Chapter 2 is out guys and looks to me like we'll be updating every second Wednesday, according to moony. You know me, usually I just update whenever I feel like it, but I suppose that schedules are comforting for some people and so we'll do what she said.

On a humorous note, we were in sex ed. and there was a question box in which we could put questions we had but were too embarrassed to ask. Usually we just put in really, really stupid stuff for fun. Me and my friend decided to put in the best question ever but we didn't think our teacher would read it out loud (he goes over the questions the night before) but to our delight he unfolded the paper and said "And now for my personal favorite... 'What if I have a sexual attraction to Bacon?'" We all died laughing, tears were literally streaming out of my eyes. It was so funny. And then he even answered it seriously... LOL. That's my favorite teacher..

Ulquiorra woke up the next morning with a splitting headache and a curious sensation that his life was over.

Opening his eyes hurt, so he lay very still, remaining swathed in his blankets, his body on the side with his legs drawn up and his arms folded in front of his chest, his horn pointing skyward. Once, Grimmjow had walked in on him sleeping, and had accused Ulquiorra of sleeping like a baby, which Ulquiorra flatly denied. He always slept that way, anyways.

He wondered what time it was. The landscape outside did not reflect the time of day, so there was no light indication in the rooms as to whether it was morning, evening, or night. The Espada weren't the type to sleep in - except for the Primera, Coyote Starrk - but it felt later than usual.

His bed was very comfortable, a fact which he had not really noticed until now. Usually he went to bed when he was tired and fell asleep immediately, and when he woke, he rose quickly and prepared for the day. This was the first time he had really just laid in a bed without anything to do, except for sometime in the past week. But those times, he was always with -

His eyes flew open and then squeezed closed, and his body curled in on itself without his permission, like a gray roly-poly bug when poked. He bit his tongue as the memories of yesterday hit him like blows in the abdomen and his hollow hole seemed to be suddenly lit with flame.

So that's why he woke up feeling like his life was over.

Aizen-sama had discovered their affair, and his precious Inoue had been ripped away from him, to God-knows-where. Hard as he tried, he couldn't sense her spiritual pressure anywhere in Las Noches, almost as though it was being cloaked or concealed by something. He wouldn't be surprised if she was hidden away in the Segunda Espada's monstrous, castle-like wing; but besides his Fracción, Barragan Luisenbarn also had numerous guards posted in his overlarge suite. By the time he found Inoue, he would have no doubt been discovered by guards. And in this way, Aizen-sama would discover that Ulquiorra was sneaking around behind his back some more, and this time blood would be spilled. There was to be no more second chances. His master had made that clear – disobey me again and I shall not be so lenient. Whether he would be the one killed, or Inoue, he didn't know. If he could be 100% sure that he would die, he would willingly sacrifice himself to hold her in his arms once more. To see her face and know she was alright. But he didn't know, and the thought of her dying was too much to even entertain.

"Looks like you'll die a virgin, then."

Ulquiorra startled. His eyes shot open, and he bolted up in bed, displaying his bare upper chest to the visitor. It took him a second to register the figure leaning on his doorframe, but when he did, he sent Grimmjow the most death-defying glare he could muster without changing his facial expression.

"I am not decent," he said coldly, but Grimmjow laughed in his face.

"You got that right. Man, I never knew you were such a good kisser. Where'd you learn that from?"

Ulquiorra's mouth opened, but no sound emerged. That was right. Aizen-sama had invited all the Espada in to view his last precious moments with Inoue. And now everyone who was anyone knew about what had happened between him and the woman.

Grimmjow plopped onto the bed, not caring to wait for Ulquiorra's response. "So did you guys ever actually do it, or was I right?"

"Do what?" Ulquiorra inquired flatly, struggling to hide his embarrassment.

"You know. It."

"I do not know of this 'it' that you speak of."

"You know!" Grimmjow said loudly. "Did you ever actually screw her? Fuck her? Stick it in her? Did you guys have fucking sex or not?"

