4 Into Battle
Renji could feel the spiritual pressure of the captains and lieutenants. It wouldn't be long now. He began to raise his own spiritual pressure more. Ulquiorra was moving silently in front of him. Suddenly, Ulquiorra slowed up and move in next to Renji. The flame haired shinigami became nervous at this quick move until the arrancar turned and began talking to him.
"Renji, right?" he said in his toneless voice. "Yes?!" Renji replied.
"I think it would be more beneficial if we split up." he began. Renji was unsure how sound this logic was. Could he be trusted.
"You should circle around and join your comrades. In the mean time I will go right up the center. Aizen will not be expecting me and we have the advantage. We may be able to get him to assume that I am still in his rank of soldiers for a short while." his plan did now seem plausible to Renji.
"We must take every advantage that we can. Aizen is not to be underestimated." the arrancar was right. He knew better then anyone about this man they where fighting.
"O'kay" Renji replied and drifted to the left of Ulquiorra and was gone from his presence.
'This might give us a small advantage.' Ulquiorra thought to himself. 'This is a battle that must be won at any cost. For the sake of the people that we....I am trying to protect.'
Ulquiorra came into the heart of the city. He could see Aizen was fighting someone that he was not familiar with. The man was wearing a hollow mask like Ichigo did, although it was a different style. Ulquiorra came into the clearing of the battle with his reiatsu flaring to draw attention. The battle continued for a moment until Aizen knocked his combatant from the sky in a cloud of concrete rubble and dust. Ulquiorra made his move. Raising his spiritual pressure to such a level that everyone turned and took notice of him. Including Aizen. 'Perfect.' he thought. 'I can stall him for a moment. Giving the others a short time to regroup."
Aizen turned to look at the espada that arrived. He might have been surprised but it was not apparent on his face. That face stayed as cool and calm as Ulquiorra's was. Gin took notice as well and was visibly surprised although remained silent. Aizen turned in his direction.
"Ulquiorra, I thought I left you in charge of Hueco Mundo." he stated pointedly.
Ulquiorra simply nodded.
Aizen raised an eyebrow, "You seem different!"
"Ah, I see. You have made good use of my pet." he said with a slight sneer on his lips.
"So, why have you come here, my fourth espada? Your orders where to protect Hueco Mundo."
Ulquiorra looked at the brown haired man with a stern face. He moved his hand to the top of his jacket and began to unzip the top.
"I am not your arrancar." he stated matter of factly and continued to unzip his jacket. He pushed the jacket off his left shoulder to reveal his new mark.
"And I am no longer your number four."
Aizen's eyes widen at the sight. He could not believe it. How was this possible? For the first time his anger raged and boiled over. How could a mere human girl negate what he had done. It was not possible. His reiatsu flared violently. Ulquiorra had gotten to Aizen. His mere being in this new state was enough to raise Aizen's temper. Ulquiorra drew his zanpakuto and released his own spiritual pressure.
"Bind, `Angel Vengador." the green eyed arrancar stated flatly.
As the words slipped from his lips he realized that he did not call the name of his zanpakuto as he previously knew it. With a flash of light and the swirling of reiatsu Ulquiorra was enveloped by a whirling cloud of spiritual pressure. He could feel his mask changing shape and covering both sides of his head now and the horn like spikes that began to extend from the sides toward the back in an upward sweep. His jacket started to change slightly; having an appearance of golden shoulder armor on either side and the coattails disappearing altogether. He could now feel his wings sprouting from his shoulder blades. This was normal he thought. 'I still have my wings!' But to his surprise it was not the familiar leathery bat wings that he had expected. These wings were very different. They were white feathered wings. Each feather had a slight golden rim on them giving a soft glow to his wings.
When the reiatsu settled Aizen's eyes widened further and his anger brimmed. The sight before him was one of pure contempt in his eyes. 'It's not possible.' The ex-captain assured himself.
Ulquiorra remained still for a while as he self examined. Everyone that had seen him previously could not believe it. The shinigami were in awe at the arrancar, though none but Ichigo had ever seen either of his previous release forms. Most were just inthralled by the majestic form that he displayed.
Ichigo's spiritual pressure became suddenly clear to Ulquiorra and he turned to look at him. The young soul reaper came in on him quickly. Ulquiorra put out his hand; the one that Orihime had cried over. The reiatsu that exuded from his hand was undeniable. It was hers. Ichigo remembered what it had felt like on his own hand. The right hand of both of the men.
