A/N: HI! Me again! (obv) So...I think you lot will enjoy this chapter ... Ulquiorra may seem a little OOC but you know what? I think it's worth it. You'll all hopefully enjoy it, so I'll let you get right to it...
My sweet Orihime,
Halibel delivered two more of your letters to me today. They made me even more confused, if that is even possible. One thing I need to make clear to you: I am the man who was outside the door. I am the man who handed you your soy sauce. I am the man who you believe is Grimmjow's Fracción, although I am actually the fourth Espada and thusly ranked higher than him. My name is Ulquiorra Schiffer. I am your lover.
Orihime, let me enlighten you on something. Tesla Lindocruz is NOT the one you are searching for. I saw you two today in the kitchens, and it hurt me more that a knife in my chest. How could you do this to me? What would make you think that a bland, dry man such as him could possibly be your lover? He is loyal to but one person, and that is his master Nnoitra Gilga. Listen to me, Orihime. If you get anything from this letter, please let it be that you stay away from that man. If you love me at all. Leave him be.
Ulquiorra set down his pen then, although he wasn't finished with his writing yet. Just thinking about the two of them was making his hands shake a little bit. She had been singing for him, they had been singing together. Feeding each other. It was disgusting!
Like you two never did that, a nasty little voice whispered in the back of his head.
Ulquiorra stood. He was going stir-crazy, he decided. He needed to go out and do something. Maybe he would go out and beat up Tesla. Or maybe he would go to the World of the Living. He didn't know, and he didn't care. He just had to get out his frustration somehow.
Ulquiorra opened the door and walked stiffly down the hall. Why did he feel so out of character recently, he wondered. It was unsettling and strange. Damn that woman, provoking such actions from him.
He needed to get some air. As he walked down the halls, an idea began to form in his mind. He turned his feet in the direction of the lab and resigned himself to the fact that he'd have to spend some time in the company of the most crazyfuckinginsane inhabitant of Las Noches in order to get what he wanted.
**!**
"If you're here for some kind of potion to make her remember you, you should just leave. I'm not going to give it to you."
Ulquiorra was struck suddenly with all the reasons he disliked Szayelaporro Granz. He hadn't been around the mad scientist in a while, so he was beginning to think that maybe he was wrong about the man and all his unfortunate downsides. However, with just one utterance, the octava Espada had managed to remind him of every single one.
"You must take me for a fool," Ulquiorra told him, his voice slightly chilly. "I would not ask you to commit treason against Aizen-sama for myself. We are not exactly close. It would be a pointless endeavor to ask that particular thing of you."
"Well, what did you come here for then?" Szayelaporro asked. He crossed his arms and tossed his bubblegum-pink hair. Ulquiorra bored his viridian eyes into Szayelaporro's golden ones.
"A favor."
Szayelaporro smiled then, an insane smile that instantly made Ulquiorra uneasy. "I like the sound of that," he said with a little chuckle. "Come in, Cuarta. Let's see if we can strike us a deal."
Ulquiorra followed the mad scientist into his lab unwillingly. He did realize that he had come to Szayelaporro for help, not the other way around. Still, he had hoped to get the transaction over with without having to set a foot inside the man's territory - the lab.
"Welcome, welcome, welcome," Szayelaporro said, sweeping into a room that was lit with the soft glow of computers, which it was full of. A couple of them were attended by some of his many Fracción. "So, Schiffer-san, what can I get for you today?"
"You may address me as Ulquiorra."
"Fine, Ulquiorra. You came here to strike a deal, did you not?"
"I did indeed." Ulquiorra was now seriously regretting coming here. It's for her, he reminded himself, and fought on. "You are capable of making these 'gigai' things, are you not? The prototypes invented by Urahara Kisuke?"
"Do not speak his name in this lab," Szayelaporro snapped. "That man may be a brilliant scientist but he totally failed at life. He couldn't even handle being a Shinigami, so he decided to waste his talent on candy. He is the lowest of the low, so despite his brilliance I simply cannot respect him as a scientist. He has failed at reaching perfection."
"Can you make these gigais or not?"
Szayelaporro looked a little offended. "Of course I can. Urahara Kisuke may have failed at reaching perfection, but I have not. I am perfect. I can create the perfect gigai." When he saw the spark of interest in Ulquiorra's eye, he frowned and added, "For a price, of course."
"So if I can have a gigai and some human currency, what would the price be?"
"As always: a favor for a favor, Cuarta. I will collect later. So, you desire a human gigai - which means you need human clothing. Maybe about ¥15,000. Does that sound suitable to you?"
