"I apologize."
Orihime gasped and dropped the brush she was working through her hair. Ulquiorra was standing framed in the doorway. His skin was still pale but no longer chalk white. His emerald eyes looked beautiful, hauntingly so, but they were not as frightening as they had once been. He had no helmet, nothing to hide the shoulder length black hair that fell around his face and glinted almost blue in the light. His black Shinigami cloths looked odd on him, not bad necessarily, just odd. But was odder still was the fact that he was standing in her doorway apologizing to her.
"You what?" she gasped, unable to keep the shock out of her voice.
"I apologize," he repeated, "my comments earlier upset you, I did not intend for them to have that effect and therefore I apologize."
"I, uh," she stopped and smiled, the confusion in his eyes suprising her, "it's alright," she said, "I overreacted," she added, "I'm just not used to it, to the idea of being dead."
"Death is traumatic," he replied, "most minds do not remember."
"I know," she said before perking up, "but this means I remember Ichigo and Rukia and everyone," she replied, "I mean i think it would be very sad to be in a room with them and not to—"
He had managed to close the distance between them and pick up the brush she had dropped in suprise. He stood there in front of her with it extended towards her in his hand. She knew it was silly but Orihime couldn't help but think he smelled very nice. Like mint and cold and thing she would not normally associate with nice. Reaching out she carefully took the brush from him. Normally she would have done anything to avoid contact with him but this time she let her fingertips brush against his hand. He dropped it instantly, as if the contact hurt him. She cradled the brush to her chest, looking up at him silently as he looked down at her almost as if he was seeing her for the fist time.
"You don't have to lie to me, woman," he said, his voice softer in volume but not in tone.
"It's not that I'm not happy, its just," she hung her head, "it just hurts," he made no move to speak, "wh-what do you see?" she whispered. He started in suprise, "you said," she looked at him, "that what you don't see doesn't exist," she licked her lips nervously, "when you look at me, what do you see?"
"I—" he fumbled mentally for the words, suprised at how much he wanted to find the right ones but none seemed to come, "I came here to apologize, woman, not start another fight."
"I know," she said, her shoulders sloping slightly in defeat, "I'm sorry. I accept your apology," he nodded, "on one condition."
"Condition?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Yes," she said, her lips flickering up in a smile, "could you," she blushed, "could you maybe try to call me Orihime instead of woman? Just sometimes."
"You want me to call you by your name?" he frowned, suprised at the request, "why?"
"Because its my name," she replied simply.
"Does it upset you, when I call you woman?" he asked.
"No," she said, "I've gotten used to it. But since we're not in Las Noches anymore I just thought—" she shook her head, "never mind, its silly. Grimmjow only does it because Tsubaki made him."
"I must return to the 2nd Division before my guards realize I left," he said finally walking towards the door. He felt her hand on his arm, the contact strange through the fabric of his shirt.
"You snuck out to apologize to me?" she asked incredulously. He nodded, his cofusion only furthered by her blush deepending though she wisely did not question it, "well I'll see you tomorrow, Ulquiorra," she said with a smile. He nodded and turned, "bye!" she called cheerfully after him.
"Until tomorrow wom-," he said nodding his head in parting. He saw her face fall and bit back the urge to shake her, "Orihime," he corrected himself almost grudgingly before admitting that her happy, shocked face had been worth it.
Break
With a strangled yell Nel shot up in bed, gasping for air. Her chest was burning but still it heaved for gasps of air. Her eyes stung painfully and her scar was aching furiously. She buried her fingers in her loose green hair, her eyes squeezing shut as if she could forget by doing it. It didn't work. Every time she closed her eyes she saw the blade of Santa Teresa glinting in the light, felt the metal embedd itself in her mask, saw everything she deserved being ripped away by a pathetic man who couldn't even fight his own battles. It was still daylight and she had been taking a nap. Now she regretted even closing her eyes. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she straitened up, the white under robe she wore was wet with persperation. She crouched under the bed, removing the parcel that contained the rest of her new Shinigami cloths, and pulled on a clean one.