"I am here as your ally, Ichigo Kurosaki." the emerald eyed man said firmly to the young boy that was shaking in frustration before him.
"What have you done with her. Did you force her to save you, you bastard." the orange haired shinigami yelled.
"No, I didn't ask her for anything. She did this of her own free will. I owe her everything, and can never truly repay her for the kindness that she has shown me." he kept his tone cool and calm to try to ease the mind of the young man.
"Let me show you, as I have shown Aizen, where my allegiance lies." he turned square to the boy and opened his coat.
Ichigo could not believe his eyes. The hollow hole was gone, and to top it all off the number four that he knew should be on the arrancar's left shoulder was no longer there. Instead it was replaced with the familiar shape of Orihime's hair pins. Ichigo was in shock. It was unbelievable. What was going on here. Why was this espada saved.
Renji came into the group now and confirmed what the dark haired man showed him to be true. That he had heard from Uryu about the whole ordeal. Once more Ulquiorra held out his hand to Ichigo to confirm his assertions by testament of the girls reiatsu on his body. Ichigo began to give in to the idea that his former enemy was now his friend.
"How could you leave her in that place." Ichigo blurted out, more to Renji then anyone.
"Uryu and Rukia are with her. She was spiritually and physically exhausted after the great effort that she put into resurrecting me. I could not bring her with me." He asserted to the shinigami boy.
"As well as the fact, that it is far too dangerous for her here. You know this." the monotone words struck the boy with reality.
There was no way for her to remain safe in this battle. It was better to leave her in Hueco Mundo with Uryu, Rukia, Chad and the four captains that where stranded there. However, the fact that this arrancar was correct did get Ichigo's back up. 'Why does he have to be right.....Bastard.'
"Oh, my." Aizen's sarcastic yet toneless words caught everyones attention.
They all turned to face the man as he spoke.
"My, oh my. I would have never thought you capable of this, Ulquiorra. I guess it is my own fault after all. I did leave you in charge of that woman."
What was Aizen getting at, Ichigo thought.
"I see now, that you are in love with her, aren't you?" he continued.
Ichigo and the others turned to look at the arrancar with shock. Ulquiorra gave no reaction to this statement. How did this happen? This man was our enemy until only a few hours ago. Was what Aizen said true? Could this hollow be in love with Orihime? Why? What if Orihime felt the same way? Ichigo shook off the thoughts and tried to concentrate.
"I owe her my life." Ulquiorra stated simply to his old commander.
"Well, that's nice. Because that is the price of your treachery." Aizen said as he raised his reiatsu for battle.
Ulquiorra turned to square his shoulders at Aizen again. He raised his right hand level with his chest and positioned his arm at a ninety degree angle like he was placing his arm on a flat surface. He increased his spiritual pressure,
"Lanza de Rel`ampago" he stated cooly,
A glow of golden light started to form at his palm. As the light grew he wrapped his fingers around it grasping it tightly. He brought his left hand up in the same fashion in front of the light but not touching it. Keeping his right arm at the perfect angel he began to twist his upper body to the right. The light grew and extended as he twisted his body. He moved his right foot back as his left shoulder and arm where now straight and facing the dark haired man, then he took on a defensive position to brace for battle.
On the top of the dome of Los Noches Orihime finally became conscious again. She stirred so slowly that Rukia and Uryu weren't even sure that she was really rousing at first. The young auburn haired girl stirred and sat upright and yawned a big yawn. She blinked repeatedly and rubbed her eyes. It was as if she had only woken from a deep sleep. She looked around to get her bearings. She immediately saw Rukia's glowing face. Rukia was so relieved to see her friend was well. Orihime couldn't believe that Rukia was alive and with her.
"Oh, Rukia!" the girl screamed as she jumped on her friend in a strong embrace.
Rukia laughed at the silliness of the girl and returned the warm hug. It was such a relief for the two friends to be reunited after all this time. The sense of peace that the two felt at this event was so great. Uryu on the other hand was beginning to feel left out.
"Hey, what about me. I suppose I'm chopped liver." Uryu snorted half-heartedly.
He wasn't really hurt just that it was his way of expressing his own joy in his friends recovery. Orihime looked up from her embrace of Rukia.
