Cripes, look at the day. It's been like ...too long since we updated. Sorry. Although I probably would have been more motivated if I'd gotten two reviews to rub together... (/*A*)/ -flips table- Well, the struggle continues.

Luckily, this is the last chapter before the epilogue :'D So you won't have to deal with us much longer ;A;

I have been having fun anticipating the Spring Fever Tour. Anyone else going? (Doubt it.) But who can go wrong with You Me At Six, Mayday Parade, Pierce the Veil and All Time Low? That's tomorrow night, BAM! So pumped.

Anyway, I will let you read now ~ Ta ta ~

Please don't forget to review~ and check out moonlightrurouni's as well!

Ulquiorra alighted on top of a tall pillar as Kurosaki broke through the canopy. Even from this distance, Ulquiorra could see the boy's glowing yellow eyes widen.

"Is this…Las Noches's canopy?"

"Yes," Ulquiorra confirmed, squaring his stance to face Kurosaki. "Under the canopy, two things are forbidden. The first is the Gran Rey Cero, which only the Espadas can employ. And the other is the release of Espadas beyond Cuatro. Both are so powerful, they could destroy Las Noches itself."

Kurosaki only watched, his eyes guarded behind the white and red mask. Ulquiorra raised his blade and pointed it at the boy."

"Enclose, Murciélago."

His massive black reiatsu splattered out from the dome, raining pure power onto the boy below. Ulquiorra could feel his bone helmet melting, reshaping itself over his head. His back splitting, two great black wings unfurling from the cavity his broken skin revealed. His uniform molded together, and the fabric danced around his thin ankles.

Kurosaki's eyes were wide as death.

"Don't panic," Ulquiorra ordered. "Don't break your stance. Be aware of your surroundings. Don't let your guard down, even for an instant."

His fingers formed a loose claw at his side, and he let the power gather into a glowing green javelin. In less time than Kurosaki could have blinked, Ulquiorra had flown at him, holding the weapon to his neck. Kurosaki jerked back, and Ulquiorra was pushed away by the boy's sudden release of power. He retreated to a safe distance and watched his power swirl to a calm.

"You instinctively used Getsuga," he noted. "A wise move. If you hadn't, your head would be at my feet now."

Kurosaki watched him, breathing heavily. His mask had cracked away from his right eye, and blood was collecting above his eyebrow.

"Your Hollowfication abilities have increased," Ulquiorra continued. "You're able to keep the mask on longer too. But I didn't think it would shatter so easily."

He reared his hand back. Another javelin was already forming there.

"How unfortunate."

The lance struck Kurosaki in the shoulder, tossing him backwards like a football. The boy struggled to shove his blade in the dirt and slow his backwards acceleration, but it was to little avail. Ulquiorra formed yet another lance, but this time he held onto it and used it like a sword to attack Kurosaki.

"Kurosaki…Fire Getsuga," he commanded in a murmur.

The boy's eyes widened.

"That's when you are at your most lethal. If Getsuga is your ultimate technique, fire it at me right here, right now. I'll show you which of us is stronger."

And this isn't even all I have. He allowed himself to gloat for less than a second.

Kurosaki's eyes narrowed, and he fended Ulquiorra back. Retreating to the ground, he glared up at the fourth Espada, circling in the sky.

"Fire Getsuga? Give me a break," he snorted. "You didn't have to ask, I was gonna do that anyways!"

The boy's bravado startled Ulquiorra. However, when he fired his attack, Ulquiorra was able to bat it away quite easily. He looked down at the stunned boy, feeling a bit bored and disappointed.

"Just as I suspected," he stated. "You're just a puny human after all."

"You're…not hurt? !" Kurosaki exclaimed, his coarse Hollowfied voice sharp with surprise.

Ulquiorra ignored the question, as he thought the answer was quite obvious. "Your Black Getsuga is indeed very much like our Cero blasts."

Kurosaki's eyes narrowed angrily. "Don't compare it to something like that," he growled.

"I see, you haven't seen it yet," Ulquiorra said. "Then I'll show you, as a parting gift. This is what we Espadas can discharge in a released state." He raised one fingernail, pointing squarely at Kurosaki. "A…black…Cero."

