A/N: Hi everyone… this is the next installment of Oblivion, and I wanted to thank everyone for their patience and reviews; however, mare patience may be necessary, because two days ago I had my left hand crushed in a car door, and two of my fingers are severely bruised, and one maybe broken, so I can only type with one hand, which makes for slow going T_T
Therefore, if the next chapter comes later than Wednesday, I apologize. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter! Thank you :)
Shattered Trust
"Ahhh! Ulquiorra-san! I missed you!" Nel wept, arms around the pale man's shoulder, shaking him back and forth as her tears splattered onto his clothing. Her breasts were pressed against his arm uncomfortably, but he ignored the fact and pushed her off him, hand in her face.
"Mffff…" the woman complained. Ulquiorra removed his black-nailed hand and wiped his fingers free of snot with a rag.
"It's been a full day already, can't you get over this?" he asked her in a low monotone as he turned away, "And how long are you trash going to stay here?"
Grimmjow shot him a glare and Nnoitra's grin widened over his narrow eyes, full of malice, but other than that, no indication of Ulquiorra's insult was given.
"Until we get our blade; maybe longer, your house is comfortable," Grimmjow said slyly, leaning back on some cushions, hands behind his head. Nnoitra was sitting cushion-less in a corner because this, "And besides, since your order was the one that caused ours to be late, it only makes sense that you give us some compensation."
Ulquiorra gave him a dull stare that clearly conveyed that fact that if they overstayed their welcome they would die, before turning away.
"I'm going to go make some tea," he intoned blandly, stepping through a narrow doorway that lead to the only other room in the house.
Nel walked over to where Grimmjow lay and curled against him, shouldering her way onto part of the cushions and effectively suffocating Grimmjow in her sea of green hair. Nnoitra sniggered as his companion sputtered, and Nel gave the tall man a look of mingled resentment, fear, and dislike. Clearly, through she had forgotten much, she had not forgotten where they scar on her head had come from.
The three of them stayed like that in silence for a while, waiting for Ulquiorra to come back.
"He sure is taking his time," Grimmjow grumbled, stroking Nel's hair.
"Maybe he went to the bathroom?" she wondered.
"Somehow I don't think so," Nnoitra yawned as a loud clatter came from the other room.
At that moment, a flash of orange and white shot through front door of Ulquiorra's home, skidding to a stop and removing sandals with godly speed before shouting.
"Hey! Are you here? Tatsuki left town for the day and I needed someone to talk to, so I just came over. That's okay, right? " Orihime chattered rapidly- she was excited to see him. It had been nearly three weeks since she had last gotten the chance to talk- really talk- with her mystery man. Every time she had tried to slip away to see him, however, something seemed to come up; it seemed that, for whatever reason, her friends were keeping a closer watch on her.
"Holy shit!" Grimmjow yelled, bolting upright as the woman's sudden outburst startled him. This upset Nel, as her hair got caught under his hand when he sat up, causing her to squeal and thrash around. Nnoitra laughed loudly at her pain.
Orihime froze in confusion, sandals in hand. She had forgone her eye cover, and had come seeking the man with the scarred face, but she instead heard an onrush of sound that came from the voices of two men and one woman, all young and probably not much older than herself. The clash of sound confused her, and for a moment she was disoriented.
Turning her blank gray eyes in the general direction of the noise she stammered, "I-I'm sorry! W-wrong house I guess… um, do you know where I c-can find a man with-"
"Three, five, six, if you don't silence yourselves, I might just throw you out," the familiar tone instantly calmed the girl and she turned to Ulquiorra with a small appearing on her face. He examined her, this being the first time he had seen her eyes. The scarring was obvious, but not ugly, and her eyes were a calm but haunting shade of blue-turned-gray.
"Can't you call us by our names?" Grimmjow grumbled, subsequently ignored by Ulquiorra.
"You are here! I knew I wasn't wrong!" the girl trilled. She took a step forward and gripped his sleeve happily, nearly upsetting the tea tray he held, "But who are these other people?"
"Hoo!" Nnoitra cried, "Score Ulquiorra! How does this happen? Both you and Grimmjow, you lacking personality and he completely missing brains, and somehow you both end up with women before me…"
"This is why you left, Ulquiorra-san?" Nel asked wonderingly, cocking her head at Orihime and smiling.
