AN: My entry for the last round of the Bleach Romances Fanfiction Contest 3 (Unfortunately I can only write a light oneshot for this pairing, it is actually kind of cute!) Good luck to bandgirlz, who in my opinion will win because her last entry is epic! :D

"There, I'm all done. You should rest for a bit; it'll take some time for you to get accustomed to...er...your new organ."

Awkwardly, Hanatarou waited for a response from his statue-like patient. He had just finished the process of transferring a heart to Ulquiorra Cifer's body and healing the large hole, on the orders of Head Captain Yamamoto. Previously Urahara Kisuke had somehow replaced the Hollow part of his soul with a Shinigami's, and Hanatarou didn't even want to know how he'd done it.

Apparently, the Gotei 13 believed Ulquiorra would be a valuable ally once convinced—or rather, forced. If all else failed, they would simply strip him of his powers or throw him in the bottom of Central 46 with Aizen. Currently there were bands of spiritual-sealing stone on Ulquiorra's wrists and Murcielago had been confiscated. Despite these safety measures, Hanatarou was still nervous being around someone reportedly so powerful to have nearly killed the Substitute Soul Reaper, in addition to having been a high-ranked Espada. As a mere 4th squad member, he could barely imagine the amount of power Ulquiorra was capable of.

"I see."

Relieved he'd actually gotten a response, Hanatarou quickly bowed and left. Ulquiorra neatly lay back on the plain white bed and settled himself.

Very strange, this...heart. Is this how other humans feel, something perpetually beating without pause? It is quite annoying.

He moved a hand to his chest, feeling the thumping inside him, and wondered with a bit of annoyance how humans managed to sleep. Besides, he wasn't sensing any "feelings" that Orihime woman had told him about.

That made sense. It was just a piece of flesh. How important could it be? It was no different from skin or blood.

How useless, he thought before closing his eyes and calmly settling himself into light sleep.

"There you go. I know you're not accustomed to eating, but your reiatsu is at a low level right now."

Ulquiorra seemed to be unaware of his presence and the food tray placed on the table next to him. It was a bit eerie how pale and white the former Espada's skin was, in addition to the striking green teardrop-shaped marks on his face. Upon examination of his eyes, Hanatarou noticed that the formerly black sclera had faded to white, but the irises were still a vibrant green; he was no longer Hollow. Somehow, even though Ulquiorra was clearly not looking at him, he felt as if those eyes were boring into his own plain brown ones. Nearly hyptonized by the intensity, he stepped backwards, stumbling, and accidentally knocked into the glass of water sitting on the tray next to him.

It toppled sideways with a rather loud clatter, spilling its contents onto the patient next to it. Ulquiorra's eyes widened, the first display of emotion Hanatarou had ever seen from him.

Stunned, Hanatarou snapped out of his momentary trance and hurried to clean up the spill, grabbing the small white towel that perpetually hung on the wall, and mopped up the excess water.

"I'll get you some new clothing, just a moment." Not waiting for a response, he ducked out of the room and grabbed a spare shirt from the closet where clean patients' clothing were kept, choosing the size by glancing and roughly estimating.

When he entered Ulquiorra's room again, he saw the Espada-turned-Shinigami sitting up, staring with a kind of fascination at the wet shirt sticking sheerly to his chest.

"Ulquiorra-san?" He asked, and the green orbs snapped to his. They traveled to the folded shirt in his hands and Hanatarou nodded slightly, feeling that some form of confirmation was required, and Ulquiorra extended a hand and took the clothing from him. To his surprise, the pale white hand was warm.

Before Hanatarou could leave to allow him privacy, Ulquiorra stuck his fingers in the neck of his soaked shirt and pulled down with a hard jerk, effortlessly ripping the cloth. He then proceeded to wriggle out of the sleeves.

Hanatarou opened his mouth but no words came forth. Still, Ulquiorra noticed.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Nothing! I mean, you're not supposed to take off the shirt like that, you aren't supposed to damage it..."

The fascinated look appeared again and Ulquiorra looked at him interestedly, like a scientist examining a specimen.

