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Ulquiorra took the drink without comment. His preternatural eyes caught the slight twitch of Urahara's hand toward his mug. Ulquiorra glared at the former shinigami and then took a swig.

He looked over at the two shinigami captains and found them deep in their own thoughts. Slightly irritated that no one seemed to be talking now that Ulquiorra wanted to, he turned his attention to the Quincy boy next to him.

"You know, I've been watching you and your friends for months now." He paused and then took another drink.

((OOC...yeah, I know Ulquiorra wasn't watching them in canon, but this is a bit of fun, no? XD))

Ukitake couldn't help but narrow his eyes a little at this. Watching over them? That was out of order! Disgraceful!

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Avatar is a male me, drawn by a very close friend. Just don't ask why.

Ishida glared at the arrancar and pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Watching? Tha-..." He cleared his throat and continued to glare at the stranger.

"That's a horrid violation of privacy." Ishida continued coldly, his hands flat against the table.

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How strange it is to be anything at all

Ulquiorra ignored the glares directed at him. The buzziness in his head was growing stronger and was being joined by a dizzying sloshiness as well. Still that didn't stop him from drinking more.

He turned back to the Quincy boy and said, "Well, it wasn't my idea you know."

He took another drink and continued, "Though I have to admit that I quite enjoyed watching that red-haired female friend of yours. Very much so."

Ishida stood rapidly, shoving his chair back with his knees as he rose.

"How dare you!" He screamed, his fists clenched at his sides.

"You have no right to watch her! She has rights and they don't deserve to be violated by inhuman....whatever you all really are." Ishida continued yelling at the arrancar, his blue eyes blazing with fury.

Urahara reached over and grabbed Ishida's wrist, smoothly shoving the Quincy back onto the chair he had so recently vacated.

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How strange it is to be anything at all

Ulquiorra raised his hand to block whatever the boy wanted to throw at him, but realized he was a beat too late. Not that it mattered in this instance. Ulquiorra doubted the boy could accumulate enough reiatsu here on earth to do him any damage. His eyes darted warily to the three shinigami though. If one or all of them took it into their head to attack him...well he could feel his sense of self preservation kicking in.

He looked in his glass and was slightly surprised to see that it was almost empty as well. Had that been their plan all along then? Feed him this poison til he was unable to react to anything they did to him? Well he wasn't going to allow that to happen.

"I...I think I should be going now," Ulquiorra said, words slightly slurred.

"Oh no you don't," seethed Ukitake, through gritted teeth. "Just how old is this girl precisely? And you say that you were ordered to watch her? Whatever Aizen may have stooped to, I expected only that he would threaten our safety and our way of life, not that he would wantonly violate the privacy of young ladies who would never lift a finger to harm him! Explain yourself!"
Shunsui laid a hand upon his arm, and Ukitake fell silent at once, his shoulders heaving and the sweat gleaming upon his skin.

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Avatar is a male me, drawn by a very close friend. Just don't ask why.

Ulquiorra felt uncomfortably hot and fuzzy. And now he had people yelling at him. Normally that wouldn't have fazed him a bit, but for some reason tonight it was irritating him. And the thing that rankled him the most was that they were yelling at the wrong person. He was nothing. Aizen called all the shots in this war and all Ulquiorra did was follow them to the best of his ability without getting killed.

Ulquiorra opened his mouth to tell them such and hiccuped instead. He slightly blushed and tried again, "You know the girl. It's Inoue Orihime. And again, I was just acting under orders. Aizen wants to know all of their powers, but especially Kurosaski Ichigo's. That boy worries Aizen. He thinks that he might be able to throw a wrench into his plans."

He drank what was left in his mug. "There. Now that I have told you that, will you let me go?"

Shunsui watched Ulquiorra's expressions with a soft, sad countenance. "It's not our place to tell you to stay or go," he said, in a level tone.

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Avatar is a male me, drawn by a very close friend. Just don't ask why.

Ulquiorra looked at Shunsui, eyes narrowed in disbelief. "Even after all I told you, I am free to go if I choose?" He shook his head slightly and said, "I don't understand you, shinigami. Why haven't you all been wiped out years ago with that kind of trust?"

Ulquiorra shifted in his seat and thought. He knew he should leave now; he wasn't nearly as alert as he should be and at this point he had given more information than he had received. Still... His eyes were were drawn to the half empty pitcher in the center of the table. He figured if the shinigami were going to attack they would have made their move by now. That was logical thinking, wasn't it?

"I suppose I don't have to report back just yet."

Ishida tried to free his wrist from Urahara's grip and stand again, but the shopkeeper refused to release his hold and gave the Quincy a stern look of warning.

After the arrancar's declaration that he would stay Urahara reached forward with his free hand and refilled the empty mug sitting before Ulquiorra.

"Drink up then."

