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CHAPTER 12
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It had only been a day and Orihime found that she couldn't seem to get the night before out of her mind.
Orihime tried not to analyze or dissect it. She feared exploring that strange new part of herself too deeply, she feared doing so for many a different reason. So, for now, she merely wished to enjoy the weird sense of delight it brought her. She was a creature of impulse. Unfortunately, those new impulses came at her much stronger and forcefully than most. They compelled her to be both shy and forward at times, so much so that her mind was left stuttering to catch up to her heart's actions.
Something had certainly changed, if not in both of them then inside her at the very least. After all the trouble he'd gone through to save her life, she couldn't help but appreciate him a little more. It had pushed her past her unease about his coldness, allowing her to surmount her concerns. But she'd also gained new fears, like the fact that she was experiencing strange feelings for a Hollow that only Ichigo Kurosaki should be able to invoke. Ulquiorra had no heart. He was a Hollow. He had no business getting her emotions all tangled up.
It was a hard truth to digest at times. He looked so much like a man, despite his cryptic beauty and handsome features. Sometimes she forgot. She didn't want to believe it mattered to her that he wasn't human, that he was in actuality a beast, a Hollow, a disfigurement of nature. She and Ulquiorra, the both of them were things that, when brought together, were meant to repel one another. Yet he still managed to make her heart ache in a forbidden manner at times, terribly so.
When she felt those internal dilemmas, Orihime would remind herself what she was really there for. She had come to Las Noches to protect her friends, particularly Kurosaki-kun. Her feelings, or non-feelings, for Ulquiorra came secondary.
That morning when she emerged from the bathroom freshly showered and draped in a flimsy robe, Orihime smiled brightly upon meeting with the sight of her warden seated upon her settee, patiently waiting for her with closed eyes.
"Good morning, Ulquiorra!" she called energetically and perched herself on the cushions next to him, her knees tucked securely beneath her. "Where's my breakfast?" she asked curiously after taking note that there was no trolley with the usual teas and cakes there to greet her.
"Get dressed," he ordered, seemingly unable to be bothered to even move from his position.
Orihime observed him in silence. He was earlier than usual. There was no food, no trolley, and no servant there to serve it, either.
"Is something the matter?" She leaned forward slightly, her damp hair slipping over her shoulder at the action.
He didn't answer, but she also knew he disliked repeating himself.
Eyes still closed, Ulquiorra's head turned away slightly.
With cheeks still pink from the heat of her shower and a shallow breath, Orihime stopped short. Was her close proximity bothering him?
Ulquiorra may have sat placidly and allowed her to have her (altogether innocent) kiss the night before, but it seemed even though she made the effort to move on from the incident and resume their usual routine, he still turned away.
Regardless of the aching twinge in her chest, Orihime valued the idea of boundaries and respect too much to push him at the clear signal that he'd had enough of her affection. She had to remind herself at times of the life he'd surely led as a Hollow and how things like sentiments, fondness, and emotion were likely to be totally foreign to him. She was only trying to be friendly with him, to thank him for saving her, no matter that it was his job. She'd have acted the same if it were any of her other friends, right? She would have kissed Ishida-kun's or Sado-kun's cheeks just the same, wouldn't she?
A part of her wanted to believe that's all there was to it, that she hadn't been feeling something else when she'd kissed his cheek, and that he probably just needed time to adjust to the very concept of her approaching him in such a friendly manner.
At least that's what she wanted to believe.
"I'll be ready in just a few minutes." Trying to enliven the mood, she smiled kindly at him and stood from the couch.
What she didn't see was his eyes sliding open and trailing after her as she walked away, carefully tracing the outline of the damp robe glued to her backside.
Internally, she had determined that she could show him what the heart could do along with the power it possessed. It was loving and tender while at once strong and resilient. He'd said that he was waiting for something, that he was searching? As sure as the sun was to rise in the east and set in the west, Orihime knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this elusive thing he sought after was the missing piece of himself, his heart. She knew, from the very depths of her soul, that he needed her help.
It explained all her unusual feelings; why she felt an urgent need to make him understand and befriend him, the peculiar reactions she had around him, and even why they didn't tend to get along at times. She felt too much and he couldn't feel enough. It was as if a veil had been removed from her eyes.
She had been brought there for a reason, a reason besides protecting her friends. That reason was him, she was certain of it. He needed her help. Orihime was more than willing to give it, despite her own confusion regarding the urges that were arising inside herself. But, like the flow of the tides, Orihime could only go where her heart led her. She was as helpless to its whims as she was to his piercing green eyes.
"What are we doing today?" she asked conversely upon exiting the washroom, still adjusting her dress. It was a new day and she was feeling amazingly refreshed after the poisoning incident. Her energy was back and so were her spirits.
Ulquiorra didn't bother answering as he waited for her by the door, gazing into the hall vacantly. His eyes trailed over to her briefly before pushing himself from the wall to head out into the corridor.
Orihime smiled and followed, too used to his silence to feel put off by it.
Wherever it was that he was leading her, it wasn't nearly as far as most of the places he took her, which usually resulted in at least a half an hour of walking. The dome's sun was as brilliant as ever and the sky remained wondrously blue. Taking in a deep, revitalizing breath, Orihime turned to her warden's back. "It's a lovely morning out," she commented.
Ulquiorra remained stubbornly tightlipped and Orihime puckered her lips vexingly, feeling some of her patience waning. As quiet natured as Ulquiorra was, even this was a little ridiculous.
When he led her into a tower she was unfamiliar with, Orihime took a few cautious steps behind him after approaching an access hall where a cacophonous amount of noise was emitted, along with the overpowering scent of food and spices.
Minding herself to trace his steps, Orihime came up short when they entered one of the many doors lining the corridor to find a kitchen full of Arrancar servants bustling about hurriedly. An uncomfortable silence immediately swept through the large space at their entrance as each masked face turned to stare at the pair anxiously.
Orihime bit her lip under such a vast amount of leering eyes while Ulquiorra, unaffected by the ogling stares, stepped forward unperturbed.
Instantly the kitchen cleared. The hustle and pattering of nervous footsteps filled the empty quiet for a few dragging seconds as each serf found their way to one of the remaining exits, none of them daring to approach the Espada or his charge.
"You will prepare your own meals from here on out," he voiced, finally breaking his silence as the last of them vanished. "In light of recent circumstances, permitting you control over your own diet will lessen the chances of such an event repeating itself. You will consider this luxury an extension of Lord Aizen's courtesy and will treat it responsibly," he paused to turn back and observe the girl, only to find she'd somehow already scrounged herself up an apron and a cooking pot, a disturbing look of excitement upon her face. "Do you understand this?" his words trailed off in near disbelief as she grabbed several utensils and moved past him, only to abruptly pause, back track, and bow happily.
"Oh, yes. Thank you, Ulquiorra!" She smiled appreciatively, her voice full of cheer and enthusiasm. "I adore cooking! I'm really good at it, too," she declared animatedly as she set her mind to work deciding what to prepare. "This will be so nice. I can make meals for both of us every day and we can eat together! And Wonderweiss-san and Grimmjow-kun, maybe even Tier-san…have you eaten yet this morning? What's your favorite food, Ulquiorra?"
His eyes considered her, watching detachedly as she set a small pan atop one of the many oversized stoves that stretched from wall to wall. Absently, he wondered how she would react were he to answer, 'corrupt souls'.
Although Arrancar hadn't completely evolved past the need for such things, it was no longer a daily necessity, merely a hobby for some of the darker, more twisted of them. Despite requiring incredible amounts of energy to sustain the form of an Arrancar, let alone one with the strength of an Espada, there were other ways to go about fulfilling those needs rather than mindlessly hunting mortal and Hollow alike. Such actions were for beasts. It was a fate only the strongest of them could escape.
