DISCLAIMER: I do not own Bleach. I just borrowed the characters and some of the plot for the fiction.

Hi everyone, Pastel Price here (previously Teriyaki Shift). I re-uploaded this fiction since I deleted every item and story from my previous account. Anyway, most of you complained that the fic was hard to read due to lack of spacing and was uploaded one shot. In this version of "Delusions of the Mind", I took liberty in separating them into chapters.

Enjoy reading! READ, RATE and REVIEW!


Chapter 1 - Behind Bars

She was beginning to lose hope. All she could do was wait. Orihime began pacing through the room she was caged in. Everything was dull, from the walls to the furnitures as if it was to mentally torture her, taking the colors away from her sight. Her nervous feeling turned to grief. What if everyone stopped searching for her? Tears started to glitter in her eyes.

"Ne, Orihime, get a hold of yourself! They'd come and save you!" she was trying her best to smile, but it was no help stopping her tears to continue falling. She cuddled herself and sat at the couch which also serves as her bed and dining chair. "When I get myself out here, I'd eat a lot again!" she was trying to cheer herself up and then a knock was heard in the over-sized doors.
"I'm comming in." It was his voice, the guy who took her to that miserable place.
"Come in!" she answered back and hurriedly wiped her tears away.
"I've brought your food. Eat." Ulquiorra placed a tray of food in the small table near the couch. Orihime looked at the food tray and then at Ulquiorra.
"I'm not hungry." Ulquiorra eyed at Orihime for a while.
"I am going to repeat for the last time. Eat.'
"Well, I'm also going to repeat myself, I'm not hungry!"
"Woman, you are making my duties to Lord Aizen more difficult than it should be." Ulquiorra stated in a commanding manner yet kept it in a monotonous state.
"Still, I'm not going to eat."
"Then I'll shove it down your throat myself if you continue to refuse." the tension between the two was already fiery. Both trying to make the other give in. Finally, Orihime's stomach grumbled that Ulquiorra also heard it.
"There is no reason to hide your hunger, woman. Now eat. I'll be back in thirty minutes, if I see your meal unfinished, I'll tie you down and shove it all in your mouth." Ulquiorra turned away and exited to the door. Orihime looked at the food. She was indeed hungry so she took the plate and started digging in.

Ulquiorra walked towards the narrow corridors until he was greeted by a fellow Espada he despised. Grimmjow Jaggerjacques.
"Yo! Ulquiorra! Babysitting again?" Ulquiorra just continued to walk, ignoring the sixth Espada. "What the f-! Hey, Ulquiorra dont you hell ignore me!"
"I have no business with you."
"Argh! Dont be mister perfect okay? Dammit.'
"If you have nothing important to tell me, stop wasting my time."
"Hell yeah! Aizen wants to see you and -maybe if I could cuddle up a bit with Ori-"
"Grimmjow. Dont you go to her room, I'll kill you."
"Heh. Watch me. bat-face! Hahaha!" Grimmjow walked away as Ulquiorra headed to Aizen's room.
"Idiota." Ulquiorra grumbled to himself.

"When I get back home, I'll eat a lot of dangos. I'll eat rice cakes with Kurusaki-kun and Kuchiki-sama. Ice cream with Tatsuki will also be great! Maybe I'll bake Uryu-sama and Sado-kun some cupcakes…" she was talking to herself again. Thinking about her friends and home, she took a bite from the blanch food Ulquiorra brought her. "Haaaah! Maybe I'd also take one nice hot bath! The one with those bubbles…" she continued to daydream until she found out she finished her food. Seeing that Ulquiorra doesn't need to feed her by force cheered her a bit but as images of her friends flashed in her head, her smile started to fade again.

Ulquiorra approached two large doors. He didnt have to knock. Aizen knows the prescence of his reiatsu.
"Cuatro, come in."
Ulquiorra genuflected and bowed his head to Aizen.
"Tell me, how is our Orihime?"
"She would usually refuse to eat, my lord."
"Why is that?"
"She is very much emotionally affected by the loss of her 'friends', as she stated it, my lord."
"Hmm… since Orihime would be living here in Las Noches with us, it is time we replace her memories in Karakura with pleasant memories here in Hueco Mundo." Aizen stood up from his throne- like chair and headed towards Ulquiorra. "The Espadas will be her friends and family now. And Las Noches will be her home. I want you to take her to places here in Las Noches."
"Where in particular, my lord?"
"The rose garden, cuatro."
"As you wish, my lord." Ulquiorra stood up and was about to exit until Aizen called his attention again. "And oh, cuatro, since the Espadas will be her family from now on, its best if it starts with you." Aizen suddenly smiled, a smile that even Ulquiorra himself feared. This made a cold shiver in his spine. He knew that Aizen was planning something he would disapprove.
"Ulquiorra, from now on, I want you to be nice to her. Chat with her and if she cries, comfort her." Ulquiorra didnt know what to answer. "You are dismissed."

As Ulquiorra left Aizen's room, he was complaining to himself; "What the heck is he making me do? Why me?" Suddenly, it hit him that it was time to take Orihime's meal.

Ulquiorra didnt bother to knock in her room this time. Why should he? Anyway, she has no options if she'd open it or not. Opening her door, he found her fast asleep in the couch, with her meal finished on the table. As he moved towards the table, he found her shivering. He's an Arrancar so wouldnt mind if its intensely cold or hot, but in her case, she was a human. He called a lower arrancar to take the plate in the table and as the lower arrancar left, he looked at her for a moment. A debate was forming in his mind whether to help her in his situation or not until he found himself unzipping his coat and placing it onto her shivering body. "Pathetic." he whispered to himself as he left the room. Calling two lower arrancars, he instructed them to guard her door, not letting anyone get in.

"Ulquiorra." a female voice called his attention. As he turned back it was Tia Hallibel. "Why are you undressed?" knowing she was worth his respect he answered her politely.
"Someone needed my coat." Underneath the oversized collars she wore, she was secretly smiling.
"Fair enough."
"Is the rose garden still maintained?" Ulquiorra asked.
Hallibel was a bit surprised with his question, why on earth would he care about the rose garden. "Why yes. Infact, the roses are in full bloom this season."
"Who tends them?"
"I tend them from time to time but I get some other arrancars to do it regularly."
"Then you dont mind if I'd visit it then."
"Always be my guest Ulquiorra." Hallibel knew what Ulquiorra has in mind. "It cheers up any girl." and she started walking away.
"Cheers up any girl…" Ulquiorra thought.

He shot back to his room to get dressed and made his way to the library. To be able to accomplish what Aizen wishes, he must first do some research. He took a book from a shelf entitled 'Psychology III: Pleasing a Woman." but as he pulled it out, another book fell from the shelf; "Love Enhanced". Seeing some relevance to each other, he carried both books back to his room.

"Women tend to believe in the power of faith and trust. They rely on the company of others to make them strong willed…" Ulquiorra turned the pages of the book he took from the library. "This is nonsense." he told himself as he closed the book. As he lay on his bed to get a shut-eye, he accidentally lied on one of the books. It was the one about love. Being intimidated by the title he skimmed through a few pages and sees a picture of a bouquet full of flowers. "Roses cannot be compared to any other flowers." it was the description to the boquet. Ulquiorra closed his eyes for a minute and stood up. Picking up his zanpakuto, he walked towards the corridor, still unsure if it's the right thing to do.