"It sounds appropriate, and so does the bargain. Aizen-sama need not know about this transaction, I trust?"
"I shall not tell him unless he asks," Szayelaporro said smoothly. "Consider that if he finds out, your side of the deal is canceled out and you have received my goods for free."
The punishment would be payment enough, Ulquiorra thought grimly, which was what he was sure the Octava Espada was thinking as well.
"So may I have it now?" he asked, itching to get out of the creepy lab.
"Yes, you may," Szayelaporro said. "Right this way, if you please."
Ulquiorra followed him into a different room. Inside this one were a few tables. Each had a body strapped to it; buck naked and with generic features. Ulquiorra could see two males and two females.
"You will obviously need a male," Szayelaporro said with a little laugh, "unless there is something you haven't told me."
Ulquiorra watched him coldly.
Szayelaporro unstrapped the gigai and heaved it off of the table. Holding in under its arms, he dragged it a little away from the table and laid it down on the floor.
"Undress and lay on the body," Szayelaporro said. Anyone else would have asked him if he was out of his mind (to which he would have happily responded "yes, of course), but Ulquiorra didn't bat an eyelash. He unzipped his jacket and had shrugged it off before Szayelaporro realized that Ulquiorra wasn't going to ask him to turn and turned himself around.
Ulquiorra slipped out of his pants, socks and shoes and approached the body, feeling awkward beyond belief. He glanced at Szayelaporro's pink head, realizing that the man might turn around any minute and he had better move fast.
He tentatively put his right big toe against the gigai's right big toe. Instantly the pressure from him touching the gigai made his toe actually sink into the fake one. The toe turned ivory, like Ulquiorra's own skin; the nail turned black. Intrigued despite himself, Ulquiorra hesitantly sat on the gigai's stomach. His body sank right through the gigai's – where he had sat down, the skin lightened to paper white, and his abs could be seen. He could feel the cold stone floor beneath his bare bottom.
Before he could have any more second thoughts, Ulquiorra lay back against the gigai. He had a brief moment of panic when his head sank through before it melded, but then he was seeing through the gigai's eyes. He sat and flexed his fingers, stretching his arms and rotating his shoulders around. Then he frowned, realizing that Szayelaporro's spiritual pressure had disappeared.
Where'd he – ?
Ulquiorra looked up and saw Szayelaporro still standing there, although one of his Fracción must have brought clothing because Szayelaporro was holding a bundle of fabric. But Ulquiorra couldn't feel his spiritual pressure.
"Is there no reatsu sensing? I thought you said this was a perfect gigai."
"It is, I assure you," Szayelaporro said crossly. "There is no sensing of reatsu in the gigai because I wanted to make it that much more perfect. Can a human sense reatsu? No, they cannot."
She's human, and she can sense reatsu, Ulquiorra thought but didn't say.
"Would you like to get dressed?" Szayelaporro asked, but didn't even give Ulquiorra a chance before he tossed Ulquiorra the clothing. As the latter stood, he glimpsed down and saw that his hollow hole was gone. He brought up his hand and rubbed his chest – whole, white, smooth- where the hole had been.
"Your mask is gone, too," Szayelaporro informed him.
"My tattoo is not," Ulquiorra noted.
"Neither is the estigma on your face," Szayelaporro said. "Now would you please put some underwear on, you're seriously making me uncomfortable. Normally I wouldn't mind, but since I have to see you again after this…"
"I understand," Ulquiorra said. Szayelaporro tossed him a pair of boxers, which he struggled into. Then he was handed a pair of black jeans.
"What on earth…?"
"Pants." Szayelaporro said happily. "I picked out an outfit I thought would look the best with your particular features. These are known as 'skinny jeans.' They are very popular in America!"
"How do you put them on…?"
"Unbutton them and then put your legs through the holes with the zipper in the front."
Ulquiorra did as he was told and then buttoned and zipped the jeans. Szayelaporro gave him a dark, tight-fitting long-sleeved T-shirt.
"It's winter in the World of the Living, so you'll need this." He was then given a soft green pea coat and a black scarf. "You'll find the money in the coat pocket. Here are some socks and sneakers. And then you're off. You won't be able to open a Garganta, so here is a remote which will call me and I will open it for you."
Ulquiorra pocketed the device Szayelaporro handed him and then put on his shoes. "Thank you, Octava," he said, which was rare for him.
Szayelaporro only smiled and then snapped his fingers. The familiar tear appeared in the sky, and Ulquiorra stepped through.
"Have fun…" were Szayelaporro's last words before the gateway closed behind him.
