Are you excited? I am. I didn't remember having this written out. So I'm going to post this now. I'm planning on working on the next chapter (of which i have about one page in Word typed so far) for an hour or so tonight. I had to go back and reread Chapter 19 to kind of catch up with what I had written and where I was going with this fanfic. I'll be rereading this chapter in a minute, too, before continuing work on chapter 21.

I hope you enjoy this long awaited chapter! (Literally; it's almost been an entire year since I last updated. ;_;)

Chapter 20

New Divide

A thought raced through his head for the shortest of seconds. iWhat if she loves me?/i

Ulquiorra tried to push that thought away, knowing it was weak and human, but the more he pushed it away, the more it manifested into more power thoughts, like iMaybe I am experiencing what the human race refers to as "love"/i.

With a sudden burst of will power, Ulquiorra decided he wasn't going to let the two men sitting at the table with him determine his fate. He was going to take that precariously hung string into his own hands for the first time since his creation by Aizen Sosuke. He wasn't going to allow even a hint of fear tint his eyes or expression.

Ulquiorra Cifer was going to fight whatever kept him from his Onna, and his Onna from him.

"Aizen Sosuke, Ulquiorra Cifer," Head Captain Yamamoto spoke with authority. "You should both be well aware of the serious crimes you committed against Soul Society. Aizen Sosuke, you for betraying Soul Society and sending it into chaos and panic, creating numerous Arrancar with the purpose of war against Soul Society, injuring several captain-class Shinigami, and creating the Visoreds. Ulquiorra Cifer, your crimes consist of serving under Aizen Sosuke, injuring the Substitute Shinigami, Kurosaki Ichigo, and capturing the human, Inoue Orihime," Ulquiorra stiffened slightly, though this went unnoticed to everyone else.

"Also, there are several questions surrounding your reappearance in the World of the Living after being allegedly killed by Kurosaki Ichigo."

Ulquiorra bit his tongue. The trash telling him what his crimes were was all too obviously implying that he had been willingly serving under Aizen Sosuke.

But that was definitely not the case. Yes, that brown eyed man with the saccharine smile had created him and called him part of "his" army, but the only reason Ulquiorra stayed loyal was for survival.

The trash sitting at the table with him had no clue what it was like living in Las Noches. Ulquiorra had remained loyal to Sosuke because he had been intelligent enough to notice power and a chance to gain more power for himself. Becoming Aizen Sosuke's Cuatro Espada seemed to be a good choice at the time, but turned out to have several cons.

For one, he was a permanent enemy to the World of the Living and Soul Society, which kept him from several large sources of knowledge which he was so keen on. Also, he was forced to be alone most of the time, though that really didn't bother him, since he was a lonely soul to begin with.

The pros probably outweighed the cons, now that Ulquiorra thought about it.

Had I not accepted Aizen's proposal to become an arrancar, I would have never gained the knowledge and experience I have in several areas. Also, I would have never been ordered to kidnap my Onna and bring her to Las Noches…

Orihime's eyes widened, "Inner world?"

"Yes," Yoruichi nodded. "It's similar to what a Shinigami considers their 'inner world'. It's a place where you and your materialized powers can meet. The purpose and function of your inner world is still being researched by Urahara."

Orihime nodded, knitting her eyebrows in determination. "How do I get to my inner world?"

"That's what we're going to figure out today," Yoruichi watched her seriously. "Urahara has several theories, one of them being the same method that Shinigami use to access their inner world, though personally I highly doubt that method will word."

"Oh," Orihime's determination changed into confusion. How was she supposed to reach her inner world?

Orihime dropped to the ground and sat there, cross-legged and concentrating all of her reiatsu into her hairpins. She closed her eyes and tried relaxing the rest of her body.

Yoruichi watched, awed, as the orange haired girl's hairpins began to glow, and finally, with a burst of light materialized.

Orihime let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding and slowly opened her eyes. She smiled happily when she saw all of her Shun Shun Rikka smiling (except for Tsubaki, he was irritated; as always) at her.

"Hey guys," she breathed, beaming up at her powers, proud of herself for getting them to materialize so easily.

"What do you need us for?" Tsubaki half growled. He had been napping before Orihime had begun calling him and the other Shun Shun Rikka out to materialize.