He narrowed his eyes.

Cero Oscuras!

The energy hurtled towards Kurosaki like a great black vacuum, shattering the remains of his mask instantly. As the boy fell headfirst to the ground, Ulquiorra appeared in front of him like a fallen angel, and kicked him into the pillar. Kurosaki broke through the wall in a cloud of rocks and smoke and lay coughing there in the dust as Ulquiorra floated outside.

"Do you understand now?" Ulquiorra said as the boy struggled to his knees. "No matter how similar your appearance or techniques may be to an Arrancar's, they're as different as heaven and hell. It's understandable that humans and Shinigami would mimic Arrancars in order to increase their power. But, you will never be our equals."

He stepped inside the pillar, where Kurosaki was shakily making his way to his feet. He raised weary eyes to Ulquiorra's, grasping his blade.

"Getsuga –" he began.

"I'm telling you – it's useless!" Ulquiorra screamed. He attacked furiously now, swiping Kurosaki's flesh, driving him back with violent slashes until the boy lay nearly dead on the ground. Grasping him by the throat, Ulquiorra hauled him up, holding him so that his legs dangled uselessly inches above the ground.

"Why won't you drop your sword?" Ulquiorra fumed. "Even faced with such an insurmountable imbalance of power, you still believe you can defeat me?"

Kurosaki paused.

"…Imbalance of power?" he said slowly, finding the words. A small grin began to leak across his face. "…What about it? You thought I'd give up just because you're stronger than me?"

Ulquiorra allowed surprise to flit briefly across his face.

"I knew from the start you were strong. Knowing how strong you are makes no difference. I'm going to beat you, Ulquiorra."

Ulquiorra was silent for a moment. Then he opened his fist, and Kurosaki collapsed on the ground.

"Nonsense," he said hollowly. "Ichigo Kurosaki, those are the words of one who doesn't know true despair. But I'll teach you. This is what…true despair…looks like."

Aah.. Murciélago sighed as he shifted into his second release. Black fur sprouted from his waist, all up and down his arms and legs. Tears ran from his eyes and from his enlarged hollow hole upon his bare chest. The helmet shrank into two long horns on his head, and a tail whipped at his back.

"Resurrección Segunda Etapa," he explained darkly to the stunned boy before him. "Of all the Espadas, only I have achieved a second stage release. I haven't let Lord Aizen see me in this state yet."

Kurosaki's eyes hardened, and he grasped the handle of his blade, beginning to stand.

"Yet even facing me like this, you still have the will to fight," Ulquiorra mused. His eyes darted down to the black blade gripped in Kurosaki's hands, and saw that it was shaking.

He's not so confused that he can't feel fear. And those aren't the eyes of a man who's given up. Does this mean he actually believes he can win?

"Very well," he said out loud. "Then…I will show you my strength. Even if I have to turn your body to dust."

He flew at the boy, so fast Kurosaki never saw it coming. One hand grasped the side of his head, and he threw the boy into the pillar. Before he even realized what was going on, Ulquiorra had grabbed his blade with his bare hands and pushed him quickly away, into the ground.

"You're a fool, Ichigo Kurosaki," he murmured.

Kurosaki leaped into the sky, staring down at him in silence. Ulquiorra followed him, arms outstretched.

"You're challenging an enemy you can't possibly defeat," Ulquiorra said. "Your belief in your ability to win is beyond my comprehension."

With a small push, he sent Kurosaki flying backwards through two more pillars. Slowly he followed him, coming to a stop in front of the boy's body.

"If this is what you people call 'heart'…it would seem to be more of a liability than a strength," Ulquiorra mused. "For having heart, you will pay the ultimate price."

"I'm not fighting because I think I can win," Kurosaki said. He was on his feet again, albeit shakily. "I'm fighting because…I have to win."

"Nonsense."

Ulquiorra moved so fast Kurosaki had no time to react. His great tail wrapped around the boy's neck, and he leapt up to the top of the nearest pillar. Two new reatsus enveloped him: one sweet and soft, and one hard and bright. The woman and the Quincy. But he had eyes for only her.

