Concept of the Human Heart

Chapter 1

(Reference: chapter 317)

What is a heart?

Will I find it if I rip your chest open?

Will I find it if I crack open your skull?

These were the questions he asked her. They were rhetorical for her at least. She could never answer it, not in a way that would please him.

Being one who is blind to emotion Ulquiorra did not understand.

Not the human heart, not her heart.

Why did he want to know?

Ulquiorra paced silently around his room. He stared at the white walls surrounding him wondering about the conversation. He could not fathom why the subject troubled him, why it intrigued him the way it did.

Ichigo had arrived to Orihime’s aid as Ulquiorra was conversing with her. Ulquiorra did not fight. He took off with the woman and now she sat on his bed in shock.

She watched the cuatro stride back and forth aimlessly.

He glanced at her once contemplating if he should rip her chest open and see the heart she talked about. It would be his last option.

“Tell me woman, why you find your heart so important.”

Orihime was lost in her own train of thought. She sat still on the bed finding no energy to be her usual fidgety self. It was such a strange question for him to ask her, such a personal thing for the cuatro to do.

“It connects me to my friends. It lets me know that my love for them is eternal.” She looked up at him, staring at his pale exterior. She shivered. The vibe he gave off was just as cold as his face.

“Love.” Ulquiorra turned away from her, “That is not a physical content. It does not exist.”

“It does.” She uttered. She placed her hand on her chest, “Its in your heart but you can only acquire it when you have a connection to another person, when you feel like your life would be empty without them. That is when love will appear in the heart.”

“How could you be so sure?”

Orihime stared at his slender back, “Because I feel it.”

“With Kurosaki Ichigo I assume.”

Her eyes widened, “How did you…”

Ulquiorra observed her. He knew where her so called love belonged to. He turned and faced the girl again, “You humans create that nonsense to feel a bond, you merge your hearts and construct love in order to allow your weakness to depend on another person. You are all selfish the way us hollows have always been.”

“No, Ulquiorra.” Orihime stood up, “Love is not out of selfishness, it is about trust, about honesty, even loyalty. It does not make us weak it allows us to be stronger together. We do not create it to feel a bond, it automatically bonds us.”

“Rubbish.” He spat at her with his blank stare. His eyes were cold but Orihime refused to be afraid.

“You were once human too Ulquiorra.” She told him, “Before you became a hollow you must have loved someone.”

“Human…” Ulquiorra never dispatched her from his gaze, “I am Aizen sama‘s 4th Espada, the cuatro, not some mere…”

“But you were!” She shouted in frustration, “You were before you became an espada, before Aizen made you into an arrancar, before you died and became a hollow! You were human, it all starts at human, where the heart lives.” Orihime was determined to make him understand the importance of the heart.

He turned away from her again and looked at the white wall in front of him.

“You are persistent.”

Orihime walked toward the espada. She stopped just inches behind him. Ulquiorra continued to stare forward at the wall not bothered by her close presence.

“You ask these questions Ulquiorra,” She reached for his shoulder, to show him she meant no harm, “Because you want to know. That gives me the will to tell you and make sure you understand it properly.”

“Why?” Orihime withdrew her hand before it touched him, “It is me who is causing you to suffer. Your friends will surely die because I brought you here. Your feelings should tell you to hate me, to loathe my presence. Your instincts should want to scowl me and hate every inch of me. Why would you want me to understand an insignificant concept?”

“Everyone deserves to understand, even you.”

She should hate him. She should want revenge on him. But this was not the case. No one could be so heartless, no one could be alone.

“The material world is full of love.” Orihime stepped back, “Every corner you walk, each house you pass by, every child’s smile is love. You can not turn a blind eye to it.” She smiled, “You can‘t escape it when it reaches you.”

Ulquiorra tilted his head slightly, his face the same, “You will remain in my domain. Your friends will not find you here.”