a/n: By this time, Ichigo and friends failed their attempt at rescuing Orihime with minimal casualties. This is what happens afterwards. UlquiorraxOrihime.
Also . . . I got some suggestions saying I draw out chapter one into multiple chapters, but you DO realize this was a prologue? I really didn't want to put much into this. It will be more descriptive in later chapters.
I also cleared up a bit of confusion regarding Aizen's actions towards Ulquiorra.
Yes, this is edited. It will likely be edited more in the future.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
…
Orihime was resting, sprawled out along the couch that served as her bed. She lay with her arm thrown over her face, but she was not crying, rather, she was only trying to fall into restful sleep. She knew sleep would be the only respite she'd get from her despair.
The various spiritual pressures that belonged to her friends were gone.
When Ulquiorra had delivered the news of her friends retreat, she hadn't believed him. But then why would their spiritual pressures have disappeared? If her friends had been killed, then Ulquiorra surely would have told her so, not given her a lie.
Left with no other probable option, Orihime had decided that Ulquiorra had been telling the truth.
"Woman," said a well-known, inflectionless voice. He looked from her to her untouched plate of food. "You have not eaten. Do we really have to go through this again?"
Orihime let her arm fall off her face and glanced over at the plate of food. Believe it or not, she had been planning to eat it. She must have actually fallen asleep without realizing.
With much effort, she sat up, stretching her legs out. With a glance at Ulquiorra, she reached for the fork and scooped an amount of rice into her mouth. The food had grown quite cold, and the rice was all dried out.
Ulquiorra watched silently as Orihime hastily finished the rest of her food and lay back down on the couch.
"I did not come here to check on if you'd finished your food, woman," He said flatly. "It's time for a walk."
…
"Can we take a different route this time?" Orihime asked.
Ulquiorra hesitated before answering, "What exactly do you have in mind?"
"Well . . . I've never really seen what it looks like outside. The window in my room doesn't really show enough for me to completely understand what it's like out there," she replied.
Ulquiorra stopped walking. "Be aware that I am under strict orders to keep you inside Las Noches," he pauses when a realization dawns on him. He could take her to the roof, she'd gain plenty of exercise climbing the stairs and she technically wouldn't be outside the building. He glanced at the girl, and decided that it wouldn't hurt to show her the roof.
…
Orihime stood rather too close to the edge for Ulquiorra's comfort, but he let it go. The girl certainly wouldn't jump, and he had enough faith in her own sense that she wouldn't trip and fall.
She gazed out over the almost totally empty landscape, she had to admit, the moon looked prettier. No mater which way she turned, she was greeted by the same terrain, the only difference was that when she looked in one direction, she could see the moon, while in another she could not.
She turned to Ulquiorra, about to thank him for bringing her up here, when something grabbed a hold of her from behind and jerked her backward.
She gasped as she realized she was falling.
…
Ulquiorra had absolutely no time to react as the stray hollow pulled Inoue off the roof. The thing had no real interest in her; instead, it focused its attack on him. He made short work of it; taking mere moments to kill the thing, even those mere moments were too long.
He jumped down from the roof. It may have been a short distance to an Arrancar, but for a human, without a doubt, a fall like that would be fatal.
He almost died of relief when he saw her kneeling, facing away from him. But something was wrong with how she was sitting. Her posture seemed different to him, for she usually sat tall, but now she was slumped over, which to him seemed as if she were giving up.
Without turning, she pointed to the right. He looked to the spot she indicated, and was surprised to see another Orihime, face down, sprawled out on the ground, her head resting in a small pool of blood. She was near a broken tree, and her hair had been sliced off in a diagonal way, leaving one side of her hair long, and the other fairly short.
The realization hit him like a bucket of cold water. She was dead. He turned back to her, and for the first time noticed the chain attached to her chest, severed from her body. For the first time in his existence, Ulquiorra felt insanely, painfully sad.
…
Orihime's spirit remained silent as Ulquiorra picked her up in his arms and hastily carried her back inside Las Noches.
She was struggling with her own problems, for she could feel her spirit being corrupted by the landscape. She was no longer protected by her human body, she was vulnerable to whatever Hueco Mundo would throw at her, and now she stifling screams from the pain of her rapidly decomposing Chain of Fate.
She barely paid attention as Ulquiorra walked in on Aizen-sama, Gin, and Tousen having a conversation. She could only focus on not crying.
…
He had failed, that was true. He deserved any punishment Aizen-sama saw fit. Even death. Death would be welcome, because then he wouldn't have to leave Orihime. He startled himself slightly at that thought, but there was no real reason to lie to himself any longer. He admitted it, he loved the woman, and at least he wouldn't die lying to himself.
Aizen frowned as he noticed the severed chain attached just above Orihime's chest.
Ulquiorra hastily set Orihime down and proceeded towards Aizen.
He knew his penalty for this utter failure would be death.
…
She barely noticed when Aizen nodded to Grimmjow and Nnoitra; she was too busy panicking because the chain had gotten so short. It was almost gone.
But when they approached Ulquiorra, grinning maliciously, swords drawn, the chain finally reached her chest, bringing about the most terrible, torturous pain she'd ever felt, it was impossible to hold in her cries any longer.
…
Ulquiorra's eyes widened as he heard her scream, it was a genuine scream, and Orihime was terrified. Even Grimmjow and Nnoitra stopped and looked at her.
Her scream was suddenly cut of by an odd gagging noise. She hunched over, her skin moving beneath her clothes. Ulquiorra watched in absolute terror, an emotion that only vaguely showed upon his face, as her hands grew talons and a white and green mask grew over horrified face.
She was becoming a hollow.
Aizen make a sound not unlike a chuckle. "How convenient," he murmured. He stood up, walked over to where he kept the Hogyoku, and simply waited as Orihime under went the last stages of her transformation.
…
When she finally completed her grotesque transformation, she stood maybe three feet taller than Ulquiorra, not very big by hollow standards, and immediately jumped at Ulquiorra.
She did not eat him, nor did she crush him, instead, she landed between him and Grimmjow and Nnoitra, letting out a fierce growl. The pair looked to Aizen for further instruction.
He merely shook his head before waving his hand over the Hogyoku, letting out sparks of pure energy that proceeded to envelop the hollow that was Orihime.
As the energy faded, it revealed Orihime, appearing as her dead body did, except for a few minor changes. There was a pair of white-ish barrettes on the right side of her hair, which were actually what was left of her mask. The tips of her hair were a color that Ulquiorra knew to be the color of his own eyes. The sword at her side was an addition as well, the hilt easily recognizable as the shape of her flower hairpins.
Orihime was an Arrancar, now. One of them.
…
Ugh. Was that lame? It's just that I'd read other Orihime as an Arrancar stories but none of them actually told how she became an Arrancar, exactly.
This is gonna continue, you can count on that.
Review if you wanna . . . I'd appreciate it. I take criticism well so be truthful.ogyoku