"You're here, woman," he murmured, casting one small glance down at her. Her gray eyes were wide, glistening and shocked.

"K-Kurosaki…kun?" she whimpered. The sound carried all the way to his sensitive ears, the boy's name scraping like broken glass.

"You're just in time," Ulquiorra said. He raised his finger to Ichigo's chest. "Watch closely. The man you pinned all your hopes on is about to die."

Energy began spiraling around his fingertip. The woman's eyes widened impossibly as she realized what was going to happen.

"NO!" she screamed.

But it was too late.

And then, suddenly, it wasn't. Ulquiorra felt something rip through his tail, and Kurosaki fell from his grip. His Cero fired, but Kurosaki was not there to receive the attack. And in fact, when the smoke cleared, Kurosaki was not there at all. Ulquiorra's eyes swept around the dome, and he saw Kurosaki lying still at the bottom of the pillar. He prepared to jump down, but held back when he saw a figure appear in front of the woman.

"Anónimo-chan?" Inoue said in shock, recognizing the figure. And now that she said it, Ulquiorra recognized the girl too. But there was something wrong with the shy, kindhearted Arrancar girl from before. She stood tall, shoulders back, in an intimidating stance. And her white uniform was stained red. And her eyes were empty.

"What happened to you?" Inoue asks.

"I was following Barragan-sama's orders. Just as I do now." Her voice is dead. Robotically, she reached up and attempted to wipe blood from her cheek, but she only succeeded in smearing it further. Her hand descended, and her empty eyes moved to stare at her bloody fingers. "So curious," she murmured, "how the dead can bleed…It's funny. It's been so long since I've seen blood. I forgot how red it was. Its scent –"

Inoue grabbed her wrist, pulling it down, and forcing the Arrancar to look at her. "Anó-chan. What's going on? That's not like you." she snapped. Her voice shook.

"'Anó-chan'? Inoue-san, what's going on?" the Quincy asked from behind her. His face was guarded, and his voice growled, "Who is she? What do you mean '-chan'?"

"Something is going on here," Ulquiorra murmured to himself. "Something is very wrong."

"Vanish, Recuerdos Perdidos."

Ulquiorra stared, a bit surprised as he saw Anónimo's released state for the first time. Her attire did not change at all, but instead of behind held, her zanpakuto had now become a bracelet, the blade extending from the underside of her wrist. Her circlet mask fragment had expanded, a single light blue jewel resting in the center of it. But the most noticeable - and disturbing - part of her release were the two tentacles that hung from the sides of her head, almost like two thick pigtails. They moved slowly and hypnotically, unnaturally pale and with almost translucent suction cups at their ends. Ulquiorra opened his mouth to say something when they suddenly lash outward, knocking the Onna flat on her back.

"Inoue-san!" the Quincy shouted from behind her, sprinting to catch her before she fell. Ulquiorra turned his attention away from the two and watched from above as Anónimo's tentacle-growths slithered toward the unconscious boy lying forgotten at the base of the pillar. The boy woke up with a scream, hands shooting up to claw at the tentacles suctioned to his head.

The Quincy drew and fired an arrow at Anónimo at lighting speed. She easily deflected it away. "What are you doing?" he demanded angrily, drawing and loading another arrow.

Anónimo ignored him.

The Onna's voice sounds strangled. "Ano…chan?" she choked out, unable to rip her eyes from the writhing boy on the ground.

"Forget your mission. Forget her. Forget your reason, your logic. Forget it all, and unleash the instinctive beast within you," Anónimo murmured, her ice blue reiatsu flaring around her. She took a step for the boy and reached for his face with one glowing hand, her tentacles still firmly attached to his head. Kurosaki's eyes were wide in confusion and animalistic fear as he weakly glared up at her. His irises were fluctuating between chocolate brown and a cold gold color.

"What…the hell…are you doing to me?" he coughed out before letting loose a howl of agony as her fingertips touch his forehead.

The Onna leapt out of the Quincy's arms and to her feet. "Anónimo-chan, onegai, stop!" Breaking into a run, she reached out to the vacant Arrancar, but before she can reach her, another burst of reiatsu sends her tumbling to the ground., followed by an unearthly wail. Ulquiorra's eyes were glued, unmoving, to the scene.

