A/N: Once again, thank you for all who spared time to comment on this story. I apologize for not replying to any reviews, but please be assured that I read and appreciated all of them. I'd also like to apologize for taking a long time to update. Although my schedule is pretty much a mess, I'll do my best to update within mid April even if it kills me. Lol. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
V
Since the three Shinigami had given her a desk and a set of writing implements as New Year gifts, Inoue Orihime had spent most of her time drawing some random pictures so she wouldn't be bored to death when she was left to her own device. And the woman had been so engrossed in that activity that she failed to notice that her apathetic warden had entered her room until the man was standing right behind her and asked, "What are you doing, woman?"
"Wah! U-Ulquiorra-san?" she yelped as a response. Then she quickly close the book she had been drawing on and tried to hide it from Ulquiorra's view. "W-When did you come in?"
"You are acting suspiciously, woman," the Cuarta Espada commented, not answering her question.
"Suspicious?" she repeated, wide-eyed. She then gave him a sheepish smile and waving both of her hands as if doing so would make Ulquiorra believe that she hadn't done anything that should cause him to suspect anything. "Not at all, Ulquiorra-san. I was just writing my diary."
The way Ulquiorra narrowed his green eyes told Inoue that her warden didn't believe in one word she had said.
"What is there to write about when all you've ever done here is being in this room?" Ulquiorra asked, and since he was not there to act as her friend, he reached behind her and snatched that book from her hand.
Inoue gasped and tried to get the book back from Ulquiorra only to fail miserably, so in the end she gave up and just covered her face with her hands and then backed up to one corner of the room before she tried her best to make herself as small as possible.
Not paying any heed on the girl's strange behavior, Ulquiorra turned the book open only to frown when he saw that there were only drawings inside, and those drawings were of a weird-looking blue tiger and an even weirder-looking green bat together either holding hands, hugging, kissing, or doing some other unspeakable activities.
Puzzled, Ulquiorra turned his gaze back to the ginger-haired woman. "What are these?"
"Well, if you really have to know, Ulquiorra-san, they're supposed to be you and Grimmjow-san," the woman replied meekly as if she was a kid caught with her hand in a cookie jar.
"Grimmjow and I?" Ulquiorra looked back at the drawings and wondered which part of those cartoon characters actually resembled them.
"Yes, you said it yourself that I'm just sitting here all day, so what else am I supposed to draw?" she countered. "Not to mention, you also told me that Grimmjow-san has already accepted your friendship, so you can't blame a girl for having an imagination."
Taking another look at the drawing, Ulquiorra asked, "Are you saying that friends are supposed to do all of the activities that you drew?"
Inoue blushed profusely while shaking her head and waving both of her hands. To be completely honest, she was astounded by that question, since it showed her how very little knowledge Ulquiorra possessed of human relation, but on the other hand, she was also relieved that he didn't know any better. After all, she couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of reaction Ulquiorra would have if he found out that she was having a really impure imagination about him and the Sexta Espada.
"No, not really, Ulquiorra-san," Inoue replied. Even though she didn't want to reveal that she was a closet fujoshi*, she didn't want to misinform him either. However, since Ulquiorra still seemed to wonder why she drew those pictures to begin with, Inoue decided it would be best if she just added, "Well... at least not in an early stage of friendship."
"I see," Ulquiorra replied although he still looked unconvinced. However, he handed the book back to Inoue anyway.
Once she received the book, Inoue quickly hid it away in the drawer of her desk before she sighed and wiped a sweat off her forehead. Then she turned to meet Ulquiorra with a goofy look before she changed the subject, "By the way, Ulquiorra-san, you still haven't said why you're here so early. I mean, you usually just come here during meal time, but it's not dinner time yet."
Upon hearing the question, Ulquiorra realized he had almost forgotten his original reason for being there when he caught the girl acting suspiciously.
"I just thought I would let you know beforehand that from tomorrow on you will be under Harribel's care."
"Eh? Why?"
"Because Aizen-sama has dispatched me to a mission."
The word "mission" sent a shiver down Inoue's spine. Although she didn't know what that mission would be and didn't have enough courage to ask, she could tell from her experience that whenever Ulquiorra was involved, someone would most likely be in trouble. She only hoped his mission didn't involve hurting any of her friends that time.