**!**
Ulquiorra appeared suddenly behind a tree on a sidewalk, feeling rather disoriented. He quickly discovered that Szayelaporro was right about the weather, so he buttoned his coat and looped on the scarf over his neck. Then he jammed his hands in his pockets and set off down the street.
The wind was blowing at Ulquiorra's back, making the strands of his hair slightly obstruct his vision as they blew before his face. Still, he did not hunch his shoulders, but stood tall against the chill as he ambled down the street without any particular rush. The occasional brown leaf swirled down the street, but otherwise there was no other movement around him.
This should be easy, he thought to himself. I just need to find one of those bookstores.
He came to the end of the street and saw that he was at an intersection. The street perpendicular to the one he was on was busier; cars rushed down the street, and pedestrians hurried by all hunched over. The sky was slightly overcast, creating a gray sort of feel to the afternoon, and many of the people on the sidewalk were clutching umbrellas to their chests as if in preparation for some sort of storm.
To his right, Ulquiorra could see that the road wound off into the distance; to his left he could see buildings and storefronts. Each store had a different colored awning out front; some had signs with handwritten advertisements for the wares inside, and some even had racks of clothing that were something called 'on sale' for whatever reason. No one seemed to be stopping to admire the clothing that was on sale, so Ulquiorra figured that if one was on sale it must be a bad thing; why else would those particular garments be isolated from the rest? It must be like quarantine.
He set off to the left in the direction of the stores when he noticed that one of them had a folding table with boxes full of books. When he reached the store he stopped in front of the books and picked one up.
Wild, Wild West, it said. He put that down and picked up another.
What To Do In a Zombie Apocalypse, said the next, then, Football for Dummies which preceded Cliques and Chicks and Aliens 101. He frowned, picking up Whodunit 5 and then Harry Potter.
"Looking for something?"
Ulquiorra dropped The Complete History of the Housefly and looked up. Standing there was a boy with black hair that curled at the ends and headphones. In one hand he clutched a cell phone. He looked to be about Inoue's age, although he barely came up to Ulquiorra's shoulder.
"I'm Kojima Mizuiro, I work here at the bookstore because my parental unit thinks I need to get out more," the boy said. "Can I help you?"
"I am looking for a romance novel," Ulquiorra told him. When the boy looked surprised, he added, "It's for my girlfriend. Orihime."
"I know someone named Orihime too," Kojima said, "Inoue Orihime. So, what kind of romance novel would you like? I meant, would she like, obviously. Ha-ha."
Ulquiorra was startled at hearing her full name escape from this boy's mouth. He must be one of her friends from school, Ulquiorra thought. "Do you have any that deal in…maybe, a couple in love, and then her forgetting him, and then somehow them getting back together despite this? She loves the angsty type."
The words that were falling from his mismatched lips startled even himself. He sounded like… a human. He didn't like it.
"Yeah, we have a couple like that. Stay here and I'll get them."
Kojima disappeared inside the shop and Ulquiorra leaned back against the table. He stared straight ahead, watching the people that passed by, until the boy reemerged from the store.
"Here are three. The total is ¥14,980."
Just enough. Ulquiorra handed the boy the money and he smiled. "Arigato! See you around, stranger-san."
He went back inside the warm shop. Ulquiorra put the books in his pocket without even looking at the titles and continued down the street towards Inoue's apartment. He had one more thing to do before he went home.
He knew where she lived; she had told him her address one day in her ramblings, including how to get there from the grocery because that was a walk she complained she had to make far too often. He still remembered her sweet voice wondering about where all the food had gone and whether all of her stuffed animals came alive while she was asleep and had to eat. Then she had told him the story about how she had lost both her real key and the one under the mat and had to squeeze through the window to see them both lying on the kitchen table, exactly where she had left them.
Her apartment came into view, and he stood back, looking at the building where she lived. It was painted a dark color, almost purple, and he could see four units from where he was standing: it was fairly small. A woman was outside watering plants. Ulquiorra went up to the gate, unlatched it and strode through.
Inoue's apartment was the top right one. Ulquiorra climbed the stairs, wishing Szayelaporro hadn't given him such tight pants. They did not stretch at all and they clung to his skin, much unlike his white hakama pants. The sooner you get this done, the better, he thought. He reached the top of the stairs and bent to retrieve Inoue's spare key, then inserted it into the lock and let the door swing open.
He stood on the threshold for a moment, almost afraid to enter her living space. The place where she had grown up, first with her brother and now alone. Then the smell wafted out to him, and with one sniff he was through the door and into the apartment, the door clicking shut behind him.