With the reishi of Hueco Mundo long since losing its potency once an Arrancar reached such a high level of strength, physical sustenance proved a plenty viable enough source of nutrition to sustain the residents of Las Noches. The want had long since been rendered obsolete even whilst those such as Yammy devoured the first human soul they stumbled upon simply for the sheer sake of exploiting their power, and perhaps the taste.
Ulquiorra could never recall feeling the want or the need. There was nothing in his memories before his time as a Vasto Lorde, although he was certain he'd been just as much of a disgusting cretin as the rest of them. Even so, that day…the day he was born in that filthy pit, he had been rendered incapable of devouring his fellow Hollows, no matter the endless void of hunger in his being. His mask had covered everything. Like a thin shell coating his body, it had stripped him of the verity of senses and rendered him a pure, blank slate of nothingness. Nothing, that is, but his eyes: his only conduit to the world. He could not eat, he could not smell, taste, feel, hear…even if he had wanted to. Because he had never experienced them, he knew not what they were.
Everything that appeared before his eyes held no meaning because it tendered no purpose; the sand beneath his feet that he could not feel, the clouds and moon above he could not reach, the breeze that he could see dancing and swirling across sand banks but could never experience its caress. Even the penetration of his white talons gouging deeply into the innards of those who crossed his path, he could not feel the slimy moisture of their blood upon his hands nor suffer the sensation of their organs twisting around his fingers. There was no feel to them, no smell, no sound, no reality…nothing. All of it served no function to his being.
Until that extraordinary thing…
Heavily, his eyes fell closed in memory.
He'd dreamt of that place every night since.
Distantly, he felt the press of warmth against his arm. Ulquiorra frowned. That woman, she was getting close to him again; touching him, blinking up at him, smiling at him. Tempting him, when he wasn't allowed to take the fruit she was so innocently offering. He didn't have time to be distracted by her incessant displays of affection, nor was he in the mood for it. Patros needed to be dealt with soon and her ceaseless efforts at familiarizing herself with him were wearing his patience thin.
"You looked so…distant." She was beside him, pulling him from his thoughts. "I…I don't like it when Ulquiorra looks like that," she said softly.
He took in her large eyes staring up at him, her voice laced with concern.
"Do not concern yourself, woman. Finish your work, there is much to be done today."
Taking the queue, she moved on without pressing it further.
"What do you have planned for the day?" she asked distractedly as she resumed her cooking. "Whatever it is, I'm glad to finally spend some time outside my room. I haven't gotten to see much of anything lately…well, I was unconscious for a whole week," she chattered. Her hand absentmindedly stirred one of the many concoctions she had prepared whilst engrossing herself with her aimless thoughts. "Lord Aizen did mention that I will be escorting you on several errands, I wonder what kind of things I'll get to see…"
Ulquiorra tuned her out as his mind breached more pressing topics. No matter Aizen's orders and no matter the woman's abrupt and wearisome desire to insert herself in everything he did, there were some places his duties took him that he simply could not involve her with. It was not worth the risk to compromise her wellbeing. The poisoning incident had already proven just how frail and delicate she was.
With Patros's involvement and considering the man was still at large, her safety remained at stake.
It had been Loly and Menoly who approached the insurgent in an effort to assassinate Orihime Inoue. It was easily assumed the rebel would have made a move on the woman's life sooner or later, with or without the aid of Aizen's fraccion. Ulquiorra suspected their proposal had propelled Patros's plans into early action and opened a much needed window to further his schemes. They had provided him with the information he needed, bartered in exchange for his services.
Given the infatuation the two female fraccion had for Aizen, it was plain to see that it had also been Patros who'd set off the array of explosives in an effort to not only kill the woman, but Aizen himself. Considering Loly's particular obsession for her master, she would never attempt such a bungled attack upon the very source of her passion.
It had certainly been a blunder.
Only someone as imprudent as Patros would try something as injudicious as to attack the likes of Aizen Sosuke in such a blatantly futile and shortsighted manner. It had been brash, indiscreet and overall foolish. His mutinous endeavors would have to be put to a halt. Dealing with the unintelligent radicals would not be an issue. Just as well, luring them out into the open, setting traps for them, and apprehending them - all of this would lack difficulty.
However, keeping the woman out of harm's way until they could be disposed of would be an entirely different matter, particularly given her penchant for disobeying his orders and wandering the palace.
Even more pressing, perchance the female fraccion, Loly, had been so desperate as to divulge the current location of the Hogyoku to Patros and his men, there could be more trouble brewing in the shadows than Ulquiorra had originally anticipated. It was feasible. After all, with the all consuming hatred that had pushed the female Arrancar into committing treason, her desperation had known no bounds. She would have likely given Patros anything in order to be rid of the girl, including the clandestine whereabouts of the powerful jewel.
Indeed, Patros and his followers needed to be drawn out. But, like cockroaches, they only scuttled around in the dark, daring not to draw attention to themselves.
His eyes suddenly shifted to the woman standing near the counter, chattering on about something or another with words that had not once registered in his pensive, preoccupied mind.
If Patros still failed to realize the woman had been brought to Las Noches on the pretense that she was meant to reject the damage done to the jewel, rather than the war postponement tool that she truly was, he would nonetheless desire her slain before she could heal it. Worst case scenario, he would try to take both the woman and the Hogyoku in the event he wanted the orb properly restored.
Ulquiorra shifted his gaze, watching as she moved her plate to the massive granite island between them and sat to eat her breakfast.
Using her to lure out Patros' forces and bring his intentions to light would be the easiest and most sensible method to approach the hindrance. It was the best course of action.
He ignored Orihime's stuttering and stammering as he stepped forward and wordlessly interrupted her meal before she could take her first bite. Without hesitation, he made sure to appropriately test the small banquet she had set out before her. Her large eyes stalked his every action intently, as if seeing him eat something she cooked was the most amazing thing in the world, only to blush madly when she realized he'd eaten off her cutlery and drank from her glass.
"W-well, what do you think of my cooking?" She lowered her stare briefly as a shy overcast permeated her features, afraid that he may think it was awful. Everyone else seemed to hate her cooking.
"There is no poison," he remarked as he turned from her to wait by the exit. "Finish your food quickly. We have a schedule to keep."
A little gasp escaped her throat and he halted momentarily to glance back at her. The timid blush on her face had seemingly vanished and was replaced with a strange and somewhat annoyed glare.
"That's why you…?" she trailed off, almost appearing hurt.
Ulquiorra's eyes remained locked on hers and kept his silence, not understanding her ire.
"I already told you, I don't want that!" She abruptly stood, slamming down her fork and meeting his hard stare equally. "My life is no more important than yours, I don't want others to put me before themselves," she stated fervently, her fist pressing itself firmly to her chest to further enunciate her words.
"Your wishes are irrelevant, your health and safety are the only things of consequence."
"You're wrong!" Orihime exclaimed. "Your life is just as important as mine!" she insisted.
Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed as he attempted to process her illogical words. Had he not been the one to bring her here, mercilessly trap her, deceive her, and lock her away in a world that was not her own? Had she not been willing to hate him several months ago? Now she stood before him professing her belief that his life was equal to her own?
The woman who preached of her heart and her love, who had kissed his cheek and responded to his touch while loving another man, now claimed his life meant something to her…
She made less and less sense the longer he was forced to remain in her company.
