Yay, long chapter! for those who haven't checked, I updated the last chapter a bit and included a link at the bottom, but I'll add it here too at the end for my lovelies 3 anyway, MOVING ON!

Arrancar are born looking a certain way for a reason, and so blatantly changing that look was rather unusual, so naturally it only provoked Ulquiorra's curious mind even more about why Erin had lobbed all her hair off-though part of him had made the unsually smart-ass remark that she resembled a certain aggrivating Espada and so she wanted to minimalize association; the odds of finding two Arrancar with blue hair and blue eyes with enough power to make Espada ranking was statistically low and he'd heard some comments about if the two dominant personalities had been related to each other somehow. That was even more unlikely.

The chamber had cleared out relatively quickly after her reveal and Erin had been escorted to a side room to find suitable clothes, leaving him to wait alone.

Well, nearly.

Aizen appeared nearby and his face was impassive, but Ulquiorra could sense he had something important to say so he bowed and acknowledged the encounter smoothly. His lord's voice was somewhat clipped, as they both knew Erin could return any moment now. "Ulquiorra," the rogue shinigami began, arms folded at the small of his back to make him seem fuller than he felt, "there is a reason I entrusted Erin's care to you." Cuatro's emerald eyes glinted. "You are the most loyal to my cause, and so bearing the most of my trust. I have my reasons for doing this as I did, and it is those reasons that have led me to leave you in charge of crafting her into the perfect weapon; powerful and unshaking in her loyalty. With her, my plan will be all but completed. Keep her under your thumb, Ulquiorra. She won't be your fraccion forever, her strength is bound to be noticed and suspicions will rise, but you can carve a lasting impression on her. I know you can."

Nodding, Ulquiorra began calculating what he was going to do with her, knowing Aizen was so unsettled by her very existence, listening for the sound of the door opening.

She took a flying leap and appeared before she was actually sensed,slipping quickly into view directly behind the soul reaper who maintained his composure perfectly. "Hey," she greeted plainly. "What're we talking about?"

"Ah, Erin, my dear," Aizen answered, looking over his shoulder at her. "There you are. I was merely explaining to Ulquiorra his job, now that you've utterly joined us as an Arrancar."

"What job is that?"

Ulquiorra chose to stay out of this conversation. Not having visible eyes as a Hollow had made it difficult to read her mood, but now that it was easy to see her thoughts on her face, the Espada had been quick to realize that her hate of shinigami was much deeper than he'd first assumed-more so than what was considered normal for Hollows to feel. Her sky-hued eye burned with raging contempt as she looked at Aizen, not even bothering to hide her dislike; this is why he was in charge of her: Ulquiorra needed to curb her raging emotions, and who better to do so than one that has none? One whose very existence seethes with despair?

"For now," Sosuke explained in his mock-friendly way, gesturing slightly to Cuatro, "you are still his fraccion, to be trained until you've mastered your new abilities. Once he deems you proficcient, you'll be tested and ranked accordingly. I told you I have high expectations for you, my dear. Enjoy your new body."

He left in a blur and Ulquiorra noticed Erin's reaction to his sudden disappearance as well as her mood brightening considerably now that there weren't any soul reapers around anymore. This was the Erin he'd brought to Las Noches, not the dark force that had arrived only moments before. "We're going," he told her, turning on his heel and using sonido to reach the door, looking over his shoulder at her.

At first, Erin was going to jump down and walk, but then she realized her training had evidently already started and he was testing her capacity. Sadly, Erin had no friggin' clue how to do jack shit as an Arrancar. Everything was strange. Her perception was off now that she was smaller and walking upright, her balanced was slightly skewed now that she didn't have four legs, a tail and two wings to equalize her center of gravity and feeling air on her face was extremely distracting; on the plus side, she'd gotten to keep her hyper senses, as she could still pick him out plain as day in his twin-tailcoat jacket and white hakama, not a terribly far cry from the Soul Society's shihakusho uniforms.

And especially his eyes. They were like grassy beacons in the dark chamber.

