Title: Cracked Marble

Pairing: Er... SzayelXOrihime? Kinda?

Warning: Heavy Gore. At least for me...

Enjoy.

By Inuyoshie

When a person breaks down crying, without any cause or explanation, it's easy to deal with.

When a person bursts out laughing, without any cause or explanation, it's a totally different animal.

To be fair, Ulquiorra had no clue Orihime was laughing. Her laughter was… something bubbling and poisonous rising up in her chest. She had to put a hand over her mouth to cover a wide smirk that was beginning to carve itself upon her usually somber face. She wasn't supposed to smile, or laugh. That's what Aizen wanted see? He wanted her smiles. He wanted her tears. He wanted her soul. But he couldn't have it no not now not never no no no never.

Call it the white, call it the lack of people, call it something Ulquiorra was doing subliminally to Orihime's psyche… Orihime was sick of it. She was sick of everything. More specifically, she was sick of being a frightened little girl surrounded by big bad nasty arrancar.

The next time Ulquiorra entered Orihime's room, she was nonresponsive.

Literally. She didn't respond to vocal commands, or any physical prodding. Ulquiorra was starting to get concerned, although he would not show this outwardly. Did he do something to her that would cause the woman to shut down? Lord Aizen needed her powers, and for that she needed to be responsive.

…Nonresponsive was the wrong word. Orihime's reitsu was doing something alright. It was… condensing, coiling around in her stomach like a sort of menacing snake. It was unnatural for a human to be doing this.

"..Woman?"

No response.

"… Inoue." Ulquiorra tried the woman's surname. An eye snapped open and stared at him with an emotionless glare. Ulquiorra's frown deepened. He turned to the nameless subordinate with the cart of Orihime's uneaten food.

"Get Granz," he ordered. The subordinate paled, and scampered off. Ulquiorra shut the door and waited for the scientist to arrive. He wished the man would show up- the woman's coiling reitsu was disturbing. It was winding now, in nameless shapes and shapeless faces, words of pure nonsense.

The minutes stretched to unreasonable lengths before Szayel arrived, walking at an infuriatingly leisurely pace. Ulquiorra didn't need to say anything though, for Szayel's eyes lit up as soon as he came near. He must feel the sickening reitsu as well, although delight seemed to radiate off of Szayel instead of… well, anyone but Ulquiorra would call it fear.

"What did you do to her?" Szayel wanted to know, almost cackling with glee.

"Nothing." Ulquiorra snapped, offended that Szayel would even think that this state was his fault. "Fix her."

"Fix her? With that delightful reitsu? That would be a crime!" Szayel complained.

"Fix. Her." Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes menacingly. Szayel sighed and stepped through the door, closing it.

That was his first mistake.

See, somehow Orihime knew that Ulquiorra would call in someone else. She didn't want Ulquiorra, after all. He was all hard and pointy and leathery. Not good at all, no not for what it wanted, no…

But this one…

His hierro (Orihime didn't know it was called that, but she did in a way) was much weaker than Ulquiorra's, and his clothing offered little protection. The man was…

Perfect.

Orihime waited, her muscles clenching and unclenching painfully.

"Orihime Inoue, correct?" Szayel remarked smoothly, walking over by the girl, but staying out of range. "My name is Szayel Aporro Granz,"

Orihime didn't respond. If she opened her mouth, she'd start cackling.

Szayel moved closer, reaching into his pocket. Was he going to get a sedative? That would ruin everything…

Was it…

Was it…

Ah no. It was only a flashlight, to see if Orihime was PERRLA.

(Orihime had no clue what that meant)

"Curious," Szayel murmured, clicking the flashlight off. The girl's reitsu was fascinating! It was as if she was a dangerous predator, preparing to strike. Which, of course, she wasn't. Orihime Inoue was merely a human, and not even a strong one at that. She was only here for those odd abilities of hers.

Szayel moved closer and reached out to check Orihime's pulse when her hand suddenly whipped up and grabbed his wrist. Szayel sighed with a good-natured smile and shake of the head, and tried pulling his hand away.

It wouldn't budge.

Orihime's other hand shot out at Szayel, grabbing for his hand but only succeeding in obtaining a finger. She could work with that thought, jerking and twisting her hand suddenly and breaking Szayel's finger.