Ulquiorra glared coldly. "Do you really think me the type to soil a woman in that way without her consent?"

"Well, ya looked pretty close to it in the footage."

Ulquiorra bit his tongue. What he had said to Grimmjow wasn't entirely true. There were some times when he'd gotten caught up in the moment and almost made her his, but he had forcibly quelled his inner animal and backed down, tried to be content with just her lips and her hands.

"Guess you could just grope her. With a rack like that, it'd be almost the same," Grimmjow mused aloud.

That was the last straw. "I will not have you speaking of her in such a derogatory manner," Ulquiorra nearly spat. "She is so much more than just a body, than just a shell. I am surprised you've even forgotten about how to value a woman –"

He stopped then, remembering Aizen-sama's warning. Luckily, Grimmjow didn't notice.

"Ooh, touchy." The sexta got to his feet, his muscles rippling like water beneath his skin. His movements were joined together, graceful, feline. "Well, best be going now. I had a bet with Nnoitra about whether you had the balls to actually do it. Nnoitra said she was too smokin' for even you to resist, but I said, nah, he's not manly enough. Looks like it's time for me to collect."

Grimm's taunting laughter floated down the hall after him, and Ulquiorra clenched his fists in the sheets he was still entangled in. Great. His peers were already betting on his sexual advances with the woman he loved so much. He knew he would have to start mentally preparing for the days of mental torment that were sure to follow.

As if everything wasn't bad enough.

Taking a deep breath, Ulquiorra swung his bare legs out of bed and pulled on his uniform, relishing the feel of the cool white fabric against his equally white skin. How he wished he could go back to being like his uniform; unfeeling, moving only when ordered to, fulfilling only its duty and no more. But he could not go back.

Orihime Inoue had opened up this world of feeling to him, and he had thought like the naïve fool he was that she would be there to hold his hand and guide him through all of the new things he had no name for and could not control. But now she was gone. Ulquiorra knew he'd drown in these new feelings that he no longer wanted and was unfamiliar with. He likened it to buying a toy and opening the package eagerly, only to find that it was not what you wanted and unable to return it because it had already been accessed.

At least he still had Murciélago. He picked up his sword and slid it gently through his thick black belt. No matter what happened, he knew he was never alone. The spirit inside of his zanpaku-tô was always with him, through thick and thin. And his sword was one thing that would never leave him.

Pulling on his socks and sandals, he swept from the room in search of something to sate his hunger. As usual, when he walked, he kept his eyes downcast and indifferent. But he was quite adept at sensing Spiritual Pressure, so he did not need his sight to know that Nnoitra Gilga was lounging on a wall next to him, a leery grin on his face.

"Hey, Emospada. T'sup?"

Ulquiorra cursed inwardly and paused by the quinto Espada. "What do you want with me, jackal?"

Nnoitra tsked. "That's no way to say good morning. Er, I mean…" He checked an imaginary watch. "What I meant was, 'That's no way to say good afternoon.' I never had you pegged as a late sleeper, Ulquiorra. Maybe you were worn out from your romping yesterday." The tall man cackled delightedly. "Tell me, Ulquiorra, is she good?"

Only the second time, and already Ulquiorra was tired of innuendoes that he did not understand. "Good at what?" he said, a hint of irritation lacing his voice.

"Good in bed, of course." Nnoitra jeered.

Ulquiorra ground his teeth. "You are disgusting. I cannot even fathom why you would think that I would do something like that to a woman of her purity."

"Well, maybe 'cause we spied ya playin' tonsil hockey yesterday afternoon."

Heat crept up the back of Ulquiorra's neck, but of course his skin color did not change. "I have no further business here," he said, and swept away, desperately trying to ignore Nnoitra's delighted cackling following in his footsteps.