Just do as he did, she thought, putting her weight on her toes. Wait, how did he do it though? Having missed his movements while raging silently, she decided to try the obvious way first by jumping with as much strength as she could muster.

She landed two-thirds of the distance between them, stumbled, hit her knee and then face on the ground, got up and then trotted the rest of the way, pouting. "Well, that was pathetic."

"Indeed it was," he stated plainly, turning so his back was to her. "We shall work on that. Come."

"Now? Like, training now?"

"No, fool. You are not used to your body yet. We will walk."

That made more sense.

Walking seemed to be an activity Ulquiorra enjoyed, so Erin didn't complain even though they were silent once again. Her equilibrium was returning steadily so that she didn't sway or teeter or smack into things, but he wasn't making it any better for her with his stilleted comments; he was back to being cold and callous again, and she thought it might be because of how long they were apart.

"How long was I in that box, Ulquiorra?" the new Arrancar inquired as they approached a doorway that led to the dome, false sunlight overtaking the artificial slowly, putting her weight on her toes to see if maybe it helped her any.

"Three days," he answered immediately, hands in his pockets and attention forward.

Just perfect to undo those three days where we actually interacted, she thought sourly, feeling her ankle give out as well as her balance so that she skid into a wall.

Ulquiorra stopped and finally looked at her. "You are clumsy."

"That's not my fault!" she protested, smiling to herself now that she'd gotten his attention. "You try transitioning from having a tail sometime."

His expression seemed to harden slightly when he replied, "I did. It wasn't difficult." Looking might have been a mistake on his part, for now he couldn't look away.

Erin was only slightly shorter than he was now-a spacial factor he was still attuning himself to-but she was slender, not quite thin like he was, with a sunny color to her skin that stood out best when they were side-by-side. She had natural grace when she was still, her body relaxed and fluid in movement, much like when she was an Adjucha; her Grimmjow-blue hair was now cropped close to her head, though her bangs still fell over her face and under her mask fragment which covered her left eye and cheek bone, the void effect still holding true even now. At her eyes were her markings: lavender crescents at each corner and across her eyelid, so that when her eye was closed it looked like she had a downward-facing moon on her face; these were the transition in her color palette, as her zanpakuto was tied horizontally to her lower back, the hilt on the right, its rose color a bright splotch against her white uniform.

Naturally, her fashion sense was strange as well; Erin had selected a vest-jacket with a long coattail that was cut to only cover her modest breasts, leaving her collar and belly totally exposed, though this didn't seem to bother her any, while she had a plain, long-sleeved choli underneath that turned up at the cuffs and buttoned like a dress shirt, hard slender hands held loftily at her sides. She wore no hakama, which somehow didn't surprise him, and instead vouched for a short skirt that hugged her hips and ended just above halfway down her thighs, and to finish it, knee-high boots with small heels that made the familiar click-clack they were both accustomed to as she walked which served to ease his anxiety over her presence.

His sharp gaze raked her body from head-to-toe, his mind going blank, which is what he'd been trying to avoid. Erin knew he was zoning again so she waved her hand in front of his face until he snapped out of it, his eyes narrowing just slightly. "It would appear your Arrancar body still carries minute traces of your glamour."

"Great," she sighed, wondering why he'd gone arctic on her. "So I'm still a strobe light. That's wonderful."

Ulquiorra turned away again and stepped out into the dome, listening as she pushed off from the wall and followed.

Getting fed up with his pseudo mood-swings, she tried once again to start a conversation with him, hoping to find a glimmer of the Espada she'd spent two awesome days with-technically he wasn't any different from normal, she just didn't like that he seemed to be ignoring her existence now, when he'd been more than interested before. "If you had a tail, you shouldn't give me crap about it since you had to get used to it, too."

"As I said," he answered, keeping ahead of her, "it was not difficult for me."

"Got any tips then?"

He turned his head faintly away from her, his voice quieter than it had been. "That was long ago. I do not remember."

"Oh..."

He didn't say anything else, so she decided to give up on being subtle. "Is there a problem?"

