chapter 4: a visit to the woods
everything that night had gone smoothly though ichigo's dad didn't show for dinner he had something to do. ulquiorra sat with rukia and watched her draw. he decided he would try too and got a crayon and drew himself rukia ichigo and stark. rukia looked down at the picture and smiled.
"who is that, little one?" she asked pointing to stark. ulquiorra allowed a smile to grace his lips.
"that is coyote stark. he saved me from the other espada who were beating me up." he said softly. "he is nice and makes the emptiness go away." rukia looked shocked for a moment and then smiled and pulled the toddler into a hug.
"thats wonderful ulqui-chan." she said softly and looked up seeing ichigo sanding in the doorway. "come little one its time for bed. we have to go to the soul society tomorrow." rukia said standing and walking to ichigo's room. ulquiorra nodded as they went upstairs. he was set in the closet and he changed curling up in his bed. rukia and ichigo went to sleep while the child laid awake for bit before drifting off to a nightmare filled sleep. he awoke in the middle of the night tears coming from his eyes. he held his hand up to his cheek and wiped the tears away. he looked down at his hand and then turned and opening the closet. he jumped down careful not to wake rukia and ichigo. he went to the bathroom and cleaned off his face when he came back into the room rukia was awake. freezing in the door he looked at her with his cold emerald eyes.
"what is it little one everything alright?" she asked softly taking note of the red rim in his eyes.
"yes Ms. rukia im fine." he said softly and went back to the closet but stopped. "actually could i go out for a bit? i will be back by morning."
rukia furrowed her brow. "where would you be going little one?" she asked.
"to visit someone." he said climbing into bed. "i will leave my gigai here so the others won't know i'm gone." he said laying back.
rukia bit her lip and stood up. "alright but i'm going to join you i cant let you go out alone unprotected in the state you are in."
ulquiorra frowned. "i will be alright the person im seeing is strong and will protect me. you shouldn't come with he might mistake you for the enemy."
rukia shook her head. "i must come with you but i can stay back so he won't see me."
ilqiorra sighed and nodded. "alright but once i am safely with him can you leave?" he asked softly and she nodded.
"yes make sure he returns you home safely." she said and walked over sliding on her red glove. she placed her hand on his chest and the gigai fell back and ulquiorra hopped out of bed and waited for rukia to leave her gigai. with that they both went downstairs and walked out the front door past ichigo's dad whom was just getting in. rukia walked past the older male un aware he could see her. uqluiorra however looked up at the man and then walked passed him seeing the shock on his face. he knew he would have to speak with him l were out of the ater. once they had leftulquiorra led the way jumping from rooftop to rooftop until he got to a forestish place. he turned to rukia
"this is where i must ask you to leave . i will be fine from here." he said to the girl. she gave a hesitant nod and flash stepped away. the minute she was gone ulquiorra let out a week serro and blew up a tree. a minute later stark appeared where the smoldring tree was. the toddler let his cold exterior fall and a smile graced his lips as he ran to the bigger male and held his arms out. stark bent down scooping up the toddler and kissing his head.
"you woke me up but im still glad to see you." he said with a soft smile. "why did you summon?" he asked looking down at the toddler whom was clinging to him.
"the nightmares came back and i wanted to see you." ulquiorra said softly nuzzling the bigger. "has szayel figured out how to fix me? i want to go back with you."
starrk shook his head. "not yet but soon uqluiorra. only a few more days." he said going and sitting against a tree. "did you find somewhere safe to hide?" starrk asked the toddler. ulquiorra nodded with a small smile.
"i have been placed in the care of two soul reapers. Mr. Urahara arranged it all." he told the bigger male. Starrk smiled and pet ulquiorra's head.
"That's good. you only have to stay with them for a few days and then I can bring you home." He said softly and stood holding the toddler.
'I better take you back it will be sunrise soon." Starrk said and began walking towards the home of the substitute soul reaper. It was a short walk in which ulquiorra chattered on about what had happened since he had come to the human world and starrk nodded listening to him thinking he was adorable. He wished ulquiorra would be this relaxed all the time. Once they were back starrk helped ulquiorra in through the window after kissing the toddler's cheek he left. Ulquiorra turned to be greeted by ichigo whom was standing waiting for him.