"Oh, I hope nobody will get hurt then," the ginger-haired girl muttered. Then with a louder voice, she added, "And I'll certainly miss you when you're not around, Ulquiorra-san."
To that remark, Ulquiorra furrowed his brows. "Why?"
Inoue rubbed the side of her head as if doing so would help her find a good explanation.
"Well, you see, Ulquiorra-san, you're the person I've talked to the most in this place, and you've been taking care of me since I got here, even though you'd probably say you were only doing what Aizen-sama asked you to do, and you scare me most of the time – no offense." To show her sincerity, Inoue put the palms of her hands together in front of her chest and bowed her head slightly. "So I'm gonna miss talking to you, especially about the plan to befriend Grimmjow-san. Oh, by the way, talking about Grimmjow-san, have you told him you're leaving? If you haven't, you should. I mean, he's now your friend, isn't he? So you should let him know when you're not around. Or maybe he knows it already because he's also an Espada, so he should be aware of the mission. But anyway, even if he knows it already, you still have to go and say goodbye to him before you leave since that's a common courtesy. I think he's going to say that he'll miss you as well."
Although Ulquiorra was somewhat used to the woman's randomness, he still had to blink when she began rambling on nonstop.
"Actually, Grimmjow will be on this mission with me."
"Really?" Inoue asked. Although she was afraid for anyone who would be their target for that mission, she still couldn't help herself from beaming at the thought of the two Espadas going on a mission together. "Wow. This means you two can spend more time together and tighten your friendship. Isn't it wonderful?"
"Somehow I doubt Grimmjow would agree with that sentence."
Now it was the human's turn to be confused.
"Why would you say that? Of course, Grimmjow-san would agree. I mean, he's your friend, so there's no way he wouldn't want to spend his time with you."
"He did accept my friendship proposal, but now he seems weary of it – of me," Ulquiorra observed, frowning. "In fact, he even said that it was bad to be my friend."
"Ow..." Inoue uttered, crestfallen. Her whole figure reflected how dispirited she felt after she heard that comment. However, in a second later, she put on a hopeful smile and said, "but I'm sure Grimmjow-san doesn't really mean it, Ulquiorra-san. Are you sure you didn't misinterpret him?"
Thinking back on Grimmjow's reaction, Ulquiorra shook his head.
"Yes, I am sure. He made it quite obvious that he didn't want anything to do with me."
The ginger-haired girl frowned. "No way! Did he say why?"
The frown on Ulquiorra's face got deepened as the man thought back to the conversation he had with Grimmjow earlier. Then he remarked, "I believe he said that he didn't think I really cared to be his friend."
To the Cuarta Espada's puzzlement, the girl's expression shifted from that of a worry to one of hopeful relief.
"Oh, if that's what he said, I don't think it's too bad. In fact, it's actually nice."
Even though he always thought the woman had some screws loose, he still couldn't fathom why she would come up with such a conclusion.
"How could that be nice?"
"Because it means Grimmjow-san really cares about this friendship. I mean, if he didn't, he wouldn't have been bothered whether you really wanted to be his friend or if it was just to test a theory. Of course, it's not nice that he thought you didn't really care to be his friend because you obviously do. I mean, it wouldn't have mattered to you what he thinks if you don't care, right, Ulquiorra-san? So in this situation, all you need to do is just to make that point across."
Once again, Ulquiorra appeared to be in a deep thought.
"I suppose so," the Cuarta Espada remarked. "So what do I do now?"
"Well," Inoue began. Her face twisted into a strange expression before she sighed once again and continued, "I could give you some ideas, but I don't think any of them will work in this case. I mean, you need to convince Grimmjow-san that you genuinely want to be his friend, but if I give you an idea, then it would be from me and not from you, so he'd never believe that you're being sincere about it. So I'm afraid you'll need to figure out a way yourself. I'm really sorry."
Considering the teen's word for a moment, Ulquiorra nodded.
"That is fine. I will think of something myself," the Cuarta Espada stated. "Anyway, I'll be off now, woman."
"Okay then, good luck with your mission and with Grimmjow-san," Inoue said. If she were a cheerleader and had a pom-pom or two with her, she would have shaken them and done some routine dance to cheer her warden on. However, since she was not, Inoue only offered him a broad smile. "Please do your best."
