Music to my Heart (A Bleach/Ulquihime fic)

Chapter 26

This story belongs to Cerice Belle at FanFiction.net. I am only publishing it in order to share it with more people. All credits go to her.
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Orihime watched the bullet fly through the air and hit Grimmjow as if it was in slow motion. Watching him fall to the ground, another figure in her memory appeared, one with black hair instead of blue. Sora.

She was vaguely aware of Chizuru screaming and grabbing the arm of a white-faced Tatsuki. Rangiku had covered her eyes and shut them tightly. Rukia grabbed Ichigo's hand, both of them gripping the other so tightly they were beginning to lose feeling. Renji and Uryu had shouted simultaneously, their eyes wide.

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" screamed Nnoitra, staring down at the limp form of his friend.

Aizen laughed, ignoring the outbursts of the others, "Excellent Ulquiorra, looks like you're finally beginning to understand my orders."

Ulquiorra clenched the gun tightly, glaring at his stepfather with pure hatred, "We made a deal, now hand her over."

"Oh very well," Aizen chuckled, releasing his hold around Orihime and pushing her shaking form to Ulquiorra who caught her gently.

"Are you alright?" he asked, smoothing back her hair.

She stared up at him, face ashen, "How...how could you do that?" she whispered.

He ignored her and looked back up at Aizen, "What about everyone else, you promised they could go free?"

Aizen smirked, "About that, I lied." Chizuru whimpered. "I just really wanted to watch you kill Grimmjow yourself, and make you think you had a chance to actually escape. Everything went according to plan," he laughed mirthlessly.

Ulquiorra sighed, "I figured as much. Looks like it did not go according to plan."

His eyes narrowed, "What?" he snapped, his voice dangerously quiet.

Ulquiorra walked over to Grimmjow and kicked him in the ribs, ignoring the cries of outrage from his classmates, "Stop being such a drama queen and get up."

"Ow!" came a muffled cry from the supposedly dead body. The jaws of every teenager in the room dropped. Grimmjow pushed himself up and glared at his friend, "You didn't have to hit me so hard."

"Please, if you survived a bullet you can definitely survive me hitting you," Ulquiorra deadpanned, helping his friend stand up, wobbling slightly.

"Wait, what?!" shouted Nnoitra, his mouth hanging wide open.

Grimmjow grinned up at him, rubbing his stomach, "You should see the look on your face, you look like you've just seen a ghost. Man that hurt."

"But...you died!" exclaimed Ichigo.

Ulquiorra rolled his eyes and held his arm out for Orihime to take it, "Does he look dead to you?" he asked, pulling her closer to him. "You didn't think I'd actually killed him, did you?" he asked her softly.

She gave him a shaky smile, "Not for a minute," she said with a nervous laugh. Ulquiorra just shook his head at her.

"What is the meaning of this?" demanded Aizen, breathing heavily.