Szayel bit back a cry of surprise and pulled. This woman had a grip of steel though, and was pulling him down on the ground. Szayel sighed through the pain and let the silly woman pin him to the ground.

After all, it's not like she could do anything to him, right?

She could do anything she wanted to him.

His hands were a problem, she'd have to do away with those, and quickly. He can't escape.

Reishi exploded out of Orihime's fingers (she noticed this with a mental whimper of pain, but She refused to hear it) forming dark daggers, like claws. With unnatural strength, She broke Szayel's wrists, then moved up and twisted his lower arms, tearing at his elbow. Szayel grit his teeth, struggling. A wide smirk spread across her face, something inhuman and mad.

The slightest worm of doubt that Szayel would make it out in one piece wormed its way into his magnificently developed mind.

He couldn't move his arms at all. His legs were pinned under Orihime's body. Now that her prey was firmly pinned in place, She dragged her dagger fingers down the sides of Szayel's chest from his shoulders to his waist, leaving multiple red lines and slowly shredding his uniform. These useless shreds were tossed away as She examined the cuts she made, pausing and pursing her lips in an inquisitive manner.

Szayel felt sick.

The pain was awful. His nanobots were working furiously to repair his glorious body, but the looks on this… woman's face was awfully distracting. If only he could reach his sword… the woman hadn't seemed to notice it. Szayel's hand twitched, sending spasms of agony screaming up to his shoulder. The woman's attention snapped to his hand, slamming a closed fist on it and properly breaking the bones. Szayel let out a soft cry, like a wheeze drawn in too quickly. Why wasn't Ulquiorra doing anything? He must notice the fluctuations in Szayel's reitsu…

Except Ulquiorra would expect such fluctuations. When it comes to reitsu patterns, there is little difference from pain and pleasure.

She dug her fingers into Szayel's stomach, exploring the muscle and fat underneath (Not that Szayel had much). She gently caressed Szayel's stomach (the organ) and moved those awful claws left to his gallbladder, pressing it. Szayel grit his teeth more, biting his teeth to keep from crying out. The woman pulled out her hand and licked the blood off of it in a slow pass, her eyes never leaving Szayel's. Her grin spread to inhuman proportions.

She released a slow, deep-bellied cackle, pressing those monstrous hands of her s on Szayel's chest, just above the marks she had lovingly inflicted upon the Espada. Szayel let out another cry, more of surprise that that area would hurt as much as it did than pain.

The combination of Orihime's cackling and Szayel's cry prompted Ulquiorra to open the door.

The sight of the woman on top of Szayel, with both of their uniforms stained with blood was, to say the least, not what Ulquiorra had expected.

Szayel on the other hand breathed a soft sigh of relief.

"Sedative in my left pocket!" he barked furiously. Ulquiorra gave a short nod, pinning the woman to the floor. Oddly enough, she didn't struggle, but kept on laughing, her face reddening and tears rolling down her cheeks. Szayel trembled slightly but did not move, due to his injuries. Ulquiorra stayed on the woman, worried that if he let her go, she'd go mad and attack him too. Yes, his hierro was stronger than Szayel's, but one could never be too careful.

The faceless and nameless subordinate ran in, grabbed the sedative and stabbed it into the woman's shoulder. Her cackling and writhing almost instantly ceased. Ulquiorra stepped away from her, staring at the woman he had watched over for the past month.

"What… happened?" Ulquiorra asked Szayel after a moment. Szayel coughed slightly and gave a crooked smile.

"Madness," he replied.

-/

Inuyoshie's after the chapter specials~

So yeah. This was for ~SzayelxNemu, who did the art called "Orihime Love" on DeviantArt which lead to this fanfic. I highly advise you check this out.

Ooh yeah. I don't generally do gore and such, but I dunno... it just sang to me.

Like lalalalala

I also liked the irony of Szayel getting the crap dissected out of him and being all terrified as opposed to him doing it to other people. Outta teach you a lesson buddy!

Oh, and happy birthday. (Late) I'll put up some proper fan art for you when it is the weekend and I get the scanner.

Other notes: PERRLA is pupils equal, round, react to light, accommodation. That's when the flashlight is opened into a person's eyes to see if the pupils contract or not. If they don't contract, the person is pretty brain dead.

Szayel's organs: I'm assuming his internal organs are similar to a human's.

I hope this is okay.

I don't own Bleach.