He traced his steps to the kitchen area. Thank God he did not see any more of his taunting Espada comrades. How long would the teasing and jeering last? he wondered. Once the jabs would have rolled off of him like water off of a feather, but now each word stabbed into his core. It was the woman's fault, he knew, but the extent of her involvement remained unclear to him. Did it simply stop at the reason that she had opened up this new world to him, had cracked his hard outer shell? Or was it because the jeers and jabs were aimed at her, although the words were spoken to him?

Were their souls so entwined that the insults tossed in her direction also hit him deep inside his own core, as if they were stripping him of what remained of his mask?

Ulquiorra shook his head and wandered into the kitchen. Meals were provided for the Espada, but they did not come often, since many of his comrades still hungered for Hollow flesh and would often venture out into the sands of Hueco Mundo for their meals. If one desired a humanesque plate for themselves more than once a week, it would be charged on them to either get it themselves of order one of the lower ranked Arrancars to make it for them.

Ulquiorra, however, was one of the rare beings with Spiritual Pressure in existence that did not feel a constant desire to eat. Occasionally, hunger rose, but it was generally only when he had experienced a trauma – a fight, bringing deep wounds, usually triggered it. He had long ago expressed the desire to collect his own vittles to Aizen-sama, and the servant bearing the tray of food once a week had stopped coming to his rooms. Since then he had willingly taken care of his own meals.

Ulquiorra took down a pan and slid in among the Arrancar cooks, who scurried away in fear at the sight of him. He waved them back to their jobs, and hesitantly, they returned to their various places around the room, shying away from his approach nonetheless. He approached a large refrigerator and extracted two eggs, which he held skillfully between his fingers.

I feel like an omelette today…

He returned to his pan and cracked his eggs into it, tossing the shells into the wastebasket effortlessly. He then returned to the fridge and pulled out some vegetables.

Let's see… Tomatoes for sure, spinach, maybe a sprinkle of cheese. Green peppers, mushrooms. Ham. Onions… He juggled the vegetables over to a cutting board, lifting a knife from the magnetic board and bringing it down swiftly on his pepper.

Slowly he became aware of the Arrancar cooks drawing nearer in curiosity as he diced his veggies all at once, with a quick, clean precision. Irritated as he finished and set down the knife, he went back over to the skillet, flipped his omelette over with one hand, and then slid his vegetable and meat mass inside. He folded over the egg creation and then drew a jar of salsa from the fridge.

Perfect…

He carried the skillet over to a long table in the corner of the room, snagging a fork but not bothering with a plate. Pulling out a chair with a screech, he slid into it and twisted the top off of the salsa before tilting it over his omelette and scraping some out with his fork. He spread the spicy, chunky tomato sauce over the surface of the yellow omelette and then lifted the first bite to his mouth.

He just loved these things, he thought as he closed his eyes and crunched on a green pepper.

"Ulquiorra."

He opened his eyes and paused mid-chew. Across from him, he saw Tia Halibel – the tercera Espada – pull out a chair and seat herself in it, her sea-green eyes regarding him calmly.

"Halibel," he greeted, quickly swallowing his food. He nodded in respect for the female Espada ranked just above him.

In all of Hueco Mundo, there were perhaps five individuals he respected, and at the top of this list was the woman seated across from him. Following her was Aizen-sama, Coyote Starrk, the Primera, and Inoue Orihime. He placed himself in this list as well, but did not generally think of himself that way.

It surprised him to admit that Tia Halibel held more of his respect than Sôsuke Aizen, but he had to admit it was true.

"I am sorry about what happened," she began, her low voice solemn. Ulquiorra looked up, surprise shining behind his emerald eyes, fork halfway to his mouth and lips slightly parted in preparation to take a bite.

"That surprises me somewhat," he admitted, "I confess my suspicion was that you had come to torment me alongside the others."

"Torment you?" she asked, shock lacing through her voice. "Have the others been giving you a hard time?"

