Ulquiorra stopped suddenly, causing Orihime to bump lightly into his back.
She made a small noise, and looked up to peer over his shoulder. "What– what is it?" She whispered, not wanting to disrupt the peaceful silence of the halls. He remained like that a moment longer until he shook his horned head, and continued on.
"It's nothing," was his quiet reply.
Ulquiorra swung the door open leading to the large dining room. His eyes surveyed the area and he found it to be completely empty. Good. He looked over at Orihime curious as to why she was so silent all of a sudden. It was unlike her. On the way here she had been compelled to tell him all the things she ate back in the human world, he didn't mind of coarse; he was willing to listen to anything that had to do with the human world.
It fascinated him.
Ulquiorra studied Orihime's expression of wonder. She looked amazed, as her eyes drank in the environment. "What a beautiful room." She murmured to herself, eyes studying the glowing chandelier hanging above them.
What was so beautiful about the room? Ulquiorra couldn't figure it out for the life of him. Ulquiorra shook the question from his mind and cleared his throat, causing Orihime to turn his attention to him.
"Please take a seat, Miss. Inoue." He started, indicating the large chairs tucked in beneath the long dining table, "I'll return momentarily with your food."
With that he turned and left the room, hands tucked in his pockets. Orihime watched him go, as uneasiness crept over her like a disease. She didn't want him to leave… She sighed and turned around towards the table. It couldn't be helped…
And that was when she was met with the sight of two bright cerulean eyes staring wildly back at her.
She almost screamed in terror, but caught herself, and just gazed back wide eyed. The look in his eyes held so much emotion… amusement, disgust, impatience, curiosity, anger… fascination. She almost had to look away at the intensity of it all. She couldn't figure out how all the arrancar could manage to surprise her so easily. She couldn't be that clueless, right?
It was that large, sour mouthed man with blue hair and an untamed temper. He was sitting at the table with his elbows resting on the surface of the table and his fingers laced.
"Hello, Woman." He grinned, and leaned back. She wasn't sure if he was sincere, so she just chose to step back, shyly avoiding his gaze. She didn't want to become a victim of his temper like that poor Espada did earlier… and with Ulquiorra gone she felt completely vulnerable.
"What's with this?" He laughed, "Shy, are you?"
When she didn't answer, he continued. "I won't bite." He patted the seat next to him. Orihime looked up again, and searched his brightly hued eyes. They didn't hold any aggression, so she ended up sitting down next to him.
But that didn't mean she was comfortable— no, she was anything but comfortable. When he clapped her shoulder, she jumped.
"—Fucking relax, Woman." He laughed, shaking his head. "Grimmjow," The name rolled off his tongue as he held his powerful hand out to her.
She looked from his hand then back up to eyes a few times before she wearily accepted his hand with her small one. "…Orihime."
His eyes flashed, and his impossibly large grin widened. "Hime…?"
Grimmjow bowed his head, "Well, excuse my rudeness, your highness— I'll try my best not to startle you next time." His tone held a mocking edge. The ends of Orihime's lips twitched, until she finally let herself smile— amused at this man's antics. …An Espada was actually joking with her? She couldn't believe it.
"—Thank you." Grimmjow suddenly mumbled, not looking into her eyes.
Orihime had to double take. …What? She could have sworn she just heard him thank her. Orihime looked at him confused.
"…For fucks' sake!" His voice rose and she couldn't help but get startled by it. When he looked into her eyes again, he almost looked like he was angrily pouting. "Thank you, all right?!"
Orihime's surprise didn't melt away, but she understood what he was talking about now. His arm… he was thanking because she healed his arm. It must be hard for him to thank a human, she mused.
"It's okay, it wasn't a problem." She shrugged, hoping her words would to calm him down somewhat.
And that's when Grimmjow's electric eyes narrowed dangerously, and fear stabbed into her chest. What did she say wrong? His amused grin morphed into a hateful scowl. Orihime couldn't breathe. He looked as if was about to rip out her throat. And that's when Orihime noticed he wasn't staring at her, but a figure behind her. She was afraid to turn around—
Until a warm hand rested on her shoulder. Her shoulders lost their tenseness instantly, and her uneasiness melted away. She sighed, relieved. Ulquiorra was back.
At the same time Orihime's uneasiness melted away, Grimmjow's flared up, but he successfully covered it up with a snarling mask.
"Was this man bothering you, Miss Inoue?" His voice was like silkcutting though the tense silence.
