Ulquiorra laid his head back on his bed trying to ignore the throbbing pain that had replaced the space where his left eye used to be. His mission was accomplished, the boy observed and found wanting, and his report given to Aizen. He should be able to relax now, but his mind remained a stir of half understood thoughts and feelings. Why had that girl caught his attention so? Why had he felt a twinge of relief when the boy they had been looking for arrived just in time to stop Yammy's attack on her? Ulquiorra sighed and turned his head on his pillows. He was now facing his reflection in the mirror. He tried not to wince at the gaping and bleeding hole that stared back at him.
"Why do I care anyway?" he quietly asked himself. One would hope that three life spans spent as a hollow would be enough to finally irradicate all instances of caring. It had been for a while. As a full hollow Ulquiorra had felt little beyond an insatiable hunger the few times he had ventured to Earth. All that had changed now that he had been altered so radically, so fundamentally by Aizen. Emotions that he no longer even had names for had begun to awaken themselves in him again. He hated them...he hated feeling weak and driven by them. Oh, how he desired to be a being of perfect logic and thought and no more. Maybe one day Aizen would find a way to evolve him again and that desire would finally be satisfied.
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Orihime hummed prettily to herself as she stirred the pot on her small stove. She was in a fairly good mood considering all that she had been through today. She had been healed of her injuries and had then been instructed by Yourichi to go home and rest. And rested she had...and now she was ravenously hungry. As she removed the pot from the stove she said to herself, "Well it is no wonder that is was a good day considering really. Besides Chad, no one was hurt too seriously and I healed him. Tatsuki was OK after she was removed from the presence of those monsters as well. And Ichigo came, just like I knew he would. He will never let me down." She smiled at that thought and sat down to eat her supper.
Later that night as she rested on the couch doing a cross-stitch piece, she heard someone knocking at her door. She laid her handwork down and got up to answer it. "Kuchiki-san! What a nice surprise!" Orihime said to the small figure outside her door.
"How are you doing tonight, Inoue?" Rukia asked as Orihime let her in.
"Oh...I'm just peachy! Whatever Yourichi gave me really helped...that and the fact that I have such a hard head." she giggled to herself as she went into the kitchen to make Rukia some tea.
"Matsumoto has been really worried about you lately, Inoue. Captain Hitsugaya as well, though getting him to admit it would be like pulling teeth from bird. Are you still upset at what Urahara said to you about staying out of the coming battles?" Rukia gently asked her from the couch.
Orihime wiped at the tears forming in her eyes and answered, "A little...yes Kuchiki-san." She brought the two steaming cups into the living room and set them down on the table in front of Rukia.
"I believe there is no reason for you not to be able to fight with us, Inoue. Tsubaki is back to his restored and grumpy self and I think it will take nothing but just practice to get you ready to stand with us in the winter war." Rukia said carefully sipping at her tea. She placed her cup back down and looked at Orihime square in the eye. "In fact I have taken it upon myself to be the one to train you. That is if you would have me, Inoue."
"Oh! Kuchiki-san! Yes! Yes! You don't know how much this means to me!" Orihime exclaimed jumping up from her chair and enveloping Rukia in a tight hug. "Thank you so much!" she whispered to the startled, but happy shinigami.
After Rukia had taken her leave, Orihime dressed for bed barely able to contain her soaring heart. She just knew she would become much stronger and adept with Rukia by her side lending her all of her knowledge! And just to think! She wouldn't have to be protected by Ichigo anymore! She could stand by his side helping him fight instead of behind him being a liability to him. Then maybe his eyes would finally see her and light up the way they did when he saw Rukia.
As she lay in her bed heart all aglow she dreamed a beautiful fantasy that deepened into a real dream as she sunk down towards sleep. In it Ichigo would look at her amazed by her abilities and determination to stand with him no matter the monsters sent against them. He would take her into his arms and whisper in her ear, "I was just a fool not to see it before Inoue, but you are the most beautiful girl in all of the worlds, both the living and the dead." Then he would oh so gently place his lips on hers for her very first kiss and what a kiss it would be! She trembled and sighed happily at that beautiful thought unaware that she was being measured, analyzed, and found intriguing in a place so dark her heart couldn't imagine it.
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And here was Ulquiorra, left eye now restored and ready to record all that he saw and did yet again, before Aizen's throne.
"This girl that you saw in the human world, she is quite fascinating is she not?" Aizen asked him motioning to the image that played above the shattered remains of his previous eye.
Ulquiorra's insides dropped just a touch at that question and her image but he calmly intoned, "Yes. I believe she is actually reversing time when she heals people. A godlike power for sure. I have never seen it's like before."
Aizen tapped his thumb against his lips and quietly repeated, "A godlike power..." while studying her image. He then turned to Ulquiorra again and announced, "I want to study this power of hers more fully. I need time to prepare for her though. You will take this girl from the human world and bring her here exactly one month from now. You can take who you want with you and you can plan things however you wish, just get her here. You have my faith that you will do well my Numero Cuatro. You may leave me now."
Ulquiorra bowed and then quickly left the throne room quite aware and distressed at all the feelings that Aizen's order to him were bringing to the surface. He angrily buried them deep and began thinking out his plan to kidnap the girl.