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How strange it is to be anything at all

"It's not trust," said Ukitake, smiling inscrutably. "We could be ready to fight you at a second's notice, but what would we stand to gain from starting the fight? One deceased enemy will not win the war, and we run the risk of being harmed ourselves, thereby weakening our divisions at a time when we are already bereft of a trio of captains. Doubtless talented youngsters will step up to replace those departed soon enough, but I can imagine that if either of us got ourselves needlessly injured at this point, Yamamoto-sensei would be angry enough to throw us into jail."
Shunsui snorted into his beer, unable to hide a grin at the truth of the sentiment.
"And," continued Ukitake, "Kisuke is a scientist, not a warrior."
"Lover not a scientist," said Urahara curtly, "if you please."
Shunsui flicked a peanut at him.

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Avatar is a male me, drawn by a very close friend. Just don't ask why.

Urahara dodged the flying nut by diving from his chair, which caused the projectile to hit Ishida.

Urahara had neglected to let the Quincy go before his dive. Ishida sputtered out a series of curses and yanked his wrist free, rubbing the now slightly brusied area with an angry look on his face.

Urahara rested his chin on the table and laughed quietly before turning to find the weapon. His eyes reappeared above the table with a mischevious glint in them before he reached for the bowl of peanuts.

Ishida groaned and reached for them in an attempt to prevent the assault, but failed.

Urahara laughed loudly as a shower of peanuts headed for Shunsui.

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How strange it is to be anything at all

Shunsui swiftly grabbed his hat, deflecting them roughly. The shinigami and the quincy found their attention drawn to one large, dirty peanut, spinning in the air as if in slow motion, as it fell neatly into the grubby mug into which Ulquiorra was currently scowling.
The table fell silent, with all eyes on the arrancar.

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Avatar is a male me, drawn by a very close friend. Just don't ask why.

Ulquiorra glared at the peanut that was now busily dissolving into his drink. He grabbed a spoon and fished the nut out. He held it in the spoon for a moment looking at the others.

He sighed and remarked, "Such childish behavior." He almost threw the peanut back at the shinigami. Instead he put it on the table and wondered what brought about such an uncharacteristic thought. He looked back into his glass at the remains of peanut floating there and wondered if it would affect the flavor much.

He took a sip and decided that it would be okay. He then took a larger drink and directed his attention towards Ukitake. "You speak of my death with such impunity, though I suppose I should not expect different given what you are. Despite how I may appear to you on the outside you shinigami can only see one thing, that I am a hollow and thus my very existence demands that I be eliminated. And you think you have every right to meet out this judgment too. The superiority of it all is sickening." He took another drink and then pointedly looked at Ishida, "And the Qunicy are even worse. Their only saving grace is that they are all dead now and can trouble us no more."

Ishida slammed his fist on the table and glared at the arrancar.

"We are not dead. And you can assure yourself that I will cause trouble enough for your side." He said coldly, his face inches from the arrancar's.

Urahara cleared his throat and looked to Shunsui in an effort to figure out what to do about the Quincy.

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How strange it is to be anything at all

"The remains of one family hardly counts as a robust organization," Ulquiorra replied ignoring the seething look the boy was giving him.

He turned back to his drink. Most all of the pleasure of the drink had left him. Now he mostly just felt sick. He was disappointed at this turn of events. It wasn't often he experienced anything pleasurable. Even devouring lost most of it's charm after hundreds of years. He laid his head in his arms on the table and waited for the awful dizziness to pass.

"You bastard." Ishida muttered angrily as he settled into his chair and brooded as the arrancar laid his head down.

Urahara raised an eyebrow and stealthily slid a mug to the Quincy. Ishida eyed the shopkeeper suspiciously and reluctantly took a sip from the mug, grimacing as the beer hit his tastebuds.

"So..." Urahara laughed nervously and tilted his chair back.

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How strange it is to be anything at all

Ukitake pursed his lips as he looked down into his beer, fearing to meet the eyes of any at the table. Perhaps inviting the arrancar over had been a bad idea. No, of course not, because they would have forever wondered if they hadn't. He sighed sadly, and steeled himself, looking directly at Ulquiorra.
"We did not say that we held anything against you personally. Why don't we... put that behind us?" But by then it had gotten too much. Between Ishida's anger and Ulquiorra's sullen thudding reiatsu, the tension in the room had finally set off what the walk up the hill had been threatening to start. Hurriedly he fumbled in his sleeve for a handkerchief, shooting his hand up to his face, making it barely in time before the coughing seized him, his harsh rattling spasms unpleasant enough that Shunsui felt obliged to look away a little, in order to set an example for Ulquiorra and for Ishida, who had presumably not seen Ukitake suffering an attack before.

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Avatar is a male me, drawn by a very close friend. Just don't ask why.

Ulquiorra looked up at Ukitake when he spoke to him, but didn't respond. Then Ukitake was racked with his coughing fit and Ulquiorra wondered why the shinigami was ill. He had never seen a sick hollow before...many injured ones yes, but not sick. He thought about joking that maybe the shinigami should eat each other to keep up their health, but then figured no one else would see the humor in it. He laid his head back down and closed his eyes. Harsh coughing filled his ears, doing nothing for the headache he was getting.