloud.

Pop quiz time! S was inspired by a character of a popular anime! Who would that character be?