"What do you mean by 'problem'?"

"You're acting strange."

"I am not. This is how I always am."

"Maybe to everyone else, but the Ulquiorra from three days ago was more attentive and willing to talk to me. Is there something wrong?"

Ulquiorra sighed softly. "No."

"Then talk to me, dammit!"

"I am."

She groaned, exhasperated. "Not like before. You ignore me whenever I don't say anything."

"Perhaps I just wish for silence at the moment."

Huffing, Erin balled her fists and decided to focus on regaining her balance, since he was bound to ignore her now even when she spoke, so she decided not to waste her breath.

She was upset and he knew this, but did not acknowledge her tantrum, as he was once again adjusting to having a fraccion following him around. Before, they'd had two days reaching the fortress for him to adjust without her incessant need for idle conversation, which made the transition to Espada and fraccion easier, but now he'd gotten desensitized to the arangement and needed to reboot, still trying to figure out what he was going to do now that he knew the truth of the situation and working out the realization he did act different with her, even if only by a bit. Somehow, Erin had gotten under his defenses, and that was both good and bad for him; Ulquiorra Schiffer never had anyone close to him nor did he ever let anyone try, yet it had happened anyway, just when he'd discarded the idea it would.

Erin Void. What was she?

After a few hours of crossing the dome's sands, Erin had finally gotten her balance and was walking without swaying or leaning to stay on track, and her good mood radiated enough that even Ulquiorra had to acknowledge her now. Glancing over his shoulder, he said, "Why are you smiling?"

"Because," she mused back, happy with herself, "I finally got the hang of this walking on two legs thing."

He grunted and looked forward again. "Simpleton."

She'd gotten used to his name-calling a while ago; whenever someone exhibited behavior he couldn't understand or didn't like, he tended to tag them with a name related to said behavior-"trash" was usually his favorite, but was reserved solely for those whose power was significantly below his. With Erin, this was not the case, so he needed to come up with new names to express his confusion.

Ignoring his jab at her intelligence-she knew he didn't actually mean it anyway-the new Arrancar-woman used that intelligence without really meaning to, bringing an interesting idea to her head. "Hey. Question." She knew better than to ask "Can I ask you a question?" as he responded like a smartass more often than not whenever she did.

He grunted again, indicating she could continue.

"Considering the facts: I was a four-legged Hollow with a tail and I was having some serious equilibrium problems just now, but you said you had a tail, too, but it wasn't an issue... does that mean you were an upright-walking Menos and that's why it wasn't hard for you to adjust?"

Finally, Erin had surprised him; he had almost barely started missing that about her. Stopping suddenly-and with his fraccion right behind-Erin's lack of coordination made her run right into him although she'd tried to stop, her weight getting thrown forward. She oofed, but Ulquiorra didn't even budge, his head inclined so that she could see right into his despairing, emerald eyes, even from behind. "Sorry," she murmured, taking a step back as he faced her, unfocusing his gaze in the hopes that doing so would help negate-or at least deaden-her distracting effect.

"You are right," he began, remembering that she wasn't as dense as most others around him. "I did walk upright, even as a Hollow. My tail was not used to stabilize my stride, as yours was. As well as a weapon, my tail was necessary only for retaining my high-speed aerial maneuverability, as I did not find myself needing the ground often. Therefore, losing it to Arrancar-ification did not impeed my balance as much as it has you."

His eyes focused in the seconds between his finished explaination and his attempt to turn away, and Ulquiorra grudgingly managed to get a good look at her face for the first time, his mind only half-registering the curiosity in her gaze. The Hollow mask fragment over her eye actually wrapped its way around part of her head as well, three long barbs growing back from it, tracing the place where the shell of her ear would be, the front half arching downward just alongside her nose; along with her eyes, Cuatro noticed her lips had markings as well, the upper a rosey crimson much like his own was black, while her lower was merely lined with it, making it an obvious statement that she had full lips-not that he noticed anyway; his mind had cut out again, his gaze slowly moving from head-to-toe.