As Ulquiorra turned and left the room, Inoue mentally pat herself on the back. She might not be the smartest person in the world, but she believed she had done a good job with giving an advice to Ulquiorra. And all that was left for her to do was waiting for the result.
In the next morning, Ulquiorra found himself pondering the human girl's advice even while he was having his breakfast. Although he had slept on it in the previous night, he still couldn't come up with any good way to convince the Sexta Espada that he sincerely wanted to be the man's friend. After all, the matter was more complicated than he first believed, and everything he had done seemed to upset Grimmjow more than it pleased the man.
Finishing his meal, Ulquiorra glanced over to the clock that was hung on the wall. It had already past the usual time for Grimmjow to have breakfast, but there was no sign that the man would show up. With a soft sigh, Ulquiorra beckoned to the chef.
"Yes, Ulquiorra-sama?"
"Has Grimmjow come to get his breakfast yet?"
"No, sir," the chef replied.
Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes. "Very well, then, give me a burrito."
The chef gave Ulquiorra an incredulous look. After all, Ulquiorra had just finished his full course breakfast, so to order another burrito sounded a little weird.
"Are you eating here, Ulquiorra-sama?"
"No, it's a take out," Ulquiorra replied before he resumed his thinking mode and wouldn't have come out of that mode if the chef didn't come to hand him a burrito wrapped neatly in a plastic.
Nodding at the chef to show his gratitude, the Cuarta Espada got out of the kitchen and headed toward Grimmjow's room. Although Lord Aizen didn't specifically say when they should meet him at the throne room, judging from how eager the blue-haired Espada was to set off for the mission, he believed Grimmjow would want to leave the first thing in the morning. Therefore, the fact that he hadn't even showed up for breakfast made Ulquiorra wonder if his blue-eyed friend had really been sick. After all, the man didn't look too well in the previous day.
It didn't take long for Ulquiorra to reach to Grimmjow's private quarters. However, he stood there for a long time, wondering if he should knock. If his memory served correctly, the Sexta Espada had openly stated that he didn't like to be disturbed in the morning and therefore, didn't appreciate his door being knocked.
Ulquiorra stood there and contemplated his options for a moment, and when he finally decided that he would just knock the door, said door was suddenly opened that if he hadn't caught it with his fast reflex, it would have hit him squarely in the face.
"Er—" the Sexta Espada uttered, blinking. It was unclear to him how long the green-eyed Espada had been standing there in front of his room, but Grimmjow didn't have a chance to even consider asking when Ulquiorra offered him something that looked pretty much like, "A burrito?"
"The chef said you hadn't come for your breakfast yet, so I thought you might need something to eat before we go out on the mission," Ulquiorra explained. "But of course, if you don't like it and want to go and have breakfast in the kitchen instead, that would also be fine."
Grimmjow looked at the offered burrito for a moment before he decided to accept it.
"Nah, I don't wanna waste more time here. Let's just go and meet Aizen and get that damn mission over with," he remarked as he began to unwrap the food. "And thanks for this, by the way."
"Don't mention it," Ulquiorra replied. "However, I must inquire why you haven't gone to get your breakfast until this late? Could it be because you haven't got any better than yesterday?"
Not only did he asked, Ulquiorra also took half a step forward before he stared intensely at Grimmjow's face, intending to spot anything that was wrong with the taller Arrancar.
The weight of the gaze made Grimmjow's face heat up slightly. Ulquiorra certainly had no concept of personal space, and it was possible that the pale man would come closer and try to check the Sexta Espada's temperature with his hand, so Grimmjow decided to take a step back before that could happen.
"Oi, give it a rest, will ya?" Grimmjow said, covering his urge to blush by acting annoyed. "Haven't I already told you yesterday that I ain't sick? Now let's just head to the throne room already. You wouldn't want your precious Aizen-sama to wait, would you?"
With that said, Grimmjow set off to the direction of the throne room without waiting for Ulquiorra's reply. For some reasons, the Cuarta Espada always managed to make him lose his composure (although to be fair, he didn't really have so much of that to begin with), and it made Grimmjow shiver to think that he would be stuck with Ulquiorra for only Aizen knew how long. Thus, he decided to shorten the time he had to spend with Ulquiorra by striding down the hallway as fast as he could without looking like he was trying to run away.
