That Night

He placed his hand on the doorknob and opened the door slowly, silencing the squeaking hinges. First he looked to the left and then to the right, "nobody."

As he stepped into the hallway the door closed silently behind him. The hallway wasn't well lit; a normal person wouldn't be able to see their own nose in front of their face. Szayel was easily able to maneuver through the hallway due to his excellent memory. Memorizing the twists and turns to Orihime's room.

"I wonder what she's doing right now. I wonder if she's thinking of me." That was the only time he spoke to himself out loud during this small journey.

Once he turned the final corner the light came into view. The large windows allowed the moon's light to illuminate the lonely hallways. The golden knob to her room shone brightly. Like a moth to a flame, Szayel was drawn to it. "Thus hath the candle singed the moth," he thought.

There was a small amount of distance between him and the knob, so he was sure to savor every second. A twisted grin slowly formed on his face as his eyes became sadistically evil. He quickly pulled himself together and his face returned to its calm demeanor.

"Patience is a virtue Szayel, no need to be hasty." He was at the door but there was still something stopping him from opening the door. "What will I do when I get inside, what if she's awake?" He wanted nothing more than to break her spirit and her body, but why was there so much hesitation?

Maybe it was the fear of Ulquiorra's wrath, his threat was not an empty one. It defiantly wasn't her, there's no way it was her. "I will break her smile," his grin returned as he reached for the key in his pocket.

"I will tear her soul apart," he slid the key into the keyhole. "I'll stain her sheets," slowly he turned the key, "they'll be dripping with blood."

The door opened.

The moon's light hit Szayel's back casting his shadow on Orihime's sleeping form. She mumbling something and shifted a bit before returning back to her peaceful slumber. Szayel stood at the doorway and watched her, "like a sleeping angel."

Some of the light reached the room and illuminated a path for Szayel. But as he walked in he came to realize that he was surrounded by darkness. The walls around him were dark and looked like never ending voids or darkness.

It was odd but something was making Szayel feel nervous. There was something about the darkness that really got to him, not the darkness itself but what it hid. He could describe the feeling as the feelings of a test subject being strapped down to his operated table.

Szayel was reminded of his own lab. His fraccion wheeled in a subject and placed him in a single illuminated spot. Everything else was dark, pitch black and seemingly never endless. Szayel often hid in this darkness and watched as the subject looked around frantically scared out of his mind and while he begged a nonexistent entity for mercy.

That's what this reminded him of, only this time he was the subject. He looked shifted his eyes to one side of the room and saw nothing, and then he shifted them to the other side and once again saw nothing. "Perhaps I'm looking to deep into this," there was certainly nothing there, after all he has the only key and he locked the door after his last visit.

A long time had passed since he first entered the room. He took a deep breath and continued further into the room, "no more distractions and no more hesitations."

He took one more step, now he was standing over her. His head hung low and his hair dangled in around his face. Golden amber eyes shown through the strands of hair as he examined her closely. His expressionless face remained as he thought about what to do first. Slowly he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a scalpel.

His muscles tensed as he lowered the scalpel. "Is this the right thing to do? Why am I thinking so much about this?" Then a familiar voice reached Szayel's ears, "hello Szayel."

Turning his head abruptly Szayel saw two emerald orbs staring back at him from the dark void. His suspicions were correct there was someone in the room, someone that promised death would befall him if he stepped out of line.

Ulquiorra stood up and stepped into the illuminated area, "what are you doing here?"

Not wanted to show fear Szayel closed his eyes and smiled before answering, "I was just checking up on her, she looks so peaceful, doesn't she?"

It was in the Octava's nature to probe a person's mind, to find his weakness and exploit it and force him to scream his displeasure as he watched with glee, as his aspect was madness. He tried breaking Ulquiorra since the day they first met, but it was a bleak act, nothing could break the nihilistic Quatra Espada.

Since the day they first met, Szayel thought back to that day…

"This is Ulquiorra Cifer, Quatra Espada," said Aizen as he introduced Szayel to his new comrade.

Szayel wasn't sure about what to think about the newest addition. His melancholy expression was certainly an interesting variable. Szayel imagined what it would take to make that face break and instead show pain and agony.

"It's nice to meet you, Ulquiorra." Szayel offered his hand while his usual grin stayed plastered on his face. Everyone knew that when Szayel smiled and acted nice his thoughts were much different than his façade.

"We're already comrades, there's no need for useless greetings." Ulquiorra walked passed him following Aizen. Szayel looked over his shoulder and stared at Ulquiorra as he walked away, "I will make you beg for your life."

The weaker Espada didn't care about the ranks, "I will learn every strength and weakness you have and find a way to exploit it. I will break the mask over your face."

And so Szayel began his research on the newest Espada, just as he had done with all of the other members. He was able to break Nnoitra's hierro, slow down Zommari, and even resist Barragan's breath. Szayel noticed Ulquiorra's regeneration and his powerful cero.

As time passed Szayel grew impatient, no one ever pushed Ulquiorra to the limit. None of the higher ranked Espada cared for fighting without reason and the lower were all afraid of Ulquiorra, with one interesting exception.

When Grimmjow challenged Ulquiorra to a fight, Szayel grinned and made sure to take notes on everything. The fight began with Grimmjow using his sword to attack Ulquiorra, but Ulquiorra didn't use his sword to defend himself, instead he blocked the blade with his hands.

Szayel took notes on the thick hierro and hand-to-hand mastery. Ulquiorra then fired a cero at Grimmjow who had almost no time to react, but he was able to sonido and escaped the powerful beam. Grimmjow attack Ulquiorra from behind and Ulquiorra had no choice but to block with his blade.

This is it, this is what Szayel was waiting for; finally the ignorant barbarian was good for something. As the sword duel began Szayel noticed Ulquiorra was a master swordsman, Grimmjow's wild sword fighting style did nothing against the calm and calculating Ulquiorra.

At the end of the fight, Ulquiorra sheathed his sword and looked down at the defeated Grimmjow. He never said a word, but Grimmjow saw it as a disrespectful gesture. Leaving a defeated moment on the brink of death without so much as a word, leaving him alive so that he can live out the rest of his life knowing that someone let him live.

I remember that day because of two distinctive reasons. That was the day that Grimmjow swore he would surpass Ulquiorra, he screamed into the heaven that's one day he would take Ulquiorra down. I also learned that Ulquiorra could not be defeated by brute force; an indirect approach was the best approach.

"Since then I've been planning, since then I've been waiting for the right moment."

After looking back at the past, Szayel began thinking about his current situation…

"You have no business coming here at this hour, Szayel." Ulquiorra spoke in such a harsh emotionless tone.

It was then that Szayel began wonder why Ulquiorra was here, so he asked "why are you here, Ulquiorra?"

The darkness mixed with the silence was a bit eerie, but Ulquiorra seemed to blend into the dark area. It was almost like the darkness was his home and this was admit tingly frightening Szayel to a point on fearing for his life.

"I have the graveyard shift, while you have the daytime shift; it's as simple as that." Ulquiorra looked at Szayel with a murderous intent, "know answer my question, why are you here?"

End of Chapter

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