bChapter 17
Slipped Away, Pt. 1/b
i Emergency Hell's Butterflies were sent off to all of the members of the special unit.
"All special unit members are to meet at the Senkai Gate in 5 hours sharp. The scheduled time has been changed."
Kurotsuchi-taichou grinned maniacally. Oh how he loved his "spying" equipment…/i
Orihime Inoue was feeling extremely uneasy about going to the dojo with Tatsuki. Well, uneasy was an understatement. She felt as if there were some terrible impending disaster that was going to be unleashed like a caged beast the second she walked out the door. But then again, Orihime had always been one to imagine the strangest things. Like the time she had tried to convince Ishida-kun that aliens had abducted her stuffed teddy bear, experimenting on it and ripping its seams open in the process…
She sighed. Why was her overactive imagination deciding to bug her now?
iMaybe it's because I haven't practiced Karate in a while and I know that Tatsuki-chan is going to beat me…/i
Tatsuki-chan was phenomenal at Karate; she had even been kind enough to teach Orihime everything she knew, making Orihime about a black-belt level… but that still wasn't enough to be Tatsuki Arisawa.
iYeah, that's it! I'm uneasy about loosing to Tatsuki-chan again!/i Orihime tried reassuring herself, but no matter what she told herself, she still had that odd feeling that something terrible was about to happen.
"Onna, were you not going to meet Tatsuki Arisawa at the Karate dojo at 11:00?" Ulquiorra hinted to his Onna that if she stood around staring off into space any longer she would be late.
"Oh!" Orihime glanced at the clock and gasped. 10:40? Shoving the uneasiness away with a rush of adrenaline, the girl quickly ran into her room and changed into her Karate clothes. Running back to the door to slip on her shoes, she stopped. Not knowing what urge suddenly overtook her, Orihime turned and ran over to Ulquiorra and wrapped her arms around his neck, taking both of them by surprise.
A blush crept onto Orihime's face and Ulquiorra's face returned to his normal nonchalant expression. He really was getting used to physical contact with his Onna…
"I'll be back to cook dinner!" She leaned up onto her tip toes and kissed him. When had she become so bold? Orihime was slightly surprised to feel Ulquiorra's hands touching her, one on the small of her back and the other wrapped around her waist. A couple minutes later, Orihime pulled away.
"I'm going to be late," she quietly said as she lower her feet back flat on the ground. Ulquiorra simply nodded. Glancing once more at the clock, Orihime nearly stormed out the door without her belt, which she had laid by the door. Quickly grabbing the belt and tying it in record time, she turned one more time to tell Ulquiorra goodbye.
"I'll see you later!" She said in a sing-a-song voice, smiling brightly.
"Goodbye, Onna," Ulquiorra nodded and shut the door after his Onna, who had left the door open in the frenzy she had rushed out in.
The Cuatro Espada felt something was coming, like now was the calm before the storm…
And he knew the storm was coming soon. Very soon.
"Let's move out," Kuchiki Byakuya, Captain of the 6th Squad of the Gotei 13, who had been appointed leader of the special unit being sent to the World of the Living, commanded. He had received the OK from Kurotsuchi Mayuri, signaling that the human, Orihime Inoue, had left her apartment.
The Senkai Gate was opened, and the rather big special unit entered the Senkaimon to the World of the Living…
Ulquiorra Cifer felt apprehension rising within him. Should he have gone with his Onna to the Karate dojo?
Orihime rushed into the dojo at 11:00 exactly.
"There you are! Right on time," Tatsuki-chan walked over to her friend.
"Hi, Tatsuki-chan!" Orihime beamed.
"Yeah, yeah. Enough talking, let's see how good you are," the black-haired girl grinned. "Or should I say, let's see how many times I can beat you before we're done."
Orihime pouted, "That's not fair, Tatsuki-chan!"
Tatsuki ignored her friend's pouty face and launched a kick. Orihime quickly dodged and was immediately focused on her fight with Arisawa…
The Cuatro Espada took a seat on his Onna's couch and picked up a book that Orihime had set on the coffee table earlier.
iWuthering Heights/i
Ulquiorra wondered what the book was about; he had heard his Onna talk about it many times since he came to live with her. She would always ramble on about how it was such a romantic love story, but how it was also very sad and dark.
