Punishment

CH 1

It had been a while since he had seen her smile. She had started to wilt away, the most beautiful trash in Las Noches was disappearing and there was nothing he could do about it. Not that he cared about the girl or anything..

4 p.m, it was the time for her dinner. White plates, white cups placed on a white server. He wished he could smudge some paint on the pale set, for her sake. For some reason Ulquiorra could sense her pain and frustration, when he was in her presence. He knew she hated the complete whiteness of Las Noches, the lack of color and life itself. It didn't bother the Espada, to him everything was meaningless trash. But she was a living being, a human, a person who was bright, pure and beautiful. So, so beautiful... and something beautiful needed colour.

"Open up, woman." The coldness in his voice startled Orihime. Though this was his usual voice, it sounded far more creepier and miserable than normally. She sighed deeply as she opened the door. As her captor entered the room, she turned around, refusing to look him in the eye. That wouldn't have mattered anything anyways...she knew that his eyes looked as emotionless as usual.

The awkward silence was almost too much for them to bear. Neither the princess or the demon wanted to admit that seeing the other sad and confused. He shifted a little closer to the princess, but froze soon as he realised what he was doing. He, as her captor, was allowed to treat her as he liked, touch her, rape her, do anything he pleased to do. But she wasn't like other women. She wasn't a weak whore who could be tossed around like pleased. The princess had a strong aura and a strong mind. Ulquiorra almost admired her for that, almost. But his instincts told him to keep his hands off the girl..even he couldn't exactly understand why.

She could hear him kneel behind her. He was moving as gracefully as usually, white cape fluttering in the air as he went on his knees. But this time, something went wrong. Ulquiorra's mind was wandering, so he wasn't really paying attention on what he was doing. Hell, he didn't even know WHY he was kneeling! And since he didn't pay attention, he obviously had to step on his cape and since the marble floors in Las Noches were slippery....

A loud crash. Orihime turned around, just in time to see the surprised Espada yelp in surprise and slip on his cape. She couldn't help but laugh, poor Ulquiorra looked so miserable. What kind of an idiot slips on his own cape? She bursted into laughter as she saw her "delicious dinner" sprawled on her captor's clothes.

She offered a hand to him. He looked at her, frowning. But after a while he let her help him up.

"So...this is supposed to be my dinner?" She looked at him and giggled, a faint blush on her cheeks.

He frowned. He couldn't look THAT silly.

"Shut up, woman. This is your food. No needs to complain, come and get it." He snapped. Unfortunately Ulquiorra didn't realize the true meaning of his words..since her food was all over him...she had to lick it off him. No wonder she looked so flustered.

"...U-Ulquiorra? But, the food is all over you and I wouldn't want to ruin you clothes with human spit. P-please let me bring you something to wear..." Flustered, she went to pick up some clothes for him to wear. A pair of jeans and a shirt..her brother's clothes? They would do.

Ulquiorra wondered why he let the girl pick clothes for him. When the blushing girl handed him weird-looking human clothes, he didn't decline. He looked her in the eyes and grabbed the pile of cloth in her hands.

"I'll go and change..I'd appreciate it if you'd excuse me, woman." Her eyes flashed. She obviously didn't like this tone. It made Ulquiorra regret his tone of voice. But not until her face saddened and a desperate smile became her expressions, something snapped inside him. He realized he couldn't bear to see her hurt.

"...Sorry..." It was just a quiet whisper, but the Espada knew that she could hear it. He turned around and she was gone.

Orihime sat on her bathroom floor. The icy floor felt uncomfortable on her bare legs, but she didn't care about the cold which numbed her legs. Only one thing, actually a person..he, was on her mind. She had no reason to be mad at him, he was always cold towards her. And yet she was raged.

"Maybe it was my imagination to think that you cared...?" The quiet sentence lingered in the air. She wanted to know why he acted the way he did, why those green 'tears' were running down the Espada's cheek every time she saw him. Why couldn't he tell her those things? What was if that kept him from trusting anyone? Orihime knew already the answer.

