okay everybody, please please review!! i added three new chapters today and now my comp is spazzing out. APPRECIATE IT!

btw, it was gone so long because i was having writer's block- on the next couple chapters. these were easy to write.

Chapter Twenty Seven:

Kisuke Urahara

"Ulquiorra, I want you to bring Nnoitra to me." Aizen commanded.

Ulquiorra obeyed.

Aizen was furious. He was furious. At Nnoitra. After his report, he'd watched his eyes slowly scrunch, his eyes narrow, and his smile slip off his face into a frown.

Nnoitra was in for it.

Ulquiorra knocked on Nnoitra's door. Tesla, his fraccion answered it.

"Ulquiorra-sama?" He looked surprised. "What are you-"

"Aizen wants Nnoitra. Immediately."

"Um, hang on- NNOITRA-SAMA!" Tesla yelled behind him.

"What?" Nnoitra walked over, scratching at his face. Then he saw Ulquiorra. He froze.

"Damn."

"You WHAT?!" Valencia yelled. "You TOLD your parents that we were friends?!" She was fuming.

And about to beat Kisuke's face in. She just knew they would disapprove; she was nowhere near Kisuke's class.

"They were just fine about it. They just waved me off. They're pretty apathetic about me, so long as I don't come down with a disease or something." Kisuke said it cheerfully, but Valencia could hear the pain in his voice.

"I'm sorry, Kisuke."

"It's okay."

"Kisuke, do you ever get lonely?" Valencia asked, suddenly.

"What?" Kisuke looked dumbfounded by that one. "No."

"Ah, but you wouldn't know the difference, now would you?"

"Nnoitra, I have entrusted you with a position of leadership among the Arrancar, and you have failed miserably. I am very disappointed in you. Seren was a guest, and you absolutely violated her in every way. You must be punished."

Aizen administered his judgment from atop his white throne. His eyes flashed sharply in the shadow. His face could not be seen.

Gin and Tousen, his constant followers, stood on opposite sides of the throne. The Espada were arranged in their order on the sides of the wall. There was no table this time, only a bare floor.

"I see you do not respect my authority. Therefore, you must think you are better than me."

"Wha-?" Nnoitra was surprised. "I didn't-"

"If you think you are better, prove it. Fight me."

"What?" Nnoitra was shocked.

From over on the corner, Ulquiorra was shocked, too.

But it felt good. He wanted to watch Nnoitra squeal and scream in agony, like he had done to Seren.

If he didn't have his level of control, he probably would have attacked Nnoitra already himself.

Aizen stepped off his throne, to everyone's growing concern and horror. Aizen grabbed his sword out of its hilt smoothly. "Well, Nnoitra? Draw your sword."

"Aizen-sama, please-"

"Too slow."

There was a flash of sword glinting in the light, then Aizen appeared behind Nnoitra. He sheathed his sword.

Nnoitra fell to the ground before he could even draw his zanpakutoh. A gash spurt across his chest, and he was gurgling blood in his throat.

"And now, Nnoitra, do you still think you can disobey me? Do you still think you are better than me?" Aizen now stood in front of Nnoitra. Nnoitra looked up, like a dog at its master.

Whose master was furious.

"N-No, Aizen-sama! I will never disobey you again!"

"Is that so?" A cruel smile slipped across Aizen's mouth. He pulled out Nnoitra's zanpakutoh. "I don't believe you."

He threw the sword on the ground and stepped on it. It started creaking and cracking.

Nnoitra howled. He screamed and screamed, while Aizen dug his foot even harder into the sword, almost smiling.

He was enjoying this, Ulquiorra realized. He was enjoying this.

Aizen let Nnoitra scream and writhe on the floor for a couple minutes.

"Well now, I think we all understand this. I am the leader here, and no one else. Nnoitra, you may go." Aizen turned and walked away.

As if on cue, everyone quickly exited, not wanting to be near the ghastly scene any longer. Tesla rushed to Nnoitra's side to attend to him. Nnoitra yelled something at him and whipped his arm away when Tesla tried to help him up.

How pathetic, Ulquiorra thought.

Trash.

He could feel Nnoitra's eyes radiating hate at him as he walked past him.

There was utter silence except for the pat, pat of his footsteps.

Pat, pat.

Pat, pat, pat.

Ulquiorra strode out the doors.