"Fine," he conceded and Orihime nearly flinched back, taken off guard by his easy surrender. "If that is what you desire, you may take your argument up with Lord Aizen in the future," he suggested blankly, already knowing that Aizen would not be swayed from his decision. However, Ulquiorra knew the words would serve to pacify the woman and keep her appeased enough to snuff out her constant quarrels. "Until then, you will cease any further arguments on the matter, is this agreed?"
Orihime blinked, her eyebrows lifting lightly in pleasant surprise.
Ulquiorra was offering her a proposal, rather than an order?
Happily, she nodded her head in accord. "Agreed," she smiled.
He remained in place, observing her for an extended period of time even as she hurriedly went about finishing her breakfast in order to make their schedule. One would expect being captured and forced into imprisonment by dark, bloodthirsty creatures born from the lowest bowls of lost human souls would teach a person to be cautious and untrusting.
Orihime Inoue seemed to have only expanded her blanket of friendship subsequent to being exposed to such events. She proved just as easy to manipulate now as she had been then, if not more so.
It was rare that Ulquiorra crossed paths with things he didn't understand in the basic sense. Humans, Hollows, and Shinigami each followed very deliberate, predisposed patterns. The girl broke out of those patterns repeatedly, straying from the configuration to go about her own whims and in doing so broke his concept of the world. She had become an anomaly that he could not find a place for within the equation.
It was annoying.
Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed darkly as he watched her, calculating and measuring his thoughts. She was irregular and abnormal, indeed.
What would Ichigo Kurosaki think of him taking her? How would he react?
She'd once claimed her beloved Kurosaki-kun would never entertain the thought of killing in her name…
Ulquiorra wondered how quickly that may change were he to fu-
He blinked back to awareness when he suddenly noticed she was standing beside him, having easily approached him and slipped past his defenses. She was succeeding in doing that more and more as of late.
"I'm ready, Ulquiorra!" she informed energetically as she moved to the door, completely missing the depth of his gaze.
His stare followed her intently. He regarded the cheerful confidence of her stride, the delicate movement of her arms and the prominent swing of her hips that seemed incapable of being doused, even during her stiffest of moments.
A brief notion passed through his thoughts as he pondered just how much seducing and persuasion would have to be poured over her before she'd let him have his way with her. He suspected it wouldn't be much, but then again she never did as expected. With her fascinating heart and unabating efforts to get close to him, he couldn't help but wonder. Even if she did belong to Aizen, and her heart yearned for another man, Ulquiorra had no qualms about…
He was getting off track. And Aizen had already laid down the law in that regard. He wasn't fool enough to tread into that territory, no matter her guileless and often unwitting behavior around him, responding to his presence in ways she, herself, clearly didn't even understand.
In any case, her incessant chattering as they moved through the halls served to halt any thoughts he had on the matter. Her good mood was seemingly unrelenting even when he completely refused to reply or offer her little more than muted grunts and noncommittal noises to mollify her.
Upon coming up beside him, his eyes shifted to her when she gently touched his arm to animatedly relay a wholly uninteresting story.
Ulquiorra's cold resolve stamped down the desire curling in his gut.
Young, naïve, and disgustingly innocent, she could be so very, very easy…
"It feels as if the weather has been getting warmer lately," Orihime conversed as they entered a new hall that she hadn't seen before. "Usually it's a bit too chilly for me, but just last night it was so hot I had to remove a few blankets before bed," she informed as if it were something he should care about. "Isn't Hueco Mundo supposed to be cold?"
"Yes," he answered ambiguously and Orihime quirked her lips.
Was he even listening to her?
'Does Ulquiorra like bunnies?'
'Yes.'
Orihime nearly giggled at the thought of asking him such a question. She entertained the idea of trying it, just to test him. No doubt, he'd reply in that droning, toned-out voice, 'yes'.
And then he'd glare at her.
Hm, perhaps she shouldn't.
"Szayel-san once told me that due to the arid conditions of Hueco Mundo, it can cause dust storms like the one that hasn't stopped since I arrived." Not thwarted by his silence, she leaned forward a bit to see if he was paying attention. "He also said if they rage on long enough, the friction and electricity in the air can cause temporary heat waves. Do you think that's why it's been so pleasant and balmy?" She smiled encouragingly, as if it would prompt him to agree.
His head lifted slightly as they walked, casting her a short glance over his shoulder. When he stopped without warning, Orihime came up beside him.
"There is no point in hiding if you insist on following her," he announced and shifted his feet enough to get a good view of the hall behind them, taking her off guard for only a moment before it dawned on her what he was insinuating.
"We're being followed?" Orihime inquired rather curiously as she, too, turned to see whom it could be.
Not a moment later, a loud, annoyed sigh erupted from one of the side halls they had already passed. From the shadows of the flanking corridor, the tall, shirtless figure of Nnoitra stepped into the light.
"Nnoitra-kun?" Orihime blinked, then abruptly blushed and averted her gaze shyly at his unabashed state of undress.
"Ya know, tailing your ass would've been a helluva lot easier had it not been for these annoying tagalongs," he complained with a bored expression and lifted a hand from his pocket to jab his thumb towards the shadows behind him, where two more sets of eyes were watching them.
"Wonderweiss-san?" Orihime called as light was shed upon the familiar soft violet eyes and ginger freckles. "I'm so happy to see you again!" Gladly, she smiled and didn't make it one step forward before the young boy rushed her and buried himself in her breasts.
With a loud contented sigh, the flaxen haired youth sank into her further and raised his eyes just enough to take in her smiling face. She couldn't have known how depressed he'd been when she was ill with poison. "Ori…Orihime…"
"My name!" Orihime gasped, pressing her palms into the boy's cheeks deeply as she lifted his head to gaze at him proudly. "You said my name!" she praised with stars in her eyes. "Did you hear that? He said my name!" she declared as she turned to her jailer. "Isn't that great?"
"'Morning to you too, pet-sama," Nnoitra greeted with a broad grin, his posture leisurely relaxed as he rested a hand against the wall beside her. "What do I have to do to get a greeting like that?" he snickered as he leaned over her.
"N-Nnoitra-kun." Orihime's blush returned in full force. "Wha…what happened to your clothes?" she coughed nervously, attempting to keep her eyes on the floor. Though his pants were in an awful state, strangely enough he didn't seem nearly as intimidating without that insanely large collar on his jacket.
"My apologies, Lady Inoue," came a voice from behind them as another figure partially stepped out from the corridor. "It would seem Master Nnoitra has been participating in more battles than our tailor can keep up with, he ruined his last uniform just this morning."
"Excuse me?" Orihime crooked an eyebrow as she took in the stranger's appearance. She couldn't place a name to the face, neither could she recall seeing the man before. Looking at his honey blonde hair and tender brown eye, Orihime felt her blush deepen just ever so slightly. With such young features and a handsome face, there was something about him that reminded her of a softer Kurosaki-kun, albeit in a subtle way. Wearing brooding lips and distant eyes, there were nostalgic similarities. However, the eye patch and distinctly General-type uniform seemed to diminish those similarities greatly.
"Pardon me, My Lady," he began with a perfect military bow. "I am Master Nnoitra's fraccion, Tesla Lindocruz. It is a pleasure to meet you."
Eager to meet a new friend, Orihime began to respond to his politeness when Nnoitra's irritated voice interrupted her with severity.
"Did I tell you to speak, Tesla?" Nnoitra scolded him mercilessly, turning a disdainful eye to the young man. "How many times have I ordered you to stop following me around?"
Orihime flinched back at the pure hostility in his words.
"Of course, please forgive me, Master Nnoitra," Tesla submitted easily, not an ounce of hurt or fear showing on his person.
Orihime looked back and forth between the two, slightly confused. How could he treat this man so terribly? Then again, Nnoitra treated everybody like scum.