Opening to the first page, he began reading, when suddenly…
"You are to hide your reiatsu as much as possible. I have informed Urahara Kisuke and all of our other allies here in the World of the Living that they are not to meddle with the Espada's capture. Obey the Head Captains orders: bring the Espada back alive. Anyone who disobeys the orders, will be treated as an enemy and taken down," Kuchiki-taichou and the rest of the special unit reached the end of the Senkaimon…
Ulquiorra's eyes snapped up from the first page. This reiatsu! It was definitely Shinigami reiatsu. And from the power… it was half an army; to make matters worse they were heading his direction.
iWhat shall I do? I could easily fight and destroy every single Shinigami sent here… but that would only leave me on bad terms with Soul Society…/i The Cuatro Espada tired to think of a logical way out of the predicament he found himself in. The gigai he was in was making it hard to think straight; human panic was coursing through Ulquiorra's veins. All he knew at that moment were two things:
(1) He was being attacked by a military of extremely powerful Shinigami, and (2) He did not want to leave his Onna. She would panic and go hysterical when she noticed he was gone when she returned.
Ulquiorra remembered how she had looked after just a day thinking he was dead. This time, the Espada knew, he would not be back in a day. He didn't know if he'd ever return…
The Cuatro Espada had never felt this magnitude of dread before. He felt something heavy weighing down his chest. It was more painful than the wounds he had suffered during his final battle with Kurosaki Ichigo… Maybe this was what his Onna had described as a "broken heart".
It was extremely foolish for Ulquiorra to think that his "heart had broken", since he had barely a clue as to what exactly that meant, but something was telling him that that was exactly what was happening…
Orihime Inoue and Tatsuki Arisawa were fighting so intensely that they didn't sense the shift of reiatsu in the atmosphere…
"Stealth Forces: surround the apartment. The rest of the captains, vice-captains, and myself will infiltrate the dwelling and capture the Espada," Kuchiki-taichou ordered. Nodding to the other captains and vice-captains, they Shunpoed into the apartment.
Ulquiorra Cifer could feel them surround the apartment. He closed his eyes. Were they going to kill him? The Espada hoped that they would spare his life, not for his own sake, but his Onna's. He knew he deserved to die a painful death for all the sins he had committed during his time in Las Noches. Ulquiorra had never before seen his actions as sins… but that's what they had been. He was an arrancar, a hollow conscious of his actions, making him punishable in death.
"Ulquiorra Cifer," he did not open his eyes, nor move a muscle, when several of Soul Society's captains appeared in his Onna's living room. "Come peacefully with us, and you will not be harmed by us."
The Espada didn't fail to notice the ending of the statement. "…By us."
Did that mean that he was going to be put on trail in Soul Society? He could tell that the captain speaking was positive that some kind of condemned fate awaited the Cuatro Espada…
The captains noticed the determination with which Ulquiorra Cifer held himself back. He refused to fight, for what reasons, they did not know. They hated to admit it, but had the Espada chosen to fight, most of them would not have made it out alive; they also knew that Ulquiorra would have also escaped…
"I will come with you peacefully under one condition," the Cuatro Espada surprised the special unit.
"We are not here to negotiate," Kuchiki Byakuya stated simply.
"It had nothing to do with me or my fate," Ulquiorra calmly replied.
"What is your one condition?" Ukitake Jushiro was more than willing to grant the cooperating Espada one wish or condition.
It felt like it would tear him to shreds on the inside, but Ulquiorra knew what he had to do.
"Inform the Onna," Ulquiorra stopped for a second, "Orihime Inoue, that I will be executed in Soul Society, and that she is to stay in the World of the Living."
Ulquiorra Cifer had to break his resolve. His irrational human half was screaming at him for doing this, for not fighting back, while his hollow half was calm and collected to a certain point, allowing Ulquiorra to leave his Onna without a big scene, thought it hurt him unimaginably much. It felt as if the fires of Hell were searing the inside of his chest, tearing and ripping apart his heart.
Several of the captains exchanged a glance.
