2 Resurrection

He could not be sure how long she had been working on him. He could not know if the war was over yet. Who had won; if anyone. So many thoughts swirled through his head. Uryu and Orihime's argument continued although quieter. She assured the boy that he was not the enemy and the quincy continued that the arrancar had attacked both him and Ichigo. Her only arguments was that the arrancar was not the enemy. That this one was different. He meditated on this idea as he listened to the two of them continuing the discussion. Suddenly both of their voices halted and he could hear Orihime take a sudden sharp breath in. He opened his eyes at this sudden change.

"Ulquiorra." Orihime said in a soft concerned voice.

"Yes" He said in his usual stoic tone.

"Something has happened." she paused as she searched for the words. "Your hollow hole." was all that came out.

"What. What about it?"

He moved his fingers to his throat where his hole is and sharply drew in a breath of his own as he felt nothing but flesh. Not able to believe what he was feeling he put his whole hand over his throat to try to find his hole. Where had it gone?!

"It 'filled' in as I was healing you. I'm sorry. I don't know what happened."

"Your mask hasn't returned either." she paused for a moment more; her eyes wide.

"From what I can tell, you are completely healed." Orihime removed her barrier and sat back.

"Ulquiorra, do you feel alright?" she asked as he realized that she was breathing heavily.

Sitting up with his hand on his throat and a stunned look on his face he thought about her question and 'felt out his body' and with amazement looked at her and answered a breathless,

"Yes."

She smiled at him with a now apparent ragged look of exhaustion and then fell back in collapse. Uryu jumped up and came in close to her. He immediately checked all of her vitals and quickly assessed that she was just exhausted and sleeping. Ulquiorra sat up and leaned in close to her to examine the auburn haired girl that had saved him in so many ways. Uryu looked up at the arrancar with a disturbed look on his face.

"Will she live?" Ulquiorra asked in his usual monotone way.

"She over exerted herself for the two of us." the young man replied to his query.

"You mean for me." he said pointedly to the Quincy.

"Yes." he answered "she promptly healed me. With some ease too. She has a truly amazing ability." the boy sighed heavily as he looked at her slumbering body.

Looking up at the dark haired man next to the girls body he added,

"She then insisted on attempting to bring you back."

"I don't have any idea how she brought you back from nothing, but be thankful that she did. She doesn't see you as a threat; as I do." his face was stern as he looked at the bewildered arrancar across from him.

Ulquiorra reached down to caress the cheek of the sleeping girl. Uryu flinched at the arrancar making a move toward Orihime. What could he do, but he relaxed slightly when he saw the tenderness of the touch placed on her. Suddenly, Uryu saw tenderness in the eyes of the enemy. Ulquiorra caressed her cheek a couple of times before coming back to his normal stalwart self.

He then began to examine his 'new' body. Everything seemed the same to him. Except for the hole in his chest, the mask on his head, and he suddenly realized on his examination that his number four was gone. In its place was a simple six pointed shape similar to a flower which he recognized as the same shape as Orihime's hair pins. This was a strange thing he thought. Why this shape, he wondered. He ran his fingers over the new mark several times with wonderment. Uryu noticed this and asked if the arrancar knew what it meant. He simply shook his head in a negative response to the question.

Ulquiorra started to stand up when he noticed that he was not wearing anything but a small cloak draped over his lap. It only covered from his lower abdomen just below his navel to his upper thigh. He might have felt embarrassed but it was not something that he fully understood. Uryu smiled slightly as he saw the arrancar grab at his cape when he tried to stand up.

