A/N: FML.

This whole situation is just a failure among failures. For real. I am so sorry and I know Moony is too. We both feel pretty bad about making yall wait for so long and I'm just so sorry.

That said we tried to give a bit of a longer chapter today and I appreciate your patience. :D

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

The silence in the room atop the fifth tower seemed to actually make noise. It thundered in Ulquiorra's ears, loud as a tide of water. He stood impassively, facing the Onna, gauging her wide, silver eyes.

"Onna."

His lips twitched suddenly, like a cartoon animation. There was a flash of pink tongue behind them as he mouthed the two syllables.

"Orihime Inoue."

She jerked as if she had been stung by a bee. He took a step forward and she shrank back a bit.

"Do you…know who I am?"

He couldn't resist asking the question. It had been weighing him down since she had been ripped from him.

"Do you recognize my face?"

He took another step towards her, bigger than the one before it. She flinched.

"Do you know my name?"

He was still some distance away but he stopped walking. He could sense that she was a bit uncomfortable.

"Do you remember me?"

His eyes locked on hers and held, unwavering. She drew in a shuddering breath.

"Your name…" she breathed, the words a soft whistle between her lips. "Your name is…Ulquiorra."

Hope bloomed within his chest, warming him from the inside for a moment. The heat died away but he was still undeniably pleased.

He nodded once, keeping his expression neutral. Inside his pockets, however, his fingers clenched. He never took his eyes off of hers.

"You…you were the one who wrote me those letters," she continued in a quiet voice.

A short nod. Ulquiorra didn't elaborate any further on that. They stood in silence for a moment. Orihime seemed to be soaking in his face.

"You…you are the fourth Espada," she said. "Not Grimmjow-nii's Fracción…"

Ulquiorra shook his head slowly.

"…Thank you for the red bean paste," she said.

"Onna."

She jumped, startled at his voice.

"You don't remember me."

Her eyes dropped. "…No," she admitted. She twisted her hands. "No, I don't."

"Onna, are you afraid?"

Her eyes jumped back to his, and she stared at him.

"Lord Aizen doesn't need you anymore," he said. He took a step closer. "There is nothing protecting you now. You could die here…alone, with no one by your side. I want to know if that frightens you."

She held his eyes as he stepped closer. There was only about two feet between them.

"I'm not afraid," she finally pronounced. "I don't believe you would kill me."

"…You don't know that for sure," Ulquiorra said. "I could do it. I could tear open this chest of yours, I could tear open your skull."

"You will not," she said, but her voice sounded uncertain. "I don't think you could do that."

"What makes you believe that?" he asked her quietly. "All the memories of me that you have? All the knowledge of me that you have gained?"

"I read your letters," she reminded him.

"Orihime," he said. "You…you know nothing about me."

He turned, paced away from her, and then pivoted suddenly towards her again. "You have no idea," he said. His voice was slightly louder, but still neutral. "You have no idea what I've had to deal with since you've left me." Abruptly he yanked a hand from his pocket, formed a claw, held it out to her. "Do you see this?" he asked her. Her frightened gaze moved to his pale, empty hand. "This, in my hand. The heart you gave me."

He took a step closer.

"You may not have noticed it was gone. The empty cavity in your chest may have stilled without your note. But I have held it here these long weeks. Waiting until the day when I could return it to its rightful place."

Another step, and another. They were chest to chest, and he lifted her hand, turned her palm up. "This, another thing you may not have known," he said. "You have held my heart. And while you may not have noticed yours' absence, I noticed mine. I miss that feeling of life and love. While you have held my heart, Onna, holding it so innocently, so obliviously, it has been trampled. It has been kicked, stomped on. Mistreated. Not by you. By Nnoitra. By Loly and Menoly. By Szayelaporro, by Grimmjow, by Anómino and Ggio. Most of all, though, my heart has been mistreated by Aizen. Look at it, look at your hand. Don't you see how it shudders and thumps so unevenly? Look into my eyes now. Do you think my heart needs to be fixed, Orihime?"

She held her breath and held his eyes. Bit her lip and nodded.

He lifted a hand to her cheek, smoothed her jaw with his thumb. Took a deep breath, not letting his eyes leave hers. Her skin was soft under his hand like a forbidden fruit. "Will you help me?" he asked. "Will you help me heal my heart?"