And then Kurosaki was on his feet again.

But it wasn't Kurosaki.

The beast that had risen was no longer a human. Nor was it a Shinigami, though it did have some tatters of the uniform Kurosaki had been clad in around its waist. No, the form resembled a Vasto Lorde more than anything else, with a white body with black designs drawn on, red furry cuffs, and a mask that encased its entire face. Its eyes were empty.

"…What?" whispered the woman.

Ulquiorra could only stare. "This…can't be," he murmured. "You can't be alive. What is that form? Who are you?"

The beast did not answer. Instead, he held out one taloned hand, and Kurosaki's sword flew into it. Anónimo's eyes narrowed, and she hissed, "Kill him. Serve me."

Ulquiorra ignored her. "Can't you hear me?" he asked, "I am asking you who you are."

The beast roared then, an inhuman scream that rattled Ulquiorra's eardrums. Ulquiorra lifted a hand.

"It seems…you can't understand what I'm saying," he said lowly. A Cero began to form at his fingertips, and he was opening his mouth to utter the command when the beast lowered its head. Between its horns, a red ball of energy began to form. And at the same time, they fired their lasers, meeting in the middle in an unholy storm of power.

Inoue and the Quincy were shrieking in the background, but Ulquiorra could only watch in disbelief.

Impossible. That was undoubtedly a Cero blast! One strong enough to quash an Oscura! But that can't be. He looks like a Hollow, but he is a human. And no human can discharge a Cero.

Before he could continue that thought, he sensed someone – something – behind him and whipped around to see it standing there. He thrust out his arm to attack, but the beast grabbed it and tore his arm right from his body. Quickly Ulquiorra flew back, ignoring the pain since he knew it would soon be gone, and landed on the ground, breathing hard.

What…what IS this?

He flung out his stump to the side and a new arm emerged. He flexed his new fingers several times, then turned to explain to the beast. Wondering if he could even hear him, if he could even understand, Ulquiorra said, "My most amazing ability isn't offensive. It's regeneration. We Arrancars sacrifice most of our regenerative abilities in order to enhance our other powers. Only I can regenerate my entire body except for my brain and internal organs at super fast speed. I don't know why you took that form. But no matter how your attacks have been boosted, if you have to tear off one of my arms to stop me and assess the situation, there's no way you can defeat me."

He took his arms and formed his fingers in a triangle before his chest, drawing them away slowly. A light shone out from his fingertips, revealing a long, white-green weapon with dancing flames at the end.

"Lanza del Relámpago," he murmured. The beast was still, standing impassively in the air, and Ulquiorra glanced up at it. "Don't come near me," he warned. "Stay where you are. I don't want to have to fire this at close range."

He drew back his arm and then threw the lance at the beast with a graceful arc. The bolt spun through the air, right for the beast's head, but he moved slightly out of the way.

The bolt spun past and landed in a spot fifteen football fields away. The explosion it made when it hit was tremendously violent, nonetheless.

Ulquiorra looked at the explosion, a sliver of regret on his face. "Damn, I missed," he observed. "It's difficult to handle."

On the sidelines, Anónimo watched expressionlessly.

Another weapon formed in his hand, and he heard the Quincy make a comment that he did not care about. Suddenly, with no warning, he sensed the beast right behind him.

"What?" He slipped right through my Pesquisa? That wasn't Shunpo. That was Sonido.

The beast chucked Ulquiorra's arm at him, and he batted it aside in disgust.

"Did you think that would make me hesitate? Don't make me laugh," he chided. He thrust the new lance straight towards the beasts throat, but he held out his palm and –

- stopped it.

What? With his bare hand?!

Slowly the beast's hand closed around the weapon, and his fingers squeezed tightly until the spear of light shattered into a million pieces. Before Ulquiorra could react, Kurosaki's sword was brought abruptly up and sliced his body in half.

In slow motion, Ulquiorra's body toppled to the ground. He stared up at the beast in surprise and disbelief.

"Damn it," he murmured. "I can't believe…I lost to a human turned Hollow. How…comical."