She could feel from the tightness in her throat and the stinging in her eyes that she was still crying and hated herself for it. She hated the fact that even if, no, especially if he was dead the bastard still could make her upset. She felt herelf sniffle and wished desperately that Halibel was around to tell her to stop acting so silly. But from the sound of it Bel-Bel was having her own fun and Nel didn't feel like disrupting her for something she should have been over a very long time ago.
"Nel!" someone pounded on the door. Even Gamuza seemed sobered by her sadness, "damn it Nel! I want to—"
"Get away from there you idiot!" she heard Renji grab and throw the guy who was at her door, "she said she was taking a nap, she'll kick your ass later! We're going to save your sorry asses tomorrow remember?!" she heard one set of footsteps stagger off and heard his own heasitate before turning to go. She bolted for the door, causing him to stop as she opened it slightly but didn't look out, "Nel?" he called cautiously.
"Renji?" she asked softly.
"Thought you were sleeping," he muttered scratching the back of his neck, "you okay?"
"I-I'll be fine," she stuttered out softly.
"Nel," he sighed walking over to the door and gently pushing it open, "you're a horrible liar."
"Well I—" she mustered up her dignity and stopped, her head drooping, "I'm a bad liar," she conceeded.
"Bad dream?" he asked nodding towards her attire. She nodded, feeling rather embarrassed.
"You should try to sleep," he said.
"I know," she pouted, "but I can't," she saw him pale and smiled, "tell me a story."
"Tell you a what?!" he screeched, completely shocked, "Nel I'm a horrible storyteller."
"Please?" she blinked up innocently.
"Okay okay fine! Lie down," he pointed towards the bed. She happily complied and he sat down trying to figure out what he was going to say, "okay once, upon a time there was, uh, a Boy," he said, "and he fell in love, as Boys tend to do with a Princess," he continued, "but the Princess was taken away from him by her wicked step brother," he said, "who forbid her from ever seeing the Boy again. But the Boy's love was so great for the Princess that nothing would stop him."
"Did he have friends who helped him?" Nel questioned with the alertness of a child.
"Uh, yeah," Renji improvised, "he had a black cat, a strong man, an archer and a-a fairy tamer."
"Did he raid a circus?" she asked raising her eyebrow.
"Yes," Renji said quickly, "yes that's where the Boy met the Princess, she came to the cirus until her brother found her. She was going to run away from her evil step brother and be with the Boy and his friends but he stopped her. Anyway, the Boy and his friend of cirus people went to the palace where the Princess was being kept—"
"Did the Princess have a friend?" she asked, muffling a yawn with her hand, "the Princess has to have a friend, someone she talks to who helps the Boy when he looses all hope."
"Right," he said, "the Princess didn't have a friend, she had a-a pet nue who, at first, he thought her brother was right but then he realized that he was wrong. He tried to stop him but he couldn't. One by one the Boy's friends all fell in battle until the only one who was left was—what now?"
"Why'd the nue try to stop the evil step brother?" she asked sleepily, "didn't he realize he wasn't the hero?"
"Nope,"he said, his voice thick with regret, "no, no the nue didn't realize he wasn't the hero of the story, not just then anyway. So the Boy found the Princess. He had to fight a dragon, an evil wizard and her step brother but he found her all the same and he saved her. It was then that her evil step brother realized the boy was actually a Prince of a far away kingdom and let the Prince love his sister the Princess, as Princes are supposed to do and they lived Happily Ever After."
"What about the others?" she yawned, not opening her eyes.
"Uh, the, uh, the archer went off to hunt things. The fairy-tamer went back to the circus where she found a clown and married him. The strong man, who was the Boy now Prince's best friend discovered the Prince had a sister and the black cat fell in love with a mad scientist."
"And the nue?" Nel breathed, almost asleep, "what'd he do?"
"Oh him, well, uh, he decided to stay with the Princess because even if she loved the Prince he still cared very much about what happened to her."
"He should fall in love," Nel murmered, "since everyone else did."