Even with the lights off, the place was bright. The walls were all painted happy colors – yellows, oranges, greens. There wasn't a whole lot of decoration, although she had a table and cabinets and a small refrigerator. Against one wall was a Soul Society telecommunicator –that's right, she had Soul Reapers staying with her. An intricate shrine was in one corner, which he assumed belonged to her brother Sora. Another door was in the wall, and he went to it and opened it wide.
Inside was her bedroom. He saw her bed, sheets still unmade, covers rumpled from the last time she had slept in it. Clothes were thrown helter-skelter about the room: a skirt, tank top, one shoe, a motley collection of dirty socks, a pink bra. He crossed to her bed and sat gently upon it, lowering his face to her pillow and inhaling her scent.
The smell of rain and hibiscus flowers, of wet pine trees and dawn, and waterfalls and moss and that sweet aura that she carried with her.
He was about to stand when he noticed the small pink bear with the nametag sewn to the ear: Enraku the Bear. He picked it up and tucked it under his arm, and then left the bedroom, going back into the kitchen.
Ulquiorra opened a cabinet. Right in the forefront were the two things he was looking for: a brand new jar of red bean paste and a full tube of wasabi. He pulled them down from the shelves and was about to leave the house when he looked behind him and saw the shrine.
He set down the bear and the condiments and crossed to it, kneeling before the praying area and settling his eyes on her brother Sora. He picked up the frame and studied the man's soft smile, so much like her own.
He cleared his throat.
"Um…hello. I am Ulquiorra Schiffer. I don't expect you've ever heard about me," he said. "Well, maybe Orihime told you when we attacked for the first time. Yammy injured her quite badly."
He stopped and thought over his next move.
"We have your younger sister at Las Noches, which is the palace my master inhabits with his army of Arrancar. You may not know this, but Orihime possesses an amazing ability of rejection. She is one of the most powerful people I have ever met, and this includes my master as well as Kurosaki Ichigo. She probably downplays her abilities to you, but I assure you she is extremely talented. I suppose you know this from watching over her, which I am sure you are very diligent about. If I was her brother I know I would be.
"Something you should know about me is that I am in fact one of the Arrancar. An Espada, in fact, ranked 4 among ten. At this moment I am inside a gigai, which is a type of human body that we spiritual beings can temporarily inhabit to make ourselves visible to the average human. But I assure you I am a Hollow. In the flesh."
He took a deep breath.
"Another thing you should know about me is that I am very deeply in love with your sister Orihime. We have been torn apart by my master, Aizen Sôsuke, who did not wish me to be involved with her. Her memories of me were erased and she no longer knows who I am. I will not tell you all the ways your sister has opened my eyes as I do not think you would want to hear that from another man. However, I am unused to the emotions she brings with just the thought of her. The knowledge that I am to be stuck with these emotions for the rest of my days without her is too much to bear.
"Sora Inoue, I am asking you a favor. If you grant me this I vow to cherish Orihime until the breath leaves my body. If you can make some way for Orihime and I to be together once more, I will be forever in your debt. Please grant me your blessing. This is a lot of talking for me, so I am going to wrap it up now, but if there is any way to look past my monstrous nature and help me…then please, do so. Help us."
Ulquiorra sat with his eyes closed and his head bowed in front of the picture for a while longer. Eventually he stood, gathered up his things and reached inside his coat for the button.
The garganta opened before him, and he stepped through, back to Hueco Mundo, her smell tangled on his coat and in his hair and woven though his soul.
**!**
The garganta deposited him back into his room. He dumped the three books, stuffed bear, red bean paste and wasabi on his bed and quickly shed the uncomfortable World of the Living clothes. In the pocket of his jeans he found a small pill, which he swallowed. His body sprang from the gigai, which landed on the floor, generic and lifeless once again.
He dragged the body into his closet and let it slump to the floor. He'd return it to Szayelaporro later; he might need it again in the meantime. Then he quickly dressed and sat down at his desk to finish the letter.
I went to the World of the Living on your behalf. While I was there I visited your apartment. With this letter please find a jar of red bean paste as well as a tube of wasabi, both of which I know you love. I doubt Barragan is feeding you exactly what you desire in terms of your quirky taste, so I took the effort to get these for you.
Also, I conversed with your brother Sora by means of prayer. I told him all about us and asked for his help. Perhaps he will, perhaps he will not. Spirits are tricky.
-UIquiorra.
Inside Ulquiorra's desk was a wooden box with a 4 inlaid into it. He removed the box and put in the bear, the letter, and the food, and then tucked it under his arm.
He'd find Tesla later. Right now, he had a package to deliver.
So yeah...let me know. I kinda went out on a cliff here, so let me know what you think...:D