His breath was coming shorter now. Suddenly the beast's white, taloned foot slammed on top of Ulquiorra, and he bent over so that his horns were pointing at the Espada. Red energy began to form and swirl around him, and Ulquiorra closed his eyes for a moment.

"I see," he said. "No mercy, eh? How very Hollow-like." He opened his eyes again. "Go ahead. My life has no meaning now that I've lost to you."

The circle grew.

"Do it."

His world exploded.

Dimly he realizes he is awake. But he is seeing as though he is underwater. People, figures around him move slowly, their bodies seeming to ripple across the night air. Stones poke his back, but he can barely feel them. The night stretches on, and then moon shines down in streaks, like the sun beneath the surface of the ocean.

One person stands clear to his eyes; a woman in a green dress that floats around her like onion skin. She bears dark hair that is braided over one shoulder and she has wide, furious green eyes. Large bat wings extend behind her back, blocking the screams of the real world.

"I am disappointed," she says to him.

He blinks up at her, his eyes opening and closing slowly. But he speaks not a word. His lips feel glued together.

"You have lost sight of yourself," she says to him, and points. He can see an orange-haired blur, hear her sorrowful wails. "You have lost sight of what this battle is about. You have allowed it to become for Aizen. You have allowed it to feed off of your hatred and your need to kill. You have forgotten what you truly should be fighting for; and that is the woman crying over there."

He feels his heart snap in his chest, as her words hammer into his chest.

"You cannot die," she says. "Not yet."

I cannot move, he wants to say. There is nothing I can do. My life has no meaning. I was killed by an individual that has no place in this world.

"Your life has meaning."

His blurry vision tries to focus on her, but he can not. His eyes move back to the green-clad girl, her face patient but her eyes angry.

Why…?

"You are a damn coward."

He tries to sit up. He cannot, he has no legs, no waist to bend at, no arms to support him.

I…

He feels the nerves in his leg. Trying to push through, trying to grow. Like a sneeze that tickles his nose but doesn't finish, leaving him with a burning sensation he has to fight to get rid of.

I need to…

"He is a monster now," she says, nodding at Kurosaki. "Are you going to be killed by a beast? A mindless animal?"

The individuals freeze, and they come into focus. He stills as he realizes what is about to happen. The beast is bent over the Quincy, Kurosaki's blade buried in the archer's chest. A Cero is frozen between his horns.

"He is an ignorant murderer." Her voice is quiet, and she slinks around the beast, trailing her arms afterwards. "And he," she continues, squeezing the shoulder of the Quincy; "he is an honest boy, hardworking and intelligent. Yet, he is an independent individual. He is going to die at the hands of his friend, his friend who is now a monster."

But he doesn't care about them. His eyes settled on the orange haired woman.

"And she. She is the words that you can't find," his Hollow spirit says. She dances to the human girl, the only true human here. "She is the one you have loved and lost. She is the one that places everything in her friends, the one who holds her companions above even herself. And now she is going to lose three of her best friends. Kurosaki Ichigo, Ishida Uryû, and you. Somewhere in her heart, she considers you a friend, and she has the potential to consider you more. But losing that potential is going to break her heart, snap it in two."

Heart…?

"Yes."

Renewed energy suddenly shocks through him, and the world fasts forward again, and everyone is moving, including him, including Ulquiorra, who was moving through the air so fast he almost had no idea how he had gotten there. A lance was clutched in his hand, and with a mighty swing, he thrust it through the back of the pale, powerful Arrancar female, Anónimo.

He landed unsteadily on one foot, glancing around for Murciélago, but she had gone; back to her realm. He sent a quick note of gratitude for her and turned his attention back to the beast.

The built up Cero exploded before him, and Ulquiorra shielded his eyes. When the light dimmed, he was surprised at what he saw.

The mask cracked from around Kurosaki's face. His eyes were heavy-lidded, unconscious. But alive. The boy fell forward and was still.

He waited for the woman's cry of "Kurosaki-kun!" But none came. He looked over to see her kneeling over the body of the girl, bathed in a subtle blue light. The Quincy laid panting on a rock nearby, Kurosaki's black zanpakuto thrust through his middle.

