The Artificial Sun Also Sets
Chapter 1: "Red Roses"
"Um... I hope I didn't arrive too late," said Orihime, while rubbing the back of her head with her hand in embarrassment. From the doorway, she gaped at the man she was meant to rendez-vous with beginning to stand from having been seated in his chair. She shuffled her feet faster into the chamber, hoping he'd sit back down again.
"You've done nothing of the sort, my dear," he replied, offering her his outstretched hand as she waltzed ever closer to him. Aizen was dressed in almost all black robes this particular evening, different from how Orihime was used to seeing him attired. His usual white robes were so bright, she was used to squinting at him every time she encountered him before. But, this night, she had no such bodily reflex, for the room was lighted ever so softly and warmly that she could gaze upon him with both of her eyes wide open.
She shook her head and chuckled slightly under her breath at the atmosphere.
"What is it, Orihime-chan?" he asked. Her cheeks began to bloom a rosey hue and that only added to the already established ambience of the setting. She shot a quick glance over at the table in the center of the room and there stood a clear glass vase full of blooming, voluptuous, almost gluttonous red roses beaming from the grayish-black table top. Her eyes widened at them, as if she felt the urge to grab them and fill her nostrils with their sweet, perfumed scent.
"Ah... so, you like the roses I had prepared for you," he said, still hovering next to the table. "I figured you would like them. You do like red roses, don't you, Orihime-chan?"
She felt as though her voice had been robbed from her just at that moment. She could hardly squawk out a word. The preparations for their dinner together, the atmosphere of the room, the roses, and the smell of her favorite dish now filling her awareness was enough to nearly knock the young girl prostrate onto the floor.
"I—yes, I do like red roses, Aizen-san," she finally managed to reply, although rather coyly. "Thank you. They are very beautiful."
She quickly wiped her glistening brow with the back of her hand, hoping Aizen wouldn't interpret the act as a sign of her nervousness. In truth, she was a walking bundle of nerves at this very moment and she only wanted to get through the evening without seeming so incredibly afraid of being alone with him in his chamber. She needed to at least appear to be strong in front of him, for weakness could only be crushed by someone as powerful as him, even if that meant she must collapse later on in her own chamber.
"I feel I must apologize to you," he said as he pulled out her seat for her to sit down at the dining table. "I thought I had turned down my reiatsu enough so that you wouldn't be affected by it, but it appears I was mistaken. Please forgive me. I had no intention of making you uncomfortable."
"Oh, no, you don't need to apologize for anything," she urged, smarting under the realization that he had noticed her discomfort after all. She finally took her seat. "It's just that no one has ever done all of these things for me before."
Both of Aizen's eyebrows rose up on his forehead as if he had no control over them, while his eyes widened into two golf ball-shaped spheres at her. Such a reaction from Aizen Sousuke was most unusual, for hardly had anyone ever before succeeded in rounding out his cunningly slanted-shaped eyes.
"Now, that, my dear Orihime, is one of the most shocking things I've ever heard," he mildly retorted, appearing to be in all earnestness...
.(..to be continued...)