The first thing he remembered was red. A brilliant fire red. Accompanying it was a sense of hollowness. Like his beating heart had been ripped out and thrown away and taken all his emotions with it. He felt no happiness, no sadness, just a lingering emptiness that he could only think had been with him for a very long time. It all came with the brilliant color of red that tickled the edge of his memories.
He contemplated this all for one long moment when he awakened, before he finally sat up, pushing his face away from the cold surface he laid on. His skin, from what he could see was paper white like he had no blood in his veins and had never seen the sun. Looking at his long fingers he contemplated himself for a long moment. He wondered where he was, who he was, what he was. He couldn't remember much. There were a few faces, blurry and just out of reach, but no emotions. Memories were but dream fish just beneath the waves of his mind.
Ulquiorra finally looked up and found a man looking down at him with a smug smirk. The man was tall with slicked back hair and sharp brown eyes. He radiated power and stood in only white amidst a white hall.
"Welcome Ulquiorra." The man smirked. "Welcome to the Espada. And congratulations on awakening as an Arrancar."
Ulquiorra stared at the man for a long few moments. The first thing he found himself looking for was red. He found none. Surprisingly he looked for silver hair and an old face second. He did not find it. And finally he looked for burning red eyes. None. He couldn't tell if he was disappointed or relieved.
"Will you accept me as your Lord?"
Ulquiorra blanked for a second and all he could hear was a hissing tone and a kind grandfatherly one overlapped. He thought of red again. He looked back at the brunette. The man appeared amused.
"Yes." Ulquiorra answered blankly.
"Good. I am Aizen."
"Yes Lord Aizen."
The memory of hissing and red eyes and white skulls and a black snake flash through his mind. He pushed it away and looked into sharp brown eyes. He wondered why he hated those eyes already.
.-.
The woman was crying again. Sobbing softly into her arms beneath the window of her cell/room. She was quiet enough he shouldn't have cared but he still frowned all the same. He glanced out the tall window at the forever moon and then back at the woman. Red hair spilled over her shoulders and made a curtain about her face. The color drew him like honey did flies. He could not stop himself from gently pushing it back and hooking it behind her ear.
She started at the gentle motion and flinched at his hollow face. He did not let it affect him. He had kidnapped her of course. And her opinion meant nothing to him.
"Don't cry." He said.
She stared at him with wide eyes a soft honey brown in color. He hated them as much as he hated Aizen's. But he loved them also. It's that odd relationship. He could not stand to look at them so he looked at her hair instead. It was the color of red that always filled his mind. Well not quite. It was slightly different for some reason. But it was red all the same.
He reached out and ran long fingers through her hair. It was soft. Soft and Red. Somewhere in his memories he heard a happy, love filled laugh. Ulquiorra could not help but believe it was his. But never before had he laughed and certainly not like that. He pulled his hands from her hair.
"Has it always been red?" He asked.
She started again and then blushed.
"Yes." She said quickly.
"Oh." He said for lack of anything else.
"Do…do you like it?" She asked hesitantly as if trying to find something, anything to talk about.
"Yes. It is red." He stated. "I like red."
"Why?"
"I don't know." He answered simply.
He stood suddenly and turned striding back to the door.
"Rest. Aizen Wishes to see you in the morning."
.-.
Ulquiorra watched as the red headed girl trembled, shivers wracking her body as she hugged herself. Her hair had once again made a curtain about her face. He could feel her sorrow and fear from where he stood five feet away. He supposed it had something to do with healing Grimmjow and then watching the brute kill his 'replacement'.
He did not understand why she was so upset though. Perhaps because she had this heart he had heard about? He supposed that he had one also considering he was built so much like a human, but if emotion came from this heart then his was obviously broken or missing.
"Do not fear." He spoke up. "You will not be killed. You are too useful."
She started again. She did that a lot he noted.
"I don't care." She whispered. "But my friends…what if he does that to my friends?"
Ulquiorra had no answer and just watched her tremble. Finally he pulled her close to him and wound his arms around her. She stopped trembling to stiffen instead. He stroked her hair softly as one would a pet and enjoyed the bright color of Red. She calmed under his ministrations. Soon she looked up at him with wide brown eyes.
