CHAPTER 8

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Ulquiorra flipped through the stack of papers for the fifth time that night. He couldn't understand what most of it meant seeing as how it was written in Szayel's short hand (which was nearly impossible to read on its own) but was also written in what he called 'scientific writing'. What he could manage to read and understand picked at his interest and curiosity.

He found out the reason they needed no weapon in order to go into their release form was because they were able to channel it
throughout their body unlike the Espada. Though this was of interest, he wanted to know how Szayel had managed to stabilize their DNA. All the other test tube Espada Szayel had created in the past had failed after a day or so. Wonderwise had been the exception and even he wasn't complete.

Szayel had mentioned once or twice before how he needed something to balance the DNA strands in order to fix some sort of chemical bond in them, yet in none of the reports had Ulquiorra found any mention to a stabilizer. He had remembered the scientist making mention to speeding the growth rate up, but in the equations he could understand, which was very little, that would have weakened the structure of the body causing it to fail and rot.

Ulquiorra placed the file down and reached for another. Though Aizen hadn't directly said that the files were classified, Ulquiorra knew that it was an implied rule and could be punished, even killed, for knowing something he shouldn't.

"Damn it." Ulquiorra turned to see a silhouette stumble into the records room. The green eyed Espada crouched low to avoid being seen while at the same time watching the stranger from the shadows. The small figure quickly dashed to the section of the room where the extremely classified records were kept. "Where are you?" A familiar voice muttered. Ulquiorra stood.

"What are you doing?" He asked, his voice low and full of authority. Nora gasped and turned; her eyes wide with fright as she tried in vain to come up with a good reason for being there.

"I-I um… Aizen!" She blurted. "Yeah um he wanted me to fetch him a... Err, document…?" She babbled. Ulquiorra easily saw through her lie but it was kind of fun to watch the girl stumble for a reason as to why she was there.

"Which record?" Ulquiorra asked. Nora paused not sure what to do next. If she said the wrong one, he would know she was lying (like he couldn't already), and if she didn't…well it would be the same ending. "If it's a classified record-"

"Yes! It's classified. Sorry Ulquiorra, but I can give no further information to you." The girl interrupted the emo-spada. Ulquiorra almost let a small smile grace his lips but caught himself before doing so.

"-then Aizen-Sama would have given you the codes so the alarms would not go off." He finished. Nora's face dropped. How the hell could she forget about the stupid alarms? Clearly she needed to know more about the defense system and have a more well thought out plan. She sighed knowing he would want the truth.

"I want to know why Aizen wants us to do this job and what his true motives are." Her voice was so meek, Ulquiorra almost didn't catch it. So she was there for the same reason.

"I suggest you go to bed child." He ordered. He didn't want her to fall for this too. Nora gave him a look of disbelief. She thought he would surely turn her over to Aizen seeing as how he was practically under the asshole's thumb and did whatever he asked.

"I can't." She answered. Why she was so determined to get herself hurt, she had no idea, but as long as her siblings didn't get hurt, it was worth it. "I need to know!"

"Not even I am sure of what Aizen truly wants. But I shall tell you and the others if I should find out. Now go to your room before you should get into any trouble." Nora's heart skipped. So Ulquiorra was on their side for now. The girl smiled and gave the older Espada a hug.

"Thank you, Dad." She whispered before dashing out the door, leaving a startled and confused Ulquiorra standing there, still unsure of what just happened. A few moments passed before Ulquiorra was able to regain himself and exit the room.

As he walked down the empty hall a though occurred to him. 'Did she just call me 'Dad'?' A smile appeared on his lips at the thought, yet he didn't quite know why such a simple fact made him feel that way. Maybe he was sick.

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Nora sat in bed unable to sleep as thoughts rushed in and out of her head. Whenever she did manage to doze off she always awoke soon after, for nightmares of what may come startled her awake. 'Maybe I should take Kieli up on her offer…' She thought. 'Or maybe I should let her sleep.' She opted for the second one. She could wait another three hours, right? At least she knew some of the older Espada may be willing to lend a hand to keep the three of them out of harm's (or in this case, Aizen's) way.

Nora decided to sleep. Nightmares or not, she still had to prepare for tomorrow so that they could leave. That would be when the real challenge would start.

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[A/N] Please review, I do appreciate constructive criticism.