The Fourth Sword of Aizen's Arrancar army looked somewhat puzzled by the way his "friend" almost sprinted off to the throne room, but he decided not to dwell on it and just followed the man to the throne room since at the very least Grimmjow accepted the food he offered without looking offended like all other times and even thanked Ulquiorra for it.
Sounds of their footsteps echoed in an empty hallway, as the two of them walked together to the designated room. Grimmjow had to admit that Ulquiorra was more agile than he had ever given the man a credit for, since no matter how fast and long Grimmjow's paces were, the Cuarta Espada never failed to catch up with him.
Grimmjow had planned to give Ulquiorra a silent treatment all the way to the throne room, and he had been successful until he took the last bite at the burrito. From then, the silence that occurred afterward gradually became more unbearable that he felt he needed to say something, and so he did.
"Say, Ulquiorra," Grimmjow said after he threw the plastic that was used to wrap the food away in one trash can, "how long do you think it'll take us to find some worthy Hollows?"
Ulquiorra didn't reply right away, but the way the black-haired male gave him a side glance made Grimmjow realize he shouldn't have asked. It was a common knowledge that the wielder of Murciélago deemed most things in his life as trash, and Grimmjow himself had only escaped from that category because of their friendship arrangement, which meant that the Sexta Espada would be able to count what Ulquiorra found worthy of his attention with one hand and still have a finger or two left to count something else. Therefore, a chance of finding any Hollows that Ulquiorra would see as worthy was very slim.
"Shit," Grimmjow swore under his breath, "this is gonna take forever."
"I doubt Aizen-sama would allow us that long to complete one mission," Ulquiorra commented blandly as though he couldn't be bothered by Grimmjow's complaint.
"Really?" Grimmjow asked, rolling his eyes. "But you suppose he'll allow us to come back empty-handed, then? Coz I don't think it'd be possible for us to come across someone you don't see as worthless."
"Since the goal for the mission is to find replacement for our fallen comrades, my plan is to find Hollows that have the same level of reiatsu as you former Fraccións if not higher. Whether they are worthy of joining our side or not is for Aizen-sama to decide," Ulquiorra noted. Normally, he would just end his sentence there, but since he thought it would be a little friendlier to listen to Grimmjow's opinion as well, he decided to add, "However, if you have other ideas, I am willing to listen."
Grimmjow raised an eyebrow. "Hmm? Aren't you being considerate?"
"Well, it is how—"
Ulquiorra stopped himself in the middle of sentence as he realized what he was about to say. He already had enough trouble trying to convince that he was serious about being friends with Grimmjow as it already was, so if he said he was being considerate because someone told him that it was how he was supposed to act, then it would make his tasks even more difficult.
The fact that Ulquiorra stopped himself in the middle of the sentence and even narrowed his eyes as if he was mentally scolding himself didn't escape Grimmjow's notice. And since he wasn't sure if he should laugh or sigh, Grimmjow decided to do neither and shook his head instead. He had to give it to Ulquiorra for managing to do everything completely by the book even though that thing wasn't supposed to have a guideline to begin with. Most of the time he found that trait of Ulquiorra very annoying, but even though he would never admit it to anyone even if his life depended on it, there were also times – like that moment – that he found that trait somewhat adorable.
"Oi. That was meant to be a joke, so no need to explain yourself. Seriously, Ulquiorra, you need to loosen up a bit," Grimmjow said. He almost reached his hand out to pat Ulquiorra on the shoulder, but he realized what he was about to do first, so he quickly shoved that hand into the pocket of his pants. "Anyway, to answer your question, my plan is just to follow the strongest reiatsu and then force whoever possesses it to join us, so I guess our plans aren't that much different, eh?"
Ulquiorra nodded. He was a little surprised that their plans were not that different, since they usually have completely different methods of doing things, and their ideas would clash more often than not, which was one of many reasons why they had never been on a good term until the friendship experiment. It seemed the experiment wouldn't be a waste of time as he first believed. After all, it had brought about many good changes – like how they were able to discuss their plan without provoking one another when it had once been considered impossible.
"Yes, that appears to be the case."
