Chapter 5

Long, thin fingers hit a few buttons on a metallic device. A fuzzy voice came through, Yes, Szayel-sama? Thin lips tilted in a cold, scientific smile. "I need surveillance in both the Quatra's quarters, and the Sexta's quarters. Before they arrive back." The fuzzy voice came through again, Right away, Szayel-sama. A lilting laugh wedged its way through that smiling mouth. "Oh, this is going to be interesting."

"Grimmjow, go back to your room. You've worn the same clothes for three days now."

"Yeah, but they were washed!"

"It doesn't matter. Go put on some clean clothes and sleep in your own bed tonight."

"But Nyan-chan won't come down!"

"I'm sure you'll both be fine for one night. It's not as if I'm going to brutally murder her while you're gone. Now get out."

Slowly, a dejected Grimmjow left the room, and Ulquiorra sighed. He wasn't sure how much that man was good for him. Sure he felt comfortable around the man most of the time, but those other times were hell, and he didn't know how long he could hold out before giving in to his base desires. Though he would never admit it, even to himself, he subconsciously knew that he wanted the man. Pulling out a book, Ulquiorra decided that he should actually finish this novel, seeing as he had the rest of the day to himself. It was one that human females seemed to enjoy. It was about something called a "vampire" and another thing called a "werewolf." He really didn't understand what they were or what they had to do with the transition from day to night, but if it would teach him more about humans he would suffer through it. He finished the entire series and looked at the clock; still three more hours until his designated time for sleep. He leaned back and sighed. The novel had taught him nothing about human culture other than the silly things that teenage girls would obsess about. Gin had told him to look at something called "fanfiction" though, which would supposedly tell him even more about what went on inside human's minds, but he didn't quite trust the fox-faced man. He looked up towards where Nyan-chan was sleeping and smiled. He had an idea that could potentially kill three hours….

The light from the monitor reflected in Szayel's wide eyes. One screen showed Grimmjow just lounging about, but what had caught his attention was the other one—Ulquiorra's room. The black-and-white screen displayed Ulquiorra sitting cross-legged on the floor, dangling what appeared to be something humans called "yarn" above a small animal, who was thrashing about. He would recognize that creature anywhere. He had considered her a failure; that manipulative bitch, Stephanie.

Nyan-chan rolled on the floor, trying to attack the small thing dangling in front of her. She knew that this brought the raven-haired man joy, she could read it. Not on his face, though it was there, Humanoid facial expressions were hard to read after all, but in his mind. Nyan-chan had to admit that she enjoyed it too. This thing called "playing" was foreign to her, but it was alright, she guessed. She chased after the elusive object bouncing away in front of her.

She opened her eyes to bright lights and a feminine face. She was suddenly overcome with thoughts, things that were unreal to her, that seemed like she wasn't remembering them, but they were somehow injected into her mind. Once she regained control of her mind and these various thoughts, she could feel a sense of… pride… coming from the pink-haired man hovering over her. She was confused. Why could she feel the… emotions… of this man above her? His thoughts were not her own. She had a prickling feeling between her shoulder blades. Danger! She rolled off the table, a needle sticking where her neck had just been. She sniffed the air. It smelled burnt. Poisonous. That needle up there was indeed dangerous. She had to stay away from it. She looked over suspiciously as the pink haired man made a mark on his paper. He seemed… pleased… Suddenly, the pink haired man was crouched down, staring at her. He seemed to be trying to… say something… with his eyes… She faintly sensed… or heard somewhere in the back of her mind "Welcome to the world." She didn't know what it meant, but the injected thoughts that weren't quite her own told her that it was a good thing. That she should use a certain phrase… she tried to send back "Thank you." The man smiled and made another mark on his paper. He suddenly laughed quietly, which made her jump, he hadn't made noise up until then, she hadn't known he was capable of noise. She had another half-heard half-sensed thought itching at the back of her mind, "You're a success, Stephanie." She didn't know what she was a success of or for, but success is a good word.

Months had passed and she had gained ownership of her knowledge, she had realized that this was what those half-hers thoughts were. She had also gained mastery of her telekinesis. She was able to hear and send thoughts and feel out other's emotions. Szayel was starting to hate her, she could feel it. She often caught snippets of thoughts. They were angry at her, calling her a "half-success" saying that her personality was flawed and that she was "a manipulative bitch." Yes, she had "manipulated"—she supposed that's what it was, she was simply using skills that Szayel-sama had given her—the fraccion into giving her things that Szayel-sama had told them not to. He had her on a strict diet, but the food had simply smelled so good that she couldn't resist asking politely for some. The fraccion didn't want to do it of course, so she would reason with them— yes, her logic was twisted sometimes, but the fraccion were stupid and accepted what she said without fault. She would snack happily on the decadent fish and meat that was supposed to be for Szayel-sama. Once he found out, however, he expressly told the fraccion to never give her anything that she asked for, no matter how well rounded her logic was. She was punished for that, and she didn't realize why. When the fraccion started to not pay attention to her, she began trying to wander around outside, for which she was locked in a small cage with all the other "failures." It was truly terrible, and she began to hate it there. One night, a particularly dense female fraccion walked past her cage. Stephanie tugged at her heartstrings, asking for just a little bit of time outside to stretch her legs, Szayel-sama would never have to know. Of course the fraccion let her out and she promptly ran as fast as her stiff legs could take her. The sniffed in contempt, the stupid thing had even left the door open. She made it outside of the lab, and continued to flee. Szayel would be able to find her inside. She ran until she was out of Las Noches and into the sands. The moon stared down at her, casting a twinkle of light in her eyes. Freedom. Finally, beautiful freedom; there was so much clean air that she could actually breathe! No formaldehyde, no disinfectants, no smell of death and decay. She looked back, the wind already masking her footprints. No one would find her now.