She turned her head to look into his eyes. They held a deadly calm— like the kind of calm before a storm. His eyes gave her the message that he would lash out on command.
Suddenly she could feel the air become heavy and she could hardly breathe. She struggled to look back at Grimmjow, whose face was still masked with hatred. …Was this Grimmjow's reiatsu leaking out? She grit her teeth, determined not to show how weak she was compared to them.
She felt Ulquiorra's hand tighten on her shoulder— he was impatiently waiting for her answer.
"No… No, Ulquiorra-san." She managed to say. "He wasn't bothering me." She swallowed hard, shaking her head.
"Hm." Ulquiorra made a noise and released her captive shoulder. Orihime felt the frightening spirit force suddenly feather out of the atmosphere. …Or was that Ulquiorra-san's reiatsu?
Ulquiorra shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at Orihime with a bored expression. "Please follow me, Miss Inoue, the chef needs to ask you a few questions about your diet."
She perked up. "I'd love to talk to him about my diet!" Her eyes were glowing with excitement as she bounced out of her chair. Grimmjow was confused by her sudden change in demeanor and gave her a look between shock and disgust.
The way the woman relaxed in Ulquiorra's presence baffled Grimmjow, anyone with a working brain would be uneasy around him. Che. He would never understand humans.
Ulquiorra left the large room with a beaming Orihime in tow, leaving Grimmjow to his thoughts.
On their way down the hall, Orihime struggled to keep equal footing with Ulquiorra. Orihime pouted, and made a small noise of protest. She briefly wondered why he walked so damn fast. She could never walk side by side with him unless she jogged.
"What are you doing?" Ulquiorra's tone suggested he knew exactly what she was doing, and he didn't even turn his head look back at her.
"I'm trying to walk next you, but you're walking too fast!" She huffed.
"Why do you want to walk next to me?" His tone was bored.
"Because I want to talk to you." She said slightly frustrated and out of breath.
Ulquiorra rolled his large eyes and slowed down two paces. His eyes remained trained on the hall ahead. Orihime sighed in relief, and walked side by side with him. She started to steal glances at his pale face. In truth she wanted to walk by his side because she was scared— the hall was dark, and the walls had shadows on them that looked particularly like hollow masks.
"I didn't slow down so that you could recklessly stare at me," His eyes moved to look at her. "Didn't you just tell me you had something to say?"
Orihime nodded, "Y- Yeah! I have a question—"
Ulquiorra sighed, but Orihime continued regardless. "—have you ever played the guitar?"
An eyebrow rose, and he looked at her as if she grew a second head. "What in the world is a… guitar?"
"It's a musical instrument that you use to create rock music!" She shouted, startling Ulquiorra. She was suddenly excited as she stopped in her tracks, and she— rather enthusiastically, demonstrated how you played one. She even added in her little own sound affects.
Ulquiorra just openly stared and briefly pondered over her mental health.
"You look like you'd be apart of a rock band, Ulquiorra-san!" Her eyes danced with mirth, as her mind imagined Ulquiorra screaming into a microphone, violently playing the guitar. She started to crack up until Ulquiorra grabbed her wrist and wordlessly started walking down the hall again.
He walked at his normal pace, while Orihime struggled to keep up as he pulled her by her wrist. She almost lost her balance.
"Ulquiorra-san!" She managed to get out. "You're rushing again!"
"And you're being ridiculous." He said flatly. "You're not well, and that's why we're going to get you something to eat— now."
"I'm fine!" She insisted.
Ulquiorra only walked faster.
When they reached the kitchen, the chef with a boned mask completely covering his head walked over to greet them.
"Good evening, Ulquiorra-sama, Inoue-san." He bowed. Orihime bowed back, and Ulquiorra just nodded.
"Inoue-san," The chef started, "Would please explain to me you're favorite and least favorite dishes? Also, please include some foods that upset your stomach."
Orihime's eyes lit up. "With pleasure!" She chirped.
Ulquiorra reached up to rub his pounding temples. The tone of her voice told him that it was going to be a long night.
According to Ulquiorra, it was approximately, 2 hours 21 minutes and 55 seconds before Orihime was done. She had explained thoroughly how she put cheese and butter on practically everything, and how she loved to sprinkle onion on strawberry ice cream. She also mentioned something about bean dip and a large loaf of Italian bead.
She and the chef were having quite a time. While the chef had thousands of different dishes to add to his cookbook, Orihime got to test and try out everything the chef prepared. Ulquiorra, after watching Orihime scarf down every plate that was placed in front of her, came to the conclusion that her stomach was bottomless, and that all humans were pigs.