Ulquiorra stood alone, his mind empty, not really thinking about what the woman was doing. He watched her silently, feeling one skeleton leg and one full leg project an image of faux health, health he knew was just for show, health he knew would not last.

Kurosaki's body suddenly seemed to come alive. His long hair evaporated, along with all the fur and Hollow markings. Even his giant hole Ulquiorra had blown in his chest closed with a loud fwoop.

A normal boy lay there, in black rags, unconscious.

"The hole…closed?" the Quincy asked in disbelief.

"Super high speed regeneration?" Ulquiorra asked out loud, though it was rhetorical.

Kurosaki sat up very abruptly. His eyes opened, straining.

"Am I…?"

He touched his chest, his eyebrows furrowed, struggling to remember.

"Didn't I have a hole in my chest?"

That was when he noticed Ishida, impaled on his blade. He shot to his feet.

"Ishida…!"

"So you're finally yourself again," the Quincy observed with a sad smile of his own.

"That wound. Did I do it?"

"You're tough."

Ulquiorra's voice was strained, rough. Kurosaki turned to him, his eyes narrowing.

"Ulquiorra…" he started in a warning tone, before his expression turned to surprise at seeing his mangled state.

Wordlessly, Ulquiorra sonido'd over to the Quincy and yanked the black zanpakuto from his body, ignoring his cry of pain. He tossed it to Kurosaki, who let it land in the dirt, staring.

"Take it," Ulquiorra commanded hollowly. "Let's finish this."

The fight would end in his death, he knew. But he would prefer it to be at least a tiny bit honorable, instead of…this.

Kurosaki ignored his order. "Was I the one who stabbed Ishida?" he asked.

Ulquiorra formed another lance in his fist. "That is not my concern," he said. Hurry up, boy, before I die.

"Your left arm and leg. Did I cut them off too?"

Ulquiorra only watched him. Kurosaki knew the answer, why should he repeat it?

The boy's eyes narrowed, and his jaw clenched. "If I did, then cut off my left arm and leg," he requested solemnly.

"Kurosaki!" the Quincy protested. Ulquiorra's eyes widened a fraction.

"The guy you were fighting before was me in a Hollowfied and unconscious state," Kurosaki explained. "It wasn't the real me. If we're gonna settle this, it won't be fair unless I'm in the same condition you are!"

"Kurosaki!" the Quincy barked. "Do you understand what you're saying, Kurosaki?"

Ulquiorra stared into the boy's brown eyes, boring into them. Kurosaki met his gaze evenly, daring him.

"Fine," Ulquiorra allowed. "If that's what you want, that's what you'll get."

He began to ready his lance, but felt a strange sensation. Twisting back, he viewed his wings disintegrating into ash. Regret seeped through him.

"Hmph," he said. "I guess this is it."

Kurosaki watched, eyes wide. Ulquiorra turned his attention back to the boy.

"Kill me."

Kurosaki was silent.

"Hurry up!" Ulquiorra barked. "I don't even have the strength to walk anymore. If you don't cut me down now, you'll never get the chance to settle this."

"No."

"What?" Ulquiorra asked.

"I said no!" Kurosaki said. "I…I don't wanna win like this!"

His last words were yelled, cutting the still night air. Ulquiorra was silent. Then, he shook his head.

"To the very end, you never do what I want you to," he mused. Then, he dismissed the useless boy. Not cleaning up his mess. He held nothing but utter contempt for the Shinigami boy, if he was even that.

He stared holes in the woman now, the Onna. She had sat up from Anónimo's body, and the glow was gone. Her eyes held wonder and amazement and regret. Her eyes held love.

A lump was in his throat.

They both sat quietly, each lost in their own thought.

"You really love her, don't you," Grimmjow commented finally.

Ulquiorra cut his eyes at Grimmjow, but didn't say anything. He didn't think Grimmjow was asking because he didn't know the answer.

"I mean, your relationship isn't just making out all over the place," Grimmjow said. "There's emotion involved. You know, like she's the one you'd want to settle down with, if we all survive this crazy war."