Erin touched her lower lip thoughtfully, wondering why he hadn't mentioned he was a flying Hollow before. Then she remembered he had a don't-ask-don't-tell policy, and as the subject had never come up before, he hadn't felt inclined to mention anything. Tricky bastard. "What an interesting coincidence," she murmured, hoping he'd ask, but he only continued to stare at her. "Ulquiorra...? Ulqui-oh, for the love of God."

With out bothering to think it through, Erin lifted her hand and poked him between the eyes to snap him out of it, and she shouldn't have been surprised when his hand flashed up and circled her wrist with blinding speed, his grip firmer than usual. "What are you doing?"

"Maybe we should get out of the dome," she said, finding it ridiculous that he could be so easily distracted while it had taken Grimmjow several minutes to show signs of spacing off. The Arrancar wondered if it had to do with intelligence: that smarter people were more likely to be hypnotized because they paid closer attention. In which case, it only reinforced that Grimmjow was a moron.

A moron with a bad temper.

"Clearly you can't think straight with the light on me, so let's just get back to your wing before we cause an accident."

She tugged her hand away and he let her, his palm warm from her strange level of body heat-much warmer than any Hollow or Arrancar he'd encountered-nodding and wanting to get her out of his peripheral vision before he lost his train of thought again. But when they started walking again, she remained in a position that, while still outside his actual range of sight, would make it too easy to catch a glimpse if he didn't keep forward; normally that wasn't difficult, but now Ulquiorra found himself fighting not to turn his focus on his fraccion as she practiced with different strides and forms of locomotion, even going so far as to linger behind several steps to try skipping before catching her toes on the back of her other heel and plastering herself to the ground. The fact he wanted to look at her so badly it was distracting didn't imporve his mood any and it certainly didn't make working through his questions any easier, because if he slipped his thoughts would crash but focusing meant he wouldn't be able to put some of the humming nuisances to rest until the night hours, and that would just bother him.

What was Erin Void? A complication. That's what.

"You will be sleeping in your own room from now on," he suddenly said as they entered the lower floor of his wing that came directly off the dome, having decided that before he could get used to her constant presence, he needed more time to settle his mind and as much away from her as possible to do so.

"I figured," she sighed.

He thought she'd protest.

"After all, we aren't like that, you only have one bed and I doubt the window is as comfy now as it was then. Besides, I know where you are so I'll be fine."

"Good that you understand."

She folded her arms behind her back. "Well, guys need their personal space and it's painfully obvious you aren't used to having someone in yours constantly."

"Being male has nothing to do with space. I have told you, gender makes no difference for Hollows."

Erin grinned; she'd gotten him, finally. "Ah, but we aren't Hollows, are we? We're Arrancar, both of us now, and that's closer to shinigami than normal Hollows, and they differentiate-"

"We are not shinigami," he cut it, some of his spirit pressure leaking out as his temper flared-an incredibly rare and difficult thing to accomplish.

Erin instinctively countered with her own to keep her from suffering the side-effects of his reiatsu, biting the inside of her lip as she tried to make sense of what had just happened and not liking his behavior. "Christ. Don't be so touchy. It's the truth and you know it." She huffed. "Granted, we aren't soul reapers-thank God-and I never said we were. I merely pointed out that we're more like them than your average Hollow, our abilities to reason and sympathize much greater than theirs. We're Arrancar. We're stronger than any stupid shinigami anyway."

His temper abated. "Except for lord Aizen."

Erin tipped her head side-to-side. "Eeehhh... don't even know how strong he is in the first place. Maybe. He'd have to be to control so many of us, so maybe he is stronger. But regardless, that's all I meant. So biology might apply because of that reason."

"Impossible." He wanted her quiet. "Interractions between male and female beings is a direct result of the 'heart' influencing the soul. Even as Arrancar, we have no hearts to speak of-physically or emotionally-therefore, any feelings, needs or urges you feel in regard to sex-based exchanges is merely your mind fooling you into believing it matters. It does not. You are not human and nor am I."

