Ulquiorra was not allowed enough time to consider what he would say to his master. Aizen found him first.

"Ah, Ulquiorra. How did it go?" he asked, though he already knew.

"She is very interesting. I wish you would have told me more about her before hand," he carefully confessed.

"As I'm sure you've noticed, she lacks self-control and respect for anyone other than myself. I was hoping you would be useful in remedying that. However, she asked me not to talk about her too much before you to met. She wanted to meet you without any preconceptions…and I did warn you that she could be a try on your patience."

Ulquiorra appeared unsure.

"Is there a problem?"

"She is…stronger than I expected," he carefully began.

"If you don't think you can do it, that's fine," Aizen passively challenged. "I wouldn't blame you, she can be most unruly and if you think it would be a waste of your time…"

"No, Aizen-sama," he quickly corrected. Though he wasn't exactly thrilled with the woman, he knew that her abilities were significant and to let something like that go to waste would be a great loss to their side. "I was just hoping you could provide some suggestions. As you have said, she only seems to respect you."

Aizen smiled a little. "I suppose that is fair. I'm sure you've noticed she likes games. If you have trouble getting her to cooperate with you, I suggest you turn the task at hand into a game and she will comply." He said nothing more as he left Ulquiorra to return to his quarters alone.

Ulquiorra found one problem with Aizen's advice. If he turned their training exercises into games, which sounded like a good idea in and of itself, there would have to be a winner. He didn't want to lose to her and he was under the impression that she wouldn't want to play for very long if she didn't have a chance of winning. However, at the moment, he was left with no other option.

The following afternoon, he met her in the training facility as they agreed once again, she was in annoyingly high spirits. However, as she agreed, she was more willing to allow him to lead their session. Eventually, though, she did start to complain.

"This is boring," she whined.

"Okay. Let's play a game," he offered, appreciative that she was much easier to deal with this time.

Her eyes lit up, "Really? What do you want to play?"

"I thought starting with a game of tag would be appropriate. I will even give you a five second head start," he playfully offered.

"How do I win?" she asked anxiously, getting ready to bolt.

He thought for a short moment. "We will play for three hours who ever is it when time is up is the loser."

She nodded and disappeared.

Ulquiorra smirked and after five seconds he began to chase after her. After forty-five minutes, he found her. She giggled as she easily dodged him.

"Now, now, you'll have to be faster than that," her bell-like laughter echoed through the empty corridors of Los Noches.

In response, he shot her with a blast of energy, knocking her to the ground where he tapped the top of her head, "Tag. You're it."

"You cheated!" she yelled after him but he didn't answer.

He used what little time she took to stand to get as far from her as he could. He need to get into a good position to follow her without drawing her attention. Soon enough, she figured out where he was and pulled a similar trick on him. This continued for the remainder of their three hours, vicious sneak attacks followed by playful tags. It was obvious she was thoroughly enjoying herself and he couldn't help having a good time himself. It wasn't something he could regularly engage in but it was a nice break from the normal pace of the Heuco Mundo.

As the time drew near, their attacks became increasingly fierce. He managed to get the last tag in before the time was up. They were both bleeding and breathless.

"Time's up. I win." Ulquiorra tried not to gloat, knowing that at that point it was a matter of luck who got the last tag in before the buzzer.

She grumbled and made her way to her feet. "You made me bleed again," she complained.

He was bleeding as well so he didn't see why she was complaining.

"We're finished for today. You may clean up now. We will meet again the day after tomorrow." He brushed himself off and turned to go back to his quarters.

"We're done? That's it?" she scampered up next to him.

"I think that's enough for one day." He attempted to dismiss her again but she continued to follow. "Is there something I can do for you?" he asked impatiently, hoping she would leave.

She appeared dissatisfied and slightly saddened by his dismissal. "I was hoping we could play some more…"

"We are both injured. It is better if we nurse our wounds and then resume training."

"Who says we have to keep training? I just want to play with you some more. You're fun," she giggled a little again.

He cocked a brow and gave her an odd look.

"We had fun yesterday, didn't we?" she asked hopefully.

He didn't appear amused. "You had fun. I wasn't given a choice." He had enjoyed their encounter in spite of himself.