Grimmjow wanted to sigh in relief the moment he and Ulquiorra finally arrived to the throne room, for it meant that he wouldn't have to try to find more topics to discuss with the slim Espada to prevent an awkward silence from occurring. However, he couldn't feel relieved just yet, as the first thing he saw after he entered the throne room was that the Lord of Las Noches was not the only person who occupied the room but there was also the silver-haired Shinigami standing by his side.
It was a known fact to all Arrancars that Aizen's two accomplices rarely appeared in a mission briefing unless the mission directly concerned them or they took their personal interests in it. Since that mission did definitely not concern Gin, he could only assume that the Shinigami with an unfading smile took a personal interest in said mission. And the Sexta Espada knew from experience that it was never a good sign when Ichimaru Gin was interested in anything.
"Since you two are already here, shall I take it that you have already discussed your plan to execute this mission?" Aizen asked with a smiling face, although both Espadas suspected the Shinigami had already known the answer.
"Yes, Aizen-sama," was Ulquiorra replied. "Shall I relay it to you in detail?"
"There's no need to do that," replied the rogue Shinigami. "I trust in your judgment."
Hearing that remark, Grimmjow had an urge to ask the Shinigami why the hell he asked them to report to him before leaving to begin with, but he knew better than to say it aloud. As kind and forgiving as he portrayed himself, Aizen was still a cold unmerciful bastard who could kill people without dropping that gentle smile from his face.
"However," Aizen continued, "I'd like you two to add searching this area into your plan, since Kaname detected some Hollow activities there earlier. You might find a new Hollow colony. Here's the coordinate."
Ulquiorra nodded and went to collect the note from their boss before he returned to stand beside Grimmjow.
"Now how much time do you think you need to complete this mission?" Aizen inquired.
"A week is more than enough," Grimmjow replied quickly before Ulquiorra could have any say in the matter. After all, that was the maximum length of time he believed he could stand being alone with Ulquiorra.
"I agree that it would suffice in our prior plan," Ulquiorra remarked calmly. "However, since Aizen-sama wishes us to search this area as well, I believe we need more than one week. After all, it would take at least five days to travel to this coordination."
Grimmjow was about to protest, but Aizen beat him to it.
"I will give you three weeks, then," the former Fifth Division's captain said with finality. "Now I will let them go on the mission, unless you have anything to add, Gin."
"Ah, no, Aizen-taichō," Ichimaru replied. The everlasting smile still plastered his face. "I'm just here to see them off and wish them a good journey. And, oh, I want you two to take these."
By saying "these," Ichimaru suddenly pulled out a huge picnic basket and three matching blue and green bags that were probably sleeping bags and a backpacking tent from behind the throne Aizen was sitting. Seeing that both Ulquiorra and Grimmjow were too stunned to react, he prompted, "Come on, come and take them."
"Er... you do realize Ulquiorra and I are not going on a camping trip, right?" Grimmjow asked with a grimace.
"Of course, but that still doesn't change the fact that you two will have to spend time out in the open, so this will save you some time from worrying about food or shelter."
Once again, Grimmjow felt his headache returning, but for the sake of shutting the sly Shinigami up, he replied, "Alright, we'll take them."
With that said, the Sexta Espada walked up to Ichimaru and picked up a picnic basket and one sleeping bag then passed them to Ulquiorra before he picked up the tent and another sleeping bag.
Seeing the Espada's action, Gin turned to Aizen, who seemed to be equally amused, and remarked, "That is all I have to say to them, Aizen-taichō."
"Well then, you are free to go now, Ulquiorra, Grimmjow," Aizen stated. "I shall see you in three weeks."
Getting the permission to leave, both Grimmjow and Ulquiorra gave the two Shinigami a bow and left.
After the Espadas had left the room, Aizen gave his subordinate a side glance and could see that the silver-haired man was pouting slightly.
"What seems to be the matter, Gin? You were happy just a moment ago."
With a sigh, the former captain of the Gotei 13's Third Division replied, "Well, nothing really. It's only that I just realized that now that they're both going out to the desert, I won't be able to watch my favorite telenovela for three whole weeks."
To that Aizen chuckled.
"Oh, we will still be able to watch it just fine," said the Lord of Las Noches before he continued once he saw a puzzled look from his lieutenant. "You don't really think that I will send my only source of entertainment out for that long without any plan, do you, Gin?"
End of Chapter V
*fujoshi – a Japanese term for yaoi fangirl.