"If it weren't for your sorry ass dragging along behind me all the fucking time, I wouldn't have half as many troubles to deal with." Amongst his little tantrum, Nnoitra shoved his hand deep into his pocket as he leaned back against the wall lazily. "And that screwball," he began, staring pointedly at the young boy whose face was still buried in her ample chest. "Brat wouldn't leave us the fuck alone. He just kept following you around like a fucking stalker and prancing all over the place like a fruitcake," he sneered.
"You shouldn't talk about your friends like that." Orihime frowned a bit, her brows crinkling in pity for his blonde fraccion. She also didn't take too kindly to him calling Wonderweiss a fruitcake. There would have been a time that she would have nearly fainted at the terrible words that came out of his mouth when he talked about those around him, particularly those who were supposed to be his friends. Even now, hearing his defiling vocabulary set her on unease, but she tried to remember they were nothing more than words and so long as he never acted on them, she could bear listening to all his disgusting language and maltreatment of those around him. At least so long as violence wasn't involved. It had taken a while, but she was slowly realizing just how much Hueco Mundo and the social structure of the creatures that survived there were nothing like anything from the mortal realm. It would be unfair of her to expect them to act as such.
Still, it didn't mean she wouldn't try to introduce some manners…
"Friends?" Nnoitra scoffed and tilted his head closer to her. "And just who said that useless, no good waste of air was my friend?" he asked darkly, offended by her suggestion.
"He watches out for you, does he not?" she countered sagely, the corners of her eyes crinkling just a tad as a small smile worked itself across her lips. She refused to feed into his darkness, not like last time. "I'm sure he takes care of you when you're wounded and he's probably got your back in every battle!" Orihime added exuberantly and took a quick peek at the blonde man who was still standing beside the corridor. His lone brown eye watched her blankly, but a tinge of something akin to surprise and admiration flittered along the edges of his features. When she smiled at him, he simply looked down, not willing to impede on the conversation and anger his master any further.
"More like gets in the way," Nnoitra remarked. "He's worthless as shit most of the time…I can't even follow you guys around without a bunch of freaks messing everything up. Besides…" he trailed off momentarily and she noticed how his lone eye slowly shifted to the quiet male standing several feet ahead of them in the hall. "Just exactly what are you guys doing way out here, anyways?" His grin was near conspiratorial.
Orihime turned on Ulquiorra curiously. She really hadn't a clue where they were going now that she thought about it.
"So far away from the main dome, now what could Lord Aizen possibly have you doing all the way out here, Ulquiorra…and with pet-sama, no less," he drawled with teasing sarcasm.
"What I do with the woman is none of your business," he replied.
"Hm, maybe," Nnoitra smirked. "But she's not why you're out here, now is she?"
Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed faintly, gauging his meaning.
"You couldn't possibly be out here for that bunch of losers, could you?" Nnoitra nodded his head upwards to some unknown spot above them.
Orihime lifted her head, twisting on the spot to take a gander at the place he'd gestured towards. With a crinkled brow, she took in the silhouette of three figures standing atop one of the many large pillars lining the cathedral-like hall they all stood in.
"I'm sure you wouldn't want anyone to find out about this, would you?" Nnoitra began with a taunting chuckle, knowing he had Ulquiorra in a semi-compromising position. "After all, Lord Aizen forbids us from associating with them…"
Ulquiorra closed his eyes, an expression that Orihime had been slowly coming to learn was something akin to a distant sigh. "They got themselves exiled. As far as I'm concerned, they are the only ones prohibited from socializing, not the other way around."
"Keh, same difference," Nnoitra scoffed and stared off down the opposite hall, absentmindedly scratching the back of his neck. "Not that you socialize much, anyways…" he added nonchalantly. "You know he'll skin that hide of yours right off your back when he finds out."
"His cameras do not reach so far outside the compound, only Szayelaporro's devices monitor beyond the towers," Ulquiorra informed flatly and Orihime suddenly looked at him with a searching glint in her eyes.
There were cameras around Las Noches? Were there also cameras in her room, too? She shivered slightly at the thought. Did she have no privacy? Just who exactly watched those cameras?
"If you truly wish to create such hindrance, I have no quarrel in ripping out your tongue to silence whatever thoughts you intend on voicing to Lord Aizen." The dead calm of his voice hung in the air around them like smog as he lifted his gaze slightly, staring the taller man down from the corner of his eye. Nnoitra only chuckled.
"Who said anything about snitching?" He grinned wickedly. "I'm no whistleblower. Hell, I'm all for breaking the rules now and then. But don't pretend Ichimaru doesn't watch those cameras habitually like it's his fucking hobby," he said almost warningly.
"Um, Ulquiorra," Orihime chewed her lip nervously as she detangled herself from Wonderweiss and took a step towards him. "Who…who are those people?"
Her large brown eyes blinked against the bright backdrop of the ceiling and lifted a hand against her forehead in effort to somehow shade her eyes from the glare. Probably feeling more inquisitive than she should be, Orihime moved out from behind her warden just enough to get a better glance at the three looming figures standing motionlessly above them like statues.
Abruptly, a strangled, high pitched squeal sounded out from overhead as one of the figures came to life. It bent forward, almost spasmodically, as if seeing her for the first time since arriving. Then, like the blare of an annoying siren, an unusually accented voice shouted out above the silence.
"Hermoso!"
Orihime froze in shock and something akin to terror when, with all the grace of a newborn giraffe, the figure launched itself from the platform of the towering pillar, jumping from the edge with arms outstretched and palms slapped together as if it were diving into a pool of water. But there was no water waiting at the bottom, only her. And concrete.
Orihime shrieked, holding her hands up and clenching her eyes shut to brace for the impact of such a high jump.
Something heavy crashed into her and her heart raced in anticipation, expecting an agonizing accident. A pair of arms wrapped around her waist as, quite shockingly, the only force of collision she felt remained localized against her chest in a much less painful manner than it should have been.
Whatever that something was, it dropped its weight fully atop her, causing her to fall backwards and land with a panicky squeal. Orihime stiffened at the full-body contact. Almost afraid to look, she peeked an eye open and paled considerably at the sight of some strange man's face completely buried between her breasts.
Beside her, Wonderweiss's large eyes took in the scene before him as if time itself had stopped. His fingers twitched and his lashes continued to slowly widen in utter horror at witnessing the unknown man taking up residence in his sacred place of warmth.
"Hermosooo…" the stranger continued to chant in muffled mantras, seemingly paying homage to some deity.
After about one millisecond of blushing and computing, Orihime finally found her vocal cords and screamed wildly.
Wonderweiss was already upon them, his face distorted in rage as he grabbed the back of the man's head and tried to pry him away, but shockingly to no avail. He paused in puzzlement. It was as if the man were stuck. At such a realization, panic bubbled frantically inside the young boy's mind, distraught by the idea of the man remaining there for the rest of eternity.
Wasting no time, he planted both feet firmly on the floor and dug his fingers into the man's scalp with one hand while jamming his other into Orihime's face for leverage. With a garbled cry of protest from the girl, Wonderweiss proceeded to heave and haul at the offender's head, desperately trying to dislodge him with all his might.
"Off! Off!" Wonderweiss repeated, his voice wavering between increasing fury and dismay.
Above her, the man's rear end flailed in odd manners as he squealed and whined against the pain of having his hair pulled so hard.
"Why you trying to remove me, niño?" he bleated. "The likes of such perfect breasts I have never before seen! I owe them my life for such a fall would surely have killed me!" Heavily accented, the muted voice spoke from her chest with much praise. "Such an impact, perhaps I have become permanently bonded!"
