Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow
Aizen x Orihime short story. Part I of II...
"Welcome back, Orihime..."
Orihime's shocked expression soared to the vaulted ceiling of Tower Number Five, along with her widened, brown eyes. Only one second earlier, she was standing near Ichigo in the sand from somewhere far away, and had just accepted an order from Captain Zaraki to heal his battle wounds. Before she could finish blinking, she found herself standing in front of the base of an ominous ascending staircase with Aizen at the top of the stairs.
"What's wrong?" he asked, peering down upon her from his lofty height. His face and eyes grew noticeably concerned to see the new condition of her countenance. "Such a broken-hearted expression..."
Suddenly, he extended his left hand towards her, and disappeared from her view. But, before she could comprehend the event, she felt the flesh of his finger-tips gently caressing the right side of her chin. He pressed the tip of his left thumb lightly onto her soft lower lip, slowly leaning down into her face whilst beginning to close his eyes.
"Smile..." he said softly, as if singing the command into her soul with his warm breath. He leaned his face ever closer to her nose and lips, as the tip of his sharp nose pressed gently up against her eyebrow. Her entire body froze over. She felt she had not the power to move even a small muscle. All she could do was stand completely silent with her eyes popping out of her head.
"...Everyone is saddened when the sun darkens," he whispered, his lips only an inch away from hers. She could feel the wisp of hair that hung nonchalantly over his forehead and nose, brush against her own little nose. She was paralyzed by how close he had decided to move his own large body next to hers.
"My dear," he began again, still caressing and breathing into her face, his eyes speaking volumes of seductions only for her, "all you have to do is wait here for a short while, just until..."
A creaking noise suddenly resounded from the top of the staircase, and Aizen stood erect again, gently letting go of her soft skin. From the top of the stairs stood Tousen and Gin, the former with his back to them, and the latter looking down at them. A large garganta had been ripped open from the black, undefined space in front the two men.
"...Just until we return from destroying Karakura Town..."
"Destroy...Karakura Town?" she asked, after momentarily ceasing to breathe, and now barely able to open her mouth, as Aizen turned his back towards her to ascend the staircase.
"Correct," he affirmed, stealing a glance back at her with his left eye as he slowly lifted one foot in front of the other upon the stairs. "We will destroy Karakura Town and create the Royal Key..."
Aizen waltzed up the remaining stairs and stood in between his faithful shinigami servants, facing the gaping hole in the blackness as it allowed in the light from the blue sky of Orihime's home town. She could see the upside-down landscape of the buildings, houses, and trees she knew all too well.
"Kaname," said Aizen, slightly glancing over to his right at the lean black man with the long dred-locks hanging down to the small of his back, "the Tentei Kuura."
"Yes sir," he said, holding up a small, otherworldly contraption in his fingers. He broke open a seal on the strange object, and tossed it out, away from himself into the air. Suddenly, a tiny rope began to wrap itself around his extended wrist, which was all covered in black painted-on tattoos.
"Bakudou Number Seventy-Seven: Tentei Kuura," he commanded out loud.
"Can you hear me, members of the intruding forces?" asked Aizen a moment later, as if he were speaking directly into a P.A. system. "My standing army and I will now commence our invasion of the human realm. I am placing Inoue Orihime in Tower Number Five. If you'd like to rescue her, come and take her back...She is no longer of any use to me..."
Orihime nearly jumped backwards to hear this last confession. She became slightly disoriented and lightly shook her head. To gather her bearings, she turned to glance behind her only to see the man who had brought her so immediately over there, standing silently with his hands behind his back, staring at her, as if waiting on Aizen's further orders.
"Her ability is awe-inspiring," continued Aizen to his distant audience, "the 'Rejection of Events' is a power that far exceeds the realm of what is permitted to humans. The highest levels of Soul Society understood the significance of this ability, and that is why her abduction served as a means of eliciting such a sense of crisis in Soul Society that would cause them to strengthen their own defenses rather than those of the human world..."
He paused briefly to allow for his listeners to soak in his shocking declarations, as he calmly closed his eyes.
"She was also the bait to lure her Ryoka friends, including Soul Society's new military asset, 'The Substitute Shinigami' to Hueco Mundo," he continued. "Moreover, I have succeeded in imprisoning here in Hueco Mundo, the four captains who came to reinforce them..."
"No!" cried Orihime from the foot of the stairs up to the back of Aizen's long, white coat. After catching wind of her distress, he began to turn fully around to face her direction.
"...This battle will be too easy," he concluded, as Tousen broke off the communication. Gandering down at her, he took a step towards the stairs and stopped.
"You shouldn't believe everything you hear, Orihime..." said Aizen.
"What?" she shouted up at him, her fists tightening, "What does that mean?"
"It simply means...I am bluffing," he confessed, donning a serious, deep tone for those last few words. "As far as battle strategies are concerned, it is quite contributive."
"Bluffing about what?" she inquired, likewise assuming a serious, deeper tone to her own voice.
"About no longer having any use for you, of course," he stated, his gait rather temperate as he began to crack a smile. "It must please you to hear it."
Orihime merely scrunched her eyebrows together up at him.
"I'll explain my actions, if you wish," he said, peering down at her, trying to read her thoughts by her emotive facial expressions. "You see, I've grown rather tired of how inconsiderate these friends of yours are towards your safety, Orihime. Every time one of them gets close to rescuing you, they put you in grave danger. The fact that they even dared to come here and attempt to rescue you demonstrates just how careless they are concerning you, when such an act could have led me to decide to kill you. Such tremendous fools they are..."
She gawked up at him as she grew more confused, but chose to remain silent.
"By telling them all that I no longer need you, and that they are free to come and rescue you without opposition, it creates in their minds the impression that you are no longer in a desperate situation, and they can take their time in finding you. And, by telling them I am now leaving to destroy their home, they will shift their focus onto that fact, and forget all about you. This ensures your well-being while I am away from Las Noches and, for the time being, unable to protect you myself."
Aizen motioned his right index finger at Stark, the man standing behind Orihime for the past several minutes, as he nodded in compliance. Suddenly, she was once again whisked at an incredible speed that beat even her own blinking eyes, and she found herself, a nano-second later, standing directly in front of Aizen at the top of the staircase.
"You understand," he began, as he lifted his right hand and tenderly placed it on her left cheek, "I cannot allow my most prized possession to ever come into harm's way..."
He leaned down to her face, like before, his bright golden eyes boring deeply into hers, as he slowly encroached upon her space and planted a small, smooth kiss on the very corner of her mouth. Then, he pulled his pulpy lips away and moved his hand down from her trembling cheek to her shoulder, passing it further down just above the elbow where he gave it a clement squeeze.
"That is why I have entrusted you and all of Las Noches to Ulquiorra," he said, glancing over at a small figure in the distance, dressed all in white, standing in front of his throne. "With me and my top three Espada in Karakura Town, he is the strongest being left here."
Orihime shot a quick glare over at the tiny image of her caretaker in the distance, her face full of surprise, and her long hair whipping around with the motion of her head.
"Take good care of my little princess, Ulquiorra," commanded Aizen, raising his voice a little as he began to back away towards the large spatial rip in the wall.
"Yes sir," nodded Ulquiorra, stepping out of and closing up his own tear into space in front of the throne.
"I'll return to you ask quickly as I can, Orihime," he said turning back around to face the opening into Karakura, while keeping one eye fixed on her from behind. At the same time, a small grin pulled up the corner of his mouth. "Just sit tight while I'm gone—and, don't forget to smile for me..."
...Continued in Say Goodnight Till It Be Morrow...