"Uryu!" she squealed. Then promptly jumped on him as well. She hugged him so tightly that he let out a whirl of breath that he couldn't recover.
Orihime was overwhelmed with joy. All of her friends where O'kay. She began to look around for everyone else that she expected to be there with her. Chad, Renji, and of course Ulquiorra. She looked all around the dome, but could not see them. Her look grew confused.
"What's wrong Orihime." Rukia asked with a very concerned tone in her voice.
"Where is everyone else? Chad...Renji...." she really paused before saying the next name, "Ulquiorra?"
Uryu looked at Rukia and silently accepted the responsibility of explanation. He got to his feet and stood in front of Orihime.
"Well, Chad is still here in Hueco Mundo. He is fighting with the captains right now." Orihime was puzzled why captains where in Hueco Mundo; she had no memory of the captains arrival.
"The Soul Society sent four captains to Hueco Mundo to aid us in your rescue and to help stop Aizen. As you know Aizen has already gone to the human world." the quincy continued.
"Renji has gone to the human world to help Ichigo and the others." he stopped here.
"And Ulquiorra. What about him? Is he alright?" she was almost pleading for information.
"He is the one that took Renji to the human world."
"He left you these." Rukia placed the bundle of clothes in her lap. "He said they are your clothes from the human world."
"Really?!" she was surprised, "I thought that they were thrown out or something."
She unwrapped the bundle of clothes slowly. Her facial expression changed to a look of confusion.
"What is it Orihime?" Rukia asked, noticing her change in expression.
"These are not clothes that I had here." she said shakily.
"What?" Rukia leaned in to see what kind of clothes they where.
There was a crimson pleated skirt, a snug white tee shirt, a black denim jacket, some socks, knee high black boots, and a white cotton bra and panty set. All folded so neat and perfect one piece on top of the other. Laying neatly on top of all of this was a small piece of paper folded perfectly in quarters. Orihime picked it up to find her name printed in precise handwriting on the top of it. The writing was beautiful and sweeping; like nothing she had ever seen before.
"Those aren't your clothes?' Uryu asked.
"Yeah, they are my clothes. But I didn't bring these here. I was wearing my uniform when I came. They took that from me and gave me their clothes to wear. I was told that I wouldn't need anything; that it would all be provided for me."
The shinigami and quincy exchanged puzzled looks at one another. Orihime opened the letter addressed to her and began to read.
Dearest Orihime,
I can not express my gratitude to you for what you have done for me. I only ask that you stay away from the battles and stay safe until I can return for you and your comrades. You know that my emotions are buried deep inside, but I will strive to show you how you have affected my spirit.
You will find a set of clothes wrapped with this letter. I hope that they are to your satisfaction as I am unaware of what clothes you would wear. I'm sure that you are curious as to why these clothes are ones that you left behind. It is with some amount of shame that I admit that I was curious about you and went to your apartment in the human world to investigate you. This was only recently so I was sure that your apartment had been abandoned. I did spend some bit of time there. Please forgive my intrusion of your home. When I see you again, I will clarify more of these actions to you as I am short on time at this moment.
Rest assured that I will return soon with all your friends that are in battle now. We will triumph I assure you of this. I now understand what Kurosaki meant when he told me that he we will win, not because he can, but because he must. Until I return, be well.
Ulquiorra Schiffer
Orihime breathed a deep sigh, held the letter to her chest and closed her eyes. She meditated for a brief moment on her new companion and the words that he had written.
"Is everything alright, Orihime?" Rukia asked with concern for her friends state of mind.
"Yes, all is well." she said softly.
Uryu went to a far edge of the dome and turned his back to the woman behind him. Orihime changed her clothes quickly while Rukia stood close by. The dark hair shinigami women refused to leave her side under any condition.
The reunited friends had decided to leave the top of the dome and to go to the captains and assist them. Rukia and Uryu where some what wary of this plan as they were both thinking of Orihime's being taken again. However, under the sweet smiling face of Orihime neither of them could deny her when she insisted on helping, and getting back to Chad. She longed to see him and express her gratitude toward him for coming to rescue her. As many people have found, when Orihime asks for something and turns on her sweetness it is near impossible to resist her. Uryu was now convinced that this was another power of hers. He smiled to himself as he chuckled inwardly at his thought.