"I didn't think you would mind so terribly," she made a pouty face. "I'm sorry if I upset you that much."

He didn't respond.

"I suppose you would have enjoyed yourself more had you been the one in charge," she half teased.

His mind began to wander a little at that thought. She was obviously very strong and dominating strong creatures was something he took even more pleasure in than wiping out masses of weaker creatures. After what happened yesterday, he definitely wanted to assert himself. However, his better judgment took control. "Go clean up."

She gave him a disappointed look but did not argue. He watched her leave before entering his room. She was certainly a handful but he was beginning to think he had her under control. Once inside, he removed his dirtied uniform and laid out a clean one along with a towel. He check for any messages left for him and, finding none, he started to draw a bath. The steam that filled his washroom soothed his senses as he slid into the heated water. It was nice to have a few moments of peace to think over the events of the last two days.

However, his peace did not last long. He was too deep in thought to hear the door to his quarters open and shut and he started at the slight rapping on the door frame to his washroom.

"Who is it?" he demanded, turning to see who it was but the fog made that difficult.

"Midori," a timid voice replied.

"What are you doing here? I told you to go clean up."

"Some of the wounds you gave me…I can't clean them by myself," she carefully began, sounding unusually timid.

He recalled a particularly nasty one on her left shoulder blade. "So?"

"I was hoping you would help me clean them…if you don't mind…"

"Fine," he reluctantly agreed.

"Thank you." As she entered, he could see her better and she was beginning to remove her clothes.

"What are you doing?" he scooted away from her approaching form.

She gave him an odd look, "You said you would help me," not pausing as she pulled her shirt over her head exposing her breasts.

His eyes grew wide. "Not right now, damn it!"

"But it will be a much more efficient use of time if we bathe together," she started to pull her pants down.

"What? Just wait. If you're that impatient, I'll get out and clean your wounds."

"That's not necessary," she assured as she kicked her pants off and made her way toward his oversized tub. "This way I can help clean you as well…it's only fair. It seems I've damaged you worse than I thought." She admired his soaking form.

He felt pinned by her gaze and for a moment, he considered that she might be using her energy to manipulate him again but soon realized that was not the case.

"Do you have that much of a problem with me?" she suddenly asked but still stood before him unabashedly nude.

He sighed, seeing that this was not a battle he was going to win. "Okay. Get in. At least we won't waste as much water this way," he mused, knowing how scarce water was in the desert world.

"I knew you'd see it my way," she gloated as she carefully slid into the water and toward him. She didn't stop until their faces were only inches apart. "I also wanted to make up to you how I treated you yesterday." She stuck her tongue out and playfully licked a couple drops of water off the end of his nose.

"That's not necessary, really," he blushed a little and tried to push her away.

She moved to one side and began to lap at one of the wounds on his arm. "Mmmm," she made a small sound of approval. "You're delicious."

"Thank you?" he barely replied. "You're no so bad yourself," he couldn't believe he added that.

"Really? You think so?" she looked up at him.

He rolled his eyes a little in frustration. "Yes," he replied simply.

She smiled and went back to licking his wounds. When one was clean to her standard, she move to the next. He couldn't help getting hard under the gentle administrations of her tongue. When he was semi-erect, he pushed her away. When she gave him sad eyes again he told her, "You said there were some wounds that you couldn't clean yourself. Let me see them," he ordered.

She shrugged and turned away from him, exposing her back to him for the first time. Her long black hair was tied in a loose bun to keep it out of the fresh blood and give him an easier time. His eyes grew wide and his breath caught in his throat at what he saw. Tattooed between her shoulder blades was a large black zero. "Z-zero?" he barely said as he touched it in attempt to make sure it was real.

"Hm?" she craned her neck to look at him. "What's the matter?" she asked when she saw the look of near horror on his face.

"Zero," he repeated. "You're the Zero Arrancar," he told her.

"What are you talking about?"

It quickly became obvious that she was unaware of her position within the hierarchy. Aizen had put her brand in a very specific spot. "Never mind." He began to treat her wounded shoulder in the same way she'd treated his wounds, the worst of which was to the left of her brand.

"Mmmm," she nearly moaned when she felt his tongue on her overly sensitive skin.