"And here I was thinking you left because Szayel wouldn't leave you alone, the freak!" Grimmjow snorted, "Why didn't you tell us you got yourself a woman?"
"Because I didn't," Ulquiorra sighed.
"Oh, so this beauty is free? Can I have her, Ulquiorra? Can I? I'm sure she'd be fun to play with for a while, fun to… taste," Nnoitra's tongue flicked over his lips as he drew close to Orihime's face. As his breath touched her, the girl drew back into Ulquiorra with a startled squeak. The pale man glared an obvious threat at Nnoitra, and the taller of the pair backed off a bit.
"See Nnoitra? That's why you don't have a woman, your ugly face scare them away!" Grimmjow snickered. Nnoitra sneered at the other man as he drew back, flicking his tongue out again to reveal the number five marked there, an obvious threat to Grimmjow's position. The blue haired man curled his lip over his teeth in a snarl.
"She's blind, you idiots," Ulquiorra walked away from the doorway, carrying his tray of cups full of steaming tea. He shifted his elbow suddenly while passing Grimmjow, and the tea splattered on the other man. Ulquiorra glared sideways at his guest, a warning to keep his temper in check. They both knew that Nnoitra could kill Grimmjow, and Ulquiorra would do nothing to stop it, despite the fact that he outranked the tall man. He continued walking once he knew his message was understood, and placing the tray on the low desk he said, "I'll go get another cup, since I seem to have acquired a new guest…"
He walked back through to his kitchen, and was aware of the fact that the red headed woman followed him.
"Ulquiorra?" she asked.
"What?" the aforementioned man poured a fifth cup of tea with his back to her.
"Is that your name?"
"Would I have answered if it were not?"
"Oh…" she murmured, wanting to smack herself for asking such an obvious question, "Who are those people?"
"Some idiots who will be residing here for an indeterminate amount of time," Ulquiorra heaved a sigh, picking up the cup he had filled and placing it in Orihime's hands, waiting until she had curled her fingers around it in a steady grip before letting go.
"That's not an answer!" she protested. Ulquiorra leaned against the wall.
"Fine. Ex-comrades of mine, Nelliel Tu Odershwanck, Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, and Nnoitra Gilga," he left the room, and she followed, more slowly, more carefully. She sat next to him as he settled down at the table, sipping at her tea as she did so. She heard rustling as the other three in the room shifted restlessly.
Grimmjow cleared his throat awkwardly, wondering if he should just start telling Ulquiorra all that had happened since he left, or if he should hold his peace until their host asked. Having decided to speak, he opened his mouth, but was interrupted as the cloth that was the entrance to the home shifted and revealed another pair of faces.
"Ah, we found you!" a voice said laughingly.
"Nnoitra-sama," another murmured respectfully.
In stepped two men, one a bit broader and taller than the other, but both lean and compact. The shorter of the two had sharp, slanted gold eyes that glowed brightly from beneath his long black hair that formed a thin braid that reached nearly to his waist. He was garbed in a tight cloth that Ulquiorra recognized as Indian cotton from the continent, emphasizing the wiry strength that filled the man's form. Three red stripes stood out from his skin on each cheek.
The tallest of the pair had shaggy honey colored hair that reached the base of his neck. An eye patch over his right eye gave him a roguish look that was emphasized by his serious demeanor. He was dressed similarly to Nnoitra, in the style favored by the Chinese. His right cheek was scored by a green rectangle that came up beneath his lost eye.
"Ah!" the shorter man cried in surprise, quickly giving a short bow, "Ulquiorra-sama! We did not know you were here!"
"If I am correct," Ulquiorra said flatly, "you belong to Barragan."
"Ggio Vega at your service! And a small correction, I belonged to Barragan. No longer," Ggio Vega smirked. He spoke in carefree, lilting tones that were somehow lessened by the piercing watchfulness in his ochre gaze.
"Tesla," Nnoitra interrupted, "Didn't I tell the two of you to stay in the camp?"
"I apologize for my disobedience, Nnoitra-sama, but when you did not return, I grew worried…" the blonde replied uneasily. Nnoitra walked slowly up to his servant and leaned down until their noses nearly touched.