Ulquiorra sighed at the utter nonsense.
Suddenly a spoon full of ridiculousness waved in front of his pale face. "Try this, Ulquiorra-san— it's so good!"
Ulquiorra looked at it restlessly, then looked at her. "You do realize that arrancar can't eat solid food such as that."
"Oh." She quirked her orange head to the side. "Then what do you eat?"
"Arrancar, in this world, can survive by simply breathing because the atmosphere is so heavily infused with spiritual energy… but if I wanted to survive in your world, I would need to— "
Orihime's innocent curiosity made him look away. He didn't want to tell her anymore.
"…to what Ulquiorra-san?" She pried curiously.
"Are we done here, chef?" Ulquiorra abruptly stood up, looking past Orihime and to the chef.
"Yes, Ulquiorra-sama." The chef bent his head in respect.
Ulquiorra grunted in acknowledgement and turned around, "Come, Miss Inoue."
"Y— yes." She scurried after him after waving goodbye to the chef.
Hours later, Orihime found herself lying awake in her bed, staring up at the impossibly tall ceiling. It was so deadly quiet, she could swear that her heartbeat could wake up the entire citadel. There weren't even crickets or night birds to listen to, she sighed and turned over.
Her mind wandered to Kurosaki-kun. Was he okay? Was Sado-kun and Rukia-san okay? What about Ishida-kun… did his Quincy powers return yet? She couldn't help but be overwhelmed by all of this. It was keeping her awake.
She rested her hands behind her head. What was she going to do? She knew that Aizen wouldn't let her go until she completed her task of reviving the strength of his precious stone, and then he would dispose of her, just like he tried to do to Rukia-san. And even if Kurosaki-kun did manage to rescue her from this place—what would happen after she got back to the human world?
She knew exactly what would happen. Aizen would send an Espada after her once again, and recapture her. Either way, the only way to get around this whole ordeal was to destroy Aizen. Kurosaki-kun was strong— but Aizen's strength rivaled the gods. She didn't want Kurosaki-kun to die because of her; she'd kill herself first before that happened.
A shadow played across the wall, and Orihime sat up in an instant— torn from her thoughts. Her mind automatically assumed the worse. Noitora, oh god no…
Her body started shaking, as she felt her lungs constrict. She gritted her teeth… Why'd he have to come tonight? She was too weak and too tired to night. He was going to play with her mind first, mentally torturing her until she started crying. Then he would take her. She could already imagine the pain, as she prepared herself for the inevitable.
She squeezed her eyes closed, not wanting to see his sickening grin.
Orihime remained like that waiting with bitter anxiety. It felt like she stayed like that for hours— but nothing happened. Her blood was pounding in her ears, and her breathing sounded like it was under a microphone.
She slowly and wearily peeked open her eyes.
She found two glowing lavender orbs staring back at her. "Cheep!" A voice chirped.
Orihime screamed. The small figure jumped on her, hands resting on both sides of her head, and knees resting on each side of her waist—and screamed back, mimicking her. Orihime didn't know what was going on, all she could do was stare.
"Cheep!"
The door opened and slammed shut, and both Orihime and the figure above her snapped their attention to the door. Ulquiorra entered the room.
"Wonderwice, get off her."
Wonderwice…? The figure above her blew his tongue at him. That's when Orihime got a good look at him. He was definitely a child— with freckles and light blonde hair. He resembled a young Urahara now that she looked at him."Now, Wonderwice." Ulquiorra commanded.
He obeyed with a pout, and hopped off the bed. Orihime noticed the hollow hole at the base of his rib cage— she couldn't believe an innocent child like him was an arrancar. She frowned; he should be at peace in soul society… not here. She became even more disgusted with Aizen than she was before.
"Miss Inoue, my apologies for waking you up," Orihime shook the thoughts from her head and looked at Ulquiorra. "—But I need you to watch Wonderwice."
Orihime eyes widened. "…you mean baby-sit him?" She turned to look at the child sitting on the floor. It looked like he was eating something he found on the floor.
"Yes." Ulquiorra said plainly, as he tore the object out of Wonderwice's mouth. To this Wonderwice started crying.
Orihime cringed, "And what if I say no?"
Ulquiorra blinked and put his hand on the doorknob. "This isn't a matter of negotiation." And with that Ulquiorra opened the door and shut it behind him.
Wonderwice looked up to smile at Orihime, and she fell back into the matteress