"I like your eyes." She said childishly.
He wondered if her defence was to change the subject to something, anything insignificant, to forget her fear.
"They're my Mother's eyes." He said without thinking.
Her eyes widened.
"You remember your mother? From when you were human?"
"No." He finally answered. "I must be mistaken."
.-.
"Your saviour is here." Ulquiorra said as he felt the Ryoka's reiatsu spike.
"Ichigo!" She blurted out.
He couldn't help but notice that her voice bloomed with hope. Her voice changed with such emotion; changing it from a soft spoken thing to a brilliant sound filled with happiness. He was struck with a pang in his chest. Dulled nails dug into his outfit above his heart at the pang. He wondered why this pain felt so familiar.
"Yes." He intoned. "He is here to save you."
The smile that appeared on her face was so beautiful. It was open and happy and wonderful. He could only stare at it. She ran to the window, pulling herself up on the edge to peer into the endless sands.
"He's already in the building." Ulquiorra said, stepping under her should she fall.
She already knew he was under her so she let the edge go and dropped into his arms. He steadied her.
"He came for me." She choked, eyes filled with tears.
He frowned and wiped the droplets away.
"You are happy. Yet you cry?" He asked.
"They're happy tears." She smiled.
Ulquiorra frowned in confusion. Abruptly he let her go and stepped for the door.
"Where are you going?" She blurted out.
He paused and glanced back at him.
"To kill him obviously. My orders are to keep you here and destroy him."
Her expression flared with fear and anger and sorrow. He didn't know if it was all aimed at him but he felt the pang again. He looked away from her accusing brown eyes and left her locked behind.
"Stay here Ginny, it's not safe out there." He whispered, voice overlapped with a memory.
.-.
"He rescued you."
Orihime spun, eyes wide at the sound of his voice, hands already aiming an attack at him. Said attack spluttered as her emotions at his appearance flared. Amidst the fake town where battles raged their small area was empty but for them. She looked at him with wide eyes, waiting for him to make the first move. A mistake of course, but he would not use it against her. She was only human after all.
"He did." She said strongly, chin held high. "Are you here to kill me now?"
"…No." He shook his head. "No."
"Then why are you here? There are many other battles that should interest someone with your power."
He stepped closer. Though her hands did not lower she did not attack. When he was within arms reach he reached out and twisted a lock of brilliant red hair.
"I love your hair." He breathed, eyes filled with the color red.
Not the bloody red of burning evil eyes, but the soft flame red that reminded him so much of life.
"Because it's red?" She asked softly. "Why do you like the color of red?"
"Not any red." He shook his head. "Only your red."
"Why?"
"I…" He paused. "I don't know. Somewhere in my mind I see great battles. Then I see red hair. I love the red hair. Or maybe the person it belongs to. But I guess it is not returned. All I see is smug brown eyes and wild red hair and green death. I think she wanted my money."
Orihime gaped at him in shock.
"How could she?" She whispered. "No one deserves that."
He closed his eyes and brought the lock in his fingers to his lips, gently kissing them. The way she gasped again told him she was surprised but not unwelcoming.
"I love your hair." He repeated.
"Because it's like hers?"
She sounds almost hurt now.
"No." He blinked, opening eyes to peer into her own honey depths. "No. I love your hair because it's different then hers. Hers was so red, like blood. Yours…yours is beautiful. Like the heart. You have a heart right?"
"Of course." She said softly.
"I don't think I do." He admitted.
Her arms had dropped from attack position finally. They hesitantly reach up, hands resting on his cheeks and thumbs tracing his green tears.
"Everyone has one." She said.
"If I had one," He said softly, "I would give it to you."
Her breath hitched and he saw tears in her eyes.
"Oh Ulquiorra."
"It's Harry I think." He said pressing his forehead against hers. "Harry."
"Harry." She repeated.
He liked how his name sounded on her lips. It sounded sweet. It sounded loved. He had always wanted to be loved.