"I told you to stay in the camp," he repeated. Orihime shuddered at his tone of voice, and inched fractionally closer to Ulquiorra.
"I-" Tesla cut off as Nnoitra gripped his blonde hair and dragged his head back, pulling viciously, "I'm sorry! I wanted to ensure your safety Nnoitra-sama! I only wanted-"
Nnoitra's sick smile was gone now, a grimace of anger in its place; he made as if to hit Tesla, but found himself interrupted.
"If you are going to cause a fuss, Nnoitra," Ulquiorra said lowly, his green eyes sparking in the direction of the tall man, "I think I will have to remedy that."
Nnoitra sneered, but released Tesla, causing the blonde to stumbled back into the wall, a look of mingled relief, humble subservience, and loyalty on his features that Ulquiorra could not understand. Nnoitra returned to his seat, ignoring his servant.
Ulquiorra, however, turned his attention back to Ggio.
"What do you mean 'belonged'?" he asked the tigerish man as he coiled himself into an Indian style seating position at the already overcrowded table.
"I should explain that," Grimmjow sighed, "It also explains why we're here…" in an unwonted display of exhaustion, he ran his hand tiredly over his face. Behind him Nnoitra's wicked grin renewed itself despite his foul mood, and Nel put down her tea. Orihime pricked her ears, hoping to hear something of Ulquiorra's (he had such a pretty name! It sounded very… foreign) past.
"After you left… we ran into a bit of trouble with the emperor," Grimmjow said sheepishly.
"The emperor," Ulquiorra repeated flatly. He sounded angry.
"You have to understand; Aizen had already killed Gin and Tousen and then was executed himself…" Grimmjow continued, "We had no leader, and were falling apart at the seams. Stark, Lilinette, and Halibel all disappeared, then you went off on your own, so the highest ranking of us left was Barragan,"
"Old fool," Ggio muttered under his breath, "Should have kept to himself."
"Barragan more or less took control of who was left; we'd already been found out though, so you and Stark's group were right to bail out when you did. With Baragan heading us, we couldn't get out any more than if Aizen had still been alive. We had already passed our prime."
Nnoitra took over at this point.
"Yammy was the first to go, he got reckless and was killed by a battalion while the rest of us were smart enough to get away."
"Aaronierro died next, he liked playing around with people too much… he found a girl who's lover he had killed and taunted her about it. She stabbed him in the chest," Nel sniffed, wiping a tear off her face.
"Zommari fell while we were in the mountains. We weren't able to find his body, but the cliff was so high up there's no way he survived," Grimmjow rejoined the conversation, "That was when Szayel left, saying that as a doctor, his skills would be better suited somewhere where he could take people apart at will. He went west, and we haven't heard from him since. By then it was just us three, who couldn't find a suitable excuse to leave, and those bound to us, like Tesla. Barragan wouldn't give it up though, he sent us on a job… we were taken by the army, and the old man was given a public execution. The five of us killed what seemed like every guard in the palace to escape, and after that we had to go on the run."
"So," Ulquiorra murmured, "The Espada have fallen,"
"It was good while it lasted," Nnoitra laughed, "The life of a brigand is the most enjoyable, eh, Ulquiorra, ranked four?"
"Shut up, five," Ulquiorra returned calmly, "what do you intend to do now, Grimmjow?"
"Well, our group traveled under the guise of traveling performers… I can see you kept your shamisen… but the five of us will make use of our talents until we can find better occupation I guess," the blue haired man's voice was full of disdain, as if any life other than killing and stealing wasn't worth his time or effort.
Orihime's brain, however, was stuck on the words from a few minutes before.
"The life of a brigand is the most enjoyable, eh, Ulquiorra? The life a brigand…. A brigand…. Ulquiorra…."
The words repeated in her head again and again until something finally clicked.
The man whom she had come to visit was a thief, and more than likely a murderer. She stood suddenly, her tea cup spilling over the bamboo mats as she jumped to her feet, interrupting the conversation.
"You…. You…" she stammered in his direction, "You're a bandit! A killer!"
There was no reply but for a stare that she felt burning her skin as clearly as if she could see him looking at her as she turned her back and left the house at a stumbling run, leaving her sandals on the floor, her broken trust with them.