"Not damage it? How is that possible? It is such a flimsy piece of trash."

"It's not trash," he protested, and suddenly noticed Ulquiorra's bare chest.

It wasn't like he already hadn't seen it before, no less hundreds of other bare (and muscular) chests he'd healed. But still, he found it difficult to look it away.

"In that case, I suppose I should not damage it while putting it on?"

Hanatarou turned red abruptly, even though Ulquiorra had directed his attention back to the "trash".

"Y-yes, that's right. Let me show you." With some effort, he finally managed to get Ulquiorra into the shirt—with no rips or tears, despite the bands of seki-seki on his wrists.

After a few seconds, Ulquiorra said pensively, "I do not see why so much effort is required to simply wear a piece of clothing."

"You'll get used to it, it's not hard," Hanatarou said unconvincingly and found himself blushing again. He was easily embarrassed, but today something was wrong.

It's nothing. I am really tired, though...

"I'll be checking up on you tomorrow, then," he said out loud, stifling a yawn, and rose.

"What is your name?" He looked back at him in surprise.

"My name? Er, Yamada Hanatarou, 3rd seat of the 4th squad."

"I see. Will you answer my questions or is that not your duty?"

A bit startled at this bluntness, Hanatarou scratched the back of his head.

"I'll answer them if I can. What's your question?"

"Does the heart give you emotions?"

"Er-excuse me?"

"This heart, the flesh you put in my body—does it give you emotions?" He expectantly awaited a reply, looking to the 4th squad member with a tilted head.

At a loss for an answer, the best he could come up with was, "Not really, but we tend to associate emotions with the heart. I don't know why," he added hurriedly.

"Would you say I have emotions?"

"I think so. I mean, surprise is an emotion, and you looked it when I spilled water on you," he responded honestly.

"Is the heart in my body properly functioning?"

"Yes, I believe so. Why, is something wrong?"

Ulquiorra frowned, the most extraverted facial emotion he had shown so far. "Perhaps. I noticed it suddenly beating faster and I felt dizzy."

"You're physically weak at the moment, and that might contribute to the dizziness. The heart beats faster at emotions, usually fear or surprise."

"Does this mean I am surprised each time I see you? I see no logical reason for fear."

Confused but not offended at the implication of his strength, Hanatarou asked, "What do you mean?"

"Any time I see you, this heart begins to beat faster."

"Beat faster? Oh, it sounds like a-" he stopped. A crush? No way I could tell him that! Besides, how could he like me? Oh dear...I think I like him...

"Sounds like a what?"

"A—a-" he stumbled, and concluded in a small voice, "It sounds like you have a crush."

The intrigued look yet again.

"Crush? Do you mean I want to crush you?"

Despite the situation, Hanatarou found himself laughing. "No, no, nothing like that. A 'crush' is an expression for have a love interest in someone else. It's usually only temporary."

"So I have a temporary love interest in you?"

"Actually, I don't know. I mean, I thought you might when you said your heart was beating faster when you saw me." Gosh, I sound like some kind of horribly-written trashy love novel!

The silence stretched on longer than was comfortable until Ulquiorra suddenly grabbed Hanatarou's shoulders with both hands and pulled abruptly.

"Aah!" Startled at the force, he fell forwards and found Ulquiorra holding him only centimeters away. His already adrenaline-stimulated heart sped up at the close distance between them and he mentally cursed his heart for beating so loudly.

Then Ulquiorra leaned forward and planted his lips on Hanatarou's, squashing his nose painfully in the process. The kiss only lasted a second because of the sloppy execution, but it was enough to make Hanatarou nearly faint.

"Ulquiorra-san?"

Green eyes pierced into his own, shattering the barrier he had put up between them in an effort to maintain his privacy of thought.

"This heart told me this was the right thing to do. Though I do not understand the reason," he said calmly, and Hanatarou could only stare.

"I suppose your heart is functioning properly, then," he stuttered out, and Ulquiorra actually smiled.

"This heart is not so bad after all," he said wryly, and Hanatarou giggled. From the door, a certain captain with long braided hair smiled and silently closed the door.