A/N: WARNING! Contains manga spoilers!

Feel

"Why do you do it? Why do you follow Aizen-sama?"

"What else would there be for me to do?"

Ulquiorra didn't understand why it was an important thing to know, nor why the girl was asking. It should have been clear.

"There are lots of things you could do-"

If he had been a different creature, he might have laughed at that statement. She was imaginative and optimistic, but that was not how reality worked, he knew.

"Where would someone like myself belong if not with Aizen-sama?"

It was not a real question, but the girl tried to take it as one as her face scrunched up in thought.

"Um…"

Ulquiorra stepped closer. "I would certainly not belong with weak creatures like humans."

His eyes moved away from her to glance to the side. "I am no doubt considered a monster and enemy to the shinigami, so I would not be welcomed in the Soul Society." His eyes returned to hers as he spoke in that flat tone, "This is where I must be."

"But why?" the girl persisted, her eyes too honest and too innocent.

"I was created to be a soldier for Aizen-sama and that is what I will do."

It should have been simple to understand. Aizen's purpose was his purpose and that was how it was. It was what he had been created to do.

"Even if you were created by Aizen-sama, you still have a will."

The girl's mouth moved into a set line, her eyebrows tensed from the belief in her own words.

When Ulquiorra stayed silent she went on, her voice straining to sound light and friendly. "I mean, I should know, since my powers depend on the strength of my own will. I can kind of understand the wills of others. You might be Aizen-sama's soldier now, but you still have a will of your own."

Dark green eyes blinked as the arrancar listened to the human's words. She was too kind, but he could admit she was observant.

"My will is only there to serve Aizen-sama and his vision. Did you not also admit to that same thing?" he countered, noting how the girl's eyes lost some of their brightness as she nodded her head.

"Hai…"

Ulquiorra jerked his hand out to hold her chin, forcing her to look at him. While arrancar had no need for emotion, there was one that he recognized the easiest, and it was displayed on the girls face.

"There is pain in your eyes and in your voice," he told her, relishing how her eyes opened wide in surprise from his touch. "Emotions are the weakness of a human. When you become an arrancar, such things will not matter."

"I would rather have them, even if they are painful, than not have them at all," she squeaked, her voice trembling in fear and yet managing to remain adamant.

Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes and stepped back, releasing his hold on her chin. "That is foolish."

The girl smiled wearily at him and agreed, "Maybe it is, but that is how I feel."

Ulquiorra was silent for a moment and watched as the girl brought her hand up to stifle a yawn.

"You are tired." the arrancar pointed out, noting darkness forming under her eyes. "As an arrancar you would not feel tired or hungry."

Laying down on the large couch in her rather sparse room, the girl sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "I like eating and I like sleeping. Cooking is a lot of fun, and its nice to have dreams."

"They are a waste of time." Ulquiorra said shortly, as if there was no argument.

Turning to lay on her side, the girl watched him with sleepy eyes. "You were a human once too."

Ulquiorra had to pause at this. "Yes, I was." he admitted, unsure of what else could be said.

Her eyes began to close and another yawn escaped her lips. "You felt once too, and ate and slept." Her head was slipping down as sleep began to claim her, and her final words were, "I wonder what you were like…"

He stood unmoving for a time, watching the girl as she slept, watching her chest rise and fall as she breathed, watching her completely relaxed face, watching her hair falling around her face.

He had never seen someone in this way, so completely care-free, and he felt himself tense slightly because it seemed so unnatural. Arrancar did not sleep, hollow did not sleep. Aizen slept, he knew, but never allowed anyone to witness such an act.

Was she not fearful? Did she not think he could kill her in an instant, or did she just not care?

Ulquiorra had to admit he couldn't understand this girl.

And then he couldn't understand why he was approaching her.

He couldn't understand why he was extending his arm to touch her.

He couldn't understand why his hand moved to brush against her face.

Her hair was soft and silky and her face was warm, so different than his own. A tingling in his fingers alerted him to the warmth that was now seeping into them as well.

He was an arrancar who only lived to serve Aizen. He did not sleep, he did not eat, he did not feel. But under all of his layers, under what he had been molded into, he had been as human as this girl.

The arrancar shook his head as he retreated. He did not understand the quivering deep within his bones or the stirring in the back of his mind.

Ulquiorra distanced himself from the girls room, already noticing the warmth fade away into the cold he was used to. But he found it strange that he almost missed the feeling.

"Inoue Orihime…what do you think I would have been like?"

A/N: I couldn't resist writing this pairng after all of their interactions in the manga recently! I really think its an interesting pairing. Ulquiorra is just so creepy and silent, I had to get into his brain and attempt to write him. Dunno if I did well or not, but I tried and I'm happy with that. Thank you to all my reviewers, hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

--Miss Soupy