Orihime's wide, troubled eyes doubled in size as she let out another scream and curled her fingers into her palms, trying to pull every inch of her body away from him. "Wonderweiss-san!" she shrieked. "Hurry! Please, hurry! EEK! I think I felt his tongue!" All the while, the boy continued his efforts valiantly.
"What…the fuck?" Nnoitra drawled in disgust as he watched the spectacle play out before him. With the strange man making all sorts of weird 'oohoo~' and 'ohoho~' noises, his moody frown only deepened into a grimace.
"Lady…Inoue…?" Tesla uttered worriedly. He took a hesitant step forward and raised an unsure hand, debating with himself whether or not to help.
"What the hell, you gross bastard?!" A young woman suddenly appeared behind him with an angry scowl. Her foot was already lifted, aimed precariously at his rump. "Dordoni! Get…off!" she shouted and, with perfect precision, jammed the long stiletto of her boot straight into his backside just as she enunciated the word.
A girly shrill of agony erupted from the man atop her, but he only burrowed deeper, the woman's efforts having obviously failed.
"Ulquiorra! Nnoitra-kun!" Orihime searched for them, her large eyes pleading for mercy.
With an annoyed sigh, Nnoitra stepped forward and glared down on the cacophonous scene with revulsion. Wonderweiss had resorted to straddling the man's back, wildly pulling at his hair while simultaneously chewing on his head. The weirdo was still 'stuck' between her breasts, motorboating them like crazy, and the unknown woman was still standing behind him, her heel apparently having gotten stuck in a rather unsavory place. All the while, the girl lay on her back, shrieking her head off and reaching out to him like he was her one and only savior.
How pathetic.
Still…those were pet-sama's tits. Nobody should be messing with them but him.
Reaching his arm down into the disastrous mess, Nnoitra wrapped his large hand around the man's head harshly, making sure to add enough pressure to nearly splinter bone. "Get the fuck off her!" he growled out. Easily, he pulled the parasite away from her and lurched him into the nearest wall. The floor shook with his violence as debris sprayed into the air, causing Orihime to cover her mouth and cough the offending material from her lungs. "No wonder you freaks were kicked out of the Espada." He spat aversely on the floor for emphasis, unconcerned for the dust coating his bare flesh. "Fuckin' nut jobs…" he muttered under his breath.
Just when Nnoitra was about to step away from the revolting pile of debris, strange noises began erupting from the swirling cloud of dust.
Orihime yelped when a shadow suddenly sprung to life, using the cloud like a theatrical entry curtain. Weird and awkward movements, nothing quite like she'd seen before, twisted and gyrated the silhouette's hips and buttocks as it moaned and hummed to the swinging of its arms.
"Dordoni, that's enough already," the young woman sighed in a voice that was bored and slightly annoyed. Her long, dark pigtails shifted and bounced against her cheeks as she turned her head from the sight. "Nobody wants to see that shit anymore," she drawled irately.
"Bastard actually survived that?" Nnoitra snorted arrogantly. "What a damn shame." His chuckle darkened significantly as he eyed the still gyrating shadow. His stance shifted slightly when the soot slowly ebbed away to reveal the tasseled man posturing himself in a ridiculous pose.
"Master Nnoitra, look out!" Tesla shouted, moving forward to shield his master when he sensed the impending attack.
Nnoitra's face twisted into a vicious sneer as he backhanded his insolent fraccion into the wall, simultaneously using his other arm to block Dordoni's fist.
Dark blue eyes met Nnoitra's lone one in a moment of sober appraisal of each other. The air was still bristling with tension as Dordoni's tassels swayed to a slow stop, both men sizing up their respective opponent.
With dark, wavy Latin hair and an appearance to match, Nnoitra assumed Dordoni to be as worthless as his personality had thus shown him to be.
"So you still remember how to fight, huh?" Nnoitra's grin spread dangerously. "I figured being exiled out here for so long would've made an obsolete flake like you rather rusty."
"I'm sure I can remember just enough to defeat you, hombre," Dordoni responded, equally calm. "Tell me, does that rule still exist? The one that states if you defeat an Espada, you can take his place?" he asked resolutely.
"Of course." Nnoitra's teeth gleamed happily at the sound of the challenge in Dordoni's voice, eagerly rising to take the bait he set out. "That is…if you can beat one."
"Then I will kill you, and take your place at Aizen-dono's table!"
Not a second was wasted after his decree as both men moved to attack. Orihime instantly threw up her shield, spreading it around herself and Wonderweiss as a massive reiatsu burst exploded throughout the corridor.
Gantenbainne Mosqueda watched the ensuing fight from his perch atop the pillar with crossed arms and an expression schooled to perfection.
They had not invited the Espada there and neither did they have the right to invade their domain. Just as each Espada was forbidden from trespassing into each other's towers, the same principle was applied to the Privaron. The Espada's presence was not by request, but it was not entirely unwelcome, either.
They would take the moment and capitalize upon it. It was an opportunity that could not be passed up. They'd kill them all and earn their ranks back.
There were three of them, with Dordoni, Cirucci, and himself against five of them. However, only two of those five were Espada level. The blonde boy, along with the fraccion watching from the sidelines, could be easily defeated. They were Privaron, they had once been Espada, Numeros should pose no threat to them. Perhaps if they put their strength together they could match en par with their current Espada foes. That is, if the winds just happened to be in their favor today.
However…it was that smaller one, the one who'd hardly said a word since they'd arrived, that was troubling him. The others, he was certain the Privarons had a chance of defeating. Gantenbainne couldn't read him, not the pale one, and it set his mind reeling with distrust as to why they were even there in the first place.
His eyes fell on the girl that didn't quite fit into any of the equation, the one who'd clung to his side during most of their excursion. Gantenbainne and the rest had been spying on them the moment they set foot in their domain. It had been the pale one she'd come with, she hadn't followed later like the others had, thus it gave him that much more reason to be wary of her. She was human, he could sense it, but she could withstand the current spiritual pressure being released by both Nnoitra and Dordoni at the moment. How could that be possible?
Another explosion rocked through the complex and the girl spread that strange shield of hers further out to protect Cirucci. The Privaron female merely glanced at her and hissed maliciously, causing the human to wince back. She didn't recoil or try to fight back, but simply looked away and went on watching the battle.
She couldn't be normal.
Being exiled way out to the furthest reaches of Las Noches, the very fringes where the desert met the fortress, they did not hear much news from the castle. They did not have fraccion anymore, nor did anyone bother to visit them. All were prohibited from contact with the shunned Privaron and most did not dare defy Aizen's orders for risk of the punishment. Gantenbainne had no idea who the human was or why she was there. Hueco Mundo was no place for humans.
Which also begged the question, what were they doing here?
It set him on edge when his brown eyes suddenly noticed the singular figure that actually had him concerned had seemingly vanished. His gaze continued to scan the area below, seeking out the enemy, only to frown and stiffen when he could not find nor sense the thin, pale man.
"You should not let your guard down so easily…Privaron."
Gantenbainne quickly went rigid at hearing the cold voice behind him.
"And Espada should not be wandering out here in such dangerous territory," Gantenbainne countered calmly, trying not to show his surprise.
"Dangerous?" The flat monotone of that question almost hinted at mockery, but with such a lack of inflection he could not determine the true measure behind his words.
A strange chill hastily crawled across the back of his neck. He could quite literally feel his eyes on him. Gantenbainne frowned in disgust, already disliking the man and the unnerving coldness he brought with him.
"Whatever you want with us, your efforts will go to waste," he began sternly. "You should not have come out here. We will kill each of you and take our rightful places as Espada once more."