...Pride. It was his own pride. She knew he didn't let anyone push him down. Except for Aizen-sama..thr girl didn't know what Ulquiorra's relationship with the superior was. All she knew for sure was that Ulquiorra and Aizen were somewhat 'close', what kinda closeness it was, the girl didn't know. To tell the truth, she didn't find it necessary to know. Whatever Aizen and Ulquior ra had to do with each other, Orihime couldn't interfere between the two of them. She somewhat feared the superior, he wasn't trustworthy or good-spirited. The ex-captain could do anything to her...or Ulquiorra.

'No, what am I thinking?! My head keeps telling me that Aizen and Ulquiorra are having a relationship! I have to stop thinking that..wonder..wonder if he has already changed?!'

She left the bathroom in an instant, and started to run. Her head told her to stop, she certainly didn't want to interfere while Ulquiorra was changing, but yet her body kept moving towards him. Orihime had to see him now, no matter what it would cost later. She rushed through the hall, stumbling over shoe pairs outside Grimmjow's shoes. With a loud thump she fell on the floor, hair tangled with the shoelaces. Out of breath, she decided to lay like that for a while. It couldn't hurt the Quarta Espada if she was one minute late? The girl wanted to run to him as fast as possible, but her body resisted.

Lying there in the dirt, she wondered if she had overdone this whole thing. Maybe she should've picked someone else? Or keep on believing that Kurosaki-kun would someday return her feeling? No. She was already over Ichigo, the crush which had been going on for over 5 years was finally over. The day Ulquiorra came to kidnap her to Hueco Mundo, a small voice in her voice has been keeping on telling her "he's the one, he's the one". She had hated him in the beginning, disliking those green eyes and green 'tears'. But now...she loved those. She loved Ulquiorra and she couldn't deny her attraction.

'I can't be weak and cry..I can't....no, not for him..' Orihime wiped the few tears which were running down her cheeks. He was strong, so she had to be strong in his presence. She couldn't bear it if Ulquiorra would dislike her because if her weakness. She couldn't bear it at all if he hated her..

A loud thump waked Orihime up from her daze. She was surprised to see that the door to Grimmjow's room was open. For the first time in her life, she saw an Espada's room: Grimmjow's room was large, with three rooms connected. Walls were completely white, and the floor too. Only the dark blue ceiling was the only thing which wasn't pure white. Pure...the room looked pure indeed, but it certainly didn't provide any security or warmth. The utter whiteness made the room so cold and in a way Orihime couldn't explain, so deeply sad. Like rain. But the Espada who was living in this room, was neither sad or cold. Grimmjow Jaegerjacques, the name belonged to the Sexta Espada. The girl shivered when she even thought of that name. It just brought back bad memories.

Flashback-

Orihime was sitting by the window, looking at the pale moon. She had nothing to do, and she felt really broken at the moment. Six days in Hueco Mundo.. the time had flewn by so quickly since she came here. And yet it felt like nothing at all had happened during those six day. Orihime had been sitting by her window for six days, missing her friends and especially Kurosaki Ichigo. She couldn't express how sad she was when she couldn't meet him anymore.

While she was lost in her sad thoughts, someone entered her room. The figure came closerand closer, until a big hand gripped her shoulder. She yelped and jumped. The figure behind her was Grimmjow Jaegerjacques. He had a scary smile and his eyes looked even scarier, if possible.

"W-what do you want?" She looked at him with fear in her eyes.

"Haha! Good one, woman. Don't you already realize that I'm here to do THIS?" His horrid laughter echoed in the room. His strong hands gripped her arms and roughly threw her on the floor. When the horrified girl tried to stand up, he kicked her down. Kneeling down beside her, he tied her hands behind her back with one rough movement. The Sexta Espada pushed her against the cold wall, spreading her legs wide open. Since she was still wearing her school uniform, this position showed her thigs completely. She couldn't cover herself up since his dirty hands were still keeping her in this position.

"You like it, woman?" He let out a loud laughter. She yelped in pain when he squeezed her thigh quite hardly. She didn't like this at all....not at all. This hurt..and her body belonged only to one person.