Erin stopped dead, feeling like he'd just slapped her in the face, while he continued to walk, both of them knowing she could find her way on her own when she pleased. Usually anger would flare up in direct proportion to how wounded her pride was, but this time she only stood there, watching his retreating back and thinking to herself,

Why do you cry, Ulquiorra? Why do tears fall down your cheeks even though you don't feel sad?

She believed her feelings were real, not a product of her mind trying to fool her. How was she going to convince him of that, though? Ulquiorra Schiffer was notoriously difficult to reason with when it came to his personal beliefs. She felt things, things no one understood. How could she be sure?

Why do you cry?

Erin didn't see Ulquiorra the rest of the day, which suited her just fine-her anger had been delayed by shock and tempered by sympathy-and she lay in her bedroom in a silk robe one of the unranked Arrancar had brought for her, along with a few changes of clothes for the next couple of days that she'd hung up despite wanting to go give her Espada a piece of her mind and never getting around to it. With her arms behind her head, Erin stared at her ceiling with a scowl, trying to get her mind off of the grouchy Numero next door; she had one leg propped up on her other knee, kicking it irritably as she worked through her aggrivation slowly.

The silence was even more deafening than ever, now that all the voices in her mind had been erradicated. Getting distracted was always easy for her because of the constant screaming in the very depths of her consciouness ruining her concentration, and at first it was so quiet it was loud; her first moments free of the the Hogyoku's spell had been mind-numbing. Speaking of which, she suddenly thought, her leg going still, could that be what had been talking to me?

She shook her head. It's a bauble. A bauble with a shit-fucking-ton of power.

"Screw this." The light panel for her room was located similarly to Ulquiorra's-left of the bed and up a bit, a smooth, slightly raised surface against the rough wall-and easy to reach after rolling over; her fingers tapped it and her room was plunged into darkness, only the moonlight in the high windows pouring in and breaking the shadows' hold.

The nightmare had only just begun when Erin was jerked awake by a strange sensation: there was a pounding in her chest that made her think, This must be what a pounding heart feels like, before wondering how it could be when she didn't have a heart-literally, she didn't. The Hollow holes located in specific parts of an Arrancar's body normally eliminated any organs in that area, though sometimes they merely altered the anatomy itself, like in Grimmjow's case where he could eat despite having a hole where his stomach was. For her, she physically had no heart she knew of, as her Hollow hole was located on her chest, directly between her breasts, so if she did have one, it was in the wrong place.

Either way, her chest was pounding and she didn't know why, only that she felt the need to get up and exit her room, following some instinctive tug that took her sleep-addled self up the hallway right to the room she didn't want to be in. Erin opened the door and stepped into the dark room before she was finally awake enough to realize where she was and why.

Ulquiorra tossed on his bed, caught in the thralls of another nightmare; she could smell his fearful sweat from the doorway and her skin registered a change in temperature that sourced from his body, telling her the story without her even knowing the words. Most Hollows wouldn't give a damn either way if one of their own were having sleeping troubles, but not Erin. She needed to go over to him, even if he'd upset her earlier, because she didn't want to see him this way, helpless against the emptiness that plagued her own subconscious. It was instinct.

Head jerking, his chest spasmed up and she heard him groan, his hands clenching the sheets, and it made her hurt inside to hear. Erin went over to his bedside quickly, hearing the door swing shut softly so that moonlight was the only thing by which to guide her, and sat precariously on the edge, her hands moving to cup his clammy face as she leaned over him and whispered, "Ulquiorra... wake up..." trying to snap him out of it and keep him from thrashing. "Ulquiorra, it's only a dream. Wake up."

Erin leaned so close, they could've touched foreheads if he moved even a little, but she had hold of his head so he couldn't hurt himself. "Ulquiorra," she said a little louder, forgetting her minute grudge against him, "come back. It's a nightmare. Come back to me. Please."

His eyes snapped open and his hand closed around her throat.

okay, linky-link, just as promised. and yes, I drew that, haha.

art/Ulquiorra-Schiffer-Primera-Etapa-370851419?q=gallery%3Atsoyukiku&qo=0