"I see…" Soft, quiet…menacing.
"Do you?"
"What if I were to offer you an easier way to get back into Aizen's favor?"
Gantenbainne's reaction was clearly visible as his head lifted at those words. With narrowed eyes and a heavily guarded expression, the dark skinned male finally turned to face him. His muscular arms were still crossed over his chest as he leveled the smaller man with a hard stare, letting him know he had his attention.
"Speak," he ordered. "I will listen…for now."
His brown eyes watched as the Espada strode over to the ledge of the pillar to casually look down on the fighting below, his entire being surrounded by an air of detachment.
"What's your name?" Gantenbainne asked suspiciously when he still had yet to hear an explanation.
An uncomfortable icy sensation settled over his flesh when he turned those dead eyes on him.
It felt as if he were staring straight through him.
"Ulquiorra Cifer."
Gantenbainne's jaw clenched at the name. His eyes widened dramatically as a small sliver of fear went through him. "You're-"
"In no less than a week's time, a young boy and several others will be invading Hueco Mundo," Ulquiorra began, ignoring his useless reaction. "They will be of mixed origin. Human, Quincy, Shinigami…all of them will come here to steal something valuable from Lord Aizen. All you must do is stop them."
Gantenbainne frowned with distrust. "And why would we want to do something like that? What's in it for us?" It sounded like a setup to him.
"Ichigo Kurosaki," Ulquiorra stated and could clearly tell the name rang no bells to the Privaron. "He is the only one amongst the group that needs to be disposed of. He's the only one that holds meaning."
"So what, man?" He turned away slightly. "We don't give a shit about any mongrels invading Las Noches, all we want is our ranks back. I don't see how slaughtering some brat is going to earn us any merit in that degree."
"The boy, Ichigo Kurosaki, poses a great threat to Aizen. He is the only one of concern and he must be destroyed," Ulquiorra explained mechanically. "When they arrive, Lord Aizen will put out an edict forbidding us from intercepting the intruders. Once this command is in place, they are out of everyone's reach, including my own." Ulquiorra turned his cold eyes back onto his target, pinning him with a blank stare. "Kill the boy and Lord Aizen will accept you back into the Espada."
Gantenbainne forced his features into neutrality. "And what guarantee do we have that this will happen?" he inquired carefully, calculating every word that was said with much scrutiny. "How do we know you aren't setting us up? A brother's gotta watch his own back in a place like this. Quite honestly, it sounds like a straight creep deal to me…a ruse," he supplied with cynical, narrowed eyes.
"Think what you will, the boy is a threat to the Hogyoku and Lord Aizen's empire."
The untrusting frown on his face still had yet to subside as Gantenbainne turned back to the fight that had moved further down the hall. Nnoitra had kept the upper hand but it was clear Dordoni's unusual and odd methods of movement had set the Espada on edge. Nnoitra was getting frustrated with his opponent's weird style of fighting, as well as his unique manner of taunting and conversing with his adversary.
"Aizen himself sees the boy as a direct threat. To show a human such attention, and for you to defeat that human, you will be acceptable in his eyes once more," Ulquiorra droned quietly, slowly, easily planting the seed of persuasion in the Privaron's mind.
"And if the boy doesn't come?"
"He'll come."
Gantenbainne's gaze shifted to study the man from the corner of his eye, surprised to hear such an instant reply.
"If you still doubt me, I will personally come back here and offer you the chance to fight me and take my place in the Espada if he does not arrive."
A chilling, heavy atmosphere settled over them like a dense fog and Gantenbainne scowled at the sensation, knowing instantly what it was. It was blatant intimidation. All the while, he still failed to get a proper reading on the man's reiatsu. It was disturbingly flat and precisely controlled, like a slab of ice, unbroken and deeply depressed as if an entire ocean had been forced into one tiny fish bowl without a single crack in the glass. The control was almost impossible to imagine.
Despite his lean frame, Gantenbainne had learned long ago that in the world of Espada, looks meant absolutely nothing. It wasn't like how it had been when they were wild, when the bigger you were the stronger you were.
"I think I'll take my chances with the boy," Gantenbainne conceded, his voice still holding its guarded edge. "At least, for now," he added purposefully. "I hardly see the threat a feeble human boy could possibly pose to Lord Aizen, but considering your proposal, I think I'd have to be a fool to not give it a shot…then again, I could also be a fool for believing the word of a blatantly scheming Espada." The jab was intentional and he waited to see if Ulquiorra would rise to the taunt. He'd straight up called him out and Gantenbainne observed with a mild level of disquiet as the pale man didn't even flinch at the words.
"Hn, so that's the way it is," Gantenbainne remarked before unfurling his arms and shifting his feet to the ledge of the pillar. "Fine, we'll wait for the boy and his crew to arrive. And if they don't come, you can rest assured we'll personally make sure you hold up your end of the bargain. Got it, man?"
"Of course," Ulquiorra answered as the ex-Espada went to launch himself from the pillar and break up the fight, only to pause when he caught sight of the girl once more.
"That boy, he's coming after the babe, isn't he?" Gantenbainne stated with eyes that followed her every move with interest.
"That's none of your concern."
"So says the man who has to turn to exiled Privaron to do his dirty work," Gantenbainne countered with something that could have been considered a chuckle. It only earned him a cold, yet empty stare. "She's the one Lord Aizen wanted for her powers, isn't she?" His smirk widened when his question went unanswered, somehow knowing he was right. "We don't get much information out here, but even we heard about her arrival. It was hard not to with as much uproar that her presence caused."
Ulquiorra must have seen something in the moment to be seized upon, because in the next he'd turned his full attention onto the man without reserve.
"Arturo Plateado," Ulquiorra said steadily, checking for any reaction to the name. "What happened to him?"
A large, amused grin played across Gantenbainne's face when he realized just exactly what he was hearing. "Wouldn't you know?" he asked mockingly and chuckled heartily. "Lord Aizen sent out a warrant for that ratfink weeks ago," he continued, his tone utterly dripping with irony. "Even we got that order, way out here…but you didn't, did you, favorite Espada? "
Gantenbainne watched with hard eyes as slowly, almost dangerously so, Ulquiorra's mouth contorted into a soft frown.
Without warning, Gantenbainne tensed when Ulquiorra completely disappeared from his sight and reappeared behind him with not a single flaunt of movement or noise to give his actions away.
"Kill the boy…or I will kill you."
Fists up and reiatsu prepped, Gantenbainne twisted around with full force to aim a blow directly at the arrogant little prick's face, only to come up short when he found nothing there but empty space.
A single bead of sweat tortured his brow as he stood, frozen mid-swing. He stretched out his pesquisa to find Ulquiorra was already at the other end of the hall where the fight had moved; so far out of his reach that Gantenbainne released a loud and vulgar curse of fury.
If that boy didn't show up, Gantenbainne wondered if it would even be worth the trouble to hunt the pale bastard down and fight him one on one. He wanted Aizen to see his worth and take his rightful place back as one of the Espada again, but even Gantenbainne's survival instincts were better than that.
If he fought the Fourth Espada, he knew it would be the last fight he ever had.
"Master Nnoitra!" Tesla pushed himself forward once more when he saw Dordoni prepare to launch another attack from behind, possibly taking the Espada off guard.
"Tesla-san, no!" Orihime lurched up from the floor just in time to latch onto the fraccion's arm before he stepped out from behind her glittering shield. "You'll only make Nnoitra-kun angry again!" she protested gravely. "Besides, you might get hurt, I've already healed you once before!"