She nodded again and her eyes began to slide closed. He leaned in and barely brushed her lips with his.

BOOM

Ulquiorra jerked around, feeling a massive Reatsu fill the room. From a black cloud emerged the intimidating figure of Ichigo Kurosaki. Cursing, Ulquiorra prepared himself for the inevitable confrontation between them.

Kurosaki landed on the floor and straightened up. His gaze flicked from Ulquiorra to Orihime and back.

"Kurosaki-kun…" she murmured.

Ulquiorra felt fury flash through him, white and hot, before he quenched it.

"Step away from Orihime," Ichigo commanded, his voice steely.

"I intended to." Ulquiorra looked him square in the eye, "My duty is to guard Las Noches until Lord Aizen returns. I wasn't ordered to kill the girl. I'll let her live until otherwise ordered. But not you. Protecting Las Noches means killing you. I'll cut you down right now."

His hand went to Murciélago and he pulled out the sword from her sheath. Kurosaki's eyes widened as he brought the blade to a ready position.

"I'm surprised," Kurosaki acknowledged with a grin. "I didn't think you'd draw your sword so easily. I thought I'd have to make you draw it. Does this mean you recognize me as an equal?"

"It means I recognize you as someone who must be destroyed," Ulquiorra corrected.
"Works for me," Kurosaki said, grin still in place.

Ulquiorra jumped into action, making the first move. It was simply a motion to provoke his opponent to join their deadly dance. Kurosaki counterattacked quickly, but Ulquiorra had a definite upper hand. He was relentless, jabbing his blade at Kurosaki, who was dodging like a maniac. Ulquiorra was evaluating his motions carefully. The boy was definitely stronger now, a little bit stronger, at least, but still not strong enough. Ulquiorra decided to stay on the defense to get a better feel for Kurosaki's fighting style.

Kurosaki pressed him up against a boulder, a look of intense concentration on his face. Ulquiorra, however, was already bored with defense. He forced Kurosaki's blade to the side wit his own and gave a roundhouse kick over his head. When Ichigo ducked to the side, Ulquiorra jumped up and over, then started to come back at him.

"Getsuga Tensho!"

The black Reatsu covered the handle of the boy's blade and he swung it at Ulquiorra, who effortlessly cleaved it in half. The power split apart, hitting the tops of the pillars along the walls, making the dust and rubble explode off. Kurosaki's eyes widened as Ulquiorra Sonido'ed behind him, then thrust quickly and gracefully. Kurosaki blocked him just in time. After two more violent thrusts, unsettling the boy, he extended his index finger and began gathering Reishi in the tip. Kurosaki's eyes widened again.

"Cero."

The laser blasted through the wall of the tower, and Ulquiorra couldn't see anything for a moment. When the dust cleared, however, he saw Kurosaki – bent over a bit, breathing heavily, his clothing torn, but still standing.

"I see," he said, "So you can withstand my Cero even without your mask. You've gotten stronger. Is it because you defeated Grimmjow? Or…is it because of her?"

Ulquiorra swung his arm to point at Orihime in the corner, knowing where she was even without having to look. Kurosaki glared at him, his smug grin long gone from his face. He wiped his mouth with his hand, not saying anything yet.

"Or maybe because of your friends fighting down below?" Ulquiorra speculated further. Kurosaki glared some more, and Ulquiorra's eyes flickered to the girl in the corner, her beauty almost distracting him from the boy before him. He grounded himself and returned his attention to the fight. "…In any case, that girl is already one of us. Even if you manage to rescue her, that won't change.

Kurosaki straightened, his glare now with a hint of confusion. "…What?" he hissed through gritted teeth.

"Rescuing her is meaningless," Ulquiorra taunted.

Determination focused on the boy's face. "That's not up to you to decide!" he growled.

Goading the boy further, Ulquiorra amended, "You're right. Aizen-sama will be the judge of that."

Kurosaki attacked him quickly, but Ulquiorra soon gained the upper hand again, thrusting relentlessly at the boy. But now he was careless. Kurosaki's sharp, painful breathing distracted him from his brown eyes, moving, watching. He didn't see Kurosaki's hand coming until the boy grabbed his wrist and stilled his movements. Surprised, Ulquiorra looked at his face to see a smug grin. Then the black blade was brought whooshing upon him.