"You WHAT?" Valencia was yelling at Kisuke- AGAIN. "Why is it that every time I see you you've done something else extremely radical!" She was fifteen then, and had her blonde hair braided into pigtails, looking like a typical teenage girl. Kisuke was sixteen, and had filled out a little bit. He was still lanky though, and still didn't bother to fix his ruffled hair.

"I got us enrolled! This is good, Valencia!"

"I told you not to call me that! I hate that name. Call me by my middle name, Seren!"

"Whatever, I like Valencia better. And I'll call you anything I want!" Kisuke retorted. He folded his arms. "And what do you mean, 'extremely radical?'"

"I mean, that one time you told your parents that you were friends with me, took me to your family reunion, climbed in through my window that one night- do you know how long it took me to convince my parents that wasn't anything weird?- that one time you threw me a surprise birthday party-"

"You gotta admit, you liked that one!" Kisuke pointed out. "You should at least appreciate all the effort I put into that!"

Valencia paused, smiling. "Yeah, I did like that. Except for that stupid present you got me. I didn't need an expensive kimono."

"Money doesn't mean much to me. But if it makes you happy, it might as well go to a better use." Kisuke replied.

Again, an awkward silence.

Those had been happening more and more often, since Kisuke and Valencia had passed their thirteenth birthdays. An awkward feeling, that left them feeling full of strange emotions. It felt like something had been left unsaid.

"So… you got yourself enrolled in the shinigami academy?"

"Yeah. You too!" He waved the papers around excitedly, like a child with a shiny new toy.

"How did you get me enrolled?"

"Anyone with a shinigami ability can."

"But I don't remember showing anyone my abilities- wait. You didn't."

Kisuke looked to the side, shifting his eyes the other way.

"YOU PAID FOR ME TO GO?!" Valencia swelled, then exploded loudly at him. "Now EVERYONE'S going to think I'm just some kind of wallflower! And besides, you KNOW I can't pay you back! Why do you do this to yourself?"

"But you aren't a wallflower, Valencia! You DO have spirit pressure! And the money- well, I didn't want to go without you!" Kisuke burst out exasperatedly.

Then he froze, shocked it had come out. He looked to the side again, not wanting to meet Valencia's shocked gaze.

"What?"

Kisuke ignored her.

"You would pay for me to go just so I was there for you?"

Kisuke braced himself for the outburst.

"Thank you."

He turned around, surprised.

"What?"

Valencia ignored him. She took the papers from his hand, and tucked them under her arm. "You got the uniform, too?"

"Yeah." Kisuke was still in shock. Where was her fury? "When do we start?" She asked.

"In a month."

"WHAT?!"

When Ulquiorra returned to the room, he found that Mila Rose, Apache, Kimi, and Sunsun were all sleeping in a circle around Seren, who was still unconscious on the couch. She was in clean clothes, perhaps Kimi's, cleaned up, and looked a great deal better than she had before. But more than that, she looked protected- safe- in the middle of the circle around her.

It was again, a strange sight. It pulled at that something deep in him.

No matter.

"Mila Rose, Apache, Sunsun. You need to go back to Halibel. She will be missing you soon." He commanded.

Mila Rose rolled over. "Huh-?" She muttered. She looked around. "Oh my, I fell asleep! I wasn't supposed to!" She turned around and pushed at Apache, waking her up.

"What the hell?" She muttered, rubbing her eye. "Why are we up?"

"You can go now. I will watch her." Ulquiorra replied.

Apache's head whipped around, to look at him.

"Oh."

They woke up Sunsun and left as three.

Kimi looked up. "So I guess I should go too?"

"Yes."

For a moment her golden eyes met his, seeming to simmer. Then they softened and gave way. She was too tired to resist.

"Very well." She got up, looked at Seren one more time, then raced away.

Ulquiorra watched her go, then closed his door.

Oh, that's right. There was a huge hole in the middle of it, where Nnoitra had no doubt broken in. Ulquiorra sighed.

He was going to have to order a new door- again.

For once though, he was exhausted.

He was tired of calculations, missions, orders, and his life in general. He looked at Seren on the couch. She was breathing.

For a moment, he was surprised to discover that he wished she would wake up.

No, that was wrong. She was loud, annoying, and disrupting. She broke the pattern that he liked, the comfortable pattern of behavior that everyone should follow. She was also unruly and unpredictable, traits he particularly disliked.

But at the same time, she was interesting, lively, and- strangely- her presence brought him the merest glint of joy.

It was strange.