The ground rumbled and the walls began to shake and crack as it became painfully clear by now that Nnoitra was beginning to lose his temper with Dordoni's foolish antics. Not to mention, Dordoni had done a fairly easy job of evading Nnoitra's many attacks and even though the Privaron's blows hadn't succeeded in damaging Nnoitra much, it had exceeded in pissing him royally off.
"Master Nnoitra doesn't have his weapon!" Tesla objected vehemently, glaring down at her before jerking himself from her grasp. "This joke of a fight would be over in a second's time were he holding Santa Teresa."
"You're underestimating Dordoni, kid," Cirucci said from beside them. "He'll have that disgusting Espada on the run the moment he gets serious," she added concededly. With her arms crossed and looking for all the world as if she were enjoying the show, or rather that she was waiting her turn, the woman had stood by and observed the fight with them for the duration of the experience, taking shelter where Orihime offered it.
Like the shifting of winds, eyes widened and bodies stiffened in both trepidation and excitement as it seemed the fight began to climb to a new level when Dordoni settled his hand against his sword.
"No! Master Nnoitra does not even have his Zanpakuto!" Tesla hissed in disdain at the unfair playing field.
"Nnoitra-kun!" Orihime gasped with sharp anxiety as she felt the reiatsu shift around them.
"Do not worry, niña," Dordoni chuckled upon hearing her worried gasp. "I will make his death as quick and painless as possible."
"Like hell you will, you sick fuck," Nnoitra sneered nastily. His eyes were narrowed and seething as he used the back of his hand to swipe away the small trail of blood running down his chin. "Release your Zanpakuto if it makes you feel better. You'll never be able to penetrate my hierro with that outdated piece of junk."
"Hohoho, we shall see, hombre," he said and bowed his head as his thumb moved to push at the guard of his Zanpakuto. "We shall see." Soon his lips began to form the words as Nnoitra simultaneously launched himself at the Privaron, their reiatsu flaring to crushing levels.
"Master Nnoitra!"
"Nnoitra-kun!"
They called in unison, only to catch their breaths an instant later when pale hands suddenly appeared on each man's arm, seemingly materializing out of thin air.
Ulquiorra had emerged between both men, holding them apart and stalling their movements to keep their attacks at bay.
"Enough," he voiced calmly. "It's time to leave, we have no further business here."
"Fuck you!" Nnoitra spat angrily, trying to wretch his arm free to no avail. "You can't just come here for your own agenda and expect others to leave just because you've finished jackin' yourself off or whatever the fuck it was you came to this garbage pit for." His bare chest and back were covered in bruises, but Nnoitra didn't even spare a flinch as he bent forward into Ulquiorra's unmoving face and growled aggressively. "Get the fuck out of my way. I'm killing this asshole and I sure as hell don't need your permission to do it."
They remained locked, staring one another down in a battle of wills.
"Besides." Nnoitra gestured to Orihime with a half-nod over his shoulder and moved closer to whisper in his ear. "Pet-sama's waiting for you," he jeered with a dark chuckle. He suddenly grimaced when the crushing force of Ulquiorra's grip snapped his wrist in a series of sickening cracks.
Slow and deliberate, Ulquiorra dragged his gaze over to Dordoni and appraised him carefully.
"I am disappointed in you, Nnoitra," Ulquiorra observed quietly. "You should have easily destroyed this piece of trash by now."
"What?!" Nnoitra raged and fruitlessly began trying to pull his shattered wrist free. "You bastard! Release me and I'll show you just how capable I am of annihilating this joke of an Arrancar!"
"Trash, indeed," Dordoni chuckled wittily. "Perhaps I should wipe both of you out and save my friends the trouble."
"Hell no!" Cirucci suddenly objected. "There's enough of them here for all of us to fight and gain our ranks back, you Latin pig!"
A bone jarring rumble shook the ground just then, capturing the attention of every party on the premises. "Oi, Ulquiorraa!'' The ear splitting call reverberated through the walls and Orihime stiffened uncomfortably at the sound of the familiar barbaric voice.
"Shit," Nnoitra cursed irately as he twisted his head towards the direction of the ruckus, easily recognizing the chaotic reiatsu making its way ever closer to them. "Why does that idiot always have to follow you around everywhere?" He sneered disgustedly at Ulquiorra.
Quite to the surprise of most in the room, the wall set before the three interlocked Arrancar exploded violently, creating a large hole that could easily compromise the hall's structural integrity.
"Heh, there you are," a deep, gravelly voice announced itself. "So, this is where all the action's at, huh? Somebody should have told me!" Yammy's bulky form stepped out from behind the dusty pile of rubble and eyed the man at the other end of Ulquiorra's grasp. "Who's this pest?" he scowled, immediately disliking him.
"Pest?" Cirucci echoed and suddenly appeared on the other side of the conflict to stare the large man down. "You should be more worried about me, sweetheart. At least now with three of you here, the odds are finally even." Her body swiftly and gracefully shifted into an offensive posture as she reached for her weapon.
Yammy smiled, apparently liking that she'd actually referred to him as something less insulting than 'idiot' or 'moron'.
"Yammy…leave," Ulquiorra ordered with his eyes locked on the hulking Espada.
"So the little girl thinks she can fight?" Yammy moved forward eagerly, clearly not hearing, or blatantly ignoring, Ulquiorra's command.
"Yammy," Ulquiorra repeated, only slightly louder.
"Come at me all you want," Cirucci derided while tightening her hold on the handle and chain of Golondrina. "You'll be crying like a little bitch by the time I'm finished with you, tiny." Her glossy lips smiled wickedly, ready to leap at him at a moment's notice.
The remark instantly launched Yammy towards the woman, his feet pushing himself forward with the intent to drive straight through the three still interlocked men between them.
Nnoitra felt Ulquiorra tighten his hold on his wrist and cursed as his eye widened incredulously. "Wait, damn it, you're not going to…don't you dare-!"
Ulquiorra's feet shifted and abruptly both men were twisted through the air. Nnoitra's long body rammed into Yammy's gut as Dordoni was hurled into Cirucci's smaller abdomen in a painful impact that sent both parties reeling back in opposing directions, crashing through pillars and walls. As soon as Nnoitra felt his back collide with the brute, he sensed the shift in the air from Ulquiorra's sonido. With a swift, precise movement, the back of his fist connected with Nnoitra's chest. The resulting impact almost seemed to stall for a split second before the massive force shot them even further back, where they smashed through walls upon walls of concrete, marble and metal support beams.
As the tiny pebbles and chunks of falling rock ebbed to a slow trickle, the silence in the air began to build. With the abrupt halt in commotion, everything became quiet.
"I will not offer you so many warnings next time, Yammy," Ulquiorra commented dryly as he dropped his hand with fluid ease. "We are leaving, I suggest you do the same," he informed indifferently to the two Privaron behind him who were only just beginning to untangle themselves enough to stand on wobbly legs.
"Curse…you…" Cirucci hissed through clenched teeth, her expression heavily strained from the many injuries she'd just acquired from the single attack.
"Master Nnoitra!" Tesla's voice was full of worry and haste as he moved past Ulquiorra into the voids created in the walls, following the carnage.
"Wait, Tesla-san!" Orihime reached for him too late as she lowered her shield. She was fearful of him getting too close to the fight. Even as he moved past her jailer without incident, Orihime couldn't seem to make her body relax as she stared at Ulquiorra's back. It was hard not to feel uncertain after witnessing the damage he'd created so easily.
Sensing Wonderweiss move at her side, she snapped herself to attention enough to take stock of the situation. Her eyes hurriedly scanned the area, examining the two wounded Privaron, Wonderweiss at her side and Ulquiorra still standing in front of the giant hole in the wall, his back to all of them. A part of her wanted to stay and help the wounded pair but another part was also hesitant to go forward, as well.