"He's an individualist," Renji said feeling a humorless smile come to his lips. Nel murmered her agreement but was too far asleep to correct him.
"And if he wants to keep his 'snake tail' I'm sure the nue will think very very hard about the kind of stories he tells to the ibex," Halibel snapped from the doorway.
Renji was on his feet in a second, looking at the Espada who watched him evenly from the doorway. She had obviously just finished working her way through half the 2nd Division. Judging from the way she was carrying her Zanpakto on her back and the bandages wrapped around her hands, the blade had been a precaution. Juding from the large ammount of people limping their way towards the 4th Division she hadn't needed it. She didn't so much as glare at him as examine him with cool, detached interest, her eyes taking in every strength, every weakness and figuring out how to use both against him.
"Neliel likes you," Halibel stated coldly, "you are somewhat likable, for a Shinigami, but I won't have you taking advantage of her feelings. She is a child."
"Oh really?" Renji said sarcastically, "because you know I tuck in all my dates and tell them a bed time story."
"From what I hear you don't have dates," she replied, "in fact, from what I hear, you're still very much in love with Rukia Kuchiki despite the fact that she has never and will never reciprocate your feelings."
"You think that I don't know that?" he asked, his voice colder than she'd ever heard it, "you think that I don't wish, with everything I have, that I didn't love her?" he demanded hotly.
"Do you?" Halibel questioned.
"What kind of question is that? Of course I fucking do," he spat, "I hate loving her but I can't stop. I wish I could though, I really do, but its not—" he gritted his teeth, "it's not that simple," he shook his head, "why am I explaining this to you?"
"You think I won't understand," she said, her voice still riddled with ice but now there was something underneath it, "you think that I was not alive once," his eyes widened in suprise, "We were all Hollows, with many souls inside of us, but I was the strongest just as Nel, Ulquiorra—even Grimmjow were,"her eyes hardened, "I am one soul now, as are all the other former Espada," she glared at him, "do not think that we do not understand emotion. There is no difference between us except that you haven't spent time being enslaved to a man you hated."
"Oh I understand that," he snapped, "or I did. I just don't hate him anymore."
"And sometime you won't love her anymore," she replied easily.
"I loved her long before I hated him," he said, "I love her long after I've stopped hating him," he let out a regretful sigh.
"Well when you're finished wallowing I have been instructed to test to see if you are able to be useful on this mission," she said, "I am warmed up and will await you in the training grounds," she turned and walked away.
Break
Hitsugaya watched as Matsumoto's quarters were cleaned out, in order to make way for whoever her replacement would be. He knew he had a duty to his division to consider each applicant and pick the best one for the job but at the moment he could not bring himself to even look at the applications that were already building up. He couldn't because he knew that if he saw the names of people who were so eager to replace her he would kill them and considering the size of the pile he had a feeling that would be very counter-productive to his division.
So much, and yet, so little had changed in the 10th Division. All the paperwork still got done because Matsumoto never did it. People still fought, his heart still beat, the world went on. The 10th Division ran very smoothly, too smoothly. He kept peaking at the couch or in one of her other hiding spots, desperately wishing tha the would find her there and she would ask him what was wrong. The slightest whisper of air on his neck would make him jump a mile at the emptiness there, he would have given anything to have her smother him one more time.
He knew that if he hadn't been assigned to go on this mission he would have either convinced them to let him go or simply he would have snuck after them. He was not about to let Hinamori go within ten feet of Las Noches unless he was beside her. He knew she was capable of taking care of herself but he couldn't help but want to protect her. And if he couldn't do that, he wanted to be there anyway. He didn't want to loose another person because of his shortcomings.
"Damn it," he swore as he noticed the icy lace snaking its way up the wall, "Hyorinmaru!"
"Don't look at me kit," his dragon said, his voice rather lazy, "you're doing that all on your own."
"Kit?" Hitsugaya hissed.
"Yes," his dragon replied, "I have decided to call you kit, as in young, until you grow up," Hitsguaya fisted his hands and growled, "you may snarl all you wish, kit, but it won't change the fact that you are being foolish—and young," he continued, "most Spirits don't meet their makers until they are much older."
