Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. That's why I'm writing in FanFiction.
A/N: Because the last episode's last sentence was probably rather intruiging and my notes were also probably just as intruiging (I hope), I'll leave what I have to say for later (at the end of this chapter). But before that, as always:
WARNING: Go away little kids (and people) if you are not fit to be qualified for this T-Rated story.
Hitsugaya ran as fast as he could towards the Court of Pure Souls with only three words in his mind: leave, Hinamori, crying.
The moment he reached there he ran all over the Court like a lost soul realizing he had forgotten to ask Mira the exact whereabouts of Hinamori.
He finally found her speaking with Matsumoto. Hitsugaya let out a shout that could be heard ringing in every shinigami's ear within 100 feet. "MOMO ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU? DID SOMEONE DO SOMETHING BAaad-" He collapsed mid-sentence, choking and taking in deep-breaths.
Shocked, his luitenent and friend ran over to him. "Shiro-kun, are you all right? What happened?" asked Hinamori.
Shaking, Hitsugaya tried to get up but collapsed once more. He grabbed Hinamori's collar and pulled himself upwards face-to-face with her, not really thinking of what he was doing. "Are... you... allright?" he sputtered.
Hinamori blushed slightly but all Hitsugaya could see was a blurred image of his friend. He could smell the salty tears that were drying on her face. "Momo... don't cry. Say... someth-"
"I'm fine Shiro-kun but what about you?"
Hitsugaya just loosened his grip and everything went black.
--
At Mira's home:
Ulquiorra actually abhorred the very idea of kissing Mira. The thought made him tremble and feel disgusted but he had to do it. It was all Grimmjaw's fault, and he never thought he'd actually ever thank him one day for it.
As for Mira, she was going through a lock-down. The only thing that remained alive were her widening eyes, making her look like a life-size doll. Ulquiorra continued to rip off the bandages that she always wore just so he could see if the potion was working. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see her skin and tissues rapidly repairing themselves, dissappearing like they were never there.
--
Three weeks before:
Ulquiorra glared at Grimmjow."What did you just force me to drink?!" he shouted at his despicable grinning partner.
"Nothing bad, but it didn't taste like coffee did it?" Grimmjow teased before ducking when his sub-ordinate threw sand at him. Unfortunately for him, sand made its way into his mouth. He sat on the ground gagging and coughing until Ulquiorra picked up another fistful of sand.
"Don't worry," he spat. "I (hack) invented it."
Which led to another mouthful of sand that Ulquiorra was quickly scooping into his gullet from the desert.
"It's (cough) a (hack, cough, choke) healing (cough, cough, hack, hack, choke, cough) potion."
Ulquiorra became motionless suddenly. "Oh, will I need to get some more from you if I ever need 'healing'?"
"No, it'll (cough) flow in your (choke, hack, choke, cough) blood and saliva till the (sneeze) day you rot. Of course, if anyone ever needs healing, you can just give your saliva or blood to them, not that I have to describe to you how."
"How?"
"Lick their wounds, kiss them... So you are going to do it to someone?"
Ulquiorra ignored him and inspected himself suspiciously. "You ever, test this on anyone?"
"Erm, yeah. But the test subject died of old age and was eaten later," Grimmjaw told him, backing off.
"Why did you give it to me?"
"Because," Grimmjaw dropped his voice down to a whisper, "of Mira. You like her don't you?"
"No. When did I- you, ever-"
"Happened to see you with her a few months ago and did some extensive research. That's why I know why you were acting so strange for the past year."
"You've been observing me? And spying on that girl?" Ulquiorra calmly asked. He didn't know whether to hurt Grimmjaw or not.
"The change is so obvious. You don't kill as fast as before, you think longer than ever, you always put your hand to your chest, keep careful track of the time and always disappear at the time of the full moon in Soul Society. There are other things as well that have changed."
"What sort of 'extensive research' have you done?" Ulquiorra asked curiously. Inwardly, he cursed. It was not like him to be curious.
Grimmjaw smiled at his companion. "Checking out the history of her family, past, her abilities and," he paused, "something that you might be interested in."
Ulquiorra paid full attention to Grimmjaw.
"Though she doesn't look it, her three sizes are-"
"-I am not interested in that-"
"-Well-"
"-Some extensive research. That is unneccessary for an arrancar to do. Honestly, I think you are the one who has changed. Once Aizen broke us up and told us we could do anything we want you-"
"-we can do anything we want so there is nothing wrong with just just watching her for research. What about you? She is the young and innocent one that you lo-"
"-we do not fall in love with humans," Ulquiorra told Grimmjaw.
"But," corrected Grimmjaw. "She is no longer a human. Hey, are you saying that you lov-"
"-Quiet," interjected Ulquiorra. "She is interesting, that's all."
"True, ignoring Tousen it's unusual to find a blind soul from the Rukongai who's not a shinigami but past the captain level that can see," Grimmjaw mused. Continuing his argument he questioned Ulquiorra, "If she's so interesting then why do you have to hold her all of the time?"
"I just wonder how I used to enjoy eating spirits when I was a hollow. I hold her because I want to feel her, smell the blood on her and taste her," Ulquiorra told Grimmjaw coldly.
Grimmjaw smiled darkly at his companion. "Tell that to Mira."
--
At least that's what he told Grimmjaw, Ulquiorra reassured himself. What he said was all true. The only thing he could remember about his hollow self was the smell of blood. And Mira was always covered in it. But the other scent he enjoyed was her scent. The aroma would last on his clothes for days, even if he washed it. The smell was pleasing and relaxing and just sniffing it would strangely boost his spiritual power.