"Woman," she heard his voice call and she swallowed nervously, knowing what he wanted.
"Come, hurry Wonderweiss-san." Orihime gripped his wrist as she advanced toward Ulquiorra. Quickly, she moved past him and into the gaping hole to follow after Tesla and the others.
"Where do you think you're going?" Cirucci bit out as Ulquiorra stepped after her. Dordoni, as well, had gained his bearings enough to challenge the man.
"Enough, you two." Gantenbainne's voice stopped them. Coming up behind his comrades, he offered Ulquiorra's retreating back one last glance before also turning away. "Let them go, we have things we need to discuss."
"What?!" Cirucci roared vehemently. "We can't just let them get away! This could be our last chance!"
"No, there will be others," he replied calmly. "It's time to go. Now hurry, we don't have much time left before they arrive."
"And who is this 'they' that is arriving?" Dordoni asked, also skeptical but much less heated than his female counterpart.
"You'll see soon enough," he answered cryptically and Dordoni cast one last glimpse to the fading image of the pale Espada that had interrupted them. The human girl had paused ahead of him, clutching the young boy closer to her as she waited for the man to catch up with them. His dark blue eyes narrowed and his mustache shifted as a lopsided grin worked itself across his features.
It had something to do with that woman, he was sure of it. Whatever it was Gantenbainne was trying to achieve by letting them go, it circled around her.
Perhaps the sudden visit of theirs would pay off in one way or another, after all…
"Oh, Nnoitra-kun, don't be like that." Orihime pouted as she tried to move closer to him again. "It won't hurt, I promise," she reasoned. "Ulquiorra had his arm cut off and let me heal it before, remember? If he can do it, so can you!" She smiled brightly, trying to encourage him with good old fashioned cheerful baiting and reverse psychology.
"Damn it, I already told you to stay the fuck away from me!" he growled in annoyance. "I don't need anyone's help." He cursed as he leaned back against the wall where he sat, his broken wrist resting on his upraised knee. "And like hell I give a shit what that unfeeling bastard can do. I'm sure he's capable of cutting his own dick off without flinching, for all I care," he spat abhorrently. "If he even has a dick, that is," he added bitterly and Orihime tried to hide her blush at his nasty language, let alone the thought of Ulquiorra's man parts.
"Master Nnoitra, please, you need to let her heal you," Tesla interjected calmly, his tone sober and his expression hard.
"Shut it, you useless pile of hog shit!"
"To hell with it all," Yammy sighed impatiently as he stepped forward. Suddenly, he gripped Nnoitra's shoulders and jerked him away from the wall before slamming him into the ground harshly.
"Careful!" Tesla shouted angrily, ready to push him off his master.
"What the fuck, get off me, you bastard!" Nnoitra protested viciously, lashing out with his long limbs like a trapped animal. "Fuck you! Fuck you! And fuck you!" he yelled thrice, letting out a malicious 'fuck you' for each one of them that had ganged up on him.
"Shit," Yammy flinched as he fell victim to the brunt of his attacks. "Dang it, hurry up and get on with it!" he snapped crudely as he turned his glare to Orihime.
She recoiled away from the man, still fearful of him, then cringed when Nnoitra's foot jammed itself into his face painfully.
"Hurry!" he ordered again.
"O-okay." She swallowed against the sudden dryness in her mouth and stepped forward to release her fairies. Touching her fingers to her hairpins, a soft glow moved out to encompass the thrashing male. Golden, glittery light morphed into a glistening shield and instantly Nnoitra halted his resistance the moment he felt the warmth surround him.
"What the-" he muttered and lifted his wrist to examine it with furrowed brows.
He could feel the bones and muscles righting themselves, as well as the pain in his chest from Ulquiorra's attack dissipate. All of his bruises shrunk and faded like they were dissolving into thin air and it was in no time flat that he felt at full strength, just as he had been before the battle.
His eyes rose to the girl when the shimmering, twinkling light overhead slowly melted away like liquid air.
"Is…is that better?" she asked shyly, averting her eyes.
Nnoitra scowled.
"I ain't thanking you, ya bitch, if that's what you want." He frowned as he shoved Yammy off and stood up to remove himself from the group by many, many feet.
From the corner of her eye, Orihime could see the tall man examining his wrist and body in silent wonderment. Smiling softly, she turned, simply glad to have helped.
"Thank you."
Orihime nearly jumped when, upon turning from him, Tesla was directly before her with his sober face and cold, yet grateful words.
"You're welcome," she replied self-consciously. "It was nothing, really. I'm glad he's better now." She smiled kindly and he offered her a respectful bow of his head before moving off to consult with his master.
"Woman, it's time to go."
Orihime lifted her head to find Ulquiorra waiting for her, standing a good distance away beside a relatively normal sized door.
"We are losing time loitering here, come."
"Just a fucking minute," Nnoitra's harsh voice interrupted him as the tall man stepped forward, glaring at the smaller Espada coarsely. "What the fuck are you up to all the way out here anyways, Ulquiorra? And where the hell are you going now?" he asked skeptically, as if he were only just now starting to take issue with Ulquiorra's suspicious actions. "There's nowhere else left to go past the outer walls except-" Nnoitra abruptly cut himself off as he paused in thought, the answer suddenly hitting him.
"Exactly," Ulquiorra said plainly, seemingly concurring with the answer Nnoitra had silently realized. "I suggest you leave now, I have no use for stragglers."
"Stragglers?" Nnoitra scoffed. "Yet you drag pet-sama all the way out here for this shit? You can't possibly take her out there, not in this weather. Not to mention it's a full month's worth of travel just to get there, probably more in this storm," he protested. "That's Las Noches' furthest outpost, there's nothing out there but sand and hollows and two of Szayel's freakish ass-lackeys."
Orihime listened, slightly confused, as her eyes went back and forth between both men.
"If such conditions offend you, then leave," Ulquiorra suggested blandly. "You were not meant to follow to begin with."
"And just exactly how do you plan on getting there?" Nnoitra frowned. "It'll take you a month just to reach it."
"It is merely a day's travel by sonido." Ulquiorra leveled him with a flat stare, unimpressed and slightly annoyed with Nnoitra's arguments. "Must I repeat myself when I tell you to leave?"
Nnoitra chuckled, completely ignoring his demands for privacy. "I get it. You plan on cutting through the Menos Forest, don't you?" The grin on his face only seemed to grow when he received no objection to his theory. "Sounds like fun."
Ulquiorra looked away, growing tired of his attempts to dissuade Nnoitra from following them.
"Well, if that's the case…" An abrupt squeal from the woman led Ulquiorra to lift his lashes enough to observe Nnoitra snatching her up and tossing her over his shoulder. His frown remained in place, already knowing where this was going. "We can't leave without this, right?" His chuckle was taunting, deliberately taking the girl in knowing Ulquiorra would stop his protests if he took off with her first. "See ya there." He saluted over his shoulder jauntily, his smirk offensive as always.
When Nnoitra suddenly disappeared from sight, Ulquiorra remained in place several moments longer, his eyes narrowing slightly at the trouble the woman always seemed to cause him.
Tesla wasted no time in following, his after image flickering unstably before fading out. Wonderweiss was at their heels immediately after.
"Hey, wait!" Yammy protested when he saw Ulquiorra's figure vanish. "Damn it," he huffed moodily as he took off after them. "They know my sonido isn't as fast as theirs," he complained bitterly, but continued anyway. It took effort, but many long seconds later, he could finally make out the blurry images of the rest of the group ahead of him, moving fast as they headed onward to the Menos Forest.
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TBC
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