Ulquiorra wished he had not spoken. "Only the ones I have chanced upon. But there is still time left in the day." He could not help but add the last bit, and again surprise overtook him when he heard the bitter tone in his voice.

Halibel leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms under her voluptuous chest. She had a figure that was as incredible as, if not more so, than Inoue's, but it did not illicit the same response from him at all. It was probably the way she so uncaringly displayed it that gave him no desire to see more.

"That is a shame," she said quietly. "Ulquiorra, I know you are still unfamiliar with human emotion, so I think I will help you out with this one. I believe that the other Espada are somewhat jealous of you."

Ulquiorra hastily chewed and swallowed his bite. "Please explain further."

"I think the other men around you, who claim the females in Hueco Mundo as easily as trying on a new pair of shoes, are jealous of the way that yourself and Inoue shared something special between yourselves that was not only physical, but deeply emotional as well."

Ulquiorra thought back to Nnoitra's leery eyes and creepy grin. "If that is true, it would come as a surprise to me."

"Then I think you are in for a surprise," she said gently. "I admit, I myself am slightly jealous at the way your love changed you."

Ulquiorra chewed silently, but his eyes requested more. She seemed to sigh, although her collar hid her face.

"When I first arrived here in Hueco Mundo, it was in the footsteps of Neliel, and a nobler woman I have never heard tell of in my entire existence." Halibel's gloved finger traced a circle on the table. "She was not the type of woman who would display her body in a degrading way such as I do, and yes, I admit I do this." She rested her chin in her hands. "Neliel's way of dress and attitude led her to find love, and although her romance was her downfall, she still managed to attain what I failed to grasp. I think it is too late for me now, but…" She looked at him though her ragged blond bangs, and her eyes seemed to crinkle as if she was smiling. "It gives me hope to see someone like yourself blossom in such a way as you have since the arrival of Inoue Orihime."

Ulquiorra laid down his fork and laced his fingers together, resting his chin on his hands. "Inoue Orihime opened my eyes to a new world," he said quietly. "I used to believe that my eyes saw all things, but now I know that it was not the case. My eyes had never seen beauty or happiness or joy. All they saw was pain and suffering and heartbreak." He closed his eyes. "Inoue showed me love and compassion, and every feeling – good and bad – that came with them." He swallowed. "Now she is gone, and I do not know what to do with these feelings."

They sat in silence for a moment, until Ulquiorra opened his eyes. He saw Halibel's eyes widen with surprise, as he let all the pain he was feeling twist his features into a heart-wrenching mask.

"Do you know what I can do?" he whispered, his voice broken.

She simply looked at him, and her eyes shone with compassion for the pale man seated before her.

"You should write down what you feel," she said. "Write the girl letters, and you can give them to her when you see her again."

"I don't know when that will be," he confessed, "I fear she will be killed if I attempt to see her and Aizen-sama became aware of it."

"I will give her your letters," Halibel said. "Or I will give them to one of Lord Barragan's Fracción. If that is what you desire, I would be honored to assist you."

Ulquiorra closed his eyes and nodded deeply before the powerful woman. She smiled, reached for his hair, and ruffled it before she stood and left, leaving him with half an omelette and a spark of hope in his chest.

Back in his room, Ulquiorra hesitantly sat at his desk. By some miracle, he had not crossed any of the others on his way back, and had firmly closed and locked his door before turning to the piece of furniture in the corner of the room. Aizen-sama had provided him with a pad of paper embellished with his name and rank on the top margin, as well as a pen that was similarly engraved.

He put his pen to the paper and began to write, noting the dark green ink that flowed from the tip, forming elegant letters on the thick stationery.

My sweet Orihime…

So yeah. Don't forget to read and review moonlightrurouni's, Cursed to Forget and see you soon!

Ulquiorra: Review please, it makes her nicer..

Me: Hush you. -whacks and then quickly dodges Cero- No lasers in the house please! Remember what Mom said last time you did that, Ulquiorra!