She wandered for months. There was little to no food or water. Every living thing she encountered tried to attack her, most of the time she got away unscathed, other times she wasn't so lucky. She used everything she had just to survive. At one point she considered going back to the lab. She was almost starved; if someone had looked at her they could have counted all her ribs without even touching her. If they had pet her tail they would have been able to feel each individual vertebrae. She made it back to the only place where she was steadily fed—Las Noches. She was so weak that she didn't even notice the large hollow creep out of the sand. She continued walking; one paw slowly in front of the other paw, hardly making progress. She felt the sting of the claws as they ripped through her flesh, the hot, sticky blood coat her fur. She felt the wind pass her by as she flew through the air, only to land a few feet away with a sickening thud. She was delirious with the pain; all she knew was that she was going to die. She was only vaguely aware of another presence killing the predator hollow before she passed out, sure that this was her last time seeing the moon.

She woke up a few minutes later, the smell of death still upon her. She slowly lifted her head as high as she could manage. The large hollow that had almost successfully killed her lay there, head severed from its animalistic shoulders. She could feel the blood still flowing from her wound and drying around the edges. She started to pull herself towards her only chance of life. Szayel-sama could heal her. He had the ability. It wouldn't be difficult at all for him. She dragged herself along the sand; with every pull she repeated her mantra. "Szayel-sama can save me." She kept going. She made it a few feet outside the walls when she collapsed, completely out of energy. She had been so close. She was sure she would die here. Szayel-sama wouldn't have healed her anyways. She was a failure. She was hated. She was destined to die from the very moment that Szayel had started to resent her. She closed her eyes, silently accepting her fate.

She heard a noise; the soft sound of feet in sand. She felt his presence. He was the one who had killed the hollow before it killed her. He was strong! She tried to flee, but only managed to pick herself up and flop back down. The thing came over. She looked up at him. It was an Arrancar, like Szayel-sama. He seemed curious, but not bloodthirsty. He uttered something and walked away. She had to take this chance. She uttered the most pathetic and heart-wrenching sound she could make. A small mewl, like that of a kitten, yet full of pain and hope that he would take her in. She heard him shuffle back, and winced at the pain that came when he gently lifted her from her spot on the sand. She was saved.

When she woke up after being healed, she tried to tell Grimmjow-sama "Thank you," but he didn't seem to receive her message. She tried again and again, but to no avail. She had suffered too much damage. She was disappointed that she wouldn't be able to use that skill anymore, but she was too happy to be alive to dwell on it too much. Besides, she had other ways to communicate. She decided that to repay this man who had been kind enough to save her; she would do anything she could to make him happy.

Ulquiorra looked back at the clock. He had spent almost four hours playing with Nyan-chan. He had lost track of time until she had lied down and refused to chase the elusive prey, choosing instead to glare at it. Ulquiorra sat up and tossed the string onto Nyan-chan's side. She quickly grabbed it and began chewing, tail twitching in victory and pure joy. With a yawn, Ulquiorra changed and slid into bed. He was not disappointed that Grimmjow wasn't there. He really wasn't. Closing his eyes, he went to sleep, dreaming of Nyan-chan, string, and most of all, Grimmjow.

A/N: I just realized that I've had serious time gaps… They go to a morning meeting, and then I don't address what the hell happens after said meeting, and then suddenly it's like night time… Sorry if you didn't notice that and I totally ruined it for you, so I guess I'll write or allude to some things that they do during the day… Ulquiorra reads! A lot! Grimmjow lounges and kills things. He wanders the halls. I have no clue what they effing do during the day D: How do we even know it's daytime? ARTIFICIAL SKY! (Hey, if anyone can guess what book Ulquiorra's reading, and tell me why it's very cruel of me to do that to him [it's not that difficult] I'll give you a cookie and a hug :D ) [btw, I had to re-type "clock" several times because for some reason my 'l' button didn't want to work D': ] [I hope you realize that I'm writing the author's note as I'm writing the story, so it's a sort of running commentary… If you want to understand and can't remember, it's in chronological order, just for shits and giggles] OKAY, so if you read my last Author's note, or whichever the hell one I wrote that little thing about Grimmjow calling out "Nyan-chan" and I said "Stephanie!", I could not get that name out of my head. SO. Stephanie makes another appearance… :P Her backstory makes me sad D':
OKAY! I hope that made sense to everyone… It makes sense to me.