Chapter 2
The days were uneventful, Barragan had regarded her with slight distaste but was civil for the most part, and she could honestly say that she enjoyed Harribel's quiet nature. It was the day that Ulquiorra came to her room that made her slightly nervous, not as nervous as she was about the imminent guarding of Nnoitra and Grimmjow, but nervous enough for her to shuffle around her room as Harribel watched silently.
Ulquiorra seemed like Aizen's lap dog.
"What's the little strawberry doing?"
Ugh, Gin. True to his word, the man had visited her room everyday, he quietly said a few words to Harribel and the Espada left, glancing at Ichigo with some sort of acknowledgment.
"I told her she could leave, she only had about an hour more to watch you. I volunteered myself," his smile seemed to get wider as Ichigo bristled and mumbled something with an edge of sarcasm.
Gin walked over to her bed and sat down, motioning for her to come over.
"What do you want?"
"Such hostility, all I want to do is talk to you a bit."
Ichigo didn't trust this man one bit, but she hadn't had a real conversation in days, even when Gin "visited" all he spared was a few words to her, sometimes not even acknowledging the Espada near by. Still, she really had nothing to say to the man, and was not desperate enough to start a strange conversation with him, though that didn't mean that he wouldn't.
"You know... They're probably going to come and try to save you."
Her friends... Of course they would. But she pretended to not know what Gin was talking about, hopefully he'd understand that she didn't want to talk.
"Who?"
"Oh? Your friends, the ones from your world and no doubt Kuchiki and Abarai."
"..."
"I'm just trying to be friendly with our poor little guest," Gin said, but not a shred of friendliness could be detected by Ichigo. He was teasing her in a hidden antagonistic fashion. His response was silence, Ichigo had not moved over from the wall, if anything she had pressed herself closer to it in an attempt to bleed into the other side of it.
Ichigo hadn't noticed when Gin stood up, he stepped closer to her and leaned down to whisper in her ear.
"Ichigo-chan, you know you're being watched... all the time."
Ichigo inhaled deeply, not caring that she could smell Gin, soap and mint. Watching her all the time. Well she should have expected it shouldn't she, being watched didn't just entail the Espada monitoring her because who were they kidding, Starrk slept, and both Barragan and Harribel read mostly. It meant that there were cameras.
She swallowed, though her throat was dry, "And I don't suppose you're the one that watches."
"Hmm, sometimes. Thats why I suggested that you should wear this," he pulled out a small package from his robes, it was an article of clothing. A dress, though to Ichigo it was just a small strip of fabric that looked like it would barely cover her at all. Inoue, as she remembered was made to were some sort of uniform when she was here too. But nothing as degrading as this.
"You fucking bastard," she raised her arm only for her wrist to be caught by his hand before she could even bring her fist near his face.
"Now now, if you don't put it on yourself, I'm sure Ulquiorra will put it on you. Aizen's orders afterall."
Ichigo reluctantly took the offensive material. When she regained Zangetsu, she knew who she was going to go after first. Aizen and the rest of the merry band of psychopaths could wait.
Gin had left after that, sensing Ulquiorra was nearing the room. He mentioned something about seeing her later in the evening.
"Aizen-sama requires your presence at dinner tonight. You shall sit in between him and Ichimaru, no questions asked. I was also ordered to make sure you look presentable and that you wear the article of clothing, along with the footwear in the closet, that was given to you today."
"I don't want to wear this, it doesn't cover me properly. Orihime wore something different, why do I..."
'Why reason with him? He doesn't care.'
She went to the washroom to change and as Ulquiorra said, 'become presentable'.
She gazed at herself in disgust, this wasn't a dress, it was a tight tube of material. It ended just below her butt, one wrong move and everything in between her legs would be revealed. It showed too much cleavage, the neck line dipped low. There was nothing keeping this dress up either, no straps. Ichigo made sure that her hair was let loose though, to cover her back and some of her front. She had almost had it cut short two weeks ago, she was thankful for the last minute change of mind.
Deeming herself presentable (maybe for a strip club or a corner in the redlight district), she went back to where Ulquiorra had not moved.
He gazed at her, no emotion present on his face. In Ichigo's opinion, he seemed even more stone faced than when she had entered the washroom in her soul reaper uniform.
Ugh, she just couldn't wait for dinner. To be gawked at by the likes of Grimmjow.
"Are we going to go? You said it starts at 8."
His eyes didn't leave hers until he briskly turned and motioned for her to follow.
The hallways, she found, did change just like Ulquiorra had told her some days ago. They were long and winding, her feet were tired from the walking. She thanked whatever god had at least given her medium heels to go with the dress instead of the stilettos she was sure that she would've gotten.
Arriving at banquet room, she was unhappy to see that all the former captains and Espada, save the one with her, were already seated at the table. She was hoping to not parade her legs in front of them. Ichigo admitted she was no prude, owning tiny bikinis and short shorts, but in front of all these people who could easily overpower her, she felt nervous.
"I'm glad you could join us."
Aizen stood and turning to Ichigo, offered her his hand. She reluctantly reached to him. 'Lets not piss off their leader.'
He guided her to her seat, in between his and Ichimaru's. The silver haired man she noticed was giving her an outright appreciative look. Up and down her body. She suppressed her shiver of disgust.
Gazing out to the rest of the table, all the Espada seemed to be looking at her. Some with unreadable expressions, such as Harribel, Zommari, and Aaroniero. Others with quite unsettling looks, Nnoitra and Grimmjow, they were pretty much eating her with their eyes. The rest looked interested, well they all looked interested, hopefully not in anything sexual. Ichigo would've preferred if they pretended that she didn't even exist. Frankly, Harribel had a much more impressive chest and half of it was out, why couldn't they stare at her instead?
'Because she's a high ranked Espada and you're a weak prisoner.'
"Now Ichigo, there is so much that we should discuss, have the Espada treated you well?" Aizen's question snapped her mind back to reality.
'Be compliant, don't be hostile, it wont help you.'
"Yes..."
"And your room is to your liking?"
"Yes..."
"Do any of my Espada have anything they wish to say to or ask our guest?"
His question was directed at the rest of the table, Ichigo froze. But realistically, what would they have to say to her?
"You weren't like this before. Since when have you been such a docile little bit–"
"Grimmjow," Aizen had cut off the Espada with a stern voice but smile still in place. Grimmjow in return glowered at the man and then at Ichigo for good measure. It was going to be so fun spending time with him later on Ichigo concluded with a hefty dose of sarcasm.
"Would you like to answer?" It wasn't so much a question as a command.
Ichigo looked at Aizen, would she add gas to the flame. Well of course she would, just not to Aizen's but to Grimmjow. She knew it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but she wanted to rile him up.
"Yes... You see, I know who is more powerful than I am, even if they are the enemy, I still treat them with respect."
Grimmjow let the comment sink in before his face started turning red out of anger. "You bitch, you think I'm a weakling!"
"Grimmjow," another warning from Aizen this time void of the smile he wore previously.
Ichigo observed the rest of the Espada, of all of them Grimmjow and Nnoitra had the strongest reactions to her statement. Grimmjow's of obvious anger, Nnoitra on the other hand seemed to smile wider than before.
'If anything, you may have learned something about the tall creep today.'
She probably wouldn't get along with him, but from what she knew, he liked being the strongest. She should play meek around him.
"I'm sorry, but I don't feel well," She started. "May I be excused."
"Yes, Gin, escort her back to her room."
Thanks for reading.