"I need to get to my inner world."

All of the little fairies suddenly became very still and stiff. Their eyes widened and stared at the girl in shock. Her inner world?

"What is it?" Orihime was worried. Her powers were watching her, slightly alarmed.

"Well," the friendly blonde-haired Shuno began. "It's incredibly hard to show you your "inner world" and…"

"Why?" Tsubaki cut in, his usually irritated tone replaced by an alien expression of unease.

"I need to get into Soul Society and open a Senkai Gate by myself."

The Shun Shun Rikka's eyes widened further.

"What?" the six little fairies cried in unison.

Orihime shifted nervously. She had a feeling their reaction wasn't a good sign.

"Yeah," Orihime smiled sheepishly.

"You're insane!" Tsubaki shouted with half of his usual menace.

"Orihime-chan…" one of the smallest fairies, Ayame, began shyly.

"It's extremely dangerous," Shuno began, interrupting whatever Ayame was going to say.

"I don't care," came Orihime's determined answer. She had to get to Soul Society. She couldn't imagine what would happen if she didn't get there in time…

What if Ulquiorra only had an hour to live before being executed?

That thought drove Orihime forward. Her resolve hardened instantly into an impenetrable, steal wall. It didn't matter how many stones, or even boulders, that the universe would throw at her. She would avoid being crushed by every single one of them.

She had to. She couldn't think of the 'what if's' or the 'maybe's'.

"I don't care," she repeated, determination ringing clearly in her voice.

The Shun Shun Rikka shared a long glance before turning back around to face Orihime.

"Alright," Tsubaki said after a moment's silence, some of his irritation returning, but quickly turning into a sly grin. "This is going to be fun."

"In order for you to prove that you're not Soul Society's enemy you're going to have to obliterate Aizen Sosuke," Ukitake Jushiro slowly stated. Ulquiorra's mouth nearly dropped open in shock.

Surely 20,000 years' imprisonment was enough of a punishment?! Why did he have to kill him?

Ulquiorra became irritated with himself. Since when had he become so… morally aware? It had been nothing for him to kill someone if ordered to or even if that particular human was annoying him too much. Was that human gigai Urahara had given him really impacting him this much internally?

"Is that all I must do to be able to return to the World of the Living?" Ulquiorra stoically asked. It sounded more like a statement.

The white haired captain simply nodded before walking off again, closing the door to Ulquiorra's high security prison cell behind him quietly.

The green-eyed ex-Espada stared at the door for a second before shaking his head.

iYou've become Trash yourself, Ulquiorra Cifer,/i he thought with half-mustered disgust. He couldn't bring himself to feel the aversion towards the human race like he had felt for decades upon decades.

He really was changing. For the worse or for the better, only time would tell.

Orihime's eyes widened and her knees threatened to give out under her at the immense spiritual pressure her Shun Shun Rikka suddenly let out. Each of them bowed their head and concentrated all of their reiatsu onto one spot right in front of them. A small ball of light formed and slowly grew.

iIt's like an hollow's cero!/i Orihime thought, shocked. Without a second's warning, the small fairy creatures shot the ball of reiatsu filled light at Orihime, who barely had time to blink before it collided with her.

She felt a strange tugging sensation on all of her limbs. A split second later, it felt as if her entire body collapsed in on itself, like a rubber band that had been pulled apart and then let go of. Orihime clamped her eyes shut, scared to see what was happening.

Slowly, she opened her eyes. Her eyes widened and she gasped at the strange world around her. Everything was a strange swirl of colors, both dark and light, that was the most beautiful thing the orange haired girl had ever seen. Orihime glanced around and her jaw dropped in amazement when she saw her Shun Shun Rikka watching her, now the same size as she was. Or rather, she was the same size that they were.

"So this is my inner world?" Orihime asked tentatively. After watching the faeries nod, she turned around and nearly fainted at the sight that was waiting for her. There, at the "center" of her inner world, stood Ulquiorra. It seemed that all the colors that were swirling shapelessly around her were originating from him.

iThe center of my world,/i Orihime's eyes widened at the thought. He really did mean the world to her.

All of my formatting is disappearing when I upload chapters, so I'm just going to finish writing and posting, and then go back to the first chapter and edit as well as format it correctly.