"And whose fault is that?" he snarled, "you wouldn't leave me alone! You almost froze my Grandmother."
"No you would not leave me alone," the dragon snapped, "calling and calling endlessly. You were as annoying then as you are now," he glared angrily at the blade, "and still just as much in love with, what was that nickname?" he paused, clearly for dramatic effect, "oh, with Stupid Bed Wetter Momo."
"I am not," Hitsugaya snarled at the sword.
The dragon chuckled but did not refute the statement. Hitsugaya saw the door slide open and knew it was going to be Hinamori before she stepped inside. When she did it did nothing to ease his pounding heart. Her hair was half up, half down, the style making her seem much younger and innocent than she had any right too. In her arms she carried an odd box that seemed to be locked. His eyes drifted to the scars that decorated her hands and his stomach turned over. She should never have had to wear those, to have another constant reminder of her foolishness—of his inability to protect her. She walked over to Matsumoto's desk and set the box on top of it before turning to him.
"I need your help," she said placing her hands on her hips, "I can't open this."
"Did you try the key?" he suggested.
"Shiro," she wined, "there is no key! That's why I need your help."
"Alright alright fine!" he walked over to the box and inspected the lock.
He frowned, it was the kind of lock that he had used on the cabinets where he kept the select documents that were for his eyes only. The lock was directly connected to the user's Spiritual Power and worked as a kind of seal. It could only be unlocked by the person who put it in place. He knew that Vice Captains had similar ones but they could be overrode by their Captains. He looked at the box which seemed relatively harmless, bearing only the crest of the 5th Division as its marking. He looked at Hinamori who was shifting her weight and glared.
"Why are you trying to open this?" he asked.
"You have to promise not to get upset, okay?" she said.
"Hinamori—"
"Promise me," she demanded. He sighed and nodded, "Gin Ichimaru told me too."
"Gin I—are you out of your fucking mind?!" he bellowed, ice soaring to cover half the room, "what would posesse you to listen to a word he says?!" she crossed her arms and said nothing for a moment, looking at him evenly, "why would you want to open this box?" he demanded finally.
"Because I think it's going to help us in Las Noches," she said evenly.
"Why would you believe anything Ichimaru says?" he spat.
"Because—" she looked at him, "because we're the same!" she burst out. He reeled, "we are! We both loved Aizen and neither of us could see how evil he was. You and Matsumoto saved us but now she's gone and he's got no-one!"
"Except killing you," he hissed, "because then he's got a victory for Aizen," his hand wrapped around her upper arm, "you've always been too trusting," he said searching her face, "Gin's not a nice person."
"I know that!" she cried, "but right now he's the best insight we have to Aizen and if I have to trust him even a little to make sure you don't die than so be it!" his eyes widened and she realized what she had said, "I mean—" she stopped and bit her lip, "oops."
"Momo," he stumbled over the words, "I—" he looked at the box, "did you try to open the lock?"
"I know its'a Captain's lock," she said, "I didn't think I'd be able too."
"You might have some of his residual Spirit Pressure," Hitsugaya said nodding towards her hands, "here," he gently wrapped his hand around her wrist, guiding it to the lock and turning it so the back of her hands where the scars were most prominent faced it. He pressed the back of her hand to the lock, "try to focus," he said, his voice little more than a whisper. Hinamori nodded breathlesssly and sent her own Spiritual Power into her hand. For a moment nothing happened.
Then the lock clicked open.
"It worked!" she cried estatically, "Shiro! That was amazing!" Hitsugaya felt his cheeks heat up, "lets see what it is," he snatched her hand back.
"What if its a trap?" he demanded.
"Oh, right," she looked at the box, "um, we should—"
"Sit upon the frosted heavens, Hyorinmaru!" his initial release roared to life as he drew the blade and formed a barrier around the box. He pushed Hinamori behind him. Even though she had to stand on her toes since he was taller, she did and put her chin on his shoulder, watching the box with intent eyes. Struggling not to be distracted by the lock of brown hair that fell over his shoulder, Hitsugaya focused and sent an extension of ice to flick open the box. Hinamori cringed, the hand that wasn't holding Tobiume locked around his waist. Nothing happened. He frowned and reached towards the box, "its empty," he said, his voice thick with dissapointment.