"And where the hell were you?" Ichigo asked.
" I had a nightmare and went fr a walk. Ms. Rukia came with me for part of it but left me in the hands of starrk. He returned me before sunrise as promised." He said his emotionless mask falling into place. Ichigo scowled but knew he couldn't punish the toddler whom had done no wrong.
'All right kid get back in bed and get some rest we are off to the soul society tomorrow." Ichigo said laying back in bed after helping the toddler into bed. Ulquiorra wrinkled his nose a bit.
"Perhaps I could just stay?" He asked not wanting to go but ichigo shook his head.
"No you must come along." He said and went back to sleep. Ulquiorra huffed and rolled over hiding his head under his blankets and closing his eyes. He fell to a dreamless sleep until awoken by rukia. He got up and got ready then went down for breakfast. He ate small bits and pieces but didn't finish the plate before pushing it away. After they had finished eating rukia and ichigo took him to hat and clogs shop. He napped on rukia's shoulder the hole way to the soul society. Once there they went to the captain's meeting. Standing out in the hall holding rukia's hand while looking at the big wodden door's was intimidating. They opened revealing all the captain's rukia pulled ulquiorra through the door's and stood in the center.
"Ichigo and I have been placed in the care of one of the arrancar. Something happened to him and he reverted back to a child. The other arrancar bullied him out of hueco mundo." She said looking up at the captains. Ulquiorra felt something stir inside him. He had not had emotions often so when he had them he knew it was best to listen. He was feeling fear and intimidation. He shook slightly and moved a bit more behind rukia.
"I think we should kill it. Be out an enemy." Said one of the captain's.
"No I think we should keep him he could be of use him against the others." Said another.
"He is merely a child we should protect him if we show our kindness it could be returned." Said lady unohana.
"Enough!" Shouted the first captain. "Child come forward." He said to ulquiorra. The toddler stepped forward a bit and looked up at the man with his ice cold eyes.
"What are your intentions by coming to us?" He asked. Ulquiorra blinkef and opened his mouth.
"After the invasion of ichigo and his friends wwe were left in a terrible state. I was turned to this form and kicked out. Starrk has been lowered to 3 espada and wishes to join with you. He is my mate so I will follow him and wish to aid in your fight. There are two others who wish to join as well. Once they have found a way to fix my condition they will likely flee and come here. If you will allow us we wish to help." The toddler said to the first captain. The man nodded and looked to the others.
"He will stay in the care of rukia and ichigo after spending a day here to be monitored by those who wish to be insured he is not dangerous." He instructed.
They all nodded and the meeting was called to an end and lady unohana came over to ulquiorra bending down. "Hello little one. I happened to notice the burn on your hand would you like me to fix it for you?" She asked. The child looked down at his hand and realized when he had summoned starrk that night he had hurt himself. He held his hand to the captain and allowed her to fix it. He smiled and reached up hugging her. She was nice like orihime. He thanked her and then slipped out of the room rukia talking with her brother. The little hollow ran through the hall out to the court yard and bumped into a little girl with pink hair.
She smile "hey there! I've never seen you before. Let's play tag I will be it first ready go!" She said and ulquiorra rned running from the girl both using flash step. The little hollow was confused but decided it couldn't hurt to play. He had nothing better to do.
They played for a bit one chacing the other until they bumped into someone whom picked a fight with ulquiorra. Ulquiorra had been running from the girl when he slammed into someone's leg. He looked up seeing the red headed soul reaper he had fought before. He scowled and jumped back.
"What the hell?! Your a brat now?!" He asked glaring at the toddler.
Ulquiorra glared back "yes I have been turned into a toddler. I'm busy so bye." He said and tried to run off but renji drew his sword.
"Oh no you don't I can't let you run off here and do who knows what. Ulquiorra glanced behind him and scowled the pink haired girl hadn't found him yet he could still fight. He drew his sword and looked up at renji.
"Let's do this quickly." He said his voice turning to steel.
hey guys sorry for the wait here is the next chapter I hope you enjoy it sorry its a cliff hanger but it is longer then most of the chapters I post please leave comments it makes me want to write more. See you all next time bye~