Chapter Text
If it’s one thing Ulquiorra Cifer hated, it was disturbances in his training grounds. Two years after his capture in Hueco Mundo, and he had enough. He was not going to be involved in these time wasting affairs, and petty squabbles.
Slowly, he held his finger up and shot a massive cero, cutting through the clouds. No longer did he speak with those he deemed unworthy of his time, or hinder his time with the hollow-human mix breed, Ichigo Kurosaki.
The boy screamed annoyance, trash and waste of time. Ulquiorra furrowed his eyebrows slightly, shooting a cero that cut through the deep forest he now spent most of his time in.
After mastering many of his abilities and the art of his zanpakuto, he began to learn that his body didn’t require as much sustenance or rest as he had lived off of. Barely would someone ever catch him sleeping, eating or just in general being out in public anymore.
The last time he had spoken to someone, was to tell Uryu Ishida to depart his training grounds, after the quincy had located him.
He found this isolation in this forest more suited to his nature. At times, he even longed for the desert of Hueco Mundo, as it resembled the endless nothingness.
It felt connected to him.
With that thought in mind, he sheathed his zanpakuto and stared off into the deep forest. He knew he had to go back to his apartment to wash his coat and outfit and rest. Although he had trained his body to consume the reishi in the area, he wasn’t a master at it.
He stared for a moment blankly, before turning around on his heel, beginning to depart his lush training grounds.
.x.
The door slowly slid open, then a few clicks of sandals followed. The room was dark, but he didn’t mind.
Kisuke had work to do.
“Tessai, bring me my computer!” he yelled behind him, entering the dimly lit room. From what Kisuke could see, it was cluttered and papers were everywhere. But mostly he could only see the papers due to them being white, and reflecting what little light was leaking into the room.
He hadn’t touched his research and surveillance room for years. He had no use for it, much to the ex-captain’s dismay. The things in the World of the Living got cluttered, dirty and old faster then they did in the Soul Society.
He’d grown used to that.
“Fuck!” he yelped as his toe connected with something on the floor. He leaned against the wall with his hand and eventually it hit a light switch. He flicked it on and the room was lit up with a flickering warm light.
He scanned the room.
An absolute mess.
“Are you alright, sir?” Tessai asked as he poked his head in. Kisuke was rubbing his foot, then looked over and gave a thumbs up.
Tessai walked in and put the computer down on the table, before nodding. “Good luck, sir.”
Kisuke’s smile melted away before he sat down on the old chair, as it gave an audible creak. He didn’t want to waste any more time than he already had.
He flipped open his laptop, and quickly opened something. There was a flashing red dot in the middle of greyness, not moving at all.
He had a stray to catch.
.x.x.x.
Ulquiorra frowned deeper as he sonido’d between the apartment building and the one next. It was mid afternoon, so people were still flooding the streets.
He slid his hands in his coat pockets and exited the alleyway, getting a few odd looks from people. He was cutting through the people that swarmed the streets with no cares in the world, as respect was something he learnt was pointless.
“You, my dear boy, wield the last shard of the Hogyoku.”
The memory caused the left side of Ulquiorra’s head to pulse, as he slowed his walking and tenderly touched that side of his hair, staring straight ahead. Nothing had ever come of that little revelation, nor did he hope anything would.
He’d never made it aware to anyone.
“Hey, watch it!” a man hissed in front of him, as he shot a daggered filled glare at the man. The man scoffed and continued walking. That was where Ulquiorra had enough.
He suddenly sonido’d out of the street, causing a ton of audible gasps and screams from the crowd.
He appeared in his apartment, then was instantly assaulted by the dust. He coughed into the crook of his arm as he squinted his eyes. He had no idea how long he had been out in the training grounds, but this wasn’t right.
He scanned the room, seeing the dust particles in the sunlight that was seeping through the window. Everything was covered in a layer of dust in his living room and his kitchen.
He turned around, then opened the door to his apartment to look outside…
…then almost tripped. He looked down in annoyance, quickly noticing it was a ton of letters, care packages and papers. He furrowed his eyebrows before picking up the first one tenderly.
‘Dear Ulquiorra
Hey man, where have you been? Tatsuki’s been going pretty frantic over your absence since your return from your sudden vacation. Ichigo and the others aren’t sure of where you’ve been either.
I wanted to leave a letter, but after seeing the pile of stuff at your door, I’m guessing this’ll get lost in the pile.
I hope you're doing alright.
- Keigo’
Ulquiorra closed the letter, then monotonously observed the rest of the junk. How dare they leave such unnecessary packages of their worry on his doorstep?
He slowly moved the pile out of his way with his foot, some of the envelopes falling off and scattering around. He let out a frustrated growl.
This was the reason he chose his training grounds to be so far out, so nobody would be able to find him. He had forced the quincy, Ishida, to not disclose his whereabouts to the others, and knowing Uryu, he would keep his mouth shut.
Ulquiorra was well aware that he’d basically failed school, but he would be able to catch up easily if he so wanted to. But now, he would prefer to minimize all interactions with humans.
He took a few steps off his front porch, then stopped and turned around to look at his house. He frowned then approached slowly, looking at the many fake missing posters, probably by some of the kids at his old school.
They had old pictures of him with the words ‘Missing (teacher’s) pet’ plastered on the top in large black marker. Such immature children.
He began to take down the posters and other things that were stuck to his house for who knows how long. He had no way of keeping track of the days in the forest, as he never brought any clocks, watches or anything.
He opened his garbage can and threw all the now torn up posters in the trash can, before wiping his hands on his coat. He turned and walked into his house, slamming the door behind him.