"Oh," he saw her face fall, "hold on," she distangled herself from him, "maybe I need to—" his hand grabbed her wrist, "what?"
"Don't—" he stumbled out the word, don't go, I can't loose you again, "be careful."
"I will be," she unsheathed her Zanpakto, "Snap, Tobiume," she said quietly, the blade transforming at her command. Walking forward she turned her hand and pressed the back of it to the box, focusing her Spiritual Power through it, "there's a folder," she said turning her hand and picking it up.
Reacting to the strange presence the box lid snapped shut. It would have taken off her hand if Hitsugaya hadn't sprung forward, knocking her to the ground. Her back struck the ground but he managed to slide one of his hands under her head to absorb the impact. What he did not plan for was to land pressed against her chest, his free hand placed right next to her head bringing their faces level. Her eyes widened in suprise, his own just as shocked. Her arms were wrapped around the folder she clutched to her chest. Both realized they were holding their breaths, trying to avoid touching each other through the fabric of their cloths.
"Hinamori I—" he swore as the box rumbled, robed of its contents and the ground began to shake, "shit," he yanked her to her feet, "Hinamori get out of he—" her hand covered the one gripping Hyorinmaru.
"I can help," she said placing the folder down, "enclose the box around Tobiume," she instructed. He opened his mouth to protest but nodded finally, summoning ice and sealing the box, "okay," she said giving him a reassuring smile before focusing. He felt the familiar force of her Spiritual Pressure soar as the blue sphere of ice quickly turned a brilliant violet. He felt the box explode inside and realized what was going to happen.
"Hinamori get down!" he bellowed. She gasped and nodded, flattening herself down as he sealed them both in ice. The explosion slammed outwards, shattering the ice wall he created. He dropped Hyorinmaru, covering Hinamori's body with his own as he felt one of his own ice particles slam into his shoulder blade, forcing a cry from his throat.
"Shiro!" she screamed, pulling him forward and making sure the blade didn't go as deep as it should have, "oh no, Shiro!" she gasped looking at the spear of ice, "hold on!" she quickly pressed her hands to the ice, "Hado 54! Abolishing Flames!" she controlled the kido, focusing on melting the ice, "we have to get you to Unohana," she gasped.
"No," he shook his head, "its not that deep," he said. She frowned and inspected the wound, "thanks to you," he added.
"Shiro," she sighed and looked at him, "take off your shirt," his eyes widened, "let me patch you up if you're not going to the Fourth Division."
"Alright," he sighed, "I can't—"
"Here," she guided his outer robe off his shoulders, putting it aside before untying the sash that held his robe together.
Despite the pain in his shoulder he was having a hard time concentrating on anything else. When the cool air hit his chest he was suprised. Hinamori stopped, her hands falling down to her sides as her eyes focused on something. He opened his mouth to question her when he realized what she was looking at. His eyes followed her own down to the scar that decorated his chest, a testament to his own foolishness. Hinamori reached out and gently touched her fingertips to the scar. Hitsugaya hissed throug his teeth as the sensitive skin reacted to her touch. Hinamori looked up at him, her eyes brighter than usual, and he felt confusion showing on his face.
"What?" he asked, his voice uncharacteristically soft.
"I just—" she looked at his scar, "I just can't believe I was so stupid," she whispered shaking her head, "hold still," she said becoming business-like as she waded up his black robe and pressed it into the cut. He gritted his teeth against the pain, "you're the one who didn't want to go to Unohana," she reminded him sternly as she held the fabric there. He made a face, making her laugh brightly.
"Lets see what's in the folder," he said finally. She nodded and handed it to him, using her other to keep pressure on the wound in his back. He scanned the papers, his face paling.
"Shiro?" she questioned softly.
"We've got to get to the Commander General," he said standing up, "now!"