"Would you accept my heart?" He asked. "I don't think I have much of one. And it must be very black and very small but I'd still like you to have it."
"Ulquiorra. Harry." She repeated.
He pressed a hand against her chest and felt her own heart beat beneath his fingers. He closed his eyes and lost himself to the rhythm.
"I think," She said so softly he barely heard.
He opened brilliant green eyes to see hers gazing at him so tenderly.
"I think I would love to have your heart."
He felt his lips twitch into what one would call a smile. It wasn't very large but it was there. He felt something in his chest flutter. Maybe happiness?
He grabbed her suddenly and leapt into the air, dodging a blow that rent the earth and sent out shockwaves.
"I come looking for you and find you cuddling up with the human girl." Gin tsked.
Ulquiorra-Harry knew he could not beat the traitor. He was strong but never that strong. So he did the next best thing. He ran like Satan was on his heels. Orihime squeaked in fear and surprised and he held her tighter, tucking her head against his shoulder. He flipped over a strike of the man's sword and drew his sword.
"Infiltrate, Asesino."
His Resurrección wings lifted him high into the air, Orihime clutched protectively in his arms. He dived out of the way of a slash of a suddenly elongated sword and flapped his wings. He could sense a group of strong shinigami to the north. Orihime would be safe with them. He hissed with pain as the blade sliced his leg. That wasn't needed as much for flying though so he ignored the dropping blood and pulsing pain and instead flew higher.
Another slash cut him across the side as Gin appeared a few feet away. He ignored the wound. Orihime shouted something and her attack flew at Gin making the man quickly duck out of the way giving them precious seconds. Ulquiorra-Harry saw where the medical tent and the few shinigami were under protections lock onto them. Firing a last cero at Gin he folded his wings and dropped like a stone. Orihime screamed and clutched at him.
Red hair clouded his vision even as a deep pain pierced his chest. He felt his vision blur and focused wholly on red hair. Brown eyes peered up at him with fear and concern and trust. He looked at her and then pressed his lips to hers in what could only be called a chaste kiss. She kissed back clumsily but kissed back none the less. He enjoyed it for brief seconds before he pulled away and flared his wings out. They caught just in time and he landed on the ground gently.
The Shinigami had already surrounded him, looking in disbelief. The captain lady was firing off a kido at Gin who took it as his cue to get away from one of the most guarded areas and jump back into battle. Orihime hugged him, the only thing keeping up as his body sagged against her.
"Hold on." She said frantically. "Unohana-san! Unohana-san!"
The lady came hurrying over, face set in calm. She crouched next to him, Orihime kneeling as he fully collapsed. He ignored the healer and reached up, grasping Orihime's red hair gently. He kissed it gently.
"I think…" He whispered.
She had tears on her cheeks. Why was she crying? She was safe.
"I think I love you." He breathed, a smile on his lips for the second time since his first death.
"Ulquiorra. Harry." She sobbed leaning over him, red hair making a curtain about them.
"I love you." He repeated.
Why did those words lift him so? Send flutters through his chest and make what he believed his heart to seize.
"I love you. I love you."
"I love you too." She sobbed, gripping at him like he was going to leave her.
She pressed another clumsily kiss to his lips. It tasted of tears. He didn't care.
"I'm sorry." The healer woman said simply as she stood. "His heart was pierced."
"So I have one?" Ulquiorra-Harry asked curiously.
The woman appeared bemused.
"Yes." She finally said.
Then she stepped back to give them some time or such. Ulquiorra-Harry didn't care. His vision tunnelled on Orihime.
"What's wrong?" He asked, concerned.
She was crying still.
"You're dieing." She sobbed.
"That's nothing to be sad about." He informed her.
"Yes it is!" She screamed. "I will miss you."
"I'll find you again." He whispered. "Because I love you. Only you."
He grasped the locks of red and kissed them again as he laid his head on her lap. They were such a beautiful brilliant red. Red like life. Red like his heart was supposed to be. It was the red that made his heart flutter and his memories quiet. It was a red that consumed him.
The last thing Ulquiorra-Harry remembered was red.
.-.
The End.
.-.