The Heartless Espada

The Battle has only just begun

I tossed and turned all night on the rock hard floor of the cave.

Rukia was passed out almost immediately, but then again, I guess she was used to sleeping in weird places, like Ichigo's closet.

"Try to sleep a little," Ulquiorra sat next to where I was laying down.

"It's uncomfortable. Not to mention I can't get Orihime off of my mind," I told him. I turned on my side so that I could see him. His black hair was covering his face.

"We will get her back, don't worry so much," he said.

"Why do you even care? I'm so confused by all of this, but most of all you. Why did you just suddenly start caring about anyone?"

"I thought we already went over this. I told you that I don't know why, just that I know that I feel emotions now," he grumbled. I rolled my eyes at him and sat up.

"Why do you care about Orihime so much?" He asked me. "You would give your life for her without a second thought in the world. Why is it so hard to think that someone would do it for you?"

My breath caught in my throat.

I knew exactly why I didn't want anyone to do it.

"Orihime deserves to live. Orihime is an amazing person with so much strength and potential." The fire had died down a lot, the eerie glow just made me realize what happened so recently.

"And you don't think that about yourself?"

I shook my head.

He said nothing for a moment and just stared at me.

"Is it common for humans to doubt themselves so much and put all of their faith into someone else?" He asked me.

"What do you mean?" Confused by his question.

"You have no faith in yourself, just pure doubt almost hating yourself. When I brought you here, you seemed to want to die, almost wanting to be put out of your misery. But you have so much faith in one other person, it kept you alive.

"Orihime has so much doubt in herself, she tried to protect you by coming to me, begging to keep you safe. She said she didn't care what happened to herself, just what happened to you. She gave me the same answer as you. Why do you humans doubt yourselves?"

"We're not as strong as you, we can't just rely on ourselves to be able to do everything," I whispered.

If I had been able to do everything myself, I would have been able to save my parents. They would still be here.

"Fools. All humans are fools," Ulquiorra said.

We sat there in silence again. Ulquiorra seemed to be confused, and I could tell he was very agitated by it.

All of a sudden Ulquiorra pulled my sitting form towards him. His hand went to my face so that I was forced to look at him.

"If you are so weak, then how do you expect to save Orihime?" He asked me.

"I have to. No matter what, I'd do anything to make sure that she was safe," I told him, determination laced my voice. 

"Think about that for yourself sometimes. If you're dead, you can't save her," Ulquiorra said. He released me and I put some distance between us.  

He was right. I wanted to be the one to protect Orihime, but I never was concerned with my own well being.

I laid back down, and before I knew it I was asleep.

*****

"Maaya, come on we need to go now," Rukia yelled in my ear. My eyes slowly opened and I saw Ulquiorra standing above me and Rukia next to me.