Ulquiorra felt a small nick of pain and leaped back. He glanced at his chest and saw a small cut, while the front of his uniform had been ripped to shreds. Impressive that he even was able to cut me that much, he thought.

He raised his eyes to Kurosaki's. The boy looked mildly surprised.

"I barely nicked you," he said. "It's that Hierro thing, isn't it? Your skin sure is hard. But…looks like I can predict your movements better than before."

Ulquiorra's gaze focused on his face. "What?" he said guardedly.

"I couldn't predict what you were gonna do the last time we fought," Kurosaki explained. "Your attacks, defense, reactions, speed, direction…I couldn't predict any of that. I felt like I was fighting a stone statue. Am I able to predict those things because I'm closer to a Hollow now? Or …have you become more human?"

A murderous fury swept through Ulquiorra. How dare he say that. How dare he say I am like a human. He saw Kurosaki's grin, knew he was being provoked, and decided to fall for it anyways.

He stabbed his blade into the ground with so much force that the cement cracked. Once the dust cleared, and he could see Kurosaki's surprised face once more, he intoned:

"I? More human?"

He could sense Inoue behind him, her breathing quick and frightened.

"I see. So you're actually feeling good about being able to fight at this level?" he challenged, and then leapt into the air.

Panic overtook Kurosaki's features, and Ulquiorra swiped at him, putting a little more effort into it. It was obviously much more difficult for Kurosaki to keep up, however, and Ulquiorra was sure he would be able to finish this fight much more quickly than even he had anticipated. He raised his blade for the finishing blow and began to execute it.

His arms were jolted back with such force that he actually felt his forearms crack a little, although they regenerated instantly. He barely even noticed the pain, such was his emotion at the cause.

An orange triangle had appeared before Kurosaki, and was now slowly crumbling away. Some distance apart from them, Inoue was standing with her hands outstretched defiantly, her attention focused on the fighting figures.

Ulquiorra met her eyes, hoping his sense of betrayal was evident within them. She also met his gaze, her eyes unwavering.

"What are you doing?"

She straightened in surprise. "…What?"

"I'm asking why you helped him," Ulquiorra pressed, keeping his eyes on hers.

"…I…why?" Orihime stammered, unable to look away from him. His irritation grew, coupled with the betrayed feeling.

"Because he's your friend?" he persisted; "then why didn't you protect him from the first blow? Why did you hesitate?"

She gaped at him, thoughts running behind her eyes a million miles a minute. "I…I don't…"

"You don't know?" he asked. "Then let me tell you. You –"

"Shut up!"

Ulquiorra's eyes widened at Kurosaki's exclamation, and he looked at the boy behind him, tearing his eyes off of Inoue. Kurosaki looked exasperated as he chided the Espada like a small child.

"I don't need to hear you go on about hesitation or whatever," Kurosaki reprimanded Ulquiorra. "None of that matters. Thank you for protecting me, Inoue. But it's dangerous, so stay back."

"Kurosaki-kun…" she murmured behind Ulquiorra, who tensed again at her utterance of his name. Does she know? Does she know what she does to me every time she says it like that?

"Ulquiorra."

Ulquiorra's glance flicked to Kurosaki's.

"You're pretty chatty today. I'm surprised. I thought you were more of the silent type."

He began to ready another Getsuga, and Ulquiorra sighed, watching the power grow on the blade. "Getsuga, eh?" he murmured, "don't you realize yet that doesn't work on me?"

Kurosaki came at him anyway, and Ulquiorra was surprised for a moment. Instead of releasing the energy, Kurosaki appeared to be storing it on the blade, preparing for impact with the attack powered up on his blade. He shook his head and recovered quickly.

The blow shook the room, and Ulquiorra needed to keep both hands on his blade with the strength of it. But it still was barely strenuous. Instead of releasing Getsuga, he kept it in his sword…so the blows have the power of Getsuga behind them… "Not so fast," he said aloud. With one sweep of his sword he brushed the great amount of power away like an unfortunately irritating insect.

