As the day drew on the petite girl knelt in front of the lone window in the center of the room, hands folded on her lap as she stared up at the sky. Although it would appear to the others that Orihime was longing to leave, still hopeful to be saved, that was the complete opposite of her feelings. She had given up hope long ago of being saved, and she truly hoped that her friends would stay away, stay safe. Now the only thing which generated in the mind of the woman was survival. To survive the isolation.

To those who have never been cut off from the world the silence and darkness may seem a nice escape, but to be fully immersed in the feeling of being alone it was torture.

The thoughts of the girl abruptly interrupted as the doors to her room were thrown open. Her eyes did not look towards the door however, she knew the reason for the abrupt visit, an Espada was injured and would need healing, that was the only reason there would be anyone other than Ulquiorra entered the room, and Ulquiorra was much quieter upon his entrance.

A light sigh escaped her lips as she moved to stand, turning towards the door she found the smirking face of the light blue haired Espada, Grimmjow. She found herself interested to say the least, typically when she was being summoned Grimmjow was the one who she was required to heal, who else could it be? The others were not generally not as careless.

The scowl which graced his features clearly spoke to his disinterest in gathering her. Although Grimmjow was extremely hotheaded and hated authority, he wouldn't go against Aizen's requests.

"Let's go,"

Was all he grumbled out before turning to leave. This was weird, what was going on? Grimmjow was never at a loss for words, or ever shy to push her around for his own amusement, this was completely out of character. Something big was going on, things were about to get extremely interesting.

Double doors opened to an unknown room. Orihime had never seen this area before, though that wasn't saying much, she had generally only seen a few areas in this ginormous concreate dungeon.

Grimmjow stood at the door, not going further into the room as he pushed the girl inside,

"that will be all Grimmjow,"

Aizen spoke, Orihime blinked lightly as she turned and watched the doors closed behind her, only turning back when she heard movement.

She found it was not just Aizen in the room, Ulquiorra was there as well. She could barely hide her confusion, she couldn't see any injuries to either of them, nor could she sense any, so what could this little gathering be about?

Aizen simply smiled at the girl, he was always composed but appeared friendly enough, his voice quite soft spoken as he addressed her.

"Have a seat Miss Inoue."

His words, though in the form of a request were the opposite, she never had a choice. Nodding her head, she made her way to the lone table in the center of the room, it looked as though she was in a hospital back home, with the examination table in the center. As she approached the table Ulquiorra held out his hand for her to take, she blinked lightly, unsure if she should take it, although Ulquiorra was not one to harm her she was unsure of the particular situation they were in. Shaking herself out of her thoughts she gently placed her hand in his own, using his hand as leverage to pull herself up, the table was unusually high, she wondered just what they would use it for.

Her feet dangled from the table as she sat up straight, her eyes blank as she looked forward. She no longer questioned anything that she was a part of, there was no need. She no longer wished to torment herself but letting herself know full well that anything the Arrancar requested of her would lead to hardships of her friends, so she no longer thought of it.

Moving to the front of her Aizen stood still, seeming to get a read on the woman, a light smile coming to his face as he raised his shoulders as if to shrug,

"what we are about to do will take a toll on you. Seeing as we have never attempted this transition with a human, we are unsure as to how this will affect you,"

He paused a moment as he looked at her unphased expression,

"rest assured though, we believe with your abilities you will be able to heal yourself from within."

Orihime's mind was racing, what transition? What where they trying to do to her? Though she did her best to keep her composure she couldn't help her facial muscles showing some tension, although she had faith in her healing abilities, the thought of not knowing something that could harm her was obviously causing some frustration.

"Well Ulquiorra, let us begin."

FLASHBACK

"I believe there is a way to fully harness the human's powers to help us take down the trash of the soul society once and for all."

"Do tell."

"By utilizing the powers of your Hōgyoku we could tether the girl to an Espada,"

Ulquiorra paused just enough to gather Aizen's reaction before continuing,

"the girls powers would heighten immensely though she would be completely bound to the Espada, therefore she would be controllable to use in battle,"

Aizen shook his head, smiling lightly,

"mind tethering has never been completed with a human, we wouldn't know if she would even survive or not. Say we did this procedure and it worked, the Espada and her would be connected completely."

He scoffed lightly as he closed his eyes,

"I don't see any of the Espada's volunteering themselves to be completely connected with this girl,"

Lightly stifling a laugh, he shook his head once more,

"It won't happen."

After a long pause Ulquiorra spoke,

"I volunteer."