Ulquiorra quickly moved his head back far away from Mira's face and lips. Out of respect for Mira, he did his best to cover up her modesty and not look at it either. He expertly jammed her clothes together.
Mira suddenly sat upright, hitting his chin in the process.
"Sorry," she apologized.
"I'm fine," he murmured. There was an akward silence. "Did you... mind? How... was it?" Ulquiorra averted his gaze to the night sky.
Mira put a finger to her lips. "It felt strange," she admitted. "I don't know what you did but I felt very happy and scared. My body feels better right now. What did you think of it?"
Ulquiorra looked at Mira's innocent face and sighed. "So innocent. To me, it tasted like what water tastes to the thirsty," he paused. It had tasted good. "If someone other than me ever does that to you, you can beat them up. Or you could tell me."
Mira smiled. "This is my first time seeing you and my third time using this ability."
Ulquiorra gazed down upon the small figure in his lap.
"You are like a flower to me," Mira said happily. "The first one I saw seems just like you."
Ulquiorra wondered how Mira could compare him, an dangerous arrancar, to a harmless flower. The simile was ridiculous.
"Are you in pain?" Mira asked him unexpectedly.
All he did was stare at her in surprise.
"This hole," she looked at the hole at his neck. "I couldn't see it before. Does it hurt?"
Ulquiorra's hand reached up to unconsciously touch the hole at the base of his neck. He looked into Mira's eyes, not knowing what to say. "It... burns. But," he caressed Mira's neck with his forefinger and thumb. She placed her hand on top of his and held it to her neck. "You couldn't see it with your abilities?"
"No. To me it was highly dense spiritual energy that I ignored because it hurt me when I felt it." She looked down at his fingers and began digging them into her skin.
"I," Ulquiorra began but then he stopped. He glanced at the sky again. There was something that he wanted to say to her, but he kept on getting nervous about it. Would she, could she, kill him if those words were spoken?
Once out of his watch, the peaceful face of Mira became solemn. She wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes.
"Ulquiorra," she murmured. She touched his face with her hand and dug her fingers into his skin. "I feel like I want to hurt you. Go away."
Ulquiorra felt her nails enter his skin and the blood trickle down his face onto her fingers. "No. Do what you feel like doing but know that I will pay you back." He watched as Mira tasted her fingers and then push his skin (wich was starting to heal) back together. Her heartbeat quickened at the taste of blood. Heartbeat... Something that she knew he didn't have. The moment she let go of him Ulquiorra used his thumbnail as a weapon to bury itself in the soft flesh of her neck. For fun, he licked the wound to see what was so appealing about spirit blood.
His teeth attacked it next. Blood spilled out over and over and over and over...
Mira's eyes flashed open. Her hands flew up to yank his hair once. "I need to go. Leave."
He released her and looked at her neck. The bite mark was dissappearing. "I will see you." They both said at the same time. Ulquiorra gave her a curt nod and vanished from sight.
--
In Hueco Mundo:
Ulquiorra arrived in Hueco Mundo to be greeted by Grimmjaw.
"I'd just discovered a few side affects," Grimmjaw said cheerfully to Ulquiorra. "So how'd the potion worrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrk-holysh-what-is-that-red-thing-dripping-from-your-mouth?!" gasped Grimmjaw.
Ulquiorra licked his lips. He had obviously not paid any attention to Grimmjaw's first sentence. "Blood," he answered as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
Grimmjaw stared at him. "You ate Mira?" He asked blatantly forgetting completely about the potion.
"Not yet," smiled Ulquiorra, revealing reddened teeth. "I was just curious, that's all."
Grimmjaw kept on staring. Even he wasn't that obsessed with blood. "And the taste?" He joked dryly.
"It was so good."
--
Mira's home:
Mira fixed her clothes, burned the bandages, slipped on her veil and walked inside the house. Her stepmother was impatiently waiting for her.
"Faster. Take this and go away. I don't want to see you ever again in the next two minutes," was all the horrible woman had to say to her. She handed Mira a small bag that did not appear to hold anything bigger than a toothbrush.
Mira took tha bag and bowed respectfully towards her step-mother. "Thank you and goodbye." So saying, she turned around and let a servant guide her to the door.
"There is a tunnel," whispered the unnamed servant to her. "Run straight. Don't stop."
Mira turned to face the servant. Her veil was see-through from her point of view but a stranger who was seeing it from the outside would see nothing but black, and this was Mira's first time seeing her step-mother's face and a servants' face.
She nodded. The door opened and she was inside and the doors shut before her stepmother had time to blink.
A/N: Grimmjaw seems like the naughty type and Ulquiorra is probably going to eat Mira sometime when he gets the chance. Hitsugaya has fainted and Mira's headed to the human world with her seeing ability still on. Who will she meet there? Why is she going there? Is that Kon trying to make a plan to get into Mira's 'Valley of the Gods'?? And what on earth is Momo trying to do to Hitsugaya in the hot springs?? Mayhem planned for the next chapter.
I was actually going to make this chapter longer but I figured that some people would tire of reading and save what I have to say for the next chapter and answer the questions I have listed in this chapter which I will definitely (see bottom) post in the next few days (probably hours) because I want you to know what I intended to happen.
Big long sentence. All said in one breath.
I also hope that someone will review because I see that many people read this story. I made sure that anyone can review, even people who haven't joined Fanfic. Please R&R before I become disheartened and post new chapters once every few months. Thanks for reading so far!
Special note from Hitsugaya (he's writing in his sleep): And little kids, go away because the next chapter's got stuff you don't need to know yet and it's gonna get a little wild from here.