"You seem to have think you've come up with something here," Ulquiorra droned. "But have you forgotten? Even with your mask on, your Getsuga couldn't defeat me. Without your mask, it doesn't matter how you use it, it still won't work."

Ichigo flew back. Ulquiorra was preparing for another attack when he heard a loud rip. His head jerked over to see Inoue.

She was with Loly and Menoly, the two Arrancar females who had terrorized her earlier. Her eyes were wide with fear. The dark haired menace – he couldn't remember which one she was – had ripped off the puff of her sleeve.

"Inoue!" Kurosaki shrieked.

Ulquiorra was silent. He was working hard to keep his face calm. He knew Loly and Menoly would kill the Onna if they got a chance. They had been jealous since she was first brought to the castle – jealous of her familial relationship with their Lord, Aizen-sama. Kurosaki readied himself to fly at the two of them, calling over his shoulder at Ulquiorra, "Who are they?" like they had suddenly become friends.

"Stay back!" the dark-haired one screamed; "or I'll pluck out her eyeball!"

"Getsuga…!" Kurosaki began.

NO! Is he an idiot?! There is no way he will be able to hit just the two Arrancars and not Inoue! Fool!

Ulquiorra flash-stepped in front of Kurosaki, stopping his movements from continuing. His eyes widened, along with the dark-haired girl's.

"Ulquiorra…?" she asked.

"Don't get the wrong idea," he nearly spit, "I'm not helping you."

Kurosaki attacked him from behind, and Ulquiorra blocked him disinterestedly.

"Outta my way!" Kurosaki roared.

Ulquiorra's eyes rolled to meet his. "Make me," he challenged lazily. "If you want to fight anyone else, you'll have to kill me first."

"SHUT UP! GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Kurosaki was livid, spit flying from his mouth.

Ulquiorra opened his mouth, preparing to argue further. Suddenly, though, the ground shook. Ulquiorra turned his head disinterestedly as the floor broke upwards from below and Yammy's massive figure could be seen, squatting his landing with a grin.

"Ulquiorra!" the big man exclaimed. "I've come to help!"

"When did I ever ask for your help, Yammy?" Ulquiorra asked him. Inside, he was cursing. All these flies kept coming and ruining their battle. He just wanted to kill Kurosaki and be done with it so he could get back to his woman, but no. Trash, all of them. He glanced at Orihime out of the corner of his eye. Well, not her.

"Don't say that," Yammy said, undiscouraged. "Looks like that Shinigami brat's gotten a lot stronger. Let me take care of him."

Ulquiorra stared at the giant Espada wordlessly, but he was seething. Is he implying that I cannot handle this trash on my own? he ranted; he would be dead by now if not for all these interventions! He would have been dead hours ago, his corpse would be cold on the ground in the desert!

"…I see," he said finally, not acknowledging Yammy's offer. "It appears you've recovered. But, your job isn't here. You can go back to sleep or you can take care of the captains down below." He turned his back on the giant.

"What? Don't be so stingy, Ulquiorra!"

"The way you get like this is your biggest weakness," Ulquiorra murmured.

"Yeah…" Yammy half-agreed, and then he looked over and saw the two girls, the two Arrancar, the ones who had beaten Orihime. Loly and Menoly. Yammy stared at them for a moment.

Then his hand went for Menoly's face and the smaller girl went flying back into the wall. Dust bloomed from where she hit, and Loly screamed her name loudly.

"Ulquiorra! What are these bitches doing here?" Yammy yelled excitedly at the smaller man.

"Ask them," Ulquiorra said disinterestedly, turning back to his own fight.

It didn't take long though. No sooner had he trained his attention on Kurosaki again than the boy went rushing for the tenth Espada, yelling, "Inoue!" like he was planning to save the Onna right then and there. Lazily, Ulquiorra Sonido'd in front of him and blocked his black blade.

"What a pest," he droned, "I said you'll have to beat me first."

Behind them, Loly and Yammy's battle took it up a notch, although Ulquiorra's attention didn't waver. The two locked eyes and Ulquiorra heard explosions and then Yammy's voice saying, "Hey, Ulquiorra, can I kill her now?"

