Onna

Chapter 3

They walked a few minutes before Grimmjow finally stopped and pointed down a hall they'd arrive at, "This is where they said you're gonna stay." He stated turning to leave, Ulquiorra right behind him. "Oh yeah," The blue haired Espada smirked, "Make sure you stay on this side 'cuause I can't guarantee you'll keep your life if you pass over to ours." What did he mean? "W-wait, huh?" Ichigo called after him. "What now?" Grimmjow replied gruffly. "What do you mean 'this half'?" The other man looked at the ginger headed teen as if he were mental. "Didn't Captain 'What's-her-face' explain it to ya?"

"Apparently not." Uryu sighed. Grimmjow rolled his eyes and scoffed, but explained none the less, "Your people decided to form a sorta deal with the remaining arrancars that were in Los Noches. If they didn't attack or purposely keep the Soul Society from forming and having a base here, they were allowed to have half of Los Noches as their own." He paused taking in the bewilder expressions of the others. Smirking he went on, "But, the soul reapers also said that they wouldn't bother the arrancars taking residence there. That's why I suggest you kiddies stay on this side 'cause they can, and will, kill you and there's nothing the Soul Society can do about it."

All of them had assumed that the remaining arrancars had been driven out of Los Noches. That the Soul Society now had control over the entire palace. The thought of angry arrancars just on the other side of their walls didn't comfort their anxious minds. "Well, 'night, Strawberry." Grimmjow called back as he left the group to ponder their situation. "That's just great; we're sharing a roof with arrancars who want our heads..." Renji sighed.

"Why don't we just go ahead and decide who gets what room and try to get some sleep. Everything that's happened today's made me exhausted." Uryu said. He wasn't the only one. After all of the information that was thrown at her that day Orihime was left completely worn out. Her emotions were so twisted about Ulquiorra's survival that she wanted to find some relief to the turmoil with a good night's sleep.

How much of it any of them were going to actually get while within the walls of Los Noches was questionable.

"Ladies first…" Chad said. The other men grunted in agreement. Without putting much thought into it, Rukia randomly picked the first room she saw. Orihime went ahead and picked the one a crossed the hall from her, the second door on the right. The guys divided the remaining rooms amongst themselves, and once everyone had said some sort of "good night", they all retired for the day.

Once she'd shut the door behind her, Orihime began the process of exploring her living quarters. Compared to the cell she had been placed in during her imprisonment, the room was quiet different. Not unlike the one she had sleep restlessly on so many times during her the first time she had come to Los Noches, a couch was pushed the far wall so that it was facing the doorway. To her surprise, this room actually had a bed in it. The piece of furniture had a tall wide headboard which was pushed against one wall so that the end stuck out into the middle of the room. Against the wall opposite of the full sized bed a small cream colored dresser was placed, a door way beside it led her to the bathroom. Once she had thoroughly inspected it, Orihime filled the empty dresser with her belongings.

After arranging her possession in each drawer she fell onto the end of the bed with a sigh. Not bothering to change into her sleepwear, the girl slipped off her shoes and stretched her limps out on the bed. Without even pulling the covers over herself, Orihime was engulfed in the calming unconsciousness.

Ulquiorra and Grimmjow made the long track back to the arrancar side of Los Noches. Even though the two captains had said that they were welcome to stay on their side of the palace, Grimmjow's ego was to large to allow himself to be around the humans anymore then he had to. Ulquiorra did the same seeing that it only be right that he too stayed loyal to his own kind.

Captain Unohana had Grimmjow watch over Ulquiorra for she assumed that he would be a much better guardian then any one she could provide since he too was an arrancar. Anyone would have been better then Grimmjow. He didn't put much effort into the child's well-being other then getting him food and providing him with clothing.

Allowing the boy to sleep never occurred to him.

The former Espada led both of them to the central converging area on their side of Los Noches. Most of the hollow residence used the open space to meet up with each other to talk or spar. Tonight they were more riled up then usual. Finding an unoccupied space, Grimmjow flopped down and began a conversation with another arrancar nearby.

Ulquiorra quietly sat down next to his blue haired guardian. With his legs pulled up underneath him, he looked over the crowed of violent and loud passersby. He caught bits and pieces of conversations; Grimmjow's included, and finally realize why everyone was so much worse then most nights. It was because of them. The new humans that had arrived. The ones that the onna had come with. The boy continued to listen to their rants about how they only wished to kill the orange haired boy. After what seemed like hours of a nonstop stream of sound, all of the voices began to run together. Ulquiorra's head bobbed once, and he found that his eyes were refusing to stay focused. Hoping that Grimmjow was to caught up in the excitement, he stood and slipped away down the hall.

Since Ulquiorra no longer had a proper room, he shared one with Grimmjow. Neither of them was comfortable with sharing a bed, so Grimmjow had dragged a spare couch into the bedroom they shared for Ulquiorra to sleep on.

The arrancar child immediately went over to the white sofa once he'd entered their room. Without a blanket or anything else to keep himself warm after he'd lain down, Ulquiorra pulled his legs up to his chest in a fetal position and wrapped his arms around his knees. Still unable to raise his body temperature, he allowed himself to fall asleep in defeat.

Ulquiorra had been asleep for only an hour or so when he lurched into a sitting position with a gasp. His emerald eyes scanned the darkened room. Grimmjow's snoring figure was in the bed nearby. He must have lumbered back to their room sometime after the boy went to sleep. Rapping his arms around himself, Ulquiorra laid his head back down and tried to push the dark images he'd just dreamed out of his head. That frustrated him to no end. The few hours of sleep he did get were always interrupted by nightmares with no apparent reason or logic to them. They were usually filled with a monstrous winged beast attacking him, or of his body disintegrating before his eyes. For some reason the new one he'd just experienced jarred every nerve within him for in his dream, the onna had died.

It had been as if he was watching the scene, but wasn't directly in it. A man in a familiar arrancar uniform stood over her, his sword drenched in the human girl's blood. "Trash…" He'd called her as he turned away from her corpse. He simple strode away from the onna, not another word said. He face showed no remorse or guilt. The nightmare scared him not just because harm came to the onna within it, but because he recognized the man. He's face had been so eerily familiar. His face had been Ulquiorra's.

"No." He whispered, burying his face in the cushion. Even if Ulquiorra didn't have an explanation for why he had known who the human girl was, or why he had so dearly wanted to see her, the last thing he would do was bring harm to her. He refused to be the monster in his dream.

'If I am a monster, then so are you, boy…'

Ulquiorra clamped his hand over his ears. Gritting his teeth, he willed away the foreign thoughts that kept poking their way into his mind.

'I am Ulquiorra Cifer, not a monster!'

The child screamed in his head. After a few moments his thoughts went quiet. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, Ulquiorra rolled over and stared at the other Espada hoping that he would wake soon. Grimmjow stirred in his sleep, but continued to snore. The little boy sighed; Grimmjow would probably sleep for a few more hours. This meant he would have to lye and wait until he woke.

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Ok, well... I'm playing on the idea that even though the little boy Ulquiorra is in control of his movement and thoughts, the real Ulquiorra is still making his feelings on the situation known. He's still aware of whats happening to his younger self. Bu of course Little Ulquiorra doesn't know that and he's a pretty freaked out by the thought of of having another person sharing his thoughts.

I really hope this chapter doesn't just sound like nonsense, because I feel like I could have wrote this better :(

R&R Please