Ulquiorra suddenly stepped back in a defensive pose and was looking past Uryu; which caused the boy to turn and look behind him. The boy was familiar with the spiritual pressure that was coming toward them and payed it no mind. Ulquiorra on the other hand was unsure. Two shinigami appeared on the edge of the dome behind Uryu. One was a short dark haired female, that he remembered Orihime called Rukia, and the other a tall man with extensive tattooing and flame red hair that looked like flaming spikes coming out the back of his head. They both noticed the arrancar at the same time and simultaneously reach for their zampakuto. Uryu threw up his hand at the two shinigami and told them to halt. Both looked confused but did what the quincy boy asked, although without removing their hands from their katanas. Being on their guard was what he had expected from them. The young man explained what Orihime had done and that this arrancar had not harmed either of them since his resurrection.

It was then that the dark haired girl named Rukia had noticed the unconscious Orihime, and ran to her side. She spoke her name softly and asked that she wake up. Rukia as well as all the others had noticed Orihime's diminished spiritual pressure. Without a word Ulquiorra stepped into a sonido and was gone. The group looked up at the point where he stood and wondered what would happen with this odd arrancar. Before they could really form any thoughts he had returned. He was fully clothed in his usual garb. His jacket with it's coat tails billowing behind him and the zipper all the way at the top. The two shinigami stood in defense at his sudden return. He had a bundle under his arm that they suddenly noticed. He moved toward the sleeping girl and knelt down by her side. He placed the bundle in the hands of Rukia and informed her that they where Orihime's clothes from the human world. He had kept them for her.

"She will need a fresh change of clothes when she wakes." he spoke softly as if worried to wake the sleeping woman at his feet.

He caressed her cheek one more time and whispered a soft "Thank you" to her and stood up very straight. He then turned to the red haired man.

"Lets get going. Ichigo needs our help." he stated very firmly.

The whole group looked up at him in amazement. They couldn't believe what he had just said. The arrancar was turning against Aizen. How could that be? They couldn't believe it.

"What? You would fight against Aizen, your master." Renji said abruptly stepping forward.

"He is not my master now, nor was he ever." the arrancar stated very firmly to them all.

"I followed the man to stay alive until I could find a time and place to remove him from this life. I thought that moment had passed when Ichigo had defeated me. I had to be sure that the boy would be strong enough to defeat Aizen and was destroyed in that process. By the good grace of Orihime I was returned to fight once more. However, I am no longer a hollow." he unzipped the top portion of his jacket to show his hole no longer existed.

"I am no longer espada either." he fully unzipped his jacket and slipped it off his left shoulder to reveal that his number four had been replaced by the mark of the six pointed flower that Orihime had left with him. He caressed his hand over the mark and replaced his jacket again.

"I don't know what I am anymore, but I do know that we must defeat Aizen. Will you come with me shinigami?" he stepped in to close the distance between he and Renji.

"Yes!" Renji replied pointedly.

Ulquiorra then turned back to Orihime and her two friends that sat close by her. His expression grew soft now. He looked at Rukia.

"Heal her as much as you can. Stay by her side." he turned his gaze to Uryu.

"You as well. Stay with them both and protect them." he stated fiercely to the young man.

"I will return for all of you." he spoke to the group that was being left behind.

With that said he gave a nod to Renji. Renji nodded back in agreement. Ulquiorra retrieved his zampakuto from the sight where it had laid next to his body during his resurrection and slid it into his belt. He stood next to Renji, raised his hand to the space behind them, appeared to touch something although nothing was there, and the space split in two revealing the human world on the other side. He turned and looked back at the girl one more time.

She was gaining conscientiousness again and lifted her head to them. She stretched out her hand to him. He swiftly moved in and took her hand.

"I will keep them safe." he whispered.

"Come back to me." she said in a low hoarse voice

"As you wish." and he stepped through the opening with Renji behind him.

And they where gone.

Orihime looked at Rukia and Uryu and smiled weakly. Rukia took up her hand in her own and held it tightly as the girl fell back asleep. Rukia swept the auburn locks from the girls face, gently placed the hand on the girls stomach, and began the healing process. The friend that she felt responsible for was not in any real danger but was physically and spiritual exhausted. She would simply have to regain her spiritual pressure on her own. Rukia had resolved to do the best that she could.