"That will be taken care of," Ukitake-taichou nodded. Why could no one but him and Kyoraku-taichou see the obvious torture the Cuatro Espada was putting himself through? Jushiro could only imagine what would compel the stoic arrancar to want to keep Orihime Inoue away from him. His mind wandered back to how Kuchiki Rukia had left Kurosaki-san, forbidding him to come after her. The white-haired captain felt a sense of déjà vu washing over him…
iHead Captain Yamamoto-san really didn't need to send such a big search party…/i Kyoraku would have much rather relaxed under a nice sakura tree while drinking some sake…
Ulquiorra Cifer didn't turn around or look back. He just walked straight ahead, wearing his stoic mask to hide the torturous pain he felt, meeting his fate head-on…
Orihime plopped down on the matted floor of the dojo.
"I'm exhausted!" She felt back onto her back and stared at the ceiling, breathing hard from the hours of vigorous fighting with Tatsuki-chan. She started thinking of what she should could when she got home…
Orihime remembered the boldness she had possessed before she ran out of the house and blushed. This didn't go unnoticed to her ever-observant friend.
"What is it, Inoue-chan?" Arisawa asked.
"Huh?" Orihime looked at her and blushed redder. "Oh, it's nothing."
Tatsuki pursed her lips. She knew it wasn't "nothing". Deciding not to pester Orihime about it anymore, she walked over to where she lay and pulled her up.
"Let's go get some ice cream!" Orihime exclaimed.
"Um… I'd rather not. It's too cold for me to eat ice cream," Actually, Tatsuki just didn't like ice cream all too much, but she didn't want to tell Hime-chan that.
"Oh, okay," Orihime smiled brightly. "Well I need to go start cooking dinner for me and Ulquiorra-san anyways."
"Why is Ulquiorra still living with you?" Tatsuki had been wondering for the past couple of hours why Orihime had let him stay in the first place, and why Ulquiorra Cifer hadn't looked for his own apartment.
"Oh em…" Orihime looked around nervously. "Look!"
Inoue pointed out the window, and when Tatsuki-chan turned to look, she quickly ran out the door, "Sorry, Tatsuki-chan! I have to go, I'll call you later!"
Tatsuki shook her head and wondered how her friend was always so exuberant.
"No…" Orihime sank to her knees as soon as she entered her apartment. She had thought she was only imagining things when she felt traces of captain-class reiatsu surrounding her apartment.
But now… Now she couldn't deny it. Ulquiorra was gone. Her beloved Espada had been taken away.
iWhy? Why why why why why!/i Orihime felt the tears beginning to stream down her face.
i"Ulquiorra-san!'/i Orihime shrieked. Why did something like this have to happen? She had just been reunited with him a short time ago… and now he was torn away from her! Was there some sort of curse on her prohibited her from keeping anyone she loved around for very long?
She sank into the floor, clutching her chest, breath coming faster.
"Ulquiorra-san," she whispered. He was really gone… There was no note, nothing. Not a single trace hinting at a struggle…
Why hadn't he fought back? Had the Shinigami really outnumbered him to that degree that even he could not defeat them?
Ulquiorra Cifer was gone. Orihime couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that she would probably never see her Espada's half-stoic expressions, that she'd never be able to see how he adapted to a human lifestyle…
And she hated to admit it, but the worst part about loosing him was the fact that now she had no one to spend all of her time with. Orihime's heart broke even more as she realized that she would never touch him again or hear his voice again.
She couldn't bring him back.
He had slipped away.
Just like when Kurosaki-san had killed him less than a week ago on top of one of Las Noches' domes…
Ulquiorra did not regret leaving the World of the Living peacefully. He did not regret his one last wish. He did not regret a single thing. The Cuatro Espada would be able to deal with any sentence the Central 46 decided for him.
Or so he told himself.
Had it really only been a couple of days since Ulquiorra-san had returned to her?
Tears continued to stream down her cheeks as held-back sobs escaped Orihime's throat. She remembered her dream… the darkness being pulled away. She remembered the uneasy feeling she had had before leaving for the dojo…
iI should have stayed. They wouldn't have taken him if I had been there… or at least not without taking me with him…/i Orihime couldn't stop blaming herself for everything.
Naïve as she was, Orihime was definitely not stupid. She knew that it was highly likely that the Central 46 would sentence Ulquiorra to death and execute him. And she couldn't do a think about it.
But… what if…
Kurosaki-san had been able to save Kuchiki-san, hadn't he? So why couldn't she save Ulquiorra-san?
With a sudden burst of adrenaline and hope, Orihime sprinted off towards the Urahara Store…