There were always rumors of a Zero Arrancar but since no one had every seen one and Aizen never mentioned anything of the sort, he dismissed them as just that, rumors. Now there it was in his bathtub. He quickly realized what Aizen had entrusted him with. She, indeed, had immense power, greater than he could imagine and he wondered why she was kept hidden away. Obviously, there was something wrong with her.

Before long, she was started to lean back into his touches and he had to put his hands on her shoulders to keep her in place so he could continue. "What are you doing?" she continued to press back toward him.

"Mmmm…I can't help it. Your touches are so nice…they linger on my skin and make me tingle all over," she told him as though she were confessing a sin.

He didn't know what to say to that so he continued with his task. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the number on her back.

Suddenly, she reached back and grabbed hold of his semi-erection.

"What are you doing?" her grip made it impossible to get away.

"I enjoy your touches so much…I wanted to touch you back," she spun around to face him and began messaging.

His body tensed, her forwardness continuing to catch him off guard. To ease him she found a wound on his chest to clean. Before long, he began to melt into her touches. He almost regretted that she wasn't controlling his body this time, at least then he couldn't be accountable for how he behaved.

"Why are you doing this?" he tried to demand but it came out as a husky whisper.

She gave him an odd look, "For the same reason I do anything…because I want to," she giggled and went back to what she was doing.

He was hardening in her grasp and soon, she was no longer cleaning his wounds. She moved on to his nipple, just beneath his number. He gasped sharply as she nipped at the hardening bud with her sharp teeth.

It was when she started using her teeth that his apprehension returned. He carefully placed his hands on her shoulders and began to push her away. Surprisingly, she withdrew, but only as far as he made her.

"I'm sorry…Too much?" she could tell just by the way he shifted under her gaze that he was overwhelmed.

Though she hadn't meant it to, he thought that sounded a little insulting. The fact that she was genuinely concerned even though she'd done so little, not just taunting him, only added to that. So, in response, he backed away from her to sit up on the ledge connecting the bathtub to the wall, leaving only his legs in the water. He smirked when he saw the look of disappointment forming on her features as he left her touch. "Not enough," he replied with a smirk before grabbing her by the hair and pulling her mouth toward his erection.

Her eyes lit up and she placed her hands on either side of his hips to steady herself before grinning up at him. The grin only lasted a moment, though, as she got to work on the flesh presented to her. She began by sucking gently on the throbbing head, eliciting a first groan. He'd hope she would take him all in from there, but she had other plans. Instead, she began lapping at him, running her tongue from base to tip until he was coated with a thin layer of her saliva. Only then did she swallow him whole and when she did, his back arched and his head bumped against the wall behind him. It felt as though she were tasting every inch him and he groaned as he watched her head rise and fall in his lap. He wanted to untie her hair but didn't because he knew it would obscure his view of what she was doing. It would also cover the number on her back which, for some reason, he enjoyed looking down at.

He could barely keep his eyes from sliding shut so he could watch her as she gradually sucked on him harder, making inaudible moans that he could feel resonating throughout his body and translating into audible moans that he barely recognized as his own. Before long he felt his chest heaving and the building pressure was becoming unbearable, he was about to burst. He held out as long as he could but her administrations were eventually too much for his control and he exploded into her throat. His choked out cry echoed through his washroom before his muscles went limp and he lazily slid back into the tub. Again, their faces were only inches apart but this time Ulquiorra was much less uncomfortable.

He only briefly considered that she hadn't been physically satisfied before he turned her around and finished cleaning her wound with his tongue. Her skin was even hotter this time. Once any wounds that she might not be able to reach were clean, he stopped. "Okay, you're clean. Now, may I bathe in peace?"

She turned and gave him a skeptical look. She thought for a moment about forcing him to finish her off, as she had the other day but they both knew that was not what she wanted. He was surprised by how accepting she was of his dismissal. She gave him a simple smile and thanked him graciously before getting out of his tub. She quickly dried herself off, redressed, and bid him a good evening. "Oh," she stopped at the threshold of his washroom, "When will we get to play again?"

"Aizen-sama is sending me to the real world. When I return, we will resume our training." He informed as he began to wash himself.

With that, she skipped off.