Corroded Spirits

Corroded Spirits: 27

Chapter 27: Bloody Carnage

 "Ishida-san!" Kisuke called out, making his way through the dozens of debris from the explosion. He caught sight of a large debris being pushed away to his far right, and to his relief Uryu emerged, half unscathed from the attack. "Thank goodness you're alright." Kisuke said. "All right ain't the words I'd use." Uryu said, inspecting the dangerous burn on his right arm. "That'll make it hard to aim." He thought, but kept it to himself. "They're gone." Kisuke said, referring to Orihime, whose body also contained Ulquiorra. "We can't let them roam about Soul Society." Uryu said.

 Kisuke briefly glanced at the boy, surprised at his personal call-out to prevent a bloody carnage from taking place to the land on which his race-enemies lived. But then again it was their fault for letting her escape, they'd have to bring her back. And then there was the case of the situation's bad side, being Orihime, which must be the Quincy's primary reason for allowing himself to 'help' prevent destruction on Soul Society. "You read my mind, let's go." Kisuke said, and with their respective high-speed abilities, the two disappeared into the night, following the trail of their possessed friend.

 Looking for Orihime, had proved to be quite easy, especially when she left a trail of broken debris and Shinigamis in critical conditions behind her. "You can heal them, right?" Uryu asked the shop-keeper. "I'm not Inoue-san, or Unohana for that matter. I can only heal about half of them. The other half would be dead by that time." He replied, looking morosely at the half-dead Shinigamis about them. He then took something out from his coat. It was a Hell Butterfly. He wispered something into it before letting it go gently into the air. "Don't worry. They won't know it's from me." Kisuke said before the Quincy could ask. "How long before they get here?" "18 minutes." And they were off again.

 When the trail had stopped, so did the pursuers. "Where the hell did she go?" Uryu enraged. Kisuke calmly loked around, analyzing the air, ground and anything else. "She didn't come through here." He said after a while. "What?" Kisuke shook his head and turned back around to the path that they'd traveled through. "This trail was the result of the attack that she triggered earlier." There was suddenly a blood-curdling scream and came after another explosion, similar to the one that the two onlookers had narrowly escaped from. "No.." Kisuke whispered to himself. The two stayed the way that they were, before Uryu stepped forward, about to make a move. "We have to-" He was suddenly cut off, falling to the ground.

 Kisuke withdrew his Zanpakutou from the whip he just did on the boy, and proceeded to carry the Quincy teen on his shoulder. The former captain looked back his shoulder, ovehearing the cries and the howls in the night, that were no doubt, caused by Orihime (and Ulquiorra.) He wanted to help, he really did. But it would've made a difference had he been alone. Trying to intervene would risk both of them, mainly Uryu, and that was the last thing both of them would want. With a dreaded sigh, and a burden weighing down his back, Kisuke opened up a portal with his cane, and jumped right through. "Gomene.."

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 "You seem really troubled." The soft sound that wafted through the air, could've been either the wind, or his own muffled sigh. Ulquiorra looked up at Orihime's eyes, turning his head up in his place on her soft lap. "You are." She said. "It's become easier for you to read me, hasn't it?" He inquired. "Yeah, it has. And although it made me kinda proud of myself before, I'm kinda getting worried for you." Orihime said. Ulquiorra moved his head to the side, hearing the faint swooshing of the warm water surrounding him.

 If it hadn't been made obvious already, Ulquiorra and Orihime were in their secret oasis. It had been their meeting place ever since their somewhat 'confrontation'. It was the only place they could completely be themselves without anyone noticing it. Orihime was sitting on the edge of the ground, hands lying on her captor's forehead and hair. On her insistance, Ulquiorra laid down on the shallow portion of the spring, letting Orihime, to her innocent pleasure, molly-coddle him to her heart's content. Not that he minded it, though. If he wasn't at risk when showing emotions, he would've told her that he enjoyed these instances with her.

 Orihime gently ran her fingers up the ridge between Ulquiorra's eyebrows and up to the thick piece of hair that always fell over it. "Why did you do it anyway? You were never the kind to start fights..especially with Grimmjow.." That name, made Ulquiorra close his eyes, reminiscing on his recent, and most sudden strike at Grimmjow while they were outside Las Noches a few days ago. "He was speaking of vulgar things about you.." He whispered. "So you attacked him?" Orihime asked. "I assured more than that." Ulquiorra replied. "He got what he deserved." He added. Orihime giggled softly. The kind that oddly made Ulquiorra's face burn, at least unknown to him.

 "But I'm really worried..." Orihime said after a while. She didn't wait for Ulquiorra to tail-question that. "About Aizen.." He thought he felt her fingers tremble. "Don't you think that he might suspect us?" She asked. "Knowing Aizen..." Ulquiorra began slowly. "He'll know soon.." He felt her fingers tremble for real this time. "If not already." This thought, he kept to himself. "I'm scared of what might happen to you if he knew about this... About us." Orihime said. Ulquiorra raised his eyes up to Orihime again. She looked like she was on the verge of crying  again. He had gained further insight on the instigators of her tears.

 When she first arrived, her tears had been for her predicament. Away from her home and her loved ones. Thereafter, she cried on and on for her friends. Then she cried for that orange-haired brat. He always saw this as a meaningless act. Because she wasted her breath and effort for people who were no longer with her, and that had they seen it, they probably would've thought the same. But now it was the different. During the course of her stay here, it was like she had setted aside her friends. And all the tears were only for him now. And the fact that she would shed tears out of fear and worry for him, the 4th Espada, for what would happen to him, if ever Aizen knew about him and Orihime... "Nothing will happen.." Ulquiorra finally said.

 The look in Orihime's eyes spelled all her denial. "We just need to be careful." Ulquiorra intoned. "But how long can we keep this up?" Orihime asked. Ulquiorra reached a hand up and placed it against Orihime's cheek. The droplets of water caught in her hair, sending diamond sparks all over her sunset tresses. The water silently hummed a silent song to the two, as they tried to supress the obvious, impending danger that they had brought upon themselves. In a while, the worry on Orihime's face cross-faded, and she did a soft smile as she lay her forehead against Ulquiorra's own. "You're right.. We'll be fine." She whispered, unaware that her fingers still trembled against Ulquiorra's face. He thought then, how painful it must be for her to bottle up her fear for his life. And Ulquiorra knew that all too well. Because he was doing the same for her.