Ulquiorra was about to give his permission when Kurosaki let out a strangled cry and Ulquiorra whirled around to see Yammy hovering over the Onna with Loly nowhere in sight. Before he could stop the large man he felt a strange reatsu envelop them and looked up to see the silhouette of the Quincy in the hole blasted through the wall.

A single arrow penetrated Yammy's shoulder as Kurosaki yelled "Ishida!" at the top of his lungs.

Yammy twisted around and bellowed, "Where did you come from?!"

Ishida straightened after a flawless landing, quickly straightening his glasses and brushing some dust off of his flawless white uniform. "That much force and it still didn't pierce you?" he said with a small smile; "you're pretty tough. But…I'd watch where I step, if I was you."

Yammy did not even have time to react. The ground blew out from under his feet, spraying up lights and sounds. Desperately, Yammy managed to grab onto the corner of the floor where he had been standing.

"That mad scientist gave me a special land mine just for Arrancars," Ishida explained simply.

"Damn it…" Yammy wheezed, "…you little brat!"

"I could hear you down below," the Quincy said, and he sounded almost disgusted. "You're the "Yammy" Szayelaporro told me about, aren't you?"

"So what if I am?" Yammy gasped angrily.

"Too bad for you," the former stated. "If I hadn't shown up, you would have gotten to fight a little longer."

The floor crumbled under Yammy's giant fingers at that moment. With a loud cry, the giant Arrancar fell a hundred stories, down to the desert floor. Ulquiorra could hear floors breaking under his muscled back. The Quincy smirked and straightened his glasses again, his bow shimmering into nothing but a small bracelet around his thin wrist.

"Mala suerte," he said. "I pity you. I broke all the pillars on every floor on the way up, so you'll probably fall all the way down to the bottom." The large Arrancar could no longer hear him, so he turned and began to walk back to Kurosaki and Ulquiorra.

"…Ishida?" Kurosaki inquired.

"What?" Ishida asked. "Questions during battle? Seems a bit reckless to me. What do you want to ask? Kurotsuchi Mayuri healed me. He healed Abarai first, which is what took me so long. He's the one who gave me the mine too. If an Arrancar comes within its spirit energy sensors, it will explode. I hid it in the ceiling of the level below us. Any other questions?"

The boy is intelligent, Ulquiorra thought to himself. But at the end of the day…he is just trash.

Kurosaki grinned abruptly. "I never had any in the first place," he said, "you're the one who wouldn't shut up …what a pain."

He turned back to face Ulquiorra.

Finally.

"Take care of Inoue," he said. "If her Rikka can't shield her from my energy, protect her with your own body."

She can take care of herself. She is a strong woman.

"I would even if you hadn't asked," Ishida said grimly.

Kurosaki turned to face Ulquiorra, whose expression had not changed all the while.

"…Sorry to keep you waiting, Ulquiorra," he apologized. "Here I go. The Hollowfication you wanted to see." He raised one hand to his face, knuckles crunched, into position at his forehead. Then he cut violently down and out, and the white mask appeared upon his features. Ulquiorra's eyes widened marginally; it was much more powerful than it had been previously. Then, before he could even realize, he was on the defense, fighting to keep Kurosaki's blade away from his skin.

OUCH!

Ulquiorra heard his blade's cry of pain in his mind and he saw that somehow, Kurosaki's Zangetsu had managed to split his own. The crack was small but definite.

Kurosaki is stronger than me, he realized.

I need to go above the dome.

I need to release Murciélago.

Ulquiorra flipped backwards over Kurosaki, shooting out through the gap in the wall and skidding in the air. Next, he bounded upwards, soaring up the tower towards the false canopy. He could feel Kurosaki's reatsu follow him after a second, confused, but still massively powerful. As he flew, he decided – one more test.

On the tip of his finger, Ulquiorra charged a massive Cero and fired it immediately. The green blast lit everything up, and there was a sonic boom. But when the scene cleared, he could see Kurosaki standing with his blade up, blocking his body.

And there is not even a crack in his mask?

…Damn.

Ulquiorra took off for the canopy even faster. He could hear Kurosaki's loud protests behind him, but he did not slow.

Quincy, he prayed, do not come up here. Do not bring the Onna after us. Do as I say…keep her safe.

He burst through the canopy into the eternal night.

Keep her safe.