"K-Kurosaki-kun.." His eyes flashed dangerously as she said Ichigo's name. Grimmjow slapped her on the cheek, and gripped her throat. Leaning uncomfortably close to her face, he whispered:

"Remember woman. This." The Sexta touched her lips, "this.." the strong hand was placed on her heart, "and especially THIS.." he gripped her breasts, "belong to.."

"Aizen-sama. Now get off her, remember she is NOT your property." Grimmjow's expression changed from pure lust to rage. The man standing behind Sexta was Ulquiorra Schiffer, the Quarta Espada. A simple Sexta couldn't disobey a Quarta, so Grimmjow let go of Orihime and left her room.

Orihime was left alone in the room with the Quarta. She didn't know what to think about him.

End of flashback-

Orihime let out a surprised moan when she heard a loud crashing noise coming from the room. What made her even more surprised was the view in front of her:

Ichigo Kurosaki was lying sprawled on the floor, buck naked and with Grimmjow Jaegerjacques on top of him. Grimmjow was smirking evilly while planting kisses on Ichigo's chest. Those two...the girl couldn't believe it. Ichigo...was gay? No way...and the worst thing was that if was with Grimmjow??! This..this was a dream right? Orihime couldn't help but let out a surprised "EHHHHHHHH!"

The two boys immediately spotted her. Grimmjow glared at her to make her go away and let him 'fuck his strawberry ALONE'. Ichigo's expression was priceless: the Strawberry was blushing tomato red, and his mouth hang open.

"I-Inoue?? I'm sorry..t-this..I..umm...this isn't" Grimmjow slammed a hand over Ichigo's mouth.

"Woman, this is EXACTLY what it looks like. He is mine, understood?! So please leave now."

Orihime blushed and looked away. She hadn't realised that she was staring at the naked couple.

"Um..I'm fine with it. So..so I'll just leave now." She turned around and flashed them a genuine smile. She removed her hair from the dirty sneakers which she now understood were Kurosaki-kun's sneakers. She waved them goodbye and sprinted away from Grimmjow's room as quickly as possible.

'Those two together?! Such a..such an absurd idea?! But..I can't interfere and I'm no longer in love with Kurosaki-kun...'

A small smile graced up to her lips. Maybe those two were a good match? She didn't know, hopefully they knew. Orihime kept on thinking about Kurosaki-kun's and Grimmjow-san's relationship the whole way back to her room.

Ulquiorra was started to get frustated. She had been gone for a half an hour. Knowing her, she could've went anywhere and get into trouble. That girl..

'Ulquiorra..what is wrong with you..why are you thinking about her again?" Lately, he hasn't been able to understand his own thoughts and feelings at all. They all were involving that girl, Orihime Inoue..and the Quarta Espada couldn't understand why such a weak human girl interested him in the first place..

Suddenly, he heard someone enter her room. Thankfully it was the girl herself. She was panting, flushed and out of her breath.

"I..went...bathroom. And then..*pant* I saw Grimmjow..and Ichigo. They were making out!" She flushed even more when she explained why she was late. Ulquiorra's eyes widened. He wished that Orihime wouldn't have needed to see them..making out.

" I guess they make a good match!" The girl smiled warmly as she walked to Ulquiorra. He was wearing the shirt and jeans she handed him. Those clothes looked surprisingly good on the Espada.

"Those clothes, they look really good on you.." She smiled at him again, not realising what she had just blurted out.

And awkward silence.

"Um...I mean. Oh well.." She blushed a bit and giggled in embarassment. He couldn't help but smile a bit too. Orihime didn't even realize he was smiling.

"Oh gosh! We have to wash your Espada outfit!! It's all dirty!" Orihime ran into her kitchen. The outfit was lying crumbled on the floor. Orihime sighed.

"You mind helping me?" The quite innocent question lingered in the air, waiting for a response. He started to walk towards the girl and grabbed the white hakama.

"Yes..but only because this is my outfit." She flashed him a brilliant smile, and handed him the washing powder. While he scrubbed the dirt off his hakama, he caught himself staring at the girl beside him. What actually did he feel towards her?

-end of ch1.-

Ch 2.