Ulquiorra remained silent, but his mind was racing.

"You know, like if we were human, you'd move into her apartment, you'd pray with her, you'd make her breakfast in bed, maybe you'd even have a kid or two," Grimmjow said. "You sure got dealt a fucked up hand, Ulquiorra. It could have been beautiful between you two."

"Are you trying to make me want things I can never have," Ulquiorra snapped. "Don't you know that being with her for the rest of my life is exactly what I want?"

"But in a way, you're lucky," Grimmjow said, ignoring him. "You really found the right person. Someone who you'd pick up their dirty underwear off the floor. Someone who you'd sit on your knees on the floor for an hour to talk to a dead person for. Someone you'd wake up early to cook for. Someone who you'd screw not just for fun, but because you really wanted to start something. You followin' me?"

Ulquiorra bit his tongue and looked away, trying not to imagine it, because it made his heart hurt.

"I mean, I probably won't ever get a chance like that," Grimmjow added.

"Don't say that," Ulquiorra finally said. "You listen to me, Grimmjow Jeagerjaques," he started in his flat voice, "When we get done with this war against the Shinigami that's what's going to happen. Me and Inoue are going to live together and she's going to remember everything, and even if she doesn't it's okay because we'll make lots of new memories. And you are going to live with the woman you loved, and still do, you just don't know it, and we are going to have the greatest life ever and Aizen Sôsuke will be dead and he won't care."

Grimmjow looked thoughtful.

"Is that an offer, Ulquiorra Schiffer?" he asked.

"It's a promise," Ulquiorra said firmly.

Grimmjow rolled to the very edge of the bed and put out one hand. "Shake on it?"

Ulquiorra put out his hand, and the two men clasped hands and shook once.

"Deal?" Grimmjow asked.

"Deal."

That would never happen now.

"Just when I was starting to think…" Ulquiorra began, but stopped. He couldn't finish. The pain in Orihime Inoue's eyes was so much that it almost hurt to look.

"Are you afraid of me, woman?"

She came to life then. Tears poured from her cheeks. Sobbing, she screamed his name and began to run towards him, yanking the black blade from the dirt where it had been tossed before Kurosaki, carrying it blade out before her.

And when she reached him, she buried the blade in his chest, to the shock of the three men watching her.

"You have to remember! Please! Please promise me you won't forget." Orihime pleaded him, hiccupping, her arms wrapped tightly around Ulquiorra's neck, her tears running from her eyes, to her cheeks and down his chest. "I'm sorry! I'm so, so, so sorry! I swear, I won't forget you again! Not now, not ever!" she cried, pulling away from him, just enough so that she can look into his eyes, which widened.

Hope blossomed in his chest.

"You remember me?"

Orihime nodded frantically, sniffling. Her breathing was uneven, heavy. "I do. I do. Wait for me, okay? Wait for me in the Soul Society, promise me, okay?" she whispered, licking her lips and pressing her forehead against his. Her hands cupped the back of his skull, warmth seeping into his thoughts.

"The Soul Society is a big place," he murmured quickly. He could feel his mind leaving this life, feel his consciousness slipping away. He struggled to form words while he could.

Orihime tightens her grip on him, pulling their bodies as close as she possibly can. "I'll find you. No matter how long it takes, I'll find you," she vowed fiercely through her tears, "I won't give up on you, just like how you didn't give up on me." She took a deep breath. "So promise me. That you'll wait."

"I promise."

Orihime smiles weakly, and presses her lips against his own in one last sweet kiss before his ash blew away on the wind.

I promise. And I will never forget my promise to you…

And then all that was left of Ulquiorra Schiffer, Sosuke Aizen's most powerful Fourth Espada, master of Emiko and Daisuke, partner to Murciélago, friend to Grimmjow Jeagerjaques and Tia Halibel, enemy to Ichigo Kurosaki, and lover of Orihime Inoue…was ash on the wind.

What is heart?

Can I see it if I rip open this chest of yours?

If I crush your skull?

Will I find it there?

You humans speak of it so casually.

As if…

…

I see.

So this is it.

This thing in the palm of my hand…

is

h
e
a
r
t.